Daily Archives: October 20, 2008

Right Now…

Posted on by

Saw this meme of sorts over @ Diary of a Stay At Home Mom and thought it was so perfect I had to play along. Hope she doesn’t mind me stealing it!

Right Now, I am:

feeling… tired and ready to take some cold medicine but not quite ready to be knocked out by said cold medicine, so I’m waiting…

enjoying… a cool glass of root beer which I know probably isn’t the healthiest thing to be drinking at night but I had it with some yummy Trader Joe’s Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream which was so perfect. The ice cream I didn’t  finish, because I decided, “you know what, I’m full.” Cause I’m healthy like that.

wondering… how I feel about the background color of the blog. I like that it’s blue but do I like THIS blue… dh says yes, it’s perfect, but you know me, never content to just let it be… I do love that I finally got the header image and blog and navigation bar all stacked together instead of having gaps in between… purrrrrfect…

listening… well we were watching Sarah Connor Chronicles so I was listening to the tv but now I’m listening to the sound of nothing because dh seems to have retired for the evening, probably trying to hint that I should, too…

drinking… that delicious root beer

wanting… to finish the book I’m reading so I can start this or this or this…

loving… my son’s Halloween Costume. A bit of fabric paint and it will be all done! It’s SOOOOO cute!

looking… forward to the feeling of my head resting against my wonderfully soft pillow on my wonderful new bed for the night…

What are you doing, right now?

In Other News…

Posted on by
  • I really want to bake peanut butter cookies but I’m worried that would be the epitome of further sabotaging my diet. But I saw this great recipe in Parents Magazine which only needs peanut butter, sugar & an egg – I have all those things! And don’t you think my adorable two year old would enjoy making cookies with his momma… I know I could give some cookies away, but that involves going out, which I’m hoping not to do until the weekend. By then they’ll be long gone.
  • I just ordered our Christmas cards from Walmart’s photo website. I am not always the biggest Walmart fan but I do love their photo products and their prices seriously cannot be beat. I made our 2008 calendar there and it came out great! I’m using my iMac to make next year’s calendar, because it means I can use iPhoto which is just easier and only a few dollars more expensive. Holiday cards really aren’t cost effective via iPhoto though so thank god for Walmart! I say the same thing, btw, when I need new clothes. Apparently only Walmart understands my body type. I’m not sure what that says about me… Do you guys like Walmart or are you strictly Target Types? Or other?
  • I’ve had four glasses of water today (the big TALL glasses) and had trail mix for a snack with MM – so even though I haven’t exercised today I’m still feeling pretty proud of myself and super healthy – I lost 3 pounds last week doing nothing so maybe doing a teeny tiny something this week will help the trend to continue?
  • I also organized MM’s toys while he was napping, trying to instead of stashing things in two huge crates and rotating, keep all the crates out at once and organize the toys so that stuffed animals are here, cars and trucks and planes are here, etc. So far I think it’s working well but we’ll see. I really don’t want to have to get rid of toys but Christmas is fast approaching. Still I think we’ll see what kind of loot we get before we go hastily getting rid of (although to be fair, none of his old toys are gone, they are just in boxes in our bedroom, which would prefer we not bring more boxes into).
  • The Halloween costume is ALMOST time. I bought dh a new sewing machine this weekend (apparently our old one only did ONE stitch, how lame is that? The new one only does 16, but he says that’s a world of difference and that it does all these other cool things, too. Please don’t tell him I’m betraying his manliness again by telling you all of this, but I love it. If he gets really good at this sewing thing he can teach me how to do some of it. But you know he’ll just do a better job. Meanwhile … I blog like nobody’s business? I’m sure I’m good at something. So he does the sewing, makes homemade breads, pizzas and anything else he puts his mind to and he’s a genius. I’m… good at spell checking. Usually.
  • This may or may not be the only random bullet points post I ever make. Usually I try to reign it in and make one topic per post, but I wanted to just talk for awhile, like in a diary or something and just get it out a bit. Without continuing to cry about my dead hamster and lack of pregnancy. You understand right?

momma changes her blog design a lot

Posted on by

If you are reading this from your Google Reader (which I applaud) you might consider popping over to my site for a minute to check out the new design (yes another one, I do realize there is something wrong with me), really just a new header with a snazzy new button to go with it. The button is possibly less snazzy than the header. And I suppose I’m mostly just hoping the header is snazzy because I made it, so please don’t be too harsh on me.

I love the concept. I got to thinking awhile back about what my blog means, what the name means and how I would picture that visually to come up with a header design that really resonated with my blog. I loved the header that my friend Amanda @ Funkepunkemonke made for me but I still felt that my blog image was incomplete, not quite right, not quite me. Pretty, but not me.

So what does mommablogsalot mean? I mean I think it’s pretty obvious. My old catch phrase was “changes thru the ages, she blogs through all the stages” which was cute. I pictured having a little evolution time line with my son as a little “monkey boy” evolving from one end of the header to another, but then thought, “I’ve only been blogging for about 6 months, not much evolution has happened yet.” Which is fine. Years from now maybe that header idea will be perfect. But not yet.

Then I thought about the simple idea that I blog a LOT. That a day can go by sometimes and I might find myself blogging in the morning, afternoon, evening or anytime in between. I pictured a blog header that was like a clock face with various images on any side of it that would happen then. Then I thought, “That would be an ugly cluttered mess.”

I tried to decide if my blog should have little cartoon people. A lot of your blogs do and I think they look so awesome but one blog I’m always loving is Daily Mish Mash which does not have a person in the header and I kind of admire that in a weird way. Her blog looks awesome and chic and so pretty without a lot of hooplah. It just is. Because her blog is just awesome. And fairly self explanatory. I think my blog is kind of similar in that it just is, and the advantage of not having people in the header is that I can’t draw people. I mean stick figures sure, but let’s not resort to that just yet, right?

So I decided to compromise with my ideas and play around in Gimp and the header above was my end result. Do you like it? Do you GET it? My husband helped with the moon because at one point I was trying to freehand that on the computer and I’ll freely admit it wasn’t pretty. I love my little catch phrase “definition” up there because well one, it’s true and two, I think it kind of explains and doesn’t explain at the same time. It just is. True. And I love the definition bit because I’m a lame-o English Major.

So what do you guys think? Is this good? Should I fork over my money to the professionals or even go back to Amanda’s design? I don’t want anyone to think it was that I didn’t appreciate or like the old header, I did, it’s just, you know you get this vision in your mind and you just need to try and show and explain that somehow. So I took a chance. I hope you like it. And me, or rather, my blog. No really, me. LIKE ME.

Okay, fishing for compliments = over. As you were.

Looking Fine 2009: Week 8

Posted on by

Sorry I bailed on you guys last week and totally neglected posting. If you must know I lost .5 pounds last week – which is absurd because like 4 or 5 of those days prior involved me walking, for various reasons, for so long and so far that I should have lost 50 pounds just as a thank you to my legs.

LAST week I decided diets were for losers and that exercise was for skinny people. Last week I broke every rule in the book. I baked and ate like a ton of cookies. I had dh buy my favorite potato chips. There was ice cream and soda and FUN times basically. I don’t know how much water I drank because I didn’t care. And I didn’t exercise once. It was awesome.

Now, to be fair, last week I got my period. Which means last week I found out I still wasn’t pregnant. And last week my hamster died. Last week I had to babysit SB 4 days in a row, 3 of those days from noonish until 9ish. And I couldn’t exercise any of those days because naptime (when I normally work out now to avoid being laughed at by a two year old – it’s not really an incentive so much as a way of making you want to hide under the covers that aren’t there because it’s not bedtime) now involved a three year old kid “sleeping” in the living room who I could wake up with my antics of jiggling. Not that they napped, because apparently they’ve both decided naptime is for lame-os. I know, it’s a cop out – but, did I mention my hamster dying or the period?

Are you ready for the best part? I lost three pounds. Not dieting rocks. The potato chips were delicious. The cookies? I might make some more. Now before you go yelling at me, I’m back to my water rations and the potato chips are gone (and I won’t be buying more) and as soon as Netflix recieves the movies I returned they should be sending out a Pilates DVD and any day I don’t have a second kid around I’ll be working out. Just as soon as my period is gone. Because I’m pretty sure lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place. Or something.

Anybody else lose any weight for no apparent reason? Or did way better than lame-o me? Or worse? Can we play the game of whose life sucks more, cause that’s always fun! I’m all ears…..

Monday Morning: October 20th

Posted on by

It’s time for Monday Morning with Write From Karen. Today’s questions are varied per usual with topics about the library, to-do lists, birth order and a fun fill-in! Hope you guys are having a good Monday today – I’m a bit cold but halfway through laundry! Woohoo! DH did a random load in the middle of the weekend so I only had two loads today which is absurdly small for us. Did I mention I’m thrilled? I know you don’t care, back to memeing.

October 20th Questions:

1.What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have any funny/odd memories of the library? I’ve blogged about this a gazillion times (or at least twice) and honestly don’t feel like typing it all out again so here is my response. It’s question one there, too. It really is a great story about my grandmother (she took me) but come on, it’s Monday Morning and I’m lazy on Monday mornings, laundry aside!

2. What two things are at the top of your to-do list? When do you think you’ll get around to doing those things? How good are you at crossing things off your to-do list? Finish my son’s Halloween costume and return the failed attempt at mail sorting to The Container Store and find a system that works for us. The Halloween costume should be done by the end of the upcoming weekend (with one week to spare!). The container store trip should also be done at the same time. I have to-do lists for everything. I’m pretty prompt about most things and get them done on time, some things linger for awhile longer, but for pretty obvious reasons. But if it’s on my list, chances are it will get done.

3. Where do you come in the family? Are you the oldest? Youngest? Only child? Or smack in the middle? How do you think this has affected the way you grew up? Would you agree with your birth order personality? Are you happy with your birth order, or do you wish you had been the oldest/youngest, etc. I am both a first born and only child, I was the first of my mother’s children (she’s had seven now) but raised by my father, making me an only child while growing up. Looking through the lists on the above mentioned website, I think I easily fit both traits (first born and only) but I know that’s common, as I’ve seen similar lists before. I definitely get along better with grownups, especially so as a child, as most of the people around me were adults. I grew up pretty quick and was always mature for my age. I lean more towards the compliant traits of a first born, being a bit of a people pleaser, I definitely crave acceptance and have a bit of a nurturing personality. I suppose I’m happy with my birth order but it would have been nice to have siblings. I hope that my son has a sibling eventually.

4. If it wasn’t for the cost of living , I would probably want to stay in the state I’m currently living in. All of my family is here and in a lot of ways I love the area, but at the same time I think it will be very good for our family to move soon and spread our wings a bit. My husband has lived in the same state his whole life so this is doubly true for him. My family (well my dad and I at least) moved a lot so I think that urge to travel is imprinted in me, but I also look forward to moving somewhere new as an adult, I know it will be different than it was when I was a child and I still want to see more of the world and experience new things Luckily my husband agrees.

If you decide to participate in the Monday Morning Meme, be sure to link up at Write From Karen and read the other participants responses, too!