Crabby Pants Olivia

I must say we have a great sleeper! We are almost guaranteed to get 12 hours of sleep out of Olivia every night. Evening routine is well pretty routine. Dinner, bath, pjs, sleep. Except tonight. Miss crabby pants decides she does not want to eat dinner, does not want mommy and daddy to eat dinner, does not want to sit, does not want to play, does not want to be quiet, does not want to stand, does not want to be held, does not want to take a bath...you get the picture....So screaming Olivia finally makes the sign for milk... eureka! So, while Drew cleans up from dinner downstairs, upstairs I skip the bath, skip the books, skip the whole entire pj part, feed her and put her right in her crib. That's right- in her clothes that she has been in all day and the diaper she has has on since 5, right into the crib. Oh well, she's asleep! We'll see how long this lasts- hopefully until 7:30 tomorrow morning!

Why I love craigslist!

Alright, anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE craigslist. Today just proved my point even more! I had found a really cute Ralph Lauren outfit with matching sneakers- all brand new with tags- for $15. Not too bad but I thought if it was meant to be...Well, I could offer $10 and she could tell me to jump in a lake. I have found one of the best ways as a buyer to get people to sell is to say that you can pick up the next day (and stick to it!) As a seller, this has definitely worked on me too. So I go to this woman's house and it looks nice, she's pretty, kids are adorable and I give her a $20- a craigslist no no! Do not ever ask for change, it is so annoying! But really, that is all I had, well $20.25 to be honest. So she tells me to come in and see what else she has- she does have a captive audience now with a $20. She hands me a Rubbermaid tub of clothes and says pick out some things you like. Obviously, I only have $20 and she tells me to look through---Oh WOW! I pull out a beautiful pristine, white sweater, a GAP bathing suit and matching hat, A Gymboree top and matching shorts, brand new tights, 2 adorable sundresses, super cute pants and matching H&M shirt, a Lily Pulitzer looking dress, and a GAP outfit- WHEW!! Now, I did say to her, tell me what I can have because all I have is that $20. And she says Take it ALL! YEA! Craigslist JACKPOT!

April Fool Schmool

Yes, today is April 1st and yes I did think about pulling a prank on my hubbie and yes completely forgot due to Olivia's non afternoon nap-running to the mall-people to look at the house-overwhelming typical day....back to April Fool's Day...so last night I was scouring CL and freecycle searching for a stinkin faucet for my play kitchen (so fabulous!) and I come across a posting for a faucet FREE! on CL. So stoked! Email the guy right away begging for the faucet and saying I can pick asap- give him the whole sob story. This afternoon, after sweating it out all day waiting for a response, the guy sends a fuzzy, icky pic from his "camera phone". OMG! I can tell it is the PERFECT faucet, size, super cute, everything...so I email him back saying I can pick up right away. Within seconds, get a response that he lives right near me. This is soooo super perfect...maybe too perfect? Drew comes running upstairs and I am so excited- start to tell him and he says, "Oh, let me see the picture? He sent you a new one." I look at the NEW CLEAR pic and it is MY FAUCET! With a note that says APRIL FOOLS! GRRRRR! Drew created a new gmail account under a fake name, created a posting, took pictures of my faucet- everything to make it look real. So bummed and now back to the search.....

Felt Food Fanatic/Play kitchen junkie

Ok, I seriously do not know what is wrong with me. I really do not have an addictive personality or anything but yet I am sitting here, after making 2 trips to Walmart and a trip to ACMoore, surrounded by felt! Yes, you read correctly, felt! Recently, I decided Olivia needed a play kitchen. Mind you, she is only 15 months and probably doesn't know what a kitchen is, but she needed one. And no a plastic one would not cut it. I had to research craiglist and ebay hunting down a kitchen that I could customize- think "Pimp My Kitchen"....after many weeks of searching, I found a perfect one. And after driving over an hour to NJ to pick it up from some (nice!) woman's garage, after 3 cans of spray paint, drilling a sink hole, buying all new hardware, 4 coats of chalkboard paint, a new back splash, making shelving, labeling all of the doors....it is finally complete! And super cute, I might add! Well onto the latest- food. Olivia now has kitchen (which mind you she can not reach the countertop- oh well) the girl needs food! Again, I started researching AND purchasing Melissa and Doug wooden food....and it is A LOT of money! I turned to the next best (read: cutest) thing..felt food. Ok, now this is not the cheapest option either but it is something I think I may be able to since Drew said no power tools for creating my own food wood- grr! You know what...my sewing machine is calling my name....I'll have to update with the play kitchen debacle another day....

Helloooo Energy Bill.....

Just the other day the ladies at playgroup were comparing notes on energy bills. Our monthly bills are reaching 600 buckaroos! Which seems completely ridiculous to me! But we are billed on a "budget" which basically means that we get our yearly total divided equally into 12 payments instead of fluctuating up and down each month. Just seems easier to manage for us....of course, when we got home from playgroup, I was talking to Drew about it. Just saying how important it is for us to save energy- turn off lights, computer, etc. We keep the heat pretty low (just ask my sister, she insists on wearing turtlenecks and sweaters to visit!) Sooo....fast forward to today- I come upstairs to feed Olivia and put her to bed and something is just "off". I immediately get a headache, complaining to Drew and need some Advil. Now, this is weird because I never (hardly ever) get headaches and now all of a sudden I have a massive one. I feed Olivia, lay her in her crib, and stand back up and feel woozy- damn, its hot in here is my thought! I didn't even want to put her blankets on- she was going to overheat! I take a look at the temperature and someone, not me, not Olivia....hmmm, has set the thermostat to 70 degrees! It was honestly like a sauna. Well, that explains my headache! Needless to say, it is set back to 63!

Shopping ESP

Boy, am I one lucky girl!  "Ask and you shall receive" is the saying, I believe.  When we first moved to the Hudson Valley, I was so bummed because there was no Macy's.  I drove about 35 minutes to Danbury to use my one day shopping pass and hit all the after holiday sales.  It was such a hike!  Then a few months into living here, Filene stores were all replaced by Macy's!  YEA!  Seeing that my monthly trek to Danbury could now be done weekly, or heck, daily right down the road to the Galleria!  Woohoo!  Alright, one store down....next came Target.  Nothing, nada, zip- if you wanted a bargain you had to hit Walmart- yuck!  Tada- a few months later- Target opened oppostite Macy's.  Ok, now the big sheeebang.....where to go for tchotkes, knickknacks, 50% off cards, holiday items- THE CHRISTMAS TREE SHOP!  Guess what opened last week across from Target?  Yep, you guessed it- THE CHRISTMAS TREE SHOP!  Holy crap!  What luck!  Someone must have Shopping ESP or big corporations call for desperate measures in desperate times- open stores where Melissa lived in order to pull this country out of economic disaster!  I'm about $300 in after TCTS being opened for one full week...just doing my part to rescue the economy.

Thrift Stores

Alright, I must say that the numero uno place for me to find bargains is this awesome, fabulous thrift store by the mom in NJ.  It's the kind of place that you have to visit often because you just never know what kind of bargain you are going to find.  Alright, now to the good part- drum roll please....I picked up a Battat Parents bead maze cube.  I know these retail for $50 or more at some stores.  This one was in excellent condition for 5.95!  Ok, it gets better....a Fisher Price Bounce and Spin Zebra for $2.92!  All it needed was a little scrub down and it is pretty darn perfect.  Olivia is loving it- mind you we already have a Smart Pony bounce thing.  Maybe I'll CL it or give it to a friend.  Finally, I picked up a Little Tykes slide for $3.93!  I love this thing, maybe more than Olivia does!