An eyebrow wax can take off 5 lbs...

Seriously.  Everytime I get my eyebrows waxed I feel like I look 5-10 lbs skinnier than I did before.  I used to fight the eyebrow wax.  Ask Shmizz.  She once plucked my eyebrows in the Newark airport at like 4 in the morning.  I used to be completely anti-wax.

Then a guy said something.  Yeah I'm that girl.  If a girl says something I think, whatever, but if a guy says it I think...hmmmm...if it will make me hotter... 

Obviously that was before marriage and child.  It was actually my future husband (now current husband if you're not following) that said it to me and thus began the waxing.

I do not keep up with it as I should.  With N, and A traveling when do I have time?  I mean I know it doesn't take long but I can't leave N at home alone no matter how long it is and I think it would be a little distracting to bring him with me.  I'm not sure they would like that.  Even it if is just the Thai ladies down the road.

However I got here, I'll fully admit that now, I love a good eyebrow wax.  It really does make me feel more put together.  So how did I find the time?  Well, that's a whole other story....

Today is Good Friday.  My company was open today.  My daycare was not.  Neither A nor I realized this until a few weeks ago.  Neither of us could take the day off either.  So we called my MIL.  Luckily, Good Friday isn't a big day for catering so she and my FIL managed to secure the whole day off.  Then she asked if she could pick N up and bring him back to NJ for the day to hang out with them, instead of being in the house.  I said yes.  Then sat there as the anxiety started creeping in....

So I love my MIL and FIL.  It's not them necessarily.  It's just the whole situation.  With A traveling and not knowing anyone in the area I am ridiculously attached to my son.  I'm am protective and I worry too much about other people watching him.  I'm aware of the issue. He doesn't get to spend a ton of time with them and I worry...do they know how to deal with it when he hits or kicks...will he freak out since he doesn't know them so well...will he be ok in NJ ( I mean, regardless of who he's with, it's NJ...do I really want to subject him to that?) ... I knew I needed to let go which is why even if I could have I decided not find an excuse for N not to go to NJ.  I need time to myself.   N will be blessed to have time with his Grandparents.  I need to just know that and let the anxiety go.

So I let it go...and got a pedicure and an eyebrow wax (after work) as an appetizer to my haircut tomorrow (which I hired a babysitter for).  Slowly but surely I'm reaching a balance between me and mommy me.  It's necessary for my survival and for N's.  But so hard.  I think it would be a little bit easier if we had people in the area.  You can learn to let go in a safe, family environment :-).  Whether my theory is true or not here I am.  Enjoying some peace on a Friday night. 

And the MIL is going to be back here at 8:45 with the kiddo....peace is always short lived :)


**NOTE:  I realize this is kind of random but it's totally me.  So there.

I know I know...

I swear though I haven't abandoned you.  I haven't blogged in 2 weeks and I'm sorry.  N has been sick and had to go back on the nebulizer and antibiotics, then of course A got sick as well and he's even worse that N with the whining.  Work has been crazy, April is always a crazy month for us and I've got cabin fever and now that it's getting nicer I realized that I have gone weeks at a time without leaving the house other than to take N to day care or once a week to the grocery store (yeah, that's as pathetic as it sounds).

So anyway, I apologize for my absence but I promise I'm not gone.  I've begun tweeting a whole lot more for both social and professional reasons (@LeaMacV) which is cool except sometimes I don't feel like I have anything valid to say.  I have to say that it has made me delve more actively into the world of non-profit organizations and online training (which is what I do).  It's been interesting the amount of stuff I miss and how just being aware of the goings on in the arena of nonprofits has made my customers seem to trust me even more.  Like I'm more of a colleague to them than someone who is just preaching to them on how to use the software to advance their organzation (I don't actually work for a nonprofit, I work for a FOR profit software company who makes software for the nonprofits).

So learning all about tweeting (with @BabyShmizz) has been fun and has taken up some of the allotted time in my life for social networking.  I don't really know how some of my amazing colleagues do it. They manage to blog on a daily basis (about interesting AND relevant stuff no less) tweet constantly and all sorts of other things as well. 

On a personal note I feel like all I do these days is make plans for the future and next weekend is really the beginning of "the season".  I'm getting a haircut :-).  Due to A's job and N and living in a place where I can't find a good salon, this is much more difficult than one would expect.  I have a babysitter coming next weekend to watch Nathan while I got get my haircut 45 minutes away from here where we lived before we moved here so I can go back to my old stylist.  She's awesome but I wouldn't normally drive 45 minutes to get to her.  However, my 30th birthday bash is coming up and on top of the weight watchers (lost 10 lbs, btw) I want to have a decent haircut as well.  I know it's alot to ask but I'm willing to pay a babysitter for it. Then from next weekend on it gets crazy!

April - Easter
May - my birthday celebration, mother's day, cousin's wedding in Oregon with my mom and sisters (girls long weekend in Portand OR,  WOOT!)
June - weekend at the lake with Mom and Dad and sister A (hopefully), visiting friends (Ahem, Boston friends, A is grounded for some of June and July, send us avail weekend, we're visiting!!) Shizz 30th birthday
July - week at the lake, wedding of my godbrother, Dad's birthday and BIL birthday,
August - weekend at lake...and I'm sure more to come

On top of all that I start my Business Stats class on May 2.... awesome.

So life is crazy but I am now renewing my vow.  I will do something blogworthy 2 times per week and be sure to blog and update you all on it.  I swear. 

Life is precious

This weekend, on Saturday, I noticed some postings on FB from a friend of mine from elementary school.  He was asking for prayers for his friend Dave.  Now, I may have left the town in 6th grade but before that my mom was on the board of selectman for the town and we knew ALOT of people in town.  My friend from FB (G) and I grew up together, I have a picture of us graduation pre-school together. So I kind of thought I might know this Dave.  I looked at his FB friends and noticed there was only 1 Dave, whom I definitely knew.  My sister knew his sister and I started to worry.  So I sent my prayers their way.

On Sunday, my younger sister texted me.  Her best friends from the same town, spent most of her life there and knew everyone as well.  She had called my sister to tell her that Dave had died.  My sister texted me and told me all she knew.  It was some sort of car accident.  There were at least 3 other people in the car.  2 I know are ok, but I don't know about the others.  I was shocked and sad for the family and friends but since we hadn't been close at all, I wasn't histerical or anything.

As Sunday wore on and I was playing with N, things started to pop into my head.  The first thing I thought about was how creepy/weird FB makes death.  I can still go out to his page, search for him and choose to add him as a friend if I wanted to.  It makes it unreal.  In a way, the person is still living on but in another way it's just wrong.  It's got to be painful for friends and family to see that, and even see people who maybe hadn't heard posting on his wall, after he's gone.  It just seems so weird to me.

Then as I was rocking N before naptime, trying to calm him down since he did NOT want to nap, I couldn't help but thinking how lucky I was.  My husband, whose job and time in the Army put his life in danger constantly, is healthy and whole.  We have an amazing son so while is challenging at times (like when I'm exhausted and A is out of town, so maybe that's not his fault) is perfectly healthy and happy.  We have great friends and family.  A beautiful house and great jobs.  I can't imaging any of the people in my life being ripped away so harshly.

I sat there rocking N (probably longer than I should have at this point) thinking about Dave's family.  The pain they must be going through and how I can't imagine the little person that I was holding being gone from my life, or my husband not coming home one day.  I started to get sad and little sick even thinking it about.  It made me extremely grateful for my little family and all my extended family and "friend family". I know that I'm not always as grateful as I should be.  I'm not always as patient as I should be with A or N.  I'm not always as good a friend as I could be, I'm sometimes selfish with my time, or just lazy.  It's amazing to me that the sudden passing of someone I hadn't seen in over probably 17 years brought this all on.  I am grateful it affected me this way, because it has made me realize again how much I have.

My thoughts and prayer go out to the family and friends of Dave.  I cannot imagine the pain and anger they must be going through, but I know that they will make it through.  Even knowing Dave for the short time I did I know he would want them to. 

My thoughts and prayers are also with all of you, that you stay safe and healthy.  I am grateful to have every one of you in my life. 

Statiscally speaking.

So it is official.  As of May 2nd, I am a student again.   I'm not quite an MBA student because technically I have to take a prequisite class first.   I'm only a couple months away though!!  So I got into the program without having to take the GMAT.  Which is great except for 1 thing.  I already paid for the GMAT.  So I debated and debated whether to just go ahead and take it in case I need it in the future.  Or to bite the bullet and cancel the appointment.  You're probably thinking...um...where is the debate here?  Well, once you've paid you can only get $80 of the $250 you paid back when you cancel.  That's alot to lose. Since I took vacation time to take the test and I don't actually need it.  I decided I'm just going to eat the cost.  Between wasting the vacation time and the stress of prepping for it, it's worth it to me to lose the money and make my life easier.  Plus I can use that vacation time for something fun!!

So I have to start off taking Statistics.  Like probably 98% of you took in your undergrad years because it was required.  When I was getting my bachelors I got it in Elementary Education.  They didn't require us to take any math (I think as long as you got to a certain level in HS) so I didn't take statistics.  My friend C and I used to laugh about it being one of those things that made being an Ed major so awesome.  Luckily for C she stuck with the teaching thing and has not been subjected to taking statisics for her Masters degree(s).   I am not so lucky. 

Any advice on how to make it through the torture that is Statistics, I would appreciate it.  I have a feeling this is going to be a wake up call...

Triumph!

So, it's been a slow week for blogworthy things but not for work.  Work has been crazy and on top of all that I wanted to get the taxes done so that I didn't have to worry about them any more.  For our 2009 taxes we had H&R Block do them ( I wouldn't give them awesome review if you were wondering) because in 2009 we sold an investment property, bought a new house, and lived in 2 different states.  Plus we had N.  So 2009 was a year where I just didn't have the confidence to do the taxes my self.

This year however, I was NOT going to pay $300-$400 dollars for someone else to do the taxes.  We didn't have anything big, no moves, no new dependants, no new jobs.  So I knew that I could do them myself through TurboTax.  I'd done it in the past before we had all the complications in 2009.  So we had all the stuff (or so I thought) together in a folder so I sat down to just get them done one night this week.  Well turns out that A and I had no put the receipts for our charitable donations, or work gear (for A) in the file so I ended up having to go through another ridiculous folder to find everything before I could to this.

So.  I went through everything and after the federal tax section was done, we were getting a refund.  Sweet!  Then I went through the state section and it said we owed a big chunk of money to the state.  I looked at what they had taken out and assumed that it was because we hadn't had enough withheld, becuase what was withheld didn't look like a lot to me.  So when A got home I was discussing it with him and he said that it didn't sound right to him and the more I thought about it the  more I agreed with him.  So I was thinking it over and we looked at A's W2 and found what we thought might be the issue.  He works in a different state than we live in.  So out of his paycheck the state he works in had been getting the taxes.  We thought at first that it was an issue with his W2.  I posted the question on the TurboTax community and A called some guys he works with to see what they had done, they live in different states as well and no one had an idea.  So we sat down to dinner. 

At dinner A and I were still talking about it and have a brainwave.  I remembered seeing something about a "non-resident" return and I realized that I probably needed to file a "non-resident" return for the state that A works in and then file in the state we live in as well.  When I got back to the computer after dinner that's exactly what the answer to my question from the TurboTax community had been.  I was super excited.  I went through and added the addition state return and guess what.  The amount it said we owed to the state we live in, dropped 97.5%!  We owed basically nothing compare to what it had said originally, plus we are getting a return from the state A works in.

I have never felt so good about myself for figuring something out in my life.  Ok, so maybe that's not true but I was really very excited to have figured this out.  My mom is an accountant and I grew up with accounting and math all around.  From helping her sort checks when we were younger to working with her on my taxes when I got older.  I would have been very disappointed in myself if I didn't figure that out.  So of course I called my mom to brag :-). 

So we are getting a good return, we owe just a little to the state we live in, and A and I are extremely happy. 

This may not have been blogworthy to all of you, but it is to me.  So deal with it.

Moral of the story here is that you CAN do your taxes by yourself and save the money.  Just make sure if something doesn't seem right you double check it before you file.  It's worth it. 

Back to school...back to school...

So last week, I put into motion the process of starting my MBA.  I'm still in the admissions process with Post University in Waterbury, CT.  It's all online which is necessary with my life and I don't have to take the GMAT's.  That sucks though because I had already registered for them and you can't get your money back.  $250.  Yeah.  I'm going to call and see if I can get at least some of it back.  I considered taking the GMAT's anyway just in case I needed them elsewhere however, I don't need the added stress of studying right now and I had to take vacation time to find time to take the test which is just a waste.  I figured it would be something just over $100 of time (If I was paid hourly) for the 4 hours for the test.  I'd rather save those vacation hours and use them some where more fun.

So I'm going to see what I can do about getting my money back but I want to wait and make sure that I actually get in to Post first! 

So, here is the real story here (not that I'm not proud of just starting the process).  I slacked in college.  No surprise to anyone who knew me.  If I could go back, I'd do it differently but that's life.  So my GPA was just below a 3.0.  To get into Post you have to have had a GPA of 3.0 or higher.  If you had between a 2.5 and 2.99 and have something like 7 years of business experience they will still consider you for admission.  They want 2 letters of recommendation for you though.

So this week, I emailed 4 people at work.  2 of my former managers and 2 colleagues.  I figured I'd get 4 recommendations then pick the ones that I liked best to send on.  I asked everyone to have them to me by the 28th of the March because I know they are all really busy.   All of them said that they would be more than willing.  My most recent former boss, we'll call him J, emailed me the recommendation within 3 hours of me asking.   I couldn't believe how quickly he'd gotten back to me and when I read the letter I almost cried!

Here are some excerpts:

I quickly realized L’s talent and potential as she took it upon herself to accelerate and own her professional development. She worked independently to learn and impart best practices, and began to mentor newer Educational Consultants. L’s dedication and motivation were infectious and I began to notice gradual, but steady improvements in team morale and client satisfaction. L continued to seek and develop skills that would add value to the customer experience.

L leads by example, both inside and outside the workplace. She inspires coworkers and friends in social settings with the same facility that she enjoys in professional settings. She lives our corporate values, volunteers her time with our clients, and embraces the personal rewards afforded by diligent effort.  My staff of Educational Consultants now functions as a cohesive, synergistic team, rather than many individuals working independently in silos; L epitomizes the notion that “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts” and this core belief is evident with her every undertaking. There are many reasons for this transformation and improved team dynamic, but I cannot overstate Leanne’s contributions to the revitalization of my department.  L’s future is limited only by her imagination and the willingness of others to believe in her potential.

So after reading this I was in complete shock.  I think that as employees we work hard because we know it is what is expected of us.  I never thought twice about helping other new employees because I remember how much mentors and more experienced employees helped me when I first made the move to the business sector (I was a teacher).  Being a remote employee for the company, I think that I think about these things even less than others, and just do them because it's what I believe is right.  My clients and my team are my priority and I love all of them.  I just want to do everything I can to help my clients and my team be their best.  I think that's the teacher in me.  I don't however, go looking for praise either.  There are some people I know who will copy their boss on EVERY NICE THING that is ever said by a client to them.  I don't do that.  If people ask who my boss is, or takes my bosses name from my email signature (company requires it be there) and sends them an email that's awesome but other than that to me it's just doing my job.

As my college GPA suggests I was not always a hard worker.  So I still don't think of myself that way.  This recommendation made me look at things a little differently.  Not that I'm  getting all cocky and "duh!  about time you noticed" about it, but it made me realize that all my hard work doesn't go unnoticed and that it is worth it to others.  I do it for my own satisfaction but it's always nice to hear from others as well.  

So here is my recommendation to you.  Have a couple people write you a recommendation.  If their isn't a reason, who cares.  It will make you realize that you are appreciated.  Even if it's just your husband or a friend or a co-worker.  I think everyone needs to hear that people do notice their hard work and appreciate it every once in a while.   I know it made my week!

Great-grandma's 93rd birthday

So today was my grandmothers 93rd birthday.  My mom and dad, sister, aunt and uncle from England, and cousin (and her 2 daughters), plus N and I went to her "apartment" (old folks apartments) to celebrate. This is one of those events where being a parent is a HUGE balancing act.  On one hand you don't want to be that parent who thinks everyone's schedule should revolve around your child.  On the other hand you don't want to not go because you are worried about your child being off schedule.  While a kid off his schedule can be challenging I think spending time with all the family is way worth it.

So mom, dad, my sister and N and I all got there around 10:30 to find that they had taken my grandma to a 10:30 service at church.  We knew this was a possibility so we just took advantage of the time to hangout and talk and play.  Once everyone got back we chatted for a while longer.  Meanwhile, it's 12 and N usually eats around 11:30 so I'm throwing snacks at him ( I came prepared with banana and apple and granola bar and a nutrigrain bar) trying to avoid the I'm hungry AND tired meltdown.  Since my grandma's place isn't exactly childproof letting him run around was hard, but everyone there has kids or has been around kids enough that they understood.  We finally went down to the dining room (not bad!) to lunch around 12:45 or 1 and my mom, dad and I tag teamed N.  I sat down with him for a while, then took him down to play, then mom came out and relieved me so I could eat, then dad relieved mom.  Thank goodness for grandparents!

So then we went back up and hung out a while longer until I was pretty sure the N was about to collapse from exhaustion.  I have to say he was pretty good.  The child has more energy than any kid I've ever seen before.  Maybe it's just because I'm the one chasing him. (A was unfortunately working today)  So we left and N fell asleep basically before I even made it out of the parking lot.  So since A was working I went to give him a call and realized, I couldn't find my cell phone.  So I pulled over and looked through all the bags.  Luckily, I was only about 5 minutes out, so I turned around and went back.  So I got back to where my grandmother lives, but then what?  Do I wake N and bring him in with me.  Do I leave him in the car and run in (she lives on the 5th floor)?  I hear all those horror stories about leaving a child in the car, even for a few minutes.  The chances of something happen were minimal but, isn't that what everyone says?  So I ended up parkingin front of the door.  Running in and having the lady at the front call up to the apartment for me. Ran back out to the car to make sure N wasn't crying, ran back in and grabbed my phone from my dad then ran back out and got on my way.  Again.  

It was a gross rainy drive home, N slept almost all the way. We had KFC for dinner because I was too tired to cook (N's a big fan of KFC now) and N was asleep about 15 minutes before his usual bedtime. Now I'm on my way to bed too because unlike N I didn't get to take a nap on the drive home.  Good family time is so worth it though!

Branching out...

So I have never been a very adventurous eater.  Ever.  I spent 2 years of my life eating nothing but cheese sandwiches and PB&J.   When I was 13 I went to England for 3 weeks with my grandparents to visit family over there and I kept a diary.  I had promised my mom that I would try 1 new thing every day so at the bottom of my diary entry for each day is the new food that I tried that day.  You would think it would be really interesting right?  Foreign country, new foods, 3 weeks traveling around.  Yeah a little sampling of the entries for you?  Radish, Quiche, Croissant, some cheese (I love all cheese), and some British gelatin thing that was like a gummy bear but in cubes instead of a fun shape.  You can see how much I "branched out" during that trip.

So recently I was looking through the latest issue of Cooking Light and I saw a recipe for Brussel sprouts sauteed with Bacon.   I thought, with bacon, what can really go wrong?  I had never had Brussel sprouts before.  My mom had told me when she was younger she had them but they were boiled to oblivion and disgusting.  She never ate them after.  My mom is as limited an eater as I am, although a little better. So I thought, well maybe if they were sauteed with BACON they'd be better. I mean again, bacon, hello?  A will eat pretty much ANYTHING. I really want N to have a bigger repertoire than me, so I'm trying to .. branch out.

So I ripped it out (ok, delicately cut and calculated the WW points) and made it part of the menu plan for the week.  So tonight I made chicken with a lemony pan sauce (DELICIOUS) and Brussel Sprouts.  I was so proud because it all worked out, the timing was great, A was home to watch N while I cooked, and dinner was ready.  So we cut up N's chicken and gave him some sprouts, then A and I took our servings.  As I said the chicken was awesome, and the brussel sprouts were...disgusting.  Gross.  Ew. Blech.  The recipe, FABULOUS, if it had been green beans (or fancy haricot vert) it would have been amazing. Cut the bacon, then cook it in the pan, take it out and saute onion and thyme, then add in the sprouts and some chicken stock to steam the sprouts.  Once cooked, sprinkle the bacon.  Sub green beans and I'm yours. 

Brussel sprouts are GROSS.  The flavor is not at all like cabbage which I like.  It's really weird and even if they are tender crisp cooked the texture is kind of...strange. I just can't say enough bad things about them.

So tonight?  I had fabulous lemony chicken and an apple for dinner.  Which in itself is exceptional because while sitting there eating the apple I looked at my husband and said "have you ever even seen me eat an apple?" and he said...No.  He has never seen me eat an apple.  That's how much fruit I eat, yet again making it obvious how limited my diet really is.

So, while I'm sure culinary guru's all over the word are cursing me for hating the sprout, I tell you in my honest opinion.  Gross.  Even A thought so and as I said...he eats anything.  So HA.  It's not just me culinary gods...

PS.  WW buddies, the chicken was originally a chicken saltimbocca, wrapped in prosciutto, with sage leaves but the prosciutto went bad ( or so A said ) and I was prosciutto-less as I was starting dinner.  SO with the prosciutto it was a 5 point chicken and sauce, without it was 4 points (4 oz chicken "cutlet").  Super yummy too.  Let me know if you want the full recipe.  If the chicken is defrosted, it's ready in 20 mins.

The fates have told me to blog about this...

So I started a post about this a week or so ago.  But I stopped because it seemed so stupid to blog about.  I realized people who aren't parents wouldn't appreciate it.  May even be slighty grossed out by it. Then it happened again and I realized that it was meant to be.  So here it is: WARNING: This is a grossish topic that while a parent may feel is "blog-worthy" others may think is a blog killer.

16 months, 2 weeks and 1 day.  That's how long it was.  The blissful ignorance that was bathtime.  I had heard the horror stories.  I was happy to read them and sympathize but not have my own story to share.  Even my close friends have had it happen.  Their kids are still adorable, happy children.  So what is this horror that I was so blissfully ignorant about yet silently praying for A not to say out loud and jinx the whole process.

Poop in the tub. 

Yup.

16 months, 2 weeks and 2 days is how old N was the first time he pooped in the tub.  Just a couple little ones and luckily A and I were both in the room.  We tag teamed the situation and all was good. We drained and scrubbed the bathtub, filled it and rescrubbed N and continued on with the evening. 

Fast forward to this evening.  A was just leaving the house for a little while. N was playing in the tub and I was sitting on the floor telling N that he had 2 mins to play before we started scrubbing.  He looked at me and said "poopies" (which sounded like boobies so it took me a couple seconds to figure out) and I said do you need to poopy?  Then 2 weeks ago flashed painfully through my mind and I stood up and saw N sitting next to the biggest poop I've ever seen from him.  I grabbed him out of the tub then stood there for a minute at a loss as to what to do!  Last time I had A there to help, now what do I do? A was still in the house and came in and asked if he could help, but I knew he had to go so I said no no, just go, I've got it.  But, then what?  So A did go and get some wipes and clean N up then left and closed N into the bathroom with me while I sprayed the tub with clorox clean-up and rinsed, then filled it with a couple inches (all while N was running around naked) and scrubbed N down. Then moved on with the night.

So as I was scrubbing the tub I thought, really, 16 months, 2 weeks and 1 day with no poop in the tub, then in 2 weeks, 2 incidences?  Is this like drinking beer?  When the first time you the go bathroom after you start drinking beer you break the seal and then have to pee every 2 minutes?  I don't think I'd be ok with that.  I can't handle picking poop out of the tub every 2 weeks.

So here's hoping that that's the last of it.  That we can now go much longer than 16 months, 2 weeks and 1 day before we have to deal with poop in the tub again (like until we have another kid).

Keep your fingers crossed...

Back on the wagon

So I'm back on the Weight watchers wagon.  I promise I won't blog about it constantly or anything but I made a decision this week to try get myself back to a happy place with my weight.  I was to the point where I was extremely unhappy with my weight, then before my wedding I lost 35 lbs on WW.  Then before I had N, I had just lost 20 because I had stopped WW after the wedding and gained it all back.  Then  I had N and lost alot of weight from breastfeeding and tried to start WW again on my own after I stopped bf'ing but that was not happening.  So it's been a bit of a roller coaster because if I'm not counting points, I have no will power.

So there it is.  I'm back on WW.  I'm on the new plan which I really like because I don't seem as hungry as I did sometimes on the old plan.  I have lost 3.8 lbs but it's only the first week and the first week you always lose a little more.  Hopefully I'll keep losing 1-2 lbs a week so that for my big 3-0 I canlook fabulous :-).

Maybe this is my personal 1/3 life crisis?  I'm not really worried about turning 30 but I am thinking alot about how good I want to look at the party :-)  Maybe that's how it's manifesting itself.  Who knows!  I just know that I'm glad to be back on WW.  As I said I'm not going to let it take over my life so I won't be blogging about it again (well until I hit an awesome goal) but it was what I did this week.  I will have at least one more exciting blog post after next weekend. My parents are coming to CT for my Grandmother's 93rd birthday.  So N and I are going to "party" with them as well.  My Aunt and Uncle from England will be there too which should make for an interesting post!

Not slackin' yet

So yes, I only posted once last week.  It's ok though, because blog-worthy things were still happening. Or should I say blog-worthy shopping was happening!!

I love to shop but I used to have no $$ (no not my family, I just drank my $$ away when I was young) so I'm very tentative about shopping.  Which is actually a good thing.  I'm just always thinking that I can't afford things so I don't spend alot of money.  Recently, however, our dishes have been pissing me off.  I LOVED them when we first registered for them.  They are cool and "trendy" square plates in earth tones, square bowls and gigantic mugs.  They were awesome.  About 20 minutes after we got one the first one chipped.  No biggie, but I soon realized that that was not the first time they would chip. Especially once we bought a house with granite countertops.

So last week, there was a sale at Macy's and I saw these dishes and I really liked them.  So I bought them.  That is so not me but really, how do you pass up Buy One Get One on dishes!!  So here they are!

I know they aren't anything fancy, but I love them!  They make me very happy.  Normal round plates, with a nice pattern.  Sometimes I look at them and I think, does this make me old?  I'm am coming up on the big 3-0.  Does this mean that I'm not as fun and funky as I used to be?  Is this the last of my youth, slipping away with the dishes that we gave A's brother? Nah....these are so freaking cute I don't care.  I LOVE THEM!

Plus apparently A is planning some ridiculous big bash to say goodbye to all my youthfulness so I can't say goodbye yet...

The hubby's 31st birthday...

So Sunday was A's 31st birthday. We had his parents and brother over for dinner and cake and it was a great time.

The day started off with A completing his one duty of the day which was to make me pancakse and bacon for our "Valentine's Day" breakfast.  I know, making him make breakfast on his birthday seems wron g but it was literally the only thing I asked of him and since we had agreed not to get each other anything for V-day (he lied, I got jewelery and chocolate!) and we weren't going out for it I didn't think it was that bad.  Plus he loves making breakfast (I think). 

After that I told him he didn't have to do anyting all day long and that he had full control of the TV all day long.  Not that he actually relaxed, I couldn't keep him from folding laundry and doing dishes.  I know I shouldn't complain about that but really I just wanted him to be able to relax for one day and he is completely incapable. At least I tried!  He did however get to go and wander around Costco for an hour or two which is one of our favorite things to do, he just got to do it sans me and N.

Before that though he spent 30 minutes "coaching" his Irish/Scot/English wife on how to make gravy.  Not brown gravy, italian red gravy.  Otherwise know as spaghetti sauce :-).  A is Italian, his mother is an Italian caterer.  As a kid he always had ravioli for his birthday so that was the plan.  I was going to make ravioli and gravy and antipasti platter for dinner for him and his family.  The only problem was that I was cooking for him and his parents (italian caterers) and I've never made gravy before.  So A walked me through the process from the right spoon to use all the way through the seasoning.  It turned out great!  Despite the birthday boy hovering over my every move.  We just used frozen ravioli and his parents brought up bread from the bakery they use for their catering business in NJ.

I got him his favorite cake from a local italian bakery, it's just a cannoli cake and it was delicious.  It reminded me of our wedding since that's what our cake was.  It looked a little something like this except with only one cannoli and Happy Birthday A.. written on the top.  All in all it was a good day.  My in-laws all complimented me on my gravy, which is definitely blog-worthy!  Happy Valentine's day all!!

Mealtime

So as I said, I do like to cook so cooking a good meal, especially while home, alone with a toddler, is to me a blogworthy accomplishment.  So a few years ago I got a subscription to Cooking Light for Christmas.  I was on WW at the time and I loved it.  They take things that we love and make them lighter, they make some fabulous recipes and they give you all the nutrition info which made it easy for me to calculate the points and to menu plan.  As of right now I have a gallon zip-loc bag filled with envelopes, that are filled with categorized recipes.  Since I'm trying to start menu planning to make shopping and deciding what to make/eat easier I use this baggie alot.  In a recent Cooking Light they had a recipe for Chicken with Lemon-Leek Linguine.  It looked delicious and kid friendly and the time was 30 minutes.  So since we eat about 30 mintues to an hour after my son gets home and I knew that 30 minutes magazine time was 45 minute real life with a toddler time I thought it would be a good thing to make.

So that morning I defrosted the chicken and then during my lunch break (one of the benefits of working from home) I pounded out the chicken and put it in the fridge until I was ready to cook.  Before I went to pick up N from daycare I took it out of the fridge to come to room temp so it would cook faster when I got home.  From there I just followed the directions!  I did add more salt and pepper and garlic than they said (I like things a little bit more spiced) and for the sauce I added more lemon (3tbs instead of 2).  I also was using dried parsley since fresh hebs go to waste in our house. 

So the whole thing did take about 40 minutes.  My son was FAB-U-LUS the whole time he kept himself occupied playing with books and trucks in the kitchen.  The only thing that made me paranoid is that when you are pan searing the meat there is splatter that happens with the butter.  So I had to be careful while the chicken was cooking that he staying on the other side of the kitchen.

So then N and I sat down to eat.  I cut the linguine in half so it would be easier but he loves noodles so he enjoyed it all.  The chicken was delicious as well even though it was just very simple.  I think this coule be jazzed up even more.  Even with the extra lemon and seasonings I added it still could have used a little something...I'll have to try it again to find out. Iwas thinking that this would be good with some asparagus as well, maybe chop it into chucks and saute it before adding the leeks and garlic.  As with any pasta, it was even better the next day.  At least that was was my husband said when he got home and ate all the leftovers!

I've meal planned for the whole month of February so far and there are a couple recipes I'm not so sure about.  I'm sure there will be some epic type failures in the future where N ends up eating chicken nuggets and banana (mananana as he would call it) and I end up with a sandwich. This week however was a good one, I thoroughly enjoyed all of it, the cooking and the eating and N did too!  Thank goodness he was able to occupy himself that night....

The epiphany weekend.

So this past weekend A and I went to Vermont to ski for the weekend for a friends 30th birthday.  It was the first trip we've taken since our son was born.  We've been gone for overnights but not for 2 whole nights before.  That, however, is not what this post is about.  As much as I love my son and was torn, it was amazing that as soon as we dropped him off and I knew he was happy staying with this Aunt, I felt free.  Did I miss him, of course, did I worry a little, yes, did it kill me when I called and my sister told me that he had cried "mommy" for 20 minutes before he finally fell asleep, YES.  Did I know he was cared for and loved and would be just fine when we got back on Sunday, yes.  You know what else I knew?  I needed a break!  With a traveling husband and working from home, I'm home alone ALOT. On the weekends ( or one of the 1000 snow days we've had this year) I'm usually home alone with our son. So when this opportunity came up (thanks to my friend!) I jumped at the opportunity, because not only was it good for me, I was SUPER excited to be with my friend for her birthday.

So off we went!  We drove from Boston where my sister is up to Okemo to the most awesome house! It has something like 25 bedrooms (ok, exaggeration but it was 7 at least) with a great kitchen (2 actually!) a hot tub and a view of the mountain.  We were with a whole group of friends.  The first night we just ordered pizza and hung out.  Some of the group had been there all day skiing and were tired some stayed up and drank.  The next day we went skiing....

Now, I skiied alot as a kid, granted it had been at least 5/6 years since I been last but I grew up skiing with my Dad.  So I'm a fairly confident skiier (despite showing off and making an ass of myself at least once).  My husband however, had only been skiing once or twice before and while working up to the weekend he was all confident about it, when it actually came time to ski...it was a different story. 

So we started off easy and I realized quickly that he had no actual skiing experience that taught him anything.  He must have just been throwing himself down the mountain the first couple times he went.  So I gave him some instructions and we kept working.  It was really good for me becuase it made me start off slowly and not push myself too hard.  After a while he got better and I was able to relax a little instead of following and watching his every move.

We went all the way to the top and the view was spectacular!  You could see all the way to Mt. Washington and past, it was so clear.  NH/VT/ME is my favorite part of the country so you can understand that I was just in heaven.  We skiied all the way down the mountain, then went back up and by this time, the clouds had come down and it was snowing.  Skiing while it's snowing is awesome.  I just love it.  We had such a good time all day, we skiied until they closed.  The fresh air and the excercise were exactly what I needed. We went back to the house and showered and had an awesome dinner and then went into the hottub. 

Sunday, we went home, stopped by my sisters to pick up Nathan, who as I expected was happy and well fed and had been introduced to chocolate milk (thanks sis).  Then drove home.  We were exhausted but completely refreshed.

That weekend was exactly what I needed and what made me realize that I had let the "easy way" take over my life.  We could have said no.  Nathan won't be ok for a weekend with my sister, or it's too expensive but we didn't and I'm so glad we didn't.  It gave my husband and I some time to help repair our relationship and just be husband and wife again.  It gave me time to have adult conversation and reconnect with who I am.  It prompted my change in direction. 

It also made me want to get back into skiing more and get my son and husband into it as well....but that's another story...

Change in direction

I'm obviously not a good blogger.  I'm a sporadic blogger.  The reason for that is mostly because I don't feel like I have anything worth blogging about going on in my life.  Why would you care what I wake up and do in the morning?  Why would you care about my stresses, my highs, my lows. You don't even know me.  Nothing happens thats exciting in my life.  Half the time I don't even think my husband should really care about what happens in my day.  So instead of letting my boring life control my blog, I've decided to go the opposite direction...

I'm making a decision.  From here on out I will do something "blogworthy" at least twice a week.   My life has been shitty lately.  Marriage, work, and everything.  Obviously my son is always a good thing in my life but I sometimes think that's it.  My husband has taken some responsibility in this and has made huge steps to make changes for the better.  I can't, however, blame it all on him.  I am a firm believer that we create our own happiness in life.  We cannot depend on others and our current circumstances to make us happy. We have to choose to be happy. 

One of the things that has made me unhappy lately is that I feel like I'm stuck.  I'm stuck in my position at work, I'm stuck in a town where I know no one, I'm stuck far away from friends and family.  I sit at home alot because of these things and because it's easy.  It's easier to sit at home and play with Nathan than to take him out somewhere.  It's easier to eat frozen chicken tenders and sweet potato fries than to try to cook something (especially when A is out of town).  It's easier to stay home than to go visit my grandmother, or family, or friends (the few) that are within driving distance.  It's always about what's easiest.

So every week I'm going to do at least 2 blogworthy things.  There are blogs out there about everything from cooking, to adventures, to sports, to TV shows, to kids.  Twice each week.  Now, the TV shows one I'll try to avoid because (no offense to TV bloggers) I feel like that's one of those easy ways out for me.  It's easy to watch TV.  So, whether it's cooking a great meal (which is a pretty big accomplishment with a toddler and 30 minutes and a traveling hubby), going somewhere, doing something new or something I don't do often, or any number of other things I'm going to do it and blog it.  The pressure of the blog (all 9 of you) will hopefully force me to do something.  Hopefully that in turn will help me feel a little more satisfied with my life and be little entertaining for you, as I'm SURE to fail at some of the things I attempt and I will blog about those too.  The failures, the successes and all the in betweens.

So to those of you who have read my blog in the past thank you, to those who are reading it this time and those who read it in the future, I'll see you soon.  The adventure that prompted this will be blogged about soon...