Teaholic not quite anonymous

I didn't mention that I slept wonderfully last night. I took a PM med. Add that on top of one drink and well, I was out. Maddy did get up at 12:45 and MAN that was interesting. I did get up and get the milk for her, but it was Matt who had to handle her. She had a nightmare and was having a hard time coming out of it so we wound up having to turn on the light in her room but even that didn't stop her from crying. So Matt and Maddy went to watch an episode of Oobi on TV. She went to sleep after that. I was so thankful for that though. Sometimes after nightmares she doesn't want to go back to sleep and will cry when we lay her down. Then it's up and down and up and down at least a couple of times trying to get her to sleep. In the end, we wind up letting her cry long enough to wear herself out, we have to rock her all the way to sleep and then finally lay her down. Fortunately, that didn't happen last night!

Today Matt wanted to get out and about to get some furniture for on the patio. Well, it's the end of the season! I didn't think there'd be much out there, really. I was right! First we went to Home Expo center--nada. Then we went to the Kmart across the street. This store, out of them all, had the best selection. We found two regular chairs with very tight weave fabric. Matt didn't want to get them. He thought we'd find better. There were originally $24 each (metal frames) but I thought we'd never find other chairs anywhere else. I didn't want to get anything with a whole lot of holes in it as I was trying to avoid spider webs since it is under the deck and in the shade most of the time. This fit the bill. Well, they rang up $8.50 each! What a steal! Matt somehow got them into the car (they don't fold). By that point it was lunch time but we made a quick pit stop at our local sears hardware looking for a small side table to go with the chairs. There was nothing there.

After lunch and Maddy went down for a nap I went back out to look for the side table. I went to our other local Kmart and then to Lowes. Neither had anything we wanted for side tables. I did buy two folding metal frame, tight fabric weave chase lounges though for the deck for $14 each down from $40. So when Maddy (FINALLY) got up from her nap at 3:40 (we had to wake her up) I put them on the deck.

We woke up Maddy from her nap at 3:40 because we were due to meet friends at their house at 4. Well, at 4:05 we finally get into the car and we call them on the way there that we are obviously running late. We did make it there by 4:15-4:20. Please note that Maddy slept almost three hours today but couldn't give me a measly two yesterday when I wanted to take a nap!!

We had a really nice time and dinner was fabulous. Maddy was really good about the house and didn't try to pick up anything she really shouldn't. The only thing she really messed with that we didn't want her messing with was the DVR and TV buttons. But she would stop when we asked her to.

After we got home we took her straight upstairs to bed since we got home about 8. She went RIGHT to sleep after a good night playing and running around their house.

Then I was back on the hunt! This time I went out to Target and Walmart at about 8:30. Can I just say that BOTH places were a mad house???? I would think it was black Friday or the day before Christmas. It was insane. I did make a quick pit stop to get gas at BJs since I was literally out. I put 11.4 gallons into my 12 gallon tank. But I hate to get gas anywhere else and I wasn't in the neighborhood this week to get it at BJs.

So I went to Target first and they had a TON of the folding tight weave lawn chairs. They definitely weren't as heavy as the ones we had at home though or as well made. Plus, these were still $20 each. Alas, no side tables. So I left without purchasing anything. Off to Walmart I went. I knew I'd have to wait in line at Walmart anyway since we were out of milk and I needed to pick it up before we came home. I went through the lawn and garden section. Again, nothing. So then I went over to their indoor furniture section and found a personal table that fit the bill for indoor/outdoor use! YEAH! I was thrilled. So now at least we have two chairs and a table downstairs on the patio with two bonus chaise lounges on the deck!

When I got home I immediately put out the table and Matt and I shared a glass of wine on the patio for the first time. It was nice to actually use the fruits of our labor! Man, those lights are exactly what I wanted, too.

But anyway, yesterday was a blur of activity going to 7 different stores. Today I know we have some stuff we want to accomplish here and then I want to get that eclaire ring made!! We're going to grill out as well today.

Ok, well back off to bed!

Tea of the day: 2 cups 'tea mix'
WO of the day: Nothing!

So I made Matt's eclair ring today. I didn't use the normal chocolate topping recipe. I found that one to be a bit too sweet, but other things I've tried haven't been hard or thick enough. I used my mom's fudge recipe instead and spread it on very thin on top. It turned out pretty well!

We've had a nice weekend. Matt, Maddy and I have had a lot of fun hanging out this weekend. Maddy's really been enjoying having daddy home. She's taken to grabbing us by the hand and taking us where she wants us. It's really cute except for when I'm trying to get things done.

Well, I'm starting to fall asleep sitting here. Off to bed! Have a good night and a great week!

Tea of the day: Tea mix and one cup of sun tea
WO of the day: 45 min. elliptical

PS That's the last time I ever ask Matt for spelling advice. It's the blind leading the blind over here.... Google it is.

There's nothing quite like Eclair ring with fresh strawberries for breakfast.

Happy Birthday to Matt, the young spring chicken. We are now the same age for exactly 4 days before I turn a year older than him again. We ate in Mexican tonight that Matt picked up on the way home. We had some wine. I sent the rest of the eclair ring with him to work. He also had cake at work and went out for lunch with his coworkers. I guess the rest of the day was harried though, so I feel bad for him.

Tomorrow will be no better. He has off because I go in to get my crown put back on/root canal (I hope not)/ whatever else they have to do to it. I'm just hoping they can use the same crown. But because I didn't know what they'd need to do to fix it, I asked Matt to stay home in case I'm in a lot of pain. I probably won't be, but, we'll see. If I'm not I'll send him back to work.

Today Maddy and I met a couple of her friends at the farm/park. She had so much fun!!! This is the same little girl who refused to go into the barn the last time she was there. Well, she loved it and wasn't scared at all this time around. I was proud of her. She's also gotten very good on the play equipment as well. A good time was had all the way around.

My knee has been hurting again today. I don't know what's up with that, but it's seriously hindering my workout schedule.

Ok, well, off to hang out with Matt. Have a great night, all!

Tea of the day: 2 cups tea mix, 2 cups sun tea
WO of the day: Nothin!

Well, I had my dentist appointment today for my crown. The good news is that I don't need a root canal. That's a relief. The bad news is that they can't use my cadillac of crowns. Turns out my last dentist had a eye for the expensive, but didn't have the skills to use it! While my old crown is gold covered with porcelain. From what I understand, that's a pretty high-end crown. Trust me, we (and insurance) paid the money for it! Turns out that he did not put enough 'stuff' on my tooth to build up where the crown would go so that it wouldn't touch my gum line. So the crown was against the gum line and that's why it popped off when I flossed. So of course because they had to 'build it up' some more that crown would no longer fit. So now I'm wearing a temporary crown and the new crown (not the cadillac, more like a..oh..I don't know, Nissan) is on order.

2 hours later, I was finally out of the chair. I was very fuzzy headed so I took a nap when Maddy did. When I woke up my mouth was pretty achy but it seems like a aleve really seemed to help it. My knee hasn't hurt either. :)

Other than that, Maddy and Matt went out this morning to get stuff for this weekend's party. We went out again tonight to, to pick up a couple more things. Then we all stopped at the park and had a REALLY nice time. We were the only ones there! I did get three loads of laundry done today with Matt's help, too. I washed both sets of spare sheets (for the sofa sleeper and spare bed) in case anyone needs/wants to crash here on Saturday. My goody bags are finally done, too!

I got my pictures today as well! So I have over 500 pictures to sort and wallets to get mailed. I may start that a bit tonight, but it will last through next week, I'm sure. I already put my wallets in my purse. I ordered 11 different pictures in wallet size, so I'll need to figure out how I want to divide them out. No one needs (nor wants) 11 wallets. So I think I will do 1 set of 5 and 1 set of 6 (minus the grandparents who get them all, of course).

Well, I'm off to work on that! Have a good night!

Tea of the day: Last of the tea mix and also sun tea
WO of the day: Nothing, AGAIN. This week has been so unproductive.

With every card, it comes.
It lurks around every corner.
It calls to me from the mailbox.

It's..... birthday card GUILT. I've received such nice birthday cards this year. It's been so sweet! (BTW, Holly, Matt loved his card too. Very apt. :)) But I have been just HORRIBLE about sending them out this year and last year. HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE. I am normally SO GOOD at it, too. I've absolutely lost track over the last couple years and haven't done it. So with each lovely card I receive I just note the fact I never sent this person, or that person one of them myself. SIGH. I think that will be my New Years Resolution--to start sending out cards again!

Ok, well, can't really stay. I have a cleaning person coming within the hour and I still want to pick up some stuff before she gets here. Funny that, cleaning for the cleaning person. But if she can't GET TO the dirt, how is she supposed to clean it?? And let's face it, I have a lot of dirt! Of course, Maddy will get woken up from her nap. I hate it when that happens.

Outta here. More tonight, maybe.

Tea of the day: Peach white tea, sun tea
WO of the day: Who are we kidding...

This what the question I asked Matt this morning when I got out of bed. I asked him to go turn up the temperature on the AC. When he went into the dining room it was set on 58!!! No wonder I was sooo cold! It must have been running since yesterday when the cleaners were here. I'm sure they cleaned it off, bumped it and never put it back. We had a pizza in the oven last night which I'm sure is why we didn't notice the temperature on the main floor before bed.

SHEESH. Now, I'm waiting for it to warm up in here and we're set on a more comfortable 76. Maybe I should send them my electric bill.....

Tea of the day: White Peach Tea and Suntea
WO of the day: Moving toys from the living room.

So this is what a child-free living room looks like, huh? Hmm.... besides the plastic on the hand-rails (the banisters were grandfathered and too wide apart) the living room is free of toys, mess, clutter, etc. It looks like ADULTS live here!!! I even brought the coffee table back up for the party. Now, it was self-serving. I was able to store all her toys in the corner where the coffee table was.

We're pretty much set to go. We made a split second decision to get a second cake so Matt went to Wegmans with Maddy and picked up a Raspberry Gnash cake. The penis cake (yes, that's what I said) just won't be big enough for 12 people. I have a good assortment of snacks but I just need to lay them out. The soda, mixers, club soda and Hard Mike's are on ice. The vodka is in the freezer. The 43 isn't cold, but it's just for a shot inside of the club soda so I'm not too worried. We're set!

So what do I do with myself now? I found myself snuggling Maddy a ton today and she was more than welcome to the snuggles. She kept giving me hugs and kisses and being very snuggly as well. Daddy kept saying, "I think I know someone who's going to miss her baby!" Well, yeah, I will!!!

Ok, off to do... something. Maybe watch some TV in my living room. Wow, that's a thought!

Tea of the day: Finished the peach white tea and one cup of foxtrot herbal. About to have some sun tea as well.
WO of the day: Dragging toys from the main floor to the family room. That was a job and a half!!

Well, I would say that a great party was had by all. I know I had a ton of fun! The cosmopolitans went over well and I think I may have drank the majority of the Quarenta y tres and club soda mix, but none the less... it went well!

I'm off to bed, at 8 hours that's getting up at 10 and well, I don't see that happening. Maddy is at 7 like clockwork so even 9 would be wishful thinking!!! I am imagining Maddy and Matt will be getting home around 9 tomorrow as well.

So, goodnight all! Happy 30th to me! (I miss my hubby and my baby!)

Drink of the night: Cosmo and also 43 & soda
WO of the night: laughing my butt off.

Well, my birthday was really nice! Matt and Maddy got home about 9:30 after I called them and told them to come home. As I suspected Maddy was up at 7 on the nose like she is every day. I was up at 8:30 no matter how hard I wanted to sleep in! Matt brought home breakfast for me and it was really nice! We all hung out the rest of the morning biding our time until 1 PM. I guess Maddy was all over Matt that night. She wanted to snuggle him and when he'd scootch away so he could have a bit of space she'd scootch right back up to him in her sleep! I guess once she was draped over him sleeping. So needless to say, they didn't get much sleep. Also, Maddy did wake him up once or twice saying, "ilk!" Poor guys.

At 1 we all laid down for a nap. That was sooooo nice. We all took a 3 hour nap! When we got up we had chinese for dinner and then I started to really put away the stuff from the party because I hosted playgroup this morning. Plus I had to bring back up toys.

I had insomnia last night and it really sucked. I was up from 3-5:30ish. I was exhausted when Maddy got up at 6:45 so Matt got up with her until I could drag my butt out of bed at 7. I did some laundry this morning and put away a few more things. I did some spot cleaning for playgroup.

I did leave the coffee table in the living room but shoved it to one side of the room against a stairwell railing. So I am using it as shelving for Maddy's toys. It's nice since it allows us to use it and it keeps it out of the family room where it was just being stored anyway.

Playgroup went well. Maddy played a lot on her own but I know she was excited to have friends coming over. She kept waiting and watching out the window for them to get here! She only slept an hour and a half during which time I wrote thank you notes for our birthday gifts and mailed them out. I still need to work on pictures but that won't be until Wednesday now.

Tomorrow starts my pottery class! I am absolutely excited for it. I will be exhausted but wired when I get home late so they will be late nights for me. But that's ok. it's something I love doing. Matt is so good to be willing to put Maddy to bed every Tuesday for me for the next 3 months and I will need to leave almost the same time as he walks in the door.

One funny Maddy thing. She's been knocking on the wall when she wants our attention. It is hilarious to hear knocking on the wall except for the in the middle of the night when it scares the hell out of ya.

Ok, off to hang out with Matt and maybe do some pictures!

Goodnight!

Tea of the day: Sun tea, Pot of Bigelow Vanilla Chai with splenda and milk during playgroup (Matt brought about 10 bags home from the hotel for me from the weekend. Maddy drank probably half my glass. That girl LOVES chai.)
WO of the day: Weights, Gilad Total Body Sculpt, Ab work and lunges.

So, I actually sleep pretty well last night! Eureka, it's a miracle! My alarm goes off at 6:10, I lay there until 6:15 and get out of bed. I tip toe down the stairs (my workout clothes, water bottle, ipod, shoes are all already in the spare room) and I make it half way down the stairs before Maddy wakes up and starts to whine. I turn around, go back up the stairs and go into our bedroom where I just WAIT for her to call. Which she does. Two minutes later. *sigh*

I rocked her and gave her some milk for about 20 minutes but by that time, honestly, it's too late to start my workout. I can't fit in my whole workout and shower before Matt needs to get ready for work. So now I'm awake at normal workout time but not getting a darn thing accomplished. At least Maddy wasn't up at 6:15 and she's getting more sleep.

So now I think I will try to workout during her nap. But she's only been sleeping for an hour and a half so even that's pushing it. We have some errands to run this morning and then after we get home I'll change into my workout clothes so that way I can literally jump right on the elliptical when she goes down for nap. I can't do it tonight because of my class.

This 6:15 thing just hasn't been working out lately. I haven't been sleeping well enough to get up and when I do get up my alarm (which, I'll admit was a bit too loud this morning) wakes up Maddy. Now I'm thinking about switching my workouts to after she goes to bed or her naps. But man, I hate taking up that time with working out. Her naps are times where I get to relax for a bit and evenings are when Matt and I hang out.

Ah well, I'll figure it out. Have a great day!

Tea of the day: 2 cups suntea so far
WO of the day: Hopefully will get in 30 minutes of elliptical during her nap.

...when I am thrilled that Maddy eats Trix sugar filled, color laden cereal?? Oh that's right. The one where she doesn't normally eat breakfast at all for me anyway.

I'll take it.

Well, after a bit of a harried drive to the class. I thought I missed my turn but really hadn't gone far enough and not to mention, rush hour traffic in Northern VA.... I showed up about 10 minutes late. Then after trying to find a wheel that spun in reverse (I'm a lefty afterall) one did not work and the other only spun in forward mode... I gave up and just used a forward mode wheel. I figured, it's been 10 years anyway, I'm sure I'm so out of the loop that I can learn to do pottery right handed. Afterall, I cut with my right hand.

So I started in. I thought for sure that my first few tries would be horrible, but you know? I never had to throw anything away and start over! In fact, all three pots are perfectly centered and and look pretty darn good!

So, after 10 years and a forward spinning wheel, I am three pots in. I need to tool them next week, and we'll see how that goes. But as of right now, I'm very pleased.

Also, normally when I go somewhere late at night I'm WIRED when I get home. But not tonight. I'm really calm and relaxed, that's what clay does to me.

Ok, off to bed.

Tea of the day: 3 cups foxtrot herbal
WO of the day: I barely fit in my 30 minutes elliptical and shower during Maddy's nap, but I did it!

I'm not really one of those frilly frilly girls that 'must have' all the coordinating kleenex boxes for every room. I buy whatever is on sale. I don't care what it looks like, for the most part. However, I DID find small square kleenex boxes that match our spare room comforter just perfectly. Same pattern, same color. It's really cool. They only had one the last time I was there. Well, when Maddy and I ran errands to the bank and Kmart yesterday they had 6 more in stock and I bought all six. It looks really nice.

I guess I've turned into a frilly frilly girl.

Tea of the day: Bigelow Chai Vanilla
WO of the day: Will fit in a weights workout sometime today.

Yesterday morning while Maddy was snuggly and watching TV (it was rainy and she loves to lay around when it's rainy) I spent some time filling out envelopes for wallets of her. I think I filled out over 35. So, now I need to sort pictures accordingly.

I may as well just say Merry Christmas at the bottom and call these my Christmas cards! It's just as many as I normally send. (Ok, who am I kidding? Normally I send out almost 100 cards.)

Yes, I can't believe it. I AM OUT OF TEA!!! I don't have any black, green, red, white or herbal tea left. Not one single bag or loose leaf! GONE! I've had tea on hand (sometimes an atrocious amount of it) for the last 7+ years.

So, now I get the pleasure of figuring out what kind of tea I want to buy next. I'll need one herbal and one caffeinated. I'm thinking about going through a etailer that I like a lot... but we'll see! I want to study up on this.

Tea of the day: 2 cups chai---then gone!
WO of the day: Will do weights after Maddy's in bed. I got caught up with other stuff during her nap.

Mainly from the coffee I drank this morning but from also knowing I don't have any tea in the house!!! HA!

Well, I solved the second problem this morning. I ordered more tea from Mighty Leaf Tea. I love their teas and haven't had them on hand in a very long time. I ordered the large sampler and also three 15 packs of other flavors I love. It's coming with free shipping (tells you how much I spent) so I need to wait 7 days for it to get here. I just don't think I can wait that long for tea so I think I will buy some Constant Comment at the grocery store today for the rest of the week. I love Constant Comment and it would be nice to serve to others as well. Great for fall coming up, too!

So, it was a splurge, but well, I love my tea!

Oh, and I sent out 47 envelopes with pictures today, too. Finished those off last night.

Tea of the day: bbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzz coffee!
WO of the day: Weights, I did elliptical last night instead of weights.

I uploaded a ton of pictures from the weekend of Maddy. You can find them starting here.

I haven't gone through my videos yet, but I will upload them soon, as well.

Tea of the day: Bigelow Constant Comment green tea
WO of the day: Nothing much!

It was a very nice weekend with grandma and grandpa here. Maddy was still quite clingy when grandma and grandpa are around since we get to go out when they come. It got to the point where if Matt and I BOTH left our main floor at the same time she started to cry! But she did well overall. I figured out today that another reason she was clingy is because she was getting sick. By this afternoon she was a bit warm and definitely stuffy. I'm hoping it's just a cold. Here's hoping she sleeps well tonight!

The chair cushions that grandma and grandpa made for our glider are just amazing. It is so soft and so nice to sit in. I love it!

I got my hair cut on Saturday night after it was rescheduled from Sunday. I went back to the same girl that I went to last time since I loved what she did that much. I'm NEVER ever loyal to a stylist, but she was great. While talking with her I mentioned that I have a very hard time getting color to stay in my hair and it is constantly fading out to the same shade no matter what shade I dye it or who does it. So I had her give it a shot. Unfortunately, because I thought my appointment was for 6:30 and not 6:15 so I ran out the door to make it there on time. So I didn't bring my cell and barely grabbed what I needed. So I called Matt about an hour into it from their phone to let him know I'd be later than expected. I LOVE the color and cut! I'm excited to wash and style it myself, but I want to let it sit for a couple of days first. We'll see if I can handle that after my workout tomorrow though. I hate being sweaty so I will want to wash it! I picked up a couple makeup items, too - a palette I've been eying for a while (actually bought, but they were all chipped when I opened them) and a new tweezers.

Matt's parents went out on Saturday and bought Maddy a slide, an elmo doll and two shake n' go cars that crash into each other. Maddy loves it all and she's done really well with the slide. We left the slide in the living room all weekend, but now I've put it on the deck. I like to spot her when she goes up it and if I'm in the kitchen I can't see what she's doing in the living room. So, if we're on the deck, I'm obviously spotting her there.

I tried a couple of new recipes (chili and chicken lasagna) from my mom's group and everyone loved it! Thanks guys. Matt's mom made her shrimp and grits on Friday and that went over great as well. I love that dish so when she offered to make it (and brought the majority of the ingredients with her) I jumped at the chance! I don't make that very often so I love it when she wants to make it!

Matt went out on Friday night and purchased a Wii. I have to say I'm a pretty damn good bowler, but baseball isn't my cup of tea. I'm pretty good at boxing, too.

Speaking of tea, I bought one box of Bigelow Green Constant Comment but while at BJs today I bought a three pack of herbal teas as well. So I guess I'm starting my collection again, but that's ok. I won't go overboard this time! I did buy Maddy a snowsuit at BJs as well!

Ok, I'm off to hang out with Matt. Maybe we'll play a bit on the wii. Have a good one week all!

Tea of the day: Constant Comment, Mint herbal tea (originally made for Maddy who wouldn't drink it) and Cinnamon Spice tea
WO of the day: Nada

Dear reader,
As of right now, I've been blogging for a year and one day. I've written 367 blogs. If you've made it this far, you deserve a big pat on the back and a gold medal. I don't know how I've kept you interested, but obviously it's not by my wit and humor. You must be a glutton for punishment. Congrats, you've come to the right place!

Lots of love,
Becky, the teaholic

I kind of expected it to be, really. Maddy was very stuffy going to bed and while she fell asleep fine, she was up at 10 very hot. I think her fever broke. She was up until 1:30 on and off-but always on me. :)

First I rocked her in the rocking chair when Matt suggested I just sleep in our bed with her and he'd go downstairs. I was fine with that idea, but Maddy didn't like it and wouldn't settle down. So back to the glider we went. (Thank goodness for the new cushions, they couldn't have come at a better time!) After about another hour there of me falling asleep on and off with her in my lap we both crawled into bed with daddy. She LOVED sleeping against daddy. However, he was too warm and she was heating up too much. Back to the glider again. Finally, after about another 45 min or so she let me lay her down (she had cried every time I put her in her crib before that) and we all slept through the rest of the night.

So we're all snuggly today in sweatpants, sweatshirt and socks. Just going to stay warm and relax the majority of the day. I hope I can knock out this cold fast since we are supposed to have her first class tomorrow, but we'll see how that goes. I really hope I don't get it either since my parents are here this weekend and I have class tomorrow night.

I took a hot shower this morning and just wet down my hair but didn't shampoo. So far, so good. No fading.

Tea of the day: 2 cups Bigelow green constant comment, will be herbal later
WO of the day: Depending on how the day goes, I am hoping to fit in a workout after she's in bed or maybe do one in front of the TV with her. We'll see.

Well, last night when Matt laid Maddy down for bed she started to cry immediately. I was in the process of changing into workout clothes and well... I got back into my regular clothes, went up and rocked her. After about a 1/2 hour I laid her back down and she started to cry, again. So this time I just told her goodnight and went to wash my face/brush my teeth for bed since I knew it would be tough. Matt wound up going in and then laying her down again after I got back. She cried a bit and yelled. She knocked on the wall. We just kept telling her 'Goodnight!' 'We're right here!' She finally went to sleep on her own within 5-7 min.

I went to bed right when she did. About an hour and a half later, she was up crying again. So from 10:45-1:15 I tried different things.. rocking her, laying with her in our bed (I kicked Matt out to the spare room), laying on her bedroom floor while she was in her crib. She loved to rock and lay in bed with me, but she wasn't falling asleep and seemed uncomfortable. She cried even though I was in the room with her while she was in her crib. I think, finally, she was so exhausted that she fell asleep while I rocked her and she accepted going into her crib to sleep. She was up at 6:45 this morning.

So needless to say, we aren't going to her class today. I am going to my class tonight though and am really looking forward to it. Matt asked for tips on how to get her to sleep and all I could say was, "Well, it took me 2+hours both nights for me to do it, so there aren't any tips from me!"

Well, I need to get a few things done today. I want to wash sheets this afternoon (only after a nap).

Matt was really nice and he went to Target for me after work to pick up different cold/sinus meds for us adults--because you know one of us are going to get this cold. He said all the children's meds were out of stock, so something is going around, obviously. He also bought new PJs for me and a toy kitty for Maddy. I've seen this toy a few times, but it's on the expensive side so I never bought it. Maddy loves it though and daddy enjoyed getting it for her.

Have a great day!

Tea of the day: 1 cup green constant comment, 1 cup herbal green, and probably coffee this afternoon
WO of the day: I'm doing a workout on the TV today come hell or high water.

Matt is so helpful and so good to us. Every time Maddy wakes up Matt is right there to help. Two nights ago he was especially helpful, bringing in the milk, offering to let Maddy sleep with him, rocking her, helping me out. He offers to let me sleep when she wakes up at night and that he will rock her.

This morning and yesterday morning he let me sleep in even after Maddy got up. He also insisted a take a nice hot shower before he even got ready for work. He makes me a cup of tea for when I come down from my shower.

If I need something from the store, all I have to do is email him to pick it up. He never complains--ever about going out for things that we need after work.

Plus, he doesn't mind cleaning up poop.

So, if you have a queasy stomach, you may not want to read this.

This morning Maddy walks in the kitchen from the living room and shows me her hands. She says, "POOP!" Yep, that's what's in your hands all right. I can smell it from here. Then she points to the living room and yells, "Poop" Ok, I don't even NEED to go look. I just yell, "Hon, help!" (He's already running late for work.) He comes running down.

So I first wet one the poopy hands. Then I have her wash her hands for as long as she possibly could handle under the sink. Now I change her sweatshirt. Matt, is picking up poop balls off the carpet, then washing it with resolve. Fortunately, this was a very solid poop.

Worst part? When Maddy came in the kitchen to tell me about the poop. She was sucking her thumb..... Fortunately, it seems like she dug in her diaper with her other hand and not her thumb sucking hand. But YUCK.

Link can be found www.nbc4.com.

"WASHINGTON -- The Washington metro area has the second worst gridlock in the U.S., according to a new report from the Texas Transportation Institute.

The report showed that trips are taking longer than ever and that drivers in the D.C. area spend an average of more than 60 hours a year sitting in gridlock."

Maddy slept straight from 8 pm to 6 am last night!!! YEAH! The same cannot be said for me. I had a great nap yesterday and then a cup of coffee to help me make it through the afternoon/evening. So I was up a lot last night and really didn't want to go to bed even at 11:15. Ah well! I'm just glad she's sleeping.

My pottery class went well last night. I was much faster setting up and cleaning up which gives me a lot more time to work on my pots. I tooled three last night including cutting open an enclosed form (closed pot, cut off the lid...think about it like a pumpkin). It went well! My tooling isn't as good as it used to be and I definitely wasn't as fast either. But overall, it went well. I was very impressed that I added a handle onto an already leather hard lid of my enclosed pot. That's not always easy to re-throw additional clay on something that is finished. I did mess up the one and only pot I threw last night, but I was able to redeem it into a bowl. Sure, it wasn't he vase I wanted, but, at least I didn't need to toss the whole project.

Tea of the day: Bigelow green constant comment (irritated, I just received my tracking info last night from Mighty Leaf and it hadn't even been picked up for delivery yet! So it will still be at least 4-5 days before I get that)
WO of the day: bound and determined to get my elliptical in this evening.

I realize why I hate it so much. It's not that Maddy 'helps' me or things like that. It's because I HATE wasting food! I hate finding food that should have been eaten but hasn't. I hate how full the garbage can is when I'm finished.

Part of the issue is that our fridge is really deep. So things get lost in the back. Plus, if we have a lot of groceries in there, we wind up not being able to see everything and things get overlooked. I'm pretty good at making sure produce doesn't go bad, but it's the bread, sauces and leftovers.

Everyone slept well last night! More later. Off to do some laundry.

Fortunately, it was just my temporary crown and not my permanent one. Oh well, I have my dentist appointment next Thursday to put the new crown on anyway. I give up on that whole thing.

So today is cleaning day, at least kind of. I've done three loads of laundry (all hung outside), cleaned all the bathrooms and did a bit of dusting. I still have more to do, but I'll do it later. Time to sit down while she's napping!

First, I'm feeling bad for my neighbor. She got back from China not long ago and her husband's visa still hasn't been granted by the Chinese government. (The US government hasn't been the issue.) But they've been going through this for FIVE YEARS. She's been apart from her husband for five years. I can't even imagine. Well, I guess there was a date difference on a couple of the forms and that's what has prevented him from coming. But on the actual refusal letter, it states something else. She's frustrated and sad, understandably. Fortunately, this could all be fixed in a couple months so they aren't starting back at stage one. I mean, Matt and I were one time zone away when we were dating for 4 years, but I can't imagine being around the world from him and seeing him MAYBE once a year.

Second story: Yesterday I saw a really fast car come bombing through the court. I look out and see that it's my neighbor who NEVER drives that fast through here. That only made me think one thing: His wife is in labor!! So I watch a little longer (a window monitor by genes, afterall) and he jumps from his car, whips open the trunk, grabs his bag, slams the trunk and runs to the house. Oh yes, that's definitely a man who's about to have his first child and needs to get his wife to the hospital. I watch as they load up the truck and mom (soon to be grandma) comes out helping mom to the car. Dad is running crazy with his head chopped off. Then I hear, "Get a towel! Any towel.. from the basement! No, not the WHITE towel!" HAHAHAHA... It just made me laugh. Off they went.

Ok, back to cleaning. Not much more to go! Have a good one!

Tea of the day: Green Constant Comment, but now I have some regular green tea from my neighbor (Do I trust tea from China with all the lead coming out of there?).
WO of the day: Cleaning.

There's nothing like cold, hard cash to get things done. We have a sagging sidewalk block that could use to be replaced. Well, our subdivision is having other blocks replaced today. Matt talked to the crew leader this morning and he's going to replace three of our blocks (since fixing just the one would leave a gap for the other two) for cash. Hey, we don't need to get estimates and I know we're getting it much cheaper than what we're supposd to be. It works!

Grandma and Grandpa will be here by noon! Yeah!!!

Off to have my tea.

Tea of the day: Constant Comment Green

Well, Maddy has been enjoying her time with grandma and grandpa so far. She jumped right into Grandma's arms when she got here and even gave Grandpa a hug and kiss, too. Today, she's been a bit more standoff-ish, but still happy to play with them. She took a good nap yesterday and slept all night (albeit, got up at 6 again--what happened to the 7 days?).

Grandma and Grandpa bought Maddy a red radio flier wagon yesterday. She loved it last night but we haven't had the opportunity to use it yet today. I'm hoping for a park outing later. We've been enjoying bowling on the Wii. Matt and my dad played a round of golf. Matt and I boxed each other and I kicked butt--again. :)

Well, that's it for now. Just wanted to check in.

Tea of the day; Bigelow Green Constant Comment

I love fall for all the wonderful pumpkin flavors. Trader Joes just got their pumpkin butter back in stock. I bought THREE jars of the stuff. I love it. I also bought a pumpkin beer as well that is also new to Trader Joes and it's one of the best yet. I don't like Octoberfest beers much because they have some spice but are still basically just beer. But I do like pumpkin beer.

I also made apple crisp today along with two chicken lasagnas (one for my neighbor who just brought home their newborn today).

Have a happy autumn!

Tea of the day: Coffee with pumpkin pie creamer and splenda
WO of the day: Nothin, just playing with Maddy, grandma and grandpa

Well, it was a very nice visit with my folks. Maddy's a funny little kid. After the initial jump into Grandma's arms and go to Grandpa she didn't really want to snuggle with them. She played and had a great time with them though. And she'd still give them kisses and hugs. Funny how kids are though.

My dad and Matt have become quite good at Wii Tennis and Golf. They died laughing every time they played--especially Tennis. It is hilarious to watch, too. They love watching these little legs running around the court and just the overall look. It's funny!

My mom and I have done a LOAD of Birthday/Christmas shopping for Maddy. She's thrilled because I picked out the stuff I was going to buy and then just let her pay for it. She's happy she doesn't need to ship the stuff or try to pick it out. I scored a lot of sweatshirts, sweatpants and turtlenecks at Target yesterday for her as well. I didn't see them out yet at Walmart and they get picked over soooo quickly. I stuck with the 24 month/2T for both the tops and bottoms. The bottoms will be fine all winter since her 18 month seem to fit her fine now. But the tops may get small towards spring and it depends how much it shrinks, too.

We've been eating like crazy lately and the amount of left overs we have is insane. I made good meals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So we still have left overs from Sunday. Then on Monday we ordered in TWICE. Plus we ordered a ton both times. The fridge in insanely full. Now of course, I need to plan our eating strategically so nothing goes to waste. Plus, Matt and my dad love pastry so we still have some of that laying around, too. Although we did find a great little bakery near us and the prices weren't that crazy and the stuff was just decadent.

My Mighty Leaf tea comes today! I can't tell you how excited I am for it. I'm glad I did buy the Bigelow herbal mix at BJs though. I've been going through it and Maddy has enjoyed it as well. It's great for her cold since it's natural, gets liquid in her and it's warm to sip on. It really helps open her up when she breathes in the steam from the mug. She is quite a tea girl though, since she points to Grandma's and Grandpa's coffee mugs and yells, "Tea!" and goes in for the kill.

Going to be a busy, busy rest of the week here. Today Maddy and I each have our class. Tomorrow Matt has a happy hour thing for a coworker. Thursday I have playgroup in the morning, my crown in the afternoon, and then (maybe depending on how burnt out I am) MNO that night. Friday AM I have my dermatologist appointment. Sunday afternoon I have a birthday party at Little Gym. I need to wrap those gifts still, too. We NEED to go to church on Sunday, too. Even if we have to kick ourselves in the butt to go to the early service. (Late service won't allow for a nap for Maddy before the party.) With both sets of parents here two weekends in a row, we haven't gone. PLUS, two weeks in a row before that we haven't gone. It's been over a month and a half, easy.

Well, I could brave the mosquitoes and try to water the front grass right away before Maddy gets up. I wonder where that portable monitor is?

Have a good rest of the week!

Tea of the day: Coffee today. I thought my parents were going to have some before they left so now I have an 8 cup pot upstairs. If I drank it all I'd have every chore done by noon. But I'd also be a raging b*$&h, too. So I won't do that.
WO of the day: Nothing much today, I don't think. With class tonight and Maddy getting up soon, I don't think I will. Plus, I want a nap today! I am getting back on the wagon tomorrow though, since the last 10 days have been miserable for working out.

Yes, my tea arrived today. I can only say I'm sorry I had two cups of coffee on an empty stomach this morning. Even after lunch, I can still feel the caffeine zooming through me. So, I had one cup of herbal tea, but man... I can't wait to try it all. It's all wonderful so far!

Gotta love it.

Pooped, as in, tired, weary, exhausted. Not poop as in, well..... poop.

I'm pretty worn out tonight. No, nothing went haywire today. Nothing was crazy. As a matter of fact, it was a really nice day overall. Maddy and I had playgroup first thing this morning and she seemed to enjoy herself. Then we stopped over at Walmart for the very best Cajun Trail mix on earth. Ooohh.. what a great mix of sesame sticks, corn nuts, toffee peanuts and spicy peanuts. I bought two bags of that and also two bags of their Nature trail mix, too. I am sending a bag of each to a friend of mine.

After Walmart, Maddy and I went to Bloom to pick up some groceries. I convinced her to get in the cart promising her we'd buy corn. It worked. :) She LOVES corn on the cob. Yesterday she came running into the kitchen holding her plastic play corn on the cob and ran to the fridge pounding on the door, "Corn! Corn!" We didn't have any. And let me tell ya, that little girl was NOT happy about that.

I asked one of the produce people there a question regarding their produce and she fawned over Maddy. Well, she goes over to the bananas and pulls one off and opens it up for her?!?! HELLO?!?! It was sweet and all, but STILL. Please do not show my child that it's ok to eat things we haven't paid for yet. Not to mention, I didn't want people looking at me like *I* was the one who did that! Add in that Maddy never eats a whole banana, and I was 1/2 way through the store pulling out diaper wipes and a empty plastic bag to put the rest of the banana in and to wipe off her hands. It was sweet, but I hope no one ever does that again!

After that we went home and had lunch (cuscus and grapes for Maddy, she loves it) and played for a bit. I put away two loads of laundry and then put her down for a nap. I packed up some of a care package, watered the front grass and that was about it.

After Maddy got up I waited for Matt to get home. He had a rough day at work and he was supposed to relieve me at 4:15 for my 4:30 dentist appointment. But because work was so crazy he didn't get home until 4:26. I was 2 minutes late to the dentist. Fortunately, it's REALLY close by. My new crown feels fine, we'll see how it wears after a few days.

After dinner, a walk and some playtime, Maddy is now down for bed and both Matt and I see an early bedtime in our near future. I know we can both use it. I am missing Mom's night out tonight, which I hate to do. But honestly, I am just too tired to go.

Tea of the day: 2 cups Mighty Leaf Orange Deluce, 1 cup green tea with brown rice at playgroup
WO of the day: Nuttin' honey

A while back I bought a ton of pictures on shutterfly. Well, I sorted out the photos into categories or like pictures. I cut the wallets, wrote the letter, addressed the envelopes and mailed them all (three came back, I mailed them out again today). I sorted out the grandparents' pictures and burned them a copy of the pictures to disc. So, tonight I put the pictures in the correct chronological order. WHEW. That took over an hour to do. But for the most part (give or take a few pictures) they are sorted. Now all I have to do is file them into my photo album. I'm pretty sure I may just finish a brand new 300 picture album with just these pictures alone. I already filled a 500 one.

Matt went to bed early tonight and I am sleeping in our spare room since I need to be up at 6 for my doctor's appointment at 7. I can just get up, quick get ready and sneak out the back door without waking up the house. I still can't tell you how convenient that really is, although a pain to get up that early. I love the fact that Matt's not even late to work!

So, since I'm up later than I said I would be, I better get off to bed. I'll finish pictures tomorrow!

If you do, just call me. You'll be able to use me in the next month or two for one. Because, I'm pretty sure that once I'm on all these meds (3 total, 2 oral, 1 topical) I'll be glowing!

I went to the dermatologist today to discuss my 'progress' on my current oral med. Well, there hasn't been any. It's not actually worse. Well, it's the same worse state that it's been for a while now. But it hasn't gotten worse over the last month, but not better either. So he said he wanted to knock it out as quickly as possible for which I agreed. After all, I don't particularly like my $20 copay every month. So if I can get something that works, hopefully I can get refills and then not have to go every month to see him. Maybe quarterly. That works for me. So anyway, we'll see how this combo goes. That said, I've still been using the proactiv but it hasn't worked for me. So I'm going to store it away until after I'm finished with the meds and maybe have another bout of it.

I am such a wimp though. I left the house at 6:35 and I thought to myself how God awful early it was to be out and about. I had to wipe the dew off my windshield. I haven't been out that early since last month for the doctor. I remember when I taught I would be out the door at 6:15 and be to work by 6:45. This was all driving towards DC in DC traffic. I've become soft! Now the thought of getting out of bed before 6:30 just about kills me.

But, I do love, love, love these 7 am doctors appointments. Matt can get to work on time. I get there, have very little wait and I'm home by 7:30. The office is run like clockwork. I call the receptionist the soup nazi because of the way she runs the place. She runs it fast and swift, keeps things on time. You can tell she's been working with the doctor forever. But you can tell not to tick her off either. She's good with people but she's very comfortable in her job, so I don't think she'd take grief if you gave it to her. The doctor really knows his stuff too and while the appointments are fast I do feel like I have any questions answered and he takes time to explain things.

Speaking of appointments, my new crown is in and it feels pretty decent so far. Thank goodness. I haven't attempted to floss it yet.

Well, we're off to the drugstore to fill these prescriptions today.

Tea of the day: Travel mug (so cute!) with 2 cups Orange Deluce tea
WO of the day: Driving at 6:45 in the morning. Again, I'm so out of practice!

First, I went to pick up my prescriptions tonight and paid $82!!! Holy crap!!! $60 of it was for my topical that they don't make a generic of yet. Nice... turns out from the pharmacist that I am one of the lucky ones who has it covered at all. It is $187 originally without insurance. Craziness, I tell ya. I better really BE glowing when this is all said and done.

Second, I love that Maddy is really starting to give kisses unprompted now. She ran up to me and kissed me on the neck twice today, once on both cheeks and once on the nose. It just melted my heart.

At dinner today we said prayer like we always do and Maddy already had her favorite pizza in front of her. Well, she started to dig in until she saw us fold our hands to pray. She threw down her pizza onto her plate and prayed with us. Now, she's been folding her hands for prayer since she was about 10 months old (if not before) but for her to actually wait to eat was pretty neat.

Ok, that's it. Goodnight. Have a good weekend.

Now that the grass has grown in I thought I'd do before and after shots of the patio. We're still trying not to walk on the new grass that much since it's still delicate and we water at least every other day. But the patio is finished. I've been thinking about getting a shed, but... that's for another time. I'd love to store away things like the lawn mower and Maddy's wagon (which currently sits in our family room/storage area).

Yesterday was a nice day. We really got a lot accomplished. Matt ran some errands including mailing a package for me, picking up his laptop from Apple service department. The 'V' button on his laptop broke when a DVD drive popped out of a computer he was working on and bounced off his keyboard. He was surprised that was all that was broken! And, Apple was able to just fix the V button without having to replace the entire keyboard which was pretty amazing since the circuit under the button was broken. Less expense there! More good news, I didn't need a new cell phone. My sim chip just wasn't working. A pain now that I need to upload all the phone numbers I once had stored in my address book, but again, a free fix.

Maddy and I ran to the grocery store as Matt ran out to do chores. I made enchiladas last night and made an extra 8x8 pan for the neighbors with the new baby. I froze 3 dinner servings of it for Matt and I out of our pan for other days. I'm doing pretty well on frozen meals now. I have chili, enchiladas and chicken lasagna in the freezer. I love to just defrost the day of and serve a home cooked meal that night. I haven't done that in a long time.

During Maddy's nap I filed all the pictures into photo albums. What's great about shutterfly and I didn't realize is that they date all the pictures on the back of when they were TAKEN (not printed or uploaded). That was fabulous! It made for much easier filing. I filled a brand new 300 page photo album.

After Maddy got up, Matt and her ran to BJs for paper items (TP, paper towels, disinfectant wipes, paper plates). While they were gone I put together the enchiladas for dinner, delivered the neighbors and cleaned the kitchen. Then Matt mowed the lawn and Maddy went off to bed. She was utterly exhausted from playing on our bed with us at 3 pm this afternoon. I mean, she was playing so hard that she was really sweating. So I knew she'd sleep well. It's cute though. Matt tells her to 'take a break, take a breath' and she takes a deep breath. So cute!

Remember when you were REALLY little and you're mom would put a little bit of perfume on your arm and it'd smell so good you'd want to lick it? Then it would of course taste just horrible. Well, yesterday I had a cup of the Mighty Leaf Jasmine tea and it smelled so lovely and fragrant it was like smelling perfume. The taste was light and just perfect. It was the best Jasmine tea I've tried yet.

Ok, off to get my shower! Today Maddy has a birthday party this afternoon at Little Gym for one of her friends that is turning two. So I need to get down for a nap early so she can be there when it starts.

Tea of the day: Raspberry Mocha (Raspberry hot chocolate with coffee and milk)
WO of the day: Nothing, but starting that bright and early tomorrow morning. I need to get back on the wagon!

Maddy had such a great time at Hailey's birthday party today at Little Gym. She really enjoyed herself. I put up a ton of pictures, so you'll have to check 'em out if you're interested. She loved the basketball hoop the most. She has a mini hoop in her bathtub, but she LOVED the real thing!

I can't wait for all our grass to be in! It was bad enough when Maddy couldn't play in the backyard (since it was new grass and almost constantly wet since we'd water every day) but now that we had the concrete sidewalks replaced we now have new grass seed out front, too! The poor girl can't even play outside her own house. Thank goodness for the deck, the patio and the parks.

Tomorrow we are going to a Fall Festival at the pumpkin patch with my mom's group. It should be a ton of fun. Plus, Maddy's still free since she's under 2! I'll need to take a lot of pictures since it will be her first pumpkin patch experience.

Ok, well, Matt and I are going to have a fire on the deck in the chimnea. Have a nice night and a great week!

Tea of the day: Green Jasmine tea, Chamomile Citrus Tea