Randomness to the tenth degree..

I challenged myself to write ever other day, and then, in the first week, skip a day.  I'm sure you're upset.  Or not.  Whatever.

No, really.  I thoroughly did not want to do my project yesterday for school.  So, this whole weekend I found ways to postpone and procrastinate.  I went shopping (finally got an iphone). Except, there weren't any in stock, so it should be in tomorrow.  I am moving into this century.  Whoo-hoo!  Actually, it's probably a good thing they didn't have one, because then I most likely wouldn't have finished my project because of how much playing I will be doing when I get it.

I also updated my music library on itunes and loaded my ipod up further.  This only took about 2 hours.

I caught up on Facebook.  And was invited to Pinterest.  So, I went.  I am not sure what to do with Pinterest and am not sure that I have the time to add to my online time.  However, I already have 4 followers.  If you use Pinterest, tell me what you use it for.

I did laundry, I cooked (a little) on Sunday.  I shopped on Amazon with my gift card.  I talked to my mom.  I talked to my brother.  And I finally finished my project.  I feel better about myself now.  Like, maybe I can finish this school thing.  I better!  I'm really looking forward to quitting being done.

Have you ever wondered how they invented yogurt?  Did someone say, "Hmmm, look, this milk is chunkier and maybe if I add some sugar and fruit, this will be good."  Thanks, Mr. Yogurt!  I am assuming that yogurt is named after the first person to make it.  I may have to google this and check Wikipedia, because I'm probably wrong.

We had a snow storm and I had to shovel.  We dressed up and went outside.  The girls lasted 5 minutes before Mia took her gloves off.  Then, they went inside and I froze myself while shoveling.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP WAAAAA! (Quote from Wayne's World for those of you who didn't figure that out.)

Yes - I am taller than I seem.

We have our Valentine's Day outfits ready.  Well, at least one of us does.

The Necklace...

So, I've been waiting to write this post for awhile.  I told myself I would write this story when I hit a goal.  I hit that goal (later) and now get to tell my story.

This necklace was a gift to me.  For Christmas, about 3 years ago, I was given this pretty necklace by my brother.  It says something on it about sisters, and my little sister was given the same necklace.  (I know the picture is blurry, but the necklace is small, understated and special.)

When I opened the gift, I remember thinking that it was pretty.  A cute little necklace.  But, there was a nagging little piece of me, wondering.

Would it fit?

 This may not be a normal thought, at least when it comes to necklaces.  But, my neck was fat.  Most necklaces like this would look like a choker on me.  And, well, it's obviously not a choker.  I started to get angry.  Not angry at myself (logical choice), but angry at the necklace for not fitting, and angry at my brother for giving me this gift that just threw back in my face how fat I was and how nothing pretty fit me.  Instead of feeling bad about my weight, or deciding to change, I took offense to the gift.  I may have said something snarky to my brother about the necklace as well, trying to make him feel bad for giving me this gift that triggered my insecurity, and made it glaringly obvious that I had a weight problem.  It's always something like this that peels back the veil of denial and shows you reality.  Reality was a problem.

I have now lost 25 lbs.  Oh, yeah, you read that right, 25 lbs.  I have also lost 10% of my body weight.

And now, unless I'm wearing a turtle neck, I wear that necklace.  It fits.  It lays exactly where it's supposed to.  It's pretty.  And my brother hasn't given me many gifts, probably because of the way I reacted to this gift.  I really love this necklace.  And I love that I can wear it now, and every day.  Thank you, Derrick for the pretty necklace and please know that I treasure all the gifts you have given me.

And now, some pictures of 25 lb. lighter me (Mia felt it necessary to join in the pictures with me):

No flash

With flash

I'm linking up with the ever popular Grumpy Grateful Mom for Good News Friday.

A new challenge...

I really like to challenge myself.  I don't know why, but I have to win.  Challenging myself lets me practice winning, which is something I am very good at.

I have a number of challenges that I am working on at the moment.  (Side note:  I misspelled working so that it looked like whoring without the "h."  I told Tony that because of his hello I was whoring instead of working because of his distraction.  He asked "whoring?"  I explained the misspell, then proceeded to call him a whore.  Mostly because of his giving out car fixing favors - his a car fixing whore.)  (Side note number 2 - Tony missed dinner, bath time with the girls, and quality time with us tonight to work on someone else's car.  I don't get mad about it, but must express displeasure about his overwhelming niceness somehow.  If I didn't, he'd be so full of how great he is that he would be intolerable.)

Back to the challenges.  I have challenged myself to lose weight - hopefully, you will read about a good thing with that later this week.  

I have challenged myself to get my Master's Degree.  I can't wait until this is done.  This school work is getting in the way of my Super Mario Bros. addiction.

I have challenged myself to work on spending time with family and friends.  Yes, this is why I am calling you and/or trying to meet up with you.  I have an ultimatum to win at my challenge.

My newest challenge is to write.  I love to blog.  It is a fun way to get the crazy out of my head and to let you see what goes on in there.  I am challenging myself to write/post every other day for at least a month, starting today.  There may be good posts, there may be bad, they may be boring, they may be funny.  The important part is that they will be there and available.  Also, you may start to understand the schizophrenic voices in my head better as you hear from all the voices at one time or another over this next month.

To blogging! *picture me lifting a glass of water, and clinking it with whatever libation is your favorite*

The Time Continuum....

Did I spell that right?  I don't really, care, just thought I should pretend to.

I was thinking today (I know, it happens sometimes) about time.  Remember when you were little?  Playing Barbies, watching the Dukes of Hazard, calling who gets to be Daisy, trying to fit your Barbies in their Trans Am.  Seriously, I couldn't grow up fast enough.

Then, I got a little older.  Remember the pre-teen years?  Saved by the Bell, sleepovers, french rolling your jeans, wanting to be DJ Tanner, being all amazed that such and such girl kissed such and such boy - with her tongue!  I couldn't grow up fast enough.

I got a little older still. Remember the teen years?  Hmmm, let's not.  Some things are best left un-remembered.  Suffice it to say, I could not get out of my teen years fast enough.

Then, I got a little older.  I hit my 20's and life became way more fun!  I was in college, working, hanging out with friends.  I met my future husband, we dated, and dated, and dated, and got married.  Then, I had kids.

Remember when your kids were really little and you couldn't wait for them to sit up, walk, talk, feed themselves, wipe their own butts?  I couldn't wait for them to grow up.

This weekend my phone rang.  I answered it, knowing that it was Olivia's friends mom.  A little voice said "Hello?  Is Olivia there?"  Um, ok.  I mean, it's not MY CELL PHONE or anything.  So, we were out.  So, we have a house phone still.  Shouldn't the house phone be for Olivia?  Now she's taking over my cell?  She's only 7 right? 

Oh God!  She's 7 (and a half)!

When did this happen?  Are sleep overs coming?  Boys? BOYS? Mean girls? Humiliation? Saturday Night Live - for her, not me? Oh God, not the teen years! Please stop this growing up thing!!  If not, can we just fast forward to her 20's?

Cats are weird....

Cats are definitely odd.

But, I think that's why we keep them.  We never know what they might surprise you with.  From vomit on the floors, to chasing red laser lights, licking themselves in front of company, cats are just weird.

Sometimes I think that the cats are plotting my murder.  These are the days when, every time I turn around, they are watching me.  It's pretty creepy.  So, I pulled the camera out to capture the stalker/murderer cats in their evil ways.

This is Layla.

She has two tons of fur, and gets massive fur balls.

She let's us know when shes going to throw up (sometimes) by a certain obnoxious keening she makes.

She likes to plop down in the middle of the room, when we have company, and lick her lady parts.

She recently vomited into my purse.  I almost took a picture of it, but figured, if you don't want to see it in real life, why would you want a picture of it?

Also, she beats the crap out of the other cat on a regular basis.

We believe she has some issues - she's conflicted.  She wants to cuddle and be loved, but she won't let you hold her - it totally freaks her out.  Her solution?  She rubs against your feet when your sitting down so that she can be petted, but not held.

This look says - I will kill you with my overwhelming butt fur.

She doesn't look evil at all, right?  Right.



Stalking me.  Thinking, "If I kill her, will I still get fed?"



Watching.....



....and watching.  Trust me, I'm not that interesting.  Maybe he wanted to jump me, and knock me down the stairs.  Then it would look like an accident.



Also watching...  And wondering if she could smother me with her belly fur, as if she were a pillow.



This is Mack.

Also goes by Chunckles, and McMackles.

He loves to burrow himself into our covers.  One day, I was chasing Tony around (yeah, we have to liven up our lives somehow) and he went upstairs and jumped on the bed.  The cat, terrified, leaped out from under the covers and ran to hide.  Oops.

Another day, I laid down to take a nap.  Mack jumped up on the bed next to me.  He was on Tony's side of the bed.  He put his nose under the covers, went in, turned around and his head came back out, body covered.  He laid down, head on Tony's pillow, and went to sleep next to me.  I wanted to get a picture, but as soon as I moved, he jumped out of bed.  Such a strange sight to look at when trying to sleep - a cat head where your hubby should be.

Dreaming of ways to murder me for my comforter.

I think he likes our winter comforter more than we do.

"I'm not fat - it's just a bad angle."  Um no, you're a chunkster.  You remind me of a feline Al Bundy.

Best...Cat...Picture...Ever.
I'm sure he's going to murder us just for this picture.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho! It's off to the Dells we go (part 2)....

Part 2 of our Dells pictorial is all about the water park!!

The girls had a blast - Olivia cried when we had to leave.  We promised a stop at the Cheese Chalet (Wisconsin is loaded with these), and she was happy again.

Mia did really well, especially with her potty-ing.  I was worried about the pool.  It turns out, the pool wasn't the place to worry.  We decided to go out in the Dells to see a Mining Company where the girls could pan for "jewels" and could keep anything they found.  Of course, the Mining Company wasn't open, and didn't post it's hours on the door (apparently a Wisconsin thing).  We found a candy store, because like cheese, Wisconsin is famous for fudge and other homemade candies.  The candy store was open and we went in - like kids in a candy store.  My kids were traipsing around, casing the joint, figuring out what they wanted.  So, were Tony and I when I noticed that Mia had wandered off.  We went looking for her, and found her at the same time.  Soaked the entire back of her jeans and her boots.  Apparently, the excitement of candy and water parks and wolf dens got to her, and she had an accident.  So - I got to find out where the laundry room was in the hotel, because mommy didn't pack extra clothes.

I may have also mentioned a certain bag that was bought?  Well, we arrived at the Dells about an hour ahead of schedule and couldn't check in yet.  Lo and behold - an Outlet Mall - just across the parking lot!  "Let's see if they have the Coach store." I said.  They did - and like fate, it was next door to Build a Bear.  We've had a gift certificate to Build a Bear for-EVER because there isn't one near us.  So, Tony and the girls went to their shop, and I went to mine.  All three of us girls left happy!!  Got to love the Outlet Malls!!!

Let's get to the pictures - enjoy seeing us in our swimsuits while you were outside in the snot-freezing-in-your-nose cold.

Just before we all jumped in on the last day.  Did I mention that the hotel furnished the life jackets - for free?

Olivia was demonstrating her mean swimming skills.  She is still learning.  Doggy Paddle is not quite swimming - but it's a start.

Mia is a little fish.

I was trying to get a good picture of her on the slides, but she didn't seem to want to go down and only went down once on the last day.

Chillin' in her super cool goggles.

"Mama!  I simmin'!"

Cheese.

Oh yeah - I got in the pool and in FRONT of the camera too.

Sista's!

"MaMA!"

There are no words, only peals and peals of laughter.

Imitating her sister.

This is what happened on the way home...

...snoring.

I hope you all had a great MLK weekend!

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, off to the Dells we go (part 1)...

We took this lovely long weekend, and went to Wisconsin Dells.  For those of you not in the Chicagoland Area, this is a town north of Madison, WI.  According to the advertisements, Wisconsin Dells is the Water Park Capital of the World.

This could be true.

There are many, many, many, many, water parks there.  Plus, many other attractions such as an outlet mall, Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, skiing in winter, boating, hiking, zip lines in summer.

Anywho.  We stayed at The Great Wolf Lodge.  Below are pictures from the trip.

The girls in their "Wolf Den" in our room.  Olivia tried to keep us out by giving us a password to enter.  She's not a control freak like her mama at all.

Mia at dinner.  This restaurant delivered our food by train.

Olivia was in a mood and didn't want to smile.

....still in a mood.

Trying to get a picture with a bear.

RAWR!!

Tony got Olivia to smile by tackling and tickling.

The large cuckoo clock in the lobby.

Mia and I waiting for story time to begin.  That's right.  They had story time every night at 8 in the lobby after a song and mechanical dance.

Mia kept howling when the wolf face would come out on the clock.

Yellow Feather and Simon answer the Black Wolf's call, and learn the rhythm of nature.

Story time includes a wolf.  This day it was Wiley.  Ummm...notice the random girl with the ipad?  Weird.  She kept taking pics with it.

Mia and Wiley

Tony and Mia.  Mia's picking her nose as usual.  Hope she picks a winner.

....would only smile in a pic by herself.  That is, if you can call this a smile.

Got me a Coach!!  That's right girls.  Must love the outlet malls!

 

Daddy was more worn out than the girls.

Part 2 to come soon....

**I was not compensated in any way by any of the company's noted in this blog.