Tag: working momma 247

Categories
family fun

5 Great Things…

First off, I just wanted to thank everyone for your kind comments and words of encouragement in yesterday’s post. You guys are wonderful and between your words of advice and the general therapeutic nature of writing, I felt a lot better. Anyway, I thought I’d take a different approach today and write about the things that are going really well – that way I’ll have given equal attention to the good and the bad of these days, which are so fleeting…

Jean @ Working Momma 247 has been doing Gratitude Posts lately and that is really what inspired me to give this a go, so here are 5 things that I’m grateful for / happy about right now or just things that have made me smile…

  1. I finally finished reading Dead Until Dark last night – I feel very proud of myself for sticking with it, never mind for finding reading time at night again. I actually ended up really liking this book – I’ll try to write a review soon.
  2. Last night Dan attempted to make a 5 course dinner in celebration of our anniversary. I think it was a little overly ambitious, especially with him not getting home to start cooking until 6:00 pm and us having the new baby and the crazy preschooler, but we had a fun time anyway. Even when he caught the garlic bread on fire. It was actually a really nice night and there was really no point where either of us were upset when our plans went crazy it was just kind of like, “Yeah this is our life now.” I am impressed looking back on it, at how well we both just rolled with the punches. 5 courses turned into roughly 3 which I commented was maybe perfect for a 3 year anniversary. Maybe in two years we’ll attempt it again? We still have the ingredients to attempt courses 4 and 5 sometime this weekend maybe.
  3. MM has added two new phrases to his constant vocabulary – “two minutes” as in, two more minutes until nap time, bedtime, diaper change etc. He says it so cutely that it’s hard to be annoyed, never mind the cleverness of his scheme to bide his time. The other phrase is “two little” as in, I’ll have “just two little crackers” or “two little grapes” or “two little oatmeal.” This one doesn’t really mean he wants 2 – one bowl of oatmeal is fine and he will want more than two grapes but again – it’s cute. He’s cute. There’s cuteness.
  4. We finally got our washer / dryer fixed – again. Apparently another bird made another nest in the vent and our office manager guy came himself, climbed up on the window sill in MM’s room (teaching him new bad habits – hurray!) and got it out, then added a vent cover so as to nip the problem in the bud. And that night Dan added to our child proofing stick in the window thing so that MM will definitely not be able to open to window to reenact our office manager’s actions. In retrospect, I totally shouldn’t have let him watch, but all is good and fixed. Finally.
  5. BB is just beautiful – have I said that enough? She’s healthy and happy and nurses well and is getting bigger and becoming more alert during the day and we are all crazily in love with her. And when the bad seems to pile up on me, it really should be remembered – that I have two beautiful, healthy, brilliant children – not to mention a helpful, caring, patient husband who cooks me 3 to 5 course meals and changes the diapers at night…

How about you? What are 5 great things in your life right now?

Categories
family fun

(The Last) Weekend Diversions (For Now)

Lately I’ve been feeling like this ship has run it’s course. It started out fun and then it started to feel like work and then I thought, “Woah – this is a blog – not a job!” I don’t think it should ever, ever feel like work around here – this is my hobby! So I’m bidding Weekend Diversions farewell for now. That doesn’t mean I’ll never post another funny video or game – I just won’t post all of them at once on a weekly basis – let’s divert our attention any day of the week!

Anyway – for old times’ sake – here are four of the diversions I’d had lined up, the four things I’ve been wasting my time with the most and / or consider worthy of mention:

  • Awesome New Facebook App: Who doesn’t need another way to kill time on Facebook? UNO has been all the rage in my circle lately – I’m not proud to admit that the first couple times I played it I could not figure it out! Word of advice – make sure you are trying to play UNO and not, say, Phase 10 or Rummy. They aren’t the same. At all. Thanks to Jean @ Working Momma 247 for turning me on to this seriously addictive game. My husband and son might not be so thankful.
  • Awesome Ryan Gosling Fan Page NOT Run By Daily Mish Mash: Check out F*ck Yeah! Ryan Gosling if you are into all things Gos’ or just like a good laugh combined with a good swoon. Obviously Jen pointed this one out to me, as a joke actually, but I thought – god forbid some poor Gosling fan out there not get her fix of all that goodness. Consider this my act of community service for the day.
  • Awesome SNL Video Where Justin Timberlake Basically Makes Fun Of Himself And It’s Awesome: My husband showed me this video this morning and it was too good to not share with you all. I’m betting you’ve all already seen it and I’m jumping on a bandwagon like way after the fact, but what else is new? Seriously, check this one out.
  • Awesomely Uplifiting Website That Makes This Economy Seem Less Sucktastic Or At Least Points Out The Silver Lining: Cards of Change is this great little collection of old business cards and notes written by the people who formerly held the job titles printed on them. It really kind of shows how life goes on and gets better and that all endings are really just new beginnings…

And on that note, have a great weekend!

Categories
daybook memes & carnivals

Simple Woman’s Daybook: April 20

I almost never do this meme but my thoughts and life are so all over the place I thought this might help me to get all the miscellaneousness out into blog form. Plus Jean does it, so clearly it’s cool.

Outside My Window: Spring has finally sprung. Warmer weather has prevailed for the most part, although the wind has kept today pretty cool despite supposedly high temperatures. And it’s only supposed to get warmer from here on out. The trees are also starting to bud which is good to see, after this winter’s ice storms I was a bit worried as to how many trees would actually survive but the cycle of life seems to be carrying on okay.

I am hearing: Sweet silence. The boy is napping and Dan is working on a presentation because…

I am thinking: HURRAY! Dream Company is flying out Dan and I for an in person interview. We’ll be getting there the day before the interview to “sight-see” around the area. We’re planning to go apartment hunting and look at the five places I’ve narrowed my list down to thanks to internet searching. Assuming that they can give him a yes or no answer by the time he leaves the interview, we may be able to put down a deposit before we fly home. ::fingers crossed::

I am hoping: That Dream Company gets back to us tonight with flight plans. I’d love to be able to start planning for that ASAP. I already have my doctor’s written seal of approval to fly and as soon as I have dates I can arrange child care for MM and set up some appointments to look at apartments while we’re there. I’m not jumping the gun on this, I don’t think. I want to have anything planned that I can in the event that they are smart and hire him.

From The Kitchen – This whole menu is subject to change if we find ourselves traveling really soon.
Monday: We’re having dinner at my grandma’s tonight – yay for not cooking!
Tuesday: Spaghetti Bolognese – my husband is very excited, he loved this dish the last time I made it. I’m excited to have him home to sauté the onions for me.
Wednesday: Cheesy Chicken & Vegetables thing – I’m trying to make mac & cheese look healthy basically
Thursday: Burger night – I’ll be putting BBQ sauce and sweet pickle relish on mine – oh and cheese obviously
Friday: I’ll have the hubs make pepperoni pizza

I am reading: The Host by Stephenie Meyer – finally, I know. I’m about 200 pages in and mostly loving it. It’s long dude, but the story is very riveting and I’m definitely in it for the long haul. I’m occasionally loathing half the main “character,” Melenie. Sure I feel sorry for her, but sometimes her dumbness just annoys me. And I’m pretty curious to see how their little love triangle could possibly work out, although right now them surviving seems to be top priority over any love connections that might work out. I’m liking it, it’d be easier if I weren’t always exhausted by the time I sat down to read at night.

I am creating: A cookbook – I’m reviewing the bookmaking website blurb.com for Momma’s Review and making a book of all of our favorite family recipes. It’s been quite a task gathering all those recipes, since they are currently all over the place in various forms of “organization” but I love their software so far and all the control they give you creatively. I look forward to seeing / using the final product.

Around the house: I’m trying to get laundry done but more people seem to be home during the week than normal and the laundry room “schedule” seems to be  a bit crazy. I got one load in and I’ll try again tomorrow, unfortunately I wasn’t able to battle for my territory since I had other things to do today, too. Oh well. In the meantime, I’m now looking around the apartment, picturing everything in boxes, which it might be soon if we get this job. I wonder how quickly we’ll be able to move…

One of my favorite things: Having that sweet husband of mine home to help with cooking and playing with the boy. Also getting to visit family a lot more often than usual, trying to squeeze it all in now while we can in case this Really Does Happen.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Look for a new pair of maternity pants – preferably something non-denim and inexpensive; Get Dan’s hair cut for the interview, likely start packing for the flight soon & all that jazz that I mentioned above.

A Picture Thought: How cute are my boys in this adorable shot? I don’t think I’ve posted this one yet, but my appologies if I have. Pregnant brain and all.

Categories
contests & giveaways

Spreading Some Bloggy Love

My old swap buddy Meg @ Faith & Gasoline just gave me the Kreativ Blogger award! She’s such a sweetie and today seemed like the perfect day to spread a little bloggy love, so now I’m going to pass it on to some of you, my loyal and faithful readers! But first – the rules:

  1. List seven of the things I love.
  2. Present the Kreativ Blogger award to seven other bloggers.

Seven Things I Looooooove Are:

  1. My Family – this is all inclusive, because, duh obviously I love my husband, my son, my not-yet-born little BB, my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles – it would get tedious to list them all, but a crime to leave any out – so they’re all getting grouped together right here! Hope they like being all squished together-like!
  2. Getting Great Stuff For Free – like this cool Itzbeen Baby Care Timer that I reviewed @ Momma’s Review today. I can’t wait till little BB is born so I can put this to excellent use! Being a review blogger is pretty much the most awesome thing I’ve ever done and working for my bestie Ange is pretty fantastic. I’ll be reviewing a lot of other great stuff soon, so if you haven’t bookmarked Momma’s Review yet you really should!
  3. The book I’m reading! – I’ve had excellent book luck so far this year and Waiting For Birdy by Catherine Newman is no exception. Get this guys – it’s a memoir by a woman who wrote a column at babycenter.com about finding out she was pregnant with her second child (when her first child, a son, was about 2 1/2) and all those weird second time around, “Do I really want this?” stuff as well as typical mommy worries, potty training, etc. It’s like reading about my life by someone way better at writing than me. Spooky but awesome. You can read some great teasers for this book here.
  4. Breyer’s Double Fudge Brownie Fat Free Ice Cream – this stuff is delicious – like swoon worthy and only has 110 calories in a one cup serving. It’s unreal. We switched to frozen yogurt for awhile to cut down on calories and were pretty happy with that decision – then in walked this ice cream and BAM are we hooked. It’s like guilt free heaven.
  5. Cuddling With MM – he’s growing up so fast, learning new things every day and gaining independence by leaps and bounds. He annoys the heck out of me (especially when he strips down naked and pees all over his bed) but man I love just sitting down and cuddling with him – and I love it when he asks me to cuddle – he really is the best!
  6. Whole Foods – I had never been to a Whole Foods before and wasn’t really sure what the hype was. I mean, isn’t Trader Joe’s good enough? And while I love me some TJ, now that I’ve been to a Whole Foods, I get the hype. They are nice – it’s kind of like going to the Gourmet Grocery Store except stuff is still very reasonably priced. I just wish our closest location were a little bit closer and not quite in quite so ghetto a neighborhood. Our location does story time with milk and cookies on Tuesdays and seriously if they weren’t where they are, I’d be loving the idea of taking MM there for that!
  7. Yogi Chai Tea – I’ve been a pretty huge Tazo fan for awhile and still love their teas (especially the frappucino style you can get at Starbucks) but I recently tried Yogi Tea’s chai for the first time (I found it at our Whole Foods) and oh my lord, it is heavenly. It has a little bit lighter of a flavor but still so delicious and the aroma is just out of this world. By far the best cuppa tea I’ve ever had.

Wasn’t that fun? I think even managed to sneak in some blogging about things I’ve been doing lately, etc. that would have been too ittle for a blog post of their own – it’s like a “random stuff” post with a purpose – not to mention how nice it is to think about all the awesome stuff in our lives, instead of just our gripes and complaints (sore back, sprained foot, my car’s check enginge light is on, my son strips down naked and pees all over his bed…) so it seems fititng that I end this with something else that makes me superly happy and filled to tbe brim with love – YOU! Here’s a special little shout out to seven of my readers who make me smile constantly:

  1. Krystyn @ Really Are You Serious
  2. Scrap Girl @ Serendipity
  3. Sue @ My Musings
  4. Ange @ Red Knows How
  5. Jen @ Stuff Jen Says
  6. Nancy @ Life With My Boys
  7. Jean @ Working Momma 247
Categories
contests & giveaways

Honest To Blog?

I’ve been waiting to use that line ever since first seeing the movie Juno. The loverly Jen @ Our Daily Big Top has finally given me the chance to fulfill that goal – because she awarded me with the Honest Award yesterday! How great is she?

So here are the award’s rules:

  • Write a post about the award, link back to the person who gave you the award.
  • Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
  • Add links to those blogs on your blog.
  • Leave a message for the nominees on their blogs.
  • Name 10 honest random things about yourself.

Okay so honestly…

  1. I am terrified of the dentist – I know that normal healthy people make it a habit of seeing a dentist regularly, but they unnerve me and I’ve had such awful dental experiences, some of which I am still convinced were more the dentist’s fault than my own, that I now avoid going as long as possible. Yet I plan to somehow avoid passing that paranoia onto my own son, don’t ask me how…
  2. I am not much of a housekeeper. I try to keep things modestly clean, but to be honest, I hate vacuuming, mopping, cleaning the bathroom – all the usual things – the only chores I seem to be good at doing regularly are doing the dishes, the laundry and general tidying up. Anything involving a deep scrub and I probably haven’t done it recently.
  3. I actually make dh clean our bathroom, because he was raised by a germophobe and I know he’ll do it right the first time.
  4. I don’t know how to whistle, roller skate, use a yo-yo, and several other things that most kids learn as, well, kids.
  5. I’m a terrible swimmer – and will not go into water where my feet can’t touch the bottom.
  6. I have probably kissed more boys than you. Sorry, but it’s true. I’d be really surprised if it wasn’t. I was absolutely boy-crazy growing up and infatuated with finding love, so I looked everywhere and considered pretty much every guy I knew my potential perfect mate – in retrospect, I kind of wish I’d dated less looking back now.
  7. Speaking of being boy-crazy, I was a huge teenie bopper as a tween / teen – my favorite all-time band for YEARS longer than I care to admit was the Backstreet Boys and I was pretty obsessed.
  8. I hate reading the news. That’s kind of bad because not too long ago I was the News Editor of my school paper and went on to become the Managing Editor and even Editor-in-Chief for awhile (I was a terrible EIC which surprised me, but I was more than happy to go back to Managing Editor after finding out). I can tell you it is really hard reading all those articles when they are slightly completely boring to you.
  9. I spend way too much time online – sometimes I know I should be doing something else, like playing with my kid, but it can be really, really hard to tear yourself away some days. You guys are addicting!
  10. I am just as terrified of this pregnancy as I am excited – I think maybe I’ve read too many bloggers’ experiences now and the fear of miscarriages or any other kind of complication are all too real. I was literally holding my breath waiting to hear the baby’s heart beat for the first time and I know I’ll be just as nervous at the ultrasound today.

Phew – that was actually kind of hard – I hope you guys all still like me after that! Well I know seven of you will HAVE to like me, because I’m passing this award onto:

Categories
blog-related

Winning Awards Makes Me Go Squeee Awww, But Not Like a Donkey

This must be some kind of record. I just won another award! I know I make it sound like there was voting or something. But, no, really, Jean @ Working Momma 247 just awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger Award!

Getting the KBA is a pretty big deal from what I understand. It means you are so cool that you don’t need to spell properly anymore. You’re above that now. Yo ca leav of letter a th en o word an peopl wil stil understan yo. Oar evin speel theengs combpleatly wrung, cuz ur kool lyche thatt. It’s pretty great. But I promise not to use my powers for evil. In fact, I’ll try my hardest to ignore the fact that I have won said powers, and only whip them out when they are really truly needed (for whipping out situations). But before I go forgetting, there are a few of those pesky RULES to contend with.

According to the KBA Legislation, winners must:

  • Mention the blog that gave it to you and comment on their blog to let them know you have posted your award.
  • Share 6 values that are important to you.
  1. freedom – of speech, freedom of press, freedom of choice in any regard such as the freedom to eat cheese and jelly sandwiches on saltine crackers. Whatever.
  2. the value of the American Dollar – my husband says this is very important. That if the value drops something terrible will happen. I don’t know what that is, but it’s kind of important to me that I don’t find out.
  3. honesty – don’t lie to me. If these pants make my butt look fat, tell me. If my butt couldn’t possibly look un-fat, tell me. Then duck.
  4. loyalty – be true to yourself and to me. Don’t tell me you’ll love me forever if you are planning to love Amy instead next week. Just tell me, “I love you for this week. I promise.” And then we’ll be golden.
  5. education and the ability to change ones mind and adapt to new information. Otherwise we’re stuck with a flat Earth and a flat God and a flat chest full of no treasure because nobody bothered to learn how to read a map.
  6. family and children – I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way… Show them all the beauty they possess inside…
  7. I have no idea if all of those things were values, but they are valuable to me, so that counts right?
  • Share 6 things you do not support.
  1. Dead baby jokes. They’re just wrong. They aren’t funny, why did you go there?
  2. Ignorance, hate, racism, shoulder pads. Some things just aren’t okay – maybe your grandma or grandpa did them, but that doesn’t mean they were right. Rise above it.
  3. This message. I do NOT support messages that tell mean vicious things about other people, even if they are true. Tell me about how much you rock and let me make up my own mind.
  4. Lies. Stop lying, stop bending the truth or blindly ignoring it. Tell me my butt looks big and that you want to take over the planet with your VP candidate of choice. Get it over with already!
  5. Naming your children Hippie Camelion Desertra Landace and other stupid names. And if you do give your child a stupid name, be prepared for them to hate you for it. But don’t worry, even if you name them “normal” names like Matthew, Michael, Paul and Josephine they’ll hate you anyway. If your kids don’t hate you at some point, you aren’t doing your job. Or so I heard on tv.
  6. The Anti-Nap Campaign my son has been picketing for. You can chant all you want, buddy, naptime is still happening whether you like it or not. Especially when you don’t like it.

Okay, now the fun part, not that the above spewing of nonsense wasn’t fun, let’s face it, I had a blast, but we all know that’s not why you’re here. You want to know if you’ve won the KBA – if you can spell like an A.H. (I just felt like you should know that AH is my acronym for my favorite swear word which is similar to the one you probably guessed it was, except H stands for Hat) today on your blog, too. Well if you see your name on the following list, congratulations, you’re an AH, I mean Super Awesome Kreativ Blogger Award-Winner Supreme:

  1. Fond of Snape: Just click through her blog for like a millisecond and you’ll understand. She probably already spells creative with a K and no e because she KNOWS. Home of “What is it Wednesday,” she’s blowing my mind on a fairly regular (weekly) basis.
  2. The Adventures of An American Mum Alien: Not content to be simply Wordless, this amazing mum added a twist to an old favorite here in bloggy world and now we have Wordless Wednesday With a Twist which is so much fun you kind of want to squee. And her photography is breathtakingly amazing that you’ll want to spend hours just flipping through her work and going, “awww…” which you’ll be able to do soon when she does the big reveal on her new photography website! Do it!
  3. Before I Forget: Speaking of photographs that will take your breath away, check out Kim’s blog. It’s some kind of amazing, kind of like her blog.
  4. Sgt and Mrs Hubs: Andrea is kind of like Super Woman to me – except without the horrible outfit. She has the world’s most gorgeous hair, adorable kids, another amazing brilliant photographer and she cooks, like homemade stuff, with a cute wee little one on her hip, the whole time while doing a podcast. You want to be her, basically. Just trust me on that.
  5. Funkepunkemonke: Another woman who can do it all. She designs her own clothes and will sell them to you, she’s also a graphic designer, another amazing whiz in the kitchen and her daughters are so beautiful and you know will be just as well rounded and perfect as her.
  6. Red Knows How: Ange, I know you’re like, “Huh, how am I here?” and that’s what I love about you (among other things). But I don’t know anyone who can juggle the crazy like you, do ten million things at once and still look amazing and raise such wonderful children. Who can decide one day to lop off her own hair and look like a hairdresser of the stars did it. You are wonder woman, lady, so grab your award, go buy yourself a cape (or you know, use an old blanket like all Super Moms do) and rock on.

I just want to say how HARD it was for me to compile this list – there are a few people I would have liked to add but either they already got the same damn gosh darned award, or else I already gave you an award last time and I didn’t want to cheat. Or something. Plus the legislation says, “no more than six bloggy buddies shall be awarded in one post.” Sorry.

Isn’t winning awards fun?