Our Trip to Sunny California!

Geagen and her Uncle John

Geagen is fascinated with Uncle John's sunglasses

We definitely had a whirlwind trip to visit Grammy Ann and Grandpa Dick but we had so much fun while we were there. Grammy Ann and I drove to Grass Valley to meet Uncle John for lunch and a visit. He hadn't seen Geagen since Thanksgiving so it was nice for them to visit. Geagen is now much more exciting than she was at Thanksgiving so I think Uncle John enjoyed her a little more now that she can sit up, eat solid foods and make funny sounds.


Geagen smiles for the camera

Silly girl!

Shopping at Wal-Mart with Great-Aunt Barbara and Grammy Ann

While we were in Oroville we were able to visit Great-Aunt Barbara and also introduce Geagen to a time-honored tradition of lunch at Taco Bell followed by shopping at Wal-Mart. It's true- we do live on the edge! We had fun visiting and hearing all about Great-Aunt Barbara and her family.

Great-Nana Chamberlain gives Geagen kisses

Geagen and Great-Nana Chamberlain share a bonding moment

Geagen and I were able to go to lunch with Great-Nana Chamberlain while we were in town. We went to Charlie's and Great-Nana was amazed at how well Geagen behaved herself during lunch. After lunch we went back to her house for a visit and some pictures together. I'm glad Geagen is able to get to know both of her great-grandmothers.

The Shetland ewe and lamb at Chaffin Family Farms

Grammy Ann, Joshua and Geagen pose for a picture in the pasture at Chaffin Family Farms

Fluff the birthday chicken wears her party hat for the occasion

Grammy Ann and I took Geagen out for a visit at the Albrecht's house (aka: Chaffin Family Farms) and had lots of fun. We visited with Carol and Kurt and also celebrated Fluff and AJ's second birthday with Joshua. Fluff wore a little green crocheted hat that was made especially for this occasion. I must say she looked rather fetching. Joshua took us out into the pasture and showed us his Shetland ewes and their new lambs. They are rather skittish so we had to admire them from afar.

A rare picture of Mommy and Geagen

Geagen loves baby Rorie

Peaches and baby Rorie

It was a lot of fun to catch up with my friend Peaches who drove up from Modesto to visit. She brought her daughter Rorie and it was fun to see our girls together even with the age difference (Rorie is 8 weeks old). Big brother Finn had a cold so he stayed home. It's still weird for me to see people who I grew up with children- Peaches and I have known each other since we 6 months old. She is a wonderful mother who makes it all seem so effortless. Rorie is a little charmer with the sweetest face. She looks so much like her Aunt Katey. She is precious! I'm so glad we were able to meet up and hope to make these visits more regular as our families grow up. I think it's so neat to be able to introduce my daughter to people who've known me all my life and hope she enjoys meeting them too.

Rusty and Geagen are friends at last!

Geagen was terrified of my parent's dog Rusty when she first arrived. He's not at all aggressive but he barks when he gets excited. We don't have a dog and Geagen hasn't really been exposed to dogs because nobody we know has them. Geagen is friends with our cats and wants to pet all kitties but to her a dog might as well be an elephant to her so it took some time for her to get used to Rusty. After a few days she realized that he really was harmless and just wanted to give her kisses. He also hoped that she would scratch his belly but she didn't quite figure it out. Maybe next time Rusty.

Geagen and Grandpa Dick read a book

Geagen and Grandpa Dick were able to bond while we were visiting. Like Uncle John, Grandpa Dick also hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving and was amazed at how much she has grown and changed. He was a little overwhelmed by all the crying- poor Geagen had a rough time adjusting initially and was rather emotional to say the least. She did get accustomed to my parent's house and her surroundings after a few days. Once she settled in it was a little easier for them to play and spend time together.

We've been home a full week now and are catching up on all the excitement (aka: housework) that we missed while we were gone. Jon did an excellent job of being a bachelor and even cleaned the house too. He did lots of work in yard and it really looks nice. I can't wait to see what everything looks like once the yard fills in this summer. It was fun to go and visit but it's even nicer to be home.

At Long Last!

Sittin' pretty

Geagen shows us her happy side

Geagen models one of her church dresses- she looks thrilled to be there

Geagen indulges in an invigorating bubble bath

This duck tastes great mom! Do you have the recipe?

So it's been a little while since I've posted. It seems that life has gotten in the way once again. Things have finally settled back down and are slowly returning to normal. Jon has been travelling extensively for the past 6 weeks and is home with us until the end of the school year in May. Grandma Ann came up for a visit a few weeks ago- pictures to be posted in the near future. There really isn't much news except for me getting a hair cut- same style just hadn't been cut in 8 months (I was still pregnant at the time) so I was in desperate need of a trim. I also went out and got some fantastic new jeans and got to get out of the house without little miss Geagen to have a child-free shopping trip with my friend Dawn. Jon picked out some new glasses and I'm doing the same on Tuesday. I did a little bit of browsing the selection already and can't decide between a swirly magenta pair or black and white glasses with cut-out temples.

It's kind of sad when you think that as busy as we have been that we probably lead the most boring life in existence. Today for example Jon and I read the ads for the local case-lot sales at the grocery stores and debated the merits of various types of food for our food storage as well as comparing prices. As if that wasn't stimulating enough we took apart our vacuum together since it wasn't working this evening. We discovered that with our purple dyson you're supposed to wash the filter every 6 months. We didn't get the memo- it'd never been cleaned in the 2 years we've had it. We also went to our niece Mikayla's 8th birthday party in Boise yesterday and took advantage of the opportunity to do a little shopping while we were at it. We ended up getting a new stereo so we can plug in Jorge (the ipod) and also listen to the radio with both speakers. Our old boom-box was dying a slow death one speaker at a time. We also looked at cordless phones and answering machines (you didn't believe me when I said boring did you?) and had no idea of all the complexities involved in making such a purchase- multiple handsets?, digital or analog?, color display? It was ultimately decided that it would be best to put off said purchase until more research had been completed. So that's our a life in a nutshell. More to follow as it unfolds.

We're Back!

Geagen and her daddy

Geagen in her polar bear outfit- quit possibly my most favorite outfit ever

Geagen tries to find her happy place unsuccessfully

Geagen wears her serious face with her new dolly from Iler & Wilma

It has been a crazy month or so since I last blogged. The sad part is that while we have been super busy we haven't really done much. Jon has been in and out keeping himself busy at the middle school in addition to travelling a great deal on school business. We have also been refinancing our house and it seems like I have been making phone calls left and right to get everything straight with the lender and title company- in between the meltdowns of course. It's sad when one of the highlights of your week is getting baby food on sale at Albertson's. Not only was it 10 for $4 but I saved a grand total of $49.52 on all of my groceries for the month. The funny part about our life these days is that we are so busy with appointments and other commitments that I was going to call and invite some friends over for dinner the other day until I looked on the calendar and realized that there only 4 nights in February that we didn't have anything going on so the entertaining will be put on hold until March when things settle down.

Geagen has had a rough month and I hope and pray that this phase will pass soon. Separation anxiety has set in and there seems to be no way to avoid the all the tears. I'm actually kind of torn with all of this drama- part of me desperately wants to get away for just a minute (that's really all I want) to go and do dishes, laundry or just be by myself. Poor Geagen gets so upset and I feel bad that she thinks I'm leaving forever so now I just keep her where she can see me. She's so broken up about all of this that she has lost the will to jump in her jumperoo unless someone is right next to her. Jon and Robin have been especially wonderful during this phase- it's not uncommon to pass her off to one of them after a long day for a short break. The other drama with Geagen is that she still sleeps completely swaddled which is fantastic because she's all snug and secure and sleeps for 12 hours straight (most nights) but she won't sleep without being swaddled so we are trying to figure out how to gradually wean her off her swaddling blanket. The only problem with this plan is that Geagen has a cold and has become even more clingy and she doesn't feel good and is just miserable which means any sort of change is bad and therefore must be put on hold until the sniffles are gone.

We're Still Here

I just realized it has been 11 days since my last post and some of my gentle readers (you know who you are) are getting a little antsy. The new year has been interesting so far. Okay- not really but it sounds better than what's really been going on around here. Jon was home for Christmas break for 2 1/2 weeks and it just seems like we didn't get a whole lot done- which is not necessarily a bad thing it just makes things complicated when it's time to go back into a normal routine. In addition to to settling back into our old schedule I have been busily trying to implement our New Year's Resolutions as a family as well as my own personal resolutions. So far things have been going really with the possible exception of starting my housecleaning schedule to make my life run more smoothly. Stuff just comes up- today the van battery was giving me fits by not starting so I was waiting around for a tow truck and consequently unable to take Geagen to her 6 month check-up (For the record she was devastated. I will be taking her sometime this week so there is still time to guess her weight.). And for some odd reason if things aren't done that would in theory violate my new housecleaning schedule (for example: the basket of ironing that seems to be mocking me as I type) they seem to make it impossible to begin the new routine because I would be ironing on Tuesday instead of Friday which is the appointed day to slave over a hot ironing board. Don't even bother asking- it's just one of the joys of OCD. I've embraced it.

So long story short- I haven't taken any pictures of Geagen for the past 2 weeks or so. I'll get around to it on Picture Day once I assign a day of the week for that and the stars align. I haven't forgotten about the blog or anything like that so please don't despair. I promise to document Geagen's new achievement of sitting up all by herself. It's really quite cute. And if I can figure out how to download video I will post video of Geagen in her jumperoo and the little jumping dance she does. It's really cute.

Happy New Year!

The happy in Alturas at Thanksgiving- note the goats in the background- it just fits somehow

This is as close as we got a family picture since Geagen's blessing 5 months ago

A new year has dawned and we are still exhausted from the hustle and bustle of 2008. It's hard to believe Miss Geagen Grace is almost 6 months old. December was especially busy with Jon's knee surgery in addition to all of the holiday festivities. We didn't get around to Christmas cards this year- not only did we not have any spare time but we just couldn't fit in it this year's Christmas budget. We knew what Dave would say and we knew that it was good advice to save the money. Besides, we have the blog this year. Next year we hope to not only have a Christmas card with a photo in it but a newsletter so we can torture you all with the minutiae of our thrilling life under a rock in East Podunk.

Becky's Visit

Geagen and Susan

Geagen

Geagen and Becky

Geagen standing on mommy's lap

Last weekend my friend Becky came over from Bend to spend the weekend and we had lots of fun. We went to my ward's Super Saturday and learned how to make cinnamon rolls and hairbows- very useful things to know how to make. We really enjoyed making the bows and found ourselves in JoAnns going crazy over 25 cent ribbon. We now have every color so we can match hairbows to hair color and outfit. It was fun just giggle and be silly. I'm sure Jon thought we were crazy but that's nothing new. I glad Becky could come over and get to know Geagen.

CONDEMNATION

The condemned soul on the morning of the execution

So it all started with a letter in the mail about having our furnace cleaned for $69. How could it possibly wrong we thought. Jon and I talked about it before I scheduled the appointment and agreed that it was a great idea after we hadn't done anything with the furnace since we moved in 2 years ago and Grandpa kept the thermostat set at 80 F for most of the year (usually around June or July he would the heat off until Labor Day or so) and we wore shorts in the house year round and were fine.

Monday was the day of the appointment. I should have know it wasn't going to be a good one when the baby woke up on the wrong side of the crib and was super cranky all day. Turns out she has a cold so I cut her some slack and plugged in the humidifier in her room and applied vapo-rub to her chest. Jon ended up coming home sick from school that day- that NEVER happens. He hasn't come home sick from school in the 2 1/2 years that I've known him. He had a migraine so I made him lunch and sent him to bed to get some rest. I had actually forgotten about the furnace cleaning until after Jon had already come home. I just prayed that the tech wouldn't make too much noise and wake either Jon or Geagen.

The technician showed up on time and I was all business- do you want me to show you where the furnace is? He tells me that he wants to tell me about the company and about himself and all of their qualifications and programs. I'm thinking that they're going to try and hard-sell us some service plan when he's done with the cleaning and inspection and am dreading this sales pitch. Finally he's done with his spiel and even invites me to watch the proceedings. I thought why not-both Jon and the baby are asleep.

First thing he notices is that the flame guard is up and is allowing the ignition spark to melt the wires. So he puts the flame guard down and moves on to something else. (I'm not going to even mention that the flue was unhooked- it probably happened when the plumbers were re plumbing the hall bathroom in March 2007- and was spewing carbon monoxide into our house.) He then finds the first petrified mouse carcass. I was starting to be fearful at this point. Then he moves on to the blower and finds the second petrified muse carcass and also tells me that the blower needs to be taken apart and cleaned which is not included in the $69 cleaning and will cost an additional $99. I tell him that I need to talk it over with my husband who is home sick from work and is asleep upstairs. Now it's time to do a video inspection of the heat exchangers. He used water to check for cracks and leaks- if it came through to the other side then there were cracks. We had cracks in 4 out 5 of the heat exchanger vents. Then he tells me that our furnace is ancient- 30 plus years (made me feel real good) and that it's all one piece and even if they could put in a new heat exchanger that they don't make parts for old furnaces these days. I'm thinking to myself that in a few years we can get a new furnace because how bad can it be? Turns out those cracks were also leaking carbon monoxide in the house too and that he would have to "condemn" (I swear I'm not making this up!) our furnace and unplug it and turn off the gas line right then and there. Trying not to cry and not knowing what else to do I went upstairs to get my husband. He'd been asleep for 3 hours and he didn't even hear when I opened the door. I finally get him awake and he's under the influence of migraine meds and has no idea where he is, who I am or what I'm jabbering about. I finally get through to him and explain the gravity of the situation. I desperately needed him to talk some sense into this technician because our furnace was fine- we'd had it on since September and we were all fine with no problems. Jon goes and talks to the technician and realizes that it's a lost cause and that we are going to have to get a new furnace- now! We ask the guy to give us a ballpark estimate of how much a new furnace costs just so we can get an idea of what we've gotten ourselves into. He says between $2,000 and $10,000. We think to ourselves that's not cheap but not the end of the world. The technician calls the home office and schedules an appointment with a "comfort specialist" to come that evening and help us pick out a new furnace. He then tells us that he's going to get some space heaters out of the truck so we won't freeze. He comes back with 2 tiny (8" x 12") space heaters and we thought he was kidding. He wasn't- turns out those little things were ceramic heaters and actually put out quite a bit of heat. We put one in Geagen's room and one in the living room and waited for the "comfort specialist".

The "comfort specialist" arrived he was really nice so of course Jon and I befriended him. It took a little over 3 hours for all of the measuring and decisions, etc. because we would get so busy chatting. We decided to upgrade to a 90% efficient furnace so we could save on energy costs and also added central air because they were already going to be in there and we might as well do it right the first time. We got a super efficient heat pump (16 seers) and we signed all the paperwork and realized this was going to cost a small fortune but were glad because Jon had just gotten a raise after lengthy union negotiations. We had to add duct work and upgrade our electrical from 100 amp service to 200 amp service and that added to the cost. Jon did calculate that the system we chose would pay for itself in energy savings in 14 years- the silver lining. We agree that the installers will be here on Wednesday morning after the electrician was out to bid out his portion of the job.

Tuesday morning rolls around and Jon wakes me up and announces that after doing some Internet research he is reasonably sure that he has pink eye. He was right about that and called in sick and got a substitute for the next 2 days. Since he felt good but was contagious we decided that it was a great time to clean the crap out of the basement. It took the better part of the day but we got lots done before the installers came. The project manager and "comfort specialist" came by to see what this job would entail. Then we found out that the 16 seer heat pump was out of stock and that all they had was 18 seer heat pump that would add an additional 15% energy efficiency to the system we were already installing. So it was a good day after all.

Wednesday rolls around and Jon is still home sick and we were up early tying up loose ends from the basement cleaning project. The installers come and get started. It was a slow start because everyone was trying to figure out how to orient the furnace to make the installation as easy as possible. Finally they got it worked out and started getting this moving and they made lots of progress. We found a spot for the new heat return (the old one was to small) and a new location for the programmable thermostat. Then we realized that Jon was leaving for Portland that night and that it would probably be a good idea to get things packed and any necessary laundry done. We got everything done on time and picked up the other teachers who were carpooling with Jon for the conference in Portland. (Jon went to the National Science Teachers Association conference and got to meet Adam and Jamie of the Discovery Channel show "Mythbusters" on Thursday morning. I will post pictures when Jon comes on Saturday with the camera.)

On the way home from the airport I discover that I have a sore throat. This is a bad omen. I get up on Thursday morning and have a fever. I go the doctor and am somewhat relieved to just have an upper respiratory infection and not strep throat or anything like that. I also had Geagen get one of her shots that they were out of at her 4 month check-up. The installers were busily working away all day and told me what was going on- the electrician would be here on Monday to replace the breaker box but I would be able to use the furnace all weekend. They told me that tomorrow they would add the new vents and hook up the a/c and the heat pump. I was curious if all installations took 4 days to complete because this seemed like a very long process. It turns out that it normally only takes them one day to install a system. Leave it to Jon and I to be complicated. Then one of the pipes broke in the crawl space. We have 60 plus year old pipes around here so it was bound to happen. Of course the local hardware store didn't have the replacement pipe they need so had to put a cap on it until they could get the right pipe for it tomorrow morning. Thankfully it's the cold water pipe in the hall bathroom so it's not a huge ordeal.

It's late on Thursday night and I have the heat and it's wonderful. It's so warm it's practically balmy in here. Pretty soon everything will done and Jon and I will be able to give guided tours of the new system in our free time.

2 Whole Years!

Jon and Susan in front of the Sacramento temple
November 3, 2006

Today marks our second anniversary. It's so funny to me that after being married for 2 years seems to have canceled out the first 30 years of my life a single person in many ways. I look back and I love how my life has changed in so many wonderful ways: who knew that being married changes the way you go grocery shopping?! Gone are the days of bean burritos and a big gulp for dinner to avoid a trip to the grocery store. It's so nice to have a wonderful husband come home who I love so much and hear all about his day and his thoughts as opposed to when I was single and couldn't wait to get back to apartment and not have to talk anyone. Now we actually have a baby to put all those baby clothes that I stockpiled over the years into.

Life is good. We have had some challenges but we have also had many triumphs. I couldn't imagine eternity without Jon. He is the love of my life, my baby's daddy and my best friend. I am a lucky woman indeed.

The Pumpkin Patch

Geagen poses for a picture at the pumpkin patch

Geagen almost smiles while having her picture taken

Mommy and Geagen pose with Geagen's first pumpkin

Today marks the beginning of Geagen's very first Halloween. She went the moms and kids from our play group to the pumpkin patch. She was very much a big girl and very interested in all that she saw. She particularly enjoyed the hayride pulled by a tractor- she found it very relaxing. She wasn't so sure about picking out a pumpkin so I stepped and picked one out that I found aesthetically pleasing. She also posed for a few photos but since they were taken towards the end of the festivities she wasn't so sure about it- she would have much rather have had some lunch. I forgot my camera in the car so my friend Dawn kindly took pictures for us. We are most grateful for her thoughtfulness as this momentous event would have gone undocumented otherwise.

Tub Time!

Geagen lounging in her tub

Mom scrubs the barnacles off Boo-Boo

Looking a little stunned after getting out the bath

Geagen expressing utter shock as she realizes these photos will be posted on the blog.

These pictures were taken last week. Geagen is still growing like a weed. We have finally documented one Geagen's bath and now have the requisite embarrassing baby bath pictures. We only hope that she will hire a good shrink when she gets old enough to undo the damage.

A Productive Day

Jon & Steve planting a honey locust tree in front of Steve's house

Jon & Steve planting a maple tree in front of the chicken coop at our house

Jon puts the finishing touches on our maple tree

View of the house looking northward from the tree

Jon and Steve had a busy Saturday morning this past weekend. They planted 8 trees at Steve's house and 1 tree at our house. Not only were the trees large and mature, we had a severe rainstorm the night before which turned the soil into mud. They had to wrestle some of the trees to get them into position but the overall effect is really nice now that they are all planted. We are excited to have a new maple tree on the south side of our house. It will eventually mature and provide much needed shade for the hen house.

Now that fall is upon us we are preparing for winter and trying to get as much as we can done before the ground freezes. We will be busy winterizing the garden as well as planting new bulbs for the spring. It will be exciting to see how it all turns out next year.


The onion field across the street

Jon & Robin gleaning onions in the hailstorm

onions!

These pictures really do prove that we live in East Podunk. We have an onion field (this changes from year to year), a small pasture with steers and a mobile home across the street from us. We are lucky to be good friends with the farmer who farms our the land on our street. He let us glean onions from his field after it was harvested. Unfortunately this coincided with the aforementioned rainstorm and we had to get the onions out before they rotted. Geagen and I even went out with the Baby Bjorn before the rain started again. Spike even followed us out in to the field to lend a helping paw. Jon and Robin got caught in the hailstorm and were absolutely soaked. We got lots of onions (2 twin sheets full) and we will let them dry out and then get them into our root cellar so they will last all winter. I guess we don't have to worry about putting onions in our food storage. Now we can concentrate on other things in our food storage.


Spike strikes a thoughtful pose

Lost and Found

This is where I found Badgley this morning. I'm actually surprised that it took him so long to find a comfortable napping spot in the stroller.

Badgley is still groggy in this picture.

It has been one those weeks. I feel like Sisyphus eternally pushing the rock up the hill only to have it roll back down again (go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus if you want the whole story). I have managed to lose more things in the last 3 days than I have in the last 6 months: my folding calculator, my collection of state quarters and most importantly- my sanity. These calculator and quarters seem trivial to the average person but I was convinced that these things were missing just to mess with my head. After spending some time looking for both items (in between Geagen's interminable crying spells) I did ultimately find them (my search was not in vain). I found the calculator (under the recliner) in time for my monthly trek to Wal-Mart and when I found the quarters (in a box full of kitchen utensil- don't ask. I still can't figure that one out- I guess that's why they were lost.) I put the Alaska quarter in it's rightful spot between Arizona and Hawaii. The thing that really bugged me about the quarters was how long I had been saving them- I didn't want 9 1/2 years of faithful saving to go waste in my determination to have a full set of state quarters.

Once the calculator had been found I was ready to head to the store. Geagen and I were ready- I made sure she was fed and even gave her a bath to try and relax her so she would sleep peacefully in the shopping cart. I'm not sure if it was act of great bravery or foolishness to go on the first day of the month but I went anyway. I was sure that with all of my preparations including an aisle-by-aisle indexed grocery list, a fully stocked diaper bag to ward off any sort of baby emergency, coupons and a whole bunch of cash (courtesy of Dave Ramsey's envelope system that we just implemented), that it would be quick excursion in and out of the store because I was ready. I'm sure there have been military invasions involving less planning but I wasn't taking any chances. I should have known the trip was doomed from the start when I realized I had worn my sunglasses in the store and didn't want to waste the energy to retrieve my regular glasses from the console of the van. My next stop was the pharmacy to change our insurance plan cards- it only took 3 phone calls to straighten that out. Then I headed into the grocery aisles armed with the aforementioned list and Geagen in her baby carrier only to realize that the bath didn't do anything except make her smell pretty. And then the crying began so we headed to the benches at the back of the store and I cracked open the formula. I made sure she was full and got rid of all the burps and made sure she was content and loaded her back into her carrier and proceeded to carry out my master plan. She slept for a few minutes and then the crying began again so I repeated the above process (by the way- there should be some sort of plaque on that bench because we have used it so much lately I feel that it is rightfully mine by now). In my wisdom I decided that I would continue on in my trek because the cupboards were bare and the pioneers wouldn't have given up so easily (they also wouldn't be shopping at Wal-Mart but that is another matter altogether) and we were already halfway through our journey so I couldn't possibly abandon my quest. I also figured that since she was inconsolable that there wasn't anything I could do anyway so I might as well get the shopping done instead of just being at home with her screaming there. Twisted logic I know. I tried to soothe Geagen as we made our way up and down the aisles while I was faithfully crossing things off the list and adding up the total on my calculator- sometimes it was a successful process and sometimes it wasn't. The other thing I learned is that when you have a screaming infant with you in the store everyone feels the need to see what's going on and offer some sort of advice which only served to make me feel like a total moron and slowed me down all that same time. It only took 4 1/2 hours to complete our shopping with all of the drama sandwiched in between and I did manage to stick to the cash in the envelopes which was very successful (I will say that Dave is right about spending cash- it is much more emotional than using a debit card. It was painful to say goodbye to all of the presidents- it seemed like our time together had just begun before it was over.). My sanity was truly gone by the time the last coupons and money exchanged hands. I managed to make it out of the store and started for home and felt that a stop at the gas station was in order since everything had gone so well (read: we made it out alive!). I was especially pleased with myself because the gas station had gas 2 cents cheaper than in Nyssa- because gas is always more expensive in Nyssa. I realized when I drove by the gas station in Nyssa that gas had dropped a full 10 cents in the 5 hours that I had been gone. It was the last straw. Also on the way home, Jon called to see where I was because he had locked himself out of the house and wanted to know when I would be home. I eventually made it through the front door and planned to spend the evening putting away groceries after making dinner and putting the baby to bed, but alas, this was not to be. I no sooner got home and realized that it seemed like my bill was higher than I had anticipated and hadn't given it much thought other than my calculations were probably off due to a screaming baby and a crowded store. [Please understand that the Ontario Wal-Mart serves the Greater So-Not-Metropolitan Area of East Podunk (at least 5 counties, 2 states and 2 time zones- nothing big). It was like something out of a Jeff Foxworthy sketch- I had never seen such a gathering of people. It was like watching the Waffle House Wedding video (I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it already- then it will all make sense) { http://www.gwinnett%20dailypost.%20com/ftp/multimed%20ia/wafflewedding%20x/publish_%20to_web} except it was live and in person with front row tickets. It was like a train wreck that you just couldn't turn away from and you aren't sure if you should be repulsed or amused.] After scanning the receipts for clues as to where the money went I realized that I had been double-charged for my cottage cheese ($5.66 is a lot of money when you are pinching pennies!) and that a return to trip to Wal-Mart was in order to ensure that my money would be refunded. Jon very sweetly offered to take me out Carl's Jr. so I wouldn't have to make dinner. He later told me that this offer was as much for the sake of my sanity (which was completely gone by this point) and the quality and safety of tonight's dinner (He figured it would either be burnt beyond all recognition and require dental records to identify the entree or that I would have poisoned it in a crazy plot to end it all. Either way he wasn't taking any chances.). By this point I wasn't sure who was sobbing harder- me or the baby. A quick call to Auntie Robin ensured us we could drop off the baby and have an hour or so of peace. So off we went- we made it back to the store and our money was refunded and I swear that my Six Dollar Western Cheeseburger was the best food I have tasted since I had the baby (I have never been so excited about having beef broth and jello for dinner after not having food for over 24 hours.). Of course once we got back to Robin's house we learned that she was still screaming after a short nap to renew her strength and lung power. Thankfully by that point she was exhausted and gave in after an hour or so of Daddy rocking her to sleep. She looked like a tiny sleeping angel in her swing and I said a silent (for fear of waking her) but fervent prayer that she would sleep until morning.

So know you know the fateful of story of The Trip to Wal-Mart on the First of the Month. Please let it be a cautionary tale to you should you decide to follow in my footsteps.

15 Seconds of Fame

Susan & Mischka

Mischka in all her glory

Badgley waking up from a nap

Spike as a little kitten

As you all are aware of by now, Jon and I are taking the Financial Peace University Course from Dave Ramsey through one of the local churches. We are really excited about the things taught (saving money, getting out of debt, planning for our children's college education, retirement saving strategies, etc.) in these classes. We have learned a lot already and are applying the things we are learning. I had the opportunity to speak with Dave Ramsey on the phone for a taping of his Fox Business Network show in regards to a special edition on money and pets. I emailed them about Badgley and Mischka going on the Dave Ramsey diet (see "Happy Birthday Mischka!" to get all of the details of the kibble counting.) and didn't think a whole lot about it until I got a call Monday morning from Dave's executive producer asking if I would like to share my story on the air with Dave. Long story short, he was amazed at Mischka being 23 pounds and even told me a story about his chubby pug. The above pictures are the ones that will be shown on the air during our conversation. Dave is busily making some last minute appearances on other shows due to the current economic situation and they will be airing my episode some time in the near future. I will make sure and tell everyone when it finally airs.