Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the BEST Sister in the world!

My sister is wonderful!

She is smart, funny, and loves all the same things I do...which makes her infinitely more cool.  ;)

She spoils the girls, but that's ok because we all love her for it.

I can't say enough good things about her, except I wish she lived closer.

Yes, I know, when we moved back I went from 3.5 hrs to 1.5 hour away, but still I would love it if she lived next door or with us!

So Happy Birthday Big Sis!!  Love you lots, and I can only hope my girls have the same!

Garden Monsters

We are novice gardeners.

I am usually the person that kills houseplants. 

That's why we have one houseplant in our entire home...and it's lucky it's survived this long.

For a long time, I have refused to take plants from people, citing that I'm the Angel of Death for plants.

And now...

Not only is my garden blooming, it has HUGE squash plants that are threatening to take over the rest of the garden.

Honest, the broccoli plants don't know what to do...

The beans are just lucky they aren't as close.  It's getting scary, we may even have a whole garden coup in a few days.

Mark has decided next year we need a bigger garden.  One that can hold it's own with our monster squashes (summer, butternut, and zucchini). 

I'm all for it, especially since this redeems my tattered plant growing reputation.

By the way, anyone need any squash?? ;)

Girly-girl

So I've never considered myself a girly girl.

I mean, I played GI Joe and Transformers as a child.  You could always find me in a tree in the backyard with my microscope in tow, and I rarely did very much I considered "girly".

In high school, I listened to punk music, cut my hair short, and loved going to listen to bands in the area.  Some of my oldest friends today are covered in tattoos and consider themselves metal heads. ;)

My chosen profession- I handled rats and mice on a daily basis.  In my lab training, I learned how to dissect, solder circuits together, built apparatuses, and became extremely handy with a dremel (there is nothing I can't dremel). Along with some other stuff, which I won't mention for anyone who is squeamish.

So when I had a girl, I assumed I would raise a little girl a lot like me.

For the most part she is, but with a few differences...

I demanded a yellow room with sunshine as a child...this is what Elizabeth wanted.

Princess Room

I don't ever remember wanting to do makeup or brush hair...Elizabeth walked into Ulta with myself and my sister, and almost fainted.  The phrases- pretty bottle, gorgeous, beautiful, and pretty were overused- A LOT.

I refused to play tea party with my mom...Elizabeth let out the cutest girly scream ever when she saw me carry in a tea tray.  This was followed by "we're having a party, yay!  So gorgeous!".

She loved adding "creamer" (aka milk) to her "tea" (chocolate soy milk).

Baby Huffington joined us.  Though I guess he didn't like the tea.

 

 

 

But I guess all in all, we are a lot alike. 

We both love to swim, sing, play in the dirt, read a good book, solve a good mystery (she is now obsessed with Busytown Mystery- don't ask).

Even though Elizabeth favors pink swimsuits, while I'm for black.  I love old country and alternative rock...Elizabeth is a Kindermusik girl.  She has to wash her hands immediately after getting dirty, and I'm of the mind that a little dirt can't hurt you.  Her idea of a good book is Rain, Drop Plop or What Doozers Do, whereas I love Evolving in Monkeytown and anything written by Terry Pratchett.  A good mystery to me, is the BBC version of Sherlock Holmes that is set in modern times...and hers involves a cat name Huckle that wears lederhosen. 

So she may be a bit girly-er than me...but that's ok, because she's herself and that's what matters.

Besides she's a super cute princess!

The Big Bad Wolf

Last friday, Elizabeth and I had some special time together.  We had so much fun!!

Our time together started with getting ready to go to the theater.  No, not the movies, the actual theater.

Elizabeth picked out her pink tulle dress.

We then headed to the Barter Theatre.

The Barter is super famous in our area.  Lots of famous people have gotten their start there (check out their site), and it's the state theatre of VA.  So needless to say, I've never seen a show there I haven't loved.

We went to see The Barter Players (especially for kids) perform The Three Little Pigs.

It was on their second stage, which is attached to their cafe.  We stopped for some apple juice first.

Elizabeth found the headphones to listen to some of the other shows.  She loved that.

Next we found our seats.

She wasn't too sure what to think about the scenery.

And then wanted me to stop with the picture taking...

 The show started and I was nervous...what if the Big Bad Wolf scared her??  What if she cried??

She. Was. Mesmerized!!

They did a 70's music theme with it.  Adorable and funny for the parents too.  So well done!!

I was shocked though.  Elizabeth stayed silent the entire time and after it was over, turned and looked at me.

"Can we see the pigs, again??"

I knew she LOVED it then.  She doesn't often ask to see things over again, unless she likes it.

We got to meet the actors after.  She was shy and it took a little prompting to get her to talk to them.

One of the wolves.

Her favorite piggy.

I didn't get a picture of her with the Big Bad Wolf.  Too many people.

After the show, we went to our favorite local restaurant in town. The best potato soup ever!!

Elizabeth enjoyed some sandwich and fried corn.

But I can say, my fears were unfounded.

Why?

Because the Wolf was her favorite...so much so, she asked if we could take him home with us.

Not sure if I could have explained arriving home with a strange man in a wolf costume to my hubby or not...

Baby Weight Loss- Week 1...again??

It's that time again!!  That's right, it's:




So I totally stink.  I haven't weighed myself in weeks.


Nor do I want to.


While I write this, I'm eating fast food.  The rest of my diet hasn't been much better.


I haven't exercised in forever.  My running shoes probably have dust on them.

I've been too embarrassed to link up.  So I've stayed quiet thinking I'll get it together and can start posting again...but that hasn't happened.


Like I said, I stink.

So I've decided to start from scratch.  That's right, back to square one.  I'm taking an official starting weight and starting with some healthier food choices.  Then I'll start back at day one for my couch25k.

I know this is a wuss move, but I do better with a good start.  So I might have to start over ten times, but at least it'll be a start and not a wallow in the stink that is my ultimate failure.

Ok, maybe I'm a little dramatic, but I still want to get off to a good start.

I have a new motivator too.



I'm tired of mommy jeans and pregnancy pants for my post preggo body.  Time for some nice jeans, like an adult would wear.


An adult who isn't a mom, or at least doesn't look like a mom. ;)

Also don't forget to head over to Brandy's page You Don't Know and check out her progress and everyone's else too.  Maybe even join up, you'd be glad you did!  No matter what, leave Brandy a nice comment for hosting this link up and for doing so well on her own weight loss journey.  It's a nice thing to do, plus she's super cool.