Havoc

So-I am paying bills this evening, entering each and every transaction into our monthly budget spreadsheet, when I come across the strangest entry. It reads "Havoc Heli NY."

See, Justin uses the credit card that pays you back a percentage for each charge. I use the airline card for points. Both good perks. We USED to only use the airline card, until they angered me. Angered is an understatement actually.

My mom told me that I could go anywhere for my 30th birthday. London, Ireland, Alaska-just her and me. I picked New York City. I have a facination with it. Maybe it is a Sex and the City thing, but I really love the feel of the city. Of THAT city. I had only been there twice before-once for work and once on a fantastic girls' trip with my mom in law and sisters. Both trips were just short enough to make me realize how much I was not able to do. So, I wanted to go back.

We shopped-we ate. In fact, we pictorially logged all of our meals. Here are a few of the highlights-

Found Grits in New York-and they weren't bad either!

Anyhoo-We also found Manolo. Now, you would think that the actual Manolo store would be adorned with roses and diamonds. Nope. In fact, I walked past it. It is a door with a little itty bitty sign-tiny sign. Seriously-I was looking for the store and walked past it. Have no fear, I found it after a bit of looking and did a little bit of damage. It was in doing this damage that the credit card people made me exorcist angry. They DECLINED my card in the middle of Manolo Blahnik. YES THEY DID. Why you ask? They thought the card was stolen. Now, you might think this is a nice perk-they look out for you as a customer of theirs. NO NO NO NO!!!!! I was in Target the week before (I am an equal opportunity shopper) and purchased an electronic for $400, and they declined the card then because they thought it was an excessive amount for a GROCERY STORE. WHAT?!?!?! Guess what credit card genius people? Target only started selling groceries-they have sold other things for a long time, including electronics. After 15 minutes on the phone in the check out line at Target verifying every county I have ever lived in, they allowed the transaction. So, I made a point to call and let the credit card company know that I would be in New York and that it was indeed my little self making purchases.

So, when they declined the card at Manolo, I politely excused myself to the loveliest court yard in the back of the store-yes...there is an actual little garden there!!!!...and yelled at the credit card people. It took 45 minutes and 3 phone calls for the transaction to finally go through. Talk about mortifying. Especially when a girl came in and tried on 4 pairs of shoes and told the sales clerk to send them home and pranced out. What a life. I want to go to her home and live in her closet undetected. Even after this debacle, the card was still declined at most other stores-Olive and Bette's, French Connection, Brooks Brothers...it just did not stop. So, I made sure to find a new credit card company when I got home. But, then I had a hard time giving up the airline miles. I mean, if I was not earning points, how would I get back to my favorite city to visit but not live in? So, I told myself that if it happened ONE MORE TIME, I would cancel the card. Guess what? It has not happened again-not even when traveling. I truly think they were testing me-messing with my account-so they could use my phone calls as training tools for the new folks. "Here is how to handle a completely indignant, irate customer who is being denied the most fabulous shoes in the world."

The WHOLE point of this is that Justin uses one card and I use another, and that is how that came about. So-I find this charge on his card and am very curious-he tends to be a pretty predictable charger-it is all food. And, not all kinds of food, but the same food. He eats the same things over and over and over again.

I put the description "Havoc Heli" into the google search bar. Up come these ads for this tiny little remote controlled helicopter. Seriously-this cannot be something that Justin ordered. I have never heard of this thing, and he is not a 10 year old boy. He is 34 years old and JUST had his birthday. He did NOT mention anything about wanting a Havoc Heli for a gift. The card must have been stolen. It had to have been. We are officially the victims of identity theft. We will be telling our story on tv one day. It will be about how I had to sell my Manolos to make money to cover the charges from our identity theft nightmare. We were sucked dry by people buying toys.

So, Justin gets home and I ask him, "Did you order something called a Havoc Heli?" I just know that he is going to tell me no or tell me that it is something for the yard and NOT really a mini helicopter. He just looks me right in the eye and says, "Yes." HUH? He continues, "Someone at work had one and it was the coolest thing. So, I ordered one." REALLY? First of all, what in the heck are you people doing with mini helicopters at work? Do you work in the 2nd grade at perpetual PE class? His eyes got HUGE, and he asks "Did it arrive!!??"

I say, "You just had a birthday" He says, "Yes, but this is something I wanted to do for myself. It is my birthday gift to myself."

REALLY......well, if that is how we do things.

Did I mention that my birthday is next month?

Gab Fest

See-I told you that she has no idea she does not feel well. Here we are after having a diaper change. She just wanted to talk and talk and talk and talk. She gets a little shy when the camera is on, but she warms up to it. I just couldn't resist-I thought it was too funny and too cute! It is 2 minutes long-and no, she does not do anything completely different at the end-it is just a little example of some chat time. I will have to try and catch her when she is not trying to figure out what the camera is.

Dreams, Dog Puke, and Tylenol

Apparently it is the time of year for sickness. For the little ones, that is.

By little ones, I am referring not only to my little 3 month old but also to the 7 year old fuzzy baby. Yes, the dog ate a bone. You know, most dogs chew on bones-not mine. He actually ate the entire beef bone. A large beef bone. In less than 10 minutes. Gone. I only discovered that he ate said bone because of the small shards of bone he left behind as evidence of his stealthy bone stealing. He took the bone from Ollie, who chews on it as a dog should, and ate it out of doggie spite so that Ollie could not have it. He is not the most gracious dog guest.

So, 6 hours later-let the puking begin. And again 12 hours later. In our bed. Between Justin's legs. Needless to say, I discovered that the dog was throwing up because Justin woke me up-screaming. I won't go into any more details other than to say that we threw the sheets in the bathtub-it was the only logical thing to do at 5:15 am.

So, I called the vet-and they made me rush him in. Apparently they were worried about an "obstruction." Well, I could have told them that he did not have an obstruction-it was all coming out JUST FINE all over my house. But, better safe than sorry. So, over $200 later, he has to take 3 different meds a day and eat bland food. WHICH, he is not happy about. He is quite a food connoisseur.

Then, I am feeding HK this afternoon, and I think that she feels a little warm. Yep-she has a fever. 100.2 to be exact. Problem is that Justin calls for advice-his mom and the doc-and tells them that she has a fever of 102-NOT 100 POINT 2. Big difference. Luckily, she has NO IDEA that she does not feel well. She is laughing and cooing...just happy happy!

So, the dog is fine, and HK is napping and taking infant Tylenol. Then, the phone calls from Granny begin. She had a dream and needs me to look up the interpretation in my dream book. I have no idea why she knows that I have this dream book, but she frequently calls me for interpretations. Sometimes I make them up - but I only do that if I look up the actual interpretation and it is something that I don't want to tell her.

For instance, her last dream involved her breaking her left arm. Dream interpretation:

To dream that your arm has been injured, signifies your inability to care for yourself or your helplessness in reaching out to others. You may have been feeling limited and restricted in terms of your freedom or activities. Your left arm signifies your supportive or nurturing nature and is associated with feminine qualities. (http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamthemes/bodyparts.htm)

Well-I am NOT going to tell my 87 year old granny that! So, the interpretation became:

To dream that your arm has been injured signifies your desire to reach out and help others because you are supportive and nurturing and you feel like you have not been doing a good job at helping others. You are very happy.

She lives with my parents, so any time a dream could possibly be construed against my mom, I alter it. One time a dream of hers meant that she felt trapped in her surroundings. That one also got changed to something along the lines of - you feel very happy where you are and well cared for. See-everyone is happy in the end.

So, dreams, dog puke, and infant Tylenol.......welcome to my world.

New Items I Love

So, I just feel like I don't have a lot to blog about lately. I mean, I can tell you all about our CRAZY Easter of hopping from one house to another, one meal to another, but let's face it-that is really not all that exciting.

So, I think that I will tell you all about my favorite picks for the week. Baby items that you must have...

First of all, let me remind you that I am NOT a germ-a-phob. I am trying to become one, however. So, I am in LOVE with the Germ Guardian Nursery Sanitizer. I can put in toys, pacifiers, whatever.

HK just turned 13 weeks old-can you believe it?? So, Easter candy is not quite appropriate for her basket (but it IS for her mother's). So, I got her Babycandy instead! If I could monogram EVERYTHING HK has and wears, I would. I am trying to convince her Geeg to buy a monogramming machine thing. This little onesie comes packaged up like a piece of candy with a nutrition label on it. And-it has a little "H" on the necklace. http://www.babycandystore.com/

AND-we all know that I have a shoe thing. Some may consider it an obsession. My cousin sent me this link, and I am now blaming her for enabling my "hobby." These are the CUTEST baby shoes in the world - http://www.graciousmay.com/ They will even make adult sizes for you!!!!!

HK is really long, and she is outgrowing so many of her onesies and other snap clothes in length, so I found these add a size garment extenders on my favorite website- www.onestepahead.com These add length and lifespan to one piece outfits. I mean, how much more economical can I possibly be?

So, there you have it. My MUST HAVES for the week! Enjoy!!

What a Week

Well-my Nana passed away last Sunday. It has been quite the week. We were there with her in hospice when she passed. It is the strangest thing to watch a person pass from this life to the next. I thought the same thing when my Granddaddy passed away. I am not sure what I expect-fireworks, a chorus of angels to appear...but it is just such a smooth transition. I am just amazed that a person goes from life to eternal life -just like that. It makes you realize how fragile life is, how quickly it is given and taken. How we should not take it for granted.

On a more positive note, HK has started to roll over. Yes, it is true. She is growing up. *sigh* And, she has outgrown the "newborn" size clothing. Again, *sigh*.

And on a more negative note, the whole diet thing is, ummm, yeah. My friend Patra is having a Wednesday weigh in-and I am going to participate. I am. It was just a bad week to begin this whole publish my weigh gain or loss to the world. I do feel like I need to give a little background on how my former size 0-2 frame became a size 8 frame.

I have a very rare eye disease thingy called PIC. Basically, I begin losing my vision in my left eye due to an inflamation in my retina. They do not know what causes it, and I am only about the 51st reported case of it. It all started about 6 years ago-I woke up one morning to begin work and I COULD NOT read the computer screen. It was just really blurry. So, I cleaned my contacts, threw out the contacts and put in new ones-nothing helped. When I covered up my right eye and looked out my left, there was a big black hole in the middle of my vision. So, after a trip to the eye doctor and a retinal specialist, I was finally diagnosed. The treatment? 60 mg of prednisone. THAT is A LOT of prednisone. And, I am on it for a long, long time because I have to do a slow taper of the medication or my eye condition reactivates.

During my first treatment, I had more energy than I have ever had in my whole life. So, I used this new found energy to begin working out. I was a rock star, and I lost some weight and got into great shape. Prior to this first treatment, I was a size 4-6. I had just gotten married and began a new position that required weekly travel with a cookie company. So, I had put on some weight and became a full blown cookie snob. But, I got the weight off. I was on this round of steroids for almost a full year.

After that, the weight slowly crept back on, but I was still around a size 4-6. Then, about a year ago after 4 years of 20/20 vision, the eye issue came back. So, back on the steroids. Well, this time-NO ENERGY. In fact, I have never been so tired in my whole entire life. I put on 15 additional pounds on top of the weight I needed to lose. And, I could not get the 15 off.

So, the eye is healed and good to go, UNTIL about 2 months ago. Guess what? It's BAAAACCCKKK. So, here I am AGAIN on enough steroids to kill a cat. And-no energy. And-a HUGE appetite. AND-I am CRAVING sweets. So, I basically CANNOT put another 15 on top of the 15 on top of the 15. HOW FRUSTRATING!!!!

So, I am hoping that the added potential humiliation of sending Patra my weekly weight update will be motivation. She lost weight this week-YEA for her! She has motivation-an upcoming wedding!!!! So, here we go again! Wish me luck!!!!!