Plugged Toilet?

I was reading this post from Joeprah today which reminded me of the times I have flushed Jaxon's underwear down the toilet. Yup - I did. Twice.

So if anyone out there is as dumb and careless as I am, here is a tip to save some major $$$ and embarassment from having to call a plumber. If you have a toddler or young child, go out and get yourself one of these right away. Best $3 you will invest for your tool kit.

The Nerve

So I am at work and my cell phone rings. This rarely happens since the only people who call my cell are family and they usually call my work # during the day. The only cell calls I get are doctors/dentists confirming appointments.

But no, I look at the caller ID and it is an 800#. I answer and get an automatic message from Target. "Hi - this is Target we've been trying to reach you. Please stay on the line and we'll be right with you."

Say what? Your automated system calls me and puts ME on hold for 3 minutes.

Turns out when I set up a Target debit card last week somehow the charge that went through got returned from my bank. Now I don't know what is going on with my bank but this is the THIRD incident around that time that things have gone screwy. The money was there. In fact, my on-line statement shows that it cleared quite normally on the 18th.

This is really starting to worry me. The bank swears there is nothing going on but the evidence sure says otherwise!

Phone Polls

So I get a call today for a VERY quick poll. As in one question. I can't remember who was doing the poll but I didn't recognize the name and I was at work so I was a bit distracted. At first I said sure since it was just one question.

The question? Are you pro-life or pro-choice. I declined to answer. I felt a bit bad as I am pretty much pro-choice. But I am also personally pro-life. I remain unjudgmental of those who choose an abortion route. That is one of the hardest choices that person will ever make and it is not mine to judge. I am ever thankful I was never put in the position myself. I never had an unwanted pregnancy to be forced into even considering it.

I would never vote or support the right to choose being taken away. EVER.

HOWEVER... I am personally pro-life as well. Not in the sense of working to ban abortion or make it more difficult to attain an abortion, but in the sense of supporting programs that help to reduce the need for abortion or offer alternatives to abortion and better support systems and incentives to choose not to abort.

I support better education, and availability of birth control with a wide range of choices. I think birth control should be free for everyone, regardless of income status or health care coverage. I am certain it would cost far less than what this country spends as a result of unplanned pregnancies. Far less in health care costs, insured or uninsured, far less in welfare and other assistance costs. Far less to kids born to people who are not ready, financially, psychologically, or physically, to be parents.

So I just couldn't answer that question. My answer is far from either or. A vote for either side could be used for one extreme or the other. And while I am both pro-choice and pro-life, I am also neither.

Blurb

I have used Blurb Booksmart a few times now to make photo books. It is easy to use, very reasonably priced, and once I create a book I can order multiple copies for the Grandparents with no extra work. Check it out if you are looking for an easy and relatively inexpensive option to scrapbooking. They make great gifts.

I usually order an 80 page, 8 x 10 book in softcover. The hardcover are really nice but a lot pricier ($35.95 for 80 pages). I find the 80 page to be a great deal. They were $24.95 each ($19.95 for up to 40 pages) and shipping is about the same whether you order 1 book or 10. Shipping for six 80 page books came to $11.27 to Oregon.

You can view the first 15 pages of my two recent books here.
Jaxon's Fourth Year

Jaxon's First Visit to Disneyland

Family Time

As long as John and I have been together he has never had a true Monday through Friday 9-5 type job. There was a 6 month stint just after Jaxon was born where he did but it was contract and didn't last. The last 3 years, he has been working M-F but first he worked late nights Mondays and Tuesdays and some of the rest of the week when he was doing the layout design for the Redmond Spokesman. Then the past 2 years he has worked a 3-midnight shift.

Well the last 3 weeks he has worked days and it looks like the move to days may become permanent (fingers crossed!) and the bonus is that for once we are working near each other and able to carpool. This is important since we live 25 miles out of town and our gas bill has topped $500 a month recently. This will cut that by more than half. But the best part is having John home in the evening. He actually cooks dinner for us and we can finally sit down and have dinner as a family most nights. We are getting more stuff done around the house and when the weekend rolls around, he doesn't spend half of it catching up on sleep. We even went to church on Sunday morning, something we really have been wanting to be more regular doing, but when 9am is the middle of the night for your body clock, most weekends you just don't feel like getting up that early.

So, for the first time we are experiencing what most families take for granted, quality time together on a regular basis - and let me tell you, nothing could be better!

The Green Mega City

This has some really cool and innovative technology designs for greener cities. Hopefully many will come to fruition sooner rather than later. Check it out.