— 1 —

I went to Trader Joe’s a couple of weekends ago, and I have seriously never been in a store that was so crowded. If I hadn’t really needed to get some items right then, and if I hadn’t had Mr. SJ waiting in the truck with the kids so at least I was able to shop and wait in line alone I would have turned around. I had to reach around people in line in the regular aisles to get stuff off the shelf. I couldn’t even see the checkout lanes when I got in line I was so far back. Happily, Trader Joe’s has fast checkers so the lines moved fairly quickly, and it had really nice customers in the store that day, because everyone was cheerful and pleasant and no one was pushy or cutting in line (which would have been easy to do.)

— 2 —

I do love Trader Joe’s, but my biggest frustration with them is how they rearrange their store ALL THE TIME. It makes it so hard for me to find things in there because there is just no telling where they’ve hidden it this time. I know they do that to make customers slow down and perhaps discover new things, but when I’m trying to hustle because I’ve got kids waiting outside, it’s irritating.

Especially because last time it caused me to give up on finding my favorite dark chocolate covered almonds.

— 3 —

I did buy 12 bottles of wine however, and the store can thank me that my purchase of so much of only two types of wine got two other people to try the same wine as well. I know because I was behind them in line and they were asking me about it, because obviously I liked it I was buying so much. I had to confess that no, I’d never tried it before but I was satisfying a request from my family to bring some with me on my trip to visit them because there is no Trader Joe’s anywhere near them. So yeah, 6 bottles of Pinot Noir and 6 bottles of Chardonnay later, my family should be happy to see us pull into the driveway. Both ladies in front of me in line decided to try the Chardonnay as well. At $3.99 a bottle it is hard not to at least give it a try I suppose!

— 4 —

I did forget to ask my mom if she wanted me to bring her anything from Penzey’s this time. It’s super close to Trader Joe’s so it would have been fairly easy to stop in there as well, and it’s another store that she doesn’t have near her.

But she does have an IKEA, so I can’t say that I’m completely the winner as far as store availability.

— 5 —

I’ve always known that I’m ridiculously particular about tracking our expenses in Quicken. This was reinforced to me when I spent 45 minutes trying to reconcile the escrow check we received from our old mortgage company after we sold our house. I could not figure out where they got the figure they had, and couldn’t rest until I’d solved the puzzle. Did it really matter? No, and the amount all gets lumped into our general housing expenses as a credit, so I really didn’t need to get it to the penny.

But I knew it would annoy me to no end if I didn’t, and eventually I figured out why our numbers didn’t match. And happily, the changes were in our favor and got us an extra $75 that I wasn’t expecting.

— 6 —

I probably could have figured it all out in 15 minutes, if I hadn’t been interrupted every 30 seconds by one child or the other. So actually I’m pretty proud of myself for figuring it out all all, considering the circumstances.

— 7 —

We took the truck in to get it serviced last week and so we had to squeeze the kids carseats into my car. I am so glad that we only have to do that when we’re dropping the truck off, because that is not fun, and being the passenger in front of the baby’s bucket is a miserably tight squeeze. One of these days we’ll sell my car and put the money towards another, more family-friendly vehicle, but for now it’s so rare that the kids have to ride in it, and it’s so nice having two paid-for vehicles, that we just deal with the inconvenience of a small two-door car.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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— 1 —

Last weekend Mr. SJ put up the shelf brackets in my closet. I’ve had the shelves from the first month we moved in, but they needed extra support from brackets so I’ve been unable to unpack completely knowing that a) the shelves couldn’t hold much weight and b) everything would just have to come off anyway whenever he did put the brackets on.

Six months later and he finished adding the brackets Sunday evening. I finished unpacking Monday, and just hours after I finished emptying the last box and tidying my space, I saw the Conversion Diary post announcing the where you write linkup. If she’d done it just a week earlier I don’t know that I’d have wanted to share my space – it was so ridiculous with boxes everywhere that I hated looking at it, let alone showing others.

Instead, thanks to perfect timing, my room looked better than it ever had. And quite possibly will.

— 2 —

Despite having three diaper bags already (one a freebie from the hospital) I just ordered another one. It’s got a different shape, and it opens wide like a doctor’s bag, so I’m hoping it will be like this purse that I’ve had for years that I *love* to use on trips. The wide opening makes it so easy to find all the random stuff I end up with during road trips. Now I’m ridiculously excited to have it arrive so I can see if it is everything I’m hoping for.

— 3 —

We are going to be road tripping soon, so I’m trying to see if it will make things easier during the drive and while at my parents. As much as I’ve always loved taking road trips, I’m kind of scared of this one. Two kids, and a lot of hours in the truck might lead to a lot of tears. By them and me. We’ve already taken trips with just the boy before, with varying degrees of success, but I do think that this one will probably be even more challenging than our trek west in 2010.

— 4 —

Also related to the upcoming road trip, I am really really really thinking about getting a Kindle for the drive. I have an iPod touch, but using my mom’s Kindle for a bit last year let me know that reading on one is much nicer. But I’m struggling to actually make the decision to get one or not, because there are just too many choices. Various Kindle options. Maybe even a Fire. Or do I just want to get a new iPod touch, because mine is an original model and doesn’t have a camera (and I have wanted a camera on it so many times.) And then I want to smack myself because seriously, this is my big dilemma? What new spiffy technology device do I want for my belated birthday/anniversary/Christmas present?

I still can’t decide though, and I’m this close to just asking my husband to decide for me.

— 5 —

In the time it’s taken me to write 4 quick takes, my neat office space has been demolished by one little girl. She found a stack of magazines and is flinging them around the room. But she has the nicest smile while she’s doing it, because she is just so proud of herself.

— 6 —

Also travel-decision related, I’m researching children’s headphones for my son to use. We’ve got a portable DVD player that we’re borrowing. We’re borrowing some DVD’s (or we may end up buying some if our friend who is loaning us the stuff doesn’t have anything G will watch). So, both to save the rest of us from hearing what he’s watching, and, most importantly, to keep him from hearing his sister babbling/crying/yelling, we want to get him some headphones. He hates when she talks in the truck. We’re working on teaching him that yes, she can talk, but I don’t want to deal with teachable moments the entire drive.

— 7 —

I’m working to get posts scheduled for while we’re gone, and I should have some internet access other than driving days, but writing that much ahead requires more free time than I’ve had so far. I’m hoping that Mr. SJ’s on-call status this weekend doesn’t actually come into play and he can wrangle the boy and give me a nice chunk of writing time.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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— 1 —

Both Mr. SJ & I forgot that President’s Day was this week. Happily, he had the day off as a holiday so it was a nice little surprise for him when a coworker asked him late afternoon last Friday if he had any special plans for his long weekend. Woo-hoo! Long weekend and neither of us was expecting it!

We spent the extra day running errands, but that did mean he got to spend all Sunday afternoon watching golf guilt-free.

— 2 —

Unless I get really lucky with cooperative children, I’m not going to make my goal of having our taxes done by the end of the month. I haven’t given up all hope however, because maybe this weekend will be really nice and Mr. SJ can take the boy outside while the baby sleeps and give me a nice chunk of quiet time to concentrate.

— 3 —

I was recently invited to join a local book club, and while I love to read, and love to talk about books I love, I haven’t committed to really joining the group or not.

And I realized, it’s all because of my hesitation over being required to read specific books. A couple of the books scheduled for this year’s meetings I’ve already read, but didn’t enjoy them enough to want to read them again (and I’d need to read them again if I’m going to discuss them at all.) Some of the books I have no desire whatsoever to read.

I really like the woman who runs the group and who invited me, and I’d like to spend time with people who like books and like discussing them, but is that enough to overcome my reluctance to spend my reading time on books I’m so blah about?

— 4 —

Last weekend we bought a four-compartment laundry sorter. Not because we didn’t have laundry baskets or anything, but because the boy would not leave the ones we had alone. The new one is bigger so he can’t run off with it, and so far it’s eliminated the piles of laundry strewn throughout the house that we’d been dealing with for months. Neither Mr. SJ nor I are super neat and tidy but both of us were going crazy with the dirty clothes everywhere. That was $25 that was totally worth it. Now if only I could solve some of the other household issues that drive me nuts so quickly and easily.

— 5 —

I have a filing cabinet that I have no idea where to store now. It doesn’t fit well anywhere in the room where it needs to go, near my desk. So much of the wall space in this room is blocked by doors and vents and a long wall heater that there isn’t a good spot for it. I was going to tuck it into the closet but it is just a smidge too wide. So right now it’s half-blocking a closet door, waiting for me to come up with a great idea. Or at least a workable idea. It has got castors on it so it rolls easily so when I need to get by it it’s not too bad, but it certainly can’t stay there forever.

— 6 —

I have started doing jigsaw puzzles again after not doing any for ages. I’d forgotten just how much I love them. My favorite one so far has been the Wonders of America one . I’m really tempted to get some new ones because I see so many that look like fun on Amazon.

Amazingly enough I’ve been able to work on them even when the kids are awake and around. G is old enough that he doesn’t bother the pieces (although he does try to help me put it together, by handing me pieces and then expecting me to put them into place. No matter which piece it might be, I’m supposed to be able to put it into place immediately. His confidence in me is sweet.) H is young enough that she can’t reach the table to eat the pieces, which is what she’d do if she got her hands on them. All I have to do is watch to make sure none of them fall on the floor within her reach. She will play nicely on the floor near me while I work on them, for maybe 10 or 15 minutes, so they’re all done in small chunks of time.

— 7 —

Once again I am in a dinner rut. I don’t want to fix anything except potato soup and spaghetti. And while I would happily eat spaghetti every night, Mr. SJ only wants it about once a month at most. I did make a spectacularly delicious salsa beef meal last week that also provided delicious leftovers that I made into soup, so it’s not all carbs around here.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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— 1 —

Apparently my books expanded while they were packed away, because I have NO IDEA how I fit them all onto the available bookshelves at the old house. And now I need to go shopping for some more bookshelves but I think Mr. SJ might object to that. It’s not quite reached the level of towels, but it’s close (Warning: That link is so not safe if you object to profanity. Because there is a lot of it, but oh it makes me laugh.)

— 2 —

I think I’ll blame the ever-expanding children’s library on my need for new bookshelves, and it really won’t be much of a stretch now that I think about it. THREE of my bookcases are now housing assorted kid stuff instead of books. No wonder I can’t fit all of my books on what’s left to me! Part of the issue is that the closets in the kids’ rooms are practically useless – they’re really tall, and have one shelf above the hanging bar that’s too high for me to reach. I want SHELVES, not lots of wasted hanging space, so I moved a bookcase into each closet and use it for diapers, wipes, blankets, and that sort of stuff. The other bookcase is holding the kids’ books.

I think I’ll start with trying to convince Mr. SJ that we should add shelving to the one side of the kid’s closet, and then I can have two bookcases back. That would probably be enough, since I am trying to purge my book collection.

— 3 —

We had a super romantic Valentine’s Day lunch out at Chick-Fil-A. As I told Mr. SJ while we were eating, this is what counts as a romantic meal out when you have two children and you’re too cheap to pay for a babysitter. But it was a tasty lunch.

Our day was completed by having breakfast for dinner, and all I had to do was chop the onions and potatoes and crack the eggs. The rest of it was prepared for me, so all in all, it was a great Valentine’s Day as far as I’m concerned.

— 4 —

Over the last couple of weeks Mr. SJ has been finishing lots of small projects around the house. Things like hanging a mirror for me, and some hooks. Putting together some shelves for the basement. Running stuff to the hazardous waste disposal. Nothing that’s really exciting, but it all makes me happy to get it done.

— 5 —

One of our bigger projects this spring will be to get an electrician in to do some work. I’m excited to get some ceiling lights added to the kid’s rooms (well, we’ll actually install the lights, but we need to get it wired so lights can be added). There is also something with the outlets in the basement that I don’t remember the specifics (it’s in the house inspection report). The outlet on the kitchen island isn’t working and that would be nice – not something important enough that we’d get someone out just for that, but since we’ll already get someone for the other work, we’ll add that too.

— 6 —

One of these days I really need to finish our taxes, but I think it’ll have to be a time when Mr. SJ takes the boy out somewhere during the baby’s naptime. If G is inside, he wants to be near me. If H is awake, she wants to be near me. If they’re near me, they’re disruptive enough that it’s hard to concentrate, and taxes are kind of something I want to concentrate while working on. In order for me to have enough brainpower to feel confident about what I’m doing, I can’t do the taxes after they’ve gone to bed.

— 7 —

We’ve started going to a different grocery store (same chain, different location.) The deli is much nicer, and Mr. SJ prefers it, but I have never once found any meat marked down there. I find it all the time at the location we used to go to. I may have to convince him that we should still shop at the original one at least every now and then so I can check out the meat deals.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary or Betty Beguiles for this week!

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