Ups and Downs

We took down our Christmas Decorations today. I hate this "day" because it makes my home ... well, boring, again. But honestly, I hate putting UP the decorations in the first place because I know this day will eventually come.

I'm in a "Bunko" group ... its a group of 12 women who get together once a month to play "Bunko" and eat. Anyway, each month, a different member hosts the party, and this month is my turn. I wish that I could get away with having my Christmas decorations up until about the 3rd week of January so that my house won't look so boring when they all come. Ah well... what can I do, right?

Get on board the "Joey train!"

Joey got a new train for his birthday last month and we are JUST NOW putting it together - and what better place than around the Christmas tree! He's entranced with his new train. He's memorized all the sounds already, and imitates them easily - and he's a master at the remote control. So funny to watch! Too cute!

Today's rant about 3 completely separate things.

Three things today:

1 - The United States Post Office needs a drive through service at every one of their locations. EVERY LAST ONE.

2 - I'm OVER - repeating.... OVER - people calling and harassing me. First of all, the national DO NOT CALL list is a bunch of bunk. Second of all, I am NOT [insert name here of man who used to live in this house who has NEVER had this phone number], and I'm sorry if you can't find him or his family, and I'm not the one responsible for cleaning up his credit, or paying his bills. STOP CALLING ME. ((Anyone know who to call to get annoying creditors from threatening ME?? I am NOT HIM, and I am NOT HIS WIFE. My hands are so tied, and I can't call police about this...who do I call??)

3 - On a lighter note, Hershey's has come out with a line of Candy Cane Kisses. Mmmmmm. Its the best I've had next to anything with peanut butter.

Happy Thursday! :)

Honesty.

My friend Doug hit me with a 10 things honest meme, and so here goes...!

1 - I hate telephones. HATE them. I don't exactly know when this phobia came to be, but I think it was when I was in Nashville. The phone would ring at work and I was deathly afraid of not knowing how to answer a question. When I went to work with my hubby, his business was such as political balance beam, and I don't know how to be political at all, and am honest to a fault (maybe that should be #2 in this meme??) - and I was afraid I would say too much. So I just wished that the stupid phone wouldn't ring. And I still have the same phobia today. I just hate the phone - period.

2 - I'm really hard on myself. I'm not as bad as I used to be. (Geesh - thank God for living and learning.) I have this thing where I try to over-reach a goal, and I get pissed at myself if I don't make it.

3 - I can be really mean when I'm tired, overwhelmed, depressed, being hard on myself. Very hurtful. The thing is - I don't intend to be, but my words get all boggled up, and before I pass my sentences and the tone I'm about to speak them in before the panel of judges in my head, they come spilling out - demanding, cold, and - frankly - bitchy. My husband has to take the brunt of this flaw - but thank God he knows when its his fault, or if its just me - tired, overwhelmed, depressed, etc.

4 - I rarely feel like I'm living up to my life purpose. I just feel antsy almost all the time. I feel like there is something bigger and more purposeful that I'm supposed to be doing right now in my life. But I'm hindered by my current life. I shouldn't say "hindered".... that's not the right word at all. I'm more "busy" with my current life - raising my son, and getting ready to have another. I have to remind myself that when its time, that big ol' purpose will show itself, and it will be something completely different than what I could ever assume.

5 - I'm often referred to by my husband as a walking rolodex. I can just remember that stuff. Usually.....

6 - I know a lot more than I let on. I really do "get" it - but I don't show it. I tend to, well, not play dumb, but I just don't always show all my cards. I'm not deceptive by ANY means. I just don't always open my mouth.

7 - I love to travel alone. There's nothing more freeing to me than being by myself traveling in a car, on a plane, walking down a street of a new city or country. I love my husband, and my son - but before I was married, this was the most liberating thing in my whole life. Given, its not that safe for women to do these days - but it is so intoxicating to me. I once walked down the streets of Lisbon Portugal for a few hours by myself in mid afternoon. I stopped by a little grocery stand and bought some fruit to snack on and brought my journal. I stopped a few times a long the way to soak up the sun, and write a few thoughts down. I even came across an old man, walking along, and he stopped me to have a conversation with me in broken English. He even sang a song to me in 1/2 French, 1/2 Portuguese, and then wrote down the lyrics on a piece of paper in broken English. I'll dig them up and put them on this blog someday soon. It was a love song to his wife. I cried. And so did he. It was one of the most memorable afternoons of my life. And I was traveling alone. I. loved. it.

8 - I love to sing. LOVE it. And even thought about going towards the "big" time with it - but then was completely turned off the business (after working so intensely within it), and even decided that I couldn't do it because - well, frankly, I didn't have the self-promoting narcissistic personality it takes to go with it. I just couldn't create a world that revolved around me. But I still like to sing. And not many get to hear me these days, except Joey.

9 - I don't hold grudges. I just can't. Life is much too short. Now, don't get me wrong - I don't often forget the moments that have hurt the most because I don't want to be a fool again - but I don't hold them against people. I have this (naive) belief that most people have the intention to do good to others, and don't intend to purposefully hurt or spite. I'm not THAT naive - but I think most of the time, this is the case.

10 - And for the biggie - (and this is STUPID but I'll never forget it because i'm embarrassed about it) - in kindergarten, I brought snack-sized candy bars to school to share with my class for my birthday. And while I gave everyone one, I took two for myself and looked at everyone at my table and said with a shrug, "Hey.... its MY birthday!!" What a jerk I was!

Ok kids..... I'm going to tag Kate from All Over the Place (if you have time! I know you are all over the place ....) and Daniel, my brother.

For Christmas: Zimbabwe, Somalia.... the World.

The people of Zimbabwe are in dire need of prayer. I don't know if there is really anything that we can DO besides pray for these people. The cholera outbreak there is threatening to wipe out the people, and the bank issues are just..... unreal. These people need help. Read more here.

Rarely do I listen/watch our own country's news casts. Sometimes, but rarely. Most of the time when I'm in my car especially, I listen to the BBC. This is where real world events are reported, whereas in the US, I'm tired of hearing how damn spoiled we are. I mean, stories about how a man was trampled to death by the Christmas shopping rush when opening the doors to a Wal-Mart - THAT'S TERRIBLY EMBARRASSING, and I'm ashamed of the lack of concern of our country's people. This, among many OTHER embarrassing moments like this, should never EVER happen.

But turn around this Christmas season and donate to the cause of the almost-in-complete-famine country of Somalia.

Here's a good one: donate some money in the name of your friends and family (in lieu of a Christmas gift - like a Nintendo Wii, for instance) to the Blood:Water Mission. At least you'll be helping sustain the lives within a whole COMMUNITY. I promise - you'll feel great, and the person that was supposed to get that elaborate fruit cake will be thanking YOU!

Seeing PINK

Well, friends....... we are having a baby GIRL!!!! :) We could not be more excited!! It didn't really matter, honestly - but we did think it was going to be another boy. My first instinct was girl, but then, as usual, like a ding-a-ling, I didn't trust my instincts.

I've never been much for girlie stuff - but I do like pink - most of the time - especially on my new little girl.

Come April, pink will be EVERYWHERE. :)

Business is good - so far.

I'm getting excited..... I've just been so "blah" lately feeling a little discouraged about my new business. Sure things are progressing - slowly, but yes, they are progressing - but I've been in a rut on several aspects, and in the last few days, the clouds have been parting a little. I've gathered a new client in the last few days, and established my contracts. I'm still tweaking my contracts, but they are so close to being done, I can taste it. I think simply the fact of organizing my legals makes this whole thing a little more tangible - and that's exciting to me. Finally, something that's reachable and actually official and obtainable. Without contracts, i was feeling a bit naked, and vulnerable, not only by watching this interest of business teeter on mere existence, but also, with the fact of getting taken advantage of clientele because of my lack of an official legal protection and "lay out" of design progression. Its just as important to them as it is to me - clients need to see that an organized progression of my business and design ideas instead of string of emails that 'explain' my brain storms, terms and estimates. The world of web design is not a well known subject - and is easily misunderstood and underestimated- so it feel GREAT to be able to present something organized.

I have another client as well that I've known about - we've just been gathering content for their site, and I'm going to get started on that in the next few weeks. Its an optical shop that has a really cool vibe, and I want to reflect that vibe in the site. I can't wait to start!

In the meantime, over this holiday season, when I find my inbetween times, I will be designing my own basic business site. Its not going to be too intense right away, but hopefully in the future, as my own skills grow, I can make it great and a sample to my future clients.

Wee Hoo!

My faucet's a-drip

My faucet is leaking. It used to be a steady drip that would come and go - but now its a full blown stream.

The plumber in town said they chard $90/ hour PLUS a $25 trip charge, and then for additional parts.

What?!?! A $25 TRIP CHARGE?!?!?! But you are 2 miles away.

I told them basically where to "stick it...."

Procrastinating....

I am not a procrastinator by nature. If there's a job - JUST. GET. IT. DONE.

Not today. I have no idea why. I feel like working - but for some reason I'm just ... well, not. I even have a sitter today so I can rock and roll. I will in a moment. This morning, I wanted to do some blog cruising - something I haven't done in 6 months or more and I just miss it. Sometimes I can easily feel isolated in this place, and forget that there IS life on the outside. Maybe I've spent too much time traveling in my earlier years (I speak as if that was more than 5 years ago...). Maybe my travel days were a bad thing - giving me a taste of something that I couldn't have forever.

(Sigh) coming clean, I think I'm a little down because I found out last night that a particular family member and his wife are leaving today to spend a week in New York City. And I'm just ... ugh ... longing, I suppose. November/ December is my favorite time of year in NYC, and I suppose I'm a little envious that I won't be able to go there ...or anywhere, for that matter... for quite some time. Just feeling a little sorry for myself.

But on another hand, there's no way I could leave my little man here, but its much too hard to get around in NYC with a toddler - let alone being pregnant at the same time. So I just need to get over it.

Looking at a few blogs today, I noticed a few were writing random things about themselves. So I thought I would dig up a few that I *could* share. (ha!) So here's my procrastinators-list-of-random-facts-about-me:

1. I have an outie belly button. Yes. Its true. And it is accentuated by my pregnancy ALREADY. Didn't take long.

2. I love chocolate but don't care for other sweets. I'll eat some, but would rather have a coffee, chai tea, water, or an apple than a candy bar.

3. I absolutely LOVE eggs and peanut butter. Together. Mixed. Yum. Hey-don't knock it until you try it.

4. My name is Katie. Not Katherine, Kathy, Katrina, Katalina.....just Katie.

5. Love shoes, but can never find any I like, and always fall back on my Reefs leather flops, even in 30 degree weather.

6. I hate to shop. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.

7. I love forensic science and crime scene investigation. If I was to start over again, and choose another career path, I would do one of the two.

8. I'm very simple and love simplicity. I love the classic pottery barn living style - no clutter, all organization, and matching colors. I don't have that right now due to the merging of lifestyles of marriage, and my lack of a sufficient budget. Maybe someday.

9. I dream in vivid color and detail, and often remember the most minute of detail.

10. My favorite places in the world: Home, Venice Italy, Sicily, Seville Spain, New York City, Sardinia Italy.

11. I love Sangria.

12. After my first pregnancy, i became allergic to a bunch of foods that I love: carrots, watermelon (any kind of melon), some nuts (not bad though), cherries, and many more.

13. I love tequila, but after pregnancy, my body will NOT accept it. (That's a good thing.)

I have so many more, but my procrastination hour is needing to come to an end. Tell me some of the random things about you! :)

Days go by

Day by day, things are getting a little more settled, and I think before long, we will be more settled that we thought we ever could be. There's just so many things to do around this house that we simply just don't have the time to do - and its embarrassing that we've been here since June now, and our garage still looks like we moved in an hour ago. Pretty bad.....

I've been busy with designing sites lately. Not really building anything right this moment - but will be very soon. Still in design stages with a few clients, but its going pretty well. I'm still eating some dirt yet - but who doesn't in the early stages of a small business (or any business) for that matter. Photoshop is becoming very familiar to me, and I'm flying on it now. I still have worlds of learning to do, but I can at least compete now. And oh, so much to learn with web development. Its not necessarily rocket science, but the type of sites that I want to be able to build ARE in fact a slew of tedious tasks. I'll get there eventually....

Little man has a birthday coming up. Hard to believe he will be 2!!! Where has the time gone? He's still incredible. His heart is just simply amazing. He's trying to enter the terrible two's but I'm not taking any crap from him, so he gets shut down right away when the whining starts. He still hates diaper changes and going to bed at night, but what kid likes either of those?? The thing about him - he'd rather have a poop glob stuck to his behind, and run 100 mph from me than let me clean him up. The other day, he deposited a stealth poo that went undetected for about 2 hours (I'm guessing by the redness of his back side when I went to clean it up), and he's paying for it now with a raw bottom.

Halloween has come and gone - but here is the little pumpkin that stole the hearts of many...



I'm finding myself these days going batty if I have to watch another Thomas the Tank Engine video or Nemo or Cars. Yeaow.....

The baby is growing fast....I'm about 17 weeks now - and I'm getting so big. UGHHH. We find out in early December if we have a girl or boy. I'm READY! :) I've been feeling guilty because I just haven't put that much thought into this baby yet - but I think I was the same way with my first until I found out the sex. Then I could really start personifying him and feeling like I wasn't just getting fat for no reason.

Joe's kicking ass and taking names at work. Man - if they would just let him take the reigns on so much stuff, that place would flip upside down and profit intensely. He has all the muscle to do it - but no one to spot him. Well, he DOES have a spotter, but they choose not to do what's right. long story..... maybe someday.