Just Get Me Home

Today started off great, we woke up at a decent time and were off to meet our friends at the mall. After a little shopping, some lunch, and some time in the sand box, it was time to go to one of our favorite stops. Sprouts. Nothing too special, just a local place to go get great deals on fruits and veggies { and our stop for yogurt covered pretzels} As we began to drive to Sprouts we were stuck in some construction traffic. I didn't mind, I had my music on, a happy kid, and the air conditioning was blasting. Then I heard it, one sound a girl{ I'm sure guys don't like it either, but they pretend to be less worried} doesn't want to hear, the little "ding" your car makes when it is turning on a warning light. The "ding" is so polite, you would think they would make it more dramatic, especially when it is saying "Turn your air conditioning off or your car is going to over heat!" I see my warning light and notice my car is running a temperature. This has never happened to me before, but I use common sense and turn off my air conditioning and roll down the windows {not that the hot air outside helped much} We reached our destination with no major issues and I shopped for our veggies with no worries for the drive home. I guess I thought my car would work out its problem in the lot{typical girl thinking I guess}.... My car was obviously sicker than I had assumed {or wanted} as soon as we start our journey home the little light comes back on, and this time I wasn't even trying to run my air. As I am now at least 30 minutes from home I realize we might have a problem here. I call my husband, and what does he ask me? When did I last check my coolant level....{ha, really? my what? that's his job} Anyway, I remind him I am a female and he changes his plan of attack. He then tells me to turn on the heat. Great, heat. It's 98 degrees outside and I am turning on my heat. As I focus on the the little temperature level, it has fun bouncing between the black and red lines. Every time I stop at a light the heat level goes up, so I did my best to make it through those yellow lights. As I stay on the phone with my husband he continues to tell me what could be wrong, and tells me if it dies not to touch the radiator cap { he has to be out of his mind if he thinks I would touch anything if my car broke down, honestly I would have to look around for the hood release button} As he is telling me all this, all I want to know is if the car can get us home, of course he doesn't know. As I get closer to home my eyes keep scanning my little car thermometer, it keeps inching into the red, now it is just teasing me. We finally make it home and I had the biggest glass of iced tea I could make myself. My little man has a glass of cold milk and we recover quickly. My husband then tells me not to drive my car again until he looks at it. He must think I am stupid if he thinks I would go out in that thing again, I don't like to set myself up for a disaster {well, not on purpose anyway} He then reminds me that we have a nice and new{newer} Ford F-150 sitting outside.....hmmm, do I want to drive our monster truck? No thanks, I think we'll just stay home. I love the inside of the truck, because it looks so sleek and new compared to my little dodge{ and my little guy loves it for its DVD player}, but it is just too big for me. I might have to try it out though, especially if my car is still sick next week. As much as I hate my car sometimes, I hate car payments more, so I don't want to buy a new car when I have a paid off car {call me crazy} And as my father pointed out, they don't have coupons for cars....too bad.  So let's all hope my little car can be fixed quickly and without using up our moving money. As for now.....I'll be here, unless I decide to take out the truck, in that case, watch out.

Kelly Callahan

The Puddle

Of all the things that I thought might go wrong today, I never thought it would be a stupid puddle that was the end of me. But boy was I wrong. We were off to meet our friends for a fun day at the "beach" at Bear Creek Lake, my little man was having fun in the water, digging with his shovel, and even sat down to eat some lunch. But then it happened. He saw the puddle, the big puddle on the sidewalk. At first I assumed it was harmless, he's walk through it once and that would be the end of it. But no, not only was this puddle the best puddle ever {according to Max} but it was also VERY slippery. How did I find this out? Well, my little guy was walking towards the puddle as I followed behind, then he went for it, he ran in, he slipped, he fell. Ouch. But he jumped back up before I could even scoop him up, I said let's go and waited for him to follow. As he began to follow he changed his mind, turning and running back to the puddle, slip, fall, ouch. Now both legs and somehow a foot were scraped up. We were done with the puddle. But, he wasn't so thrilled with that decision, and everyone there was going to hear about it. As I carried him back towards our towel and toys he screamed as loud as he could. As soon as I would put him down he would make a break for the moss covered puddle. I tried taking him to the lake {a big puddle, right?} Well, he wasn't having it. I told him we could look for fish and frogs, this distracted him momentarily , but then he was bolting to the puddle again, and again, and again. As I stood in the lake holding my crying child, I realized this was not going to work. As much as I wanted to stay and have fun, and maybe even talk to my friends for more than a second, I knew we had to go. I sadly said goodbye, and we packed up our stuff to go. Max cried as we walked by that stupid puddle, and I wanted to too. Why couldn't we have a fun "beach" day? Why did we have to have a bad day when we had planned a good day? I guess this is all just par for the course and I should be getting used to it by now. At least I have friends who understand why I can never finish a conversation, and why I can't always stay, even if I want to.  I wasn't just sad for me, I was sad for Max. If only that puddle hadn't of caught his eye he would've had a fun day. So today is not blamed on me, or Max, it is blamed on the puddle. I am sure we will go through many more meltdowns, for many different reasons, and I am okay with that. Why? Because I can't avoid them, and as soon as my little guy says "mommy?" and gives me a kiss, I forget all about his little fit and we start fresh. I am also hoping that one day he'll grow out of it....one day.

Katherine Callahan

Since when do I kill the bugs?

Okay, I think most of us girls remember yelling for Dad when we saw a bug of a bug of any kind {okay not rollie pollies, I loved those} But you know what I am talking about. Well I recently noticed that when there is a bug on the floor or on the wall in our house I {yes ME} am the one who is rushing at it with a shoe or paper towel. Just last night my son was brushing his teeth in the bathroom and started saying "bug, bug" I told him "no hunny bugs are outside" Well silly me was wrong, there was a nasty little pincher bug crawling on the bathroom floor, my smart little boy kindly pointed it out as I smashed it with toilet paper. He seemed a little upset that he no longer had a bug to watch, but I was so grossed out that I washed the bathroom floors. I HATE BUGS, yet I have now taken on my Mom responsibility to deal with them quickly and without fear {well without showing fear} I am now more thankful than ever that everytime I would yell at my parents to get the bug they would take care of it for me. I guess my time was always coming but I just didn't want to admit that it was now my duty. I just hope that I never have to be the one to catch the mouse thats in the house....or worse. If there was ever a snake "problem" I don't think I could do it, my Dad may be getting a call. All the more reason to move closer to Boulder, in case of any rodent emergencies, my father won't be too far away. As far as moving goes we are actually moving forward in the whole process. We have had our "walk through" with the apartment people, so they could tell me what to clean, we have an appointment to see a house in Westminster this week, and I have already started packing. When I realize how mu ch I can actually pack ahead of time I have to pause and ask myself if I really need all this stuff, and most of the time, I do. I may not be using it in the next month and a half, but I will use it sometime in the future, so I am not going to get rid of all my belongings just to make it an easier move {although it is tempting} I have been cleaning and packing most of the day, but my son and I took a much needed break to go down to the pool. He loved getting out and splashing around, and so did I. I have to make sure to make plenty of time for him and not get too caught up in my moving frenzy. There is only so much I can do in advance, but I know I will be very happy that I started early as moving day gets closer. We have actually moved up our moving day, simply to be more "attractive" to people renting out their homes, many more people will wait 17 days into the month than those who would wait 24. Even though in the long term it wouldn't make a huge difference, it seems to be a big deal to the land lords I have talked to. So our countdown is now down to 53 days. I know this sounds far away, but as fast as time goes, I want to stay ahead of the moving game. Now that my little man is napping I will fold his clothes and bake some brownies, you know, "mom" stuff :)

Kelly Callahan

A house will fix it

Obviously I have been very anxious to move {I am sure I point out many down falls of apartment living} I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, we will be moving in 68 days {yes, I counted} I have turned in our "notice" to our apartments letting them know they can have their stupid apartment back in September. I then realized we have lived here almost FOUR years. Wow, that is nuts, and it sure wasn't the plan. But I figure we saved a lot of money by not paying new deposits and paying movers the last four years. I also realized that we have accumulated a lot of "stuff" in the last four years, and another tenant :) I keep hearing myself say that all I need is "more space" or we just need "a garage" or if only we had "a basement" or " a yard" ...... if only we had these things my life would magically be easier. So I got to thinking, am I putting to much pressure on this new home of ours? Can a house really solve so many problems for me? I sure hope so, because as I begin to dig through my closet I just keep thinking "if only I had more space" so hopefully when I do have the space I will be pleased and finally feel organized. At this point I feel as though I can only clean to a point, and then there is just nowhere else to put things, so its either a stack here, or a stack there. Maybe I just need to get rid of more things, but it seems I donate all the time and a little troll keeps bringing stuff back in and putting it in my closet! Yet another stresser on me at this moment is finding a home. I know that usually homes don't go up for rent until about a month before they need new tenants {many property managers have informed me of this when I call about their August listings} but, I want to know where I am going to live, I feel like waiting until a month before is cutting it close, even though I know there will be plenty to choose from {well I hope there is} I still feel like my life is up in the air while we have told our apartments we are leaving yet have no place to leave to. I guess I'll feel better in about a month when I can finally start looking at real options for a nice place to settle down for awhile {well, I hope we will find a place who would like people to stay more than a year, we'll just have to hope for the best} I don't see why they wouldn't want good people who take care of the home and pay rent on time to stay, unless they just love that big old deposit they get with each new tenant. I figure I will slowly dig through my belongings and start to pack things I do not need right now{like our winter coats....its SO hot out lately I don't even want to see them} I am going to try and not stress too much about the move, and the fact that we don't have a place to move at this moment in time. I can only hope that my future home will solve my problems, whatever home gets the job has some work to do.

Kelly Callahan

Another Monday

Most people may dread Mondays for the traffic, the new work week, or just waking up early.....Me? I dread cleaning the floors. Monday is the day I scrub the floors, and I mean scrub. I am on my hands and knees trying to make my stupid apartment cheap cheap floors look nice. This is not an easy task. I usually finish the kitchen floor while my little man is playing in the morning, and have to wait to do the bathroom when he is taking a nap. It is NOT possible to clean a bathroom with a 19 month old running through every two seconds climbing on your back as you try and keep his little hands away from the cleaners. Today I started with the kitchen floor, put together some puzzles with little man, vacuumed, and did the dishes. After playing with some trucks it was time to get organized for the grocery store. I am doing my best to save as much money as possible with my coupons so I take my time to plan my trips. If I stick to what is on my list I end up saving a lot, but if I pick up my impulse items we're in trouble. I get together a LONG list and a BIG stack of coupons and finally get my son out the door. We go to the King Soopers that is a little further away simply because they have the carts with the TVs in them, these big trips would not be possible without this amazing invention. I start up the Mickey Mouse Club and get going on my list. 60 items later I am ready for the checkout. I carefully select the nicest looking gal and hope for the best. She was very nice and didn't mind scanning all my coupons. I glanced up once while she was scanning only long enough to see my total was over 110 dollars.....uh oh. But after my Sooper Card and coupons my new total was 61.98. I was very happy. I had just saved 49% off my order. I had bought enough food for 5 meals at home, and plenty of snacks. {and way too much cereal} I just love thinking that before coupons I would spend over 100 every week and never get anything extra, and now I spend less and get MORE. So fun to see my little stockpile grow. My great finds lately have been at rite aid, I have been getting free toothbrushes, free toothpaste, free razors, and free air fresheners. These items last a long time and I don't feel crazy having a lot of them because I am sure I will use them. I am happy to have my coupons skills for the next 6 months, why? Because for the next 6 months we are going to try and buy ONLY what we truly need. This means no little extras, no ordering pizza, and no going to get ice cream :( So I feel like I will still be having my fun by getting my deals and freebies every week. We need to save what we can for our move {since I insist we will be hiring movers} and for some new furniture { our couch is looking very sad, it will soon be the "basement" couch} As far as me finding another job, well... I have been applying like crazy the past week, but so far .... NOTHING. But, all I can do is try. I know not everyone is open to a nanny who brings her own Tasmanian devil to work:) Wish me luck on saving and making money....we'll see how it goes.

Kelly Callahan

I'm Back

I am happy to say my computer is finally working. This makes me very happy! While I had plenty to write about I was trapped with a computer that would not connect to the Internet! But now it is fixed, thanks to my hubby, and I can vent once again!

Well.... where should I start? I guess I should fill you in on our Sand Dune adventure. Ever since I went to the Sand Dunes with my Dad and had an amazing day building sand castles and running through the stream I had always wanted to go back. Now that I have my own little man I had a good reason to drag my husband 4 hours away to a big sand box. Now the trick with the sand dunes is to get there when the stream is flowing {only a couple of months a year, due to the snow melt in the mountains} and when it is warm. This is tricky, and we almost missed it this year. The snow pack on the mountains was lower than usual so the stream was drying up faster. So what did I see after a four hour car ride with a 19 month old? Well, just a lot of sand. I almost cried. But then I saw a glimmer of hope. If you looked up stream a little ways {okay a lot ways....but it was worth the walk} you could see a huge group of people along the stream bed, as the stream disappears it retracts back towards the mountain, so if you walked closer to the mountains there was a little water, really just a little. We take the hike towards the people through the hot sand as I promise my husband that Max will love having the water. I was right. As soon as my little guy saw the little streams of water he went nuts, splashing, jumping, screaming{ this was a new one, he isn't a screamer....well wasn't, until he noticed how fun it was} The families that had been there since the morning had dug holes and made "pools" to trap the remaining water. It was a clever idea and they were nice enough to let Max play in the water they had trapped. He was doing great until he got thirsty....he decided to bend over and have a little sandy water, well, Mom didn't like this idea which made him mad, very mad. I tried giving him his water bottle, but it just wasn't as appealing as the gross sand water he was playing in. We eventually got over it and he continued to play with his sand toys. Once the wind picked up we knew it was time to go. When it gets really windy at the sand dunes you don't want to be there, all that sand pelting your legs really hurts! After taking our LONG walk back to the car we try and get the sand off of us and Max. This was easier said than done. When you see pictures of all that sand I think you know that if you go play in it you will be covered in it for quite sometime. We make some Sandwiches in the car and have some pasta salad before heading to our hotel. This is where I got nervous....remember my last hotel experience? I do. No tub, crying baby....bad. Well, Max was very excited to see the hotel room and this hotel had a great pool area that he had a blast in. I was happy to wear him out some more for the night ahead. After a very slow dinner {slowest service ever....but the food was good, and Max was good, so I was still happy} and a bath...yes a bath, we had a tub! Max watched a little TV with Mom and Dad and we put him to sleep in his pack and play....and....wow he went right to sleep. I was in shock! He woke up once at about three am, but after a nice warm bottle {way to go hotel for having a fridge and a microwave} he went back down until 8. Then it was time to start the next leg of our trip. We were off to see the Royal Gorge and walk across the bridge. I was a little nervous to walk across since I am afraid of heights... but I knew I would do it, its just a bridge right? Well it is just a bridge, but wow is their a long drop down! And as a walker I REALLY didn't like when cars drove by us, making the bridge sway and creak....ehhh. Max had a great day looking at the animals and riding the little train. We had a great day and were ready to head home. We debated staying one more night in Colorado Springs and then going to the Mountain Zoo in the morning, but we didn't want to push our luck. We had an amazing little family adventure with no melt downs {thanks in part to the car DVD player we bought} So we headed home. This little trip went so smoothly I was amazed. We had a great time and it made me look forward to more great getaways in the future. And as my little man gets older I know it will just get better.

Kelly Callahan