Hello

Well I have decided to start a new personal blog. I have a Livejournal that I have had since 2000 but I don't really post there anymore. Back when Livejournal was super popular all of my friends had one too, and it was fun to read each others' blogs and comment each other. These days I just want an outlet for my ramblings and I rather like the idea of basically being anonymous since only maybe 3 people who know me in real life would read this. So it's a fresh start and it feels good.

Instead of a big introduction I will just jump right into journaling.

Yesterday on the messageboard I run, there was some drama that broke out. Drama is nothing new to a messageboard with 2500+ hormonal women, but this drama involved a friend of mine so it was especially taxing. She was accused of something she didn't do, so I had to be shown proof, which was her PayPal records. She had no problem showing me, and everything added up and all was well. She was accused of scamming people because she did a donation drive for one member who was struggling to survive and had her newborn in the hospital with a heart condition and another child at home. She collected diapers, wipes, outfits, toys, bottles, formula, etc for this woman, and any cash donated was used for shipping everything to her plus one more big diapers & wipes purchase from Walmart. Well this woman decided that she was being scammed because she thought there was extra cash left over and she was entitled to it. Excuse me? My friend did this out of the kindness of her heart for this gal, and they were close friends too! So once I was able to clear her name I made the ungreatful one apologize publicly on the board. Sure it was a bit of public humiliation, but she was telling everyone that H had scammed them out of money so it was only fair for her to apologize publicly to clear H's name. So she did and the other members tore her a new one. Whew. It has tapered down today and I think everyone is moving on. Sometimes I just can't believe I got myself into the mess of being the Admin of such a big mommy board. It really is a lot of work. Even while I was working full time I would have to do stuff on the board during the day. Very time consuming. Every issue anyone ever has, they come to me. I have to mediate squabbles between members, research possible fraud and lies, organize events & exchanges, etc. I do have a fabulous team of moderators who help me tremendously though, although we all don't always get along. So that was what I was dealing with all day yesterday...oh the drama!

One good thing that came from the board yesterday was that someone mentioned something called a Tassimo. So I looked it up and it looks awesome! -click- It makes single cups of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, espresso, latte, and cappuccino. It is so amazingly convenient with making one cup at a time. I don't drink regular coffee but I do drink the flavored stuff. And we'd all drink the hot chocolate. Mmm. I want one of these so bad. I can't buy anything right now since we haven't closed on our house yet. I would love to have one for the new house though. There's a perfect spot for it in the kitchen.

My kids are in the playroom watching the movie Aladdin. I love Disney movies. I want to collect them all. My favorite one is Little Mermaid. The boys don't particularly like that one but they love Monsters Inc, Toy Story, and Lion King. We'll see if they like Aladdin or not. I really want to take Ian to see the new Veggie Tales movie: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. I think it looks cute. I would have to take him once Chris was home so he could watch our little one while I take Ian to the movie. I think we will try to do that this coming weekend. It will be fun to spend some mommy/son time with him.

Chris and Ian have had some kind of stomach big for 3 days now. It's horrible. They feel just fine and have no other symptoms besides nonstop diarrhea. I'm tired of poop around here! Poor Ian sometimes doesn't make it to the bathroom in the middle of the night so I wake up to a yucky bathroom. Both of them get up so much during the night to 'go' that its a wonder they get any sleep at all. Chris took yesterday off work hoping he would get better but he didn't. He's working today though. I hope nothing embarassing happens to him. All I let him and Ian eat yesterday was toast, bananas, and corn flakes. They say to go by the BRAT diet when you need to firm up stools...bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. So that's what they did but it hasn't worked yet. I hope it goes away quickly. My poor guys. Luckily the little one and myself have been spared.

I'm having a Pampered Chef party this Saturday here at my house. I attended a friend's party in November and had so much fun! So I booked a show. My friends are looking forward to it too. I love Pampered Chef products. Everything I have ever bought from them has been awesome. And because we're buying a house right now, I can only really buy stuff if I get a lot free or discounted. But my friends know there's no pressure to buy stuff. I just really want the Mandoline. :) It will be fun. We'll be making 'Chicken Fajita Pizza' which sounds heavenly!

Let's see, what else is new in my world. Well the house buying thing is coming along nicely. We tried to get the bank (seller) to pay for the home warranty but they refused, so our realtor bought it for us. She's great. She's actually Chris' boss' wife. So that part is taken care of. We've asked to have our closing date pushed back to 2/15 instead of 2/28 since it looks like we've got someone who wants to move into our townhome on March 1st. We're still waiting to hear back from the rental management company to let us know for sure. When the couple was looking at the place they absolutely loved it. The lady said "This is it! This feels like home to me." So that was encouraging! I just want to move into my new house ASAP and get settled in. I can't wait for my kids to finally have a yard to play in, with a nice swingset out back. This spring is going to be wonderful.

Speaking of spring...is it almost here yet? Gah! We've been fighting -24 windchills lately. We got some snow all day yesterday but it was only about half an inch. So it looks pretty but isn't enough to cause problems. I am not a cold weather girl at all. I'm from TN and miss it terribly. Well I miss the warmth but not the humidity, or the crime, or the poor schools, etc etc etc. There's so much to love about Minnesota but the winter is NOT one of them.

I sent in an application to put Ian in preschool today. This would be for the 2008-2009 school year. I can choose the 2 day a week option or the 3 day option. It's only $40 difference in monthly cost for the 3 day option. It's only 2.5 hours a day but I suppose that is all they really need at this age. Since his birthday is in December he can't start Kindergarten this year, so I wanted to put him in something to get him out of the house and socializing with other kids. He will love it. I think he's smart enough to start Kindergarten anyways, but the age restrictions are tough and there's no getting around it. It will be ok though.

Well I suppose that is enough for the first day. I didn't mean to write a novel. Since I am at home with the kids these days I don't have adults to interact with and talk to, and I'm terribly phone shy so I won't call anyone to chat, so this is what I'm going to do. I really need to work on my issues with the phone. I'm just irrationally afraid of talking on the phone. I dread any awkward silences or saying something stupid. Plus I never know when to end the conversation. I don't want to end it too soon in case the other person has more to talk about, but I don't want to keep it dragging out if the other person has nothing else to say. So I avoid it as much as possible. It's sad, I know. I'll work on that this year.

:)