Recent Projects

So…it’s been awhile. We’ve been busy with so many things and so much to share, but I think for now I will just stick with sharing some of my Christmas projects.

In my mind I can do anything. Clearly since I can sew two pieces of fabric together I can clearly do anything I put my mind to! Well, I have no plans to be making intricate clothing, but I figured a quilt and some binding shouldn’t be too hard. Right?!

Soooo wrong. I watched some YouTube videos and asked around and was sure I could figure my way through it. I definitely overestimated my abilities.

Turns out, binding is a bitch and micro fleece is stretchy, rips easy and a serious pain.

 

This is the back of a a blanket I “quilted” and this is after  I tried to repair it. Oh, I tried to repair it, tore a small hole in it  (panicked) and just did my best to make it look as not messed up as possible.

I almost scrapped it and just went out and bought my niece something else. But the front was SO cute and I was really proud of the work I did for the front so I saw it through. I’m glad I did.

I don’t think she’ll care about the technical aspects I messed up on. Not because children have low standards, but because it is special and Auntie made it.

I also made another project for Niecey-poo. It also has some glaring technical hiccups but I hope she loves it all the same.

I Hate Small Talk

Okay, so hate is a pretty strong statement but I seriously dislike small talk. The worst version of course is running  into people unexpectedly in public. Most of the time I’d rather pretend to not see you than seek you out and chat. Hear me out.

So you run into an old friend you lost touch with some time ago and you say “Hi! How have you been?!” And instead of saying:

“Well I got married two years ago to a guy you don’t know in a city you didn’t know I had moved to while I got my masters in a field you didn’t know I had gone into. We moved back recently and have been trying for a family but found out we are infertile and are devastated by this but are trying to pick up the pieces and move on. ” 

They say:

“I’ve been good how about you?”

And instead of saying:

“Remember that guy I married senior year? Well he turned out to be not a great guy and we got divorced, but it paved the way to my husband. We have been happily married for eight years and have two great kiddos. They frequently drive me crazy, but we are so happy with our lives we decided to foster with hopes of adding to our family!”

I say:

“We’re doing great!”

Because you know, we’re at Costco and something else that bugs me as much as small talk is people congregating to chat in the walkways at Costco. It may be because I’m awkward at the bumping into people chatting so it just annoys me but either way, move on! But I digress. Small talk is just as awkward for me  when I know the person well. If I run into my best gal pal at the store I want to catch up on the latest (even if we talked earlier that day) but the the Costco aisle (can you tell I spend a lot of time there?) isn’t the best place to do that so we just exchange friendly, but less awkward, pleasantries and move on.

My need to connect on a deeper level with people may have something to do with my being a stay at home mom who rarely gets a word in edgewise around my children and crazy dog but is that really so wrong?

Now as most of you will probably recall (if you’ve had the luxury of an awkward unexpected encounter) I still make the small talk, but I’d love to ACTUALLY chat with you so feel free to hit me up for a cup of coffee and we’ll really connect.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Earlier this week Zippercow had himself a Colonoscopy. Fun, right? We were waiting (forever) for his “procedure” and cracking poop and butt jokes the entire time. We’re awesome like that. We didn’t hear much from the banks of curtained beds other than the occasional loud fart (oh it’s a blast you guys!) and nurses talking, oh and one really mean guy, but I’ll get to that. We, however, were laughing at ourselves and each other and joking with nurses.  I’m not sure how we sounded to other people but we thought we were a hoot. During this time I reflected briefly on our other visits to hospitals and realized this is what we do. We laugh. We try not to be nervous because it is what it is, we are there because we need to be there and at least we have each other.

Laughing is awesome.

I was glad I could be there for my husband to make him laugh. I’m glad that when my husband is hangry that he doesn’t yell at the nurses like the man a couple curtains down. That man yelled at the nurses about how long he had been waiting and that he hadn’t eaten and why do people get to go before him, and then when they apologized for his wait he told them “Don’t say your sorry, because I know you aren’t.” The nurse sounded close to tears and while we too were frustrated with the long wait we managed to refrain from making nurses cry and actually made some of them laugh along with us.

Sometimes I feel like we are absurd, that we could be obnoxious to others, laughing at times when others are so serious, but isn’t that when we need a laugh the most?

 

It really is, and I’m glad to have found someone to laugh with me.

My Return to Reality

Remember a couple posts ago I mentioned I was going to try and post more? Well…about a month ago I decided to delve into Harry Potter. This meant that every single available moment I had I was reading. It was seriously and addiction. I frequently wanted to finish an activity just so I could get back to reading. I stayed up late and neglected household chores just so I could read just a little more.

Now I’m finished. And….

It.

Was.

Fabulous!

All I want to do is talk about it, but for most who have read it, it is old news. Still, I’ve found most Potter Heads (that includes me now!)  are more than willing to delve into discussing their favorite book or parts. It’s like belonging to a club I didn’t even know I wanted to be in, but now I’m very happy to be in it!

It is strange to be done and have to return to reality. Those who know about the books know that they are big books and there are seven of them so reading all of them in one month has really been an immersing experience. I am sad to be leaving Hogwarts behind, but I know I’ll return and I hope that my boys will someday love them as much as I do.

So…let”s see if I can get a comment conversation going. Have you read any of the Harry Potter Books? If not, why? What was your favorite book or part? Have you re-read them? Favorite Characters?

I’ll start things.

I just finished reading the books (as you know) but I didn’t read them for a long time. There was once a time that I was pretty adamant not to get swept up in the “it” thing and I didn’t understand why so many adults were into a young adult book series. Somewhere along the way my resolve has…well, dissolved. I thought the Harry Potter books might be good for Little Moo and I would read them first so we can talk about them. Also, I read books much better aloud if I’ve already read them. Mostly I just decided I’d give it a try. And I’m so glad I did! I would say that my favorite was the second half of book seven. I think it wasn’t until that point (at the end) when Harry realized just how loved he was,  and not just by the parents that died to protect him. I loved when Mr. Weasley yelled “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” and went after Beatrix.  And when Kreacher led the house elves out of the kitchen with knives and screamed “Fight! Fight! Fight for my Master, defender of house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!” I love that Harry’s kindness reached even the crankiest of characters. I’m laugh-crying (what?! it’s a thing!) just thinking about those two scenes. I loved a lot of the characters, but I was extremely pleased to see the growth of the Neville character. His character as portrayed in the beginning struck me as someone who could easily ended up a Wormtail character by the end of the books, but he was quite the opposite and I was happy to see that.

Now your turn. Go!

Here We Grow!

I’ve decided I like to garden. It is rewarding to plant something and see it come to life. I mean sure, I grew a couple babies and continue to watch them grow, but it just takes SO LONG to see if they turn out well. One season with a garden and I get results much quicker. It is fun and frustrating and definitely a growing process. See what I did there? Stick around, I’ll be here all day!

Last year I started with this lonely flower box and one little veggie box.

Definitely small…and lonely. So we did this!

Zippercow built the awesome fence to keep little hands and a busy dog out. He used leftover pieces from last summer’s fence project and it turned out beautiful!

Then he made me another veggie box!

And I got to bust out some power tools for the first time and made a couple boxes to put raspberries in. Those are my yard sale raspberries. I plan to buy more next year!

I’m so incredibly excited to have everything finally growing. It was a really rough start (seems to be the theme in our home this year) and I had to regroup and replant most of it, but now we are reaping the rewards of our hard work!

Mmm…Spaghetti Squash.

Cucumbers!

Chamomile, tomatoes and beans (not pictured) oh my! We also have some green onions and bell peppers growing too. I’m so excited about all of it. Now I just have to maintain and harvest it!

Oh, and we can’t forget the flowers!

I think the Zinnias (top right) are my favorite new flower of this season. They seriously last FOR-EV-ER in a vase. I’ve had some in my window sill for a couple weeks and they still look great! The lavender is great for that too.

*Sigh*

I definitely found a new hobby. And I love it.

So…what’s growing in your garden? What is your favorite thing from this season that you are growing? And if you aren’t growing a garden, tell me why, I love to hear from everyone!

Do Be Dobe Do

I love writing my blog, in fact I get great satisfaction from it. But sometimes I just don’t know what to write, you know? Okay, maybe you don’t, but I like blogging so much that I often think “I should do a post about that!” then…. you know, life gets you going and  so much time has passed that it doesn’t seem relevant anymore. I know I’m greatly inconsistent with how often I post, but I hope to be better at it. Practice makes perfect permanent (so they say) and I am going to try and post in a more consistent manner. Hopefully they won’t seem like mindless ramblings (one can only hope) but really, that is how my brain operates so why not share with the world, right?

I am currently busy getting Little Moo ready for the start of school (second grade peeps, it’s craziness!) and doing what I can to help with my littlest brother and my soon-to-be sister-in-law’s wedding. After that I hope to be working on a lot of projects around the home and will be sharing with everyone the good, the bad, and the crazy!

I’m very excited about how my garden (messy as it is) is coming along and that will be in my next post. For now just a pretty preview!

 

Little Moo Turns 7!

Our oldest son, Little Moo (I don’t know that the term “little” still applies, but we’ll go with it) just turned seven. For the past ten years I have worked with children from ages birth through six and I have enjoyed that I have a number of tools in my arsenal to care for young children. But now…now we are in uncharted territories and we all get to learn together!

I was feeling sentimental and thought I’d share some pictures of Little Moo through the years. Sure I could share the professional photos taken over the last 7 years but I really wanted to show him as he is, a wonderful little boy.

As you can see, he’s not so little anymore. While he can be a challenge some days we love him more than anything and look forward to growing with him!

Everyday Things

It is amazing how little every day things can make us so happy. Obviously I could be talking about stolen moments with your children or husband (which do make me very happy) , but actually I’m talking about things.  That probably makes me sound materialistic, but I mostly mean those little things. Like new socks. How awesome are new socks?! That can make my morning!  Or a blanket warm out of the dryer. There are so many little things that can really make our day, we all have them, and I bet a few of ours overlap. But how many of us sit down at our desk and think, “this is SO AWESOME!”?

This kid.

We had been searching for awhile for the perfect desk for his room and found it yesterday. We put it in his room, wiped it down and he spent the next hour “setting it up”. My Little Moo is a quirky kid, and I love that about him. He often gets excited about things that most of us overlook or take for granted.

And guess what, the desk came with extra prizes!

A used folder and half used legal pad that appears to have been bent. He didn’t care, he immediately ask for a pencil so he could write on his new pad of paper at his desk.

It  is even better  when those little things lead to memorable moments with our loved ones. So pay attention to those little things, let them make you happy and enjoy your day!

Some Days…

Some days just don’t start off right. What should have been a slow and relaxing start to the morning just didn’t start off slow or relaxed. Nothing major, just aggravating. Thank goodness Little Moo only has two more weeks of school left! I should know on such mornings there is no such thing as just doing something “real quick” successfully. I should know this, but do I listen to myself?

Ab-so-lutely not!

At a slow point in the morning I went out to move the sprinklers “real quick” and came back to this

Littlest Moo found the cupcakes left over from last night’s BBQ. And, you know, helped himself. I’d had enough this morning, but instead of yelling or getting angry I took a breath and said screw it, and went for my camera.

 

The damage had been done, so I let him eat his cupcake. How terrible would it be to yell, throw them out and no one got to enjoy a cupcake? Some days it is just not worth it, and it is best to just go with the flow. Our morning included an extra cupcake snack!

Enjoy your Monday like a delicious cupcake, attack it with excitement and have no regrets!

No Thank You Means No Too

I was the cranky lady today. My neighbors might thank me, or just think I’m overreacting and being bitchy. But I. Hate. Solicitors. The kind that call while I’m making dinner and make me hang up on them because they wouldn’t take my polite “no thank you” as a conversation ender or the door-to-door salesman that convince me I NEED this item they are selling. At least some people are professional about it, the Schwan’s truck came by once, I politely said “no thanks” they gave me the card and said they won’t bother me again, but feel free to call if I change me mind. Today’s encounter inspired this post.

At about 2:15pm (about 25 minutes after I got Littlest Moo to sleep) someone rang the doorbell. I answered and a man I did not know offered to sell me wholesale meat. He asked if we would like to get steaks for $3-$4lb. I told him we don’t usually eat steak (mostly because I can’t ever bring myself to pay more than a couple dollars a pound for any meat) to which he asked if I would be interested in chicken or pork. I said “No, I’m not interested” he said if it was easier they take credit/debit, food stamps or checks. This did not make me feel better. He did not have a company shirt/logo, a beater white truck (also without any logo/business affiliation) with a woman driving (possibly wife/girlfriend?) chain smoking with a dog hanging out the window. Yes, unidentifiable person, please let me give you my personal info with the promise of “discount meat”. I told him I was not interested. He persisted to which I replied, “I do not buy anything from people who come to my door”. He pointed down the street and said, “Your neighbor does” I told him, “That’s fine for him, but I don’t”. He asked if I would talk to my neighbor about the quality and he could come back and ask again. Now I was getting frustrated because I had politely said “no” multiple times and he would not take no for an answer. I repeated my statement about not buying things from people who come to my door and went back inside. He really bugged me. He had no visible affiliation with ANY company and didn’t even offer a business card but had the gal to harass me about not wanting to buy out of the back of his truck.

Shortly after I had to go pick up Little Moo from the bus stop and saw my opportunity. He was walking away from a house who also said “no thanks”  and I did something I have always regretted not doing. As he walked back past me I said, “You know, this is a no soliciting neighborhood” He of course played stupid and asked “Oh yeah? Where does it say that?” I pointed to the entrance to the community told him there is a no soliciting sign on both sides of the entrance. He looked at me, seemed offended and asked “Have you had a bad experience or something?”

No, I love it when people wake my sleeping toddler, interrupt my day and tell me I must not care about my family if I don’t buy their $1700 (or more) vacuum or go to their church. I simply replied “No, I just don’t like it when people come to my door”. He got in his vehicle and they sped down the street past the kids walking home, not stopping at any other houses.

Here is the thing, I don’t mind people coming to the door, I love to visit with neighbors and friends, stop by anytime!  And if a neighbor kid (the ones I see frequently and are polite) comes by selling overpriced candy for some school something or another I will buy if I have any cash and I would NEVER turn down a Girl Scout! But if you are pushy person selling your wares, politics or church STAY AWAY!

Getting Back On Track

I don’t normally post my coupon deals on the blog, but I’m going to share this one. Is it the very best deal ever, probably not, but it has given me the kick start I needed to get back on track.

Lately I’ve been discouraged by couponing, discouraged budgeting, discouraged saving money, discouraged by…life.

Some might call that depression.

They’d be right.

I’m picking myself up though and going to trek on. This is the deal that got my spirits up

All of this cost $110.91. All of it was on sale AND I used $46.10 in coupons to get the total out of pocket of $64.81. Since it was ALL on sale the savings were even greater, but Fred Meyer doesn’t keep track of total saved on their receipts, so I know I saved even more, just not how much exactly. I spent less than $1 per box of cereal, the cake mix was free and the frosting and brownie mixes were $.20 each. The most expensive things were the soda and peanut butter.

The cashier made a comment as to knowing “how you couponers work” and that she doesn’t use coupons, it isn’t worth her time. She smiled but said somewhat rude things, which was disconcerting. But I don’t care, I saved a bunch and I now have enough cereal to make it to the next school year and a pretty good stockpile of cake mixes and such to make it to the the fall for sure.

But this goes beyond just saving on some groceries. For me it is a step back into saving and rejoining life (or at least the one I want to have) The money saved on groceries helps us to pay off Zippercow’s medical debt, and allows us to add to our savings to protect our financial future.

I’M BAAACK!!!!

One for the Books

I waited a couple days to write this post. You know, so that I can look back and laugh. It took a couple days.

This post is about Mothers Day.

Since I always have to work on Sunday we celebrate Mothers and Fathers Day on the Saturday before.

I can go into the gory details. But I’ll give you an overview.  Mine started with Little Moo waking me sometime before 7am. Way before. He shoved a handmade gift in my face and said “Happy Mothers Day!” then asked to watch TV. Sadly we had been having a week long room cleaning standoff and he wasn’t allowed television until his room was cleaned. Any guesses on what this will mean for the day? Here’s a hint, he wasn’t happy about this consequence. And he let me know. All. Day. I was lucky enough to drop him and Littlest Moo off with Grammy for a few hours only to drag a zombie Zippercow around to local nurseries. Then have the kids shout at me some more, fight, not listen. Little Moo shouted at one point “Mothers Day is when moms are supposed to be nice to their kids!” At one point he threw a tantrum and slammed our slider door and managed to shatter the glass. Then yelled at me some more about his consequences. I cried (a couple times) that day. Sunday after work wasn’t much better. I can safely say the most pleasant time of the weekend was being at work.

It’s my own fault really. I thought that since things have been rough and I’ve had a lot  to deal with since Zippercow has been not well that maybe it might just be a little more special. But duh, he’s still not well so he didn’t really have the energy to pull off his usual magic (he’s usually really good at this sort of thing) let alone add that little something extra. I tried not to get my hopes up, but let’s be honest, I did.

Fortunately for my husband and boys, I know they love me. I know they appreciate me. And we can laugh about it now, the terrible mothers day. The post is not meant to make my husband or boys feel bad. The idea was to share that no matter what, I still love them. Even on the bad days.

Always.

Oh and next year, feel free to make it extra special!

Stuck.

My weight loss journey is…stuck. In the mud. Like, a lot of it. It is frustrating me to no end. I am not really sure how to get my motivation back. I was doing so well, then the holidays came and I just enjoyed myself and now I can’t seem to get back on track. I gained a few pounds back and despite my work I can’t seem to get any traction. I loose a few, then gain them back and am staying pretty static.

With Zippercow being sick for the better half of a year (just one issue compounded on another and another) the stress is definitely taking its toll on me. I shouldn’t let it but measuring food, planning meals and journaling what I eat seems so easy to let go of with all the stress. I haven’t gone crazy with my eating but clearly my choices haven’t been great. I’ve been motivated enough to keep up at the gym and am back to doing weights regularly, but it still isn’t enough. Some days I’m proud that despite the stress I haven’t gone all the way back, that I’ve kept some habits and still have enough sense not to let bags of cookies, chips and candy into my home, But then I get into a social situation and can’t hold back. In the past I would have just let it all go, that’s how I got so heavy in the first place. So, I am proud, proud that even in stressful times I can keep some of my shit  together. Then other days I’m pissed at my weak will. Why didn’t I say no to those cookies on the counter at work (but damn, my coworker makes kickass cookies!)?   And why does a free day or treat turn into a whole weekend of it? I had plans to be at my goal weight by my brother’s wedding (the end of summer) and that goal keeps slipping further and further away.

I’ve also got the added complication of Zippercow’s diet. His diet is SO limited that it requires us to get him certain foods even if they aren’t on sale, which is a stretch on our food budget, but the guy has to eat!  So I frequently skip getting some of the foods that help me to eat healthy.

So…any ideas? I know what I NEED to do but can’t seem to find the motivation. What do you do when you need a burst of motivation? Is it this difficult for everyone? Have you ever stalled for a bit and gotten back on track? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Budding Engineer

Our Littlest Moo has taken to trains lately and loves building his Duplo tracks. But it is not just enough to put the tracks together, he has to make them better!

 

Who doesn’t want tracks that rise and fall!? Sadly, these are not designed for such ingenuity.

I think I can, I think I can, and then I can’t.

Being a toddler is hard.