Long Time No Write

The holidays always sneak up on me, attack me, and leave me for dead. By the time I finally peel myself off the floor it’s mid January and all my good intentions are dried up and late. I had dreams of posting all sorts of holiday cookie recipes, but I never actually got the posts written. I did manage to take pictures before the cookies were inhaled by three-year-olds and various other people who were not me since I had a series of colds throughout the holidays.

I’m still suffering from colds as I’ve got one today. I’ve sent my three-year-old to take her nap so I can have a half hour to myself before I embark on Sick Day Yoga. (3YR always wants to do my workouts with me, but she can’t seem to do any of the moves and just sits there and tells me she can’t do them louder than the video I’m trying to hear….ah, the joys of 3YROs.)

Since the start of the new year, I’ve been trying to do a lot more yoga and workouts. Yoga is something I can do and not work up a horrid sweat and feel great afterwards. Days like today where I walked around thinking I was really sick only to realize the reason I was so cold was the heater was broken.

Again.

No one is sure what the problem is, but it sometimes doesn’t kick on properly and you have to jiggle a rubber tube and it magically kicks on fully. Since I was gone all morning, it got down to 64. It’s not back up to 68 and I no longer feel like I’m freezing to death.

I’ve been watching a lot of old movies. I’m not sure what it is about them, but I adore them. Clothes. I think it’s mostly the clothes. Even in the period movies I love seeing what they’re wearing.

So, the point of this update?

I haven’t forgotten it, mostly. I still want to do another skin care update (I’ve changed almost everything I used to use and love all my new stuff except maybe my new day cream, but I’ll deal with that in the skin care update), I’d love to do a daily clothes update — mostly with my daily outfit set out on the floor and not on me as I’m not brave enough to throw my face out there just yet–, and I want to put up more recipes. I’ve got cookies, I’ve got BREAD, and likely other things by the time it rolls around to getting them out. 3YR and I are planning to make finger puppets, since I didn’t want to buy them from Hanna Andersen yesterday for $18.00. I looked at them and had that “I Can Make That” moment. Now, she won’t leave me be. Tragically, I own no fleece, so we’ll have to venture out for that. Till then I’ll scan Pinterest. Fail or not, I’ll let y’all know. It might make a great snow day craft. (Or Your Face Is Going to Freeze Off and Must Stay Inside day craft.)

Alright, Ireland over and out.

Bleeding $$$$$$

*Pulls on compaling trousers*

We’ve finally moved into our new house. We’ve not had a house since June. We’ve lived in other people’s homes, hotels, and a short-term apartment/hotel thing. Throughout this whole time (except when we were living at other people’s homes) we’ve been just bleeding money. And it won’t stop just because we’re finally IN the house we bought. 

The Art of the Survey

For the past month or so I’ve been taking paid surveys. I researched the sites I wanted to sign up for and chose two.

One has been a total bust and I’m not sure why on earth it had such high reviews. It hardly gives me any surveys to take. The other one, I get a lot, but I get kicked out more than I take and this is what this post is about: getting kicked out.

New State, New Oddities: How I Love Thee

The toddler started preschool. She loves it, of course, and she ought to for the price we’re paying. After paying $74 bucks a month, the price increase was a heart attack, even though I knew in moving to a heavily populated area in New Jersey it’d be pricey. But, Toddler, loves it and cannot stop talking about what she did, who she did it with, and what her teacher taught her, so I guess it’s worth the price.

Everything is Smelly

When I was pregnant, I couldn’t stand the smell of almost anything. I hated how I smelled, my old stand by perfume made me nauseous, and my husband’s natural scent made me gag. The dishwasher actually made me puke it smelled so horrid to me. Heck, I couldn’t even open the fridge without holding my nose.

The fact everything in our brand new house had a horrible stench should have been the first hint to me I was pregnant. (The second being my record low blood pressure when I went in to get help with my anxiety. Due to always having a panic attack whilst at the doctor’s office, it was always high.) 

Diaper Update

Wiggles is now almost 11 months old. She weights 19 pounds and I’ve no clue how tall she is as I haven’t gotten her to be still long enough to measure her. Her legs have finally chunked out a bit, but she is still long and skinny for a baby. Likely because she is NEVER still. Even when she’s asleep she’s not still.

We still battle for naps, still have issues sleeping through the night. But sometimes it does happen: sleeping through the night.

Only we had a problem: diaper overflow.

My beloved Luvs were no longer containing the outflows. In the past, when this occured, it was time to go to the next size up. While she was in the weight limit for the diapers in the past, her legs were usually a little too skinny for the next size, her her loads were ready so we just strapped her in and hoped for the best. This time, she is no where near the weight limit for the size 4. She is firmly in size three, yet they do not hold enough pee.

Pee is my enemy now, not poop. (Unless she pees and poops at the same time, then it is a disaster.) During the day, I can change her diaper every two hours. However, HUGE COMMA, at night, I am not waking her up to change her diaper. It ends in tears. Trust me. I woke her once at four to change her diaper because she hadn’t woken at her usual time for a bottle. I’d hoped I could get the wet diaper off, put a dry on one, and put her back down.

Not so lucky.

So, the next day, I went to investigate diapers, just as I had when she was still in my belly. This time, though, I had more options. Did you know there are like two different versions of diapers for her size in Pampers? And Huggies? But Luvs only had one type of diapers and they simply do not hold enough pee to go all night long without a diaper change. But, they do make diapers that go that long. After spending a little too long staring at diapers, I picked up small packs of Pampers Cruisers and Huggies Snug and Dry. Both claimed they held 12 hours worth of wetness.

Pampers Cruisers were up first. I put it on her before her nap that day–which she actually took! It was two hours long. In the Luvs, I’d have a very heavy diaper after a two hour nap. With the PC diapers, I had a half full diaper of pee. Happy, I changed her diaper and put her in a Huggies one. Instantly, I hated the Huggies on. I don’t like them– plain and simple. They seem flimsy. At least her legs fit into the holes this time. She wore it for four hours while crawling around and no leaks. I’ve used the Huggies Snug and Dry at bedtime and so far, no leaks and no overly full diapers. Same with the Pampers.

She’s slept through the night at least three times since I bought the new diapers and only one time did Pilot Boy put the wrong diaper on her at night. I had a damp baby come morning when she spent the entire night in the Luvs diaper (she usually wakes up when wet, but she’s growing or something).

So, after we finish the Luvs, we’re switching to Pampers Cruisers and I will forlornly stare at my empty pocket book but no longer have to change her pants every three or four hours.

An Ode to Shoes

I love shoes. I’ve loved shoes since I was 13 and realized I owned almost fifty pairs of them. I was awed and amazed to discover I had an obsession with shoes. Since that point in time, I’ve continued to hoard shoes, loving everything about them except one thing: wearing them.

I hate wearing shoes.

I walked around barefoot whenever I could get away with it. I took off my shoes as soon as it is feasible. I was that person who will take her shoes off on the plane and put my feet on the gross carpet. Why? Because due to the fact I hated wearing shoes, I had about ten inches of callouses on my feet. I could hardly feel anything.

Till I got my first pedicure.

It’s been all downhill since that point in time because do you know what they do to your feet when you get a pedicure? They scrap your feet and remove the callouses.

I was horrified. Utterly, completely horrified. I wanted to rip my foot out of the tiny woman’s grasp, as what the hell was she doing?

I didn’t though and I regret it all the time. Why? Because up till that point, shoes, when I did deem to wear them, didn’t bother me. I never got blisters. I never had to break shoes in.

Then, my years of work hardening my feet was taken away from me and suddenly my feet always hurt. Shoes gave me blisters on my heels, my big toes, between my toes when I wore flip flops for the first time in a season, and worst of all I had to break shoes in suddenly.

I’d never had to do that before.

Why the hell do people get pedicures? Seriously. I’ve gotten maybe four total in my life and each time they scrap away my callouses on my feet I think, well, maybe this time will be different.

It’s not.

Yeah, my feet look pretty, but my shoes and I have a hard relationship after this point.

I haven’t had a pedicure in seven years. I got one before I got married. Mostly because I was like, “What the heck? It’s fifty degrees. I can wear flip flops.” I mored when the polish finally began chipping and swore I’d get another one in the summer. Maybe keeping up with the whole foot scrapping would help?

Then, I never got another one.

I thought about it. Multiple times, but I’ve never gone. Even while I was pregnant. Mostly because I had no idea where to go to get it done other than the place by Walmart and I was like, “I don’t want to go there by myself. It’s alway awkward.”

So, yeah. I’ve got seven years of callouses on my feet, but I still have to break in shoes.

That’s where I am going with this: breaking in shoes.

I finally broke down and bought a pair of Tory Burch flats. I’ve only wanted a pair for seven years. The only reasons I didn’t do it before now was because I had a minor heart attack each time I saw the price of a pair. Then, as discussed in a previous post, I discovered designer resale. And I know what you’re thinking: used shoes. Ick. But, seriously, I’m not about to pay $400 dollars for a pair of heels I might wear twenty
times in the next seven years.

LK Bennett Sledge

Stuart Weitzman Corkswoon

But, oh, how I lusted after Kate Middleton’s shoes. I love the Sledge by LK Bennett and the Corkswoon by Stuart Weitzman. I seriously wanted the Corkswoon, but I cannot pay $400 for a pair of 4 1/2 inch platforms I won’t be able to walk in. Towering high heels and I are not friends after my pregnancy. About 3 1/2 inches is what I can get away with without a platform and four with, but that extra half inch is not doable. I cannot walk. And it breaks my heart, BUT, I found the perfect subs for the Corkswoon and they are super comfortable. Last spring, I was tooling around JC Factory’s website and found a very similar pair. They were navy, wedges, but used rope rather than cork. However, I was never able to find a look-a-like pair for the Sledge within my low price point and in my size. I’d find the perfect pair, but they’d not have my size.

Tragic. On many levels.

Then one afternoon, I logged onto ThredUp and there they were: the LK Bennet Sledge. In the Right color.

I don’t think I even really thought about it, I put it in the cart and checked out before I even realized what I was exactly doing: buying used shoes. I did not even care. All I could think: I was going to own a pair of $400 designer shoes! And I only paid $77 for them!

I was giddy by the time the shoes arrived and threw them on my feet as fast as possible.

They were a little tight in the shoe box, but I didn’t care. I owned a pair of LK Bennett shoes! And the ones I’d lusted after for years! Also, as I wore them around the house to get used to them/break them in, I discovered if I put my foot in sides, my toes didn’t get squished. (I know, does that make sense? No.) I also discovered, if I wore them with socks, I could wear them longer. The only issue was finding no show socks that were low enough cut not to shoe. (I’ve yet to find them.)

Anyways, so I had my first pair of high end designer shoes and I could not stop thinking about my next pair. (The same thing happened when I first bought a designer purse, I couldn’t stop thinking about my next one.) I trolled the two resale sights I use and never came across what I really wanted: a pair of Tory Burch flats. Oh, sure, both sites have a lot of Tory Burch flats, just none in my size. I spent months waiting and hoping, but never did they show up.

Then one day, Pilot Boy said something that made me think: I could buy a pair of designer shoes at full price. (Then I shuddered.) So, I ventured out onto the retail sites online and began to research. I looked at Stuart Weitzman, read reviews. What I like about his wedges is the heel base is larger than on most wedges, making it easier to walk in. Yet, I still could not bring myself to pay for a pair of shoes I might not be able to walk in, so I turned my sites to Tory Burch.

I can walk in flats. I’ve always wanted a pair of Reva flats for seven years. I remember when I first saw them on PurseBlog (yeah, weird I know). The writer had just gotten a pair and loved them. That weekend, I was at Dillards (I think) and saw a pair on display. I grabbed it up, flipped it over, and promptly put it back down.

For newly wed and currently unemployed me, they were way too much money.

I didn’t pick up another pair till we were in San Antonio and at an outlet mall. I went into the overly crowded Tory Burch outlet thinking maybe I could get a pair of flats. The store was a zoo, so I just waked around quickly looking for shoes. I found a pair, flipped it over, and promptly put it back.

The outlet shoes cost the same as the non-outlet shoes.

And that’s the thing about outlet malls I’ve come to discover: their not any cheaper any longer. Retailers MAKE clothes for their outlet stores. Yeah, they have “sales” on them, but in reality its not any cheaper than going to the actual store if they had a sale.

So, before I had a panic attack in the overly crowded store, I left and decided I’d just buy the flats another day. (I’d just gotten a pair of Ray-Bans, so I figured the flats were out of the question for that trip.)

Fast forward two years and my current obsession with designer shoes.

I’ve wanted these shoes for seven years. Yes, they’ve changed over the years, but the Reva flat is still made, still comes in black and gold.

Only, I really hate gold.

And I really do hate labels. (Odd, I know.)

When I first began lusting after the Reva flat, no one knew who Tory Burch was, nor knew her logo. Now, they do. So, yeah. But, it was mostly the gold logo that turned me away from the Reva flats currently available. I was surfing around the Tory Burch site and found the flats for me: Mini Miller.

Mini Miller Flat in yellow

I am not sure what is mini about them, but they are the typical Tory Burch flat, but the logo is done in the same color, and in this case leather, as the shoe itself. After a few days of thinking about it, I bought them.

And like when I bought my first (and third) designer purse, I fretted about the purchase. Like my first designer purse, I cannot brag about not paying full price, as I did. Tragically. Why? Because each and every time Tory Bruch has a sale, the flats are never on sale in my size. NEVER. Everyone must wear an 8.5. Seriously. Anyways, so, the shoes showed up a few days ago. After the dog stopped barking (UPS delivered and he cannot stealthily deliver anything due to the noise his truck makes never mind his instance on ringing the bell), I unpacked the shoes and stared.

I’ve never had a designer shoe box before. The LK Bennett shoes didn’t come in a box, they were simply wrapped in bubble wrap. Now, I know, why does it matter. Most people throw away shoe boxes. I used to, but now I keep my shoe boxes and store shoes in them. You know, so they don’t get dusty. I started doing this in Alaska when I had a shelf to keep the boxes on. Now, I have a shelf for shoes to display them, so I keep the ones I wear often on there and the nicer ones all in boxes, sometimes doubled up if they don’t have boxes due to being bought at TJ Maxx.

Anyways, so I spent a lot of time staring at the box. I also spent quite a bit of time looking at the wrappings, as that is one thing I just love about ordering designer things from the designer’s website: the packaging. I’m pretty sure I only like this due to the fact I ran my own shop for four years and took pride in how I presented the handbag to it’s new owner via it’s wrappings. So, I spent quite a bit of time enjoying the shiny paper and shoe box before I actually took the rubber band (nice purple elastic thing) off and looked at the shoes.

Yup. Those were the shoes I ordered.

I put them on and stared at my feet. I almost expected something to happen, but nothing did other than Wiggles deciding she also like the trappings of my shoes and made the box explode of packaging.

Not knowing if I ought to keep them or not, I wore them around the house, realizing they were kind of uncomfortable. Now, I didn’t expect them to be like my boat shoes, instantly comfortable. They are hard leather and need breaking in. And today, after three days of having these shoes I decided to “break them in” quickly by use of a hair dryer. I found it on Pinterest. So, I was like, eh, worth a shot. Especially after I am not sending them back. Between the fact I do really like them, Wiggles has drooled all over them a few times before decided, No. I do not like Tory Burch as much as LK Bennett (yes, she nawed on my LK Bennett shoes. She loves them.) So, I took my hair dryer, blasted the shoes for a total of 8 seconds each then put them one with a pair of SmartWool socks.

They are a lot more comfortable with the SmartWool socks on, even if I look like an idiot due to the fact I’m wearing designer flats, SmartWool socks in grey and blue, and exercise pants. (I’m dressed for working out this afternoon when Wiggles goes to sleep, not just because I didn’t feel like putting proper pants on this morning.)

However, part of me knows that if I’d never gotten a pedicure all those years ago, I wouldn’t be breaking shoes in at this moment and instead would be dancing around merrily not having any idea what blisters felt like.

So, it snowed….

It snowed.

The world ended because it snowed.

“What?????” you’re asking, “The world ended?”

If you live in Oklahoma, yeah, the world had ended several times since winter began. I say the world ended, because they cease running normal programming and run constant….weather reporting. Oh, and random People driving around and telling you not to drive around. Stay home. Don’t get into your car, mount a camera, and drive around aimlessly.

The first “snow storm” the state got (because if it snows anywhere in the state, it’s the main news story, as there are only two TV markets in the state and we happen to live in the bigger one), the entire Sunday morning was spent watching some dude drive from Altus to OKC. (Instead of showing us the program Sunday Morning.)

Was it snowing where I was?

No.

Did it snow?

No.

This week, it was indeed snowing where I was located. But not on Sunday when they refused once again to show me Sunday Morning. And then when it was snowing here, I wasn’t allowed to see any national news.

(You can watch regular programming on CBS if you either don’t have cable or have Cox Cable, one one of the digital channels, but I’ve got a dish to watch football, so I’m trapped with no news when ever it snows here.)

It is annoying. Not EVERYONE NEEDS to see CONSTANT UPDATES FOR THREE HOURS STRAIGHT. You know that ticker thing you run at the bottom of the screen? That’s FINE. You know that little graphic with the radar on it? Yeah, use that instead of showing me it’s snowing on some highway where I AM NOT LOCATED, nor will I be located. (Nor will a large portion of the people watching your freaking channel.) You know what? You can interrupt to tell me something pressing, but doing the SAME FREAKING FORECAST FOR THREE HOURS IS NOT NEEDED. You see, in the THREE HOURS you are broadcasting random people driving around and some poor woman standing outside in the freezing cold, NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. It is still cold. Roads should still NOT be traveled and it is STILL snowing. I do not need to be told this for three straight hours instead of seeing whatever national news has for me in the mornings. You can tell me EVERYTHING you have been going on about for THREE HOURS in the thirty second forecasts you’re given by the national channels. DID YOU KNOW THAT?

One day, when it was “supposed” to snow, they ran the “forecast” all freaking day. It hadn’t even started snowing yet (anywhere really) and they were already showing people driving around the state highways and showing the radar. Seriously. It was on ALL DAY LONG.

We got less than an inch. You could still see the grass, but you weren’t allowed to see regular programming.

I’ve lost track of the times this winter I woke up and wasn’t able to see any news (I don’t like news channels on cable as they make me mad). Though, what makes me REALLY mad is when they refuse to allow me to see Sunday Morning. It’s on ONCE a week.

The only good thing about this last snow: it was enough to cover the grass and has hung around so Basil has snow to play in. It’s been a year exactly since her last romp in the snow. She was so THRILLED to have snow to run around in. It was like the BEST DAY EVER as far as Basil was concerned.

Bubble Gum and Tape

Pilot Boy and I bought a house.

At the time, it sounded like a great idea– own our own home, be able to paint, decorate, destroy, etc to our heart’s content and not have to ask a landlord if we could. Also, no longer throwing money away on rent! Whooo!

Granted, if I had to choose a place to buy a house, the one where we did, I wouldn’t have done it. BUT, there were like no places to rent, we need a house, and we’d spent three years saving for a downpayment. (Of course, we assumed we’d be going to either South Carolina or Washington, not middle of nowhere land…but WHATEVER.)

We found a house on the ONLY day we looked at houses. It was like we were in our own House Hunters episode. We had three houses lined up to look at and choose from (not going to count the last house we looked at, as it was a duplicate of the one we bought, only plastered with carpet). We picked third house, as it felt right and didn’t require a lot of TLC. I liked everything about it except the paint. You can change paint.

Flash forward a month and here I am, sitting in MY house sweating to death because the A/C broke last night.

Yeah.

It broke. The motor that pushes the air through the house gave up it’s battle to cool me down and went kaput.

I lived the last three years without A/C. Anchorage doesn’t do A/C. What do you do in Anchorage when it gets too hot to exist in your house because while the weather man keeps telling you it’s a lovely seventy degrees, he fails to tell you that in direct sunlight it’s 110 and no breeze?

You go to Fred Meyer. (Seriously, it was the coldest place in town when it got “hot” out.)

I think the hottest it got in the house the three years without A/C was maybe seventy-five. And I was MISERABLE. (I managed to drag my trip to Fred Meyer out for two hours that day…)

It’s seventy-seven in here right now.

And it’s just gonna get hotter.

Brilliant.

After discovering the reason it was so overly warm in our bedroom, Pilot Boy tried to solve the problem. Upon discovering the issue, he called the so called several twenty-four hour, seven days a week maintenance places.

No one answered the phone.

Bloody brilliant.

So, the first weekend with furniture in our house, we’re going to bake to death. (Along with Basil Bea, the black dog who sunbathes while outside then wonders why she’s hot.)

I expected the house to have some minor issues…besides the whole let’s paint the ceilings the same color as the walls, find the most annoying shade of gold and use it and some sort of strange paint effect, but whatever. Paint can be changed! (You keep telling yourself that, Ireland.)

Yeah, it was annoying the oven and fridge weren’t cleaned. Yeah, I don’t understand why the microwave sometimes turns itself back on to move the tray back and forth after use. It was annoying when the water dispenser in the fridge spewed out water without prompting the first few times we used it. (It finally stopped.) Sure, it was irritating that there was no dryer tube to connect the dryer to the wall. (Pilot Boy later found the one that came with the dryer inside the dryer with all the packing paper…he failed to look before buying a new one.) Yeah, it was maddening they took the shower rod for the guest bathroom. (Why do people take shower rods? Seriously, just leave it behind.) Sure, the fact the dishwasher makes a god awful noise each time you open it is kind of vexing. (It sounds like a dying animal.)

But, you know, it’s the kind of stuff I kind of expected. (Well, not the dirty fridge. It wasn’t even wiped out, people. It was seriously disgusting and if I was bothered, that’s saying something.)

However, did I think the A/C would DIE literally seven days after we signed the papers?

No.

Was I all that surprised?

No.

Pilot Boy said this morning this place is simply held together with bubble gum and tape. I would have argued before, but I’m currently doing a slow bake within my own house, so I’m thinking yeah. Bubble gum and tape.

Where I Will Make Some Lists

Things I Miss About Texas:

1. HEB

*Now why would I miss a chain grocery store? Because. Unlike many things within the state of Texas I detest, I have ALWAYS for some unknown reason loved HEBs. When I lived in Del Rio, it was mostly because it was something familiar (a real grocery store, not a pretend one like they had on base or Walmart. I loath Walmarts for the most part.) They had good produce and I’d spend my Friday mornings buying fresh fruits and veggies. When we returned to Texas, we did all our shopping at HEB because once more, the base store failed at life. (Seriously, the only good base commissary we’ve seen was at in IL. Seriously. The one in AK was well stocked, but priced similar to Fred Meyer).

2. Four Zone Weather
*While they failed at life at predicting when it’d rain sometimes (Weather man: It will not rain today! Ireland Scott: *looks out window and wonders what the water falling from the sky is if it’s not rain*) I like the fact they had Doppler and could somewhat tell me the various weather in the various sections.

*tries to think of other things besides Target she misses about Texas at the moment and fails.*

Thing I Do Not Miss About Texas:

1. Humidity.
2. Access roads along side the interstate.
3. Their inability to merge.
4. Heat.
5. Bugs.
6. Did I mention the access roads?
7. It’s hot there. And it doesn’t rain enough. But it’s humid. (Didn’t I say that already? I did. I guess my list on things I do not miss is short as well.)

Things I Miss About Alaska:

1. The weather (all times of year. I like it.)
2. Their lack of highways and access roads.
3. Their local news.
4. The weather man who never knew what was going on and it was adorable because there’s no Dopplar up there so he kind was just guessing anyways. (Weather guy: It might be snowing. Or not. I’m not sure. We’ll see! Ireland Scott: Looks out window and laughs because it’s snowing. Quite a bit.)

Things I Do Not Miss:

1. The dirt and tiny rocks they used on the roads in the winter that never seemed to go away.

Things I like about OK at the moment…

1. Lack of humidity.
2. It’s better than the Dirt Hole.
3. No access roads!
4. The town I’m located within doesn’t even have an interstate, so duh, no access roads.
5. There is an Old Navy and Lowes. Woot.
6. There are plenty of Mexican restaurants to keep Pilot boy happy.

Things I Do Not Like:

1. MILK IS LIKE FIVE DOLLARS A GALLON. WTF?
2. The cheapest place to buy things is Walmart and there is no Target.
3. Seriously, who decides the price of food in this place? And why am I paying full sales tax of food? What is wrong with you OK, I thought you were a red state, don’t you hate taxes? Or did I learn that wrong?
4. It’s hot. (like 100 plus, but it’s not humid. Or it wasn’t. It MIGHT rain today, so it’s humid.)
5. The way they pronounce ALTUS during their ENTIRE state WIDE weather forecast on the news. Seriously, they do the ENTIRE state in board strokes. While I understand this, they never talk about where I am. Just ALTUS. And they say it all WRONG.

So, all in all, I hate very minor things. Right?