CaseyAndKelly.Com

These are pics from when Adele and Emma came up from San Antonio for Spring Break and when Robin and I took the babies to the San Antonio Zoo last month.

[Show as slideshow]

You’re probably wondering where all the pictures have been lately.  No, I haven’t stopped taking them – I’ve just been too busy/lazy to upload/resize/organize them all.  But now I’m caught up and remember why it’s best just to do a little at a time instead of doing them all at once.

I have three posts that are going to go up with pics.  I’m separating them since some of them are over multiple date ranges and/or with multiple cameras.  This first one will just be the miscellaneous pics that I’ve taken either with my phone or camera that don’t fit in the other two categories.

[Show as slideshow]

I check three news sites daily – Fox News, The Austin Statesman, and the Colorado Springs Gazette. To my surprise (delight) this evening when I was checking the Gazette there was something on there regarding Memorial Health System (my old employer). With all the economic issues facing the country, the city of Colorado Springs has been debating what to do with the city owned Memorial. In an effort to provide full disclosure to voters, they have created a searchable database of employees and their salaries! I take pleasure in knowing that I made more than all but one of my coworkers (and she’d been with the company for 11 years). Would have been even nicer if they’d have agreed to my proposal and allowed me to telecommute!

My progress on running: I ended up taking the last two days from running/walking. While I thought I wasn’t noticing any pain from running (other than slight soreness in lower inner thigh area), the last two days have been brutal and my shin splints from runs past have resurfaced. I’m going to try to keep walking through the pain and just keep moving but honestly nothing is very comfortable right now.

The last couple of times I’ve gone out with Brady in the stroller she’s fine with things at first and then just gets incredibly restless. I’m sure it’s because she’d rather just get out and run/walk beside me. But since that isn’t happen, I’m kind of having a hard time with my decision to purchase a BOB (jogging/all-terrain – read frisbee golf course ready – stroller). Other than maybe having a swivel front wheel, I can’t find much else that I’d want that’s different from the stroller I’m borrowing. And with Brady being so fussy in the stroller at this time anyway, I’m wondering how long I’m even going to be able to use it? These strollers say they go up to 70 pounds but I don’t really see a 70 pound child willing to go around in a stroller either. I think it’s a combination of my severe buyer’s remorse (although the charge hasn’t gone through yet and hasn’t shipped because it’s on back order so there’s still time cancel) and logically looking at Brady’s behaviors. Will I cancel the stroller purchase and opt for another one that could adequately serve my needs? It’s quite possible.

One of my friends on Facebook linked to 1000 Awesome Things and the post was about junk drawers.  There was a picture accompanying this post and while I don’t have one of my own junk drawer, I did decide to reveal the contents and get the thing more organized.  To begin with my junk drawer was quasi organized.  I use a large flat cubbie type thing for the bulk of the drawer with space at the back for less used, longer handled type items.  Then I have four smaller boxes of various size to organize and contain the contents.  Here’s the list before with the strike-through being things no longer in there.

• spare garage door opener
• extra keys
• Boo Boo Bunny and refill ice cubes
• pack of Splenda (put in pantry)
• Scotch tape
• plant seeds
• empty dog pill bottle
• bag of assorted change, mostly pennies
• microfiber cloth
• matches
• letter opener (I’ve never used it and was a free promotional type thing.)
• Benadryl (for the dogs – the junk drawer is right next to the fridge so makes it easy to hide in hot dogs)
• batteries
• timer
• outlet covers
• (2) grill/candle lighters
• scissors
• red pepper flake packs for work lunches
• (1) button to unknown item
• furniture bumpers (rubber things that elevate glass tape tops)
• sticky notes
• (2) screwdrivers (Phillips head and flat nosed for easy access)
• pliers
• Sharpie
• (3) pens (now only 2)
• (2) coupons
• box cutter

I guess getting the idea in my head I was going to post something embarrassing motivated me to change something.  Hmm what else could I do?

In the last few weeks Casey and I have watched two documentaries on food – Food Inc and King Corn. After seeing all of this, we’re either going to end up turning vegetarian (or more likely) spend more on organic/grass fed type healthier fare. How much nutritional value are we sacrificing to eat cheaply/chemically laden food? I think it’s going to be hard to break some of these habits and preferences but we’re definitely becoming more aware now. I haven’t had a soda in three weeks and hope I can keep it up!  Both movies are very eye opening and worth watching.

I went for my first run today since before I had Brady. I originally started trying to run (meaning I bought running shoes and was running on the treadmill during breaks and lunches) in April 2008 with a coworker. She was a seasoned runner who had taken some time off to recover from surgery and had recently started getting into it again and needed a running buddy. I think I pushed myself too hard to get up to speed with her and ended up hurting my knees and calves and by the time I was feeling up to it again schedule conflicts and getting pregnant stopped me from trying to run anymore. Robin loaned me her jogging stroller a few weeks ago and while I’ve used it for walks, I haven’t used it for it’s intended purpose. I think I did pretty well considering I was using a faulty iPhone app to gauge my time and speed (faulty meaning even when I was walking it was picking up all my strides while it was laying on the stroller). Brady thought it was funny when I’d run as she’d get to go faster too. My throat was burning after but I got in a pretty decent workout for a first time and went almost 2 miles alternating running and walking (mostly walking). I need to take advantage of this weather before it gets too unbearably hot but hopefully I’ll be motivated enough by then to just keep moving!

Vet bound dogs seem to be a trend right now.  Dudey got into fire ants *again* a few weeks ago but we managed to escape a vet visit with lots of Benadryl.  But Stoli and Dude have both had to go in the last couple of weeks.  Stoli had a trail of blood running down her fur a few weeks ago and it kind of freaked us out.  It happened on a Saturday at 6pm – outside of normal vet hours.  She was still acting like herself and eating and drinking so we decided to leave a voicemail for the vet closest that had Sunday hours in order to avoid an emergency vet visit and to hopefully get in first thing in the morning.  Well that was the first time and last time that happened but we figured it was out of the ordinary and even though the vet had been open for a couple of hours and hadn’t called us back to confirm an appointment, we would take her in.  At 3 on Sunday, Brady and I took Stoli to her appointment.  Two hours and $190 later nothing was wrong with her and she probably just had a little irritability or not enough water the day before.  Ugh.

The day after that Dude started doing an inward sneezing thing and coughing.  We let him do this from Monday through Thursday and I took him into a different vet that Stoli went to on Friday.  I’ve been suspecting he had allergies but he wasn’t reacting to the Beandaryl.  The vet confirmed my suspicious even though over the phone they suspected he had kennel cough.  They put him on a few pills and gradually he’s gotten better.  He went from sneezing and coughing at least 6 times a day to maybe sneezing once.  When I was at the vet, she alluded that I shouldn’t take my dogs to the place I took Stoli (I had disclose where they might have come into contact with other dog matter/diseases – possibly bordatella).  I couldn’t let this go that there was something wrong about this place and asked the lady at the front desk and she said she wouldn’t take her animals to this particular vet I asked about (even when their office was closed) she said she’d drive to Round Rock (30 minutes away) and go to the emergency clinic.  Hmmm.  Part of me thinks that was them not wanting to send people to their closest competition but then again who knows what they see and animals brought in from their competition that isn’t diagnosed properly or for overcharging (when NOTHING is wrong).  $300 later and the dogs are back to themselves.

One of our raised garden beds is now fully planted.  We went to The Natural Gardener (all organic) two weeks ago and picked up some transplants (tomatoes – 2 varieties, bell peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, cayenne peppers, cilantro, zucchini, chives) and some seeds (Romaine, radishes, black garbanzo beans, green beans).  Last weekend Casey built another raised bed and we put in some strawberry plants.  I’m wondering if I got enough strawberry plants but I’m debating planting some cantaloupe seeds in the same bed so I don’t want to add too much at this point.  We definitely need to get some more fruit into our garden.  The seeds are already started to sprout so I’m feeling optimistic about the progress and output we’ll see!

Brady had her 15 month appointment on 3/26.  She’s in the 75th percentile for height (31.25″), 70th percentile for weight (23 pounds 10 ounces), and 95% for head size (I don’t remember the number).  She even demonstrated her newest skill…walking…for the doctor.  And she’s gotten even better since then walking all over our living room.

After her appointment, Robin and I took the Brady and Jude to the San Antonio Zoo.  We were hoping that they would take their nap during the ride down, but of course that didn’t end up happening and they were out of their mind tired while there.  Even with them being tired, Robin and I agree the zoo was a bit out of their age range and would definitely be more fun in a year or two.  And unfortunately we missed out on the kiddie portion of the zoo (devoted to those under 5) since the babes fell asleep right before we got to that area.  Robin was nice enough to let me borrow one of her strollers so Brady ended up being pretty comfy and only woke up for a minute as I put her in her seat.  I still had a lot of fun hanging out with Robin and Jude, getting exercise, and enjoying the weather.

My mom is in town for two weeks visiting but I’ll save that update for next time cause it’s time for bed.  Happy Easter everybody!  Pictures to come!

Brady’s mesmerized by this song.  The song is 1,2,3,4 by Fiest (the iPod song, I think it was) and was on Sesame Street.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1z4O5PP2bo