Z house Debate

Ok so Marcus and I have been having a little debate over leggings.   I like them and think they are cute if worn properly.  The below are wearing them properly and this is how I would wear them myself. 

His argument not all people wear them properly and they have ruined the legging look in his book.  I too agree but don't think that should mean that they can't be apart of my wardrobe.  I got a pair of skinny jeans and you would have thought I told Marcus that I got a jumpsuit (no offense to jumpsuits I just can't see how going to the restroom can be done without stripping completely down, therefore they don't meet my functionality needs).

the below people have ruined it for Marcus by wearing them as pants...

Now, like I said I understand where he is coming from but I won't wear mine like that I PROMISE!!

Bring it out and step on up

My soap box that is.  I only have 2 issues I'm getting it out for today.

Issue 1: Our new house is a mere 1/2 mile (that is over estimating) from the elementary school the boy will be attending.  I being an active person was very excited about this so I started envisioning The Boy's school career of walking with him to school and from there go on a run vice versa go on a run and "pick" him up at the end of the school day or BOTH. Sounds like a fantastic plan to me that on the 1st day of school got slashed in front of my very eyes. As I backed out of our driveway I witnessed parents standing at the end of their driveways with their elementary aged children.  And a big yellow bus coming down the road....ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! The school is a stones throw away from my front door and there is a bus to transport the children to said school.  SHOCKING, I took my shocking discovery to my husband who grew up in this neighborhood, he was not surprised and said well not all parents can walk their child to school due to having a career, etc. My argument they have time to stand outside in the driveway and wait 10min for the bus when they could have walked to school and been home in that 10min (counting on the fact that your child is not a lolly-gagger).  His argument ok that is fine now but in the winter some days it's too cold.  My argument get in the car and drop the child/children off. Again that would take 5min to do but instead the parent is standing outside for 10min (I'm sure longer in the winter due to road conditions) waiting for the bus.  I'm obviously still upset about this as school has been in session for almost a month now. I have on the upside seen some children who reside on the same road as my in-laws who ride their bike's to school which makes me feel better. There is a school corporation in our area that does not offer bus service and somehow those students/parents find a way to get to school in the rain, heat, and snow without a problem.  I truly don't understand why bus service is offered to our neighborhood to transport child to the elementary school.  To me it is a WASTE of money and time for the corporation. I say all that to say Ian will be walking to elementary school or if weather is bad we or I will transport him ourselves and that is after we feed him breakfast.  That is a soap box topic for another day though.


Issue 2: **Disclaimer I know there are many corporations out there that have the same policy.  Also I am by no means making any subtle annoucement of a 2nd baby Z.  It's just an issue I have with business America. Okay now with that little editors note out of the way I will begin.My husband works for a large bank in our area that is local to our area as well some surrounding cities/counties.  They value their customers and employees and will go out of their way to serve.  When our son was born on Dec 31st 2009 he was early, he was in the NICU and it was a life changing event in our families lives.  My husband had to use vacation time to celebrate/adjust to this life changing event so that we would still receive a regular paycheck.  However if there were to be a death in our immediate family he would be given days of grievance. To help cope/adjust to the life change without losing any pay.  Same goes for if an employee were to get married that would receive 2 days off paid as a way to say congratulations and allow time to adjust to this life changing event.  Do you see my issue here, when a child is born which is a joyous, life changing, emotional life event you get nothing.  I'm not saying a death or marriage should not receive any days I'm saying a birth should be given days as well.  It is just as life changing as death and marriage.

Ok,  feel better with those 2 issues off my chest.  Thoughts, agree/disagree?  Oh and I promise next post will be much more light hearted.

5 days

This post was originally written last weekend:
We took over possession of our new this past Sunday afternoon and since then the following has been accomplished all while we have both worked our normal work hours and did our everyday routines (working out, gorcery store, etc), Marcus doing some station time, and I showing our current house to interested renters (since sign went up a week ago Tuesday I've had about 25 phone calls and scheduled 15+ showings however only 12 have showed)...I do believe a meltdown may occur in the very near future.
Here's the list of what has bee accomplished
-washed all walls, windows, kitchen cabinets, doors, and bathrooms.
-Painted living room, hallway, and 2 out of 3 bedrooms (Hubby was at house until at least 1am painting on Mon, Tues, and Wed)
-lined all kitchen cabinets, moved all plates, cups, and silverware except for 2 of each, all pots and pans except for 2, all non-perishable food aside from what we need to get through this weekend.
-Small kitchen appliances (blender, mixer. etc) are also at the new house
-carpets have been cleaned
-a frog has been rescued from the pool filter seriously this frog was huge I have never seen a frog so big not behind glass.  My dad played the role of animal control and was successful and released it at my Uncle's house in the woods.
-majority of our storage tubs from the basement have been moved to the new basement

So I'd say in the last 5 days we have made a lot of progress our goal is to finish moving by this weekend.  Then we will be back to old house to finish up some projects there and give it a good deep cleaning. I see a light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully nothing caves in and covers it or a meltdown will happen a lot sooner.

Please let me introduce....

PICKY PETE!!!

This child is beyond picky he is down right resisted to food aside from grapes, yogurt, peanut butter (depending on the day), cereal bars, bananas (depending on the day), celementines (he likes to suck the juice out), Cheerios, sweet potato fries (had to force feed him those and we got the response back of mmm...), tator tots, pizza and puffs.  So thank goodness for v8 fusion juice and I'm back to buying baby food. Yes the same girl who made all his food. I may start making it again we still have yellow squash, mixed veggies and cauliflower in the freezer.  So maybe I will take the lonely sweet potato in the veggie basket and turn it into baby food for the boy. I have resorted to buying baby food (easier to donate jarred food than food frozen in ice cube trays)in the hopes that one day soon he will go back to his earlier days in which he ate a larger variety of foods on his own or that he taps into the eater he is at the sitters.  Where at the sitters he eats chicken, fish, veggies, meatballs, etc.  Seriously frustrating, I did mention it to his Dr and at this time we are considering it a phase.  I dislike this phase oh so very much and I do hope he is out of it soon.  The above picture is what he looks like after his dinners, I have found he has to be occupied in order for me to sneak the spoon in.  I think on most nights I end up holding a lid between my teeth he then balances things such as an extra spoon on the lid as he is busy doing this I take advantage of his mouth opening when the spoon is near he swallows and opens for me.  It's quite the exhausting production just for him to eat a half jar.

If anyone has any tips please pass them my way.

fishing

In the past week I have fished out a football, mitten, bath toys, and 2 flashlights from our toilet.  Pretty much anything Ian can get his hands on he prefers to toss it in the ceramic bowl.  He hasn't figured out how to flush it yet so that is good.  Now you are probably thinking keep the door shut and that won't happen and I will tell you we do keep the door shut.  These are all things that have happened while he's been in the bathroom with us.  I know for the football, mitten and bath toys (all of which happened under my supervision) they occurred as I was doing my hair so whether I had flipped my head over to get the maximum amount volume in my beaufont or to pray to the hair goddess that my beaufont looks good that day. I don't know, what I do know though is that out of the corner of my eye I see the lid go down and smirk go across my child's face as he waits for my reaction and in a not so serious voice at all I say "really Buddy, really?" which causes laughter to pour out of his mouth (I have yet to nail down the "mom voice').  He is doing no harm to anyone or anything, there is always clean water in our toilet and he is just a boy trying to figure things out and learn his limits (should probably get to work on the mom voice).   Now, with that said I do beleive we will be looking into a toilet lock, which will reduce the chances of Ian tossing anything in but also test my bladder and my ability to be smarter than the child safety lock.

Blizzard 2011

We survived Blizzard 2011, it was really windy the snowfall amount was not bad but the wind was AWFUL!  I'm lucky enough to make the decision as to if work is opened or closed.  I decided to close around 9p which resulted in sending out emails to over 100 people, update facebook status, making the note on our website and changing the voicemail recordings x2.  Luckily when we closed early Tuesday night I had already drafted emails for Wednesday. Wednesday our county was under a state of emergency and only emergency personal were to be on the roads.  And for once my hubby's work showed that they do have a heart and didn't open any of their branches.  Although Marcus' friend who works at the downtown offices of the bank and is the property manager had to go in and see to it that all the parking lots were taken care of and no damage to any the branches occured.

So we both had snow days, I however did work from home.  Now, I know most people who work from home look forward to being able to do so in their yoga pants and a sweatshirt but seeing as to that is what I wear to work. I look forward to working in our chair and half, my yoga pants, comfy sweatshirt. and in my socks.  Aside from working, I took a nap which I never do and of course worked out and while I was working on my 100 squats Ian wanted me to hold him so I squatted holding Ian for about 90 of the squats. My legs are pretty sore today. Marcus snow blowed and also napped and we both hung out with Ian and practiced his walking skills.  We had a good snow day and what is a snow day without homemade choco chip cookies?

taken Tuesday night 2/1 when it started snowing around 5p

what we woke up Wednesday 2/2, this is after Marcus snow blowed

word choice

Warning this is a rant post. It's nothing big but it irritated me so thought I would put it out there and see if I'm wrong for being irritated. Here goes:

I picked Ian up from the sitters yesterday and right away I noticed he was in his back-up clothes and can I just say I'm so glad I put new back-up clothes in his cubby.  On Friday he was in his back up clothes and oh my thank goodness we were headed straight home as if we had errands to run we would've gone home first before hand. Not sure what i was thinking when I put these pants in his cubby as back-up no boy should have these pants in their wardrobe


Sorry got off track back to ranting...as I was saying I picked Ian up and he was in his new back-up clothes and so I said the owner (M) of the daycare "oh he had another messy one?" M: yeah, I've got his other clothes in the washer (can I just say how lucky we are to have a sitter who will wash any clothes that end up getting messy while at daycare). Well M has some people who help here throughout the day and today was the day that the lady (K) who I'm not that fond of was there.  I only have one thing that ever happened that put that opinion in my mind.  And that is right after Ian got his helmet and every time when she was there and he was there she would say to me "so how much longer does he have to wear that thing" (while pointing to his helmet and making a god awful face).  Yeah, like I said not my favorite person.  Back to rant sorry...like I said Ian had a messy diaper again resulting in a entire outfit change down to the socks. Well, K said it like this "yeah, he made quite the crap". Really who says crap when referring to A) a human and B) a BABY.  After K just heard M and I talking about how he had another messy diaper.  I was caught completely off guard as I was not expecting that word used in the daycare setting.  It could because I have never used that word (I can't even type it anymore) to describe bodily functions in humans or animals. 

So there is my rant and can I just say even after writing the whole situation out it still gets to me.  I laugh about it as I'm still in shock over it.  Luckily she is not there very often (when she is there she is only there for about 2hrs) and Ian's only there 2 days a week so the occassions of her being there when Ian's there are very slim and rare.

Am I completely out there for finding this to be shocking, maybe I live under a rock and should come out every once a while? Oh who knows at least I'm laughing about it...right?

feeling naked

*WARNING SUPER LONG (but if it saves someone else from experiencing what we've been through then it's all worth it)*

My ring finger that is. The jeweler has my wedding band and engagement ring in order to tighten the prongs before the diamond falls out and is forever lost for the 2nd time. Yes, you read that right. I'm currently on my 3rd diamond, a girls dream right?? NO!!! One would think I do manual labor for a living.

Let's back track 5yrs ago. In April 2005 I acquired my 1st piece of left hand, ring finger jewelery. June 2006 the diamond fell out and was forever gone (we were getting married Aug 2006). Off to the jewelery store with diamond bond in hand, where the manager Ron (I was going to change his name but decided to scrap that idea and since I'm scraping that idea I'll also scrap the idea of not revealing the name of the jewelery company: Gordon's Jewelery) said it would take 4-6wks (we barely had 6wks) to get it back. There is good news and that is with the diamond bond they have to match what you had or upgrade you to the same quality but larger carat weight, see I told you good news. 6wks go by and we get my ring back and to say we were not satisfied is an understatement. The new diamond was bigger but had a huge carbon spot dead center in the diamond, which did not meet the diamond bond policy. However, we had no time to send it back and have it back to us in time for the wedding. A few months after the wedding we ventured back to Gordon's where Ron said it would be another 4-6wks...lovely just what a new bride wants to be without her main piece of hardware for 4-6wks. Anyways, the 6wk mark goes by and we hear nothing so I start calling and Marcus starts making weekly visits on his lunch hour to basically drill Ron on the ring whereabouts. Turns out it came back but he wasn't happy with the newest diamond (so I guess this is diamond #4) so he sent it back without telling us till much later. Meanwhile we now are calling daily and Marcus is up to 2 trips a week to spend his lunch hour drilling Ron on a arrival date. A total of 3months go bye and my ring is finally back on my hand. Marcus picked it up and in his drilling Ron guaranteed us a lifetime warranty on the ring and went about making note of this in the computer system. Marcus asked if we needed anything and was told no it's in the computer.

Fast forward to this past week Ian and I were at the mall to get a new battery in Marcus' watch and while at the jewelers I decided to have them clean my rings and necklace. And during this process is where the noticed the prongs were lose and the diamond could fall out at any given moment. They obviously suggested we send it to the jeweler ASAP which I agreed. This is where things took a turn, they asked if I had the ESA (extended service agreement) I said yes and told them the whole story behind the diamond that was currently being held in by loose prongs. They do a search and tell me that I don't have an ESA and that I can purchase one for 149.00 or pay the price of what needs to be fixed, in the meantime I'm on the phone with Marcus whose response when I said my ring has loose prongs and they can't find the ESA was "you've go to be kidding me and we aren't paying for anything". I knew I had all ring related paperwork at home tucked away safely so Ian and I headed home which he was more than ready for our departure. I will save you all the details, I found nothing in our paperwork all we had at the time was what we were told almost 4yrs ago. I call the store and tell them what I know, the store manager calls me back and says there is nothing they can do, they want a happy customer though (umm hello NOT happy). I rely this info to Marcus and he is for better words PISSED and heads off to the mall. He comes home after about a 1/2hr and it turns out they found where in the computer Ron had put the note about a lifetime warrant. Oh I forgot to mention that Ron is no longer with the company (fancy that). The new store manager would have to run this by her district manager but they would cover the repair costs for the prongs. As the store manager was writing up the repair she said to Marcus "Oh I get it the wife sends in her big burly husband" (really lady that's what you want to say to someone?). I stop in on Friday to drop off my ring and the SM tells me that after this repair we will have to purchase a lifetime warranty or pay for repairs as they come up. I tell ok that I will rely the message to Marcus and she says "if you want to send him again that's fine I'll talk to him" (again not making any friends here). Now, the only reason Marcus went into the store was because he was the one who purchased the ring and dealt with Ron one on one. Not because his wife couldn't handle a situation. As it is I'm the main situation dealer in the family. Marcus has since emailed corporate in how the situation was handled and how he was treated.

We've been told to expect it back on the 18th, she put a rush on it. How nice!!

oh crap mode

It's amazing what can be accomplished when in Oh Crap Mode. Take for example Wednesday morning. Ian woke up at 2 something in the AM uncosoleable crying and thrashing (if anyone has some insight on this I'm open as it has been going on for over 2wks and I'm over it). Anyways I rocked him (the glider chair in his room finally coming in handy 10mos later) for about an hour and then quickly jumped back in bed and fell fast asleep. My alarm is set to go off 5:35 on Wednesday (work days..bleech) I don't have to be up till 5:45. Whoever invented the snooze button I thank you you're a genius. Anyways my phone gives me 2 options SNOOZE or DISMISS (see where this is going??). In my incoherentness I apparently picked DISMISS and woke up feeling somewhat refreshed until I looked at my phone and saw 6:29 that's right almost an hr late. Which is when my butt hightailed into oh crap mode and as I bound of out bed Marcus looks at his phone and in a sleepy state says "aren't you suppose to be ready by now?" My response was yes but my thought was Yeah, thanks for pointing out the obivious to me and you're lucky I'm not all the way awake to go off you. I head for the shower and decided that I wasn't going to wash my hair my justification was that the hair professionals say you shouldn't wash daily. I get in the shower and wet my hair down and before I know it there is shampoo in my and hand and I'm washing my hair (stupid routine). Great, so much for trying to save time with that idea. I finish up my normal shower routine and getting myself around. I head out to the kitchen and look at the clock and it was 7a prefect I still had time to eat breakfast and luckily I made my lunch and everything the night before. I was finally able to B-R-E-A-T-H and was thankful that Ian was still sleeping which saved me some time and that he was headed to my parents. In which he could go in his jammies and eat his firts meal there. That was just the beginning of my day...

Once at work I was on the phone with tech support and after being on the phone with them for an hour I headed to my next location. On my drive I passed a lady walking with a 6 pack of Corona's a few thoughts ran through my head. 1)oh that is sad it is only 9:30 2)I'm sad but also jealous 3)wonder if she needs a ride because a corona after the morning I've had would be nice.

There you go a morning I would love to forget but it almost happened again this AM, least I know I can get completely ready in a 1/2hr.

Just Ask Me

What to know how to get from Michigan City to New Buffalo? Just ask me and I will have you go in a complete circle that will take all of 20min and I will still believe until I see the Blue Chip that we are going in the right direction...oops

What to know what kind of car to buy? Just ask me and with in a month you will dislike the vehicle.

What to know where you should go for vacation? Just ask me and you will end hiking up the tallest mountain in Tennessee on the 1st day of your vacation (round trip 16 miles or something ridiculous), stay at the worst Sandals hotel in Jamaica and at the end you will simply cry.

Not sure what color to paint your walls? Just ask me and you will end up repainting all the rooms your house again and some rooms up to 6x.

Unsure of what you want to study in college? Just ask me and you will end going through just about all the programs offered and still not have a degree.

As you can see I give great advice luckily only Marcus has had to deal with the outcomes of my answers/decisions and we can look back and laugh about each and everyone of them. I should probably start and advice column, what do you think?

WOWZERS

If you have yet to catch up on your DVR with the Bachlorette then I advise you to stop reading NOW!! I think between facebook and texting my phone was exploding!!



WOWZERS...that was crazy. We'll start with a recap of Ali and her lover boys. It seemed as though Ali found her brush for the first 3 dates and then packed it away for the 4th date. Is there really no one there to assist her with her hair and brushing it?? We said goodbye to Ty last night he was a nice guy and all but he was never really able to redeem himself from his reasoning as to why he got the big D. And can I just say Frank is a little too emotional for me doesn't seem like the DIY kinda guy take the bull by the horns and what not. He's a little too safe I feel and unsure of things. I like Chris L (are we still calling Chris L even though he is the only Chris now there?), Kirk and Roberto. Hometown visits next week!!

Onto the big the WOW of the night and that was Jake and Vienna aka Fame Whores (FW). I think we all saw Mr Jake in a different light last night. Makes you wonder if the real reason he went to Jillian to tell her of Wes was really for Jillian or for his own career. Agreeing to do Dancing With the Stars so soon after the his season aired (fw). They didn't even get a chance to get to know each other. Wasn't one of the reasons he choose Vienna was because she wasn't scared to speak her mind?? Granted she was speaking out of turn but still she wasn't scared to say what she wanted to say. I do believe that she probably played the crying and taking off the ring card quite a few times. She also sold (for quite the rainy day fund) the story to the talboilds (fw). She said she sold her side because she knew he would sell his...well, she kinda gave him no other option but to sell his side once she sold hers. Marcus tuned in for it (he wasn't all the way watching such as myself but was still listening and watching some) and his thoughts on Jake are that he is a: D-bag, tool, and overall not a good guy. I did like when Vienna said he hasn't flown in over a year and he comes back with a smile plastered across his face that in fact he flew last weekend. What an A...

What were thoughts on the whole situation? Did reality steve call this awhile ago (I just started reading him)?

Speechless AGAIN....

Yep it happened again I got to witness something whlie driving that left me completely speechless and upset. This time I was talking to Marcus and I look to my left and see 2 people in the car next to me with the passenger holding a baby in her lap!!! So I quickly get off the phone with Marcus and scan through my phone looking for the non-emergency number to turn these people in and I couldn't find. Oh so upsetting, really people you thought that was the best idea???


Needless to say the non-emergency number is promptly going into my phone!!

speechless

Do you ever have those moments that you simply speechless? Well I had one yesterday while talking to my sister. Let me set it up for you: I'm on a busy 4 lane road in the middle of the day. I start to approach the car in front of which was easy to do seeing as though it was traveling well below the speed limit. There are 2 people in the car and as I appraoch they decide to become all kissy face and I'm not talking a little peck I'm talking a full on lip locking session (while driving). I pass them and I'm now in front of them and in my rearview mirror I can see they are still lip locked. We are now coming up to a pretty good size intersection and the light turns red lovely. I look in my rearview mirror when all of sudden the passenger (a female) head goes down into the driver's (a male) lap. And that's when I went completely speechless. I of course was giving my sister the play by play which left us both speechless. The light turned green and of course they were slow to react but eventually got going and turned into the apartment complex I can only hope that they made it into their apartment before anything more intimate took place. I still haven't fully recovered and I may be scarred for life. Only time well tell. Either way it ruined my catch-up session with my sister.


*Editors Note: now if any of you partake in such activity more power to ya, but please keep it to 2 lane roads and night time to insure yu don't scar any other drivers or passengers:)