It's My Birthday and I'm Throwing a Pity Party

I love birthdays - especially mine. I am guilty of milking my birthday for all that I can. I sign up for free birthday meals from Red Robin and Noodles. I get free birthday ice cream from Coldstone. These specials enable me to celebrate my birthday for at least a week. On my actual birthday, I get phone calls from family wishing me well. I can generally do as I wish because "it's my birthday."

Well, not this year and I'm disappointed. I would have liked to have slept in this morning but Landon woke up at 5:45. Alan's not feeling the greatest so I let him stay in bed a little longer. We went out just the two of us last night, which was great, but it was not the celebration that I wanted (side note: we saw the movie "Fireproof" and would highly recommend it!). I wanted to go to La Cucaracha in St. Paul for dinner afterwards, but Alan thought it would be best if we stayed close to home. We went to the suburban Sawatdee, which has a different atmosphere than the Downtown/Uptown locations. We were home by 9:00 pm (pathetic since Alan's parents were watching Landon so it's not as if we had to pay for a sitter). Mom and Grandma called to wish me a "Happy Birthday," but during mom's call Landon was screaming in the background so I had to cut my phone call with her short to put him down for his nap.

Now I know that life is vastly different when you have a child on board. I have often said to Alan, "I know that we had a life before Landon was with us, but I honestly don't know what it was and I wouldn't want that past life because Landon is such a joy in our lives." Today I got a better sense of life pre-child and with child. My birthday is no longer about me and it sucks. What would I change? I certainly wouldn't change having Landon around, but I think for future birthdays I will be more assertive in celebrating me. I'll get a manicure even though the polish will only last a day or two because I wash my hands so often. I'll be more assertive about going to La Cucaracha. I will not let being "Landon's mom" define who I am and how I celebrate turning another year older.

Thank you for coming to my pity party. I feel better now : )

I'm a Money-Saving Rock Star

I get a huge rush when I go grocery shopping and the bottom of the receipt shows how much I saved. I get an even bigger rush when it shows a percentage of how much I saved. Although Babies R Us doesn't show those features on their receipt, if I know I'm saving a ton, I'll calculate my own percentage saved. Like today, I saved over 70% on Earth's Best organic baby food! I went a little crazy and bought 30 jars, which are nomally 89 cents a piece for about 24 cents. Oooh fun! You see, the EB jars (stage 1 or 2) had a special - buy 10 jars and get $2.00 off. I had a coupon from EB's website for an additional $1 off ten jars. Then, I had a $10 BRU gift certificate from the last time I bought diapers. Hence, I paid $7.26 for 30 jars of organic baby food. You can't even make non-organic baby food for that cheap. Woo hoo!

Sure am Glad I'm not a Chicken!

As I was driving the other day, I pulled up behind a semi with cages upon cages stacked with live chickens. Those poor little chickens were so cramped in their cages, it looked as if their heads were against the top of the cage and they couldn't turn around if they tried. And, the truck is going down a highway at 60+ miles per hour so the force of the wind hitting those chickens was probably not too fun for them (Bentley doesn't even like sticking her head out the car window at those speeds). It almost made me want to become a vegetarian, but alas, I like chicken too much. I'm thinking that maybe I'll just switch to buying the more expensive cage-free chicken, but Alan brought up the point that chickens are accustomed to the cramped quarters and that after all, "we don't see chickens running around in the wild, do we?". True, not here in the city/suburbia, but somewhere I'm sure there are chickens running around (and not on a cage-free chicken farm). Now, even if I were to buy the cage-free stuff, then what do I do when I go out to eat and want chicken? I think I'll just be thankful that God made me a human being and not a cramped, cooped up chicken!

Leaving our Mark

So we're remodeling our upstairs bathroom. It's definitely turning into quite the project - way more intensive than I ever thought it would be, but certainly enjoying it and the multiple trips we make to Menard's each week (3 times already this week).
Anyway, we tore down our old walls (got rid of the tile) to put up new ones, but before we do that I've left our mark on our home. On the studs, I've written various things - "we were here" sort of thing, Bible verses, etc. Ooh that remind me - I want to write the current price of things like a gallon of gas or milk. It would be interesting to see what someone's reaction would be to all that sort of stuff years down the line. If you have any suggestions for other stuff to include, let me know! I will try to post pictures as soon as I get more taken....

Yes, I know, I know...

It's been a while. Sorry to those of you that have been checking and have been wondering. FYI - Landon's napping and I should be cleaning the bathroom and I'm doing this instead. I'm such a procrastinator : )