Lazy…a thing of the past (hopefully!)

I have been waiting to do a new post until I could get some pictures from Christmas uploaded and share them with you however I am really busy lately.  And when I do get some free time I am too darn lazy tired to get it done! Sorry...I will try to get some pics added sooner or later.

Christmas was good. Marin loved the presents from Santa. He brought her a toy cash register with a shopping cart and toy groceries. I think by far that has been her favorite gift. She plays with that register everyday. I played "shopping" with her for about an hour one night and it was amusing to see how much my grocery bill was. She is too young to understand the concept of money so she was charging me like $8 for peanuts and $10 for pretzels. Thank goodness it was play money!

 Of course being our only child she was kind of spoiled with too many Christmas presents. For her birthday I am cutting back. She'll probably only get 2 things since I am already tired of cleaning up all the toys!

Marin and I had a little vacation in East Texas the week after Christmas. Poor Eric had to work so he missed out. We got to hang out with my parents and just relax a bit. New Years Eve was a fun party and we did fireworks as always. Marin was very scared about the sparklers at first and I went through a whole box of them trying to get her to hold one. I finally gave up and was walking back into the house when she decided she would try it. After handing her that first one she was hooked. It was like her magic wand that she kept waving around. I had to make sure she didn't get too close to anyone because she was going crazy with it. It's fun to watch someone discover something for the first time.

So its my birthday month! Yes, I know a birthday is only one day but I celebrate the entire month..deal with it! This one is a bit more tolerable than last year. Thirty was hard to swallow but thirty-one is not so bad now that I have already dealt with losing my twentys. I have decided that I am going to age gracefully. I haven't quite figured out how to do that but that is what I've decided nonetheless.

I finally broke down and bought a treadmill. Because of the recession my company is no longer paying for the 24 hour fitness memberships. We had cancelled them about 3 months ago anyway since we never went...lazy. So I decided I am not going to let gluttony get the best of me!! So it is a little bit of an eyesore sitting in the living room area but I know I won't use it unless that thing is in front of the TV. So far so good...I have walked 20 miles in the past 7 days. I am sore as hell but hopefully that gets better with time.

We are headed to Chicago this weekend. We are using our good friend Darren's (works for American Eagle) buddy passes. We have to fly stand by so it can get tricky if the flights start filling up. We will get there by Saturday, hopefully and endure the cold weather. But we'll deal with the weather since we get to see our good friends Jason and Jackie. We haven't seen them in a while so it is due time for a visit. It will also be Marin's second time on a plane. The first time she was only 16 months old when we took a vacation to Cozumel. She probably doesn't remember that so this will be interesting now that she is almost 3 and can understand what's going on around her. We have loads of stuff to keep her busy though....from coloring books to Spongebob episodes we'll try to keep her from getting bored.

Christmas and Babies

We've got the Christmas tree up. We also taught Marin how to turn on the lights everyday when she gets home from preschool. We have a tree with the foot button that you just step on to turn them on so it is very easy for her. No luck on getting Eric to put up lights on the house this year...lazy. I also found my Christmas dinner plates in the attic and decided to lay those out on our formal dining room table. I bought them when we still lived in the townhouse and had a smaller table so there are only four plates in the set. Now that we have a table to seat six the 2 end chairs have no place setting. So I am currently looking for another set of plates to accommodate six. I tried to find 2  plates to match the set I already have but it is a discontinued pattern and hard to find. And when I do find them they are outrageously priced. I can't believe I am rambling about dishes...I must be getting old...

Babies are everywhere! I've had a couple of friends who have just had babies (one had twins! yikes!). We also have a couple of friends who are trying to get pregnant. And as I announced in an earlier post my best friend Christy is expecting her first baby in June. Geez...I have a feeling I will be buying lots of baby gifts soon!! Everyone keeps asking when Eric and I are going to have another one and I always say...SLOW DOWN! We are still learning how to manage Marin right now and have you seen the price of daycare? Think about how much it is with two kids enrolled! Marin will need to be close to public school age before we can think about numero dos!

Happy Thanksgiving, Ya’ll!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week! It is crazy how fast this month has flown by. I wrapped most of the Christmas presents last night since Marin is staying at her NeNe and Papa's house this week. I am glad to get that over with and be able to focus on the tree and other decorations this weekend. I asked Eric to put outside lights on the house this year but he is in lazy mode lately and doesn't want the hassle. I am still trying to persuade him but I don't know if he is going to give in...we'll see.

Not much going on in our world lately. Eric still hasn't been assigned a project. If they could just get him assigned somewhere within driving distance we'll be ok. He was recently offered an assignment in New Jersey. Can't really swing a $1200/mo apartment rental plus our mortgage...and I am not moving to New Jersey! There are a lot of places I would consider moving to and New Jersey will NEVER make that list!!

Marin's teacher at preschool said Marin is great at following directions with her coloring and she knows her ABC's better than most of the three year olds. Alert the media! We've bred a genius!! It's hard for me to comprehend the significance of her learning to color and say the alphabet but I guess when you are that age it is impressive to the teachers. So I gave her extra M&M's to reward her. You don't have to tell me...I already know I am horrible!

Thanksgiving...What am I thankful for this year? I am thankful that Eric and I are both employed. We have been through rough patches in the past few months but have managed to make it through with only minor "scratches". I'm lucky to have people I can turn to if need be but I hate to show weakness so I refrain from ever asking of  help and did whatever possible to make it on our own. So thanks to those who graceously wanted to help us...we love you all. But we preferred to buckle down and make it work. Some people might say I'm too proud but I prefer to think of myself of just being strong-willed.

Christmas Shopping is Done!

If you know me well then you know I HATE Christmas shopping during December. Stores are crowded, people get crazy and rude...and I don't want any part of it. So not only do I shop early, I also do the majority of my shopping online.  I can now sit back, wait for my packages to arrive and enjoy the holidays without the fuss. Amazon is truly still one of my favorite sites but I have been a big Ebay shopper lately as well. Eric made a wishlist site last year for our family. I don't think its going to get much use this year. I think the adults in my family are doing a Chinese (White Elephant?) gift exchange instead of drawing names. But I did put Marin's list up there for anyone wondering what she wants. There is a feature where you can click sold (shopping cart icon) so the next person to look at the list will see what she's already got. I am not trying to ask people to buy her presents . I just know people will ask what she needs or wants so instead of thinking about it on the spot or having to verbally go over a list I have it all organized in one place. (Just found out from Eric that it requires a log in to see it but he will get that fixed shortly where you don't need it.) UPDATE: If asked for a username/password, leave them both blank and click 'Login'.

This year Eric and I have to fill each others stocking with goodies since Marin can't wake up Christmas morning to see Santa only filled her stocking. I think she would get suspicious if ours are empty. Yes, we have decided to spend Christmas at home this year. Usually we go to East Texas but now that Marin is old enough to know who Santa is we thought it better that he deliver her gifts to our house and not try to make up some crazy stories about how he tracked her down at someone else's house. But I am planning to spend the week after Christmas in East Texas to make up for it. New Years is always more fun with fireworks and we have to go to the country for that.

My friend Christy is expecting her first baby! I know she is nervous about it so I just pray it is healthy. She is due in June so I have to plan a trip to Arizona this summer. Boy, is it going to be HOT!  The last time I went to Arizona it was in March a few years ago and the weather was perfect. But the summers are killer. It is a dessert after all!

Marin got sick on Halloween so she didn't get to really enjoy the holiday. We took her to a community trick or treat thing at the civic center in Diboll but she felt pretty bad and I am pretty sure she has fever. But she still wanted to do it and then when I got her back to the house that night I gave her Children's Mortin and she started to feel better. She did get to ride the "tractor" (what she calls my dad's 4 wheeler) and she took a couple of swings at the Halloween pinata at my parents party. I only got one picture of her the entire night which was her swinging at the pinata but her jacket was on so you couldn't really see her costume. I might have her put the costume on again this weekend to take a picture for her scrapbook so years from now she doesn't question why I didn't have any photos from Halloween 2009!

Fall, don’t go…I am not a friend of Winter!

I can't believe October is almost over.  Fall is my favorite season of the year and it always seems to go by so fast.

Halloween is next week. Marin is going to be Tinkerbell. If you haven't already figured it out Tinkerbell is my favorite Disney character. I've sort of been pushing it on Marin. I did her room in Tinkerbell decor, she has Tinkerbell PJ's and t-shirts and now I am making her be Tinkerbell for Halloween. But she likes it, although if she knew there was a Dora the Explorer costume out there she would be throwing a fit to be Dora instead. I just can't take too much of that Dora but I tolerate it for Marin's sake. We are going to spend Halloween in East Texas again this year. My parents always have a party with a mini bonfire to roast hot dogs. It should be a lot of fun.

I've already done my jack-o-lantern and I don't think he is going to last until Halloween. We may have to toss him by the end of the weekend. He is starting to turn to mush. I thought they were supposed withstand a little longer that a week, but whatever. Marin's cousins came in town last weekend and we went to the pumpkin patch. She picked out a small one and painted it (and painted herself in the process). I was going to try and wash the clothes she was wearing but decided to just toss them because they were covered with the paint and they were old anyway. She sure does love to make a mess.

Eric's job is going ok. And I say "ok" in that he hasn't really done anything in the month that he has been there. He is waiting to get assigned a project. We are hoping he gets in on a project with JCPenney so he can work in Plano. We dodged having to move to Seattle or rather him commuting to Seattle which is what we discussed being the most realistic option since it was only a 9 month project. I am not about to quit my job and sell my house for just a 9 month commitment. I think he has meetings with JCPenney today and Monday to see if they want him on one of their current projects. I am crossing my fingers he gets in!

Anyway, I included some pics from last weekend:

I’m Done with Walmart!! D-O-N-E! DONE!

I have never really liked Walmart. If you work for Walmart I am sorry but it is the worst store ever!! Sunday I went there because they are the only store that sells the refrigerated raw tortillas that we like. All you have to do is put them on the griddle and get tortillas that taste darn near close to homemade. So because of this I had to succumb to doing my grocery shopping there. When I was done I wheeled my cart to the front to find that with like 20 registers they only had 5 people working to check people out. The lines were 10 people deep and that is not an exaggeration, I counted! Most had carts full of groceries. I only had a few items (maybe 25 things) so I went to the self checkout because otherwise I would have walked right out of there without getting anything. But I decided I would have wasted all that shopping time. I am a self proclaimed pro on the self checkout machine...EXCEPT at Walmart! I scanned my items very fast but when I tried scanning my coupons (yes I use coupons, God forbid I use coupons!) they would not take. I have scanned coupons at other places with no problems. If I would have been at Kroger or Albertsons I would have them scanned in 30 seconds and been on my way. But no...Walmart cannot have the same great technology as the other stores (even though they make billions a year)!! I had to have a worker come and tell me I wasn't folding the coupon in order for it to scan. Since when are you supposed to fold a coupon for the scanner to read it?! Then she proceeds to tell me since I am a coupon user I should go to the regular line....oh by then I was fuming!! Because if you are going to tell me that then A) walmart should not accept coupons at all at the self checkout!! and B) they should get a NORMAL amount of staff to work on Sundays so that the  "regular" lines are not a 30 minute wait to check out!! I came home and told Eric never again will I go to Walmart. If we need something that only they sell then he is going to have to go. I am BANNING them!! I cannot tell you how much I LOVE my SuperTarget now. I will definitely be going there from now on because  not only do they have competent people who work there they have enough to cover the registers. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the front of Target to checkout and they have someone just waiting for me. "Are you ready to checkout? I can help you right here." Music to my ears! Thank you Target! You are top shelf in my book!

Finishing it up

Yeah so Eric pretty much left you hanging on his Vancouver "series" blog. He didn't quite get you to Day Three, did he? Slacker!! I will finish it up for him...

So on the third and final full day we were there we decided to go bicycling through Stanley Park. This is a huge park. It took 1 hour to ride all the way around it. We rented the bikes from a place right across the street from the park.  There were some awesome views of the Pacific Ocean. The weather was perfect...not too cool but not hot at all and we didn't really even break a sweat. If you ever go to Vancouver I highly recommend at least seeing Stanley Park and enjoying the beautiful natural setting. After the ride we were pretty dang tired seeing as how we walked all the way there (several blocks!) rode bicycles for an hour and walked back to the hotel. So we rested up and headed to the Gastown district for some tasty beverages. Yes, Eric had to go back to the Black Frog. After that it was time for dinner so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and I had made reservations at an Italian restaurant in Gastown called Al Porte Ristorante. It was very nice, not too extremely fancy. We had both been on a low carb diet since June so we decided to go for it. ALL IN! We both had Fettucine Alfredo. It was not the best we have ever had but after not having pasta for so long we devoured it. I had a melon martini there that was totally worth the $9 I paid for it. I mean it was heaven in a glass!! I read all the ingredients they put into it but I am not sure what ratios so I am going to have to experiment to get that perfect concoction. I am sure it is not healthy...well for one, its alcohol...and I am sure there is a lot of sugar in that melon liquor. But I don't care as long as I don't have it but every now and again. After that we went to "The White Spot" which was a restaurant/bar close to the hotel and we had some more drinks and went ahead and had a piece of chocolate cake. It was our 5 year anniversary trip...we deserved it!! We stuck together this long, we were due a huge sugar infested piece of cake. Of course, Eric only had a few bites as he is not big on sweets but he said it was good, which coming from him means something since he is a skeptic on anything chocolate. Then we knew we had to get up early and head to the airport so we just crashed for the night. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. Everyone should visit Canada at least once in their lifetime. Very nice people and very beautiful landscapes!

So if that wasn't enough, I am headed to Vegas next Saturday. Yes, Vegas again! Eric is staying behind with Marin since he just started his new job and cannot go. My parents go every October and invited me out there since a family friend's son is getting married while they are there. It is a cheap trip since I will stay in the same room with the parents and I had a credit with Southwest Airlines for the airfare.

So Saturday is mine and Eric's official 5 year anniversary, Oct. 3. We discussed what we wanted to do seeing as how my mom will be in town for her retirement seminar and can babysit that night for us. We already had our dinner date when we were in Vancouver so we wanted to do something a little more fun. So we decided to hang out with our friends at a bar and watch the Sooner vs Miami game. Eric is trying to get into football now...maybe not with my Sooners but he has been watching the Cowboys games. He is getting all the terminology down. He knew what "intentional grounding" was! He is a sports fan in the making!!

Countdown to Vancouver

4 DAYS...We leave for Vancouver on Saturday.  I am super duper excited. I have never been to Canada. Not quite sure what we are going to do yet. I just want to enjoy the scenery first and then find the Edgewater Casino. I want to be able to say I gambled in Canada! I am sure we'll experience Yaletown. I'd like to go whale watching but the tours I have seen online to do that are very expensive. I also want to try and see if I can get over my fear of heights so we can try out the Capilano Suspension Bridge. I'll be sure to take lots of pics to post when we get back.