Random Observations

Yesterday in the rain I ventured out of my house to run to work. I had to retrieve a form that Jake's friend had to sign to get his tax return filed. The kid has 2 W-2's and I've been chasing him around for 4 weeks to get him to sign this damn form. Last year I think he paid H&R block $200 to do his return. Who pays that much for a return consisting of 2 W-2's?? Al, I love you, but I think you got bent over on that deal!!

Anyhow, at some point I asked him whether he would like to direct deposit his refund, to which he replied, "I don't have a bank account." How in the world does one live without a bank account? How do you pay bills?? Cash and money order I suppose. However, there can't be anything too convenient about that. I suppose that is why he has not saved any money. If I was carrying around all the money I had in my pocket I think I would be more likely to spend it too.

After I quickly snuck into work, (I say snuck for two reasons. Number one if anyone saw me they might ask me to do something and I was not there to work and number two it was early and I had thrown on the same outfit from the day before so I didn't need anyone noticing that. Although I work with a bunch of guys so they probably would have no idea that it was the same outfit... but I digress...) I decided to make a quick stop at Wal-mart. Yes, I was somewhat grungy but it's Wal-mart. Who isn't somewhat grungy in that place? Now don't get me wrong, I love Wal-mart. I buy EVERYTHING there, but it's not exactly a place where one cares how they look. Now if I'm going across the street to Target, I better shower and take of my sweats....

Digressing again, had a point... I promise. While in Wal-mart picking up garbage bags (yes Danette, I have been out of garbage bags for a week... it's a good thing we don't throw THAT much away...) I decided to stop by the CD section. When I'm depressed I do a combination of two destructive things. Number one I eat (it was only 8 chewy chips ahoy cookies for breakfast) and I shop. Not like clothes shopping, that would make me more depressed. I shop for meaningless Wal-mart type crap. Yesterday I bought 4 CD's. Last time it was $300 worth of DVD's... I'm improving!!

When I got to the car I decided to open these CD's. Silly me.. it requires some sub-human skills to open a CD. Like a DVD getting the plastic wrapping off is easy. It's those crappy sticker things that cover every open crack that really get you. Sometimes they peal off easily. Other times they leave a sticky residue so your CD sticks to every surface you set it on. I am now carrying with me bits and pieces of my house everywhere I go.

What is the point of the stickers that close off every opening of the CD?? Do they think that someone who wants to steal a CD going to go to the trouble of taking off that crappy plastic shrink wrap and then say damn... foiled by the stickers?? I understand that they provide a way to know if the CD has been opened, but only to a certain extent. If a person is really trying to return a CD case without the CD or some such nonsense... don't you think that they would only pull off one side of the sticker... open the case and then replace the stickers??

This morning, silly me, I decided I wanted to listen to a different CD on my way to work. Imagine me, trying to drive and get into the packaging of the CD. All I can say is I'm sorry to all of the other drivers who thought I was drunk as I was weaving in my lane trying to drive with my knee and cussing the packaging.

CD Packing Designer people... you are not my friends this morning!!

Roller Coaster Ride

So, I have officially been struggling with infertility for one cycle now. I know, it does't seem like a lot, when you consider all of the people that have been through SOO much more than me, but for me this month has been rough. Personally, after just one month I have NO idea how anyone continues to do this month after month. I have already have gained so much admiration for people like Julie, Cecily, Kim, Beth, Amy, Great Good Fortune, Julia, Life's Jest, Me Time, Ornery, Erin, Tertia, and Karen. The courage that they have had just amazes me. I already feel like giving up and it is only the first month.

This month has been a complete roller coaster of emotions. If you look at my chart my moods have pretty much followed my BBT's. (For those of you who are not familiar here's a site that might explain what I'm talking about.) For most of the first 25 days it was an up and down ride. One minute I would be optimistic and then the next I would be really depressed. Then on day 25 this happened...

Yes folks, it appears that I ovulated, all on my own. Maybe my ovaries didn't get the message that they were supposed to be doing this a week or so earlier. So, needless to say, when my temperature went up, so did my mood. I spent the next two weeks hoping against hope that maybe this would me "my month." Today that hope ended...

For those of you who have never been through this, let me just share a little bit about what this first month has taught me.

No matter how much you beg, plead, swear to be a good person, promise to never do such and such again you can not make your ovaries ovulate, the egg fertilize or the fertilized embryo implant.

No matter how much you try to convince yourself that you are not pregnant, that the pain you just felt is a cramp, that you are tired from the medicine, that you are hungry from the medicine, in the back of your mind there is a small part of you that is continually reading the signs looking for something. There is a small part of you that hangs on to the hope that maybe this month will be the one.

And finally, no matter how much you tell yourself that you are prepared for this cycle not to work when you see that single line on the pregnancy test or that first smattering of blood your heart will inevitably fall from your chest into your stomach and there is nothing else that you can do but just sit in the bathroom and cry.

Reality Craze

First of all, I must apologize for my lack of blog presence this week. March 15th is the corporate tax deadline, and for those of you with a calendar handy, that is next week. Need I say more?

Now on to bigger and more important things. Do any of you watch Survivor? I must admit, I am obsessed. I have seen every season except the first (which I have on DVD but have not had a chance to watch yet).

Have you noticed that almost everyone has that one reality show that they never miss? What is it about reality TV that has the whole nation glued to their TV's? It doesn't matter if it is the Apprentice, the Amazing Race, Survivor, or American Idol they are all basically the same. You start out watching for one reason, but eventually you find yourself rooting for one certain person and of course loathing one certain person. It becomes more about the people than the show and that's when you are truly hooked.

On this season I have not yet found the person that I really want to win, but I have discovered the one that I can't stand to watch. His name is Shane. Everything about this man just grates on my nerves. He is rude and obnoxious and he has more mood swings than any woman I have ever met.

One minute he is loving life and has a great alliance and the next minute he hates everyone and wants to go to the merge solo. The other thing that greatly bothers me about this man is his propensity to swear on his son's life. In a game like Survivor you are really shooting yourself in the foot if you swear on anyone's life. If you break your word you look like a schmuck and if you don't you're stuck doing something that may not be in your best interest.

So, my question to you... what is your reality show vice? And do you find yourself loving and/or hating a different character every season?

Growing up

I don't have any children, but I do have a little sister. Granted, she is only two years younger than me, but to me, her getting older feels a lot like a child of mine getting older. Every time something happens to her I keep thinking, "That's not right, she's too little for that."

Recently her and her boyfriend have been talking of marriage. Right now she is in medical school (guess we know where the brains in the family ended up) so their talk has been largely dependent upon where she does clinicals and residency. To me it has just sort of been a fleeting concept. Someday, they might get engaged, sort of thing.

Then a couple weeks ago, her boyfriend asked me to do his tax return. There was a little mixup with the information and it sort of got lost in snail mail for a week or so. (NEVER rely on the internet for addresses... the internet lies. Remember that.) Anyhow, during that week I asked her why he was in such a hurry to get his refund and she just drops the bomb on me.

"Well, he was thinking about going ring shopping. Right now we are talking summer of 2007."

What?? I almost dropped the phone!! My little sister was thinking about getting.... (gasp)... engaged?? But she's too young for that!! Never mind that she is almost 24 years old and that is 6 months older than I was when I got married. That is neither here nor there and COMPLETELY beside the point!! She's still a baby!! She can't be getting married!!

LA, LA, LA... fingers in my ears. I don't hear you......

But alas, I think I must eventually face the inevitable. If I'm this freaked out about my sister growing up, can you imagine how I'll feel about my children?? Can anyone recommend any good drugs?? I might need them!!

Technical Difficulties

For those of you who got the error that you were forbidden to view this site, I'm sorry. Blogger had apparently gone crazy as even I was not allowed to view the site. There is no password on the blog, and blogger assures me that things should be up and running normally.

Commercial Fun

"If it's round and rubber, Lee's tire sells it."

Need I say more?

Apparently there's a theme ....

Word Games

Jake says program, as in I'm watching this TV program. It drives me absolutely CRAZY. As in I want to scratch my eyes out with a dull rusty spoon crazy!! It's not a program, it's a TV show!! Programs are what little kids have a school. Christmas programs, holiday programs, etc.

He also says pitcher, instead of picture. Every time he says it I say I don't have a pitcher, but you can see this picture.

In his defense, I say ompen. He ridicules me greatly for this. My mom said ompen, my sister says ompen and consequently I, of course, say ompen. It's not that I can't say open. If I think about it when I'm talking I will make sure I say open, as too not let on as to exactly how redneck I am. But if I get in a hurry, it's ompen all the way.

Our poor children don't stand a chance. They are going to be door ompening, pitcher hanging, program watching freaks!! :-)

So what words to you use? What words does your significant other use that just drive you crazy?

Tough Choices

So, we officially decided yesterday that the vacation is on. It will have been almost three years since we have been anywhere, and I'd like to get away as much as Jake would. Plus, we haven't seen some of his relatives in over a year.

The vacation destination? Tybee Island in Georgia. Sun and beaches!! YEAH!! However, flights to Savannah from here, are less than desirably priced. Our original plan was that since it was too expensive to fly, we would just drive. His aunt lives less than 10 miles off the route we would be taking so we were going to drive half way and then stay with her.

Yesterday I just happened to think that I hadn't checked airfare prices in awhile. So, I jumped on-line and looked. Des Moines to Savannah $404 per person plus tax. Um... don't think so!! My next brilliant idea was that I would look for Des Moines to Nashville. This way we would still get to visit said aunt (which we had been planning to do for two years and never had the money for) and then we would just ride to Savannah with them. $183 per person plus tax. Yeah... I think we can handle that.

So, I call Jake, all excited that we might get to fly instead of drive. He has been really pushing me to look for airfare as 20 hours in a car over 2 days is not exactly his idea of fun. However, before I booked the airfare I wanted to make sure he had the time off requested. It is non-refundable airfare and my money tree out behind my house just hasn't been producing like it used to.

"Hey honey, I found pretty cheap airfare to Nashville. I figure we can fly there and still get to see your aunt and then ride with them to Georgia."

"Okay, I guess that would work."

"What's wrong? I thought you wanted to fly so you didn't have to be in the car that long. If you don't want to fly, we can still drive."

"No, it's not that. I want to fly, I'm just wondering where I will put my fishing poles."

"I think we can figure something out."

Insurance Gamble

Four months ago Jake and I took the insurance gamble. It is that point at which one person switches jobs and they are told you will not be eligible for insurance for 6 months. So, we did an analysis. Prescriptions $65 per month, Major Medical $125, COBRA $205.

Can you guess which one we choose? Yesterday I discovered why I don't gamble. I should ALWAYS take the safe bet, even if it costs more money. Keep reminding me of that will ya?? In all fairness, I had PLANNED on getting the major medical insurance. I got the forms, but never got around to filling them out. Now, I'm kicking myself.

It was around 11:30 when my phone rang. It was Jake, no big deal. Until this comes out of his mouth:

"Do I have temporary insurance?"

"No...... why??......."

"Um, I just cut my finger, and I think I'm going to need stitches."

Me, the terrible wife is running through scenarios in my head. Can he just tape it? Will that be good enough? What if I buy some of that new skin stuff? Can I make it good enough?

"So, how bad is it?"

"Well it's pretty deep."

So, off to the emergency walk in clinic he goes. He ended up needing four stitches, probably more than my taping and new skinning would have fixed. I have yet to see the bill for this un-insured visit, but I have the feeling that the money we would have spent on insurance is going to go for that bill.

Breakfast of Champions

Sour Cream & Onion Lays...

So, there are food groups there right?

Potatos...

Onion...

Look, two vegatables in one sitting!! Yeah for me!!

Nervous Habit?

I am always fidgeting with something. Any time someone asks me to come to their desk so they can ask me a question I automatically look around my desk for something to carry with me. A highlighter, an eraser, a binder clip, a pen. Always something. I almost have a mild panic attack if I can't find something quick enough to carry with me.

At any given point in the day you can walk up behind me and I will either be messing with something with my hands or I will have something in my mouth. Okay, mostly I just put things in my front teeth, again binder clips the ends of pens, etc. (Much to my husbands dismay this mouth thing does not carry on into my personal life ;-)

Every once in awhile I will be messing with a binder clip and I will pinch my finger. It is at this point that I chuck it across my desk swearing that I will stop fidgeting with things. However, inevitably within a few minutes I will have picked up something else.

In my line of work this can actually be quite distracting as I have to frequently put things down or in my mouth to type.

Do you think the mouth thing is because I wasn't nursed as a child?? (See mom, you managed to scar me for life!!) What about the fidgeting thing? What habits do you have that you have NO idea where you picked up?

Decisions, Decisions...

The nurse just called me and said that the doctors recommendation was to start Provera and then 100 mg of Clomid. I'm hesitant. What if I ovulate late? Maybe it's just not my time yet. On the other hand, if I don't ovulate at all then I'm two weeks behind where I would have been. Hmmm... two weeks, I think I can handle two weeks.

Here's the part I'm really having trouble with.... tax season. Any conception that occurs between now and the end of July will invariably find me missing some portion of tax season. We are a small firm, so the others could not pick up the slack for me being gone, they would have to hire someone part time.

This is tearing at me. The stress of trying to get pregnant is not going to kill me, it's going to be the stress of trying to deal with telling my boss I'll be gone during tax season. (Yes, I know I'm supposed to be relaxing!!)

Now to most of you this might not seem like a big deal but to me, it's HUGE. I LOVE my job.

Maybe I didn't make that clear enough. I LOVE my job!! Love like I could never imagine myself doing anything else. So the thought of possibly jeopardizing it really scares the shit out of me. When we started trying we always said, we would plan it around tax season the first year, but if it didn't happen all bets were off.

So, why am I having such a hard time with it now that it might be a reality?

The Long Road to Nowhere

Put on your comfy sweats and settle in people... this is going to be a LONG post... And for those of you who have an aversion to womanly topics, you might want to skip this one. I tend to ramble a little and do use the word Period, quite frequently.


Okay internet, I have a confession to make. I have been keeping a secret from you. And trust me, I am not the type to keep secrets. For 21 days I have been wanting to post about this but I have yet to find the right words.

Hold up... I just got a flash back to Sandra Bullock in 28 days. No, I'm not in rehab... there that myth dispelled, moving on....

Eleven days ago my sister-in-law had a baby. He's adorable. (No, I'm not going to post pictures. Sorry, but he's not mine to post pictures of. I don't mind posting pictures of adults, but I won't post them of children without prior parental consent. Sorry... them's the rules.)

Anyhow, I'm stalling, can you tell? So, eleven days ago this little boy was brought into this world and I can't look at him. Every time I see his picture it hurts. It hurts in every fiber of my being. I did not have any idea the ache I could feel until now.

Ever since I was little I knew I wanted children. I was one of those people who just thought, I'll grow up, get married and then have babies. So, I had a plan. Two years ago we got married, and then we thought, we'll wait at least a year to start trying. After a year, we thought, hmm... let's give it another year, plan around tax season and get a few more things paid off.

So, here we are, almost two and a half years later and people, I don't ovulate. Up until this point, I had tried to convince myself that maybe it was normal. Some times it takes people a year to get pregnant. I tried to ignore the fact that my periods were, as my doctor puts it, "not normal." Hey, nothing about me has ever been normal, so why should this.

When we first went off birth control my first period came at 28 days, just like clockwork. The second month 28 days came and went and we thought... "It worked, we're pregnant!!" (I know delusional aren't I?) I think it was in that 5th week, when all the pregnancy tests kept coming back negative that I knew something wasn't normal. Finally on day 35 I started.

At this point, I talked with our family physician. She said that to some people, 35 days is normal, and since I was just two months off the pill my body was still trying to figure its self out. Yet, in the back of my mind, I new something just wasn't right. The next month was 37, then 46 and finally 43. It was on that day 43, January 31st when I had my appointment with my doctor.

I have to digress here for just a brief moment. Some of you may remember this post, where I said that there has always been a possibility that we couldn't have children, but I was okay with that. What has changed you ask? Nothing really, I just think that with anything there is always a grieving period. It is not that we are SOO dead set on having biological children that we blocked everything out of our minds. It just feels like, for us, the logical step at this point is to try the minimally evasive treatments first and then make the big decisions later. Also, as I said before, thinking you can't have biological children and being told that you are not ovulating are two very different things. Before it was just a concept, now it is a reality. And I'm having a little trouble dealing with the reality, that's all.

During my appointment he basically told me that given my irregularity there was a high probability that I was not ovulating and even if I was Jake and I would have to be going at it like rabbits for 6 weeks straight to have a chance of catching the right time. Now as appealing as that sounds to my husband I do need to sleep SOMETIME!!

So, on February 2nd I started down that long infertility road with my first dose of Clomid. Like a little school girl, I was giddy with excitement. I thought for certain that this would work. I was convinced in 28 days I would be staring at two pink lines. In fact, that's the reason I did not write about it.

I was so certain that we would be pregnant, and then I would just feel stupid for writing about "infertility" when I wasn't infertile at all. Then, today came. Today was day 21. Now as all of you who have ever been on Clomid know, day 21 is the day of reckoning. This is the day you have your blood drawn and they tell you what your progesterone level is. This basically tells you whether you ovulated or not.

Mine was a not. At 4:30 this afternoon the nurse practitioner called to give me the news. "Well, your progesterone level was a little low. Your level was 0.4. We normally like it to be above 10." A little low? Lady that sounds sub-zero to me!!

So, here I sit, having done absolutely NO work since she called and wallowing in my own self-pity. I don't want my sister-in-law to feel bad about sending me pictures of Jackson, I want to see him. I'm SOO happy for her. However, that said, it is just SOO damn hard to be surrounded by all of these fertile women. Three of my good friends have all had babies within the last year and a half and all of them got pregnant on their first try.

When I walk through the skywalks downtown I find myself drawn to all of the pregnant women. I keep wondering in the back of my mind, did they have troubles? I just feel like I'm in a fog. Like no one understands what is going through my mind. After all, as much as I love my friends, they are not exactly "experienced" in this area.

Do you know how tired I am of hearing people tell me to just relax? Relax and it will happen. I'm sure any of you who have struggled with infertility have heard the same thing. Where do people come up with this? Is there some unwritten rule that says if you come across a women who tells you that she is having fertility problems, tell her to relax? Well, let me tell you, it doesn't work. My most relaxed, carefree months got me 46 and 43 days respectively.

So where do we go from here? Well, now there is more waiting. The doctor will be in the office tomorrow and then he, or his nurse most likely, will call me and tell me if they want to do more tests, or start another higher dose of Clomid. Then there is more waiting for my period to start. I'm hoping not another three weeks, however I am crossing my fingers that perhaps within the time that I am waiting my body will miraculously wake it's self up and I will ovulate.

Hey, a girl can dream can't she?

Out

This morning when the alarm went off, instead of hitting snooze oh... 8 times, I decided to get up. After I got out of the shower I went upstairs to wake up Jake.

(Keep in mind, I'm wearing underwear, and have a towel over my shoulders, that's it....)

"Jake it's time to get up."

He opens his eyes and looks at me. In all seriousness, "Where have you been?"

"Oh, I went to the market."

TGIF!!

This has been one of those weeks!! It started out all nice and clam and then came around and smacked me in the ass at the end.

First of all, I think mother nature and I might be due for another one of our talks. On Tuesday it was 60 degrees, and yesterday, we had thunder snow. (I'm not 100% sure what this is, but the meteorologist explained it sort of like a thunder storm, but with snow.) Today is looking like it will be a whopping 10 degrees!! (With a -10 degree wind-chill of course). I wish that she could just MAKE UP HER MIND already!! Is it going to be winter or is it going to be spring?? She's worse than me when I'm trying to decide pizza or burger king!!

Besides the crazy weather, I've been in and out of the office A LOT this week and that really cuts into my blogging time. Usually I try to either get in early and blog then, or eat at my desk and check blogs. However, when I'm out of the office and have NO internet connection, neither gets done. As you may have noticed by the lingering Valentine's post.

My excuse? I was SOO proud of him for being early and getting me something good, I didn't want to take it down after just one day. Yeah, that'll work.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I know that it may not look like much, but trust me, it is. For nine years my husband has consistantly brought me a flower (whatever's left over) and a card. Both of which were purchased on his way home from work on Valentines Day.

So, for him to go out and get me something a whole DAY before and for it not to be a flower is a BIG deal to me.

As far as I'm concerned, this little guy might as well be a dozen roses and a pair of diamond earrings!!

Creative Gene

Here's the problem: you pull into the driveway and notice that the garbage can is lying at the end, waiting to be taken up to the house. How do you get you, your vehicle, and the garbage can to the house?
.
.
.
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Ahhh... for those of you who answered drive the vehicle into the driveway, park it and then walk to the end of the driveway and retrieve the garbage can, you loose points for no creativity.
.
.
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According to Jake... this is how you solve this problem...
.
.
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I wonder to myself, will my children inherit this creative thinking gene??

Logical Reasoning

"Why did you tie the garbage bag but not take it out of the garbage can?"

"It's cold outside, and I don't have a coat. Plus I'm watching a movie."

"But you tied it on Friday!! How am I supposed to throw anything away?"

"I put a plastic sack on top of the stove. I figure that we will not fill an entire other garbage bag before Monday so I'm conserving. Tomorrow I will take out the garbage bag and the plastic sack and we will start fresh with a new garbage bag."

I just shake my head. His logic is undeniable. (Isn't that what it says in IRobot?)

That will Teach Me to Leave Town!!

Holy Hell!! Apparently while I've been away all has gone to hell in a hand basket in the blogger world. I've missed it, but I've spent the last hour or so attempting to get caught up. The jest of it, or what I can figure out is that this person created a blog where they nominate fellow bloggers for awards. Only these are not your usual best blogger awards. These awards were nasty in character and attacked several of the bloggers that I read, (i.e. Karen, Tertia, & Julie) and also some that I don't (Jo, Julia).

What really floors me about this is what makes her think she has the right to judge these people? They are writing about their lives, not hers. Why should she pass judgment and try to tear them down? These women are great, from what I read on their blogs, and I look up to and aspire to one day be as popular as them. I don't understand why we as a society always feel that we need to tear others to pieces in order make ourselves feel better?

I now know why people sensor what they put on their blogs. Jake and I have been having some "conception" issues and I have agonized about whether to post about them or not. I have not yet gotten the courage to write about them, and things like this make me wonder whether I ever will. It just feels like a perpetual highschool drama to me, and people, I graduated and ran from that place as fast as I could for a reason. I have NO desire to go back!!

It's a BOY!!

Oh wait... we already knew that!! Molly's water broke last night around 11:00 so she was in labor all night. She said she was doing well, she had to be stitched up and was tired but all in all, she's a mom, so that makes everything better.

He was born around 11:00 am their time. (I know... I'm awful, I didn't get the exact time!!)

7 lbs. 12 oz.
21 inches long

AND... his name is.....

Jackson Clete

Delayed

Well, no baby yet. Molly called back to the hospital and was delayed again. They eventually ended up telling her that she could come in at 10:00 last night, or first thing this morning. Since she had not eaten, and her mom and Grandma were scheduled to arrive in Idaho last night she choose this morning.

SOO... we are crossing our fingers that they do not put her off any longer and hopefully by this evening she will have a healthy son. And we (of course it's all about us) will know the name!!

Baby Wednesday

UPDATE: 1:12 pm

We just found out that they are inducing Jake's sister today!!



Molly is 40 weeks 4 days and is beginning to retain water so they have decided that it is time. She is having a boy, but they won't tell anyone what the name is, so we are very excited to hear!!

UPDATE: I just talked to Jake's dad and he tells me that she has been pushed back. Apparently there were two people having babies this morning and Idaho hospitals must not be equipped for more than that!! :-) They told her to call at noon, which is right about now. So... at this rate it could be baby Thursday!!

Bearded Monday

Okay, it is time for the age old question... to beard or not to beard?? I present for your inspection:

Beard

No Beard

I, personally am a no beard kind of girl. I don't like the way it looks and I don't like the way it feels when he goes to kiss me. However, I know that there are some out there, who just LOVE their man to have the rugged look. So, here's your chance to put in your two cents worth.

Do you like your men with, or without facial hair? And of course... why (this is an open site, feel free to post ANY reasons you feel necessary.) If you are a man and you don't have a man of your own (hey, we support a diverse readership here :-) Then tell me if you prefer a beard on yourself. And if so, why?

Creative Cleaning

Welcome to another episode of creative cleaning with Jake!!

Wednesday night when I got home I asked Jake where the paper plate holders were. To which he replied, "I washed them." And then he started to laugh.

As I opened up the dishwasher this is what greeted me.....

If you will look closely you will see that on the top rack we have (in no particular order) A cookie sheet, two coffee cups, a two glasses, the spoon holder from the stove and a sponge....

Yes, that's right, a sponge. When I asked him why he washed the sponge off the mop instead of just throwing it away and replacing it with the new one that is under the sink he replied, "Because I'm cheap." To which I began to laugh hysterically!! This is the man that can go into a gas station to buy a pop and come out with $10 worth of candy and crap!!

Now, on the bottom rack there was another cookie sheet (this one blocked the flow of water to the top rack so nothing up there really got clean), the paper plate holders, a pair of scissors, a can opener, a few odds and ends, and my personal favorite... the sink rack that we used to dry dishes in.

When I asked about this one his reply was, "It was dingy!! There's bacteria there you know!!"

Of course !! Why didn't I think of that??

Lag Time

Dear Cousin of Mine:
I promise, I did not forget you when I sent out my Christmas Letters. Perhaps because your other three brothers got letters and you did not you thought that you had offended me. Rest easy, it is just the postal service at it's finest!!

Love,
Heather

On Monday when I got home, this was in my mail box. Click on the picture to enlarge it if you can not read the post mark.


Yes, that really does say DECEMBER 19th. It amazes me that it could take over a month to send this to California, realize he had moved and send it back. Perhaps it is this same working environment that causes people to do this!!

The Jeep

I think I'm going to cry. No really this just SUCKS!! I talked to the repair guy just now (actually he called and left a message on Jake's cell phone this morning but it is dead because he didn't put in on the charger like I told him to and the guy didn't have any other number because Jake INSISTED that he would answer... story for another day) and apparently the radiator was the problem that blew the head gasket.

SOO... if they put it all back together then it will probably happen again. To prevent this it will cost us ANOTHER $300!! Our grand total is now up to $1,300 people. I'm thinking this vacation thing is definitely looking like a long shot. AND, to top it all off, my friend who works at the car dealership told me that the mechanic told her that the jeep is not in very good shape to begin with and that he wouldn't sink a bunch more money into it, he would just get rid of it.

How the hell are we supposed to do that? We just bought it in April!! We have a four year loan on it!! Let me repeat... WE STILL OWE MONEY!!

(Please people, no wise cracks about how we shouldn't have bought a jeep, I have one and I love it. Not to mention... I'm low enough all ready, don't make it worse!!)

Search Results

Some of you may have noticed that I added a little hit counter when I did the site re-design. One of the things this allows me to do is see how people find my site.

I don't think I even want to KNOW what this person was looking for when they found my site!!

Whatever it was... I don't think they found it here!!

Car Trouble

"It's a blown head gasket," that's what he said to me when I answered the phone on Saturday afternoon. At first I thought he was joking. When we dropped his jeep off at the car dealership on Friday evening because it was overheating we thought it was just a bad thermostat, or that the water pump was going out. This... this I had not planned for.

"So how much is that going to cost?"

When he told me, I wanted to cry. We had planned to use our tax refund to do some traveling this summer, now it looks like it may be used to fix his jeep. I know that there has to be a reason for this. Everything happens for a reason right? I'm just hoping I can see the purpose for this quickly because right now, it just SUCKS!!

Weak

This morning I looked in the mirror and gasped. Holy crap woman!! You look pregnant!! (Before you read through the lines... NO I am NOT pregnant!!) You need to get your big butt out of bed in the morning and walk on that treadmill!!

Then I got to work, someone had brought donuts. Chocolate donuts people!! And I'm WEAK!!Okay, just one donut, I'll eat a good lunch.

Then 11:30 rolled around. My PB&J was NOT calling my name. So, I went out with a friend and what did I order? Fettuccini Alfredo. Probably the thing on the menu with the most calories and artery clogging stuff.

For some reason, I don't think I'm quite grasping the losing weight concept.

Sleep more...work less...

How do you know when you should have stayed in bed a little longer?

You set your tooth brush on the counter, open the drawer, take out the deodorant and take off the cap before looking down and going WTF??

Luckily I stopped before I lathered deodorant on my toothbrush.

Spam

When I got back into the office this afternoon I went to check my spam filter. In my in-box I see this:

We offer Midget Sex

I tell you people, it took all the strength I had to delete that and not open it!!

Who reads this stuff??

Baby Steps

"Did you empty the dishwasher?"

"No, I didn't know it needed done."

"Well you heard me run it last night."

"Sorry, I didn't think about it. But I did bring my dirty dishes into the kitchen and I put my TV tray away, I thought you'd be proud."

"Yes dear, I'm proud."

We Hamiltons... we work in steps.

Small Steps...

Small Re-Design

Some of you may have noticed that I re-designed the site a little. Well, as much as I was able to, given the constraints of blogger. Anyhow, that picture to your right, yes, that really is me, no it's not a great picture. However, considering the number of pictures I have of me, that one will have to do for now.

The other big change is that I added a few, okay a lot, of people to my blog list. It was WAY over due. I left off the people that I have just started reading, or who I read, but don't update much. I tried to include everyone, but if I missed you, please let me know. Also, if you would like to change the way your name displays (I just used the blog titles) let me know that too.

Monday Madness

This is River. He looks different doesn't he? In case you are wondering:

1) Yes, his legs are completely healed, he is sitting sideways because he has just been fixed, and if you had just been cut open you would probably be sitting like that too.

2) No, this picture has not been photoshopped in any way, it was just a good photo opportunity that my mom monopolized on.

As for me, this is how I feel this morning. I'm on my 8th straight day of working and now I remember why I usually take Sundays off. It makes my weeks WAY too long when I don't get a break!!

Heartbroken

Annie

The cat we rescued when she was a baby, has passed away. She was fine on Friday morning and then Friday afternoon she started having breathing difficulties. My mom took her to the vet on Friday evening and he thought she just had stress induced asthma from getting fixed a day or so before. He gave her a shot of steroids and told my mom everything would be fine. Two hours later she was gone. My mom is heartbroken. Please send your kind thoughts her way, I know she would appreciate it!!

Tag, I'm It?

Holy Crap, I've been tagged.... It's a good thing I was paying attention on this wonderfully gorgeous, oh why do I have to be inside, tax day. (Topic for another post). So, without further ado...

Four Jobs You've Had:

1. Does it count as a job if you didn't get paid? Well, I'm counting it. I was a hog house cleaner. When I was younger my mom thought it was a good idea to have me and Lindsay clean out the farrowing house in-between litters of pigs. Come to think of it, I think maybe we did get some money for this, so yes... this was my first job.

2. Busser at Prairie Meadows. Never, ever again will I work in food service. The pay wasn't bad (they're required to pay a certain amount over minimum wage, some casino thing) but I'm not big on handling other peoples left over food. The only good part... they have a KICK ASS weekend breakfast buffet where they always make way too much food. So we used to hide in the back and eat off of the trays that were waiting to be taken out to the buffet line.

3. Front desk at a hotel. We once had a group of Hispanic men stay and they told us there was only going to be three people in the room, but the owner saw a BUNCH. So he unlocked the room and found pieces of bread hanging from the light fixture and a picture of Jesus on the wall. They (all 10 of them) were asked to leave. He also hung out in the back smoking camel no filter cigarettes all day long. He would never help you, he just hung out in the back watching.

4. Babysitter. I used to watch several kids when I was in highschool. There was one family that I would go over there almost every day in the summer so the mom could run errands. I was in highschool and of course stayed up way too late, so I would take naps when the kids did, or sometimes when they were just upstairs playing.

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:

1. Runaway Bride
2. You've got Mail
3. Sister Act
4. Save the Last Dance

Four Places You've Lived:

1. In a Dorm Room in Ames, IA
2. In an Apartment in Ames, IA
3. In a mobile home (you guessed it) in Ames, IA
4. In Altoona (Boring aren't I? I know live 15 miles from where I grew up. We never moved and the only moving I've done is to go to college and come back.)


Four T.V. Shows You Love To Watch

1. Survivor
2. CSI (Pick one, the original, NY or Miami)
3. Close to Home
4. Crossing Jordan

Four Favorite Books

Okay, I'm taking a cop out on this one. I can not remember the last time I read a book, or more importantly what my favorite books are. I love to read, I just don' t ever have time to do it. My biggest problem becomes once I start a book, I can't put it down until I'm finished. So if I'm going to read, I have to have LARGE scheduled chunks of free time.

Four Places You've Been To On Vacation

1. Orlando (3 times... LOVE Orlando!!)
2. New York
3. Washington D.C.
4. Colorado

Four Websites You Visit Daily

1. All the one's at the right (my list REALLY need updating!!)
2. KCCI.com (local news station)
3. It's tax season... I don't have time for more than that...
4. Did I mention it's tax season... I don't really even have time to be writing this...

Four Favorite Foods

1. Pizza
2. Fettuccini Alfredo (newly acquired)
3. Chocolate (that encompasses most of my diet)
4. Burgers and Fries

Four Places You'd Rather Be Right Now

1. Home
2. On vacation
3. Somewhere warm (who am I kidding, it's 53 degrees outside, I'd just like to go OUTSIDE!!)
4. Playing with white tigers (doesn't really matter where as long as they are tame and don't eat me... yeah... not being eaten is sort of a requirement)

Four People You're Tagging

I'm not big on tagging people, mostly because, I'll admit it, I'm not sure I have 4 people who read this site who haven't #1 already been tagged, or #2 Don't even have a blog. So, I'm leaving it open. If you see this and would like to participate... go right ahead. I'll read it!!

Cleaning Poem

I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess.
He asked if I'd been 'puttering',
And I had to answer "yes."

He told me to get off my butt
And tidy up the house.
And so I started cleaning up...
The smudges off my mouse.

I wiped and shined the topside.
That really did the trick...
I was just admiring my work...
I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops I found
A real absorbing site
That I got SO way into...
I was into it all night.<>

Nothing's changed except my mouse
It's very, very shiny.
I guess my house will stay a mess...
While I sit here on my hiney.

-Unknown (sent to me in e-mail)

Logical Reasoning

"I'm just calling to let you know I'm on my way home."

"Okay, is there anything you want me to do before you get here?"

"What do you mean?"

"To help you out, is there anything you want me to do?"

"Well, there are a few dishes on the counter you could wash and put away. Pixie got up there last night and knocked one of the cups down so we should get them off the counter before something gets broken."

"Okay"

(20 minutes later, I arrive home. No dishes are done.)

"Well you know, I was thinking about it. Dad says the dishwasher part will be in tomorrow, so I figured we should save some dishes to make sure it works."

Now what's our excuse for the laundry??

The Little Dishwasher That Could...(or couldn't)

On Saturday Keith came over to install a dishwasher in our kitchen. I know, we've lived there for three and a half years with out one, how have we managed? It's been tough. There have been SEVERAL times when every piece of silverware and every glass we own was dirty and then we would decide, maybe we should do dishes?

So, on Saturday, we decided it was time. Keith had gotten this dishwasher about 6 or 8 months ago from a client. They were just moving in and were getting all new appliances and new floor coverings. When he saw the dishwasher sitting on the curb he immediately thought of us. They assured him that there was nothing wrong with it, they just didn't want it, so he loaded it up and put it in his garage. That is where it has sat since.

Right after he got it, I was really excited about putting it in so I cleared a few weekends in a row for him to come and help Jake put it in. Something always came up. So, every couple of weeks when I would go to his house, I would see it sitting there, very much alone. It was like a visitation program. I could visit, but it could never come home with me.

Finally, last week I decided enough was enough. Keith needed my help getting some paperwork in order so I told him I would spend all day Sunday doing his paperwork, but the following weekend he was at my house whether he liked it or not. Well, that seemed to work. Saturday when I got home from work I had a dishwasher. I now have no where to store my medicines and tupperware, but that's an entirely different battle. One I'm willing to fight at another time.

Saturday when he left he ran the dishwasher to make sure it did not leak. We did not see any water so Sunday he came back and put the front cover on and away he went. About 30 minutes later Matt was in our basement attempting to fix an electrical problem when I hear, "Did you know your dishwasher is leaking?"

Yes, my friend, my free dishwasher is leaking. They think that it sat so long that the seal dried out. I hope that is the case, because there is no turning back now. If it costs too much to fix it we will have to get another one, otherwise we now have a place for a built-in dishwasher, and no dishwasher.

Is this why they always say nothing is as good as it seems?

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Last night I stopped by Jake's dad's house. While I was there Jake's future step-niece, if things continue to work out, (are you scratching your head, okay, here's the LONG version, Jake's Dad's, Girlfriends, daughter's, daughter. Told you the first one was easier) came up to talk to me. I was wearing my Columbia coat (because it is winter, and I'm under this fantasy that if I continue to wear it maybe it will get cold outside). This coat has a pair of gloves in each of the front pockets.

She patted my coat in the front and said, "Are you going to have a baby?"

I proceeded to lift up my coat and explain to her that no, I was not going to have a baby.

Maybe I need to get back to that New Year's Resolution!!

Iowa Blogger Bash

Wow, it has been five days since I have posted last. What is wrong with me? I think this is a new record. Oh, wait... it's TAX SEASON, yes, now I see the problem. I come to work at 7:30, I leave work at 7:30, doesn't leave much time for anything. YUCK!!

Anyhow, I found out about the Iowa Blogger Bash this weekend from Brent's website. At first I thought, wow, I could go to this and meet other bloggers from Iowa. Then I noticed that Joe is the one putting together the Iowa Blogger Bash. Well, scratch that off my to do list.

There are two main reasons I will not be attending this year's Iowa Blogger bash and Joe is the first one. What's my beef with Joe you ask? Absolutely nothing. However, I do not, in ANY way want him to know about this website. As far as he is concerned I do not blog, do not read blogs, and am naive to the whole concept. I think it needs to stay that way. I can not go into exact details, although I'm sure with some mild creative thinking on your part you can probably figure it out.

The second reason that I will not be attending is because WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?? Maybe it is just the people that read his website, and therefore are more technical but these people are geeks. I know, it's not nice to judge, but really, most of their blogs are "technical" or "legal" blogs. Now, I realize that to blog on the internet, all of us have to have at least a little bit of geek in us, but I think these people take it to the extreme. If I'm going to hang out with a lot of bloggers, I want them to be bloggers that blog about their lives and have interesting stories to tell. Maybe it's just me.

Roomba

Many of you have asked about the Roomba, so I thought I would answer your questions. The Roomba, in its self is a good idea. I like the thought of being able to push a button and then let it vacuum by its self. However, it is not exactly that simple.

The Roomba can not see (obviously) so it cleans your rooms basically by running in a pattern and bumping into things as it goes. We tried running it in our dining room with the chairs still in there and it took 45 minutes to vacuum the dining room. It would have taken us 10. So, we moved it to the kitchen and moved the kitchen chairs out and it did a much more efficient job.

It does motivate you to keep things picked up, because it is a lot like a regular vacuum in that it will get clogged if it runs over the cords to the blinds or anything else that is small. We are unsure how well it runs on carpet, as all we have is hardwood downstairs, (Don't ask why we haven't taken it upstairs. See the above comment about having everything OFF the floor) but it went over some of our area rugs nicely.

On top of the Roomba is a blue light. If it goes over a particularly dirty spot, say where someone with mud on their shoes has tracked in (I know no one like that!!), the light comes on and it will spin in circles until it has picked up all of the dirt.

Sylvester and Lex are less than excited about the Roomba. It is somewhat noisy (Imagine running your carpet vacuum on your hardwood floor) so it would probably be better if we ran it when we weren't home. The first night we ran it every time it would head towards them they would jump onto the couch or the kitty tree for protection. Then they would jump down when it turned the other way. At one point Sylvester wanted to see how tough this thing was so he started to bat at it. The Roomba continued in his direction, so he gave up and went back to the couch.

While the fact that it cleans without much effort from me is very nice, I would have to say that the BEST part about the Roomba is the fact that it is a robot, and for that reason, and that reason only, Jake thinks it's a toy. In the three years we have lived in our house I think he has run our vacuum five times, and always under protest. In the week since we have taken the Roomba out of the box he has run it twice. I think this is looking VERY promising!!

We were even discussing it this morning as we were getting ready to leave.

"Hey honey, did you know that you can drive the Roomba like a remote control car."

"Yes."

"That is SOO cool."

Hey, whatever gets him to clean!!

Creative Cleaning

On Monday I asked Jake to help me with some cleaning around the house (oh the travesty!!) because we had to clean before we could use the Roomba. Seems kind of counter productive doesn't it? One of the things I asked him to do was to clean the kitchen counter. When I came downstairs I noticed that the vacuum was running. As I walked into the kitchen I saw that my husband, creative genius that he is, was vacuuming our kitchen counters.

In case you are wondering, he was not using the dust buster. He was using the actual floor vacuum. It looks something like this. When I asked him why he told me he didn't want to get crumbs on the floor.

I got to tell ya, he gets and A for effort and creativity on this one!!

Progress

#1 Pushed button on Roomba, watched it clean for 20 minutes. (Some time saver huh?)

#2 Breakfast - Caramello & Mt. Dew

#3 Out of bed at 5:20, left house at 6:20... no time for walking

#4 Did laundry yesterday, everything is clean

#5 The day is still young, but if my breakfast is any indication I could be in trouble.

Well, two out of five isn't bad. That's 40%.....

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2006 to all of you out in blogger land!! Here are my New Year's Resolutions… hopefully by publishing them for all the world to see, I will actually stick to them. (You can stop laughing any time now!!)

#1) I will vacuum our house every day once a week at least once every other week. (Did I mention that my parents got us a Roomba for Christmas?)

#2 I will cut back my chocolate intake to once twice only as often as necessary to keep me sane during tax season.

#3 I will use our treadmill as more than just a clothes hanger. I will get my lazy ass out of bed and walk 1 hour 30 minutes every morning every other morning as often as I can. (Did I mention to you that the fat jeans I have that used to be baggy on me are starting to fit me??)

#4 I will do laundry once a week when Jake runs out of socks instead of just going to Wal-mart and buying more socks.

#5 I will limit my pizza and greasy food intake to twice three times per week once per day.

Okay, so I'm trying people. Give me a break. (Give me break, break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar. Mmmmm…. Kit kat…..)

So what are your New Years Resolutions??

Adoption Option

First a small disclaimer: I've been struggling with how to write this post for a couple of days now. I don't want to offend anyone, but at the same time, this is my blog and I should be able to post about what is on my mind. There have been certain things that I have kept off of this blog because I was "in the closet" so to speak. I kept some private things off of here for fear of the backlash that would ensue if I posted them. However, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I am pretty much an open book. And to adequately post about this subject, I am going to have to discuss some previously unmentioned topics.

Therefore, if you are someone who thinks that private things should be kept off the internet please STOP READING NOW!! If you are going to e-mail me or talk about me behind my back or post some nasty anonymous comment because I posted my dirty laundry on the internet please STOP READING NOW!! It is MY dirty laundry, and I will do with it what I please!! Now, on to the topic at hand.

Why is it that any time Jake or I mention adoption we are looked at as if we have just pulled a monkey out of our asses? Is it really that hard to swallow that two people might WANT to adopt? That two, seemingly healthy people, might actually CHOOSE to adopt a child who is in need of a home, rather than have their "own"? Why is it so hard to accept that it might not matter to us where a child comes from?

For about 10 years, I have been discussing my desire to adopt with people in my family and have been faced with nothing but controversy and negativity. "Don't adopt", they say, "have your own children!!" As if an adopted child would not be my own child. At one point, I was even told that my adopting a child from overseas would just encourage the people over there to have more children because they know that they can give them to "rich" Americans.

When I was in high school, my desire to adopt was dismissed as a crazy talk by a kid who didn't know anything about the real world. Some people even told me that the only reason I wanted to adopt was because I have a desire to save people. Ten years later, I have yet to understand how my want to help a child in need is a bad thing, but apparently it is.

A lot of people also think that adopted children have social and/or mental issues. They assume that because they are orphaned, and/or given up they will not bond with you properly and it will be nothing but hard times. "Look at so and so," they say, "they adopted two children and had two biological children and those two adopted children have been nothing but trouble." The problem I see here is that I'm not sure being adopted has anything to do with them having mental issues.

All over the world there are people who have biological children who have a lot more problems than adopted children. There's nothing to say that I couldn't get pregnant and give birth to a baby with Down's Syndrome. If I am to believe these people, I should assume that Jake must have been adopted. He had A LOT of issues in high school. He was addicted to drugs he almost didn't graduate but wait, he wasn't adopted was he?

I should also assume that I must have been adopted. I had mental issues in high school (no cracks about how I still do, that is another day, another post). I thought that at 102 pounds I was fat. I would go days, sufficing on very little food. Does that mean that I must have been adopted?

Yes, I'm also aware of the fact that I may not get a complete medical history of a child, and that something could arise medically with them in the future. However, I could get pregnant, and go into early labor and deliver a premature baby. That baby could have brain damage, be blind, deaf, or have cerebral palsy. (All possible consequences of premature birth)

There is cancer on my side of the family and addiction on his so isn't that just as much of a risk as adopting? As a child, my sister couldn't say her R's properly!! Dear lord, we better just adopt. Having biological children could be too risky. After all, who wants a child who walks around saying, "Mom, I just saw a wabbit."?

Another thing that I have heard just about enough of is if you had made better choices in high school then you would be pregnant already and we wouldn't be hearing about this adoption nonsense. Let me just clear the air a little here. Yes, I have had some female issues. Yes, some of them probably could have been avoided. Not everyone makes really smart choices when they are 19 and 20. And just for the record, at the moment we are not sure I'm ovulating. My mother did not ovulate, it has NOTHING to do with my prior female issues. It also has NOTHING to do with our desire to adopt!! We would like to adopt whether we can have biological children or not.

More, do you sill want more? Let's see, here's one: Aren't you rushing into this? You've only been trying to have a baby for a few months, what if you start the adoption process and then you get pregnant? Um, then I have two children!! I could never imagine starting the adoption process and then just stopping because I got pregnant. Money and God willing we would love to do both.

Which brings me to another point I have heard. If you adopt, than you could never have biological children, and vice versa because after all even if you didn't mean to, you would love your biological children more and that would not be fair to your adopted children. Holy CRAP… I have to take a step back from this one. I was floored when I heard it. I can not imagine EVER loving any child of mine more or less because they were biological.

Having genes in common with a child has never mattered much to me. I've always said that someone could drop a baby off on my doorstep and I would love it just the same as if I had given birth to it. When people talked about IVF I would always say that I would never want to do IVF. For the same price you could do adoption and have the guarantee of a child when you are through.

The answer I have been continually given was wait until you are in that position. It is different when you are TRYING to have a child. Then you will really want a biological child. Well people, we have now been off birth control for 5 months and I can honestly say to you that my feelings have not changed. In fact, if anything, I have been leaning more towards adoption now than ever. I have been searching through dozens of adoption websites, learning about domestic vs. foreign. Different requirements in different countries, etc. If I thought that Jake and I could be approved for adoption I would already have the paperwork filled out. And that, brings me to my next point.

Why don't we stop talking about it and just adopt already? Now this one is a tough one, and I'm not sure I know exactly how to answer it. My husband has a past. This is one of the reasons we decided to try for biological children before we pursued the adoption route. I have not yet been able to get all of the facts on this but it appears that we must wait until certain issues are somewhere between three and five years in the past. So in a way, adoption is not second choice for us because we can't conceive it's a second choice because of extenuating circumstances.

Okay, so with all of our dirty laundry officially aired it's time for me to put the ball back in your court. What do all of you think? Am I crazy because I think it is just as wonderful to give a home to a child that needs one as it is to have biological children? Do you think it is possible to feel differently about biological children than you do about adopted children? If any of you have adopted, or considered adoption, what are some of the other issues you have encountered, and how did you deal with them?

I have recently distributed this website address to about 80 people, not to mention the people who have randomly stumbled upon it, so I know you are out there. Please take the time to comment now, I would really appreciate it. Post anonymously if you are afraid of people knowing who you are, just please keep all comments at an adult level.

Couple's Night

Okay, so I was going to skip posting about this, and move on to bigger and better things but since my wonderful friend Jess, appears to still be waiting, I will write a few paragraphs.

On December 10th, we had our monthly (okay it's becoming bi-monthly) couples night. We had a turkey dinner in honor of Thanksgiving and Christmas. While dinner was cooking, and the grown-ups were socializing (Okay, stuffing our faces with the nummy appitizers) the kids opened presents.



















Then of course, the presents must be put together, and tried out.

Finally, it was time to eat. The meal was wonderful. Of course we had too much food, we always have too much food, but at least no one went hungry.

After dinner the men relaxed in the living room
While the women did the dishes and cleaned up in the kitchen

What's that? The men cooked dinner so it's only fair that the women clean up? Hmm… let me see…. Nope… no pictures of that.

Here's Shane playing with Bryce's new toy
Plenty of pictures of that, but no pictures of the men cooking dinner. Gee, how did that get overlooked? Too bad…

Guess I'll just have to leave you with this

MIA

Okay, so I know I've been MIA lately. Unfortunately, I have some bad news for all of you... next week starts TAX SEASON!! During tax season (cue scary music) I actually have to work. A LOT!! So, my posting will probably dwindle to two to three times per week.

As for right now, I'm working on a post in my head. I want to write about a topic, but I'm trying to figure out how to do it without hurting anyone's feelings, or causing great controversy. So... (Can you see the smoke rolling out of my ears?) stay tuned....

Happy Birthday!!

Today is Jake's 25th birthday. A quarter of a century... isn't he old?? I, being the horrible wife that I am, forgot to wish him a happy birthday when he left for work today!! Eeek!!

I gave him his presents yesterday, we went out to dinner with my parents and sister for his birthday last night, it just didn't cross my mind until about 9:30 that yesterday was not his birthday, today was. When I called him to wish him happy birthday, he told me he didn't remember until he got to work, so he wasn't feeling too bad about me being a few hours late with my greetings.

Anyhow... Happy Birthday Jake!! Hope your day is wonderful!!

Merry Christmas!!

We want to wish a Very Merry Christmas to all our friends and family out there!! And also to our friends in blogger land!!

Last night we got our first opportunity to play Santa and I must say, it was a lot of fun!! I found myself dreaming last night about how excited Emma would be when she got up this morning. In one dream I stayed over at their house and Emma and Bryce were up at 5:10. Emma kept bringing all the presents into the bedroom from the living room so that she could open them. The strange part was, in this dream as soon as I saw her reaction, I was ready to go back home and go to bed. (Maybe it's different when they're your own.)

Anyhow, last night we helped Matt & Danette put all the gifts out that Santa is bringing. It was my first chance to stuff stockings and attempt to put together children's toys. I say attempt for two reasons. Number one, once you get the toy you have to get it out of the box. Have any of you tried this lately? I think the plastic twisty tie people are making a KILLING off this stuff!! Jake ended up cutting through some of them just to avoid me taking Bryce's new plastic hammer (we got him that tool chest remember?) and beating the crap out of everything.

My second reason for saying attempt is once you get everything out of the package, you have to attempt to get it into working order. If there are not a thousand pieces to put together (I was so proud of Jake, he actually read the directions when putting together the aforementioned tool chest) there are a million compartments in which batteries must be placed. Ahh, the all important batteries. I think these people must also make a killing at Christmas.

It seems like anymore, almost all the toys the kids want require batteries. And heaven forbid you don't go to the store in advance and stock up on every imaginable size, you will end up looking like the Grinch who stole Christmas. After all, what good is that new remote control Hummer for Bryce if he can't zoom it around the house all Christmas day??

It was around 9:45 when we finally got all of the presents set up in the living room and Jake and I got packed up to leave. I mentioned to Danette that she should probably get to bed as Emma would probably be getting her up in just a few short hours. When I asked what time, she said she thought around 6:00. When they were in church that evening Emma had told her that she would get up at 6:00 and Bryce would get up at 7:00.

My guess is the thinking behind this was that she would have a whole hour to open presents without her pesky brother bothering her. Boy, was she surprised when she was informed, "You know Emma, you can't open your presents until Bryce gets up."

"That's okay, I know how to wake him up."

Finished

We are finally DONE Christmas shopping!! YEAH!! It's been like the never ending, I'm done, oh wait, I forgot so and so, okay now I'm done, oh wait... you get the point. It started the day after Thanksgiving, but I think we are FINALLY done!!

As we were leaving the last store (Jake and I, I feel the need to specify since this is the only time he's gone shopping with me, lucky bastard) I was feeling so giddy I began to sing...

"Done, Done, Done, Done....."

"Done, Done, Done, Done..."

"Now who's the one who needs to grow up??"

Don't ya hate it when he's right??

Happy Holidays!!

I'm going to post our Christmas letter today because really... I'm stalling. I came in early to post about the couples weekend we had two weeks ago and when I got here, my internet didn't work. Apparently last night as I was surfing my usual porn sites I broke something!! :-)

Once the tech guy got here at 8:45 he fixed it. It was just one switch that had gotten checked that wasn't supposed to. SO... I will have to post about couples weekend a little later. Right now, I need to get some billable time so that I can take tomorrow (or at least part of tomorrow) off.

Oh, one more thing. For the 90 or so of you who got the Christmas letter (I know... 90 people!! I really need to get a new hobby) yes, this one is edited a bit. It's the internet people!! I don't need to give out EVERY detail of my life!! (Just 99.9% of them :-)


Hello All-

Hope this letter finds you all doing well. Jake and I are much the same as last year. I am still working for a C.P.A. firm in Des Moines so January thru April 15th is especially busy for me. This year was my third tax season so I'm starting to get more responsibilities and being taken out more to clients. In January we do a lot of client visits so I think I was out of town at least two days every week.

Jake is working for a construction company. So far he is just doing commercial construction but sometime in the future it may also be residential. Thus far he has done concrete work and framing but there has also been talk of him learning some steal work. Since they work year round Jake is always hoping for mild temperatures. So far this winter mother nature is turning a deaf ear. For most of our snow days he has been framing a salon in Ankeny and was up on the roof for a lot of the bitterly cold days. I see now that those Carharts we got him in early November were definitely money well spent.

We still live in my Grandpa's old house. The last three years we have had cows over the summer, and this year we also had the pleasure of renting pasture to someone my mom knows. For three months we had seven horses in our south pasture and although they have been gone for a month now, I still find myself looking for them occasionally as I drive towards our house. I never knew how much I missed the farm until they brought the horses.

At the moment our house is still in the country. We have one neighbor about a quarter mile to the south of us and one neighbor about a quarter mile to the north of us. However, the talk of housing developments, apartments, and townhouses is always hanging in the air. Right now they are trying to annex us. If that goes through I'm sure the developments won't be far behind. When we moved here, we knew houses would be a possibility. We did not, however, have any idea that it might also be townhouses and apartments. Neighbors would be one thing, but we are not sure we want to live in a high density housing area.

Speaking of neighbors, last December Matt and Danette moved 1.9 miles away from us. (Yes, I clocked it on my odometer. Yes, I know I'm a dork.) Right after they moved our other friends Shane and Jess decided that they must be missing a really good party so in May they moved just 9 houses down from Matt & Danette. (2.0 miles… in case you're interested!) This has been great for us because we have been able to hang out with both sets of friends much more often. We find ourselves having "couples" nights at least twice a month with both couples and Katie and Dan from Madrid. We also end up going out with one or the other of them pretty much every weekend.

As for travel, we have pretty much been home bodies this year. In June we went to Jake's cousin's wedding in Carroll but that has really been the extent of our venturing. Jake doesn't have any personal days at work, so we don't really want to take unpaid time just to travel somewhere and spend more money. Hopefully some day, maybe after we win the lottery… (no, I'm sorry, I have the winning ticket better luck next time) we will become world class travelers.

The rest of our year has been filled with working and Jake's passion, hunting. This year he got a new bow and arrow for Christmas (Okay, it was a little early for Christmas, but bow season starts in November) and his Birthday (December 27th). With his new bow and arrow he was able to get his first deer with a bow. If you are so inclined and you would like to see pictures (he's very proud) you can venture on over to our website.

Speaking of our website, that is our final piece of news for the year. In June we started a family website. (Okay, I say we, but I really mean me. I print off the pages and Jake glances at them, but really, I do all of the updating.) After reading a few blogs (on-line web logs/journals) on the internet I was hooked. I always LOVED writing in highschool and so this has been a perfect way for me to do something I love. Jake has hunting, I have the website.

The website has also proved a very effective way for family who is far away to keep in touch with what is going on in our lives. Sometimes when you only talk to family members a few times a year you basically just touch on the large events (like in the Christmas letter). This website allows people to keep in touch with the big things, but also the small things that make it seem like you are not missing out on so much by being so far away.

Eventually, we also hope to be able to put pictures of our children (there are already plenty of our four legged children) on there and information about their activities and accomplishments. Feel free to check us out and stop by often as the content changes at least 3 or 4 times a week. Also, please leave comments if you are so inclined. We would love to hear from you!!

www.hamiltonfamilycircus.blogspot.com

Well, that is about all for us for this season. We hope this letter finds you all in good health and happiness!!

WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!!

(Do I sound cheesy & domestic enough for you? I try hard!! :-)

Jake's Deer

I know you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting for these pictures. I'm sure you have been checking the site 10 times a day in anticipation.... so... without further adieu, I present pictures of Jake's deer.

On a quick side note, I'm going to post a few times in the next two or three days to get all caught up on all the things I was supposed to be posting last week.

So... the deer story. This year, for Christmas (early Christmas) and his birthday Jake got a new bow. In the past two years that he has been hunting with his recurve bow he has yet to hit anything. (Except for that unfortunate trailer tire incident...) Anyhow, this year with his new bow he was sure he would kill a monster deer.

Opening weekend of bow season he went out with his friend and he came home with a German Shepherd... okay... maybe a small Great Dane. As soon as I saw it, I said..."It's a baby!!"

"It's not a baby... it is a small button buck. I just wanted to see if I could shoot something with this new bow."

"Okay, I thought you said you got a doe."

"Well I thought it was a doe at first. Actually I was aiming for this really big doe that was in front of it but she moved behind a bush and this one came out so I shot it."

"That's because it was her BABY!!"

"Are you trying to make me feel bad?"

"You shot BAMBI!!"

"It wasn't Bambi, it didn't have spots!"

Needless to say, I didn't take pictures of that one. So then opening weekend of shotgun season came on December 3rd. Now in Iowa you are not supposed to bow hunt during shotgun season. Jake, however, decided to ignore this and sat in a tree stand on the 3rd. That is where he got this deer....

According to Jake, this is the biggest deer that he has shot thus far and definitely the biggest with a bow. Personally, I think it looks a lot like the one he shot with his gun last year. :-)

Because it was so cold the week of the 5th, this deer sat (or rather hung) in our garage as a solid brick of deer for 6 days. When they took him over to our friend Matt's dad's house to cut him up he was so frozen that they were able to stand him up.

Moving on....

I've had a lot of trouble deciding when I should take down (or rather move down) the last post about Clint. I wanted to honor his memory as long as I could, but at the same time I can't leave that last post up for ever. I think now is the appropriate time.

Today we had the funeral. It went well, there was a good turn out. His son, Adam, said some very touching words and he ended his speech with this: "In the movies the hero never dies, but this is not the movies, and my hero is dead. Goodbye my hero." Needless to say he had everyone crying.

It really makes you think about what people would say about you, or how they would remember you. From the interactions that I have seen of Adam and his dad when he was alive, I'm not sure that Clint knew that he thought so much of him. So often in life, we don't tell others how much they mean to us until they are gone.

There was also a girl that showed up from Hy-Vee. She said that every time Clint would come into the Hy-Vee he would go through her line and write a check. She knew him from that line, and those checks. Other than that, she had never spoken to him. But she said when she saw his obituary in the paper she just had to come. It was very touching, and it really makes you think about how you touch the lives of people in your every day life.

I think Clint will be truly missed, but I also believe that he is in a better place. A place where there is no more pain, and no more misery. I think next weekend will be hard, but I also don't think that Clint would want us to cancel Christmas. Maybe this was just his way of making sure that we all got together for the holidays and remembered what they should really be about. Family, and not presents.

It's Over

When the phone rang at 6:57 am this morning I was pretty certian the news wouldn't be good. When I looked at the caller ID and it said that it was my mom I knew I was right.

The only words out of her mouth after I said Hello were, "It's over." I knew what she meant, no more needed to be said. I asked when and she said she got the call at 1:30 am. She was on her way to meet with Denise (his girlfriend) and the funeral director to get the arangements in order. The funeral will either be Saturday or Monday, depending on when my two uncles can make it into town.

Somehow, I'm not sure Christmas will ever be the same for my mom and her brothers and sister.
As for me, I'm sitting in a place of mixed emotion. I know that I will miss my uncle, he was always the jokester at family functions. But at the same time, I saw him on Thanksgiving and I saw how much pain he was in then. No one should have to continue to suffer like that just because it makes the holidays easier for their family if they are in a hospital bed instead of in a cemetary.

Goodbye Clint!! We will all miss you!!

I know...

I owe you a post. I really haven't forgotten.

My excuse?

I had a cavity, I had to go to the dentist this morning to have it filled. While I was there she gave me a shot of numbing medicine in my top gum. She told me it would just numb the area around my tooth. She lies.

When I left the dentists office I could move my nose, but only half of it. Therefore, I spent the next two hours staring intently in the mirror at my funny looking face. (Okay, more funny than normal)

No really, I'm still busy. I got to work at 9:30 finished two tax projections and sprinted out the door to a clients office by 11:30. Tonight, I finished off our Christmas shopping and then wrote our Christmas letter. Finally, I attempted to update addresses. I only have about 30 more to update and then I can start the mass mailing!!

Should I get myself up at a decent time tomorrow I will try to post then. If not, look for a new post when I'm at lunch.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

I have pictures to post from this weekends couples night, pictures of Jake's deer from two weekends ago, and and update on my uncle... I promise.

But first I have to update three clients depreciation records, review a tax notice, do three tax projections, and four tax returns. So.. maybe the second Tuesday of next week?

Police Department Answering Machine

I got a kick out of this so I thought I would share.

Click Here

For those of you without speakers.... or who have dialup and don't want to wait for the audio to load you can read the words.

Click Here

Letter to the Editor

Updated: 12/9/05 10:29 am

Dear Mother Nature:

We get it... it's winter. (Although if you want to be specific the first day of winter is not until the 21st of December... maybe you need to check your calendar again!) Either way, why do you feel that it is necessary to keep driving the point home with 13.5 inches of snow fall? Don't you think 6.5 (which is the average after all) would have been sufficient? Are we that moronic that we need twice the amount of normal snowfall to figure it out?

And while we are on the subject of winter, what in the world is up with the subzero temperatures and all of this wind? This morning when I got up it was -3 degrees. NEGATIVE THREE!! My hair froze as soon as I stepped outside!!

Also, are you aware that Jake is working on a roof? When it is snowing he does not get to work... something about being all wet and on a roof in subzero temperatures. The ice thing tends to make them a little nervous, what with the slipping and the falling and what not. We don't even have life insurance on him yet. Couldn't you at least wait until I have that in place?* Also, when he does not work we have no money, and that just will not do!! How will I be able to pay for my manicures and pedicures and haircuts and expensive designer clothes?**

Sincerely yours,

Heather


*I'm kidding people!! It is a JOKE!! Please don't leave me nasty comments threatening to report me or telling me how awful I am. Or at the very least, if you are going to report me, make sure you get it correct I'm hoping he falls, not trying to push him!!

**Another JOKE!! (You people need to lighten up!!) Besides, those of you who really know me should have spotted this one a mile away! I can't remember when the last time I bought something for myself was, let alone something expensive. Oh wait, I take that back! Two years ago I went into Victoria Secret and bought myself some underwear and a bra. Hey... it was my wedding night!!

Princess

You're BELLE from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!
Warm, kind and caring, you always bring out the
best in others, but tend to keep to yourself
and a few close friends who you love dearly.
You love books and dream of fairytale
adventures. You know that beauty lies within
and don't depend on looks alone. You think it's
good to be individual and different to others,
but don't go out of your way to be rebellious
- you just naturall stand out. You're a strong
person, but also ladylike and intelligent. You
look forward to change. You'd definitely break
the Beast's spell.
Certain as the sun, rising in the East, tale as
old as time, song as old as rhyme, Beauty and
the Beast...'


Which Disney Princess Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Snow, Snow, Everywhere...

Well, at least someone enjoyed our recent snowfall!!

























So much for a mild winter! -2 Degrees when I got up this morning!! Gotta love it!!

OMG

OMG, OMG, OMG!! (Doesn't this font get any bigger than this?? How can I express TRUE elation with this font??)

She e-mailed me!! She read my website, she didn't hate it... AND she e-mailed me!!

I know to some of you this probably seems like no big deal but this woman is the reason I do this. She is the one that introduced me to blogging and gave me an outlet for something I love to do which is write and connect with others.

I sent her an e-mail as a curtsey because I had posted about her. I NEVER expected her to read it (after all she has 10,000 hits per day which means she probably gets 5,000 e-mails per day) let alone read my site and respond to my e-mail.

Is this how people feel when they just talk to a celebrity??

I think I need to go lie down!!

Blogging Dreams

You know the strange thing about blogging? You can spend everyday reading about the life of someone you have NEVER met. Someone who has NO idea that you exist and in a lot of cases, no idea that you are reading about them. Do you know how you know you are REALLY addicted to blogging? You start to dream about these people. Ladies and Gentleman, I have crossed over. I am officially a member of the blogging addicted.

Hi, my name is Heather and it's been 19 hours since I last blogged.....

Last night I had a dream that I was hanging out with Heather Armstrong of Dooce. For those of you who don't know, let me give you a little background on how I started reading Heather's blog. About a year and a half ago I decided to Google my name. I had watched this show on 60 minutes, or 20/20 or something like that about how this woman had tracked down and written a book about some of the people with her same name.

To narrow down the field, I thought I would start with my maiden name. After all, if someone else was afflicted with having to spell that their whole lives they would probably be worth contacting. Do you know how many Heather Griffieon's there are on google? Go on... take a WILD guess....

NONE, that's right absolutely none.

So, I decided I would have to go with my married name. After all, there had to be at least one or two Heather Hamilton's out there. (Although considering everyone who I told what my married name was didn't believe me at first, and my own hair dresser thought someone had booked a fake appointment using a porn star name, maybe there weren't that many.)

As it turns out, there were a few. So, I decided that just for fun I would dry to narrow the choices a little more. I put in Heather Brooke Hamilton and got nothing. Today, however, I did the same search and got one option. Download Black Teen - DVD fetish porn video. Um... maybe not!! Now you see why everyone thought it was a porn star name??

Lacking full name matches I decided to try Heather B. Hamilton and at the top of the list was Dooce followed by someone who was the vice president of Citizens for Global Solutions. Seeing as how I had no desire to learn about Global Solutions I decided to investigate the first option.

That is how I wound up reading Heather's blog. Actually, that is how I ended up reading her website, at the time I didn't even know what a blog was. Unbeknownst to me, several thousand people a day read that blog, but at the time I did not know that. I just thought I had stumbled upon some random person's blog with my same name. I have continued to read her blog and through out the past year and a half have picked up other blogs that I read through links from her website, or links from those websites.

At the moment I have about 30 blogs that I read on an every day basis. However, since Heather's was the first, I guess you could say that she is the reason that you are sitting there, pretending to be working while you are reading my blog.

Okay, now that you have a little bit of background back to my dream. Last night I dreamed that I was hanging out with Heather. In the first sequence we were in a hotel room and Leta was walking towards the door and I noticed on the door was some writing. Something about Leta not liking some kind of computer.

I'm thinking that this part of the dream came from two places. Last night I e-mailed Heather because a couple of months ago she took down her comments section so if you have a comment about a post she writes you have to e-mail her. She had written a post about reading someone else's blog where they were talking about a case of mistaken identity by people googling her name. (You get where this is going don't you?)

Anyhow, that is my guess as to what got her into my head. As for the writing on the wall, I watch CSI. Last night I fell asleep watching an episode where this person has a compulsion to write and so they write on everything. So much for dreams being random huh?

The second part is a little more strange. I'm not sure where I got it. After the hotel room we continued on to what appeared to be a museum. Leta was in a stroller and was fussing so I picked her up and was carrying her with her head on my shoulder. Then for some reason we came to a bathroom. Maybe this had something to do with it?

Anyhow, someone came out of the bathroom and was talking to me. They told me that Heather had been reading my website and she thought that it was dumb. I told them they were lying and then headed into the bathroom to ask her. Just gets more weird doesn't it? I'm talking to a woman I've never met in a bathroom of all places!!

In the bathroom I confront Heather and nonchalantly say, "So, you've never read my website have you?" She basically says no and implies that she has MUCH better things to do than to read the website of someone she doesn't know and who has a reader base of like 10 people. And surprisingly, none of this bothers me. Maybe it's because I've been reading her site for so long and know how many people love it that I would rather have her not reading mine than reading it and hating it.

Either way, it all seems very strange to me. I think this is the first time I have had a dream about someone I don't know where I actually know them in my dream. Maybe I need to lay off the blogging.

On second thought... maybe not.