Vacuum Cleaner Shopping

OK, this is going to be really long winded.  Apparently there is a bit of a back story that has to be told to make the current shopping make sense.  So bare with me or skip today's post.

For a while I've been looking for a new solution for daily sweeping/vacuuming needs.  I used to have a cordless Shark that I loved.  It would pick up any mushy food that got thrown on the floor and all the dog hair off the carpet to boot.  Alas, it broke and I bought a new Shark a year or so ago.  The new model is horrible.  It doesn't pick up half of what the old one did and my shag rug (trust me it isn't as ugly as that description makes it sound) in the family room completely kills the battery before you can finish sweeping it. 

I tried the broom option and while it does great on dirt and getting in corners, it doesn't do well with dog hair and it doesn't do rugs and carpet at all.  I've tried a swifter and that is just a joke with my family and pets. 

I haven't been willing to bring down the big "good" vacuum and just use it because it is a pain to lug it downstairs and well I hate it.  I bought it four and a half years ago.  I remember because the twins were about a week old when we went to buy it and I think it was our first outing with all four children in tow.  Yeah, I know, smart decision to take them all shopping a week after birth to make a $500 purchase. 

The "good" vacuum is a Kenmore Progressive canister.  When I bought it it was the top rated vacuum from Consumer Reports.  I planned to buy a Dyson but Consumer reports talked me out of it and into the Kenmore.  This vacuum cost as much or more than the dyson.  Two years ago, the vacuum broke and had to be sent off for repair twice and still came back not working.  After pitching a major fit, Sears replaced the vacuum with a new Progressive.  With in a few months the dirt sensor quit working.  At this point is has a short in the hose and the power head quits working if you push it too far out in front of you.  It really should be replaced.

The problem of the "good" vacuum is also exacerbated by the fact that it has always been used about 90% of the time by my wonderful cleaning crew.  I truly love them and have no reason to think they have mistreated the vacuum but at the same time I've never had a vacuum have this many problems in such a short period of time.  I've also never had one that the hose looks like it has been stepped on or otherwise mishandled before...I have been hesitant to buy another expensive vacuum for fear that it won't last any longer than this one has.  I really don't know if the quality of vacuum is the problem or the treatment of the vacuum has caused the problems.  Since it still works I want it to continue to be the one the cleaning crew uses as I can't afford to replace this level of vacuum every 2-4 years. 

So to solve my daily sweeping/vacuuming needs I had finally decided to get an inexpensive upright to keep downstairs since it would work on floors and carpet and could be the backup if the "good" vacuum quit working. 

Last Friday the twins and I went to target to pick out the vacuum.  It takes me forever to make these decisions and we probably stood in the vacuum aisle for a half an hour while I compared all my choices.  Ok, I'll admit during that time my darling children were running up and down the aisle racing various vacuum floor models and testing out all their features. Yeah, I know, Mom of the Year. 

I finally decided I liked the Hoover T-series Rewind.  It was $99 and had a retractable cord, which was a big selling feature for me since this was to be the "grab and quickly clean up" vacuum.  Of course, once I decided which one I wanted I found out the Target I was standing in didn't have any in stock!  But, they had five at the Target five miles away.  So I put the twins in the van and we went to the other Target and purchased the vacuum.

I really liked the vacuum.  It had great suction and it totally disgusted me to see what all it picked up, especially on the carpet/rugs.  I used in once and the next night Rehm used it.  He has a secret love of vacuuming, which I encourage as much as possible.  Unfortunately his favorite thing is to use the attachments to suck up individual particles of things not cleaning large areas.  Last nigh Rehm asked if he could vacuum and I of course said, "Yes!"  He came back a minute later to say the cord was stuck and he couldn't pull it out.  I tried and I couldn't get it out either.  The way it had retracted there was no way to get the cord out past 3 feet.  Today the vacuum went back to Target.

I spent another 45 minutes standing in Target trying to decide which vacuum I wanted since I didn't want to risk another Hover rewind.  I decided on the Bissell Cleanview+ Helix.  It was only $80 and didn't have a retractable cord but otherwise was very similar to the Hoover.  I got it home opened the box and started to assemble it.  That is when I found a piece broken off the handle!  So I took it back to Target to get another of the same model.  Only, they didn't have anymore!  But, the Target five miles away had eight!

I took the fact that I was going to have to go to the other Target as a sign to give up!  I still don't have a good everyday option and I still have a crappy "good" vacuum.  Part of me thinks I should save up and get a Dyson (you know the one I should have gotten 4 years ago) to keep downstairs to be my everyday solution and "good" vacuum and part of me wants to just go to the other Target and get the Bissell and forget about this for a while.  And there is another part that thinks maybe clean floors are overrated and I should just do nothing. 

Things to take away from this post: 
Jenn spends way too much time obessing over things like vacuums

A week after giving birth is not the time to make $500 purchasing decisions

Don't let Consumer Reports talk you out of buying what you really want

Meaningless Factiods:  
I grew up calling a vacuum a  sweeper.

At the age of 3.5 or 4 the twins had no clue what the vacuum was because they had never seen it before!  I told you the cleaning crew did the majority of the vacuuming at my house.

Jenn - Vacuumless in Cedar Park

Dance Class

I am currently taking a Mommy and Me dance class with Ruby and Eliza Claire.  Yeah, I'm not really sure what I was thinking when I signed us up for this class.  Well, actually, I do.  It was the only dance or gymnastics class at the YMCA that would work with their school schedule and they loved their first dance class so I wanted them to be able to continue.  But I really, really wanted them to take a class that did not include me!Luckily the class is only six weeks long and we are halfway through - though we did miss one class because the girls were sick last week, bummer!

The girls love the idea of me taking the class with them. The reality is a bit different though.  When actually in the class Eliza Claire is usually somewhere half a room away from me, dancing her heart out, completely oblivious that I am there; and Ruby is in a puddle on the floor mad because I won't hold her for the entire class!  I am busy trying not to completely embarrass myself and set a good example of participating for the girls.  Did I mention the class takes place in a room with several large windows facing the main walkway inside the Y?  Oh and when you are well past 30, haven't taken a dance class since you were in elementary school, and have no natural sense of rhythm preschool dance class is, well, um, hard!   Between being on tip toe for the majority of the hour and trying to have "ballerina" posture I leave the class very sore.

To answer the questions I know you are dying to ask:  The class is only ballet.  I don't have to wear a leotard (thank God!) or ballet shoes. I don't know if there will be a demonstration at the end or not but if there is you will not be invited and no pictures will be taken.  And, yes, on the whole I'm very glad I moved waaayyyy out of my comfort zone and did this with my girls.  I only hope that one day the appreciate the physical sacrifice and loss of dignity I have suffered for them.

Jenn

Star Struck

I had the opportunity to go to the Children's Pastors' Conference in Nashville last week. It was a great conference. I came away with some great ideas and some much needed time with coworkers for planning and reviewing our programs.

One of the highlights of the week for me was that Go Fish emceed the general sessions. They are a great christian kids band. I have liked them since I discovered them at my first visit to CPC two years ago. We have all of their CDs, a DVD or two, and have attended concerts the past two years in the Houston area. My kids love them and I find myself singing their songs myself. I've even blogged about them at least once.

OK, so I have a confession, I like them even more than my kids do. I've been accused of being a groupie. That seems a bit extreme to me. I'd say I'm an avid fan or just mom to kids who like them. OK, so avid fan is probably accurate. It is funny, I have never been the type to follow a band, actor, musician, etc. That is just not my style. So it is funny that I religiously read their blog, know when they have new stuff coming out, and take my children to their concert every year. That is just no my norm.

One day at the conference, I was sitting in an out of way place reading my Kindle. I was very engrossed in the book. Someone walking by said, "don't you just love your Kindle?" I looked up to agree that I did and realized it was Jamie from Go Fish. I got completely tongue tied. I introduced myself and told him how much our family loves their music. He said he recognized my name. So I had to admit I had emailed him a couple of times and posted comments on his blog a couple of time as well. I asked him if I could record a short video of him saying hi to my kids. He was nice and agreed. After the fact I realized that in my star struckness I had taken a blurry picture instead of getting the 10 second video. I was very disappointed.

Later that day all the members of Go Fish were hanging out at their booth so I asked if I could possibly have a picture with them as I messed up the video. I was embarrassed to ask but I knew the kids would think it was cool and it would give me proof that I had met them. You know, I did it just for the kids. That is totally the only reason.

And, yes, my co-workers accused me of not only being a groupie but a stalker, to boot. I promise I'm really not.

Oh, did I mention they were filming a video for their new CD at the conference. We were in the recording group. I wonder if any of our group will end up in the final cut.

Once again I do have to say if you don't have any Go Fish music and you have kids under the age of 10 you must buy a CD, now! It really is great stuff! Oh, I noticed that they are running their $5 deal on their website right now.

I'm really not a stalker, I'm really not a stalker...
Jenn

Bad Omen?

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary. I am so blessed to be married to a man that twelve years later I still love, respect and enjoy. I told him the other night that not only do I love him but I just really like him! Corny, I know, but true. He then told me a story about how all men thing all women are crazy. Somehow this was supposed to be cute and funny but, um, missed the mark by about a mile. I then informed him that maybe I didn't like him as much as I originally thought I did.

Anyway, I got off track.

During the closet fiasco. I found this.

This would be the broken wedding cake topper from, well, our wedding. So is this a bad omen or just the collateral damage from a bad closet design? You decide. As for me, I'm going with the later. I can't even comprehend the former. Though, if my husband is going to continue to pontificate on the craziness of women...

Interesting factoid: The wedding topper is actually meant for an anniversary celebration as the couple is a bit more "mature." It was the topper that the cake I picked out suggested and well given my dress and Michael's graying hair it just seemed to be the appropriate topper for the cake.


I know these pictures aren't the best but we got married in the old days when digital photography had not taken off yet. So to get these images I had to find my wedding album take the photos out. And take pictures of the pictures so a lot was lost in the process. But you get the idea anyway

Another wedding factoid: Michael and I only had eight guests at our wedding - our parents, siblings, and sibling's spice spouses - well only one sibling was married at the time so I guess that should say "spouse." We were married at the Anne Street Methodist Church in Beaufort, NC.

And my last wedding factoid for the day: Our wedding cake was a sour cream pound cake with butter cream frosting. The cake was meant to feed 50. I was determined to have a "real" wedding cake even if we were having a small wedding. We had a lot of left over cake. It was absolutely delicious. We did freeze the top layer and get it out sometime after our first anniversary to taste. Surprisingly, it was still delicious.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart! I do really still like you and well, I always knew you had a propensity for being annoying.
Jenn

Apparently I need to get a life

Last night I had the typical college dream that people my age seem to have. You know the one where you arrive at school the day classes start and you don't have anywhere to live, you don't have any of your books, you aren't sure where your classes are, you don't have a job or childcare and you are panicking.

This time, there was one twist. In my dream I pulled out my phone because I needed to tweet the fact that I was actually living my college nightmare.

How crazy is that? That my dream was "reality" and acknowledged that I dream this scenario all the time. Not to mention the really sad part that I now even need to tweet in my dreams. Very scary stuff.

Hope you enjoy your laugh at my expense today.
Jenn

Indecision

I hate it. I truly hate it. Anytime I have a "big" decision to make I research and research and end up with too much knowledge and can't make a decision. Not only does the drive me crazy and stress me out, but poor Michael has to live with me while I agonize over whatever the current decision is. What is causing all my angst? Right now it is purchasing a new digital camera.

I dropped mine on Christmas Eve. The event was nothing spectacular. I was holding it in my hand with my hand down by my side and the kids came running by and either bumped in to me or I got distracted and dropped it. Either way it hit the laminate floor and bounced once and landed. It didn't fall hard and the surface wasn't that hard. It had definitely survived worse falls. I didn't think anything of it until I went to take a picture later and when I turned it on I got a black screen with the cryptic message "Lens error, restart camera." That is when I noticed the case had separated slightly at the seam. Uh oh!

I really liked my camera. It was a great point and shoot. It was a Cannon and just a good camera. I had had it almost two years. I'm bummed to be in the market for a new point and shoot. I was hoping at some point to add a DSLR to my collection and have one I could throw in my purse for those moments that have to be captured when we are out and about just living normal life and one for "good" pictures. But that is not to be. Now I'll be replacing the point and shoot and continuing to dream of the day when a DSLR can be a reality.

So here is where I am. Olympus makes a shock proof camera. It is made to withstand drops from five feet. It is waterproof to 10 feet, crush proof to 220 lbs and weather proof to 14 degrees. Sounds great right? So what is the problem? If I buy it I lose megapixels from what I'm currently used to and it costs a little bit more than my other option ($40 more).

My other option is a very reasonably priced Nikkon that has the same megapixels I'm used to and more optical zoom than I currently have. And the price is nice.
So do I go for more zoom or more durablity and less resolution? What to do? I can't decide and therefore can't order the blasted camera. Furthermore, about once an hour I start talking aloud about what the pros and cons are of each choice and my husband is about to pull his hair out or shoot me. It shouldn't be this hard. I went to Best Buy this morning with every intention of walking out with the Olympus (I've now found it $35 cheaper online) but started looking around and due to information overload now can not make up my mind.

My mother would tell you I have had this problem since I was a small child. And would probably proceed to tell you about finding me laying in my floor in front of the closet on school days crying my eyes out because I just couldn't decide what to wear. My dear husband would roll his eyes and tell you any time an item costs more that $100 I do this and drive him crazy. He would tell you it doesn't matter if it is a car seat, jewelry, electronics or carpet cleaners I research things to death and then due to my neurosis can't actually make a blasted choice.

I see this as a blessing and a curse. I usually mull over things long enough that I don't have buyers remorse, but I make myself and my dear husband miserable during the process.

So which one would you buy? Depending on the minute, maybe second, my answer changes. Ugh! So bets on which one I chose and how long it takes me to decide?

Nightly Conversation with My Dear Husband

Almost every night Michael goes to sleep before I do. Almost every night the same conversation ensues:

Michael: Are you going to watch something on TV? (He has usually been watching something sports related while I'm reading)

Me: I don't know, maybe in a few minutes.

Michael: OK, I'll leave the TV on for you. (He then rolls over, leaves the TV on whatever sports station it was on and starts snoring)

During this whole conversation he makes it sound like he is doing me some great, wonderful favor by leaving the TV on. In reality, he likes to fall asleep listening to the TV, especially sports.

Last night the conversation went something like this:

Michael: Are you going to watch something on TV? (He has usually been watching something sports related while I'm reading)

Me: I don't know, maybe in a few minutes.

Michael: OK, I'll leave the TV on for you.

Me: Wait a second, why don't you just turn it off and I can turn it back on if I decide to watch something.

Michael: Well, I wouldn't mind listening to it.

Me: Then why don't you ask me every night if I mind turning the TV off after you go to sleep? Why do you have to act like you are doing me this huge favor by leaving it on when I may or may not watch it at all? And then you leave it on sports. If I was going to watch it I certainly wouldn't watch sports. So why can't you just admit you want the TV on? Why do you feel the need to pretend you are doing something nice for me? If it were up to me I'd read in peace and then turn it on later if I decide to watch anything.

[OK, from here on I'm not really sure what was said but this was the gist/feel of the rest of the conversation]

Michael: Fine then, just turn it off.

Me: Oh no! I can't do that when you are being so nice to leave it on for me.

Michael: (I think at this point he rolled over and ignored me)

To prove my point, I took this opportunity to turn the TV from ESPN to HGTV and proceed to read my book ;) And no, I never got around to watching something on TV.

Bets on what the conversation is tonight?

Funny Conversation

In the last week or so I've noticed Michael using my laptop a few times. This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that he has his own laptop and typically it is sitting about five feet away from mine. Thus I don't understand why he uses mine. Yesterday the following conversation ensued:

Me: Why are you using my computer?

Michael (sounding annoyed): Because I can't print from mine. Why does it matter anyway.

Me: Because it is my laptop and yours is sitting right there.

Charlotte: Mommy we share in this family.

Me: Charlotte, Mommy's computer is like your Baby Caroline. There are some things we don't have to share.

At that point laughter erupted from all parties. But I still don't understand why my husband feels the need to use my computer when he has one and there is a desktop upstairs as well. To me it is *my* computer. I don't sit down with his and if I did I'm sure I would hear about it :) My computer and purse are about the only things at this point in my life that are just mine and apparently even those things aren't completely my own any more...

Patient Care

Last night it was time to tackle removing Michael's sling and changing his bandages. I joked with the nurses when I watched them do it that I was going to take pictures before I attempted doing it myself as I was not sure I would ever get everything back where it needed to be. Luckily, I really did take several pictures before removing the sling. Otherwise I'm not sure I would have ever gotten it back on.

I am squeamish to say the least. I was fine getting the sling off and the polar care pad but when I got to the actual bandage I had that "can I really do this?" thought. Then when I got the covering off and got to the gauze I thought "I'm not so sure about this" and by the time I got to the not stick pad that was stuck to the incisions I was thinking very ugly things about the surgeon who sent Michael home for me to deal with this.

I am proud to report I got the wounds cleaned, plastic wrapped so Michael could shower and re-bandaged without throwing up or passing out or injuring the patient!

Getting the sling back on proved a bit more challenging - the polar care contraption was easy but the sling was not. I thought I knew what I was doing. It came off easily but the stupid wedge made it almost impossible to get it back on as Michael can not raise his arm - his upper arm and shoulder are supposed to stay stationary. After working several minutes working on the wedge, I got to the straps and realized that I didn't know where one of them was suppose to go. So I whipped out the camera and looked at the pictures I took before taking the sling off. I didn't think I would really need the pictures but without them I think we would have ended up having to call someone to walk us through where everything went.

The picture that saved the day

From the time we started the process to finish (which included a shower) it only took one hour and 15 minutes to accomplish! I'm hoping it gets faster with practice or it is going to be a long six weeks!

No worries that I'll decide to go back to school for a nursing degree.
Jenn

The Patient

Michael had surgery yesterday on his shoulder. They were able to do the surgery orthoscopically but not able to reattach the piece of bone he broke off of his shoulder socket. We arrived at the surgery center at 12:30 and left about 7:00pm. After the surgery they were going through all of care instructions for the polar therapy, changing dressings, medication, etc. I decided this should have been inpatient surgery not outpatient! I took in an adult male and I came home with a newborn! I have to give him pain meds around the clock at four hour intervals and refill his cooler fo the polar therapy about as frequently.

When they were giving the instructions for the polar therapy they made a point to tell me that it was very important that the pad not have direct contact with the skin as it could cause frostbite. For some reason that hit me as a very funny thing! I started laughing and the nurses, all three of them, looked at me like I was insane. Maybe I am.

Overall the patient seems to be doing well. His pain seems to be under control so far and he's in a good mood. I hope it continues.

In case you are wondering polar therapy is this contraption that starts with a cooler filled with ice water. There is a pad strapped to his shoulder that connects to the cooler. The cold water is pumped through some tubing through the pad and back to the cooler. It is basically a 24/7 icepack. It is supposed to help significantly with the pain. So far it seems to be working.

For the surgery and for pain management for several hours after the surgery they gave Michael a nerve block. It took them several tries before they found the right spot. The whole thing was sounded a bit freaky but it definitely worked. I don't think he had any feeling in his shoulder until around 5:00 this morning.

Tomorrow evening we have to change Michael's bandages. In order to do that I have to get his sling and polar therapy contraption off. I told him I was going to have to take pictures so I would know how to reattach everything after the fact.

Why is it when you have a c-section they send you home with steri strips and stitches and tell you to get it wet, but when you have threes small holes, instead of a 4 to 6 inch incision, you have to keep it dry and re-bandage every couple of days for 10 days. I don't understand.

I'll be sure to post pictures after I take them...
Jenn

Adult Weekend - Thanks Kelly and Bill

Michael and I finally got away for an adult weekend in August. Our dear friend Kelly got married at the Crystal Garden's at Navy Pier in Chicago. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding. I am so glad we were able to be there. Of course the deejay made the mistake of playing Shout and my husband had his typical Pavlovian response and had to gator (read roll around on the dance floor). Keep telling him he is too old for this but I think until he throws his back out or something there is not stopping him.

We left Austin on Thursday morning. We spent Thursday afternoon and Friday just enjoying being adults and not being interrupted every 5.3 minutes by someone who needs something. Thanks to all of Michael's traveling days to Chicago before the twins were born we were able to stay at the Fairmont in a wonderful suite. I felt very pampered. It was also a good thing that we were enjoying the perks of his travel the weekend before he left for two weeks in Europe. We ate yummy Chicago style pizza, we saw a movie. We slept late (that means 8am instead of 6am). We had adult conversations. It was wonderful.

Several of our friends from "the SABRE days" were in town for the wedding as well. Friday night we went to dinner with all of them. It is amazing that as a group we all still get along and have a great time together even though it has been years since some of us saw each other.

While in Chicago we got to go visit Dallas, Cathi and Griffin. It was great to finally see where they live as this is the first time we have visited them since they left the great state of Texas.

Our trip would not have been possible without Grandma and Grandpa and the Weatherbys. They each kept two children for the 3 days we were gone. Words can not begin to describe how much I appreciate them! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

Sunday Lunch

Growing up Sunday meant going to church and then going to my Grandparents for lunch. All three of their children and their families would be there, every Sunday.

Of course lunch always consisted of lots of yummy home cooked goodies complete with one or more desserts. Did I mention we all stayed and then had dinner together, too? Dinner consisted of whatever was left over from lunch and if it was summer might include homemade ice cream. Unfortunately the ice cream tended to be a fruit flavor and I don't like fruit in my ice cream so I didn't eat a lot of ice cream but there was usually some other dessert left from lunch that I liked so it wasn't so bad.

After lunch, we would all spend the day just hanging out together. OK the "men" watched a lot of sports, everyone read the paper and dozed and the kids all played together either upstairs or out on the farm.

Sometimes the whole family would go for a walk down in the woods on the back of the property. I always enjoyed these occasions as they usually included my grandparents telling the history of the family and the land. And they included playing in the creek and looking for wildlife. Other times we would play bat mitten or croquet or tennis together as a family. And on easter we would always go visit the cemeteries to place/pick up flowers. Of course this also included more family history lessons.

One of these Sunday Lunches is where I learned that chickens on a farm really can't be a true pet. But family time and history were wonderful.

Sunday Lunch was one of the things I missed most about home when I went to college. It is was all that I knew. When Michael and I married we started the tradition with his parents. OK we don't spend the whole day there and eat dinner there, but most Sundays we do have lunch together. Sometimes it is home cooked sometimes it is out. But it still is what makes Sunday feel like Sunday to me.

So on the few Sundays a year we don't have lunch with Michael's parents and we don't go out. It seems wrong to end up having sandwiches and chips. That is not Sunday Lunch! That is what happened last Sunday. I worked (at church). Rehm had a baseball game (not normal) and Michael and the rest of the kids went to it. Michael's parents had something else to do. On the way home from church I called Michael to ask what the lunch play was. He said "sandwiches."
I have to say I was disappointed. That just doesn't constitute Sunday Lunch in my world. I said as much and got treated to Chuy's for dinner.

I hope this is a tradition that carries on for many more generations in my family. It is one that definitely left a huge impression on me and I hope it does the same for my children.

The Magic Washing Machine

It seems that the people living with me in this house think that our washing machine has magical powers. You see they think that if they lay something with stains on it (such as ketchup) that the washing machine magically treats the stains, puts the laundry in the washing machine, soaks it, washes it, gets it in the dryer, dries it, and gets it out and folds it! Lo and behold the washing machine is so great it can even find the stained things that are just thrown in the laundry hamper and get them clean too!

Do you see anything magical about the washing machine? All I see is a 12 year old machine that "ain't what she used to be" as stains seem to be harder to get out (but maybe that isn't the washing machine's issue...) but keeps on, keeping on.

Now I know some of you are thinking "She's complaining and her family gets things to the washing machine or hamper! What is her problem? What does she expect. I'd be thrilled if my family got things that far!" All I have to say is you probably don't have a cat that pees on anything made of cloth that is left on the floor. At my house if you don't want to smell like cat pee you don't leave clothes on the floor.

I can not buy a front loader until this machine dies...I can not buy a front loader until this machine dies...I can not buy a front loader until this machine dies...I can not buy a front loader until this machine dies...

Jenn

PS. I do have to say that I believe in the Lunch Box Fairy. He is this very magical fairy that comes in at night and makes lunch for whoever needs it the next day. He even makes lunch for me! I love the Lunch Box Fairy more than I can begin to say. So I guess having a Magic Washing Machine is a very small price to pay.

Is it Chistmas?

Last Tuesday, sometime between grocery shopping and Rehm's T-ball game my digital camera broke. OK so the zoom stopped working, but in my world that makes the camera pretty useless. I spent Wednesday on the search for the perfect camera to replace my faithful six year old Canon Power Shot Digital Elph S100.

After searching many web sites, reading many reviews, and visiting Best Buy, I ordered a Canon Power Shot Digital Elph SD900 Titanium from Amazon. It finally arrived in the mail yesterday. Of course then I had to wait for the battery to charge. And of course it didn't get done before we had to leave to meet Michael to shop for cell phones (more on that in a moment). After cell phone shopping and dinner I had to go lead support group. So it was 9:00 pm before I got to play with my new camera! Man was that hard to wait seven hours after it arrived to get to see how it performs! Why can't they send them with the batteries already charged? Wasn't the wait for it to arrive enough? I wanted to play when I opened the box!

So the camera is really great. The few pictures I've taken so far are good and it has so many features, I'll never use them all. The coolest one I've found so far it lets you pick one color in your picture to show and shoots the picture in black, white and that one color. It has settings from full auto to kids and pets, to aquarium, to fireworks to full manual and lots of others too! I'm really excited about tonight's t-ball game to see what kind of pictures I can get. Did I mention the casing is titanium? So it should hold up well and it has 10 megapixels - more than I'm sure I'll ever need and five times more than I'm used to!

So I got a new camera yesterday AND we got new cell phones. Is it Christmas and someone didn't tell us?

Actually we got new phones because ours were both really beat up and as of yesterday we had had them long enough to get a good deal on new ones. So Michael researched phones online at Cingular and then we went to the Cingular store to make our purchase. We were very disappointed. The customer service was mediocre at best, the prices were significantly higher than online and the wait was way too long. So we left the store without phones. We came home and ordered them online.

My Current Phone

Michael had decided he wanted the Motorazr V3 xx. I really wanted a chartreuse colored phone but never found one that came in that color and otherwise I was ambivalent. So we decided to both get the Motorazr V3xx. We have found that having the same phone eliminates the phone envy and also helps when we need to use each other's phone. By ordering online we saved at least $100! We almost didn't order phones since both of ours were still working. But then I reminded Michael if we waited until one was dead we would have to buy from the retail store (so as not to wait a week for the phone) and after our experience tonight and the price differences we did not want to do that.

So now I'm anxiously awaiting the Fed Ex truck again! Our new phones should arrive sometime late this week or early next week. I'm sure there will be a review to follow.

Jenn

Do You See a Second Head?

OK do I have two heads? I keep looking in the mirror and I can't see a second one, but my husband seems to. Every time I say something to him he looks at me like I've grown a second head. Maybe it only pops out when I talk. I guess I should try talking to myself in the mirror and see if it pops out for me...Nope tried it, still only one. It must just come out for him. Hopefully it will go away soon because I'm ready for him to look at me like I'm normal again.

Have a happy day - I hope none of you grow second heads.
Jenn

Pnasty Pneumonia

Michael helping Rehm fill out his NCAA Tournament picks

Michael caught the runny nose virus from the kids last week. Unfortunately for him it turned into Pneumonia! We realized something was definitely wrong when he spiked a fever of 105! Yes that really says 105! Luckily we already had an appointment scheduled and they didn't make us go to the emergency room. Thank goodness for antibiotics. One dose and 24 hours of rest and he is feeling much better. He is still not back to normal but is definitely on the mend. I think I called the doctor to ask more questions with him this week than I ever had for the kids.

Blessings,
Jenn

What About the Adults?

I realize that all the updates seems to be about the kids so I thought today I'd give you a glimpse of some funny conversations between Michael and I.

Most nights at dinner time I end up feeding the girls while everyone else eats and then rushing to eat my dinner before bath time. One night this week I was complaining about how my dinner would probably have been really good if it were hot. I had about two bites left of the dish. Michael was very quick to ask, "Do you want me to heat it up?" To which I responded "Can I not just complain about something without you trying to fix it?" His response, "No!"

The same evening I come upstairs to find the laundry I had been folding on our bed earlier in the day in the basket at the end of the bed. I knew Michael had not been upstairs more than a minute or two and that I had not finished folding the clothes when some other task became more important. This is what took place next.

Jennifer: Did you put the folded laundry back in the basket on top of the the stuff that was still unfolded?

Michael: There really is no good way to answer that is there?

Jennifer: No!

Michael: Well, I was trying to clear off your side of the bed for you! That's gotta count for something!

Yes, these are the typical exchanges we have. Yes, we usually find humor in them. Yes, we really do like each other. Yes, it is obvious we have been married almost 10 years! And, yes I'm am very blessed to have a wonderful husband who is always trying to make life a little easier for me.

In case you are wondering the picture is our self portrait from our honeymoon in Coralla, NC .

Go Heels
Jenn