Yet another of the joys of owning a home in a college town...We got TP'd last night. I probably shouldn't blame it solely on the college kids...It could've just as easily been high schoolers, but with graduations coming up, and the fact that I spent a couple years living downtown and had to listen to drunken morons every night...My bet is on college students. Naturally, it's raining all day, which means the TP is going to be a pain to get down (which it would be anyway)...Luckily, most of it seems to be centered in the hedges next to that tree, which I will be chopping up sometime tomorrow afternoon, and thereby taking care of most of the mess. I haven't gone out to look yet, but I hope to gods we didn't get egged on top of the TP. THAT would suck even more.

You'd think with it being May and all that it would seriously begin to warm up around here...But this being South Dakota, where any weather is possible at any time of the year, we're expected to get snow this evening. Granted, it's supposed to be less than an inch and it will melt tomorrow, but still. We had blizzard conditions this time last week, and we're getting snow this week. It's ridiculous. And I'm freakin' COLD.

We got our stimulus money this morning...The biggest chunk of it went to Jay's student loan, which is fine. I got a chunk to spend on myself, although about all I'm going to do so far is get some film developed. And buy more film. The bambino discovered his feet while Jay was helping him sit up, and I've been taking more pictures than really necessary of him doing it because it's so darn cute. We will be popping down to Sioux Falls on Sunday to hunt for some Indiana Jones figures...I need "Taters of the Lost Ark." However, it probably won't be available until the end of the month. No matter. I discovered the other day that my last payment on my gym membership was deducted last month, which means I'll have some extra money now. I probably shouldn't be buying "Taters..." but then again, it'll work so well with Darth Tater, and my Talking Tick Doll.

Jay's been teasing me lately about turning the bambino into a mama's boy...He'll be 4 months old on Saturday, and quite frankly, I think it's absolutely precious that while he loves his daddy, he really lights up whenever I'm around. I've been rather lazy about keeping the house cleaned up and whatnot, because it's just so much more fun to sit on the floor and play with my baby. He's entered that stage where whatever will stay in his hands for more than 5 seconds goes right into his mouth, and I like watching him develop and seeing how much more coordinated he gets day by day. It was fascinating when my nieces GE & DR were in this phase, too, although with DR, it was especially cute to watch her try her hardest to do everything GE was doing.

The bambino's only been waking up once a night on average these days, and I think my system's in shock with my getting some actual sleep. Even so, it's 9.30, which has been my "regular" bedtime for awhile now, and I'm struggling to stay awake long enough to finish this entry.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the f-ing hospital. I'm going to try and hold off on calling them again...If they want their damn money, they can get a hold of me--Although I'm going to be even more pissed if I get a phone call or letter from their collections department. And for all I know, that notice I got went out before they actually collected the payment. But since no one's called me back, I have no way of finding that out. I've already left one voicemail, and if they can't be bothered to return my call, I guess I can't be bothered to pay them!

Jay & I keep hoping that we'll be one of the lucky ones to get our tax stimulus money before Friday...Somehow, I don't see that happening, and not that it matters anyway. Jay's taking the lion's share of it to hopefully get us close to eliminating his student loan, and the bambino gets a chunk for his mutual fund. I get $100, and I have yet to decide if I want to blow it on frivolity or be responsible with it. I do have 4 rolls of film that need developed, so I will get that done, and I'd like to actually fill up the car for the first time in over a month (we've been getting by with just $20/gas each week, since we're broke and all). Whatever's left ought to go towards one of my other hospital bills or something. But we'll see. Next month marks the end of my gym membership, so that will give me an extra $42/month...Which will mean I probably can fill up the car a little more often, or at least with more than $20 worth of gas.

I just discovered another "best thing ever"...Bailey's Irish Cream Häagen-Dazs topped with warmed-up Nutella. Mmmm. I wasn't 100% it would work at first, but it does, and I love it. I'm going to want to start putting Nutella on everything, rather than savoring a spoonful from the jar here and there.

So I worked out a payment plan with the hospital to pay off the bambino's birth, right? Yeah, I get a statement in today's mail telling me that they haven't received the 1st payment, which is crap. I called and left a message wanting to know what the f*ck is going on, and I'm hoping that someone will call me back on Monday. Every time I've needed to get in touch with someone in that billing department, I've had to call at least 3 times before I get someone to call me back. It's BS, and after getting this notice, I'm really pissed. I'm trying to give these jackasses money, but they don't seem to want to take it. Okay, fine then. I can just not pay.

I think I'm a bit crabby because what started out as rain this morning has turned into the lovely winter wonderland you see above. The snow's wet and heavy, and as such, we got the car stuck in the driveway coming home tonight. No big deal. Hopefully I can shovel my way out tomorrow morning. I should do it tonight or make Jay do it, but I've already got a tension headache thanks to the hospital, and I know Jay's as tired as I am.

I had an Office Space moment at work the other day...One of the officers was trying to print a document on legal paper, and was manually feeding it into the machine. He tried twice to get it to work, but each time, the paper would get halfway through and just stop. He'd pull the paper out, but then the machine would light up with "Paper jam." So we'd go through the process of opening up all the trays and covers and whatever to clear it out. Both times it happened, I couldn't help but think "Why does it say 'paper jam' when there is no paper jam?!" and then laugh to myself.

It's not thumbing my nose at Barack Obama's "bitter" comments (which I happen to agree with him about, but that's beside the point)...I'm rather irked at Hillary Clinton's win in PA this evening. I know even Obama's folks were figuring he'd lose this one, but I was hopeful they were wrong. I was really hoping that this would be the moment Clinton would finally have to read the writing on the wall, pack up her toys, and just go home. I think what annoys me the most about this race between Obama and Clinton is the fact that the longer it goes on, the more fearful I become that once again, my vote, my voice in this country, will count for nothing. My folks instilled in me that voting and participating and being knowledgable about politics is important. It's one of the greatest privleges we as Americans have. But for 8 years already, I've cast my vote and believed I had a small chance to make a change in this country. And twice in those 8 years, my voice has been quashed. I don't want it to happen again. Hell, I cried during John Kerry's concession speech 4 years ago, and I only voted for the guy because he was the Democratic candidate! I'm still going to do as much as I can to help Barack Obama get the Democratic nomination and get elected President. But I've come to the decision that if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, I'm done. I'll sit this election out, and it's going to be a cold day in Hell before I get out and vote again.

I'm starting to think that we're going to need a new phone sometime soon. We had a power surge awhile back, and ever since then, the answering machine sucks. Our outgoing message is incredibly hard to hear, as are any messages that people leave.

We went to Sioux Falls yesterday and did some shopping. The bambino got some clothes, the above pair of shoes, and more bottles. I'm a little disappointed in Target's baby bottles...I used one this evening that leaked all over his face. I hope it's an isolated incident, as I've already tossed out the packaging the other bottles came in.

I spent most of today doing laundry and washing dishes. I actually cooked this evening and made up a menu for the rest of the week. I'm going to try and stick with it. We really shouldn't be eating out as much as we have been lately, and I just went grocery shopping yesterday morning...I actually stayed within budget this time too!

Ah, tax day. Working in the investment area of the bank, I have a feeling we're going to be swamped today. Fun. I'm already planning on coming home late tonight, since I have scads of papers to sort and divvy up amongst all the trust officers. More fun. At least the day should, in theory, pass rather quickly, which would be nice. The bambino rolled over in his crib at about 4.20 this morning, and because he's not a fan of tummy time at all, let us know in no uncertain terms that he needed to be put back on his back 5 minutes ago, and as long as we were all awake, we could bring him a bottle too. He didn't finish that bottle until 4.55, and since I now get up at 5 anyway...Here I am. I probably should be in the shower, instead of slowly picking at the bowl of oatmeal I made, but it's an excuse to drink gallons of coffee, which I'm going to have to do throughout the day, just to stay awake. Already my eyes feel like they're gonna bleed.

I'm a little disappointed in Sara Lee. For dessert last night, I made some Chocolate-Strawberry Paninis, which were delicious. However, unless I'm remembering incorrectly, Sara Lee's begun to skimp on their pound cakes (And I've eaten enough pound cake over the course of my lifetime to be pretty sure that my memory's not wrong about this). I distinctly remember as a kid opening the pound cake tin, and the cake itself would fill it up all the way to the top. The one I bought yesterday only filled the tin halfway up. Perhaps I got a mistake cake that made it off the production line anyway...Even still. I suppose it's not that big of a deal, as the paninis were rich enough that they were just the right amount of sweetness to cap off last night's cheesy baked pasta feast.

Inga & Mike had fun (I think) while they were here. The baby cousins had fun scoping each other out. It was nice having people to entertain, and it's nice that the house it still clean. I should pull out more of the bambino's toys and whatnot, as it kind of has the feel that it did before he was born. Someday, I should have Jen & Dave over for a game night or something. That's something Jen & I have talked about doing for months now...And now that Jay & I have a house, and Jen & Dave are in the process of buying a new one, perhaps it'll work out. Neither Jen or I is particularly interested in trolling the bars much anymore.

The snow we got Thursday is beginning to melt...It started to yesterday, but by tomorrow, it's supposed to be up into the 60s, so I think a lot of it will disappear this afternoon. Which is nice. I really hope this is the last of winter we'll see for many months. I'd love to be able to start taking walks in the evenings after dinner.