12 weeks...gone!

That's right. My 12 weeks of FMLA job protection and baby-bonding "vacation" are over. I return to the working world tomorrow.

Boohoohooo...whaaaaaaaa...sniffle...sigh.

I kinda wish I lived in Hungary ... 24 weeks with 100% pay. However, I am thankful that I don't live in Tunisia...only 30 days!

I'll be ok. I just have to transition back into the role as a working mom. It's actually not the 'going back to work' part that I'm dreading. I don't mind the work. In fact, I really like my job and everyone I work with. It's just that I don't like the idea of giving up time with these people who I like even more:

Fortunately, I'll be returning at my reduced work schedule of 75% time, so I will continue to have Friday's off to enjoy my time with the above. Thank Heaven!

myPhone

So our AT&T contract finally came up for renewal recently, and not a moment too soon. While we liked the size & features of our last phones, the build quality was pretty bad. I went thru 2 of em before pilfering Jenny's, while she rode out the final months on a borrowed flip phone. Strange then that we chose the same manufacturer for our new phones huh?

Introducing my new best friend, the Sony Ericsson C905.

So, why this one?

Well, for Jenny it's the camera - 8.1 megapixels with a real flash. Given that it's part of Sony's Cyber-shot line, you could say this thing is actually a camera with a phone built in, rather than the other way around. And so far, it seems to perform like one.

My main goal was to figure out how to get all the features of a "smart phone" without agreeing to AT&T's $30/month data plan. This guy won the job because despite it's smart-like features, AT&T doesn't consider it so. Thus, they're only charging me $10/month for unlimited data.

The highlights...

• 8.1 mp camera with a real xenon flash
• Opera Mini full HTML web browser that supports Youtube
• Wi-fi connectivity
• MP3 & video player
• Email clients for Yahoo (personal) & Outlook (work)
• GPS (works with Google Maps, Yellow Pages, etc)
• Calls, txts, reminds me to do things, and fits nicely in my pocket

Along with getting new phones, I took the opportunity to change up our voice & texting plans so they match our current usage. With all services, taxes & fees, we're now around $95/month, about what we were paying on the last contract, only now with many more features on much more capable devices. I feel like I beat the system - yay me!

Same Kind of Different as Me

People often make book recommendations. "Oh, you gotta read this." "This is the best story ever." However, it's a little like music -- there's a certain level of personal preference involved in books and stories. I do appreciate the suggestions and I do always want to read that really good book, but reading was just not a high enough priority for me which means I never made the time. Well, times have changed and now I am that person making a book recommendation. I get it now. I guess when you are moved by something you read, you really want to share it with everyone so that they can hopefully have a similar feeling and get the same enjoyment out of it!

A couple days ago, Jeff's mom casually mentioned a book that she was reading. She didn't get a chance to say too much about it because there were two little cute ones to attend to. But for some reason I felt compelled to follow up on this particular book with the tricky sounding title. I went online and sure enough, The Colony library happened to have it (on the New Book shelf. Note: the book is from 2006!)

Anyways, I checked it out the next day and started reading it during Danielle's long nap. Fortunately, she's a good sleeper because I couldn't stop reading. I did eventually have to put it down, but I finished the book the next day.

It is a truly remarkable story. It's a true story about a rich guy, his amazing wife and a homeless man who has an unbelievable past. It takes place in Ft. Worth and Dallas (and Louisiana) so there are tons of familiar references, which makes it even more interesting to read. It touches so many different topics: relationships, volunteerism, faith and spirituality, disease, homelessness. The book is written from the perspective of the two men where several events are told twice from each side. It made such an impact on me. I'll never look at a homeless person the same way -- I can't believe (and am ashamed to admit) that I ever viewed a homeless guy as just some lazy, drunk bum that was virtually disposable, completely neglecting the human side of him.

I wish I could better represent this book and do it justice, but I am not a very good writer. Fortunately, I don't have to be. Ron Hall and Denver Moore tell their story best. Check it out: Same Kind of Different as Me.

Ramblings of a giddy mom high on sleep

EIGHT. That's how many consecutive hours of sleep I got last night. Doesn't seem noteworthy, but to me this was huge. HUGE! It was the first time in two and a half months that I've slept for more than 3-4 hours at a time. And it feels great! This was finally made possible because, as of a few days ago, I am no longer Danielle's sole food supplier. Plus Jeff covered the night shift last night. (Yes, I have had a couple of 6-hour nights, but apparently that wasn't quite enough.)

I didn't realize just how rundown I had been feeling until I noticed how spectacular I felt today. Eight really does seem to be the magic number for how much sleep is ideal. Eight hours made all the difference for me.

I was eager to get up this morning when the kid-sized alarm went off instead of wanting to hit snooze and go back to sleep.

Getting 2 kids and myself ready for church on-time was a snap.

I had plenty of energy and patience for Naomi's let's-make-everything-a-game attitude and her endless "tell me a story" request.

My afternoon run of 5 miles felt nearly effortless. Seriously. Before, I had been tired at the end of my runs, like I had pushed as far as I could go. Today, despite the longer distance, I felt like I could have kept going...even in the cold weather (it only made it up to 37 degrees.)

I think Jeff got tired of hearing me say, "Man, I feel so good today!" (especially since he's pretty tired after working night duty -- he has trouble falling back asleep after waking up...)

The world sure is a brighter place when you get plenty of sleep. It really is like a high. So here's my tip if you want a free, harmless high: Set an alarm to wake yourself up every 3 hours. Then after several weeks, turn off the alarm and get one night of 8 hours sleep. You'll love it!

My limit

I knew going into this half marathon training, that many of my runs would take place in the cold. I was ok with that...my mom taught me all about wearing layers. However, I discovered today that there is a lower limit for my training runs...it must be at least above freezing. This is TOO cold to be jogging outside:



I didn't make my goal of 5 miles today (I wimped out [yes, I'm a wimp!] and turned back early), but fortunately I still have tomorrow, when it's going to be a balmy 48 degrees. Funny how that sounds so warm to me now!!

Anyways, I'm one month down and things are going well. My feet and legs and knees are enjoying the workouts 4 days a week, and my brain is enjoying the mental breaks. I like the fresh air and the challenge so far. Jeff continues to be a great cheerleader and motivator. I will be hitting new personal distance records soon, so hopefully I'll be able to say all this again in another month!

Nocturnal Sock Puppet Theater

Naomi's bedtime is 8pm. That's when we begin reading books anyway. The whole process, which includes snacks and a potty break, usually takes about 45 minutes which means I get out of there around 8:45. Reasonable bedtime for a 3 year old, right?

Sometimes I can tell though that she's not sleepy yet. In those cases, it's not unusual to hear her talking or singing to herself after I shut the door. We've never minded this, figuring as long as she stays in bed, she's meeting the "bedtime" requirement.

Lately though, we've heard footsteps to go along with the talking in there. Then the other night, I discovered this...

Fell asleep in the middle of something?

I'm pretty sure this means she's busted on that whole "no getting out of bed after I close the door" rule, huh?

Livin Cable Free

Remember that experiment wherein I didn't like paying $50/month for cable so I decided to stop paying $50/month for cable and instead installed a DTV antenna to see what I could get for free? You don't? Well I don't blame ya, that was a whole year ago. You have your own life to lead. Anyway, since it's been a year, let's check in on how it's going.

Just fine. I'm happy to report my trepidation (good word) was unfounded.

First, the channel lineup has changed a little for the better since last year. We now receive about 50 digital channels, but after filtering out the religious/spanish/shopping ones, we have...

• 4.1 KDFW FOX 4
• 5.1 KXAS NBC 5
• 5.3 Universal Sports
  
• 8.1 WFAA ABC
• 8.2 WFAA Headlines
• 8.3 THiS tv new
• 11.1 KTVT CBS 11
• 13.1 KERA PBS
• 13.2 PBS World new
• 21.1 KTXA Independent
  
• 27.1 KDFI My 27
• 31.4 AMG TV new
• 33.1 KDAF The 33
• 52.1 KFWD Independent
• 68.1 ION
• 68.2 Qubo
  
• 68.3 ION Life

So, pretty much everything we like to watch. And the 3 new channels add quite a bit, especially PBS World (I'm diggin History Detectives right now). Naomi still watches mostly PBS & Qubo. Jenny still doesn't know how to turn the TV on. Danielle doesn't know what the TV is.

The surprising thing though is that, regardless of what channels we have (whether or not we have cable), we watch pretty much everything online now because TV's "prime time" is bath/bedtime in our house. By the time Jenny & I sit down to watch something, it's about 9:30pm. Where we used to record the 4-5 shows we follow and watch em at that time, we now just go online to select the episodes we want. No more pre-planning to make sure something gets recorded - simplicity!

Total monthly bill = $0

Number of outages in the past year = 0

Picture quality = HD

I originally committed to going without cable for 3 months. Now, I don't see why I'd go back.