Lost and Found

I'm sure most people don't like to lose things. If you are a bit of a penny pincher by nature, I think this can make losing things a tad more painful. It was a GREAT relief to me when my sapphire bracelet that I lost in January was found a few weeks ago. In June we lost a Dunkin Donuts gift card that had about $35 left on it. We didn't actually pay for the card. I ordered it with thank you points from using my credit card, but it still felt like we threw away $35. Maybe it will show up some day as well. If I had registered it on Dunkin' Donuts website, they would have replaced it. I will certainly be registering all future gift cards on their site in case this happens again (although it's the first time I ever recall losing a gift card before). A few days ago I panicked when I went to put on my rings and watch. I take them off at night before I go to bed. My watch and wedding band were there, but my engagement ring and the ring I had been wearing on my right hand that week were missing. Ian was in the room at the time and spoke up quickly to let me know Nadia had them. I still was feeling panicked until Nadia handed the rings back to me. I talked with her about NEVER touching my rings again. She told me mine were much nicer than her rings. I told her I share many things with her, but I am not sharing my rings with her, especially my wedding rings!

When I came home from the hospital I discovered that she had claimed some coins while I was gone that used to be in a jar on the dryer. I decided to let her keep the coins as I had been intending for the past 14 months to start giving her an allowance. I helped her divide her coins into the three separate parts of her bank (tithe, spend, and save). This week she went into a goodie bag that she knew about (which I also thought was out of reach) and retrieved a few figurines that she hadn't earned yet (dwarfs and such). It seems we need to work on the concept of taking something that doesn't belong to her. I'm hoping that she's the one who took the money out of my wallet. I went to the bank on Wednesday, and when I went to put the money in my wallet from the check I cashed, I discovered there was not a single bill in my wallet. I hadn't used any cash for 8 days, but the last time I used cash (to pay the woman $10 for used baby clothes), I distinctly remember all I had were twenty dollar bills in my wallet because I had to get money from Paul to pay her $10. I can't say for certain the money was taken by Nadia, but I'm thinking if someone else had taken money from my wallet they also would have taken my credit cards. I'm hoping that the money will show up at some point in the future - in part because it feels uncomfortable to have things taken from my wallet without my knowledge (unless it was Paul taking some money from me and then I wouldn't care).

On Wednesday as I was in the elevator I realized I had left a bottle in the eye doctor's examination room. I decided not to go back for it even though it was filled with 30ml of "liquid gold" as they call it. I have a feeling the nurse or whomever discovered it probably wondered what it was because I had the daily dose of vitamins and iron mixed in so the milk was green. Yesterday as I was holding Oliver in one hand and trying to get Nadia a yogurt (the one she wanted was at the back of the shelf), I accidently knocked over a container and spilled 70ml of milk on my pants and the floor. Since I didn't pump as much as usual on Wednesday and spilled/lost 100ml of milk over the past two days and also have been giving Oliver more milk by bottle than I did before (I know offer him 30ml at each feeding instead of 20ml), I quickly went through the supply of fresh milk that I had in the refrigerator. I was feeling upset about this, and Paul reminded me we have LOTS of milk in the freezer. I thawed a little bit to use today in addition to what I am pumping. I'd like to get my body back to the point that I'm pumping out at least as much as he's consuming by bottle each day so that I know I'm producing enough once he goes off the bottle (I'm still hoping that will happen although I know there's no guarantee it will). It's really a challenge to pump  many times a day in addition to nursing 8+ times a day while taking care of three young children. I don't pump during the night because I need some sleep, especially as Oliver has been keeping me up quite a bit at night lately. Last night did go a little bit better although I was still up from 2:30-4:20am with him because he would cry every time I'd put him back in his crib. I did one test today to see how he'd do without the shield. It was very similar to what happened 3 weeks ago - he latched on but didn't last very long. The Pediatrician had suggested waiting until he's at least 38w (which he'll be next week) so we'll stick with the shield a bit longer.

At times my frugality clashes with another motivation, and I have to decide which I care more about. Last week when I was cleaning out Oliver's bedroom closet, I was going through our gift wrapping supplies. I used to save little bits of unused wrapping paper because sometimes I give a gift that is small in size. As I looked at the saved pieces I realized that some of them have been stored for more than 10 years. I decided that my dislike of clutter was going to win out over my distaste for wasting things. I pitched all the wrapping paper that wasn't on a roll. Paul calls me "the chucker" because I dislike clutter, but I also dislike waste. This got on my nerves at the three hospitals this summer. Hospitals are extremely environmentally unfriendly. So many things are "one use" only. Actually it doesn't matter if they were actually used or not. If they enter the patient's room, they are pitched when the patient is discharged even if they were never used. I didn't realize this at first about the food. Once a hostess walks into the room, the food must be thrown away if the patient doesn't consume it. I thought it was ridiculous at times because the hostess would enter the doorway and I'd be able to tell from a distance it wasn't my tray. Even though the tray had never left her hands or come withint 5 feet of me, it had to be tossed. There were a few nurses who didn't follow this rule and would take things I didn't want (and hadn't touched or opened) and put them in the refrigerator (ex. I only drink water so if they put any milk, juice, iced tea, etc. on my tray I would try to give that back so it wouldn't all be thrown out). I've had to do a fair amount of pitching of food here at home over the past 2 weeks because things had been sitting in the refrigerator or pantry for months during my absence. I learned a couple of days ago that Rice Krispies taste awful if they are stale. I almost ruined the garbage disposal getting rid of that cereal. A 1/4 size measuring cup had fallen into the disposal. Paul extricated it yesterday morning. Whew.

Another time when my sense of frugality doesn't win out is when it comes to paying for ice cream. Turkey Hill half gallons of ice cream were on sale for $1.99 at the grocery store, and I didn't buy any when I went on Wednesday night. I bought LOTS of grapes (99 cents a pound), but I steered clear of the ice cream because a few days ago I wasn't happy with the number I saw on the scale when I weighed myself. My usual plan is to only eat ice cream elsewhere (never at home). This is the FAR more expensive way to go about it, but this way I don't eat ice cream nearly as often. I serve myself too large a portion when I have a half gallon at home. I am looking forward to having ice cream at Knoebels tomorrow. I'm not completely eliminating ice cream from my diet, but I won't be able to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight if I have half gallons of ice cream in the freezer at home. When I felt discouraged, I reminded myself that I weigh 30+ pounds less than I did after giving birth to Ian. Yes, I have weight to lose, but not nearly as much as I did the last time.