Five

My little monkey turned 5 last week. It's the oldest cliche in the world, but time really does fly. We've celebrated the big "5" several times over and have yet another party planned for this Saturday. Declan finally got his first "Friend Party" as we took some of his besties out for bowling, arcade games and pizza.  I was pretty proud of myself for pulling off a party with 3 days notice!

Here's a little bit about my favorite little guy at "5":

• His favorite food is cheerios with a banana and honey (just like Lily almost!)
• He loves broccoli! And I have no idea where that comes from
• His favorite "toy" currently is either Mario Kart or Angry Birds (As a mother I am horribly embarassed to admit that, but there it is). He also loves his bouncy ball (the one you sit and bounce around the house on), his remote control "monster truck" and his Transformers.
• He is both very protective and loving towards his little sister as well as her worst enemy.
• He doesn't want to be 5, he wants to be 6 so he can ride the bus to big kid school.
• His favorite snack is pretzels.
• He LOVES Scooby Do. Or, as he calls it "Spooky Doo".
• He insists that mommy lay in bed with him before he goes to sleep and rub his back and "cuddle".
• He is learning to ice skate.
• He wants to drive a bus or a monster truck when he grows up.
• He loves to tell mommy that he loves her "More than...." and we go back and forth until someone gives up. Currently, he loves me more than eightyhundredhundredeightyeightyninetymillion earths....
• His favorite song is "Pumped Up Kicks".

Happy Birthday little stinky! Mommy and Daddy love you SO, SO MUCH! 

2012 "To Do" List

It's that time again. January! Time for a blog on my new year's "To Do" list in lieu of resolutions, because who keeps those anyway? About this time last year, I blogged my "To Do" list as well as a year in review. It's fun to look back and see what I had hoped to accomplish and whether I reached any of my goals.

Do I use my time more valuably? That's debatable. I am definitely more conscience of how I am spending my time but it's still a work in progress. I am far busier than I was in 2010 so by default I am spending less time being "wasteful" and the time I do spend being "invaluable" is well earned IMHO. Pinterest anyone?

Am I spending my money wisely and more carefully? No. I struggle with this.  A LOT. However, I am becoming much more conscientious of how I spend and how frivolously I spend.  Credit cards are my worst enemy (especially the Target card!). I have started making lists and sticking to them. I no longer go to the mall for any reason other than to run a specific errand. I have to be better and work harder at this though. I really need to stop spending money before I have it.

I HAVE gotten treatment for my ADD. I am currently seeing a Russian psychologist who scares the hell out of me. I swear he used to work for the KGB. He's got me taking concerta which is helping me SO MUCH. We are still tweaking the dosage though. I really do love me those drugs ;) I am much more in control of myself and don't feel so scattered all the time. Thank god for stimulants!

My back is also MUCH, MUCH better. I'm not 100% yet, but I no longer have to visit the chiropractor regularly. Thank god because that was getting really, REALLY expensive! However, now that I have gotten my back somewhat healthy, I now have tendonitis in my shoulder. I swear to God it's time to just put me out to pasture. I am seeing a physical therapist though and should be on the mend soon!

As for the house, we have put all new floors in on the main level and gotten most of the house repainted. All that is left is the two upstairs baths and the laundry room which is still a disgusting rust color with the floral border. We replaced all the hardware on the cabinets (and they are still ugly) and repainted the exterior shutters and front door as well as did some landscaping in the garden. I don't think a deck is going to happen anytime soon. At least not until the floors and fence are paid off. Yes. We are still paying off that damn fence. AND we also found out that the roof had to be replaced ONE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS so now there's that bill. Tell me again why I wanted to buy a 2nd house? GAH.  Thank God for low interest credit.

As for speaking up for myself....let's just say I succeeded at that 110% and I can't say my life is any easier. My husband doesn't like it one bit.  In fact, he signed us up for marriage counseling at the VA. He says we have a "communication problem". I say our communication is just fine, it's his receiving of the communication that's the problem. Anyhow, we've only had one session and it sucked. I hate talking about personal things with a stranger and Tom doesn't like to hear negative things about himself. Nor do I. But, after 9 years together it can't hurt to go in for a tune-up so we're going to stick to it. I don't think we have problems that every other couple doesn't have but it's nice to have a neutral 3rd party referee that can give us better tools to apply . Will keep you posted on that front.

So, what were the highlights of 2011? I had a FABULOUS girls weekend in Miami. That needs to happen again soon, although it is in direct conflict with my goals for saving money this year. I got to visit Colorado twice! We spent a lot of time at the lake this summer making many great memories for the kids. My husband received his college degree! My sister got engaged to a really great guy and my brother and sister-in-law announced a pregnancy. I am going to be an aunt! All in all it was a good year.

Looking forward to 2012. Here is my "To Do" list in no official order.

1) Rehab my shoulder so I can get back into weight lifting and yoga. You can't believe how much you can't do with one gimp shoulder. Even running makes it hurt.

2) I want to run a 5k in under 30 min.

3) I want to do 10 REAL pushups. Not the girly ones. I was doing these prior to my shoulder injury. Perhaps I should say 20? Maybe.

4) I want to lose 15 lbs. My back won't be 100% until this happens, especially since I carry all my extra weight in my belly. Definitely not good for them low back. I hate losing weight and I'm really bad at it.

5) I am going to read 15 books, one of which is considered a classic.

6) I am going to save money, spend less and pay down our debt. I don't want to get into specifics but I have numbers in mind. We'll leave it at that. ;)

7) I am going to spend more time with my kids. Declan will start kindergarten in the fall and Eva will go to preschool part time. Time is fleeting.

8) I will carve out more time to spend with my husband. We are strangers passing in the night who never see each other. That does not a healthy marriage make.

9) I will make a concerted effort to have a better relationship with my sister-in-law. I am going to be her child's aunt and she is my brother's wife. I want a relationship with both of them!

10) I don't have 10. I feel like my list isn't complete without 10. OK, here it is. I want to organize my closet. A family of raccoons could be living in there and I'd have no idea.

11) I THOUGHT OF ANOTHER ONE! I want to blog more. I don't do it enough and it's fun to go back and read all of my own ones. So, to be really, really specific I am going to blog 4x a month. OMG. What have I just committed to?

And I will leave you with that my friends. Happy New Year!

Christmas is only 9 days away, and while that would normally be a very exciting thing for me this year I am having trouble really getting into the spirit. Most likely it's due to lack of snow. How can there not be snow in Minnesota for Christmas? It's like Hawaii without Mai Tai's or Mexico with the sunburn. This is hugely disappointing to me. I also know what I am getting for Christmas this year. I know because I went to Target at midnight on Black Friday, stood in line for an hour, brought it home, handed it to Thomas and said "Here, this is what you bought me for Christmas" just to make sure he got it right this year. And then I sent the web link of the exact purse I wanted (in grey), sent it to Santa Mom and was at her house when it arrived. I actually really wanted this one that cost closer to $1K but Santa Mom wasn't hearing that so I had to compromise. I really have no one but myself to blame but I like to make sure I get what I want.

And just to make Christmas extra fun this year, my mother-in-law decided to come for a visit. And when I say "decided" I don't mean that as a joint decision. Nope. MIL decided LAST TUESDAY that she was coming for Christmas and also that since she didn't want to pony up for airfare she would save herself $60 and buy a train ticket instead even though that means a 14 hour train ride, with a 3.5 hr layover in Chicago and a 10:30 PM ARRIVAL TIME on Christmas Eve. Because, obviously, Thomas and I have nothing better going on at 10:30 pm on xmas eve. I mean, it's not like we're celebrating with my family that night? Or wait, we are. And if she would have checked with us first she would have known that. And did I mention that Thomas has to work Christmas day from 10 am till 9 pm? So, I'm on my own. All day.

I am trying really hard to be excited and gracious and, in the spirit of Christmas, loving, hospitable and joyful but I cannot muster any of these. I am straight-up annoyed. I must say though, that she ahs graciously told us that she would be just perfectly fine with us sending someone else to get her. Because we know so many people who want to drive to the Amtrak station downtown St. Paul on Christmas Eve? Suurrre. I explained to my dear hubs that I would be more than happy to send Mohammed the Cabbie to pick her up. If only because it would make me feel so giddy that she'd have to spend 30 minutes in a confined space with a Muslim. It would probably be good for her. She could use some multi-culturalism in her life. Thomas didn't think that was too funny. So, it will be his ass who gets to head out and pick her up. I will be fueling myself up with wine.

Having my MIL in town over Christmas is not the only exciting thing happening in my life. My pain the ass sister-in-law is pregnant! And while I'm super excited to be an aunt of kids I'll never be allowed near, I am already tired of the incessant emails about pregnancy. That girl is going to drive herself crazy with all the "what ifs" and things that could go wrong. She's got an U/S scheduled for Tuesday and I think she's already convinced herself that she will get a false positive for some unknown genetic disorder.  I told her the only thing she needed to worry about was the baby inheriting the Dahlen head and ripping her from hole to hole. Lol. What? Does that make me mean? She deserves it.

My big project that I decided to start a week before Christmas is the "Remodel" of my bedroom. And by remodel, I mean paint. So, I'm painting. Sherwin Williams "Silvermist". And one day when I actually come in to some money (so, pretty much never) I am going buy some rods to put up the curtains I bought a year ago. I also need to paint the bedroom furniture since ours is from Tom's bachelor days and uber-ugly and new furniture is not in budget.

Merry Christmas to all!