A Big Leap

Yesterday was a big day in our family's history.  I took a big leap and quit my job.  I was scheduled to return from maternity leave in a few days but I just couldn't do it.  Once I figured out child care expenses for all three kids, add in my commuting and gas costs and it just wasn't worth it. 

I was also having a really hard time committing to putting the baby in daycare.  My other two were older when they started and I had no problems sending them.  In fact, I absolutely adore the daycare they went to and remain friends with most of their teachers.  I'm starting to wonder if it's because this is our last baby.  I'm feeling more sentimental over the little things. 

While I'm really nervous about not working - I've never not worked, I've had a job of some sort since I was 16 years old and babysat regularly before that since I was 13.  I'm super excited to be able to stay home with the baby and be there for the bigger kids after school.  I'm really letting go and putting my faith in the fact that this will all work out.

Has anyone else made this transition?  How did it work out for you?

Sick

I wish I could say this week has been an April Fool's joke, unfortunately it hasn't.  I'm exhausted, I'm hacking up a lung, I feel like my head is floating away.  I'm tired of being sick.  I'm ready for the warm weather and open windows.  Where is it?

This morning I woke up to snow!  SNOW!  Huge gorgeous flakes falling ever so softly.  If I wasn't so sick and grumpy, I might have enjoyed the little April Fools prank the mother nature was playing on us all.

Add to that, having to take both cars into the shop this week and you have one stressed out Mama.  Luckily the cars ended up not being as bad as we thought.   We were sure that one of them was a goner.  I guess that's my silver lining, right?

Five Question Friday

1. Do you feel guilty spending money on yourself?


Definitely.  I don't know why though.  I feel bad to spend $30 on a mani-pedi, but the hubs will easily drop a $100 (or more) on stuff he wants.  Good thing I'm not spending it so its there for him to use.  ;-)


2. How well do you know your neighbors?

Some better than others.  We have a few with kids about the same ages as our girls.  We spend time with them and the kids play nice together.  We get along and chat with almost all of them.  Hubs usually runs the snowblower over their sidewalks too, so that helps. 


3. What age are you looking forward to being?

Hmm... that's a good question.  I'm pretty happy where I'm at right now.  I'm certainly NOT looking forward to the having two teeneage girls in the house.  Can I skip past 10-15 years from now?? 

I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch on a porch swing with the hubs, holding his wrinkly old hand. 

4. Do you get excited when the mail comes? Why?

Yes!  I do.  I have no idea why, since it's usually just bills.  And American Girl catalogs.  And Noodle wants ALL of them.  Ironically she never plays with dolls, it's LaLa that loves babies.


5. What is your earliest childhood memory?

This is a strange question for me.  I'm not sure.  I think I have memories, but then I wonder if they are really memories or just that I heard the stories so many times, that I think they are my memories.  I know I went to California when I was about 3 or 4 with my grandparents.  In my mind I can see the cable cars, I can see Disney Land, I can see Fisherman's Wharf.  Then I realize there are photos of each of the places that I "remember" and a story to go with them.  Do I remember the actual events?  Or do I just remember the hours spent as a little girl in my grandmother's lap as we rocked in the rocking chair and looked at pictures as she told me the stories? 

I remember fishing with my grandfather.  I remember visiting downtown Philly for the historic tour with my parents and my sister.  Again, do I really remember?  Or am I remembering pictures and stories?

I remember standing next to a telephone pole when I was about 7 or 8 years old, with my sister behind me.  I remember that she was crying and kids were teasing her because she had a speech problem and they couldn't understand her.  I remember yelling at those kids and threatening to bash their heads into the pole we were standing next to if they ever made my sister cry again.  They were older kids.  Bigger kids.  I didn't care.  I remember taking my sister by the hand and going into our house.  There is no pictures, no stories.  It was just me and her.  I wonder if she remembers this too. 

I hope not. 

~~~~~~~~~~
Find me hopping here today:

Getting to Know You

The Q's.

1. If you could host a Reality TV show, which one would it be?  Wipeout.  It makes us laugh until we pee our pants.  Not really.  Close though.

2. Do you put your seatbelt on before or after you start the car? After, sometimes even at the stop sign at the end of the street.  Or when one of the kids yells that I don't have it on.  The car does not move unless they are buckled though.

3. Shave or hair removal cream? Shave

4. What's your favorite feature in a house? Space and character.

5. What is your favorite "Fall" scent? Pumpkin spice.  There is also a crisp warm smell in the air when the leaves here in the northeast begin to change.  Yeah, that.

6. What tv show are you looking forward to seeing the most this Fall?? Sons of Anarchy

7. Personal Shopper or Personal Chef? Personal Chef.  Unless the Personal Shopper comes with a neverending money bag.  

8. What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of "Fall"?  It was actually Autumn, but since that is the same word I'll go with leaves.

If I Could Do It Over Again...

Kat over on Mama's Losin' It is doing a writer's workshop.  One of the prompts was "If you could do it over again..."   This one got me thinking.  Of course, that's what it was meant to do.  I know it's cliche, but for the most part I wouldn't do it over again.  I would leave everything the way that it was since everything I've done so far has made me the person I am today.  That's what I'm supposed to say, right?

There are some things I might possibly have done a little differently.

I would have been nicer to my sister when we were kids.

I would have gone to class in high school instead of skipping.

I would have taken that high school photography class a little more seriously.

I would have studied more, and been a better student.  Not to say I was a bad student, I just could have been a much better student.  I could have been honor roll material.  At the time I didn't want to apply myself, I was lazy.

I would have gone on a date with that dorky boy in college that I was too embarrassed to talk to in public.  Sometimes dorky boys end up as rich men. 

I would have moved to NYC for a few years after college.  My roommate and I talked about it constantly, but never made it a reality.

I might even have done a semester abroad.  I hear so many stories from people that did and what a great experience they had.

I would have taken that college photography class a little more seriously.

I would have majored in photography/design.

I would have gone to visit my great grandmom that Friday night instead of putting it off until another day.  There wasn't another day for her.

I would have had a big red bouquet on my wedding day, instead of the bouquet of white roses that I thought I wanted.

I would have done everything I could have to put us in a position financially to allow me to stay home with my children.  At the same time, I would still want to send my kids to the school they are in now.  They are learning far more than I could ever have taught them myself.

I might have given one of said kids a different name.  Maybe even the (wrong) name I called her by no less then 5 times in her first 3 months of life.

All of those aside, there are things I wouldn't change for the world.  I love my life and all the things that have made me the person I am today.  I love my husband, my children, my family and the people in my life and if changing something way back when, would mean life didn't lead me to them then I wouldn't change a thing.

Mr. Sandman, Send Me a Dream

My daughter really needs one.  LaLa is 3 years old.  Someone please tell me why I can't get the kid to bed before 10pm.  Regardless of what time we start getting ready for bed, she doesn't fall asleep a second before 10 pm.  Often it's much later than that.  Her 5 year old sister, Noodle, goes to sleep without much problem most times before 9pm.

Last night LaLa fell asleep at 11:45PM.  This was after spending all day at school, then heading to the swim club after I finished work.  Silly me, I even put her PJs on for the ride home thinking maybe she would be so tuckered out she would fall asleep in the car.  Not a chance.

She laid in bed, she laid on the floor.  She went in her room, she came in my room.  She got a pillow to lay on the floor.  She laid on the floor singing to herself for 30 minutes.  I was totally okay with that, BTW, if it meant she was going to go to sleep, I didn't care where she did it.  She went back in the bed, back on the floor, crawled around the floor all while I tried to ignore her hoping she would tire herself out.  She finally decided to lay down and fall asleep just before midnight.

I'm tired just thinking about all that.  What time do your kids go to sleep? How do you get them into bed easily without a fuss?

Where Did The Weekend Go?

Why do the weekends fly by so quickly? We had a nice weekend, it just went too quickly.

On Friday night we took the kids to see Despicable Me.  It was a cute movie.  The kid loved the minions.  I think my favorite parts were the song in the beginning and the minion floating in space at the end.  I also had to chuckle at the Bank of Evil, formerly known as Lehman Brothers.  Noodle's favorite part was when the little girl puts a mud pie on the desk of the lady that runs the home.  I immediately thought that was something Noodle would do when I saw it.

Saturday we spent the day test driving used cars.  I couldn't believe how well behaved the kids were considering how many times we were in and out of cars, and moving booster seats and the like.  They did so well.  Of course, their favorite car was the one with the DVD player.  We hurried home and went to a birthday party after that.  It was a long but fun day.

We just hung around the house on Sunday.  We did some food shopping and light cleaning.  Just as we were getting home it started to get really dark and stormy.  The winds really picked up and there was a bunch of lightening.  I thought for sure we would be making dinner on the George Forman grill in the kitchen.  The rains cleared just in time for us to throw dinner on the grill. 

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

It All Falls Down

Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right?  Yeah?  Well, I'm having one of those months.  It seems like everything around us is falling apart.  It started with the check engine light coming on in the car, then the heater broke, then the check engine light came on again, and finally tonight the garage door stuck open. These were only the major things.  We won't even mention all the little day to day stuff.

Luckily, my husband is a pretty handy guy and fixed most of these things.  We're still left with a broken heater, that will have to be replaced before winter and will suck up all money and available credit.  Sigh. 

I decided, in an effort to start saving more for that, we should use coupons and plan better.  I've been browsing some Frugal blogs to learn more about couponing.  I am overwhelmed by the amount of information.  When that happens, I tend to give up.

We are pretty well stocked and should only need fresh fruits/veggies and milk in the near future.  So I'll keep reading and trying to figure out how to go about this.  I know how to actually use a coupon, it's mostly the planning, matching and organizing that have me stumped.

Any advice for a complete beginner on couponing?

Today I am Thankful

I thought with all the things Murphy has brought us lately (like being sick as a dog, broken heater, transmission fail, etc) I would take a moment to count my blessing. I'm sure they outweigh the bad things going on right. That being said, I'm thankful for:

• My Husband: He does a wonderful job taking care of his family. He is super handy and can tackle most projects on his own. A few hours of reading and he is ready to go. That alone has saved us a bunch of money. Not to mention the fact that after 7 years of marriage, I still get butterflies when I see his name on the caller ID of my phone or when I see him after some time spent apart.

• My Daughters: They are my world. They are so smart and funny. At times they do push my buttons, but they are lucky they are cute. I can't imagine my life without them. They make me smile each and every day.

• Our Health: I'm thankful we are all healthy. Yes we had a nasty virus, but there are so many people out there suffering from so much worse, that I can't even complain about that.

• Family/Friends: We have a large network of family and friends. Each one of them has a special place in our hearts!

• We are Employed/Have a Roof Over Our Heads: I know there are so many in this economy that aren't in that position. We have to be thankful for these things as well.

• My Camera: Don't laugh. It's true. Even though I haven't used it as much as I would like lately, it's my creative outlet and it helps keep me sane. I sometimes have dreams that it breaks/doesn't work. I wake up from those dreams feeling devastated. If something did happen to my camera (my DSLR) I know I wouldn't be able to replace it at this stage of the game.

• High Speed Internet: Or internet at all. I think I may have a slight addiction. Is there a program for Internet Addiction? I don't know what I would do without it.