February Baby Posts

Dear Friends and Family,

Another month another set of baby posts. You can find them by clicking on the baby... maybe label on the right hand side. Nothing hugely exciting, but it is what it is.

Happy Wednesday.


Cheers!
mouse

04.29.08: Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 122.5 (not headed in the right direction)

I need to rethink my food. Clearly, I didn't learn enough from two years on Weight Watchers to maintain my goal weight. So, I've got two options, either set a new goal weight or take remedial classes to get back to goal (i.e. learn how not to blow it on the weekends). I need to own this. And, I need to take control of this. I will keep repeating this to myself until it sinks in.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: Brought the plants in last night. Hopefully, we can bring them back out again Wednesday morning and be done with this ridiculous weather we've been having.

04.28.08: Odds and Ends

Dear Friends and Family,

It was a weekend full of odds and ends.

Friday night, I came home from work and went up to the deck to water my garden. And, to my surprise, a zucchini plant had sprouted in the dirt. Yeah! It's so much more fun watering plants than dirt.

Saturday morning, we slept in and it was absolute bliss. We spent some time organizing the kitchen before going outside to diagnose our leak with a borrowed pressure washer - no dice, still no clue. I did succeed in removing some rust from our walls, but only because I took a layer off the wall. Ugh! Lesson learned for next time. Then, Mr. mouse changed out my tires from snow tires to all season tires while I cleaned the extra fridge we had emptied for Earth Day. We re-potted our basil into a larger pot and planted some cilantro into the now empty smaller pot.

Next, it was mail pick up, appliance shopping and raincoat returns to complete out the errands for the day. We also picked up some Korean fried chicken at a small store in the suburbs. They also sell Korean style pizzas (e.g. potato, sweet potato and bulgogi). Wow, who knew we had the critical mass to support that kind of store? To finish off the night, we headed to the gym, which felt really good. Mr. mouse picked up some micro fiber cleaning cloths after reading an article in I.D. about them. He loves them. Our kitchen counters sparkle. I'll write more about them separately.

Sunday, I noticed a second zucchini plant and the barest glimmer of the cantaloupe plants. This is so exciting! I'm stunned they actually sprouted. Just in time for an unseasonably cold night tonight, mind you, but, wow. We went to our favorite bar for breakfast and the F1 race. Then to Target for $12 flip flops, then to Whole Foods because we got a $10 off $50 coupon in the newspaper - Whole Foods coupons? - it's a bad sign for the economy. And, came home. We moved all of our wine and liquor into the empty, clean, turned off fridge for storage and moved some appliances into the empty cabinet. Then, we made a roast chicken for dinner. And, I spent the evening drawing out a scaled version of our kitchen for play while Mr. mouse hung some "new" curtains in the master bedroom and the guest bedroom. They were curtains we bought a long time ago but had never gotten around to hanging. And, when we saw the amount of dust that came out of the old curtains, boy, were we glad to have made the switch.

And, that was our weekend. Lots of odds and ends. And, now, it's Monday.


Cheers!
mouse

Better Choices, Not

Dear Friends and Family,

I met with our financial planner last night and we were going to drive into the city together to meet Mr. mouse for dinner. Well, traffic was atrocious. And, by the time we ended up sitting down to dinner, it was at Giordano's for pizza.

1. Hello, trying to eat healthy here!
2. Starved beyond rational thought.
3. Fried calamari for the appetizer?
4. For the record, their pizza sucks.

I'm pissed because I blew all my points and then some on food I didn't even enjoy because I felt cornered into the situation from a spouse who's supposed to be supportive.

In reality, I can buck up to the fact that I could have ordered the chicken salad and been fine points-wise. And, I need to own my decisions and my actions. Unhappy with Mr. mouse for not being supportive. Unhappy with mouse for making bad decisions.

At least it's Friday.


Cheers!
mouse

Quiet Thursday

Dear Friends and Family,

Quiet Wednesday followed by a quiet Thursday. Making progress on the scale game. Need to not blow it this weekend. (Note to self: Do not blow it this weekend.)

Speaking of weekend. I can't wait until Friday. I'll try to leave the office a little early and get home to make the most of the weekend. Lots of cleaning and organizing to do after the string of busy weekends we've had.


Cheers!
mouse

Quiet Wednesday

Dear Friends and Family,

And, just like that, life is back to normal. Wake up, drink tea, blog, get ready, commute, work, commute, eat dinner, hang out, sleep. Repeat.

One of the things I've been having fun tracking, now that I've got the blackberry, is my commute time. When I started work, it was about an 1:20 hour commute. Now, with better scheduling on my part and faster trains on the city's part, it's down to about 1:05. I've hit 1:00 a couple of times, but not consistently. I'm anxious to see if it'll ever get to under an hour. If it's consistently under an hour, I can't really complain. Life will be good.


Cheers!
mouse

Happy Earth Day

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 122 (ugh)

It's Earth Day 2008! What will you do to make a difference?

My game plan is to unplug the second fridge. I wanted to do something that'll make a difference every day, not just today. And, it'll save us between 50 and 60 kWh of electricity per month. We have some leftover beer and wine from January that needs to find a home in the main fridge.

Okay. I'm four bottles of beer and and one bottle of wine away from being able to unplug the second fridge. The four beers are totally expendable. So, if we have the wine tonight, we should be able to unplug the fridge. Done.

So, I'm doing my part to save the Earth by toasting it with a bottle of wine tonight. What could be better? That was easy. (And, more importantly, real. At our run rate, that's a 10% reduction in electricity usage.)


Cheers!
mouse

04.21.08: Whirlwind Tour through Europe

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm home again. And, wow, was the trip ever worth it.

We landed Wednesday morning in London and went straight on the bus to head out for a day of work. We had a chance to decompress in the hotel lobby in the evening and went out to dinner together as a group to a small British pub (I ordered the mussels with a half pint of Guinness). Then, everyone crashed pretty badly for the evening.

Thursday, met up on got on the bus again. Fortunately, we had some time (an hour and half) in the afternoon to do some shopping which the women on the team were happy about. I loved the clothes at Zara. I'll have to go have a peek at the store in New York, the next time I'm there. Another debrief in the hotel lobby followed by another British pub for dinner. I had a steak, Guinness and mushroom pie. Gotta have one pie while in Britain. A couple of people went walking afterwards, but I turned in knowing we had an early morning rendezvous with our airport transportation.

Friday, 6AM meeting time to head out to the airport for our flight to Prague. Since we only had a half day in Prague, we didn't want ANYTHING to snarl our morning flight. Land, hit the ground running, standard modus operandi. OMG, I fell in love with Prague. We got a little lost on our way to the hotel (there are multiple hotels with the same name) so we got to see a lot of the city that afternoon. I need to go back with Mr. mouse and a good camera and spend some time in the city. Dinner, oddly enough, was at a Thai fusion restaurant. We walked through the city center before grabbing a cab back to the hotel. And, everyone crashed hard that night.

Saturday, 5AM meeting time - brutal. We headed out to the airport again. This time for Paris. And, made it without incident to the City of Lights. Another city, another bus, same sequence of events. We finish a little earlier than the other cities, so by 5:30 we were in the hotel, looking a little haggard, but very glad we'd been able to see as much as we'd seen and learn as much as we'd learned.

And, for me, as a special treat, Mr. mouse came out to spend the night with me in Paris. We went downtown as a group, and the group went to this one restaurant for steak frites. Mr. mouse and I split from the group and headed downtown to walk the streets of Paris before getting dinner.

We walked to the Concord (an Egyptian obelisk) since Mr. mouse knows I love all things related to Ancient Egypt. Then, we walked through the Tuileries and towards the Louvre. And, we finished the evening's sight seeing at Notre Dame. The restoration on that building is phenomenal. We found a quiet restaurant in the Latin Quarter for dinner. And, I fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel.

Sunday morning, I had a croissant and hot chocolate for breakfast making my Paris trip complete. We played a couple of games of Scrabble on the way home. And, by 8 o'clock, I was tucked in bed, fast asleep.


Cheers!
mouse

04.19.08: Paris Mouse

Dear Friends and Family,

Mr. mouse is coming out to spend the day with me in Paris. It just occurred to me, if we conceive this month, people will assume it was in Paris. But, I would just like to state for the record, it wasn't. The April window is long past.


Cheers!
mouse

Signing Off

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm off for work. To... London, Prague and Paris... I repeat, for work. I know I'm not getting a lot of pity from anyone, but, trust me, we're a day and a half in each city. It's not a lot of time to chit chat.

And, given the crazy work schedule, I'm not sure I'll be posting regular entries during the trip. See you on Monday, same bat time, same bat channel.


Cheers!
mouse

04.15.08: Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: more than I want

Okay. I'm scientist enough to know when something is not working. And, core is not working for me. Therefore, today, I start back on flex. Now, there can't be a worse day to decide to go back on flex - I leave today for a whirlwind tour of Europe where I don't control the timing nor the locations of food. But, I am not using that as an excuse. Today, mouse is returning to 18 points a day. And, I will have the discipline to get back to goal. Enough is enough.


Cheers!
mouse

04.14.08: Impromptu Weekend

Dear Friends and Family,

We got a lot done this weekend including a spur of the moment trip to the Twin Cities to see the old crew of neighbors.

I have a trip coming up soon to Europe (i.e. as in I leave tomorrow night) and I needed a bunch of random articles of clothing and electronics including a new pair of clogs. There's nothing like a cheap trip to a state without tax on clothes and shoes to make a girl feel like she's saved a couple of bucks. Plus, the clogs are $69 in store and $148 online, so that alone makes the trip worthwhile.

We did our taxes Friday night. Boo! I officially no longer like taxes. I know why we file them, I no longer like them. They're done for the year and I don't have to deal with them again until next year. Phew.

We flew in Saturday mid-day after spending the morning getting mail and dropping off dry cleaning. We landed in Minneapolis, drove to Chisago, picked up clogs, drove to Bloomington (aka Mall of America) and picked up a couple of tops, a pair of ballet flats, and two hermit carbs for a birthday gift and headed over to our neighbors' house for dinner.

It was great seeing everyone and it almost felt like we had never left. Except, when the evening's fun and games were over, instead of crossing the street to go home, we walked up the stairs to the spare bedroom. We had wine and appetizers. Then, we grilled chicken breasts to have with pasta salad and bean salad. The Mom has been trying a bunch of new recipes and they were all very good. She has a balsamic vinegar glaze that's delicious.

Sunday morning was a whirlwind of activity. We headed out for Bloody Mary's while Mr. mouse went to the airport to check in our bags. (We had purchased a frying pan in December during our last visit and needed to bring it home.) He met us at the restaurant after dropping off the bags. And, after coffee and drinks, we split again. He went to pick up a power inverter so I could use my laptop on the plane and I went to pick up a spring jacket for the, cross your fingers, spring weather on its way. A quick dash to Punch pizza and we were on our way to the airport.

We met up with a friend from work who had just gotten promoted, B, and her husband who is going to be starting work at a restaurant soon, Chef M. We went to Spring for dinner. And, I have to say, it's nice when the maître d', the bartender, and the staff know you. You get recommendations for items not on the menu, they stop by to say hello often, you get additional tastings. In other words, you get treated like a rock star, when in reality, you're just in the neighborhood. Hey, I'm not complaining. I love it there. You never have to twist my arm to convince me to go there.

Then, we crashed. And, here I am recapping the weekend wondering how I am going to get ready in the next 24 hours for my trip overseas. My apologies in advance, for not calling everyone while we were out there, but, honestly, it was such a short trip with so much we needed to get done. Next time, I promise.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: On Sunday, we played with trying to recreate the first floor leak. I no longer think it's the masonry gap in the bedroom window ledge. And, Mr. mouse found a red herring on a gap in some ductwork. My leading theory, now, is a vent on the side of the house without a vent hood. We need to borrow a friend's power washer to test that theory.

Mouse Blues

Dear Friends and Family,

It's Friday and I've got a case of the blues.

• It's cold and raining.
• I'm tired and have work to do over the weekend.
• Mr. mouse told me I have halitosis.
• We owe more taxes than I would like to.
• Mr. mouse called me no fun.
• Sometimes Mr. mouse treats me like I'm stupid.
• Sometimes I realize it's because I am stupid.
• Sometimes I think he's just being mean.

And, that's why they call it the blues.


Cheers!
mouse

April Showers

Dear Friends and Family,

I came home last night to the pitter patter of rain. And, of course, it was in the living room and the stair well. Mr. mouse got one bid last week on repair work. And, hopefully, he's getting two more soon. We really need to have all of the water intrusion issues looked at. It's not good for the house or the mouse psyche.


Cheers!
mouse

New Google Maps Feature

Dear Friends and Family,

I have to say it, I love Google sometimes. They just added a new feature to their maps functionality that allows you to get directions using public transportation (in addition to the driving directions they've always provided).

www.google.com/transit

has a list of the different cities covered and

maps.google.com/help/maps/transit/index.html

has a short video clip on how it all works.

I have to admit it, I am excited.


Cheers!
mouse

Mouse Pad Renovation Thoughts

Dear Friends and Family,

With April showers come spring and with spring come the inevitable home renovation ideas.

Last night, we had the first of (I'm sure) many thunderstorms that herald the gnarly mixing of warm and cold air and, unfortunately, leads to roof and door leakage on the mouse pad. Mr. mouse has been working with a couple of contractors to get bids to fix whatever is allowing the water intrusion. We'll see.

And, this morning, I found myself googling solar panels, vertical axis wind turbines, home ventilation and pergolas. Excellent. To be honest, we probably won't do any major renovations this year. I'm too eager to squirrel away a good sized nest egg this year since it's our first full year of retirement savings.

With the market being down, it's a good buying opportunity. At least, that's what my financial adviser tells me. Somehow, I think it's always a good buying opportunity as far as he's concerned. I'll continue to set aside the money and we can decide in December how to spend it.

Back to looking at pergolas.


Cheers!
mouse

04.08.08: Weekly Weigh In

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 121

Definitely not a step in the right direction. I'm fighting the urge to go running back to flex since it's not like I'm going to love counting again. So, after a couple of deep breaths, I've decided to give core another week. I know I ate too many non-core foods last week. We could have eaten dinner at home on Friday. And, I could have skipped on the cheese and crackers on Saturday. Or, I could have skipped on the pizza on Saturday. And, I definitely could have skipped munching on the croissant and palmier on Sunday (Mr. mouse bought them from a local bakery on Saturday).

What I'm basically saying is I didn't give core a fair shake. So, I'll give it another go this week and see where next Tuesday brings. I have a sneaking suspicion the soy lattes will have to go. I can't get over the mental hurdle - they must be high in points. And, they're breaking the mouse budget. Sigh.


Cheers!
mouse

04.08.08: The New Math

Dear Friends and Family,

This month, we decided to take matters into our own hands and deal with the ramifications to maintain our sanity. The every other day like clockwork for two weeks was no fun and as far as we could tell not working. So, we made the executive decision to switch to every three days. And, I may be traveling this month. We'll see.


Cheers!
mouse

04.07.08: Social Butterflies

Dear Friends and Family,

It was a busy weekend. And, as a result, Mr. mouse was a little generous with the snooze button this morning. I think if I'm going to get bent out of shape about it, I should just start setting my own alarm clock.

First the bummer news. I had a doctor's appointment on Friday afternoon. Mr. mouse had felt a "lump" in January, so at my doctor's appointment in February, I mentioned it. And, my doctor requested a mammogram and an ultrasound. She figured better safe than sorry. The mammogram showed nothing. But, the ultrasound showed a teeny, tiny something on the outer left side. They don't think it's anything. But, they want me to come back in six months for a second ultrasound, just in case. So far, I'm not worried. I had an annual exam 14 months ago, so it's not like I let it slide. The watchamacallit that they did find is nowhere near the lump Mr. mouse felt. Worrying changes nothing. I can't control it. Therefore, I will not spend any time worrying over it.

Okay. Onto Saturday. We went to the gym. Then, we met up with three of my work friends for lunch at Piece. We all worked together on a project when I first started with new work. And, these guys take the cake. I love them all. Now, pizza and beer, probably not the best Saturday lunch option. But, still, it was good to spend time with them.

Saturday night, we headed over to another friend's house to play mah jong. Now, there's nothing I like more than a good night of mah jong. We need to regularly schedule it going forward. We found if we start at 5pm, we can finish four rounds at a reasonable hour. I know it sounds really weird, but, having a mah jong routine makes it feel like home, like somewhere I'm less willing to move from. I love the game.

Sunday, we got up just in time to head over to the bar to watch the F1 race (Bahrain) and eat breakfast. My guy came in second to his teammate. And, there's something about watching in a bar full of people all enjoying the event. Another thing that makes me less willing to move.

We came home, and because it was a perfect spring weekend day (both Saturday and Sunday), we did some work on the deck. I planted three planters - tomatoes, zucchini and cantaloupe. We'll see what grows. It was fun, nonetheless. Then, I dragged the umbrella and hammock out. Ah, my lovely hammock. Got about an hour and half of good quality hammock time in before I came down to help Mr. mouse organize the living room, make dinner, and then, I cleared my work inbox which had grown out of control.

All in all, life is going well. We're enjoying settling in. And, we feel like a couple of good years of progress against savings could make a radical difference in our lives. And, we're liking the mouse pad. And, the call I got from a random head hunter about a position in New York, is less interesting, merely from the fact that right now, I kinda like here now.


Cheers!
mouse

Budget Update - March

Dear Friends and Family,

bank: $100

March started out tough, but turned out to be relatively easy. In fact, I ran out of time to spend my money and didn't have time to order my treat at the end of the month. After thinking about it, I've decided to introduce the concept of a bank. If I have more than $50 surplus in my budget, I get to "bank" it in $50 increments. If I want to spend it, I need to spend it in $50 increments as well.

This month will be harder. I need to go grocery shopping. Our house isn't equipped for core, so I've been spending a lot of money this week buying food at work. Some grocery shopping this weekend will take care of that.

Description	Amount
Haircut & Tip	105.00
Lunches at Work	63.47
Gym	62.00
Train Pass	46.00
Socks and Underwear (Mr. mouse bought it for me)	45.00
Accessories (foundation and belt)	42.17
Wine with a Friend	21.00
Weight Watchers	16.95
Snacks, Coffee, Soda, etc.	14.12
Parking	12.00
Books and Magazines	9.00
Benadryl	5.43
Tailoring	2.00
Napkins (refund)	-56.00
Total	$388.14

Cheers!
mouse

Day 3: Eat Like Grandmother

Dear Friends and Family,

Core is interesting. I am realizing that much of what I ate was core anyway. So, it's really portion control on the bread and snacks that I'm learning. And, that, I think, is a good thing, anyway you look at it.

So, I'll continue on the core, at least for now. And, I'll add Day 3 from 30 Days to a Greener Diet: Eat Like Grandmother. Fortunately, this won't be a hard one. On core, they're going to involve points. And, I've been tracking them under my "NOT FOOD" column for months on end anyways. I'm tempted to skip on ahead to Day 4, but I won't. I'll continue on Days 2 & 3 while I figure out core and get back to goal. I'm guessing May 1-ish may be when I get around to adding another step to this journey.


Cheers!
mouse

04.02.08: Okay, Maybe

Dear Friends and Family,

Mr. mouse and I had a chance to talk once tempers cooled. And, he knows he's on notice to get his act together on two fronts - at the micro level, he needs to figure out how to participate successfully in the whole morning test routine; and, at the macro level, he needs to figure out how to keep his cool when we argue. And, he's agreed to both. So, I guess, we'll give it another gander come April.


Cheers!
mouse

Faith Renewed

Dear Friends and Family,

Two different things happened yesterday to give me more faith in the general goodness of people. I've been working with a new person on our team who reminds me of my friend Fred. And, yesterday afternoon, I got the chance to catch up with him and get to know him better on a more personal level. He seems like such a good guy. I like him. I like both him and my manager. It makes a world of a difference - liking the people you work with and work for.

Then, I went out to dinner with my friend. And, she seems to be doing so much better. There's a whole jumbled story about her last month at work that I'm having trouble reconciling. But, on a basic level, she's a friend and I miss her at work.

And, there you go, the relator in me gets faith and energy from those reaffirming ties. Now, if it was only spring already, I'd be a truly happy mouse.


Cheers!
mouse

04.01.08: Lifetime

Dear Friends and Family,

weigh in: 120

Okay. I admit it. After two plus years, I am tired of counting. And, in the spirit of making this something that lasts a lifetime, I'm trying core. Not flore (flex with core foods), but honest to goodness core. This will be a tough week, with dinner tonight with a friend from work, work dinner tomorrow night, pizza date on Saturday and dinner at a friend's house on Saturday, but it'll be as good a time as any to get started.


Cheers!
mouse