I am not usually one for resolutions -- I don't tend to make them, because I know I can't keep them. Yes, I could use to lose a couple of pounds, buy new clothes and update my style (since I really lack any sort of style at all), get a make-over, eat healthier, exercise more, blah-blah-blah
But, this year I do want to change the way I function as a person, so I plan on trying to do the following:
1. I resolve to try my hardest to convince my husband that we don't need cable TV -- we've gone 2 months now without it and we could go the entire year without it. We are thinking of getting Netflix, so then we don't need cable for sure!
2. I resolve to play more with my daughter on the days I am home from work and save the housework for when she is napping. This is hard for me, because I like to throw in a load of laundry, clean the bathroom (okay, I don't really like to do that) or empty the dishwasher and little tasks of the sort throughout the day. But, I would also like to sit on the floor more, color, make-believe, etc with my daughter more....so, I resolve to play more!
3. I resolve to send birthday cards in the mail to friends and family. I have gotten out of the habit of sending 'real' cards and just dropping a quick email. I need to get better at sending snail mail.
4. I resolve attempt meal-planning, so it's not so stressful for me to decide on what to have for dinner 1 hour before we'd like to eat. I am easy to please when it comes to food -- I really like most anything. Now, my husband on the other hand - he's a classic "picky-eater". He is hesitant to try new foods, orders the same food each time you go to a restaurant and is pretty much set in his ways -- he likes his meat, veggie and starch separate and doesn't like his food 'mixed' up (like stew or casseroles, etc). So, it's stressful for me to make dinner -- he would be happy with porkchops each night and I like to expand my flavor palate and I want to encourage our daughter to try new things. So, I resolve to sit down with my husband and plan meals a week in advance.
Lastly,
5. I resolve to invite friends over more often, host playdates and dinner parties and game nights and coffee mornings more. I mean, that's what life's all about right, relationships? I want to strengthen the relationships I have and grow new ones in 2008. I want our new house to be a haven of welcome and comfort....so, invite yourselves over and I'll get the coffee pot on and the crockpot started....
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
the reason for new carpet....
You know you've married an engineer when it takes 2 months to order carpet -- the carpet we originally picked out a week before we moved into our house. Because, you know, he's not an impulse buyer like I am! I would have had the carpet ordered about an hour after I picked it out, but he had to 'shop around' and look for the best price, talk to people about installation prices, shop around again, run the numbers on how much it's going to cost us, etc... We ended up going with our original choices.
As we were tearing up the carpet and pad ourselves -- to save money -- I almost got sick to my stomach when I saw this....
Yes, the previous owners had a dog and supposedly, he liked to urinate -- like most dogs. Unfortunately, he liked to urinate on the living room carpet and this is the 'gift' we found when we tore up the carpet! Yes -- it was on the ENTIRE living room floor !!
So, now we have new carpet, but the pictures I took don't really do it justice, so I'll have to work on getting a photo for you all.
As we were tearing up the carpet and pad ourselves -- to save money -- I almost got sick to my stomach when I saw this....
Yes, the previous owners had a dog and supposedly, he liked to urinate -- like most dogs. Unfortunately, he liked to urinate on the living room carpet and this is the 'gift' we found when we tore up the carpet! Yes -- it was on the ENTIRE living room floor !! So, now we have new carpet, but the pictures I took don't really do it justice, so I'll have to work on getting a photo for you all.
A Year in Review
So, I know some people send the 'year-in-review' holiday letter out with their Christmas cards and we thought about that......but, by the time you read the review of our year, you'll know why we spared our family and friends the details and decided to just share it all with you:
2007:
January -- husband lost his job/was forced to resign, I picked up more hours at my 2 part-time jobs
February -- I turned the big '3-0'
March -- we decided to put our townhouse up on the 'wonderful' housing market
April -- the toddler turned the big 'terrible 2'
May -- husband found a new job, I cut back my work hours
June -- we did have some summertime fun: ball games, sidewalk chalk, sprinkler, playing at the park, etc.
July -- same as last month
August -- we found out we were pregnant!
September -- we sold our townhouse -- in record time in this horrible market!
October -- we moved in with our babysitter's family for 3 weeks, then moved into our new house on October 23rd, then I miscarried on October 28th at 11 weeks gestation
November -- hubby turned the big '3-3' on Nov 28th and that same night he was at the hospital getting an MRI of his back because he was having foot drop for 3 days, lost internet services twice this month and had to hassle and haggle Comcast to get a technician to fix it
December -- we tore out dog urine-stained carpet and got beautiful new carpet just hours before my family came up to celebrate Christmas! We had a LOVELY Christmas and look to a better 2008!
As we sit here trying to watch a little TV before going to bed, we can see that the picture tube in our 6 year old TV is about to blow -- we still have 3 more days left in 2007 for something to go wrong....
~~~Here's to a positive outlook on 2008~~~~
2007:
January -- husband lost his job/was forced to resign, I picked up more hours at my 2 part-time jobs
February -- I turned the big '3-0'
March -- we decided to put our townhouse up on the 'wonderful' housing market
April -- the toddler turned the big 'terrible 2'
May -- husband found a new job, I cut back my work hours
June -- we did have some summertime fun: ball games, sidewalk chalk, sprinkler, playing at the park, etc.
July -- same as last month
August -- we found out we were pregnant!
September -- we sold our townhouse -- in record time in this horrible market!
October -- we moved in with our babysitter's family for 3 weeks, then moved into our new house on October 23rd, then I miscarried on October 28th at 11 weeks gestation
November -- hubby turned the big '3-3' on Nov 28th and that same night he was at the hospital getting an MRI of his back because he was having foot drop for 3 days, lost internet services twice this month and had to hassle and haggle Comcast to get a technician to fix it
December -- we tore out dog urine-stained carpet and got beautiful new carpet just hours before my family came up to celebrate Christmas! We had a LOVELY Christmas and look to a better 2008!
As we sit here trying to watch a little TV before going to bed, we can see that the picture tube in our 6 year old TV is about to blow -- we still have 3 more days left in 2007 for something to go wrong....
~~~Here's to a positive outlook on 2008~~~~
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Does Santa come to your house?
I hadn't really thought about the whole 'Santa' thing until recently. Last year, our daughter was too young and just screamed when seeing Santa, let alone trying to sit on his lap. This year, she was a bit more energetic and ran right up to him and plopped on his lap, but then was a bit shy and didn't say much.
A single, child-less friend challenged me this week when he almost chastized me for teaching my daughter about Santa. "So, you're lying to her, telling her this imaginary person is going to buy her presents?", "I can't believe you're going to lie to your daughter and make her believe something that isn't real.".
It got me thinking. My husband and I had decided to teach our daughter that Santa was this man who was bringing presents to her on Jesus' birthday. That in fact, we are celebrating Jesus' birthday and Santa is just the messenger/gift-bearer for Jesus.
Now, that really threw my friend for a loop! He challenged me again, "so, you're teaching her about this imaginary Santa and then expect her to believe in Jesus when she finds out that Santa isn't real?"
WOW.
I don't know -- I give up! Parenting is such a challenge. I knew parenting was going to take physical energy and love and patience, I just never knew that parenting would take such mental energy! At times, I feel like I'm digging myself into a hole and it's getting deeper and deeper. I know there's nothing wrong with teaching my daughter about Santa -- I believed in him and I turned out just fine, right? But, do I separate the two: Jesus and Santa? Or do I teach them together as a tag-team?
I want my daughter to know more about Christmas than just the presents and goodies, I want her to know the meaning of Christmas -- the TRUE meaning. But, how do you do it without getting too carried away with the whole Santa-thing thrown in there?
So, this year we celebrate Jesus' birthday AND Santa.....I have 365 days to decide what to do next year...
A single, child-less friend challenged me this week when he almost chastized me for teaching my daughter about Santa. "So, you're lying to her, telling her this imaginary person is going to buy her presents?", "I can't believe you're going to lie to your daughter and make her believe something that isn't real.".
It got me thinking. My husband and I had decided to teach our daughter that Santa was this man who was bringing presents to her on Jesus' birthday. That in fact, we are celebrating Jesus' birthday and Santa is just the messenger/gift-bearer for Jesus.
Now, that really threw my friend for a loop! He challenged me again, "so, you're teaching her about this imaginary Santa and then expect her to believe in Jesus when she finds out that Santa isn't real?"
WOW.
I don't know -- I give up! Parenting is such a challenge. I knew parenting was going to take physical energy and love and patience, I just never knew that parenting would take such mental energy! At times, I feel like I'm digging myself into a hole and it's getting deeper and deeper. I know there's nothing wrong with teaching my daughter about Santa -- I believed in him and I turned out just fine, right? But, do I separate the two: Jesus and Santa? Or do I teach them together as a tag-team?
I want my daughter to know more about Christmas than just the presents and goodies, I want her to know the meaning of Christmas -- the TRUE meaning. But, how do you do it without getting too carried away with the whole Santa-thing thrown in there?
So, this year we celebrate Jesus' birthday AND Santa.....I have 365 days to decide what to do next year...
Lessons I've Learn (so far)....
Lessons I've Learned From Living in the Country:
Even though I grew up in the country (nearest neighbor: 1/4 mile away) with corn and bean fields all around and I had lots of imaginary friends, I am still learning about life in the country -- after living the 'city' life for 6 years.
IN THE COUNTRY:
1. You can hear nothing, and I mean NOTHING, when night falls -- as I'm trying to fall asleep, I often wonder how I ever learned to fall asleep with the hum of the city.
2. The wonders of nature are so amazing that in the city you really have no idea what you're missing! As the squirrels gather the kernels of corn that my toddler daughter "peeled" especially for them and the red-headed woodpecker sits at one of the bird feeders, I hear other birds chirping away, singing their song as if the world belonged to them.
3. No matter how horrible the road conditions may be and how icy the sidewalks are, when the ice glistens on the snow as the sun rises, the glare is bright enough to wake you up in the morning.
4. You don't need cable TV to get some good channels -- we currently have a large antenna on our roof that was so graciously left by the previous owners of our house, and we can get at least 15 channels -- with pretty good reception! So, we have yet to order cable or a dish or anything of the sorts and I'm all for not paying for cable TV that we won't watch. (we are in a small dilemma on New Year's Day -- our beloved ILLINI are playing in the Rose Bowl and it's not on network TV!!!)
5. I learned just this week that when your internet isn't working, even though we JUST got our cable internet installed, you might want to check if any snowmobilers cut the internet cable line when they were driving through your yard! Of course it's winter and the ground is frozen, so we can't bury our cable line.....so, Comcast came out again today and ran another cable internet line -- this time, he hung the cable in the tree, so maybe the snowmobilers will get a little surprise when they run through our yard -- watch out for a cable hanging in mid-air and don't strangle yourself!
Even though I grew up in the country (nearest neighbor: 1/4 mile away) with corn and bean fields all around and I had lots of imaginary friends, I am still learning about life in the country -- after living the 'city' life for 6 years.
IN THE COUNTRY:
1. You can hear nothing, and I mean NOTHING, when night falls -- as I'm trying to fall asleep, I often wonder how I ever learned to fall asleep with the hum of the city.
2. The wonders of nature are so amazing that in the city you really have no idea what you're missing! As the squirrels gather the kernels of corn that my toddler daughter "peeled" especially for them and the red-headed woodpecker sits at one of the bird feeders, I hear other birds chirping away, singing their song as if the world belonged to them.
3. No matter how horrible the road conditions may be and how icy the sidewalks are, when the ice glistens on the snow as the sun rises, the glare is bright enough to wake you up in the morning.
4. You don't need cable TV to get some good channels -- we currently have a large antenna on our roof that was so graciously left by the previous owners of our house, and we can get at least 15 channels -- with pretty good reception! So, we have yet to order cable or a dish or anything of the sorts and I'm all for not paying for cable TV that we won't watch. (we are in a small dilemma on New Year's Day -- our beloved ILLINI are playing in the Rose Bowl and it's not on network TV!!!)
5. I learned just this week that when your internet isn't working, even though we JUST got our cable internet installed, you might want to check if any snowmobilers cut the internet cable line when they were driving through your yard! Of course it's winter and the ground is frozen, so we can't bury our cable line.....so, Comcast came out again today and ran another cable internet line -- this time, he hung the cable in the tree, so maybe the snowmobilers will get a little surprise when they run through our yard -- watch out for a cable hanging in mid-air and don't strangle yourself!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
It's been a long, long wait...
It's OFFICIAL: we now have internet at home! It's a good day at our house...the husband and I are zoned out on the computer right now -- his laptop and mine....surfing, blogging and buying stuff on Ebay....what more could you ask for in an evening?
I have so much to say, but will spare you all and only give you some of the highlights. I'll post some warm-weather pictures from the past couple of months later, but today was TOO much fun and I can't wait to share them all with you!
We went to a friend's house and played in the snow -- our first time! Last year, the toddler was too young to understand and enjoy that white stuff, but today was different. At first, we screamed when I forced the snowpants on her -- I mean, really -- "YOU ARE GOING TO ENJOY THIS!". (I really, really wanted to go and play in the snow). But, after we got out there, it was hard to get her to come inside!
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