Five.

The number five has much significance in my life. It's the time I get to leave the office everyday. It's the time I shout out when I need "five more minutes." It's used with little man when he's done something fun or exciting (give me five).

Today, five is a number that knots my stomach and makes my heart heavy. Five is the number of people I know under the age of thirty who have passed away in the last six months.

I'm so tired today, that I don't have the mental ability to focus my thoughts, but I will tell you this:

Cameron, Andrew, Tommy, Dan and most recently Aaron. You are loved. You are missed. You will never be forgotten.

Effort

There are many moments when I feel like the oldest 26 year old I know. I call these "Jerry McGuire moments." I sit at home most weekends, alone, sulking that most of my friends without children are out on the town being young and spontaneous. Brainstorming ways I can afford a sitter so I can participate in said spontaneous adult activities. Sometimes feeling resentful that I ended up having a child solo, when I had so much youth left inside of me.
Then there are nights like tonight. Nights that involved me, little man, and a beach ball. We sat, hitting the ball back and forth. Occasionally I would spike the ball into his face (yeah, written down it sounds rather cruel...but trust me, we had a blast). His laugh is intoxicating. His laugh makes me realize I'm blessed to have him in my life.
After tonight, I've realized I need to focus more energy on being a better mom. That darn laughing little man is worth every ounce of effort.

Mom's Day

In a couple of weeks, Mother's day will be here. Yes, it's a commercial holiday...but a doggone important one! For some, it's a day where husbands buy their wife something special, let them sleep in, and even bring them breakfast in bed.

If I could ask for anything this coming Mother's day, it would be this:


There's a fat chance in (you know where) that I would ever actually receive something so beautiful. I fell in love with this piece over the holidays. The story behind the pendent involves hearts always being open. I think it's beautiful, both intellectually and aesthetically.

Instead, this is all I expect on Mom's day:


What I want and what I'm going to get are quite alright with me. While what I want costs money my little man does not have, what I am going to get from him is absolutely priceless.

**I'll be sure to post what I'm giving my Mom...It's kind of silly, but something I know she wants!**

Part 2

With a buyers market, and finding myself unable to buy a house due to my financial state of suck...I was enraged.

What do enraged people do when all they've seen in the news for the past six months are politicians due to a historic presidential campaign do? They write their senator.

I hopped on Amy Klobuchar's website and found the "send Senator Klobuchar a message."

I wish I had saved my original message, but I was so infuriated at this point that it all seems like a blur. I remember making a point to come off as calm and literally intelligent so as to be taken seriously. I remember proofreading my message about a dozen time before clicking "send" and I also slightly recall using a few alcoholic beverages as my muse.

Almost immediately, my sent message provoked an automatic "thanks for submitting your message. Senator Klobuchar is very busy in Washington, and appreciates everything you have to say." AKA: Senator Klobuchar has assistants to deal with your petty drunk messages, so don't expect a return message.

(Again, this happened a half dozen (plus) weeks ago)

Much to my surprise, I received an email from Senator Klobuchar two days ago. MAYBE it was sent on behalf of her assistants, but I'm guessing it was from the actual Klobuchar.
Tell me what you think:

Dear Stacy:

Thank you for taking the time to write to my office about the importance of teaching our children financial education. Based on your letter, it is clear to me that you have thought about this issue at length. It is always helpful to hear people's ideas and our office will consider your views as we go forward. I appreciate that you shared your thoughts and concerns with me.

One of the most important parts of my job is listening to what the people of Minnesota have to say to me. I am here in our nation’s capital to do the public’s business and to serve the people of our state. With that in mind, please do not hesitate to contact me again about matters of concern to you.

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to write to me.Sincerely,

Amy Klobuchar
United States Senator

Thoughts...?

Part One.

A few months ago I was faced with an extreme amount of frustration brought on by a person I know house hunting. I was frustrated because this person makes less money than I do, and if I can't afford a house how could she?

When I looked at my own financial state of suck, I was mad at myself, but my brain didn't stop there. I reflected back on my parents, and on school. Both of which were not effective in teaching me fiscal responsibility. I surely could blame this partially on a teen age brain refusing to listen because MY GOD TEENAGERS KNOW EVERYTHING!

Here are the facts:
1) The most in depth convo I had with my parents about money was simple: "don't get a credit card. period. the end."
2) There wasn't a single course in high school or the like that entailed what it meant to be financially responsible, or lectures about the importance of building a savings account.
3) In college, my downward spiral started when I blew close to a grand (my graduation party money to be exact) during the first semester of college while simultaneously running a credit card up to close to 1,000 bucks. The beginning of my fiscal downward spiral.

To Be Continued...

Really?

Oh Brit-Brit.

You are making me feel old.

I would never had imagined the day when I shook my finger whilst rolling my eyes at "what the kids are listening to today" would come. At the ripe old age of 26, you've managed to evoke that maternal disapproval from me.

If You Seek Amy is a catchy tune. I've thought so since the day I brought your latest cd home (yes, it was a christmas present and yes, I was very excited to receive it). I never quite understood that track. The vocabulary seemed off to me. Maybe it's a sign of my old age, but saying "All the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek amy" doesn't grammatically make sense.

And then, I was enlightened. Your subliminal message was ACTUALLY F. U. C. K. ME. Ha. Kinda funny....But Brit-Brit...would you like it if Preston walked around your house screaming F. U. C. K. ME!. Well, you probably wouldn't mind...but I sure do.

Sure, I could turn off my radio, or change the station when your clever little tune comes on. What about the kids whose parents HAVEN'T picked up on your inappropriate song?

I just don't know what to think anymore, aside from shaking my finger, rolling my eyes and shaking my head no.

Morning Routines

A normal morning for me includes a handful of things:
1) Hitting my snooze until my alarm actually disables itself
2) Racing out the door telling Little Man "C'mon! Mama's going to be late...lets go super duper fast, alright?"
3) A morning telephone call to my mom after I've dropped Little Man off at daycare. It is one of two times during my week day where I am awake and can talk without a whiny three year old demanding my attention
4) Arrive at work 15-30 minutes early. Make coffee, check my email, read blogs, post a blog, sip on a fresh cup of joe
5) Start my workday promptly at 8

This morning, the traffic gods decided to eff with my mojo.

I sat on an on-ramp for a half an hour. Now, I hate to say this...but when I get stuck in standstill traffic I can only justify it with a human death. When I arrived at the end of the on-ramp, did I see blood and guts spattered about? Nope. I quickly realized this bumbled mess was all courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Some funny person set the light timers for the on-ramp to go green at 30 SECOND INTERVALS! I'm not sure how familiar you are with traffic lights on on-ramps...but 30 seconds between EACH.GREEN.LIGHT is a loooooong time, and creates a mile long line that was completely unnecessary.

Dear Minnesota Department of Transportation,

I'm a responsible adult and I allot myself extra travel time to preform my morning ritual...and since you decided to muck with it, I will decide to take the mature route and I give you a "Thanks for effin up my morning" and a big shining middle finger.

Fix the stop light (I know you know THE ONE I am speaking of).

Thanks for sucking,
Miz.

Stuff.

A guy I'm friends with on Facebook said it best: "Insert cliche about the weather here."

It snowed here over the weekend. Not enough to stick, but enough to make just about every person in Minnesota cry. It's that time of year where we see the good weather coming, but then our hope is crushed by massive frozen snow flakes. The weather here really does suck balls this time of year...

Quick weekend recap:
1) Took went to the Shrine Circus with little man, my niece and my mom. It was a great show this year!

2) Acquired tickets to the Twins Home Opener that happens to be tonight. I have two extra tickets that nobody seems excited about. If you're a fan or just want to go to a free ball game, let me know and the tix are yours!!

3) Planted a mini garden with little man. It is in a window sill long pot that happens to be sitting next to my window on my kitchen table. I wonder if I would get in trouble if I figured out a way to hang the pot outside my window (I probably would. poo). We planted basil, and tomorrow we are planting a pot of cilantro. I'm uber excited to: A) Not have to buy basil. B) Not have to buy Cilantro. C)Make awesome pesto. D) Throw fresh cilantro in guac come summertime!

4) Planted flower seeds in a pot that little man painted last year. I hope they grow...I really do!

5) Partook in a night of alcohol related debauchery. It was alright. That's all I have to say about that.

6) Nursed a hangover with Sonic breakfast, and unproductive downtime.

That's about all this mama has for ya. Happy Monday all!!

30+ Days!!

Since entering college, the longest span of time I had gone without drinking was the moment I found out I was pregnant (at five weeks along) up until two months after I had little man...so, roughly 11 months. During that time, I still went out with my friends to the bars or the occasional house party...but I did everything sober. At one event, I pretended to swig from a bottle of vodka as a joke (no worries peeps, the cap was on...) but that was as close as this chica came to alcohol.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an alcoholic. I don't NEED booze to have fun, but I highly enjoy consuming alcohol in social situations. In the first two months of 2009, there were a LOT of social situations which meant this mama was drinking her fair share!

I decided I need to pull the reigns on my drinking behaviors, and remind myself how much fun life and socializing was without booze. I committed myself to not drinking for the entire month of March. When I told people this, I was met with one of two responses:

1) Did you give it up for lent?
2) Huh...cool.

No, me giving up alcohol for a month had NOTHING to do with lent. It was just a self challenge I wanted to partake in.

As of today, April 1st 2009, I haven't had a drop of alcohol in my system for over a month....and I've still managed to have a lot of fun the past four weeks (insert gasp here).

I want to continue to challenge myself, so I have decided to not let myself consume alcohol until I've started routinely working out.

For the month of April I'm challenging myself to not spend superfluous money. What does that mean for me? No spending money on breakfast or lunch (rather, bringing food from home aka leftovers). Not wasting money on food purchases in general (aka eating most if not ALL of my leftovers). Not allowing myself to buy new dvd's for the month of April. Hopefully ending April with a few extra dollars in my pocket than I usually do! :)