my new favorite store...

Today Jason went to walmart to pick up a few things while he was there he over heard a conversation of three women looking for a grow light. Jason being helpfull as alwase went up to them and told them that they would have better luck looking on e-bay...

Woman #1 "do you think the lights on e-bay would work on my pot plants?"
Jason: um - i'm sure they will
Woman #2 "I don't know about buying it on e-bay..."
Jason: "Use a credit card it is safer"
Woman #2 "I don't know it is easy to rip off credit card numbers"
Jason: if you use a credit card you can dispute charges if there is a problem"
Woman #2: I don't know it is so easy to rip off credit cards I know I have done it before...

Single mom day 2

Evelyn still did not sleep through the night but did alot better. She woke up at a;most six but was falling asleep over breakfast so I put her back in the crib. She was sown for the count as I did my morning routine which made life easier and I didn't have to feel guilty about having her in the pack and play.

She was again tired when she got home tonight. She ate well but wanted to be close all night (not that i'm complaining) she again crawled up to me and said mama and stood up - maybe she does mean it! She didn't go to sleep as easily tonight but was out by 8 - not to bad. It gave me enough time to vacuum and do some other cleaning. The house is slowly getting better - it's amazing what happens when you do a little each night. - not waiting untill it's bed time seems to help too...

Single mom day 1

Today J left for parts unknown (ok california) so it is just me and Evelyn this week. The morning was not to bad though Evelyn will have to get used to being in her pack and play and crib for longer durations as I get everything done.

After work life was actualy prety easy - I had leftovers so the kitchen was in great shape. Evelyn was again exhausted early tonight (in bed by 7) So I managed to get alot done. I had some of her food that I had to freeze and others to puree, I also decided that I needed to bake brownies. all this and the kitchen never exploded as it usualy does. I love my husband he is a great coook but I am getting to the point where it is time for him to get the hell out of the kitchen as he does not believe in cleaning up untill the last secound of the day. So either I try to relax knowing there is a big mess or I clean it up and try not to snap at him when he tells me to sit and relax.

At any rate I cleaned what I could but the broom is MIA. he said it is in the basement but I looked three times. maybe after evelyn goes to sleep tomorrow I will just vaccume everything. one of the next times he is out of town I am thinking of taking a day off just to clean - shampoo the carpets ect... we shall see.

ARRRR!

Today was the big ride and it was perfect! The weather was mild and sunny and the turnout was great (about 60 riders for all of the rides). I even had a co worker show up for the ride however he decided to go on the 40 mile rather than the 20, I was a little jealous as I was thinking about switching up but was talked out of it by several people. It was just as well as it was quite a bit for Evelyn who was playing cheerleader with daddy all morning!



I did meet a new friend during the ride (Chris from Fickel) as we were about the same pace. though he did the flat ground better than I did and I did the up and down hill better. it was nice to have someone in sightf or the ride - I hope next year that I get a team that will stick it out together! At the secound rest stop (the first was only after 2 miles!) Jason and Evelyn suprised me by being there. It was great to see them at the half way point as I shoved gatoraid and food in me! as we were off I took off with the two guys from fickle again - Dino took off and was not seen again where me and chris stayed mostly together. I was gratefull to have him around as a witness to the crazy lady that i almost ran into...



Being on a strait away I had the right of way however I notice a car pulling out of a park. I slow down as I alwase do to make sure she is paying atention and sees me. She procedes to pull forward while looking into the back of her car. i stop next to her car (she is now looking down the road away from me) and say "hi". She turned her head clearly supprised and yells " whatch where you are going!" (she was insainly pissed off) I'm baffled but let it slide (I so wanted to yell at her) I pass her and let my anoyance get the better of me and flick her off (though I doubt she saw it made me feel a little better). I'm glad there was a whitness as I couldn't believe the odasity of this woman... no wonder bike riding is so unsafe.

The rest of the ride was uneventfull and I was excited to see my husband and baby at the end. we hung out for a little while and I had some pizza - they need to figure out how to get food for the spectators as well. I would have liked to stay to see Dr M come in but the day was long enough for Evelyn and jason.

Evelyn had such a busy day she fell asleep at 7 pm poor thing was exhausted though I admit i was only a few hours behind her.

patch quilt

This after noon I saw a hitchhiker on the way home from work. or rather a person that clearly lost a bet... He clearly didn't want to go anywhere although he had his thumb out he was holding his shirt up to bare his chest as his friends a few yards over laughed at him...

Reflecting

Going through a person's belongings after they have passed away is just an odd experience especially when you are not blood related. I have done it only three times before (for my Grandmother and Jason's Grandparents) I will admit going through my Grandmother's things brought back memories and though it was hard I am glad that I did it. J's grandparents was just different - I knew them for a little while (not long enough) and both liked and respected them. It seemed in some respects invasive for me to be going through their belongings with the family and at the same time I learned some things about them that I hadn't known.

Going through a friend's belongings (even though it was just her books) was a completely different experience. Going through a Grandparent's belongings you have a lifetime of memories which help to remind you of what a full and wonderful life that they had and as sad as it is the memories are helpful. or maybe it has just been so long that my memory has changed and made it easier. In going through the books I was surprised to see some titles that I recognized that I didn't realize that she read making me wonder what else I didn't know or learn in the short time that I knew her.

My memories were not just of the times that we had together but of the times that we were going to have - the conversations that we had regarding the future that would never come.

Riding alone...

I finally got final word that my partner in the red Ribbon Ride has bailed on me. I don't really blame her as she ended up with a job that started this weekend and will continue for a while but it still sucks. She is usually fairly reliable. I have given up hope to talk another co worker into going so I am going to the event Thursday in hopes that I will meet someone that wants to have the same time as me that I can ride with, if not well they say the trial is well marked and I don't believe that I will be at the end of the pack or to the point that I will loose Everyone. We shall see...

On a happier note I made my goal for fund raising!!! Thanks to everyone who donated and gave me moral support through the process! I appreciate all the encouragement that I have received regarding the ride though I have a small inkling of what my SIL goes through as quite a few people have said I was nuts and I'm only going 20 miles. Hopefully next year If I'm not pregnant I will do the 50 mile ride. I need to start looking now for a partner in crime that I can count on to follow through with this. Looking for someone to train with!

Busy day

today I managed to get rid of most of the dust bunnies that were hiding in our bedroom - there is a bed fraim under our bed making it difficult to be sure that I got them all. The room still needs some work but I managed to get some stuff done. I even managed to unpack from the aborted trip to OH. I have no idea when this will be rescheduled. Unfortunately I moved the bed around keeping evelyn up from her nap so when I was done we went on a walk so she would sleep. It was a great walk - I got to talk to Grandma G! Then I was completly lazy while evelyn slept.

J is doing a little better today -the hives are gone and though the had looked this morning like it was more swollen that it was last night it is looking better now.

I couldn't find my wallet which is a little different than loosing it (in my opinion). When one looses aomething they have no idea where it is. I had a vaigue recolection of where it may be and hadn't looked to hard for it, I knew it was somewhere safe. Jason does not believe in the it will turn up when it is ready philosophy that i had taken and decided tonight we would find it. Which he did - I put it in a bad place then couldn't remember. He was running around in a bad mood and after hefound it he walked into the kitchen and started to talk - I heard only a few words of what he was saying and it didn't make a whole lot of scene. I heard him say focus and let out a big sigh. I got up and turned of the radio and said "If you are going to lecture me can you at least make sure that I can hear you?" as I walk into the kitchen I see he was on the phone... He was apparently talking to my dad presumably regarding the camera or lens. I don't think he heard me and still I feel like and idiot!

Bees

the neighbors have had a bees nest in their garden for a while now they dosed it with bee killer twice and didn't get rid of it. I don't know how much J has complained to them but they just couldn't get rid of it and were unwilling to take away a few bricks to get a better shot at it. well today Jason got stung on his pinky finger. You may be thinking no big deal - I did too as J had never had a bad reaction to a bee sting before unfortunately we would both be wrong. Now in all honesty it was not that bad (It would have been a lot worse had it stung him on the face or neck). But we now know that J is allergic to bee stings. His hand swelled up and he got hives. As of the end of the night I'm not sure that it had stopped swelling despite benadryl and whatever meds the doctor gave him.

the stones were ripped out to get at the bees nest under protest of the neighbor. but with the two cans of bee spray that I saw in the distance (me and Evelyn were not going over to check it out) I hope it is finally taken care of but maybe they should use a third can before they put the wall back up.

Oddly enough I was reminded of the time in Eugene that me and a few friends went hiking and ran into a bees nest. there was a tree down in the path and like idiots two of us went through (all of us were going to but one saw the bees - she is allergic) So two of us were stranded on the one side - the others were in no danger from the bees on the original side. it was not a loop trail though we could have made it back around to the car a different way. but no we decided to go back through the tree. I don't know how many times my friend was stung actualy I'm not even sure how many times I was stung. I'm pretty lucky that I didn't have a bad reaction to the stings just by the large number of stings. Odly they all concentrated on stinging me in the same area of my body I guess they coordinated the attack. It was quite the hike.

Sleep....

Is a wonderful thing and Evelyn is once again feeling well enough to sleep through the night. It was just great to wake up and see the clock saying 5 am rather than well any number of obseard hours. and I ended up going back to sleep rather than the gym though I honestly don't feel too bad for it, lazy yes bad no...

This morning went fairly smoothly despite the fact that we got up at 7. I woke up a little before Evelyn and got some stuff done before she woke up witch always helps. I honestly would love it if she kept waking up at 5 then going back to sleep (as long as she goes back to sleep). Jason refused to set the alarm to 5:15 for me to go to the gym the few times that I mentioned it and there is a slight risk that she will wake while I am gone though she is usually good at waiting as long as it is Jason that is playing with her if it is me all she wants is food!

Happy Labor Day

Today was a day for staying home we had another rough night where Evelyn screamed in pain for an hour unfortunately we had already given her the tylenol and it was not time for a new dose. I ended up sleeping in her room on the couch cushions for most of the night.

During the day Jason continued to do work around the house and Evelyn and I played. Evelyn still didn't want to eat well though she had a much better breakfast than she had the last few days. we napped quite a bit (even I was able to sleep during the day today!) I hope this resolves soon...

Another Long Night.

Last night Evelyn got up at least every 2 hours again I had to rock her to sleep in her car seat and breastfeed her to get her to go back to sleep. at 4:30 I got tired and had Jason get up - she cried for an hour, she got so worked up that even breastfeeding didn't calm her down and get her to sleep. I finally managed to get her to sleep by rocking her in her car seat (she does not like to be rocked in the glider for what ever reason unless she is being breast feed). I slept on the living room floor next to her for the duration of the morning.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house and again didn't have any luck with nap time, Evelyn had a hard time and I was not able to sleep when she did go down. At least she slept a little and she was not too fussy all day though you could tell she was tired.

Trip cancled.

The trip to OH was cancled due to Evelyn being sick (and probably me being sick as well). She woke up every 2 hours last night (FUN!) We took her to the doctors and she has a double ear infection - ouch. To top it off she is teething. Needless to say she is not eating her solids well but at least she is still breast feeding. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house today so that I could try to take a nap. Evelyn did not sleep well and I did not get my nap in (for some reason I just can't seem to sleep during the day). I did manage to get more doners couresy of my parent's neighbors. I think I may need to hit up strangers to hit my goal (I am determined). I probably should have slept but I just couldn't so I thought I would get some fresh air and harrass some of my parent's neighbors.

J got alot done today (no he didn't sleep either) but he did manage to move the coffee table and the farmer's rack into storage. now all we have to worry about is the speakers (which I didn't think she could tip but apparently she can) and the stairs (J said he is looking for a baby gate). in the mean time I want to put up the pack and play so I can put her in it when I need to do something in the kitchen as she LOVES to climb stairs and we have no way of keeping her off of them.

And it keeps getting better...

Today was an awful day at work I felt like crap all day and was not too productive. Unfortunitly my boss was not at work and I was unable to reach her to ask her if I could go home. So I stayed and did manage to get some work done. needless to say I was not looking forward to the 5 hour drive this weekend.

When I picked up Evelyn from daycare she was fussy and had been all day. The checked her temp earlier in the day and it was normal. They checked it again as we were leaving and it was 99.0 - not to bad I figured it was just teething... Once I got her home it went downhill from there. I checked her temp again and it was 101.8 and of course it was too late to make it to the doctor's office so we gave her Tylenol and kept an eye on her to be sure it didn't go higher. She went to bed earlie so I did a little fund raising (getting close to my goal!) and went to bed. she woke up at 12:30 and every 2 hours after that. It was a long night.

Getting the junk out of my trunk!

Grandpa came up north today to bring up the pack and play as well as watch Evelyn as I cleaned out the junk that has amassed in the trunk of my car. This is necessary as we are going to meet the in laws half way to their house (in Ohio) so I need to be able to pack the stuff in the trunk. there was lots of stuff in there but it didn't take me too long to clean out - odly enough there were several blankets in there that made up the bulk of the mess. I still count this as a major achievement even though it didn't take me as long as anticipated.

on a side not I have been updating Evelyn's blog I'm just waiting to upload pictures to the sight to post the actual entries so with in the next week I will have most of August up for every one who likes to read about Evelyn's day ;) I appoligise again for my lazyness.

I dream of sleep...

Evelyn has had a hard week and hasn't slept through the night since Sunday and Every time I get suckered into feeding her to calm down so that she will consider going back to sleep. I know that this can not be a habit but it is the quickest and easiest way to get back to sleep. tonight I tried rocking her to sleep in her car seat which usualy works if nothing else does unfortunately she kept coughing and waking herslef up. I ended up nursing her to sleep, sigh. She has a little bit of a cold or what is likely a side effect from the flu shot on Friday. but I am hoping to get some sleep tonight and the same for Jason as we are both getting rather irritable - especially when I see him on the computer at 3:30 am instead of sleeping.

Bake Sale

Today Michelle and I had a bake sale at work to benifit the AIDS Rochester Red Ribbon Ride. I was thrilled at the turn out and responce! we asked others to pitch in and bring a baked good to sell as me and Michelle could only bake so much and although noone but Michelle and Stephanie answered back what she would bring we had several people bring in goodies - unfortunitly I should have stuck to my original plan of chocolate chip cookies as we had 3 people (including me) bring in brownies. oh well we had plenty of other stuff and we made lots of money for a great cause! The responce was the same all around - we need to do this more often!