This weather is gorgeous. For now.

I took this picture as I was walking yesterday. So beautiful. The weather is perfect (for the moment) so I'm trying to get out as often as I can and walk. Wish I could say run, but let's be serious.

Day trip to Sedona

We had some great friends in town visiting, and took a day trip to Sedona. It was gorgeous. Beautiful views and perfect weather! We visited the Crescent Moon Ranch in Red Rock Park. I wish I had known about this park the other times we have gone to Sedona. The main area of town is fine, but very touristy. This park is gorgeous!

The Pants of JUDGMENT

You know how some of your pants have a little stretch in them? A little grace for those bad days weeks, where you can still fit in your pants, although you are acutely aware of their changed fit?

Then you have the pants with no grace, the pants that don't stretch at ALL.

Well, I have a pair of these pants. I call them the Pants of Judgment. When they are loose, I rejoice. When they are tight, I immediately eat healthy and exercise put on stretchy pants, feel gross and fat, and vow to start my diet tomorrow.

I put these pants on today. I have been judged, my friends. I have been judged.

Wine Bottle Lights

I'm always looking for cool crafty cheap gift ideas. A few years ago, my sister-in-law made a light out of a wine bottle, and I LOVED it. These are a GREAT gift, and cost almost nothing to make.

I started collecting wine bottles (by drinking wine, and asking friends to do the same) and got a pretty decent collection. I soaked them in warm water to remove the labels (left the labels on a few of the nicer bottles) and then got really, really busy. I got pregnant (heh heh, I really did get busy...had a second kid, moved, worked, etc. etc.)

Two years later...(yeah, seriously.)

I bought a special drill bit to drill a hole in the glass. You can find that here. They come in a set, and I used the largest. You have to run water (use the hose) over the bottle as you drill through. I'd do this outside, because clearly you wouldn't want to bring the hose in...but also, there is a serious chance you'll break a bottle or two. Better out than in! Our friends let us invade their house and use their drill press, which REALLY helped!

So...cleaned the bottles, drilled the holes. I bought strings of 20 white Christmas lights from Ace Hardware. These are much easier to find around Christmas time, but if you want to make these now, you can order the lights here. They are about a dollar cheaper from Ace Hardware closer to Christmas. Threading the lights through the holes is a little difficult, but if I can do it without throwing things, you can too.

Finally, I decorated them. I wanted to see what the bottle looked like with the lights on and off as I decided how to decorate each one, so I did that part last. First, I tried a few different things that I wasn't thrilled with. I ended up buying a few cans of gold and silver glitter spray paint from Hobby Lobby. I sprayed the bottles first, and decorated when they were dry. I used different ribbons, and just played with it until I got what I wanted. I bought wine corks from the craft store. The hot glue gun was my tool of choice for this project - and several blisters (and two years) later, I have 10 beautiful wine bottles to give away.

I'd definitely do this project again. It probably cost less than four dollars per bottle to make, and people just love them.

Besides, who doesn't love a reason to drink wine?

This would be GREAT to do with a special wine bottle - like for a wedding or anniversary. I'd just leave the label on and add lights.

That pork is magical

Generally, I'm not a big meat eater. I was vegetarian for a little over a year, until I got pregnant with my daughter. Since then, eating meat is something I've done because it's WAY more convenient when eating out and in other homes. If I really sat down and gave it some thought, I would probably stop eating it. Except for that super expensive, farm raised organic stuff.

Pork bothers me more than other meats, because of an experience I had while translating in a hospital right after college. You can read about it (google worms in brain and pork), but I don't recommend that you do. Especially if you're paranoid like I am.

Anyway, our schedule is pretty crazy, and Wednesdays are the busiest. So I aim for crock pot cooking if I can on Wednesdays. I bought a pork roast, threw it (ok, gently set it...don't want pork juice all over the kitchen) in the crock pot, COVERED it in garlic powder, added some seasoned salt, dumped a beer and a can of beef broth over it, chopped up an onion and threw it in, and turned it on high for about 6 hours. Sounds redneck, huh? Well, it's magical. About 30 minutes before it was ready, I shredded it and let it keep cooking. We had it on mini whole grain rolls, but it's also great on tortillas with chopped onion, cilantro and lime juice on top.

I leftovers the next day for lunch. So good. You should try it!

A favorite picture

I've been looking for this picture of Madeleine, taken when she was about 15 months old. It's one of my favorite pictures of her. Such a sassy thing! I finally found it! Buried in the archives of gmail, and with the (finally!) correctly worded search, it popped up.

This was taken at a friend's house. There's not much to do in the summer out here in Hades, I mean AZ, other than some kind of water activity. So for this day, it was the hose.

My body actually can lose weight

But only if I RELIGIOUSLY follow a diet. Here's what I have been doing for the past 7 days. (7 days is a long time when you like to eat as much as I do, and when the size of your behind requires one bazillion calories to keep going.)

- Follow Weight Watchers (OLD) plan. The new one doesn't work for me. Tried it for 3 weeks, lost 1.5 pounds. I'm not dieting for kicks, people. Gotta see results or I'm OUT.

- Exercised (mostly walking, some running) 5 of the past 7 days

- No sugar or refined carbs...followed this like 95% of the time

- No alcohol. Not that I have a problem with it, but I have ONE drink and immediately stop caring about what I eat. It's like magic.

- Little to no carbs with dinner

- NO eating after dinner

- Lots of water

And that's it. And this morning, the beginning of week 2, I really hesitated to get on the scale. I can tell a difference in my body, but I would have been SO disappointed if I had only lost one pound. Plus, it's always good to weigh after a big poop (YES I did just say that! But it's true and you know it!) and my fingers felt swollen, blah blah blah.

BUT I did it. I stepped on the scale and tried to give myself a pep talk (in my head, I'm not THAT crazy) as I did it. Because there's really not much else I could have done to step it up. And...wait for it...wait for it...

7 POUNDS. In one week. That is crazy. And I love that kind of crazy. I know it won't happen every week, and I still have, like, a first grader to lose, but it's a darn good start.

I was walking yesterday, thinking about this whole dieting thing. I am always. ALWAYS on a diet. Or cheating on one. Or taking a break from one. And I still hang out within the same 10 pound range. So I was thinking, since I diet until I can take a day off, or until I take some time off...and it's obviously not working, maybe I should re-think things.

Considering the metabolism that I have (horrible) I should probably just decide if I'd rather eat what I want, or lose weight. And really, I think I'd rather lose weight. Once I get on a roll, maybe I'll take a cheat day or meal a week. That seems reasonable to me.

So there. I will just put that out there, for the world to see. Week 2 annnd GO.

The good things

I haven't been sleeping much lately, as I've whined about in previous posts, I'm sure. Last night was particularly bad, with our 8 month old up from about midnight on, only occasionally sleeping. But only if we held him. I kind of get hateful when I get really tired, and I am really tired. So I thought I might post a quick update about a few things I'm thankful for. Before I have to leave the house and be around people. I'm hoping this will help my attitude.




I have friends who had their 4 month old baby taken away from them and placed in foster care because of an accident with a babysitter. Yesterday I spent the day in court with them, watching them fight to get their daughter back. So far they are unsuccessful. I can't even imagine what they must be going through. I am so very thankful that my children are home with me, and not in some unknown house somewhere, with a foster parent. Even in the middle of the night, when Ben won't sleep, I'm thankful he's not sleeping in my arms rather than someone else's.

I am so thankful for my husband. I'm not sure what I did to win that lottery, but he's such a great friend, husband, dad. He is honest, kind and patient. I'm thrilled to be married to him. Which is why I won't let him get that motorcycle that he wants so badly.

We live in a nice house, with a pool. (In AZ that is huge, as it gets to 120 in July and August.) We are able to pay our bills and mostly don't have to stress about money. We live next door to our church, and can walk to work every day.

We have (mostly) healthy food to eat, and are able to eat together as a family every day (almost!)

My husband and I work together, sharing a large office. We can bring our kids in with us. We have never needed to use daycare, and I'm so thankful for that. Even when Ben is crying and Madeleine is whining.

Our church is awesome - full of wonderful people, who are so supportive of us. And the church is open to women ministers, which is fairly rare. I am one of 4 ordained women on staff. That's huge, and I forget sometimes that most churches aren't comfortable with it.

I lead worship every week - which gives me the opportunity to play guitar and sing, which I love. I can be totally creative with the music and have the support of the church. I sing in our choir, which is led by one of the ministers at our church. It is a close group of people who are amazingly talented.

We have an amazing family, and though they are far away, we can count on them in times of need. They love us, and we love them. There is very little drama.

We have great, supportive friends, and love spending time with them. They have become like family to us, since we live so far away from our families.

We are healthy. There are so many people who deal with horrible illnesses and function every day. So many people with no hope for a long life, and they go to work every day and are kind to those around them.

The weather here is perfect, for now...

I just got the guitar that I've been waiting YEARS and years to buy. It's beautiful, and I love it. It plays like a dream. Technically, I still owe our savings account $500 for it, but it's in my house and it's mine. I've been saving for a long time to get it.

I love coffee. At night, when I get in bed, dreading the inevitable crying baby just minutes after I fall asleep, I think of how great that cup of coffee will be in the morning.

I have started running, and nothing has fallen off yet.


Ok, well there's much more, but that's enough to say today. I have to go be social now. And I think I can, after this reminder of all the good things in life. Maybe I'll grab another cup of coffee on the way out.

What is this sleep you speak of?

Well. I have an almost 8 month old who has been regressing to newborn sleep status. That is to say, it's not really happening anymore. It's gotten worse and worse each night, and last night he woke up (no kidding) every hour. He'd kind of sleep if we held him, but the second we tried to lay him down, he would wake up and cry. A few times I gave up and brought him in bed with me, cradling his head so maybe he would think I was holding him. And I really was. This meant no sleep for me, but at least I got to lie down.

So even then, he would only sleep for an hour, and then wake up and cry.

I have a few theories about why this is happening.

1. He got his first two teeth on Sunday. Maybe more are coming in?
2. Stomach ache? Is it something I'm eating? I've had butternut squash soup for the past several days, could that be it?
3. He had an ear infection a few weeks ago - maybe the ear hasn't healed. (We are going to the doctor for a re-check tomorrow. I will be asking why he won't sleep, if it's not the ears.)
4. Cosmic payback for something I said or did. Less likely.

Anyone (of my two official followers:) or other people on the interwebs have any clue?

I am a zombie today. An angry zombie. And I want to combat my tired, bad mood with lots of chocolate. But I also want to lose weight. Sigh.

Here's my sweet baby now. At 3 in the afternoon. I'm hoping tonight is better. Otherwise I might just eat somebody's brains...especially if they are caffeinated.

ALSO, I keep getting comments from people about how this is just practice for when my kids are teenagers. Apparently then I will REALLY get no sleep. Let me tell you why that is ridiculous (unless my kids turn out to be hoodlums.) First, my kids will have a curfew. There will be no driving or shenanigans after a certain time at night. Second, if my teens are up all night, fine. I expect they will be entertaining themselves in their own room, listening to obnoxious music or online. Or whatever crazy technological things are available by then. I don't think they will be crying, wanting me to hold them in my lap. I realize that there is a very slight chance my teenage kids will not be perfect, and I will lose sleep over this. But not ALL of my sleep. Hopefully.

Remember that time...

When I said I would blog all the time?

Yeah.

Anyway, I have several points to make tonight.

1. Pinterest makes me hungry, and is bad for my diet.

2. I think I will be on a diet for the rest of my life. Except when I'm cheating on said diet.

3. Drinking any alcoholic beverage throws my resolve to diet out the window.

4. My 7 month old child is the SWEETEST baby ever, but is a HORRIBLE sleeper.

5. My 5 year old child is so funny and smart, but can drive me MAD with her sassy mouth and stubborn will.

6. Sometimes I want a mute button.

7. How did all these wrinkles and gray hairs sneak up on me so quickly?

8. It takes a minute or two for me to be able to walk normally (like, not stagger) in the mornings. I think this is because I'm old.


That's all for tonight. More random thoughts at another time.

I've been avoiding you

It's true. I have been avoiding this blog. For many reasons.

1. I have been so busy lately - so incredibly, overwhelmingly busy. I only have the few hours after the kids are in bed, before I collapse in bed (until my 4 month old wakes me up) to just SIT and do nothing. But I'm so busy, I have to use those precious hours for photo editing (more on that later) and other various projects. Never mind cleaning my house. That will just have to wait. But I want to cry when I look at the piles of junk in EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM.

2. I've had some devastating news lately - namely, my niece will be having brain surgery to remove a cyst on Friday morning. Also, my sister (her mom) has been diagnosed with leukemia. Yes. You heard that right. It is crazy. She felt tired, had a few lumps in her neck, and went to the doctor. They did blood work and sent her to the hospital. It's a really long story, and if you want to read it you can find it here. I've been thinking and worrying about this oh, about all the time lately, and haven't been thinking of much else...including what to write about here.

3. I go online 90% of the time on my phone, and I am not even close to patient enough to type a blog entry on my phone.

I'm sure there are more, but I have to go. Gotta edit some more photos. Stay tuned - I've been really busy with photography lately (woot!) and will post some favorites soon! Keep my sister and niece in your thoughts and prayers, interwebs. Many thanks.

Crash course in night photography

I've been doing photography as a hobby for several years now, and recently I've begun doing family shots, senior pictures, and baby pictures for people I know. It's been regular enough (and requires a large enough chunk of my time) that I am charging a small amount to do photo shoots. I'm not comfortable charging much, because I still consider myself very much in the learning process of it. I've taken a few college classes, which were very helpful, but I still have SO much to learn.

The really fun thing about getting paid to do this hobby I love is that every cent I make goes toward a never ending list of camera equipment or my dream guitar. I'm torn between two guitars, but fortunately I have a loooong time to save money before I will have enough to be forced to make a decision.

Anyway, I do think I have a pretty good eye for photography, and I enjoy every bit of the process. From taking the pictures to editing them, I love every second of it. I mostly use Lightroom for photo editing. It has so many editing options, and it's very user friendly.

My comfort zone is using natural light to take portraits. I like to go to urban settings, and find fun backgrounds. I have VERY little experience with flash, or anything dark. I was asked to do senior pictures for a friend, and (of course) agreed to take them...at the state fair. At night.

My stress level was pretty high about the whole thing. I knew I had some research to do. Unfortunately I didn't have time to do a test run. So, I read online about how to adjust settings, talked to a friend who is an excellent photographer (and also happens to be the dad of the senior I took pictures of - which didn't really help with the intimidation factor.) I did the shoot last night. My friend (the photographer) let me borrow his 17-50mm lens, and his super nice flash, and his mono-pod. It was VERY helpful - and I now have three more items added to my camera wish list.

The photos turned out ok. Fortunately the subject is gorgeous, so she made the pictures better than they would have been if it were just up to me. It was a learning experience for sure. I did feel like I spent a lot of time adjusting camera settings, rather than focusing on the creative side of it. But, I definitely got a good crash course in night photography.

With the family's ok, I'll post a few pictures after I edit them.

Snack time

This morning my 5 year old was watching TV, and kept going to wash her hands. She made sure to tell us that she was going to wash her hands "again" and be right back. After the third time, I decided that something sounded fishy. I asked her why she needed to wash her hands. She quickly replied, "I picked my nose, but I'm washing my hands!" And she dashed off to the bathroom.

When she came back, I asked her what she did with the boogers when she picked her nose. She replied, "I ate them." Like it was no big deal. Like they were chips or something. We've had this talk MANY times, about how we don't eat boogers, boogers are not food, boogers go in the tissue, etc. Still, she likes to snack on them occasionally.

I decided to take a new approach today, and told her, "Oh well if you've been eating boogers, you don't want any lunch right?"

She replied, "Boogers aren't even enough, they don't fill up my tummy."

I had to turn around so she didn't see me laughing.

And then we had ANOTHER talk about how we don't eat our boogers.

Now what, I ask you, seems even remotely appetizing about boogers? When you pull it out of your nose, what would make you think, hmm...that might be good? I should eat that.

I don't get it.

Yard sale treasures

So I am now the proud owner of a Coach purse. I mean really. The idea just blows my mind - I'm a Target purse kind of girl. Or even better (and more of a splurge) Etsy, where I can get a handmade purse and avoid throwing money at the huge corporations. They'll be fine. The corporations, I mean.

And in general, I could care less what kind of brands I own. I don't wear clothes that say any names on them. As long as they fit well, are comfortable, and make the fat look least obvious, I'm in.

BUT, my dear friend Gail was having a yard sale. And she was selling a few Coach purses. And she let me come over a day early for a preview sale. And there they were. Naturally I bought two, because with one for $20 and the other for $35, you can't afford NOT to buy a Coach purse. And they're cute, and the leather is so soft. Thank you, cows. I might give one away. Might.

I live in a city that is overflowing with silicone and Prada, so my Coach purse won't even cause a stir. Maybe I should get some fake boobs too, ya know after the whole breastfeeding thing is over. You know those nature channel specials about the women in Africa who never wear shirts? Yeah....I'll just stop there. You're welcome.

Eventful few days

So it's been an eventful few days here in our house. Halloween is coming up, which means costumes must be decided upon. M, the five year old, is borrowing a cute bumble bee costume from her friend Ellory, so I will be hunting a baby bee costume for B (M has approved this.) I'm thinking I will put some kind of flower headband on and wear green, and my husband Travis can be a bee keeper, assuming I can find the hat. We'll see if it works out.

B got a cold a few days ago, and Saturday night/Sunday morning got scary croupy, wheezing and all. I called the doctor's office, and they said to take him to the ER. Of course this happens on a Saturday night! (I work at a church, and Sundays are kinda busy...)

Anyway, there's nothing like going from asleep to wide awake and panicked at 2 am.

We had a nice little trip to the ER, which lasted approximately 3 hours. Travis stayed home with M. B and I went in, and it was pretty immediately evident that it was, in fact, croup, and that it wasn't anything worthy of being admitted. Whew!

So they treated him with steroids (he is looking pretty buff now) and a breathing treatment, and sent us on our way. Now B is a little social butterfly, so in spite of his sickness, he was dazzling all of the hospital staff. In my head, I was shrieking, "DON'T TOUCH HIM!!! GERMS!!!!" but on the outside, I was nice. I did sanitize the world after the ordeal was over.

It's always an adventure, isn't it?

OH, by the way, I met a respiratory therapist who smokes while in the ER. I BARELY resisted the urge to point out the irony to him.

Funny things

So my five year old is a pretty funny kid. She's headstrong, at times impossible, but pretty entertaining. We actually have a twitter account for her, mainly to keep up with all of the crazy things she says.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:


Let's play Rock Paper Scissors. I'll be the rock.

Plump is a way to say fat, but it's nicer.

You're just saying "because", and that isn't an answer. Tell me why!

If you don't get me the drink I want, I'll never be happy again. IN MY WHOLE LIFE!

And Jesus was his name-O!

If those are the rules, I'm not going to follow them.

Blah blah blah, LIES!

Thank you God for horses. But not for their smell. We don't like their smell.

I have this weird feeling. It's a feeling that's making me stop cleaning.

I think awkward is my favorite word. No wait, it isn't. Princess is.

It's not a hit. It's a high five on your face!

This shark is lazy. I know because of his face.

My underarms smell like mushrooms. The stinky kind of mushrooms.


And there are more. Many, many more. That kid is a nut. A funny nut that drives me crazy sometimes.

I won this battle...barely

So my daughter is 5, and this one is giving us a run for our money. She has been a stubborn little spitfire since day one. Each year is tougher than the last. For some reason, I was expecting 5 to be a breeze - well, it's not.

This morning, she wouldn't stay at the table to eat her cereal. We told her MULTIPLE times to eat her cereal before it got soggy. Did that happen? Of course not. Her cereal got mushy, and she no longer wanted it. She wanted something else.

My husband and I decided that this was a battle that we must win. And it was quite the battle. Weeping, stomping, wailing, etc...15 minutes later, she had eaten her soggy cereal. We won.

Now, on to the next battle!

Inspired by great blogs

So I'm really going to do this. I've thought about it for a long time, started and stopped, and now I'm in. I am beginning a blog for two main reasons. First, I've been inspired by the blogs of my friends, and blogs of people I don't know - but wish I did. Second, I think it will be fun for me to read these stories again in several months or years or whatever, and see where I was. Mentally, I mean. Now, I'm functioning at about 60%.

Perhaps I'm looking for an outlet - a place to say what I think. I work in a place where it's really best that I avoid being mouthy if at all possible. I mostly avoid it. I prefer to speak my mind, and in the right crowd I really love to say the occasional inappropriate comment. I have recently concluded that I probably say at least three things each week that I really shouldn't say. I then spend the next day or two obsessing about those things.

Speaking of obsessing - I'm great at it. But I'm sure I'll get to that in another post.

That's all for now.