November ends with snow

It started snowing on my way to work today. It always makes for not so fun driving. There was one car off the road on my way in to town.

By the time work had ended I'd sold tons of ice melt and a few hundred snow shovels. Nothing like a dusting to make Mainers panic. I seriously wonder if everyone breaks their shovels each year. Seriously, should they have to buy one each year?

Anyway, the temperature rose a few degrees before I left work. We had sleet and then rain making those horrible slushy roads I really hate driving on. But I made it home just fine and now I'm warm and watching Timothy play on our bed when he really should be sleeping.

This will be my last post for maybe a week. NaBloPoMo is now over and I need a break! I'll go back to my once a week posting.

Now for some sleep!

Educational toys

We're considering getting Ryan some good old educational toys for Christmas. We've looked at a few things, discussed about a hundred ideas and haven't comitted to anything just yet.

Ryan has been begging for anthing that has wheels and resembles a truck. He wanted a truck when we were in Wal-Mart shopping the other day (I seriously almost live at this place). I told him Santa was coming soon and that he could help me write a note to him telling him what he wants. So a commercial came on for the Screaming Banshee and he looks at me and says, "Tell Santa want that." I say okay and kinda forget about it.

Then last night as we are on our way to bed he says, "Tell Santa want big fire truck and fire hat."

Let's just say Santa isn't so rich this year and Santa may end up getting him some sort of truck that he wants, but he has SO MANY trucks, cars and things with wheels that can be used as cars or trucks. So Adam and I came up with this idea of an educational toy. It's gone from one of those laptops that do ABCs and 123s to good old books.

Do you guys have educational toys your kids can't stop playing with? If so, let me know. I am in need of some good ideas here.

My Black Friday

I think the people who get up at 1 a.m. to stand in line at WM, or any other store for that matter, on Black Friday are silly. It was just 25 degrees are I drove to work this morning. I was bundled in my winter coat (which doesn't fit... those darn 20 lbs!), a fleece, hat and gloves, the WM uniform buried somewhere underneath.

As I pull up I see the cars in the parking lot. It's not full like in years past, but there are a number of cars anyway. Then I see the people lined up waiting to get inside. Some are dressed appropriately for standing outside for four hours, others were just silly standing there in thin sweatshirts. Some people had blankets.

It was, of course, already busy inside when I got to work. There were no customers yet, but there was lots still to do to get ready for open. I wanted coffee, but feared my break would come later than I would want and I'd have to pee so bad and not be able to get a break that I'd wet my pants. No coffee for sleepy me.

About a half hour after I arrive, we're all lined up looking at the doors, ready to watch the crazy pepole run inside. And the doors open and they start running, all making a beeline for the Electronics department. We cheered the first few people in and watched them run to their destination.

My first customer spent $700 like it was nothing. The little old man being served behind me blew through $2,500. Both purchases were on flat screen tvs. My smallest purchase of the day was $5.25 by a woman who purchased a box of matchbox cars for her grandson. We didn't have the other item she was looking for. Sold out. But she came at 7. When the store opens at 5 with a line don't excpet the hot item to still be around two hours later.

I watched lots of deals run by. Kids clothing sets on sale for just $4. My kids currently aren't in need of winter clothing, but I still can recognize a good deal when I see one. Winter coats for $8 for kids. Winter coats for adults for $8 just about sold out by the time I left. The remaining ones were lime green and size XL.

People were still spending, but many admit to not spending as much as in previous years. It's a hard hit for retail stores, but in many ways it's good. We don't NEED half of the junk we have and there are many worthy causes that could use a helping hand right now. In Maine, as I am sure it is in other parts of the U.S., food pantires are in dire need of donations. This state ranks fifth in the nation for as a hungry state. The Press Herald had this article a few days ago.

At 9:30 a.m., my day was done and I stopped by Dunkin Donuts on the way home to get a coffee. I really, really needed it to make it through the day. Not to mention, it helped to warm me up because it was still cold outside and sleeting.

When I got home Adam and I traded places. He's still at work and I'm now with the kids. I am so ready for bed, but I don't think Ryan is at all. I'm hoping I can trick him into a 7:30 bedtime, but I'm not holding my breath.

Thanksgiving

This is a quick post about Thanksgiving Day here in Maine.

We saw a gaggle of turkeys in the backyard this morning. It was fun watching them eat and then leave (photos on facebook for those who'd like to look).

We at a Thanksgiving dinner here.

We ate a second Thanksgiving dinner at Jenni and Eric's house. The food was so yummy. Yay for deep fried turkey, green bean casserole and super good apple pie. On the way out I fell down their stairs... the last two or so were missed completly by my feet. I am fine.

We celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday (yes I had pie and cake).

I am now going to bed. I work at 5 which means I get up sometime after 3 a.m.

Mid-week update

Three weeks after getting his fingers caught in the treadmill and Ryan is doing great. We had a visit with the specialist today and they say he's healing well. The new skin is a bit dry and we will treat that by massaging vitamin E oil on his fingers for the next two weeks. Our final appointment with the hand specialist is Dec. 17. Yay!

Today was much more productive than yesterday. I managed to sort through the huge mess of toys we've collected and put some in the attic (back where they came from because they were Adam's or his brother's when they were little), in a bag to go to Vin and Kris' house for toys to play with there, and in the toy box here. The place looks so much better now and my mother-in-law will have a place to put the Christmas tree in the coming weeks.

I am not looking forward to Friday when I work at 5 a.m. I'll be home just after the kids are getting their breakfast. Lucky me! Adam will then leave for work and probably won't be home till 8 p.m. At least him having to work Black Friday means extra money in his paycheck. Yay for extra money!

But first comes Thanksgiving where we will spend the holiday with Adam's family and then with some of our friends. The family part will be as it is every year so I am mostly looking forward to the friends part. I am looking forward to something different and new. I liked that when we celebrated Thanksgiving at home we always shared it with someone else. We always had guests. It was fun to have a different person each year. At college the first year we were married we hosted all of our friends for a special dinner. It was great! I hope when we're back to living on our own that we will continue that tradition.

And just a few more days and NaBloPoMo will be over! Yay! I've had fun posting, but have had difficulty finding the time to post each day. Tonight I am lucky that Tim is already sleeping and that Adam is home spending time with Ryan.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone.

One of those days

What a fun day it was! Well, not really. Tim is teething and crabby. He's also learned the art of fighting sleep. He fights it and fights it and then after much walking/rocking he goes to sleep.

Ryan is frustrated I cannot spend every minute with him because I am trying to figure Tim out. He whines, cries and refuses to nap because he wants my attention.

Between one boy crying in pain and the other whining in hopes of getting my attention, I am just plain exhausted. I got nothing done that I needed to get done. Sigh.

Now I'm off to bed.

Polar Express

I am so excited! Our friend, Jan, who has adopted Ryan as her grandson, is giving us two free tickets for a ride on the Polar Express.

I am excited because Ryan will LOVE the train. I just know it. Trains, planes, cars, trucks, boats are all his thing right now. He's excited he will get to meet Santa too.

December 17th or 18th seems to far away, but at least it's something to anticipate.

Imagination

My friend Kathleen posted yesterday about kids and non-toys. After I'd commented about her post I got to thinking about Ryan and his imagination. He really has a good imagination. It's so much fun lately.

The most fun part of him being imaginative is that he tells these great stories. If you ask him a question, like, "Ryan, what did you do today?" The answers can be so funny and so very made up. He'll say things like he went on a plane ride and flew really high in the sky. He'll say he ate pizza or went to the park. None of it's true, but it's funny to think that he can make up these stories. Part of it is his new found use of three and four word sentences. He's just practicing language.

Sometimes he'll look out the window and tell me that Adam is home from work, when there's no car outside at all. He'll tell me he's seen a mouse in the house. That it's hiding under the table.

I love to watch him make up games. We're currently using HUGE puzzle pieces for roads to drive his cars on. We can make tunnels out of paper towel tubes. We make airplanes and trains out of Duplo pieces or play-doh. The options really are endless.

Of course, we don't encourage him to tell us lies, but we do encourage him to use his imagination. To pretend. After all, we can't buy every toy he wants or tells me he needs.

One part of his use of language that is also part of him imaging things is him telling us things are too hot, too cold, too far away or too heavy. He tells us these things to get out of doing them. For example, breakfast is too hot because he doesn't want sausages and eggs, he wants cookies. The milk is too cold because he'd rather some soda. The trash is too far away because he'd rather leave his napkin on the floor or table rather than put it where it needs to go. And the one little bag with felt in it from the craft store is too heavy because not only am I supposed to carry Tim, the bag and the diaper bag, I am also supposed to carry Ryan because it's too cold outside (the too cold outside part is true).

I hope he always has a great imagination and is good at pretend play. It's fun watching him grow and develop his imagination and his use of language.

More random thoughts

I haven't felt much like posting anything this week. I figure I've made a great effort at NaBloPoMo, even if I haven't posted every day.

Ryan's fingers are looking pretty good. They'd be 10 times better than they are now if he would stop picking at them. But, he's two and this is what two-year-old's do. We've bandaged it a few times to keep him from picking at it, but it's supposed to be getting air and being used. He's using it a lot. I'll see what the doctor says this Wednesday when we go for a check-up.

Tim has been cranky. I think his teeth are finally going to pop through. I like my happy baby and want him back.

I haven't figured out what my next craft will be. I've looked at lost of ideas, but I'm just not sure.

I really want to be at home in the Bahamas this week. It's freezing here in Maine. I miss my family. I miss all things Bahamian...even "Bahamian time."

That's all for now...

Feeling crafty

I'm feeling like I need a project to work on. Something easy. Something not too expensive. Something fun.

While at my friend Kris' house we made one of those no sew fleece blankets. It was fun. It was cheap. It was easy.

Recently Ryan and Tim and I made turkey foot and hand fridge decorations. The boys loved it. Ryan did most of the gluing, which he LOVES.

Now I'm in need of my own craft. Something just for me to do. I know that I should just pick out a crochet pattern and get to work, but I thought maybe if I posted here, someone would tell me about something new.

Any ideas?

Movies

Adam and I play this game I have named the movie game. When we're channel surfing and we get to a channel with a movie we try to see who can guess the name correctly first. It's a lot of fun. Sometimes Adam can guess it in three seconds. It's crazy how much he can remember about a movie to be able to guess it in three seconds.

Sometimes I win. I get lucky with a name or a chick flick.

Adam and his roommate, Mark, would play this game in college. I think they were equally good at guessing movies. Both are movie buffs. The three of us went to more movies than I can count during our college years, especially after the Globe Theater opened on the square.

And then Netflix came into our lives. We've seen lots of movies through the mail order program since we moved to Maine and especially since we've had kids. I really can't recall the last movie we've seen together since we've had kids.

I'm really glad Adam likes movies so much. I've seen a lot of movies I probably would have never chosen to watch on my own. We've seen foreign films like Run Lola Run and Pans Labyrinth. I've watched "different" movies like Punch Drunk Love and Stardust. We've seen comedies, romance, drama, old and new.

I've watched movies that I have left me wondering why I watched them like Dude Where's My Car? and Strange Brew. These are just two of the movies that have made me feel like I wasted a few hours of my life and the use of my brain cells.

Our Netflix queue has more than 350 movies on it just waiting for us to watch.

Of course, I have my favorite movies. I can watch Cool Runnings any day. I can also quote a majority of it. I really love this movie. Another movie that I enjoy watching because it makes me laugh is Big Daddy.

Notting Hill is one of my favorite chick flicks. I also love the movie P.S. I love you.

I enjoy watching Nicholas Cage movies. Two of my favorites (of the many he's done) include Gone in 60 Seconds and The Family Man (not to be confused with that cartoon Family Guy).

An actor I am so impressed with I want to believe he is now my favorite is Tom Hanks. He's had a range of different roles and he's really shown what an awesome actor he can be. He doesn't take a cookie cutter role like Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell or Owen Wilson. Tom has done characters from Forest Gump to Vicktor Norvorski in The Terminal. He's done romance, comedy, animation, drama and more. He just amazes me and I can't wait to see what he will do next.

I'd love to hear what your favorite movies are so that, if I haven't seen them, I can go check them out. Who is your favorite actor or actress and why?

If you have time, check out some of these movies, I've really enjoyed watching them and I'm glad I married a movie buff. There's no better way to spend a cold wintery evening than watching a movie and drinking a white hot chocolate!

Missed a post

I missed a post yesterday. It's been busy around here. For starters, we spent the weekend at our friend's hosue in Manchester because it was the release of the new World of Warcraft upgrade. I love seeing friends, but I hate how tired I am after these visits. We often stay up late talking or paying games on the Wii. No matter what time we go to bed, the boys still get up at 6.

Ryan is also going through an "I don't need to nap" stage. These are exhausting. He'll be in his bed for a little or even in ours, but he never really sleeps. He just plays with books or watches a movie. I always end up falling asleep, but he doesn't and keeps waking me up.

Timothy is growing through a growth spurt (he's in 12 month clothes people!). He eats ALL THE TIME.

We also had a closet mishap last week. Our closet is just shelves and rods that you get at Home Depot or Lowes and put together yourself. It's not enclosed. When Adam came home on Tuesday, he tripped on a toy of Ryan's and bumped into the closet. It fell down. Now we share just my closet, but getting that mess cleaned up has been exhausting with two kids who always need me (and with one who hasn't taken a nap).

I put laundry in to wash today and haven't gotten around to folding it. Sigh...

So I've been busy and I missed a post. I'm really not sure how I found the time to write this one.

Times are tough

This post is a bit random, but it's what I've been thinking about the past few days or so...

It's no doubt that the current economic situation is dismal. It stinks to think that people are being laid off because of lack of business. Adam and I often look around on our drives to the grocery store or on a trip up here to Manchester and see what stores are closing. It stinks that so many have lost jobs. We're so grateful to still have ours.

In a recent conversation with my mom I discovered that Atlantis in The Bahamas laid off 800 workers. That's an incredible number of people who will be looking for jobs in a tourist-driven economy. I can only imagine how crime will increase as people try to make ends-meet.

Of course the same thing is happening all around us as factories lay off their employees and keep only a few workers to keep things going for now. Some just close all together.

Here in the U.S. it has been reported by various newspapers that gun sales are on the rise despite a tough economy. This article on WashingtonPost.com speculates that they are on the rise because of a fear that crime will increase as the economy becomes increasingly more difficult.

Having lived in Illinois for five years, I can say with certainty that I am not anti-gun. There are responsible people who use guns to hunt and protect their property. However, the more people who have guns who don't know how to use them scares me. I can only imagine what can happen with that in mind.

In a month when we are reminded to give thanks, I know some don't feel thankful at all. We are truly blessed to have our jobs and still be making it. We can only hope and pray that things get better... and soon.

Homemade baby food

Being a stay-at-home mom has allowed me to find creative ways to save money. One of them is by making my own baby food. It's really easy and so cheap!

When I began the quest to make baby food I first purchased Super Baby Food. It's a good book if you want to know which foods to introduce when, though it does have some information in it that conflicted with what our doc told us (especially about peanut butter and other nuts).

Then I wished I hadn't purchased the book in some ways because I found this website . The difference between the two is minimal. I get great ideas from the website on making the foods and good tips on how to get baby to eat a variety of finger foods and how to make some crafts (which really has nothing to do with food) from the book.

Anyway, I mentioned that making your own baby food saves money. If one of those two packs of baby food cost $1.25 at the local store or WM it can get pretty pricey to buy a weeks worth of food for a little one, especially if they are like my Tim who LOVES to eat. When we went apple picking, the apples were $1 a pound... it made two months worth of applesauce in a variety of types for little Tim. LOTS of money saved there. Pears cost $1.19 per pound, peaches about the same and I can get squash and pumpkin for 50 cents a pound at the local farm or farmer's market.

It does not take a lot of time either once you get a system going. Nap time is a great time to do the cooking. You can bake peaches and steam squash at the same time. You can gave your entire stove going with foods for baby. While baby is sleeping let them cool. When baby gets up the hard part will be pureeing everything in your blender and chopper in hopes that baby does not get scared and scream the entire time.

Storage is easy too. When I first made food for Ryan I used ice cube trays. I froze the food and then popped them out into freezer bags and labeled them. At the age when he needed stage one food I just used one cube at a feeding and would thaw it in the microwave for a few seconds. I'd use two cubes for stage two and so on. Then I found some small Glad containers that were about the stage two or three size that I used to freeze the food. The only issue with those is that I had to remember to take the food out the night before and put it in the fridge to thaw. The microwave melted them and opening them up to pop them out into a dish caused the lids to crack.

I've kept with the container method and do well at remembering to take three foods out the night before to thaw in the fridge.

I don't freeze all foods though. Bananas and avocados are best fresh. You mash and feed on the spot. I often use my mini-chopper for these foods. Bananas turn brown in the freezer and I've tried using lemon juice to help with this, but it hasn't worked for me just yet. I just eat the other half of a banana that Tim won't finish or I give it to Ryan.

I love the wholesome food website because it gives different ways to prepare foods and ideas on how to combine them to make different meals for baby. The only foods we tend to by still are prunes and cereal. We don't use that many prunes so two jars lasts a LONG time. Cereal is good because of the iron factor and it helps fill baby up too. I just sprinkle it in to whatever food I feel they need it in or if I think my puree is too thin. At $1.25 a box, it's not that expensive.

When Ryan was old enough for stage three foods I just started giving him some table food. If I made spaghetti, I would make a bowl for him with penne and meat sauce. I often put the meat sauce in my mini-chopper so there wouldn't be big chunks for him to have to chew. If I made a chicken and rice dish, Ryan got that too in small pieces. Rice and penne are great for the stage three foods. Canned veggies were great too because they were soft enough and it was practice with finger foods. I mainly used the canned green beans, but let him eat peas, corn and broccoli (which I found chopped broccoli was the best) of the frozen variety.

Gravy foods and casserole foods work great for stage three foods. You just have to make the pieces small enough. Pot roast is wonderful. You put some gavy in the container, some chopped up meat, small pieces of potatoes and carrots and you have a meal! You aren't buying them extras because they are eating what you are eating. It's great!

Making myown baby food has been harder since I have two kids, but Ryan lets me prep while awake and then I can puree while he's asleep (the noise does not bother him awake or asleep). Ryan likes to help put the foods into pans and pots, so we work together and it's a fun project. It's just hard on a day when he'd rather play than cook. I do my prep once a month or less even and we save tons of $$$.

I forgot my camera

I tend to take my camera everywhere. I don't want to miss out on special photos of Ryan and Timothy. BUT we're in Manchester and my camera is in Wells. Sigh.

We're here in Manch because the new World of Warcraft (WoW) release came out this morning. The guys were in line last night at 10:30 and were number 11 on the list. They got back here around 12:30 and went to bed around 2. They've done some playing. They've helped with the kids. My friend, Kris, is at work and I've been allowed some alone time to just be.

But I left my camera in Wells. I missed getting photos of Vince chasing Ryan till he was soooo sleepy it wasn't funny. I missed getting photos of Timothy in his "future alliance" (it's a WoW thing) t-shirt... the very same shirt Ryan wore.

I'm sure there will be other photos I miss... I will have to get Vince to do some photo taking. We're here for three days and the camera is not.

C'est la vie!

Favorite kids book

Ryan has a few favorite books. I enjoy reading to him, especially before bed when he often interacts and says the words that come next. I thought I'd use this post to share his top four favs.

1. If you give a mouse a cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff is his super favorite. He can pretty much tell you the entire story and knows about all the details on each of the illustrations. A fun read. If you give a mouse a cookie lots can happen! I like many of the other "If you" books too.

2. Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney is cute and has lots of rhymes. I love reading it because of the sing-song sound it has. It's about a baby llama who hollers for his llama mama after she has put him to bed and sets to do her night routine. A great good night book because it's all about going to bed and being scared to be in bed alone.

3. King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood is awesome. It's about a paige who cannot figure out how to get the king out of the bathtub and solicits the help of the queen, a knight, a duke and a few more. There are awesome illustrations and the ending is funny.

4. Dino Pets by Lynn Plourde and Gideon Kendall was given to use my memere Jan. Ryan can read and re-read this bookso that it becomes old. I like that there are different dinos and that the illustrations are fun. Ryan understands that the fast dino needs good shoes in order to run and that the scary dino can make people run away. It's not sing-song-y in any way, but it's just a fun story that shows differences in dinosaurs.

Of course, these are in no particular order, but they are the books we read EVERY night... sometimes I sneak in some Sandra Boynton or Brown Bear, but these are the ones we read most often. If you check them out at the library or purchase them for your kids, you'll have to tell me what you think.

I'd also love to hear what the favorites are in your house... I like finding books reccomended by others.

Today is Veterans Day

Today as I sat in the waiting room of our doctor's office a guy sitting next to us says to his wife, "Hey what's the vice president doing putting a wreath on a grave for? Is it some big-wig's funeral?"

I'd also been watching Dick Cheney place the wreath at Arlington Memorial this morning at 11 a.m. and was a bit shocked that this guy didn't know that today was Veterans Day. I suppose in a way I shouldn't be too surprised. The little people my age know about history is pathetic. Most people go through high school and college just because they have to. They learn very little because school is more of a social thing for them.

Anyway, the wife turns to the guy and says, "I don't know, they must be really important because there's a lot of military people there. (Speaking to me now) "Excuse me, but do you know whose funeral this is that we're watching?"

"Um, well, it's actually not a funeral." I say. "Today is actually Veterans Day and they're remembering the fallen heroes of our nation."

Her reply: "Oh yeah, that's not one of the holidays I get off work, ha ha ha."

I don't think I smiled back at the wife. I was fuming, but trying not to let it show. I really pray none of my friends or family are unaware of today's significance.

If you want to do some light reading on Veterans Day you can check out these websites.

This one gives a brief history.

I like this one because it's what I remember, as a Bahamian, being taught in school. I also remember getting poppies to wear.

I hope we never forget the significance of this day!

Minestrone soup

I often crave Olive Garden's Minestrone soup. The unlimited soup and salad lunch is one of my favorites. This is a very yummy soup that I thought I'd share. I have very much enjoyed cooking and eating this. If you try it, please let me know how it was for you.

Minestrone
1 cup sliced carrot
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon of the minced garlic that comes in the jar or 1 clove of it crushed
2 Tablespoons of butter
28 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt, dried oregano, basil and pepper
3 14.5 oz cans of beef broth
1 16 oz can navy beans (I used great northern beans because I cannot find the navy ones)
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 large zucchini cut in half lenghtwise and sliced
1 cup cooked elbow macaroni
1/4 cup parsley
Freshley grated Parmesan cheese

Saute first four ingredients in the butter on medium until crisp-tender. Add tomatoes and seasonings and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 mins. Add beef broth, beans, zucchini, parsley and macaroni (it works better if the macaroni is cooked first or it takes up all the juice). Cook until heated through.Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan cheese. Serve with garlic bread and salad.

Good, Bad, Ugly

I like these posts because they are short and easy to write.

The good: Ryan scored a fire truck and a school bus at a local fair this weekend for $1. It was almost over when we went and they just really wanted to get rid of the stuff.

The bad: I have to go to work soon. I like work, but this week I just wish I could stay at home. I was sick on Friday and today I am still emotionally drained from the whole burn incident on Thursday. Sigh.

The ugly: I brought Ryan back to urgent care today so they could have a look at his wounds. They looked kinda off to me and it's hard to bandage him alone. A new doc today said things were more swollen than he'd like to see. He gave us new antiboitic cream and a new way of dressing the burns in hopes that they start to heal a bit better. We go back in 48 hours for another re-check.

Tips to make shopping good for everyone

It's no secret that I work as a part-time cashier at WM. I really enjoy my job most days. However, I come across a few people who could use a few tips on how to be nice to their cashier. Yes I know that there are some cashiers who need to find new jobs. Customer service is not their strength, but there are good ways and bad ways of dealing with those people.

So here are my top 13 tips on how to treat your cashier.

1. When your cashier greets you, please respond. It's just rude to not say anything. This means you should not be talking on your cell phone. If it's not an emergency, save it until you are out of the store. Besides, the other customers aren't interested in what you did last night nor are they interested in what you are going to have for dinner tonight.
2. Don't get mad at me when you're in a rush (i.e. are going to be late for an appointment or work) and the guy in front of you needs a price check or needs a new bottle of bleach because the last one exploded. It's not my fault that you didn't give yourself enough time to get to work AND shop before going there.
3. Don't yell, curse or talk down to your cashier. I'll work slower and I will tell you don't need to use such language in order to make me speed up, give you a sale price when it isn't clearly marked or give you $1 off on a coupon that isn't valid.
4. If I ask to see your credit card or ID it's because that's my job. In addition, there are laws I have to follow. If you aren't 40, don't get upset when I say I need to see your id for cigarettes or alcohol. That's the law. When I ask to see your credit card, it's for your own good. People do steal them still. Don't give me a hard time, just pass them on over.
5. If you don't have your ID or are using some one else's check or credit card, the sale is NOT going to happen. I don't care if you promise me your mama told you to use her card or that your ID is lost. I plan on keeping my job and WILL follow the rules.
6. If you'd like to use cloth bags, it's a great idea to let me know BEFORE I start putting stuff in the plastic ones. Even if the cloth bags are at the bottom of your cart, I can still put the stuff to the side, pack your bags later and not waste the plastic bags.
7. If you only have $20 to spend, don't act shocked when it comes to $20.75. No I don't carry an excessive amount of change in my pocked to give you. Please add things up as you go and remember, unless you live in New Hampshire, there is sales tax.
8. Have your money ready. I don't mind accepting change, but don't decide to dig around for it and keep the other people in line behind you waiting. If there's no line, there's no issue and you can take your time.
9. Keep conversations friendly and generic. I'm not your shrink and cannot solve your problems. I do however, enjoy chatting with you, but I don't want to hear your life story nor do I want to hear about how certain body parts are oozing.
10. Don't make too many demands. We'll be glad to double bag things if you ask nicely. We'll be glad to wrap up glass items and not pack your bleach with the milk. But requesting large bags for a pair of gloves is ridiculous.
11. Price checks do take time. Remember there is a person out there searching for the item you have that doesn't have a UPC. I cannot just type in the price based on your memory. Like I said, I want to keep my job and have to follow the rules. If there person is really slow, I'll tell them you have been waiting a long time and that they need to hurry up.
12. Sure the customer is always right, except when they aren't. If the item was in the wrong place and is not on sale, take that up with my supervisor. In the same way if your coupon is expired, that means you cannot use it. Don't even try. There's nothing I can do about it. Sorry.
13. Please know I try my best to be friendly and serve you as quickly as possible. If I do a great job and you enjoyed your service, let my supervisor know or just come back to my line again and again (I do like regulars). If I was rude to you, don't yell at me, just go and tell my supervisor, they have great ways of dealing with bad cashiers (like coaching them, firing them or moving them to a job that doesn't require customer service).

And as always, thank you for shopping your friendly WM store. =-)

ugh

This post will be short because I have a terrible headache.

Ryan is doing well considering yesterday's drama. He cried the most when we had to change his bandage today. It really takes two people and since I'll be the only one home with the kids tomorrow I am taking him back to urgent care since they said they would help with bandaging for free.

Ryan cried a little tonight at bedtime and asked that we kiss his boo-boo. We gave him some motroin for the pain and he's fast asleep again.

Now to take some meds for my headache and get some rest.

In which we visit urgent care

Warning: This post contains some graphic descriptions. If you don't like blood and gore, you may wish to skip the third paragraph and opt to read the shorter fourth one in parenthesise.

It all started with my goal to lose 20 pounds by Christmas. While pregnant with Timothy I gained a whopping 50 pounds. That's a lot more than I gained with Ryan. Of course, after the first six weeks post-partum I'd lost 20 pounds. I am currently at 43 pounds lost, which is really awesome. I, however, still wish to be back to a certain number, which happens to be about 20 pounds lighter than I am now.

In addition cutting out my dear friend chocolate from my diet, I have also been walking. When the weather was warmer, we were walking outside. Now that it's cooler, I have begun using the treadmill. Ryan had been really good about just coming in and looking, never touching. I also tried to walk when he was sleeping, but today I wanted to walk and shower just once.

My back was to the door when Ryan came in and talked about me walking. Then he let out this awful scream, which made me leap from the treadmill (and because I had the safety magnet clipped to me, that means the treadmill turned off the minute the magnet came out) causing it to turn off. Ryan's little hand with wedged under the back part of the belt I I pried it out to find that pretty much all of the skin (almost down to the bone) was off of his middle and ring fingers. ER here we come.

(Ryan got a really big boo-boo on his middle and ring fingers from the treadmill. I determined that this boo-boo needed emergency medical care.).

I ran to the phone and dialed Adam right away. If the truck had been here this week I would have just gotten in it and headed straight for the ER, but alas that was not my luck at all. With Adam on the way, I started getting both me and the kids ready. When they were all bundled up, the diaper bag was packed and the boo-boo ice pack was on Ryan's awful looking fingers, we locked the door and walked to the end of the driveway.

That was the longest 15 minutes of my life.

When we got to the end of Sarah Lane, I realized that the urgent care facility was a heck of a lot closer than the ER, so we quickly proceeded there.

Ryan was screaming when we got there and the silly triage nurse says, "oh he has blisters, he'll be fine." Okay, thanks lady, but you obviously didn't get a good look. The next nurse was a man. I think men make better nurses, at least in my experience with nurses and my kids thus far in my mommy experience (except for the nurses on the maternity ward). Anyway, Don the nurse was great with Ryan and we managed to get a weight and all the other pertinent information rather quickly. He said Ryan's fingers were burned and possibly broken, but the doc would be in to see us. Doc was also a male and rather young, but he was also great with Ryan. He also confirmed the burn and break theory and sent us for x-rays down the hall.

The x-ray tech was a nice old lady who was also very nice to both Ryan and myself. With four x-rays to take of his little hand, she knew the task at hand would be difficult, but was so patient. I just kept praying, "please don't let it be broken," again and again. With much difficulty, we got those four x-rays and made our way back to the room where daddy had put little Timothy to sleep.

Don the nurse had also given Ryan Advil while we waited for the doc the first time and had now come in to give Ryan Tylenol with Codeine. I might also mention that, at this point, Ryan had been screaming at the top of his little lungs for an hour and 40 minutes. Not long after the Tylenol, Ryan fell asleep. Doc came in and told us there were no broken bones (thank the Lord) and that his burns would heal just fine.

Nurse Don came back to show us how to bandage them and to go over discharge info. Ryan woke up during the bandaging part and has been awake ever since. He's in bed trying to nap right now, but he's having a hard time getting comfortable.

I feel awful that Ryan's hand got hurt so badly. At the same time I know that these things happen. I just really hope this is our last visit to any emergency care place for the rest of 2008.

Ryan and his boo-boo.

The parents visit

My parents were visiting us last week. I was so looking forward to their visit and am really sad that it came to an end so quickly.

We did lots together. We started the week off with taking the boys out for Christmas photos. I took the photos and I think the cards (which cost only 30 cents each) look really good. Also on day one we went swimming in the hotel's heated indoor pool. Ryan had a blast. There was a part of the pool that was just perfect for him. He swam around with Papa and also played with his boat.

Adam had two days off with us. That first day we left the kids with the guys and went for a mani and pedi. It's nice to be pampered now and then. We had lunch and then headed out to go candle-pin bowling. We had an awesome time. I love going bowling and wish we did it more often. The guys then took about an hour and enjoyed more time in the pool and hot tub.

We did some shopping, as is the tradition when my parents come to town. It wasn't crazy shopping like sometimes, but it was shopping nonetheless.

A funny thing happened while my parents were here. From the minute Ryan saw Nana he wanted her to buy him a truck. Nana has become the toy lady and Papa is the pool man. Anyway, every time we went out Ryan asked for a truck. He did get there little matchbox cars one day at Wal-Mart. But on that day we were shopping he wanted Nana to buy a BIG truck. We had to tell him we didn't have a truck, but a better surprise. He had tons of fun at Chuck E. Cheese were we spent our afternoon playing with him. But he kept asking my mum for a truck. She promised him money for a toy of his choice when he is fully potty trained. He hasn't forgotten either. He told Memere about this just yesterday.

All too quickly it was Friday and both Adam and I worked while the parents took care of the boys. I rushed back from work to take Ryan trick-or-treating, which was so much fun this year. He really gets it.

And then it was Saturday and they were packing to leave. On a last shopping experience, mum and I went to a craft fair where I scored some awesome Christmas gifts. Then they left for the airport.

Seriously, the time goes by too quickly. I'm already wondering when we'll get to visit next. I think this time was even more awesome because Ryan is really understands who Nana and Papa are and that they are okay to hang out with. I think those first few times, because we don't see them very often, Ryan wasn't so sure about who they are and how he should be around them. Of course, Tim just loves the attention. While Ryan talks to Nana on the phone each week, I sure wish they lived closer or that we could visit more often so that my kids could really have a nice relationship with them.

Who knows, maybe money will fall from the sky and I can go to the Bahamas whenever I want. Okay, that's unlikely.

However, this week, every time we went out Ryan expected a new truck. One of our trips to the mall he kept insisting that Nana buy a truck. We told him we had a surprise for him, but that it wasn't a truck. He was thrilled when he discovered the surprise was going to Chuck E. Cheese.

Why I love me!

So I was thinking about something to blog about today. I really didn't want to post about the election. I voted and whatever happens, happens. I am sick of political commercials and am just ready for tomorrow.

So, I came across this website. I was reading the assignment for this week and thought it was really cool. I think too many times I focus on what I need to fix about myself and not about what is already great about me. So I am going to make my own love list. Here goes....

I love my super long eyelashes. I love being Bahamian and American. I love that I got to grow up in a different culture and have appreciation for other cultures too because I was immersed in them my entire life. I love being good at fishing. I love it when Uncle Carroll says I'm up to my old tricks again as I reel in yet another fish. I love that I can cook and that 99% of the people I cook for enjoy what I've made. I love that I can crochet it makes me feel connected to my dad's mom. I love that I can take great photos of my kids and enter them in contests in hopes of winning. I love that I am crafty. I love my life and am thrilled to be a stay-at-home mum to my two boys. I'm right where I need and want to be.

And that's my list. I encourage you to try it. I felt good thinking up these things about myself, but it wasn't easy, just like it wasn't easy for the chick at Operation Nice.

Behold the power of bacon

Timothy loves to eat. He's an awesome eater. He loves peaches, pears, prunes, squash, sweet potatoes and apples. I'm sure there's some food I am leaving out. He isn't so fond of bananas, peas or carrots.

Since Timothy was about two months old we've been strapping him into the high chair for dinner. He didn't eat anything then, but he enjoyed being near us during dinner time. He loves to smile at us while in the high chair and always looked with great curiosity at each of us eating and what was on our plates.

These days if Timothy is at the table he expects to be fed. He will smack his lips together or mimic us chewing if we aren't feeding him as fast as he'd like.

While my parents were here last week, we went out to breakfast at Congdon's. Timothy was in the high chair, but particularly crabby. When the food arrived I was eating with one hand and holding Timothy in the other. Timothy was looking at my plate the entire time, often trying to grab something that was on it. We were all laughing at this.

For fun, I held out a piece of bacon from my plate to see what Timothy would do. He quickly grabbed it and began licking it. We took some photos and then the bacon was taken pried from his fingers and a greasy little boy was wiped clean.

Halloween was fun

I had to work on Halloween. I didn't dress up. There were only two people at work who actually dressed up. We had a doctor and Pippi Longstocking. I got out at 6:30 and rushed home to take Ryan trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. He was so excited about getting candy in his pumpkin basket. It was soooooooo cute. His favorite treat of all was a truck my parents gave him (instead of candy). It's so much fun that he can remember doing things and gets excited about doing them again.

Here are a few photos.

Our little cowboy.

Daddy helping Ryan get ready.

Ryan knocking on a neighbor's door.

Ryan showing off his truck that he got as a treat from Nana and Papa.

NaBloPoMo

I am going to attempt NaBloPoMo. My friend Kathleen did it last year and I think it will be fun. I have a few ideas... Posting every day for an entire month will be a huge challenge with two kids, but I think it can be done and I think it will be fun.

Post one is done.