Just Heather
1
Hiring a Maid
Jun 05, 2009 | Filed Under: Household CEO, Lovable Critters, Love It

I have said for a year now that if we ever get another cat, I want a Litter Maid! My least favorite part of owning a cat is dealing with the crap box. I wanted to make it as easy as possible the next time around.  On the way home from picking up the kittens last week, I stopped to purchase this one. It rates poorly on Amazon, but I didn’t know that at the time. I got a bit nervous when I saw all the reviews, but I would not be deterred.

img_1687I set it up right away. It didn’t work.  It just kept making this weird clicking sound. Rather than assuming Amazon customers may have been on to something, I decided to read the instructions. This is when I learned that the cleaning rake was strapped to the box for packaging. Oops. A quick clip with my scissors and we were in business! I couldn’t wait for one of the cats to do his so I could see it in action. (Yes, I realize how odd that is.)

We have now been using this for over a week and I have changed the receptacle once.  It is such an amazing change over scooping and dealing with disgusting litter.  The Littermaid really does keep the litter scooped throughout the day. It has a sleep setting at night so you don’t have to hear the motor (which, unfortunately, is exceptionally loud) and runs in the morning at the time you have set to wake.  If the cats are overly, ahem, productive at night, I’ve noticed the rake does have a bit of difficulty on that first run.

We have 2 kittens and it seems to fill the waste receptacle after about 5 days.  I’m sure once they grow, it fill even more quickly. I’m searching for a greener solution.  However, it is so freaking handy to just push in the lid, lift the waste arm and throw the box of crap into the garbage.  I never see it, I never touch it and I don’t even have to smell it.  I just hate the idea of throwing away a plastic box every 3 or 4 days.  I don’t even throw away butter containers!

All in all, I’m pretty pleased (especially considering the reviews I read).  I’ll never go back to a traditional litter box again.  I’ll be even happier once I get the chance to purchase a cover for it.  The cats seem to scatter the litter just by jumping into it.  Also, the handy paw scraping carpet doesn’t really have an impact if they just jump over the back upon exit.  The cover will limit they’re entry & exit to the front where the carpet can actually help scrape the litter dust from their feet (I hope). At the very least, it should stop them from tossing litter over the side of the box.

The next part of my litter box solution is finding a better home for it. It is currently in our bedroom which pleases me not one bit, but we’re currently co-sleeping.  More accurately, they’re sharing our bed while I get next to no sleep because curious kittens think it’s fun to play with Mommy’s hair.  However, I’m not comfortable letting the tiny kitten roam on his own just yet (he has a thing for electrical wires and I’m hoping to prevent a Christmas Vacation-esque moment).

Thus, the cats, and their box o’ crap, remain in our bedroom for the foreseeable future.

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0
I Win!
May 28, 2009 | Filed Under: Living Inexpensively, Love It, Making Connections

When I jumped back in to this blogging thing, I once again enjoyed the community aspect—reading other blogs, commenting on posts, chatting with fellow bloggers.  I discovered a lot had happened while I was away.  Gone were the useless memes and quizzes (those are all on Facebook now), but the space is now filled with giveaways and contests.

I entered one, mostly because I actually had a comment about the prize, at Gotcha Baby.  The prize was listed as a collection of Hallmark cards for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  Excellent timing, what with both holidays coming up (okay, so I’m a little behind on posting this), and me being too cheap to buy cards.  Anyway, as the title suggests, I actually won!

2009-05-266I wasn’t really thinking much about it, other than to be thrilled that I didn’t have to traipse through the store with 3 girls and attempt to choose cards for our parents.  Imagine my surprise when the package arrived just a few days later and it was chock full of photo cards, musical cards, recordable cards and a selection of their inexpensive (there’s the stuff!) recycled cards for every day use. I have been officially welcomed back to the world of blogging. Most importantly, I am set on cards for the next couple months.

I was super impressed, even if I am negligent in sending my thanks.  The cards themselves are a lot of fun. There are 4 that are clearly the highlight of the package—2 for Mother’s Day and 2 for Father’s Day.  Both are recordable music cards.  There is a song already in the card plus an opportunity for you to record your own, personal message.  The girls had a lot of fun with that part and I was impressed with how easy they are to use.  I figured the mic would have trouble picking up their voices, but they didn’t even have to be super close to the card for it to work.  In fact, you could conceivably make a recording with all 3 kids buckled into their respective carseats on the way to dinner with the recipient.  Just sayin’.

girlsTwo of the cards were also photo cards.  Unfortunately, it turns out that we don’t have a good, recent picture of all 3 kids.  That is probably in part because one of them is in constant motion.  Lucky for me, my hubby is rather talented.  He threw together a collage of the girls that I like even better than a posed still shot. I think it captures each girl’s personality quite nicely. Each set of grandparents will get a copy (though some have to wait until Father’s Day) and I printed another for us but I’m still not sure what I’m doing with it. I only know that I needed to capture this moment in time, when each girl has her own distinct personality yet somehow still forms a cohesive family unit.

5
B Is For Dinner Theater
May 22, 2009 | Filed Under: Alphabet Dating, Love Him, Mixed Feelings

5995377I love food. I love musicals. I love pirates, a fact which everyone in hubby’s family now knows (thank you, Jagermeister). All of this adds up to the Beef and Boards production of Treasure Island being tailor made for me. It was always our intention to visit this local dinner theater as part of our Alphabet Dating journey, even before I discovered they were featuring pirates through the spring.

We had plenty of letter choices—dinner theater, play, musical—but when I won tickets last month it was obvious we would be using the alliteration for our B date.  I was very excited.  Him? Probably not so much.  Musicals aren’t really his thing, especially when he has to dress for the event.  I, personally, couldn’t wait to get dressed up, have dinner with my husband and catch a show. About pirates.

Then the weekend arrived and brought one of our biggest fights yet.  The night was rocky, the next day tough and I didn’t think we’d last to the evening much less feel up to a date.  We hashed through a lot over the course of the day and finally got to a pretty good spot.  It’s been one step forward, two steps back since we began the rehabilitation journey.  We’ve been on our current path for a month now so this time I’m convinced we’ve made lasting progress.

Anyway, the evening arrive and we were still married; I got all decked out (he told me I was beautiful—bonus points), he suited up (yum!), the babysitters arrived (Thanks, Mimi & Papaw!) and we set sail (ha—get it?) for our musical adventure.  I knew very little of what to expect, though I’ve been wanting to visit the place for years.  My parents and extended family all love Beef and Boards but that was the extent of my knowledge.  I didn’t even have real tickets, just an email telling me the show was at 8pm and the hostess had our reservation.

We arrived at 7:30 feeling pretty good about our promptness only to discover that the show starts at 8, yes, but the dinner buffet is 6-7:30.  Oops.  They were gracious to us and the waiter brought us each a plate anyway.  I couldn’t eat most of mine, due to my gluten intolerance, but I picked through what I could (off both plates, of course).  Turns out, the food wasn’t worth an extra hour of our time anyway. We did enjoy our intermission sundae but even that seemed to be nothing more than ice cream from a bucket with Hershey’s syrup.

The show, however, was well worth the price of admission even if it hadn’t been free. The production was fun.  The all male cast was a hoot.  The songs were lively and fun.  I loved that the stage direction kept putting pieces of the show right in front our table.  My one disappointment was that the gift shop was closed after the show.   I wanted a pirate flag, but it’s probably just as well that I didn’t add to our junk collection.  I’ll scrapbook the playbill instead along with the single, slightly blurry picture above.

The “rules” of Alphabet Dating specifically exclude movies because the point is to create experiences and reconnect.  That really requires something other than sitting next to one another in the dark.  It’s my game, though, so I make things up as we go. Still, the lighting and seating arrangement made the play acceptable for our purposes, I think.  We were able to cozy up together to enjoy the show and each another.

Here’s to 24 more letters (plus a lifetime) of enjoying one another.

pirates

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3
A Is For Basketball
May 19, 2009 | Filed Under: Alphabet Dating, Living Inexpensively, Love It

The original Alphabet Dating project fizzled out last fall. After a phenomenally rough holiday season, Spencer and I decided to give it another try. When my brother and his wife gave us Pacer tickets for Christmas, coupled with an evening of free babysitting, we had the perfect opportunity to start again. Armed with Restaurant.com certificates for Blue Crew, we were prepared for an evening of athletics. A sports themed date is perfect for us. I love basketball; he loves the Colts.

View from Our Baseline Seats

View from Our Baseline Seats

It was a decent game, and I really enjoyed the baseline seats. We’ve been to several games over the years, but this was my first opportunity to have noisemakers behind the goal. I was stupidly excited about it! After the game, we headed out for appetizers at the Blue Crew. When we arrived at 10:05pm, though, we were told the kitchen closed at 10. Having missed dinner, we were hungry but I was determined to keep with the A-themed evening.

Majors Sports Cafe

Majors Sports Cafe

The next thing to pop in my mind was a sports cafe run by a friend of mine. Majors Sports Cafe has 47 television screens around the restaurant and a unique, eclectic menu including buffalo meatloaf! We enjoyed our dinner and conversation while we I kept an eye on hockey, soccer, a Peyton Manning documentary and an XBox competition—definitely more sports than even I was anticipating.

not from our baseline seats

Game 2: Club Level

We actually had the opportunity to revisit the Pacers (for free, I might add) before we got around to the next letter in our dating journey. That was a serendipitous evening with an even more serendipitous meeting. We bumped into our high school best friends as we were walking to the club level. Clearly the beginning of our new Alphabet Dating experience was steak sauce. Because that also starts with an A.

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1
Not So Great America
Sep 12, 2007 | Filed Under: Family Ties, Fashion Disaster, Mixed Feelings, Road Trip

We hit Six Flags Great America over Labor Day weekend. It was not my first choice, and it will be my last choice from here on out. I suggested Holiday World since it is more in line with my budget, but it was the weekend of the wedding that wasn’t so we all deferred to my sister’s wishes. She wanted to get far away, and Chicago was apparently far enough. And, since my dad announced he was paying, my budget no longer mattered. Though, we did manage to come out over $100 poorer.

We had dinner at Medieval Times on Saturday night. This was my first time (even though my entire family insisted it wasn’t) and I thought it was a lot of fun. Next time, though, I’m bringing silverware. Stupid forkless medieval era. Our knight was not only the hottest one there, but he was the champion and hero of the story. Of course, as soon as I realized he was way hotter than any of the others, I knew that would be the case!

The next day, we visited Six Flags from open to close. I was not impressed. I had intended to write about it when I got home, but life got in the way and it didn’t seem that important. Today, with temperatures in the 50’s, I decided to don my new Six Flags hoodie (thanks, Mom!) and it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The darn security tag hangs prominently from the hood! So now, in my renewed anger, I share with you The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of our trip.

The Good

  • They were more than friendly and accommodating when it came to bringing food for my gluten-free vegetarian. There was nothing she could eat anywhere in the park so I packed a cooler which they labeled “Approved for Medical Use” without question.
  • The park is chock full of great roller coasters. I was completely terrified on each of them, but for the most part they were a lot of fun.
  • The adorable capes for kids were only $5!
  • My first vending stop resulted in huge savings. Even though I told the cashier twice that mine were new souvenir cups, he rang us up for 2 refills. I didn’t realize it until after he handed me my receipt. Score!

The Bad

  • My dad may not have saved any money over a wedding. Everything costs extra—$170 for 7 Flash Passes to bypass lines, $15 for a locker, $13 for a tube that it turns out you don’t actually need to ride water slides…
  • $15 parking—seriously?!
  • Once it got dark, the bathroom areas were poorly lit. It was a bit scary heading off the path into darkness.
  • My dad lost another pocket knife at security check. They missed the full size scissors my sis carries in her diaper bag, but somehow the 2-inch pocket knife my dad carries on his keychain was a threat to park security. What a joke.
  • They didn’t actually sell the pink capes in stores. Hubby had to play a lame version of the strong man game to get 3 of them.

The Ugly

  • I finally found a deodorant that would last throughout a hot day in the sun. I’m putting it here because it is prescription strength and costs nearly $10! After 3 kids, my body chemistry is just not the same and I was worried about the long day. This stuff rocked, but the sticker shock nearly flattened my budget-minded body. I used a coupon though so we’ll call the balance “medically necessary” and move on.
  • The Iron Wolf roller coaster pretty much sucked. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t scary. It was just painful. The ride is rough, the seats were wide enough to bruise me in places I’d rather not mention and I left with a headache from being bounced against the shoulder rests repeatedly. Never again.
  • I, naturally, spilled on my shirt at lunch. My mom whips out her handy Tide To Go pen, which removed the ketchup, but left a stain of its own in its place. It didn’t come out in the wash. I had no idea that could happen.
  • Speaking of shirts, did I mention they left the stupid security tag on my new hoodie?!
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0
Getting the Goods
Jun 21, 2007 | Filed Under: Checking Out, Going Gluten-Free, Love It

When we first went gluten free, I had heard Amazon was the cheapest place to buy certain foods. They sell in bulk, have free shipping when you spend over $25 and often have online coupons for $10 off a grocery order.

At first, I didn’t buy anything in bulk as we were trying many different products. I thought once we found some favorites we could start buying online. The idea of having our treats arrive on our doorstep instead of trucking to the specialty store was quite appealing. Last month, I finally took advantage of their grocery special. For the bargain price of $46 I ordered 12 bags of pretzels and 12 bags of animal pasta (aka Spaghetti-Os). It truly was a deal and a half.

I received an email a couple weeks later from Amazon that the pretzels were back-ordered. I had to purchase a different brand at the specialty store while we waited. The other day our pretzels arrived on the front porch. The girls were thrilled. They have already been through 4 bags! At this rate, I’ll have to order again without the benefit of a coupon code. I’m keeping my fingers crossed a good one comes along again soon.

If I don’t keep their favorites in stock, they end of sneaking something else—which then results in headaches, stomach aches, behavioral issues and teary promises that they’ll never do it again. Of course, memory of pain only seems to last so long. That’s why women keep having more kids. I, of course, have managed to develop a great memory for that sort of thing. Which is why we are all done with the baby thing—just as soon as I can convince hubby that I’m serious this time.

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Customer Unsatisfaction
Aug 21, 2006 | Filed Under: Checking Out, Never Again

We’ve spent a ton of money at Menards in the last few months, for obvious reasons. Last week we returned some extra things we had and bought some new. When we were making the returns, I told the cashier we needed to spend it right away and she said we would be fine. Well, she was wrong-the debits all came through on Monday and the credits were held until Tuesday, resulting in $178 in overdraft fees.

The bank was completely unwilling to waive them even when I had receipts with the correct time stamps. They claimed the problem was on Menards end and they can only refund for a bank error. I was pretty surprised that National City would rather charge $178 that wasn’t deserved than keep a customer. That account will be closed this week.

Onto Menards, where the front end manager said that the cashier was wrong; it takes a couple days to process credits through their bank. She said she should have given us a store credit to use right away. Then she offered to transfer me to the store manager when I asked about getting my $180 back.

He was so rude (and also an idiot!) He said that it goes immediately to our bank and he doesn’t know why our bank would wait. I explained that his service manager disagreed and he didn’t care. I asked if I was just out $178 for choosing to shop at Menards instead of Lowe’s across the street (my exact words). He said “Yep.” I kid you not—the store manager for a company who claims “Guest Satisfaction is our number one goal” actually said that out loud!

I got a phone number for corporate, but he hung up on me when I asked his name. I called back and got it, but it didn’t it do me much good in calling Menards. They do not answer the phone at corporate; they ask for everything in writing and give you the address and fax before disconnecting you.

I sent a letter to corporate via their website, but I also sent the information to our local Call 6 for Help news investiagtion team. I hope to get my money back from someone somehow. In the meantime, I will tell everyone I know how much they all suck!

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7
Sweet Serenity
Sep 13, 2005 | Filed Under: Love It, Road Trip

Oh, Serenity, how do I love thee. Pictures to come, but first cool stuff about my new car:

  • Whiny toddler no more—the DVD player is standard!
  • I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with 12 cup holders in a 7 passenger vehicle, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out.
  • The iPod line-in means he can quit messing with my presets!
  • Even though some jerk already scratched my door in the parking lot, she’s so beautiful.
  • I’m sure we’ll be restocking it soon, but the fact that the first aid kit comes ready made for my children is pretty cool.
  • Theoretically, I will never hear “I’m [insert temperature complaint here]!” again since she can reach her own damn climate controls.
  • I may now own a soccer mom mobile, but if you even think of calling her a van she’ll say FU!
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