The Year I Was Born

1. What was the population of the world?
4.378 Billion

2. Who were the President and Vice President?
James Earl Carter & Walter F. Mondale

3. What was the US Population? (Different from the world population)
225,055,487

4. Name one US Event that showed up in the "U.S. Events" section.
Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings (Jan. 4).

5. Median Household Income?
$16,461

6. Unemployment Rate?
5.8%

7. Cost of a US Postal Stamp.
$0.15

8. Who Played in the Superbowl? Who won?
Pittsburgh d. Dallas (35-31)

9. NCAA Football Champs?
Alabama (12-0-0)

10. One Entertainment Event you found interesting.
The Sugar Hill Gang releases the first commercial rap hit, "Rapper's Delight," bringing rap off the New York streets and into the popular music scene.

11. Name a famous person who died.
Nelson Rockefeller

12. I was born in the year
1979

Proving I'm Right?

I can totally understand having to back up your thoughts or opinions in some situations. Like if you were a scientist or an inventor or something. But when it comes to regular day to day stuff which is mostly based on experiences and preferences.....why would you have to prove yourself??

Mr. X and I had a "discussion" this evening over his requirement for me to prove I'm right when ever I tell him something. It could be something so basic like Toots should start off with things like sweet potato's first instead of fruits so that he will eat the veggies and not be stuck only on fruits. Yes, I realize that it's not the end of the world if he likes his fruits but I want to get him liking the veggies first. Anyways, why should I have to go online and pull up research proving that this can happen?? Thats just one example too.

So tonight, I don't even remember how we got started on the subject actually, but we were talking about it. And I told him how it makes me feel like he doesn't trust my knowledge or that maybe he thinks I'm not as smart as he is. That sometimes you just have to trust experience and day to day trial and error. Course he tells me it's the Navy training in him...he needs to be proven wrong to accept what someone else says.

Seriously? Is anyone else like this? I have never in my life had to defend every single statement that I make. Do you have any idea how irritating and frustrating it is to have someone tell you your wrong on everything or to prove that what you say is right? It SUCKS.

And get this...we couldn't even make it away from the table before he did it again. I had made a comment about I was going to start unplugging things to test out a theory I have. See up till December our electric bill has been about $50-$60 a month. Just a tad more when the A/C was on but not much. When January's bill came it was $120. February's was $160. The sad part is our heat runs off gas so I can't even blame it on that.

The only thing that changed was we got the new HDTV, Wii, and Xbox 360 in December. Of course then there are the battery charges that go with them. All things that are constantly sucking up electricity even when they are off. Maybe not much but enough. So I wanted to test a theory and see if by unplugging them it would make a difference in our usage. A theory and a test is what I'm thinking.

And he tells me that I need to prove I'm right that it will work because it can be detrimental to electronics to unplug them all the time. Ya, maybe if you were doing it 50 times a day and creating constant power surges to the unit. Not to mention we have all our electronics plugged into a surge protector and so even if it did a small surge chances are it wouldn't even hit the electronics themselves.

For us though we're only talking maybe twice a day. Once in the morning when I leave for work and then again at night before we go to bed. Right now it's been unplugged since like 9am! Men...the thing is I could have done this and he probably would have never known. I should have just kept my mouth shut.

Well That Was Fast

So I'm still trying to catch up from all the things that have happened the last few weeks. I seriously have so many blogs started that I haven't finished yet. This one though I wanted to get out.

most of you know that a few weeks ago Monkey's dad called me out of the blue talking about how he wanted to get to know her and be involved and all that. Apparently his grandfather passed away and it made him think about life and the choices he made as well as the mistakes.

I've always said that I would never prevent him from knowing her so we put things in motion for it all to begin. A few days after that call she got her 1st card. And the child was head over heals. We had to immediately go to Wally-world and get a card to send back to him. And since Valentines was just around the corner she insisted on one of those heart filled ones. She also drew a picture that was the two of them with big hearts floating above their heads and wrote him a letter.

It seemed at first that he really was serious about all this. He called the Tuesday after he sent his 1st card to make sure she had gotten it. It had jsut come the day before. I let him know Valentines day that she got his 2nd one and then Sunday night he called and they talked for the first time ever.

I couldn't listen to the conversation...it was just too rough for me hearing her talking to her "daddy". I realize she's only 5 so for her the fact that he hasnt' been around before this was completely washed away. For me though it just kidna irked me to be honest.

Before we hung up that night he told me that he would be calling again Friday night (tonight) to talk to her. Well he never did. I realize that it's only 1 time and maybe something really did happen and he just couldn't get the call in. Maybe I'll never know.

I can't help but worry that he's going to disappear. Even just this slight contact is going to make it hurt horribly for her if he doesn't follow through. She's always had so many questions and has cried several times b/c he had never called or seen her. Now that she's had some contact it will most likely be 100x's worse.

So I can't believe I'm saying this but keep your fingers crossed that it was just a fluke. I may not like him at all but i don't want my baby girl getting hurt!

Awwwww

Mr. X insists I listen to the following song with him. I guess he was tryign to tell me something.

*********Sigh***********

Who Needs Sleep?

Apparently Toots things we don't. Since he has completely mastered rolling over he now wakes himself up almost every hour. He'll roll over then get mad cause apparently half asleep he doesn't know how to roll back over. So he screams till we do it for him and shove a paci in his mouth. Ugh.....I NEED sleep. Let me clarify....I need UNINTERRUPTED sleep!

What Are They Thinking?

I really hate going grocery shopping these days. And not because it takes so much time or is such a hassle dragging 2 kids with me. What I hate is that the service has gone so far down hill that it's just a total pain. When I first moved out here I got a job at a local grocery store. They were on a CONSTANTLY about our service levels. Talking to the next cashier over or the bagger while ringing up a customer....didn't happen. Totally ignoring the customer while ringing them up? Wouldn't think of it! Even otu of those things there is one that just irks me to the core ever single time.

It's the way they bag groceries. Either they put 3 things in a bag so you end up with a million of them. Or, they mix products. Like tonight when I stopped for a few things. My meat was in the same bag as my fabric softner. Seriously??? I thought bagging was like basic knowledge skills. You bag like items. Frozen with frozen, meats together, cans together, etc. Apparently thats just too difficult for them these days.

Oh ya, and god forbid they actually bag all the groceries and put them in the cart. Never would we start ringing up another customer before the one we just had was completely done. No, tonight I still had at least 6 bags on the counter as was tryign to load up the cart. Course I was rebagging items and correctin gmistakes. Did the guy help me out? Nope, he starts ringing up the next lady.

Geesh....maybe they shoudl start giving out discounts for customers who have to take care of their own bagging and loading. What happened to good service?

After V-Day

Well I hope all of you had a great day yesterday. Ours was for the most part uneventful. I'd love to say it ended on a perfect note but our 1st night out with out kids in over a year wasn't exactly perfect.



I was woken up bright and early to a dozen roses and a card from Mr. X. Monkey received a dozen for her self as well and was oh so proud of them. She decided to name the stuffed animal she got Valentine.



Mr. X had to work yesteday so I spent most of the day cleaning, doing laundry, and taking care of the kiddo's. We met up with a couple friends for lunch to get out for a bit. I'm always up for good food and conversation.



Then finally last night we were heading out for our date night. The first for just the 2 of us in over a year so we were well over due. Course Mr. X decided to make it more interesting. We weren't on the road more than 5 minutes when the car started heading right towards the ditch. The road wasn't that wide anyways so we didn't have far to go. I immediately grabbed for the oh crap handle that doesn't exist and yelled at Mr. X to stay on the road. He thought it was hysterical that I freaked out but considering it was my side of the car heading for it I think I had a pretty good reason.

We saw Confessions of a Shopaholic which was awesome. Totally loved the movie and even he got into it. Laughing most of the way through, it had a pretty good story line and the actors were good. No mishaps at the theater, just 90 minutes of quiet while we munched on buttery saltery popcorn and balanced it out with diet coke.

Afterwards we headed to the steak house for dinner. The wait time was really short but it was almost 9:30pm and it's not really on a main road so I don't think a lot of people know about it. We've been there several times before and I've loved their food so even though it wasn't fancy I figured it would still be good.

WRONG!

The hostess seated us with our bread rolls and non of their famous cinamon butter. She also didn't leave any silverware. About 10minutes later the butter was delivered to our table and away she flew before we could even utter the words "silverware please!". Finally our waiter shows up and takes our drink and appetizer order. I also made my 1st request for silverware. Time ticks by and our appetizer comes out, the baby blossom which is very similar to the bloomin onion only smaller.

NO SILVERWARE. Enter 2nd request. He also takes our order for dinner which we asked to have Mr. X bowl of Chili and my salad brought out ahead of the meal.

We started munching on the blossom to which we discovered it was still 1/2 uncooked batter. Yuck! Awhile later another waiter brings Mr. X his chili.....no salad. Like 10minutes later my salad finally arrives. And it was just a simple house salad, nothing complicated. At this point we told the waiter about the blossom being only 1/2 cooked. He promptly took it promising to remove it from our bill. As he starts to walk away I call him back.....Um still no silverware?? Was he expecting me to eat my salad with my fingers???

Finally a little while later he delivers our silverware. I unroll mine to find that the napkin is dirty. Double yuck. At this point Mr. X was over it so he takes mine and gives me his so I can eat my salad.

Awhile later our main dish comes out. Now, I am kinda particular about how my meat is cooked although i will let some slide because I know it can't be perfect every time. I draw the line though when I order it well done and it comes out bright pink and oozing. Triple Yuck. At this point we called a manager over and complained. And while we were talking we discovered that lovely sweet potato that Mr. X ordered had no brown sugar on it. Just some melted marshmallows on a plain sweet potato. Anyone ever had a plain sweet potato?? Ewwww

Needless to say we were over the meal before our check even arrived. Add insult to injury the waiter never even acknowledged how so much was wrong, I don't even think he knew my steak got sent back. Not one single part of our entire meal was even right. Thankfully we made light of it althogh i seriously doubt we'll be going back again. Granted, it was Valentines night but they were far from busy so there really should be no excuse.

On a good note I got my Valentines gift at dinner. A white gold heart shaped diamond necklace. Awwww....so pretty!! Toots loves grabbing at it though so I have a feeling we're going to want to invest in a heavier chain eventually.

So that was our night. Hope yours was a blast!

Happy Valentines

And we're Private

I've moved the blog to private. If youc an those of you who asked to be allowed to view can you comment here so I know you got in ok!! Course I figure if you didn't then I'll be getting a note wondering why.

Lots of blogs coming soon as I have plenty to catch up on!

Making some Changes

In light of some recent events I'm going to go private with this particular blog. The recipe one will still remain public for those who read it. Anyways, if you want to still be able to access this one please let me know with your email address. either email me or leave me a comment. No comments on this particular post will be published so I'm the only one who will see your information. I'll give through Sunday this week before I make the switch but I probably won't post anything else until then.

thanks!

What the??

From this morning...

Me: Monkey, go put your lunch box by the front door.
Monkey: You can walk, you've got 2 legs, you do it.
Me: Ever say that again and you WON'T have 2 legs to walk on


Hmph....Seriously, who stole my sweet little agreeable girl and replaced her with the brat model??



ETA: Since I apprently have someone reading my blog who believes I think it's ok to hurt my children I should probably add that NO, I do not plan on disabling her so she can no longer walk. It's a phrase, nothing more. Figured I aught to say that so I don't have CPS busting down my door.

Hey Anonymous

Ya you! The one who felt such a strong desire to leave a nasty comment on my last blog but didn't even have the nerve to sign it. No worries. That why we have to LOVE the joys of internet technology. I'm about 99.9% sure I know who you are. See there's a few things I love about my blog. 1st it tracks my visitors and tells me where they are at and what the date time is of their visit. 2nd your comment came with a time stamp. 3rd I don't get very many visitors. So next time you feel the need to insert your 2 cents in such a negative way how about actually taking credit for your comment instead of "hiding".

So onto the good stuff. I think I'm going to break it down into 2 parts.

The beginning of your comments says "that is absolutely child abuse. literally babies bodies cannot handle that kind of strain on their joints and this child will have problems". To begin with I respect your opinion that you feel it's child abuse although as I stated in my previous blog I disagree with it. We can all have our own opinions though right?? As for can the baby take it? Hmmm I don't know. I know I don't have a medical degree and I'm fairly certain you don't either so it's not a judgement call either one of us can make. I also stated that it seems likely that the guy has some sort of training with this stuff and with that I imagine they know how to keep things safe. I guess the good part of me would like to think that a parent would not do something like that unless they were knowledgable in what they were doing.

Now the 2nd part of your comment. "and to think it's "OK" to have your child break his or her skull, then you have no hope and i feel sorry for your children."

Taking a deep breath here..........

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?? You insinuate not only that I may intentionally hurt my children but that I could care less if they are. Maybe you should have actually read the blog completely before jumping to conclusions but then....thats how you are isn't it? No where in what I wrote did I say it was "ok" to break a childs skull. Actually, it clearly states that we tripped and fell. Something that could happen to ANYONE....the reason I used it as an example. And that thankfully it was prior to when hers fused so it was a non-issue. Oh ya, just to clarify....those were actually her pediatricians words.

So maybe next time before you feel the need to become the almighty and pass judgement on someone else about how they feel for their kids take a step back and don't bother. I don't need nor want your sympathy and my children certainly don't either.

Holy Acrobatic Baby

This got posted on our local playgroup to which several people immediately screamed child abuse and how could he! Hmmm....what do you think?



Personally I think it's pretty cool. The guy has got to have some sort of acrobatic or similar training to be able to do all that. And the child has obviously done it a multitude of times and enjoys it as he was smiling and laughing at the time. For those worried about injury to the child yes, I'm sure something could happen if he dropped him but that can happen regardless. I dropped Monkey when she was 5 months old (we really tripped and fell) and she had a crack in her skull from it. Thankfully it was before the thing fused so all is good. Anyways, I just thought it was interesting and I haven't blogged in awhile.