Here we go!

Today I had a conference call with a couple in California who are looking for a surrogate. After talking for quite some time, we decided to go ahead and start working together. So it looks like it's time for round 2!

Though I will not meet them in person until I get to CA to visit with their doctor for initial checkups, they do sound like a great couple. They have one child who was conceived via surrogacy that is 3 years old. It was a great experience for them and now they'd like to add to their family. Unlike the first time around, they will be able to use their own embryo rather than an egg donor, which is fantastic.

So please, fingers crossed that this is another positive experience for all of us involved!

Happy Earth Day!

We've had a great weekend, yet again. Busy, busy as usual.

Friday consisted of the normal errands - grocery shopping, oil change, laundry, etc. We invited Shawn's family over for dinner because we had a beautiful day with weather in the 70's and we were just itching for a cookout! It was yummy and we had a good time visiting with them.

Saturday we had good intentions of cleaning the house and working out but somehow ended up shopping half the day away. We went to a new thrift store and totally scored on all kinds of goodies for all of us. We had plans that night with Ria & Thomas for dinner at Crocs, which was yummy as usual. After that Ria and Shaena (her friend) and I joined a couple other friends at a new bar we hadn't tried yet. We got there a little early because hey, we're moms and we only get to do this once a month so we have to enjoy it while we can! So the joint was a little dead at first but things picked up and it was a pretty fun place. It was a total dive but somehow we manage to have fun wherever we are! Shawn and I didn't get home until after 2am and for some reason, despite the kids being at his parents' house, were unable to sleep in this morning.

Today is Earth Day so after we drug our tired asses down to his parents' house, we decided to take the boys to the Denver Botanic Gardens. It was free today and we thought it'd be a good educational yet fun experience. And it was a hit! They had fun looking at giant bugs and flowers and we got some cool pics. After that we grabbed a quick lunch (Shawn was craving a hot dog!) and then headed to Lowes to pick up some flowers to plant in the front yard. I didn't get a picture of them but it looks pretty. The boys had fun looking for trash to pick up while we were running around town - they like to do things that "makes the Earth happy". They are the most environmentally conscious kids I know!!

Anyway, hope your weekend was fantastic!

Rub a dub dub...

Two butts in a tub...

Just had to share a couple cute pics...

And just one more... I thought his expression looked just like Shawn here. Or perhaps I've had too much wine. ;)

So much to say, so little time...

First of all, I am still in shock over what happened at Virginia Tech this week. My heart goes out to those students who witnessed the violence and the families who have to live without their loved one because of what happened. I don't understand why someone would take out their anger on a group of unsuspecting kids who probably had nothing to do with what he was upset about. However, I do not think that video games are to blame. I don't think the kid was completely to blame either. I think if we all treated our peers with a little more kindness and understanding, especially as adolescents, then perhaps people wouldn't feel so isolated and alone and driven to such acts of violence.

It saddens me though that I have to have talks with my 5 year old about what to do if someone enters his school and starts shooting a gun. We've already taught them not to play with guns and that kids who play with guns go to jail... but I hate that I have to go even further and teach him to play dead on the ground if he hears fire crackers going off and it's not the 4th of July.

This story also pisses me off... Unlike what happened to Imus (which I think he should have been punished and I don't think it was a bad thing that all of his sponsors pulled out), this was definitely a violation of the students' first amendment rights. Understanding the pain and poor judgement of a killer does not necessarily a killer make. When Columbine happened, while I didn't agree with what Dylan and Eric did, I did not think they were driven to that by video games or music. I think kids in high school and college can be VERY mean and perhaps do not have the faculties to know what they are doing to other people, driving them to madness with every harsh word. I don't think it's OK to lash out and kill other students, but I do think we as a society need to really focus on what our children are doing and how they are treating others.

I'll step off my soapbox now...

On a lighter note, I was so scared that Lakisha was getting voted off last night. I didn't vote Tuesday night so I feel personally responsible that she was bottom 3. I will be a better fan next week for sure! And as far as Sanjaya goes... while I think he was improving and gaining the confidence that he had lacked, he definitely is not as talented as the others that are still left and his departure was just.

Let's see, what else? Today is my Friday so I'm happy about that. :) They are putting up our fence and finishing our patio today (except for the sealant which is coming later) so our yard is coming together, finally!

We are really slow at work, so no patio furniture is in my future! Hopefully things pick up but the phone isn't even ringing! I'm getting a lot accomplished, but I'd rather we be selling some stuff. Oh well... it'll come and usually when it rains, it pours.

We have our Mom's night out this weekend, which I'm really looking forward to. We're trying a new place, recommended by my boss and her friends. Hopefully it'll be as fun as she says!

Hope you are all having a good week... or as good as it can be under the circumstances.

Be nice to each other! :)

Weekend recap

Another busy one for us this weekend...

Friday night, when I left off, Ria and her girls came over to play while our hubbies went out. We had a nice visit and the kids, as usual, had a blast together. The guys enjoyed their movie, it seems, and from their reaction... I'm glad I skipped it. Doesn't sound like it was my type.

Saturday, our patio was poured!!! At about 9am. Hooray! So far it looks great, but they still have to add color and a sealant, so I'll post pics when it's completed. Unfortunately we're spending more than we'd hoped on it and the fence, so we will not have any furniture on it for awhile, but it's still such a relief that they finally got it finished. After they left and we got cleaned up from our workouts, we headed to the mall. The boys had some Easter money from their grandparents to spend and they found cool stuff at the Disney Store and the Discovery Channel store. So that was a success. Next we headed to Ria's to drop them off so we could go on our date.

Shawn and I had a lovely dinner at a new place (thanks to the Entertainment book - which always gives us unique places to try that we might not have otherwise heard of, plus a good price). Then we went to see a movie, which was very sad but highly recommended. We ended the night at a local dive bar where we were the youngest people there... it was karaoke night... and the drinks were not very strong. But it was really fun - we played pool and darts and giggled at the singers.

This morning after I picked up the boys from Ria's house, we stopped in for a visit at my Mother-in-law's and she treated us and my niece to lunch at my favorite deli. We came home and did yard work and cleaned our cars (I'm talkin' clean too - I drug out the vacuum, Windex, washed them and even waxed mine - I'm going to be hurtin' tomorrow!). I'm really pooped, but I think we might have a Netflix movie to watch, so I better snap out of it eh?

Hope your weekend was swell. :)

Sushi and wine make everything better!

I, as promised am less bitchy grumpy today. So also as promised, I will only say non-bitchy nice things in this post.

We actually did have a very nice evening. First, that website that Ria directed me to directed me to yet another website (please do click on all these links!)... which enabled us to eat sushi at a decently yummy restaurant last night! It's actually a really cool concept and ended up saving us $20, which I am definitely all about. So go check it out!

As you can see, once we arrived home we went straight to the bathtub with a glass of wine. No, I did not give my boys the wine - despite the hilarious faces they make when we do give them things like that, they know it tastes "nasty" we would never give our children alcohol to experiment with.

After dinner, Shawn and I snuggled on the couch while watching one of our favorite shows. We ended up staying up arguing talking until after midnight, so I'm a little tired less perky than usual today, but definitely not feeling as bad I was yesterday.

It didn't snow today, after all, so we had towent to the grocery store (and I actually stuck to my budget for the first time in a couple weeks! woohoo!). And now the sun is trying to come out! Which means Shawn still gets to have his date tonight with Thomas (Ria's hubby) and the boys will get to play with their future wives while Ria and I sit around and gossip about people we don't like catch up on life.

I completed my psychological evaluation today for the surrogacy. The next step, once they decide I'm not crazy unbalanced, is to help match me with the IP's. So we'll see how that goes...

In other news, my friend Ellen's little boy is having surgery today (well by now he's probably (hopefully) done with it and recovering nicely. So please keep her and her family in your thoughts.

There. Now that wasn't too bad was it?? :)

Another whiny post...

I'm not sure what my deal is, but I'm feeling very bitchy these days, clearly! I promise I will try for this to be the last pissy post... all I can do is try, right? Here is what I'm pissed off about today:

1. Sanjaya is still on American Idol. Though he did perform better this week, I would have preferred him to leave over Haley. *mutter*

2. I gained a pound. *pout* Despite working out last night. I am feeling fat today.

3. My cat shat on the floor yesterday. And I picked it up. With my bare hands. In my defense, I thought it was salsa. My hands, after washing them three times, still smelled like cat shit until I painted my fingernails. Now they smell like fingernail polish. *shudder*

4. My patio is not done. They were supposed to do it yesterday, but the concrete did not come in. So now, not only do we not have a patio, we don't even have a stoop to sit on because that was broken to smithereens in preparation for pouring the patio. *grumble*

5. It is going to snow again. It is f*cking April!! This is getting ridiculous! Because of that, our patio will have to be put off for a few more days. And it's going to snow next week too. *growl*

6. My brother is not doing well. He can't find a job, his health problems are getting worse, and he's depressed. I'm worried about him. :(

I do have a couple of things to be happy about, and as you may or may not know about me, I would rather be happy than bitchy, but the list for bitchy is longer. Here's my happy list:

1. My mom and dad are coming for a visit soon - less than a month actually (thank you, Frontier!) and will be here for Gavin's birthday.

2. Thanks to Ria, I get a date with my husband this weekend. That is, if it doesn't get pushed back because he has a date with Ria's husband to see a movie. I'm not sure what we'll do, but it's definitely my turn to pick out the movie. :)

3. It's leftover night. No cooking for me! Plus we have wine in the house, which sounds really good right now!

4. I have a wonderful husband who thinks I'm sexy even when I gain a pound, and kids who love me whether I'm fat, bitchy or "happy to them". :)

So right now we're 6 to 4... But like I said, I'm trying to cheer up and will try not to post again until I have something nice to say!

Oh wait, I just thought of another thing. Today is Thursday, which is my Friday as I'm off Fri-Sun. So I guess we're 6 to 5. Just a couple more to go... ;)

Easter, Schmeaster

Ok so I am having a hard time not eating the boys' chocolate. I don't know why it's calling to me - if it's because I am PMSing (I don't think that's it) or because I just stopped smoking - though it's been almost 2 weeks! But I am ready to throw it out the window. We still have Halloween and Xmas and Valententine's Day candy sitting around, so this hasn't been a problem before... I'm not sure what the deal is. I just had to bitch about that for a second.

In other news... I am not quite ashamed to admit that I thought Sanjaya was one of the better performers last night. I think that slow sweeter crooner shit is his niche and he did a good job. I'm not a big fan of Latin music - it just doesn't do anything for me - so the evening was a bit of a waste in my opinion... but he was a nice ending to the night.

Is this a bitchy post or what? And not a single link or picture to share. Sorry about that... I suppose I should get back to work!

A TV post for you :)

This will be short and sweet. Shawn and I have been mourning the loss of a really fantastic TV show, that appears to be done? Maybe? No one seems to know for sure. But tonight NBC slightly redeemed themselves with a new show. You will have to watch it next week if you haven't gotten the chance to watch it or Tivo it this week (though I think if you click that link above you might be able to watch some online?). It really was hilarious! And I usually don't laugh out loud... but this show made me!

Also, my man Barack is going to be on David Letterman tonight - so hopefully you can catch that too. :)

In other news... Gavin puked one more time this morning, for good measure, but seems to have made a complete recovery. He was running around in his Spiderman costume in the backyard all evening and nothing says "I'm feeling better" like Spiderman costumes. So hooray for that! Now to clean that orange stain on the carpet... I have got to get a new carpet cleaner. Sigh.

Oh! And they are supposed to pour our patio Wednesday - hooray! Right now we have forms where the stoop and patio used to be, which makes for scary outdoor adventures for the kids. They have been having fun pretending to be Bob the Builder and I'm doing my darnedest to keep them away from the construction site. Unfortunately we are using our entire budget on the fence and patio, so it will not have any furniture on it until we come up with some extra money somewhere. Hopefully a bonus is in my future. That or maybe they'll FINALLY get my numbers for the lottery on Saturday. :) Hey, a girl can dream, eh?

Cooties!

Well it appears that the bug that Tyler caught a couple days ago was waiting silently to strike Gavin. And strike it did! We were up half the night and he was puking from last night until this morning. Doesn't he look pathetic? Poor little guy... He seems to be more and more back to his old self as the day progresses today but it's been a rough weekend!

Friday started with a trip to the Dentist, so we played hooky from school that day. Shawn had 6 cavities!! He had to have a deep cleaning and will have to go back later to get those cavities filled. I'm thinking there might be something wrong here because neither of us have ever had cavities until we moved to this house. I called our water company and was told there was some natural fluoride in the water, but not as much as the dentist recommended. So we have added a fluoride rinse to our 1/2 hour tooth brushing process. Hopefully that will prevent either of us from getting any more! The boys have some slight discoloration but so far that has not turned into a cavity, so they had a good checkup overall.

After the dentist, we headed to my favorite healthy food store - where you can shop in bliss without having to read a single label to see what kind of nasty stuff is in the food. We've been doing some research lately on MSG, TBHQ, Splenda, aspartame and of course hydrogenated oils. It is so scary what companies feel free to put in our food, knowing what it does to us! We are trying to eliminate all of these ingredients from our food, but it's hard and expensive! It's important to us, though, that our family is healthy, so it's worth it.

Saturday we cleaned the house and worked out, which wasn't too exciting. ;) We were supposed to have an Easter Egg hunt in our neighborhood, but it was freezing, so we skipped it. Instead, Shawn took the boys to see a movie while I went to Once Upon a Child to try to sell some of Gavin's clothes that are too little for him. Unfortunately they didn't want many so it was a waste of time, so they are all on eBay now. Hopefully we'll make a little money so we can update Tyler's wardrobe.

Saturday night, Ria's girls came over to play for a bit while she and her hubby went on a date to celebrate her birthday. That's when Gavin started getting sick. Ria's youngest, Ella (who is 10 days younger than Gavin) was really sweet and trying to take care of him, while Kylee and Tyler entertained each other. They love playing Hullabaloo when they are together, and that is always entertaining to watch.

Today we've been trying to help Gavin feel better and dealing with getting stuff listed on eBay. We're supposed to head to Shawn's parents' house for dinner in a bit to celebrate Easter, so hopefully the boys won't spread their cooties!

Hope you have had a fantastic weekend...

Johnny Depp and soccer

So I didn't end up sleeping on the couch. And to top it off, this morning I awoke (after a nice 7 1/2 hours) to Johnny Depp. No, he wasn't really in my bed, but for some reason we were having an affair in the dream I had right before I woke up. It was very nice. I'd like to always wake up to that... and he looked like this ------>.

Yum!

Also in the dream I was informed by my boss, who didn't actually look like my boss but rather she looked like my neighbor down the street, that I was not allowed to have my affair with Johnny Depp because she was in love with me and had been secretly for three years. Strange, eh?

And speaking of work, things are calming down a little there, so I will stop bitching about it. I finally got caught up a bit, which felt much better. And even got some extra work done. We're actually having a good month which means I may get a nice bonus in May (hello, patio furniture!). So keep your fingers crossed.

We finally got a decent bid on our patio, but it's still much more than we were wanting to spend. It would have been more, but I whined a bit and the guy came down a little when I promised to pay him cash. Hey, what he does with that money is his business, not mine, right? And at least he spoke English *ahem*. So it should be poured this week and 10 days after that they'll seal it. At that point I'll take a pic so you can see what all this b*tching has been for. Hopefully it will look nice!

We went to a soccer game tonight. I am definitely getting the "Bad Mother of the Year" award this week, between not holding my child's head while he puked because I didn't want to get out of bed, to bringing Spring jackets on a Winter coat evening. We froze our &#$*$#(! off. In my defense, it was not that cold when we left the house. But somewhere between our house and the soccer stadium, the temperature dropped by about 20 degrees. We ended up getting there about 20 minutes before the scrimmage was supposed to start (the team was playing itself - the first official game is not until Saturday when they play a real opponent), and it didn't actually start until 30 minutes after it was supposed to. So we ended up staying for an hour but only watching 5 minutes of the "game". Yeah, that was a big waste of time. ;) But the boys had fun when their teeth weren't chattering, so it's all good. Next time I will have to remember to bring some cash as well because an hour after dinner they were suddenly STARVING half to death (another notch in my "Bad Mother" belt!).

Oh! And last but certainly not least, it looks like I might have a partner in crime for the surrogacy I've been telling you about. Hopefully more to come on that later...

V-day and I'm sleeping on the couch!

For some crazy reason, our city has local election day in April (today, to be exact). There has been a lot of drama around here lately, with people wanting to change the name of the city as well as the proposed Nascar track I told you about before. At first I wanted to have the name changed, but I didn't fully understand the specifics and ended up changing my mind and voting against it. Shawn voted for it. We also had a disagreement on one of our councilmen... So he's informed me I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. ;) Hopefully after snuggling on the couch while we watch American Idol, he'll change his mind!

Tyler was sick today - he has some sort of stomach bug. He woke up at 4:45am and came in to announce that he had to throw up. My lazy ass did not want to get out of bed so I told him to get a drink of water and go back to bed (bad Mommy!). He came in about 15 minutes to let me know he's puked on the floor. Nice. Served me right for not getting out of bed when he needed me. So tonight we cleaned the carpet. And when I say we I mean me. Shawn helped set the damn thing up - I do not like this carpet cleaner at all and miss my old one. Oh well.

Work was busy today and yesterday and I keep falling further and further behind, which is stressing me out a bit. Tomorrow we're supposed to go to a soccer scrimmage at a new soccer stadium that just opened near us. Hopefully Tyler will be feeling up to it, and hopefully I will be too!

I did move forward a bit on the surrogacy... I filled out a crap load of papers and sent the company I'm working with all the info they need on me. It's quite a lengthy process but once I pass my psychological evaluation they will start trying to match me up with a set of Intended Parents (IP's). If I find someone I click with, I'll probably go ahead with it.

Anyway, that's enough for now... I need to put my heathens to bed!

Fun with Friends and procrastination...

Another busy weekend for us! We did a lot this weekend - I'll try to keep it short though. Friday we went out for dinner and a movie with Ria and her family. Dinner was very yummy - good food, cheap wine and fun friends - and the movie was really cute. We watched it with 3D glasses. I wish I'd have gotten a picture because it was hi-larious. :) Oh well...

Saturday we had a guy come to give us an estimate for our patio. We didn't receive the estimate until this morning and it was about double what we were budgeting... so I guess we'll keep shopping. We went to Lowes to buy stuff to work on our yard (that's where the procrastination comes in) because the weeds are already getting out of control! We also found some stuff for our patio that I think will make it really cute. That is, when we get someone to come within our budget. On a side note - we only budgeted what, talking with neighbors, it seems everyone else is spending - I don't believe it's an unrealistic budget! Anyway, I'm planning on doing a little garden around the patio and then possible a vegetable garden in another area of the yard. I'm really excited about having a garden again... We had one in our old house and it was a lot of fun for me and for the boys, who liked to help me.

Anyway, Saturday afternoon I attempted to buy plane tickets for our vacation to my parents' condo in Gulf Shores this summer, but unfortunately they don't have our dates open yet for frequent flier miles (which thankfully, Shawn and I both qualify for a free flight!). So I'll keep trying. We had a Barack Obama event that afternoon. Silly me volunteered to babysit so you'll have to ask Shawn what the whole thing was about because I missed it. That night we started watching the Planet Earth series. And if you haven't already seen it, believe me when I say you must! There is a new show on each Sunday but you can also catch the ones they've already aired because they are repeating them. It's very awe inspiring and the whole family will enjoy it! I promise!

Sunday we had a birthday party to go to at my friend Erica's house in Colorado Springs. Before heading down there, however, we made a detour to a furniture store to look at more patio sets (for the patio we still don't have concrete plans to get- no pun intended *grin*) and to our favorite brewery from our old town. After the birthday party, which the kids as usual had a blast at (they love a good party!), we drove by our old house on the way back home. The town has changed a bit from when we lived there - it has some new stores and eateries and a ton of new houses! My little braniac, Tyler, still remembered how to get to our old house. The new owners were actually in the garage when we drove by so we couldn't stop and gawk for too long.

I think I am going to go ahead with the process for the surrogacy. I will not make a final decision until I am put in touch with some prospective parents - I'd like to find someone that I feel a connection to - but I'm going to be getting some paperwork to fill out this week and I have to go through a background check, etc. So I'm going through with that part. I'll keep you posted on how the events unfold.