Recession Weekend

Like most families, we are trying to watch our budget very closely these days while still enjoying some of our favorite activites.  This past weekend we hit the motherload and enjoyed some great activities on the cheap.

Friday night we tried BRAVO! in Eton for dinner care of a gift certificate I won from the MIT Mommy blog in the Plain Dealer.  We usually choose local, independent restaurants over chains so had never tried BRAVO! before. Since we were on someone else’s dime we went all out starting with the calamari which were crisp and light – we even got M to try it – and ending with the yummy dessert trio.  Dinner was very good, my scallops were a touch overdone but overall it was a satisfying meal.  It was a much more posh place then we usually take M but they were very child-friendly with crayons, a patient wait staff and nice kids menu.  I could see us trying it again for a weekend lunch from their pizza oven.  Dinner out (a favorite weekly ritual): about $15 after tax and tip.

Saturday we had planned to attend the Rock-n-Tot/Synergy but the event was cancelled due to low ticket sales – a huge bummer as we had so much fun at the last one.  I can only hope that Naomi tries once more to get these events off the ground as I think they are a great time.  I managed to fill the day by checking out a new(ish) salon and getting a “saucy” new cut.  I love my cut, like the salon and really liked that I had a big fat coupon for it from my employers discount site.  And, I love that it was in my ‘hood – support local! The returned money on the event tickets just about paid for my discounted cut.  Bonus!

She bangs!

Luckily for Saturday night we got a last-minute offer of comped tickets to see the Cavs play the Heat and were off scrambling to find a sitter.  My boss has a teenaged daughter, E, who is trying to get into the babysitting game and since our regular sitters were MIA we took her up on the offer of having M come to their house for the evening (that way if something happened with E, my boss would be there to pick up the slack).  The downside is they live way the hell on the far westside of town.  The upside is that since E is young and didn’t come to our house, she charged a heck of a lot less then what we normally pay.  M had a FANTASTIC time and Mark and I got to snuggle in the seats see the Cavs trounce the Heat for free.  Cost: about $30 in babysitting fees + a few bucks spent on concessions & parking at the game.

Cavs Pregame

All in all it was a terrific weekend, relatively cheap.  Normally we would never have a date night and a fancy dinner night in the same weekend, but due to some luck we were able to enjoy what Cleveland has to offer at a bargain.

Photo Essay

Ever since M spent the weekend with my sister last month she has been OBSESSED with princesses, specifically Ariel from The Little Mermaid.  Whenever we play, I am “Mama Princess Daisy” (apparently from Wii Mario Kart), she is “M Princess Ariel” and Mark is “Prince Eric”.  She is also getting way into dress up and imaginative play, which is a lot of fun.  This weekend she started talking to “bobby” – maybe it’s the start of an imaginary friend?

Princess Maggie Ariel

Princess bathrobe and purse from my Aunt.  Sunglasses from the sister noted above.  Necklace from my collection.

I also mentioned before that the box that our new dishwasher came in has become quite the plaything. We cut a door, windows and a couple of peep-holes in the sides and let M have at it with stickers and crayons.  I sewed up a quick set of curtains for the window and that box has been the most played with toy in the house for the last two weeks.  It’s been a house, a cave and a rocket; turned on it’s side it becomes a robot costume (I don’t get it either but, I go with it) and turned upside-down it’s a pool.

Playdate & M in the box

M & a playdate in the box house

Snacktime in the box

Note the Little Mermaid stickers – a “must purchase” during a trip to JoAnn Fabric to avoid a meltdown over the refusal to buy a $12 humungous sew-on patch of Ariel.  $2 for the stickers seemed like a bargain.

We also were gifted a hand-me-down easel which over the last few days has become the center of attention.  A chalkboard on one side and place for paper and paint on the other, it is a great way to keep her busy for a long stretch of time.  And watching M perfect her two-paintbrush at a time technique has her artist-daddy proud.Painting

Finally, I realized the other day that the awesome Hanna Anderson outfit my mom got M last January is still going strong after a year of heavy use.  This is the third Hanna that has gone through the rotation in this house and has held up for over a year.  Their stuff is pricey but it wears like iron and is made so that it grows with the child.  I’m all over the next semi-annual sale!

Cousin & M Jan 2008

M & her cousin in January 2008

Hanna Feb 2009

The same outfit, February 2009

Sew Lovely

I used to knit.  Then I became a mom and I don’t knit so much anymore.  I miss it, but I just don’t have the time. When I do start a project it always gets put aside for some reason or other and when I pick it back up I have no idea where I left off.  I have a beautiful nearly-done baby blanket in a feather and fan pattern that needs to be frogged.  I just can’t do it because it took me almost a year to knit, but after stopping and starting so many times there are glaring errors that are driving me nuts and I can’t continue.  So it sits in a heap and I don’t have the heart to start anything new.

Then there is the matter of the yards and yards of fabric that are sitting, still boxed from the move over a year ago, in the attic storage room.  When the Hancock Fabrics by my old office closed I went a bit crazy and bought 4-yard swaths of about 10 different fabrics. In case you’ve never bought fabric – 4 yards is a LOT of fabric.  At the time I was really into making darling pants from these instructions.  M had several pairs.  Then we moved and all that fabric has been in a box for over a year. 

Recently one of my favorite blogs, Sweet Juniper, has added a weekly craft post – WoodCraft – and it’s been hugely inspirational for me.  Wood works full time, she has TWO kids and yet she finds the time to use sewing as her creative outlet.  Sewing is fun to me, especially when there isn’t a fussy pattern involved; it’s not as challenging as knitting but it offers more of an instant gratification.  In the past I’ve made baby quilts for friends, pillow cases for our house and roman shades for a friend; yet over the last year my machine has only been used for repairs or to make the odd set of curtains for a box-house (more on that another day).  Then Wood linked to the instructions for the Oliver + S Lazy Days skirt and something sparked.  I had to make it.  That weekend, over the course of a few hours during M’s nap I was able to produce this

Skirt One

M loved it and called it her ballerina skirt (where she learned about ballerinas I have no idea) and I was hooked.  I hauled more of the fabric out and got to ironing.  This past weekend I made another one

Skirt Two

I know I will make at least a few more before our trip to South Carolina in a month.  This is the easiest skirt ever and if you can sew a straight(ish) line you can make one.  After I made the first one I made a couple of changes to the instructions and the second one took no time at all.  Best of all, I can put it down and come back to it hours or days later and know exactly where I am. M loves them and twirls all around the room making the skirts flare out.  What more could you ask for?

I remember those pants being pretty easy and I’m feeling pretty inspired…I think she may have a whole new wardrobe by spring!

 

(Yes, she is standing on TOP of furniture in each photo – it’s the only way to get this girl to stand relativity still while I snap a photo.  You can send your mother of the year award to I’lldoanythingforanonblurryphoto@she’stwososueme.com)

All that I have, All that I am*

It started on Facebook, then Dooce did it and now it’s the thing to do.  Since I can’t gather my thoughts enough to write a real post, here are some random facts about me and Mark G. Davis.

What are your middle names?
Allison and Glynn

How long have you been together?
We met and started dating in the fall of 1998, so about 10 ½ years.  The first time I met him I thought he was an asshole (to be fair he was very drunk).  We got married in July of 2000.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
About 2 weeks after the meeting noted above, our paths crossed again and that’s all she wrote.  We’ve been together ever since.

Who asked whom out?
I was in college and he worked with a friend so we did a lot of “hanging out” with our mutual friends before we had a proper date.  But I was the one to kiss him first.

How old are each of you?
I am 31 and Mark is OLD almost 37.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Mine

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
I think parenthood is both the hardest and the most gratifying at the same time.  It’s just so, so hard to carve out time for us and our interests as a couple that don’t revolve around a toddler.  That and finances…that’s a close second.

Did you go to the same school?
Nope – we actually went to rival schools.  I went to BGSU and he to the University of Toledo.

Are you from the same home town?
Amazingly, yes although we didn’t meet until we both moved away.  We are both from Mansfield but went to different school systems (and with the age difference, it’s not surprising we never met while we lived there).  I moved to Lima the summer before my freshman year in high school and by that time Mark was in the Army then on to live in Toledo. But its fun to compare memories from our old childhood haunts.

Who is smarter?
My automatic answer is that I am because I am a fount of useless knowledge (and since Google was invented I can be a royal pain in the ass when it comes to trivial things).  But, I think we are actually pretty evenly matched and with our different interests and affinities we each teach each other a lot.

Who is the most sensitive?
Mark. 

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
This is really hard because we are still exploring all the fantastic places to eat in Cleveland so we don’t often make return trips to a single place. But I’d have to say we’ve been to Bar Cento the most in the last year.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Salt Spring Island, BC where we went when I graduated college, returned the following year to get married and then visited again on our 5th anniversary. It’s almost time for another visit.

Who has the craziest exes?
Mark, but there hasn’t been any ex-drama since right after we started dating.

Who has the worst temper?
We both are pretty bad, but while I am quick to flare and then pretty quick to cool-off Mark will get angry and smolder for a long time. 

Who does the cooking?
We are pretty equal on the cooking front although our repertoire is pretty limited to heat-up-and-eat meals from Trader Joe’s and a choice few simple recipes.  However, I am the Sunday Morning Pancake Queen.   

Who is the neat-freak?
We are both pretty much anti-neat-freak which can be a bad thing.  We do an okay job at keeping the general filth to a livable level but neither one of us particularly cares.  Once in a while one of us will go on a de-clutter and scrub phase, but it’s pretty rare.

Who is more stubborn?
Me.  I am always right so you just better live with it.  And it’s really hard for me to agree to disagree because if you don’t agree with me you are WRONG and I will continue to try to convince you of my superiority.  Yeah, I’m fun at parties.

That said, Mark is pretty darn stubborn, too. And our child?- just watch out world.

Who hogs the bed?
Mark, but mostly because he likes to cuddle while I am of the notion of you get 10 minutes to cuddle then get the heck away from me.  I can’t sleep unless I have my space. Remember the scene in Dirty Dancing “This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don’t go into yours, you don’t go into mine.”?  That’s me in a bed.

Who wakes up earlier?
Mark.  I would sleep until 10 every damn day if allowed.

Where was your first date?
The sad thing is neither one of us can remember what we did for our first date.  We think maybe we went to $1 draft/$0.10 wings night at Fricker’s.  What we do remember is that I fell flat on my fact upon walking out the door.

Who is more jealous?
Depends on the situation, but we’ve both had our share of jealousy.

How long did it take to get serious?
About 2 seconds.  Pretty much after our second meeting we were together all the time.  We moved in together a year later (after me practically living at his place for a year) and got married a year after that.

Who eats more?
I think we are pretty equal on this front.

Who does the laundry?
Me.  Mark does it once in awhile but I have RULES about the laundry that need to be followed (see stubborn question above) and get annoyed when they are not.

Who’s better with the computer?
Have you met Mark?  It’s him, definitely

Who drives when you are together?
Pretty much always Mark. Although he won’t admit it out loud he isn’t a big fan of my driving.  Plus, I like to sleep in the car so if we are on the road for more then and hour I prefer for him to drive.

Now it’s your turn…answer a few of these in the comments or post your own and leave the link in comments.  Come on, you know you want to.  All the cool kids are doing it!

*”All that I have, All that I am” were part of our wedding vows and I started giggling when Mark said them because we were so broke at the time.  Mark was crying a bit during the ceremony so me laughing made me look like a total ass…something he will never let me forget.

Moving on

Thanks to everyone for your kind words…I’m trying to find some balance in this here life and I know it will take some time. 
………………….

Moving on to some random updates…

The bedtime wars have settled down to a dull roar over the last week.  We’ve found that a combination of lots and lots (& lots) of after-school physical activity (i.e. the climbing cube and slides, dance parties, going to the store and pushing the cart around, etc.) and an extended bedtime routine has made for less screaming.   Thanks for the suggestions!

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My surgery is next Monday and it can’t come fast enough.  I haven’t had any major gallbladder issues in awhile but I’m tired of the impending surgery hanging out there. 

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Taxes suck.  I can’t believe we owe so much this year after getting such a big chunk back last year!  Isn’t there some rule about never having to owe if you have kids?  Something is royally wrong with this picture.

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This weekend will be a much needed getaway for Mark and me.  My lovely sister (the one featured over here) is taking M for the night so he and I can spend the night in Columbus.  Thank goodness for free nights care of the Marriott Rewards program because otherwise we couldn’t afford it right now (see above).

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Charter One bank is evil.  I’m so amazingly mad at them and their crappy customer service right now – let’s just say they owe me some $$ and I’m not done fighting for it.

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We are now proud owners of a dishwasher and garbage disposal.  Now we just need to figure out how to install them. The kitchen does not currently have a dishwasher so some of the cabinets need to be carved out to make room – should be an interesting project if we ever have time.  On a related note, Snow Brothers is a great place to buy appliances!

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Twitter cracks me up.  A post of mine cursing the snow which included the phrase “Jesus Christ!” prompted a “fellowship of Christian men and women” to follow me.  Oh, pour souls – you are so sadly mistaken on that one. 

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I’m so over the snow and today it was -4 when I got in my car.  I think we’ve gotten 3 feet of snow in the last month and it just won’t go away.  Mark keeps making fun of me because I’m worried our ice-filled gutters are going to snap off the house as I’ve seen happen to houses all over our neighborhood.  I had to use a hair dryer to open our frozen-shut front door tonight.  Spring, please hurry!

Frustration

From August to December of 2008 I lost 40 pounds. It just fell off week after week and I felt great. I was using WW eTools religiously and started working out regularly and everything just clicked and I felt like I had made a lifestyle change that would stick. My gallbladder surgery was scheduled for December 10 and in preparation I worked out HARD for the 2 weeks leading up to that date, knowing it would be a week or two before I could return to my regular schedule seemed to motivate me and it felt great.

Then my surgery got cancelled at the last second (literally, I was prepped and waiting to be wheeled to the operating room) and everything fell apart. I fibbed about the real reason for the cancellation, telling everyone that some chest congestion kept me from going under the anesthesia, when in truth I found out during the surgery prep that I was pregnant. Pregnant! After trying for a bit with no success, then getting sick and trying hard not to get pregnant, here I was knocked up and unable to have surgery. I was excited and shocked – this timing was a perfect fit for our “3-years apart” plan – but I didn’t feel pregnant at all and was trying to wrap my head around it.

Knowing I was pregnant gave me an excuse not to continue my workout schedule; which lead to me not working out at all, and to fall off the WW wagon. The holidays hit and then I lost the pregnancy to miscarriage and everything got put on hold. The miscarriage did not hit me as hard as I expected – nothing about this pregnancy felt right and I wasn’t terribly surprised when it happened. It was hard and emotionally draining but I was not as wrecked as I thought I would be. It also gave me an excuse to further my delay my return to eating right and exercising and instead indulge in comfort eating. All of this lead to me gaining 7 pounds back in about 6 weeks. I felt sluggish and tired so getting back in my routine seemed even harder.

Now my surgery is back on for February 9 which has given me some motivation to hit the treadmill and turn Jillian back on. But I just can’t get my eating back on track. I’d lost most of the 7 lb gain but now my weight is starting to creep back up. I KNOW it’s because I’m only doing half of the job – it takes working out + eating right to lose weight, but I’m getting increasingly frustrated. I’m working out really hard (I’m actually running on the treadmill – something I haven’t done in …well I don’t think I’ve ever run on a treadmill before), I’m keenly aware of my abs, quads and shoulders as they are always sore, but the scale keeps moving in the wrong direction.

There is a new wellness competition starting soon at work which has me as a co-captain of a team and I’m hoping that my competitive spirit will help me get back in balance with both the eating and the exercising. I hope to recover from this surgery and get pregnant again quickly and I know being healthy is a key component to that equation, but right now I’m really struggling to keep both things going at the same time.

Sleepytime Update

Ask Moxie to the rescue again.  I swear by this site as a sane source for parenting advice.  Last night after nearly an hour of listening to M scream, play and generally breaking our hearts (“just one more little hug, mommy!” “daddy, I want to hold you!) I did what any parent today does and turned to the internet.  Of course Moxie had a post in her archives all about the 2 1/2 – 3 year sleep regression.   

Now that we’ve figured out this is normal developmental process we are still trying to figure out what to do.  Some of the commenters went back to the crib during this phase with some success.  M has periodically asked to have her crib back so we think this may be a possibility.  However we may need to get a contraption like this to keep her IN the crib.  Anyone ever use one?

I don’t really want to go back but we’ve given the bed a good 2 month try and she just isn’t sleeping as well as she should.  At least in the crib she will be contained and may be able to entertain herself until she falls asleep.  Other then a nightly tranquilizer dart of Benadryl hour-long struggle to get her to sleep I’m not sure what else to do.   However we are traveling for the next two weekends so I worry if we try it now it will lead to greater confusion – the crib back out at home then sleeping on beds over the weekends.   I’m sure I’m thinking about this way too much, but the whole thing is kind of consuming our lives right now.  Someday she’ll sleep just fine, right?

Bedtime Stories

We are in the midst of war in this house.  The battles occur daily, sometimes twice.  The mood is tense and we are all battle weary.  It’s a war of wills and I fear the 2 year old is winning.  The kid just won’t go to sleep.

M has never been the best of sleepers; ever since she was a baby she wakes at the slightest noise, has never taken naps of a typical length (2 hours has always been very rare for her), and until nearly 2 years old woke up at least once a night.  We’ve had some nice long stretches of sleep peace but right now we are in the middle of a perfect storm of awful.

Part of the problem is back in early December at 26 months old she started trying to climb out of her crib.  She never made it all the way to the ground but we witnessed her scampering up to the top of the rail and flipping herself over the top.  At the same time friends of ours were getting rid of a toddler bed and we jumped on it.  M seemed to love the new bed and took to it very well.  But there is nothing to keep her in the bed and while before we would go through the nap or bedtime routine, plunk her in her crib and let her play (or scream) until she fell asleep now she can get out of bed.  And she does – every single time.  

Add to that a little girl who is refusing to nap occasionally and the first of what I’m sure will be many battle of wills has come to a head.  Daycare has reported on occasion that she did not sleep but at least rested on her cot. She is not even 2 1/2 yet and I am not at all ready for her to give up a nap.  On Monday while I was home for MLK day was the first time she refused to nap at home.  It took me 1 1/2 hours for her to agree to sleep. My usual routine is to read books, rock for a few minutes then put her in bed and leave.  I don’t  care if she plays for a bit as normally she settles down and falls asleep within about 15 minutes.  On Monday after 15 minutes I went in, told her it was time to sleep, got her in bed, kissed her and left.  20 minutes later she is still playing.  I go in and find her totally naked and playing with her blocks.   I get her dressed, go through the routine again and talk to her about staying in her bed – she curls up and closes her eyes and I leave.  After awhile I hear her playing and I go in and she has emptied all her dresser drawers all over her room!  I take her to my room and try to get her to nap with me.  She starts jumping on the bed. It kept going on like this for 90 minutes when I finally had to sit down next to her bed (where she was laying with her head a the foot) and basically hold her in bed until she fell asleep.  She slept for just 45 minutes.  Today was the same thing except she NEVER went to sleep.  I tell you she was a joy this evening.

Mark has almost always handled bedtime and it’s not much better for him.  Unless he rocks her until she is fast asleep she will jump up as soon as he leaves the room and run to open the door.  Now that she knows how to work door handles were are in trouble.  If she gets out of her room she tears through the 2nd floor like a squirrel on crack.  If we hold the door shut she stands inside shrieking (sometimes she pokes her little hand under the door which is heartbreaking).  Mark does the same thing I do at naps – goes back in after about 10 minutes, settles her in bed and leaves and then the process repeats.  There are nights when the bedtime battle lasts 45 minutes.   

I am sincerely hoping this is a phase that ends quickly because it’s killing the vibe in our house.  Both Mark and I get tense around nap and bedtimes and on the days M skips her nap she is cranky by about 5:00. Traditional discipline like time outs do not work with her and neither do bribes.  She understands what she needs to do – she’ll tell you she needs to stay in bed but then will refuse to do it.  Any advice out there for us?  We are at the point of using “any means necessary”!

Favorite Things

It seems that I am 1) crappy about posting here on a regular basis now that I’m tweeting all the time and 2) stuck in a rut of doing bullet-list posts.  But, things are better in threes then twos, don’t you think?  So I’ve decided to embrace the rut and do just one more bullet-list, this time of some things that have been making me quite happy lately. 

  • L’Oreal Double Extend Lash Extension Effect Mascara.  I bought this on a whim a few weeks ago and I’m totally addicted.  My lashes are so long my hubby noticed a difference; it’s almost like I’m wearing false eyelashes.  It does not smudge at all and I get a weird satisfaction in seeing all the little tubes when I take it off.
  • Catching up with old friends on Facebook.
  • Trader Joe’s BBQ Tteriyaki Chicken.  This is so good, cheap, pretty healthy and super fast.  Pair it with their Organic Cooked Brown Rice and a quickie salad and you can have a healthy dinner on the table in less then 15 minutes.  LOVE!
  • This guy
  • Staying up to late to watch the Cavs play.
  • Celebrating the sun on the rare occasions it decides to shine around here.  Did you know that Cleveland averages 202 days of fully overcast skies each year? 
  • Oscar Blandi’s Pronto Dry Shampoo Spray.  I finally don’t have to wash my hair every morning – and since my hair takes 30-40 minutes of blowdrying this is a VERY GOOD THING.  (I tried the Ojon Rub-Out Dry Cleanser which worked well but I can’t stand the sickeningly sweet smell).
  • Doing the potty dance with M.
  • Shopping tips I get from the lovely Mir at WantNot.  I easily saved over $100 on Christmas gifts by stopping by that site to check for sale alerts before buying.  I also just got 13 items for M’s spring wardrobe for less then $50 thanks to Mir’s watchfull eyes on the sales.  And, I got these for FREE a few weeks ago (however, we aren’t big fans of the flavor so they are off to a food pantry).
  • Having drinks and yummy food at Bar Cento with new friends.
  • This guy
  • The prospect of getting both a dishwasher and a garage door opener in the next month (We haven’t had a dishwasher since 2001!)
  • Nightly laps around the dining room table chasing M and running from “the monsters!”

What’s been making you happy lately?

Catching Up

It’s been too long since I’ve update here.  I’ve been bitten by the Twitter bug and that has been taking over my life.  Luckily (?) I don’t have a phone that will allow for mobile Tweets…when that happens we are all in trouble.  Instead of a proper post here are some random updates:

  • Friday night Mark and I went on our first date night in entirely too long.  We went to the Cavs/Celtics game to watch LeBron and Co. kick some ass.  It was my first NBA game ever and I had a blast (even though our seats were about as close to the arena rafters as you can get). I think I’m becoming a serious Cavs fan.
  • We got about a foot of snow here over the weekend and we had a lot of fun with M playing in the white stuff.  We even purchased her first sled and took her to an ity-bity hill a few blocks away.  She loves it (and loves eating the snow).  She squealed with delight going down the 6-foot hill and wanted to do it again and again.
  • Preparing for these snowy outings is more like a scene in the “Christmas Story” then I’d care to admit.  Anyone have any tips on good toddler mittens that are easy to put on but stay on?  They can’t cost a fourtune, either. 
  • My GB surgery has been rescheduled for Feb 9.  Thankfully, Mark and I have an overnight alone for Feb 7.  It’s been almost a year since our last one.  We are banking on this one being more restful then that.
  • 2009 is the year we will finally be able to start some work on our house.  Now that we’ve been here a year the list has gotten quite long and it boggles the mind to try to think about getting it all done.  Our plan is to start with the upgrading of the electrical system and a complete re-wiring of the house.  Sounds exciting, no?
  • I’ve taken a too-long hiatus from my workouts.  Tonight that changes.  I expect to be quite sore tomorrow. 
  • Sunday mornings have become “pancake day” in our house and M loves it.  If it’s my sleep-in day (Mark and I take turns sleeping in on the weekends) she wakes me up by saying “Mama!  Pancakes, yes?” while nodding her head and looking hopeful.  It’s too cute.