Things I need to do, preferably in the next few days

*Finish this god-forsaken class on teaching Language Arts. It is NOT fun writing essays about how to write essays. I have six papers left, one that is going to require an evening at Barnes and Noble counting the number of words and syllables in 15 different children's books. NOT fun.

*List Lauren's clothes from last winter on eBay. I have all the pictures taken and edited, I just need to get the auctions prepared and loaded into Turbo Lister for prime selling time, which will probably be the mid-to-end of July. Anyone need girls fall/winter clothes in size 12-18 months? I have a TON.

*Organize all my coupons from the past month that I have conveniently thrown in a file box for now. They all need to be clipped, alphabetized, and filed.

*Write about six new posts for DealHippo. I have a ton of new things I want to tell you all about, so I need to get this done!

*Go back to Target and see if they have their summer stuff on clearance yet. There's this tunnel thing that I want to get for Lauren, but I wasn't going to pay full price for it (imagine that). It was 30% off yesterday when I went, making it $17 or so, but I'm hoping to hold out for at least 50% off ($12).

*Register to take the Praxis II. This has to be done by July 5, so I'd better get a move on. I'd like to hang on to my $200+ for as long as I can, though. Puke.

*Open up an online savings account with HSBC. Right now we're just using our credit union's account, but HSBC gets 5.5%! Need to do this sooooon!

It looks like Donald is going to be on Peeler duty a lot this week :o( Oh well, it's good for him!

Some new Lauren videos

I've been trying for days to get new videos uploaded to You Tube and finally got it to work today. Nothing too exciting, don't worry. The theme for the day is music. Hahah.

I can't believe I get to say this - WE ARE OUT OF DEBT!!!! Except for student loans :o( But all the credit cards, other loans and MY CAR!! are paid off! We'll be paying on our student loans until we die (or win the lottery), but that's OK. At least we're ejumacated :o)

So there'll be no Wisconsin for me this summer :o( We are entering saving money mode. We are trying to save $10,000 by next summer so we can move!

I really am sad about not going to Wisconsin, though. Even though my family is a pain in the rump, I do miss them (sometimes). Plus, now we probably won't get back there until fall/winter of 2008! We were thinking of going back this fall for a few days, but now we will probably end up using Donald's last four vacation days to go to Oregon to scope out a few cities.

This whole Mississippi thing just hasn't worked out for us. The only thing that is keeping us here right now is Donald's job. He really does have an awesome job, even though the company is starting to go to crap. Anyway, we sure didn't plan on Katrina destroying the city where we had planned on living, and Jackson - well, it sucks.

We've both been complaining about this place for a year, at least. I'm sick of complaining about it and not doing anything to fix it, so it's time to change that. I really want to get in a place that can be home, especially since we're going to have to start thinking about school for Lauren in a few years. I need somewhere that jives with my soul where I can feel at home.

We've done some preliminary research in the last week or so, and right now Eugene, Oregon is the top choice. We'll almost certainly end up somewhere in Oregon; we're also considering Portland and Salem. Eugene seems like a great place with progressive politics, lots to do, and WONDERFUL schools (they have a Japanese immersion elementary school - how cool is that?). Anyway, this it. Once we get somewhere, we're staying for a long time. I want to start saving for a nice big house down payment, so we've got to quit wasting money on moving!

Book Review: The No-Cry Discipline Solution

Through several blogs I read frequently, I’d learned about a new book by parenting author Elizabeth Pantley. I’d heard of Pantley from other parents when Lauren was having sleep issues, but had never gotten around to reading any of her previous books such as The No-Cry Sleep Solution. After reading her new book, The No-Cry Discipline Solution, and since we are still having sleep issues around here, I think (no, I know) that’s what I’ll be reading next.

Lauren, at 17 months, is just getting to the age where we really need to start worrying about discipline. I knew that I wanted to stay away from the yelling, begging, and definitely spanking, but you know – this parenting stuff is hard work! Thankfully, Pantley offers plenty of suggestions that respect both the parent and the child while also getting to the heart of what discipline is all about – teaching a lesson.

One of the biggest challenges parents face with toddlers is getting them to cooperate. We had be been going crazy here getting Lauren to cooperate while we brushed her teeth. Donald would literally have to hold her head so I could cram her little toothbrush in there for a few seconds at least. Of course, this only led to more tears and more fighting from her. I felt awful about doing this, but reasoned that it had to be done – she had to have her teeth brushed after all! When I came across the section in the book describing one way to get your toddler to cooperate by singing a song, I had to try it out during our next tooth brushing session. It worked like a charm! I just sang, “This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth. This is the way we brush our teeth so we keep them clean,” over and over and over. Lauren was so captivated by the song, I think she almost forgot we were brushing her teeth! We’ve used this technique every night for the past five nights with brilliant success.

The thing that I like best about this book is that the advice is easy to use and practical. Really, everything in the book is stuff that you probably already know you should do, but forget to do when you are so aggravated by your child’s behavior. Pantley also acknowledges that sometimes parents do get angry, and that it is OK. In fact, there’s a whole section on anger and how to deal with it (very helpful for Donald, in our case). It really feels as though Pantley is a good friend, helping parents to get through the dark moments.

There is so much more that this book offers. I’d highly recommend it to anyone with a toddler or preschooler who doesn’t always behave (and if you can find one that does always behave, send him this way!). As for me, I’m heading to Barnes and Noble to find her other book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddler and Preschoolers. Maybe I can get this kid to sleep, after all!!

Lauren somehow got into my CD binder a few days ago and emptied all of my CDs all over the dining room floor. While this was slightly annoying, it gave me the opportunity to go through all my old CDs that rarely get listened to anymore. It’s funny how I can look at each CD and remember an exact moment that I’ve listened to it, and how my CDs sort of fit into the events in my life.

I received my first CDs for Christmas when I was in 6^th grade, and they were Melissa Etheridge and John Michael Montgomery. I still have both of them. Other CDs from the middle school era include Mariah Carey, Elton John, and Shenandoah. Yeah, I guess I was into country then. I can still remember my tiny little bedroom in that stupid trailer dad and I lived in after grandma died and how I would just spend hours in there reading and listening to music.

Early high school CDs included Alanis Morrisette, La Bouche, Oasis, the Presidents of the United States of America, Savage Garden, and Soul Asylum. I remember my friend Betsy did a skating routine to Runaway Train by Soul Asylum and every time I hear that song I think of her. Now that I think of it, I guess Soul Asylum was more of a middle school CD. I also remember listening that song coming on when I was listening to my Walkman the day that I moved out of my mom’s house in 7^th grade, and how it fit so perfectly.

Late high school music was Aerosmith, Aqua, Creed, the Cranberries, Enya, Sarah McLaughlin, Matchbox 20, and Offspring. I remember making tapes of all these CDs in my room because I didn’t have a CD player in my car. I remember listening to Sarah McLaughlin (Surfacing) and writing letters to Brian late at night when I was supposed to be sleeping or studying. I was always listening to music my junior and senior years of high school. I slept with my CD player on repeat every night.

My first two years of college I really had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. I remember desperately trying to Find God ™ and several CDs show this effort – 4Him and Third Day. Donald bought me the Train CD during this time because he told me the song “Drops of Jupiter” was everything he ever wanted to say to me. I still love this song and think of him every time I hear it. I also have Lifehouse, and can remember seeing them when they played at our county 4-H fair.

The CD that I’m so glad I found again though is Marcus Bovre – Angels, Bones, and Clocks. Marcus Bovre was a local musician out of Madison that was popular locally, but should have been famous nationally. His music and lyrics are beautiful. The first time I saw him and his band in person was at the Willie Street Festival in the summer of 2003, right before I left for London. He left the music business in 2004, I think, in order to spend more time with his family. One of the songs on this CD just struck me during this time, and has stuck with me since. I don’t even know the name of it, but it is exactly how I try to live my life. Here are the lyrics the best I can tell –

Twenty years and the minutes crawl and the days fly by
Twenty years ain’t nothing at all when you’re young like I
The absurdities are so sublime
I run red lights just to stand in line
Just to save myself some precious little time

I can’t save my life
Spend it by the nickel and the dime
I can’t save my life like that
Lazy days just growin’ fat
Feeding on my precious little time

Show some faith as a smile on the face of the millennium
Show some grace, just might change the pace of the days to come
When you measure all your time in line
The unbroken circle seems unkind
When you wave goodbye to your precious little time

I can’t save my life
Spend it by the nickel and the dime
I can’t save my life like that
Lazy days just growin’ fat
Feeding on my precious little time

The absurdities, they’re so sublime
I run red lights just to stand in line
Just to save myself some precious little time…

I don’t know how much more time I have here, so I want to do something every day to reach my goals. I don’t have time to wait for things to happen to me – I try to make them happen for myself. Anyway, the whole CD is great and I’ve been listening to it for the last day.

Oh yeah, since 2003 I’ve given up on CDs and just download my music. Unfortunately when my computer died in 2005, it took all of my 5 gigs of music with it. Boohooo.

Phew...it's been busy around here. Hopefully things will start slowing down after this weekend...but I doubt it.

Dad leaves to go back to California tomorrow. He'll be right in L.A. for the next three months. He's been home for over a month now, so we've all really gotten used to him being around. Lauren loves her "Pawww" and I think she's going to be really sad when he leaves. She's gotten in the habit of going outside with him all the time when he goes out to smoke. I don't think he's coming home after his next contract, so it could be six months before we see him again!

We spent last weekend at Jen's brother's house (who also happens to be the owner of the company Donald works for) swimming in his pool since he was out of town. We had a great time! The pool has a really shallow area (like six inches deep) that Lauren could play in without too much interruption from us, so she really liked that. Plus there were two waterslides - one for big people and one that was just her size! We all had a great time. We're going back tomorrow night for one more swim before he gets home from vacation.

Dad going down the slide.

Gosh it's hot here. It went from being pleasant to hotter than hell in a week. Now, I like it warm, but when you walk outside and literally bake, it's too much. Our electric bill is going to be crazy next month from running air all the time.

Oh yeah, and for today's excitement, we had three lizards in the house tonight. THREE. The first one I saw right about the front door. Donald tried to get in a cup, but ended up knocking it down, and Sammie mauled it. He got the tail off and then the poor thing ran behind the filing cabinet and we couldn't find it. Later, I saw Sammie staring intently at the wall, and there was another one! This one had a tail, so we knew it wasn't the first one. Donald managed to get that one outside in one piece. THEN - I went outside to get some soda out of my car, and came back in, and there was a third one on the ceiling by the front door! Sammie had a good time with that one, too. Ugh! I don't know where they are coming from. We've never had a problem with the darn things before (of course we didn't live in this house last summer, so who knows). Maybe they're hiding in the door frame? Yuck!

Oooh, forgive me for not being around much the last week or so. Unfortunately there's more of that to come. I've been extremely busy! My new school term started June 1, so I've been writing papers like crazy again. I actually have to keep up this term since student teaching is coming up quick! Also, my dad is still here which keeps me busier than usual because I actually have someone to talk to and do things with during the day. Hahaha.

I've also been working on a new project! I don't have it quite ready to unveil yet, but when I do, you'll be the first to know. Anyway, between those three things, my time has been crunched. Eeeek.

Yeah, so now its 2:30 AM...I think it's time to go to bed. See ya....in a few days probably!