10th Day of Christmas

On the 10th day of Christmas, my inner ego gave to me.... a karaoke queen wannabe!

A supportive nature...
A strong will and determination...
A good public speaker...
A decent knack for writing...
Good at thinking on my feet...
A genuine smile...
A loyal friend...
Sarcastic wit...
And a mom who'd do anything for her kids!

For clarification, I do NOT karaoke but I'd like to and I love singing in the car and in the shower and along with the TV.  No, I don't sound good but who cares?  I sing to my girls every night before bed and last night, Lori said, "Mommy...you sing pretty."  That's the only critic that matters.

So packers came yesterday.  129 boxes and 4 1/2 hours and they were done.  I ran all my errands - bank, cable company, another bank, cleaned out the car, picked up my last Christmas gift, put in my change of address, did another walk through of the house...whew.

Got to my parents' house ready to just crash on their couch until morning.  Lori then proceeded to knock Maddie in the mouth with her elbow after they went to bed, sending an already loose baby tooth to the tooth fairy.  They finally get to sleep and Lori woke up with croup?  WTF?  Really?  What 5 year old gets croup?  So she's panicking because she thinks she can't breathe so Maddie's panicking because she thinks Lori can't breathe.  My humidifier is back at my place, packed up somewhere in between box 30 and box 60 and I have no way of knowing which one.  So 10:00 my mom, god bless her, went to CVS and bought a cool mist humidifier.  We change all the sleeping arrangements around so I can be in the same bed with Lori where she proceeded to wake up every hour on the hour with that barking, wheezing cough.  Ugh.  Seriously...what else could we have piled on last night?

This morning the movers showed up..my mom is there as my designate making sure everything gets loaded on to the truck.  Not the sharpest tools in the shed...these movers.  6 guys, 1 dolly.  Apparently, there was some kind of miscommunication about who was bringing the dollies.  Wonderful.

A couple interesting observations though.  Yesterday, I wore my sweatpants and long sleeve t shirt...something I'd wear working out or just lazing around (had cleaning up to do on the patio so no use looking good).  Anyway, I went out and ran some errands and when I came back, the girl looked up and asked, "Did you have a good run?"  She thought I had gone for a jog apparently.  I wonder if 2 years and 70 lbs ago if this would've been the question or if she would've asked how breakfast was.  It felt good.

Then I came into work today with a gift from my coworker.  This is not the Skinny Bitch one...rather she's the one who does a lot of races, trail running, body works classes, etc.  She's not judgmental in her skinniness...she really just loves exercising and being active.  Anywhoozle, I open the gift and it's a tshirt with Santa and says "I BELIEVE."  A little inside joke with me and my coworkers.  It's a size medium.  This skinny bitch looks at me and sees a size medium.  And even better?  It fits.  I've been wearing a size medium for a year now so it's not that big of a deal that it fits but it's the fact that someone ELSE bought me a size medium and it fit.  I don't know...it just seems different.

So off I go back to work.  Ugh.  I have all next week off and I can't wait!

Happy Thursday everybody!

Blogger Day of Silence

7th Day of Christmas

So we're catching up on the 12 days of Christmas so here we go:

On the 7th day of Christmas, my inner ego gave to me...a fantastic public speaker!

A decent knack for writing
Good at thinking on my feet...
A genuine smile...
A loyal friend...
Sarcastic wit...
And a mom who'd do anything for her kids!

I can't remember which day it was...thinking it was Friday...saw the most beautiful rainbow when picking up the girls.  I think it was Friday because it reminded me of the beauty in the world after the tragic event in Connecticut.

The weekend was good. Saturday, BFF and I had lunch and then did some Christmas shopping.  I really only had to shop for my parents this year so it was pretty low key.  It was sad to say goodbye but we've been friends for 7 years now and I don't see that changing.  I'll be back in town from time to time and I'm going to talk her into visiting  me in FL as well.  :)  Saturday night, Maddie mentioned she wanted a roasty fire since it was so "cold" out (seriously..it only got to 59 degrees that day. LOL) and she said she wished Daddy could build her a fire.  No offense to Hubby but who needs Daddy to build a fire?

Sunday, I had lunch with the AZ Bloggers and it was so much fun!  I love these ladies so much and they're all so wonderful and funny!  I'm going to miss them but I'll still text often, follow them on facebook and meet them in Vegas someday!

From Left - Elizabeth, Jen, Jenn, Lori and Me

My mom had the girls during all this, making Christmas cookies and decorating her Christmas tree.  The girls are loving it and I'm glad that they're able to spend a lot of time together before we leave.  The only blip was our trip to the doctor for Lori's ear...she's got an ear infection so we've started the antibiotics and hopefully it clears up quickly.

My kids goofing off at CVS while we waited for the Minute Clinic.

Busy week ahead.  I'm taking Wednesday off work as the packers are coming, loading the truck on Thursday (my mom's serving as a delegate for that), the cleaning service on Friday (just leaving a door unlocked for them), shipping the car off on Saturday and then away we go on Sunday!  Whew!  In between all that, I've got a work happy hour and Christmas to do with my folks. I'm trying not to eat my feelings and I'm really excited to be in FL and settled.  :)

In honor of the possible apocalypse Friday, I give you the Monday DEMotivation:

Thank God For Mothers

My mom watched my girls last night so I could go to a going away dinner hosted by some of my husband's friends' wives.  It was nice having a little girls' night.  When I got home, my living room had been picked up and cleaned, my dishes were done, the kitchen had been wiped down, the laundry was folded and the girls' bedroom was clean.  Heaven!  That's going to make this weekend was so much nicer as I go through the kitchen and empty out the bathrooms, etc.  All I can say is thank God for my mom!

Tonight I'm going to start going through my freezer.  I'm taking all of it over to my mom's for them to use and maybe cook for us this next week.  We're pretty much going to be staying over there from 18th on.  Packers coming on Wednesday.  Eek!  It's getting so close!  Tomorrow I'm having lunch with BFF and then my AZ Blogger Lunch on Sunday!  It all be fun but so busy!!!

So without further ado...

On the 4th day of Christmas, my inner ego gave to me... a big, bright, genuine smile!

I like my smile.  It's big and cheesy and a little crooked.  But when I smile at you, you know I mean it.

Friday Funny:

And random cute pictures of my kids...today was Disney Day at school.

TTT 12-13-12

Ten Thing Thursday a la Laura Belle...

1.  I haven't weighed myself in over a month and I have no plans to before the New Year.  Denial and avoidance?  Absolutely.

2.  I found a cleaning service!  Many thanks to Jennx for the offer but managed to find a place to come out and do it for less than half the price of the less-than-merry maids.  Wahoo!

3.  I really need to make an actual to-do list.  I have started it four times and then get distracted.  I know I have way too many things to get done and I'll forget something if I don't make a list.

4.  We haven't started Christmas shopping yet.  I've always been bad about procrastinating with Christmas shopping...I'm one of the crazy ones out at at 5:30 pm Christmas Eve still trying to find gifts.  With Hubby being in charge of this year, I've really slacked off...and I need to get my parents gifts this weekend, finish off Hubby and provide Hubby with ideas for the girls because I'm pretty sure he hasn't started yet either.

5.  I should be working or doing #3 and #4 as I write this but I'm putting it off.  I don't know why.

6.  Bummed I'm missing Jen's Cookie Exchange tonight.  Just too many other commitments right now to have made it but I'm excited that I get to see her and the other AZ Bloggers on Sunday!

7.  I've watched a Christmas movie every night since the 25 Days of Christmas started on ABC Family.  I've also seen Miracle on 34th Street twice, Christmas Vacation twice and The Santa Clause twice.  I'm staying up far too late at night watching these movies as I fold laundry, go through the kitchen, etc.  Must get more sleep.

8.  We're working on our year end reviews at work and we have to reach out to everyone and their brother for feedback about us.  Ugh.  This is not a good idea.  I'm not necessarily worried about the feedback I'll receive but it's a pain and no one really wants to do it.  And you can't be completely honest because it's not anonymous and you don't want to offend anybody.  What a waste of everyone's time.

9.  I have a Going Away dinner this evening.  It's a girls' night so should be fun...will NOT be overindulging tonight though...have to get up for work tomorrow morning.

10.  On the 3rd of Christmas my inner ego gave to me....a very loyal friend.

Once you're my friend, you're pretty much my friend forever and I'll do anything I can for you.  That's just how I roll.

Happy Thursday!

2nd Day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas, my inner ego gave to me...a sense of humor that's sarcastic and witty!

Personally, I love my sense of humor.  I crack myself up and when I'm at ease with people, I think they find me pretty funny too.  In a way, I do think it came from having to be the "funny one" since I was also "the fat one," but it's never been fake.  I think that my sense of humor is a huge reason why Hubby and I get along so well.  I love being able to laugh together.  I also think that it draws people to me because they know I'm not going to be easily offended and that there's no reason to be guarded around me.  :)

In other news...Merry Maids.  What a load!  OK...I can't speak for the cleaning services because I won't be using them.  So I had decided that for the first time ever, I was going to hire a cleaning service.  I figured it would be nice with all the other things on my to-do list that scrubbing down the townhouse wouldn't be one of them.  So they came out for an estimate.  They want $450 to clean my two bedroom townhouse!!  I was floored.  I recognize that I'm not the cleanest person but this was absurd.  This also didn't include the windows, the oven or inside any cabinets.  Ugh!  I told her that I had no idea it would be so much and if I had known that, I wouldn't have wasted her time.  Of course, it's THEIR fault that their time is wasted because they won't just give you an estimate on the phone.  Really, it just wasted MY time.  Ugh. Ugh. ugh.  So I will be scrubbing down my own place, thank you very much, starting with the bathrooms this weekend.

That's all I got folks.  Happy Hump Day!

My Own 12 Days of Christmas

12 days until I leave for Florida.  Very excited...very nervous.  Very happy I'll be able to spend Christmas together as a family with Hubby.  Speaking of Hubby....

It's been 13 years today that we became "exclusive."  We don't celebrate this date anymore, opting instead for the wedding anniversary in August but it still sticks out in my mind and we acknowledge it.  Now Hubby and I don't really agree on this date.  He believes our anniversary should be in August when we met and when he believes he started courting me.  I know I didn't think we were dating until much later so 12 years ago, we decided that December 11th sounded as good a date as anything else and that it was a good compromise.  And so it's been 13 years...some days it feels like just yesterday and others...well, not so much!  :)  Maddie was missing Daddy the other night and asked if I had a picture of him.  I went to grab a spare one from our wedding to give her and instead spotted a very old, framed picture of the two of us in his apartment.  We looked so young!  Maddie was thrilled to get it.

I've started working on my goals for 2013.  I feel very ready to recommit and be remotivated.  In a way, it starts today.  I'm trying to cut back on the sweets that have invaded my office, home and many stops along the way.  Exercise has been nonexistent but trying to work in a little more activity by way of cleaning and hauling.  For the last 2 years, I have maintained or lost weight during the holidays.  This year, I'm aiming for maintaining.  I think this is a pretty good goal right now.  I was reading JRD's blog yesterday and truly...the expectations we put on ourselves is sometimes just too much.  I know many who will disagree with me but I believe it's OK to back off of the serious weight loss if it's causing too much undue worry or stress on top of everything else.  Sometimes that has to take a backseat to life.  I'm not saying go off the deep end.  I'm not saying start eating a diet of eggnog milkshakes, sugar cookies and peppermint bark (mmmmm...peppermint bark).  I'm just saying sometimes maintaining is the best we can do under the circumstances and that needs to be OK.

I also ran across Adorkable and Chris' blogs and they talked about being kind to yourself.
This is so important!  I made this one of my goals in 2012 because I recognize that the negative self talk has GOT to go.  This isn't a pass on improving yourself.  This isn't intended to be avenue to give yourself excuses for not working towards your goals. You just need to be fair in your assessments.  Your self worth is not wrapped up in how much you weigh, how much money you make or anything else superficial like that.  It's all about those intangibles that you, and only you, can offer the world.  Remind yourself of those things that make you YOU and make you lovable.  Remind yourself often.  I have come so far with this in the last year but some days it's definitely harder than others.  It's something some of us will constantly need to work on but it's worth it.

So in honor of my last accomplishable goal in 2012 and in honor my very own 12 days of Christmas...I bring you my 12 Days of Kindness.  Every day I'm going to post something good about myself and I encourage you all to do the same.  During the silly season, it's really easy to get wrapped up in the hoopla and the stress...take a couple minutes today to decompress and remind yourself of how fabulous you are...just the way you are.

On the first day of Christmas, my inner ego gave to me - a mother who would do anything for her kids!

2 Weeks and Counting

Weekend was good.  Saturday, we did a little shopping and then I went to the gingerbread party.  A little background...these are my husband's friends.  They hold the gingerbread party every year and I've never attended.  We've always had so many other events that required babysitters that he usually went and I skipped it.  For whatever reason, they were pretty insistent that I come despite Hubby being gone.  If you've been following me for any amount of time, you realize this is a social nightmare for me.  But I went, I drank and I had fun.  It was nice getting out of the house and, yes, away from my girls for an evening.  I drank too much with too little food and was feeling it the next day but I'm glad I went.

Yesterday was lazy.  I did a load of laundry and that was about it as far as errands go.  I also decided, however, that my girls have been cooped up too much and we needed to do something.  So we went for a walk.  We walked to my parents' house, about a mile away.  Lori rode her new scooter and Maddie practiced on her skateboard.  They're getting pretty good but it just felt good to be out.  Maddie and I also walked back but Lori was tuckered out so my mom drove her home.  Once at my parents' house, the girls helped my mom decorate the house for Christmas.  Of course the girls loved that.  I'm having an especially difficult time getting into the holiday spirit this year.  I'm not putting up any decorations since the packers are coming 12/19...no tree...I'm not doing the shopping this year (Hubby is).  We're watching the movies and singing the songs but it's tough.  It's also still SO warm here...Today's the first day under 70 degrees...while I'm watching all these Christmas movies with snow and stuff.  *sigh*  And I'm moving to Florida where the weather is practically identical.  Stupid!

So that was the weekend.  Nothing too exciting there.  It's like I took the weekend off from everything and that was desperately needed with how busy things have been and getting sick and all that stuff.  This week, I'm tackling my closet and starting to clean up a bit.  I have a going away dinner on Thursday night, meeting my BFF on Saturday and the AZ Blogger Lunch on Sunday (Yay!).  Busy week ahead.

On that note, a Monday DEMotivator:

Little Bear = Big Drama

OK...so wow.  What a week.  OK...So how'd it all go with the Little Bear saga?  Oh boy.  Well, the new bear arrived...spitting image.  Great...washed him so he wouldn't be quite so fuzzy but he did look fairly new.    I had a friend write a letter from Santa saying he gave him a long bath and all that jazz, wrapped him up pretty and had my friend deliver him to our doorstop, ring the doorbell and run.  The girls were skeptical at first but eventually warmed up to the idea and were fully committed to this being the long lost Little Bear.  Success!

Letter from Santa

Lori wrote a thank you note to Santa for bringing LB back

Then it all went to hell in a hand basket.  That was Wednesday night.  Yesterday afternoon (Thursday), I get a call from my girls all breathless from excitement.  They had found the OLD Little Bear!!  Isn't it wonderful Mommy?!?!  Now we have 2!!!!  Awesome.  Fan-freakin-tastic.  I get home and sure enough.  There he is. They found him the office...the same office I cleaned top to bottom a couple weeks ago.  The same office I turned upside down looking for that stupid bear.  We had all turned every room in the house upside down looking for that bear.  Where the hell did he come from?  So I worried and pondered that this did the whole Santa thing in...even though I now believe in him more than ever because where else did this stupid bear come from?  Well, I don't know how and I'm not sure how they're rationalizing it but the girls all have it worked out in their minds and all is right and Little Bear now has a little brother - Teensy Bear.  Maddie suggested donating him but Lori wouldn't hear of it, saying Santa had brought him to us because he needed a good home.  *sigh*

So the moral of the story is if you don't have kids yet, don't even start with the Santa thing.  And don't ever try to switch the toys out because you'll get busted.  Way more stress than any of this was worth but now my little one is happier than ever with her 2 Little Bears that she slept quite soundly with last night.

In other news, Maddie had her 2nd grade performance last night.  Standing room only which sucked.  I had Lori up on my shoulders so she could see while I'm trying to video tape it for Hubby who, of course, couldn't be there for it.  The video is probably pretty shaky.  But NSV here...I was standing in heels (came from work), with 45 lbs on my shoulders for an hour and didn't feel like I was about to die or break my back.  Good stuff.

I couldn't get a good picture of her playing it during the performance so had her pose for one after...of course, Lori had to jump in

Another semi-busy weekend...I have a gingerbread party to go to on Saturday night, not overly thrilled but said I'd go so I'm going.  I have to take Lori to get new shoes and pick up Christmas gift for Hubby.  Then all the normal errands...grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, go through my closet for the move.  Fun stuff.

In the spirit of gingerbread house building, I give you a Friday Funny:

Don't Sew A Cape Just Yet

So it isn't often I think of myself as Super Mom.  More often than not, I think of myself as the opposite - never patient enough, not giving enough hugs, kisses and encourage, not playing outside enough, not baking enough cookies, etc.  But Friday, my friends...Friday...I felt like Super Mom.  Lori's birthday was Thursday...we went to Chick Fil A.  Friday, we had her birthday party.  I worked from home that day, facilitating 3 separate conference calls and between those calls, I bought balloons and decorations, picked up the food, baked and decorated the cake and wrapped her presents.  We had a small family party at my Mom's that night but it was fun and Lori was thrilled so it was all worth while.  Talk about "having it all."  Some pics.

The feeling of Super Mom was short lived.  Saturday, we met a longtime friend for lunch so that the girls could get reacquainted with her since she'll be picking them up for school this week.  We then went to see Rise of the Guardians.

Pretty good flick by the way.  Anyway, we make it home, stay up late cleaning out some things that needed to be put out in front of my parents house for bulk pick up and head to bed around 9:30.  That's when we realized that Little Bear, Lori's beloved stuffed animal, had been forgotten at the restaurant during lunch.  I called and no one had turned it in.  The poor little thing cried herself to sleep that night.  The next day, I went to the restaurant and still no Little Bear.  I went to Target, where I had bought Little Bear 5 years ago and of course they don't carry him anymore.  So Sunday, after moving all the giant furniture things to my mom's for bulk pick up and running around looking for Little Bear, I asked my daughter if she wanted to go to a store and pick out something new that she could grow to love just as much.  She said no, that she didn't need to and I asked why not and she responded, "Because I'm wishing really hard that Santa finds Little Bear and brings him home.  I know Santa can do it."  O. M. G.  Seriously?  Why couldn't this happen in June where Santa would never enter this little girl's head.  So after much hemming and hawing, I went online and believe I have found a duplicate Little Bear.  I'm going to write her name on the tag just like the original and wrap him up in Christmas paper with a note from Santa saying that he found Little Bear but he was pretty beat up so he cleaned him up, added some stuffing and now he's good as new.  I know this seems desperate and possibly overdone for what it is.  But the poor child refuses to sleep with anything else because she "just knows that Little Bear is coming back."  We're moving and there are going to be enough changes in our house without this added to it.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can pull it off.  Here is a comparison shot...the one the left is obviously our beloved LB and the one on the right is the one I ordered.  I really do think the new one is identical to LB when he was new.  He's also produced by the same store and is the same size.  I'm convinced this is him...what do you think?

Seriously...it was a bit ridiculous.  After Lori finally went to sleep Saturday, I had a full blown emotional breakdown over this stupid tiny bear.  I, a grown woman, sat in the middle of my living room sobbing like a child.  It was like all of the stress of the last couple weeks came bubbling up and just had to get out.

So yesterday was spent hauling stuff to my mom's, doing some laundry and just decompressing.  Today I'm back at work and I'm sick!  I've got a cold...stuffy/runny nose (Seriously...it shouldn't be both), sinus pressure and watery/itchy eyes.  Ugh.  No bueno.

Soooo...what else?  Oh!  We found a house in Jacksonville and the app has been approved.  I just have to sign the lease, scan it and email it back to the prop management people.  Very excited to already have a place lined up!  The AZ Bloggers are having a goodbye lunch for me on the 16th...so nice!  I have a going away dinner with some friends on the 13th and still have to find time for a work happy hour and meet with my BFF before we go.  20 days and counting....

Thanks for letting me get all of this out here today.  I know this blog hasn't been focused much on my weight, health and well being here the last few weeks and honestly, I don't see it returning to that until the New Year but I still appreciate everyone's support and reading along.

A little Monday DEMotivation: