Hmmm....Tuesday

I have no creative title for today's blog. I really don't have any subject matter either. It's been a week since my last post. I guess the only consistency I can claim is my consistent nature of not posting.

Here are some random thoughts.

I would rather be on the beach or at Disney World. I have this overwhelming desire to be at either of those place. I'm going to assume it's my way of trying to escape my daily activity of work. I do want to be with the family so it's not them I'm trying to get away from, just work. Ah the thought of sitting on the beach with the kids playing in the sand. Heavenly. Instead I'm here testing code and writing defects. Woohoo.

We got a new treadmill. And I've even used it. I'm working up to getting up every morning and walking my fat ass off. Hopefully I'll get there this week. Or maybe next week because this is PMS week which makes me evil and unmotivated. And really a little resentful that I have to exercise period. It's a good thing my trainer can take being called nasty names because I was cursing her last night. Burpees with the added pleasure of the Bosu ball. Seriously, WTF. She had it out for me I know (paranoia is also one of my added benefits of PMS. Lucky me). And if you don't know what burpees or a bosu ball are, consider yourself lucky.

We also got a new fridge, it's one of those fancy French door kind. It's pretty neato I must say.

I should never again (and I won't) attempt to cut Little Man's hair. He had a nice mop (probably a good 3 inches of hair ) and now he has a buzz cut with a zero fade. Yes I screwed it up that bad. Thank goodness for the lady at Great Clips who was trying to be all nice when she was telling me I just didn't have the correct knowledge on how to do it, but she was sure I was capable if I knew how. Just tell me I suck ass at cutting hair and be done with it don't try to butter me up with your nice comments. I totally fucked up his hair, we both know it. I mean come on the kid basically had a bowl buzz cut with a big chunk missing over his ear.

Ok, back to code and defects.

Desert Beauty

Here are some of my favorite pics from our trip to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It is a really great place if you're in Arizona! I tried my hand at some good photographs, got some good shoots. Still need some more practice.

Pretty Yellow Flowers with a Prickly Pear Cactus:


A Barrel Cactus



Patch of Wildflowers


Close up


Cactus


Windmill

Oh The Things They Say

We had a great weekend, we went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum and it was awesome. The weather was great and the park is wonderful. Great trails, and so many varieties of plants. It was just so cool. Maybe I will post some pics tomorrow.

They kids did great and Leo surprised them with little stuffed birds from the gift shop. They liked them. Sweet Girl got a hummingbird, named Mrs. Hummer. Yes Mrs. Hummer.

Little Man got a Quail, we tried to get him to name his Dan but no luck there. I'm not sure his even has a name yet.

Then there was the conversation in the car about the characteristics of each bird. The fact that Little Man's bird did not have as long of a beak as Sweet Girls. This conversation led us to statement:

Sweet Girl "Little Man you don't have a pecker".

Oh the laughter. That was good.

Friday Fun

Ahhh...finally Friday has arrived! And in a few hours the weekend will officially begin! Yay!

So lets do some Fill-Ins today!


1. Today I will be looking forward to the end of the work day.

2. Your answer is always no, and I say why not?

3. What do you think of this wonderful weather we've been having??

4. At Starbucks it's free Pastry Day til 1030 Friday!

5. People say that what we're all seeking is continuous happiness and what's wrong with that?

6. The image I cherish most is my sweet children laughing.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to date night (again, woohoo 3 weeks in a row!!), tomorrow my plans include not sure yet, probably some garage organizing and Sunday, I want to head to a state park and enjoy some beautiful desert wildflowers!

Read To Me, My Love

I had the pleasure of talking to one of my sister in laws the other day. She lives in Knoxville, TN and we talk on occasion but not as often as we should. We keep up via email and Facebook but still a good old phone conversation is the next best thing to being around someone in person. As long as it's someone you like, if you don't like them then being around them in person may just be the worst thing in the world. But, in this case I like her.

We were talking about the kids and how fast they grow up and how it seems like just yesterday we were trying to figure out how the hell the Snugli worked so we could take Sweet Girl on her first Black Friday outing at the young age of 4 weeks old. The process of figuring this out was someone comical and I remember laughing hysterically. Maybe it wasn't really that funny and I was just dealing with postpartum hormones, regardless I had a damn good laugh.

She then commented on the fact that she keeps up with the kids and reads the blog. I was so happy that she reads it. Her husband, however, does not. I mean he is a husband and probably not interested in his crazy sister in laws kids and reading about being puked on. This is generally not manly reading. And then she shared that she makes him mute the TV (that is just AWESOME Amanda!) and she reads it to him. How romantic is that?? She reads him my posts, she says it's because they are so funny but really I think deep down it's because they are newlyweds and in that romantic stage. So while he doesn't do the actual reading he is having it read TO him. Sure it's not Shakespeare or some other highly romantic reading but instead tales of hot vomit running down my chest (there is romance in that, no?) or the weirdo things my kids do (and wow they are weird).

Now, I can't tell you if he is really listening or if he is secretly wishing his sister in law had never started a blog so he could get back to whatever he was enjoying before he was interrupted.
It's probably the latter.

A Day Late

While I know today is Wednesday, I am just now getting to the PROMTuesday done at San Diego Momma. I actually did this one! Yay me! (ha)

Dreams

Halcyon dreams
Why do you evade me?

I have the perfect setting for you
Cool room, comfy sheets.

I lay here waiting
Where are you?

I stare wide eyed at the ceiling.
Beige?
Should I paint the ceiling beige?

Halcyon dreams,
Why do you evade me?

Fiber Love

If you've know me you know I LOVE fiber. I generally exceed the daily 25 grams a day. So I am very pro-fiber. This all started when I was pregnant with Sweet Girl I was TERRIFIED about getting hemorrhoids. I mean you have no idea how terrified I was with that. It totally freaked me out. That is when it began. My obsession with fiber. I love the Kashi Go-Lean, I prefer the Fiber One yogurt (although the Greek Fayeh yogurt is really yummo too!). And I actually look at the fiber count on bread. They actually make a "high fiber" bread.
And so I've also had many health benefits from this as well. My "good" cholesterol is pretty high.

So why am I telling you all this? Because I want you to try this yummo bars I found! I generally eat the Kashi Go-Lean for breakfast. I tried the Fiber One bars and I didn't really like them. But you need to try the Gnu Bars! The Orange Cranberry is da bomb! OMG it's so good!! AND you get 12 grams of fiber! Oh yes 12 grams! THAT is pretty exciting stuff! (watch it, I hear those comments...)

And if you order today you get 25% off! Sweet deal. And no they are not paying me or have asked me to blog about their goods. But if they somehow get wind of my blog post, I'll take some free bars...I prefer the Orange Cranberry.

Come on, join the fiber obsessed. Let me know if you try them and what you think!

Duh...You Still Need Sunscreen

First off I have to say yay to all the new followers and I'm also super excited about all the new blog reading material I have. I think I picked some great new blogs to read and I am really looking forward to it! Thank you to all the new readers we have! Leave a comment or two, I love the feedback.

We had an excellent weekend. Aside from my moment of total brain loss when I failed to bring sunscreen with me to the yearly Ostrich Festival. We had a great time, watching Ostrich races (hilarious!), some jousting (awesome), and of course carnival rides (always fun but involved a little drama from Little Man since he is just not tall enough for some...more on that later).

So all this is outside in Arizona in WONDERFUL 70 degree weather, with a nice breeze. Perfect for being outdoors because last year it was almost 90 at the festival and that was just not as fun. So in my mind (which had obviously taken a break and possibly a hike as well) I was not thinking sunscreen. Mistake on my part (damn you brain for taking a hike!) as I suffered a sunburned nose, chest and arms. My nose was the worst and I was referred to as Rudolph by Leo and my parents (feeling the love...). My chest, holy crap you would have thought I walked around with baby oil on my chest. Jeez. Thankfully the kids were spared, although they did get a little red on their face. But not nearly as bad as me. I know I know SHAME! SHAME on the mother who forgot the sunscreen! Trust me I won't do it again.

Have you ever seen anyone ride an Ostrich? It was pretty funny! Very entertaining!

The kids were excited for the rides and riding the Ferris wheel with Gaga and Grandad. We all get in line and they won't let Little Man on, because he's not 42 inches. However he did ride last year and he has grown since then so they must have tightened up on their riding requirements and enforcement. Oh the drama! He was NOT a happy camper. I finally convinced him to walk with me over to the kiddie area and he went down the big slide a few times while we waited for the others to come back. It turned out OK. He still had issues in the kiddie area though because those rides were also 42 inches. He was able to ride more at Disney World!

We ended our day with a sno-cone and my first and probably last fried Twinkie. Oh yeah all diet restrictions blown into the wind on that one. A Twinkie dunked in funnel cake batter and fried up golden brown and then "dusted" (and I say dusted lightly b/c it was pretty thick!) with powder sugar. I was unsure at first but have been wanting to try one since before Sweet Girl was born. So now I've done it and the fried Twinkie can be checked off the list.

We're starting the week off right with a baseball game. The spring training is in full force around here so we'll have an enjoyable afternoon at the ball park WITH sunscreen!

Follow Along! Get New Friends!

I saw this Blog Hop a couple weeks ago on Raising Little Women and didn't have time to do it so I was looking forward to trying it out this week.

I would love some new reading material and maybe the fact more people are reading me will help me keep up good blog content? Hoping so anyway!

Here's how YOU can join the Friday Follow celebration:

--Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky below. Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.

--Grab the Friday Follow and Sponsor buttons and include both on your Friday Follow blog post.

--Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots.

--Follow as many other blogs on the linky as you'd like.

--Take a moment to comment on the blogs telling them you're from Friday Follow.

--Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow.This list is new each week. The links do not carry over. Please link up each week for new participants to find your blogs. The list is only open to add your blog links on Fridays. It will be visible all week to visit the blogs listed.

Check out our Friday Follow Sponsor!

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Go Find some new friends too!!

Phases I Am Not Ready For

The last month has been a roller coaster for me. My Sweet Girl is growing up. I don't think I'm ready for this, not at all. Not.At.All. No.



It started with Kindergarten registration, and even though she is in Kindergarten at her current day care, where she is learning an immense amount of stuff. More then I expected actually. I had to go register her at a "real" school. A big, big school. With real classrooms and bigger kids. A cafeteria and playground. Whoa. Too Much. And this on top of the do we go the first grade route vs. Kindergarten has put me over the edge. I actually had major anxiety going into that school. I am not ready for her to be there. Ugh. Sigh. Growing up.



Then we moved her from a car seat to a booster. She wears a seat belt. An adult seat belt. What? Seriously? I was just carrying you in the infant carrier and now you're in a booster seat wearing an actual seat belt? Getting yourself in and out without much needed assistance.



How did this happen? Rhetorical question. I know HOW it happen and WHY it happened but that doesn't mean I'm READY for it to happen. I never thought I would be THAT parent, the one who cried or got all emotional when their kid went to school. But I am turning into that parent.

Ugh. I'm not ready for this growing up business. And another thing I'm not ready for, loose teeth. The thought of dealing with that is just too much (and really just grosses me out for some reason) and I really have no desire to be on point for that one! I think Leo gets Loose Tooth duty!

Maybe Dancing Is The Answer

So something I forgot to mention yesterday about Sweet Girl is that kid is Ms Fidget. Oh.My.God. The kid cannot sit still or stand still. She is always moving and fidgeting. And honestly this drives me nuts. And apparently she is just like me, I was fidget girl as well. Maybe that's why it drives me nuts? Not sure. Anyway. The dance class was really good.

Her teacher is a guy, not a big deal actually. Sweet Girl did really great. She said her name loudly when asked (impressive because as I stated previously, she usually turns mute when people she doesn't know talk to her). And she followed directions and was actually good at the ballet moves. She has incredible balance compared to the other kids in her class. So the Wii Fit activities she does are actually paying off.

The only disappointing thing is that we now have a 2 week break until the next class because the teacher (Alex), is going out of state for an operation. Leo mentioned that hopefully he doesn't come back as Alexa. I hadn't even thought of that but I guess it's a possibility and that will just be weird. So hoping he stays Alex and Sweet Girl continues to dance. And hopefully that will help combat her fidgeting!

The Dancing Queen

Today is Sweet Girls first ballet class. She has mentioned she wanted to do ballet a few times and I found a class through the community center so if she decides to bail after the second week (which is she notorious about doing, granted she is only five but still) it won't have cost me an arm and leg.

She was super excited to pick out her leotard - a blue one with a ruffle and ballet slippers. She has worn them every day since we got them on Sunday. She actually said "wow I look so beautiful". It was so sweet. And hopefully this makes her happy and she enjoys it. Hopefully the teacher will understand that she is horribly shy and quiet in new situations. Hopefully this class will help her come out of her shell and not clam up and turn mute when someone speaks to her.

Hopefully it will build more of her confidence in doing something fun. These are my hopes for her class tonight and for the next 3 weeks. If she likes this we'll find an official class and get her going.

She has been twirling and spinning and dancing all weekend and this week. She has a cute little bow that kind of makes her looks like she has to pee really bad but we always clap and encourage her to keep going. To work hard and to not give up. Work Hard and Never Give Up, it's one of our Family Rules that was put out there specifically for her. Since she gets frustrated and angry and then stops trying. We have had to work on this and Family Rule has helped her.

I'll report back tomorrow on how the first class goes!

Moment of Peace

I experienced great joy and peace this week. It was glorious. And it all occurred while I was rolling out dough for pizza crusts.

The flour, the sticky dough all being rolled out into a circle to fit in the pan. It was pure heaven. It was great. I love this stuff, I really should do it more.

Then the kids came home and chaos ensued and my moment of solitude peace and joy were gone. But I had them this week. And now I know where to find them.

Solitude and dough.

And I have to say the pizzas kicked ass and were good. I was proud and happy.

WooHoo for Monday!

Yeah normally not that thrilled for Monday and really I'm not all that thrilled that it's a working Monday. But I am thrilled because tomorrow my parents get here! YAY!!! I am really thrilled about that.

I really miss having them around so it will be nice to have them here with us for three months or so. The kids are excited as well.

We finished up the cleaning and putting away and clearing up the TV graveyard that had become the guest room. We hung stuff up and readied for their arrival. We made a Costco run (sans treadmill...disappointed about that though...) and stocked our shelves.

Very excited.