How I Met My Husband

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I figured I’d share the story of how Tim and I met. The first time we met was NOT the kind of moment that romantic movies are made of. The very first time that we met was at a bar. I was there to celebrate a coworker’s birthday and he had tagged along with his roommate. It turned out his roommate was also a coworker of mine who I didn’t know (large company).  All the details of the night are not clear (perhaps it was due to the vodka) but a conversation between Tim and I was quite clear. It turned out that we had gone to college in the same city only a few miles apart. I made a wise crack that he was a geek due to the college that he went to. In turn, he said that I must be “easy” because of the college I went to. Now although I did start the name calling, I think it’s a pretty basic rule that you don’t call a girl that you just met “easy.” So in return, I called him an asshole and we parted ways.

That was it, end of story, right? Apparently, the dating gods decided to give us another chance and almost two years later we re-met at a Fourth of July party. We hadn’t seen, heard, or even thought of each other since that night. It actually took me a while to place him and figure out why he looked familiar. He only vaguely remembers our first meeting at all. This second time, it was a hot summer day filled with lots of drinking (boy, were we young and living life back then!). Tim was there with his same roommate and I was there since it was a good friend/coworker’s house. Turned out Tim and I were currently living in the same town and only a few miles apart. In all honesty, I wasn’t super excited to give him my number when I left the party. I was busy being single and given our two (drunken) meetings, I didn’t think that I really wanted to go down that road. Turns out giving him my number was one of the best decisions of my life. Who would have guessed that the guy whose friends were throwing 4^th of July firecrackers out his car window would be the one I share all my secrets with, the one who I would marry, the one who would witness the birth of our three children? Who would have guessed that the jerk (my thoughts then) that called me “easy” in a bar would end up being my trash taker-outer, my bug killer, and my rock? So I guess my advice for all the guys out there would be to be careful who you call “easy” because us easy girls have a way of catching you hook, line, and sinker – for life!

Young Love, 2003

Random Act of Kindness

With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s easy to get caught up in our own little world. In an effort to break out of this bubble and help out others in the process, I’m going to try to do some random acts of kindness as much as possible. I had this epiphany this morning and figured no time like the present to start.

Daniel had his 18 month doctor’s appointment this afternoon so I figured I’d start there. After all, these are the people who care for my children, answer my questions when I call, greet us with a smile even after they’ve been listening to grouchy parents and sick kids all day. They help, they listen, they care, and most of them probably don’t hear “thank you” as much as they should. So I explained to the big kids how it’s nice to do things for others, especially when it’s unexpected. So Isabelle cut and colored a heart (she is obsessed with making hearts!) and we stopped at the grocery store on our way to the appointment. We picked up some cupcakes and cookies and Isabelle proudly presented them to the front office staff when we arrived at our appointment.  They were touched and thankful for the gesture. It took a few extra minutes out of our day, a few dollars from our wallet, but brightened the day for others – a total win.

When we left the office, Isabelle asked, “Who else can we buy cupcakes for?” Good question…good question.  So I’m going to think of little ways to incorporate helping others in to our day to day living. Feel free to join us on our quest. There are opportunities everywhere. We just have to keep our eyes open.

I am a Mom

I am a Mom

I’ve been vomited on atrociously in public

I’ve sewed favorite stuffed animals

I’ve yelled when I should have been more patient

I kiss imaginary boo boos

I am a Mom

I haven’t had a peaceful trip to the bathroom in over four years

I’ve raced to the doctor terrified with an injured child

I dance in the kitchen in my PJs to Old MacDonald

I’ve turned the television on to babysit the kids when I needed time to myself

I am a Mom

I’ve said no to playing with the kids when I should have said yes

I’ve vacuumed while holding a baby and with another clinging to my leg

I’ve bought chocolate donuts for lunch when I didn’t feel like cooking

I’ve legitimately lost a child at a museum

I am a Mom

I secretly eat cookies when the children aren’t watching

I hide in the bathroom to make important phone calls

I do endless laundry

I love unconditionally

I’ve held my day old baby while having my hair “brushed” with a nasal suctioner and watching my daughter “nap” in a neighboring hospital bed. I am a Mom.

Pre-School Valentines

Isabelle was so excited to make Valentines for her classmates over the weekend. I told her the original idea, but she took it to a whole new level. That girl loves her arts and crafts! She happily spent hours cutting out each heart, coloring, gluing/glittering, signing her name, hole punching, and ribbon cutting. I may be a bit bias, but I think they are pretty amazing for a four year old. Here are some pictures for you to decide for yourself…

"You color my world!" heart with crayons attached

No matter how many times I see it I still think,"When did she get old enough that she can write her own name?!"

The finished products!

A Weight Loss Journey (x2)

We are about a month in to my Biggest Loser competition and I am down twelve pounds. I am beyond excited. I’m fitting better in my clothes and wearing belts that haven’t fit me in years. I’m not following any type of set plan or program but just doing it old school style - I’m watching what I eat, drinking lots of water, being careful of portion control, and ditching the wine (as much as possible!). I’m also tracking all my food intake using MyFitness Pal which I have basically become addicted to. I find it’s a great tool to make you really aware of what you are eating. I also need to be extra aware since I’m not exercising. Yup, you read that right – I’m not exercising. In a perfect world, I’d be at the gym a few days a week but I’d honestly rather spend my mornings sleeping or my nights relaxing than trying to fit in time at the gym. Oh, and here’s the other thing – I hate exercising. I’ve tried joining gyms, doing difference classes, trying new things, etc. Some are fine but never enough for me to really like it. It’s just not my thing. So I’m going to focus on what is my thing – obsessively keeping notes and tracking since that is something that I am good at.

Now, this isn’t my first time at the weight loss rodeo. The weight I’m currently losing is compliments of three children in four years, but I grew up in a household with very poor eating habits. It was actually a lifestyle of food horribleness (yet, oh so yummy). I used to blame my mother (and honestly still do a bit) but I remind myself that she was a young widowed woman who didn’t know better and was doing the best she could. We grew up in a house virtually void of fruits and vegetables. The only fruit we ate was bananas and the only veggies were canned corn and canned green beans (both smothered in butter and salt). We ate fast food ALL the time. My mother even had a knack for taking things that were rather healthy and destroying them. One of our favorite snacks was Cheerios that she fried in butter and loaded up with salt. I’m pretty sure the Cheerios yelled out in horror as they were heading towards the frying pan. Oh, and you know that yummy fried dough that you get at your local fair or carnival? Yeah, we had that regularly for breakfast (covered in butter and powdered sugar, of course). Bacon was a food group. I could go on and on but you get the idea.

At the time, I had no idea how bad all of this was for me but my body sure did. By the time I was in high school, I was severely overweight. My senior year, the clouds parted and I saw the light and decided to change. I did just what I’m doing now, reading labels, thinking about food before I eat it, and taking it one day at a time. I left for college the following Fall down seventy five pounds. It was completely life changing.  Since that time, I’ve managed to keep my weight steady (give or take some pounds here and there) and am excited to now be (almost) down the baby weight as well. I’m not writing this to toot my own horn but rather to share my story. It doesn’t matter if you’re 17, 32, or older or younger, if you set your mind to it, you can do it. It’s not easy every day and some days it just totally sucks but if you keep it up over time, it does work.  

My new friend each Monday morning

How to Cook with a One Year Old

The big kids and I enjoy cooking and baking together but we always have the problem that the youngest “helper” is of no help at all. So today, while we were making pancakes for breakfast, I had a brilliant idea. Simply brilliant. Here is how you keep the one year old occupied, happy, and even let him think he is participating.

Step 1: Give him a spoon and a bowl with a little sugar in it. Stir.

Step 2: Eat

Step 3: Let him enjoy the sugar high while you finish cooking!

My Mom is awesome!!

My Nemesis

My washing machine is my nemesis. Now let’s be clear about this, it’s not the dirty laundry but the actual washing machine that I hate. With a family of five, it’s just par for the course that there is going to be endless laundry. I’ve accepted this fact. However, my washing machine does not help my cause at all. It does this pretty awesome thing where about 40% of the loads, it does not fully spin dry. So that means that when I go down to switch it over to the dryer, I find that the clothes are still soaking wet and need to be spun again. Sometimes, I even find them soapy still and they then need to be rinsed and spun again. On super lucky days, after I re-rinse and re-spin, I go down to find that it needs to be spun AGAIN. Of course, I think the machine knows when I have tons of laundry to do, need something specific from the load, or it’s midnight and I’m trying to get the last load in the dryer, and decides that is the time that it’s not going to spin properly. It is truly infuriating. We’ve checked out the machine, connections, etc. and there is nothing obviously wrong with anything. We’ve had the machine for less than five years so I hate to have to buy a new one (I’m also super cheap). So until I give in and bite the bullet for a new machine, I’m going to continue the day to day battle. If anyone ever hears of a crazy house wife setting fire to her washing machine in the middle of the road someday, you’ll at least have this post to look back on.

Drain & Spin, my ass.