I do nothing at work.

Here I am at my second job, taking calls for Bronson Vitamins. Here's how it works. I enter in a ton of mail orders and then I sit at my desk and surf the web until 9PM, answering an occasional phone call. Tomorrow I'm taking the day off from Craft Supplies to work here all day and get my official training but I've been here for two weeks and I can't imagine I'll be learning much. Oh well. After that, I will only have to do as many mail orders as the rest of the guys. Currently I do about 200 orders a day and I enter them very quickly compared to anyone else here (at least that's what I've noticed). Maybe I should slow down so they stop giving me work. Anyway, I think this is an ideal second job because starting Friday I will take calls, do some mail orders and still have several hours of leisure time. I'm connected to the phone at all times but I can read, surf the web, pick my nose, eat ice cream or whatever else tickles my fancy. I hope to get a raise at Craft Supplies any time now so that I don't have to work here forever. Even though this is a pretty decent second job, it sucks being gone for 16 hours/day.
I know nobody reads this (except you, Emmy- you're cool) but I have to express my excitement about being able to get a new PDA. I am what's known as an UberDork. I revel in my geekdom. I'm building a website for a guy right now (because I have so much free time, and no- I can't really do it at work) and he's paying me $500 so Katrina and I are splitting the cash and blowing it on whatever we want. I want a pimpin' PDA. Why? I use my PDA quite a bit but I'd use it even more if it were more stable and more capable. I'm looking into getting a new one that costs around $290 and is the ultimate PDA. I will be able to surf the web wirelessly, connect to my computer at work and at home wirelessly, watch compressed DVD's, listen to tons of music, do all of the Microsoft office stuff, check email, play games and a lot more with this little bad boy. I'm excited. I'm gonna be getting a Dell Axim X51v so I'm pretty excited. I have to save up a few bucks first, so that demonstrates a major commitment for me. I'm not good at waiting for my geeky toys but I really wan to get this and I'm willing to wait and save up for it. I'm selling my old PDA and a few pens hopefully so that I can finance the rest of the cashola. Sorry to bore you with this. Rant over.
I'm off of work in a few minutes so I'm going to log off. I look forward to coming home to my sweet Katrina. She's the rockinest. Hopefully I'll get some web design stuff done tonight so I can get my hands on that $500 that much sooner. Tchau.

Memorial Day

Nils had to work on Saturday, but we spent the night out together as a family. He had Sunday and Monday off. It was nice. Yesterday we went out shopping. We got some stuff for the kids, and I got some new clothes to wear to the gym. I tried them on when we got home and I hate all of them, except one pair of pants. I'll be returning the others. Speaking of the gym, I attended a Pump class today. I've been to one other class in my life- a step class, and it was horrible. This was a little better. I think my legs will be sore tomorrow. I'm running a 5k on Saturday morning. I haven't run a race since I was a freshman in high school, so it should be interesting. I ran the course a couple of weeks ago, and it was relatively easy. I hear they have good raffle prizes at the end, like Little Giant Ladders and stuff like that, so it should be a barrel 'o' laughs. Nils doesn't have to work on Saturday, so he'll come to the race, and then we can spend the day together. He's going to Chicago again on Sunday, and will be gone until Wednesday. Then the whole work thing starts all over again. Goodness.

What a Week

This has been the longest week. It hasn't been that bad, but it's been super long. Nils has worked from 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. every day. He had last night off, but works tonight, and works tomorrow during the day. Geez! He gets home at 9:30, and by 10 we're both so tired we just go to sleep. It's going to be a great summer for our relationship. Fortunately, there's been something to do every night so far. On Tuesday night, all the neighbors were outside until almost 10:00, so I let the kids stay up and play outside until Nils got home. On Wednesday night, me and a few other moms orchestrated a "widow's barbecue". There are several girls around here whose husbands are gone a lot, so we figured we may as well suffer together about once a week. Yesterday afternoon we had a popsicle party. There were 20-30 kids running through sprinklers, and we had 2 slip-n-slides out. I think Anders ate 10 Otter Pops. Anyway, it's been good. I told Nils that this is the right time of year for him to be gone all the time. If it were winter and we were cooped up inside, I couldn't do it. Summer is so superior.

Long Day

Today will be a long day. Nils is working until 9:00 tonight. He'll have worked about 14 1/2 hours when it's all said and done. He started his second job on Thursday. It's turned out to be a funny coincidence. His new job uses the same database program that Craft Supplies does. They're the only two companies in the area that use it, so Nils was pretty much trained before he even started. On his first night there he created a macro and taught everyone how to do their work 10 times faster. Go Nilsy, it's your birthday. We're both sad that he'll be gone all the time, but we're even more grateful for the opportunity for more moolah.

So we saw The Da Vinci Code on Saturday. I hate to say it, but the critics were right. Not a great movie. I wonder what I would have thought of it if I hadn't read the book first. I loved the book, so perhaps my expectations were set a bit too high. The movie was fine, I suppose, but just didn't do the book justice. There's my movie review for the year.

Addie is actually napping right now. She hasn't taken a morning nap in a week. Last night she cried for 2 hours after bed time. We finally got her up around 10:00 and let her hang out with us for about 30 minutes. She finally went down at 10:30, but she woke up bright and early this morning at 7:30. She's such a stinker. Anders wore his underwear to church yesterday for the first time. He did so well all day. He didn't have one accident. He even went poop in the toilet at my mom's house without any promptings from us. I feel like I'm going to jinx everything by actually proclaiming that he's fully trained- but I'm so proud! I never thought that poo would be a source of pride for me, but here we are, and it is.

Speech

I think I wrote a month ago about Addie having to be evaluated by Kids Who Count, an early intervention program, because she wasn't speaking. Well, four people came to our house on different occasions. On Thursday a speech therapist and a developmental specialist came to evaluate. It was interesting to see what they did. They had their own toys that allowed her to demonstrate her abilities. Anyhoo, she's fine. She's started saying words in the last few weeks. She says Mommy, Daddy, bye, no-no, and her own version of hello. I'm glad she doesn't need treatment. I was willing to do whatever she needed, but I'm glad I don't have to worry about taking her every week for speech therapy.

Nils and I are going to see The Da Vinci Code today at the new Megaplex Theater in South Jordan. It'll be frickin' awesome.

What a Day

Today has been a little wild. Both kids have been pretty ornery. Addie wouldn't nap this morning- I'm not ready for her to be down to one nap yet. Anders woke up on the wrong side of the bed and has just been whiny. I've got a headache in addition.

On a good note, I do believe Anders is potty trained. He goes pee in the toilet without reminders, and we can even go places and he doesn't pee his pants. It's crazy. I wondered if this day would come, and I wondered how it would ever come. It's been a very gradual process for him. We've had to convince him a little, wean him from diapers, etc. I don't know how people potty train in a day. It's taken about a month for Anders.

I need to do something fun tonight. I want to go spend money. That's hilarious, isn't it?

Long Awaited Facial

My mom and I went this morning for our facials. I had no idea what to expect. For those of you who have real lives and get things like facials, pedicures/manicures, etc. this will probably sound strange- but I don't know that I'd pay to have one. It was nice, yes. The girl that gave me the facial didn't speak the entire time. I tried at first to chit-chat, but she really wasn't having it. I had no idea what she was doing the whole time. The absolute worst part was when she blew my face with hot steam for 10 minutes. I have this thing...I'm a bit claustrophobic as far as breathing space goes. I can't cover my face with anything for more than a few seconds. Having hot air blown at me was torturous. After she brushed my face with the goopy mask, she put hot towels over my face, leaving only my nostrils exposed. I wanted to jump off the bed and strangle her. I think it was all exacerbated by the fact that I didn't think I was allowed to speak or move. I was trying really hard to relax on one hand, but didn't want to suffocate on the other. She massaged my arms, hands and fingers, which was heavenly. So how much would you pay for an hour long facial? $30? $40? SEVENTY DOLLARS? Now, I realize I'm poor and have a bit of a skewed perspective, but $70 for a FACIAL? Goodness, people. That's groceries for a week at the Rasmusson's. Thank goodness for Mr. Gift Certificate.

I have such a headache. Does getting your face rubbed for an hour do that? Maybe it was the lack of oxygen. I think I'm traumatized. My mom said the lady that did hers talked the whole time and told her what she was doing, etc. She seemed to really like it.

Nils got a second job. The details have yet to be worked out, but he'll be working there from 3-9 at night three or four nights a week. He'll be at Craft Supplies from 6:30 am-2:30 pm. We'll miss him. We're so looking forward to having some extra money, though.

Mouse

I'm going to murder this mouse. The computer mouse. It's been sort of broken for a couple of weeks. It's been choppy and slow, but this week I've come close to beating it with a bat. I have to click on something 20 times before it responds. I'm not exaggerating, either. I can't tell you how annoying it is. We need a new one, so I'm just waiting for Nils to come home so he can pick one out. It's a big deal for him, you see. I look forward to having a functional mouse again. Funny how this stupid little piece of technology has made my life miserable.

The week hasn't been too bad as far as Nils being gone. I miss him, but I've found that I'm more efficient when he's not here. I've decided that when he is home I wait for him to help me, so I end up being lazier and things don't get done as quickly as I'd like. When it's just me and I'm not expecting help, I just do what needs to be done. Interesting. He gets home tonight, probably around 11:00, but then has to be to work at 7:00 tomorrow morning. I wonder when the kids will eventually see him. We shall see.

I can't think of anything else to say. Have a wondrous day, one and all.

All Alone

Nils left this morning for Chicago. He's gone until Wednesday night. His flight gets in at 9:30 Wednesday, so he's really gone for four full days. Uggh. I did church by myself today. That was pretty brave of me. I even played piano in Primary. I told the presidency that they had to help me with Addie, and they did. It all turned out fine.

Nils is getting another job. He interviewed this week with a vitamin company to answer phones and take orders at night. Hopefully he'll get it. The pay is pretty decent, and he seemed to think it would be a good place to work. We need money. That's the final conclusion. There are no more corners to cut. The corners have been cut off. We have all the little tricks of poor people. We don't eat out, Nils takes his lunch to work every day, I try not to drive too much to save on gas, I haven't turned on the heat or a/c in a month. We don't buy DVD's or other frivolity. Our stupid mortgage has gone up so much since we moved here, and regular life just costs too much. Health insurance, utilities, HOA dues, food, clothing, gas, etc. It's disturbing how much everything costs. We talked about me getting a job, but Nils doesn't think he's capable of caring for our children on his own. I know better, but he doesn't think he could nourish them adequately. Anyway, it will totally suck having him work 60 hours a week, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to have more money.

Anders pooped in the toilet yesterday. I went to Wal-Mart in the morning and bought a box of blocks. I came home and he saw them and wanted them, but I put them up above the TV where he couldn't get them. I told him he could have them when he pooped in the potty. He was devastated and tried immediately to do it, but you know...you have to wait until the bowels are actually moving and all. A few hours later, he did it. It was fabulous. Ahhh, bribery. How does one parent without it?

Well, I'm going to sign off. I've started watching Grey's Anatomy the past couple of weeks. I thought it was trashy when it first started airing, but I actually like it quite a bit. It's a little trashy, I guess, but it's funny, clever trashy...because that makes it okay....or something.

Oh, the Crying

Nils is still sick. He didn't sleep well last night, which is very unusual for him. He's been coughing up junk and blowing his nose constantly, and yesterday he started complaining that his face hurt. I made him stay home from work today, and made him go to the doctor. Sinus infection. They're so sneaky, those sinus infections. Addie is sick now, too. She's got snot dripping out of her nose, and a terrible cough. She's been very fussy today. Seriously- it's MAY. Listen to me, viruses and bacteria everywhere! We are done with you! Please leave us alone!

I went to the ob/gyn today. What a treat. I always have major anxiety when I go there. My blood pressure was 136/86. It's really normally very good. The doctor is convinced that I have hypertension and I need to be on medication. Just between you and me, it's the p-a-p-s-m-e-a-r. Anyhoo, it was an uneventful visit, and I'm assuming everything will be normal. He asked me if I want to have another baby soon. I told him I'm good for awhile. We can't afford another baby. And I'm really enjoying the whole sleeping through the night thing. I guess I'll know when it's right- right?

I'm Bored

I haven't been bored in so long. This is weird. Addie just went down for a nap, Anders is eating yogurt, and I'm bored. I could fold laundry. Yeah, that's okay. I think I'd rather be bored.

So the facial thing on Saturday fell through. My mom thought the appointment was at 9:30, but it was actually at 9:00, so they wouldn't do it. Nice. We had to reschedule. We went to Kohl's, and I got a couple of new Sunday outfits. I guess I didn't realize how raggedy I've been. I haven't had new church clothes in years. I guess being pregnant and larger after pregnancies had something to do with it. A couple of Sundays ago, I was getting dressed for church, and I realized all I had were t-shirts. Not trashy, rock concert t-shirts, but mommy, I'm going to the grocery store type t-shirts. Anyway, I'm happy to have some non-t-shirt items to wear on the Sabbath.

Nils came home sick yesterday. It's the flu. It's May- shouldn't we be over this? Sickness is SOOOOOO January-February. I got some Thera-Flu for him last night, so he should be alright through the work day today. Thera-Flu's the greatest.

Oh- here' s some exciting news. I get to go to the gynecologist tomorrow for my annual examination. Can't wait for that. I'm being dilligent because of the darn IUD. They say you have to check it every year, and I don't want to die or anything so I thought I'd do as I'm told. Ah, the IUD. Has it been a year already?