Colorado Mama

October 30, 2007

ABC's of Me

Kristin tagged me for the ABC's of me - so here goes!!

A - Anne is my middle name and Mikayla's too.
B - Books - I love them. I am always reading.
C - Colorado - I moved to Colorado 10 years ago and I really don't want to leave. I love the fact that both of my kids will be born here.
D - I have 2 big dogs. Teo is about 90 pounds, a Chocolate Lab mix and Skyler is about 60 pounds a German Shepard Mix. Both are sweet as can be!
E - Exercise - I am always watching my weight and that means exercising!
F - Fun - Who does not want to have fun!
G - Giggle - the only thing next to giant that I can think of right now that starts with G.
H - Hawaii - This is where Joe and I went on our honeymoon and I want to go back. We went to Kauai and the Big Island.
I - Illinois - I was born in Illinois.
J - Joe - the name of my hubby.
K - Kansas - Why can I only match states for these letter??? I moved to Kansas when I was five years old.
L - Loser as in the Biggest Loser - One of my favorite TV shows. I HAVE to watch this every Tuesday night.
M - Mountain Biking. I love mountain biking. I am not great but I can keep up. Before Mikayla was born Joe and I would go out all of the time. Now that I am mama and now that I am pregnant the mountain bike rides are few and far between.
N - Nap - I wish I had more time for naps, instead of just Saturday and Sunday.
O - O - my last name starts with O.
P - Pee - I am doing A LOT of that now. Every hour at least. I tell Mikayla I am going to the bathroom and she says "Mommy, you just went." How is that for a 2 year old!!
Q - Quilt - I wish I could but no machine - at least that is my excuse. My mom made Mikayla a beautiful baby quilt when she was born.
R - Running - I like to run in order to lose weight. But while I was running a lot I would get bored easily. Now that I am not running I miss it. It is also a great way to burn calories!!
S - Stay at Home Mom - I am not but I would love to make it happen - at least part time anyway. I want to see Mikayla and number 2 more.
T - Tiffany is my first name.
U - Umbrella - I don't know one of these.
V - Very, Victor - what else starts with V - It is 3:30 and my brain is shutting down for the day - too bad I have to work until 5pm.
W - Work - My current job title is Legal Assistant - fancy name for Legal Secretary which I don't like.
X - X-Ray - My mom is an X-ray tech.
Y - Yoga - Yoga is what help me lose the baby weight the first time. I am no longer going to a yoga class due to money but I sure do miss it.
Z - Ziegenhorn is my maiden name.

Wow - that is everything. I had trouble with some of these. I should have done this first thing in the morning. Jen, Melissa, and Tigerlily you are tagged.

October 26, 2007

Budget and Money

I need some help. What are your suggestions about saving money when it comes to food? It seems as if I spend over $500 a month for food for a family of 3 - does this sound right??? I have tried coupons but it seems as if I only save a couple of dollars a week using coupons, I do much better when I watch the store sells. I have also the The Grocery Game but this too does not save me a ton on money. It also comes out on Sunday and I like to have my grocery shopping done by Saturday afternoon.

One area that I spend a lot of money in the grocery store is fresh produce. Mikayla loves fresh fruit, apples, peaches, strawberries, melons whatever. I also like to bring fruit to snack on during the day. We also spend money on good whole wheat bread (it needs to have whole grains in it, not enriched wheat flour - which is the same as white flour), extra lean ground turkey, organic milk. I only buy these things because I think they are worth it. The extra lean ground turkey because we don't eat ground beef and don't need that extra fat in out diet. The organic milk is for Mikayla, she does not need to be drinking the hormones that are found in regular milk. If I could afford organic produce all of the time we would be eating that, but I really can't afford that grocery bill.

What are your ideas to save money on groceries.? Also the nearest Sam's Club or Costco is 3 hours away so stocking up there will cost more than it is worth when you figure in gas.

October 22, 2007

6 Months Pregnant

I am now six months pregnant and I cannot believe how big I am and no it is not twins. I was never this big with Mikayla. I am wearing clothes now that I was not wearing until I was eight or nine months pregnant with Mikayla. Even though I am bigger than I was with Mikayla I have only gained about 21 pounds. Wow that sounds like a lot and a few weeks ago I did gain a bunch all at once but it has slowed down again. I am hoping to only gain a total of 30 pounds but I will probably gain more. I also love the fact that my boobs have gone from an A to a C. The last time I was a C I was nursing Mikayla.

In general I feel good. I am still peeing a lot but there have been a few nights that I have slept through the whole night without getting up to pee. I gave up running about a month ago and I am also slowing down on my walks and they are shorter now. I am still trying to do my weight routine because that does not bother me too much. My back is still a bother but I can deal with it most of the time.

I am getting excited to see this little girl growing inside of me. I wish I was at the end of my pregnancy now because I just want to hold this little girl in my hands. But I will be there soon enough, I have 16 weeks left, or if this baby is like Mikayla (which I am hoping for) 13 weeks left.

My sister is coming in next weekend and she is around 17 or 18 weeks pregnant. Everyone is telling me how big she is so we will see. She probably won't like this but we will take a couple of pictures of our bellies and post them for everyone to see!!

Baby Name - Weather

What a blog title huh. Now for the baby name - What does everything think of the name River Anne for a little girl? I really love that name and so does Joe. But Joe says that to name a kid River is being irresponsible - I don't think so - to me it is the first name that I really truly love so far in this hard job of finding a name for the baby.

Now onto weather - it is getting cold. We had snow again this weekend, but only about one inch on Sunday morning. I also start posting how cold it is on the exceptionally cold days. I was shocked this morning that it was 10 degrees!! It is only mid October - it is going to be a cold winter? Last winter was pretty warm so I guess we are do for it but I am not ready for those
-25 days.

October 18, 2007

First Snow of Winter

Yesterday it snowed off an on all day long but nothing stuck. Then last night it snowed and we woke up to 2 inches of the pretty white stuff everywhere. I thought by now (11:30am) most of the snow would be gone but it is sticking to the grass and roofs everywhere. It is so pretty outside. I love most seasons in Colorado. The only season I really don't is Spring - but in Gunnison Spring is not too bad in Crested Butte (1,000 feet difference) it sucks. In CB it is getting warmer and the grass is starting to show, so you decided you want to go for a hike until you find out that there is too much snow and mud to go hiking. I don't mind winter here except I wish it only lasted 2 months instead of five.

What did you wake up to this morning? - Oh Joe called me on his way to work this morning and not only did he have to deal with icy roads but he had to deal with horses. The horses down the street from us got out and were causing trouble running up and down the road - only in a small town in Colorado - normally it is just the cows that get out and cause trouble.

What is your favorite season?

October 17, 2007

House is No Longer Under Contract.

The deal on the house fell through. I know that they had until October 19th to pull out but we were just hoping that it would go through. The couple was scared off by the inspection report and I feel as if Dr. Death gave the inspection. He saw the worst possible thing in everything and then he had the nerve to put "reasonable" price estimates to everything which made all the things that need to be done to the house seem that much worse. He estimated a new roof, windows and heating would be over $80,000. We already have estimates for all of those things that show $30,000. He also hated the crawl space, because things are old. Well it is an old house it was moved to its current location in the 1950's.

We were pretty upset about the whole thing and we started second guessing ourselves. But yesterday someone came by to look at the house and she made us feel sooo much better. She understands old houses and the fact that if it is not broken don’t fix it or fix it when you have the money for it. I would love to have $30,000 to put into the house before we sell it but we don’t. She understands old windows, old heating, old plumbing in the crawl space.

I really want to sell the house because we cannot afford it. I am trying to get on Joe to get a better job making more money. Now that the house is no longer under contract I am worried about paying bills next month and my maternity leave in February. If we could get the trailer sold that will help out and I won’t be as stressed out about finances. But I have to keep remembering the secret - The house will be under contract by October 31st and the trailer will be in the process of being sold by October 31st - hey it is only the middle of the month.

If you know of any way to make "real" money on line let me know. I am already doing some surveys but they don’t may a whole lot and I am also trying to get rid of stuff on ebay. I need to list a bunch more but my stuff is not moving very quickly.

Finally Monday was my birthday and we found out all about this on Sunday - what a great birthday huh!!! Joe actually did make me a birthday cake. I have been after him since I have known him (9 years) to make me a cake and he always responds that he does not bake, he cooks. I have told him it is easy, buy the box, add the eggs, water, oil whatever else it calls for, mix it up, put it in a cake pan and bake it. Well he did on Monday and it was excellent. He used vanilla pudding for frosting his he could not find any frosting and you know what - it was much better with the pudding for frosting instead of regular frosting. I will have to remember that for the next time I bake a cake.

October 16, 2007

Saving Money = Being Green

We had our home inspected on Saturday (more about that in another blog). I know that I need to conserve energy (electric and gas) and I thought I was doing pretty good but I was overlooking to key areas. I had our refrigerator set way too cold (33 degrees) and the hot water heater was set way to high. So save your electric and gas bills and therefore use less energy and therefore be more green by turning up your refrigerator, freezer and turning down your hot water. It is also a good idea to put a blanket on your hot water heater - I still need to do that.

October 14, 2007

Ebay

October 10, 2007

Stay at Home Mom

This weekend Joe went out of town so it was just Mikayla and I all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday and I took Tuesday off because we don't have our regular babysitter. We had a great weekend!!

On Saturday she played happily by herself which gave me a chance to clean the house. Then we did the regular Saturday chores, grocery shopping, recycling, farmers market, etc... By the time we got home we were both exhausted. Mikayla feel asleep on the way home and I passed out on the couch!

On Sunday we headed up to Crested Butte to visit Jen and Solas. We had a wonderful lunch, walked around town and then visited the farmers market in Crested Butte.

Monday was our big day. We headed to Montrose for some shopping. I was so excited because they got a new JC Penny's. I know that JC Penny has a maternity section so I would only drive 1 hour to get new maternity clothes instead of over 2 hours to Grand Junction. Well we get to the brand new JC Penny and they do NOT have a maternity section. So I did the best I could, I did find 2 pairs of pants and a couple of shirts, they should last at least another month or so until I need to go shopping again. Mikayla did score on clothes. We headed to Super Walmart and did not buy much. Mikayla did show me a couple of rugs she wanted and a new bedspread. I told she has to wait until we buy her a twin bed in the next few months before we buy a new bedspread. We had lunch and then headed back to Gunnison.

Tuesday was just spent running errands, visiting dad at work (twice) and playing at the park. I really enjoyed being a stay at home mom. We had a blast.

October 2, 2007

Cloth Diapers For Sell - See Post Below For Pictures and Updates on the Family

I am going to keep this post on top so that everyone can see my cloth diapers for sell. Please see the next post for pictures and updates.

I have some of Mikayla's old cloth diapers that I would love to sell. I tried Ebay but they have taken used cloth diapers off of their list of items to be sold. So please take a look - if you would like to purchase some please send an email to oconnellhouse@msn.com or leave a comment with your email address.

Shipping on everything will be $3.00 for the first diaper and $1.00 for each additional diaper.

Kissaluvs Size 1 - 10-25 pounds. You will need a cover with Kissaluvs. Price $5.00 and they normally retail for $11.50 each. If you buy all 3 the price is only $12.00.

Kissaluvs Size 2 -20- 40 pounds. $5.00 per diaper or all 4 for $17.00.

EZ Gerber Diapers - Size 20-30 pounds. All in one. These are older diapers but they work just fine and they also come with a diaper double attached inside. Price $3.00 each or all 4 for $10.00.

Snug to fit - Size - all sizes (they have multiple snaps to adjust to all sizes). They have an attached insert but they will need a diaper cover. Price $3.00 each or both for $5.00.

Training Pants. Size 2T. They were barley used. I ended up potty training Mikayla with her wearing nothing. I have a total of 6 to sell. $1.00 each or all six for $4.00.

Diaper Covers. These are a bit older but work just fine. I have a total of six to sell. $1.00 each or all six for $5.00.

Prefolded flat cloth diapers. Price $0.50 each or all 4 for $1.50.

Reducing our Carbon Impact

A few months ago I mentioned that people are trying to reduce their carbon emmissions by 90%. Here is where I first blogged about it. Jen picked up the challenge is August and so it got me to start thinking that I need to start working on this again. I am not going to try and reduce my emmissions by 90% but I will try to reduce them by 50%. I am also using my summer bills to help me and summer is when our utility bills are the lowest. Hey if I can keep my utility bills as low as in the summer that would be wonderful - but we all know that is not going to happen. So here are my October Goals.

Gas - Car - The average 3 person family uses 125 gallons of gas per month. I do not want to use more than 62.5 gallons this month. We have some trips planned so we will see how good we do. I need to buy a new bike tube so I can start riding my bike to work again.

Electricity - This summer we average a usage of 14.5 per day. I have no idea if that is kwh or what. I would like to keep our usage for the month of October at 14.5 or less. Since it is getting colder it is harder to dry clothes outside and we use more electricty to heat the house. I need to turn more lights off and buy more CF light bulbs to replace the regular ones.

Natural Gas - House - Our usage this summer was 1.509 per day (again I have no idea what the number means but it shows me a starting point.) For the month of October I am planning on keeping my usage to the same or less. Ways to do this - Wash all clothes in warm water - not hot (I tried using cold water but my clothes were not as clean. We need to keep the doors shut in the evening to keep the house warmer, and use the heat less.

Consumer Goods - The avearge American spends $10,000 per year on new consumer goods. A 50% reduction would be $5,000. So our goal for this month to reduce would be to only spend $417. That does not seem to high. But I will be keeping track.

These are my starting points - so we will see how well we do.

September 26, 2007

Pictures and What Not

Here is a post that is a little bit of everything. Below is a picture of me 21 weeks pregnant. I ran a 5K race this weekend and I think that will be the last of the 5Ks. Even though I felt great during the race lately whenever I run I feel pressure in my lower belly and I swear this kid loves to jump on my bladder. I will be sitting at my desk feeling just fine and then I feel pressure on my bladder and I have to pee. I think that this baby is sitting lower than Mikayla was so I feel the pressure more.

And since we were talking a picture on my belly Mikayla wanted us to take a picture of her belly.

I did manage to get her to smile for some pictures but the smiles were pretty odd - close mouth and eyes shut - oh well we will work on getting her cute smile on the camera. I know I have said this before but I love being a mom. She was in such a good mood tonight. We all took a walk after work and she rode in her stoller, ran with Daddy and had a blast. Tonight after her bath she cuddled with Daddy on the couch on it only took about 5 minutes until she feel asleep. Daddy is now working on falling asleep on the couch as well.

Mikayla likes to sit on Teo.

A couple of weeks ago we drove to Crested Butte via Ohio Pass so that we could see the Aspens changing. We might have been a week or so early and it was rainy the whole time but we did get some could pictures.

Our house is almost under contract. A young couple from Crested Butte would love to put the hosue under contract but they are trying to get out of their current contract due to other issues. So keep your hopes up that they can get out of their current contract and we can get this house sold. I keep telling myself the house WILL be under contract by October 31st and we will have sold the trailer by October 31st! Also I WILL be able to work 4 ten hour days at work.

September 21, 2007

Pictures - Just for Fun!!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Joe made spaghetti for dinner the other night and Mikayla love it. She loved slurping it up, just like Daddy.

A friend is storing his canoe at our house so we get to use it whenever we want to. Here is a picture of Daddy and Mikayla going down the stream behind out house.

A friend of ours has two pigs and Mikayla got to go play with them the other day. Here piggy, piggy, piggy

Pictures of the Little One

Here is a picture of the little on. You can see face and hand.

Here is another shot of the face and hand.

September 20, 2007

Ultrasound Done - And it is a???

We had the ultrasound done and we are having a girl*. I threw in the * because we only got one shot and it was not a great one and each time they kept going back to make sure it was a girl, the little had her legs crossed, then she was sitting on her legs, - while crossed. So I am planning on a girl but hey it could be a boy.

Mikayla had lots of fun looking at her baby sister. When we got in the car to leave Mikayla asked, "Where is my baby sister?" How cute is that!!! I said in my tummy. She was pretty confused. That night she asked again about her baby sister and I said in my tummy. Then Mikayla said her baby sister is coming. I said yes, in February.

I am going to try and upload some ultrasound pictures tonight - but we will see since we have dial up at home.

September 14, 2007

The Secret

Joe is reading a book called The Secret. The basic idea behind it that if you believe in something it will come true. So I have been saying these sayings the past few days and hoping they will come true.

1 - Our house will be under contract by October 31, 2007

2 - Joe will find a better paying job, soon - such as in the next month.

3 - We will have sold our trailer but December, 2007.

4 - I will be able to work 4 ten hour work days (More time with Mikayla, less money for daycare and less time spent with the office manager from hell!)

Those are my items that need to come true - what are yours?

September 9, 2007

Pictures Finally!!

Here are a bunch of radom pictures I have been promising you forever.

Joe likes to take Mikayla to the lake on his afternoons with her. She actually asks to go to the lake with him before he even says anything. The lake days are almost over for the year.

I don't have many pictures of our New Jersey trip in July-August. One day we went to the science museum and it sits acorss the river from New York City. We had great views at lunch time.

As you know from my previous post about our New Jersey trip . This is a picture of Joe and Mikayla waiting for a flight in the Denver airport. Mikayla had her first Mcdonald's lunch ever, 2 chicken nuggets, a few french fries and orange soda.

Here I am 5 months pregnant. Isn't this a cute picture!!

September 7, 2007

18 Weeks Pregnant

I am now 18 weeks pregnant or in the middle of my fifth month. Wow - at first the weeks dragged by but now the pregnancy is flying by. We had a doctor's appointment last and and even Mikayla got to come along. Baby is doing just fine - heart is pumping away at 140 beats per minute. I thought I was leaking a little fluid so the doctor hooked me up to the ultrasound (everything is fine - not leaking amniotic fluid) and we got to see the little critter moving around. We are having our ultrasound on September 18th and right now we are not going to find out what the baby is but at the same time I want to know - and if I don't find out it will get harder and harder!! Oh well we will see.

September 5, 2007

Random Posting

I really want to get better at posting on a more regular basis but it seems as it I don't have much to say or I say the same old thing so this is a random posting of my thoughts at the end of a long and boring work day. That brings me to the first one:
1 - I am bored at work!!! The attorneys do not give me enough work to do - I really enjoy my job when I am busy from 8am to 5pm and I still have a pile on my desk for the next day - they are paying me to work 8 hours and I would love to produce 8 hours of work for them. I have gotten tired of asking for work because I would be doing it every day. The last few days have been really slow and today the two main attorneys that I work with were gone all day. So hopefully I will be busy tomorrow - but who knows. I only billed out about 2 hours worth of work in an 8 hour day - ugh!!

2 - Mikayla is pretty much potty trained. We put a diaper on her at night and that is it. She goes potty at home, in daycare and at every store we go to and she can even hold it when she says she has to go and I still have to drive two blocks to the store, park the car and walk as fast as her little legs will go while be distracted by the horsy to the potty at the back of the store!

3 - I took last week off from working out hard all I did was some easy walking. I think I really needed the break because I jumped back in full force this week. I even went home at lunch for an awesome cardio and strength training workout - it was great.

4 - I have not been riding my bike to work as much and it is a good because it rains almost every afternoon around 5pm.

5 - Fall is coming to Colorado. The trees are slowly starting to turn and the windows have condensation on them in the morning - I am not ready for winter but I do love an indian summer in Colorado.

6 - I am in the middle of my fifth month of pregnancy and getting big. I have gained 12 pounds and I hope not to gain another 20 which would put me at gaining over 30 pounds. I am still exercising so hopefully I won't gain another 30, but boy is my belly getting big. I am having a hard to waiting to feel the baby start moving and it should be anytime now - but I want to feel it move now!!

7 - Does anyone have any name suggestions for a boy or a girl. We like Julieanne Marie or Miller Joseph but we are not attached to those names so we are looking for any and all ideas.

I think that is it for now and now I only have 10 minutes left of work.

Bye!

August 28, 2007

Big Hike/ Little Hike

On Sunday Joe and I decided to head to Crested Butte to go for a hike. Mikayla loves to go hiking, she gets so excited and the dogs get excited and then I get mad at the dogs for being too excited in the car!!! We decided to hike to a lake called Copley Lake. It is only 2 miles to the lake - not too bad, we were warned that it is a pretty steep hike. Thankfully Joe carried Mikayla on his back up to the lake - if I had done it we would not have made it! The trail was so steep it took us over an hour to get here - two miles in one hour is pretty darn slow! But when we got to the lake it was beautiful and quite. Mikayla had fun on the way up signing songs with Daddy, playing games, and holding as many flowers as we would give her.

I carried her on the way down and it still took us over 50 minutes. She did fall asleep in the backpack on the way down. For a while I could tell she was getting tired because she kept putting her head down. Then Joe turned around and said she was sleeping but she was still tossing around. Finally Mikayla found a spot for her head and settled down. At the end of the trail is a really steep section. Joe pulled her out of the backpack and carried her down himself - she slept through the whole time! But she did wake up in time for a late lunch.

Pregnancy update - I will be starting my fifth month of pregnancy on Friday - times does fly and I am getting big. I only have one or two pairs of pants that are not maternity that I can still wear and that is because they are a size 14. I cannot believe how big I am getting. I am trying to eat pretty healthy with a few more fun snacks than before. If you have not tried "No Pudge Brownies" you must. Excellent taste, moist and they taste great!!