No internet? Seriously?

Yesterday at work I discovered they have restricted all internet access. You now must have a login password (which I have not been privileged enough to have) to get online.

I actually think it's a good idea for them to give staff login id's because that way they can monitor what your looking at, and then if a website is visited that shouldn't be, they know who did it and can deal with one person rather than punishing everyone. I have nothing to hide, I look at baby stuff and blogs, email, read news, check weather, etc, etc, all harmless stuff.

I know it sounds like I spend a lot of time on the internet at work, but when I don't have any patients to take care of, what else is there to do? I work night shift and its a small ER, many nights I have 4 or more hours of no patients with nothing to do and I am by myself. The doctor is sleeping, and the secretary is usually reading a book or on the web herself. There is only so much stocking and cleaning up you can do, and it doesn't take 4 hours.

Oh, I am so annoyed by this! Luckily I just bought a new book; Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks. Hopefully that will occupy me until I can sweet talk the manager into giving me a password.

GO IRISH

Good Luck Jimmy Clausen, Charlie Wies and the rest of the ND team!
I hope you have a winning plan for tonights game against Penn State! I'd hate to see you get beat again!

I've been robbed! But don't panic, it's not as bad as it sounds

Last night I was paying bills and realized that once again I have become a victim of credit card fraud. Actually, I may not have noticed at all if it weren't for Todd, he was questioning why my Discover card bill was so much. I use it as my debit card to buy groceries, gas and everything else I buy that month, so don't worry about it was my answer. But then he got me thinking, and it did seem a little high, so I decided to look over the items and see just what exactly I had bought that month. Right away I noticed that I had a wallet protection plan on my card that cost 2.99 a month, and was annoyed because I don't recall signing up for that. Now I think I'll let that slide, it may just come in handy. Then I notice a $358 charge for CSN Stores and another $24 charge American Collegiate that I don't recall making.

I called Discover card, they looked into it and said it was an online purchase. I do shop online, but I really don't recall making any purchases for that amount or to that store last month, I've never even heard of that website. But then again 2 days ago I bought a case of cherry coke and a pair of pants and both are now missing. I have looked everywhere, and they are nowhere to be found. Yesterday when I was making spaghetti sauce we needed a few more lids to be boiled for the jars and instead of throwing them in the small pot of boiling water I threw them all in with the spaghetti sauce. So I have been a little scatterbrained lately, but I really don't think I made those purchases. Good thing I had wallet protection, Discover Card credited my account last night for the $358 and $24 charges while they investigate.

I don't know how this could happen because I still have the credit card in my wallet. The last time this happened to me I still had the credit card too, it was one I had never even used, I found it in a shoe box with the activation sticker still on it after I realized there was a fraud charge. I now shred all my mail before I throw it out, so I have no idea how this could have happened. How do people get this info without having your card? Do I have to stop shopping online? Someone once told me they never pay for dinner at a restraunt with a credit card because the waitress takes you card to run it out of your sight and has ample time to write down #'s if she wants to. I thought this person was being a little too cautious, but now maybe not. Even though I know that isn't what happened to me, I don't have any restraunt charges on my credit card bill. But it is something to think about.

Unnecessary Indulgence

Don't you just love it when your house is clean. Well mine is, and it's not just clean, it's spotless. That is the term my mom used to use when referring to how she expected the house to be cleaned on Fridays. There's clean and then there's spotless. Spotless is when you mop on your hands and knees, actually scrub the shower not just spray some scrubfree cleaner on it and rinse it off, etc, etc. I think the only day my house was spotless (until I hired a housekeeper) was when I cleaned just before moving in last year.

I had to fess up to the housekeeper when she started cleaning for me 4 months ago that I had never actually mopped my hardwood floors, only swiffered them. She wanted to know where the Murphy's oil was and not only did I not have any, but had to ask what for! My hardwood floors are now mopped every 2 weeks on hands and knees. I tried to tell her that she could do it just once a month, but she insists on doing her way, and I'm not going to complain. Oh, and I get my windows washed every 2 weeks too. I've gotten so spoiled by her cleaning for me that I don't know what I would do without her.

I know it seems like an unnecessary luxury to have a housekeeper for 2 adults. But I would rather make other financial sacrifices or even work an extra day just to pay someone else to clean for me. That's actually how I justified getting a housekeeper in the first place. Rather than spend my day off cleaning, I would rather pick up an extra shift at work and pay someone else to clean my house. Although lately I haven't been picking up the extra shifts, but I'm pregnant and that's a good enough excuse for me.

A while back I was thinking of my upcoming maternity leave and wondering what it was going to be like to not have a paycheck for 6-8 weeks. I work as an agency nurse, so I wont be getting a paid maternity leave, or any short term disability. Just one of the non-perks of being an agency nurse. So, I was trying to think of ways to cut expenses during that time. I considered (only for a second) that I could save some money by not having a housekeeper. I wont be working so I should have time to clean right? No, I can't risk losing my high in demand housekeeper. So I will have to think of another way to save money. Less eating or shopping should do the trick. I'll be on a diet anyway, and probably wont feel like shopping for clothes right away. Oh, but then again Christmas will be right around the corner, I guess I better start saving now.

I just spent a whole day (okay only 6 hours, but it felt like all day) of making and canning spaghetti sauce. My half will be 14 quarts. It is the 3rd year in a row I have done this with a coworker and every year so far I am reminded why we do it, but also why we only do it once a year. It is so much work, but so worth it cause it tastes so good! My sister Rachael has the bright idea that we should make some to give as christmas gifts, so I may get suckered into doing it twice this year. I guess that could be one way to save some money! You still up for it Rach? The tomatoes wont last much longer.

Name Poll is out!

You didn't really think I was going to let you all vote on my baby's name did you? I'm guessing Todd would probably not be too thrilled if he knew I was going to put a voting poll up for our baby's name. I can't say I blame him, it was a momentary lapse in judgement on my part. Thankfully he doesn't read my blog everyday and didn't read yesterdays post. But I did like hearing your suggestions, feel free to let me know if you come up with any other great ideas. I think Lucio is taking a strong lead, but nothing is decided for sure, and probably wont be until around Dec 5. Of course if we do go with Lucio, we have to decide what we will actually call him. Luke, Louis, or Louie are all American variants to Lucio were considering.

Time to pick a name

I wanted the title of my post to be: I say tomato, he says tomato, and put that little squiggly line over the a, but I don't know how to do that. But I'm thinking of that song from When Harry met Sally. You know the one I'm talking about right?

Lately I have been trying to get more serious about picking out a name for our little baby that will be here soon. Todd is not worried, he seems to think we can pick out a name in no time at all once he gets here. But if we haven't come up with something in 6 months I don't see how the baby's presence is going to speed things up and make naming him easy.

Todd claims he is not picky, he just wants one of 2 names: Lucio (Todd's great grandfather's name)or Russell (Todd's dad's name). Apparently it is an Italian tradition to name your first son after his paternal grandfather. The second son after the maternal grandfather, the first daughter after then paternal grandmother, and the second daughter after the maternal grandmother. With a tradition like this you don't get to pick out your own kids name until your 5th child. We are not following that tradition, but Todd does want the boy to be named after his dad or his great grandfather.

I have tried to avoid an Italian name but I am having trouble convincing Todd.
My argument is that Todd is only half Italian, and I am not Italian at all, so our baby will only be 25% Italian.
Todd's answer to that is: Italian is dominant.
Another point I made is that we live in America, and it isn't nice to give a kid such an ethnic name that is so different from American names. I asked him how he would like it if he had been named Lucio.
Todd's answer: I would be honored. It was my great grandfather Lucio that left Italy and came to America. If it weren't for him we wouldn't even be having this baby.

Okay that's a bit of a stretch, but do you see what I am up against?
I tried to compromise and suggest Anthony, that's Italian right? Todd reply was: Antonio.
I suggested Leo, he says how bout Leonardo?

So I have given up, I am afraid this is a battle I can't win. Todd has been accommodating enough to let me choose Lucio or Russell, and I can even use it as a middle name. One of those names just has to be in there somewhere. However, if I use it as a middle name, the first name still has to be an Italian name. So I guess Logan is out.

Tonight at work I am going to come up with a list of name options and I will put another poll on my blog to see what everyone else likes. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know if you have any suggestions. Italian suggestions that is.

Labor Day Plans

I am officially entering my 3rd trimester. Only 13 weeks to go. 11 if I'm lucky. I hear the last few weeks are the roughest so I am hoping to avoid them by having this baby a little early. I have been trying to decide if Todd and I should take a birthing class, you know to get an idea of what we are in for. But, we'll probably just skip the class and wing it. It can't be that hard, women do it all the time. Maybe I will pull out my maternity book from nursing school and review that section a bit. (I kept it for just such an occasion)

When I get my American Pregnancy weekly updates I've noticed they keep suggesting making a Birth Plan. I did a google search on birth plans, and found some very lengthy ones, and from a nurses standpoint, completely unreasonable. Why do people feel the need to write these things out? Just say what you want when given the options. Do you want pain meds? yes/no Do you want 20 people in the room when you deliver? yes/no. Seems pretty simple to me. I will just have one very simple pre-planned request for my birth plan. EPIDURAL. I am a wimp when it comes to pain, and I thankfully haven't had to experience much of it in my life. The most painful experience I've had so far in my life is a laceration to my thumb requiring 6 stitches. So basically the thought of having natural child birth is down right scary. Some things aren't for everyone.

I was just reading my sister francie's blog about Labor Day! Kind of ironic that I was thinking about my upcoming labor day on Labor Day! Don't you think? So I had to change the title of this post.