45 Reasons why this morning Rocks!

I'm lovin' this morning! Here are a few reasons why:

1. The sun is out! Blue skies all around.

2. The birds are chirping
3. I won a flat of strawberries from a giveaway on www.unitedstatesofmotherhoodreviews.blogspot.com I love winning stuff and I can't wait to get my strawberries. BTW, United States of Motherhood is written by a local mom who has turned her blogging into a PAYING job...a paying job people. I think that's awesome. Go check her out and stay tuned for my "what I did with my free strawberries" blog post.
5. Today is the first park playdate of the summer for the Big Guys preschool group. I just like saying "playdate of the SUMMER".
6. Shay Shay is coming over to play math geek with me in the afternoon.
7. Homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight 'cause Costco cooked us a rotisserie chicken for dinner last night
8. The sun is out!

9. The doors are open (despite hubbys protesting)
10. My bathroom is clean (or clean"ish")
11. I got to sleep in till 7:30 this morning
12. The sun is out!

12. Hubby is going to work on trimming and caulking the patio door today. He replaced my sliding door with a French door earlier in the year and once he's got the outside all fixed up, I can power wash the patio and create my outside oasis. Then I can bug my family for a chaise lounge for my birthday.
13. Hubby and the Big Guy are conspiring together to fly a helicopter into my face while I'm blogging. Come on, that's cute...right?



Okay, that is only 13, but I gotta get going. God is good, people. God is good.

Summer's over...time to start watching things

Well, summer is over folks. That's it. That's all you get. It has been an AWESOME summer. My friend Estelle says I overuse that word, but I don't care. It was AWESOME. Of course, I'll be paying for the awesomeness for some time to come.

This summer I've been bundling up large amounts of cash, say $200 a week, and lighting it on fire. Yes, folks, I'm talking about my grocery bill. I don't know exactly why I can't seem to get the grocery bill under control this summer, but steak and fresh fruit with Cool-Whip dip apparently adds up.

Another thing that adds up, apparently, is my weight. Don't try to tell me that there is a connection between the grocery bill and the amount of weight I've gained. That's just silly. Those two are entirely unrelated.

Seriously...I've packed it on this summer. It has been 6 months since my last weight managment effort and I've put on 10 lbs since then. That isn't maintenance mode. That is....I don't know...that is just...BAD. Especially when you consider that my last weight managment effort, during January & February of 2010, resulted in about 5 lbs lost.

So now I want to take off 10 lbs in the next three months. September 1st through November 24th...that's 12 weeks...and I get to end my diet the day before Thanksgiving. I usually just do some calorie counting, but this time I gotta step it up a little. I think my exercise effort is going to have to extend beyong my Wii. Running? maybe.

I think the BodyBugg is going to be my new diet "thing". I already calorie count like a champ, so adding the tracking of energy expended seems like a natural extension. Of course, I'm far too cheap to actually buy a new BodyBugg. They are $300, including 6 months of the website subscription. I've seen them on ebay and Craigslist for $75, but that is with no website subscription. I don't need a 6 month subscription though, three months should be plenty.

So, how 'bout you? Anyone else going to join me for some September 1st diet modification?

P.S. My husband is crunching tortilla chips in my ear. Several warning glances have gone unheeded. Someone may want to check to see if he is still living in a few minutes.

Gotta go with the mood that strikes ya...

Today felt like fall. After the impressive 100 degree heat we had in July, August has been super-mild. We've had two weeks now of mid-sixty degree weather with occasional rain. At first I resisted the fall feelings; after all, we've got an entire month of summer left. Summer really feels like July & August to me, so it is just wrong to give up an entire 1/2 of summer to an early fall. But how can it feel like summer when you find yourself dressing for colder weather?

I purchased some fall items when I recieved some birthday money in July. I found myself pulling those items out this week, already in the mode for fall fashion. I've been using a very beachy, casual bag to hold all my summer gear, but it doesn't look right with long pants and jackets. My new handbag, a Marc Ecko from TJ Maxx, is a bright orange color (unlike the yellow one shown in my picture)and looks great with denim. At $29.99, it is in my preferred price range for a bag. Not expensive enough that I have to worry about something spilling on it, but not so cheap that I worry about it falling apart.

I also pulled out some fall flats to replace my daily flip-flops (one of the joys of not having a real job is spending ALL summer in flip-flops!). Way back in March I posted one of my first blogs about finding my own personal style in the Lucky Magazine fashion guide (see Well Its not about world peace ). I used that knowledge to help me purchase these flats. I'm not normally a snakeskin/animal print kinda girl, but I know that I tend to buy boring solids so having a few accessories with a little rocker-ish style is a good idea. So I bought these flats from DSW, on sale for $39. I've worn them several times now and I love them with jeans. They are a good transition shoe as I move from summer flip-flops to winter boots.

Not only are my fashion thoughts moving to fall, but I am focusing on what's coming up for fall for my kids. We've entered our fall sports seasons already (soccer and swimming) and school clothes and school supply shopping is in full swing. After all that school shopping, I don't have the cash for it but I find my thoughts are turning to what costumes my kids will wear on Halloween.

I suspect that we'll have another month of nice weather starting next week. I'll probably put my flats back into the closet and pull out my flip-flops. I might even pull out the beach-friendly summer bag...but I doubt that I'll re-inflate all the pool floaties and the slip-n-slide. Summer can come back if it wants to, but it can't push fall entirely back into the closet now that it has peeked its head out.

I found it!

Do you all remember my previous post where I was searching for the perfect sundress? (Yes, I know you all have better things to do that remember each blog post that I write, but I dare to hope that someone might.) Well, I found a darling one! Check out my new dress:


It is going to be a busy weekend for me and I wanted a cute sundress to wear to a variety of events, so I grabbed the kids that weren't puking and headed to Macy's. I liked this dress as soon as I tried it on, but the price tag of $59 was a bit off-putting. I know it is not THAT expensive, but I definitely stopped to consider whether I wanted to dip into my August and September clothing budget to do it. I heard my friend Melissa's voice in my head, encouraging to buy fewer things that I really like and spend less time scouring the clearance racks for bargains. I decided to go ahead and get it.

When I got up to the counter, I told the sales associate that I might have had a coupon at home but didn't bring it...so she rummaged around and found me one for $20 off. Yippee for me. $40 bucks for a dress that I love makes me happy!

The Anticipation

In 4 days, our family is off on a week vacation to my dad's cabin in Eastern Washington. One of the things that I love best about vacationing there in the summer is getting up, grabbing a cup of coffee, and heading out to the porch to watch the lake. I suppose it isn't really the lake that I'm watching, but rather the birds and the mountains and the little ripples the fish make. It is such a peaceful time, both outside and within myself. When I'm at home, my morning thoughts quickly are consumed with the day ahead: what needs to get done, what time I have to be out the door, what phone calls should be made. When I'm at the cabin, I don't think of those things. I can really sit and think, or read my Bible, or just watch nature and marvel at it.

This morning, in anticipation of my cabin trip, I headed out to my front porch with my coffee. The view is not quite as magnificant at first glance. Kids toys, two hastily parked vehicles, the house next door make up the view. After a few minutes, though, I found myself looking up, watching the birds fly from tree to tree and noticing the beautiful blue sky. I suppose it is possible to enjoy the same moment at home, but it seems much harder to push today's to do list from my mind...especially when the Big Guy finds me and says "PooPoos, Mama". But I guess that can happen anywhere.

icky, skuzzy, gross

So far this summer, I'm setting an all new low regarding my appearance when I leave the house. Twice this week, I have simply swapped my under-things for fresh ones and continued to wear whatever pajama-esque item I was sleeping in out for the morning.

If that isn't pathetic enough, I've got a little bumpy rash or breakout that is running from one eye well, across my nose, into the other eye well. I have no idea what might be causing it, but the safest solution seems to be to forgo makeup until I figure it out.

I look like a mug-shot version of myself.

Lucky for me, the sun is actually out in Seattle so it is okay to walk around with sunglasses, effectively masking my scary face. That doesn't fix my attire, though. Maybe this post will shame me into putting more care into my appearance. Yeah...doesn't seem likely, does it?

June 1st

Anyone else notice it this morning? I don't know if it is just because it was June 1st or whether it is simply a Monday morning...or whether it is because it is Monday, June 1st the first day of Spunky Girl's summer vacation...but today feels like a "let's get a plan" kinda day.

I want to get my month organized. I want to know when I'll be celebrating Father's Day with my dad, hubby's dad, and hubby himself. I want to know what I'm going to do with my freetime (which is hardly free, but I simply mean the time that I'm no longer spending going to preschool and back). Really, I want a plan in place for the summer. I want to know the time slot I'll be getting for the kids summer swim schedule.

I've got a few plans floating around for the summer. I know I'll have marriage classes to attend for the next 4 Thursday nights: The Love and Respect series (I've heard it is good). I know I've got park playdates with Spunky Girl's friends on Thursdays at 11 am. I'm hoping to get a women's Bible class started at my church on Friday mornings in the summer. I'm thrilled to have a mother's helper one day a week, but that won't start until July. Really...that is the beginning of a summer plan. I think I need to sprinkle in a few vacations and a lot of date nights and I'll feel ready to go.

I think it will be an awesome summer. I can't wait for bbq's, beaches, and summer clothes. Speaking of summer clothes, it is once again the beginning of a new month and I've already spent my June clothing allowance. I ran into a sidewalk vendor selling jewelry and had to have this daisy necklace...and then a friend bought some clothes that she eventually decided against and sold them to me at 1/2 off (rather than returning them to the store...how could I refuse?).
I love the white top, but I'm not sure I'm keeping the white pants. I'm afraid I'll always be tugging at the back of the white pants to keep my back end appropriately covered...and that can be annoying. They may end up on ebay. Besides, do I really need a pair of jeans with the brand name of Rich and Skinny? Seems like false advertising to me!

Wow. That is a dorky pose. Well, I'll leave you with that ridicuous image. Happy Monday people.