From 4-wheelers to Croup

The week started out really well. On Sunday I got a call from my Dad inviting us out. He had something he wanted to show the kids that he thought they'd really like. So, after a bath for them, shower for me, and some clean-up time, we headed over. Turns out my Dad decided to buy a small 4-wheeler! I told him that it was his birthday and we were supposed to get gifts for him, not the other way around. (His birthday was on Monday.)

I took some pictures of the kiddos to make a card for my dad, but then my printer wouldn't cooperate to print the card. Here is the awesome photo I got of Blake and Julia. Chase wanted no part of being photographed ... little stinker! I have one with Blake holding him while he was screaming in protest, but won't post it here, lol.




Credits: Leaves of Green Paper Pack and Leaves of Green Element Pack by Sarah Meyer at www.gottapixel.net

All 3 of the kids were super excited about the 4-wheeler. Blake got to drive it around the driveway and in the yard a bit. That is all it will be used for until Blake is old enough to drive it on trails, really. Unfortunately, my Dad says by the time they are old enough to drive them on the trails, they end up being too big for the 4-wheeler! How weird to bother making a 4-wheeler that can't even be used properly.




DOT reg helmets! Thanks, Papa!


Just sitting ... Julia can't ride it yet.


Poor Chase was so jealous.


Papa wore the safety strap so that if Blake got to going too fast it would kill the engine. He walked/jogged along side the whole time. He is such an awesome Papa!

It was a beautiful day -- the weather is getting close to 60 degrees and the snow is almost all melted except in shady spots. The kids rode around on bicycles and played on the swing set. We drew a few hopscotch boards on the driveway too. I, of course, took lots of pictures. Then we had our first cook-out of the new year. Brats and hamburgers ... yum!!





Sunday night everything went perfectly normally except that Chase coughed rather harshly when I put him to bed. Tyler said, "Since when has he been coughing?" I said, "Since now!" The cough didn't sound good at all, and when I was up again with him at 3:00 in the morning I pretty much had it figured out ... croup. A short spell on the steps outside at 3 am helped him for just a little bit. So, I picked up the phone with a very warm and clingy 2 year old in my lap and called in to work. I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep, and I was right. Monday afternoon, after Chase's nap, we went to the new Urgent Care center nearby. It was nearly empty but definitely beautiful. I wished they had something for the kids to do, but at the same time was grateful that there was nothing for them to collect or deposit more germs on. Chase was NOT impressed about this trip at all. He even freaked about getting his O2 sats checked with the pulse oximeter (man, do I wish I had one of these for when I am worried about Chase's heart rate), which is just a little bandaid like sticker stuck around his toe with a wire to a box that reads his pulse and oxygen levels somehow. (It was 95% and his heart rate was 160 ... he was screaming and very mad so I wasn't surprised about the rate.) After talking with the doctor I learned Chase's tonsils were huge in addition to his expected croup. So, he needed a strep test and an X-ray to rule out where the infection was. Everything pointed to croup, and because Chase was having trouble swallowing and was so miserable (100.7 temp), he got the steroid shot. I asked about whether Blake or Julia could get this, and she said they could but it wouldn't be as bad as his because their airways are bigger. And she said adults can get it too, but we usually get a cough and lose our voices and that's the extent of it.

Well, she was right ... except I haven't lost my voice yet, and the kids have been rather miserable -- ok, me too. Blake decided at the last minute to stay home from school on Tuesday, and Julia has been quite a bit off today though it wasn't a school day for her anyway. I got ready for work this morning and took Blake to school. After I dropped him off I coughed hard enough to almost get sick, and just in general felt awful (I ache all over) so I picked up my cell phone and called my supervisor and told her that I'd changed my mind and just couldn't come to work. Stinks because I already missed Monday! Here it is almost 10 pm and I'm not thinking I will be well enough to go to work tomorrow either. :( Tyler's response, "Cool, no daycare at all this week, then!" I bet we will be charged anyway ... didn't have the heart to tell him.

I'm supposed to take pictures at a baby shower this weekend. Unless we all start feeling better very soon I won't be able to do it. I feel awful because they asked me especially to do it. I was just thinking this past weekend how we all needed to stay healthy. And I've been trying to learn more about my camera since I found out about the photo-taking opportunity too. I will be sad if I can't be there. :(

So, anyway, thanks for reading my babbling ... especially if you've made it all this way. I hope the pictures made up for my boring narrative. :) I'm off to bed. Hopefully I will feel much better, and Julia too ... I have a feeling we'll both be home tomorrow, though. :( Please send us GO AWAY GERMIES vibes!!! :)

Tax time ...

For the past few years, I have looked forward to tax time. Neither DH or I have any exemptions on our paychecks, so we both get the full amount taken out. It works like a savings account in a way, because we always end up getting money back at the end of the year. I know we could increase the exemptions and get more take home out of our checks, but this works for us right now (not the greatest savers).

This year, though, is special because we are getting out of credit card debt with our tax return. It is such an awesome feeling to know that starting in April (because I'll get one last statement from these two cards in March for interest) we will be out of that kind of debt. Next is to pay off my car loan ... and that is due to happen in September this year, and finish off my student loan. Our total debt is under $6,000 right now, split about evenly between the car loan and student loan.

I'm also trying to put at least 10% out of each paycheck in savings. I just started this, so we'll see how it goes and I will try to increase it of course, but I think at least 10% can be done, and having no more credit card payments should make this possible too. I've been putting extra on my student loan payments for the past few months too. If you can't guess, I want to get in a better and safer financial situation in a big way.

Saving sounds wonderful, but I do have to admit I have this nagging feeling in the back of my brain that this is just too good to be true. Something is going to go wrong. The washing machine hasn't been sounding great for a long time, but I already know that the repairman would just say it would cost as much to buy a new one, and Tyler's car keeps having new issues, and my computer has been slowing down. And, I want to buy this house (Tyler keeps going back and forth on me). I am going to work on our saving money, but will it be enough? We only have one short year at best to get this going because of the way the loan for this house worked. It would be awful if we had to move out because we couldn't gather enough funds for a down-payment due to semi-unexpected expenses.

So, while I am celebrating our big accomplishment with debt, I still can't help but worry. Isn't that sad? I suppose worrying about financing is just like being a mom and worrying about your kids ... which leads rather nicely into my next topic if you can read the journaling on this layout:



I know that I just finished talking about saving, but this is something that I don't do much of either ... buying things for myself. I've been wearing the same winter coat since the late 90's, and the only spring coat I own is one that my mom gave me last summer that she'd purchased while working on embroidery stuff. So, there is an upcoming challenge about scrapping about something you learned today ... and I scrapped about how sometimes a mom just has to take care of herself. :)

Thanks for reading my babbling!
~Melinda

Published! :)

This is long overdue, but I need to celebrate some pages that have been published!

I submit pages on almost a monthly basis to The Artisan Notebook for consideration for their non-print magazines. The magazines are in PDF format, downloadable, and reasonably priced. I didn't get how cool they were until I actually read one, so if you've never read one, I recommend purchasing just one to see what it's all about. :)

Their recent call was for journaling layouts ... and if you know me, you know that I LOVE to journal. I think it is important to tell the story so that the pictures have meaning. Otherwise, I'd just have a photo album! KWIM (know what i mean)? So, I scrap, and I journal. :)

Here are 3 pages that I submitted that were selected to be in the issue with links underneath for full credits:


One Fell Swoop at Gotta Pixel


Swing, Blake! at Gotta Pixel


Christmas Turds at Gotta Pixel

So woot-woot! I'm very excited and honored to have 3 layouts in this issue!

He is so adorable!

Ok, so I know every mother thinks this about their little kids, but sometimes it is just so true, you know?

Chase has been busily watching Noggin tonight which has some of his favorite shows. He loves "Wow Wow Wubbzy" and "The Upside-Down Show" amng many others. When talking about Blues Clues, he makes the Blues Clues gesture ... opening and closing both hands in a 5 symbol on beat with each word. That is cute in itself. Then, tonight, on the Upside-Down show they have to ring a doorbell to open the door. He mimicked the doorbell sound, and said, "Come in!" just like the door always says. He was giggling at the silliest stuff. It's just so fun to watch him enjoy these shows. He's getting so smart, too. (We'll just make this a little brag post about Chase, ok?)

A cute story about pick-up at daycare today. I walked into the house and the kids were ready in their coats as usual (they must be in a rush to get them out of there?) ... and the sitter's little girl who is younger than Chase by a bit came over and said, "Mama!" pointing at me. She does this a lot. I think she means, "Your mama!" but she just says, "Mama!" Today, however, Chase noticed what she said and said, "MY mama!" Not YOUR mama, MY mama! It was just so cute, you had to be there, lol.

He knows several of his colors already. He knows red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple, and pink! He goofs them up sometimes, but he knows them most of the time. He also recognizes squares, triangles, circles ... I'm impressed. He does a pretty good job with the Leapster 2 in the coloring screens, and he holds pencils and markers nearly correctly ... with either hand (though we both think he'll be a lefty ... crossing our fingers!!!) :)

He's into naming everything (rocket ship [ocket sip]! monster truck [moster shuck]! choo-choo train [choo-choo tain]!), and has been working on getting himself potty trained too. He does a good job of using the potty ... he just forgets sometimes or is too busy doing something to stop to go potty. I feel confident, though, that he'll be potty trained before 3 years old. He even wakes up dry sometimes! So cool! He's also very independent ... which has its ups and downs ... check out this photo. I took it on a night where he decided to help himself to cereal. He wanted to do it hisself (but mommy helped)!





He's my "Bless you" baby when I sneeze (before anyone else), and he loves to give hugs and kisses. He is just the sweetest little boy (except when he's tired or stubborn and then he's not so sweet, lol). I just love my little sunshine, and he was due for a brag post! Hee hee!

~Melinda

Time to update I think, lol

Well, I'm directing people to my blog to see this new blog set in action ... and realized my last post is dated in December and January is well on its way to being done, so its time for an update! I'll try to fill in some pictures from Christmas soon.

Things have been crazy around here. We've ALL been sick with the stomach/intestinal virus that has been going around. It was awful. I spent a week with a sore back before I finally got sick-sick. Blake and Julia both took turns getting sick at daycare -- sorry Tonja and Melissa -- and Chase had some awful diapers that kept him home, too. I *think* we are all over it now, though!

I made some changes to help me keep up with things at home. I had to leave two of my creative teams to do it, though. I am no longer creating pages for Kathryn Estry or Michelle Pieters, but they are still both wonderful designers and friends, and if you haven't seen their stores yet, please check out Divine Digital, Digitals or Gotta Pixel for Kathryn, and NDISB or Digitals for Michelle. I will have to settle with being a big fan for now. :) With Tyler working so much, I really need less duties at the computer so that I can get other things done at home ... like dishes and laundry. :)

I am still in the ADSR Season 4 -- Amazing Digital Scrapbooking Race -- at NDISB. My partner is none other than the fabulous owner of Gotta Pixel (my scrapping home), Stacy Carlson! Her layouts are amazing and its an honor to be racing with her. We have 5 of the 6 challenges completed, and I know challenge 6 is on its way too. So, we're doing great! You can see my pages in the gallery at Gotta Pixel, and at NDISB if you are curious.

Other than being sick, things aren't much different around here. The Christmas tree came down on the 1st of January, and we're finally able to go outside without starting the car 20-30 minutes beforehand again. 20 never felt so warm, lol.

Well, I have things I need to do, so off I go ... just wanted to have a newer post to show off this fancy new blog wear! :)

Thanks for reading,
Melinda

Trimming the Tree

Yes, I know it's a little late. In fact, I am actually adding these pictures on January 4th, 2009. Oops. But, better late than never. :)

With Tyler working so much, relying on him to bring the Christmas Tree up from the basement was proving to be a LONG wait. I had a feeling it would be Christmas Eve before the tree came up. So, one night I made up my mind and I brought it up myself. OUCH! Man, that thing is heavy for one person to bring up the stairs. It fought me all the way, and Blake helped me up the last bit of stairs where it gets a bit narrow to maneuver. The kids were very excited to see the tree, but it had to wait several more days for me to get the lights out of the basement. I HATE putting up the lights. I always think of that parody of "The 12 Days of Christmas" with the line "hanging up the lights!" about the 12 not-so-great things about Christmas. LOL.

Anyway, I brought up all of the lights on the 18th of December, only to discover that my light strands were all half-working. *SIGH* So, with the kids wound up out of their minds and Tyler left behind with them (hee hee hee), I went to Shopko to get lights. And they were out. So, I bought a few other things (of course) and then went to Wal-Mart where I bought three sets of 200 light strands. Hey, what can I say? I think my mom said she usually put 700 lights on this tree, so I figured 600 should suffice. To make a long story shorter, we only ended up putting 400 lights on the tree ... Tyler helped me and made it much more bearable ... we played jump rope over the top of the tree as we wound the lights around the tree ... and the kids were in bed before it was finished. LOL

So, we put ornaments on a different night, which is what you see here. *PHEW!* If you read all of my blabbering, I applaud you ... and apologize because I know it is probably similar to your own light-stringing story. :)

Blake wanted to put the ornaments on the top of the tree ... he used the step ladder.


Julia wanted to put all of her favorite ornaments next to each other ... I bet so they could have a conversation! ROFLMBO!


And every child of mine has fallen for the lollypop ornament ... this was Chase's turn:


Thanks for looking! :)

Lightroom...

We were on our way to go meet Tyler for lunch. We had just had our second "sticking" snowfall of the winter. The kids played instead of getting in the car, naturally ... and Chase got hit with snow a couple times, but he didn't mind! Check out the amazing coloring on this picture ... it was a great shot to begin with, and then I ran it through my trial version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom version 2.1. Isn't it awesome?




I scrapped this photo ... with some cool effects on it in addition to Lightroom ... and it was published in The Artisan Notebook for January 2009! :)





Just had to share as I haven't posted in a while. :)

~Melinda