What we are selling!

Well today I made tremendous progress for our upcoming garage sale which will be this Saturday starting at 8 am sharp...rain or shine! We are selling lots of stuff. We have 2 plastic garden chairs, a set of 4 plastic "office-type" chairs, a professional drawing table with a light, a floor lamp, a Sanyo TV, a VCR, and lots of VCR movies. We are also selling a set of 3 glass coffee tables, one long one and 2 matching square ones. We have lots of clothes I no longer wear. I am selling just a few of our extra toys. I have an extra Barbie play kitchen. We have a toaster, a coffee maker, a blender, lots of landline phones, vases, etc. I have 2 friends coming to set up some of their stuff...both have kids but I have no idea what they will be bringing. My mom and brother Richie will also be bringing a car load of their stuff. I have again, no idea what they will be selling, but my mom brought some stuff down about a month ago for the garage sale including tons of clothes hangers, neatly bundled of course, bows, bows, and more bows like for presents. There is lots of Christmas stuff and decorations, as well as knicknacky stuff like wind-up music boxes. I have taken 6 bags of trash to the dump today so I am not going to be selling "crap" like I see at some places that make you wonder ... hmm ... do they know what the trash is? So anyway, we are also selling some old computer monitors and Josh's stuff...don't even know what all...game remotes, some IPOD thing...Monster ICRUZE. An old radar detector (see, Josh always has to have the newest thing out ;) lol!) So no big furniture, but lots of little stuff and some pillows, an art stand I got at a garage sale about a year ago, but then decided there is no way I am letting Claire paint in the house...not till she is like 6 and then she can do it at school ;) lol! :) So yeah, lots and lots of stuffs...some extra throw pillows, a huge vase with 2 matching candle sticks, a bike basket if you'd like to look extra dorky (LOL!) I'd like to sell this tree thingy that we have, but Josh wants it, so bummer. I am not selling any of Claire's clothes as she is only our first people! And no, this is not an announcement of any thing...so yeah, there is a ton of other stuff, a paper shredder. We now have a bigger better giant one. But you get the idea. COME. BUY. BE HAPPY! AND REMEMBER IT IS A COMMUNITY GARAGE SALE. So there will be like 20 other garage sales nearby...at LEAST with lots of young families. So if you have any questions...leave me a comment or email me to my hotmail or personal message me on Facebook. I do not check my gmail account associated with this blog. ever. It is my spam account. :) I know, sorry, dear gmail! So lots of little appliances (we got stainless steel matching ones recently...) and some little furniture, but no huge furniture. BUT YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING YOU LIKE! I WILL GIVE YOU A DEAL!

We all want to be heard!

Who are you friends with on Facebook? Who makes your "friend" cut? http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancondition/archive/2009/06/15/friends-with-benefits-do-facebook-friends-provide-the-same-support-as-those-in-real-life.aspx?GT1=43002 I basically think when starting out, people are a little more leery as to "accepting" new friends. I think the term "friends" on Facebook is of course loose. Rather, what people have are 200 contacts or people they know vs. "friends"--what is a "Friend" anyway? I think this is hugely up for debate anyway. I recently went through and deleted several people...sorry...but just because we went to the same HS of like 2,000 kids does not mean we need to be "friends" to me. I need to have had at least one semi-meaningful conversation with said "friend" and be able to remember who they are...lol! Read that article. What did you think?

What do you do all day?

Laundry. Feed Claire breakfast. Feed myself. Get us both dressed. Drive to dentist in the rain. Get my teeth cleaned, etc. Listen to blah blah blah your teeth are so nice, no cavities WOOT! Then have them check Claire's teeth....her third dentist visit...no cavities...WOOT..she has 13 teeth now! Sweet! Go to grocery store. Get milk, more cereal, etc. Let Claire eat an apple in the shopping cart/car thing so she doesn't throw a fit. :) Let Claire play with a bag of beans so she won't throw a fit. Buy bag of beans so she doesn't throw fit. Wonder what I'm going to do with bag of said beans. Make some soup, probably...Get mail in rain. Let Claire play in rain while I bring in groceries. Entice Claire into the garage by letting her shut the garage. Proceed to bribe Claire inside with promises of leftover sketti from last night to yet again avoid ... fit. Feed Claire and myself spaghetti for lunch. Feed her Lots of it. LOTS OF WIPING UP. Lots of hand and face washing. Her skin still is red. Dang tomatoes do that. Switch more laundry. CURSE DISHWASHER THAT IS STILL NOT DRAINING EXCEPT ONTO THE FLOOR! THIS IS MY LIFE. Lay down in bed to nurse Claire to sleep. Linger because I don't want to get up. Catch up on emails and make a few phone calls while she naps. Hear her. Go lay down with her again; she falls back asleep. Go switch some more laundry. Start to FOLD laundry. Label more garage sale prices. Get Claire...up now. Turn on Toddler CD and dance and fold laundry. Let Claire play in laundry. FUN FUN. FOLD 7 loads of laundry in 2 hours while feeding Claire snack. RISKY! :) PUT AWAY ALL LAUNDRY. See Josh briefly. Go to VBS at church. Try to get Claire to eat grilled cheese. She only wants chips. And a cookie. AHH FUN. Play with Claire and Amelia in nursery for VBS time. Claire gets to play with Play-Dough for the first time. She only eats it once. No, wait. Twice. It's ok, Angie made it at home. I taste some. Tastes like ass. Well, I've never eaten any donkey, but it's very salty. And doughy. Like bread that didn't bake right. YUCK. Claire tries it again while making a horrible face. SERIOUSLY! She would not try the grilled cheese, but will try this nasty crappy white looking play-dough that NOBODY ELSE EATS THREE TIMES. Amelia only tried it once. None of the other toddlers tried it. Apparently they are either a lot less curious than Claire or...smarter. NO! No other baby is smarter than Claire! They just ate their grilled cheese and aren't starving. LOL. Clean up nursery. TWICE. Three times as babies/toddlers try to unclean it faster than we can pick up. Go to closing. Leave camera on pew. Drive home.
REMEMBER CAMERA IS AT THE CHURCH as we turn onto our street. D'oh. Turn around at 9pm and proceed to drive 15 min. to the other side of town to our church. Luck out that there are still two cars there and we can get in. FIND IT ON THE PEW. YAY! Have trouble getting Claire back in car seat as she wants to "GO PLAY! GO PLAY! MORE CHURCH!" Pat camera repeatedly as I drive home as I think, "MY PRECIOUS, MY PRECIOUS." Sheepishly come in at 9:40 and tell Josh I left our very nice camera at church, but I have it now. YIKES. Feed Claire bedtime snack. Bathe her, brush/floss teeth/smear her up with lotion/really...thinking of EVERYTHING I do all day gets pretty mundane! Smear triple antibiotic on her knee and kiss it for the 10,000th time today as she screams, "MOMMY, KISSH MAH KNEE!"
Tell Claire she can't sleep with the froggy key chain as it could wrap around her finger and give her a boo-boo. She frowns and says, pleadingly, "I SLEEP WIFF (with) FROGGIE!" I convince her that her baby is a better deal. It's 10pm and she is still up. Nurse her to sleep in about 5 minutes. SWEET! Average night takes 10-15 minutes. Bad nights 30-45 minutes. Really overtired...about 1 hour...longest ever...maybe an hour and a half...just can't fall asleep when she's really over-tired, like the same with me. Admire her sleeping face in the glow of the turtle night-light. Wonder how I ever lived without this kind of intense love. Kiss her on the forehead. Ahh. I'm free...kind of. Think about hand washing the dishes. Forget it. Leave them for tomorrow. Pray that Josh fixes the dishwasher or just buys a new one and magically cleans the dishes themselves. Catch up on Facebook. Catch up on blogs. Fold once last basket of laundry that was in the dryer. Pick up toys. Decide one more toy in the garage sale pile is a good plan.
Decide to blog.
Decide to go to bed.
Good night.
What do YOU DO ALL DAY!?!

Help find these missing Teens!

There are 2 teens missing from NW IN. Please repost ESP if in IN/Chicago area!! More here: http://prettybabies.blogspot.com/2009/06/urgent-missing-teens-in-nw-indiana.html

Community Garage Sale

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, I am continuing to get ready for the Community Garage Sale coming up. Well, it's our "own" garage sale but there will be a bunch around our whole neighborhood Friday and Saturday. I am just going to set up for Saturday. So in preparation for that, today I cleaned out the garage. FUN. NOT. We have NEVER cleaned out the garage. I think I have swept it maybe once/year. But that's it...and not very well. So it was a challenge. Claire helped me take everything out of the garage into the yard. Then I took a broom and swept cobwebs off of the walls and ceilings and overhead door. I can't believe how much has accumulated in just over 4 years. Since we build our house new, it was clean when we moved in and all of the dirt is "ours" so to speak. Well, Claire helped by trying to "sweep" and drag heavy objects across the yard like a snow shovel that was way to big for her. She was pushing it around going "HEAVY! HEAVY!" She also got to play on her cars and slide in the front yard while I was working, and she loves being outside! Then I got out the hose and sprayed down all the chairs and grime covered stuff. We have an attachment that is really awesome so it did a great job. THEN...the fun part...I swept out the garage since all the winter gravely stuff was in there...then I sprayed the garage out. I stuck Claire in her high chair to eat some lunch while she watched me. She kept yelling, "Mommy WASH! Mommy WASH!" She is getting quite vocal. Ahh....so now everything was clean...except for me...and Claire. I let her down and of course she wanted to play in the puddles. So I took a shower with her in the Solar Veil sling, which is great because it leaves both my hands free for my hair and washing her! And then I nursed her to sleep for a long late nap! She slept great of course having run around outside so much! Well then we were off to our Church for evening VBS this week. Oops. It started YESTERDAY. I didn't know. I felt sort of silly, but at least I'll know for next year that it starts on Sunday! Last night I didn't even do anything important! Well, I did get the entire front hall closet cleaned out and organized in preparation for the sale, as well as our spare room and it's closet. OH MY GOSH! I swear stuff reproduces when you put it in a dark box and shut the door. SO now my downstairs is done...I even went through all my kitchen drawers, etc...eek...now I have to tackle the upstairs. I hope to make a bit of money but maybe I shouldn't buy stuff in the first place. I don't really consider myself a big shopper though. I honestly look at some stuff and can't remember where it came from! Lol! Anyway...I need to go to bed...

Medications in Mamma's Milk

Oh check it out! You can look up your meds online now! How great is this if you're nursing and need to look up something! http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT PASS IT ON!

Would you, could you, NIP?

Cute post about NIP (nursing in public which NIP being the abbreviation is so appropriate ;) haha) http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/06/15/would-you-could-you-breastfeed-in-public/ tell me what you think?

Grilling Out

We have 3 little birdies living across the street in one of Jeff and Jessie's tree. I posted a video recently, but here is a still version of them:
Claire has starting preferring to sit in a big girl chair! Oh my! I prefer the ease of cleaning up a contained mess in the high chair!

Josh picked up fresh brats and burgers from Marsh that have bits of cheese and bacon mixed into them. Just looking at them will make your arteries start to clog a bit:

I was grumpy all weekend. I am trying to sort and organize the entire house for the garage sale, which makes me want to just open up all the 2nd story windows and just start chucking stuff on the lawn with a sign that says "FREE! TAKE IT ALL! PLEASE!" I am going through nearly 5 years of accumulated stuff. Please, please never let me go to another garage sale. I want to sell about half the stuff I have picked up at garage sales in the past 2 years. Haha. Well I am pricing most stuff for $1 or less. The sale will be this Saturday only. Then everything will be going to the Goodwill. So come around noon, and I just might pay YOU to take all the dang stuff away so we don't have to load it up and hault it off ;) LOL!

I was also grumpy because I was taking Benadryl to keep the hives away and well...guess what...that stuff makes me tired. When I feel tired, I get grumpy. ARGH! PLUS...Our dishwasher leaked. I opened it about 1 min. into the cycle and guess what? WATER EVERYWHERE! SERIOUSLY! We have had a dishwasher EVERYWHERE we've lived and I've NEVER had a problem like this...or at my parents house...how is it with your dishwasher? I think you should be able to open it at any point in the cycle and not have a huge mess. Ugh. Anyway...enough ranting. Come to my garage sale. It starts Saturday at 8. If you want the good stuff ;) I am serious though...I might just put a sign on my door and tell people to come in and take some of the toys and stuff away...we have too much stuff!!! It's worth the trip even if you live in Florida. I'm giving you advance notice, so please plan accordingly.

Kthnxbai! :)

Stupid Rash

So I woke up Thursday with a few spots. Friday morning at 6 am, both of my elbows looked like this. So I paid a stupid copay for the doctor to tell me to take Benadryl and that hives could be from anything. Gee, that was helpful...I still have NO IDEA what it is from. Needless to say, yesterday I washed all the bedding including the blankets in HOT water! ARGH.

Maria-ology

Let others know a little more about yourself, re-post this as your name followed by "ology"

1. What is your salad dressing of choice? Ranch on the side but I eat it dry. Easier than explaining No, I really don't want any.
2. What is your favorite sit down restaurant? Melting Pot
3. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? sketti
4. What are your pizza toppings of choice? ham, pineapple, banana peppers
TECHNOLOGY*
5. How many televisions are in your house? 4
6. What color cell phone do you have? black
BIOLOGY*
7. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Right
8. Have you ever had anything removed from your body? my wisdom teeth
9. What is the last heavy item you lifted? Claire
10. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?No
BULLCRAPOLOGY*
10. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? No
11. If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Anyone can change their name for a small legal fee, but I like mine how it is!
12. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000? I might try
DUMBOLOGY*
13. How many pairs of flip flops do you own? 6?
14. Last time you had a run-in with the cops? over 2 years ago when Josh was driving and was pulled over for turning R on red, where u weren't allowed to
15. Last person you talked to? Claire
16. Last person you hugged? Claire night, night!
FAVORITOLOGY*
17. Season? Summer
18. Holiday? Christmas
19. Day of the week? Friday
20. Month? July
CURRENTOLOGY*
21. Missing someone? not really
22. Mood? grumpy
23. What are you listening to? Josh and Jason playing XBox
24. Watching? nothing
RANDOMOLOGY*
25. First place you went this morning? turned off alarm
26. What's the last movie you saw? Slumdog Millionare..great flick
27. Do you smile often? :) YES :)
-OLOGY*
28. Do you always answer your phone? No
29. It’s four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it? Texting is blocked on my phone for this reason! :) Either call or email. Kthnxbai.
30. If you could change your eye color what would it be? I would never change my eyes. People want mine.
31. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I don't think I've ever been to a Sonic...maybe once in TH years ago?
32. Do you own a digital camera? ha. do we? have you seen this blog?
33. Have you ever had a pet fish? Yes, and both of our wedding fish are gone...
34. What's on your wish list for your birthday? personal chef
35. Can you do pushups? maybe
36. Can you do a chin up? Are you kidding?
37. Does the future make you more nervous or excited? Excited
38. Do you have any saved texts? no
39. Ever been in a car wreck? yes :(
40. Do you have an accent? I've been told by people who say "y'all" that I sound like I'm from CHICAGO...well I was born there!
41. What is the last song to make you cry? I have no idea
42. When was the last time you cried? this quiz is repeating the one I just did...
43. Plans tonight? not really
44. Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? yes
45. Name 3 things you bought yesterday? baby lotion, band-aids and triple antibiotic cream
46. Have you ever been given roses? Yep <3
47. Current hate right now? Hives
48. Met someone who changed your life? Yep
49. How did you bring in the new year? watching the ball drop on TV
50. What song represents you? "Jesus Loves ME! :)"
51. Name three people who might complete this? who cares
52. Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? maybe
53. Have you ever dated someone longer than a year? yes
54. Will you be in a relationship 4 months from now? sometimes these quizzes are so high school omg.
55. Does anyone love you? yes
56. Would you be a pirate? wtf
57. What songs do you sing in the shower? whatever is on the radio
58. Ever had someone sing to you? yes
59. Do you like to cuddle? who doesn't
60. Have you held hands with anyone today? I have a toddler, yes.
61. Who was the last person you took a picture of? Claire
62. What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school? whatever was on
63. Do you believe in staying close with your ex's? depends
64. Are most of the friends in your life new or old? a mix
65. Do you like pulpy orange juice? sometimes
66. What is something your friends make fun of you for? what friends "make fun" of something?wth
67. Have you ever ridden a on an elephant? yes, when I was a kid and we went to the circus but we only got to go around the ring once :(
68. What are you saving your money up for right now? vacation
69. When is the last time you ate peanut butter and jelly? lunch today :)
70. What song(s) do you want played at your funeral? Um, never thought about that..."Dance, Dance, where-ever you may be..."
71. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Sleeping
72. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? I want to sleep some more. :(

Random Quiz Questions

1. First thing you wash in the shower? Hair
2. What color is your favorite hoodie? pink
3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Yep
4. Do you plan outfits? sometimes
5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? fine
6. Whats the closest thing to you that's red? stuffed Clifford toy
7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having? don't usually remember dreams
8. Did you meet anybody new today? Yep
9. What are you craving right now? nothing
10. Do you floss? of course, do you wipe?
11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? soup
12. Are you emotional? WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME THAT! Um, that'll be a yes
13. Have you ever counted to 1,000? not lately
14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? whatever I'm in the mood for ;)
15. Do you like your hair? yes
16. Do you like yourself? yes
17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush? only if he's buying
18. What are you listening to right now? Josh and Jason playing video games
19. Are your parents strict? no
20. Would you go sky diving? no thanks
21. Do you like cottage cheese? Yes
22. Have you ever met a celebrity? no
23. Do you rent movies often? Netflix them
24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in? a princess crown
25. How many countries have you visited? about 30
26. Have you made a prank phone call? all the time when younger
27. Ever been on a train? too many to count
28. Brown or white eggs? doesn't matter as long as they are cooked
29. Do you have a cell-phone? yes
30. Do you use chap stick? yes
31. Do you own a gun? No
32. Can you use chop sticks? Yes
33. Who are you going to be with tonight? whoever is here
34. Are you too forgiving? very
35. Ever been in love? Yes
36. What is your best friend(s) doing tomorrow? sleeping in. must be nice!
37. Ever have cream puffs? yes but I think they are nasty. I do not like creamy things like salad dressings or mayo either.
38. Last time you cried? Earlier this week chopping an onion
39. What was the last question you asked? Can u turn off the light
40. Favorite time of the year? Advent/Christmas or Summer
41. Do you have any tattoos? not unless u count scars
42. Are you sarcastic? sometimes
43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect? Yes. Great movie!
44. Ever walked into a wall? Probably
45. Favorite color? any shade of purple
46. Have you ever slapped someone? Yep
47. Is your hair curly? A little
48. What was the last CD you bought? can't even remember...it would have to be over 5 years ago
49. Do looks matter? depends on what we are talking about
50. Could you ever forgive a cheater? Depends
51. Is your phone bill sky high? I hope not
52. Do you like your life right now? yes
53. Do you sleep with the TV on? No way
54. Can you handle the truth? Yes
55. Do you have good vision? with my reading glasses ;)
56. Do you dislike more than 3 people? probably
57. How often do you talk on the phone? daily
58. The last person you held hands with? Baby Claire
59. What are you wearing? purple PJs
60. What is your favorite animal? fish. they stay where they are put, generally. and they poop in a confined area
61. Where was your profile picture taken? Holly's wedding
62. Can you hula hoop? No
63. Do you have a job? full-time mom, on-call 24/7/365, with no paid overtime/weekends and Holidays REQUIRED...does that mean I'm a slave ;) Nah, lots of benefits like little hugs and kisses ;)
64. What was the most recent thing you bought? Stuff for these hives I got...itchy!
65. Have you ever crawled through a window? Yep

Tiny Treasures!

I had to take a picture of some of the stuff that Claire likes to carry around in her purse. Stickers, bookmarks that she steals out of my books, hair thingys, rocks she picks up from walks, sticky notes she likes to steal from the counter with my to-do lists, as well as coupons I give her to play with. She also likes to carry her little Wok book, bracelets, cell phone, and her laminated picture of Mark and Holly. She will take it out, pat the picture and say, "I love you, Holly! I love you, Mark!" I dumped it out to take this picture, but she came over and saw what I had done. She was very upset with me for having spread out her stuff like this. Tee-hee. Click on it to make it full size!

Claire LOVES her purses!

I just discovered that Facebook does embedded videos. Yay! YouTube seriously sucks. It's sooo slow. Anyway, here is a video of Claire with her precious purses:

Toy House

When Anja was visiting we found this cute toy house for a steal at a garage sale.



She is so in love with it. My mom has one like it for her house, too. You can never have enough toys of something that kids really like!

OMG BIRDIEZ!

We have baby birdies living across the street! Observe: