Showing posts with label cell phone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cell phone. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Nutshell News

It's raining!  Perhaps we'll put a dent in our deficit?  Or maybe not.  We're about 25 inches under average rainfall for the year.  I just read that Lake Conroe (just north of Houston) is 8 feet below normal levels.



I got a parking spot at work!  I didn't have one for a while because I figured it was a way to save our family $40 a month and it was the only exercise I got.  I had to walk about 5 blocks from my car to my building.  I am thoroughly ecstatic to have that 20 minutes back to my daily commute (10 minutes each way).  I was starting to feel guilty about never driving when we go out for lunch because my car was too far away.  When you have a 60-minute lunch, 20 minutes seems like a lot.



I have had almost an entire week constipation free!  Get excited, people.  That's a big deal in Nikki's life.  I think it's a combination of not needing the Zofran for a while (let's hear another hoorah!) and incorporating dried apricots into my diet.  Whoever said prunes are good to keep the bowels moving had nothing on dried apricots.  Maybe a combination of both would be good if you're having serious problems. 



Travis bought me an iPhone for Christmas and gave it to me a week early!  My cell phone is my alarm clock.  My last cell phone decided it was going to start draining the battery instead of charging it at night, leaving me without an alarm clock in the morning.  Since I don't have a car charger, that meant I only had an hour (tops) to charge my phone in the morning.  It would inevitably die before the end of the work day.  My other complaint with that phone was the touch screen didn't work well.  The iPhone has been SUCH an improvement in that department.  TOTALLY worth the cost.  Other perks:
  • Apps like Word Feud, Kindle, Facebook and Pandora.
  • Voice to text function (can be funny at times)
  • Facetime (with Grandma Brenda and Travis)
  • Instant weather and radar
  • A camera app that is eating up my time, called TiltShift Generator, that takes photos like this:
That Christmas tree used to belong to our Grandma Rose.
Now it sits in Ariel's living room during the holidays.




My mom and brother Alex are here!  They got in late Sunday night and went straight to Ariel's house.  They are staying with her until Christmas Eve.  Travis, Aiden and I are going over there for breakfast and spending a portion of the day there.  Then Mom and Alex are coming back with us that afternoon/evening.  Ariel and Robert have to work that night, so they won't be coming with us.  =(  But!  They will be over first thing in the morning to see what Santa brought Aiden.  I LOVE this holiday.

Monday, November 21, 2011

New World Problems

We have completed our Christmas shopping for Aiden!  Toys R Us is having a ton of sales through Thanksgiving Day, so we wanted to get him done first.  The trick is to keep all that stuff hidden for a month.  I'm sure that will get more difficult down the road.  Now we can focus on gifts for the rest of the family.  My dad won't be coming for Christmas.  He's going to try to come in January or February, but it depends on his work.  I'm not sure if Brenda will be able to make it - she's still up in the air.  Travis still has to talk to his dad, but he usually can't make it because he has plans with his girlfriend or he has to work.

My mom is planning to come for a month, so she will be here for Christmas.  With her, we always draw names out of a hat for gifts.  None of us are particularly well off.  That coupled with traveling for my mom and buying food for the celebrations for Ariel and I, makes for a very expensive month.  Drawing names out of a hat helps alleviate some of that.  Now that we have Aiden, we get to watch him open lots of gifts on Christmas morning.  That has quickly become my favorite part of the holiday.  I'm sure this year will be even better.  Aiden enjoys so many things now.  He will love everything he gets.

Travis and I usually don't get each other gifts for Christmas anymore.  We generally don't have the funds for it.  This year, we thought we'd be buying a dishwasher, but I think we might be able to postpone that until after the holiday season.  It's holding on at the moment.  Barely.  Com'on kitchen appliance!  Hold on for just a while longer!!

Travis bought an iPhone a week ago, but it's on backorder.  He is supposed to get it by Friday.  Only 50% of his current touch screen works.  We can't afford to get one for each of us at the same time.  I'm hoping to get one soon after Christmas.  It seems like my phone senses that I'm ready for a new one because it is going bezerk more often than it used to.  The number one reason I want an iPhone now is for a decent touch screen.  I CANNOT stand it when my touch screen doesn't work.  My current phone is so bad that it won't even recalibrate.  It frustrates me to no end.  I am thankful I bought a flip phone with an actual keyboard on the inside.  I don't even use the main screen of my phone anymore.  I go straight to the inside. 

Oh the problems in my life.  ; )

Friday, June 17, 2011

Aiden Met Blanket

Aiden has been really great lately. He still has his moments, like every toddler, but it doesn't feel like he's constantly upset anymore. He just finished his 7th week at the new daycare and I think he's finally getting the hang of it. Before we moved him, most parents and the teachers at his daycare said it would probably take him a week or two to get used to it. Well, Aiden took 6 weeks. This is the first week he didn't cry every single morning as I left him. It is SUCH a relief! Although, in his defense, I did realize AFTER the fact that Aiden had four teeth come in at the same time, right around the time he was starting at the new daycare.


Yesterday was the Daddy & Me Breakfast at Aiden's daycare, to celebrate Father's Day. Since Travis is only in his third week at the new job, he didn't want to take the time off. He asked if I would sit with Aiden for a few minutes when I dropped him off so he wouldn't be the only kid without a parent. Turned out there were only three other kids with parents, out of the nine present. I stayed for a moment nonetheless.


When I went for the Mommy & Me Breakfast last month, it was during Aiden's first week at the daycare. He didn't really know anybody yet. I was relieved to learn he now has friends. When I pick him up in the afternoon, he's usually too excited to see me to really do anything else. But since I was sitting there for a few minutes, I got to see which kids he talked to. His favorite friend walked in as I was getting ready to leave. Her name is Bella. He screamed her name the moment he saw her and she screamed his name back. It was so cute!


Every morning when I drop Aiden off, I ask him if he's excited to go play with his friends. After I said that today, Aiden says, "Bella?" I said, "Yes! You're going to see Bella!" When we got inside, Bella was not there yet. I guess she doesn't usually come until after 8, which is why I had never seen her before. The teacher explained that she is the most rambunctious of the girls, which is probably why Aiden is drawn to her.


I have been keeping my eyes peeled for any clues that Aiden is ready for potty training. There are pretty much NONE. I've decided to hide his potty for a couple weeks. He pays absolutely no attention to it. When we ask him if he wants to sit on it like Elmo, or like Mommy and Daddy, he flat out refuses. I think he's only actually sat on it three times. I keep several of his toys in his closet and every few weeks, I pull them out and replace them with the least used toys. Whenever I pull out the "new" toys, Aiden has a renewed excitement with them. I'm hoping we'll get that effect with his potty. I was also thinking about letting him decorate it with Buzz Lightyear stickers. Maybe then he'll be more interested?


Travis is really enjoying his new job. He has gone out a couple days on his own. I think he'll probably go out more starting next week, after he's had a chance to finish organizing and stocking his truck with materials. He goes into work a little later than he used to now. It's nice because he helps me out with Aiden a little in the morning. The downfall is that he works later. We're still trying to get used to that. Aiden has gotten so used to Daddy being there in the morning, that when he had to work early one day this week, Aiden asked, "Where's Daddy?" when he woke.


Aiden has really been loving Elmo in Grouchland lately. In the very beginning of the movie, we get introduced to Elmo's best friend Blanket. It's literally his blanket. But they've made the blanket into a puppet so it can hug Elmo back and bop it's head to the music. Well last weekend when I was putting Aiden down for a nap at Auntie Ariel's, we had a funny incident. I had set up Aiden's travel crib in the guest bedroom and we went up to read books before nap time. The guest bed wasn't made, but there was a pile of clean sheets lying on top. I was getting ready to help Aiden up when he stops, points at the sheets and says, "Blanket?" I look to where he's pointing and I see a corner of the sheet flapping in the breeze of the air vent.


Oh man it was so cute. He seemed a little scared at first, but I just patted "Blanket" on the head and said "Hi Blanket!" Then Aiden was scrambling up the bed to see for himself. He kept patting him on the head so hard that the blanket would get smashed and stop flapping in the wind. Eventually I had to mush "Blanket" down so I could get Aiden to pay attention to the books I was reading. SO CUTE.


Earlier this week Aiden got a hold of my cell phone. Since I don't usually let him play with it, I decided to let him have a go. He was sitting on the bed with Travis and I was on the computer nearby. Travis starts chuckling, so I turned around to see what was up. He was tapping on the screen like he was dialing a call, then he put the phone up to his ear. He chatted for a few moments and then he rubs the phone on his shirt. He kept doing it over and over again, even rubbing it on his shirt afterward.


The funny part? I rub my phone on my shirt whenever I get off the phone to get my makeup off the screen (gross, I know)! I cannot believe that Aiden caught on to that! He really amazes me sometimes.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Going Mobile

It's always so irritating whenever one of your utilities gives you a problem. They are all things you use on a daily basis, so for one of them to fall out from under you is to ruin your daily life. My most recent struggle was with my cell phone. I have have been using Verizon Wireless as long as I've had a cell phone. All of my family and all of Travis' family uses Verizon, so we have stuck with it. Actually Travis and his family used to use Sprint, but had too many problems with them, so they switched to Verizon.

I have ALWAYS had a good experience with Verizon - until my last phone that is. I had the Samsung Sway. They are no longer selling it in the store, but it is still available on eBay and Amazon. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE. The chances of someone getting a plain phone like that are probably minimal, but I want to put that out there just in case.

I had horrible reception with the Sway, where Travis' phone always worked. The battery only lasted from 6 am, when I took it off the charger in the morning, until maybe 5 or 5:30 in the evening. Most of that time I am at work. So there was little to no talking on the phone during that time. And I didn't have the Internet, so I wasn't burning up battery surfing the web or looking up apps. It was just a crappy phone.

I used to charge the phone on my ride home from work, but the car charger broke from such frequent use. I didn't want to sink any money into this stupid phone, since I had planned to get something else as soon as possible.

I went into the store on four separate occasions in an attempt to fix the problems. The first time, they gave me a new battery. The second time they uploaded new software (what the hell that has to do with a battery, I don't know). The third time they insisted on trying to give me a new battery again since it had been 6 months since I'd had a new battery. The fourth time, I went in and said, I don't want a new battery, I don't want a software upgrade. I want a new phone. The new phone had the same problems. So I guess it was just THAT model that sucks.

I get discounts with Verizon through my work and one of those is that I qualify for an discounted upgrade before my 2-year contract is up. I counted the days until I could throw out that stupid Sway and that time came a couple weekends ago. I had talked around to everyone I knew with Verizon to see what they thought of their current phone. I have always had excellent phones until this one, so I had hope that I could find a phone that wouldn't die before I got home from work.

I decided to go with the enV Touch by LG. I have always had LG phones. I don't know what made me sway from that brand. No pun intended. Ok maybe a little.

This is a big step for me though. I have avoided touch screens like the plague. I have always had a hard time using the screen with my nails. I text a lot, so the idea of struggling with a touch screen key pad really did not appeal to me. This last time I went into the store and got that horrid phone, I realized that the majority of the phones in the place were touch screens. I worried that the next time I went in there, "normal" phones would be obsolete and I would be forced to use a touch screen phone when I wasn't ready. So this time, I opted for a touch screen with a QWERTY key pad. That way, I can go back to the real keys when I get frustrated with the touch screen. Which, as it turns out, is pretty frequent so far. I'm learning though.

The only downfall for me with this phone is the data package. I got the smallest one, since I didn't want to be spending anymore money on a cell phone. It seems so frivolous. I have access to a computer all day long. The only time I can't get to a computer is when I am driving. And it doesn't really seem like that great of an idea to be on the Internet while I'm driving. So why should I need Internet on my phone? So far, the part I like best is the Mobile Email. I like that I get a text whenever I get an email.

I ordered the phone online and had to wait over the weekend for the Monday delivery. I was worried FedEx would come while I was at work. Since it was a Signature Required package, I didn't want to miss it and then have to drive into Houston to pick it up. Travis suggested leaving a post-it with a message stating I was expecting a package and to sign it. I was skeptical, but did it anyway to get him off my back. Turns out, IT WORKED. They took the post-it and left the package. Awesome.

So far, the battery has lasted all the way until I go to bed around 11. And it was showing no signs of dying on me. Tuesday it was down to one battery bar (out of four) because I spent all day learning how to use the darn thing. Wednesday, it still had three bars left, which is HUGE. I am ecstatic about that. I should probably try calling Travis at lunch time to see how well the reception is here at work. The Sway didn't work at all in my building. So obnoxious.

Things are looking up!
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