The Right Decision

Last night, Dave was going to a baseball game that he won tickets to at work. He called and said he was going to grab a bite to eat with his buddies before they went. That's cool. No problem. My first thought after I got off the phone with him was "Maybe the kids and I can go out to eat, too."

*sigh*

But we're trying to not really eat out, and trying to save money. We're getting close to paying off everything but our mortgage, so now is not the time to start spending money on the fun stuff. So I made myself cook. I really really didn't want to. My plans for dinner did NOT sound good to me at all. But I cooked anyway. I tell you, that was a hard decision to make. But it was the right decision. (Man I hate that) So, while I know it was by no means a life-changing event, I'm still semi-proud of myself for not giving in to what I REALLY wanted to do. (Taco Bell and the Mt. Dew that goes with sounded really fantastic)

And it turns out that my hubby and his buddies didn't go out to eat after all. So when he got home to change, he got to eat dinner with us.

I guess God was giving me props for making the right decision. =)

Saturday's Agenda

Dishes. Really need to do dishes.
Laundry.
Work.
Meet to plan a wedding shower.
Work.
Cook.
More dishes.
More laundry.
Make some sort of something for Father's Day.

Sounds fun, doesn't it?

Today's To-Do

So I found out last night that my uncle might be "dropping" by today (it's a 1200 mi drive, so maybe it'll be tomorrow that he gets here). Crap. My house. Is. A. MESS. So here I sit, not quite in a panic, but nearly. Today's agenda: CLEAN my house! I know, I know. That's a little vague. But it can't be helped. I don't have time to list everything individually. ;) So I'm off. Wish me luck.

Back to the To-Do List

I've decided to get back to the daily to-do list. I think I'm a lot more efficient when I have a list to check things off of. (I hope I'm not the only one that puts things on the to-do list that have already been done, just so they can be crossed off) I have a lot to get done in the next week and a half, so I really need to be more efficient. Hopefully this will help. I NEED it to help, Dudes. Seriously. I fail lately. And if I'm getting things done more efficiently, then there's more time for the fun things in life, and boy do my kids need some more fun in their lives. I'm ready. I'm quite sure they're ready. Let's do this thing! (don't remember where that quote is from, but it fits quite nicely, don't you think?)

I think that if I'm going to become more efficient, I'm going to have to set myself some limits. Particularly with internet usage. I'm going to give the timer method a go. Set the timer, and I have to get everything done in that time or it waits until tomorrow. Yikes. That's going to be a little tough. It's so easy to get sucked into the computer and all it's secrets for, like, hours. Yeesh. That's not happy. I'm not sure yet what my limit will be. I DO have some things that HAVE to get done, so I need to leave enough time for those things, but not too much more. Hmm.... I guess it'll take some trial and error to figure out a good amount of time. But hopefully it'll help me like I'm hoping it will. We shall see. Let the games begin.

One More Thing

So, TMN (TheMommiesNetwork, for those of you lame enough to NOT know ;) ) is always looking for more bloggers. I've thought about it before. I always remind myself how inconsistent I am, and forgetful, and lazy, and BUSY. But here I am, thinking about doing it again. And I only post on my own personal blog (which I'm sure not many of you are going to actually read) every once in a while. So I probably shouldn't do it. But I DO like to write, though I am not nearly as witty as Miss R. or as sarcastic as Miss M. I'm probably a pretty lousy writer (It's so hard to judge myself). But I'm still thinking about it. I am my own worst enemy. *sigh* Sometimes (okay, maybe all the time) I wish I had someone that would just make my decisions for me. Anyone want the job?

I drive myself crazy. So I hate to think what I do to the rest of you... (please keep your answers to yourself)

April Challenge

Most of you already know this, but I have issued myself a challenge. And y'all know I can't turn down a challenge. I've committed myself to getting up before the rest of the fam. to get a workout in. I'm still trying to hit the gym every day that I can, too, so 3-5 days a week, I'm exercising twice!

I had to miss the 2nd (craft fair... I was already getting up too early) so I started a day early. So far I'm 4 for 4. I'm always glad that I got up early. The day usually seems to go a bit better. But the getting up part is REALLY hard. I have trouble getting up at 7, so getting up at 6 is killer. I know, I know.... other people get up that early, or earlier, all the time. I'm lame. I can't help it. ;)

I really hope that by the end of April I will be more in the habit of getting up earlier, so it'll get easier. I hope. It'll totally get easier, right? Right. That's what I thought.

Yikes.

Funny Kids

My kids crack me up. Let me tell ya. They are so stinkin' funny. I have no idea where they get their goofiness. Must be from Dave... (are you picking up the sarcasm that I'm putting down?) On Saturday, I had been gone most of the day. When I came home, the first thing I saw was Nathan rocking out on his paper jams guitar. He was wearing his favorite shirt, a green dress shirt. It was totally unbuttoned. His hair was spiked. It was SOOOO funny. So I put the groceries away like a good little housewife, grabbed the camera, and took my place in the audience.


This is one good lookin' kid. I think I'm in trouble when he hits Jr High and High School...


Isabel opted to lecture (imagine that) rather than put on a concert when it was her turn. She has decided that the whole family will take turns caring for her tiny stuffed penguin. One week at a time. She wrote down what needs to happen daily. VERY thorough instructions. It's what she does...


Bringing out the goofy side of her lecture...


THEN it was Alex's turn. He of course started to throw a tantrum because he wanted to play Nate's guitar. But we convinced him to use his own, and Rock he did. He's even got the rocker stance down. Try to ignore Isabel... she dashed into the picture. (I'm rolling my eyes, so you can too...)


What a family. It was quite the "show" Too bad you missed it. ;)

Whew!

Okay, so I'm going to get back in gear with this blogging thing. Life got really crazy the past few weeks and it just didn't happen. Rats. Oh well.

I am really looking forward to this week. I'm really in the mood to clean this house up! So far today I have already cleaned up most of I and N's room... dug everything out from under dressers and from under the bed, things like that. Awesome. Feels good already!

A has taken it upon himself to clean out the hallway closet. As in he has pulled out just about every game we own and dumped them on the floor. Oh well... I needed to clean that closet up anyway. Now I just need to find a way to lock those doors so he can't do it all over again once I get it cleaned up. Cleaning it up will be rather interesting, too, since the closet is directly across the hallway from his door. So we'll see if he gets a nap today. Ugh.

Gonna wash the walls this week, too, and keep up on laundry, dishes, and bathrooms. I really need to steam clean my carpets, but I'm not sure if that will happen this week or not. Hopefully... but not likely.

And thankfully my foot is starting to feel better. It still hurts when I walk on it a lot, but mostly it's just achy. (is that how you spell that? it looks funny)

So, all in all, life is looking good!

Rock on.

Peace out, dudes.

Rock On

3 days in a row now I have gotten my fat ass up by 6 to exercise. OH. MY. WORD. Sooooooo tired. I know plenty of people get up that early if not earlier for whatever reason, but man alive do I miss that extra 30-45 minutes of sleep. Holy Moley. (dude, how the hell do you spell that?)

***Please excuse the swearing. Apparently losing sleep makes my IQ go down and my need to swear go up***

I'm so dang glad that I have made myself get up. Though I was going to Turbo Jam it up this morning, our DVD player isn't working so I just did Just Dance. Which is fine by me, cause man that shit is fun. (see, there I go again) I'm so glad that no one has ever filmed me playing that game. I'm sure I look like a bigger freak than usual. But that can't be helped. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. Especially with a friend or two or three. The calories burned by laughing alone makes it worth it.

Okay. So. Spring cleaning. Over the last two days I have gotten out ALL of the kids' clothes. I have culled out the ones to donate and throw away. I have sorted them according to size and gender. And I have boxed and labeled. Sadly, I can't find my duct tape so I'm not sure that the boxes are going to stay closed, but it's close enough, right? Right. That's what I thought, too. Now I have to get it all put back somewhere. Great. Though it'll be nice to get my living room back.

Unfortunately, when I do projects like this one, the rest of my house goes down the shitter. About the only thing I have kept up on is the dishes. A person needs plates and glasses and forks and such to eat, so they must be done. And dishes these days take longer to clean up. Wanna know why? Our dishwasher is leaking. Awesome. So... I had to go out and buy one of those dish drying rack thingys (bought 2, actually) and the kids and I have been washing all of our dishes by hand. Most of the time I don't think it's too big of a deal. It would be easier if Alex didn't feel the need to help. But there's no stopping a 1yo when he's got his mind set on something. Well, short of putting him in a straight jacket and locking him in his room. And I just can't ever seem to find a straight jacket in his size. Maybe I should check craigslist.

Okay. So my goals for today (drum roll please):

• Put these blasted boxes of clothes away
• Laundry
• Dishes
• Sweep AND Mop
• Maybe bathrooms
• Clear out some kitchen clutter
• Go for a run
  

Not sure that all of that will happen, but as long as I cross some of them off, I'll be happy. Cause seriously dudes, I am TIRED. *sigh*

Peace out, friends. Thanks for reading. =D

Back to it

I actually got my butt up this morning to exercise. Finally. It was really fun. I'm soooo tired, but it was totally worth it. Rock on.

Today I'm going to start going through ALL of the kids' clothes. Heaven help me. I used to try to sort through them when I pulled them out of their drawers for good. Then I just started shoving it all in boxes as I pulled it out. So. I have a lot of work to do. It'll be nice to clear up a little bit of space though. I still have to save a lot of it for passing on to my brother and sister, but I'm sure some of it can go. =D

So today I will be focusing on that, plus doing some laundry and dishes. I don't think I'll worry about much else.

Yay for spring cleaning!

Anniversary Lameness

So.... yesterday was our 7th anniversary. Woot! Which is why I didn't blog about my cleaning plans. I didn't have any. =D We didn't really do much, which is just fine with me. It's was nice and low-key. The best part of the day was bed time (and no, not for those reasons, thanks to Aunt Flo) but Dave had sneaked a present into my pillow case. (this is definitely where the lameness begins) So I was prepared to give Nathan a talkin-to in the morning for hiding something of his in my pillow but when I pulled it out I just started LAUGHING. Dave totally bought me a topsy-turvy. ROCK ON! I really wanted one (I want a few more, actually) so this was awesome. Totally. Good job, Dave!

Yes. Lame. I know. But happy and funny lame.



Okay, so for cleaning today... I pretty much have to do the whole upstairs. We have a friend coming over for supper. So bathrooms, sweeping, vacuuming, dishes, plus lots of laundry. Sweet. *sigh*

Later dudes.

Yesterday

Yesterday went pretty darn well. I didn't get to my room, but I got a couple of other things done. I ran an errand for Dave before I went for my run. My run felt SO good. I didn't get all "meh" in the middle like I sometimes do. Ran a solid 2 mi. which isn't bad for my third run in 2 weeks. I'm really trying to get back into a groove. Maybe I will finally start to lose some of this fat! Wouldn't that be awesome? Heck yeah! Maybe I will no longer be asked when my baby is due. That would definitely be happy. =)

So for cleaning, I think I got to everything other than my room. I swept/mopped, did the kids' bathroom (didn't get to mine), dishes, laundry (got 2 loads folded and put away) and I vacuumed. Awesome.

Nate and I played the Wii for almost an hour together. That's always a blast. He totally beat me a bowling. I accidentally beat him at baseball. I felt really bad. I didn't mean to! We did a connect-the-dot, too. Nate really needs to work on his coloring/writing skills.

So, overall, a pretty good day.

Oh, and Dave took us out to eat, and then we went to family swim. Totally awesome!!!

Peace.

3/12

Goodness I hate when I don't sleep well. I'm rather proud of myself for getting up earlier than I "had" to this morning. =) Yay me.

Okay. So what should I do today? I have no idea...

Maybe I'll start with the basics. Fridays have lots of basic cleaning anyway so I don't know if I'll manage to add any extras, but I'll try.

• Sweep/Mop
• Vacuum
• Dishes
• Laundry
• Bathrooms

Yuck. I hate bathrooms.

• Work on my room some more

That might be about it.

Some non-cleaning goals would be good for today, too, though.

• Run at the Y
• Play some games with Nathan
• Family swim! (assuming that Dave gets home in time)

I sure hope I can get everything done. =) And maybe even in a timely fashion. Though that might be pushing it...

Later, dudes. I really wish I could go crawl back into bed. *sigh*

Peace.

Here We Go!

Good Morning World! *yawn*

Okay, so I'm not up very early, but it's still earlier than usual. So in my book that = mission accomplished. Sweet.

*yawn*

It's times like these that I wish I was a coffee drinker. Oh well.

Okay, so what am I going to get done today?

• Sweeping
• Dishes
• Laundry
• Make a list of spring cleaning fun
• Clean my room!!! (it's messy... yuck)

Okay. I think that's an okay list. Mostly the basics that I would probably do anyway. But I've got a couple of extras on there. Sounds good. See you tonight!

*yawn*

A New Game Plan

Okay, so the first thing you need to know before I even get to the game plan part is that I am the QUEEN of lack-of-follow-through. I'm not kidding. I really really stink at following through on anything. Okay. Now to the important part.

The Game Plan:
~Get up earlier and post a bloggy about my goals for the day.
~Work on my goals.
~Post another bloggy or at least a comment at the end of the day letting the world know what I did or did not accomplish.

Awesome.



So now you are asking... "Why are you doing this?" I know you are. I can already tell that you're hanging on my every word. I hope you're not hoping to be blown away... cause it ain't gonna happen friends. I, however, feel much more content now that I have my little game plan.

Okay, so why I'm doing this. #1 is to blog more. I enjoy sitting and writing, and this will give me a topic without any effort whatsoever on my part. #2 is that I am EXTREMELY lazy. I am trying to improve on that. I need to get more done. Plain and simple. And that would in-turn lead to me being a better mommy/wife, which is super super important. Cause I kind of stink at the whole mommy thing. #3 is so that if any of you happen to randomly read one of my blogs with what I'm going to do that day, then you can totally call me on it via facebook or whatever.

Sweet.

I'm excited.

Now, before any of you jump in with a "you're not that lazy" or "You don't stink at the mommy thing" which we moms all automatically do when someone points out one of their faults, let me explain a little further. I believe very strongly that it is super-extra-important to be aware of our shortcomings. Not to dwell on them, but to improve on them. I know too many people that are too okay with how they are now. There's ALWAYS something that you can improve on. I think that the moment you are content with who you are is when you have to start all over. Okay, so maybe that's a little harsh, but you get the picture.

None of you knew me when Isabel was little. I can promise you that I was horrible as a mother, wife and housekeeper. Really. There's no excuse. I have had some people try to give me that "young" excuse, but I refuse it. Seriously. The way I was was not okay. I was very depressed, but I feel like mostly it was poor choices and trying to avoid reality. So. I have come a LONG way. My house is still cluttered, but it's not as dirty as it used to be. Nate watches too much TV so that I can sit on my lazy butt, but not as much as Isabel watched when she was his age. I feel like I put truth to my faults and because I did that I have been able to make changes. They have been small changes, but I have gradually become much better at all of them. I still have so far to go, though! Depression is always kind of lingering and trying to move in again. I have good days and bad days with everything. But I just want to take the next steps.

Now... if only I could find some good parts about myself to also focus on! lol I fail at that part, dudes. It's good to find things that are good about yourself. It's MUCH easier to find the bad stuff. *sigh* If any of you figure out the secret to that, please let me know. ;)

So... here's to follow-through! I hope I can pull it off. And blow you away with my awesomeness.

Rock.

Peace out.

Good times...

Oh my goodness did I have a good time this last week. I got to go to a yummy restaurant with some girlfriends and then I got to celebrate the 3rd birthday of MOM. Totally awesome. =) And THEN I went with some friends to a karaoke bar after the party. That was a super good time. I miss getting to go dance and all that like we did in college. So I really enjoyed myself. Made a fool of myself, too, but that' nothing new. And I'm pretty sure the only reason I was invited was because I had given one of the ladies there a ride to the party, and she wasn't sure how to tell me she didn't need a ride home because she wasn't going home, etc. But I had fun anyway. =) I'm trying force myself into more situations that typically make me uncomfortable and self-conscious. It's really hard sometimes, but I think it's important to do. So I went. I laughed. I danced (poorly). I just had a good time.

I didn't get up and sing (which is perfectly okay because I'm a lousy singer) but I keep hearing songs and thinking how fun they would be to hear at a karaoke bar. And maybe one day I'll even sing one of them... as long as I have some friends join me. Seriously. I'm BAD at singing.

So there ya go. I hope this week is as fun as last week was. =)

Peace.

My "Fit"

So yesterday I was chatting with a friend about how we moms can very easily lose ourselves as we become Mom. And we talked about the things you can do to reconnect with yourself. Finding your style, making your health/fitness a priority, finding hobbies, and most importantly, finding friends. Our girlfriends can be our life-line when we're sinking down into the motherhood vortex. Some women don't ever seem to have a problem with knowing who they are and what they need to stay sane and happy. Others of us don't have it so easy. And, of course, there are several different levels of disconnect.

So friends can be our saviors. (and our husbands, but honestly I think girlfriends help more) I have come a long way with finding who I am, but I still have so so far to go. I'm much happier than I once was. But it's still a struggle.

For the most part, I get along with pretty much everyone. But here's the problem. I have never in my life felt like I 'fit' anywhere. I don't have best friends. Mostly what I have are acquaintances. People that I enjoy being around, and seem enjoy my company. But they are not people that seek me out for the extra little things. Granted, part of that is my own fault, as I don't ask people to join me in things. But that's only because of that little bitty hidden part of my personality that I'm pretty sure very few people even see in me. I am very self-conscious and typically assume that people are nice to me only because they have to be. So it sort of feeds itself. I drive myself crazy. It's a very lonely world when you feel as though people only pretend to like you. And really, how do you know for sure that someone does enjoy being around you?

And it's because of this issue about not fitting in that I have been contemplating leaving my position (well, 3 positions) with MOM. It would break my heart to do it, but I can't help but wonder if they wouldn't be glad to see me gone. I've thought about this for a long time, but I haven't been able to come up with a solution. I would really like to someday have a group of friends that I 'fit' with. Maybe someday.

So I wonder how everyone else defines "friend" I think I have a different definition than most people. I think what most people consider a best friend is what I think of as just a regular friend. I can only think of one person that I would consider a best friend. But a friend is someone you can talk to about pretty much everything. They know a lot about you, they put effort into the friendship, they read between the lines and notice when you're struggling. Things like that.

Ugh! I hate when the big "D" sneaks up on me. It's so hard to fight your way out of it. Even being aware of it doesn't help. Maybe it's the lack of sunshine.

Changing it up...

Today I am NOT going to discuss boot camp (which kicked my ass on Monday) Nope. Today I'm going to branch back out into something that has nothing to do with fitness. The anticipation is giving you tingles, isn't it?

Now. Anyone have a topic? Oh, I guess I should have thought of that BEFORE I started this, eh? Oh well. We'll just improvise. I'm good at improv. But, my dear friends, are YOU?

So I guess this is going to be a 'freewrite' We used to do those in Soph English in HS. (WOW I'm lame) Basically a freewrite is, well, writing without rules. You're supposed to just write and if you get stuck you're supposed to write about being stuck until something pops into your head. You're also not supposed to use punctuation, but I just can't tolerate that, so I'm going to bend the rules a little. Hope you don't mind. And please, please, don't tell Mrs. B. Thanks.

I've been thinking about writing again lately. I've wanted to be a writer for a long time. So I thought to myself tonight that maybe I should write in my blog more. Maybe that will get the juices flowing. Maybe. It's not really working so far. hehehe Instead I'm just rambling away. I get the strangest urges to do things like writing sometimes. I don't know why. I'm not good at it. I get the urge to go take pictures, draw, cook a fancy meal, etc. It's very strange, and definitely sporadic. Maybe there's some creative part of me that's trying to break out. The walls are pretty thick though. LOL Seriously, I fail at ALL of these things. And all the others I try. Lame-o dudes. LAME-O.

Maybe I should just take classes in one of them? But that would mean picking something and sticking with it long enough to make it worthwhile. Yeah, that's not likely. Not likely at all. Sticking with something is something else I'm not so good at. =D

I better end it with that. I don't see this having a 'high' point to end on, so... *shrug*

Later, yo. Peace.

Confirmation

Yes people. We now have confirmation that, under these layers upon layers of chunk, I do in fact have abdominal muscles. I was starting to think that with each pregnancy they just stretched and ultimately shredded, then dissolved. I was wrong. How do I know this? Because they scream bloody murder at me every time I move. Mostly I consider that a good thing. Re-introducing myself to my abs is good. Right?

Monday's boot camp was okay. Not super, but okay. My bandanna weighed it's usual 15lbs by the end (no glistening in my family, just good old-fashioned sweat) and the dips made my arms a little weak, but otherwise it was just "meh" to me.

Wednesday was a whole nuther ballgame though people. It kicked my arse properly. My legs aren't as sore as I thought they would be (those buttbuster things on the exercise ball... wowzah). But my abs... OOOOHHHHH my abs. We only did two ab exercises, as opposed to the eighty-thousand leg exercises. But the were certainly effective. I haven't done the whole yourpartnerpushesyourlegsdownandyoustopthemfromhittingthefloor thing since HS volleyball. I don't rememer it hurting this much back then. Hmm. I wonder why that is... ;) And the punching thing was good because you have to hold yourself up long enough to punch both sides. So overall, the best ab day yet. I was a little sore when I woke up today, but overall, not TOO bad.

And of course I went to Body Pump today. Because I'm smart like that. But seriously I love body pump. LOVE it. I like to lift weights. Besides a killer ab track that I'll talk about in a minute... during the tricep track we did pullovers. Which can be a great ab workout too! YIPPEE!!! On the first one, and I loaded up the bar thinking that I really wanted to get a killer ab workout (I *heart* pullovers), and I....... almost dropped the bar. Because my abs burned SO bad. HOLY mother. Oh my word. *insert appropriate swear words (is that an oxymoron?) here* And then, after the wimpering finally subsided, came the ab track at the end of the workout. We did some SSSLLLLLOOOOWWWWW bicycles. owowowowowowowow And then... it got better! We go to do something like what you do with an ab wheel, only we use the bar/weights to, yes, you guessed it... roll out then back in. It was super.

So I kind of took the rest of today off. There was one point this evening when someone needed something (it's hard to remember specifics when this is how you spend your time...) I was sitting (slouching) on the couch and, I kid you not, I almost didn't make it up. I had my arms OUT IN FRONT OF ME trying to will myself into a sitting position. I don't think I had that much trouble when I was 42 weeks preggo w/Isabel. My kids just kind of looked at me like I was some strange and unknown vegetable that had been plopped on their dinner plates.

Oh the joys of boot camp. But at least I have found my abdominals again after a long-estranged relationship. =)

Peace.

Total Disappointment

I'm a little disappointed by Monday's BC. Parts of it really stunk while doing it. But I think that that was mostly because of the excessively dry air. But as soon as I was done, I wasn't really tired anymore. And today there's not a single part of me that is sore. So I'm kind of disappointed.

Okay. I'm disappointed that I'm not sore. Maybe I need a mental evaluation...? ;)

The whole kicking the wall thing was a pain in the arse. Seriously. But I'm not really feeling it today.
The ab part kicked my butt, so my abs should be screaming every time I move. But they're not.

Rats.

And I'm guessing that BC is canceled tomorrow. I can promise you that I'm not hauling my tushy anywhere.

Thank goodness for shoveling, right? At least it's a workout. And it's out in the fresh air. And I can throw snow on my kids. And bury them. And laugh a lot. I really hope Dave doesn't have to work tomorrow. If he's home, I can leave Alex home with him and take Isabel and Nate sledding. Now THAT is the best way to spend a snow day.

Peace.