Good morning!
I think this is the first year in my life I’ve enjoyed Spring Forward DST. Ironically, I feel so much more rested this week than I do every other week. I'm practically chipper. Instead of losing an hour of sleep, we just skipped an hour of awake time and it seems my body loves 23 hour days (while pregnant, at least). Our church made it “We Say When Sunday,” as in, they decided the time change would happen at noon (after church) instead of 2 a.m. It was GREAT. We got up at our normal time (which was technically an hour late). After church we had my family over for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Thomas smoked a corned beef brisket and made boiled potatoes and cabbage. (I made…iced tea. With an iced tea maker. It was tough.) Anyway, having lunch at our house was perfect, because my family played with Meg for two hours and wore her out enough she took her nap at the new 2:00 instead of the old 2:00 and, just like that, we were on the new DST schedule! I still can’t believe it was that easy. Since this was my last time change with only one child, I’m grateful it went so well. I probably won’t have a time change that easy for years and years…
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Our poor children will never have "cool" stuff
Thomas and I are both cheapskates. We don’t like to spend money and agonize over spending more than $50 on anything. Even (or maybe especially) if the money was a gift. I never spent all of my birthday money (my birthday was in September) and I haven’t spent ANY of my Christmas money (my family tends to give money for special occasions instead of gifts and I LOVE that.
My idea of a splurge is going to Half Price Books and browsing the 50 cent paperbacks, spending like three dollars on books. Heck, I’ll only go to the library if I do it on my way home from work, because I don’t want to spend the gas money (or time) to make a special trip. (I just looked it up and the library is 6 miles from my house. Not exactly bank-breaking.) I never buy new books, unless I’m desperate to read something the library doesn’t have. If they DO have it I just get on the waiting list, even if its months long.
I just can’t spend money. Because once you spend it, it’s gone. What if what you buy doesn’t live up to your expectations? What if you come across something else you want even more than what you already bought? The what ifs drive me crazy. They even go as far as not wanting to buy something because a new improved version of it is going to come out someday and when that day comes, I might regret not just waiting. I’ve wanted an iPad ever since they first came out. But, Thomas and I both thought it made sense to wait for iPad 2, because the second generation of Apple products usually has several bells and whistles the first generation doesn’t have. It really doesn’t make that much sense, because I’ve almost never actually regretted buying anything like that (like past iPods or my smartphone).
I almost spent some Christmas money on a Kindle or Nook – I’d actually decided to get one and the only decision left was which one. But I just couldn’t decide. Now I have neither. But it doesn’t matter, because the iPad 2's have finally come out. I have more than enough money to cover it, which means if I’m disappointed – unlikely – I can go buy something else. (If the something else is a lot cheaper.) Of course, they went on sale Friday and I haven’t yet brought myself to actually pay for one. But I’m really going to, I swear!
My idea of a splurge is going to Half Price Books and browsing the 50 cent paperbacks, spending like three dollars on books. Heck, I’ll only go to the library if I do it on my way home from work, because I don’t want to spend the gas money (or time) to make a special trip. (I just looked it up and the library is 6 miles from my house. Not exactly bank-breaking.) I never buy new books, unless I’m desperate to read something the library doesn’t have. If they DO have it I just get on the waiting list, even if its months long.
I just can’t spend money. Because once you spend it, it’s gone. What if what you buy doesn’t live up to your expectations? What if you come across something else you want even more than what you already bought? The what ifs drive me crazy. They even go as far as not wanting to buy something because a new improved version of it is going to come out someday and when that day comes, I might regret not just waiting. I’ve wanted an iPad ever since they first came out. But, Thomas and I both thought it made sense to wait for iPad 2, because the second generation of Apple products usually has several bells and whistles the first generation doesn’t have. It really doesn’t make that much sense, because I’ve almost never actually regretted buying anything like that (like past iPods or my smartphone).
I almost spent some Christmas money on a Kindle or Nook – I’d actually decided to get one and the only decision left was which one. But I just couldn’t decide. Now I have neither. But it doesn’t matter, because the iPad 2's have finally come out. I have more than enough money to cover it, which means if I’m disappointed – unlikely – I can go buy something else. (If the something else is a lot cheaper.) Of course, they went on sale Friday and I haven’t yet brought myself to actually pay for one. But I’m really going to, I swear!
Monday, March 7, 2011
A post with too many references to my butt
1. I’ve become addicted to Freecycling. Yesterday I posted 12 partially used bottles of lotion/body spray/random bath products. I had eleven responses. People are falling over each other to claim my years-old lotion. A radio-controlled tarantula (given to Thomas as a gag gift because he’s scared of spiders) had people begging me to give it to them. At this point I’m so addicted to the “please pick me!” emails, I keep looking around for stuff I can list. Next up, a bunch of old bottles of nail polish! How many responses do you think I’ll get?
2. Either the dryer shrunk my maternity pants or I gained at least 10 pounds since last Wednesday. My pants are really tight, to the point I’ll probably have to go buy new ones this week and its ticking me off. Sadly, I’m almost certain I actually DID gain 10 pounds and all that stuff about how you should buy your pre-pregnancy size because only the belly grows is CRAP. My thighs have expanded a LOT in both pregnancies. They have stretch marks. I also have stretch marks on my behind from my first pregnancy. I’m sure more are forthcoming. Since I started this pregnancy 20 pounds heavier than I started the last one, I did expect to buy new pants, but I was hoping to get more than a couple weeks out of the old ones.
3. A headline just popped up on my news-thingy saying “Sheen Fired from ‘Two and a Half Men’” and I read it as “Shots fired at Two and a Half Men.” For a second, I honestly thought Charlie Sheen had finally gone all the way crazy and shot up the (hopefully empty) set. And I believed it. When I re-read the headline correctly I was like…that’s it? No shots? No new quotes? Just fired? Totally not breaking news, people.
4. In other lovely pregnancy news, I am rapidly becoming crippled. My lower back and, um, areas lower than that, are KILLING ME. Walking is torture. I can’t sleep. So, bonus, today I had to take a new employee on a tour of our office and surrounding buildings! We walked for an hour and I could barely hobble back to my desk by the time the tour was over.
5. Relatedly, where exactly is the sciatic area? I’ve gathered its somewhere in the butt region, but that knowledge came from Friends, so it may not be entirely accurate. I’d like to say something a little more nuanced than “my butt hurts,” but if I’m going to turn myself into an 80-year-old by saying “my sciatica is flaring” I’d like to be sure that’s actually what’s happening.
2. Either the dryer shrunk my maternity pants or I gained at least 10 pounds since last Wednesday. My pants are really tight, to the point I’ll probably have to go buy new ones this week and its ticking me off. Sadly, I’m almost certain I actually DID gain 10 pounds and all that stuff about how you should buy your pre-pregnancy size because only the belly grows is CRAP. My thighs have expanded a LOT in both pregnancies. They have stretch marks. I also have stretch marks on my behind from my first pregnancy. I’m sure more are forthcoming. Since I started this pregnancy 20 pounds heavier than I started the last one, I did expect to buy new pants, but I was hoping to get more than a couple weeks out of the old ones.
3. A headline just popped up on my news-thingy saying “Sheen Fired from ‘Two and a Half Men’” and I read it as “Shots fired at Two and a Half Men.” For a second, I honestly thought Charlie Sheen had finally gone all the way crazy and shot up the (hopefully empty) set. And I believed it. When I re-read the headline correctly I was like…that’s it? No shots? No new quotes? Just fired? Totally not breaking news, people.
4. In other lovely pregnancy news, I am rapidly becoming crippled. My lower back and, um, areas lower than that, are KILLING ME. Walking is torture. I can’t sleep. So, bonus, today I had to take a new employee on a tour of our office and surrounding buildings! We walked for an hour and I could barely hobble back to my desk by the time the tour was over.
5. Relatedly, where exactly is the sciatic area? I’ve gathered its somewhere in the butt region, but that knowledge came from Friends, so it may not be entirely accurate. I’d like to say something a little more nuanced than “my butt hurts,” but if I’m going to turn myself into an 80-year-old by saying “my sciatica is flaring” I’d like to be sure that’s actually what’s happening.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Pregnancy cravings are nothing to laugh at
Lately I’ve been crying all the time for basically no reason. There have been little triggers here and there that get me started, but once I start, I don’t stop.
For instance, earlier someone mentioned something about cake batter ice cream AND something about how she didn’t like sprinkles, which led me to instantly NEED a Birthday Cake Remix from Cold Stone (cake batter ice cream with a brownie, sprinkes, and chocolate sauce mixed in). I needed it RIGHT THAT VERY SECOND and, no, I was not going to get it myself. My husband HAD to go get it and when he suggested we go out for ice cream after dinner instead of right that second I burst into tears and didn’t stop crying for 45 minutes. But, because I felt so pathetic crying over ice cream, I left the room first so he wouldn’t KNOW I was crying over ice cream, which means even though I was VERY VERY upset, he still didn’t get me the ice cream. It’s been five hours at this point and I’m still upset.
I’ve spent those five hours crying over various things, like the fact my husband and child want to see with me and won’t, for the love of God, leave me alone. I just want to cry in peace! Also, my sister sent an email asking if various dates would work to throw me a baby shower and I cried for a good half hour about that, because it’s just so NICE. She’s been testing recipes for all sorts of goodies and excitedly planning a shower for my SECOND baby. Then, Thomas wanted to know what meals I feel like eating next week so he could do all the grocery shopping, but how could he even ask that when he should have known perfectly well I can’t think about regular food because all I want is ICE CREAM? Ice cream which he has NOT yet bought me. Of course, I didn’t say this because, again, I don’t want to seem too pathetic, but I still couldn’t come up with a single meal I wanted to eat next week.
So he planned all of the meals himself, took Meg to the store, and did all of the grocery shopping. He came home with Breyers Vanilla Caramel Brownie ice cream, which again made me cry. Yes, Breyers is my absolute favorite buy-at-the-store ice cream and vanilla caramel brownie sounds divine, but grocery store ice cream is NOT GOING TO CUT IT. I need Cold Stone and have I mentioned I haven’t yet gotten it??
I feel like a giant whiny brat. My 21-month-old has acted more mature this afternoon. I swear, I will never laugh the same way when pregnant women on sitcoms get cravings. I always thought it was exaggerated, but I get it now, I totally get it.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Seven Quick Takes
1. I get off work at noon on Thursdays and almost every week after picking up Meg , I come home and nap while she does. It’s amazing and it makes Fridays SO much better. I have so much energy today I’m getting tons of stuff done!
2. Of course, “getting stuff done” is relative when you have a toddler. While I cleaned the living room, Meg DESTROYED her bedroom. You can’t see the floor in there. It really makes me wonder what the point is. The living room isn’t even clean anymore, because when I moved to the kitchen, Meg moved to the living room. I spent all morning cleaning and have nothing to show for it.
3. We usually have leftovers or takeout on Fridays, but this morning I was reading a magazine article about saving money on food and one of the recommendations was to make a big roast, then use the meat in several different recipes over the next few days. I read it and thought a roast sounded really good. 95% of the time I would have just sat there and continued to read, but today I actually got up, pulled a roast out of the freezer and put it in the crockpot with potatoes, carrots, and onions. I had dinner all made by 11 am and I hadn’t been planning to make dinner at all. At least I have something to show for my morning.
4. Meg now refuses to sit in her high chair. She insists on sitting at the kitchen table with us. Our “kitchen table” is actually in the living room, because it doesn’t fit in the kitchen, so it sits on carpet. It’s so hard to sit there and watch her make a huge mess. I thought lunch today would kill me – there were peas and rice all over the living room by the time she was done eating. I actually pulled out the vacuum before she was done because I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m considering buying a new table that fits in the kitchen, just so mealtimes aren’t so stressful.
5. I forgot to take Unisom last night and it wasn’t pretty. I laid in bed awake for hours and woke up feeling quite pukey, which is when I realized I’d forgotten to take it. I’m 22 weeks along, why am I still nauseous??
6. I’ve been married for almost 4 years and still have a hard time falling asleep with someone (like my husband or child) in the same bed. The more pregnant I get, the worse it is. By the time I was 8 months pregnant with Meg, I was begging my husband to sleep in the spare room. This time, I’m already getting to the point where I’d do anything to sleep alone. It doesn’t help that I need noise to fall asleep (like the TV or a white noise machine) and my husband needs complete silence. Somehow the default has become silence and it drives me crazy.
7. Meg has only been asleep for half an hour, but I now hear her screaming. I guess that’s all the naptime I get today…
2. Of course, “getting stuff done” is relative when you have a toddler. While I cleaned the living room, Meg DESTROYED her bedroom. You can’t see the floor in there. It really makes me wonder what the point is. The living room isn’t even clean anymore, because when I moved to the kitchen, Meg moved to the living room. I spent all morning cleaning and have nothing to show for it.
3. We usually have leftovers or takeout on Fridays, but this morning I was reading a magazine article about saving money on food and one of the recommendations was to make a big roast, then use the meat in several different recipes over the next few days. I read it and thought a roast sounded really good. 95% of the time I would have just sat there and continued to read, but today I actually got up, pulled a roast out of the freezer and put it in the crockpot with potatoes, carrots, and onions. I had dinner all made by 11 am and I hadn’t been planning to make dinner at all. At least I have something to show for my morning.
4. Meg now refuses to sit in her high chair. She insists on sitting at the kitchen table with us. Our “kitchen table” is actually in the living room, because it doesn’t fit in the kitchen, so it sits on carpet. It’s so hard to sit there and watch her make a huge mess. I thought lunch today would kill me – there were peas and rice all over the living room by the time she was done eating. I actually pulled out the vacuum before she was done because I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m considering buying a new table that fits in the kitchen, just so mealtimes aren’t so stressful.
5. I forgot to take Unisom last night and it wasn’t pretty. I laid in bed awake for hours and woke up feeling quite pukey, which is when I realized I’d forgotten to take it. I’m 22 weeks along, why am I still nauseous??
6. I’ve been married for almost 4 years and still have a hard time falling asleep with someone (like my husband or child) in the same bed. The more pregnant I get, the worse it is. By the time I was 8 months pregnant with Meg, I was begging my husband to sleep in the spare room. This time, I’m already getting to the point where I’d do anything to sleep alone. It doesn’t help that I need noise to fall asleep (like the TV or a white noise machine) and my husband needs complete silence. Somehow the default has become silence and it drives me crazy.
7. Meg has only been asleep for half an hour, but I now hear her screaming. I guess that’s all the naptime I get today…
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Diapers, diapers, diapers
A’Dell’s post about cloth diapering has me on the fence again. I am so interested in cloth diapering - mainly because I hate generating trash – but the biggest thing holding me back is that I love looking for/doing diaper “deals.” Last week I got a box of 176 size 4 Pampers Baby Dry diapers for $2.44 on Amazon. Obviously, a deal like that doesn’t come around every month, but if you stay on top of it (and don’t mind stealing magazines with coupons from the OB and/or Pediatrician’s office) you can do it about every 3-4 months. Plus, since my OB’s office gets like 40 copies each of Baby Talk/American Baby and encourages you to take them, I’ve been able to do that particular deal THREE TIMES this coupon cycle. (I can only do that while pregnant, because the pediatrician’s office is much stingier with the magazines.) With just the coupons from my magazine subscriptions, I generally get a nearly free box of diapers (the biggest box I can find) about 3-4 times a year. (Amazon still gets their money’s worth out of me, though. I buy everything from them refuse to shop anywhere else online.)
Even before the wonderfulness that is Amazon diaper coupons came about, I did regular diaper couponing (at Target, Walgreens, etc) and any time I could get diapers for 10-12 cents each I stocked up. We had such a big stockpile when the first nearly-free Amazon diaper deal came out I used it to buy a combo box of newborn/size 1 Swaddlers (half the diapers are newborn, half are size 1). I wasn’t even pregnant. I just figured we didn’t need any more size 3s and how can you go wrong with 220 diapers for $4? If, God forbid, we were never able to have another child, I could be the generous person who gave a $45 box of diapers to someone as a shower gift.
All of that is to say: I currently have 5 months’ worth of diapers for Meg (including 2 boxes of overnight diapers) and 4 months’ worth for the new baby. If the Amazon deals keep coming a few times a year, I’ll pay next-to-nothing to diaper the new baby.
But, for arguments sake, let’s say the Amazon deals end. If I go back to a stock up price of 12 cents a diaper (although I often got them for 10 cents) and the baby will be using roughly 7 diapers a day when the current stash runs out, that’s 84 cents a day, which is about $25/month. If cloth diapering costs roughly $500 to start, it would take 20 months to break even on just the diapers/wet bags (not including the detergent and water to wash them). Plus, I already have 4 months’ worth of nearly-free disposables and it’s likely I’ll get at least a few more. Money-wise, it just wouldn’t save much to cloth diaper unless we have a third child (which we might).
On the other hand, I SO want to try cloth. It just sounds BETTER (and cuter). For all the reasons A’Dell listed (except money). Especially before the baby starts solids, because poop explosions are majorly annoying. But I’d be a maniac about getting my money’s worth out of cloth and I think that’d be hard to do. I wouldn't be using them all the time since if I can get a $2-4 box of disposables I’m going to, so we’d still use disposables at daycare/when out and about. I just can’t go from my current diaper investment of $10 every few months to even a few cloth diapers at $20 each. I’ve read Maureen’s cloth diaper manifesto about 10 times and every time I finish it, I nearly go buy a whole bunch of cloth diapers, but I just can’t pull the trigger.
I do think I’ll buy a few Thirsties covers to use over the disposables when the new baby is in the poop explosion stage (as suggested by Tara in the comments on A’Dell’s post). Also, I have one cloth diaper I bought on e-Bay a while ago, but have never used. I don’t even remember what kind it is. If I remember right it’s a rather girly, but you can bet I’ll at least TRY it on the little boy. Plus, I want some prefolds for burp cloths and I just might end up trying them as diapers under the Thirsties covers…so it’s likely I’ll just trickle into the cloth diaper thing.
P.S. I secretly want a diaper sprayer. I already dump the poop from disposables into the toilet because it cuts WAY down on the diaper pail smell. The difference is amazing, people, TRY IT. Most of the time it rolls off the diaper, but sometimes I have to dunk and swish and I wish I had a sprayer…
P.P.S. If one more cloth diapering post talks about how you’re supposed not supposed to throw poop in the trash even in disposables, I’m going to scream. I know you think nobody actually puts the poop in the toilet with disposables, but I do.
Even before the wonderfulness that is Amazon diaper coupons came about, I did regular diaper couponing (at Target, Walgreens, etc) and any time I could get diapers for 10-12 cents each I stocked up. We had such a big stockpile when the first nearly-free Amazon diaper deal came out I used it to buy a combo box of newborn/size 1 Swaddlers (half the diapers are newborn, half are size 1). I wasn’t even pregnant. I just figured we didn’t need any more size 3s and how can you go wrong with 220 diapers for $4? If, God forbid, we were never able to have another child, I could be the generous person who gave a $45 box of diapers to someone as a shower gift.
All of that is to say: I currently have 5 months’ worth of diapers for Meg (including 2 boxes of overnight diapers) and 4 months’ worth for the new baby. If the Amazon deals keep coming a few times a year, I’ll pay next-to-nothing to diaper the new baby.
But, for arguments sake, let’s say the Amazon deals end. If I go back to a stock up price of 12 cents a diaper (although I often got them for 10 cents) and the baby will be using roughly 7 diapers a day when the current stash runs out, that’s 84 cents a day, which is about $25/month. If cloth diapering costs roughly $500 to start, it would take 20 months to break even on just the diapers/wet bags (not including the detergent and water to wash them). Plus, I already have 4 months’ worth of nearly-free disposables and it’s likely I’ll get at least a few more. Money-wise, it just wouldn’t save much to cloth diaper unless we have a third child (which we might).
On the other hand, I SO want to try cloth. It just sounds BETTER (and cuter). For all the reasons A’Dell listed (except money). Especially before the baby starts solids, because poop explosions are majorly annoying. But I’d be a maniac about getting my money’s worth out of cloth and I think that’d be hard to do. I wouldn't be using them all the time since if I can get a $2-4 box of disposables I’m going to, so we’d still use disposables at daycare/when out and about. I just can’t go from my current diaper investment of $10 every few months to even a few cloth diapers at $20 each. I’ve read Maureen’s cloth diaper manifesto about 10 times and every time I finish it, I nearly go buy a whole bunch of cloth diapers, but I just can’t pull the trigger.
I do think I’ll buy a few Thirsties covers to use over the disposables when the new baby is in the poop explosion stage (as suggested by Tara in the comments on A’Dell’s post). Also, I have one cloth diaper I bought on e-Bay a while ago, but have never used. I don’t even remember what kind it is. If I remember right it’s a rather girly, but you can bet I’ll at least TRY it on the little boy. Plus, I want some prefolds for burp cloths and I just might end up trying them as diapers under the Thirsties covers…so it’s likely I’ll just trickle into the cloth diaper thing.
P.S. I secretly want a diaper sprayer. I already dump the poop from disposables into the toilet because it cuts WAY down on the diaper pail smell. The difference is amazing, people, TRY IT. Most of the time it rolls off the diaper, but sometimes I have to dunk and swish and I wish I had a sprayer…
P.P.S. If one more cloth diapering post talks about how you’re supposed not supposed to throw poop in the trash even in disposables, I’m going to scream. I know you think nobody actually puts the poop in the toilet with disposables, but I do.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Blogoversary
My one-year blogoversary was the day before we left for our cruise and I decided to just let it go by. I don’t have anything I want to say about it. Today, I went back to read a few of the first posts and its almost funny how much has changed. The first thing I wrote (aside from an introduction post) was about how sad I was I’d missed the first time Meg crawled. A year later, I can honestly say I don’t care at all. Plus, it doesn’t matter because even if I DID see her crawl for the first time I doubt I’d remember it. I can barely remember her crawling ever and she did it for 4 months! I think it will be really fun to look back through this blog at all the times I can’t remember from her life. I suppose that means I should write more often…
P.S. I hate the word blogoversary.
P.S. I hate the word blogoversary.
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