another day in the life
Yesterday when Gabriel woke up from his nap, he came into the living room where I was sitting. He had his usual rumpled after-nap hairdo going on, and lines from the sheets on his cheek. But, then I noticed: he looked like he’d just waded into a swimming pool up to his chest.
Now, I know the male anatomy lends itself to pee sometimes going up instead of down, but this was a different story. He was wearing a knee-length, oversized t-shirt, and it was completely soaked below his chest – all the way around.
I don’t know how he would have managed that, aside from standing on his head. And yes, I’d just changed his diaper right before he went down to sleep.
We gotta get this boy potty-trained.
Lessons learned – a first-time homebuyer’s plight
We are in the process of trying to buy our first home. We came into this process rather un-prepared – that is, without an abundance of knowledge on the subject or the process. Not to mention we only have $900 in our savings account. And the cherry on top: I just started working as an independent contractor for a web design company a month-and-a-half ago.
But, we’ve heard so many of our friends tell us stories about getting into homes for only $500 out of their own pocket - or some other ridiculously low figure – we thought maybe we could, too. And we’re tired of flushing all our money down the toilet by paying the better part of $10K a year in rent.
So, we decided to make a go of it and see what happened. Read the rest of this entry »
home update
We went to look at two homes with our real estate agent today. We made an offer on one. Now we have to see if we get approved for it. I'm so emotionally drained from all the drama today – going through the budget, the back-and-forth with the real estate agent, all the talk about the fees, signing the contract, etc. – I just don't even want to think about it anymore.
drowning in Dr Pepper
I am a Dr Pepper-holic. No, really – it’s bad. I’ve been a Dr. Pepper lover for years, but my habit has gotten progressively worse over the years.
I’ve estimated that I’ll drink 222 gallons of Dr. Pepper this year. If my current trend holds true, that’s 15,540 over the span of my life. That’s enough to fill the average swimming pool 3/4 of the way. Wow. If I drank as much water as I drank DP, I’d probably be a size 3.
Grammar lesson of the day : its vs. it’s
It's and its are very commonly confused.
(Definition by Dictionary.com) "Its is the possessive form of the pronoun it and is correctly written without an apostrophe. It should not be confused with the contraction it's (for it is or it has), which should always have an apostrophe."
So, for example, you would write "It's hot out here," because it's is a contraction for it is.
An example of its: "The computer was delivered today but I didn't see its keyboard in the box."
The easiest way to figure out which one you need to use: ask yourself if you could put "it is" or "it has" in the sentence in the place of your it's/its. If you do and the sentence makes sense, you should use it's.
This public service was provided by obnoxious grammar wonks everywhere.
Raising boys
This was recently forwarded to me – I thought this was really cute. Yep, it sounds about right.
RAISING BOYS
a)For those who have grown children – this is totally hysterical!
b) For those who have children past this age, this is hilarious.
c) For those who have children this age, this is not funny.
d) For those who have children nearing this age, this is a warning.
e) For those who have not yet had children, this is birth control.
The following came from an anonymous Mother in Austin, Texas:
Things I've learned from my Boys (honest and not kidding):
1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
dirty words
So, my daughter is apparently trying to say “sit” but it’s coming out as something else when you factor in her lisp. Eeeek.
Actually, I just realized that my ears have stopped bleeding from my job stint at the newspaper I used to work at. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t have a halo. But the people I worked with at this place cussed the air blue on a constant basis. It reminded me of a quote from “A Christmas Story,” spoken by the narrator (Ralphie): “… my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.”
Anyway, what bothers me in particular is G-D. Will you PLEASE have enough respect for me not to curse my Lord and Savior in my presence? Honestly, I don’t ask for much.
House hunting
So, in 9 hours we go and look at two homes with our real-esate agent. If everything works out, one of these houses will become our first home. I'm so excited I can't stand it. I'm like a kid the night before a trip to Disney World.
The real-estate agent gave us a list of 30 homes in our price range. We looked through them, looked at pictures on the internet, researched schools and neighborhoods and weeded that list down to 7. Then, we drove by those 7 homes to get a feel for the neighborhoods and weeded the list down to 2.
When I talked to the real estate agent today, she seemed shocked we only wanted to see 2 homes. We're really picky for first-time homebuyers with no downpayment and a small budget, but hey – you gotta be. If two homes are the only ones that are up to snuff, that's fine with me – it only takes one.
getting older and still hanging on
I drive a minivan. I wear 'mom' clothes. I don't know what movies are playing. I haven't been dancing in – well, ever. I am OFFICIALLY not cool anymore.
Except … for my taste in music.
I always loved music, even from a very young age. Music was more than just background noise for me – it was something to get excited about, somewhat of a cause to promote with fervor. Read the rest of this entry »
WAHM
That's work-at-home-mom to those of you not in the loop.
Anyway, I 'is' one.
Everyone always coos "OHHH! You're SO lucky!" when they hear about my job.
It IS a good gig, but, like any other job, it's not without its own unique set of problems. I'll break it down for anyone in the market: Read the rest of this entry »
chocolate pudding
My son loves pudding. For some strange reason, he calls it “be-la-la.”
Well, today he took his be-la-la and painted with it. Himself, the wall, the floor, the carpet, the lightswitch, my work papers, and the booster seat.
I guess it serves me right for not paying attention to him for 5 minutes while he was in the possession of food. Sigh.
I am on the hunt for an educational preschool for him – someone that will work with him on his speech. He was assessed about 9 months ago by a speech therapist and diagnosed with a severe expressive speech delay. That means he understands, but he can’t communicate with us very well. He’s gotten a lot better, though… he’s gone from finally saying mama and papa at 23 months to saying some sentences now that he’s 2 1/2. Some of his words are so way off, though – it just makes me scratch my head. His word for “star” is one – it sounds something like “gahhnn.” Moon is “moooo.” Mikaela is “a-ga.” And so on and so forth.
What’s sad is that we hear him use the same phrases over and over, and we can’t for the life of us understand what they are. Well, maybe one day it will occur to us from context – kind of like “be-la-la.”
Update: to read all entries about Gabriel’s external hydrocephaly, sensory integration disorder / sensory integration dysfunction / sensory processing disorder, speech delay and learning delay, click on “Gabriel’s Journey.”
company coming
Well, we’re having some friends over for dinner tonight. My husband is cooking as we speak. Cooking is one of those things that I see as a means to an end; my husband sees it as an art form. So, needless to say, he does the vast majority of the cooking.
Anyway, our friends are coming over to give me a much-needed html tables tutorial. One of my job duties is designing/building web pages, and tables are a necessary evil.
I never appreciated web design until I started doing it. I’ve basically taught myself everything I know, which isn’t really that much. But, I have done about 50 pages now, so I’m getting practice.
Back to the company again: these friends live in an impressive house in a nice neighborhood. I hope they don’t feel like they’re slumming coming to our apartment. We have Kool-Aid stains all over the carpet, messy handprints on the walls, and bent-up blinds from my curious little ones trying to peek outside.
But, hopefully, there is light at the end of the tunnel – our realtor has found 30 homes in our price range, and she’s bringing the print-outs to me tomorrow. For first-time homeowners on a limited budget, we’re incredibly picky. I don’t know if any of these homes will be up to snuff … we’ll see.
my life: the characters
Jay: my incredibly hard-working, wonderful husband of 6 years; he’s also the best dad on the planet
Mikaela: our little tyrant; she’s 17 lbs. of pure spunk. At 16 months, she’s very small (short) for her age, but she makes up for it by having a big attitude. She oughta be real fun by the time she’s 13.
Gabriel: our sweet, redheaded 2 1/2-year-old. He’s got a severe speech delay, but is learning every day. He has a heart of gold and loves to help.
Greetings from the trenches
Well, my first blog. I’ve given a few other sites a-go, but to no avail. I shall try this one and see if it sticks.
About me – short list: I’m happily married, a proud mom, a writer/designer, a talker and outgoing. I love to talk about politics and religion. I love Tex Mex and my husband’s cooking. I work from home. I love cool music. I am opinionated and passionate. And last but certainly not least, I’m a seeker of God and his will for my life.
