Finally! I have seen death and made it to the other side. I swear, it’s been quite a germ filled week. I’m still sounding much like a gorilla with a raspy voice and all but I have energy again so I don’t even care.
Now that I’m browsing the internet more and more, I’m finding that I have apparently missed some drama with the paid blogging community while I was high on Nyquil. Those in the know are aware so I won’t even elaborate. Yikes. I’m glad that I made the decision to stop doing paid posts awhile back.
I’ve had some drama here as well. I got over my sickies enough yesterday to be hit with a “OH MY GOSH THE FISH TANK IS LEAKING” incident. Like the whole front of the tank pretty much decided to cave and leave fishy water draining all over my kitchen. Not cool and definitely not something I want to deal with first thing in the morning, before my coffee. I bet the fish were wishing they had gotten a good life insurance quote before moving in with us. Damn tank. Acrylic may be stronger than glass but it’s not foolproof I guess. So I had to mop up that mess, buy a new tank, transfer the fish and do a little dance/finger crossing ritual in hopes that the fish made it – and they did! At least so far. They don’t seem to be phased by the trauma. I feel sort of silly when I think about all of the work involved in keeping these $5 fish alive, but oh well. I get attached. They hang out in the kitchen with me, giving me those fishy lip expressions the entire time. It’s hard not to want to save their little fishy lives. So they are happy and I’m actually pretty happy too because Petsmart gave me a refund for the bad tank. That saved me $90!
After I got my refund we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese as a “I’m sorry we’ve been sick and neglecting you” offering. We were supposed to do a birthday party there last weekend but I was barely able to get out of bed, let alone party with anyone so we missed that. Aubree was so upset so I had to make it up to her. I adore the fact that we can hang out, have lunch and just let them wander if they want. We watch them but there’s no freak out session if I don’t see them for 5 second since I know they can’t get out of the restaurant with anyone but us. It was fun! Expensive, but fun.
Now that I’m coherent again I think I’ll spend the rest of my evening working (ChaCha!) and then watching a movie. I rented Fireproof from redbox for me and Open Season 2 for the heathens. I’ve heard that Fireproof is excellent, so we’ll see!
Ok, so it’s only been 4 days but still. I’m sick of being sick!! I woke up one day fine and by 3pm I was almost knocked on my bum. Chills, fever, stuffy, sore throat, ears aching, coughing, sinus pain.. even my teeth were hurting!! I’m assuming that was related to the sinus pain? *sighs* Every day I wake up with something new. I’m getting that lovely ring around around the nose rash you get when you’ve spent far too much time wiping it. Someone please put me out of my misery. Throw an unlocked phone at my head or something. Anything to knock me out.
Yuck.
It’s a good thing my husband doesn’t hold grudges because instead of me listening to his hacking all night long, as I have bitched about numerous times in the last few months, it’s HIM listening to me. I think they call this PAY BACK. And yes, it’s definitely a bitch.
Like most people right now, I find myself saying “we can’t afford that” more and more and I feel so bad about it, especially when it comes to the kids. They have never had to really hear that from us. We’ve always spoiled them, as horrible as that sounds. While our income is steady the bills have went up. Everything from heat to even groceries. I can’t believe how much less we are getting per shopping trip for our money, even with shopping at the commissary – which is normally much cheaper! A very small, barely filled cart yesterday cost us $75, with lots of coupons used. It was unreal and disheartening. One area I refuse to skimp in is our grocery budget. It’s important, for me, to feed my family foods that are quality and nutritious … and avoid the Ramen at all costs, you know?
With that in mind, I’m having to fidget with our budget every couple of weeks, testing this, deducting that. I used to be pretty set on buying only the best. No store brands and certainly nothing but salon hair products for my locks. But now I am certainly starting to think otherwise. The best certainly isn’t always the most expensive. I especially realized this after receiving a box of Suave goodies the other day. I was on my way out the door to buy body wash, shampoo and other assorted toiletries when the FedEx man showed up. It was a PERFECTLY timed surprise. Destiny, I tell you! I never did go out to hunt down my shopping list.
The box contained an assortment of Suave products (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, hair spray and antiperspirant), all items that I needed to buy anyway. Along with products from other brands that are significantly more expensive. It was recommended that I practice a little “Suavenomics” by using both sets of products and then comparing them .. and that I did! I used the more expensive brands at first to get a good feeling for what they could do for me. It was fine but nothing overly impressive. Then I switched to Suave for a couple of days. I was skeptical because like I said, I’m a brand snob. I wasn’t expecting much from the Suave products but I was pleasantly surprised. My hair is SO much softer today and it’s shining like a star. It also smells pretty great. Oh and the body wash? I couldn’t tell the difference – and that’s a good thing! The Suave smelled the same, cleaned the same and left me feeling great. The only difference is the price. I could buy 3 bottles for the same price as the more expensive brand. It would be silly to switch back to my other body wash. I even switched the kids’ products yesterday after I found a great coupon in our Sunday paper. I was able to buy two bottles of Suave’s kids body wash for the same price I was paying for their cartoon themed bubble baths that they like so much. Score!! The kids won’t notice but my budget will. It will be breathing a sigh of relief!
If you would like to learn more about Suave, check out their website! They have a special site set up for their “Suavenomics” campaign right now. It has some wonderful tips for saving money on your beauty routine without feeling deprived. You can try their beauty profiler tool or even learn how to give yourself a budget friendly makeover.
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Can I just say that I am SICK of yelling and repeating myself today?! OMG! It’s like they’ve lost their ears somewhere. Listening is a thing of the past. I know it’s partly because we’ve been stuck at home so much lately. Not too many play dates scheduled, it’s getting too expensive to hang out at restaurants with play areas and it’s too cold to just hang out at the park for long. At least for ME. I’m sure they wouldn’t care if they froze their little tails off but Mama isn’t into that.
Oh and then the questions!! Anyone else have a child that does nothing but question EVERYTHING? I think I’ve fielded at least 100 today. I can’t help but think that if I were logged into ChaCha I would be making money answering all of those questions. I’m sick of giving answers for free. Hmmph.
Anyway, I ordered a new computer this morning. Or well, I’m hoping that I get the one I ordered. After I submitted it, something went whacko with our Dell account and it’s on hold for the moment. Totally frustrating since I know everything is fine. The account is totally clear since I paid it off after the last computer purchase, years ago. But anyway, after the issue is sorted out I am hoping my “new” computer will be on it’s way. They wouldn’t let me take care of it since I’m not the account holder. Hubby has to. So it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
I didn’t actually order a brand new one, but a refurbished one. *gasps* I know, that sounds crazy. But Dell’s outlet computers are actually warranted just the same as brand new ones. Only they are like HALF the price. I got a very decent computer for myself for $349. If I had built it new? That price would have been more than double. I went through and built one as an example with all of the same features. I couldn’t believe the difference!
So, yeah, I’m excited. This old dog of a machine has been very faithful to me for the last 7 years. I don’t really want to give it up. But it doesn’t work very well anymore. It lags, you can’t do more than one thing at a time, it gets stuck, it moans and groans. All things that I could probably take care of if I were the least bit techy, but I’m just not feeling like doing that. As much as I would like to chuck this one out onto the street once it’s retired, I think we’ll make it into a kid computer somehow. I know the hubby is sick of his being goobered up every day by the monsters.
I’m hoping that having a new toy won’t keep me on my ass for too long though. I swear, the sitting and playing things addiction has gotten bad. Especially since I found other people to swap Animal Crossing friend codes with. I can’t believe how many of my military wifey friends love that game!! It’s been so much fun. But oh .. the time wasted. The kids love to sit and watch me, too, so that’s always a nice break from reality. I’ve logged onto Wii Fit twice in the last week. Twice will not cut the pounds – and it told me that! Gotta love getting scolded by it. Though I did lose like half a pound the last time I checked. lol Big whoop!
And now that I’ve rambled I need to unearth my living room again. I wish the kids had just as much fun cleaning as they do making messes. I spend every evening putting everything back together again. I’m over it.
Sometime last year I took advantage of our electric company’s “budget” billing system where you get the same bill every month regardless of what you used in electricity. It’s all based on the previous year’s usage. Some months there’s going to be more usage than we’re actually billed and that is SUPPOSED to be leveled off during those months when you use less than you’re being billed. If that makes any sense.
So our bill has always been $85 a month. Last month there was a small tid bit on our statement about our bill maybe being adjusted. Adjusted. By adjusted I thought, you know, maybe $50 or something to start making up for the overages. Nothing to freak my entire budget out. What did I get? A bill that is more than double!! Yes, I have an almost $200 electric bill to pay next month. LOVELY. Even when we weren’t on the budget billing I never had to pay anything over $120. This blows. Any pay raise we see on the next paycheck will be already spent on this. I don’t even have nuts and I feel like I’ve been kicked in them. grrr.
After a year and a half of dealing with the super craptacular Elite Mega littermaid cat box, I’m done. I’m so sick of the cats not fitting inside, accidentally crapping outside of the box and peeing on the waste receptacle. And there’s the mechanical issues. The motor is loud, it’s always getting stuck and somehow litter ends up magically underneath box so we actually clean more with it than we did with the old fashioned box. Funny considering we bought the darn thing to make our lives easier. I spent a week in November on cat box duty and that was enough! I knew that I had to do something before the hubby’s training schedule gets busy and he’s gone for a couple of weeks each month.
So today, after running to multiple Petsmart stores in search of it, I bought this one, the Petmate GIANT litter pan. The box to top all boxes! It is seriously the size of a kid’s swimming pool, I swear. The kids have been both sitting in it, pretending it’s a boat for the last 30 minutes. If the cats can’t get their aim correct with this one I don’t know what will help.
That is honestly the only “yay” stuff I have to post about today and that’s sad. Who gets excited about a cat box? It’s just been a LONG day that isn’t even close to being over. I wanted to go shopping around at some of the discount furniture stores in our area to price bunk beds but I didn’t get a chance with all of the other chaos. Traffic was insane, kids were being ridiculous, hubby was moody and a lazy idiot of a person left a cart sitting right next to my van at the commissary .. and scratched the bumper. I’m so pissed off. My pretty van. The cart area was right in front of it, too. All they would have had to do was WALK their lazy self around and put it in. How hard is that?? I managed to do it – and I ALWAYS do. I will never ever leave a cart sitting, no matter what. I don’t care if it’s pouring rain and I have a kid or two in tow. The cart goes back because I CARE about other people and don’t want their property getting all messed up because I had a lazy moment.
So yeah .. blah. I haven’t whined in what? Maybe a week. It’s about time. lol Hopefully I’ll get over it soon. Maybe a little time out will do me some good. With I had girlfriends to go socialize with or something. Aside from the few times I’m social while taking the kids to playgroup dates, I’m lonesome.
I’m currently suffering from “Wii shoulder” as I like to call it. My right shoulder and my neck are so tight and sore. Ouch!! I’ve spent way too much time goofing off after the kids have went down for the night. It’s only going to get worse, too. I came home from a playgroup meet up to find that the UPS man had delivered my Wii Fit!!
*squeals*
I busted that bad boy out earlier this evening and I’m in love. Love. I started out with some Yoga to get a feel for it. The kids joined in on their own, standing beside me, posing. It was too cute and I imagine that it will be a great influence on them as well. I love that it banks your time and tracks all aspects of your progress like your BMI. I’m not so in love with the fact that it weighs you before beginning but .. eh.
The number isn’t something I had wanted to see but it’s better than what I was afraid of seeing. Make sense? It could be worse. It could most definitely be worse. I haven’t weighed myself in maybe a year. But now I know that I absolutely must lose 60 pounds in order to feel comfortable with myself again. It can’t be called “baby weight” once the kid is potty trained, you know? I am not, however, giving myself any sort of crazy deadline. There’s no point and it only makes me overly anxious and pissy. I’m that way much of the time anyway .. we certainly don’t need any more of that. I’ll do it eventually, I know I will. While I’m already pretty proud of once losing 130+ lbs with surgery, I’ll be even more proud to lose 60 lbs without any medical interventions.
When I became pregnant with my first child I immediately immersed myself in all of the information that was to be had when it came to everything “baby”, especially health and safety. Of course the one major safety issue that was prominent in my research was the importance of using car seats. Not only that but also using these seats properly. There is so much to it that you don’t even realize at first. I figured as long as I bought a good seat and strapped it in, we’d be fine. That’s not always the case. There’s so much more to keeping kids safe while driving.
Did you know that the leading cause of death for infants and children in the US is by motor vehicle accidents? These fatal injuries, in many cases, can be prevented by keeping children restrained in safety seats, properly. In a safety seat that is appropriate for the child’s age and weight.
I have quite a few friends and family members in mind that I’m going to send the following video to and encourage to visit the associated Facebook page for Evenflo’s “A Mother’s Promise” campaign. Evenflo is encouraging all parents to promise to keep their kids safe in all aspects while on the road, from making sure their children are properly restrained to putting that cell phone down while driving. Our kids deserve this promise from us.
I promise, if you are like me, you will get a little choked up while watching this touching video. It’s all about mothers making promises to do everything in their power to protect their children.
Do you have a Facebook account? Would you like to post your promise on the “A Mother’s Promise” wall? Check it out!
My husband has been on off sick since before Thanksgiving. Hacking, coughing, chest congestion. At first I was totally understanding, I was sick too. We all were. I’ve been patiently waiting for him to get over it. But now that it’s after New Year’s and I’m still hearing the hacking, and phlegm spitting (gross, I know), I’ve over it. I can only take so many nights of laying there, wide awake, while he’s choking on his own goo before I start thinking about putting him out of his misery. I finally got him to buy some meds at Walgreens but of course those OTC things are not doing it. Not even Mucinex, which he had big hopes for.
He’s the guy who never gets sick, too. I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen him ill in the last almost 9 years of knowing him. Needless to say, I’m forcing him to make an appointment tomorrow for sometime this week if at all possible. I’m sure he’ll thank me when he goes into work again tomorrow night and realizes that working on jets and running to the bathroom every few minutes to purge phlegm isn’t an ideal situation. He needs real medicine.
And work. Oh I’m sort of looking forward to it. He’s had so many days off over the holidays that I feel like he never works. lol I probably sound like a bitch but I sort of prefer to have a regular schedule and time away from my other half on a daily basis. You can’t miss someone who is never gone.
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