Monday, Monday

Hey hey hey!

How is it already another week and the last full one of September? And the last official day of summer? Craziness! I have no idea how time is flying by so quickly.

Life has been super busy lately. We're dealing with some transitions at work and I'm under a bit of a crunch. Last week, we were all sick and unfortunately are still dealing with it. I mean, if anyone finds my lung that I coughed up last night, please let me know.

Add to that a mile-long to-do list and we just always feel overwhelmed and don't often take the time to relax and enjoy life/one another. Friday night was gorgeous so we did grill out. On Sunday, my in-laws wanted to have some family together for a fish fry, so we went to their house and it was more or less an all-day affair {due in part to spending 3 hours in the car!}

The upcoming weeks aren't looking much better either. Don't get me wrong, I love being a social butterfly but mama's got a basement to finish! This weekend is the big carnival in the town where we live so I have to walk in the parade on Saturday and then go see our niece in the pageant. The following weekend we are signed up for a Saturday 5K and have plans to get together with some friends that evening, who are coming from out of town.

The silver lining is that I get a couple days off the second week of October for fall break. However, I have this HUGE stack of crap to get rid of and told my mom that I'd do a yard sale with her. Which basically means our next four weekends are planned out. Our sitter is taking off Thursday and Friday the following week and I'm really debating taking off but we will see if I can talk the hubs into it!

Pretty much the only thing that keeps us fed is that I do a ton of meal planning and prep on Sundays. I've even begun dividing up the food and putting it in containers so I can just grab in the morning versus that extra step. When did I become old and boring?

Anyhow, we did get the basement bathroom painted a couple Fridays ago. Wine played a huge role. It's looking good and I can't wait to see the finished product.

Still running a lot. Starting to do a bit more weight lifting and I like it. A lot.

What's happening in your lives?




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30 Before 30

Back after my 29th, I started working on a 30 before 30 list.

And then I forgot about it. Denial maybe?

Well, after my friends started turning 30 last month, I figured I should dig it out, finish it up, and get to work, since the big day is less than five months away!

It's kinda cool, because I've already accomplished a few of these things. I had a ton of fun making the list (and my girlfriends had fun giving advice too!) and it was really cool to think up things. I went for a mix of fun/responsible/risky, etc and am so excited to mark all of these off of my list.

I figure I'll try to update every month. For now, here's the list I've made:

Goal	Accomplished	Who can help me
Run a 10K	10-May-14
Weigh less than 150 lbs.	Done! (and then some :)
Pay off my vehicle
Send snail mail 1x/month	Aug.: Christine b-day
Three mommy-Cooper dates
Monthly date nights with J	Aug: Rodeo, Jessica party
Take Cooper camping
Do five things from my Pinterest board
Learn to do yoga	In progress (DVD)
Perfect making gravy		Mom
Try something crazy on the menu
Have a great and relaxing trip to California	Done!
Take a spontaneous weekend trip
Make mozzarella cheese
Go to a spa/get a facial
Do something risky/out of the norm (skydiving, hot air balloon, zip lining)
Spend time at a shooting range
Find something to hang over bed in master		Jimmy
Make a will		Jimmy
Drive an airplane		Jimmy
Ride in a cotton picker		Jimmy
Learn to use my DSLR
Finish the basement and celebrate with a big party		Jimmy
Go to a drive-in movie		Jimmy
Buy a bicycle
Eat the worm		Jimmy
Splurge on something rediculous for myself
Do a random act of kindness, like paying for someone else's meal in the drive through
Make wine or moonshine		Uncle Kenny
Buy lobster and cook it/serve a fancy dinner		Liz

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Yay Friday!

Just sharing some randomness from my brain and my phone this week :)

{1} It will be a paint weekend! I've been talking about our basement project FOREVER and last week, hubs finishing the mudding/sanding in the bathroom so we got the primer on. Now it's ready for color. Paint makes SUCH a difference. I'm hoping he's able to get started with installing the fixtures, etc. this weekend too. More progress pics to come, but here's a start.

 

{2} It turned fall here in the past 48 hours and I'm not sure how I feel. On one hand I LOVE the cooldown, but on the other, I know what comes after fall ... winter. Ick.

{3} My month of running is going well. I can't remember if I've mentioned it here yet, but I have a 5K the first weekend of October and want to do it in under 25 minutes so really want to focus on training to get a good time (since I never seem to train more than a couple weeks anyhow :/) Plus I am in a weight loss/healthy living group and my goal for this round was to average a mile a day, which means 84 miles. We are at the halfway point and I'm only at about 26 BUT the good news is that I am definitely on track to hit 40 miles this month which will make a huge difference!

{4} This kid totally cracks me up. We got home the other day and J was mowing, so C wanted to "sit on the gate and watch Daddy." So sweet! {Yes, before long hubs came over to get his little buddy to ride with him.}

{5} I started a 30 before 30 list back in February/March after my birthday and forgot about it until this week. My birthday is in less than five months. EEEK! So I'm finalizing it and the good news is I have already accomplished a few items. I just need four more things and it's set.

Happy weekend!



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Birthday Treats :)

This is a pretty big year in my circle of friends. Over the next 6 months, several of us are turning 30 (GASP!) Thankfully I won’t reach that milestone until February.

Anyhow, there are three birthdays in the course of ONE week. So it was party time! Here lately, I’ve been sooo disappointed with the card selection at the local stores because, to me, a card is important. {Have I ever mentioned that I got so terribly upset with my husband one year because although he did the cake, etc. with friends, he didn’t buy me a card? Oh the nerve J}

So I turned to a new website I had heard of, Treat.com. It’s affiliated with Shutterfly and has so many card types that you can customize. I love that! There are also some small gifts you can have personalized as well.

Once I received the cards, I was super excited to rip into the package! They looked amazing and my friends were very pleased with them.

My bestie Jessica works next door to me, so she got super duper special birthday girl treatment – homemade {from a box} blueberry muffins, coffee, and a balloon tied to a coffee cup, which I also ordered from Treat.com. She was quite excited to say the least.

 

 

I found the prices on Treat to be extremely reasonable – I’d say comparable or less than other retailers. They frequently run sales, plus they have bulk packs you can buy for discounted rates per card. And being able to customize with photos or insert my own pictures really was the best because birthdays are special occasions. That typically call for at least a week of celebrating, right?

I had my cards mailed to me to personally send on or give out, but the cool thing with Treat is that you can just have them mail it directly to the recipient for the cost of a stamp! You also get to set up the date to have it mailed – so, theoretically, I could design a bunch of cards each quarter and just tell them to mail four or five days prior to the big day and not risk ever forgetting a birthday, anniversary or other special event. WINNING!

I should also mention, once you create an account, they often run sales and will email to remind you of upcoming holidays (like Grandparents Day!) as well as the deadline to order. Total lifesaver.

I was provided with a credit to Treat.com for taking time to speak with them, however, this blog post is not sponsored. I’m just sharing what I think to be an incredible site that I will definitely utilize!

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Mean Mom

I needed to read THIS.

If you are a parent, you probably should too.

Coop is still too young to implement a lot of this, but we are doing what we can to be "mean" parents. I think the world needs more of them.


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Neighbor Days 2014

My hometown does a little Labor Day weekend festival every year called Neighbor Days. It is the most hick, redneck event ever. Seriously. One of the main attractions is the greased pole climb, where you climb up the pole to win money at different points along the pole.

But it's also a big homecoming, family/high school reunion. And the food is great, so we go every year.

I'm definitely NOT a pageant mom, but I did put Coop in the Tiny Mister Neighbor Day pageant so I can show him off :) Although hubs and I only live about 20 minutes away, I still feel like I don't see the Benton people very often so it's a fun time.

There were a total of 13 1&2 year old boys in the competition. Coop was No. 11 so I was pumped to only have to be on stage with a restless 2-year-old for a short time. But let me tell you, it felt like forever. His eyes lit up and he waved big once he saw his daddy, but that was it. Once we walked off stage, I was sweating and just ready to be done. Oh, and I should mention he refused to let his number be pinned to him, so I had to hold it. That boy.

There ended up being a tie between four little boys for third so they had to go back up. Thank goodness Coop wasn't one of those. But then, it happened - they were announcing the numbers of the Top 3, and Coop was one of them. I knew he wasn't third ... but was completely shocked when they announced he was the winner. My Coop, the 2014 Tiny Mister Neighbor Day.



Once we finished the crowning and festivities then changed him out of his white shirt, it was time to eat! I had yummy BBQ and homemade potato chips - what I eat pretty much every year on Friday night. My Dad then purchased a funnel cake and several fried Snickers (yes, the fun-size bars are dipped in funnel cake batter and fried - YUMMY!) and once our bellies were filled, we hit the rides, which was what Cooper had been looking forward to ever since he saw them at practice earlier in the week.

He rode cars, motorcycles, went down the slide, and also bounced in the house. After an hour or so, there was a storm moving in, we were getting hot, he was getting cranky, and we went home, because of course the royalty had to be in the parade the next day.

My stubborn little child was just that the morning of the parade - Daddy had to hold him and he refused to wear his crown or sash. Haha. But he was a cute kid, smiling and waving as we wound through the streets in the big city of Benton.

 

Afterwards, we promised him a few more rides. I even calmed down enough to let him ride the kiddie rollercoaster. (Sorry, I have a bit of an issue with rides that I remember being on as a child, put together and operated by crackheads who work for minimum wage.) After a little lunch, we headed out for the day, because I had some birthday festivities to attend later in the day for one of my besties.

And that was Neighbor Days 2014!




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