I am victorious against the beast!

While most people are just getting home from their night out of dinner and drinks on this lovely Friday night (well, Saturday morning if your technical), I have been home all evening. My son went to sleep at 7pm, and after cleaning up my kitchen, I settled in to ice/heat my aching back and catch up on this past season of Law & Order SVU while cuddling with my dog. So, there I am, minding my own business when I see a huge (HUGE.) insect come toward my face. Naturally, I fling my unsuspecting chihuahua on to the floor as I jump off the couch screaming and promptly remove (rip off) my sundress for fear that the bug somehow made it into my clothing. Now, in my bra & undies (hey now.), I am searching for the culprit that almost gave me a heart attack. I see it crawwwwling, jummmping under my coffee table.....Cave Cricket. Not just any cave cricket, the freakin' king of all cave crickets. This thing was gigantic. I grabbed my slipper and threw it at the beast, and it jumped under the couch. I ran into my bedroom to grab a flashlight and then went into the kitchen to get some paper towels so I could clean this thing's carcas up after I was done killing it. I turn on the kitchen light and it's THERE. I swear, there was freaky, Norman Bates- Psycho, music playing in my head when I saw it on my kitchen floor. I mean, I was gone for 1 minute and the thing traveled 2 rooms. It then proceeds to jump toward me. I then proceed to loose my shit. I think I actually said "Come at me, bro" out loud. I ran to my bookshelf and started to throw everything book from "What to Expect when You're Expecting" to "Black Hawk Down" at it trying to smoosh it from afar. It kept averting my attack. I needed something stronger. So, I ran to my bathroom and got the bottle of Windex from under my bathroom sink. Windex is usually my weapon of choice for killing bugs (and cleaning mirrors). I know it's a little My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but it works...ammonia gets stuff done. I start to spray. A lot. I keep hitting this creature, yet it keeps moving. I continue throwing books, and every once in a while I scream when it jumps toward me. Finally, after my kitchen smells like a sanitized hospital and many books have been thrown (see above photo, this is after I picked up all the books from the floor) I finally hit the SOB. Smushed. Dead. Now, it lies under a copy of Anthony Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour" and a large orange tupperwear. The tupperwear is just a precaution in case it decides to get all zombie on me overnight. Now, for my signature move....I will leave the cricket/book/tupperwear Triple Decker there until my husband picks it up in the morning. He's such a lucky guy.
So, this was my exciting Friday night- Exhausting.
And through my obvious craziness, the slamming of books and the occasional scream...my son is still fast asleep. Always have to look on the bright side....

The force is strong in that one...

I saw this little comic and seriously LOL'd. Target can play Jedi mind tricks on you, I don't care how strong you think you are. Case in point:

I went to Target yesterday for one thing. Like a good, obedient (paranoid) Mommy, I listened to all of the books, blogs etc... when planning my nursery and did not order a bumper with our custom crib bedding before my son was born. Now, for the past 2 days, my son has gotten his leg (his ENTIRE leg up to his thigh this morning) caught in between the slats of his crib. His scream at 7am,when this happened, scared the bejesus out of me. So, we decided to take a trip to Target to pick up the mesh crib bumpers that fellow mommies have said good things about. Again, one thing was to be purchase at said store of the Dark Side.

I walked out of that store with a Starbucks iced coffee (love that my Target has a Starbucks...) and:

- A size 12 month boys shirt that has Elmo on it that says "Give Peas a Chance" (seriously, how could a diehard Beatles fan like me resist that cuteness)

- A size 9 month onesie with a dog on it that says "I'm Dad's best friend" (Obviously needed for my son to wear this upcoming Sunday for Father's day)

- A graphic tee for my husband that says YOSEMITE on it (since the 1,246 graphic tees that he already has are apparently not enough)

- A NUBY teether for my son (We lost our Sophie the Giraffe- Tragedy! A two pack of Sophie's is  on order from Amazon...but he needed something to hold him over, right?)

- Dayglow yellow nailpolish (WTF, right? Solid proof of the Target Dark Powers because it was obviously not a 15 year old girl that bought this nailpolish)

- Peanut brittle (that I think I bought because the tin it was in was so totally adorable. Note: We don't even really like peanut brittle)

I think I need not write that my final Target bill was a bit more than the $27.98 that the mesh crib bumpers cost.

Next time I will not give in! ....or maybe I'll just go to Wal-mart.

I'm addicted to Groupon...

As a Stay at Home Mom, there are a few major life changes that I have noticed (you know, aside from the having an amazing child to care for on a 24 hour basis):

1. Making your own coffee is not fun. My (whatever's on sale) coffee does not come out nearly as good as my $4 latte from my Penn Station Starbucks.

2. I am about 110% more busy than I was when I was working. Now, my days are totally filled with playdates, swim classes, cooking 3-4 meals a day, mommy & me gym classes, day trips to various places that house animals and intensive learn-to-crawl sessions on my bedroom floor.

3. Staying home = going out more during the day = the opportunity to spend more money (True story- I think the Kohl's cashiers might know me by name). Which brings me to my next point...

4. Although our home & my heart has exponentially grown in love, we have exponentially gone down in funds.

Being a Stay at Home Mom means living on one income, so our days of 4 vacations a year and our famous (well, to us anyway) $1,000 trips to the Home Depot are over! Now are the days of pinching pennies as best we can. We got rid of our cable & got an internet TV box & I price shop a lot when looking into any purchase. I tried doing the whole couponing thing, but honestly, I think food is the one place I cannot save! We eat primarily fresh produce & organic foods, so the coupons don't work for us usually. I do use coupons for baby items whenever possible, and of course, love my store coupons (especially when I get a Kohls 30% off hence see #3).

The one coupon-ish thing I do take advantage of are sites like Groupon & Living Social. Especially when there are deals for things to do with my son, or something for us to do as a family! While I do think that the experience you get when using a deal voucher is not always the same as if you were to pay full price, I think it is usually worth it. My most recent purchases were 4, hour long swim lessons for $29 & a 3 hour whale watching tour at the shore for $39 (for when we are vacationing there this summer). Not too shabby.

 I just love that these sites afford us experiences that we would otherwise, not be able to afford :)