The one with Riley's Masterpiece

--- 1 ---

Last Friday I sort of talked about how I forgot to pay our garbage bill. It was a sort of embarrassing moment of mine. That day I got a "notice" in the mail about how I had an "apparent disregard" of their previous attempts to collect. (They sent that notice prior to me calling and paying off our overdue balance). I'm going to go ahead and blame my husband on this one, because he usually gets the mail and doesn't have any specific place that he puts it. So it ends up being placed wherever he stops first. This means we have piles of mail here and there, and I have no idea what pile is old or new or important. We need to figure out a system I guess. But to be quite honest, that was not where I thought this take was going to go...instead I was going to speak about all the money we are saving by adding yard waste. :)

--- 2 ---

In an effort to decrease my family's carbon foot print, I decided to try adding yard waste to our garbage service. A lot of items we use daily can go into the yard waste container, like paper towels, food scraps and should I admit this here? cough...paper plates....cough. By making the switch we were able to decrease from a 60 gallon garbage can to a 32 gallon can (and sometimes we still don't fill that one up!) We save about $100 per year this way as well. Which is a plus. But, and this is a huge but, yard waste is a bit stinky. It wasn't so bad until this last week. I went out to dump the inside food scraps into the outside yard waste, opened the can and the entire rim of the 90-gallon yard waste cart was white and wiggly. I about vomited then and there. It still gives me the chills thinking about it. Nasty, disgusting maggots all over the can. Blech. I went inside to grab something to spray them with, and by the time I came back most of them had wiggled to the ground. They are quite interesting little pustules. They wiggle and roll all over the place. The next morning the majority of them had wiggled/rolled around the corner to the bottom edge of my front porch. They traveled about 25 feet from the can to there. I was disgusted. Surprised. Horrified. I sprayed them like crazy and went to an appointment. I asked my mom how long it takes for them to hatch, because while I don't really care for flies, I prefer them over maggots.

Later that evening, after Jamaal got home, I went out to the garbage and noticed the maggots were gone. All of them. I couldn't find a single one. Even some of the dead carcasses were missing. I kind of shrugged it off, thought perhaps my darling husband had cleaned, and was happy the nasty buggers were gone. I also noticed this: 

This is a photo of our driveway. Notice the pieces of moss and debris strewn about. I thought it was left overs of the destruction, and figured my husband had something to do with it. That night I asked my husband about it, and we came to this conclusion: the neighborhood birds had a feast. Because my husband had no idea what I was talking about. This is not the first time I've noticed some moss strewn about, and I thought it was something Jamaal was up to. He, funny enough, thought the same, only about me. We both had a "that makes so much sense" moment, and were able to rest easy knowing we have some friendly (to us, of course, not the maggots) neighborhood birds watching our front stoop.

--- 3 ---

Today I finally called to change our home insurance to the same insurance we use for our cars. Progressive, if you are curious. We will be saving $150 on our home insurance alone. (we will also be saving for our car insurance but Jamaal is in charge of that bill, so I'm not sure how much!) I got a notice that our old carrier would be increasing our rate this year, so I decided now was a good time to change. 

--- 4 ---

Today I bought some vitamins for me to start taking. I was horrible at taking vitamins when I was pregnant with Riley, because I hated how big the vitamin was, and started to get a bit gag-y when taking it. So I just flat out stopped. I had one of each today, and they tasted pretty good. Now, I'm going to have to wash my vitamin case so I remember to take them everyday. :) I also got some "My first Flinstone vitamins" for Riley. I was giving him some liquid vitamins, but he really hates it now, so unless I mix it in with his milk, he doesn't take it. (and I keep forgetting to do that...) My plan is to put his vitamins in with mine so I remember to give him his. That's the goal anyway! (and I just read on the containers that I'm supposed to take two of each per day...anyone know if Costco carries gummy prenatals?)

--- 5 ---

I'm really beginning to feel comfortable working at Weight Watchers. I'm constantly worried that I will say the wrong thing though, especially when the clients have gained. I know the feeling. I gained a couple times when I was losing weight, and it is so embarrassing, along with other mixes of emotions. So, I know that they are in a very sensitive place, and anything I say could set them off. It is a lot of stress to have! Plus, I remember feeling uncomfortable weighing in in front of people who already look great; it is easy to forget that the staff at Weight Watchers have been there before. (and actually, some clients don't know that staff have all been there.) I'm kind of one of the youngest staff members I've seen working, and I think that plays a role in how little I'm trusted. But I've been through that before with nursing and I'll get through it... :)

--- 6 ---

After Riley got up from his nap, he seemed to want to talk on the phone, so I called his Nana, (my mother in law) but by the time she got on the phone, he had decided he didn't want to talk after all. Long story short, she decided to take him for the night tonight since there will be a big family gathering tomorrow in Tacoma. (and she hasn't had him over night in a while since she had surgery this summer) It is always such a treat to be baby-free. :)

--- 7 ---

I have decided to try and scan all of Riley's artwork into the computer. I realize that we will have a lot of artwork over the years, and keeping it all just isn't feasible. It is also such a waste of space. This is his very first drawing using a 24-pack of crayola crayons on Whisper White cardstock. I actually kind of like this one a lot. I was going to use it to decorate a card, but decided against it and made Riley color again. I used a Stampin' Up! punch to cut out pieces of his artwork, and used them in my card. It turned out pretty cute. (You'll have to excuse the quality of the photo, as at the time I couldn't find my good camera, and so I used my scanner.) Quality aside, you get the idea. :) Happy Friday!

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