Let the Games Begin!

Well, the soap came today! YAY! 2 three pound bags of Charlie's Natural Soap, which will do a grand total of 160 loads of laundry. That's alot! It only takes 1 tablespoon per load, which is refreshing. So today I have been washing mamma pads, diapers, wipes, and inserts, and this afternoon we will put our first ever cloth diaper on the Beeb! YAY! Pretty darn exciting! Friday night we also got all of Ardyn's new shelves assembled and moved into her room, where I was able to put all her toys on the shelves. Lisa came over for a bit and we crocheted and talked for a few hours, which was great because not only do I NOT have to be productive in housework, but I can also spend time with a friend AND get crochet done. Lisa made Ardyn her favorite blanket (okay MY favorite blanket) and we just love it. We love it so much we won't send it to daycare. We love it so much that we have already planned to make her big girl room in coordinating colors.

Tomorrow we have a reunion for my paternal grandma's family. Looking forward to that, lots of people who I haven't seen in years, some who I haven't seen since I was pregnant, therefore LOTS of people who haven't seen Ardyn yet. Should be fun. My grandparents 60th anniversary is also later this week.

So Friday I got my first ever "full" paycheck at work since being back from Maternity Leave. Once I have taxes and health insurance premiums for both Ardyn and I taken out of my check, and pay for daycare, and a tank of gas each week for my trip to work and back, I bring home exactly $40 a week. Um. Yes. That's the honest to god truth. So although I won't elaborate here and now, in the coming months something will change. Evan and I have been discussing and as sure as my name is Meagan... something will be changing.

I have to admit that I was beyond frustrated. As a person who thoroughly enjoys her job, and likes her employer and co-workers as much as I do, I was so so so excited to be back to work. I knew I would be bringing home less money, but I never imagined. I never ever ever imagined it would be this bad. I almost cried. And I do not cry. Luckily my friend CB came to the rescue and helped me rationalize that the world is not over and I have many many options available to me.

In the meantime, I have two fabulous scrapbooking/creative events that I plan on attending in the next two months. I look forward to them so wholeheartedly. The Beeb has been napping wonderfully today. We recently brought out the excersaucer, and she loves that thing. She isn't "spinning" around in it yet, but she loves being sitting all tall and playing with toys. She watched me do lots of laundry already today.

Thinking we are taking hot wings to the reunion tomorrow. It's gonna be so much easier to just go buy a few bags of wings and toss them into the crock pot. That way I can spend the day concentrating on diapers, laundry, housework, and putting away Christmas Decorations (Which suddenly looks much less important than lots of other things I would rather do today.)

Evan is taking a nap on the couch. I made myself some velveeta cheese and shells with tuna, and told myself that has to be low in cholesterol, right? Hmm. I rounded up hangers, which is one of the jobs that I hate the most in this world, right up there next to cramming clothes into my closet and saying "I NEED To get rid of some clothes!"

I am so caught up on laundry, I was even telling Lisa last night about the red hamper. The red hamper is a laundry sorting bin where I put all the red clothes. I also put all the tie dye t-shirts in there. Since I am such a hippie, we have about 5 or 6 tie dye shirts. Well, that is always the last thing to get washed. Sometimes it never gets washed. Apparently, it hadn't been washed in a LONG while. I knew this, and in the back of my mind kept telling myself how my goal when cleaning and upgrading things in the laundry room, was to get those damn red and tie dye shirts washed. So when I got done with all the sheets/blankets/towels/jeans/FOUR LOADS of darks/TWO loads of whites/Ardyn's clothes/Dog Towels... I pulled out the red hamper. And inside, I found two tie-dyed shirts that we had never worn... because when we got them I tossed them in the red hamper to be washed first. Yeah. Well. I knew the red hamper hadn't been washed since before I started to wear maternity clothes. So I figured maybe almost a year that hamper hadn't been touched. Well. When I got out those two t-shirts that had yet to be washed or worn, they were from the Strut Your Mutt Dog Walk - Circa September 2006. I know this because I distinctly remember that the dog walk happened the same weekend as my miscarraige, and I was convinced that I needed to go to the walk because it would make me feel better. When we got home I think I slept for like 3 hours I was so exhausted and was bleeding pretty heavily. So we never wore or washed those shirts. So some in the red hamper had been there since September 2006 at least. But I do have pictures of me wearing SOME of the clothes in October and November- of 2006. Ugh. So now, the red hamper is clean and I have discovered like this entirely new wardrobe of red and tie-dye.

Okay, enough of revealing deep dark hamper secrets. You get my drift. Have a great weekend!