Cheap Doesn't Always Save

I like to save money as much as anyone, especially since I left my job to take care of Spencer. So I try to cut costs when I can; I use coupons, buy the store brand, etc. The idea of paying hundreds of dollars for a purse because it happens to say Kate Spade just leaves me scratching my head.
But over the years I have developed a short list of items where I think you really do get what you pay for, and buying the cheap stuff will only cause heartache:

• toilet paper
• garbage bags
• sports bras
• body armor (purely speculative)

So how about y'all? Anybody got one to add? (Brandi dear I guess this means you, as I can't convince anyone else to leave comments...)

Team Adriana

In a little less than 3 weeks I will be running a 5k as part of a triathlon team. My BIL and one of his friends will be handling the bike and swim portions. These days I run about a 12-minute mile, so the point here is not really competition. We are participating in this event as a fund-raising effort to help a local couple with their adoption of a baby girl from Guatemala. Please check out the Team Adriana website for more details or to contribute.

In completely unrelated photos, Speck is trying out his daddy's shirt.

Woohoo, Finally at the Top of the List!

If like me, you get tired of AL always being 49th on every State ranking for any issue, perhaps you'll be happy to see that a recent CDC survey finds us at the top...in larditude.
Here's the CNN article: "South Leads Nation in Obesity"

As usual, thank goodness for Mississippi.

Whee!

Speck already knows DH is "the fun one".

The Library

Speck has a bit of a head start on potty training, as he already knows that a book is essential equipment for any semi-serious visit to the bathroom.

I don't know about you guys, but in our house we often refer to the restroom as "the library." As in, "where's DH? oh, he's in the library."

So today when Speck um, made a diaper deposit and insisted on hanging onto his book while I did the cleanup, I just had to say hey, that's definitely our boy.

Look what I can do!

Speck is really starting to figure out this walking thing. It has now replaced crawling as his primary mode of locomotion. He stills falls a lot, mostly from exuberance.

Now that he doesn't need his hands for crawling, he loves to carry things around. Today he was marching around with his father's flashlights. Those of you familiar with DH understand his complex and passionate relationship with flashlights and thus will be touched to know that Speck is officially allowed to play with these. We do keep him away from the giant MagLights, since ultimately every object Speck handles devolves into a hammer.

the mouths of babes...

ok, now a quick story from my Sunday School class. Yes, I am now teaching Sunday School. Who'da thunk it? One of the girls cracked me up today and I had to share.

A bit of background. We attend a very small church and thus I have a bizarre age range in my class, from the youngest at 5, all the way up to a bored and lonely 12 year old. As a result the materials I have are a little too babyish for some of the older kids. I do what I can to make up the slack, but I'm still pretty new at this.

So the story this morning was about Zacchaeus...you know, the wee little man who climed the tree to see Jesus. If you don't know, check out Luke 19. Anywho, one of the activities to go with the lesson was a maze worksheet...the children were supposed work the maze to get Zacchaeus and Jesus to Zacchaeus's house. And the 8 year old looks up at me and says, "umm, doesn't Zacchaeus know how to get to his own house?" Hilarious.

Our little book lover

One of Speck's favorite activities is looking at books. Right now he isn't so keen on reading them (well, having them read to him, I suppose I should say )...he mostly prefers opening and closing and flipping the pages. At this point the experience is visual and tactile rather than verbal. But anyway, he loves books and we are certainly in favor of that.

So the other day I rearranged a bookshelf in our living room to give a home to his growing collection. The bottom shelf was already devoted to his toys, so I figured why fight it and went ahead and gave him the whole thing.

He is enjoying it, as you can see.

He is officially a toddler now, and is about 50/50 crawling vs walking these days. Despite tireless effort I have managed only one pic of him walking, so I've included that for your enjoyment also.

Boys on the Move

Every day Speck takes a few more steps on his own. But he's still soooo careful and tenative; it's pretty cute. To try and help him feel more confident, DH and I are making a special effort to "walk" him everywhere rather than carrying him. This afternoon my boys were walking around the front yard. Oh and DH, if you ever read this, sorry for cutting your head off in most of the pictures I took today.

You may notice Speck's souveneir. He was cracking us up because every few steps he would stop abruptly to squat and pick up lawn debris. Occasionally it was a nice harmless leaf, but for some reason he was most passionately interested in giant "you'll put your eye out" sticks. Or prickly pine cones.

After Speck went to bed, I ventured out for a short run and got a preview of the fun soon to come our way. I was running past a house where there were several cars, suggesting a party. Also they had ordered pizza. By chance I happened to know the delivery person from way back in the day. I stopped to say a quick hello to her, and this little blonde kid wearing diapers (and nothing else) comes strolling toward us from between the parked cars. There were a few grown-ups on the porch but no one realized the child was gone. I spoke to the kid and he made an abrupt turn away from me, away from his house, clearly intent on escaping full-tilt boogie up the sidewalk. I was reluctant to just grab him; didn't want to alarm him or anything. I kept moving to stay between him and the street, arms out like a basketball player, all the while hollering "hey, there's a baby over here, are you guys missing a BABY?!" I was about to bite the bullet and just snatch him up in my arms, when finally a lady (I assume his mother) comes running up, calling his name. He stopped and went to her and all was well. But it was a tense few minutes for sure!

My New Favorite Blog

I've fallen in love with Ask Moxie. She's a mom of 2 who writes a blog and answers reader questions. Here is her manifesto.

And again, w00t!!

Finally got the word today that I have passed all 4 sections of the CPA exam. As I have said before, this was a joint effort and I could not have gotten through it without much help and encouragement from family and friends. When I called my mom with the news she joked that she almost felt like she had passed it herself.

There are a few more hoops to jump through before I'm licensed to practice. Since I'm at home with Speck right now, I'll probably take advantage of Alabama's option to remain on inactive status until DH and I decide it makes sense for me to go back to work. But you may all now properly address me as CPA. In fact, maybe you should just get into the habit of calling me CPA at every opportunity, LOL.

Happy 4th to everyone.

At the Park

My mom and I took Speck to check out Kids Space today. Most of the equipment is still too big for him, but he did enjoy this swing and took a few rides on the tot slide. He also loves to watch the other kids.