Happy Halloween, Love Carson

I've been neglectful my dear readers and I apologize. It seems that the days go quicker and quicker and all of the sudden I haven't updated anything in like a week. Oops. Work has been tough this week. I've left most days with a headache, on Tuesday I was telling Dave what had happened during the day and as I was telling him, my head started throbbing stronger and stronger. Ugh, that's when you know you're stressed! It's a good stress though, I love my job most days!

Dave and I watched the Wild lose their 4th in a row last night. I have to keep reminding myself that hockey seasons are soooo much longer than football and that losing 4 in a row isn't terrible at the beginning of the season. It's gonna happen. Let's just hope that they get back into the game soon. I want to try and get out to a game as well, we only got to go to 2 games last year and one of them I was terribly pregnant and super uncomfortable. Let me tell you, those seats are not made for pregnant women or large people! Haha.

Dave and I will be out of town all weekend in Iowa for his awards conference thing. I skipped it last year since I was 9 months preggo and didn't feel up to a 3 hour car ride. I guess I didn't miss too much. This year I'm glad I'm going. I am sad to leave Carson for 2 nights...we've only ever left him for one night. So I'm a little sad but I know it's good for us to be away and good for Carson as well. Plus we have the best family watching him so I know I don't have to worry about anything.

Carson went to daycare dressed as a fire-fighter. Super cute. It's a hand-me-down from Austin. Everyone keeps asking if I'm taking him out for trick-or-treating but no, we're staying home and passing out candy. He's too little to understand it and plus I'd have to lug him around. I do wish that family was closer so I could take him around to you guys but for a Wednesday night it's too much running. I hope nobody is offended. Next year, you better believe we'll be hitting up all the family for candy! But tonight we'll be at home passing candy out. It will be fun.

My sister Jess gave me her book of pumpkin carving patterns and I did an AWESOME job carving our pumpkin. Much better than the time Dave and I just tried to draw and carve. Total disaster. It turned out super cute and I'll have that on the step with a candle tonight. I also have a little hay bale that it's sitting on with some mini-pumpkins so we're at least attempting to be festive! Well, they're having a costume contest today at work and announcing the winners so I'm gonnna go watch. Have a great night everyone, and I promise I will be better about updating! :)

Something Sweet

Ok, I promise this will be less hate-filled! Haha. Sorry I was just super irritated about that whole Ebay thing. So how about some terribly sad news? My hair lady is moving to Chicago in January. The lady that has been doing my hair for almost 10 years...10 YEARS PEOPLE! I wake up in the middle of the night with anxiety. Who is going to cut and color my hair? How am I going to afford it? No one can replace my "Christmas Carol"....*tears* My mom is having a melt-down as well. We both have been seing Carol for about as long as we can remember and it's been wonderful. I used to work for Carol, so she's not just my "hair lady" she's been a friend for a really long time as well. She came to my baby shower (if anyone can remember that). Gah, I have to stop talking about it, I'll have a panic attack.

How about we talk about Carson? I think that sounds good. That kid is just the most adorable thing, I swear. He was super fun all weekend. He has two teeth coming through though so he's been like a poo machine. I swear I changed 15 dirty diapers this weekend. Poor little hinder. We had to have plenty of diaper-free time this weekend to dry his little tush out. I'm looking forward to his teeth being in...I'm sick of teething! :) We heavily invested in baby gates this weekend. Life Saver! Our living areas are so open that it was hard to get him closed in without spending a small fortune! I like to call it....Baby Prison
There was a Wild game on Saturday night. It wasn't on FSN or 45 like they usually are, so we were checking out all the high number cable channels and found it on some random Sports Indemand chanel. I called the cable company to ask if we could buy the game like you buy movies? They said that you can't buy one game but, if we'd like to buy the entire season for the one-time low price of $150.00 we sure could. I laughed at the guy so hard and was like "are you crazy?" There are only like 5 games a season that aren't on normal cable that we already pay for...so we didn't get to watch the game. Instead we got "Blades of Glory" off of the OnDemand menu. Lol

Well, I should do some work. I'm terribly busy but with less motivation than I should have. Talk to you all soon!

BTW, I feel like Carson looks like Mandie in this picture? Like Mandie as a baby? Is it just me?

Suck It Ebay

This is purely a rant...

I hate Ebay. I've bought things before and that's all fine and dandy but I thought, hey why don't I sell something? I could probably get a few dollars for some of this stuff around the house that we don't use anymore. I posted something up for sale and it actually got quite a few bids and closed out at $97.00 WAY more than I thought I would get which was awesome. So about 15 minutes after I generated the invoice I get an email from the "buyer" stating:

"I would like to send this to my business partner in Nigeria, I will pay an additional $50.00 in shipping"

Immediately I think awwww FUDGE. So a few minutes after that I get an email from Ebay saying sorry because the "buyer's" account had been accessed fraudulently. Damn, so if I want to sell my item, I have to go through all the work to re-list it. Then this morning I get an email from "PayPal" saying that the transaction for $147.00 from the seller had been approved and to ship the item immediately and once they have confirmation of shipping, they will credit my account with the $147.00. My BS meter was going off for sure but dang, this email looked so real it was scary. So I called PayPal (the real PayPal) and verified that it was indeed a bogus email. I forwarded it to their fraud department and received some information back on what type of scam it was and whatever.

Ok so I have a hard time with wanting to try again. It's like you wait for 5 or 7 days for the item to sell only to find out that people are just trying to scam everyone. I'm sure it doesn't happen very often but what a pain in my hinder...I'm changing all my passwords trying to make sure that they don't have any personal information on me. It's scary.

Whatever Ebay.

\Rant

Real Sudafed

I’m wondering if anybody knows how many times you’re allowed to buy “real” Sudafed before the police are at your door looking for a meth lab…? Haha. I bought a box the other day and I felt like the pharmacist was judging me. I can’t help it that I’m sniffly this time of year, and Sudafed happens to be one of the medications that works the best for me and doesn’t make me sleepy. If I take Benadryl, I’ll be out in about 15 minutes. That doesn’t make me a very good worker.

A rep from our builder was out at our house this morning. We got a letter as it approached 1 year in the house asking if anything needed to be fixed. We only had about 3 things to put on the list but sure enough, they came right out and took care of it. Our front door wouldn’t latch without the deadbolt being locked so now we can actually make use of our front door. That will be nice!

I can’t believe that Halloween is sneaking up on us. People keep asking if I’m going to take Carson trick-or-treating and I usually look at them like they’re insane. I’m not going to lug my heavy kid around and get candy that he can’t even eat and spend an evening he won’t remember. He’s just too little to get into it yet. I’ll most likely send him to daycare all dressed up because that’s fun but no trick-or-treating…I’m excited to hand out candy though. I’ve already got my stash!

My friend Erica came over last night with her little one. I can’t believe both Lydia and Gabs are 4 weeks old now! Time sure does fly. I lent her the swing that I had bought for Carson since they didn’t get one as a gift and gave her my most valuable paperwork on “preventing sleep problems”. I got it from my doctor when Carson was 4 weeks old and it gave me such good information on how to at least *start* a routine. It worked really well and Carson is an awesome sleeper so hopefully it will help them out too.

I’d like to try and set up a small photography studio in the basement. I’ve looked around and you can find a TON of props and backgrounds on Ebay. I have the good camera already, the only other thing I would really need is one of those umbrella flashes. My camera is equipped to hook up to one and I’ve read in my photography books that it can cost about $250.00. That’s really the most important piece. To get good lighting in the house, we have to be right near a window and it always looks like we’re taking pictures in the kitchen or living room. This would eliminate all of that and give me a chance to really practice. It’s something to save up for anyways. I also need a telephoto lens for the camera…another $250.00 GAH! But that’s one that can wait at least for a little bit.

Did I mention to anyone that my windshield wiper flew off my car the other day? It was pouring down rain and I was on 94 heading into work, you know driving like 70 and the passenger side windshield wiper just flew right off. I’m sure it like hit some car behind me or something. I called Dave, laughing so hard I was nearly crying and just kept driving into work. I had to keep using my wipers though because it was raining so now I’ve got some pretty nice scratches on that side of my windshield from the metal arm that holds the wiper on. I had to wrap a paper-towel around the metal arm and then rubber band one of Carson’s socks over it to keep it from scratching my windshield until I can get into the store to buy a new one. And of course, every time I run into Target I totally forget. So that’s my story. Haha!

Flu Shots and Icky Lunches

We're watching the Wild/Anaheim game right now...I swear, Dave will probably have an aneurysm before this game is over. We've already seen a few really good fights, this game is huge for us so hopefully we can pull off a win!

I took the day off of work on Friday. Carson had to get his flu shot in the morning and our doctor's office is in Golden Valley. By the time I drive from Alberville to Golden Valley and then back to Albertville to drop Carson off at daycare, driving back to Eden Prairie ends up wasting half of my day. So I took a day off instead. **QUICK BREAK Wild are up 1-0!!** Carson was a STUD for his shot, not a whimper, no crying...seriously I had to ask the nurse if she even gave him the shot. He had absolutely NO reaction. That was a nice relief for me though, I swear I stress more about his shots then he probably ever will.

Kate, Austin and Lydia came over on Friday after Carson and I got back from his flu shot. There is an apple orchard about 15 minutes away from our house right in St. Michael so we thought we'd go check it out. We're all about going to an apple orchard in the middle of the week when there aren't a million people around...we also like the smaller more "cutsie" places instead of a place like Ahmedts which is always super busy. Anyways, this place was a little bit too little for us. It honestly was a tiny little building in the middle of some apple trees and all they sold was apples, no honey sticks or pies. They didn't even take cards, only check or cash and this lady had like a calculator and a notepad and that was it. We bought some cookie cutters to be nice but we only stayed for about 3 minutes. Austin was pretty mad. Haha. After our unfortunate apple experience, we just headed back to our house and I took some new pictures of Austin and Lydia, just for fun. Can anyone guess where the picture of Austin was taken? It's in my house...but where?!

We spent some time up at the cabin on Saturday with my mom and Steve watching the Vikings. We had this awesome feast of tacos, enchiladas, rice and re fried beans. We were all stuffed and enjoyed the game. We were pleasantly surprised that the Vikings actually won...next week is the Patriots though so that should be fun to watch...Haha, massacre. Carson refused to nap at all during the day, at least he wasn't crabby. He showed off all his mad crawling skillz. His 2nd top tooth also FINALLY came in!! Yay! He won't be "Hillbilly Deluxe" much longer. **QUICK BREAK Wild are up 2-0!!** SA-WEET

I think we officially have to have naked baby meal times now. Carson is pretty much eating anything he can get his hands on and most of that stuff is just gross. He absolutely ruined everything he was wearing on Friday...I mean, check this out: EEEEWWWWWW! So we're doing stripped down meals and I think that will work much better. At least I can just hose him down in the bath if needed, rather than having to change all of his nasty clothes. He's not much for wanting to be changed lately, he's too independent for that these days.

Well I better get back to watching the game, still a period and a half left!! Woot!

Suzie Homemaker

Dave and I have been watching that documentary by Ken Burns The War OMG is it awesome!? It's 7 "episodes" each lasting 2 to 2 1/2 hours long. It's so hard to start watching one and not finish. It's just been fascinating. We DVRd them so we can watch when we want since most have been on during prime time and we can't skip The Office! But I've really enjoyed watching and it really gives me a greater appreciation for history in general. It's very well done and highly recommended.

We had a great time at Jack's birthday party on Sunday!! Hopefully Jack enjoyed it too. Neil made an awesome cake...it was a big hit. Angie, I have more pictures for you and will email them. The pictures of the cake turned out great!I used my awesome food processor this weekend. That thing rocks so hard it’s not even funny. I sliced a cucumber and seriously it made the thinnest awesomest slices ever. It was almost ridiculous because the one cucumber made like 1,000 slices but they still tasted fantastic and the cucumber lasted a little longer than it normally does. Usually Dave and I can whip through a cucumber in about 10 minutes. Haha!

I also used the processor for mashing bananas to make some banana bread. I haven’t made bread in YEARS and I was a little nervous but it turned out really good. I had 4 bananas and only used 2 for the one loaf so I made another to send home with my mom. I hope that one turned out as good as ours. Funny story, the “best if used by” date on my baking powder was 3/2001 hahahahahahaha. I can’t believe I still have that. I guess I’m going to have to buy some more. I think I noticed only a little issue using it, the 2nd loaf of bread didn’t rise as much but the first did just fine so I’m not sure if the baking powder is to blame or not. I also made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies this weekend (wow I sound like a Suzie Homemaker!) the last batch I made I decided that using Country Crock instead of butter or shortening wouldn’t make *that* much of a difference. OMG it makes a difference. Haha. The first batch tasted just fine but the cookies were really like flimsy almost and then the batch I made this weekend were perfection! Yeah Baby…no more Country Crock! Well, except for on a slice of banana bread…Heavenly!

My friend Kate used one of the pictures that I took of Lydia for her Thank-you cards! How awesome is that!? Totally exciting. I’m a little bummed with the fall colors so far this year…I was hoping to get out and take some pictures but I haven’t seen anything worth taking. The dull brown/yellow just doesn’t do it for me. We’re going up to the cabin this weekend to watch the Vikings game with my parents so maybe there will be some good picture opportunities there.

And just thought I should mention that HELLS YEAH the Wild are 2-0. I'll leave you you with a few pics of Carson!

Look-alike?!

WOW!! Really...I totally thought this would be pointed more at Dave!! I'm totally surprised that it fell equally! Dave's mom just told me she's sending us some of Dave's baby pictures. I'm totally excited to see them I can't wait to compare Carson's pictures to both mine and Dave's, it will be interesting for sure!

So Carson has realized that his teeth make this *awesome* sound if he grinds them together. Oh My GOD, it makes me want to puke. I don't know how to make him stop. I feel bad because I'll hear it and jump and say "no" probably a little louder than usual because it freaks me out so bad and the poor baby ends up crying but I honestly have a really hard time handling the noise. It's really hard to even talk about...really I get sick to my stomach just talking about it. I have the same issue with just thinking about someone wearing socks to bed. Dave told me yesterday that if Carson was wearing socks in bed and then ground his teeth that I'd probably drop dead. He's probably right! Haha.

As terrible as it sounds, I was dreading picking Carson up from Daycare today because I didn't think that I could handle the noise. Luckily I found ways to keep him occupied...eating puffs while playing on the floor, a bottle of juice and his pacifier kept him from the unspeakable. Haha.

Can You Believe It?!

My god, it's October. Can you believe it? I sure can't. Time has been flying by like nothing else and my "little" baby will be 10 months old tomorrow. We are so close to one year it's scary! He is officially crawling, and crawling all over the place. So much for the days when I could attempt to multi-task in the afternoons. Not so much anymore. Once he started moving around more, he's been trying to pull up on things. He only gets to about his knees before he gives up. It won't be long though.


We had quite a busy weekend. We did the pumpkin patch/petting zoo extravaganza on Saturday with my mom and Karen. Kate, Austin and Lydia came with. It was a good time, but a little cool out for the little ones. Austin seemed to have a blast feeding the sheep and goats. We all picked out pumpkins and squash and headed home after a few hours.

Dave and I had dinner at some friends of ours on Saturday night. They are the ones who had a baby just a few days before Kate. I made fruit salad and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We had a good time, and left around 9:00 when Carson started getting crabby.


Dave got up at 3:00AM on Sunday morning to go duck hunting with Kate's husband Erik. Dave shot 2 ducks and now I've got some duck meat I have to try and cook...does anyone know how to prepare duck? I'm open to trying it but I need to know how to cook it so I'm not scared of it! Haha. Dave got home around 10:30 and the rest of Sunday was a lazy bones day. Our prediction for the Vikings: 1-15 Don't lie, you all have thought it too!


Ok...here's a little awesome thing I discovered: Tank Goodness http://www.tankgoodness.com/ Honestly the BEST cookies I have ever had in my life. Plus they're this adorable little Minnesota couple who work out of their home to deliver fresh baked cookies. Can it get better than that? One of my bosses ordered from them last week and offered me a cookie. I even ate it after it was cooled off and it was the best cookie of my life. I attempted to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies this weekend hoping to get something that tasted sorta the same...it didn't work. So, now I need an excuse to order more! Anyone have any ideas?!


Carson and I went on a walk with a gal that I used to work with years ago. She lives about 15 minutes from us but takes her dogs for walks in the off-leash parks in St. Michael and Otsego. So Carson and I tagged along and we spent about an hour walking in the woods and had a great time. Carson got quite a few random doggy kisses from people passing by. Every one's dogs were really friendly which I was glad about. It's always kind of nerve wracking when a random dog approaches your baby! After our walk I stopped at a nursery in St. Michael and bought 50 tulip bulbs to plant this week so we have some fun flowers in the spring. The only problem is the directions don't specify which end is up...so I've got a little research to do so I don't plant them upside down! Haha...I would totally be the one to do that too!


Well I'm really swamped at work today and should be doing some work right now so I'm going to do that instead of rambling on and on!