The zoo

The kids and I went to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo on St Patrick's Day. It was half price (off winter rates!) day if you wore green - so Nora and I only had to pay $6 for our admission and Josh was free. :)

Oh, and it was a beautiful day out - high 60s! 60s, in mid march, in Cleveland. Hello, spring! :D Of course, now that spring is actually here, the temperature dropped, but apparently, it's supposed to go back up. Yay!

So, here are some crappy cell phone pictures from our day at the zoo. I totally forgot my camera, and since it can't hold a charge anyways, it's not like I would have been able to capture a ton of shots anyways.

Nora wasn't all that happy about smiling with the fake monkey on the bench.

Nora called these the pink birds on sticks.

Finally, can you believe how close this is? Remember, this is a cell phone, no zoom. The zebra was right next to us. Very cool. :)

The giraffes were way far away though. Oh, and major bummer is that the elephants are gone. GONE! Until they finish redoing their area, I heard some girl say 2010 or 2011. Boo, we like the elephants. :( We also couldn't see the wolves and bears - the area was closed off due to some construction. Actually, it makes sense that they have winter rates because there are a lot of exhibits that aren't open. Still, it was a fun day and great exercise pushing Nora and carrying Josh in the MT!

Finally, here's my drooling little guy (he's totally teething, but none have popped through yet) and my adorable husband.

My poor little blog

Has been neglected! Almost a month since I posted last. Let's see, how about a little update? :)

Let me show off a project or two that I have finished lately.

First an apron that I made for my doula as a thank you gift:



A mommy and me apron set. I decide to use my new snap pliers on the child's apron (really pre-schoolish age, more than child). Anyways, I put them on the neck strap and waist strap so that it could be a good fit depending upon the size of the child.


That's all I have right now. My aunt did remind me that I have an apron that I'm finishing for her, so I do need to finish that one up and mail it out for her soon. Just need to change my thread color - why is it that sometimes the little things that take just a few minutes prevent us from finishing things? I think for me I think, oh one of the kids will need me and I won't even get to sew by the time that I finish threading the machine. Although possible, how long does it really take to thread a machine? Even though I have to make a new bobbin for it, it's still probably only a few minutes.

DH is still looking for work. No bites on his resume yet. Here's to hoping the stimulus package helps soon. Already, I think it will for COBRA. COBRA would cost us $1200 per month for family coverage, but with the stimulus it would take care of 60 (or was it 65)% of the cost. Unfortunately, no one seems to know exactly when we might get some answers on this. Even still, we would not be able to pay for family coverage, but I'm healthy and the kids would qualify for coverage the the state, but DH has some pre-existing conditions that I'd rather be continually covered under a health care plan. The COBRA amount for just him is still too costly, until you add in the stimulus amount, then somehow, some way, we'll make that work out for us. Because, in the longer run, it'll be worth it I think.

I had a food stamp and medicaid (just for the littles) today. I think I'll refrain from typing up my opinions on that for another day - suffice it to say that when a friend (whose husband is also laid off right now) told me that you have to jump through hoops for help, she was certainly right. She said that WIC is definitely an easier process to go through. Of course, you only have to wait a few WEEKS to even be seen by those folks. I waited until we found out how much DH was going to qualify for before I called those folks, and turns out I should have made the appointment much earlier. Eh, maybe DH will get a job before then and I won't have to worry about that after all? One can hope! :)