Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Where have I been?

I can't even begin to tell you how busy life has been the last few weeks. Of course, we are still trying to get our house sold and that's frustrating in itself, but aside from that my SUV was broken into on October 5th at 230am. I heard the car alarm going off and immediately got up and looked out the window. I saw the two individuals who broke into my car, but there wasn't much I could do since I was inside and I didn't know if they were armed. On top of it all, I didn't really want them to know what apartment I lived in for fear they would break in the apartment when we weren't home. Luckily nothing was taken, but that's because there wasn't anything to take. I don't know what would attract someone to break into my car when there isn't anything in there except for a car seat. They broke the passenger window and opened the glove box. They did however break into another vehicle in the parking lot to steal a laptop. To make things even better the police took an hour to arrive. Really??? What are doing at 230am that it took so long for someone to arrive. I called the insurance company at 340 in the morning and by 11am the next day the glass was replaced. Ironically I had taken the day off from work, but it's not how I intended to spend the day.

Two days after the car break in I was leaving for Pittsburgh for a 3 day work trip. The troubles began before we even got off the ground. My co-worker and I were on a plan speeding down the runway about to lift off the ground, when all of a sudden...we are STOPPING and the captain says "we need to return to the terminal". I'm thinking...could you share more details please! Everyone is asked to get off the plan and we do for about 25 minutes. We are then told it's time to re-board the plane (yes, the same plane) and the pilot proceeded to tell us nothing is wrong, but a gage when wacky during takeoff and it was thought to be caused by wind. That was not a comfortable feeling to get back on the plane, luckily we made it without a problem. On the way back from Pittsburgh our flight ended up being delayed. My co-worker and I got to the airport around 230 and didn't get to leave until almost 7. I was so happy to return home.

The next trip was October 14th and it was to St. Louis. My husband and son were flying with me and that was great, but flying with a 2 year old it a little more tiresome than traveling alone. The issues started with the TSA security check. The whole process of going through security is a great idea for the protection of our lives, but I get so annoyed because every TSA representative does their job differently than the next. One problem that came up was that I had a knife...yes, a knife, but it's Gabe's toddler silverware. I have traveled with the exact same knife before and it was never questioned. The sign at the security entrance says knifes and scissors with a blade of 4 inches or less are OK, but not OK with all TSA reps apparently. She did eventually let me keep it, but the previous week I flew with scissors that were sharp (the eyebrow trimming ones were in my cosmetic bag) and no one questioned those!! Several more things happened, but I'm moving on to the fun ON the plane.

Gabe decided he needed to poop while enroute to St. Louis just moments after the flight attendants came through with beverage service. I asked the flight attendant if there was a place to change babies in the bathroom and he said yes. To my surprise there was a changing table that dropped down over the toilet. It was a tight squeeze in the bathroom, but it worked. However, it was so cold in there Gabe peed on himself while I was changing him. Ahhh....what next? I carried him back to the seat and proceeded to change his shirt. Finally a moment of peace. We landed, exited the plane and went to the terminal next to the one we arrived at to wait to depart. Luckily we had some time because our assigned seats were in an exit row and that's a no-no with a tot in tow. The gate attendant swapped our tickets and we thought we were golden, but we were wrong. After we struggled to get the car seat properly installed the flight attendant proceeded to tell us we could not be in the row in FRONT of the exit row with a tot! I never knew that you couldn't be in the row in front of the exit row with a child, but I don't work for the airline either. I would have thought the dumb gate attendant would have known that and not moved us there. The row in front of us was asked to switch with us and that just made the old folks cranky. Did you know it's ok for 70 year olds to sit in the row in front of the exit row and not a two year old. A two year old can move faster than those 70 year olds! Finally the old folks moved and all was fine and dandy except for the fact it's a compete pain the bum to hook the seatbelt holding the child seat into place. My wrist was completely scratched up and it seriously looked like I was trying to take my own life by the time we were done getting it hooked in. John had some torn up knuckles to go along with my red and scratched wrist. I will never travel with a car seat again if I can help it!

St. Louis was a very busy trip for me, but it was productive despite my tiredness. I worked until 1130 CST on Wednesday (the day we arrived) and went to the office the next day to work a 12 hour day and finally just worked a half day on Friday. Friday afternoon we went to the St. Louis Arch and Saturday we went to the St Louis Zoo. Both were fantastic and expect to see some LO's with those sometime soon. We wanted to go to the Magic House in St. Louis, but mistakenly misread the hours of operation and ran out of time. The Magic House is supposed to be the best place in the world for kids to play. Maybe another time???

Our flight back to CT was at 6am on Sunday morning. We were making great time getting to the airport from the hotel until we couldn't find the rental car return road. The signs just left us hanging and needless to say we didn't have as much time as we would have liked to get checked in and through security. We did make the flight with 2 minutes to spare, but it was not fun cutting it that close. Once again TSA ticked me off because of their inconsistencies and I guess I will just have to deal with the fact it's not going to get any easier since the world seems to have gone mad!

While in flight, Gabe was great on the first part of the trip. On the second part of the trip he decided to poop right as people were still filing into the plane. Since we were in the bulk head row and there is more room there I plopped him down on the floor, changed him and threw the diaper in a ziplock bag until I could dispose of it when we landed. I was keeping it fresh! All of that just grossed me out and I couldn't believe I had done it, but I didn't want to make my child sit in poop until we were at a cruising altitude since they were rushing everyone to get seated so they could take off immediately. Well...just about half way through that flight Gabe pooped again. I didn't want a repeat of the last diaper change so I took him into the bathroom and guess what?! NO diaper changing table in this bathroom and nowhere to lay him down either. I had to change a messy poop diaper with him standing up. Now,  I do often change his diaper with him standing up, but those are simply wet diapers and not messy poop ones! I used about 20 wipes and kept talking to him to keep him still. I was able to do it without getting poop everywhere, but it wasn't easy!! Several more things were challenging in that flight as well, but you get the gist of the flight. I was so happy when we landed so I could just relax.

John and I would like to take Gabe to Hawaii with us someday, but I'm not in a hurry to attempt that anytime soon!! I get stressed out just thinking about it. It was a 16 hour flight from Kentucky and now we are even further east so it's got to be even longer now.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

The frustrations of selling a house

Totally not scrap related....but I need to get this off my chest.

Our house, at 2601 Whiteberry Drive, in Lexington, KY is still for sale. It's been on the market for almost a year and there has been interest all along, but no offers! Sadly we never seem to get much feedback regarding why interested parties don't want to make an offer and that is one of the most frustrating points of selling a house. Honestly, we are getting to the point where it's becoming difficult to make ends meet. Our savings doesn't exist and I am just not sure how we'll manage if we have to continue shelling out mortgage money for a house we don't live in, rent money for teeny tiny apartment, and money for storing the stuff we can't fit into our teeny tiny apartment. I want to cry everytime I think about bills because we have so many and it's just more expensive to live in CT than it was to live in KY!

The puzzle pieces just didn't fall into place like we expected, errr....hoped. In October 2008 John was laid off from his job (the 2nd time in 5 years) and we then made the decision to put our house on the market and start thinking about moving back to Connecticut. The whole 6 years we were in KY I was able to work from home and maintain my job in CT, but if I were to be back in the office I knew I'd have some additional job security so John looked for a job in CT. In addition, Grandma and Grandpa live in PA and we weren't able to visit often enough in my opinion and I wanted them to be able to see Gabe more than 2 times a year in addition to my desire to see my siblings more than once a year. Anyway, after 9 months of looking John was offered an incredible job which he enjoys and is extremely happy to have landed, but our joy is over- shadowed by an immense amount of stress because of a vacant house that we loved living in,  but for some reason cannot get sold. We knew it would come down to our house selling and John not having a job offer OR John recieving a job offer and not having sold the house yet. Neither scenario was ideal but we thought John getting a job was the better of the two. Now we are wondering how different things would be if it happened the other way around...

I honestly wouldn't care if it was just me and John living in "limbo" and struggling to make ends meet, but Gabe is my main concern. I don't like not knowing when we will get a house and get settled. Yes, I'm sure he's fine where we are, but it's one of the little things I worry about among many others.

If you know of anyone who wants to buy this house, send me a message!



Country Page scrap kit by HarmonyStar

Thursday, September 17, 2009

I feel like giving away a FREEBIE!

I don't get to create very many things to just give away. I made this 2010 calendar as a participation prize for a Speed Scrap I hosted at Gingerscraps, but I figured MORE people might like to have it too and what good is it if I don't share it!? You really should join us at Gingerscraps where we have a Speed Scrap everyday of the month. You can get the calendar (LINK EXPIRED)





Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Just Like a Fish

Pond Play by Wyld Web Designs. A fun, whimsical kit to scrap your water play days! This kit is perfect for those pictures of the beach or even just in your own backyard!
Check out the preview followed by a LO I created.
 
Additional Credits: Photo Mask by Cinzia Loosemore

It's Potty Time!!!

Statements by Jodi has a new kit being released today at Gingerscraps. This kit is perfect for scrapping your child's potty training adventure. It's also great for those big kid underwear photos!

This kit includes 18 papers, 70 elements, 73 stickers, A FULL alpha, and a printable 8x11 sticker chart that you can print out and use during your child's potty training! 4 different candy rewards, 2 rolls of toilet paper, a 5x7 sticker chart for your LO's, 2 potty chairs, 1 staple, 4 boys and 4 girls (blond, brunette, red head and black hair), 4 frames, 2 journal blocks, 2 step stools, 1 toilet, 1 sink, 5 flowers, 10 buttons, 6 pair of girl underwear and 5 pair of boy underwear, and 5 book plates.

Here's a preview of the kit followed by a LO I created using it.


Sunday, September 13, 2009

Found a fun post on the IKEAGoddess website and thought I'd play too.

***********FOODOLOGY***************

What is your salad dressing of choice?
Balsamic Vinaigrette

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Johnny Carinos (even though I don't live near one anymore)

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
Cereal

What are your pizza toppings of choice?
sweet peppers

What do you like to put on your toast?
Jam

***********TECHNOLOGY***************

How many televisions are in your house?
2

What color is your cellphone?
Black

Do you have an iPod?
no and I am probably the only one who doesn't want one.

***************BIOLOGY******************

Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right, but can do just about anything with my left as well.

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
My appendix and wisdom teeth

What is the last heavy item you lifted?
Gabe

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Not that I can remember ;-)

************BULLOLOGY**************

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
No.

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Hmmm, maybe Penelope

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000?
Most likely

**************FAVORITOLOGY****************

Season?
Fall

Holiday?
4th of July

Day of the week?
Friday

Month?
September

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************

Missing someone?
Always

Mood?
Happy, its Friday ;-)

What are you listening to?
Theme song to Pinky Dinky Doo

Current worry?
Getting our house sold and money.

***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************

First place you went this morning
Kitchen to get Gabe some booice (juice)

What’s the last movie you saw?
Yikes...on TV "Throw Mama from the Train" -- in theatre "The Dark Knight". We don't get to the movies very often

***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
2

Last time you had a run-in with the cops
Last month. Turned someone in for a hit and run. I just spoke with the officer on the phone.

Last person you talked to?
John (my husband)

Last person you hugged?
Gabe

Do you always answer your phone?
No.

It’s four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
Someone I don't know.

If you could change your eye color what would it be?
green

What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic
I don't go to Sonic.

Do you own a digital camera?
Yes, 2 - Olympus P&S and Olympus DSLR

Have you ever had a pet fish?
Yes, just for a week.

Favorite Christmas song(s)
White Christmas (and it's likely we will have a white christmas since we are back in CT)

What’s on your wish list for your birthday
I don't have a wish list.

Can you do push ups?
Yes, but not many.

Can you do a split?
no.

Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
Depends on the day. I'm split down the middle.

Do you have any saved texts?
No.

Have you ever been in a car accident?
Yes, but it was minor and not my fault.

Do you have an accent?
It depends who you ask. When I lived in KY people would say I did, but now that I am back in CT I blend.

What is the last movie to make you cry?
Can't recall.

Plans tonight?
Nothing too exciting.

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
No

Name 3 things you bought yesterday?
T-shirt for Gabe, pants for Gabe, face wash.

Have you ever been given roses?
Yes, but I don't like them.

Met someone who changed your life?
Everyone I meet has some impact on my life.

How will you bring in the New Year?
Not sure, but probably at home.

What song represents you?
Everything Falls Apart - Dog's Eye View

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
Yes, but only if I could make changes.

Do you have any tattoos/piercings?
One tattoo and just regular pierced ears -- nothing exotic

Does anyone love you?
Of Course

Would you be a pirate?
no

What songs do you sing in the shower?
i don't sing outloud, but lyrics are always running through my mind from various songs.

Ever had someone sing to you?
no

Do you like to cuddle?
Yes.

Have you held hands with anyone today?
yes

Who was the last person you took a picture of?
Gabe

Are most of the friends in your life new or old?
A bit of both.

Do you like pulpy orange juice?
Yes

What is something your friends make fun of you for?
I don't know and I'm not sure I'd want to know.