N is for Nicknames

Everyone has nicknames. Names they are called. Names they call others. Some are good and endearing. Others are downright meant with meanness.

Mine are:
Lin or Lindy - something my family calls me, and I wish that I went by Lin instead of Melinda
Wife or Wifey - something my husband calls me (oh joy, but better than Woman)
Aahhh - something my son calls me when he wants me (we are working on Mama)
Mel or Minda - nicknames my friends call me
Clifford or Ka-lou-fee-oh- a play on my maiden name that I was called in grade school
Ma-Lin-DUH - another lovely name I was called in grade school

Nicknames I have for others:

Mason:
Pug or Puggy or Doggie - because he is one
Poopie - a combination of Puppy and Poo (meaning you little $hit)

Ian:
My little man - because he is
Bubba - because he is such a big, rough and tumble boy
Pumpkin - doesn't everyone call their kid pumpkin?
Monkey - if this kid could cling to my back like a baby monkey he so would

What are your nicknames???

I Has A Happy

"I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think that very motion of our life is towards happiness..." - Dalai Lama

Quote 3/31/09

"The universe is sacred. You cannot improve it. If you try to change it, you will ruin it. If you try to hold it, you will lose it." - Lao-tzu

M is for Me Time

I am in some dire need of some me time. Yeah I know, I don't get enough time with Ian because I am working full time and trying to manage keeping my household running, clean and paid for. Still I am starting to burn out without any time to recharge my inner strength. There is just so much to do that I spend every minute that I am not at work tending to something that needs to get done, cleaned, put away, etc. What about the things I want to get done for FUN? I keep telling myself that I will go see a movie (I haven't been to the theater in about two years and I have missed a lot of movies I really wanted to see.) I also would like to take the time to get out of the house without carting Ian along just for the sake of walking without carrying his weight around with me. Hasn't happened! When will it be my turn to enjoy some me time? It isn't like I am asking for a full vacation, I just want a chance to be ME instead of MOMMY, or HOUSEKEEPER.

L is for LOLz

Need a laugh? There is a place online to help, I Can Haz Cheezburger. It all started with the LOL cats and their crazy captions...and it took off from there. Click the links to enjoy the latest.

LOL Cats


LOL Dogs

LOL Celebs

Graphic Jam

Fail Blog

K is for Kindness

"Forget injuries, never forget kindness." - Confucius

Be kind to someone today. My mother once told me that the person who needs a hug the most is often the one who deserves a hug the least.



**This my virtual hug to you**

J is for Junk

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi

My house is full of junk. Stuff we don't need. Stuff we don't use. Stuff we don't want. I feel that it is time to purge ourselves of the useless junk and make way for new, useful for now, junk.

So far I have two boxes full to go to Goodwill and I am pretty sure that if I had the opportunity to work sorting our things I could probably fill two more boxes very quickly. We have what can only be described as mountain of stuff shoved into our back room/laundry room. Imagine the storage space we could clear up if we got rid of the junk.

So my goals are to take a load to Goodwill this week before we get the carpet installed. In the near future I would like to go through the back room and clear out another load of items to donate and a pile of items that need to be recycled or tossed out. Then we need to sort the tools into what is ours and what needs to be returned to my dad and Chris' dad. After doing this we might actually be able to fit a small chest freezer in that room so we can buy meat in bulk to save some money. So that is my ultimate goal.

Be the change!

I is for Idiot

I was a total idiot this morning. After I dropped Ian off at daycare I stopped at the gas station because my car was almost totally out of gas. After forgetting to swipe my rewards card so I could get points, I then mistakenly selected premium fuel. So I lost the extra money the fuel cost per gallon and rewards points! I recall making very sure that I was not pressing the diesel fuel button, but in my care to avoid that one I pressed premium instead of regular. Ugh! So I only got $10 worth since I was wasting money on fancy gas that is totally not needed. Then suddenly I was worried that it would mess up my car so I had to call Chris and make sure I wasn't going to make my engine blow up or something. I should have called in and taken a personal hour to sleep in this morning...clearly I needed the extra sleep.

H is for Happiness

Ten Things That Make Me Happy
A list of 10 material things that make me happy right now, because money cannot buy you happiness but it can buy you things that make you happy.

1. The bamboo picture frame that I have had since high school, that currently has a picture of my son it in. The style of the frame so exactly represents my personal style, so it always holds a photo that is most dear to me.

2. The big mug I bought at Starbucks. It is a beautiful neutral color and I love to drink from mugs instead of glasses.

3. Olay Regenerist Deep Hydration Regenerating Cream. My mom gave me a bottle for Christmas, and it made me realize that if I want to age as gracefully as she has I must take care to prevent my skin from aging. Time to bring out the anti-aging potions. I am happy to be proactive.

4. My Vera Bradley collection. Bright fun print accessories make me happy...and colorful. It is fun to collect something too.

5. Our Kitchen Aid empire red utensils. They give our kitchen a beautiful pop of color sitting in a utensil holder on my counter top. As a matter of fact my matching utensil holder, spice rack, and trivet make me happy too.

6. A small handmade spiral dish that I bought at the Art Reach downtown. It is glazed in a whimsical blue-purple metallic color, and it is the perfect size to hold rings or other small bobbles. I would love to fill my home with similar works of art.

7. My laptop, because it is full of my pictures which are my most precious possessions.

8. My son's favorite butterfly shaped teething toy. Anything that makes him so happy makes me happy.

9. My wedding rings. They are the outward sign of my everlasting commitment to my husband and our family. The style is simple, elegant and yet not in any way plain. Also, they are sparkly and who isn't happy about that?

10. My house. My home. We bought it nearly 4 years ago and have poured all of our money and effort into making it nice (it was quite the dump when we bought it). After putting in new plumbing, upgrading the electrical wiring, installing an all new bathroom, drywall throughout, flooring throughout, painting every surface, a new roof, removing dead tree after dead tree, and new kitchen cabinets and counter top we are so proud of what we have made. It isn't the perfect house but we made it what it is today and that makes me very happy and proud. (Thank you to my parents and in-laws for all your help too!)


"Man's happiness in life is the result of man's own effort and is neither the gift of God nor a spontaneous natural product." - Ch'en Tu-hsiu

Quote and Book Recommendation

"Maybe it use to take a village to raise a child, but that was long before the village was made up of so many idiots." - Rebecca Woolf in Rockabye: From Wild to Child (said in reference to the bazaar advice strangers force upon mothers, like the new moms are breaking some rules or something.)

I recently purchased and read Rockabye which is written by one of my favorite bloggers, Rebecca Woolf of Girls Gone Child. It is a memoir of how her life changed after she unexpected got pregnant, and had the baby (Archer...I like that name. Original without being odd). I love her wit and how she trusts her instincts. While I cannot relate to her unexpected motherhood, I totally understand her struggle to find mom friends and people to relate to in her new roll as mother.

I was the first of my friends (who live near me) to have a baby. I have felt very lonely at times not having anyone close to me that I can really relate to and have baby play dates with. It is hard for friends who don't have kids to understand why I am spacey (had to get up at 4:30am because Ian woke up and would not go back to sleep.) Sometimes when we get together they are overly concerned when Ian cries (hey, babies cry it doesn't always something wrong and yeah I guess it is magic that I can tell the difference.)

Things have been changing, my close friend Chantel is pregnant and is due in August. I have also found support online through a amazing group of mommy bloggers who are so bold and open to write about their lives and experiences. It is so helpful to be able to read these women's stories and feel a connection, "I am not alone, someone else understands what I am going through!" It doesn't hurt at all that they are very funny, and great writers.

Check out these amazing bloggers:
Girls Gone Child
Dooce
Finslippy
Storked

G is for Grief

Actress Natasha Richardson has died of a head injury after falling while skiing. She denied treatment, felt find and returned to her hotel after her fall. An hour later she was not feeling well and complained of a headache before being taken to the hospital unconscious. Then it was released to the public that she was brain dead due to a severe head injury and there was no chance she would recover. Just like that a life lost.

An incident like this really puts in perspective how very fragile humans are. At times we don't seem so breakable, and it makes us careless with ourselves. Any seemingly small injury could very well be our last. It reminds one how very precious and delicate life is.

Be careful. Be safe.

"Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose." - Turkish Proverb

Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

F is for Friends

Friends are the family you choose for yourself. Some of my family members are in fact friends (not related by blood or marriage to us) who have become at part of our family in a way that is most seamless in every way. I think of them and love them as my aunts, uncles, and cousins; and I cannot imagine my life without them in it. I hope that Ian will one day know a loving extended family built of friends Chris and I have adopted into our family as well as those I grew up with myself. Ian is very lucky to already have his Grandma Karen, Uncle Dan, Aunt Chantel and Aunt Sarah. Dear friends of Chris and I, who I know will always love and support my son and be there as part of our extended family. Karen is the mother of Chris' best friend and I am most certain that he thinks of her as a second mother. I would have nothing other than to have her be a third grandmother to my son. Dan and Chantel are very good friends to Chris and I. They have been there for us, supporting us, and I know they love Ian very much and would do anything for him that they were able to do. Sarah was a high school friend of Chris' and she became my roommate in college. She is the person who introduced me to Chris, setting in motion the events that lead to my life as I know it, and has been an amazing friend all along the journey. Without these friends as my family my life would not be as rich, and Ian would know only a mountain of love instead of an entire world of it.

Thank you to all my dearest of friends...you know who you are! I love you.

"When someone's character is not clear to you, look at that person's friends." - Japanese proverb

E is for Etsy

I have discovered the most amazing place to shop...Etsy. It is a place where the averagely (and not to averagely...read awesomely) skilled can post their handmade goods, vintage items and crafting supplies online. I stumbled across the link on a blog some time ago and I have since been drooling over many a handmade items that I want to purchase. (Damn economy and lack of funds!) Anyway, this is totally a place worth checking out. I am even tossing around the idea of getting back in the artsy game and making a few paintings to post myself...it couldn't hurt and I might be able to make a dime or two out of the deal.

From the Fwd: Archives

The Sensitive Man (Forward sent to me 3/18/09)

A woman meets a man in a bar

They talk; they connect; they end up leaving together.

They get back to his place, and as he shows her around his apartment.

She notices that one wall of his bedroom is completely filled with soft, sweet, cuddly teddy bears.

There are three shelves in the bedroom, with hundreds and hundreds of cute, cuddly teddy bears carefully placed in rows, covering the entire wall!

It was obvious that he had taken quite some time to lovingly arrange them and she was immediately touched
by the amount of thought he had put into organizing the display.

There were small bears all along the bottom shelf, medium-sized bears covering the length of the middle shelf, and huge, enormous bears running all the way along the top shelf.

She found it strange for an obviously masculine guy to have such a large collection of Teddy Bears. She is quite impressed by his sensitive side but doesn't mention this to him.

They share a bottle of wine and continue talking and, after awhile, she finds herself thinking, 'Oh my God! Maybe, this guy could be the one! Maybe he could be the future father of my children?'

She turns to him and kisses him lightly on the lips. He responds warmly. They continue to kiss, the passion builds, and he romantically lifts her in his arms and carries her into his bedroom where they rip off each others clothes and make hot, steamy love.

She is so overwhelmed that she responds with more passion, more creativity, and more heat than she has ever known.

After an intense, explosive night of raw passion with this sensitive guy, they are lying there together in the afterglow. The woman rolls over, gently strokes his chest and asks coyly, 'Well, how was it?'

The guy gently smiles at her, strokes her cheek, looks deeply into her eyes, and says:

'Help yourself to any prize from the middle shelf.'

Quote 3/17/09

"Of all strategies, to know when to quit may be the best." - Chinese proverb

When your a Jet...

When you're a Jet,
You're the top cat in town,
You're the gold medal kid
With the heavyweight crown!

D is for Drool

One of the things that I didn't know until I was a mother was that drool is an everyday accessory. I was totally unaware that as a mother I would have drool on every outfit I own mere seconds after dressing.

Since my son is teething he has made drool and art form. He can manage to dribble his drool up into my hair and down on my feet simultaneously while making Rorschack blot shaped wet spots on the shoulders and arms of every shirt I wear. It really is a talent. My son is a gifted drool artist.

Drool does not help us live green lives...not when it necessitates 3 changes of clothes per day for Ian and myself. Laundry. LAUNDRY! LAUNDRY!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Drool,

Thank you for helping my son with teething and food digestion. I appreciate your exuberance and unstoppable work ethic. However, I feel that it is time for you to take a small step down for a while. Don't think of this as a demotion, but more of a time to relax your efforts and coast by for a while. Feel free to up your efforts again as my son is about to pop a couple more teeth. Until then please enjoy some much needed (for me) time off.

Sincerely,
One very soggy Mama who is tired of doing laundry every day because she only owns 5 outfits.

Quote 3/16/08

"Where beauty is, then there is ugliness; where right is, also there is wrong. Knowledge and ignorance are interdependent; delusion and enlightenment condition on each other. Since olden times it has been so. How could it be otherwise now?" - Ryokan

C is for Coupons

With the state of the economy I am sure everyone, everywhere is looking for ways to stretch their dollar. Coupons are a great way to make your dollar go further, and save money on things you already buy. Recently I found Coupons.com, and it is amazing!!! You download their coupon printer, which allows your home printer to print out the coupons so that the bar codes will work when the store scans it. Then you go through the current coupons and select the ones you would like to print. Click print, cut them out and SAVE! Now, when I first saw this coupon printer I felt pretty sure the stores would look at it and hand it back to me thinking that I was trying to pull something. Nope! I used 3 of them at Walgreen's over two different trips with no problem. They scanned and worked just like any other coupon! Awesome!!! So go and give it a try...save money!

"There is always a piece of fortune in misfortune." - Japanese proverb

B is for Bridesmaid

This weekend my sister-in-law asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. Now, I am not a big fan of doing the bridesmaid thing. (It is more about the dress and being up in front of people than it is about the money involved.) I have reservations about it but of course I said yes to her because I know that it will make her very happy to have her brother and me stand up with her and she did stand up for us when we got married. I was concerned that Chris would be upset with me saying yes because I know he isn't overjoyed to do it either, and my saying yes sort of means that he has to say yes too. In the end he seemed happy with the mild western theme because he will get a black cowboy hat out of it. (men...sigh)

So now I have to come to terms with the fact that I am going to have to wear a strapless dress for the first time in my life. (oh the horror) I guess I am going to have to work on getting my arms in shape because otherwise I will end up waving at the crowd with my arm flab instead of my hand. On the positive side it will be a lot of fun, and the color she picked is a very beautiful and flattering on me shade of watermelon pink.

Commence operation banish the arm flab!

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the sources of your joy. - Thich Nhat Hanh

A is for A new project

I decided that I am going to go with the A to Z blog project. I am going to post 26 posted about topics that start with each letter of the alphabet. So here we go...

Yesterday I found out that Apple came out with a third generation iPod Shuffle. I don't really care for the new design, I would rather have one of the little square, colorful second generation ones. Alas I am not prepared to spend any money on a MP3 player at this point, and by the time I am willing to put down money for such a gadget they will be long gone. Boo! Happily if I wait long enough I am sure Apple will redesign them yet again...

WTF

I just discovered today that there is a such thing as Baby Cologne...yeah that's right! COLOGNE!!! Babies smell perfect as is, why the hell would anyone want to scent them??? I don't get it.

Blogging Project

Some of the blogs I frequent have featured blogging projects, and I have been tossing around the idea of starting one myself. Here are some of my ideas.

Blogging A to Z: 26 blog posts on topics in alphabetical order

Weekly New Thing: Do one new thing a week for a full year

Theme Day: Pick a day of the week and commit to posting something once a week on that day according to a theme. Something like "stupid things people say and do" or "tip of the week." I am open to ideas on the theme.

Deep Thought Series: Pick a topic that is currently in the news, research it, and blog about my thoughts and what I learn along the way. I was thinking something along the lines of going green or health care.

So I challenge you internets to give me feed back. Since I have like two readers I won't be holding my breath.

Going Green (in baby steps)

I have been thinking about going green a lot lately and what little things that I could do to help our planet. We already recycle, use energy efficient light bulbs, and try to remember to bring out own bag to the store (I have to get better at remembering). So I was thinking that my next baby step would be to green-up my clean up. Here are some of my ideas and great websites that I found along the way.

The website that started my plan to green up my cleaning was 1001 ways to use vinegar. It gives was to use regular old white distilled vinegar to clean, do laundry, car for your car, even uses for pets. It also details was to use vinegar in cooking like how to make buttermilk for recipes that call for it. Who knew that vinegar could be so useful. In the fun facts section they state that vinegar has been used for 10,000 years...it must work if people still use it today!

Another green cleaning option that I came across was Shaklee Basic H2 Organic Cleaning Concentrate. You can get one container of this stuff and it will mix up into any cleaning your might need by mixing us certain amounts of the cleaner and water. They even have a spray bottle set to make it easy. Bonus!

How to make a non-toxic cleaning kit: gives directions on how to make your own cleaners using baking soda, washing soda (whatever that is), vinegar, liquid detergent and tea tree oil. 5 ingredients to make a soft scrub, window cleaner, oven cleaner, all-purpose spray, furniture polish, deodorizer, and mold killer. I going to give the oven cleaner a try...I hate using those harsh smelling oven cleaners that make you feel like your nose hairs are burning out.

Here are a few other website for green products that I could get into.

ECObags - great bags to save on the paper or plastic. I love the idea of a reusable produce bag!

Blue Avocado - I am going to save my pennies (and other change in the change jar) to buy the "Cool Kit" for grocery trips. All the bags fold up together so that they are easier for me to tote to the store (and they are pretty colors to boot!) Awesome!

Seventh Generation - cleaning products and paper products that are earth and people friendly. I am going to look for the Free & Clear products because I love to use products that are free of dyes and perfumes especially laundry products. I recall seeing this line available in our local Kroger. Time to go Krogering.

What are you going to do to baby step your way to a greener life???

Pet Peeve

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say Italian as EYE-talian. We do not call Italy, EYE-taly do we? What makes you people think that the pronunciation suddenly changes for Italian? I don't want to hear that it is just the old TOE-MAY-TOE, TOE-MA-TOE bit either. When a person pronounces tomato one way you say it that way for all variations; tomato soup, tomato plant, etc. So for all of you folks who say EYE-talian if you want to use this excuse you are going to have to say EYE-taly from now on too. I know you won't though because even you know it sounds stupid!!!