Is Catherine a common name in India?

It is 3pm and my 10 month old is just now nursing to sleep. Very strange.
This morning I get a phone call from a lady claiming my phone number had been selected and we were chosen to receive a $500 gift certificate to any store we want. It sounds nice, so I ask, what's the catch. No catch she says, all she needs is...and this is interesting...my checking account number, only $4.95 for shipping an handling. Let me ask you this. If this company can afford to hand out $500 gift certificates, don't you think they would be more than willing to pay the measley $4.95 in shipping costs. And I dont know about you but last time I mailed a letter it didnt cost me $4.95. Okay, this is the best part, as she proceeded to give me her information. You are probably wondering why I am still on the phone with this woman. To satisfy my curiosity and I have a hard time just hanging up on a person and she was not willingly allowing me to end the conversation,
You have heard the controversy regarding telemarketing companies sending their business overseas. One of the main countries that accepts these jobs is India. So, this woman on the phone had a noticable Indian accent, very very strong. Then she proceeded to tell me her name was Catherine Smith and her employee number is #103. I dont think so. I explained to her yet another time that there is no way on God's given earth that I was going to sit there are tell her my checking account number over the phone. She tells me that the checking account number is no good to them unless they have my verbal authorization. Has she ever heard of identity theft? She would not let me off the phone. So, the conversation finally ended with me explaining to her that if this was completely legitimate then she would have no problem calling back when my husband was home. Lets see if we ever get that phone call, or for that matter see a $500 gift certificate. People really are gullible arent they?
Then to make my morning even more interesting. Avrie almost pulled the curling iron down onto the floor, maybe even on top of herself, but I caught it in time. Unfortunately I grabbed the wrong end of the scorching iron.It's just 4 fingers, I cannot even begin to imagine the pain people go through who have had a significant percentage of their bodies burned. No wonder they stick them in comas, when my fingers come off the ice, I feel like being put into a coma. Unbelievable pain. Yikes!!! Hopefully they dont blister. Yeah, that's right, I didnt even burn them enough to have them blister right away. Maybe Im a big wimp but this hurts.
Cailin is wearing a purple princess dress, she looks so sweet. Gotta go, she is getting bored watching me type.

A little about me

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Waitress at a Sushi Bar
2. Business Center Manager at the Hyatt
3. Nanny for my nephew
4. Secretary for my dad's Accounting firm
Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Oscar
2. Amelie
3. Chicago
4. Moulan Rouge
Four places I’ve lived:
1. Tempe, AZ
2. Phoenix, AZ
3. Back to Tempe, AZ
4. Kirkland, WA
Four websites I visit daily:
1. Blogger.com
2. Kodakgaller.com
3. Yahoo
4. Mothering.com
Four of my favorite fattening foods:
1. Chocolate chip cookies (hot)
2. Creamy, cheesy pasta
3. Banana chocolate milkshake
4. Chocolate
Four places I would rather be right now:
1.In bed having sex with my husband (he's harassing me right now as I type this)
2. Tempe, AZ
3. In the shower
4. Spain

One leak shy of a trailer

My house is falling apart, and it's not even mine, we are just renting. First, our dryer completely broke, so they ordered us a new one but it's on backorder, so in the meantime we are drying our clothes in another townhome. If I was in warm sunny Arizona I suppose I could just hang them out to dry but since it is cold and damp here they would never dry. But if I was in Arizona I would be living in a home I own, with my own dryer that worked. But since that is not the case, I will just have Steve wade through rain and mud to take our wet laundry to another dryer in the complex. There is no way in hell I'm doing that. Although how fun that sounds, carrying a basket of wet laundry, with Avrie in the sling, and holding an umbrella because it's been raining for the past 6 months, listening to Cailin complain about...something. No, that's Steve's job, but he doesn't seem to mind too much. I mean, the clothes are half his.
Lets see what else. Oh yeah, we have a huge water leak in the roof of our upstairs hallway. The complex doesn't seem to be too concerned with this damage since they have yet to return my phone call, oh well, it's their unsound structure.
Ooohh, do you know what I just reminded myself about? Did you know the area I live in Seattle is referred to as the Pugent Sound. Does that sound weird to you? Maybe even a little dirty? It does to me. Every time I hear someone say it I'm like a little kid giggling every time their health teacher says the word penis or something like that. I can't stand the words Pugent Sound. It just doesn't sound right. I don't know if I'll ever get use to it.
Okay, back to my lovely home. The outlet in my bathroom will not hold any of my appliances in. It's driving me crazy! My hair dryer won't stay in, my straight iron, my curling iron. I get so irrated while I'm doing my hair. It's a loose outlet, the plugs just barely hold on, and if you put any tension at all on the cord, out it pops and you have to plug it in again. This is most irratating with my straight iron because each time it pops off I not only have to plug it in again, I also have to turn it back on and reset the temperature. It's a big pain in the ass.
My fan in the master bathroom doesn't work, which is not a huge deal, but it would be nice to have it just in case.
Oh, this isn't something that is necessarily broken, just an irratating thing that I will have to rectify myself. All the shelves in the medicine cabinet are precariouly perched on top of lopsided pegs so if you place anything on the shelf to somehow throw off the universal balance of it all, watch out, its like a domino effect, everything from all 3 shelves collapses into one big heap of cosmetics onto your bathroom counter. It's great fun.
The strainer to the kitchen sink completely disintegrated in my hands. I was going to buy a new one but they actually cost a little more than I was willing to spend. I'll just buy a rubber stopper next time I'm at the store.
That's about all the happenings in our home right now. The kicker to it all is the Mainetenance man only fixes one thing at a time. So, if I give him a list (which I have) he only comes in and does one thing every few weeks. He's not reverred for his speed. Plus every time he comes into my house he leaves a beatiful aroma of sweat and cigarettes. What sweet smells.
My friend Allison had a baby today. After 4 wonderful boys she finally had a girl. Wow, 4 older brothers, how fun. I hope she gets her own bathroom as a teenager. 10 lbs 5 oz, 22 inches long. I'm so excited for her.
I met some wonderful people at my new and correct ward on Sunday. Lots of kids Cailin's age, and not a single obvious weirdo among the young moms. But, its all new, Im sure they are there, just give them time to emerge. That doesn't mean there aren't any in the ward, there are and that is the person I choose to sit next to in Relief Society. She kept taking Avrie's toys and placing them close to herself, trying to entice Avrie to come close to her. Avrie didn't take the bait, I was surprised. Maybe she was blessed with a 6th sense. Good thing too, there are lots of whack jobs out there that you constantly have to fend off.
One lady called me today to invite me to a playgroup they have every Wednesday. I had already heard about it, from just about every single person I talked to on Sunday, men included. They said its just a time for the moms to sit around and talk while we ignore our kids. Just what I want. No hide-and-go-seek in this group. Plus, a bonus, the lady I talked to today had given birth to her last son at home with a midwife and there is another lady who had all her kids at home. Hallelujah, they do exist in Seattle. I still have yet to see another person breastfeeding but I'm sure they are there somewhere. One lady at the first ward I attended had popped her head into the Mother's lounge while I was nursing Avrie, when I invited her in, she said "No thankyou, I'll just go nurse in another room." Like I said the crazies are there, I don't have to look hard for them, they usually find me. I'll keep my eye out for an exposed nipple...I can't wait.
Well, Avrie is stirring in her sleep, I can always tell when she is about to wake up. I hope it doesn't rain all day tomorrow. I hate getting the kids in and out of the car in the rain, it really sucks. Although it's not much worse than putting kids into carseats that have been toasting in 120 degrees. Okay, okay, let's not fight, they are both awful. Winter in Seattle and Summer in Arizona, it's a dead tie. I have to say that but I don't really believe it.
Goodnight

Time Flies

The 27th was my brother Mark's birthday. He would have been 36 years old. Crazy! I can't believe he has been gone for almost 11 years.
The 27th was not one of my best days since I have moved here to freezing Washington. First of all it is taking some getting use to Steve having to work a full day on Friday. He has always worked 9 hour days with a 1/2 day on Friday. So, our Fridays lately have seemed very long.
I didn't have a car because it was at the repair shop getting the heat fixed. It was raining in the morning so we really couldn't walk anywhere. So, we did some art projects, watched a movie, Cailin and Avrie played together, I read a book, cleaned the house. But that only took us until about 2pm. So, at that point it didn't seem like it was going to rain any more, so we bundled up and took a walk to the park. It was Antartic cold. A little windy, misty. I had my mittens on Avrie's hands because they were cold. But, we just had to get out, I was going completely loopy.
We get to the deserted park (even the bathrooms are closed for the winter), while Cailin pushed Avrie on the swing I sit down to look through the mail I picked up on the way.
There was a birthday card for Steve from his brother, a bill, Steve's W-2 form and a letter from Steve's mom. I opened it, started to read and just broke down. Right there in the middle of the empty cold park. I couldnt even read what she wrote, her handwriting isnt that great and its in Spanish. But, it didnt matter, I still read it, crying, freezing cold. I was so incredibly lonely yesterday. I know I could pick up the phone and call anyone but that's not what I needed. I wanted someone to come over and talk about completely useless topics while we ignored our kids together in another room. I called my mom, chatted for a few minutes and then we walked home.
Steve actually made it home a little early. I was barely holding it together. Trying so hard to keep the tears in, Steve notices and proceeds to say..."Are you sad because today is Mark's birthday?" Well, up until that point I hadn't realized it was the 27th, his birthday. But that just set me off. "Well, now that's why I'm sad!" Which is funny because his birthday has never really made me sad in the past. But I think because I had had such a crappy day, that was just a little bit too much. I flew upstairs, Steve followed. He is always really good at cheering me up. He knows just what to say, he knows when he has to be serious and at what point he can say something goofy without pissing me off.
I hadn't been able to go grocery shopping because I didn't have a car, so we went to Outback Steakhouse, I ordered a thick juicy bloody steak, and felt much better after that. A satisfying end to a really shitty day.

Giant playmates

Okay people. I did not have children so that I could turn into this oversized, fulltime playpal for my kids. Yes, I play with them, of course. Yesterday, Cailin and I made some Thank you cards, then I put a movie in for her while I nursed her sister down for a nap. I also played one board game with her while we waited for dad to come home. But most of the day, she's on her own. She plays with her barbies, her dolls, she torments her sister, she harasses me for another DVD. Lets see, what else does she do? I dont know, just entertains herself for the most part. I will set toys up for her and get her started. For example, she wanted to play with her train, so I started the track with her and then would jump in every half hour to keep her interested, but by no means did I camp out next to her train track awaiting her beckon call. Hell no, Ive got things to do, like play on the computer. Sorry, that was a bad parenting outburst.
So, the following experience is the reason this blog exists...
Since we just moved to this area we are looking for a couple of friends for Cailin to play with so we met someone, her daughters are the same age as mine. (I'm hoping and assuming she doesnt crawl through the internet searching out blogs to read, she doesnt seem like that type of person)
So, she invited us over for a playdate. My previous experience at playdates has been that this is an opportunity for your children to have soneone other than mom to play with, therefor giving the moms a time to engage in enjoyable adult conversation with the other moms. This experience...much much different. First, we ALL (mom's included) played a board game where her daughter proceeded to insist on certain rules in a very bossy way, which we all were expected to comply with. Next we ALL (yes, moms included) played play doh together. And one of the moms (not me) was really getting into thjs. We then headed into the play room where we were all expected (in a silent way) to play dollhouse together. At this point, I felt vomit emerging so I had to retreat to the living room where I then proceeded to shove a nipple into my baby's mouth so I had an excuse to leave this Alice in Wonderland reality. As I was unsuccessful in force-nursing my baby, if they dont want to they wont. We were then all served lunch. PB&J, goldfish crackers, raisons and milk. Okay people, that is something you serve to a really good friend when you dont have anything else at all in the fridge. But, regardless of the social protocol, I was served PB&J, goldfish crackers, raisons and milk, on plastic IKEA plates (yes the adults too), and plastic cups. I dont know about you, but I feel like I have earned the privelage throughout my 29 years of life to be able to drink out of a glass. I can be trusted I will not play around at the table and accidently drop it.
But, after all this the kicker was the last and final game. The kids started playing hide-and-go-seek and somehow I got roped into this by the other mom. I'm not saying I don't play with my kids. Cailin, Steve and I have played hide-and-go-seek numerous times, but as a family, not with my adult friends. Could you just imagine Myself, April, Sarah, Heather and Crystal all running around playing hide-and-go-seek like a bunch of 5 year ols? Ridiculous.
The last straw was when her daughter was combing through Cailin's purse, pocketing the money she had brought with her. Because little girls always have to bring a purse with them wherever they go. Cailin, of course, got upset. It was to be expected, I would have become a little irate if the mom starting stealing money out of my purse. It was then time to leave, and I'm not quite sure if I will ever gain enough energy to return there again. I was exhausted when we left.
So, again, I am in search of a friend for Cailin and I.

Musical Beds

Why can't my family just stay in their designated beds?! It's a chaotic version of musical beds at our house every night, and my husband is the biggest culprit.
This is how our night begins... Cailin in her bed, Avrie in my bed with myself (or I'm at the computer 2 feet away), and Steve on the couch (he usually falls asleep watching tv or finishes studying late into the night and the thought of walking up an entire flight of dangerous (I'll tell that story another time) flight of stairs at midnight is just to much to endure. So, he crashes onto the couch in the family room. Then sometime into the night Cailin will wake up and want someone to lay with her for a few minutes, to help her fall back asleep. If Avrie is not nursing at that exact moment, then that somebody is usually me. But, then I have to call down to Steve to come upstairs to bed so Avrie doesn't wake up and crawl off the bed while I have fallen asleep on Cailin's bed. (It's difficult to just lay there until she falls asleep but not fall asleep myself. ) So, Steve come tromping up the stairs as I head into Cailin's room, to comfort her. Eventually Avrie will wake up, I generally hear her and dash into our room to nurse her back to sleep. At that precise point everyone is in their designated sleeping locations, for the moment. Cailin lately has been waking up a second time, so that is when Steve goes into her room and sleeps with her on her bed or on her floor. He usually falls asleep right away, Cailn does not, so she climbs over a cometous daddy and crawls into bed with Avrie, the cat and myself. Sometimes Steve will wake up again and slide back downstairs to the couch and sometimes he just stays put in Cailin's loft bed or on her floor. And that is typically where we all end up. Some nights it is utterly exhausting!
If Steve would just start out in our bed it would eliminate an entire step to our nighttime muscial bed ritual.
But, doesn't that encompass that underlying question women have been asking themselves and eachother for generations and generations? How do we get our husband to do what we want them to do? How do we train them?
I'll give you an update in a few weeks to let you know if any of our craziness has changed for the better.

Sweet Dreams & Small Basketball Tangent

Cailin has been having trouble falling asleep when we put her to bed the last few nights. Her sleep schedule has been completely out of whack. Yesterday she took a nap (very out of the ordinary) from 5-7pm and then didn't go to bed until Midnight. Good thing I normally stay up late. Anyways, our routine is as follows: We brush her teeth, read 4 books and then lay down with her for a few minutes to help her fall asleep. Unfortunately, our little routine has not been working lately. All we hear from her is "I can't fall asleep", "It's not working, I'm not falling asleep." She repeats this over and over until she eventually...falls asleep.

Well, tonight Steve was not here

He had a basketball game, they won!! Although he did admit to me that he missed
2 out of 4 free throws, or you could look at it as making 2 out of 4. However
you look at it, it's still a fundamental skill that basketball players have been
practicing since they were 5 years old. I really don't think there is much
excuse for making anything less than 100%, especially NBA players, and
considering how much money they actually get paid to stand on that line and
shoot a ball a few feet into a basket. What if a waitress only gets 1/2 her
orders correct? She wouldn't have a job for very long would she? And she only
gets paid $2.30/hr...outrageous!!

so it was just myself and the girls. I had nursed Avrie to sleep and then went to help Cailin get ready for bed. We read our books, and then it began..."I can't fall asleep". So, we sang some songs together, still didn't work. At that point Avrie woke up, only a 20 minute stretch of sleep for her. So, I jumped down from the bed, Cailin at my heels. We all layed down in my bed to try yet again to fall asleep. That's when Cailin stood up, declared, "I'm not falling asleep" and headed downstairs to our dark living room. I finished nursing Avrie back to sleep which took about 15 minutes and went in search of my almost 4 year old. The below picture shows exactly where I found her, snoring away like her grandpas. I wonder how she came to end up in that position...asleep?! She is a strange one. But very cute. Obviously she was tired. Night-Night

Get it together Bishop

I am so frustrated. First of all here is a disclaimer. This is just the craziness within my little mormon world of Kirkland, Washington. This doesn't necessarily reflect the church as a whole.
So, I went to www.lds.org and put in my street information to find which ward and building I was supposed to attend (depending on where I live). It tells me 9am at the building on 132nd St. Well, at the time we didnt know there were 2 buildings on 132nd St, but now we know there are. Steve had scoped out a Mormon church for me before we had even moved to Washington. When I located my church building I also printed out directions, which I showed to Steve. He took one look at them and said, "That's a stupid way to get there, let me tell you the right way." It never dawned on him that his limited 4 month driving history in Kirkland might not be completely correct. But, I knew even less, so like a dumb dumb I listened. Turns out, I went to the wrong ward. Thank goodness!! The woman conducting the singing was wearing a big brown furry hat. Immediately I knew I was outnumbered by wierdos. The Primary was completely disorganized. Cailin wasnt able to tell me anything they had learned. I was 5 minutes away from marching right into the Bishop's office and demanding to be put into the Primary Presidency (a position I just left after almost 4 years), just so I could fix their small Primary. But, on my way I learned from a Bishopric member I was attending the wrong ward, and that I needed to go to the other building (also on 132nd St) at 9am.
So, this Sunday that is exactly where I went, only to learn, after falling in love with all of the people and Cailin's Sunbeam teacher, that again, I had attended the wrong ward. Then I spent another 20 minutes trying to explain to almost the entire Bishopric exactly where I lived. They couldnt really figure it completely out. Frustrating! Especially since Kirkland isnt that big of a town, you would think if someone told them which street they lived on they would know where it is. The asked if I was to the right or the left of the Cascades...I dont even know what the Cascades are!! Apparently, my correct ward meets at 11:30am. So, I will report back again next week after attending our 3rd ward in 3 weeks.
I also learned that the lds website's building locator was just recently updated last week, which is why it had told me to attend at 9am, that was last years schdule! Very annoying.

Cailin's new favorite color...purple!

So, here is Cailin's new bed. We stayed up until midnight putting it together. Cailin tried so desperately to stay awake, she wanted to fall asleep in it, but the sleeping pills we slipped her kicked in (just kidding) and she succumbed to sleep around 10:30pm.
Steve of course, after the last screw was anchored into place went to bed. I, because I am my mother's daughter, stayed up until 1:30am making her bed, cleaning up the styrofoam, boxes and plastic bags the bed parts had come in. Steve does not understand this obsession with finishing the job the same day. But, this way I was able to first, have Cailin sleep in her new bed instead of with me, and second, wake up to a clean and organized room. Because frankly, I have other things that need to be done in the morning (like feeding my children, dressing them, cleaning a kitty litter...etc.) Might as well just get it done in one evening.
So, we still have more to do on her room, hang curtains, decorate the white walls. But isn't it cute so far? I'm having fun painting and decorating my new home. Making it feel like I belong in it. It's a little cozy, but don't they say, families who live in smaller houses have better relationships?

Crazy Photo Man

So, I took my 35mm film to be developed at Walgreens. I'm not a big fan of Walgreens, they have lost my photos on more than one occasion, the people that work in their photo lab aren't exactly rocket scientists, and ... I just don't like them. But, here in Kirkland, I really don't have many choices in the decision of local drugstores. So, I ventured in to buy a curling iron (which I ended up returning) and drop off some film, it should have only taken about 5 minutes. Well, 25 minutes later I was finally leaving the store, shaking my head in disbelief.
The man behind the film counter needed to take down my name, address & phone # for their computer system, which ironically, I've noticed, none of their employees have been trained on, and if they have, their short term memory just downright sucks! So, he asked me for my last name. So, I first say it and then spell it (an important point to the story), he proceeds to read back what he has typed (5 minutes worth of typing, re-spelling, re-re-spelling, and blank stares). This is what he reads back to me. (BTW, my last name is Vergara).
V-D-R-E-R-A-R-G-A-R-A. Should I have just left it as so, probably, but I just couldn't stand how much of an idiot this guy was, so 10 minutes later we finally completed my real last name. For my first name...I just gave him the letter J. Phone # dialogue was similar. I tell him I need a picture CD and Matte finish. He tells me, without skipping a beat, it will be ready in 1 hour. I know this to not be true because Walgreens, like I said before, is an incompetent and annoying store. If you want a picture CD and Matte finish, they have to send it to the Kodak photo lab to be processed. This, in Phoenix, takes about 3 days. I pointed this out to him. He says..."Oh, yeah, you're right." By this point I had realized he wasn't playing with all his cards. After another 5 minutes tip tapping who knows what into the computer, he tells me (bear in mind the date was January 14th)..."Your photos will be ready to be picked up the 25th or 26th". Are you kidding me?!!
So, after this entire ordeal, episode, occurrance, interaction, experience...whatever you want to call it, I've decided to bypass the middle man and mail my film directly to Kodak to be processed. Lesson learned!!

Make new friends but keep the old?

Is it completely necessary when you move out of state to make new friends? There are so many ways to keep in touch with the old...email, blogging, cell phone, text messaging, long distance, snail-mail, web-cams. Is it possible to continue the same friendships I have surrounded myself with over the past 10 years (more importantly, the past 5 years)? At least at this point, one week into my Seattle adventure, I dont quite feel the need for additional friendships.
One of my goals I made myself while living up here, choose my plate carefully. Do you understand? I felt that in Phoenix, I had too much on my plate. I was able to handle everything which I chose to participate in. Church callings, work, mothering, play dates, Birthing Tub business, La Leche League, Preschool, & my ritual TV watching of Nip/Tuck, The Office & LOST. But, honestly I would like more down time. More time to organize my home, scrapbook, just wander around my house aimlessly with no agenda and no where I need to be.
So, in my resolution to limit my activities I also want to choose my associations wisely. I feel like I had a small, wonderful. intimate group of friends. I had successfully eliminated the clutter people in my life. (if you are reading this blog, you are not a clutter friend!) So, now I have to start the process all over again. Or do I? Do I really need to acquire a new set of friends just because my oldest and dearest ones are 1500 miles away. At this point, my conclusive answer is "No, I do not." So, as I slowly and cautiously meet new people, I will tread very slowly and carefully. No clutter people and no replacements!

Welcome to Washington

So, this is a picture of my family. Aren't we adorable? This was my first introduction to Washington. My husband had been living here for a month while we stayed behind in Arizona. It was nice to see the leaves changing, and the cool weather was a nice change from the warm October air in Phoenix. But, now that we are here, my enthusiasm is not so grand.
Everyone says it will take time to adjust, and true, I've only been here 1 week, but it has rained 5 of the 7 days.
I will admit, it is nice to be together as a family again after being apart for so long. Steve moved out to Seattle in September, we joined him in January. A long time to be separated. My Parents-in law were not very thrilled with the idea of us being apart, they thought Steve's mind (and body) would wander, but I obviously know him a lot better than his own parents. (and how dare his own parents think they raised such a morally unsound man). Steve would never wander...cheating would be way too much effort...plus he is madly in love with me.
I am desperately trying to get this bachelorish pad organized, and in order for our family. 1 week down and lots more work to do. I'll keep y'all posted. Well, its 2:15 a.m. and I should probably get some sleep now. Good night.