Okay, so Peeler and I went to the mall today to do a Godiva shop, among other things, and every other person I saw was wearing mini skirts, leggings, and big belts. I feel like I've just stepped out of the 80s. There are some fashions that should just NOT come back. I'll admit that Peeler has a pair of leg warmers, but they were just too darn cute to pass up. I dunno, I guess Santa's gift of choice this year was 80s duds.

On another note, I'm totally loving Freecycle. In the past few weeks, I've gotten rid of so much clutter - the crib, ExerSaucer, old stroller, other random baby stuff....I love it! A lady is supposed to be coming tonight to pick up some more stuff. I really thought I'd be sad about seeing all the baby stuff go, but I'm not. I'm so ready to be past the baby stage.

Speaking of baby stuff - how exactly does one go about entertaining an almost-one-year old for long periods of time? Maybe this is bad - but I get so bored trying to entertain her all the time. Well, not all the time, because she's pretty good about playing by herself, but of course I need to play with her sometimes. After we do the ball rolling thing, ring stacking, reading a book or two, playing with the cat....I'm just out of ideas. I tried giving her markers today, but she was more into eating them than drawing with them. Any suggestions?

We've been swimming the last two nights. There are three very good reasons for this:

1. Swimming at night = No bath for Peeler. Yes, we're lazy.

2. Swimming at night = Very tired Peeler when we get done.

3. We are very boring people and sitting in the house sucks.

We finally got smart tonight and brough P's pajamas with us to the pool so that when we were done we could just change her right out of her suit into the pj's. Worked well. Smart mommy.

I'm supposed to be working on a school paper right now, but it's really proving difficult without having the textbook. Heh. We've been so freakin' poor lately that I've been putting off buying it until after Christmas, but it looks like the time has come. I sold $50 of stuff on eBay the other day, but I'm still waiting to get paid, so hopefully when they pay me I'll order my book from Half.com. Oh, the joys of being young and poor. Heheh. I just keep repeating....it'll all be better someday.

Merry Christmas!

We've had a nice, quiet Christmas here. Our festivities began Saturday night. We went out to Applebee's for dinner, and Donald's mom called us during dinner and insisted that we open our presents that night, because that's when they were opening thiers. So, we got home and opened up our presents from Donald's family. Lauren didn't really get the concept of "opening presents", but she had fun once they were opened for her. She got soooo much stuff, and I really don't know where we're going to put it all. She got:
3 outfits from Gymboree (Donald's mom)
4 other springy outfits (Donald's mom)
Old Navy bibs and turtleneck (Charlotte - Donald's sister)
Drop & Roar Dinosaur (Me & Donald)
Baby LeapFrog system & cartridge (My dad)
Playskool Ball popper thing (Kate & Mike - Donald's cousins)
Laughing baby doll (Aunt Cathy)
Regular baby doll (my mom)
Little People play set (Me & Donald)
Two hooded towels, frog and duck (Donald's mom)
Two Pooh outfits (Danielle and Eric - Donald's cousins)
Crocodile Piano (My mom)
Farm animals popper thing (Anna - Donald's sister)
Mega Bloks set (Me & Donald)
Glow in the dark Care Bear (Donald's mom)
Little Tykes Trains, Planes, and Cars toy (Me & Donald)
Check for savings from Great Grandma Addyman
LeapFrog Farm Puzzle (My dad)
Musical shape stacker thing (Donald's mom)
And I know there's more, but right now it's buried so sorry to those people who's stuff I didn't list.

Our almost-hidden Christmas tree.

Peeler opening her ball popper thing that takes FOUR "D" Batteries. Ugh.

Hmmm....what's this?

The Crocodile Piano that doesn't work - gotta take it back to Toys R Us and get an exchange.

Later, Donald and I exchanged our gifts. He got me an arm band for my iPod, a rack for the DVDs and tapes, and two watches. I gave him a marshmallow gun, a talking bank for all his change, and a watch. From Donald's family I got a shit-ton of scrapbooking stuff and a candy dish. Donald got loads of Star-Wars stuff and a day planner. Then Donald got busy assembling everything :o)

Yesterday (Christmas Eve), Donald had to go into work for a while to play catch-up, so Peeler and I cooked dinner. We made ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and ham gravy, glorified rice, rolls, pumpkin pie, and apple crisp pie. It was all yummy, and Donald cleaned up after dinner. The rest of the night we sat around and watched Christmas shows on TV and played with our new stuff.

Today, we got up around 10:30 and I cooked a big breakfast - eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, cinnamon rolls, and donuts. We've talked to a million people on the phone, and now we're just lounging around. We don't plan on getting out of our PJs, except to go swimming later, and that's just fine with me. I would have liked to spend the day with family, but since that's not possible, this was okay. Next year we're going home, darnit.

Hope everyone had a great day!

I must say it's been a good week. First, I got my iPod. Second, Donald got a 20% raise at work. Then, we got our deposit in the mail from our old apartment. Today, Donald got a really nice Christmas bonus from work. Oh yeah, can't forget that I have the perfect Christmas present for Donald. Will have to tell you about that later, though, because he might read this.

We are so excited for Christmas. Well, at least I am. Donald is the grinch :o) Peeler has sooo much stuff under the tree already, and we're expecting two more boxes from Wisconsin today! Speaking of, I wish UPS would hurry up and get here because I'd really like to take a shower and got to CVS.

We've got the extra room almost cleaned out. The plan is to put a bed in there for my dad, and also use it as a playroom for P. Right now all of her toys are in the living room, and it's driving me crazy. I just need to be able to shut the door on the chaos, know what I mean?

iLove...

my new iPod! I've been waiting and waiting for the UPS man to bring it, and finally, yesterday, he did! Yippie! I've only been wanting for for the past 2 1/2 years, and now I'm the last person on earth to get one. My dad promised me one for my birthday this year, and like all things my dad does, it was just a little late. But that's okay, I LOVE IT! Now I have no excuse not to go work out. Hopefully Donald get me the armband for Christmas (hint, hint).

Thanks, DAD!!!

The Hooters shop went better than expected. Mystery shopping is when you go to a business, rate the service, etc, then go home and fill out a questionnaire about it. You usually get paid to eat there or make a purchase, plus a fee. It's kinda fun...it's like you're spying on the employees, hehe. You basically just watch for all those things that companies require, then report on it. Easy cheesy. Anyway, the food was yummy, so that's what matters.

There's a video on CNN.com today about a high school that is abolishing the honor roll because it causes too much stress for students. Put simply, I think that's BS.

I remember high school. I always made pretty good grades, and part of the reason for that was that I liked be rewarded for my efforts. There were other reasons, too (internal motivation, my dad killing me if I didn't, etc), but recognition did play a role. I knew that if I went to school, turned in an assignment that wasn't up to par, I'd hear about it - from my teachers, friends, and parents. Sure, I was stressed in high school. But when has stress become such a bad thing??

In the last 5-10 years, kids have become coddled to the point that it makes me want to puke. Teachers can't use red pens because it's damaging to kids' self-esteem. Huh? Sports teams can't hold try-outs because it's not fair that some kids aren't good enough to make the team. Oookay. Sure, seeing your mistakes and realizing that you're not the best can be stressful, but that's what life is all about. If kids go through life without learning about these things, they're going to be in for a fun time when they're adults. Can you imagine an employer just hiring everyone so they didn't hurt anyone's feelings? Unfortunately that's not the way things work in the real world.

I think schools have an obligation to prepare students for life after high school. Any way you look at it, stress is part of the real world. We are not doing kids a favor by protecting them and not teaching them how to deal with these things. Life's tough - and they should be prepared. Abolishing stress from their lives is NOT they way to do it.

We have to go to Hooter's tonight to do a mystery shop. When I got offered the assignment, I asked Donald (because he's the resident Hooter's expert, lol), if we could do it since Peeler will have to be with us. He assured me that kids go there all the time, so we'll see. Peeler'll probably be looking at all the "hooters" and thinking, "Man, that's a lot of milk!" We'll see how it goes. I can't say I'm thrilled about it, but hey, it's $20 plus a free meal. I've only been to Hooter's once, and I swear it was just to play trivia.

Peeler's in a crappy mood today. I think she's getting ready to conquer another developmental milestone, because she's just been restless the past few days. She's really on the brink of talking, I think. My girl is growing up so fast!

We had a quiet weekend, mostly. Saturday we had just a few Christmas errands to finish up, but it was crazy out there! Traffic on County Line Rd. was horrific - I think it took us about 20 mintues to drive from FedEx to our house, which is only about 2 miles away. Nuts. Donald was going crazy by the time we got home.

Today I went to CVS and Wal-Fart to get some groceries. I hate Wal-Mart. I usually go to Kroger, but I had a gift card for WM, so I went. Bleh. That place is my own personal hell. At least Donald stayed home with the kiddo so I could drive the cart in peace.

We went swimming tonight - we always go swimming on Sunday nights. A few weeks ago, Donald *invented* backwards swimming. LOL, don't ask. Anyway, he was being all big and bad about how he could almost swim all the way across the pool backwards and how hard it was. Soooo...I gave it a try and got all the way across the pool on the first try. LOL. He says he doesn't like being beaten at his own game. I'm a pretty good swimmer though (or at least I used to be), so maybe he shouldn't get too sad. He had to re-take swim all four years of high school :o( Poor Donald.

Cruisin'

Okay, I can't keep it to myself any longer! We're going on a cruise in April. Yippe! Well, Donald's staying home, but he was invited. My cousin, Trisha, is getting married on a cruise and I wasn't even planning on going, but my dad called me today and asked if I wanted to go. He was going and found out that he had to pay a higher rate because he's single, and the rates are based on double occupancy, so it was the same price for me to go along as it was for him to go alone, so he's buying! The only thing we have to pay for is airfare to Ft. Lauderdale, which shouldn't be more than $200. So....Peeler and I are going on a 5 day Royal Caribbean cruise to Key West, Cozumel, and Belize! I've never been on a cruise before but I think it will be fun.

So this makes three trips we're taking in the next six months. P and I are going to California in March, cruise in April and Wisconsin in May/June. I'm so lucky that Donald is completely cool with us going all over the place all the time. Hehe, he doesn't care because he gets to live the bachelor life while we're gone. He is coming with us to Wisconsin in May, but he's only staying for a week, and P and I are staying for three.

I'm so excited!

Oh, No you didn't!

This is what happens when I'm on the phone and Peeler's on the loose. This is mild, actually - last week she emptied my coupon folder and they were all over the dining room. I need a cage.

"Can't you see I'm busy, mom? I have lots of letters to write! Now leave me alone, please."

How Lauren became Peeler

Donald is big on nicknames. I can't tell you the last time he called me "Katie". Our cats, officially Sammie and Zowie, and known as "Choopie" and "Co-pee". I guess he has a thing for p's. So, it should come as no suprise that our little girl was called "Lauren" for all of about an hour. He first started calling her "Lilo", then that gave way to "Pilo" which eventually became "Peeler". And Peeler has stuck. Sometimes we just call her "P"; I usually call her Peanut, monkey, roo, or rooster. The poor kid probably doesn't know her real name. I'm sure she'll hate us someday for all these weird nicknames, but oh well. Every kid hates their parents for something. Heh.

Monday was the last day of Peeler's swim lessons before Christmas. I did not know this because we missed the previous week because the kid was sick. We knew that the swim school had a big Christmas party on the last day of class, and Donald had intended on taking the afternoon off to come. I thought it was next week. So, we got to class yesterday and everyone's parents and grandparents and third cousins were there, and I felt like a jackass because it was just me and P. Needless to say, I also didn't bring the teacher's Christmas gift. Oh well. Classes start again Jan. 3, and P got to move up to Waterbaby 2! She loves the water so much and lessons are so much fun for both of us. She's learned to go underwater completely, swim alone about 1-2 feet, and can splash and kick on command. Well worth it.

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I think I've talked before about how much of a pain it is to find somewhat healthy food on a buffet for Peeler to eat. At Pearl River Monday night we had the same problem. The only vegetable on the buffet that wasn't soaked in butter was lima beans. I scooped some up on my plate, but wasn't too optimistic about P eating them. Boy, was I wrong! The kid devoured them. Honestly, she's really not into solids too much as she's still a boobie baby, but man she liked limas. I'm going to have to go buy some now. The only thing she liked better than the limas was Donald's ice cream. Heh. Figures.

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We did have a nice time at PRR. It's always nice to just get away for a couple days. Monday night we just kinda hung out in the room.
A funny side story that I must add: When we got home from swim school Monday night, I got P's clothes ready for her to wear that night. I put them on the couch and then asked Donald to get her dressed. I went in the bedroom to get myself dressed and came back out to the living room a few minutes later. Donald was getting some stuff ready to pack, and I went in the living room to work on the suitcase. I saw P's pants still on the couch, and told Donald that he forgot to put the kid's pants on. He said that he did put them on...... He had put her pajama pants back on her, thinking they were her real pants! Boys. Good thing I usually do the dressing...the child would be scarred for life. Heh.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday we had nothing to do, so we decided to drive to Meridian just for the fun of it. Yeah, there wasn't much fun. Two good things did come of it, though. First, we got to eat lunch at A&W, which we haven't done since we left Wisconsin. They even had cheese curds!!!! They weren't nearly as good as Culver's, but they were cheese curds nevertheless. Second, we stopped at Big Lots, and I bought a Venus Fly Trap plant!

Now, I think this thing is freakin' cool, and I don't want to kill it, but I have no idea what to do with it. The instructions say to keep it at 40 degrees Nov-Feb, because that is when it is dormant, but the darn thing doesn't look too dormant to me. So, I guess to get it to go dormant, I have to put in the cold, but where exactly am I supposed to put it that's 40 degrees? The fridge? And should I just stick it in there and leave it, or gradually get it used to the cold? Or should I just forget about making it dormant, an keep in the warm for the winter? Gah I'm so confused!

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Because I am a mean and horrible person, I made Donald pose with Peeler for some Christmas-y pictures. He'll forgive me someday :o)

I've been saving up some links lately:

This site has some lovely, beautiful games that will keep you occupied for hours. I especially like this one.

This guy is my hero. If I didn't have any debt, I would do the same thing. Very inspiring.

This lady is completely crazy. She seriously needs some Prozac or something. Warning - contains some swearing, listen without the kids.

We kinda had a lazy weekend around here. Today I went through all of our CVS stuff and organized it so we can give more away and then donate the rest to a women's shelter. I also finished decorating the cookies and got a few tins ready to be mailed out to Wisconsin. We went swimming this evening for about an hour, then came back and just hung out.

Tomorrow we're going to Pearl River for two days just for the fun of it. We get coupons in the mail every month for two free nights, so why not. We're leaving after Peeler's swim lesson and we'll be back Wednesday morning.

Don't let me forget - I need to post a picture of all our CVS goodies! Seeing is believing :o)

Why I am a Horrible Mother Part I (Because I'm sure there will be more)

So, yeah Peeler "helped" me bake Chistmas cookies. After I had finished mixing the dough, her little spider arms grabbed the spatula from the counter, and she started licking the dough off. At first I didn't really think anything of it - I figured I'd let the kid have some fun. Haha. Then I realized there were raw eggs in the dough. Yeah. Yummy salmonella. Well, she hasn't gotten sick yet, so I'm assuming it'll be fine.....

Mother Shock

A few months before Lauren was born, I read this post on Tertia's blog. I sort of forgot about it until tonight. Tonight Donald and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with the crew from his office, and as we were leaving he said something to the effect of Peeler ruins lots of things and that he kinda misses our old life. Peeler actually had done pretty well - we'd went to the boat parade at six, and then we went straight to Wild Wings and we were there until nine. She started getting antsy about 8:45, so we decided it was time to go. But for those almost-three-hours, she sat in her high chair, watching and listening to all the big people, smiling when necessary.

When you're pregnant, everyone tells you how much having a baby will change your life. I always just sort-of believed them. How much different could it be, really? Even the first few weeks of Peeler's life, I remember thinking, "Oh, this isn't so bad....I don't know what everyone was talking about". And then, slowly, you start to learn that you're not in charge anymore, a tiny baby is, and that whether you like it or not, she will control your life for the near future.

Sure, Donald is right in a way. Having a baby has "ruined" some parts of our life. We can't go out with our friends whenever we want and stay out until dawn. We don't get to go to the movies, or to the gym, or even to the grocery store in peace. But I don't like to think of those parts as "ruined"....just different. Someday we will be able to do all those things again, without a baby. But for now, we're living in a different country, and need to speak the language of the locals. This new country has lots of parks, lots of laundry, and tons of hugs.

Finally, after almost a year, I'm becoming fluent in this new language. Mothering is coming more naturally and it's hard to imagine going back to my "old" life. Donald's getting there - some people just need more time to adjust than others. Driving home from Wild Wings, the Mother Shock concept just kinda popped back in my head, and it makes so much more sense now than it did before.

The baking stage of sugar cookie maddness is over. Tomorrow the icing will begin. I believe I have about 9 dozen in all, so it should take me awhile! All I have is time, though. Heh.

Donald's sick now. I seem to have escaped the wrath of the germies for now. Hopefully it continues that way.

I have lots of stuff to write about schwooping around in my head right now, but no energy to write about it. Here's my list
~CVS and the crazy Kleenex lady
~Pictures of Peeler "helping" me make cookies today
~Entertaining Peeler while I'm on the phone and why I hate talking on the phone
~Boat parade on the Reservoir tomorrow night

Okay, maybe that's it. So I have a list, now I have to write about it. We'll see :o)

First, I have all of my baking and decorating supplies ready to go for tomorrow. Tomorrow night I'm baking and cooking till the cows come home. I'm sending goodies to some of my teacher friends at the church, my mom, and my dad in California. I think it's so sad that we're not going to get to be with any of our family this year, so I guess I'm providing myself with sweets for therapy. Hum.


Second, Donald and I bought Peeler a set of Mega Blocks for Christmas, but we couldn't contain ourselves and had to get them out to play with last night. We made some robot-looking guy, which Peeler promptly destroyed. We also came to understand why the Mega Bloks were so cheap and the Legos were so expensive: the Mega Bloks suck. They don't stay together for anything! Guess we should have spent the extra $20 for the real thing. Oh well, I doubt Peeler will care. Anyway, I forgot to take a pic of the robot guy, so here we are cleaning up. Note Donald's reach-y thing....since I bought him that, he won't bend over to pick anything up, not even toys. Lazy man.

Finally, I had to entertain myself for a while today by decorating Peeler with a bow. She didn't like it.

I'm sad to say that my special delivery did not arrive today. Instead, the UPS man brought one of Donald's Christmas gifts. Darn UPS man. Bring my goodies soon!!!

Turns out that all the antibiotics Peeler's been taking has given her diarreha. That's just wonderful. Let's just say that we're not using cloth this week. Bleh.

Finished, finally.....on to better things

Okay, so I just submitted my last task for my last class of the last term (never mind that the term ended a week ago), so that entitles me to some fun, right? Good...because I wasted like 3 hours today watching movies. First, if you haven't seen March of the Penguins, watch it, because it is awesome. I never thought I'd tear up over a penguin, but I did. Very good. Second, I watched the documentary, Jesus Camp. Also highly recommended but for entirely different reasons. That movie is frightening on so many different levels, and when I muster up enough brain function to write about it, I will.

Okay, on to Christmas cookies. For some reason, I like baking Christmas cookies. So far I've made some chocolate Andies mint cookies and almond bark pretzels (okay so really not a cookie but whatever). I think I'm going to make some sugar cookies, but beyond that I'm stumped. Anyone have any good suggestions? I'm not really one for all the "traditional" Christmas cookies, if you know what I mean....and simpler is better. I want to try Gingerbread, but I've never made it before, and I only like the soft kind. So I dunno, we'll see.

Ohh yes....I got everything done today that I wanted to do! Peeler (who's feeling much better) and I went to the Post Office, CVS, and the grocery store. So all of my Christmas cards and packages are mailed!!! Yippeeee! Tomorow I want to run to Target to pick up some tins for cookies so I can mail some to the far-away family, but I need to be home between 2-5 because I have something extra-special coming via UPS!!!! So excited!!!!!

Catching Up

We ended up taking Peeler to the Dr. yesterday afternoon. Turns out she has bronchitis and an ear infection. They gave her a shot of Rocephin in the office and a prescription for Omincef for the next 10 days. I'm not usually a big fan of antibiotics because I generally think they're overused, but honestly, I don't have the energy right now to care. Sounds bad, I know, but I'm wiped. The good news is she seems to be feeling better today and actually slept from 9:30 last night till 8:00 this morning.

It seems now though that Donald and I are getting sick. I'm all coughy and stuffy this morning, and Donald says he is stuffy, too. And that's just terriffic. HAHA.

I did pass my test last Wednesday. Seems like a month ago already, but I guess it wasn't. Heh. My new term started Dec. 1, but I'm taking it easy for now.

I'm shopping for good, affordable health insurance for Peeler and I (Donald gets his free from work). Any suggestions? Donald can add us to his policy at work for about $280 a month, but that seems like an awful lot.

Okay, guess that's it. If I've promised you anything in the last week or so, I'm sorry. I'm sooo backed up in all areas right now. I REALLY need to go to the Post Office today - I have about 10 packages and all my Christmas cards to mail. So if you're expecting a package from me - with any luck at all you'll have it soon. Heh.

Sick baby

Poor baby girl has been sick since Wednesday. It started with a simple runny nose, but by Thursday morning she was really stuffy. This is the first time she's been sick, and I'm blaming it on that dumb airplane. I just feel so bad for her because there's really nothing that I can do. I'm sure she'd feel much better if she could just figure out how to blow her nose, but unfortunately that's a few years off yet.

She's on the mend, now though, I think. She was happy playing this evening and didn't want to go to bed, unlike past nights where she's passed out at any chance. She's still having trouble nursing though, because she's so stuffed up, so I have to attack her every so often with the snot sucker (professional term). She hates that thing, and cries every time she sees it. Poor thing.

I started to feel like crap yesterday with a headache and sore lymph nodes. Today the headache is gone but the lymph nodes are still swollen, so I'm hoping I've escaped illness. We'll see though.

The thing that really blows about all this is that Donald and I actually had a babysitter for last night and had to cancel because Peeler was sick! Grrrrr. Oh yeah, last night around seven one of Donald's friends called and wanted him to go out and play pool. He then asked me if it was okay, and I told him it was up to him and his conscience (hehe). He told his friend he'd call him back later and let him know if he'd be out. After he got off the phone, he asked me again if he could go and I told him that I'd really rather he not go out. I mean, come on....kid's sick, wife feels like crap and has been taking care of sick kid the past three days by herself....give a girl a break here and stay home!!! Oy vey! MEN!