D-I-E-t

I started a diet. I'm following a loose version of the 21 day fix. I started yesterday and it was rough. I love sweets and my mom sent me to the grocery store... The one with the BEST bakery. It was hard, really hard. So I bought cottage cheese and ate grapes and yelled at my family. And almost quit, but I didn't and I heard the first 3 days are the hardest and today has been easier than yesterday, so I'm hoping that tomorrow is a bit easier yet.

Why I'm a Lousy Blogger

 

 This is Why I'm Never Here

I always have such great kid-isms, but I never manage to get here to share them. I tried to download the blogger app for my phone, but it won't let me sign in, only sign up and I already have a blog. 

Great story for you

Me: tell Ma what you did to Whitney.
Aly: I bit her fingers
Mom: why did you do that? That hurts Whitney.
Aly: her fingers fell in my mouth.

2 Day Later


Aly: (head butting Whitney) BOOM!!!!
Whitney: aaaghhhrrrhhhhmmmaaahhhhaaahhh!
Mom: why did you do that? You made her cry.
Aly: I said "boom."
My goal for Whitney is survival.

 Aren't the cute? I'll be back soon!

October Challenge #3

A blog post inspired by the color orange

 I dropped the ball already. However, I have an excuse for yesterday- it was my birthday and my husband and I went to the casino for the first time. I said we should play blackjack. My husband said we'd lose our asses, but okay. I laid down a $20 and the dealer gave me 4 orange and green chips. I had to lay down 2. He gave me 2 more. I added them to my pile. Oh, 22. He took my 2 chips, blackjack! He gives me 3. Eventually, I had 30 of those little orange and green chips, so I took 'em and ran. Not a bad birthday at all!

October Challenge #2

Your most favorite (or lease favorite) fall fashion trends.

I LoVe fall! The college girl who lives inside of me still loves the hoodies emblazoned with my alma mater or my Girl Scout troop number. They remind me of all the good things about Fall- heading back to college, the red, orange and golden leaves that crunch as you walk across them, haunted houses and the smell of bonfires. Yes, the hoodie is a magical thing!

October Writing Challenge #1

I love Mama Kat's Writing prompts. It's usually the only blogging I do with any consistency. I didn't realize, however, that she's been offering up a list of 31 prompts each month. When I saw her 31 October prompts, I thought that it might be interesting to do one prompt each day for the month of October to challenge myself and hopefully launch me into a stable blogging routine.

The first prompt is What were you blogging about last year at this time? How have things changed? 

It's pretty interesting that this prompt came up, because last October I turned 30 and I wrote a post declaring my hopes and goals.

6. I'd really like to get my craft business up and running. I have a lot of things that almost feel pipe dreamy to me. I did, however, open an Etsy store. Now i just have to sell somethin

7. As much as I thought I'd never do it, I'd like to get involved with a direct sales company. I have a couple in mind, now I have to get past my own anxiety and take the plunge.

8. I'd really like it if my husband and I could get started on some home renovation by my 31st year!

9. I'd love to downsize my junk. I have a whole basement full of stuff that needs sorted. It's just difficult because I have the attention span of a turnip and a 2 year old.

10. I want to take a family vacation! Just the 3 of us. My husband and I have gone away together (Hershey, PA) and my Mom and the Baby and I have gone (Louisville, KY) but my husband, Baby and I have never gone away by ourselves.

16. I want to be pregnant or have another baby. I'm not getting any younger and I don't want to wait so long now that I miss out on things later. I used to always get angry with my mom for waiting til she was 34 to have me, because she wasn't "fun" like she was when she had my brother at 19. She pointed out that she was more financially stable, so I got to do more than my brother. The grass is greener, I suppose.

17. I want to learn how to make metal stamped jewelery

18. I want to take some kind of class. I feel like my brain is turning to goo, because I don't exercise it.

19. I want to put my daughter in some kind of activity- either daycare once a week, or dance or gymnastics or something so she can play with kids her own age.

20. I want to make a new friend. It's really hard to make friends the older you get and I'm usually so burned out that I don't want to interact with people, but then I'm lonely. Quite the conundrum, if you ask me. (Friendship will be classified by social interaction outside of facebook. Also, being able to reach the person in a way besides facebook.)

I still haven't made or sold any craft items, nor have I learned to make any metal stamped jewelry, but I did get metal stamps for Christmas. My house is still cluttered. I think I need to just accept that I will never be one of those organized people! We didn't do a lot of activities or vacationing this summer, because we were waiting for this little bundle!

My second baby girl was born in the beginning of August, so I guess I accomplished the most important thing on my list! I also put the older one into a Mommy and Me dance class and I have been building a good relationship with the fiance of one of my husband's co-workers. Overall, I think I did pretty well for my 30th year. For my 31st year, I'd still like to take a class and work on my craft business. I'm also planning to become a Thirty-One Indenpendent Consultant, so that should help me make some new friends as well! 

What do you want to accomplish this year? 

Bad Moms have cluttered houses, apparently

I was raised by my mom. Any time anyone would compliment my dad on me, he would say "[Her mom] raised her, I just paid for it" and that's totally true. I only remember a handful of times where I went with my dad when I was young, but when I needed money for something, he was the one to ask. When my mom worked, I stayed with her mom, who lived next door. On Sundays, we all went together to my dad's mom's house. The only time I ever spent the night at my mom's mom's was when someone was in the hospital in Pittsburgh and that was only until I was a teenager- then I stayed home alone and my aunt would come check on me.

My mom is a good mom, but I'm not saying that she did everything right. She's the person who was notorious for saying, "You'd be so pretty, if you would just lose some weight," a statement that became so detrimental to my self-esteem. She also didn't enforce a lot of expectations. She'd yell about my room being a mess or leaving messes around the house, but there were never any set chores or consequences. She also didn't do a lot of cooking and we rarely ate family meals together.

My husband was raised a bit differently. His dad was a SAHD, while his mom worked. My husband also spent a lot of weekends at his Pap-Paps house. He regularly stayed their until we moved in together in our 20s. However, even though my in-laws house is uber organized, they didn't instill that value in my husband, so it really irks me when he criticizes me and my housekeeping. I've seen my husband clean up. He never left cans or bottles sit around when he lived at home, so I know that he knows how to do it, but he is constantly leaving a pyramid of cans in the livingroom or on the kitchen table, so you can see how the following exchange sent me over the edge...

The house is a disaster zone right now. I'm hugely pregnant. HUGELY. Remember, at term, my daughter was 10lbs, 9oz, so I'm not carrying a tiny baby in my womb. She's probably hanging around the 6.5-7lb mark right now and still growing. This makes it hard to bend over or stand for long periods of time- all things that are essential to housekeeping. He likes to point out that the house was a mess before I was pregnant, but, in my defense, it's hard to do by yourself. Both my husband and I get stressed out because the house is a mess and we just can't seem to get it under control. Unfortunately, feeling stressed and overwhelmed can lead to arguments. So, just recently, while feeling stressed, my husband yelled at me, "You have values! You're going to ruin our kids! You're a bad mom!" DEFLATE.

"You're a bad mom." "You're a bad mom." "You are a bad mom..." How do you come back from that? "You're a bad mom."

I'm not. I'm a good GREAT mom. My daughter is smart and sassy. She knows how much she is loved. We play and laugh and act silly. I'm a great mom. I may not be the best girl scout leader or the best wife or the best daughter or sister or friend or employee or house keeper or driver or planner, BUT I am a great mom and the best one for my girls.

I do want to find some order in my house, not for my husband, but for my kids. And myself. There is a great blog that I really like called Delightful Order. DaNita has a great entry on "Where and How to Begin Organizing Your Life". I think it's time that I find some order in our house. I've thought about where to start and I think the best place will be my daughter's room. 1.) Because her clothing is an issue- it's all over the house and I can't get around the toys to her dresser to put them away and 2.) Little Sister will be moving in there as soon as she is sleeping through the night. My husband has decided to do an all night clean, so I will stay up as late as I can with him and then he'll have to finish. Aly will have a sleepover with my mom. I'll let you know how it goes!

Anyone have any organizational tips? 

Writer's Workshop- Summer, Summer, Summertime

The Prompts:
1.) The first day of Summer was June 21st…how did you spend it?
2.) The last movie you saw in a theater.
3.) A blog post inspired by the words: setting sun
4.) Create a summer play list and share it.
5.) Talk about a club from your childhood you belonged to (or wanted to belong to).


I actually forgot that Saturday was the first day of summer until later in the week. Our 5th wedding anniversary was Friday, so we went out to eat. My husband got a double Falcon burger, which was 2 5 oz burgers with cheese and a fried egg between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches.

 He's not a fan of facebook, but he was so excited about this burger that he told me to take a picture to post!

 and took Aly to the train station when we heard the train whistle blowing, because she is crazy about the train. Apparently, my husband walked away with scratches. The first train scared her, but she lost her mind when the Amtrak rolled in.

The next day was June 21 and I forgot it was summer! I had a breastfeeding class at the hospital that morning and left feeling more empowered and hopeful for a better time with this baby than with Aly. After I picked Aly up at my mom's, we went home and napped. Later we went to my mother-in-law's house for her birthday, but she forgot to make herself a birthday cake, so no cake.

Next year, I hope I can remember to take a pause to celebrate summer! Maybe some park time, watermelon... mmmmmmm..... I can't believe that it is almost July! It feels like it was just winter!!!