Jamieisms

"Go to the circus Mommy?"
Jamie went to the circus with Aunt Patty and Uncle John a couple weeks ago and now she asks to go again...quite often. She also asks to go to "Kirstens party mommy?" How do you explain the concept of an event to a 2 yr old?

"I tired Mommy!"
This is said after tears and meltdowns when she didn't get a long enough nap. For some reason at daycare she only naps for 45 minutes or so. She is the last one to sleep and the first one to wake up. It doesn't help that they nap at 12:30 when Jamie really isn't naturally tired til 2pm. Also they weren't giving her her lovey.

"Go see the witch Mommy?"
As you can see my girl is a go go goer. She would go see that witch at Walmart every day if we took her. It stands about 5 feet tall and laughs maniacally and has a skull that she swings in front of her that lights up. Jamie just loves it. But I don't think she is ready for Halloween Horror nights yet.

"I wanna play my puzzle"
Jamie just loves her puzzles. She can do the 24 pc puzzles that are meant for 3-5 yr olds pretty quickly. We may need to move up, but the next step is 100 piecers which I don't think she is ready for.

"Wanna go on the big toilet"
This girl is pretty much potty trained! And she prefers the tall toilet to the potty chair. Works out good for 2 parents who aren't fond of scraping feces out of a plastic pitcher.

"Daddy?"
When my blackberry rings she thinks it's daddy. Even when I am calling it to find out where it is.

"I wanta see _________"
Fill in the blank - Grandma, Aunt Patty, Unka John, Ander, Aunt Cinda, Aunt Chris, Uncle Bruce. I have been keeping my girl from her social calendar lately. We need to get out more and visit folks now that we are all healthy.

My proceeds from the consignment sale

I am relatively satisfied with my proceeds from the recent sale. Despite bringing back over 100 items when the sale was over I sold 87 items for a total of $288.50. After the $10 fee and the $100.98 commission I netted $177.52. (Of course I also spent about $120 in the two sh0pping trips I made there - one at the early bird sale for the consignors and Sunday at the half price sale. The picture above is of me and my friend Cinda who also consigned and bought from the sale at the Sunday half price sale.

Well I will be taking those 100 items back to the spring sale and hope for a new crop of folks more inclined to buy what I had- and I probably need to reprice some of it more reasonably. I couldn't believe all the holiday gear that was still there on Half price Sunday - I guess its something that we all buy alot of but the kids don't wear out.

I was happy to see that 6 of the 8 pairs of shoes taken were sold, the Octagon Baby gate sold (probably for $16 as I didn't see it Sunday morning at the half price sale) among the other items that were mostly clothes and a most of the baby toys I took. My neighborhood is having a garage sale this weekend, if I had some way to hang up stuff I would think about putting it out and giving it a shot, but we will probably skip it. Our time is just too valuable anymore!

Was it really a hummingbird?

The other night I was making dinner - Pork roast with injectible marinade (you know the stuff that comes with a hypodermic) and Homemade Black beans and rice - yum - anyway I went out to check on the meat and had the camera as I was going to blog about my indirect cooking method on the grill. I came around the corner and what should I see but a tiny whirring set of wings in the plumbago.




I was out there so long taking pictures that Mike poked his head out, "What are you doing out here?"

Doesnt the Plumbago look nice against our house? It matches our old fashioned sky blue aluminum siding and makes it look almost stylish. Anyway what do you think? A hummingbird?

TGIF, Cool weather and Halloween is coming

Finally we are facing a weekend with all of us healthy for a change! And the weather has turned it is finally in the low 80's for a high and the nights and mornings are cool enough to wear a sweater. This used to be the time of the year that I would start feeling a bit depressed, in Michigan the winters were long and grey - you would hardly see the sun between October and April. And here this time of the year means no more use of our pool which I dearly love (as does Jamie!). Jamie and I took a little swim on Sunday and it may be the last time, the water temp was about 76 degrees which doesnt sound cold, but it was a bit nippy. Usually during the summer the pool is between 86 and 92 degrees.

I took the stuff to the consignment sale this week. Initially I had over 200 items, they turned only two down, one for a snag and one for a stain, and also they sent back about 25 sleeveless dresses to bring back for the spring sale. As a consignor I was able to shop at the early sale this week, and I spent about $100 on some costumes, toys and a few clothes. One of the dresses was a beautiful boutique purple velvet dress and I paid $10 for it but it is simply gorgeous. I also got a couple Princess costumes, the Yellow 'Belle' Costume which is better quality, but a bit too large for Jamie this year, and the Blue Cinderella has the tulle bodice torn, which I am going to try to fix it as this one fits her better now.

I really scored on the toys. I got lots of Princess toys that appear to be new, most are in the box and I am saving most of them for her birthday and Christmas which will be here before we know it.

Jamie is simply wild for Halloween this year. She loves to say the word SCCCCCCAARRRY with a charming little trill in her voice and loves to go see the witch at Walmart who stands about 5 feet tall and cackles maniacally. I initially got her a Batgirl outfit but she is so Princess all the time I kept looking for what I thought she would really love and am glad I could find some Princess options for her. (Walmart didn't have any Princess costumes for Toddlers for some reason). I will take the Cheap Batgirl costume back. (some of these costumes can't even be hand washed, they are barely put together and fasten with velcro instead of buttons, no hems and tulle for bodices! If you buy something cheap that you arent going to use at Walmart - don't make the mistake I did one year at Christmas. Any holiday items purchased at Walmart must be returned BEFORE the holiday, they just won't take it back after the holiday passes, receipt or no receipt.

Oh and Jamie went Poopoo in the toilet this morning! This was so very calculated - she did it first thing this morning, we both sat in there and practiced nursery rhymes while she sat on the potty and low and behold - 'PLOP'! We were both so excited we took a picture to show Daddy. I almost want to post it here, but I guess I won't I know a couple readers wouldn't like it. If I could figure out how to make it a click through hot link I would do it...Anyway we are going to do panties this weekend and see how it goes. Which means I guess we need to stay close to home. WHat are you doing this weekend?

Getting ready for the consignment sale

I have been a avid thrift store/consignment shopper for Jamies clothes, many were bought before we even got Jamie! It's probably suffice to say that she has way too many clothes. I haven't gotten rid of many of them, oh some to Goodwill and a full load to a consignment shop once where I got about $130 for what I sold to her. She probably paid too much (although it was a huge amount of really cute 6-9 month baby girl clothes) as she went out of business a month or two later.

Anyway there is this consignment sale here in town twice yearly in a huge venue and I am finally a consignor! I begged to get my UPC code early so I could start tagging the huge amount of baby clothes I had (6-8 Big Pampers Boxes filled). You have to get the template of your tags with the UPC code on it printed on card stock at the office store, and buy safety pins and hangers - lots of hangers!

I am nowhere near being done tagging the stuff but am more than half way through. I only told the lady I would be bring 100 pcs of clothing and it's probably closer to 200 pcs! They all have to be hung up on hangers with safety pins (clean and pressed of course) and the tags pinned to the right front of the garment.

Our house has looked like a clothes bomb went off for several weeks, (months really). I know it is driving Mike crazy but he is so nice about it. Mike traded the baby swings and bathtub and safety coaster to the generator repair man in lieu of the $38 repair fee last month during the hurricane scare, so we don't have the larger items to grapple with. Just lots and lots of clothes! Hope this sale brings us at least a couple hundred dollars for my trouble.

Did I get gouged?

The other day I pulled up to a pump that was advertising a good price - $3.64 per gallon. After pumping $99.50 into the tank and getting the receipt I noticed that I pumped silver instead of regular, the midgrade, and it cost me $4.29/gallon! I feel like I got gouged, all the other stations in town are a bit higher on regular, but none have mid grade over $4. I'm not saying that they switched it on me, it probably was my fault for picking the wrong lever, but that big of a price differential? Come on...bet that station owner is making up for selling regular at such a low price, just takes a few dumbies like me to make a mistake and he makes it up - $.50/gallon (guessing the fair price is probably 3.79/gallon) times 20 gallons times number of dumbies...hmmmm...This station was even on the news for having low prices. Do you feel like you have gotten gouged?

Is the sky really falling?

Listening to the president tonight has got me thinking...is this the beginning of the next depression? We all know that we are in a recession, even though we aren't calling it that yet for some reason. It seems it's the governments' new role to keep us scared for some reason, it used to be to reassure us -"there is nothing to fear but fear itself"

I just feel like it shouldn't be the American Taxpayers that bail out these huge organizations who made this mess.

I don't know what the answer is but I do know that my friends and family for the most part are having a really hard time right now. I hope we can bring about some kind of positive change in about 41 days.

3 computers down

My desktop computer or what my husband calls 'the server' or 'The Gateway' went down a few weeks back. As he invested in a print server a couple months ago, this didn't affect us so we let it slide. It left us with 3 laptops, his from school and my personal Toshiba and his personal Acer. My Toshiba's power cord went down Thursday (for the fourth time - good thing we invested in the 3 yr warranty!) and his Acer crashed hard on Saturday and may not be revivable. So Sunday I opened the Best Buy flyer and they had a 3 different laptops for around $500. I am typing this on Mike's new Toshiba with 180 gb harddrive and 17" wide screen. It's crazy how computers have become so integral in our lives. I guess we need to get the Gateway and Mike's Acer looked at to as backups. In the meantime we will just add a little to the debt load, the darn 3 yr warranty was almost as much as the laptop - $300 - but if we had it on the Acer the repair would be free (or replacement!) The warranty on my laptop ends in January, may want to extend that as well. Someday we will get out of debt, but it's hard when toys are so expensive and hard to live without.

Going and not going

Poor Jamie wants to be go - go - going and lately we have been stay- stay - staying, mainly because I was just not feeling up to anything adventurous. Since I felt a bit better today we went to Toddler Art at the library. We used to go every week, but don't go so much anymore. Summer time on Saturdays we want to be near our pool is one reason and the other more recent reason is my health.

Anyway we went today and couldn't find our usual on street parking so we circled the block and parked in the Parking Garage which the library validates for free usage on Saturdays. After we finished at the library we went back to the van and tried to leave the garage and the machine took my ticket but didn't raise the arm to let me out. What the heck?!

First I called the number on the sign by the exit. You know the one that says "this parking garage is run by ACME corp - if you need assistance you may call 555-1212'. Upon calling it I discover the mailbox was full. (Don't you just hate that?!)
So then I tried following another car closely to get out, but no go. The arm came right down and I couldn't get through. So I got out of thevan and tried to get a nother ticket but they only give tickets to cars, not to people. Hmmmm what else, I got on the cell and called my husband to get the non-emergency Police number. (What did we do before cell phones!?) After explaining my story to the police dispatcher I got a very bored robotic 'I'll send somebody out'. When I called Mike back he was all hopped up. "if they don't get someone there in 15 minutes I am going to call 911!" I calmed him down "Honey we have 5 Princess Books and 6 Witches books and a Dee Vee Dee (spelling this part); and we stopped
at the coffeeshop and got an iced coffee for me and a cookie for Jamie so we will be fine. Don't call the police back specially on the emergency number,this isn't an emergency and we will be fine".

An hour later and the police weren't there so I called them back. This dispatcher told me there were alot of calls downtown today (oh yeah Obama is in town, no wonder there wasn't any parking on the street!) so it may be quite a while. We parked the van back in the garage so we could go to the library to see if someone could help. As we were walking out a woman was pulling into the garage. I asked her if she would mind backing up and pulling back in so it would pop out another ticket, but she has a monthly pass which she had just swiped to get in. Oh well, on to the library...On the way the museum security guard was on the street, but he couldn't help me. As I was about to turn the corner I hear "Ma'am!" It was the lady with the garage pass. She said she would let me use my card to pull out. As she did that the policeman pulled up. I talked to him and he said he wouldn't have been able to do
anything anyway...But I said he needed to know so this company could be contacted. This was ridiculous! He agreed, so I used her card, gave it back to her, and she was unable to reswipe it as I was leaving. Hope she figured it out, at least Johnny Law was there to help.

As Jamie and I got on the road heading towards home we got stuck in a traffic jam, I have never seen so many Obama bumper stickers! It was kind of fun, we rolled our windows down and me and Jamie started chanting "Obama! OBAMA! OBAMA!" and others
joined in. Making a memory.

Well this was my 100th post- woohoo. Omigolly, and although this is an adoption or mommy blog so to speak, I feel like I can blog about whatever is going on with me. I do stay away from blogging about work as this is about me, not what I do for a living. Mike has posted twice, so it isn't really 'our' blog, face it this blog is all mine!

I think I have a few regular readers and it's nice that you come and visit me in my little corner of the blogospere. Thanks for reading and as always comments are always appreciated!

She Called me on it

When talking to a friend this week about still being sick after 2 weeks, she suggested I may want to go to the Dr. and said to me "Didnt you just say last week how much it bugs you when your husband won't go to the Doctor?"

Ahem...Hmmm guess she is right. She called me on my own stuff! I got off the phone with her and called the Dr. Office and got an appointment for the next day. I think I am so smart that I am going to get myself better - every time I think, I will just drink lots of water and take Mucinex and I will get it all flushed out. Well there should be a time that I just get a cold and actually can 'heal' myself, or ride it out. It just doesn't seem to happen anymore! I get sick and stay sick until I finally go to the Doctor. It had been 2 weeks and I was getting worse not better, so off to the Doctor I went on Wednesday.

I have an ear infection. Get that, I just didn't know adults got ear infections, but there you have it. Of course the sinuses are probably also infected so the high powered antibiotic oughta take care of both. So I am on the road to recovery at last. Or so it seems, I still feel a bit tired, but it's getting better I think. I hope so - the Google ads at the top of this blog have something to do with sickness and sinus problems every time I come here now!

Puzzle me timbers

I just love having a girl. Jamie amuses her self with puzzles, books and dolls so much of the time. I know boys do these things too, but God knew what he was doing when he sent me my Jamie. I have been exhausted lately fighting off a cold or sinus infection all week, so on the weekends I just want to rest. Rest! Yes - I do cook and do the dishes and laundry, but Mike is helping me with all that this weekend, plus he straightened and vacuumed the living room. He is just the husband for me and Jamie is just the daughter for me. I love my family.

I wish I could be a community organizer

My husband and I belong(ed) to a church that we really enjoyed going to. One of the main themes at that church was to get involved in your community and try to make the world a better place. I admire those who can do it. I think about getting involved to make a difference but it seems so overwhelming. How do they have the time!? Even to become a Guardian Ad Litem takes alot of time and effort that I just don't think I could do. Not now anyway. My life is exhaustingly busy. When I get done with work and putting Jamie to bed I just collapse on the couch. I no longer want to go anywhere wild and crazy, well once in a while I go to Walmart after 8. Heehee. A couple of my favorite bands are coming up in the next couple of months - Buckethead and Shiny Toy Guns. Both are playing on Monday nights which is typical for my smaller city. I just know I won't end up going to either show. In years gone by (even 3 years ago!) I wouldn't let the day of the week stop me from going out. *sigh* Anyway I really admire those who can do everything it takes to work, have a family and get involved in community. It's just not something to turn your nose up at.

Last weekend's slide show

Last Saturday was fun at Anders house, then coming home and doing the Playdoh frame which Ander got for her (which she loved!) but the next day she was sick with a cold. (Which daddy got Tuesday and Mommy got today)

We are watching the Weather channel daily, all hurricanes all day is still the mantra.

I heard from my dad today, he had an Anuerism in his leg which they discovered during tests (thank god) and is in a rehab center following his operation 2 wks ago. I didn't hear from any of my four step brothers and sisters who are up there in Michigan with him, which upsets me a bit...For some reason we just don't communicate anymore. I guess I need to start calling them regularly so the door of communication is more open. I hate to think that they wouldn't let me know if something really horrid happens with dad. Need to swollow that pride and make some calls I guess....

Warning: TMI about my sinus problems below. If you don't relate, skip this part!

Well I am hoping to stave off the effects of this cold. I took some Halls Early defense and also some Mucinex (Not the 'D' just the straight Muccinex) which for me is the wonder drug off all wonder drugs. I also use my homemade salt water sinus solution to irrigate often (1 gallon of non tap water, 1 tbl sea salt 1 tsp of baking soda; then use one cup of solution heated slightly in microwave) I find it's best to thin out those secretions and loosen the clogged up sinus chambers and get it out before infection sets in. I used to have sinus infections 3-4 times every year, I had sinus surgery in 1996 and I have only had about 1 infection per year lately with my new proactive health regime. Here's to hoping I can head it off again this time!

I just love this picture!

My beautiful 'all princess' all the time baby girl (Note the slipper purse and she also has on princess shoes) and my handsome 'all gator' all the time husband.

Jamie isn't feeling well

Glad we have a 3 day weekend. Jamie has a bad cold, and is content sitting and doing puzzles and looking at books and tv. She keeps coming up on the couch to lie back on pillow and snuggle with me or her dolly. Last night my mom came for dinner and got to snuggle with her too. She is only snuggly when she is tired, sick or has a fresh boo boo lately so we are all loving the snuggles.

We went to Aunt Cinda and Anders yesterday for a fun play date. They used apples to paint with and played with Anders toys inside and outside. Ander has such a nice backyard playground. Jamie calls it 'Ander's park'. Poor girl, we don't have much of a backyard playground, just the pool and one little tykes climber and a small sandbox. I will download photos soon and post some pics.

How is your Labor day weekend going? Don't forget to get some relaxing in!

Cone of Concern: Fay has left now here comes Hannah, and then Ike?

Yes I know I didn't mention Gustav but that storm is currently heading to New Orleans, and Fay is still causing storms and rain across the country but both are outside of our 'cone of concern'. This term is apparently only used by my favorite local Weather man Tim Deagan. I thought everyone knew what the 'cone of concern' was, but last week I queried several people here in my town and hardly anyone knew what it was, and it had me in hysterics. I know what's so funny about that? I guess you had to be there.

All Fay All Day and Day and Day

I think she may be gone...but wait was that a wind gust?! Fay has been with us all week, our power was out yesterday most of the day, the wind was gusting, the torrential downpours many...Mike tried to get our 2k+ generator going that we bought for the last F word storm that took out our power - Frances in 2004. The gas was still in there from 04 and gummed it up so it wouldnt work....Anyway after plenty of trys as it was getting dark, we hightailed out of here and got a motel room. We just cant sleept without air conditioning. I just don't want to do it. When we got home this morning we saw a few neighbors windows opened so we were crabbing and moaning and hoping we weren't about to be without power for 5 days again like in 2004 when Mike tried the garage door opener. Hurray!! We were never so happy to see that door raise. We came running in and started cleaning feverishly. Nothing like not being able to vacuum to put you in the mood for it!

Fay Go Away!

Well we spent the evening scouring the stores for batteries and bottled water. We came home triumphant with lots of D batteries (which were not easy to find!) gallons of water and smaller bottles of water, other batteries, and munchy type foods. Our mayor declared that this was serious at 6:14 pm, when he said school would be closed both tomorrow and Thursday. It's good that Mike is a teacher as Jamie's school is closed as well. I will go to work, but may take off a bit early and work from home. (if we have power) Mike will stay home with Jamie and stow the garbage cans, umbrellas and outside furniture. Also fill the tub, get chlorine for the pool,and wash some towels...Poor guy the list is getting longer as I think about it. Last time a hurricane came up the state and came through this area was Frances and she caused a power outage in our home for 5.5 days. It seriously sucked. How can anyone live without air conditining, not to mention internet, expresso makers etc. When we did leave the house it was treacherous as the traffic lights were out and we saw 5 accidents at the intersections...This time we will either stay in and stay safe (and hot!) or we will run for the hills. Or it could turn away from us in the night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the latter.

Mike is back to school so our vacation is over

Gosh it's been nice having a house-wife I mean husband. LOL - Mike had 8-9 weeks off this summer between last year and this year as he teaches High School and our district does not do year round classes. Though he did get hired at one of those learning centers, they couldn't seem to get it together to get him trained so Mike only worked about 3 days for a couple hours each time. Although it would have been nice to have the extra money it was also nice having him home. He took Jamie to daycare and picked her up every day, and in the mornings he was here while I was getting ready to get Jamie ready. He also got some things done around the house that didn't seem to be gotten to when he was working, like paint the spa cabinet, pressure wash the outside steps and sidewalks.

Now I am on my own in the morning as he leaves before 7am. How do you people do this!?! What do you do with a toddler while you are getting ready? I tiptoe around and hope she doesnt wake until I am almost ready but she wakes up most of the time about 30 or 40 minutes before I am ready to leave, in other words I am not ready when she wakes up. She doesn't want to be left alone on the potty even for five or ten minutes to do her business. I am trying to retrain her that this is the way we have to do things but there are fights and struggles every morning.

Any suggestions?!

Lantana gone mad

Wow we had fun today and got a lot accomplished inside and in the yard. I got several things tagged for the childrens consignment sale coming up the beginning of October, and the other night my mom helped me put some iron-on name tags on some of Jamie's clothes for her new school next week so I have about 20 items ready for her to wear. I still don't have the label maker I ordered for Walmart, the labels I used were in a kit with tape, stencils and a pen for $3.

I have a small garden back behind the pool that I have let languish since we got Jamie just over 2 years ago. I had it all spiffed up with zinnias and sunflowers alot of summers, but this year I let a Lantana take over most of it. If you don't live in the south you may not know, but a Lantana is a bit like a weed/bush that has a very cool flower. It starts off yellow and turns orange and than pink...or starts off pink and turns yellow then orange...hmmmm not sure which way it turns. I remember the first year I lived in Florida finding it out in a field blooming away, like free landscaping! The problem is it is invasive so a small 2 ft bush can spread 8 ft across and 6 ft tall in 2 years if you don't have a good frost to kill it back. Not only that but it has been raining here almost every day in July and lantana doesn't bloom when it gets too much water. Not to mention it's poisonous and the hairy leaves hurt your hands and they stink if you crush them (like cat pee!) So it had to go. I pruned it way back first and starting cutting the roots around it...The main trunk was as thick as my upper arm, and I left a good bit of it so Mike could grasp it, and now it is gone!

I planted some tomato plants that had gotten leggy and some purslane which needed to go in to the ground. Then we snuck next door to the neighbors back yard and cut back some lantana bushes and some thorny vines that were starting to creep over and under our fence. Our 73 yr old neighbor Lou, died 2 weeks ago and it doesn't look like anyone is in a hurry to get his backyard in order. Weeds are hip high and he has dozens of bins with crap in them, and empty soda bottles all over his yard not to mention his porch and garage are crammed full with crap. (And his house, I know, we are nosy, we looked through the window on the front door!)

Poor guy had a heart attack about a month ago, (he mentioned it to Mike in the front yard, so he was released from the hospital), then we didn't see him again. His car showed up with a dented front bumper, but he never came back. We saw some people coming into his house one day last weekend with bags, and alot of trash bags at the curb one day. So we looked him up in the online obits from our local paper, and sure enough, he died suddenly it said. We wonder if he had another heart attack while driving. We didn't have a very good relationship with him as he called the city on us for backwashing the pool when some water came into his yard. The weeds have been hip high for months, but we never called the city on him. As much as we wanted to - and we are glad we didn't now. Sometimes it's good to be nice, or not be mean anyway.

Mike is also working on our lights that encircle the pool and the spa has been wonderful, now that it is in working order. We just need to paint the cabinet again and it will look all right back there. Maybe we can have some people over for a nighttime spa and pool get together. It's hard to do in the daytime, not only because of the extreme heat but the every day rain showers. We get out there when we can. I love our yard.