Cute but messy!

Zumba Mami

Just got back from a 90-min Zumba class..phew! It was awesome, but I felt like I was really uncoordinated tonight. Eh...it's been a long day.

I'd love to get an ipod and download some of the songs they play in class - they're so fun!

Off to shower now. Nighty night!

Productive Day

Today's been a good day. Productive, work wise, and personally.
I used my lunch break today to go out and get Sa and Brian's wedding gift. It was not too crowded at the mall, thank goodness. And, I got a parking spot right near the front! Win!
The only thing left to do now is wrap up the remaining birthday gifts for the month...then start in on those for June. May and June are very packed with birthdays!
I should probably make another list.

Oh Happy Day!

Someone at work today told me that I looked skinny! And they didn't want anything from me!!! Woohoo!

What a day.

Today didn't start off too well. Little Man decided to wake up super early this morning, before I even had a chance to take a shower. I gave him his bottle and let him play downstairs till a reasonable hour, then I went upstairs to rouse the rest of the troops so I could get ready for work today.

After I finished my shower, N decided to play with the bathroom door. I have no clue why, but she is obsessed with doors right now. It's really strange. But she doesn't pay attention to who or what might be in the way of that door opening and closing. Examples: towel over the door, toy, my hand, or her brother's head. This morning, she thought it might be a fun idea to slam the door from the inside of the bathroom and try to hold it closed. When I put a stop to this game, she let go as I was trying to open the bathroom door and A's head happened to be in the way.

Not a good scene. They both started screaming. I picked her up first and told her she couldn't do that. She smacked me, so I put her in the crib for a time out. 2 minutes later, I went back in and asked her if she was ready to come out and give hugs and kisses. She smacked me again, so I left her there for another 2 minutes.

When I went back the 2nd time she was okay and said "I want my waffle."

Waffle?

What waffle?

Then I smelled the burning and ran for the kitchen.

Man of the house had apparently put a waffle in the toaster oven for her, but clearly does not know how to operate said toaster oven. He cranked up the temp to 450 and put it in for 20 minutes. Ugh. Doesn't he know nobody wants to eat a burned waffle? Yuck.

N wanted to eat it, so I put peanut butter on it and she ate it anyway. Personally, I would have thrown it away, but she eats things off the floor so maybe she is not as discriminating as I am.

I took the kids to school and then remembered something I needed from the house. Went back home, and there was the septic guy, pumping out our septic tank. I knew this was happening today, but thought I would miss him. I was wrong.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of smelling the odor of an open septic tank, let's just say that the only thing that could possibly smell worse is rotting flesh. I got what I needed and hightailed it out of there.

Man of the house called me at work later to report that everything went well with this task - apparently the septic guy mentioned that he thought we overused toilet paper.

Really?

FYI, septic guy...we have a 2 year old that likes to just put toilet paper in and flush for the sheer joy of it all. Not to mention that my husband doesn't like to touch poop so I'm guessing he creates the boxing glove of toilet paper when necessary. It's not me.

Manic Monday

I've been up, more or less, since 3 am. Not a good way to start a Monday, is it?

I came in this morning and have been very diligent about tackling my to do list. However, a break was necessary after my 3rd cup of coffee for the day.

In other news, A is practically walking. I predict he's walking before his birthday, which would be really cool. By comparison, N didn't walk until she was over a year old. I wonder if it's because he's trying to keep up with his big sis?

Yawn.

Despite getting a solid night's sleep last night, I'm still exhausted. I do have 2 cups of coffee in and I think I might go for another...but a latte this time. I need the extra boost. I've also had a big bottle of water so needless to say I've been back and forth between the bathroom and my desk all day.

I've been having a really hard time at work lately with everything that is going on, I'm trying to balance priorities and it's been quite a struggle. Perhaps a weekend work day is in order soon. I hate to do this since my time with the kiddos is precious, but it may make a difference during the week (in that I may be able to get home earlier during the week.)

Anyhoo...off to another meeting.

Things are looking good...

So I have made some progress toward the following goals:
#30: Purge all baby clothes/gear we no longer use - this is something we've been doing all week. I gave all the baby girl clothes to a girl at work who is expecting later this month, dropped off 2 bags of toddler clothes to AG, then gathered 2 bags for SM. I also have 2 bags for the consignment shop and that appointment is next week. Then, we're going to a party on Saturday, and there is a couple who is expecting, so we are giving them a bunch of items...swings, exersaucer, baby bjorn carrier, etc. So that will make M happy to get rid of all these things.

#59 - Enlist someone to make a baby clothes quilt - I've scheduled a consultation to see how much it's going to cost me. More to come.

Unbelievable.

Today, I went to my favorite store, BJ's, to pick up some supplies for a party we are having here at work this week. However, this was a new BJ's for me. I usually go to the one near home, but this one is near my office and I think the last time I was here was about 8 years ago.

I was utterly confused when I walked in. The layout was not even remotely similar to my "home" store. I couldn't find ANYTHING. And the signage was lacking. (I'm being nice here.)

After walking around aimlessly for a while I was able to locate most of the items on my list, then I headed for the checkout. While waiting in line, I observed the purchases of the woman in front of me: a case of Fun Dip, a case of Push Pops, and a case of Big League Chew.

Guess what her method of payment was?

She pulled out a EBT card.

Un-frickin' believable.

Since when can you use food stamps to pay for candy? In my opinion, this does not exactly qualify as healthy, nutritious food. And as a working taxpayer, I really don't want to see my money going to pay for crap like this! If people used food stamps to buy fruit and vegetables and other actual FOOD, I wouldn't have any issue with this! But it just annoys the hell out of me. I just can't understand why this is okay.

So I went to the internet to see what, exactly, is considered eligible under this program. If you can believe it, this is the list:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/SNAP/retailers/generic.pdf

No wonder there is so much abuse of these type of programs.

Item #79: Praise a good customer service to the person's boss or corporate

Today I emailed the powers that be at Disney World regarding our experience with Guest Services.


To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing to tell you how pleased I am with the Theme Parks Lost and Found Service at Disney World.

I was there 2 weeks ago with my family, and while we were visiting Downtown Disney, my daughter lost her favorite doll. We retraced our steps everywhere we'd been, but we weren't able to find it. I stopped in at Guest Services as my last resort and they were able to provide me some contact information for the central Lost and Found.

To be honest, I did not have much hope in getting the doll back, but I was pleasantly surprised when I contacted the Lost and Found number and George, a very courteous staff member, assisted me. After he obtained a description of the doll from me and the other relevant details, he came back after putting me on hold to go look for it and gave me the great news - someone had found the doll and turned it in!

Since we were at the airport heading home, we were not able to get back to pick it up, but George offered to mail it to our home at no charge. My daughter was thrilled, and we wanted to let you know how much we appreciate the great guest service that we experienced.

Thank you again!
G

101 Goals in 1001 Days

So, inspired by my BFF Mel G, I've created my own 101 Goals in 1001 Days list. I need to figure out how to post it on the side of the homepage. Help!