Backpack

I'm so excited. My addiction to craigslist has once again paid off. Thanks to my wonderful parents who were kind enough to pick it up in FL.

I am the proud owner of a Evenflo Trailblazer Framed Baby Carrier in excellent condition for $30! Some of you may not understand my joy, but I have borrowed backpacks so many times from friends, that it just became something we needed to have (thanks erin and heather, never again will I have to borrow them). A backpack was something we needed, but that I wasn't willing to pay for. These things are dang expensive. Think of a price range similar to a carseat. The cheapest being at about $50(scary enough to question putting my child in) up to about $200 (I am not going mountain climbing any time soon, I leave that to my sister Genevieve). And as for the used market, they go fast, are hard to find on craigslist or yard sales, and shipping is too dang expensive on Ebay. So, much to my disappointment, I looked at my local craigslist on Tuesday and saw that a Kelty backpack, at a dang good price, had been posted the day before. The day I actually took a break and didn't check my beloved craigslist. I emailed, but of course was told it was gone. Then yesterday I checked my parent's list, just in case of the good free stuff, and lo and behold a beautiful backpack, in great condition, at an awesome price. Amazingly it was available and now its mine! Now, I just have to wait to actually see it/use it until I see my parents again. Be excited for me, its the small things that make me happy!

Excess

So I love craigslist. I mean to the point where my husband thinks I'm crazy and I check everyday and often check my sister's city and some others just in case there is something good and free that I can have a relative pick up. Well today I was looking at the baby and kid stuff in the D.C. area and this woman posted some maternity shirts and EIGHT pairs of maternity jeans pretty much all the same size (size 0 and 1, gag me with a spoon please). Who needs EIGHT pairs of maternity jeans! Who needs eight pairs of any jeans. I would just like to own more than one, but EIGHT come on, that's excessive. Oh, to top it all off, she wanted to sell them all together, cause I'm sure someone else thinks they need EIGHT pairs of maternity jeans.

Working from Home

So I am a stay at home mother and I've never regretted the decision to stay home with my kids. I'm glad that around my sophomore year of college it finally sunk in that I really did want to be home with my future children and that maybe the prophet knew what he was talking about with the whole proclamation on the family. So I said goodbye to med school dreams and now plan to get my doctorate once my kids are older. I can always go back and get an advanced degree, no problem. I have a great example in my mother who just finished her law degree and is currently completing her masters in tax law (she's a nerd!).

Anyway, because we are a one income family in a two income world, sometimes finances are a little tight. Both Brett and I go, "if only we could buy....", but in the end we have everything we need, well really more than we need, and we are fine. But lately I have felt like I needed to do something to earn a little more cash, mostly so we can pay off our expensive little reflux man. I mean we are lucky to have good health insurance; I can't even imagine how much we would have to pay without it, but it would be nice to have Corban payed for. So when a friend of mine, a realtor, asked if I would like to do some writing for her, I jumped at the chance.

In the past week, I have gained a new respect for working mothers. For both, those who work from home and those who work outside of the home. I am not writing/working much and I can't seem to keep everything together. First, there is this whole having a deadline or responsibility for completing work thing. I have not been accountable for completing things in a timely manner to anyone but me, for three years. I'm not sure I'm a big fan of it. If I don't get my self imposed list of things to do done, no one cares! Brett would never come home and say, "Woman, why didn't you get the laundry done?" More likely he would just go put whatever he needed washed in and that would be normal. He is an amazing and accepting husband, but that is another post.

Okay so second, how do working mothers manage to keep the house clean, laundry done, kids fed and not screaming, and the floor swept? Our kitchen floor is gross! I really should be sweeping it instead of writing about it. Really all you working mothers are amazing. You non-working mothers are amazing too, its really just about different skills I guess. I think I have the basic none-working mother skills down, its the other more organized work from home skills that I need to get.

I have really enjoyed writing about my community and learning all these random facts about where I live. I wouldn't mind doing more. I really love to research and write, even college papers (I'm a nerd, too! Its genetic!) I just have to learn to manage my time better and maybe I will have to stick to the Fly Lady's schedule better!

So to all you mothers, especially you work from home mothers, you are amazing and I envy your organization and time management skills. Please, share some of them with me!

Pet Peeve

So I only have one pair of jeans without holes, and I tend to wear them a lot, meaning several days of wearing them without washing them. Well they ended up actually getting washed this week, and what happens? The first time I wear them, straight out of the dryer, Corby walks right up and smears baked beans all over them.

Basketball

So, (wait a minute, just wanted to comment that apparently I use the word "so" a lot. Every time I go to post something I start to write "so" and then I change it. but not anymore). So....the women at church have started getting together to play basketball and for the last 4 weeks they have played on Tuesday nights instead of Wednesdays, so I've been able to go while Brett watches the kids. Well last night, Brett decided he really wanted to see me play so he packed up the kids and went with me. I had a lot of fun, felt less like having a heart attack (each week gets progressively better), and actually scored some points (who knows how many, but I think I'm getting better, those who have played with me feel free to contradict that statement). Well, when it was all over and we were in the car on the way home, Brett told me that if I ever wanted to hear it, he had a few pointers. He said it very nice and was really supportive, and I think a little afraid that I might get mad at him. I told him I would get back to him.

Later I did ask for suggestions, but reserved the right to get all defensive and mad. He agreed and everything he said was pretty nice and helpful. But really, I think he was just trying to be good and encourage me to keep playing so maybe, just maybe I might gain some sports skills and be an asset to our sons' future sports abilities/knowledge. I'm not sure it will help though, I come from a long line of zero coordination. For example, as a child my mother was so uncoordinated she crashed her tricycle through her school window and broke her arm. The last time I played catch I missed the ball and it whacked me in the shin. But I guess practice can only help.