Back to School

In my head I am singing the song on Billy Madison..."back to school, back to school, gonna prove to dad I'm not a fool...got my lunch all packed and my shoes tied tight...hope I don't get in a fight OHHHH back to school...."



I'm not really going back to school, I'm just going back to the Goddard School today, this time with Austin, and therefore the song has been stuck in my head all morning.



Did I write about the school last week? I don't think I blogged after I visited. Please hold while I go check...

Ok, I won't be repeating information here, good thing.

On Friday during my lunch break I went over to the Goddard School to take a tour. Before Friday, I had never actually been inside a day care before - so I wasn't sure what to expect. I met Ron, the owner, and Theresa, the director, first and we sat down to talk a little bit about me, my pregnancy, what I'm looking for in a day care, etc. They were very friendly, and I think if I wanted to Ron would have sat with me all day answering questions. Once we had talked a little bit, he walked me to the infant room where I met the teachers. There were 3 teachers and 5 babies. Generally there are anywhere from 5-9 babies, just depends on the day. Some babies only come 4 days a week, some may take a day off to be with grandparents, etc, so I caught them on a lower attendance day. The teachers were all sitting on the floor playing with the infants - some were learning to walk and some were still too young for that, so the teachers were playing with them depending on where they were. Amy, one of the teachers, got up to show me around the room. She showed me the board where announcements are posted, an example of the daily report that is sent home with each baby reporting any developmental milestones for the day, the best part of their day, what they ate, how much they slept, etc. She showed me each baby's individual cubbie where personal items are kept, their individual cribs, the fridge where formula and/or breastmilk is kept, the diaper changing station, the toy sanitation tubs that are used anytime a toy is on the ground or in a baby's mouth...lots to see in a small room. The teachers were very friendly, asked how far along I was, if we knew if it was a boy or girl, what the name was, etc. The entire time I was in there the teachers continued to occupy the babies while they talked to me. After we left the infant room Ron showed me the toddler rooms (let me just say there is a HUGE leap in messiness between the 1-2 year olds and the 2-3 year olds...those kids are wild!) I saw the kitchen, the playground, all the different classrooms, and we arrived back in Ron's office. We talked awhile more, talking about how he ended up in Colorado, his time in the military, Austin's deployments, how we like Colorado, etc. I looked down at my watch and realized I had taken a 1.5 hour lunch break, when I had told my boss it'd be "real quick".

Yesterday I went to parker landing development center, and the experience was very different. While they offer the same level of cleanliness, they cost the same, the student:teacher ratio is the same...it was a different atmosphere. First of all, no one was interested in knowing me as the parent. No one remembered my name, no one asked any particular questions about me or even the pregnancy. The receptionist escorted me to the Infant 1 room...the infants are split up into 2 rooms based on whether or not they are mobile. The rooms mirror each other, the only difference being that in the first room there are bouncers and swings where in the second room there are play mats and more interactive toys. Baby's have their own cribs, their own cubbies - and they do record the amount of food and sleep each baby gets, just no notes on developmental steps or special moments in the day. The rooms were very clean, the teachers were kind - but there wasn't much interaction going on. In the younger room there were 6 babies awake, 3 teachers, and not one teacher was interacting in any way with a baby. In the second room there were 5 babies in high chairs, though only 2 were eating, and 2 babies playing on the floor but again - no teacher interaction. Once I had finished looking in the rooms and meeting the teachers it wasn't offered that I see the rest of the school, and the director of the school got right to business: "So do you want to get on our wait list?" I was so caught off guard. She didn't ask my thoughts, if I had any questions, she hardly even introduced herself before asking about the wait list. I asked a few questions, though I didn't feel they were welcomed very well, and then I felt quickly rushed out the door.

While the basics between the two are the same, there is something to be said not only for the child interaction, but for the interest in knowing the parents. I loved that at the Goddard school the teachers really took an interest in knowing each child individually and not witnessing, but being a part of their growth and development. I also received a hand written note from the owner of Goddard in the mail Monday that said he enjoyed meeting me and learning about William, looks forward to meeting Austin, and hopes he can have a part in enhancing William's development. The people at Parker Landing never asked if we were having a boy or girl, and I doubt they'd remember 2 seconds after I walked out the door even if they had.

Today Austin came down to go see Goddard. There were more babies than last week, but all the teachers were still involved and each baby was receiving some sort of interaction. One baby LOVED that visitors had just walked in the room and he was very entertaining...he might have distracted me from our purpose for being there. Austin doesn't like how rigid day care centers are on their hours - but they couldn't run a successful, functional business if they didn't have those guidelines. He did like the teachers a lot and he loved how they interacted with the babies. One teacher was sitting at a table that has 4 built in chairs. There were babies in each of the 3 chairs and she was feeding them. She talked to them as she fed them, made facial expressions back at them, pointed out colors...all things you should do with infants. Overall, we're pretty pleased. I think Austin was most shocked at how close it is to my work - I had told him it was 2 minutes away, but I don't think he realized it really was, literally, 2 minutes (which includes the time it takes to walk to my car)

Our next step is to take the deposit (insert sinking feeling in stomach) and sign the enrollment form. At that point the owner will give us our "guarantee" date. He estimated that, as of today, it would be August 1. In the event that something changes they will call and let me know that I'd have the option of bringing William earlier. In the event that we already have arrangements we're pleased with for June and July, they will still hold our crib at no cost until August 1, but if we'd like to change our arrangements the option would be there. I like their wait-list policy better than other places because it gives me a dead-set time that I can rely on, whether than just waiting until March to find out what I'm doing with William.

I'm not sure what we'll plan for June and July as of now. We've talked about taking him to the Parker Landing center, if they are available, or to the child care center on base (picture me sticking my tongue out and making a disgusted look on my face). Or if someone reading this has decided to take a 2 month hiatus from work next summer but would like to come up here and, in fact, work - I'd be all about that :) We'll figure something out...we have time...but we're one step closer :)

Nightmare Football

I have mentioned before that I entered into the crazy world of fantasy football this season, and 3 weeks in I'm about ready to rename it to "nightmare football". To say the least, I don't plan to play fantasy football again. But - I don't ever leave it at JUST saying the least...so here I go.

I love football. I love watching games, learning more and more about strategies, plays, following players, etc. Being an analytical person and a football fan, I thought fantasy football was perfect for me. You follow players' stats, watch games, keep up with injuries and opponents...what would I not like?

Plenty.

My main complaint is that, overall, playing fantasy football has taken the fun out of watching games. For instance, last night Dallas played Carolina - a game in which generally I would be rooting for Dallas to win. In one of my leagues (yes, I was brilliant and joined two) I have Felix Jones, who is the second running back for Dallas, and my opponent had Tashard Choice, Dallas's third running back. Their first back was out with an injury, so when the game began and I was already leading by 9 points I thought I was a shoe-in to win, because Felix Jones would be playing the majority of the time. However, once Dallas got their running game going in the third quarter, Jones went down with a knee injury (he was being a baby if you ask me) and Choice played the remainder of the game. So, where I'd usually just continue rooting for the cowboys to win in whichever way worked, which at this point was using their running game, I now found myself hoping that Carolina could stop the run - even if that meant the Cowboys would lose. But I don't want the Cowboys to lose. This struggle happened in nearly every game this weekend, and it made the games less entertaining because I was constantly thinking about stupid fantasy teams that mean nothing rather than just rooting for whichever team I wanted.

In the end last night the cowboys won AND I won, so that one happened to work out well for me. Week one when the Jets killed the Texans - not so much. I had the Jets defense on my fantasy team, so yippee there, but how could I root against the Texans? That's just wrong.

There is an aspect of one of my fantasy leagues that I enjoy, and that is the "pools" that we play in. There are 2 pools, each pays out your initial entry fee so I'd be glad to win one and get my money back. The first pool is the "survivor pool" in which you choose one game each week to predict the winner. You can't use a team more than once, so in week one when I chose New Orleans to win I eliminated New Orleans from my options for future weeks. The league has 12 teams, and the survivor pool is now down to 4 teams still playing - ours being one of them! Yippee - just need 3 more teams to pick wrong and I broke even in this disaster that is fantasy football. The second pool lasts the entire season, and it is similar to a "pick 'em" betting pool. Each week you predict the winner for each game, and you rank the games based on your confidence in your choice. You give 16 points to the game you are most confident in and go down to 1 point for the game you are least sure of. For every game you predicted right, you receive that point value that you designated for that game. It's a little early to begin a celebratory dance, but right now our team is far ahead in the lead with 320 points. If we could win BOTH pools - how fun would that be?

In conclusion, fantasy football is another one of those things in life that sounds like a GREAT plan on paper...but in practice it is just not my thing. Next year I'll enjoy rooting for teams, following players, maybe even predicting games...but I won't be opting to go against myself by engaging in this fantasy sport. Or any other fantasy sport. Count me out :)

A Quick Thought

Very busy today so all I have for you is a quick thought. Austin is administering a PT test right now on the outdoor track at Buckley, which is just off a main road in Aurora. A man driving by rolled down his window and screamed "BABY KILLERS!"

So my thought is...

Liberals call soldiers baby killers. Liberals support abortion. And they call republicans hypocrits?

Anyone else a little confused here?

Pregnancy Madness

Let me make you aware of something: Not all pregnant women are created equal. I know this comes as a shock to many people, so I hope you were sitting down when you read it. However, where people get the idea that women, who were drastically different before conceiving a child, will all unite as one robotic force while pregnant blows my mind.

Myth #1: All Pregnant Women are Starving at ANY Given Point in the Day
I can't tell you how many times this myth has caused my blood pressure to rise. Example: Last week the tax director asked us all if we'd like pizza for lunch, because she knew/assumed we'd all be working through lunch that day. While pizza is at the bottom of the list of foods that I eat (it doesn't rank with fish, but it certainly isn't something I crave) I appreciated the offer and hadn't brought lunch that day - so it worked out well. At 11:30 I had eaten a banana, so I wasn't terribly hungry at 12:30 when the pizza got here. I assumed there would be a mad rush of people in line for it, and I was in the middle of finishing a few tax entries so I thought I'd just wait 10-15 minutes or so. Apparently, being pregnant, I no longer have the ability to determine when I need to eat. Paula and Dottie stood up to go get food and Paula said "Amanda, are you coming? You hungry?" Before I could respond, Paul answered "Well that's the dumb question of the century, she's pregnant of course she's hungry". I just kindly said I was ok for now and would get some later. A few seconds later Quinita, the person who had ordered the pizza, came by to let us know it was ready. I said thanks, I'll be by in a few minutes, and she said "Girl you're pregnant you better be in the front of that line before its all gone" All gone? Really? We have NEVER ordered food and not had leftovers, especially pizza. I eat about 2 pieces, if that, before I'm sick of it so I seriously doubted there would be less than 2 pieces left after 10 minutes. I repeated, as nicely as possible, that I'd be over there in just a second when the director, Kathy, walked by and overheard me. "What?! You're not eating first? You have the right you know, you can just push everyone out of the line and tell them you have pregnant priority" At this point I decided, out of frustration not hunger, to just go get in the stupid pizza line; it was clearly going to be easier than sitting at my desk and explaining to every person who walked by why I hadn't stuffed my face yet. After I had grabbed my two slices of pizza I was pouring myself some sprite when someone decided to remind me that I shouldn't have caffeine. I looked at her, looked at the sprite, then looked back at her...I'm sure the look on my face said enough, as I don't hide my emotions well, and she said "Oh, its sprite, I thought you had the mountain dew" Hmm...interesting, since there wasn't any mountain dew available. Luckily I walked back to my desk in peace and was able to enjoy (or eat) my pizza in my own time. However, about 30 minutes later I again received multiple visits at my desk informing me that there was dessert pizza, and I "had better go get some". The only response I could muster up at this point was a fake smile, because if I had opened my mouth the words wouldn't have been cordial.

In conclusion: just because your wife was starving, you were starving, your best friend was starving and ate a horse at each meal does not mean I am. I have not lost the ability to determine when I'm hungry, and I do not need people policing my caloric intake.

Myth #2: All Pregnant Women Have Food Aversions
This one is a nice segue from the previous myth. I am only 4 months along and I am at the point that if I have to choose another meal because I'm "the pregnant one" I might hurl. Or maybe I'll just give up on eating all together - that would have some people's panties in a wad now wouldn't it? I have been very fortunate so far and I do understand that MOST pregnant women have either had particular cravings or aversions at this point. I, however, have not. I haven't gotten sick, nothing repulses me now (unless it repulsed me before...salmon...) and there's nothing I CRAVE besides blue bell ice cream. And, well, I think a part of me always craves blue bell ice cream. I do not need to make the decisions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day because I'm pregnant. In fact, I've given up on my once or twice a week lunch outing with coworkers because I'm sick of being forced to pick it. My tastes are the same as anyone else's at this point, and I could just as easily pick something that doesn't sound appealing to one of them as they could for me.

Myth #3: All Pregnant Women should Gain the same amount of Weight
This is less of a "myth" and more of an irritation. There is no specific number of pounds that each pregnant person "should" gain, nor is there an exact benchmark you should reach every month. There is, however, a range that has been designed around your pre-pregnancy weight to help you keep track and make sure you aren't gaining too much or too little. I emphasize the last part, as I think some people fail to realize there can be too little. The vague guidelines, starting out, are that if you are within the "normal" or "healthy" weight range for your height/age before you conceive, you should gain between 25-35 pounds. If you are underweight, they'll recommend you even go up as much as 40, or if you are over weight they'll say 25 should be your max weight gain. From there, there are guidelines to help you gauge how you're doing during the pregnancy so you know if you're gaining too much, too little, just right, etc. These are just guidelines, but they are ranges that are considered "healthy" for each month of pregnancy. There are risks involved with gaining too much weight such as diabetes, high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, and other things that go along with being overweight. There are also risks involved with gaining to little weight, the main one being premature birth. While premature births happen often and don't necessarily mean anything bad will come of it, it is still ideal to carry your baby for 39-40 weeks.

I am 4 months right now - William's due date was 5 months from Monday actually - and I have gained 3 pounds. When I saw my doctor at 16 weeks, which was 2 weeks ago, I had gained 1.4 and she was concerned. She did tell me that the most important time for weight gain is between 20-26 weeks, so she won't be overly concerned until we get to that point, but that I should try to work on gaining more weight in the meantime so it isn't an issue. She would have liked me to have already been between 5-9 pounds at that appointment. She said that the goal for the remainder of the pregnancy should be to gain between .5 and 1 pound every week. So, essentially for the past 2 weeks I've done that - which is good. If I gain one pound per week from now until the time he's born I will have gained 25, which is pretty ideal. If I can continue this, I will be happy. I am still below the "range" for where most doctors consider I should be at 18 weeks, but as long as I continue to gain .5-1 pound per week I think I'll be ok with that. I am glad my doctor brought it to my attention before 20 weeks and before it was a bigger issue.

The reason I'm going into all of this is that if I am concerned with my weight, or my doctor is concerned with my weight - there's probably a reason. Just because you may have gained 15 pounds in your pregnancy, or because you may have gained 40 in yours, does not mean that your weight gain would be ideal for me. I wasn't there telling you to stuff your face or stave yourself, so please don't feel the need to do so for me.

All of this boils down to one main frustration: prior to becoming pregnant no one felt the need to over analyze my weight, what I ate, how much I ate, how often I ate, etc. So why has it become everyone's business since then? Do pregnant women wear signs that say "Help me, I'm an idiot"? If so, please tell me where this sign hangs so that I can remove mine.

If I seem a bit on edge - I apologize. I'm actually not (at the present moment) overly irritated by any one of these things, or other myths that I could share if I had time, its just that when I get talking about it I get a little heated. I'll try to make tomorrow's blog more light-hearted and entertaining to make up for it. :)

I Cried Like a Baby

Last Thanksgiving when Alexis called me, I knew what she'd have to say: Jake had proposed and they'd be getting married! I was full of mixed emotions - I was nothing less than ecstatic for them and I know that they complement each other so well, but I was also a little bitter - I had been living in Houston for 10 months and had JUST moved back to Denver, and THEN Jake decided to propose? Thanks a lot. Imagine the fun Alexis and I could have had if he'd proposed back in January and we had the entire year to plan and go wedding-crazy! Could have been fun. Nevertheless, I was thrilled beyond belief and was so excited to be asked to be Alexis's Matron of Honor.

Leading up to the wedding Alexis had the right mindset on the importance of the wedding day. The minor details that no one notices, the misc questions that people think are pertinent but will quickly be forgotten - none of those things are what matters. The wedding day is just that - a day. It will be the best day of your life not because of the colors or flowers or your dress; it will be the best day of your life because it starts the rest of your life. The symbol of the day is what is most important, not the day itself. So many brides get so wrapped up in the DAY that once its over, there is such a let down. It shouldn't be a let down - you should be more excited the day after your wedding for what you have embarked upon, and that is how your marriage should be approached. That is coming from me, the marriage expert of course. I was very proud that Alexis, not one to be too detail oriented to begin with, didn't get too wrapped up in the wedding day forgetting where the value truly is. I know some people may criticize this, but that's the other beautiful part about your wedding...it is YOUR wedding. If someone thinks your dress is ugly, your flowers are plain, your bridesmaids aren't supportive, or whatever other opinions people will muster up it doesn't matter. It is your wedding, and should be exactly how you want it. For that day, no one else matters but you, your spouse-to-be, and your family. (though maybe you can just care about YOUR opinions and forget the others...) But the end result, when a bride takes the view that the day is hers and the value sits in the marriage, is a beautiful, personal wedding with a couple that is focused on what really matters.

Alexis's day was exactly that.

I'll take a second to navigate away from my thoughts and tell you that Austin continuously called it "Jake's' wedding" One time I asked him why - he knew Alexis first, and I think I generally associate a wedding with whichever person I knew first or knew better, but not Austin. He said "Well, everyone forgets about the groom. But our wedding was just as important to me as it was to you, so I know Jake will feel the same way" Kudos Austin. He'd really appreciate my broadcasting his softer side here, I am sure.

I was disappointed to have to miss out on some of the festivities of Alexis's wedding, but I was SO excited to see her at the church Friday night for the rehearsal. The rehearsal went as most do - we walked, we talked, we learned how to enter and exit doorways - a very educational experience. The rehearsal dinner was at a nearby Italian restaurant where Alexis and I decided we should see who could eat more bread & oil. I don't know who won, I just know my final count...and I'll keep that a secret. It was delicious! When time came for the toasts I poured my champagne in Austin's glass, since I couldn't drink any, so the waiter quickly refilled it. This happened twice before I decided I should just leave a small amount in my glass so he'd stop thinking I was the lush of the party. It smelled good though! After dinner Alexis, Lisa (Jake's brother's fiance) and I went back to Jake's house to sleep. I had it in my head it'd be fun to stay up watching movies, painting nails, doing girly things - but we were all exhausted so I wasn't disappointed when they wanted to go to sleep instead :)

Saturday was a FULL day. At Alexis's shower she had mentioned she wasn't sure what she'd do with her time, since the wedding wasn't until 7, but we barely had a minute to spare. Lisa and I ran errands in the morning while Alexis took care of some business for work, then we had our nails done, had lunch at panera, all got showered and headed to the church. We thought we'd be so ahead of schedule until Lisa and I realized we both had lion's manes on top of our heads and it was 4:00 - photographer to arrive at 4:45. YIKES. We quickly did our hair (which was a wasted effort once we stepped outside into 100% humidity), did our makeup, got our dresses on, and got alexis's beautiful gown on her.

After we did some girl photos and Nicole (our high school classmate who is a very talented photographer) took some boy photos, Alexis and Jacob had decided to do a "first look" They had agreed they'd be too emotional if the first time they saw each other was at the altar, so they arranged to see each other about an hour before hand. Alexis never looked more beautiful. It wasn't the dress or the hair, or her fancy shoes which I loathe - but the smile on her face. In the 11 years I've been friends with her, I've never seen her more happy, more at ease, or more confident.

And I think that is why I cried like a baby. I think throughout the day we were too busy for me to even sit back and think about what was happening. I spent 2 hours with Alexis in her dress and never had a moment of shock, awe, tears, or any emotion other than excitement. But when she turned the corner to walk down the aisle I lost it. I'd like to blame it on the pregnancy hormones, but I think we all know that's a lie. I could see Jacob's smile from the corner of my eye, I could see her face and I was just so, so SO excited for the both of them. Marriage has been one of the greatest lessons of my life so far - teaching about commitment, compromise, love, forgiveness, and many many more virtues - but it has also been one of the greatest blessings of my life, and I know that Jacob and Alexis will approach theirs with the same attitude that we have approached ours. So I couldn't have been more thrilled to have been a part of their day.

Congrats Jacob & Alexis - almost 2 weeks down, a lifetime to go :)

William's First Song

Back in February a coworker of mine was going through a divorce and was trying to sell anything/everything she could to pay off debt and limit the "dividing of assets" as much as possible. She had some items listed for sale on craigs list and told everyone at work to go see what all she had. Most of it was the usual garage-sale merchandise, but I did find a guitar that looked interesting. I asked her about it and she said it was a vintage from the 50's, it had belonged to her dad and she got it when he died but she didn't know how to play it and she didn't think the wires worked. She said she'd never played it, but her dad had before he passed, and that she figured someone who knew about guitars could get it in working condition and put some use to it. I looked it up on the Internet and found that a guitar like this in good condition is worth between $1,500-$3,000. She was asking just a fraction of that, and I immediately thought "what a perfect Christmas present for Brian" Not only is it a guitar, which he loves, but it would give him the chance to fix up the amp and the wires and make it work. The guitar in the picture isn't Brian's, I just found that on google, but that's the same model. The thing that made these guitars special in the 50's, or what makes them collectors items now, is in part the case. There is an amplifier built into the case, which isn't made anymore, and the wiring used back then is also not used anymore.

Because Brian is deploying in October, we thought we should take it down to him as an early Christmas present in September. When I saw my mom and Alfredo donned in t.u. football jerseys that made my throw up a bit in my mouth, I knew Brian had put them up to it and had briefly wished we had just sold the guitar on ebay :) But, we hadn't, and he immediately noticed it in Austin's hands so there wasn't much I could do about that!

After we had said goodbye to Brian to begin the wedding festivities for the weekend, I got a text message that said "I got the guitar working - it sounds great! Thanks so much, I think this is one of the coolest presents anyone has ever given me" My mom called and said he had been playing the guitar for 30 minutes since he got it all working correctly and he really loved it. So I told him that all Austin asked in return was that he write William his first song - to which Brian said "I think I can handle that" We'll be waiting to hear that song - not sure how long we'll be waiting, but we'll wait in suspense however long it takes!!!

Other William activity going on -

We are in the process of researching day care options for William come next May when I go back to work. I can say budgeting for baby and picking a day care for baby are the 2 worst parts of planning for baby...maybe more painful than labor! Keep in mind I said maybe there. I already hate the idea of dropping him off and trusting someone else to take as good of care of him as we would, missing him all day, missing his growth and moments throughout the day...not to mention the astronomical costs associated with good care. We don't want to sacrifice the level of care just to save a few bucks, though, and we know that we are blessed to have the opportunity to not have to worry as much about cost as we would have just a year or so ago. But still - we could own a second house for how much some of these places cost! May as well buy a house, hire some staff, and start my own day care! Ok I'm not doing that - and I'll only gripe a LITTLE about the cost because, like I said, William deserves the best care we can provide for him and we won't make a choice we can't afford...it'll just be a big bill to swallow :)

We are debating between at-home programs and day care centers. There are pros and cons to each, and there are good and bad programs in each category for sure so it requires a lot of shopping around regardless of which direction we go. The front runners for day care facilities so far are

www.goddardschool.com

http://parkerlandingcdc.com/P2locations.html

I think I like the first one better, and it is $10 cheaper/week. It is about 2 minutes from my office, and families are welcome to come any time of day - so I could easily swap my afternoon blog break for an afternoon William snuggle...I'm sure you'd understand :) We haven't visited either one in person, we both have to pick an afternoon to take off work to do that, and I'm not 100% sure they will both have openings in may...but as of now, it looks promising on both fronts.

William's life is already so busy...with songs being written for him, day cares being picked apart, paint being purchased, and decorations being prepared...the world isn't quite ready, but I bet in 5 months it'll all be lined up perfectly for him :)

I can Sew?!?!

Awhile back, sometime before Austin went to BNCOC in Arizona, I got a newsletter from the FRG (Family Readiness Group) and in the newsletter there was an article highlighting a soldier's wife and her crafty handiwork. She makes bags out of soldiers' uniform pieces; the inside of the bag is decorative fabric of the bag-holder's choice, and the outside is an army uniform. I believe she's made some for other branches, but she started out just doing Army since she's an army wife. She calls them "camp follower bags" because as the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of soldiers our hearts follow our soldiers as they travel from camp to camp. (you can see her work at http://www.campfollowerbags.com/)

Her bags are a little pricey for me, and her wait list is about 5 years long, so I didn't get too high of aspirations of being the owner of one of her bags. However, one day it dawned on me that while Brian is deployed my mom would probably LOVE to have one of those bags to carry with her. It is special because its a uniform the soldier has actually worn, and you're carrying a part of him wherever you go. I thought to myself, "With Kaila's help, how hard could this be?" I emailed the idea to Brian and a few months later he sent me a uniform top.

Prior to last month, I had sewn twice in my life. A few years ago my mom asked Alfredo for a sewing machine for Christmas (I'll hold my comments on that...) Of course he got it - Alfredo does what mom wants, like a good husband would - and I sewed a coin purse. Then a couple summers ago Kaila and I were in north Dakota at her mom's house and we decided to make a quilt. Kaila is the queen for starting projects or getting ideas and never finishing them, so the quilt still isn't done, but we did sew all the squares together that day. So where I got the idea that it would be a piece of cake to sew a bag - I'm not really sure. But, unlike Kaila, once I have the idea in my head I'm too stubborn to give it up :)

A few weekends ago was our last possible weekend to make the bag. I needed Kaila not only for her sewing advice, but for her sewing machine!, but our schedules had been conflicting all summer so we couldn't ever get around to making it. I wanted to give the bag to my mom when Brian and I were both in Houston before Alexis's wedding, so 2 weekends before that Kaila and I got down to it. When I left the house Saturday morning Austin asked how long I'd be gone, to which I responded, "I don't know, I can't imagine it'll take more than 4 hours"

4 hours to cut the fabric, that is. We worked for about 6 hours the first day and 3 hours the next - though there were quite a few banana bread breaks, text message breaks, and a trip to the quilting store mixed in there. So I'd say if we had been busier worker bees it would have taken 6-7 hours, being our first attempt at a bag and we had no pattern. The final product looks really good, if I can say that without sounding conceited, but I must add that each seam was sewn at least twice...the thread puller/seam ripper/finger poker tool came in handy more often than I had expected! So, it wasn't without mistake and it wasn't a quick job - but it is done, and like I said I think it turned out nicely.

I plan to make myself one, and once my aunt sends me my cousin's uniform I'm going to make one for her too. I had a lot of fun and found that I really like sewing. Maybe I'll make a new hobby for myself (you know, cause filling my time is often a difficult thing for me...)

Ok I'll stop blabbing and just get to it...here she is...my first bag...

I'll keep you posted on future projects!

Conflicted Title

I'm conflicted here on where I should start; I had my blogs for the entire week mapped out in my head and Wednesday's blog was to be "I can sew?!?!" My stomach had other plans and Tuesday night around 11 I came down with a stomach virus. So now, do I ignore the stomach virus and just move on with "I can sew?!?!" or combine them both into one? Or skip them both entirely and move on to the more important blogs that were supposed to be written this week - tough choices!

I'll go with the combination.

First...I'll bore you with the details of the nasty stomach bug that invaded my house Tuesday night. I had been asleep for probably an hour or so when I woke up in the middle of a dream about Peyton and Eli Manning's week 1 statistics to a rumbling in my tummy - wasn't even sure I'd make it into the bathroom. I made sure to lock the door behind me on my rush in, though, because generally Reagan will follow me into the bathroom and if I've shut him out, he takes it upon himself to open the door. Not exactly the time I'd like for him to barge in on me. I was surprised to find, when I came back out, that neither Reagan or Austin had been disturbed in the slightest bit. Both were still sound asleep, Austin snoring and Reagan sprawled out across as much of the bed as he could possibly cover. I thought it was odd, but felt much better so I didn't think it was any reason to wake Austin up. When I woke up 45 minutes later in the middle of a dream about Tom Brady's stats, though, I thought maybe I should see what Austin thought. This went on about every 45 minutes, each time interrupting a dream about a different NFL player's stats for the week, until 4 am when I finally called my mom. Austin had told me to call the doctor when they opened at 8, but my mom wanted me to call the on-call doctor for the night because she was concerned about dehydration at that point. I obliged, and the doctor agreed with much concern - she said I needed to go to the ER as soon as I could and that they'd be in touch with her.

We got there about 5:00 and it was EMPTY. Not one single patient. I've never seen an ER like that - not that I've seen many ERs, but it was still odd. I didn't mind though, because it got me into a bed much quicker than we thought I would be. Before I became "the patient in room 11" I had to sit on a bench and have my blood drawn...at the time I thought he was just giving me an IV, but later learned he had first taken 4 vials of blood which would explain why I was so light headed and queasy as I answered the other nurse's ridiculous questions. We had already established that I was 17 weeks pregnant, yet we still had to go over whether or not I drank or smoked. really? yes - really. Once I got into my room, had my last attack of the bug, and got my hospital gown on we settled in with 2 bags of saline dripping into my arm. Austin and I had tried our hardest not to talk about the obvious thing that was filling our minds - how is our baby? - and we were VERY relieved when within minutes of starting saline the nurse came by with a device to read William's heart rate. His heart was beating strong, and once we heard that I think ours quit racing.

About an hour into our stay, before any test results had come back but after I had received anti-nausea medicine that worked like a charm, Austin had to leave. yes, you read that right, he had to LEAVE. He was supposed to report at 6:30 for his FTX and had been unable to get anyone on the phone all morning, so he had to go into work to at least see if he still needed to go to the FTX or not. Turned out that yes, he in fact was VERY much needed at the FTX and I would need to call for another ride home. After he was gone the nurse proceeded to ask me why we weren't reenlisting, which I guess Austin had communicated to her earlier at some point. I just looked at her. I said, "Well, for starters, his pregnant wife is in the ER right now and he's at work because there aren't enough people licensed to drive down to Colorado Springs"

Shortly thereafter my test results came in and I needed magnesium to replace what I had lost through the night. So 2 quick magnesium bags and one more saline bag later I was ready to go. My boss was kind enough to pick me up and drive me home before she went into work for the day, and Rick was kind enough later to pick me up on his lunch break and take me to Target to get my medicine, some crackers, and some powerade. I took the medicine every 8 hours until yesterday afternoon, and I powered through 2 powerades and 1.5 sleeves of saltines too. Neither one ever tasted so good.

I attempted to go to work yesterday, but at 11:30 realized it was not the best idea and I went home. My medicine was wearing off so the queasiness was setting back in, but more so than that I think my body still just needed more rest. I slept for about 4 more hours before I woke up FINALLY feeling 100%. Well - not quite 100% because I was STARVING. I love when the feeling of starvation sets in after having a stomach bug because you know, then, that you are better. What a relief! I had to run and get pet food at Walmart, which just so happens to be next to Babies-r-Us, so I made a quick stop in there for William's window valance...and first pair of shoes...and the CUTEST little outfit for him to wear next football season that says "little line backer". I know its a little early for NEXT year's clothes, but Austin played linebacker so I just couldn't resist. He'll love it :) (Austin more so than William...)

And now I've done it...exactly what I knew I'd do...I've made my stomach bug such a blog-event that I don't have time to write any more. I just get so carried away! So, I guess you'll have to wait until Monday to know more about my new-found (yet unrefined) talent. Have a great weekend!!!

Jerry Jones is ALL Sparkle!

I'm getting quite frustrated here at work, more at the people than at work, so I think its time for my nicotine fix.

Last Thursday Brian, Austin and I woke up BEFORE 5:00 am so we could pick Brandon and Dana up at their apartment at 5:45. We all happily drove to Dallas to see Mimi. I had posted on facebook that not many people can get me to wake up at 4:45 am, but Mimi is one of them. A friend rained on my parade by reminding me that in 5 more months William will also be added to that list. Nevertheless, for now Mimi is one of the select few. And seeing the smile, the NEAR tears, and the excitement on her face when she saw all 5 of us standing at the door made it all worth it. I'm glad we woke up early and there was no traffic, because it was a pretty short trip and I enjoyed the little time we did have to just sit around her house visiting.

Laura came a little bit later bearing gifts (subway) and we all sat around gossipping, eating subway, and waiting for the stadium tour. The tours are generally a minimum of 20 people but my uncle wanted it to be just our family I believe, so he reserved a private tour for 20 even though there were just 10 of us. Our tour guide thoroughly enjoyed this fact and took every opportunity to comment on our private (and "illegal) excursions around the stadium.

Vietta, pronounced viiiiii-eeettta, was a character - Laura and I both commented, the moment we left, that she was a little too similar to Kelly Pickler. But, she loved her job and she loooooved to tell us all the facts about the stadium, whether they were true or unverified. We caught her in a few lies (like telling us the TV screen is "impossible" for a punter to hit. wait...didn't that just happen?) but we were more amused than offended.

The tour started off with us seated in the general seating area of the stadium being bombarded with facts. The stadium is X square feet, has X number of windows, almost 900 concession stands and 3,000 tvs! (clearly I didn't remember ALL the facts) I think the TV screen is a bit excessive and unnecessary, a start to Jerry Jones' need for sparkle, but this picture still doesn't do it justice. The thing is just massive. The thing I noticed first, though, when we sat down was that the seats throughout the stadium are padded and quite comfortable - even the "cheap" seats. But let's just be honest here, there are no cheap seats.

After our view of the tv screen and being educated on the entering and exiting via the sliding glass windows of the stadium, we were on our way to the suites. The suites in the stadium cost anywhere between $1.4M and $5M to RENT the box for 20 years, then the season tickets to actually use the box range are $300+. Vietta wanted to show us the difference between a small and a large suite, but really the large suite was just a small suite with more seats, so we had our fun in this deluxe suite and then moved on to bigger and better things...like stealing napkins from the bathrooms. I wondered why they only had 5 or 6 napkins on the counter at a time, but then I felt how nice they were and realized that people, like myself, would steal as many as possible. And I did.

As we navigated our way around, seeing the entrances to the field, the various levels of suites, the room that holds all the different turf fields, and the other areas of the stadium that Vietta wanted us to think were off limits, we found ourselves in elevators with portraits of Cowboy legends. How odd was it that we ended up in the elevator with my aunt's boyfriend's picture? I just had to get a shot of it. The stadium was meticulously decorated, and everything was shiny and sparkly. The floors had marble tile with sparkly speckles of cowboy blue, there was a cotton bowl museum with shiny silver helmets hanging throughout, the bathrooms were fancy, trashcans were shiny - it was all glitz and glam, I almost forgot it was a FOOTBALL stadium. No detail was forgotten - and I'd hope not, with a grand total of $1.4 BILLION as the final cost. Pretty extravagant, over the top, excessive, and arguably unnecessary for football...but that's Jerry Jones' style. Gotta be the best of the best.

One of the last stops on the tour was, by far, my favorite: the locker room. The main locker room was for all players except rookies, and it was organized by position. There was a back room for all the rookies - poor little guys :) There was a sign between Tony Romo and Jason Witten's lockers saying that you are not to climb on or in the lockers, but I decided to pretend I never saw it for the sake of getting a picture as close to Martellus Bennett as I've ever been. Generally you'd THINK when you see someone doing something "illegal" you'd kindly whisper to them that they're not allowed...but not my family. I wasn't in Martellus's locker for 2 seconds before Brandon, Brian, and Laura all decided to SCREAM from across the locker room that I was breaking the rules. Thanks guys, you've reminded me why I'm a rule follower 99.9% of the time.

In the end, we got to see Mimi's brick laid in the ground outside the stadium. Although it was placed in a spot to where Mimi was unable to see it, the 5 of us were eager and excited to find it and have it photographed. (I think we were equally excited that we weren't the idiots to paid $150 for a brick that said "ROMO & TO SUPERBOWL BOUND")

Mimi has her place in Cowboys' history!

What's in a Name?

Some people really believe that a baby's name can predict or define who the baby becomes as a person. I think a lot of things shape us into who we are, but I'm not sure if I think our names have any part in it. My dad wrote me a letter when I was in junior high telling me how proud of me he was, how I've grown to be an amazing, loving, and admirable person and that when they had given me the names Amanda (which means "worthy of love") and Loving he hadn't realized how accurate the description would be. I think my parents and close family friends had more influence on who I became, but its fun to think about how a name could really shape a person.

Austin and I struggled a lot on girl names, and we will probably struggle until the day we have a daughter. But a boys' name was never an issue. When we were first dating Austin and I talked about why I had broken up with him in the past, about my dad, and about other misc issues from 10 years ago. One thing he brought up was the example my dad had set for him on how to be a good man, a good husband, and a good father (all of which he never saw in his own home) and how he had always wanted to name a son William for that reason. Worked out perfectly for me, because I'd always wanted to name a son after my dad also. I know Austin also wanted a son to be Austin Jr, so I was never sure how the decision would be made on what our first son's name would be, but shortly after we found out we were pregnant Austin said "I think our first son should be William Timothy. So if this one is a boy, that's what we should name him" Decision made!

I've seen a couple variations on the meaning of the name William. I've seen "strong protector", "will defend" and "resolute guardian". I think about my dad and all he did for his family, how much he protected our innocence as best he could and how he tried to protect us from the evils of the world. Maybe the meaning of a name does have some semblance in who the person becomes after all, and, if so, I'd be proud to have my son live up to that name.

Besides my dad, there is the "cool" aspect of the name, which boys like more than girls, in the fact that it is the Scottish "hero" William Wallace (as depicted by Mel Gibson in Braveheart, for those ladies out there who have never seen it) Maybe one day we'll have to take our William to Scotland to see the memorial. Though that William had no influence on our name choice, I have to admit it does add an element of studliness to the name :)

Wednesday's doctor appointment was a lot of fun. The ultrasound technician had quite a difficult time getting William to "reveal" himself (shy little guy) so we spent about 20 minutes poking my stomach, drinking apple juice, doing little jigs to try to get him moving...and finally he decided to move. Before William cooperated, Missy, the technician who I absolutely love, said "I hate to tell you this guys, but its generally the little girls that have trouble showing me what they are..." We had told her we were pulling for a boy, but when she said that we both said "oh that's fine we're happy no matter what" Then about 10 minutes later all was known, and we were so ecstatic just to finally know. I would say that "we couldn't have been more excited" but honestly, I think we would have been equally excited had Missy announced it was a girl - we're just excited for what is to come. We've retired the name "jelly belly" and now refer to our growing baby as he is...William :) It brings a smile to my face every time I say it.

During the 25 minute wait for William's cooperation, Missy kept switching views on the ultrasound machine so we could see everything in different ways. She can't print off a 3D picture for us unless either we or our insurance pays for it, but she let Austin take a picture with our camera. So, before I go on, let me introduce you to William Timothy Wallis, in a bashful state...

This weekend Austin will be at a Field Training Exercise, from Wednesday to Sunday, down in Colorado Springs so William and I have big plans for his nursery. We are going to buy a piece of the bedroom collection at Babies-r-Us and take it to Home Depot to pick out paint! Then Kaila is having an UppercaseLiving party on Saturday (if you don't know what it is, check it out at http://www.uppercaseliving.com/) where I will buy a sticker for William's room. I'll probably begin taping off the room, and then next weekend Austin and I will get to work on replacing the purple walls with blue!

William got lots of presents this weekend. Mimi gave him a Cowboys pacifier, which is perfectly fitting for his name, and Laura gave him a red coat to keep his little body warm next winter! My mom gave Austin and William matching Texans t-shirts...William's is a size 4T but I can guarantee Austin will have that baby wearing that shirt well before he's 4 years old :) Granny bought 2 t-shirts when she was in town with Candace- one I particularly like which says "My mom is HOT" :) And Alexis gave William's mom a "baby survival guide" which he will surely benefit from!

We had a WONDERFUL trip to Texas, one that went too fast during which we didn't see nearly as many people as we had hoped, but wonderful nonetheless. I could write all day about all the fun we had, but I should probably be focused on tax returns that have to be filed by tomorrow. So, here's a preview of what you have to look forward to in the days to come:

Jerry Jones is ALL Sparkle

I can sew?!?!

William's First Song

I cried like a baby

Happy corporate tax day tomorrow!!! I know you'll all be celebrating it too :)

My Feet are Sad

I have turned in my heels, for the most part, and have replaced them with flats. My feet are currently in mourning.

In high school my friends used to marvel at my Barbie feet. (that is the only part of my body that looks like Barbie, so I'll brag if I want to) I think its because I have high arches, I'm not really sure, but my feet are arched like Barbie's so heels have always been more comfortable than flats. I do wear flip flops for the ease of running out the door quickly, but generally I'm in heels most of the time. I don't ever wear tennis shoes unless I'm exercising, which Layla has learned so now she thinks my tennis shoes are a sign that she's going on a walk. Poor girl! Anyhow, I'm digressing a bit.

My barbie feet are no longer stable in heels. Maybe its the feet, maybe its the legs, or maybe its my entire body. According to my email last week from pregnancycenter, it is common for pregnant women to lose their equilibrium as their organs shift and change to make room for the baby. That made me feel better about the not-so-graceful fall I had taken the day before in the middle of the PX hallway :) I've stumbled a lot, but that was my only fall. I skinned my knees and the tops of my feet (?????) on the tile, but other than that I wasn't hurt. Austin, however, did not like the sound of that and determined that this weekend we'd be shopping for flats for me to wear for the next 5 months. He also ordered me to wear snow shoes to work in the winter and change once I get to my cube. Ok ok Mr Bossy Pants.

I found a pair of black flats for the wedding (slightly dressier than the pair I've worn out over the last year) and a pair of brown flats for work. They are cute, but they aren't heels...they just don't have the pizazz. So you better believe that in about 6 months (giving myself some recovery time here) you'll see my wearing my cutest heels and drinking a margarita. Possibly on my back porch, I don't really care. :) A the sacrifices moms make!

Yesterday after I got home from work Austin finished my desk! I've been talking about this desk forever, I was beginning to think it was actually just a mirage in the desert and it would never come to be. But, after a little bit of hounding and nagging and pushing on my part (all out of love I assure you) my desk is done! So, while he spent the rest of the afternoon/evening catching up on some NCAA 2010 on PS3 I spent my afternoon/evening cleaning/organizing/decorating the office!!!

The picture is a little dark, I took it with my phone late at night so the lighting isn't great, but here it is. I do have more pictures on my camera, but somewhere in the chord-plugging-in process our internet router decided to quit. So, until we fix that I can't load the pictures onto the computer. At least I think its the router - that's really not my specialty. I like when I turn the computer on and can get on the internet, working for it is too much. This room was our catch-all/office/storage/craft room (aka the crap room) and it was always the armpit of the house. Worst part is - its the first room you see when you walk in the front door! I painted it while Austin was in Arizona and have just been impatiently waiting ever since. The left side of the desk is for scrapbooking and the right side is for the computer/printer/bills. We just happened to have 2 spare kitchen table chairs that are usually just wasting space - and they match pretty well - so the room is now complete. Now I can get back to work on all those crafts I was talking about...in a prettier environment :) All the nagging aside, Austin did a pretty good job on the desk and he is sweet enough to spoil me and make me whatever I ask for...I should just let him make it on his own time I guess.

And that's what's happening in the Wallis house! Tomorrow we'll be headed to the vet, then the OB, then the airport to hop on a plane to fly to HOUSTON! So, I doubt I'll be on here for a few days...sorry to disappoint. But next time I write I will be able to talk about the beautiful wedding, the cowboys' stadium...and our BABY's gender. I'll make sure its well worth the wait, I promise. Until then - hope you have a great weekend :)

On the Verge

Happy Labor Day! I hope you, unlike me, actually took the holiday in spirit and are relaxing at home, perhaps laying by the pool or playing golf. The tax world seems to think "labor day" is a day to honor the fact that we should be working our rear ends off, however, so for the second year in a row - I'm cranking on taxes while you are enjoying my margarita.

I would really rather be eating at the Grand Luxe right now - that's where Alexis's bridesmaids' luncheon is being held...they probably just received their water, hopefully with lemon, and are looking at the oversized menus trying to decide on an appetizer. I'd recommend the sampler - so many yummy things to choose from there. Gotta save room for some home-baked cookies or cheesecake though, so don't get too full on that appetizer girls!

Back to reality. I'm currently setting up our files for our third quarter provision - great fun. I could be doing that at home...or on a plane...or in Houston...but then I guess the files wouldn't be of any help to anyone here at the office until I got back. Not to mention the stuff I need to put IN the files. Ok I'll quit whining. What's that quote - where the is great _______ there is great responsibility? That's the downside of having a nice cushy job...sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet, miss out on things you'd rather be doing, suck it up and move on. Take one for the team. But I can whine a LITTLE right?

This weekend Austin and I decided to make NO plans and it was amazing. We have been doing too much lately and its wearing me out, so we decided this weekend we would make no plans and see how things go. We watched football Friday night and most of Saturday, cleaned the house Saturday (and after I fold sheets tonight I am FINALLY caught up on laundry before the start of the week) then we had dinner with friends we hadn't seen in awhile at Maggianos Saturday night. We did the family style meal - oh my gosh were we all bulging at the seams as we walked out. Lucky for me I decided it was a good time to try out maternity pants...elastic waist band, could there be a better invention? I rode home in comfort :)

Yesterday we went to SNIAGRAB (that's "bargains" spelled backwards) at Sports Authority. They have all their ski/snowboard equipment on really good sales for a week in September and Austin wanted some ski boots. After that, and after how comfortable my maternity pants were Saturday, I decided we should stop at the Gap on the way home and see if they had any sales. I got a pair of black slacks for $15 and a pair of grey slacks for $30. Its a funny thing - the transition into maternity pants. At first its a dreaded event...and after the baby is born I'm sure I'll want those things away from me ASAP...but after wearing them for the first time and seeing the difference...I don't know why we don't just ALWAYS wear maternity pants :) Ok that may be a slight exaggeration - but when your stomach is larger than usual and pants are squeezing it...the elasticity is amazing. Now I just wish I had more :)

I'm SO excited for this week. Tomorrow doesn't bring anything exciting, but I will be really busy at work, have to pick up my dress & Austin's uniform, have a hair appt at 4:30, have to take Layla to Rick's house...so I'll be busy. Then its FINALLY Wednesday...the day I've been waiting for for...well about 12 weeks. (its a lot longer than it sounds, I promise) First, we get to find out jelly belly's gender. Then we get to rush to DIA and get on the plane to go to Houston- one of my most anticipated Houston trips in a long time. Then we go to the Astros game, then Dallas, then Friday is the rehearsal dinner, and Saturday is the WEDDING! I bet it'll go by as fast as it just did when I typed it too.

Well, I better quit this blogging thing and actually WORK...I wanna go get free chick-fil-a for lunch :)

Happy Labor Day!

Light the Night

On October 1 the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will host its annual Light the Night Walk here in Denver. Walks like this are held in various cities nationwide, and I believe Denver has hosted one for the past few years. This 2.5 mile walk is meant to raise support and awareness for blood cancers. Walkers raising $100 will each carry a lighted balloon - white for cancer survivors, red for supporters, and Gold for walkers who are walking in memory of a loved one lost. Western Union has formed a team for the walk, and my boss and I will be walking together. Austin is also going to join me in the walk and we will be walking in memory of my dad, who died of leukemia 11 years ago.

I am very excited to participate in this walk to help raise money for research and for family support functions.

I have been overwhelmed thus far with the support I've received from family and friends, and it makes me even more excited for the walk. If you would like, you can look at my website and read more about the walk itself as well as how you can donate. I promise I wouldn't use my blog to solicit financial support if it weren't for something I felt very strongly about, and I won't make a habit of it for sure! I'm just very excited about this, and I know I probably missed some people on the initial email I sent out about the walk so I thought I might reach other people this way.

My website is: http://pages.lightthenight.org/rm/DenverL09/AWallis

Austin and I will walk with our dog, Layla, and we will let Layla carry the balloon in honor of my dad. Hopefully the money we raise can help another family struggling with what my family dealt with 11 years ago. Thanks for your support, be it your thoughts or your financial donation. I appreciate it!!!

Correction

I am at work...it's 5:40 and I could stay for the next 4 hours and still not have done what I had INTENDED to have done last Friday. Won't go into detail on that, but it isn't really in my control at this point.

So my correction is: maybe I should reconsider the whole stay-at-home mom thing. At least then when you have to work overtime (which is all the time) you can wear comfy clothes and yell at people who aren't doing what they're supposed to.

Ok, back to work for me.

Where have you been?!?!

That may be what you want to ask me! I've been swimming in a world of taxes...and no matter how glitzy I try to make it sound, its just not that exciting. I've been so bogged down with state estimates, the federal return, testing for a system conversion, and other misc things that always seem to pop up that I haven't even had time for my "smoke" breaks! (if you didn't read about my "smoke" breaks last week, please do so you don't think I'm smoking while pregnant...or ever for that matter)

But, regardless, here I am now. I've made this a higher priority than my work for the morning - you should be thanking me for providing you with a few minutes of entertainment amidst whatever your day will bring you. (I am certain it is just slightly more exhilarating than corporate tax...slightly)

I had a pretty busy weekend, on top of being busy at work, so I am in dire need of Sunday to roll around so I can sleep all day. Friday night one of Austin's friends had a cook-out at his house. He had taken some of the backstrap from the deer Austin shot back in January and offered to smoke it for a little "birthday party" for Austin. Perry loves to have people over and cook for people, but his idea of a cook-out is starting to cook once everyone has shown up. Well, when some people don't show up until 8...the meat doesn't finish smoking until 10 at the earliest. I felt bad bolting right after we ate, but it was just a little too late for me after a long week. It was fun though - there were a lot of people there that I hadn't met before, which is usually not my favorite social situation, but we had a good time. Perry and his wife Paula just bought a house in July and I hadn't seen it yet, so it was nice to see their new house too - they're so excited!

Saturday and Sunday during the day I was a busy bee working on crafts - more on that in a bit though. Saturday night I had my first-ever fantasy football draft. What an experience. When I started working at Western Union last year I caught the end of the fantasy "season" and was bombarded by trash-talking and loud screams across the tax department about random players injuries, interceptions, great and horrible games. I love football, but it made it a BIT distracting to work through all the yelling. So this year when they were getting geared up for their league and asked me to join I thought, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" Had I know how seriously each person took this league, though, I may have opted out. Austin and I formed a "team" with my coworker Dottie. Austin isn't technically saying he's part of the "team", but I'm sure if we win he'll gladly help me spend the $350! He was mostly involved in helping me rank players and assign a "value" to each. For anyone familiar with fantasy football, this league does an "auction" rather than a "snake draft" so when it's your turn at draft night to name a player - you aren't claiming him, or are nominating him for bidding and he goes to the highest bidder. It adds an element of strategy (and confusion) as you have to determine who is worth how much, which positions you are still in need of, who has what bye-weeks...gets a little complicated. We had fun though, and my mistake of wearing a Texans t-shirt ended up causing other people to over-bid for Texans just so we couldn't get them...which ended up being a decent strategy because then people were out of money sooner than they would have hoped. For example: we had valued Steve Slaton at $40 max, but were hoping to get him for $35. Someone ended up buying him for $51 - which may not sound like much but when our salary cap is $200, its a big chunk. I am realizing that at this point I may have lost 1/2 my readers in this fantasy nonsense, so I'll move on...basically, it was an experience for the books and one I'm not sure I'll repeat next season - but fun nonetheless.

Back to the crafts. I've been working on all sorts of crafts lately - can't really name them all because some of them are surprises for different people so I can't go too much into detail on those, but let's just say I've been busy. I've had a lot of fun - and found talents/skills I didn't know I had. One thing I'm working on, that isn't a surprise, is a scrapbook for myself of letters that people wrote about my dad after he passed away. My mom had the smart idea of asking that everyone who wanted to write a letter, short or long, about their relationship with my dad and how he impacted their lives. I'm not sure what inspired her idea, or why she thought it would be a good compilation to have, but I think it turned out to be a great idea. In hindsight, for me anyway, it has been a great way for me to learn a little bit more about who my dad was as a person. At 13 years old, its difficult to expect that someone would know their parents as deeply as you may at 25. There are so many things that we just never got to know because we were kids, and we didn't know that our time was going to be cut short. So having these letters, learning about different quirks and traits he had, learning about memories he made, lives he touched, people he helped (and people he taunted) has helped us to know him a little bit better. For the Christmas of 2005 I made books for each of my brothers with some of the letters and some pictures. There are far too many letters to include them all, so I included a variety - some from family, some from children, some from close friends and some from admirers - so they could get a broad range of viewpoints in their books. I never made one for myself, and I never helped my mom organize the letters in a better way than her manila folder. Over the summer I decided I would take on those 2 tasks. I began sorting the letters, making copies, sifting through, and selecting my "favorites" for my book. I'll need to make copies for my book and then I can make a book for my mom with the originals. Because she'll have ALL the letters in hers, hers will just be a simple book binding all the letters together with a protective cover, whereas my brothers and mine have stickers, pretty paper, pictures, etc. I asked Brandon if I could borrow his to get some ideas, and I realized that his had a letter in the back written "Dear Brandon and Lindsey" and a note in front that said "Merry Christmas Brandon and Lindsey" so I need to update those as well! With all the fun, crafty things I've been doing - I wish even more that I were independently wealthy and I could spend all my time doing things like this rather than those lovely taxes I wrote about earlier.

Last night Austin and I went out to a sports bar/grill with Rick and a few other people from their work. We were planning to go to the Grizzly Rose to see Cross Canadian Ragweed but Rick and Tiffany were too tired (as if THEY have an excuse like being pregnant!) so we just went to this bar/grill instead. Rick is leaving in November to go to San Angelo, TX. He'll be a platoon sergeant at AIT, which is job specific training that soldiers go to after basic training. He spent most of last night trying to convince Austin to try to get transferred down there, which resulted in him trying to convince ME that I should get on board so that Austin will be more likely to get on board. Let me remind you, first, that I have absolutely no desire to leave Denver. In a perfect world, or in my perfect world, we'd live here forever. However, I know that all good things must come to an end, and my tenure in Denver is no exception. I still hold out hope that the "end" isn't until 2011 when Austin is done in with active duty, but I also know that anything is possible and we could end up anywhere at anytime. Rick kept pointing out that San Angelo is in Texas, to which I responded that "Texas" is only a good argument for Austin, not me. Then he resorted to just reminding me over and over that HE will be there, and that in itself should make me want to go.

San Angelo, TX: population 80,000. San Angelo is centrally located IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE about 3 hours from San Antonio. Austin tried to boost its appeal by telling me that when he was there for AIT they had enough snow for a snowball fight. Weak argument, as I'm sure that happened once. I told Rick that all I would care about, or the only 2 things that would hinder me from agreeing, would be selling our house and finding a job. Not just any job - I'm not paying off student loans so I can work at starbucks - and I don't want to sell our house without making a small profit on it. Those 2 things may not sound like large hindrances, but in the current housing market and given the location of San Angelo, I would say they're pretty tough feats. I looked on my phone at careerbuilder.com for "accounting San Angelo, TX" and found THREE job openings within 30 miles. One listed the job requirements as a high school diploma - NIX. The next listed the job description as "selling basic banking products such as checking accounts and loans" - NIX. The last was an accounting position within a midsize corporation, paying about what I'm making now. That was the closest thing I could find, but it was in accounting rather than tax accounting - 2 different things.

Sure, I could take this opportunity to be a stay at home mom and take care of our will-be toddler until he/she is of school age. By that point, Austin would be out of the Army and we'd have moved on to greener (and probably more humid) pastures. But that's really just not my thing. It's not in ANY way a knock on moms who do choose to do that - I think moms all try to provide for their kids in the best way they think they can/should and whichever path a mom chooses, she (generally) has the child/ren's best interest at heart. I can certainly see where the positives are for stay at home moms- #1 your child is always in YOUR care. you get to raise him/her how you choose, no worries about what the child is being exposed to, and you never miss a moment of their development. #2 the child gets to have the closeness and the bond of having his/her mother around at such crucial points in life #3 no childcare costs! day care costs a fortune! It's just not my thing. I'd do it if I had to, and I'd certainly make the best of the opportunity - but overall, that's just not me. I'd like to be able to provide as much for my child's future as possible. I'd like to be able to allow my children to join sports or activities that they're interested in without having to crunch numbers to make it work. I'd like to pay for my child's college, or most of it, and I'd like to provide things that I do not think would be as feasible just on one income (especially if that income is an Army income...don't let the congressmen fool you, soldiers work for peanuts) Austin pointed out, after I made my case for needing a job, that after all the crafts I've been working on I could just go into a business of my own. Make my own hours, be home with kids, still have the fulfillment of a job and the luxury of a second income.

Sounds like a FUN idea, not so much a profitable idea. I'm not sure people would pay too terribly much for my products :)

Keep in mind that in the Army, anything that remotely sounds like a 'plan' is sure to never come to fruition. So don't go searching for houses for sale in San Angelo for me or finding a buyer for my house here - as I'm certain this idea, too, will fall off and die soon. I also think that in order for Austin to be moved to San Angelo, he'd have to extend his time in service by at least 6 months - because I think he'd need to be there at least 2 years. I'm not sure if that part really entices him. But - this is the latest "planning" that has gone on...I've learned from Brian, Austin, Jesse and other friends that military men/women come with this extra part of their brain that causes them to constantly come up with new plans and ideas, knowing that most of them would never happen anyway.

As I've spent the last 2 hours juggling blogging and work, I realized that I may have over-written in this one. I may have lost your attention, and I may have caused myself to end up with writer's block later in the week as I won't have much else to talk about! Let me just add quickly to anyone who may see Austin in the near future: please do not bring up the incident with the soldier that I wrote about last week; he would NOT appreciate my sharing the situation over the world-wide-web. oops.

So I'll close this now - hoping I'm not writing this last sentence to myself, my lone reader.