Turning 30

I turned 30 this month. It's really surreal, because I don't feel like I should be 30. I feel like I just turned 26. This birthday was a lot different than when I turned 20. For my 20th, my roommate had a surprise party for me in our Dorm Room and my biggest concern was whether I should still play in the teen rooms on pogo or move to the 20s room. Seriously, that was a big concern. Now I don't have time for pogo.

So, in honor of my 30th birthday, I'm going to give you 30 things.

5 Facts about Me
1. I was scared to death about having kids and didn't know if I wanted to. I'm so glad I did, because she is the most amazing person
2. I'm lefthanded and ambidextrous people annoy me. They're all like "oh you're lefthanded, I'm ambidextrous!" Shut up and get away from me. Did you ever have to fight for a busted up paid of lefty scissors in elementary school? No, because there were an abundant supply of righty scissors, which you could use with your right hand! Did you ever have trouble using a desk because it is designed for right handed people?  No, because you can use it right handed! So, please, ambidextrous people of the world, stop pretending you know the plight of the lefthanded person, because you don't. You'll never be as cool as us, anyways.
3. I love, love, Love Halloween. I love ghost stories and haunted houses and pumpkins and costumes and all that jazz. I'm taking my Girl Scouts haunted housing this year and cant wait to see them freak out! 
4. I love to travel. I've been to 19ish US states and to England. I love history trips. I really want to go to Boston and Salem. My husband is pretty boring and doesn't want to go. Poo on him. 
5. I have an insane weakness for stray animals. I have 2 dogs and 2 cats- all of them rescues. It started with Chance. He belonged to a guy who was living with my husband's pap-pap. When Chance was about to get evicted because he kept fighting with Pap-Pap's docile, gigantic Alaskan Malamute, I took him home. Pap-Pap was concerned that Chance, coming from a FIVE (yes, you read that right) dog home, would be lonely. So I went to the local animal shelter and brought Narnia home. I liked her because she has a sixth toe and because she's crazy. Then, I was doing in home behavioral therapy with kids and one client's cat had kittens. This boy was known to kill the past litters, so I chose the little black female and took Onyx home. I really thought I was done with those 3. My husband said that we were done and that he'd leave if I brought another living thing home. (I also rescued a listless Betta fish from an inch of water at Wal-Mart.) Then a stray gray kitten showed up at my brother's house next door. She was so sweet and cuddly. My brother was going to keep her, but she kept getting around his feet and he is visually-impaired and kept tripping over her. He told my mom to take her to the SPCA. I cried that they'd kill her, and my Mom the manipulator (who liked the cat, too) offered to pay for her to get spayed if I kept her. With that, Ruby came home. I love Ruby, but she's my wildchild.

Hopes I have for the next year

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 something.
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.

(Do you know 30 things is a lot?)

Things that I think are helpful

11. I keep deodorant, toothpaste/brush and a comb in my desk at work. I'm not a morning person, so getting myself and Baby ready usually leaves me forgetting something.
12. I try to keep extra diapers and a change of clothes in my car for accidents. It doesn't help when my husband cleans out my car and takes them inside.
13. Duct tape fixes anything in a pinch. Including a broken underwire that is poking you in the boob.
14. Power cleaning is the way to go. I hate cleaning and my attention span gets me in trouble. So, I set the timer for 15 minutes and clean like crazy. Then I stop and give in to my distractions. Sometimes I have to spend more time, but this works pretty well.
15. I hate getting out of bed in the morning (especially in the winter when it's still dark outside), so I get my clothes (and Aly's) ready the night before. It usually scores me an extra 10 minutes of zZzZs!

Goals
I'm a professional goal setter, but have very few actual goals for myself. So here are 5 things that I want to do by October 3, 2014 (the day before my 31st birthday).

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.)

Places I want to visit
I love to travel (as state earlier) and here are 10 places I'd like to see

21. Mardi Gras, preferably shirt on.
22. Ground Zero. I'd also like to go to the Pennsylvania memorial. It's only about an 1.5 hours away from me, but I've never been there.
23. Boston and Salem, MA. I'm a history nut.
24. The Columbus Zoo. They have Pandas, yo!
25. Ireland. My family is Irish and I'd love to kiss the Blarney Stone!
26. The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. I love weird stuff.
27. Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. I found the records from Ellis Island where my great-grandmother came over from Italy at the age of 19.
28. Las Vegas. I'm not a gambler, but I love shows!
29. Hollywood (and sites around LA).
30. Paris. Although I'm not comfortable traveling somewhere where I can't speak the language, I'd really love to see it!

So, what's a random fact about you?

Sleep, Child, Sleep!

My daughter has always been an amazing sleeper. She was born on September 7 and by September 30, she was sleeping through the night. I know, you hate me for that. Little did I know, that a month after her 2nd birthday, that would all change. She's terrified of her bed and room. She used to happily curl up with her blanket and stuffed animal and sleep until 9 or 10 on weekends. Now, when I put her to bed, she cries like I've just dumped her into a hot lava pit. Her heart pounds like crazy and huge, real tears roll down her cheeks. She grabs for me and screams nommy! nommy! She even fell out of her crib trying to escape and then didn't know what to do. I found her clutching her blanket and pacing the floor in front of her crib, crying like a scream queen in a horror movie.

She's no longer acting afraid, but doesn't want to be left alone in her room. I've tried a nightlight, flashlight, leaving the door open and nothing is really working. She wakes up between 3 and 430 every morning and jumps in her bed and cries. So every night, I get up, go to her bedroom door and say, "It's okay. Lay back down. Mommy's going to go to the bathroom and I'll be right back." She then lays down and goes back to sleep.

It just bugs me because I don't know WHY she is waking up. Has anyone else had any problems like this?

Here she is in the morning after crying all night. She slept all the way to my mom's house.

Writer's Workshop- Bad Pet Habits

Join in the fun at Mama Kat's!

 

The Prompts:

1.) Write a blog post inspired by the word: ring.
2.) Your top 5 secrets to a successful marriage!
3.) Talk about an experience where you felt humbled.
4.) Your pets least likable character trait.
5.) Who had the good candy? Share what Halloween was like for you as a child.

 

 

I'm a crazy pet person. I have two dogs, Chance (left) and Narnia and two cats, Ruby (pictured) and Onyx (probably hiding in the basement.) I love them. Well, Ruby is a pain, but I love her, too. They are funny and loveable and Narnia is ridiculously protective. She once lunged at the window and hit the wall so hard that she shook my house, because my nephew had come to my office window.

 

Narnia does have one big drawback though.

 

She loves poop.

 

Loves it.

 

I have to race her to the litterbox. She's such a good helper and tries to help me keep it clean. *gag* We used to have one of those litterboxes with a lid... until she got her head stuck in it and ran around the house with her "hat" on.

 

She likes pee, too.

 

And God forbid you throw away a diaper in the garbage can instead of locked away in a Genie. She'll dig it out and eat it. Leaving little scraps of absorbent material behind.

 

Oh, and garbage.

 

She eats that, too. We don't have carpeting in our house because of her. We buy a cheap area rug at wal-mart for the livingroom, so we can replace it periodically. Her favorite place to dine is in the livingroom.

 

Her night time snacking is SOOOOO bad that I have to leash her to the foot of our bed to keep her from midnight snacking.

 

She's gross, but I love her and if I could go back and do it again, I'd still bring her home from the shelter.

 

 

Self-Esteem and a toddler

My bloggy friend, Diane, recently posted an entry about how she was seeing her own negative self-talk popping up in her 14 year old daughter. I adore Diane, she is wonderfully caring and insightful, a great writer and a kick ass single mom. If you don't read her blog, you most certainly should.

Her post got me thinking though. At 2, my daughter imitates everything I do. I have really bad allergies, so every time she sees a box of kleenex, she pulls one out, pretends to blow her nose, crumples it up, throws it down, takes out another one, pretends to blow her nose, crumples it up, and adds it to the pile. If I let out a loud belly laugh, she laughs the same way, even though it isn't her laugh. If I brush my hair, she immediately grabs her brush and brushes her hair. When I brush my teeth, she comes running towards me going "teef!!! teefff!!!" and stands next to me, waiting on her toothbrush. If I go outside, she wants to go to, even if I'm only carrying things out to the car.

If she picks up on the minuscule things I do, what about the rest of the things?

When I get frustrated and yell? Or how about when I sit and eat chips instead of dinner? Or when I step over things on the floor when I should be picking them up? Or when I rude to my husband when I'm mad at him? Or when I'm mean to myself?

She's going to copy those things too. I'm not perfect, none of us are, but I can do better than I'm doing. I have to strive to live the life I want her to live, because she'll learn how to live by watching me.