Icy Walkway of Death

Holy CRAP did we get a lot of ice this morning. I'm normally at work by 7:15am everyday, and today I didn't make it in until 8:00am. Jeff was outside throwing down sand and chipping away at the MASSIVE sheets of ice all morning long but I couldn't get my jeep out. Instead I took Jeff's car to work and Jeff went with a co-worker. I've got to get my car out tomorrow I'm already dreading it. We JUST ran out of ice melt and I can't find anymore bags in the store so hopefully it will thaw a little tonight and I can move my car - otherwise I'm not going anywhere!!

And tonight I'm feeling - blah. Just made some brownies that I'm going to comfort myself with in a few minutes but I'm just tired. And so tired of being tired. Where's my usual enthusiasm?? Hopefully it will come back soon but I really think the 6 day work week is grinding me down. I've been trying desperately to hold off until Valentine's Day weekend since that's our money making weekend, but I may not make it. I'm seriously dragging.

Send some positive vibes my way people, I really need it!!!

Newest Favorite Skin Care Cleanser

I have horrible skin. I am pale like Casper, and I am prone to break outs... never mind that I also have very sensitive skin. It's just a nightmare all around. But I've been using a product by Biore recently and I LOVE it. I mean, seriously LOVE it!

It's Biore's "Warming Anti-Blackhead Cream Cleanser" and it's WONDERFUL! I *always* have blackheads on my nose and this stuff has cleared them up nicely. Never mind that the few pimples I get are smaller and clear up quicker. It's fabulous, fabulous stuff and I'm going to Target this weekend to get another bottle. Trust me when I say for me to buy the exact same product TWO TIMES in a row is a VERY BIG DEAL. I am a total product whore and have no brand loyalty at all, never mind that I have the attention span of a gnat and tend to get distracted by fancy packaging, brands and marketing - so for me to buy this product again is huge. Super huge. Really huge.

Oh, and Pregnancy tip from me to you - feeling nauseous??? A chocolate shake from McDonald's is the best remedy known to man! ;-)

Sunday Morning

Jeff and I woke up Sunday morning to the sound of tires squealing. You know, the sound of tires on ice when the car is NOT GOING ANYWHERE. This went on for around 20 minutes before Jeff got up and went outside. Well, color US happy when we saw that our neighbor Fred had thrown a party the night before. One of Fred's guests had perhaps drank a wee bit too much and had tried to drive home. SOMEHOW this guest managed to get stuck in the snowbank next to our house and get stuck. Instead of getting out and digging himself out, he just screeched the tires and got more and more stuck. Oh, and knocked down our mailbox. His truck wound up sprawled across both our street and our driveway, mere inches from Jeff's car.

Next.. this lovely person WENT HOME. Left the truck there and instead, sent his BROTHER to get the car. It was the brother who was attempting to get the truck out by grinding the wheels for long periods of time that early Sunday morning. Jeff spent almost an hour outside with a shovel, sand, and cardboard in an attempt to get the truck out of our driveway and the enormous snowbank. All to no avail. FINALLY Jeff said "fuck it" and forced the guy to knock on Fred's door since Fred has a truck as well and he could possible get the other truck out. The guy did so, Fred did so, and the truck was moved. Oh, and apparently Fred is going to "Take care of" our mailbox situation. Which frankly, I hope means he's giving us a check for a new one.

As of last night the truck in question was parked down at the bottom of our hill, apparently unable to go any further. It was NOT a fun morning and I'm exhausted just typing this all. But I thought you might all like to take a gander at the end result.

Confusion over Maternity Underwear

So maternity underwear - I'm starting to look for some and I am a little confused by two things.

1. It's all ugly. This is not pretty, lacy underwear. This is SERVICEABLE underewear. This is supportive, orthopedic underwear. It's underwear that means BUSINESS. I'd post pictures here but frankly am so disturbed by it that I can't bring myself to scar you all with graphic details. Trust me when I say that this underwear does NOT say "See how pretty and feminine I am"... oh no. This underwear says "Get the HELL away from me, I'm pregnant and need all the support I can get".

2. Maternity thongs. You'd think this would be contrary to what I just wrote above, but remember, this is MATERNITY thong underwear. It managed to take the brief material of a thong and make it as unsexy as possible. Granted. I didn't wear thongs before because I'm not a fan of walking around with a wedgie all day long, but still. Maternity thongs are an interested paradox of sexy and unsexy in one package.

I'm not even going to talk about the postpartum underwear they advertise because I'm already going to have nightmares tonight. Suffice to say, it's not something that will say "Come hither" Jeff.

Disdain for the tv show "Lost"

Jeff loves "Lost". Me? Eh. Not so much. Mainly because I feel like not enough is explained and that the evil character Ben is not dead yet. That character is manipulative, mean, nasty, and manages to get the other characters to kill and do other horrible things. If I had that man in my power I would have killed him LONG ago. And slept well too. Anyway.. Jeff watched "Lost" this past week and I played my SIMS. The only thing that did catch my attention was HELLO..... Sawyer walked around shirtliess the ENTIRE TIME! Well color ME happy.. I mean.. if I can't get a plot line that makes sense or the death of a man who EVERYONE KNOWS SHOULD DIE.. than let's get Sawyer aka actor Josh Holloway to walk around practically naked and I'm so busy drooling that I no longer notice that none of it makes sense..

I think you'd all agree with me if you could just picture him. Let me help you with that.

Sigh..... See... now I forgot what I was talking about... don't mind me as I sit at my laptop for the next 20 minutes just staring at this picture.......

High level of frustration

So get ready for a big ol' whine from the Weiner household.

Does everyone else feel like the list of never ending repairs on their home just goes on and on? It's like the sorcerer's apprentice over here. And since Jeff is pissed right now as well I've got nobody to talk me out of this funk so I'm going to list all the things wrong with my house right now.

1. The faucet in the bathroom sink is leaking. Which probably means we need a new sink since apparently our plumbing sucks and hasn't been updated since the 1950's.
2. The overhang over our front door is not large enough to actually give us shelter so as we struggle to get our key in the front door we are still soaked by rain/melting icicles and more.
3. Our front door is sticky, and our screen door has to be kicked open.
4. We still have a hole in our bathroom floor, and a hole in our shower since the entire bathroom needs to be re tiled.
5. Paint. Our walls need to be painted - badly.
6. Our driveway blows big chunks. It's a single car driveway and that means that on snowy horrible nights we need to play "switch the car" depending on who is going out in the morning first and who is home first at the end of the night. I hate it.
7. Our washer and dryer are in the basement of the house - and by basement I mean you have to go outside, walk to the backyard, open the basement and go in. It's not as much fun as it sounds and means that doing laundry in snowstorms is next to impossible.


I know there's more - and I normally am appreciative of our little house and how we aren't in an apartment and we're on a private road with nice neighbors but right now I'm cold and cranky and feeling downright sorry for myself so you're all getting a big ol rant. I am also tired of people telling me how they are working on upgrading their homes and getting wonderful new rooms and all new wood floors and all this other stuff. I am sooooo jealous. Be glad you can't hear me people because my voice is high enough that only whales' can hear it. I'm just tired of feeling like we live in a big ol money pit.

I'll try and be back later with a more cheery post but since its rainy and nasty out, you're all getting the gloom and doom post! Enjoy!

Pregnancy

I have one more pregnancy question, and I apologize for all the baby related posts and promise I'll try and find a wider range of topics, but this one has been with me all week.

Right now I'm 16 weeks pregnant. Here's what Babycenter has to tell me about that:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length . Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too.

I don't know if you caught it, but they compare baby to an avocado. Last week baby was the size of a lemon. Before that, a fig. And so on and so on... why all the food metaphors Babycenter?? I'm just curious because the fig one actually threw me for a loop. I have no idea how big a fig actually IS!! Now I find myself in the produce section of the supermarket looking at all the different fruits and vegetables and wondering how big baby is. It's just so odd because from day one I've been given a piece of fruit or vegetable to show me the relative size of my baby. Does anyone else think this is weird or is it just me??? I'm also wondering when I'm going to start moving up, you know, like a cantaloupe or a watermelon or something. :-)

Musical Taste

I think everyone knows that I'm a die hard metal head. I love metal, love it. But for some reason I've been really into 1950's style music and I don't know if its pregnancy hormones or what, but my Itunes download list has gone from this:
Slipknot "Duality"
Disturbed "Into the Fire"
Red "Let Go"
Limp Bizkit "Eat you alive"
Megadeth "My Darkest Hour"

to this:
Neil Sedaka "Calendar Girl"
The Everly Brothers "Bye Bye Love"
The Crystals "Da Doo Ron Ron"
Jimmy Soul "If You Wanna Be Happy for the Rest of Your Life"

and I've also been loving this song which I can't seem to download on Itunes:



So what's the deal??? It's a HUGE difference and I'm blaming baby! ;-)

Dream Job

Did you all see this?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28641803/

It's 6 months on the Australia Great Reef and you do nothing but laze around for about $100,000. SOLD! Where do I send my resume????

Search for Daycare

This past Friday Jeff and I started our search for Daycare and Holy Sweet Jesus is it EXPENSIVE!! I've been looking online and so far we've only viewed one place, the Melrose YMCA that has a daycare and kindergarden. It was a beautiful space, and the girl we talked to was very sweet and had worked there for 10 years. We walked through the whole place and met all the different teachers and saw the different age groups and were suitably impressed. Price? 3 days of daycare was $275.oo a WEEK! A WEEK!!!! Now, I completely understand that childcare is not where we want to skimp or pinch pennies but WOW!!

How do people do it?? How in the WORLD do people afford childcare?? Now I can't stay home, because we NEED my paycheck... we desperately need my paycheck... but looks like a good portion of that paycheck is going to be for childcare. Ugh... Anyone have any ideas or suggestions for a bunch of confused and cash strapped soon to be parents?

Adventures at the Dollar Store

We all know that in this economy that saving money and cutting back is a good thing. And we've all heard of my adventures at the Dollar Store getting various items and seeing how the work. So far the winners of my Dollar Store adventures are as follows:
Hand Soap by Soft Soap - $2.00
Deodorant by Suave - $1.75
Toothpaste by Crest - $2.00
Ice Melt by Roadrunner brand - $4.00
New cat bed for Lily - $5.00

The items that did NOT work, meaning either Jeff or I found them unsatisfactory are:
Zest Soap - didn't lather well and Jeff said it made the bathtub really slippery
Charmin Regular toilet paper - Jeff hates it and equates it to sandpaper
Suave Conditioner - I found it to be too watery and thin, although I used BOTH bottles until empty


I know you are ALL so fascinated by my list of items that did or did not work, but I am continuing to explore this store that apparently stocks everything from hair ties to pictures. I will most likely NOT be buying the food there since I am not 100% certain that the food products are not a little past their expiration date. Gotta draw a line somewhere!!

Disgust with the fascination we have for Celebrity Diets

You know what I really, really hate?? When celebrities go on covers of magazines to talk about how they got in great shape. When talking about their great shapes they either take one of two different routes.

The first route is annoying and it goes something like this:
I never diet. I exercise about an hour a day and occasionally go hiking with my dog. I guess it's just my metabolism - usually followed by a giggle and talk about how hideously disfigured they were in High School.

The second route is equally as irritating and it will usually be a super strict diet and exercise routine that nobody else could possible imitate. For example, Gwyneth Paltrow's new holiday diet to lose weight includes the following:

Banned substances on the no-fun diet list include dairy, gluten, meat, shellfish, all processed food, fatty nuts, potatoes and other related vegetables, condiments, sugar, alcohol, caffeine or fizzy drinks.

Now I ask you, does that sound like a diet ANYBODY could follow if they didn't have say, a personal chef to make meals for them everyday? And if you DID have a personal chef, would you want to waste their talents on a diet that had such restrictions?? Ick. No thank you.

I guess I get really annoyed by stories like this because celebrities are payed a LOT of money to maintain their shape/figure and have TEAMS of people who help them look their best at all times. Personal trainers, chefs, make-up artists, people who shop for them, dress them, and generally spend their time following them around so they look good 24/7. So to be told that I too could look like they do irritates the crap out of me. If I remember to put earrings on in the morning, it's a good day!!! Oh, and these people are all air brushed so it doesn't really matter anyway if I follow their guidelines because I STILL won't look like them.

Rant over!!

Love for Etsy.com

Has anyone else been on Etsy.com? If you haven't, holy crap is it an amazing site. You can waste hours upon hours of time surfing different people's creations and its just endlessly entertaining. And I want a LOT of stuff. A lot.

For example, I want the following items:

This bracelet by MarcusBerknerJewelry

This bracelet by CastalianDesigns

This necklace by SimpleLifeDesigns

This necklace by Damselle

And because I have not forgotten Baby, I want this by citefuzz

I suggest you all check out Etsy and check back with me four hours later because that's how long you'll be browsing all the different possibilities!!! You can thank me later!

Wedding Registry

So apparently Waterford Wedgewood is declaring bankruptcy.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2009-01-05-waterford_N.htm

It's very sad to see such a famous institution facing such difficulties but it got me thinking. Jeff and I didn't register for fine china when we got married. We registered for a few practical things like everyday tableware, towels, and things of that nature. But no china. The reason for this was twofold.

First: Jeff was married previously and he said he and his ex-wife almost *never* used their fine china.

Second: I didn't really see the need. Fine china means you need a place to store it, a dining room to actually USE it in, and other stuff along those lines. We don't have that, so no china for us.

Now that I read that such a famous crystal and china maker is going out of business I have to wonder if this is more common than I thought. Are more and more people NOT registering for, or purchasing fine crystal and china? My question is, does anyone out there have fine china or crystal? If so, do you use it?? Inquiring minds want to know!

Baby Gift

As a first time mom to be I am curious about this whole "baby gift" thing. Everyone I talk to now who knows I am pregnant asks me what my husband is going to get me when I have a baby. Now... correct me if I'm wrong.. didn't he "give" me the baby??? Not to be graphic, but I think it's kind of odd.

Example: At work today we were talking about things we'd get if we had the money and I brought up the blue diamond ring that I saw at Zales. Here's what the woman I work with said:

Co-Worker: "Oh, your husband will get you that when you have your baby"

Me: *after I spit out my water* "No, I don't think he's shelling out $2,000 on a ring, just not happening".

Co-worker: "Don't be surprised if you do. My friend wanted a 3 carat diamond ring with diamond side stones when she had a baby and her husband got it for her".

Me: "Well that's nice of him but I know for a fact Jeff is NOT getting my a blue diamond ring".

Co-worker: "You should take him to the store and show it to him anyway, you never know".

I had the sense there to drop the whole thing, and while I think it's sweet her friend got such a huge ring when she gave birth, I think I can safely say I will NOT be getting a blue diamond ring when I go into labor. So has anyone else heard of the whole "baby gift" thing??? If so, maybe you could all take up a collection and then maybe, just maybe, I'll get that blue diamond ring after all!

:-)