Gardens, Bunnies, and Fireflies, Oh My!

Over the winter, Andy decided that we just HAD to have a garden this summer.  He thought and planned and bought all sorts of seeds and picked out the perfect spot in the yard for a nice little garden.  And then when he went to borrow the tiller from his dad, he said, "Why not just have it here??"  My Father-in-Law has a wonderfully huge lot (almost 5 acres, though most of it is wooded) out in the country just 5 minutes away.  He's got lots (and LOTS) of gardening experience.  He's retired, so he's got time on his hands to help out in return for a share of the produce.  But he's also got a habit of going way overboard when it comes to food.  He grew up in a very large family, and still doesn't know how to cook for any less than 15.  It's great for church meals and holidays - not so great when it's just the four of us sitting down to dinner!  Well at least we always end up with leftovers, so we don't complain too much.  And so the garden project grew.  And it grew and grew and grew.    Andy and Ellie usually go over to help take care of it on Tuesday nights, but they really wanted me to finally come see it, so last weekend we made an evening of it...

Here's a distance shot of the garden...

Look at all that glorious corn!  My freezer is going to be STOCKED this winter!

Whatchya lookin' at?

Oooh, the world's tiniest watermelon!

Pumpkin bud.

One of Ellie's favorite pasttimes at Grampy's house is chasing bunnies.

Like I said, his property is mostly wooded, so he's got lots and lots of wildlife.  And with a garden like that, there's NO shortage of adorable little bunny rabbits.  One night she even stumbled upon a nest of babies!

Grampy's also got quite the green thumb for flowers!

As the sun went down, we decided to try some firefly catching...

Feelin' pretty excited about the hunt!

Eventually she got so good that the fireflies were catching HER!

So proud of her catch!  Don't worry, we let them go when we got home.

Hope your summer is shaping up as nicely as ours is! :-)



PS - here's a sneak peek of my next DIY project....

Schoola - Online Thrifting for the Lazy Thrifter

So it's no secret that I love thrifting.  Like, I prefer it over shopping at a regular retail store.  I can't even go to Kohls and buy something on clearance because paying $12 for a shirt is OUTRAGEOUS when I can go to the thrift store and get three shirts for that price!  I even spent part of my vacation going around to local thrift stores.  I. Love. Thrifting.  But I don't always have the time (or energy) to go hunting for good bargains.  Then the other week I stumbled (thanks to a friend's referral) on a new (to me) website called Schoola.  And it seemed too good to be true.  But then yesterday, I got this in the mail....

Allow me to elaborate.  Schoola is a website kind of like ThredUP (which I've perused, but never ordered from).  They partner with schools, hence the name.  The schools host huge clothing drives, donating the clothes to Schoola.  Schoola sells the (gently) used toddler, kids', teens', and women's clothes and accessories for reasonable thrift store prices and 40% of sales go back to the school that donated the item.  Each item that I got came from (and therefore benefited) a different school.  I'm all for schools, so this already sounded pretty good to me.  But then came the best news.

When I shopped through my friend's referral link, I got $15 in store credit to spend.  Sweet, free money!  THEN, I discovered that if I created an account (which you have to do to buy anything anyway) and set up a "collection", I got $10 more in store credit.  The Collections are basically just another way of sorting the items to narrow down what you're looking for.  You click on "collections" at the top of the home page and then click the "+ New Collection" button at the bottom of the drop-down menu.  

Then you answer some basic questions, narrowing your selection by size, color, and/or type (shirts, pants, dresses, etc.) and the website will sort through all the items to show you only what you really want to see.  Kind of an interesting way to shop and it didn't take much time in order to earn that extra $10.

When you're shopping through, you can click on the different items and it will tell you brand (if available) and size as well as the material composition and general condition.  I WISH it would tell you what things are and are not machine washable.  I don't need specific washing instructions, but I make it a general rule to never buy anything that is dry clean only because I just KNOW I'll never bother to get it dry cleaned.  But if you keep an eye on that material composition line and know that things like silk are almost always dry clean only, you can get a pretty good idea of what you're willing to get.

Anyway, when I was shopping, there was also a special 50% off everything discount code going.  And I had gotten $25 in credit.  So I got to grab myself $50 worth of clothes and here was my bill...

That's right.  Twenty cents.  Standard shipping is always free, too.  It did take about 2 weeks to arrive, so if you want it faster then you'll have to pay for an upgrade, but I'm always happy with free.  So what all did that twenty cents get me, you ask?  Check it out...

Yes, that's right, I got myself SEVEN shirts for twenty cents.  That's better than any other thrift store I've ever been to and I didn't even have to get dressed and leave the house!  Now, I will caution you, like many thrift stores, Schoola does not accept returns.  I also make it a rule to never order clothes from an online source that doesn't have a physical location to return to, but I decided to risk it on these since they were very-nearly free.  I figured that if something didn't fit, I would re-donate it to my local thrift store (which benefits my community) and just cut my losses.  But IT ALL FITS.  Now, granted, I picked pretty safe and forgiving pieces, but still.  I'm pretty stoked about it.

So, I really, highly recommend that you check it out.  Like I said, there are clothes for everyone from toddler up through mom.  Sorry, no men's clothes though.  It's hard thrifting for men anywhere because they wear their clothes until they wear out, so they're no good for anything but rags.  There are clothes for boys from toddler through "school age" though.  Just like any thrift store, you've got to search for the gems and realize that designer clothes are going to come with a much higher price tag.  There was a toddler skirt that I LOVED for Ellie, but they wanted $40 for it!  Then I read a little closer and it turns out it was a $120 skirt originally and made of silk, so probably dry clean only.  After a little research I found out that the company is based in California, although they are starting to partner with schools all over the country, so the styles of clothes are quite varied.  No worries though!  There are plenty of reasonable things for a simple gal like me - I got brands like Old Navy and One World as well as brands that you find at Kohls and Penny's.  

And, the VERY best part... it didn't smell AT ALL!  If you're an experienced thrifter, you know what I'm talking about.  There's a distinctive "thrift store" smell that clothes acquire.  I don't know how they get it, but they all do.  And sometimes it can take several washes to get it all out.  None of these shirts, despite being donated all from different schools, had any kind of a smell to them.  I still washed them anyway, of course, but I was really impressed with their condition!

Ok, so, you can get $25 of free clothes, with free shipping, and it benefits schools.  What are you waiting for??  Click through this link and set up an account to get your $15 credit and then create your own shopping collection for an extra $10.  It's that easy.  And if you can't manage to spend the whole $25 or don't want to risk going over and having to pay twenty cents like I did, you can spend under and get it completely free.  (not like retail stores where you have to spend at LEAST $10 to get the $10 off - $9.99 doesn't count!)  And when you place your first order, I'll get a little credit back to my account, too.  So I'm not doing this for totally selfless reasons, but it's still a really good deal that I wanted to share with you all.  Because we ALL deserve some free stuff sometimes!  Happy shopping!!

PS- Schoola didn't ask me to write this review, although I do get store credit when you shop through the referral link.

Face-Lifts, Boots, and a Life Lesson

Hi all!  Welcome to the new blog!  Ok, ok, so it's the same old blog.  But I thought it was time for a face lift.  I stumbled upon another mom using plain old Blogger (instead of one of the more fancy sites for actual serious bloggers) and thought it was super pretty!  So I clicked on the link at the top and found myself at Shabby Blogs!  What a cute site!  The best part is, all of their backgrounds, headers, and other stuff that I don't even know what to do with is FREE!  I was amazed.  It took quite a bit of playing around (and googling for help) to get it just right, but I think I've worked out the kinks and I'm super happy with the result.  It's nice to have a blog that more accurately depicts my favorite things :-)  OH!  And did you notice the name change?!  Story time... 

So when I first set out to start the blog, it was as a way of keeping everyone up to date on things happening with our family.  Specifically, my pregnancy.  So I thought it would be cute to have a name like "Birth of a Mom" or "Becoming a Mom" or something like that.  Guess what?  Those were all taken.  So, due to a lack of other options, I decided on the less-cute-but-still-alliterated Heather's Household Happenings.  I never really liked it all that much, but it worked and it wasn't taken.  I guess all the other Heather's out there in blog-land didn't like it either!  So then I got a tablet (the closest thing to a smart phone I can have right now!) and thought it would be cool to be on Twitter.  And then I was stuck on another name.  I did what all modern folks would do when faced with such a tough decision - I asked my facbook friends for their suggestions.  And a good friend suggested MamaMcDee.  And I loved it!  And it wasn't even taken!  So I snatched that baby right up before the next McMama could.  

When I finally decided to give my lovely little bloggy a face lift, I thought I'd see about changing the name, too.  Lo and behold, MamaMcDee: NOT TAKEN!  And so my little blog space is now known as Mama McDee.  Which is great.  But everyone knows that a good blog has got to have a good tag line!  Luckily for me, this is only a small, mediocre blog so a short, mediocre tag line would suffice.  So I thought long and hard for a bit and came up with something I actually really like: Becoming Mom, Becoming Me.  Because that's generally what I write about.  This is my journey to becoming a mom - because let's face it, that journey's pretty much never over - and realizing the ever changing concept of 'me.'  Story time...

The Hubs said something to me a little while ago that made me mad think.  I've decided that I am really super in love with boots.  Like the suede kind with the toggles on the side and a little bit of fuzzy sticking out the top.  

Not Uggs.  But I guess to a man, they are close enough to be considered the same thing.  I got a pair in black last spring and then splurged for a pair in grey and brown when Kohls had them on sale for Black Friday.  And I'm so excited that now I have a pair of boots for every outfit.  I really do love them.  Anyway, when I brought them home, Hubs looked at me and said, "I thought you hated uggs.  We had actual conversations in college about how people on campus would walk around in uggs and you thought it was so stupid and you swore you would never be caught dead in a pair."  I tried to explain that these are not uggs.  First of all, they were about a quarter of the price, plus they are in colors that actually match my outfit, plus I don't walk around with just a shirt and leggings and uggs and then complain about being cold because my boots should be keeping me so warm, plus I don't use them as snow boots and then complain when the super-expensive suede is ruined by the wet snow.  Clearly they are not the same thing.  And he replied with, "Yes, they're pretty much the same thing.  That you swore you'd never wear.  You're just not the same girl that I married."  Now, he said it with a smile and a laugh that let me know he wasn't upset or disappointed in me or considering leaving me because I bought three pairs of boots (like I said, it was a really good sale).  But that still kind of haunted me for a while.  Two days later, I finally came up with the perfect come-back.  (Isn't that always how it goes?)  And so I sat him down and I said, "Hey, remember the other day when you gave me a lecture about how now I wear boots and I used to hate uggs (which I still would NOT wear and these are NOT the same thing) and then you said that I'm not the same girl you married?  Remember that?  Yeah, well, you're right.  I'm not the same girl you married.  Now I'm a mom and I drive a mini-van and I wear scarves and my favorite color is purple and I like to wear boots.  Deal with it."  And he laughed and said, "They're still the same thing as uggs."  Clearly I made my point.  

Anyway, it got me to thinking about how who we are is so fluid and constantly changing.  I'm not the same person I was five and a half years ago.  That would be awful!  So often, especially as teenagers, we're told to just be yourself and don't let anyone change you!  There's such an awful stigma on change.  But it can be so, so good!  As long as that change comes as a form of growth and not regression, there's nothing to fear or resist.  Change!  Do it!  It's awesome!  Allow yourself to become a slightly different person from day to day.  Drop old bad habits and start new good ones.  Try a different style of hair cut or a new accessory.  Wear a color that you thought you could never pull off.  Do something that challenges you physically, emotionally, spiritually.  I remember the person that I was in High School and College and I'm so glad that I've allowed myself the grace of change.  I used to be painfully shy.  Painfully.  No one who meets me now believes that.  I've branched out and opened up and allowed myself to grow into someone who is, dare I say, outgoing!  And I wear scarves and boots and bright colors because that's what I like.  And I try really hard not to care what other people think about how I look.  (Except when they ask me if I'm pregnant.  That one's hard to ignore.)  

So I guess what I've been trying to say is that this blog is changing.  Just like me!  It isn't just about the things that happen in my house.  Or my pregnancy.  (Because NO, I'm not pregnant.)  It's about my journey as I become a mom to my awesome toddler and as I become more genuinely myself.  Whatever that means :-)

FYI: BOYS HATE TO SING!

So, in case you didn't know this, in addition to being a mommy-wife-secretary-blogger-taste tester (a what?), I also teach private music lessons (all piano students right now) two nights a week.

 I currently have 10 students and they are some of the best and most hilarious kids you'll ever meet.  And just last week, I FINALLY upgraded to having 2 boys!  One is in second grade and one is in third.  Last night, I had this conversation with one of them....

Me: Ok, so I want you to sing the note names along with me...

Boy: NO!

M: Let me guess, you don't like to sing?

B: NO I HATE SINGING!

M: Yeah, I hear that from a lot of boys and I've never been able to figure out why.  Why do you hate singing so much?

B: I DON'T KNOW I JUST DO!

M: Well that's not a good enough reason, so you're going to have to sing this with me...

B: NO!  I HATE SINGING!  I JUST DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU WHY!

M: Ok... I've always just been really curious why boys don't like to sing, are you sure you won't tell me?

B: NO!  IT'S A SECRET!

M: Ok, then you don't have to tell me.  And you don't have to sing.  Just SAY the note names in the correct rhythm.

B: I'M NOT TELLING YOU!  

M: That's ok, you don't have to.

B: IT'S JUST THAT IT'S A WORD THAT EVERYONE KNOWS EXCEPT FOR MAYBE BABIES.  SO LIKE PEOPLE WHO CAN'T TALK.  BUT EVERYONE ELSE KNOWS IT.

M: Ok, I officially have no idea what you're talking about.

B: I HATE SINGING!  BUT I CAN'T SAY THE WORD WHY!

M: Ok, that's fine, you don't HAVE to sing this, just say the right notes in the right rhythm with me.

B: Oh, ok then.  G-A-B-B-...

To protect his identity (since he was obviously crazy sensitive about this issue), I'm not going to tell you if it was the second or the third grader.  But does anyone have ANY idea what the heck he was talking about?  I told Andy about it and he was just as confused as I was.  But then again he was in special choir as a kid, so maybe he was left out of the secret word that everyone knows but no one can say that makes boys hate singing.

Never a dull moment around here!

Also, you might want to check on how many times you say 'ok' in the same conversation.  Wow.

Subpoena

(This is the ridiculous second chapter in my on-going stolen wallet saga.  If you haven't already, read this post first...)

So the other Wednesday I had choir practice, just like every Wednesday.  On my way out, I checked my phone to find I had a voicemail.  I figured it was Andy, calling to ask me to come home quickly to help put Ellie to bed.  Not out of the ordinary.  But it wasn't Andy.  

It was a strange voice that I didn't recognize.  Sounded like an older man.  Trying to deliver a subpoena to me.  Needs to set up a time to meet.  So I called him back and tried to arrange a time that I would be home that he could come to my house.  He was very hard to understand.  I still couldn't understand his name, but caught the word Constable.  Is that even still a thing in the US?   He seemed ticked off that he'd have to drive to the next town over to deliver this piece of paper.  So I finally gave up and just told him when and where I'd be at work and that seemed to make him happier.  He said he'd be there the next day.

And then I went to walmart and bought ice cream and cheetos.  I'm not even joking.

I cried on the way home.  And I'm not even really sure why.

That night, I couldn't sleep.  I had nightmares that the person who had called was not who he said he was.  That he was the wallet-thief and he had set up this meeting to get me back for getting him arrested.  Or that he had called to find out when I'd be out of the house so he could come and rob me further or do horrible things to my family.  This wasn't even a violent crime.  I have no idea why my brain freaked out so badly.

The next day, I waited on the edge of my chair for the doorbell to ring.  Around 11:30, the custodians left for the day.  Around 1:00 the Pastor left for a visit.  Now I was alone in the building.  Just me and my wild imagination and tendency toward anxiety attacks.  Yeah, that's a recipe for a highly productive afternoon at work.  Finally the doorbell rang.  And, sure enough, it was an older man with a gun.  And a badge.  The badge means he's safe, right?  So I said a quick prayer and answered the door.  Yep, it was the Constable.  Still didn't catch his last name, but it hardly matters anymore.  He handed me the subpoena and then was on his merry way to deliver the next one.

That was easy.

It said I had to appear at the preliminary hearing to testify on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in their case against the man who stole my wallet.  The hearing was scheduled for the following Tuesday at 2 pm.  Who gives 4 days notice for a hearing in the middle of the work day?!  I've got a job and a toddler to take care of.  And then you're going to have the Constable tell me that if I don't show for the hearing, I can be arrested?!  Ugh.  I can kind of see why people dislike the justice system in general.  So I made a quick call to Andy to ask him to take off work on Tuesday afternoon.  Called my mom to see if she could keep Ellie a little later than usual.  Left a note for the boss to say I'd need to leave early that day.  Ok, done.  Everything's taken care of.  Now all that's left is to wait around and try and figure out what to say at this hearing.

And more importantly, I had to figure out what to wear.

Seriously, I've watched enough cop and lawyer shows (Law & Order or Judging Amy, anyone??) to know that it matters what witnesses wear.  Judges care, lawyers care, everyone cares.  It matters.  So that was the next object of my freaking out.  What do I wear.  I put out a plea for advice on facebook and got mixed results.  Jeans are fine.  Wear a skirt.  Closed toed shoes.  Be comfortable.  Be confident.  (My sincere thanks to all who bothered to answer my silly question - I really did appreciate your advice!)  I was still confused and unsure.  So at church on Sunday, I asked a friend who is a paralegal and her husband is a lawyer.  I figure she's been to hearings before and would certainly know.  Evidently, since it was just a preliminary hearing at a district magistrate, work clothes would be fine.  So Monday night, I laid out my clothes - a little dressier than usual for work, but nothing I haven't worn there before.  

Tuesday morning, I changed my clothes no less than 8 times.  I wound up wearing the one I had picked on Monday.  Went to work and tried to focus.  Didn't really work.  1:30 finally rolled around and Andy got there to go over with me.

Have I ever mentioned how wonderful he is?

We got there and signed in and were immediately greeted by the outstanding officer who worked my case.  He took us back into a room and I met a second officer.  We were told that this wallet-guy was caught by this second officer for the same type of offense in this town.  And by State Police stationed a few towns over.  And in another county.  In his words, "This guy's in a world of trouble."  

He had been in custody since they picked him up in July.  

So he was *not* going to be coming to my work or my home or anywhere near me.

That should have made me feel better.  Or at least silly for freaking out.  But it didn't, really.

The officer briefly told me about what the preliminary hearing is for.  I'm going to lay out the details here so that maybe it can be helpful to someone else who doesn't know what to expect.  The preliminary hearing is just to determine whether or not the police have sufficient evidence to send this person to trial.  The police have to show the judge what evidence they have, including statements from victims and/or witnesses.  Then it would be up to the judge to decide if the case goes to the DA for prosecution or if they need more evidence.   Or the defendant can 'waive' their right to a preliminary hearing, which is not the same as confessing, but just says that they agree that there's enough evidence to go to trial.

We went into the 'courtroom', which was basically just a big conference room full of chairs with a big desk at the front.  And we waited.  The defendant's attorney came in and introduced himself.  A public defender.  Part of me sarcastically wondered why he hadn't saved any of his hard-stolen money to afford a better lawyer.  And then the door opened, and they brought in the wallet-guy.

I'll never forget it.  

He wore the orange jumpsuit and shackles, just like every cop show you've ever seen.  I guess sometimes they are pretty accurate.  The shackles jingled when he shuffled across the floor.  He had to cross in front of us to get to his seat.  He seemed really tall.  He didn't hold his head down, like you would expect.  He looked out at us, one by one.  First the older lady in the corner.  Then the gentleman behind me.  And then me.  I tried to keep my face even and expressionless, but if you've ever met me you know that it probably didn't work.  My face is an open book.  So I'm sure he saw how scared I was.  But I also hope he saw how sad I was.  For him, for us, for the whole thing.  He wore a face of stone.  Not mean.  Not sad.  Not scared.  Not anything.  Just blank.

When he was finally seated, the judge came in.  He wasn't wearing a robe.  I was kind of bummed about that.  I guess District Magistrates don't get robes.  He wasn't even wearing a suit.  Just a striped shirt and tie.  Made me feel better about my khakis.  We still had to stand up when he came in.  He was seated and the defending attorney said that they wanted to waive.  

And then we were dismissed.

Just like that it was over.  Well, sort of.  My police officer friend told me that now the case will go to the DA's office and they might try to work out a plea deal with him.  If they do, great and it'll be over.  If they don't, then the case will go to trial.  Which means I'll get another subpoena and will probably actually have to testify.

But we'll worry about that if and when I get another call from Constable Whats-his-name with another subpoena for me.  For now, this is the last chapter in the stolen wallet saga.  And for that, I couldn't be happier.

I'm still surprised at how much this stupid little crime affected me.  I mean, this happened the end of May and here it is, middle of September, and I'm still a little freaking out about it.  I don't say this to get you to feel bad for me.  I'll be fine.

But some people won't.

Some people have much, much bigger, more depraved, violent crimes committed against them.  And they survive.  And go to trial.  And testify.  And some even manage to do so with such an appearance of grace and dignity.  Teenage girls go to court and testify against the boys who raped them.  And I freaked out about what to wear.  

Not sure what to do about that, but it seems like something important to realize and acknowledge.  No matter how small, it's never easy to be the victim of a crime.  I'll gladly testify to that.

Victim

So, I think it's about time to tell this story.

I was the victim of a crime.

Wow, that felt weird to type.  Let's start back at the beginning...

So I work as the secretary at our church.  I'm there every morning.  Our church is pretty great.  Well, we like it.  It drives us crazy sometimes and every so often we get disheartened and think maybe we should just leave and find somewhere else that's going to be more supportive of new ideas and have more children's programs and a more lively young adult ministry to feed all of us better.  And then we remember that if we think there should be more of this or that, then WE should be the ones to fix it, not just abandon ship and leave this family to rot.  And so we stay, and work, and become encouraged again that there is hope for this little congregation.  And one of the things this church does well is open its doors to those in need.  We partner with a local special needs school to provide a place for lifeskills training for their students.  Every Thursday, this group of students comes in and gets hands-on experience with cleaning, interacting with the employees here, and they even go grocery shopping and use our kitchen to cook their own lunch.  They are a fantastic group of kids and teachers that really brighten up the week.  I always miss them over the summer break.  

Unfortunately, we're located fairly downtown in a medium sized town with increasing problems with drugs and homelessness.  There's a great place in town where people can go for assistance, but there are always those who just 'work the system' and come around asking all the churches for money.  Some of them are truly in need and some are just looking for money.  My heart is torn about this issue.  Because everyone who comes around asking for money does have a need that is very real to them.  Whether or not the rest of society sees it as a legitimate need is another thing altogether.  Anyway.  We have a policy of keeping our doors locked at all times.  We have a female pastor and female secretary (that's me!) and elderly custodians that are only there 2 days a week or so.  Basically, none of us want strangers wandering through our building.  And it happens when the doors are unlocked.  A lot.  So if the doors could just stay locked all the time, we'd be good to go.  But a lot of people have keys.  A lot.  And most of them just don't understand either how or why to lock the door behind them, even when they're inside the building.  And despite all the education we've been trying to do, the problem persists.

SO... combine all of these facts into the perfect storm.  A Thursday in May, the group of students was here, and the elderly custodian left the back door unlocked.  Now, we all work in a church.  Where the doors are supposed to be locked.  So I had been a little lax with securing my personal belongings.  Meaning that I left my purse sit on my desk.  I spend most of the working day in my office anyway.  But on this particular Thursday, the pastor called me into her office for a meeting that was only supposed to take 5 minutes.  Because the students were there, and I know that sometimes the teachers need to borrow a post-it or a pen, I left my office door open.  You can see where this is going, can't you?  The closed-door meeting with the pastor lasted 45 minutes instead of 5.  Her door doesn't have a window in it - for privacy.  And by the time we got done, it was time for me to head home.  I hopped in the car and drove straight home, but was starving.  So I stopped at the gas station down the street from my house to grab a snack.  I reached in my purse and - yep - my wallet wasn't there.  I picked up my phone (which WAS in my purse, go figure) and called the pastor and had her look around my office.  No wallet.  So then I told her that I knew for a fact that it was in there when I got to work that morning and reluctantly asked her to call the teacher of the special-needs students, fearing that one of them had taken it.  I hate to admit it, but that was my first thought.  I decided not to call the police or the credit card companies because if one of those kids had it, then they weren't going to do anything with it anyway.

So I go home, without my snack, and sit and wait for the pastor to call me back.  She doesn't.  So I tried calling her and get no response.  I even resorted to calling her cell phone.  Nothing.  Now I'm getting worried.  And then my phone rings.  It's the credit card company fraud alert department.  There's been some questionable activity on my card and they want to know if I can verify it.  Well no, I can't.  I didn't go to that pizza place, or that gas station, OR that spa (of all places).  Cancel the card.  Cancel everything.  My wallet was not lost or taken by mistake, it was stolen.  Along with 2 other items from my purse that looked like they could have held money or other valuables.  So now I'm panicking.  I called Andy to try and let him know that all of our cards are cancelled and can't get ahold of him.  He's out in the field and his cell phone battery is dead.  Now I'm panicking and furious.  And Ellie's awake and screaming and I'm still trying to cancel cards.  So I call my mom and have her come over to entertain Ellie while I try desperately to get all the cards cancelled even though I'm not the primary person on the account and no, I can't get ahold of him, and no I don't know my driver's license number because that was stolen too.  Eventually I have to drive to my actual bank branch to close that card because I can't verify my identity over the phone.  I cried the entire time I was there.  The ladies were really nice.

Eventually Andy got home and everything was finished being cancelled.  After they emptied out my personal checking account that I use solely for managing the finances for the music studio.  They went to an ATM.  Which means they had my PIN.  No, it wasn't written on my card and no, it wasn't something that was easy to guess.  Then I had to file the police report.  The officer was super nice.  A blessing, actually.  Christian man, very encouraging, and very empathetic to the situation.  And then we had to pick up all the pieces.  

I ended up writing a bunch of bad checks the week after the incident because the bank told me that the ATM charge didn't 'post', but then it did and wasn't fixed so my account was empty and I wrote checks without knowing that.  So when I got my new card in the mail, I figured I'd check my online account balance before activating it.  It was negative over $300.  I nearly threw up.  It took weeks of careful monitoring and visits to the bank, but I think it's all straightened out now.  I had to buy a new license and still haven't replaced the cute purple 31 wristlet that matched my diaper bag.  

But I'm pretty much over it.  

It's been over two months and everything's totally cool now.  People at church have finally stopped asking me if I've 'found' my wallet (um no, I didn't lose it) and they've been better about the door locking policy.  Life is pretty much back to normal.

Then this past Friday I got a letter in the mail from the District Attorney.  I nearly threw up.  Evidently, they got the guy.  And he's been charged.  Identity theft.  Theft by unlawful taking.  Credit Card fraud.  Well, great.  Right?  I mean, that's what he did, so it's great that he's being charged with it.  Good job, Mr. Policeman.  You got him.

But now I have to be involved.  I have to fill out all this paperwork for the D.A. and the judge to review before sentencing.  I have to list all of my losses.  Ok, that's not too hard.  I have to fill out a paper stating whether or not I agree that he could be granted probation instead of jail time.  Ok, I think I can figure that out.  But then I have to fill out a Victim Statement.

A Victim Statement.  

I guess that means I'm a victim.  The letter even starts with "We're very sorry that you were the victim of a crime."  I never identified myself as that before.  I never even thought of it as a crime.  How stupid is that?  I've just been calling it "the incident" or "that time my wallet was stolen," but never a crime.  It just didn't seem like that big of a deal.  But now I have to write this statement telling all about how the crime has impacted me and how I go about my daily life.  And the worst part?  They're going to read it.  And it will actually matter.  

So what do I say??  

I have no idea.  I mean, yeah it sucked.  But it's not like I was injured or have been harassed or physically threatened.  I'm fine.  Yes, I'm more careful about where I put my purse in my office.  Yes, I shut my (always locked) office door whenever I step out.  Yes, I jump a little every time I hear someone walking through the building and I know I should be alone.  But none of those things are a big deal.  I'm just getting on with life. 

So what do I say??

Dear Judge, 

I'm fine.  Do whatever you want to the guy.  

Love, Heather.

Dear Judge, 

Life sucked for a little bit there.  And 31 retired that print.  Can I have $30 to buy a new wallet?  And the new license cost me $27.50.  And I had a $25 Kohls gift card in there that was a birthday gift that I never got to use.  And a $5 Panera gift card that I was saving for one of those days when you just really need a giant cinnamon roll (which, ironically, was the very day my wallet was stolen).  And $5 cash.   

Love, Heather.

Dear Judge,

I lost sleep just trying to figure out how to fill out this paperwork.  Figure out how much that's worth and then give me that.

Love, Heather.

Dear Judge,

I'm a Christian and Jesus said to forgive those who wrong you.  So I don't want anything from the guy.

Love, Heather

Dear Judge,

My whole church family has been impacted by this crime.  We're all victims.  We're all shocked and unnerved that someone would walk into a place of worship and take something that they would have been given if they had only asked.  Help this man with whatever problem he has and please tell him that church starts at 10 am on Sunday.  

Love, Heather

Seriously.  What do I say??  I only have 28 days left to figure it out.  I wonder if lost sleep accrues interest?

Springtime & Mother's Day

Springtime has been just lovely around here.  I realize how sarcastic that may have sounded, but I was being completely serious.  It's been a gorgeous spring.  Check out some of the fun things we've done so far...

WAY back in April, we celebrated the homecoming of one of Andy's good friends from college.  He recently got back from Afghanistan, so the whole gang got together to hang out and catch up...

Babies: Elijah, Ellie, Audrey, Mariah (this is the best one I got)

Dads (plus Micah): Micah, Matt, Andy, Alex, Jared

I thought it was too cute how, with the exception of Micah (who isn't a dad), the dad's sat in the same order as their babies.  Awww.  Oh, and apparently the McD's can't keep their hands off the Bailey's (the people, not the Irish Cream).  Hmm.  We'll have to keep an eye on that.

Ellie took walks and played in the park with various parents & grandparents...

Saw a few more critters...

Duck in a BIG puddle in the park. 

Tree Frogs on our deck.

And learned a little about flower gardening...

"Oooo piddy!" (Oh, pretty!)

"Dish?" (This?)

And helped her dad clean and rearrange furniture in the living room...

And established her 'office' in our 'dining' room...

(Sorry that picture is so grainy - the lighting wasn't great and by the time I got the camera adjusted properly she caught me taking pictures and started to cry until I left.  She's serious about her office space.  She will often take books over there and sit and read.  In this picture, she's got the baby monitor (which she answers like a phone, "hi!"), her water cup, and her bedtime prayer book.  And yes, that shelf is firmly anchored to the wall.)

And discovered bubbles.  Oh the bubbles.  

Hey, those are kinda funny little things...

Ahhh!  It touched me!  And it TICKLES!

Run away!  Run away!

Ahh, it's much safer behind the bubbles!

Then came Mother's Day.  And let me tell you what, she made me work for this one.  It started on Friday, when Andy and Ellie were going downstairs to play and he slid down some of the steps.  Nothing too terrible - just a foot slipped and he went down a few, but he kept her safe and sound and just wound up with a bruised shin and big toe knuckle.  Evidently his toe hurt REALLY BAD because he was still complaining about it over a week later.  It wasn't bad enough to actually go to the doctor, though.

Saturday, Ellie and I went shopping with Gramma and had a super fun time.  In the evening, we were all down in the basement watching Jeopardy together (because we're cool like that) and Ellie was playing with her stuffed animals right next to where I was sitting on the floor.  Then, all of a sudden, she starts choking.  Like, gasping for air, can barely cough, eyes watering, choking.  On what???  Anyway, she was still coughing as she crawled up in my lap, so I calmly encouraged her to keep coughing and then felt inside her mouth to see if there was something big I could pull out.  Well, I gagged her and she threw up dinner (hot dogs and mac 'n cheese again) all over me, but the object came out too and she could breathe, so it was all good.  Andy threw a towel on me and we went up to change clothes.  Evidently, there was a chunk of plastic that she tried to swallow.  I have never seen anything like that anywhere in my house.  And we vacuum that room twice a week, so the floor is actually really clean!  We cannot figure out where it came from or at what point she put it in her mouth.  Like I said, she was right next to me the whole time!  Anyway, I was really shaking and freaking out for most of the rest of the night.

Sunday started out pretty normal, except Ellie decided morning started at 5 instead of 7 like usual.  She got fussy right in the middle of the sermon at church, so Andy took her to the back so she could run a little bit.  Right at the end, he put her up on his shoulders, which he's done many times before.  Well, her favorite youth came walking back and she threw herself at him and off of Andy's shoulders.  Thankfully, he caught her, but it was by the arm.  So she was screaming and mad, but calmed down when I got to her, so we figured she was just scared by the whole ordeal.  We went out for lunch at a local pizza place with some friends and that's when I realized that she wasn't using her right arm.  That's the one he grabbed.  Yeah.  Not a good sign.  So after we all had full bellies, we headed off to the ER to get checked out.  JUST what I want to be doing on Mother's Day!  It turned out the be the fastest ER visit in the entire history of hospitals.  We were in and out in 35 minutes.  It helped that we were the only people there at the time.  So we got all checked in and told the story to three different nurses and the Nurse Practitioner came in and started checking over her arm and POP it was fixed.  Her elbow had been dislocated.  Apparently it's a very common injury in kids her age.  They run out in traffic or something and you grab their hand to stop them and their elbow just pops out.  So they wanted to give her some tylenol and observe her for a few minutes to see if she started using it to determine if they needed to do an x-ray.  Well no sooner was it back in than she wanted to be down and twirling around and digging in my purse.  She was totally fine.  We all got a pretty good kick out of it.  So we all went home and took super long naps and then had a normal rest of the day.  It was pretty crazy.

I was pretty scared to drop her off at the babysitter's on Monday morning, but everything settled back down after that really eventful weekend.  So anyway, for Mother's day Andy gave me the gift of knowing that I will never be the first person to cause our child to have to go to the emergency room.  How thoughtful.

Watching The Mummy in the ER waiting room.

Now what can I get him for Father's Day that will top that??

New Toys and A Trip to Grandma & Pappy's

So, what's the next best thing to a thrift store?  A huge multi-family yard sale setting up just down the hall from your office, that's what!  And that's exactly what happened to me last week.  It was glorious.  Every day after work I would walk up to the Fellowship Hall (I work at a church) and stroll through the dozens of tables, scoping out all the new goodies that were put out that day.  Most people say 'junk', but I say 'goodies.'  Granted, a lot of it IS junk.  But when you have a chance to go through it before anyone else, you get to cherry-pick the items that are worth something to you.  So that's what I did.  And Ellie made out like a bandit!

First, we did buy something brand new last week that has revolutionized our life.  And I'm not over-selling it.  It's called a Super Yard.  Basically, it's these panels that snap together and then flex at the joints so you can put it into [pretty much] any shape you want.  They're tall enough that babies can't get out, but short enough that grown ups can easily step over.  We set it up in the dining room (since we don't have a table in there right now) so that she can hang out near us while Andy works on banking in the kitchen or while I'm cooking dinner.

 It works like a charm.  Ellie loves it because there's enough room for her to crawl around, but we're not always chasing after her and telling her what she CAN'T play with.  We love it because it keeps her contained!  And Maggie loves it because she can finally relax because the bald monster can't chase her.

My father-in-law refers to it as a baby prison, but I prefer to think of it as a zoo.  You know, it's for the preservation of her species.  Just don't feed the wildlife...

So, back to the yard sale... The first thing I found was this cute crib toy.

We decided to use it out in the dining room pen.  It has a cute mirror on it that spins when you pull the cord and it plays music and the lights go and it's basically a baby-hypnotizing tool.

Plus, it's an elephant, and we love those around here.

Then, I found this.

Ellie's first camera.  I'm so proud.  Right now she just likes to chew on the strap, but someday soon I hope to see her running around the house, taking imaginary pictures of things.  The flash even flashes and the lens 'zooms' in and out.  It's freaking adorable.

I also found some [unopened] puzzles for when she's older.  One of them is Veggie Tales' Pirates Who Don't Do Anything and it's in a bottle.  You know, like a message in a bottle style?  Well, she was pretty excited about it...

And I got her a few coats for next winter and some nice shirts for myself.  All in all, we made out really well and Ellie is enjoying her new treasures.

On Saturday, we went up to visit my parents and attend a Spaghetti Dinner benefiting the Missions group that my dad will be traveling to Haiti with in February.  My mom made this new little gem for her to take to church and other places...

Isn't it cute?  The buttons are sewn on nice and tight, plus they're really big, so no worries there.  The zipper is just sewn on top, so it doesn't open to anything in particular.  The beads are really fun to spin and slide and, well, Ellie likes to suck on them.  And, the best part, the shoelaces!  Ellie loves to play with our shoelaces, but they're so dirty that I hate to let her.  It's great fine motor skills practice though, so this is the perfect compromise.  Right now she just unties them and then fidgets with them before deciding to suck on them, but that's ok.  Basically that's what the whole blanket is good for: fidgeting.

Hey, whatever keeps her happy.

My mom's cousin and his wife were at the Dinner as well.  They make these puppets and brought this one along to show my mom and see if she would like to have the pattern.  Well, bring a puppet into a basket auction full of antsy kids and you're bound to attract some attention.  Ellie was entranced, too.

One thing about "new" toys are the comments they've been bringing from various people (mostly older people from church).  I just don't know how to take them.  People will comment about how they never had a car seat or a high chair or their kids didn't really have toys.  And that's it.  That's all they say.  I really can't tell if they're just making an observation or trying to share and connect with me on a 'mom' level or if it's a quiet kind of criticism that perhaps my child is 'spoiled'.  Any thoughts?  And if you're someone who has actually said that to me in the past, please don't think I'm upset - I just honestly don't know how to react!

So anyway, what do you do with all these new toys?  Well, you carry them around in the diaper bag, of course!  Now I'm lucky enough that I received TWO great diaper bags as baby shower gifts.  My mom made one (that I linked to previously) and Andy's cousin and his wife gave us this one...

Yep, it's a 31 tote.  Now, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you here.  I resisted the 31 draw for a long, long time.  I have a natural distaste for anything super trendy, so since it was so popular, I wanted nothing to do with it.  But I was grateful for the gift and it just happened to be my favorite color.  When it came time to start taking Ellie to a babysitter every day, we started using the bag as a 'babysitter' bag.  Basically it stayed permanently packed with the supplies the babysitter would need and the other bag stayed packed with the stuff I wanted to have around when I was taking her out somewhere.  And I found that I actually did like the 31 bag.  We use it frequently now, since it is the ONLY bag that fits in the bottom of my stroller without falling over or being squished up.  And it just seems to hold a bit more than the one that my mom made me.  Don't get me wrong - I still use that one because I picked it all out and I love it.  It's just nice to have two very different ones so that I have ALL situations covered.

I tell you all that to get to this:  I'm hosting an online 31 catalog party from now (October 1) through October 27th!  It's really easy.  You just click here and you'll go straight to my party page.  Then click on 'shop now' and you're ready to go!  You can scroll through and see all the different products and pattern options and place your order right there.  Super duper easy.  If you know me in person and you'd prefer to look through a physical catalog, I have one of those I can let you see.  And Sarah, my awesome consultant (and cousin-in-law-in-law) set up some pretty sweet promotions, too!  Every customer who spends $50 or more before taxes and shipping will earn a chance to win a $20 Thirty-One gift certificate.  AND if my party total is over $300 before taxes and shipping, I will earn a $20 gift card to Target, which is pretty much my second favorite retail store of all time.  

So yeah, I'm pretty stoked.  And you should be, too!  Because these things make great gifts - for someone else or for yourself.  And did you know that Christmas is less than 90 days away??  Yup, it's true.  So get shoppin'!

And ps- if you're shopping for me, my favorite color is purple *wink*