Geez – you’d figure a “plug n play” printer would really be plug and play…

I am having the most difficult time installing an HP 309a Photosmart printer. It states that it’s so easy to use. #1 – I don’t use Vista. Never trusted it from the beginning, so I have never even tried it. #2 I don’t have IE8 on my machine either. #3 I’m pretty much a techie geek and can figures most things out.

The WHY the F&^* isn’t this stupid software working. Sure, I can get the damn printer on the network. But for heavens sake, part of the reason I bought the damn thing was to print on CDs. (Plus I needed a new fax machine). I can’t even get the stupid software to start. It says it’s loaded. No errors in the event viewer. No errors in any logs anywhere. No viruses. No spyware. WTF????!!!!

I am about to go insane. And of course, why did I have to do this on Memorial Day weekend?? This sucks. I had confidence that HP would know what it’s doing. But I have confidence no more. I should’ve stuck with Canon.

GAH!!!!!!!!!!

 

Oops. No posts in February…

Well, I was busy and February came and went. It’s a short month anyway. LOL

So, an opportunity has dropped into my lap. The owner of the company I work for is going to be retiring and has asked a co-worker and I if we would want to run the business. There is a lawsuit attached to the current business that is hopefully being wrapped up today and we will know if this is really going to happen.

In the meantime, George and I have been preparing. Filing for a business name, we will be opening up a bank account and renting space. I’m working on the IT part – getting the computers to work and editing the forms for our use.

It’s quite an undertaking. And I got a bomb dropped on me that he wants to hand it over April 1!! That’s too soon. I’m hoping his attorney will tell him that’s too soon.

So, watch out. I’m going to be a business owner. It’s scary to think I will be liable for my own livlihood. I’m ready and I think we will do really well. But it’s still scary.

 

I learned a lot from staying a night in a hotel with two boys…

And by boys, I mean 2 and 4 years old. LOL Get your mind out of the gutter!

Ok, so I decided to take a road trip with my boys to Ohio to see some friends. Meeting them was great. But the whole trip was one huge lesson after another.

First – bring snacks and drinks with you in a cooler. Amongst these snacks should be plain old milk. Did you know that they now make vanilla-flavored milk???? Yeah, they do. Found out that mistake when my 2-year-old wanted his bottle and apparently, I bought POISON. LOL Thought it was milk. It was sugar milk.

Second – if you are not going to stay with family or friends, bring TOYS. Otherwise anything in the hotel room becomes a toy. very frustrating to hang up the telephone about 500 times in less than 24 hours.

Third – If your children are curious, they will not go to sleep unless the lights are off and there are no distractions. So, mommy can not read a book, watch tv, watch podcasts on my touch, or crochet. No, I had to lie in bed awake in the dark. I was so completely bored.

Fourth – Make sure to check the diaper on the 2-year-old at every stop. Especially when the stops are 20-30 miles (minutes) in between. Zach had wet pants. I hadn’t checked and screamed for 25 minutes until I could stop again. Granted this was the same time as the vanilla flavored milk incident.

Fifth – It’s best to keep adult to child ratio to one on one. LOL

Overall, it was a good trip. Not restful at all. Not very relaxing for me. But I got to meet my friends and enjoy some good beer and food. That’s good enough for me

 

New Years’ Resolutions…

So, part of my New Years’ Resolution is to lose weight. I’m working on it. I need to work out. I’m not opposed to the working out. It’s getting the kids dropped off to the Kids’ Zone. They don’t like it there and cry when I drop them off. Makes me feel like shit. I’ve tried different times of the day. Soon, I’m just going to try going when Dan gets home so that the kids don’t go to the room. It’s annoying. Or I’m just going to tell them to suck it up. I mean, how bad can it be to have a whole room full of toys!!!!????

The other part of the resolution is to work on the house. That mostly includes organization. And most of that work falls on my husband. He’s building built-ins, bookshelves, and other handy work to make the cabinets. Then the organization is up to me.

I’m also going to get more scrapbooking done. I’m as far behind as ever and I need to get going. I got more scrapbooking done last year than the year before. And getting the cricut from my husband will make it easier to scrap at home without the need to buy titles and die-cuts at the store. I should be able to create almost any page I want now. LOL We’ll see.

So, we’ll see how those go. The third is to try to conceive our third child. And we really hope for a girl. I know you’re only supposed to hope for healthy, but I really want to be a mommy to a girl.

 

New Years’ Resolutions…

So, part of my New Years’ Resolution is to lose weight. I’m working on it. I need to work out. I’m not opposed to the working out. It’s getting the kids dropped off to the Kids’ Zone. They don’t like it there and cry when I drop them off. Makes me feel like shit. I’ve tried different times of the day. Soon, I’m just going to try going when Dan gets home so that the kids don’t go to the room. It’s annoying. Or I’m just going to tell them to suck it up. I mean, how bad can it be to have a whole room full of toys!!!!????

The other part of the resolution is to work on the house. That mostly includes organization. And most of that work falls on my husband. He’s building built-ins, bookshelves, and other handy work to make the cabinets. Then the organization is up to me.

I’m also going to get more scrapbooking done. I’m as far behind as ever and I need to get going. I got more scrapbooking done last year than the year before. And getting the cricut from my husband will make it easier to scrap at home without the need to buy titles and die-cuts at the store. I should be able to create almost any page I want now. LOL We’ll see.

So, we’ll see how those go. The third is to try to conceive our third child. And we really hope for a girl. I know you’re only supposed to hope for healthy, but I really want to be a mommy to a girl.

 

Mother Nature is cruel…

LOL I’ve just been thinking that it is a rather stupid idea to have a baby, who can not speak to go through teething. My 22-month old child (yes, he really doesn’t speak much) is breaking in his two-year molars and he is just miserable. He can’t tell me why he won’t nap. He can’t tell me why he’s waking at 7:30am crying. All he knows is that his mouth hurts, but he’s not telling me.

AND – how weird is it that in “Chicago” it was 60 degrees yesterday and this morning it is 24!!!! We enjoyed some nice warm weather, although rainy. We actually went outside and tried out the new helmet and horn Santa left AJ. He loved them.

That’s it. Short one today.

 

I am feeling very un-Christmas-y…

I really don’t know what the problem is. However, I have a few “reasons” why I feel this way.

First, we switch years for visiting for Christmas. One year, we go to my family for Christmas and then New Year’s at the in-laws. The next year, it’s the opposite. This year was supposed to be Christmas at the in-laws. But it has officially been cancelled because of Mother Nature. She is a cruel beast that is getting in between a peaceful, relaxing Christmas get-away and my family. It sucks. I was really looking forward to it.

Secondly, I’m now not looking forward to going to celebrate Christmas where we are now (thanks to the cancellation above). I am a little tired of a certain person who will be there and don’t really feeling like putting on my “happy face”. But I love Christmas and I will go celebrate. I know my mom loves it, too. She will spoil my kids rotten and we will have tons to bring home.

Thirdly, I have just been worn down. Three weeks of preparation to put into Christmas. It’s a lot of work. I’m exhausted.

Fourthly, my husband blurted out my Christmas gift. I am excited to find out what it is. It’s the Cricut. For scrapbooking. Secretly, I’ve been wanting one since they came out. They came out with a more portable, affordable die-cut machine named Slice. I talked myself into wanting that one instead. But I really do want the Cricut. LOL But I love surprises. I love Christmas gifts. I love to see what other people would like to get me. While I do spit out a list every year, I secretly hope that someone will buy off the list. Buy something that they think I would like. And hopefully, I would.

Fifthly, (is that a word??) I just sort of glanced over a lot of Christmas traditions this year. I didn’t make cookies. I’m not really listening to a lot of Christmas music. Plus I had a lot of added “chores”. AJ has pre-school and he had a party the parents had to plan and attend. I wanted to get family pictures done for the Christmas card and that didn’t happen.

So, I just needed to write that down. I’m hoping that by purging all these negative thoughts, postive ones can flow in and help get me through these next couple days with the holiday spirit I so overwhelmingly desire.

 

2 posts in one day – that’s a rarity.

Here’s another rarity- Mom’s night out.  The title explains itself, but I’ll explain.  Mom by herself going out with other moms, by themselves.  No kids.  Bliss.  Heaven.  LOL

As much as you love your kids, you need to get away once in a while. It’s been since mid-October for me.  Usually it involves scrapbooking.  But not tonight.  Tonight was having a dinner that I didn’t have to cut into small pieces or share with anyone and some alcoholic beverages at a posh chic place in “downtown” Morris.  It was nice.  The atmosphere was relaxing and yet exciting.  Tense with discussion, but not discipline.  LOL.  There was no yelling – well, not child yelling.  There was no crying.  Well, I take that back.  Someone was explaining how their children had touched their life – so it was good crying.  And there was no changing diapers.  And that one, I mean – no changing diapers.  LOL

It’s always nice to get out and converse with other adults.  Although, we have a tendency to still talk about our children.  After all, they ARE our lives.  We live for them.  We stay home for them.  We work for them.  They are a part of us that we want to succeed MORE than we did.  There is no better thing in my life than my children – sorry, Dan – but that includes you, my husband.  Yes, there are days in which I want them to just behave or act nicer, or just stop screaming – but those moments are few and far between.  The ones that really matter are the days in which you were able to step back and store in your memory a beautiful moment.  A giggle, a look.  A phrase, an action.  Something that makes your heart smile.  Those are the moments that make all those bad moments just melt away.  Those are also those moments in which I love to remember and recite to my friends to make them smile. 

 

So I suppose I should change my header…

It’s been a while.  You’d think with the theme that it was this fall.  It’s actually from this last spring. LOL  Almost a year.  The kids do look the same, basically.  But I guess I’ll work on changing my header.

So, I’ve weaned off Lexapro and having a hell of a time.  Today, my ears are ringing and I feel very irritable and out-of-control.  Any sound makes me jump nervously.  I’ve read that this can happen for 4-6 weeks after your last dose.  I had cut my doses in half and half and half until last Tuesday.  I haven’t taken a pill since.  I think I’m experiencing “brain zaps” that other people describe.  I describe it as a migraine without the pain.  Weird, huh?

But I’m hanging in there.  I can’t feel like a zombie anymore.  I think I felt better off the meds than on them.  Even when I’m going through the withdrawal symptoms, I seem to feel better.  So, we’ll see.  I hope these brain zaps subside before Christmas.  Nothing like coming off anti-depressants through the busiest season of my year.  LOL

 

Catching up…

Ok – so I’m not the best at keeping my blog updating.  Mostly because life is trivial and speaking about life every day is boring. LOL

Our built-in microwave died.  I have a couple of issues with this.  #1 – our house is only 3 years old.  And thusly the microwave is only 3 years old.  Pathetic life time.  There should be some kind of law stating that appliances and such need to last longer than that.  If there was an option to purchase an appliance with a longer life time, I would.  Even by purchasing the extended warranty, you are not guaranteed a longer-lasting product – you just pay money get hassled by the company that wants to do everything in order to NOT replace your product.  The other issue I have is the landfill factor.  I am always trying to recycle and avoid throwing things in the garbage and early-failing appliances seem to be more of the norm than the exception.

Other catching up – the lexapro is on it’s way out.  I forgot if I mentioned I was also put on Wellbutrin.  If was basically supposed to be peppier and make me want to move and then I would sleep better at night.  Yeah, that didn’t work.  It basically put me to sleep more.  It made me very druggy and draggy.

So, then I decided that I am not liking the side effects of the Lexapro and I would rather deal with my slight depression.  So, I’m about 1 week away from being Lexapro free. I’ve been luck in that I have been able to half my doses and not suffer withdrawal.  I wanted to be able to doge that bullet – as nausea, vomiting, headaches and brain zaps didn’t sound very pleasant. LOL

Zach is speaking more.  AJ is acting more like a 4-year-old than a 3-month old.  And Dan is working.  LOL  I’m fine.  I’m getting this feeling that the winter is going to be a long, cold winter.  Batten down the hatches.  The kids are going to need an outlet.  Thank heavens we have a DuPage Children’s Museum.

Wish me luck.