January Update!

I'd like to review my previous month's resolutions at the beginning of each month to kind of recap, see how I did and see if potentially helps me keep up with these resolutions that I don't ever remember once keeping for a whole year. That would be today - seemed like January was a very LO-O-O-O-NG month. Don't know why, it just did.

Okay - on to checkmarking:

R#1 - Wear make-up everyday. Check! The only days I didn't put myself together this month were Saturdays. We didn't ever do anything on Saturdays this month, but if we were going to - I would have! Yay - gold star for makeup.

R#2 - Contacts/Eyeglasses and an appointment with my allergist. Now - I have till the end of February to accomplish the contacts/eyeglasses. But I do get half my checkmark, as I went to see the asthma/allergist, got some VERY nice and extremely needed drugs (thanks, Mom!) and also got scheduled for allergy testing at the end of February. It's been about 20 years -'bout time for an update and as we're not getting rid of the d.dog anytime soon - I may have to look into allergy shots to see if they help keep things rolling along.

R#3 - 200-250$ grocery budget - including formula and diapers. Half a check. Diapers - easy peasy - the FORMULA is killing me - I'm so looking forward to March 25 - I'm now dubbing it Whole Milk Transfer Day (not really). Anyway, I went over budget on my groceries this month by about 100 bucks. Keeping in mind, though that there was 3 pay periods in January and some REALLY good sales that would have been stupid to pass up. Almost every shopping trip I took this month, I doubled my money - and received at least 500$ worth of groceries for half price. (I'll put in specifics when I get home.)

So, I've decided to revamp this resolution a bit, to inlude the two months of 3 paychecks. My new resolution is to budget 100-125$ per paycheck for groceries. I'm hoping with the great sales in January that there will be some light weeks in February to kind of average the two to actually make goal --of course, there's always saying "no" and only looking for FREEBIES or penny items...Will look for gold star at the end of February!

R#4 - Half a check mark. Making all my meals at home and having a date night for the dinner out. Hooray for me - I've done the best I ever have this month at this. Didn't quite make it perfectly, but here's what happened. Clint loves him some Whopper - twice he wanted a BK run on both the paydays. One I should've said "no" to, flat-out -but yay for me, I didn't order anything myself. The other was after Homecoming and all the poor man had to eat was popcorn and a pop... Side note: he said it tasted like crap - so that's a plus! Gotta get it out of our system! And for the dinner date night for Clint and I - we sort of mixed and matched - we took Grace to Chuck E. Cheese on MLK day and called that our date. But, we did get a baby-sitter so we could go to Homecoming by ourselves, although it wasn't exactly romantic for the two of us, as I yapped my freaking face off- it was pretty cheap and a night without kiddos. So - I'm giving us a half gold star on this one and resolving to do better in February.

R#5 - The No S plan. Stinkin' darn, poopy-headed time of the month - not that I really blame it all on that, but it was HARD. I really do feel like I crave chocolate and Diet Coke during this PMS week. Good grief. One day I had a whopper of a headache at work - had a Diet Coke and some chocolate Zingers from the vending machines (Soooo bad) and within a half hour was happy as a lark and totally energized. It was really weird. (BtW - didn't work a second time) So - I get no check mark as I did a little bit of sweets and soda and some mild snacking after 7. But - not a total loss, I'm still down 12 pounds from Christmas. Woohoo.

February Additions and Subtractions:

R5 Overhaul - Restart No S and stick to it FIRMLY. While adding 3 of my water bottles a day.

I'm also adding in parking in the far parking lot at work and using the stair cases, rather than the elevator at work. I've been so-o-o-o lazy for a while now! No more elevators for me, except the one I need to get up to my office. But, I do resolve to do THOSE staircases at least 2x this month. (They are killer! - everyone says so)

I'm also foregoing dinner plates - we are only going to be eating off of salad plates for our meals this month. Idea here is portion size - duh. I was finding out that even though we weren't taking seconds in January - we were taking some very nicely sized firsts.

And I'm also adding in some light weights for my arms after the girls go to bed at night. Just 5-10 minutes at least 4 times a week.

Hmmm...I really like revamping and starting new this month. Makes me feel like not such a total loser for abandoning all self-discipline and letting a couple of Zingers get the best of me!

YIKES! -Just double checked the grocery budget for January - 417.00 - saved 291.00! oy vey! Hmmm...no gold star for me...averages out to be 139.00 per pay check - so not terribly bad, as that does include diapers and wipes. February ought to be better!

Another First

This was so sweet, Clint and I both welled up a bit. Two nights (1/27) ago would be the actual date of the memory, but I didn't have a chance to blog it up till just now.

The first night Gracie prayed out loud. This took us by surprise actually, we had sat down to supper and told her to put her food down and close her eyes. This usually comes with a bit of a struggle, as she doesn't want to put the food down, or just be generally contrary, we've found.

But last night and the night before, she put her fork down, clasped her hands and before Clint or I could begin, in a sweet, clear voice - prayed. And she did a beautiful job. Didn't pray for the food, but thanked the Lord for the things that had happened that day and for Mommy, Daddy and Miss Stacey. And Annie.

I will never forget her voice. Or the way it feels to hear your child pray.

A Memory

Just wanted to post something quickly. I wanted to date this for myself, as it struck me as a sign of things to come!

Last night we were eating supper and I was feeding Annie her squash. After about 4 or 5 bites she pursed her little lips together and sprayed it everywhere! All over the place. Ptttthhhhbbbbbt! It was pretty cute, although Clint and I put stern looks on our faces and told her "No." Then she did it again with the next bite. And Grace started cracking up. Upon hearing her laughter, Annie looked incredibly pleased with herself and of course, starting spitting and spitting, just to make Grace laugh harder. Laugh, spit, laugh, spit, laugh, spit - all Annie could do for about 2 minutes all to entertain Grace and make her laugh harder! Despite our efforts to correct our younger daughter, all she and her sister could do was to look at each other and laugh at each other, oh so deviously.

I realize this is just the first of MANY incidents that are to come, but I LOVED that they were in on a little joke together! It was so fun to see Annie have that first connection with Grace sharing a laugh only sisters could share - no parents allowed!

I'm obsessed with taking pics of my girls while they're sleeping!

Confirmed Sighting and Art Van Antics...

That's right! As of this morning, we have official confirmation that Annie's top teeth have FINALLY broken through! FINALLY! I have been suspicious this past week that she was teething and those teeth were finally going to break through - any minute. I kept checkin' and checkin' to no avail. But - this morning at the baby-sitters, I finally saw them! Finally! Did I mention that I finally saw them? I was seriously beginning to think she didn't have anymore teeth... Grace had at least 6 by 10 months, I'm sure of it...

Clint took this past Monday off, as I had it off from school, and to properly celebrate Martin Luther King day and the Civil Rights movement, we headed on up to Kazoo to run some errands and I wanted to do something fun with Grace. She's been so good the past week - and I know it hasn't been hard, we have been shut inside with sub-zero wind chills and most of Mama's attention was directed toward the baby because of an ear infection, teething and the fact that if Mama put Annie down for even a second, she would scream. Anyway, Grace has been a champ, although I knew she was getting stir crazy and bored to tears. (Much like myself!) So, up to Chuck E. Cheese we headed. This time it was a much better experience. We took her almost a year ago - the week before I had Annie - one Friday when we went to visit J&B in GR. And let me tell you - Chuck E. Cheese with a 2 year old...on a Friday night...in Grand Rapids...

What were we thinking?

Good grief, there were tantrums and crazed runnings through all the machines, and aunts, uncles and dads running all over the place after one extremely overloaded child...My poor bro and sister in law...when we called it a night and put her in the car, Clint & J wanted to check out a store very quickly and left B, Grace and I in the car - and my poor little girl completely FLIPPED OUT. I was a little nervous about it, I have to say. The only way we could get her to settle down and relax was to start singing songs...maybe I've blogged about this before - I don't remember, but it was the craziest I've ever seen her.

This time was MUCH better. A Monday afternoon with a 3 year old was a much pleasanter experience. No tantrums when we left, no psychotic running about and a successful potty experience. However, she did have some Sprite to drink, so when we had to stop at Art Van - and I HATE furniture stores and wasn't thrilled about dragging the kids into one with me - while Clint was talking to the service people about the part we need for the couch, I occupied myself and Grace with another trip to the bathroom...

Now. I have a feeling it's just my child, but EVERY time Grace gets on the potty she takes off ALL her clothes. Except for her shirt, she'll leave that on... EVERY time. And every time, I try to tell her, you can just pull your pants and panties down and still go pee, she has a fit. So here we are in Art Van, got ourselves into the stall and, off comes the boots,

and the socks,

and the pants,

and the panties,

and the coat,

AND the hat...

just the shirt for Miss Grace. There is just no such thing as a quick trip with her. After she's done, she proceeds to hop off and attempt to crawl under the stalls, bare butt in the air and I grabbed her and told her to put all her clothes back on while I went to the bathroom.

I no sooner had my pants down when she unlocked the door (bare butt) and scampered off, leaving me to chase after her with my pants around my ankles. I hauled her bare butt back in there and ORDERED her to get her clothes on. I was a bit impatient, I had to go. Plus, I had my pants down and the door was still swinging open.

She dawdled a bit more and I smacked her butt and told her to get dressed. She looked at me, rolled her eyes and said,

"Oka-a-y"

Christmas 2008

Make-up: Everyday

I've been thinking about my first post of the year for a couple weeks now, but have not had a chance to actually sit down and do it! Work has been crazy busy, which I like - but wow - that's when I blog! Don't these people know that? Things have finally settled down, everyone is in their course (for the most part) and another semester is underway. Thus, ends my hiatus from journaling and begins a new year here on the old bloggity blog blog blog.



I don't know that I've ever officially made New Years resolutions in the past. Pretty sure growing up, we always started a new diet on January 2 (or 3 or 4) but that's about it by way of resolving to change. This year - I've been thinking about lots of things that I would like to resolve to do or develop over the next coming year to improve life with my Cinderellas and Princey dear.

If anyone was to ask me if I've made any NYR's this year, I would say

"Yes. My NYR is to wear make-up everyday."

Sounds incredibly vain and somewhat strange, but it's sort of an all-encompassing statement for my resolutions this year. Many of which, of course, I don't want to get into with just anybody, so I have my pat phrase, and - yes - that's an actual resolution of mine. But to me it represents so much more of what I want to do with the year 2009.

I remember back in high school and in college and during my time as a teacher at Howie and I don't ever remember I time when I wasn't concerned about putting make-up on. I always made sure that I wore make-up - wouldn't be caught dead without it. No eyeliner - are you kidding me? Not in a million years - I could go without eye shadow, but never the fundamental basics!

Well, then I got married. And for the first couple of years I kept up the make-up - at least while I was at work and church...but then, after becoming a mommy and coming to realize the incredible sleepLESSness that comes with that particular job, little by little the make up began to fall away. It's HARD to take care of two other people and yourself! Throw in a pregnancy with your second while raising a toddler - and pttthhhbbbt! Bye bye - I think for about 3 months in 07 I didn't even HAVE any makeup to put on. I remember, because I got some for my birthday. I remember thinking - "I'll bet everyone's glad I got this!" Probably tired of seeing me look tired and ragged.

Point is: I let myself go. And I have a tendency to do that with many things in life. (<--Could be the reason I don't make resolutions!) I get gung-ho for a while and then, if it's too much of a hassle or gets boring to me or if I don't make the time then I drop it. Well - there's a few things I don't want to drop this year. Taking care of myself is one of them. And so - I resolve, among other things, to wear make-up everyday. That way, I at least look like I'm taking care of myself. I'm secretly giving myself the day off on Saturdays, but if we go out - I'm putting it on!

I resolve to buy myself some contacts & glasses by at least February. Both of these I need - I have not had since last spring, after I had Annie and my eyes felt like they changed. The contacts were giving me headaches and so - after my box had run out, I didn't replace them - haven't since. I can see fine, and my vision is not that bad - I'm okay to drive, etc...but - things are definitely clearer with the lenses. I could've bought them anytime last year - I have the insurance on them, just never did it. Never took care of my eyeballs. I also resolve to make an appointment with my asthma/allergy specialist, which I have a huge feeling is going to lead to an appointment with an ENT, which will most likely result in sinus surgery. I just gotta buck up and do it. Doctors, ugh. (Oh, and don't even ask about the hearing aids...I'm getting there...)

I resolve to stick to a 200-250$/month grocery budget by continuing to use coupons and websites that are at my disposal. I would like to keep it as close to $200 each month as possible, but formula & diapers are added into that and sometimes there are just really awesome sales that would beef up the old stockpile/pantry that I simply canNOT let go and it wouldn't be frugal NOT to partake in them. (i.e. this week, when I'm ultimately getting diapers for .04 each! and Meijer is having mega sales with coupons to match!) and I resolve to track purchases on a spreadsheet. I WILL keep this up. I am greatly enjoying the couponing game still!

Along with that, comes the resolution that I resolve to make most of my meals at home. I told Princey that I would like to make a goal to have date night each month and let that be the only night we go out to eat. A few exceptions could be applied to this resolution by way of celebration dinners for birthdays, vacation or potential emergencies that pop up from time to time. But to just order out because I'm too pooped to make dinner - I'd like that to become a thing of the past - too easy of any excuse and it totally goes against my grocery savings to spend money on food when I have a pantry full. Wish me luck on this one - eating out is an indulgence I dearly love. But, I do want to have a monthly date night, thereby taking care of my marriage. And cutting out the eating out will, along with grocery budget, be taking care of my family by way of the kitchen and finances. I also want to be more diligent in domestic duties. Yes, duties, I do not enjoy cooking or cleaning. There I said it.

My last resolution is a whopper - but, I'm going to try to take care of my physical body by implementing a healthy habit each month. This of course, is EVERYBODY's NYR so I couldn't leave it out! We've started January out by employing the "No S" eating plan. No Snacks, no Sweets, no Seconds, (I've added no Soda) after Seven (I added this part as well) on any day that doesn't start with an S. So basically we can eat those things on the weekend. Except we did make a modification - we're starting on Friday nights and cutting out early on Sunday evenings because darn it - Friday night we want to kick back with some fun food. That's just the way it is. So far I really like this plan. I'm only 9 days into it, but I like it. February's healthy habit will most likely come with some sort food goal as well. We haven't decided. Yes, I'm dragging Princey into this - but my Cinderellas can still have some treats and snacks.

After reviewing my resolutions makes me wonder if my New Year's Resolution should be "Not to bite off more than I can chew", but to do that would be in direct violation of my personality. If the only resolution I accomplish is that I wear make-up everyday, so be it - that's still progress. And I'm quite sure my co-workers and the people at church will be greatly appreciative.