Is There An Easy Button For That?

How in the world did I ever survive living alone?

Today I went to Discount Tire for my routine tire rotation and balance when the dude started telling me about how much tread is on my tires, that the tires are possibly being recalled, they've been known to fall apart, blah blah blah.... so of course my response is this...

"Hang on a second."

Get the cell phone out, call Jason

"Hey, I'm at the tire store and you need to talk to the tire guy."

They spoke and reached an agreement about the tires.  Now, had Jason not been accessible I would have just called my Dad.  But, then I started thinking... how come they don't teach you this crap in school?

How to purchase tires?
How to buy a house?
How to buy a vehicle?
How to do taxes, 401K's, retirement accounts, stocks?
How to kill a wolf spider when you're home alone?

I'm not kidding about the last one.  Jason was gone one Saturday morning when I saw this monster wolf spider.  You don't know what that is?  Now you do...

Freaking disgusting, right?  Anyway, one of those bad boys was hightailing it across my living room so I went into panic mode.  I cannot pick them up with a paper towel and flush them because I might feel them in the paper towel and DIE, and then Elise and my dogs would be motherless.  So, I put on Jason's shoes

 

And decide I will just step on it and leave the shoe on it until Jason gets home.  Problem solved.  I step on the vile creature, slip my foot out of the shoe, and go on about my business.  Twenty seconds later the freaking thing is crawling out from under the shoe.  Panic ensues.  I put the shoes back on, grab my cell phone, step on it, and call Jason.

"Are you almost home?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because I'm standing in the living room with your shoes on with a wolf spider underneath because the little bastard won't die!!!!!!!!!"

Five minutes later he comes home to find me standing on top of the spider, leaning on the entertainment center, and watching TV.

What in the world did I do before I had Jason?  Well, for one thing, I never dealt with Wolf spiders, and any other insect I usually just sprayed with hairspray until it reached its agonizing death and could be vacuumed up or picked up with a roll of paper towels.

As for the tire situation, I am in no position to be making decisions regarding tire purchases because I know nothing.  This also applies to changing flat tires.

I noticed I had a completely flat tire one day when I was leaving the mall (of all places).  This was before Jason's time, so I called my dad and told him the situation.  He asked me what I wanted him to do about it since he was an hour and a half away.  Well, I didn't know what I supposed to do about it, it's not like I was required to know how to do that prior to graduating high school.

His response "call OnStar."

I call OnStar and explain to them that I am sitting in my vehicle in the mall parking lot and need someone to come change my flat tire.  Forty minutes later I was on my way again.  OnStar is like the EASY Button.  If only I could have one of those for all the other situations in my life that can NEVER just be simple.

9 Months

Dear Elise,

How is that you have now been outside my belly as long as you were in?  Everyone always says kids grow up so fast but you never realize it until you have your own.  You have gained so much independence over the last month.  Since taking off with crawling you are very busy exploring every inch of our house.  You are a speed demon up and down the hall.

You did the sweetest thing the other night... Daddy came inside from mowing, rubbed the top of your head as he walked past you to the bathroom, he shut the door and jumped in the shower.  Little did he know you were following him, so you sat on the floor outside the bathroom door.  You put both hands up on the door and stuck your fingers underneath in attempt to get in.  But then it occurred to you that through our bedroom was another door to the bathroom... so you were off.  I followed you as you made your way down the hall, through our bedroom, through the other bathroom, and finally into the bathroom where Daddy was.  You sat down and waited.

You are pulling up everywhere and getting your little hands on anything you can!  You "talk" to me and to yourself all day long.  When you really start to form words, we are never going to be able to get you to stay quiet.  You are such a happy baby all the time!  Well, except when you are teething.  It's so disappointing that teething robs me of my sweet little girl!

You actually turned 9 months old while we were down in Tyler for a week.  You got to spend some time with your 2 cousins Addison and Case.  You weren't too fond of Case since he accidentally smacked you in the face out of excitement when he saw you (last time you saw him, he rubbed your butt!).  You are a much more reserved baby.  You enjoyed playing with Case when he was a safe distance from you..

We spent some time with Meme & Dan and played with Kara, Melissa, Addison, and Aunt Debbie.

You are still a skinny little thing.  You wear mostly 9 month size clothes, but even 6 month is too big around your little waist.  Your hair is growing longer, and lots of people say "is there red in her hair?"  We aren't really sure where the red comes from, but there seems to be a tiny bit mixed in with the blonde.  We are still doing good with nursing (for the most part).  Just when I thought I you had quit biting me, you surprised with 2 bites yesterday with one drawing blood.  OUCH!

You are still doing good with sleeping in your crib every night.  It's almost impossible to let you sleep in the bed with us because you are a bed hog.  You fell asleep in our bed the other night and when I woke up around 1am you were horizontal in between me and Daddy and he was barely on the edge of the bed.  He picked you up and moved you to your crib so everyone could sleep comfortably.

One of your most FAVORITE things to do is climb in and out of your car seat.  You love to play with the straps and buckles.  These pictures make me laugh because you have your overalls on and it looks like you are working on the car seat.

Then there are these pictures...

I have found one way to keep you entertained when we go out to eat... lemons!  I'm not sure why, but every time we go out to eat you act really good until MY food comes and then when I start eating it's GAME ON!  I usually inhale my food so that we can hurry up and leave because of the scene you are on the verge of causing.

The last nine months have been a whirlwind, but I wouldn't trade them for anything!

Love,

Momma

*9 Month Photo Shoot to come*

Cleaning & Exercising

I turned on my Roomba yesterday and Elise is infatuated with it anyway (it's the green light) so when it was on the move, so was she.  I guess she got her exercise chasing after it.

Updates Galore 2

As I mentioned Jason and I bought some new bedroom furniture.  We had it delivered last Tuesday and we love it!  Jason moved our old stuff out of the bedroom the night before so we had to result to sleeping on just the mattress.  On the floor.  In the living room.  Since it was my idea to move into the living room, and I climbed in bed (after jumping on it for a short time before a near interaction with our ceiling fan) in a ratty T-shirt and holey underwear - Jason deemed me "white trash."  Oh well, he married me!

I have some pics of our new furniture, but want to wait to post them until I'm finished decorating in there!

As Promised, Updates Galore 1

So last week Jason went down to College Station for the annual Texas A&M Fire School.  Since we knew he was planning to be down there a week, we decided that he would travel with me and Elise to Dallas and then jump in with the guys from the department and Elise and I would drive the rest of the way to Tyler.  I would spend the week there with my family.

Jason and I met back up the following Friday in Dallas and spent the night at a hotel.  We went out to eat at all my favorite places that we don't have here and went to do a little shopping at The Galleria...  We went to Tiffany's and Jason bought me a new necklace for our anniversary.  I love it!  I've only taken it off once since!  We went to Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel... I needed to return some bedding I ordered online from Crate and Barrel and when we pulled up to the store I was smitten...  it was 3 floors!

"I'll just run in and return this stuff real fast since Elise is sleeping"

"I can see that you will be easily distracted in there, so if you think you are gonna be a while call me and we'll come in."

I walked in the front door and it was like "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Luckily an employee spotted me immediately and asked if he could help, so that saved me from turning the store upside down in my excitement!  I made my return and walked back out to the truck.

"Well, that was quick"

"OMG!  It's 3 floors and while I was making my return I saw this square wood bowl that I thought I might need but then I was looking at the prices, but then I saw this... blah blah blah."

Jason probably thinks he needs to stage an intervention.

I decided it would be best to steer clear of Crate & Barrel since we were planning to go to Pottery Barn, unfortunately Pottery Barn was a bit disappointing, but I didn't want to push my luck and ask Jason to go back to Crate & Barrel.

Our Anniversary

Jason and I got hitched 3 years ago, yesterday!  August 4, 2007.  We have been together for 4 years, and in those 4 years I could have never imagined that we would accomplish so many things together.  Look how far we've come!

I have the best husband any girl could ever ask for!  I can't wait to see what all the years to come will bring.  I have the sweetest, most beautiful baby girl in the world and couldn't be any happier.  We are truly blessed and These Are The Best Days Of My Life!

MIA

I know I have been MIA from blogging recently.  I was out of town for an entire week.  Jason was in one place, and Elise and I were in another.  We met back up and then spent two days making our trek back home.  I have been trying to play catch up with the laundry and housework, getting groceries, planning meals, preparing to have our new bedroom furniture delivered tomorrow (we are SO excited!  Our current bed is older than ME!), Elise is not back on her normal routine quite yet and is dealing with more teething, I have two doctor appointments this week, and mine and Jason's anniversary is on Wednesday.  So, I promise when I get a spare minute hour I'll update about our trip, our new furniture, post pictures of the yard, do Elise's 9 month update (she turned 9 months while we were out of town) and whatever else I'm forgetting!