A Chocolate Kind Of Day

Today has been a non-day, or at least it has felt like it.  I think that if I could rewind the day and start it over, maybe it would go better?  At least I would be sure to drink some coffee soon after getting up so I wouldn't feel like a dragging cat all morning?

It has been "a chocolate kind of day" today because today has been one of those days where I find myself frequenting the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips stashed in the cupboard.  They are a weakness of mine, especially on days like today.

I think a bookcase and a sandbox would go a long way to making things better.  Susannah's books are strewn all over the (itty-bitty) living room floor and I haven't felt motivated to pick them up because there really is no good place to put them.  We've been putting them into a plastic bin/tub that fits in the living room, but then she can't get to them easily and ends up pulling them all out to find "the book"... which results in books all over the floor again.  A sandbox would allow her to fill her need to dig, measure, dump and pour... without doing it in the cat food, which results in cat food spread around the kitchen floor.  Usually I don't mind it.  Today for some reason I am minding it.  *sigh*

Not helping is the very sore, feels-the-size-of-a-basketball pimple in my ear.  Sorry if that's TMI, but I can't imagine I'm the only one who gets those on occasion!  It hurts like crazy.

Also not helping the day start well was waking up at 7:15 this morning, when Daniel should've left no later than 7:00.  I did set the alarm clock for 6:15 last night and I did turn it on.  ????   Somehow it was set for PM and not AM.  Arg.  He dressed in a mad rush and I threw drinks, chips and a banana in his lunchbox.  I didn't even have time to make him a proper breakfast.

Supper was late... bedtime for Susannah was late... and I have badly missed my goal for being in bed by 11:00 tonight.  At least I should be there before midnight.  I really do need to start going to bed earlier, it will help my days go better and my brain think clearer, too!

Today did have two HUGE pluses!

One being that many times throughout the day, Susannah would just burst out singing.  Her "songs" were not anything I could recognize, tune- or word-wise, but her sweet singing voice was a happy spot in a day that felt like it was dragging the ground.

The other bright spot in the day was when the mail-lady pulled in our driveway and blew her horn.  Last week I ordered some more cloth diapers and they came today.  I love them!  I can't wait to do a blog post about them, but not tonight. :)

I  have many blog posts in my mind, and even have pictures I've taken specifically for blog posts.  Hopefully soon I can get caught up on my blogging, getting posts transferred from my head to the real blog.

Here's hoping for a great night's rest and a great day tomorrow!  I'm glad His mercies are new each morning.  I'm anticipating some new mercy when I wake up tomorrow!

How I {don't} Do It All

Click on the picture to read the captions.

While I do try to keep up with the housework, continually staying on top of it and keeping everything cleaned up, washed up, folded up, put up... does not put food in our freezers, pantry or bellies. So, many times I turn my focus to the garden instead of the housework.

I do enough to squeak by, and some days I really DO housework and get an area cleaned up like it should be. But for the sake of keepin' it real, this is what my kitchen looks like today. And yesterday. And maybe the day before. Except for the banana peels - they weren't there Thursday.

I know many of you look at my garden pictures and say "I don't know how you do it all". Well, here ya go! My secret: I don't.

Now, I know some of you would never be able to stand the clutter. Sometimes I can't either. Today at lunch I was frustrated because I had to shove some stuff around to make a clear spot to put together a sandwich. That means it's time to get the kitchen cleaned up again :) And I won't work in the garden this afternoon (I hope to at least go pick squash and zucchini this evening), but nothing is super pressing out there today.

This is a season of my life. One where my time is cheaper than our money. It's easier for me to let the housework fall behind than to try and squeeze produce out of our grocery budget for another year. I would make it work if I needed to, but I don't need to. And I'm enjoying my garden :) And not minding the clutter. Too badly. Most of the time.

Just another Real Housewife Reveal :)

Real Housewife Reveal

After I wrote this post, and then read what Amy wrote on her blog, I thought it would be fun to once in a while post a "real" post.

Yesterday I:
Started a load of laundry.
Made a batch of bread.
Ground up already cooked roast beef, chicken and corn for baby food and froze it.
Made a strawberry roll (the cake part).
Made a batch of Monster Cookies (Arrrg!!!)
Picked peas.
Shelled peas with Susannah climbing all over me and "helping".
Picked up shelled peas that she dumped on the floor.
Read a couple books (to Susannah).
Fed Susannah meals x3.
Helped her get a drink countless times throughout the day.
Changed 6-ish diapers.
Did online stuff (mail, blog, blog reading, facebook).
Asked Daniel to bring home a free pizza for supper.
Gave Susannah a bath.
Watched the NCIS and NCIS L.A. Finales.
Asked Daniel to put the wet laundry in the dryer right before we went to bed.
Folded and put away the 1 load of clean laundry that was piled on the bed.

Yesterday I didn't:
Take a shower.
Wash any dishes.
Pick up or sweep any floors.
Do any cleaning, period (except for cleaning out a couple diapers).
Do any baking or cooking that was actually for a meal yesterday (breakfast was leftover pancakes, lunch was leftovers from Monday).
I did brush my hair yesterday morning, but after picking peas I looked like this:... and didn't brush my hair again until evening time shortly before Daniel got home.
I didn't exercise.
I didn't take a nap.

Today the kitchen is piled high with dirty dishes (mostly baking utensils, bowls and dirty sippy cups). The floors are in bad need of a picking up and vacuuming. The trash cans are overflowing and the slop is starting to smell. Laundry needs folded. Laundry needs washed - and then folded. And put away. I need a shower. I hope to get a little more on top of the inside housework, but there's much of the day left yet, we'll see what happens... there's always the chance that something will come up that changes the course!

I Can't Lose

Ugh, some days I just want to bury my head in the sand. Or at least become a hermit and live in a cave where dishes and clothes wouldn't matter.

Since I can't do either of those (well, I guess I could do either one), I just have to tough it out.

If I am going to win the war against the dirty dishes, I must fight the battle and wash them.

If I am going to win the war against the mountain of clean clothes piled at the foot of my bed, I must fight the battle and fold them. AND put them away.

If I am going to win the war against the stuff that piles on the table and counters, I must fight the battle and keep the stuff put where it belongs. And "file it instead of pile it."

If I am going to win the war against not getting enough sleep, I must fight the urge to stay up late and just go to bed. And go to sleep instead of reading.

If I am going to win the battle and do my Bible Study Homework, I must fight and make it a priority and just. do. it.

*****

These are some things I have been struggling with a lot this year. I cannot use Susannah as an excuse. I cannot use being a mama as an excuse. I know this because looking through my lists LAST YEAR, when Susannah was only months old, I accomplished these things fairly regularly. I know I can do it again. I just have to be the boss of my "don't want to's" and tell myself that "oh, yes, I AM going to do those things!"

Just another post, keepin' it real here.

Plus, I can do ALL things through Christ, right (Philippians 4:13)? As Steve Green says, "not just some things, but ALL things."

I Will Be Back

Hopefully tomorrow! To bloggy-land, that is. I'm sorry if you've been waiting for posts that I just haven't written this week!

I have been in some sort of funk all week... not wanting to do anything. No housework, no laundry, no nuthin'.

This afternoon I think I figured out why: I have been staying up way past my "bedtime" and waiting to get up until the last minute as a result of staying up too late, then feeling tired and blah all day.

Well, today is Wednesday, so that means I have 1/2 a week left this week and by golly if I'm gonna let it go to waste just because I've been in a funk so far! So, tonight, I am going to bed earlier and I plan to get up earlier so I don't have to rush around getting Daniel's breakfast and lunch made. And hopefully tomorrow will be the start of funk-less days :)

Swinging Back Into Savings

My monster project this week (which I can now cross off my list!!) revealed to me how lax I have been in the savings department. It's kinda embarrassing. Especially when I think about the many times I've ranted and raved over the importance of always, Always, ALWAYS putting some money into savings regardless of good or bad times. I guess I got a little starry-eyed since things have been going ok for us this summer and fall. Which means... all the time that I could've been socking away even more, I wasn't. And now it's gone one way or the other.

Kindof. I did just now remember that over the summer we created a nest egg for the baby (supplies, extra medical expenses, maybe even the start of a savings account?), and that money would've gone into savings otherwise. It's just not showing up in the savings, that's all.

This week I jumped firmly back onto the "put something in savings every week" wagon. I might've put some Gorilla Glue under my feet this time, too, just as an added precaution. This morning I promptly entered Daniel's paycheck into the budget and immediately moved some of it over into our savings account. Now that I have the budget and checkbook all balanced, I am determined to keep up with it. And the bill paying. *sweat dots the brow* I'm going to "keep it real" and say that more than a few times this summer I've just barely squeaked in under the wire on getting some bills paid on time. Like so close I could smell it. And it stinks, lemme tell ya that! It is NOT frugal one bit when you have to pay an extra fee to pay a certain bill online because you forgot to mail it and it's due TODAY. To my "Get A Good Habit Going" project, I think I should add "writing bill due dates on the calendar so I get them paid in plenty of time." I've done that before, I can do it again. I know several of you probably have your bills automatically withdrawn from your accounts. I just can't. It's not against my religion or anything; we could and the only reason we don't is because I simply don't want to. It's a control thing, probably. I want to say when and who our money goes to, not some robot. I'm weird like that.

I'm really tickled pink to have this week's project (getting the checkbook and budget caught up and balanced) finished. I have quite a bit of other things I have to do today anyway, so it worked out just in time. And I'm happy to have jumped back on to the savings wagon. Especially since we're planning to build an addition, it is more important than ever that we keep a good grip on the money reigns!

Stay tuned for next week's Monster Project!!

Shocking, I Know

Bad things happen when you don't pay attention to the activity in your checking account, you're spending a couple hundred extra dollars each week for a couple weeks for a ministry your church has and you've been too busy to turn in the receipts for reimbursement.

Bad things like: Whoppin', honkin', WHATINTHEWORLD!?!?!? overdraft charges on your overdrawnforacoupledays bank account.

Tonight I'm thankful for:
following Dave Ramsey's "rule" of having an emergency fund
~and~
free online account transfers.

Tomorrow I'm callin' the bank. And hittin' the books. Hard. Time to get caught up and STAY caught up.

I'm thinking of converting to hermit-ism or cave-man-ism. The lifestyle where I can take my whittled wooden spear and go catch a fish for supper, run around naked and not have to worry about clothes or bathing or bank accounts. As long as they have high-speed internet in caves so I can keep in touch with all my bloggy-friends.

High Gear

Since I'm all about "keepin' it real" on here, I'll just go ahead and say it.

My name is Miriam and... I have a very.messy.kitchen.

There are my Sunday shoes... on the counter. Because they were in my full hands when I walked in the door yesterday afternoon and that's where it was easy to put them down. They are on a stack of coupon inserts. And a gallon of flax seed that one of Daniel's customers gave him because they weren't using it. What am I going to do with it?? And the empty Dr. Pepper can that fell off the counter and onto the floor when I was putting piling something else up there last night.Oh my. This section is a nightmare. You can't see it, but the sinks are full. (The dishwasher is clean!) My blender is still sitting there in all it's glory from when I made rice milk Thursday night. I have things piled on top of my canisters. Like a box of plastic wrap that belongs in the drawer over on the left side of the room. And there's flour underneath everything from when I made 7 pies Thursday evening. The box on the floor is clothes and baby stuff that I need to look through and put where it belongs.More flour. More stuff. Not a square inch to be found, unless I shove and scoot things out of the way - which is what I did this morning when I made Daniel's breakfast and lunch. The bar stool is great for holding even more stuff. Y'know, like the big, dirty bowls that won't fit on the counters because they are full. Just stack 'em on the stool is what I say! And this mountain of STUFF. There are bags of maternity clothes that someone gave me. Groceries from last Wednesday that I haven't had time to put away yet. (CLEAN!) Pans and what-not from Friday when I fed 40 people. Hard to tell what all I'll find in there when I get it cleaned up.

This morning I've had my "Breakfast of Champions." An egg, a piece of toast and a glass of Orange Juice to wash down my prenatal vitamin. Now I am ready to FACE THE DAY!

Later this afternoon I have another ultrasound to hopefully get a good look at Baby George's head/face. Last Friday (2 Friday's ago, really) when we had the main one, he (she?) wasn't cooperating too well, had her nose buried in my back and was being camera shy. So all the pictures we brought home are of the spine and hands and feet. Cute as they are, we still need to see your face, Baby! (And the ultrasound tech needs to look at some of Baby's "inside" things - like the top of the spine, etc. that she couldn't see last time.) Last night I finally got another "baby bump" picture taken, so I will post it this evening when I will hopefully have a good picture of Baby George :)

Good Things / Bad Things

Maybe I'll start off with the bad and get it out of the way.

Kroger and Walmart do not seem to carry Tapioca. At least the 2 stores I was in did not reveal any on their shelves. Or I was totally looking in the wrong place, but I really think it would be in the baking goods aisle... around where the Jell-O and stuff is. I NEED tapioca. I'm making 3 apple pies today. Like, TO-DAY today, and will be off on a search for some tapioca before I make them. If I have to go hunt down a tapioca tree and pull off the tapioca berries myself. Ok, I really have no idea where tapioca comes from; probably not from tapioca berries grown on trees...

I spent most of yesterday afternoon walking around Costco and Kroger (a Kroger I'd never been in, so I didn't know the layout and was back and forth all over the store getting what I needed). When I got home, I had just enough time to unload the groceries, put the cold stuff away, load up some other stuff to take to church, and head off to 2.5 hrs. of choir practice (normally one 1.5, but we had some extra stuff to practice for Missions Conference). On the way home I had to stop at WalMart to get "the rest of the stuff" - like frozen peas, because Costco does not carry frozen peas. What?!?! And tapioca.

By this time my brain powers were waning, and my hips and legs were really letting me know that they exist. All I wanted to do was find what I needed, check out, and go sit down in the car so I could drive home and crawl in bed. We parked at the one entrance of Walmart, and of course went in that entrance. After checking out, we walked down to that set of doors to find that when we walk up to them, they didn't open. Neither of us could figure out why. Daniel decided to manually open them. Out of no-where this big, barking voice starts command-style-not-quite-bellowing at us "THE DOOOOORS AAAARRRRRE CLOOOOOSSSSSED". Daniel points out to Mr. Appeared-out-of-nowhere Security Dude that there is no sign posted, nothing indicating that this set of doors closes at any point. Again, "THE DOOOORS AAARRRRRREEE CLOOOOOSSSSED SIR, YOU MAY NOT GO OUT HERE." Daniel says "You mean I gotta walk all the way down to the other end, and walk back up to this end to my car, just to get out?" "THE DOOOORS CLOOOOOSE AT TEN O'CLOCK, SIR, YOU MAY NOT GO OUT THESE DOOOOOORS." I'm ready to bite this guys head off and chew it up. Or sit down and bawl. More like both. I remembered that not 5 minutes earlier I explained to the cashier (who never acknowledged us other than noticing our large purchase of frozen peas) that I was doing some cooking for church and decided it would be kinda bad to be a church-lady one minute and a mad-hornet-cannibal the next, so I clamped my teeth shut and set off for the other entrance. Of course then the security dude tries to play dumb/nice and says "They're supposed to put up a sign. I just work here."

I managed to get out to the car (walking the length of WalMart twice just to do it) and was glad Daniel was driving in his work van. Neither of us was very happy with the security dude, his personality, or the seemingly ridiculous and not posted policy about the doors. I chalked my crazy emotions up to the whole day, not being able to find what I needed, and the mean security guy, and being pregnant on top of it all. And the tears started flowing. I wanted to sit down and bawl, so I did (glad that I didn't have to explain all the hormones/emotions to Daniel). And then I wished I'd pulled my wild card and given that guy a piece or two of my mind, something like "Sir, I'm 21 weeks pregnant, my hips and legs are killing me, your store did not have 1/2 of what I came in here to get, I'm tired, and you're going to make me walk x, y and z to get to my car?!!?" He really was being a smart-___, I was just a customer (a pregnant one!) wanting to get to my car.

Ok. On to the good.

Yesterday my package arrived!! Woohoo!!! I opened it up and tried on all the clothes. 2 black skirts (I ordered 3) fit!!! The white blouse fits!!! The dress.... fits, but we don't have a full-length mirror and Daniel said I looked better in a black skirt & white blouse than in the dress. He also (finally) said that for $40 I should send it back because it doesn't fit/look quite good enough to merit the $40. It feels kinda trash-baggy on me, so I wondered about that. I'm glad I was able to finally pull that out of him. LOL. The denim skirt was too hip-huggy (the 3rd black skirt was the same way), and the jeans! Oh, the darling, wonderful jeans!!! They fit like a charm!! I was so excited! Granted, they are about 3" too long, but a pair of scissors and a couple minutes on the sewing machine (if I can remember where it's packed) can fix that. Why don't they make non-maternity jeans as comfortable and so easy fitting? I don't know.

And the second good: I slept good again last night for the 2nd night in a row! It was a shorter night, and it took a while and some Tylenol (for the hips and legs) for me to be able to go to sleep, but once I was sleeping I slept really well.

Today my #1 goal is to load up the dishwasher and get it going, then start up the clothes-washer. After that, my have-to's for the day are to hunt down some tapioca, make 3 apple pies, 3 cherry pies and 3 batches of rolls (72). I also hope to squeeze in a trip to the chiropractor and hopefully get everything straightened back out again.

So, I'm gonna put on some happy music, and get started!! Toodle-ooo! :)

(Oh - another good thing! I bought new batteries for our cordless phones, so hopefully if you call me I'll actually be able to answer instead of the phone dying in my hand when I push the answer button.)

And the nightmare continues...

Anyone else on here 5'2", short-waisted and legged, and well-endowed in every area? If so, please tell me where and how you go clothes shopping!!

So we probably didn't hit up the best places to find maternity clothes (it was a last minute planned trip), the 2 places we did go (Kohl's and Target) yielded 2 pieces after trying on a million. In another couple weeks I'm going to not fit in my one skirt that I can still get around my expanding girth, and I'm not going to church naked. The only skirts I saw at either place were ones that my hiney would stick out the bottom. And the pants... I don't know who has such teeny, tiny, short butts!! Honestly! I put on a pair of jeans and the top of the jeans material in the back barely rides above mid-cheek! And if I bend over, the belly band ends up covering my tush while the actual jeans material goes lower and lower. I have to hike everything back up so it's not completely off my butt. Maybe my rear-end is just tall compared to the rest of me. I dunno.

One of my reasons for shopping is that I have 2 weddings to attend in the next month. And I literally have nothing suitable to wear. Unless I can still squeeze into the jeans skirt, but that's not very formal attire.

We ran out of time so we couldn't keep shopping, but we did get a nice pair of loooong black slacks, and I'll lop the ends off and hem them up if that's what I end up wearing. We found a nice top that went with them, and it fit really well... until I went to take it off and realized that if I put my arms out in front of me at all it was too small across the shoulders/armpits. So we tried the next size up, and it was just baggier with the same problem. I did get one top, but not really suitable for wearing with black slacks to a wedding. My problem with the tops is that they are all soooo long, or a cut that just didn't flatter my short bod at all. And I realize that as my belly grows, it'll take more material to cover, but seriously, alot of these things I could tie on a belt and call it a mini-dress.

Soooo.... I just placed an order online for several pieces of clothes. 1 dress, 3 skirts, 1 pair of jeans (that I think and really, really hope ARE the same brand and cut as the capris I have and LOOOOVE and fit really nicely) and a white blouse. And of course the dress is a sleeveless number so if it does indeed fit (crossing my fingers here!) I'll need to go sweater shopping, but that shouldn't be too hard. I don't expect every piece to fit, which is why I ordered several of the skirts. Hopefully one of them will and I'll have something to wear while I slowly get around to other places to try and add to my selection.

And I thought shopping for non-maternity clothes was hard. Now you know why you see me in the same thing time and time again. Because a) it's hard to find stuff that fits me and the budget, and b) what fun is it to shop when nothing fits?

Please don't take this as a whiny, boo-hoo, nothing fits, post. I might feel like that tomorrow morning, or in the next 15 minutes, but not at the current moment of writing this. Just exasperation that every woman on "Petite Top Model" was 5'7" or taller and a toothpick. Yeah right. Guess that makes me a midget or dwarf or something.

Monday Musings :)

Ahh, this day is proving to be an exciting one :)

I went to MOPS this morning and our guest speaker was a wonderful lady from our church (Daniel and I know her family) who is a part-time CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) missionary. She and her husband have 9 kids and she loves kids. She shared how we, as moms, can present the Gospel to our children, even if they are just a year or two old... to start sewing the seeds early. Hearing her talk about being a mom inspired me and got me thinking.

Last night I could not get comfortable and go to sleep well. I think part of it was the crazy array of foods I had to eat this weekend... Saturday I made the Simple Sesame Noodles with Shrimp for supper. They were good, but pretty oily (will cut that back next time). Yesterday it was a Reuben Sandwich with Ice Cream for dessert for lunch (we were invited out to eat after church). It was thee best Reuben Sandwich I think I've ever had. It was sooooo good. And the ice cream was "free, all you can eat". I only had 1/2 of my sandwich and the other half came home for leftovers sometime this week :) After church, and after we finished our Sunday night rituals (emptying bathroom trashcans and locking up) I was famished as usual. We went by Taco Bell and I had a Nachos Belle Grande. When we got home I still wanted a little something to nibble on so I had some Apple Crisp that I made Saturday. Soon after finishing that my stomach started to feel like I'd eaten a brick or a river-jack or something. Uggh. Anyways, all that to say, I didn't sleep well for most of the night. I got up around 4:30 and got a drink of water, after that I did sleep really good... until the alarm clock went of at 6:15. Grr. As soon as Daniel left I jumped back in bed hoping that there was still some "good sleep" left in the pillows. There was, and I woke up 10 minutes before I needed to leave for MOPS!

So far this afternoon I haven't gotten diddly-squat done other than starting a load of laundry. I need to make bread since Daniel had the last of it this morning, and I haven't begun to think about what we'll eat for supper. Maybe fruit and vegetables would be in order after the weekend diet :P I'm so tempted to take a nap this afternoon, I have a dull headache and just want some sleep, but I know if I do a) not as much will get done, b) I don't know if I'll sleep good or not and c) I want to sleep really good tonight! LOL!!

Oh the joys! I love being a housewife, I really do. I'm so glad I don't have to rush around and go work in some office or something. I'm glad I can stay home and bless my household and family through being happy and willing to fill the Chief Cook, Bottlewasher, Laundress, Cleaner, Accountant, Grocery-Shopper, So-on-and-so-forth role. Though my spirit is always willing, sometimes my body and mind aren't :/ I think today is one where my body is dragging. Maybe I will go ahead and see if a quick power nap won't recharge my batteries. Hopefully after that I will be able to blast full speed ahead instead of grinding along :)

A Magic Wand...

...is what I'm in need of. I don't know if it's because the sun hasn't been shining the past 2 days or what, but I'm ready to crawl in a hole (well stocked with yummy, pre-made food, of course) and do nothing.

In the meantime, the dirty dishes are piling high. Last night I put away the chocolate chips I bought this week... and guess what's still piled on the counter? Yup, the empty bags. Now, it's not like it would take a ton of effort to grab them and walk the 8 steps to the trash can and put them in - our trash can doesn't have a lid, so I wouldn't even have to open it. But they still sit there. I have 2 loads of clean laundry that need folded, 1 that needs hung out, and still another load or two that I need to wash yet today... which would mean another load to dry, fold and put away.

And I don't want to lift one finger. I guess I am not in the nesting mode yet, that's for sure! Oh, I think about all the wonderful things I think would be great, wonderful and fun to do... like cleaning off the desk so that I can rearrange it in what will be the baby's room, clean out the closet in that room, finish packing up the clothes I won't wear again until next summer/fall, and so on and so forth. Shucks, I even have 2 pairs of maternity pants that I need to hem. I wonder if they'll still need hemmed come March?

So, since y'all are such wonderful bloggy friends, and I know I can totally keep it real here, I'm going to make you keep me accountable through the rest of today. Naps are not needed - I dozed/read in bed for a major part of the morning (I was reading a book on pregnancy/delivery, so that makes it ok. Right??)

Here's what I NEED to do today:

Empty the dishwasher and reload it
Hang out a load of laundry and start the next load
(I cheated and decided to use the dryer)
Wash the dishes that don't fit in the dishwasher
Clean off the counters (trash, bread machine, etc.)
Get chicken out of the freezer for supper and remembered to get up another jug of OJ to thaw
Make Chicken Pot Pie so it's ready by 6 (because I know I'll be hungry by then but not so hungry I eat too much and then feel yucky)
Eat a snack to hold me over till supper (I'm thinkin' Strawberries?)
Hang out/dry 2nd load of wash
Fold and put away laundry
Clean off table

And if I get all that done and still have time to twiddle my thumbs, I may add to the list. We shall see.

Ok, I'm off. My first stop will be to eat some food because my stomach is starting to ask for it.
Check back often for updates!!!!!!!

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things

Now that morning sickness is over (thank goodness!!) and I'm feeling more myself again - or at least the "new" myself, naps included - I have no excuse for not getting back on track with everything.

Everything from menu-planning, daily to-do lists, keeping up with the laundry, getting our grocery budget back down to where it belongs, and all that goes along with.

Now that I feel like cooking and eating again, I am really feeling the pain from not having a menu plan. As the day goes on I wonder what should I make for supper? Then late afternoon arrives and I realize I really do need to decide and get it started. So I decide on one thing and end up not having everything I need, or the dish will take too long to prepare, etc. Flying by the seat of my pants is wearing them thin. Not to mention the times that "going out instead would be easier" has crossed my mind. That's a true indication that I just need to DO IT. Menu plan, not go out to eat. We do enjoy going out to eat, and even though we don't pick the high-end restaurants (our fav. place - at least mine - to frequent is a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place where we can both eat for about $15), it's not something that we can do often without breaking the bank.

The daily t0-do lists, you all know I love them. I really do. The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction I have at the end of the day when I know and can see that I've gotten everything done and crossed off is wonderful. I'm also the kind of person that if my day doesn't get started off well, the whole thing goes down the drain. Well, it doesn't have to, but it ends up that way. So, my goal these past couple nights has been to be IN BED by 10:30, no later than 11 o'clock. That's a whole hour, hour and a half earlier than we will so easily stay up if we aren't careful. And since I have a little person drawing energy from myself, if I do stay up till midnight, I end up feeling like a drowned cat in the morning and crawl back in bed for a while. Yeah, that really helps the morning get off to a good start. Not.

So... what am I gonna do? This weekend I am going to menu plan next week's meals. By Sunday night I will have the menu planned out, and in my planner I will have filled out the to-do list for each day. My new bed-time will be 10:30 (or earlier!) so that I'm well rested when I wake up, and my nap will happen in the afternoon... not the morning and afternoon. As Mom used to say, "No if's, and's or but's about it."

And to get a jump-start on it all, I'm going to make a list for today of what all I need to get done today, so that next week will get off to a good start.

Feeling Overwhelmed...

And it's just the beginning. By the way, this post is all about keeping it totally real and out in the open. This is my place. While I don't want to rudely offend anyone, well, it might happen if you're getting your toes stepped on.


I'm sure for many of you who are already mom's out there, you know exactly what I'm talking about.


When I found out I was pregnant, while most of me was excited and thrilled, some of me groaned. I was wishing that some way, some how, I could fast forward through the pregnancy, raising the kids, all the way until they are moved out and on their own, so I wouldn't have to tell some people. Because some people think it is their lot in life to keep you up to date on what you should and should not do. And no, I'm not talking about my mother-in-law. While she has the capability, so far she hasn't been too overbearing.


What do you do? How did/do you handle those kind of people? I know I need to let it slide in one ear and right out the other, but how do I respond when these people are telling me to my face that I need to be careful of what I eat because they gained x number of pounds when they were pregnant because they were eating the wrong foods? In the past 4 days, the same person has to my face told me twice things that I must do or must not do.


A: I am an adult and very capable of knowing when to take naps. Thank.you.very.much.


B: When I am so hungry my stomach is growling, I'm not going to stop and think "Oh, oh, oh, I must watch what I'm eating or I might gain a pound!!!!" I am adult and grown up enough to know that I should not (and do not) stuff my face with chips, cookies, grease & salt laden whatevers (ok, so we went out for pizza Monday night... for the first time in a long time), pies, ice-cream, cakes, candy, sugary drinks, so on and so forth. I have purposely spent MORE money on low-fat cheese for my snack cheese instead of saving a couple dollars and getting regular cheese. I have purposely bought applesauce that does NOT have added sugar or any other strange things (mostly because I wanted to taste the apple, but no added sugar is nice). I have purposely spent high dollars on mixed nuts because they are a good snack - and one I wouldn't begin to think of snacking on if I didn't need good, healthy snacks right now. And so far, as of last week, 12 weeks into this pregnancy, I have not gained ONE POUND.

I know this is kinda a mumbo-jumbo post; it's late, I'm tired, I got my second wind when I finished the last of the sub I had for supper, and now I'm tired and hungry again. I'm going to go eat a little something and go to bed. I seriously am not eating because I want to taste the food... If you see me eating, it is because my stomach is honest-to-goodness, getting ready to growl, hungry. I had no idea it was possible to get hungry this often. And no, I do not eat a full-blown meal each time.

Confused

Daniel and I have had our house For Sale By Owner since March. All we've ever had was curious nibbles, nothing ever serious, only one person came to look at it, though many people were "interested" in looking.

All summer it's been "hurry up and wait". A couple weeks (or several) go by and no one calls, then somebody calls, they ask about looking at it, I hurry up and clean the house really well, then they never call back... the house gets back into normal shape... repeat. No one has called for the last month, if not longer. We were (are?) really getting to the point of pulling up the FSBO sign and making a decision about "are we moving or not?"

Until today. Last Monday a realtor called for her client, interested in looking at it. We didn't hear a peep from her until yesterday and she wanted to look at the house last evening. Well, it didn't suit us (really) plus the house is still a mess as leftovers from dealing with morning sickness, lots of naps, and the garden. We decided that we are "busy" all this week (cleaning) and it doesn't suit us to show the house until this weekend.

She called back this morning to see if she could come on Saturday. So, we are back to the hurry up and wait. Mom is coming today and I'm going to have her do serious packing. Pretty much all the do-dads are packed, so she'll be packing up the pantry, the hall closet, the extra things under the sinks, maybe even boxing up things in the cupboards that we don't need/use on a daily basis. I don't know where everything will go yet, but I figure if we're gonna show this house, we better give it our best shot this last time. I think if these people aren't interested, we WILL pull the sign, at least until we know what we're doing.

That means the garden is likely going to be put on hold. I think I'll try and get the peppers yet, but I don't have time to deal with tomatoes, at least right now.

I don't know what to think. I've not talked to this realtor personally, and I told Daniel to try and find out if she's really serious about this, or if she's just being nosey. I would think that if she had clients that are interested in looking, she'd have been alot more pushy about looking before now. But maybe they were on vacation, or she was, who knows. I shouldn't jump to conclusions, but I'm getting tired of drop-outs and not knowing if we're cleaning and packing for real, or just for the sake of doing it.

At least I can pack up most of my clothes and know I won't have to dig them out for a long time :P I'll just have to replenish them with maternity clothes :P I already started a stack last night of jeans and shirts that can be packed up since I know I won't be able to wear them until next summer/fall anyway (HOPEFULLY I'll be able to fit into my jeans by next fall! I sure hope so!!).

For now, I'd best be over'n'out. If by chance you see the sign we've been looking for written in the sky over your area, please let me know. You know, just in case it got windy up there and the sign blew from our sky to yours. It would be nice to know what we're supposed to do.

Paperwork

Just keepin' it real here, folks.

The other day I had to put a new register in my checkbook. It was the 3rd one I was packing into my checkbook cover as I don't take one out until I have it balanced all the way through. I looked back through and realized that I hadn't balanced the checkbook since the middle of the first one. Yikes. So this evening after we got back from a family picnic I ignored the heaps of dirty dishes on the counter and decided to work on it.

First, I had to round up the bank statements. I pulled together a pile of them and put them in the statement binder. Then I pulled out the checkbook and got started. The last date I had balanced the checkbook?

January 15, 2009.

At least it's this year and not last year.

I got through March 15 and realized I was missing the statement for April. Great. I went back through my folder that I've been stuffing everything "important" in and didn't find it. Then I shuffled through a mountain of stuff on the desk and found it. Yay. But decided to call it a night while things were still good. At least it's balancing so far!

Contortion in the Dressing Room

I'm pretty sure no guys read my blog. If you do, consider yourself warned and go read something else. The end.

A couple weeks ago I was complaining about something that had to do with the upper-half undergarments. Bras. The kind that have hooks in the back and 2 straps and so on and so forth. The kind I've always worn. I'm a sports bra virgin. Never worn one. I like my girls nicely supported and snug, and have a specific brand of arbuterus that I prefer to wear. I can't remember what the occasion was, but Daniel said "maybe you should get some sports bras." I hadn't ever considered it. I thought about it, and yesterday decided it was time to venture forth and acquire one or some.

I called 2 of my sisters and got their input and advice on the matter and headed to town. To WalMart. I looked high and low and could not find the sports bras. I finally found a wall of them and they didn't look like squat. Like if I took a pair of granny panties, turned them upside down, made a neck hole and wore them on the top instead of the bottom, I'd get the same effect. I was sad because that meant I'd have to go to a "big" store (read: expensive department store) and spend more money. I was about to leave that section when I stumbled over a second wall of sports bras, these looking more like the real deal.

There were all shapes and sizes. Ones that looked like they would probably work well and others that looked like my girls would either be all sad and droopy or appear like a uni-boob if I made 'em wear that. I picked out a few different ones and headed to the dressing room.

Note: My sisters both strongly suggested that I get racerback, so that's what I picked out.

I got in there and got ready to try the thing on. Uh...how do you do that!?!? It was like trying to climb through a rubber band. The kind that comes around the bottom of the broccoli. Pushing and pulling and praying that I wouldn't rip the thing in the process, I managed to get it on and everything situated. And decided it wasn't one I liked. Then I had to figure out how to GET IT OFF!!! Do I pull it up from the bottom? Do I slide one arm down and through? Will I have to cut it off? I wiggled and pulled and wrestled with my arms and torso going in all different directions and managed to get it off. Like climbing through a rubber band again. Surely the next one will be easier. It was... just a little. I still don't have it mastered. I found one pair that I liked and bought another pair without trying it on. I picked it out after I got out of the dressing room and there was no way I was going back in there. I don't like being that much undressed in public, even it is behind a closed doors.

And so a new chapter of my life begins. The one where sports bras enter the picture. Hopefully I won't dislocate my shoulders or elbows in the process.

My Goal's For Today:

Since figuring out Kroger's tax system this morning, I feel like I can conquer the world!!!

Here's is what I would like to get done today. We shall see if I get around to it all. Perhaps with my boosted, I-can-do-anything power, I will.

Right now I feel a strong urge to curl up and take a nap. Must.keep.going... zzzz. Maybe a teeny, tiny, power nap. Shh.

Yes, what a yummy little nap. Now I feel better. On with the list!

- MAKE LAUNDRY SOAP so I can do the rest of the laundry
-Dishes
-2 loads of laundry washed and hung out
-Containers of old food that I pulled out of the frige on Tuesday emptied and the slop taken out to the garden
-Walk
-Dust the Living Room & Dining Room
-Sweep all the floors
-Laundry FOLDED and PUT AWAY (this has been getting neglected lately)
-Front yard mowed
-Pull weeds in the garden
-Till the garden
-Plant more corn, plant squash and zucchini
-Clean in our bedroom
-Figure out what to make for supper
-Freeze hamburger that I bought yesterday
-AND spend some time in the Word

I will check back in from time to time to update :) Y'all are my best "accountability partners", so hold me to it!!

Bloggy Blahs

If you follow my blog, or even come check it out regularly, my guess is that you've been disappointed each time when you find no new post. Sorry :(

I keep feeling like "there nothing exciting to blog about!" so I don't write anything. But I also remind myself what I like about reading other people's blog posts... it's their normal, everyday lives, and it's exciting to me! They might bake bread ev.er.y single week, yet when they blog about it, I'm like "They make bread, too!" and ooo and ahhh over their blog posts :)

This is likely to be a random topic post, so hang in there!

So far we have been gone EVERY weekend this month. And after next weekend (the last weekend for June) we will have accomplished being gone EVERY weekend of the month. Well, maybe not gone-gone, like pack your bags and go spend the night somewhere, but at least gone away from the house to a function or two or three. Come to think of it, we were gone the last weekend in May to a wedding, so till we're done it will be what, 5 weekends that we've not spent here at home. No wonder that the other day when Daniel asked what I wanted to do for July 4th, I said "nothing!!" July 4th even falls on a Saturday, which (fingers crossed) might mean that he gets either Friday or Monday off since they get a work-day holiday for the major holidays that fall on a weekend. He wasn't sure, but it would be so nice to have a couple days together here at home.

The house definitely shows that we've been gone for several weekends. Daniel started an outside project back in May, and it is still very unfinished. The big trashcans are full and have been for a couple weeks, waiting for him to be able to take a trip to the dump (I would do it but I can't lift them up onto the truck).

I have also been super-slacking in the daily to-do list department. Both in making the list and getting the things done on the list. So, last night, before going to bed I made the list for today. Thankfully the away time this past weekend was local, AND I got a nice nap yesterday afternoon (hasn't happened in a while), AND I slept like a rock last night, so I am ready to tackle my list today. One of those things on my list is to make the bed. I told ya, I've been slacking. I won't say how long it's been since I've properly done laundry... but lets just say that Daniel and I have both been getting dressed with clothes pulled from the "clean laundry" pile. :D And "make the bed" means "get the clean sheets out of the pile on the guest bed and put them on the bed".

But I have kept food in our stomachs and the dishes cleaned up in general. The latest big aggravation is the over-abundance of ants that want in my house this year. I do not know how ants, outside the house down in the ground wherever they are in the yard, know - or even find out - that there is an empty ice-cream bowl in the living room. Or how they know that I had pancakes for breakfast Friday morning and the empty, syrupy plate is on the kitchen counter waiting to go in the dishwasher. Now, THOSE ants really bothered me. They were the BIG kind. The small, sugar ants (or the even smaller ones, whatever they are) - the ones after the empty ice cream bowl - don't bother me as much, cause their only concern is to keep methodically plodding along. I still pull out the Terro and offer them a nice, yummy drink at the Terro Pond *evil grin*, but the big ants - *shiver* - they much have built in V-8 engines or something. They cruise around super fast and run and hide. They're the kind that might come take me apart and haul me off in peices while I'm sleeping. I didn't bother with the Terro for them last night when I found them... they met quick demise. There were 4 of them and one managed to escape under the stove, so I'm hoping that he didn't run to tell their friends that they need to come invade my house as payback for squashing 3 of their team members. I think I would surely have ant nightmares again. Yes, I said again. And believe me, ant nightmares are not fun.

And now that you're all caught up on the exciting happenin's around here, I need to go get dressed and get goin'.

I'm not MIA

I know it's been several days since my last post, and that one was scheduled to boot. I'm still here! We had a big weekend and Monday was such a good and productive day for me that I never got around to writing a post... though I did read everyone else's blogs :P Yesterday was still a good day but I ran out of time again.

Last night a huuuuuge thunderstorm rolled through. Plenty of lightening and thunder, though none of it happened right over us, we could hear it! We've had a couple in the past months where it lightnings and the thunder cracks simultaneously... the kind that make you wonder if it's the rapture! Even after the bulk of the storm was well past us, every now and then we could hear thunder rumbling... and they were looooong rumbles, like a train going past. It was pretty amazing. We got some good rain out of it - my rain gauge is an ice cream bucket that is on the back steps. It accumulated probably 3-4 inches the last rain, and this morning it looks to have at least another inch in it. I should get a proper rain gauge so I know how much water my garden is getting. I'm just glad that I haven't had to water it this week, and I didn't have to cart water out to our two little trees last evening :)

After the past couple weeks of grocery shopping and going over budget, be it a little or a lot, I was getting in a funk, wondering if a) I'm expecting too much out of $25 or b) I'm letting myself get to loose in what I'm getting.

With summer here, Gatorade is quickly becoming a real need item, and it's not cheap. Sidenote: Yes, the dry powdered mix IS cheaper. However, it makes Daniel sneeze, I guess something in it bothers his allergies, so we quit using it and shell out the $$ for the ready made. While it's cheaper than soft drinks, it's still a big hunk of $ to shell out when there's only $25 to start with.

And then when we feed extra people, either by guests or taking a meal to someone, it's nigh impossible... either before or after the fact. Before if we're out of something and so I have to buy extra to go around, or after when something has been used up and I have to replenish.

We're having 2 couples from our church to dinner tomorrow, and either way I sliced or diced it, I had to buy more _____. We didn't have enough of any one kind of meat in the freezer to feed 3 hungry men and their wives. And... I like to provide a good spread when we have company :)

I was drawing a complete blank on the menu. I wanted something summery, but we didn't have enough beef or chicken to do BBQ for that many people and I wasn't in the mood for pot-pie or casserole. I was looking for something light and simple, but yet super good. I had a lightbulb moment (don't you love those?!) Monday evening and figured it all out. But I will need to buy alot of stuff to make it work. A couple months later and I would have the veggies I want out of my garden, but it certainly helps that almost all the veggies I need for my menu are on sale this week!!!

Anyway, back to the budget topic, I went to Food Lion yesterday and bought just a few things that were on sale that were on the list for this week. More than 1/2 the budget was gone and I still have plenty more that I need to get! (Including toilet paper since we're almost out - and TP is another high $ item.)

Last evening Daniel and I were sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather that included a nice breeze and I talked to him about it. Here's what we've come up with:

For just the 2 of us, we'll keep the $25 budget - but only use it for food things. Non-food stuff (toiletries, soaps, cleaners, paper stuff) will come out of a separate budget.

When we're feeding more than just the 2 of us (guests or taking someone a meal), it's fine to spend more than the $25.

Whew, that made me feel a lot better :) It's something that I've been hashing around and around and around the last several weeks. I don't spend lotsa $ on non-food, but at the same time for the past several months we've been living off our free toilet paper stash. Since free toilet paper is no more and I'm not ready to make the move to Family Cloth, we'll have to go back to actually paying money to wipe our behinds. Isn't it bizarre? You pay money for food to eat so you can stay alive and what your body doesn't use you have to pay money so you can be clean. Maybe we should just put in a johnny-house and go back to using newspaper and magazines :P We could kill two birds with one stone with our Sunday paper subscription that we only get for the coupons :P I wonder what people did back in the BC and early AD times? Leaves? Cloths? Bidets? Squatty-potties?

Uhh... I just realized that I've completely covered all topics from A-Z in this post. Sorry if it's a random jumble of subjects :P

For now I need to get a few things done and then go finish my shopping for the week.