Do You?

Today I'm off to attend a bridal shower (what perfect timing!). I don't know about the rest of you but I actually enjoy a good bridal shower.... baby showers too. There is so much excitement and hope at these events. And they usually aren't overshadowed by too much stress or family drama like so many weddings are.
I also just love a good excuse to dress up.


But my question to you is....
Do you buy gifts off of Bridal Registries or not? If so do you do it for shower gifts and wedding gifts? Do you just give cash for weddings? Do you absolutely refuse to buy off a registry (I know you are out there)?

After going through it all at my wedding, I try to always buy off a registry both for showers and wedding gifts. We'll also give cash for weddings it kind of just depends on who it is and how much stuff they have registered for. I'm happy to buy off a registry...mostly because I'm happy for someone to get exactly what they want... but also because I want them to be able to easily return it. I also have a pretty solid price point for these gifts and I don't need to feel like I got a good deal nor do I need the recipient to think I spent more than I did.

So what do you do?
And if you don't mind sharing how much do you spend?


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UPDATE:
As requested.... the shoes


Oh and Justin was there... and was our waiter. More on that tomorrow. It was fabulous...

Randomness Of The Day

As an added bonus shortly after shooting this video I opened up our mail. On top of this week's totally bogus $130 ticket we also just received an equally bogus "Notice of Proposed Penalty and Interest for Underpaid Estimates" from our great state. WTF? We never pay our estimated taxes and we have never been charged a crazy ass 25% penalty on our unpaid estimates. I'm in total shock. Hello! We paid our freaking taxes in full. On top of that I just got Kid's new glasses today of all days. Cha-ching.

Role Play

You know those relationships that you have that are so tense and anxiety provoking that you feel the need to pre-live your potential interactions?
I tend to do this for a good 24 hours before I see a particular someone in my life. Instead of just entering the situation cold (literally and figuratively) I like to torture myself by acting out (mostly in my head... but I did catch myself actually acting it out while doing laundry this evening) all potentially charged conversations. This person is an incredibly literal person... me?... not so much... so pretty much any and every conversation has the potential to nose dive pretty quickly. While the role playing means I add an additional day's visit (albeit virtual) on to their trip it does help me to get my most sarcastic remarks out of my system and practice more neutral responses.

It's not that crazy... it's not any different than practicing a speech... right?

Love Us Or Leave Us

Good Golly

When Kid was Baby's age she was an amazingly well mannered little kiddo. I mean amazingly... and I don't just mean from my "I'm her mom and it's a reflection on my parenting" sort of way. I mean in the constant "she's an old soul" references from strangers sort of way. I mean in the my therapist actually thought it might be a problem sort of way.

Kid was cute and clever and well... perfect. She was also shy and cautious. She was the kind of kid who wanted to slide down the slide on your lap. She rarely had to be told "no" more than once. If you so much as let out the quietest of gasps at a potential danger she'd never go near that [insert road, rickety gate, merry go round] again.

In contrast, yesterday, I found our dear Baby hanging from the clothing rack at Target (and yes I'm completely serious). Apparently in the 2.2 seconds it took me to bend over and read the tag on a little dress she was able to catapult herself, with Herculean strength and monkey like dexterity, out of the cart by pulling herself up the nearby clothing. Thankfully I was not 2 feet away and when I turned my head and saw her hanging there... like a mini Olympic champion... my heart in my throat and my chin on the ground... I was able to swoop her up before she smashed her head open!

Once Baby was buckled back in... shrieking and writhing... we hurried it up and got the Hell out of there. When I say Baby is crazy I mean it. She is a freaking maniac. When she started walking at 8 months we knew we were in for a little trouble. And boy does she deliver. Seriously folks I pretty much feel like I'm about to have a heart attack every second of the day. When you put her down she runs (at top speed) straight down the driveway. She can go up and down the slide by herself.... she seems to prefer to do this head first. This girl doesn't "turn around and back down" anything... she'll run right off the top step of the stairs and "dismounts" off the couch. Yesterday she was eating her snack while standing on her piano bench... on one leg. Astonishingly she has heretofore escaped major injury.

Pray for me....

The Great Douche Bag Incident of '04

While I think I'm pretty funny, and you might think I'm pretty funny, there are at least two people I know for sure don't think I'm funny. That is why I didn't want Mr F's parents to read my blog... or the kid's blogs. And part of why their visits can be stressful.

This became perfectly clear during the "Douche Bag" incident of '04.

At some point right before Kid's 2nd birthday we were walking down the street on our way to meet some friends. Kid at this point was amazingly verbal but she would still say something that you didn't quite understand. On this day she said something that sounded exactly like "douche bag". Now surely she wasn't... and even considering our sometimes colorful language "douche bag" is pretty old school and wasn't exactly part of our everyday vernacular.

Now every parenting book on the planet will tell you to ignore this type of behavior... but I really couldn't resist... so I asked her to repeat herself and when she said it again I fell to the ground in hysterics.

Then I did the number one thing you shouldn't do. I told her to say "douche bag" to our friend when we met up. Our friend was sufficiently scandalized/amused. I was pleased with my little old school swearing baby monkey. We went home and I told her to call Mr F a "douche bag". Mr F, of course, thought this was hilarious. For the next two weeks we would prompt her to greet the other parent with "douche bag". It was all fun and games there for a while...until...

A month or two later I was visiting my in-laws with Kid. Mr F was flying in later to meet us. Kid and I were out to eat with Mr F's parents. At this point Kid had stopped saying "douche bag" for a good month and a half. It was cute, if not adorably crude, while it lasted but she was over it. Or so I thought.

While at dinner I asked Kid, innocently, what she was going to say to Daddy when we picked him up at the airport. Kid matter of factly replied "douche bag". I snickered... somewhat shocked. Mr F's parents looked at each other and his dad asked "What did she say?". Now if I had been thinking on my toes I would have said "I don't know" or "hmmm... trash bag?". Instead I said "She's said what you think she said." To which my father in law replied "douche bag?". And I just said "yes".

Now if you were an outsider looking in this would have been one of the funniest conversations of all time. And in the moment I could appreciate that... but they could not. And really what could I say?... Oh I don't know why she says that?... I just let it go and didn't explain it. It was horrifically awkward to say the least.

In contrast while visiting my own father shortly there after... Kid's use of "douche bag" momentarily re-ignited... she busted it out in reference to the trash bag sleds he had rigged up for us... thinking she had finally discovered what a douche bag really was. My dad had a really good laugh over that one. And when I explained to him how we had coached her he had a little twinkle in his eye. You see the apple does not fall far from the tree.
Well I guess unless Mr F is the apple...

Documenting The Truth

[click click]

"What are you doing?" Mrs F calls to Mr F across the house.

"Nothing." He replies

[click click]

"What are you taking pictures of?" Mrs F presses

[click click]

"The faucet." Mr F states matter of factly

[click click]

"Why?" Mrs F inquires suddenly worried that we might have to sink more money into the house.

"Because I'm sitting on the toilet." Mr F says with a sheepish laugh

North Carolina Shout-Out

I know this isn't a typical post.... but... it doesn't seem like Asheville offers a half-day Kindergarten program. Even the private schools I've perused (not religious) only offer a full day program. Does anyone have any insight into this?
Kid's system will be going through quite a bit of shock if she has to go from 3 afternoons a week at preschool to 5 full days in Kindergarten.

Goddamn It

I just got a mother fucking $130 ticket.

Jesus Christ.

I wasn't speeding.

My plates are freaking valid.

I have a perfect driving record.

I cut through the damn bank parking lot.

Because the road was blocked and I had to get to Kid's preschool.

$130

And it would have been 3 fucking points on my license (can you believe that?! 3 points!)

Thankfully the officer was "being nice" and knocked the points off.

Yeah thanks.

Limbo

This Week The Plan

Okay I'm definitely feeling overwhelmed. I'd like to know "for sure" about the job so I can just move forward with it. The next month or two are bound to be incredibly stressful (and exciting... but mostly stressful) and it is taking a lot of mental energy to not let my mind just become completely engulfed in move related to-dos. I think it is my natural instinct when confronted with something so time consuming to want to just give up completely on my menus and weekly plans. It would be so much easier to just get take-out every night for the next two months. We've done that before... and it isn't that it is detrimental to our diets... it just is a slippery slope. Once you let go of one part of your life the whole thing can just come crashing down and pretty soon you feel overwhelmed by every thing and not just the move. So with that in mind I am going to endeavor to keep my plans coming... although I'm going to focus on very, very simple dinners. There are only so many hours in the day and I'm going to forgo cleaning for the time being and replace it with packing/purging. I'm also going to schedule 4 workouts a week. I do find I am actually more energetic and more likely to get stuff done after my evening workout then when I skip it... so here's to hoping that holds true. And if nothing else it will hopefully help take the edge off my anxiety.


Oh I forgot to mention my in-laws are coming on Friday. And no that probably won't be helpful.


Onto this week:

Menu:

Monday - Tomato & Meatball Soup w/crescent rolls

Tuesday - Chicken Caesar Salad

Wednesday - Kid & Mr F date night

Thursday - Salmon, stirfry veggies, spring rolls

Friday - Sunday - Mr F's parents are in town... I'll be winging it...



Diet & Exercise:
Okay last week sucked. Not entirely my fault with Mr F's absence and all but this week I really need to get back on track.
I have been working on giving up my hardcore dessert addiction and have been doing a lot better. I did fall of the wagon while Mr F was gone... but I did learn that I eat about 300 calories less a day if I go to bed by 11 versus 1. Something to keep in mind. This week I'm shooting for M & T long cardio workouts, Th a long pilates workout, and F a short running workout. We'll see what I can fit in on the weekend... probably not much.



Errands & Chores:

Monday - grocery shopping (I'm really going to work on only hitting 1 store a week), laundry

Tuesday - Target returns, clear out Kid's bedroom

Wednesday - clear out Upstairs bathroom, vacuum

Thursday - clean Kitchen, wipe down floors (hey I forgot about the in-laws... I do need to clean this week)

Friday - clean bathrooms, change linens

The Mother Of Invention

This morning I was devastated to find my Hearty Oat Maple Fusion waffles were gone. I really rely on these as my breakfast staple. They are filling and fast, and I don't get the crash and burn I would from pancakes or cereal. I decided I could whip up something similar (why this had never occurred to me before I do not know)... and I did. And, people, they are even better than the waffles... while not quite as fast they are just as filling. The kids loved them too.

Maple Oat Pancakes

1/2 c old fashioned oats
1 c water
1 c pancake/biscuit baking mix
2 T almond flour/meal (ground almonds)**
1 egg
2 T maple syrup (real people)

In a good sized microwave safe bowl combine the oats and water. Cover with a lid or plate and microwave for 3 minutes.
When the oats are cooked stir in the baking mix, egg, almond meal and syrup and thoroughly combine. Cook as you would regular pancakes. Enjoy.

makes 8 pancakes at 100 calories each


** You can get a one pound bag Almond Meal at Trader Joe's for just $3.49. That is an amazing deal! I love to add almond meal to cooked cereals and baked goods to amp up the nutritional content.