Monday, December 8, 2014

Winter time randoms..

A whole lot of busy this way - of course. I wonder how my readers are doing this holiday season.  I'm sure if you're anything like me, you're working, scrambling to keep your kids up to speed and rushing to get in your Christmas shopping/photos/decorating etc...

Wellllll, I got SOME things done. Or, should I say, I put a small dent in some things.  Let's take a peek:

I took my kids Christmas picture. On a whim. Literally, I picked them up from school had them take a quick shower, get dressed and rush to take a couple photos (because I never know when my next day off will be).

(Below: MiMi's dress was an overpriced Justice dress, Ethan's shirt & tie came for a whopping $10 at Wal Mart).
To cut Justice some slack, it's a beautiful dress, but truthfully the rewards program for Justice is pointless, the J bucks can never be used with sales and you really only save 10% more. I miss the days of Gymboree :(


And then we got a little crafty...

(Below: A pinterest fav: The snowman fridge.  We made ours with construction paper and wrapping paper).

I wanted to buy a real tree this year, but my hours have literally been cut in half at work during the holiday and I decided other things were more important, and so old fabulous faux made her return - her lights don't work this year, but that's okay...



I know she's not really something brag worthy, but my kids decorated her and so it's gorgeous to me :) Maybe we'll try and find a tree topper bow tutorial *haha*.

I also went ahead and printed the kids Christmas Cards.  Pottery Barn Kids sent me a  free code to get some of their cards.  They have an exclusive line with Tiny Prints - How cool?!  They are adorable, and excuse the fact that my mobile photo isn't that clear, this card is beautiful in person. They had gorgeous designs, but this was my favorite:


And then I also ordered some of another design I fell in love with from one of my favorites to visit, my trusted and never disappoints:  Shutterfly :)


The only thing I am not too fond of when it comes to printing via Shutterfly or Tiny Prints, is the fact they put a log on the back of the cards.  I mean, I don't like the idea that I pay for something to advertise the business to family & friends.  Then again, there is a hallmark logo on the back of Hallmark cards. (thinks...nevermind..carry on) ;)  The cards are beautiful, why not let everyone know who does that great work so they can do them themselves. And come to think of it - you can literally always find a coupon code online for both Shutterfly & Tiny Prints.

The kids and I even decorated holiday cupcakes:


That same night, MiMi & I made lasagna..I think she was saying "it's all mine":



One of my favorite holiday traditions with my kids is to let them pick out a yearly ornament.  It's cheap & a fun thing for them to do.  These beauties were $1.97 at Wal Mart. PRECIOUS:)





Oh, and I turned 32, somewhere in the mix *haha* my sister cut my hair for my birthday. I can't wait for it to grow back out, but I like it:)


My, "I'm getting older face":


I did Christmas smart this year, by shopping a little at a time. I would like to say I am officially done with the kids and didn't break bank. - Too much anyway.  Hopefully the next time I post it won't be months later.  Enjoy the holidays lovelies!! <3 p="">






Friday, September 12, 2014

I find a hard time balancing time.

Long gone, are the days of being a stay at home mom.  I always told myself, that as a mother, it was the hardest job I had ever had. Prior to my children, I had worked full time in both a real estate office and nights at a local restaurant.  I remember being tired, but functioning on 5 hours of sleep and pulling my weight well with my employers.

Then, well, then I became a mother of one.  It was an unexpected pregnancy (I say that as thought I don't know what happens..). SCRATCH THAT - we do the deed, we can expect what happens next.

I remember so much going through my mind as a 21 year old girl (and I say girl because I was still learning so much at that age).  I became a mom for the first time and it was more than I had expected.  There was joy and there was nights of, to be blunt, "I hate my life".  And I say that only in that I was exhausted.  I did NOT know how to manage being a new mom, keeping up house and worrying 24/7 that I was doing something wrong.

BUT, alas, every joyful moment made it all worth that.  If you can survive the first couple of years of motherhood, the rest is seemingly smooth sailing.

By the time my daughter was 4, my second child came to be.  I absolutely adored everything about my children. Ethan had so many issues from the get go (I don't particularly care to into depth here, again), but he overcame a lot. A LOT.

By the time he was 3 I noticed he wasn't catching on like most children his age had.  I pushed relentlessly for speech therapy. Trying to get that under 5 year window when "the experts" say timing is crucial for development.

NOTHING.  I mean, fighting with pediatrician's here is like pulling teeth. It's hard - it's painful - it stinks.

When Ethan turned 4, I got under their skin enough that I finally was given a referral.

The first speech therapist couldn't get him to talk at all.

It was such a waste of time.

I absolutely don't judge her, I mean, kids like Ethan seem to only open up to certain people.  She just wasn't one of them. I kept pushing and he finally was assigned a new one.  She is absolutely amazing. She has done so much for my son that I can't even put into words how thankful I am for her.  She has a way with children (at least my son) and she has gotten him to improve so much from when he first started out.

But, back to the point of my blog - which I kind of missed entirely..

Time management...

I told myself once my son started school (last year) I would go back to work.

I did.

I enjoy my job, I enjoy the customers. I enjoy SOME of my co workers ;)

But, I tell you, I find it so hard to balance work, kids, house, home all at once.  It's like, they restarted school & suddenly I'm running from work to pick them up, running to speech therapy for my son, going back to work some nights, trying to cook, clean and pack lunchboxes and meal plan and homework, and ..and...and

And, where am I?  I seem to lose myself in the mix. I revert back to the 21 year old getting 5 hours of sleep and suddenly I am too old to function ;)

I mean, don't get me wrong, I function, but at best, I am utterly exhausted.

Then I come home on days off and I want to take the kids out to spoil them a little, I look around the house and think, "this would be a nice DIY project" or "that could use some fixing"  and "man I really want to add to my blog it's been months, it's not a daily blog anymore".

I believe at some point I'll find the time to add a new project.

So much has been going on though. SO MUCH.

The kids started back school.




I bought a new mattress. (It is the most comfortable thing ever). For reference it's a Gel foam memory mattress by Seally (Sealy?) Boca Breeze firm.  I typically don't want to plug things like this, but it's helped my back out A LOT. I finally get a decent nights rest. I bought it on sale for $499 for both the mattress and box spring during Labor Day weekend from A Goodnight Sleep Store in Fayetteville, NC.  I came in at the last minute and thankfully the associate that helped me wasn't mad about it (you know some people lack customers service these days).  She was above and beyond kind. I pretty much knew going in exactly what I wanted. She still pulled the model out and let me try it, can you say SOLD :)  When I went to pick it up later in the week the man who helped was also very professional and kind.  There was a mark on my mattress from where the plastic ripped during shipment, kind of a black scuff mark if you will..he informed me right away, but to be honest I didn't care, it wasn't a big deal because it wasn't cut, and I bought a mattress topper anyway. I'm not petty so it didn't bother me in the least. I LOVE THIS mattress:)




I'll pay it off over the course of a couple months, I decided to be fancy and get  a deferred interest loan on it.

I just wish I had more time to sleep on it (haha).

No, really...I lay on it and I'm typically out like a light.

What else is new?  Oh, my health.  One day at work a month or so ago my eye was red. I thought nothing of it, until the next morning I woke up and the white on half my eye was filled with bright red blood. I happened to be off the next couple of days so thought I'd wait it out, only every day it was worse. Eventually I sucked it up and went to the express care.

It was a conjunctival sub hemmorrage. (I'm sure I spelled that wrong, and I'm too lazy to fix it or look it up).
They did one read of my blood pressure and diagnosed me with hypertension.

One reading? I contributed it to stress, my blood pressure had been low after losing 50 lbs.

I was prescribed hydrochlorothiazide (a water pill) and sent along.

I have to tell you having your eye filled with BLOOD is so embarrassing to go to work with.  Customers didn't know how to react..I almost felt like a leper.  A few people asked if I was choked or hit.  Nope, just a dirty little bitty of hypertension.

Here is the progression of  and eventually healing of the conjunctival subhemmorrage :

BELOW: Day 1, looks almost like it was just irritated..

Day 2: You can see where the vein popped spread blood YUCK..

Day 3: Just kept getting worse...

 Day 4: Yep, it got that bad..


 Day 8: It was still there and reddish..THANKFULLY the white in my eye was showing at this point and I was able to put makeup on my peepers (I swear my eyes look so small with out eye makeup)..

Day 12: It was FINALLY absorbing and completely gone by day 13. THANK YOU LORD :)) haha!


I never realized how much water my body held onto until I started the water pill.

It's insane what our bodies stop doing for us eventually.  I always thought with such weight loss I'd be better..but I guess years of being a junk eater caught up to me.

I'm working on it.

I'm sure having a kidney problem doesn't help since blood pressure and kidneys go hand in hand.

In the meantime, this mama needs to sleep, figure a way to juggle work and parenting and find time for this blog, because truthfully, it had always been my little go to on the web.  A temporary escape from everything else that was at the time going down hill in my life.  Until next time, God bless <3 p="">

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Obligatory Disney World Blog.


I feel semi redundant when I say, "I rarely blog anymore". Because, truth be told, while I don't tend to graze over my own blog (or spell, or grammar check it for that matter) - I'm all too sure I've said that a time or two.  Between work and kids, I feel my blog gets neglected. I wish I were super mom and could manage everything, but I just fall short - I've come to realize at 31, that's okay.

So, something exciting, and blog worthy, was in July we went to Disney World.

It was many wonderful things.

It was many NOT so wonderful things.

It was hot and humid. It was stormy near daily. You'd break out a poncho in the rain just to take it off moments later and put up with the heat and humidity all over again.  THE LINES..oh my world, the lines would range from 10 minutes for the not so demanding rides, to an hour for the great ones.  During the long lines, you'd just hope the people in your vicinity were kind enough to rock a stick of deodorant.

I'm sure Disney would make a small fortune selling traveler sized deodorants..I mean..it was bad..

I don't think I've every been around so many people who didn't know how to use it.

But that's just my little gripe.

The parks were immaculate. Employees would walk around constantly cleaning up after people who didn't know how to make proper use of the HUNDREDS of trash cans posted at every corner. Literally, people are that rude. So, kudos to the amazing employees who have to put up with that and keep the place beautiful for the visitors.

Here are a few photos I took while walking around the park.

This one is Rapunzel's Tower. Message me if you would like to purchase 
an unwatermarked print, it will print up to 20x30 in size: 

Below: Scenes from the Swiss Family Robinson




And some random cell phone shots I took:
Cinderella's Castle 
 Beautiful Sky @ Epcot

Dashboard Legs
  DIY bathsalts @ Basin @ Downtown Disney :)

 Cute Treat from Pop Century's on sight diner

 Trying to be cool.
 The kids having fun..
 Pluto & Bubba




My daughter & I 




We stayed at Pop Century - I loved it. I never did get into the pools, but I was too fascinated with the random amazing things going on for each decade. I mean, giant potato heads? Take me back to my 80's childhood, why dontcha ;) ??


One of my favorite parts of Disney happened at a restaurant - it was at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.  Not because the food was great (which, it was by the way). I have to say it was the princess'. One in particular (my own favorite Disney Princess, Snow White.  In fact, she made my favorite memory for my son.  So there they were, the princess, parading around with the children, letting us take photos of them galore, when this gorgeous one, Snow White comes along. She was just he most friendliest character ever..

She posed in pictures with the kids (my son got shy and sauntered off).



She pauses, she looks at him and says, "You remind me of someone I know. His name is, Bashful."

 She smiles and says, "Come here, I have something for you". She bends down and kisses his forehead.


The look on his face says it all.  WHOEVER, she is, she is amazing. THANK YOU for this memory for my little guy!

Of course there were the other beautiful princess', Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, & Cinderella:





Another day we went to Animal Kingdom at another dining establishment & saw a few of the characters:










A few random shots of the kiddos from around the park:
















And then this happened when we were waiting to take a photo with Pluto. Tired Pluto had to take a break. Ethan wanted to pout because of the heat, a little girl took note of this and inched closer and closer until she was close enough to scope him out. I was in stitches:





I liked this place because of all the plants, but can't remember for the life of me what it was called, I WANT those sunflowers!











They waited patiently for The Haunted Mansion: