My name is Jenn, and I'm 26 years old and married to a wonderful man named Daniel. Together we have a five year old daughter named 
Name: Alyssa
Name: Ryan
And by Bean I mean Ryan, whose nickname is Bean. It isn’t pea, but it’s close!
P.S. They’ve been playing Princess lately. Can you tell?
P.P.S. Ryan’s special preschool starts up in nine days. I CAN’T WAIT.
P.P.P.S. Alyssa starts kindergarten in fifteen days. I CAN’T WAIT.
The Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! There’s A Party In My City! Tour kicks off in Bethel Park, NY, in less than two weeks. Have you ordered tickets yet? The tour stops in sixty cities between August 27th, 2010 and December 12th, 2010, and while many of those cities (including Hershey, PA, which I am privileged enough to have received four complimentary tickets for) are sold out, there are still plenty more that still have open seats!
The Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! There’s A Party In My City! Tour is sponsored by Kia, and is all about bringing the live Yo Gabba Gabba! crew to families all over the U.S. and parts of Canada. In addition to the familiar Gabba faces, you’ll also have the opportunity to see hip-hop legend Biz Markie and other special guests at the shows.
You can pick up the first volume of Music is Awesome, which contains all of the Yo Gabba Gabba! songs, right now, and as of August 24th you’ll be able to get the second volume at any Target store. Both the first and second volumes contain special songs from popular bands including Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, and MGMT. And don’t forget to check out the Yo Gabba Gabba! Web Store for general Gabbalicious merchandise, including t-shirts and pins.
Right now you can head over to jenn.nu to enter the Yo Gabba Gabba! giveaway. One lucky winner will receive the first volume of Music is Awesome, as well as the Yo Gabba Gabba! Clubhouse DVD.
Growing up, I heard that a lot from my grandfather. He was definitely a health fiend. He brushed his teeth with a religious fervor, so the dentist more in a year than most of us see one in a decade, and was very big on discount vitamins, but only so long as they were of the natural and high quality variety. He was always after my grandmother to take care of herself by making sure she was taking in adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals, and passed along the importance of it to me.
I do my best to make nutritious meals for the kids, but there are times when we rely on convenience meals or eating out, and as all kids are at times, mine are picky. Ryan in particular has sensory issues with food and outright refuses to eat vegetables or fruit (other than applesauce), so I use fruit juices that contain servings of vegetables and children’s vitamins to make sure he is getting what he needs. Alyssa also drinks the fruit juices I buy and takes vitamins, though she is wonderful about eating vegetables.
As for me, I rely on gummi vitamins to make sure my nutritional needs are met. Liquid vitamins are a little cheaper and a little more potent, but I absolutely cannot stomach the taste of them, so gummis it is!
I do, that’s who. It started off with a hoarse voice last Friday morning. I thought nothing of it, considering I was babbling a mile a minute for most of Thursday evening. Come Saturday morning, I could barely speak. Come Sunday, it was a bit better, but on the way home from BlogHer (via train, as I was one of those few lucky bloggers within driving/train riding distance, tee-hee) I was feeling crappy. My voice was worse still yesterday, and as of last night a horrible cough started in. Today? Horrible voice (it’s so weird and hoarse sounding, like what you would expect a voice changer to be able to produce), major cough… and chest tightness. And a low fever. Blech. In other words, all of the same symptoms I had last February, when I was sick with pneumonia.
So my plan is to finish up a few posts quickly, take some Nyquil and cough medication, watch an episode of House with Dan, sleep until about 7:30am, then get up and call the doctor. I’ll pull the “Hi, I had pneumonia last February and my immune system is a bit run down, cough cough” card, and they should be able to get me in right away. If it IS pneumonia, I definitely want to get started on antibiotics ASAP!
BlogHer is exhausting, and I can’t tell you how glad I am to be home. I thought it would be manageable, you know, what with our hotel being just across the street from the Hilton (where the BlogHer conference and all of its panels and most of its related events took place), and having my boss there with me to help manage everything. But man was I wrong. We literally GAVE UP SLEEP for three night’s in a row just to get everything done. *dies*
But I did survive BlogHer, and I’m already looking forward to attending in 2011. I’ll definitely pack the same essentials that I did this year, including bottled water (who knows what the quality of the water that comes out of the hotel faucets is like), eye drops, glasses, two changes of shoes, an extra bra, and plenty of cosmetics. And nail polish for touch-ups. Oh, and the one thing I’ll take along with me to BlogHer ’11 that I didn’t take to BlogHer ’10? A MUCH BIGGER SUITCASE. The itty bitty pink polka-dotted one I picked up at Target last week was barely big enough to cram my clothes into, let alone anything else. :/ Oh well — it’s a lesson learned!
I made the switch from prescription eyeglasses to contact lenses almost three years ago, and I convinced Dan to switch as well last October (although he did still order a pair of overpriced prescription eyeglasses). I switched because I was tired of the inconvenience of glasses — the dirty lenses, condensation, inability to wear super-bright makeup because of glasses making my eyes look shaded and smaller, not being able to wear sunglasses outdoor, etc.
But glasses are kind of nice at times. When my husband comes home from work and we settle down for the night, we often cuddle up in bed and watch House together. He takes his contacts out and switches to glasses beforehand, but up until recently all I could do was wear my contacts while watching, then get back out of our comfy bed to take my contacts out.
Then I ordered a pair of prescription eyeglasses from Zenni Optical, and as soon as they arrived I fell in love with them, and then promptly ordered another pair. Now my husband wants a pair. And up next? Pairs of prescription sunglasses for both of us, of course. There are days when we get lazy and wear our glasses, but then we go outside and are blinded by the sun. With a pair of prescription eyeglasses from Zenni Optical, we’ll be able to be comfortable and protected from the sun’s UV rays while outdoors. Whoo!
Ryan turned four on Monday, July 26th, 2010. I’ve been so busy writing about party favors and designing a site for a document management system and preparing for BlogHer that I didn’t get the chance to acknowledge it here, though I did blog about it on jenn.nu. We celebrated his fourth birthday by having a party on the 25th, to which we invited all of Dan’s family and all of mine, as well as a few friends. All but five people showed up, which was great considering we had some serious rain that day, right before the party started. I’m talking torrential downpours, hail (I got hit in the head with it as I was carrying the birthday cake to the car!), lightning, tornado warnings — the works!
Ryan had an excellent birthday, and I’m pretty sure he knows he is four years old — he just argues with me and says he’s three simply to bug me, LOL.
(The previous post featured last week’s Sunday Seven. This post features this week’s!) Sunday Seven: Name seven candle fragrances you think you’d most enjoy in your home.
Candle fragrances. Really? That’s kind of random. But okay, here we go. To make scents like the ones I’m going to list would be one of many fabulous best franchise opportunities. Just sayin’. 
- Cupcake. I love the smell of cupcakes!
- Brownies. See above.
- Mango. Mmm.
- Peach. So long as it wasn’t too strong.
- Cotton/clean linen.
- You know how the earth smells right after a good rain on a balmy summer evening? I’d love that scent in a candle.
- You know how the earth smells on a crisp, chilling fall afternoon? That smell, in a candle, thank you very much.
This week’s Sunday Seven: Name seven items you own that many might consider obsolete these days.
Oh wow, this should be good. Okay, where to start?
- My computer. It’s an HP a867c, manufactured in November of 2004 — I purchased it in March 2005.
- My bike. It’s circa 1997, and is most definitely outdated.
- Our grill? It’s quite basic, and has some rust, and doesn’t like to light for me, my mother, or my neighbor, though it fires up for Dan perfectly. I swear, one of these days I’m going to look into electric grills.
- My cat? *snicker* Blueboy, I mean. He’s ten years old!
- The aux to cassette transmitter thingy in Dan’s car. I know all of the car stereos these days — mine included — have spiffy aux inputs, or better yet a special iPod input jack, but the Hyundai’s does not, so we make do by using the aux input thingy on the cassette tape (sidenote: why would a car manufacturer put a cassette player on a 2005 Hyundai?).
- My KitchenAid mixer. Yes, it’s a KitchenAid, but it’s also like twenty years old!
- The TV in our bedroom. It’s a regular tube style television, a Panasonic, from the early 90′s. But hey, it works, so I’m not complaining!
I started Christmas shopping several months ago, back in March, when I was in Target and passed a display of [items I can't name because two of them were purchased for my brothers, and they do sometimes read my blog] that were marked down by 75%. Since then I’ve picked up a few items here and there, and as it stands, I am done Christmas shopping for both of my brothers, and nearly done with Alyssa (Dan and I will probably get 1-2 more things for her for Christmas, including a LIV doll).
Why am I starting early? For two reasons, really:
- I’m tired of how expensive Christmas is. Cramming purchases for two families into one month is just NOT fun for our bank account.
- I’m tired of rushing around to get Christmas shopping done in a month.
I should note that only two of the items that I purchased are for Ryan. When it comes to that kid, there just aren’t enough toy ideas in the world to help me out. I don’t know if it’s because he is autistic or because he’s just Ryan, but his tastes are both particular and peculiar, and they’re ever-changing. Six months ago he couldn’t get enough of Blue’s Clues. Last year he couldn’t get enough of Wow Wow Wubbzy. Now he’s moved on to Nio Hao Kai Lan and train track sets, with a side of toy clocks and floor puzzles.
I really need to think about toy ideas for Ryan, since not only do Dan and I have to buy presents for him for Christmas, but so does my family and his. Every birthday and every Christmas is a bit stressful for us, me in particular, since there are dozens of toy ideas that need thinking up, haha. But somehow we manage, and Ryan is almost always happy with what he’s given. 
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to scope out Kaboodle and see what kind of shopping ideas they have.
I’m really enjoying the little stockpile I’m creating. To the rest of you suckers who wait until last minute, enjoy the stress and lines!
