Staying put

We're not moving. We're staying here. No reason to move.

The Hubs' boss has decided not to make any changes.

No merger. No purchase. Nothing.

It's good news really. This means that the Hubs won't need to take a paycut. That we don't have to find a new school for the Princess. We won't need to find a new daycare for the Bear.

My parents were disappointed to hear that we weren't moving.

But it's kinda like how I was disappointed about them moving here like they said they would...for 2 years.

Anyway....I had to let you know that no big changes for us!

He reminds me again that he's oblivious

We all have those moments when we realize that our spouses are dense to what's going on around them.

You KNOW what I'm talking about right?

Like when you've mentioned that someone's birthday is coming up and that a birthday card needs to be purchased.

Well...here's MY latest hubby foible.

Me: Gosh, next week is the Princess' last week of vacation.

The Hubs looks at me like a deer in headlights.

Husband: What? Next week?

Me: Yes. She starts August 7th.

Husband: She does?

Me: Yes, Sweetie. That's why we went to Meet the Teacher on Monday.

Husband: But I figured she was starting August 14th or 21st.

Me: Uh no. The date is on the family calendar.

Husband: Ohhh....

My husband. He can be so out of touch with the family. He loves us all dearly but MAN!

Freaky weather!

I know that most of the nation is experiencing a heat wave. Something you're not used to.

But me? I hate to tell you that a couple days or weeks of heat is nothing. How about 5 or 6 months of 90 - 115 degree weather? That's what I live with. The last couple weeks, it's been 90+ by 8am when I'm driving the Bear to 'school'.

I'm sure there are some of you thinking, then WHY the heck do you live where you live? Because it's where my husband's job is located.

But today? Today? It's an amazing day. It's only supposed to be 80 degrees. EIGHTY DEGREES!

What's even better? Is that it's raining. Not the skimpy rain that we oftentimes get. The steady pitter-patter rain. It's almost 9am right now and it's been raining since 7am! And what's great is that the AC is OFF. I've even got a couple windows open to get some fresh, fresh, FRESH air into this house. The windows that are open ar the ones that are underneath our back patio so we won't get any raindrops in.

To breath none processed air. It's FABULOUS!

---

The Princess and I decided to take a walk before lunch when it was still sprinkling. She SO enjoys the rain. And the recent storms out here have been violent. Lots of thunder following the many streaks of lightening. NOT the best environment to be playing outside. So I took advantage of the light rain and....

The ecstacy of cleaning

Oh the sweet smell of a clean house. There's freshly washed linens on all the beds. I vacuumed. I even swept and wiped down the main level floors. We've got tile on most of it -- hence the wiping.

But tonight? I found the BEST thing ever. Something that'll make me happy for days on end. Weeks on end. Months on end.

This thing will make me happy as I'm actually utilizing it. Immediate gratification.

I can't wait?

The thing I found?

THIS!

Yes. It's a DY-$ON.

I took the plunge. I'll be able to see the amounts of dirt coming out of our carpets. IT'll be great for the dust and dirt. I mean, I do live in the desert. The sand and dust and dirt make there way in no matter WHAT I do. If I purchased a vacuum that requires a bag? I'd be going through a bag once week! So that would NOT be a good investment at all.

And where did I find this? On tv. Yes. On TELEVISION! It was on sale. Sure, I'll have to pay tax, but I'd do that if I went to BB&B or Tar-jay or wherever. I don't even have to pay shipping & handling. I also get it paid in 5 installments! How fabulous-o is that?

Woohoo! I can't wait until it gets delivered!

I'm sure I'll be vacuuming for a couple hours once it gets delivered to my house.

Do you have a DY-$ON? Do you love it? Tell me! Tell me!

Cry me a river...

just saw a video that had me sitting with tears streaming down my face.

The song?

"Believe" by Brooks & Dunn

Have you seen it?

"There's more to life than I can see..."

Touched my heart.

Good cop and bad cop

Me? I'm usually the bad cop. I'm the bad cop again.

The Hubs' boss spoke to him again. About what the Hubs and I were thinking after being told the basic scenario that might happen with the business.

Boss: Did you and Grace have a discussion?

Hubs: Oh yeah.

Boss: What's she think about it all?

Hubs: She actually brought up a bunch of concerns. And some ideas that I hadn't even considered.

Boss: Like what?

Hubs: The fact that if I'll be building up from scratch, then why not build in XX (my hometown).

Boss: In XX? Why go there? [stunned look on his face as he says this]

Hubs: Well, Grace mentioned a few things that'll put us in a good situation. Here, it's just me and her and the kids. We've got no family here. What brought us here was this job. In XX, we've got a whole support system. Her parents. Her two sisters and her two brother in laws.

Boss: But you'll be priced out of the market there.

Hubs: Actually, we wouldn't be. Grace's parents will be moving in with her sister, that gives us an opportunity to have a house that we can rent at a 'family price' while we save up for a large down payment. Plus, Grace is making almost as much as I am now.

The two discussed a couple other points. But the fact is his boss was basically at a loss for words. We had stumped him. That we did NOT have to stay here. That we could go elsewhere and rebuild the Hubs' career.

My concern was WHY my husband would show our cards this soon in the game. The supposed transition (if his boss decides to go that route) would finalize at the end of the year. But the Hubs told me that he wanted his boss to know that we have options. That if we were going to stay that they'd have to make it worthwhile. Because if the business transitions, that it'll result in a paycut.

I'm like WHAT? A paycut? For you? But you're doing the amount of work that it took TWO guys to do before you came! You don't cause any waves. No drama like the two guys before you. You work. You don't bitch and moan. And it would mean a paycut for you for us to stay here?

Okay. THAT is why he put our options out on the table. I don't care that he made me out to be the bad cop. That I'm the one he said came up with the out of the box thinking of leaving this place. I'm glad about it now.

Fever alert

My little guy came home from daycare with a fever. Ugh!

He seemed fine. Acted the same.

But by the time we sat for dinner (about an hour after we got home), he started not feeling so hot. I laid him down on the couch. Covered him with a blanket. And lay behind him and stroked his back. We just sat there for about 15 minutes. Quiet. Together.

Bear: I wan wotch Li'l Foot.

We trudged upstairs holding hands. I turned on the VCR. Pushed in the designated video. We lay on the carpet on his Buzz Lightyear pillow. Quiet. Together.

He's upstairs asleep right now. Hopefully he'll be back to his chipper self in the morning.

[crossing my fingers that it's just one of those one-day fevers]

Otherwise....I'll have to keep the TWO kidlings busy while I try to work....

Kicking around ideas

Based upon the situation we're now faced with, we may jump ship and make a huge change.

One idea we have on the board is moving. Moving back to my hometown. To be near my family.

PLUS.....my folks will be moving into that house with my sister so....that leaves their current home. They were planning to keep it and rent it out. What's better than to rent to your own family?

I broached the topic with my Mom last night. She and my Dad are happy to hear that it's a possibility. But they need to give us a dollar figure as to what they'd expect in rent. We'll be on a TIGHT budget if we do move out there so the price has to be lower than market rate.

What'll suck is that we'd have to move mid-year. That'll be hard on the Princess since she's in school. But no final decisions have been made. We're still trying to figure out what's happening with the Hubs' boss and what he'll decide to do.

But that option is out there. And it's one that seems to be a good family decision....

Oh...I've been there!

That's the first thing that popped into my head when I saw one location in tonight's "Treasure Hunters".

Fort Pulaski

I just saw the first group of them walking up to the fort and I knew I'd been there.

"That's in Savannah!"

And sure enough. I was right. Amazing how I remembered that location 12 years after I'd seen it.

As for the rest of the episode so far? Kayte needs to get a life. Stop driving people batty with her dramatics. I'm sure the Miss USA team will figure out the "mirror" clue in no time flat. They are SMART and tough girls.

"Kayte better shut up and let Brad (her Dad) to have time to think...."

That was the BEST quote ever. The Mom said that too.

Another good one was....

"The Air Force...they're like machines."

The only thing I don't like about this show is the HARD sponsor advertising. It's just SO much. But at least its entertaining!

An air of uncertainty

The Hubs boss almost had a mild stroke last Monday.

Yup. He hadn't been feeling well for a while. He finally felt bad enough last Monday morning where his wife took him to the hospital. He ended up having to stay because they noted he was on the verge of something serious. Thankfully, he did make it to the hospital. Thankfully, he was able to relax at home while the office ran smoothly without him. Yesterday was his first day back. He'll be doing half-days for a couple weeks.

But what now? It's a 4 person office. The Hubs. His boss. The boss' wife who does the books. And the receptionist. Now that the Hubs boss has had a health scare? What's gonna happen?

Today the Hubs is supposed to have a sit down with his boss to discuss the plans for the business. I can't wait to hear the details.

What makes life even more uncertain? The fact that the place where the Hubs used to work has let about 1000 managers go. ONE THOUSAND people! Can you believe it?

What sucks even more is how quickly they're letting people go. One of these 'just notified' managers sent out a 'farewell' email out to his colleagues. And one of those colleagues was my husband. My husband who probably would have been in the same group that was let go. Out of a job! Anyway, this friend of my husband said he was sending out the email because they were scheduled to take his laptop by mid-week. So, he was just told about the layoff AND he is going to get totally let go from the place by the end of this week. E-gads! Talk about short notice.

Reminds me of when I gave my notice one morning. They let me go by lunchtime. SERIOUSLY! I didn't get a farewell lunch. I didn't get to walk around and say good-bye to everyone. After speaking to my manager, she walked over to the CFO, who called me into his office. Not one hour after I spoke with my manager did they tell me that I was leaving that day.

So...there is a bit of uncertainty about the Hubs' job. About where we're going to be in the next 6 months. Thankfully, I do have a job. That's the only thing that the Hubs is feeling relieved about. The only thing that's our saving grace. That he doesn't have to stress about us not having any money coming in. I guess that raise came at the right time, eh? It gives him a breather. Time to think.

But I'm sure he'll "Land on his feet" like he always does. He's a highly qualified person who does great work. I'm behind him 100%.

Supermom to the rescue...

Last night I was Supermom!

I went out in a flash rain storm. Yes. There was some major lightening. But I went out anyway.

I went out front and rescued...rescued....our trashcan.

I had been gazing out our back windows. Our back fence has view fencing. Those black iron fences that you can see through. Well, I saw someone's trashcan skid down the street. Like 100 yards! The wind and the film of rainwater on the street just drove that trashcan down, down, down.

I ran to get my flip-flops. I saw my husband and the kids sitting in the front office looking outside. Looking at the rain. Looking at OUR trashcan shake.

Me: I'm going out there.

Hubs: But there's lightening, honey.

Me: I know. But I don't want to have our trashcan float down the street like our neighbors did!

Hubs: Seriously? Who's can?

Me: Sweetie, I'm just trying to prevent YOU having to rescue our trash can later on.

So out I went. Into the driving rain. Thankfully, I went out when I did. Our trashcan was just starting to float away. The rainwater with just high enough to get it started down the street. And there was a LOT more water running down our street.

So I saved it! I saved our trashcan!

Woohoo!

Do you like bacon? I got some!

The CEO and VP called me and I wasn't home. I was out picking up the Bear from daycare. Most people would now say "UH-OH!" But it was about 4pm and they all know I pick up the kids in the afternoon.

Thankfully, they left me a message.

Unfortunately, the first thing I checked when I got home was email. And there was a crisis that I HAD to handle. I was researching on the web and prepping an email when I got a SKYPE message from the VP.

"Did you get the voicemail from me & the CEO"

"Oh. I see there's a message. I'm handling a crisis with Client X right now. I'll get right back to you."

"OK."

I continued to trouble the issue I was on. Then I picked up the phone and listened to the voicemail.

"Oh...she's not home. Hmmm....Maybe someone else would want her raise...."

"Well, maybe if she calls us back..."

"Hey! Give us a call as soon as you get this message"

He-he-he! Those sneaky guys. I called them straight away.

"Hi. It's me."

"Hey there! So you got the message?"

"Yes."

"So you think you'd want to take a raise?"

"Uh. That would be fabulous. Thank you for thinking of me."

I got a raise people! A RAISE! And I didn't have to request it. Or BEG for it like I've had to basically do in the past. Right now I've doubled the salary that I started this job at.

Of course, the Hubs says they still aren't paying me enough. He says I'm worth twice the amount they're paying me.

I am ecstatic. Over the moon!

Driving me crazy

I'm at odds with someone. It's someone that works for the same company I do. Thankfully, because we're a 'new' kind of company that allows us to work from home I don't have to see this person. But this person (I'll call her Eileen) is less than 30 minutes away from me. A local.

Eileen has been designated the account manager for a client. A client that I've been working with since I began my job. Each week, my team compiles data from a number of sources into one nice neat spreadsheet for the client.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned to the client that the computer system we have could 'house' all the data and spit out reports for them. This way they'd have the data in a database and not just in a spreadsheet. Anyone would vote for that right?

Anyway, Eileen has been designated to manage the project. What the client also did was decide to revamp the reports that my team has been compiling each week. The client decided to standardize the reports because my team actual creates 6 different reports for them. AND the client has decided to replace one of the data sources to another. The client sent us samples of what they want the new rpeports to look like.

Eileen asked me to send her what I have. I sent her all the various bits of source data for the current reports. She then asked for a sample of the new data source. I requested a sample from the client. I received one. I sent it to Eileen. Apparently, Eileen wanted a specific set of data. But she didn't bother to make that known in her request.

Then she goes off on a tangent that makes me think she's modeling the end result like the current reports. NOT the new format that the client sent.

OY VEY!

We're going to have a conference call soon with the entire team. I'm going to have to call her out on this. Because on our agenda? For this client? It says "Moving excel deliverables into system." I want every to know it's the NEW Excel format we should be moving toward. Not the old ones.

Privacy is important

Here's a blurb that I saw today....

"My ex-husband, without my knowledge, was sneaking into my wallet when I was asleep in the mornings and taking my ATM cards of my own private accounts and withdrawing money."(Just one more excellent reason never to share your ATM password.)

Before we had kids and I was working, we both earned a decent amount. We each had our money put to our own accounts and then we moved money to a joint account. The joint account was enough to pay our bills. We did not share our independent account information with each other. We never gave the other our PIN information.

When I was a stay-at-home Mom, I got a monthly allocation that I placed into my own account. My husband was the one who earned the money and paid all the bills. So he knew how much 'play' money we had left over. We still kept our account information separate. Not sharing our PINs.

Now that I'm working, we continue to keep our own accounts.

So here are my question to you readers:

1. How do you handle your money?


2. Do you and your spouse share a joint checking account that holds ALL your money?


3. Do you have your own checking account that your money goes into?


4. If you do have your own checking account, do you then move the money to a shared checking account?


5. If you don't have a shared checking account, do you then take care of only specific bills and your spouse takes care of others?


6. And then for the stay-at-home Moms or Dads, do you take money out of your shared account whenever? Or do you receive an allocation of money each month or week?
   

First day of swimming....all good!

We were late...

But it was okay. Right behind us was another Mom with her son, who was in the same beginner class as the Princess.

There are 9 kids in the beginner class. NINE! With one instructor. I don't quite agree with that but whatever. Just as long as I sit there (about 15 feet away with the other Moms) and watch to make sure none of the kids vaults themselves into the water without the instructor noticing.

What I found interesting is that there are only two girls in the class. The Princess and another little girl who just turned 6. I felt for sure that there would be more little girls in the class. But I was wrong in a big way.

The instructor got each of them to use the kick board. Of course, the Princess only took it out about 10 feet and then back. The boys took the board the length of the pool. But Hey! It was her first ever swim class (that she can remember).

Then the instructor got them on their bellies to blow at the water. Then the back float. Then kicking while floating on their back. Each exercise had the instructor holding each child. So they didn't do much. But enough. Enough in my eyes. Enough in the Princess' eyes. She got oriented to the water. She got to meet the teacher. She got to do a few skills. AND she left with a positive attitude. That's all I can ask for.

Hopefully, her lessons will continue with no issues. That means we can then launch into the private lessons without too much trouble.

Making Mommy Laugh

My daughter sings her own songs. She's been doing this since forever.

Two weeks ago, I noticed the Bear whipping out his own riff.

Oh my Mommy

Oh my Daddy

Oh my Sissy

La-la-la-la-la...

Oh my Mommy

Oh my Daddy

Oh my Sissy

Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba....

It was totally funny. He's done it in the car. He's done it while sitting on the toilet. He's done it while at the dinner table. He's done it in the tub.

Different songs. Different beats.

What's even funnier is when he's standing there and he starts doing is shimmy dance.

HYSTERICAL!

A full Saturday

This morning we found NO clouds in the sky.

That's a feat unto itself. It's been pretty cloudy every morning for the last week. Yesterday around 2pm, we had a doozy of a storm blaze through here. It's was a ferocious storm that usual would reserve itself until at least 5pm. But yesterday, it blew through fast and hard.

By 5:30pm, the storm was gone. We had sun shining in the western sky as that great ball of fire made its way slowly towards the horizon. The Hubs, the kidlings, and I stepped outside and had 90 minutes of play after dinner. It had cooled to about 85 degrees so we were actually able to stay outside the entire time.

So this morning, we were mighty happy to see that no clouds were in the sky. What amazed us though was how beautiful the day was. ALL DAY. All the storms we'd had all week. All the clouds that had been with us all week. And today, nothing. Nothing but bright BLUE skies. Bright blue CLEAR skies. We could see the mountains to the east of us. Mountains that have been shrouded in clouds and dusky air for weeks. We could see those mountains that are at least 20 miles away SO CLEARLY. It was beautiful.

The kidlings and I took a walk around the neighborhood around 10am this morning. The Princess got 'tired' about halfway through our walk. We dropped her at home. The Bear and I continued on through the rest of our neighborhood. He rode his tricycle the ENTIRE way. About a mile.

Of course, the two had a nice leisurely soak in our tub to 'cool off'. A customary thing that the kids do after sweating up a storm outside.

After their soak? We all went to Subway for sandwiches. Just to drive around and get away from the house. And eat together. It was nice. My daughter likes meatball sandwiches! And the Bear likes the bread with the sauce. Go figure...

Just a few minutes ago, we had just come in after playing outside for about 90 minutes. Both kidlings requested we come in.

"We're TIRED!"

"I tired"

Yeah! Both kidlings are tired. They'll sleep well tonight. But it was fun day. Just being together. Relaxing. Getting outside. Away from the tv. Away from the VCR. Just together.....

Swimming - a green light

I've done it. I've signed the Princess up for swimming lessons. Remember how I was still trying to decide?

I took her with me when I filled out the forms and paid. We looked the pool over and she seemed okay with it. She seems excited about it. Thankfully the lessons start next week. She's only been home ONE day and she's already driving me batty. HA!

Anyway, on Friday my ILs picked up the kidlings and took them to their house. The kidlings spent Saturday in my ILs pool. The Bear & the Princess both wore floaties.

The kidlings' second cousins dropped by to swim. And those cousins? Those two girls are SWIMMERS! So I think that is influencing the Princess' enthusiasm for lessons. Also, I mentioned to her that if she gets more comfortable in the water and learns how to swim that NEXT summer she'll be able to swim in the pool at summer school. Something she wasn't able to do this year.

By the beginning of August, the local Y will be able to provide private lessons. I'm seriously considering signing up for that. I took lessons about 10 years ago. That's right. I took my first REAL lessons 10 years ago. And I haven't really swum since. So I'd like to get up-to-speed and comfortable in the water too.

The Nathan's Hot Dog contest!

Yes. I'm watching it on tv right now. I can't help BUT watch it. The infamous Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest!!!!

12 minutes is all they've got. How many of those Nathan's hotdogs can they consume?

Earlier in the year, I saw some special they did on the 5 time winner. He actually "trains" his stomach. He's not a big guy either. He's actually a buff young dude. They showed him working out. They showed him visiting a restaurant in his town. And the chef made him heaping bowls of food. I mean these things were like 5 or 6 pounds of one dish. Amazing.

Right now for me it's not even 10am yet on July 4th.

The kidlings are playing upstairs in their area.

The Hubs is watching "Brighton Beach Memoirs" in the other room.

And they BEGIN!

Kobayashi has bright orange hair this year. Last year ist was yellow. He dyes it when he competes at Nathan's it seems.

WOW! There's an American guy who is totally keeping up with the Japanese champ! Where did this new guy come from? He is AHEAD of Kobayashi!

Oh my goodness! They're at 44 each!

What's amazing is the gal who's in the contest is in 3rd place with 30 dogs.

What's interesting is that only ONE of the contestants is a big person. The rest are normal size.

Can either one of them beat the current record of 53 in 12 minutes?

54!!!! FIFTY-FOUR! Can you believe that people? The Japanese guy won. The American guy? He got 52!

I can just imagine next year. It's going to be an amazing contest!

Did YOU see any protester's this weekend?

The Hubs and I did. We were at the mall browsing since we didn't have the kids.

We happened to walk by a Vicky's Secret and I glanced and saw a group of ladies sitting outside with their babies. In my head, I was thinking "what the heck?" But then I recalled in the back of my mind that there was some controversy with b-feeding at that particular store.

Then it was a light-bulb moment.

Protest. Outside the store. "Ahhhh..."

So you ladies that are reading...did YOU b-feed your baby?

I did for both my kidlings. My daughter for abou 10 months. My son only for 3 months.

What was sad for me is that my ILs were SO uncomfortable with it. I had to sit in another room while I fed the kidlings. Thankfully, I found friends who also b-fed their babies and we did it without feeling self-conscious. We'd meet up at each other's homes. We'd go to the park. We even went to the mall a few times.

What's amazing to me is the discontinuity in what we're hearing about b-feed'ing. The medical community says it's the BEST thing we can do for our babies. But then there's so much discomfort from other people. People in our society just aren't comfortable seeing a woman bf'ing her baby. It's weird. It's not like women who b-feed are exposing their tophalf.

Anyway, I don't see anything wrong with women who b-feed'ing their baby. If I see anyone feeding their baby, I look the mom in the eye and I smile and nod my head. Just a simple way of letting her know that she's doing something great.

Did YOU see any of these ladies outside your local Vicky's?

Where do YOU stand on the situation?

It's another combination!

There are 10 minutes left in this episode of Treasure Hunt.

I hope the "right" team wins.

There has been some nasty behavior here between the teams this episode.

I'll let you know how I feel after it ends....

---

I am as happy as a clam right now.

"It's Karma"

That's right! The kid said it right that the team hadn't helped ANYONEafter people helped them the day before.

And the fact that the Billy Ray Cyrus wanna be guy was trying to get the combination from the other team by looking under/through the other guy's legs? I was totally annoyed. And I was just watching it all on tv! I wasn't actually there.

I'm glad that the team that was in last place...WAS the team in last place. YEAH!

Interesting factoid [update]

My county gets 70,000 lightening strikes every year -- meaning from air to ground.

75% of those lightening strikes happen during the monsoon season.

Monsoon season? It generally occurs from July to September.

What's crazy about monsoon season is that here where I live you can "feel" when a storm is brewing. The air feels heavy. Humid. It's very noticeable. The moisture in the air. We can even SEE a storm coming. The darker clouds forming and blowing in. It's fascinating. It can be a little nerve-racking too when the wind is REALLY strong. But it's really nice when the rain actually DOES fall from the sky. It's generally up and gone pretty quick. No real solid downpour like you'd see anywhere else. It's more like a quick strike storm than a long pondering one. So it hits quick and leaves.

What's really great is when it starts to rain in the distance and you can see the sheets of rain fall from the clouds. Sometimes what you see is just that rain that ends up evaporating before it hits the ground. Other times it's definitely a heavy downpour with the accompanying lightening strikes.

So that's what's happening here...what's going on with you?

----------------------------------


It's official!

When the dew point averaged more than 54 degrees Friday, it became official.

Tucson's monsoon had begun.

The monsoon begins in Tucson when the dew point averages at least 54 degrees for three straight days. The starting date is then recorded as the first of those three days, so the monsoon commenced Wednesday. It will continue until mid-September.

So there is no specific date that monsoon begins at each year. It all depends on the criteria above.