Sunday, August 29, 2010

Summer Lovin'

I know that this summer has been a hot one, but I have not complained once about the heat. Even when I was dripping in sweat merely trying to cut Aimee's 5th birthday (which by the way OMG I have a 5 year old) cake at her party. Sure it is hot, but it's summer. Last summer was a continual rain-fest with hardly any nice warm days in.a.row. Sure we had a 90 here and there but that was it. So I am so excited for the next days with back to summer heat for the forecast.

Okay, admittedly I have central air conditioning now and an in ground pool so hey it's not hard to deal with the heat. But I have loved loved loved this summer. It goes by so fast it is crazy. Don't get my wrong, I do love fall with the changing leaf colors, apple picking, pumping carving, etc. but there is something about this time of year that always gets me a little bit blue. The end of summer, flip flops, short pants, Capri's, etc. going back into the closet and sometimes into Goodwill always makes me a little sad.


So I am soaking it all in, the last few days of summer. I know that soon enough we'll be waking up to 40 degree mornings and need jackets before leaving the house. But until then, bring on the heat!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Cutting Costs

This summer we have had some unfortunate house type things bite the dust. The remnants of my husband's bachelorhood in the form of a 65" wide screen TV died (playing of taps here) and while I did a little happy dance that Noah's Ark was leaving our living room I quickly put away my dancing shoes when I realized to replace it with about 10 less inches of viewing screen would be about $1400. Then we needed a stand for the little gem because our mammoth 65" one was all inclusive. So $2200 later we were invested in a nice TV with stand.

Of course, the story doesn't end there. We were having our July 4th BBQ and to get ready for it our grill decided to bite the dust and literally went up in flames. Luckily I remembered a friend of mine (Holla Tricia) had recently commented on how baking soda puts out a grease fire so when my husband was frantically searching for what to do about the shooting flames when no gas was on, I calmly walked out with my box of Arm & Hammer and we smothered the fire but were left with no grill and a party less than 4 days away. So off to Sears to get the on sale Kenmore grill with external burner to the tune of $350.

Now it's been a roasting hot summer and we have loved our pool for every single minute of it. But, our pool cover from last year was no more than an out of shape, hole infested tarp that the previous owners had purchased probably at the dawn of man. This thing was so old and I quivered every time the girls went outside for fear they would somehow manage to excel in their fine motor control and unlock the triple locked pool gate. So we knew we would want one of those put-an-elephant-on-here-pool-covers. Luckily the guy at the pool and patio store let us purchase it on the tax free weekend. Wh0-hoo. But another $2600 gone. I really hope that things happen in 3's because we can't afford another major purchase right now. (knock wood)

So, today I get to thinking of our bills. We will have a slight raise because we are cutting down on daycare costs since Aimee will be braving the public school system in a mere 13 days (sniff sniff) and Nicole is taking a stab at nursery school. So with the promise of my mom to help us out and my continued reduced workweek plus a husband who works for himself we hope to breathe a little easier in September. However I am still looking at how to cut a few costs. So I am putting all non essential kid clothes and outgrown things into a consignment sale, I have some bigger ticket kid items (pack and play anyone?) to go onto Craigslist and today I decided to call the cable company to get a lower package because who needs 100 movie channels?

So I called at 9AM and talked to a very nice woman who walked me through the packages. Now my husband definitely loves his TV so I was unsure how he would like a reduced package. So I was able to get a slight reduction and the promise to keep calling in once in a while because they do run specials. So I called my husband and asked him how many channels he wanted to keep and after careful consideration he decided that he could lose a few. So I went back to the cable company and asked them again what my options were and another lovely woman said she could keep us in the same service level for $50 less per month and would I like to do that? I am sure it's part of the "form" call they need to do but I really think it's a no brainer. So I have effectively just saved us another $50 per month on our cable/Internet/phone. I am doing my own little happy dance here knowing that one second phone call is now going to save us $600 per year! One little phone call and now we're locked in for that year.

So now I am off to said cable company because our DVR isn't working. I was planning on going anyway to trade in our DVR for a regular box because it would save us $15 per month and I just might kiss whoever greets me at the desk.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The First Mile

It amazes me that whenever I talk to a "runner" they always tell me that the first mile is always the toughest. Even if they run marathons or 10Ks regularly, that first mile is always tough. For me, the non-seasoned, tomato faced runner all the miles are tough. I can run well enough on the treadmill, I mean it is propelling me forward so to speak. I can run outside okay and actually prefer it but I have found little time to actually partake in outdoor running. I know, you are saying to yourself...."take the kids in the stroller" but man I can barely run myself let alone pushing a good 70 pounds of kids plus stroller.

I get through my mileage, sometimes it is easier than others. At this point my goal is to actually run the entire 3.5 miles without stopping for some wind sucking to slow down. I can do almost two without stopping. But inevitably I need a break, some time to take regular breaths and just walk for a few moments or even a full minute before I get back into it.

Today I was in my workout room at my office. It's a nice little outfit where they have set up for the employees 2 treadmills, 2 bikes, 2 elliptical machines and a rower. Also included is a set of free weights. So today I had a co-worker who I don't even know on the elliptical next to my treadmill. And don't you know that it made me go further and faster just so I wouldn't have to stop at all during my 3.5 miles. I didn't want to look like an ass because I had to keep stopping so I just went full force and ran my 3.5 miles. And after my cool down and stretch I actually felt good. I felt accomplished and I felt better than I had in a while.

So okay runners. I get it. Get through the first mile....but keep going. The first mile is the hardest, the second is a bit better and mile three is better still. I just wish I was doing this for the love of running instead of to get my ass back into my pre-pregnancy clothes.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Lest August go by....

I didn't want to go without posting at least once in August. Bad bad blogger. It's been such a beautiful summer I haven't wanted to spend any time indoors and on the computer. I hardly even check Facebook anymore save for a few random check ins to get the latest news and even then I miss things depending on who posts when and fills up my news feed. Gah!

Well big things are coming up in our household. My weight loss isn't doing so well. Not sure why or what happened to my motivation but it's basically out the window. I am not giving up though because I know that I can do it based on the success that I already had. So I am stepping it up and going on down....again. But that isn't the biggest news. The biggest news is that we are about to embark into the public school system.

Now I am sure there are moms out there that are members of the who-hoo club when their children go off to school. But to be honest, I think I am a member of the boo-hoo club. Thinking of putting my little girl on the bus to travel all the way around the corner to school is a bit heartbreaking. True, it's a rite of passage and one that every kid takes, but is it bad that I have no recollection of my first day of Kindergarten? Actually I have very little recollection of any of my first days of school except Freshman year in high school. Should I be worried that these were such horrible experiences that I have perhaps blocked them out of my memory? I certainly remember the last day of school in some grades. I bet there is some Darwinian theory in there someplace.

Anyway, I have exactly 2 weeks and 2 days before this event happens and I am not happy at all. Sure I want her to go to school and enjoy it. Hell, I even want her to make new friends and love it. But, it's the end of an era. It's real school. You can't miss real school. It's frowned upon when you take them out for a few days just to go away or the like. Before it was just me missing the pre-paid days of daycare. Now it's real consequence.

But it's really bigger than that. It's hard to fully explain but I feel like a portion of our time together as a threesome is ending. We have had a schedule for the past 3 years (once Nicole entered the picture) of what we would do from week to week and with daycare the seasons didn't really mean a whole lot. Sure we added in preschool but it really just worked into our days. This Kindergarten bit is a new ball game and I am not sure I am ready to play. But like all things in life, time marches on and in 2 weeks and 2 days I will be wadding my Kleenex at the end of the driveway as the bus pulls up and takes away the little creature I have nurtured and watched grow to the best of my ability for the past 5 years.

I am sure by 3 weeks from now I will be over it but the anticipation has me welling up each time I think about it.