Arlington Mama

Finding Contentment In My Home

2012-01-26T21:09:00.000-06:00

I really didn’t mean to paint a picture of great discontent in my house with my last post. I’m really not unhappy, and I really do love my home. I was just trying to give the reasons for which we were discussing moving last year. I could recreate the list of reasons why we wanted to move, but I thought it might be more conducive to my new resolve for contentment if I gave you some reasons for which I love my house. So here it goes:

1. All of my kids were brought here when they were born, and this is the only home they’ve ever known. I’m not sentimental, but it’s cool.

2. My mother-in-law lives right across the street, so it’s nice to not only see her but to crash the get-togethers when everyone else comes over to visit her. It keeps us in the loop more, and my kids know their family a lot better as a result.

3. I’ve almost succeeded in remodeling every single surface in the interior of the house, save the kitchen cabinets and counters. That means that it’s totally custom! I have it looking so that it reflects our family-vibe well, and it’s always morphing to fit our needs or whims. (And honestly, I don’t have the patience or the energy to remodel another bigger house.)

4. It’s small, but that means there’s less to clean. It also means that the kids are easier to keep track of.

5. I love my hardwood floors. And the expense of putting them in a new house (with more square footage) isn’t appealing.

6. The elementary school that the kids will all go to is one of the best in our town. People transfer from all over town to go there, which means there’s high parent involvement, too.

7. Living in a small house forces us to live simply, and living simply is such a great value of mine that I really am grateful for that. I love that every furniture purchase or organizational task has to be thought out with great effort and detail so as to maximize usefulness and minimize space costs.

8. I just like old houses and old neighborhoods. I feel like the houses are well built, and I like that there are grown trees in the neighborhood. I also like that there is little risk in terms of where the neighborhood is going. It has a track record. I also like that there are other people just like us in the neighborhood that like old houses and remodel their homes all crazy like us, too.

9. Did I mention it’s paid off? I love having money to do other things, as I mentioned in my previous post.

10. Contentment is so important for me and my sanity and my marriage. And, for me at least, it's such a slippery slope in regard to wanting and getting more. And that doesn't mean that if I get a bigger house I'm going to just want an even bigger one after a few years, but if I don't practice contentment, then that could very likely happen. That's pretty much a major reason that our country is in the shape that it's in - people kept wanting more and getting more. So instead of tempting myself with that slippery slope, I think I'll just practice contentment instead, because you know what, I have a pretty great life. :)

Living Like No One Else

2012-01-25T10:49:00.000-06:00

I don’t know if you remember this, but a while back I was really getting new-house-fever. I wanted something bigger, nicer, cooler – something I’d be a little more proud to invite people over to.

We currently have a tiny house that was built in 1955 (not in any of these pictures) in a neighborhood that’s……meh – I don’t know – nothing to get excited about. But, you know what, the house is paid off, and that makes it look a hell of a lot better!

So our long-term plan had been to save money so that we could buy a bigger house when Samuel got into junior high, about 6 years from now. But gosh, that’s so flipping daunting and depressing because we’d have to save 20-25% of Michael’s take-home pay a month to be able to do that. And we’re just now getting to a point where we’re where we want to be savings-wise. So saving for that house just seems like it would make things unnecessarily burdensome when we could just learn to be content where we’re at. (“What?! Why on earth would someone say that?! That’s stupid,” they seemed to say…)

So we were talking about painting the outside of our house at some point this year when we have the cash for it (to create at least a tiny attempt at curb appeal), so we went driving around taking phone pictures of the houses that we liked their paint colors on to get ideas (I do this a lot – totally looking like a private investigator or, more likely, stalker). We ended up in this one neighborhood that I’ve been drooling over for a few years now (only one pic is from there because their brick isn’t cheap enough to paint), and Michael asked if I still wanted to live there. I said, “You know, it’d be nice, but I’d rather go to Europe every year.”
Upsizing life and downsizing lifestyle – that’s our philosophy on money right now. Living like no one else, so that we can live like no one else. Perhaps if we had a double-income we could have it all, but since we don’t, we have to choose what would give us the life that we want. And having a single income was a lifestyle choice as well, so I’m not complaining at all, just recognizing that it was what we wanted.

This trip that we took to Prague was my first time ever in Europe – ever! And I left with such a desire for more adventure and enrichment in my life and in the lives of my family. I’d so rather go to Europe or Japan or Australia or Alaska or wherever than have a bigger, better house. And I think my kids would be better off traveling the world than having their own rooms.

But you know me; I’m fickle. I could totally change my mind in another year or so, but that’s why I wrote this post – to remind myself of what I’m thinking at this moment. Who knows?

Prague Pics

2012-01-18T17:35:00.002-06:00

I was a little too busy to show you these in a more cool way, but if you want to see the complete set of Prague pictures, you're welcome to look at this or just go to the album here. Warning: there are lots of plain ol' camera phone pics in there, but most are not. ;) Enjoy!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Recovery Happenings

2012-01-18T10:35:00.000-06:00

I really thought that I'd be blogging more while I was laid up in bed, but I've actually been very distracted. Let's see...what have I been doing?

Well, I ordered some pretty necklaces from Carmella. I got the "Fly" and "Grow" ones. Aren't they cute!

I started reading the Hunger Games, finally! (I'm borrowing Michael's Kindle that I got him for Christmas.) It's pretty good at keeping you interested, but I find it a bit reaching - like the author was trying too hard to be shocking. But I'm no book critic, so what do I know? I obviously like it enough to continue reading it.

Amazon

I'm also helping Michael design an app for the Windows Phone that's a Time Out Timer. He's entering some contest that is giving away like 200 of the nice, new Windows Nokia phones (because he now hates HTC). So if you have a Windows Phone, get this timer when it comes to the Marketplace! (I'll post when it gets approved.)

I also thought that I would want to share more about my Prague trip, but I figured y'all were probably tired of hearing about it, so I put my efforts into making a photo album of the trip. I really like doing this, and I wish I would have done this with ALL of the thousands of pictures that I have stored on my computer already. Ugh, it does make me realize how behind I am on printing pictures. There's pretty much no hope of ever catching up right now, especially since I take forever to make the albums since I'm too picky.

What else...well, I have another day (at least) until I get my drains out. Gross, I know. How do you think I feel?! I try not to think about them too much because it really freaks me out. If you want to know gory details, then read on. If not, then go to the next paragraph....So the two drains go in at the bottom of my scar and travel all the way up to about an inch below my diaphragm, and I can feel them just below the surface of my skin. They're sewn in to my skin at the bottom so that they don't come out. They're attached to these deflated bulbs that I have to drain and measure every twelve hours. Plus, I have to clean the entry site at that point, too. Hopefully the drainage measurements will be low enough tomorrow for them to take them out. Otherwise I'll probably have to wait until Monday. I can't go anywhere with these things because I can't wear normal clothes, just baggy pajama pants or skirts (of which I have just one).

Okay, so I've been bemoaning the fact that Michael doesn't think it's a good idea to show my "before" pic, so I had a great idea. I would find one online that was similar to mine so that you could understand just the exact reason that I got the surgery. Because every time I tell someone I had it done, they say, "Oh yeah, wish I could do that, too." But like, I've seen their tummies, and they're fine! Mine was ridiculous! I mean, seriously, ridiculous! So I looked through hundreds of Google images, and I couldn't even find one that looked like mine. Bah! Oh well.

What else...oh, we're also redoing our wills (gotta make a few changes since Isaac was born and my name is different now). Do you have your wills in order? I sure hope so; it's so darn important.

AND, we went through this list from Simple Mom to make plans for the upcoming year. I can't recommend it enough! SO SO SO good!!!!! Here are just a few of the questions:

What healthy character traits would you like to see developed in your life this year? What are some specific steps you can take to develop these?
What are your plans for having regular date nights? How will you handle childcare?
Do you have specific planned vacation time in mind for this year? What needs to happen to make this vacation a reality?
How is your current physical living space working for your family? Do you need to make changes to this? If so, what are they?
What are your children’s strengths? How will you help them use these well?
What are some of your long-term financial goals? In what ways can you make progress on them this year?
In what specific way would you like to grow in relating to your friends this year?

Source

Aren't those good!? Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. I hope you're all having good weeks. Thank you for all of the well-wishes and love that you've given me. Y'all are some good folks!

So maybe I had a little surgery…

2012-01-14T20:55:00.000-06:00

I was telling the whole world that I wanted a tummy tuck, and now that the time is here, I’m a little embarrassed that everyone knows. Michael’s boss even knows, for crying out loud – how embarrassing is that! Oh well, it is what it is.

I think the embarrassment comes in me thinking that people will assume that I got the tuck for weight loss reasons or an easy way out. That was the main reason that I had wanted to show the before picture – to show that the weight was gone, but the skin and muscles were jacked. I didn’t get lipo, I swear!

When my doctor looked at my abdomen he said, “Oh you poor thing.” LOL! He said I was the perfect candidate because I was in shape, had very little fat (aww yeeah!), and that I would gain more core strength by my abs coming back together (which will make me a stronger runner - woohoo!). He said he didn’t understand how my abs got so far apart, so I showed him this picture…

...to which he said, "Oh man! That doesn't even look real! It's like a torpedo coming outta there!"
ANYWAY! I’m just really glad that the surgery is over and done with. Michael is the best for handling the kids while I heal. One plus is that I get a lot of time to read. I actually finished “The Help” which I didn’t know was a movie already. Dude, I'm out of the loop.

And this is hopefully the last hospital room I’ll sleep in for a long time!
This is how far I can straighten out one day post-op. It's pretty much the same today, two days post-op. My back hurts if I stand too long because of hunching over with little core strength. Today I'm all puffy and swollen. I gained like 5 pounds in water weight. AND I may or may not be still wearing this green shirt, but I swear I’m taking a shower right after I finish this post!

Isaac's First Birthday...Party

2012-01-13T17:11:00.000-06:00

Well, in case you're wondering, I survived my tummy tuck! This last few weeks has been a whirlwind. First it was the holidays, which were really good this year but just busy getting ready for our trip. Then we went to Prague and had an awesome time, all of which wouldn't have been possible without the immense generosity of my totally giving and selfless sil and bil watching our boys. (Shout out Sharon and John!)

Then I had to bump up my sweet baby's first birthday party (which I was already feeling extreme guilt for having missed his actual birthday since I was overseas) because the doctor's office wanted to schedule my surgery sooner than I was counting on. So I planned the whole party in all of two days (one to clean, one to plan), but I thought it went really well.

Balloon doorway decorations - cute, right?

We had the family over, and had Jimmy John's sandwiches and Target cake (which I think is super tasty for store bought cake). The cake made everyone's mouth's blue, and we were all laughing at each other not knowing that we had blue mouths ourselves.

I also had everyone write letters to Isaac for him to open on his 18th birthday. I helped them out by coming up with some leading remarks. I think that's going to be super fun in 17 years from now!

Also, this was my first baby to have real cake on his birthday. :-P With Samuel I didn't let him have any sugar until he was two years old. With Levi it ended up being somewhere in between one and two. But both of them had unsweetened pancakes with yogurt and blueberries for their "birthday cake". I thought it was super cute, but Michael still makes fun of me for it. With Isaac, though, well, he is the third kid and all, so he's had sugar already. I gave in and let him have birthday cake, and it sure was cute. My oh my!

Michael and Isaac (he's such a good daddy) - BTW, the nail-polished hand is my niece's not Michael's. Haha!

He was so excited when his cousin blew the candle out for him. Too cute!

I don't think I've ever seen him eat anything so quickly in his little life!

And it's safe to say that he loved it. :)

And then he reminded me what happens when you give babies sugar.

He was angry and confused, and he didn't know why.

I had no choice but to give him a birthday party bath.

Then he was nice and cozy in his jammies and opening presents with his Mimi, and all was right with the world again.

I have so much more to blog about! I want to share some more pics of Prague, and I want to tell you all about my tummy tuck! I just have to stay awake long enough to complete a sentence, and we'll be good to go. ;)

My Prague Trip in a Nutshell

2012-01-08T20:39:00.000-06:00

Hey y’all! I’m on my long flight home from Prague, on the second leg of the journey from London to Dallas. My battery isn’t going to hold up much longer, but we’ll see how long it lasts me. I thought I’d give you a wrap up of my trip while it’s fresh on my mind.

So I mentioned the graffiti the other day, and I was talking to a Czech friend of ours, and he had an interesting thought on the matter. He said that when he came to America for the first time, he thought it was very dirty, and he thinks that Prague is very clean. So it’s just what your eyes and your mind get used to. We tend to not see the mess in our own cities but notice it right away in others’. That’s definitely true for me. I totally wasn’t bothered by the mess anymore by about day 3 and actually started noticing how clean and free of trash the streets were. I pretty much fell in love with Prague by that time – like ooey-gooey love!

I did get a little lonely, even when I was with Michael. It just seems a little emotionally taxing being inside of a culture that you’re not a part of. I would have liked to have had a Czech friend along the way showing me around. I did do tours (which I loved), but I was mostly the only American and English speaker. I guess that’s just my need to relate. I don’t know if that’s an American thing or a girl thing or what. I hired a tour guide one day that laughed about how some of her American clients would show her pictures of their kids by the end of the day (as I slowly put my picture-full phone back in my pocket).
I loved the food! Not only was it delicious (we didn’t have one bad meal – and my puffy face is proof of that), but it was what I like to call honest food. There was nothing that was highly processed, and the portions were proper (not too big but not too small). There was only one place that I saw that had artificial sweetener (our hotel); everywhere else had just real sugar. I didn’t see one single piece of fluffy, white, overly soft bread, just real, hearty, wheat bread. And wine is so cheap! A bottle at dinner only cost between $10 and $25USD as opposed to the $40-60 you’d pay (at a restaurant) on average here in the States.
I really really loved learning about the culture. Prague had been kind of a mystery to me, but through the tour guides I learned so much about their history. It was really fascinating.

I loved my trip. I love traveling. I really want to take Samuel (my oldest) on a Europe trip when he’s about 6-7. I think he would love it, and I can’t wait to share that with him.

I’m having surgery on Thursday, and while I’m laid up in bed recovering I plan to show you some more pictures of my excursions.

Graffiti in Prague

2012-01-06T09:32:00.000-06:00

The other day I had made this comment on Facebook:

I gotta be honest...I love Prague, but I don't get why everyone was telling me that it's so beautiful. I find it to be pretty dirty and not that attractive. I love it and am having a GREAT time, but it's not much of a looker.

Then later that day I was going through my pictures (the ones that I posted yesterday), and I felt bad about saying it wasn’t pretty, like I was gossiping about a close friend or something. I fell in love with Prague through the lens of my camera.

Here is some of the graffiti of which I was speaking:

This is taken from my hotel window.

This is also taken from my hotel window.

This is in a really touristy area near the Old Town Square.

This is on the walk from Wenceslas Square to my hotel.

This is also on the walk from Wenceslas Square to my hotel.

...again, on the way to my hotel.

This is on the same street as my hotel.

This is right next door to my hotel. Don't get my wrong, though, the hotel is very nice.

But I’m even falling in love with the grime now! Yeah, I think it could use a good scrub down, but I’ve accepted it. I love Prague, warts and all.

I can’t wait to show you the Jewish Quarter and Karlstejn Castle! Stay tuned!

How to Take a Picture in Prague

2012-01-05T16:12:00.001-06:00

So I don’t know if this is a common phenomenon or not, but once I had children I seem to have forgotten how to smile for a camera. I seriously look ridiculous in all of my pictures. The ones that I post on my blog or on Facebook are about .01% of the actual pictures taken of me. I delete all of the rest of them.

Michael brilliantly captured this mysterious paradox tonight. We went to the symphony here in Prague at the Rudolfini, and even though you are not supposed to take pictures in there, we snuck a few by with my phone.

Before I get to the pictures, let me just say that the symphony was amazing!!!! It was like a dream being in there – really amazing and memorable.

Onto the ridiculousness….

First shot out of the camera, and Michael takes this one. No fair. Notice that we’re in jeans and totally casual clothes and everyone else isn’t.

So here’s me….some are blurry, just to warn ya…

What is wrong with me!!?? Are you ready for the pièce de résistance? Michael told me that he was taking pictures when he was really taking a video. I’m such a hopeless idiot when it comes to taking decent photos.

Here’s me in front of the Rudolfinum concert hall. Not so bad.

Prague Pics

2012-01-05T09:16:00.000-06:00

As promised, here are some of my favorite pics from my trip to Prague so far. So let me give you the skinny....Monday I was sick as a dog with a sinus infection, so I slept all day long. Then Michael and I went to that cool restaurant that I told you about, and we walked the Charles Bridge. Tuesday, I was so freaking lost and ended up wandering around town aimlessly all day long and missed the tour that I was supposed to take. It was still nice, though, because I got to take some good pictures. Here are a few of those:

Wenceslas Square: Statue of St. Wenceslas in front of the National Museum

Wenceslas Square: If you turn around from the statue and walk 50 yards or so, you get this. This is the most touristy spot in Prague, and I like it but we don't go out to eat there.

Terezin: On Tuesday I took a tour of the Terezin ghetto and concentration camp. This pic is from the ghetto. Terezin was a riveting trip. If you've never been to a concentration camp before, put it on your list of things to do. It was heart-wrenching but necessary.

Terezin: This is the memorial for the people that died there. It was a transition camp, not an extermination camp, so the numbers of people were less than an extermination camp like say Auschwitz.

Terezin: This was at the memorial. They had a cross there, too, for the Christians that died because they helped the Jews.

Terezin: This is going into the concentration camp. It's kind of a deceiving picture, I realize.

Terezin: This is inside the "block" of the concentration camp. This particular door went to the sick room where they had Jewish doctors tending to the extremely sick. This, of course, was still a travesty because the guards got to choose who was really sick enough to go to that room or not.

Terezin: This, obviously, is where they slept in the concentration camp. The top picture was in the first section, and the bottom picture was a newer, bigger room that they had built after they had become overcrowded. Being in those rooms was just chilling. Especially with it being January and very cold, you got a sense of the hopelessness of it all.

Terezin: This was in the jail, a solitary confinement room. There were also solitary confinement rooms with no windows that were completely dark, and people would end up going crazy in them after a couple of weeks.

Terezin: This room was the washroom with mirrors and sinks that they were never allowed to use.

Terezin: This is a room of jail cells, basically. All of the doors were opened, and I just honed in on one of the locks. So sad.

On to something less melancholy....

Old Town Square: This is a statue of the religious reformer Jan Hus who was burned at the stake....oh...I said it wouldn't be as melancholy. Whoops!

Old Town Square: This is from the tower of the Astronomical Clock. It was pretty cool - albeit lots of squeezing through a ton of other tourists in a tight passageway. The view was well worth it, though.

Old Town Square: This girl with the red scarf leaned over just as I was taking this picture, and I thought it added to the scene perfectly. I just love it.

That's all I got for now! There are a TON of other pictures, but I'll probably put them up in a slideshow sometime soon.

Europeans and Dignity

2012-01-02T20:23:00.000-06:00

So I broke the cardinal rule of traveling overseas, and I slept all day yesterday. I knew that I shouldn’t, but I am sick with a dadgum sinus infection, and there was no way that I could get out and about. I was hoping to sleep away the sick. Now, however, it’s 2:30AM, and I’ve been wide awake for an hour.

I was hoping to at least have enough energy to go out with Michael for dinner, so that’s what we did. We went to this really cool restaurant in a 15th century building with stone walls, underground. The food was ridiculously good, ambiance was perfect, and the waiter was kind. It was a good thing, too, because the place was empty, and I’ve seen Kitchen Nightmares one too many times to trust an empty restaurant.

While we were there I was telling Michael how I was watching CNN or BBC (those are the only two English stations at the hotel) and there was this interview with a European CEO that caught my attention. He was talking about dignity and how it’s the most important thing. And I would think that it is probably accurate to say that dignity is a high value of most Europeans, way more so than Americans. (That would be why the Czech guy in the hotel elevator flipped when he saw that Michael had gone to the lobby barefooted.)

I most definitely was getting all of the meat off of that lamb chop possible. Classy.

So I guess that’s why many Europeans see Americans as brash or uncouth – because we have different values. So right after we had that conversation at dinner, we were walking through a touristy section of Prague, and I hear a group of American guys talking rather loudly, louder than anyone else on the street. They seemed like fun, so I turned around and asked them where they were from. One was from Austin and the other two from Florida. They were hilarious. They were saying that they thought Michael was European because of the way he was dressed, but the way in which they were saying it was hilarious in contrast to the conversation about dignity that we just had. “Look at those f-ing shoes!” Then he says to me, “You better watch out; he’s gonna be wearing a f-ing thong to the f-ing beach.” Yes, they were brash and uncouth, but gosh they were funny. All that to say, I don't think either is right or wrong, just a different set of values.

Some random statue on a bench that I cuddled up next to.

So anyway, I hope to feel better tomorrow so I can get out of this apartment. We’ll see! By the way, the kids are doing great at their aunt and uncle’s house. We did a video chat yesterday, and I think it scared Isaac at first, but then he was talking to us. They just told us that he’s only sleeping if he’s touching someone. Whoops! That would be our fault. Sorry!

So if you think about it, could you say a quick prayer that I get over this sinus infection? Thanks. :)

Flying to Prague

2012-01-01T13:15:00.001-06:00

I had to leave my babies. I am sitting on a 777 on my way to London Heathrow en route to Prague, and about 4 hours ago I was so nervous about leaving them that I was nauseous, literally. They’re with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law whom they love and they love their kids, but I have this nagging sense of guilt for leaving them. I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually…or maybe I won’t; I don’t know. I think a little guilt is healthy and natural.

I do know one thing – Michael and I are having a great time reconnecting – already! It feels like we’re dating again. That spark ignited almost immediately when we got to the airport. Isn’t there something magical about airports? There’s such a sense of excitement in the air. Everyone’s going somewhere (duh, right?).

When we got to our gate we thought about getting something to eat, and there was a McDonalds and a Reata right there by our gate. What do you think we chose? Here’s a hint: there were no playscapes. Ahhh, it is so nice to fly without kids. I LOVE my kids, but flying with them is such a stressful event. Flying solo is kind of relaxing.

In other news, my tummy tuck is scheduled for January 12th. More guilt here. So Isaac’s birthday is actually Tuesday, and we’ll be in Prague. So we were going to have his party on the weekend that we get back. But I went for my consultation the other day, and the 12th was the only day they had available for a long time, so I took it. :-/ So now we have to have his party on a weeknight. LAME!!! I know, I know, it’s just his first birthday, and he won’t remember it. But still. I feel kind of guilty. It was a tough call. I think it will be fine, though. First birthday parties are more for the parents than anyone else anyway. Ugh, I do miss that boy already. I sure could smooch those little cheeks.

Okay, okay, I’ll shut up now and try to sleep. Stay tuned for pics of Prague!

Post-Christmas and Prague

2011-12-29T03:48:00.002-06:00

This is so unfair. Isaac is finally sleeping pretty well tonight, and I’m the one with insomnia! I think I just have too many things on my mind. So what do I do when I have too many things on my mind? I purge on my blog! (That’s how I got started blogging in the first place.)

First topic:

So Christmas went well, although, Santa brought an Xbox Kinect, and while I think it’s a pretty cool system, I don’t like the attitude that it creates in my children. Samuel in particular gets way too intense and wants to play it all the time and gets mad at Levi when he doesn’t want to play the same game. I’m pretty much laying down the hammer on that one, though, because no son of mine is going to act like he’s been acting over a game or anything else.

Next topic:

So on the day of my half-marathon, I hurt my ankle bone by hitting it with my other foot and bruising it. So now I can’t run on it for another few weeks, which I’m pretty bummed about (but glad it’s not a stress fracture). I can still do elliptical or bike, but I can’t jog. So that means that I won’t be doing the full marathon in February like I had hoped.
SOOOO, originally I was going to get my tummy tuck in March (I can see my mother-in-law cringing right now because she thinks I share too much – haha – love you, Ann), after my marathon in late February. But now that I’m not going to be trained in time because of my ankle, we figured that January was the best time to do the surgery since I wouldn’t be training. Then I could start training again in late February. Makes perfect sense, right?
So about this tummy tuck…I can’t decide if I’m going to show before and after pictures (more cringing). I know that I don’t have to justify my decision to anyone (don’t make me post my pregnancy pictures again), so that’s not the reason I’d be doing it. I just kind of think it’s cool. I mean, seriously, my stomach looks like a deflated balloon, and someone is going to make it not look like that anymore. That’s pretty freaking cool to me. I’ll take the pictures and then decide after the surgery if I’ll post them or not.

Next topic:

We leave for Prague on Saturday, and I’m super excited! I’m going to have tons of alone time in a foreign country, just me and my camera. I’m a little nervous about finding my way around and not getting my camera stolen and stuff like that, but I’m way excited. I’ve done a ton of reading on it, so I think I’m ready and know what to expect, but I’m probably wrong. I’m going to miss the boys like crazy, but it’s so reassuring to know they’ll be well taken care of and having fun. I’ll surely be posting while I’m over there, so stay tuned for Prague photos!
Okay, I think I’ll try to get some sleep now, although I still don’t feel sleepy.

ETA: Michael isn't letting me post before and after pics. Haha. It's probably for the best.

You Know You’ve Given Up When…with Kate!

2011-12-23T06:00:00.004-06:00

Kate emailed me her answers, and I just had to throw in one more in this series because she was too funny! We’re all in this motherhood thing together, y’all! God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, and I’m pretty sure He’d like for us to rest in His grace from time to time and not try to be so darn perfect all the time. I’ve been there and done that, and resting in His grace is a lot better. Let's major on the majors and minor on the minors. K?

Here’s the lovely Kate from the Starr Family Blog:

I know I've given up when....
1) ...I make Chipotle for dinner. And pop tarts for dessert.

2) ...I wear my makeup to bed. Makeup from 2 days ago (its happened, don't judge).

3) ...I blog about ....... nothing. Or my nails (HERE & HERE) .

4) ...my kids wear... I plead the fifth. And anyone that inquires about this to my son's preschool teacher will face certain consequences (that's right, you've been warned).

(Here's a pic. And I have on fresh makeup
for the record)

5) ...I pack, or actually do NOT pack, my daughter's lunch and she is forced to come home in fury that SHE ACTUALLY HAD TO EAT THE SCHOOL'S WAY DISGUSTING HOT DOGS, HOW COULD YOU FORGET MOM????

6) ...I have company, and I don't pick up the hubby's underwear from the bathroom floor (Let's keep this one between us girls, mmkay?).

7) ...I wear the same pajamas I've dropped my kids off in, yesterday's makeup, and cream of wheat in my teeth to pick my kids up from school.

8) ...my husband has to search through three laundry baskets for a clean undershirt. And then resorts to asking for help.

9) ...my refrigerator looks like a restaurant takeout graveyard.

10) ...and the cherry top? I know I've given up when my filter is tossed... I respond to that facebook status with the loaded question, I answer honestly to my mother on a forbidden subject, and I reveal all my faults on the world wide web for someone as darling and sweet as Annie.

Too funny, Kate! Thanks! Y'all have a very Merry Christmas with lots of love and hugs!

Cedar Shelf Above the Couch

2011-12-22T09:42:00.003-06:00

I told you the other day how I took a project from its Pinterest beginnings…

from I Am Momma Hear Me Roar

to finish in roughly 24 hours (a miraculous feat).

It took me another couple of days to actually put some things up on the shelf. I’m still not finished (I need pics in that collage frame), but the great thing about a shelf like this is that you can change it up to your heart’s content.

My sweet boy was home from school sick today (Monday).

I went to JoAnn’s and picked out a couple of fabric patterns. Did you know that you can order by the half yard? I just learned that! I LOVE this pattern.

And the “H” is my favorite! I bought one of those naked wood letters from JoAnn’s and stained it when I got home with some “Kona” colored stain that I had at the house (took 5 minutes). I LOVE the way it turned out. It matches my floors perfectly.
This is the other fabric I bought. I don’t know if you can tell, but it’s textured. The green and white areas are kind of velvety. It’s so cool looking.

Anyway, that’s that. I’ll probably mess with it until I’m completely happy with it (still needs a few tweaks), but I’m pretty happy with it right now (save the empty frames).

Pin It
(If you like it then you shoulda put a pin on it!)

You Know You've Given Up When....with ME!

2011-12-22T06:00:00.005-06:00

If you missed the first two posts in this series, here they are:
...with Creative Carmella
...with Kingdom Mama

Okay, it's my turn now.

I know I've given up when....

This is my give-up counter. :-P

1) ...I make nothing and let the kids rummage through the frig for cheese sticks and apples for dinner.
2) ...I wear leftover maternity shirts to bed.
3) ...I blog about nothing or how I'm overwhelmed.
4) ...my kids wear their preferred attire (shorts with rain boots) to school.
5) ...I pack leftover oatmeal in a thermos for my kids' lunches.
6) ...I have company, and I a) spend the first five minutes explaining why I didn't clean then push stuff out of the way so that they can walk across the living room b) (if it's unexpected) rush around to put a bra on before answering the door..
7) ...I wear the same workout clothes I've worn all day - hours after I worked out because I haven't showered yet to pick my kids up from school (not as bad as the lady that always comes in slippers and pajama pants).
8) ...my husband says I need to go grocery shopping and have a glass of wine.
9) ...my refrigerator looks like a poor college kid's frig - empty.
10) ...I get all of my hydration for the day from coffee (and wine).

My sweet friend Maggie, a new mom and preschool teacher, played, too! Her answers cracked me up:

1) ...I make cornflakes at 10pm for dinner.
2) ...I wear the same pajamas I wore the night before b/c I never changed out of them today to bed.
4) ...my kids wear two different colored socks to school.
6) ...I have company, and I don't allow the light to come on or the ceiling fan to come off so that the dust doesn't show so much.
7) ...I have daddy pick my kids up from school.
8) ...my husband says I really need to brush my teeth.
9) ...my refrigerator looks like a bunch of bachelors live here - we have beer and condiments.
10) ...1st day of Christmas break and I have so much to do to get caught up on the things I've been behind on since the first day of school, and instead I'm spending my time reading Annie's blog, answering her questionnaire, and wondering if there is at least one clean towel left in the house to take a shower (at 1:20pm)!

You Know You've Given Up When....with Kingdom Mama

2011-12-21T06:00:00.002-06:00

If you missed it, I started this little series called You know you've given up when.... Today's special guest is Sarah from Kingdom Twindom +1. I really do love this series because it makes me feel normal! It's great to see what reality for stay-at-home-moms really is. I love it! Without further ado, here's Sarah:

I know I've given up when....

1) ...I make popcorn and chocolate milk for dinner (and I do that for at least one meal a week).

2) ...I wear the last two days yoga pants to bed (I'm not kidding).

3) ...I blog about our road trip poop bucket (look it up).

4) ...my kids wear the last two days clothes to school (don't worry, we home school).

5) ...I make, ummm, popcorn and chocolate milk for my kids' lunches.

6) ...I have company, and I shove all of the junk from the living room into my bedroom instead of cleaning.

7) ...I wear my day old pjs ~~to pick my kids up from school~~ all day long.

8) ...my husband says I need a vacation (but he doesn't actually send me on one!).
9) ...my refrigerator looks like a scene from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

10) ...I convince myself New Year's Cards are just as appreciated as Christmas cards. Sigh.

Thank you, Sarah! I could have answered many of those questions the exact same way. Haha! I love it! My answers are coming soon, I promise. :)

Anyone can play! Just email me your answers if you don't have a blog or a link to your blog with the answers in a post!

1) ...I make ___________ for dinner.
2) ...I wear ___________ to bed.
3) ...I blog about ___________.
4) ...my kids wear ___________ to school.
5) ...I pack ___________ for my kids' lunches.
6) ...I have company, and I ___________.
7) ...I wear ___________ to pick my kids up from school.
8) ...my husband says I ___________.
9) ...my refrigerator looks like ___________.
10) ...(insert your own here)

Tipsy Tuesday: Old Cards as Gift Tags

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

I have always been extremely cheap when it comes to gift-wrapping. I never throw away a gift bag or box, ribbon, or un-torn tissue paper (well…seldom). (It is organized nice and neat in my craft closet, though! No hoarding here.)

Anyway, I never ever buy gift tags. I'd much rather repurpose Christmas cards from the previous year. Here are a few examples.

I just love this one. Instead of using a bow, I used the whole front of the card as decoration and a tag. (Shout out to Erica L. – it was her card last year.)

I attached it with a ribbon taped to the back of the box so it could hang over to the front.

Here’s another one where I used the whole front of the card. But instead of attaching it with ribbon, I taped the inside of it at the top so it wouldn’t be seen from the outside.Come to think of it, this is a good idea to do with birthday cards, too, for the front of birthday gift bags. How many times do you have no tag on a bag, the kid threw the card aside, and you don’t know who the gift is from?

This one I’ve kept for years (for Michael). I cut the shape out of the front of a card and attached it with thin ribbon.

I used my circle-cutter to cut this one out, but you can certainly use scissors, too.
Oh, and while that glitter ribbon (the one that the tag is attached with) is super cute, I don’t recommend it! After lamenting over the fact that glitter will now be in my house for years (because I used it on a lot of the other gifts), one of my friends laughed that my kids are going to look like they were cuddled by strippers. OMG, that’s hilarious!

This is another one cut from the front of a card, and I attached it with a cool safety pin that came from the tag of some jeans I recently bought.

And this one is just the blatant reuse of a tag from last year.‘Cause guess what…no one cares.

So there you go. You have permission to be that family member who’s digging through the Hefty bag of wrapping paper for all of the perfectly good bows and tags. And you don’t have to feel guilty about throwing away cards (because you’ll save them in your craft box for next year).

Happy wrapping, y’all!!!

Pin It

If you like it then you betta' put a pin on it...

You Know You've Given Up When....with Creative Carmella

2011-12-19T11:30:00.000-06:00

I was laying on the couch the other night while the house was a mess but not having the energy to do one single thing about it, and I came up with this idea. Here's the thing...we ALL give up from time to time. And it's not because we're lazy or bad moms or whatever. Sometimes we're just tired! And that is a good enough reason to give up from time to time. And I say give up just to be funny. It's really just a matter of priorities and knowing what matters.

So I emailed a few friends, and, without further ado, this is the first response I got. This is from the ever-so-sweet Creative Carmella:

I know I've given up when....

1) ...I make nothing for dinner. (Subway here we come!)

2) ...I wear the same shirt I wore all day to bed. (The spit up is just an added bonus.)

3) ...I blog about, blog...what blog?? Oh, I just post things from Pinterest.

4) ...my kids wear a pajama shirt that looks kind of like a day time shirt to school. (No one will notice, right?)

5) ...I pack dollar bills for my kids' lunches (and pray that something from the lunch line resembles real food that day.)

6) ...I have company, and I have to shove everything from the floor into the closet and silently pray that no one has to use the bathroom because I can't remember when I cleaned in there last.

7) ...I wear that same shirt I wore to bed to pick my kids up from school. (Learn more about this shirt in question #2.)

8) ...my husband says I might need to retire said shirt for a least a few days. (Again, learn more about this shirt in questions #2 and 7.)

9) ...my refrigerator looks like the coolest science project ever!

10) ...(insert your own here) I pretend to play hide and seek with my kids and hide in all the off limit hiding spots just to get a break....yep, they are still looking for me.....

Thanks for the laughs, Carmella! I can certainly relate to all of your answers! #10 was my favorite - hilarious!

Anyone can play! Just email me your answers if you don't have a blog or a link to your blog with the answers in a post!

1) ...I make ___________ for dinner.

2) ...I wear ___________ to bed.

3) ...I blog about ___________.

4) ...my kids wear ___________ to school.

5) ...I pack ___________ for my kids' lunches.

6) ...I have company, and I ___________.

7) ...I wear ___________ to pick my kids up from school.

8) ...my husband says I ___________.

9) ...my refrigerator looks like ___________.

10) ...(insert your own here)

Pinterest Haters and Productivity

2011-12-14T12:14:00.003-06:00

If you are a frequent Pinterest user, then no doubt you’ve seen these signs before:
or this one…

They’re all over Pinterest; I just can’t find where they originated.

Anywho, they get on my nerves. If someone is gonna complain about all of the things that they’re not doing, then the simple solution to that is to just do it! Seriously, though.

Yesterday morning I was fretting over what I would put over my couch because I was way over the painting that had been up there for a year or so now and I took it down. So the first step was to go to Pinterest and search for “over the couch”.

I saw these beauties and got inspired.

from I Am Momma Hear Me Roar

(The last pic is pinned to the image URL instead of the website – pet peeve!)

I LOVED the first one with the cedar post as the shelf. That would go in my house so well. So you know what I did? I went to Lowe’s and made it happen.

As you can see, it awaits art to adorn it, but that’s in the works, thanks again to Pinterest. And no doubt I’ll show you when I’m done!
SOOOO, to all of the Eeyore’s out there, stop pinning and start doing! Don’t pin anything else until you’ve done at least 3 projects or recipes or whatever that you already have pinned!

There's not enough coffee for mornings like this one...

2011-12-13T10:27:00.000-06:00

It was a rough morning in the Hedgie house. [Venting to ensue in 5...4...3...2...] Evidently my kids have no respect for me because when I tell them to do something it means nothing. Ugh! I'm a frustrated mama this morning. BUT the two older kids are off to school now, and I can breath a little more easily now.

Every morning is a battle with what to wear - Every.Freaking.Morning. Did you know that khaki is evidently a girl's color now? Yep. And no, you cannot wear shorts, short sleeved shirts, and flip flops; it's COLD outside! And the whining...oh the whining. In the extremely fitting words of my mother-in-law: It goes through my head like a nail!

And Isaac - I love that little stinker, but why doesn't he want to run around the house with nice, soft stuffed animals and pillows? No, instead he chooses to run around with pencils, pens, and forks in his hand as he stumbles through the mine field of toys and shoes on the floor. "And why chew on teething rings and other squishy toys when there are readily available pieces of chalk, crayons, and pencil erasers," he seemed to say. And do you want to know why I haven't been blogging as much lately? Because just since I sat down to write this post he has shut the laptop, hit caps lock, and hit F1 help about thirty million times.

Okay, venting is over now. I just had to get that out.

I love my kids more than anything, and I think they know that. Yes, I need to be more consistent so that they listen to what I say more. I'm working on that. It's such a hard thing for mothers because you have to balance that with the overwhelming desire to be warm and loving to them and give them whatever they want. Discipline and consistency are loving, though; I keep trying to remind myself of this.

::sigh:: Merry Christmas. :-/

Half Marathon Sweetness

2011-12-04T15:14:00.001-06:00

I did it! I ran my first half marathon! I was so scared and nervous because I knew the weather was going to be cold and rainy. I also don't really like large crowds and big places because I don't like getting lost, so I was more nervous about that than anything. So once I got to the starting line, my nerves were gone.

I had been sick for two weeks and didn't train two weeks ago, and I hadn't had a really good run since, so that wasn't making me very hopeful. My goal was to run an 11 minute mile pace, and I ended up running 10! It was so much fun, and the crowd was so inspiring!

Yes, I had my headphones and lip synced and every now and then did an air drum, but hey, whatever works, yo.

My favorite mantra was, “Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

I love all of the signs that people had along the route. Here were some of my favorites:

Go Mommy Go!
Pain is temporary, bragging rights are forever.
You look skinny.
Runners are hot.
You're feet hurt because you're kicking so much ass.
It's long and hard, so do it fast! (LOL, what? It's funny.)

Oh they made me smile and sometimes laugh out loud. So now my training for the full 26.2 kicks into high gear! “This is crazy; this is crazy; this is crazy!” (Name that movie – haha.)

And now for the stats, if you care:
Chip time – 2:11:10
Overall place – 3997 out of 9650
Sex place – 1699 out of 5604
Female 30-34 division place – 313 out of 982

Oh, and to answer the most asked question: Did you walk? I slowed to a walk to drink Gatorade about 4-5 times, and I stopped at a port-a-pottie once.

My silly hubby recorded this while we were in the “family reunion area” and the race was fresh on my mind. My lips were still frozen, and there was no way in heck I was going to remove that beanie to expose my gross, wet hair. Enjoy. :)

What Makes a Great Holiday

2011-12-01T06:00:00.004-06:00

Last year I wrote about having Christmas bliss in the midst of commercialism and consumerism. And I have really strived to make holidays meaningful with the gifts and food aspects of them secondary. And this year I wrote about having a game plan for fitness during the holidays. Well, I'm here to give you a progress report for Thanksgiving - overall, I'm very pleased!

I kept to my promise and ran the San Antonio Turkey Trot. It was so much fun - a gorgeous park, perfect weather, and the best way to start a Thanksgiving Day. My mom pushed the two older boys in the Bob; Michael stayed behind with Isaac since Michael was sick; and I ran with my 10 year old nephew. It was awesome, and it was a great memory that I'll have with my nephew.

Source

And instilling a love for fitness in my kids is a big goal of mine, so to see them run the kids' fun run is just priceless.

Levi (right) wasn't buying it at this point.

But that is one happy, running kid there.

I have hosted Thanksgiving at my house for probably the past 5-6 years, and I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love cooking and cleaning and crafting and getting everything perfect down to the tiniest detail, but it sure stresses my husband and kids out. And then I put so much pressure on the event that when everyone isn't as happy as I'd hope them to be, or able to stay the whole time, or not hungry because they just ate a Thanksgiving meal at their other family's house, it's a bit of a letdown. (Damn perfectionism strikes again; I probably stress everyone out.)

All that to say that I really appreciate the work that goes into doing a Thanksgiving dinner well. This year we took a break from hosting Thanksgiving and went to San Antonio to spend it with my family (and to meet my newest niece that was born), and boy oh boy did my cousin and his wife do an amazing job.

First of all, they used my Granny's china, and you know how I feel about china that gets used. I seriously don't think I've ever been as in love with any particular china as much as I'm in love with my Granny's china. It's, in a word, exquisite.

Secondly, they had everyone sitting at the same, gigantic table (obviously a grouping of tables - a great idea). I loved it! There were a ton of people, but everyone was able to talk to everyone else. Brilliant!

And thirdly, the focus was family, not food. Yes, the food was amazing and delicious, but it wasn't center stage. (It sure was yummy, though.) We hung out and lingered long after all of the other guests left and looked at Black Friday ads and drank wine and eggnog with rum and had a great time catching up. It was perfect. I've never hosted a Thanksgiving as successful as theirs. I think I might throw in the towel for a while since I enjoyed theirs so much.

I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings. I'll get caught up on my blog and Facebook reading one of these days and read about them! And I really hope you can find some Christmas bliss in the midst of this crazy season! Love and peace, y'all!

Officially "Annie"

2011-11-30T13:45:00.001-06:00

Source

The very first person to call me Annie after the judge declared it was the clerk downstairs that was handling my paperwork. Before the name change I was only known as Annie in personal settings. If you were calling me Annie, then you knew me. Anita was reserved for people that didn't know me - doctors' offices, banks, insurance companies, etc. So when the clerk called me Annie there in that very official setting of the courthouse, it felt very strange - nice, but strange. It felt like my personal and professional lives just collided. That was Monday.

Today is Wednesday, and I've had two days to get used to the idea of Annie being my real name now. I don't have a nickname! I really love it. Changing my name has been a lifelong dream.

All my life I've had to wonder when was the appropriate time to tell someone that I go by Annie. Does it even matter? My OB, yes, he should definitely call me Annie. My dentist, I only see him twice a year, so why bother?

Today, however, I had a dentist appointment, and the assistant kept calling me Anita. It felt so weird and wrong. That wasn't my name anymore. So after about 3 or 4 times, I finally told her about the name change. It does make me feel like a bit of a freak - I mean who changes their first name? But I'm thrilled nonetheless.

The whole process, for which I was so nervous, was very routine and boring. My court date was Monday morning, and I waited through several divorce hearings which lasted a total of about two minutes each. About 6 divorces were declared before my name was officially changed by the judge.

Source

After that I had to go to the DMV with my 3 year old and 10 month old and wait 3 EFFING hours! It was awful. I thought I was going to grow old and die in that room. People were congratulating their ~~cell mates~~ fellow waiters when their numbers were called, like they won the lottery. A huge surge of endorphines ran through my body, and I praised God Almighty when mine was called. I couldn't stop smiling. Forgive my politics, but I couldn't help thinking that every single voting American should get their licenses renewed before voting in the next election (think of the DMV as a doctor's office). I digress. ;)

So then I applied for my passport, which was a much more quick and pleasant experience. And now I'm ready for my trip to Prague in January! (Yes, I got the passport rushed!) I'm so thankful for this whole journey, what God has taught me and who He's creating me to be. Thank God for being a work in progress! I love my life - silly and naive as I might be sometimes.

ETA: And if you're wondering why I changed my name, then read here. :)

I'm selling!

2011-11-21T09:21:00.000-06:00

So at the advice of my sweet friend Creative Carmella (check out her necklace named after me!), I decided to go with Big Cartel to sell some of my crafty crafts. Who knows if they'll actually sell or not, but hey, we'll let the market decide, right?

With Big Cartel you can only sell five things at a time (for the free membership, of course), so that is perfect for the just-tryin'-this-out-to-see-if-it-works kinda gal.

The first things I'm selling are a few of the wedding items that I made for the yellow and grey wedding. I did consider doing other crafts for the Christmas shopping season, but I really am too busy right now to add something like that to my plate. I'll definitely do that when I have a less full plate, and I'll let you know!

So anyway, if you know of anyone planning a yellow and grey wedding, let them know of my little shop! More to come!

Two Weeks

2011-11-18T13:30:00.001-06:00

So I've been sick for two weeks now, and I think I might go crazy. AND my very first half-marathon is in two weeks from now, and I haven't run in two whole weeks. AHHHH!!!

I had a cold for a week that turned into a sinus infection for another week. And lucky me, just yesterday I got a stomach bug.

I'm really tired of not being able to do my normal routine. I have felt like such a lazybones driving to and from school when I live so close. I have NO energy. Did I mention Michael has been out of town since Tuesday, so I have no backup. :(

Poor, poor me. Anyone feel sorry for me yet? :-P Just kidding. I know it could be worse. And hey, if I have to walk some of my half, then I have to walk. Whatevs. Just venting. ;)

Oh! And I changed my design one more time. I think I'm going to keep it. Opinions?

Wet Paint

2011-11-16T17:13:00.004-06:00

I'm attempting to update my blog design, so if you see some funny stuff, you'll know why. I'll tell ya when I'm finished. ;)

ETA: Okay, well, I just went ahead and changed my privacy so that no one could see while I edited my blog. A couple of people asked what the deal was, so I hope I didn't scare anyone away!

Anyway, I'm never really confident about big changes like this for my blog, but I think I like it. I know you probably wouldn't tell me if you didn't like it, but if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Is it easy to look at? Visually appealing? Easy to read? Hard to read? Did you like the old layout and design better? Do you read in Google Reader anyway, so it doesn't matter?

ETA: Okay, so I changed it again. I can't decide on a permanent look, so I decided to go for a Christmas look for now. Alright, I'm going to bed now. :-/

ETA: Of course, I changed it about 50 more times after I wrote the last line. No more Christmas because I didn't want to have to go through this again for a long, long time. It is now way past my bedtime.

Christmas Love

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

At my silent retreat, we got lots of notes and handouts and whatnot, and the following was a printout that the Spiritual Director just put in there for us to read. She didn't talk about it or anything, and I think it may have even been an email forward that she received. But this one little email forward changed my life, for real though! It's not just for Christmas but for everyday life.

Read it and be inspired!

CHRISTMAS LOVE - paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child. [This is the line that got me. How many times have I totally chosen dinner prep over the feelings of my sweet children?]

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of LOVE will endure.

P.S. Wanna know a secret (that I forget sometimes) - kids are more secure and less whiny when you give them the love they need and don't ignore them.

I gotta be honest about my priorities...

2011-11-14T06:00:00.010-06:00

The silent retreat that I went to a couple of weekends ago was so skillfully designed. The spiritual director, Liz, that led the retreat was such a wise woman. She didn't preach or twist our arms, but she led. She led me into hearing God's voice speaking to me specifically. So when she did a talk on balance, I heard God speaking to me about the priorities in my life loudly and clearly!

First she said that, "Burnout [that's what I was in] is a result of being out of balance." Okay, got it. So what do I do about that? She then asked, "What needs to be emptied from your cup so that God can fill it up?" So I started really thinking about my priorities and what fills my days.

I won't go into all of it, but blogging was definitely something that I analyzed. I love blogging; I really do. It fills a need in me to express myself creatively. I love writing. I'm a grammar nerd. I love thinking about life. I love sharing what I learned. So okay, check - it's a priority.

But as many of my fellow bloggers know, if you want followers, sometimes you have to read a whole bunch of other blogs, too, as a means of networking to grow your own blog. This can be quite daunting, especially when there are 100+ posts in your Reader each night. There started to be many of which I would just look at the pictures or would skip entirely.

It's frankly too much for me to keep up with. So I started asking myself why I was doing it. Well, I do certainly have a specific set of blogs that I read religiously - a mix of family, friends, bloggy friends, and favorite blogs that inspire me. All of the blogs that I follow are good, and I really enjoy them, but I just can't justify spending the time on them anymore, especially when I could be doing other things that would be more fulfilling for me and my family.

And here's the other deal. You know how all these big bloggers say that you have to network and do linky parties and comment and yada yada yada? Well, doesn't that just get you followers that are already bloggers? So you just have a large group of bloggers that are following each other for the sake of having a large following? It doesn't quite make sense to me. Why run yourself ragged for that? Because you know that all of those other blogger/followers are just skipping through your blog posts, too. Do you know how many times I've gotten comments that the commenter so obviously didn't even read the post (but they commented because they wanted me to feel obliged to visit their blog)? Don't you want mostly non-blogger followers?

And what's the point for me anyway? I don't get any cash out of the deal. So I'm running myself ragged for...a number in my sidebar? A high number of pageviews in my stats that no one sees except me? Pride, perhaps?

So anyway, all that to say that I'm cutting back on the amount of blogs that I follow. Please don't be offended, but I gotta do what I gotta do. And you do, too. :) So like I said, if you're a family, friend, bloggy friend, or blog that inspires me, then I'm going to keep following, so no worries. ;) If you're feeling like me at all, though, I do urge you to honestly answer for yourself, "What's the point?"

P.S. You can apply this to Facebook and Twitter, too. Eeek!

ETA: I'm a little concerned that I came across as ungrateful for my current readers/followers. I promise you I'm not. I love that people actually want to read something that I thought about and wrote. It humbles and blesses me more than you could ever know. I just wanted to admit my failing - that I was following TOO many blogs just for the sake of getting more followers, and that's pride. Boo for pride. :(

Silence and Solitude

2011-11-13T10:20:00.000-06:00

A couple of years ago I took this "weaning vacation" when Levi was weaning at 16 months (worked like a charm, by the way) to a spa retreat in Austin. I went by myself for 4 days and studied the discipline of silence and solitude. It was awesome. I did spa treatments, went swimming, did yoga classes, painted, and read and journaled a LOT. It really recharged my batteries and gave me vision for my life at home.

Well, I needed some alone time again, but the spa retreat was pre-Dave-Ramsey-rocking-our-world, so we decided to do something a little simpler this time. I went to the Montserrat Jesuit Retreat in Lake Dallas. I'm not Catholic, but they're welcoming of anyone with an open mind. I did grow up Catholic (albiet just nominally), so it was a bit nostalgic for me, which I liked.

When I first got there I was a bit nonplussed. It's a monastery, so it's quite...simple. The dorms were built in the sixties, and there's nothing fancy about them at all. I started regretting my decision as soon as I walked up the steps. It was no spa, y'all.

So I kept an open mind and unloaded my stuff into my room. The room was nothing to write home about, either. It had a twin bed, a recliner, and a desk - all outdated. But again, I kept an open mind, because if it would have been all updated and bed-n-breakfasty, then I would have wondered why a religious organization was being so frivolous with their money. (I stumble with judgmentalism - sorry.)

'Who cares,' I thought, 'I don't have to answer to anyone right now! No cooking, no cleaning, no whining, no cares!' Disclaimer: I love my children, but there was certainly a reason I needed to get away - for their own good!

So my full intention was to go by my own schedule and not really participate in the scheduled classes and teachings and masses that they had planned. I did go to the first orientation given by Father Ed so that I would know the lay of the land, and I unexpectedly fell in love - not just with Father Ed (he was so awesome and special - what I imagine Brother Lawrence to be like - my favorite Catholic mystic) but with the retreat center, too.

There was such a sense of calm and peace there. Everything there was put there with the intention of it bringing you peace, silence, and solitude. It was beautiful and restful. Father Ed said that at other silent retreat centers that he's been at, there would be signs everywhere reminding you of the vow of "SILENCE". But at this center, instead they have signs that say "LISTEN". Isn't that beautiful? And I certainly heeded that.

There were chairs and benches everywhere placed in places ripe for reflection. It's on Lake Lewisville, so there is plenty of space and beauty with which to reflect on God's beauty.

There was SO much that I learned while there, and to try and share it with you at the tail end of a post just wouldn't do it justice, so I'll save it for more installments. :) All in all - I couldn't recommend it more! I hope for both Michael and I to go yearly (at separate times, of course).

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

2011-11-08T16:33:00.006-06:00

Hello friends. First let me say that my silent retreat was amazing. I really didn't expect that it was going to be as amazing as it indeed was, but I will write about that another day. I learned so much and was so overwhelmed by how good God is. It's really crazy how much you can listen when you're not talking. But more on that another day.

Today, however, is a sad day. I woke up with an extremely sore throat, so much so that I was on the brink of tears and have felt awful all day (achey, fatigued, etc.). So when my sister called me a little while later, I didn't answer and let it go to voicemail. On the message she said there had been a death in the family, so of course I called her back immediately.

On November 4, 2004 my beautiful, godly, strong, amazing cousin Julie died in a motorcycle accident at age 37, leaving behind a husband and three children (14, 12, and 10, or thereabouts). She lived in West Virginia, and she and her husband had been out riding looking at the gorgeous fall leaves in the winding West Virginia country roads. Her death was devastating, and no one could understand how God could will that to happen. It didn't make sense at all. To this day I'm still at a loss.

Well, this morning (November 8, 2011) her eldest daughter that had been 14 when she died (now 21) was found dead by her father in her bed. To say that it's sad or devastating or anything else is just an understatement. How can one family handle such heartache and pain?

At the retreat I was on, the retreat director (an amazing 77 year old woman of God and former therapist) said that when people would ask her why God allowed bad things to happen her response was always that the best gift that God could give us was free will. And sometimes people use that free will to make bad choices. Sometimes those bad choices affect other people. Free will is quite messy, but I think it's the best of the two options. I've often thought that same thing.

The other thing a friend of mine told me a few weeks ago is something her priest told her: "Life is hard, but life is good." True, too. We appreciate the good all the more after we experience the bad.

And the thing I always hold onto when bad things happen to good people and you want to ask, "Why did God allow that to happen," is that God never promised us that bad things wouldn't happen; in fact He promised us quite the opposite. He said we'd definitely have trouble in this world, but we can take heart in Him. He can be our comfort, our shelter, our peace, our kind, loving Father. And then there's Heaven....ah, Heaven, the ultimate place of peace for the weary soul.

This song sums up perfectly what I feel. I can't hear it without sobbing.

Held
by Natalie Grant
Two months is too little
They let him go
They had no sudden healing
To think that providence
Would take a child from his mother
While she prays, is appalling
Who told us we'd be rescued
What has changed and
Why should we be saved from nightmares
We're asking why this happens to us
Who have died to live, it's unfair

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it and
Let the hatred numb our sorrows
The wise hand opens slowly
To lilies of the valley and tomorrow

If hope if born of suffering
If this is only the beginning
Can we not wait, for one hour
Watching for our Savior

Rest in the sweet peace of Christ in a place of which I can't even imagine the beauty and wonder, sweet, beautiful, little Jessie. I love you, and I long for Heaven to see you and your beautiful mother.

Jessica

9/23/90 - 11/8/11

My Silent Retreat

2011-11-03T19:00:00.001-05:00

So do you ever want to yell at the top of your lungs to your kids to "SHUT UP!!!!!"? No? Yeah....me, neither....totally not...ever. Just kidding, I know you do. ;) And I do, too. That's why it's important for me to leave them every once in a while. The last time I left them Levi was just 16 months, and I was weaning him.

As the story goes, Michael came home from work, and I said, "I don't want to be a mom anymore." So he sent me to Austin to a spa and spiritual retreat center for 4 days. It was so awesome...and so freaking expensive (that was pre-Dave Ramsey brainwashing). So this time we're scaling it back, and I'm going to a Catholic retreat center for a silent retreat. No spa, but I can jog to my heart's content!

I'm really looking forward to it, and it couldn't have come at a better time. When I registered for it, I didn't think I'd be ready to leave the baby, but he's pretty much weaned now (yes, I cut it early - don't hate). And I am SO ready for a break.

I'll be gone from Thursday night to Sunday, so I'll be unplugged from the internet! Yay!

Reading Rainbow Cake Party

2011-11-02T20:23:00.001-05:00

Source

Samuel, our 5 year old, was going through this reading book that we LOVED to learn to read. The adult basically just reads everything in red in the lesson, and the book does all the work. By the end, your kid can read. It's uh-mazing. So we told him that whenever he made it through the entire book that we'd have a reading party for him. Well, he was reading so well in school that we quit the book because he already exceeded it. The book gave him an excellent foundation with which to really accelerate his learning at school.

So we had his reading party today! We invited three of his buddies from his class over after school for some "Reading Rainbow Cake" to celebrate Samuel learning to read. (Mimi came over to celebrate with us, too.) :) By the way, I didn't even try to explain "Reading Rainbow" to the kids because it would have made me feel too old.

It was Michael's idea to make this achievement into a celebration, and I thought it was genius. What a hallmark - knowing how to read.

It was a simple, little party. We just had cake and strawberry smoothies, played and ran around a LOT, read a couple of books, and sang some silly songs with the guitar and shakers. The perfect little playdate, IMHO. :)

So even though you've seen these a bazillion times, here's mine. I thought it needed more icing in between the layers, but I'm an icing addict.

It was a lot of fun making it. I can't wait until Levi and Isaac learn to read so that I can make it again! By the way, my kids LOVED helping with this cake. Mixing the colors was the best part - good teaching moments, too ("Which two colors make purple?", etc.).

Did you celebrate an academic milestone in your family? I wanna know!!!
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Headphones at the Gym and My Dorkiness

2011-11-02T06:45:00.000-05:00

(I wish I had a source for this, but I don't
- it's everywhere, though.)

So if you ever want to expose me for the big dork that I am, watch me at the gym while I have headphones on. I wasn't wearing them for a while because I have to listen for the announcement, "Will club member Annie please come to the kids' club?" because Isaac is usually wailing for his Mama. But now I have decided just to tell them I'm wearing headphones, and they'll come get me. Novel, nes pas?

Anywho, so I wore them for the first time in a long time on Sunday morning, and I tell ya, I was so motivated to run on the treadmill with my own music blasting in my ear. Turns out that my body will run faster and faster if I pour in a little Mumford and Sons, Stavesacre, Oasis, and Cranberries. Like really, I kept increasing the speed as the time went on. Increasing!

The only downside is that I feel SO incredibly restrained because I would really like to sing out loud and use my hands to express the music in large, sweeping gestures. What? That's totally normal, right? But that's what I do in the car? But, what? Someone might see me, you say? Ah, yes, I have been sighted by a friend dancing to "Dynamite" once, and yes, it was quite embarrassing.

So I do hold back and restrain myself, but if you look carefully, my face will ever so slightly be expressing the emotion of the song, my lips will just so subtly be mouthing the words, and my arms will air drum only when I think I can get away with it by it looking like a natural running motion.

Being Restored to "Annie" - Part 3: Name

2011-10-31T06:00:00.001-05:00

Love will not betray, dismay or enslave you,

It will set you free

Be more like the man you were made to be.

There is a design,

An alignment to cry,

Of my heart to see,

The beauty of love as it was made to be

- "Sigh No More" by Mumford and Sons

My paternal grandmother, whom I loved immensely, was born in 1924 and was named Otilia, a beautiful Polish name. Well, I can only assume that in the 1940s she didn't want a beautiful Polish name anymore, so after her aunt and namesake died, she changed her name to Anita when she was 18 years old. I have no idea why she chose that name, but she did. Her dad took her down to change it, and the rest is history. I didn't even know that Anita wasn't her original name until my teens. She made everyone keep it a secret. She was funny like that.

Fast forward a while, and you get to my birth. I was named after both of my grandmothers - Anita Marie. My mom tells me that she could never see calling a little baby Anita, so from the day I was born I was called Annie. I didn't know that my real name was Anita until I was 5 or 6 years old. I could never understand why they didn't just name me Marie Anita, but I can only assume that it was because my dad didn't get along with his mother-in-law.

In kindergarten I went by Annie because my mom told them that's what I went by, but in first grade the teacher gave me the option. She said, "They told me you go by Annie, so do you want us to call you Annie or Anita?" Well, being the "shy" little girl that I was, not wanting to rock the boat or cause anyone trouble, I meekly answered, "Anita." I immediately regretted it because it didn't sound like my name at all. I basically had a school name and a home name. It took until the eighth grade to finally get up the courage to tell my teachers that I went by Annie. I think some of my middle school friends are still confused as to what my name is.

Now, I LOVED my Gramma - like really really really loved her with all my heart. I'm pretty sure I was the closest grandchild to her, and I don't think any of my cousins would contest that. I spent the most time with her. I would spend hours looking at her old photo albums and asking her about the past. I would take care of her house and her lawn. And I still dream about her today as if she's still alive (she died the year I got married). In my dreams she doesn't have a problem speaking as she did in real life as the result of several strokes. I like to think about how I'm going to see her in Heaven, and she'll be totally renewed like in my dreams.

That said, I feel like "Anita" is my lovely Gramma, but I'm "Annie". I've always wanted to change my name legally to "Annie" just for simplicity's sake, but it's kind of a chore. I also didn't want to disgrace my Gramma's memory. But the more I would think about it, the more I started to think that she would give me her blessing. If she didn't (she was stubborn as a mule), then I would just point out the hypocrisy to her, and she'd concede. We were cool like that.

So this year I decided to do it - I am in the process of changing my name to "Annie". I'm really excited about it, because I feel like it coincides completely with the restoration that God has been doing in my life. I'm running to become the athlete that He made me to be. I'm coming into my restored personality with greater confidence and strength as the unique person that God created me to be. I am restored to the "Annie" that I was made to be - no longer living with the consequences of two, young, broken adolescents. God is a really good parent, and He's restoring me day by day to be the woman that He has made me to be.

Being Restored to "Annie" - Part 2: My Personality

2011-10-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

In the first post in this series I wrote about how God has been restoring me into being who He created me to be if it weren't for being born into a broken world and how He did that physically by reigniting my passion for running. In this post I'll write about how He has been restoring my personality. Weird, right?

Today I'm not shy about talking about how I grew up in a dysfunctional home. It was shameful at the time, but today, as an adult, I realize that I had no control over it and that I could not have chosen my way out of that situation. And also, as I mentioned in my last post, my parents are totally different people today and have sought recovery and healing for their lives. I love and forgive them both and have nothing but well wishes for them.

That said, it really sucked at the time. I mean, seriously, life sucked. It was hard, and I didn't like it. I was given the message that I was, in a word, worthless. As a result, I grew up with a very low self-esteem and felt an unbearable shyness.

In high school I found that a few cheap drinks gave me all the gregariousness that I needed to talk to just about anyone. I know this sounds bad, but I had so much fun being so uninhibited. But why couldn't I be that way sober?! Oh it was so frustrating.

I always thought that my personality was shy until I went to therapy a few years ago, and the therapist was like, "Uh, no, you're not shy, honey." (I don't know if she really said "honey", but I like it better with it there.)

'Really?!' I thought. I mean, I felt shy. The truth was, however, that I had just been beaten down emotionally for so many years that I had not an ounce of confidence in which to approach people. I could think of no reason at all that people should want to talk to me or get to know me. It took immense courage to talk around people with which I was unfamiliar (let alone talk to them). I remember being at my ex-boyfriend's house at Christmastime meeting his family, and I overheard his brother say, "Doesn't she talk?" ACK! I was devastated.

It pretty much took most of my twenties to overcome that personality disability. How good of God to give me such an encouraging, patient, empathetic, and loving husband. I mean, really, he's the perfect husband for me. He makes me believe in myself, but he's also always very honest, so I know that he's not BS'ing me. And that's a good thing. :)

Funny enough, God has also used this blog to build my confidence. Since I don't have to see people when I'm trying to get my point across, I'm able to be more me. So the more I blog, the more I really figure out who I am. I think that's why so many people say that blogging "keeps them sane" or "is therapeutic". What a blessing this blog has been to me, even if I never end up getting the big numbers that I sometimes envy. What it has done in my life is really invaluable.

So it comes full circle. God made me to be outgoing, funny (to me), fun-loving, adventurous, and more, but life squelched that. Now, however, He has taken the reins at being my Father, speaking words of strength, courage, love, confidence, and mercy into my life over the contradicting messages of my past, and has restored me to be more of the "Annie" that He made me to be. What a loving Father, so perfect and merciful.

Stay tuned for the third and final post in this series. It really comes full circle!

Being Restored to "Annie" - Part 1: Running

2011-10-27T09:57:00.001-05:00

Excuse the lollipop; I wasn't expecting to be videoed. I ran a tiny 5k put on by my son's school district's PTA. It was poorly attended, making my chances of winning greater. I won first in my age group, although the girl that won overall women was in my age group, but I got the first place medal for the age group since she got the medal for overall. Makes total sense, right? :-P

I can over over-spiritualize with the best of 'em, so hang on to your hats, folks; this one's a doozy! :-P In all seriousness, it's something that is pretty close to my heart, so especially if you're family, I hope you read with an open-mind.

This past year has been one of immense growth for me. I really feel like God has brought me to a place where He's restoring me to be what I should have been if not for a broken world. The more I surrender into allowing Him to father me as only a perfect Father can, the more He makes me whole and restored - not changed, just more the "Annie" I was created to be. There have been three ways in which He's done this in my life this past year.

The first is physically. When I was in elementary school, I had a great passion for track. The P.E. coaches noticed a natural ability in me for sprinting, and I was awesome at the 200 meter relay. I was the second fastest girl in my grade, and I was always striving to beat that other girl that was faster (I still remember exactly what she looks like). We won first place in my 4th grade district wide race, and I still remember everything about that morning. My mom and I went, and she bought me a school t-shirt to wear in the race (we never did that since we were poor). I loved knowing that she was in the stands cheering for me. I was on cloud nine.

So on the morning of my district wide track meet the following year in 5th grade, my parents wouldn't wake up to take me. I kept trying to wake them up, and the coaches kept calling me to see where I was, but the race came and went without me.

My parents are totally different people today whom I love and forgive, but 22 years ago they were at the height of their irresponsibility and dysfunction, so I share the story not to make you think less of them but merely to give you an insight into me. I realized that morning, though, that my passion for running or athletics would not be supported by my parents, so when middle school came around and we moved to the country (not within walking distance to our school), I knew I couldn't participate in track and that passion bitterly died.

Fast-forward to my adult years, and I have never been able to run. My breath control has been the hardest thing for me, so I would always stick to elliptical or strength training and yoga. My third and last baby was born in the beginning of January, and my body was in the worst shape of my life (probably). I knew he was my last, so I went all out and lived it up in total gluttonous fashion - no restraint at all!

As I worked on getting my body back this past year, we decided to get a Bob Duallie Revolution jogging stroller. So I started walking, then walking and jogging, and now just jogging. I remember the first day that I was able to run 18 minutes straight without stopping. That was a miracle for me. It was so elating, and I thought, 'I got this.'

Today, my body is in the best shape of my life. I'm thrilled, and I LOVE running! It makes me feel like I was made to do it. I'm not that fast right now (well, I was before I properly calibrated my Nike+ pedometer :-p), and I still can't run more than about 8 miles, but I am on my way, and it will happen. I got this!

And the way in which God restored me physically totally corresponds to the other two ways He's restored me, but you'll have to stay tuned for that. More to come....

Tipsy Tuesday: Simple Mom's Facial Routine

2011-10-25T06:00:00.024-05:00

So when I read this blog post from the Simple Mom, Tsh (no, that's not a typo - there is no vowel in her name), I was at my wits' end with my skin. I've never had really great skin except when I was on the patch birth control. Other than that short time, it's not been great. I'm always either too oily or too dry with those really gross breakouts that go deep into your skin and hurt. TMI, perhaps? Sorry.

At any rate, I had just had Isaac, and my skin was absurdly dry. It seriously made me look about 10 years older. My neck was even very scaly and old looking - talk about freaking me out! I went to the dermatologist, and she sent me to their little store area to purchase an expensive cleanser and moisturizer that actually made things worse. (Thanks for nothing, yo.)

My face was so dry that I started using a cotton ball soaked with baby oil to exfoliate the dead skin off, and I would follow that up by slathering vitamin E oil all over my face and neck before I went to bed. That was actually really helpful, so when I read about the Oil Cleansing Method, I thought, 'What the heck; it can't hurt at this point.' The basic premise is that oil dissolves oil, but you want good oil to do the job. And lemme tell ya, IT WORKS!!! Here's what Tsh said:

So in essence, good-quality oil is the perfect substance for cleaning sensitive skin, such as on our face, because it helps gently remove the dirty oil and replaces it with good, nourishing, healing oil.

You can read all about it on Tsh's post, but basically this is what you do. If your skin is:

- Normal or combination, then use a mixture of

1 part Castor Oil

1 part Olive Oil

- Dry, then use a mixture of

1 part Castor Oil

2 parts Olive Oil

- Oily, then use a mixture of

2 parts Castor Oil

1 part Olive Oil

You know what castor oil is, right? You buy it in the laxative section. You can play with the amounts until you find what is right for you, but I suggest starting with 1/1 and going from there. I put it in an old bottle pump from my empty cleanser so it's easy to use. I don't recommend putting it in a jar because it makes a big mess.

You basically just slather it all over your face (no prior washing necessary), and then use a steaming hot washcloth to wipe it away. Sometimes I'll slather it and then get in the shower and wipe it off in there after it has steamed a bit. I've been doing this for about 2 months now, and my skin has never ever been better. I don't look as old as I had been looking right after Isaac was born, and I have only had ONE breakout the entire time which is not usual for me at all. And the dryness is completely gone. No more scales!!!

I still use vitamin E oil occasionally, too, but I don't do that every night, just when I need it.

Has anyone else ever tried the OCM before? If you are going to try this, then please read Tsh's whole article. It's so helpful!

Shabby Apple

2011-10-24T06:00:00.003-05:00

So you may or may not know, but I don't make any money off of this blog. I do it solely as a creative outlet because it makes me feel like a normal human being in the midst of being a stay at home mom of three boys. I have great respect for those of you that do make money on your blogs because I know that it's a LOT of hours of work for sometimes not that much pay (except for you hotshots out there - you know who you are - holla).

So when Shabby Apple contacted me to be an affiliate I thought, 'Eh, can't hurt,' (right after googling "Shabby Apple Affiliate Program Scam" just to check - they're clear - hehe). I checked out the stuff on their website, and it is darling I tell you!

They have a couple of deals going right now, if you're interested, I'll pass them along:

Oh, and they even have baby stuff - TOO cute. Unfortunately it's only little girl stuff, but I swear if I had a baby girl, her Pinterest board would look exactly like this website!

And maternity!!! It's all super darling dresses - very pretty.

Anyway, let me know if you like them or not. If I hear an uproar of hatred toward them, then I'll take it down, but I'm pretty sure you'll dig it. ;)

I can't wait to order from them. So far I like these things:

Bridget Belt

Tess Skirt

Brooklyn Cuff

Passionate Boot

Sandiegan Cuff

Honored Shoe

Pietra Swimsuit

Anyway, happy online shopping!

Can't Catch Up

2011-10-22T06:30:00.001-05:00

I'm so behind on everything - it's frustrating. I thought life would get simpler once school started, but it's actually more complicated since all three of my children have different schedules. My house feels like it's in chaos - disorganization abounds. People ask me to do favors, and I forget. My inbox hasn't been cleared in quite a while, and I just know there are little goblins in there just waiting to pop out and say, "Aha! You're three days late on this task!"

My counter currently looks like this, and it's kind of an improvement. Note the second cup of coffee brewing.

Isaac was tossing and turning all night, so I just got him up at 5:00AM, and I put him in there while I made breakfast. He fought it for a while, but then he gave in - just in time to get the day started. We have a 5k race at 7:30 which I would do much better on a few more hours of sleep.

What I didn't photograph is the waffle that's burnt to a black crisp that was cooking as I decided to write a blog post. Oh well. One of the worst parts about being super busy and super sleepy is that I'm more inclined to overeat, especially while I'm training for this marathon! I'm HUNGRY! Don't fret - I only ate one waffle. ;)

So the real reason I wrote this blog was to tell you that if I don't respond to your email or phone call or read your blog or whatever, it's just because I'm trying to get the bare necessities done. Life will get easier eventually, right?? Hello?

Camping and My All or Nothing Mentality

2011-10-17T10:09:00.001-05:00

We went camping this weekend to Tyler State Park. Yes, it was still warm enough to swim. Had I known that before I left, I would have packed swimwear. They were just fine to swim in their clothes, though. Anyway, I love taking trips like this for so many reasons but especially because being away from the hussle and bussle of everyday living allows me to think about my life from a larger perspective.

One thing I was thinking of was how for us recovering perfectionists, the all-or-nothing mentality is so difficult to overcome. I really wonder if I will ever get over it completely and find balance or if I'm just designed to be this way permanently. Michael and I were laughing because just the other day my bil had said that he wasn't going to blog anymore, so I commented that it didn't need to be all or nothing. Michael noted my hypocrisy since I even said that I was going quit once. But that was one little battle that I won - learning that blogging didn't need to be all or nothing.

Michael is going to be going on a business trip to Prague in January, and we were going to try to swing it to where I could go with him (on our dime, of course). So we had talked about being gone two weeks (although he'd only be working one of those weeks), taking weekend trips to Germany and Austria, and just making a big deal out of it. Well, it didn't work out because we couldn't find anyone to watch the kids for that long, so we just gave up on the idea. I was sad because I've never been and because Michael and I really need some time away from the kids.

So instead of being all or nothing, we decided to lessen the scope of our trip, staying just 7 days, and only visiting Prague (I hear there's plenty to keep my occupied there while Michael's working - he's only going to be able to have fun after long work hours). I'm super excited about that.

So that's where I'm at - noting the ways in which I'm out of balance and trying to adjust. It takes some realigning of my mindset, but it's a good thing. I think I'll find more happiness, contentment, and peace that way. Are there any areas of your life that you're trying to find balance in?

Pics of Yellow and Grey Wedding Are Here!!!

2011-10-12T23:23:00.005-05:00

Well, I finally have the long awaited pictures of the fabulous yellow and grey wedding that I keep talking about. See, it actually did happen! Warning: this post is a bit picture heavy, so hang on....

I didn't do the flowers, but the lovely Sarah M. did both the flowers and the invitations. The aisle flowers doubled as centerpieces. She put hooks on the Mason jars and just moved them to the tables while the wedding party was getting pictures taken (a good money-saving tip!).

I didn't do the bouquet or boutonnieres, either, but aren't they gorgeous! I did pick out the plate from a thrift store and make the wooden thing underneath the boutonnieres. ;) (I'll take credit where I can.)

Again, these are not my doing, but the flowers were just gorgeous. The lady that did the bouquet did these, too, and I just love that she put these in an antique can. It went very well with everything else.

These LOVE letters were going to be the death of me. I had wanted to do something much heavier, but I couldn't put holes in the wall, so I had to come up with an idea that would work with Command Strips. Black foam core board did the trick. I cut the letters out, then I printed up old sheet music pages, pasted them onto the boards, and gave them a black outline. It was much harder than it sounds. O.M.G. :-P

Aren't they pretty?

Can you see my grey striped straws on the very left of this? We had lemonade in my large, glass Crate & Barrel dispenser (I always make sure to slip in that it's Crate and Barrel because it makes me it sound cooler), and it was super cute with the straws. Plus, the reception was BYOB, which I thought was brilliant! Alcohol is usually a huge expense at a reception, but there was plenty to go around if each couple just brought one or two bottles. LOVED it!

Also on the beverage table was the seating chart. I designed it with the graphics from the invitations, then hot-glued it onto two pieces of weathered wood which were hot-glued together, tied some raffia around it and called it good! I really think it was one of my favorite things - so simple but so clever (if I do say so).

The lovely Jennie A. did the cake . Each one was a different flavor, and they were simply decorated with lace around the bottom and brooches. It was simple and elegant and gorgeous.

I didn't have anything to do with the food, either, it was all Jennie. Not only was it beautiful, but it was the best wedding reception food I've ever had. And I was thrilled that Jennie was on the same page as me with design. Everything went together so well. How cute are those chalkboard signs?!

The bride and I went thrifting a few months ago, and we bought little do-dads like this ceramic container, and I painted them all with the same yellow and grey paint.

This is my sign that I posted about here. Gotta know where to go, yo!

This was a little fan that we made for each person out of card stock using the graphics from the invitation design.

Here's a nice wide shot of the pretty, little, country reception.

Do you remember me posting about the photo booth? Well, here it is!

And 'member the candy jars? Here's one of them!

The table numbers were sticks with painted discs and random things glued to them. They were one of my favorite elements. Can you also see the tealight place cards? They brought a pretty glow to each table. Also, we used her grandmother's doilies for the center of the tables. I love personal touches like that.

Wanna know a secret? The Mr. & Mrs. banner was painted denim. I made cut-off shorts out of jeans and used the extra fabric to make the banner. Not bad, eh? That, of course, was adorning the wedding party table, which was the pièce de résistance. It was really beautiful, but as the night went on it just got more and more magical looking with all of the candles and lanterns. I made it, and it still took my breath away.

at dusk

We found this tray (frame) while thrifting, so I painted the bottom grey and used it to put her bouquet on during the reception. That way her bouquet did double duty as a centerpiece (more money-saving!).

Speaking of money-saving, I had all of my friends saving jars for me. There was always a sink full of water at my house with jars awaiting a label peel.

I used all different sizes and put as many tealight candles as would fit in each one.

It was really stunning once it got dark.

Another fun idea that the bride and groom implemented was karaoke for the reception as opposed to a DJ and dancing. It was such great fun, and everyone played along and had a blast. It was also a great money-saving idea because they used a friend's machine and got my hubby to run it, cutting out another major expense.

A few days before the wedding I realized that there was not a plan for the grand exit. So I saw this idea for streamers and ran with it. I used sticks, ribbon, hot glue, and love. (Oh, and here's where I talked about the "Just Married" sign.)

The candlelight was really amazing. I didn't know if it would work, to be honest. Every time I told people I needed jars to decorate a wedding with I felt like a total noob, but it was gorgeous and it totally worked! I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out. It was simply beautiful.

ETA: In case you want to know, I asked the bride what she ended up spending out of pocket, and this is what she said:

We spent just under $8,000. But many services were free (we tipped them though). I estimated our wedding would've cost $15,000 without our hookups.

Not bad, yo! Just goes to show, being thrifty pays!

Congratulations, Christa and Lafe!! Thanks for inviting me to help make this day a little more special and for trusting me and my crazy ideas. I'm honored to have been a part of your wedding!

Linkin' Up To These Cool Parties!!!

Giving a Little Fresh-Baked Love

2011-10-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

Happy hump day, everyone! Life is good today, friends! I'm sitting here on the couch enjoying a lazy morning watching it rain off and on out the living room window. Michael took Samuel to school since it was raining, so I get to hang out here. I can't even go to the gym because Levi woke up with pink eye (but it doesn't stop him from running around the house, full of energy, in his undies and rain boots).

Anywho, I was talking to my sister yesterday, and the conversation went like this:

ANNIE: So I made the mistake of baking yesterday.
JULIE: Gah, Annie, why do you bake when you know you have no self-control?!
ANNIE: I know, right!

She knows me, and only a sister can be so blunt. What I had done was made a loaf of whole wheat bread in my bread machine, and then I made a double batch of this ridiculously delicious acorn squash bread. (Although, I used less sugar and margarine and no nuts.) Anyway, my sister knows that every time I bake I feel the incontrolable desire to eat it all as fast as I can. In the beginning (like, starting with the batter) it's just because it tastes good and I'm enjoying it. But by the end it's because I just want it gone so that I don't have to think about it anymore. So before I knew it, I polished off half a loaf of each of the breads. I went to bed with a really icky tummy, a calorie count of 2,860 (I get 1,200 a day), and a whole lot of guilt.

So what to do? I don't want to give up my love for baking. I really do love healthifying recipes and being able to enjoy baked treats with less calories, but it obviously defeats the purpose when I eat the whole damn thing.

The other day when I made the acorn squash bread, I knew that I needed the second loaf out of my house, so I brought it over to my MIL's house since the family was gathered there that night. It was perfect because I got to share it while still having some myself (albiet too much), and I still got to experience the joy of baking it.

When I was in college I was driving back to Arlington from San Antonio, and I stopped at a roadside produce stand and bought the most delicious peaches I had ever eaten in my life - sweet, juicy, and perfectly ripened. I bought like 10 of them and ate a couple of them in the car. I was driving directly from San Antonio to a church college group gathering, and the thought occurred to me to bring my peaches in and share them. 'Eh, no, I want them for myself,' I thought, 'I don't get the opportunity for roadside peaches very often.' Well, the next morning every single peach was over-ripened and moldy.

I always think of that story when I don't want to share my yummies.

Gluttony never blesses me, but generosity always does.

I'm going to be working on generosity this holiday season. I'm actually really excited to get to bake without the pressure of having the self-control to keep it in my house. I can get rid of it as soon as I bake it! I plan on baking, taking out a portion for me and my family, and then giving it away to whomever (neighbors, Michael's co-workers, teachers, friends, family, etc.).

Do you have plans to give away some fresh-baked love this season?

Holiday Fitness Game Plan

2011-10-09T06:00:00.012-05:00

I had some friends over the other day, and we were discussing food and fitness and our goals. Then one friend mentioned the holidays, and I felt panicked. I love food, you see - eating it, specifically. She asked what I was going to do for Thanksgiving when it comes to dieting. I realized that I didn't really have a game plan in place, and I need one.

Last Thanksgiving I looked like this (that's sweet baby Isaac in that robust belly), and I was loving it because I didn't count one calorie the entire holiday season. It was a free-for-all, and I knew that it was my last pregnancy so I would never allow myself to be so gluttonous again.

Today, however, I'm kinda liking the affects of my diet and exercise, and I don't really want to undo all my hard work for a few bites of tasty food. It goes on a heck of a lot easier than it comes off!!!

As I've given it some more thought, these are a few of my goals to ensure that I don't become seduced by the holiday sugar mavens:

* Jog everyday of my trip to San Antonio for Thanksgiving (maybe find a 5K to run Thanksgiving morning) and the morning of any party. I'm less likely to overeat if the memory of the hard work it takes to burn calories is fresh on my mind.
* Limit holiday baking at home to gifts (meaning don't keep it around the house).
* Go to parties full so that I can resist. If I have even one bite of sweets, I'm a goner and can't stop.
* Don't celebrate with food (remember this post about having Christmas bliss without food or excessive spending).

Ack! I don't know what else! What helps you? I ~~want~~ need to know!

A Proud Moment and Homemade OREOS!!!

2011-10-08T06:00:00.009-05:00

So you know that I'm pretty passionate about healthy food and helping my kids make wise decisions about food. My kindergartener's class does snacks at noon since their lunch is at 10:30, but I'm not really crazy about letting him eat the snacks because they're not really what I'd choose for my kids. But we also want to equip Samuel to make good decisions for himself and not just dictate to him what to eat blindly.

So what we've been doing lately is sending Samuel to school with a snack and telling him that he is allowed to choose between my snack or the provided snack. If he chooses the provided snack, however, that will count as one of his desserts for the week (we allow two usually), depending on what it is, of course. (Yesterday they had applesauce, and that didn't count.) And we tell him that it may not be worth it, because when we have desserts at home they're homemade by Mama and much yummier. (What? They are. For reals, yo.)

So the other day the snack was Oreo cookies, one of Samuel's favorites. But after school he told me that he chose to eat the apples or whatever it was that I sent with him instead. Then he looked up at me with the sweetest little face ever and said, "Mommy, do you think we could make some Oreo cookies at home?"

Oh.My.Gosh. Of course we can! How proud can a mommy be?! He gets it!!! He gets it!!! He gets it!!!! I was overcome with pride.

We made them this afternoon using this recipe from Smitten Kitchen (the same place I got the recipe for homemade Goldfish crackers). Mine didn't come out as pretty as hers, but next time they will! (For the record, I used coconut oil instead of shortening, and it was great!)

Can you tell I'm happy about this. FTW!!!

Whole Wheat Blueberry Coconut Oat Pancakes

2011-10-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

I LOVE pancakes, like a lot. So I'm always trying to perfect my recipe and try new combinations. I concocted this one yesterday, and it was a winner, so I thought I'd share it with you!

Here you go!

Whole Wheat Blueberry Coconut Oat Pancakes

(Is that a long enough name for you, because I can add a few ingredients if you'd like.) ;)

Ingredients
2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Unsweetened Coconut Flakes (or shredded)
1 cup Rolled Oats
2 Eggs
2 cups Skim Milk or Flax Milk or whatever
1 cup Unsweetened Frozen Blueberries (or fresh)
(Pecans or walnuts would be really good, too, but I didn't want to up the calorie count.)

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients.
2. Add the eggs and milk and mix.
3. Add the blueberries and stir until combined.
4. Use about 1/2 cup of batter per pancake on a hot griddle and cook away. I had two griddles going at once like a pancake-making rockstar mom. I'm that awesome.

This makes 12 pancakes at 150 calories each. Top with what you like. Maple syrup is my favorite, but my goodness it's high in calories (210 for a quarter cup)! So I like to top with plain, low-fat yogurt and bananas or blueberries (when I'm dieting). When I'm not, then I top with the good ol' maple syrup, pecans or walnuts, more coconut, granola, whatever.

Anyway, give it a shot, and let me know if you like them!!!

The Town Bag Lady

2011-10-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

So in my little area of town there is this homeless lady that pushes around a shopping cart that everyone knows about because we all see her walking around. And it's fairly easy to spot her because she's the one and only homeless person in the area. Her name is Joanne, and I'm sure that she's very nice, however I've never spoken to her because let's just say she's usually talking already, although I'm not quite sure to whom.

So during our walk yesterday, my friend Misti said that when I go around town with my stroller everyday I remind her of Miss Joanne. That. Is. Awesome. Awesomely embarrassing but still pretty funny. I can totally feel that vibe, too, especially when I got to the grocery store and come back with grocery sacks hanging on my double wide stroller.

Three people in the past two days have told me that they see me walking/jogging around town, so now every time I go jogging, I'm very aware of people seeing me and taking note - "Oh there's the crazy bag lady / the mom who wants her body back / the lady who must not have a car"(what have you).

I'm alright with it, though. I'm having a blast and getting in shape, so I can't complain. Honk if you see me!

Tipsy Tuesday: Sweet Potato Fries

2011-10-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I have a confession. I have not tried this out, but it sounds awesome and like it would work.

I am a HUGE fan of sweet potatoes, and I make sweet potato fries quite often in the cold weather months. But getting them crispy is a challenge, and I think that my kids would like them more if they were crispier. So when I saw this on Pinterest today, I was so excited, and I knew it would work.

Source

Are you ready for it? CORNSTARCH! So simple but so obvious now! It only adds about 30 calories to the whole thing, so it's totally doable. You just shake it around in a bag and that's it. If you want to read more about it, just go to that link. She also put a dipping sauce recipe on there.

Anyway, I just couldn't resist passing this recipe tip along. I'm super excited about trying it out.

Candy Jars

2011-09-29T06:00:00.062-05:00

This wedding is indeed the wedding held together by hot-glue. I have at least one burn on my fingers each day. Speaking of, does the smell of hot-glue make anyone else as happy as it does me? When I smell it, it makes me think of crafting and making something fun.

Anywho.

On Tuesday night, Michael was working late on the computer in the living room, and I was clearing my dining room table of the dozens of glass jars that will be used in the wedding on Saturday. I had bought some yellow and grey chocolates that day as an impulse buy at Party City, and the idea came to me that I have several small, squatty Ball jars that could go on each table and house the candies.

But how to dress it up???

Well, I did what I always do. I looked around at the scraps of crap that I had lying around and came up with this.

I LOVE them! Like really, I even bragged about them to my friends when I had finished them. And they were super quick to make.

So here's what I did. I took a yellow, silk flower, and I pulled it apart and hot-glued a piece (each piece had 3 petals) to the top of each jar.

I had this silver, silky, thick, rayon type of fabric that was a wine bottle bag, so I cut it into strips.

Then I twisted up the silver fabric into a rosette, hot-glued it to the flower - bada bing bada boom!! I love simple, easy, and beautiful! My favorites. :)

I can't wait until Saturday to see it all come together. I'm so ready for the bachelorette party tonight, too! After all this prepping, I need a drink and some laughs!

By the way, if you missed it, I was over at Creative Carmella's yesterday with other wedding crafts. Go see!!!

Guest Posting at Creative Carmella's Today!!

2011-09-28T06:00:00.012-05:00

Hey everyone! I hope you're having a great HUMP day! Come and see me over at Creative Carmella's! She is busy as a bee taking care of her sweet new baby boy, so I pitched in and gave her a guest post. I'm talking about some of the wedding crafts, so go see! And if you like my blog even a little, then you'll LOVE Carmella's! I joke that she's my long lost sister because we have so many similar tastes. So go and give her some love. :) She's in the throws of the first few weeks of baby, so she may need it.

Have a great week!!

Tipsy Tuesday: Circle Sandwich Cutter

2011-09-27T06:00:00.020-05:00

I was making the kids' lunch one day, and Michael goes, "Hey, that should be a Tipsy Tuesday." So I whipped out the camera real quick-like and made sure to make a mental note of it.

Okay, so let me set this up for you first. I have a cute, little sandwich cutter from Pampered Chef that cuts sandwiches in circles and seals the sides up, but it doesn't work so well on whole wheat bread (which...you know me by now). So it very rarely gets used.

But whenever I want the kids to eat a sandwich that they normally wouldn't try, I try to trick it up a bit - make it a circle, a robot, whatever cookie-cutter I have. So on this particular day I pulled this glass out in a rush to make a circle sandwich, and it worked surprisingly well. It sealed up the sides of the whole wheat bread and everything. I was very impressed!

So there you go, all you whole wheat bread users out there!

Guest Posting at Kingdom Twindom!

2011-09-23T07:28:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all! I'm excited to be guest posting over at my friend Sarah's blog, Kingdom Twindom +1. :) Come and see me. She's having a series of how people met her. It's a really fun idea.

Wooden Ceremony Sign

2011-09-21T12:24:00.002-05:00

So the wedding has been consuming all of my free time lately, so much so that I totally forgot to do a Tipsy Tuesday yesterday! Oh well. I'll catch up in October. Anyway, here is one of my latest crafts for the wedding.

We needed a sign in the front room where the guests arrive to point them to where the ceremony will be, as it's not very intuitive, and we don't want guests walking in on the bride or groom getting ready directly to the left of the entrance.

So I still have some of my old fence wood on my back porch that Michael forgot to take to the dump. And since I wasn't going to be sawing or sanding it, I thought it'd be okay to use.

And you know how I have a need to NOT spend money, so a real stencil was out of the question. I did, however, find an image online of a stencil that I printed out and traced.

The wood is so soft that the pen creates an indention that is easy to use as a guide while painting.

I did the same thing with a printout of the word in the font that I wanted.

There it is.

Once it was finished, however, it just wasn't what I wanted. It was too simple and plain. So I decided to bedazzle it with a little bit of yellowy fall prettiness.

And this is what I ended up with. :) I love the way the flowers make it so much better. One and a half more weeks until we can see it all come together on Lafe and Christa's big day!

Healthifying a Fav Friday: Chorizo to Soyrizo Tacos

2011-09-16T14:51:00.002-05:00

I've been wanting to start a weekly series about how to healthify an old favorite meal, but the reason I haven't yet is because the title I made up is ridiculously long and I couldn't think of a better one. I'm open to suggestions, though! Alliteration is appreciated. ;)

So here is one of my faves.

I grew up in San Antonio, and every single San Antonian is pretty much addicted to breakfast tacos. (Seriously, ask them.) They are the perfect food, except they're not so great on the waistline. Chorizo and egg happens to be my favorite breakfast taco, but it's pretty much the fattiest, too, of course.

Lucky me, though, because I discovered this bad boy about 9 years ago.

source

It's a soy version of chorizo, and if I didn't tell you before serving it to you that it was soy, you'd never be able to tell the difference. (There are other brands, but this is the one that I happened to find first.)

You'll get soyrizo for about 80-120 calories per 2oz serving (without eggs). In stark contrast you'll get full fat chorizo for about 260 calories per 2oz serving.

So here's how it works (for those of you not accustomed to the greatness of breakfast tacos).

Spray the pan with a bit of cooking spray (or whatever you like to use). Then squeeze the soyrizo out of the tubes and break it up with the spatula. Above is what it looks like uncooked.

It's kind of hard to tell when it's finished, but it will look like this. It's really okay, though, because there is no meat in it.

So now add your eggs. I used an entire package of soyrizo this time, so I added a dozen eggs (I like leftovers). You can just do one tube and use 6 eggs or even half a tube and do three eggs. You should also add your salt and pepper at this point. Just season it as you would your regular scrambled eggs.

This is what it looks like after you mix the eggs all in with your spatula.

And this is what it looks like after the eggs are cooked through.

While the eggs are cooking, dice up some tomatoes, an avocado, and get out some salsa (or really anything you like on Mexican food). This way, you fill up your taco with veggies (and flavor) and use less eggs - healthifying it even more.

Warm up your tortillas. This is how the San Antonians do it (at least the Southsiders). If you have electric, then warm up a skillet or a griddle on high and warm the tortillas on that. The microwave makes them too rubbery. I like to use the Mission Whole Wheat Carb Balance tortillas because they're 80 calories per tortilla as opposed to an average of 140 calories for the basic white tortilla.

And this is what you end up with. YUM!! We eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's just that good!

Tipsy Tuesday: Walk There

2011-09-13T12:08:00.000-05:00

So I know I already posted today, but I just couldn't leave you hangin' on my Tipsy Tuesday! So here it is.

If you need to go the store or to the post office or anywhere else nearby and you're in good health,

.....walk there!

That's it. :) I've had so much fun lately walking (and jogging) within about a 3 mile radius of my house because everything is here - the boys' schools, every grocery store I need, the post office, the library, the park. And so what if I'm in my workout clothes all day? I'd trade fitness and wonderful workout endorphins for makeup any day!

One little sub-tip: While you're driving around, pay attention to which major roads have sidewalks. You'd be surprised how out of the way you may have to walk if there is no sidewalk.

My Jogging Journey

2011-09-13T10:41:00.002-05:00

"That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going. "--Forrest Gump

Okay, so I've never been much of a long distance runner - never really had the lung capacity for it. I could sprint pretty well, but when it came to even 1/4 mile, I would get so winded. So I never really gave it much thought. For some reason, I'd do really well on the elliptical, but as soon as I'd get on the treadmill or the road, it felt like my airways were closing up.

Well, thanks to Facebook I kept seeing all of my old high school friends (and boy do I mean old - hehe) logging all of their running while training for their marathons, and lemme tell ya, I was getting jealous (in a good motivating, competitive way).

So I decided to start running, but then I got a stress fracture in my ankle*, and then this happened....

40 weeks pregnant with my third boy - How much mileage can I get out of this picture?

....need I say more.

So after Isaac was born, I was determined to get back in shape. My 40 week free-for-all did nothing for my body. So we splurged and got a Bob Revolution (oh wait, it matches with our values so it's not a splurge - holla!), and let me tell you - I LOVE IT!!!! It has totally allowed me to become a runner now. The boys (I run with Levi and Isaac) are totally content (most of the time), and it's so easy to push that it's not even a factor.

Me and Isaac and the Bob on the Royal Gorge Bridge on our Colorado vacation a few weeks ago

I didn't follow a plan or anything; I just started out walking and jogging intermittently until I ran more than I walked. I would run until I couldn't anymore, and eventually my running time was longer and longer. And today I ran for a whole hour! Well, I did drop the boys off at school in there (in which I paused my timer), so it wasn't an hour straight, but it's a hell of a lot more than I've ever run ever before, so I was happy about that. It was a little over 6 miles, and I think that's a good start.

*My disclaimer is, though, that if you want to start running, then listen to your body! A couple of summers ago I got a stress fracture because I tried to push myself into running sooner than my muscles and bones were ready. And stress fractures really suck. If I would have paced myself, then I wouldn't have had the huge setback of an injury.

So anyway, if you find yourself jealous of your running friends like I was, then just go for it! What's your workout routine lately?

Balance and How It's Hard to Find

2011-09-08T12:48:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I wrote about my philosophy with feeding my children, as it has consumed my thoughts lately with the beginning of kindergarten. My brother-in-law, John of Blog Droll (a very funny blog, if you're looking for one), had some very thought-provoking comments.

Basically, he said that his dad was so extremely strict with food that it led John to begin to sneak food, eventually leading to a full-blown food addiction. (Read about it here in his post: Why You So Fat.) My husband Michael (and John's younger brother), however, had a completely different experience growing up. Same family, same rules, totally different effects on the adult children. (It's all there in the comments if you want more deets.)

So all of that dialog made me really think about my approach with my kids. Am I too strict? Do they feel the need to sneak food? Do they feel like food is a reward? A punishment? Am I providing a good enough balance? What kind of outlook on food am I really providing them?

Of course, I would love to think that I'm balanced (we usually are in our own eyes, right). But it's just so dang hard to see those blind spots!

My awesome friend, Kellie, said it well:

Everyone's idea of balance is different, so it can be crazy sometimes. Just like all aspects of parenting, we create a beautiful well thought out plan and then continually tweak it depending what the world/our kids throw at us. ;)

Amen, sista!

Samuel and Michael

Yesterday, Samuel went to the Wednesday night kids' church, and they gave him Kool-aid and two cookies. [[CRINGE]] [[FACIAL TICK]] And when he got home he told me about it as if it were bad news. It was, in fact, a great opportunity for a teachable moment.

Although, (I know I've said this once or twice) I don't like it when other people give my kids sweets without my permission (because if the kids get sweets and junk all the time from other people, then I feel like I can't give them any myself, and thus I'm the bad guy pushing carrots in their faces all the time), we were still able to give him a healthy response to what happened. He told me about it, and I said, "Samuel, I'm so glad that you want to be healthy, but it's okay if you have treats every now and then. Did you like them?" He smiled and said he did, and then I told him to tell me about them. It was a great moment. I could even see relief come over his face at my response (which signals to me that some tweaking was needed).

Anyway, all that to say that balance is hard, but I'll continue to look for teachable moments while maintaining my views on feeding them healthfully.

Parenting is hard! Gah! Why does it have to be so easy to screw kids up but so hard not to!

Kids and Food - My Philosophy

2011-09-07T14:14:00.001-05:00

So it's no secret that I can be a bit fanatical when it comes to my philosophy on how to feed my children. (I'm a bit of a food snob - there, I said it so you don't have to.) It's been on my mind a LOT since Samuel started kindergarten. I thought that he had too many opportunities for junk food in preschool, but my word, there are a ton more now that he's in elementary! (Not to mention the "food" that they serve in the cafeteria.) It's something that I find challenging, but it's also a great passion of mine. And since you're reading this, you're probably in my camp, too. ;)

First day of kindergarten

My mission with feeding my kids is this:

I want to feed my children in such a way as to give them a healthy diet for optimal growth and development while developing in them a palette for healthy food so that they will be equipped to make healthy choices for themselves in the future.

I believe that during these formative years it is so incredibly important to give them what they need for proper nutrition to grow their bodies and brains to their greatest potential. That's what we all want, right?

I need to teach my children to make the right decisions because they can't expect to know how to make good choices on their own - they're just kids. If I don't give them the tools that they need to be able to make good decisions, then how will they know how to make good choices for their health in their adult lives? Sure, they might learn, like I did (I didn't grow up eating very healthfully), but statistically speaking, it's not likely.

There is a ton of research stating the obvious benefits to feeding your child well. You can check here and here for a couple of studies, but there are a ton out there. Sure, I do allow for snacks a few times a week that are not beneficial for them, but moderation is key for us so that they don't begin to feel left out all of the time. I also don't want the pendulum effect, where they go crazy and eat their little hearts out when they're away from me, so I allow for snacks within the moderation that our pediatrician stated was proper for them: one serving of sweets (desserts, candy, pastries, etc.) or junk (fast food, processed snacks, etc.) no more than twice a week.

As a friend reminded me yesterday, healthy is all relative. As she said, to some people healthy means that it's not fried. I used to be in that camp, but today I have many more requirements to be able to call something healthy. Whatever place on the spectrum you are, there's no judgment. I would just hope that you're moving toward the healthier side by making tiny choices everyday to be healthier. All of those tiny choices add up.

So why am I getting all preachy on you all of the sudden and not posting a craft or an embarrassing story? (I do hate being preachy, sorry, I'm just in a hissy.) Because our society is being flat out ridiculous when it comes to food, y'all! Seriously, it's driving me mad. I shouldn't be being the weird one for trying to feed my kids healthfully.

I know I've said this before, but this generation of kids is going to be the first to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Is no one else outraged at that? (I know you are, but I'm talking about all of those vast unknown peoples.) ;) It's not some mysterious cause, either. Like, 'Oooh, that's weird - I wonder why - I guess it's just destined to happen.' No, it's not! Come on! Parents have a responsibility to their children. I feel the weight of that responsibility on my shoulders every time I go to the grocery store, cook, and hand them something to eat.

Okay, sorry for yelling. But it just gets me. I think I'm ready to step off of my soapbox. Can I get a amen, though? I'm not the only food-crazy, am I?

Tipsy Tuesday: Use your china

2011-09-06T07:00:00.013-05:00

Use your china.

I love my Johnson Brothers Friendly Village. :)

I don't know if my dishes are considered "china" or not, but they are pretty, and I like them a lot (and I didn't buy them at Target). (ETA: Just discovered that "china" means it's porcelain. Mine's not. Wah-wah.) While I don't use them everyday, we do use them often in the autumn and winter (they have a winter scene on them) - when we have company, at holidays, special occasions, every chance I get.

Life is too short to not use your china. If you're not using it, then either a) use it, or b) sell it! I'd rather you just use it, though. :) Please, do it for me, use your china! Then tell me about it!

Just Married Sign

2011-08-31T22:39:00.000-05:00

When I got married, I made a "Just Married" sign for the back of our getaway car because I didn't want anyone to shoe polish our car or make it tacky in any way (I'm controlling like that). It was so cute and tasteful and simple. So the "Just Married" sign was the very first thing that my friend Christa inquired about when she began discussing design for her wedding. She asked me to make it, and then that got my foot in the door to ~~totally take over~~ be able to bless her with more of the design elements for her wedding.

The whole thing cost me about $6. It was $4 for the foam board (which I later saw at the Dollar Tree for $1 - darn!) plus maybe $2 for the suction cups.

So here's what I did. I printed up the design on a regular 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. Then I put a piece of cling wrap over the paper and traced the letters and oval with a Sharpee.

I then whipped out my trusty overhead projector that I scored on Craig's List for twenty bucks a couple of months ago, taped the board to the wall, and traced with pencil. (If you don't have an overhead, you could print the letters out to the desired size and trace them directly onto the board.)

After that I copied over it with Sharpee again. In reality, though, my Sharpee died, and so this is the combination of 4 different dying permanent markers that I found around my house. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect because no one is going to be seeing it up close. ;)

So then I attempted to cut the oval out with scissors, but my suspicions were confirmed when that didn't work (it crumples the board and makes the edges jagged). So I had to use the Exacto knife. I didn't really try to do it very slowly or methodically, so there is a bit more imperfection than I wanted, but I think it's fine. (Plus, I had a teething baby pulling at my leg most of the time, so I'm good with what I got.)

Christa's graphic artist friend that designed the invitations emailed me the files of the graphics that she used, so I printed up the swallow and glued it to the scrap of foam board.

I used the Exacto again to cut it out, but it was really rough looking, so I filed down the rough edges with an emery board. It worked surprisingly well.

I then eye-balled an outline, penciled it in, and then painted it with the grey paint that I've used for all of the other decor that has been painted. (I mixed together a jar of grey and a jar of yellow to use for everything.)

I decided to do the edges, too, because it just looked better. I set it atop a paint jar to dry.

Then I painted the yellow line. (If you add a tiny bit of water to your brush, you're able to make longer, smoother, straighter strokes.)

That all dried pretty quickly, so I was ready for the next step. I got some suction cups and removed the hooks.

Then I hot-glued them to the back. This is how the sign will stick to the back windshield of the car. It's an extremely strong hold.

Bodda-bing-bodda-boom! Imagine it with some silver cans wrapped in 3-4 inch yellow ribbon dangling from the back. :) Cute!

I'm linking up to my sweet friend's awesome party!

Tipsy Tuesday: A Place of Honor

2011-08-30T07:00:00.002-05:00

I absolutely love Peter Walsh from TLC's Clean Sweep. He totally speaks my language. One day I saw him on Oprah, and he said something that has so stuck with me. He said if something has sentimental value to you, then give it a place of honor. Don't let your sentimental items become clutter because then they become a burden to you instead of a joy. (Dang, that's good, isn't it?!)

So this is a Barbie dress that my great-grandmother had made for my mom when she was a kid. I always loved it, but I had it packed into my jewelry box for some reason. I ran across it one day, and Peter's words chimed in my head: "Give it a place of honor." So I went out an bought a shadow box. I'm so glad I did, too, because I just love looking at it everyday, something I wasn't able to do with it packed away.

Do you have anything that you need to give a place of honor to? Need some display ideas?

Carrot French Toast Recipe

2011-08-28T14:57:00.000-05:00

We are some French toast lovin' fools over here at the Hedgie house. But wouldn't it be nice to sneak even more veggies into our breakfast?! Well, here you go. This is such an easy recipe, and you will LOVE it! I got the idea from here but changed it up a bit. I love it, too, because it's another way to eat carrots besides the usual sticks!

Carrot French Toast
Ingredients
3 carrots shredded
6 slices whole wheat bread
4 large eggs
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Pre-heat your griddle or large skillet to medium-low.

In a wide, shallow bowl beat together eggs, milk, and vanilla. In another wide, shallow bowl mix together the shredded carrots and spices.

Dip a slice of bread in the egg mixture for a few seconds, flipping to get the batter on each side evenly.

Then move the bread into the carrots. You'll have to use your fingers to press as much of the carrots as you want onto the bread.

Then dip it briefly back into the eggs just long enough to give it a coating of eggs so that the carrots will stick on.

Now spray your griddle with non-stick spray (or use butter if you're not counting calories).

And grill on each side until golden brown - about 2-3 minutes on each side.

The inside should be moist and soft while the outside is slightly crisp and golden brown.

Toppings can be as simple or extravagant as you want - have fun with it! Here are some options that I enjoy (usually several at a time):
plain yogurt
honey
maple syrup
unsweetened shredded coconut
walnuts
slivered almonds
granola
rolled oats
berries
bananas
pineapples
apples

You get the idea. ;) I really hope you try this; it's delicious! Both of my very picky boys asked for seconds. Let me know if you try it and how you like it! Veg it up, yo!

Veggin' it up...again

2011-08-27T11:40:00.000-05:00

OK, I'm gonna do it again, but bear with me because I just can't help it! I can't stop saying how much I LOVE my produce co-op! I told you way back when that's it's easy, and I told you how I love to veg up our food, but I don't think I've ever connected the two in one post. So let it be my thesis:

I love produce co-op because it allows me to veg up our food!

Simple, yes. That's the idea. (I love simplicity.) So here's what I used to do. I would make a meal plan for the week or ten days or whatever I was doing at the time, and then I'd go to the store for what I needed. I would then use up what I had purchased and start the process over again.

Well now...I get my co-op every two weeks, store it in such a way that it lasts, make my meal plan based on what I got at co-op, go to the store for non-produce stuff, and make said meals. Well, there are inevitably lots more veggies and fruits leftover, so of course I don't want them to go to waste.

So every time I cook, I look inside my frig for a veg to throw in there somehow. This morning I made whole wheat waffles, and instead of oil, I used shredded yellow squash. The kids LOVED it! I've also made carrot French toast, which was a huge hit. I put all kinds of veggie purees in almost everything that I make. (If the veg is getting to the end of it's life, then I steam it, puree it, then freeze it.) You can just get as crazy as you want to get with it.

Anyway, I can go on and one, but there you have it. I just had to get that really quickly while I stand here with a towel in my hair at the kitchen counter getting ready to go to a birthday party after the baby wakes up because I was just that excited about how my kids ate yellow squash for breakfast and didn't bat an eye.

My Height

2011-08-26T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've been 5'2" since I was about 15 years old, and I've always liked it. I've checked it over and over again, like you do, but nope - still 5'2". Short girls generally like being short. I mean, we give up ideas of being a supermodel, but once we accept that, we're generally happy about being short since it's associated with "cute" and "little". I think most girls are fine with being considered those things.

(Disclaimer: I realize I'm speaking for a very large segment of the population with no research backing up my assumptions, so whatever...hehe...take it with a grain of salt. It's a blog, yo. If you disagree, I'm alright with that.)

Anyway, I went in for a physical a few months ago, and the nurse told me that I measured in at 5'3". Really?!?! I grew an inch since my mid-twenties? Is that even possible?

I don't really know how I feel about that. I've always considered 5'3" as average. (I'm sure I'm wrong about that; it's just a mental thing.) So I don't get to be short anymore? I don't think I like it. Although, my BMI does go down with an extra inch. Hmmm...I think I'll still get a second opinion.

So you got to the end of this post, and you're like, 'Seriously? That's all? What's the point of that?' I'm sorry, my friend. There was no point. Just chatting. Hehe.

P.S. I've given up on the photography challenge. I'm sorry!! I can't add one more thing to life right now.

Lunch Box

2011-08-25T12:33:00.001-05:00

So I'm officially the mom of a kindergartener. I do realize that I'm a newb/noob, when I'm there at school picking up and dropping off - just tryin' to figure it all out. I realized something this week. You know those super-organized, way on-top-of-it moms that you just think, 'Where does she get all of the energy to stay so organized?' Well, I believe now that that level of organization is born out of necessity more than anything else. School twice a week was a breeze, but everyday?! I'm totally feeling the need to get organized.

One thing I decided on, until I get my sea legs, is a lunch menu. I'm just going to make the same five meals until I get the hang of things and feel confident that he'd eat other things. I am adding things to my list of ideas (need to get a thermos!), but for now it's the same five meals over and over.

I know I've told you this before, but this Super Healthy Kids blog has been uh-mazing and so inspiring!!! OK so that said, with all of the effort that I've been putting into giving Samuel healthy lunches, how do you think I felt when he told me that they gave him cookies as a snack two days in a row followed by Cheeze-itz yesterday? Uh...a bit infuriated, kids.

So I talked to Michael, and we came up with a plan to deal with the lack of control that we have in that situation. It's annoying, but what do you do? The only time we'll have control is when we bring the snacks, so until then we just have to equip Samuel to make good decisions. So basically, if he decides to eat the snacks at school, that's fine. If he decides to eat the fruit I pack him as a snack, then he gets to continue with his 2-desserts-a-week tradition at home, which will be a much better choice than the crappy processed food that he'll get at school.

So, ya wanna see my new favorite lunch box? (My opinions only - no one ever pays me for these awesome endorsements..) It's made by Sistema, and I found it at Old Navy of all places. That's also where I've bought several stainless steel water bottles. They're great prices, and the kids love them. Anyway, this lunch box is awesome! It has separate compartments and keeps the "sandwich" area separate from the others. I just pack this in his insulated lunch box with a cool pack, and it works great.

This lunch has grapes, a string cheese stick, and mini rice cake sandwiches with PB2.

Cute, huh?!

So what lunch box ideas do you have up your sleeve for keeping it healthy? I'm AAALLLLLLLL ears!!

Tipsy Tuesday: Bouquet Display

2011-08-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

A basketball display case doubles fabulously as a wedding bouquet display case. Never pay full price, though. Hobby Lobby has them for half off all the time.

Netflix is reviving my kids' imagination...sort of

2011-08-19T09:41:00.000-05:00

Michael and I are always trying to figure out what works best financially and philosophically for our family, so we like to change things up a lot until something really works. That's why we've had probably seven different budgeting programs before we found one that we loved, about thirty different approaches to discipline, and about a gazillion different potty-training methods.

So one of our latest switch-a-roos has been our TV situation. Up until the whole digital switch, we just had a regular ol' TV (a big tube one) with an antenna, and the kids watched PBS during the day. It was actually pretty nice because they didn't get all demanding. Then we went big-time and got a flat screen and DirecTV when everything switched to digital a few years ago. We scaled the number of channels down, but we had a ton of kids' shows on the DVR. Enter the demands...

Despite our attempts at limiting the kids' TV watching with various charts and cards and rewards and whatnots, it was making us uncomfortable with how much TV they were getting away with watching. Plus, we were wanting to spend less money on such a pointless activity that didn't match up with our values anyway. So we decided to switch things up once again.

We did away with DirecTV and decided on a Netflix and HuluPlus subscription. Now, unless you buy movies and shows ala carte, there is a very limited selection. For many people this is a major problem, but for us it was brilliant!!! We don't want to watch much TV. We want TV to serve us, not us to serve the TV!

So now the kids actually get pretty bored with TV since they end up watching the same things over and over and since they are only allowed to watch it when the baby is sleeping and at a low volume. Thus, they play a LOT more! I love hearing their huge imaginations blossoming and expanding as they play with their trains and toys and create their own stories. AND they are more well-behaved! It's really been amazing. I'm so happy with this switch.

So that's where we're at with TV. How do you tame the TV beast in your house?

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Oh, and you probably didn't notice, but I TOTALLY forgot to do my Thursday photography challenge yesterday! The topic was "Dinner", and I made the most awesome carrot pancakes last night, but we ate them all! So now I just have to make them again so that I can share them with you. They are, in a word, awesome, and you just have to make them, too!

Have fun this weekend! School starts on Monday for our little kindergartener, so we're going to take it easy this weekend. I hope you have a good one! :)

Tipsy Tuesday: Ditch the bookcovers

2011-08-16T07:00:00.024-05:00

Chances are, if you're a craft or decorator blogger, then this is very obvious to you. But since I have many readers that are not, I thought this was worth sharing.

Take your book jackets off before you display them.

It's okay, I promise they're not going to fall apart. I put all my book covers in a plastic bin in my shed for when it's time to sell them.

Oh, and turn them on their side and play with different setups. Use them to display your other items. Just don't crowd your shelves.

That's all I got. How d'you like that? ;)

Things I Learned on Vacation

2011-08-15T15:37:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back from my amazing Colorado vacation. I said goodbye to cool summer breezes and hello to hairdryer wind.

I hope you enjoyed my wonderful guest bloggers! Thanks, Sarah and Kate! Y'all are awesome, and I loved reading your posts and seeing that others were inspired by your words, as well.

I always look forward to vacation because I usually learn something new or gain a deeper appreciation for something I hadn't thought of before. This year in Colorado I learned a lot. It's such an inspiring place; you'd be hard-pressed to not learn something. I have been several times before, but this was the first time I had been with kids, so it put a totally new spin on it. Here are some of the nuggets I took home with me:

1. I am most uptight and unhappy when I am the least empathetic and selfless.

2. Nutritious food makes for happier and more well-behaved kids (and parents), and crappy food makes for crappy attitudes and behavior.

3. My kids can do way more than I expect out of them.

4. Contentment is necessary before dreams can be fulfilled.

5. Having three boys beckons me to live adventurously.

6. Having experiences like this with my family is absolutely priceless.

7. Colorado is inspiring to the point of tears. (Literally.)