{Untitled}

FOR TODAY…

Outside my window...it looks beautiful and sunny, but I haven't ventured out, and it is nearly 6 pm. My cold/allergies/sinus infection/bronchitis seem to be better when I don't go outside. Sigh. But the thermometer says its 90* so I am not too sad about being in the air conditioning!

I am thinking...FALL! I love fall and am hoping we have a nice, long fall this year. I love everything about the season!

I am thankful for...Lily not catching this nasty bug which has been plaguing me for THREE WEEKS!

From the kitchen...roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and corn for dinner. I may still be in my pjs, but we will eat well tonight!!

I am wearing...(hangs head in shame) my pajamas, still!

I am creating...a master plan to simplify my life!

I am going...to the doctor (again) tomorrow if I am still not feeling better!

I am reading...The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. It is for book club, which is tonight. I'm not going because a) I am still sick and b) I am only a third of the way through the book. See a.

I am hoping...for a successful spending fast for September. The plan is to only buy gas and groceries. I am hoping we can stick to it. We do have something that has been planned for a while at the end of the month, so I know we will spend a bit on that, but other than that, I hope we can stick to it. This is going to be especially hard on me since Starbucks just brought back their Pumpkin Spice Lattes yesterday. If anyone wants to take me out for coffee, I am game!

I am hearing...Lily playing.

Around the house...it is kinda a disaster.

A few plans for the rest of the week...I have a meeting I must attend tomorrow evening, other than that I am just hoping to get better! I have a 2 year old nearly bored to tears since mama's been under the weather!

From my picture journal...

Matt and I at a friend's wedding 4 years ago. I was skinny then! Oh, to be skinny again!

My Day Today - This Week's Edition

It is only 2 pm on Monday, but I can say that this week has already been more productive than last week! I am still not 100% better. In fact, I am pretty sure that in addition to my bronchitis, I now have a sinus infection. Why the antibiotic allowed this to happen, I am not sure. But I would bet the proverbial farm that I have a sinus infection. Those who have also suffered from them know...when you have one, you just know! Anyway...my day:

8:00 - Matt brings Lily in to our room, his subtle way of saying get your lazy backside out of bed. Chickie and I read stories for about 20 minutes. It is a nice way to wake up...cuddling and reading to my favorite gal.

8:20 - Check email and facebook.

8:30 - Make Lily breakfast. Blueberry pancakes and eggs. I am awesome already because I actually made her a breakfast that resembles, well, breakfast!

9:00 - Get us ready for errands. I must accomplish a few things today. We head over to the church to do a couple MOPS things. Then we hit Starbucks because a little birdie told me Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back. Yeehaw! This day is gonna rock! I enjoy my Pumpkin Spice Frappachino (because it is 90...I much prefer the warm lattes, but hello! a little too warm for hot coffee!) on the way to the bank. Make my deposit and it is time to head to the grocery store. I actually have a list and solid menu plan this week. My final bill is quite painful because I haven't done a good grocery shopping in a couple weeks. Also this week just happens to be the week we need dog food, toilet paper, and diapers! And yes, I did use cloth. For over two years. But Lily outgrew the cloth diapers, and since I was so sure she would be potty training any minute, I decided to switch to sposies rather than buy a bunch of larger sized diapers. Of course, she only has intermittent interest in using the potty, so my idea that it would be more cost effective to use sposies has probably bitten me in the arse. But either way, I still saved a boatload of money by doing cloth for as long as I did.

12:00 - Home from running errands. I turn on the boob tube so I can put away my groceries in peace. I also hit up FB to share my dog-food-toilet-paper-diaper misery with anyone unfortunate enough to friend me. Others can empathize.

1:00 - I realize I haven't fed Chickie lunch. Oops. I feed her a meal of left over chicken, watermelon and a smoothie. She barely picks at it. I eat some left over chicken, quinoa, and smoothie.

1:30 - Put Chickie down for a nap and clean up the kitchen. Start the dishwasher, change around a load of wash, and think about putting the sheets back on the bed. Decide to put that off for now and blog.

So there you are! I already feel as if this day is off to a good start. I am going to watch The Cove, which I recorded last night. I will continue doing laundry. The bathroom really needs to be cleaned. And vacuuming! I must vacuum, though that will have to wait until Chickie gets up. My floor is one moving sea of dog hair. Ick! I am making not one, but two kinds of soup for dinner. We will eat one, and the other will go into the freezer for a quick meal at a later date. I was hoping to go to my yoga class, which I have missed the past two weeks, but I don't think that will happen. Just going from sitting to standing creates such a pressure change in my head, I am sure downward facing dog wouldn't do me any favors!

So that is my Monday! What's yours look like?

Blah!

After coughing, coughing and more coughing for the past two weeks, I finally decided this little cold of mine wasn't going away. Hi-ho, hi-ho off to the doc I go. Turns out, my sore throat, horrible cough, stuffy nose and plugged ears aren't a mere cold. Nope. Acute bronchitis with bronchospasm. *Awesome* One antibiotic, inhaler, and blissfully wonderful script for a cough suppressant with codeine, and I figure I should be a model of health in no time! I am very excited about the cough syrup because I haven't slept decently in two weeks. I am pretty sure Matt is excited as well, because when I am hacking up a lung or two all.night.long, I doubt he is getting much rest, though he hasn't complained! The doc did offer a script for a muscle relaxer for my aching torso (from coughing) but I declined...I do have a two year old to look after!

My Guy is a Stud!

This is my Chickie

Coincidently, she is holding a toy chickie she received in her Easter basket.
Chickie loves books, which thrills me to no end because I prefer a good book to almost anything else any day of the week.
But Chickie has tons and tons of books, which had overtaken her allotted space on our book shelves in the toy room. We looked high and low, but couldn't find anything that suited us. We found something close, at Ikea (I big puffy heart Ikea!) but it wasn't exactly right. We found something perfect at a boutique furniture store, but price nearly gave me a coronary. What to do, what to do? Why build one of course!
See, this is what I love about my husband. He can do anything! And if he can't actually do said thing, he learns how. It is really amazing, and really just incredible. He has so much more drive and sense of adventure than I do in this department!
The book shelves turned out ah-mazing! They exactly fit in the area we intended to put them, since they were built to specifications, and I think Matt really enjoyed working on them. Wait - I just asked him and he said "Yes." He's tired. He didn't elaborate.
Check them out:






Of course, the shelves haven't looked that neat since we brought them into her room ten days ago, but every.single.day she beckons "C'mon mommy, lets go see my book shelves!" And then we proceed to read endless books. I love it!

Next up, Matt is considering building a bed for Lily. We are getting ready to move her into a big girl bed, but have yet to find a bed we like in our price range. Matt has scoured the internet and thinks he may have found just the plans for a bed we both really like. And after that, he might build me a bookcase for our family room to hold our DVDs. And other random stuff. My only requirements are that I can put a Pothos on top and let its tendrils hang down and that it has adequate space for my Moose-tivity come Christmas time! Matt's only requirement before embarking on his next endeavor is that it cool off so he isn't slaving away in our million degree garage like he was for Lily's shelves.(since we don't have a basement, the garage has become his workshop!)

And on a completely unrelated note:

Lil found my "swimming glasses" and decided they would enhance her cartoon viewing. Note the zillions of mosquito bites on her legs. I am sooo longing for a good hard frost. And then back to the 60s. Summer and I don't get along!

My Day (Alternately Titled Holy Crap She Remembers She Has a Blog!)

My day has gone a little something like this:

Get up about 9. Don't be jealous. I get up when the kid does. And she only sleeps until 9 because at 11 pm she is still talking her pretty little head off in her crib. Which is a direct result of a long and late nap, which is a direct result of getting up late, which is a result of...do you see where I am going here? I may get to sleep in, but I don't really get those blissful "after bed time" hours.

In an attempt to kick this black plague of death hellish cold I have had, I decide on smoothies for breakfast. Smoothies are easy to make. Unless you have my piece of crap blender which hardly works, but does still work enough that I have a hard time justifying buying a new one. Plus I want a Blendtec, which costs about $450. I kid you not. It is one expensive little gadget, but from what I hear and read, sooo worth it. I consider venturing to Bed, Bath and Beyond in search of a new, working but not so pricey blender, but realize I don't have a 20% off coupon. Also, the old one still works, kinda. And I would have to get dressed, so...

While attempting to make my smoothie, I get my Monday morning phone call from my BFF Jen. It is a happy phone call. We chat a while and I realize that I really look forward to my Monday morning phone calls from Jen and they are pretty routine. We make plans to hopefully meet up later in the week, which I really need. Because a girl needs her BFF! While talking to Jen and also making breakfast, I think to myself that my bestie has likely already been to the gym, showered, feed all 4 kids breakfast, sent two off to school and saved some puppies. She is superwoman and I love her. Except when talking to her reminds me how lazy I am.

Laundry. Really not much to say. I seperated it, threw in the sheets, followed by towels, lights and whites together because I didn't have many, darks, and then Lily's laundry. It is folded and put away, except for the sheets that will hopefully make it on the bed before we go to bed. No promises here. I do them as my first load so they have the best possible chance of being put back on the bed, but often we sleep on the mattress pad. Gross? Maybe, but whatev.

I read Chickie about 45 million books. Since putting her new bookshelf in her room last week (more about that later!) she has totally gone crazy with her already admirable love of books. However, Mommy has a wicked cold which has recently included nasal participation so talking and reading out loud leaves something to be desired. None the less, we read 45 million books. Or more like 10 million books, with each being read multiple times.

Lunch. Pineapple, left over Chipolte burrito bowl and cheese quesidilla. We split the burrito bowl and quesidilla. Chickie hardly ate anything but I rewarded her with the remaining half of her treat from the other day...a chocolate covered graham cracker. I am so winning on this motherhood thing. I should mention lunch was about 12:45.

1:30 and nap time. For the 4th day in a row Lily was actually asking to take a nap. I put her down, switched around some laundry and watched Whale Wars (best.show.ever!) from last week. Gotta love the DVR. I also surfed the internet a bit, folded some laundry, and then watched some Law and Order. Eventually I decided I should get Chickie up (somewhere around 4:15) so maybe she will go to sleep before the Daily Show so I can watch John Stewart grill Blago in peace. Somewhere in there I considered calling a friend just to chat, but decided against bugging her. I have since talked to her, but she called me :) (and totally was not bugging me!)

Send my sister a text because I think today is her first day teaching at her new school. But since I am an asshat, I can't actually remember. I figure 4:15 is probably an acceptable time, because surely she is out of school by now...

That brings us to about now. I look down and realize both Chickie and I are still in our pajamas. Matt should be home soon, but hopefully doesn't forgo his warning phone call. On most days he calls to tell me his leaving work. I tell him to do this so I can start dinner if necessary. Really though, I know I have a half hour to make it look like we had a productive day. And to gauge his mood. But don't tell him. Anyway, still no warning phone call, but I should get us dressed, and vacuum, and possibly put the sheets on the bed. Oh yeah, and maybe start on dinner, though we are grilling pork chops, and that is his domain. And Chickie is begging me to read her The Very Hungry Caterpillar one.more.time!

And that, my friends, is my day.