February 2010

My computer pooped it. We attempted to re-install the o/s and it told us that it could not be done due to a bad hard drive. My brother and The Man are working on a couple things that may help it. Till then I'll be using this other computer and posting may be sporadic.

We have a pediatrician appointment this afternoon so I should have the kiddo's current height and weight to insert this evening.

The Kiddo had a pretty good birthday. Uncle Taggart sent him a Lego Starwars game, and Auntie D sent him the Tag reading system. He played with one or the other the entire day. I think he read the tag book (it comes with one, we will go shopping for a few more after the doc appt today) four or five times before I finally talked him into putting it away and going to bed.

February 2009

I woke up this morning with a pinched nerve in my back. I can't turn my head to the right w/out shooting pain. So it'll be a quiet day for me. We bought the Kiddo his birthday present this past weekend, a b.i.k.e. (spelled not said *chuckle*). It is green and we asked the people to not put on the hand breaks (as his hands are so small it will be at least another couple of years before he could have reached them anyway). I think we will wait until his "party" on Saturday to give him the present, vs giving it tomorrow. Lady D sent him something super amazing and that should be enough for him for tomorrow.

On an interesting note... he only grew one inch between his third birthday and his fourth. It looks like that will be his overall growth for this past year as well.

4th birthday 31lbs 36 1/2 inches tall

February 2008

Kiddo got his first birthday card in the mail yesterday. He loves it. He makes me read it to him over and over again even though he has all the words memorized. Thanks grannie and grampie!!

Another year, more growing... We let him take his birthday money to Target and helped him pick out a few gifts for himself.

3rd Birthday, 27 lbs, 35 3/4 inches tall

February 2007

His second birthday we had mac and cheese, and turkey and all the trimmings and the whole meal was eaten cold. From there on food at his birthday parties has been as uninvolved as possible... this year it will be pizza. Probably delivered. He'll be happy enough with that :)

2 years old 26.4 lbs 33 inches tall

February 2006

Little Man turned One. He didn't get his firth tooth till right around then, and while he was standing he refused to try to walk.

He grew to 29 3/4 inches tall, and weighted 21 lbs.

Feb 2005

The tiniest little angel was born. 6lbs 12oz, 18 3/4 inches long.

Dreams and Dinosaurs

Last night (well, early this morning) I had a nightmare. It's been awhile since I've had one. This one had my mom in it. We were in the house we lived in when I was a kid, but it was located where my parents current house is. It was nighttime, and I was coming back inside from walking somebody to their car. All the lights were off and I was struggling to close the sliding door in the diningroom and for some reason it just would not close for me. Finally I got frustrated and went to my parents room to see if my mom was still awake, I figured she would know the trick to closing it. I was lucky and she was still awake, even though my dad was asleep. She grumbled at me for being silly but came to help anyway, I stayed near the hall but she went all the way into the room to the sliding door. All of the sudden she very calmly said "um G, you have two choices... you can either turn on the lights and try to help me, or you can leave really really quickly". It was so odd that I took a few steps further into the room to see what it was she was so worried about and saw a mound of scorpions trying to crawl their way through the crack that the door was open. I froze, one jumped at my moms bare foot... she yelped and I started screaming and frantically trying to turn on the lights. She jumped back, grumbled some more and asked me to please turn on the lights already yet. I kept flipping the switches but they wouldn't go on, I was completely freaked out and she was soooo calm (even with no shoes) and those little buggers were coming strait for me. It was NOT a good dream.

I woke up... not happy... freaked out... kiddo came in and snuggled, then he sat down near my head and sang me a song. Within a few seconds he had me giggling and feeling better. You know, sometimes kids really aren't all that bad to have around :)

ET phone home

I've got an opinion question for you all.

As pretty much all of you know I have not had a cell phone for over two years. It's been a long time, and I manage to survive the drought by paying extra on my home phone so that I have unlimited long distance.

The other day the Man and I had a conversation about my sis, Lady D, and how she does not have a land line at all. She hasn't had one in a very long time. With that thought in mind we checked out the actual price we pay for our land line (long distance included) vs the price we would pay to add me onto the Man's cell phone plan.

The thing is... if I got on his plan (via tmobile) and we turned off the house phone. We'd actually pay the exact same amount a month. Which seems like a trade up, I would have a cell to use while away from home (important for emergencies that are not quite bad enough for a 911 call, which my current 'turned off' phone will do).

So what do you all think about not having a land line? I don't think it would cost any of you anything different when you call me, and it would not cost me anything different (we priced the unlimited minutes plan).

The other thing to consider is that we could cut out the long distance feature and keep the landline, with just the bare basic minimum, and get me a cell... we would only be paying 15 more a month in bills then we are now.

So what do you think, would it be a good idea to do? If you were me would you get a cell and cut the home phone completely, or would you keep the home phone and pay the extra 15 a month?

I have been trying to decide for almost a week and really can't decide... I have been doing fine without a cell so far, but there are times when I am out that I worry that I have no cell and no way to call doctors or family if it's needed. You don't miss something like that until you actually need it, and then it's really too late... ...

Randomly my excuses

The computer is dying. I think it's on it's last few breaths, as it has been taking longer and longer to get it to turn on, and stay on, in the mornings. My guess is the hard drive but I don't know for sure. This is the reason I haven't blogged much lately, some days by the time I go through the hour process of turning it on, having it reset, turning it on again, having it reset... finally having it stay on, and then taking 15 minutes to get the internet to load up... I just really don't have the energy to come here and write up a post.

When we do finally get our tax refund I think part of it will go to a computer guy somewhere who will look at this thing and tell us how bad it really is. I've thought a couple times about how it would probably not cost that much more to fly my bro up for a visit and have him do it *chuckle*

I think perhaps if I start posting in the evenings thing will be better. After all once the computer IS up and running, aside from a few moments here and there of extremely slow processing, the thing seems to work okay.

Thank yous

No real post today. I have finally gotten my taxes done and filed. And more importantly I finally wrote my thank you letters to my grandmothers. I should have done it a month ago, I waited for my Nook to get here (so I could send pictures with the thank you notes and they could see what they helped me buy) but then once it was here every time I had a down moment... well I read! *sheepish smile*

I always hand write my letters because it's more personal. It takes a lot longer to do and it is, consequently, harder to motivate myself to do it. But I kicked myself today, and got it done. I even had the Kiddo write his own thank you notes as well. It's never to early to teach kids to have good manners and be properly respectful to the people who take the time and effort to send them gifts. Plus, well, the Kid really gets a kick out of the fact that he can write. He was VERY proud of himself when the two letters were done.

Chips for dinner

Yesterday after the Man got home from work I had to do a really quick grocery store run to get milk. While I was there I passed a giant chip display. I usually glance at them because Doritos seems to be coming out with some really odd flavors lately. It's fun (and relatively inexpensive) to buy a bag of chips and see if these different flavors actually taste the way they are supposed to.

The one that jumped out at me yesterday? Cheeseburger!! I bought it and yeah, it actually does taste like a cheeseburger. They are really really good. Then, last night, I was telling a friend about them and she told me that she had found some chips that were supposed to taste like ketchup fries* Now all we need is some coke flavored chips and we have a whole meal.













*I have not tried these ketchup fries and in no way endorse eating chips as a meal *grin*

Winter

I'm done playing nice. Stupid wimpy piece of crap winter. What the heck, sure it's crazy snowy in OTHER parts of the country but it's pathetic here. I'm taunting now... c'mon winter give me something... ....

Rodents..

I had a guinea pig when I was a teenager. I loved the little guy, he was cute and friendly and very easy to care for. Lately I've been thinking about maybe getting another one, it would be my pet but I'm sure the kiddo would really enjoy it too. It's mostly just a thought though, and probably not something I will actually do. Having a pet ties you down and makes travel difficult. I don't travel all that much but when I do have the opportunity to I'd really like to be able to just DO it and not have to worry that I don't have anybody nearby I can use as a pet sitter.

The reason I am talking about this very odd subject is this.

My initial reaction was; holy cow that's one big 100lb rodent!

My second reaction was; that's just a little creepy looking, what was cute on a tiny guinea pig is more then odd on a giant one.

And my third reaction was; what really? A heated outdoor rodent house, and it's very own pool? That's some hard core pet committment there!! And I thought dogs were a lot of work.

*click the picture to go to a small slide show of the little guy.

Ouch.. Park Place

I saw an article earlier that made me pause. It seems that Monopoly has had a makeover. I'm not really sure how it would be called a makeover, considering how many 'versions' of monopoly are out there. Still, I was just curious enough to go check it out. Hmmm looks um interesting. Though I must say the part about debit cards and ATM vs paper money and a banker?? Wasn't part of the "good" thing with monopoly the fact that (as kids) you worked on your math skills?

Lego my what?

Yet another incident from within our public schools that has me saying "really??!!" and makes me consider home schooling all the more seriously!!

Stamping

As I was looking around today, a little bored and not quite in the mood to read. I found something that made me a very happy camper.

Apparently the USPS is going to be releasing Calvin and Hobbes stamps this July. I don't know about you but I will be buying them! Now I just hope that they do a sheet of just C/H stamps vs mixing it all up with the other Sunday funny stamps.

Shadow boxing

Well folks, apparently the oh so reliable mr famous groundhog saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter... and all I have to say is WHAT winter??!!.... *grumbling*

A New Month...

It's a new month. Still no W2, guess I get to call and see what the heck is up with that.

The Man might be starting a new job this month. Nothing fancy, it would be doing the same type of thing he's doing now... don't know for sure yet though so keeping things quiet.

I've decided I need to go buy some number stencils. As good as the kid is with writing his letters, he's equally bad with his numbers. He writes almost all of them backwards and almost illegible. It's extremely frustrating for him and I don't think stencils cost all that much. I'm not sure where to go find them though so I'm open to suggestions.

Kiddo's birthday is this month, I'm actually almost dreading it. I wouldn't mind so much but I know I'm expected to "throw a party" for him and I really don't DO decorations and super fancy cake... Guess we'll see if I feel more enthusiastic about it mid month. I can't even decide what sort of present to get him... I think Christmas tapped me out on gift ideas. That and Lady D has the best idea ever and she's threatened me if I steal it. Hmmm maybe I'll get him some nerf guns, it's a riot watching him and the Man run around the apartment playing soldiers.

Speaking of presents, the Mans mom gave the kiddo one of his presents early. She didn't want to have to hang onto it for 4 weeks. It's a little him sized rocking chair. We put it in the living room and he thinks it's great because it's the only kid sized chair in here.