2012 Goals

Buy more "local" (food, clothing, gifts) than I currently do.

Try to cut down on meat and drink more water.

Start taking my own bags everywhere.

Exercise 15 minutes a day.

Find time to read at least 12 books.

Keep a journal and work on personal growth.

Go on a family vacation (at least 2 days)

Spend more time outdoors (hiking/camping)

Stray from the crowds

I live in suburba that boarders the edge of wilderness. Since my daughter started school I have found myself trying to make friends with the other moms/neighbors at the bus stop, while trying all the while not to become part of the group.

Upon further thought I realized this really isn't a true 'burb. We have the Swiss mama, the Australian mama, and another American mama. None of us worry about dressing like a 10, but we all are slim and active. We all dress our age. We don't oust anyone for their opinion and we support each other and work together to address neighborhood issues.

I still don't feel like I am good friends with any of them, but I think that is best. I am a lonner and have always been. Close friends are rare and trying to make one tends to distract me from more important topics.

As with all humans, I share some common interests with everyone and if only I can stick to the common interest we can all get along great and help each other.

Selfish

We are the most selfish society, ever, and I am among their ranks. We are at the point where our conscious does not even recognize when we are being selfish. We do things because we can, never asking ourselves if we should. Even when we know we shouldn't, we still do because everyone else is and what is one more...

I just read this article about a 2 month old that dies while in daycare and for whatever reason the day care provider did not call 911 right away. It occurred to me best case scenario the baby had died of SIDS and she was to busy worrying about loosing her license (and maybe even her income and home) instead of just picking up the phone to try to save a life. She was possibly more worried about her own materials possessions because our society places more value on them, then life itself. She didn't think, it's okay if they close me down for the baby's death, they will forgive me and know I did my best, and maybe society will help me feed my family and pay my mortgage.

Interesting enough the fact that we pay interest on money we barrow is a crime in the eyes of the Qu'ran. In some societies (tribes) even ownership is wrong.

I think our first step as mothers is running our households like we wish the world to run. At home we try to teach our children sharing and teamwork for the betterment of the household. We try to teach them not to waste, to return things to their original state, be considerate of others. Sadly, I hear so many mothers not even teaching these basic principles so much.

On a board I sometimes frequent there was a mother asking for input. Her son (about 4 years old) got a candy for a reward from school and the father asked the son to share it with him. The mother said, no it is his reward, he earned it. Surprisingly 75% or more agreed with the mother. Now when this boy grows up and has a family what will he think if this continues to be reinforces. "It is my reward I earned it. I don't have to share." When the same mother is left homeless in her old age or dropped off in a retirement center because it is his money and his time and he earned it, she may rethink the choices she made, but it will be too late.

I don't blame the mother for not seeing the error in her way. I am sure she was raised the same way. I know I was also raised that way. It is the American dream/promise. Spend your time working hard and live like a king or queen enjoying your rewards.

Personally I am slowly learning that the rewards are in the (doing of the) work and the rewards are in the happiness you feel when you help someone who can't or doesn't know how to help themselves.

You have food, water, clothing, shelter, medical and a way to obtain and sustain those then it is your duty to help others with what you have left. (Education is included because it is learning how to obtain and/or sustain the above mentioned things and in some cases parents use the time the child is in daycare of school to work to obtain/sustain.)

Since life is also about balance I am going to make a new goal for myself. For every dollar I spend on something that is not part of the above I will give in equal portion to a person in need or an organization that helps others.

This means. I normally spend $10 on food for a nice dinner at home and we go out to eat and spend $50, then I must donate $40 to a cause or person. If I make a trip to Target to buy the kids a new Wii game then I must donate the cost of the extra gas plus the cost of the game. This will also hold true for things like family pictures. If I spend $200 on unneeded clothes plus $200 hiring the photographer then that is $400 I must donate somewhere. Family vacations same thing. If I can't afford to spend $2000 on a family vacation and $2000 in a cause then I will just have to scale things down. My weakness is chocolate/sugar and really it is not a necessity. So I will include this for my own benefit.

I know this wont change all my selfish ways but maybe it will help me awaken my consciousness and help some people along the way.

It probably sounds like I am just throwing money on the problem. However, anyone in my situation who has young children understands that taking children to do volunteer work is negating the part where I get work done. (Yes, it did take me 2 hours just to type this up with various interruptions.)

Life is short

Earlier this month there was a loss in the extended family Vet Falls from New York Coaster. Then last week there was an car accident close to home that could have involved us or my husband had it been another day. I beautiful 9 year old girl lost her life. In her honor people everywhere are giving to a charity to bring clean water to those who need it.

Saturday I woke up to find a good friend died suddenly when her heart just stopped at the gym. She left behind a beautiful almost 4 year old daughter and I can't imagine what the family is going through. I am still in shock. She was at my baby shower 5 years ago. Our girls were babies together. I just sent her a birthday wish 10 days ago.

Life is too short. I wish I could just hold my children and husband and never let go.

Rest in peace your lives were too short and you will be greatly missed.

Whoops!

With friends visiting and seeing how nice life can be when you aren't constantly carrying around a baby or pregnant, I decided I am really comfortable to be done having children and really ready to move on. I want to enjoy my husband and not constantly struggle to share my time on such a great level.

My husband freaks out when our 11 month old starts crying. No exaggeration. He walked home last weekend because he couldn't stand he crying for 5 minutes (while we were driving home.) This reconfirmed to me that we need to be done having babies.

Last night we had a little swimmer security breech. I seriously pray nothing becomes of that security breech. It brought us on the topic of permeant fixes.

When it comes down to it. I wouldn't mind having everything removed (not just disconnected), but then that brings it's own challenges. He doesn't want his junk touched. This would have obviously been the easiest solution.

I refuse birth control (hormones) and my body doesn't regulate itself enough to just keep a chart of temps (if by chance it does later, it may be too late.)

We are both kind of on the page of...what will happen will happen because aside from me getting everything removed there is always that small chance of something happening.

My husband did say something that made me sad. Well really if we don't want kids then we just need to be abstinent, but I can't do that so you will be on your own there.

I understand him on one hand, but on the other hand he doesn't want anymore kids either so how stupid does he sound not willing to do anything about it.

I am frustrated. If my body wasn't so jacked up (hips and feet) then I might just take up running and weight lifting again and then I wouldn't hardly have enough body fat to get pregnant.

Let me also put things in perspective. My grandmother who I take after like a twin. Had 3 children between 17 and 23. Then she had twins at 33 years old. Then after having the twins she had complications that later lead to a hysterectomy. My other grandmother had 3 kids, stopped and then whoops 8 years later another one. It also lead to an emergency hysterectomy.

Which child #3 I counted my blessings that everything went okay and we all were able to walk away. I really don't want to take my chances....

Ugh

Husband has a reunion weekend this summer about 2000 miles away. He wants (us all) to go. He has known about it since April or even earlier. I heard about it through his (exchange) parents in May.

Tell him get tickets so it won't be last minute expensive. He still hasn't even looked into tickets.

Today he e-mails me the reunion schedule and says, my (exchange) parents are too old to watch the kids so if you don't mind I want to go to the dinner and drinking night and then one night out with the boys.

Backstory I talked to him about starting my dance class back up in a month (it means I would be gone for 2 hours, but home for bedtime), and he said, "no I don't think your daughter is ready to be without you (at 11 months old)."

So of corse I basically said, why would I want to spend over $1k (more like 2-3) to go there and sit with the kids while you go out? We have a lot of other things we need to spend money on.

"well you can go have a girls night..." First if I had a girls night he would say, who are these friends and spend half an hour BSing me until it is not worth going. Second he knows I am not interested in "girls night" because I am not a drinker and even if I was, I couldn't because I am nursing. Third why he be okay with a girls night and not me taking my dance?

Oh yeah...he is full of sh1t. He claims he values family time but yet he never wants to do activities as a family. He just got back from 5 weeks away from us and now he wants to go out drinking with the guys to build relationships. Last weekend I wanted us all to go somewhere (I had multiple ideas and just asked him to pick something), no he spent it bitching about something house related and then we got stuff done in the yard.

Mostly Good

My grandmother who was born in 1933 came for a visit this week with my mom. Seeing my grandmother who is not aging so gracefully really made me think about things and how what I am doing now and the habits I am developing will impact my life in 40 years. It also made me think more about my parents and my plans for their care should they ever need help.

It is sad that my grandmother doesn't really know who I am or who the kids are, but great to see her. Z and her built a great little bond while she was here and I know Z will have good memories of her.

In swimming news. Little M, who is 10 months will start swimming lessons soon. G who is 3 can swim 20 feet my himself. Z who is 5, can swim at least 50 feet by herself. When I say by themselves I mean no help head down and coming up for a breath on their own as needed. Z can also swim out and dive 5 feet down without help.

In biking news. Z can bike 1/4 of a mile (without training wheels or help). G has a strider bike and he can go about 1/10 of a mile coasting (balancing). It would seem that I might have to kids on bikes without training wheels by the end of the summer. I have a double bike trailer/stroller and I might not have use for it much longer.

In talking news. M says, Mama, Baba, and Hi. G is putting into words all the thoughts in his head and it is really amazing. 6 months ago, "Help me please mama" was good. Now, "Mama look at that drawbridge it is moving fast." I didn't even know he knew what a drawbridge was...

This is an exciting time in all our lives. I just wish I could slow it down a little.

I am officially crazy

For our first Valentine's Day (after dating only 2 weeks) my (now) husband got me huge pearl earrings, chocolate, and flowers. For my first Mother's Day he got me an ipod nano. For another birthday a Wii (we already had a xbox360, but at least the kids get a lot of use out of the Wii). This year he got me an ipad (since he was gone for my birthday and Mother's Day). Oh and there was the engagement ring. The though was always well received but the gift... not so much.

He had known me for 2 years before the first Valentine's Day. I didn't like the pearl earrings... too big. (About 30% bigger than anything else I had ever worn.) Ipod...didn't need it. I think I had just bought a personal CD player about 6 months earlier. Ipad...I have a 3 year old working macbook pro (and he has a laptop and we have an extra laptop). The engagement ring it was also about 30% bigger than I wanted.

From his recent trip brought me back a beautiful cashmere scarf that is probably 6 ft X 2 Ft and I don't what to think what is cost. It is beautiful, but it is all colors I don't wear. It will probably sit in my closet until I die, maybe I will wear it a few times if I am lucky.

I think what upsets me most when I get these gifts is that it shows that he doesn't know me. You know what I want...new underwear, the yard re-landscaped (or at least a plan in place), the driveway re-sealed, a weekend at the beach. All of these things I have been talking about. It bugs me that he spends all this money on stuff I don't need/won't use and he could have feed a family in Egypt for a year.

These are only about half the gifts, so I guess he does okay.

How crazy am I, "Honey, Thank you, this is beautiful, but can I return it?"

I complain when he buys me something, I complain when he doesn't. Maybe I should create a "pinterest board" just for him or refer him to my Amazon wish list.

Support

There is only 1 time in my life when I felt like my parents were supportive. When I was in high school I ran cross country. At the semi-finals I finished 3rd and I didn't run my heart out. So they were supper supportive at the finals. They believed in me and knew I could place. They had a cake all ready for me when I came home but.... I didn't place. Sure we still enjoyed the cake and I felt like the one time they really supported me was the one time I let them down.

Where was that support the first 15 years of my life? Where has it been the last 16?

It is not that I need support but it sure would be nice if my parents could at least be just as supportive of me as they are of my brother's wife...is that really to much to ask...hell at least pretend I live 800 miles away so it really doesn't require much effort.

Billy Bob B......

If all goes well my brother is finding out the sex of his baby today. They have a nice normal girls name picked out and for the boy's name they have a name that is the equivalent of Benjamin Billy Bob. Yes, exactly.

My parents hated/hate my children's names. They are not American names is why. They are very beautiful names and my children are only half American but 5 years later they still aren't over it.

They said, oh the other kids will make fun of your kids names. Really?? In 5 years all I have heard is, "Beautiful names." Never an "oh....." They obviously go to school in an area where there are more than 2 or 3 cultures.

Benjamin Billy Bob will be going to school in an area where you are either hispanic(65%), white(30%) or other (5%). My parents love the BBB name and support it 100%. They think it is so cute. Hello! Cute when you are 1 year old, not cute when you are 30.

In other news my father is still upset at a question my daughter asked him 3 weeks ago. If my mother had not been in the room I do not know how my father would have reacted. Knowing how he was when I grew up and knowing he is worse, I have made a decision. My father will never be unsupervised with my children. I do not ever want my children to subjected to that kind of verbal abuse from their own grandfather. I am also thinking about throwing in the towel. I have made so much effort over the past 10 years to mend the problems and really there is nothing I can do, so I need to stop wasting my time. (Just as my husband has stopped trying to help his sister to no avail.) We love our families and that is that, nothing less, nothing more.

5th Birthday

Z's birthday is coming soon. I am using The Violet Hours for inspiration.

I pretty much copied her invitation idea. I just made the leaves card like with the party info. inside.

The picture of the purple and pink flower in a couple of posts down are going to be planted into pots (that the children will decorate) and sent home as favors.

I have so much to do so that I am ready for the party. Just hoping we have a decent guest turn out.

Kindergarten Assesment

To be honest I was worried that I have not done enough with preschool homeschooling. So I was really reluctant to do the Kindergarten Assessment at Z's future school. Sure she is smart, but maybe I haven't introduced her to enough things. It was her assessment, but I felt like it was mine to. It is like the teacher's who get evaluated based on their student's performance on tests. I was more nervous than Z was.

So we went in today. Write your name and draw a picture of yourself. Basic colors, basic shapes. Count theses bears. Identify all the letters in upper and lower case. What sound does this make "qu, th, ch, sh ?" Can you read these words (about 50 words.) She breezed right through everything.

I heard these words, "Wow! I have Kindergartners that don't know all the blends. I haven't seen any incoming Kindergartner that has been able to do all of that." "You are doing a great job with her!"

I was able to breathe again and proud. We were preparing to write the alphabet, do pattern blocks, basic addition, and read a book, maybe tell our left hand from our right or something. I must have been preparing for Kindergarten in California, not Washington, or something.

I just need to post this to say how proud I am and what a relief that I am actually doing an okay job. I shouldn't doubt myself, but obviously it doesn't stop me.

So much for kicking my own butt

Yeah.... so about getting to 130lbs by my 31st birthday. If I got to 135lbs by my 31st birthday that would be fantastic.

I don't know what my excuse is. In the last month I have mowed the lawn outside at least 3 times. That is a very serious workout. A 15 pound baby strapped on, pushing a manual mower through grass that is way too tall. After only an hour I usually come in ready to pass out. My legs, arms, and core usually hurt enough that I feel them the next day when I work for another hour or two.

I think loosing this baby weight is going to take longer than I anticipated.

Too much

According to one man (or maybe a group of men) the rapture is to occur. Sure we would all like to know when, where, what, who, but really I think if you get wrapped up in this you miss the point.

Should we all be prepared for a disaster sure, but not because of a man's words, but because we are intelligent beings that wish to survive or increase our chance of survival given the small chance that there is a disaster.

I do not know what tomorrow brings or what next week brings. I only know that I am blessed to have a family that loves me and raised me the best they could, a husband who loves me and does his best to care and support our children and myself, and my beautiful children.

There are more nights than not, when I wish I could sleep with my 3 children and my husband in my arms. However, I have learned 3 kids and 2 adults in a queen bed just doesn't allow anyone to sleep. :)

Life really is so short. I wish I would have believed my parents when I was growing up. So many things to learn and put into practice and so little time.

I turn 31 very soon. I feel like I am still 21 years old, awkward, and trying to act like a grown-up so that others think I am grown up. In reality I have learned and grew a lot in the last 10 years, but I still don't know how to really host company, what is proper and what is not, how to really put on make-up, and a bunch of other things.

I looked in the fridge yesterday. It was exceptionally full due to my parents visit. I bought 2 cream cheeses, and then my mom bought one too. Go figure that when I needed it, I couldn't find it. I realized it was because I had too much. I had more than I needed. It made me think of how many times I couldn't find what I needed all because I really have more than I need. Ironically, when we can't find what we need because we have too much, we usually go out and again buy what we need only adding to what we don't need, and increasing the original problem.

If only I can decrees the stuff I don't need then I will be able to save time and energy so I can enjoy what I do have.

Bin Laden

I often wonder what the world will think of us stupid Americans 100 years from now.

Today everyone is celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden, who they were told "masterminded" the collapse of the the "Twin Towers" in New York.

Funny because other non-US media sources will tell you in 2001 he was having horrible kidney problems and he died in December 2001 (and all tapes after that were fakes...which they obviously were to anyone with half a brain.) Then you have the whole Middle East who heard he died in 2007 (in a Pakistani hospital) which was backed up by a US wikileak released in 2010.

Now they say the US Navy Seals killed him today.

When the announcement was made last night some idiot wasted his fireworks.

The guy regardless of his involvement in 9/11 was deserving of death or maybe worse for pervious crimes committed. Why celebrate a man dead or alive with more effort than you would celebrate someone that you love that is deserving of your attention. We Americans are pretty messed up in the head.

Ironically enough the US government uses terrorism to "scare us" and as an excuse to control us like animals. Don't Americans realize the do the same thing in the Middle Eastern Countries and that is why they are trying to free themselves from their governments ??

Are we really this stupid? Our children will wonder what the hell was wrong with us.

Not a popularity contest

There seems to be some confusion. This is not a popularity contest type of blog. If I have zero followers I am perfectly happy with that. This is my personal space to say what I want, when I want. I use it like an online diary. If you learn something, cool, if you are insulted or want to pout, do it on your own blog. I don't give a prize if I have 'X' followers, I am not here to sell anything. I am not here to win any awards or to make any money.

Again this is my online diary where I whine, complain, keep track of a few things & write an occasional review. (Just in case you missed the point.)

Ergo carrier vs. Beco Butterfly 2 carrier

I took my brother carrier shopping. Think 50 inch waist and over 300 lbs.

I have personally had my Ergo carrier since 2006 and I still love it.

I like that the Ergo straps more padded/higher density foam.

Beco has an insert so you can easily slide a child from front to back even at a young age (though still a little scary because hands and feet can get caught up in the wrong place.)

Ergo you put on the waist pick up your child, put the shoulder on , buckle the should strap and you are done.

Butterfly 2 you put the waist strap on, you put the shoulders on, buckle the shoulder strap, then put the child in, then buckle the cloth to the shoulder straps. This is a pro and a con in my opinion. You really have to direct the child's legs into the carrier (like putting them into a jumperoo, which as any parent knows can be a real pain in the butt when they are fighting you because they are tired and want to sleep). The problem being you could never take a sleeping baby out of the carrier without waking them (because you have to work the legs out), which to me is a HUGE flaw. The pro of corse being that if they have good head/body control you can use 2 hands to get them out of the carrier or undo other buckles (which is good cause you are going to need it.)

I do love that ergo has the pocket. I think Beco should have left a slit between the pretty print fabric on front and the solid color so you could shove a diaper or something in there.

For my daughters size (8 months) I really liked the hood on the Butterfly II. It was higher quality than the Ergo carrier which just seems like a sloppy piece of material. However the hood on the Beco does not fit very well with a 3 year old's head.

Beco does have nicer fabrics and people usually say I like how they are not a big corporation, but really that doesn't exactly work anymore (since they are now just as big as Ergo) and they both were started by a mother making a carrier for her baby and they are both still ran by the mothers who created them.

All of that said, my brother choose the Beco Butterfly 2. He felt like it was a safer carrier because of the extra butterfly insert. It also fit his waist without buying an extension piece.

If I had no carrier and had to buy again I think I would just go with whatever I could get the better deal on, which means I would probably end up with an Ergo again.

Slacking

It has been a month since my last post. I am 138 lbs. Yes I lost only 1 pound.

In my own defense I spent 3 of the 4 weeks on the road managing 3 children, 4 and under. You try driving 2000 miles and eating out more often than not and see how you can do. :p

Not to worry though. Spring is here. That means me outside mowing half an acre with a push mower every week for the next month and every other week for the next 4 months after that. I really love our yard when it is presentable. I am so excited that the weather is changing.

Now I must really start thinking about my garden and getting it in order too. I have a plan for it that I did months ago. Now I just need to do more prep work and get everything planted in the next month (while praying the slugs don't eat it all).

A mother's work is never done....

Must kick my own butt!

I need to hold myself accountable. I weigh 139lbs 7 months after having baby #3. I look like I do 2 months after having baby #2 (and weigh only 3 lbs less).

I haven't worried much about weight this time because I am worried how it would effect my milk supply. Baby #3 weights 14 lbs at best, baby #2 was 14 lbs by 6 weeks. I have been eating junk food every other night and sitting on my butt everyday.

My goal is to drink more water and be 130lbs by my 31st birthday....about 2months :)

I am going to see friends and family in a couple of weeks and kind of depressing to think that I will look almost the same as I did last time I saw them (only 2 weeks after having baby#3).

In other health news on the 8th of March I was sick for 24 hours, and the same sickness came again on March 19th. I have a feeling my hormones are all out of whack.

Challenging Week

Last Tuesday I had some kind of 24 hour bug. I would say food poisoning, but I eat the same things as everyone else in my house and no one else got it. It sucked the life out of me & 3 lbs of water. My toes turned blue. I couldn't hold anything except soup broth & mint tea down. I went to the doctors my temperature was 96.5 F and they just said here, go get yourself some drugs. If they had a half a brain they would have at least hooked me up to an IV seeing how I was so dehydrated and knowing I was nursing. As always having a knowledgable doctor is often too much to ask.

Saturday noon I was told my cousin was in a motorcycle crash and his wife died. Turns out an 87 year old lady driving a Corolla ran them over on a main road near my home town. My cousin should be okay physically, which a few pins here and there to hold him together, but mentally I worry about him. My cousin has ALWAYS picked on me. Like annoyingly so. Maybe I will go pick on him annoyingly so in a few more weeks :)

It must be in the water again...

Just found out my brother's wife is pregnant. Probably due in October. Then I just found out a friend is pregnant with her 3rd and due in August.

Part of me is jealous (because I really would love to have 4 kids), but the other part of me is done with that stage of my life and wants to move on. My heart wants 4, my practical side keeps screaming at me that I am done.

I really wish my husband would take the lead on this and have himself fixed, just so I have closure. I don't want my mind to wander and wonder on this topic until menopause hits.

I am really excited for my brother. I just wish his baby was here already so that the baby would be the same age as M.

A Free Egypt

Egypt has made me proud. I spent Jan 25th to Feb 11th glued to the computer. I watched Al Jazeera Live, followed friends, family, and people I don't know in Egypt. I slept 4-5 hours a night. My life was put on hold. I went to a rally or two and made some new friends. I look forward to visiting a free Egypt.

Kale Chips

I have no idea where I have been hiding but I just found out about Kale chips and made a bunch on the fly. Just remove the leaves from the stems in bite size pieces. Rinse and spin in a salad spinner. Put kale pieces on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle Kale with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt. Cook at 350F for 12-15 minutes. Then you have crunchy chips.

You could even squeeze a little lemon or lime on them before cooking.

Great Weekend

I spent all weekend cleaning and my husband spent all weekend baking. :)

The result was a clean house, homemade bread, pizza, and baklava.

We had company come over last night. We are so lucky because this company is also a distant cousin through marriage. They speak Arabic which is fantastic so that my children can get more exposure and they have children close to my own children's' ages. Best of all they are fantastic company. I am excited to have a potential friend/family member in the area that can come to me if they need anything, or we can go to them if we need something.

I must say, I wish I was as great of company as they are. I was not raised to be an entertainer. I was raised to be a worker. My cousins wedding. I missed the ceremony because I was busy setting up for the reception. Growing up as a child, you needed something done, you knew you could depend on my parents (and my bothers & I) to do the job and do it well, if only you asked.

I guess this is why my husband and I make a great team. I work, he entertains. I know how to do a lot of things, he is willing to learn or knows the science behind them.

Trash can tales

Here we have 3 garbage bins. One for recycling, one for yard waste, and one for trash/other. 3 weeks ago our yard waste bin went missing. Last week on trash day our trash bin was out at noon and around 3pm I see our neighbor go by with what looks like our trash bin.

Husband goes to bring our bins in and sure enough ours is gone and we look and there is ours in front of their house. My husband being the nice person he is doesn't take it back.

He later knocks on their door. The conversation went something like this:

"Hi I don't mean to bother you but I believe you may have taken our trash can by mistake"

"Oh yeah, well someone took one of our bins a few weeks ago."

"Yeah, someone took our yard bin a few weeks ago too, but my wife believes she say you accidentally take our trash can yesterday."

" Well I think your other neighbor took it, they have a lot of trash cans in their yard. Oh... How is your basement repairs going?"

Then the conversation turns into her husband and how we should call him if we need X,Y,Z fixed.

Let me point out. We are the only ones that have a trash can like ours, and yes I have the receipt for it. She had her 12 year old son do take the can while she drove. They live in a $750K house. We did NOT have our address on it....our own fault. "Oh...." is where she realized she was talking about our yard. We are allowed up to 7 yard waste bins. We have 3 that the previous owner left us. Plus 2 recycling ones (one again from the previous owners), plus 3 compost bins in the yard that someone might mistake for upside down trash cans. Our other neighbor does not any visible trash cans from their vantage point.

So I don't know if I will get the trash can back or not but I find them to be very white trash. I feel bad for the 12 year old boy and their other 3 children who are now adults. I hope they sale their house and move soon...but maybe I shouldn't hope for this....never know...we could get someone worse... :/

Only took a year

Last year I bought a mahogany table (2nd hand). Since then I have been looking for chairs and a cabinet to complete it as a set for my formal dining room. My goal was to find something that my husband also liked that wouldn't break the bank. It is finally done all my searches are over. Table $200
Cabinet $200
Chairs $120
Total $520

The chairs could use a little bit of glue and some new fabric, but they are okay for now if I just do a little spot cleaning. If you are wondering where all the beautiful crystal came from...grandmothers. The real question is, Will I ever use it? Who knows...

In other home improvement news, the basement is finally done. I can slowly start to put everything back together again and give the kids their play are back. I also have another area I am working on. A middle east sitting room.

Today we worked on pattern blocks. It honestly took my 4.5 year old a few minutes to fully catch on. I think we will be working with them on and off for the next couple of weeks just to make sure we solidify a few basic concepts.