follow-up / walking & work

I'm just going to follow up the last post with this: I started my 'table runner' and it looks good so far, it's a triangle with some holes in it. Neatly placed holes, which makes it 'lacey.' Also - I finally got brave and attempted to learn what cables are all about because I like them, but I was too afraid of messing up. It was easy and look what I made:

It's a... ummm. I guess I'll glue it to the blank piece of magnet I have from the mini-Dex..? Whatever, at least this opens up a whole lot more knitting patterns for me!

So anyways. I'm pretty sure our little guy is officially walking now! He did about 5-6 steps a bunch of times yesterday and practiced standing up w/out touching anything over and over and over. And giggling everytime he leaned back and fell down. He also likes to share:

And lastly - AHHHHHHHHH! I like my job & I like the (2) ladies, BUT this last week or two has been painfully annoying. Everytime I get my stack of work down to the point that it doesn't give me a headache to just look at it... something else piles on. I don't care about little stuff, but a group of 30 employees who are getting 2 policies each and need to be done in 3-4 days PLUS added to the ACH on the 4th day. WOW - it's been a whirlwind. Plus we've had about 10 other apps from other agents in there too. A normal week for me is about 8-10 policies total, so yea I've been busy. That's all good and well. . . . IF I had an office and could close the door. No, I'm in the reception area with MM's (motor mouth) desk & door facing right at me. She just goes on and on and on about her phone calls (she's the claim's dept. and has to search down peoples' med. info, it sounds frustrating, I'll give her that) and who this and that and what time. And did that last fax go through? blah blah blah. I've been wanting to give her my favorite line of "SHUT UP!" for a long time now. I can't focus! I know this is the reason I never worked with a 'study buddy' or anything in school. I just need quiet or background noise I don't have to focus on.

Last thing - we're having dinner with Devin's grandma tonight. yippeeeeee. *sarcasm* but at least she's driving herself there!

what to knit next

So I'm searching ravelry for some random stuff to knit. (a table runner or at least an idea to create my own or some kind of 'decoration' for my walls). The options I have picked for the search list are home and other. The strangest thing is in this list like a million times. Can anyone tell me what the hell a teapot cosy is? I mean clearly I can see what it is but I don't see a point. Here's an example:

Doesn't seem very functional. I guess maybe that's not the point because one thing I've learned browsing ravelry is that.... alot of knitters have alot of spare time no their hands. Heh. Says the girl who is knitting a stuffed turtle and was contemplating what to name him on her lunch break. He'll be here soon.

In other knitting news, I checked out the new (well, at least I think it is... ) yarn store in town. It's locally owned and they have a little livingroom type space to sit & knit w/other ladies (people..), or crochet if that's your thing. Anyways, they have waaaay more yarn & variety than hobby lobby or the other craft stores in town. Plus the people who own it knit & crochet and help with projects as well as have classes and lessons. Yea. I wish I had more time in a day - I'd totally go there alot. The yarn is a tish expensive, but only because it's much better quality than craft store yarn - as in it would make a very soft sweater! Which happens to be on my brain and would like to be finished by fall.. We'll see. The thing about sweaters is, you have to buy all the yarn at one time so you know it's in the same 'dye lot' and your sweater doesn't magically change shades by the time you run out and have to get more. And that's around like $50 worth of yarn for me {my frugal side says "ouch, don't you have a coupon?" and stupid me missed the sale last week}. And plus, I'm not very confident that my first attempt would be all that good and I'd hate to waste that much money on a project that doesn't turn out. So maybe fall of '11. HAHA!

So, I dunno what I'm going to knit next.. still thinkin... and browsing ravelry.

One other thing I can't forget to mention! Devin took his first steps on Saturday!! Two whole steps away from the wall. We clapped and cheered and then he plopped down and crawled to us. LOL!

evenings

So lately {since the weather finally decided to get nice} we have been trying to get outside for at least a little bit daily. Being so close to the park makes it super easy - it's like our backyard except not our own. Last night we went to the park to fly Rob's RC plane. This story ends badly with me flying the thing into either the woods or the river. Yea, GO me, I seem to ruin everything. So then I went home with a pouty man-baby and a real baby who wonders why he didn't get to go down the slide even once. Oh yea. So then we're at home and I'm enjoying a nice big glass of water after Devin goes to bed. I told Rob multiple times he can break something of mine... including my arm if he is really mad at me. I stood up and kicked my water over on the carpet. Dangit.

The night before that Devin and I took a half hour bike ride. I didn't want to miss my show or it might've been longer. Half hour was enough though since, I looked back halfway through the ride to see this:

I panicked a little. He's always quiet back there and I check back about every 5 minutes.

I called out his name and he gave me some very sleepy eyes.

Oh so funny.

And here he is modeling his camo easter basket/purse:

So today is a super short work day for me. Dev had his 15 month appt this morning, so I got here at 10, took lunch from 1130-1245 and am leaving at 2. I was supposed to work til 3.. but my boss is trying to make up for her leaving me with the annoying one for two days this week.

And Devin's appointment went well this morning. His stats are (as close as I can remember):

30.5 in.  - 35th percentile

25 lbs - 55th percentile

 ??  head - 88th percentile

Dr. said his head is big because he has big brains. He also got his scrotum fondled by the dr. That was interesting - he said something about the testicles should be descending at this age and if they stay up too long some babies have to have surgery. One was 'kinda up there' but no worries. It was weird for sure. He's healthy and going to walk soon. At least I keep telling myself that.

I heart Tom

. .. I mean Dr. Kemper.. he told me to call him Tom.
In reference to the junky situation of my neck & shoulders, he says 'well, if you're gonna do it, might as well do it right.' Yea, I was in some pain and he wasn't messing around. My lower back adjusted well, thankfully. I kinda doubted it would since I haven't had it looked at once in 3 years, since the surgery ordeal. Also, I finally got the neck massage I've been needing and I didnt even have to go to a spa. Yes, he was good. Not only that, but good looking (he definitely works out) - and his jeans made his butt look soo good, or vice versa. He's an angel and I'm totally going back next week.

It felt super weird to walk when I left there and SO good! I knew it would be good but I didn't expect this.

mustang

Last night, Dev and I got to go for our first ride in Rob's new (to him, it's like a '95) mustang. He'd had it 5 days and we had yet to even sit in it, so we went for supper. I'll need driving lessons to drive it, so Rob drove us. Devin seemed to like it, he even got excited when the tires squealed. The carseat isn't horrible in it which surprised me. Doesn't really matter because I won't be driving it and Dev drives with me most places. Plus the mustang is our 3rd vehicle so the chances of us needing to all 3 ride in it are pretty small. It was fun, and Rob says he's gonna teach me to drive it. But we'll see. I'm not sure either of us has the patience.

As soon as we got in the car he started lecturing. Like just "blah blah blah" about the clutch is the gas and do it smooth and slow and "blah blah blah". Seriously, I mostly just heard blah blah blah. I realized why school is so annoying - because of the lecture! I guess I'm a hands-on learner because if he were to be saying the exact same things while I was in the driver's seat we might be talking!

Anyways. I'm going to the chiropractor today. I'm so glad! My shoulder has started getting weird on me and now I'm getting headaches and just... ugh. I thought losing weight would help my back and sometimes I think it is, but what the hell!

The radio totally reminded me of this this morning. BK Rap. Call me immature, but that still amuses me, a lot. Bad news though, I have no speakers so I'm not sure that I linked the video I think it is since I can't hear it.. I hope so.

I just read through this and realized I should blog after my coffee. Oops  :)

The weekend

Well, I went to see Babies on Friday with Kim. It was . . . . interesting..  I was talking about it all weekend. People who don't care about babies and hadn't heard of the movie (such as Rob, his cousin Casey, and Kim's boyfriend) thought it sounded interesting... and educational LOL. It was.

So then we went to see Kim's friend Leah's new baby. He was soooo tiny and quiet and sleepy. Oh I miss that! Oh yea, and we brought the new mommy a Blizzard from DQ and kept her company for a bit. When I got home, Rob & Dev were in bed. Successful girls' night, I'd say.

Saturday I went to TGIFriday's for my friend Abby's 24th birthday. Had some delicious chocolate peanut butter pie for dessert! Saturday next night was interesting. Rob's cousin Casey finally let us meet his girlfriend. Ha, just last weekend I was teasing him that she must be a troll if they've been seeing each other how long (really, I don't know a few months now) and he hangs out with us on his days off but yet we've never even seen her. They came over and we drank & played cards. I guess I like her ok. She's quite a bit like me from what I gathered and we had fun ganging up on the guys - I always do. And uhh yea. I am a lightweight and that point where you should take a break for awhile hits me reallly quickly. So Sunday, I spent the day relaxing {or hungover} at home, knit a little while I washed my sheets. Also Sunday evening, I went to Cash Wise and spent $78 on $116 worth of groceries. I know that's not incredible but it's still pretty helpful in our small budget, and now our cupboards are pretty full. My favorite deal of the day was 10 Knorr sides for $8. I had a mfg coupon when you buy 10 Knorr sides, get 1 free Rotisseri Chicken and a store coupon to get a 3lb bag of frozen chicken breasts w/the 10 Knorr sides. So hell yea! Lots of chicken and lots of Knorr sides for $8! We plan to go to the meat store to get some sausage and beef, though we have a little for now.

And some cute pictures of Devin:

Chocolate Easter Bunny: He wasn't impressed.

A natural mechanic:

Also Rob talked to his dad this weekend. In the next month sometime, Devin's grandparent's from Texas will be here. They're bringing stuff for us! A sewing machine and a Harley. The Harley is Rob's dad's that was Rob's birthday present this year. He got a new one. And the sewing machine is for Rob too. Just kidding. Rob was telling his stepmom that I wanted one for Mother's day and she said she'd bring hers for me to have. I can't wait because I have like at least 10 things I want to make with it! This being the first. Even Rob thought it sounded awesome when I described it to him (and that doesn't happen often!).

CVS 5/12

Excuse the sucky phone picture from the inside of my car.

Got all this yesterday for $2.05 Out of pocket and got $4 ECB back. I suppose you could say this is my first ever profit CVS trip. Whoohoo for that! Like I said, I'm broke so I plan to go back for the rest of my circled deals but I figured I'd get as many of the almost free things as I could early on in the week.

I could've done even better, but I thought we were gonna have spaghetti for supper last night (we were out)  and had a change of plans at last minute. The spaghetti was 1.99 so that's basically all I paid for. The cashier was both impressed at how well I did and jealous. She was jealous of all the coupons that printed at the end of my reciept, to which I pumped my fist! Sweet! Makes it feel like a game when they say how well you did.. kinda like winning something LOL.

I also did a little experiment yesterday. I earned $2 ECB online from attempting to take a CVS online survey (which I did not qualify for, otherwise it woulda been $10ECB). This $2ECB was sent to my email and you can open the link and print away. I printed 2 and they expire June 2. I used one last time and tried it this time (I know.. dishonest, I'm curious like that though) just to find out what would happen. It alerted the cashier that it had already been redeemed and the date which it was redeemed.

The second part of my experiment was that my winter spending ECB ($2.50) was printed on my reciept 2 CVS trips ago and I spent it last time too. Well then I got my earnings in my email and printed the $2.50 from the email and used it this time and it did work. Strange but true. I'm pretty sure that's what happened anyway.. that I got the same reward in 2 forms and was allowed to use them both. I could've read it wrong too...

EDITED: Good thing I decided to wait til the end of the week on the rest of my CVS run because just after I posted this I checked my email and found this beauty:

cute behaviors

Devin has picked up a few new behaviors which are ALL adorable . . . other than the fit-throwing. Toddlers...

Anyways I'll just put them in a list for easy reference:
1. Carries his easter basket/cloth bucket around on his shoulder like a purse. (it's camoflauge;very manly)
2. Loves sunglasses. We've already bought & lost 2 pair for him. He steals mine and has broken 3 pair of mine already this spring.
3. says 'Uh Oh' and 'Ah No', which I think also means all done. This morning I told him "time to go to Jenny's" (daycare) and he said "Nenny" back to me. We said "Jenny" "Nenny" about 6 more times. SOOO Cute!
4. He also loves make-up. When I get ready in the morning, I do my makeup sitting on the couch with him usually attached to my side because he thinks they're toys. This morning he helped me put them away when I was done, the ones he was holding and he smiled when I said thank you like he felt accomplished. I zipped up my bag and then found a mascara under his leg so I handed it to him and unzipped the bag for him to put it in and he did right away!
5. He learned quickly that lotion is not ketchup. Ketchup is his favorite he'll eat absolutely anything with ketchup on it. It's our new trick to getting him to eat (he's picky). Once I put it on a raw cucumber chunk & he ate it. LOL. A couple weeks ago I was lotioning him up after bathtime and he held his hand out so I put a little dab on his finger. . . which went straight into his mouth. ICK! This morning, I was moisturizing my face and he held out his hand out again so I touched the tip of the bottle to his finger and the tiniest dab got on there. He started rubbing his hands together and then after he saw me rub it on my face he started to do the same. He's probably gonna have baby soft skin at 45. Gotta start young. ;-) At least that's what skincare companies want us to believe.

Now if we can just get him to start walking. I love baby walks and I'm afraid since he's starting so late that he's actually doing it when nobody is looking and we won't see the wobbly stage, he'll just be a pro one day. Probably an irrational fear since he's never alone for more than 2 minutes and I realllly doubt he's walking around his crib at naptime. He's super hesitant when we want to hold his hand & help, but practically runs with his push-toy. I don't get it.


Speaking of babies: I'm going to see the Babies movie tomorrow with my newly pregnant friend Kim. I'm pretty excited.

on my mind

Well. Let's talk about what's been on my mind lately. As in for at least a week now.

Here's some clues:

My fantasy comes true to.day! I'm taking the afternoon off from work {which, my boss asked if I have plans =/ i don't and I said no, she probably thinks something is wrong [it's not, just a little stress & a bad case of PMS]} and going home and enjoying my home. Alone. And I don't even plan on cleaning. Just napping, reading, sorting coupons or knitting. Or all 4. Seems like I never get to be in my home completely alone anymore and while that's a good thing, it's also kind of a bad thing in my mind. I just want to relax and not being doing this or that for either of my boys/babies. HA!

Also, awesome news! My boss is getting rid of the old server because it didn't have enough space to be a server anymore (like before I came here 2 years ago they got a new one) and she's just now gotten around to doing something with the old computers. I think she's giving me one. How awesome! We're fine w/out a computer in our house since I can use my work one for pretty much anything and our phones now have 3G and can access the web anytime, anywhere. But I was telling her after she offered me the monitor that we haven't had a computer in awhile and are wanting one to skype w/Leighton so I'll take the monitor and see what happens w/our computer situation. Well then she said she'll check if there's a way we can have one of the towers too! YAY! I soooo don't want a desktop, but I'll take what I can get. We have a printer & webcam and other stuff for computers, just no computer so I hope I can have this!

Oh and last night my friend Jenni and I were talking about how we both have TV shows for like, every single night of the week. LOL Makes me feel lazy! I don't even have cable and I have a show for every night! There's only 2 nights I actually care if I miss my shows (Tuesdays & Thursdays; Biggest Loser & The Office) but still. Funny!

2nd Mother's Day.

Well, my 2nd Mother's day left alot to be desired. We'll leave it at that. We went up & spent the day with my parents. Me, Lex, Mom & Dev played at the park until the poor guy was all wore out. Motrin (for teething) + Lunch + the park will do that to a guy. I got all my laundry done. I brought it there because of the beef stew incident in our apartment. Someone put canned beef stew in both dryers in our apartment & turned them on. I assume it's because they figured the dryers sucked & management would have to replace them. Guess they didn't think of a power washer, cuz now we have cooked beef stew power-washed (super-sucky) dryers.

I knit my Mom's Mother's day present:

Oh yea. The highlight of my Mother's Day was talking with my dear Leighton on the phone. He apparently loves to talk on the phone and was telling me all about his new bedroom (it's green FYI - My fav color & his too) and his new town. I also talked to C and they have plans to come back for a wedding the weekend I will be camping with my parents :(. they also have 'maybe' plans to come back a few weeks after that, which is when Rob's dad & stepmom are coming up from TX. But a short visit with my little guy won't ruin that or offend them so hopefully they do decide to come then.

So much to look forward to. But mostly I'm looking forward to seeing the sun again. Supposed to be a nice weekend and I plan to get out on my bike for a few hours at least!

CVS 5/7

I tried posting this Friday from my phone, but I just can't figure out how to put a picture up with my post. That or my phone was malfunctioning.. Anyway - I made a stop at CVS on my way home Friday and came home with all this:

For exactly $4.06.

Let's think about this: At the grocery store... $4.06 might buy you the cereal on sale. I only bought the straws because I like straws and I thought for sure I'd have an overage. I was close. The cashier was impressed. :)

My total savings was $24.65. Oh yess!

Now to get my ECB count back up. I'm going to try to start planning my trips for this Friday tonight. I know for sure we need groceries and I'm pretty sure there's some sweet deals at CVS this week too. My only problem is, I'm broke til Friday. :) But that's ok, seems like every other week CVS sends out free money e-mails at the end of the week and it wasn't last week, so, it's better to wait til Friday anyway for that.

Friday number list

A few things:
1. I'm on a diet. I suck at diets, but I have successfully lost 20 lbs. I've kept all but 1 or 2 lbs off for a month and it took me approx. 3 months to get them off. I'm trying to do more, but it is very hard. Dieting is boring. Eating is fun.

2. I completed another knitting project. took one night.. about 3 hours.

    To state the obvious it is a case for my phone. The Droid is a touch screen and combined with my luck, it will need a little protection. It turned out pretty fluffy, which I like. I'm also in looovvee with my phone, so I may make a few more of these in different colors to accessorize. Knitting is my anti-food, that's the main reason I'm doing it right now - to stay out of the kitchen. Even though I'm sitting on my ass, at least I'm not eating like a pig. Plus, I like a finished product, it gives me an awesome sense of pride. Even if I'm the only one that likes what I made.

3. I'm tiiirreed. I'm so sick of this rain I just feel like napping every day.

4. It's Friday!

5. Mother's Day is Sunday ~ Birthmother's Day is Saturday.

6. For lunch I had a slim-fast shake. Slim fast powder is surprisingly very tasty. I'd say it's better than nesquick. Yes, I just said that. Coffee is good too, and I'm enjoying that now.

7. Happy weekend! I'm hoping to get a nap when I get home, but it's very doubtful since Devin gets up from his nap shortly before I pick him up. Maybe tomorrow, plus, I probably won't remember saying I wanted a nap once I finish this coffee. A dunkin donuts sample of turbo donut or whatever. Yea..

some spring

I said I had pictures and I do.

Lately I've been just liking the feeling of accomplishing something. And plus it's spring and I got some free seeds in the mail. So I planted some Marigolds in tea cups - so they fit on the window ledge where Dev can't get them but the sun can. I did 3 of them, and for some odd reason one did not sprout at all but the other 2 did. 

So, after I realized those were going to grow indoors just fine, I decided I was gonna try transplant them into something bigger. I got a little trough-style planter at Family Dollar and later decided to fill it w/dirt and plant MORE seeds. This time baby's breath (also free) and the rest of the marigolds.

Day One:

Day 11:

I checked them last night and they're all doing awesome! I shoulda took another picture...

Well, that's enough pictures. I am sooo slow about loading & doing what I want w/my pictures.. I'm working on it. My other good news from yesterday is that I got new sunglasses. :) For free. Well w/a gift card. I knew I was going to go to kohl's because I'm broke & I had a $20 GC from there from Christmas. Dev broke my $5 wal-mart shades last week and yesterday was our only day of sun this week, but I needed some. Imagine my delight when I got there and saw all their sunglasses were 40% off. A couponer's dream!

freakin sweet

testing out my new droid. i'm the happiest girl alive today now that i have web capabilities in handheld form!

Hello

And Welcome!
I like blogging. I'll tell you where it began. Teen Online Diary... in like 9th grade, maybe even before that. Then.. the windows blog which was somewhat attached to messenger. That one wasn't that good and I barely updated it. Then... Myspace. I'm finally venturing off myspace. Nobody is there anymore and while that's nice (ie. somewhat private) it's also a little boring.

I'm going to just try make this blog about stuff I like.
Here's a list of what that might include:

• knitting. my #1 hobby right now.
• couponing. my other #1 hobby.
• my baby. wait... that's my #1 hobby always.
• my bike.
• any other kind of craft I may attempt. heh. attempt being the keyword here.
• or cooking or any other type of Susie Homemaking. attempts.
• pictures of any or all of the above.
• Oh and a whole lot of stuff about me. which could be a good or a bad thing, depending how you look at it and if I'm whining or not. :)
• maybe some links to stuff I like to look at online.

So - Now that you know what I like. I guess I should say "my name is Sarah... " etc. I'm 23, and a birthmom as well as a first-time mom of a 14.5 month old. I love being a mom more than I ever imagined during all my years of saying "i'm never having kids" while seeing the rotton ones in public. I come from a pretty big family, my dad has 7 brothers and sisters, so that's alot of cousins. Also, I have 2 sisters & 1 brother all younger than me. As far as my own family... well we really like being just the 3 of us, but I know Devin wants a little sister when he turns 5... he told me.
Right now, I am working for a life insurance company in Fargo and I like it here. I wish there was a massage therapist that worked here for free though. Sitting at a desk all day is nice and all, but my back can't take it. It's much better than Burger King... where I worked for, uhm, 5 years.
Devin goes to daycare at a lady named Jenny's house and he has about 4 little friends there, some who come everyday and others don't. He doesn't walk yet, though we are verrry close, yesterday he learned to push his walker forward rather than backwards!
So there you go. I've got some pictures to show off when I've got the time. :)
Right now I'm working on knitting a little pouch for my bike (I know I'm lame) and growing some marigolds & baby's breath. I mean not RIGHT NOW.. but currently... at home.
Next I want to make some fingerless gloves.