Thankful List

It was a crazy few days here at Chez Weiner. We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday with family, lots of food and relatives. I had the bright idea of making a brine for the turkey but it didn't really work out. Jeff took over and seriously it was probably the best turkey he's made since I met him. I'm only bummed we didn't have as much leftover as I would have liked. I am a little late in my list but I thought it might be nice to share just how thankful I am this year.

1. I am thankful for my husband. Marriage is not easy, AT ALL, and nobody tells you this for some reason. But Jeff and I have managed to not only get over some pretty nasty fights, but also change our behavior in regards to how we treat each other. Considering I am about as a stubborn as they come, that's pretty huge for me. Compound that with the fact that my favorite form of fighting is to go full out passive aggressive and say "fine" when what I REALLY mean is I am "NOT FINE". Hey, we both have our faults, and that we're actively trying to get better in our relationship is a huge reason to be thankful.

2. Do I even need to write Nathan?? I think we all know how crazy I am for my son, so I won't bore you with more details!

3. Family. My family is probably dysfunctional with a capital D. I don't have the best relationship with my mother, but this weekend she took me out for lunch and shopping. And we didn't fight. That is HUGE! I still have vivid memories of shopping with my mother when I was younger that were so disastrous that at one point a salesperson actually asked us to leave the dressing room. It could get ugly. But this time we had yummy lunch, and she got Nathan some beautiful clothes from Gymboree (really, EVERYTHING is cute there!), and she would have gotten me some clothes but I was feeling overwhelmed by the post Black Friday crowds and didn't really have the time to try everything on, so instead she got my a beautiful new handbag. LOVE!!

4. Our house. My goodness I love our house. It's easy and cosy and lovely and PERFECTION. I am so in love with our house, and the fact that my father is downstairs and can run upstairs and "watch Nathan" when I need an extra pair of hands is just an added bonus.

5. My bed and watching QVC. Well documented is my love for QVC. Since Nathan is now in his OWN ROOM AND CRIB (Can I get a Hallelujah?) I have been able to resume my torrid love affair with all things Q. I get into bed, my super comfortable bed with thick blankets and comforter (that I love and Jeff loathes) and watch QVC until I drift into sleep.

There are so many other things I am thankful for:

Christmas decorations

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

Martinis

Date nights with my husband

Dolph Lundgren in "The Expendables" because he is freakin' hot STILL and I will always love him

Moisturizer

Shopping trips and/or playdates with friends

Harry Potter

Pedicures

The smell of fall weather

Hot apple cider

I could go on and on about all the things I love and am thankful for, but you guys get the idea! Hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as I did!

And here's my little gift to you:

See, now you're thankful as well! ;-)

Lunch

Chicken Salad. Doesn't sound so bad right? Well I had chicken salad and scooped it up with potato chips much like you would with dip. I was just feeling too lazy to get a roll out. It was actually really tasty with some lovely apple cider to wash it all down. I know, it's kind of gross but it tasted good and since Nathan is napping - nobody can watch me in my shame.

BUT, it IS a better lunch than the bowl of oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough that I ALMOST made solely so I could eat it raw. Raw eggs and salmonella be damned!!

Thankfulness

It's been a productive day here at the Weiner household. Got up and got Nathan dressed (his diaper rash is SOOOO much better - I know you were all dying to know that!) and we headed out. First things first we dropped off the Christmas Shoebox I had compiled at a local church in Melrose. Next up was a quick stop at the Christmas Tree Shop were I got a roasting pan and a super adorable present for Nathan for Christmas. Yes, I realize he was with me when I bought it, but at the same time, he's 16 months old and doesn't know I'm buying him a gift. I also saw a FABULOUS BLOW UP SANTA CLAUSE SNOW GLOBE - and I was sorely tempted to buy it but since I didn't have the cash, I sadly passed it by. Next up, I dropped off a box of Nathan's clothes to the Salvation Army. It feels good at this time of year to give back. Granted, I did so on a small scale, but it made me feel good. My family has been blessed and we have a whole lot to be thankful for, so giving back even just a little makes me feel kind of "christmasy".

What are you guys thankful for this holiday season?

2 Different Thoughts Today

1. Nathan has the world's worst diaper rash. It's AWFUL and it's pretty much my fault. He's had some, ahem, tummy issues and when I took him on a play date he needed a new diaper. Now, normally I use Pampers Sensitive wipes on him. He's got my super-sensitive vampire skin, and those wipes work best. Well in my diaper bag I had Pampers Extra Thick wipes. They had "scent". I didn't think much of it and changed his diaper and he happily went on his way. Until that night. HORRIBLE diaper rash. So bad that I could barely change his diaper without him screaming. I wound up taking him to his pediatrician's the next day because it looked so bad and I was using Desitin, but what if he had something else and the Desitin was making it worse? Turns out it's just diaper rash and I just need to slather the stuff on like no tomorrow. And no more wipes. Instead I pre-cut some paper towels and put them in a wipes box and when he needs changing I get warm water and use paper towels and water. To top it all off?? Tummy issues. So he needs diaper changes almost hourly. Oh it's fun times here people, fun times. Can't just be one or the other, oh no. Gotta be both at once. And can I just say how much I love Desitin? I had stocked up on it before Nathan was even born and I'd used it maybe three times since then. But now, oh baby. I am SMEARING that stuff on Nathan's tush. I love it.

2. Second thought is, when will I learn? And by that I mean, when will I learn not to shop at expensive boutiques? Okay, not really boutiques, but more expensive stores for necessities. What am I talking about? Well I wanted one of those over-the-door shoe holders for my shoes. (I had one years ago - an EXPENSIVE one that actually coordinated with my bedding and then one day I moved and THREW IT OUT - GAH! I could just smack my twenty-something year old self). Well I was looking online at Christmas decorations and was kind of adding things to my online shopping cart so I wouldn't forget what I had found/wanted. I do that all the time. I must have ten Internet shopping carts filled with random items - it's a sickness. Anyway, I found a lovely over-the-door shoe holder for $22.95. Looked just fine. I didn't buy it because there were a few more items I wanted from this particular company and I didn't have the cash yet to get them. Fast forward to this morning. I can't take Nathan anywhere with other children because I didn't want him to spread the sickness, so I decided to head to Wal-Mart. I usually shop Target, but today I headed out to Wal-Mart with a list of items I needed. Once there I was walking the aisles and trying to keep Nathan entertained while also looking for items on my list (CHAMPION multi-tasker if I do say so myself) and I saw an over-the-door shoe thingy. I looked at the price. Ten dollars. TEN DOLLARS!!!! Okay, it wasn't as nice as the one I saw online. That one looked like it was better quality, but that was more than half off the other price. SCORE! I bought it and brought it home and it's working just fine thank you very much. I'm just annoyed that I even THOUGHT of getting such a basic item and paying so much money for it and even MORE annoyed that I HAD ONE years ago and in my twenty-something ignorance decided I didn't need it anymore and threw it out. Sigh. At least I'm KIND OF learning from past mistakes. That should count for something, right?

Visit to the Library

I have a library card again. I haven't been to a library in years - since college really. I kind of just stopped going. But the Wakefield library is just lovely. I've got Nathan signed up in classes that meet once a week and I've been able to read some of the most interesting books. Now I don't have a lot of time to browse at the library. Nathan does NOT sit patiently and wait for me to peruse the shelves looking for specific authors or topics. So if the book is not out on a shelf for me to grab - well I'm not going to get it. I HAVE read some wonderful books though/

Hay Fever by Angela Miller - it's all about a woman who works as a publisher during the week in New York and has a goat farm where she makes cheese on weekends. That's a dull summary - but it's actually really, really interesting. I learned more about cheese, goats, running a business than I ever wanted to know but it was all interesting. Loved it.

American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half It's Food (And What We Can Do About It) by Jonathan Bloom - This book was interesting but not as much fun to read. I definitely think Jeff and I should be more conscious of how much we waste. On trash day we have at LEAST 6 garbage bags out at the curb for pick up while my father has one. ONE!!! Our next door neighbor is an adorable elderly woman and she usually has two bags of trash at the most. Clearly Jeff and I are much more wasteful.

Curse of the Kissing Cousins by Toni Kelner - really cute mystery. Very modern and with a cute little twist at the end. Easy read and definitely engaging.

There's more - but I'm really enjoying picking up random books - books where I like cover and just pick it up. Books where I read that say, Alice Cooper enjoyed it, and then check it out to read myself. And I don't feel like I've wasted money because - it's a LIBRARY BOOK! I didn't have to pay anything. They are FREE!!! I did, however, stop checking out books for Nathan since he's still so little and I'm scared to death he'll RIP the library book. He's got plenty of books at home to rip to shreds thank you very much! We'll just wait till he's a tiny bit older before taking out library books for his enjoyment! Head to the library my friends - it's definitely the happening place to be.

Christmas Spirit

Yup, Halloween is over and I'm in the Christmas spirit. Now I realize that it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I've already started my shopping. And decorating. I'll take some pictures of our living room because I've got some small decorations out. I don't know where we're putting the tree this year, and I feel wrong putting it up before Thanksgiving, so right now it's just a small selection of decorations to kind of tide me over. And in the spirit of the season I've been looking at different charitable organizations to see where I want to give. I just discovered this one:
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

but it looks like such a great idea. You take a little shoebox and select the age group of the child and fill the box with presents. I love it and am a little bummed that I just came across this site because shoeboxes are due by the 22nd. Makes sense, but also means I can't be quite as creative as I like. I've already filled a box with toothbrushes and some soap, now I just need to be on the lookout for some other fun goodies.

My other charity is this one:
http://friends-n-neighbors.org/

They were featured on Dateline and I have a few things I want to get them. They're looking for blankets, coats, first aide supplies - and while I can't send a lot, I can send a few things. So I'm starting a box for them as well.

Mainly I'm just feeling very blessed lately. I am working at two great part-time jobs and am able to make my car payment AND help contribute to other home expenses. I'm really getting the hang of this whole "home with Nathan" thing, and I'm feeling a lot more confident in my mommy ability. I'm also really lucky that I have my father living underneath us. I was nervous that it might not work having him so close (let's face it, it could be BAD with a capital B) but so far it's been great. I know Nathan loves having his Grandpa so close, and I enjoy being able to pop downstairs to say hi and chat and just catch up. Never mind the fact that if I need to do something for say, 5-10 minutes, my father has been willing to come upstairs and look after Nathan. Another big plus? Jeff and I have had TWO date nights. TWO! I KNOW.. crazy. We went out to two lovely dinners and chatted and ate yummy food and enjoyed each others' company. It's been a long, long time since we were able to do that and it's thanks to my father that we could. So 2010 has been a good year for us - now if we can only find someone to buy our old house - well life would be golden!

Car

I need to organize my car. Currently there are all sorts of things in it, things that I probably don't need. Like cheerios. My God the number of Cheerios on the floor of my car. I have enough to feed Nathan for the next week! I also have a bag of dry cleaning. A bag of dry cleaning, I hate to admit, that has been sitting on the floor of my car for like, oh, 6 months? Maybe more? But dry cleaning, things that I most likely won't wear anytime soon? I have other things to spend my money on. So the bag sits in my car. I SHOULD admit defeat and just bring the bag in, but I'm lazy, I mean STUBBORN, yes, I'm stubborn and the bag stays. I also have a shopping cart cover (yes, a little cover that goes OVER the shopping cart where Nathan sits. It's to protect him from all the gross germs on the cart and YES I thought it was stupid too until I had a baby and of course had to rush out and buy it because I am a sucker for marketing), I have a fleece blanket since it's winter and I want to make sure Nathan is warm while the car heats up, and I have a million board books that Nathan looks through when I'm driving. It's such a "mom car". What I really NEED, is the following:
An extra pair of gloves
A shovel
A gallon of water
A bottle of windshield defroster
A roll of paper towels
A bag of salt

You know, because it's winter and I should probably be prepared. Meanwhile, when did it get so blasted cold?? My God.. it's COLD out. I had the heat blasting last night and I still burrowed under the covers like some sort of mole person. Which brings me to my next issue. Jeff and I go through this ALL THE TIME. The "Is Nathan too cold or too hot" question. It's on-going. It's endless. It's season less. Since I am cold, beyond cold, at night, I am CONVINCED that Nathan is cold. He's in his fleece jammies every night now, fleece jammies WITH FEET I might add, and he also has a sherpa like blanket that he kicks off or squirms out of. So like a crazy person I run in in the middle of the night and cover him back up. Doesn't matter, he squirms out of it over the next hour. This makes me insane on a level I can't even describe. How do I know if Nathan is cold?? He doesn't understand how to stay UNDER his blanket... and his little hands are so cold in the morning, I just feel awful. How do I keep my precious angel warm???

November

It's National Novel Writing Month and I've written 529 words since yesterday. According to http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node I am a wee bit behind, but it's hard to write and entertain a baby all day long. I also work tonight and am working Thursday so writing time has been difficult. I am DETERMINED though to do this. I CAN do this. I will write my novel in one month! If you want to see what I'm talking about, check out the link above - I've never done it before but I'm thinking this is something I might like to do every year. If possible, that is! Hope everyone else is having a wonderful November!