The Luckiest Girl In The World

My days are mediocre....my life is far from great...but, I am the luckiest girl in the world. I have a best friend that would drop her life if I needed anything...any time day or night she is one phone call away from being there. I have a husband that works his butt off to put a roof over my head and food on our table and all of the nice things in between. I have two healthy (at times crazy) little girls who absolutely think I hung the moon. I have a mom and a dad (and a step-mom) who genuinely and unconditionally love me and would give me everything they owned if I needed it. I have the most loving extended family who actually still believes in family. I have a brother who loves and adores me...and then God decided that I was going to have another brother and a sister that are my blood just the same (even if they aren't at all.) I have had some amazing people placed in my path in this life that I am blessed to call friends. I have support and love from one awesomely wonderful church family. I have a God who has wiped away all the sins I have ever committed in this lifetime (and he knows there has been a lot). I. AM. THE. LUCKIEST. GIRL. IN. THE. WORLD.

My Kind Of Luck

First things first.....yesterday I spent my whole entire day....I mean from the time my feet hit the ground until I finally sat down at 8 o'clock (whatever happened to getting off at 5?!!!!)...cleaning my house....I swept, moped, cleaned the carpets the whole nine yards....and today it looks as if I never clean...matter of fact it looks like a tornado and a hurricane hit my house simultaneously...it could literally be declared a state of emergency....I am starting to think I live with animals....wild, wild animals!! But, I did this because I knew I would not have time to clean today and just as I suspected I haven't (well I guess I could be cleaning right now....but it's pretty much a lost cause at this point)....today I woke up and did homework with Brooke...between reading, writing, math and spelling this is a never ending task at my house...after we finished homework got her dressed and ready I took her to school....then I had to run an few errands...back home to get Paige (and myself) ready for her doctors appointment....off to the doctors appointment....we skipped nap and it showed at the doctors (I am pretty sure she thinks I live with wild animals as well)...got home and had about 30 minutes to log onto my new classes that started today...just in time to find out I already have one million assignments that I already don't have time for....then it was off to get Brooke....now let me say that I have had my car since September and one of the selling points they forgot to tell me was that the gas gage does not work at all so I have had to become pretty good at judging by my mileage how much gas I have.....good that is until today in the middle of the parent pick up line at school where my mileage was off and my car was completely out of gas....in the middle of the parent pick up line with a gazillion cars behind me and to both of my sides (ain't that just my kind of luck)....three of the teachers helped push my car to the center lane and we patiently watched all of the other cars leave while we waited on my husband to come and save us.....all I could think during this whole thing was....Thank goodness I was not in my pajamas...see my "not so resolution" resolution has already paid off and it is only January 18th. I love my life, I love my life, I love my life.

Adventure To A Fun Mom (and weight loss update)

Lately I have noticed how boring I am as a mom. With a job that is never done, I am constantly thinking of what I need to do next...floating through the motions of daily life. School, housework, piles and never ending piles of laundry, grocery shopping, doctors appointments, more housework, errands, homework.....the list goes on and on forever. I noticed that I am so busy being a mom that I haven't had time to be a mom. So I have come to the realization that I want my children to remember having more fun with mom then say the tv, computer or even the wii....so starting this past Friday I have implemented "Family Fun Friday"......I picked up Brooke from school and we had breakfast for dinner (which is a favorite for everyone)....I also helped Brooke make another Big Top Cupcake....only this time I WON and not the cupcake....we played the Wii (together) and then we settled in to watch Nanny McPhee Returns as a family...I know that the girls had fun and it was nice for me to relax for a night and just enjoy my family. We apparently had so much fun that we didn't stop there because Saturday we woke up and took the kids to the Science Museum AND to the Stock Show....they got to play with a life size "light bright" (I think I was more impressed then them)....they got to see more animals then they could count (including baby chicks that were hatching as we watched)....Brooke rode her very first roller coaster (and loved it!!).....she then conned me into riding the ferris wheel with her where she assured me I would be okay as long as I did not throw up on her. After that we took them to McDonalds to eat and run out any trace of energy they might have left before we went home and got ready for bed. It was a super fun weekend...and at this rate I am sure to win the funnest mom award in no time!! :-) ***Weight loss update*** For those of you who read my last blog post you know that I have not resolved to lose weight...I am just going to do it so I figured that periodically I will post an update on my journey....mainly to keep me accountable...so now I am beginning week three of this and so far I have managed to control my eating...for the most part (which is not so easy when you walk through the kitchen 100 times a day)...I have also managed to make it to the gym (that is 45 minutes away) two times every week....when I don't feel like making the trek to the gym (and when it is not -19 degrees outside) I have been walking at the park. For the record I do own an elliptical and an aerobic step with dvd....but I am not that disciplined yet :-) But going into week three I would say that things are going smoothly and as of this morning I have lost 7 lbs. And I know that I had said 40lbs in the beginning, but once I made friends with my scale again and evaluated "the situation" my actual real life goal is 48....so 7 down 41 to go.

Dinner Time Disaster

I know that the title of this post may lead you to believe that I had one dinner that went wrong...well the truth of the matter is that dinner time at my house every single night is inevitably a disaster that causes me to want to lock myself in the bathroom and eat my food in peace (just for the record I still have not ruled this option out.) First of all let me establish rapport and say that while I am not a gourmet chef...I can cook...most of the time pretty well in my humble opinion. Since I am the only one in my house that cooks I tend to get plenty of practice. My husband, however, is the pickiest eater on the face of the planet...the list of things that he WILL eat can probably be counted on both of my hands...and eating with him is a little like eating dinner with the health inspector....he inspects every single bite for the mere trace of something he may not like (no joke)....he covers almost anything in BBQ sauce so he can't taste it and if it looks like he may not like it he won't touch it or better yet he scrapes it in the trash on the way to the table. With that said my children are not much better at all....so dinner time at my house goes a little something like this.....I spend 45 minutes to an hour in the kitchen fixing everything and then I sit at the table and eat my food while my husband inspects his....and Brooke cries the whole time because she HATES this dinner or that food is disgusting....and Paige throws her food on the floor for the dogs to eat. So basically I end up cooking dinner for myself...and when it is all said and done I get the lovely pleasure of cleaning up the mess from cooking, the plates full of uneaten food on the table and any food left on the floor that the dogs did not find. After one too many nights of the very same occurrence I think it is safe and fair to say that the cook is out of the kitchen, the dishes are staying on the table AND this mama is going to go on strike!!!

If We (okay ME) Are Being Honest

With a new year comes a time for self reflection. As everyone around you is making resolutions it causes you to examine yourself and search for ways to self improve. Funny thing I learned is that when someone else points out your downfalls it is rather easy to step back and see all the things that need improvement. I have been a stay at home mom now for almost two years (I seriously can't believe that!!!) and I do love it...sure....there are days that I wonder what the heck I was thinking but if we are being honest I wouldn't trade a second of this life. The thing is becoming a stay at home mom means that things quickly went from semi normal to insanely and abruptly crazy. When I worked I had a routine that I HAD to stick to or I would inevitably be late for something. I dropped the girls off, went to the office, picked the girls up, went to the gym and somewhere in between all of that managed to run a household. Now that I am a stay at home mom routine is a thing of the past and there are days I feel like I can't even manage a household. I have become your typical garden variety housewife and at any given time I have two handfuls of tasks that need to be completed and as I start checking things off my list Paige is right behind me creating more things for me to add. There are days that I don't shower until 6 o'clock at night.....there are many, many mornings that I can be found in the drop off line at Brooke's school in my pajamas....and if we are being honest there are even afternoons that you can find me in the pickup line in the same pajamas. I don't go to the gym as often as I should and if we are being honest....by that I mean virtually never. I used to eat healthy and now I just eat whatever takes the least amount of time to consume.....so I can get right back to my million tasks. If we are being honest there are days that I don't do anything.....well I do manage to change channels on the tv while I lay around and look at piles of laundry and dishes in the sink. I don't consider myself lazy...I just consider myself tired and with so many things to do it is sometimes hard to determine where to start. So as we enter the new year....my "not so resolutions" resolutions would be #1. to start being honest with myself.....after two years I should know that no matter how productive I am I can not accomplish every single task every single day nor should I expect to and that is OK. #2. I would like to create some sort of routine in this madness (maybe the first thing on the list every morning should be to get dressed) #3. I know, I know it is completely cliche, but I not only resolve I VOW to go to the gym (or at least get off the couch) and make healthier eating choices (even if it takes a little longer) so that I can lose the 40 pounds that have decided to accompany me on this stay at home mom journey (because I really don't remember inviting them!!) But....if I do absolutely none of those things the one thing that I will do in 2011 is try to be the best dang mom that I can be. I will love those girls and soak up every minute of this experience because I know that I won't always be a stay at home mom...and they won't always be so stinking sweet. I thank God every day for the opportunity to be their mom and if we are being honest.....that REALLY IS all that matters in this crazy little thing called my life.