Not about the vacation

I know you are waiting to hear about my 23 day, 22 night all expenses paid vacation to sunny Eastern Idaho, and it'll happen - only it'll happen in U** time = s l o w l y.

You see, I operate on deadlines and the end of the month is a deadline on the blog I contribute to.

READING FOR SANITY.

I recently reviewed two books that were so helpful to me that I wanted to recommend them here as well.

One is called "The Shyness Breakthrough"

and the other is "Into the Minds of Babes".

The exciting thing is that the author of "Babes" found my review, liked it (duh, I gave her five stars) and partnered with RFS to offer a copy of the book as a giveaway. The deadline for entering is the end of the month (augh - panic attack - is it really almost the end of AUGUST!?) so head over there and sign up.

Enter

One of the major reasons I haven't posted much this month is, no time {SHOCK}...okay, actually that is the only reason. I've had lots to say but no time to eloquently compose words, so those thoughts will have to wait. BUT - on one thing time is running out.

So - I ain't going to worry about riten pretty and I'm just going to strongly suggest that you visit Reading for Sanity - a blog that I contribute to (as infrequently as I do this blog) and that is having a giveaway.

What kind of giveaway? FIVE FREE BOOKS. You have until the end of the month (gasp, 4 days.)

So go.

Go.

(And seriously, if you enter you better say that you plan to read one of the books I reviewed or else I'll be VERY offended. Not joking. But of course you have your agency.) {Angelic smile}

The Other Sister

High on my list of priorities is posting about my sweetest girl Tessa and how big she is getting. However my life is so hard...you see, I tend to type on this laptop and my pictures are all saved on the desktop. And we all know that a post about a cute kid without pictures is like an Easter basket without chocolate - POINTLESS.

So, until I get off my lazy...well, side, I'd like to post about another form of support we are getting from the "other" sister.

Laura is walking in the March of Dimes on our behalf this year and if you'd like to support her click on the button to the side of this post, or visit her blog.

Thank you Laura - I am so glad you are helping to support the March of Dimes. Two years ago we strongly benefited from the in hospital support our MOD representative gave us, this year we are benefiting from research on how to prevent early labor/delivery.

Modern Correspondence

Because I once watched the movie "Rebecca" three times in a row I know that in the glamorous olden days the wealthy women would sit at their desks in the morning and write letters to each other as part of their "job" as the women of the house.

I SWEAR my life is the modern, gestating version of this and what I do is NOT mindless internet searching.

Yes, I do tend to blog stalk via bloglines.com and my "correspondence" tends lean more towards reading and less towards writing my own, but in my defense, typing while laying on your side is a major pain. (Man, am I milking this bedrest thing or WHAT!?)

But anyway, I thought I'd take some time to update my sidebar links and give shout outs to the random strangers of whom I am a devoted reader.

My most productive internet activity has been to enter in the giveaways but this is only because I just WON SOMETHING from Pink Chalk Studio and it has made my week! The giveaway prize arrived in the mail a few days ago - I could post pictures of the actual fabric but - well - lazy, so here is a link. I received a fat quarter of each of those prints - YEAH!

Here are some of the other crafty blogs I am addicted to, book mark like crazy, and will never actually accomplish anything from. (Hey, I know myself pretty well)
Craft Apple (actually I lied, I am almost done with a project made from a pattern I purchased from here...I'll post pics if and when I finish it).
Crafty Crow
Crazy Mom Quilts
Lovely Design
One Pretty Thing
Plumpudding
She Sew Sassy
Simple Sparrow
Tallgrass Prairie Studio

Here are some design related blogs I like
desiretoinspire.net
Green Mormon Architect
How About Orange
Ikea Hacker

This is a blog I contribute to...on occasion. I definitely wish I did more because at one point in my life I was a BIG reader...now I'm a big "some day I'll read"-er.
Reading for Sanity

Advice blogs (hum, not a lot of originality in the names, are there?)
Simple Mom
Simple Marriage
The Simple Dollar

And last but not least, random editorial blogs I like to read (heavily biased towards fertility blogs)
A Little Pregnant
Julia
Seriously So Blessed (warning: when I first started reading this blog I couldn't post on my own for at least three weeks, so great was the fear that I accidentally become the person this blogger is mocking...also, probably makes more sense if you are Mormon or know a LOT of them).
Stuff White People Like

To close I'd like to ask for suggestions...I can't very easily turn down a craft blog, but what I'm looking for is something with design theory and/or some sort of intellectually stimulating material - I used to be smart once and wonder if I can do it again. ;)

Go check out...

...my sister Laura's blog.

It is her "blogiversary" (which for some reason my spell check doesn't recognize ?) and I forgot to send a gift! However she said I could let you know that she is having a give away of a personalized print from Heritage Makers...you know, the same company she used to make that great book from a few posts ago. So pop over, say hi and enter to win.

Gift and ANOTHER endorsement

For Christmas my little sister Laura made me a book about our experience with Tessa's birth and hospital stay.

You can read it here

Laura is a consultant for Heritage Makers. Unlike other photo books and/or scrap booking systems Heritage Makers helps people to tell the story as much as on the pictures and layout.

I was really touched by the book she made us. Thanks Laura.

Mishaps & Endorsements

I guess no Christmas travel is complete without its adventures, even if is a non-Christmas-early-December-attempt-to-avoid-travel-excitement trip.

Well to be honest, we (and by that I mean Aaron) only had one, pretty major, travel mishap. The other mishaps happened after we (and by that I mean I) got home. But I am going to use this forum to get sympathy for them as well. :)

Mishap #1: Aaron vs. Airport security - When Aaron got to work last Thursday and told a co-worker that he had lost his license she asked "What did you do?" She apparently was a bit scarred from being a passenger while he was driving them around Philadelphia on a business trip. He clarified that he had lost, as in "misplaced" it - not lost as in "had it suspended".

The timing of this was rather unfortunate. You see, Aaron returned to MA from ID a few days before I did via the 4:10 am shuttle to the SLC airport. At 8:45 am I get a call from him with the question "Have you seen my driver's license?" I insta-panic for a second before I find out he was already through security with an hour to spare before his flight.

However getting through security involved the following:

• A phone interview between some unseen security guy and Aaron, through the ticket counter guy. Various semi-random questions were asked that would come up on a quick background check and then what we assume was confirmation by the ticket agent that Aaron fit the description on his drivers liscense photo...which we assume is available to high level airport security via the inter-web.

• Removing an extra 7 lbs of luggage from his overweight suitcase (which he shoved in his carryon).
  
  
• A rigorous security screening which triggered a positive for nitroglycerin (2nd time this has happened to us...anyone with insight why?) and resulted in an even more up close and personal search of his person (clothes stayed on in case you wondered...like I did. I believe the phrase Aaron used to describe it was "just shy of invasive").

Moral of the story - it isn't the end of the world to show up at the airport without ID, but it is definitely better to check for your drivers license before you leave the house.

Non-mishap #1: Emily vs. travel with a toddler - Luckily Aaron was our weathervane for bad travel luck on this trip and despite my extreme anxiety about weather conditions and behavior (of both Tessa and I) our trip home was a breeze.

Related Endorsement #1: This was the first time we flew Southwest and I am a big fan because -
A) We got a screaming deal.
B) you can reschedule your tickets if you want (which makes total sense to me and I think other airlines are real ninnies for being so strict with their policies).
C) The flight crew attempts to be humorous.
D) the seats are unassigned and parents with children under 4 get to board very near the beginning of the group.

We had to use a smaller airport, Manchester, NH, which was only slightly farther away than Logan Airport but so much friendlier. And parking was even cheaper than we'd thought so perhaps next time we'll just suck it up and pay for parking (shocking) - Thanks to the Browns for letting us park our car at their house!

Related Endorsement #2: Southwest uses the Chicago Midway airport and in this airport they have a restaurant called the Potbelly Sandwich Works. I was drawn in by the reasonable prices of their sandwiches (even cheaper then I'd expect to pay in the "non-airport" world) and then as an added bonus because I had a baby with me an employee took my order and I didn't have to wait in line. I got teary-eyed at this. Seriously.

Mishap #2: Aaron vs. writing a check - First thing in the morning, after returning to "real life" at home I get a phone call from our local bank branch.

Turns out our mortgage check wasn't going to clear without over drawing our account by $1000+. Once again insta-panic...but for longer than a moment. The bank manager said if we could transfer the money into the account he would process the check after we did that...but what money would I transfer...and HOW did this happen? I had just gotten paid before we left, we didn't spend much money on the trip, and Aaron had just gotten paid that past Friday.

I asked the bank manager (whose name is Chad) if I could call him back...I checked the balance via the 800-number and we had more than enough to cover the check...what the...? I called Aaron...he hadn't written any big checks (I'll admit, I was a bit disappointed to find out I wasn't getting a mink shoal for Christmas)...there really must have been a mistake. So I call the bank back (after confirming the phone number Chad gave me was legit and I wasn't being scammed...I am so cynical), told Chad I was really confused, explained why, and somehow in the course of the conversation realized that, although Aaron had assured me that he "could handle writing a check" he had in fact written one from my "business account" which, sadly has no money in it, instead of from our joint account. WHAT A RELIEF...a quick transfer of funds and problem solved.

Related Endorsement #3: Sovereign Bank, Essex St. Salem Branch & Chad. True, we have unknowingly bounced a check (or two) with no phone call - but I was sooooo incredibly relieved that he called to solve this issue. They actually did a similar thing a few years ago when a huge check had initially cleared but 7 smaller checks didn't. Without a phone call they swapped the order and saved us $231 in over draft fees. AND when we refinanced our home equity loan the same week Tessa was born the manager at that time (Rhonda, I believe) was incredibly helpful. And of course it also helps that they haven't collapsed.

Mishap #3: Emily vs. spoiled toddler - While we were in Idaho, in unfamiliar surroundings I had to rock Tessa to sleep each night in order to have any success putting her to bed. So of course she was pretty mad that I just plopped her in her crib when we got home...so mad that she made herself vomit. Yeah...that was Tuesday night, Wednesday night Daddy was on duty (and he rocked her to sleep), so I am very anxious to see how Thursday night goes...

...just an update - I'm finishing this post during Thursday nap time and she went to sleep as she usually does (sans vomitting)...fingers crossed for tonight.

Mishap #4: Emily vs. Target parking lot - Picture me happily doing some Christmas shopping. Then picture me standing in the freezing cold drizzle trying to decide if I should have my car towed because it won't start or if I should just call a friend to get a ride home and let Aaron deal with it later that night. Don't worry, it all finally ended well when some amazing, wonderful, fabulous friends came by and managed to jump start our very very very dead battery. This was after a previous, unsuccessful attempt by a kind stranger who was parked in front of me. I was pretty much resolved that there would be a towing bill and a new alternator in my future...but that was not to be. After that I had some quality time with a box of chocolates...and I don't feel guilty at all.

Related Endorsement #4: Dusty and Crystal Pyne - who are amazing and wonderful (and have a really cute daughter). I am so grateful that in additon to a link to their blog I'm going to go ahead and link to the Chik-fil-a in the Northshore Mall. They own it, we love it - and if you order right it is very healthy. I do not - I order the chicken nuggets & waffle fries, which I coat in Ranch dressing, and a milk shake to top it off.