Whew, What a Week

Wow. This week has been extremely taxing. I couldn't believe how long the days were and now that it's finally Friday I can't believe how fast it went. At work I felt all week that I was just not getting anything accomplished. Well, I really wasn't I guess. I had one project that was high priority; to write a Crystal Report, part of my new job. I have only written 2 reports and this one through me for a loop. It seemed that I was moving along smoothly and then BAM, ran right into a wall of, "what the hell do I do now and why can't I talk this damn computer language, I know what I want you to do, so just do it?" I kept trying to plug away at it and then continued to come up with the wrong results. My co-worker, who also writes reports was out of the office at training and he was checking in with me each day, but I really wanted to accomplish the task on my own if I could. I thought on Thursday morning I had finally figured my solution out and had completed my project (after spending 2 hours Wed. night scouring the Internet for answers that might help me), but nope. Friday morning I got an email that after some more verification the report was dropping data, damn it. So, Friday I left work with an incomplete assignment to haunt me for the weekend and all I can think is: I went to school to be a Travel Agent not a Computer Geek, what the hell am I doing?
Throughout the week I also kept wondering and thinking about the balance of being an employee, a wife, and a mom. How do I balance this? I told my husband thank you numerous times and how appreciative I am right now that he has settled into the routine of picking up the kids from daycare because I find myself struggling to leave work on time and then struggling at work to get home and be with the family. Again the husband has been left to the duties of cooking supper as well because I am spent when I get home and the kids are hungry by 6pm; he says he doesn't mind, but I do. I want to be able to be the good wife and have the clean house and supper in the oven and the well behaved children, will this ever happen?! At these times I really long for my cleaning lady to come back every 2 weeks and at least take care of my house, too bad I wanted another kiddo and a new car huh, bye-bye cleaning lady.
On a good note for the week, Katelynn had her second dentist appointment and passed with flying colors, no cavities! It actually worked out pretty cool for her because this week at preschool they were studying teeth and now she has really been into brushing, flossing and rinsing.
Ahh - I feel better getting this all down and off my chest for the night at 10:30pm. Now it's back to the laundry and damn it I'm enjoying a cold beer while I do it, what a way to spend a Friday night.

Our Vegas Vacation

Junior's 1st Birthday Party

All set up and ready for our guests to arrive.
Momma and Junior

So happy with his new Super Bouncy Ball !

1st Birthday Cake Video

Fiber One Yogurt and Safeway - Giveaway

Best-selling author and food expert Lisa Lillien, AKA Hungry Girl, has given her "seal of approval" to the new Fiber One yogurt, the only leading nonfat yogurt with 50 calories and 5 grams of fiber (20 percent of the Recommended Daily Value). It is also a good source of calcium and vitamins A and D, making this a guilt-free and all-around great choice for dieters and those watching their weights. Each cup includes the creamy, delicious taste you expect from Yoplait, and you don´t have to feel guilty about enjoying it. Fiber One is available in a variety of flavors including, Strawberry, Peach, Vanilla and Key Lime Pie (see what Hungry Girl thinks about the new yogurt here:http://hungry-girl.com/news/newsdetails.php?isid=1772 !)

In addition, from January 13th through February 9th, the Safeway family of stores has a special deal where you can purchase two 4-packs of Fiber One yogurt for only $4! You can visit your local Safeway family of stores to take advantage of the great savings on Fiber One yogurt and more!

I received a VIP coupon to try a free 4-pack of the Fiber One Yogurt. This is a good way to get your fiber if you like yogurt. I thought that there was a little graininess to the yogurt, but the taste was not bad.

I also received a $50.00 gift certificate to Safeway! I love my Safeway store. Many of you know that I play thegrocergame.com in order to save money on groceries and Safeway has been my store for a little over a couple of years. Last summer I did switch to King Sooper's for awhile to see if I could save more, but ended up going back to Safeway. I like the layout of my store and now that they are doubling their manufacture coupons I am back to shopping with them full time. I am sad to see that they are ending their connection with United Airlines and giving shoppers the bonus of air miles for every $250 they spend. I also believe that they may be changing the way that shoppers receive their auto fuel discount awards. In the past you were able to stock up your fuel savings and use them all at once which really helped us out at the fuel pump. I noticed on a recent receipt that this may have changed and will follow what King Sooper's does of only letting you save 10 cents at each fill up. Both of this items really set them apart for me from King Sooper's maybe one day they will change it back!?

I am able to do a give away for one of my reader's. The winner will receive a $50.00 gift card to Safeway.

My VIP coupon, gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by Safeway and Fiber One through MyBlogSpark."

If you would like to be considered for the drawing please comment on my blog:
Comment on which flavor of Fiber One yogurt they would like to try OR
Share recommended tips on how to maintain a healthy and frugal lifestyle.

Davids Family Visit & Oh The Sickness

The business continued at our house. We were excited for Dan's parents to arrive last Friday for their visit. Dan and Grandma picked up the kids from daycare and I brought home some KFC for everyone and a few bottles of wine. The kids were having fun and we did Christmas with them that night. Dan's parents decided to wait on their gifts since they were coming here, less shipping costs and then they got to enjoy seeing the kids open their presents. Junior got a huge Tonka truck that he loved and Katelynn got the DVD The Wizard Of Oz with a figurine of Dorothy and some ruby red shoes to wear.
Saturday -
Saturday morning Dan cooked us up a big breakfast. I then had to run off to deal with some HOA business. The town is still battling over the manufactured homes issue and trying to pass it. They set up a tour of the company in town here that builds manufactured homes and then had a Planning Commission Board meeting that I again voiced my opinion on them not approving them until the town can show that they will enforce the codes that are in place. We did win the vote 4 -3 this time so we will see what the Town Board does this time; I am really over dealing with some of this stuff! Dan hung out with his Dad and some neighbors and they grilled up some dear meat they brought while Grandma watched the kiddos. We just bummed around the rest of the day and didn't do much of anything. Junior started to not feel very well on Saturday as well, we figured that one or both of the kids would eventually catch our colds.
Sunday -
The men went off to do some work in the morning and the women (plus Junior) went shopping for birthday decorations and groceries to get out of the house. Junior was still not feeling really up to par and really started going down hill by the end of the day.
Monday -
Katelynn went to preschool and Junior stayed home with Grandma. I went to work in the morning to get a few appointments out of the way and meet with some developers on one of my projects because I knew it would be another month before I would be able to reschedule the meeting and my boss was also at home with a sick child and wasn't able to attend. I headed home after the meeting and picked up Katelynn and swapped the kids. Junior and I went to Urgent Care and Katelynn stayed with Grandma to make a few batches of Chili for Dan to freeze (she does this at each visit, Dan loves his mamma's Chili, I never try to make it because of that!). I had already figured that Junior was getting RSV again and had decided on Monday morning that I would take him to Urgent Care instead of to his regular doctor after the nightmare that happened last time of taking him in 3 days in a row until he was finally admitted to the hospital. We got to Urgent Care in Loveland and it wasn't busy and got in right away and sure enough they listened to him and then tested him for both RSV and the flu and he tested positive for RSV, again. They gave him some nebulizer treatments and we ended up being there for about 4 1/2 hours just hanging out to see if they could get his temperature down and if the treatments would help. His temp did eventually go down and we finally got a glimpse of my happy little boy. They sent us home with strict instructions on suctioning out his nose and some drugs for his ears. The men went hunting on Monday and got home later that night with a ton of birds, chucker or chuggers and whatever else they were hunting ? They had a great time and it was good for Dan to have that time with his Dad.
Tuesday -
I stayed home from work on Tuesday with Dan's mom and Junior and Katelynn was off to daycare and preschool. Junior wasn't getting better, but wasn't getting worse and was able to sleep well. We had a follow-up appointment that morning with his regular doctor. The receptionist asked me right away how we ended up at Urgent Care instead of their office, I just said I came home from work and took him right to Urgent Care - I didn't lie, just didn't tell them that it was because I didn't want to take him there. We did get seen by the head doctor that morning which made me happy and he said to just keep watching him and that his ears were getting better. What a way to spend your very first birthday:( Doug and Jeannie were able to go do some shopping that day and go out for breakfast since it was Jeannie's birthday too. Dan made a great supper that night of halibut and tuna and then we had cake and opened presents. Junior was in good spirits during this and we did let him indulge himself in chocolate cake (don't tell the doctor!). He was so funny about it all, he loved it.
Wednesday -
That night of course Katelynn started to not look so great and in the morning was coughing something fierce. Dan's parents were leaving for home which left just Dan and I. I really needed to get to work because I will be in training on Thursday and Friday and then we leave for vacation and I have some presentations I needed to prep that are on my first morning back to work so Dan stayed home with the kids. Junior is doing better today and started taking in more fluids; however, now Katelynn is coughing and coughing, the poor thing. I guess it was only a matter of time that she would catch it.

Now we anxiously await my mom coming out to visit on Friday, Junior's birthday party on Saturday (as long as everyone is healthy by then) and Vegas for us on Monday. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have a few days off. I actually am the most excited for Dan and I to get some time together alone and have no responsibilities than anything we end up doing on our trip. Does every marriage have these ups and downs and everyone just hides them or is it just mine?!