Hannah Says...

Monkey See, Monkey Do

So, we are realizing that Emmett is picking up on EVERYTHING that we do around here.  And he gets me into trouble.  I'm going to confess a horrible habit that I have and I know it's just laziness, but it also makes for a funny story.  Emmett has been enjoying a few DVDs lately - Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Baby Einstein.  Sometimes if I forget to close the cupboard that we keep the DVD player in, he plays with the DVDs and then they get all smudged.  So, when he asks for a DVD and it's too dirty to play, I rub it on my pant legs and if the smudge is really bad I'll lick it and then rub it on my leg.  Bad, I know, because it can scratch the DVD and ruin it.  So, one night we see Emmett with a DVD and he's licking it and rubbing it on his pant legs.  I knew immediately what he was doing, so I start laughing and have to explain it to Brent.  Then he gave me a lecture and said something about only Daddy cleaing DVDs from now on.  The next time he wanted to watch a DVD I told him it was dirty and that I had to clean it.  So he said to me "Daddy cean it." 

Thursday

Man, this week has flown by, although I have been feeling all day like it's Friday.  We've been busy around here doing lots of things.  I've been working for my mom and Brent has been great about keeping Emmett.  I have been spending my evenings doing a little crafting, year-end stuff for the church and a few other things.  We canceled our cable, so we just have basic TV right now.  I thought I would hate it, but it's really not so bad.  I have also had one of my microwave cakes almost every night this week!  I just can't get enough of them.

Big news now...Brent got a job!  YAY!  Ok, so it's at Starbucks, but it's better than nothing.  It's actually the perfect job for him right now partly since he has a serious addiction with coffee!  It's like the mother ship is calling him home.  And the manager seems really willing to work with his future scheduling needs.

I am so looking forward to this weekend.  Tomorrow night we are heading to Brent's mom's for family game night.  Should be fun!  Rachael is coming home since she didn't last weekend.  I also have a baby shower for my friend.  She is adopting a baby boy from Korea and he should be here in the next couple of weeks!  I love it when my weekends are full of fun stuff to do!

crafting with Emmett

It's not nearly as fun as when I go to Oregon and craft with my girlfriends.  Here's why:

 

He was supposed to sit nicely and color in his coloring book.  But he decided that wasn't nearly as much fun as buttons.  I think you can all see where this is going.

 

Buttons everywhere.  And he was counting them as he swept them around the floor.

fun little treat

The other day I got a sample of a Betty Crocker Warm Delights in the mail.  (Apparently the samples aren't available anymore!)  I made it last night and it was really good.  When I looked at it I thought it looked just like cake mix, so I thought I would try a little experiment.  I took about a half a cup of regular cake mix (chocolate) and mixed it with about 1/4 cup water in a microwave safe bowl.  (I totally guessed on the amounts, but I aimed for it to be slightly thicker than when I make a cake for real.)  Then I microwaved it for 45 seconds and when it came out I drizzled it with Hershey's syrup.  It would probably be good with chocolate chips mixed in and maybe a little whipped cream or ice cream on top.  It is so good and so much easier than making a whole cake!

I also put a song on my sidebar and would like to know if it is working??  (You have to click play.)

getting there.

So, we are getting used to our new situation.  Here's what has happened so far.

I haven't been to the grocery store at all since "it happened."  Ok, wait, I take that back.  I bought some cheese when I was at Costco with my mom and Brent needed whip cream for his hot cocoa last night.  That's it!  What that means is that I have a lot of food in this house!  I do need to go to the store this week and get some milk and fresh produce.  Other than that we are using pantry and freezer stuff.  And we are having normal meals, not random thrown together meals.  Seriously we could go a long time and only buy "refrigerator" food.

Our bickering level has been taken down quite a few notches.  This surprised me a lot. I thought we would have a harder time since we have a very stressful situation on our hands.  But I think we are just trying to be nice to each other.  I know that might sound strange?  Like we don't try all the time to be nice to each other?  I can't explain it, but we have been really happy with each other these last couple of weeks.

I have been working for my mom.  I am so thankful that she can and will hire me like this!  Brent, in the mean time, has been on the hunt.  He needs patient experience for PA school, so he's trying to figure out what he is qualified to do and what will count for school.  No definite answers yet, but some hopeful leads.

I am trying to stay upbeat about all this.  It's getting a little easier everyday, but I still have my moments.  I am positive that this is all in the Lord's plan for us.  I have full confidence that we will get through it and look back at it all as a learning experience.  We are also thankful for all of the encouraging words from everyone!  Knowing that we have wonderful people in our life gives us a lot of comfort. 

My Joy These Days

Emmett has been such a fun little guy these past few weeks.  I'm doing my best to record all of his quirks and here's what I have so far:

• When we eat chicken he says "bawk, bawk, bawk", especially when he's asking for more.
• Loves to sing.  His favorites are The B-I-B-L-E and My God is so great, complete with motions.  Also likes The Wheels on the Bus.
• Says "Dere" (there) and "dat" (that) when he's pointing things out.
• If he's hungry or thirsty, he'll take me by the hand and point to the fridge.  When I open it, he points to what he wants to eat...makes life a little easier.
• Is really into the Toy Story movies.
• Will sit on the too-it (toilet) almost every night for 10-15 minutes, but won't go.
• Has a new laugh, kind of forced.  And another one that is a hysterical belly laugh.  Makes Brent and me laugh with him a lot!
• Working on colors.   He gets them wrong every time, but he always answers with a color, so I guess that is progress.  Always guesses "Green!" first.
• Will answer my questions, usually correctly.  When I ask him where something is, he'll either point it out, go and get it or tell me where it is.

• LOVES to watch Wheel of Fortune.  If you ask him what his favorite show is (with a little prompting) he says "Of Fortune!"

That may be all I can think of for now.  He's changing more and more all the time and becoming an interesting little person!

A tough time

The past week has been a rough one around our house.  We found out last Thursday that Brent lost his job.  It came as a huge shock and we are still in some disbelief.  It's kind of a long story and not one I really want to get into here, but we are feeling like he got the raw end of a bad deal.  We are still working through the anger and I think this is the first day that I haven't cried (yet)! 

While we are having a hard time with the emotional aspects of losing a job, we are slowly realizing that this is totally in the Lord's hands.  I'm not going to lie here, it's a bit of a process!  Each day I am increasingly more at peace with our situation, but I'm not 100% yet.  There are times that we see this as an opportunity, but still struggle with feelings of discouragement.

People keep asking where we are going from here.  We don't have all the answers yet, but I'm sure I will keep everyone updated as things change.  I think it was fairly common knowledge that Brent was planning on going back to school to become a Physicians Assistant.  We thought he would work for about a year more doing the pharmaceutical thing and then start the PA program.  (Not sure where yet!)  Most of that was due to the timing of the various schools and when their PA programs started.  That is still the current plan, but everything else is a little up in the air right now.

This is extremely hard for me (us) to post, but I wanted you to hear this kind of news from us.

Free Book

Click here to download Suze Orman's new book.  She has a lot of great $ advice!  It's only free for a week (starting today)!!

A New Year

I'm not usually a resolution-maker.  Probably because I would come up with unrealistic resolutions and then fail to keep them.  I decided that coming up with realistic goals for the year might be a better idea.  Here's what I have so far:

• Be better about organizing my "to-do" list.  Brent put up a new bulletin board for my at my desk.  It's actually a piece of sheet metal that's magnetic.  He also gave me a bunch of flat "wipe-off" magnets.  I would like to make three kinds of to-dos.  Things to do today, things to do this week, and things to do at some point.
• Be better at meal planning.  It seems like our schedule can change with no notice, so scheduling dinners is kind of difficult for me.  A few weeks ago, I made a list of dinners that I wanted to make sometime this winter.  As I made a dish, I would cross it off.  Writing it all down helped me remember what I wanted to make, so when I saw key ingredients on sale, I could plan accordingly.  I would like to keep doing this!
• Be better about our budget.  Part of that includes discussing our finances with Brent on a regular basis.  Our biggest fights usually have to do with money.  Since I handle all of the $ that's going in and out, I know exactly where we stand.  I want us to be better about being on the same page.  We are also planning on coming up with some realistic goals about where we want to be at the end of the year.
• The dreaded guest room.  Since it's on the main floor, right off the kitchen, it often becomes a catch-all for a lot of "stuff".  And, since we don't have a lot of guests, I don't see the need to keep it clean.  I want to be better about dealing with the stuff and not just throwing it in there and closing the door.  A few weeks ago, I decided to list a bunch of stuff on craigslist.  I decided that if it sold, great and if not, it would get donated.  And guess what?  Most of it sold!  (If a little extra $ isn't a good motivator, I don't know what is!)  I might have to figure out some kind of plan to get rid of stuff.  If I try to get rid of too much at once, I get overwhelmed.  Maybe a few items a month or something.
• I want to appreciate where I am in life more.  I am so fortunate that I can stay at home with Emmett, but often times I find myself doing it begrudgingly.  It's not that I don't like staying home, but there are times that it gets to me.  But then there are the times that I wouldn't have it any other way.  It's a constant struggle with me.  (I think this could be an entire post on it's own!)
• I want to be better about having daily time with God.  I have grown a lot over they year and I want to grow even more.  I'm in a Bible study right now that I love and I have been challenged many times.  I'm definitely learning a lot about myself, why I do what I do, and how we as Christians are called to live. 
• I want to become more creative.  I picked up the wonderful world of "felt-art" over the course of the year and have really enjoyed it.  (I highly doubt I will ever take up scrap-booking though!)  I would also like to be more adventurous in my cooking and baking.  And I would like to keep learning my camera. 
• Relax more.  Not like sit on the couch with a good book or movie, but not stress about things.  It seems like Brent is always telling me that I need to relax.  Most of the things I stress about are things that are out of my control anyways.
• Making more time for just Brent and me.  We had a couple of dates over the holiday and it was really fun!  It's something we really need to be better about!

Ok, I think that's enough for now.  I'm excited about the new year and the changes we will experience. 

MASH

Ok, one more and then back to work!  This one is inspired by Sam and Kelly.  Sam posted about the game MASH that we used to all play and Kelly provided a link to an online version.  According to my results, I will:

• live in a mansion (good start)
• in San Diego (even better)
• married to Brent (ok, I guess :))
• drive a red subaru outback (or maybe blue?)
• and be a SAHM to (in San Diego, sure!)
• 4 kids (no way, game over!)

You all know you're going to try it, so feel free to share those results!