the Little Mermaid

So, I finally had a chance to go through all the boxes of hand-me-downs - sent to me from my sister . (Thanks, Jen!) I love hand-me-downs. And there was some super-cute stuff in there - the stuff I bought my niece as a gift at some point! ha!! (just kidding, although it is always fun to get that stuff back, too!)

But I came across this sparkly little bathing suit and Burgundy instantly wanted it. So she played around with it and then kept handing it to me. So, I put it in my basket and she got upset, I gave it back to her and she handed it to me again. We went through this little cycle a couple times until mommy realized (duh) that she wanted to wear it. She's such a girl!!
So, here she is in her little mermaid suit. She kept saying "sparkly!" (or something kinda like it - it kinda came out "pahk-eee")
Her favorite thing to do lately is pull everything out of drawers she can reach (usually it's Finn's sock & underwear drawer & her jammie drawer) and try things on - which basically means she puts it over and behind her head in an attempt to get it on and then crawls around with it around her neck like a scarf (picture her with Finn's Spongebob underpants on her head). Little fashionista. Did I mention she's a girl?

Also here's a cute video of Finn & Burgundy playing nicely (somewhat rare, although they are getting better every day. She has realized that if she screams when he comes near her he won't take her toy because if she screams I will look over and see him take it and then he gets scolded - she's no dummy! I just try to be fair and not always get on his case, lest she learn that she holds all the cards as well as the strings to mommy-puppet. She's learning the powers of being a girl in life all too soon!!)

ah well

Well, business has been pretty good this month, considering I had nothing at the beginning of the year. All things considered, I had a much better month than anticipated. I am slightly dissapointed in the fact that Finn's preschool fundraiser was not a little more successful, but it did ok. I have been trying to set goals for myself. I am not much of a goal setter but I am trying to start. I was hoping to sign somebody up this month. Actually my goal is to sign one person up a month because I want to promote to director by July. They were running this special for people who went to leadership, and if you signed someone in January you got a cool rolling backpack. I wanted it. But alas, it didn't happen. Oh well, I'm still hopefull for next month.
They are running some pretty cool deals for folks that sign up right now.

Other than that, I am just trying to get through the slower months and can't wait for the new catalog to come out in March! I won a ton of the new spring products from a sell-a-thon they did last November and I just got them in the mail yesterday - I am excited! I will probably have another open-house like I did for the fall catalog. So I guess this post is more like a personal journal entry for me to reaffirm my goal setting and just blah blah blah.

So if you see me or talk to me, you can ask me - how are your goals coming? Got any new recruits? Are you ready for directorship? I just need to stay on track. Like I said goal setting is new for me, so I will need some reminding!

not mawtch

Dr. Suess fan? ok, well not much is going on here. Just been hanging out, doing the day in day out kinda stuff. Today we drove down to Salt Lake for a minute, and while Finn fell fast asleep, we heard little giggles of delight from the back seat. I looked back to find Burgundy had gotten her socks off and was licking her toes and just tickling herself silly. It was pretty damn cute.
Of course once I turned the camera on her she wouldn't do it anymore, but these are still cute (sorry for the poor quality, they were taken with my cell phone).

God Bless America

"In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom...

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America...

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do...

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

-Barack Obama

the gateway & Riley

Well we finally used our free pass to discovery gateway today which was fun because we were able to all go, and usually Cody is working when we go places like this.

We had a fun afternoon. They took down the fun little wind tunnel, which was disappointing but otherwise it was pretty much the same! But the kids had fun and it was free - can't beat that!

Burgundy was able to crawl and walk around this time.
we match! I didn't notice that until I saw this picture!

Then we went to eat at Rumbi grill and a little later on we went to Cody's parents and met their CUTE little puppy Riley. He is a border terrier and about the cutest thing ever. I can't wait to get a puppy! I put it in my calendar for 2011. That way Burgundy will be 3 and I think we could handle a dog at that point. Of course Cody is worried about being the clean-up man so I will have to try hard to remember to do that (or maybe Finn at almost 6 could learn to do it... 6! it's hard to imagine!)

I would love to get a Schnauzer. I had 2 of those growing up and just think they are the greatest dogs. But oh my goodness, Riley is so frigging cute. He is all puppy and was so excited to be around little people. He was very well behaved. Burgundy was a little unsure of him at times since he was so excited and playful, but she did love to sit there and just gaze at him while he was in his little play-pen area. I'm sure once she is around him a little more she will be just fine. I do hope to raise my children to be animal lovers. I have always loved animals and we always had dogs and cats growing up. I always thought I wanted to be a veterinarian and while that didn't happen, I was a vet nurse for a while. And I did thoroughly enjoy that job. So we can't wait to go see Riley again!! I just want to smush him!!

naps

ok, I am wondering how I got anything done. Finn has only been nap-free for about 6 months I guess. Now, Burgundy has gotten herself on the schedule that she takes one nap in the afternoon, usually between 1 & 2 pm. Finn also used to do this. How did I do anything?

Somehow it seemed easier even when Burgundy was taking 2 naps. Don't ask me how that works. Maybe it's because she took 1 nap relatively early and then if she missed the second one if we had to go somewhere (like to zoo or something) it wasn't that big of a deal. Now granted, I haven't gone anywhere to have cause to skip her nap entirely, although we may be doing just that tomorrow. But, I am reminded of the going to Target or something and the rushing home trying to get the child in bed while drowsy but not yet asleep. Because once they fall asleep in the car, it seems that they are then unable to sleep in their beds decently.

Now, keep in mind that Burgundy is an entirely different person from Finn and even if she missed a nap I think we wouldn't be quite as panicked as if Finn had at that age. But, honestly, when you have to get up, get showered, dressed, fed, get 2 children up dressed and fed, get out the door, complete all necessary errands and then get home in time for a nap. How? I guess I am doing it. I suppose it also took some time to adjust to Finn's schedule as he found it. Perhaps it is the fact that I only have one child sleeping, and at least when it was Finn's turn, I got a nap too!

Whatever it is, I am finding it slightly difficult to adjust. Or at least to get things done outside of the house.

On a related note, Burgundy just got a pillow in her bed and she is so excited. (it's the little things) I can't remember how old Finn was when he got a pillow, but probably just over a year old. There were some couch pillows on the floor in the basement and Burgundy was having a great time rushing over to them and laying down on them and squealing with delight. So I put a very flat pillow in her crib (my favorite knee-pillow. oh the sacrafices we make!) and when she first saw it she nearly dove out of Cody's arms into her bed and just rolled around giggling on her pillow. Cute.

Tag

TAGGED RULES:
1. Post Rules on your blog
2. Answer the six '8' items

8 favorite shows
1. Lost
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. House
4. LA Ink
5. ER
6. the Office
7. Heroes
8. iCarly / Drake & Josh (we watch a lot of Nickelodeon)

8 things I did yesterday
1. took Finn to preschool
2. talked to Jori
3. went shopping
4. Made a 30-minute chicken in the microwave
5. check e-mail
6. put the car seats back in the Jeep (was that yesterday? the days run together)
7. watched Cody play Wii
8. reworked my Pampered Chef show format

8 things I look forward to (not necessarily in any order)
1. Heidi's show
2. Laci's wedding
3. getting the Christmas tree put away
4. being done with having a cold
5. Finn being done with having a cold
6. bed
7. watching a blu-ray with Cody
8. getting more organized

8 favorite restaurants
1. red robin
2. outback
3. garcia's
4. macCool's (simply for the lamb ribs and the decor)
5. LaChai
6. ummmmm
7. I don't get to go out to eat very often I guess...
8. TGI Friday's

8 things on my wish list
1. more shows on my calendar
2. more money from the shows on my calendar (raise)
3. more recruits from the shows on my calendar (promotion)
4. warmer weather, I guess I am ready for it to warm up a little now - the downfall of that one is Cody has to go back to work.
5. win a trip to Disney World (as a result of #s 1, 2 & 3)
6. a wonderful romantic Anniversary getaway (thanks to Laci's wedding)
7. to get my pot rack hung up someday
8. ummmmm

8 people to tag
Who ever wants to play!

all's well

Well, tonight we took Burgundy to the urgent care center. At about 730 she was in Finn's room playing and I'm not sure what happened, but she started crying and I went in and she was lying on the floor with her arms outstretched. I'm not sure if Finn stepped on it or fell on it or what, but after that, she was favoring her right wrist and cried when we messed with it. We gave it a little while, but she wouldn't use it to crawl or do anything with it so Cody put Finn to bed and I took her in to be safe.

Of course, by the time the doctor came in, she was crawling around the table with it like nothing had happened. So she checked her out and thought she was ok. She just said watch her for a day or two and bring her back in if she seemed to be favoring it again. Crisis averted.
So, I also wanted to post about my fun trip to Denver. It was a really fun time! We got in on Thursday, checked into our really nice hotel room and then went to the first general session where all 2500 Pampered Chef ladies were there! What Cody would call an estrogen fest! To be fair there were a few men there, too.

It was a pretty cool set up and I learned a lot! I talked to a bunch of great people and got to know some people better. Here I am outside of the convention center with the big blue bear. Too bad they didn't have Bear Grylls as their motivational speaker!

This is the car they gave away, not to me, unfortunately. They are also doing a car program now. Not a pink Cadillac but an allowance for the car of your choice. They did a bunch of giveaways, but I didn't win any of them. But I didn't walk away empty handed! I brought home a new PC blanket, a calculator, reusable grocery bags, and a lot of other stuff!

Here we are at La Fondue Friday night. It was my first time at a fondue place. Really good stuff. But we were there for like 3 hours because our waiter kept forgetting about us! Although I'm not sure how that happened because it was a pretty small place and we were pretty loud! I'm just glad it was there, if that sort of thing had happened here and I had a babysitter at home I would have had a heart attack if a meal took 3 hours!! But as it was, we had lots of fun.

So much fun, in fact that we got up on the bar and danced at Coyote Ugly. ha! We weren't even drunk! I wish my sister had been there - was thinking of you the whole time, Jenn!

Here we are on Saturday before flying home. This is Jori, my director, and Tara, another girl on Jori's team. She and her husband Randy came and they are so fun. They used to live just a few blocks from us but they recently moved up to Idaho. Sad, since it would've been fun to hang out with them!


So, I'm back. Renewed and refreshed, and ready to start kicking Pampered Chef butt in 2009!

off to Denver...

Well, I'm off to Denver in the morning. I'm pretty excited. I'm not really looking forward to sharing a hotel room with 3 other girls. Getting out early each morning will be an experience I'm sure. Last time I shared a room with 3 other work girls was when I worked at the Hearn Company in Chicago and we went to Vegas. I think we didn't speak to one another for a week after that. Ha! Hopefully it will be better this time. I'm sure it will since we are pretty tightly scheduled and not just wandering around, arguing about where we should go and what to do.

this is outside the convention center apparently. funny.

Anyway, I am sad to be leaving my babies and my Cody. Leego (Burgundy) got pretty upset at bedtime. So I wonder if she kind of knows what's going on. I wouldn't be too surprised, she is one smart little cookie (we call her Leego lately because that is her favorite thing to say, over & over, pretty cute). Also Finn said he was feeling sick and started to get all sniffly. I hope he isn't really! I kind of think he was working himself up into it knowing that I'm leaving. I've heard my mom tell stories many a time about my sister doing the exact same thing. But not me - oh no, not me. Ha!

But it should be good, and educational, and fun, and a little vacation, albeit a working one.

So I shall return on Saturday. I've got my iPod chock full of pictures to look at and to show off, music to listen to, even hypno-birthing stuff so that I can listen to the relaxation techniques if I can't sleep (which isn't unlikely seeing as I will be sharing a queen size bed with someone and I always feel like if I move I'll rudely wake the other person so then I can't sleep. Last time that happened was with my sister-in-law Erin at a wellness retreat with she and Paula - didn't sleep a wink! Hopefully it goes better this time. I'm bringing my own pillows, maybe that will help).

Anyhoo, hope you have a grand weekend, and I will post upon my return!

forgot to add

I also forgot to add to my shitty day list:
Ruined dinner.

Made Sloppy Joes because they're easy and fast, well the ground turkey seemed a little funky, but I cooked it, and it smelled up the entire house like icky meat. Then served it up and took a bite and it tasted weird. Don't know if it really was but Cody couldn't eat it, and I took one bite and thought it might be too funky.

So we had to toss dinner and get pizza.

ugh.

the day

well today has been a shitty day if I'm going to be completely honest. I guess the good thing is I only realized it now and it's almost over. It has just been building all day.

So, first, my pediatrician told me right before Christmas he might want to buy some new pots & pans from me. So I was very excited about this as January is double points month toward the Disney World Vacation that I am hoping to win. Well, I was finally able to get a hold of him today and he said he didn't want to get them right now. boo.

Ok, secondly, my e-mail is down. And I find out my brogue aprons site is down as well. So it is probably a matter of renewing the contract with the server or whatever on Hodge's part (or so assumes Cody) and I really hope that is what it is. I also REALLY hope that my website will just come back to life when that happens. I don't even know if I remember how to upload it all, blah blah blah don't want to deal with it.

And the way worse part of that is my email is down. It is not a big deal for it to be down for 1 day. But I am freaking out because I don't know WHY it is down. If it can just come back online, great. if not, I am screwed. I have handed out about 200+ business cards with that email on it. It IS my business email address (for Pampered Chef as well as Brogue) and I am seriously stressed over this.

Third, I had ONE, count it, ONE show on my calendar for pampered chef. ONE lousy show. And so all my little hopes were riding on that show. I have not been able to get a hold of the host for the last month and a half which is never a good sign. But I remained optimistic. FINALLY today I called her like 3 times and finally just got her and she says oh, I think I will have to reschedule, I'll call you. Which basically means, I will never call you and you will never hear from me again. Lovely.

So now what? Now I have to hope and pray that going to leadership summit this week will give me some balls and a good script for cold calling people and asking them to host a show. I was seriously thinking I would tell this lady that she was the last show on my calendar and would she please... yada yada yada. BUT I have my pride. Foolish though it may be and I will not beg for shows (at least not from people other than family and close friends). So that SUCKS. CAPITAL-SUCKS.

So now I am just realizing what a shitty day it has been. 3 strikes. And I am hoping tomorrow will be better. I am not ready to be done with my business. Not by a long shot. I just am not quite sure what I am going to do.

The only silver lining to all this is I am doing a fundraiser for Finn's preschool and I added a thing where I would donate an extra $15 for any shows that are booked. So I REALLY hope to get some from that. Maybe I should up it to $20. It's important.

Anyway, sorry for the bitch session. But some days, that is what my blog is for.