Work, Beer and Botox

Latte Mommy tagged me for my very first MEME. What's a MEME? I have no idea, but all the popular blogs are doing it and now I can too! For this MEME I get to list seven things that you didn't know about me. Ready? Here they are.

• I've mentioned that I am a working mom, but never talk about my job. I am an office manager in an office with three engineers. They engineer our product, I do the other stuff. This means accounting, human resources, purchasing, project management, marketing and telling the assembly team what to build and when to build it. I also get to deal with shipping and export documents. It is a good job, and I enjoy the people I work with.


• I recently outsourced all my job related writing responsibilities. I was writing press releases with the help my co-workers and an editor. I do not like writing, especially pieces about our very technical XYZ product for a complicated ABC industry that are published in trade magazines read by people more knowledgeable about the industry and applications than I am. Two weeks after I hired a PR firm write my press releases for me, I started this blog. It seems I love a challenge, and am currently challenging myself to become a better writer.


• The three engineers that I work with met in college. One of the traditions they maintain from their college days is Beer O' Clock. Every Friday at 4 pm we walk to a beer shop that sells microbrews by the bottle. In order to hang out with the guys and drink at work, I've learned to like beer. I have found Abby style Belgium beers to be quite tasty.


• Every weekday during my lunch break I walk across the street to my gym and workout. It is the best hour of my day.


• For my 31st birthday, I treated myself to Botox injections. It was great and I'd do it again. For your enjoyment, here is 2 pictures. Me with Botox and me without Botox. I won't even tell you which is which. You guess.

• I unintentionally lied about my weight on my drivers license. I was eight pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight when I got a new drivers license. I put 125 pounds on my application fully expecting to lose the last couple of pounds. I have been dieting for the last year and a half so I can honestly say I weigh what my license says. It's stupid, I know.
  


• Some of my closest friends live far away from me. I either left them in California or they have moved away. I am terrible at picking up the phone and not consistent with e-mailing so I don't get to talk to them very much. I miss them!

That's all folks. Thanks for reading. That was really fun to write.

Now in hopes of finding out some little known facts about my new friends in the blogosphere, I would like to invite....

Fine for Now, who I just found and love her amusing posts.

Rachel, From the Land of Monkeys and Princesses. She just tagged me on an Ipod meme which I am going to figure out how to do on my Windows Media Player, soon.

Amy at Permission to Peruse who writes a blog I am being entertained by.

TheMommyKelly at Taken with a Grain of Salt. If you are looking for something fun to do, check out her Flaunt it Friday Challenge.

I'd tag some more people, but my bed is calling. Happy blogging everyone.

The Wooden Flute

After dinner last night Belle was blowing into a wooden flute as we were listening Christmas Carols. The sound that came out could hardly be called music, but it was entertaining nonetheless. Belle handed the flute to Jeff and he played "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" for us. He then passed the flute to Ariel, so she could screech out notes in rhythm to "Little Drummer Boy". I remember thinking that we would make the perfect Norman Rockwell painting. I was delighted that the girls were taking turns with this fun musical instrument. Hours later I realized that we were sharing more than just memories.

At 2 AM Belle got sick. At almost four years old, this is the first time she's vomited in the middle of the night. It was traumatic for her and us. While Jeff changed all her bedding, I sat with her in the bathroom and rubbed her back while she continued to vomit.

I remember being sick when I was young. I remember the bad dreams that came when I had a fever. I remember the awfulness of spending what seemed like the whole night looking into a toilet bowl and emptying my stomach. As a parent there is not much that can be done for a sick child, except be there, hold them and let them know they are not alone. I hope that my presence gave her comfort. It made me feel good to be there with her.

Belle was sick a couple more times today. It's the flu. The flu is most recognized by it's fast onset and violent symptoms. It is also highly contagious. I told you about that shared music experience after dinner. I failed to mention the extra wet, sloppy kisses that Belle received just hours before she became sick. I fear that the flu has invaded our home like a horror movie villain. Eventually everyone in our house is going to be confronted with the ugly virus, it's just a question of who's next and how long until they are attacked.

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays go here.

Christmas Poem

I am struggling with gift giving this Christmas. I want to go Christmas shopping but, I don't have any money to spend and I really shouldn't rack up any more debt.

The problem lies in my love language. When I read "The Five Love Languages of Children" by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell, I was appalled that one of the love languages is gifts. My exact reaction was "I hope none of my children have this love language, how would I deal with that!" I read a little further to find that the gifts love language manifests itself in a child treasuring each gift and remembering who it is from. Then it hit me, "Oh my gosh, that's totally me!"

I remember the sweater my future father-in-law picked out for me the first Christmas I spent with Jeff's family. I remember my dad bought me CV joints when I was 19 years old and my car was on it's last legs, literally. I remember Jeff hawked his ski's one Christmas so he could buy me an engraved locket with both our baby pictures in it. I remember the smell of the Coach Diaper Bag that Jeff surprised me with when I was pregnant with Belle. I remember the huge stuffed dog that my Aunt Gayle gave to me for my birthday when I was in High School.

I also remember the gifts I gave. The first Christmas after my parents divorced, I got my dad a coffee maker from Starbucks. When my younger brother was in high school I pitch in with my parents so we could buy him a car stereo. I remember buying my nephew a stuffed lion puppet when he was a toddler and before he was my nephew. I will even admit that for my first Christmas with Jeff, I bought him a shirt that matched mine.

Admittedly, I don't always picked the best gifts, but I have always given something. This Christmas, I want to find something for everyone and pay for it on credit even though I know I don't have the resources to pay off the credit cards. The only resource that I have is a Disney gift card earned with reward points from my Disney Visa purchases.

Here is a short Christmas poem to my family:

My heart and pocket book are having a tug of war.
I hope you want something from the Disney Store.

Joy To The World, My Dinner's Fun!

My first Christmas Miracle of 2007:
We had dinner. In a restaurant. With the girls. And it was enjoyable.

I swore that I would not be one of those parents that stopped dining out when I had kids. After Belle was born, I had no problem keeping that commitment. Dining out with one child was easy, even desirable, just for the simple fact that I didn't have to do any cooking or cleaning up afterwards.

Dining out with two children is not pleasant. Especially my children. Its not really their fault, I'm the one who thought it was a fabulous idea to get pregnant with my second child before the first was even nine months old. In the last two years I have had several restaurant experiences with my children where I either needed a drink or we needed to head for the door. Most of the time I was downing my drink as we ran for the door.

We have found two restaurants that we risk going to with our children. The first is a pizza parlor, so it doesn't really count. The second is a restaurant called Beaches. The big selling points? First, it's loud. Second, it is located on the Columbia River. The kids can watch boats and airplanes all dinner long. Third, for dessert the waitress takes our children away from us. The kids get to pick out a toy and make their own ice cream sundae. It is wonderful, but we have never had a perfect dining experience there.*
*Our failure to have a idyllic dining experience at Beaches is completely our fault and should not reflect negatively on the restaurant.

This weekend we celebrated Jeff's birthday. Jeff wanted to go out for dinner, but wasn't in the mood for pizza and we didn't have a reservation at Beaches. We decided to brave the unknown and go to Big Al's. It wasn't that much of a risk, It's a bowling alley with an arcade, bar and restaurant. What we were really risking is terrible food and kids who didn't want to stay at the table. What we got was a completely different experience.

The restaurant is really a sports bar. Luckily we arrived during the first overtime of the Oregon verses Oregon State football game. The sports bar area was filled with people in orange shirts yelling and screaming. Our table had a wonderful view of all the craziness, perfect kiddie entertainment until their food arrived.

We were not expecting the diverse and succulent sounding menu that Big Al's had to offer. Jeff ordered braised ancho honey pork and I went for the feta vinaigrette marinated chicken breasts topped with a Kalamanta olive, tomato, cucumber salad. Yummmm.

The kids were losing interest in their dinners by the time our food arrived (we ordered the kids food right away so we could avoid a hunger meltdown). Belle discovered that if she stood up in our booth and look over the wall she could see pool tables. Jeff was concerned that she would drop a french fry on some unsuspecting pool player. Once we set the ground rules (perfectly okay to stand up and watch other people, not okay to drop your food on them) everyone was happy. Jeff and I enjoyed our dinner, engaged in adult conversation and marveled at how well the whole experience was going.

We had a wonderful evening. After dinner we played in the arcade. They have a great selection of kids games that yielded tickets that we later exchanged for prizes. We spent $10 on games and went home with a lipstick and crown for each of the girls. Now we have enough crowns for everyone, even the dog.

Happy Birthday My Love.

Thank you for your love, devotion and understanding.
Thank you for pouring all you have into this family, your family.
Three girls who love you, adore you, admire you and need you more than you'll ever know.
To a good man, a great husband and a loving father.
Today we celebrate you.


Happy 32nd Birthday, Jeff!
Love,
Your Girls