Halloweenies

I love Halloween. I have relished candy corn, Trick or Treat, horror movies, fallen leaves, the smell of wood smoke, and ghost stories for as long as I can remember. There were a few years where I was too busy or preoccupied to care much, but this is the first year in a while where I can honestly say that I was ridiculously excited for the autumn season and Halloween to arrive. Partially, I think that this is the first year that The Goob really "gets" the Halloween process, in some form or another, and add to that the fact that it is his sister's first Halloween, and it made for a wonderful combination.
The Engineer hates horror movies. Really and truly, he does. There are a few he likes, like Scream and the original Halloween, but overall, he thinks they're lame and stupid and usually spends the whole time rolling his eyes and making jokes when forced to watch one. But, in an effort to watch my share of them, I save my quota of slasher films for October, when I go crazy and watch as many as I can until the big day on the 31st. We've watched Silence of the Lambs (a favorite of both of us), Deranged (a '70s slasher flick starring the old scary neighbor from Home Alone, Roberts Blossom), Red Dragon (a sequel to Silence of the Lambs), Open House (a cheesy '80s horror movie that was so bad it was great--a total '80s time capsule), Pink Floyd's The Wall (not really horror, but still scary), Audrey Rose (a supernatural thriller starring Anthony Hopkins--see a Hopkins trend here?), The Howling (early '80s werewolf cheese fest), and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (not really horror...a comedy in fact...but still Halloween-ish). Last night, we watched the first Halloween episode of South Park (too funny). I really want to keep this up as a tradition because it really helped to prolong the Halloween season.
Wednesday, there was a costume party at Story Time at the local library. I dressed up The Goob, but not the baby, which was great in the end because she kept spitting up while we were there. I'm dreadfully awful at coming up with unique costume ideas, and The Goob was one of three dinosaurs there at the party (but, in my opinion, he was the cutest). They read Halloween stories, sang songs, paraded the kids in their costumes around the library, and had Halloween treats.
Friday, we went out of town to do some Christmas shopping and to stop at Sam's Club--while there, we picked up some bulk Halloween candy and 30 decorated cupcakes for a Trunk or Treat at our church. I'm actually quite glad that we did buy candy in bulk because it rained during the Trunk or Treat. I admit to being slightly annoyed that they didn't move the festivities indoors because I couldn't take The Goob around outside with the baby strapped to me in the Beco (which she was NOT coming out of after I spent so long trying to get her to sleep, thank you very much), and Daddy skipped the event because he doesn't like being around a bajillion, sugared-up kids, but 1) I bribed him with two cupcakes from the potluck, and 2) we have a HUGE Tupperware bowl chock full of candy already. (I promised The Goob we could have candy at the house, and I informed him that Mommy bought "the good stuff," to which he responded, "Is it brown candy?" That's my boy!) They passed out awards to all of the costumed kiddos, and The Goob won "Most Original" (probably because someone saw me complaining on Facebook that I couldn't come up with any original ideas...snort), and The Bean was "Brightest Clown," which struck me as hilarious because she was a rainbow. That is what happens when you have fourteen year old boys creating the categories, right?
On Saturday, we got hit with a freak Winter storm, so all of our Halloween events were canceled because a significant portion of the area (luckily, not us) was without power. I will have you know that I really, REALLY hate snow, even more so this year because, thanks to being a pregnant whale all summer, I missed out on enjoying the warmer weather earlier in the year. I don't remember ever getting snowed out of Trick or Treat as a kid, ever. I do remember one year when there were flurries, and we all had our knickers in a twist over that, let alone inches of snow. Luckily, it melted off by Sunday.
Today, we're planning on meeting up with some friends in the evening for Trick or Treat in town. I'm so excited to take The Goob for his first real Trick or Treat/Halloween. I just don't get why they don't do Trick or Treat on Halloween in general. When I was a kid, unless it fell on a Sunday, Trick or Treat was on Halloween, no matter what, and it lasted for the whole evening until about 9pm. Now, it's usually whittled down to an hour on a weekend days before Halloween. Really? The rationale is that they don't want to do Trick or Treat on a school night because people are unhappy. But, you have people unhappy when it falls on a weekend, especially Sunday. So, since everyone is unhappy, why not just do it on Halloween like the Druids intended (or whoever initiated Halloween...near as I can tell, it's an amalgamation of several holidays/festivals)?
So, my little dinosaur will get to Trick or Treat tonight, rain or shine (Daddy will be around). The Bean will not be a rainbow again tonight because she had to puke all over her colorful self on Friday (there's $8.88 I won't get back), and the costume isn't machine wash. (Not to mention, she scowled the whole time while wearing said costume on Friday...priceless...she was REALLY happy to be a little ray of colorful sunshine, let me tell you.)



So, Happy Halloween to all the ghosts, ghoulies, and scowling rainbows out there!

Trendy Babies and Broke Mamas

Some friends of mine (who also have baby girls) have recently become enamored with the pettiskirt/tutu/headband trend, and are snatching up these items right and left on places like Etsy and boutiques that women run from Facebook pages. The pieces can often cost a pretty penny, and I found myself wistfully looking at these multicolored, posh accessories for babies and wishing that I could buy them endlessly for my little one. The items look like creations perfect for a princess, and I was positively drooling over them.
Thanks to more thrifty pals, I discovered wholesale websites like Halo Heaven (mentioned in a previous entry) that sell pre-made pettiskirts, tutus, headbands, barrettes, bows, etc. for practically pennies, and I have been in, well, Halo Heaven. The other day, I bought The Bean nine pairs of crib shoes...NINE...for $18.00 total. Designer headbands for $1.50 a piece.
I have been reveling a little bit in my purchases. Hey, what mom wouldn't? I think most moms with little gals love dressing them up in fab stuff, and if you're anything like me, I like saving serious $$$ while I'm at it.
However, I noticed today that the same shoes I purchased for my baby for $2.00 a pair wholesale are being sold by these "online boutiques" out of crafty moms' houses for $10 to $15 a PAIR, unaltered, not enhanced, nothing. I wasn't overly surprised because I saw the same exact pettiskirts and tutus that I purchased for $2.00 to $4.50 a piece going for up to $35.00 unaltered at these same sites. And in some ways, I'm envious. I wish I had the business sense to buy up loads of items wholesale and to market and sell them for hefty profits. I mean, think how fun it would be to buy and sell cute little girls' accessories for a living? (I'd probably lose some profit keeping things for ourselves.)
However, part of me has been really saddened in thinking about this. I have friends that I shared this with--some were as excited as I was, and some (who won't read this blog...more acquaintances than anything) were actually very defensive and answered it by ordering more from these "specialty shops" rather than considering the possibility that they could get a better deal elsewhere. While the idea of playing with flowers and bows as a business sounds like so much fun, I feel like loving moms are being taken advantage of, or essentially, that they are allowing themselves to be taken advantage of when they are presented with another option and refuse to see it. People are making a killing off of moms who will stop at nothing to make sure their kids are dressed to the nines. Moms who want to say they "custom ordered" something that could have cost $3.00 off of a non-swanky wholesale website.
The profit margin here is insane. And I'm torn between wanting to have fun and sell these items, too, so I can totally stay at home with my kiddos, and wondering sometimes how much I too overpay or the lengths I am willing to go sometimes to make sure my family "fits in." How often do I crush my family's progress, say, to add another debt to a credit card in order to "have something special?" There are people out there eager and willing to take advantage of us when we are desperate to fit in, to look perfect, to have "nice things," and how often do we overspend and give what we don't have in order to keep up with the Joneses? How much do we pay, both literally and figuratively, for things that don't matter or happiness that we can find elsewhere? On one hand, I have to admit, there's a drooling part of me that thinks it would be fabulously fun to buy tutus, headbands, and pettiskirts, accent them with cute things, and resell them for profit. But, a part of me wonders if I would be contributing to something that, in the end, isn't good for anyone. Would I be contributing to something that has often caused my family pain, i.e. when I have focused more on what I want rather than what is best for my family, or overspent in order to focus on material things, rather than what is good for us in the long run? We, as mothers, need to refocus on what is truly important for our families, our spouses, our children, instead of constantly focusing on our wants and our desires. I include myself in this. If we let it, the world will take advantage of our envy, our wallets, our wants, our petty desires, our weaknesses, and our doubts, just like these "crafters" take advantage of Mommies who don't understand how much they are overspending on an item. It's more important to have a happy baby with a grounded, focused mother than a trendy tot with a debt-laden, unhappy, self-conscious mama who is never happy and always wanting more.

Green Eyed Monster

I feel like I'm battling a little bit of the jealousy bug these days....
It's not that I'm not grateful for the blessings in my life, because I am, but I'm starting to find myself feeling a bit envious of others these days. I keep noticing how much nicer I feel someone else's house is compared to mine, or how their kids are dressed, or how much money I think they make/their financial progress compared to mine, or their talents, or what they drive, or how they seem to do things so much better than I do, keep a cleaner house, seem more put together than I am, yadda yadda. The list goes on and on.
Thankfully, it's November, and I have a goal to try to write an entry every day based on something that I am grateful for (cheesy, I know, but considering I'm completely lame and cheese whiz myself, it works out), and I have to give a talk at my church on November 20th on gratitude, so I think this might just be the perfect time to start counting my blessings.

A Slutty Scrabble Board and a Slutty Watermelon Walk into a Bar...

When my husband and I were in college, we would joke that the most popular Halloween costumes for women were anything with the word "slutty" in front of it. You know, "slutty" angel, "slutty" nun, "slutty" nurse, and the list goes on (yeah, I know, it's just fun to say "slutty").
Fast forward a few years, and things haven't changed much. A friend of mine plays a game at bars on Halloween called "Bar Slut Bingo," where they bring in pre-printed Bingo cards with various "slutty" costumes, and the first one to get a matching row of five costumes that are present gets drinks from the other participants (if I actually drank, that would be a game I would so play).
I just don't get it. What happened to fun, creative, even gruesome costumes?
Apparently, ANYTHING "slutty" goes these days:
Your Guide to Absurdist 'Sexy" Halloween Costumes
"Naughty Nemo" makes me want to weep.

Four More Days 'til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween...

(I keep watching all of the Halloween movies, and my entry title is a nod to the annoying jingle from the commercials featured in Halloween III--if you're looking for a ridiculously awful horror movie, I highly recommend that one.)
So, the Halloween season is upon us. I have always loved this time of year because, well, let's face it, it's all about beautiful colors, candy, horror movies, and hoodies, and you simply can't go wrong with that combination. But, I admit that I hadn't really been overly excited to dress up The Goob until this year because this year is the first time that I feel he "gets" the whole thing (and the little Bean gets thrown into it by association).
I purchased a generic dinosaur costume for The Goob at Wal-mart. I thought it was cute. Apparently, so did approximately one-third of all parents in the United States. Going as a dinosaur must be the "in" thing this year. News to me--I picked it because I didn't think Goob would want to go as a "Diva Princess" or "Egyptionista" (exactly what is that last one, pray tell?), and it was the best option.
I did, however, discover that Baby Age apparently marks down costumes to $8.88 in October, so I snagged a unique one for my littlest--she's going as a rainbow.
The costume is sized for 6-12 months, but my mother-in-law has altered it, and I'm super excited that she will, at least, more than likely be the only rainbow in a room full of dinosaurs and Buzz Lightyear. The little dress is so colorful--it's just precious.
I'm already thinking about their costumes for next year, and we've already started what should end up being several days full of Halloween fun--and when it comes to awesome costumes, I've learned to steer clear of Walmart. What are you/your kids doing for Halloween?

My Addiction, or As I Like to Call It, Buying in Bulk

I love buying food in bulk. I am definitely a novice when it comes to the concept of food storage, but I love having things on hand to cook treats and fun dinners on a whim, and knowing that I am, at the same time, both saving money and building a small surplus of food in the event of an emergency. In addition to shopping sales at standard grocery stores, I also love shopping warehouse stores like Costco and Sam's Club. For my family, personally, the membership cost (annual) pays for itself in the first trip.
I am NOT a couponer. But, I can feed our family of four on anywhere from $250-$400 a month, depending on the month, and this includes keeping a freezer chock FULL of meat, bulk food storage, loads of things on hand that enable me to bake whatever I want, usually, on a whim. We're not talking a bare bones budget. And I've had a lot of people ask me how I do it, and there's no way I can compile it into one entry, so I'll start with one thing that works for us, and occasionally add more to the blog as time goes on.
I just love bulk shopping. Whether it be at a warehouse store, a local butcher, or the normal grocery store--there are certain items that are significantly cheaper to buy in bulk. HOWEVER, that being said, some times, it can cost you too much money and becomes wasteful if you do like we did once and buy a gallon of mayo you never actually use (although now, we actually do buy bulk sizes of mayonnaise...times change). It has to be items that you 1) use, and 2) are cheaper in the end in bulk--which means, you either need someone good at math with you in your shopping, or you're doing research/carrying a calculator with you. BUT, as someone who does all that, suck up the pride, whip out the pad and paper, and save some bucks in store.
Some suggestions for items to buy in bulk:
-25 lb. bags of flour or sugar. MUCH cheaper this way, and you can put them into an air tight bucket with a snap lid. Saves a TON of money this way, and you have it on hand in those times where you really want to bake something good.
-Honey. We buy our honey from local apiaries. Much cheaper than the cute little teddy bear jars. We pay about $7 for a few pounds of HOMEGROWN honey. Woot.
-Meat. If you have a freezer, and you use a lot of meat, this is for you. We buy from a local butcher, and the higher quality meat is actually cheaper than the cheap-o meat at the grocery store. Tip: buy only the meats you use regularly. We have about 10-15 pounds of bacon right now, and I learned really quickly, we don't use that much. It might end up going to waste. Frozen meat never expires in theory, but it can lose quality after a while. The USDA has guidelines for this. Also, you can buy luncheon meats in bulk and freeze them, taking out small packages you've divided as you need them.
-Cereal. If you have little ones, and the cereal is on sale, why not? We have about 6 boxes on hand at a time. We can also use it for snacks for our son, and not just as breakfast food. Cereal is often on sale if you buy 3-4 at a time, and this is one of the items I do admit to occasionally using a coupon on.
-Spices/baking powders, etc. Find a store in your area that sells spices in clear bulk containers. You would not believe the price difference in buying spices in bulk, especially the ones you use the most often. Can often save several dollars. Warehouse stores are good for this, too.
-Pasta. Doesn't go bad easily, and often on sale. Pasta is one of those staples that is good to have a lot on hand. You can buy big bags at places like Sam's Club...like 5 lbs. of macaroni for $5, or you can stock up during 10 for $10 sales at your grocery store.
-Canned goods you USE. Warehouse stores are exceptional in this capacity and allow you the luxury of having favorite brand names for the price of generics. Discount grocers can be good in this area, too. One weakness I have is buying canned goods we end up not using.
-Pasta sauces/pizza sauces. Same as above. Grocery stores offer the best sales on these. Make sure you find a brand you like...I tend to be a bit pickier about my sauces, but that's just me.
-Paper goods. GO TO WAREHOUSE STORES FOR THIS. My butt now only accepts Charmin toilet paper, thank you very much, and thanks to Sam's Club, I get a ton of it for several bucks less in the end than at the normal grocery store. Same with pads and tampons.
-Ice cream (if you have a large freezer). It goes on sale a lot, and having a tub in the freezer can keep you from Dairy Queen in a pinch. Stores often offer sales if you buy 2 or 3 at a time, too, and ice cream is often BOGO free.
-Cheeses. Cheese freezes well, especially when shredded. Buy this at warehouse stores. Split the big bags into smaller freezer bags and freeze--then take out a couple cups at a time if needed. Also works for sandwich cheese slices.
-Bread. You can freeze loaves of bread for a couple months. Nice to have on hand in a sandwich emergency or when you are desperate for French toast. I don't recommend having more than a couple on hand at a time, though, because it can freezer burn quite easily.
-Macaroni and cheese boxes. Much cheaper, nearly anywhere, to buy the bulk packages. Comparison price if unsure about this. Also, brand name in bulk is often cheaper than generics.
-Brown sugar. I should have mentioned this earlier. You can't often find it in 25 lb. bags, but you can find 7-10 pound bags at warehouse stores, and it FREEZES WELL. It thaws in a short amount of time on a counter. I LOVE this trick.
-Peanut butter. If you eat this a fair amount, it's a much better deal, especially if you like name brands. Buy when on sale or at a warehouse club. We always buy ours in bulk--always.
-Tubs of sour cream and margarine. A good deal found at Sam's Club and Costco, if you use enough to justify it.
-Trash bags. Big boxes at warehouse stores (or places like Lowe's) save big money.
-Diapers and wipes. If you have little ones, trust me--buy the big boxes of these. Cheaper, and buying these in the middle of the night = no fun for anyone. And, this helps you to buy the brand names more affordably if you prefer them. (Also, the big brand name boxes often have coupons or reward points toward future purchases.)
-Foil pans. If you like to make and freeze meals, as I do, you can either pay $2 per pan at the standard stores, or about $8 for 30 at Sam's Club. Enough said.
-Cleaning products. The amount of money saved by buying commercial grade dish soap, or bulk boxes of detergent, etc. is unbelievable. Laundry detergent, dish detergents, Soft Scrub, 409, Windex, etc. are really great finds at warehouse stores.
-Dog food. The big bags are always cheaper per unit in the long run--more money up front, but still cheaper per pound in the end and lasts longer.
-Batteries. We have had great luck with warehouse brand batteries, and they are significantly cheaper in bulk (and bulk can be great when your kid refuses to sleep at night unless the light-up, lullaby singing seahorse has batteries).
-Body washes and hand soaps. This is one of those things where it is cheaper...IF you use that much. I especially like nice hand soaps, and you can usually find the nice scents in bulk at warehouse clubs or heavily discounted with coupons.
-Razors. I will have enough razors to last into my forties, and hey, it's not like they expire.
-Vitamins. I don't often find good deals on prenatal vitamins, but the gummi ones are always available at Sam's Club and Costco.
-Formula. Always buy the bigger containers. They will always be cheaper in the end.
What does your family buy in bulk?

Invasion of the Crumb Snatchers

I watch a lot of the show Hoarders. You know the one...it's a wonderful show featuring hillbillies who sleep in tents in their backyards because the trash and crap in their home has virtually eliminated any livable space inside, or yuppies hoard collections of millions of "rare beer cans" (no joke!) and find out that these "treasures" are only worth a couple of bucks, or you have ultra-thrifty single women who won't throw out anything because they grew up poor, and will be keeping that bag of liquified, five year old chicken, thanks, because hey, waste not, want not.
Yup, that's the one.
And one common theme in all of these episodes is infestation. Bugs, critters, rodents, spiders, animal hoarding...the list goes on. So, naturally, my associations with these little monsters goes with bad housekeeping, as a rule. Normal people, for example, get, say, only one mouse, right? And he just goes away when the home owner says enough is enough. Right? RIGHT?
Nope. It's official. We've got some mice.
It started with scuttling sounds around my stove. My husband, ever so calming an influence, assured me I was wrong about there being an unwanted presence in the home, and wrote it off as vibrations from the washer and dryer. Phew.
Nope. Not hardly. While doing laundry one day, I noticed what I thought were bugs on my basement floor. I went to look, cursing my luck, and discovered it was even worse--mouse turds.
Now, I know what mouse turds are...I had a pet mouse as a kid (mice, actually, because Furrball was pregnant when we bought her), and her only joy in life was pooping all over my room. And these were mouse turds.
I wanted to do "THE HUMANE THING" and catch the mouse without killing it. I envisioned myself in hippie love beads, ceremoniously releasing this mouse into some flower-strewn park somewhere in emerald green grass, with music playing, I'm quite sure. It would be BEAUTIFUL.
The Engineer wasn't having any of that, and assured me the mouse must go, and threw down a few snap traps. In a day, the mouse met its maker.
I admit, while sad that I didn't get to release him back into nature, I was glad he was gone. And for nearly two weeks, I enjoyed a mouse-free presence in my home, even starting to breathe easier whenever I would go down into the basement to get meat from the freezer or to do laundry.
And then, there were two more. See, we had kept the traps down there under a vague assumption of "just in case," and two more mousies were waiting for me, catching me completely off guard.
After I had a panic attack, I called the husband in sheer and utter terror, no longer wanting to do "the humane thing" and simply wanting any little rodent invader killed. I had done enough research over the course of all this, and convinced myself we would all die of hantavirus or whatever other rare diseases vermin carry, and that we were, in technical terms, screwed.
But, there was one thing I was grateful for in all of this, and that was that they at least hadn't come upstairs. There was that, and I had latched onto that fact with all of the sanity I had left.
Until I found mouse crap on my food storage shelves.
And that, my friends, is when I completely lost my mind.
I cried, I hyperventilated, I cursed under my breath, I envisioned that these little beasts were simply out to kill me and my family and eat all of my precious food at the same time. Down went traps into the kitchen (one mouse caught...so far, no more since, but I reserve the right to claim it is mouse-free until WEEKS go by). I took everything out of my clean kitchen and SCRUBBED. I moved appliances and SCRUBBED. I took all of my food and placed it in air-tight containers (I'm pretty sure mice could chew through plastic if they wanted to, but it will make it harder for them). I scrubbed shelves, exposed surfaces, cabinets, reorganizing anything I could. This took about five hours in total. And the only evidence I have seen of any more mice in there is one little turd I found this morning right on the edge of the kitchen and living room, but I have found just one here and there a couple times that we have tracked in after working on the basement, so I am not convinced that there is one in my living room now, because, as we all know, mice won't leave just one little poop--they leave dozens, and one solitary poop on its own, so far, has meant we just happened to have one in our shoe.
We killed another two in our basement after the first three, bringing our total to six. We have found, and at least temporarily, sealed dropping-laden entryways we have found where they could have come in, and so far, we have had only one in livable space, and it came in through a cartoon-type mouse hole behind our fridge that was very new. I have the kitchen cleaned enough I should be able to see evidence of anything new when it happens--not that it wasn't clean before, but I have things situated so I can see a problem as it happens.
I've taken this whole thing personal. I have anxiety attacks, see, and I have been convinced that somehow, I have done something wrong to have this happen. Maybe I didn't clean enough, or maybe I lived in denial that this could ever happen to us, and what kind of mother lets this happen...all of those terrible thoughts. But, as my mother-in-law and husband have assured me, as well as a lot of friends, that this is, sad to say, a war that millions of homes wage, and that a lot of my loved ones have endured in their own homes, and that it will be won. I have made my husband promise that, if we can't combat this on our own, that we will call an exterminator, and so far, we seem to be doing OK in at least keeping ownership of our home and our things. It's war now. Screw being humane...I want the rodents dead and gone. I don't know how many more we have, but we are trying to eliminate any nests, food sources, entryways that could encourage more.
Any of you have any experience with toxic animal invaders?
**NOTE** Oh, and we have ladybugs, too. FML.

Tutus for Everyone!! (But, Will They Come in My Husband's Size?)

A friend introduced me to Halo Heaven, a wholesale website that sells loads of dress-up stuff for little girls--things like tutus, pettiskirts, wands, tiaras, costumes, headbands, etc. for super cheap. Obviously, the stuff isn't going to be the same quality as something handmade, but if you need to fuel an addiction to all things girly, as I do for my little girl, take a look. Tutus run between $2-4 bucks a piece, pettiskirts run between $5-10, headbands run $1-2 a pop, etc. If you're looking for cute favors/decorations/themes for parties and stuff, this could be a really great place to go (though I hear the customer service/speed is so-so, so order early). So, in the next couple of weeks, I'll have enough tutus to outfit my entire house...maybe even the dog. *wink*

All the Blogosphere's a Stage, and We Are Merely Sleep-Deprived Players....

I've had several blogs in my lifetime. The first one I started back in high school, during my emo poetry days when life was cruel and black-red nail polish was cool. In some ways, I wish that blog was around, mainly for entertainment's sake, but also to see how I have changed along the way.
And changed I have...throughout my last several blogs, I've dated, married, had babies, worked a variety of jobs, stumbled, fallen, gotten back up again, cracked jokes, shared dreams, mourned losses, etc. And every now and again, I get the urge to say goodbye to my old work in order to create a new chapter in my life...perhaps out of some sense of restlessness, or maybe because, in some way, a new blog is symbolic of a new start in life, new goals, new changes, and so forth.
So, for any potential new readers (hi, nice to meet you), who am I? I still think, after 28 years of existence, I'm trying to figure that out. In an effort to maintain some sense of anonymity, I'll refer to my cast of players with pseudonyms...maybe I'll divulge names at some point, and maybe I won't, but I'll stick with this for now. Back to the original question--who am I? I'm a lot of things: I'm a 28 year old wife of nearly five years and mother of two, ages 3 and 3 months. I have the world's most spastic dog. I hold a bachelor's and master's degree in English literature. I teach composition and rhetoric in the evenings at a local university. I'm swimming in debt and trying to find my way through a sea of financial goals and weaknesses. I'm an incredible bargain huntress--I love shopping clearance sales, warehouse stores, wholesale websites, Freecycle, thrift shops, used book stores...any place where I feel I can get a good deal on something important to my family. I'm working on creating a food storage in our home. I live in the country, in a small development on a hill (aren't they all?), in a home whose basement is currently inhabited by mice (le sigh) because I'm too allergic to own a cat. I'm sarcastic, a pop culture junkie, and I'm terribly addicted to Facebook. I'm extremely self-conscious. I'm one of those people who lives life with the attitude that everything has to be 100% or nothing at all (which can be really good, or really bad, depending on the situation). I struggle getting to know people--I'm much more open online than in person. I'm an incredible slacker mom. You won't see crafts on this blog (though maybe some recipes). I have a heavy hand when it comes to adding spices to my cooking. I always order the same things at restaurants. I volunteer at a local animal shelter because I like the animals more than I do most people. I am wanted by neither the conservatives nor the liberals when it comes to politics. I'm afraid of other moms. If it's cream-filled, I'll take two of whatever the dessert is.
As mentioned, I'm married to an engineer. He's 30. He does not drive trains. (When I taught at another school, a drunken student asked me what my husband was studying, and I answered with engineering. The student then asked if my hubby would drive trains and have to wear those pin-striped overalls, and I then reminded the student what his own major was...engineering...and had to ask him whether he was going to drive trains someday, which made him think for a while before putting his head back on his desk to sleep off the hangover some more.) My hubby puts up with the fact that I kinda suck at this whole "being domestic" thing, and still loves me anyway. We'll call him The Engineer.
I have a 3 year old son that I'll reference on this blog as The Goob (my parents' nickname for him). He is very bright, very high intensity, high maintenance, and leaves me both aching with love and feeling a bit lost/inadequate when it comes to being a mother. I have never met someone who loves to make others smile and laugh as much as my little boy does. He sings songs by both '80s hair bands and Lady Gaga, and is already becoming a little pop culture database. I love his crazy, frenetic self, and how he helps me to grow.
I have a 3 month old daughter whose nickname is Vanilla Bean. As a rule, she is calm and happy, and is the smilingest little thing I have ever seen. But, like her mother, just don't get her mad. And I'm pretty sure I shouldn't feed her after midnight, you know, kinda like the Gremlins from that crazy '80s movie. She was nearly ten pounds at birth (9 pounds, 8.2 ounces, to be exact), and I will never let her live that down. I say all the time that my Goob taught me how to be a mother, and that the Bean taught me how to love being a mother.
I'm hoping that somehow, someday, my words will have something to offer to someone. I thrive so much from others' experiences that I hope mine hold some value to someone some day, some way. I'll share my thoughts, goals, experiences, failings, things I find interesting or of good report. You'll learn quickly that I am a sarcastic, cantankerous soul at times, and irreverent, more often than not. To that, I say, take me as I am. I think a lot about my life in terms my mother-in-law always references--when it comes to life, you can either laugh or cry. I, however, choose sarcasm.