Thirteen Things for Thursday

I think I'm just Facebook deprived...can't FB at work and no time at home to be on computer...so these are probably more like my status updates for the last week or so.

1. One reason I'm not on the computer at home as much is that Martin has been watching his DVDs on the computer since we can't seem to play them on our TV and DVD player. The issue is that the power went out last week and now the TV is searching for a analog signal, which is needs to do a channel set-up, and not finding it. Without the channel set-up, we can't set the TV to the right channel for the DVD player. I'm feeling the pain of being technologically behind. Maybe we should just go ahead and get the HD TV we've been thinking about buying. I just hate spending so much money, thinking that I'll regret the purchase.
2. I did get a new phone though! I've had the same cell phone for 5 years! These things weren't made to last this long. The phone is starting to not hold a charge so I got a new one. Had to get the free one though. I'll still have to pay to have my numbers changed over though. Grrr.
3. I forgot to mention that we saw the shuttle launch while we were in FL. It was soo cool. We were 80 miles away and the shuttle was just a ball of fire in the sky but it was still sooo cool. We watched it all the way across the horizon in the night sky and even saw the boosters drop.
4. I really wish someone would explain double coupons to me. Do most stores only double coupons less than $1? My Safeway doesn't even advertize the fact that they double coupons so I wasn't figuring them into my price calculations. After experimenting with the Sunday coupons for the last 2 months, I think I'm going to use them on a more limited basis - only use coupons for $1 off (or $.50 with doubling) off 1 item or diaper or cereal coupons. Those are the only things that seem worth the time I'm taking cutting and organizing.
5. We got an offer on our condo and may have another offer coming in tonight! Seems as though a lot of first time homebuyers are making offers now to be able close before November 1st to get the tax credit. Sweet November - no more double mortgage payments for us!
6. I'm doing some initial calculations based on what I think we will get for the condo. I'm conducting an analysis to see if it would have been cheaper for us to rent the past 5 years than to buy. I think we're going to come up about even. At least we didn't lose money, and we received lots of intangible, unquantifiable benefits from owning the condo. For instance, I don't think we would have been able to rent as nice of a place, at least for what we would have been willing to pay in rent.
7. Wow, a lot of my 'things' are about money. Hmmm...
8. We tried giving Lydia meat yesterday - pureed chicken. She didn't like it. We'll try again. She's practicing picking up cheerios and putting them into her mouth. She's eaten one but mostly she just examines them.
9. In my research for this article that I'm writing at work, I found out that the name of first person to ever receive a federal deposit insurance payout was Mrs. Lydia Lobsiger. She received a check for $1,250 on July 3, 1934 when her bank, Fondulac State Bank in East Peoria, IL failed.
10. I had a coupon for a McCafe at McDonalds so I got one. I don't recommend it - at least the iced ones. It was 80 percent ice.
11. I also have a coupon for this music store near me - $5 off, no minimum purchase. I'm going to buy reeds for my clarinet and maybe start playing again with friends from church.
12. I just bought my dad a Father's Day gift last night. Only 3 months late. Pam, tell Justin not to worry - his birthday gift won't be that late.
13. Sunday we made our 3rd trip to an amusement park this summer - Kings Dominion for Martin's company picnic. Went to a wave pool there for the first time in years. Good times but I'm done with amusement parks for a while.

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long....

This was the theme song of our vacation and of really the last few weeks.

• Life is a highway and it keeps going even when you're on vacation and that helps describe how I feel now that we're back - lots to catch up with.
• The all night long part is also indicative our nights as Lydia continues to wake up at least twice at night. The 5-7am period is particularly difficult for sleep. (I'm trying white noise now and it seems to have helped a little but she's still getting up twice. I'm going to try not feeding her at night now.)
• Dylan has been singing this song because it's from the soundtrack of his favorite movie - Cars. While we were on the 800-mile stretch of highway from our house to Martin's parents' house, which bares the name of Dylan's favorite race car - #95, Lightening McQueen - we pretended we were in the scene of the movie where McQueen is trying to catch up to "Mac" after he falls out of his trailer. "Mac, Mac, wait up." Then we would catch up to the nearest tractor trailer and say "You're not Mac!" That entertained our little chatterbox for a good portion of the trip.
• We made it to FL in one day and with one speeding ticket. It was me driving. My first speeding ticket in almost 17 years (my first was when I was 16). We were listening to The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again and I guess I didn't realize how fast I was going. The very polite Southern police officer gave me a ticket (although he decrease the speed he clocked me at so I wouldn't get any points on my license) and told me to have a great day, but to slow down a bit.
• We didn't ride any waves in FL but we did go to the beach once and Dylan "went under" in the ocean, with me holding him. Lydia seemed to like the beach - she ate some sand and sat and splashed.
• Lydia started crawling while we were on vacation. She won't have to ride as much now - she can move on her own! She also cut another tooth on top and turned 8 months old!
• While we were visiting Martin's parents we took highway 4 over to Orlando and went to Sea World for 2 days. Dylan loved it. He still shouts "Shamu, Shamu" around the house. They had an Elmo show that Dylan and Lydia both enjoyed. Sea World was a great place to take the kids at this age. And they even had nursing mothers rooms where the moms get free bottled water! A+ for family friendly-ness!
• On our last full day in Daytona, Martin and I got to go on a date while the kids were napping. We went mini-golfing for the first time since Dylan was born and shopping and out for ice cream. Life is good.
• We then took highway 10 over to the panhandle to see my sister and her family. Dylan and Steven had a ball playing cars and monster trucks together and jumping on beds and into the pool. Dylan jumped into the pool with his swimmies and went under all my himself for the first time this summer. He and Steven also got to sit in one of Uncle Rob's helicopters!
• On Sunday, after visiting with my parents a little who had come to my sister's for a visit, we hopped back on the highway and headed home. This time we broke the return trip up into two days and stopped in Charleston, SC to visit a friend of Martin's from college for lunch.