Completely Disgusted

I honestly don't think I have enough words to express distaste towards a certain company that manufactures Christmas lights that Walmart sells, of course made in China. I purchased a battery operated set of 10 Christmas lights for a table decoration for our Advent Dessert on Saturday night. I was sitting on the floor and pulled out the Christmas lights and Monkey came over an was fingering them (I was closely watching him, don't worry). I go to cut off 2 "warning" stickers on the cord so that they didn't look bad in my decoration. Seriously, who reads the "warning" stickers, don't they all say the same thing? This could cause electrocution, yadayadayada...

No....

This one says...

Caution:

Prop 65 Warning: Handling the coated electrical wires of this product exposes you to lead. (see other side)

(Continued from other side)
a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer birth defects and other reproductive harm.
Wash hands after use.

Can you even believe it!?! LEAD!!! I'm irate! I promply washed our hands and spray painted the cord (with non-lead paint).

Man, I'm seriously thinking about not buying ANYTHING made in China any more. I know it might be difficult, but the risk on our health is unbelievable. It just makes me SO mad!

I watched a special on TV the other day about the harm of lead to children, it's honestly scary. An amount of lead a 1/4 of the size of paper clip can cause serious brain damage in children. SCARY!

Surveys

I heard about paid surveys through www.moneysavingmom.com and thought I'd give them a try. I signed up with Pinecone Research and have already made $12 and it took probably all of 45 min. to 1 hour. They pay $3 per survey and maybe take 10-15 minutes. That's a pretty good hourly rate. Obviously, I'm not wracking in the dough or anything, but for something here or there, why not. I've also received 2 packages of wipes and 1 package of diapers to try out, too! I'm not going to complain! I've also taken surveys through other companies and have been accruing points that I can use towards gift cards and such. I don't think the hourly return is as great, but it's still not bad.

Today Was a Great Day

Most days around here seem to fly by and I never have enough time to get everything done. Today, however, was one of those days that was really slow. Not necessarily in a bad way, it just seemed to be a slower day. I got a lot done! I did a load of laundry, made a batch of homemade apple sauce (yum!), spray painted a light fixture silver in my house, spray painted some sticks for my Christmas dessert table for next Saturday (I'll post a picture of the completed table next week), watched 4 hours of Gilmore girls and I got loads of play time in with my adorable Monkey! Right now it feels like it should be 1am and it's only 9:20. Weird.

Home at Last!

We're home from a wonderful Thanksgiving/Christmas with my family in Boise! It was COLD and it snowed while we were there, which was totally awesome. Unfortunately, both boys pretty much slept through it because it was the first morning we were there and they were adjusting to the whopping 1 hour time change:-)

We had a really fun time, though and we're glad to be home and recover just a bit before heading back out there in 2 1/2 weeks.

Yes, I know we're crazy, but talk to my "little" brother who decided to get married on December 15th.

No, really, I'm happy for him and I love Nicole (his finace) so I'm glad that we're able to go out for the wedding. It's just weird that we'll have just be there.

Oh yeah, more laundry to do...the story of my life...

My Baby is Growing Up

My darling Monkey turned 9 months old this week and it suddenly hit me. My baby isn't such a little baby any more. Today, he pulled himself up all by himself! He saw something up on top of a box that he wanted (actually, bait placed by yours truly) and he got his little fingers up there and pulled himself onto his knees and slowly walked on his knees a little bit until he was close enough to get leverage and then pulled himself right up onto his feet. He stood there for a few seconds and promptly fell hard to the side, looked around to see if Dad and I had noticed and then started crying. Isn't that always the way it goes? Obviously, he survived the horrendous fall and lives to the tell, I mean babble, the story.

I guess it's time to go baby proof the house...

Great Time with Great Friends

My best childhood friend and her husband came to visit this weekend and we've had a great time. She and I have known each other since we were in around 3rd grade and I've known her husband since we were in high school. But, having met my husband in college, they don't know him as well. The awesome thing is, though, that we all get along GREAT. The men are both total geeks. In one weekend they totally invented their own card game. Cards are printed and it's fun! They're seriously looking into patenting it, that's how good it is! We also played Cities and Knights of Catan, one of the greatest games of all time. It's a long game, but fun, unlike Monopoly which is far too long and BORING! We also all love The Office, so we watched some of the newer episodes, so fun! The really fun part about it is that she is having a baby in just a few months and I really look forward to our kids playing together, even if they will be a year apart. I just wish they lived closer. 7 hours away is too far :-( They live in the town where I grew up, so when we go to visit we have lots of people to see and don't get to spend nearly enough time with them. But, they're still great friends and we love the time we do get to spend with them.

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Feeling Much Better Today

Monkey is back to his normal self today, which means we are ALL having a much better day!

My best friend comes tomorrow and I can't wait! She and her husband love to play games, so that's probably what we'll do most of the time, aside from hitting Ikea and eating, of course. She's having a baby in February and I'm so excited for her.

Now, off to clean the house while Monkey sleeps.

Sicky Baby

I think Monkey is sick :-( He feels a little warm today and he's been REALLY clingy. Seriously, I haven't had a moment of freedom except for nap time. I love holding him, though, it makes me happy. I just need to get my house cleaned because my best friend and her husband are coming to visit on Thursday. But, come-what-may, if the house isn't totally clean, I'm pretty sure she'll still love me any way. Well, it's nap time, so I best take full advantage of my time.

Wow, It's Been a Month

Wow, I can't believe that I haven't written anything in a month. October was so busy and November has no sign of being any less busy. My next 4 weekends are already booked solid! But, it's with all good things.

I've been feeling better lately. I think there was some minor post-partum depression going on there for awhile and I've been taking measures to keep it away. I'm a very social person and I'm home most of the time with Monkey, so I need to get out a lot more and then I feel MUCH better.

We're off to middle school camp in about 2 hours! Woohoo! I love middle schoolers, they're so cool! Hopefully, Monkey does okay. It's cold up here in the Northwest already and we're outside a lot at this camp. We bought him an adorable hat at The Children's Place yesterday to keep his cute little ears warm.

Any way...Monkey just woke up and we need to go load up the car and get out of dodge.