Mystery Money

You know what I love, love, love??? Checkbook mistakes that work in your favor! Twice in the past month, we have learned of mystery money in our checkbook. One was due to something that was purchased with a credit card that we recorded in the checkbook as a debit card transaction (that was a 3 month long mystery - "Gee, why hasn't that Home Depot purchase cleared yet?"). The other was a subtraction error made by moi that left us with more in our account than we thought - yippee! I know this is a kind of ridiculous thing to get excited about because it could have easily gone the other way, but I think it definitely speaks to God's provision in our lives. And, as you will soon learn through the reading of this blog, that it doesn't take much to make me happy (see previous post on on-line shopping).

And now a commercial for on-line shopping...

Now, I'm not much of an on-line shopper, but lately stores are making it much more easy for people like me to make purchases on-line. Take my recent purchase from Old Navy Maternity for example. The jeans were too small and the top was too big. I could have gone to the Mall of America to exchange the items, but figured they wouldn't have had the best selection. I still could have returned them there but I was in need of more maternity jeans and sweaters and liked what I had selected online. I was able to package the items in their original packaging and drop them off at UPS free of cost. Too cool! I could have even called them to let them know that I was planning on exchanging the items and they would charge my credit card and send them to me right away only to reverse the charges when they received my package. I don't think all stores follow these practices and I think Old Navy has a more lax return policy on maternity items than others, but it's nice to know that they have taken the guess work out of on-line shopping.

This is for real

Well, I think it's fair to say that we had our first real dose of what life is going to be like when our son is born in a few short months and it all had to do with our "first child," Bentley, our sweet black lab.

Now, Bentley's gotten up in the middle of the night before and Alan and I would nudge each other in a "it's your turn/no, it's your turn" moment. One of us would grudgingly get up, let her out, get back in bed, get up to let her in, and fall asleep only to be woken be her a few hours later (yet, it seemed like minutes).

I wish I could say last night was one of those nights, but it wasn't. Bentley got up at about 2:45 am with the "I've got something in my throat" cough and was in and out until about 5:15 in the morning. In one of my trips to let her out I noticed that she had vomitted in the basement. On a side note: I really do appreciate how she tries really hard not to do that sort of thing on the carpet, but rather on the concrete, linoleum, or hardwood, where it's easier to clean up. I sure hope the baby is that considerate - ha! At this point, Alan is up (1 1/2 hours before he needs to get up for work) helping me clean up, Bentley's outside eating grass, and we can appreciate having each other there to help take care of the dirty work.

It still wasn't the most fun being up for almost 3 hours straight wondering if I'll need to take her to the vet in the morning, giving her ice cubes to prevent her from being dehydrated, and praying that she's okay, but it's going to happen more and more often. The baby who has his days and nights confused, the toddler who wakes up screaming from a bad dream, the little boy with an upset stomach....It's scary, it's exciting, it's humbling, it's nerve-wrecking, it's for real.