Ta-da!

I did it! 30 posts in 30 days.... whew. I'm exhausted. I'm so glad I did this. I've needed to reconnect with my blog for awhile now. It's a great outlet for me and a perfect journal of our lives. I hope this is the jump start to a recommittment to post often...and with meaning. There were definitely a few days where I know I posted complete crap. The funny thing is, I still have lots of posts in mind--and even did on the days where my posts sucked. Time got in my way more than lack of material. It always does.

With that, I leave you to go watch Four Christmases and finish decorating our house. I have a really good post coming up with all of our tidings of comfort and joy and another one with Riley's carnival pics...oh and then there's--see, told you no lack of material.

It's been a fun month. Thanks for sticking with me.

I love holiday weekends! Working from home, it wouldn't seem like long weekends really matter. But they completely do. If for no other reason than everyone else is off so you can count on absolutely no expectations from anyone. Love that.

Anyhow...I actually did manage to get a little work done today, did a little more decorating (tree and mantle--check!), enjoyed a fantastic dinner with Kevin, Riley & Cass, and folded about 7 loads of laundry. In fact, the only thing that's not so great about long weekends is preparing for real life once they're over. Already thinking about all the to-dos this week: Christmas decorating, house cleaning, family pictures, dad's birthday, Christmas cards...and on, and on, and on.

How long until Christmas break?

It was a great day of Bedlam football, family, food, friends, and fun! A great game-day get-together followed up by my mom's birthday celebration and a house guest--a visit from one of my oldest and dearest friends. Wish this holiday would last forever...having such a wonderful time!

Sorry for the quick post...it's been a long day and there's a man on the couch, popcorn with Junior Mints, and a movie in the DVD player just waiting for my arrival. Ahhhh...

Full.

I am full...of love, of happiness, of pie, of turkey, of bargains. Yep. Totally full.

What a fun Thanksgiving we had and what a laaaaazy today we had. I had big plans of making it out to at least one early-morning sale today. But last night, I completely passed out on the couch at midnight--reading the ads. Boo! After many failed wake-up attempts by Kevin, I finally headed to my actual bed at 3:30...just about the time I should have been heading to the stores.

Oh well...

We did head out to Target about 1 p.m. and managed to get a few good deals. The doorbusters were completely wiped out, but lots of the toys on sale were still hanging around. Officially finished shopping for our little 2-year-old (we're taking advantage of him not really knowing what the whole gift thing is all about) and got a couple others checked off the list. A small Black Friday experience. Maybe preparing me for next year? I don't know... I was pretty intimidated by the whole idea anyway.

So, now Kevin is out at the bars with out-of-town friends and Riley is down for the night. I'm looking forward to a long evening of decorating and relaxing. We headed to storage tonight to grab all of our Christmas stuff.

Hmmm... I don't think we have quite enough. What do you think?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you are enjoying counting your blessings today! I love a day to just be with family--no gifts or decorations necessary and just be thankful for the abundance we have in our lives. Take time out today to tell the special people in your life how much you love and appreciate them. We definitely don't do it often enough.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Eve

Just got back from seeing New Moon with Kevin, Jaimie, and Jadyn. I didn't even really like the first movie, but can't resist getting into the whole fanatical fun of it all! I thought the second movie was much better than the first. The slow parts are still sloooooow, but the action scenes are fun. And holy moly. I thought Edward was super cute in the first movie, but this time he kind of skeeved me out. The werewolves though...major hotness.

Wow. Did a 15-year-old girl just hijack my blog?

Um...anyway. So, yeah....I was just going to say that I'm attempting to make a pumpkin pie tonight. Kevin should be back with a pie crust any minute now, then I'll begin. Hoping it goes much better than my cookie mix attempt from earlier this week. Yikes.

So excited to grub tomorrow. I love Thanksgiving!

In the black.

So.... I've never participated in the whole Black Friday thing. I've never even really wanted to be involved. Wait, I take that back. For about 2 minutes last year I had this bright idea that I might actually go to one of the early sales, but only because I'm a night owl and was up anyway.

This year, for some reason, I'm completely intrigued.

I can't quit thinking about the Target ad and their super-cheap digital cameras. Ours is close to being completely extinct. And when you have a young'un around you have a tendency to take a lot of pictures. Way too many. So many, in fact, that it takes you days to post pictures of said young'un's birthday party because you don't feel like uploading that many pictures. Yep. There's quite a few.

Anyway, so the cameras. They are super cheap. And maybe the lines wouldn't be too long at Target. I mean, it's not like it's Walmart or anything. Or Toys R Us. It's Target. I'm rationalizing. And considering it. And surprising myself at all of this. But will I do it? Two days to find out...

Calm

Today we're experiencing a little bit of birthday hangover... Not even the booze-induced kind! We had such a fun and whirlwind weekend and now that it's all over, we can't make ourselves do much of anything.

The party was so, so, so awesome. I loved it and it was definitely pretty great considering I threw it all together in just over a week. I have pictures coming your way soon. Hopefully, tomorrow.

We STILL have balloons to deflate, decorations to store away and floors to sweep. There are newly assembled toys all over the living room and leftover treats on every countertop. BUT, we likely aren't going to touch much of it tonight. We gobbled down some take-out earlier, stopped by Blockbuster, and now we're going to nestle in on the couch and enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet and each other.

I mean really, we only have a few days until a whole new type of insanity begins...

Happy Birthday Riley!

Our baby boy turned TWO YEARS OLD today! What a fast and crazy two years it has been...

From this:




To this:




To today:





You were born two years ago on Thanksgiving and I've been so overwhelmed and grateful to be your mother ever since. I can't imagine being blessed with a more amazing, funny, smart, and silly little boy. Your joy is contagious. Your laughter makes me swoon. I love watching you grow up and learn and become the little boy you were meant to be.

I love you more than you'll ever know, little Riley, and I had such a fun, time celebrating your big birthday with you today. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life as a cheerleader for your precious life.

One more day...

Big party prep happening here...stay tuned for deets and pics!

Again!

Past midnight, but still before bedtime for me. So it counts!

Riley's party is Sunday and I've been working non-stop trying to get the house and the supplies ready to go.

I cannot believe our little boy is two years old. I was out running errands today and it reminded me so much of the last day I ran errands before he was born. It was the day before and I was in nesting mode--big time. I headed out on a huge store run and bought everything I could think of that we needed (my due date was a week away...) and then came home and decorated for Christmas. It was a little early since we hadn't celebrated Thanksgiving, but I wanted to get it out of the way. As I was walking through the store a lady asked me if I was preparing for Thanksgiving and I said, no...I'm preparing for a newborn. She mentioned that I better be careful...she did that before she was due and the next day she was in labor. I mentioned that in that case I was going to come back and do it again that night!

The next morning, I woke up with mild labor pains that progressed through the day...got intense that night and I headed to the hospital. Riley was born the next day--a week early and on Thanksgiving.

I'm so excited to celebrate our Little Turkey's second birthday. He may not remember it, but I definitely will.

Busy

Carnival prep in full swing...be back soon!

Dude.

I just want to make it clear that this blog is for WEDNESDAY, not Thursday. And it still count as a Wednesday blog because I haven't gone to bed yet! And around here, I make the rules...blogger date be damned. (Plus, I've made it this far so it's happening.)

Today was a busy day filled with hanging up long-neglected pictures that I haven't seen since last February when our house went on the market and I went into staging mode. Yep, you pack that stuff away and then when it takes FOREVER to sell you house, it's like getting all new things. That's how I'll look at it anyway.

I spent a very long time last night prepping things for Riley's big party. Getting excited! Hopefully, it will all come together in the next couple of days. Time is ticking away, for sure.

Seems like I had a really good story to tell...who can say! I'm off to watch Glee, yo. Deuces.

Burned.

I decided to throw some cookies in the oven this evening using my favorite 'add an egg & butter' bag of cookie mix. So, I mix it up and comment to Kevin that they are on crack if they think this will make 36 cookies. I dollop out the dough and throw 'em in the oven. I flip on the oven light a couple minutes later and see melted cookies--no lie. Completely bewildered, I'm asking Kevin how I possibly could have screwed up easy bake cookies.

Then I pick up the bag.

And realize I only poured in half of the bag. Ugh.

We decide to take the cookies out and scrape the barely cooked cookies back into the bowl, add the other half and remix. The picture is the lovely chocolatey result. (writing this on my phone so picture will come later!)

They actually don't suck, but seriously...I can screw up anything in the kitchen. Anything.

In other news...saved 52% on our grocery bill tonight. Yay coupons!

Things I'm obsessed with today.

My mind is everywhere this afternoon! So, here's what I'm thinking about...

1. The little boy who was murdered in Nichols Hills...I'm so sad for this. He was Jadyn's age and went to pre-school with her many years ago. And I'm sad for his mom who will have a husband in prison and no son. And it freaks me out on a hundred other different levels too.

2. Scentsy. It is making this house smell damn good today.

3. My hella good deal from B&BW. 12 hand soaps for $21. Deal. Score. Already on sale 4/$10, plus a -$10 coupon. (I only stock up once a year or so, so I wait 'til it's cheap and go for it.)

4. Family pictures...must schedule. Soon. (Followed up with hair cut--must schedule sooner.)

5. Riley's party. Less than a week away and sending invites is the only prep I've done. Gulp.

6. Cleaning house. About to let loose on this domestic must-do. Ugh.

7. Not getting the H1N1 vaccine. I just saw a commercial telling me I should get the shot. That makes me want the shot even less. I know they are a necessary evil, but I seriously hate vaccines.

8. Babies. Riley needs a pal.

Zzzzzz...please.

Sometimes when you're almost two-years-old, you have to grow some big molars. And sometimes growing those molars hurts--really bad. So bad that you can't sleep longer than a couple of hours. So bad that you cry and cry and scream until Mom & Dad rescue you at midnight...and again at 1:45 a.m.

And then you're out of bed, and hurting, and no longer sleepy. You just can't settle down.

So you have to join mom and dad in their room for awhile. And you get a popsicle and watch Wow Wow Wubzy, and Blue's Clues, and Olivia and get cozy between your barely conscious parents until they realize it's almost 4 in the morning.

Then, you head back to your room and (thank you, Jesus) sleep until about 8:30 a.m. when you're ready to hop out of bed and start what will be the crankiest day in recent history. Bananas make you cry. A broom makes you cry. Your hat that we left in the backyard makes you cry.

Naptime comes earlier than usual and keeps you resting almost an hour. Then, the crying again...

Your parents give up on hoping you'll drift back to sleep so you get a reprieve from naptime and then you're up again. Quite possibly more cranky than ever.

More Oragel. More Tylenol.

A quick errand with the 'rents has you finally feeling tired. You drift off into a sweet car-ride sleep that lasts until the car pulls into the driveway and guess what--awake.

Sigh.

Dinner, bath, and an early bedtime. All in the hopes you'll sleep. So far, just crying...and crying...and crying. But you'll sleep soon. I mean, at some point exhaustion has to take over, right?

I know it's taking over for your mom and dad.

Desperately seeking...

inspiration! Big time. I'm behind on my tourism writing so I'll likely be spending a good chunk of time tomorrow catching up. It has been so hard for me to focus on writing lately. Ugh. Maybe it's because I have so many assignments. I'm basically full-time writing recently and that can make it difficult to 'produce.' Finding the energy to be creative can be really, really challenging. Especially when my mind is a hundred other places.

People tell me often that I'm so lucky to write for a living and to work at home and get to be with Riley. I do get that. And I do feel lucky...most of the time. But sometimes, I envy people that get to just go to work, do their time, and then go home and be free of all of it. When you make your own hours, the work is always there. Waiting. Hanging over my head. It's just hard to separate the two. Plus, feeling burned out. Work is always around, plus I don't really love it. Kind of a brutal cycle...

I'm rambling... But it's kind of how I feel about it all! Getting some honesty out there. Plus, I have a new idea and project on my mind. And it's all I can think of right now.

I feel like we're in this weird place of total limbo in our little family. It's good and bad, I think. Being restless is what motivates change. But not knowing what change is in store can be scary.

This is completely not what the post I intended to write. And that's the funny thing about the creative process: you start heading in one direction on a precisely charted path and you end up in an entirely different town. It's one of the best parts about the whole damn thing.

Yogaaaaahhhhh

I think Ive figured it out. I suck at weekend blogging! The closer it gets to Friday and Saturday the less time I have to put anything meaningful on here. Oh well... Guess that means I have a life?

Tonight Kevin and I dropped off Riley for a bit and headed to a hot yoga class taught by a good friend. It was awesome. I can't even say how much I needed that hour of stretching and relaxation. I hope kev liked it too and wants to go back next week! Yoga is definitely something I've been missing in my life. Weird how sometimes you don't even know what you need until you get it?

Things have been pretty high stress around our house. Probably mentioned that once or twice. That's the fun of unemployment! That--and I get to live with the grumpiest husband ever. I sure do miss the silly, fun man I've known for 6+ years. Not sure who this guy is, but he's welcome to exit stage right anytime now...

Oh well! Here's to a nice, relaxing weekend!

TV Night!

Barely getting this in before midnight! Tonight is all about a glass of wine (or two) and some fun TV. Ready for the weekend...see you tomorrow!

Yaaaawn...

So sleepy today.

A couple of random thoughts...

Finally decided on Riley's birthday theme--a week away. We will be hosting a super-fun baby carnival! Woot woo! (will be addressing invites this evening--what's left of it)

Almost bought a dining room table on Craigslist today. It sold before we could arrange anything. Boo. (Ours is awesome and enormous and therefore lives in storage. Looking for something cheap to fill the space.)

Fantastic dinner at Kevin's parents. Pot roast and veggies are the perfect fall meal.

There is a serious amount of construction happening around our house. House going up across the street and they just cleared the lot next door. Bang, bang, bang--even on Sundays. So much for ever sleeping in again...

I might just hit the road in the morning to shop the Gap's annual (or is it bi-annual) Give-and-Get sale. 30% off. Pair that with the factory store's usual sales and it turns into a crazy huge savings. Last year, I completely cleaned up with literally everything we needed in the way of fall/winter basics.

Happy Veterans Day! (Is it always on a Wednesday? Weird.)

That's all I've got for now. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a more coherent blog!

Cha-ching!

Tonight we set out for our first coupon-using shopping expedition. I claim....SUCCESS! I feel successful anyway. Actually, I feel like I made us $50 in about an hour.

So, basically, I loosely used the guidelines set out by most of the super couponers. And it was definitely a trial run. Here's what we (er, I) did:

1. We made a shopping list of what we needed to buy right now.*
2. I got online and read this week's Homeland ads
--we used Homeland because they offer great weekly sales and double coupons up
to $1 with their shopper card. --Also, Homeland has overlapping circulars and Tuesday is a great day to go because both circulars are valid at the same time.
3. I've been collecting coupons for a few weeks now from our moms (who both get the Sunday paper), so I took what we needed and matched up against things that were on sale and that I had coupons for. Then, after I exhausted those, I tried to match up the rest of the coupons with things we needed.
4. We shopped. Just off our list. Except for fruits and veggies, we didn't buy anything not on sale or without a coupon and we only bought from the list.
5. We got to the register and saw our total...yay!

(*super couponers don't do this...they plan way in advance so they never 'have' to buy things. The theory is that buying on demand doesn't allow you to maximize sales and coupons to get your biggest savings)


Here's an example of how we saved:

A box of Corn Flakes, regular price $3.99


It was on sale with the One Card for 2/$6. But I don't need two huge boxes of Corn Flakes so I just got one, for $3.

BUT, I had a coupon for $1.00 off this box of Corn Flakes. With the One Card, it's a double coupon. So....

$3.99 orginal price
-$.99 on sale with One Card (2/$6)
-$1.00 coupon
-$1.00 double the coupon with One Card.
_________________________________

$1.00!

A total steal.

And basically you do that the entire time. So our grand total savings?

Here's our receipt:


Do you see that? Between our coupons and sale card, we saved $45.36, or 37%! Woo hoo! Not bad for a first run, right? I'm pretty happy. And the sorting coupon prep took maybe 1/2 an hour or so. I did it at the kitchen table while Kevin fed Riley dinner. It didn't even seem like a big deal.

I'm so encouraged by this and so ready to get better at it. Can't wait to see how good we might get at this... I never knew grocery shopping could be fun!

Clip.

Today was like a huge exhale for me. I finished up some loose ends on my last assignment that being sick had postponed. Today was the first day without a billion work-related things to do. I felt like I could think about something else in life. It's a great feeling.

Don't get me wrong. There's still plenty of work to do. In fact, I need to get busy on that amazingly large tourism gig I'll have going on throughout November and probably December. That's the plan. But, it's a relaxed job. And I can start to catch up on life. And that makes me happy.

So, what's with the weird picture?

It's a new goal. And what is life without new goals, right?

I'm hoping I can be good at this one. Because if I am, it will save us money and that is something we could use a little more of right about now.

I've been hearing about tons of my friends and acquaintances becoming super couponers. I guess it's a new thing enhanced by plenty of blogs from successful coupon geniuses. In fact, one of the biggest blogs out there is from a girl I went to high school with who has turned couponing into an empire. Pretty awesome, actually.

Let's be clear: I have none of those aspirations.

I don't even know if I can do this half-way successfully. But it sounds fun to try and why the heck not, right? So, we're giving it a go. And we'll see what happens.

Maybe we'll suck at it. Maybe it will take too much time. Or, maybe we'll save some good coin. And take that free vacay to Vegas after all....

Painted.

(oh, if only our group picture was in focus...)

So, in case you're wondering, paintball might not be the best idea for a post-illness activity... but it was super fun. I know my stamina wasn't quite what it could have been but I'm not sure it made a lot of difference. I'm guessing the guys still would have kicked our butts pretty much exactly the same as they did.

This was a first-time adventure for everyone except two of us. The verdict? Really, really fun. But, paintballs do hurt. If you're headed out on this activity, I'd advise long sleeves. This was part of the reason we planned this for November, hoping cold weather would help with the bundle factor and ease the pain. Of course, we get a beautiful 70-degree day so no one wanted to get to layered. It all worked out though and minus a blistering tail-bone hit from behind (ahem, Brandon), I escaped mostly unscathed. Cannot say the same for many of my poor, bruised teammates (ahem, Jaimie).

Paintball. Do it. Really fun times. And yes, it hurts. Hurts so good.

What a week.

I've spent about 30 of the last 36 hours sleeping. Riley had a cold earlier this weekly and promptly shared his yuck with Kevin and me. Kevin never gets super sick so he managed to get by with some congestion and runny nose, etc.

Me, on the other hand... I get sick if I look at someone with a bad cough. I think the stress of not sleeping during deadline combined with the germs shut down my body. I went to the clinic last night at 9 p.m. and thankfully, tested negative for flu. And was told I needed to rest and let it run its course with the help of some over-the-counter healing. Lovely. I was hoping for some strong narcotic drugs. Boo.

Thank God for Kevin. He completely took over all parenting and house duties the past few days. I was absolutely useless. This evening, I'm finally feeling a bit back to normal although still pretty stuffy and gross.

Tomorrow, we are set for a crazy day of paintball with our kickball pals. This should be interesting... I think one of us has ever done it before. I've heard it hurts... I'm kind of scared. But, can't wait to come back and report all about it.

Here are highs and lows for the week:

HIGHS:

• Finishing deadline.
• Being sick helped me catch up on much-needed sleep.
• Super fun mom's night out dinner at Mama Roja's with swim moms. (can't wait until the next one!)
• Being off deadline means I can start planning Riley's party!
• Amazing weather.
• Real Housewives of Orange County (sorry, I love my trash TV)
  

LOWS:

• Riley--sick.
• Kevin--sick.
• Me--sick.
• Completely behind on house everything due to above mentioned sickness.
• Sucky Sooner Football (could it get worse?)

That's it for now! Wanted to get more than a sentence-long post in here this week. Off to watch more TV and cuddle up with my box of Kleenex.

Until tomorrow...

Sick.

Completely under the weather today. Riley passed his funk straight to Kevin and me. Starting season 1 disc 1 of Mad Men and feeding our colds. So far this month of blogging isn't going just as planned. There are still some tricks up my posting sleeve. Let's see just how many days it takes me to produce....

Nick of time.

This is my official Thursday post. But only because there is tv to watch. I'll be back later with a real, live post.... Maybe.

Deadline finished!!!!!!!

This is the best news ever. I really thought it might never end. This one was a big one and it was the hardest deadline in recent history. Hopefully, I produced some worthwhile stuff...

So now, I move on to other things. Going to try to get back to basics: family, family, and family. I feel like I haven't seen Riley in a month! I'm ready to play and cuddle and plan his 2nd birthday. Holy crap...his 2nd birthday. Where does the time go?

We had two kickball games tonight, about an hour-and-a-half after I finished up my deadline. I'm exhausted and hittin' the hay....

Hooray for life. Yay for beds.

I was hoping tonight's blog post would be in celebration of a completed assignment. Instead it's going to be another quick one....a brief procrastination from what I should be doing which is churning out well-written copy in rapid form.

It's 9:49 and I have a long way to go.

I wonder how many Diet Pepsis I could drink in a 24-hour period if I tried. This might be the time that I find out. Not because I'm trying to set a record, but because I'm trying to exist without sleep.

Woe is me.

I don't even know why the crap I procrastinate. If I could just get finished the relief would be immeasurable. It always is. But, here I am. Updating a blog. Wondering who has updated Facebook. Wishing I could watch So You Think You Can Dance. Thinking about how cozy my bed will be.

What in the hell?

Okay, it's getting seriously closer to morning all the time and I don't want to see the sun rise. That means, I'm outta here. It's time to stop blogging and get busy before I lose my gosh darn deadlined mind. Damn deadlines. I'm getting too old for this.

I cross my heart that better blogs are in the works. Can you imagine an entire month of deadline blogs. Talk about the cure for insomnia...

I'm going to leave you with another Riley Halloween picture. This time, he's a trick-or-treater at Haunt the Zoo. Have I mentioned how amazing he did during this event? He was a seriously good trick-or-treater.

Trying to finish up the last of a deadline so this is all that's happening in my world today:

I'll be enjoying this exciting view for many hours to come. Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow with something a little more thrilling.

In the meantime, one of my favorite pics of Riley from Halloween. This kid is the freakin' best.

See you soon!

Three months later....and a challenge!

Was August 4th really the last time I updated my blog? Sad, really. Especially when there really is so much to say.

Today is November 1st. We just had the best Halloween with Riley and I'm smack-dab in the middle of the final deadline in what has been two months of continuous and never-ending deadlines. Just in time for a huge project that will take up all of November and most of December.

Vacation, please!

Likely, not. Two round-trip tickets and a hotel in Las Vegas are burning a hole in my figurative pocket. Sitting. Waiting. Wanting to be redeemed. Sigh. Please let it happen soon...

Until then, I work and feel grateful that the opportunities are coming my way.

That, however, is another post for another day. Yeah, right, you say. Like you'll be posting again in 2009, you irresponsible, leave-us-hanging blogger.

Okay, okay, I deserve that. But seriously, things have been hard to manage. Time has not been on my side and too much time on the computer for work leaves me running for the hills when it's time to update the blog. BUT, since it's fall and the trees are doing their thing, I decided to turn over my own autumnal leaf. A new commitment is brewing and it starts today.

Today is the first day of the annual NaBloPoMo...in English that's National Blog Posting Month. You can do it any month, but the official annual month is in November. As previously mentioned, today just happens to be November 1st. And here I am writing a blog. That's what you call: so far. so good.

(*thanks to Elizabeth at scarletwords.com for the cool graphic*)

The rules are simple: "Post every day for a month. That's all you have to do."

I'm going to fight the good fight to make it happen. Since I haven't been here in 3 months, I'm pretty sure I have a month's worth of good material to share. I won't guarantee greatness, but I'll guarantee something. And hopefully, that something will be success.