Early Mornings

I am not a fan of early mornings. In fact, I would rather be asleep right now, but when you have kids you sign up for things you don’t like much. I wish it were different, but it is how life is. Again this morning Jeff was up while M was getting ready for work. I think he enjoys seeing M before he goes to work because usually when he wakes up M is long gone. This morning M had to move Jeff because he was right on top of me and I needed to roll over. He moved him to his side of the bed and put his pillows around him. Normally Jeff will roll back over towards me at this point, but this morning he decided to scare his momma to death! He rolled towards the edge of the bed in his sleep and kept going even though he was hitting the pillows, I grabbed his leg and must have gasped really loud or said something out loud because M came running in from the bathroom! He did not fall but I scared him awake I think! Fair is fair he scared the bajezus out of me too!

So by Monday evening I will have some news to announce here and on Facebook, so keep a look out here for that! After Monday this blog will be changing some things as well, just fair warning because I know people will come and be like wait… this is not right. LOL. Yes, it will be okay! I promise!

Jeff is now crashed out again and I had breakfast so I am going to go lay back down too soon. M got me a Jimmy Dean sausage bowl for breakfast and it was good. It has sausage, eggs, potatoes, and country gravy. Honestly, if I tried I could probably do better for sure! It would definitely be more. I did enjoy it though, it was the first time I had it and he had it a couple of weeks ago and said it was good. 

Taxes should be in soon. We were late because of the social security number debacle. Sigh. Apparently, when you have a newborn in the house you need to tell the mail man. They did send Jeff’s number but the mail person sent it back because it was a new name and he did not realize. Ugh. Also, because when I ordered Jeff’s birth certificate there were about 19 choices and of course I chose wrong. I ordered the legal birth certificate but it only has my name on it and not M’s, so because of that he could not get Jeff’s social security number. In the first place neither of us knew if he had been issued a number, then I had go actually go down there which I did a few weeks ago. All of this because he could not wait until we were at the hospital to be born! 

Okay, I am going to lay down. Have a wonderful weekend!

-Ciao!

Turned A Corner

As you all know I have been dealing with a mystery fever with Jeff for the last couple of days. Ugh! Yesterday was horrendous for us. He was fussy all night long and did not fall asleep until between 1-2 am then was up at 4:30am to see dad. So that meant that I had to be up too because M is getting ready for work and can not keep an eye on Jeff all the time and to add misery Jeff was not feeling well and wanted to be held and was whining. I got up and had a migraine because of lack of sleep. Jeff was up until about this time yesterday morning because I could not get him back to sleep. Finally he crashed out on me and then I crashed out. 

I hate when my kid is sick. I feel bad because I can only do so much. Well, there were no other symptoms what so ever. No runny nose, no cough, no nothing to give me any clue as to what was going on and just like that yesterday the fever was gone and last night he was back to himself again! I am of course keeping a close eye on him today to make sure we do not have a repeat, but when he went to sleep last night he was normal temperature and he is fine this morning. (I just checked to be sure! 🙂 ) 

We did have mayo chicken last night and I will get around to actually posting the recipe in the food blog soon. I know it sounds gross. I am not a huge fan of mayo at all. On certain things, sure but on chicken?! It is so good! I took a recipe from Hellman’s and changed it. Okay turned it upside down and in side out and made it mine. Oh man am I starving now! I usually skip breakfast because Jeff and I sometimes do not wake up until 10 am and then by the time the brain has engaged and I am functional, it is like lunch time. I am trying to make more of an effort to eat breakfast lately. M got me some bagels, which I love! When Jeff is sleeping I have time to make something to eat, but if he is awake, I have enough time to throw a bagel in the toaster, get his bottle and slap some butter or peanut butter on the bagel and get back to him before he starts crying!

If he is sleeping I can make eggs and a bagel. Depending on what I want. I am still recovering from yesterday. I had a horrible migraine and it stormed to top it off. ugh. I think while he is sleeping right now I am going to go grab something to eat! 

-ciao!

Just A Quick Update

I normally do not do more than one post per day but once in a while I like to get all rebel and break the rules! So, an update on the food stamp front, I think the day I did my entry ( you can find it here if you missed it) This really nice lady called from the food stamp office and we had the interview right on the phone! It was like a day or two after I filled out the application on line. So the good news is that she did not out right tell me that we do not qualify. I am in the verification part now. I have a few forms to get filled out, some stuff to print out, a couple of copies to make and the doctor to talk to on the 1st. 

Speaking of the doctor appointment, I got a reminder phone call from them today. How cool is that? I am making a list of the questions I need to ask. Especially about meds for my migraines and asthma. I have noticed that I am wheezing when I am sleeping, this is not good. I am not especially looking forward to this doctor visit but it needs to happen and I can not cancel. Ugh. 

Jeff is getting hot again. He finally passed out a bit ago. He had about a 45 minute nap all day and that is so not like him at all! All he wanted to do was lay on me. Which is so not like him. M put him on the floor to crawl around, which when he is feeling good, he absolutely loves to do! He did not want to tonight. He just wanted to chill on mom. I actually managed to get dinner done tonight, it was a crock pot meal, so that was helpful. Trying to decide what to make for dinner tomorrow in case he is not feeling well. I have a recipe called Mayo Chicken that is a 30 minute meal. I might do that and have M put the chicken in some cold water in the morning to defrost before he leaves so when we get up it will be defrosted or almost defrosted. 

This is a rent week, so no Domino’s or anything like that. Sigh. I wish. But rent is first as always. I have some news about M’s knees but that will have to wait for another time until I know what is going on for sure with all this mess. Sigh. I am so over it all! Next week is the electric bill and the washer and dryer bill and food. Hopefully I will have all the things I need to send in for food stamps done soon so they can put it into the system and we can find out the outcome! I started a new grocery list because we are out of a few things and as I see what else we need it goes on the list. I honestly wish we had the money for a cab for my doctor appointment, but there is no way possible. Ugh. The hardest part is getting to the bus stop and home again. I always have a hard time and my asthma is worst because there was a time when I would not have any kind of issues with it, but now I am having all kinds of issues. Sigh. Well, I need to run and make sure my son is okay and lay down finally. 

-Ciao!

Worried Momma

I woke up about 4 am because I had to use the bathroom. Ugh. I hate it when I wake up in the middle of the night! I was getting back in bed when my son touched me (yes, we co-sleep for now) and he was burning up! OMG. It was about time for M to start waking up so when he woke up a few minutes later to hit snooze on the alarm, I asked him to touch Jeff to be sure that it was him that was hot and not me. It was him. So, I grabbed him and was trying to get his jammies off of him without really waking him up because he was sleeping soundly. Apparently having the approximate body temperature of lava did not bother him at all, just me. 

I got him undressed, but he woke up which was fine. His whole body was burning up! So, I was letting him lay on the bed in his diaper to cool down some if he could before I would break out the water and wash cloth. He has since returned to normal temperature and is back sleeping.. So I am a happy momma now. He normally runs on the warm side like his daddy and so if he was just a little warm it would not have been such a big deal, but he was HOT and I had never felt him that hot before, so of course a good momma does, sleep be damned, I got into action.. SO I guess you could say I was a super action momma this morning! 

The one thing I hate is that waking up early and when I say early I mean with M at 4:30am, is that I am hungry! Now normally my stomach can not handle food at that time, but since I am hungry, all bets are off. Normally, I will make myself something like cheesy scrambled eggs and toast. This morning I had a bagel with PB&J on it. It really hit the spot! So, now when I am finished here, I will lay back down with Jeff and go back to sleep again. The other reason I did not have the eggs this morning is that we are out of the cheese I use for them. I could use the mild cheddar but it does not melt as nicely or get as cheesy as the Kraft singles do. Just my personal preference I guess. 

Speaking of cheesy eggs, the Waffle House has awesome cheesy eggs! I have not had them in years though! They serve it with raisin toast, which is good but I have to be in the mood for it. Sigh. I miss Waffle House. There is one not far from here, but it is difficult to get to without a car. Oh, my soon to be mother in law got Jeff this wonderful new car seat, it is a convertible one that he will have until he is 7! I am so blessed. He is almost out growing the car seat we have now, so this could not come at a better time for us! 

I am headed to lay back down.. Catch ya later!

-Ciao!

In Case You Did Not Know

So this weekend is Memorial Day. Being the wife of a military man myself, I had to educate myself on the different holidays to celebrate the military. Memorial Day is not a day to thank soldiers or veterans for their service, it is a day to remember those who died in service to our country as well as their family and loved ones. So when I see people tagging every single veteran or soldier in their Facebook and saying ‘Happy’ Memorial Day, I really, really want to educate  yell at those people and explain why that is so very wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I was doing it wrong for many years too, but now I make sure I do it right. I have a nice graphic that I will post at the end of this that explains the major holidays and what they are for. 

I know that it seems kind of petty and honestly I would have agreed with you a few years ago, but honestly it is not. Trying to educate the general public that so many of their ideas about the military, specifically the Army are totally false is like trying to run up a hill with roller skates on. I answer questions on a daily basis about things such as they all get school for free. Yes, however, to be eligible to attend school, they first must be able to pass and continue to pass the PT (physical training) tests they are given, if they fail even one they are denied school. See, in the military school is a privilege not a right. Another question I get is that everything is free. No. No. No. I do not know how many times I have to explain it, No. Food comes out of their pay checks, uniforms, they get an allowance but it is not a generous one ( the allowance is only for active duty military, the National guard gets no allowances, so they get their uniforms free, as long as there is money in the budget for it.)

I will not be posting all this weekend in any of my blogs. I want to stay silent out of respect. 

Headbutting and More

I am so not motivated what so ever today. I did not sleep well. So, I finally got my son’s social security number in the mail and finished M’s taxes. When I was finished, Turbo Tax actually suggested that we apply for food stamps. I was like, well okay. So I did. Kentucky has an online application which they have had but it never worked quite right  at all. So I was left printing out a paper application and mailing it before. They apparently fixed what ever issues were wrong with the online application. I filled it out. Yesterday a very nice lady called me from the food stamp office to do the interview over the phone. She is sending me some paperwork to fill out to verify some things and then we send it back and wait. 

The waiting is what kills me. They have 30 days to decide our fate. I hate waiting. If we get the help we so desperately need it will be a Godsend really. Let me illustrate: M got paid on last Thursday. After paying the bills that were due, we had enough for $100 in groceries. Then M realized his bus pass was about to expire in 3 days, so that is $30. So that left us with $70 for groceries for 2 weeks. Two weeks because all of the next 2 paychecks have to go to rent. Which is due on the 1st. 

So, after revinsing my list yet again to fit in the new amount we could spend, we still could not get somethings on the list that are kinda of important, like toilet paper. So, you see there is a real need here for help. In the past we were always told that M makes too much, hopefully with Jeff now eating regular food that will change. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Jeff has taken to headbutting me when I tell him no. Sigh. I am not sure how to deal with this latest issue. I tell him no, but you know how well that works with a almost toddler. He definitely has the red headed temper! The weather here has been icky. I feel storms coming in, the pressure changes and I get headaches. Jeff also is sensitive to this, so of course he is not himself today either. Sigh. I am hoping to be able to get a new bed with some of the tax money. We so desperately need it. Maybe a king size so we all have more room and I will not wake up with fat lips anymore from my wonderful son who likes to smack me in his sleep. Right now he is pitching a living fit because I asked him to not touch the lap top that I am using. Sigh. Of course with this migraine I am rocking it is not helping that he is crying. ugh. 

Well, I am going to run, I am on binkie patrol…

-Ciao!

Somethings and Nothing…

Sometimes, I have a hard time coming up with a title. Just in case you did not notice. I took a few days off from blogging because I really did not have much to say exactly. While I was gone, I was given an award for my blog here. You have no idea how cool this is for me, mainly because this blog started out as a general place for family far flung to come and get information and updates but has since gained a few people who are not related to us reading and liking posts. So, first let me get to my entry then I will handle the award.

Yesterday we went to Social Security. I called on Monday because I was truly hoping that I could make an appointment and get in and get out. No such luck. So I sucked it up and got on the bus yesterday with both Jeff and M and we went. The hardest part of the trip is actually getting to the bus stop by my house.

If you ever want to see the face of humanity got to a government office where you have to sit and wait for something. I kid you not. There were ALL kinds of people there. There was an older guy who rode the bus with us, I saw him when he got on but M did not. It was not until we were seated that M saw this guy’s face and looked at me. He was in his 50’s and had pierced his face multiple times ( maybe like 10-12). I had never really seen anyone with their face pierced like that before in person, I had seen photos, I was left wondering why an adult would do something like that. He also had tattoos on his skull and arms. He seemed to be a nice guy, just a chattering on with a woman he was with on the bus and then there. I got the feeling they were friends or neighbors, but newly so.

We had to wait about an hour before we were called (by number) to a window and honestly it was none too soon. There was a couple who sat down in front of us and she was like my age (40ish) and proceeded to kind of make out with each other. Ugh.

I did get what we came for, but they no longer print the SS numbers out as a temporary thing, they stopped that in August of this year. Sigh. I was hoping I would have walked out with his number in hand so I could finish M’s taxes and get him registered with the VA and all. We have to wait another 7-10 days, which is not horrible, but not what I wanted to happen either.

Okay on the award. This is an award given to bloggers by other bloggers. I got this from my friend over at Holes in my Socks. Thanks so much!

Okay in accepting  this, I have to tell you  five random things about myself and nominate others. I hate nominating because I feel bad that I can not nominate everyone! LOL. So, on with 5 random things..

1. I am a World of Warcraft (WoW)  junkie because of my husband, M.

2. I cut my own hair randomly during the year.

3. I love eating chips on my PB&J.

4. I love to cook good old Southern food.

5. Even though I love to cook, I do not really love to bake. I will if I have to or I am craving something.

Okay now to nominate:

http://storiesbychristina.com/

http://chrismartinwrites.com/

http://cappywrites.com/

Congrats to all!

-Ciao!

We Need a New Computer… Badly

I know what you are thinking, aren’t you using a computer right now? Yes, I am using M’s computer at the moment because mine is being used as a DVD player for Jeff at the moment. (honestly it is about the only thing it is good for anymore maybe besides email and possibly surfing FB but not playing any of the games) My computer is the only working one with a DVD player on it and most of the time it barely works right. At the moment we do not have cable TV nor do we want it. It is so expensive for what little programming you get. Eventually we are going to do Netflix and Hulu Plus for our TV needs, but right now even that is too expensive for us.

Honestly I do not mind going to CBS.com and ABC.com and streaming the shows we missed during the week for free. We  usually do this on M’s days off so we can watch together. The problem is that it is coming up rapidly on season finales. So then the question becomes what will we watch during the summer. Ugh.

We occasionally do Red Box movies because there is one across the street at the Kroger. It is nice and I got to see the newest Night at the Museum movie which I loved! But again most of the time we do not have the extra cash for that. Right now we are in the situation where we have enough for all the bills, rent and some food. No, we do not get help from the state except for medical for me and Jeff. Apparently we do not qualify. We do get WIC for Jeff now too, which is a help because that boy loves his milk! But no food stamps because M makes too much money.

So sometimes we have to choose to be late with a bill or have food in the house. It sucks. I can not even explain how much that sucks. We moved in March to a new place and we are saving about $20 in rent and water from the one bedroom we were living in. We upgraded to a 2 bedroom 1 bath and are saving some money, I love it when that happens! I use coupons for most things or buy store brands or even off brands. I use Ebates when I have to get diapers or wipes from Dnetiapers.com. They offer e coupons and other discounts and I can usually get bigger boxes than what are found in stores so I can go longer between orders, which helps out a lot too. Normally my ebates is about 2% cash back on what I spend there, it may not seem like a lot, but when every penny counts, it helps believe me! Our internet is about $65 a month but that includes a phone in the house. When we had cable and internet it was almost $200 a month and that was for basic cable!

It is not easy most months because the last 2-3 paychecks have to go to rent, so I have to make sure we have enough food in the house until the next payday. Sometimes I do pretty well and others I fail badly and we have to ask for help from family.

Last month I made a couple of mistakes that led to us not having enough food. When I paid the electric bill, I did not look and I ended up paying $217.00 instead of $117.00 ( we moved so new service includes a deposit) and I did not keep an eye on the wipe situation so we ran out and had to buy more in a week we needed to save a pay check for rent. Sigh. M’s family has been wonderful and helped us so much since Jeff’s birth. We are so lucky to have them!

This month is going a lot better. The bills that needed to be paid this week are paid, diapers were bought. We are on track. Not to mention that M has Drill this month with National Guard, so that will be a little bit of extra income in time for rent. Also, since he is going through a Med board, he gets paid for those days he has doctor appointments for that too. So since he had 2 days of that this month, that will come in handy as well!

M has a cell phone, but it is a 90’s flip phone and his monthly cell bill is $27 and some change after taxes and such. We use Net10. I would love to have a Galaxy 5 or whatever, but we can not afford it. We do not have a car, we ride the bus most places we need to go. If there is no bus line near by then we have to break down and take a cab. Which kills us. Seriously. It is hard to live like this, but we have to. I have had relationships where we have had everything we needed, but honestly I was not with the right person. I am with the right person now and maybe we do not have all the comforts of everyone else, we are strong together and we have a wonderful son. I am lucky no matter how you look at it.

But back to the computer. M and I share one computer. It is hard. We both would love to play WoW together again one day, but right now, Blizzard gives you a starter account for free, it is limited in what you can do with it, but it fills my addiction until we can afford to reactivate our regular accounts. The best thing of all is it is FREE.

I have a roof over my head, my loved ones with me, food in the freezer. I am blessed beyond belief. I was homeless once. I would not like to do that again. Especially with a child in tow. So, for now we make sacrifices on the things we want for the things we actually need. It is called being an adult, yeah it sucks.

-Ciao!

Food Talk

Today marked two firsts for Jeff, he had his first apple slice and really loved it and he had his first fish stick, well he actually had 3 1/2 of them. So, safe to say he liked those too! I am grateful for the fish sticks because M does not like any kind of sea food and I only like certain kinds. So, getting our son to like things we don’t will be a challenge because honestly I am not really happy about making things I won’t eat, but it is for his benefit.

The other day, Sunday I think it was, M got me some fresh fruit from Walmart, they had a seasonal fruit cup thing, it had cantaloupe, grapes, mango, honeydew, and pineapple in it. I am a fan of all but mango. I had mango years ago and did not like it. So, I tried it again on Sunday because tastes sometimes change, but this one did not. I also let my son try it. He was not exactly sure of it. I am not sure if it was because I do not like it or if he truly did not like it. I will revisit it again in the future to see which it is.

For the money, fish sticks seemed like the best way to introduce fish to Jeff and he loved it! When he gets a bit older I will give him like Mrs.Paul’s fish fillets or something like that. But for now, the kid friendly fish stick is a hit! I love that Jeff is willing to try new things, but right now everything is new to him! We had steak Monday night and Jeff did not get any of that. Not yet anyway. He really wants my Dole Shakers Smoothies when I have them, but they have pre and probiotics in them and I want to check with his doctor to make sure they are okay for him to have before I give him any. He pitches a fit when I have one and do not share!

The apple was in a snack called Dippin’ Sticks from Walmart as well. There are different kinds, we get a variety because M takes them in his lunch too. Gala Apple slices with caramel. Of course Jeff did not get any of the caramel on his. There is celery with peanut butter, and carrots with ranch dressing. I love these because right at the moment in my life I do not have a ton of time to be cutting up veggies for us. They are handy. When Jeff gets a bit older and is better on his own, then I will start cutting these things up again and quit buying the convenience foods. We eat fresh almost every single day, so this is not too bad. I even make my own taco seasoning and I have to admit I have no idea why I waited so long to do that!

I love to cook and honestly my crock pot is the best invention ever! I love that I can throw a few ingredients in and turn it on and by the time M gets home from work dinner is made. No muss no fuss! It also helps on those days that Jeff is incredibly fussy and I can not get out of his sight to make dinner. I have a ton of go to meals that are pretty quick for the days that M works and then on his days off I can make more complicated meals for dinner ‘s because he can play with Jeff while I make dinner. Well, Jeff finally crashed out, now it is mom’s turn.

-Ciao!

A Random Post About Random Things

How is that for a title? I woke up this morning to M being in the shower getting ready to go to the local VA for the beginning of his tests for the med boards. Jeff was standing on the bed, which honestly is nothing new, the new thing this morning was he was lifting one foot to take a step! He was kind of close to the edge so I called him back to the middle of the bed because all I could see in my head was him falling off the bed. However, the almost step was not lost on me! My little boy will be walking soon I think!

Then things will really, really change because instead of chasing him crawling and I actually have a shot at catching him, I will be chasing him as he was scampering through the house! Time sure does fly! I do kind of miss the newborn baby he was that wanted to be rocked and held. Now he wants to flop on me and M and kiss us (his versions of kisses are open mouthed and pressing his 4 front teeth on my cheek as hard as he can!).

Speaking of newborns, it is all over Facebook and Twitter that Kate Middleton and Wills have named their daughter. Honestly, I don’t really care, but they picked a nice one and I was happy to see Diana in the name some where. It is a nice tribute to her I feel.

I can not believe May is here already!! Holy cow it is flying by! Today I start my Seamless Bible Study online with a wonderful lady I met on Facebook. I am so excited that I actually won the book because we just don’t have the money to buy things like that. So it was a blessing to me!

This week is diapers week because I opened the last package of the ultra dry ones and so on Thursday I have to order more but in size 3. According to the sizes he needs to be in 3’s now. So 3’s it is! Last week it was wipes… It is a never ending cycle I feel right now. But it is part of being a mom and I would not have it any other way.

I honestly can not wait until my doctor appointment. I am going to see if I can get some other testing done as well, maybe a new allergy test because the last one was when I was like 12 I think. Certain things have started bothering me that never have before and I need to know what to stay away from.

I am hoping that M can tell me what he wants for dinner because I honestly have no clue. Nothing sounds good to me. I think for Cinco De Mayo tomorrow we will have tacos. I have it narrowed down to either steaks or skillet lasagna.  Well, I think that is about all I have to ramble on about for now!

-Ciao!