You like me! You REALLY like me!!

Hooray for my very first blog award!!!

I want to send a HUGE Thank You to Mary over at The Great Elephant Symposium for giving me the Stylish Blogger Award! It was very unexpected-but very nice indeed! Mary has a great blog and if you haven't already, you should definitely head over there and check it out!

Now, this award comes with some rules-so here they are!

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award. (Done!)
2. Share 7 things about yourself. (Done!)
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers. (Done!)
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award! (working on it!! )

7 things about me:

1-I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. As far as I'm concerned, it is not a mistake by the lake, but one of the greatest cities out there! My entire family still lives there-as well as many of my friends. I try to get home to visit whenever I can.

2-I met my husband on the internet. Yep. Eleven years ago now-but we were just two crazy kids who met in a chat room on AOL (you remember those days?) and really hit it off. We talked online and on the phone almost everyday for a year and a half until we were finally able to meet in person. Once we met-that was it. We had to make it work. It was long distance at first, but that wasn't good enough. I've been living in Indiana for almost 8 years now. :)

3-I went to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where I majored in Communications (Public Relations and Journalism). One of my biggest regrets is not finishing my program there. BUT-had I stayed there and finished, my life might be completely different. The biggest difference-I don't know that I'd be married to my amazing husband and living in Indiana. So I guess I made the right choice by leaving there.

4-I was a band geek. Yep. In high school, I was in every band you could be in and I was even the president of my schools Marching Band my senior year. Head geek. I played clarinet and saxophone. I wouldn't trade those years for anything.

5-I had a breast reduction. It's been a little over 5 years now, but it was so worth it and one of the best decisions that I've ever made.

6-I worry about everything. Seriously. I think my worry is completely irrational a lot of the time, but I don't know how to make myself stop worrying. I worry about things that I can't control and things that I can control but don't know how to. It causes me a lot of anxiety.

7-I act like I don't care-but I am very concerned about what people think about me. I don't know why.

I don't know if those are good things about me or not-they are just the first things that popped into my head.

Okay-lets see if I can do this part :)

15 blogs that I think are awesome

Wan Life To Live

Le Petit Pierogi

Let It Be

3 Men and a Lady

The Subfertile Frugalista

Veggie By Season

The Domestic Princess

One + One= Four

The Adventures of Mrs. Emmypants

You Paid More Than Me

Momma Maven In The Making!

Domestic Addiction

After I Do

Elizabeth's Edible

Mr. Jones and Me

Phew!! Okay-there's 15 blogs that I follow that I think are absolutely wonderful and that deserve the stylish blogger award! Go forth, and check them out!

Thanks again Mary!

Baby stuff galore!

We can now SEE the baby move-which is weird. Very cool-but weird. He's pretty active in there, which is a good thing.

We registered for our childbirth classes-it's two classes in February and we'll get a tour of the hospital and everything. We are also going to be taking a newborn basics class in March. It's been a really long time since I have babysat anyone-or even changed a diaper. And I'm pretty sure Ryan hasn't ever done either. So, we're gonna need some information.

My showers are coming up in the near future. March 5th will be my shower in Cleveland. My mom and sister are working out all the details, but I think it's gonna be great! And a couple of my very close friends are putting on my shower here in Indiana. We had dinner because they wanted to talk about it and get ideas-and oh man! It's gonna be awesome-I kinda feel bad. I keep telling them that they don't have to go all out or spend a bunch of money, but I don't think they're hearing me.

They are talking a Dr. Seuss theme (which I LOVE!) and tons of food and fun stuff. I just worry because one of them (my best friend) is also pregnant, just a few weeks ahead of me. On the day of my shower, she will be 10 days from her due date. Yeah. We tried to plan the shower earlier, but it just wasn't working for the other girls involved and the place they're having it and stuff. So I'm afraid my poor friend is either gonna go into labor at my shower or be really big and uncomfortable-and I don't want her working so hard on something that close to her due date. Again....no one is listening to Lyndsay. Not much I can do at that point, I suppose. I need to get them nice gifts for doing this for me.

Gosh-I have more baby stuff to talk about than I thought. We found Nolan a daycare! It's a really nice lady here in town that just watches a couple of kids out of her house. She's only a few years older than us and she's super nice. Her house is really nice and clean too. Another friend of ours that's pregnant is sending her little girl there just a couple months before Nolan will go there. He will only need to go 2 days a week because I work part time and Ry's schedule is pretty awesome. This is such a good thing for us-we looked at some places and they either won't take infants, or they charge you for the entire week no matter what....we're saving a BUNDLE by sending him here. We also have an appointment on the 7th to meet with a pediatrician, so hopefully we can get him set up with that too!

Lastly, another big baby item out of the way-Ry's mom bought us our crib and mattress! She got such a good deal on them that she still wants to buy more stuff (I'm not gonna argue with that-I have my eye on a nice glider for his room too)! Our stroller is also bought thanks to my awesome mom!! We don't have it yet-she does. But, she did me a huge favor by getting it. I mentioned on facebook a few weeks ago about the stroller fiasco. I was double checking my registry at BRU online and I noticed that the stroller I had registered for was replaced with some stupid one that I did not want. I did some research and found out that BRU was discontinuing my stroller-not the actual type of stroller, but the pattern I guess. Well, here's the thing...I was in love with that pattern. It's too cute-and it's different. And Ryan and I agreed that we both really wanted it. My mom went to BRU (we registered at the one there in Ohio, we don't have one too close to us) and they had 3 left, so she got it for me. Phew!! Just so you can see how cute it is........

I have a dilemma....

Did I even spell dilemma right?

We have two cats and a dog. The dog is great-she's wonderful and well behaved. No problem there.

The cats on the other hand, are a different story. We have had Eric for just about 8 years, since he was a kitten. And Sadie we have had about 7 years-but I believe she was a bit older when we got her. Anyway, these cats have done everything short of completely ruining every place we've ever lived. We never declawed them, so that's our fault. We thought declawing was bad and painful so we decided not to do it. We never really thought about the fact that they would ruin all of our furniture, curtains, etc. with their stupid claws. And they have.

Their hair is EVERYWHERE. I vacuum the couches way more than I want to because you tell them and tell them and tell them to get off of the furniture, and they don't. They apparently have the memory span of about 5 minutes. You get them off the couch and next time you turn around, there they are again.

Sadie is apparently "stressed out". For like the third time since we've had her, she is licking all of her hair off. Yeah. It's disgusting. She's so skinny and half of her hair is missing. I know she's not sick because she still eats and everything. She just likes to lick her hair off. Ya know what else that means? Hairballs!! How delightful. I clean up her puke several times a week. What a joy.

And then there is Eric, who does the most charming thing of all. He shits outside of his litter box. Oh, and sometimes pees outside of it too. He doesn't do this daily. He just does it when he feels like it. And it doesn't matter if you just cleaned the litter box, he still will go right outside of it. It's disgusting, it's not hygienic, and I'm sick of it. We have tried everything. We have given him two litter boxes (which one is gross enough and we don't have room for two), we have tried different litters, we have shampooed carpets so that it smells fresh and should make him not want to go there anymore......I'm done.

We have always been animal people. We have rescued all of our pets and we believe in treating your animals well. But I am so far gone with these cats...I just don't know what to do. I CANNOT continue to live like this. ESPECIALLY because we are moving into a brand new house and having a baby. I WILL NOT let them ruin our new home. I will not let my child get sick because their hair and puke and shit is everywhere.

Ryan and I have been over this time and time again. We can't stand living like this anymore and dealing with this shit on a daily basis-but what are we supposed to do? We don't abuse them-but it's definitely gotten to the point where we hardly pay attention to them anymore because they are ruining everything and we are so sick of it. We obviously feed them and clean up after them, but it's not like they are sitting on our laps or anything. I can't imagine that's any kind of life for them either. I feel like they should live with someone who has no other pets and wants to cuddle with them and make them their priority. Every time the conversation comes to getting rid of them, we both get sad and defensive and realize that we can't do it. We've said, "well, we are stuck with them until they die, and then we just won't ever get cats again." Do you know how long cats can live??? We could easily have them for another 5+ years. That's plenty of time for them to ruin our new house. I don't know what to do. I really don't. If we take them to the humane society, they probably won't be able to find good homes for them and they will have to euthanize them. I can't stand the thought of that. I can't do it anymore. I really can't. I don't know what to do. But I need to come up with a solution quickly.

I don't do resolutions

Why bother? I don't stick with them for the most part...well not in the traditional resolution type way. I make "to do" lists almost every day of my life and that's how I get things done.

So what I actually need to do is make a MASSIVE to do list that encompasses the majority of this coming year. Lets face it, there is a lot going on this year in my life. I may not have mentioned it here yet, but in addition to having our first baby, we are also building our first home! It is a project that is both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. I know I have talked here before about how we wanted to buy a house but I didn't think we would be able to. Well, in November, we started looking at houses. Then we went to get pre-approved for a mortgage and we did! After looking at several houses, our real estate agent asked us if we had considered building. We had liked the idea of building a house but just assumed there was no way we would be able to afford it. She recommended a great company in town and after seeing that they could do exactly what we wanted and stay in our budget, we said "sign us up!"

So long story short, we're having a house built. It's going to be great because everything in the house will be there because WE picked it. It will be BRAND NEW. And mostly everything will have a warranty. The house should be completed by the end of March, beginning of April. Yes-we're cutting it a little close to the due date. Anyway...back on task.

Why do I need a massive to do list? In the next five months, we will be moving into a brand new house and we will have a baby coming. I'm a planner. And there is A LOT of stuff that goes along with all of this. There is a lot of preparation and getting our ducks in a row-there are lots of important steps that need to be taken, and there is A LOT of stuff that needs to be purchased. With what money-I'm not sure about that yet. Oi vey.

I have a headache just thinking about this next part. Money. Why is it always about money? Maybe because I had a mental breakdown and quit my higher paying job last summer and I've felt guilty about it ever since. Lets re-hash. Ryan makes pretty good money. We don't have a problem living off of it for the most part. We get all of our bills paid and still have money to eat. What I worry about is that some weeks, we have almost nothing left by the time he gets paid again. Not to mention that we have NO savings. I talked about how we had a nice little chunk and Brit's accident wiped all of that out. Now, stop me if I'm wrong...but babies cost money, right? Delivering a baby costs money, putting a baby in daycare (ugh...I'll explain) costs money, feeding a baby costs money. And what else costs money? Moving into a new house and everything that comes along with that-oh-and closing costs, and having to put in a lawn at your new house...and a fence in the backyard for your dog. So let me just say that I think not even $5,000 will get us through the barrage of shit that will be our expenses in the month of April and May.

I start to have an anxiety attack because I don't know how on earth I can save that kind of money between now and then. No idea. Ryan already works hard and works quite a bit of over time. I can't ask him to do anymore than he's doing. I work part time-which is supposed to be a benefit for us. Ry likes me being home to take care of things around here. And even though I don't want to put the little man in daycare AT ALL-only having to put him in a couple of days a week won't be so bad. But how can I make more money for us?? At my job, the hours are kinda...well-I average 2 days a week. Sometimes she needs me more, sometimes less. What would make me feel better? 3 steady days a week. Every week, knowing that I'm working 3 days. Every week. I may need to talk to her about this, because my other options aren't so appealing. I can't find another job-who is going to hire a woman who is more than half way through her pregnancy? I have to be careful what I do because we don't want me working full time because then the little guy will have to go to daycare much more often and it will cost more and cancel out me working at all. Yet, if I don't make enough money, me working is also useless.

Do you see why I'm in panic attack mode? It's a HUGE catch 22. What about the medical billing and coding I've been studying? I'm starting to think that's not gonna work out the way I originally thought. Like once I actually get certified, it's going to be hard to find a job where I don't have to physically go in and work at the company for a few YEARS before they will let me work at home. Plus, I've been hearing that a lot of those jobs require experience? Hello? How do you get experience if no one will hire you? I should've done more research before I started this.

So-in the next couple of weeks, I need to figure out 1-how to make more money (how to supplement the income I already provide) and 2-how to save a huge chunk of money between now and April. Help!!! Please! Advice!

PS-Anyone want to pay off my student loans for me?? Not having to pay that $400 a month would probably REALLY help. :)

Happy New Year!

Here's to 2011 being a GREAT year!!

We spent New Year's Eve hanging out with a small group of friends because 3 of us there are pregnant and wanted kind of a low key evening.We had yummy food, watched a movie, and saw NKOTB(SB) perform on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. ;)

Here's the 3 pregnant amigos: Me-21 weeks, Sarah-27 weeks, and Amber 25 weeks.

And our husbands thought they would get in on the action as well-showing off their bellies.

Well, time to wake the husband up. We've got to go to finish up our registry today. Happy New Year!!!