For as much as life sucks...

Erik can do nothing wrong in my eyes. How the hell did I get so lucky?

And baby's are a nice way to wake up in the morning. Thanks Sadie.

Best shopping day EVER

I went shopping with my mom today to a store that was closing. Today was the last day of the sale - 90% off!

With Erik out of the job, of course we took advantage. Well, by the time we hit some of the last aisles - a guy comes on the loudspeaker and announces that EVERYTHING is now reduced to 99.9% OFF!

People were freaking out! My mom got an $80 wool coat for 8 CENTS! I had so much stuff in my cart I can't even begin to list half of it! All in all - the greatest shopping experience of my life (thus far haha)!

Orland Park

Last night I went to my cousin's wedding in Orland Park. It was east of LaGrange off of 143rd - so getting off I-80 at LaGrange meant I had to drive thru the heart of OP on a Saturday evening at 6 p.m.

Did I mention it was Valentine's Day?

I just have a question...How in the hell does ANYONE live in Orland Park? The traffic was enough to get my blood BOILING. UGH! I was so angry.

I swear, everytime I hit up the "burbs" I am reminded at how much I love living out in the shticks. I love that every road out here starts with the word Route. And I love that it takes me 10 minutes to go 10 miles - not 30 minutes.

Wallow

I have to say things aren't exactly going the way I've planned in life. Not that life sticks to some great "plan" that we have all laid out in our heads, but you really don't expect it to stray too far from the road you've decided to take.

I have to say that I'm definitely getting used to adversity. I wallow in my own despair and enjoy the emotions that come with it. It's okay to wallow. It's okay to feel sorry for myself. If I didn't, I might as well be better off dead because who would want to live like that?

The one issue with strife I can't seem to conquer is the constant worry. I'm great at it - so great that it makes me sick. I really have to figure out a way to stop with all of the "what if's" - although my "what ifs" tend to come true.

Arg

I have no idea what is going through Erik's head, but he keeps dropping the idea about having another baby...ALL THE TIME.

I'm not even close to being ready. Is that selfish? Probably a little.

Sadie - 11 months

So much is going on with my little "mammers."

She's cruising like a pro, standing and can take about 2 solid steps before she falls to the ground. She's talking up a storm and it's so amazing to watch. She knows mama and dad, kitty, bah's and la's.

She's going to be a blabbermouth just like her momma.

Her hair is getting so long and I'm not sure if I need to cut it yet. At least cut the bangs in her face. She has been sleeping through the night for well over a week and it's been lovely! We discovered that all she needed were some overnight diapers.

She's pretty much eating off the table now. So we've all adjusted to eating a lot better. Her absolute favorite foods are avacado's and broccoli. Can you believe that? I've still been successful in avoiding the "chicken finger/nugget and french fry" grip. I don't want her to eat all that crap after all the work I did to make sure she got a healthy start.

It's definitely been an adventurous year and I can't believe she's about to turn ONE! I'm so proud of all she's accomplished in this short amount of time. I'm really loving our time together.

Around this time next year, we're going to get to work on making Sadie a BIG SISTER! I can't wait. I'd LOVE to have three kids, but we'll see (keeping fingers crossed).

Job search

So, Erik's been out of work for two months now.

One interview, countless phone screenings that have led nowhere and no job, of course.

For the past few days, I've been scanning corporate websites for job listings and found about a dozen posts that Erik qualifies for. That's a dozen out of 400 companies (at least) that I've looked at.

It's also been pretty hard to find any kind of work for myself that is evening or on the weekend. Actually, it's unheard of.

The craptacular part of all of this is knowing that our tax return - that we had planned on using to refinish our basement and put into savings - is going to us surviving until April/May. I pray that Erik can find work sometime before then. It's scary not having one penny saved up.