25 and Change

Here it is- 25 weeks, 2 days....

Me: TIRED. I feel larger at night so sleep has gotten difficult. Hot. Really, 85 degrees in Michigan in MARCH?!? We don't have our window air conditioner in right now either. Also: nesting. After my next Dr appt in 2 weeks I have them every 2 weeks, so it's getting to be "that time" when crap needs to get done. Mr. B has a list. It's 2 pages. I think I might need to add to it. Also getting nervous about the gestational diabetes test. I had to take the 3 hour last time after I failed the first one, and it was fine, but still! No 3 hour test again please. Also- cankles and swollen finger joints. No more wedding ring, so I have to put on my fakey one or deal with little old ladies disapproving looks as a Mother of 3 LIVING IN SIN.

Mr. B: Excited. Even suggested having a 4th boy to increase his odds of having a child who wins the Masters golf Tournament. Hahahahaha. He's so funny.

Drew: Adorable. Every day it's "How's the baby?" Right now he's sick and at home, which means lots of video games. Unfortunately.

Jacob: Trouble. Seriously, from picking on his brother, to climbing our fence and climbing our towel bare and taking a chunk out of the wall when it came crashing down. He has hit his 1/2 year mark with a vengeance. I hope he can calm down before baby comes....

Louie (dog): Annoying. Has picked up a nasty habit of barking at EVERY. Fricken'. Squirrel.

Baby: Kick, kick, roll. Kicked at the Doppler in the Dr's office. He hates it when electronics are rested on him (He's looking at you, Ipad!).

Slacker

I'm a bum. I admit it, I've been preoccupied and too lazy to post. I didn't even post for Jacob's Birthday! (Hangs head in shame.) I've just been tired and BUSY. Since I can't seem to post any real entries, here is a list post about what we've been up to, because I love lists (and they're easier-again, LAZY).

1. 4 is a good age. Definite  improvements in my little guy has made days with him fun again!
2. The boys are playing so nicely together, it's awesome. Probably due to #1.
3. The dog is driving me up the wall. Seriously, he needs to be entertained constantly. It's very annoying.
4. Trying to get the house ready to sell.
5. Busy trying to get Christmas all taken care of. The decorations are up, some gifts, bought, cards ordered, so we are getting there. I make Christmas cookies in the second half, so I need all my time for that.
6. Trying to keep Drew, who is 6 1/2, to believe in Santa Claus. It's getting really dicey, he keeps asking very sensible questions. My favorite was "I don't know if Santa Claus is real. I don't think he would come down the chimney, ours is so dirty."
7. Trying to remember to move our Elf each day. Remembering is hard, yo.


Uh... that's all I have for the moment.... More to come, I promise!

Jumbly goo

I so want to write a post about how awesome my child free trip was, and it was awesome. Reallllllly good food and beverage, ridiculous hard, completely uphill 5k, and great talks with my sis.... oh and these pics which you have all seen if you are friends with me on Facebook, (I am all into recycling):

Before 5k-Yes I know my # is on upside down, I fixed it.

All uphill and steep! This pic doesn't even capture it.

Me in my favorite.dress.ever. at my favorite winery.

Love my sis!

If you ever get a chance to go to Traverse City, do it. It's absolutely gorgeous, the food and wine is amazing, and it's just a chill spot for adults. If you like wine or food or golf or pretty things you won't be disappointed. For dining, I would recommend:

Trattoria Stella
Jolly Pumpkin
Poppycocks
Peninsula Grill
Scotts Harbor Grill

I don't think there is a way you can go wrong at any local place as long as you order fish and local wine/beer. Seriously, if you go there and eat at a Subway, you should just walk your ass back home. Just sayin'.

Anyway... I would write more but I am in the midst of closing out a chapter in my life and moving on to the next. I officially got my walking papers- my organization is caput on October 1st. This is the first time I have ever been laid off. It's sad, yet freeing in a way- I know my life is going to get so much less stressful The good news is that my office is flexible enough that they were okay with me bringing my 3 year old son to work for the next 3 weeks so that I can have him in part time preschool and save a little money.

Of course, this has made my life really hectic and tiring. I mean obviously. The boy has the attention span of a gnat.

Also, totally unrelated, but it has been so cold and we still are stubbornly refusing to turn on the heat yet! It's only September dammit! It was 60 in our house this morning. I was frozen and am just starting to thaw now.

Happy Friday everyone! If you live in the Midwest I must ask: Is your heat on yet? Also- when are you going to visit Traverse City? (Fall Foliage= beautiful!) I would go back this weekend if I had a babysitter and was less fiscally responsible. Man, sometimes it sucks to be a grownup.

Excess Baggage

Part of my whole process of trying to find my balance in my life is eliminating all of the clutter in my house. After all, if my house feels unbearably small, the best way to change that, short of moving, is to get rid of stuff. I cannot believe how much stuff we have. It's definitely turned into "baggage".


First of all, I am finally removing all of the baby stuff from our house that I have been holding onto. Yes, we may or may not have another baby, but most of that stuff is gross after sitting in the basement or garage for 4 years, not to mention probably recalled. So I am letting go of that worry. Que sera, right?

Also-- holding onto my larger clothes is not an incentive to keep the weight off. It also doesn't make me feel better about my self and the state of my will power.

So maybe once I remove some of the excess, I will feel better about my state of the house.

What is some of your excess "baggage"?

Also- I cannot forget how the happy meal toys are going to magically disappear....shhhh....It's our little secret right?

Jumbledness and Old School Jams

So, it's been a crazy February.... sickness, death, life changing decisions being discussed, and now a possible layoff. It's a lot for my poor brain to process. I feel like it is all jumbled and I don't know what my next year looks like now.

Luckily, Mellow Man Ace's "Mentirosa" was on Sirius. That was my jam back in the day. I stole the cassette single from my sister and never gave it back (Sorry Amber)! Take a listen.



There's nothing like an old school jam to take your mind off of your problems for 5 minutes. Of course, then they are back like gangbusters. I have no idea what that last sentence means, but I like it. Happy Friday everyone! Please enjoy your weekend! All I can think is February is almost over, and it has to get better next month, right?

On Running

Okay, so I am an asshat. I have not meant to be away or worry anyone. I just have no time anymore. In fact, I'm wondering how I ever had time for a blog ever, with how filled my life has been. In fact, I think I said this last time, which makes me even more of an asshat. (Is such a thing possible?) I'm sorry for all of the wonderful comments I missed (seriously, I don't deserve you guys, but I am working on responding).

Here's my update: Drew is doing well, we have talked to his teachers and they are keeping a close eye on the situation. Obviously we are still concerned, but things seem better so far. Mr. B now has 3 shifts at his work which means working considerably less. It started this week, so fingers crossed. Mr. Calamity is spending most of his days on our special, new TO bench, or marching like a dinosaur... and Louie is recovering nicely from his surgery that we got him so "he doesn't go make little baby Louies", as I told the children, or as Mr. B told Drew, "the surgery that removed his balls". (He cuts to the chase more than I ever could.)

What have I been doing? Why training for a 5k. Fun times.

I have found training for a 5k to be very time consuming. Especially when you are a terrible runner like I am. If you could call what I do "running". It's more like "walking with a bounce". This is usually how the run goes....

0:00-2:00 Warm up. Oh, this will be fun. I am excited to burn some calories.

2:00-4:30 Oh, I have so much energy. This is great!

5:30-7:30 Side cramp, must fast walk.

10:00-15:00 Back on track- doing great- hey wait, am I really tired from "running" a 12 minute mile?

15:00- 17:00 SHINS ON FIRE.

18:00-20:00 Really, I'm fast walking again? Must find annoying fast song on Ipod. Okay, That'll do Britney Spears, that'll do.

20:00-25:00 Okay I might die now. Must keep going... shins and side now working together in an effort to make me stop.

25:00-29:30 A "can't breathe" slowdown, accompanied by "Must do" second wind.

29:30-32:00 Almost done- kind of? I really hate these mirrors alongside me at the gym. I am a sweaty tomato.

32:00 Ha! Person on treadmill stopped. I am stronger than them. Give gloaty look to senior citizen as she walks by.

32:00-38:00 Push to make my "best- worst" time at 5k (i.e. The time I need to get to not berate myself.)

38:00-40:00 Cool down. Thank god that's over. Wait, I have to do it again tomorrow?

I will definitely update you all when I finally do the 5k in a week and a half. Yup. I'm TOTALLY freaked. Then you can see some pictures of a red tomato "walking with a bounce".

4 words: In over my head

I know. It was never my intention to be gone this long or this much. Needless to say I have been busy, and when I haven't been busy, I have been tired. My brain is beginning to atrophy due to the ridiculous, soul crushing amount of data entry I have been doing (an aside, did I really go to college so that I can do data entry all day? This was SO not in my job description).

Also, I have been dealing with a puppy, which is almost worst than a newborn sometimes. The only good thing about a puppy is that you can leave them at home and get away from the madness... unfortunately I am stuck at home with the kids anyway, sigh.

I have wanted to write, I just am too tired by the time I have time... but here's what has been going on with my Bee hive clan....

We have been dealing with bullies at Drew's school. He was pushed by one bully and fell, and knocked a front tooth loose. Luckily it's hanging on, and he's okay, but we have been dealing with that and making sure he is safe at school. (Seriously, bullies at 5 years old? What is this world coming to?) I wanted to write a whole post about it, but it just became so overly dramatic in my head I decided not to commit it to computer (I almost wrote "paper", but then I realized that was wrong.)

A good friend of mine moved to Portland, OR to pursue her dreams. She is missed. :(

Two words: Puppy poop.

Four words: Puppy poop in crate.

Jacob is in his terrible twos and driving me crazy! Luckily he's very cute... for his sake.

I have a 5k coming up in less than a month. I was training for it and then we got Louie, who takes up every spare bit of time I have. Well, that and watching American Idol, which is soooo not as good as season 8.

So there's my little update. Hopefully I can in the next two months do these things:

Empty my google reader
Train for the 5k
Help Louie graduate obedience class
Help Drew Graduate kindergarten
get Drew prepared for public school kindergarten
get Jacob potty trained
get the house ready to sell
finish my data entry
watch American Idol
watch the NCAA men's basketball tournament

Oh, my lofty goals... I am so full of it if I think I will finish half this list before the end of spring....

My boys... who knew having so much cute in your life requires so much work?

PS Sorry for any grammatical errors, I am too lazy tired to fix them.