Brandon's Puppy

Weekend wrap-up

I'm glad to report that neither I nor the boys got the stomach virus hubby had. I did get a lovely little gastritis attack, with my stomach blowing up like a balloon every evening for the last three nights. Brandon was complaining that his ear ached yesterday, and has a dry cough, and Matthew has the sniffles, so I guess we aren't completely ailment-free. But in spite of all this, we had a great weekend.

On Saturday we accompanied Angie to do her baby registry, then went to Lowe's and finally found the pull-out garbage bin we'd been looking for. We followed that with a quick visit to Target for a birthday present then on to Vivian's house for Nicole's 6th birthday party.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of fun and shopping too. Hubby, the boys, my mom and I went to IKEA. I behaved very well, only spent about $21, but we finally decided on the entertainment unit we want for the living room. We're just hoping it's still around by the time we have funds to purchase it, or the search will have to start all over again.

It was a busy birthday weekend: Nicole's on Saturday, and yesterday was Chantel's: Happy Birthday, Chanty! And it doesn't end there, today is my Godmother's birthday. Hopefully I'll get a chance to pass by her house this evening.

That's it for now, time to get to work. Darn work.

Changes are in store

I wonder if the truck accident lawyer that WB hires will give me a referral discount…I too feel like I’ve been run over by a semi. Between the events of the last two weeks, yesterday’s allergies, the crazy weekend that lies ahead, and some major upcoming changes going on at work, I’m beat-up and exhausted!

Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier: I will begin taking the metrorail to work on Tuesday. It’s going to feel really weird not having my car at my disposal throughout the day, but I’ll be saving money and won’t be as stressed out by traffic. I think I might invest on an ipod or buy a few books I’ve been meaning to read, now that I’ll have at least an hour a day of relaxation.

In hiding

I had a major allergy attack yesterday, consisting of a miserable day at work and going to sleep once I got home. Hubby has some sort of stomach thing going on and called in sick yesterday and today. I feel much better today, thanks to the two Benadryl I took as soon as I got home, and sleeping for almost 12 hours, but I can't help dreading the inevitable: that stomach bug is looking for me. I hope it doesn't find me, or the boys.

The end of an era

Brandon has entered the beginning of the end of his fascination with Thomas the train. His new favorites are Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean. When we bought him new sneakers a couple of weeks ago, he specifically requested Spiderman shoes. He wants to know why we don't have any Spiderman movies or cartoons for him to watch.
He came home from school all last week with coloring pages from a pirate coloring book, and on Friday night asked me for blank pieces of paper and a stapler. He put one sheet on the front of his stack of coloring pages, and one on the back, wrote "PIRATESOFTHECARIBBEAN" (in caps and no spaces, copied from the DVD cover) on the front page, stapled all the pages together, and made his own "book". He's watched the movie three or four times throughout the weekend, and even took out his little Pirates-themed lego kit when the baby was napping.

Ironically, we just found out that Six Flags over Georgia has a Thomas Town, and wanted to treat him to a visit before he got "too old" for Thomas...looks like that's coming sooner than we thought. Good thing we've got another little guy to use as an excuse treat to a new theme park.

Lots of I Do's

There's a new epidemic going on in my office. Last year there was a baby boom; this year there's a wedding boom. One of the guys got engaged over the weekend. One girl is helping her cousin set up a proposal for this coming weekend and asked us "veterans" for some suggestions. And of course there's my supervisor, who is getting married in about six weeks. So all I'm hearing about lately are locations and dresses and flowers and groomsmen/bridesmaid gifts and deejays and menus and invitations and rings and honeymoons and in-laws and registries and....well, you get the point.
I really don't remember my wedding planning being so hectic, but it was almost six years ago. Pretty much anything older than a few days is a blur. So much effort goes into what is essentially a big party, and I just hope they all take a moment to enjoy it and focus on the marriage part of it, not just the wedding.

Miscellaneous

We stayed home all weekend long, except for a Saturday evening outing to a friend's house. That's very odd for us, but it was nice to vegitate on the couch all weekend, watching movies and enjoying each other's company. If I had ordered the pictures I need to print, I would have done some long-overdue scrapping too. I hardly got online, as you can tell by how quiet it was around here.

I just heard about George Carlin passing away yesterday. I called hubby to tell him, since that's one of his favorites, and he says, "I guess there won't be a Dogma 2 then". Silly husband.

We took hubby's car to get fixed Saturday afternoon. We had all three belts changed, just in case, and good thing too. Hubby says he saw the belts once they were removed and they would have caused trouble in the very near future. We've had a bit of bad luck these last couple of weeks, but I keep trying to stay positive, reminding myself that it could be worse. I keep thinking that had we invested in a condo hotel two years ago like we wanted, we'd be in major trouble. My good friend C did that, and now she's facing two mortgages (her primary home and the investment) and no buyers....yikes!

I handed Matty his bottle in the car this morning, and he said "tashu". That just about ensured that I'll have a happy Monday! How cute was that?!

Good and Bad

The good:
Our homeowner's insurance went down $1200 because of the mitigation discount. I'm calling the mortgage company first thing Monday for a new escrow analysis.

The bad:
As I'm driving into our driveway, hubby's car's power steering went out.

Sheesh...when I wished for more luck earlier, I didn't mean bad luck!

It's Friday!!

Although my car's not ready yet (hubby's co-worker couldn't get to it on Wednesday and is on vacation until Tuesday), it's been a pretty good week. For one, in spite of the constant rain, we didn't get wet once. I got some good news yesterday: Kikita is coming to visit very ,very soon! She'll be here for the span of a week, so I may be "sick" sometime in mid-July. *cough, cough*
Hubby had his annual check-up yesterday and everything is fine, and since he was home early I stayed late at work and was very productive.
So yeah, this week was much better than the last one.

Pleasant surprise

I hadn't realized that Independence Day was so close until a co-worker mentioned the upcoming 3-day weekend. It will be so nice to celebrate our country's birthday and not have to come in to work the following day. No real plans as of yet, probably stay home for our get-together, or go to Palmer Park. What about you, any plans yet?

I don't want to jinx it

It is only Wednesday, but this week is looking a little better than the last one.

The part we ordered for my car came in yesterday, and hubby's coworker is going to fix it for free today.

Looks like we'll be getting a significant discount on my homeowners' insurance, I'll know by next week. I'm eager to get that info to my mortgage lenders so that I can see the decrease before sending them that escrow shortage they asked for.

Hubby gets paid tomorrow, and we still have money in the bank. Not a lot, but some, which is better than none.

I really hope I didn't just jinx us...

Learning to say no to bargains

About two-thirds of the computers at work were recently upgraded, and there are now 20 towers calling my office their temporary home. The department heads are trying to figure out whether to sell them to the employees or send them to surplus storage. If it were a really good deal, say under $200, I would buy one. We could get it for the boys, or I could use it for scrapping. Of course, I'd rather it had the compact flash and SD card drives like our current computer does (it doesn't). That would make downloading pictures so much easier. Then again, we already have an extra computer which we've yet to set up. If we bought another it would probably just sit in a corner for months before we'd do anything with it, if at all.
So there you have it, no "new" computer for us. Now if only it were this easy to talk myself out of spending money at Target...

A Quarter of a Century

Happy 25th Birthday, Amy....uh, I mean, Hurricane Kikita!!

Love you mucho, my friend!

This is not like me

Things done today:

Took Matty to the doctor.

Went to Target. Tried to be frugal, but there were several things we needed that weren't on sale.

Went to Best Buy, got hubby's Father's Day present, the only one we are purchasing. Brandon insisted we had to get daddy something, and has been apologizing all day because he didn't buy me anything for Mother's Day, though he did make me several crafty things at school.

Went to Linens N Things (did you know they are closing??!). Didn't find anything, which is good since I shouldn't have gone in there anyway.

Got home, walked around two cul de sacs with the boys. Then we went in the backyard and blew bubbles. I looked around and was disgraced by the state of my backyard, and decided to rake the grass and sweep the tiled section. Hubby came home and helped me finish. I avoid yardwork like the plague, thanks to my fear of frogs and other icky outdoor creatures. For some reason, it didn't bother me today.

Came inside, washed two loads of laundry, bathed the boys, cleaned all our cabinet doors and drawers with the best invention known to man, and started dinner.

Still have to sweep and mop the kitchen floor, fold the two loads, take a shower, and run to the market for a few missing ingredients for hubby's waffle breakfast tomorrow.

...and I wondered a few moments ago why I felt so tired!!

I know it could be worse...

..but man, have I had a lousy week! After all the car drama, and the allergies, I thought the weekend would be trouble-free. I thought wrong. Matty got some sort of bite on his eyelid yesterday while at the sitter's, and it's significantly bigger than yesterday.

He can't open his eye all the way, and though he doesn't seem to be in pain, the growth of it overnight does have me worried. We're headed to his pediatrician in about 45 minutes. So yeah...the bad luck streak continues.

Update: Doctor said to give him 3/4 teaspoon of children's Benadryl for the itching, and put some hydrocortisone on it. The swelling has gone down a bit, and he's still not prone to scratching it. Should see some significant improvement by Monday, she said.

Pac-Man

So I was doing a quick search for something before getting ready for bed (yes, it will be an early night), and I came across last year's xbox 360 Pac Man World Championships. A 27 yeard old guy from Mexico won with 22,160 points. I found it interesting that the winner was 1 year old when Pac Man was created 26 years ago.
I'm far from a "gamer", we don't even own one gaming console, but give me Pac Man, Frogger, or Tetris, and I'll be there for hours.

What's going on around here?

On Tuesday, one co-worker’s computer wouldn’t connect to the server. She couldn’t do anything that required internet connection, including email and accessing the shared drives. Yesterday (from what I hear), another co-worker’s video card is not working. Today, someone’s monitor has a lovely green hue to it (maybe a close relative of the dreaded blue screen?) and can’t view certain documents because of the green screen.
I think the computers are trying to tell us something…I will step forth and translate: everybody go on vacation! ;-)

Insult to injury

Because I haven't had a stressful enough week, I now have allergies. I blame hubby's car. It's dusty and filthy, and I started sneezing as soon as I got into it this morning.

I can't wait for this week to be over. I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday.

When it rains, it pours

Lots to say about yesterday and today's adventures. Unfortunately, I'm exhausted, and I need to get to bed. I'm going to copy and paste an email I sent a friend to fill you all in. Please forgive grammatical errors.

I was driving on the turnpike yesterday afternoon after picking up the baby, and once we passed the bird road toll i realized I couldn't slow down. My accelerator cable broke, and the pedal was all the way to the floor. I pumped the brakes a few times and nothing, I had to get over to the right side and figure out how to slow down the car. Once I got onto the side of the road, I put the car in neutral, pulled up the emergency brake, and slowed the car down enough to put it in park and turn it off. it was super scary, esp. with the baby in the car, and not knowing if i'd be able to stop...or be stopped. My super awesome uncle and aunt came to our rescue, and he was able to temporarily fix the thing until we can get the part.
Everything alright now...except hubby and i were carpooling this morning, and his starter gave out! fortunately, we got stranded at his job, and his coworker called triple-A. We towed the car to Tires Plus and got the car fixed. Matty and I were at hubby's job till about noon, when my sister came by to pick us up.
Hubby's car is fine now, part was ordered for mine, and we should have two working cars by next week.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

This morning we went by Viv and Martin's house and visited with the new baby for a while. Not yet a week old (he will be in a few hours), he's already drinking 4 ounces and pays attention when he's talked to (well, he opens his eyes...I consider that paying attention!). I helped Viv change him, and we dressed him in a little sleeper outfit Matthew wore the day he came home from the hospital. It was very surreal dressing this tiny little guy in something my own baby wore, and looking over a few feet and seeing that baby of mine running around their room. After we left, I told Eric, "I really miss that baby phase", and I know why, it goes by way too fast.

So later on in the day we went to visit my paternal grandmother, who is not doing very well. There's nothing specifically wrong with her except old age (she's 95). She can't walk more than a few feet before she has trouble breathing, and most of the time she's sitting in her recliner, hooked up to her oxygen machine. Up until just a few weeks ago, she was very independent. She would put up a fight if anyone offered her any help, and she could be home by herself for extended periods of time. These days, she doesn't fuss when my aunt helps her bathe or go to the bathroom, and someone is with her all day. We were there for a couple of hours, and by the time we left, the house was full of people, coming by the check up on her and spend some time with her.

I looked at her aged arms and hands today, and I remembered visiting Brian earlier, and it was all too clear how short life is. One minute we're brand new getting used to the world around us, the next we're just waiting for our time to go. The cars we drive, the homes we live in, the clothes we wear, the jobs we have, the bills we pay...they don't matter. What does: the unconditional love and support of family and friends, through good times and bad, in the beginning, the middle and the end. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wake my kids up and give them both hugs, breathe them in and hold on to them for just a moment, before the moment is gone.

Food fight!

While on a bathroom break at Claudia’s shower today, a woman was in there trying to wipe off food splattered all over her clothes. Her expression said it all: it seems her little one didn’t want to cooperate during lunch time. Not even a suit of armor would have protected her. I felt badly for her, but I’m glad it wasn’t me with that gunk all over her clothes!

Temptation lies at every turn

I walked around the mall this evening pretending I had blinders on, trying not to look into the stores or be enticed by bargains. We went into the store, returned our item, and walked straight to the food court. I did pretty good until we sat down to eat. Did you know there are TVs in food courts now? I didn't, and I was not prepared for the bombardment of ads, from upcoming sales events to concert tickets to cruise deals. I felt so...ambushed. But in spite of the unexpected advertising attack, we did manage to leave the mall empty-handed. Hooray for willpower!

Pseudo Saturday

I took the day off today, Brandon's school was closed to prepare for summer camp, so we spent most of the day at home. Around noon, a home inspector came by to assess my roof and shutters. I'm a little bit poorer today as I had to pay him $150 for the inspection, but I'll get it back with the expected $900 decrease in our mortgage premium.
Once he left, I went to the baby store to buy Claudia's shower present. Her shower is tomorrow, and I procrastinated on getting her gift. Well, not intentionally, mostly because I forgot her shower was this weekend.
We came back home and my cousin Sherri and nephew Tyler came by for a little while. He's two years old, and is learning to put sentences together. He says "What do you want?" when he wants to show you something or wants you to do something, I guess because he's asked so often he figures that's what he's supposed to say! It was fun watching him interact with his oldest and youngest cousins for a while.
Once hubby got home from work, we went to the mall to return the steam mop I bought a month ago. We tried using it twice and it wouldn't work, and I'd rather have $80 back on my credit card than sitting uselessly in laundry room. That worked out, since what I spent on the shower gift (nd then some) was offset by the credit I just got for the mop.
Oh, and we were fantastically frugal about dinner. We ordered a bourbon chicken combo at Cajun Grill, and the four of us ate for under $8.

It felt like a Saturday all day long, but I'm so glad I've still got two more days before I have to go back to work!

Forgetful

Even though the invitation has been stuck on my refrigerator for two weeks, I had forgotten that Claudia's baby shower is this Saturday.

I also forgot that she had borrowed my old maternity clothes, and I was supposed to pick up whatever she wasn't using to lend them to another friend. I remembered this two days ago. My friend is currently 23 weeks pregnant.

I had to turn in my time off report for last month yesterday, and looking at my requested time off, I had asked to come in late the morning of May 21st. I forgot where I needed to be or why!

I'm literally losing my mind....

New Little Guy

I'd like to introduce you to my newest "nephew". This is Brian, new son to our dear friends Vivian and Martin. For those of you that know mommy (and therefore will inquire about such details), she had contractions all day Sunday. She called her doctor late in the evening and was told to go to the hospital. She was admitted around midnight, at which point she was 8cm dilated! They prepped her for surgery, and Brian made his grand entrance at 2am. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 0.5 ounces and measures 19 inches.
Mommy and baby are doing great. Daddy is elated, and big sisters Nicole and Julie are thrilled to finally meet their new baby brother.
Isn't he cute?! We'll get to spend some quality time with him when he comes home tomorrow night. Congratulations on your new addition, Bech family!

O.M.G.

Claudia hooked it up!! We have floor seats to New Kids on the Block!!!
Section 1. Look!!!

=)

A flashback, in more ways than one

Last night's concert really took us back. Claudia and I realized we were 7 years old when some of those songs came out. We danced the night away (as much as one can dance in front of their seat at an arena, and as much as Claudia can dance being six months pregnant) and left with a huge smile on our face. That smile became wider when we were walking out of the arena and who was but two people away, surrounded by a small crowd? None other than Johnny O! But of course, neither one of us had our cameras with us ("what are the odds we'll need them?," we said), so you'll just have to take our word for it. I did try to get a picture with my phone, but it's just a funny blur, you can't even tell it's a person.
It was about 12:30am by the time we finally got out of the parking lot. I'd had a late lunch, but no dinner, and Claudia had nachos and a drink during the concert, but no dinner either, so we headed to La Carreta for a small little something. As we were leaving, we crossed paths with a boy we (both of us, but mostly I) had a crush on in high school. I won't reveal his name in case he googles himself and finds thist post, but we'll call him G.I. Joe as that's what we'd call him back then (for those of you that know him...not very creative, I know!). I was pleasantly surprised when he said, "Oh my God, Amanda! How are you???" and gave me a hug and then said hi to Claudia. He was with his wife,but he didn't introduce us, and we didn't introduce ourselves as it was a very short exchange, and I fear I would have gotten all tongue-tied had it lasted longer. Can I admit I was giddy during the entire drive home?! With good reason, this was one of two people I had a ginormous crush on in high school, and he looks even more handsome than back then. See for yourself below the fold.

So yeah, it was a pretty exciting night, and I got distracted for a bit from our current worries. I'm glad I went, and I'm glad Claudia was there with me to witness the G.I Joe sighting. =)

P.S. Chrissy, I know you know who this is. ;-)

Vacation-less

While on my way to the concert last night, I got a call from my cousin. He told me he’d spent the long weekend at the Outer Banks, and said maybe we should try to come up during Labor Day weekend so we could stay there. I told him that unfortunately, our visit will have to be postponed. Again. Indefinitely.