So I decided that my computer was running "slow". We bought this computer in 2004 when we bought our house. And lately it has been taking what seems like hours (okay 15 minutes) to start up. So I got this BRILLANT idea to start over and re-install Windows. To erase the spy-ware and such. Too bad that I didn't think that I needed to "save" the drivers on the computer. I, of course, saved every picture and important file..but neglected to save drivers. So I re-install windows to find that every piece of hardware on my computer no longer has an application. Apparently when you install a new OS applications are what you buy, not what you have. I nearly sh*t my pants when I realized I made a mistake.
The conversation in IT when something like this....."So, suppose that you thought your system was running slow...and suppose you thought the answer to this problem was reinstalling XP....but when you reinstalled xp you realized that there were no applications...what would you do?"
First...they laughed. Not so funny for me. 2nd they showed me how to reinstall. Thank god. How I miss Joshua. My IT guys aren't the "smartest" and usually judge me. So tonight, I am writing from my MUCH faster, but less'd abilitied computer :) Again, I reitterate...I MISS JOSHUA.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
A thick envelope from the IRS
It's never a good sign. Since I doubt that the IRS likes to send cash, a thick envelope usually means audit. Oh how fortunate I am to have gotten a thick envelope tonight.
I'll tell you what drives me a little bit nuts about it; I'm being audited for 2006, for medical and dental expenses. I had my gastric bypass in 2006; a surgery which was not paid for by my insurance, so yes, IRS I spent well over 24,000 dollars that year on medical and dental expenses. Because not only did 2006 bring the wonderful blessing of paying for a surgery that should have been paid for by my insurance, but I also had 3, count them 3 root canals. Of which only 1 of them was even remotely covered by dental insurance. Since in 2006 I had to have a root canal that was originally done in 2003 redone since the first dentist missed part of the root. My dental insurance was eaten up in the firs 25 minutes of that root canal; and then lucky me, I had 2 other root canals that year. And I'm not at all convinced that the first root canal didn't lead to the others....well it lead to at least once; since the 2nd tooth was right next to the rogue 1st root canal.
My mom says to me, oh, it will be okay, just call your doctors & dentists and have them fax or email you over invoices. Which I mildly laughed at, because I knew I would get audited for 2006. When I only made something like 40K that year and 26K was declared non-taxible...I knew. I printed out every invoice, every receipt, and stapled it to my 2006 taxes when I did the taxes in 2007.
So for me, my audit will be easy. But still. It really pisses me off that if we had a national healthcare system, I probably wouldn't have spent 22K on a surgery to make me healthy. And therefore wouldn't have to claim that 22K on my taxes, and wouldn't, 2 years later, get a thick envelope from the IRS saying that something about my medical and dental expenses for that year didn't look right. JERKS.
On a completely different note, I learned something interesting today. A 61 year old Japanese woman gave birth to her grandchild. Which is an odd story, what makes it really odd? Surrogacy is illegal in Japan. The news article focused more on the fact that she committed a crime, than the fact that she was the oldest woman in Japan to carry a child to term. CRAZY! Although, Lisa explained to me that Japan has crazy strict laws about having children....I'm sure LDS is not a popular religion there. So as a side bar to this article about the Japanese surrogate, there was an article about surrogacy being on the rise for miltary family and I briefly skimmed the article to learn that surrogacy is only legal in 12 US states. WOW; I did not know that. VERY interesting. I can't imagine why it would be illegal., I mean surrogacy is as old as time. Weren't hand maidens really just surrogates for royalty? Kinda....since obviously there was no invitro available back then....I was shocked.
I'll tell you what drives me a little bit nuts about it; I'm being audited for 2006, for medical and dental expenses. I had my gastric bypass in 2006; a surgery which was not paid for by my insurance, so yes, IRS I spent well over 24,000 dollars that year on medical and dental expenses. Because not only did 2006 bring the wonderful blessing of paying for a surgery that should have been paid for by my insurance, but I also had 3, count them 3 root canals. Of which only 1 of them was even remotely covered by dental insurance. Since in 2006 I had to have a root canal that was originally done in 2003 redone since the first dentist missed part of the root. My dental insurance was eaten up in the firs 25 minutes of that root canal; and then lucky me, I had 2 other root canals that year. And I'm not at all convinced that the first root canal didn't lead to the others....well it lead to at least once; since the 2nd tooth was right next to the rogue 1st root canal.
My mom says to me, oh, it will be okay, just call your doctors & dentists and have them fax or email you over invoices. Which I mildly laughed at, because I knew I would get audited for 2006. When I only made something like 40K that year and 26K was declared non-taxible...I knew. I printed out every invoice, every receipt, and stapled it to my 2006 taxes when I did the taxes in 2007.
So for me, my audit will be easy. But still. It really pisses me off that if we had a national healthcare system, I probably wouldn't have spent 22K on a surgery to make me healthy. And therefore wouldn't have to claim that 22K on my taxes, and wouldn't, 2 years later, get a thick envelope from the IRS saying that something about my medical and dental expenses for that year didn't look right. JERKS.
On a completely different note, I learned something interesting today. A 61 year old Japanese woman gave birth to her grandchild. Which is an odd story, what makes it really odd? Surrogacy is illegal in Japan. The news article focused more on the fact that she committed a crime, than the fact that she was the oldest woman in Japan to carry a child to term. CRAZY! Although, Lisa explained to me that Japan has crazy strict laws about having children....I'm sure LDS is not a popular religion there. So as a side bar to this article about the Japanese surrogate, there was an article about surrogacy being on the rise for miltary family and I briefly skimmed the article to learn that surrogacy is only legal in 12 US states. WOW; I did not know that. VERY interesting. I can't imagine why it would be illegal., I mean surrogacy is as old as time. Weren't hand maidens really just surrogates for royalty? Kinda....since obviously there was no invitro available back then....I was shocked.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The Fair
Each year Lisa and I look forward to the Puyallup Fair. I'm pretty sure that all 9 years we've been together, we have made the trek to the Puyallup Fair. I love it all. The smells, the food, the people watching, the exhibits (mostly the exhibits), the hobby hall, the animals (minus the horses) the sounds, the food, the scones, the freedom, the fun, the food, the rides, the VitaMix demo, the health fair, and the food. We spend an entire day at the fair, we get there just as it opens and usually leave around 6 or 7pm. This year will probably be a little different, but hopefully not by much.
We always start off the day with a fresh and hot scone...my preference is from under the grandstand. They litterally melt in your mouth, and since they are just a buck....we get one to enjoy right then, and one to enjoy for a snack later. Then we slowly, but surely cover every square inch of the fair.
This year will be more exciting than others. I will be exhibiting.....no, not like for my work, but personally. Last year they introduced (actually it might have been earlier...but last year I decided I wanted to enter) Scrapbooking as a competition in the hobby hall. I like to look at the layouts to get ideas to incorporate into my scrapbooks. So this year I will enter, I am super excited. Because I did this amazing layout for Stellanne's baby book. It's titled "My Arrival" an is a layout centered around her delivery. It has the bracelets that we wore; pictures of Lisa and I, a cute picture of my mom sleeping on the couches in the waiting room, an account of what happend and when, Stellanne's stats (name, length, weight, eyes, hair, etc) as well as her first foot prints. AND the absolute best pictures that were taken that day of the moment that Stellanne entered our lives. Just looking at the pictures brings back the emotions that ran through my blood seeing her for the first time. When I finished the layout I just stared at it, because I loved it so much. This page layout will be entered in the competition. And really, I don't care if it wins. It will be cool enough to go to the hobby hall when we are at the fair and get my picture taken next to my entry.
Then, as I was reading about entering the Scrapbook contest, I saw there was a "Puyallup Fair's BEST Jams and Jellies" Contest. And I thought....hey, I should enter that TOO. I created a recipe for strawberry banana butter. Lisa and I LOVE it. Infact we don't have any left. So I'll have to make more, but how cool is that to enter in my orignal recipe...not many people can say they have an orignal recipe; and I do. They do the judging a little bit different for this contest, and I have to pretty much be at the fair all day on the 19th (anyone going to the fair on the 19th?...come visit me in the hobby hall) but who cares since I might get an award for my strawberry banana butter....
We always start off the day with a fresh and hot scone...my preference is from under the grandstand. They litterally melt in your mouth, and since they are just a buck....we get one to enjoy right then, and one to enjoy for a snack later. Then we slowly, but surely cover every square inch of the fair.
This year will be more exciting than others. I will be exhibiting.....no, not like for my work, but personally. Last year they introduced (actually it might have been earlier...but last year I decided I wanted to enter) Scrapbooking as a competition in the hobby hall. I like to look at the layouts to get ideas to incorporate into my scrapbooks. So this year I will enter, I am super excited. Because I did this amazing layout for Stellanne's baby book. It's titled "My Arrival" an is a layout centered around her delivery. It has the bracelets that we wore; pictures of Lisa and I, a cute picture of my mom sleeping on the couches in the waiting room, an account of what happend and when, Stellanne's stats (name, length, weight, eyes, hair, etc) as well as her first foot prints. AND the absolute best pictures that were taken that day of the moment that Stellanne entered our lives. Just looking at the pictures brings back the emotions that ran through my blood seeing her for the first time. When I finished the layout I just stared at it, because I loved it so much. This page layout will be entered in the competition. And really, I don't care if it wins. It will be cool enough to go to the hobby hall when we are at the fair and get my picture taken next to my entry.
Then, as I was reading about entering the Scrapbook contest, I saw there was a "Puyallup Fair's BEST Jams and Jellies" Contest. And I thought....hey, I should enter that TOO. I created a recipe for strawberry banana butter. Lisa and I LOVE it. Infact we don't have any left. So I'll have to make more, but how cool is that to enter in my orignal recipe...not many people can say they have an orignal recipe; and I do. They do the judging a little bit different for this contest, and I have to pretty much be at the fair all day on the 19th (anyone going to the fair on the 19th?...come visit me in the hobby hall) but who cares since I might get an award for my strawberry banana butter....
The allure of moving in the middle of the night?
So as previously covered I live in a "bad" neighborhood. My comparisons aren't all that good, so hense the quotes around bad. Lisa and I lived in Cheney for 5 years, moved to Spokane for like 9 months and then lived in Maple Valley which is rather sheltered. All the places we've lived have been sheltered. I didn't like our last neighbor for the pure fact that he didn't smile at me when he saw me outside. But then events happend that "forced" us to rent/lease this home in puyallup. #1 We sold our home in Maple Valley. Which was a blessing....we were ready to be out of there, it wasn't big enough and it took forever to get anywhere. Had we not sold the townhome, I'm not sure how I would work at home, and I'm positive that Stellanne would have to actually leave our house for me to actually get any work done. #2 the decision not to move to Texas left us with no place to live. And #3 Puyallup is one of the towns that Lisa and I had always talked about moving to (everything is close, they have good schools, and new homes). So I answer an ad about renting/leasing to own homes in puyallup. The unfortunate part was that the "realtor" showed us the house, and after we signed the papers we found out the address was ..... *GASP* Spanaway. Our back door neighbors are Puyallup; so since I have a bad taste for the town of Spanaway (don't ask me why...I'm not sure) I say we live in Puyallup. The house is nice enough. Large, 3300 sq ft. The lot isn't all that big...but Lisa and I don't really want an acre to take care of. A little backyard for the dogs is really all we need. And the layout works well. The kitchen is HUGE and even bigger is the pantry. The bedrooms are nicely sized, except the master; way too big. And there is a nice ratio of bathrooms. Downstairs I have a room that is my office; it's nice because I can hear what is going on in the rest of the house, but it is filtered. But house does have it's problems. #1, the builder was crap. He started out with good thoughts. a 5 piece master bath, nice gas fireplace in the main living room, upstairs laundry, an upstairs family room, and large hall ways. However, as the market started to drop...so did his budgets and it is quite clear. After living in this house for 9 months, I am very glad we didn't purchase. It was an upgrade to add a fan to the fireplace in the livingroom. Something the builder didn't want to pay for...so we have a fireplace....but it puts out no heat. The range and dishwasher are the absolute CHEAPEST appliances he could find. I'm not sure he paid more than $50 for each. The dishwasher has been broken at least 10 times....in 9 months. I know the repairman's life....and he knows mine. Sad. I've seen better carpeting in prisons. Carpet that has been used for 9 months looks like it is at least 5 years old.....and I swear we don't use it that much. I'm not sure he actually applied paint....and if he did, it was on the LIGHTEST layer that he could. Since purely wiping something off the wall with papertowel, wipes off the paint. Our 5 piece master? Was supposed to have a stand up shower and a separate tub, however, funding was lost and so was the stand up shower. Not that I mind having a shower tub, but the place were the stand up shower was supposed to be....just an empty niche. Luckily, we had an amorie that nicely fit the in the space...so it doesn't look so weird. About 1/3rd of our electrical outlets don't work. Not sure how that passed inspection...but whatever. His idea of landscaping? Grass. That's it. He must have cut down a ton of trees to build on these lots and didn't think (or didn't have funding) to replace even just one. I miss the trees.
But that isn't even what I hate about this house. Really...if that was it, I could probably stand this house. But the neighborhood sucks it out of me. All but maybe 2 or 3 neighbors are completely white trash. One of my neighbors has 5 kids and is all of 23 years old. She looks like she's been rode HARD and put away dirty and wet. Not one of children looks like the others...I'm positive they don't have the same father. In May while we were in Indiana, my mom was reading upstairs and heard panicked cries for a little boy. She went outside to hear that the neighbors 2 year old was missing. They searched for over an hour to find that the little boy was playing the dirt next to her house. How do you lose your 2 year old? 4th of July we go down to my sisters house; we return around 11pm that night. 11:30pm rolls around and the neighbors get home....to start lighting off fireworks.....really? come on! 3 weeks later, she starts to shoot them off again at 8:30pm. I walk over to her house (after calling the cops) and tell her it is completely illegal for her to be shooting them off...not to mention, my daughter is trying to sleep and she's not helping. She explains to me that she just wanted to get them all lit off.....but all they have left are sparklers. And she knows she should be quite because her 6 month old is inside (by himself) and doesn't like the fireworks. The next day, Lisa is in the yard, mowing etc and the babysitter for the neighbor asks if she can use our phone, because her cell phone just died and she HAS to make an important phone call. Lisa asks why she can't use the neighbors phone, to which the babysitter tells her, well it was just shut off. So you have the money to buy fireworks, but not to pay your phone bill? The all important phone call? To her boyfriend. And the babysitter...came over to our house by herself....wonder where the 6 month old was? We also have backdoor neighbors, who have the most popular house in the neighborhood. They have a pool, and a trampoline....and I'm sure tons of sugar. Since all of the children spend all of their time at this house, screaming...at the top of their lungs. I can't wait for school to start again.
But the topper? As if to prove how "shady" all of my neighbors are? Out of the 20 houses in our neighborhood 7 of them sit vacant. At at least 2 of our neighbors have fled in the middle of the night. I'm not sure how...or why one would do that. Yesterday I saw the management company showing the recently vacated home next to us to a prospective renter/leaser....more drug dealers....lovely. I look forward to moving. We will probably chill here for one more year, save more money...we aren't in any hurry to move (at least I'm not....the last one nearly killed me).
We still like Puyallup....just not the Puyallup thats near spanaway.
But that isn't even what I hate about this house. Really...if that was it, I could probably stand this house. But the neighborhood sucks it out of me. All but maybe 2 or 3 neighbors are completely white trash. One of my neighbors has 5 kids and is all of 23 years old. She looks like she's been rode HARD and put away dirty and wet. Not one of children looks like the others...I'm positive they don't have the same father. In May while we were in Indiana, my mom was reading upstairs and heard panicked cries for a little boy. She went outside to hear that the neighbors 2 year old was missing. They searched for over an hour to find that the little boy was playing the dirt next to her house. How do you lose your 2 year old? 4th of July we go down to my sisters house; we return around 11pm that night. 11:30pm rolls around and the neighbors get home....to start lighting off fireworks.....really? come on! 3 weeks later, she starts to shoot them off again at 8:30pm. I walk over to her house (after calling the cops) and tell her it is completely illegal for her to be shooting them off...not to mention, my daughter is trying to sleep and she's not helping. She explains to me that she just wanted to get them all lit off.....but all they have left are sparklers. And she knows she should be quite because her 6 month old is inside (by himself) and doesn't like the fireworks. The next day, Lisa is in the yard, mowing etc and the babysitter for the neighbor asks if she can use our phone, because her cell phone just died and she HAS to make an important phone call. Lisa asks why she can't use the neighbors phone, to which the babysitter tells her, well it was just shut off. So you have the money to buy fireworks, but not to pay your phone bill? The all important phone call? To her boyfriend. And the babysitter...came over to our house by herself....wonder where the 6 month old was? We also have backdoor neighbors, who have the most popular house in the neighborhood. They have a pool, and a trampoline....and I'm sure tons of sugar. Since all of the children spend all of their time at this house, screaming...at the top of their lungs. I can't wait for school to start again.
But the topper? As if to prove how "shady" all of my neighbors are? Out of the 20 houses in our neighborhood 7 of them sit vacant. At at least 2 of our neighbors have fled in the middle of the night. I'm not sure how...or why one would do that. Yesterday I saw the management company showing the recently vacated home next to us to a prospective renter/leaser....more drug dealers....lovely. I look forward to moving. We will probably chill here for one more year, save more money...we aren't in any hurry to move (at least I'm not....the last one nearly killed me).
We still like Puyallup....just not the Puyallup thats near spanaway.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wonderful Baby
Stellanne is a truely wonderful child. Last night I couldn't get enough of her and I just started kissing her. We were supposed to be snuggling to go to bed. But she wasn't really ready to just snuggle down and sleep so she was restless. So I gave up and just started to kiss her. She liked it....she just laid there and took every kiss that I gave her. I covered her face and head and neck and arms and she just sat there, sucking on her bink looking at me. It felt so wonderful to know that she loves me just as much as I love her. And to know that she enjoys getting kissed as much as I enjoy kissing her.
Today is her 9 month birthday. It's shocking to me that she has been here 9 months and also shocking at the same time that she's only been in my life for 9 months. I feel as if our life was drab before...What did I worry about before? My thoughts are consumed with thoughts of Stellanne. What is she doing right now? Is she giving my mom a run for her money? What will it be like in daycare for her? Should we feed her chicken tonight? What will we do if she decides that tonight she is big girl and doesn't want to eat baby food? Will we be able to feed her enough? Are the toys that we bought stimulating her mind enough? How do I keep her knees protected from rug burns?
Every thought is of her; and funny when people as me how I'm doing? The answer always contains a reference to Stellanne. I'm good, the baby is now sleeping through the night. I'm good...Stellanne gave me a kiss this morning. I'm jubilant, Stellanne learned how to wave goodbye. I'm confused, I'm not sure what to do about her bottom being so red. I'm excited, in 2 weeks we go on vacation and it will be Stellanne's first time at the ocean.
I also feel sorrow for people that either don't get the joy that I get from my child; or have no desire to have children. If only for one second I could show them how wonderful it is to be a parent. If only for one second I could show them that being a parent is not as burdensome as a nonparent might think.
I dread my show in October....not because it will be a week filled with grueling days; and nights that won't end at 5pm; but because for 1 week I won't be able to kiss Stellanne any time that I want. I won't be able to hear her laugh as I tickle her or coo as we snuggle. If only I could tuck her in my pocket and take her every where.
Today is her 9 month birthday. It's shocking to me that she has been here 9 months and also shocking at the same time that she's only been in my life for 9 months. I feel as if our life was drab before...What did I worry about before? My thoughts are consumed with thoughts of Stellanne. What is she doing right now? Is she giving my mom a run for her money? What will it be like in daycare for her? Should we feed her chicken tonight? What will we do if she decides that tonight she is big girl and doesn't want to eat baby food? Will we be able to feed her enough? Are the toys that we bought stimulating her mind enough? How do I keep her knees protected from rug burns?
Every thought is of her; and funny when people as me how I'm doing? The answer always contains a reference to Stellanne. I'm good, the baby is now sleeping through the night. I'm good...Stellanne gave me a kiss this morning. I'm jubilant, Stellanne learned how to wave goodbye. I'm confused, I'm not sure what to do about her bottom being so red. I'm excited, in 2 weeks we go on vacation and it will be Stellanne's first time at the ocean.
I also feel sorrow for people that either don't get the joy that I get from my child; or have no desire to have children. If only for one second I could show them how wonderful it is to be a parent. If only for one second I could show them that being a parent is not as burdensome as a nonparent might think.
I dread my show in October....not because it will be a week filled with grueling days; and nights that won't end at 5pm; but because for 1 week I won't be able to kiss Stellanne any time that I want. I won't be able to hear her laugh as I tickle her or coo as we snuggle. If only I could tuck her in my pocket and take her every where.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Like a baby in a toy store....
"Ooohhh" she says :)
The INSTANT we turned down the toy isle of the store. Lisa and I had mildly convinced ourselves that Stellanne was bored with her toys. And really she is. My mom got her a piano, that she likes to play with, but the blocks and rings aren't as exciting as they once were. The only problem with that being that when she isn't getting enjoyment out of her toys...she wants enjoyment out of you. Not such a good thing when you are trying to make her dinner.
So we went to wally world this weekend and walked over to the toys. We don't frequent the toy section of wally world and litterally as we turned the corner into the toy isle, Stellanne says "Ooohh" Some toys she was more interested in than others. One of the toys we got was a leapfrog catipillar, that my mom picked up for 1/2 of a second to see what it was and Stellanne started SCREAMING the instant she put it back on the shelf rather than handing it to her.
I'm not sure we are teaching her good manners; but it's hard when your kid reacts so happily when she gets to play with a new toy. 2 of the 3 toys we got her talk, or sing or play music. She seems to be more vocal since we got them. But that could be my awareness.
Lisa and I have made it our goal to get Stellanne to say mama. She hasn't even barely made strides towards saying mama. She can, however, sing. And frequently sings while you rock her to sleep; its rather precious. One of these nights we'll have to record it, and put it on our flickr account because I'm sure she won't do it for forever.
AND another big milestone that I didn't want to hex was that Stellanne is now mostly sleeping through the night. She does wake up for a few minutes in the middle of the night; but she can put herself back to sleep. I think it has to do with starting her on 3 meals a day of rice cereal. We mix it with apple sauce and at night she gets a little bit of veggie. She is still drinking breast milk; but she is definately an eating baby. We try to give her little bits of what we are eating. Last night we had breakfast for dinner and Stellanne LOVED the pancakes. We tear her up little pieces and spread them on her tray, she takes great enjoyment out of picking them up and making it into her mouth. When she's done....she throws the food to the dogs. And they LOVE it. Plus it makes having her at the table much easier. We try to eat dinner as a family every night (and mostly we do) so once she's done with her food we let her "play" with our food until we're done.
I think it also helps that we have her on a routine. After dinner we take her upstairs and she gets a bath. The only part she doesn't like about the bath is having to actually get clean. And since she "helps" us while she eats, she can tend to get VERY messy. I try to put her in the bath, wash her VERY quickly and then as a reward, she gets all of her toys dumped out. She takes great delight in picking out which bath toy to chew on. Our only problem in the bath is that Stellanne is a bouncing baby, which isn't safe for the bathtub, so we have to sternly warn her that she needs to stay on her bottom, and her response is to laugh at us. So after her bath we take her in her room and lotion her up and put on jammies. Recently we've been letting her choose the jammies, just because it amuses us. After she is all "ready" for bed, she goes and drinks some milk with Lisa, which while she doesn't eat that much, it does serve as a "slow" down routine. Plus I think Stellanne just really likes that bonding time (which is good because Lisa isn't ready to give it up). Afterwards, we read her a book, she is a big fan of Sandra Boyton. Which is nice because the other night I tried to read her "My First Shabbat book" And the reading went something like this.
On Friday nights we celebrate Shabbat. With Candles, Wine, Challah...and none of the other stuff pictured here. We celebrate Shabbat to be mindful that G-d made heaven and earth in 7 days and on the 7th day he rested. OH except we actually believe that the earth was made from the big bang theroy and we celebrate Shabbat to be reverent to G-d. (Lisa laughed at this one). On day one G-d made heaven and earth (but not really even though one could argue that because of their exsistance there is a G-d) On day 2 god make the earth and seas (which was more of a chemical reaction....) and so on until we got to And on day 6 G-d made man and man made woman (which lets be realistic....men are way to ego centric to make something that isn't exactly like them, so it was probably the other way around - except we believe in evolution anyways.....)On Saturday some Jews go to synogague (but not us) and after attending services they continue to rest (but not us, because we have chores to do) At sundown on Saturday we have a Havdalah cerimony (but not us, because really...we have a hard time even celebrating Shabbat in the first place) to say goodbye to Shabbat (sounds a little like a mental problem.....saying goodbye to a day) Lisa and I are terrible jews; but I guess as long as we teach Stellanne the reasons behind what we believe we'll be good reform Jews. My favorite Rabbi used to say that a lot. Reform Judiasim is an informed choice. We know what other people believe....we just don't belive it.
Okay so on to after the story, we get her bink and blanky and then turn out the light, then we rock (while she sings herself to sleep) and right before she's asleep we lay her in her bed (to teach self soothing). Sometimes (like tonight) she pretty much stays asleep, othernights she sits up and plays in her bed for 20 more minutes before falling forward and falling asleep. We usually have to go in and readjust. It's very cute. And oh so nice that she is sleeping through the night. Now we just have to work on sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday......
The INSTANT we turned down the toy isle of the store. Lisa and I had mildly convinced ourselves that Stellanne was bored with her toys. And really she is. My mom got her a piano, that she likes to play with, but the blocks and rings aren't as exciting as they once were. The only problem with that being that when she isn't getting enjoyment out of her toys...she wants enjoyment out of you. Not such a good thing when you are trying to make her dinner.
So we went to wally world this weekend and walked over to the toys. We don't frequent the toy section of wally world and litterally as we turned the corner into the toy isle, Stellanne says "Ooohh" Some toys she was more interested in than others. One of the toys we got was a leapfrog catipillar, that my mom picked up for 1/2 of a second to see what it was and Stellanne started SCREAMING the instant she put it back on the shelf rather than handing it to her.
I'm not sure we are teaching her good manners; but it's hard when your kid reacts so happily when she gets to play with a new toy. 2 of the 3 toys we got her talk, or sing or play music. She seems to be more vocal since we got them. But that could be my awareness.
Lisa and I have made it our goal to get Stellanne to say mama. She hasn't even barely made strides towards saying mama. She can, however, sing. And frequently sings while you rock her to sleep; its rather precious. One of these nights we'll have to record it, and put it on our flickr account because I'm sure she won't do it for forever.
AND another big milestone that I didn't want to hex was that Stellanne is now mostly sleeping through the night. She does wake up for a few minutes in the middle of the night; but she can put herself back to sleep. I think it has to do with starting her on 3 meals a day of rice cereal. We mix it with apple sauce and at night she gets a little bit of veggie. She is still drinking breast milk; but she is definately an eating baby. We try to give her little bits of what we are eating. Last night we had breakfast for dinner and Stellanne LOVED the pancakes. We tear her up little pieces and spread them on her tray, she takes great enjoyment out of picking them up and making it into her mouth. When she's done....she throws the food to the dogs. And they LOVE it. Plus it makes having her at the table much easier. We try to eat dinner as a family every night (and mostly we do) so once she's done with her food we let her "play" with our food until we're done.
I think it also helps that we have her on a routine. After dinner we take her upstairs and she gets a bath. The only part she doesn't like about the bath is having to actually get clean. And since she "helps" us while she eats, she can tend to get VERY messy. I try to put her in the bath, wash her VERY quickly and then as a reward, she gets all of her toys dumped out. She takes great delight in picking out which bath toy to chew on. Our only problem in the bath is that Stellanne is a bouncing baby, which isn't safe for the bathtub, so we have to sternly warn her that she needs to stay on her bottom, and her response is to laugh at us. So after her bath we take her in her room and lotion her up and put on jammies. Recently we've been letting her choose the jammies, just because it amuses us. After she is all "ready" for bed, she goes and drinks some milk with Lisa, which while she doesn't eat that much, it does serve as a "slow" down routine. Plus I think Stellanne just really likes that bonding time (which is good because Lisa isn't ready to give it up). Afterwards, we read her a book, she is a big fan of Sandra Boyton. Which is nice because the other night I tried to read her "My First Shabbat book" And the reading went something like this.
On Friday nights we celebrate Shabbat. With Candles, Wine, Challah...and none of the other stuff pictured here. We celebrate Shabbat to be mindful that G-d made heaven and earth in 7 days and on the 7th day he rested. OH except we actually believe that the earth was made from the big bang theroy and we celebrate Shabbat to be reverent to G-d. (Lisa laughed at this one). On day one G-d made heaven and earth (but not really even though one could argue that because of their exsistance there is a G-d) On day 2 god make the earth and seas (which was more of a chemical reaction....) and so on until we got to And on day 6 G-d made man and man made woman (which lets be realistic....men are way to ego centric to make something that isn't exactly like them, so it was probably the other way around - except we believe in evolution anyways.....)On Saturday some Jews go to synogague (but not us) and after attending services they continue to rest (but not us, because we have chores to do) At sundown on Saturday we have a Havdalah cerimony (but not us, because really...we have a hard time even celebrating Shabbat in the first place) to say goodbye to Shabbat (sounds a little like a mental problem.....saying goodbye to a day) Lisa and I are terrible jews; but I guess as long as we teach Stellanne the reasons behind what we believe we'll be good reform Jews. My favorite Rabbi used to say that a lot. Reform Judiasim is an informed choice. We know what other people believe....we just don't belive it.
Okay so on to after the story, we get her bink and blanky and then turn out the light, then we rock (while she sings herself to sleep) and right before she's asleep we lay her in her bed (to teach self soothing). Sometimes (like tonight) she pretty much stays asleep, othernights she sits up and plays in her bed for 20 more minutes before falling forward and falling asleep. We usually have to go in and readjust. It's very cute. And oh so nice that she is sleeping through the night. Now we just have to work on sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday......
Friday, August 1, 2008
Copyright infringment
I'm going to have to do research; I'm not sure if copyrighting protects concepts. I know that it doesn't protech facts; ie for every 3 dollars you spend on your billing company you make 4 in revenue (not a real fact). I'm in the process of developing the demo stations that we'll use 2 fold. #1 and the reason that i'm getting so serious; we'll use them at ACEP. #2 Our advertising / solicitations of to / of new customers will use these presentations. So I checked out the competition. I printed out all of their presentations - and I feel pretty safe in saying that if my presentation looked a little like theirs no one would know since they all look the same.
We are the best billing & coding company, why? because we collect more money, with better service, compliance, and cheaper than our competition. OH and yes, we can't forget the all impressive words of: Industry Leader, Experienced, Specialized, and Passionate.
EVERYONE of my competitors says this; but honestly; I get it. That's what a doctor wants to hear. They don't actually want to hear that you collect the most; because that probably means that you aren't coding correctly and therefore opening them up for compliance issues. They don't really care that we can guarantee their receipts; all of our competitors do. And some things I can't mention in an ad because it would open us up to fraud.
The world of Advertising / Marketing / Sales is more work than I anticipated. But I worked at home today and got to miss all of the HORRIBLE traffic in Seattle today; so I'm not complaining about today.
We are the best billing & coding company, why? because we collect more money, with better service, compliance, and cheaper than our competition. OH and yes, we can't forget the all impressive words of: Industry Leader, Experienced, Specialized, and Passionate.
EVERYONE of my competitors says this; but honestly; I get it. That's what a doctor wants to hear. They don't actually want to hear that you collect the most; because that probably means that you aren't coding correctly and therefore opening them up for compliance issues. They don't really care that we can guarantee their receipts; all of our competitors do. And some things I can't mention in an ad because it would open us up to fraud.
The world of Advertising / Marketing / Sales is more work than I anticipated. But I worked at home today and got to miss all of the HORRIBLE traffic in Seattle today; so I'm not complaining about today.