eco-friendly birthday

This was the "earth minute" at sunday's service...

"Today marks several birthdays for our fellow UU friends. With that in
mind, we thought it was time for a green birthday minute. Here are a
few ideas:

If you throw a party, try to skip the paper plates, plastic table
clothes, and streamers! Get creative with your decorations…. What is
in your recycle bin? Online invitations are easy and also help
cutback on waste. If party favors are on the list, you could include
seeds or bulbs with other natural, eco friendly gifts.

Giving a gift? What about planting a tree, re-gifting something, or
wrapping with a re-used gift bag or today's comics!

We want you to enjoy your day… without making the earth pay!"

We tried to "put our money where our mouth is" as they say....

decorations with recycled goods


we requested re-used gifts... which willow is enjoying!


This doll was a HUGE hit!


We found these letters at a thrift store in Hays years ago... they have been used over and over again. I wish I could say the cupcakes were fair trade and organic... maybe next year!

Mail for Kassy

I make Kassy really great mail. This one was made only with things I could find on my desktop. What can you find? Clearly I need to clean my desk more! I had to document this one before it leaves my hands.

I do this every week... and I love it. It is fun to come up with the next way to let her know we love her. I hate that we have to mail things to communicate. I hate that she won't talk on the phone. I hate that I never really hear what she thinks of these things... or if she even reads them (sometimes they say a little more than this one). I hope that she keeps them. I would love to see them again some day... when this is all far behind us. When we can simply reach out and give her a hug to let her know we love her.

Ahh... but I do enjoy the creations.

willow's first year

Make a Smilebox greeting

priceline

I love priceline. Not only am I staying on Michigan Ave (chicago) next month for $80 a night, I have just secured a fancy hotel room in Minneapolis for the convention I am attending in March. That hotel room is costing my $60 a night. With fees, it is just under $350. In the same hotel, for the same dates, I had a reservation at $180 a night. I received a grant to attend this convention, if it wasn't for priceline, I'd have spent the whole grant just on the hotel, the same hotel. We may not have been able to go, as we still needed to pay for gas, parking, and food. Ahh, priceline is my friend. I'm getting very excited for these working vacations!

taxes

Justin and I traveled to Lawrence to get our taxes done yesterday. We go to this tiny, dingy office about a block from Borders. Jill and I went there the 2nd year of owning the Olive.... after paying a lot at H+R block for some fancy office with coffee the first year. I've gone back every year since... so like maybe 6 years. At this tiny office, a man named Jerradd takes care of us. He works like a mad man, and always has a line of people waiting. He takes calls one after the next for appointments. This place is a gem. Jerrad is a gem! Each year he deals with us not always having the right form or paper.... he makes calls. He lets us call in with additional numbers or information. He treats us well.

For as long as I've been employed, I have never seen a refund. I didn't really understand why people got excited about this... how could it be that big of a deal? Well... this year, with making a little less thanks to my maternity leave and Justin staying home with Willow... and being able to claim 2 children.. I have heard the words refund. And I now understand just how BIG a deal it can be. Our credit card will be paid off in full, thank you government. We have carried a HIGH balance on that thing for years and years. Wow. It still doesn't seem possible. Can any of you explain how I can get back more than I pay in? How do low-income folks use this windfall of cash? Is there not a better way for the government to do this? Well... this year we won't get to Play with these funds... but I'm already dreaming of next years refund... vacation? :)

Health Insurance

Willow was born on Feb 22, 2008. On that day, Blue Cross Blue Shield started insuring Willow and I, on Justin's policy. Within a month, BCBS had paid for about half of all the of the birth related expenses. On Feb 31st, my previous insurance was canceled. I paid them about $10,000 in the 3 years they insured me. After about 2 months, Preferred Health (what a joke), paid a few hundred dollors for the facility fees related to Willow's birth. Once every few months I call about the provider fees. I'm always left feeling defeated by the system and never know what to do. Call the birth center, call the billing office, call preferred health... the circle continued every few months.

Today is Jan 30, 2009. Today I spoke with a man named Brian at the Billing Office. Brian hadn't been around for the 6-12 previous phone calls about my insurance problems. Brian picked up a phone and called Preferred Health and I have finally received news that a check is in the mail. I can pay off the remaining debt we owe the wonderful people at the Birth Center... and can buy some groceries! And pay a few hundred on our sad credit card! Brian is my hero today.

holidays

These are images from our many holiday celebrations. We celebrated with Kassy about two weeks before Christmas. That was when we had her, and so that is when we celebrated. So that she wouldn't be the only one opening gifts, we went ahead and exchanged all of our immediate family gifts. I was pretty impressed at how much we were able to give, without buying anything new. I helped organize a toy swap at my fellowship.... that provided Kassy with some sweet (light up) snow boots, and about 5 really cool toys for Willow. A thrift store helped out with some giant blocks for both the girls. I made felted ornaments for each of them and a sweetheart necklace for Kassy. Justin traded art for a sewing machine and that lovely work of Kristin Morland art for me. I think trading is wonderful!

The weekend before Chirstmas we had "fakemas" at my parents. We had a great meal and some quality family time. Thanks to Justin and I's strapped finances, along with my dad's lay-off, we drew names for gifts. Joel got me a fat gift certificate for M and S grill on the Plaza. Justin and I look forward to that date! Mom and Dad got willow a new set of cloth diapers, the medium size... she was swimming in the toddler size, but we made do!

For Christmas eve we had a potluck in Topeka. This is the first time Justin and I have been in our own home for Christmas. We liked it. We liked it a lot! Celebrating with friends and my mom and dad was a great time. We had a white elephant gift exchange that many people went home from happy. :) Dad made latkas and I made some matzo ball soup... it was the closest thing we had to a Hanukkah Party this year. Our friends said it needed to be annual and that it was going on the calendar for next year.... we'll see.

On Christmas day we had some great breakfast with mom and dad and then headed to Hiawatha. We got there, just in time for breakfast. :) Aaron and Kendra had made a lovely meal, and we couldn't turn it down. After that we recieved really kind and thoughtful gifts from Justin's mom, Bonnie. She always does such a nice job. I got some clothes, some really soft pj's (that I wear as often as possible), and a novel that I am reading now. Willow hasn't learned to respect books yet, so it is missing it's back cover and the edge of a few pages! After that, we headed to Justin's aunt and uncles for some more great food, gifts, games, and gingerbread houses.

Whew... no wonder it took me a month to load photos and blog!