Ramblings

My computer time is so limited now that Dusty works from home. Its awesome having him here, but I'm going through computer withdrawls. I have to surf the net from my iPod and blackberry. If I have a very short response, you can bet that I'm on one of those devices.

Dusty's income got cut by 2.5% permanently and then for the month of April (so they say) it will be cut another 10%. It's better than getting laid off, obviously, but it scares me too. Will it be just for the month of April? May it be made into a permanent cut? Will it go lower? It's not like we can't pay our bills or anything, we are just working our way out of credit card debt and that makes it harder to do! But like I said, it could be worse. So I'll take it over layoff any day. It's actually the first time we have been affected by this whole economic mess personally.  Well, besides our 401(k) being worthless right now but that should be temporary and it's not like we're close to retirement, so we have plenty of time to bounce back (which the economy always does)

So, to celebrate our lowered income, I've decided to spend lots of money! lol I just bought a Dyson vacuum yesterday. We've been in need of new vacuum for awhile. We have a Kirby vacuum (bought by Dusty pre-Cynthia) it's a piece of junk and I loathe it! I've done a ton of research on vacuums and it's been the best reviewed one there. I've always wanted one since seeing the commercials a few years ago. I never could justify the expense but then seen it on Macys.com (while looking at Coach bags.. hey..my b-day IS coming up) and saw it on close out price. Not too shabby.. oh and free shipping.
Last night I went out with my best friend. We had a nice dinner and margaritas. It was nice to get away from the chaos and relax with a friend and have a couple drinks. I hadn't had a real drink since before the girls were born. I was feeling good after one but then decided one more would do the trick. and it did. lol

Today my bff and I met at Target to get some swimsuits for the kids. I got my first two piece! Before you start hurling at your computer screen, don't worry, it's a full length top and skirt bottom. I'm not going for the sexy look; I'm going for the comfy and well covered up look. I think I succeeded. I got the girls cute NON matching swimsuits (GASP!)
Oh and the reason I bought us all swimsuits (the guys can still wear the ones they have) is because we signed up all the kids for swim lessons. It works out great because the older kids (Josh and his g/f are 6) have their lessons from 10-10:45a and the little kids (15 mths and 6 mths) have their lessons from 10-10:30a on the same day. We don't have to be with the older kids but we do have to be with the babies. So it works out wonderfully. So we get to take care of 6 swim lessons all in one trip! (her 3 kids and my 3 kids)

More talk of money. I have been babysitting her baby 4 days a week. She (bff) had her gall bladder out a couple weeks ago, so I haven't been babysitting in a while. Next week she goes back to work. It's conveniently on the first day of spring break for all of our kids. So, if you thought my afternoons were busy with my 2 girls and the baby before.. now throw in two 6 year olds that get bored easily! I guess it will be a nice trial run for the summer.. holy crap.. the summer! AAAHHH Lots of kids.. hopefully lots of nice weather too. My SIL lives about 10 minutes away and has a huge pool. As long as I have a couple other adults to help, we should be able to go swimming a bunch. That will be nice.

Oh and more on the spending money we shouldn't.. we are going on a mini family vacation in a few weeks to Chicago. We'll meet up with Toni and Vanessa and the kids. It should be awesome! I've been wanting to get out of town and we love Chicago. I've loved Chicago since a few years ago and a bunch of us online girls met up. I've actually been back there every year since (except for the year I was preggo- and believe me, it felt like I was preggo for an entire year) We'll do the Navy Pier, swim at the hotel, and even order room service! I also consider this trip to be a mini preview of how well the girls will travel. In July we are driving down to Alabama to visit my Memaw (that’s grandma for you non-southerners) The trip usually takes about 12 hours. With babies, I travel overnight. Much easier. I have a lot of practice with Joshua. It's worked well for us, so hopefully the girls will cooperate and just sleep (or at least be quiet!). We'll only stay for 3 days. I think that's a good amount of time for a non baby proofed house.
The dieting is going really well still. We love and hate cheat days. Love the food, hate the heartburn. We both slacked on our working out this past week so Dusty only lost a pound and I stayed the same. But I also started cramping and spotting, so I'll blame the female stuff. Oh and speaking of female stuff. Don't you love it when you're wearing a big pad and it shifts out of place and you fix a wedgie or try and resituate and you give yourself a mini wax job from the sticky side of the pad that SHOULD be stuck to your panties? Love it.

I got my hair cut and colored. I loved it the first day and now I look at it and I'm disappointed. I didn't ask for highlights and I got very obvious stripes in my hair. I asked for long bangs (really long- like chin length) and I got this chopping crap on the side. ugh. I'm never happy about my hair when I have it done. I haven't gone back to the same hairdresser in the past 6 years because I'm never happy with the work. Although my bff does agree with these two points (the stripes and blunt chopping), I think it's ultimately because I'm just unhappy with myself. At the salon I just see my face and hair in the mirror. Looks great! Get home and my full length mirror reminds me that I'm still fat and in my lighting at home, I'm still my ole ugly self.

So, I guess I'll leave you on the low note.