10 days & Holidays

I'm so proud of my big boy. This is his 10th day ninny-free. He did ask me about it Saturday night. Told me that he "needed" it. I promised him that I would look for it again.

Last night as he was winding down watching a little Curious George before bedtime, he was laying with his head on my lap (gosh, I just love that) and was sucking his fingers. Hmmm. Hopefully this is not his new "ninny". I can't take fingers away. Or lose them. Well, you know what I mean.

Christmas was a huge hit. He tore into the presents! He liked to stop occassionally to play with new toys (after daddy took them out of the box), but would dive right back into tearing. Grandpa had him distribute the gifts, which was really cute - he really is a good helper. With each one that was for him, he said in a surprised tone "this one's for me??" He did get 2 outfits from grandma and grandpa and after he opened the box and saw what it was he handed it to me and said "here mommy, these are for you". Gee thanks.

He got so much stuff from Grandma and Grandpa - I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with all of it. It's just insane. I have been pretty good about sorting thru his toys regularly, but it seems like he plays with most everything that we have now. I just don't know what to do. His playroom is STUFFED and our livingroom and diningroom are still cluttered. He has way to many ride-on toys, but I know they cost a fortune, so I feel terrible donating them. Maybe I will try and sell some of it on eBay or Craigslist?

The biggest hit was the train set! Daddy and I put it together on Christmas Eve Day and kept it from him until after he opened the gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. We asked if he wanted to see his "special surprise" in his playroom. Yes, of course. He was so thrilled when he saw the train set that he ran over to it, and before really playing with it asked (surprised) "this train set is for me?" Yes, of course. (that is what he is saying in the photo)

We spent so much time playing trains over the past few days! I will be glad when the holidays are over and we can have some kids over to play so I can take a break from playing trains for a while.

He does call the train set his "special purprise" - for some reason he can't or won't say surprise and says purprise instead. On the way to the sitter on Friday, he asked "does Pat (his sitter) have a special purprise for me too?"...um, no buddy, the special purprises are over for now.

Daddy got up early Christmas morning and baked homemade sticky buns. This is the first time in our 11 years together that he has baked...food...from scratch. They were absolutely delicious. He told me that this is a new tradition. What fun.

I am so very thankful for my wonderful husband and son and feel so lucky to have them in my life.

**Spacing issues...no idea why**

Ink, Cookies and Pacifier - update

Healing tattoo's suck. Especially in this location. Gah.

Cookies...4 left.

Pacifier ("ninny")...he's down for his 5th night without it. 4 full days without it. Such a big boy. So very proud. He hasn't mentioned it once today. I guess one was found in a toy box at the sitters, and one of the bigger kids took it and hid it before the boy could see it. Awesome.

I'm off for 5 days. And then next week, I'm off for 5 days too. WOOT WOOT.

Happy Holidays.

Ink and Cookies - update

Ink - I forgot how annoying a healing tattoo is. GAH!

Cookies - my husband has eaten another dozen. That's 2 dozen large decorated sugar cookies in 2 days. When I told him that they were for Christmas Eve at my parents house, he said "oh, I didn't realize you made them for anything other than eating". Do you honestly think I would go thru that much time and effort to make 3 1/2 dozen cookies just for you to scarf down? NO! Grrr.

Cookies

So, this weekend - since Daddy worked ALL weekend - the boy and I had a craft extravaganza. We played with play doh, colored, painted, painted mugs for grandma and grandpa for christmas, recorded special messages in those "record-a-message" hallmark cards for daddy and grandma and grandpa, and we baked and decorated cookies.


As you know, he will sit still and color for about 15 minutes (MAX), he will play with play doh a little bit longer than that, and he will paint a little bit longer than that.


Cookies...he decorated about 8 or 9 with me before he was done. He did a super great job and ate a handful of sprinkles for each handful he put on the cookies. I think he really enjoyed it...but the attention span just isn't there. He is so go go go - all the time. It was an exhausting project. In total we (I) baked and decorated about 3 dozen.





I packed up a plate full for an OWE party, and as I was putting the boy down for bed - daddy proceeded to eat a dozen of them. Yes, a dozen. Huge stars and teddy bears. A dozen. And I'm the one with weight issues. Grrr.


Good news though. We are on day number 3 without a pacifier ("ninny"). He lost the last remaining one. We couldn't find it anywhere. I promised him I would look for it Friday night while he was sleeping. He asked about it first thing Saturday. I told him I couldn't find it. He asked again at naptime, same response. Then again at bedtime Saturday night and Sunday morning and Sunday naptime. Same. He's handling this really well. I'm concerned that he will "find" one at the sitters tomorrow and we will have to start over again. But, in the meantime, I'm enjoying that he is such a big boy and seems quite able to sleep and get thru the day without the damn thing.

Play Doh

I don't know why, but today was the first time the boy and I played with play doh together. I really have no excuse, except maybe I just didn't think he would be interested since he won't sit still and color for very long. I figured I'd get all this stuff out and he would be interested for 2 minutes, and then I'd have to put all this stuff away. It was pure laziness. I should have known...play doh has the potential of being messy. So, he loved it. Of course. And you know what, so did I.

Who says broken cars can only be drawn:

Salad 101

Dinner tonight: A salad. Mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, orange peppers, avacado, artichoke hearts, hard boiled eggs, smoked turkey, feta cheese, blue cheese dressing.

He's such a good eater!

Percentages

So, the jobless rate is at a 35 year high: 6.7%


We've been on pins and needles all week waiting for my husband's employer to announce their new "aggressive actions" for cost savings measures. They have made numerous company wide job cuts, so we feared we were going to be a national statistic.


I created a plan. A survival plan. IF his job was cut, and IF he was able to collect unemployment, we would survive. We would save on childcare as I would expect him to keep the boy home a minimum of 2 days per week, I would cancel our home phone - which we have talked about doing forever since it's a nuisance and we never use it, we would shop around for better auto/home/life insurance rates, we would buy the bulk of our groceries at ALDI, and I would CURB my spending. There is often the opportunity to pick up extra work with his brother, so that would also help fill the gap. It really would be OK. We could do it.


My employer seems to be going strong, as we are sort of a necessary evil. We've had a banner year as far as profits are concerned, and just last week were catapulted into a half a million dollar project. A great way to wrap up the year. Additionally, I asked for and received, a 12% pay increase just a few months ago. We've hired 2 new employees in our Toledo office in the past 3 months. I couldn't be happier with my employer right now.


We've talked about refinancing the house since the rates have dropped to an all time low. I'm concerned about hour home value since there are so many foreclosures and short sales in the area. I think we would be disappointed in our home's current appraised value and can't really deal with that disappointment right now. The cost savings would be nice though.

So, the agressive plans were announced on Friday. They are cutting ALL employee salaries by 10%, effective January 1. Effective July 1, they will give back 5%. Bonuses and merit increases are suspended, as well as 401k matches.

Agressive? Yes. Can we live with it? Yes. Does is royally suck? YES!

The insluating project (that was on hold pending the outcome of this announcement) is back on. And we're going to have a splendid Holiday.

I'm making changes to my spending habits. I purchased a $119.99 pair of Sorel snow boots on endless.com 2 weeks ago. They are a little big, but I thought I would try them on with socks and wear them around a bit before I decide to return them. I really need snow boots as my old pair got trashed last winter and I had to throw them out. I have nothing "snow proof" to wear on my feet. I tried them on again. They really are too big. So, I boxed them up and will ship them back tomorrow. Yesterday at Target, I thought..."what the heck, who says I can't wear snow boots from Target". I found a pair. They are REALLY cute, and I wore them last night to the tree lighting ceremony in my neighborhood - and they are WARM, and COMFORTABLE. And, did I mention...really cute! They were $39.99. See what I did. I just saved $80! I'm on the right track...right?

I just purchased holiday cards online. I have spent over $70 on holiday photo cards the past 2 years. I saw a friends "feed" on facebook about a site called vistaprint. I hopped on, found a layout that I like, uploaded a photo, and ordered them, for $11.99! WOW. That's good, right? I saved a ton of money.

I'm getting the hang of this...this whole living on a budget thing. Or, at least I'm trying. Baby steps. Which reminds me...I need to go thru the boys old shoes and see if I can sell any of them on eBay!