Finally!!!

Well, it's taken about 6 months to lose it, but I've finally broken the 20 pound mark. Man, it feels good!

What do you DO all day?

Have you ever felt like everything you do in a day doesn't really matter because you just have to do it all over again the next day? (Dishes, laundry, picking up the house, etc.) I guess it didn't really bother me until I became a "stay-at-homer," but I was feeling a little bit like a robot.

So what was my solution? I just stopped doing it. Everything. No laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, cleaning up little messes, NOTHING. It wsn't exactly by choice, like I was sitting back eating bon bons and watching the dust bunnies collect under the couch. (What exactly is a bon bon? It sounds good...)

For the last two weeks I've been CRAMMING to get a major grant application done for 3 schools. Lots of phone calls, meetings, emails, interviews ... and not a lot of time to be a housewife. (Or a stellar mommy - you can see how Ella feels about my job.) So what was the result?? Let me put it this way: I took pictures to make this blog post more interesting, and was disgusted by even the pictures, so consider yourself lucky that only the office made the cut.

I really got the hint when my mom came over to visit and just randomly started wiping and scrubbing things... Then I woke up two days ago ready to head down to another morning of work before the baby woke up, and couldn't find ANY clean unders or even see kitchen sink to get a drink. Sick. So, fearing DCFS or the camera crew for Hoarders would show up, I cleaned the house for 2 hours and now I can function like a relatively-normal human being again.

So, what did I learn? No, not that I should keep up on my chores. I realized that, although not very sanitary, doing two hours of cleaning only once every two weeks is sure a lot easier than doing the same things all day everyday to maintain a clean house. Maybe I'll keep this up! (Or, Jon, can you get another wife somewhere??)

The Big Nine Months!

Little Miss Ella reached a new level of awesome today... She's been around for three-fourths of a year! And every month I can't believe she's grown so much or gotten so dang cute.

This month was a big one. She has two teeth, can now CRAWL, and can say ba-ba when she wants one... A good skill to possess! She also says the word "hi" and waves like a hummingbird on crack, and just today she figured out how to clap, but she turns one hand upside down so it looks like she's slapping the back of her own hand. Gotta give her creative points for that one! She may look just like daddy, but it looks like she inherited her mama's "unique" way of doing things just a little differently than they're normally done. Hopefully she'll learn her lesson before any helmets get involved...

Mission SLIM-Possible

So my fair city is doing a competition like the Biggest Loser. It's $25 to enter and you weigh in every week, then at the end you could win money. I'm not sure how much, it probably depends on how many people do it. But, do you think I should do it? It's only 25 bucks, and it might motivate me, but I'm just nervous about everyone knowing my weight. Would you do it if you had the chance?

Here's the link: Mission Slim-Possible

(By the way, I've lost 17 pounds and 16 inches ... not too shabby for a month and a half!)

I Love This Girl...

Happy Anna Howard Shaw Day!

(card found at modernemotive.etsy.com)

Cars

You can tell a lot about a person by the car they drive...most of the time. I love driving next to people and figuring out their personalities by the car they drive and the decorations they choose to put on them! I drove past my first car the other day and it made me think about all the fun (and not so fun) cars I've had in my life. Here is my car history... judge for yourselves!


Oh yes... classic 1980s Cabbage Patch BigWheels... had to throw this one in because I loved it so much!

From middle school all the way through college I had a bike like this... actually, mine got stolen, but I "stole" Heather's... Got some good mileage on those tires!

Okay, now for real cars. I LOVED this tomato red Subaru. It's a 1981 and lived until I was 18. This car is the reason I've always wanted a Subaru of my own.
The Gold 'Benz... It ran on diesel and we had to turn it off to go through the drive-thru. It would die all the time! I hated it so much that I would make my mom drop us off away from the school, and I thought that Mercedes Benz was a "poor people" car brand because we had one! When I told my little latino buddies at school that we drove a Mercedes they thought I was so cool and I never understood why!This was the "Shaggin' Wagon" - and I didn't even know what that meant. I thought it referred to the shag carpet and plush velour drapes on the windows! This isn't a picture of our actual van, ours was much "groovier".
Why did they stop making the Aerostar van? I thought this was the sweetest ride ever because it was the "Eddie Bauer Edition" and had pine trees embroidered on the seats. So cute. Too bad it whined like a dying animal any time we turned a corner. I think all Fords eventually have this problem...
The Ford Ranger... the first car I actually drove. Ours was a wonderful brown color that NEVER had to be washed, and it had a shell. The only problem was that the doors didn't open from the inside, and sometimes the battery would die. This wasn't usually an issue, but once I got locked inside right in front of a guy's house that I just doorbell ditched... Good thing his dad was a mechanic.

The Gold Bullet. I loved this car. But then I totalled it. Sorry Staci!

This was the replacement. If I were to ever get a van, it would be the Grand Caravan... posh ride!
My parents finally got "cool" and ditched the minivan idea, so they got a GMC Yukon (but ours has wicked cool detailing that belongs on a ranch in New Mexico...in 1995. You can spot it anywhere!And my dad got a charcoal gray Chevy Tahoe... I loved this car! It had heated seats, which I will someday be able to afford!
The first car I ever purchased... The Nissan Sentra. I didn't love that it had a long front end, but that may have saved my life, or at least my legs, when I ran a red light and met with a semi. Fun story.When Jon and I met, he drove this truck. I think it is so sexy. I remember thinking, "Man, this guy is cool. He drives a truck." Then he sold it right before we got married so he could upgrade to...
The white Tundra. He said he wanted to get the car of his dreams before he had a wife who could tell him what to do. :) Her name was Ali (the truck, not his wife). And it turns out I did tell him what to do, because he sold it for...
A 2004 4Runner. I thought it was much more practical for a family, and the payment was half as much. Very responsible, even though we bought it on eBay. Then six months later sold it because it wasn't a good fit, or something. Now we have one car, our Camry. It's a great car and I hope it lives with us for a long time!
Which cars are lurking in your car history?

Babies!!

This is Ella with our neighbor Mark and his daughter Italia. Ella and Italia are going to be bestest friends... but they're not quite there yet. :) This week I started watching Italia while her mommy works, and it's been... interesting! I had grand visions of them playing together, eating together, sleeping together, and all the while still working from home. Hmmm. Can you say DELUSIONAL??

Italia is walking (more like wobbling) and Ella still hasn't become motivated enough to crawl, so Italia will come over to "say hi" and end up mauling Ella. Then Ella gets excited and screeches, like she does often, and it scares Italia. So, within 5 minutes of "playing" together, the two are both upset and I have to play referee. It's pretty funny.

Let's just say that once upon a time I thought it would be fun to have twins. Now I hope it's not in the cards for me!