Wednesday Catch Up

Hmm...what have we been doing lately?

We've had a pretty busy summer being outside. Now anyone who knows me also knows that I don't like being outside. I think the outdoors is extremely overrated and I'd rather be doing just about anything at all in a temperature controlled indoor environment. Well, my daughter does not agree with my philosophy of "if it isn't done inside it's not worth doing." This means every day I end up outside.

We go to some kind of park every day. Maybe one day it's Weed Park, the next day Fuller, and the next day the Discovery Park. Aria will normally find at least one slightly older little girl who will play with her and she can follow around. Aria latches onto girls who are around 4-7 years old and blond. Maybe a red head once in awhile. For some reason those are the girls she wants to follow around. I am thankful for little girls who think Aria is cute and is perfectly happy to help her go down the slide or to swing with her. It also means I can sit down for a minute and not have to hover like a mama bear.

Our current schedule goes like this:
8am-9am: Wake up, eat breakfast, take a walk in the stroller or go to the park for about two hours.
11am-1pm: Eat lunch, color, play with legos. Go wake up daddy.
1pm-3pm: Play with daddy, then take a nap.
4pm-6pm: Wake up, have a snack. Play outside or at a park until dinner. Watch Wiggles while mommy makes dinner.
7:30pm-8:30pm: Eat dinner with daddy, then go to sleep.
Somewhere at random times baths will be had as well as diaper changes and other such fun stuff.

One bit of good news for me! Aria doesn't seem to be as sensitive to wipes anymore. I used to only be able to use the Member's Mark wipes as everything else gave her a rash. No more! I have been able to use something else and after careful testing have determined other wipes safe! This is so great!

Aria is also becoming a picky eater as well as eating less. She has decided that regular milk isn't good enough anymore and in order for her to have her 18 oz a day I have to make sure it is flavored and that it is cold. If it is not cold she also will not drink it. She has decided she doesnt' want things that she normally loves including peanut butter and carrots. She would be perfectly happy to eat apples and goldfish all day long. Unfortunately for her, she does not get this option. If I leave a bowl of cut up fruits in the living room she will snack on that all day. At least I know she is getting her fruit. She also has decided that bacon is the best thing ever. It is looking like every day is Bacon, fruit salad, goldfishes day.

About me:
Well, my hair needs cut again. I just hate it touching my neck.
I have completely stopped standing on the scale and checking my weight. I am already happier. I have decided that size 14 isn't too horrible after all.
I have also decided that if something is worth making, it is worth wrapping in foil and baking it the easiest way possible. My husband approves of this method wholeheartedly.
I have seen the Star Trek movie twice and would see it again in an instant. I was never a big Star Trek fan before, but now I am obsessed. I went to the movie to see Simon Pegg and came out with a huge crush on Zachary Quinto.
Every day I admire my yard. I take care of my yard better than I take care of anything now. I mow every Monday, which is more than I can say for my laundry.
Apologize is still my favorite song, but it is being edged out by You Found Me.

Sorry no pics this time. Not because I don't have any, but just because I am too lazy.

Friday Fence is Up!

Low and behold, the fence is finally done! This makes me all kinds of excited. Okay, so it isn't completely complete. There is a gate to be put up in the front, but for the most part, the important stuff is all done. There were quite a bit of problems on the way, such as even after we got those trees cut down, the stumps made it impossible to sink a hole there and so the posts have some creative spacing. It looks good, though, and even our gate's hinges are all pretty.

I bought a manual lawnmower at Menards. My thoughts were that if I was going to mow the lawn myself, our other lawnmower was broken, and I can barely start a lawnmower, then I would get a manual. It actually works pretty good. I mean, I don't expect it to be a walk in the park, unless that park is very bumpy and full of sticks. However, I would have more trouble with a pushmower and so it's all good. I don't have to worry about gas or oil or grass shooting at my legs and cutting them. Nor do I have to worry about bent or dull blades or grass bunching up in the catcher. An old man walking down the sidewalk saw me using it and said, "I haven't seen one of those in years. I learned to cut grass with one of those." His grandpa had one, hee hee.

I went to yard sales with Mom and Aria today here in town. We got some good deals. I got Aria a cute little trike for $2. I got her some books, about 5 outfits, and I got her a fisher price play camera and a weebles RV. Mom got some Megablocks to keep at her house and some cute clothes for Gannon in size 12 months. We ate at KFC and stopped when the baby started getting cranky. Tomorrow I plan to go with Misty, but we'll be taking the stroller because there should be quite a bit of walking going on. All in all, not a bad day. Today a lot was accomplished.

Friday-Yard Wasteland

So the privacy fence building continues. We had Freer and Sons come to take out those meddlesome trees. These are the pics of the wasteland that my yard is right now.

I still have time that I can get a lot of the brush and make it for spring cleaning. We got a lot of crap out of our house and picked up this morning. Three old mattresses, computer cases, a monitor, Chris's couch, and various other crap that was just laying around. The amazing thing to me is that Rod didn't even know we had this stuff. For instance, I was cleaning out empty boxes from the bedroom and Rod goes, "Where did you find those?" The bedroom. They've been there all year. He didn't even notice them. I couldn't miss them, they were there every day. They aren't now! I got rid of the fooseball table that was in the attic and other crap that the people who lived here before us left. It is amazing though what other people will take from there. Like, they took all of our computer cases, the broke vacuum, both dead batteries I put out, and the car haired, disgusting cat thing I threw out. All of these things were picked up by people roaming the alley.



Aria discovered that woodchips are interesting. I am surprised she didn't want to play in the stuff. I would want to play in it, but she didn't. Rod has a friend that is supposed to come and pick up the fence and a bunch of the wood. I dunno why he wants the fence, but whatever floats his boat.

Just look at the wasteland that is my yard. It is very flammable right now. I have so much cleanup left to do and not a whole lot of time to do it. It makes it especially difficult since I have to watch Aria while I look out at the yard thinking, "I could be cleaning that up."

So, it's progress. Now there is nothing standing in the way of getting the rest of the fence up. I am even going to save some of the wood chips because I have the idea of putting in a small, burning bush that doesn't have to be trimmed and then putting wood chips around it. They cost a lot if you buy them and I have tons for free!

Random stuff:

*Aria is beginning to like a couple stuffed animals. She hugs the white bear that my mom gave her for Valentine's Day, and she likes this beanie baby zebra that Mary gave her. All other stuffed animals suck, lol.

*Aria can now point to her nose if you ask her too. We are teaching her ears next.

*Aria now points to things in books for you to name them. She can't point yet if you name it though.

*We bought Aria a potty. At first she cried when I put her on it, but now she sits on it with her pants on if you ask her to. This is the first step in potty training! She is uncomfortable when she has a poop diaper and grabs her diaper. Today she tried to wipe herself with her sock, so I am thinking she is getting ready.

*I bought Sims2 Seasons and it is everything I thought it would be. It's so fun! My favorite things about it so far is when lightning strikes something and sets it on fire and when the penguin comes around in the winter. I also like raking the leaves and burning them. Seasons is great!

Ten Years!

Well, I have made it to my tenth wedding anniversary. We had originally wanted to do so much more for this big milestone, but we had no money in which to do it. However, what we did do was pretty fun so it all worked out.

Friday was our actual anniversary and so we spent the after noon in the park feeding the ducks and geese. Aria loves birds. She loves them so much-again, another way that she is the opposite of me. She points out the birds in our lawn too, and every bird she sees is a 'duck'. It was a really nice day and so feeding the birds was fun. We stayed until it was time to put the baby girl for a nap.

Rod found out that Biaggi's has a gluten free menu after doing a search for restaurants. We were so excited about that! He made a reservation and I got Aria and I all dressed up for Biaggi's. It would be Aria's first fancy restaurant trip.

Aria did pretty good. The whole place was loud with talking and so I didn't worry about her being loud. She was afraid of the guys at the table next to us and so we had to scoot her over. She also got tired of sitting in her chair after awhile and so lots of effort was made to entertain her. She stuffed herself with bread, fed me bread, and tried to feed her daddy bread. I know she's too young to understand that daddy can't eat bread, but she was super offended when he wouldn't eat it. She just gives you a look like, "You must eat it! I am offering it to you so eat it now!"

Then we went to coldstone because I had an awesome coupon. We had dark chocolate ice cream with cherries. It was hella great. Aria helped me to eat mine because she has a dessert compartment too.

Then on Saturday we went to a gamecon in the Quads. It was the first one I had been to in years. We played D&D 4.0 and I was completely lost. I never played it before and I was at a table of ppl who play it all the time. I felt like such a gamer beginner. I'm all, "What does this spell do? Where do I look for this? What does this mean? Can I do this?" I swear it was like I never played a game before in my life and I've been playing for ten years! Rod and I both won a raffle and so we went home with $100 worth of games for free. None of which I will probably play.

Mary played with the baby girl all day. She sent us a pic of Aria with a bucket on her head. She had fun. I am glad. I want Aria to have a good relationship with her grandmas. Mom has been extra crazy lately. I can't help but think that she skipped a pill or a shot or something. She sent me an anniversary card saying she was 'concerned', which is typical Mom. Just the random craziness has lasted about two weeks straight and I am hoping for an end in sight.

We got Mary's old screen door. They bought a new one and called to ask if I wanted it. I said YES! GIMME! So she said that there was something wrong with the bottom and I reminded her that my screen door is tied to the railing with a bungee cord. I don't care! I want!

It hailed today. How fucked up is that. I swear every neighbor went to look out their windows and we were all, "What the hell? Why is it hailing? It's freakin' April."

Other randomness:

*I get $6 to spend on myself because Rod spent $6 on himself.

*We have to cut down two stupid trees in order to get the privacy fence up because there are carpenter ants eating away at one and the other one is nearly dead too. That is going to cost us $400. Rod is gonna use his bonus on it when he gets it so that we can afford it. There must be some higher power that doesn't want me to have my privacy fence. I shake my fist in the air and shout, "Damn you! I WILL have my privacy fence!"

*I was actually sleepy today. That must mean my medicine is getting out of my system. I liked actually having energy.

*Sims2 Seasons is soooooo fun!

Tuesday Dinner

It was tree cutting down time the last few days of the privacy fence project. First Rod had to cut down one tree and then went to work. Today I put all of the branches and logs of that tree into a pile by the house and out of the workspace. This took me around an hour, but I got my exercise for the day because some of those limbs were pretty heavy. I did this while Aria was napping.

Then Aria and I went to dinner with Nancy, Jeanne, Misty, and Kathy. We went to a Mexican place I have never been to before. Ari was so good there and I discovered that she has a dessert compartment too. She was completely full of her chips and salsa and was just playing with the stuff until I got dessert. Then she was all over that dessert like she wasn't just full. Yep, dessert compartment just like me.

Saturday Work

I am thinking that mom is going to need a break from watching Aria for awhile because as Aria gets older Mom can't handle her. I don't mean that she can't chase her, I mean that she can't handle just normal toddler stuff. For one, Mom makes Aria very agitated. All she does is stare at her. I've told Mom, "You know, it's okay to talk to her." I have to tell Mom that she can read to her or play with her. Interact with her in some sort. Mom does not do this. In fact, all she really does is sit and look at the girl.

Another thing that Rod mentioned is that Mom is full of extremes. When she isn't going, "Oh, sweetie don't do that." She's yelling, "Knock it off!" Rod said that my mom was doing that with everything. If Aria fell down one minute Mom would be, "Oh, sweetie" and in ten minutes she'd be like, "Get up! You are fine!" Rod then asked me how it was that I turned out so good. Well, again, I think it has a lot to do with that we were at our grandparents every day. As I remember it, mom never really talked to us or did anything with us either.

We are also discovering that Mom doesn't let Aria take her naps. Rod said that he had to tell my mom to go outside just so that Aria could take a nap. Every time Aria made a peep Mom wanted to race up the stairs and get her. Aria ended up taking only a half hour nap because Mom would literally perch on the stairs and listen for her. Rod said that now he understands why when he gets home from work he'll put Aria down for a nap and she'll go right to sleep at, like 4pm. My mom is not letting her nap.

So I need to give Mom a long break and only have her see Aria when I am there. She just does not know what to do with kids. Now that Aria isn't a baby anymore and is actually moving and interacting, she has no clue. Mom doesn't do things like talk to her. She doesn't offer to read to her. She doesn't do anything at all. It's really kind of disappointing, but not surprising.

More posts are put up on the privacy fence. It's Easter and there's no babysitter so I doubt if anything will get done today. Tomorrow should be better since I will be home with Aria. I will call Grandpa today to see if he can come down and help since Rod won't have any help.

Friday Privacy Fence Day One

Day one involved going to Menards a total of three times to get the following:

1.Another post hole digger

2. Shovel

3. 2x4's

This is because you never have all that you need in order to get the job done. Grandpa's post hole digger is on its last legs and we didn't even own a shovel. The 2x4's are to help hold up the posts while they set in concrete.

Day one also involved lots of 'discussion' I say discussion when it is just Rod and Chris arguing about how to go about doing something. They can't do anything at all without arguing about it. They can't play board games, video games. I doubt they can cook dinner together without arguing over just how long to cook something. The 'discussions' we as indecisive as them. At one point the post hole was dug too deep and it was some big ordeal whether to...? a) put more dirt in to fill up the hole a little bit b) leave it cuz it is good enough or c) put concrete in the bottom and try to fill it in that way. As they were arguing about the post I picked it up, kicked in some dirt, put it back in and said, "There! It's done! Get the concrete, we don't have to discuss it anymore!" Cuz, seriously, it would have taken them a full hour to decide whether to kick dirt in the hole or not. There was a similar argument over how exactly to level the posts to one another. Should they a) eye it, b) use a level and board...This is why in the hours that they did it, they only set up five posts.

I took out the patio blocks and used the dirt to fill in the holes. I don't know what I will do with those patio blocks yet, but I know I didn't like them where they were. We will have lots of concrete left and so I may just build a sidewalk with what we have left over and lead it out to my car. I may even build onto the patio, depending on how much concrete we'll have left.

Aria discovered dirt and leaves today. She also played in water. She got very messy but had a very good time. In fact, she didn't want to go inside at all, and every time someone had to come inside for something she would try to bolt out the door in order to go outside again. She is going to be a total outside child, so the exact opposite of me.

So tomorrow the plan is to take out the other neighbor's fence and put up the panels on the posts. Mom will be watching Aria while this happens.