It's bright out here on the top side of my rock

Since I found Pinterest started my Master’s class I find that I am sort of living under a rock. I haven’t watched the news in months. I haven’t checked the weather in…months. I get dressed in the morning according to the level of cold in my bedroom at approx. 11pm the night before, which is a surprisingly bad indicator of the following day’s weather. I’m usually incredibly cold in my office during the fall/winter months and our bedroom could double as a sub-zero fridge in the cooler weather so there have been (nice) days where I have literally been sweating the entire day. That’s a pleasant feeling.

I’ve become incredibly bad at water cooler talk. You know, talking about the sensational headlines in the news. Yeah, I have no idea on any of that. I also haven’t followed the election. Not even a little. I realize that will give some of you heart palpitations and I’m sorry for that but my utter disdain for politicians makes my care-factor incredibly low and when I have about 2 ½ hours a night (if I’m lucky) to play with Pinterest  Instagram my kids, the news never rarely makes it on the TV. (I wonder if Nick Jr. would be willing to air the presidential debates and other current events in cartoon form so I can trick my kids into thinking it’s a “normal” show and actually stay abreast of current events.)

I haven’t even been staying current on my blogs. (I’m sorry.) Basically, my life is a shell of its former self. I’m not sure where September went…don’t get me started on October. I just keep reminding myself that I have only 4 more years of this. Four. More. Years. Crap crap crap crap crap 

In other news…

My husband and I haven’t killed each other yet are going in the right direction…dare I say even doing well.

I’ve started helping with Bud’s hockey team (60 on 3 seemed like really bad odds for the coaches. You know, with all those little kids with knives on their feet and clubs in their hands). So I’m the hunched over one with the pony tail sticking out of her helmet picking up the littlest kids and giving them a shove back toward their real coaches who know what they are doing. I only had one kid cry (how was I supposed to know he kept skating over to the wall to get his mom because he had to pee really bad?) and I call that success! Plus, it seems like it’s the only hockey I’m going to get this season (Lockout I hate you) so I’m a gunna get myself as close to the action as possible.

In the sad news department my Grandma is deteriorating at a very rapid rate so it’s pretty much day to day now. Still praying but now it is for her to be released from all her suffering. Cancer is a bitch. (That, right there, is the understatement of the year.)

In happier news, my husband has some good news coming his way. I don’t want to jinx it so I’m just going to be mean and tantalize you with those very meager details and leave it at that. You’re welcome.

Two of my cousins are heading to boot camp (Marines) next week. Please pray, and then pray again, for them!

Babe has been calling people "F*%# heads" lately. We are so proud.

The first graders in Bud’s school are supposed to be able to read 50 words in one minute by June. They had a proficiency exam a couple of days ago and Bud read 100 words in a minute. 100 WORDS! It’s not even half way thru the year! We are checking into the age requirement for Mensa.

Ok, this is long enough and Pinterest is waiting. Hope all of you are doing fabulous (yes, I do realize I’d know the answer to that if I was keeping up with your blogs) and while I’m being a terrible Interneter please know that I love you all dearly!

Peace out!

Lily

Thought Vomit Wednesday

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of therapy”

 (Go ahead and click the link. She’s fun. The first link will bring you to her home page, the second will bring you to her first TVT post.)

Here goes…

So yeah, lot’s to talk about. It’s been a while and I think a Thought Vomit post is just about right for this mish-mash we need to discuss.

A)  Super Grandma keeps living up to her title. The mass on her pancreas was a fluid filled cyst and the surgeon who drained it yesterday said he didn’t think it looked cancerous. YAY! But we still have to get the pathology results back so we are sitting tight on the celebration. She also has a few more hurdles to overcome before she can go home. (Her poop has been a hot topic of discussion in my family. We love you Super Grandma! You can do it! Give us a big ol’ poop we can be proud of!)

2)  A couple of weeks ago now I left you hanging on a weekend getaway for me and the husband. It went really well. We had a really great view of the lake from our hotel and rented some kayak’s and voiced big dreams as we paddled past all the beautiful lakefront cottages. It was a much needed getaway and it was definitely a good distraction.

III)  Speaking of the husband, I’d really like this roller coaster to be over now. The suckiest part, it’s my attitude and actions that are causing most of the bumps. We had a kind of breakthrough, or I should say , I did about myself, so figuring out a major issue is great, but I still don’t know how to get over it. Baby steps are one thing, these micro steps are frustrating.

D)  We went to visit my cousins on Long Island a couple of weekends ago. It was a fabulous weekend with a little surprise party for me and ended with Bud (and the rest of us) being covered in ticks. It was amazing! Oh, what? It’s not normal to end a fabulous weekend with ticks? Then obviously you haven’t had my cousin try to show you a fabulous weekend. (I love you Wench!) So this story could be a whole post of its own but you see how great I’ve been about posting. If I wait I fear it will never get posted. So, very long story short, we wanted to do one more thing before we left to go home so we decided to go to a historic house right on the ocean. It was pretty awesome. At the end we walked around the family cemetery plot and then got back in the car to head home. As we were backing out Bud said there were bugs on him. Being overly dramatic and scared of bugs I told him it was just dirt and to brush it off. His response? “But they are moving!!” So I took off my seat belt (I was in the 3^rd row of my mom mobile) and looked to find THOUSANDS of ticks on him. I wish I was exaggerating. There were thousands!! So I tossed him out of the car, stripped him down in the middle of the parking lot (thankfully it was deserted) and started wiping him down with baby wipes. His car seat was also covered so Wench wiped that down for me. As I was frantically wiping Bud down, my husband grabbed Babe to check her over. She had a few on her too. My husband said his shoes were completely covered in them too. He cleaned them off before I saw but he said he couldn’t even see his white socks because they were covered with ticks. I had a bunch on me and Wench had some on her. Her fiancé (it’s so fun to write that – they are recently engaged) didn’t get any because he didn’t walk around the cemetery like we did. Jerk! We stopped at CVS on the way home to buy some rubbing alcohol (apparently that kills them?) and we rubbed the kids down before throwing them in the tub. I can’t tell you how many times we have checked them (and ourselves) over but we seem to have escaped. I really don’t know how. Thank goodness Bud saw them pretty quickly, if not I can’t even imagine how many we all would have had!

5) I had my first master’s class yesterday. I was super prepared and read the first book a couple of weeks ago so I was all ready to intelligently discuss the boring as hell book. Until I found out that the professors switched which book we were reading first and I didn’t know. So instead I sat in the back with my head down and didn’t engage once. What a great way to start off my MA!!! Who rocks the house? Lily rocks the house!!

VI)  Babe is awesome. She routinely gets herself dressed in the morning before she even comes out of her bedroom. Reminder: she is 3. This morning I went in her room to shut off her A/C and this is what I found…

She even folded her underwear! Which means she actually CHANGED her underwear. I love this child. (We’ll work on getting the clothes in the hamper or back in her drawer but seriously, thank you dear Lord!) (And yes, she sleeps in a pink batman shirt. Have I mentioned that I love her?)

G)  Dudes, I turn 30 tomorrow. When did I get old enough to be 30? And what happened to my 20's? Seriously, it's a complete blur. 

Ok, I think this is enough vomit for one day. Huh, I missed blogging. I might have to do it more often.

Lily

Thought Vomit Tuesday

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of therapy”

 (Go ahead and click the link. She’s fun. The first link will bring you to her home page, the second will bring you to her first TVT post.)

Here goes…

*****************************

It’s been a while since I Thought Vomited and while it’s not Thursday, the day begins with a T so it still fits nicely into my TVT label that I use for all my Thought Vomit Thursday posts. Things like this are important to me people!

SO! Let’s vomit, shall we?!

We might be buying a new car tonight. At the least we are going to the car dealership to see what kind of deal we can get. Swagger wagon HERE I COME! I’ve decided that if I really do get a minivan (it all depends on the deals we can swing) I’m going to own that bitch! I shall not duck down when driving past people I know. I shall not shudder each time I say I drive a minivan (ok, this one might take some time). I shall not cry each morning as I get the kids into the car minivan. Instead I will honk my horn and wave to all that I pass, I will throw back my shoulders and hold my head high when I say I drive a minivan (again, that one will need work), and I will only cry as I get into the minivan when I hit my head on the door I swear I’ve never done that before.    Twice. So bring it on Swagger Wagon! Bring. It. On. Sniffle, sob, sniffle

Umm, I have a son who’s old enough to lose a tooth. When did that happen?? Said tooth hasn’t actually been lost yet but it’s wiggling something fierce! One good tug and it’s out of there…but then we need someone willing to actually give it one good tug. I can’t squish a bug, you think I’m going to rip bone matter out of my sons mouth? Bud won’t do it himself (no matter how much I pester him to) and my husband said he could do it but doesn’t want him to be fearful whenever he has a loose tooth. It’s totally normal to have loose teeth dangling from your mouth when you graduate high school, right?

So tell me your loose tooth stories. Did you yank that sucker out? Put a string around it and slam the door? Inquiring minds want to know!

Babe is getting too smart for her own good. As I’ve said before, it makes me fearful for the teenage years. Her new word is Stupid (yeah, it goes over REAL well) and the other day she clearly called me “Stupid mommy” so of course I told her “Nut uh, you’re stupid” and stuck my tongue out at her. I told her we don’t say stupid because it’s not nice. She looked me right in the eyes and said, “I didn’t say stupid I said Snoopy.” Then she turned and walked away. Touché little girl! Touché!

I think that about does it. It was a short bout of vomiting but fun nonetheless. Peace out.

Lily

Thought Vomit Thursday

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of therapy”

 (Go ahead and click the link. She’s fun. The first link will bring you to her home page, the second will bring you to her first TVT post.)

Here goes…

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I need a vacation. Me, a book (or twelve), and a chair on the beach. If someone wants to pay for this to happen I will shamelessly accept your generosity.

Bud is changing. He’s getting…big! His features are changing, he’s looking more and more like my husband every day. I don’t know that he’s actually growing (I don’t have much hope that he will be much taller than me – poor kid.) but he’s certainly not a baby anymore and I feel compelled to agree with him when he claims he is a “big kid.” He’s always been smart but he’s getting scary smart. He’s making connections that are so advanced and he’s starting to think about things that I never would have thought a boy of almost 6 would think. It makes me say “Whoa!”

As much trouble as Babe gives me at night, she is an absolute pleasure in the morning. She always wakes up with a smile on her face and literally bounces out of her bed. (She literally bounces most of the day for that matter.) I can’t even explain what joy it gives me when I go in her room to get her up and before even opening her eyes she is smiling. That smiles saves her life at night. I swear!

To the father’s of the student’s I’ve been wasting my time dealing with these last few days – your douchbaggery has not gone unnoticed and karma is a bitch. Fair warning.

I woke up early and put a pork roast in the crock pot. I just realized I never started it. Awesome.

I also forgot my clothes for playing volleyball at lunch. Fabulous!

I’m really great at remembering stuff.

So I was thinking. I’m fairly certain that my celiac disease was triggered by stress (my Papa died, then my sister died a month later, I graduated high school 2 months after that, we moved to a new state 2 months after that, and then I went away to college 2 weeks after moving and I developed it soon after) so I’m wondering if maybe experiencing another stressful period in my life will trigger it to go into remission. I don’t think that’s possible or ever happened before but how awesome would that be! It’s a nice dream to hold in my heart.

While reading Goodnight iPad to Bud last night we came to my favorite part (“Goodnight power light, guiding us to pee in the darkness of night”) and he had to stop me to point out that he would never say “that word” (meaning “pee”) at school. He just says he has to go to the bathroom so people think he’s polite. I had to give him a hug and kiss for that!

Happy Thursday!

Lily

Thought Vomit Thursday - Actually ON Thursday! (I know, right!)

I thought I’d continue with all the vomit from this week and give you a second edition of Thought Vomit Thursday. You’re welcome.

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of therapy”

 (Go ahead and click the link. She’s fun. The first link will bring you to her home page, the second will bring you to her first TVT post.)

Here goes…

Someone found my blog by searching for “nude kettlebells..” Bet they didn’t expect my site. (I love Blogger stats!)

Having three of your friends away from work all at the same time makes for a really long week.

We have parent/teacher conferences at Bud’s school tonight. My only prayer is that there have been no more fish carpet incidents I’m not already aware of.

I took the kids to open swim last night. It was the last night of it so I figured it was safe to bring them because no matter how much begging they do I can honestly say “No, we can’t go back.” I’m a good mom like that!
(Why does the water have to be SO COLD?)

Prepare yourselves for a very colorful photo dump on Monday. It’s Ukrainian Easter Egg weekend. What? You don’t know about Ukrainian Easter Egg weekend? Oh just you wait!!

SO! Being the ultra-organized person I am, I had a TVT post all set to go for February 16. Yeah, it never got posted. BUT! Don’t despair! I saved it and now you’ll get to enjoy it only 1 month late. You’re welcome.

********FEB. 16*************

Have I mentioned that I’ve been working out? Yeah, I’m really obnoxious about it. I know this but I can’t stop being obnoxious. Like when I’m standing in my kitchen and I start doing a scale

 Via

Picture this but with a lot more exuberance and much less skill (and my leg not nearly that high). 

Or how I stand in front of the mirror and flex my barely there muscles. I’d like to shut up about it and stop obsessing but it seems to be all consuming and I don’t have back fat anymore. Did you hear that? I DON’T HAVE BACK FAT ANYMORE!

And I ran 2.3 miles the other day (the .3 is a very important part and must be included in every conversation) and I didn’t die. I didn’t even trip and have to be pulled out of the gutter by a stray dog. This is what I call success people!

(Side note: I am now up to 3.1 miles, thank you very much. Again, the .1 is very, VERY important.)

So what if it took me 25 minutes and it took my husband only 19 minutes to run the same distance? He’s a foot taller than me and has legs that come up to my chest. I think we should start assessing handicaps like they do in golf and bowling. (Side note: I also need a handicap to beat him in bowling. Why is he always better than me? Damn him and his tallness!)

Ok, I suppose I’ll stop talking about working out for now.

Ok seriously Word Captcha’s? You need to have TWO words now? Because I didn’t feel stupid enough not recognizing the letters in one word, you have to mock me with two words? Fun.

Hope your week is as vomit-filled as mine! 

Lily

Thought Vomit - Monday Edition

Sometimes I don't think Thought Vomit should only occur on Thursday. Other days deserve Thought Vomit too, no? 

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of therapy”

 (Go ahead and click the link. She’s fun. The first link will bring you to her home page, the second will bring you to her first TVT post.)

Here goes…

Saturday morning we didn’t have to wake up early and Bud proved once again that he is the best little boy a mother can ask for! Him and Babe woke up at the same time and as I lay snuggled in my bed he took her downstairs and made her breakfast! Yes, he got a bowl, and a spoon, and the cereal, poured the cereal in the bowl, got the milk and poured the milk in the bowl (WITHOUT SPILLING) and served it to her in front of the heater (just as I do every morning). (Yes, my kids eat their breakfast on the kitchen floor so they can be in front of the toe kick heater. It’s a fight I don’t find important enough to have.) I did have to get up kicking and screaming shortly after but those few extra minutes were pure heaven!! This is why I’m done having kids. They are getting old enough to do things like this for themselves and it’s just too good to make me want to start all over again.

We went out for dinner with friends and ate at Uno Chicago Grill. (They have a gluten free menu so it was an easy choice.) Seriously, they served me the best GF pizza I’ve ever eaten! GF pizza leaves a lot to be desired but this one was so good I almost ate the whole thing (it’s a lot for one person). Thankfully I was able to stop and save a few pieces for lunch today! YUM!

Our friend was driving us back from dinner (she has a Tahoe so we all fit in one car – so much more fun!) and about ½ way home (a 40 minute trip) Bud made a weird sound from the back seat. I turned and he was covered in vomit. Awesome! We (living were we do) were in the middle of nowhere so thankfully we had some napkins in the car and I cleaned up best I could then we hightailed it to a gas station to finish the job. I was just going to wipe it all off the best I could until we got home but it wasn’t working out so I just took his pants off of him and wrapped him in my vest to get him back in the car. (He was very nervous people would see his underwear.) (I do wish I had my camera trained on his friend A when he got back in the car. A was VERY weirded out by a Bud in his underwear sitting in his car!) Afterwards Bud was completely ok. He has never gotten car sick and doesn’t tend to throw up (the only other time I can remember was the time I spun him too much on our swing and he threw up red kool-aid and macaroni on my beige carpet. That was a lot of fun.) so I’m not sure what that was all about but I’m just glad he was ok!

As I thought about what I was going to write for this Thought Vomit I couldn’t help but sing (to the tune of Lou Bega’s Mambo #5) “A little bit of Thought Vomit in my life. A little bit of real vomit in my life. A little bit too much vomit in my life.”

So this morning I woke up to the sun shining and the birds chirping. It was great. Until I realized it was 7:30…the same time I’m supposed to be in my car on the way to work! Yeah, I forgot to set my alarm and if it wasn’t for one of the kids coughing in their sleep and me hearing it I would have been even later! I did manage to get myself ready and out the door in a ½ hour (thanks to husband getting Bud dressed and driven to school – of course he missed the bus too!). It was some morning!

So I don’t know if you guys remember but a few months ago (October to be exact) I shared the news that my husband had finally gotten a new job! Well, time to dust off that wording again! My husband got ANOTHER new job! It was a little unexpected but the pay is almost double what he’s making now and the hours are so much better (6am-2:30pm instead of various shifts ending sometimes at 10pm). I can’t even explain how much better this is! We are so grateful he got the 1^st new job because he had to get out of where he was but it was a pretty big pay cut and we knew the hours wouldn’t be the best but it was just absolutely necessary to get him out of his old job. So this newest job (which he applied for the same time as the 1^st new job) finally got their act together and hired him! This job has the trifecta of perks, good hours, great pay, and it’s not a desk job (something that was very difficult for him to adjust to with the 1^st new job). He’ll be working with people he already knows and gets along with and they are all hunters and they even take off during hunting season (like they close up shop for a week) so they can all hunt. (He nearly died when he heard that one!)

I’ll take a little vomit mixed in with good news like this any day!!

Happy Monday Peeps!

(Speaking of Peeps…I could go for some marshmallow goodness! I love Easter candy!) 

Lily

Thought Vomit - Monday Edition

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of therapy”

 (Go ahead and click the link. She’s fun. The first link will bring you to her home page, the second will bring you to her first TVT post.)

Here goes…

So many things went on this weekend but none of them are really blog worthy on their own. Rather than regale you with the play-by-play of my new sandals (SQUEEEE) or my frying pan (woot woot) or the laugh-out-loud play-by-play of our game of Bubble Talk with our friends, I’ll leave you with these snippets of conversations and thoughts from the weekend.

Conversation Snippets:

Said by a 45-ish year old man to another man at a bowling alley last night

You just said “cockeyed!” (giggle, giggle, giggle) (I wish I was kidding)

Babe on why she cried in the shower

The water was shining in my eyes.

Bud on “winning”

Bud: Mommy, what number were you up the stairs?

Me: Um, I think I was third.

Bud: Ok everybody, third is the best, second is the worst. (Babe was second, of course.)

Some minor thoughts on my weekend:

Why are pots (not from Wal-Mart) so expensive? I think it should be illegal to charge $165 for a frying pan.

Bed, Bath & Beyond is like Toys R Us for grown-ups. Everything is shiny, all the best toys are WAY HIGH on the wall, and it has everything you EVER need! (Except pretty flannel sheets. I can’t be the only one who likes flannel sheets even in summer, right?)

The sandals in the box in my size were brand new. I mean, I wasn’t at a second hand store or anything but I mean no one even tried them on before! They were still wrapped in plastic with all the shoe stuffing in its proper place. I don’t know if I have ever come across shoes in this state! I think the angels were singing. But because they were wrapped up so nicely I only tried on one. I’m getting a little nervous about the fact that I didn’t try on the other one. Lazy Mistake # 374 for the year.

Good friends are worth the wait. It took 8 years and two kids but we finally have a good “couple” friends with kids that play together nicely. The kind of friends that will volunteer to watch your kids for you so you can go out (even if it’s only to the bowling alley to sub on your in-laws league), the kind that make plans to go out on your anniversary together because you got married 1 day apart, the kind that you can sit on the couch and giggle with while making said plans, the kind that will play stupid board games with you every weekend and laugh the entire time, the kind that has a son who your son thinks is the best thing since sliced bread (and vice versa). Yeah, we got lucky with D and L.

Hope you had a good weekend too.

Lily

Thought Vomit Thursday

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of therapy”

 (Go ahead and click the link. She’s fun. The first link will bring you to her home page, the second will bring you to her first TVT post.)

Here goes…

***

I’m considering suspenders. Belts are expensive and suspenders seem like they could be a fashion statement. (Let’s not focus on what that statement would be.)

If someone doesn’t get me a freaking cookie right now I might strangle someone. (Jillian Michaels is evil, my car is in the shop and going to cost me 3x my mortgage payment, and I deserve a cookie.)

I really want to get family pictures taken. I don’t care very much for the studio shots. I like the candid, outdoor shots. Two years ago we had a friend’s sister take a bazillion pictures of us and they remain my most favorite pictures. However, Babe is bald and But is tiny. It’s time for new ones!

I have learned that it’s just as hard to pick a color to paint an office wall as it is to paint a room at home. “Interesting Aqua” or “Halcyon Green”? Decisions, decisions!

If Time Warner doesn’t broadcast the Ranger game tonight I may have to hurt someone. (Preferably not a family member.)

Babe told me she has a new name. Henceforth she is “Princess Butterfly.”

Bud claims he skates faster than 100. (100 what I’m not sure but it must be fast!) Watch out NHL!

I still haven’t come up with a new name for my husband. Everyone had really good suggestions but I’m still undecided. All the choices only made it harder! I kind of like “Dude” because he’s so very much NOT a dude. I don’t know why, but he just isn’t. Why that makes me like it that much more I can’t explain. And Cement Mixer is just too cool for words but I fear I will tire of typing that out every time. I like the suggestion of a B name (Bum would be awesome) but I think he would not be thrilled with that. Perhaps I will come up with something before the kids graduate college.

I could spew some more but I’m running out of time so Tha Tha Tha That’s all folks…

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Totally just realized it's officially a year since I started to blog. Wow, this is a crappy post for my anniversary but there it is. Thank you to everyone who has stuck by me and to the new people who followed me (probably by accident). Thanks everyone for making me feel welcome in this awesome community!


Maybe I'll try harder tomorrow to kick off my second year in style. (Probably not.) (Fair warning.)

Lily

Thought Vomit Thursday

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of Therapy” (Go ahead and click the links. She’s fun. The first link will bring you to her home page, the second will bring you to her first TVT post.)

Here goes…

I bet my Jillian Michael’s DVD would be much more successful if I could stop using it as an excuse to stuff my face with junk food. Minor details I suppose.

My parents turn 60 this year (my dad in a couple of weeks)! WHOA! Do you know what that means? That means I turn 30 in August! Crap! Where did my 20’s go?

If Babe doesn’t start going to sleep easier I might lose my mind. I feel bad, she’s just not ready to go to bed, but the thing is I AM AND I NEED MY SLEEP! We tried not giving her a nap but that was a huge backfire. She ended up falling asleep at 5 in the car on the way home and even though I woke her up when we got home it was just enough to give her a second wind of Herculean proportions! Drat! I miss sleeping.

I need to pick up my camera again. I don’t know if life has gotten in the way or what but I think it’s time to grab it again. I didn’t even take a lot at Christmas. At least, not nearly as many as I normally would. How will my kids ever remember their childhood if I don’t catalogue each and every second on film. Thank you digital cameras!

Has anyone else noticed that the captcha phrases are getting longer and longer? I had one before that was 7 letters and now I just had one with 8. Those things suck as it is, can’t they go easy on us and do like 4 letters? I’d be ok with 4.

I hate when I’m bored and want another blog to read but I’m all caught up (let’s be honest, this is a rare thing) and I just keep hitting refresh on my browser hoping another new one will pop up in my blog roll but it never does. You think I could actively search out new blogs but then when I get backed up again (in another day) I’d be even further behind! Being impatient AND unmotivated sucks.

I’m a sucker for free stuff. As I mentioned a while ago I ultimately decided on the college I went to because they sent me a car decal with my acceptance letter. I’m about to mail out a card to get myself a free preview of Martha Stewart Living Magazine and it comes with a free tote bag. I do not need another a tote bag and I’m really not a fan of Martha. For some reason that is not stopping me.

Finally, I need suggestions. I’m tired of calling my husband “my husband” every time I want to mention him. When I started writing this blog I called him Mr. MND (Mr. Mom Next Door) but he wasn’t a fan of that and, because I’m a good wife, I stopped using it. BUT, “my husband” is just annoying (the words, not my actual husband…at least not all the time) so I need some suggestions. So what do you think I should call my husband?

Happy Thursday peeps.

Lily

Thought Vomit Thursday

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of therapy”

 (Go ahead and click the link. She’s fun and has an adorable new baby.)

Here goes…

So Christmas really did go smoothly. We all had a good time and PLENTY to eat! Here are some of the highlights from Christmas morning…

Showing off our designer Christmas headbands
(My dad knows the designer! We are so posh!)

Best. Present. Ever.

He got a calendar. He's obsessed with calendars!

Babe hugging her new favorite baby doll

I don't think I need to explain why I posted this picture. Awesome.

If you look at Babe's feet, they are resting on one of her favorite Christmas toys. A real metal shopping cart! Totally awesome!

Later, after everyone left, I was walking around the house and realized just how great a Christmas it was. Nothing says AWESOME CHRISTMAS PARTY like the wreckage left behind.

The remainder of the nativity scene. I'm not sure when the rest of it was moved.

Gingerbread house...or what was left of it anyway.

So desolate! 

Partied out

A good Christmas was had by all! 

So my friend Smidge, you remember Smidge, right? She is my idol (well, I don’t actually want to do what she’s doing but I’m really, extremely, super-duper proud of her for doing it). She is going to run a ½ marathon at Disney on Saturday! She’s been training for a long time now and she’s run more in one stint then I have ever run in my life and she’s a tad nervous but I know she is going to do so awesome and earn her Donald Duck Award for finishing the run. I don’t know about you, but to get a Donald Duck award for anything is pretty freaking awesome! She has to run 13.1 miles in under 3.5 hours and just thinking about that makes me want to crawl in bed and cover my head with the sheets! So please join me in saying “GO SMIDGE GO!” and “YOU CAN DO IT!” and “Don’t get on the wrong bus and end up at the finish line instead of the start line!” YAY SMIDGE!”

As always, thinking about exercise immediately makes me think about food. Which leads me to my next thought vomit…they are now making Gluten Free Marshmallow Pebbles and can I just say THANK YOU POST CEREAL for bringing joy back to my life! (I may or may not have been caught in the pantry eating the marshmallows from the box by my children.)

Via

And since I mentioned exercise I should also mention that I got Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred for Christmas. She is kicking my ass! I’ve stuck with it for a week now and I’m ready to move onto level two. I haven’t lost any weight (muscle weighs more than fat, right?) and my stomach isn’t any smaller (I don’t think that it has anything to do with the entire tray of Rice Krispie treats I ate in a day and a half.) but I can now do 15 real pushups. In a row. Without stopping. Honestly, the only way to celebrate that achievement is with an entire tray of Rice Krispie Treats! Yay me!

But again, please send good vibes to Smidge and if she does as awesome as I’m expecting maybe I’ll post a picture of her Donald Duck award and make you all jealous!! (You know, if she ACTUALLY SENDS ME A PICTURE. Or, if she posts it on Facebook because otherwise, I doubt I’ll ever get a picture. SMIDGE, ARE YOU LISTENING?)

Yes, this is Smidge, and I love her! (In all her pink ruffled glory!)

Lily

Thought Vomit Thursday

So you might not know this about me but I think about some really random crap. (I know! Hard to believe, right!) Most of the time I spare you guys the details but I have come across the perfect platform to spew my mind vomit all across the Internet. 

Thought Vomit Thursdays was brought to my attention by Josey over at “My Cheap Version of therapy” (Go ahead and click the link. She’s fun.) 

Here goes…

We had ham, potatoes, and broccoli for dinner the other night. I put a bite in Babe’s mouth, and before I could stop her, she got up from the table and ran in the other room. I caught up with her as she was coming out of the bathroom. I looked in and saw that she had spit out the food in the sink. She looked at me and said “I don’t want broccoli in my mouth.”

OOOK. I can’t wait for the teen years!

Best Mother advise EVER: Better to smack her on the bottom now than want to slap her in the face as a teenager. 

(Thanks Mom!) (Thankfully, I know that advice came from dealing with my sister, not me!)

I hate when people skip a line on interoffice envelopes. Why can’t they just use the next available? Are they special? No! Just use the next line people!

When I was little there was a candy store near my school. Every morning I would stop in and buy a dollar worth of Bazooka gum. I once used the little comics to completely line my pencil box at school – I was so cool!

That’s all I’ve got for today. Happy Thursday!

Lily

A Monday Edition of Thought Vomit Thursday

Phew. Just catching a breather before I crash back into the chaos of my week. Although it’s not Thursday this post is going to resemble a Thought Vomit Thursday so bear with me please. I’ve been going through blogging withdrawals AND I’m sick AND I’m so busy I don’t even know what to do next. (Anyone else think this might turn into a fun post? Just me?)

We had an incredibly momentous weekend in the Mom Next Door household!! It was the first weekend EVER (since 2009) that we have had a diaper free sleeping experience by all members of our family! Yes, that’s right I am Babe is no longer wearing diapers at night!!! WOOOHOOO! (Insert mental picture of me throwing money up in the air and dancing for joy. Said money is obviously all the extra dough we’ll save from not having to buy diapers anymore! YEE HAA!)

I have to work at night for the next four nights. It sucks! It also means I miss Bud playing hockey tonight. Which also means that my husband gets to take him. Which also means he’ll have to deal with getting him dressed. Which also means that he has to convince Bud to wear the team-issued jersey that they were given at the end of practice on Saturday. (It’s red. It’s not a Ranger jersey. He’s pissed.) Which also means that frustration levels will be at their highest. Which also means the night will probably involve crying. I won’t say by who.

We closed on our refinance this weekend. It’s not a huge difference in our monthly payment but every little bit helps! But mostly, I found that it’s incredibly difficult to sign my name with my middle initial. And on all the pages that we had to just put our initials I had to include my middle one and that just confused the heck out of me. It’s sad really.

I started my Christmas shopping this weekend. Have I ever mentioned that I don’t like shopping? I don’t.

Have you ever heard of Camphor Ice? Best. Stuff. Ever. You know how when you are sick and you blow your nose more than you blink your eyes and under your nose gets so sore you want to slit your wrist before touching more sandpaper tissues to your nose? That’s where this stuff comes in! You can use it for all sorts of things but I only use it on my nose when I’m sick. (Because ewww, I’m wiping it all over my snotty sick nose, I don’t want to put it on any other part of my body after that.)

Teaching Babe how to curl her top lip under so that I can apply Camphor Ice to her nose is quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever tried to teach her. Sorry, that’s all you get on this topic. Just take my word for it!

I still have my Halloween decorations hanging up in my dining room. This is why I should not have parties!

I refuse to pay for a data package to get a smart phone so I may be reverting to a flip phone. If they sold the Zach Morris cell phone  I’d probably try to get that instead. I’m cutting edge like that.

 (via)

Ok, I think all of that gives a sufficient recap of my past week (mostly my weekend). Thrilling I know. I expect each day to get less crazy so I’m hoping my posting schedule will go back to normal soon. Sorry for my absence and I promise to slack on my work so that I can post every day never go that long without posting again.

Lily