Just finding out...

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

By the time I actually make this post public weeks will have gone by.  Probably close to twelve, well at least I hope so.

I've decided this pregnancy, I will take the time to enjoy it a little more.  When I was pregnant with my daughter I spent the whole time trying to make sure that I didn't disrupt much of my life as it was.  I tried to make sure that I didn't disrupt my husband and those around me lives.  I never stopped.  I worked and was running the whole time.  This time I want it to be different.

I'm not sure how many more times I will do this so this time I need to just relax a little.

Well not like this but you know what I'm saying, relax and enjoy the ride!

I'm holding on for the ride

Spending money is a funny thing.  It feels good and doesn't all at the same time.  Getting stuff is really fun especially when it's something fun like shoes.  Buying stuff is even more fun when it is someone else's money you get to spend.

I am not independently wealthy.  (Huge surprise I'm sure!  Haha!!)

I need a job but I work everyday to get one step closer to being independently wealthy.  I try to be diligent about saving and putting away money into my retirement fund in addition to my regular savings.  I even try to invest a little money in the market.  I'm not good at it, but you know no risk = no reward.

Someday I'd hope to retire.  Let me be more specific, I'd like to retire young enough to enjoy my retirement.  In addition, it would be nice to do it while I can enjoy it with my kids.  In trying to accomplish this goal, my husband and I are trying to do some new things that hopefully will result in more money coming in (eventually) than going out.

Starting new things is fun but terrifying.  There are so many things that could go wrong, and since it's new you don't know what mistakes you could potentially make so you don't know how to avoid them.  There are all the "what if's", questions and the potential opportunities to run away as fast as The Flash.  The crazy part is that if you don't take the chance you will just further delay the process of getting closer to what you really want.

I know that we are going to make mistakes.  There is no doubt about that.  We will try to minimize them if at all possible.  I mean lets be real, I'm probably going to Google every scenario possible if I can.  

My husband and I are going to keep our fingers crossed and try to keep all the loose ends from cracking us in the ass like a whip.

Terrible ones?

I'm not sure who decided that they were called terrible twos because they are wrong.  My daughter is 15 months and there is quite a bit of terrible that she's been displaying lately.  Maybe someone decided that "terrible twos" was a better alliteration than terrible ones.  Maybe they should have considered "obnoxious ones".

I already feel like my daughter would have a larger vocabulary except that I've only got three main phrases (not really but it feels that way).   Lately all that seems to come out of my mouth is: no thank you, not in your mouth please, and may I have that?  I'm sure she thinks that I don't know anything because I don't seem to say much else.

Clearly I'm the bad guy when I tell her no

As of the last week or so, I feel like her main focus in life is to see how much she can get away with. I get that every kid is probably trying to see how much they can get away with but oh my goodness, I'm so tired of fighting everything she does.  It's exhausting!

Can't you just see the mischievous thoughts churning in her brain?

I know that each kid goes through things but I just think about all those people who work in day cares.  They must really do it for the love of the kids.  I'm not sure I could take a room full of kids who are all having a bad week.  I already have irrational mommy thoughts (that I would NEVER act on of course).  There is a true appreciation to be had for people who are cloaked in patience and care as I am someone who struggles with patience.

Just too much

My husband and I have a tradition of going on vacation for my birthday every year and we had planned that this year would be no different but alas, we have broken the tradition by delaying our trip.

Earlier this year we had booked plane tickets to go to New Orleans, LA.  I haven't been to New Orleans since I was a teenager and my husband had never been.  This year I wanted to go somewhere warm.  Beaches are nice but not necessary.  We thought it would be a fun place to go.  We even got the hotel booked and everything but it was just too stressful trying to plan to go.

It is one of those times that is just too busy.  We are juggling entirely way too many balls at the same time right now.  Not only are we both very busy with work right now but we are trying to do some other business things.  I'd talk about them but I don't want to jinx them!

So today I thought it would be fun to think about all the cool birthday vacations I have been on.

The first year that we started this tradition we went to Barbados.  Yes, fun in the sun, white sandy beaches and exotic island people full of life.  It was magical!  I mean we were greeted with rum punch everywhere we went.  Obviously this was pre-baby.  This was one of the best vacations that we have been on.  Here are some pictures from that wonderful vacation.

My birthday flowers and wine

Learning how to drive the boat from Captain Kelly.  Check out that sun burn!

 Check out these views

 We did a little zip line course as well

Oh how I miss waking up to this view everyday!

The next year after that we decided to go somewhere cheap and quick which was Myrtle Beach, SC.  It was fun but the weather sucked.  The day before we arrived the weather had been in the mid-80's.  Once we got there the weather was in the low 60's.  I think it was warmer in Michigan than it was in South Carolina.  We were disappointed with that.

I did however go to one of the best spas that I had ever been to.  I really think that my husband sent me to the magical spa so that he could watch games of March Madness.  My birthday does put a bit of a damper on the games every year but my husband is a great sport about it.

View from our room

 I forgot to take more pictures at the spa but it was wonderful!

And because we were on vacation of course we needed to drink from a coconut

It definitely wasn't as great of a vacation as Barbados but it did it's job we went somewhere and we had a little fun.


The year after that with our 3 month old we took the train to Toronto.  The train was wonderful for a few reasons: 1) we didn't have to get our daughter a passport since we weren't flying internationally; 2) we could walk around the train if our legs needed a little stretching; and 3) it was really pretty to see the scenery.  We had just come back from a trip to FL so we were trying to just get a nice quick trip in and this one definitely fit the bill.  We had a lot of fun really just walking around seeing the sights and being tourists.  When our daughter is older we will for sure go back but maybe in the summer time.

Hello CN Tower

 Checking out the view from way up!

She slept through the whole experience

 These two are my life!

 She took over the whole bed

Eating a little dessert 

Taking the train home :-)

That was the last few years of birthday vacations.  Since this year's has been postponed we will probably pick a different place to go.  Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll be so excited about it you will know too!

Work on it Wednesday: when life gets busy

The face you make when things are out of control!

When life gets busy it is so hard to keep up with everything. Lately I've been really busy with work and keeping up with life in general and something had to give. So the poor blog has been the least demanding of my time and as a result has been neglected. Sorry blog.  I apologize.

So this week's "Work on it Wednesday" is get organized and don't neglect your blog. The one thing I'd like to make clear is that this blog is not something that I do every day but it is something that I'd like to do at least a few times per week. The past week had been out of control. 

Yup, my week and brain looked a little something like this

I have started doing some blog posts and have a few drafts but I feel like I just am not ready to post those yet.  There will be a time in the future for those.  

This week we are going to work on getting a little more compartmentalized with work, life and hobbies.  This time of year is extremely busy for me at work, so there has been on my mind.  I feel like I have so much to do and the days just keep flying by without regard for my workload.  The nerve (j/k)! I do feel like there is just so much to do with so little time.  

In addition to work, life is just happening and it is a crazy time of transition.  More on that in the future but I'm just feeling like there is just a lot going on.  

The hobbies I have have just been mostly neglected.  The blog, any pictures, the gym, anything that doesn't involve work, cleaning my house, taking care of my baby or my husband has mostly fallen to the wayside.  The one thing that I have been keeping up with is my other "work on it Wednesday", reading!

I have found that me making myself read daily has been super helpful in relaxing me before bed. The only problem I'm having now with reading is that I just don't want to stop! I often fun find myself falling asleep with the book in my hand. I've always loved reading and I used to be that way when I used to read a lot.  It feels good.

That's Jared

So if you have been reading my posts you would know that my wedding ring broke back in December... Yes, December.  What month is this?  March?  Yes, yes it is March.  Where is my ring?  Well it is still in the "diamond room".  It's been in the "diamond room" since January at the very latest.

When I dropped of my ring they said six to eight weeks because it needed to be sent to the corporate office because I needed the diamond to be replaced.  Okay, that seems reasonable.  I'm a fairly reasonable person so that didn't seem like an outlandish amount of time for a ring to be in for repair especially because they needed to find a new diamond with specs like mine or better.

Of course they don't want to give me a better diamond.  We all know that.

Well, around nine weeks I started to call and ask about the status.  Everytime I call all I get is, "Your ring is still in the diamond room.  They still have not found a match.  We don't know how long it is going to take.  I'm sorry I have no more information."  Okay now I know that I have a diamond that is certified but let's be real, I don't have a seven carat, canary yellow, flawless diamond.  My diamond is around one carat nearly colorless and had a few flaws in it.  I'm sure it isn't that rare.

With that being said, I understand that it is a naturally occurring gem and that it may be hard to find an exact match because it isn't man made.

My calls have gotten me exactly no where.

My social media post did however get immediate attention!  It is so frustrating to me that we have to get all social media crazy to get results.  I know that companies don't want bad publicity and I really don't want to have to give you any but damn, for real, I got an email and a call within an hour of my post. Why can't I get that when I call?  You know actual human interaction.

It's really sad to me that if the public can't see your frustration then it's ok.  That you can call and complain and nothing happens but the second you put it out on social media that you are unhappy they are jumping through hoops to satisfy you and clean up their image.

Come on companies, just do your damn job and you won't have to do clean up!

Work on it Wednesday: Let's form a new habit

Okay so I'm a little late on the "Work on it Wednesday" post because it is Thursday but hey, these blogs are inconsistent and I'm okay with that.

So Work on it Wednesday is what I've called in the past Let's Try to Form a New Habit.  Well, I have been trying to form a new habit of reading more and I've been doing pretty well.  I have been trying to read at least one chapter every night.  Well, last night I may have fallen asleep before I got through a whole chapter but I tried.

I've been reading two books right now.

American Fuji by Sara Backer

and

The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson

The first book I bought years ago and never read it.  It has probably been sitting next to my bed for two years for now.  It's a little slow getting into it but hey, I'm reading it.  I think I'm finally getting to the part where it picks up.  We'll see how long it takes before I get done and if it really picks up. 

The second book I borrowed from a good friend's mother (Thanks Mrs. House!).  I guess this is a whole series and this is the first in the series.  I hope I have the order right otherwise the other books she let me borrow will be a bit confusing.  Haha!  This book hasn't picked up really either but I'm not sure that I'm far enough in to say it is a slow read.  It is a very easy read however and that I do like right now.  Reading shouldn't be a job.

I'm really glad that I blogged about this because I don't know if I would have held myself accountable or not.  Either way I'm doing it!  I'm happy about that so, yay!! 

Have you read any good books lately?  Or what is your favorite book?