Well I did it...

I've been threatening to do it for a long time. Today, I signed up for cable modem service at the little house. Without the TV part of it.

In the past week, I've read online, seen on TV and even heard on the radio about kids watching too much TV. I was like no way, not MY kid.

Um well, ya, it is my kid. She loves it. I won't lie, I've used the electronic babysitter while I've caught up on stuff. She'd watch it all day if I'd let her.

But you know what? You get a LOT done when you don't have a tv around. I can't tell you how often I hear "Oh I have to get home by so and so time so I can watch this or that". Yikes. I can't say there are any shows out there that I'm disapointed when I miss them. So why am I paying an extra $60 a month for channels I don't care about? I can tell you, Kim = sucker. Natalie loves the Disney channel and that is pretty much what our TV is set on. So the easy fix? Plug up the new handy dandy dvd recorder and record from 4:30am to noon. In the next two weeks, I'll be recording over 100 hours of toons and movies (Return to Neverland, the old Tinkerbell and the new one show all three in a row on one day alone). They'll have commercials in them, but really, does it matter?

Another thing that swayed me, was the actual charter commercial. You can go to concerts, sporting events or travel the world - why do that when you can sit on your fat a$$ and watch it on tv! (ok, that isn't what it says, but I really really dislike that commercial). I don't want to watch other people do stuff, I want to do stuff.

I'll save $720+ a year by ditching cable. Crazy huh?

I am looking into the converter box option too. I would like to get the news in the morning while I'm getting ready. But I think I can go cold turkey with cable. Wish me luck!

Reading to her babydolls. This was the first time she has shown any interest in them.

Stylin in her green and white. Her crocs have green straps too. The track suit was a hand me down and her little top was from old navy super cheap (like 2-3$). Cute huh?

She thinks so!

Very pleased that I brought her Bobo even though he was soaking wet where she gave him a bath in the tub.

Santa...

The security ops group did a fundraiser at work on Saturday for Angel Tree kids. Santa showed up!
My pictures were blurry but the regular shots they took should be good. The mall is insane and I'd much rather donate $10 to Angel Tree than $30 to the mall.

Cody did well, he mentioned all the red things she wanted. He also gave her the red snowflake I bought for her. Yesterday she just blurt how "how did he know mama?". Ha ha

Consignment Store Sale

Today the consignment store I like had a dollar sale on leftover summer stuff. I get a lot of credit for putting back a dozen little baby things. I probably have enough for DD2 already and I keep telling myself that. Everything except for the fish romper are for Natalie next summer. I hit the jackpot :)
This is a Disney outfit. I didn't see any characters on it but I thought it was cute. The light is hitting it funny, you can't see the embroidery on it very well.

I think this is really cute. I'll probably put it with some sort of capris since the sides go all the way up to her waist.

The best find ever, I wanted this when it was new. Look at the shirt detail and how black the skirt is. It doesn't even look worn.



This is nice and bright, will be pretty with her dark hair.

I caved on this one. It was the only little thing I got (18 mon I think). It is just really well made and I think I can convert it to a swing top.

I like the flower and stem design on this one.

This is an old navy jumper that she'll start wearing next week with a top under it.

So $7 well spent I think. Sometimes you have to pick through things that shouldn't be on the racks, faded and stained. This time I was like wow? really? just a $1? Everything looked great.

Purple Carpet?

CHECK!

By this weekend the shelving unit will be anchored to the wall and the Mickey decals will be up. Then we'll have an official playroom.

(finally)

Money & Moving

So I spent a ton of money yesterday at Toys R Us. But I am done with Natalie's Christmas I think.

She is getting the purpliest bike in the world. Check this out!

The bike was a deal I think, $89.99 for $50.63 after all their discounts.

Then I went over the to Crayola isle. They were doing BOGO on Colorwonder kits. I got every single kind they had. That was a lot of fun! I also got a free special tin of crayons in the promo. I don't think these will be presents, I feel funny giving her things that I believe she should have anyway.But a couple of them are Birthday presents.

I took advantage of the buy $40 in Disney movies and get $10 promo too. I got 4 Christmas movies, two to give as presents. Now these I will wrap up, she won't remember she picked them out (shopping with a 2.75 yr old is easy peasy).

Then I went to the board game isle. They had tons of ages 3+ games that were $3.99. If you spent $25 then you got another $10 card. So I got 7 different games for her playroom for $30.58. I'll be getting a $14 rebate and got a $10 GC. So in the end, paid $6.58 for some great classic games :) These will be for birthday I think.

It was a cart full of stuff and the little boys behind us commented on it. Natalie leaned forward and proudly proclaimed "Yep, my mama has MONEY today!". That is what happens when you tell her in the car that she can pick out anything she wants for $20 or less. If she picks out something too expensive she'll have to pick out something else because mama isn't made of money, but she has money today. That is all she picked up on and even after me prodding, she didn't pick out a toy.

So all in all, she'll get a bike and helmet, a lego table, a santa mickey, 2 movies, 2 generic play doh kits and several tubs of playdough. I've also found the red glitter snowflake, the red bouncy ball and the red box she can sit in. The angel is becoming an issue, she upped her request, it is now a red glittered sequined angel that she can put her money in. Um yikes.

I rented a Uhaul yesterday and moved all the items I am keeping out of the garage. I can now start the task of itemizing for my taxes next year. Since I'll be paying birth expenses OOP, I'll be able to itemize. I'll rent another Uhaul when the big house sells to move my upstairs items out. I don't have a lot of stuff up here so it should work out ok.

Today we are going over to the little house. I'll be cleaning and unpacking. I decided it was better to do this in stages than to move everything in a big huge mess. the Uhaul was just $75, even with 2 rentals, it is way less than the $650 we paid the movers last time.

I think that is it for now, I have pictures that I'll post when my batteries are charged.

2 Years

Two years ago I was at work and I got the call. I asked how old she was and maybe where she was. They volunteered that she had lots of hair and she was happy looking in her pictures. Then they said they would send pictures when they finished calling everyone. I said something along the lines of, hang up hang up, I want my picture!

I got the top one first. I was really surprised. That wasn't my baby. She didn't look anything like the baby in my head. Then I opened the 2nd and 3rd one. THERE SHE WAS!

It didn't take long for me to become very fond of her little mug shot. And I think we were matched because my home study mentioned me going to the beach quite a bit and there is a palm tree on her shirt :)

I called my Dad first and told him the news. It was his birthday after all. He was so excited. I miss my Dad a lot.

Christmas - Easy Smeasy

Natalie told me she wanted...

1) A red angel. It has to be red.
2) A snowflake.
3) Bouncy balls.
4) A box - OOHH NO MAMA, LOTS OF BOXES!

So far I have a new pool for her (the kind that flips open), a transforming little Einsteins rocket, a generic play-doh hair studio and a generic play-doh cutting tool set. I need play-doh, coloring books, construction paper and paints. Shoot I might be under $100 this year for her Christmas, yay me.

Let's see, my recap for the day...

Went to work. Blah
Went to lawyer. Blah
Moved a carload of stuff to the little house. Blah
Unpacked several things. Blah
Made pizza - not too shabby.
Moved all the furniture out of the den. Ouch
Going to bed @ 9:15. Woohoo

Nice and boring huh?

Back to Work

It wasn't too bad and it went pretty quick. Everyone knew I didn't want to talk about it.

Last night I sanded my bedroom floor and put a new coat of poly on it. The difference is huge, I am glad I did it (even though the smell of poly makes me want to gag). I think I might go ahead with a light lilac color on the walls.

John didn't get the pink room painted but he did get the messed up wall fixed (I am not a good mud-er) and primed it. Carpet is going in a week from Wednesday because he can't get in there to paint it until Sunday. He did paint my bathroom and hall and redid all the trim. It is now a light tan color which offsets the white trim a lot better. He is itching to paint the pine in my living room, he wants to caulk the seams, all 8000 of them (ok maybe not 8000, but there are a LOT) and use super paint on it. I might just let him!

I have my car loaded with things from my walk in closet. It is almost empty, it is my plan to clear out the closet and my bath, clean it, then close the door so the paint won't get messed up. We'll use the hallbath, much easier to repaint if we do something to it.

Carpet goes into the den Wednesday. House listed on Thursday on Realtor.com. Saturday, yard sale with an ad in the paper (I'll have all the house info available too and will show it if anyone wants to see it). Sunday afternoon, open house.

Someone seems to know someone who wants to live in this neighborhood and I am undercutting the competition by 15K and my place is move in ready. I am optimistic that it will sell quickly.

Day 8 & 9

Day 7 was slacker day. I was physically pooped and didn't accomplish anything except shopping at Old Navy.

Yesterday John, Mom and I (and the baby) went to the little house. Mom and I cleaned while John tackled Natalie's old red room. His OCD went a little wild when he started looking around. I am not the best painter, I drip a little (a lot). He walked around muttering about all he was going to fix. I stressed to him that I had lived with drips for 6 years in that house and I could live with them another 6. I think he ignored me tho.

The red room's crown molding is now fixed. He caulked it and fixed a spot where Dad and I set a nail to hard and cracked it. I have to admit that always bothered me, but who had time to fix it? He also put another coat of red paint on, the primer was bleeding through. That is what you get for buying paint at Home Depot (boo hiss). The Sherman Williams gold plated paint should hold up nicely. When I left he was shaving my bathroom door that was sticking then he was doing the red room's baseboards.

Today John has already painted the hall bath and is halfway down the the master bath at the big house. After lunch we are headed to the little house, he'll tackle the pink room and I'll work in the basement (baby is going to nana's). My damp musty basement is no more, I wish I had dryblocked the entire thing when I first moved in. Who knew it would work so well? I have things to shift out of the way and a lot of vacuuming to do.

I hope to move in 2 weeks. Uhauls are cheap and I have people lined up to help. Everything that is going to Goodwill is staying in the large house until pick up on Jan 4th. After we move I'll have to come back and start cataloging my donation for taxes. Then I'll have a pick up at the little house and by Feb/March 2010, I will be "stuff" free. I am looking forward to it.

Mulan for her school party.

Tinkerbell for Halloween

Pant head picture is sponsored by candy. Lots and lots of candy.

Crack

Old Navy is like crack to me. Today, if you were the first of like 100 people in the store, you got a golden ticket, aka, 50% off shopping tote.

I think the idea was to just fill the tote. I checked with management, nope, if you had a golden ticket then you could buy anything you wanted. Twitch.

My winter clothes are in pitiful shape and the tops are too big. Why is it, when I actually loose a little weight, it doesn't come off my considerable sized rear end? I already had jeans in a smaller size brand new and I'd never really bought myself anything at Old Navy. It seemed like everything was too short.

Well I hate to tell all my short friends, this year is the year of giant at Old Navy. Tops are way past my butt, sleeves go *gasp* an INCH past my wrist.

So I bought all my winter clothes today. After ONs prices, I won't shop at Lane Bryant again unless I get a $15 off of $15 coupon. Example, my brown pea coat from LB was $150. My black pea coat from ON today was... $30. It isn't that much different and since I wore holes in the brown one, it was time for a new coat. I feel pretty sharp in it. I got work tops for $3.50-6 and sweaters for $12.

But I didn't stop with me. I raided the clearance rack for Natalie for next year. They had convertible capris for $5.99. Extra 50% off clearance, plus my golden ticket. I paid $1.50 for pants, $3 for sweaters, $1.75 for skirts, it was madness. I also got her and DD2 matching Halloween PJS for just buck! Shoot, princess PJs were just $2. Tank tops were 23 cents. I bought a beautiful red ruffled dress for holiday pictures. I stocked up on tights, at $2.50 a pair, it would be dumb not to.

Then for kicks I bought my brother a whole new wardrobe. His clothes were in worse shape than mine. I bought him the same pea coat but cut for a guy in charcoal gray for $27.50. He also got a sherpa hoodie. Rugby polos, button up shirts and zip up light jackets were $7.50. Guy henleys were also $3.50. Nice sweaters, $10. I didn't buy him pants (he is 6-4, I can't ever get that right) but he is set from the waist up for all of winter plus some.

So for $291, I outfitted myself, my brother and my kiddo for a long time. I think that is pretty good.

Day 6

Cleared out the back flower bed, mulched all the leaves in the side and back yard, finished the front flower bed, tore down the last shelving unit (ka-ya!), cleaned cleaned cleaned and dry blocked several square feet. I am pooped.

Tomorrow I am working at the big house cleaning and packing. I have to shift the garage stuff around and move the bedroom furniture I'm taking to the little house towards the front. All those pieces should be moved by Sunday. I am not sure when we'll officially move, but that is a big step in getting everything organized.

Day 5

of getting my act together.

So I did get off my butt and spent my 35th birthday dry blocking a small room in my basement that is actually under my front porch. That is my problem area, I always have a small puddle of standing water. So I mopped it up, hit it with the fan for an hour and hopefully sealed it. Tomorrow is sunny too, so I'll do another coat. For kicks, I think I'll smear a bunch of caulk all over it too.

I also tore out my 8ft front flower bed that was way overgrown. I trimmed down my peonies, dug out those stupid rock lilies that I try to kill every year (I don't like poke-y plants) and tried to pull up 4 o'clocks. I like the 4 o'clocks but they grow so weedy. If they'd just stay in one spot and grow instead of popping up here and there I'd like them a lot more. I have a weird stump thing to saw down tomorrow, who knows what that is. I went to Home Depot and bought 2 6packs of winter pansies (one purple, one purple/yellow mix) and 6 bags of Scotts black mulch. It is suppose to stay blacker longer than other brands. I have to admit it looks pretty sharp, and it should, it was twice as much. I got about half of the weed block (cat chow bags cut open) down and half of the mulch. I hope to finish it tomorrow. If I feel super energetic, I might grab my handy dandy metal head stick thing (matic? madic?) and start chopping the mulch line around the house.

The crap pile was picked up today. Trash guy actually saw me digging out the bed as he drove by and I was like great, I missed it, the yard waste will be here 2 weeks. Well danged if he didn't come back. He saw me cutting the whole thing down and he came back like 1.5 hours later to get it. I thought that was nice.

I took Natalie for her first Trunk or Treating today. She wore her Ariel costume over a turtleneck, she looked like a little yardsale reject. She'll be Mulan tomorrow and Tinkerbell on Saturday. Yes, we like Disney, why do you ask?

Here she is in one of her Halloween outfits. Her head looks freakishly huge in this pic I think, must be the angle.


My Mom kept going on and on about taking me out for dinner. That is something my Dad did mostly. Not only did she take me out, we went somewhere somewhat hip. Stir Fry had half off sushi and I was able to have spicy tuna rolls for my Birthday. She also bought a Cuisinart pan that goes with my other pieces (super duper clearance, $15!). So I thought that was all nice and worth noting.

But here is the best present I could of ever of gotten :)

The church arranged with Olan Mills to send the picture I wanted so badly. They even sent two, one for me, one for John. Absolutely the best thing I've ever gotten in the mail. I can't bear to hang it on my wall yet, but I am so happy to have it.

Happy Birthday to Me

blah

I am torn between working on my to do list or watching TV all day.