One Blogging Shelton

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty Pleasure

A guilty pleasure is known as something one considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. (Wikipedia) 

You're probably wondering what stems this post...

I was clearing off the desk in the computer room and came across a ticket stub for the movie Twilight.  Thinking back to the evening Leah and I went to see it, I laughed at the memory of the LONG line of pre-teen and teenage girls waiting anxiously to see it.  Any boys/men in attendance were visibly not there willingly, having been dragged there by their girlfriend/wife.  I also laugh at myself for how I got absorbed into the series and for how quickly I read through each 700 page book...desite the homework I should have been concentrating on. 

So this made me wonder about other things I enjoy that could be tagged as a guilty pleasure. 

1.  Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer  http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ts_fansites.html

2.  Harry Potter series by JK Rowling  http://www.mugglenet.com/

3.  Hi-C juice boxes. 

4.  Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich http://www.evanovich.com/

5.  Bagolitas  http://www.bagolitas.com/

6.  Pajama days...days where you don't have anywhere to go so you just stay in PJs all day.

7.  Gadgets...I know, I'm a nerd.

8.  Drake and Josh on Nickelodeon...I think it's because I laugh at how hard Clayton laughs at it.

9.  Taking pictures...taking a million pictures to get that ONE great shot.

10. Internet...the biggest time waster of the decade!

OK, so I've divulged...now it's YOUR turn!  I better hear some good ones, too!

Things That Make Me Happy #2 - Mommy Clayton Days

Mommy-Clayton days.

With my crazy work schedule, Clayton has designated the days that I get to spend ALL day with him as Mommy-Clayton days.  These are days when I don't have to sleep during the day and he and I get to have fun all day.

Today just happens to be one of them!

Thank You!!!!

Thanks to all of you who braved the cold yesterday and made it to my Bagolita party!  I had a great time and hope you did too!  For anyone who couldn't make it and still want to order, I have to close the show by Friday morning.  Call or email me if there's anything you still need ;o)

Thanks again everyone!

Team Shelton

Where does the time go....

So...I'm doing what I didn't really want to do, but I'm "taking one for the team" as Nathan puts it. After a 1-year hiatus, I'm back to working in a lab. Metropolitan Medical Lab, specifically speaking. I wanted to be done with the laboratory career, but after a series of blows these past few months, a stable income is nice to have. Nathan's gracious token of appreciation is to let me also work towards a Web Development degree. My projected completion date is in 7 months. A short amount of time for a long-term reward, I think. I am, however, seriously missing Clayton's smoothy (smooshy) mornings and projects in the afternoons. With this new job comes an unfortunate schedule, 3rd shift. I think we'll be fine with it, though. It fits in well with Clayton and Nathan. They'll be in bed anyways. Sigh.

Nathan started his new job with S&V Fence in Eldridge, IA a couple of weeks ago and seems to be really liking it. He likes the people a lot and there's no stress...that's definitely a bonus considering where he was coming from. Since I don't feel like beating a dead horse tonight, we'll leave it at that. Double Sigh.

So things are starting to take form around here, including the house. We've (by we I mean Nathan) done a LOT of inside improvements. We were hoping to remodel the kitchen this winter, but with the job situation, we just decided to use that money as "emergency" back up plan #9. Sigh.

The easter bunny paid a visit to Clayton early this year because I had to work on Sunday morning. He was SUPER excited to see Spiderman Underwear, Legos, HotWheels, and an already-forgotten helmet and scooter. Nathan was trying to see if the helmet would fit Clayton and ended up accidentally pinching the skin under his chin which subsequently resulted in painful shrieks and tears. We still haven't been able to get him to put it back on ever since! At least the LEGOs are still a hot commodity with him. Saturday night he stayed at his Nana and Papa's house overnight, so the Easter Bunny found him there, too. Then he went to his Grandpa and Grandma's for brunch with Nathan. Here's a picture of him trying to eat his plastic egg like a goofball in his new Spidey Scoots!

Not much else has been going on. Just dodging the 2nd round of the flu/cold bug that seems to be going around. Nathan and Clayton are sick tonight. Clayton has a fever and Nathan has the chills. He's wearing a stocking cap, a fleece pull-over, and long underwear in bed right now. And he still can't get warm. Earlier Clayton told me he felt like he was "gonna pook".

Please don't let him "pook" tonight....please. Either of them, actually. Sigh.

Carbon Monoxide KILLS

We had a little bit of a carbon monoxide scare Saturday morning. Around 9am, our carbon monoxide (CO) detector started beeping. Coming all the way from the basement, it woke us right up out of our Saturday morning sleep-in slumber. I looked at Nathan and he looked at me...both of us mentally wishing the other would get up to check it out. For the better part of not leaving Clayton out of the equation, he was still sound asleep between us with his arms over his head, one leg over mine, mouth agape and snoring.

I folded and decided to check it out.

When I got downstairs, I figured it was probably a good sign that Rainer started running circles around me, wondering what the heck that NOISE was. Not sure how I would have reacted if he would have been hanging off the end of the couch upside down with his tongue hanging out...wait, scratch that thought...that's how Rainer normally sleeps, so I guess I wouldn't have thought too much of that either.

At first, I figured it must be the batteries, as it had been about a year and a half since I installed it. I pushed the reset button...aaahhh, silence. Before I could unplug it to look at the directions on the back of it, it started screaming at me again - 4 quick (LOUD ear-piercing) beeps. I unplugged it and read the back:

1. Push Silence/Test button - Did that

2. Move to fresh air - I opened the basement window

3. Call 911 - OK, so I didn't do that. I figured with the dogs still alive (I guess Fritz was questionable since the alarm doesn't seem to wake deaf dogs), and with Clayton sawing logs next to Nathan who was obviously in good enough health to give me the "aren't you gonna get that" look, the situation didn't seem too dire. Plus, the house was a wreck and I didn't want half the town trapsing through the house tripping over laundry and legos trying to detect the source of the carbon monoxide. And besides, who needs screaming sirens at 9am on a Saturday morning???? I digress...

The next best thing to calling 911 was calling my parents. They told me to have Clayton come over to their place and to call our friend who installed our new furnace about a month ago. As it turned out, Tim had a CO detector/reader that tells you what the level is.

We were able to rule out the furnace, thankfully! He spent probably an hour stumped over what was causing the CO reader to detect a level of 49 ppm (parts per million). He said normally, gas appliances give off a trace amount, somewhere between 1-12 ppm. So 49 ppm was high. I did a little research later ( http://www.medicinenet.com/21837 ) and found that at 70 ppm, you start getting the symptoms of CO poisoning.

It was finally determined that our wood burner stove was causing it. We had it roaring the night before and was smoldering in the morning. It was a fairly windy day, so the draft was causing the smoke to travel back down the pipe, enough to raise the CO level in the house. Nathan pulled off the pipe between the stove and the wall, capped it off, and that was that. I laid down the law: We're getting rid of it! It's been nothing but a pain in the butt anyways. Nathan's always gone chopping wood, the ashes make a HUGE mess on the carpet, sparks fly out of it and onto the carpet when you open it to put more wood in, not to mention the constant worrying of whether or not Clayton (who knows better, but you just never know what a 3-yr-old can do) would open the door to the thing and burn the house down. And besides, although you'd never rationalize it on a day like today, ice storm and all,...there's not that much longer until Spring, right?

So, to say the least...or a book, I guess, judging by the unintentional length of this blog...I'm so greatful for taking the extra precaution in buying a CO dector for the basement. I cannot even imagine how high the level would have gotten had we not heard the alarm. As you all know...it's orderless! Plus we were asleep already...we never would have seen the symptoms in each other had it gotten worse. So many what if's!

BUY A CO DECTECTOR!!!!!!!!!!

Cancer, Snow, Old Friends, Hair, Remodeling, and Phuket Seafood

2 Months in a Nutshell:

For those of you who don't know yet, we found out my dad has liver cancer. It went undetected until he had knee replacement surgery in IA City after Thanksgiving. Bloodwork from the surgery revealed that Dad has Hepatitis C, which is the worst type to have. He had a scan done on his liver, showing 2 lesions. They did a biopsy and confirmed our worst fear: liver cancer.

Dad's scheduled to go back to U of Iowa hospital for further testing. All together, they need to determine what stage the cancer is in and inevitably, more information about a liver transplant. Typing all this is like opening wounds again, so I'm cutting it a bit short.

Visit dad's CarePage to keep up to date with how he's doing and his latest medical trials and tribulations! Sign up and search for dad's page by typing in 'meandad'. {He's not really all that mean...usually}

What is up with all this snow????!!!!! It's snowing right now! Poor Nathan is taking a nap because he's going to have to plow all night again. I don't remember the last time we had so much snow. Wait...I do...I was in high school, though, if that says anything.

Regardless of the snow, and the fact that I can't wait for summer, I've managed to make some new old friends. Yes, new old friends. Thanks to the powers of Facebook and MySpace, I've managed to keep in contact with friends from long ago. This was one of the things on my '43 Things' list, so I'm pleased that I've managed to make progress on my list.

Mom and I did something that was super super hard for me....we switched hair stylists!!!!! {cue blood curdling scream} I absolutely loved my stylist, but William Wesley's Day Spa was getting a little too pricey, so we ventured a few blocks down the road to Capri College of Cosmetology.

Last Saturday we both got haircuts, hair color and highlights. What would have cost over $125 at WW's Day Spa only ended up costing $43.00. Well, mine did...mom's came out to $53 somehow and we didn't know it until we had already left. Somehow she was charged more. The results, you ask: I'm OK with it...not thrilled, but for a fraction of the cost, I'm willing to set aside a Saturday for a significantly longer chair time, listening to 19-year olds talk about how they have it so rough. The color was exactly what I had in mind, but it's not bad looking. The cut is really cute.

After treating ourselves to hair makeovers, we ate lunch at Crazy Wok. I hadn't eaten there before, so we had Spring rolls {yum} while we reviewed the menu. Mom settled on the Seafood Combination, while I bounced between Teriyaki Salmon and Phuket Seafood. The reason for the bounce was not because Teriyaki sounded better, but rather because I didn't know how to pronounce Phuket {does it rhyme with bucket or not?} and didn't want to embarrass myself...even though the dish sounded SUPER yummy. I opted for Phuket, deciding to forego the embarrassment by simply pointing at the menu at ordering time. It was a decision that I don't regret. The dish was SOOOOO good, even though it came with Mussels (which found their way onto my mom's plate).

This week consisted mostly of figuring out our kitchen remodel and installing the new doors for the bedrooms and bathrooms.  Our house was built in the '70's, so all of the trim and doors were an ugy brown. We're replacing the doors with six-panel white ones and all white trim throughout the house. It's really starting to make the house take on a whole new look. I'm absolutely loving it! Nathan and my dad have most of the doors in, so now all we have to do is trim around them.

Last Sunday I came home and heard a ton of loud hammering. I thought, "what on earth is going on?" I got upstairs and saw Nathan and Clayton tearing out the old tile flooring by the front door. Clayton had on ear protectors, pajamas, and snow boots and was pounding away with a hammer that had to weigh at least half as much as he does.

The kitchen is getting completely redone with new cabinets and flooring. We had a rep from Flick's in Moline come out and draw up some plans for us to give us an idea of what we're looking for. We have decided on the type of cabinetry and flooring. I absolutely cannot wait until it's done!!!!!

 

Unlucky, but not Unfortunate...

I'm Unlucky, But I'm Not Unfortunate…

On the Sunday before Christmas, Nathan's sister Amanda said to me, “I’m starting to think you’re an unlucky girl.”

It all stemmed from the night before when Nathan, Clayton, and I were driving up our driveway. We were having one of many ice/snowstorms. We had just pulled into the driveway after being at Nathan's grandmas's house for her Christmas get-together. All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye, I caught something moving. Just then right in front of us, Nathan's trailer bolted right in front of us (unattached to anything), coming from the turnaround spot we have off of the driveway, and slammed into 2 trees on the other side of the drive. It missed the truck by no more than a foot. Had we pulled into the drive 2 seconds earlier, it would have slammed into my door. Most of you have seen our steep driveway. The ice build up caused the trailer to slide down the drive just enough for the wooden blocks to give way from the tires.

As much as I found her observation funny and amusing, I'm starting to really replay Amanda's words in my head lately.

1. Clayton spilled all that latex paint in the basement just after midnight on New Year's Eve.

2. The place where I occasionally tan changed the bulbs in their beds, resulting in a nice RED glowy burn the Saturday before last.

3. Paint spill #2 (see previous post)

4. Poor Nathan lost his job.

5. I currently have no health insurance because we had to switch to a new policy and they feel that I had too many Dr. visits recently and my migraine medication is too pricey for them to include me on the policy (is that even legal?). At least I'm thankful that Nathan and Clayton are covered.

6. Last week we found out that my dad has liver cancer and has to have a transplant (post soon to come). That's been the worst blow EVER!

All this goes without rementioning my summer bloopers:

3 black eyes in 2 weeks and a concussion. (So I guess I just rementioned them...)

OK, I'm done moaning and groaning. BUT WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE ME SOME GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!

Honestly though, I may be the unluckiest girl on the planet, but I'm so fortunate to have the friends and family who have been supportive through everything. I can't thank everyone enough for all of your great emails through everything last summer and of course, now.

THANK YOU!

P.S. Disclaimer: I'm done pissing off the "powers" that be...this post was in no way, shape, or form meant to challenge them (said in that very fast voice you hear at the end of certain commercials).

P.P.S. How does that saying go? You're only given what you can handle? Or something like that...

The Incident of the Latex Paint, Chapter 2

Nathan was out of town for a couple of nights last week, so I thought I'd be sneaky and suprise him with a new closet organizer.  Woo-Hoo! You can tell you're getting too old and domesticated when this thrills you! But, I figured it'd be fun for Clayton to help out too.

So, we took all of the clothes/shoes/ties/belts out of his closet. I took apart the old flimsy rods. Clayton helped me fill in all of the many holes left from many previous occupants. Clayton had a blast, and I was amazed at how much we were getting done. He helped me tape the trim and sand the dried spackle.

I had 1 gallon of paint left over from painting our room when we moved in. I poured it into the roller pan and set it on the kitchen counter by the sink. I went in to vaccum the closet floor to get rid of all of the dust from sanding. In the middle of vaccuming, I hear Clayton, "mommy mommy come here!"

I figured he was just trying to get me to come play with him in the living room, as he had started to get bored with the whole prepping for paint ordeal.

This is what I saw when I walked into the kitchen:

I took the picture mainly because I was in total disbelief that this was happening again 1 week to the day! Before snapping the picture I pulled a heap of brand new kitchen towels out of the mess by the sink and noticed he had pulled my fairly new rug back so the paint wouldn't drip on it. The new towels were a total loss, as was a new shirt Clayton had gotten for Christmas. I was so mad, but so much in disbelief that I couldn't be mad. And, well...at least he tried to clean up!

Realizing that I was staring at all of the paint I had to work with, I managed to scrape most of it back into the tray. I spent about 20 minutes cleaning all of this up. The butcher block was the worst, as it had started to soak in and dry.

Miraculously, I had enough paint to finish the job. After banning Clayton from getting anywhere near the paint, his attention was redirected to playing with the drill, some screws, and styrofoam from the packaging of the organizer.

We managed to get the organizer together and it looks great! So now my kitchen is paint-free once again, and Nathan's closet is so organized I keep opening the doors so I can just stand back and look at it with a smile on my face.

Now, for the basement...

2008 HAS to be better!

2008 can ONLY be a better year. If it's not, I don't know what I'll do...probably more panic attacks! So far, it's not looking good.  It's after 3 am and I'm sitting here typing, drinking OJ and eating little smokies leftover from the little New Year's Eve get-together with our neighbors.

3 hours into the new year and I just finished cleaning a gallon of white exterior latex paint off of my basement carpet. Clayton was playing with a little wooden bat our neighbor Jennifer had given us. He kept banging it on the top of a can of latex paint. It was super loud, as you can imagine at 12:30 am, so I told him to stop and went upstairs to get some PJs for the both of us to change. I had called Nathan to say Happy New Year since he wasn't able to be here tonight...I'll explain later.

I went into my bedroom to get my PJs. I look over at the doorway, and there's Clayton standing in it with his hand over his eyes with his fingers slightly separated so he could see my face, and he was mumbling quietly. I told him to repeat himself louder. "Sorry about that Mommy."

"Sorry about what" I asked.

"Sorry about the paint"

I thought he was talking about banging on the can and was about to say it was OK. I couldn't understand why he was so pouty. And then he said it, "sorry I spilled the paint."

3 trails of Clayton's size 9.5 footprints on the basement carpet came up with a lot of scrubbing, but I'm afraid the rest is there to stay. And, it's right where everyone will see it immediately. I guess I'll be investing in a new rug this year.

Let me mention briefly here that Nathan was NOT in attendance tonight and still isn't home because he's plowing snow tonight for a man who is super generous enough to help Nathan make a few bucks, as Rexco was "kind" enough to fire Nathan 2 weeks before Christmas on a B.S. technicality - a technicality that would have half the company fired if they held the same standards for all of their employees. That being said, I'll bite my tongue and say no more...for now.

So now it's back to work for me. It was nice having the opportunity to spend the time with Clayton these past 4 months. I was able to experience watching him grow inside and out. He learns so quickly, it's amazing. He absorbs EVERYTHING! And the things he says...we laugh so hard at the things he says and does anymore. I'm sad that he will have to change pre-schools now that I have to go back to work. He likes his teachers "so much" and has made many new friends there.

The job market for my degree is bleak in this area. However, I managed to secure a second interview with the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center on Thursday of this week (crossing my fingers). I had a phone interview Friday that sounded promising. Their benefits are excellent and the salary is comparable to my lab job in IA City.

Nathan is supposed to be talking with a man this week about a job posibility doing what he was doing before, but for a different dealer.  OK, poor wording...that sounded kind of shady. He'd be selling construction equipment again. He's been "in the dumps" for the past 3 weeks, so I really pray this works out for him.

Fritz will be 14 in June. He sleeps most of the day away. Every day around mid to late morning, he barks at nothing. He can't see very well, if at all anymore. I'm convinced he just sees blurry blobs. He runs into everything and falls down the stairs and runs into our chain link fence chasing what he thinks are squirrels. In actuality they're leaves blowing in the wind. He definitely can't hear anymore. Before he had "selective" hearing, but now I know it's really gone. His bladder seems to have closed up shop as well! His nose works great, though! Every day at lunchtime, he STALKS Clayton because he knows he'll drop some part of his lunch, or Clayton will not be paying attention and Fritz will swipe food off of his plate.

Rainer still thinks he's a puppy most days. Clayton likes to pal around with him. As much fun as he has during the day, he's always downstairs on the couch ready for bed by 7pm. If you're too loud or you interrupt his sleep somehow, he gives you this "look".

Christmas was great again this year. Clayton is now old enough that Santa is SUPER exciting for him. Likewise, it was the first year we could use what I call "Santa Leverage". Our New Year's Eve with our neighbors was fun also. Not that we're for promoting drinking, but the kids made"martinis". 7-Up in little kid-sized plastic cartoon character martini glasses. When the ball dropped at 11pm our time, the kids raised their glasses and said "Cheers" and proceded to crash the glasses into each others. It was SOOOO cute! My heart melted with Clayton's "Cheers Mommy" and the crash of his cup into my glass. Jennifer made funnel cakes and we watched Fergie and others sing until they replayed the ball drop at midnight our time. Clayton then decided to try to plant kisses on the girls excessively, so I figured it was about time to head home. I'm hoping the kissing thing isn't a prelude to what his adult New Year's parties will entail! I'm not ready for that yet!

So that leaves me to right here, right now. 3:24 am, not tired in the least, typing these run-on and sometimes fragmented sentences, glancing occasionally over at the huge white stain on my basement floor. (SIGH)

At least we have each other and our health. I cannot ask for more than that.

Happy New Year to all of you!

Back Up Your Stuff!

Here's a great website where you can back up your computer.

Carbonite

You get a free 15 day trial. After that it's $49.99/year. This site does all the hard work for you! You install the software and it starts backing up your files immediately. It runs in the background and automatically backs everything up. You can't even tell it's running.

From a past comuter crash experience, I think $50 is a small price to pay for restoring all of your files after a crash!