San Diego Pictures

Statue of Navy Man returning from war.

The biggest Hen and Chicks I have ever seen in my life!

I finally got to see a Panda Bear! Everytime I have been to the zoo in Washington DC, the pandas were hiding inside!

Sunset views near our hotel.

Me suspended over the ocean on the USS Midway.

Our free appetizer at Buster's. We used every tacky tourist coupon we could.

My Luck is Changing?

I thought my luck was changing because Dahl's called to say I won 4 tickets to Sesame Street Live! This is awesome. Since it's free, if Ryan misbehaves or is bored we can walk out and not feel like we wasted money. I never win anything so I am way excited!

But then...Todd almost didn't make it home from work last night. The jeep is leaking oil, power steering fluid, and engine coolant. Great! When it rains it pours!! Luckily my mom is lending me my grandpa's car while Todd's is in the shop.

Tomorrow Todd and I are going to San Diego. We are going to hang out for 3 days before the Climate Change Conference. It will be nice to be away from all the icky things at home. Although I will miss Ryan......

Stress and Sickness

This has not been a fabulous week at our house. First of all we are very stressed. With it costing $50 - 60 to fill up a car with gas, you can guess how much money people in Newton have left to buy drinks. Zilch. I am getting worn down from my double-workload at work, and I have never quite got the hang of balancing work outside the home and motherhood.

Anyway, Sunday Todd's wrist swelled up and he was in excruciating pain. After 2 hours at Urgent Care and 8 hours in the ER we didn't have a confirmed diagnosis. They even "tapped" his joint - i.e. they took a very big needle and sucked fluid out of his wrist. It was possibly one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen.

Monday we found out it was gout for sure. He has uric acid crystals in his wrist. This has involved many pills and many doctor's visits. He has to take medicine FOR A YEAR! to dissolve the crystals and is still in a lot of pain. To top it off, they think he has Crohn's Disease and was supposed to have an endoscopy/colonoscopy on Monday, but can't because of the Gout.

While we were at the ER I started sneezing and developed a horrible cold. I was horribly congested all week, and I have hives all over me (stress). The medicine for the hives makes it so I can't breathe, and the medicine to help me breathe brings back the hives!! To top it all off, the 85 plants I ordered came last Friday so I have been using every spare moment to get them in the ground before we leave for San Diego on Monday.

Today is better. The plants are in the ground and I have found the right medicine combo for the hives and my nose. Ryan is wild as hell though. I finally had to take him to McDonald's so Todd could sleep. I don't think he has shut up for more than 30 seconds all day!!

Well, it is time to go beat my laundry into submission again. Every time I almost catch up, it the pile grows again. I swear my towels are having sex and multiplying!

I forgot...

I forgot to tell you that Ryan is obsessed with tromping around the house and outside wearing one, two, three, or a combination of these items:

-snowboots

-my sunglasses (he looks like Posh Spice)

-a Dr. Suess backpack stocked with a phone, a flaslight, and two naked Barbie Dolls,

-no pants

-his coat

-socks on his hands

Stein Happenings

Two Friday nights ago Rachel and I had a girls' night out. My neighbor girl came over and babysat all three boys. We went to eat at Bonefish Grill (http://www.bonefishgrill.com/). Neither one of us had been there before, and it is not somewhere our husbands would enjoy, so we took full advantage of the occasion and ate a lot of seafood. We also had two martinis each. The pomegranet one was to-die-for. If we would have had a DD and a pitcher, we would have been in Nirvana. We had a great time catching up. Then we went to the mall for a bit and then home. Luckily, Ryan and Anthony didn't fight, so everyone had a sucessful evening.

The next morning Ryan and I left for the farm. We went straight to my grandpa's to sort through some stuff. My mom and sister have been working their butts off for weeks (my dad too!) cleaning out the sheds, basement, and garage, and packing up the household stuff for the sale in June. They were almost done by the time I got there, but I got everything I wanted. It is all sentimental stuff. My grandpa was a real tightwad, so there's nothing of value. I got the sugar bowl. It is a really ugly ceramic yellow/brown, but my grandma let us but as much sugar on our cereal as we wanted. I remember a lot of happy breakfasts with that bowl. I also got her spoon collection, some teacups, silverware, souvenir plates, and some Christmas decorations. I also get the china cabinet, but it is staying there since I have no where in my house to put it.

Sunday was a beautiful day and Ryan enjoyed swinging, riding in the big tractor, and riding the new lawn mower, which has CRUISE CONTROL!

Yesterday the girl next door came over again so I could go to cleanup day at the Discovery Garden. It was cold, but fun. We raked, built a new entrance to the tunnel, rebuilt the tunnel, and I planted 140 violas. Other than that, Ryan and I have been hanging out and playing. I am in a bummer mood so Todd is playing with Ryan while I work on the computer. There is so much to do with so little time. Sigh.

Muddy Delight

This is what his diaper looked like afterwards. Very muddy.

This was taken a few weeks ago, on one of those hot, sunny Sunday afternoons. I let Ryan play in the mud. He washes off!

Meningitis?

It was a long, horrible week. Ryan had another Mystery Fever of 103 for three days, things are icky at the bar, the audit has been expanded, it was Climate Change Council on Friday, etc. I managed to revert to my old ways and pack on 6 pounds in a week! Friday after the Council, I picked up Ryan. Diane was going to get Vietnamese food and bring it over. We were going to drink wine and relax and let Ryan watch cartoons all night.

I got home and Todd had been puking all day and had a horrible rash on his face. I called Diane to cancel and sent Todd to urgent care. The doctor there decided he might have Meningitis!!! She sent him to Mercy for a spinal tap. I called Diane and she rushed over to watch Ryan. I called to alert the moms and headed over to Mercy.

When the doctor finally came in, he took one look at Todd and said, "You don't have meningitis! Who told you that? I'm going to call that doctors' office and tell them they have no business scaring you like that!! You have a virus". So no spinal tap. They gave him a pint of saline, a prescription for painkillers and anti-nausea medicine and sent him home about 12:45 am. Lovely.

I still can't get any @##$ pictures to post. Must be my computer. Neither photo bucket or blogger are working. But, I did get a counter put on it, so I can see how many hits I get.

I am Just Sick

I am just sick about 2 things:

1. Yesterday I bought my airplane ticket to the California Climate Registy Conference in San Diego. It was $310. When I tried to buy Todd's (he's coming back earlier than me), the computer kept locking up. Today I tried to do it and the same ticket is now $471!

2. The back of my new spring jacket has a rip in it, which has grown to 10 inches. And I can't find the @#$% receipt!

Something funny: Ryan calls our living room "the special dining room"!

Something not so funny: Ryan has a 103 degree fever so I am home. I should have expected though, the Council is meeting this week and we are also having a party tomorrow at work. He has been sick for two Council meetings, the Halloween party, and the Christmas party.

Really not funny: BLOGGER still won't post my pictures!

Frustrated

I can't get Blogger to upload any pictures. It just runs and runs. Errr! Frustrated!!!

Ryan and I had a good day yesterday. We played almost the entire day outside. I put him down for a nap, but after 90 minutes of calling my name, I let him out of the cage and we went out to play again. The girl down the street has 2 rabbits in a hutch, so we visited them, visited Larew's, looked to see if Trevor was home, raked, ran around, and played in the mud. It was a heartbraking day too because he wants his Daddy to play with him more and not go to work at night.

I know I shouldn't let Ryan play in the mud, but he washes off. Now, if he gets pneumonia, it will be my fault, but he was enjoying himself. I have some awesome pictures, but can't post them. Errr! Where did I get the mud? Our sump pump pipe broke off a few weeks ago and now the water collects on the patio. It is about 6 inches deep. Ryan was driving his lawnmower through it and having a wee of a time.

Thursday night I actually left the house. Diane, Christine, and I went to Ladies Night at Earl May. Surprisingly, it was pretty cool. They had all sorts of free food and a guy giving free massages. I almost swooned during mine, although having a man do it was a little creepy. My neighbor next door watched Ryan for free!

Last Saturday I hit the Crop for juvenile diabetes with the girls. It was way disappointing compared to last year, but I was just happy to be out of the house. I hadn't cropped since November. I had to leave for a while in the afternoon to go to Sylas Daniel's adoption party, which was fun too. I am so happy for Tami and Preston. After the crop we even went out for drinks! Those 2 drinks + my 4 drinks in Kansas City mean I have had 5 more drinks than in 2006! When we got home, H and I watched some bad television. We found a show called Pants Off, Dance Off. On this show, a contestant is called a Pancer. They strip down to their underwear while the host pops up with snarky comments about them. The contestants are all weird looking and think they're hot. It was like watching a train wreck.

I called DirectTv and had them hook up Showtime for us since The Tudors started again. That Henry VIII was an ass, but it is a good show, eventhough we all know it's going to end. Anne Boleyn is going to get her head whacked off. Duh. I am into it though because I just finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl and now I am reading The Boleyn Inheritance. I am almost done with the last one because Ryan fell asleep on the way home from the grocery store last night and slept until 8 am this morning. Lots of good reading time!

Easter was fun too. I invited my whole side down. This is only the 2nd time I've had a holiday because my grandpa was never able to travel down here. It was fun but crowded and Ryan was way wound up. I cooked a good brunch, which was proved when the majority of my Lighten Up Iowa team gained weight that week!

I'm So Far Behind...

I'm so far behind with my blog, I don't know where to start. Here are some pictures taken this week. Sun/Mon we were at the farm to go through my Grandpa's tools. They had so much snow on the ground Ryan and I got a good workout tromping through the snow back and forth to the machine shed. Wed/Thurs/Fri I was in KC for work, and yesterday Ryan and I just played trains and watched cartoons.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Saturday Ryan, Mom, and I were sitting at the dining room table. Ryan farted. I said, "Ryan, what do you say?", hoping he would excuse himself. He looked at me and said....

"Bye Bye Poopie!"

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The past 7 days have been a whirlwind. Last Sunday I left for DC for a quick 60-hour business trip. I hate to say it, but after dealing with Naughty Boy all week, it was almost a relief to go. My meeting was all about the State vs. Federal role in climate change legislation and regulations, and it was very inspiring. It was a small group of people, and both Bill Richardson and John Kerry came and talked to us. After they were done I was ready to go out and change the world! I only had 90 minutes of free time the whole trip, but I took the Metro to the Mall and saw the WWII Memorial and hoofed it back to the hotel.

Todd and Sandy took Ryan to Humboldt for a visit while I was gone, and Ryan got a fever there so I came back to a sick little boy. Of course, he was a total angel the entire time I was gone. Todd stayed home with him on Wednesday, and I stayed home with him on Thursday. Friday he went back to school and I worked until 2 pm. At 2 my mom and aunt came and picked me up and we went to lunch at King and I and shopping at Barnes and Noble. That was THE GOOD.

I picked up Ryan and he was out of sorts. Friday night was one temper tantrum after another. I even had to send him to his room for a while. That was THE BAD.

Saturday was THE UGLY. We took him to see the Easter Bunny at the mall and ride the train. The Easter Bunny sits in a pink house that has a door on the side. Ryan wanted in that pink door more than anything in the whole world. We were waiting in line and he pryed the gate apart and ran into the house. I had to go in and get him. He started screaming and kicking and laid down on the floor of the house. I got him out, but he was still screaming and he threw his chapsticks (he carries them around) across the mall. We chewed him out and carried him to the door. He did not want to put a coat on and laid again on the floor screaming. I swatted his little butt and sat him next to the wall to calm down. He sat there for a few minutes until he was calm and then lost it again when we left. My mom threatened to throw his chapstick away and told him to behave. He stopped. Defeated, we returned to the house. I took Aunt Jan over to her friends' house and did a few errands while mom sat with Ryan. He fell asleep by the back door waiting for me. We watched Ratatouille and he was pretty good, but every little thing would send him into a horrible tantrum. It was ugly and we were all frustrated.

Today was THE GOOD. Ryan woke up in a good mood, so we said some prayers and headed out to breakfast. He behaved, so we went to McDonalds to play and had a good time. Then I took him to play outside. We went for a walk, he drove his car down the sidewalk, saw the neighbor's bunnies, visited Anne and Gary, and had a good time. We came in, watched Scooby Doo, and he went down for his nap. He must have just been having a bad day yesterday.

We did have one bad incident - he and I were crossing the street today, we walked on top of a pile of snow, not knowing that the storm sewer was underneath. The snow broke loose, and my foot went down into the sewer and Ryan and I fell to our knees in the street. He was uninjured, but I am missing a huge chunk of skin on the back of my ankle. Ouch!

Daredevil

This is Ryan's Chatterbox Telephone car. He got it for his first birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Stein, which is when this picture was taken.

Last night I left the basement door open for 15 seconds, and Mr. Ryan decided to ride this car down the basement steps. I arrived in time to see him and the car cartwheel down the steps, end-over-end. He ended up face down on the floor with only a sore index finger to show for the catastrophe. He cried for about 45 seconds then asked to watch Scooby Doo.

I am rethinking my desire for a second child and thanking his guardian angel.

Yes, I'm Still Alive

I see that I haven't blogged since January 1. Good grief. It's been a busy six weeks and our computer is in the coldest room of our house, so I haven't been motivated to blog. Once I get the kid in bed and the house picked up, I crash. Our internet has been down for a week too, and the call queue for Qwest has been really long, so right now I am using someone on my street's wireless connection. Shame on them for not having a firewall.

What's new? Hmmm... Ryan and I had a play date with Rachel and the boys in January and that was fun, but Ryan did not want to share his GeoTrax trains so he was being naughty, and he still talks about Anthony whacking Chase with a plastic golf club. Diane and I are taking yoga on Monday nights, which I am really starting to love. We are looking for a smaller class though, there are so many people in my class that the teacher can't see if we are doing it right or not, and one week a Diane killed a cockroach before class started. Our teacher by the way, is Johnny Gosch's mom Noreen. Interesting.

I've been doing pretty well on my resolutions except I haven't ellipticalled in two weeks because Ryan is not falling asleep at night until like 10:30. He insists he is too big and his crib is too small. I am 2nd on my Lighten Up Iowa team for activity, but near the bottom of the heap for weight loss, although I can wear a smaller size. Odd.

I have also been home 3 times since I blogged. Once to see Grandpa for the last time, which I am glad I got to do, once for the funeral (he died 45 minutes after we got back to Des Moines), and once for my Aunt Merry's birthday party, where Ryan ran around like a crazy man for 2 hours and also stomped on his cousin's head. AAAAAH!

Other than that, I have been working like crazy at work, coloring with Ryan, and playing GeoTrax with Ryan. Those are his two favorite activities and his third is yammering all the time! Yesterday I took a few hours off and did a lot of shopping, and today I managed to clean the bathroom, finish Ryan's new curtains, and get rid of a lot of clothes in the attic. I am giving 6 Rubbermaids of clothes to Goodwill. I have had most of them since college and the first few years at DNR. I have been saving them for when I am that small again, but they are so out of style there's no point now!

The only other excitment around here is that Ryan has seen my grandpa at our house 3 times since he died. I totally believe him. At first it creeped me out, but now I just find it comforting. Grandpa even managed to find a lost toy for us, and put it in the middle of the room for us to find. I will have to tell you the whole story later. It's 5:45 pm now, and Ryan has been asleep for 3 hours. If I don't get him up now, he'll never sleep tonight.

Welcome 2008!

Ah, it's that sweet time on my day off when both my boys are down for their naps.... I passed the time catching up on my Vanity Fair reading and now I am putting my boxes of decorations (took them down last Saturday) in the attic, which requires some rearranging. Ryan and I passed a quiet New Year's Eve playing choo-choos and coloring. I was conked out by 10 pm, which was much better than last year when I got robbed!!

Here are my resolutions for 2008 - perhaps if I blog them, I will stick to them!

1. Be Frugal/Save Money - ah, those weekly trips to the Target dollar spot and to use my Michael's coupon add up. So do those trips through the drive-thru at lunch because I am too busy running errands to eat - see #4. Lots of things in our house are wearing out at the same time and we want to go on vacaction for our 10th anniversary in October, so we must be frugal and save. Todd is going to work on eating out less, which means I will have to cook more :(
2. Actually use my ellipitical machine - even if it is for only 10 minutes a day.
3. Stay hydrated. My worst habit. I usually don't even drink 8 oz of water a day.
4. Take time for me - take my lunch and actually read at lunchtime instead of running errands. Get a sitter some times. Diane and I are going to take a yoga class!
5. Reduce my pop consumption - this will help with #1.
6. Call and see my friends more often. I have the same friends (except Diane) that I have had since 1993. Why don't I spend more time with them? Too lazy to make an effort I guess, but not in 2008!

It's Christmas Time!

It is officially Christmas. We had Todd's parents up today for Christmas, and it was great fun. We had chili and potato soup, chili dogs, deviled eggs, and Christmas candy. Sandy also baked and decorated Ryan a snowman cake, and he made us put a candle in it so he could blow it out. I would post a pic, but my camera has died, so I am using disposable. Wish me luck.

We all made out like bandits. Especially me, who got a handmade green toile quilt!!!, Todd who got a handmade racing quilt! and Ryan who got a GeoTrax remote control train set!!! Of course, the gifts we had ordered for Mike and Sandy hadn't come in the mail yet....Ryan spent about 2.5 hours driving the train around and around. I can't believe a 2-yr old can run a remote control like that...but hey, he's pretty advanced :) Apparently, GeoTrax has a bunch of other train sets you can add to the tracks, and the funny thing is that my Mom already has one at her house. We didn't know it was a GeoTrax. Maybe she will let us bring it back.

Tomorrow we are off for the farm at 11:15. I am guessing we will leave more like noon. Usually I am ready early, and then I pace around while Todd runs late. It's tradition. We are taking 2 cars and leaving the jeep in Newton so I can drop Todd off at work on the way home Wednesday. This means we don't have to rush home on the 25th! Hooray. We have to stop in Indee along the way and visit the 3 Arnold siblings - Aunt Donna (87) at Assisted Living, Uncle Melvin (91) at the hospital, and Grandpa (92) at the home. I have goodies for all of them. It is depressing that Grandpa will be at the home for Christmas Eve and Day. I hate to say this, but I hope he sleeps through most of it so he's not lonely.

Ryan is pretty much cured, although he got too excited today and started hacking away, so I had to nebulize him. I Knew he was better this morning when he threw a cup of apple juice across the living room and I had to time-out him. Naughty means healthy. I was worried because yesterday was not good. He caughed so long and hard that he threw up in the nebulizer and down both of my legs. Disgusting.

I am attaching the pics of our trip to see Santa. Ryan wouldn't go near him, except Santa was giving away Little Debbies! Then Ryan rode the train, which for $1 is a pretty good deal. It goes around 5 times. Ryan rode in a car by himself, and all the other kids rode together in the engine. I was worried he would cry or escape, but he loved it. That's him, who you can barely see, in the yellow car.

Sick Baby

Bronchitis. Croup. Ear Infection. Simultaneously. Tired Baby. Tired Mommy.

Creepy Candidates

Okay, this caucus thing is getting out of hand. Today someone from Hillary's office stopped by my house in person and asked me if I needed a babysitter for caucus night. Actually, I do, but why would I let a complete stranger do it??

I am home with Ryan today. He has bronchiolitis - which I think is a kids version of bronchitis. He has a horrible cough. I call the Dr. at 8:05 and got an 8:30 appointment!! You can't beat that. I am wrapping my gifts while he naps. The phone has rung 4 times since he went down. AAAGH! Today was our holiday party at work, but oh well. Todd is at our IRS audit, so he couldn't stay home.

I know I am way behind on my blog. I spent all last week prepping for the Climate Change Council (see yesterday's DM Register front page - I organized the meeting) then was gone Sun - Mon for the meeting. I have 2 gifts + my bingo prizes left to buy and some cooking & grocery shopping to do Sat, but otherwise I am done. Ryan has made this a good Christmas season for me.

First Time Sledding

Last weekend I took Ryan home to see his Great-Grandpa just in case something were to happen before Christmas. It was a good visit. Ryan was good medecine for his sick Great-Grandpa. While we were there Aunt Heather brought over a sled and took Ryan for his first sledding adventure in the front yard. We did it in front of the picture window so everyone could watch. Ryan loved it and just asked today "Grandpa's? Zoom Again?"

Devastating News

This weekend started out exceptionally bad. Friday night my mom called to tell me that the doctors had finally figured out why my Grandpa Arnold is so tired all the time - he has a large tumor on his pancreas and nodules all over his lungs. They couldn't say for sure - but reading the handwriting on the wall - it is pancreatic cancer that has spread. They are going to the oncologist on Wednesday, but I'm guessing since Grandpa is 92.75 years old, he won't want to treat it. It is shocking - he is still sharp as a tack, lives on his own, mows his own lawn, etc. Needless to say, this is not good for anyone, and brings up a lot of horrible memories of my Grandma's long excrutiating battle with cancer 20 years ago.

I did not sleep well at all Friday night. Saturday Rachel and I were to take the boys to a Cookie Walk, but we decided to cancel. Ryan seemed to sense that we were trapped inside and was HYPER and NAUGHTY all day. It didn't help that I was on the phone a lot - my mom, my aunt, my sister, etc. At one point I was looking in the closet for something and noticed it was really quiet. I went out into the kitchen, and he was standing on the window ledge above the kitchen counter cleaning the window with a sponge. I screamed so loud that I startled him and he fell out of the window. I managed to catch him. Another time, I went to the bathroom and when I came back he was playing in his crib. He had scaled the side of it and dove in.

He was a lot tamer today and somehow this weekend I managed to get the tree up and 75% of my cards done. I only put 50% of our decorations out since he keeps moving them around. I estimate that Todd and I have about 175 ornaments plus the regular glass balls, and most of them are glass. Atleast I will have less to put away at the end of the month. He calls it "his tree" and the tiny ceramic one on the piano is "mommy's tree".

Well, time to sign off and go to bed. I have an IRS audit of Stein's to look forward to this week!
Yee-haw!

Some Cheery Pictures

Here are some cheery pictures from Thanksgiving Day. We stayed home for Thanksgiving because of Todd's schedule. We had planned to have Diane and Brian over for dinner, but Brian had emergency surgery the day before and had 2.5 feet of his intestine removed - so it was just us most of the day. It was pretty laid back. Todd slept until about 3 pm, so Ryan and I played both inside and outside most of the day. He is obsessed with Santa, particularly our inflatible Santa. Every morning we deflate it and he jumps around singing "Santa Nap! Santa Nap!". Then we drive to school and he tells every single kid "Santa Nap! Santa Nap!". Every night the only way I can get him to leave daycare is to say "It's time to wake up Santa!" . Then we go home and I plug Santa in, he inflates, and Ryan runs around saying "I see Santa! "I see Santa!" Thn I have to drag him inside kicking and screaming :)
Ryan was quite perplexed by the snow. He kept touching it with his mittens and saying "Wet! Wet!" Please note, we are not Raiders fans, but a free coat is a free coat.

About 1 pm I started cooking our turkey. I didn't have to put the sides in the oven until about 5 pm. Diane came over about 6 pm, and we ate. I went to move the turkey with the tongs from the roasting pan to cutting board, and the turkey fell apart and bounced on the counter. Stuffing squirted everywhere! It was messy, but dang that turkey was moist!

Christmas Kickoff

Friday night Rachel and I took the boys to Jordan Creek for the lighting of the Christmas tree. Luckily, it was a warm night. We got there 30 minutes early and parked. We had to walk quite a ways, but we were able to stake out a bench very close to the tree between On the Border and Joe's Crab Shack. Rachel fed the boys snacks (this bad mom forgot hers) and then Ryan and I walked almost the full lenght of the lake to find the free cookie booth. After the boys had their cookies, they ran around like crazy men in the grass next to Joe's with the other kids. I'm sure there were probably 1000's of people there, but it wasn't too crowded at our end since most of the people were at the opposite end by the bleachers. Finally, after the 30-minute Blenders concert, the started the countdown and lit the tree. It was very exciting. Then the fireworks started. They were awesome. They were almost more impressive than the 4th of July, and they lasted a really long time. At first, Ryan shook his head and said No! No!, and then he laid his head on my shoulder. But I noticed after a few minutes that he was watching them and smiling. They were really beautiful over the lake. We were right under them, which was a little scary. We decided the mall would be too crowded after them, so we went to McDonalds so the kids could play. They had so much fun going down the big pink slide. They played for about an hour. Ryan was all hot and sweaty. Then Rachel dropped us off, and I got Ryan ready for bed and he was out like a light. What a fun outing!

I've Been Tagged

Jen tagged me. Of course she tagged everyone I know, so I have no one to tag! Here's the deal:

THE RULES:1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Here are my 7 facts:

1. I have an unusually high pain threshold. I was off pain killers 3 days after my c-section. The nurses couldn't believe my chart.

2. The most disgusting taste in the world to me is almond flavoring. It triggers my gag reflex. I despise Dutch letters.

3. I am afraid of being buried alive or being put in prison for a crime I didn't commit.

4. I am traumatized by baking pie. We had to bake one and enter the 4-H pie baking contest each year. They auctioned them off, and after 8 years of seeing other peoples' pies sell for $200 (their parents were showoffs) and mine sell for $20, I can not bear to bake a pie. Except for pumpkin at Thanksgiving. Pumpkin was not allowed in the contest - so no trauma.

5. I have mud-wrestled a pig at the Buchanan County Fair.

6. My favorite food in the world is appetizers - any kind - but best are olives and foods containing mayo or cream cheese.

7. Sometimes I drink soy sauce straight from the bottle.

8. A bonus fact - I have asymmetrical optic nerves. They don't match. Apparently this is usually a sign of gluacoma, but in my case, it just means I'm a freak.

Stressed

As you can tell from my recent posts - I am stressed at work. So I have transferred my stress to obsessing about cleaning my house and baking birthday cakes. I scrubbed all the baseboards and walls in the dining room before Ryan's birthday and washed the curtains. I told my mom that I scrubbed the baseboards, and she said "And did all your guests comment on how clean your baseboards were?". Crap. She's right. I need to get some rest and focus on what really matters. My Aunt Kathy (ok, she's Todd's aunt, but she's my aunt now!) also sent me this:

Written on my chalk board in the kitchen I have " Elephants can't jump" & that is to remind me that no matter how magnifigant they are, with great stregnth, grace, power, balance, memory, emotion, etc -- they can't do it all -- which is why they can't jump. And we can't do it all either, even though we try very hard -- we are only human.

So - all you supermoms out there - remember that elephants can't jump and no one cares if your baseboards are dirty. Now go kiss your babies.

Crazy Week Ahead

I usually lead a pretty boring life, but this week is going to be nuts. Of course, this only happens 3 times a year - right before I go to an all day crop. Combined with my usual solo Mom gig (except for Monday) - I usually end up being totally exhausted by the time I get there. I will have to try to go to bed early all week. HA! HA! Like that's going to happen.

Monday - pretty calm - Todd's night off.
Tuesday - Halloween Party at Franklin library and trick-or-treating.
Wednesday - Halloween Party at work (I'm in charge of it), frantically clean and buy refreshments for P Chef party.
Thursday - All day meeting with Industry at work that I am in charge of. This requires panty hose. Pampered Chef party at 6:30 pm.
Friday - maybe babysit for 18 month old down the street. Maybe her mom forgot that I offered? Pack for crop
Saturday - crop 9 am - Midnight ( H and I are planning to quit after supper so I my in-laws can go home)
Sunday - babyshower 3 hours away at 1 pm (I might have to go up and back in one day! - 6 hrs in car -joy)
Monday - back to work

Ryan's 2nd Birthday

Ryan's 2nd 2nd birthday was great fun. Cake #2 turned out awesome - it is all homemade - the train is made out of chocolate. He loooooved it. The party was at 3 pm, but he was keyed up all day. The last guests left at 6:30, and he conked out about 15 minutes later.

Today I took him to get his 2 year pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. I was impressed that I got my pictures in 20 minutes, but I spent about 4 x what I usually spend at JcPenney's. This is the first time that Ryan has not cooperated. It was horrible - he cried, clung, ran away. They did manage to get some good ones though. The head-and-shoulder ones are his best ever. While we waited for them to print, we hit Archivers. It is sooo overwhelming. I spent this afternoon cleaning my craft area and ironing his Halloween costume and my kitchen curtains. I washed them so no one at my P Chef part would see the dust. Tomorrow is Ryan's Harvest party at school, and I am going to send him in a bear costume we got from Riley. I don't want his pirate one to get ruined!

Grandma and Grandpa Stein got Ryan an electric car for his birthday. He drove it around for about 15 minutes before the steering column broke :( I can't believe how fast he got the hang of it.

You can take the boy out of danger, but you can't take the danger out of the boy.

I believe this picture says it all.

And yes, I was a bad mother and took a picture before I made him get down!

Scenes from Birthday Party #1

Coloring with Uncle Kurt - Ryan adores him and asked where he was every time Kurt left the room.
Sticking his fingers in the cool aquarium cake Mommy made him (Grandma baked it, Mommy decorated it.)
Learning how to say I'm Two! from Aunt Heather.

Herding Cows with Grandpa in the truck. All of this happened up at the farm last weekend. I took Ryan up for the weekend, and we did all this fun stuff plus we went to the park and went out for Mexican. It was a lot of fun, and Ryan was very behaved. I think everyone got a kick out of how much he talks now. The cake turned out too - which I was very happy about.

Ads

In case you haven't noticed, I have let Blogger put ads on my blog. Supposedly you can earn a lot of money this way, but since there are only 7 people that read my blog on a regular basis (H, Mom, Kathy, the 3 Beymer ladies, and Rachel) I doubt I am earning much dough. However, I am getting a kick out of the ads. If I complain about my weight, the ads all switch to weight loss products. If I mention Ryan, they all switch to baby ads. Today they were all ads for Halloween costumes. It almost makes me want to post something really raunchy to see what they advertise for that!

Hi Aunt Kathy!

This post is for Aunt Kathy. She collects elephants and loves elephants so I have to post a pic of Ryan on the elephant for her. She also is an avid blog reader! She also has left me several nice messages that I have been too lazy to return (or too busy with Ryan?) and sent us a nice anniversary card. I'm sorry for being such a slacker niece!

Look What Was in My Can of Peanuts!

Look what crawled out of my can of peanuts! A curious little boy!

Tonight was Ryan's lucky night. Mommy was so tired that he got to watch 3 episodes of Curious George. Ryan is so warm and delicious, and I am so chilly that I almost hated to put him in bed.

Somehow I have managed to read the newest Stephanie Plum novel Lean Mean Thirteen and finish all of Ryan's costume except the sash in the past 24 hours. Plus we had a big public meeting today at work that I had to bake cookies for. I was bummed about the meeting - because of it I couldn't take time off to see the fire truck. Teri Ann got the Johnston Fire Dept to send over 3 firemen and a big fire truck to day care this morning. All of the kids got to climb up in the truck. I guess Ryan climbed up, got scared, and started crying. I am thinking this is what will happen at the farm this weekend. He will probably love watching the combine, but not want to get up in it. I am pretty impressed with Teri Ann though. The kids have been studying community helpers for the past two weeks, and last week she had someone from the Coast Guard come over in uniform and give a presentation. Ryan got a certificate saying he had completed Preschool Water Safety Training. I though that was pretty funny considering he still chugs bathwater on a regular basis.

I have to go to the shrink in the morning for my checkup. It is pretty lame. They ask you a series of really basic questions like are you sleeping? eating? feeling sad? looking forward to things? ok? - here's your prescription - see you in 4 months. I don't know how they can tell anything by your answers. It takes less than 10 minutes.

Uh-Oh

I just finished sewing the crotch in Ryan's pirate pants --- and one of the legs is inside out!!!
Crap. Off to find my seam ripper.

Average Saturday

Not much new to report. It's just an average Saturday for me. This morning Ryan and I vacuumed and then hit Target and the grocery store, and we've spent the rest of the day alternately playing and sitting in time-out. AAAH! He's lucky he's cute. You can't even tell I vacuumed this morning! Now when you say, "Ryan do you need a time out?" in your gruffest voice, he says "Yeah." and walks over to the wall. Once today he was so out of control, I asked him if he needed to go to bed. He said yes, so he sat in there for a while.

I make him sound worse than he is. He is good 90% of the time. He is hilarious. He repeats everything you say now but sometimes get things mixed up. He still thinks any kind of fruit is an apple, and tomatoes too.

I did start working on his pirate outfit during nap time. I have most of the pieces cut out. I still have to cut out the sleeves and then sew everything together. Maybe I will take Ryan out for supper tonite - I'm really hungry for salad or Chinese..... I did discover that I cant eat rice-a-roni. We had it for lunch, and my blood sugar was higher afterward than it has been in 4 years!

Where is Ryan?

Where is Ryan? Hiding in the neighbor's wiegela bushes of course! I lost him for a few minutes this weekend. He had crawled in the bushes looking for kitties.

Ryan continues to be his crazy self. He wants to walk around the block all the time, and if there are any kids outside on the block he has to go see them. He is going to become the neighborhood pest! He is still testing me all the time. I have started to crack down in the past week. After 5 time outs during one meal, I have almost broken him of getting out of his chair during supper. He is also talking a mile a minute in sentences, spends about 45 minutes a night in the bathtub, and we spend about an hour a night reading books. I'm exhausted.

Isn't it Gorgeous?

Happy 9th Anniversary today to me and Todd. Todd out did himself and got me the new Autumn Leaves Crop in Style bag from Archivers!!! And even more impressive, he found Archivers all by himself. He is not known for his sense of direction. I think I am going to use it as a purse so I can use it every single day. I have been salivating over it, but was too cheap to buy it, so he got it for me. It's so beautiful I had to take a picture.

We celebrated Monday. I took the afternoon off so we could have lunch and go to a movie. On the positive side, we enjoyed each other's company (after we agreed not to discuss the bar). On the negative side, we ate lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and the ribs tasted like beef jerkey, and we saw the worst movie ever. By the time we made it to the mall, the only option available was Eastern Promises, a Russian mob movie. We like the Sopranos, so we figured what the heck. It was horrible. We almost walked out after the first 15 minutes. It was incredibly violent and incredibly boooooooring. It also featured an exceptionally bloody emergency c-section, which neither of us handled too well. And the much-touted male full-frontal nudity amounted to a naked man getting the crap beat out of him while his parts dangled in the breeze and blood dripped down his butt crack. Ugh. Back on the positive side, after the movie we went shopping for Ryan's birthday presents, which was fun.

Other than that, nothing much is new. I am drowning in greenhouse gas business at work. I have been so busy that I haven't even had time to talk to Diane since Friday!!! October is going to be crazy at work and home, which is amazing because I never have anything to do on the weekend. I have two birthday cakes to decorate, a trip to the farm, our first trick-or-treating, a trip to the pumpkin patch, a weddding, and I am in charge of the Halloween party at work. I am also sewing Ryan's costume. He is going to be a pirate. I even got him a fake parrot to sew on his shoulder!

I saw on dmmoms.com that there is going to be kids consignment sale at the Fairgrounds next weekend. Check it out:

http://www.take2.com/take2/Shop?Dsp=200010&PCR=1:31:311

I think if you sign up for their newsletter you can get early shopper passes.

Nice Weekend

My parents came down for a visit this weekend, which was very nice. We had a lot of fun with Ryan, although he had his moments. Friday night we had BLT's for supper, ran to Target and read lots and lots of books. Saturday we went to the craft show at the Fairgrounds and had a picnic at the Grey's Lake playground. Ryan didn't eat a bit of his lunch, but went down the tall slide lots of times. The picnic ended abruptly when Ryan took off towards the water. I yelled for his to stop, but he didn't listen. I finally caught the back of his shirt, knocking him down. We immediately went home because he was naughty. That afternoon my dad put up our new medicine cabinet - so WE FINALLY HAVE A LIGHT THAT WORKS in the bathroom. Poker ladies - no more peeing in the dark.

This morning we went to HyVee and Ryan actually ate part of a pancake. But then he ran the length of an aisle with me chasing him...... AAAH!

I have been attempting to crop this afternoon while Ryan sleeps, but I'm just not into it. I have been quite frazzled, so maybe I will just kick back.

Ryan: A Self-Portrait

Martha Stewart Eat Your Heart Out - Part 2

I am Martha - hear me ROAR! I won the chili/soup contest at work. I beat 11 other soups. Hee-hee. This is my 3rd victory. My name is mud around the office.

Chug-a Chug-a Choo-Choo!

Happy Week

The Bride and the "Wedding Coordinator".

Dancing Daddies - Chip and Todd with Caelin and Chaelinn Barbour.

This past week was much better. There were excellent test results for all, and the wedding went off without a hitch. You can get much better than finding out two of your favorite people just have lumps of dead tissue instead of cancer!


I was surprised to find out that Wedding Coordinators get corsages, get to have their picture taken with the bride, get to sit at the head table, and give toasts! It was a nice surprise. And of course, since I helped pick out all three kinds of cake I had to taste them again...


Sunday I drove to Chicago for a Climate Registry meeting on Monday. I picked Mom up in Iowa City, and she shopped while I was at the meeting. I got to go to IKEA but it seemed like a letdown, and I only spent $7. Let me tell you, driving to Chicago and back with no cruise control really SUCKS!


Today I have been trying to recover from Chicago. Todd gave Ryan a haircut tonight, which means I was in charge of holding him down. Now I need to peruse the Fisher Price web site for a birthday gift for Ryan. He destroyed my catalog.

Don't Forget

Don't forget to watch Britney at the VMA's tonight. I assume it will be like watching a train wreck. That crazy ho should have her kids taken away from her.

Crappy Week

Overall, it was a crappy week. I did get some croppin' done on Monday until Ryan got back from Oskaloosa, so that was nice. Ryan had a good time, but got worn out with Grandma and Grandpa and has been off his sleeping schedule and crabby all week. It also didn't help that the new kid at daycare screamed all thru nap time everyday. Ryan is also still cutting molars so that leads to extra crabbiness.

Yesterday I took him to a baby shower. He wasn't bad, but he ran around the hallway the entire time. I just can't get him to sit. If I would have made him, he would have screamed and disrupted everything. At lease he was quitely rambunctious. I always worry that people are judging me though.

Today he has been a very good boy. Since it is so nice I took him to Ashby Park this morning and ran him around so he will have a good, long nap. He was cute - he ran over to the wading pool and starting taking his shoes off before he realized the water was gone. He ran all over the pool testing it out saying "All Gone!" Of course he wasn't satisfied with the toddler equipment either. He had to climb all over the equipment for ages 5 - 12 and climb up the big ladder and go down the long spiral slide all by himself.

There are multiple reasons it was a crappy week - Ryan crabby, air conditioner broke, sump pump clogged, Todd sick, bar doing miserably etc, but the worst was that our good friend Brian aka Gilk almost died last Monday at his bachelor party. He had a blood infection, fever of 103, and a blood pressure so low that it couldn't be measured. Luckily Burke got him to the hospital on Monday afternoon (even though he had been sick since Saturday and none of the other bachelor partiers, including my husband, took him to the doctor even though they could tell he was sick). He was in the ICU for 5 days and it was very scary. Especially since he and Diane are getting married next Saturday! I saw him yesterday though and he looked and acted like himself. They are still waiting for some test results, but he may be able to get out on Tuesday. They still don't know what caused the infection. I was so worried about him and Diane. And, my mom is having some test results next week, so that has me worried too. One of the benefits to a crabby toddler is that he likes to be rocked, and rocking has settled my nerves.

Let's hope for a good week this week - good test results for all, cooler weather, and seeing Diane and a healthy Brian get married on Saturday!

Martha Stewart Eat Your Heart Out!

The inner-4H'er in me prevailed, and I was able to whip out my valances. I am Martha - hear me roar! I even managed to thread the machine and bobbin in record time. I wouldn't enter them in any sewing contests, but they will work, and they gave the dining room the little "umph" it needed. Okay, so may be I'm the one that needed the "umph". I have been itching to put in hardwood flooring and repaint the dining room, but sadly no $$$. So, I think if I wash the walls again (thanks for the jello stains Ryan) and shampoo the carpet, I can control the itch.

Now that the curtains are done, I am hoping to do some croppin'. Ryan is staying overnight with Grandpa and Grandma so I can have some time to myself, and Todd is camping out with AZX for the Brians' bachelor party. It is also the perfect time to crop, since all that stuff is upstairs where the window air conditioner is. Our central air is on the fritz. It works for a few hours at a time, but then the pipe freezes up, so we have turned it off for now.

Ooh - I forgot to tell you - these curtains are even better because the fabric was only $1 a yard. I bought it off the clearance rack months ago. I also got a pattern to make Ryan's Halloween costume. It should cost me less than $5 to make.

AAAAAAH!

I am attempting to make some valances for my dining room windows without using a pattern. It is not going well. Apparently I am incapable of cutting 6 pieces of fabric to the same size.
I may have to abandon ship.

This and a trip to the grocery store is all I have to do this weekend. Todd is working and going to the 2 Brians' bachelor weekend.

Blogger Has Video!

Since you can upload video to Blogger now, here is a video of my spinning baby from last year. You've got to watch the whole thing - he gets really fast at the end. And no, I did not speed this up. It is in real time.

Too Cute!!

Is this not the cutest thing ever? It is the "smore" that Ryan made at school (daycare). They are doing a unit on camping, so Teri Ann had them make smores out of cardboard, cotton balls, and brown tissue paper. It looks just like the real thing!

Ryan is doing well, but is cranky, cranky, cranky. He is cutting his 2-yr-old molars which caused him to have a 101.4 fever for three days. He is still obsessed with the doo-doos, but is also obsessed with coloring and sidewalk chalk. We have to follow a certain procedure when drawing. First, I have to draw him a choo-choo, then a kitty or as he says, "titty", then a fishy, next a bug, a happy face for Daddy, and a happy face for Mommy. Then Ryan scribbles all over them and we repeat. And repeat. And repeat. This all has to be done together as Ryan seems to have lost his ability to play by himself. He also wants to be rocked to sleep again, which I don't particulary mind! He is also living on pudding and not much else. He also begs for gookies (cookies). I let him have some juice when he was sick so now he keeps asking for duice.

When Rachel and the boys were over I picked my first big red tomato. Ryan yelled Apple! and bit the end out of it. Then he promptly spit it out!

Phooey!!

Crap. I accidentally deleted my pictures from the State Fair and from Ryan's playdate with Anthony and Chase last night. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Ryan and I are going to my parents' tomorrow afternoon for the weekend for my parents' 40th anniversary. I am really looking forward to it, but just once I would like a little help traveling with a toddler. By the time I get laundry done, the car packed, work on Friday, then drive up there, I am usually exhausted and just crash.

The playdate last night went well. Ryan and Anthony actually played together and acted like they liked each other. We are making progress! Chase was sweet as always, and I always have a good time with Rachel. We like to commiserate about the workload of motherhood. I also managed to pawn off an eggplant and some tomatoes on her!

Our trip to the State Fair on Monday was hot, hot, hot. I worked in the Discovery Garden from 12 - 4 and roasted. I forgot to take a hat and Ryan broke my sunglasses so I tried to stand in the shade. We did have a good time looking at animals and going to the new Knapp building before my shift. But the thing that Ryan was most impressed with was all the golf carts zipping about.

Weigh Loss Woes

I am really stuggling. After reaching a loss of 42 pounds in March, the weight is creeping back on. It is very upsetting to me. Basically, I slacked off and quit being vigilant about what I was eating and how much I was exercising. Then last month I started binging again at night. Oy.
Two weeks ago, I rededicated myself and have starting writing down what I eat, drinking more water, and being more careful. I am starting to get back on track. I have also been to my support group two weeks in a row and have even trekked upstairs to the nurse to get weighed. Now, if I can just start exercising again. I guess if you are like me, you have to be vigilant every single day. How frustrating.

I am also frustrated with Ryan. I have been very careful to (hopefully) teach him good eating habits, but now he doesn't eat anything except a granola bar in the morning, a few little snacks, and a few bites of yogurt for supper. Maybe it's just a phase ... he is very muscular though. I just don't want him to get diabetic like me and most of my family.

The good news is that I still have very tight control over my diabetes. I am down to two pills a day, and hopefully at my next appoinment they will lower the dosage. I would just like to know what it is like to not to obsess about my weight fifty times a day or associate my weight with my self-worth.

Onward and upward! We are going to the Fair tomorrow, so that should be a challenge.

I Can Be Such an Idiot!

During our vacation, I purchased my first new car since I got Old Blue in 1994. I got a 2005 Kia Spectra5, and I like it very much.

Yesterday was the first time that I have driven it out of Des Moines, and I discovered that it HAS NO CRUISE CONTROL!!!!! What kind of idiot buys a new car and doesn't check to make sure it has cruise control?? AAAAH!!!

Aching Back? Ryan Will Fix It!

Microsoft Class Action Settlement

Don't forget to file a claim against Microsoft. It is really easy. Just go to http://www.iowamicrosoftcase.com and fill it out online.

Every computer you buy has Windows preloaded, so you can file a claim for Windows which is worth$16. All you need to know for the first $100 in claims is the year you bought your computer and where you bought it.

July Photos