About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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August 12, 2015
Baby Kisses: It took me a while to understand why LB would glom onto my cheek like a little suckerfish, and lick my face. Ze is trying to kiss us back! And it’s basically the weirdest, cutest, funniest thing. Ze obviously doesn’t know how we’re kissing hir cheeks, but ze is doing hir best estimate.
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LB loves to chew on hands, mostly my hands though sometimes hirs are good too, and lick knees. Ze has odd taste.
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I can’t decide if this belongs here or in a money post but I’m figuring it’s about LB, so … LB is trying out a lot of new foods, just little tastes, but won’t be ready to transition off milk for a while longer. Until then, whether due to fatigue (baby or syndrome related), or not hydrating enough, or some other thing, my milk production has been dropping significantly so we rely on formula a lot. It’s convenient but I hate the cost and I hate the inconvenience and the waste when ze suddenly decides 1 oz into a 5 oz bottle that ze is cranky and doesn’t want that bottle after all. I hate that we have to chuck formula at $1/oz! So I want to keep providing hir almost all breastmilk but it’s just not happening.
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Speaking of foods, ze has been an adventurous eater indeed. It seems that the last two months of watching us eat and not share has motivated hir to take every proffered food even if ze thinks it’s disgusting at first. I know this acceptance of food may change when ze gets older but it’s fun right now.
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In what seemed like a flash, LB figured out how to try to push hirself into a sit position from a flat on the belly position, and then learned how to actually sit up. It just … happened. A friend with an older baby marveled at how strong ze was – I didn’t think it was abnormal for a baby to be able to get up on all fours and rock and scoot backwards at this age but what do I know.
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I keep comparing pictures of LB from when ze was a week old to now and the change is astounding. So much so that it doesn’t look like the same human at all. I birthed a cute tiny alien and it’s turned into a cute tiny human!
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“Babies need to get frustrated. That’s how they learn.” Great advice from @vanitygames the first time LB was the Angriest of all Inchworms and I felt bad for hir. Now when ze hollers from frustration, ze gets encouragement and a little bit of support after ze has given it a really good try. Independent (angry) baby!
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I’m understanding why cats imitate baby voices now but it’s really creepy when I can’t tell if that’s a cat yowling on our street or LB waking up from a nap prematurely.
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Last in the series of vaccines! Ze was a total champ. Angrily screamed for about ten seconds and then sat up like nothing had happened. That’s about the standard for any “but you’re fine” fall when ze topples over and conks hir head not terribly hard. Given how hard ze has head butted me in the face without even blinking, I’ve taken to pointing out that ze is merely startled for most of those very comparatively gentle head conks. After a second, ze seems to agree.
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I no longer try to soothe most of LB’s crying. Not because I’m a heartless monster, but because most of hir crying is frustration over not knowing how to do something or wanting to do something or just wanting attention. Instead of trying to soothe, I redirect to a new toy and 90% of the time, ze is amenable. Also, I don’t hand hir toys anymore. Ze wants what ze can’t have, so I play with it in front of hir and if ze gets interested, ze’ll leap-crawl over.
Baby Savings: It’s important to remember this is artificially inflated due to not having reliable childcare and not withdrawing cash to pay for the trial nanny days.
Up to$29,346.84.
Month 5: Toes
Month 4: Velociraptor Claws
Month 3: Growth Spurts
Month 2: Hates sleep
Month 1: Banshee
August 10, 2015
I remember talking my parents into letting me get a summer job. They didn’t want particularly want me to work during high school, they made enough at the time to cover my basic needs, so it seemed fair to say that school was my first job and that I should focus on that.
The specifics of that persuasion are lost to the mists of foggy memory but ultimately they led to an exception to the rule: work summers. It’s not that I was too smart or too good to work, hah not even close, they just worked hard to provide for us and it meant a lot to them to be able to spare us from working during our teen years.
As an Honors student, I always had summer assignments but it still left me plenty of time to work a part time gig, whether it was paid or volunteer, so off I went to the Want ads.
Yeah, how old am I that I went to find my first jobs in the newspaper? And you remember the PennySaver? That thing is still around. I spent a lot of time sprawled on the floor, fingers all over in newsprint, circling and marking up the papers.
Those part time gigs barely count for professional experience but I earned about $500 summer of sophomore year and $800 summer of junior year. Every penny was (piggy)banked after taking out cash to pay for First Dog’s vaccines and vet visits. Seriously, folks, tell your kids they’re responsible for any pets in the house? Mean it. My parents did. Once I was old enough to earn income, the vet bills came out of my pocket. That, more than anything, taught me that pets are a responsibility, not just convenient mobile toy friends. A shame that I knew absolutely nothing about investing back then.
If I’m recalling correctly, that cash then paid for all my senior year expenses like a yearbook, tickets and a discount dress for prom. Again, not withdrawing from the Bank of Parents for my “fun” things meant that no money was wasted on foolish things like a class ring. Just the few things I thought were worth it.
Looking back now, even the yearbook was a waste of money. Who looks at those things after you graduate, anyway? Who remembers those random thirty people that signed it? And did anyone really keep in touch because of those three little letters “KIT”?
My first real paycheck, at a real not-just-for-the-summer job, was exciting stuff. Real money for real work – real satisfaction!
I wasn’t even 18 though, so after opening the envelope and petting the check, all I could do was stuff it in my piggy bank until I could open my own bank account. I wasn’t about to pay to get that baby cashed, and symbolically it was important that it go into my own account now that I was a real adult, so it was deposited about 7 weeks later into my very own, brand-spankin-new Washington Mutual, no fees ever, checking account. (Ah, the good ole days, before bank bailouts and subprime mortgage folly!) The first things that check paid for were a fundraiser roll of gift wrap which I still have, and a credit card bill for my college tuition.
The world still seemed bright back then, with 5% interest rates on savings accounts and great credit card bonuses though I hadn’t yet discovered churning.
Do you remember your first job(s) and paycheck(s)?
Note: There was something magical about the first month of this job – nothing had gone terribly wrong at home yet. These first checks were really for me and my expenses.
August 7, 2015
Abby at I Pick Up Pennies was kind enough to bestow upon me the Sunshine Blogger Award and tag me with some questions.
1. What’s the best thing you’ve purchased or been given in the past six months?
Honest first answer: I can’t remember.
Slightly more thoughtful second answer: 3-way tie between on sale t-shirts, a dress that I can actually wear for a semi-fancy event… (I can’t remember my 3rd but it was good! I swear!)
2. What’s your favorite snack? (No one gets to say fruit.)
But I love (some) fruit! Probably not my favorite, though. Honey roasted peanuts, then.
3. What form of exercise do you hate the most. (“All” is a perfectly acceptable answer.)
Anything that cripples me. I actually like exercise, in theory. I just hate when it puts me out of commission for days or weeks.
4. If you could afford/manage to live anywhere, where would it be?
A few small towns over, probably, for slightly better weather. Or, given the dire predictions about the next Big One in the Bay Area or the next Super Destructive Big One that should sink Seattle, maybe Colorado or Arizona? I like where we are, now, but the real estate market is terrible and it’s all liable to go smash when we have a real quake even if we could afford ridiculous prices.
5. What’s the geekiest hobby or pastime you have?
Being me. No, that’s not an answer. I need to chart progress on everything I do? I SDCC every year? I still stay up late reading comics when I can?
Over to y’all!
Want to answer the questions that Abby posed? You know you do! Make yourself at home in the comments!
Nominations!
If you’re so inclined to participate, I’d like to pass the award along with Abby’s questions to people who could probably answer them better 🙂
Save. Spend. Splurge.
NZMuse
Sense to Dollars
Budget and the Beach
Nicole & Maggie
August 5, 2015
Long before LB came along, I was getting grumpy with how we did weekends.
PiC was accustomed to getting out Saturday mornings and cranking out some miles. I’ve always had my feet up, working on the computer, until 2 pm before rolling out through town running errands. We’re such inherent opposites in energy and finances, it’s a wonder we get along.
I think we were both sort of constantly quietly exasperated that it was so complicated balancing our needs (grocery shopping, cleaning, routine repairs) and our wants (sleep, more sleep, work, getting exercise, having fun) but we failed to do anything about it. Apparently the discomfort was only enough to be a pain and not enough to motivate.
Time feels more precious now, and now that we’re actually surviving day to day in reasonable shape, things seemed to click.
A few weeks ago, we talked on Friday night: What do you want to do Saturday and Sunday? One answer per day.
PiC wanted a 4 hour time slot for his workout. I wanted a late morning lie-in and a couple hours to work. LB was going to want to be fed, fight sleep, eat again, play, avoid a nap, eat, and so on. Obviously, hir schedule was going to stay pretty much the same so we worked out which of our things could happen when, with hir schedule in mind, and made it happen. It was an epiphany. We felt productive and still had the late afternoon and evening to relax and do some shared family things like errands, cooking, and eating. Rinse and repeat.
Verdict: Awesome!
Another weekend, I acquiesced to PiC’s plan that we do a volunteer activity together, even though it meant packing up the whole family, and we fulfilled one of his hobby obligations. That many hours in the sun clean wore me out, though, and so I took the rest of Saturday off. It was Daddy-child and Daddy-dog time all day Saturday with only pinchhitting from me.
I think this is the right groove for us. We need time to do our own things separately as well as together as a family, and these does not simply happen.
Especially with my “who needs to go outside” attitude, if I don’t make a real effort or PiC doesn’t make it happen, I’d never get outside or away from the family to be alone and refresh myself. I’m not lost in my new role as a mom, this is a reversion to a more severe version of my usual niche as a domestic hermit. It conserves precious energy! But that doesn’t mean that I can, or should, hide forever.
It’s going to take deliberate communication and coordination but I think it’s worth the brainpower to look forward to weekends as a time to enjoy, rather than hoping for the best and being frustrated.
August 3, 2015
Change from Jan 2015: 17.2% increase
On Money
I spent (an astounding) $200 on myself this month.
First, I lopped off several inches of hair so I’m set for several months. My attention span for sitting in a chair while my hair’s cut is shorter and shorter.
Then, I had a therapeutic massage (aka The Torturous Ordeal) that brought tears to my eyes but worked out the tension that had built up in my muscles. The smart thing to do would be not to wait 3 months between massages.
And, finally bought fresh razor blades. I don’t know why I hate paying real money for razors, but I do.
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July 31, 2015
I asked, you answered, et voila!
Thanks to everyone who participated, this was a lot of (good, cheap) fun for me and I hope for you too!
I’m sharing some of the postcards you sent / received here from those of you who emailed afterward. If you didn’t share and you still want to, feel free to email me images of the postcards you received and I’ll add them here.
Want to go again? Or want in on the next round? Let me know in the comments!
July 29, 2015
Preparation for this year was brutal
Badge purchasing was organized by lottery system.
Hotel booking was a lottery system.
Parking passes were sold on a lottery system.
It’s a flipping miracle that we got passes, secured a hotel room through the lottery system for friends, and secured a parking pass.
Our rental vehicle was booked for the week and I let out a sigh of relief on June 28th. All was set, I thought. Then I quickly sucked it back in because with my luck….
Sure enough, I’d booked the wrong dates for the rental and rebooking was estimated to be $1800. A panicked call to Enterprise + a reasonable service rep = corrected booking. Whew.
Oh wait.
At the last minute, our lodging plans changed and we needed to book a hotel for ourselves. Two weeks before Comic-Con. Now THAT was a hoot. 99% of the hotels in our desired region were booked out and the hotels that were available were the Embassy Suites for $800/night, the Doubletree for $900/night and the Indigo for $1800/night. Awesome.
We needed both a baby and pet friendly hotel and I was not paying over $500 a night for four nights of an average hotel that would then charge for parking and a pet fee for Seamus, no way, no how!
Ten hours of searching, and 6 bookings later, we booked an average hotel somewhat near downtown that didn’t have recent reports of bedbugs. (Ugh!) Clearly, our standards had changed. And it was going to cost nearly $1700 for the whole stay. *clutch throat* I’ve never spent that much on an entire trip to SDCC, forget just on hotel! But it was a last minute change, it couldn’t be helped, and I refused to let it ruin our plans. One side effect of having been a extra frugal Con goer, and spending next to nothing on hobbies, is that our savings are absolutely solid and our cash flow can bear a hiccup or two even in the four digit range.
Packing was a bummer this year because I still don’t fit most of my clothes and that includes my standard Con wardrobe of geeky shirts.
Comic-Con commenced…
Left: BADGED! Right: a fantastic cosplay (I didn’t know the character, unfortunately).
We didn’t get Preview Night for Wednesday which, in retrospect, was for the best. Logistics were already well nigh incomprehensible, trying to make it to town and ready to hit the floor on Wednesday would have been excruciating stress.
Thursday was our first day on the floor and it was yet another bust: Seamus hurt his paws before we left. While one paw was responding to home treatment, the other significantly deteriorated in just the two days since we left San Francisco. I made the call to give up an afternoon at Con and take him to a San Diego vet to head off a major infection. I was grouchy about the loss of floor time but it was the right call. He responded to the medications overnight, allowing his paw to actually start healing. Hallelujah! And it was “only” $110.
With Seamus all set, we headed out Friday for our full day on site with a lighter step and clear conscience. Despite all the missteps and mishaps leading up to this day, it was wonderful.
Left: I’m really not sure what’s happening here. A unicorn/centaur Colonel (KFC)? Right, top: Ashley on the Iron Throne (Game of Thrones Experience) Right, bottom: Tribbles! All photos courtesy of @ashleyserena
The Kelly Sue headed panel on writing, and then on their company Milkfed Criminal Masterminds, were both fantastic.
We browsed a discount TPBs booth where I impulse bought $45 worth of comics for myself and a friend. Browsing wasn’t even on the list of things I thought we’d have the freedom to do but LB was so incredibly cooperative. Ze was just hanging out, enjoying the sights and sounds, and it was awesome. I picked up gifts for three people and got myself a new t-shirt. We took a dozen pictures of LB and PiC hanging out and having a good old time, and had silly pictures taken at promo booths.
I was sad to miss the panel with Congressman John Lewis, the last surviving member of the “Big 6” from the civil rights movement, who marched in Selma on Bloody Sunday. Even typing that makes me tear up at what people had to go through to be treated like humans. But I’m really happy that it happened.
There were many other fun and wonderful things this year, and we missed many of our regular visits (Marian Call’s concerts, for one) but this trip renewed our enjoyment of the event. Every year we’re aware it might be our last, but as long as we can go, we will.