Julie's Ramblings

Inside a giant corn maze at the apple orchard

Has anyone else noticed a resurgence of Journey lately? Or is that just me? Is there something I'm missing which would indicate a reason for the resurgence? Don't get me wrong. I love, love, LOVE Journey. Somebody help me out on this!!!

Am I supposed to be excited that I now have the opportunity to use the newly opened express lane, in which I can pay a ridiculous amount of money to drive to work in a lane that, if it was a normal lane, would make traffic flow normally? Am I the only one seeing a flaw here? And what do I make of the fluctuating rate, which seems to depend on traffic? If traffic is worse, I can spend double. Yippee. Then, if someone screws up or thinks they can beat the system, the cops are hiding out nearby to nab them. So not only is there this express lane with no one in it while the rest of us putter through in the other TWO lanes, but now there are cops to pull offenders over, causing even more traffic for the rest of us in our measily TWO lanes. What sense does an express lane make if there are only three lanes?

I'm feeling I needed to rant about this. I'm feeling we've all been wronged since Jesse "the Gov" Ventura brought us our multi-billion dollar light rail system that is useful to 2% of the metro area. (I hope I'm exaggerating).

So for now, I'll be the one enjoying watching the handful of people that have been suckered into paying for their commute fly by me at irregular intervals, from my traffic infested TWO lanes.

To all I say, have a good Friday. Don't be put off. I'm really not this negative, only towards governmental agendas like punishing me for driving my car.

No more quandary. However, we're back to the drawing board on the job front. The hubs decided AGAINST the job, after receiving an icky phone call from the owner saying the actual salary would probably be even lower than she had previously said, and an even-though-I-asked-you-when-you'd-make-your-decision-the-job-isn't-neccessarily-yours puzzler. What? How do you offer someone a job and a salary, and then renege on both? Sounds like a classic case of them not knowing what it is they want in the position they're hiring for. Or trying to put too much into one position and not being willing to pay for it.

In other words, that salary is SO 3 jobs ago. Unacceptable. I'll admit, I'm in some agony over this one, but I believe the hubs made the right decision.

Since we've been close twice now, does that mean the 3rd time's a charm? Let's hope and pray so. And let's hope and pray for no gap in employment. Gulp. Go baby go!!

Quandary. There's a word.

Let's say a guy is 1 month from unemployment. Let's say he's married to me and has 2 kids. Let's say he has been offered a job, which includes a substantial pay cut, but includes the cost of obtaining certain I.T. certifications that would be helpful to the career. What does the guy decide to do? This is a TOUGH decision. Oh, it's also much closer to home, decent hours, and he would have accepted it on the spot had they offered a better price tag.

I'm accepting input, pearly words of wisdom, and the like.

It seems in my so-far 30 year existence, or maybe just since living on my own, that there are certain areas in which a family or person will have bad luck. I'm not talking life-or-death issues here, either. Just the stupid, normal day-to-day kind of thing. You could go 12,472 days without ever spilling your coffee, for instance, or you could drench yourself in it every 1 in 4 days. Maybe spilling coffee is just your thing. I have a couple coworkers coming to mind. Or maybe you can make it through life without ever losing a muffler, but can't seem to keep your alternator belt intact.
This particular bad luck list I'm about to create today, is inspired by my lunch-break trip to a certain toy selling superstore I HATE with a passion - not to name names, but Toys R Us, where are your manners? I swear that place is personally designed to torture me.
Making an appearance in my personal/familial areas of bad luck:

• Toys R Us - will you ever come right out and say what you mean? Always at it with the fine print, I tells ya
• Squirrels - why do you enjoy my homes so much?
• Drive-thru - inherited through marriage, can I count how many times they screw up my orders? It's a rare occurrence that what we order is actually what we're given
• Neighbors, oh neighbors - will you always be 4-wheel driving, loud, messy yarded, dangerous dog breed owning smoking fiends?
• AJ, my dear cat, why do you feel the need for pleasure? I think you're broken. Your neutering has gone awry somewhere along the lines... Ew, you're gross.

See what I mean? Not life-or-death by any means. Nothing a few verbal lashings and cats thrown across rooms can't handle. Do you have a history of bad luck with any particular things? I always think it's funny to discover what people have historical bad luck with. Humor me.

Just for fun, I thought I'd share my favorite blogs I've been reading lately.


Confessions of a Pioneer Woman is my absolute favorite! The Pioneer Woman is a city girl who married her "Marlboro Man," and now lives on a ranch and homeschools her children. She does everything - takes pictures, even cooks and just came out with her own cookbook. Her writing style is so fun to read. Read it. She'll inspire you. Click here for some funny Friday photos. Click here for a recent fun post about her wardrobe.

For a cute, innocent, and quirky read, check out Color Me Katie. This girl is so amusing to me. She's just clever, and every post makes me smile. She's always doing crazy things, like making mini photograph versions of herself and putting them in odd places, drawing on the streets of NYC and making ugly things funny. I just imagine walking down the street and finding one of her creations - it would truly make a person stop and smile. I don't imagine one could keep up with her creativity - she's kind of like an Amelie in real life, though I bet she talks more and isn't quite as insane.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Both of them make me want to be more fun! Maybe some day. Like it says on the wall of Jimmy Johns, something to the effect of your parents weren't always this boring before you came along. Some days I can really relate to that... But I'll strive not to. I want to be as crazy, fun, and cool as these two gals!

Let's all take a minute and pray for the wild fires going on right now. I can't imagine how scary it would be to see them within miles from your home. Especially pray for family friends, Brian and Cindy, who can see flames from their front window. YIKES!!! God, protect homes and people from the fire, and the lungs breathing in all the smoke. We were in CA just before the La Canada area fire started, and people really had the need for rain on their minds. PLEASE RAIN!

I don't really know why I have been nonexistent on my blog these days. It is turning into a mommy blog all about kids, when I originally set out to basically journal. I want it to be about me, darn it!!! However, lots of my readers are checking in on the kids through this anyway, so I may as well embrace it. It has also not become quite what I expected. I haven't put a lot of time into finding friends or bloggers, so it just isn't the friend tool it can be. I'm also having a hard time lately with wondering what creep-o's out there could track us down -- let's call it security issues. So instead of figuring stuff out, I've disappeared. I'll get back into this one of these days!

For now, I'm so far behind, that I'll just update most recent events. Here are the kids with summer hair - look how light, and what a buzz cut on my big boy. I got a little carried away teaching myself how to use the electric clippers...... But it has grown on me, and Matthew loves it!

We are just getting back from a trip to sunny CA, which it really was this time! It was fun for all the cousins on my side of the family to see each other. And can I preface this all by saying I was the worst photo journalist of all time on this trip??? Now that I'm back, I realize I have next to no pictures. We were there to see my 6-week now 7-week new niece, and do you think I took any pictures of her? NO! Well, 2, but they weren't even great shots. And no, not because of my niece, because she's absolutely adorable, but because I apparently do not take good pictures. And now that there's a load of little ones, most of the time none of us had the time to even think of breaking out the camera. I sure hope someone else did better than me! Swimming? No pics. Airplane ride? No pics. Newborn? 2 mediocre pics. Fun with family friends who have triplets? A few mediocre, if that, pics. So here are some from the night the whole CA branch of the family met up with us.

I can hardly believe my first baby turns 4 in two days!! Well, today we had his 4th birthday party! Here he is through the years:

Am I the only woman I know that didn't blog about their wonderful husband on Father's Day? Oops. We've got a bit on our minds over here, what can I say. Well, he is wonderful, and he's such a great parenting partner. Kind of ironic that he's leaving me this weekend, isn't it? A cabin full of guys sounds better, I guess. Just kidding, we try to share the freedom. Case in point, I was in CA a few weeks ago, just me and my mom.... I digress.

Operation: Embrace Ellie's Curls

Ellie is a hilarious girl, I must say! This little wonder really cracks us up. She's up to so many cute things these days. Just tonight, she was carrying a giant stuffed kitty around and rolling around on the floor snuggling it. She's at the stage where you can tell her to give someone a kiss and she'll actually do it. With a mighty large pucker I might add. She sticks her lips out and says mmmmmm the whole way to the person she's going to kiss and follows it with a uah. mmuah.


She has also taken to running, which is pretty funny with her gait and her crazy hair bouncing all around her. She runs everywhere - to the swingset, to wave at/kiss/hug somebody, away from you when she's upset, to take a bath, to chase her big brother. She's also quite a little dancer. We've been playing the Francesca Battistelli song on the way to daycare in the morning this week, and she lights right up and starts kicking and throwing her head around to the beat, and trying to sing along. Both kids do, actually.

Matthew has plenty of cuteness going on these days, too. Let me start by saying he's in love and he has a girlfriend - 2 different people. He's in love with my friend, Britt. Little schemer even snuggled up to her and ever so discreetly reached to hold her hand. The same day he informed us Payton is his girlfriend (from daycare). Hmmmm. I'm not sure what to think, but I do know he likes blondes. Payton's not a blonde, but every other girl he's mentioned before is. And usually older girls, too. But I won't give away ALL his secrets.

We really like to pick on Matthew now and then. He plays into it so well, we can't resist. Recently Sean got him going on the whole who's on 1st? routine. He was answering it so perfectly, that Sean couldn't stop - no, who's on 1st, but what's on 2nd, etc, etc. There was another day where he was getting ready for bed and we were all on the couch. When he went in to brush his teeth, I decided to see what he'd do if I hid. So I didn't move, all I did was throw a blanket over myself. So he comes out of the bathroom, and I hear:

M: where's mommy?

S: she said she was leaving

M: where did she go?

S: she said she was going to go get an ice cream cone. because she's cold.

M: ....but....you don't get ice cream when you're COLD!

This went back and forth a few more times. Meanwhile, he keeps getting closer and is finally basically sitting on my head, not even aware that I'm there, when I burst out from under the blanket. He cracked up. He makes us do these things. He's so funny about it.

My kiddos are fun, even if they have a bad day here and there. The good definitely outweighs the bad. Yessssss

I HAVE HAD IT! I want to start this day over, because most of it blew chunks. I always know it will be a bad day if it starts out this way. We talked about Matthew staying in his room until 7:30am on the weekends. It's been the rule in the house for a while now, since our kids seem to love the 6 o'clock hour, even though they don't during the week. We've been getting lax on this rule, so we thoroughly went over it again at bedtime. So about 7, Miss Ellie begins crying, which she does lately when she wakes up. No more sweet sounds in the form of crib jabber. No, it's crying, and it's I'm-not-going-to-stop-crying crying. While dealing with her, Mister Matthew saunters out into the hallway. And this is where I knew the day was bound for disaster. I say, "It's not 7:30, go back in your room." "But I don't want to." "It is not 7:30 yet, go back in your room until 7:30." "But, Mommy, it's sunny out." "I don't care. It's not 7:30, go back to your room." Staredown ensues. Oh dear.

The whole day followed in this direction. Do you ever have one of those days where your sparkling 3-yr old is bound and determined to say no to everything, and argue about everything, and throw a fit twice at an outdoor carnival-type thing, etc, etc?!!! Have you ever had to climb into a Vikings helmet-shaped bouncy house to retrieve your sparkling 3-yr old who is the only one who will not come out when his time is up?

Have you ever been so fed up that you snapped at everybody around you, in full on Kate Gosselin style, and wanted to crawl into a hole and never be seen again, and felt like a huge jerk? That's about where I'm at. Only it didn't stop there. It continued after we came home and after naps, and this time I very nearly exploded! God help me! I can't handle these children today! I should say THIS child. Having little kids is the hardest thing in the whole world, I'm convinced.

We're tearing down our fence, perhaps I need to go give that fence hell some more. Oh, but wait, our neighbors are having a party, perhaps that won't be a nice sight for them... Hmmm. I know, how about laundry? That would be A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

What a negative nelly. I can't believe I'm admitting all this for the world to see!!! Seriously, all I want is a do-over for the day. Anyone have a rewind or retry button? I know! How about the Staples easy button?! OMG, please someone find me an easy button!!!!

I used to be calm. Honest, I did.

At age 1 and a 1/2, she pukes away from herself! If you don't like hearing about puke, stop reading now. About 4am last night, I was up washing sheets and cleaning up puke. And it didn't even bother me much (beyond the gag factor). Incidentally, that's also how you know you've been a mom a while. When getting up to change pukey sheets doesn't really bother you that much anymore. ANYWAYS, so I go in Ellie's room, and find a puke puddle in her crib, and her, sitting away from the puddle with hardly even a mess on her. She cried, and I truly think it is only because she was grossed out by the mess. Man, this girl amazes me! As soon as I had her out of her clothes and a new shirt on - AT 4AM - she grinned and started chattering. This girly girl pukes away from herself and only cries about some getting on her hands? And then smiles and is totally happy again? What the heck? With Matthew at that age, it would have required a bath and extensive carpet cleaning and lots of comforting!

Don't get me wrong, the last thing I like to deal with is puke clean-up, but maybe with my girly girl it won't be so bad. I'll cross my fingers now.

By the way, I don't know if Ellie is sick or not. She seems fine today. She's probably just waiting for the full-blown flu since this is a 3-day weekend. And what better way to spend it than with the flu? :)

I am very much not fond of the bushes in front of our house. Yuck! I've been saying since we moved in a few years ago, that I couldn't wait to chop the bushes down. Let me explain. We've got 3 equally hideous structures resembling foliage front and center of our house, each of them completely different than the other, and each beyond unruly. You know the kind of evergreen that is REALLY prickly and has strange, little grayish-green-what-look-like-berries that under normal circumstances isn't that bad? Well, when said evergreen takes up 72 sf, it becomes less than attractive. This particular beauty you see here, is a different type of evergreen that grows upward, but gone untrimmed, becomes too heavy to stand upright and is tied together with twine. In between the coniferous beauties, lies a deciduous-nothing-special bush, that grows abundantly each year, despite being trimmed to nothingness each year, and looks more like mini trees with weeds coming out of the branches. Again I say YUCK! The funny part is, I've been dreaming of chopping these things up (well, removing them actually, but let's take it one step at a time) for so long now, and apparently discussing it so much, that the hubs bought me a hedge trimmer for Christmas. While that might horrify your average reader, I was delighted!

Saturday I treated myself to realizing a dream. However, it was much harder than one might think. It looks nowhere near good yet, but at least now it somewhat looks like a work in progress. I had to abandon my work partway through the 72-square footer, before my arms fell off! That's okay, though, it felt good to actually be able to do some yard work for a change. This is the year I have a date with landscaping.... I think.... More dreams.

That's hot!

I'm on a picture organization mission. My pic files have never been so organized! Hurrah! You are the lucky benefactors of my mission. This is from April, a year ago.

I'd like to point out 2 things in this picture.

1. Thumb sucking. Still happening a year later.
2. Dad pants. I am in love with these fleece plaid babies. Did I mention they have elastic ankles?
   

Perhaps it's because I'm feeling frugal with the threat of a husband losing his job, thank-you-very-much-layoffs, but I LOVE money-saving tips. Whether or not I use them, I still love finding more tips and ways to save. I have become some strange sort of coupon fiend. Not to say that I'm always good at being disciplined....

Like movies? Check out Redbox rental. They have machines in McDonald's, and some grocery stores, and they've started popping up at Walgreens too. I LOVE REDBOX! And I just discovered you can reserve your movies online and not be missing the title you're after when you get to the machine. It's a dollar a day! Never again should anyone rent a $5 movie at blockbuster or on cable!

The Entertainment Book. I knew I needed glasses this year, and low-and-behold, the entertainment book had a coupon for $125 off a complete pair. For a $20 book, it paid itself off times 6 in one purchase. But they have everyday 2-for-1 deals too, for restaurants and attractions, discount movie tickets, car washes, and online purchases. It is way worth it. You just have to be careful not to go places or buy things just because you have a coupon.

Target coupons. You can probably get them online too, but Target mailers have tons of coupons. I rejoice whenever it arrives, because there are always coupons for diapers and wipes and such (my biggest expenditure) and you can double up target coupons and manufacturer coupons.

Christmas decorations, or anything seasonal. Watch Target after Christmas for amazing clearances. This year I happened to be in the store when Christmas clearance was at 50% off. I didn't buy anything. The next day I went back and it had just been changed to 75% off, and I stocked up like crazy! (along with everyone else in the tri-state area, it seemed)

Mid-winter or mid-week getaways. I discovered a resort we love in our frigid state was offering amazing deals for winter getaways - when no one really wants to leave the comforts of their toasty warm houses. A room that is normally $199, in the mid-week and in winter, was $99. (we're going on this getaway in a couple weeks, in fact). But what? It's April you say? Doesn't matter - may as well still call it winter...

Sign up. If there are certain brands you ALWAYS use for certain things, sign up for online accounts. I'm very choosy about this, so I don't end up on millions of mailing lists, but signing up for Pampers, Huggies, Luvs, etc is excellent. Lots of coupons come your way. Definitely sign up for whatever brand baby formula you use. Nestle Good Start offers $11 rebate checks when your baby is a newborn. Very depressing, however, when $11 rebates decrease to $3 and $1! But use them while you can.

And so my lunch break has come to an end. And so my pearls of wisdom must too. Maybe I'll motivate myself to have more Lunch Lessons. I love giving advice, but only when warranted. If I do it here, people can ignore it if they detest advice. So ha!

Is every Arby's out there the oldest Arby's you've ever seen? It ocurred to me while waiting in the adjacent Taco Bell drive through (Taco Bell is one of my vices - shut up, you know you like it too), that I was looking at an Arby's that probably hasn't ever been updated beyond some fresh paint. Then I started realizing EVERY Arby's looks like something straight out of the 70s. How do they do it? Every chain around reinvents itself every so often, but not Arby's. I guess all it takes is thinly shaved something resembling roast beef. But I sure do love it! Shout out to my oldest bro, who loves Arby's dearly!

Here Ellie is using her hands to flip pages in a book.

We now are the proud owners of Graham Webb curl defining shampoo and conditioner. You know the kind, the horribly expensive, found in salons shampoo and conditioner. I have a feeling it's going to be an expensive life with E and her hair. But who can resist those curls? So far so good with the product, by the way. You can glide a brush through like butter, and it makes her hair much softer. Oh my. I can't believe what I'm in for.

Where do I find myself these days? In the land of why. If there is a statement, it WILL be followed by "Why?" Parents everywhere have suffered through this phase long since the beginning of time. Yet somehow I find myself surprised by this. Why? (ironic) Because it follows EVERY THING I SAY. It's not just when I say no to something, it's after everything. I have become that dreaded person that when confronted with why for the 100th time, says "Because I said so." I really AM that person. Ahhhhhh. Let me now embrace it. :)



Why did you just say embrace?

So I climbed into bed shortly after the hubs, after we'd watched quite a few back-to-back episodes of Ghost Hunters, which is one of our favorite shows.

Even though hubs had spoken no less than a minute before, little did I know he was already almost asleep, when I so rudely interrupted with the following:

J: rolling over with great idea... "they should really do Ghost Hunters International"
S: with a sigh "there already is Ghost Hunters International"
J: "No, not HOUSE Hunters Int'l, GHOST Hunters Int'l"
S: with growing irritation "There is Ghost Hunters Int'l. You've watched it!"
J: fits of giggles as I start realizing he's right

I really thought I had an original idea there. Poor S. I woke him up for that. Mawwiage! (whenever we have a strange marriage moment, we sing an Elmer Fudd "mawwiage," in case that made no sense...)

Apparently kids save certain secrets for only their grandmas to hear. Well, grandma Margaret has been doing a lot of babysitting the last few weeks during my and my husband's music committments. Which, by the way, are complete after a long weekend of orchestra concerts. While grandma and Matthew were playing Chutes & Ladders, Matthew's latest favorite, out of the clear blue this conversation happened....

"Grandma, I REALLY like eating boogers."
"Well, that's pretty gross."
"But Grandma, they're really yummy."
"The only problem with that is when you have your fingers in your nose and then you take them out, you get boogers all over everywhere."
thinking.....thinking.....
"I better go wash my hands now."

Matthew this morning was playing with some toy tools, more specifically a screwdriver. All of a sudden he's walking towards Ellie with it saying "I'm going to screw Ellie." Sean and I instaneously stop what we're doing and raise our eyebrows at each other. Then he says it AGAIN. Sean quickly said, "Matthew, you don't know why yet, but just don't say that again."

I almost died laughing!

Ellie, at lunch time, came up the stairs and was on a mission. She knew it was time to eat, even though we didn't say anything. Usually she walks over to her high chair and waits to be put in it, but this time she went straight into the main part of the kitchen. Sean was trying to get her to come back, but low and behold, she knew exactly what she was doing and went straight to the oven and pulled her bib off the handle where it was hanging, then went straight over to the high chair. Serious as could be.

This has been a really good Saturday without much incidence. And believe me when I say that's nearly a first for a Saturday.

And his 2 lovely ladies...


Will he choose Melissa?

I've been wanting to improve the way I take care of myself. Which, to be honest, probably doesn't take much when you haven't been doing it at all in the first place. I decided to embark on a few simple attainable goals. So far so good.

I will drink at least one large refillable bottle of water while at work. Not hard. If it's sitting there, I'll drink it.

I will drink only ONE cup of coffee, and ONLY in the morning. That is because I have a hard time staying asleep lately. And it messes with my stomach. AND I'm becoming that person that is crabby until the first cup of coffee is consumed. Unacceptable.

I will not drink pop, and if I do, it won't be caffeinated. No diet pop though. I draw the line there. If I have pop, it will only be when eating out and there are no other options. Though I have no trouble splurging once a week on a coke. My FAVORITE.

This may sound very simple, but it is hard. Not the water part. But you would not believe how much willpower it is taking to tell myself to leave pop alone. That's right, CA readers, I'm calling it pop. Yeah, shut up. I'm attempting other random things, but starting small. Since I get the afternoon munchies at work, I got some 100 calorie snacks to combat that and my ever growing sweet tooth. I'm trying to make myself eat breakfast. I can't believe I don't anymore. Breakfast is my absolute favorite thing. Darn kids. Now I have 3 people to get ready in the morning, I simply won't spend the time on breakfast. I'm trying to actually think about getting more fiber in, ahem, for no particular reason. Leave me alone. So I like to be regular. Whatevs. (I'm a fan of Pepperidge Farms breads - they now have rye, pumpernickel, german wheat, honey flax, and the list goes on and on and on, and I also took a try with probiotic yogurt with extra fiber).

Now getting my body in shape? Ummm.... I'm a little depressed and overwhelmed with that. I'm really out of shape. I don't think I look it, but I am out of shape. I met my match in Wii Fit strength training, and that is really depressing to me. Not to mention that whenever you step on the balance board, it says "oh" like it's surprised someone so heavy is stepping on it. And it keeps telling you things like "your legs are wobbling. you need to improve your balance." Maybe I should play with the mute on. There we go. That's an attainable goal. :)

The point of this whole boring post - hey, it is called Julie's Ramblings, you were forewarned - is that I'm starting small. It's a start. If I'm going to be tired for the next who knows how many years, I need to feel better in other ways. So I'll drink water. And yay me, even though I wanted to scour the pantry in search of snacks before I started writing, I instead opened the fruit drawer and pulled out 1/2 a grapefruit. I was hungry and thirsty, but didn't need anything. Grapefruit to the rescue.

Happy attaining!

Last week I was at a MN Wild hockey game. Thanks to my uncle who occasionally hooks us up with really sweet sports tickets that he can't use.... I can't tell you the numbers of times we've gone to great games courtesy of him!!



Well, at this particular event, we were in great seats that happened to be a couple rows behind a couple of the players' wives. Can't you just tell when its one of the wives - gorgeous, blonde, fantastic hair and makeup...



AND SPECTACULAR PURSES



This particular beauty was spotted as the wife was leaving....



A GOLD Louis Vuitton. HELLO!!!! I'm not usually a much of a brand knowing girl, but how could this not catch a girl's eye? I just KNEW that symbol - how strange for ME.

I got home from work today, walked in the door and heard "Hi Mom!" from Matthew, and then up the stairs came little Ellie (with daddy close behind, of course), and when she hit the top step, she stood up, and was instantly waving and walking toward me. I squatted down and held out my arms, and she gave me the biggest hug ever and climbed onto my lap. And then....

I melted....