Whatever Wednesday: I hate the stupid bowl

I guess I'm your stereotypical football hating girl. I really don't like watching most sports, I think they're dumb. Live, it can be a little better. You're there, you're feeling the excitement... But I've just NEVER been able to get into watching the game on TV. Football I have a personal hate for. Back in the olden days, when the "big" game would fall on the last Sunday of the year, it sometimes fell on my birthday. Which meant no one would really pay attention to me, just the game. I hated it.

I spent Super Bowl Sunday grocery shopping, cleaning the house, and sitting at home with my husband and my father in law (my mother in law hates football too, and opted out of coming. So I guess football IS good for something...)

I do have lots of girl-friends who LOVE football. I even have a few guy friends who hate it. What about you ladies, what's the verdict? Do you love it, or hate it?

We got hit with some major snow Friday. It was funny, because they were talking about how it was going to hit. Friday morning, I wake up, and nothing. Just as I was about to put my facebook status as "Where's all this snow we're supposed to get?" I look outside and, well, there it was. I'm assuming some of you guys got hit as well, it was a pretty big storm. I got Cayden dressed to go outside for a minute (and someone already yelled at me because he wasn't wearing a hat and mittens. I know that's bad, but we really were outside for like 5 minutes, if that. And he doesn't keep a hat OR mittens on. He's pretty much like Houdini and can get them off.) Here's some pictures (with the new camera, by the way!):




You can see here he's standing next to a snowman I made that was almost his size. I really wanted to make it his size, but I wasn't wearing gloves either, and my hands were freezing!





Here he's standing in a snow bank. It was mid afternoon, had only been snowing for maybe two hours? Already up to his knees, and didn't really let up until the next day.



Here are some Super Bowl photos:



Excuse the mess, this was the house before I cleaned. We won that chair at Dave and Busters. Jeremy was more excited than Cayden I think!



I love this picture so much. It looks like he and Tater are conspiring.




Cayden says go Saints! (and looks as excited about the Stupid bowl as Mommy is.)





I love this face!





Cayden stole Daddy's phone and Grandpa called him on it. He was talking up a storm and looking REALLY serious



The Erwin Boys!


I went down by the river to take some pictures with Cayden, thinking that even though it was cold, he'd enjoy time outside. WRONG. Not a happy camper. Turns out, snow is cold, and my son is not a fan of cold:










And back at home:







What else? A few cosmetics about the blog: I know someone requested that I put the swagbucks widget back up. I attempted too, but it is too big for this layout, and it comes over and blocks the text. I can't figure out if there's a way to shrink it or not, so for now, it's just not going up, which is a bummer, because I really loved the widget. Sorry guys.

Secondly, I added a donation button to the side. Some of you guys around Christmas mentioned that I should do it, so I did. Don't feel like you have too, but if you want too, I'm certainly not going to stop you. Please though, don't let the word donation fool you - it's not going to any cause other than mine. I was going to add a "buy" button instead, but then I had to enter the amounts people had to choose, and this way, if people want to give me money for what I do, they can pick the amount based on what they can afford. I hope that doesn't make me sound greedy, or like I think I'm owed anything. I hate talking about money and gifts, I get uncomfortable like I come off forward or whatever. But yeah, that's the reason.

If you're broke like we are, and can't give money, but still want to help me out, feel free to sign up for swagbucks. I've talked about swagbucks before, but I know I have some new people who may have missed it. Swagbucks is a search engine, like google (and pretty good, it's powered by google and ask.com) Sometimes when you search, you'll randomly win bucks that you can use in their store (you can win one buck, up to I think 500, though the most I've ever gotten was a 3 buck) You can also earn bucks in different ways (they have a shop and earn section. They have links to a bunch of online stores, and if you shop through their link, you earn swagbucks for so much money you spend. They also have a "special" offers section, they have different offers from people like gamefly, netflicks, and if you sign up through them, you also get bucks.) They also have code hunts, they occasionally give you codes... And last but not least, you can earn codes through referrals (this is the fastest way to earn, I will admit) If you sign up using my code, for every swag buck you will, I'll win (up to 100 swag bucks) The prizes are really good. I've gotten a TON of amazon giftcards (at least 50 dollars worth, probably more) as well as 2 25 dollar gift cards to restaurants.com. They have various prizes, clothes to charity donations (a little while ago you could donate you bucks to Haiti and they'd donate real money.) So, if you'd like to sign up, please check it out and sign up under me. I use the Amazon cards to surprise my husband with gifts for his birthday/our anniversary (so I don't have to ask him for money!) Anyway, here's the sign up link:


Another website you guys should check out, especially for those of you looking to lose weight like I am, is this one: http://www.pfpchallenge.com/ It's the pound for pound challenge, for every pound you pledge to lose, the Biggest Loser will donate a pound of food to your local food bank. I pledged 50 lbs. It seems like a lot, but guess what? I'm down 20 lbs already from the month of January and this first week of Feb. So If I lose 10 lbs a month, I should hit it. Even if you only need to lose 5 lbs, pledge the weight. It'll still give 5 lbs of food to a family who doesn't have anything!

Last but not least, I think I mentioned we're looking to get a new car with our tax money. Can I just say, I hate car shopping? It's not even because of the salesmen. All the ones we've talked to have been really nice, and not the least bit pushy.

It's just really frustrating. For one, everyone says they can get us financed. And then they can't. And it's a LOT of work, going out to these places, usually lugging Cayden with us, test driving something, really liking it, only to find out we can't get financed. I've told my husband I just want to check our credit before we go out, and if we can get financed, we'll go look at it. But the dealer's always say "Oh we can finance you! We can finance anyway! Just come in." Now I get it, they want us in there so they can wheel and deal and if they can't get us the car we want, maybe they can get us something else. But it's such a hassle.

Not to mention, I hate filling out credit apps and having to put down homemaker, or unemployed or whatever little option they have for stay at home Mom. It feels almost degrading. I don't know. Like Toni, I kind of struggle with being a Mom sometimes. I love my son more than anything, and it's not really mothering that I have an issue with, but how people view mothering. They just don't get how hard it is. And I mean, sure, it does have it's perks. I get to stay at home on days where it's crappy outside. Or, on days where it's nice, I can take my son outside and enjoy the day. I can watch TV, but on whatever websites I want. I get to see my son grow and change. But there are many downsides. Like the fact that nobody seems to recognize it as an actual job. I can't call in sick. I'm on call 24-7. Because I'm home all the time, even when my husband's home, my son usually wants me.

The thing about it is, raising a child isn't that hard. Housework also isn't that hard. It has it's moments, but I would put it on par with other jobs. But doing the two together? Trying to fold the laundry while your child is trying to play in the laundry basket? Trying to pick up toys while your child just pulls them back out again? Trying to cook dinner while making sure your kid isn't pulling the eggs out and smashing them on the rug? Each job I do takes twice as long.

And then it makes me even more frustrated when my husband does little things... Like we keep our dog and cat food in these locking bins. But he either never remembers to put the tops back on, or he doesn't lock them. And then my son goes in, and gets into them, either throwing dog food everywhere, or eating it. Or my personal favorite, half eating it, and then throwing gooey gobs of dog food up (which stains!) And he acts like he's such a big deal when he has to do two jobs at once (like cook lunch and watch Cayden.) That's what I do all day! And he definately didn't realize why I was so upset Monday... He and I meet at the gym when he gets off work. But he ALWAYS forgets his gym stuff, so that means I not only have to get my stuff together, and get Cayden and I ready to go, but also his stuff. And it means that I have to lug a gym bag in while carrying Cayden. Well, on top of all that, last night he didn't show up! He got stuck at work, which just threw our whole plans off. True, it wasn't his fault, but he didn't understand why I was so frustrated. Not only did I lug his crap in, but I had to lug it back out. And while my son loves his daycare, he's such a Mama's boy that he cries when I drop him off and when I pick him up (I watched him from the window, the second I leave? He's fine and happy and plays. He's just a little attached.) So not only had I totally busted my ass working out, but then I had to take my stuff, my husband's stuff, and my screaming baby back out to the car. And on top of that, my husband wanted me to go pick up my sister by myself, with Cayden. Keeping a screaming baby in the car longer, and taking him by myself to Wal-mart as well.

I mean people just don't think. And I'm sure it doesn't sound like a lot, but add on the fact that by this time in the day, I am VERY tired. It's like when I was pregnant, I LOVED carrying Cayden. I loved feeling him move, and knowing that I got to know him before anyone else. But I wished for ONE day when my husband could carry him, so he could see how tired I was, how it felt to be so swollen, the round ligament pain, the general uncomfortable-ness.

I want ONE day where non-stay at home momes have to stay home.

I honestly think the only people in the world who have it worse off (job wise) is the working primary caregiver.

The thing that sucks most about car loans and being a stay at home Mom? I could probably get a car loan on my own. My husband's credit is horrible, but I have no credit. And while that's often worse... There are a few places that have a first time car buyer's program. Only since I have no income of my own, I can't be on a loan on my own.

So. THat's my rant. It went on way longer than I wanted it too, but I feel better now :-)