October, I'm Really Starting To Hate you.

What is with October this year? I feel like it has been jam packed with things to do, and I never have enough time to do them. Not to mention all the time I've had to take off from work this month. It's ridiculous. I feel so bad for having to take time off, but there is nothing else that I can do. Does anyone else feel bad for taking time off or am I just crazy? Yea, probably the latter one.

This past week Bug turned TWO! I can't believe it and still don't want to. How can my little peanut be TWO already? Good thing she's cute or else I might have had traded her in for a newer model. Speaking of a newer model...Month one of "Operation Impregnate" (OI) was a fail. Here's to hoping that through all the craziness of October OI is a success.

I digress...

Back to the busy week. First of all Monday started with me having to redo an assignment for grad school because I didn't state the necessary information in the more obvious manner. Excuse me for sounding snotty for a minute; as an professor of education you would think it would have already been obvious which parts of the assignment were differentiated. I guess it wasn't, so I whipped up a new section and copy and pasted the information from above to the lower section. VIOLA! Then I resubmitted it and got an.....A!

Tuesday was the down day. No interesting reports here.

Wednesday was Bug's real birthday and I would normally take the day off and spend it with her doing something fun and exciting, but I couldn't do that this year. It just so happened that the school's family night was scheduled on Bug's birthday from 6-8 and I HAD to be there. AWESOME! After being thoroughly angered by this hiccup we decided that we would simply celebrate her birthday on Thursday as a family. I still wasn't happy about the decision because I felt like a scammer. The good part was that Bug's Poppy and Gramma came over to celebrate with her. She got some very snazzy princess boots for winter, an outfit, and a baby doll almost as big as her. I love these pictures of her loving her baby up. Isn't she so sweet?

Despite the dreading, family night went well and much faster than I thought it would. I raced home to hopefully put Bug to bed. Luckily she was just getting ready for bed, but unfortunately as soon as I arrived she tapped  into her reserves and ended up staying up much past her bedtime.

Onto Thursday... It was Thursday and I still didn't have anything farmish for the kids' favors for the party. Then AMAZON saved my life. I love that I get one year of free prime membership for being a college student. I guess going to graduate school really does pay off. So I found some really cute farm things and ordered them. I only could order the items that shipped with prime and said "Order in the next TWO hours for delivery by FRIDAY, October 22,2010!" Hello checkout and order receipt! Whoops! I accidentally left if for the two shipping...within 30 seconds of receiving my instant receipt I went back and changed it to one day shipping and paid the $3.99 per item to get it the next day. ***This is important information for later. Now I had the favor bags all set. One less thing to worry about for the birthday bash.

It was all going a little too smoothly for the week and then I got the phone call. It was my mom. I had to go pick up my brother. That's all I'm going to say regarding this matter because it is really personal. Let's just say it wasn't long after receiving my mother's phone call that I got another phone call from a place where they only limit one call. Yup. All I could think was "What about Bug's BIRTHDAY!?" I thought she would never get to celebrate her birthday. Did I mention that on Thursday we watch a friend of our's daughter that is one month younger than Bug and they were to arrive any minute? The only thing that I could do was leave the Hubba-Bub home with Bug and hope for the best. I think I had more faith in him than he had or showed. After 1 hour I was back home with little brother in tow and finally ready to celebrate Bug's birthday. I just hoped that she was still ready. All I had to say to the girls was, "Want some ice cream cake?" and they were hooked. After that things went great. Bug and L ate their cake and opened Bug's presents then took turns playing with them. They are so darn cute together :) I love watching L and seeing Bug interact with another girl her age. They play so good together too!

Now it was Friday and I only had one day until Bug's party. There was still so much to do and I felt like I had no time. I mean we still had to finish the countertop at the bar area, paint the picture frames for the wall collage, put pictures in them, make cupcakes, buy party supplies (plates, cups, etc.), buy party food, find a tv stand, make a dress for Bug, etc. Oh and I was supposed to get my hair cut too. I was actually supposed to get it done on Tuesday but that feel through and was impromptu scheduled for Friday. It started out as any other day and when I got to work I had decided that I needed my hair cut ASAP. Luckily I work at a school that also houses a trade school and we have a cosmetology center on site AND one of the aides that comes in one of my class is a licensed cosmetologist. The stars aligned and VIOLA! I was getting my haircut. I love the way it came out!

I'm loving the length, layers and ease of it. It's a mom-cut but still young. Thank you to my SIL for tipping me off on the Katie Holmes Elle Cover.

Then it was time to leave half day. I left in the middle of a mix of snow, sleet, slush, rain coming down. Wonderful. Our first encounter with the lovely stuff this year. I was not impressed, but as soon as I arrived to the nearest town with a superstore in it everything had cleared up. I shopped for the party supplies that I still lacked, party food, and even picked out a tv stand that I liked. The bad? I couldn't pick up the tv stand to get it in my cart. Maybe if I had been a little more conscious that morning when getting dressed and didn't put on my wedges with a total tread of -100, then I could have managed to flop it into the cart. So whip out the trust iPhone, seriously people- don't leave home without it, and snapped away at the UPC. When I arrived at the register and told the cashier of my dilemma she said no big and called for someone to bring it up. 10 minutes and letting 5 people cut ahead of me later I was finally able to checkout my beautiful new tv stand. Thank you slow moving cartel bringing man (SMCBM), thank you. I check out and....what's this? Where did SMCBM go? Oh c'mon! Don't these people know that I still have to get home put this thing together, make a dress, food, etc? This is completely unacceptable. The shock must have registered on my face, because it was at this point that the cashier told me to go to customer service and they would call SMCBM back up to bring it out to my car. Another 15 minutes later and beginning to debate whether I should put in an application and start checking people out while I wait to help pass the time, finally SMCBM arrives again with a friend! Great! No wonder it took longer. We trek out to the car and load it up. Once again, and truly this time, thank you SMCBM.

I make it home and we start to assemble the beauty. By we I mean my brother and I. I'm not kidding when I say it took at LEAST two hours to assemble. The directions were AWFUL, but it looks great! Now onto Bug's dress. I had this AWESOME  idea to "Sound Of Music"-it and make a dress out the left over material I used to make the curtains in the living room with, which just happened to be painter's canvas. I know, I know, I know...WHAT WAS I THINKING?! Anyways I made this dress from it with a bottom ruffle as muslin. When it came time to try it on Bug (after fighting with my sewing machine about its stubborn refusal to shirr until 12am), she was already sleeping, but I could tell  it was too big and too stiff. I know you're probably saying, "Really? Stiff? Who would have thought painter's canvas would make a stiff dress?" Consider this one a FAIL! I went to bed extremely tired, disappointed, and thinking my baby girl was going to wear her birthday suit to her birthday party.

Somewhere between the tv stand assembly and the dress failure it dawned on me that my Amazon package of barnyard goodies for the kiddos hadn't arrived. I was concerned. I checked my Amazon account and was stupifided. The expected delivery date was 10/25/2010. WHAT! I called up Amazon immediately and was asking questions to which I was told, "We're sorry, but unfortunately there is nothing we can do at this time because you're order is already being proccessed and readied for shipping. We cannot overnight it because it would have had to been sent out by 3:30 Pacific Time."  After some much needed venting to the poor individual who just happened to pick up my phone call I was refunded my $3.99 per item shipping charge and given a 20% credit to a future purchase with Amazon as an apology. Good, but still left me with nothing for the kiddos. I ended up sending the Hubba-Bub to the dollar store in town on Saturday to cover that base.

The party was good. I just wish I hadn't waited until the last minute to do things because it could have been so much better and cuter...::sigh:: Here's my proudest piece of handy work which was created in help by my awesome inlaws:

I got the idea and how to from the taste of home website from a google search. Google saves the day again!

Everything went great during and after the party. I'll  leave you with these beauties that I captured while trying to take a picture of myself for the hair reveal:

Maybe I should have used these for the big reveal, because I'm guaranteed to look good compared to a dog's butt. (Or so I hope)


How was your week?


****UPDATE!****
I received the Amazon order TODAY (Monday) and went straight to the computer to complete the return information. At which point I stop dead in my typing when I am presented with a screen that says because it wasn't Amazon's fault I will have $5.99 deducted from my refund to cover the return shipping charges. Unacceptable Amazon, unacceptable. Not feeling confident in my ability to remain calm on a phone, call I decide to give the contact via chat option a chance. After explaining the entire thing to the person they said they would email me a return label to return the order free of charge. Then I ask the simple question of "Can you please tell me when I will see the $11.97 credited to my account that was promised to me on Friday?" and am told that they don't see this on my account; they only see the credit towards another purchase. Thank goodness I didn't call in. I then explained how the other lady told me I would get refunded my $3.99 per item one day shipping charge, and they happily said they would process it for me and I should see it in 2-3 business days. I have my shipping label in my email waiting to be printed and slapped on that forsaken package to be returned to my once beloved Amazon. Sorry Amazon, despite your attempts to "fix" this, you've fallen a couple of notches in my book.

Umm Yea... I did it again..

As you can probably already tell, I've changed up the blog's look AGAIN. When bordem sets in this is what happens. I'm still not happy with it, but think it is better than the lemons. While I love the lemons and all it just reminded me of a foodie blog, which this is the farthest thing from being.  What I really want is to go back to my simple white background but the new Josh Peterson layout won't let me! Until I find a hack it will stay this grey polka dot. I like it. For now.

I wish I had some awesome pictures to show you of what we've been up to, but umm... my camera battery died when we went to the zoo and after that I...ummm...well... left it in the Rhino and it got rained on. Now all the pictures I take look like this:

I'm referring to the strange purple tint and lines across the photos not the silly smile I'm sporting. Or maybe that is why I never take any of myself? Hmmm... 

So here's the game plan for the camera issue. I'll keep it for anytime we need to get our Barney fixes, but I just ordered the HP PB360 12 MP Digital Camera with 3-Inch Touchscreen LCD (Bronze)  as my "temporary" camera until I get my DSLR. If I am being completely honest, then I must say that the only reason I bought the HP was because of it's price. $139.99 on sale for $85.32 with tax (free shipping). You can't beat that for the reviews. Ok maybe you can, because I was looking at a polaroid for $70, but the HP is TOUCHSCREEN! Now that you CAN'T beat. Hopefully it comes soon, because I hate being without a camera. (Christmas in July just keeps on getting better!)

Oh there is great news to be passed along too! For one, the DSL guy came yesterday and hooked it up. That means GOODBYE HUGHES NET!!! Hughes net wasn't all that bad, just annoying that you have a certain limit you can use daily and if you go over, then it is SLOWER than dial-up. (I kid you not) The second wave of good news is that the new sewing machine came tonight. Although, I haven't had time to play with it yet. I'm hoping that tomorrow will lend itself to that, but it's not looking that way with cleaning that needs to be done, company coming over, and a fourwheeling campfire adventure to be had with the neighbors. 

I wish I wasn't my camera wasn't so stupid!

<3 Nick <3

The darling husband that I have is always scheming for a deal and how to flip it. Bless his heart and ambition. So awhile back he got his hands on an outdoor wood furnace that had a leak in the water reserve (that's what I'm calling it bc I'm not sure what it is really called). The darn thing sat in the driveway for over a good month before he was able to start working at fixing it. Finally he started fixing it which entailed tearing it apart, welding it up, and putting it back together. The driveway was a full blown MESS for about 2 weeks. There was insulation pieces all over, scrap metal, THE WOOD FURNACE... I do have to give him credit for his placement in the driveway though, because it caught a lot of people's attention. There were a few people driving up in the driveway to look at it and ask me about it (bc it was during the day and I was the only one home). I politely answered their questions to the best of my ability ("My husband's cell is xxx-xxxx. Give him a call" lol). Wouldn't you know they did and one of those curious people ended up buying it? They are still yet to pick it up and pay the second half of the payment for it. (We took money and a tri-axle load of wood. Still waiting on the wood). Anyways the real reason I shared this was because I took some photos of Nick while he was finishing up the stove that I'd thought I'd share because I am proud of him.

Oh the many, many, uses of the Rhino.

Like the sparks that flew when we met. (hahahahaha ...that's so lame)

Hey Mr. Hubba Hubba ;)

I probably should disclose that from Nick's need to "flip" things we have a minivan sitting at our house. It's in really good condition. Any takers??? We also have a wetsaw as of yesterday. Oh! and an antique high chair/booster chair as of the day before yesterday. What will today bring??!!

Father's Day Excitement

Calla made Nick a picture for Father's Day and we framed it. Her very first picture. :) After hanging around the house for the day we headed over to Nick's parent's house to deliver Pat's gift. On our way there Nick was driving and saw something. He asked if I saw it, and I said no. So he backed up and and pointed to the ditch. There was a little fawn. It looked so scared and like it had JUST been born. It wasn't very strong. I was trying to get Nick to let us bring it home with us because the mother wasn't around. He said no and put it back. He reassured me the mother was around there some place and it would be fine

.

We went down to Nick's parent's and had dinner then headed home. All night and the next day I was worried about this little one. I finally convinced myself that it was ok and the mother came back for it.

Yumma Yumma YUUUUMMMMMMMY!

Oh my word, I almost forgot to spill the beans on some very exciting news! As you probably know I have be scouting grills for quite some time now...Well last weekend I finally talked Nick into going up to LOWES and buying one! Nothing too fancy, but it's a *NEW* grill! I couldn't wait to get it home and start cooking out! I LOVE IT! We've had dinner on it every night except for tonight (we had pizza).

You're just going to have to come over/up/down/whichever way you get here and eat some BBQ with us!!!!!!!!

TOMS

So it's late and I'm "stuck" watching "The Entrepreneur" on CNBC featuring TOMS. I am so glad that I am awake at this time. I am multitasking by checking out the website www.tomsshoes.com to check out which pair I will be getting! So what is so great about TOMS you ask? Well....first of all they are CUTE! next for each pair that you buy, a pair is donated to a child in need. The next cool thing...YOU can go on a shoe drop (deliver TOMS to children in need). So far everything that I am learning about TOMS, I LOVE! Check them out!!!!

What A Day...

Today was quite a day for a number of reasons. We'll go in order of how we found out/things went.

First off it's my father's 44th birthday. I can't believe it'll be 11 years in September since he passed away. I try to think about what he would be like at 44, but I honestly can't even imagine it. I'd like to think that he is watching down and over us, proud of all that I've accomplished. I know that he'd be so happy to be a grandpa to our little beauty. It saddens my heart knowing that Calla won't know her Grandpa, only through what we can tell her about him. Happy Birthday Dad! I love you.

Next.. Today a good friend of mine, I should say more like family, lost her baby. She was 17 weeks pregnant. Her husband and her already have 2 beautiful children. Baby Noah was taken early from them and now baby Jack will join his brother in Heaven. Our hearts go out to you Gwynne's. We hope you enjoy the meals we are sending to help out. We love you.

Finally.. Nick's childhood dog, Chewy, was put to sleep today. He has been losing weight recently and had a bump on his leg. He was whining today so Nick's parents took him to the vet. Nick is doing pretty good with it because he knows he needed it. I think it might hit him a little harder the next time we go to his parent's house and Chewy isn't there. :( He was a good dog, made lots of beautiful babies which continue to keep his legacy alive. We'll miss you Chew!

TGIF!!

I have a big case of TGIF! Even though this was a short week (we had Monday off) it has been a more than stressful week. We finally found a place that sold the blower we need, but it costs $316. Then we find out that we have to drop another $300 into buying a salamandor-> this story will remain anonymous as to why. So the money that we were going to buy the blower with went to the salamandor, because we HAD to buy the salamandor. But besides the craziness of everyone wanting money...

It wasn't a great week for school either. The students are on a racial/prejudice kick, and it is frustrating/exhausting! Trying to combat it and teach tolerance seems impossible. Hopefully things will get better with this.

Today I was pulled over by a DEP cop. It was the same one that pulled us over a couple of weeks ago. He realized who it was after he had me pulled over and just talked to me about what was going on. I also asked him what you have to do to become a DEP cop, and he told me. He let me go without a ticket and some useful advice! Hopefully we can get it fixed soon!!!!!!

INTERNET!!! & more...

I just thought that we'd let you know a couple of things.....

1. We have the internet again! I cancelled the dial up a while ago because of how stupidly slow it was, but now we have HughesNet (satellite internet). So far it has been working really good so...YAY!!! WE ARE CIVILIZED AGAIN :)


2. We are still waiting to hear from the photographer about the pictures. If I don't hear from him by mid next week I am going to call him. He said it would take 4-6 weeks, and next Monday is 6 weeks. So we'll see what is going on with those.


3. I am switching "doctors". We are now going to Lourdes in Binghamton because of the driving distance and not having to go over the mountain and then Oneonta mountain. It is just all around easier. My first appointment is the 28th. I have to call to see if I can get an ultrasound that day too. We'll see how that goes.

Other than that not much else has happened. Summer school is going good. I applied at the Family Dollar to work part time. Just for some extra cash here and there. I have to go back tomorrow to take a computer test to see if I am competent enough for the job ;) lol. I applied to BOCES for a teaching position that they have open this fall (just mailed out everything today) so FINGERS CROSSED EVERYBODY!!! that will work out :)

I have been feeling the baby move for a while now, but she is really starting to become either a soccer player or a boxer. It's so funny because her movements are very strong. Little brute :)

I think I'll stop at that, but just wanted to let everyone know that now that we are civilized with the internet again I'll probably be posting more regularly.



Oh...and I have a confession....I'm addicted to craigslist!