Thursday

Mom, it's HOT




Yay! Now it's not quite so hot anymore.




Splash! Gotcha Mr. Crab.




Mmm, mmm good.

I missed a spot.

Charlie wanted in on the action.

Today was super hot - just like the rest of this week has been. We stayed home today after going to story time at the library because we are trying to conserve gas. I have filled up every week for the past three weeks and I am going to Steph's cabin this weekend for a much needed girls' weekend! So, I need the gas left in my tank to go to Missouri! It will be my first night away from the baby! I'll actually get a full night's sleep, well maybe. :)


Like I was saying, it was hot. Since it was so hot and we had time to kill at home, we decided to break out the splash pool and splash around.

Dunning is teething super bad - he would only nurse 4 times today and he usually nurses 6 times plus he refused to take his afternoon nap, which is very unlike him. However, he did take about 5 hours worth of naps yesterday, so he may just not have been tired. Although I sure was and could have used the nap. Although he wasn't really wanting the boobie much today, he did eat like a champ for dad, finishing off half a jar of mommy's homemade sweet taters, some yogurt and some rice cereal. Bowl lickin' good!

Charlie has been staying inside more this week because of how hot it is and because of his allergies. Yup, we would get the dog who has an allergy to GRASS of all things. He is on antibiotics and had a steroid shot last week. He's leaving a lot of fur around, but he is great entertainment for the boy. I can now leave Dunning on the floor with his elephant pillow to cushion any falls and he is happy watching Charlie prance around.

Letter of Apology

Dear Sir:

I just wanted to say, "I'm Sorry." I'm sorry that you did not see the fact that you were to stop at that little red sign, a sign that I did not have. I'm sorry that your stupidity angered the over protective mom in me, the mom that will protect her baby with all her being, the baby that was in my car with me. I'm sorry that I had to point out and highlight your stupidity by honking at you. I'm sorry that you feel your ancient gold Lexus with missing hub cap gives you some apparent sense of supierority over my plain ol' Civic. It doesn't. I'm sorry that you felt it necessary to tail gate me, honk and yell at me when I did not pull out recklessly in to traffic fast enough for you. I'm sorry you did not get up early enough this morning so that you could have had a more leisurely drive to wherever it was you were going.

Lastly, I'm sorry I made that hand gesture. I was merely trying to point out the stop sign.

Sincerely,

Me

(p.s. sorry mom!)

Stickin' it to the Man

I don't know if it scares anybody else, but "recession" scares the heck out of me. I really enjoy being a stay at home mom. I also enjoyed work. So, I take tasks at home and make them a little bit like work so that I get a similar feeling of accomplishment. The budget is one of them. No matter how much you do or don't make, I am a firm believer that every household should run by a budget. I didn't used to always believe this, but since I started staying at home, I do. I think Mikel wishes we would have had a baby sooner so that I would have come to this realization a long time ago. But after work, money talk would just stress me out. But now, I have constructed several spreadsheets that maintain our running total budget and our monthly budget. Our monthly budget is done by category item, how much we should spend on this item for the month, a column for actual expenditures, overages by item and a total over/under column so we can analyze where we go over the most and adjust accordingly (most always the ever indefinable "miscellaneous" category). Today, I received our electric bill, up $30 from the past two months. I expected it to go up in the summer months, but the notice that accompanied it was scary. It basically said, get ready, your bill is going to go up up up and there is nothing you can do about it because all Americans use is coal, gas, oil and more coal, gas and then some more oil.
Of course, we've all noticed the gas price increase. Then there is the grocery increase -I'm amazed at how little $50 will get you at the grocery store. Then Cox decides I need to pay $3/more a month for internet (stupid "Power Boost"), and let's not forget the $8/month increase we experienced for car insurance, despite the fact that we just receive a "safe driver" bonus check for not having a wreck or ticket for 5 years! Needless to say, when we discovered AT&T charging us for INCOMING text messages - messages we have no power over - we were a bit upset. Actually, righteous indignation comes to mind. So we actually called them and told them to shut text messages off completely because I'll be darned if we are going to pay them $4 for messages we received from other people (most of which are AT&T customers!). Your not getting my $4, no siree! Talk about stickin' it to the man.
All this to say a few things.
- We REALLY need a renewable energy policy.
- Be conscious of what you are putting out there. Don't be a part of the problem.
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Learn it, love it, make it your mantra. Thank you to my old roomate Gracie, who used to threaten bodily harm if she found a yogurt cup in the trash.
- Beware of hidden costs. It's amazing to me how much money we WASTE. It's like a fun little treasure hunt for me now. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference to our budget whether or not we have a $4 charge for text messages or an $8/month increase in car insurance. But when I found out I could take a safe driver online course and receive an $8/month reduction in our car insurance bill, you can believe I'm gonna take it. And that $80 refund I am due from my pediatrician, they'll hear a lot from me until I get it - that'll cover over half my of my electric bill. I'm sure I'll throw a parade and invite everyone over when I get that check. Just make sure to email or call me to RSVP because your text won't go through.