Well, I'm officially out

I was slightly confused by the rules of this blog competition, and now the poll results are in and it seems we have to keep adding money each month to stay in the competition. I'm not willing to continue to add money for something that could potentially last YEARS (you have no idea how competitive some of us are)!. I can't afford to add money indefinitely and I'd rather not go any further and then have to bow out (due to finances) after having invested even more...if that makes sense. So I will take my $5.00 loss and move on. I may be cheap, but I'm competitive in my own way so I will continue to challenge MYSELF to blog everyday. Frankly I enjoy it now (and maybe slightly addicted), so you're not through with me yet! Sorry, you aren't that lucky, lol!

Whoa, almost forgot to blog!

I know no one would be disappointed by this, but you almost had to pass the day away without a blog from me. Thank goodness I've regained my sanity (at least temporarily)!

Well, I had my first OB appointment today. Apparently they've switched things around at my practice, so I was expecting more than I really got. Essentially now they break up the first appointment into two appointments, so this week I had all the paperwork crap and next week I go in for bloodwork and to see the doctor. So, essentially I spent 2 hours today filling out the same paperwork I filled out last year, except the only thing that has changed was the date of my last menstrual period. WASTE of time. I thought I was seeing a doctor, but i guess that was just an assumption on my part based on my first appointment with my last pregnancy.

Brace yourself for some boring rambling....Anyway, MONTHS ago I went to the doctor to see if there was anything to be concerned about regarding my long, irregular, and painful monthly cycles. They did an ultrasound and ran a bunch of bloodwork (very thorough). The results finally came back in when I was in NJ (while Al was deployed) and they said it mostly looked good but that something looked slightly "off". They said I shouldn't be concerned but that my doctor could discuss it with me when I got back in town. So I came back, got swept up in the holidays, and totally forgot. As soon as I got my positive test, that "off" bloodwork result started to haunt me. So I called the OB and they said that my doctor would have to discuss it with me and it couldn't be discussed over the phone. Way to freak me out, huh? Well since I THOUGHT I would see a doctor today I thought I would have it discussed. As previously stated though, I saw NO doctor today. Just a less-than-helpful nurse who left me with the statement "it looks like something is wrong with your blood clotting, but you are really gonna have to wait until next week to talk to the doctor.". I tried to argue but I was frazzled and trying desperately to get Tyler OUT of the OB/GYN so I just left. I realized though that I would NOT be able to relax until I could confirm that my pregnancy was not at risk. I know some people need supplements to sustain healthy pregnancies and I could NOT let this go knowing that I could be jeopardizing my baby's health. So I called the office back after lunch and explained the situation (yes, I AM the crazy pregnant lady now) and the head doctor called me back within an hour! He was SOOOO sweet on the phone and put my mind completely at ease. Apparently ONE results was slightly borderline and they wanted to follow up on it to see if it was possibly related to my delayed ovulation. Well, obviously I ovulated at some point, being that I'm pregnant now, so there are NO concerns. He did review my previous loss with me, and said that they will do an ultrasound next week. He did warn me however that I might not see a heartbeat yet, due to the fact that I will only be 6 weeks along, but that he would "cross my fingers" for me! He did apologize for the confusion with the results and everything and, I must say, I just love my OB! Phew, I can breathe a sigh of relief!

Won't try that again...

I can't say I'm a cook, by any means. I can follow a recipe fairly well, but I don't really ever cook anything on my own without some sort of outside suggestion (recipe, help from the internet, call to my mom, etc.). Spaghetti and grilled cheese is about all I can handle completely without reading a thing or making a call. I know, pretty sad. That being said, I do think it's important (for me anyway) to cook for my family. So I do so nearly every night. Me and cookbooks have gotten pretty friendly. And my husband has gotten better about pretending he likes my food, lol!

Last night I went out on a limb and decided to fry something. Frying isn't something that I would consider to be difficult, but I just always shy away from it. I think it's nasty. That's not to say I don't eat fried foods, 'cause believe me, I do...but I tend to save my fried food intake for dinners out. I try to cook healthy at home. So last night my trusty cookbook convinced me to fry fish. NEVER AGAIN. It tasted fairly good, but my house STILL smells like oil. It's disgusting! So, I hereby declare that I will never fry something again. Blah.

Something else that I won't be doing again is allowing myself to be optimistic about Tyler's behavior or reaction to stressful events. I swear I just set myself up for disappointment. Day 2 back at preschool was horrible. Granted he woke up at 4:45am (he wet through his diaper, despite the fact that I had put a new one on at 11:00pm before I went to bed) and refused to go back to bed so he was tired. Actually, we both were tired (and still are) but I had to listen to whining about preschool off and on since probably 6:00am. By 9:00 he was crying and saying he wasn't going, and then would calm down and proclaim what a great time he would have. Multiple personalities? Anyway, I literally brought him screaming out to my car, listened to him plead with me the whole way there, and dragged him into the classroom. Did I mention that the polls were located at his school so tons of people got to witness me dragging my screaming 3-year-old into the building. Nothing boosts your self-esteem like that! We said a QUICK goodbye and I got to listen to him scream all the way as I walked back to my car. What a way to start the day. Thankfully the teacher says, again, he calmed down within 5 minutes and was fine (which is basically what he says too) and AGAIN he says he loved it and wants to go back. Maybe someday I'll understand my child. Then again, I doubt that's possible! I don't really understand myself sometimes! LOL!

Keep your fingers crossed.

Today was the first day for preschool to start back up after "winter break". I had been dreading it. Tyler had been telling me he wasn't going for the past month. Today started off even worse. He told me he would just stay home. He screamed, he cried. I put on my happy face but was secretly dying. I was torn. Do I keep him home and just accept that he's not ready? Do I force him and risk him regressing in other areas (potty-training, etc?). Either way I figured I had to at least TRY to bring him. I figure this is probably the time in his life with the least transitions, being that daddy is home and he's not aware of the new baby on the horizon. So, I decided it was now or never and I figured I was gonna have this be something that IS going to happen, rather than a choice (because, if you know my son, you know he's always gonna choose what is easiest to him).

I went in his room and took his "other blankie" (the double to THE blankie that he's obsessed with, but he'll have nothing to do with this double) and cut a small corner out of it and told him to put it in his pocket. I told him that he could reach in his pocket and feel it if he felt nervous. He seemed okay, but when I went to take him out of the house he freaked. I took him, crying and fighting, to the car and explained again that it really wasn't a choice so he could stay there and cry for 2 hours or he could stay and have a good time. He thought about that for a while and decided he wouldn't cry. Sure. So I took him in, showed him where the bathroom was (it's outside the classroom and last time we were there he wasn't PT yet). He used the potty right away, fairly confidently walked in the classroom, said hi to his teacher and then started SCREAMING. So I quickly said goodbye, told him I'd see him after playground time and we'd go to lunch, the teacher peeled him off my leg, and I left. Then I went into my car and cried.

I waited approximately 5 minutes for my friend to come drop off her daughter and I asked her to peek on Tyler for me. When she came out she INSISTED that Tyler's face was bright red, but that he was currently sitting on the teacher's lap and NOT crying. So she was an awesome friend and convinced me to come to Walmart with her, so we killed time and came back at the end of the day and he was FINE!

Granted, this has happened before (where he was fine at pickup) but the teacher insists that he never cried after the first 2-3 minutes, and he tells me he didn't cry (last time he admitted to crying) and he says he's gonna go back tomorrow and "not cry, not even a little bit".

So keep your fingers crossed!

A funny note: Tyler has two teachers at preschool, a male and a female. He told me that "my teacher" gave me a hi-five. I asked him which teacher and he says, in a pronounced tone as if to say "duh", "MY TEACHER". So I said "WHO gave you the hi-five. Mr. Dave or Ms. Heather?". To which he replies "Ms. Heather is my teacher. Mr. Dave is not my teacher. He's just a grown up boy."

Get used to it kid, all men are just grown up boys. He, he.

Something to ponder.....

Tyler had a very important question for me today. "Mommy, does Mickey Mouse have a penis?" Uh, how do you answer that one? Thankfully I didn't have to. He quickly answered himself "ummm, yep, I fink Mickey Mouse has a penis. He's a boy."

I've been tagged

10 Things I've Done

One of my fellow blog competitors, Julie, posted this on her blog, challenging all of us to do it as well.


List ten things I have done that others likely have not. Yes Julie, this difficult.

1. I worked briefly in a psychiatric unit in Boston.

2. I went to New Orleans one year for spring break.

3. I was crowned "Miss Medford Lakes 1995". Don't even ask.

4. I went to Boston University for college and got a degree in Occupational Therapy (at the time there were very few colleges that offered degrees in OT).

5. I've seen the world's largest pumpkin at the Topsfield Fair (which I believe is the oldest fairground in the US) in approximately 1997.

6. I didn't sleep for 48+ hours during exams my Freshman year. Had I studied in advance this may not have been necessary. LOL.

7. I’ve dissected a human body. Gross anatomy was truly gross.

8. I've been on six cruises (which includes six cruise ships and six cruise itineraries).

9. I rode my bike to school every day until high school. In rain, sleet, and snow.

10. I had heart surgery at age 4. A valve that was supposed to close at birth never did, and my moronic pediatrician didn't notice it, but when I switched pediatricians he noticed within 5 minutes. Went in for surgery a couple of days later (they let me stay home to celebrate my 4th birthday first).

I went for B)

I know you were all dying of anticipation. I chose b). Finally got that bag of stuff returned, and managed to get a few little shirts on clearance for Tyler for $2.00 each (size 4T to put away for when he outgrows the 3T). I will admit I also picked up a clearance Halloween baby sleep sack for $2.00 as well, which TOTALLY goes against my better judgement. When I was pregnant with Tyler I bought nothing until about 30-35 weeks and I never bought anything during my last pregnancy. I couldn't help it though. It was unisex and so cute and little. All Tyler's Halloween stuff would likely be too big, as he was already wearing 6-9m clothes by then (even though he was only 2 months old). Anyway, I'm totally trying to justify my purchase (and temporary loss of sanity) so feel free to ignore me.

So, now I'm gonna work on a little of c) and d) until sleepiness kicks in. I am either wide awake or dead tired. There seems to be no happy medium.

Dilemmas, Dilemmas

So, the big dilemma in my life is what to do with myself tonight after Tyler goes to bed. I know, I have it rough.

a) Exercise: This SHOULD be my top priority, being that I haven't done a bit of exercise since Monday. But, I'm slightly paranoid about exercise, so I think that's clouding my decision. That, or the sheer laziness.

b) Go to Kohl's: I have a return that's been waiting for over a month. Kohl's lenient return policy is top notch, but it does allow me to be way too lazy with these things! I'm quite sick of looking at the bag in my bedroom, so therefore it should have some priority as well.

c) Work on my scrapbook: This was one of my four new year's resolutions, so again this has some sort of priority. Plus, it's fun. If you are into it.

d) Do absolutely nothing but lie in bed and watch TV. I'm gonna say this deserves some priority too, because darn it, I'm tired!

Have my hubby back

For the first time ever, Al got home BEFORE he was scheduled to arrive. Granted, I was on track to handle the 5 days away just fine, and I'd prefer to save this as some sort of wild card to use next time they try keep him in Afghanistan or Iraq for an extra 2 weeks....but, I guess I'll have to take what I can get. So, instead of tomorrow night, he came home tonight.

After I had a long day of babysitting, he was home in time for dinner. We are both beat, so we just got finished watching Celebrity Apprentice and we're heading to bed. Happy Friday!

odd little boy

Today Tyler and I had "date night" at Chick-Fil-A. Truth be told, I wanted Chick-Fil-A and convinced him this was all about him....but anyway, on the way home I said to him "Tyler, I love you buddy". To which he responds "awww, I love you too, can you not ever leave me in a jungle"??????? Yep, I was thinking my next adventure would be leaving him in a jungle. LOL.

Oh, the fun never ends

After sitting home all day due to my car vandalism, I took Tyler outside to play after his nap. He got to play while I got to spend an hour vacuuming glass out of my car. Mind you, I looked like a moron, because the cop had told me to wear gloves as he would try to get back that day to fingerprint the car. After that fun (which I know I STILL have glass lingering) I got to sit on the phone with the insurance company for 45 minutes. I know, my life is just fascinating.

Tyler was busy playing with his tricycle and various other toys when the neighbors across the street started to argue. Sadly enough, this is fairly normal, so as long as Tyler isn't paying attention to it I try to ignore it myself. I couldn't help but overhear though (as they were YELLING) something about the mother (if you can call her that) having signed a document stating that someone was at work when something occurred and now she's finding out that they were lying. What i can assume is that she provided an alibi for someone and it was a complete lie. Great lesson to teach your kids, huh?

Anyway, it started to get really loud and people were cursing so I tried to calmly gather Tyler's toys to bring him in. Like I said, I was trying NOT to stare, but I could help it when the mom frantically screams out "call the cops" TWICE. As I grabbed Tyler (literally yanked him up off his tricycle) to go inside I see people fighting and lunging at each other and screaming. I ran in, locked the doors, and called 911. The operator of course starts asking me a million questions, which I can hope she already had someone on the way before she bothered with these questions, but I'm thinking this is NOT the case. She asked me a few times "well, why did you call, are there weapons?". Umm, when someone screams "call the cops" and you are outside with your 3-year-old, you don't stop to inquire IF they are going to shoot someone or something. DUH! And no, I don't know their race or who lunged at who. They were in a garage across the street and it was already dark! She even went so far as to ask me to go outside and see if anyone looked hurt???? Sure, and put myself in danger while my son sits inside alone. No thanks.

Over 20 minutes later the cops show up, and of course the neighbors are already over their ridiculous fight and are back to their "regular" arguing and smoking their cigarettes. The cops (FOUR of them) where there for at least an hour. Never once did they come to speak to me. And nothing seemingly happened to anyone involved, so I'm assuming no one admitted anything.

I'm sooooooooooo ready to get out of this neighborhood. This is NOT the kind of area we thought we were moving to. When you grow up in a household where the kids don't even OWN keys because it's so rare for your parents to lock the house, this is quite a shock. I don't want Tyler to grow up thinking that it's normal to see your neighbors outside yelling and cursing at each other. Nor for him to be asking me questions like "why did the rude people yell?". It just breaks my heart. I know that this is fairly common, but I want to avoid it if at all possible. And I don't like feeling unsafe. I should not have to double-check all the windows every night before bed, set the alarm, and then worry. Maybe it's just pregnancy hormones, but I'm starting to get very weirded out by this neighborhood. Coming from the girl who's never even had so much as a speeding ticket, having to call the cops twice in one day is unprecedented. And totally uncool.

In case you hadn't heard enough about this incident, I was able to get a glass company out today and thankfully they were able to replace the glass for about $230, and the door frame is fine. It's not pretty, but that's okay with me. Since our GPS was about $300, it's not worth filing a claim, so I guess we at least get to keep insurance out of this, and we walk away losing $530, countless hours of time lost, and ugly door trim. Not too bad, but something I hopefully won't have to relive in the future. I just keep trying to remind myself that it could have been FAR worse.

As a funny aside, the cop showed up an hour AFTER the glass guy was here to take fingerprints. So, that won't be very helpful, huh? Good thing they told me they'd be here YESTERDAY! I guess I should just be happy they are even following up on this at all. With any luck they'll eventually track the guys down. They did use a stolen debit card (not mine) at the McDonald's down the street.

Get a freakin' hobby

People need better things to do with their life. Seriously. Perhaps take on a hobby, or better yet, get a job!

Today I went outside to take Tyler to a play date at the library and playground with a friend. I notice some glass in the backseat, and come to realize that the whole driver's side window is smashed in. Me, being naive, thought maybe something flew through the window during the storm last night. However, I'm thinking a broken tree branch didn't steal my GPS. Yep, someone pried in our door, broke the window, and stole the GPS. Grrrr.

I called the police, who came out to take a report. This particular officer had taken SIX reports of similar brake-ins in our neighborhood, and apparently there are upwards of 12 reports being taken by other officers. Lovely. I can't help but wonder if this is not related to the paintball incident I discussed in a previous blog, being that paintball neighbor's car was untouched but our car and the car next door to them were broken in. I mentioned the incident to the officer, who seemed completely unimpressed with my detective skills, LOL.

So, meanwhile Tyler is VERY disappointed in me for not taking him on our play date. He doesn't seem to care that the car was broken into, although he seems perplexed that the "very rude people" would "hurt mommy's car". I don't really have a choice but to stay home because of course Al is gone and this is our only vehicle for now. I have to sit home and wait to see when they show back up to do fingerprinting, which may or may not even be possible anyway. In the meantime I'm not supposed to touch it. I also have to try to figure out whether I should submit this to insurance or just pay to have it fixed (and our GPS replaced) ourselves. It would be nice if I could at least TALK to Al while he was gone. Do I need this stress?

As an interesting side note, apparently my collection of Backyardigan's and Wiggles CD's was not appealing, as it was obvious they went through my collection and chose not to take anything. What I find most shocking is that they passed by my RENT double-disk CD. These people seriously must not have any class. LOL!

The end of an era

I must come to accept it. Tyler's days in overalls are over. I knew the day would come, but I wanted to avoid it. He just used to look so darn cute in them when he was little, and because he's short for his age I probably let it go on a little too long. I wasn't ready for my baby to grow up. But today, for the first time in at least 6 months, he wore a pair. I guess I secretly had realized it was time to be done with them, as I obviously hadn't picked them to wear in quite a while, but today Tyler decided he just had to wear them. As I watched him on the playground, I realized it was time. And when we went to take a bathroom trip (which, by the way, is much more difficult in overalls) and I noticed the "Old Navy BABY" patch on them, I decided today was the last day. My "baby" isn't a baby anymore. So, into storage they go. Boohoo

Does this count as an over-emotional pregnancy symptom? The very fact that I'm upset over overalls is NOT a good sign. Good thing Al isn't home for this, as he surely would have to tease me. He left early this morning to evaluate a training mission and won't be home until Saturday. He's probably VERY lucky his cell phone likely won't have service, because I'll likely also cry while watching The Biggest Loser again tonight, LOL! Ah, hormones, aren't they great?

me and my conscience

When I decided to take on this blog challenge I figured it would be a good way to
a) get competitive
b) get things off my chest
c) document things for my future knowledge (like in 5 years when I get to scrapbook this part of my life...lol).

Well, "blogging" has now taken on a whole new meaning and it's something I enjoy. I guess it's somewhat therapeutic like a journal would be. So, it seems a little odd to be dishonest in it's information, right? I've shuffled this over in my head a few times, and it would seem altogether wrong to not mention something that has been on my mind every minute of this day.

So, without further ado...

This morning I got a positive pregnancy test!

I'm still incredibly cautious, as my period isn't even due for a few more days, but at this point there is no denying it. In fact I even took a test yesterday morning and thought I saw the slightest of lines. But, being that I've probably looked at 20 tests in the last 2 years or so, I thought it was entirely possible I was just imagining things, especially since Al said there was NOT a second line. After examining it approximately 137,264 times, I still wasn't sure. In the back of my mind though, I think I almost expected today's test to be positive, so I guess I really did know yesterday.

In case anyone is curious, I did consider NOT telling people until I was hopefully a little further along, but I've come to the conclusion that (for me) there is no reason to keep anything. Like I've said, I have trouble being dishonest (even if it's just by omission). On top of that, I figure people somewhat deserve to know what I'm going through, whether it be good or bad. I will likely need some emotional support by friends and family, regardless of the path this takes. However, we will NOT be telling Tyler at this point.

And, for my completely insane and unrelated journaling purposes, today we (my mom, Al, Tyler, and I) went to see the manatees. Tyler and I had just been, but my Al and my mom had never seen them. They were so cute, and one was even rolling over and playing on his back (that is what is seen in the picture, if you can't tell)! It was windy, but a beautiful day. Afterwards we went and had a nice lunch at Applebee's. We laid Tyler down for his nap and Al left to take my mom to the airport, so she's back home now. She will be missed, of course! But she's already planning her next trip here, or plotting a way to get me there!

A bitter cold, and bathroom filled, beautiful day!

Today we went to Disney. Today, being one of the coldest days I've seen in Florida. And definitely the coldest day I've ever spent in Disney. But it was gorgeous and warmed up quite nicely during the day. My mom and I brought Tyler (Al stayed home since he had to fix something on his car, plus he only has 1 day left on his 10-day pass and we wanted to save it for a special family day). It was very crowded, but none of the lines for the things we do were too bad. We did the teacups first, followed by Dumbo, Small World, and then we rode the train. After the parade and lunch at the Crystal Palace, Tyler finally tried a new ride, which of course I don't know the name of. My mom says it is called (or at least WAS called) the "people mover"...so now Tyler calls it the "pupil move ride". Anyway, Tyler had refused it before, but went on it today..probably for the last time. Although he liked most of it, the dark tunnels about sent him over the edge. LOL. Well, all in all it was a nice day though! And, as a bonus, I now know where every bathroom in the park is, as well as the one at the transportation center and a gas station along the way. But kudos to Tyler, not ONE accident!Tyler on the teacups

Enjoying the parade

not enjoying the parade

Crystal Palace

Uh, not sure what to say??

My mom got in LATE last night. She missed her original flight (long story). Tyler is happily playing with her now, and in a little while we'll be leaving to head south to visit my grandparents for the day.

Warning, triggers (may be sensitive material): Anyway, one year ago today I got a positive pregnancy test. I was elated, absolutely elated, as I had been charting and all that jazz for almost a year in an attempt to get pregnant (of course we weren't "trying" for a full year because you'd need your partner to be in the same country for that to happen....but that's a whole different vent). So, anyway, on January 19th I woke up to a dream that I was pregnant, and against my better judgement, I took a test. Positive! Well, the pregnancy had problems almost from the beginning, which I tried to overlook and be optimistic, but 1 month and 1 day later I got the news that there was no longer a heartbeat (I had seen his/her little heart beating just 6 days before that). So, at 9w1d I learned I miscarried. Anyway, I'll spare you the brutal details because I'd prefer to not focus on that, but almost a full month later I had to go in for a D&C. Here I am, one year later, still trying. I had hoped not to reach this milestone. I was devastated on September 24th, my due date, but I honestly didn't think I'd ever get to the one year anniversary of my positive test. So, in a nutshell, I think this is a big contributor to my "funk" I described a few days ago. Just wanted to get that off my chest. Hopefully I haven't upset anyone.

My new role...

So I have taken on the role of babysitting my neighbor's son. He just turned one, and he's a sweetheart. But he hates to be away from his mommy. She had originally hired the lady down the street, who does in-home daycare, to watch him but apparently he screamed the whole time she had him. They even did a 1-hr and a 2-hr trial run before she watched him for 5-hrs, but each time he screamed bloody murder, to the point he'd have broken blood vessels (or capillaries or whatever they are) on his face when she'd go to pick him up. I saw her walking him home last Friday and they BOTH were in tears and my heart broke for her. I know what it's like to question the decisions you make and she was about to quit school (she's back in college and taking courses) and stay home with him. I asked her if she would like me to give it a shot and you could just see the relief in her face. I had watched him a few times in the past, but when she had asked me if I'd be willing to watch him weekly I just wasn't sure if I could commit. But now under the current circumstances I just HAD to give it a try. No mom can watch another mother suffer like that and not TRY to help, know what I mean?

Meanwhile, I was a little worried. In no way do I think I'm necessarily a better caretaker than this other woman. What I had hoped was just that he'd feel slightly more secure with me, being that he knows me fairly well. I presume that he must just be going through some separation anxiety. But I was worried that I'd be holding a tired cranky baby for the 5 hours I would have him each Friday. Did I mention he doesn't fall asleep on his own either???? I wasn't necessarily worried about me, because it's only 5 hours a week, but I really just wanted this to go smoothly for her so that she doesn't have to second-guess herself...if that makes any sense.

So Tuesday I did a "trial run" for 1-hr. He was fussy, yes, and he cried almost every time I tried to put him down, but he did okay. Thankfully Tyler was endlessly trying to amuse him and pulled out every toy he's ever owned.

Today was the big day, the first day I'd watch him for the full 5-hrs. She was to bring him over at 12:00, and he apparently typically naps at around 12:30....but that's ONLY good if I can get them BOTH to sleep, lol! I wasn't optimistic about that. But he was great when they first got here. He even let me put him down and he was fascinated by Tyler Fridge Phonics. I got Tyler down for his nap around 1:00 and I tried to lay down with the little boy (which is how he naps at home) but he would have nothing of it. So I took out Tyler's stroller and pushed him around the kitchen for 15 minutes or so and he fell asleep, without a single tear. Yippee! Now this might just be beginners luck, and he might wake up in 2 minutes and scream until she gets home, but at least it's a step in the right direction.

You might wonder why I'm rambling on about this. Partially because, as sad as it sounds, I'm kinda proud of myself. I guess it just gets me thinking that I might retain a bit of my brain function if and when baby #2 ever comes along. I was thinking that every second would be completely insane, which it might be most of the time, but at least I can see that Tyler loves little kids, and he's going to be a WONDERFUL big brother...hopefully sometime soon!

Oh, and completely unrelated but nonetheless very important, Tyler has received his first set of tools. Al was organizing his tools and found some duplicates and left them for Tyler, so this morning we were outside playing and he decided to "fix" his Pooh train. Too cute!

SuperTarget Rocks!

Yes, I'm boring. I get excited about store openings. I will admit that I was there the day the Walmart SuperCenter opened down the street. My girlfriend calls to tell me she went to a movie premier in Hollywood, and I come back with the opening of the Walmart SuperCenter....but such is the life of a stay-at-home-mom. I'm not complaining though....or am I???

Anyway, SuperTarget apparently opened in October sometime, which I vaguely remember hearing about before-hand, but I was in NJ from September through November so I guess I missed the hoopla. Well, I was asking my neighbor about good places to find organic foods at decent prices and she says SuperTarget. I say, umm, where the heck is that? Uh, apparently it's been living like 10 minutes from my house and I've been living with the lack of this knowledge. Shocking. So I decide to head there today (Thursday..I write late at night). It was blissful. Tyler and I shared lunch in a clean little food area, which had organic options (quite cool). Then we visited the bathroom (we visit ALL bathrooms) which was CLEAN! And they even had one of those "family" restrooms, which I must say is one of the greatest inventions of all time. Then on to the store. What can I say about a store that allows you to get a good selection of windshield washer blades AND chicken breasts? Pretty cool, huh? So, I enjoyed my day perusing Target. The prices are slightly higher than Walmart, which I expected, but some stuff was even less and the selection on many of the food items was far superior. I'll be back for sure!

As a side note, I did get my pictures of the paintball damage. It appears that their attempt to remove the paint was not successful anyway, so tomorrow I'm gonna have to see if I have a chance to really try to wash it off. Hopefully there will not be any true damage. The officer claims that the paint should wash off, but it's still there as of now.

And to my faithful readers who are fellow blog challenge competitors. Yes, I realize this is written at around 12:30AM. I could be deceitful and write this up now and post this later tomorrow morning and no one would know, but I will post it now when it was written and hope that it will be good enough. Tomorrow (or today, depending how you look at it) I am babysitting my neighbor's little boy for 5 hours...the one I wrote about before that requires you hold him non-stop, AND he's never napped anywhere other than beside his mother...could be interesting. After that I'm picking my mom up at the airport, so I'm not sure if/when I'll be writing again. I will be sure to post again if I'm able. Hopefully you'll see more of me, but we've got Disney plans for the weekend, amongst other things.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Seriously?

Bare with me, this will be long.

Yesterday I had Tyler out front when he came and handed me a small ball. At first I didn't know what it was, but upon further inspection I realized it was probably a paintball (one that hadn't been opened). I thought it was possible it somehow fell out of something that my husband owns (a coat, his car, whatever) because he has a paintball gun, although to the best of my knowledge he hasn't used it in maybe 3 years. Within a couple of minutes though we found approximately 5 more of them, some of them splattered on our yard, our stones in our garden, etc. One was even splattered at the bottom portion of our garage, but because the wall is a very light grey I never would have noticed the white paint if it wasn't for the paintball sitting on the ground below it. At this point I realized it had nothing to do with my husband whatsoever.

I wasn't too upset by this. Kids do stupid things. I was pretty certain it wasn't intentional. I don't think we had been targeted in any fashion, because 1) we don't really have any enemies that I know of and 2) it was very apparent that there was not an attempt to hit the house...unless they had bad aim.

In the back of my mind I had an idea where it might have come from, but i tried to dismiss my thoughts as I really didn't think it was fair. However, it was hard NOT to wonder if it had anything to do with the house that regularly has police in front of it, and quite frequently has teens and young adults hanging around it at ALL hours of the day.

Well, fast forward to today. I went out in the morning and when I got home I saw that two paintballs had been splattered on the garage door. At first I thought it was possible that they were there yesterday and I hadn't noticed since the garage door was up. Though, it became apparent that this was yet another paintball attack as there are at least 3 more paintballs IN my driveway that were NOT there yesterday. At this point I was still in my car, so I quick called my husband and he says the paint was not there this morning. There was a cop parked at the end of my street (as there often is, which I think has to do with the problem house I was referring to) and my husband said to go talk to him. I am NOT the kind of person to try to get others in trouble, I try to lay low, and I REALLY didn't want to 'cause a problem, so I thought by just TALKING to the cop I might get some pointers or maybe they would just be aware of a problem. Well, he was no help. He tells me I can either A) just keep an eye on things (whatever that means) or B) call the police and file a report. Ugh, thanks for the help.

So, as I drove back down the street to my house a car pulls behind me, the car of one of the family members that lives in the previously mentioned house. I KNOW they saw me talking to the cop. Great.

As I get out of the car my next-door neighbor (NOT the problem house) comes out on their way to run errands, walks over to say hi, and comments on the paint. He says I should call the police and I resist and he offers to go over to the house and say something (he's 100% sure they are the culprits, although he doesn't have proof). The problem house was WATCHING this interaction. I chose not to make a big deal about it and cause any sort of scene because I don't want to CREATE any enemies where we didn't have any, kwim?

Anyway, so I go inside and put away my groceries and put Tyler down for a nap. I decided that I didn't want to do anything, but that I would like to take some pictures now (of the 2nd incident) in case it continues to occur. I go to walk outside (a good hour after this had all occurred) and the people in the problem house are just still sitting outside, so obviously I can't take pictures. I go to get the mail instead and notice that someone has come over and tried to wipe off the paint off the garage. So now I'm pretty darn convinced it was the problem neighbor and they did this as to not get in trouble (I'd like to think they did it out of the kindness of their hearts, but I'm having a hard time)! I will double-check that it wasn't my nice next-door neighbor that noticed it, because he WOULD be the kind of person that would try to help by washing the paint off for me, but I don't even think he's home yet so I don't think it was him. So, like i said, I am pretty convinced I know who it is. What the morons don't realize is that they missed one of the paintball splatters (I guess it was kinda hidden in front of my car). So, if they ever decide that they should be productive members of society and leave their garage I might be able to get a picture.

I am just pissed. Not necessarily pissed about the paintballs. Like I said, things happen. I really don't think it was intentional (or least I'd like to think so). I imagine the morons were just outside shooting paintballs at each other. But pissed that I live in an area like this. The paintballs are just the icing on the cake. This stupid subdivision was talked up by our realtor, the guys my husband worked with, etc. We did a decent amount of research on school districts, and we bought a house in the nicest area we could afford. I could have had a nicer house in a different area, but we chose this for the safety, schools, neighborhood, etc. But the neighborhood SUCKS. I know it's just unfortunate that I happen to have some bad seeds on my street, but I'm freakin' sick of having the cops out front. Yesterday I had to bring Tyler inside because "problem neighbors" were outside yelling and cursing at each other. Just freakin' sick of it. And now I'm afraid of any retaliation because I'm not dealing with a family with a full deck of cards, if you know what I mean. Lovely, just lovely.

Manatee Madness

Today our playgroup had a meet-up at the Manatee Viewing Center. I had been last year, but apparently my timing wasn't great and although I had seen a few manatees in the distance, I did not have the opportunity to see lots of them, nor did I get to see them up close. Today was much different. Apparently the cooler weather made for the perfect conditions for manatee viewing. There must have been at least a hundred of them, just playing around and relaxing in the water. Some were quite close to the viewing platform! Tyler was pretty interested, but I must say, I was fascinated. They are such unusual creatures, especially for someone who grew up having never HEARD of a manatee.

Honestly, this post is primarily for my non-Florida friends, because I know some of you may never have actually seen one of these creatures. Manatees (otherwise known as "sea cows") truly are fascinating. Odd things, yes, but fascinating nonetheless. And they migrate or flock (or whatever a manatee does) to this area as the gulf temperatures cool off to take advantage of the warmer water that is discharged from the Tampa Electric Company (hence why you see all those smoke stacks in the backdrop of this unusual scene).

Hill, if you are reading this...."got tail?"

Click to see some live footage from the webcam at the Manatee Viewing Center. With any luck, you'll get to see just a glimpse of these interesting creatures yourself.

And thank you for tuning into this educational installment of my blog.

In a funk...

So I totally intended not to blog tonight, but as I lie awake again (my husband fell asleep a while ago...this tends to happen with his current work schedule) I felt myself drawn to the computer. Not really for any particular reason, 'cause I can be pretty sure there will be nothing interesting to happen upon at 10:54 pm.

I'll come out and say it. I'm in a funk. And I don't know how to get out. All my usual attempts at getting myself out of a funk have failed. I have drastically stepped up the exercise, tried desperately to get the recommended amount of sleep, increased my water intake, attempted to make healthier food choices, gotten myself on a regular schedule of activities, indulged in some of my hobbies that I rarely do (scrapbooking and reading), did fun things with my extended family, spent more quality time with Tyler and my husband....and NOTHING. Can't just seem to crack it this time.

So, if you have any wisdom to share with me, please do. I'm at a loss. My husband's suggestion of handing me a newborn and shipping me back to NJ just isn't in the cards and I know I just have to work with what I've got. Just having a tough time despite all I am doing. I can put on the act, but I just can't pull it together inside. Happy pills anyone?

Midnight Miniature Golf

Okay, so it didn't occur at midnight, but it sounded good! Today Tyler got quite some exercise. Some playground time in the morning (including walking all the way there), playtime outside in the afternoon (lots of bike and scooter riding), and then miniature golf tonight!

After Tyler's disappointment over not golfing the other night, Al rushed home from work so we could go. He still couldn't get home until around 6:00pm, but by 6:30 we were at the miniature golf place. In the dark. And the cold (yes, I'd classify this as a "cold snap"). Tyler was so excited! He had a grand time, although I will admit that the "golfing" part didn't last too long. Instead most of his time was spent doing the following:

To sleep, or not to sleep????

Last night we heard some craziness over the monitor, a good hour or so after we THOUGHT Tyler was asleep. Al walked in, and this is what he found. Now I understand why he'd be interested in dragging his books off his bookshelf, but what was with the desire to flip them all over into a tent shape and spread them out on the floor? I must say, he was quite proud of himself! Little stinker!

On a completely unrelated side note, I almost forgot to mention how much I love my Cricut! I finally broke it out 2 nights ago and it's amazing. It can create the smallest of letters with the greatest of ease (or big letters too, if that's your thing). However, Al should be aware the he's created a very bad spending problem, because now I'm gonna want to buy all the other cartridges to go with it. I mean how could i possibly pass up the option of having a Disney font? Makes no sense to me. Oh, the possibilities are endless. So, I will leave you with a picture of my Cricut in action, as well as an example of a page I put together using my Cricut-created letters! Aren't they purty?

Mmmmmm

Today we told Tyler we'd take him miniature golfing, but then the rain came (again). He was quite disappointed, so we tried desperately to think of something else fun to make it up to him. He wasn't interested in playing board games with us, nor making some popcorn and watching a movie. So, hmmm, what would make ME happy? Food of course! Preferably the sweet kind! So I suggested we make cupcakes together and immediately all thoughts of miniature golfing suddenly disappeared! There is nothing that icing can't fix!

You'll hate me for this..

Someone sent me this link a few days ago, and darn, it's addicting! I've managed to pass level 7, but that was after MANY trials. Apparently I need to brush up on my geography!

A night out

Okay, this isn't a date night post or anything, 'cause lets be honest, I never get to go on dates with my husband. But tonight was almost as nice! We had been lazy ALL day, so finally at dinnertime I decided we needed to go somewhere. Neither of us were interested in going into a restaurant (Tyler was a little stir-crazy and I wasn't interested in trying to quietly entertain him in a restaurant), so we opted to grab some takeout and bring it to the playground at the clubhouse and let Tyler play and we'd have a little picnic. We weren't even off of our street when it started raining, so we decided on plan B. We were bored with the same stuff, so we decided to head south on 301 instead. We came upon Beef O'Brady's and Applebees. Honestly we just couldn't decide, so we let Tyler pick. He liked the apple on Applebees, so that's where we went. It was a fairly long wait, so we opted to eat outside. I could not have asked for a nicer meal! We didn't have to work too hard to keep Tyler quiet because we were outside, the food was delicious, and it was such a lovely relaxing evening! In case anyone is in the mood for some fattening food, they have this deal now where you get to pick an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert, starting at prices of $9.99. What a deal! So I got tons of grams of fat for just a little amount of money! LOL! Mmm, mozzarella sticks (as Tyler so eloquently calls "ella sticks"), a mac&cheese chicken dish, and a chocolate mouse for dessert. With tons for tomorrow as leftovers. Gotta love it!

My baby is TWO!

Yes, you read that right. It is not a typo. According to my scrapbook, my baby just turned two. Almost 1.5 years behind. But, it's progress. Not feeling much motivation to do more though. Not sure what my problem is. Tyler is napping, Al's on-hold with Verizon for the 18th bagillion time, and I have nothing pressing that NEEDS to be done. Instead of using my time wisely, I sit here THINKING about working on my scrapbook some more....

Baby Fever

Tonight my neighbor needed me to watch her 1-year-old so she could go to a meeting. He was supposed to be asleep when I got there (8:00) and would be asleep the whole time (until 10:30). Well, he had other plans and was awake and SCREAMING when I got there. She was so worried that he'd scream for me the whole time and felt horrible. I must say, I wasn't thrilled when I got there and he was screaming, but every time I held him he'd stop. There is no greater feeling in the world than to know that someone needs you and you can fix everything by just being there. So I held and rocked a baby for 2.5 hours, and although she feels incredibly guilty that I had to do that, I feel incredibly blessed. I just hope to be able to do that with another one of my own sometime soon.

OUCH!

Tonight as we were playing hide-and-seek, Tyler and I went to hide behind a curtain in our bedroom. I felt a sharp stab to the bottom of my foot, lifted it up, and there is a shard of glass stuck in it. I immediately lifted Tyler up and dutifully stood there until Al found us. Anyway, according to my husband he had broken a glass near there a while ago and a small piece of glass must have fallen under the dresser. The dresser was recently moved to a different location apparently just leaving the glass behind. I'm just thankful it didn't find Tyler's foot first, but OUCH!

Anyway, it's been a rough night and I'm beat. I just don't have the energy to come up with anything brilliant to say, so goodnight to all.

New Look!

I finally caved. I let Al "buzz" Tyler's head. If the child would have just let me TAKE him somewhere to have it cut it would not have come to this. But alas, he's stubborn. I have NO idea where he gets his stubbornness from???? My mother would tell you it's me, but I insist otherwise. LOL. Anyway, I must say my husband did a fairly decent job, considering he had to cut it while Tyler hung to my neck.
You might be wondering why you are so lucky as to have TWO blog entries tonight. That's because I've taken on the task of creating a photo book for my parents (through Snapfish) as a thank-you for having taken us on our cruise (a good portion of it was paid for by them as our Christmas presents). I finally had access to the last of the pictures tonight, so I was on a mission. So, now my mind is going a thousand miles a minute and I can't sleep, but the photo book has been created! I can't wait for it to arrive.

As for my scrapbooking, well, I did manage to do one sad little page...so it wasn't a lot of "me time". However, I successfully said "screw it" to my laundry!

Is it fairly obvious that I have a bit of "mania" in my blood?

My Guilty Confession

No, this has nothing to do with the cheetos and gummy bears I had after dinner last night. Although my food choices could be the source of an entire blog in itself.

My confession is my scrapbooking addiction. I love to work on my scrapbook, except now it has gotten so far behind that i find it overwhelming to even start up again. I have this unusual habit of needing to scrapbook everything in order. Most people have themed albums (vacations, baby's first year, etc) and while I love them for other people, my odd perfectionistic (apparently this isn't a real word, but I'm using it anyway) self needs everything to be in chronological order. So that sometimes means that a layout of a night spent out with the girls sits side-by-side a layout of the first time Tyler tried cereal, kwim? Not necessarily good. BUT, it's the way I started it, and darn it, I want to finish. Problem is, I'm over 1.5 years behind!

My wonderful present from my hubby, my Cricut, sits unopened in our spare bedroom/office amongst all my other "necessary" supplies. He's beginning to think I didn't want the gift, which is FAR from the truth. Unfortunately (for me) I can't allow myself "me time" to work on my hobby unless the house is in order and things are fairly clean. This means I rarely break out my supplies. So, unhealthy or not, tonight I scrapbook. Screw the laundry!

And so it begins...

For 3 years I've been dealing with the embarrassment that sometimes comes with having a child. You know, the times they scream in the middle of a restaurant, manage to poop/pee on you in public,throw a temper tantrum because you won't let them eat frozen chicken nuggets in the grocery store, etc. However, I had been prepped that eventually Tyler would start SAYING things that would lead to embarrassment. I thought I was there already with the kinds of comments like "Mommy, I so hungry. Please give me food" (you know, 'cause he LOOKS likes he's malnourished). Or the "When I grow up can I be a monkey?" types of comments. Then we moved into the pee and poop types of conversation, which can be less-than-desirable. Like the time Tyler asked me while I was using a public restroom, "Mommy, are you pooping? Let me look.". Ugh. Anyway, today takes the cake though. As we waited in the checkout line at Walmart Tyler asked innocently "Mommy, is that person a boy or a girl?". Seriously, must we ask THAT in Walmart. Thankfully the cashier (yep, a GIRL) was talking to someone and I don't THINK she heard him. I shudder to think what I have in store for me next.

Monkeying Around

Today we spend a wonderful day at the Lowry Park Zoo with our playgroup. We also brought along our next-door neighbor, who is also one of Tyler's friends. The weather was beautiful, the zoo wasn't too crowded, and great time was had by everyone. And I was more than happy to be out of the confines of potty-training hell.

Which brings me to my next topic. Yes, you might expect that this is where I'll discuss a completely irrelevant potty story. That is where you'd be wrong. I'm going to share a very relevant potty story. LOL. Yes, today is the day we braved going out of the house in underwear. Tyler conquered a public bathroom without too much hassle (a big thank you to the mommies in our playgroup who all encouraged him and forced their own children to use the potty to set a good example for mine). In fact, he wanted to visit all the bathrooms in the zoo many times. Apparently the automatic flush is pretty interesting to a 3-year-old, as well as the "magic paper towels" (the kind with the sensor). He did have one small accident, but overall did well. I myself got in a nice workout running to and from bathrooms!

The return of summer

Just as quickly as the cold weather came in, the warm weather has returned. I'm not completely sure what the high was today, but it was warm enough for Tyler (and Mickey...hmmmm) to be out in shorts today. In case anyone is curious, the reason Tyler had Mickey outside was to teach him how to dance. I'm not sure why dance lessons must be held outdoors, but I'm not complaining. It made for some cute moments!

And what would my blog be without a potty-training update? Today, one poop accident at nap. Otherwise, still going strong. Tomorrow will be a big test though 'cause we're off to the zoo with our playgroup. Note to self: must pack a set of extra clothes and underwear...or two sets.

Does my heart good....

After having Al gone so long on deployment it still does my heart good to see Tyler with his daddy again. Sometimes it can be frustrating to try to figure out how to parent TOGETHER again (when I had been used to doing it alone), but everything is okay when I see Tyler curled up in his daddy's arms. Life is just how it is supposed to be. It almost makes me forget the times Al's wrestling matches or other ridiculously silly behavior have effectively destroyed the calm before bedtime. Or the "arguments" they get in over who is watching the TV. Okay, doesn't make me forget, just makes it all worth it!

On a completely unrelated side-note, Tyler had ZERO accidents today with potty-training day number three. Yippee!!!!!

Pee, Poop, and Walmart

This is what my life has been reduced to.....

Well, if the pee and poop headline didn't clue you in, yes, we are still working on the dreaded potty-training issue. I am happy to report though, with the exception of one very minor accident, Tyler went all day without diapers (minus nap and bed of course). He had about 20+ trips to the bathroom (I lost count) and most of the time was successful. How the child pees this much is beyond me, but hey, whatever works is fine with me! So, because we are making endless trips to the bathroom, that doesn't leave much time for anything else in my day. I'd have to say the absolute highlight was when Tyler literally pulled down his pants in our driveway to show our 7 and 12-year-old neighbors (both girls) his "big boy underwear". Luckily they are both big sisters and realized that this was just his way of showing off and they gave him the praise he was looking for, meanwhile I tried my darnedest not to crack up laughing.

You might wonder where Walmart fits in. Well, this is what I have done the past TWO nights after Tyler has gone to bed. Why?
A) We're only 36 hours into potty-training and I'm not about to bring him to Walmart to possibly attempt their nasty public bathrooms. Yet, because we need food and other assorted items, I must shop. Why not send Al? Because we need more things than Hershey bars and automotive fluid.
B) Tyler pees literally 15+ times a day, so we go through a lot of "prizes". When I initially set up the prize bag, I had assumed maybe he'd have one successful trip to the potty and earn a prize. I was not ready for what he had in store for me. I'm not about to change things up now being that it's working (I'll reduce and eventually eliminate his prizes later), so I need to restock on small ridiculous items to encourage him. Oh, and restock on Clorox wipes. This child has aim issues.
C) Tyler still thinks (and suggests) I can just buy him new diapers at Walmart. Hence, I'm avoiding him seeing Walmart at all costs. I'm not interested in carrying out a screaming child from the store as he begs for pull-ups. No thanks.

Yes, my life is just this boring.

I will end with a bit of comic relief provided from my husband. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: Hun, are you using all these glasses on the counter?
Al: No, why?
Me: Because you could possibly put them in the sink if you are done with them. Or even, better yet, the dishwasher.
Al: But did you notice I emptied the dishwasher today?
Me: Yes, did you want a sticker or something?
Al: (laughing) Maybe you could do a sticker chart for me like you do for Tyler.
Me: Brilliant, my husband is on the same program that our 3-year-old is on. What are you gonna save your stickers for?
Al: (silence....then a glimmer across his face)
Me: You can NOT have a sticker chart to earn sex.
Al: Why not?

MEN!!!!!!

Drumroll please

My child has used the potty. Yes, that's right!!!!!

After a VERY rough road in getting started (which I will spare you the details of, but lets just say it involved LOTS of tears), I decided I had to bite the bullet and take away the diapers. I was prepared for the worst, which is what I honestly expected after Tyler told me last night that he was not going to wear underwear and I "can just go to Walmart and buy more diapers". Umm, no dice kiddo. So I told him that he had 3 diapers left and then he was done. Nada, no more. Crushed his little dreams of "no fanks, I'll use the potty maybe when I'm four".

So last night I did some serious soul-searching. I had NO idea if my plan was the right thing to do. Tyler is a child who has been through a ton of transitions in his life and I feared that the timing wasn't good with Al having just gotten back. But in the end I decided that what I was doing wasn't working either and considering I can't really foresee a time in our future that won't have rough transitions, I figured it's now or never.

He asked about it all morning, but the diapers held out through naptime. When he woke up he made it very clear that he was not about to start wearing underwear. Essentially I bribed him, and he took off his last diaper and tossed it, in exchange for half a pack of smarties. Then he started crying. Uh oh. Well, I managed to calm him down (aka: distract him), which I had somewhat expected. I thought for sure he'd freak when he actually had to go though (which is what has happened in the past when he wore underwear). Instead he tried to go a few times (not too unusual) and then on the last trip he froze up and was getting panicky when I noticed he was just starting to pee. So I literally held him up to the potty where he proceeded to pee. He got all excited and said "yeah, I get to flush AND I get a candy cane" (the prize he had picked). Well, I was pretty psyched, but realized we had just lucked out with timing. Well, to my total surprise, not even 10 minutes later he says "I have to go pee....and I'll do it myself". Well, lo and behold, he went on his step stool up to the big potty and peed. Granted I had to help him (he doesn't get the aim part quite yet), but he peed! Imagine my shock when he kept doing this over and over, and eventually even independently decided to poop.

Final tally: Peed 13 times, pooped 3 time, ZERO accidents!!!!!!!!!

He's currently in bed now and I'm on cloud nine. I realize that there can and likely will be setbacks (for all I know he could wake up tomorrow and this could all start over again at square one) but at least now I can lift this huge weight off my shoulders and know that I haven't emotionally scared him for life. At least not by this, I'm sure our time will come. LOL!

"Cold Snap"

"Cold Snap". I heard that term for the first time when I was maybe 12 or so. I was living in New Jersey, and every winter my grandparents would head south to Florida to take advantage of the warmer weather. I specifically recall them calling and always seeming to sneak into conversation something about the weather. It never seemed fair to hear about 80-degree weather while we were dealing with winter jackets and all that jazz. Well, every once in a while they'd mention a "cold snap" and we'd have to laugh. For them that meant that it dropped below 60, which of course meant the jackets came out. Meanwhile, we would have been happy to see temperatures above freezing!

Usually over Easter break we'd come visit them (they were in the Sarasota area). At that time of the year it was usually quite warm in Florida, at least by our standards. If it was above 70, we'd be in shorts, above 75 and we'd be at the beach. I remember thinking that the old people were nuts, 'cause they'd still be in jeans and sweaters. My grandmother always said that all "Floridians" were that way, but I didn't believe it. I wasn't gonna assume that people who rode bikes to the clubhouse to play cards were in-the-know when it came to fashion.

Fast forward almost 20 years, and I now live here. I can't say I adapted completely. I STILL think 85 is hot and would prefer to be in the air, but I'm probably the last one to break out the jeans when the weather gets "cold".

After spending New Year's Eve (at midnight) outside in shorts and a t-shirt, I was shocked to hear that it would drop near freezing last night. Today, a high of only 52. That is not gonna stop me though. We donned our only "winter" gear and head to the playground around 10:15am, at around 40-43 degrees or so. You just KNOW you are in Florida when the playground is completely empty at 10:30am on a weekday holiday when the sun is shining brightly. So, my son happily played on the equipment by himself (in his cute little winter hat that he'll likely never wear again) and I am just waiting to call my mom when she gets home from work to complain about the "cold snap". He, he.

That time of year again.....

Tis the time of year for resolutions. I personally never stick to my resolutions that I set this time of year (perhaps 'cause they are almost always weight-related) but nonetheless I'll give it a try again this year.

1). Be a better blogger. My playgroup is setting a blogging challenge. They all have their blogs here, which is why I have decided to abandon my myspace blog (which I was never any good at updating) and head on over this way. As IF I needed yet ANOTHER website to frequent daily, but I'm gonna justify this as being mentally therapeutic. Ha, ha, ha. In reality I just can't resist a challenge, and I figure this one isn't gonna injure me, so why not go for it! So, expect to be bored to death with daily updates of my life.

2). Better organization. Go through the closets, weed out unused stuff, etc. What I truly mean by this is "throw away my husband's crap that is lying around our house".

3). Better health. Normally this time a year I resolve to lose weight, and then life just seems to happen (pregnancies, buffet tables, etc. lol). Not that it wouldn't be great to lose some weight ('cause I do need that to happen) but I really just want to get healthy. Exercise, organic foods, you name it...it's my mission!

4). Catch up on my scrapbook. It is now pathetically behind and I truly want to get caught up. Al surprised me with a Cricut (scrapbook machine that non-scrapbookers would just think is ridiculous) for Christmas, so I'm psyched!

Here's to a happy and healthy new year to all!!!!!!!!!!