Dancing To Silent Music...

Random motivation is really starting to irk me.
During the day (whether at home, work or elsewhere), I get these "fits" of motivation wherein I start daydreaming about a new exercise regime I will start, a new healthful meal to cook, letters to long-lost friends that will be written and amazingly educational and fun activities to do with my children.

... and then I go home, sit in the recliner, nurse Monty, try to read a bit, let the television babysit my kids, make minimal conversation with my husband and do a bit of cooking and/or cleaning. Then its bath time, bed time for Arilyn and then bed time for Monty and me. Rinse, repeat.

How does one keep up the motivation that occurs during the day? Logic dictates that as much as I hate being the fat, lazy woman that I have become, then I would naturally be more motivated to change that which I hate. Pssh. Since when does logic dictate my life?

And now it is time to stop said daydreaming and get back to the work that pays the bills (most of them anyway).

http://www.buyolympia.com/q/Item=no_tattoos_kid

Cliff, you live there.  Buy it for my children.  :)

Yesterday was Cody's and mine 2nd wedding anniversary.  Had yummy sushi at Shogun.  And then had a puking and diarreha filled night with Monty. 

My mom also got news that a family friend of ours passed away.  He was diagnosed around Christmas with liver cancer.  While it is better that he doesn't have to live with the pain anymore (not to mention the medical bills), it's still a sad event.  He was a good guy.

More later.

Arilyn and my mom flew to Minnesota yesterday.  I miss her like crazy and have no idea how this week will turn out emotionally.  I think I'm having a harder time with it this year than I did last year.  Maybe it's a distance thing?  NW Indiana is a lot closer than Arizona.  

Gah.

Damn DS mom hasn't sent the cloth diapers I paid for 2 weeks ago.  She apparently doesn't check her email or messages on a regular basis, so I'm thinking about going through PayPal to get my money back.  Obviously I will wait a bit longer and try to keep contacting her, but it is really frustrating.

Although, we have been using disposables for Monty because our washer isn't agitating correctly and nothing is getting cleaned like it should. 

Grr.

Fucking awesome...as expected.

My 27th birthday was yesterday.  Huzzah and all that jazz.  Got ice cream cake at work.  Got dinner with my mom since it was her birthday, too.  I still have to remind her that I was the best present she's ever gotten and as a result, every one of her birthdays after 27 (when she had me) sucks in comparison.  Cody was going to clean the kitchen for me as a mini-gift, but has a horrid sinus infection, so that didn't happen.  I have assured him that I'll demand a raincheck. 

My two moms and I are going to Cavalia this weekend as my birthday gift to them and me.  Expensive!  But it'll be worth it.  So many March birthdays, especially this week.  Lacy's on Tuesday, mom and mine's on Thursday, Kathy's today, mom-in-law's on Sunday, a few work people's early next week, and then Rand's on the 29th.  Craziness.

I'm trying to schedule a tequila celebration for Rand, Kathy and I.  Rand is forever my tequila buddy and it has been too long since we've had a tequila night.  Even longer since it involved good tequila.  Here's hoping it all comes through.

And since I'm at work and my break time is over...farewell!

Lava rocks are ugly in such an attractive way.   Like my brain. 

Drugs are going well.  I created a separate journal purely for the depression crap.  trauiger_kalmar for those who are interested.  Not much is posted as I haven't transferred it over yet, but hopefully that will be accomplished tomorrow.

All is going well in life (minus the usual disclaimer of financial doom).  Arilyn is talking MUCH more...she basically won't shut up.  Monty is in uber-cling mode and is driving me batty.  But, he let me cut his fingernails finally, so that's something.

We're talking about Cody going to school this summer.  There's a lot of classes that he wants to take, but in order to get a grant, he'll need to pick a degree to work towards.  Plenty of time to decide that stuff though.  And it's not like he can't change it if something else floats his boat.   There's certainly a few classes I'd love to take, but obviously don't have time for.  Perhaps once the kids get a bit older...I'm certainly not going anywhere.

Speaking of death, our firm gets to represent one of the drivers who hit the lady who was crawling across the freeway last week.  Crazy stuff.  I imagine head boss guy will be taking that one. 

I've been reading the news, cnn and azcentral mostly, and now remember why I stopped.  It's all so damn depressing.  I'll continue to read because that is how things get accomplished and there is the ocassional bit of good news (Arpaio getting investigated!).  So, huzzah to that.

My mom is going to be taking Arilyn to Minnesota with her again this year.  It's a week long trip and will be a nice break.  We're hoping that the in-laws will be willing to take Monty for a night so Cody and I can have a night to ourselves without worry.  I thought about sending Mogo with my mom instead of Arilyn, but considering that I've never been away from him at night before, I'm not sure that'd go over so well with him or I.  Mostly me.  Not to mention the fact that I'd have to pump for a week straight.  Fuck that.

Fantastic news!  I won a "Grand Prize" from Kellogg's/Kashi!  24 coupons for free Kashi products (up to $4.00).  That's 24 free lunches!  I love Kashi's frozen lunch things.  Healthy and delicious. 

More fantastic news!  My birthday is a week from tomorrow!  I'll be the big 2-7.  Send me presents, especially tequila.  My preference is Petron Silver, but I won't be that picky.  THIS MEANS YOU. 

My computer is now running Ubuntu.  Windows was too big of a pain in the ass.  I am in love with  my laptop once more.  Hooray Linux! 

And now I must go put my daughter to sleep.  Gooooooodbyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeee!
 

Oh mighty parenting gods, please remove the 20+ lb male attachment from my hip/boob/lap/face...even for just ten minutes.  Work doesn't count.

Thank you.

So, now that I feel confident enough to put out some opinions on diapers, here goes:

Etsy dino print pocket diapers (2)  $15 each:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5787493
Great diapers, these used to be my favorites.  They have a pretty trim fit and my only complaint is that the crotch area is a bit too wide for Monty.   Unfortunately, they are getting a little tight on him, so they'll be up for sale within the next month or so. 

Etsy safari print fitted diaper (1) $6:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6179456
Good diaper, but it has a really thin velcro strip.  It's not too big of a deal since it's a fitted, but I can't let Monty wonder cover-less in it or else it will fall off.

SmallSprout pockets (2) and cover (1)  approx. $11-14:
http://www.smallsproutstore.com/
AWESOME diapers.  I had ordered 1 fitted, 1 pocket, 1 cover and a couple of inserts, but ended with 2 pockets.   These diapers are fantastic.  They fit like a dream, line dry really quick and she has a ton of great prints available.  (ours are all pirate related and there's still a dozen we want to get).  Customer service is really great.  I cannot stop raving about these things.  I'll be ordering a lot more once I have the money to do so.

Assy's Diapers one-size pocket (1) and trainer (1):
http://www.assyscloth.zoomshare.com/
Eh.  They function great, but they are poofy.  The trainers are really hard to get on because the leg holes are so tight.  The one-size are pretty big.  The adjustment on it is just velcro/aplix and I can't get it tight enough.  They work, but there's a huge gap around the belly button area.  Might work for chunkier kids, but Monty is just too skinny for them. 

Bumkins AIO used:
http://www.bumkins.com/shop/pc/Cloth-Diapering-c6.htm
It's our only AIO and we love it.  It's a little bulky, but works great and Monty likes scratching on the vinyl-type fabric.  It stains easily because it's totally white on the inside, but suns out really well.   If I could afford it, I'd probably buy a few more.  It's a good "going out" diaper as it absorbs and holds in the wetness for a long while. 

We've got 2 used ones from Cristina...Sumbuns and Jillibeans or something like that.  Both are also good dipes.  I like them best as diapers for around the house as Monty seems to fall into the heavy wetter category and I can't fit a lot of inserts into either diaper. 

And that's all for now.  Our collection really needs to grow.  I'll defnitely be going back to SmallSprout and will be hunting for a few more fitteds.  Pockets are still my preferred method, but fitteds are great too.  I have a Kissaluv contour diaper, but am an idiot and forgot to order a Snappi thing.  It works in a pinch by just tucking it into the cover, but can tell that it' be much effective pinned up.  

It's good to do a record of these things for selling time.  Otherwise, I'll just get them all mixed up.  :)

My stay-at-home-sick day has produced some good photos.



The most adorable photo ever to be taken of these children.
Monty - 13 months, Arilyn - almost 2 1/2 years


This was the first attempt at the previous shot.


Daddy and his little girl


A nicely posed one this time.


Mommy and Ari.  She got a little excited about the picture taking.

I'm feeling somewhat peppy as of late.  I'm not sure why as I am as stressed and child-irritated as ever.  Maybe it's that pre-breakdown manic episode that I hear happens sometimes?

Just took a shot  of Citronge with the husband and DAMN, it's been a long time since I've shot anything.  It's quite tasty though.  Thick and orangey without being too orangey.  Yum.

I am amazed that the Cardinals scored so closely.  I didn't particularly care about the game this year as I've lost interest in football since my alcohol consumption decreased significantly.  A perk is that we got out of work two hours early on Friday to "celebrate."

And now my children and husband are demanding my attention, so I'm off.  Bon voyage and all that jazz.

Step 2 of my cheesy sounding self-discovery is giving myself a hobby.  While there is much I'd love to do, I had to find something mostly free, interesting and not time specific (such as 8pm every Wednesday).  So...I'm going to get seriously back into genealogy.  I'm going the easy route for now and sticking with my grandmother' side of the family.  That's the Mormon side and they have much better record keeping than any other family branch.  Another perk is that most of said record keeping is free.  It's pretty cool to be able to go through the generations and occasionally find someone that was written about.  Yay hobbies.

January 6th was Monty's first birthday.  He's been walking since 10 months, but has only been doing it regularly since about Christmas.  He's still got his 6 teeth and no real sign of any more coming in the near future.  He is still a skinny little guy and only fits into 12 month pants if he's wearing cloth dipes.  Speaking of, now that we've got the washer hooked up and I turned his crib frame (the metal part the mattress sits on) into a makeshift clothesline, we are going to start cloth mostly-full-time.  Yay!

We had his party on the 11th and had abotu 25-30 people there.  It turned out to be really fun.  I made two cakes in preparation for the loads of people, but Cody cut the pieces really small, so we ended with a whole cake left.  Lesson learned.   Monty got mostly clothing for his birthday (per my request).  He got plenty of toys for Christmas, so it worked out well.  And he can wear more than the 3 pairs of pants he had before that. 

I've been trying to get him on a sippy cup, but he's not really into it.  The soft-spout kind just get chewed on and I've been having a hard time with the hard-spouts not leaking.  We've tried numerous brands and no luck.  I think maybe he just throws them too hard and the stopper dealie comes off.  The only sippy cup he'll drink out of is Arilyn's.  Which, obviously, she usually objects to...even though she rarely uses it beyond car trips and bedtime. 

I'm pondering turning him into a forward facing position in his carseat.  I know it isn't as safe as rear, but I cannot get his stupid carseat to sit properly rear facing.  I have to adjust it every damn time and it's getting old.  We're probably going to get a replacement seat when taxes come in anyways, but until then I think it'd be less of a risk to have him forward facing. 

Anyway...leaving work now and heading home.  I've got a lot I want to post, so here's hoping I get the chance later tonight.

In my newfound goal of "Finding Lisa," I have thus started by changing my default icon.  I'm at a point where I need to stop identifying myself as just a mother.  It's the biggest and most rewarding part of my life, but I need to find the little parts at the moment.

Small and simple step, but that's the best way to start.

Next step:  Finding a babysitter for late nights.

The first Seven (7) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year (2009).
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a mix CD. It may be a poem. I may draw or paint something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
- Additional caveat: I reserve the right to make something for your kid(s) instead of you. :)

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well, if you expect me to do something for you!

PRESENTS FOR YOU:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

( Pictures this way )
It was a good Christmas this year.  Arilyn got her awesome kitchen.  Monty got a lot of cool things, too.  Arilyn still has a bike coming to her, but it'll have to wait another few weeks so that the funds can catch up.  Moving right before Christmas isn't the best idea...financially anyways.

It amazes me that we get to have three Christmases, ideally four.  The weekend before Christmas is spent with Cody's extended family (30+ people).  X-mas Eve is spent with my family (and my SIL's family - also around 30+ people).  X-mas morning will eventually become a private little session at our house (once we get settled), and then the rest of the day at my in-laws.  How lucky are we?

This year was definitely an improvement over last year.  It was a lonely Christmas in Indiana.  My mom was there, but it wasn't the same when you are used to literal crowds of people.  :)  That and I was due 2 days after Christmas, so I was more concentrated on going into labor.  haha.

Next big thing...time to plan Monty's 1st birthday party.  It will be slim, but he won't give a damn and for that I am thankful.

It's a holly jolly Christmas...

We have been in our new house since Thursday and are loving it!  There are a few issues to take up at the walk-through (whenever the hell that gets scheduled), but nothing too serious.  Arilyn refers to the house as "Ari's new house."  She's been acting a lot more calm and goes to sleep a lot better since moving here.  Obviously the tension at Grandma's was a big issue.  There are still a few boxes to get from my Grandma's house, but we need to borrow a bigger vehicle to move them.  Probably Friday.  Hooray!

We had Christmas with Cody's side of the family (all the extended family, we'll hang with his parents on Christmas Day) on Sunday.  The day prior to the event, they sent out an email changing the time to noon when it is usually at 2-3pm.  Unfortunately, we just got internet access and missed said email.  We arrived about three hours late and missed the giant food gathering, but it wasn't too bad.  Cody got bitched out by his mother as though we were just dinking around being late for the hell of it.  Nevermind someone actually call and tell us. 

Anyhow, it was good times.  Monty got a ride-on toy that Arilyn immediately hijacked.  Arilyn got a tea cart that she loves to push around.  Cody and Monty got lots of "airtea" on Monday.  There were a lot of really good things for them to play with. 

My family's gathering is tomorrow evening.  My sister-in-law's family is going to be there as well, so it'll be a large crowd.  It'll be nice to see them.  The last time everyone was in one place was at her and my brother's wedding.  My cousin and aunt have decided to forgoe the occasion.  They want something more intimate and not a huge crowd.  I can understand that to an extent, but it seems silly to do your own thing on Christmas Eve when you already do your own thing on Christmas Day.  Christmas Eve is the "big" family event...it's how it is.  But oh well, that's how it goes sometimes.

We had our Yule celebration Saturday night.  A good number of friends showed up and everything went well.  It's nice having a party at our own place, both Cody and I were able to drink (no worries, we weren't totally plastered and were full capable of being parents).  Lisa even came by for a few hours which was AWESOME since she never does anymore.

And now the end because Monty is trying to do pull-ups with my arm into my lap. 

Happy Holidays to everyone!

And Cristina, got the card...thank you!

Long story short - grandma pissed me the fuck off and I want to be wholly moved on our moving date or the day after.  We were originally going to be moving our stuff over that whole week since I still have to work and don't usually get home until 6pm.  Bedtime is about 7:30-8:30pm.  The other reason for waiting is because we have nothing.  No beds, no couch...nothing.  It's all in Indiana.  My mom is going to let us use her bed, she's going to use a twin she has in storage, and Arilyn will either get the crib mattress or a twin futon.  This is all until we can get a bed of our own and a twin for Arilyn.  

Now that I'm all gung-ho...I'm pondering the free mattresses and things off CL.  I know how gross they are supposed to be and the idea makes me cringe a little.  However, I'm willing to saran-wrap the bitches if need be to get the hell out of here. 

And it'd be for like a month, maybe a month and a half.  Would we die of some freakish bed-spreading disease by then?

So, I'm officially in "go-cloth" mode.  I've bought 2 pockets, 1 contour, 2 covers, and some inserts.  While my stash is still quite tiny, that's still 6 disposables I DON'T use during the day.  Love it.

And I've already finished most of my christmas/yule card mailings.  I just made a collage thing of the four of us and used winkflash's picture card thingie.  All I'm waiting on now is the mailing labels.  I got a few holiday themed ones for just a couple of bucks with our soon-to-be new address.  I figure I'll mail them out late next week.  

It's nice being motivated.  Moving really has me excited.

Cody and I are planning a Yule blot and after-party for the non-heathen/non-pagan folks.  Should be good times.  

And that's all for now...I'm thinking it's bedtime.