2009 in Review

2009 is about to end & 2010 is about to begin. I am hoping to do some sort of new year blog too, sometime in January hopefully. Here is a short list of some of the things that happened in 2009.

• I had another birthday. (March).
• Graduated w/ a Bachelors of Science in Psychology. (April)
• Job searching. (April-current)
• Went on Tseunik's Pony Farm field trip with Richie. (May)
• High school friend, Stephanie, got married & I was lucky to be chosen as her maid of honor (July).
• Richie completed a year of head start. (August)
• Richie went canoeing for the first time. (August)
• Richie continued head start. (August-December)
• My nephew Zander was born, as well as my cousin's baby & my friend from high school, Jessica. (September)
• Richie got his school picture taken. (September)
• Took Richie to Lewis' Farm to ride an elephant & go through a corn maze. (October)
• Richie chose to be a bumblebee for Halloween. (October)
• Richie turned 4. (November)
• Richie got his 4 Year pictures taken. (November)
• We moved. (December)

• Lots of time at the beach.
• Walks on the pier, along the river, & around the neighborhood, as well as exploring some other county/state parks.
• Various conferences for Richie, all good!
• Visits to the library.

Surely there is plenty of other stuff that happened, but this is just a small list of some of the things that happened in 2009. Also, I am posting a video of pictures from throughout 2009.

Favorite Things

These are a few of my (current) favorite things… similar to the in & out blogs, but basically only ins, no outs.

1. Christmas music. It’s so pretty & the lyrics (for the most part) are so wonderful. Some of my favorite Christmas songs are The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole, White Christmas by Bing Crosby, Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt, All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, Greensleeves, Last Christmas by WHAM, & Christmas Eve by Tran-Siberian Orchestra… I could go on & on, I’m sure.
2. Christmas decorations. All the pretty lights at night, the Christmas trees, the other stuff.
3. Christmas food. Eggnog, Little Debbie’s Christmas tree cakes, Hershey’s candy cane kisses, Brach’s Christmas peppermint nougats.
4. Snow. I am not much for the cold weather. In the winter, my issue is not with snow so much as it is with the cold temps & icky roads. But we got a ton of snow Thursday night & it looked so pretty (& a little weird, lol). Unfortunately we’ve had some melt since, & then got a little, then some melted, but we also got more so everything is covered again. I could have done without the rain & mix part though. I like having a white Christmas; maybe because I am just so used to them it seems weird to not have one.
5. Fixed toilets. Pretty much the whole time I’ve lived here, the toilet had an issue with continuing to run until you went back in to jiggle the handle. Last week the part inside the tank that connects the handle to the chain rusted off. But it got fixed at the end of last week & now it works like a normal toilet!
6. Pictures. Richie’s 4 year pictures came in last week & his school pictures came in Monday (finally). Of course, they are all super cute, just like him!
7. S’mores. I can’t remember the last time I actually had one, but I’ve seen them recently in a tv show or 2 & I want some.
8. Thanksgiving. Lots of yummy food, visiting with family. Enough said.
9. Barney on How I Met Your Mother. I would love to “suit up” & hang out with him for a “legen, wait for it… dary” night.
10. Orange juice. Good for you & yummy. I could drink it every day!

Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, hooray! Since Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks & such, here are some things I am thankful for (in no particular order).

1. Richie D. He is easily my favorite person in the whole world, even though he's only four years old & just over 3 foot tall. He may be naughty at times, by overall he's a great kid! He's also smart & cute & super entertaining! I'm so lucky I get to be his mommy!
2. Family. So many people seem to have a lot of family problems or they don't get along with their family. I've been pretty lucky to never really deal with much of that. Over the years, my family has grown & it's great. I am so glad that I get along with my family members, old & new.
3. No baby mama drama, lol. It's really nice that I don't have to deal with a lot of issues that some moms (or dads) do, like going after child support & constant fighting. I am thankful that Richie has a daddy who truly cares about him, not just financially, but emotionally, & is involved in his life.
4. Friends. A lot of my friends I have known for many, many years & others only a short time, but they are all awesome! I wish I got to see a lot of them more though.
5. The internet. It makes it much easier to keep in contact with everyone, especially those who are not nearby.
6. Health. Other than my issues with insomnia (& despite those), I am pretty healthy & so is Richie.
7. Education. I graduated this past April & even though I may not have yet done anything with that yet like get a job or go on to grad school, it's pretty neat that I had the opportunity to receive a Bachelors, & that I managed to do it in the time I wanted to following my Associates. I'm also grateful for the education Richie has already gotten, mainly through headstart.
8. The holidays. Usually at some point during the holiday season, we get to see many of our family members & some friends. Also, the whole spirit of the season.

Richie D. Update!

Richie had a birthday & turned four. Wow! Hard to believe he is getting that old already, time is definitely flying right by! His grandma Cindy made him a SpongeBob Squarepants cake. He got lots of presents, all of which he loved, lol. He even got some birthday money & spent that on… more toys! He got a few different little ones (& a Mickey cup he wanted) from Toys ‘R Us (or Toys for Us as he was calling it for a while) & Target.

I had a conference at his center on his birthday. He is doing pretty well, as usual. He’s still a smart little boy! His teacher said he prefers to play by himself but occasionally will play with the other children. He does well with following classroom rules but is slow to transition from one activity to another. He is very curious & asks good questions. He explores things on his own & different ways to use them. He can recognize & create patterns (something he does often with his legos at home). He likes to rides bikes, music/movement, & other high activity (go figure). He correctly holds writing & eating utensils. He also has strong language skills & shows ‘emergent reading skills’. The major things he needs to work on are transition times & his occasional stuttering (which his teacher says occurs when he is under pressure, but I notice it outside of school as times when he seems as though he is trying to speak as fast(er) as he thinks. There was a little more discussion about the K word (kindergarten). I can’t believe he might possibly be going as early as next fall already. The lil CutieMan is growing up really fast!

He likes toys/things that light up or make music/noise. He also loves to do puzzles. He can spell all his names (first, first shortened, last) except his middle. He can write Richie & he draws recognizable pictures. He is still into all the Playhouse Disney shows & some on Nick, like SpongeBob & iCarly. And he is always saying silly things (what in tarnations, that’s incredible, etc), things that make sense, but sound odd or overly appropriate or whatever coming out of his mouth. He has been doing great with potty training, he hasn’t had any accidents during the day in months. He still wears a pull-up at night time because he doesn’t wake up to pee, but one pull-up a day is much, much cheaper & way less messes to clean up than before, lol. He was showing me math skills the other night, using x number of fingers on each hand & asking or telling me how many total there were. If I ‘guessed wrong’, he would correct me.

Richie had his 4 year check up today. The doctor said he looks pretty healthy! Not that I expected to hear anything different. He is still on the small side for height & weight. He didn’t have any shots to get, they were out of both flu vacs (seasonal & h1n1), which made him happy. He did get his finger poked to get blood to test his hemoglobin & lead & stuff. The MA said he was a good bleeder, she said some kids barely bleed. He got to ride the elevator, which he likes, & the doctor gave him a Handy Manny sticker. He also got Snoopy & Diego band-aids for his finger. He did really well at his appointment, even though he had his shy moments.

Also, I am including a video interview with Richie, so he can speak for himself a little bit!

Ins & Outs

I've had this blog since early 2008 but haven't used it at all since then (& cleaned the old posts out to start over). Usually I just use the one on MySpace. But I decided this kind is a lot better & easier to work with. So now I am going to use this instead, lol. Starting out with a list of Ins/Outs...

Out
1) Unemployment. It is awful. I hate having so much time, feeling unproductive & even more, I hate being broke.
2) Debt. Enough said.
3) Insomnia. I love sleep because it eludes me. Insomnia is an annoying non-friend that just won’t go away.
4) No regular internet at home. It’s more difficult to surf or look up random stuff on my little phone.
5) Daylight Savings. The extra hour was nice but now it is dark so early. It is nearly dark most days by the time I get back from picking Richie up.
6) Refrigerator quitting. Usually the fridge problem is that the vent thingies from the freezer are dripping because the freezer doesn’t defrost properly. This time, the vent thingies were blocked up with ice all the way into where the fridge is. Unfortunately I found this out by notcing the couple day old new gallon of milk was spoiled. Luckily that was all that went bad & the freezer still work. Maintenance came & defrosted it (again) & is supposed to have ordered the part to fix it. Defrosting usually lasts at least a few weeks, & I will def be keeping an eye on it until the part is replaced.

Both Out & In
1) Summer end/Autumn begin
- I hate the cold, icky weather that can come with autumn.
+ But I like the pretty leaves, the autumn smells, & such.

In
1) The awesome wind & waves @ the pier at the end of September.
*See the photo album &/or video posted on Facebook.
2) Hershey’s Cookies n Crème giant bar. The nuggets were still the best, but the giant size bar comes close to being the same. And more places are carrying it!
3) Victoria Secret’s Berry Kiss lotion. So loving it still. Would use it a ton more if I wasn’t worried about running out & not being able to replace it.
4) Little Debbie’s Cherry & Cheese Danish. So so so good. Yummy stuff. There are also blueberry ones, but I haven't tried them yet.
5) Eggnog. It’s that time of year! I know it’s high in calories, but Holly Nog isn’t as bad (it’s actually eggnog flavored lowfat milk & it so similar).
6) Fall tv: House, HIMYM, South Park, Grey’s, Office.
7) Hair. Usually hair makes the both section, but this round it is feeling a bit more in than out, maybe because it might keep me warmer & I’ve been trying to do a little more with it.
8) Phone internet keeping me connected. I can check in on stuff & do some random looking up. Thank goodness for unlimited data usage.
9) Free cable. Still not disconnected, or added any new charges to my past due bill since July.
10) Conferences @ Richie’s center. I had one in early September & again on Richie’s birthday. He’s doing super well & is really smart. But the whole concept of talking about him going to Kindergarten, very possibly next fall, is a little scary-ish (because he is growing up so fast!).
11) Chelsea Lately. Love the show. Chelsea Handler is awesomely funny, love the roundtable discussions, & most of the guests she has on.