Little Old Lady

I know that I'll sound like a little old lady saying this but back in the day groceries were not so expensive. Lately, prices have been crazy, nuts, big! I went to Harris Teeter today and was taken aback! I don't usually shop there.

When we moved here almost 2 years ago, I was surprised at the price of groceries in Charlotte. Grocery prices in Phoenix are noticeably cheaper. But I had faith in myself with my method of shopping by buying things on sale with coupons that get doubled and buying meat mark-downs (usually on meats that were already on sale. Well, I still had a much lower grocery bill in Phoenix but what are you going to do? The house I have here would have cost almost twice as much in Phoenix so perhaps things even out.

To my Phoenix friends, I miss Sprouts the most!

Now I have plenty of room for my groceries but they are too expensive to buy. Just kidding. I do realize that groceries and almost everything else is quite reasonable compared to other countries. :-)

Baby? Maybe. Maybe Not.

As you know, I have been focused on having another baby. I think about it each and every day. I pray quite a bit and try not to obsess about it because stress does not help the process of getting pregnant! The two miscarriages over the past 9 months have added to the complicity of the situation. However, I can honestly say that I feel blessed in the sense that those miscarriages could have been A LOT worse than what they were.

I have been feeling like the clock is ticking because I'm 36. Today I was looking at my day planner. For several years I have kept careful track of my cycle. I would especially note when I would most likely ovulate. I'm not doing that this month or over the next few months at minimum. I need a break. Poor Rick would probably like a break, too.

The way I figure it, Tyler needs me to focus more on him anyway. I shall focus on what I have as opposed to what I don't have. Whatever happens, I will focus on the positives and not the negatives regarding the size of my family. Besides, I grew up as an only child and look how kick-butt I am! (just kidding)

I feel rather relieved.

This Kid is Cute

Tyler cracks me up. He has recently discovered that is body will move in certain ways. For example, he did a Michael Jackson-type dance move from the video Beat It yesterday. (No, he doesn't watch things like that.) It was so funny. He also runs around the house when his favorite show, Sid the Science Kid is on. He squeals with delight. I wish I got that excited about stuff. :-)

Gas Tank is Full

Rick and I both have gas tanks that are full and happy! (Gas tanks become quite sad when they are on empty.) Our friend Frank called to tell us that the Exxon by Bi-Lo had gas. We only waited in line for a few moments! We're not stuck at home. YEAH!

Where is it?

I cannot find gasoline anywhere. I keep calling local gas stations. The one I forgot to call on my list until a few minutes ago said, "We just ran out of gas." Darn, what are the odds? Rick has so little gas that his buddy is picking him up for work tomorrow. Thank goodness for that. I think I'm going to stay up all night to periodically call because I'm too wound up anyway. (Most of you probably know that I have sleeping problems anyway.) It's 12:20 am now. I just watched the movie No Country for Old Men which was quite good by the way. I'll update once I get some gas! Looks like it will be an large Starbucks coffee for me in the morning!

State of the Economy

I listened to President Bush's speech tonight regarding the state of the economy. I knew that things were bad, you'd have to live under a rock to not know that, but hearing the speech just drove the point home harder. I am not a Bush fan whatsoever but I thought that the speech was quite good. He, or should I say his speech writers (which is what I wanted to be at one point - a political speech writer), did an excellent job of explaining what is going on and how all of this happened.

I am angry that our country is in such a poor economical state. I'm angry that our taxes will almost certainly be raised so that the government will bail out financial institutions that participate in imprudent business practices. My favorite one is mortgage lending. Financial institutions lent billions of dollars to people for mortgages who couldn't afford them in the first place. This is not to say that that individual people who took out the loans are not responsible, too. I think the responsibility is 50/50.

The price of gasoline/oil is another crux of the problem with the economy. No one will ever be able to convince me that the high price of gas/oil is justified. I love the excuses that are used...the war, the hurricane, blah, blah, blah. Pretty soon it will be, "Oh, the sun is shining too brightly so let's raise the price of gas!"
What really makes me nuts is that oil companies' profits have been super huge lately. Hmmmm, so oil executives are getting profanely, disgustingly rich off of us using by using lame excuses. Where are the checks and balances?

Why should this surprise me? The oil executives, financial institution executives, and the government are all in bed together. I can see it now, there is a round table of these people laughing their butts off at us. In theory, our government is great. It reality, it stinks! The poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer and the middle class is being squeezed out. I truly am thankful for all that I have; I just don't appreciate that my family's livelihood is threatened because of the greed of a few people. It makes me sick, actually. Then again, that is the way the world works and it shouldn't surprise me. I'm so incredibly grateful that I believe God because without Him this world would make little sense to me!

Wow, I don't usually go off like this.

Week in NY

We just got back from a week in NY to visit Rick's family. They live on Long Island and Rick and I made our yearly jaunt into Manhattan. We walked around a lot. There are no photos of this but we walked through Chelsea, NoHo (north of SoHo), and Grenwich Village. We went to Magnolia Bakery (Carrie and Miranda from Sex and the City went there in one episode) for a cupcake. If you'd like some amusement, read the entry I wrote yesterday. We also went out on the ocean on a boat with Rick's sister and her family. Here are some photos of our trip.


This is me at Riverhead Aquarium feeding rays. I touched them a lot and got a big kick out of it!



Rick and Ty at Riverhead Aquarium




Wall Street was on edge this day as AIG was expected to announce bankruptcy and the market closed almost 500 points down the day before! Rick was so glad to be off work that week!




NYC's Chinatown. I've been to Chinatown in San Francisco and LA but had never been to the one in NYC. It was like stepping into China!




Little Italy has been almost swallowed by neighboring Chinatown but here is the NYC Little Italy Feast of San Gennaro.




Tyler is in a tree. Seaford, NY




Rick, Tyler and cousins Brooke(age 7) and Jillian(age 11)




Rick's close childhood friend, Peter and 6 month old Jamie, who he has not seen in many years. Thanks Facebook!




This large pond is right near Rick's parents' house. Tyler kept saying, "Come on kwe-aks (meaning 'quacks')! It was so funny!



Tyler with our friends' children, Sara (age 4) and Dean (age 2).