Second Honeymoon!

When the basement flooded we had it cleaned, sprayed with anti-microbial stuff, carpet and padding ripped up, dehumidified and fitted with nicer rubber padding and soft, delightful carpet. We HAD to do this because I have a severe allergies to mold, and we just couldn't take the chance. EVERY time we went down there to watch a movie, I would end up sucking down half a bottle of benadryl. I convinced myself it was all in my head.

Move on over to the new house and Hubs is going through basement boxes and organizing his office. He gets to a giant blue tub and opens it up.

Mold, mildew and memories.

It seemed there was a crack in the bottom of the rubbermaid tub, so while we thought it was fine from the flood, water had leaked in and ruined everything in the tub. Yearbooks from college, a scrapbook I'd started my freshman year, pictures, and our honeymoon pictures. Granted, Hubs spent more time puking in the toilet than hanging out with me, but about 3 hours before the Mexican sushi hit him, we were snorkeling, swimming with dolphins and paying way too much money for 8x10's of us posing with parrots. They were now ripply and covered with mildew/mold.

That settled it! A second honeymoon we needed. And just in time, we were headed out to Colorado for a ski trip! Woo hoo!

We drove up a night early so we wouldn't be rushed to get to the airport, and the Holiday Inn Express gave us a lovely room...with 2 double beds. Hubs called down to see if we could get a room where we wouldn't have to I Love Lucy it, and not only did they move us to a room with a king bed, we got this:

Nice.

Yup that's a heart-shaped jacuzzi tub in the room with a stability bar. Not enough bleach in the world.

We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, so Hubs got a shoe shine and I ran, well rode, to concourse E just to get a Caribou Coffee. Yumm. We met up with the other 2 couples at our gate and were ready to board. That's when we all pulled out our tickets to compare loading zones. Hubs got to go on first. Normally he would have just stayed behind to load with us, but with all of the charging for bags and more carry ons, he loaded first and took two of the group's carry on bags to get a good spot.

And boy did they.

I some how end up loading in the last group and look up from my ticket to see my sweet husband sitting in first class.

"I'm so sorry, I tried to get them to switch me and you, but the flight is super booked and they wouldn't let me..."

WOW.

I reported to the emergency exit row to find someone sitting in my seat. REALLY?!

"Oh! Do you mind? I was going to sit in the middle so we could sit together, but if you don't want the aisle, we can move."

"No, that's ok, my husband just upgraded himself to first class. Apparently I'll sit anywhere."

I settle in with my new friends, Chris and Christie, who prove that you may not be able to upgrade your ticket to first class, but you can upgrade your carryon to a mini bar. As soon as the drink cart came by, they requested oj and cranberry, then whipped out the mini-bottles. They kindly offered to spike my drink, but I figured someone on the exit row needed to be sober enough to pull the handle and push out the slide, so I stuck to my diet coke.

One thing I noticed on this flight? NO one is cranky on a flight to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. No one. Which makes sense. Everyone there was either heading back to a home they loved or heading out for an awesome vacation. And apparently, no one was more excited to get to CO than the guy sitting across from me. And boy was he popular. Every 2 minutes, some new booty was coming over to chat, and in an effort not to yell, every person would LEAN OVER providing me with a great view of their back pockets. Yay.

We land, grab our bags, hop on our shuttle and are off to the lodge. And it was amazing. So great! Fantastic view of the gondola, ski in, walking distance to the market, fire place, just wonderful. I wanted to write Florida a letter and ask it to send the kids and dog on over because I wasn't leaving. But the real test was skiing. I use to be pretty good, but I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that I had nothing to lose. Get hurt? Sit out a couple of weeks of high school! Now? Kids, life, dog, cooking, cleaning, life. Too much in the way to risk falling and breaking something. So we took it slow. Like riding a bike! I have to thank p90x, because after a full day on skis, the only part of me that was sore was my ankles from where my under armour was cutting off my circulation.

We spent three fantastic days skiing and I think we need to do that at least twice a year. It was so much fun and Steamboat was just beautiful. It was like Disney covered with snow. Actually better! Wait, did I just say that?! My reason is, in Disney, you have all of these parents stressed about making this the once-in-a-lifetime-fantastic vacation and end up giving you a fantastic place to kick back and take in some light verbal abuse (You WILL ride the tea cups and you WILL like it! I don't care if you're tired, we're walking over to do Splash Mountain NOW because our fast passes are about to be up. You can almost hear the implied, "damn it!"). But a skiing vacation? "Great job!" "You're doing awesome!" "Way to keep those skis together!" "Go for that jump!" And adorable? Little kids in ski clothes. My only problem was the fact that mid-mountain greens included very narrow paths with very steep drop-offs. As in, off the side of a mountain. I found Hubs and I skiing WITH the 3 year-olds, trying to act like their safety net (but in reality, they were better skiers than we were. Got to love the low center of gravity and no fear!).

Perfect weather, perfect food, perfect accommodations, perfect company and it was time to go back home. At the airport, Hubs was upgraded to first class, and he kindly tried to get me moved to the window seat. In the exit row. But in the process of doing this, the gate attendant somehow deleted the entire reservation. Except me. So I'm in the exit row, window, Hubs gets moved up to first class, and as an apology, they move the other two couples to bulkhead. AND, somehow, I get to board AFTER the stand-by people. I shuffle to my seat to find that I am sitting next to the tallest man alive who is taking up all of my arm rest, and because I'm on the exit row, I don't have an arm rest on the left, just a lump of padding on the door that leads to the wing. I'd lean on it, but the door has a giant crack in it that looks to be held together with clear nail polish.

There was free in-flight tv which seemed to work on every head rest except for mine. So I pulled out the nook, but the battery was dead. Thank goodness Aunt Becky sent me a real book, so I had something to do on the way home.

So while skiing was FANTASTIC, as far as honeymoons go, I'm hoping third time's a charm!

Credit Cards roasting on an open fire...

Let me preface this by saying I HATE credit cards. Hate 'em.

Hubs and I have been working through Financial Peace for about three years now, becoming credit card and medical debt free last April. Last year, I found the perfect father's day gift for Hubs, but since he would be looking at the bank account to pay bills, he would totally catch me. I had the cash in my automatic deposit account, but since I do everything online, I had no debit card or checks tied to it. So I did what every Dave Ramsey graduate should never do; I opened a credit card at my favorite warehouse store.

Now before you go throwing rocks at me, as soon as I got home, I set up the account online and tried to pay it, but you have to wait until the statement closes before you can (oh yes, now I remember why I hate this credit card company!). Not a problem! I set an alarm to remind me to pay it the hour I could, and that was that.

But I didn't close the account and carried the card in my wallet because I lost my warehouse card and you can use the credit card without actually having to charge your purchases.

Excuses, excuses.

So we move down here and we head to the warehouse store because we need a few things for the house. Those few things turn into an entertainment center, king mattress, cleaning products for the house. A tiny bit of money is in our old state bank account (that has no branches down here) and the other account where paychecks have been deposited, we have no debit card/checks yet. No problem! I say. We'll just put it on my card and I'll pay it off next week when we get all of our account stuff settled. We have the cash and then some, we just don't have access to it.

After Christmas, I go to get food to re-stock our bare pantry, freezer and fridge, and because I didn't check with Hubs about where all of our money was, I just put those purchases on the card as well.

A couple of weeks later, I go to pay off the card. It shows my 2 purchase dates, and a minimum payment of $19. I go to the "Pay Bill" section, and it is only letting me pay the first charge, not the additional groceries. I try to type in the full amount and it won't let me. I go back and look again and realize that the "statement closed" the day after charge 1, and charge 2 is on a separate statement. I call the company and they tell me that I can only pay off the first charge, and I can pay off the second charge Thursday. Grrrrr.

Thursday, we left to go skiing (more on that later), so I didn't get on and pay it. Tuesday, I get online to pay it, and I have a $25 late fee, and $26 in interest and fees.

I am not happy.

So I call. And here's the conversation. My favorite part is bolded.

Barry: Thank you for calling CC company, what can I do for you?

Me: I'd like to cancel my card.

Barry: And may I ask why?

Me: Yes, I remembered this month that I HATE your company and was reminded why I cancelled my card many years ago.

Barry: Ummm ok....can you be more... specific?

Me: Sure! (explain what happened with the charges/payments).

Barry: Let me see what I can do!

Me: Great!

*****hold music******

Barry:Ok! I will be more than happy to wave the $25 late fee.

Me: Ok. What about the interest on charges I tried to pay off, but couldn't.

Barry: I can't do anything about that, but I STRONGLY encourage you to keep your account open.

Me: Humor me.

Barry: Well, I'm looking at your account, and you're loyalty points are up at the end of this month, and CC company is going to send you a check for a percentage of your purchases!

Me: No, I get my percentage check from the warehouse in March.

Barry: Yeah, but WE send you one, too! If you keep your account open, you'll get $22 at the end of this month!

Me: REALLY BARRY?! If I let you charge me interest on purchases I tried to pay off immediately, you'll pay me back the cash back I earned making said purchases which will be less than the interest charges? So I get to pay you $4 for rewarding me?

Barry: Ummm...

Me: This is my problem, Barry. If I charge the account, I want to be able to pay it off immediately. Instead, your company doesn't let me do that and there for screws me with interest charges, is that correct?

Barry:Yeah, that's pretty much how our Credit Card company works.....

Me: Yeah, so I'm just going to cut my losses and be done with it.

Barry: hang on one more minute...

*****hold music*****

Barry: Ok. Here's the deal. I can't credit you the interest charges, BUT if you agree to keep your card open, we'll give you a $30 thank you credit.

Me: Fine.

Barry: I just have to get you on tape saying that you agree to the terms.

Me: Let's do it.

Barry: Credit Card company will credit MommyChick $30 as a thank you for your loyalty, if you agree, please say, "yes."

Me: Yes.

Barry: Great! Now, we'll credit your account the $30 if you are in good standing with your account at the time of crediting which will be in the next 8-12 weeks.

Me: Ha! Sure. I will pay it off right now and either set fire to the card or put it in my freezer until I get my $30 credit.

Barry: Ummm.. anything else I can do for you?

Me: Nope, I'm good. Thanks Barry!

Barry: Have a nice day...

I couldn't believe that the CC dude actually admitted, on tape, yup, we specifically designed this card to screw you over. At least Barry was honest. And as soon as my $30 credit posts, we'll be having ourselves a little bbq. No paper, just plastic.

Need for speed

The other day, I was taking Strip to school. I was cruising down the road, approaching the school zone. When I looked down to check my speed, I noticed I was doing zero. Hmmmm.

So today, on the way home from her doctor's appointment, I felt like I was going a little slow, glanced down and it said I was going 65.

Something's not right.

The following conversation took place:

Me: Remind me when we get home that I need to tell Daddy I HAVE to take my car to the shop.

Strip: Shop? What shop?

Me: The car shop where they fix cars.

Strip: Why? What's wrong with your car?

Me: Something's up with the speedometer.

Strip: Really?

Me: Yeah, the other day when I took you to school, I was probably doing about 35 and it said I was doing zero.

Strip: What?!

Me: I know! And now we are barely moving and it says I'm pushing 70!

Strip: Oh my word!

Me: I know!

Strip: I have no idea what any of those words mean, but it sounds crazy!

Ha! On top of not knowing how fast I was actually going, I almost ran off the road laughing! She goes above and beyond the nod and smile!

And I know exactly where I lost that weight...

(picture from wikipedia. pretty colors!)

My brain must be a few pounds lighter because I.am.an.idot.

As mentioned before, my Monday didn't get off to a stellar start. But, the kids had school, and I had errands to run. I spent Sunday shopping, so Monday was set for returning/exchanging, and to avoid the car seat pass around, I just took Hubs' truck out on my Sunday Shopping Spree.

Little word of advice; if you live in a snowy place and are moving to Florida, but know you are going skiing sometime after the new year, go ahead and buy your ski clothes and gear while up north. Florida has very little to offer in the way of ski apparel.

I was feeling good! Hit Sports Authority to return the extra UA shirt I bought, then over to Bed Bath & Beyond to return a broom and canister and swap out the k-cups I bought.

I pulled into the mall just as they opened and got a great parking spot that I could even pull through! I bought three pairs of jeans at the Gap yesterday (new favorites are Long and Leans which is odd because I consider myself neither long, nor lean), but I mistakenly picked up a sexy boot cut that looked not so sexy on me, AND Gap sent me a mystery coupon for 20% off my purchase, so I wanted some money back. Gap gal was super nice and we swapped everything out in no time.

Then it was onto the Banana where I needed to trade out a sweater because I think I like the lighter color better. In and out of the dressing room, even exchange, and I'm on my way! I had a few dollars left on my Starbucks gift card, so treated myself to a little something warm, then sauntered over to Bath and Body works. The Christmas candles I use in the dining room were 75% off, so I stocked up and ended up getting a free thing of soap.

This day's turning out better than I thought!

Knowing that I needed to start my way back up to get Nugget, I went ahead and dug out my keys continuing to sip my 'Bucks and savor these last quiet steps to the car.

Then I looked in my hand and noticed I was holding MY keys. Mine. Not Hubs'.

Hmmm. I dug around in my purse (which is really a glorified epi pen holder), and they weren't there.

I checked my gap bag. Nothing but receipts and denim....

Silly me! I bet I set them down on the counter at Gap and left them there! Good thing Gap's on the way back to the car!

Gap Girl: You ready to check out?

Me: No I already did, but I think I left my keys here. Did you find them?

Gap Girl: Nope! No keys this morning!

Me: Grrrreat. Mind if I dump my stuff out and dig here on the counter?

Gap Girl: No, go right ahead.

We dig and pat everything I have, and nothing. At this point, my head is reeling. He's going to kill me! I have MY keys and HIS keys, so he can't even drive over here and meet me. Knowing my luck, because I grabbed my keys, his car is probably still running with the key in it. Which means someone probably stole the car. Oh my bathtubs, what am I going to do?!?

Gap Girl: Want to call someone?

Me: Yeah, I'll just call my husband (pulls out my phone). UGH and now my phone's dead!

Gap Girl: You can use the store's phone if you want!

Me: I don't know his number! He got a new cell phone and I haven't memorized the number yet. I'll go check the car and see if I can see them....

Gap Girl: Good luck! Come back if you need to call AAA or something!

Me: Thanks.

Now I AM getting a leg workout today because I am kicking myself through the mall. Think. THINK! You had to have the keys in your hand because you locked the door and heard it honk. Visualize driving into the parking lot. Where did you park? Oh! Remember, there weren't spots RIGHT at the front, but you pulled through a spot near the department store. Yes! Because I remember saying to myself, "It is SO much easier to park my car than Hubs' car..."

My car. I am in my car today. Which explains why I have MY keys.

I decided to go ahead and get to Nugget's school early, just incase I forgot where I was going along the way.

Not gonna bring it...

This morning was our "rest" day in the p90x week. So, Hubs got up at 5:30 and started poking/shaking me.

Hubs: Come on! We can do the stretching dvd. One hour of stretching!

Me: No. I'm resting.

Hubs: You don't want to do the stretch dvd.

Me: No, I want to sleep.

Hubs: FINE.

Me: Goodnight.

Hubs got up to stretch, and I so should have joined him. Strip, who had been in our bed since around 3 am, took Hubs' absence as an invitation to turn sideway. Zoe then turned into a dog blanket, stretching herself out across both of us. Nugget came in and wanted to chat. Then he wanted a tissue. I told him to go get some toilet paper out of the bathroom. Our bathroom doors are pocket/sliding doors, and Nugget loves to open and close and lock them while "playing Polar Express."

So he did.

About 5 minutes later, he wanted a tissue again, so I told him, again, to go in our bathroom and get some toilet paper. But, Mr. Polar Express locked the door and couldn't get it open. So he cried.

FORGET IT! I'M AWAKE!

I get the kids in the kitchen to have breakfast, serve up some oatmeal and was emptying the dishwasher. I was down to the last thing, a one cup Pyrex measuring cup, which slipped right out of my hands, crashing onto the tile floor. As I watched it fall in slow motion, I remembered watching a How It's Made about Pyrex. I think it was originally the brainchild of an engineer who was trying to protect the lights on a train (or something like that), and while it didn't work, his wife thought it would make rockin' bakeware. Boy was she right! It's virtually indestructible!

It is, however destructible, if you drop it on the cold, tile floor at 6:15 AM.

Yay.

Oh. Right before that happened, Nugget fed Zoe, but I could hear her lapping up water and not eating. Worried she was sick, I peaked around the corner to see that Nugget dumped 3/4 cup of dog food into her water bowl. I asked him to try again while I poured the dog food water down the disposal. When I turned it on, it made a HORRIBLE sound. I knew that the disposal that came with the house wasn't great, but I figured it could handle soggy dog food.

Ohhh, there's a spoon lodged in there.

This is such a Monday.

Hubs walked in as I shattered the measuring cup and offered to clean it up for me (THANK YOU HUBS!).

Before he got in the shower, he was going to weigh himself.

::Side Note:: Our scale broke a year or so ago, so we've been using the wii fit/board as our scale. I've gained every time Hubs has lost. Yesterday, I weighed and had gained 1.3 lbs. I was about to throw the board out of the window when it asked why I thought I had been gaining weight. Choices were along the lines of, "Eating too late," "Not exercising," "Late Night Snacking," etc, so I chose, "I don't know." Wii fit had the audacity to lecture me on the importance of exercising and how it can jump start my metabolism, blah blah blah. Oh, shut it, wii fit board.

Hubs asked if I wanted to weigh and I figured, why not. I had not worked out since yesterday and had a couple of glasses of red wine last night.

Down 3.6 lbs.

Wouldn't you know.

I highly doubt that I'll be able to tell Hubs, "No, I'm just going to sleep in and throw some stuff around the kitchen this morning. That will help me lose!" when the alarm goes off tomorrow, but we'll see.

BRING IT!

As I mentioned before, Hubs Zoe gave me the p90x dvd set for Christmas (if you've never heard of it, you can read more about it, and other beach body workouts HERE). I tried plyometrics with UP when he was visiting and WOW did it work you. I decided to try plyo again after Christmas, and WOW did it work me again.

After hobbling around for a few days after, Hubs was intrigued.

Hubs: So what did you do?

Me: Plyometrics. It's a lot of jumping around.

Hubs: Sounds tough.

I told him to try it and I was going to sit on the couch eating cake while he vomited on himself.

In the end, I decided to join him. Hubs was hooked. Next thing I know, we're at Costco buying bulk ingredients to make our morning smoothies, and he comes home with free weights, a door mounted pull up bar and two sets of resistance bands. I've created a monster.

And to add to it, he decided that we need to get up and work out in the morning before the kids get up. Nothing like kick starting your day at 5:30 AM with the hardest workouts ever.

We've almost completed week one and I LOVE IT! Insanely challenging workouts. Things I would never do or try otherwise. And it changes every day! Day one had me doing pull ups. Pull ups?! IN the words of UP, "When was the last time you did one of those?!" Ummm second grade maybe? Back when I was doing jump rope for heart? But I pushed through and finished the dvd. Next up was Plyo again. I was impressed that I made it through the entire dvd and didn't fall over!

Day three was chest and arms with an ab ripper. I remember the feeling when I was pregnant with Strip and my abdominal muscles separated. Ab ripper was kinda like that, just over and over again, constantly for 15 minutes. Day four was yoga and I was SUPER excited for this day. Hubs did really well on yoga, too (which kinda shocked me as he'd never done it before and this was NOT easy). This morning, we did legs and arms with an ab ripper, and while I've been sore all week, I feel good.

On top of the changing workouts, I like the people on the dvds doing it, too. Wanna know why? They are in incredible shape, but are sweating like crazy and shaking on some of the moves. There is nothing more discouraging than attempting to do pilates, shaking and dry heaving, and looking at four perfect girls, with perfect hair, not even breaking a sweat. You can almost hear them saying, "I could do v-ups all day!" through their smiling, clenched teeth.

I told myself I wasn't going to weigh during the first few weeks, but Hubs wanted to, so on day 4, we hopped on the wii. He was down 8.6 lbs.

My turn! Up 1.3. Yay.

It must be all of the muscle I'm ripping.

It's going to be a fun ride for the next 86 days!

Hubs. The sweetest jerk I know.

Merry Christmas to the adults!

Like Nugget, Hubs wanted "Jus one fing" for Christmas. And I was SO excited to find it two days before Christmas. He wanted a heart rate monitor gps watch. Because he's an avid runner? Nope. But he couldn't BE an avid runner without a heart rate monitor gps watch! I was going to wrap up a picture, but I found IT! I couldn't wait for Christmas (all 48 hours!).

I really didn't have a lot on my list, but had decided with gift cards I'd been hoarding, I was going to buy myself a Nook. Just when I decided to do that, they came out with the Nook color, and I like it more, so I continued the hoarding.

Christmas morning arrived, and Hubs distributed his annual Christmas card, stocked with a few lotto cards. Mine, was especially thick. In it, I not only found a few lucky scratch offs, but a Nook color brochure! Hubs said, "Merry Christmas" and I may or may not have squealed a little. Then I thought about it.

Me: "So is this a, 'Merry Christmas, go buy yourself a Nook' or 'Merry Christmas, if you win big with these tickets, go buy yourself a Nook' kinda thing?

Hubs: rolls eyes Merry Christmas.

I won nothing. Who cares? I'm heading to B&N tomorrow. But this kinda sucks because Hubs will get to play with his new toy in about 30 minutes and I can't until tomorrow. Score another for me!

Next, I open UP's card, and in it is a gift card for B&N with a note saying, "Go by a book for your Nook, I hope?" Boo-yow! I said as I held up my brochure. New book for me on my Nook tomorrow!

I give Hubs his gift and he is beyond thrilled, that is until he opens it, and I discover I got the exact watch he wanted, minus one letter, which apparently meant it was just the gps watch, not the heart rate monitor. Oh well. His birthday's right around the corner, now I had a gift idea (side note, I found the right one at Costco a week later).

Next up, a gift for me! As I was tearing off the paper, Hubs stopped me, and said, multiple times, "This one is from Zoe. ZOE. This is from the dog, not me."

I had no clue why he was so adamant the dog get credit for a gift, until under the paper, I spied the words "beach body." HA! The one thing I did, actually, ask for was the set of p90x dvds. Hubs just didn't want to seem like the jerk who gave his wife a set of workout dvds! Thanks Zoe! New Year's resolution is ON.

A little while later, I open a card from Hubs. In it, a gift card from B&N and a note saying, "I hope this puts you over the top and you can go buy your Nook!" Gift Card Amount: $10.

You have got to be kidding me.

I sat there for a second, trying not to sound like an ungrateful witch, but still confused because I thought an hour or so ago, he gave me the nook. Now, it was more like he was giving me the finger.

Me: So I can't get the Nook?

Hubs: Yeah! You said you had a ton of gift cards, right? Did that put you over?

Me: Umm no that put me about $60 short.

And we moved on. Ok. Guess I'm not getting a Nook. Or I'm not getting it until our anniversary maybe.

After things were winding down, Hubs had one more gift for me. Wouldn't you know, it was a box with a Nook color, charger and cover. I'm sure I should have said, "Awwwe THANK YOU!," but I'm pretty sure what slipped out was, "You jackass!" So I used my gift cards to load some books on my new Nook (and then I had a glass of Pinot Noir and added a few more!), and have been pouring through books since the first of the year (another reason why I haven't had time to write)!

Any good book suggestions?