A Lesson for Daddy

My boy and I ran errands on Sunday. Got paint for the Dining Room, looked for new Living Room furniture, got the car washed, picked up a few things at Menards.

Menards had a aisle with random children's toys. The boy found 4 in 1 deluxe city, with roads and all sorts of fun stuff for his Hot Wheels. It was on clearance for $12, so I got it for him.

He was super excited to put it together when we got home, so Daddy sat on the living room floor with him and they opened the box. I watched as they dumped the contents, cars, little packages of tracks, trees, traffic signs, etc on the floor. I headed to the kitchen to put some things away and then upstairs.

I hear my husband make this loud gutteral noise I hadn't heard from him before, and then I hear blood curdling screams and cries from my boy.

I head downstairs to see what had happened. I found the 2 of them in the kitchen, My husband holding my son and holding my son's hand up in the air. The water was running.

I saw blood and pinkish-blood water dripping down my husbands arm and down my son's arm.

"What happened?"

"It's ok, it's ok. It's just a little cut. He's ok." my husband replied, panting.

"How did he get cut?"

"I gave him my knife to cut open the packages."

"You did what? You gave him a knife?"

"Yeah, my Leatherman."

"Huh?"

At this point, my son was sitting on the counter while my husband continued to hold his hand up. My son was sobbing and asking for his mommy.

I crawled under the arms in the air, and hugged my son and patted his back and told him he would be ok. I continued to hug and soothe him.

My husband walked around to my other side and asked me to hold the boy's hand up. I obliged. I'm still bent over, hugging my child who is sitting on the counter, only now I am holding his hand in the air too.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my husband moving funny. So, I turned my head to look at him. I watched a series of weird head twitching, stumbling side steps and the next thing I know he is falling backwards. His head and shoulder crash into the counter and he falls to the floor.

I look in disbelief, my boy has stopped crying and is staring at his father on the ground. I'm standing there, looking back and forth at my son, who's hand I am still holding in the air, to my husband who just fell to the ground. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? My son is cut and my husband is lying on the floor.

I reach to my husband (still holding my son's hand up) and grab his arm. I make my way to his hand and start shaking him, saying his name over and over again.

He opens his eyes.

"Dan, Dan, Dan, are you ok. Honey can you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. What are you talking about? What's wrong? What happened?"

"You passed out. Or had a seizure. Or a stroke or something."

"I did?" He looks around, and sees that he is on the floor. He gets up off the floor. He is pale as a ghost and panting.

He reaches in the fridge for water. I turn back to my son and notice that the cut has stopped bleeding. I look at my husband again.

"Did you just splash water on your face?" I ask.

Panting, "No, why?"

"Oh my gosh, you are covered with sweat then."

He stands there and steadies himself. I go back to my son. I take the paper towel off his finger and get ready to put Neosporin on the cut and wrap it.

I look at my husband again and and he is so pale he is almost green. I send him to sit down with water and a granola bar.

I wrap up my sons finger, give him a Tylenol, pick him up and head to the living room to hug him on the couch for a while. My husband is laying on the floor. Not passed out, but still green.

After a few minutes, he gets up, his color is normal and he joins us on the couch.

I asked if he thought it was a good idea to give him the Leatherman.

"No."

$9,000 Charmin Ultra

On Wednesday, January 12th at approximately 11:00 am, my husband left for the grocery store to pick up some toilet paper. We were out. At 11:58 am, he arrived home and caught a glimpse of a black sleeved arm and a black shiny thing.

It took a minute to register, but that black shiny thing appeared to be a TV and it was being carried through our neighbor's fence. Quite certain it wasn't our neighbors Harry or Wanda, my husband got out of his truck and yelled "what the f*ck are you doing", and the black sleeved arm dropped the TV and ran. My husband proceeded cautiously to the dropped TV. He thought to himself..."gee, that looks like our TV". (shit) He looked toward the back of our house and saw foot prints leading up to our back door. (shit) He knew the foot prints were not his because it was fresh snow, and he had not taken garbage out yet. (shit) He walked to our back door to discover that it was wide open and damaged. (shit) It had been kicked in. (shit) He grabbed a knife out of the drawer in the kitchen and walked through the house. (shit) Thankfully, there was no-one inside.

He called the police. He called me. Then he started looking around the house. Initially he noticed the TV (broken and in our neighbors back yard), the Wii, his laptop, my laptop and his laptop backpack were missing. I arrived home, and thankfully the police were still there. I noticed that our Christmas cash was missing (somewhere between $300-400), digital camera, digital camcorder, the Wii controllers and nunchucks, Wii games, 3 of my Coach handbags (that were hanging on the coat rack in the foyer...I know...STUPID), my Kindle, some jewelry.

The thief stuffed the laptop backpack (which I went to the ends of the earth to find and spent a hundred bucks on) with the missing items. The laptop backpack was purposefully big enough to carry a 17" laptop and school books and accessories. It was HUGE and sturdy...perfect for a thief.

Over the next day or so we noticed that our "spare" cell phones were gone. The ones I kept in my desk drawer as back ups incase something happened to our current ones. Lightwave 3D was IN his computer disk drive, his scientific calculator was in the backpack, AND a mug he got in Germany - about 25 year ago - was missing. The mug was filled with miscellaneous treasures and trinkets...and his SOCIAL SECURITY CARD!

So, now, not only do we have to deal with personal property theft, we have to deal with possible identy theft. I've reported it to the police, the SS office, the Credit Bureaus. I've changed all of my usernames and passwords that may have been prefilled on various websites on my computer.

And while I was changing those usernames and passwords, I completely forgot what new login I had just set up for our bank accounts. I ended up getting locked out of our account for 3 days because I kept trying versions of what I thought I changed it to.

I didn't eat for 2 days following the event and felt broken. I hated being in my house. I hated not being in my house. I slept with my son for the first 2 nights, for fear of an intruder taking him or hurting him. I have allowed him to crawl into our bed for several nights since the intrusion.


We decided not to tell our son what had happened. We didn't want to scare him. We figured the only items he would notice were missing were the tv and the Wii. We made up a story about our cats wrestling (and boy do they wrestle, WWFF {World Wrestling Feline Federation}) behind the tv and accidentally knocking it, and the Wii, off the tv cabinet. He fell for it.


He did ask his dad why he had a different laptop (because we replaced it the next day). His dad said that he took his other one to school and traded with this one. He fell for that too.


So, the items missing total roughly $9,000. Our insurance company was absolutely wonderful and fast with the claim. State Farm rocks.

Most of the items taken is just stuff. I am sad about the digital photos on my laptop. I did save all of my photos to disk about 6-7 months ago, so I'm only missing 6-7 months worth and a lot of them are posted on facebook, so I can get some of them back. The camcorder had the boys holiday program on it. I'm sad about that. But I have photos.


My dad gave me a diamond channel set ring 13 years ago after his double bypass heart surgery. When he returned home from the hospital, I basically moved back in with my parents while he was recovering. I helped him get out of bed and get dressed every day. I helped him up and down the steps. I made him do his lung exercises. I made him eat. You see, he listened to me. He wouldn't do these things for my mom. He called me his Drill Sargeant. After he recovered and was feeling good, he and my mom got me a 1 carat diamond channel set ring as a thank you. Completely unnecessary, as I would do absolutely anything for my parents, but it was very important to me. They picked me up at the airport, after a trip out to Arizona to visit my then boyfriend (now husband) and surprised me with it in the airport. I was so touched I silently cried in the back seat all the way home. And now...it's gone.


Sold for crack.



We spent over $200 securing the doors and windows on the first floor. Another $200 on wood blinds for the front bay window - in lieu of the sheer curtains that hung there.

We spent $655 having an alarm system with cellular communication installed.

This has been one of the most miserable experiences of my life.

And certainly the most expensive Charmin Ultra in the world.

A year in review

Well, I guess it's an annual thing now, plus I really want to try and blog more than 5 times this year, so here goes...our year, twentyten:

My boy turned 4
I turned 40
My husband turned 41

I got a 5% raise
Husband is still collecting unemployment, despite 2 stupid roadblocks by the repugs
Have received many compliments regarding my work and have been invited to sit down in my bosses office (very unusual)

Went to North Myrtle Beach
In the summer
Wore a bathing suit in front of people
In 100 degree weather
Watched my bff get married for the 2nd time

Was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia
Started taking Cymbalta
Have no neck pain, little back pain, no GI issues, no headaches, no painful skin, few mood swings, the list goes on
I feel great
I feel like a WHOLE new person

Husband is an Honors Student, loves Math and building Digital Circuits
He is enrolled at UT for Grad School
Hopeful employment will come quickly after graduation in the spring
His Professors at Owens continuously ask him if he is going to TEACH after graduation

My mom suffered chest pains and it was determined it was not her heart but the worthless Gall Bladder
My dad suffered halucinations, uncoordination, uncontrolled out of body experiences and it was determined it was his sugar pills (diabetes) and dehydration (from having the flu). Medicine has been adjusted and he is feeling great.
My boy had croup a couple times, but his Ped has assured me it is not asthma and he will grow out of it

I did not renew my membership to Lifestyles for several reasons
I found it an absolute pain in the ass to get there
I think the facility is filthy
I hate the fact that overweight girls work there and eat at the front desk
I decided to start walking in the morning and then took a stab at jogging
I wasn't very good at jogging, and never really jogged further than a mile
The mornings got too dark and since that was my only real time to do it, I gave up
I will exercise again
Someday

My husband and I celebrated 11 years of marriage
We had some deep heart to heart conversations and are closer than we have ever been
He is truly the love of my life

My boy moved from the Preschool to the Pre-K room
He is very smart and easily bored with school
He aced both 2010 skills assessment tests

We are in the process of remodeling our upstairs bathroom
The tub enclosure was ripped out and a claw foot tub was installed
Floor is partially tiled and wall surrounding tub is tiled
Walls are painted

I know there's more, but I have been fooling around with this thing off and on for a month, so I'm finished.

What awaits us in 2011....

READ ME if your child has seasonal allergies

In early October, my son (and I) were blessed with our usual seasonal allergies*. We both experience coughing (from the sinus drainage), itchy eyes, sneezing, and stuffiness. I usually enjoy a cocktail of Sudafed Allergy + Sinus and Mucinex. The boy has taken Zyrtec in the past, but does not like the taste. A friend mentioned he and his daughter both take Claritin and it works well for them. So I bought some for both of us. Children’s Claritin** Chewable in grape flavor, for my son.

While the Claritin provided wonderful relief from the allergy symptoms, it seems to have wreaked havoc on my child’s behavior…

Half way through the first week on the meds, my son earned a Red at school. His school utilizes the Traffic Light system to keep behavior in check. Now, it’s definitely not uncommon for my son to get the occasional red, so this really was no big deal. (He moved into the Pre-K class at the beginning of September, and there seemed to be some transitional issues which resulted in more reds than we felt he should have earned, but the reds became fewer. We thought we were on the road to recovery.) However, the next day he earned another red. And the day after that, and the day after that, and finally a yellow, but then 2 more reds. This pattern repeated the following week. My husband and I were at wits end trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with this kid and why he seemed more hyper than usual.

On the days he earned a Red, we would all sit in the foyer and talk (er, yell/scream) about what happened. When he told us about his day: I hit so-and-so, I was upset because I didn’t get to go first, I didn’t want to stop playing to listen to story time, I was mad at the teacher for putting my name on the board, etc. After the talk, we usually made him sit in the naughty chair, with no toys/no cartoons/no distractions, for what seemed like hours. After this, he was allowed to play quietly while we got dinner around. After dinner, more quiet time, no cartoons, etc. The first few times we even threw away toys. Trucks, his favorite stuffed animal, etc. (most of which were rescued by me after the fact and hid) While this tactic seemed to have an immediate affect, he got over it quickly. During this time he lost 2 play dates and a special outing with his Grandma and Grandpa.

He started taking Karate in September, and while he was hyper and easily distracted (normal) during his lesson, he wasn’t the only one, so I didn’t think much of it. Besides…isn’t that why parents enroll their young children in Karate – to help with focus and self control? We noticed that during the same 2 weeks he had terrible reports at school, he was completely and utterly out of control at Karate as well. We are with him at Karate (as opposed to school) so we had the pleasure of witnessing the insanity. On October 14, after witnessing him bouncing off the walls and dancing around like he had ants in his pants and doing everything except karate, we decided that he had attended his last Karate class until he could show more self control.

I posted on Facebook numerous times about our frustrations with his behavior. I received a lot of advice from other parents who have experienced, or are experiencing, similar behavior from their child(ren). Of the MANY welcomed suggestions, we decided to implement two of them when other tactics weren’t working: “don’t punish at home for something that happened at school” and “incorporate some structured activity into every day at home”.

Those tactics, along with a suggestion (from the person who recommended Claritin) that maybe the Allergy meds were to blame, seem to have joined forces to re-create our energetic, fun, happy child who listens as well as most 4 ½ year olds do - but who doesn't act like a complete lunatic.

Last week he earned 3 greens and 1 yellow (had one sick day), and so far this week all greens. We are so happy to have our boy back.

*I did not have seasonal allergies until a year after my son was born.

**The warnings on the box of Claritin do indicate that the medication may cause hyperactivity in children. But who really pays attention to that stuff?

North Myrtle Beach

On June 17, we left for our journey to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We drove about 7 hours and stayed at a Comfort Inn in Max Meadows, Virgnia. Shortly after we got there, the boy wanted to get in the pool, natch, so, we got our suits on and headed to the pool. Upon looking at the pool...we thought it was weird that there was a film on the top. I couldn't convince him to wait a second, so Zane and I started down the steps and Dan popped open the filter. The inside of the filter was coated with brown gunk. Dan thought it looked like someone had vomited in the pool! OMG!!! We immediately got out and told the front desk clerk. She apologized and said she would call maintenance. We went back to our room and showered and headed to dinner. The boy is addicted to Cracker Barrel, so that's where we ended up. When we returned, we saw that the pool was being cleaned.

Since we were stuck in our room in a podunk town in VA waiting for the pool to be cleaned, we entertained ourselves by jumping beds and the boy threatening to turn the heat on in the room.

After totally restless hours of tossing and turning, listening to the a/c unit click on and off (stupid energy saver), and the cackling women in the room next to us, I finally decided to stick my earbuds in my ears and was able to drown out the noise enough to get about 4 hours of sleep. We headed down to the pool in the morning, before checking out and it appeared to be clean and ok for use. We spent an hour in the pool before showering and hitting the road.

We drove the remaining 5 1/2 hours through the beautiful mountains in West Virginia, and then through some really random - almost residential and back woods - places. I'm used to driving to NYC (after all, I've been doing it at least once a year for 18 years) where you take the turnpike the whole way. There was a lot of navigating, so I had to almost pay constant attention. Not fun when your kid wants you to sit in back and watch movies or read or play games.

My husband drove the entire way, and round about Winston-Salem, NC, his driving frightened me enough to make me cry. CRY! He was playing chicken (or whatever you want to call it) with some idiot on the road. He was driving recklessly, weaving in and out of traffic, slamming on is breaks, veering toward this guy, etc. I was so scared. Z was so upset with him for making me cry. After telling him he can do that shit on his own time and not when Z and I are in the car, I didn't speak to him until we arrived NMB, other than to give him directions.

About 20 minutes outside NMB, it started pouring. So hard that people were pulling off the road. My husband, was of course, speeding. It cleared up and then a few minutes later began to hail.

We arrived at The Bay Watch Resort, and I think the front desk clerk upgraded our room because I paid for a non-beach front room. We ended up with beach front, a balcony, 2 bedrooms, full kitchen, spa tub and murphy bed in the living room. I paid $120/night for this room...it was pretty friggin awesome. It was about 5pm by the time we checked in and unloaded, so we didn't bother with renting an umbrella and chairs. We just headed right down to the beach and picked a spot. We spent the next hour or so going in and out of the ocean, digging in the sand and searching for seashells. We headed inside for some dinner. Decided to order pizza so we could get the most of our first few hours before heading to bed. We ordered from the Ultimate California Pizza. I ordered the usual all meat pizza for Dan and concocted what ended up being the best pizza I have ever had in my life for the boy and I. Pepperoni, hot peppers, black olives and smoked gouda cheese. It was a dream.

Saturday morning, after a 30 minute battle to get the boy to take his antibiotics (was diagnosed with pink eye on Monday), and after an hour long punishment of staying in the room, we headed down to the beach and enjoyed our rented ($25/day) umbrella and chairs. The breeze and getting in and out of the water frequently, made the 95 degree weather almost bearable. Plus, drinking beer helped. We packed up our bags and headed up to our room to change for lunch. On the walk, not realizing how hot the sand would be once we were away from the wet/water soaked sand...the bottoms of my feet were getting burned with every step. I was able to stop long enough to dig my flip flops out of our bag and put them on only to hobble the rest of the way to our hotel. We went into town for lunch and nearly passed out when we stepped out of the car and onto the pavement. It had to be 105 degrees or hotter. Disgusting! At lunch, I checked the bottoms of my feet...sure enough...BLISTERS. 4 of my toes had big fat blisters on the bottoms. Yippee!!! We ate, picked up a few groceries at WalMart and headed back to the beach. I never thought I would WANT to go back to the beach, but despite the blistered toes it was so much cooler than in town. It was a relief to get back and I made sure to wear my flip flops when we walked in the sand. We spent some time in the pools too. Later, we changed our clothes and headed to dinner before going to Mel and Jacques' beach house for a "night before the wedding gathering". We had fun playing in the pool, drinking beer and hanging out.

Sunday morning came early, and we got dressed for the wedding. I wore a maxi dress and Z and daddy both wore linen pants and nice shirts. I was a bit shocked by what some of the guests were wearing. Swim trunks and tshirts, jean shorts and tshirts, etc. Um...it's still a wedding. No matter that it was hot as hell, and on a beach. STILL A WEDDING. Respect. Anyway, at 10am it was already 85 degrees.

It was a scorcher by the time we walked down onto the beach and found a nice spot to have the ceremony. We formed 2 lines, and Mel and Jacques walked between us while we hummed "Here Comes the Bride". It was fun. Then we all gathered around and watched as they exchanged vows. She made a beautiful bride...and you could tell she was as happy as could be to be marrying her prince on the beach. After a few group shots, we headed back to the beach house. A few minutes later, my blackberry screen went white and a message appeared that said "internal error, take in for service". AGHHHH! Despite being unconnected to the world, we had a great time sweating our asses off, sucking down margaritas and partying until dark. So grateful for the tweens who were there and doting on my boy all night. Ahhh, now that was awesome!

It was awful and not awful all at the same time. Would I go again? Probably not unless I have to. I'm not one to just sit on a beach, or play in water all day. I like to DO and I like to SEE. We really only had a day and half to ourselves, so we had no time to do or see anything but water and sand. That's not my thang. NOT AT ALL. I did enjoy people watching, but after a while I just start to find annoying things about people. If we would have had more time, I would have liked to check out Broadway at the Beach, the Aquarium and Amusement Park, Shopping, Medieval Times (loved it in NJ - but that was before Z came along), Put Put Golf, more shopping, etc. But there was no time for any of it. I am SO GLAD we were able to go to celebrate Mel's wedding. That's what the trip was all about. It wasn't about me. I was SO GLAD to see my boys face when he saw the ocean for the first time and the first time he stepped foot in it. He had a blast. That's also what this trip was about. It wasn't about me.

So...would I go back. Yeah, probably, if that's what my boy really wants to do (although...on the ride, he mentioned that he likes NYC way better...he was only 2 the last time we were there though...so I'm not sure there's much meaning to that). But we would have to pack some entertainment into the trip. Even only a day and a half was too much "nothing" for me.

I would definitely never go in the summer again. That's just INSANE!

Big Boy Turns 4

So, I'm a bit late for this. Over a month late. Life is crazy. What can I say.

My boy turned 4. We had a family only party at the house, and he was showered with gifts.

4 seems to be a bit better than 3. He understands so much, is doing so well at school and the fits and sass seem to have settled...somewhat.

His birthday cake was an awesome monster truck show re-creation. I must admit I did a great job!

His 4 year well visit went well. 50th percentile for weight and off the charts for height. Dr. S said he would likely be 6'5"ish, which is no surprise since my brother is 6'6" and I have a tall family. Daddy's uncles are tall too.

yakkety yak

It's been a while since I have posted. I am so swamped at work, I hardly have time to screw off on my Blackberry and on Facebook. Yeah, I know. Poor me.

My new(ish) position is completely insane. I am pulled in 10 different directions every day, by a dozen different people. I have 2 people who I manage, who have had a few PTO days recently, which means I HAVE TO COVER for them while continuing to do my job. This consists of, depending who has the PTO, either manning the front desk and answering phones, shipping an enormous amount of things, miscellaneous nonsense I haven't had to deal with in years, or hours and hours of word processing, formatting, report assembly, etc. On top of these duties, I still have to perform my usual duties: administering the office, writing checks, working in our janky accounting software, invoicing for not one, nor two, but 7 people in the office which has amounted to 50 invoices that are not cut and dry and include a lot of back-door work, balancing the founders various accounts, managing the founders various projects, managing the founders everything, fielding complaints and dealing with said complaints, remodeling the conference room and dealing with people asking me a thousand times a day when it is going to be finished, and many other tasks daily and still doing all I used to do in my old job. I am lucky if I get to enjoy 2 lunch hours a week.

I am whipped when I get home. I rarely get online. I am in bed by 9:30pm.

I'm still trying to lose weight. I'm sort of in panic mode now. BFF's wedding is in 4 months. In Myrtle Beach. I can't think of anything that scares me more than spending a few days in the south, on a beach, in the summer. I hate being hot. I don't wear bathing suits in front of people. I don't like sun or water. And, well, I like to keep my gross old body covered.

Still doing weight watchers, and have lost the 10 lbs I lost and gained several months ago. Have given up on the gym (see above...no time, exhausted + inconvenient), but recently got a used (free) treadmill. Have been waking at 5am to either do the treadmill or my Walk Away The Pounds dvds. The treadmill motor seems to be going bad, so it's not really functional right now and I don't have the energy to fight with it every day, so I'm doing the dvds. Husband is mechanically inclined, so just waiting for him to fix it.

Need to lose 32 lbs to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. My son will be 4 in May. This is now considered "Pre-School Weight".

The boy. Well, age 3 has been very challenging. But I have to say that as we close in on 4, things seem to be improving. He is a very strong headed boy, but he is also very sweet. He loves him some mama! The sassy mouth is a bit under control and he is more agreeable. He knows limits and doesn't push every one every day anymore. And he knows he has to "earn" special outings/things by behaving well. I purchased a "Barrel of Monkeys" at the beginning of the year - because sticker charts do not work anymore - and he earns a monkey for each time he gets dressed without a fight, brushes teeth, eats dinner, keeps the sass in check, etc.

When all Monkeys are earned, we have a special outing. Last outing was the Hands On Museum, Clover Leaf Restaurant, and a new truck. He still sort-of fights getting dressed and brushing teeth nearly every day, but it seems as long as I either distract him with talking nonsense or watching cartoons, I can whip his clothes on in no time. He was getting time outs every morning, we would have yelling matches, everyone was stressed out, it was terrible. So, things have definitely improved. I have to hide the toothpaste way down inside the bristles because "I don't like toothpaste", so, in order to brush with toothpaste I have to hide it. Daddy has little patience at all with this morning fighting, so I am handle getting dressed and brushing teeth. I am hopeful that my techniques will eventually sink in with my husband and he can take over. Until then...Whatevs. (see above...no time, no energy, etc)

I love his school, his teachers and having him across the street from me. He doesn't cry when I drop him off anymore. I get one kiss and one hug instead of the crying and clinging and whining I got every day for nearly 3 months. He can spell several words and some of the things he says seem (to me) like things "big boys" would say. IE: Mommy, why are Pine Trees used for Christmas Trees instead of another kind of tree? And one day when Daddy put him in a time out, he was really upset about telling me why he got a time out, because "I don't want you to be mad at me".

At school, his BFF is Dominic. This boy is super sweet, adorable, and has a fantastic personality. He even hugs me every time I see him. I have his mom's phone number and intend to set up a play date. Making the first move and talking to someone I don't know is completely out of my comfort zone, but well...the things we do for our kids.

Bedtime is better. We have gone from sleeping in his bed with him - what a terrible habit that was - to sitting in the chair until he falls asleep, to sitting in the chair for 10 minutes, to not being in his room at all after books are read, hugs and kisses are given and friends are tucked in with him. We leave the hall light on all night and that seems to help. There is the occasional middle of the night where he is afraid of one thing or another and comes into our room or just calls for me (ME!) in the night. When he calls for me, I send daddy in...because, guess who has a job and who doesn't.

Daddy is in his 2nd semester of school and is doing really well. Should have an Associates in Applied Electrical Science by the end of the year. He will be able to collect unemployment for another year after that, so will likely go on to UT to work toward an Electrical Engineering degree. As long as we can manage financially, this is the plan.

Finished our taxes this week and the most bizarre thing happened: despite making (gasp) $24k (!!) less in 2009 than we did in 2008, we are getting nearly 5 times as much back as we usually do. For the first time ever, we are getting money back from the state. For the first time since the boy was born, we were able to claim child care. Also got the credit for insulating our house, and several different credits because daddy is a displaced worker, a veteran and is getting re-educated. We are getting more back this year than we did when A) we bought our house and B) when the boy was born. We've dipped into the savings account a couple times, so for me and my constant freaking out about balances, this couldn't come at a better time. Plus I was really feeling guilty about dipping into savings for Myrtle Beach.

We've made it through a full year of daddy being unemployed, and I'm happy to say that we've been able to make the finances work without adjusting much (well, my shoe and purse purchases are under control - kinda sorta), have only dipped a bit from savings, and have not accumulated any credit card debt. It is lovely being credit card debt free - going on our 6th year.

We made a few inexpensive changes to the half bath and it has made a world of difference. It looks like a different room to me. Will use a bit of the tax money for a couple other small improvements. Also plan to get a DVR and a blue-ray player so we can stream in Nexflix. Never ever thought I would see the day that I wanted or saw a need for a DVR, but the day has come. I am just too damn tired to stay up and watch my shows and I really sort of like waking up at 5am to exercise. It's the only time there is no chaos.

I try to read some of my favorite blogs, and still read books at night before falling asleep. I have a couple hard cover books I need to finish up and then I plan to get a Kindle. The library doesn't work well for me, and I get sick of looking at stacks of books around the house. While I love most of the blogs I read, I have to say that there are a few bloggers who drive me absolutely insane with their constant complaining and misuse of certain words...I need to stop reading them, but it's like a train wreck, ya know?

I turned 40, which isn't as bad as it seems. Love that people seem shocked I am THAT OLD. Got a big butterfly tat on my back as my gift to myself. It's beautiful. Am already dying for my next one. The addiction runs deep.

Things are well. We are making it work. I am working my ass off. I only wish I was really working my ass off. Seems like I say that often.