Monday Five Countdown - broken heatwave edition

Five Things I'm Grateful For

1. The rain/break in the heat. It's in the mid-80s right now, which is glorious for July.

2. I'm grateful we haven't had the heat the Midwest has had. I didn't even feel right complaining about the three hot days we had because they've been suffering that heat for nearly a month now.

3. I'm grateful for the landlord we have. No, he's not perfect (hi, our living room ceiling has needed plaster work done for three or four months now) but he's been incredibly kind to us as we get through this tough financial time.

4. Speaking of, he and his mother (who recently moved in upstairs from us) are on vacation. Not that she's ever said anything negative to us, but it's just more relaxing not having to worry whether the occasional dog bark or baby cry is bothering her. (She technically owns the house so I obviously do not want to ever upset her.)

5. The hubby let me "sleep in" this morning... meaning I got to lay in bed for an extra 30 minutes... until 6:30am!! (Only as a parent is 6:30am sleeping in, I think.) I never did fall back asleep, though. I just can't once I'm up because my mind is consumed with, "Is Nate hungry? Is he okay? Does the hubby know what to feed him for breakfast? Are the dogs whining? Is it hot? Is the air on? Is it garbage day?" It's ridiculous. But I'm physically tired at that hour, so having the extra half hour to actually lie down made a big difference this morning. Once I got up, I didn't feel like I was dragging at all (which I do usually feel like).

Four Things I Can't Stop Thinking About

1. Having Friday off because I'm working extra hours on other days this week (including Saturday). Nate will still be in daycare, so I'll be able to take the dogs to the groomer and get a ton done around the house.

2. Our income. We need to be earning more, but without having a promotion given to one of us, I can't figure out how to make this happen. We have slightly alternating schedules, so neither one of us is free at the right times to get a second job.

3. Taking a day off to take Nate to a local park that has a ride-on train and little zoo.

4. Meal planning. My brain is always whirring with ideas for dinners.

Three Things I Want To Accomplish This Week

1. Finish one of my books - either the Jay-Z one or the Flatiron one.

2. Minimal food shopping (i.e. cook from home supplies). I think this might be on the menu sometime this week.

3. Scrub the kitchen floor.

Two Things I Am Working To Be Positive About

1. Money. We're out of our emergency state for the immediate short-term, but the problem isn't solved. (See above re: needing more income.)

2. Not being able to take a family vacation this year. Nate's never been out of state. He's never been somewhere overnight. Not that he cares about that, so much, but I want to expose him to things and I want to spend time together as a family somewhere that isn't home or somewhere local. But our schedules don't allow it and neither do finances. I'm trying to think of as many little things we can do to make our time together special, but I really wish we could go somewhere for a week.

One Random Thing

1. The new season premiere of Project Runway is Thursday - can't wait!

Do you do the Friday Five on your blog? Link up below and I'll visit you! If you don't have a blog, just post yours in the comments :)

Monday Five Countdown - no more HP edition *sniffle*

Five Things I'm Grateful For

1. The final Harry Potter film. Okay, I am so, so, so very NOT grateful that it's all over, but I loved the film. The series has been a pretty significant part of my life (as I've mentioned a bazillion times before, I wrote my Master's thesis on Harry Potter) and it hurts my heart that it's over because it feels like multiple phases are ending, but I'm so grateful to have had the reading and writing experience it brought me.

2. Air-conditioning. That deadly mid-west heat wave is headed our way and the end of the week looks like it's going to be brutal.

3. Everyone I know has their health. Yeah, it's one of those weeks where I have to dig deep to find things I'm grateful for, but this is a true one that I don't think about often enough. Just have a parent or spouse or child get significantly ill and see how quickly life becomes exponentially more difficult.

4. Social networking. I really wonder just how crazy I'd be right now if I didn't at least have online people to bounce thoughts off of.

5. Nate has been saying "Mom" a lot the past couple of days. I think he means "Mom" as in me, but I'm not positive yet. I love hearing it, regardless.

Four Things I Can't Stop Thinking About

1. Money. It's bad. I can't stop thinking about it so much that it's keeping me up at night and invading my dreams when I am sleeping.

2. A project I want to start (might possibly blog about it later today if I get a chance).

3. Vacation. We can't and won't be able to take one, not even a day trip, but I can't stop thinking about how nice it'd be to go somewhere that would force us to get some fresh air and unplug the hubby from his computer.

4. Some news I received at work last week.

Three Things I Want To Accomplish This Week

1. Finish the Jay-Z book. Yes, this goal again. So far I am not doing well at it.

2. Finish creating two workshops at work.

3. Make myself another mojito. I made them from scratch last night because limes and mint were on sale and I already had rum and club soda soooo... hey, yum! I'm thinking this week will need a few more.

Two Things I Am Working To Be Positive About

1. Money. It's bad and I can't figure out how we're going to pull through this. It's looking pretty impossible right now, in the short-term, at least.

2. Keeping our expenses as low as possible and not feeling like a jerk all the time.

One Random Thing

1. I tweeted this last week, but it's so true: I love soggy pb&j sandwiches. The hubby makes his on this zillion grain bread that's stiff as a shelf and I can't stand it. I need soft, going to totally mush up as it waits for lunchtime bread.

Do you do the Friday Five on your blog? Link up below and I'll visit you! If you don't have a blog, just post yours in the comments :)

Monday Five Countdown - Slurpee Edition

It's 7-11! Do you go for a free Slurpee today? Where I live (North Jersey, yo), it's going to be 91 degrees today so it's quite possibly a very good idea. Let's be cool and do the Monday Five Countdown for now (Slurpee later).

Five Things I'm Grateful For

1. Nate. I know, I repeat myself weekly on this one - AND I recently read that people who simply repeat the same things they're grateful for don't actually get any benefits from acknowledging that gratitude because they're not really feeling it. But for this, I am. There is not a day that goes by that I am not utterly, truly grateful to the very bottom of my heart that we have Nate.

2. The hubby. If I were married to me, I'd have divorced myself by now. The man has the patience of a saint. (I know a lot of people say this about their spouses, but I really mean it. I would have stabbed myself with a kitchen knife by now if I was married to myself.)

3. The dogs have been really good lately. *knock on wood* We're even integrating them into the rest of the house more, sort of by force since Nate figured out how to move the gate in the dining room and let the dogs into the rest of the house. I figure why fight it. I hate that gate and can't wait for the day that it's no longer necessary at all so I'm happy to work on it now.

4. I have a very busy week at work, but it's the kind of busy that looks good - the kind that looks like, "Hey, she's doing a good job" while also laying the groundwork for the rest of the quarter to go well.

5. Even though it's summer and we're using air conditioners daily now, our PSE&G bill was only a blip higher than last month. Thank heavens.

Four Things I Can't Stop Thinking About

1. An extremely difficult financial decision the hubby and I have made. I don't want to talk about it today, but it is weighing heavy on my heart and mind today.

2. Tonight's dinner. I made a vat of chili yesterday for the hubby and I to eat for the week. Nate didn't like it too much (I think it was a smidge too spicy for him) so I have to figure out something else for him to eat for dinner.

3. Grad school. I have to finish that incomplete from the spring semester (UGH!) and register for classes for the fall. I already missed out on a few classes (they closed) and the days I can take classes are limited due to the hubby's work schedule so this is going to get a little difficult... Well, or, more difficult than it already was. Ack.

4. Friday. I only have to work two hours. Hallelujah.

Three Things I Want To Accomplish This Week

1. Finish the Jay-Z book. I started it but I really just want to get through it so I can return it to the student I borrowed it from.

2. Create the new workshop I'm giving in a class at work next week.

3. Avoid grocery shopping unless Nate needs something or we need a basic staple (milk, eggs, etc).

Two Things I Am Working To Be Positive About

1. Money. We are in a hole. A deep hole. Our basic expenses exceed our income right now and we are having to make some terribly difficult decisions. I can't even be positive about it - right now I'm just trying to hold it together, really.

2. My mood. I haven't been feeling tops, mentally. The money stress is the biggest part of it but I have to find a way to keep my head above water even if that continues to be a struggle.

One Random Thing

1. The final Harry Potter movie comes out this week. I can't wait to see it, but in another way, it's going to break my heart because I can't believe the film side of the series is over. I adore the Harry Potter series (I wrote my master's thesis on it) and could talk about it for hours on end. I'm going to miss having new films to look forward to.

So, what about you? Got a Monday Five going on? Linking up would cheer me up! (No pressure, though.) :)

Monday Five Countdown

Last June 2011 Monday Five Countdown! Let's get this thing rollin'...

Five Things I'm Grateful For

1. My weekends with Nate. The hubby works every Saturday and Sunday (roughly 9-5) so I have two full days with Nate by myself. I thought it might be hard having my only two days off every week spent being the sole parent at home, but I am LOVING it every weekend.

2. Buster did not get sick this weekend. See my "1 random thing" below for details, but for here, just SO grateful he was not sick this weekend.

3. It's break week at work (the week between quarters) so there are no students here, only some co-workers and so it's quiet and I can put my iPod on speakers and listen to whatever I want.

4. My parents went down the shore for the day yesterday and the weather was absolute perfection. I'm glad they had such a great day.

5. This Friday starts "Summer Fridays" at work - meaning I get out at 1pm every Friday until the end of August. Hooray!

Four Things I Can't Stop Thinking About

1. The water park that's one town over from us. There's a park with a playground that also has a little sprinkler park that kids can play in and I'm thinking about taking Nate there this upcoming weekend. I took him there yesterday to try out the baby swing again. Surprisingly, he didn't immediately freak out in it like he always did before so I think we're making some headway. Mostly, though, he just wanted to walk through the park, following the path and chasing his own shadow.

2. Money/budget/bills. Ugh. Don't even want to talk about it.

3. My major project at work. This is a do-or-die week for it and I just want to go lie down and stop thinking about it.

4. The Jay-Z book I borrowed from a student months ago. I really should read it this week and finally give it back to him.

Three Things I Want To Accomplish This Week

1. Read that Jay-Z book!

2. Take Nate to the water park and take pictures.

3. Relax.

Two Things I Am Working To Be Positive About

1. Money. I am worried, hard-core, about paying all our bills - the type of worried where you'd rather just not think about all of it and let it all just happen. (Anyone else do that?) It's like the bill paying version of not studying for a test you're worried about. But in the past day or two, I've made myself feel more positive about it all. We WILL be okay. We WILL get through.

2. Summer. So far the weather has been great. I'm dreading the 90+ degree days but so far we've had beautiful summer weather.

One Random Thing

1. So, yeah, Buster. Friday night we were going to have hot dogs for dinner. I had the water on the stove almost boiling and the hot dogs were lined up, ready to go. I decided to run to the bathroom for a minute and then come back. I come back and I hear plastic crinkling and don't see Buster, so I know he's behind the counter with something. I look at the counter... and the hot dogs are gone. I run around the kitchen island and find Buster with the empty hot dog wrapper.

HE ATE ALL SIX HOT DOGS. In, like, literally a minute. Now, mind you, he's a massive pain in my ass but he's never taken food off the counter before.

I just stood there going, "Oh my god. OH MY GOD.  Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!"

Then I began to worry about the weekend. As mentioned above, the hubby would be working so it'd just be me and Nate . . . and . . . a lot of mess in the kitchen??? Oh god, I hoped not!

And, thankfully - very, very, VERY thankfully - Buster did not get sick in any way over the weekend. No puking, no anything else. He was perfectly fine.

Stupid dog.

So that's my Monday Five! If you do the Monday Five, let me know. Link up! :)

Monday Five Countdown

Five Things I'm Grateful For

1. I had an awesome Father's Day. My parents came over for pizza and to spend time with Nate. The hubby had to work but was home in time for dinner. My parents brought me a key lime pie and I sent them home with homemade funfetti cupcakes and strawberry banana bread. It was a really great day.

2. The weather has been really lovely the past few days. I love when summer isn't torturous.

3. Tomorrow is my last day of teaching for the quarter. I love teaching, but I also welcome the break from it. It's been a lot of work team-teaching this quarter.

4. The hubby doesn't come home complaining from his job. I think this is the first time in the six years I've known him that he hasn't come home complaining about work. It is so much less stressful when I don't have to worry that he's had a horrid day.

5. Not currently worrying about our cars working. (*knocks on wood*)

Four Things I Can't Stop Thinking About

1. Bills. Bad, bad week for them. Hoping we pull through soon.

2. Vacation - wishing we could take one (seeing so many bloggers talk about vacations). Since the hubby works weekends, we can't even do a weekend away or staycation. Not that we have the money for a vacation, but even just a day trip would be nice.

3. The project at work that I'm project manager of. I'm behind on it and it's killing me.

4. I need a haircut.

Three Things I Want To Accomplish This Week

1. Read a book. Did not accomplish this last week because I just get too tired at night to focus on a book. Maybe this week.

2. Do not spent money on coffee and pack lunch every day.

3. Research making a yarn wreath (gotta replace the balloon wreath I still have hanging up from Nate's birthday party).

Two Things I Am Working To Be Positive About

1. Meeting all our bills in the next couple of weeks. We have to really keep an eye on ourselves.

2. That project at work. Really feeling like I'm not going to meet my deadline.

One Random Thing

1. Last night I watched Miss USA, which made me miss living with my parents. Beauty pageants aren't the same when you watch them alone - they just beg for commentary and conversation.

So, if you do the Monday Five, let me know. Link up! :)