$ and Other

Today is March 31, the last day of the month!! In my world that means getting the budget saved, cleared, and ready for next today's paycheck:) Tomorrow I pay bills!! BTW, does anyone not do direct deposit anymore?

Sadly, awfully, this month we went over our budget in many of the 9 categories.... BAD US!!! With the higher gas prices, we might need to raise our gasoline amount, even though we already raised it by $50 anticipating J's longer commute post-new house. Actually, the reason we went over this month is my road trip to St. Louis to visit the darling AbbyandNate:) BTW, I think no more Mommy + C road trips for a while!! It wasn't terribly hard but definitely more of a challenge than it was 7 months ago:) J MUST go next time I drive 5 hours anywhere!!

And the grocery budget- I don't even want to think about that. Seems like most months we go over in that area. Grrrr..... Dang eco-local-humane conscious us. Hard to stay in budget when you shop for what we consider responsible food.... We go out to eat once a week and the rest of the time I cook our meals... I reeeally don't want to raise this area of our budget since it's already so high but we might have to. I already make our bread, all meals, breakfasts, etc. from scratch. Ideas????

Currently I'm am:

• Listening to children's music, finding something cool enough for both me and the kid to listen to. Generally we just listen to my music but C perks up and gets excited when he hears a child's voice in music or on toys. Poor boy, hanging around adults alllllll day must get pretty dull. Personally, I puke up kid music sang by kids so that makes my task here a bit more demanding.... I'm looking in to Ziggy Marley, Lisa Loeb, They Might Be Giants, Charlotte DIamond and more based on recommendations. All we have now is Elizabeth Mitchell, who(m?) I love:) Anyone have other kid music with a spattering of kid voices?

• Wishing I had my own laptop. Soon:) Maybe a 1-2 more weeks? THEN IT'S OFF TO THE APPLE STORE!!!!! And then I'll spend all my time on my computer and C will have to learnt to raise himself. Being an excessively brilliant child, this won't be a problem for us.

• Getting off here to conquer my long list of jobs. Seriously, this whole Stay At Home Mom thing seemed a lot easier when I wasn't one. That goes for being Mom too. Working 24 hours a day (even every grueling 2-3 hours at night!!!), every weekend, even while on vacation?!?!?!?! All for only hugs, kisses, screaming, drool, poop/pee, spit up, grins, giggles, constant carrying of 20 pounds, and cuddles? Totally worth it:) Best boss EVER and I'm learning more now than I did in any other career. Plus my colleague is hot and oh so understanding and wonderful!!

• REMINDS ME!!!! C POOPED AND PEED IN HIS POTTY THIS MORNING. Made that diaper change so much easier:)

My Day

Yesterday was a busy day. Want to see? If not, go read something else a tad more interesting than my mundane life:)

Not in this order, but I did this yesterday:

1. Packed and shipped my laptop away. Bye bye! Hello soon to a new one!!
2. Washed 3 loads of laundry. Didn't fold them....
3. Did a few loads of dishes. Sink and counters are covered in more waiting to be done right now...
4. Ate a yummy lunch and finished this delightful book (finished it last night while Munchkin was sleeping).

1. Made and baked 2 loaves of bread. Slow cooker-ed black beans for recipes and freezing.
2. Froze beans, pasta sauce, and one pasta casserole. Ate the other pasta casserole for dinner;)
3. Made the pasta sauce. Pretty!!!
4. Cleaned the house. Obviously it needs cleaned again today because HEAVEN FORBID it stay clean more than one day;)
5. Visited my grandmother.
6. Most of this was done with C strapped to my back in the Ergo. Love the Ergo for my curious boy :D

This is what C did:

1. Tiny napped. Played. Whined.
2. Spit up everywhere except his bib. Mommy changed him. He still smelled icky but OH WELL.
3. Looked cute.
4. Fell over and bonked his head on the wood floor. Nursing made it better.
5. Fell over and bonked his head on the wood floor. Nursing made it better.
6. Bonked his head on Mommy's head (mean Mommy's fault!!!). Nursing and a nap made it better. Napped medium.
7. Dug in his toys.
8. Entertained LOTS of people at great-grandmother's nursing home. Had SOOO much fun being the center of attention.
9. BONKED HIS HEAD AGAIN. Mommy needs to remember to set him on BLANKETS.
10. Went to bed. Sad sad boy:(

Here's what Sadie did:

1. Slept. All day.
2. Ate C's food scraps.
3. Probably ate her own poop while outside.

The Super Excellent Schedule

Today I made this:

Been meaning to for a while.

Ever since we moved in here, I've been dashing around from task to task like a chicken with its head cut off. Ick. I think now my house will be cleaner and my time will be spent more efficiently. And OMG do I love efficiency:)

So now I have a schedule for me and a schedule for baby C. I've found that if I don't have something like this, I tend to become a slobby blob, C gets bored, and life falls apart. J and I are finding out C gets bored VERY easily (hmmm, wonder who that sounds like!) and it drives me crazy having to dash from a chore to him, back to working, then to playing. The schedule will solve EVERYTHING, did you know? With it, I've got things to play/do with him while he's awake and a list of jobs I NEED to get done while he naps.

AND THE LAUNDRY. OMG. SO MUCH.

How do you parents do this? 15,000 loads of laundry a week!?!? C used to be a super good spitter upper but has since learned the folly of his ways, which decreased our VAST amounts of laundry. Still, there is A LOT. Add to that cloth diapers. Weekend work/paint clothes + regular clothes. 1 million bibs daily for my drooler (C, not J). Have I made it clear that the laundry never ends?

The schedule will do the laundry for me now:) AND fold it:) GLEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

The sad thing is, even though I have a made An Excellent Schedule, the house is such a pit from our busyness and minor house revovations that everything on my list needed to be done today:( Paperwork, grocery, laundry, cleaning, dishes, dinner, sweeping, vacuum, bathrooms. Everything:( I got to most of it but am leaving in 30 minutes for the Indy Homebirth Support Group. Cramming in dinner, nursing the babe, and leaving. Hanging with some fun mamas then coming back to put C to bed and get some J cuddle time:)

The schedule will get everything I didn't have time to do while I'm gone:)

C and His Daddy

My baby boy loves his daddy:) And J sure is the best dad in the world. Nothing like an amazing husband to keep a crazy me sane. J is the kind of man who will come home from a long day at work, find me a stressed mess trying to calm down the newbie babe, and without a thought he will finish (or start!) dinner, clean the kitchen, and then jiggle C to sleep. Such a dedicated dad and hubby!!!

Since I'm now a stay at home momma, my new job is to:

• raise, educate, and nurture our kid
• clean
• cook
• do laundry
• grocery shop
• pay the bills
• and anything else that comes up during the day:)

Makes my old 45 hours a week teaching job seem easy!

Of course since my job isn't confined to an 8 hour weekday and centers around a volatile yet oh so beautiful 2 month old, delightful hubby gets to work overtime with me. And he does it so graciously and happily. I feel very grateful for this and for him!

BTW, someone asked me (and I used to wonder this myself!) if I get bored being a SAHM. And the answer is NO WAY HOSEA. NOOOPE. Really, I have no time to get bored. Once (last week?) I actually sat and read a book during naptime! For 30 minutes!!! That's the only time I've not had something to work on during naptime. And non-naptime is filled with BABY. 

Speaking of work, I've got to go be the dishwasher to a countertop of dishes. It will be so nice to have a functioning dishwasher again one day!

My Monday

Yesterday I:

1. Went for a funky rain walk/run.
2. Researched stuff/ideas for Baby's room.
3. Paid bills, balanced the budget, and made all the various calls that went with that.
4. Figured out/called about insurance and leave stuff for the birth.
5. Called and scheduled another realtor visit.
6. Did the dishes 1.5 times...... dishes flood on the counter was averted. Mounting again though.
7. Finished the laundry. Put it away. 
8. Scrubbed out the new-t0-us deep freezer that had mold growing on/in it.
9. Listed some stuff on Craigslist.
10. Did Hypnobabies very well:)
11. Wrote my sister a letter.
12. Set out the recycling bins, put away the bin and trash cans.
13. Spent an hour on the phone getting new insurance quotes for cars and house. Will save $800 when we switch!!!!
14. Cleaned the closet.
15. Made the bed, cleaned the house.
16. Various other things that I did not have on the list. Including eating about 5 small meals.

Then I stopped to eat dinner and get ready to leave the house around 4:45. We went to our childbirth class from 6:30 until 10:15. Went home and slept through more storms with Sadie and J. 

Sometimes I just like to keep a list of what I did during the day so I feel accomplished. 

SNOWSNOWSNOWSNOW

Apparently it snowed last night and that makes me happy:) I love snow! I love driving in snow! I love looking at snow! I love walking in snow! I don't love playing in snow because I hate being cold.

When I left for work at 7:25, my 7 minute commute was ruined. Not by snow, but by ice. Well, not ruined but really SLOWED. Took me over 30 minutes so I got to listen to to NPR longer!

Kids are supposed to be at school at 9:00 but the last of them didn't get in until 11:00!! HAH, they shoulda called a 2 hour delay!!!! It was an odd day but it worked...

Did You Know: Eugene Hutz's (of Gogol Borello) dad was arrested for listening to the BBC in Russia? NEITHER DID I. Jo alerted me that Hutz was interviewed on Fresh Air Friday night. When I grow up, I want to be in Gogol Bordello.

START WEARING PURPLE!!

SMRT, I Am So Smrt

One of my friends is in grad school for Library and Information Science, and Archive Management. Now I don't know about you but I'm pretty jealous of her career. Not that I could ever do it because I couldn't sit still that long all day, but WOW. Books all day. WOW.

ANYWAY. Here's an article she found about choosing how to preserve books simply by smelling them. Smell the VOCs in a book and know how to save it. It is very thrilling to me to read terms like "material degradomics". WOWOW. On a side note, as a freakish environmentalist, I tend to avoid VOCs. NOT ANYMORE. Not anymore. As Neko Case sings, never turn your back on Mother Earth.

Sigh. I love the smell of old books.

On another side note, I love smart speak. When J talks programing/computer speak, I like it (hehe). When he gets together with my bros, it's hard to understand anything they say. When my sis and bros talk photography, I am in awe. Yesterday I had coffee with my other sis and her guy/boy/friend/datee and they talked physics and astronomy. SO COOL. I think my education lingo is a bit sad and pathetic. Perhaps that's because I know it all. DIBELs, IEPS, 504s, and NWEA are everyday to me. I WISH I COULD SMART SPEAK. My goal in life. Say things no one else can understand.

And: TODAY I BOUGHT EGGNOG. From Trader's Point Creamery. From my meat shop. Moody's Meats.

My Minor Complaints in This Life

So in the adult restrooms at work: there are limits on how much toilet paper you are allowed to use.

That's right. Those in change restrict our toilet paper usage by STOPPING THE TOILET PAPER ROLL FROM TURNING. Yes, they do. They do!! I'm not pulling your leg!! Toilet paper rolls at my workplace do not turn. Is this normal? I've always been annoyed by this but this morning, I got a little bit ~ahem add word here~ about it. It's not been the best of lives for me lately and the toilet paper, damn it, why won't it turn?????

Because there is nothing else in the world to rant about;)

Except that I think those who are obese, smokers, or non-exercisers should pay more for their insurance. Safeway supports me in this view.

And, that I'm sad my farmer's market ended Tuesday. I will miss chatting with my fav farmers.

Also, I'm sad I can't do much for the redwoods that are so tall they blow my mind.

I wish I didn't have 31 kids in my class so I could focus on each kid as an individual and give them the education they so need and deserve.

I wish I could have a normal holiday just once more in my life. Sad that life changes and I don't quite know how to deal yet...

Croak, Croak...

There's this blog I read called Dooce cause she's freaking HI-LAR-I-OUS. We both talk in caps a lot and maybe she yells a lot in real life, like I do. Anyway, she started a blog of HATEMAIL to make ad money off the crazy things people comment on her page/e-mail her.

I really like this idea. But I think if I got hate comments, I'd cry a lot. A LLLLLLOOOOOTTTTT. Because I am a wimp when it comes to accepting criticism. Or hate. It makes me sob and worry.

Guess what? I'm staying home from work tomorrow cause I'm losing my voice!!! I had to do this once last year, in December (3 days in the 3rd week that month) because I got a HORRIBLE cold, didn't rest, and it consumed my life. Seems familiar. Damn me and my not resting skills. Why is it when I feel fine, I am lazy but when I am sick, THINGS MUST GET DONE?

ANYWAY, I will be home tomorrow, antsy and home. I need to go out and buy dishwasher soap, return some things to stores, and drop off Goodwill stuff. But I'm scared to cause if any of my students' parents see me, they will immediately assume I'm skipping out on their kid to play hooky and run errands. When I speak/croak, they'll know I have a good excuse but what if they see me far off? What if they point fingers? CRITICIZE ME??????

I think I'll do my errands in a different town, not in mine.

BTW, I don't know how to spell criticize. Or errands. Or available. Isn't that smart of a teacher? But I am a very good teacher, a fine example to kids that not everyone is good at everything. I'm an amazing teacher but an atrocious speller.

New Harmony on Saturday, must be able to speak by then!!!

My Brain

This is how my head felt when I left work today at 4:00:

wfhiuwehofmsuhogixbdfbljkxbvkjlrxtcgiumrtxrtglmchlrthmlrnuvchxemo8qgumxu8
3jjxm8924ytuchx94hcm9h4xg2jmix34o8m3489n8c54ycmtxzkn,vjbmzi;,iovmgn4c8

It imploded quietly for a while. Nothing remains. But a NAP will restore me!!!!!!

Ummm, yeah.....

INDIANA!!!! So here I am, back at home. Well, not exactly.... I'm at one of my summer jobs (photography assistant and tutorer (is that right? tutorer? watch out, grammar mistakes ahead!)). 

I've got nothing new to say about life except that my husband is gone, in California for work until Friday night. I'm all alone in this world! Oh Rhett, whatever shall I do?!?!?!

I shall be photography assisting today and tomorrow, tutoring Wednesday, whatever Thursday, then tutoring Friday. Each night w/o J I will lounge about, watching raunchy, horrific amounts of TV, slurping spaghetti off my plate, eating salad with my fingers, and basically doing everything I don't do because people are around. J keeps me sane.

Here's a secret and it's really weird (to me) and slightly inappropriate (to you?). Stop reading if you'd like to NOT know the extra information I shall divulge today. I'm not wearing underware today! Wow, first time for everything! My gyno always tells me it is better not to wear underware so I'm trying it out. For size. Well, more like this: "OMG, I'm changing and all the laundry is sitting folded on the couch in the living room! I'm out of underware (due to vacation) (yes, I think in parentheses)(and sometimes don't capitalize correctly in them)! I'll grab some underware when I'm changed. Hmmm, I'm very busy getting ready to leave but I think I'm missing something. What is it? What is that 'off' feeling? OH. YEAH. Hmmm, maybe I'll give this a try, after all, I'm wearing a long skirt so it should be fine."

I've ever felt more free under my LONG skirt and it makes going to the bathroom 50% easier!!!

Weird. I KNOW. But this is a one time thing for me so don't freak out....