How I Became a Minivan Mom

How I became a minivan mom in just one week...

Day 1. Tearing through car seat options to find some (any) combination that will work to fit three in either of our backseats. 

Days 2-6. Insert here: {Many hours logged on mommy message boards, many hours researching the narrowest car seats on the market, many hours chasing down said narrow car seats, several hot and sweaty afternoons attempting to wrestle and install them into my car's backseat in a safe and buckleable way, several moments of self-ridicule when I realized we currently had *thirteen* car seats, boosters, and bases in our home and vehicles, some crying, many hours of internet research on used minivans and the market value for my current car, a few sweaty afternoons on car lots, more crying, several hours of number crunching and budget work, even more sweaty hours driving around Raleigh trying to sell one car and test drive a dozen others, a few in-vain reattempts to squeeze three seats in the back of my car, a couple of late-night conversations about what in the world is going on with my car's ever-quickly dying engine anyway, multiple trips to notaries and banks and safe deposit boxes, one last sweaty evening of car shopping and *lots more crying*}

Day 7.  Minivan mom.

photo by Nathan*

The end.  (Or... the beginning?  I still can't believe it has come to this.)

*who loves the van already, yet still doesn't know it has a dvd player.  And the first person to tell him will be the victim of official minivan mommy wrath.

Too Much

I do not want to be one of those put-upon housewives that complains when life gets tough or frustrating or rough or overwhelming.  I know that the reality is it's my job to deal with whatever life throws at our family and household, and I promise I'm usually very capable and confident in handling it.  Without crying.  Usually.  I also know all of this stuff would be so much more difficult if I were juggling a career too, so thank goodness I'm not. With that little disclaimer in mind, I still have to say... sometimes, life throws a lot at us at once and I get overwhelmed.  Even though this is "all" I have going on, it still feels like too much.

1.) Our old house is not selling.  We officially reduced the list price to a "take a loss" situation last week (oh, there were tears). We have to just keep telling ourselves that in terms of equity, we will still come out on top in the long run. The new house, besides being perfect for our family, was also a really smart investment.  And that if the old house is this hard to sell now, think how much worse that neighborhood will be faring in another few years.  But the bottom line is that we're so frustrated, and never in our wildest dreams did we think it would take this long to sell, or at such a low price.  And we're looking at each other thinking what in the world did we get ourselves into?  Paying two mortgages on one income cannot continue indefinitely.  And to add insult to injury?  Even after we lowered the sale price to "laughably low" last week, there were no showings this weekend.  For the first time in six months.  Zero showings.  None.  I honestly woke up yesterday morning and just cried.

2.) Mark had some minor outpatient surgery a week or so ago (elective, don't worry, he's fine) and didn't fully rest and recuperate the way he was instructed to, and during his "recovery" things got worse instead of better, and there was a (minor) hematoma, and he was really uncomfortable, and... I'm frustrated.  Frustrated with him (yes I am admitting that to the internet) and frustrated with myself for not being bossier.  Downright mad at the millions of other people who have the same procedure and convinced him that he could do more than he actually could, sooner than he actually could.  Mad that it's cramping our ability to live lives normally, bowling playdates and church softball games and road trips with plans that are not good for people with post-op hematomas. Ugh.

3.) Wells Fargo continues to be the bane of my existence.  We were dumb and naive and thought that because our loan closed, and our renovation draws were complete, and we're finally in escrow, that they were done jerking us around and we could just pay our bill and refrain from thinking about them ever again. Ha! Um, no.  That is not the case.  Not even a little.  Of course they can jerk us around more.  Turns out we "are in violation of the terms of our mortgage" because the fire/vacant insurance policy we purchased before the new house (instead of regular homeowner's insurance) has not been renewed.  Obviously.  We no longer need a vacant house policy because we live here now (also required by the terms of our mortgage? that this is our primary residence).  So we have a normal (bigger more expensive) homeowner's insurance policy on it now.  Per lender instructions, that was always the plan, detailed with dates and forms and signatures a million.  But.  BUT.  Our mortgage terms apparently don't know anything about it.  WTF Wells Fargo!?  How many times did we go over the steps to get this done correctly, what exactly needs to happen when, and be done by whom?  How many forms did we submit showing verification of both policies and when each would take effect?  How many delays were caused in our closing because of nailing down issues like this one??  I hate them.  I rarely say that but I hate them.  I am terrified that we're going to become one of those families you read about who is diligently paying our mortgage and then it turns out the bank forecloses on the house because the payments are going into never-never land because there's no valid mortgage to apply them to, because we're "in violation of the terms" and no one knows how (or is willing to) fix it.  This seems even less unlikely because Wells Fargo has already (already!) sold our loan, so now they're just "servicing" it, and the money itself is through Fannie Mae (yep, that's right, all that arguing and jerking around when it comes to outrageous misquoted origination fees before closing, and then it's bought withing two months, likely for dimes on the dollar... I hate them) and having two banks involved really increases the risk of something falling through the cracks.  I don't want to become a horror story.  I want to get this crap fixed, like yesterday, so that I can refinance as soon as possible and never give any business to anyone at Wells Fargo or any of its affiliates ever ever again.  I can't believe there are still tears to cry over this stupid f-ing bank.

4.) The IRS thinks we did not file our tax return correctly in 2009, and that we owe them thousands of dollars.  We found out about this a few weeks ago.  They gave us until June 8th to either pay or fill out a gargantuan packet of information as a dispute.  Fortunately we are both type-A people, so even immediately post-move, Mark was able to put his hands on the papers he needed, take a day to fill out forms and write letters, and send their precious packet back on time.  (And fortunately I have a rock-star husband who can take care of things like that very efficiently.  And effectively, we hope.)  We're not taking it personally, we understand that the IRS has to have an audit process, and someone has to get hit by it.  The timing for it in our lives right now kind of sucks, but whatevs. But I am still furious that it took them two years to figure out that their books were off and then only gave us three weeks to deal with it.  Who does that??

5.) My health continues to frustrate me in this pregnancy.  Specifically, my bowel health.  (Yeah I just told the internet, what of it.)  I've had issues for a long time, but pregnancy makes it worse, makes resultant infections riskier, and I'm frustrated and uncomfortable and dealing with it takes way too much of my time and energy and it's exhausting me.  I'm over it.  I'm trying to make things better.  I swear to heaven I am doing everything (and taking every dose of medication) that my doctor tells me to. And it still sucks. I see my proctologist as often as I see my OB.  (Yeah, that's right.  I played the proctologist card.  I'm not messing around today.  If hearing about my OB appointments would make you squirmy, oh just you imagine.) Believe me, I wouldn't go through that if I didn't legitimately want this to be better.  Add in that Sprout is breech and my c-section is already on the calendar (a fact that makes me literally well up with tears every time I think about it) and I'm just... not really happy with my body these days.  On a related note: pray for Sprout to turn.  Please.  Nathan and Anneliese were also both transverse breech, Nathan turned at 37 weeks and Anneliese around 34 I think.  So it is possible that she still might turn, no matter what the stupid surgery calendar at my ob's office wants me to believe.  Please pray that she indeed will.

6.) Mark's grandfather died last weekend in the Netherlands.  He's sad like anyone is when a grandparent dies, but this passing is made a little more difficult by the fact that it was a complicated relationship, and that he never got as much time or conversation with his Opa as had hoped (for a multitude of reasons, the simplest to explain being that they lived on two separate continents).  I hate seeing him sad, and I hate seeing him struggle with the finality of the whole thing, and I hate watching him watch his family from a distance since it's really not feasible for him to be there with them this week.  Pray for Mark and his family, please.

7.) Add all of those things to the mess still sitting unpacked in Sprout's room, the broken a/c in the guest house that is taking weeks to get fixed under the warranty, the lack of working plumbing upstairs in our house, the fact that I have a baby due in eight weeks and I'm still not sure how I'm going to fit three carseats into either of our cars, and I'm just... overwhelmed.

I don't have anything nice to say right now.

Renovation, Days 23-27

This weekend was a strange combination of feeling great about how much progress we're making.... and feeling completely overwhelmed by how much work still needs to be done, how much it's costing us, and how we've spent money in a few short weeks that took us years to save.  It's both scary and exciting.  I think I might or might not be too pregnant (or just generally emotionally volatile) to handle this kind of project gracefully.

But.  It will get done.  It will get paid for and it will get done.

Here's Mark painting the trim in our downstairs half-bath.  I think he looks even hotter than normal when he's working on our new house. ;)

Nick, working on the same bathroom.  I am ashamed to say *I* took this picture, not Nathan, although it looks like it was done with the mad photography skillz of a three-year-old: 

Our new bay window for the bonus room is finally in!  I love it and it makes me oh so happy!  Now who wants to make me a cushion for the window seat bench?

Another Nathan is either doing touchups or yelling at me to not take his picture.  It's one of those.  Maybe a little of both.

Somehow I hadn't been making many lists for the renovation itself, but I finally remedied that... and I am so much calmer and feeling better about what all needs to get done and when/how it's going to happen.  Yes, I took pictures of my lists.  Roll your eyes if you must.

Master bath color samples.  *Sigh*  Yes, I'm at it again.  I picked none of these three, for the record.

Nathan and Anneliese have gotten very good at entertaining themselves if we need to work some while they're awake.  Some days are easier than others.  This is one of the good days, playing together in Anneliese's huge new room (yes, we're giving our middle child the biggest bedroom -- somewhere out there, Ashley is hip-hip-horraying):

In just a few weeks (because it *will* get done) we will be living here!  Wow.

Not Blogging, But...

I've spent the last week doing a whole lot of not blogging.  Again.  I'm pretending hundreds of you noticed and miss me (not just the three of you who texted me to make sure I'm ok, which I am, and yes you totally made me feel loved), and agree with my sister that finishing multiple retro-dated posts to hit publish on the same day is lame. 

Fair enough.  Here's what has been taking my time when real life calls me away from the internet, even during naptime.

1.) Showing the house.  Still showing like crazy, still trying to stay on top of keeping it clean, still uprooting multiple naptimes a week, still hauling the whole family (including Bowden) around Raleigh in the car on a moment's notice.  Still no legitimate offers.  We're closing on the new house next week regardless, but still... we need to sell this thing.

2.) Restructuring naptime.  Not just because of showings (92.7% of which have been during naptime; yes that's a proven statistic) but because it's recently become apparent that Nathan doesn't really need a nap anymore.  Ugh, that's painful even to write.  So I'm trying to find the right balance of him playing quietly in his room (thus buying me some precious alone time) but not actually falling asleep (in which case he dozes til dinnertime, wakes up cranky, then is wide awake in his dark room til at least 10pm).  It's an art form in progress.

3.) Picking out paint chips.  I have spent more hours than I should admit on paint websites and in paint books and looking through paint in stores trying to decide what I want for the new house. I have it narrowed down to ten colors.  I bought all ten samples at Lowe's and was met with crazy looks from several employees.  Wait, all these samples are for the *same person??*  Yeah that crazy pregnant lady over there.  Ohhhh.  Well you enjoy these, ma'am, we sure don't have too many folk buyin' this many samples all at once now!  Um, it's not all for one room, it's for a whole house.  This is how I decision-make.  Deal. 

4.) Road tripping.  I mentioned I went to Huntersville to help at my mom's house, post shoulder surgery last weekend.  I didn't mention how discouraged her immobile upper body is making her (read: I love her but she's proving true that old adage about doctors being the worst patients).  No mental energy for the internet after seeing your mom so defeated.  :(

Road Trip Nathan -- does he look like a big boy or a baby? I can't decide

5.) Dealing with poop.  Oh, this could be a whole post on its own, but I won't.  Probably.  The short version is that our road trip coincided with a poop-in-the-potty strike, as well as the discovery that keeping underwear dry all night is very possible and therefore is now required.  So those two events (refusal to poop in Marmie's potty and no diaper to fall back on, even at night) combined to result in some pretty severe constipation. Which resulted in some painful potty moments when we got home.  Lots of fear.  Lots of tears. (It's clear we're talking about Nathan here and not me, right?  Not that I'm without Issue in this arena myself, as a post-appointment cryfest in my doctor's parking lot yesterday can attest, but yeah... that's all I'm going to say about it because it's not a conversation fit for public consumption.  Oh and I hereby promise to never use the word consumption with regards to this again.  Ok I'm stopping this paragraph now.)

6.) Teaching a Bible study class.  This month, we watched the movie Up! and were scheduled to talk about it in the context of faith.  It was my turn to plan and lead the class.  It's amazing how long it can take to put together a God-related discussion of a Pixar movie, of all things.  But it went well, I think.

7.) Arguing with lenders and bankers. Hoo boy, that's a whole post in itself too, but I won't go there.  Suffice it to say we were blindsided last week with the realization that the mortgage we're getting on the new house isn't the one we originally opted for, we had a big communication fail with our lender, and we found ourselves shopping for a new loan with less than two weeks until closing.  We're sticking with the original bank, amended ("fixed," kind of) loan.  It is what it is. 

8.) Meeting with our builder.  Most of our renovation budget on the new house is going to repair the termite damage, but there are a few things we needed to figure out with our contractor, options-wise.  Flooring, pool fencing, possibly some appliances.  This is the fun part of  moving!

9.) Going on a real Valentine's date!  This was our fourteenth v-day together, and I think it's the first time we've gone on a real date.  Like, with a dinner reservation and cute shoes and everything.  Another Nathan (who Christmas-gifted us with not only a card for dinner at Mark's favorite restaurant, but also free sitting to go with it... friend win) said that this is our Golden Valentine's Day.  The fourteenth?  And v-day is on the fourteenth?  Apparently it's a Thing.  So, good thing we had a hott date then.

10.) Growing a baby.  Yep, still doing that.  Yep, still takes tons of energy.

More Free Fun -- A Helicopter at the Zoo

Since we recently blew through our "spending" budget (and then some) in about two days, we have been looking for freebie stuff to do while Mark is on relief and doesn't have much to do in the office. His company is a sponsor of the NC Zoo (and everything else around here, it seems), so they have a card good for free zoo admission for up to 8 people on any given day. One of Mark's job perks is access to this pass. Not gonna lie, that's kind of a cool perk.

Since the pass was available, and the car had a full tank of gas (we're also low on our gas budget, so that was a key factor), we decided to make an impromptu zoo visit.

This was Anneliese's first trip to the zoo, and we got exactly one -- ONE -- picture of her. She looks sort of odd, and she could be anywhere. But I promise she's at the zoo, so let this picture live in infamy.

But we're so glad we went! The weather was nice, and we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. Turns out not that many people go to the zoo on random Wednesday mornings in January. Who knew. We literally turned Nathan loose and let him run around wherever he wanted -- that's how empty it was.
It felt like a totally different place than last time we were there!

We saw giraffes (and we saw them running! Have you ever seen a giraffe run? It's weird -- go here and watch), we saw an elephant really close, we saw the gorillas (yes, Nathan was scared again), and we saw a beautiful lion sleeping in the sun. Nathan roared at him. It was awesome. We saw sea lions (with ears) and an ostrich and some alligators.

But best of all, we saw... a helicopter. What? Isn't that what you go to the zoo to look at? There was a station near the elephants that showed how they track and tag elephants in the wild, and part of the exhibit/station was a helicopter you could climb in and on. Yeah that's pretty much zoo heaven: a helicopter with elephants painted on the side. :) Anneliese ate a snack near the polar bears and the rest of us joined her for a meal near the giraffes. We had packed a cooler full of food for a picnic lunch, and it was much more fun to eat it in the zoo than in the parking lot, so I'm glad no one batted an eye when we brought the cooler in. Or maybe they just didn't notice it in the massive stroller's worth of stuff we rolled in there. A toddler and an infant and two grownups don't travel light on zoo trips, it turns out.

Not bad for a day when we never had to pull our wallets out! Yay for free and fun entertainment!

2009: Year in Review

From what I can see on facebook and in my feed reader, it sounds like most people are ready for 2009 to be over and done with. Am I the only person in America who had a better 2009 than 2008? Because I totally did, even though this year brought nothing that I was expecting and a whole lot of things I wasn't.

My biggest focuses at the beginning of 2009 were getting rid of my hives, being a "better wife" (ahem) to my husband, and restructuring our family's finances. So last fall I got on birth control pills to hopefully regulate my hormones and prevent hives, and with that I stopped charting and tracking my monthly cycles (because won't the pill just take care of that whole pregnancy prevention thing? I mean, I don't need to think about it, right?), started setting a large chunk of money aside every month with the plan to replenish our just-in-case account... and then I got busy with the "better wife" thing.

And then those three stars aligned, and our lives changed forever. Because then there was Beanie.

With her pregnancy came the decision for me to walk away from a paying job, the newfound trust that Mark and I found in each other and in God's plan, and an absolutely beautiful daughter that I hadn't even known I wanted.

And God provided us with more in 2009 than just getting a new daughter: Nathan is completely healthy and developing normally, I have had nary a hive, Mark has a secure well-paying job that he loves, our just-in-case account is indeed now fully funded despite some financial surprises (and we even paid off the last of the student and car loans which makes us completely debt-free except for our mortgage), we have seen several new corners of the world (and even shared some of them with Nathan), and we have family and friends who support us and love us. Oh yeah, and I am a rockin' awesome wife. Definitely a good year. A banner year actually.

When I think about where I was a year ago today, I can only shake my head and smile. I had no idea what 2009 would have in store for us, yet looking back I seemed laughably confident that I was regaining some sense of control in my life. HA. So although this is the third time I have sat down to do a Year in Review post, it's the first time I will not end with any promises to myself about what next year will bring. Because if there is anything that God has taught me in 2009, it's that I don't get to control eveything. And you know what? I think I'm finally ok with that.

Especially if my letting go of control brings me half the wonder and joy that my amazing daughter has.

So instead of bemoaning the end of a difficult year (and indeed it wasn't easy), come with me and celebrate a year of unexpected blessings -- for our family, this will go down as The Year of Anneliese. Happy 2009!

How I Decided Not to Cloth Diaper

This picture pretty much says it all...

... But I will elaborate anyway.

This is a picture of my laundry room. Yes, that's a push toy and a car seat base on top of my laundry. Yes, my laundry is clean, it just hasn't made it back upstairs yet. Yes, I am dumb enough to put Bible study materials at the foot of my washer, and no I am not trying to drown Jesus. (Somewhere out there, Kiran is wondering, I'm sure.)

As you can see by my laundry room, I don't love laundry. Nor have I ever given anyone any indication that I do. Unlike my friend Hope, I don't even sarcastically allude to loving laundry, lest the message be lost in translation and someone think that I actually do. Make no mistake: I don't.

As I get closer and closer to making and executing the decision to be a full-time homemaker, I am looking for ways to trim our budget. Even more. And cloth diapering is a surefire way to do that. I have been tempted by the numbers: the startup costs are less for cloth diapering than I would spend on six months' worth of disposables (even after accounting for my incessant coupon clipping and bargain hunting and rebate requesting), which means the cloth diapers would pay for themselves four times over (or so) before Beanie is potty trained. Even more if I somehow get knocked up again. So this should be easy math, right?

Wrong.

There is a price on sanity. If this is what our laundry room looks like now, then Mark is right (yes, I am yelling it from the rooftop, sweetie... YOU ARE RIGHT): extra loads would make me miserable. Especially if, when left undone, they smell like poop.

So I applaud you cloth-diapering moms out there (unless you do it solely to "be green" and you live on a high horse from which you preach to everyone about it, in which case I roll my eyes in your general direction directly at you), and I am secretly not a small amount of jealous that you have managed to save your family some money and keep all the laundry done and stay happy. I wish that would work for me, but I'm trying to be very realistic, and I just don't think it will.

I am officially stocking up on Huggies for Beanie.

Oh! And yes, Simon did eat the drywall when he was a puppy.

Pregnancy: Beanie FAQ

I have to start off this post by saying thank you to everyone who commented on our Beanie announcement (here and on Facebook), thank you for all those praying for a healthy full-term pregnancy, and thank you especially to those of you emailed and texted us to let us know you're thinking about us as we adjust to the idea of this new little miracle. You're amazing friends.

I have been getting asked a lot of the same questions, and I realized I didn't provide much info in my original post. So here goes:

1.) When is Beanie due? Oct 7, as determined by ultrasound - so I think this will be a more accurate due date than we had for Nathan!

2.) Why do you call the baby Beanie? I don't know, I guess because it looks like a bean? I think Mark started it. Maybe he will de-lurk and give an answer in the comments.

3.) Are you going to find out the gender, or be surprised? Yes, and yes. It's always a surprise to find out the gender, no matter when or how you find out. We'll be having our surprise in an ultrasound room on April 29, assuming Beanie will cooperate and spread 'em.

4.) Are you hoping for a boy or a girl? I guess the politically correct thing would be to say that I don't care as long as it's healthy. And the reality is I will love a boy or girl, of course. But if I'm being honest (and I've been too open about this in the past not to be honest now!), I am hoping for a girl again. And Mark is too, this time.

5.) Was it really a surprise? Um, yes. The word surprised doesn't actually quite do it for me, though. Astounded comes closer. There are plenty of women out there who are surprised, but there is a big difference in not trying and trying not to. This is a 1% baby. But God has overcome crazier things than birth control to create life (hello, remember this headline? Baby in Virgin Turns Out to be GOD), so it's clear to me that I am being called to parent this child. Expected or not, I want to step up to that task. Thankfully I have nine months to get over the shock, get on board, and get ready. It really might take that long this time!

6.) Have you told your parents? No, they found out on the internet. Yes, of course we have told our parents! It was hard for me to say out loud at first (the reality is even now still settling in, if I'm being honest), so in two cases we let Nathan tell them, with his new t-shirt. In both cases, Nathan vomited on the shirt before they got to notice it. [sigh] the best laid plans...

7.) How do you feel? Tired. Much more so than with Nathan's pregnancy. But with a nasty spell (of difficulty keeping food down) now behind me, things are looking better.

8.) When you say "ready or not," what do you mean? I mean... this wasn't our first choice of timing. Because of the return of my hives (oh yes indeed), this year's tight budget, my recent move to a high-deductible health insurance plan, my own insecurities about being able to give enough attention to two children, my reluctance to get out of the workforce in this economic climate, the fact that I haven't yet completely weaned the first one (but we're oh-so-close), that I am more than fifty pounds heavier than when I got pregnant with Nathan and thus am feeling very unhealthy... it's just a little overwhelming. But Beanie is in there, and there's only one way out. So... let's roll.

9.) Is this really the result of a New Years Goal to be a better wife? Almost certainly. And I know two other people following Jill's challenge who are unexpectedly in the same situation I am. We decided she needs a pregnancy disclaimer on her site.

10.) Are you really going to try to ride a camel in Dubai, even though you're knocked up? Yes. Don't judge me. And don't tell the guides either.

Priceless?

Cost of new energy-efficient hybrid heating and air-conditioning system that's actually strong enough to warm and cool our house: $5797.00

Stress of finding out that HVAC needs replacing in the same week as finding out about unexpected pregnancy: 4.5 tons of budget weight on shoulders

Annoyance of having HVAC workers in house for 2 (cold!) days while waiting for completion of installation: 562 instances of eye-rolling,1092 shivers, and 10,005 goosebumps

Shame of having a flat-screen thermostat that's much fancier than our home's television: 2 heads hanging

Having a system that can be seat for heat and cool at the same time, to automatically keep house comfortable even during crazy Carolina springs: Priceless Worth It.

For the Record, it Doesn't Smell Like Roses

Know what smells worse than poop? And worse than vomit?

Simon apparently ate some poop. And then threw it up.

Right next to my desk.

Not only does it smell gross, this stain will never come out. (That's despite Mark's quick sopping and spraying and steaming after my own cleanup attempt sent me straight to hover over the porcelain goddess myself.) And I will always remember what it is. Which means we might be closer to replacing the carpet in there than we originally thought. (Which we can't afford, since we're right in the middle of replacing our entire HVAC system (which ain't cheap), and it's supposed to be the year of suck anyway.

Oh well, this is why we were saving for a better emergency fund, right?

Resolutions: One Month Later

How are you all doing with your resolutions? Still at it? Don't care as much anymore? Big plans for 2010? Don't worry, I'm not judging if that's the case.

How am I doing with my goals? Well, pretty ok, actually.

1.) Budget. The emergency fund is taking shape. We have had one major and several minor unbudgeted expenses, but that's what it's there for, right? Mark seems pretty confident that we are on track to meet our goal by the end of the year, despite the recent turn of events. Keep praying. :)

2.) Weight Loss. The prednisone (and I'll be honest -- baby) weight is starting to come off!! I have lost just over 10 lbs this month. Not a lot on my frame, but nothing to shake a stick at either. There is no way I will be continuing this progress, though. I will hang onto my healthy diet and stay active as long as possible, though, and only good things can come of it. Bonus - I have not had even one bit of fast food this month. Yay me.

3.) I have been a better wife (ahem) in some aspects. Some might say too good. (Me, for instance.) But not Mark. I think he will affirm this is one good thing you can't get too much of! The challenge is still going, and it's not too late to join!

The most important thing is that I am still totally hive-free. Which makes 2009 already seven times better than 2008. I'm anxious, nervous and excited to see if 2009 will continue to play out as well as it has so far.