May 14, 2008
This afternoon, I shut down Outlook on my work laptop, vowing not to look at my work email again until Monday morning. I’m off this Thursday and Friday, thereby turning my 2 day weekend into a four day weekend - huzzah! There’s nothing quite like the prospect of sleeping in and being paid for it to put a little extra spring in your step. I’m taking the time off simply because I deserve it, and so far my plans for the weekend include:
- Welcoming Catherine home tonight from her school trip to the Florida Keys. I’m sure she’s going to be tan, tired, and have a ton of stinky laundry.
- Laundry - see above.
- Breakfast / brunch on Friday morning with a friend I haven’t seen in months…we’re way overdue!
- A deep tissue massage at a local spa - Jim got me the gift certificate a whole YEAR ago and I finally scheduled an appointment!
- Waiting at home for a delivery of sod. (Granted, not the highlight of my time off.)
- Putting the deposit on a family cruise we’re taking this summer for our vacation.
- Starting AND finishing a paper for my Principles of Management class. Boo, hiss. (Why, oh why, did I put this off until now? It’s due next week!)
- Matthew’s birthday party with his friends this weekend, and a baseball game.
- Sleeping in on the clock.
- Taking the kids to the movies. There are so many things out we want to see!
Yay for time off for good behavior!
5:31 pm
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Ever since Jim and I returned to college in January, our free time has been a bit fleeting. We haven’t gone away for weekend trips (ok, ok, we did spend a week in Amsterdam in January, but that doesn’t count!) or planned big events and nights out with friends. Aside from taking Matthew to his baseball games, we don’t get out much! Jim has even cut back on the amount of time he spends at the ice rink playing hockey. Oh, he hasn’t given UP hockey entirely, he’s just not playing on the ice. He bought a pair of skates, similar to these K2 inline skates, and he plays street hockey! Matthew has a pair too, and they make quite the team, whacking balls left and right out in the middle of the street.
I knew it was only a matter of time before Jim wanted ME to get inline skates and join them, and I’ve resisted so far, based on a bad inline skating experience I had in the 90’s. Actually, I’ve had two bad skating experiences. When I was 6, I broke my arm roller skating at a friend’s birthday party. When I was 17 something, I had a pair of cheap inline skates and got myself all geared up with pads…the result was an inline skating dork with crappy skates and sore calves. The gear and the skates have improved quite a bit in the last 15 years, and Jim’s skates are fantastic. I checked out the selection of inline skates for women at ModernSkate.com and was impressed by features like aluminum framing (lightweight!), easy entry and breathability (avoid sweaty feet!) and high end wheels and bearings.
Is it possible? Can exercise be…fun and effortless?
3:52 pm
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May 13, 2008
Matthew is another year older! 10 minutes ago (as I write this at 4:34pm eastern time) and 9 years ago, I huffed and I puffed and I pushed him on out! As I did last year, I’m sharing a link to the story of his birth, as well as pictures (non gory / graphic) of May 13th, 1999. Please enjoy my circa-1999 Geocities homepage while you’re at it!
Click on the more link below for a trip down Matthew memory lane…
3:51 pm
Filed under Family Ties
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May 12, 2008
I am NOT pleased with the outcome of Survivor Fans Vs. Favorites. Not pleased at all! I can’t fathom how Parvati, who obviously only flirted with James to have him keep her safe, and who formed multiple alliances that she broke…won? Amanda played an amazing game and really didn’t screw anyone over. Parvati is as phony and insincere as the day is long. Even her last name is Shallow.
Bah, humbug.
7:16 pm
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I have a weakness for shoes. I don’t go overboard, a la Imelda Marcos, but I do have more shoes than most women I know, and I never turn down a new pair, either. Now that my oldest daughter is a pre-teen, she’s falling in shoes like I did at that age, and we’re having shopping together! We don’t normally agree on styles (she likes trendy shoes, I like classic or retro styles) but it doesn’t keep us from drooling over shoes and shoe sales together. Typically, we don’t go for same brands either, but the selection at InfinityShoes.com has something for each of us! Catherine would love the Sinas sneakers from Tsubo shoes or these cute flats from Seychelles shoes. Both are stylish, trendy, and cool enough for any middle school girl.
Me? Give me a nice pair of heels with a little ankle strap anyday! I even took a look at the Minnetonka boots they’ve got - those knee high fringed boots are a blast from MY past. When I was in high school, all of the cool kids were wearing them…are they coming back? (Note: I was not a cool kid in high school, hence, I did not own boots like these. HA!)
I’m definitely keeping this site in mind for shopping for Catherine (and myself!) in the future!
7:14 pm
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My Mother’s Day was delightful, aside from waking up before 6am. We had to have Catherine at her school by 5:45am so that she could leave on her class trip to SeaCamp in the Florida Keys. Lucky kid! Once Jim and I got back home, we went back to bed, and I didn’t wake back up until 10 o’clock, which is when Jim and the kids entered the room with presents and flowers and breakfast for me! The kids had handmade cards, gifts, and a huge bouquet of multicolored daisies. Jim had a plate with bacon and hot pancakes and he made a smiley face on the pancakes with blueberries.
I opened my cards and presents - Jim got me a Kodak digital camera frame. Completely unexpected but such a “WOW” gift! I’ve always thought they were cool but didn’t want to spend the money on one for myself. Matthew gave me a little jewelry box he made out of clay in after school pottery, glazed and all. Inside was a beaded bracelet he made with his regular class too…kind of neat that gifts he made in 2 different classes went together like that, without it being planned! Gracie’s gift was a laminated card with her photo and a sappy poem about kids growing up…awww!
I ended up having Jim take my plate back downstairs so I could eat at the dining room table with the family, and after we ate and cleaned up, we headed out for the Devil Rays game with my mom and my sister. It was the first time the kids have been to a *real* baseball game, and thanks to my sister’s friend at the Devil Rays organization, we had awesome seats right behind home plate. The Devil Rays won, we all stuffed ourselves on hot dogs and ice cream and Cracker Jacks, and the kids got to run the bases after the game.
Jim set the bar high for Mother’s Day 2009!
3:30 pm
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May 9, 2008
A few weeks ago, I mentioned my infamous summer chore chart. With less than a month to go in the school year, it’s time for me to revamp last years chart. Technically, it’s a list, but I’m making it into a chart and the kids will need to cross off or check off their chores each day during the summer. I’m also going to switch up the chores too. For example, Catherine has been vacuuming the upstairs, and Gracie has been doing the downstairs - they’re going to switch. Since everyone is a year older, we may even add additional chores! ::claps hands with glee:: Leave it to me to make my kids start dreading summer now, right?
I decided to make my life easier by using the free pre-made printable chore charts available at ChoreCharts.com. My plan for now is to have a separate chore chart for each kid - maybe the “Messy” theme for Catherine, “Rocking” for Gracie, and “Sports” for Matthew. I love the layout of the messy chore chart, because it lets you assign a number to each chore on the left hand side, like “Vacuum downstairs” as #1, and so on. Then, on the daily portion, you just bubble in the number of the chore or chores you want completed that day! It leaves room to write in something extra too, like, “Do a good job on the carpets, Love Mommy!” Hee, hee!
9:22 pm
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I’m cleaning off my desk, where I’ve let years worth of crap and months of dust accumulate. Tucked away in a corner, I found my day planner from 1994, which I’ve kept all of these years since it’s got sentimental value. Inside the planner, I found a pay stub from my job at the grocery store, which is where I worked from 1993 through 1996 while attending junior college.
On this particular week in 1994, I worked a total of 23.25 hours at the store, earning me a whopping $120.90! Let’s not forget the $1 per hour extra I made for working on Sunday for 5 hours, which brings my grand total up to $125.90. When I’m longing for the good old days, when gas was 99 cents a gallon, I’ll try to keep in mind that I was only being paid $5.20 per hour. It’s funny to recall that I thought I could LIVE on that back then…HA!
9:02 pm
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We’re finally firming up our summer vacation plans!
We only have enough time for a quick getaway. With Jim and I both attending school full time through the summer, and the kids starting back in August, we’re almost going to be too busy for a vacation. I think we’re going to do a cruise, but it got me thinking about the great vacation we took last summer to Canada. I’d love to go back. Toronto was fab, Montreal was amazing, and Niagara Falls was incredible. If we ever went back, I’d love to go further north into Quebec City!
One of the reasons we’re not taking a big trip like that, aside from the time factor, is that I’ve already got a weekend trip to Orlando in the works for September, and another trip to New York City for October. The Orlando trip is for IzeaFest, which was held in Las Vegas last year under the name “PostieCon”. I’m so excited that it’s going down in Florida this year! Not only does it mean I can drive there instead of fly, but Orlando is home turf for Izea, meaning all of their staff can attend! I’m planning on hooking up with quite a few bloggers there, so my peeps better be on the lookout for a cheap flight to Orlando! Those of you entertaining the thought of coming from the U.K. should check out the deals on DialAFlight.com. Come for IzeaFest…stay for Disney!
9:00 pm
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Caution: Survivor spoilers ahead…avert your eyes if you haven’t watched last night’s episode!
After 16 seasons of Survivor, I don’t think I’d be going out on a limb when I say that this is the BEST.SEASON.EVER. The game of Fans Vs. Favorites got off to a slow start, what with Johnny Fairplay dropping out right away (I was hoping he’d bring the drama!) and great players like Jonathan Henner and James the gravedigger being sidelined for injuries. Finally though, with the last four episodes, things have gotten HOT! Four blindsides in a row - FOUR! Ozzy, then Jason, then Alexis, and now Eric? Huge, HUGE props to the remaining players for FINALLY pulling it together and having an all female final 4. That’s never happened, right? Usually, the girls aren’t smart enough to pull it off, but the finally did it. I can’t believe Eric fell for giving up his immunity idol - he really is a wide eyed innocent kid after all!
(Best quote from last night: “I don’t want to be an ice cream boy. I want to be an ice cream man!”)
I’m going to be so impressed if Amanda and Parvati and Cirie can keep it together to end up as the final three. Amanda has played an amazing game - she’s a completely different person than she was last time.
3:26 pm
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