Archive for July, 2009

Let the countdown begin!

by Erin on July 27, 2009 in pure prattle, trials & tribulations with Comments Off

In 3 days and 23 minutes or so, the plane will be taking off and I’ll be on my way to TwiCon 2009. *Ü* I can’t wait. Of course I’m anxious over the flight, but still.

I’ve got my clothes all ready to pack, picked out my autograph item, and have written down instructions for the husband for the kiddo (who is home today due to a horrible cough). Last minute measuring has revealed that my carry-on bag is two inches too deep for Continental. Crud. I’m not buying a $100 bag so I can pack LESS. So we’ll be checking. Yes, it will cost me $15 each way, however, I’ll be able to fit what I need. I did see a neat bag at Costco yesterday… it allowed you to decrease the size of the bag to 9″, which would be good, but again, it was $113. AND my current bag (Costco, lol) was much better made. The wheels on mine are rollerblade wheels, where the ones on the changeable one I saw were just that hard plastic.

This is only my third time traveling a distance and going somewhere that I’d get souvenirs. Any thoughts on what to bring back? I don’t want to get stuck with truly useless tchotchkes.

Canine Influenza, Oh My.

by Erin on July 23, 2009 in trials & tribulations with Comments Off

Not sure if anyone is familiar with canine influenza (H3N8) but now I sure am.

We had a little incident with the pup and decided to get her into an obedience school. She’s there for 7 days (Tuesday-Friday) when she starts this noise thing, like a backwards sneeze (there is such a thing!). Then, her nose starts running. This is after she had gone to the vet 8 days prior (which cost me $295). So the vet gives us some antihistamine ($14) and an antibiotic ($84) and a bill ($166). Not 7 days later and she’s got green gunk coming out of her nose. So I call the vet. Yep, canine influenza, aka doggy flu. Adding more antibiotics to the mix ($180) and the grand total of vet bills is: $641. Sigh.

On the positive side, she is getting better now and I hope to have her back in school come Tuesday. :)

Criticism sucks.

by Erin on July 16, 2009 in trials & tribulations with 2 Comments

Yeah, I know. No one likes criticism. But criticism on something that you’re forced to do, something that you have no desire to do, just sucks even more. It’s like, “I need you to bake 2 dozen cookies.” “The cookies you baked? You used too much sugar and not enough flour. Thanks anyway.” (Ok, but imagine not wanting to bake the cookies, or that you didn’t want to bake the cookies AND you spent all that [now wasted] time on them.) Wow, right?

As a mom, you’d think I’d be use to being critiqued. “You’re not feeding him right.” “You’re not dressing him warm enough.” “You’re not putting him to bed early enough.” “You’re babying him.” “You’re creating a monster.” AAARGH! Sadly though, I am not thick skinned and I take everything to heart. So even after being stomped on over and over again, it still. freaking. hurts.

So now I feel guilty. Great.

by Erin on July 15, 2009 in trials & tribulations with 2 Comments

So I join a gift site and someone sends me $10 via PayPal towards the iPhone on my wish list (that’s how it works).

This bothers me immensely. I don’t know the person, so it really made me feel funny. Taking money from someone I don’t know. Not cool. So I sent a nice email saying that although I appreciate the gesture, and find it beyond thoughtful, I just can’t accept it. I get an email back. He feels bad for making me feel bad. Which now makes me feel even worse. See? Taking money from someone you don’t know—not cool.

But while on the subject of the iPhone, I bought the husband an iPod Touch and I freaking love it. I’m still aiming for the iPhone, although he keeps telling me to buy a touch because in two years I’ll want a new phone and I’ll have a bum iPhone. :| I’m not so sure about that theory.

Happy 4th of July [early]

by Erin on July 2, 2009 in holidays, pure prattle, trials & tribulations with Comments Off

Considering I have to overhaul the house before people can step inside on Saturday, I figured I’d take a moment to say, “Happy 4th of July!”

I made cute, cute, cute invitations using the Fire Up The Grill kit from Julie Billingsley. Unfortunately I think I’m the only one who appreciates the fact that I create my invitations at home and print them up as actual photos at Costco. Ah well.

So we’re going to have about 30 people here on Saturday. The house needs to be cleaned and I need to create a list of what is needed still. And here’s hoping that the weather is nice. Right now we’re looking at sunny and 80º–but we all know how that goes, especially lately.

So on that note, Happy 4th of July and may your weather be perfect!