So much to do!

Well, this afternoon Ardyn officially pulled up to standing. Several times. We were excited. We almost missed it entirely, as we were putting lightbulbs in lights. She was right there in the room playing, and we looked over, and she was standing! Go beebs go! She had been up on her knees, and ALMOST got completely standing in her crib Friday (her legs weren't entirely straight.)

Yee! Looks like she might just go ahead and skip crawling after all! I have pictures but not very many because the camera wasn't in reach and she was only up for a little while before she saw that we were looking at her and sat back down. She's also a drool monster today, so I am wondering if we have top teeth coming in soon? Shes also working her gums pretty good.

I bought a new card reader at Target on the way home from Chicago a couple of weeks ago, but it worked for 8 days and then quit, Since the SDHC Card takes a special reader, I have a bunch of pictures on the card that I can't get off yet. Evan is exchanging the card reader today for another one.

Our cleaning people come tomorrow, and our house is a WRECK. We had band practice here Friday night, and all afternoon Saturday. Then Saturday night they played in Princeton and my sister and I went to watch. Today we slept off the late night (even a sober night can be exhausting when you don't get home till 2:30am) and then I went to my moms for a bit, and then home to do laundry, feed Ardyn and I lunch, and eventually take a nap with Ardyn. So I am pretty well behind here at home. Oh well. Most horizontal surfaces are covered with projects of some sort. I am cleaning my scrapbook room and organizing stuff to start a scrapbook for Ardyn (ugh) and I am also trying to get through stacks of magazines that I haven't had time to read, and get things ready for a yard sale in two weeks, which includes cleaning out closets. Ack. I wanted to put my garage sale stuff in the garage on a table as I get ready, but with the band practicing in there all this week too, that just isn't going to happen. So I decided to take it to the basement, and I know that's gonna be icky when it's time to take it all out to the garage, but that's about all I can do with it all for right now. This week I intend to fully focus on tackling some projects at home, and hopefully we at least get to visit Ardyn's daycare class this week, as planned. I have a computer user group presentation to give in two days and I haven't written the presentation or practiced, or researched, or tested the proxima with my laptop. Eeeew. Tomorrow. Or tuesday. he.

So that's all that's going around here. Busy as usual, and enjoying every spare minute I can with the baby. Who isn't much of a baby anymore!

eBay Drama

Ahhh. Sunday again.

This past week I logged onto ebay and found that a seller I had left neutral feedback for was contacting me to complain.

I purchased the little tykes tunnel and paid immediately. I paid $25 for shipping. A week after I paid, the item hadn't shipped yet. When I contacted the seller, she didn't respond. I contacted her twice via myeBay, and once via email. I was just getting online to get her phone number when I saw that she had finally responded. She told me that she was having problems "finding a way to ship the item because of it's bulk." Unfortunately, she was selling MANY other bulky little tyke type items, and was shipping them, and had been for what looked like years. She also had two other negative or neutral feedbacks from other members who had the same problem with her. She had either backed out of the transaction stating that she couldn't ship (after she said that she could in the listing) or she had held their items and not shipped in a timely manner.

So she told me that she would be shipping on a particular day, and that she would provide me with tracking information. I waited. That day came and went. No tracking information. This was when I was still working, and I was very concerned that this big item, which was nearly $100 after shipping, would be left outside of my house and would either be rained on or stolen before I could get home. I was worried that she wouldn't ship or that she was taking my money. I asked for tracking information from her again, and never heard back. When the item did arrive, the actual shipping only cost her $21 and the time it took to get from her to me was just 4 days... but it had taken two weeks to receive after I paid.

I was frustrated by her lack of communication, by her promising shipment by a certain date and then not shipping on time, and by her overcharging me on shipping. I wouldn't have minded a few extra dollars on shipping had she gotten it to me on time, but it's even more frustrating to pay that much and then not receive it for two weeks. If you are going to repeatedly sell large items and advertise that you will ship them, I would expect that you would have checked shipping costs and venues before you list the item and make that promise. And if you feel that the item needs to be disassembled (mine was not) then you should probably be sure you can disassemble it without damaging it BEFORE you tell the buyer that you will ship, tell them how much it will cost to ship, AND take their payment.

Instead of immediately leaving feedback, I decided to mull it over. In the end I decided to leave her neutral (not negative) feedback, about a month after the transaction. Immediately she thought that NOW it was okay to contact me in a timely manner and ask why I left her neutral feedback and why I didn't contact her to let her know I was unhappy.

Hello, just a note to ask you why you did not contact me to let me know you were dissatisfied with the transaction, I try to respond to all emails in a timely matter and before this neutral feedback I had a perfect 100%, I would have refunded or partially refunded your shipping charges, are you sure your remembering the right transaction as its been quite a while, please email me back and let me know how I can make this right. Thanks

This also frustrated me because it seemed like once her reputation was on the line, suddenly she was all about customer service. I explained to her why I was unhappy and that I felt it was my duty to leave this feedback so that other buyers knew what to expect from her. Since she primarily sells large items, and has, at least three times, refused to ship or complained that she couldn't ship the item, then I can see a pattern here.

So I let her know exactly why I was upset about the transaction:

I am sorry but I thought that you understood when the transaction took place that the shipping took too long. I remember it distinctly because I not only emailed you but sent you two myEbay messages also. I didn't hear from you for almost a week after paying. I was ready to look up your telephone number- but then you emailed and told me that you were having problems finding a way to ship the item because of it's bulk and that it would ship a particular day, and it shipped almost 4 days later. It was extremely frustrating to buy such an expensive item and be worried that it wasn't going to get here at all. I didn't receive it for two weeks after I paid but the actual shipping only took 4 days. You promised a tracking number and never send it. I had seen your previous two customers who were dissatisfied when you held an item and when you refused to ship another item that was listed as shippable, and I assumed that this was an ongoing issue for you as a seller. I felt others should know.

So below is the email that I got back from her, after telling her why I was upset. I have to admit that it really made me chuckle. Every time someone on ebay screws you over, it inevitably comes out that someone was sick, had surgery, or something. I understand that life happens, but if true customer service and satisfaction is your goal, and you make a mistake or have extenuating circumstances, then you should take care of those right away and make sure the customer is happy and taken care of. And if you've been selling on ebay for two years, and you haven't figured that out yet, then yes, you probably need some neutral feedback here and there.

I am a mom selling kids toys on ebay, my own and those that I find at resale shops, garage sales, etc., I do this as a supplement to our income as I have a daughter with special needs that requires me to stay home and thats not to try to get the sympathy vote. I am not an expert shipper yet, I do my best, sometimes I sell an item that proves a problem such as disassembleing that item might have caused damage to the toy which I do believe I emailed you about, I do my best to ship it as timely as possible, if something proves a problem I usually email and offer a full refund or shipping fee , a discount, I have never left anyone bad feedback, I would try to speak of my dissatisfaction first to that seller. I am so glad you are here protecting fellow ebayers from such unscrupulous sellers as myself. I will try to rectify my ongoing issue ( more than 2 yrs ago, and at the start of my selling.) and hopefully be the perfect ebayer you seem to be. Good day.

So I responded

Don't waste your time yelling at me. I don't really want to hear about it. I am a WAHM too. Sorry to hear of your difficulties and I wish you luck in the future.

I hope she figures this out. LOL. And just for the record, she didn't try to "make it right" and refund a shipping fee, or give me a discount, as she mentioned that she wanted to do in her very first email. Empty promises. LOL. And I was also pretty frustrated that she said those feedbacks were "over two years ago" because last time I checked, August of 2007 isn't even one full year ago. She must have her time mixed up. He.

Productive Day

So. I am trying to relax tonight. Which brings me to my current position. Doing laundry and watching Purple Rain. Which I have never seen. When I was a kid we didn't have cable or anything. I have never really been a prince fan. But I figure it's something I should at least attempt to see. LOL.

Today I bought Six Fattycakes Fitted Diapers off Diaperswappers, because the Bum Genius 3.0 One Sizes aren't holding for night anymore. Especially when she is in it for 12-13 hours. Last night she woke up at 1am and had leaked through. Some nights she is fine, but others she leaks, so it's time to upgrade to something that can absorb more. The Fattycake Fitteds by Butterfly Baby and others like in the Inspired Stores... mostly have double soakers for heavy wetters, and seem to really work well. She wore one last night and tonight she is in a goodmama organic Bamboo Velour.

I have been pretty busy today! Ardyn and I met Cari for lunch and then I went to visit some others, particularly my friend and midwife, who delivered Ardyn. Then we ran to Wal-Mart to get some essentials, and I got potting soil and two planters for out front. The two that I have are almost 8 years old, and faded and cracked... so I figured I would splurge the $12 to get two new ones. LOL. After our trip today, we washed the van and then came home. I forced Ardyn to take a nap because she had swimming lessons tonight and I knew if she didn't take a nap it would be a nightmare. She slept for almost a full hour, and was STILL cranky after lessons. It was the last lesson of her two month session. We took tons of pictures, but I can't get them all off the card until I get to Target and return the card reader that quit working after 8 days. While Ardyn napped, I made tags for all of my laundry soap and also decorated a bucket to collect dryer lint for composting. Composting is my newest "Going Green" Goal. The Soilsaver composter and a Norpro stainless steel kitchen bucket, as well as the book "Let It Rot" should be arriving any day now.

Tonight while eating at Subway, I was painfully aware of how many food establishments, and OTHER establishments, don't recycle. It kills me. Tonight at Subway I wanted to take my plastic milk bottle home to recycle it. Then I wanted to start a campaign asking Subway stores why they don't all recycle (I know that each store is independently owned, but still) and the more that I thought about it, the more infuriated I got that more businesses in my area don't provide customers the opportunity to recycle on premises. Of course my wheels are turning now.

I got the schedule for Festival 56 this summer, and plan on attending a few theatre performances. Last year I badly wanted to go, but the one day that my schedule meshed with theirs (I was very pregnant and very much working full time then) It was like 100 degrees outside and I was very dilated and also pretty uncomfortable at the time so we decided against it. I have a lot of friends who house Festival 56 staff and actors over the summer, so I have really been wanting to go. I think Ardyn would enjoy it too, she just loves watching people!

So tomorrow will be an at home day. Lots of laundry to do, as I am cleaning closets and organizing the laundry room to it's fullest potential. I also have a new friend to email tomorrow, I met a mom who is also going green and who wants more info on cloth diapers.... she uses a few at home. I was so excited to connect. Cloth Diapers can certainly be conversation starters! I am making tags for the totes that go on my laundry room shelves, where I keep washing supplies and fabric dyeing supplies, etc. I am messing up the dining room table because my scrapbook table is still 3 feet deep in shit that I brought home from my office at work, and that I haven't found a place to put yet. Argh. Oh well. I have the rest of my life to figure that out. He he.

Once the band gets out of the garage, I plan on starting to haul garage sale stuff out there. I was hoping to do it sooner, but hey... no big deal. It will happen eventually.

I just finished all of Ardyn's laundry, and now I am washing blankets and sheets. I found a couple of sheet sets that I need to get sent over to my sister, we gave her our old Queen Bed and mattress, and all of the bedding for it. I have been holding onto a few queen quilts, and the flannel sheet set, and I am just ready to get rid of the sheet set and considering getting rid of the quilts, although I will probably sell the quilts instead of giving them away. Unless my mom could use them. They aren't really my sister's style, although my mom might be interested for her guest room.

Well, that's all my excitement for the day. It's officially tomorrow, so it's time for me to drink some tea, take my medicines, and go to bed! Have a nice Thursday since I won't be back till it's over!

Stain Removal is the New Crack

Didn't you get the memo? If you are going to be an addict, you might as well pick something that is productive. I am addicted. To stain removal. I realized this as I scrubbed a spot the size of a pinhead, that no one else would EVER notice, from the hem of a pair of Ardyn's $2 resale shop pants. With a nailbrush. At 12:22am.

And now I am writing about it. Although I love it when someone else feeds Ardyn so that I can do something else (or the occasional but rare NOTHING else) I also dread it because I KNOW that no matter what bib is put on her, whenever anyone else feeds her, her clothes get stained. It is so entirely annoying. My mom is the only person besides me who has ever fed her and had her come out stain free. It must be hereditary. Or it's our insane perfectionism and attention to detail. I hate stained clothes. I am constantly removing stains from her clothes. Her clothes are worse than her diapers, I swear to you. The utility sink and the soak cycle on the washing machine are my weapons. That and Oxyboost.

On a lighter note. I should be sleeping. So I feel that I will make this as brief as possible. Last night we got the cops called on us. He. Because Evan's band was practicing in the garage. They were 6 feet from Ardyn's bedroom and she was asleep in her crib at 8:30 with both her windows open (boy was it hot) and I walked outside to listen for a while. The guys said "last song, then we pack up" and it was like 8:35 and the county cop pulls up and tells us that someone has complained about the noise. Bummer. Party Poopers. It was Memorial Day. It was only 8:35pm. They were on their last song. Apparently the county doesn't know what the town's noise ordinances are, but we were told that 10pm was the cutoff time. Now we need to investigate that.

What else is new. Hmmm. We love the Roomba. For a couple of days there he seemed really confused. He didn't clean at his scheduled time. He couldn't dock on his own for some reason. One night I came home at 11pm and found him perching between two rooms, stuck on the door jam. But he seems to have gotten his head back, and cleaned as scheduled as well as docked himself for the past two days. Smart little guy. He is the COOLEST thing. I have him scheduled to vacuum each morning at 10am. He drives out, vacuums, and then docks himself again. It's freaking awesome. It's not a gimmick. He cleans better than my Dirt Devil upright does. Ardyn loves to watch him.

I also love my new camera. I got a Nikon D40. It's awesome. I have taken over 2500 photos this month alone. I don't have them all on Flickr quite yet, but I am working on it.

Over the weekend Ardyn and I went to Mom and Dads and went out to the pasture to visit the cattle, and she saw the calves, and got a close-up look of the one that was born that morning. I have about HALF of those pictures uploaded. I have a 4MB SDHC (SD High Capacity) Camera card. Only certain cameras will use this HC Card, and you have to get a special card reader. I bought the card and the reader at Target last week. The reader quit working, so now I have photos that I can't get off the card until I take the reader back and get a replacement. I took some EXCELLENT photos of Ardyn and a daisy.... outside... and have to get them off the card and uploaded still.

I also got to spend some time with Carrie on Sunday, and Angela. That was nice. Carrie sells Scentsy, and I got to look at a catalog for the first time.

Saturday night Lisa and I made a LATE night run to Princeton for ice cream. Ardyn slept in her carseat, she was already there and crashed out from a long day on the farm, and so I figured I might as well get to talk to a friend and eat ice cream before I went home and put us both to sleep.

Besides that, everything is pretty normal. Ardyn is suddenly getting very anti-nap again. She will be just exhausted, and will then only sleep for 20-40 minutes. Like once a day. Today she woke up after about 30 minutes, and I was entirely annoyed because she was still tired and cranky. I spent from 3 till 6pm laying down with her, playing and watching TV, and nursing, and finally getting another 20 minute nap and a 30 minute nap out of her in that time frame. The catch was that I had to nap too. Which isn't bad. I can't complain... except that if I am going to take a nap, it had better be longer than 20 minutes or I will just repeatedly feel like a pile of shit, which is pretty much what I felt like all afternoon and evening.... because I only got two VERY short naps with her. It's better for me to not nap than to take a nap any shorter than an hour. And honestly, two hours is ideal for BOTH of us, but she seems to be La Resistance lately when it comes to naps. My mom says I was horrible that way and that she begged for me to have payback someday. Thanks mom.

So that's it. Pretty exciting. I am loving being home. Loving laundry and stain removal and all that jazz. Tomorrow we meet a friend for lunch, and make a trip to Wal-Mart for a few things we need. And turn in paperwork for my IRA Rollover. And return a big bag of baby clothes to a friend who let us borrow them. And try to get home for the afternoon stocking of hyenacart... and a nap before the last day of swimming lessons.

My New Nikon is Wicked Awesome. And Other Monday Magic.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE and ADORE my new camera. Holy crap. I think I might take it to bed tonight. Today was a nice and busy day. I stayed up WAY to late last night (1:30am- this morning I guess you could say) watching all the TIVO Episodes that I missed since I was gone over the weekend. Holy COW on the 2 hour Desperate Housewives Finale! Jeez! I cried twice! When Susan cried over Julie going to college I almost freaked out thinking about Ardyn going to college someday! I mean, the kid isn't even a year old and I am already panicked about her moving out? Whoa. I also uploaded all of the photos from the Chicago trip and also the hundreds (seriously) of photos that I have already taken with my new camera. I took another two hundred today (seriously) and have to upload them.... hopefully tomorrow.

I also had cleaning people coming today, so I had a bit of tidying up to do, and about 5 thousand dirty cloth diapers since we were away from home from a while, so I did laundry and unpacked, and all that jazz. All this after we got HOME at almost midnight the night before and slept in as late as we could (although the phone started ringing at 9am and didn't stop until noon.) I need to learn to use my vonage to my advantage and turn the voicemail on in the morning and force all calls to voicemail until we wake up for the day. Ardyn and I were BOTH Exhausted from the long trip and we would BOTH have slept longer if that phone hadn't rang so much yesterday morning.

Today Ardyn and I went out and about. This morning I loaded the dishwasher and tidied up the kitchen, and put away Ardyn's clean diapers and such. The new Roomba iRobot vacuum came and I have to say that the entire world would own one if they knew how awesome they are and how they really DO work. It's not a scam. They pick up everything. It's amazing. I will dedicate a whole new post on that later. Tonight I taught it how to clean once a day without my assistance, and set up the virtual lighthouses to guide it from room to room. Totally simple. Came fully assembled and with spare parts and filters. I love it. It might be the best thing I have bought in a long time for this household.

We picked up my mom this afternoon and went to Kewanee. I had three braided rugs to pick up at the dry cleaners and we also went to the kids resale shop, where I found an Incrediblock, which I have been wanting since last December and I wanted someone to get Ardyn for Christmas. It was only like $27, and it retails new for $50 plus shipping as you can only get it online from Fisher Price. It even came with 23 blocks, which I am sterilizing right now in the Germ Guardian. Then we ran to Wal-Mart and Aldi's for my mom and then to Sunnyfield Greenhouse for some annuals for our planters. Then we got Ice Cream at Dairy Queen and met my sister at her work for a little after-work chat. Then Ardyn and I ate supper at my parents and played with the new toys (used toys) that mom got for her house, including the fisher price piggy bank and a winnie the pooh rocking "horse" that was actually a big stuffed pooh bear that plays music when you press his ears (tons of pictures of that!) Then we spent about an hour trying to coax Ardyn into crawling. She got closer than I have ever seen her before (pics of that too!) We watched some of the NEMO read along CD/Computer Book that we got at the resale shop (Ardyn LOVES Nemo for some reason, and she has never even seen him on TV.)

I was counting today, and realized that Ardyn has Five Swimsuits and Two Swim Diapers in various sizes. She had a 12 month size pink bikini but we can't keep the top down during lessons, so I grabbed an elmo one-piece at the resale shop today. Evan and I saw an adorable suit at the beginning of the season and bought it in next year's size. Then a friend gave mom three bags of clothes to pick through and we grabbed what we wanted (tons) and paid her for what we took, and inside that was a nemo swimsuit and coverup (imagine the irony of that!) and a stars n stripes suit that will fit her probably this summer and then over the fall and winter (as we intend to continue taking her to swim inside.) She has SO many swimsuits! Good thing she likes to swim!

I also got her a few more pair of shorts that will work well as play clothes and were like $1 each at the resale shop, and 4 pair of lightweight pants for the summer, as she only has one pair of jeans for a cool day and has outgrown everything else. She has lots of shorts and dresses and skorts, but for cool nights and rainy days, she still needs pants to wear. That's Illinois for you!

Our electronic stimulus check from the government finally arrived last Friday, TWO WEEKS LATE. Ugh. I was so frustrated. But I am glad it is here and now I can pay off our furniture loan completely, and about half of the hospital bill that's left from Ardyn's birth. That will be fabulous. I just paid off a HUGE Power bill (the last of the high winter bills that we will see this year) and also paid my first Van payment! Woot! I almost forgot to pay the van payment because it has been so long since I have HAD a car payment it almost slipped my mind.

The van was awesome for our day out today, I was able to carry everything we needed, and pick up the rugs, and everything my mom and I got at the resale shop, at the stores she visited, and at the greenhouse. Plus the stroller and the baby and all her usual supplies. I am loving that she is getting so much more comfortable sleeping on the go. I have discovered that sometimes she won't nap in the stroller (sometimes she will) but she will always nap in the babyhawk if she is tired. She took two naps in the babyhawk at the Green Expo, and one today at the greenhouse in the babyhawk. That carrier is the ONLY one that I can stand to wear without getting a horrible back strain. One shoulder slings and hotslings are great for little babies, but once she got older I couldn't take that twisting and one shoulder wearing anymore. I vow to break out the ring sling and test it again, but the babyhawk works so well, I haven't really had the desire to try the ring sling again. I just don't want to test it and perhaps be in pain for a couple of days if she is too heavy for me to carry on one shoulder.

Tomorrow I will be doing LAUNDRY. Don't try to stop me. It has to get done since I have tons of clothes from the trip and haven't been able to get any washed since last Wednesday. I generally do 1-2 loads a day as part of my schedule, and therefore I am like 7 loads behind or something. Plus I try to do an extra load on Sundays to wash bedding and such, but I was too wiped to do that. So I have some catching up to do. I am hoping for great weather so I can get some things out on the line, but since it is raining tonight I am not holding my breath.

Being at home I am a weather channel addict. I watch it every night and every morning, and sometimes even in between if I am curious as to the forecast. Ardyn and I plan our activities and outings, our wardrobes, and our laundry schedule by it. Sometimes people try to tell me the forecast and I argue with them because I KNOW it by heart and see the most updated. My mom might say "last night they said" and I will say "Oh, that's OLD. This morning they said (this) and at lunch they said (that.)" She finds it exasperating. Damn me and my "know-it-all-ness."

Well, that's all if I want to be in bed before midnight tonight! It's already 11:30 and I still have some peek-a-blocks to sanitize and a few more things to do before I crash. Have a great Tuesday!

Chicago Green Expo

Ardyn and I are home from the Chicago Green Expo. We left Friday just after noon and drove to Woodridge to meet Angela and pick her up from work. Then we went into the city and to our Hotel. We stayed at Hotel 71, right on the river, just a few blocks from the lake and 1 block from Michigan Avenue. The new Trump building was going up right across the river from us and was right outside our hotel room. Ardyn did okay traveling, but she did cry enough on the way up that I had to pull over about halfway there to nurse her and comfort her. The van is a godsend. I can't imaginging traveling any other way. I can just pull over, walk right into the back, and sit down on a spare seat and nurse her or change her on the floor where I have a seat stowed. It's awesome. I can easily hold all of our luggage and the stroller and supplies, and toys for Ardyn to play with.

We hit a little bit of traffic on the way into the City on 90/94, but it wasn't half bad. The hotel was really nice, and was Angela's treat, so I really have to thank her for that. What was amazing was the "complimentary valet service" that was linked to the "$43 a night parking in the hotel garage." Um. Yeah. Valet service should be complimentary. I do have to say though, that I am the kind of girl who better travels a few levels down on the luxury scale. It bugs me to have strangers handling my bags and having to tip them when I really am not comfortable with them helping me. I feel much better doing it myself or letting Evan handle it. I don't like being at the mercy of calling someone else for "help" to check in or check out. I find it annoying, not luxurious.And of course, being a small town girl, I am also always annoyed with the fast pace of everything in the city. I am a fast paced person, but one day in Chicago makes me feel like I NEED a vacation, not like I have just been on one. When I was trying to unload and unfold the stroller, and get Ardyn's things situated in the stroller, and unbuckle her and crawl across the van (because the driver's side was on a busy street, I was unloading onto the sidewalk from the passenger side) and get her in the stroller and comfortable.... the valet guy was standing over me hovering, and he said "Can I take your van ma'am?" and I remember being exasperated, turning to look at him, and saying "Right now I really need to concentrate on getting my daughter out of the seat and situated in her stroller, but as soon as I am finished, you can have the van. But PLEASE just give me a few minutes so that I can get this accomplished first." I think he was taken aback because I assume that he is praised for promptness, and while I can appreciate promptness, I can also appreciate wanting to feel relaxed and leisurely, not pressured and rushed.

Ardyn loved the view from the hotel room. She spent lots of time squealing and talking out the window at the cars, boats, people, and buildings below.

Friday evening we walked the Magnificent mile and out to Navy Pier. Then we walked over to the lake. We walked quite a while and then we came back to a neat little Italian restaurant next to our hotel. We sat out on the patio to eat and had wine and cheesecake, and pasta and pizza. Ardyn and I had our first Chicago Style Pizza, Stuffed Spinach and Mushroom. It was delicious. Although I have to say that I adore Maria's or Angelo's Stuffed Pizza just as much. The dinner was fabulous and I ended up nursing Ardyn on the patio too. Then we went back to the hotel next door and got settled in for the night. It was especially nice to have wireless internet included in the hotel room. Angie did some online planning for our next day.

We got up on Saturday and got ready, and ordered rooms ervice for breakfast. Angie had oatmeal and I had special K with Skim Milk, and we split a fruit tray that Ardyn enjoyed too. Then we packed up, checked out, and drove to Navy Pier for the expo.

The expo was great. The parking was $23 for the day at the pier, and they had a good food court there and awesome ice cream everywhere. The hardest part of the day was FINDING the expo in the pier, it was WAY down at the end, which we knew. But it was also difficult finding an elevator. Out of all the Expo staff and volunteers that we asked, only one person actually knew where the elevators were. One woman looked right at me with the stroller and then pointed out the stairs and escalator. Angie was exasperated with this, and we really had to search ourselves to find the elevator. So when we finally found the elevator, we had to walk DOWN to the elevator, go up a level, then walk all the way back to the one expo entrance. Then we discovered that you didn't buy your tickets at the entrance, but we had to go all the way back and PAST the elevators to the end of the pier to get our tickets. So we did. And we grumbled about how poorly it was marked (it wasn't) and how we had to walk clear down to the end of the pier to get our tickets and then walk BACK to the entrance. Ugh. So we got our passes and then had to walk back to the door. I was kinda confused how there was only once entrance to use, yet all you had to do was walk through it with a pass around your neck. Couldn't they have had a few more entrances if all they had to provide was a person at the door to see if you had a pass around your neck? I know, I just like to tell you how it was. the expo itself was awesome. We didn't listen to any speakers. They were in the same room as the vendor booths, which we thought was kinda strange and unexpected. We thought it would be much more conducive (not to mention polite) to have them in a quieter room. There were so many excellent vendors there. I got tons of literature and lots of activist and organic clothing. Ahhh. I took pictures of all our loot. I have LOTS of websites to visit and things to think about.

The highlight of the day for me was seeing the ONE cloth Diaper vendor that thought it was worth their time to attend the expo. BUM GENIUS! Good for them. I was highly disappointed to not see more cloth diapering vendors at the expo. G Diapers was there also, but I honestly don't know that I can consider that cloth diapering at it's fullest extend. I think they are actually more work than cloth, AND more expensive because you still have to buy the liners. Plus you have to flush each one, and let it disintegrate (poop AND pee)- and they aren't approved for home septic systems to my knowledge. I took photos of a few things that I wanted to remember. I was interested in the kitchen composting- and since I have been thinking of composting at home and wondered how I would do it with not much yard space, it was interesting. But I am wondering if composting is a necessity for me since I use a garbage disposal and what is organic (food scraps, etc) goes back into the sewer system. I need to do some research.

I bought a pair of simple shoes that are so comfy, and two pair of the most AWESOME organic cotton pants that I have ever touched. I put one pair on in the parking garage for the ride home and I am wearing them again today and am not sure when anyone will be able to pry them off me. As a matter of fact, I liked them so much that I practically took my shorts off in the middle of the parking garage to put them on, when I realized that this IS Chicago and I would likely get arrested for being in a parking garage with no pants on. So I came to my senses an changed pants inside the van. I brought home their card so that I could get more if I liked them, and boy do I ever. I bought them from B Green Apparel (www.bgreenapparel.com) I bought an awesome headband from the Hemp Queen (www.hempqueen.com) and she had some other awesome clothes that I adored. I was pleased to see a few companies that I purchase from regularly, like Herb Pharm, Reusable Bags, and Nordic Naturals. And most of all was pleased to see Dr. Bronner's and laughed to see that they were GIVING AWAY the coexist bumper stickers that I have on the van. Damn. But they convinced me to take a free one and I gave it to Evan. Dr. Bronner's had two new scents. A rose and a citrus... and the citrus was TO DIE FOR yummy. I also enjoyed the booths of Toys with Integrity (www.imagiplay.com), and Barefoot Books (www.ReadingBarefootBooks.com). If I didn't have reusable bags already, I would have purchased the entire set from www.loadmygroceries.com - those bags are adorably perfect! There was also a great wool yarn and felting booth by Esthers Place (www.esthersplacefibers.com) and a home cleaning product booth that I intend to look into more (www.blissfulhomeproducts.com)

There were some other very cool clothing booths, several of which I adored but found to be WAY overpriced. A few that I thought I might actually purchase from in the future included chapteroneorganics.com (adorable but expensive. Neat baby clothes), www.moretreeshemp.com (high priced), & www.esperanzathreads.com.

I bought Ardyn a bunch of stuff from Happy Green Bee (www.happygreenbee.com) which I had always seen advertised in my Mothering Magazine. I also got her some shirts (and one for myself) from Green Label Organic (www.greenlabel.com) and they had some really nice shirts and somewhat reasonable prices. They had specials for the expo, but I am not sure that otherwise I would have spent that much.... but their sale prices were good. I also liked the shirts from www.babyblendtees.com but I only bought one because they all were so similar and their prices weren't to die for. Also enjoyed www.organicfred.com and itsacoolerplanet.com (which was one of my favorite booths and the ladies there were SO nice and informative.)

So that was the expo.

Now about last week. Last week I sold my car. And I bought an iRobot (Roomba) and I also got a new digital camera. A Nikon D40. Which I took to Chicago. And I am learning to use. It is awesome. The Roomba should be here this Monday (tomorrow) and I can't wait to program it.

This week I have a breastfeeding group to attend, swim lessons, and Evan and I are going on a date. I am also going to start preparing for a yard sale, taking stuff out to the garage and pricing it as I go through closets and things. I am overwhelmed with the amount of things I need to go through, but I told myself that there is no reason to have to go through everything this summer before the sale in June, but that I can get through whatever I can this summer and have another one in the fall for whatever I couldn't get through this spring. No pressure, I have some time on my hands. But amongst all that, we are also supposed to try to get together with CB, my sister, go to Kewanee to pick up our rugs, and also visit and deliver mother's day gifts to TWO of Ardyn's great grandmas. I am not sure that we can accomplish all that (nor that we want to accomplish all that in one week.)

What amazes me the most about being home, is that people literally think that Ardyn and I have nothing to do. It never fails that people always are "stopping by" when I am trying to get out of the house and go somewhere. I have to admit that this frustrates me. While I do like the occasional surprise visitor, I don't like them before 10am, and I really do appreciate people who call in advance. Ardyn and I frequently spend our mornings leisurely, in comfy clothes or pajamas, eating our breakfast, playing, singing songs, doing laundry, and taking baths and getting ready for our day. Sometimes we tidy the kitchen, sometimes we vacuum, sometimes we do nothing. Sometimes we lay in bed or on the couch and giggle and clap and try to say new words. Sometimes we read a book. Or three. Nothing is worse then a knock on the door when your hair is sticking up on end and you have mascara rings under your eyes and Ardyn is wearing a diaper with no cover and her shirt has applesauce or rice rusk goop on it. Of course, sometimes we will get the knock on the door while we are in the bathtub, or 10 seconds after we have gotten out of the bathtub and are wearing towels. And I know that people say they don't care if we aren't "presentable" but I have to say that I do care, and it bugs me. It's not that I don't want to see anyone, but I like to have my teeth brushed and my pants on! Part of the fun of being home is that Ardyn and I operate on our own schedule and don't have to answer to anyone. If we want to go out and about for a day, we do. If we want to stay home, we stay home and be relaxed.

Here's to a relaxing week. Ardyn and I will be unpacking, relaxing, and recuperating. And you will probably find us in our underwear. Or me wearing my comfy organic cotton pants and a hemp headband. Here's to hippies. They were the nicest people at the expo, and I loved talking to them and laughing with them.

Pure Enjoyment

I feel like a kid who just did something very very wrong. And who might get their ass beat if they get caught. This is all my father's fault. He always raised me to think that it is WRONG to put a sticker anywhere on a vehicle. Anywhere. However I do recall that he had a bumper sticker on two of his cars. I think that he was trying to instill in me that once you stick it on, it's hard to remove. But he put the fear of god in me. I did put a sticker on my first car. Just one sticker. But the car cost $1000 so it probably wasn't a big deal. I also put a cool sun sticker on my second car. And I sold it with the sticker still on it, so... I guess no big deal. But my last car, was all shiny and cost me more than 10 thousand dollars, so I was always scared to put a sticker on it. I remember once after 9-11 that I had a flag magnet on my gas cap area, but it was mickey mouse behind the flag. I thought my dad was going to have a coronary when he thought it was a sticker. Mind you I of course paid for the car myself, was 22 years old, and also lived in my own house by then. But I will never forget the anger when he thought I had stuck the sticker on my car. So. Tonight I snuck outside, into my own garage, as a 29 year old mom and wife, and put two brand spanking new stickers on my brand new (to me) van. I have to admit that I kept looking over my shoulder to see if I was going to be caught. I lowered the garage door and thought with the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach "who is going to yell at me first, my husband or my dad?" and I agonized for the entire day about whether or not to actually put them on... and then WHERE to put them on. And then "should I put them BOTH on or just one?" Jeez. Why do I let other people cause me stress? One sticker is a white square that says "One Less SUV" and is a nod to the pollution that I am not causing by driving a van over another SUV. The other is the word "Coexist" made up of various religious symbols, which is the icon that I use in my signature to all my online message boards. So now I am making the statements that I want to make. I just hope I don't get grounded when they find out.

So what else is new? Hmmm. I am in the process of selling my car. YAY! I had two calls and one test drive yesterday and another person drop in today. A relative has decided to buy it and I hope that it is all taken care of by the end of the week.

The "schedule" that I want to keep up on has been going really well, up until this past weekend when I had places to be and the house got pretty crazy. I should be picking up tonight, but I am just fine with not picking up. I did load the dishwasher and clean up in the kitchen. I also did some laundry today.

Mom and I took Ardyn to Hornbaker Gardens today and I got a few dwarf plants and a Big Daddy Hosta. I have been after a big daddy for YEARS. 5 of them to be precise. And I haven't bought one yet. But now I have decided to just do it since I want one so badly. I just think they are awesome. We ate lunch at Townsend Coffee House and then went to Wal-Mart for a few things. We took TONS of adorable pictures at Hornbakers, they are all in my flickr photos, and there are some posted here too.
Last Friday we started making our Mother's Day gifts. We used Crayola Air Dry Clay to make Heart shaped handprints and then painted them and strung ribbons and fibers onto them. We made 8 of them, for each grandma, great grandma, and for Aunt Liz. Saturday I was up at 6:30 with Ardyn and when she fell back to sleep I couldn't, so I got up and painted the hearts while she slept. Then that afternoon she and I went to my parents house to setup a wireless network and that night we had them over, along with my sister, to celebrate mother's day with spaghetti pizza and garlic bread, followed by Ice Cream Waffle Bowls from Dairy Queen and then we watched the movie Juno, which I loved. Sunday we took a nap from 10-12noon and then went to Evan's grandma's house for Mother's day. We delivered hydrangeas for Mother's Day to Ardyn's grandmas in addition to the finished handprints.

This week I am getting a haircut, going to TWO computer meetings, Ardyn's swimming lessons, and packing for the Chicago Green Expo with Ardyn and Angela. And hopefully cleaning the house, working in the yard, mailing a few packages, finishing Dotty Owl for Ardyn, and gathering estimates to fence in the front yard very shortly. I also need to get 27 dresses watched so I can return it to my sister, and hopefully also trim Hadley's nails.

One pair of Ardyn's custom shorties (wool) arrived today. They are adorable, but they look small. I measured her and I HOPE they fit perfectly. They are SUPER stretchy. I hope that they work out for us and need to try them on tomorrow before she starts knitting the second pair. The pair I received are purples and greens and have adorable ruffled bottoms. The next pair will be pink/orange/yellows.

So there you have it. I am sure there is tons more, but we have been busy around here and I forget what we did yesterday sometimes. Good thing I am taking lots of pictures! Sunday morning we woke up and noticed that the stop sign in front of our house was snapped off from the wind we were having. It is crazy! Today I called the county highway department to report it. Evan dug a hole and propped it up temporarily after he saw two people blow it today and almost get into an accident. I also met with a guy who measured for our first fencing estimate. AND we mowed, trimmed some things in the flower bed, swept off the sidewalks, etc.

Shiva is the only person I know with enough arms to apply diaper ointment to an 8 month old.

I am loving. Staying at home. I have so much that I could type here, but I still have several things to do before bed so I will make it short and sweet.

I have been hella busy. I have barely been online *gasp* and that's okay. Evan took pieces from his computer and put them into my computer, doubling the memory and adding another hard drive and a DVD Burner. We reformatted the machine and I am in the process of installing new software, the Adobe Creative Suite (CS3) and Microsoft Office 2007.

This past weekend we had alot going on. I don't know that I checked my email at all until briefly Sunday night. We were without power for 4 hours on Saturday, and I spent the time picking up the house and playing with Ardyn. I had the dryer going, the washing machine, the dishwasher, had JUST put the baby down for her nap and was going to sit down and pay bills online, and vacuum the house, when the power went out. That was a bummer. Saturday night Evan's band (Driftwood) had a gig and my sister and I went to watch. I was busy clear up until the moment I walked out the door that night and didn't get home till 2:30 in the morning Sunday, and then was up with the baby at 5:45 again, and at 7:30. Sunday I was pretty much zombie- and Evan worked in the yard (mowing, etc) and I did more laundry and washed diapers, cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher twice, made my grocery list for the week, picked up Ardyn's room, and then Ardyn and I took a late bath together. She stayed up until 10pm (stinker) so I was up until 1:30 am because I had so much to accomplish before today. I had cleaning people coming, and because we had already been so busy, and I brought home everything from my office, and unloaded everything from my car when we bought the van, AND had the computer tore apart and software and hardware strewn all over.... I really needed to clean up. I felt like if I could make it through this weekend with all the things I needed to have done by Monday, then I would survive.

Today I woke up and cleaned more (this place was really a wreck) and Ardyn and I got dressed and packed the van up for a grocery trip. We ate lunch and I did lots of preparing for errands, packages to mail, stops to make on the way to get groceries, etc. I needed to refill all my perfume at Good Scents and make an appointment for a haircut. I wanted to wash the van and open Ardyn's savings account at the bank. I needed to get the mail (software for the computer had arrived) and drop off a UPS package. Then we had to get groceries. And get home in time for making supper and seeing Evan before he went off to band practice. I also had to call the Dr.'s office and get a prescription for Ardyn (she got a yeast infection diaper rash right before leaving daycare, that miconazole wouldn't clear up, so we needed Nystatin) and then had to pick up the prescription.

So we made it to everywhere we needed to be today, and also had an oreo blizzard and got $216 worth of groceries. It made me sad, but I had to buy my second pack of disposable diapers this week, because the creams and treatments we are using on her would ruin her cloth diapers. I feel terribly guilty about that. I know that I can use lay in liners for the diapers but they always seem to "move" in there, and I also want to eliminate the possibility that the yeast could be growing in her diapers (which I proved that it isn't, I was pretty confident in my very strict and efficient washing routine, not to mention my soap and oxyboost) She wears disposables 4 times a day and overnight when I put the cream on, but wears her cloth diapers for the rest of the day. She also has been going naked as much as possible to help clear it up.... she was naked for 3 hours straight on Saturday.

My milk supply is way up now since I don't have to pump all day. When she goes to bed at night, I pump once before I sleep and I am getting more than twice what I was getting when I was working full time. Wonderful. Building up my freezer supply feels good, although I feel like I might never need it! It should help me out when it comes time to wean though.

I am also really enjoying NOT washing pump parts and bottles every night. What a pain in the ass! The dogs are thrilled because instead of being in the kennel all day long, they have been out laying in the sun in the yard. They are enjoying it thoroughly.

I was able to get some jeans out on the line last Friday, which was awesome. I am working on carrying Ardyn AND a laundry basket outside with me. It's not hard when the basket is empty. I put her in the carrier that Amy bought me, because she loves to face forwards and look around, and it's the only carrier I have (out of 5) that allows her to face out. then I sit her in the grass and she plays and watches and grazes (ha) while I hang things on the line. She has been especially grabby lately. She can get into anything within 3 feet of her body in like .3 seconds. Today when I was getting groceries, she was trying to unload the cart as fast as I was loading it. She threw (literally threw) a tub of hummus (my favorite red roasted pepper) onto the floor and it went like 5 feet from the cart and broke open all over the floor at the end of the aisle. I looked around for a salesperson to help me, and per usual, when you WANT one there aren't any (damn *Mart*) so I just ran like hell. Does that make me a bad parent? Probably. But after I waited 50 minutes for my daughter's prescription to be filled and then 10 more in line with 9 other people while she screamed and fussed and kicked at me.... just to finally pick it up.... and 20 more minutes in the checkout line and then put everything onto the conveyor one-handed while she whined in my ear.... I didn't give a rats ass about that hummus anymore.

She was hungry because she hadn't eaten since like 1pm and it was 4pm, and she had skipped her naps because she refused to sleep when I put her down for her regular nap, and although I have breastfed while walking the aisle of Wal-Mart before, I am not able to do it when I am alone because I can't feed her AND push the cart at the same time. Today (while changing a diaper, holding two kicking legs up with my left arm and two flailing hands out of her crotch with my left hand, holding the diaper down flat under her with the other arm while I used the right hand to squeeze out ointment onto my index finger AND apply it) I asked my husband what kind of cruel sense of humor God must have to give us moms only two arms. Honestly. Shiva has 8, and that bitch is wicked awesome. (I say bitch because I am referring to Shiva in the form of Ardhanarishvara, half man-half woman. And I don't mean bitch to be derogatory here. AND I should also clarify that Shiva can be depicted with anywhere from 2-8 arms, but usually at least 4. Wiki it if you are not sure what I am referring to.) Are 8 arms to much to ask? Octo-Mommy sounds pretty cool to me. I mean, wouldn't they go well with those eyes we get in the back of our heads?

So as I write this I have finished my night. I have put away all the groceries. Made Spaghetti and Garlic Bread with Cheese for supper. Fed the baby and myself and my husband. Rinsed the dinner dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher. Nursed my daughter and put her to bed. Helped my sister shop online for a doghouse for Arnie. Washed two more loads of clothes. Taken the tags off Ardyn's 4 new pair of summer shortie pajamas. AND checked my email and decided that I have time to either blog or respons to emails, but not both. I bought the remaining supplies to make Dotty the Owl... and hoped to do that tonight, but at this point in time, it's already 10pm and I still have to unload stuff from the bed, put away laundry, make my list for tomorrow, read the book on how to set the water softener, let the dogs out one more time, brush my teeth, take my medicine, and go to sleep. AND probably pump and switch the laundry one more time. So, Dotty will have to wait. Another day.

I hope everyone is enjoying their spring. I know that I am!

Ode to the Van

Wednesday. One week. Five Work days. Till I get to be a Stay at Home Mom. I guess I should correct and say "Work at home Mom." The weather is fabulous here! It's very difficult to concentrate at work. Today at lunch I spent time out on the patio eating lunch and enjoying the sun. This morning when I dropped Ardyn off at daycare, the kids were playing outside. When I took Ardyn out to her teacher, Ava came running up to me from nowhere. I was so impressed that she knew right who we were! I didn't even see her until she was right in front of me. She said "Hi!" and I said "Hi Ava!" and she pointed at Ardyn and smiled and said "Baby!" and I said "yes! What's the baby's name, do you remember?" and I thought for just a second that I would have to remind her, and I could see the wheels turning, and she suddenly looked up at Ardyn and then at me, and said "Ardyn!" and I said "Good job! Her name is Ardyn!" She was so excited to see us. I wanted to scoop her up and give her a hug and kiss but thought that I might freak her out so I just grinned at her. She was so thrilled to be outside when Ardyn was. It was cute!

I am reading Water for Elephants for my online book club, which was started by the group of moms that I belong to (our kids are all the same age.) So far it's a good book. It's intriguing and I can't help but think something big is at the end. Or perhaps that the end explains the beginning. I also have a stack of about 7 parenting and kids magazines that I have to read, and since I keep not having the time, I made myself carry them around in my shoulder tote for three days, as penance. I feel guilty, but keep telling myself that soon I can relax and read up. I thought maybe if I carried them with me that I might have a minute here or there to pick one up, but no such luck. So finally I gave up and left them at home instead. Besides those things are HEAVY!

Last night we signed the paperwork for our new VAN! Can you believe it! After all those posts about how I will NEVER Drive a van, it came down to me begging for a van. Ha. Can I just say first of all that I heart Stow-n-Go? Ohhh Do I ever. So it's a navy blue 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. We found it at Browning Dodge, locally, which was also nice. We bought it for about $4000 less than it blue books for, which was amazing. It has 25,000 miles and still has factory warranty. They sold it brand new off their lot to their office manager, and she turned around and traded it in for a new vehicle, so it has been taken excellent care of and has had all it's work done right there since she works there. I am thrilled. We looked at 2007 and some 2006 Models in Peru and they wanted OUTRAGEOUS amounts of money for them, and they were so basic with no options, AND they were filthy! Cigarette burn holes in the floor mats and carpet, stains, ACK. Not something I would pay the $20-27 thousand that they were asking! It was insanity. That's like $5-12,000 more than we paid! It has full stow-n-go, captains seats, power drivers seat, power sliding doors, CD and cassette, dual climate control, rear heat/air, read defrost, cruise and radio controls on the steering wheel, the whole deal. It's immaculate and Ardyn's car seat fits so wonderfully! And the stroller. I could actually GET groceries in this thing, and we can all fit! Right now, whoever rides in the passenger seat of my car, has to have their knees touching the dash and their head touching the ceiling/visor. It's crazy. So Saturday we pick up the van. Can't wait! The payments will be less than half what my car payments were. Ahhh. Now I get to sell my car! Today I called my insurance agent to add the van.

I am waiting on two Little Tikes toys for Ardyn. I sold some diapers on diaperswappers and had paypal, so I grabbed up a couple of used Outdoor toys online. Of course they are more indoor/outdoor toys, and I don't anticipate that we will ever leave them outside, because of their value and that we want to keep them clean and free of fading. I got two retired items, which were hard to find. The Little Tikes Peek-A-Boo Tunnel, and the Little Tikes Activity Garden. I remember babysitting for kids who had the Activity Garden and they LOVED that thing. I loved that thing! It's perfect for Ardyn right now, and the Peek-A-Boo Tunnel is great for crawlers and I think she will enjoy it immensely this summer. The Activity Garden I am tracking through FedEx. I feel like if I even SEE A fed-ex or UPS guy on my street I might tackle him. I saw one earlier in the week and it was all I could do to stay in my car. He.

Also new is Ardyn's 2nd tooth. Last weekend and the beginning of this week I made mention that she was really gnawing on my hand, and that the first tooth must be pushing through the rest of the way. Well, last night she smiled at me and there were two bottom teeth instead of one! I know for a fact that there was only one on Sunday night, so it must have came through either Monday or Tuesday. She also has started to make a pig sound in her throat, the first time I heard that was yesterday. It's too cute.

This weekend I am excited to see Carrie, and perhaps Angela if she ever gets her act together and calls me. We are supposed to get together this weekend and go out for supper, since Carrie will be home and Angela will be having the big 30th birthday next Tuesday. I bought her a card back before Valentine's day because I found the PERFECT one. Then I thought that her birthday might be March 28th instead of April 28th so I called her that day and she clarified. I sat right down, filled out the card, addressed and stamped the envelope. Then Evan kept asking me if I wanted to mail it, and I kept saying no because I wanted it to arrive close to her birthday. And now, I can't find it. Ugh! Did I mail it? Did I lose it? Jeez this is insane. I know she will laugh when I tell her this, but really, It's embarrassing.

Today I also grabbed Ardyn's newest shot records from the Dr. Office so that we are ready when we switch to a pediatrician this June. I also got paperwork to fill out for my exit interview at work. Paperwork Paperwork.

I have a new plan. Although I think it's probably too good to be true, I have used a giant wipe off board and tried to schedule certain tasks on certain days. I am hoping that this will keep me on track and doing a bit of things each day, instead of running around too much on one day. If I wake up in the morning and say "all I HAVE to accomplish today is vacuuming and washing diapers" or "All I have to do today is wash jeans and clean out the fridge" or "All I have to do today is get groceries and wash fruits and vegetables." I don't know how it will work. Or if it will work. But I will give it the best try I can. I have it pretty strategically planned. Clean the fridge out one day. Make the grocery list the next day. Get groceries the following day. Wash each type of clothes once a week so that I only have to do a load or two of laundry each day. Wash Diapers every other day. Wash the Dog Bowls once a week. Give them baths every two weeks. Change the bedding every two weeks. That type of stuff. And of course there will be instances when the plan won't work. When I have something going on and won't be home, when Ardyn doesn't allow me to accomplish much. But I think that I feel good about having a plan. Once I feel like the whiteboard plan is finalized, I will transfer it to paper and give it a trial run for a week or two and see if it is feasible or if it needs tweaking or trashing.

Been a while

Hi folks! It's been a while since I have written a substantial post. The internet via Comcast is still very poor and so I really don't turn on the laptop much these days... although they are supposed to be sending ANOTHER person out tomorrow night to assess the situation and fix it. If they don't have it resolved by May, I will probably switch to DirectTV or something like that.

Today I started reading Water for Elephants for a book club that I belong to online. I got really lucky and had an online mom friend who had the book and wanted to swap for a Jodi Piccoult book that I had already read and wanted to get rid of. Since Media Mail shipping isn't half bad, we just mailed them to each other. Water for Elephants arrived today, and I am already thoroughly enjoying the tone of the book, and so I have a feeling I will have it finished before May, although it's supposed to be discussed by the end of May. As long as I can remember it by then! Ha. I had visions of Ardyn and I lying in the hammock in the yard, staring up at the blue sky and reading. Ahhh. Peace and tranquility.

We had a good weekend. I had a gift certificate that I used to purchase a food processor and also some Ball Freezer containers (have you seen those? they are awesome) so that I cn make and freeze some purees and some baby meals. I have been on the search for tiny pasta stars, but have yet to find any. My mom believes there may be some at the store in Sterling where she shops... so in the meantime I will use Couscous. I am hoping to try it out tonight to slice some Strawberries that I bought. I usually would use the Pampered Chef Egg Slicer, but I would love to try out the food processor. I haven't had time to take it out of the box just yet.

Saturday we went to Peru to peek into a few vans, and also to go to Menards to get the hardware to hang Ardyn's swing, and to Target to grab a few things we needed. That night Evan stayed home after Ardyn went to bed, and I went to get groceries. at 10pm. I got home and had everything unloaded by about 11:45, and boy was I Pooped! We desperately needed groceries, but I think I spent too much. It's hard to make food a priority sometimes. Good thing is those groceries will last at least a month I hope. I had to get some things to keep at home for me to eat at lunchtime, seeing as how I will be home soon and need to eat my meals there.

Sunday I pretty much cleaned and played with Ardyn. Last night I cleaned the back porch (FINALLY!) and organized shoes on the shoe shelf. I ran the dishwasher, washed diapers and three other loads of clothes, cleaned Ardyn's room, washed all her 12 month size clothes and hung them up in her room (Evan added the second bar to her armoire yesterday) and I also fed the dogs, cleaned off my bookshelf, and scrubbed Ardyn's Foam playmat in the shower with the hose and some Clorox Green Works cleaner... and then dried it. I cleaned off the dining room table, washed and sanitized all the bottles and pump parts and Ardyn's food bowls and spoons, and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. I hung the rugs on the clothesline and put Garters on the sheets to keep the top two corners from popping off. I took a bath and Ardyn tried the Yo Baby Yogurt for the first time (It's crazy but the day Mylie's mommy was posting a comment here about trying the yogurt, I was already out buying some! LOL.) Sunday evening we went over to Evan's parents and cooked out and sat outside and enjoyed the weather. It was just beautiful and today was even BETTER.

I got the money from my nursing swimsuit refunded into my paypal account and was able to turn around and buy 6 more Thirsties AIO's in size Medium, which will bring the total up to 12. Thank God. I am so sick of washing diapers every night. We wear prefolds and MEOS at home, but if she wants to wear shorts this summer, they are wayyy too bulky to get her bum into unless she has the Thirsties on. Plus Thirsties are the diapers that dad can handle well, and babysitters, etc.

So tonight I am going to get a van to keep overnight on a test drive. I am really excited about the van that I have found, so please wish me luck that all goes well. I am really hoping that I can get it... and that everything falls into place. Everything ELSE has fallen into place lately, so I almost feel like it's not possible to have one more thing work out this well.

Random Update

Tomorrow is Friday, but I am more excited for May 1st to arrive. I have given my notice at work and April 30th is my last day. The day after I told my boss I would be leaving, she approached me and asked if I would consider continuing to design and update our website from home, as a contract employee. This, of course, is my every dream come true. I didn't mention it to them because I seriously thought they would never even consider it as an option. It has been approved by the CEO and Human Resources, and they are in the process of determining how to handle the pay scale and things. I will connect via a remote connection and do the web design and updates. Since then, they have decided to have me do some redesigning of the internal website as well. I also have a friend who has closed her own web design business and will be directing some of her clients to me for updates to their current websites. Evan and I will be working to put some more memory and a dvd burner in our home PC. The hospital may be providing me with the software that I will use to do their web design, which is wonderful. I am so excited about this... everything is working out wonderfully!

Ardyn is so amazing! Her babble "da da da da" has turned into a full blown daddy, and we are sure now that she has connected the word with the person. Of course we have been trying to get a "mamma" out of her, but she forms the 'm' with her mouth and then makes fart noises... so I guess we will have to appreciate that her first and only word is "daddy." She is clapping all the time now, and bopping to music. She also tries to snap her fingers, it's the cutest thing. She has really started to become mobile in the last week or so, rolling all over and trying to "get" to things. Evan and I are convinced that she will be crawling very very soon. She has especially shows a real interest in trying to get to me, wherever I am, and of course that's a great feeling. Lately she and I have been reading books before bedtime and then she sits on the couch and nurses and then falls asleep in my lap. She's at a very fun age right now. I can't believe she will be eight months soon, and a year isn't far behind!

We are about to add breakfast to her schedule, with some fruit and cereal, and probably baby yogurt. She enjoys pieces of fresh zucchini, apples, bananas, and the Gerber Puffs in fruit and sweet potato flavors. Last week she had some fun with a pickle when Evan and I took her to Townsend for supper after "school."

Last night was our second swimming lesson, and I got to be in the pool with her, which was fun. Twice I blew in her face to get her to take a big breath, then put her under the water. The first time she popped up and was surprised and giggling. The second time she wasn't as thrilled, Evan said she opened her eyes under the water and the chlorine burned her, and that might have been what made her angry. She wasn't doing as much kicking and paddling this week, but I think it's because it wasn't as new and exciting as it was last week. She did grab the boogie board, and the floating dumbell. They also did a "race" where all the kids tried to blow a piece of foam noodle across the water. She was more interested in getting it INTO her mouth. She can pretty much tolerate about 30 minutes in the water and then she seems to be ready to get out, I think last night she was just plain tired. As soon as I got her home and fed her supper, she was rubbing her eyes and falling asleep. That swimming is hard work!

I am packing up my office this week. This weekend we are planning a trip to Menard's to get a few things we need, especially some hardware to hang Ardyn's new swing (Thanks Grandma Deb and Grandpa Dave!) in the front yard. My dad also had a friend who gave him a rickshaw (a baby bicycle trailer) so I need to get myself a bike so I can pull it! Ardyn and I will really be living green now!

A Friend of mine, Tina (Atkinson) Moore has a boy in her third grade class with cancer. His best friend is also in her class, and he had a fund raiser for his classmate and has been chosen a finalist in Oprah's big give. You can vote once a day from now till Thursday. If he wins, he will get more money for his best friend. Log on to wqad.com

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Vote for Trenton Niemeyer, finalist #3

Pass this on to anyone who will VOTE!

Here is a direct link to the voting page

Singing in the Rain.... and in the Pool!

Well, things are going well. My stomach has been a little icky the past two nights, but I am about 99% sure it's because I have been eating nothing but CRAP for like 5 days straight. Ugh. Tomorrow. Salad. I swear.

Tonight was Ardyn's first swimming lesson and she "dove" right in. She started moving her arms and legs and kicking as soon as she got into the water. She LOVES the water, and everyone (even people I didn't know, and moms in the locker room) were stopping me to comment on how she's "a natural" and how she's "so cute." We had a great time. Evan got into the water this time and I played paparazzi. Next time we will switch. The one thing I can say is that the Metro Center swimming teachers were WONDERFUL and nice. But it was hotter than hell in that pool area. I was freaking dying. Literally sweating in a skirt and t-shirt. My forehead was beaded with sweat and I was not the only parent complaining of the heat. It was unbearable and in fact before we left I was nauseous from just the heat. It was crazy how hot it was in there. It is also difficult because I feel a bit like the pack mule. I had two bags, one with towels, suits, and a spare diaper, and another with my purse, Ardyn's coat and hat, our camera, etc. Plus carrying Ardyn. Evan helped when he could, but going in and out of the locker room and to the pool and back with her, I was like JEEZ! I bought was I THOUGHT was a huge Mesh bag, but I think I need something bigger, or about 5 more arms. Or a rolling cart. LOL.

Rotovirus is going around daycare now. Great. The toddler/2's room has had sickness abounding, but there is also one student from Ardyn's classroom that is hospitalized right now. I can't wait to get out of the daycare "germ" situation. We have been sicker this year than we have ever been in our lives. It's insane. I know it will start once she goes to school, but I would like a few years to ease into that. We are practicing obsessive handwashing, especially when walking out of the daycare facility and when changing diapers and such at home. I have always been pretty good, but now I am downright obsessive.

Rain is on it's way. It rained yesterday quite a bit, but tomorrow is supposed to be icky rain, thunderstorms, etc. Just check out the radar. You know I am in Illinois, so just see what's ahead for us tomorrow. I got to wear my galoshes this week already, and you can count on me wearing them again. Yesterday when leaving work I saw this umbrella in the parking lot next to my car. It cracked me up. I had to take a picture. Apparently it was abandoned when it turned inside out.

I sold all of the small diapers this week, so I was able to use that paypal to grab the inserts for the Motherease Diapers and a Little Tikes Peek-A-Boo Tunnel that is for toddlers to crawl through. I thought Ardyn might enjoy it this summer and it's small and sturdy enough to use indoors or out. I have been looking for one for a while, but they don't sell it anymore, and I couldn't find one locally, so I grabbed one on eBay. I am next in the market for the Little Tikes Activity Garden, another thing that they don't make anymore and is WAY overpriced on eBay. I found one locally but the lady is smoking crack and wants $150 for it, plus I would have to drive 40 minutes to pick it up (locally is a relative term here.) I can get one shipped to me from eBay cheaper than that, which is saying something considering shipping is about $35-40.

Target has free shipping on baby gear right now, so I am thinking that with my next paycheck I will buy our second convertible car seat. I am rapidly getting my list taken care of. Just don't ask me to buy anything that I don't have on my radar right now.

I hate the internet at home. I am trying to upload a few photos to Flickr of the swimming tonight, and I get one photo uploaded (this is on high speed) and the connection drops and I have to start the process all over. What should take a total of less than 5-10 minutes has been taking me HOURS and it frustrates me GREATLY. I need to go to bed and just forget the pictures. So maybe you will get some later in the week, but not tonight! Sorry!

It's a Beautiful Day To Quit Your Job....

Well, it's official! Last Friday I gave my notice at work, and as of May 1st, I will "officially" be a stay-at-home Mom! YAY! I will probably be doing a bit of web design on the side, but my primary goals will be to spend time with Ardyn, keep my house in order, get the laundry done, and keep up with the dishes! I also hope to get in more crafts and gardening, as well as some time outdoors for daily walks and some swimming too! I can not wait! I will miss my job but it was becoming too much to do everything and I just wasn't happy being away from Ardyn all day and not accomplishing anything. I know that moms everywhere work, but I have to say that it's impossible for me to work, take care of Ardyn to the standards that I expect from myself, and also accomplish anything for myself or my family. I can't wait. Let the countdown begin. To celebrate I got my first massage since back when I was pregnant, and probably the last one I will have until someone buys me a gift certificate (Mother's Day?) It was FABULOUS. A full hour long, and boy it's amazing how you can almost forget how refreshing you feel after a good massage. This time Tina used essential oils in my massage and it was just wonderful.So the weekend was great. Saturday the boys were burning the prairie and wildflower plots, and Ardyn and I went to meet some of Evan's family who were in town visiting. Then we went out to see the boys and visited at Grandma and Grandpas with more family. We had supper there and on the way home, Ardyn and I hit a skunk (eeww!) and Evan took my car up to wash it before we put it in the garage. It was pretty stinky. Sunday I washed two loads of diapers, and happily hung them out on the line. I have TONS of pictures on Flickr of pretty and colorful diapers drying in the sun. The sky was so blue with puffy white clouds. If the grass had been green and there were leaves on the trees, you wouldn't have even known that we just had a hellish winter that lasted forever. The diapers are just so fresh and clean when they come in from the line!I got some inspiration to make a clothespin bag, since mine is worn to hell, and I did the applique of a clothespin on the front, which still needs his "face" embroidered (see photos of the clothespin bag on flickr.) I will share photos of the finished product once I add one more snap to the center and embroider his face... It was super cute and slick... the Serger just makes sewing so much fun! I moved between the table to cut my fabric, the serger, and the sewing machine late last night, and finally FORCED myself to go to sleep about 1am. I actually woke Ardyn up and changed her diaper (we are fighting a bit of daycare diaper rash) and then nursed her and let her sleep next to me, because she sleeps longer and better there, and I wanted to get as much sleep as possible since I had been up late cleaning and sewing and had to work on Monday.I am feeling really good about how well I am staying on top of things. I spend pretty much every night after Ardyn goes to bed, picking up, doing laundry, and dishes. One night last week I did just do one load of laundry and wash just one sink of dishes, and then watch the two episodes of CSI Miami with Evan. It was nice to relax. I look forward to the time when I can spend more time relaxing and enjoying my family on weeknights and weekends, instead of trying to cram in all the "housework" into that time instead. I also look forward to writing more in Ardyn's baby book, and starting her scrapbook, which I am ashamed to say I haven't even begun yet.

Ardyn is moving into Size Medium Diapers now, and so I am about halfway through selling the smalls in lots. If they were diapers that I bought used, or that aren't my very favorites, I am selling them, because I don't know how well the elastic will hold up in storage, especially if the person before me used a harsh detergent or dried them in the drier. My favorite pocket diapers, and Especially the Thirsties AIO Pockets, I will keep for the next baby. But the rest I will get rid of and purchase more of what I really like. Today I sent her with Medium Thirsties AIO Pockets to daycare, and if I sell the 9 Drybees and 6 Snap-ez pockets that she is growing out of, I will then buy 6 more Thirsties AIO Pockets in Medium for daycare and convenience sakes this summer and fall. We are using lots of wool over prefolds and fitteds while at home, but I like to have Thirsties on hand to wear under clothes because they are so trim and comfy.
I have slid into my mom wardrobe. I have my two pair of khaki pants, and a pair of white pants that become capris, and three pair of shorts, and two pair of knit capris, and a pair of black gauchos. Pair those with any of my Nine v-neck shirts in a rainbow of colors, and you will see how easy it is to be me. LOL. I have discovered that the Unshrinkable T-Shirt by LLBean is freaking awesome, not only because it doesn't shrink, but because it has this water-repellent thing on it. When I get milk or water or anything on me, I can pretty much brush it off and I don't get stained. Last week I opened a container of sweet potatoes only to have them splash all over my shirt that I JUST put on, and they came right off without even really "touching" the fabric. It was awesome how repellent they are. I will definitely recommend them to other moms! I can't wait till I don't have to work, because then I can also slip into my rainbow of flip flops and sandals. Until then I am pretty much sticking to tennis shoes and slip on shoes, or my black rocket dogs.
Ardyn wore an outfit (That Aunt Liz bought her!) with Capri pants and her sandals to daycare today, she was so excited about it! It was like she couldn't get over the fact that even though she had her shoes on, she could SEE her TOES! She was thrilled. She was being a real ham this morning. She has kinda started to have the "stranger" fear. She knows who I am and wants to be with me. She is sometimes crying when I leave the room, and when we visit relatives and they hold her, she is starting to cry and crane her head around and reach for me. I can see the panic look on her face and I try to reassure her that they are safe and that I am not going anywhere. I think my mom and Evan's parents are the only people she hasn't been afraid of. Perhaps Evan's brother and my sister. She cried at Grandpa Dave at Easter, I think he scared her when she first saw him, and then she warmed right up and played with him all day.... but she was scared of Evan's uncle Dennis at first, and also of Grandma Mona and Grandpa Bob Sr. We just need to spend more time with everyone so that she is more comfortable with them.

Swimming lessons start this week. I can't remember if I already blogged about buying a new swimsuit? I don't think I did. Well, I debated for a long time. I have several suits. Two tankins. One missing the bottom and one missing the top? And the two suits that I wore before I got pregnant, are nowhere to be found (Another reason to stay home.... so I can clean out my closet and get a hold on all these different sizes of clothes!) and now that I have lost 46 pounds, and gone up a cup size from nursing, I decided it's okay to buy a new suit. Especially when I will need to nurse at the pool all summer. I heave heard lots of people say "just pull your suit down" and I want to say "yeah, that's discreet. Just pull down your suit." Obviously none of these people have hauled around a DD cup full of milk. Or nursed the evil genius who loves to "pop off and smile" at people. And honestly, it isn't ME I am worried about. It's other people. They tend to get all itchy and squirmy around boobs. Nursing boobs that is. I should clarify. Because flashing Mardi Gras boobs and classic art boobs and porno boobs and playboy boobs and topless dancer boobs show up and it's all "Whoo-Hoo! Random Shot of Boobs!" But I guess when the boobs are for nursing, it's all about scary. This world is pretty fucked up, isn't it!? So for everyone else's sake, I dropped $70 on a new two piece halter tankini, double layered for nursing, with a matching swim skirt. It's the most expensive swimsuit I have ever bought, considering that I bought my maternity suit on eBay (used) and every other suit pretty much came from Wal-Mart, with the exception of one that my mom bought my from JCPenney before I left home about 10 years ago. I bought it in Basic black, so that it stays in style, stays slimming, and can be worn hopefully through several years and through nursing several children. I did it all for you. Your welcome. The suit arrived from Motherwear today and I haven't had a chance to try it on yet, but I will. And I also got a second travel wet bag (identical to the one I use for dirty diapers but in a different pattern) so that we can put our wet suits and such in it for swim lessons, and for summer at the pool. It will also be nice to just have another wet bag in general, so that if there is one in the wash we have a spare.

I have four more things on my list that I need to get purchased before I cease to have any income. The first is six more Thirsties Diapers. The second is 13 Snap In Bamboo Inserts for the Motherease One Size Diapers that we already have. The Third is another Convertible Car Seat to use in Evan's vehicle. The Fourth is a set of Crib Rail Teethers to put on the crib in Ardyn's room. I would also be thrilled if I could get myself a new pair of New Balance Tennis Shoes, since I bought mine back when I got pregnant, and have been wearing them for over a year now. I would LOVE a new pair but this is not a necessity so much as a wish. And I would also love some new mascara as mine is getting crunchy... and some foundation as I am almost out of the Bare Minerals. I ran out of the color I wear a while ago, but had two containers of a color that didn't work, but I mixed it with some warmth to make it get me by, and now that is almost gone.

I will be switching to Wal-Mart purchased shampoo and conditioner instead of Biolage, and also dyeing my own hair now, to save money. That's cool with me. I will miss my complicated highlights that get me so many compliments, but not as much as I would miss my daughter if I had to work to support my beauty regime.

Oh and Comcast. Saturday morning when I got out of the shower my cable had been "Disconnected for non-payment" because I refuse to pay them for service I am not GETTING and because I have tried to explain to them a bazillion times that I am not paying and that they need to credit my account. So I called Comcast and within 10 minutes had $90 credited to my account for the months of February and March's internet service. And my cable and internet (or what there IS of internet service) reinstated while still on the phone with them. This morning Judy form Corporate called to check in, which was very nice and probably the best customer service I have gotten from Comcast so far. Everything I have heard, both from Technicians and from Customers and through the grapevine, indicates that they should have a handle on the "bigger issue" in our area in 1-2 weeks. Judy told me if it isn't fixed in two weeks to call her back and a supervisor would be sent to my area. I am pleased with the credits to my account. It's about time!

Well, I have exhausted my brainpower for now. Have a great day!

Update on Problems with Comcast, and other things this week.

Made it through another week! The countdown to May 1st Continues. Today I had the pleasure of trying to pay more bills than I have money for, thanks to the past two paychecks of mine being even SHORTER due to Ardyn being sick and us being out a total of 5 whole days and 2 half days from daycare/work, which can take a big chunk out of your income! It wouldn't be a big deal, but I am still trying to pay off the hospital bill, and the $400 a month power bill is still going strong, although I think that was probably our last month. Plus my husband thinks that it's better to pay $10 per garbage can (the penalty for putting out an extra can without a trash sticker) instead of dragging his butt to Casey's to buy $5 of stickers. Ugh. Add in the cost of daycare, a cell phone bill, and a cable bill where we are paying for service that we don't even HAVE.... and it makes for a cranky checkbook.

This week we have had two morning visits from Comcast technicians, both of them resulting in the exact same response, which consists of "There is nothing wrong with your equiptment or the lines to your home" and "The problem is purely Comcast's and they need to take responsibility for it." Then I get to hear about how the repair guys spend all day going to people's houses in this area, when they can do nothing to fix the problem, because the problem is really due to the re-routing of Cable lines so that we are at the end of the chain and all experiencing packet loss. After starting to investigate the problems, I have also learned that an accounting firm in the Peru area has hired lawyers and filed a lawsuit against Comcast for the problems with their internet service, which occurred unexpectedly and without warning, right in the middle of tax season. They are holding Comcast responsible for any and all filing difficulties they have had for their customers.

I have been in contact with Comcast Corporate. I understand that the problems are being worked on, but Comcast has still refused to take responsibility for the issues, and refund or credit customers for service that they are not receiving. My policy has been to refuse to pay my bill until I get a resolution. Their policy has so far been to deny or put off the issue, and to tell me that even though I have been missing service since the beginning of February at $44.95 a month, and now the cable has been glitching for two weeks, they can credit me for $15. Um. No. So I am about at the end of my rope with their inexcusable decision to charge people money that they don't deserve to be paid. I guess if I don't get any satisfaction from Comcast corporate, there is always the better business bureau. If I don't hear back from Corporate with a resolution and a credit on my account, that will be my next step. I have begun to gather names of others in my area who are also having this issue. Basically it is an extreme "packet loss" that gives you connectivity problems abounding.

I will be working in the next couple of months on some new presentations for the Computer User Group. I will be doing (FINALLY!) My Life Doc Presentation, showing the Life Doc Binders and what they can do for you. I will hopefully be also doing a presentation on the Wii, where we will put the Wii games up on the wall with the proxima and show how it works and how great it is to use. This was Dorene's fabulous Idea.

So what else has happened this week? I got all of Ardyn's 6-12 month clothes out and washed, and packed away some 3-6 month clothes that were too small. Ardyn has eaten lots of fun things like Apple slices, Zucchini slices, bananas, and sweet potato puffs. She is doing great with her "chewing" and learning to keep pieces of food to the front of her mouth while she chews. One bottom tooth is barely poking through and the other is right behind it... and I can tell that we will be moving to the Stage 2 foods soon. We probably could be already, but she does still have a few packs of stage 1 left that we would like to get through first. She also has suddenly started eating peas without complaining, and had a whole pack last night followed by an entire pack of bananas. She's a good eater.

We got an interlocking foam puzzle mat that we love. I put part of it in the living room so she can sit up on the hardwood floor without falling over and bumping her head. I plan on putting the other half in the basement sewing room so that I can sew during the day while she plays... and maybe eventually start working on the dollhouse! The best part of the foam mat is that it isn't one of those ABC mats, so the foam tiles are solid, which eliminates the choking hazard that the small pieces in the other mats have. It's so soft and cushy, she loves it.

Yesterday Ardyn turned SEVEN MONTHS OLD! Whoo! Amazing. We took pictures, and I started a new photo album on Flickr as I do each month. I can't believe how big she is! Man. She got a new pair of wool longies in the mail yesterday, to match her Cloth Diaper T-shirt in black- so she wore that last night and it looks awesome. When she wears black she is just so stinking cute. Evan always comments on how she looks like her mom in black because I love to wear black.

I am sad today because Ava has been sick and spent the night in the ER, and has been throwing up since yesterday morning and dehydrated. I hope she feels better soon. Anya said she was throwing up even when just given a tablespoon of water. Ugh. And a friend online whose son is Ardyn's age had to take him to the hospital because she found a lump, and then he stopped eating or drinking for 6 hours and they discovered that he need surgery for what (as of now) they believe is a hernia. That makes me so sad, and it makes me want to take Ardyn to our house and board her up inside, although I know that's just crazy talk. It's a horrible feeling to have a sick child and not be able to "fix everything" as a mom.

Well, this weekend is going to be BEAUTIFUL outside and I am hoping that I can get Evan to hang Ardyn's new swing so we can be outdoors a bit in the fresh air. We have no plans and I can't wait for that. I hope it can stay that way. The sun has surfaced and I am so happy! This should be a fabulous spring and summer!