My funny hubby

Last Sunday night, we were outside most of the night, I was bbqing and Rob was cleaning out the gutters, Alivia was standing in the driveway the whole time yelling at him to be careful and not to fall! Later that night I was laying down watching TV and my shirt smelled like bbq. I told Rob I was going to change and he said "I always smell like that too after I BBQ, doesn't it make you want to eat yourself?"

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Words you never want to hear from your spouse or anyone really:

"I accidentally used your toothbrush babe"

Rob said this to me the other day...nice.

***

I went to a trivia night last night with Brian and Rachel, Rob stayed home with Alivia and decided he was going to make chocolate chip cookies..by himself. Here are the series of text messages:

Rob: Where are the chocolate chips at?
Me: In the cabinet, in a baggie
Rob: How am I suppose to know how to make them?
Me:Look in a cook book
Rob: Where are they at?
Me: Above the stove
Rob: Do we have any more flour?
Me: Check in the pantry or the spice cabinet
Rob: Is it one stick of butter?
Me: One stick is half cup

After about 20 minutes:

Me: How's it going
Rob:First round not so good, lil too big, ok, really too *#&$ing big, wish you were here
Me: Me too
Rob: Sure aint Amy Lou cookies
Me: See i'm good for something
Rob: Cooking is definitely on your great list, what time are you coming home?

I'm sure you can imagine the mess I came home to. I have certain tupperware containers that I use for certain things, One for cookies, one for bacon etc etc. He put the cookies in the one I use for bacon. What would he do without me?

Amber, Brayden and I went to lunch today at Max and Erma's at Mid Rivers Mall. We wanted to get the kids some summer clothes. Sears had alot of kids clothes on sale so I got Alivia a few outfits. While we were sitting at lunch, Amber picked up Brayden's soda cup and read a joke off of it, she said "What did the politician say to the sundae?" and the answer was "Freeze!" She set the cup down and said "That's dumb, it doesn't even make sense, I don't get it" I thought for a minute and said "Are you sure it doesn't say policeman?" She looked again and then started cracking up. Yes, it said policeman not politician. Of course then the joke made sense. It was pretty funny. She said "I better not see this in your blog!" ;)

Making Progress

We tore our master bathroom out on May 13 2007. We put in all new plumbing, new subfloor, new drywall and even new insulation and we had to move two electrical outlets. This is Rob's first complete remodel and he did most of it himself. It's been a slow process but we're making progress



Shower Before:




















New Shower:




















Vanity Before















New Vanity:

We're not done yet but gettin close.I'm so EXCITED!!

Rachel and I went to the Cardinals game Tuesday night. We parked and walked into the park and figured we had better get something to eat before we sat down. We went to the concession stand and I ordered first. I asked for Nachos and a diet coke. I noticed that the girl behind the counter was wearing a button that said "If I don't repeat your order, ask me for a free gift" The girl proceeds to get my nachos and sets them on the counter, then she asked me again what kind of soda I wanted, I told her again and then she started to ring me up. I said "You didn't repeat my order back" She said "That's because I wasn't done yet" I'm thinking to myself, what good would it do to read it back now, you're already done, but whatever. Rachel begins to order, as the girl is getting Rachel's food, we figured there is no way this girl will be stupid enough to NOT repeat the order back, now that she knows were paying attention! She set Rachel's food down and tells her the total. I nudged Rachel and said "Tell her!!" she said "no, you!" So I said, "You didn't repeat her order back" the girl says "Yes I did" I said "No, you didn't" and again she said "Yes, I did" and again I said "No, you really didn't" She kinda laughed and said "Oh" and I said
"What's the gift?" she said "I guess you get to tell on me" and I said again "but, what's the gift?" she said "I don't know, none of us do"

Rachel and I went to our seats just not believing how stupid this girl was. Later on we went for a walk and to go to the bathroom and walked by guest services. I said "Let's go over there" We explained what happened, the woman called down to the supervisor and brought us down 2 $5 off coupons to the concession stand!! We walked back by that stand later and Rachel covered her face and started to walk fast, it was all pretty funny. The cardinals ended up winning. I don't watch baseball at all plus there are alot of new players this year so I had no idea what was going on. On top of that, it was Jackie Robinson day and every player was wearing a jersey that had number 42 on it and none of their names were on their shirts! I was so lost but we had a good time.

Will Pee For Candy

Alivia has been wearing big girl panties for the last two weeks. She's been doing really good. Sunday we had to go to a baby shower and I tried to put a pull up on her before we left and she refused so I hoped for the best and we left the house. We went to walmart, the baby shower, back home and then to the bowling alley with not one accident!! Now, we did spend most of the day in the bathroom but that's ok. Yesterday was the same, all day no accidents. YEA!!! Rachel and I are going to the cardinals game tonight and Rob has to run around to a few places and said he would take her with him, then I reminded him that he will be on potty patrol, I think maybe he will think twice about taking her out all night! He said "Do I take her in the boys bathroom?" Well yea. I told him I think he should do what he needs to do tonight and just make sure he asks her alot if she has to go! We'll see how that goes!

Who's side are you on?

Last night Alivia and I were sitting on the couch. Rob came into the living room and said he was going to go downstairs and play poker on the computer (which cost money).

Me:Um no, I don't think you are
Rob:Why not
Me: Because I don't think it's a good idea
Alivia: He can play games if he wants to mommy
Me:No he can't
Alivia:Yes he can
Me: No, he can't, I said no
Alivia: You can't tell him no, he's a big boy, he can play games if he wants to
Me: No, it costs money
Alivia:Yea, he can spend money
Me: No, I said he can't spend any money
Alivia: It's ok daddy, you're a big spender like me


I have no idea where she got that from but it was hilarious

Mommy's Baby

Alivia has been referring to her self as my baby. It's pretty cute. A few weeks ago her TV blew up. It wasn't a huge suprise but it was very devestating to her and me! I bought that TV my self with cash when I was about 16 years old. So i'd say it had a good run. Anyway, since her TV has been gone she's been sleeping through the night with no interruptions. It's been great. We still have the TV in the living room (which is also going out BTW) and we have the TV downstairs. She has been watching her noggin shows in our room in the evening. She'll come upstairs every once in awhile and want to tell me something or want a drink or whatever. Well, last night she came upstairs for something and then wanted me to take her back down. She said "Can you help your baby go downstairs" One day rob was playing with her and saying "where's livy?" she jumped up and said "Mommy's baby is right here!" She's said it a few other times and I love it!

My mom sent me this, can't remember if I've posted it before but I like it.

THOSE BORN 1920-1979

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because,WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hou rs building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays , made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disa ppointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! If YOU are one of them CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good .While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

I can't believe it's already been over a week that we got back from vacation. You wait and wait for something and then it's here and gone before you know it. We had a really nice trip.

We arrived in Albuquerque on Tuesday 03/18, checked into the hotel, laid around for a little bit and then drove up to the sandia mountains, there is a tram that takes you to the top of the mountain and there is a lookout and a restraunt. We had a very nice dinner and when we came back down on the tram the sun was setting. It was really cool. On wednesday we went up and checked out the bowling center and went to a local casino. They had a deal where if you earned 100 points on a new card you got a free sweatshirt and a free watch and I got both! We won a little money too! We went back to the hotel and waited for our friends to arrive-they decided to drive there from St. Louis! They got in at about 8:00 and we went and bowled the 40 frame game. Its one continuous game that is 40 frames long. I bowled terrible. On Thursday we got up and ate breakfast and went to the casino and the bowling center again. We had to bowl at 8:30 that night. On Friday Seth and Kristy and I went to the zoo, aquarium and japanese garden and walked around "old town" the weather was beautiful the whole time we were there-about 70 degrees and sunny skys! We had to bowl at 5:00 that night. Everyone decided to drive back friday night. We had a 9:25 am flight back home.

On saturday we got to the airport at about 8:00 and as we were walking up to check in and someone walked up to us and said "did you know your flight is delayed" um no we didn't "yea, the plane is here but the crew got in late and now the flight leaves at noon" we were so pissed. We were supposed to get in at around 2 and we didn't end up getting home until 7 saturday night, that sucked.

The next day was easter, Alivia made out like a bandit, she ended up getting 5 easter baskets. We went to my moms and rob's mom's house.

I've been trying to work on potty training, my goal is to have her completely done by her birthday. So, I have a little more than 3 months. She's doing pretty good so far.

I did end up switching babysitters. I really like her, Rob said it will be a matter of time before this one pisses me off too! Well, you know what, when it comes to my kid, I'm pretty particular!

I won two sets of cardinals tickets for my production at work-very exciting. Rob and I will be going on 04/18 and he couldn't make it on 04/15 so I asked Rachel to come with. She's very excited. I can't wait. I think that's all for now....

thanks mom

another wacky website


http://www.doctorzebra.com/madcow/index.html

This site calculates the greater risk of eating beef, contracting a rare disease or suffering a heart attack. You'll be suprised by the results!

Wacky Web Sites

My mother gave me a page-a-day calendar for xmas. There is a page for every day of the year, each page lists different websites that you can visit. The one from Friday March 14 lists this website and I thought I would share. This is by far the stupidest website I have ever visited, also one of the funniest!!

www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/freakyfranks/franks.php

Select a wet topping and a dry topping and click build it! My favorite is the spaghetti-o's and the barbie doll head!

Finding decent childcare is a pain in my ass. I'm going to interview my sister's babysitter this afternoon. Alivia's daycare called AGAIN yesterday saying she had a fever so I needed to pick her up. No big deal...I made her a Dr appt, went straight there from daycare...no fever. imagine that. They did find that she had a mild ear infection in one ear so they gave her some amoxicillin. We got up today, I took her temp, no fever, gave her the medicine and two aspirin *just in case* and headed to daycare. As I'm dropping her off a teacher comes over (not her teacher by the way) and says "oh, since she left with a fever yesterday she can't come back today" this was at 8:45 and I had to be at work, on duty, at 9. She called the director and confirmed and then I stormed out of there like a child. I was PISSED. I understand this rule, I really do, however, it would have been nice if they would have told me this when I picked her up yesterday rather than 15 minutes before I have to be at work. THANK GOD my sister was off today and lives close so I was able to drop her off over there. I hate making this change right now. I can't decide if I want to finish out the week since I've already paid for it or if it works out with amber's babysitter maybe I will start her there tomorrow. They have pissed me off before but I didn't want to pull her out because I really liked her teacher, well her teacher quit last week and I found out the day after so I don't have that keeping me there anymore, I feel bad because she's in love with a little boy there and has made alot of friends, but honestly, I don't remember any of the kids I went to daycare with when I was her age. This is so frustrating.

isn't it too early for this?

Alivia goes to daycare and there is a little boy in her class that she has come quite attached to. His name is Liam. She has good taste, he's pretty cute!! A few weeks ago I dropped her off and when she saw him, she jumped out of my arms and started following him around. This is when I first started noticing this whole thing. A few days later, I picked Alivia up kind of early and they were just getting up from their naps. Alivia and Liam's cots were next to each other and the teacher told me that Alivia was rubbing his face, the teacher said "what are you doing?" and alivia said "i'm just trying to touch him" Earlier this week Alivia was crabby and didn't want to go daycare so I said "Let's go to daycare and see if Liam is there today" to which she said "He's not your friend mommy, he's my friend" Liam's parents are teachers and were off work yesterday so Liam wasn't there. The teachers said she was sad all day!!! Today, the kids were sitting around a table threading beads. Alivia pulled up a chair next to Liam of course and they were taking turns threading, Liam then said " Livy makes me so happy" CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?
Isn't it too early for this?!?!?!?

Alivia has been in a big girl bed since exactly her 2nd birthday (7 months ago). The first six months went GREAT, she wouldn't get out of her bed for anything, now she won't stay in it. We put her to bed and then she gets up every half hour needing something. I've composed a list of her actual excuses:

I need a drink of water
I need some milk and chocolate
I DON'T WANT to watch (spongebob, oswald, max and ruby, dora...whatever is on at the moment)
I WANT to watch (spongebob, oswald, max and ruby, dora...whatever is NOT on at the moment)
I want some strawberries
I hurt myself
It's scary outside
My (belly, ears, lips) hurt (changes nightly)
and the best one last night was "my feet are broke"

I don't know what to do to keep her in her room. Please help!!

Car For Sale

Stock Photo

Car for sale:
2004 Silver Chevy Malibu, 4 door, power locks and windows, all glass is vin etched, 67k miles, cloth seats, great gas mileage.

Blue Book Value is 9,995, I'm asking $8,995. Let me know if you are interested or would like to see it. Thanks!

3 more weeks till vacation yea!!

I've been meaning to write about this for awhile and it makes me CRAZY!!! I HATE when I'm sitting in traffic and look over and see someone smoking in their car....with a child in the back seat...with the windows up. I have to wonder what kind of selfish idiot this person must be. I would never say anything to anyone because people these days are crazy and i'm not trying to get shot!! But, I have looked at them and shaken my head or given them a dirty look and I'm sure they have NO IDEA why. Why on earth would someone think that is healthy or safe. I really don't have anything else to say about it except that I think it's disgusting and if you are guilty of this you need to stop and consider your childs health over yours.

This morning I was getting ready for work and alivia was in the living room laying on the couch watching tv. As I'm running through the house trying to remember everything, I'm yelling at her to turn the tv off. I went in her room and grabbed her shoes and brought them into the living room. She was still laying on the couch but sat up when she saw me.

"Come on, let's get your shoes on and go bye bye"
"I want to watch super where" (it's actually called super why)
"You need to turn the TV off, we need to go"
"You need to put your make ups on first" (pointing to her cheek)
"I already did put my make up on, turn the tv off"
"You need to put more make ups on, I want to watch super where"

She is too smart....

We are pretty much all feeling better, Rob and I are dealing with a small cough still but Alivia is all better. We had a pretty quiet Valentines day at home. We BBQ'd ribs and had potato casserole and salad and some strawberries and bananas dipped in chocolate. It was nice. Alivia really liked the chocolate!!!

We leave for vacation exactly one month from today yyyyyeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa!!! We're going to Albuquerqe for a bowling tournament. We're leaving on a tuesday and coming back on saturday, I can't wait!!!

A blog about everything and nothing

This past week has been nuts. It all started last saturday night. Jenny, Jack, Alivia, me and a family from work went to see Sesame Street Live at the scott trade center. Alivia had alot of diet coke, popcorn and cotton candy. At about 11:00 that night she came into our room, climbed into our bed and threw up...in my bed. great...I proceeded to give her a bath, change the sheets, change her, ets.. at about 12:30 I hear her coming again so I jumped up and met her at the top of the stairs in just enough time for her throw up down the stairs. Again, I cleaned her, cleaned up the stairs and changed her again. She was fine the rest of the night and all day sunday. It began again Monday morning and of course of all days, I had to be at my HQ office at 8:30. She got up around 6:30 and again had gotten sick. I wondered if she was still sick from all the junk she ate saturday night so I gave her a bath, got ready for work and headed on my way. Rob was already at work. I drove through sonic for some drinks and she threw up again....in the car. So, I called Rob and luckily he was able to meet me at my work and he stayed home with her that day. Tuesday and Wednesday were fairly normal. Thursday is when it started snowing hard here so I left work at about 1:30. My car was already covered in snow and I really didn't want to end up in a ditch so I figured I would go while it still wasn't too bad. My bowling league got cancelled that night as well. On friday we woke up and the snow was to the middle of the tires...on the escalade!! Again, this is a day I was supposed to be at my HQ office at 8:30 (never fails) I called my boss and told him there was no way I could get out and wasn't going to be able to make it. He called me back a few minutes later and told me that he would offer to give me a ride but didn't want to drive on my road either! As you may or may not know, I live on a private street that is not maintained by the city so it doesn't get plowed unless we pay for it. Not to mention my driveway is straight up hill and the road is down hill...anyway. So we stayed home all day. It should have been a great snow day stuck at home but it was far from it. I started feeling sick, rob was coughing all day and then alivia had diarrhea. I had to borrow diapers from my neighbor. I only had 5 pull ups left which wouldn't have been a big deal except she went through all five of them by 9:00 AM!!! I called my neighbor who has 6 kids so I knew she would have extra diapers and she did-thank god! Rob and I were supposed to go out of town saturday morning for a bowling trip and were really looking forward to it. Rob woke up saturday morning and felt even worse then he did on friday. We got everything together and was able to get out of the driveway. I was so behind at work, I stopped by there first and did some work while he slept in the car then we dropped alivia off at my mom's house. We also had to go to his work and get his wallet because he left it there on thursday not thinking he wouldn't be at work on friday. We finally got on the road and got to springfield, il at about 2:30. I still wasn't feeling 100% and he wasn't even feeling 25%. He ended up bowling pretty decent. We went back to the hotel and stayed there all night. At about 9:00 our friend called me who had brought his son with him, he said that his son wasn't feeling well and he wanted me to sit with him while he went up to the store and bought him some medicine. I thought to myself, if this kid gets sick on me i'm going to lose it. I had been cleaning up bodily fluids all week and just didn't want to deal with anyone else's kids!! Everything was fine and I went back to my room. We woke up sunday morning and still didn't feel well. Rob was going between burning up and freezing. He somehow managed to bowl a 299 game!! He got done at about 11:30 and we headed home. He sleeping on the couch right now while the superbowl is on tv and I'm trying catch up from everything that I didn't get done all weekend. Alright, time to put liv to bed and pray I make it through the night with no messes from anyone.

A poop story

Disclaimer* If you don't have small children or do have a weak stomach you may not want to read on*


Alivia's daycare called me at work on thursday and said that she was complaining that her stomach hurt and it hurt to go potty..and she had a fever. It was 4:00 when they called so I told them someone would be there by 5. I ended up having to stay home with her friday because she had a fever. She just kinda laid around all day and I noticed there was no number 2 that day. On Saturday, she still had a fever and still no number 2. A few times that day she would all of a sudden announce "I have to go poop right now" we would run to the bathroom and she would say that she couldn't push it out.

We have a secret food cures book. I was looking through it for constipation and fever. For a fever it said to cut up raw potatoes and put them on the bottom of her feet and wrap a bandage around them to keep them in place. I didn't even try it, she was way too crabby and I knew there was no way she would let me near her with raw potatoes! For constipation it said to massage the area under the bottom lip and above the chin. Weird....

Later saturday night, we ran to the bathroom again, while she was sitting there concentrating on the deed at hand I thought, what the heck. So I took my finger and started to massage under her lip and above her chin, of course she told me not to touch her. I tried again and she let me for a few seconds. She said she couldn't push it out again. So she got down and started to walk away. She didn't even get 10 feet away and came running back saying "It's coming out, It's coming out!" She sat back down and SUCCESS!!! IT WORKED!!!!

I couldn't believe it and maybe even thought it was a coincidence. BUT, It happened again on sunday. I wanted to share this with anyone who has ever had this happen to their kid, hey, it's worth a try!!!