Greenie Weenies

Love and Logic Parenting Giveaway

2011-01-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

Desperate times calls for desperate measures! Many of you will notice that I haven't posted on my blog since February. Well, you can thank FaceBook for that. Since I started using FB I quit blogging. However, it's a new year, and there are new resolutions!

And....a chance at becoming a new parent! (No -- we aren't expecting. But meaning we can become new 'better' parents). Keri Maughan of Love & Logic is offering a giveaway to a free 6-week parenting course. And boy we could sure use one for our little boy!

See her blog for details on entering the giveaway http://www.kerimaughan.blogspot.com/ or visit her website for additional information on parenting courses http://www.kerimaughan.com/

We Are the World

2010-02-15T11:56:00.001-07:00

I saw on someone's Facebook the other day a comment about some new version of "We Are the World." I didn't know what they were talking about and didn't immediately look it up and kind of forgot about it. Then at my spin class today, the instructor used it as part of our warm-up music. I guess I'm behind the times because it's also been played repeatedly during the winter Olympics, but I haven't watched a single second of it. I'm not a huge fan of the song to begin with, but it's a catchy tune. I just thought comparing 3 different versions I found would be interesting.

ORIGINAL CLASSIC. Sometimes you just shouldn't mess with the classics. Many popular artists from "back in the day" :)

REMAKE FOR HAITI. Is it sad that I can name more people in the ORIGINAL than I can in the new one?! And could have done without the auto-tune (that electronic/robotic sound) and rapping. Seriously, you thought that was cool? I'm not a fan of this one.

TYLER WARD & CREW. Cool acoustic version. Perhaps I like this one the best because I don't know anyone singing, and for the most part they don't get crazy and do their own "style" (except for Elise) that makes it hard to understand any of the words. Just simple, clean.

December catch-up post

2010-01-04T01:21:00.000-07:00

So I've been bad about blogging. What can I say? Been busy. Who hasn't? Here's a little bit of what we've been doing:

Carson takes over the dog bed
He thinks it's his special place to sit and play. Poor dogs get chased out there more times a day. I thought a new doggie bed would help resolve the problem. Wrong mommy! Don't ask me why we've ordered a new bean bag for Carson. Maybe the dogs will sleep in it??

Carson feeds the dogs his snacks
He thinks they are hungry? Or maybe he is trying to make peace with them after dominating their sleeping place. He loves them though, and when I hear him giggling in the other room, I know he is giving them his animal cracker or pretzel. Twenty times a day I probably yell "Don't feed the dogs!"

The front hand-off

The back hand-off to try and fake out mom

Headphones!
This kid loves the computer! Maybe because we are on them all the time working and what not. He's enjoying a video and bonding time with daddy.

Sprinklers make you wet!
Carson was outside playing the other day when the sprinklers went off (we have a winter lawn). I guess he wandered out in the grass, and when he came walking up the patio he was crying! I was folding laundry inside and saw him walking up. Of course, I was busting up laughing and had to go get the camera. I think he was a little cold!

Family Pictures
I'd been trying to get a good family picture with the 3 of us for a while. Finally made it happen! Thanks to Derek for taking these shots at the Pecan Groves. And thanks Annette for gate access - and helping us avoid getting arrested by the sheriff!

So handsome!

Zoo Lights
No pics of this, but we went all as a little family this year. Jam-packed with people, but thankfully we had free tickets that came in the mail with our Zoo membership so we didn't have to stand in the long, long, long (did I say it was long??) line. Sensory overload for Carson! He wasn't quite sure what to do or think. All these people and lights and music. But our second loop around he enjoyed it more.

Christmas Eve:
1) delivered a made-from-scratch coconut cake to our friend Mandy. Her birthday is on Christmas Day

2) ate dinner with the Green's, then opened presents. Carson enjoyed playing with the train around the tree and unwrapping all his gifts. My brother-in-law bought us all Snuggies. Yes, they make cheezy commercials, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't like wearing it while watching movies. I'm a blanket fanatic. Geniuses to think of sleeves on a blanket!

Christmas morning:
1) ate our traditional Christmas morning breakfast with the Smith family. Delicious homemade biscuits, gravy, "fresh" bacon, and fried potatoes. No pics.
2) opened presents. Carson wasn't so interested in unwrapping his gifts this morning. But he did enjoy his "stocking" and all the little food goodies stashed inside.

"Open for me, please. I want to eat it now!"

He says "awww" as he snuggles his super-soft bear!

Day after Christmas:
1) McCormick Park in Scottsdale for the holiday train ride. This was our first time, and it was a lot of fun. Long line of people, and Carson showed NO emotion during the ride. Just takin' it all in...

Organized pantry
I spent several hours organizing my pantry with my new Cansolidators from my mom. Had to take a picture because I don't know how long this will last! Good way to ring in the new year with some organization.

Cleaning windows
Danny taught Carson how to clean windows. Anybody need their windows cleaned? We're hiring out!

1) Spray with stuff

2) wipe it off

3) ready for more!

Zoo visit
Went to the zoo Saturday (January 2, 2010) and had a blast! Tractors and goats are his favorite. (I'm cringing in the background when he puts his head on the goat!)

New jammies and toothpaste

2009-10-22T23:35:00.003-07:00

Did you know that when your child gets 2 teeth that you need to start brushing them? I didn't know until the pediatrician told me at his 9-month checkup. So trying to being the best parents we can, we bought some toothpaste and a little finger brush designed for babies. Well, Carson would have NONE of it and squirmed and cried. So we tried our toothpaste, and he hated that more! (I think the mint flavor was too strong). Third time around with Little Einstein's "Rocket Berry" flavor - it's a totally new and fun experience. He has 5 teeth now, and loves to suck all the toothpaste off the brush.YUM! Here he is having fun brushing his teeth while wearing his new camo jammies.

Brushing away, eating all the toothpaste I can!

Time to wash it down with some water!

Walking it off now.

Boy I'm sleepies!

Camping at Flowing Springs

2009-10-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to go camping for years, and finally we had a chance to go. While I was hoping for a good 4 days, we were only able to fit in 2 days/1 night. But it was still great! Not many spots to set up camp (this was just 5 miles north of Payson), so you have to snag one early or you are pretty much out of luck.

Carson had his first Happy Meal when we stopped in Payson.

Our friends had this fantastic little pop-up trailer that we borrowed. It was perfect!

Dinner was hot dogs and left-over pizza wrapped in foil and heated up over the fire. Quick and easy, and still yummy!

Cutie!

Danny and Carson having a good time in the hammock

Who taught this kid to lounge like this?! I think he was waiting for his hot dog to finish cooking. What a goof!

The leaves were changing colors and it was a gorgeous location.

I love fall foliage!

Carson did NOT love these rocks because he couldn't walk on them very well.

Maybe we'll try again next year!

Although we froze our little tails off and Carson woke up as cold as an icicle, we still had a good time.

Carson Turns 1

2009-10-11T21:05:00.002-07:00

Hooray! Carson turned 1 on Oct 10 and the year has just flown by. We had a family birthday party for him and it was lots of fun. I originally wasn't going to do a "theme", but one day while singing "Old Macdonald", Carson started to repeat the "E-I-E-I-O" (though not as clear as that). So - we went with a farm theme.

Here's the invite:

Thanks evite for doing the design work! hehe

Food served was:

Bratwurst and hot dogs

BBQ Bacon beans

BBQ Meatballs

Garden vegetables and dip

Potato salad

Chips

Pig Muck (chocolate pudding w/ crushed up Oreos)

Fishing Pond (blue jello w/ gummy worms and goldfish tied to ends of pretzels as the fishing poles)

Fresh squeezed lemonade

Carson sat with his cousins at his little picnic table (our next door neighbors gave it to us for FREE!)

This is his first time eating Jello and chocolate pudding.
It would be an understatement to say he LOVED it!

Then because Carson loves to dance, we had a little dance party:

Rockin' to the beat - right next to the speaker!

The conga line

The cake was milk chocolate cake with cookies n' cream filling, and buttercream frosting. It was delicious!
The design was a pasture with a fence around it (pretzels for the posts). And a little cow and sheep piggy bank were "grazing". I had a fabulous idea to do something else, but when it came time to decorate, I was out of time! So this was a quick idea that my mom and sisters helped come up with. And they decorated most of it, too! Thanks fam!

He got some great toys and cute clothes as well. But he had no interest in opening any of them :( Guess that saves me from wrapping at Christmas time!

Happy Birthday, son! We love you and are so glad to have you in our family. You are a sweet boy, you're a good sleeper all through the night, and you make us laugh every day!

What's Your Excuse?

2009-09-27T16:21:00.001-07:00

Kinda makes you think twice about your lame excuses, huh? Count your blessings.

Love Without Boundaries

2009-09-09T21:26:00.005-07:00

This NPO is trying to get the word out about what they do. Check out http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/ and the video below to learn a little more about them. Lachelle does work for them and they do some amazing things. She's constantly showing me pictures and telling stories of children that they help. It's hard to understand that so many innocent children are abandoned, often because of health issues that are easily fixed here in the U.S.

Every child wants to be loved.

The Cheerio

2009-08-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

"Hmm, I seem to be missing a Cheerio. Where could it be??"

"A-ha!"

Hiking the Houston Brothers Trail

2009-08-25T13:52:00.007-07:00

Saturday we took a family hike up to the Houston Brothers Trail, which is north of Payson (past Clints Wells and then nearly 20 miles on dirt roads). Because I'm short on time I'll just post pictures and write about it later.

Snack before the hike. Bundled up because it's cold! (62 degrees)

Strapped in my new backpack (thanks to a great Craigslist find!)

Hiking the trail

I'm loving this!!!

One of the ascents of our so-called "easy" hike

Which to eat? Graham cracker or pine needles?

Asleep at the wheel

Overlooking the rim

Family shot

Stretching the legs. "I'm on top of the world!"

Piano Lessons

2009-07-24T21:49:00.003-07:00

I wanted to announce that I will be teaching piano lessons beginning in August, and still have openings available. If you, or someone you know is interested, please visit my website for more details:

www.LachellesStudio.com

Swimming Lessons

2009-05-27T10:38:00.006-07:00

I went swimming at the gym for my morning exercise. First time I've hit the pool since the little guy was born. These are some lessons I learned this morning:

I'm not as young as I used to be
People twice my age could swim longer/farther than me
The size or flab on your arms (or gut) is no indication of how out of shape you are (evidenced again by the older people in the lanes next to me)
Lack of carbs and sugar at the same time makes me more tired (yay South Beach Diet?)
I felt like this after swimming 3 laps:

3 hours later, I'm still struggling to function because I'm so exhausted (fyi - I swam more than 3 laps!). Looks like more swimming is in my future! It's a fabulous cardio exercise. And legs. And arms :)

Fat Max and I

2009-05-21T16:35:00.009-07:00

Meet Fat Max:

Today, Fat Max and I accomplished a big task that the hedge trimmer and garden shears couldn't. I tried both of these tools; they each failed me. So Fat Max came to the rescue!

The Task: trimming our neighbor's unsightly Mesquite tree that has been growing over our backyard wall for about a year now. (Please note that there is no "before" picture of the tree, as I was too eager/annoyed/irritated by this ugly beast, and so I just started without the camera)

But here is the debris from our massacre:

You might have noticed that I strategically placed 2 branches standing up against our brick wall. Yes, these branches are TALLER than our back wall. Now if you use your imagination, you can probably picture what the before tree looked like. Because here's what it looked like when Fat Max & I were done:

And here is were Fat Max & I did the most damage:

It was very fitting, too, that as we finished slicing off the last of the branches, the "Hallelujah" chorus of Handel's Messiah was being broadcast over the loudspeakers from the elementary school down the street. Yes, "hallelujah" it is done! (And "hallelujah" to the kiddos who's last day of school was today.) But unfortunately, my "hallelujah" will not last "forever and ever," as the tree will surely grow again... and our neighbor will likely not do anything about it either...and Fat Max & I will likely have to go back to work.

Unless -- we pray for a huge monsoon to come and wipe it out! Like what happened to our other neighbor's nasty palo verde tree 3 years ago:

Suh-weeet, huh? Totally uprooted! (As were about 20 other trees in the neighborhood). Can I also wish that the same thing would happen to our backyard neighbor's palm tree?

Seriously! What's up with our white trash neighbor's and their trees?? It's like we live in AJ or QC or East Mesa...or something!

Air Force One Photo"chop"

2009-05-11T15:50:00.012-07:00

The official photo released of the April 27, 2009 fly over:

The White House has obviously never heard of Adobe Photoshop before, and instead spent $328,000+ in trying to get the photograph with the Statue of Liberty in the background. So while the White House might be in the dark about the advancements in photo editing software over the last decade, some of these people below are really talented with using Photo"chop". Maybe Obama should hire them for his next big photo gig. It'll certainly save us a lot of money in the end.

Photo"chop" #1

Photo"chop" #2

Both of those look pretty darn good in my book! I would also say I think they look better than the original because the color is a lot brighter. Worth saving us taxpayers $328,000, wouldn't you agree? But Obama loves spending the money in a time of economic crisis. With a national debt of $11.3 trillion, what's $328k? Pocket change! But I digress... back to Photo"chopping".

The following 3 Photos"chops" are more for laughs.

Haven't seen this new movie yet. But I think it a clever movie poster. Who do you think would be the director for this? Any guesses??

I never saw the movie "Soul Plane" either, but I love this artwork. You have Obama, Clinton and Snoop Dogg. Ooooh yeah!

And this one makes me laugh the most. Obama having the time of his life, while Biden is Mr. Poopy Pants. That's okay, though. It's actually better that Biden keep his lips in a frown, because everytime he opens them, something stupid comes spilling out of his mouth.

I'm not an Obama fan, and yes, I'm a proud conservative! I love this country, and hate seeing it turned into a Socialist nation, one day at a time. I'm positive our founding fathers are all rolling in their graves, several times over.

God bless the USA!

photo by Danny Green; Washington, DC; July 2007

Beanstalk, Part 2

2009-05-04T00:12:00.012-07:00

Our little boy grew! Well, in some areas...

"Are you talking about me again?"

Carson had his 6-month checkup 3 weeks ago. And nothing like a trip to the Dr's office to make you feel like a bad mother. After arriving and being taken back to a room, the assistant promptly got to taking measurements, height and weight, and then came back with the stats print-out and announcement "The Doctor's going to want to talk to you, because his weight has dropped and everything else is lower too." Oh great...Just what I needed. I thought he was eating just fine. He was sleeping well at night (hooray?) and was just a generally happy baby overall. What could I have possibly done wrong to cause his weight to drop? 20 minutes later of wondering and waiting, the doc comes in and does his exam. Everything seems normal until we get to the issue of eating.

"I'm a happy boy 97% of the time!"

Long explanation short: He was previously getting about 24oz of milk per day (6, 4oz feedings), but based on his height and weight and where he needed to be, I should have been feeding him about 40oz per day (who knew, right? I mean, he never cried when he finished a bottle). Doc says his body is just barely functioning to keep his heart and organs working (just what a mom wants to hear, right? That she's basically starving her child unintentionally?) and that I needed to start feeding him every 3 hours around the clock and make sure he got at least 800 calories per day. Wow! I soon had a lot of work ahead of me for the next 2 weeks. And no more sleeping through the night from 7pm - 6am :(

Less than 2 weeks later, we hit success. Carson had put on nearly 2lbs in 10 days! So while he still isn't at the approximate 18lbs he should have been, we're still working on it. But it's better than having put on less than 1/2lb in 2 months. It's still a lot of work - having to feed him every 3 hours to keep up with the growth and make sure he's on track for our next visit. However, some of his skills have improved because of the weight gain. So Hooray to a healthy growing boy! (and yay to mommy for learning what not to have happen again)

With Sympathy...kind of...

2009-04-07T11:46:00.006-07:00

I saw this greeting card online and wanted to share it with everyone who this applies to.

There's a reason I didn't make any resolution's. Life is just better when I'm happy and not focusing on my failures :)

Free Burritos for Amigos

2009-04-06T17:03:00.002-07:00

Just spreading the word... might not make it there myself...

Is It In You?

2009-04-02T22:17:00.007-07:00

I do bookkeeping entries for a charity, and today while entering in a phone number for a supporter, I saw this in the last four digits:

1337

Now to most people it just looks like the numbers one, three, three, seven. But my eyes actually read it as this:

leet

That's when you know that you have it in you -- you don't see numbers anymore, just words made out of numbers. You see the "code", kinda like the Matrix. I had to laugh at myself and say "What a nerd I am!" So I ask all of you reading this,

Do you have it in you?

To find out more about leet speak, visit the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

Gotz Skillz

2009-03-29T22:38:00.008-07:00

I can hold the pacifier with my hand and even put it in my mouth.

I can rock out to Lynyrd Skynyrd with Daddy's headphones.

I can gulp big-boy drinks from the bottom of the can.

I can eat from a spoon. YUM!

I can hold my own bottle.

I can take my own picture.

I can give high-fives.

I can fall asleep on my own...most of the time.

I can hold books myself.

I can turn the pages of books.

I can eat books. My favorite!

I can chill and look cute doing it at the same time.

Do You Gotz Skillz?

A Day with Nature

2009-03-29T21:48:00.006-07:00

Thursday this week we took our first major outing to see some nature- butterflies, wildflowers, desert plants, oh yeah, and some Chihuly glass sculptures. This was all at the Desert Botanical Gardens. Gigi (or G.G. for Grandma Green) had an annual membership which let us in for free. Yay! It was very crowded on a beautiful Arizona spring day. It got incredibly windy later that afternoon, so thankfully we were done before that hit.

All Snugli-ed up and ready to go! He was practically the only infant there in a baby carrier. Everyone else had strollers which only clogged the busy pathways. Go Mommy for thinking of this! But Carson's poor little feet were a slightly blue at the end :(

First up, the butterfly exhibit. I was especially excited about this because I'd been to one back in Pennsylvania before and it was amazing. However, I was a little let down here in Phoenix. The butterflies were in an outdoor environment (rather than indoor with humidity levels cranked up and monitored), which probably limited the types of butterflies and the quantity. I expected hundreds to be flying around and landing all over us, however that didn't happen. Bummer. But there were a couple cool ones to see.

My favorite little butterfly, of course! Too bad his eyes were closed, haha

Now, on to the Chihuly glass sculptures. There were many different displays there and I didn't get a picture of all of them. You can visit his website to see some more professional shots. There were way too many people around and some of the glass was in shaded areas that didn't let the line shine well and really show off the sculpture. These were some of my favorites.

"Agaves" at the entrance

"Hornets" - I love the texture on these. How does he do that?!

"Float Boat" - looks like a bunch of marbles with cool swirls of colors

"Blue Flamingos" - these are actually sitting in a little stream, but I didn't photograph that well enough

"Red Trumpets" - probably not the official title, but Carson was getting tired at this point, so we wrapped it up. I love the vibrant red!

He was zonked out in the end. We had only been walking for an hour, but it was way past his sleepy time. We had a great day. Thanks Gigi!

A Week of Firsts

2009-03-23T08:53:00.010-07:00

Last week was pretty eventful, in terms of Carson's new experiences, skills and abilities. And of course, we didn't have any video or camera in hand to document all of these, so you'll just have to take my word for it (and look at pictures that are similar to the event itself).

March 19th

Yup, off with the little mullet....

Before

After

So it's not perfect hair, but hey, it's an improvement. Good job, Daddy!

March 19th

He rolled from his stomach to his back -- FINALLY! We have been working on this for almost 2 months now, and while relaxing in the backyard one afternoon, he got enough momentum to complete the roll to his back. We've been having the dogs show him how to rollover on command, but Carson still doesn't get it. Maybe that's because the dogs usually get a treat afterwards :) We haven't developed a reward system for Carson other than enthusiastic praises of "Good Job!" "Wooo--hooo!!" "You did it!" He usually smiles at those - which is a good enough reward for him.

Using the arm to push off

Arching the back

March 19th

It was a great day! I put him down for 3 naps, and each time he didn't make a single peep!! He just pulls this little yellow blankie over his eyes, and was O-U-T before I could even walk out the bedroom. Could I ask for anything more sweet than that? Yes, actually, because he did it again when it was time for bed that night. I just love my little man.

So March 19th was quite an eventful day. Too bad we haven't had more of that since, (especially in the napping and bedtime department) but hey, I'll take 1 day if I can get it!

A Glance at the Past

2009-03-18T01:45:00.004-07:00

I thought it would be interesting to put together a collage of pictures to see how Carson has changed over time. Wow! Funny how soon we forget what they used to look like when they were just born.

Starting from top left corner, going clockwise:
0 weeks, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 4 1/2 weeks, 5 weeks, 6 weeks, 6 weeks (happy), 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 5 months (middle picture). I seem to have forgotten the 2 month pic in the collage. Oh well... you get the idea.

I did this using Shutterfly for the first time. Sorry the images aren't larger. I had to be creative in getting a jpg version to paste on here because they wanted me to order a print. Um, no thanks! Just didn't want to figure out how to do a collage in Photoshop at 1:30 in the morning :)

Mirror Magic

2009-03-17T21:49:00.005-07:00

On Sunday, Carson was having a cranky day. He didn't nap at all during the entire 3 hours at church so he was t-i-r-e-d! To help cheer him up and stop the fussing, I initially filled the bathroom sink with water so he could put his feet in and kind of splash a bit. Then he discovered a cute kid in the mirror and he was all smiles! Thank goodness for the magic of mirrors.

"Gosh, who is this cute baby I see?"

"You look familiar...have I seen you before?"

"Maybe if I make a face he'll make one back."

"He's copying me!!"

Look closely and you'll see the drop of DROOL that his constant companion

"I see you, Daddy!"

"What's all that noise you're making? You're interrupting me."
(notice the "mullet" patch in the back...Danny wants to shave it off.
I'm trying to hold him off from doing that!)

"Are you taking pictures of me?"

"Ok, I'll do a good pose for you."

We love him to pieces! He's 5 months old now and is quite a character some days.

If You Got It - Flaunt It!

2009-02-26T15:30:00.004-07:00

One thing our son has it hair, and quite a bit of it compared to some other infants. So after a bath last night, Daddy styled Carson's hair in the traditional mohawk that we've done basically since he was born. Mostly because his hair doesn't stay down. And because we think it's cute.

But later today I noticed it was curling over and starting to look like a wave, so I decided to fix it and comb it down. Doesn't he look so handsome? :)

And then the hair dried...and it looked like this.

A kind of comb-over going on here? Kind of reminded me of a picture I've seen on the internet...

Just kidding! I think Carson is so much cuter than Donald Trump's dog!

Growing Like a Beanstalk

2009-02-24T21:58:00.007-07:00

That would describe our son! Carson has been growing fast in the last couple months. At his 4-month checkup (2 weeks ago - I'm late posting) he had grown 2 inches. That's an inch a month! Which would explain why his pants are usually looking so short, haha!

At this rate, his height is what keeps him growing out of his clothes, and that means he'll be wearing some 6-9month clothes pretty soon. I would have thought for being born such a big baby, his weight would have kept up, but apparently not as much. To which I am thankful!!!! It's still a workout carting around a nearly 15 lb baby in a carseat (which adds another 10 lbs). His pants might be loose around the waist and fall down every now and then, but I can deal with that.

"Look how long I am!"

"I love to blow spit bubbles!"

"My mom's funny and makes me smile"

"But no one makes me laugh like Daddy!"

Finished!

2009-02-24T21:52:00.005-07:00

I realize the high temperature today in Arizona was about 87 degrees. However, I will still post a picture of my finished patchwork quilt.

It's been 2 years in the making, after all, and my husband had no idea he married someone who likes to start projects, but not really finish them :) So this is my proof that I can finish a project! And yes, even though the weather is warm here, I use blankets year-round. My family can attest to that! I'll most likely be sleeping with this blanket on top of my bed tonight too. Sweet dreams!

I [Heart] Budgeting

2009-02-24T19:07:00.008-07:00

I know it sounds crazy. Who in their right mind loves to do budgeting? Well, I didn't until recently. See, I found this program over a year ago called PearBudget, which was basically a glorified Excel spreadsheet. And if anyone really knows me, they know I have a little love affair with spreadsheets (ok, probably just my husband really knows this). I do almost ANYTHING with spreadsheets (schedules, grocery list, calendars, weight loss tracking w/ bar graphs & charts, etc.). But even for me, the PearBudget spreadsheet system was still intimidating & confusing. And this is only 1 screenshot of many more pages.

OLD PearBudget

Now, say hello to the NEW PearBudget

Clean. Concise. Pretty to look at. This online system is so simple to use, I fell in love within the first few minutes. I did a 30-day free trial and couldn't be happier with how easy it is to keep track of all my spending, and see areas where I overspend (see "clothing" above. Disclaimer: the above is also not my real budget. If only I had so few bills!) The best part is I didn't have to program all the calculations in each little cell of a spreadsheet like I used to. Just grab my receipts, enter them in, "tag" each expense (this is probably my most favorite feature) and I'm done! Budgeting made simple in 3 easy steps: Plan. Enter. Review. Who doesn't want to have a more simple life? :) Happy Budgeting!

My Main Squeeze

2009-02-04T16:19:00.005-07:00

Nothing can quite compare to fresh squeezed O.J. (except for fresh squeezed Tangerine juice :) ) Thanks to my mother-in-law, I was able to go pick 2 grocery bags of delicious Valencia oranges from her trees this week. Carson happily sat in his car seat during this time outdoors, and giggled and coo'd (not sure how to spell that ;P ) at the Grapefruit tree - silly kid! I LOVE my Bosch Juicer attachment!! It makes juicing all these oranges so fast and easy. And it's a work-horse -- not like your typical juicer that sounds like the motor is about to die when you put pressure on it.

I also snagged 2 bags full of lemons from her trees as well, so later tonight I will hopefully get those juiced and in the freezer. I'll save the lemon juice for some lip-smacking goodness when the hot summer days come around again. Although, with the weather we are having today and tomorrow (mid 80's), maybe I should make it now!

If anyone would like some grapefruit, let me know. My in-laws have a large tree overflowing with it and don't want it all to go to waste.

7 Random Things

2009-01-23T21:30:00.014-07:00

I usually don't do these things, but was tagged by my mother-in-law. So just this once :)

1. "please don't make the nice girl grouchy". This is one of my favorite t-shirts. Too bad it shrunk after I washed it the first time.

2. My first non-classical music concert I went to was to see Weird Al Yankovic when he played at the Arizona State Fair in 1999. It was kinda lame, although I think he has some great talent.

3. I *love* bacon. However, not in the sense that I crave it, like some people do ice cream or sweets. And it's not a food that I can sit down and just eat a lot of. But I just love the flavor. If you bring over a dish to Sunday dinner and it includes bacon, you can betcha I'm gonna be having some of it! One of my new favorite salads includes the following:

6oz fresh spinach, washed & dried
6 hard boiled eggs, sliced
red grapes
sliced mushrooms
1 pound crumbled bacon
served with Lite Raspberry Pomegranate dressing - YUM!

4. During a friend's sleepover birthday party, her older sister drove us to a neighborhood to go t.p.ing. We thought we were "decorating" a boy's house from school, but apparently we had the wrong house. A man opened his front door and swore at us! We all took off running, and he tried chasing after us in his car. It was scary, but we hid in bushes and escaped safely back home! I think were about 12 years old at the time. And I'm almost certain we never went out doing this again :)

5. I never went to any high school proms. And I'm not sad about it. I didn't even get asked, so it's not like I had to turn some down some dorky guy who I didn't want to go with anyway. I also didn't see the point in spending a lot of money and time trying to find a dress and shoes, and then get your hair done, and makeup, and then stand in line forever to get pictures, which would never see the light of day after you get married to a completely different man! I'm a practical person. Oh, and my hubby never went to any either. What can you say... we were meant for each other :)

6. I took one of my younger sister's camping so she could have a reason to turn down a prom date she didn't want to go with. The two of us had a fabulous time! Now that's not really being mean, is it? She was just saving both of them a lot of time and money really.

7. I would love to be a librarian. In the past few years, I've recently found a love of reading and think it would be so fun to help children discover a love of reading books as well. I remember my elementary school librarian, Mrs. Bond, reading stories out loud to our class, and how she would show excitement and use different voices to make if more fun. I still remember some of those stories today.

Now I tag: whoever is in the mood and wants to share!

2009-01-20T20:21:00.007-07:00

Time for a funnier post after that somber 1 hour 44 min one :)

Some updated pictures of Carson. He's 3 months old in this set and loves sitting in the bath water. Mommy gets credit for making him laugh.

(don't worry, I made sure these were rated-G pictures)

Oh and this video will make any dad laugh that's gone through or is going through life with children:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Oh and we haven't had a repeat of the 1:44 episode

One hour and forty-four minutes

2009-01-06T21:44:00.002-07:00

Yup. That's how long I endured Carson's crying this evening before he finally went to sleep. Don't worry - I didn't just ignore him. I checked on him every 10-15 minutes and tryed soothing him by giving back his pacifier he'd spit out and humming two verses of "I Am A Child of God." Let's just say he wasn't interested in either of those, and just screamed even louder! Now I'm exhausted and ready to sleep myself! I am quite surprised I didn't give in by picking him up and rocking him to sleep (which is what we've been doing for several weeks now, and even that method is met with resistance). But I told myself that we have to have a better sleep schedule so that I can actually function better each day. For the past 3 months now, I dread every morning because while Danny is leaving for work about 8:20am, I'm usually crawling back into bed trying to get some more sleep after dealing with Carson all through the night...okay, and from all the day before too...and the day before that :) Then when the Little Man wakes up, I anxiously await for an hour or two to pass for when he'll fall asleep again so I can go back to bed too! I'll be honest and say I'm not very productive before 1pm. Unfortunately, Carson's daytime naps tend to be only 30 minutes long (although all the books say they should be about 1-2 hours!), which doesn't give me anytime to get things done around the house. And then by the time I do actually lay down, it's only a brief 10 minutes later he's crying and awake and we start all over again! So it's time to kick things in gear, and start off the New Year with some good habits :) Hopefully tomorrow night will be less crying.

Photography

2008-12-13T14:07:00.003-07:00

A few of you have been leaving some nice comments about the pictures I've taken of Carson, so I thought I'd explain how I got into photography.

I've always been interested in it for as long as I can remember but never really had the instruction or money to actually become serious about it. Back in 2006, my good friend Joe C. was needing some help with the weddings he shot, so he asked me if I'd like to (really) learn how to use a DSLR so I could help him. I was very excited about this opportunity so I ended up buying a used Canon 20D and Joe let me borrow his extra Canon 50mm f/1.8. It was the cheapest setup at that time without sacrificing the quality of the shots (ie - not having a cheap camera and cheap lens).

Today, I do weddings on the side as well as any other needs a client has. My humble website is http://www.finetunedphoto.com/ where I have all the pertinent info about me and a small gallery of shots. While I keep things strictly business on that website, I do update a small gallery of personal shots I've taken. That secret URL can be found at http://www.finetunedphoto.com/misc/. I made this for myself so I could easily pull up galleries, but anyone can see it. In there you'll find a lot of cool shots from things like our Tahiti trip we went on back in May 2007 as well as Washington, D.C., just to name a few galleries. Photography is not my career, but it is a hobby I enjoy and hope to continue to develop and improve on.

Do you shop Amazon.com?

2008-12-10T00:05:00.009-07:00

To all my friends and family out there, I am making a special request. If you are ordering from Amazon.com will you please click on the below link before ordering? The charity I am involved with, Love Without Boundaries, gets a percentage of your sales if you go through their website. Once you get to the Love Without Boundaries site, look at the bottom right side of the page where it says "How To Help." Click on "Shop AMAZON.com" to get started! Or I'll make it really easy for you and provide a link right here: Shop Amazon and help Love Without Boundaries

Thank you! Every little bit helps, more than you know. And if you want to see some of the faces you are helping, these are some pictures that bring a smile to my face.

This is a group of babies in an orphanage. Look them all standing up in their cribs - like they are ready to start dancing once someone turns on the music :)

This is little Gracie, and she is just beaming. The pigtails and double chin crack me up!

The dimples on this boy are so adorable. The fact that he is also missing an eye and half his nose doesn't seem to bother him because he's just smiling away and loving life!

This group of orphans just received new shoes and they are showing them off! I can't believe how well-behaved they are to sit there all in a row, not moving an inch. And I love how the girls in the back all have the same haircut. Don't you just laugh when you see that?

Little Man Next To Christmas Tree

2008-12-04T15:04:00.005-07:00

It's been a while since I took some pictures of the Little Man, so I laid him down next to the Christmas tree and used that as my light source.

I hope you like them.

If you are ever having a bad day...

2008-11-17T23:03:00.002-07:00

Maybe this video of "misheard lyrics" will make you laugh and cry as much as I did tonight!

Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter

Carson does the "Numa Numa" dance

2008-11-17T22:05:00.011-07:00

I was recently introduced to this video and had to laugh out loud. Yes, I may be a little behind the times since Wikipedia says this video was released in 2004. Needless to say, the song was stuck in my head ALL DAY LONG for several days. I couldn't get it to go away, which ended up being somewhat torturous. No amount of singing "I Am A Child of God" helped either... *sigh* And can you believe 22 million people have watched this video?! He's not embarrassed about it either.

Then while doing some playtime with Carson, I decided it was time to introduce him to the "Numa Numa" song as well. He caught on fast!

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-haa
Ma-ia-haha!
(Repeated 4 times with increasing intensity)

Hello?

It's me - your Duke!

Numa Numa hey!

And for a little YouTube fun, these are the "misheard" lyrics of the song. Enjoy!

Carson meets the Wiener dogs

2008-11-03T20:32:00.004-07:00

When we brought Carson home from the hospital for the first time, Shelby and Royce weren't too sure what to think of him. You can hear little "squeaks" from Royce because he's uncertain, and Shelby barks a little when Carson makes a noise or moves. Yes, I am the protective mother who wasn't sure how the dogs would react, so I was being on the cautious side with my orders.

Things have turned out great since! The dogs have never shown any aggression towards Carson and are still a little curious when we bring him home in the car seat or take him out of his swing. Boy will they be in for a surprise when he starts crawling on their level :)

Carson pictures

2008-10-19T18:49:00.022-07:00

It seems like every person I've talked to has asked why there aren't any more pictures on the blog, so this post is for you! I've spent the last couple of hours getting these together, I hope you like them.

Here's our first set of nurses at the hospital, Amanda Jo (blonde hair) and Mindy. All of them were so incredibly awesome - we love that hospital and their staff. Their shift was 7pm to 7:30am.

Just some wishful thinking on the birth time... can't have everything be the number 10.

Here's Tracy. She was the other nurse during labor. The maternity ward was so busy they had to call in more nurses. This was supposed to be her day off.

Here's Carson after his first bath.

Showing off his full head of hair.

Here's angry Carson. Thankfully he doesn't show this side too often. This outfit was given to us by Aunt Jane. We love it!

All you have to do is fold him up like a burrito and he calms right down.

Why yellow der!

Grandpa Green checking on his favorite grandson.

GG looking on as well.

Even Shelby tries to catch some sleep during the day.

Here's the "awww" pic.

And here are the most recent pics. The 1 week mark for Carson.

"Whoa daddy, that's a cool camera!"

Can you tell we love these pajamas?

And here's the last one.

Hope you liked them!

Carson finally made it!

2008-10-10T17:34:00.003-07:00

At 12:33pm on October 10th, 2008, Carson Daniel Green came racing into our lives at a portly 10 pounds 1 ounce, and 22 inches long. Lachelle is the talk among all the nurses and everyone refers to her as the "1o lb mother" and hail her as the Queen of Gateway Hospital. This may be edited by the time she reads it, but it's my interpretation of what an accomplishment she completed.

Lachelle had started having strong contractions around 5:30pm on Thursday, October 9th, and by midnight that night, we were admitted to the hospital. After enduring 2 1/2 hours of contractions, Lachelle went for the epidural and really helped ease the pain (and let me get a few hours of sleep). Around 8:30am, the real pushing started and continued until Carson made it. Lachelle was a super trooper throughout the whole ordeal and loved when the anesthesiologist came to help her deal with the pain. It truly was a miracle to watch it happen and I even cut the umbilical cord! (I can be a bit squeamish with these things but I did fine).

Right now both mom and baby are doing their best to catch up on some much needed rest while nurses are coming in every 30 minutes to check on something. If someone wanted to know if they can come by and see the baby, the best time will likely be on Sunday when we are scheduled to go home. Thanks for all your prayers.

The Name Game

2008-10-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

One of the big questions we've been asked during the past 9 months (and especially more recently) is "Have you chosen a name?" My family relatives are known for keeping baby names under top secret until the child is born. It might be because they don't want anyone else to steal the name should the person asking happen to be pregnant as well, or because they don't want to hear any criticism about the name chosen. I had some clients tell me about their friend who named their child "Furious. Furious Gage." I don't know what his last name was, but they said he sure lived up to his first! Can you imagine a little Furious toddler running around and creating havoc for his parents? I can only imagine they will regret the name when he reaches his teenage years and they enter him into Anger Management classes.

So while we aren't trying to be bold and make a statement with our child's name like some celebrities have chosen to do, having the last name "Green" does limit some of the options for a first name. For example, Forest and Kelly are out. As are Leif, Sage, Hunter, Apple (ala Gwyneth Paltrow), Olive, Spring, Christmas, Gain (Gane) and any others found on this color list. There's also the consideration of how his name will appear on school rosters: Last Name, First Name. So that eliminates a few more: Pearce (too close to 'peace'), Bary (similar to 'bay'), Tre ('tree' and 'tea'), and of course, Tambourine :) Hey, we could have fun with this all day long, right?

I read on a baby name forum that someone named their boy Duran (like the 80's group Duran Duran). There were multiple comments about what a silly name it was, etc, but someone piped in that the parents would be forgiven only if they name their next daughter "Rio." LOL! I got to thinking about that the other day, and being that we live in the southwest, and Spanish is practically the official language in Arizona, if we were to ever have a girl, we could name her Rio. Rio Green. But the Spanish translation would be Rio Verde. Do I hear a yes??

And by the way, we don't know what we're naming our baby boy yet. Or maybe we do... and we just aren't telling! :P

Lyrics to "Rio" by Duran Duran:
Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand.
Just like that river twisting through a dusty land.
And when she shines she really shows you all she can
Oh Rio Rio dance across the Rio Grande.

No news is...

2008-10-01T23:49:00.002-07:00

Well, there isn't really any news right now. So it can't be either good or bad. The little ticker on our blog would indicate that our little bundle of "boy" has arrived. Well...he hasn't. So the clock keeps on tickin' and we keep on waitin'.

You've Been Barack Roll'd

2008-08-10T22:12:00.003-07:00

For those of you who understand what it means to be "Rickrolled" you might appreciate this video. Someone spent a lot of time putting this together, and I want to give them props for it. And who knew Barack could sing AND dance?

http://www.videosift.com/video/Youve-Been-Barack-Rolld

Well, then again, maybe he can't...

Great emergency flashlight

2008-07-13T13:49:00.011-07:00

As some of you may know, I'm sort of a flashlight freak. I admit, it is one of the dorkiest things to get excited over, but I'm very comfortable with my nerd status and wear it proudly (maybe too proudly) and there's something about flashlights that I love. I already have a small collection, and if I had more spare cash laying around, it'd be MUCH greater. Anyways, with a baby on the way, one starts to get serious about taking care of their family, so I've taken it upon myself to put together some 72 hour kits in case we have to leave the house in a hurry. These days, you never know.

One of the first things on my list is finding the right flashlight for the job. I've done enough research to realize those crank flashlights are about as worthless as a cow pie and would never trust one with my life. There are too many reports of the crank breaking, winding them too much and breaking them, winding them not enough, the built in batteries going bad, etc. etc. A company called NightStar does make a better solution to the crank flashlights where a magnet is placed in a cylinder and as you shake it, the magnet passes through a coil and charges a capacitor. This is good because there are no battery cells to go bad, and they're pretty indestructible. Here's what one looks like:

I'm pretty sure you can buy these at your local Target and they can be found online for around $30 like from here. While this would be a good "final resort" candle (the true flashlight addicts refer to them as 'candles'), I think I have a better solution.

The main pitfall of NightStars is 1) you have to shake them, and 2) they are about as bright as the moon. Please direct your attention to this little gem:

The Fenix E01 is my choice for emergency flashlights for several reasons. First, this little guy runs on a single AAA battery and will net you 21 hours of use (11 full power, 10 hours of dimmer light). One little AAA battery gets you that much candle light! Second, these guys are nearly indestructible, are 100% water proof, and can easily fit in your pocket, be hung around your neck, or securely packed away with minimal space and weight. The third reason I love these things is they are far brighter than any crank or NightLight and are dirt cheap! If you click on this link, you'll see they run $15 a piece and come in a variety of colors. That price includes shipping so no worries about getting nailed with outrageous shipping costs (that's a whole other blog entry for another day).

Now before you go out and order 4 of these babies like I did (got one in black, olive, blue, and purple), I need to inform you of your battery choice. Since the purpose of these lights are for long term storage, do not, I repeat, do NOT put some run-of-the-mill alkaline AAA in one of these things. Alkaline batteries (these are your normal Duracell and Energizer) will leak after a year or so and becomes a pain to switch them out in order to avoid ruining the light. Instead of alkaline, buy lithium batteries like these Energizers (4th one down on the list). Lithiums will store a lot longer (my vehicle has a single AA flashlight that has 4 years on the same lithium battery; remember that's 4 AZ summers), give you a brighter light, and can power your light longer than an alkaline. Keep a few of these in your 72 hour bag and you'll have more than enough light to suit your needs.

I hope this has helped you learn a thing or two about flashlights. For $15 a piece, you should not only have one in your kits, but also have one in every car that you own.

Grandma's 80th Birthday Party

2008-07-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we attended Grandma Smithson's 80th birthday party. It was good to see all the family again and also great to see Grandma doing so well. She really doesn't look a day over 65! Here are a few pictures of the event. The rest of the album can be found here. Hope you enjoy them.

"Give it to The King"

2008-06-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

After several months of friendly reminders that the old, cheap garbage disposal was on its last leg, I started doing what every sensible nerd does... that's right, you guessed it: RESEARCH! Yes, in this day and age you can research garbage disposals on the internet till your heart's content. Of course what the major hardware stores carry is utter crap and grossly overpriced, so with my exhaustive and extensive reading I came across a company called Waste King, and how aptly named it is.

Since money is always a concern, I went with the $120 version called the Waste King Legend Series 3200. All the Legend Series disposals are good, and they handle whatever you throw at them. The price difference is based on your warranty and how fast the disposal will demolish whatever you just fed it.

This is our old disposal. It is a sad excuse of a disposal. I was glad to get rid of it.

It had to go because we were at a point of putting nothing down there for fear of a clog. Not to mention every time you ran it, it sounded like marbles were being chewed on. After the wiener dogs kept running away when we turned it on, Waste King came to the rescue.

Here's a picture of the installed product.

We went from a 1/3HP to a 3/4HP, full stainless steel innards, 2700rpm of raw power. Installation took about 45 minutes, roughly double what it should have taken me, but that's how things go the first time around.

We now throw anything and everything at "The King" because we know he never complains and always does his job. Whenever we question if we should throw it in the garbage disposal or in the trash, the answer is almost always "give it to The King!"

Feed our Blog

2008-06-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, that doesn't really mean give our blog some food. It means, rather, that you can sign up to receive emails automatically when we update our blog (this way we don't have to physically tell everyone via email when something new has been posted). If you are familiar with feeds already, then you can set one up using your preferred method. For those of you who still think when I say "feed" I am referring to "food," then you are probably confused, and so we've made this super-easy for you :)

Step 1: See the little box in the top right that says "Subscribe Via Email" and "Enter your email address"? Do just that, right now.
Step 2: Press the Subscribe button.
Step 3: Type in the verification code in the pop-up box
Step 4: A confirmation email will be sent to you. Click on the link to confirm.

That's it - you are done! Happy Feeding! And with that, now it's time for me to figure out what to do for dinner...

Geyser

2008-06-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

This will be Baby10 and BiG10 in the near future! I think the squealing part at the end is what makes me laugh every time :)

Baby Geyser

(if you use Firefox, you will have to right click on the tab and choose "Switch rendering engine" to get the video to work.)

The Wienernationals

2008-05-29T11:11:00.001-07:00

Well, it wasn't exactly the National race yet, but it was a qualifying race for the Nationals (to be held in California). And while we didn't get to race our dogs this year, we did take them to participate in the festivities - well, some of them. We weren't crazy enough to dress them up in costumes.

This guy has just attacked a lifeguard! (He's wearing a shark sweater; you can't see the shark head very well because of the sunglasses)

This dog just went fishing and is dragging his catch along with him.

And this guy is taking his job as the Security dog very seriously. Doesn't want to leave his post!

Shelby and Royce did the Bobbing for Sausages, though.

Royce wasn't sure what to do at first, but the smell was tempting.

So instead he just licked the water and tried to get some of the sausage flavor on his tongue.

Shelby came along though and figured it out pretty fast (she's also been known to blow bubbles in the bathtub through her nose.)

Snagged one!

Royce is jealous as she gobbles it down. She wanted to do it again and again, but we eventually had to drag her away. She could have eaten the whole pan of them if we'd let her!

Do's and Dont's with Babies

2008-05-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

We are going to be new parents in October! And as the typical first time parents-to-be usually are, we want to make sure we do everything correctly in taking care of our little bundle of joy. So we've been reading books, websites, magazines, gathering advice from strangers, and talking to many people who have already traveled this road. Nothing in our research has been as important, though, as the simple instructions below. Can you say "Oops! Wish someone had told me earlier!"??