Sunday, April 18, 2010

I slept so long last night. Deep deep sleep with the babe, who really isn't a babe anymore but a toddler. We were curled up on her mattress (next to ours) and just zonked out around 9pm and slept until 7 this morning. I can't remember the last I slept so long and solid. It was much needed after this past week where I barely slept for more than 4-6 hour intervals.

It is so so cold out today, and rainy. What to do today?

Our house looks like the "Malcolm in the Middle" house currently. We have ripped up all the old bricks, pulled out all the nasty spider hoarding plants and are preparing to scrape down the house to paint it. But right now it just looks ridiculously bad. And of course our neighbors just put their house up for sale. It makes me laugh because honestly I would never buy a house if the neighbors looked like ours!
When we bought our house it was the only house we could find that really fit our budget comfortably and still put us in a really nice neighborhood, close to everything etc. But the people that lived here before us were disturbingly good at hiding all their laziness when it came to house keeping. So now we are playing fix up with just about everything.

We have painted all the rooms in the house except the living room...mainly because I have no idea what color to paint it. It needs to be done because it has marks on it and they were smokers so on warm days you can smell the stink come out. It just makes me mad how much they lied to us when we bought this house. But it's ours now and we have a ton of work to do on it.

This summer we need to paint the house, landscape the front and back yard, finish the back door, replace the side and front doors (heavy and screen), replace a handful of windows, paint the garage and rip up the last remaining carpet in the living room.

Now that S's bed is back in our room because putting it in her room was pointless, I am debating putting a good majority of her toys upstairs and out of our living room. I have a constant need to rearrange and move things in our house. I get so bored, frustrated, bogged down when the house is the same all the time. Frustrated I guess. But then I tell myself what's the point when she moves into her room all this stuff will come back downstairs. Although that actually happening anytime soon doesn't seem likely.

I went to the dentist for the first time in 13 years a few weeks ago. Of course they found a slew of bad teeth so just yesterday I went for my first session to get 3 fillings done. It wasn't awful honestly. I did have a panic attack when I got there because I didn't know what to expect but now that I do I feel like it's completely something feasible. So I have more fillings to get, then I have to get my wisdom teeth pulled. This I've heard hurts. But I know it has to get done. And I feel like I've learned my lesson. There is no reason to avoid the dentist what so ever, especially after having to put all this money into fixing my mouth, where if I had just gone all along I wouldn't have to! Plus I am looking forward to actually having my teeth be painfree. Crazy what we put up with because we just don't know any different. The pain I'd learned to live with and it was so easily fixed!

I think it's time for more coffee.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

This morning

I am achy. Nothing makes me feel old more than an achy body. But the reasoning is silly...it's because I laid down with S for nap yesterday and instead of getting back up, I propped myself up so I could watch Weeds while she slept. Which put my back and neck in an awkward position and when we got up I must have pulled my neck and left shoulder. Pathetic! Last night she stayed in her twin bed until 4am so at least I have a long time to lay flat and somewhat stretch my back out. But it still makes me feel old.
It's not like a post workout pain, where at least I can rationalize it and almost feel proud that my workout was so good it hurt. It's just a you're getting old and things start to pull kind of hurt. Oh well.

It is a beautiful sunny morning. I am waiting for it to get up past 40 so I can hang some clothes out on the line. THE LINE! This is our second summer here and we finally got our line up...it's perfect for our yard, small and retractable. I was hoping to get diapers out on the line but I needed them before I could let them sun dry. I am thinking I'll just lay out enough for today and put the rest out just to get some sun.

I have discovered that our big ol' boxer mix dog has been sleeping like a cat on the back our couch. Which makes me feel so frustrated considering I put up baby gates on the couch so she won't lay on the cushions, I guess that's just not enough!

Not much more to say. Going to hobble off to the library soon. How exciting.

Monday, April 12, 2010

I always have great ideas

about what to write for a blog...that is until I sit down to actually write it.

I find myself constantly writing lists in my head. Things to do, to make, to clean, to cook, to buy, to fix, things I want to write about! Oh mental black hole of forgetfulness you get the better of me sometimes.

I do know I wanted to talk about budgeting. and how crappy and hard it can be. Now that J has quit his second job, the need to budget is even that much more important. Our biggest budget battle is always groceries. One week I can spend $80 then the next $170 then $140 then $100. There is obviously no consistency. So last night I sat down with receipts and started writing out my usual grocery list, but with all the prices this time. I figure now when I go to write my list I can have a price for each item in mind so with every shopping list I can make sure I stay within budget and not get up to the cash out then panic when the cashier says the total. We also went to the farmers market this week and got the majority of our veggies for the week for only $13!

I am hoping every week to create a balance of supplies so that pricier items are spread out better as opposed to me always seeming to run out of them all at once.


Enough budget stuff.
This weekend was great. Busy but fantastic. I have to say I am reveling in the joy of actually having family time. It is very strange to suddenly have a spouse who is around. Things that get put off for when there was time are actually getting done. We have both been doing bedtime with the kiddo, which is amazing. I love all three of us cuddling into our bed, reading, snuggling and watching S fall asleep. All the things that I feel like I've been waiting for emotionally and mentally are happening. I feel really peaceful lately. Which is incredible for me because I'm so used to feeling restless and unsure. Off track here...getting back on...
so yes this weekend was amazing.
Saturday we woke up early to sunshine and decent cool weather (for us that's 40s) We ate some breakfast, bundled up and headed to the farmers market. S kept calling it the "farmers marker" so very cute. We saw some of our favorite farmers from last season there and they all looked like they were doing well. My FAVORITE guy was there with lots of beautiful goodies but by far the best was farm fresh eggs. He said they are hoping to have them 3 weeks of the month because it's only 3 chickens so it's just whatever they lay freely. They were the most beautiful eggs and I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture to post. Browns, tans and two that are the most beautiful shade of pale blue almost grey. You just can't find that at a grocery store. It's not possible.
After we got our veggies we headed over to our bakery guy, I was so SO sad that he didn't have his amazing scones there but got over it when we saw a chocolate mousse layer cake for $5. which is so incredibly cheap for a huge cake :) So of course we HAD to get it ;)

We came home, took our dog for a walk then went to the park. Post park it was naptime for S so she and I laid down. Then J's dad and brother came down for a visit. His brother stayed overnight and I have to say I truly love that guy! He's just the perfect brother in law and S adores him. It was nice because J and I were able to cook and clean up etc while he watched S for us. Just having that extra person made it so ridiculously easy!
Sunday morning J made the MOST delicious breakfast; kebabs with eggs. I put feta and green onions on the top of the eggs....gah SO good. with pita and yogurt...probably the absolute perfect breakfast, at least for me!
After coffee and laying about for a bit after breakfast we got ready for the day and went up to the river to walk. It was absolutely beautiful up there, our dog loved it and S did ok for a bit. But then she wanted to walk, push the stroller, ride in the stroller rinse repeat so we decided it was time for her to eat some lunch. So we hopped back in the car, she ate her lunch on the way to park where we ran her ragged.
BIL went home and we all napped.

All in all the perfect weekend.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Taking a note from Sarah at Wool and Sticks I don't have much to say but I will throw a list out.

*I just had such a great workout. So good I almost puked...to me that's a sign of a good workout.
*Said workout was needed because I made pizza for dinner and DH picked up doughnuts. Eeeeek!
*I feel so easily affected by the weather change. Last week I was happy boppy boppity bop all week long, and this week I've been tired and cranky. TO make it worse it's been lightly snowing here.
*We have massive, prehistoric spiders greeting us every single morning; from S's play kitchen. We had them SO badly last year, discovered they were living in our lillies, sprayed them down. We even have an exterminating company we are working with. ICK.
*DH quit his second job. It is the scariest yet greatest decision ever. I am terrified financially but having him home makes any scrimping/penny pinching completely worth it. He has basically missed most of S's live because he's been at work for 14 hours a day.
*It's weird to have him home.
*Tomorrow we are planning on the farmers marker in the morning. I LOOOOOVE our farmers market. With less money coming in, farmers markets are the perfect way to save on produce bills...especially because I drop serious money on fresh produce weekly. Plus it's a great excuse to wear S, because let's face it, most 2 yo want to run not be worn but she happily snugs in for the time we are there.
*My brother in law is also coming down tomorrow; next to Grammy he might be S's absolutely favorite person.
*I need to shower.

the end!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Why I love a warm, wet spring day

The smell of the earth, hyacinths, mud. The warm air with cool humidity that floats on your skin. The sound of squish. The puddles. The random beautiful sunbursts that filter down unexpectedly. The mud on S's bottom as she plays around the yard. The freckles of dirt that spatter the dogs belly from romping through the yard. I love how quiet it makes everything. Everyone is so happy to be outside in this little siesta from the rain. But most of all I love the smells. To me that is what spring is all about. After being cooped up all winter, the smells of spring always amaze me. Throwing open windows, doors and letting it all in. I relish in the dirt. I dream about gardens to plant, landscaping to do...what plants our dog won't eat :) I sit and watch our only child learn and explore the world. Spring reminds me how good it is to start new, bring new faith into your life, to look at the tiny moments of beauty that happen all day long whether we acknowledge them or not.

I have started running again. Taking it very slowly as not to injure my leg again. Luckily my parents gave us their treadmill and they took our elliptical. I just prefer the motion of running to anything else. I like the mental peace. The powerful feeling I get from my body being in motion. Even if it's just a small run to get me back in the saddle, I never fail to feel completely empowered from a run. I feel completely confident, amazing, even beautiful post run...dripping in sweat and stinky as can be.

I want to try to give up all the things that I have been afraid of. I have been doing fairly well even with minor tasks. Like for years DH has wanted me to go bowling with him, but I never wanted to. Always afraid I wouldn't like it, I'd get sweaty in public, people would see how bad I suck lol. But I went. And I actually liked it. I'm not saying I will go again anytime soon but I am proud that I went. I think I hold onto and have to control absolutely everything to a very unhealthy point. I want to break free of this. Last year I really worked on getting myself healthier weight-wise, exercise-wise; now it's time to work on the mental health (and still some bad food habits) My goal is by the end of the yard to be off of all dairy and wheat products. I think if I can eliminate those 2 biggies my body would feel, look, and be a lot healthier than it currently is. I still have a 20-30lb weight loss goal that I want to accomplish this year as well. Now that I know we aren't going to be having another baby, it's easier for me to get in the mode of loosing it. Before I just thought why would I when I'm just going to get pg and have to start all over again. I think without that I finally feel free.