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.