Working on the Chain Gang (part II)

No longer!

That's right, I officially gave my 2 weeks notice on Monday. I am so excited to be a stay-at-home mom!

I certainly didn't think I would be leaving the job so soon. I really wasn't planning on staying for too long, about 6 weeks or so while Mom watched Eleanor, but circumstances changed and I am leaving now!

Interestingly enough, I will miss some stuff about work...some of the people, some of the events and so on. I'll miss being on the inside of the organization and having a hand in a lot of the goings on here, but the reward of being home with my girl certainly outweighs it all for me. I think things would be different if I was in love with my work, but I'm not, so the decision is pretty easy in that regard, but still, for the last 8 years I've worked in some capacity at this place, so it will be odd to not come here daily (and nightly and on weekends and ALL THE TIME!). Now, instead of running the camps, we'll be the campers, instead of booking the volunteers, we'll be the volunteers (um....maybe). Instead of wearing heels and staying in the building, we'll hike the bike trail and have picnics outside (if the heat index ever goes down, for the love). And who knows, maybe someday I'll work here again (part time, PART TIME), but until then, I'm going to enjoy myself as a mom.

And I have to thank my husband for being the lone breadwinner now. With his last raise we decided this was pretty doable and he works HARD for his money. I really appreciate his willingness to carry the burden of financial support. But let's be honest, I have the real hard job!

On to the next adventure...

erin

All I Want for Christmas...

This year, Danny and I decided to just pick out one gift we wanted that the other person would provide, and then maybe one or two small, inexpensive things just to have something to unwrap Christmas morning.

Then we bought new hardwood floors for our other two bedrooms...Merry Christmas to us!

He picked his out and it is now sitting under the tree, along with one other fun Black Friday find I picked up at Target. I, however, had a hard time thinking of something I really needed or wanted. I usually can't think of anything and he is left to determine what to get me all on his own, the poor guy! Well, this year, I figured out what I really wanted...what I really, really wanted.

I wanted the rest of my furniture moved into our house...before Christmas.

I'm done with the "staging" of our home to entice buyers. Nothing is enticing buyers and I want my stuff! We've been living there since September with 2 entire rooms empty of all furniture as it stood out for show in the other house. I'm done with that! I was actually done with that a long time ago, but preoccupations kept me from getting to antsy about it.

Then I did get antsy.

I wanted my stuff.

I wanted my house to be complete.

And I wanted it done soon.

And since I can't do much lifting and hauling these days, I was left to abide by my husband's time table for doing projects he doesn't want to do. And I couldn't take that any longer, so I offered up my Christmas gift in exchange for getting our house in finished, working order. At first, I had given him the deadline of March, so it was at least all moved over in time for the baby (also I REALLY hope our house is sold by flipping March, but I'm not counting on it). Then, I determined that if this was really going to be my Christmas gift, I wasn't going to wait until March, it should techincally be finished by Christmas...so 2 weeks. Go!

Today I came home for lunch and shortly thereafter was my husband and father-in-law with my lovely living room chairs and dining room chairs and then came our other couch and desk and tools went back with them to take apart a guest bed and dining room table. Oh the progress!

With this "all-of-a-sudden" action of Danny's, though, comes a little disorganization that I never enjoy. We have a few pieces of furniture whose places of rest are occupied by remnants of the current nursery project. So they will have to sit in the middle of our dining room until those spaces open back up. Let's just say I am not a fan of multiple projects happening all at once.

But I am a HUGE fan of having my furniture, all my furniture in the current house where I live.

Merry Christmas to me!

erin

Working on the Chain Gang

Whew!

That's all I can say.

I think nesting mode is kicked in!

Now, usually when I "dedicate" a weekend to cleaning, it's a half-hearted thing. I have the best intentions, and then I usually scale back what should get done to what really only needs to be done to look passible until the next round of cleaning happens. And after that 2 hours or so, I'm totally non-functioning for the rest of the weekend.

Not so this past weekend.

I didn't even go into Saturday with a gigantic to-do list. I had somethings I wanted to accomplish, I knew my mom was going to be helping me, and that was that. I was even attempting to scale back as I made my way to the grocery store for the first time in about a month (yay for macaroni and cheese keeping us going).

But then I picked up Mom and her cleaning equipment, we made our way back to my house, put groceries away and it was on!

What we accomplished:
After I filled in at work from 7:30am-9:30am:
-I cleaned both bathrooms
-Mom vacuumed the MOUNDS of dog hair from the dining room
-Got a load of dishes washing
-Mom and I washed the dining room floor (this is a large floor, mind you)
-Followed by steaming the dining room floor
-Followed by polishing the dining room floor
-I vacuumed other rooms in the house
-We put clean dishes away
-Mom did more dishes. I swear dishes multiply while you do them!
-I promptly fell down on my bed for 40 minutes while Mom finished ripping down all wallpaper from my old bedroom to prepare for the transformation into a nursery.
-Danny finished painting in the hallway (so all rooms but the nursery have now been repainted).
-Danny fixed our fence out back so now there is a working gate.
-Danny and I both raked/swept leaves in the front and back yard (that 97 year old rake that we've had my ENTIRE life gave me wicked blisters because I did not wear work gloves...silly me).
-I participated in a very futile job of cleaning the back door of dog nose and paw prints. They will return shortly.
-I made dinner, which is not a big deal, but I totally wasn't planning on doing so and hey, it was a long day! Then I did dishes, again!
-I fell asleep at 8pm
End Saturday.

On Sunday, my entire plan was to do nothing but watch mindless television, which I did for a good while, but then I started a load of laundry, picked up drop cloth in the living room, attempted to move the piano (I thought I would just slide around, not so much), folded AND put away said laundry, started another load, and finally took a nap.

I did notice that soon I will need to vacuum the basement steps and change out the shower curtain in the guest bathroom, but I think those tasks will have to wait until the next nesting jag kicks in...which could be later today.

erin

The beating of our hearts is the only sound...

I am 18 weeks pregnant.

We had another appointment today, and though I thought it unlikely, Danny and I wondered if there was maybe a chance of this appointment being the "big one" meaning the gender scan. It's supposed to come around 20 weeks and low and behold, here we are right around 20 weeks. Danny was PUMPED that this was it, to say the least and knowning my husband as I do, I really tried to drive home that this really might not be the appointment, especially since no one at the doctor's office said anything to me about this being that appointment. I said this could just be another quick in and out, hear the heartbeat, pee in a cup appointment.

And of course it was.

And my did the walls fall down around Danny's world.

Poor guy, he doesn't handle disappointment well, but what could I do? I'm not in charge of ultrasounds.

So in 4 weeks, we will be going for our gender scan and for the love the Jesus I hope we can see all we need to see, otherwise, I'm going to have another grumpy guy on my hands.

But in the meantime, I just love hearing that whooshing sound! And I have only gained 3 pounds since my last appointment, at which I had lost 2, which makes my grand total of weight gain 1 ENTIRE pound. Apparently the key to me maintaining my weight while eating without thought was getting pregnant. Who knew? Also, I'm sure that's all about to end as we get farther along. Too bad, it's like magic!

If my camera was worth anything, I'd have a few bump pictures to post, but alas, it's utter crap. That's something I'm going to have to work on before March for sure...so maybe I'll get a wild hair and get on fixing that situation and posting some photos. We'll see!

Looking forward to November 17th!

erin

ps. that new Miley Cyrus (sp?) song is on the radio right now and I really really don't enjoy it.

I've got a feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night...

Thank the lord my husband is FINALLY going back to work!

Hopefully for a while....but you never know...

After getting laid off in January, we're now looking at more than just a couple days work here and there or side jobs, though side jobs have really gotten us through this long 7, almost 8 months. And I have to give him hugh props for seeing this through as he has. Yes, he's brought home unemployment and other funds, but not working takes its toll on a man, mine at least and in the last few months I can only count on one hand the couple of times its really gotten him down to the point of being outwardly depressed. Fortunately for him, he had the finishing rennovations on our house to sustain him for a few months and yes, side jobs, couple of which he'll continue doing on weekends, but to have someone call and say we need to at work tomorrow morning...he's been waiting for that!
"Because if he would have had to clean our house one more time...." guess I get that lovely task back, in other words. I'll take it. I'll take cooking and cleaning back happily. I've always had laundry, I can't get rid of that job at all! But it's too bad, because that guy can make a mean dinner!

In other news, our facebook is still a no go here at work. Boo.

It's my birthday too, yeah!

My birthday was on the 1st, right in the middle of my vacation.

The vacation was my gift to myself.

I had a really nice day! Danny planned a fun dinner with friends which was a big surprise to me, although I started to suspect something when he suggested I wear my new top to dinner. He rarely suggests outfits. My mother-in-law made me a fantastic cake, too, which we enjoyed back at our house with all our dinner companions. Earlier in the day I made the trip up to Bloomington with Mom, who was delivering Austin back to Emy and Nick after spending the night in Elwin. So I got to see all my family on that day too.

Danny got me a beautiful necklace that matches a ring he gave me on our first Christmas (although he didn't know that at the time) and an air popcorn popper! We have already enjoyed a few batches of popcorn from this.

On Thursday, I went to the pool with Mom and totally burned my legs to a crisp. Oh well, being fair skinned and getting absolutely no sign of burnage on our Mexican honeymoon, I was due. Then Danny came and met us for lunch.

On Friday we went to dinner with Mom and Dad and then off to meet friends and I enjoyed one or two or seven drinks. That was also a really good time!

Now I have to remember to get my license renewed this weekend so I don't end up not doing it for 9 months like my husband.

Here's to being 26!

erin

Stand By Me

This was our wedding song. It was my first choice, but not my ultimate choice, and then it became my saving grace.

So...I have to say I was in NO WAY a bridezilla. I was calm, cool, collected. I let my sister be in charge of my wedding planning because A. she is really good at that and B. even though I was one of those "plan my wedding when I was 7" girls, when it really came around, I only cared about the dress and the music. Everything else was not a huge deal to me. So I made decisions, but I had my sister and my mom to make the phone calls, help me narrow down the choices, finalize details, etc.

However, I needed the music to be done right. I worked for months on compiling a play list of all the songs I wanted to hear at the reception, the songs I wanted to play before the ceremony, and of course, the first dance. I had a few thoughts for the first dance, including Stand By Me, the John Lennon version...but one day, Danny and I were riding around listening to his iPod when the acoustic version of If I Ever Lose My Faith in You by Sting came on. We both commented that we really like that song and really liked that version and Danny just casually said, "that should be our first dance." And it hit me...that should be our first dance song. It's an artist we both love, Danny especially, it has the perfect sentiment, it's not overdone...perfect! So we settled on it.

After we picked our dj, a friend of my brother-in-law, I made sure to tell him that our first dance song was the ACOUSTIC VERSION, not just the one from the cd. I asked if he needed me to get him a copy, he said no. I asked him again another time. I had my sister ask. I had my brother-in-law ask.

Cut to wedding day...I had held it together beautifully in those last few weeks leading up to the big day. Through the tearing down our dining room walls. Through getting a brand new puppy and figuring out where she would stay during our honeymoon. Through a very hot rehearsal. Through torrential rains the morning of my wedding. Through the extreme heat that followed. Through all the tiny little details of getting this person here, having this one sleep here, dealing with groomsmen for heaven's sake! Even through thinking everyone left us at the church to finish our pictures and we had to ride to the reception (I ended up riding there in the back of Danny's brothers Lumina). We really had no big issues that whole day.

Then I walk into the reception venue and see my sister walking up to me with a strange look on her face. "Don't freak out about this because we'll fix it somehow..." she says. "Charlie (the dj) doesn't have the right version of your first dance song."

I'll admit, I lost it a little bit. I turned and went right into the bathroom and cried for about 1 minute. I was so looking forward to that moment! Now it's ruined! I asked him if he had the right version 857 times! AHH!

Then she got me to pull it together and my dad pointed out that in the end, we were still married and that is the whole point...but darn it if I wasn't bummed! Danny was also bummed, but seeing how upset I got made him pretend he didn't really care. So then my sister says..."so what song do you want instead?"

Danny told me to pick..."Stand By Me...the JOHN FREAKING LENNON VERSION!"

It turned out to be just right...

Even though I will always be a little bit bummed everytime I hear the other song...

But we are still married.

One year on June 7th.

(also, thinking back, we probably could have just used the other version of the song...oh well!)

"If I Ever Lose My Faith In You"

You could say I lost my faith in science and progress

You could say I lost my belief in the holy church

You could say I lost my sense of direction

You could say all of this and worse but

If I ever lose my faith in you

There'd be nothing left for me to do

Some would say I was a lost man in a lost world

You could say I lost my faith in the people on TV

You could say I'd lost my belief in our politicians

They all seemed like game show hosts to me

If I ever lose my faith in you

There'd be nothing left for me to do

I could be lost inside their lies without a trace

But every time I close my eyes I see your face

I never saw no miracle of science

That didn't go from a blessing to a curse

I never saw no military solution

That didn't always end up as something worse but

Let me say this first

If I ever lose my faith in you

There'd be nothing left for me to do

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Man, it's been a while and I've done many things...so here's a recap of sorts:

-"Bon Voyage" party for some friends who are going on a 4 week trip to Europe. Just the two of them. I don't know if Danny and I could handle that, but it sounds like a great time.
-Took dog to vet...1 year old, 84 pounds, she's still the most popular dog there!
-New front door installed, looks fantastic...way to go hubby!
-I made a kick-ass lasagna on Sunday that is still only halfway eaten...this probably isn't noteworthy, but I will post the recipe on the other blog (it's one I stole from Pioneer Woman).
-Danny defended my honor, such a good husband.
-Memorial Day=No Work!
-Moved a mattress downstairs to sleep because the upstairs was SO HOT and I won't turn on the AC. Turned out to be really fun to sleep on the floor in front of the big tv with Harrison jumping all over the place.
-As a result of the above, we basically just hung out all weekend together, watching Jon & Kate plus 8 marathons, relaxing. I have to give my husband props for sucking it up and watching that show with me, plus I let him bitch about Kate as much as he wants...compromise.
-Band practice has been really fun lately!
-Yogilates (this is the correct spelling) kicked my butt on Tuesday, but it was still fun.
-Personal day Wednesday = 12 hours of house cleaning with help from Danny, Mom, and Dad...things are really coming to the finish.
-Realtor came today, looks like we can ask more than we thought for the house...he'll let us know the official number early next week (yay!)

We're just rolling along with life. I'll tell ya though, I'm ready to be done spending money on this house, I'm ready for someone to pay me big bucks for it, and I'm ready to move! I haven't even started packing...that just makes me shudder. But it's right around the corner.

Rollercoaster of Love

So, in a mere 3 weeks, I will no longer be a newlywed.

Or, at least I won't if you go by the whole "you're only a newlywed for the first year" thing. Our one year anniversary is quickly coming up on the 7th of June. I'm really looking forward to it and, of course I can't believe it's been a year already! So many things have happened that I never expected and so many things haven't that I totally did expect. Oh life, aren't you funny? Ha.

Anyway, to celebrate we've had a few ideas. This first...well I don't remember the first. There was some kind of plan, but it went by the wayside quickly, thus me not remembering what it was. Then we were going to get family pictures taken with Harrison. That was a cool idea as the first anniversary is the "paper anniversary" and photos are on paper, yada yada, how fitting! Well, for some reason that kind of went on the back burner and then Danny came home all pumped with his grand idea to celebrate....A weekend in St. Louis, including a trip to Six Flags and the St. Louis Zoo! Hell yes to this! I haven't been to either place in AT LEAST 14 years. The last time I remember going I was 12 and that was Six Flags, I think the last time I went to the zoo I was like 6...so, it's been a while.

So we were all excited about planning the trip and all of a sudden I had a thought...what if I wuss out on the rollercoasters? See, the last few times I've done the six flags thing, I did, in fact, go on the Batman and some of the other rollercoasters, but I always had the safety net of choosing not to participate if I got nervous last minute. There were always enough people going to allow some to ride, some to watch or participate in some other way. Now though, it will just be us and if I don't want to go, he'll have to go by himself and who wants to do that? So I was trying to express this concern and all of a sudden, the whole trip was off. No one was mad, but the point was made that if we're not going to take full advantage of the trip, why spend the money to go? Good point! So, I'm going to just suck it up and ride! What a marital compromise!

We also booked a hotel room, a suite (for once in my life!), and we'll be taking our wedding cake top layer to eat. Wonder how that will turn out in reality. It's been sitting in my parent's freezer for this past year so it wouldn't be prematurely eaten by yours truly. I'm a cake fan, what can I say?

Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to this trip! A little getaway, but without the pressure/stress of going out of the country, catching trains and planes, going through customs, getting swine flu, getting stuck across the border, being sold into an underground prostitution ring, or whatever else we're warned about on the news.

Rollercoasters, here I come!

erin

Rock Lobster.

I am meeting the husband at Red Lobster for dinner tonight, thanks to a gift card and a couple of meetings we both have after the work day. So date night: quick little dinner, followed by a quick trip to Menards to pick out a new front door (swoon!) and then back to work!

But...I'm excited to see him! And very excited for either apple chicken walnut salad, or a pasta dish....you see, I am in no way a seafood fan, but I still get included in the gift card usage!

Also, I had to run to Kroger for foodstuff for this meeting of mine tonight (food handlers unite!) and I parked right next to my Dad in the parking lot! But, I never saw him inside the store and by the time I got to the checkout, I could see he was already gone! Mysterious!

So, mystery day, red lobster night...it's the little things, I suppose.

In the Summertime when the Weather is Nice...

You should grill some turkey brats because those are good!

And I guess if you want to get technical, it's still the springtime, but it sure is nice! I just popped out of my office for a bit and hiked a trail and it was all I could do to come back inside.

And speaking of turkey brats (not an everyday sentence for me), that's exactly what my hubby and I enjoyed last night on our patio. We took Harrison on a walk through the park after I got home from work and then we had brats, fresh spinach salad and strawberries for dinner outside in our backyard. It was really nice! We talked about our plans for the new house, eventually we want to add on and reconfigure some stuff. We talked about our timeline of projects to finish on the current house so we can get it on the market asap...just a few to go! We talked about how much I would not let us have 2 dogs after we move. One goofball golden retriever princess baby dog is enough, especially when we were talking about adding a german shepard to the mix. Not happening.

All in all, it was a lovely evening at home, plain and simple. Looking forward to many more of those this season.

Saturday In the Park

Good news! I no longer have to work this Saturday! Hooray for rain!

Now, if only Harrison would learn how to sleep past 6:30am, I could actually sleep in for once.

What I am doing this weekend is going up to Chicago with my sister-in-law for her brother's dance show. He's a dancer/pilates instructer (aka in very good shape) and I've never seen any of his shows, so when she invited me to go up with her, I agreed. Should be a fun time!

And on Sunday, Danny's mom is making lasagna for dinner! Looking forward to that for sure.

Yesterday I had the day off from working last Saturday, so my mom came over and we FINALLY painted the dining room baseboards and other woodwork. Wow, that was only a year in the making? Then we did a little house cleaning and rearranging, trying to stage the house for when it goes on the market, hopefully in the next couple of weeks...please...I'm typing this to you husband...let's do this thing.

Danny finished his last class for this year of his apprenticeship. 4 years down, 1 to go! When we started dating, he was almost done with his first year and I was told that he would NOT be moving in/getting married until he was COMPLETELY finished with his schooling. And I just needed to understand that this was his LIFE PLAN and he would NOT alter his plans...it was the first time he really had definate life GOALS and no matter what, I just needed to get on board with THE PLAN. So, now that we've been living together for over 2 years and married for almost 1, I say...GOOD PLAN! This just goes to show us all, sometimes plans work themselves out the exact way they are supposed to, without us having to help them along. Also, if my dear hubby has any regrets about his wayward plan (which I'm sure he does NOT) I point out to him that this year's tax return was far better than his last year. Chalk one up for marriage.

Wow, isn't it weird how my blogs end up. I start out with one thought process, and then all this "stuff" just comes spilling out onto the page and you get an amalgamation of news and stories. I guess you can't have fun blog themes all the time.

erin

ps...I have seen the clock today at 11:11, 1:11, and now, 2:22. Told you!

It's raining on Sunday

My arms are sore.

And my hands.

I did a whole load of "outdoorsy" stuff this weekend.

On Saturday morning, I got up bright and early and went to work! Love that. I had to participate in a volunteer Restoration Day at one of our sites. Only like 4 hours of my day, but I did manage to work up a sweat chopping down invasive plants out in the woods. I also had to provide food and take pictures. I'm a multi-tasker, apparently. That reminds me, I still have the company digital camera out in my car...let's try to remember to get that out of there before something bad happens to it.

After all that choppin' n' sweatin', I ran home, took a shower, and Danny and I headed off to Bloomington for our nephew's 2nd birthday party. Not only did I partially, somewhat, kind of climb a tiny bit up a fireman pole (I've never been able to do that, and I really still can't), chase bubbles, and climb through a oh-so-slippery and somewhat small playground tube, I also took my turn on a giant teeter-totter you stand on, and got into a water gun fight with my husband, though not by choice. After all that outside business, I was tired! We drove home and I promptly fell asleep on the couch. I'm pretty sure I was in bed by 8pm that night.

On Sunday, I again got up bright and early and my mom came over and we did yard work. I dug holes (until I made Danny finish the job), trimmed hedges, pulled dead things, and eventually worked carefully to cut back a very thorny hedge! Why anyone would ever choose to plant such a deathtrap of a shrub is beyond me. It's hardly decorative either. However, we prevailed over said thornbush. We spend a good 3 hours working that day, in the rain even, and I did end up taking another nap that day, but not before I visited a friend for a bit while Danny did a side job for a friend of his.

So tonight, unless it's raining again, Mom will return with electric hedge trimmers and I will go to town at my house! It's all an effort to pretty it up so someone will decide to buy it! We've got to get in on the market soon. Danny's done a ton of work in the back yard, we have a whole newly landscaped portion with mulch and plants and all that. Harrison LOVES hauling ass through the new mulch. She also enjoys the fact, I'm sure, that it turns her feet red, especially when it's rainy and she's outside assisting with home projects. I know I do! But anyway, soon Danny will start on the few projects we have inside and then, hopefully, someone will be charmed by our house's unique qualities as we were, and buy the damn thing!

Call Me On the Line

Oh my goodness! What happened to my blogging?

Well, I'll tell ya what happened...my pesky job got in the way! Darn job.

Last week, I held the biggest event in my department...the annual Volunteer Recognition Dinner. I changed the venue this year, I scaled back on some things, I upgraded some things, I took heat for some things, and I disregarded opinions of those higher up than I on some things. It was a whirlwind! However, it came and went without incident, I got rave reviews from the volunteers, and now, it's over for a year! The next day I attended an all day volunteer conference away from my work and that was nice. I took Thursday off and Friday was a holiday, so I've had a lovely little break from crazytown, U.S.A. aka the conservation district. Don't worry though, I'm right back in the middle of ridiculous today. Seriously, this is a place where deer walk around like nothing and eat grass and squirrels prance around...what happened to all that serenity? It's like an ER around here and I refuse to participate in the absurdity of that.

Whoa...end rant.

Easter weekend wasn't too bad. I took many good walks with Harrison and my mom, I took naps, I made ham, and then ate ham, and then ate more ham. We had a big dinner at Danny's parents house with, ham, and lot's of other good food. All the kids (ages 25-30) got their annual easter baskets and we were pestered for not producing grandchildren fast enough yet again. But aside from the guilt trip, I had a lovely time.

I realize I have posted absolutely no pictures from various events I've experienced and I'm going to have to confess something here to blogland: I suck at documenting my life in photographs. If I don't forget the camera in the first place, then I forget to take pictures or, quite frankly, just don't enjoy taking them. I have a few from Harrison's birthday way back when that I could share and I completely didn't take any camera to the New Kids concert! Oh well, guess it lives in my memory!

The other big news of my time away...I have a new phone! Yes, I've upgraded from the old phone I've had for the past 3 years. I'm also not one of those people who gets a new phone every other week. I feel that my phone is sufficient and I don't need it play music or do my banking. However, I left the phone charger in Bloomington after the concert and after my phone died a mere 8 days before I could get my phone back, I faced a dilemma. So where did I turn? My technology-friendly, money-spending, loves-to-buy-new-stuff hubby. I altered him to my situation. He volunteered to go buy me a new charger. I agreed to that. I'd been putting him off for months on the "let's go get you an upgraded phone" front. I was just never in the mood to go get a new one. I think I have an unrealistic assumption that it is a way more undesirable process then it really is. So while I was out with Mom on Thursday, he went out and upgraded my phone for me! I didn't even have to go! I love that! After we send in the rebate, the phone (which is really nifty, by the way) will end up being less expensive than a charger for the old phone. I was presented with my upgrade after I got home. It had all my numbers and pictures all in there waiting for me! I have been tinkering with it ever since. It even plays music! But I don't use that feature. Again, I don't need my phone to entertain me.

So, right now I'm about to leave work and go home to eat dinner (ham) and fold laundry. One of these days I will realize that my house will need to be clean because one of these days, we're going to sell it, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Have a good one!

erin

Oh What a Night

I did some interesting things last night...wanna hear about them? I'll take that ability to respond in no way whatsoever as a "yes."

First, let me back up and say a few things about the weekend and being married.

We had our first paying show this weekend, the band I mean. My co-worker owns a bar and we played there and it was a pretty good time. I, unfortunately was still recovering from the cold of all colds from almost 3 weeks ago, and so my voice was a bit less than stellar, but we did alright. The crowd seemed entertained and that's all that matters. And, oh yeah, we got paid! It was weird to get paid after singing being that I've only done it voluntarily in plays or at karaoke bars and no one pays you there. So it's a pretty nice bonus!

So that was the big event of the weekend. The marriage part is this: are there times when you are more aware of being married than others? Not at all in a, "hey I think I'll cheat on you because I don't feel like I'm married" way...I mean, sometimes I am very aware that Danny is my husband and sometimes we're just a couple of people, married, yes, but not necessarily on my mind.

For instance, at the show or at band practice, it's more like we're simply band members than husband/wife. This is almost crucial because you have to focus solely on what you're doing...singing/drumming. Like, when I am belting out a tune, I don't really think, "hey my husband is the drummer back there." However, during an instrumental break, if I happen to turn around and see him doing his thing I often think, "oh yeah, that's my husband drumming back there."

Last night, I accompanied my husband to our local city council meeting along with many of his fellow union members. The council was hearing debate on something called the Responsible Bidder Ordinance which would create stipulations that must be followed for any company to bid on constructions projects in our city, including having a licensed apprenticeship program, something not many non-union companies have...so there was quite a bit of debate going on. We stood outside the meeting in a little hallway listening because there were SO MANY people there for this issue. This became one of those times when I was very aware of my husband. I really got into the issue and thankfully had read an article explaining it all beforehand so I had some idea of what was going on...usually I don't pay a ton of attention to local stuff like that. But man, I was into it. At one point I felt that I should get up on the nearby table holding aloft my "union" sign...but I didn't...and there was a clear sign stating "no signage or placards" were allowed in the meeting anyway. But I felt it my duty to be a proud union wife, as I am also a union daughter, even though I drive a foreign car (oops...sorry, I like toyotas!).

After all that unionlove, we went to dinner and then home for a different kind of unionlove...ha! Sorry. I'll keep it clean.

All in all, it was an interesting evening, and I'll be keeping you posted on how the vote turns out on this local city issue, because I know you are all wondering.

I'm Erin Moyer and I approve this message...

erin

Coming Out of the Dark

Wow! What a germ-filled last week I had!

I spent the weekend in Bloomington with my sister, doing our taxes and trying to break her son's fever...I came home with a nice rebate and the plague!

I went into work on Monday doing just fine, but right around 3pm, I started feeling some soreness in my throat...I immediately took cold pills. It didn't quite work out.

I went home from work that night, put some laundry in and made dinner, but by the time dinner was ready, I was so down. Achy, freezing, sore throat, I felt horrible!

It persisted into Tuesday and I couldn't make it to work. Wednesday I attempted to go in for a few hours to get things done that had to be done that day and then I drug myself back home. Thursday was the worst! I woke up with such clogged ears! They hurt so much! I went to a walk-in clinic to get some antibiotics because this was ridiculous. 2 hours later I took my first pill and all I could do that entire day was lay around and moan. Friday was a tiny bit better, but again, I was out for the count. Saturday I felt better and got myself some Mucinex D...this is great stuff. It breaks up all that crap and allows you to breathe! I even felt good enough to go see my brother and sister-in-law in a community theater play that night and it was nice to get out of the house!

So, even though I am still a little clogged and my ears haven't yet popped back to normal quite yet, I am considering myself "healed" in that I can function and speak and am not blowing my nose every 3 minutes. Seriously, I used up the only box of kleenex we had and then proceeded to use the remaining 3 rolls of toilet paper left in the house and then when things got desperate and before anyone could get out for more supplies, paper towels. Ouch! My nose is very sad after all that. I've almost made it through 2 more kleenex boxes, but it has really slowed down the last 2 days.

As for Austin, he is still battling the sickness and will hopefully be on the mend soon! 9 days of fever is rough!

And my husband deserves a special "caregiver" award for how well he took care of me last week. Even when I looked liked death warmed over with eye puss, nose crust, unbrushed hair and teeth, and vicks vapor rub toilet paper sticking out of my ears (it was not pretty), he was still right there, cooking meals, shopping for supplies, bringing me whatever I wanted and sleeping on the couch. Love you, hon!

So, I am going to try to be a bit more productive in blogland for the next few weeks!

Avoid the crud!
erin

That's Amore

We had a very nice, low-key Valentine's Day.

Plans were made to go out to dinner and then come home and watch a movie and I had even picked out what I was going to wear to fulfill that "dressy, yet comfortable" look. This can sometimes be challenging and even more so when 96% of your wardrobe is dirty and waiting to be washed. But, even with the obstacles, I managed to find something decent to wear. We had been out doing errands all day, seperately so we were making plans via cell phone and rushing. Actually, I made Danny make the plans...I do that sometimes. I hurried up and took a shower and then somehow ended up in unmatching pajamas on the couch. It was too early to put on my "going out" clothes, yet I had already showered so I just threw on my pjs and when that happens...I tend to become lazy. PJs = tv on the couch or sleeping. Plans tend to fall by the wayside when I don't get completely ready in one swoop. And then the kicker, Danny sat right down next to me and we started watching House.

Well, dinner plans went right out the window.

We ended up ordering Monicals pizza, renting a pay-per-view movie (The Dark Knight-good flick), and drinking our respective alcoholic beverages. It was really nice! I even mangaged to remain awake throughout the entire movie! And...I got to stay in my unmatching pj's which are in no way dressy, but completely comfortable.

As for gifts, I got some of those "last minute" flowers and he got a frozen pizza and a can of artichoke hearts with the promise of me preparing the pizza adorned with the artichoke hearts. I don't know if you can tell from the description, but this was also last minute and pilfered from my Mom and Dad's house. Go us! Harrison got new rawhide bones, I'd say she scored most of all.

I did manage to clean the downstairs big time on Sunday. And having Monday off was great! I went out with Mom to pick up paint samples and have pretty much chosen all the colors for our house. The bonus of buying their house (one of them) is that I can look at paint chips in the actual rooms I will be painting, instead of waiting until we actually move in. We can change our address early to make sure all the mail is ending up there and that really excites me. I am still getting mail for the old occupants of our current house 2 years later. And some of it is like, personal mail...well, I'm assuming.

Here's the bummer of the weekend- We are no longer refinancing since we're moving, but, we had already had some title work done and had the house appraised so we had to pay for that which ended up being a few hundred dollars which we had not planned on spending. So that sucked, but my mom bought me some new shoes and coffee, so I felt better about myself then!

I really enjoy having days off, this whole working thing, though keeping up afloat financially, really cuts into my daily enjoyment of life.

These Are Days to Remember

Okay, I just uploaded pictures from my camera ranging all the way back to Thanksgiving! Wow, I'm not good at keeping things up to date! And somehow, I have Christmas photos before Thanksgiving...so bare with my little slideshow here...and, yes, there are like 900 pictures of Harrison, but she's the only kid we've got so far, so deal with it.

Okay here we go:

Our lovely Christmas mantle (I will so miss the mantle)!



Our lovely Christmas tree (fake, yes, but I don't appreciate the mess of a real tree).


Backing up to Thanksgiving...we're on our way to Bloomington!

Harrison, enjoying the ride and the view.

My nephew, Austin, attempting to get something off the counter.

With Uncle Danny!

I know, I know, Classy!

Even more classy!

Harrison spent the day out in the backyard...taunted mercilessly by the Miller cats.

I know this one is blurry, but she was so cute sitting out there in the exact middle of the light on the snow...I bet her butt was cold though!

Enjoying an early Christmas gift (yes, still oddly out of order).

Christmas Eve at Danny's parents...the annual poker game!

Now we move into January. This was the little house we stayed at in Peoria for the wedding...very cute, right on the IL river.

Looking out the back doors...

My oh-so-happy-to-be-there husband! I love those chairs!

Looking back into the dining area from the living area (where Danny was sitting).

My sister's 31st birthday celebration!

Posing the grandkids...see my "finger of discipline" coming into the shot...such authority!

There's a good one! Same facial expressions too (kind of bored?).

Snow dog!

Here she is laying on our bed, destroying Nick's (remember him?) old dog bed. Just ripped the stuffing right out of it...and on our bed, no less. Her eyes always glow when she's in destructive mode!

And here is when we thought it might be fun to dig a giant hole in the backyard right after a thunderstorm. She really gets into her projects!

So it was bathtime (2nd in 2 weeks).

All clean!

Clean and dry and just hanging out (literally). This is the "relaxation" montage.

So there you have it. A few days in the lives of us. Maybe nothing too monumental, but they were fun or at least funny in retrospect. Lots of memories made in our house in just a few short years...good times!

erin

He's Down on His Luck, It's Tough

Well, we all know the state of the economy right now is bleak. Everyone is affected by it in some way or another.

In our case, we were able to refinance our home for a way lower interest rate (well, we're in the process of doing that right now) so that's great. Of course, we're moving, but it will be great for the resale still. On the other hand, Danny is laid off, has been now for 5 weeks and that's not so great. Fortunately for him, he will go back to work when work picks up. He's not one of those laid off indefinately, which we're thankful for. But things are starting to get tight for us, financially. We've gone through this before and made it through and we will again, but this time its just so up in the air as to when he will get back to work. It makes it hard to find the silver lining when there is no light at the end of the tunnel quite yet (How many sayings can you use in one sentence?).

As I write this, Danny is working on not one, but possibly 2 side jobs for friends and sooner or later that unemployment check will make it to us and I'll breathe a little easier but it would be great if some kind of magic could work itself on our world and get things going again! So if we randomly show up at your house for dinner, don't be alarmed, we're just looking to cut corners!

That's all for now!
erin

Here Comes the Bride

So, I was in a wedding last weekend.

My good friend Juli, whom I met in college, got married on Saturday and I was one of the bridesmaids. They got married in a cute little chapel and had a really nice reception with great food and good dance tunes. The bridesmaids wore black and carried a red rose. The nice thing was we got to choose our own dress styles so there was a bit of variety there. We even got to ride around in a GIGANTIC limo after the ceremony, so that was pretty cool.

Now, when I woke up that morning and saw the temperature was 0, -13 degree windchill, I never expected to be taking outdoor photos, but indeed, we braved it and got a couple of shots, sleeveless dresses and all! The boys were complaining about being cold and their feet hurting in their shoes to which myself and the rest of the bridesmaids offered to trade dresses and heels for flat shoes and suits with JACKETS! They stopped bitching.

Danny accompanied me to this wedding and with the help of our trusty Garmin, driving was no sweat (save for the bridge that we had to cross, which is a large majority of the reason Danny was there...I. don't. do. bridges. PERIOD.).

We stayed in a house that belongs to friends of my parents, thus saving us a little money on a hotel room. This house overlooks the IL river and is so nice! It was like a little getaway spot.

I wish I had some photos from the wedding to share, but I put Danny in charge of taking pictures and he chose to drink tequila with my ex-boyfriend instead. Yes, my ex was there as he lives in the same town as Juli (whom he met through me) and they see each other from time to time. So, along with some interesting dancing from my husband (which I love, good or bad dancing, at least you're out there with me), and a somewhat intense evening of discussion for both of us following the wedding (I have REALLY softened the description and experience of that), I have no pictures. A few of the other bridesmaids have pictures so I'll try to snag some of those from their facebook pages and post them here.

But, all cold weather and intoxication aside, it was a successful wedding and I hope the newlyweds have a happy life together. And even if you do fall subject to too much tequila, you learn to work it out and regroup and if you're lucky (and I think we are) you learn something from your experiences. Good and bad. Chalk it up to that old saying "live and learn."

erin