This Christmas...

...will be....a very special Christmas......because Kate will actually be old enough to kind of enjoy it this year! And I am very excited about this. I saw two friends who posted their Christmas cards of interest for this year. We got ours from Shutterfly last year and plan to do it again. Love them. They have great choices and I am super excited to order ours for this year.

Here are the ones I like.....
and.....


Shutterfly has a great offer if you want to earn up to 50 free cards. Check it out!

I need.....

A new profession. One where it isn't always my fault, everyone has to be accountable for their own actions, and where I don't come home feeling like I am a complete failure on a regular basis.

Now, if I could just figure out what else I would do with myself, that would be great.

Tonight I finally got some time to scrapbook. Well, I mean, tonight I made some time to scrapbook. I realized that I have not done so since Kate was born, which is, shockingly, a year ago this Thursday. I kind of started to feel guilty that my sweet little girl does not have sweet little baby book. And really, who wouldn't want some of her adorable pics kept in a safe, acid free environment for her to share with her kids. So here are some updated pics of my almost one year old. It's going by too fast.

Best Bday Present Ever

So my sweet hubby bought me an AMAZING new camera for my birthday. It is a Nikon D5000, and I can't wait to take some new pictures of our little angel! I have been wanting a new camera since I got pregnant and Chris finally made it happen. I will never be able to figure out all of the incredible features of this new toy, but hopefully I will be able to figure out enough to start taking some really good, quality photos!

He also made me a giant cupcake. That's right. As Seen On TV giant cupcake. It was so sweet of him to do, and it was delicious. A nice, quiet family evening is just what I needed. So, look for some good pics in the near future.

So, my mom has been coming out to take care of Kate 2 days a week while Chris and I both work. During the summer she told me how much she missed her time with Kate and how she was ready for me to go back to work so that she could start seeing Kate regularly again. What I didn't realize until she was here today, and getting ready to leave, was how much I missed seeing my Mom on a regular basis. I have come to appreciate her so much more now that I know the blessing that is being a mother. I could just sit here and talk to her for hours. I am grateful, and appreciative every day. I know that we are blessed to not have to put Kate in daycare and I sometimes worry that I cannot adequately express my gratitude.

Size 8........a plus size?

So I saw this really unflattering picture of myself from a party I went to on Saturday. It was terrible. In fact, I wanted to cry, because while I thought I was actually looking alright, this picture made me look huge. Anyway, I decided to google search women who are a size 8, my current size, and see if it is just me being way too critical of myself. That was when I came across this:

http://blessingsfromabove2.blogspot.com/2009/08/womens-size-8-new-plus-size.html

It did put things in perspective. Why is it so hard to stop obsessing about weight and start being thankful for what we have?

I have an amazing husband who loves me no matter what. He loved me when I was 135. He loved me when I was 187. And he loved me when I was pregnant and gave birth at 207. And he loves me now at 160.

I have a beautiful daughter. She doesn't know what size I am. She doesn't know how much I weigh. All she knows is my voice and my face, and to her, I am just mom.

So today I am turning over new leaf. I will work to be healthy, but not skinny. I will try to complain less about being unhappy with my weight. Starting today I will start finding something to complement myself on each day. Because, lets be honest, if the world thinks size 8 is a plus size, then its no wonder women have such poor self image.

I say it is time we take a stand, and start feeling better about ourselves. I don't want my daughter growing up believing that the only way to feel good about herself is to be a size 4.

Everything is for a reason

But sometimes it is hard to find what that reason is. And while I try to live by the belief that what happens happens because that is the way God intends it, it's still hard.

Wednesday the sale of our house closes. We will have until the 16th to move out. With that said, our offer on the short sale house still has not been approved. And their bank keeps saying, we will have an answer soon. Guess what. No answer. So it stresses me out. I am trying to believe that we are going to be living with Robert for a reason. We are moving all of our stuff for a reason. We are going to be temporarily homeless for a reason. But I find myself felling overwhelmed, and stressed and sad. There is so much to do. And it wouldn't seem so daunting if I knew where we were going to end up.

Every time I feel like I am going to break, I remind myself that there is a purpose for this transition period. God has a reason why we don't have an answer on this house. But I hate feeling so unsure, and scared. What if we don't keep out the right things? What if we overstay our welcome? What if Kate is miserable in the interim? What if we don't have the approval on this house because it isn't the house we are supposed to get?

What if.......it were easy to say okay God, I hear you and I trust you?

Does that make me a control freak? I wish it wasn't so hard to just let it all go. I know in my heart that there is a plan, and it is one that I am not meant to see or understand right now. That doesn't make it any easier.

Y'all pray for us.

Dance-tastic Furios Footwork from the 80's

That is how a guy on So You Think You Can Dance described his dance troupe. That's right. He formed it because he was sick of getting kicked out of the clubs based solely on the way he danced. Freaking hilarious. He is wearing tie dyed spandex under black running shorts. A green t-shirt and white knee high gym socks with black stripes at the top. He has then on his arms too, under his fingerless gloves. And bandanas tied around his arms. A sweatband. And, his shirt says 1, 2, 3 party. Oh, and, his teammates names are Ice and Ultra. 'Nuff said. He just said he was heading out with his boombox.

How I got pink slipped

So my boss and I have always had a pretty good relationship. We have similar personalities so we are able to joke and cut up and we laugh a lot. But seeing as we are both smart asses, we tend to push the limits and see just how far we can go. Sometimes, he likes to ask me where I will be working next year, and I respond with, obviously not here.

So a few weeks ago, he comes to tell us it is time to go to lunch. Only, when he calls my name, I think he is a student so I respond with, "Hold on." He calls my name again, and I say, "Clearly, I am busy right now." At which point, I hear a student say, "It's the principal." He responds with, "Clearly, but it is time to go to lunch." Needless to say, I turned bright red and the minute he left, I laid on the floor and sarcastically thanked the kids for having my back. Now, I have taken my share of ribbing for this incident, one for which I probably do deserve to be fired. But for the last week, I haven't heard much about it.

This morning, at our faculty meeting, it reared its ugly head. At the end of the meeting, the bossman hands out several awards and then proceeds to tell the story of my mouthyness to the entire faculty (much to my mortification) and then he awards with me with "The pink slip award: for having the uncanny ability to be fired multiple times a week and yet continue coming to work."

And that, my friends, is how I got the pink slip this fine Friday morning.

House Hunting

Let me preface this post by stating my awareness that we are fortunate that we put our house on the market and were able to get a contract in a matter of weeks. And it is a contract where we will not be cutting a check to get out of this house. Loved this house. Hate to move, but our needs are no longer what they used to be.

Now that I got that out of the way......

........I am so sick of looking at houses. I love houses. I have always enjoyed driving around and looking to see what else is out there. I love going into other peoples houses and seeing what they've got going on. However, if I have to spend one more hour in a car, driving around and looking at houses and deciding which ones we want to go into. And then going into them and finding out that the house sucks.

I also hate that we found a fabulous house, fell in love, went to make an offer and found out it had an offer accepted earlier that day. I was sick about it.

Needless to say, we have again found the house of our dreams. Only online. And so we are going to see it tomorrow and are ready to make a bid. If I post an angry blog tomorrow, know that the house is not available.

A Moment of Silence Please...

For poor Mr. Lion.

Kate had this adorable, soft lion with the cutest little mane. And she loved him. She like to hold him, and play with him and chew on him (as all 6 month olds do with everything.) He was one of a kind. (Actually, he was mass produced by jellycat, but in our world he was a stand out.)


Yesterday, Kate and I needed to go to the grocery store. I picked up her toys and put them on the mantle and in various other places. I changed her out of her jammies and into the cutest little polo dress. I put her in the car seat, grabbed the diaper bag and off we went.

After a brief trip, couldn't have even been an hour, we returned home. I took Kate back out of the car seat, laid her on her play mat and began putting her toys around her. There was her singing dog, Mr. Bunny, a teething ring, and.....wait a minute, where is Mr. Lion?

I immediately began scanning the room. Is he on the table? No! Is he in the toy basket? No! Panic began to set in as I already knew what had happened. I rushed to the bedroom to see if, hopefully, I was wrong. It was when I reached the door that I discovered the body. Poor, defenseless Mr. Lion had been mangled. His eyes were missing and stuffing was pouring out of the sockets. It was a gruesome crime scene, to be sure.

So, I would like us all to take a moment of silence for poor Mr. Lion. I would like to remember what a good companion he has been. How loving and faithful. How soft and cuddly. RIP Mr. Lion. We will never forget you............

.......but we will replace you. In fact, Mr. Lion #2 has already been ordered off the internet and will be here in 7-10 business days. It will be like you were never even gone. Phew!

Who knew?

That selling your house is such a pain? We have already had 3 real estate agents look at the house and give us prices. One would think that the prices would be in a close range. Oh, nah. Instead, we now have a price that could fall anywhere in a $30,000 range. Doesn't that seem a little bit off? I mean, within $10,000 I could see, but seriously?
And to top it off, we are supposed to pay 6% between our agent and the buyers agent? What does our real estate agent really do? Give us an MLS # and then sit and wait for some buyers agent to sell the house. How does that earn 3%? And why do we have to be on the hook for the buyers agent? Why can't they find a house on their own? We did. And we are looking on our own again. I guess I feel like we are getting ripped off a little bit.
And then there is the risk that you could have your house almost sold, and then not meet the appraisal. So, this poses a serious issue seeing as we have been given such different list values for our house. Who wouldn't want to list for the highest quote they got? Obviously that isn't the best plan.
What it all boils down to, is I would like to put a for sale by owner sign in the front yard tomorrow. I would appreciate it if the first person to see it would call and tell me they have cash, no agent, and are interested in paying my asking price. Then I can close next week, pack the following weekend and move into a new house, in a better location, more convenient to my family and the friends we actually hang out with. Can we work that out? Thanks!

Rosy Red Cheeks

So I have noticed lately that Kate is getting some really red cheeks. Turns out that is one of the number one signs of teething. Add that to the excessive drooling, which has led to a small rash below her mouth, and I would say we are in a full on teethe.

And, now she rolls over both ways and is a little roly poly oly Why is she growing sooooo fast?!?!? I can't take it. But I just love her sooooooooooo much

Directions to Nowhere...

Would you follow these directions? Some normal pieces have been left out, but you will get the basic idea from the following direct excerpts:

Follow the highway to exit 138. Turn right.
Go .4 miles to dead end and turn left to stay on road.
Go 4.7 miles to dead end and turn left.
Go 1 mile and turn onto Hunts Chapel Road. (.5 a mile Hunts Chapel Road will have a very sharp right curve. It's almost a right hand turn.) Yes this was underlined and in red on the directions.
Go to dead end and turn right. There is no street sign.
Go to dead end and turn left.
Go to dead end and turn right.
Go to dead and and turn right.
The road is very windy and hilly. One particular downhill is very steep. Its like dropping into an abyss. You will recognize it by the Granite Rip Rap to prevent erosion on the left side of the road at the bottom of the hill.
Driveway on left. 2 small flamingos and beach garb in front of driveway. No mailbox.

I didn't think so. Me either. But these are the directions Chris has to a call he is doing for a customers lake house. He left me a copy just in case he doesn't return and needs to be found.

So, tomorrow, if I cannot be reached, just know that I am following these directions in an attempt to find Chris. Hold your breath that he finds it and returns safely. I mean, I'm just sayin'.

Losin weight in 08. Er 09. Damn. I mean 2010.

So, when I had Kate in September I decided that I had 40 pounds from the baby and 20 pounds from life that just needed to go. Until now, it has been all diet and breastfeeding. I am proud to say that as of this week, I am officially at my pre-pregnancy weight. Woohooo!!!

Only now I am actually going to have to start working out to get to where I want to be. Chris told me to go ahead and throw a gym bag in the car and the nights he doesn't have calls I can stop at the gym as I pass it on the way home. Today was one of those days, but I was without my gym bag.

When I got home, Chris asked: Why didn't you pack a bag when I told you too?

Me: I don't know. I guess I just feel bad because you have Kate all day. It is selfish of me to be gone another hour.

Chris: It's okay. I told you to go.

Me: I feel guilty being away from Kate longer after being gone all day.

Chris: Don't feel guilty. Who doesn't want a hot wife.

Me: (silent)

Chris: I mean, you're already hot.

Me: Nice save, friend.

Then we both laughed. Because I know that he did not mean that even close to how it sounded. And he realized as soon as it came out, that was not what he had intended to say.

So, needless to say, my gym bag is packed and in the car. (Not really. That requires motivation.) I did get on the treadmill though. Score one for me.

Here is to getting skinny in 2010.