Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Please pray for us

Things keep going wrong around here and we would greatly appreciate everyone's prayers for our continued safety, health, and the health of our cars. Both cars were in the shop this weekend and now yesterday, my car is trembling and the service engine soon light has come on. Which is going to cost us money. Again. The bad things happening to us are small, but they're frustratingly regular.

Let's list some good news:
My trembling car did get me to court this morning, which went well.
I only have 4 more tax classes before I'm done with the course!
My son is happy (for the most part), healthy, and usually a cuddly joy.
My morning sickness is getting less and less.
My husband is a great partner when lots of unpleasant things happen and usually just jumps right on fixing them.
My husband sees it as his job to help me keep my chin up.
My husband spent the morning doing particularly annoying laundry (fluffing and hanging) and was about to vacuum the house when I last talked to him.
My husband must have picked up the sea of baby toys in the fireplace room for that to be feasible.
Hiring discussions for H&R Block will start on Wednesday.
My boss and replacement are in an all day training thing today along with most of my department.
Our second car gets out of the shop today.
We get to hear the baby's heartbeat tomorrow!

OK, so that's a good list!!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Random stuff

First of all, the court date got moved and WE GET TO HAVE THANKSGIVING AFTER ALL!!!!! Huge sigh of relief. So now we're working on packing everything up so we can leave tonight and travel while Quint sleeps. That would be awesome. We can leave as soon as I get done with my quiz in tax class.

Tax code crap for the day:
If the expenses in (1) and (2) exceed the gross rent, a vacation home loss may be claimed. But operating expenses and depreciation may not create a loss. If these expenses are greater than the gross income minus the expenses in (1) and (2), they must be carried forward to next year.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Rockstar baby!

Ain't my little boy cute!!! These are one of his aunt's glasses that we were playing with. Their visit was the bright point of this weekend. Bright points are really nice!

And few and far between for me lately. The sky continues to fall around here. Friday I was witness to a crime and the court date is the day after Thanksgiving. That means that we can't go to my mother-in-law's for Thanksgiving. And I was really looking forward to that! We were going to have Christmas while we were there too! So this robber has stolen a visit with family and essentially TWO holidays!!

I've called the DA to see if we can move it and am waiting for a call back.

Pppffffftttt!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Rapt attention

Yesterday our little man did something cute - I KNOW BIG SURPRISE!! Hubby's bagpipes had been sitting all day where Quint could reach the mouthpiece. Several times he'd stop by there and try to blow or suck on the mouth piece. So when Hubby got home, and Quint was done with his snack, Quint went over to the bagpipes and patted them. Hubby asked, "do you want me to play those?" Big grin and giggle. So Hubby picks them up and starts to fill the bag with air. Quint races around the coffee table and tries to scramble up into the recliner. He can't get up there yet, so I pick him up and set him in the chair as if he were an adult. The whole time Hubby played his bagpipes, Quint sat perfectly still, little hands folded, with a grin on his face. The video camera was upstairs or I would have gotten some video of that.

Yesterday at Priscilla's, Quint had a run away nose that Priscilla said was yellow. I never did see a yellow nose run yesterday, but I got to spend the day with my baby and get some things done around the house. When he napped yesterday, I napped and slept like the dead. One other time while he was awake, I had the darndest time keeping my eyes open. I asked my sister later, "do you think that's just depression making me want to sleep so much?" She said, "that sounds more like pregnancy fatigue." Oh yeah! I AM pregnant! That would explain it.

My miracle nausea drug worked in 12 minutes recently. TWELVE MINUTES. And that's from dangling off the bed, drinking soda through a straw, trying to hold very, very still all the way to getting in the shower. That stuff is great!!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

Lotsa laughs

Lotsa laughs on 11-3-10. Quint is 13 months old

Comprehension - 14 months

I've got to start being more mindful that Quint understands nearly everything I say. There's this Veggie Tales silly song with the line "I ain't got no belly button". It's really a very funny song and a spoof on hip-hop love songs. Click here to go watch it.

Last night at some point when Quint's belly button was visible and he was playing with it, (in the tub or during a clothes change) I started singing this song. "I got to tell you something. I ain't got no belly button." He looked up at me, and his eyes said he was clearly shocked! "You don't have a belly button?!" was clearly what his face said. I quickly said, "it's just a silly song, son. Of course I have a belly button," and showed him mine. He looked relieved and played with my belly button for a minute.

Because he will soon start to understand what I'm saying, I've already told him that he is going to be a big brother. I've even explained what that means and will do so many more times before #2 gets here. Right now, he obviously doesn't get it.

Also this weekend, one afternoon when I knew he needed a nap, I just asked him. "Do you need a nap?" And he actually said, "I do" with one quick nod. He still shrieked as if tortured when I first put him down, but that only lasted for like 3 minutes then he was OUT! We're working on the phrase, "come here" while trying to not associate it with "or I'll get you" which makes running and chasing happen. He also requested to go outside to play. Outside he walked all over the place and went up the deck stairs several times. Once back inside, he chased Hubby around our kitchen/living room race track. Then after a few minutes, they switched and Hubby chased Quint, all while Quint quacked like a duck. He is so darn cute!

We also worked on going DOWN the stairs. He's great at going up the stairs, but horrible at going down the stairs. We moved the baby gate at the very bottom of the stairs to three steps from the bottom. That way he could climb them and learn how to go back down by himself. I'm not that worried about him falling down three carpeted stairs. He did manage to get back down several times by himself.

At the park, he learned to both climb up the slide steps and then go down the slide. He hasn't mastered the "sit on the edge and put your feet in front of you before you go down" part. A friend took some video on her phone. That I can't get to install here on this page. I'll try again later.


My camera is busted, AGAIN, so my most current photos of Quint are trapped on my phone where I don't know how to get them off. I've been taking still pictures with my video camera and I need to post some of those.

Quint is 14 months old today! He will feed himself solid foods for Priscilla, but not so much for us. He will eat broccoli for her, but refuses for us. He's starting to feed himself more and more though. He only occasionally will only eat spoon fed goo. The other day, he actually stacked one block on top of another and looked astonished that it stayed. He is completely weaned!

The very last time he nursed was funny. In the middle of the night he was incredibly upset about something and we couldn't figure out what. Maybe it was a nightmare. At wit's end, I plugged him in to nurse, knowing I didn't have any milk. Hubby asked about that and I said it still works as a pacifier. After a few calming minutes, he let go and sat up. He turned at looked at it, touched it with his finger, and his little shoulders fell a bit. He reached for my shirt and pulled it down to cover me. Hubby and I exchanged a look. A minute later, as we walked by a sippy cup of water, he lunged at it. I handed him the water and he drank about 4 ounces in a minute. Oh! He was actually thirsty! And had learned that Mama is not the source of drink any more. He hasn't tried to nurse again since.

He says several partial words like ugry for hungry, ank oo for thank you, el-cm for welcome. Mostly, he's still pointing at things he wants to eat. And he's starting to get object permanence. It no longer always works to hide the Vanilla Wafers under a blanket.

Lately, with the daylight savings change, his sleep schedule got out of whack. There for several days, he would go down for a "nap" at 6:30 and not get up again. Until 5am. When he awoke with a very dirty diaper and a determination to be UP for the day. FIVE AM!! He doesn't need to get up until 7 am on weekdays. And on Saturday morning, the best way to make parents hate life is to joyfully wake them at 5am, and then scream, SCREAM, for a full minute before finally falling back to sleep for another 90 minutes. So for several days there, we distracted an extremely sleepy toddler until at least 7:30 pm before we would put him to bed. Finally, this morning, he didn't wake up until 6:30 am. Much better.

He's a very sweet, loving boy, who will sometimes plant a hug on you as he passes through the room. If I'm laying on the floor, he will come and crash his head on my body for a hug. (This is great if you're prepared for it!) The other day, he layed down with me for about 2 minutes and repeatedly kissed the arm I had around him. Very, very sweet!

So that's what our little guy is up to at 14 months old!

Friday, November 12, 2010

And yet again...

Yesterday, Hubby saw a car that he wanted to buy, but couldn't test drive it because there was only one attendant at the car lot right then. So today we go back to drive it and probably buy it. We go out to lunch beforehand for a little lunch date. Very fun lunch date.

We pull up to the tiny car dealership on the old lot of a gas station and Hubby doesn't see the car. Yup, you guessed it! It sold this morning. The same car that's been there for weeks that Hubby has been trying to talk me into - gone from one day to the next.

Back to square one.

Again.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Laugh for the day

Today, we tried and are trying to buy a car. We thought we had it nailed down and drove 30 miles away to go "pick it up". Good thing I didn't just leave Hubby there like we thought about doing. There were SEVERAL small things wrong with it, including not having the original key, not having any programmable keys (we would need two) and not having even one key fob for remote entry (we would need two). Those things right there add up to $300-500 to replace. And that wasn't all. And he wouldn't budge on the price.

So we're back to square one for the big car hunt. I spent 10 minutes online with craigslist and found 10 or so cars within a 3 hour drive that we might be interested in and emailed them to Hubby. Have I mentioned that I'm delighted that Hubby does all the hard stuff on car buying?! There were two others here in our own town and he drops by one to see the powder blue car. Hubby's not thrilled with powder blue - he says it's an old woman color (?).

So he goes to check the thing out. It has an awesome price, which should have been a clue. It was owned by a smoker, the first key they gave him wouldn't open the car, and last but not least, IT WOULDN'T START! Oh, look at that, there's no battery. And no spare. What else have you poached off the car? Five Arab guys can't be bothered with details like that because their buddy just arrived with the Taco Bell. See ya.

Yup, that's my big laugh for the day. Kinda pathetic.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Tax code crap for today!

Self Employment Tax:

If the amount of your Net Earnings is $106,800 or less, multiply net earnings by 15.3%. Enter the result here and on Form 1040, line 56.

If the amount of your Net Earnings is more than $106,800, multiply your net earnings by 2.9%. Then add $13,243.20 to the result. Enter this on Form 1040, line 56.

Deduction for one-half of self-employment tax. Multiply the above result by 50%. Enter the result here and on Form 1040, line 27.


Make sure to not miss that extra 20 cents there. Which is odd seeing how they tell you early on to round every number to the nearest dollar before you put it on any kind of tax form. But don't forget that 20 cents!

Who comes up with these calculations?! Really! $13,243.20?!!

I'm off to class, but I'm going to drown my sorrows in a #1 from Chick-fil-a on the way.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Tuesday update

Quint had a fever of 101.2 yesterday and Priscilla called to say come get him. When I got there, he was burning up and being politely sequestered. He was in a highchair with some toys and everyone else was on the other side of the room. No real symptoms other than the fever. He's home today with Daddy. He seemed fine as frog hair today, but he can't return to daycare until he's 24 hours from symptoms.

Of course, I would rather stay home with him (Mom), but I don't have any more sick time. And while they are letting me go (which makes me not care how often I am home sick or otherwise not present), I am trying to get a different job there at the same company, which means I need to be present, smiling, and presentable (hair combed and actually pay attention to what clothes I put on) as often as possible.

I did a toy rotation this morning, so he was exceptionally entertained when I left for work. When the ball popper plays now, he dances by spinning in a circle. It's more like he's doing a one footed basketball pivot over and over, but it's still cute! It's November (2 months after his birthday) and I've just now rotated all the new toys into use.

Last night, I forgot to take my nyquil again and so was up coughing and coughing and coughing from 3am to 4am. Loads of fun. Why do I keep forgetting that?!

Our check arrived so that we can go buy a new car. For years, YEARS!! Hubby has been very proud of the fact that we've bought several Grand Marquis for about $7k with 70k miles on them. No, we have not bought seven of them. So we're looking at 2004 models of Grand Marquis with between 60k and 80k miles on them and have found several for $7000-7500. Odd how those numbers still work after 10 years of cars. Anyway. With the amount that insurance is giving us for the wrecked Grand Marquis, this will put us about $2000 in debt to buy the car. If that car lives only 5 years, and we financed it for 60 months (we won't) that would work out to a car payment of $33 per month. Or $400 per year. That's an awesome deal!

But with me soon to be out of work, and pregnant, he's starting to get panicky and look at cars that have a MUCH shorter life span. Like 2003 models with 108k miles on them. Cars that cost $3500-4500. His logic is this will leave us with a little cash left over instead of going in to debt right now. So for $500 cash now, we'll have an exponentially more used car? That doesn't make any sense! I've tried to be very firm that I absolutely do not want a car with more than 100k miles on it. I've tried to tell him to buy one of the 2004 models (all 3 of those are good choices). I'm not sure he will listen to me, though. So if any of you readers out there think you can influence him, please give him a call at home today and tell him to buy one of the 2004 models!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Things are better!

Have I mentioned that things in general are a tiny bit better? My class still sucks and I have a pitiful teacher BUT I have contact with a wonderful teacher who has taught me enough to hope that I might pass the class with her help.

Also, I had amazing nausea that would take over half of my day and keep me from getting little chores (or big chores) done in the morning. But now I have a wonder-drug that stops the nausea in it's tracks! It doesn't make me sleepy or anything else weird, it just STOPS THE NAUSEA!!! It's amazing!! I might start to gain some weight now.

So between those two things, there's been a lightening of the weight off my shoulders. I have hope that I can pass this class, and I don't have to spend so much time each morning holding down the floor, waiting for my stomach to stop rolling.

Quint started doing a new trick this weekend! He started stacking blocks! Usually, the playing with blocks goes like this: I build something tallish and he knocks it down gleefully. But this weekend, both with the big rubbery blocks and with the smaller wood blocks, he stacked them. Once even, he stacked a tall skinny one on top of a small skinny one, making a really tall, skinny thing. That's a level of co-ordination that he hasn't had before. When he put the tall skinny on top of the short skinny, he was amazed that it stayed up. His eyes lit up and he smiled and clapped!

Also, now that he can hear better (tubes put in his ears) he can say a few more things and understands a whole lot more. He can actually say "cat" now instead of "dat". Now, when we ask him if he's hungry, he can say something that only Hubby and I understand as "hungry". He understands when we ask him if he would like a nap, a diaper change, a drink, or to go upstairs/downstairs. It's warmer upstairs and there are different toys.

Because he is walking so much now, we'll find parts of toys all over the place. And occasionally, we'll find non-trash in the trash. I finally found the purple ball to the ball-popper in a drawer in the kitchen. Perhaps we need a lid for the kitchen trashcan. A sippy cup was in the trash in his bedroom. Lots of things get put in the top of the diaper champ. I've bought him some new containers for him to put things into. This weekend while I was holding down the futon with my lovely cold, he brought me, one a a time, all the tubes of desetin, lotion, and whatnot from the upstairs changing table. Stupid me, I told him to go put the desetin back but didn't check to see if it got back. Hubby found it under our bed later. The most alarming aspect of this new trend is that Hubby's State Guard beret is missing. He only needs it once a month, but we can't find it. Usually, where ever he takes it off when he first comes home, it sits right there for a month and we know where it is when he needs it again. This month, it went missing. Wonder where Quint put it.

I'll have to start finding all the parts to the toys each night so things can't get too lost. That ought to be fun! Maybe just the critical toys. Like the stool we have with his name carved into the top. The wooden letters can be taken out. I need to find his whole name each night. We can buy more balls for the ball popper. Does it really matter if a few blocks go missing? He's not really playing with the puzzles yet. We certainly don't have 26 refrigerator letters any more.

We've got to start working on teaching him to go down stairs, soon.

Friday, November 5, 2010

List for this weekend

Find Fall centerpiece and take to work.
Find camera warranty.
Sew button back on Prince Charlie Coat.
Store bottles.
Make baby food.
Clean tub and shower.
Put video on various thumb drives and mail them.
Wipe out fridge.
Put away all laundry.
Cook pork chops!
Gather breast pump to return to E.

Monday report: Yup, the one in orange is the only one I got done this weekend. It would help if I ever looked at this list again. It would also help if I wasn't very sick with a cold all weekend, with a 13 month old wanting lots of mommy-time. I did WASH some laundry. And I did put scrub free on the shower once.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

10 weeks pregnant and other stuff

This pregnancy seems different in several ways, some of them blessedly different.

I'm at 10 weeks. Yesterday at the doctor's office I learned that I've gained about 3 pounds, but apparently I'm just more dense because my pants need a belt at times during the day. At other times, I can't keep them buttoned.

I'm cold all the time so far, but then again, it just turned cold outside and I've got a cold. So perhaps all bets are off on that. I'll have to look up when I started to feel warm while pregnant with Quint.

The biggest difference which is WONDERFUL!!! is that I haven't actually thrown up due to morning sickness! I hate throwing up. Hate. Hate. Hate. Instead, I'm nauseous until at least noon. And might be nauseous at any time for any reason. The doctor gave me some anti-nausea medicine which I left at home this morning - DUH!

Ding! (subject change)

Quint still refuses to feed himself soft, chopped vegetables despite the fact that he does it most days at Priscilla's. Tuesday, I tried in vain to get him to eat some mixed vegetables and all I got was a crying child and a frustrated mama. Finally, I dumped his mixed veggies in the blender with some peas and then he gobbled it up as I spoon fed him. So during one of my two evenings a week, I spent 30 minutes trying to get my son to do something that I know he can do, but refuses to do with lots of crying. I decided that forcing him to do this for himself can wait until I get done with my tax class.

Yes, I'm probably coddling him and am going to extra trouble to keep him from crying (lousy reason to not do something) but I've got enough stress in my life right now. I'd much rather watch TV on the floor while Quint wanders around the house playing with and carrying toys. Especially when he will come find me every 10 or 15 minutes just to give me a hug, cuddle for 30-60 seconds, and wander off again. Golden. I'd much rather get dinner out of the way and get to floor time. I'll become a hard-a$$ mom again in a month.

Quint really started walking everywhere Oct 17, 2010. My good friend with a granddaughter 2 weeks younger than Quint came over to visit Oct 16th. That little girl, Ava, was walking everywhere and Quint couldn't keep up. The very next day, Quint was walking nearly everywhere.

Ding! (subject change)

I took my mid-term in my tax class last night. The wonderful substitute from Friday helped me prepare for the mid-term, and I'm sure I made as high a grade as I did because of her. But I only made a 77. Not so hot. So I still have to work my buns off.

Ding! (subject change)

There's an Administrative Assistant position open upstairs at my work. I could do this job, seeing how I've been an AA before anyway and I've applied for it. I hope they consider me. There might be a slight pay cut, but staying with the same company would be ideal. Please pray that I get that job.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Tax Code Fun and anti-nausea med

Here's the paragraph that I read Monday in class that, in my slightly hysterical, sleep deprived, extra stress state of mind, made me nearly both laugh aloud and bang my head upon my book.

Itemized Deduction Limitation
If a taxpayer's AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) exceeds $166,800 ($83,400 if married filing separately), his itemized deductions may be limited. In such a case, total itemized deductions are reduced by 2/3 of 3% of the amount by which his AGI exceeds $166,800 ($83,400). Itemized deductions will never be reduced by more than 80% of the amount by which they exceed the taxpayer's medical expenses, investment interest, non-business casualty and theft losses, gambling losses and certain charitable contributions.

Did you catch all that?! Did your calculator start to smoke?

In other news, the doctor gave me a prescription for an anti-nausea medicine! I hadn't even thought about asking for that! Basically because the old drugs would just knock you out. It's hard to feel nauseous when you're unconscious. But this one is supposed to be different. Key words being supposed to be. I'll try it soon on some morning when I don't need all mental pistons firing.

The lights are ON!!!

Last night, I was feeling pretty low. It was the start of yet another very long week where I wouldn't get to see my son much. Plus I've got a mid-term in my tax class on Wednesday. I managed to cry a little on the way home, just because I needed it. Soon after I got home, my sister called. I wasn't really in the mood to talk, but I hadn't talked to her in days. Boy am I glad I answered! She proceeded to tell me an ER story that had me howling for 30 minutes. I'm sure I'll get some things out of sequence here, but I'm going to try to tell the story for the entertainment of any who read this blog. My sister's delivery is SSSoooooo much better than mine will be.

My sister is an ER nurse in a hospital. About 45 minutes or an hour before the end of her shift, the episode began. We're going to call our 80+ year old male patient Skippy. Sis answers a land line call from one of the guys in the ambulance who asks to speak with the doctor. There is an odd, loud howling in the background. Sis hands the phone to the doctor saying "good luck on hearing your caller". The howler (Skippy) is on the way to their ER. They can't really figure out what's wrong with him other than he seems to be crazier than bat sh**. Once he arrives, they have to put him in 4 point restraints just so he'll stay on the bed, while he repeatedly says, "please let me out of HHHHHEEEEEEEELLLLLL!!!" at the top of his lungs.

Skippy's relatively calm 83 year old wife is with him looking dismayed. She says that he's normally not like this at all! He spends a lot of time volunteering and is one of those pillar of the community types. Skippy keeps telling them that the bell is still ringing. There is no bell. There's not even any machinery dinging. Sis asks how long he's been like this. Ten days. Ten days?! You've been dealing with this for 10 days! Well, she says sheepishly, I hoped he would snap out of it. They've been married for over 60 years, so she knows this man.

THE LIGHTS ARE ON!!! Skippy says. He keeps writhing around on the bed, only being held on the bed by the restraints. Rather athletic writhing. Skippy also has the strength of ten thousand heroes at the moment. At one point, the sweet wife tries to hold his hand to calm him and he nearly crushes her hand by accident. With all this commotion, they can't even start to examine him. They can't even get a blood pressure or a urine sample, in order to start to try to have a clue as to what's making him crazier than bat sh**.

Sis tries to reassure the little wife that if this is a fairly recent phenomena, then it might be something simple. Apparently urinary tract infections can make old people crazier than bat sh**. They've seen it lots of times.

All this ruckus is hysterical to my sister primarily because her shift is ending in just a few minutes. She will not have to deal with this guy for the next 4-6 hours. It's one of those laugh or cry type moments. But with each new piece of drama, she gets even more tickled and is having the darndest time continuing to act professional.

They do manage to get a wrist band on him with the regular bar code on it. He's fascinated with that for about 10 seconds. Sis has an idea. She asks the front desk lady to print out a whole page of those bar codes on paper, not stickers.

The entire ER is getting to hear all about the fact that the lights are ON! (like this is news or alarming), the bell keeps ringing (does it toll for thee?), and "let me out of HHHHHHEEEEEEELLLLLL!" As in most ERs, the patient areas are separated by thin partitions that certainly aren't soundproof. Some of the other patients are looking dismayed and weary of all the high volume information bulletins (really, are the lights on? Because we weren't sure).

Sis finally snags his attention and says, "here, hold this for a minute" and hands him the page of barcodes. Immediately, he is fascinated and becomes perfectly still and totally silent. Everyone in the ER stops to stare. The lady in the bed next door whispers, "what did you DO to him!"

One of the other nurses asks, where did you learn that? Did they teach you that in nursing school? No, says Sis, I learned that when I worked in the 2 year old room at daycare.

A few minutes later, Sis and the doctor are staring at Skippy (the bar code page has worn off) and trying to figure out where to start. Sis suggests a blow dart, just for starters. The sweet wife of Skippy says, delightfully surprised, "oh you HAVE those? Like on Wild Kingdom?" Well, the drug works the same, but we won't be chasing him down with a jeep to administer the drug. The doctor says to Sis, you didn't learn that at this ER, did you? Well, no. But the doctor agrees that it's a good place to start.

Skippy has started howling as well. Sometimes hitting one of those really high notes that only dogs can hear.

At some point in his ravings, Skippy has said something to indicate that he finds one of the nurses hot. Sis walks into his area with the blow dart syringe on a tiny tray. Skippy pauses for a second, looking at it, and then goes completely ape-sh**. "THE LIGHTS ARE ON!!!" As if this would get him out of a shot. Sis is looking into his face when he practically shouts this and she completely looses control. She starts one of those snorting uncontrollable laughs and has to set the tray down out of his reach. She asks the hot nurse to come in and "shake it" for a minute. Skippy will look that direction and Sis can administer the blow dart. This works!

When Sis leaves at the end of her shift, Skippy is calmly rocking in his bed (and four point restraints), still saying "the lights are on" and "I can hear the bell" under his breath. The wife is sitting nearby looking relieved and dismayed at the same time.

Now my sister's delivery of stories like this is second to none, and definitely better than mine. But I hope I have entertained you just a smidge.