Why do you never have a camera when you need one?

I'm sitting in my bare office surrounded by boxes with nothing to keep me busy but my dearest internetz. We are moving offices. Down the hall. Shifting around the 2nd floor. So everything has to be packed and unplugged ready to go at 5 so they can start the move at 8 am Monday morning. Which means I can get basically nothing done today or Monday. Which is fine because I have a wee bit of short timer syndrome anyways. I am a little sad I didn't bring my camera to take a picture of my 1st real office after 5 years in cubicle-land. I can take a picture of the new office but it won't be the same because I took home my pictures and personal items already since I am leaving a month and a half. I am not going to waste my time redecorating an office I will be in for 7 weeks.

Speaking of not bringing my camera. I went to a Mike Huckabee rally today. Yes, yes I know 99.5% of bloggers are liberal soI will try to contain myself so as not to scare away my 3 readers. It was really awesome though. I have never been to one before and I certainly didn't expect him to come out and play Sweet Home Alabama on the guitar with the band that opened for him. Then have Chuck Norris come out and sing his praises. His speech was amazing too. I wish he got more air time with the news. I don't see how anyone can listen to him and not vote for him but I guess people feel the same way about their candidate du jour.This is why I don't discuss politics on my blog. I can feel my shoulders tensing up and my face getting red just thinking about it.

Did I mention 33 more days? Oh, its tacky to countdown? Nevermind...

Girlfriends

I went to a new women's group tonight. It is an open group through my church with a wide range of women from unmarried college students to married with multiple kids. In personality and backgrounds we varied from one extreme to another. I was a little intimidated as it was my first time and this group has been going on for awhile. I know a few of the girls from other groups but none well. It started off with an icebreaker of what our favorite underwear is. If that doesn't break the ice I don't know what will. It was fun though and after that you feel like you can talk about just about anything.

I needed that so badly. I do meet another group of women from the church for lunch every other week and that is good but something about tonight was just special. I met another Mom who has a daughter in the same class at daycare as Bear. We had very similar complaints. There were also several stay at home Moms who share very similar pasts with me that I just instantly clicked with. We stood outside and shivered and talked and talked.

I came home with a huge smile for the first time in a long time. I really hope I can become better friends with these girls. I think its important to stay plugged in and have a support network whether you work or stay home. Its such a great stress reliever.

The countdown begins

Sorry I haven't posted since Saturday but life has been pretty anti-climatic since then. Hard to top the whole husband flying a plane thing. We were very productive this weekend getting the laundry done, yard mowed, car washed and vaccumed, etc. Good stuff but not exactly exciting blog fodder.

I did meet with my boss today and we hammered out some details of my depature. My coworker is taking over my position and they will be hiring someone for her position. This will make my job of training much easier since she already knows a lot of stuff. My final day will be April 18th which is 3 weeks shorter than I had offered to stay but I am happy with that. The sooner the better for me although I will cherish those last few paychecks.

In just 8 short weeks I will be home with Bear. We will be back to walking the mall and eating Antie Anne's pretzels during the day in no time.

Leaving on a jet plane...

We took advantage of the beautiful weather today and went to the local airport for the flying lesson I bought my husband for Valentine's Day. Admittedly it was a Discovery Flight not necessarily a flying lesson but the guy taught it as if we were seriously pursuing a pilots license. It was fun. He started with a 30 minute overview of the plane and controls. Then we went outside and did a pre-flight check of the plane.



After verifying everything was operational we climbed in. He set my husband up with headphones and put him in the pilot's seat.


He let my husband do a little driving on the tarmac then the flight instructor handled takeoff. Once we were at 2500 feet we leveled off and my husband took over control. We made several loops around town. It was fun trying to figure out what everything was.



It was really fun. I highly recommend it. My husband said it was even better than he expected.

Ann Taylor Maternity Sale

I am not pregnant but plan on being so sometime in the next year. I saw on another site that Ann Taylor is having a sale on Maternity clothes. I picked up 2 shirts for next year because I can't resist a good deal on Ann Taylor stuff. They are starting to get pretty limited on sizes but I thought I would share Better hurry though before they run out of everything. When you are checking out enter EXPECT20(case sensitive) in the promotional code box through Feb 29th and it will give you free shipping AND 20% off. The promotional code box won't calculate the free shipping and discount until you enter all your information though including payment information. I got two shirts for 17.00 including tax.

Not too shabby.

Random Ramblings...

Now that I have made my announcement about leaving my job it is becoming harder to deal with work. I know the end is in sight but I still have a major case of senioritis or quititis. It is hard not knowing when exactly my last day will be. My boss hasn't decided what to do with my position yet so she may keep me till May 9th or she may only need me through the end of next month. Does she not realize what this is doing to my countdown schedule? I know its a silly thing to complain about but I'm just ready to be set free.

I know this is supposed to be Finance Friday, blah, blah, blah but seeing as how I put in my notice at my job this week and am about to be really broke I may need to rethink it and do Frugal Fridays or something. I will need to think about this some more. Besides what was I thinking doing it on Fridays anyways? Fridays are for important things like contemplating what the heck is going on with LOST and who was eliminated from American Idol. No wonder the economy is floundering. We have priorities people and they involve TiVo. And hopefully some day Grey's Anatomy will come back to Thursday night too.

Last night we were watching Idol and enjoying some takeout Mexican food and we discovered our child is addicted to guacamole and refried beans. It was a proud moment. Although from now on we will need to order him his own because Momma and Daddy are serious about their Mexican food and don't like being yelled at for not continually shoveling it in a small persons mouth until it is all gone. This was followed shortly by someone's first pooping incident in the bathtub. We may need to rethink the whole refried beans thing again.

Getting better all the time

I am still alive and on the road to recovery. Although yesterday I would have told you I was on my deathbed with a sore throat and a headache that threatened to split my head in half. I barely made it to pick up Bear and get home. Luckily Bear was tired and went down for a nap so I could medicate myself and take a nap. My husband made it home around 6:30 and picked me up some food before meeting a customer for drinks.

I got Bear fed and put to bed and decided to crash around 9. I took a shower and some more medicine and settled in for the night. Around 11 my phone rings and I get out of bed and dig for my cell phone and see its my husband calling. Only it wasn't my husband. It was his customer asking me where we live because he is trying to drive my husband home but my husband can't tell him where we live. Apparently someone can't hold his liquor. So I'm throwing on a sweater, my glasses and some flip flops over my pjs and directing this guy to my house. I go out to meet them and my husband is completely wasted. I get him into the house where he collapses on the living room floor. The guy needs a ride back to his hotel room. I move the truck so I can back out and get my keys so I can drive the guy back to his hotel. The whole time he is offering to walk back to the hotel even though its 11:30 at night and he has no clue where he is. And I am trying to explain that I am not mad I am just glad he didn't let my husband drive home. It was all very exciting let me tell you. Luckily this is the first time he has ever done anything like this while we have been married.

Needless to say I was a little tired this morning. I did however get a chance to talk to my boss today and put in my notice. So its official. In the next couple of months I will be a stay at home Mom. It is a little scary. I'm not sure when my last day will be yet. I told my boss May 9th but if she gets me replaced sooner then they may not need me that long. So it may even be sooner!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

My weekend started off pretty well. I was a little grouchy on Saturday because it was gloomy, wet, and nasty. We were under a tornado watch until 7pm that day which pretty much put a damper on doing anything. So my husband made the chocolate chip pancakes pictured in my previous post and we found consolation in copious amounts of sugar and our Netflix movies. By around 3 the weather cleared enough for us to emerge for Wings and a trip to Walmart where I managed to score another box of Girl Scout cookies.

Sunday was absolutely beautiful. One of those magical days that gets you through the winter with the glimmer of spring to come. I convinced my husband to take me to breakfast at a local baja taco place that does amazing breakfast burritos, quesadillas, and tacos just to name a few things. Then he took me to Old Navy where I picked up 3 shirts, a pair of pants and a pair of socks for Bear 40-50% off. Then we went to Target and the mall. I got a cute pair of wedges at Payless. We went home and Bear took a nap. while I ran and got a pedicure and my husband stayed home. Later the neighbors met up with us at the park so the kids could swing. We invited them over to grill steaks and just had a wonderful time. I practically had visions of sugar plums dancing in my head last night as I drifted off thinking about my vacation day the next day and maybe some President's Day sales.

Then this morning the birds stopped singing and my beautiful plans for the day came to a screeching halt when I tried to open my eyes. Tried being the operative word as it appears sometime during the night the dreaded pinkeye fairy came and sprinkled her special fairy dust in my right eye cementing it shut. I stumbed out of bed at 6:30 am and dug for my pinkeye medication from the LAST 2 times I got it. I tore apart my purse and my makeup drawer to no avail. I got Bear up and fed and off to Walgreens we went. I was lovely in my glasses, swollen eye, no makeup, just rolled out of bed hair. I picked up some new eye makeup to replace what I would need to throw away. I picked up sinus medicine, cold medicine, Infant Motrin for Bear, eye drops, and Abreva because I felt it might be prudent to ward off any cold sores that might see me as vunerable right now. $44.00 later I walked out realizing my dreams of President's Day sales were now over.

We got home and I put Bear down for a nap and stripped the bed and gathered laundry to wash all the sheets and towels in hot water. I cleaned out my purse and makeup drawer since my rampage this morning had left things a little disorderly. However on the bright side I did find my medicated eye drops hiding in my makeup bag I use when I travel. With the laundry going, the dishwasher emptied and reloaded, and my purse and drawer organized I laid down for a nap. With a fresh pillow case of course. I got up feeling a little better and made some cinnamon toast and tea.

Bear slept long enough for me to finish that and then he had lunch and 2 back to back poopy diapers. He is becoming more and more difficult to change and feed. He has started twisting around and trying to escape anytime he feels his free movement is being restricted. Like out of the Walgreens cart today while I was trying to pay or his high chair while I am trying to feed him. Changing him is like holding on to a small bucking rodeo bull that screams. Made all the better with a little runny poop from the antibiotics. If my day doesn't start improving you may need to send in reinforcements.

Why yes...

those are the chocolate chip pancakes with cool whip that my husband made me for breakfast. Ok, maybe the cool whip was my idea but the pancakes were all his. Who needs Valentines Day to express love?

Humor me, it's Friday afternoon...

Oh so wrong and politically incorrect but yet oh so true and funny.

Stuff White People Like

Fridays are for Slackers

Ok, I know its Friday and just last Friday I launched my Finance Friday's for Beginners but I was a slacker this week and got nothing done on that. Although I have started paying a lot more attention to the financial news and blogs recently. I'm starting to get a tiny grasp on what is going on with the economy depending on who you choose to believe. Hopefully next week I will get some motivation and actually do something.

Bear is doing better so far, knock on wood. Thanks for your support. I went through my day planner today at work and calculated my husband and I have taken off 19 days for Bear between the 2 of us since I started my job 7 months ago. Plus I am taking off this Monday because the daycare is closed. Add in all the weekends and holidays he has been sick and it comes out to a lot. We have finally decided it is worth taking the financial hit for me to stay home with him. Yeah! But I haven't put in my notice yet because I was out Tuesday and Wednesday and my boss has been out Thursday and today. I am planning to work for another 3 months so they have time to get someone hired and for me to train them before I leave. I work for such a huge system that it takes 2 months or more to get someone hired. So come May I will be like a kid getting out for summer! Cross your fingers and toes and pray for me that this is all going to work out and we won't be living in a cardboard box by the end of the summer.

Oh, and for those of you who are still thinking about Valentines, my husband LOVED his gift. He said, with the utmost sincerity, that this is the best gift he has ever received. Not bad for $59.00. He was so excited. I don't know what excited him more, the thought I put into the gift or the gift itself. He said he would have never in a million years thought of that for a gift. As for me, I also picked out my gift from him since I am on a roll with this gift giving thing. I have been lusting over the jewelry from Lisa Leonard forever it seems like so he bought me the Oval Monogram necklace I wanted (I believe it is the 4th picture down). I didn't get it ordered in time to get it for Valentine's Day but hopefully it will be in soon. I am so excited. I love her stuff.

Works for Me Wednesday : Fun Gift for Valentine's Day

As most of the free world knows, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I struggle with this holiday because it is really marketed towards women. I don't want to buy my husband a single red rose, a cuddly stuffed animal with a red heart that says be mine, or a heart shaped box of chocolates. I know he would probably appreciate a 6 pack of Corona or a fork to the eye more. Last year I picked him up an Xbox 360 he had been begging for. This year I decided to trim down the cost a little but I still wanted to do something really fun for him.

My husband is one of the many men I know who secretly or not so secretly want to learn how to fly. I found out that local flight schools offer "Discovery Flights" as a way for people to try out flying without any commitment. I called the local flight instructor down the road at our tiny airport and he confirmed that he offers Discovery Flights for just $59.00. Other places go up to $99.00 for a Discovery Flight. When I stopped by to pick up the gift certificate he filled me in on what all it includes.

He does the take off and landing but my husband will do the rest of the flying. It is about 30-45 minutes of on the ground pre-flight instruction then 30-45 minutes of actual flight. The $59.00 also includes for a passenger to ride in the back and take pictures. He will fly over our house, the local university, our jobs etc so we can take pictures as long as they are close by. If my husband decides he likes flying and wants to continue on with his pilots license this time counts towards the credits needed to get his license. Here is a website to check out if you are interested in finding out more - http://www.pilotjourney.com/discovery .

I will be posting pictures once we do the flight. I think this will be a fun and unique gift and doesn't involve anything pink, red, or heart shaped.

Same song, different verse

Guess what? Bear is sick AGAIN. Aren't you shocked? Perhaps I should just cut and paste my previous entries in a pleasing rotation to spare myself all this typing(recipe, Bear got sick, pictures of food, Bear got sick, hate being a working mother, Bear got sick). The daycare left a message literally minutes after I stepped out the door for lunch. When I got back the little ominious red light of doom was blinking at me. I shut my computer down, packed up all my work, told my boss my kid is sick AGAIN, and headed over to the daycare while trying to get through to the doctor's office on my cell.

I swear I just need to bring in a cot to Pediatrics and take up residence until Bear leaves for college. This time it is a rash and a fever. Add in one black eye and he looks like the most forlorn baby in the history of daycare. He did have his 1 year shots 11 days ago and when he had the shots the doctor said 10 days later he might have a fever and a rash from the shot. So I told the daycare that but they are still freaking out saying it could be chicken pox, roseola, or the bubonic plague. Ok I may have taken it a tad far on the last one but they were seriously at high alert like he might explode and propel germ schrapnel onto all the surrounding babies.

I talked to the nurse at the doctors office and explained about the shots 11 days ago and the fever Friday, Saturday and Sunday plus the rash and fever today and the river of snot freely flowing from his nose since last week. We talked about his tubes and drainage and all the lovely things that parents talk to nurses about. She wasn't concerned about the rash but the fever is making her a little nervous so she is going to talk to the doctor and call me back.

Now I get to use another lovely vacation day tomorrow keeping him home along with the one I'm taking Monday because the daycare is closed for President's Day. Wah, Wah, Wah. My husband and I discussed the possibility of me quitting my job last night. Half of me was ready to draft my letter of resignation and slide it under my boss's door last night but the more rational side of me is a little freaked out. What about insurance? What if he loses his job? What if my coworkers all hate me for bailing out after being at my job less than a year? What if my husband secretly resents me for putting all the burden on him to pay the bills? Either way it will be a couple of months before I do leave if I leave. We need a little time to work out the logistics and I need to give my boss plenty of notice to hire a replacement and get them trained. But days like today make me realize that this is not working. Somethings got to give.

You should see the other guy

I picked up Bear this afternoon from daycare and he was sporting his very first shiner. I say first because if he is anything like his father this will not be his last. Apparently there was a scuffle in Infant Room A over a pacifier and Bear took a dive onto a toy using his face to break the fall. I took some pictures but it doesn't look as bad in the pictures as it does in person. He says you should see the other guy.



In other news, I decided to thumb my nose at the man and make a Spinach Cheesy Pasta casserole for dinner. My husband loved it and I have enough for leftovers tomorrow night plus another 8x8 pan of it in the freezer. Now if you will excuse me there are some Girl Scout cookies and Bluebell ice cream taunting me from the kitchen. I need to go show them whose boss.

Dinner for ...none?

My husband and I bought our house with the lovely open floor plan thinking about all the people we would have over for parties and dinners. And we have had a lot of get togethers in our home. This has been wonderful. We are typically the go-to house when everyone wants to get together to watch the game or celebrate an occasion. Typically the meal plan involves grilling.

However lately I have noticed that we aren't doing the dinners as much. I am burned out on doing steaks and brisket. But I have noticed that none of the other menfolk besides my husband eat anything but beef. Case in point, we had another couple over 2 weeks ago to watch the season premiere of Lost and the wife and I originally intended for us to all have dinner first. But then she and I both realized that her husband doesn't eat anything. He refuses to eat vegetables and is always on a diet cutting out carbs and sugars. When he came over for the Superbowl he ate brisket and a tiny piece of my homemade whole wheat honey bread. He avoided the beans, dips, potato salad, etc like the plague. So we ended up eating separately and just getting together to watch the show.

Yesterday I was over at my neighbors house admiring their new baby and I invited them over to share Valentines dinner with us. I had already planned to make my husband's favorite, Shrimp Feta Cheese Pasta which makes more than enough for 4 people. The wife explained that she appreciated the gesture but her husband doesn't eat seafood. None at all. He is a "meat and potatoes" man. We have another couple we are friends with that the husband also doesn't eat seafood. And yet another couple that the husband doesn't eat anything with spices other than salt and pepper because everything is too spicy for him. I can go on but I believe you get the point.

It has gotten to the point where I don't really want to invite people over to dinner anymore because I alway end up grilling beef or making lasagna and that gets boring. Then the guys won't even eat the salad or side dishes. I always thought men would eat anything but apparently I was wrong in that assumption. It is one thing to accomodate a child's picky eating but all these grown men that are picky eaters are driving me crazy.

Lazy Weekends

Its been a pretty uneventful weekend around here. Bear is still battling a fever but we put him on he antibiotics the doctor gave us. We did a little shopping at Walmart yesterday and bought out their sippy cup selection. We are ready to move Bear off the bottle. He is pretty much completely off formula now. The milk wasn't a big transition but the sippy cup is. I've bought just about every kind they offer hoping he will take to one of them.

Today I got inspired by the blog, A Year Off, and cleaned out my 2 linen closets and Bear's closet. Two huge black garbage bags later I feel much better. I should have taken before and after pictures because I know how riveting that is. Since I felt bad that I didn't take pictures for you of my closets I did take a picture of the lunch I made. I made muffaletta sandwichs. I had been craving the ones from Jason's Deli for days.

They were quite yummy. It made 4 that size.

The first step is admitting you have a problem

Finance Friday's for Beginners - Sick Day

Bear is sick today, again. I thought he might be coming down with something when I dropped him off at daycare this morning since he felt a little warm and had a runny nose. But he was eating fine and not acting sick. I called my husband on the way into work and warned him that the daycare might be calling if my suspicions are correct. And what do you know, they called at 1:30 this afternoon asking us to come get him because he has a temperature of 101.

I called my husband and got him on his way and then called the doctors office. 15 minutes later I got through and begged to see a doctor, any doctor. Luckily they have about 15 pediatric doctors so they can get him in at 3 today. I'm really not the paranoid Mom that calls the doctor every time my child sneezes but experience has taught me that sick babies and weekends do not mix. The two times we have taken him to the hospital this year have been on weekends. Not to mention the multiple trips to the urgent care. This time I thought I would try to head it off at the pass.
************************************************************************************
This is the first official week of Finance Fridays for Beginners and since I need to work this afternoon and I spent the last 20 minutes making sick baby arrangements I will keep this brief.

Here is my run down for the week:

1. Select an online trading platform - After my bad experience in December with another online banking company, whom shall remain nameless but may or may not rhyme with B-Smade, my friend recommended another more powerful platform, thinkorswim . I was a little leary but he assured me that this is what the "big dogs" use as it is a very powerful tool. So I logged on Tuesday evening and set up the account online. All I need to do now is to fund the account. They offer wire transfers, Automated Funds Transfer (ACH Transfer), External and Internal Transfers, and funding by the old fashioned check. I believe we will be going with an ACH this time since the last time I tried to set up an account with that other company they held my check hostage for 3 months before sending it back attached to a checklist that said "Account cancelled".

2. Researching Stocks - My friend also recommended I start researching stocks. He pointed me in the direction of Google Finance and Yahoo Finance. He suggested I start looking at stocks in companies that I know and use. Ones like Walmart, Amazon, Target, Apple, etc. Some of those are bad examples because they aren't doing all that well but you get the idea. I started typing those in the handy search box at the top of the page and looking at their charts. I believe the initial chart you see is only for a day or so. I expanded and looked at the past 6 months, the past year, the past 10 years. Just trying to familiarize myself with them.

3. Getting advice online - My friend also recommended another online resource, a blog run by a very colorful gentleman who uses the pseudonym, Genesis. He is very colorful in his language and doesn't seem to care who he makes mad but according to my friend he is usually spot on in his analysis. At the bottom of each post he also provides a ticker for those of you who aren't afraid of charts and graphs.

Thats it for this week.

*Oh and if you are interested in the funky baby shirts from Polly Tod that I featured on my blog 2 weeks ago, they sent me an email today with a code for 40% off any order. Just use this code at check out COUPON CODE: blogagogo. Did I mention $5.00 shipping? What are you waiting for? *

Tag I'm it - A Meme

I was tagged by Amanda at Mandigirl Muses. She is a fellow Texan and Mom and has been through a lot in the past few years.

THE RULES:
** Post about the meme and link back to the person that tagged you.
** Go back to your archives and link to your five favorite posts.

Link One: must be about family
Link Two: must be about friends
Link Three: must be about yourself
Link Four: must be about something you love
Link Five: can be anything you choose

** Tag five other people (at least two must be new acquaintances so that you can get to know them better).
** Let the person know that you tagged them by leaving a comment saying something like: I've tagged you. Check out my blog for details.
** Readers, don't forget to read the posts and leave comments - lots of comments.

Now I am a fairly new blogger with less than 110 posts under my belt over the course of the past 4-5 months so I don't have a lot to choose from but here goes.

Link One: must be about family - I'm going to go with my blog about becoming a better wife
Link Two: must be about friends - I will go with my post about a Few of my favorite bloggers. I seldom write about my in RLF friends so I'll go with online friends.
Link Three: must be about yourself - This one is about my struggle with being a working mom.
Link Four: must be about something you love - This one is easy.
Link Five: can be anything you choose - Hmmm...I'm going to go with my first post so you can see where it all began back a long time ago in a time period called October 2007.

Now who to tag? I'm going to tag Lag Liv, A New Duck, She Likes Purple, A Bright Future, and Law Student Hot Mama.

Wordless Wednesday : First Haircut Edition

Finance Fridays for Beginners

Let's be honest here shall we? I barely survived finance in college. The class didn't interest me and I had no money to invest. Skip forward 5 years to the present day. I have a little bit of money riding in an IRA from my previous job and a little more in my current job's retirement system. We have some money floating around in savings accounts accumulating approximately 1% interest. My husband does not have a 401k because none of his jobs have offered it. Bear does not have a college fund because we are too lazy to set one up.

Now I have always been good about managing the little money I did have. I am militant about paying off debt but I just haven't really had the money to invest. We saved up 20% to put down on a house, paid off my engagement ring, paid for tile flooring, furniture, medical bills and 2 cars in the 5 years we have been together. Now that we are no longer saving for a downpayment or paying off any existing major bills it seems like a good time to start investing the money we do save. But where to begin? I am CLUELESS you guys.

So I enlisted the help of a trusted friend who pointed me in the direction of some web sites that can help me get started. Then I had the idea that perhaps I am not the only one in the blogosphere with absolutely no freaking clue where to begin and I thought why not share my journey with you guys? I have done some web searching and found some other blogs doing Finance Fridays. They are over my head for the most part so I thought I would do my own little version called Finance Fridays for Beginners starting this Friday.

Perhaps just the idea of posting every week on the internet will shame me into doing something. Seriously, 1% interest you guys. I've GOT to do something. I will share my journey into the world of investing with you guys and shamelessly solict advice and tips. All while you flippantly speed dial your Edward Jones advisor so you can snicker together at my ignorance. I'm going to give it a go on my own and see where it takes me. Just keep the snorting a snickering to a minimum. And please excuse the lack of FREAKING SPELL CHECK!!

Required Eating

Comfort food. Practically Doctors orders. If my doctor were say, a Keebler Elf...

Yet Another Sick Day

Yesterday before I even opened my eyes I felt it. The scratchy throat, the stuffy nose, the sinus pressure, and I knew I caught a cold. I thought or hoped perhaps it was just allergies so I got up and rifled through the medicine cabinet and took some medication. I made tea with honey and waited for the nastiness to subside. But it didn't. It lingered all day through my beautiful Superbowl Sunday and Superbowl Party. We had 8 adults over and 1 child. I managed to drug myself up enough to make my side dishes and entertain everyone but as soon as I closed the door behind them I was ready to crash. I doped myself up with more cold medication and passed out.

This morning I did not feel any better. I checked on Bear and he feels warm too and he has a runny nose. He was fussy all day yesterday and Friday night too which makes me suspicious that we were bitten by the same bug. I did the quick debate in my head of do I send him to daycare and wait for them to send him home so I can get a couple of hours work in this morning? What if we are still contagious? Will I actually get any work done today if I go in? If he gets sent him then I have to keep him home that day and the next which means 2 sick days? What if my boss thinks I'm faking it because I have a Superbowl hangover?

Finally the fact that I feel like crap and Bear does too won out. Back before I had Bear I wouldn't have thought twice about going in to work. Unless I had a stomach bug I went in no matter what. I never felt like I was really sick enough to stay home even if I was a miserable sniveling mess. Now that I have a child I can't do that anymore. If he is sick he stays home. Thats the rules. And now I have a good enough reason to stay home when I am sick too.

And the winner is...

Julienne at Semi-Conscious Ramblings . She was the lucky number selected by the random number generator. I don't even want to admit how many times I counted the comments to verify the winner.


Congratulations, Julienne!

Thank you all for participating. I had a record number of comments on my tiny blog and I hope some of you will come back.

I won 2 things too. I picked up a beautiful homemade Valentine Card from Haley at Love, Life and Family. I also picked up an awesome handmade card wallet from Shannon at Anodyne Design. Thanks to both of those awesome ladies.

AMENDMENT
Since this post was posted I won an additional two prizes. Go ahead and put on your jackets because hell just froze over.

I picked up a copy of First Meals from Meg at her blog - Megret. I am so excited about trying out these recipes on Bear. I also picked up a baby boy acrylic stamp set from Sophia at her blog. Thanks to both of these ladies.

It just goes to show that if you do nothing for a week but enter 900 giveaways you too can be a winner!

Whiling away the hours..

Yes it is Friday afternoon at 2:30 my time. 2 1/2 hours until blessed freedom. Bear had his 1 year checkup this morning and everything was perfect. He is in the 25% percentile for weight and height for a 12 month old but if you take into account the fact that he was born 2 months early he is in the 50% percentile for height and weight for a 10 month old. Yes, my child is average and I am proud.

We watched Lost last night. Another couple came over to watch with us and I will admit I wasn't 100% focused on Lost. *GASP*. I know, I know. What could have caused such a distraction on the scale that would break someone's concentration on Lost?

THIS

My friend's husband showed me this website just before Lost started. Or the second freaking hour of Lost. Since the first was a joke. But whatever, I'm not bitter.