my kind.

my kind of weather:-)

my kind of men.

missing?

whipped cream for my hot chocolate.

the last can lasted two weeks.

maybe i should be buying the double pack at costco...

...

budget confessions:

i caved and went to lunch with girlfriends yesterday.

$8 on pizza for the pork loin and me.

there went my money for tammy's scentsy party.

sigh.

remind me next time that the conversation with the ladies is worth it, but the $8 on pizza is not.

PINK FRIDAY

when the scout master and i were in college,
i worked for a company named melaleuca.
they paid great for rexburg,
and
they gave you $80 every month to buy their products.
genius.
i'm still hooked on their stuff.
the renew lotion.
lalalalalala
it's like a drink of water for your body.
one of my favorite crews i worked with was in the enrollment department.
training was fun too, but that was later.
so in enrollments i worked with a guy named joe.
he had curly hair and would straighten with a straightener just b/c he thought it was funny.
it was funny.
he started a friday tradition in the call center.
PINK FRIDAY.
it makes friday lots of fun.

it spread like pepto bismo,

or that's how it looked at least.

every friday.

it spread more like the swine flu.

fast and furious.

so today, i'm bringing it back.

PINK FRIDAY folks.

every friday, you wear pink.

it's just that simple.

and let me tell you,

friday will never be the same again;-)
don't forget H2T.
(that's "head to toe" for you mr. j, tyra, top model lovers)
h2t.

greta.

i have 2 thanksgiving decorations.
i can only find one.
this one.
isn't she cute?
i love her.
she was my mom's.
now she's mine.
i found her at my mom's garage sale when she moved to the land of aloha.
i feel like she needs a name.
greta.
right now, i'm feeling greta.
anyone have any other ideas?
my house is still feeling festive, despite my lacking decor.
i just remembered i have 4 gourds and a pumpkin spice candle.
those count for sure.
see, my house is festive.
goble, goble.
...
in other news...
brennan has been sneezing.
i've been sleeping great.
a feat i thought was impossible during pregnancy.
the scout master has been looking extra attractive.
mama C arrives from the land of aloha in one week.
i learned how to make homemade bread last night.
apparently, i've been adding WAY too much flour.
moisture people, moisture.
it's all about the moisture.
it's supposed to be tacky.
my dough has never been tacky.
snow is on the weather bug for tomorrow and thursday.
cows and elephants are brennan's favorite animals.
oh, and a "kitty" named sox.
too bad greta doesn't have sox.
we could name her sox.

in my hall for 4 days.

this right here folks.

this is the ONLY reason i dislike the cold weather.

my dang drying rack sits out for 4 days.

in my hall.

for 4 days.

b/c the clothes won't dry in the cooler air.

i'd still rather have the cold.

i just want my clothes to figure out a way to dry faster,

so that my toddler doesn't break my drying rack.

he loves to make it sway.

the budget

we finally had to get serious about our budget.
i've always "claimed" there was a budget before,
but really, it was a flexible spending account.
meaning, if we came within 2 or 300 dollars of our goal, we could always just do better next month.
well, after two years of trying to do better next month we realized we were spending astronomical amounts of money on things that could be costing much less.
i had no idea where all of our money was going.
grad school is almost over, and there is only one more set of loan checks coming in january.
we're down to the skimpy minimum,
and i've never felt more financially secure.
yes, you heard me right.
i've never felt more financially secure.
after years of "budgeting" (or so i called it), we've finally created a budget that is working.
when i tell you what we're doing you're going to say, "no duh."
i know.
it's nothing fancy.
it's simple.
and it works.
10 Steps to Financial Freedom!
(just call me suzi orman, haha)
1. i get my calendar.
2. i take the total $$ we have for the month and subtract all of our regular bill payments.
3. i divide the $$ left into the number of weeks in the month (grrr to the 5 week months!).
4. i write the $$ amount we have for each week of the month at the beginning of the week (yes, it's usually the same number and yes, i write the same number down to remind me what we have. the "in your face" idea works for us.)
5. i save and sean saves every receipt from any purchase we make during the week (even the $1 i pay to park at the gateway discovery. every penny counts!)
6. i plan all of my meals for the entire week, but writing down the meal we will have on each day.
7. i make a shopping list.
8. i only buy what's on my list.
9. we don't eat out. we eat leftovers for lunch & sometimes one night of the week, depending on how many leftovers the meals i've made during the week can last.
10. if there's not enough money in the budget for the week, the expense waits until the following week.
...
is it always easy?
no.
is it hard to say,
"we can't afford it this week?"
yes.
but are we tied down by spending money we don't have?
no!
we're sticking to the budget, and it feels really great.
...
i came within 38 cents of our weekly budget this week.
i'm so proud:-)
p.s.,
i'm sure there will be an unexpected expense or bill, but we'll work it in, and we'll feel all the more smart.
and if not, we'll make do, but we'll be better off for our planning.
and
goddesses, let me tell you, not having to think about "what's for dinner" b/c it's already planned and everything is in your fridge for the ENTIRE WEEK is aMAZing.
go ahead,
try it.
i DARE you.

act 1 & act 2

when the scout master is out, bath time is a bit different.
normally, sean would lotion and jammy the pork loin on our bed.
on tuesday night i decided to let the pork loin watch a movie in the front room while greasing him up and jammy-ing him out.
aren't i SUCH an awesome mom;-)
i was feeling really generous at the thought of it.
he ran off naked before i could get his diaper on.
no big deal.
so i thought.
he walked right out to the recliner.
squatted.
and left the following behind.
tonight, i was much smarter.
i already had a diaper in my hand.
i was prepared and ready for the moment any squatting may take place.
little did i know,
there would be no squatting tonight.
he walked right out to the recliner,
and went for distance.
apparently it soaks into the carpet much faster when shot from a distance.
i just stood there.
feeling really un-intelligent.
have you ever tried to stop a toddler mid-pee?
me neither.
b/c i end up just standing there unable to get any words out.
my eyes close really tight, and i think i may even get the first letter of "no" out,
but then i just stutter a bunch trying to figure out how to get him to stop.
in the mean time,
he stops peeing.
i am left standing there, still dumb struck that
a. he did it again
and
b. i obviously learned nothing from tuesday night.
and then,
he steps in it.
puddle jumping.
it's the hottest game.
you haven't heard?
only tonight, it was in his own pee.
i spent the next 30 seconds chasing him around the living room.
picture a super chunky, naked toddler, squealing with laughter,
and me running frantically behind him to wipe off his foot.
i gave up when i realized he had already wiped his foot off.
on my carpet.
sigh.
i'm happy to say we have the extra absorbent paper towels from costco.
now, how to talk the scout master into cleaning the spots with carpet cleaner when he gets home from round table tonight?

in my hands

in my hands:

memories of a holocaust rescuer

"I did not ask myself, Should I do this? But How will I do this? Every step of my childhood had brought me to this crossroad; I must take the right path, or I would no longer be myself."

(pg. 142)

when i finished this book i felt like i had just met the most amazing woman to have ever lived.
i realize this is an overarching statement, and i mean no disrespect to all of the other amazing women who have lived and taught us so much.
it's just what i thought when i finished this book.
i marveled at the life experiences irene had to go through.
the sacrifices she made to save others.
sacrifices i don't think i would have made myself.
let's just say, i think i would have been the first one in the life boat when the titanic was sinking.
i think she would have gone down with the ship.
in all of the horror she saw, i imagine that no words can truly portray what really happened during the holocaust.
as i sobbed throughout one massacre to the next i thought, "and this isn't even the half of it."
i found the following quote chilling:
"On the edge of a field I saw a peasant's cottage, it's door open. Once, as a child, I had a farm outside Radam. It has a house like this one, with timber walls painted bone white, and a thatched roof. We had gone on a Sunday in the spring, when the farmer was taking down the bales of hay he had mounded around his house for winter insulation. As he pulled down the hay, scores of mice that had been nesting inside all winter scattered in every direction, squeaking frantically, while the farmer's sons chased them and killed them with sticks. I had stood shuddering with horror as the mice fled their home--that was like what I was watching now, but this was on such a large scale that I could not take it in. I could not believe what I was seeing." (pg.24)
i was most impressed with the perseverance irene displayed, purely out of understanding what it meant to just be a human.
she put aside her own desires, her own needs, her own life.
all to save other humans.
how many of us could say we would do the same in her situation?
the most thought provoking quote in the book for me follows:
"I did not ask myself, Should I do this? But, How will I do this? Every step of my childhood had brought me to this crossroad; I must take the right path, or I would no longer be myself." (pg. 142)
it made me think about the paths i am chosing for my own life right now.
have i taken any paths or am i on any paths that are leading me away from myself?
the person i desire to be?
i've heard that true character is who you are when no one is watching.
when there is no prize or show to be won.
when we are stripped of everything and left with a choice.
what would i do?
sometimes i choose myself.
sometimes i choose others.
sometimes i choose right.
others wrong.
part of life and learning, of course, is learned through both right and wrong choices.
being selfish in one moment, and learning to be selfless the next.
irene left me feeling like she felt like she thought wasn't doing enough.
hard for me to imagine.
as i look at her story i marvel at all that she was able to accomplish.
what makes irene outstanding is her ability to do all she can, and still search for the energy to do more.
and to think i almost didn't read this book.
i'm a better person for making irene's story a part of my life.
...
in college we compared our society in america to the society in japan.
our society is considered individualistic.
it's the "climb the ladder to get to the top, even if you have to claw over someone else" mentality.
the japanese society is based upon collectivism.
work as a team.
don't leave anyone behind.
wouldn't it be great if we could meet in the middle somewhere?
irene knew the right thing to do.
most of us know the right thing to do.
how often do we do it?
i don't mean just in the big choices.
i mean when you're merging on the freeway, standing in line at the grocery store, putting your cart back in the cart return, and so forth.
it seems that the simple choices are reflective of the complicated choices in life.
irene didn't know how she was going to rescue the holocaust victims she saved,
but she knew she had to do it.
she knew it was the right thing to do.
"How could I presume to be their savior? And yet I had promised. I had to do it." (pg. 164)
was it wrong for the people who didn't help as irene did?
isn't saving yourself and your family a right choice as well?
who is to say that one person's choice is right for the person next to them.
i don't have the answer.
imagine.
john lennon, smart man.
imagine what could be accomplished if every person in the world began a task that they knew they had to do b/c it was the right thing to do, even if they had no idea how they were going to accomplish their end result.
amazing things.
amazing things could be accomplished.
...
your comments and thoughts please.

glucose: the phone call i was dreading

scarves indoor.

it's my recent habit.

the scout master thinks it's silly.
i enjoy it a lot.

at my doc apt yesterday my OB told me he thought i was going to fail my glucose test.
i told him i thought that was a terrible thing to say and that he was wrong.
he laughed b/c we're sarcastic like that.
i then told him i was not going to fail my test.
i just make really big babies.
end of story.
he told me he would call me the following day if i failed to schedule the 3 hour test, but if i passed i would get a lovely little note card with his office's stationary and a "normal" box check marked.
so as i'm walking out of my hair salon from buying shampoo this morning, my phone rings.
it's eric.
are you not on a first name basis with your OB?
you should be.
i answered the phone and the following conversation occured:
"eric, why are you calling me. i'm hanging up if this is about my glucose test."
"hello emily," and he continues in his dreary, i'm going to give you bad news voice, "i do have the results of your glucose test."
"no! you were supposed to send me a card on your stationary. just hang up now, and we'll call it good."
"well, i'm calling to give you your results."
"are you serious? really? i can't believe this."
"i know," he says, "it's hard to hear, but......

YOU PASSED."
and then he starts laughing.
"you're fired eric!"
"i knew you'd think you failed if i called. i couldn't resist,"

he's still laughing at this point.
"you totally had me. i was ready to be really depressed if i had to take the 3 hour test."
"your numbers were just fine. you just make really big babies. here's to another 9 pounder!"
i just ignore him now when he talks about having another 9 pounder.
"what were my numbers by the way?"
"you were 96. you only have to be below 140."
"oh good. thanks for the laugh."
and then i hung up the phone and started laughing.
b/c it really was quite funny.

"did what in his cup?"

when you watch a movie over and over and over and over and over and over....
1. harv is NOT the world's "greatest agent." he's the world's crappiest agent. his client was in the piston cup and he wasn't even watching the race??? what's up with that?!
2. "he did what in his cup?" always makes me laugh.
3. are ramon and flo an "item?" they cruise together like they are, but i always feel like flo is a cougar and can't pair her with ramon. maybe he just likes his wine aged?
4. "i don't need a map. never need a map again. i have the gps." oh geese. i can hear my father now.
5. what does "htB," chick's sponsor, stand for?
6. why did lightening not tell the policeman he thought he was shooting at him and that was why he didn't pull over at first?
7. why didn't lightening go back the same way he came after he chased down a semi that was clearly NOT Mac?
8. why does lightening say "serpentine, serpentine, serpentine" when the policeman is chasing him? what does that mean? significance anyone?
9. the hummer car in the credits, "i've never been off road before!...man, i'm getting dirt in my rims!" it just doesn't get funnier than that.
10. why doesn't anyone pay for anything, yet everyone talks about what will happen if they don't have any customers and lightening talks about how he gets all of his tires for free?
...
what movie have you done this with while doing your dishes, making your dinners, and/or cleaning your house?

less junk in my trunk

apparently,

my bottom was much bigger when i was pregnant with brennan.

i'm still un-decided if i'm happy or sad about this.

i think i'm glad;-)

and now it makes my bottom feel extra small.

if that's not happy, i don't know what is!

it's all what's up in the head ladies.

it's all about what's up in the head that counts.

glucose drink today.

oh the joys.