My best friend

The other morning at breakfast, my husband proudly states that the night before, when he was finished reading a bedtime story to our three year old boy, he said, "Dad, you're my best friend." Aaaawwwwww, how cute.

Then, my daughter rains on his parade by stating, "Dad, he told the dog she was his best friend the other day." Upon seeing the disappointment on daddy's face, she said, "I mean, you're special too. He's been telling us all that we are his best friends."

In drastic contrast to the "terrible two" attitude we dealt with for over a year, all of a sudden our son has become very affectionate. He will just run up and give out hugs and say "I love you" all the time. I remember this stage with my daughter as well. Just around the time you enjoy spending time with your toddler is when it's time for them to start going to school.

Independence is key

Well, it seems we are mostly back on track with my three year old son's potty habits. As you may recall, he was totally trained (much to my surprise) in one day on the first Friday in December. Once he understood what was expected of him, he would go about his "business" all by himself and only tell us after he had finished. He never told us before he went to the bathroom. He was very proud, as we all were and very independent about the whole thing.

Then I became too controlling (as I always do, dang it!) and he started using it as a control/stubborn issue. I would ask him to go potty and he would always say no, then he would wet himself from holding it for too long. Then I stopped asking and he was better about going by himself, but would still hold it for too long and sometimes have some wetness in the underwear.

So I've tried to ease up even more and it seems to be helping. I also put the toddler potty back in the kid's bathroom because I think the size of it comforts him, even though he will use the big potty too. I think he just likes having it there "in case" he needs it. Anyway, I'm very happy to report that we are only going through one or two pairs of underwear per day, rather than the four our five we were changing daily a couple of weeks ago.

Library business cards?

Speaking of previous lives, our college life was also something entirely different. My husband and I were both Fine Arts majors, going for our Bachelor's degrees, with emphasis on computer graphics and advertising design. In college, one of my favorite areas of study involved company branding and logo design. I enjoyed coming up with a new "look" for a company and incorporating it into business cards, envelopes, and letterhead. Of course, in college it was much easier because art was all encompassing back then. We lived and breathed art almost 100% of the time.

Now that we have children and there is so much going on in our lives, I can't even find the time to come up with snappy business cards for myself. So I tried a website logo creator called LogoYes with much success. The free demo is simple and fun. First, you select what "image" you want to project for your company, the choices being High-Tech, Bold, or Flair. I chose "Flair" since I am a creative, artistic person. The next step is choosing your industry from a list of thirty choices. Based on the industry selected, you then go to the next step, picking a symbol for your card and the text to go on it. I was impressed by the large selection of images to choose from and the many different font styles. The final step is arranging the layout and choosing colors.

Since I work at the library, and I couldn't think of anything else to put on a business card for myself since I am into so many different things, I decided to make one that we could discreetly hand out in the library to patrons to remind them of proper library etiquette. What do you think?

Our previous life

A few years ago, my husband and I were living what I now refer to as "our previous life." We were living what most would consider the American Dream, but we just weren't satisfied. We were working on Bachelor's Degrees in college while both working in the telecom industry. We were very surprised when we worked temporary assignments through a temp agency and both of us were offered full-time jobs without even a college degree. We thought we were so lucky to have "landed" these high paying jobs at such a young age.

I quit my job when I was pregnant with our first child, but my husband stayed on with his corporate job and we were saving money like mad, since he made more than we needed to live on. He continued doing well and climbing the corporate ladder. There was a point about four years into his job when he realized that he was not happy at all. He knew all the ins and outs of telecom, all the engineering gargon like CAT6, CAT5, T1, T2, and patch panels, but didn't feel like he was making a valuable contribution to society.

At that time, we were also living in a very large town and thought maybe it was the town that was getting us down. So we moved to a much smaller town, but he kept the same job. That helped a bit, and we realized that we did enjoy a small town much better, but the job was still a problem. All the corporate politics and threat of layoffs got to be too much and we decided to risk everything, quit the fancy job, and move halfway across the country to a small town we have adored since the first time we visited here.

We are struggling somewhat to make ends meet and our tax return is nothing short of embarrassing, but we are happy and that's what counts. I have a dream job, working in the historic Carnegie public library, and my husband is working on several online ventures. Our children are safe and we know most of the people in town after only living here about two years. Our new life is good.

Beautiful wedding on a budget

At the time my husband and I were engaged, we were very young and trying to plan an elegant, beautiful wedding on a budget. We paid for everything ourselves, with the exception of the catering and the flowers. For two college students who work part-time, this was not an easy task. Several factors helped immensely and could be attributed to luck or simply being in the right place at the right time.

There was an antique store near our college campus that we frequently visited, but never bought anything. One day soon after our engagement, we were browsing in that store and I remember distinctly turning a corner and seeing a beautiful Victorian style wedding dress up on a dress form. My heart skipped a beat because this dress was exactly what I had envisioned my dress would look like and I had a feeling that it was even close to my size. I tried it on and guess what? A perfect fit! It was amazing and so "meant to be." The best part was the price - only $65 for the dress, the slips, and the floor-length veil. I was one happy bride-to-be!

A few months later, when the wedding date was approaching and we had been shopping for wedding rings with no luck, we went to our antique store again. One ring immediately caught my eye and I knew that was the one. It was a bit pricey for our budget, but we figured since we got such a good deal on the dress, we could spend a bit more on the ring that I would wear daily for the rest of my life. I tried it on and guess what? A perfect fit again! I look at my ring every day and think of that story and am so thankful for our good fortune to have found both my dress and my ring, and my husband for that matter!

Unfortunately, men's jewelry is a bit harder to find, and the antique store didn't have anything that would work for my husband's wedding band. We ended up going to a mall jewelry store and having one of their rings custom made in white gold so it would match mine. The style has an antique look, and in the white gold it does match mine quite well and we are very happy with it.

We even got a good deal on the location for the ceremony and reception. We found a park with a historical Victorian estate that could be rented for weddings. Since it was in a park, the cost was minimal and it was exactly the style we wanted for our wedding. The grounds were beautiful, with lush grass, beautiful flowers, and an old fountain in the front. Our cake was made by a good friend from college, and one of our art professors took photos for us.

Thanks to all of our good fortune, asking for favors, and doing plenty of research, we ended up spending less than $5,000 on our wedding and honeymoon!

One small kitchen addition

My husband built a spice rack out of some of the kitchen cabinets that we removed when we moved into our house. He cut off the back to make it shallow and added small shelves inside. We hung it on the wall last night I love it! All the spices fit inside (alphabetized, of course) and there is even room for some of our vitamins and medications on the top shelf. It looks great and I am happy to see my husband taking a positive interest in the house again after encountering many problems with previous home improvement projects due to unorthodox building techniques used by previous owners.

We even involved our kids in the project. My three year old son helped me change the cabinet pulls, and our daughter helped us find the studs in the wall and make sure the cabinet was straight and level. We are very pleased with the outcome and it makes the kitchen feel more complete.

Change is in the air

My husband and I have been working on changing the layout of our furniture pieces, in order to make our home more "visitor" friendly. Currently, we only have one loveseat and an over sized leather chair in the living room. We already moved the furniture around in the living room so that the flow of traffic to the master bedroom and bathroom goes around the grouping, rather than through it.

We are also planning to move the kitchen bar into the kitchen about four feet, and moving the eating area into the kitchen with a built-in bench seat on the back of the bar. Where we currently have the dining room, we would like to put an electric fireplace, with a couple of chairs to sit in front of the fire. The over sized leather chair will go nicely there, so we bought a new sofa for the living room to go with the loveseat in front of the entertainment center.

Since we have small children, we couldn't pick something fancy like custom Kravet fabrics. Instead, we opted for micro-suede because of its durability and ease of cleaning. Our loveseat is also micro-suede and I am constantly amazed at how easy it is to clean. In fact, only two weeks after we bought it, my son (who was about 18 months at the time) found a ball-point pen and drew all over it before anyone realized what he was doing. I was so upset and thought for sure it was ruined. Much to my surprise, all the pen marks came off with only a damp rag! I've been sold on micro-suede ever since. Micro-suede has more bonuses also, like the inexpensive price and wonderfully soft and comfortable feel.

My tech guy

I am so thankful that my husband is "technologically savvy" enough for both of us. He's the one that connects all the cables for the entertainment center and sets up all our computer components. I wouldn't know the difference between audio and HDMI cables, but somehow, he just "gets" these things.

A lot of it stems from his music-making hobby. I've never seen so many different cables in my entire life than when he is setting up to do a live show - it's truly amazing that anyone can make heads or tails of that tangled mess!

Do you love your insurance company?

I know, I know, insurance is one of those things that no one particularly likes to deal with, but is one of those necessary evils we all must endure. Once you find a good insurance agent or company you are satisfied with, you can rest easy and not have to worry about it much.

If you are still in search of that perfect company, you can get an auto insurance quote online as a first step, then add homeowners and/or life insurance to take advantage of "bundle" discounts.

Don't touch that!

One of the biggest challenges of having small children is keeping the house safe for them. Everything must be out of reach and you never know what they will get into. Case in point: the entertainment center. We put all of our components in a large armoire and when the doors are closed, the kids can't touch anything. But when the doors are open, the TV as well as the DVD player and VCR are within reach and the kids are attracted to those buttons like a moth to a flame.

Another option is to use a tv mount which actually hangs the TV from the ceiling or a wall. Then shelves could be mounted nearby to place the other components. In addition to keeping everything out of the kids' reach, lots of floor space would be cleared this way.

Slacking in the potty department

My three year old son has been potty trained now for exactly two months. He started off great, always staying dry and rushing to the bathroom when he had to go. Now he has started slacking off and will pee a bit in his underwear before getting to the bathroom. It's not enough to come through his pants, but it's still enough that he should feel uncomfortable.

If I don't notice, he will keep the wet underwear on and it doesn't seem to bother him. The funny thing is, he only does this at home and he rarely wets the bed during the night. When we are in a store or the park, he tells us in plenty of time to get to the bathroom. Yesterday, when I talked to him about why he does it, he says, "Don't worry Mom, the pee keeps me warm." I couldn't help flipping out about that one. So my husband jumped in and talked to him about going to buy baby diapers since he couldn't stay dry and my son got really upset and said it wouldn't happen again.

This morning, he peed on the couch and didn't tell anyone. Now what???

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