Not a happy camper

Against my better judgement and the pleading of my soon to be husband, I gave in to going camping this weekend with Chip's best friend Chuck, his significant other Becky, and their 3 kids.  Adding in Logan, there are equal parts children to adults.  I was kind of excited, because I hadn't been real camping in over 10 years. 

Was being the operative word here.

I told him I would not go without an air mattress to sleep on, I have sleeping problems anyway so sleeping on the hard ground was not something I would negotiate.  He did well, and borrowed an air mattress from his mom.  Two cart fulls at Wal-mart and a very big bill later, we arrived at the campground at approximately 7pm.   After the tents were set up, Chip went to get the air mattress out of the bag to set it up. 

Whatever it was (looked like a blow up couch) ( who even has blow up couches, and why would you send that for us to sleep on) it was not a air mattress. It was clear on top and purple on bottom, with cup holders.  Literally either a blog up couch or a butterfly pool float.  Seriously.  I was so seething madness, but I had to keep it inside and act like a good sport as we were with Chip's friends.  I was a very good sport, as we slept on the ground last night.  We had only brought two blankets too, so it was very hard.  Poor chip didn't have any padding in between him and the ground as he doubled one of the blankets up for me, and we covered up with the other.  That right there shows love.

We then proceeded to have dinner, and it was around 9:30pm before we ate.  Logan by this time was uber-crabby and really needed to go to bed. I took him in and tried to get him to sleep, all he wanted to do was wander around the tent.  I finally bribed him with his cup, and he laid down.  He fell asleep quickly after that. 

All was well until around two am when Logan started moving all around, and crying every so often.  He would cry out, roll over a few times, then go back to sleep.  That would last approximately 5 min, and he would do it all over again.  Tried many positions with him next me to, in between us, next to chip. Nothing worked.  Finally, at just after 3am when it was clear this wasn't working and Logan was not going to go back to sleep, Chip took Logan to his truck.  He buckled him in the car seat and drove around the huge campground until he fell asleep.  I got up for work at 5am and Logan was fast asleep in the car still with Chip at that point. Apparently Logan slept in the car until almost 9am.

I am so sore.  The combination of Logan thrashing around and the hard ground, is killing me today.  I told him that Logan and I would just go home tonight, but he could stay.  He said OK at three am.  At five am he looked at me with his pleading eyes again, said he would go get an air mattress from his moms (a real one). He said he would also drive out to our house to pick up my swim suit (which I told him to pack, and he still forgot) and the play pen for Logan to sleep with.  I said fine, but if it still doesn't work we would be going home tomorrow.  Three nights of little sleep, is not an option.

His mother didn't have an air mattress, so I authorized Chip to go buy one.  At least we will be comfortable, because we bought the more expensive one.  He did pick up the play pen, so Logan will have his own bed where he can be contained. 

Fingers crossed things go better tonight. I swear if I am not sleeping at 3am I will be driving home!!!!!!

Hopefully I will have time to take some pictures today or tomorrow.  I need to document Logan's first camping trip!!

Here I am..

Since I am finnally gotten the Save-the-dates for the wedding out, I feel I can relax a little bit.  Yes only a little, because there is so so much more work to be done for the wedding.  I am so looking forward to some of it, other stuff not so much.  Like the part where we have to meet with a married couple from our church and talk about Natural Family Planning and Christian Sexuality.  Yup, not looking forward to that much or the fact that it is going to cost 140.00 for 3 sessions. 

Sounds fun huh?

Wanna do it for me?
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Yeah I didn't think so.  lol

I have been thinking of some really funny and fun things I could blog about lately.  However since stress took over and this headache that has taken up permanent residence in my head, I can't remember any of the things I was going to write about.  I am thinking of naming my headache though, I think since its been here so long it deserves a name.  Any suggestions?

A couple weeks ago I was going through my old box of letters in my closet and came across letters from my childhood best friend Tabitha.  We were really close until the age of 6 1/2 when we were separated because I moved to Illinois from Florida.  We wrote eachother letters from then until about 16ish when the letters stopped.  I think just getting older and having so much going on that we stopped writing eachother.  We lost touch.  Well thanks to the invention of Facebook and everyone and their mom being on there, I was able to locate her (and her mom).  We have started talking again, mostly through text messages, and its nice.  She has an 8 year old. Hopefully she is going to come up for my wedding and it'll be the first time we will have seen eachother in 11 years.  I am looking forward to it.

I know I have been MIA...

I promise after this week I will be back to posting more.  This wedding stuff is taking up all my time this week.

My child is also going to be spending the night at my in-laws.  This will be his first sleep over. I am sure he will do fine, I am worried about how I will do.  (I know it will be fine)(right?)

Now I must get back to addressing envelopes and writing addresses.

Not Cool

I called my mother a little while ago, and she informed me that they scheduled her MRI for Thursday.  They have to sedate her for the MRI because she freaks out in small spaces.  They are going to do it in Iowa City, which is about an hour and a half from us (give or take).  They scheduled her appointment for 7am. 

Apparently, I am the only person that is free that day to take her.  (what?!?!)

We will have to leave at 5am.

5am on my day off, on the 1 of 2 days I get to sleep in a week.  I am working between 48-50 hours a week right now. 

This is not even right.

PLUS, I will have to keep a toddler  happy and/or busy for about 2ish hours. In a hospital.  I mean they have a children's play area outside, so that wouldn't be that difficult.  However, its supposed to rain.  BLAH

I have to get these save the dates out this week, and I am not even for sure I made enough.  I really don't even know if I have a complete guest list yet, because my family are a bunch of procrastinators.  They don't think I need the info because it is not until September. That's only 4 months.  (Only 4 months to my wedding! WOW!) I guess that still think that is forever away, but it is not.  Really.  Come on. 

I guess I will need to stalk Jamaica again today in order to de-stress.

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that my mother in law stayed over night and that I made her a low fat/low sugar dessert, and that I would post pictures showing it.  Well I am just now getting around to it.  My internet connection at home is very slow for uploading pictures anymore.  I used a flash drive and my work computer, then BAM I have them right here for your viewing pleasure.

Logan was a big help, when I say help I mean he licked the angel food cake batter from the beaters.

He wanted to eat the beater itself, but it wouldn't fit in his mouth.

He even tried to stick it in his mouth different way, but it still would not fit.

This is the end result.

It was very very YUMMY!!

It consisted of angel food cake cut into peices in a glass casserole dish.  Covered in sugar free instant banana pudding, and fruit (I put blackberries, green grapes, and purple grapes.  Any fruit an be used.)

Then as a bonus I have this super cute glamour-ish shot of Logan.  He loves having his picture taken. 

Notice the dirt or something on his right cheek. Yeah I wish I would have noticed that prior to the pictures.

As everyone knows yesterday is Mother's Day, and with our money situation the way it is, I completely didn't expect roses.  Or two cards. I am very lucky.

Sigh.. SO pretty!

I am a Stalker.

I am a stalker. 

I think its because I am so tired and worn out from working two jobs, and just being generally stressed out.

I am stalking Jamaica (nope, not a mistype). I am stalking the whole country hotel Thur travel advisor. I know I shouldn't obsess like this, yet I am going to continue to obsess. It relaxes me to know that all this hard work and planning will end with a happy result. Our marriage and then the trip to Jamaica.  

See look at that: *SIGH* doesn't it make you want to just move there?

This is the Hotel we are staying at.  *ANOTHER LOUD SIGH*, its just beautiful.  I want to live on that bridge(see delusional thoughts) (I can't really live on a bridge, or can i? )(no no i can't live on a bridge)

Thank ends today's stalking episode.  Stay tuned, I am sure there will be more since I am not going to Jamaica until September 20th.

Banana's & Ice cream.

If i didn't know better I would think that I am pregnant. 

Yes, I did say that out loud. It is not a jinx. 

Yesterday for breakfast I had scrambled eggs with miracle whip and ketchup on them. For lunch, I had bananas dipped in chocolate chip ice cream.  Which is Delicious. 

However, I know better. I am not pregnant.  Secondly, when I was pregnant I never craved weird things like this.  Its really weird that every month I get these outrageous cravings. 

In other news, Heather has an interview today and Monday.  Please wish her luck as she will be laid off around July 1 and needs a new job asap!!..

***Update*** Heather is only take a test today, can still wish her luck for that and the actual interview which is Monday.  She needs all the positive energy she can get right now!!!!

Story Time

Gather around children, have a seat at my feet while I tell you a tale...

Ok so not quite a tale.  I was just thinking about my best friend today and decided I would blog about how we met. 

Approximately 8 years ago (really its been 8 years?! holy donuts!), I worked for a call center called APAC that contracted work with Citibank credit cards.  I worked in the inbound section doing card activations (which are hoaxes because your cards are already activated by the time you would speak to me, and it was a totally unneccesary hold & conversation that we would have) and when the customer would come on the line we would try to get them to do balance transfers from their other credit cards.  We would also try to upsell them other products like credit protector (rip off) and others I can't remember at the moment.  At first I didn't like Heather that much, I didn't know her, she looked preppy, and well I wasn't a big fan of plaid pants. She liked plaid pants.  Don't get me wrong, she looked adorable in them, but it didn't seem like we were a compatible match for friendship. 

One Saturday, I happened to sit by this big guy Nathan, and she happened to sit on the other side of him.  I always had hard candy with me or suckers of every different variety.  Well she asked me for a peice of candy and so I went to throw it to her.  Nathan tried to catch the peice of candy and fell backwards out of his chair.  I thought I would pee my pants I was laughing so hard.  She was also laughing uncontrolably. 

And that was how a friendship was born. 

Then she decided to move away.  I mean just because you get a scholarship to a college doesn't mean you should go there.  Just because your parents suck and you wanted to get as far away from them as possibly, doesn't me you move all the way to Pittsburgh. Right? Wrong, because off she went.  I think if it weren't for the invention of text messaging we would have never survived.  We text soo much it feels like we have these long drawn out conversations when really, all we had were about 4 dozen messages with about 160 characters. 

In 2008, we both freaked out when she got pregnant. I had to talk her into going and getting a test, and when she did.  Wow.  She was pregnant.  Then approximately 2 months later I was pregnant too, and it wasn't planned on either of our parts.  So she was due in september, and I was due in november.

Then suprise, I gave birther due to complications two and a half months early, and she gave birth 5 days later.  Our boys are 5 days apart. 

Lately, our friendship has grown to where I rely on her more and more.  And she relies on me more and more.  Even through the distance we seem to be getting closer.  We know everything about eachother, the good, the bad, and the worst.  We talk on the phone mostly everyday.  It makes me sad that she can't be my maid of honor, and I think it makes her sad too.  I wish we had unlimited funds and could fly to see eachother more often.  I haven't seen her since Christmas of 2008, and I can't wait to see her for my wedding in September. 

We may have an imperfect friendship, but it is time tested. It is forever.

I love her.

***update*** Apparantly I have my memory doesn't work and Heather was here Thanksgiving of 2008. 
Also, I heart plaid now.  Circa 2002, I did not. Also it was my first impression that made me not like her *at* first.  Obviously life experiences has told us that first impressions are almost ALWAYS wrong.  In this case is was, and I am Glad.

Updates

I really wanted to have enough time this weekend to post those pictures from last week, but alas I have not, so maybe this upcoming wednesday when I am off work again.  Weekends are just super busy for me!! So now I will just update you a bit on what happened from thursday thru the weekend.

Thursday:

Cleaned like a maniac all day.  That included cleaning the carpet of the bedroom and laundry room.  Getting things throw out, and really wanting to dive into our mountain of plastic tubs of baby clothes to get rid of some (I kept everything!!).  Then I went to the store and bought a few things, nothing insteresting mostly detergent and cleaning products!  I came back home and baked an angel food cake because my mother in law was coming over to stay the night to watch Logan for us while we met with the priest.  When the angel food cake was done I cut it into slices and placed in a casserole dish.  I then proceeded to pour banana cream (sugar free) pudding on top of it and then I added purple grapes, green grapes, and blackberries to it.  It was super yummy and made a perfect birthday present for my mother-in-law-to-be.  I had a roast in the crockpot all day with some baby carrots, so dinner was practically made. I added fresh green beans and steam aspharagus, and it was a perfect dinner.  By the time I got all this done though I had to eat it so fast I couldn't savor the food.  I then jumped in the shower and practically ran out the door to get to the church to meet with the priest about wedding stuff. 

We had taken an inventory of files test to see what issues that Chip and I may need to discuss before getting married.  Overall we did very well, better than I thought we would do.  We discussed a few things we needed to and the Priest said that we are different from just co-habiting couples because we have a child. Duh.  (lol).  He said that co-habitating couples have a higher divorce rate because they go into marriage thinking it is not going to change anything, but it does because they can't just leave.  Or they feel they still can because they still think of themselves as separate. Or something like that.  Since we have a baby we are already attached or bonded to eachother. 

Yeah I don't know if that last paragraph made sense.  Oh well.

Then we went home and went to bed, which by that time was 10pm.  Yowza.

Friday:

I worked from 6am-4:30pm, and then was susposed to waitress at the restaurant.  We had some bad storms roll through about the time I was driving out there.  It took me an hour and a half to get home.  It was raining so hard I had to pull over several times, and kept getting freaked out.  So because of the rain and that I was late, my grandma said I could just take the night off since they weren't very busy.

I was like, YES!

So I went home and chased Logan around the house, we ordered pizza and picked up a movie (Thanks Redbox).  It was awesome.

Saturday:

Worked 6a-4:30pm, then went to Chip's mom's suprise birthday party.  Well the surprise was already over so mostly I hung out and talked with Chip's grandma.  Another 10pm bed night, ugh I didn't want to get up Sunday morning.

Sunday:

Opened at the restaurant at 6am.  Worked until 1:30pm ish.  Went home changed, went back to the restaurant with Logan for lunch (we have no food in the house that was not frozen).  Then we hung out with my grandpa while my dad & Chip cut up this wood for my grandpa in his empty lot.  When that was done we went to Wal-mart and back over to my parents and had brats for dinner.  Pretty uninteresting huh?

I am hoping to have more to say later one.  We'll see.  I really want to post again about the on-going affair I am having with my bed, but alas I will spare all of you from that.

Affair

I think I am having an affair.

With my bed.

I can't stop thinking about my bed.  I daydream about my bed, and laying in my bed.  I love the smell of my bed, nice and clean.  I love the way my bed feels.  I miss my bed, when I am not in it.  I would marry my bed if I could.

Sigh. 

I think I am love struck.

This is what happens when I wake up at 3:00am and cannot get back to sleep. I tossed and turned until I had to get up at 5:00a.  I think Logan was having the same problems because he cried out twice.  Once just after I woke up and again when my alarm went off at 4:45a. 

I am lucky this day seems to be going by fast.  I am working until 4:30p at this job and then will go to work at the restaurant when I leave here until approximately 9pm. 

Yesterday was a very good day, very productive.  I will post about it as soon as I have time, probably Sunday ( I hope).  Tomorrow I work from 6:00a-4:30p, then have a birthday party to go to.  The next post will be long with lots of pictures. So stay tuned!!

I heart productive days

Today has been a very productive day.  I got to sleep in and relax until around 9:30-10:00 am.  My child is an angel sometimes.  After we got up and breakfast was taken care of I moved the big speakers that were taking up valuable space in the bedroom (it was so not my idea to have those big things here in the first place, let alone in the bedroom).  They are big concert size speakres. I don't even know why he has them, he never uses them.  Anyway.  I moved them out of the bedfroom and onto our back porch, he will be taking them back to his parents house this weekend.  Then I moved the treadmill (yes, I am really a super hero with amazing strength when I am not blogging) (hah not so much) out of the house and into the yard.  We are giving the treadmill to my grandpa, because his doesn't work and we have a gym membership now. 

So the bedroom is beginning to look more like a bedroom and less like a lets-shove-everything-we-can't-find-a-home-for-in-there room.  It really needs vacuumed, I guess I will get to that tomorrow.  I am going to use the carpet cleaner tomorrow for the first time, usually Chip does that.  Should be interesting.

I am really irritated at Wal-mart lately (yes even more than usual).  My mother and I found these plates, they are plastic, white, and square.  They are lovely.  We have maybe about 1/2 of what we need for the wedding, and they have stopped stocking them. I don't know what we are going to do.  I really like these plates.  We might order a different kind online and see if we like them.  They are cheaper because come 20 in a pack for the same prices as 5 in the other ones.  I just really like the ones we already have.  BAH. I am going to go into Walmart and see if they will order the rest for us if we pay for them in advance and my mom is going to check with one of their suppliers at the restaurant to see if they can be ordered.  Hopefully one of these avenues works out. 

I also got the contract from the DJ in the mail today.  He gave a fill in list for all the music we want.  I can't wait to sit down and actually fill it out.  I heart music. 

Tomorrow we meet with the priest for approx 2 hours to discuss the inventory test we took 2 weeks ago to see what issues we need to discuss.  I really am not looking forward to it, because Chip probably read 3/4 of the questions wrong and put uncertain to alot of them. The priest is probably thinking, wow these people need A LOT of work.  haha oh well. 

Also my mother-in-law-to-be is going to be staying the night so she can watch Logan for us while we are meeting with the priest. Logan will be sleeping so it won't be too taxing on her, but it is on me to get the house spot-less.  Even though I know she doesn't care, I care.  So if you are wondering where I am tomorrow, now you will know.

oh and bear with me while I try to find a background I like longer than a day. lol

Tator Tot Casserole

I am really super excited that tomorrow is Wednesday.  I really can't wait to get to sleep in until about 8am.  Plus, it is supposed to be really nice out tomorrow.  Sunny and a high of 70. 

Last night I didn't end up burning supper and the casserole I made was really delicious.  I made a tater tot casserole with ground beef.  It was yummy.

Recipe:

2lbs ground beef
1 diced onion
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (I stole from my mom's cupboard)
1 can of sweet peas (no salt added)
1 can of corn (no salt added)
1 container of leftover carrots from the fridge (you can use a can of carrots lol) (stay out of my fridge)
1 package of shredded cheese
8 slices of american cheese
1 big bag of tater tots
*The recipe calls for frozen mixed veggies but since I didn't have any I improvised

-Preheat oven to 350 or 400 ( i used 400, i didn't want to wait all night)
-Brown the ground beef & drain, then add the diced onion to the meat.  Spread the meat to the bottom of a casserole dish.
-Mix veggies, soup mix, and shredded cheese together in a bowl.  Add to the casserole dish as the next layer.
-Arrange the tator tots on top of that layer and put in oven
-Let bake for 45min to 1hr (until the tator tots brown and the soup mix looks bubbly)
-Put the cheese slices on top of the tator tots and stick it back in until the cheese is melted

Eat and enjoy!! :)

Although if you are dieting like I am you shouldn't eat this.  You should have a salad and get on the tread mill, because just looking at this casserole will make me you gain 5lbs.  If I didn't have this burn on my leg I would go work out today. I just started being able to tolerate not wearing gauze over it yesterday, so I am thinking going and getting sweaty might cause an infection. Maybe tomorrow I will go in and work out.  We will see. 

Next:  The story of the burn (really its not that interesting, but I figure if I am posting of it I should explain it)

Droopy

I am so very tired today.  It makes me want to cry and scream, but ironically enough I do not have enough energy to do that.  Last night I didn't feel very wel because of the burn on my leg and I had a headache.  I decided to take some of my migraine medicine so that I could get some sleep.  I did sleep, but that medicine always makes me sleepy when I wake up.  I also decided today to start taking my blood pressure medicine again twice a day.  I have only been taking it at nights because it makes me so tired. I should have thought twice about today being the day to start taking it twice a day, because really why would I have thought this was a good idea.  All day at work I was gulping down caffeine just to be able to stay alert and not fall asleep.  Which is turn made this one of the longest days in a while.  I really hate taking this medicine.  As I sit here my eyes want to droop and I have so much to do.  Dinner, bathtime for Logan, Laundry, Dishes (wait not dishes that's Chips Job), playing with Logan, and spending time with Chip. 

Instead, I am very crabby, exhausted, and shouldn't be allowed to hold sharp objects(in case I get anrgy or fall asleep, I could hurt myself or others!!). 

One more day until a day off.  Just one more. I can do this.  This working 2 jobs is killing me.  I am afraid of getting burn out on it,but can't stop as we need the money.  That little bit of extra money gets us through. 

I will blog more later after I get things done, for now I have to go as I smell supper starting to burn. YIKES.

Rainy Sunday

Today was a very uneventful day, the rain made it feel lazy even though I didn't get to be...  I waitressed from about 8:30 until around 1pm at my grandparents restaurant.  Some older people are super nice.  They make me smile. 

After working I came home, and after looking at my cluttered house decided to go over to my parents. We watched the Spring cup race and ate hot wings (they are diet food right??).  I get tired of fighting with my parents about discipline for Logan and when he's had enough food.  They just want to keep feeding him and feeding him.  Really after chicken, french fries, sloppy Jo meat, and a fruit parfait, I think he's had enough.  He doesn't need strawberry applesauce.  Then I was telling my dad I found a Chuck Tow truck the other day, but didn't buy it because Logan kept throwing it on the floor.  I told him to stop, he didn't, so no toy at the store.  He said that they didn't do that stuff to me when I was growing up, implying that I am mean.  I am not mean, but I do believe my child needs boundaries and consequences.  They will have 1 week while we are in Jamaica to spoil him rotten.  Until then, Chip and I are the parents and we're going to do it how we see fit.  OK my venting is done now.

Today my mom finally started working with me on the guest list.  I still don't have many addresses but at least I am getting a working list on who we are actually inviting. I mean the wedding is approx. 5 months away or less.  A guest list is quite important in order to plan...

Last night when we were watching Avatar and they were flying on one of the animals, Logan started watching the TV and flapping his arms.  Its so cute that he tries to fly.  I wish some parts of this stage would last forever.  Also I am looking forward to when he can actually tell me what he wants instead of going ''ehhhhh'' and pointing.  Also when he hurts himself (which is all the time because he is super clumsy) its so cute when he goes ''owwwwwy''.  Watching him grow up is so awesome.  I look at him and can't beleive that he used to be so small he could fit in my hand.

I am Bacccccccccccccccck.. (echoes)

I really have been wanting to get back into Blogging now that Logan is a little older and doesn't require as much constant attention. Plus we are so broke I really have the time.  Although, I have to do it at work because my laptop cord is slowing dying. I need to purchase a new cord, but going back to the point about being broke I really can't afford to.

This wedding stuff didn't start out quite so stressful, but since we are broke it has become that way.  There are certain things that we are expected to pay for by my parents. Such as: transportation for the wedding party from the church to the reception place, the photographer (which is a co-worked/friend Nova), our passports (that was an easy one), wedding rings (thats a big one since um you kinda need those when you get married...), gifts for the bridal party, programs for the wedding, donation to the church, 100.00 for a substitute priest to fill in at the saturday night mass, and hotel rooms for the bachelorette party & night of the wedding. 

Seems very daunting.  In my head the list seems very very long.  It also keeps growing.

My soon to be mother in law was talking about paying for our wedding rings as our wedding gift.  Although I would like our wedding present to be something that we want, I really am grateful she is going to do this for us because I didn't know how we were going to swing them.  Rings are quite expensive.  My great grandma always said that wedding rings were the cheapest thing you ever purchased.  If you think about it she's right when you compare it to the price of a house, appliances, and everything else you need over the years.  However, they are expensive when you don't have any money.. (go figure right). 

I am also very worried about my friend Heather and her situation.  She waited so long to find this job she's working at, and now she is going to be losing her job.  She finds about monday when the placement facility she teaches at is closing down.  They are probably giving them 2 weeks notice.  She just started this job with company less than 90 days ago.  I am hoping that going back to school will work out for her.  I am praying that something good will happen for her.  Being a single mom is hard, not to mention harder when getting no child support yet, and getting laid off.  Bah stress.

Today is going to be a very long saturday, as I am blogging from work.  These ten hour shifts on saturdays are killers.  Ecspecially when I work ten hours on friday then waitress at my grandparents restaurant friday nights, and then again sunday mornings.  I feel like the weekend is not an actual weekend.  I am looking forward to my days off this week on wednesday and thursday.  I am really looking forward to the honeymoon to Jamaica.  SIGH!  I really wish it were sooner than like 146ish days. 

I know that I don't have any followers anymore, but I am going to start doing this for myself.  I figure someone somewhere will start reading me.  I hope anyway.