Getting Wiped Up

So way back when I was still pregnant, my church hosted a baby shower for us.  One of the wonderful things we got was a HUGE box of wipes.  Since I didn't have cloth wipes yet, and my hubby wasn't feeling cloth wipes we were thrilled.

Two months later and we have used them all.  During those two months, I've been working on convincing Mark we should use cloth wipes...I mean we already cloth diaper. 

I have finally succeeded.  So I got out the sewing machine and some extra flannel blankets to make some.  Now I've got an old sewing machine that really needs some work.  It won't hold the tension without a few tricks and even then it can lose tension.  Needless to say, a new sewing machine is on my birthday list.

SIDE NOTE- I really want a embroidery machine...even a simple one would be nice.  Here's one I like...it's not the best machine since it only has a 4 x 4 hoop, but good for a beginner like me. Though if I were to be honest, having one size up on hoops would make me a giddy.

Anyway, first I tried to use a zig-zag stitch as an overlock stitch to make 1 ply wipes.  My machine didn't like that...so then I tried sewing a two-ply wipe and using a top stitch on the outside to finish the edges.  That worked.

Here's the finished product.

A few wipes made from old receiving blankets and homemade wipe solution.  I'm making a wet storage case soon.

Tomorrow I'm making more.  I'm going over to mom's to use her Bernina for new burp cloths and her serger for more wipes.  Much easier than fighting with my machine. Oh and just in time too, as we were about to have to buy some more wipes...yay, for avoiding that.  I'll post more pics of the outcome later.  I have super cute fabric for my burp cloths. 

My favorite is on the top.  So CUTE!

The front part will be the cute fabric and the back will be terry cloth.  Recycled towels to be exact.  So not only am I totally a hippie for that, but it's not costing me anything to make these things (well, technically since I've had my fabric for awhile).  YAY!

So if I make these and they end up nice, I might be convinced to make a few to giveaway.  Because I like showing some love to you, even if I'm a novice at sewing.  :)

Oh and up next in crafty land, more crocheting- because that is much easier for me!  Anybody have any suggestions as to what they might like to see? 

Prayers needed

So last night my area got hit with a scary bunch of storms.  My family and a friend sat downstairs huddled in our basement for a couple of hours.

We got really lucky.  No one hurt and no property damage.  A lot of people in our area were not so lucky.  See the link below.

Media Video of Damage

Send out your prayers for everyone who weren't as lucky as my family.  I know they would appreciate it.

Emotional Rollercoaster

So way back when Elizabeth fell off track with the potty, my mom suggested to put toys she hardly plays with back with the potty since they are novel.  One of these toys was a chalk board, which I use to draw pictures with, while she goes potty.  Now when I take Elizabeth to the potty, it generally goes like this...

Me- "Put your pee-pee in the potty".

Elizabeth- "Draw a sad bee". 

Me- "Ok, but put your pee-pee in the potty first".

Elizabeth concentrates and goes.  "Now a sad bee".

I draw to the best of my ability, which isn't much.

This happens every time.  I've drawn all types of creatures and a whole range of emotions.  Happy, sad, and mad are her favorite. 

We've even been coming up with stories as to why they are mad, sad, or happy.  It usually involves food.

Just recently, she asked me to draw a mad heart, I came up with this...

Since then, I've upgraded to a white board.  It's princess themed too.  One of my first drawings...

Mad Cinderella. 

Because you don't mess with Cinderella.

It's OK Tuesday.

So I stole borrowed this from another blog.  It's a way of just accepting some of life's not so pleasant, ridiculous, or crazy moments.  I really like it.  So here goes.

It's ok,

-I had to make a mad dash to collect our drying clothes and diapers off the line because of a sudden storm.  It stunk because I had to rehang them on my drying rack inside.  I see that as twice the work...

It's ok,

-I missed Brandy's Friday link up.  We were all over the place on friday, I never sat down at the computer and left my phone in the diaper bag.  But I did weigh myself and I was the same weight as last week...BOO!!

It's ok,

-that I still haven't sent our Evie's birth announcements and a few thank you cards.  I'm trying...I swear I am trying. 

One day they will get out...just hopefully before I send out her one year birthday party invitations.

It's ok,

-that I'm turning into a hippie.  It's a whole post to itself, but suffice to say I think I deserve a shirt that says Earth Mama on it. 

It's ok,

-that my husband melted the cup we bought at the amusement park in the dishwasher.  He didn't read the hand wash only sign...or didn't take it seriously. 

It's one of those cups you pay a fortune for, but keep bringing it back for cheap refills.  I'm going to bring it and hand it to a cashier.  If they ask what happened, I think I'll tell them my husband can't read. 

Then maybe they'll take pity on me and give me a new one.

 It's ok, 

-my cat thinks he is a baby.  He sleeps in everything the baby sleeps in...it's pitiful as he is a hefty cat and well, he barely fits on this stuff. 

Right before Mark chased him off, he got the stink eye for waking him up.

 Plus it doesn't make me happy, as I have to wash whatever he is laying on...double boo.

It's ok,

-Elizabeth wants a pirate party for her birthday, rather than a princess or veggie tale party. 

She did princess last year.  It was adorable.

She's a pretty cute pirate too, but even funnier is her talking like a pirate.  I don't think I can make it through a whole party without laughing at her pirate voice. 

Plus seeing my family in pirate hats- double fun!!

Mom Monday- Raise your goblet of rock!

So a few months ago I had a princess-loving little girl...

She talked non-stop about Snow White and Sleeping Beauty...

Now I have a pirate loving...

 

Guitar Hero!

What is there to say, but...

(In the words of AC/DC) We roll tonight... to the guitar bite... and for those about to rock... I salute you. 

PS- She still loves princesses and dress up, we've just adding some new stuff. ;)

Good Friday

So I'm not very good at talking about my faith. 

I'm not eloquent, succinct, or well-versed in the liturgy.  But I had to share on this holy day a few thoughts Reverend Susan past on to us at our service this evening. 

This is all paraphrased, so forgive my clumsiness.

The Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ:

1. Comfort- our Lord always offers comfort even in the darkest hour.

Jesus saw his own mother, and the disciple standing near whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son". Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother". And from that hour, he took his mother into his family.

2. Forgiveness- even while He was in physical and emotional torment- HE forgave, therefore I too can forgive.

Then Jesus said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do".

3. Salvation- is offered to all, just as it was with the thief on the cross.

And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise".

4. Abandonment- a display of His humanity and ultimate understanding of our own human condition.

Around the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, saying "Eli Eli lama sabachthani?" which is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

5. Distress- a glimpse into the agony His body and soul went through for us, that mirrors our own longings and desires for a closer relationship with Christ.

He said, "I thirst".

6. Reunion- God the Son returns to God the Father, also an example for our own lives- to turn our problems and distress over to God.

And speaking in a loud voice, Jesus said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit".

7. Triumph- Distress, Agony, and Death are conquered!!

Jesus said, "It is finished".

Worn Out Wednesday

So I'm just going to say it,

I'm not going to be a good bloggy friend the rest of this week or weekend. 

I'll do my best, but no promises.

I'm too tired and worn out.  I've been working like crazy.  My days are running from about 7 am to 1 am with at least one wake up for feeding. 

Why so crazy? One word.  WORK!

Now that everything is sorted out- my cup runneth over.

I'm tired, covered in spit up, and trying to maintain.  So if I don't post a lot, leave comments, or reply quickly it's probably because I'm working...or sleeping.  I HOPE sleeping.

Things will get better this weekend.  We're going to an amusement park on Saturday and there are all the Holy week celebrations.  Tomorrow our choir is joining another choir from a neighboring UMC to do an Easter musical.  I'm excited, as I love good singing.  Friday of course, we have the Good Friday service and Sunday- EASTER! 

Speaking of Easter, Elizabeth and I did Easter crafts today.  Friday, we'll be dyeing Easter eggs, just in time to get covered in dye and go to the Good Friday service.  ;)  Here are a few pics and videos. 

First video- Evie on her playmat.  She laughs, it's adorable.

 

Picture- Elizabeth in bunny gear showing off her artwork.

All our coloring pages.

 

 

 

 

 

Second video- Elizabeth talking about who she drew pictures for, she made one for all her grandmothers (two are called Maw).  

It's ok, Tuesday.

So I stole borrowed this from another blog.  It's a way of just accepting some of life's not so pleasant, ridiculous, or crazy moments.  I really like it.  So here goes.

It's ok,

-that after taking three days to mow last week, the grass is already for another go.  I wish it would stop raining, grass shouldn't grow this fast...

It's ok,

-I'm working like crazy.  A week ago all of my jobs were in limbo, and I was a deadbeat and jobless.  It was nice too.  Now I have all three jobs coming at me at once.  Yes, I said three.  When it rains it pours, especially on my lawn.

It's ok,

-when I was coming home that I had to stop to allow a chicken cross the road.  Yes, just like the old joke.  He was taking his sweet time too.  If he had gone any slower, we would have had chicken for dinner.

Here he is already across.  I wasn't fast enough to get him in the road.

It's ok,

-that I walk into rooms and forget why I'm in there.  I'm not old, it's mommy brain and lack of sleep.  At least that is what I'm telling myself, especially since I'm turning a special age this year...though I've been thinking about not aging from now on.

It's ok,

-that I can't take a straight, centered picture of Evie.  I already told you I take all my photos on my phone.  It seems that I suffer from muscle spasm disorder as well, since all the photos I take she is off to the side.  I think it's the lack of caffeine.  I NEED something to help me focus...

Shaky hand, much?

 It's ok, 

-that I've been fighting with my iPhone to remove some old photos.  I miss the old Itunes.  You know when you could drag and drop things, rather than this silly sync stuff.  I know they don't want us to steal music, but really I'm too old sleep deprived to figure this stuff out.  Steve Jobs needs to take pity on tired, mommy brained, soon to be thirty women who just want to take off old photos, so they can take more non-centered photos of their kids.

It's ok,

-that I ramble...a lot.  I like to think I'm an interesting rambler, so it doesn't matter if I ramble.  Please let me continue under this assumption, as I'm perfectly happy being delusional. 

It's ok,

-that I constantly crave cheeseburgers.  I could eat one any time, any day.  Of course this also applies to tacos, cookies, and scrambled eggs.  I think nursing is increasing my appetite, or I've never notice what a human garbage disposal I am. 

Adventures in Mommydom

I'm excited.

Want to know why?

That's right, matching house shoes!

I finally found my other house shoe.  I had been wearing mismatching ones.  Don't remember- check out this post to remind you.  You know you're a mom.

Score one for mommy, now I don't look so much like a hobo. 

Now if I could only find some socks without holes in them...

I confess I should totally apologize to my hubby.

It's that time of the week, time to confess all those things that make life fun, annoying, and everything in between.  So after enjoying my lovely confessions, head on over to Mamrazzi  to read everyone's confessions or to join in and confess yourself.




I confess,

That two weeks ago, I didn't want to clean the bathrooms, so I bargained with my husband so that he would do them. Even worse, I didn't come through on my end of the bargain. But I figure it's good to remind him what I do every now and again. ;)

I confess,

I always have cold hands and feet.  I warm them up on my hubby, which isn't fair as I really do have the hands and feet of the dead.  Sometimes he yelps when I put them on him.  Oops.


I confess,


That sometimes when my oldest daughter gets up in the middle of the night, I make my hubby go instead.  I figure I birthed her, so I should get a break, right?


I confess,


I have a fierce temper.  I don't take things well...but I pride myself that I haven't dumped a table of food items on him yet like my great grandmother did to my great grandfather.  Did I mention we're redheads?

I confess,

I hate when my hubby snores through a movie or tv show.  I'm not that interesting and have to have fodder to talk to him about...if he isn't awake then it just becomes one of those boring stories of me telling him what happened.  Or, I have to rely on my wits and as I said, I'm just not that interesting.

I confess,

I hate when he leaves clothes in the dryer to wrinkle.  I should appreciate that he does laundry and that he will usually fold and put it away too...but still it's so wrinkly!!

Well, hopefully he reads this and forgives me...in fact, he'd better or I'll start to rely on my wits and no one wants that.

Baby Weight Loss- Week 5

It's that time again!!  Time to step on the scales and see the damage.  That's right, it's:



So here's this week's stats.

Overall goal: -30 lbs
1st goal: -10 lbs
Weight loss/gain: -2.6
Overall loss: -3.0

BOO-YAH!!  I'm so excited about this, especially since I sucked on eating this week.

Here's what I did well:

1.One coke and one tea.  Everything else I drank was water, crystal light, and juice.

2. I exercised like crazy!! On Monday, Wednesday, and today I did couch25k. On Tuesday and Thursday, I did EA active workout.

3. I've been working outside.  I MOWED for three days using our push mower.  Yes, we have that big of a yard.  No, we didn't mow it all.

4. I've been chasing my two year old around.  She loves being outside and the weather has participated.

5. I didn't snack much. 

6. Nursing Evie.  Ok, I'd do this even without the weight loss benefits.  But I think this saved me on the eating, thanks Evie!!

Some things I need to improve on:

1. FOOD, FOOD, FOOD! I ate like a pig this week. When we went out I ate poorly.  Cheeseburgers, hotdogs, yep, all the bad stuff.

2. Portions- ok, this goes with food, but I did have a hard time not eating everything in front of me.  I don't know if it is the exercise or nursing...but I am a bottomless pit of hunger!

Some things that I think should be outlawed:

1. Expensive diet food.  Seriously, you would think healthier food would cost less.  It stinks that to be healthy you have to spend more money.

2. The Wii noises.  I weigh myself with our Wii.  It makes this awful noise when I step on it- like I'm hurting it.  Then when it weighs me, it makes this "you're a big fatty noise" and my Mii gets depressed.  You. Are. Killing. Me, Wii!!

3. The term fun run.  These words don't go together.  It isn't fun.

4. Doughnuts- Why are you so DELICIOUS?!?

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.

Blogger help

So I need some help. I want my static pages (see links above) to show posts with a certain label on them.  If it isn't possible, how do you make pages like I have above with the ability to have posts with certain labels??

I have, NO CLUE how to do this.  Does anyone in bloggy world know how?

I would love you forever, and if you like crocheting, I would totally make you or someone you like something as a thank you.

Please help!

Quiet

It's super quiet here today.  Eerily quiet.

Elizabeth is at her Grammy's today.  It's so I can get a full day's work in, yes, they sorted out my paperwork, yay! 

It's so quiet, I can hear the cat sneaking around, like he's going to pop out and attack me at any moment.  He's stalking me...

Ok, maybe I'm just paranoid without a two year old screaming talking constantly around.

Don't be deceived, he's a killer....of bugs!

Poopcolypse

Like the title?  My husband and I laughed about it for awhile, like we were twelve again.  It's probably not as clever as we think, but it certainly made us chuckle.

Anyway, the reason for the title is obvious.  My daughter had a HUGE accident (unusual for her).  It happened when she was asleep.  You see, she hasn't been napping well lately.  I'm afraid she is growing out of naps.  Though this doesn't mean we'll be giving up a nap.  If need be, we'll be having quiet time.  Good for all of us.  Sorry I sidetrack easily, but the other day she finally fell asleep with half her body on the pillow.  It seems after she fell asleep, nature took it's course.  I came in when I heard her crying.

There she sat, with yes, poop all over her pillow and her clothes.  She looked at me, "I've got poop".  I had to laugh.  The poor thing was so shocked.  I hustled her off to the bathroom and got her cleaned up.  Needless to say, all her bed clothes are in the laundry. My clothesline is getting quite the workout...

The funniest part in all this, my husband showed up about ten minutes AFTER poopcolypse occurred and was mostly cleaned up.  Some people have super lucky timing. ;)

Monthly Vlog

So I've never done this before, mainly because I'm not one to jump in front of a camera.  But I thought it sounded fun, and I'm all about that.

Here's what we're suppose to talk about-

1. Accent/Dialect Vlog

 Here's the instructions:

You start by saying the following words:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught, Antenna, Rootbeer, Ambulance, Museum, Milk, Orange, Apricot

THEN you answer the following questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped
body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry
groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Where do you buy your groceries?

 

 

 

2. Show and Tell- Your favorite room in your house

It's ok, Tuesday.

So I stole borrowed this from another blog.  It's a way of just accepting some of life's not so pleasant moments.  I really like it.  So here goes.

It's ok,

-That I'm super excited and sad for this week's episode of the office.  It's the last episode with Michael, hence the sadness, but Will Ferrell will be on it, so there's the excitement.

It's ok,

-That I'm two days into mowing the lawn and I'm still not done.  Yes, we have that much lawn and no, I'm not mowing it all.  The fields we're leaving alone and getting it cut for hay later.  Oh and the reason it's taking so long- push mower.  This is the first place we've lived that we've needed a riding mower.  Guess what we're shopping for at the moment.

It's ok,

-In 6 years of marriage (almost 7), that this is the first time I've ever mowed our lawn.  I always thought it was a "male" chore and was happy not to be out in the sun.  But now, there is something very satisfying about mowing.  I like looking back and seeing progress, plus kids can't bother you. ;) lol

It's ok,

-I didn't get to buy chickens this weekend.  The baby chicks were so cute.  But because they carry salmonella they aren't recommended to be around small children.  So we have to wait five years before I can get my baby chicks (though I may talk to the girls' dr about this).  Boo!!

It's ok,

-That Megamind and Tangled are all my daughter talks about.  She told me probably a hundred times today that we needed to find Titan's house (bad guy from Megamind) so that we could "get" him.  She thinks she's a super hero.  Maybe I should make her a cape...

Rapunzel and Elizabeth swinging, before they went hunting for bad guys.

It's ok, 

-That I do a little walk dance when I finish a day of couch25k.  I look ridiculous, but I feel great.  This is mainly because I hate running and I know I'm done.  Extra points for not dying or puking on the side of the road.

It's ok,

-Most of the pictures I take now of the kids is on my phone.  I don't carry my camera around, I do carry my phone.  Plus I get pretty good pictures.  My only fear is that Evie (my youngest) will only have phone pictures.  That doesn't seem right or fair.  Like because I was the youngest of three there are fewer photos of me and almost none of me by myself.

Today's phone pic.

It's ok,

-That my husband now asks after events in our life "is this going to be on the blog?".  He told me it should be mostly about how awesome he is...after I stopped laughing, I told him of course he was awesome.  Awesomesauce!  Oh and check out the urban defition of that- awesomesauce - #2 had me rolling in the floor. ;)

Mom Monday- abbreviated edition

Ever wonder what happens if a travel size bottle of sunscreen accidentally gets left on the kitchen table and there is a two year old in the house?

Poor Max...

Needless to say, he didn't get sunburned that day.

Just another mom moment.

Prayers

So I just wanted to take a quick moment and ask for your prayers.  Today my aunt is going in for surgery on her shoulder. She was pretty nervous as she has only had surgery once before and the recovery is going to require a lot of physical therapy.  To make things more complicated for their family, we just found out that my uncle was has cancer.  I won't go into details, but he's deciding between several treatment options at the moment.  I will say that the doctor said it is aggressive, so they will have to act quickly.

Finally, many of you know that my grandfather has had trouble with his kidneys for awhile.  He started dialysis this past week and it's been pretty tough on him so far.  We're hoping that with some more treatments, he'll start feeling better. 

We greatly appreciate all your prayers and good wishes.  With God's grace anything can be accomplished.

Test Run

Mark got up my clothesline.  I took it for a test spin the other day. 

I shouldn't be this giddy about something, but I am.  I love it! I dried a bunch of other laundry, sun-bleached all the diapes, and kept doing laundry to use it.

So I just have one question- Does this make me super old, lame, or weird?  Maybe it's the nice weather...because I don't think it should be this exciting.

Baby Weight Loss- Week 4

It's that time again!!  Time to step on the scales and see the damage.  That's right, it's:



So here's this week's stats.

Overall goal: -30 lbs
1st goal: -10 lbs
Weight loss/gain: -1.1
Overall loss: -0.4

So not so bad this week.  Of course, I haven't been an angel...but I have improved somewhat.

Here's what I did well:

1. I had ONE coke this week.  That's right ONE!!  This is a huge improvement for me, and I'm super proud.

2. I'm drinking loads more.  I think I might have let myself become a little dehydrated by not drinking enough.  Now it seems I'm always drinking.  Mostly I drink Crystal Light, some juice, and water.  So go me!

3. I've been baby carrying.  Know how to make anything you do a little bit more intense- strap on a baby!  I do recommend your own baby, as moms tend to freak a little if you bother their babies. 

4. I've been working outside.  We started our garden.  First I broke up some of the grass roots by using a shovel.  Then I tilled the ground.  It's much harder than it sounds.  I'm going to have some major guns if I keep it up.

5. I didn't snack so much.  Say goodbye to chips!

Some things I need to improve on:

1.Eat healthier.  While we mainly ate at home, I still had two issues with food.  One, I cook with way too much fat- aka oil and butter.  Have I mentioned I'm from the south? Two, the few times I went out, I didn't eat well.  Hello, cheeseburger! (insert drooling over bacon here)

2. Exercise.  So I worked a lot in the house and outside. It really tired me out...so I didn't exercise liked I should have. Plus I didn't have my hubby home all the days to do my running.  So the days I could have run, I worked the garden...my bad.  I skipped yoga too.  Tuesday is a day Mark isn't here until later.  So it's hard to get everything ready and us fed before heading out the door.  But I really want to go...

Some things that I think should be outlawed:

1. Soda- this will always be on my list.

2. Happy Runners- I feel like I'm going to throw up when I run.  Where do they get off feeling so happy??

3. Cheeseburgers- so delicious.  As you look on this yummy goodness, the answer is yes.  It's always yes to bacon.

4. Dessert- I crave chocolate...all the time!  Seriously, I want to stick my face in that fountain.

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.

I confess that I feel guilty.

It's that time of the week, time to confess all those things that make life fun, annoying, and everything in between.  So after enjoying my lovely confessions, head on over to Mamarazzi  to read everyone's confessions or to join in and confess yourself.

I confess,

That I feel guilty when I put my infant daughter in her swing or infant seat.  I seem to think she needs to stimulation all the time.  It's not like I'm new to this.  I know she doesn't need flashcards in front of her every waking moment.  I mean I didn't do that with my first and she is super smart...maybe too smart. You know, trouble smart.

I confess,

I'm late posting this.  I woke up sick today and my hubby took the kids.  I had something planned about stuff he does, but given that he let me rest today I didn't think it was appropriate to post. I'll give him a pass this week. ;)


I confess,


I feel awful if I'm not accomplishing something.  Why is it that we make ourselves feel guilty for not being super moms/wives/etc.?  Being a mom, especially makes you carry super guilt.  From the moment you're pregnant, you're constantly worried and wondering.  No wonder we think our moms are crazy...because we made them that way.


I confess,


That I feel guilty that my maternity leave got accidentally prolonged and that I'm upset that it got prolong.  Catch 22.  I want to work, but feel bad about wanting to work since right now I have uninterrupted time with my girls.  See what I mean about guilt ridden mom!! I'm lucky I haven't pulled my hair out yet.

Well, I hope you all can forgive the tardiness.  Now, go check out everyone confessions...or you might feel guilty and we all know where that leads...yep, wigs.

New Mantra

So I've decided I have a new mantra: real women till their own gardens. 

You see, Mark and I have been working on our garden.  It's time here to till up the soil and allow the rain to get into the ground.  Over the next few weeks, we might be making it a little bit bigger and tilling in some fertilizer.  It's hard work, but very satisfying...and yes, I ran the tiller myself.  I was even out so long I got sunburned.

Now I'm no farmer, but I grew up around plenty of power tools.  You see my grandfather and uncle run a small engine repair shop.  The smell of gas and oil is very familiar to me and anything that has a gas acceleration I've tried to run.  I've even tried a saw mill.  So tiller is nothing...or so I thought.

It was a bit harder than I thought to run, but the good news is it gave me lots of exercise.  You've got to use your muscles to keep it on track.  So now to go with my farmer's tan, I'm going to have guns!!  Therefore,

Real Women Till Their Own Gardens.

The Tiller.

Freeloading

SUCCESS!!

Mom's homemade goodness.

My begging really worked (see Utter despair post), not only did I get my yummy strawberry jam, but she gave me mango jelly, apple butter, and cherry preserves.  Later that week, she brought me some pork chops and barbecue to fix for dinner.  


All this delicious goodness has inspired me to continue my freeloading ways.  I'm thinking about asking mom for more yummy goodies.  I think if I beg enough she'll give in, she may even be reading right now, learning of her daughter's shameful plan.  But hopefully, I can just flash some sad eyes and score some loot. Then I'll rack up on all the jams and jellies I want.


As long as the girls don't see me, and learn how to beg, it's ok...right?? ;)

It's OK Tuesday

So I stole borrowed this from another blog.  It's a way of just accepting some of life's not so pleasant moments.  I really like it.  So here goes.

It's ok,

-To be posting this a day late.  I wasn't having the best day yesterday and any post would have sounded depressing.  I don't like depressing, and I'm guessing you all don't want to read depressing either. So I didn't do it...does that count as good mental health??

It's ok,

-That I let Elizabeth skip her nap Monday to play outside.  Yes, she was grumpy and whiny later, but the next day it snowed, rained, hailed, and froze all in twenty-four hours.  I thought it only fair she got to play.

It's ok,

-That on the day in question, both Elizabeth and I got too much sun because I forgot sunscreen.  No one said I was parent of the year, anyway.

It's ok,

-That I have become so cheap frugal that getting a nicer brand of bread is considered "splurging" for me.  No, we aren't poor, but we are trying to conserve money, since my work is currently messed up.  I'm technically still on maternity leave.  This was unexpected, but will be fixed once they finish my paperwork. 

It's ok,

-That my daughter doesn't mind mud, snakes, or spiders...but show her an earthworm and she turns into Miss Dainty.

It's ok, 

-That my beloved basketball team lost in the final four.  I still LOVE my wildcats and my blood still runs blue.

It's ok,

-That I'm turning into a farmer.  On Monday, I tilled part of our garden.  Today I'm going to do some more, with sunscreen of course.  I might even find a few earthworms... ;)

Mom Monday

So I'm thinking I should have mom monday.  It'd be a day to post funny things about how you know you're a mom. Not that any of you could ever forget.  So let's see how I do this week.

You know you're a mom if-

-taking a day off means you didn't have to do laundry or change a diaper that day.

-a member of your family is in love with a cartoon character. Yep, my daughter is in love with a fictional character.

-you can determine what is wrong just by the tone and inflections in "MOMMY".

-you are such a good negotiator that they should send you overseas to end wars. I seriously could do this and it would be easier than negotiating with my two year old.

-you can quiet a child just with a eyebrow raise.

-someone says there has been an accident you immediately look for either blood on your child or pee on the floor.

-you have recently had a conversation on why a two foot tall person can not ride a llama. Yes, I have had this conversation.

As always, it's great to be a mom!

My two lovely girls, ready for nap time!

Losing the Baby Weight- Week 3

Make sure and visit Brandy (see button above). She got me thinking about weight loss and is doing a great job herself. Plus it's a nice thing to do!

Start weight: 1xx

End weight: 1xx

Total loss/gain: +0.7

So I haven't done great this week. Like most weeks, I wasn't so great in the beginning, but got better.  Here's what I did well:

1. Drank even less soda, than last.  I haven't had any in a couple of days.

2. Started the couch25k program.  Yay, for exercise!

3. Cooked at home the majority of the week.  Although not super healthy, I usually eat less at home than out to eat, where I seem to think you should pig out.

Some things I need to improve on:

1. Cook healthier.  This means less butter and oil.  Hey, I'm from the South, and we love to fry things. Think Paula Dean.

2. Consistent exercise.  I think starting the couch25k will help this.  I have designated days I can do it (hubby home) and that should improve things.  Also I'm hoping to join our church yoga group.  It's on tuesdays, one of my non-couch25k days.  Nothing like doing some yoga with people you usually sing hymns with...I wonder if they will notice I'm bad at both. ;)

3. No soda at all.  I think I'm on my way to this.

Things I think should be outlawed:

1. Sour cream and onion potato chips

2. Soda

3. Bad weather that keeps me and the kids indoors.

4. Female hormones that make you crave chocolate and sweets.

I confess that I talk a lot about babies and breasts.

Time for weekly confessions. A time to own up to all those things that make life fun, annoying, and well worth the trip. So here goes:

I confess that...

-I laugh when my month old daughter has man sized toots or burps. She sounds like a drunken sailor, only she drinks breastmilk...which makes you wonder what I've been eating.

-I love Evie's new cloth diapes. They come in all these cute colors and patterns. It's the closet things to fashion I've got recently.

-I read blogs last week, while nursing my daughter and balancing a laptop on my lap.  I love you all that much. ;)

-I jumped at the chance to return a movie because it meant I could have ten minutes kid free with no car seats or diaper bags. It was A-MAZ-ING!


-I want to say "seriously" really loudly when my husband tries to hand me something when I'm nursing and holding something in the other hand.  Did I grow and extra hand I didn't know about??