My Shutterfly Shopping Cart Tango

I realize this obsession may be mine alone.  In the past few years I've become hooked on creating Shutterfly photo books, and I'm well into the double digits on the 8x8 hard cover books.  The quality is pretty good, and I love the idea of scrapbooking without having to clean up the mess.  And the price can be an absolute bargain--IF enough strategy is applied.

Here's what I'm talking about.

I received a free book code with the awesome camera Jeff bought me a few months ago.  I also had a gift card from Target.  I decided to stack them and get two books.  I got busy creating, and quickly had two books in my cart.  But, because Shutterfly changed its policy on using the free shipping code, I realized I now needed to add $15 in merchandise to avoid shipping fees.

And this is where our little dance began.

With the 40% off code I had from FB, I realized I could get another book for $17.  Game on.  Third Shutterfly book in 4 days?  Done.  Added to cart. 

And then I found another code for a free book.  I applied it to book #3.  Uh oh.  Shipping charges came back.  And they were even bigger, since I had three books now instead of two. 

To get rid of the shipping charges, I realized I needed to add another book.  WHAT?  Yep, I hate paying for shipping that much. 

To make a long story short, I just placed my order for FIVE Shutterfly photo books.  And the total bill was $37.  Considering the market price for one book is $29 plus $8 shipping, I feel like such a winner.

What were the subjects of the books, you ask?  Well, I didn't tackle all the books I had planned for Luke, which makes me sad.  But I finally finished the ABC book of his that I've been working on for over a year.  And I archived our Mexican vacation from May.  And the time Jeff and I lived in Boston in 2001.  And our trip to Alaska from 2009.  And the Maui trip, from 2007. 

I'm very tired now, but I'm looking forward to the arrival of the books.  :)

Here's the link to my share site, if you're interested... http://schwertnerland.shutterfly.com/pictures

Ohhh, Mexico!

I just got a fabulous new camera, and we just took a wonderful trip down to Mexico.  Thought I'd post my favorite screensaver pic, just because I love it so much.  This is from Playa del Carmen.  Enjoy!

Vacation Blues, Revisited

I was on the UNT campus this morning, and apparently it's been a WHILE, because the old building they were tearing down the last time I was there--the one whose demise I lamented because the 10 or so metered parking spots right across the street from the education building were going with it--has been replaced with a beautiful parking garage (Who says windows don't open when doors shut!?). 

The campus was looking as lovely as ever, but I wasn't even there for academic purposes.  I was there to pick up a Little Tikes toy for Luke that I was buying from another mother on Craigslist, while Luke was at MDO.  (That realization made me feel just awful, because, as I'm sure you all know, I'm still smack-dab in the middle of my doctoral degree program.)

While I drove around campus alone, and then followed up that with a shopping trip at a nearby outlet store, I found myself feeling a bit like an undergrad.  It was the middle of the day, and I didn't have any responsibilities (I never said I made that good of an undergraduate student...).  It was delightful.

And now, the question...

Do I turn this post (on this long-forgotten blog) into a dissertation update (of which there's nothing to update), or do I take a turn to splurge a moment on the joys of being a SAHM and the fact that there's no rest for the weary?  (It's the last day of MDO, and I'm tired just thinking about the summer!)

Let's just say life is absolutely wonderful.  There are things I could complain about, but there are many more things to be thankful for. 

I hope life is wonderful for you, too!



Advent Book Stack

As the last of the holiday decorations goes up into the attic, this year we will also be sending a box of books--holiday/Christmas books, that is. Because I'm an overzealous book collector--and because the Freakonomics guys say that school success is in part determined not so much by how much parents read to their kids, but by how many books are actually in the home--it seems like a logical explanation to banish relocate the books for the year. Plus, won't they be more special if we only get to see them at Christmastime? 
Anyway, Luke turned 2 this year, and I think by next year my big idea will fall upon the graces of perfect timing. And what is my big idea?!? Why, it's an Advent book stack!

I've seen some cute little advent wreath-type ideas going around Pinterest, but I haven't seen the book idea. Only it's such a great idea that I know I didn't just suddenly come upon it myself. I'm sure parents have been doing this for years. But here's my plan.

This year I made an extra special effort to collect at least 24 Christmas/holiday books that are 1)Luke's favorites now, 2)will be age appropriate next year, and/or 3)will become part of our family's holiday reading tradition.

I scoured the collection of books we already had, hit up Half Price Books' after Christmas markdowns, had my mom bring me the books I didn't remember collecting in high school when I so desperately wanted to grow up to teach elementary school, and asked for books for gifts. I ended up with about 30 or so books.

I wrapped the books (some--the ones I think might not be as exciting for Luke next year--got doubled up), placed a number (1-24) label on each book/package of books, added the ribbons I rescued from the Christmas trash at my parents' house, and voila.

Now Luke will have a "present" to open every day next December; it didn't cost me that much, and it will feed his brain and not his horrible sweet tooth habit. I wrapped his favorite two books from this year together as #1 so that he'll be extra excited to get started next year. And of course, we'll add and remove books from our stack as the years continue, which will hopefully create a wonderfully lasting tradition in our family.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Office Space

Here's our home office:

First of all, let me first say it's the most neglected room in our house, but it's also one of the most frequented.  Don't let the bottle of Pledge fool you.  

Before I go on, can I have the conch to gripe for a minute?  When I quit my teaching job to become a SAHM I had to figure out what to do with 8 years of teaching high school English (ie enough books for my own library, if I lived in a small town). I got rid of most of it, but I brought home a few of my favorite things (ie my pile of leftover favorites still equals more books than I'm convinced the average adult owns).  Where to keep them?  Good question.  I also thought I'd work more steadily on my dissertation (ha). Oh, and now that I've discovered Pinterest I've now amassed enough craft stuff for my own crafting room.  And with my curious toddler pawing at everything, where is my designated space to keep ALL things books, doctorate, and craft-mom?  See exhibit "B", above.  Yep, that 30" x 30" space is the only spot I've found in the house that does not get bothered. 

Yep, it's booby trapped.  But can you believe my dear husband still complains about my "clutter"?  I hate it, to be clear, but the rest of the entire office?  ALL JEFF'S. And I should point out that he already has one of those office things, like, at work. 

This afternoon Santa delivered a beautiful new [fast] computer to our house, via his elves in a FedEx truck.  We are so excited.  (In fact, Jeff called me 2 minutes after the delivery truck left, saying he had received the email notification, and that I was not to open it. Grr. Oh well.)  Our current Dell desktop was to be our "we'll make this work for 2 years until we're ready to make a real decision" computer.  That was seven years ago. 

And the timing is perfect.  Luke got a beautiful new desk (exhibit "A," above) from his Mimi and Papa for his birthday last month, and he's ready, I believe, for his own computer.  So when Jeff strips down all the software boggling up the current desktop, it will be perfect for Luke.  And we have reason to believe Santa will bring Luke a toddler keyboard and mouse for Christmas ;).  Everyone wins. 

Except for one thing.  Luke's new desk comes out about 12 inches too far.  It's making me nervous just looking at it, because I see my toddler encroaching a little bit more into my space.  Yikes.  The bonus here is there's about 12 inches of space you don't see on the ride side of the big desk, and I'm stealing myself as we speak to try and convince Jeff he should move the big desk.  He's absolutely not going to like it, and he's going to throw a fit.  A big fit.  Poor Jeff.

So there's our office space.  BTW, if you see Santa, please tell him Mommy would love for Santa to bring her a room of her own. ;)

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Desperately Seeking Baptismal Dates

I'm finally working on the photo book for Luke's baptism.  It's about time, I know, since he was baptized in March--of 2010.  And instead of just a book with pictures, I thought I'd make it useful.  He was four months old at his baptism, and I need to do something to help him realize what went on, since he obviously doesn't remember.  How weird that he had such a big event in his life and the only way he'll know about it is through pictures and stories. 

Yeah, I know, that's the way it goes.  In our Lutheran-Catholic faiths we are baptized as infants and given Godparents to watch over us and guide us in our upbringing, taken to church by our parents, and made to relive our own baptisms every time we see someone else get baptized.  So the book is really only a formality.  But I want it to be something Luke can be proud of.

Enter my big challenge.  Why not include a family tree, complete with the baptismal dates of Luke's parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents??  Genius.  Umm...maybe.  But not nearly as easy as it sounds. 

I got the idea when thinking about my own baptism.  Jeff and I made the decision to baptize Luke at the church I was raised in, the small rural Lutheran church with the rich history, the "Friendly Little Church in the Valley."  We've lived in the DFW area for nearly a decade, and our roots gradually grow deeper and deeper here in North Texas, but we're not from here.  I'm from the town my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc., etc., etc. have almost always hailed from, and Jeff's family tree has its own deep roots in/near Rowena.  We wanted to plant Luke's roots a little closer to ours, and I'm not sure how we came upon the decision to pick Walburg over Rowena, but we did, and the rest is history.

Except the history here is the challenging part.  I'm so fortunate that my family church put out a record book at their 110th anniversary celebration in 1999 that includes baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths.  So, aside from my own baptism at the church, I've easily located the records of my father, my mother, her father (baptized 1916), and both of his parents (father, 1890; mother, 1892).  So, how cool that Luke can say he was baptized at the same church as his great-great-grandparents!  He would have met a very similar fate if he had been baptized in Jeff's home church.  We know Jeff, his father, and both of his paternal grandparents were baptized in Rowena (But Jeff's parents don't know when.).  And I'm fairly certain we could keep going...

Where were the rest of the ancestors baptized, you ask? Well, that's the brick wall I've come up against.  I'm still looking for dates on Jeff's Granny and Popo.  Apparently they were born before the records that the very nice lady at the Catholic diocese was able to access.  I'm steeling myself to call the church and ask the secretary to dig for the baptisms, admittedly because I'm a little afraid that I might not be able to get the information I'm so craving. 

My calls to the tiny little Lutheran church where my mom's mother was baptized--and where my sister- and brother-in-law still worship (along with our own Goddaughter!) have gone unanswered.  And Jeff's grandma was born in North Texas, so I have to call the diocese here...

The most elusive dates to me, then, are for my dad's parents' baptisms.  My two aunts have been beyond helpful; my Aunt Kathy has made phone calls, written letters, and dug for information.  We're pretty sure we have the year of my grandpa's adult baptism in the Methodist church, but the church is now defunct.  Try making that  phone call! 

You know, it's positively surreal that I can find 56 Google pages on myself, thanks to a presentation I made as a fellow for a writing institute that has been picked up and spun through the search engine's metafilter, but I can't Google "Grandma Shepherd" and "Baptism" and get the information I need. 

But I have come across some interesting information.  It seems my great-grandparents worshipped at a small church where my great-grandmother attended school as a girl.  And then, it seems, the church/school disappeared and my great-grandparents bought the land and lived in a house on the property.  And I remember that house a little, which, I guess you can say, makes me a part of history.  The problem?  Nobody seems to know the name of the church.  And it has come to light that my grandmother's two brothers were each baptized as adults.  Of course, that complicates things even more, because now there's the possibility that perhaps she was not baptized at all, which leaves a gaping hole in my perfectly conceived tree diagram. 

(My aunt told me Grandma was saved as a girl, which at least makes my heart feel lighter. And this week marks the tenth anniversary of her passing, so she's been on my mind even more than usual...)

So where do I go from here?  Well, I keep making phone calls.  And I keep digging.  And you can make darn sure that when I do find all the information, I'm writing it down.  And printing it in a book.  And making copies for all my family members.  And laminating my diagram.  :)

Shoes on High (Heel) Alert

Jeff and I had a discussion tonight that has really irked me.  He's chair of the safety council at work, which, it turns out, is a lot more important than just wearing an arm band in the halls and tattling on his friends ala Bobby Brady in that Brady Bunch episode.  Safety is hugely important at his company's plants, and it necessarily carries over into the corporate office.  So, before I go any further, let me first just say that the opinions expressed here are my own, and merely for "sport," as it were, and not to create a revolution or even receive any notice whatsoever.

Jeff works in a corporate office near the Las Colinas area, one of the most fashionable see and be seen places in the Metroplex.  I feel like my SAHM clothes hardly fit in when I go to lunch there.  And so, when Jeff came home and told me that the safety council was making a new policy regarding the wearing of high heels by women at work I became a little defensive.  And the more I thought about it, the more this cut to the bone, not just because of the location of the company, but, deep down, because of what it stands for (to me, at least.).

So it seems that there are new stipulations on the heels that women are allowed to wear to the office.  I'm paraphrasing, but as I understand it, heels (which are entirely optional in the office) must have 1) a back, 2) a heel at least 1" thick, and 3) a height of no more than 3".  Suddenly I think of both the shoes my grandmothers wore in their sixties and my first pair of "high heels" at Easter time when I was eight years old.

And, apparently it's not a cold, hard rule, but a strong suggestion.  But I'm not sure what the difference is.

Now, I'm no Carrie Bradshaw.  But I do love shoes.  For years I danced on the margins of professionalism as a teacher, almost always wearing some sort of heel to teach high school in.  And I've all but missed the current phase of really amazing high heels.  As the shoes started to get higher and more radical, I got pregnant (no correlation), and my budget, lack of gross motor skills, and need for "practical" shoes to shuttle my toddler to story time when we're often late have meant that I've spent the entire summer in my Reebok Easy Tones.

But, when I go to lunch with Jeff or my sister (who also works in the Las Colinas area), I almost always wear heels, because that's what the female sex wears in Las Colinas.

So when Jeff and I were having the shoe conversation at dinner I was mentally running an inventory of my "work" shoes and realized I'd be in a whole world of hurt because I really couldn't think of any shoes I owned that met all of his criteria. 

Jeff really spends a lot of time in the world of black and white, and he's made for the gig as safety czar.  And to be clear, the idea wasn't his own.  But he's seen me stumble my way through life (again, I'm just not that that coordinated) in high heels, and he gets the need for safety in the work place.  Oh, and in his words:  "Brandi, our bonuses are partly determined by ESHA and how safe we are at work." 

I'm absolutely not arguing against the safety component.  I'm all in favor of nobody getting hurt, and I do admit that sometimes the shoes can be a bit ridiculous.  But for me--and probably for most women who wear them--it all comes down to one thing:  shoes are a tool for self expression.

When I hear that I'm not allowed to wear high heels, and especially when the dictum comes from a man, I immediately hear that I'm being opressed.  Here's the bottom line:  women need to dress more like men. 

Remember the study a few years ago that suggested that height in the workplace really does seem to determine power?  Some of us really do wear heels because they make us feel empowered.  And I don't love that that empowerment is being stripped away, even if it's in the name of safety. 

After our dinner conversation, I took about 2 minutes to run through my closet and grab shoes that didn't meet the new criteria, just so I could show Jeff that the new rules just didn't make a lot of sense.  And there are only a couple of shoes in this pile that really shouldn't be worn.  And I didn't even make a dent in my shoe collection.  I wanted Jeff to agree with me that while safety can be mandated, personal expression really shouldn't be. 

I'm not sure it completely did the trick, but, since I covered his sink in shoes, it did make it hard for him to brush his teeth.  Maybe he'll think of that at his next safety meeting.  ;)

Paci Passing

On many nights, our nighttime ritual goes like this:  Luke climbs into our big jacuzzi bath and plays for a little while.  Then I hop in, clean Luke up, wash his hair, and pass him on to Jeff.  Jeff gets Luke ready for bed, brushes his teeth, gives him his vitamin (if I forgot to do it earlier), finds his pacifier, gets ready for bed himself, and then reads to Luke or watches a little television with him while I have a moment (and it's often the only moment I have all day) to myself.  Jeff even locks the door to the bathroom on the way out, so I can have about 5-10 minutes of uninterrupted Calgon time.  What a great dad!

Well, as you can imagine, Luke does not go gently into the good night.  Within a few minutes he's usually clawing at the bathroom door, yelling for me  (I'm very glad he hasn't learned to say "Hurry up!"--I know that's coming soon.  Sigh.).  And while I'm usually 95% available for Luke the rest of the time, I know he's in good hands with Jeff.  So I repeatedly yell from the other side of the door ideas for Luke  ("Go read a book with Daddy!" or "Go play with Daddy!" or "Mommy is in time out!"), because I sometimes really just need a minute to myself. 

Except last night I think Luke got closer to cracking the code.  And I just happened to have my iPod handy, so I snapped the pics that will follow in a minute.

I was brushing my teeth, and I looked back to see Luke passing his paci (what he calls his pacifier--actually, he calls it a "pat-ty") underneath the bathroom door.  Hilarious!  And ingenious!  He knew it would get my attention, and for a minute it did.  Then I remembered that I actually had Jeff to cover for me, and I went back to my five minutes of alone time. 

Toddlers are so good at manipulation.  I didn't give in, though, and instead I just took pictures.  Okay, confession:  I did move the paci a little closer to Luke's reach so I could get a better picture.  :)