Road Trip

We're heading to New York for the weekend, make sure to look for us tomorrow in the crowd on The Today Show, I'll be the one with the big zit in the middle of my chin and with a red nose thanks to a friggin cold. It was a nice departing gift from a co-worker, thanks for that.
I've still gotta fix my hair, paint my nails and find something to keep a toddler entertained for a 7 hour car ride. Wish me luck. I'll c-ya on the other side of the weekend and don't worry I'll have plenty of picture.

Do you like your job?

When I tell people that I work for a local television station their immediate response is "That must be fun?" I'm not sure if fun is the word I would use, don't get me wrong I do enjoy my job most times, especially on those days when we're shooting a commercial for a local lobster restaurant and we get to eat the props afterwards. And it is kind of enjoyable to drive a brand spanking new car down the interstate to show how fast it will go for a local car commercial. Like a lot of things in life those moments don't happen often and while there are fun parts of my job, there's also not so fun parts. Give last Thursday as an example. Without giving away this particular client, even though some of you locals may figure it out, we were shooting a a local car dealership. This car dealer insists on using Golden Retrievers for their commercials, and I'm not saying anything is wrong with this...it definitely works for them, also given the fact that those of you who probably figured out what car dealership I was talking about when I said Golden Retrievers. But anyway, we've done a lot of commercials with this client and we've made these dogs, and other creatures, do some pretty crazy stuff, like the time we got a dog to look like he was talking on the phone, by using peanut butter. And I'll never forget the time we pulled off getting the poor dog to walk on a treadmill and we never thought we'd be able to pull that one off, but we did. In fact it's those difficult ones that don't seem to take as long. But when we think we've got something easy, like getting a dog to sniff a car, it can take us hours. Thursday I was forced to go with 'good enough' when all we needed was to have 4 dogs sit together in a car with their heads sticking out the window. After going at this for 2 hours while having one dog play shy in the back and not want to even pick his head up, and one other dog insist on jumping out the window every 2 seconds, it started to rain and I know we had one shot that was doable, when I took the factor that it was only going to show for a matter of 1 SECOND, that's when I said 'Good Enough.' Which those who know me, know that I'm not known for Good Enough, but when you can feel people's eyes glaring at you praying that we got the shot, it's hard to say 'sorry, we've gotta try again.

So, yeah while my job can be fun, and although I don't really get paid 'big bucks' and I'd much rather be doing this job then being a stay at home mom, yeah that last one's a lie. I hope the next time you see a commercial with a dog in it, you'll take note how much time it may have took to get that particular shot.

Weekend Wrapup

It was a pretty crazy weekend for us, so I'll try to keep this to a minimum by just sharing some of the highlights.

Friday - Happy Birthday To My Husband
You're always there for me, when things tend to go wrong. It's the faith you have in me, that makes our marriage strong. It's your loving and your caring, and knowing that you're near. That special knack you have, make my troubles disappear. A better husband no woman could want, with your sweet and gentle ways. And knowing that your love for me is just as strong today.

If you could have seen the look on Darric's face when Jordan surprised him at work with his rendition of Happy Birthday and some special gifts, including a home-made card and a Dunkin Donuts gift card with a bonus coffee.

After work we took Daddy to The Ground Round for cake.....with a side of Budweiser.

And, don't ask me why, but the birthday boy insisted buying everyone a round. He had mine, I wasn't interested.

Friday I also got to have lunch with an old High school best friend who I miss very, very much. It was so good to see her and....she's getting married! And....she asked me to be in her wedding. I'm so excited!!

Saturday - Moved our camper down to our camp where it'll stay all summer. And all I have to say about that is...phfttttttttttttttt!!!!

Sunday - Family Get-together. Got up early to head south to visit with my dad's side of the family and to say Goodbye to his sister who will be moving to Colorado in 2 weeks.

It was so great to see everyone and Jordan loved playing with all his cousins. He followed Aly around all day.

And on the way home we made a stop to remember a loved one.

So, there's just a smidgen of how our weekend was. How was yours?

I've posted some more pictures on my flickr account if you'd care viewing. The link is to the right side of this page. Until later...I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.

Admitting to my addiction

Hi. My name is Samantha and I have an addiction. I am addicted...to blogs!

Hi Samantha

It all started about 3 years ago when I got pregnant and I became paranoid that I knew NOTHING about children and parenting. I went to the web, (which at that time I only used occasionally to check email), I searched pregnancy and holy moly had a plethora of different websites for moms and moms-to-be. I got hooked to a couple, a couple that I don't even remember the names of them. One that I'm still hooked to, to this day is Club mom. I like Club mom because they had forums where you could ask other moms questions or get their opinions on particular issues. The blogs didn't interest me yet, I had heard of blogs in the past, but I always thought 'why would I care about hearing about other peoples opinions, they're like assholes right and I deal with enough of those already.' And it wasn't until Jordan turned 1 that I came across a particular blog that I became very, very fond of. 'Purple is a Fruit' was the name of said blog. Linda, or Sundry, who lives on the other side of this country, blogged about her son Riley, who is just a couple weeks younger than Jordan. Well the more I read Linda's blog, the more I felt myself relating to her. Then I found myself clicking on other blogs that I found myself relating to. "Hey, this is really cool, I'm not insane, I'm not the only one who has a kid that seems to be puking, pooping and sleeping too much, I'm not the only one who wonders if she's doing an OK job at the parenting thing, I am a normal person." Some may argue on that last one.
Then last December I decided I wanted to bore people tell people about my life. Haven't figured out why though yet, but it's fun nonetheless. I guess I mostly started this blog so that in the future I could go back and read about what I'd done, what I was like etc. etc. And to laugh at myself. And it's also a great way for family members who live away to feel more close to us and know what's going on in our daily lives. But then last Saturday night I was up until 2 in the morning. Doing what you ask? Of coarse blogging. This is when it became apparent to me of my addiction. I then thought it out in my head. Ya know, this is why the laundry piles up more now, this is why I'm always so tired. This is why I feel like I can't get anything done, this is why I'm not as efficient at my job as I use to be. OH MY GOD, I've got a real problem here....

Now, let's turn this into a positive and what I can do with my addiction. Last week on the today show they did a segment on Mommy Bloggers, in case you missed it, you can view the segment here:

The part about this segment that I keep thinking about is that these women are making money, good money to do what I am doing. My addiction could make me money? Shyah! So, today when my employer handed out letters stating the word, CONSOLIDATION, and he told me not to panic, I said OK, because if something does happen and I get laid off, then I'm going to take it as a message from God that I should be a SAHM and get paid to blog. Hell yeah!

Now I'm just a beginner at this blogging stuff, so I really would have no idea of where to even start. So, now I'm hoping for some help from my other blogger addicts. And I'm hoping that one day in the future I can look back at these posts and say, "Huh, remember when I went to rehab for that stupid addiction. I'm sure glad I took that addiction and did something good with it."

Happy Mother's Day

Before I was a Mom

I made and ate hot meals.
I had unstained clothing.
I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a Mom
I slept as late as I wanted
And never worried about how late I got into bed.
I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was Mom
I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words of lullabies.

Before I was a Mom
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom
I had never been puked on
Pooped on
Spit on
Chewed on
Peed on
Or pinched by tiny fingers

Before I was a Mom
I had complete control of:
My thoughts
My body
And my mind.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child
So that doctors could do tests Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces, when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a Mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Mom
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay
I had never known the warmth
The joy
The love
The heartache
The wonder
Or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

I unfortunetley cannot take credit for this beautiful poem. The author to me is unknown, but each time I read it, I feel meaning in every sentence.

Jordan, you have brought so much joy to my life. Just today I rushed in to pick you up as you woke up crying from your nap. I held you and rocked you for awhile, feeling guilty because I knew I had a lot to do, but then I realized that none of those things that I had to get done were as important as sitting there holding you, and being your mommy.
The other day you ran up to me, asked me to pick you up, wrapped your little arms around me and told me you loved me. That right there is the best gift I could ever receive for Mother's day. You are my gift, my little man, my baby J and it brings me tremendous pleasure and joy being your mommy.
Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms. I hope your day is filled with beauty, love and happiness.

This is why I can't work nights..

Right now, because of daycare options, I work late on Tuesday nights, which means Darric does the nighttime routine. Well, Monday Jordan came down with an ear infection (his first) and he is now on amoxicillin. Before I left for work I made sure to tell Darric the jist...1)Give Jordan his antibiotic around 9:00. 2)Give it to him with a snack. 3)Make sure you shake it really well. and 4) Only give him 1 teaspoon. I called around 9:30 to check in and this is how the conversation went.

Darric: How much medicine is he suppose to get?

Me: 1 teaspoon, why?

Darric: Are you sure?

Me: Yes, 1 teaspoon...WHY?

Darric: It says 5 teaspoonful...

Me: What??? No it doesn't!

Darric: Yes it does, it says five 1 teaspoonful.

Me: That doesn't make sense. (Pause as I search for the vision in my brain of what I actually saw on the prescription bottle..Heart starting to pound)

Darric: It does. Hang on I'll go check.

(Moment later)

Darric: It says five 1 teaspoonful by mouth twice a day.

At this point, I'm now remembering this particular label.

The pharmacy had cut of the first letter off. My DH was assuming it said FIVE....

Me: GIVE! GIVE! It says GIVE 1 teaspoonful by mouth.

Darric: Oh.....

Me: Sooo, HOW MUCH DID YOU GIVE HIM?

Darric: I only gave him 2 teaspoons because I wasn't sure.

Me: (Sigh)

You can now swallow your heart like I did when I thought my husband gave my 31 pound, 2 year old child 5 teaspoons of amoxicillin.

I'm never answering the phone again...

when the caller I.D. says unknown at least. So, it was Wednesday morning, 9:45am, I'm about to walk out the door on my way to drop Jordan off and head to work. I was actually doing good on time for once, then the phone rang...I always check to see who it is calling before I answer. This call read "unknown" which I'm usually like oh well, they'll leave a message if it's important. Well, my curiosity got the best of me and I answered it. Bad mistake...or was it?

Before I go any further let me just make it known that my darling husband has recently become addicted to the Internet. God love him, he'll click on just about anything. And I caught him the other day putting in our information on this win a trip website. I knew I should have ripped the plug out of the wall at that point, but he's gotta learn right? So, the person on the other line asked for Darric, I thought I was saved, but once they asked if I was Mrs then they continued with their mission. Joanne, was her name, explained that we had just qualified for some Orlando trip, she continued on to give me my pin number and a website that I had to go to, to do something, I'm still not sure what that part was all about. I figured it wouldn't take that much longer, so I continued to listen. Well, for the rest of the day I felt as thought I had a word written across my forehead, I kept trying to rub it off, but it stayed...SUCKER! is what it read. Yup, I got suckered into some Orlando trip. Here's the offer though and you can tell me if it sounds worth it.

• 5 days, 4 nights in Orlando Florida (we have a couple of options of hotels to pick from, which from some of the pictures I've seen, they're beautiful.
• 4 of those days and 3 of those nights we stay at a place located right on the ocean
• Rental car. No black out dates and no cut-off on how much mileage we use.
• $100.00 off, per person for airfare
• Can bring up to 5 people
• We pick when we go
• We have to go within 2 years

ALL FOR $398!!!

So, what do you think? Am I crazy, am I a sucker? I did say to the lady "now what if this is a scam and you just want my credit card number." She then directed me to their website where it stated everything she had just told me. I made sure to read all the fine print and it seemed all Kosher. We should be getting a fed ex package this week with more info, so I'll let you know about that. I would've normally discussed this over with Darric, but she stated it was a one time deal and once we hung up the phone, the deal was no longer available. SUCKER!! I know.

So, after I got off the phone I called Darric and ratted him out for signing up for this crap. In my head, I was a little excited thinking we may be going to Florida in the next 2 years, but I was still a little angry about the whole fact too. I really hate giving my credit card number over the phone. Something a little interesting though...Darric did say that if I get any other calls like that again, to just say they NEED to call back when he was home. I asked why and he said he was working on something at the moment, but he told me it was none of my business. Well...we'll see about that. Especially considering sitting beside me on our computer desk right now is a confirmation letter stating a Las Vegas trip.....WTF!!!