Monthly Archive for January, 2008

charmaspice

Mommy Meme

Published
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charmaspice
on January 29, 2008
in Memes
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Current Mood:Mischievous emoticon Mischievous

I’ve been tagged by my pal Adventure Mom to do a Mommy Meme.  I figure why not, it’s better than you reading my complaints about the wonderful MI winter we’re having. 

  1. How long have you been a Mom?
    5 and a half years
  2. How many children call you Mommy?
    Just the one (although I think the dog thinks I’m her mom too)
  3. Girl? Boy? or both?:
    both girls if you count the dog
  4. Did you know what you were having?
    I was far too excited about having a baby to wait to find out what it was!
  5. How old were you when you became a Mom?
    25
  6. How long were you in labor?
    Friday night at 6pm ish my water broke, and she was out by 2:20pm ish on Saturday (It was a LONG process!)
  7. What’s your favorite thing about being a Mom?
    Getting the chance to see Clare grow into an amazing little girl and hopefully an amazing woman in the future.  She has such style and imagination I can’t wait to see what she’s like in 15 years!
  8. What’s your least favorite thing?
    The temper tantrums.  Clare is VERY spirited, and when she thinks she heard something or knows something the demon is unleashed!
  9. Do you want more kids?
    Some days yes, then the bad days come and it’s a definite NO!  I think we’re done though as the bad days seem to outweigh the good ones.
  10. Do you plan on having more soon?
    HELL NO!
  11. How many times have you been pee’d on?
    If diaper leaks count, then many - other wise I’d have to say none really
  12. Barfed on?
    Far too many to count!  Clare was a pukey baby around 3-6 months.  I think I had more formula on me then in her!
  13.  Is your child named after anyone?
    Mostly yes 
  14. How did you come up with their name?
    Clare is after my Grandma (She was Clara, but Brad thought that was too old fashioned - so we comprimised), and Ella is after Ella Fitzgerald (from our love of music of course)
  15. When your child gets in trouble, who is the bad guy?
    We both take turns, and when one needs back-up the other one is always there for assistance!
  16. What is the longest you have been away from your children?
    We usually take a road trip out to CO in the summer without her, I think one year we were gone for like 14 days or so.  It was FABULOUS!
  17. Bedtime routine?   
     Clare is sent upstairs to get ready on her own.  She goes potty, brushes teeth, picks out her story, and then comes down for her piggy back ride up with Brad and then they read together.
  18. Are your toes painted?
    Nope.  They usually don’t get painted until it’s warm enough for sandals.
  19. Last movie you saw in the theater?
    August Rush (IT was AWEFUL!)
  20. One thing you will not give up just because you’re A mom?
    Spending quality time alone, going on dates with Brad, and drinking Martini’s.
  21. One thing you did give up now that you’re a mom:
    I have slight memories of free time and not having to get babysitters to go out.
  22. Best Mom perk:
    The hugs and the laughter
  23. Snack, you sneak bites from your child?
    Not really.  Once in a while though if she’s having something and I’m too lazy to get my own snack I will.
  24. When the kid is napping, you are:
    What’s napping?  I don’t get that any more.  Although I do get school time - during that time I do errands, watch TV that I can’t watch when she’s around, do housework, and the like.
  25. Where is your child(ren) now?
    Watching TV in our bedroom
  26. Favorite place to buy maternity clothes?
    I really didn’t buy maternity clothes.  My mother-in-law made mine for me, mostly because I worked and my work shirts were big enough to still fit me so all I needed were brown pants.
  27. If I could do it over…
    I wouldn’t change a thing

Now to tag a few of my favorite mom bloggers - and since most of the ones I know were already tagged, I have no one to tag.  However if you do decide to play along, feel free - just link back so I can come read it!

charmaspice

Gotta Love the Imagination

Published
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charmaspice
on January 24, 2008
in Funny and Kid-friendly
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Current Mood:Playful emoticon Playful

star warsYou’ll probably remember from my previous posts how much Clare LOVES Star Wars.  Well this morning she’s been busy playing in the living room happily listening to her mp3 player on her Cool Cat (no we didn’t buy her an mp3 player, it’s an old one of ours that we handed down to her after buying new ones for us).  I can’t even find any info on the Cool Cat - so they must not make them any more.  It’s this cute little pink cat that has sunglasses that change color and it bobs it head and taps it’s feet to sound and movement and has a speaker in it’s back.  You plug your mp3 player in and presto chango it’s a little boom box.  All of the music is stuff I listen to as well, so it works out well. 

Anyway, she has been busy playing while I’m out in the dining room doing my thing on the laptop.  I give her a 15 minute warning, and then she has to go get dressed.  You see, it takes her about 45 minutes to get dressed with all the screwing around and side tracking that happens in her little 5 year old brain.  I then tell her 5 more minutes.  She then asks me if I want to know what she’s playing.  I of course say sure.  She then tells me that she’s reenacting Star Wars with her dolls.  She has all of her Barbies lined up, and is using her Littlest Pets for R2D2 and C3PO the robots.  It just makes me laugh.  The things our kids come up with!

charmaspice

You Go Girl!

Published
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charmaspice
on January 24, 2008
in Funny and Rants
. 0 Comments

Current Mood:Cool emoticon Cool

telemarketersI hate to toot my own horn, but I just feel good about what I just said to a nasty telemarketer.  We put ourselves on the Do Not Call list several years ago, so for the most part the 800 or 866 or 8whatever numbers have stopped calling us.  It has been a huge relief to not get many calls, as I was really hating all of the phone ringing that was going on around here - it stressed me out for some reason.  So, when an 8whatever number happens to call it usually means I’ve misplaced a bill and forgot to pay it or something of the sort.  I fixed the misplaced bill problem last month by buying a 3 tiered sorter that sits at the end of my dining room table, so in stead of a pile of stuff to sort through every few weeks I am forced to sort it now.  One slot is for bills, another slot is for things I need to find a home for, and the last slot has been for Clare’s school papers that I need to remember, or do something with.  It’s been a huge help, and then on payday Friday I just pull out the bill slot and pay what needs to be paid.  So, I KNOW for a fact I’m not behind on anything. 

Back to tooting my horn, so there was an 866 call this morning - I reluctantly answer.  I hate having to say Hello 3 times before they answer!  So, I know something is up.  Finally a lady says “Can I please speak to Mr Eastowner”. 

I said in a nice voice “Mr. Eastowner is not at home right now, can I take a message.“ 

She of course replies with “Well then can I please speak with Mrs. Eastowner?“ 

Me:  “This is she”  Ugh, I hate it when I have to talk to them.  Why can’t they just give up!

Lady:  “I am calling on behalf your mortgage company, and because you are a valued costomer we would like to offer you blah blah blah”

Me waiting paitently to get a word in while she reads her little script:  “Yes that is my address, but I am not interested at this time in recieving anything so please take me off your call list.”

Lady:  “But mam, this is just something for you to look over, and if you want to cancel all you have to do is call back within the 30 days.”

Me:  “Yes, I know.  However I do not have the time to sift through the paperwork and bills that I currently have to look over, so why would I want to add your papers to that pile.   I really don’t have time to look over this; let alone then have to call you back before the 30 days so you can cancel it before charging me for something that I already told you I am not interested in.”  I so wish this call was over by now!

Lady in a rather disapointed voice, because I think I am the first person to tick her off today by actually answering my phone:  Thank you for your time blah blah blah by the way here’s my number (Like I actually had paper handy for her speady read of her number - HAH).

charmaspice

Wednesday Maddness

Published
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charmaspice
on January 23, 2008
in Rants and Updates
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Current Mood:Angry emoticon Angry

explosiveSo, today turned out nothing like I thought.  I was woken up around I don’t know what time, you know the time - when your eyes are so blurry and you are mid-sleep and it’s still dark outside that you don’t recall what time the alarm clock says.  I vagely remember the conversation with Clare, something about not finding a stuffed animal in her bed, something about not remembering a stuffed bears name….stuff I don’t remember because I was sleep talking to her aparently.  So now, her bears name is Alice - how I came up with that in a heavy sleep I have no clue.  Maybe it’s some secret baby name I wanted to use - not really.  The second time I was woken up it was at a more reasonable hour, and I was able to see the sun (or what sun you can see through the clouds and snow).  Ugh the snow.  It really is my HE double hockey sticks idea of what most people consider burning flames in an inferno of purgatory.  Or isn’t that only a Catholic thing…not sure I’m a religion drop out.

Anyway, the morning was our usual and we were off to a pretty decent start - other than my lack of time to post my started Wordless Wednesday.  I really dislike the snow that has been falling from our skies here in W. Michigan for oh about a week straight now, although it feels like longer.  I have to add time into our schedule to go brush off the car, get it warmed up, get Clare in her snow gear in a timely fashion so she can get to school on time and play in the snow.  The last part is of most importance to a 5 year old that has a burning desire for rolling in the snow, and as she says “swimming in it”.  I remember those times as a child, but as an adult it’s painful and I dislike going out in the elements.  Lately it’s worked out for us though because I shovel, and she “helps” - as much help as it is for her to rethrow the snow I just shoveled away.  Back to our day, so she got to school in time to head out and swing for about 10 minutes- also her latest passion when she gets to school.  After they went inside I headed for Costco. 

I have been in desperate need of getting new tires now for months, and the pain in the booty of stopping to put air in my tires was really getting to me.  So, I went online to see how much theirs were because they have a deal going on right now.  They had a pretty good deal, so I went ahead and ordered them to have them delivered to my local warehouse.  They called me last night, so I planned on going after dropping Clare off.  He told me it’d be about an hour and a half, so I wandered Costco, bought a few magazines to read while I dined accross the parking lot to Noodle & Co.  I came back to my car still in their garage.  Okay, maybe their almost done.  Nope, apparently when I ordered it their website had me order the wrong size.  Imagine explatives running through my head here!  They didn’t give me the option of size when I ordered, it was just put the info in about your make model and year of your car.  Thankfully they had the same tire in my car’s size.  Returned the old tires, bought the new tires, and I had to pay them another $100!  Another half hour he said….UGH!  So I sat outside reading my magazine -fuming.  I called Brad to vent.  30 minutes went by, still no tires on my car.  COME ON PEOPLE - I have to be back to the school in 15 minutes to pick up my child.  40 minutes went by, finally he was done. 

I rush to school, wait in the car line, get Clare, and hit the grocery for a few things that I needed for dinner.  Afterwards I had to go to the post office to mail some e-bay stuff for Brad, and then finally home.  When we got home we put our stuff inside and Clare got to play outside while I shoveled.  We came in, put dinner in, and I finally began to decompress from my day.  To finish I’ll share a little laugh.  During dinner we had a funny conversation with Clare - it went a little like this:

Clare:  I really like B in my class.  He’s really funny, and his jokes always make me laugh.

Me:  Oh yeah, is he your new boyfriend? (because she already as 2 currently)

Clare:  Yeah, he’s in my boyfriend club

Brad:  Oh, do you have a fan club in Japan?  You must be really popular there.

She didn’t get it, but it’ll be funny later on in life.

charmaspice

Baby It’s Cold Outside!

Published
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charmaspice
on January 21, 2008
in Family and Updates
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cold outsideSo, you’re probably wondering which rock I’ve been hiding under in this Arctic freeze that’s taken hold of West Michigan…well I’ve taken to hiding under my warm blanket while watching movies most of the weekend.  This weekend we had temps in the single digits and extremely low double digits; starting Sunday out at 3 degrees Farenheit.  We did go out on Saturday morning to meet friends for breakfast at Wolfgang’s.  Wolfgang’s is literally 2 blocks away from our house, so we bundled up for a brisk morning walk.  It only made sense to walk, as it would have taken me just as long to warm up the car and get it brushed off as it took us to walk there.  We tromped through the snow for some delish breakfast, good company, and some coffee (or hot chocolate in Clare’s case) to warm us up. 

Afterwards we came home and I started in on the laundry - it was pretty rough as I hadn’t done it in about a week.  I had to take 3 laundry baskets full of laundry out of our bedroom before I found the hamper!  It was quite a mess.  After getting some of it going I snuggled up with Moonshadow in our bedroom to watch Fried Green Tomatoes.  I love this movie, and it always reminds me of the power of friendship.  Clare kept busy most of the afternoon playing Lego Star Wars with Brad and by herself, and Brad kept busy with his CD & E-bay projects down in the basement.  I’m suprised he stayed down there as long as he did because it’s probably only like 55 degrees down there.  Dinner was pretty hodgepodge with Brad making pasta with faux chicken and peas we had around, and he also made some garlic bread to go with it.  I opened some wine to go with it, and it made for a cozy meal despite the cold weather.

Brad had big aspirations for a Sunday outing, but when he saw the temperature reading on his computer he thought about going out a second time.  So, instead he got most of his CD project done, although he did go out for some dinner supplies later in the afternoon.  I worked on laundry, and started watching my Sex and the City series again.  I don’t know what it is about that show, but I never tire of watching it.  I think I’ve probably watched the entire series half a dozen times over the past few years, and I still love it.  With the what seems like an unending writers strike going on I’ve taken advantage of our large DVD collection that I continually get teased about, and have been watching some old movies that we have in between some new movies I’ve gotten from Netflix.  Even though I dislike the cold weather, and you’ll probably read a few more blogs from me on that topic, the break from traveling all over the state has been welcomed into our daily life because we like to be hermits from January until about March.

Today is much of the same, as Clare doesn’t have school.  Although I think we may go out later and hang out with some friends at the mall…..ugh the mall.  At least it gives us something to do if we do decide to brave the elements!

dead headphonist

Music history lesson from allmusic

Published
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dead headphonist
on January 19, 2008
in Music
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Current Mood:Waking Up emoticon Waking Up

rednexcottoneyejoecdsinglecover.jpgI have been reading the allmusic blog lately. It’s quite an excellent mash-up of info about all parts of the music world. If you are a real explorer of sound, the blog is for you.

The latest entry is the history behind “Cotton-Eyed Joe”, which apparently has a lot more history than I ever knew.

The blog entry can be found here.

dead headphonist

F&@king Friday!

Published
by
dead headphonist
on January 18, 2008
in Raves
. 1 Comment

blizzard.jpgWoot. It’s Friday. Everyone tip yer fav to the sky and smile a little wider. There’s nothing going on here tonight, but I don’t care. Char’s asleep on the couch and the kid’s watching toons. I’m in the basement (known affectionately as “the cold room”) for some chilling out and decompressing from what, as usual, was a stupid week.

Here’s to next week being better! I should be back with a BCAR or two this weekend (as if you cared). Everyone have a safe and productive Friday night and try to stay out of the goddamn snow. Man… I hate winter. Will someone tell me why we still live in this state?

charmaspice

Gamers Delight

Published
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charmaspice
on January 18, 2008
in Funny and Raves
. 0 Comments

Current Mood:Cool emoticon Cool

board gameLast night I had a fantabulous time with my gal pals from my MOMS Club.  Every month we try to have a MOMS Night Out, because most of us never get to get out without our kids and have just a night out with the ladies.  Some months we go out to a restaurant, sometimes we just get together for drinks and dessert, or whatever other clever ideas we can come up with.  Last night we met up at a member’s house for some fun games, food, and some wine.  Some of us were big time game players talking smack about how they can win, others of us hadn’t played games in years.  I was one that hadn’t played in years.  We played some Taboo, Apples to Apples, and Loaded Questions.  It’s amazing what you learn after a few drinks, and laughter during a game.  I am hoping that we can do this again, as it was a fun night of much needed laughter and girl talk. 

dead headphonist

CD’s every-freaking-where

Published
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dead headphonist
on January 17, 2008
in Music
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So I got one of the larger shipments of CD’s today (somewhere around 115), got them all in the database and have continued on my quest to rip every CD I have to lossless (again). Currently, I have over 700 done and until I got the latest crop, it’s been going pretty quickly (these have some issues and rip slowly). A good chunk of the CD’s I got were a random “rap/hip-hop/r&b” lot of 90+ CD’s. It actually turned out to be pretty good; about 60 CD’s I care to own, 5 that I already had, 25 or so that are meh, and only 5-6 that are a complete waste of time.

Not bad for $65 shipped.

I’ve also been selling stuff out of my lab lately on Fleabay. It’s net’d me some pretty alright cash to upgrade some things (mostly disk capacity, but I’m also looking at server upgrades). I am, however, reminded that selling stuff on ebay, even a small amount, can end up being a part time job.

100_2488.JPGAt least I have some good music to listen to while I’m doing it and my home rig is pretty excellent these days. Here’s a pic from what was a couple of minutes before this post was made.

charmaspice

Wordless Wednesday - My Dream House

Published
by
charmaspice
on January 16, 2008
in Wordless-Wednesday
. 7 Comments
100_1967.JPG

When we went to visit my brother last June we spoted this beauty…..it’s for sale.  I’m sure they want millions for it, and I have none.  So until then I can dream can’t I?

 For more Wordless Wednesday check out 5 Minutes for Mom or WW!