Birthday Dinner

A while ago we celebrated Heather's 25th birthday. Per birthday tradition, we tried a new restaurant, Basil T's. It was also a brewery and believe it or not home brewed beer is pretty good. The antipasto was super good!! The entrees were decent. Here is a picture of us all. My hair was super curly that night. I think I should have worn it up. Clockwise starting with the blonde girl in purple, Dana, Jill, Me, Heather, Amanda.

Failed to Mention

Thursday was Herbert and mine's two year anniversary!! We've been together for about six years but the two year mark was cool too. We're not really the gift giving celebrate stuff couple so we said happy anniversary and went on with our day. Haha. I actually went out with my girlfriends for lunch. I know...what a terrible wife.

All I can say is that Herbert is a wonderful husband and an even better father. Sure there are times when he pushes my buttons, as I'm sure there are times I push his, but we are best friends and partners in life so we will love each other no matter what. These first years in our marriage we have struggled to create a better life for our family and it has worked. Slowly but surely we are achieving our goals and I know these are the times that have made our bond of marriage even stronger. I couldn't image him not in my life (although I sometimes imagine him out of the house more lol) and I definitely look forward to much more of this everyday love.

Listen to "Everyday Love" by Rascall Flatts

Recovery

Just a little note to let everyone know that recovery.gov is up and running. I encourage everyone to take a small moment out of their day to check it out. It does not have all the information yet, but it does provide a timeline as to when reports are to be in and what to expect. FYI, this website is for the reporting of moneys dispersed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It DOES NOT report where ALL tax dollars are going. There is another website where this information is located (good luck navigating it though, I gave up after I still felt in the dark after an hour and a half) USAspending.gov .



I'd just like to remind everyone that no bill/act is perfect. There are going to be things that some of us do not like about this Act. There are a thing or two I don't like that are included in this Act, however, I hope we can all voice our concern over those things that are bothersome but not let those items we disagree with overshadow those that we do. Speaking up is one thing I have always been a proponent of but we should always remember that we can speak up for bad and also speak out and spread good things. So I challenge everyone to pick one thing they dislike about the Act and when thing they like, then take some time to write a short email and send it to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (form for sending to them is found on the website under Contact Us). It is only together that this country can move forward.

Lately

We haven't been up to much lately. We had a potential car, one my uncle said wasn't working for his kids. He took it to the mechanic to see if it was worth fixing and the guy said no. Well, just keep saving and then look for something that suits us.

Little Herbert's teacher has told me that he has finally come around and warmed up to the other children. This makes me really happy because I know how shy he is and I was unsure how long it would take him to make new friends. But no need to worry because last night he informed me that he pushed Frank. The teacher said not really a push (they were both racing for the same smock) but I figure a little push means he's participating, right? Don't worry, I had a little talk with him about pushing his friends. He is doing well in everything they are teaching the kids and right now we are practicing writing our last name.

Yesterday, little Herbert and I borrowed my uncles car and saw Coraline. You had to wear these glasses because the movie was in 3D. Herbert looked sooooo cute with these huge glasses on. It was a tad bit scary but he didn't have any nightmares, so it's all good.

Big Herbert is back at work and loathes taking the bus at such an early hour. Some days it's really cold out there. I make a hot cup of coffee for him before he leaves and always offer to put some in a travelers mug so he could take some with him if he wants.

I've just been moseying around the house. I keep saying I'm going to install these shelves but I still haven't done it!! I will one day, I promise!! I'll even post before and after pictures (if) when I get to it. Right now I'm just purging the house of all those things we swore we would use in the future and haven't touched. You know those things. So far I think I'm making some headway.

That's our life right now in a nutshell.

Homecoming

Last night was Michael's homecoming dance. Here in Jersey not ever school has a football team. Some schools combine sports because there aren't enough kids to do each one. For example, we do football and wrestling with another school. They don't have enough kids for soccer so they play soccer with us.

Because there is no real football team, we have our homecoming dance based around basketball season. It is a semi-formal event. Michael did not want me showing up at the house where they were taking pictures. I think I'm embarrassing like a mom but he has the ability to mouth off to me like a sister, so to avoid any arguments Michael promised to get a few good pictures in exchange for me staying home. And true to his word he got me a few good pictures. Here they are;

Michael in our kitchen before he left.

Michael and his date Brianne

After the dance, he came home and dressed and went over to a friends house for a party. Doesn't he look nice? I can't believe he's so grown up!

Chicken Pops

Last night, I was laying on the couch watching T.V. Little Herbert comes out and says;

"Oh, no Mommy! I'm really sick!"

So, I sit up and say, "Oh, yeah? What's the matter with you?"

"I have the chicken pops"

"The what?"

"Chicken pops. Like Max" (from Max and Ruby, a children's cartoon show)

As I take a better look at him, I notice there are little red dots all over the lower portion of his face. Turns out in the show, Max drew chicken pox on himself with red marker. Well, Herbert thought he would do the same thing. He used a red marker to make red dots all over his face, thus giving himself "chicken pops". It was too funny!!

Family Update

Today, big Herbert returns to work. I'm happy, yet sad as well. We have had a lot of fun and have really enjoyed our time together. He is only going back part-time so we'll still be able to see a lot of one another and in about a month or two he will be back full-time.

We have a potential car. My uncle gave us a pretty good car that was not running right for his kids. It's a 2001 something or other and we took it down to a mechanic to see if he could get it back into shape. There is something wrong with it (I don't remember what he said) and the mechanic is going to fix it. All the labor is what is going to cost us. Makes me want to be a mechanic just to save on labor costs!

Little Herbert is doing really well in his new school. He hasn't cried at all this week about going and has woken up in a really good mood. He hasn't even cried about going to bed when it's bed time! He now goes to sleep between 8:00 and 8:30. He wakes up at about 7:15 or, rather, I wake him up. He'd sleep until 9 if I let him.

So, that just leaves me. I'm still here, keeping house. If and when the car gets fixed I will return to work. Sometimes I'm not sure if I want to, but I know it would help us out a lot. But for now, I run around cleaning and cooking and doing all those "at home" things. I did go out to the movies and dinner this weekend. I saw He Just Not That Into You. It was really good. Not the best but good. After, my girlfriend and I went out to grab a bite to eat. It was lots of fun. Also, a few weeks ago, we went out for my other girlfriends birthday. Dinner and dancing and it was SOOO much fun. When I get a picture I'll post it here for everyone to see.