Weekend in Connecticut

Last weekend Morgan, Patrick and I jetted off to Connecticut to attend the wedding of a long time family friend. It was a very short trip (Aug 1-4) but we sure did get a lot of things in while we had the opportunity to be with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law.



Morgan was supposed to be the flower girl in the wedding. She looked adorable. She liked holding her basket and playing with the petals. However, when it was time for her to walk down the aisle, she wouldn't go! She is going through a very shy phase right now and saw lots of people she didn't know and wouldn't let go of my leg! She wouldn't even walk with my mom, who was the Matron of Honor at the wedding. I ended up carrying her down the aisle while she held her hands over her face! She wouldn't even throw petals until AFTER the ceremony when she found it great fun to throw the petals at the bride and other wedding party members. Thankfully she also thought it was great fun to pick up all the petals and put them back in her basket.





She did have a great time in the limo, which I let her ride in sans carseat and she loved the lights on the ceiling, being able to wear a big girl's seat belt (and insisting that Mama put hers on too...). Overall, for being 2, she did a great job and was very pleasant.

While we were in CT we also got the opportunity to visit a local aquarium. This was Morgan's first trip to the aquarium. We had lots of fun watching the sea lions and penguins. I touched a sting ray. We saw a 700 pound sea lion slide merely feet away from us on the concrete across part of the auditorium, outside of the pool (it was part of the show, so don't panic). And of course, because of Morgan's infatuation with Finding Nemo, we had to locate Nemo and Dory in the indoor aquarium.






It was a super quick trip, but lots of fun. We were all exhausted when we got home, but it was worth it.

Three Things I Like

My friend Catherine posted about three things she likes and asked her readers to tell her what they like. I have decided to copy her and share three things I like here (to give you all something to read).

1) Carnations--very simple, inexpensive flowers that can be dyed any color and last forever.



2) Bluetooth technology--it's great to be totally hands free at work, in the car, and at home. I don't get the pains in my neck anymore from holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder, and I can multi-task a lot easier.



3) Baby wipes--they have way more uses than one would think! They will take most food stains out of clothing (if the stain is fresh), will get bugs off a car bumper, great for faces, bottoms, hands, feet, and all points in between.

I Love My Bank!

I had one of those eye-opening experiences with fraud yesterday that made me really appreciate my bank. I used my debit card to purchase a footlong meatball sub at Subway on Wednesday afternoon. That evening I attempted to use my debit card at Target and it said it was denied. Dealing with a screaming 2 year old and the fact that I was already flustered I just assumed I had punched in my pin number wrong and used another card to pay for my purchases. Yesterday afternoon my blackberry died in between my home and my work destination. Knowing it was my only link to the "outside" world I stopped at a Radio Shack in one of the towns on my way to get a car charger. Again, my debit card was denied. Now I was getting slightly more than annoyed, and while bad-mouthing the bank under my breath paid for my charger with another card and went on my way.

After arriving at my aunt's house I called the bank. I was getting more steamed as I tried to navigate through the voice-command prompts to get to a customer service woman. Finally, I was connected. Thankfully I remembered that this poor woman was not the person who was denying my card and I calmly told her what my problem was. Her response was this...

"It looks like there was a charge attempted with your card for 4,352 British pounds to a car sterio outlet in Great Britian. We flagged the card for fraud and denied the charge."

I WAS FLOORED!!! That's well over $9,000! All I could say was "Thank you, thank you, thank you. We dont' even have that kind of money!" The final result was they canceled my card and will be sending me another. They are also watching the old card for any additional attempts at charges.

I was so thankful that the bank was that astute to notice that a charge of that magnitude was well outside of our "normal" spending. I am also glad that the charge was denied before it ever went through. I can't imagine the horrible mess that would have caused with overdraft fees, etc. not to mention all the identity theft issues I would have to deal with.

I rarely use my debit card for transactions that are not immediate, and I never use it over the computer. I have a strong suspicion I know where the "suspect" got the number, but because I strongly support the "innocent until proven guilty" mantra, I will not say on this blog. However, it just reinforces my paranoia about identity theft and credit card fraud. I am always careful to check all credit card statements weekly and our bank accounts daily. I shred anything with identifying information on it, even junk mail. I get our free credit reports 3 times a year. Any still it isn't enough, but I do feel better about why I do these things (and I proved to Patrick that I am not obsessed!).

So thank you bank, for all that you do to keep your customers safe, happy, and loyal.

5 Years!

Today Patrick and I celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. Our wedding day was absolutely perfect. We had a beautiful ceremony, great food, and an awesome reception. I am one of those lucky brides who was perfectly happy with every part of my wedding, and I wouldn't change a single thing. I hope to watch our wedding video sometime soon...I have actually never seen it. I just remember how happy I was and how great I felt marrying the man of my dreams.




We continue to enjoy life together, writing new chapters together. I pray for many more and at least as much fun in the next 5 years as the last 5 have been!

Business travel is only great because...

Once again I am on the road for business. This time I am attending a grant writers conference (snooze) in our state capitol. Patrick and I both travel a LOT with our jobs. To give you an idea, my car just turned one year old and has 30,000 miles on it. I hate business travel. I hate being away from my husband and my baby. When Morgan was younger I didn't do nearly as much travel because I could use Morgan as an "excuse" to stay closer to home. That is obviously no longer the case. I am pretty sure by now you know that I hate business travel.

HOWEVER......there are a few great things about business travel. I will list them in order of importance to me:

1) a king size bed ALL TO MYSELF! I love the fact that I can lay in the middle of the bed, stretch out my arms and not touch the sides of the bed or anyone/anything else. And I have SIX pillows (ahhh, heaven). To understand why this is so great you have to understand my normal sleeping arrangement. My husband, our dog, and I sleep together in a full bed with 4 pillows. (Yes, we sleep with our dog. No it was NOT my idea. She is a small dog. But she is a dachshund so she is a very LONG dog with a penchance for sleeping diagonally in our bed. Please don't feel the need to comment on how sad it is that two grown adults battle a 13 pound dog over bed space. I know it is sad. It's our life :) And on extremely rare occasions of night terrors, Morgan joins us. So this much space is just amazing.

2) Access to unlimited hot tub usage. Given the fact that absolutely no conference provides comfortable chairs to their participants who are expected to sit for 8 hours straight and the fact that I have a condition/disease/disorder (I am not really sure which category it falls into) that makes me live in pretty constant pain from my mid-back down through my toes, a hot tub is the next best thing to a free massage. At 29 years old, my doctor tells me that I have pain equivalent to being over 70. My disease, or whatever it is, creates extreme pain in my bones, muscles, and joints. Sitting in the car for long periods of time, sitting at conferences, and having to walk alot or stand for many hours at a time (while staffing an exhibit table for example) only makes the pain more crippling. 15-20 minutes in a hot tub does wonders for tired, aching body parts. It's not long, but having access to that allows me to minimize pain meds, which for me is very important.

3) Finally, business travel is great because I have a fantastic excuse to eat out. In fact, in most situations, that is the ONLY option for food. If you could see my waistline (and for those of you who have) you would know I LOVE to eat out. And when I eat out, I don't eat out healthy. It's an extreme problem, I recognize that. But just as with smoking or any other long-time habit, it is hard to stop. Business travel gives me a) money to eat out (something we really don't have or shouldn't be spending on) and b) reasons to eat out. Maybe some day I will get to the point where I ONLY eat out on business travel. That's my 5-year plan. For now, I will just enjoy it while I still can.

One thing I always seem to forget when attending business conferences is this: cute shoes do not always equal COMFORTABLE shoes. And one would think that as a person who has fairly moderate levels of pain in her legs I would be most cognizant of what I wear on my feet. Hey, I never said I was a smart woman! I think I need to put a sign in every suitcase I own that reads "Have you thought about your feet today?" Again, as with eating out, it's self-inflicted pain. But I think this one will be easier to correct.

So I will end this ridiculously long post by going to lay in my king size bed, surrounded by multiple pillows, having just left the hot tub, and think about what's for breakfast....haha just kidding. I'll be thinking about lunch (breakfast is in the hotel).

Good night!

Isn't Technology Great?

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Charity

In such a money-hungry society where your social status is decided on the clothes you wear and the cars you drive, it was so nice to read this story. Just wanted to share. Makes me think that there are certainly ways our family could cut back, even to help pay down our debt. Perhaps that will be my "project" this month.

Our Baby is TWO

At precisely this moment, two years ago, Morgan Elisabeth was born. What a treasure the past two years have been. Our baby is now two....and when I read her growth update today it started off "Your Preschooler...". She's not a baby anymore. She is such a spunky, funny, independent little girl. Two years have flown by just like two blinks of an eye. It's been a fun journey so far and I anticipate many good trips on the road ahead. Thank you God for answering our prayer two years ago...our angel arrived safely from heaven and we are doing the best we can to raise her as you wish. We are thankful for every rising sun and midnight moon that we are blessed with her. I pray for many, many more.

*Pictures were added later in the day*

Annual Susalla Summer Spectacular

Every year my mom's side of the family tries to get together for a summer outing. Since my uncle and cousin both work security at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, we have been going there in the recent years. We had a really great time as always! It was Morgan's first trip to Kennywood, and she really enjoyed it! I was afraid that she would not ride any of the rides but after the first one, she was a riding fool! It is always great to get to spend time with the family. We missed my one uncle, aunt, and cousin (they were at my cousin's all-star baseball tournament) but made the best of a rainy day and had lots of fun. Below are some pictures from the day.

Birthday Party Fun

Today we celebrated Morgan's second birthday. She doesn't actually turn two until Monday June 30th. I think the kids (and the adults) had a good time!

A six foot tall birthday cake?!?!

Making Princess/King crowns

The Princesses Cake

The Birthday Girl

The sand and water table was a hit!

Lydia and Mama help Morgan open presents

Four Generations

Jennifer, Morgan, and Patrick

Toddler Trance

What, might you ask, would cause a crazy, always on the go, never still toddler to do this???

The answer is simple....Fraggle Rock.

That's right, the same puppet show you watched and sang along with as a child has totally mesmerized my toddler! Never in her life has she sat still through a 30 minute TV show (which is not a bad thing, I might add).

Lately she's been really into the Playhouse Disney show Johnny and the Sprites. She is always asking for Johnny! The show is cute, with lots of singing and bright colors, but as I am sure all the mothers with younger children are nodding, watching the SAME DVD over and over can be a little...well grating on the nerves.

Thankfully my very wise mother suggested if she liked Johnny so much that she might like Fraggle Rock. I happen to have the first season of the Fraggles (Gobo, Mookie, Wembly, Boober, and Red) on DVD, so I tried it out. The result was astounding. Morgan sat, totally transfixed, and watched over 30 minutes of the show without moving! Amazing.

**Let me add the disclaimer here that I am certainly NOT a proponent of excessive TV watching or TV day care, but once in a while I feel it's OK**

Why sick people should just stay in bed

Last week I started coughing a little, nothing major. Morgan had a runny nose and I chalked it up to a cold caught from her. Who gets a cold in the summer you ask? Well, me aparently. That little cough turned into what I liken to a smoker's cough. You know the coughing and wheezing that older smokers do? That is what I sounded like. Three days ago I started to lose my voice due to the cough and accompanying mucus that had taken up root in my chest (ever seen the commercials for Mucinex??) with no thought of leaving any time soon. The cough progressively got worse until last night my left ear starting hurting so bad I wanted to stick an ice pick in it! Why is it that most medical "emergencies" come after hours??

In any event, a trip to urgent care found that once again I had let things go too far before consulting a doctor. I now have bronchitis and a left ear infection so bad that the pressure is threatening to burst my ear drum!!!! No wonder my ear hurt. I left with three new prescriptions and after a very nauseating car ride home took the pills and went to bed.

All of that is background for why sick people should just stay in bed. This morning I got up and have almost no voice at all. I was cleaning up the kitchen from last night's dinner, loaded the dishwasher and started it, wiped down everything, and proceeded to pour a small glass of milk to take my morning pills.

One pack of pills had completely disappeared. I knew (well thought) that I had taken them to the kitchen with the intent of taking them with some milk since the instructions clearly said take one before breakfast with food or milk. But they were GONE. Patrick, my in-laws, and I scoured the house looking for them. There weren't many places they could be. I even dug through the trash can because in the course of cleaning up I had been throwing out wrappers, etc. No luck.

I decided to just forget about the pills for a while and move on to another thing. An hour and a half later I found the pills. Can you guess where they were?

That's right folks....IN THE DISHWASHER....that had completed it's wash and dry cycle! I opened the dishwasher to let it vent a little before emptying them and there they were, right on top of the glasses. And were these pills in a bottle? No of course not! They are in a blister pack. I know for certain that one has dissolved completely. I am not sure of the state of the rest of them. I was so mad at myself when I found them that I just left them on the counter and went to another room.

I guess I had better wander back in there and see if any of the other pills are salvageable. If not I guess I'll be going back to urgent care and watch the nurse hold back her giggles as I explain that I put them in the dishwasher!

Sigh....I think I had better just get back in bed for today.

Mama's Llama

Morgan got a new book the other day, courtesy of the Children's Book of the Month Club. This has become the most requested book in the house! She loves listening about Llama Llama and Mama Llama. As the story goes, Mama Llama has to do her weekly shopping and takes little Llama Llama out with her. Little Llama gets increasingly upset and finally throws a fit. Mama Llama handles it well and in the end Llama Llama proclaims his love for Mama Llama.

Mama's Llama

I have started calling Morgan Llama Llama because it seems that she is always Mad at Mama! I am sure it's the stage of life that she is in, and my mother tells me it's a preview of life with a teenager (OH NO!). In any event, if you have kids, I highly recommend Anna Dewdney's cute books about Llama Llama.

A good Father's Day

Patrick had a very good Father's Day today. Morgan and Mama let him sleep until 10:00 this morning, then we just goofed off at home until lunch. We took Patrick to Wong's Wok in the mall (his FAVORITE place to eat) for his Father's Day lunch. Afterwards we went to visit Uncle Rodney, Aunt Becky, Anna and Shannon for a few hours. Morgan had a great time playing with the girls and wrestling with Uncle Rodney! We stopped at TCBY for ice cream and headed home so Patrick could watch the final round of the US Open.

Morgan gave her Daddy a Super Mario Bros. T-shirt, a new hat, and a signed draft card for Owen Schmidt (ex-WVU Fullback). I gave him the Wii, which he has had for a couple months already.

Morgan also presented her Daddy with a special gift, Mama's new shoes!!! I think overall he had a good day and enjoyed his gifts.

Lovebirds

It's rare that Patrick and I get to go anywhere without Morgan. Even more rare are pictures of the two of us, since I am the unofficial family photographer. A good friend of ours snapped this picture at another good friend's wedding on May 24th. I thought I didn't look too hideous in this photo and it was worth sharing. It's hard to believe Patrick and I have been together over 10 years, and our 5th wedding anniversary is fast approaching!