Mom's House, Part Two

Oy. That about covers it. Here's a recap of my PA Tweets:Mom's house, day 1 AM: 20 brown bags of recyclable paper filled so far.

• Mom's house, day 1 PM: basement family room 90% completed - good. Garbage and recyclable paper drenched during downpour - bad.
• Mom's house, day 2: Morning was fairly productive. Then mom decided to stop playing along. Yay. Progress = FAIL.
• Mom's house, day 3: today's agenda will be similar to Sherman's march to the sea: slash and burn!
• Mom's house, day 4: my mother informed my husband on what a terrible person I am and advised him to kick my butt. This is officially my worst PA trip ever.
• Mom's house, day 4: productivity = zero; psychotic outbursts = increasing. She's just advised my husband to paddle me. Countdown to my escape to Texas.
• I'm watching Chris and a Lowe's employee tie sheetrock and plywood to the roof of our rented Honda Accord...shoulda got the "kill this car" insurance.
• Going to buy a lottery ticket. Because after today, my luck is bound to get better!
• Twitter on my cell phone used to cut me off at 140 but no longer does, so I'm suffering from technology truncation! Argh!
• Mom's house, day 5: ceiling to fix, painting to do, and still 2 major areas of the house to square away.
• Mom's house, day 6: last day. Painting in AM, quick visit with cousins around lunch, then finishing touches. Leaving for PHL at 2AM.
• Shady Pines, Ma. Shady Pines.
• Blowing the popsicle stand known as Scranton and heading HOME to Texas...on the highway heading to PHL!
• I am so grateful to be back in Texas that I could almost get down and kiss the ground!

The Funny Thing About Toys

My child, fondly known as Spoiled Baby, has more toys than any other child on the planet. I'm serious. We've bought her a ton, she's been given a ton, she has most of mine from childhood, plus she's got hand-me-downs from other relatives and friends.

And yet...

And yet...

She prefers to play with my cell phone and shoes.

Oy!

Three Years Ago Today...

...I was wishing that the day would just GET OVER so we could start our honeymoon at South Padre Island. (Have you read my wedding travails?)

Tonight, I celebrate 3 years of marriage with Christopher...and it's been a terrific three years. Between buying our house, having our baby, and weathering lots of interesting times together, I'm constantly reminded that I absolutely married the best man in the world.

Love you, baby!

Travels with Baby

You might remember my post from late March when I lamented knowing what to pack for our first trip with baby.

Well...we basically ended up taking everything but the kitchen sink. My poor husband...I was in charge of baby, baby carriage/car seat, baby bag, purse, and 1 other bag. He schlepped the rest.

Today, as I'm traveling for work all by my itty bitty self, I'm left thinking about how we will do things differently in our next trip, which will be later this month or early June. Here is some of what I learned:

• I don't need 2 outfits for every day of the trip. There are washing machines even in Pennsylvania.
• I don't need to take enough food/juice for the entire trip. I need enough to travel with, and the rest can be bought/made there. That alone ought to save LOTS of room.
• I don't need enough bottles and spoons and bowls for a week. Texas isn't the only state with running water.
• I don't need 20 different baby toys. Baby doesn't notice if she has to play with the same, say, 4-5 toys over and over again.

I'm hoping to eliminate at least one carry-on and one checked bag for our next trip...and then when we go camping in Idaho in July, I hope to make do with just 2 checked bags and 2 carry-ons.

What travel-with-baby tips have you learned along the way that you'd like to share?

And the Winner Is...

Any Toastmasters out there?

Just over a year ago, I joined the Toastmasters club that meets at my office. For me, it was a great opportunity. I've been a speaker all my life...between just flat out chattering, to more defined opportunities in speech and debate, drama, etc. So this was a way for me to re-engage in speaking. I love it!

This spring, I qualified to compete in the District level competitions for both Table Topics and the International Speech Contest. The competition was this weekend.

Table Topics is a competition where you are given a question and have to answer it immediately within a 1-2 minute timeframe. I was extremely tickled to win 2nd place in the District competition this weekend. Yahoo!

The international speech competition is often used for inspirational type speeches. I gave a speech related to sharing memories - how you are remembered by what you share with others. I love my speech, and I love it all the more because my dad inspired it.

Unfortunately, I didn't win, or even place in the top three at districts, but I was able to reach many people in the audience, who shared memories with me after the competition. What a neat opportunity! I didn't realize that may be an outcome...but it was so neat to experience.

Any other Toastmasters out there?