what...

...day is it? I've been asking myself that all day today. Today I ran around. A lot. Only in the car and not actually running. I didn't do my walk today either. I figure I've walked 8 miles in the last 2 days, I can take a break! I also was/am sore. I rolled my left ankle twice on Monday and once again on Tuesday, so it's pretty stiff. Plus, walking on pavement is brutal. I've taken to walking some stretches through the edges of yards, I hope my neighbors don't mind!

Kait brought out my dad's car last night so we could use it today. Drew had an appointment for his unemployment to stay in effect. I had to return some things to Walmart and go to Aldi's (grocery store). I also had to go to the mall to have my engagement ring looked at. We have the lifetime warranty on it, so it's got to be inspected and signed off on and cleaned and all these shenanigans every 6 months. Of course, it never dawns on me until the last 3 days of the month or so. Hah.

Dylan and I had quite the adventure today. He went with me, as I didn't want to go alone and Meghan was napping, so I figured I'd give Drew a couple hours "off" and off we went! We went to Aldi's and Walmart first because they are in my town and then headed to the mall. Dylan kept asking when we were going to go there. He didn't like all the other stops first! When we got to the mall, he kept asking to go on the carnival.

...

At first, I had no idea what he was talking about. And then I realized he meant carousel!

He's in the middle of telling me, "No more pictures, Allie!" He's such a nut. Sometimes he loves to take pictures, and wants to look at them right after you take one. Other times not. This was one of those times.

We got home and I realized I was out of one of the key ingredients for something I needed to bake today. Meghan and I went off on a quick trip to Aldi's to get said ingredient and also Drew requested chips and candy. Hah.

I started making dinner when we got back, pizza with No Rise Pizza Dough; pepperoni and green peppers on 1 half, leftover curry chicken and green peppers on the other, yum! I wanted to get it into the oven asap, because I had a lot of baking to do. I owed Drew a batch of cookies from a few days ago (said I was going to make them and never did, mostly because they are an evil temptation! :) ) I also had to do some other baking...for some thing tomorrow ;) No details because MIL reads this and it's for her!

I'll try and remember to both take pictures and post them tomorrow. As I'm whipping the pizza together, I realize I'm still out of vanilla from last week and I only had 1 egg for Drew's cookies. I really didn't want to go out for the third time this afternoon, so I nagged Drew to do it. He went after dinner and I finally had everything I needed! Now, some lovely smells were going on in here!

I still have leftover pumpkin too...muffins, anyone?

monday...

...Monday. Definitely made up for yesterday's dreariness. It snowed here this morning, not much, but it was sticking and I was getting concerned! It was very windy and generally freezing out today. Inside too, Drew left the sliding glass door cracked and the kitchen window almost all the way open. I didn't even think about checking them before I went to bed because it's been so warm lately, we've been leaving the window open overnight.

I got in my hour of cardio! Hah. Drew wasn't even phased when I said I'd be back in an hour! Bah, that failed! So, I walked about 3 miles in an hour and 10 minutes. Whoops, just actually calculated it with Google maps, it was really a little over 4 miles! Hah. My legs burned so bad when I got back, but it felt really good. To be doing something. I intend to go everyday, much easier when your other half is home to watch the kids! Not so sure it's going to feel good tomorrow though!

Craft fair is still on Saturday. Still not organized. :) I might actually go through my box o' goodies and see what I'm bringing. Tag everything and get it ready. I haven't even thought about prices yet. I'll keep them low for this fair, as supposedly it won't be that big. I wonder how/if it is even being advertised.

Our big plans with sharing the car with Kait this week were that she would drop it off to me on Wednesday and then I would keep it through Sunday. We're going to our hometown on Thursday and then the craft fair is on Saturday, but Kait won't be able to drive me home until Sunday. But then I got a random text from her saying I should call my dad to discuss keeping the car all week.

So I did. :( The mechanic friend called him back finally and said to have my dad call him back Wednesday night about fixing my dad's car. That means I will probably have to return the car well before Saturday and possibly Wednesday. But then we're out of a ride on Thursday and Saturday. Doesn't help that I have to be out there around 730 (?) Saturday morning. We might be able to ride with Michelle, if she's going that way those days.

We'll figure something out. I know my dad doesn't like us not having a car. The other day, his friend said he took in a Saturn as a trade. We thought it was a local car and thus had been subjected to northern winters and salted roads. Turns out, it's a southern car and has less than 100,000 miles on it. My dad thinks we should take a look at it.

Surviving is such hard work.

what a dreary...

...Sunday. Blah. Ick. Not too wet to go outside, but not dry enough for the playground, so we stayed home today. Meghan loves to go on the slides and 2 out of the 3 slides hold water at the bottom; the 3rd is always damp when the others are wet. Meghan loves walking up and down the stairs and I washed diapers today-now that was exciting. For her. Hah.

The past couple of days I've been feeling really fatigued and tired and napping at odd hours of the day. Like right after dinner, but before Meghan goes to sleep. It is so weird. I think my excuse for exercise and poor diet this week are to blame. We've eaten a lot of convenience foods, last night we had Hamburger Helper. I was super grossed out afterwards. I just felt like I ate a brick of goo. Usually I don't have a problem eating it. Tonight I made lemon pepper chicken, brown rice, corn and King's Sweet Hawaiian rolls. A much better menu. If you have King's anything at your store, buy it. Seriously, go right now and buy some, it is so evil and divine!

Kait took me grocery shopping yesterday (because we still have no car, the mechanic friend never called my dad back!) Aldi had their rolls this week. I bought 2 packages, naturally. :) I heated them up in the oven and they were even better than room temp! My dad got me a Food Saver system for Christmas, so I buy our meat in bulk, then vacuum seal and freeze it. Well, Food Saver makes steamer bags for the microwave and you can do chicken in it! Best. Idea. Ever.

I portioned out our chicken, then added some spices to some bags and some I left plain. I did some curry, lemon pepper and cajun rub and all 3 varieties have been delicious! Now, you might be thinking that the microwave makes it rubbery, but not with the steamer bags! The chicken stays super moist and you can microwave it when it's frozen, fresh or defrosted.

That sounded like a paid post, but it's not, I just love their products!

On a darker note, today one of my sister's friends from high school posted a picture or herself on Facebook saying she was down 80 lbs. That's amazing and I'm so happy for her, but at the same time I am mad at myself. I lack the motivation I need to lose weight. I wanted to lose a bunch of weight before my 5 year college reunion, it's lurking in the shadows at 2 months away.

I fight a constant addiction to food, which might make some people laugh, but until you're addicted to something or someone, you have no idea the hold it has over you. I can't go into the kitchen for anything without thinking about having a snack. I don't know why I'm so snacky, I got into some bad eating habits in college and at my customer service job.

As far as I know, all our friend did was start running. How is it that some people just start running and the weight falls off? Drew's constant harp is that I should be doing an hour of cardio a day. I'll see what his reaction is tomorrow when I leave him here with Meghan and Dylan for an hour! I've been exercising according to this new plan this week. I did 55 jumping jacks last night! Which I was proud of until I went to do the 2nd half of the workout-10 sit ups. Real ones. I was only able to do 2 1/2. Blah.

I don't feel like I've lost any weight, we'll see what happens tomorrow when I do my weekly weigh in. I really should've written last week's weight down... :)

2 things...

...occurred to me today.

1) That I may have come off as super harsh in my Friendly Debates regarding bikinis and daughters and modesty. And I'm sorry if I offended anyone! Whatever you do with your family is your business and I didn't mean it to sound holier-than-thou and that my opinion was the right opinion. Because opinions are just that, personal views, and if your daughters wear bikinis, I don't care! I still love you! Let's be friends. :)

2) Even though some posts show 0 views, you may actually be scrolling down from my home page and reading all the posts, so ignore my suspicious rambling.

Ah, now that that's settled.

I didn't work out today. Blah. I really should have. I've resolved to weigh myself once a week and I'm no longer doing the Wii Fit. Weighing in every day was weighing heavily on my heart and it's hard to stay motivated when I'm yo-yoing everyday. This week I started a program that gradually brings up your fitness level and it was going great until yesterday, which was supposed to be a rest day! I did 10 lunges (each leg, so 20 total) as the plan states and now I'm paying for it. My thighs and booty are sore! :) But not too sore to not exercise, so I have no excuse!

In fact, no time like the present! Off to quick exercise before bed!

Whoohoooooo...

...I made it to 100 posts! Quite the accomplishment, considering I've had this blog almost 2 years! And to think I've come such a far way...

At any rate, this is the 3rd post today and I want to make sure everyone is getting/reading what I've got. I noticed this post from March 16th had 0 views and it's an update about our ttc journey, which is a hot topic! ;)

Enjoy!

(ps: I also updated the recipe and family tabs up top^^)

Friendly Debates with the Danielles...

...this is what I mentioned in my last post about modest swim wear.

Every week, the Danielles of Happenings of the Harper Household and We Don't Have it All blogs host meme with a hot topic.


This week's topic is:
Bikinis for Toddlers/Tweens/Teens: Yay or Nay? What do YOU say?

I am definitely not torn on this issue, and I don't think it's because I've never worn a bikini or that I'm more "modest-minded" than I used to be. I don't think bikinis are appropriate swim wear. Of course, once you are an adult, do as you please, but I do not agree with people who buy or allow their children to wear skimpy swim wear.

I am not against a 2 piece suit. I wore 2 pieces in high school, they were tankinis and they were full coverage! In fact, more supportive than the suit I have now!

Toddlers in bikinis makes me think of that disgusting Toddlers and Tiaras show on tv. (sorry if you like it, but I can't stand it!) Those poor children are primped, fluffed and painted to look like adults! Not. Cool. I don't understand why you would want your sweet daughter to look like she's 20!

Personally, Meghan has received 3 bikinis already in her short life. (2 were the same suit, different sizes) She did in fact wear one to the beach last summer. But, it wasn't as skimpy as it could've been and she had a cloth swim diaper on the bottom, not the little bikini bottom that the suit came with. We were at a public beach and thinking back I am now a bit concerned about what sort of unsavory types might have been there. There's nothing I can do about that now.

The 3rd suit Meghan got is basically the same shape as the others, but I feel that the pattern is not appropriate for anyone. It has watermelon slices on the bodice. (see where this is going?) Unfortunately, the buyer can be a bit naive sometimes and so I don't think they even thought of it that way, but I immediately thought the worst things. :( I really don't like the suit because of this and if we do use it, it will be at the in-laws or my dad's (he has a little splash area with a slide, etc) where I know who is there and not at a crowded beach with all the world to see!

Meghan is not even 2 yet, but I have high hopes for her future. I hope she decides to lead a Godly, modest life as I have chosen. I hope she makes good decisions and I hope she never begs for a bikini, because it ain't happenin'! :)

So, bikinis for your toddler/tween/teen? What do you say?

ahhhh...

...swimsuit weather. Dread. Utter and complete dread for me. :( Eh, I've been meaning to write this post for awhile as the good weather has been approaching and the topic of a weekly debate on a couple blogs I read deals with bathing suits and daughters, so they kind of go hand in hand. Me first ;)

I am, if you don't already know, quite a large woman. And I breastfeed. I've accepted this, these facts of life, as it were. I am basically large all over, large belly, large bust. And I have to admit that I was super uncomfortable last summer in my bathing suit. Notsomuch when I nursed in it, as I just threw a swim towel over us in a chair. It didn't get a lot of use, thankfully not too much in public as my wonderful in-laws have a pool! :)

Still, I couldn't help but be constantly hiking it up or feeling like I was exposed the whole time. I really feel like this goes hand in hand with my wearing skirts full time, trying (achieving, I hope!) to be more feminine and modest.

My current, for the past few years, bathing suit is a standard plus size skirted bathing suit, similar to this style:

(photo credit)

Except my suit is dark brown with tiny turquoise polka dots and waaaay skinnier straps. I don't know why someone would design a plus size bathing suit-knowing that those straps are going to have a load to bear-with the tiniest straps. At any rate, those darn straps cause the most frustration.

I really feel like I need to be more covered up. I've been debating investing in a more modest swimsuit, such as:

(photo credit)

Granted, there are a few things about this suit I would want to change, but that's only because I know how I would look as a plus size momma, compared to this lovely young lady.

I am a bit hesitant though,. The price for one, $75 for a plus size suit, not including shipping or if I wanted to make the skirt or leggings longer. $75 is not a bad price, especially for a plus size suit, but it is definitely not in any foreseeable budget. Also, I would be the only person I know with such a modest suit. Not that I haven't ever been the odd one out! ;)

Hmm. She also makes toddler suits...I'll probably just end up wearing my crazy bathing suit if I have to. Meghan loves the water, so I know she'll be spending a lot of time in the pool! (which I will be too!)

I don't know...

...why I bother trying to schedule posts to post later, like after the day I write them. I just don't know what I'm doing, but it's nice to get more than one post written at a time and then, in theory, not have to worry about it later! So, I might be testing the whole schedule thing out again tonight.

(I had written the recipe post on Wednesday at the same time as the crafty post. I thought I had scheduled it to post itself Wednesday night, but then it didn't. Sooo, there ya go.)

I've had just about enough of the oppressive heat/humidity. Thanks. Agh. We live on the top floor and it gets so nasty in here. We end up going to the playground in the afternoon just to escape this apartment! Today wasn't so bad, according to Drew, but I thought it was just as bad as the rest of the week.

I haven't done anything crafty today or last night. As I was nursing Meghan to sleep last night, I developed a nasty migraine and went to bed early. I haven't gotten a migraine in a long time, so I was quite surprised. Usually, I can just go to sleep and then it's gone by the morning. Luckily, that worked last night! Today, I had to go through my email, because I hadn't done so in a long time. Blah, sometimes I hate email. Unless it's a notification that I won something through a giveaway! :)

Syracuse played in the Sweet 16 game tonight against Wisconsin and they won! They are on their way to the Elite 8, it is very exciting. Except for the part where I fell asleep during the game tonight! I was so exhausted after I put Meg down to sleep. I only intended to rest on the couch while Drew watched the game. And then I woke up after it was over! :) Oh, well, at least they won!

Time to sleep!

yummmmm...

...today I baked. A bunch. Michelle (Drew's sister that lives in the same apartment complex as us) gave me a can of pumpkin last week because she got a whole mess of them super cheap or free or something, and I used a tiny bit for pumpkin bread in my new-to-me bread machine. Then I had almost a whole can to use up.

I made some pumpkin scones and pumpkin cookies. I had been wanting to try out the pumpkin scone recipe since I saw it in a magazine last fall. I had been waiting because it calls for chili oil (popular in Asian dishes) and that's not something usually found in our pantry! So, I made some chili oil! I'm glad I made it myself and didn't spend however much it was at the grocery store-outrageous amount, probably.

Chili oil is just an oil that's been infused with chili peppers, jalepenos or some other spicy pepper. Usually this is done by letting the peppers (fresh or dried) steep in the oil for a few weeks. Well, I didn't have a few weeks or a few fresh or dried chili peppers! For my homemade oil, I just put 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon each of crushed red pepper and chili powder into a small saucepan and warmed it on low on the stove until I could smell the chilis. Now it's in the fridge, I probably won't be using it again anytime soon...I'll have to make some homemade stir fry or something! ;)

At any rate, it's a savory scone, which also made it intriguing, because I make a mean sweet orange scone. It's just too bad that it didn't turn out exactly as I would have liked. And I used the last of my nutmeg. I don't know if I put too much chili oil in it or what, but the pumpkin flavor didn't come through and left an odd spicy aftertaste. Not odd enough that it wasn't edible, mind you. Margarine makes everything better. ;)

Before I screwed those up, I made a batch of pumpkin cookies, from the Libby's recipe that I got straight off the can of pumpkin. These are always a treat! I ended up using the rest of my vanilla, so I couldn't make the icing these cookie require. Drew said I should just use another extract, but I only have anise, mint and orange. I tried mint icing and Drew ate one of the cookies, but I thought it overpowered the pumpkin cookie. Instead, I gently heated up some canned cream cheese frosting until it was just runny, dipped the cookies and called it a day in the kitchen!

And, I still have some pumpkin left in the fridge!

(I'll post these recipes over on the recipe tab [at the top] in case anyone else wants to try them out!)

Wednesday...

...middle of the week. Always feels like the week never ends and we'll never get to the weekend! Not that we have any big plans or anything. Hard to make plans when you don't have the transportation to get anywhere! Hah.

It is kind of weird to not be making plans though, being March, there are always a bazillion birthdays. And the weather might as well be July because it sure feels like it! We're going to the playground after Meghan gets up from her nap. Ahhh, naps are so lovely. I wish I got to take one too!

I've made a few things for the craft fair, some head bands, little hearts and flowers to attach to bobby pins and clips, and a really neat chunky chain link scarf. I've jut been throwing the finished things into a box and I really ought to go through it and see what I've got. I used my Sizzix BIGkick die-cutter to make some cute tags for the items.

(photo credit)
Also, mine is white instead of black, with pink accents, I don't think they make the white and pink style anymore.
One of the only things I don't like about the BIGkick is that you have to cut out all 3 sizes that are available on the die, or strategically place your paper over the only one you want cut out.


(photo credit)

Which is a pain in the booty, so I just cut out a bunch of all the sizes and I figure I'll use them up eventually. I wanted/needed tags for the items that will be sold on Etsy after the craft fair anyways, so I might as well get it all ready at the same time. I also had a bunch of free business cards printed up over at Vistaprint that have my Etsy site and Twitter/Facebook info on them. (CheBella Crafts, not my personal twitter/facebook! :D) Those cards are definitely getting included in anything I sell on Etsy, but I'm not sure if I'll give them out at the craft fair. I might just staple them to the tags. I don't know.

Originally I was going to use the tags for descriptions and prices, just seemed to make it easier. I definitely want descriptions on the tags, with sizes, if applicable, because sometimes you can't tell what the heap of knotted yarn is supposed to be! :) But, I don't think I want prices on the things I sell through Etsy, obviously the customer would already know what they paid and they'll have invoices with them anyway. Conflicted! Maybe I'll do little stickers on the tags with prices on them for the craft fair and then hopefully pull the stickers off after the fair.

Hmmmmm.

got a case...

...of the Mondays? Not me! :) Yesterday was super busy, so I'm glad Kait got to babysit Dylan today! He is such a little bundle of energy, always zooming around! Luckily, the weather has been ridiculously warm, so we went to playground/park every day last week. Dylan's back tomorrow, so that'll be chaotic!

Yesterday, we went out to my dad's house for St. Patrick's Day dinner. He made 3 corned beefs, boiled dinner (potatoes, cabbage, carrots), rueben sandwiches (corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, thousand island dressing on rye bread), and fried cabbage. My mom made a pasta salad and my grandma baked homemade rye bread. My sister Kait made apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Everything was so delicious! And I did ok as far as diet goes, I only had 1 slice of bread on my sandwich, 1 potato, a small amount of pasta salad and 1 scoop of ice cream. We woke up late yesterday, so I had part of a yogurt for breakfast (Meghan had some too!) and then we snacked later last night after we got home.

Today, we mostly just sat around. I did nap on the couch (twice! gah!) and this afternoon we had to walk to the UPS drop box (about 3 blocks away) so I could drop off a package and then we went to the playground for a bit. We are so fortunate to have a playground so close, I love it! Especially since we are still without a car. We didn't stay long at the playground, unfortunately because it started to rain and thunderstorm.

As far as a car goes, my dad has offered us his car, but it needs some work-including new tires, Kait got stuck with a flat the other day! Luckily, she was with Fred's mother (Freddy's grandma) so, they got some help with the donut and were soon on their way. My dad talked to his mechanic friend about maybe setting us with one of the cars he's been buying at auctions down south-along with a payment plan. But, what I can tell from what my dad said was that the friend doesn't have a lot of cars (which is not what I thought) and the friend said he had just taken in a saturn, but it needs some work, but the friend has another in his junk lot that he can get the parts from. This is a familiar story, that's just how the friend works. My dad is going over there on Wednesday, to get his car worked on and also to see if the friend has any realistic offers.

If that doesn't work out, there is my dad's car, but it needs work. It won't pass inspection because of a fuel pump issue, it needs at least 2 tires, and some sort of alignment or something like that. But, anything is an improvement over the Alero. We've had nothing but trouble with it. I am grateful we got a year out of it though, because it was a gift.

Meg's up crying, so I'm off to cuddle!

happy...

...St. Patrick's Day! We are having a seriously low-key day today. Meghan was wide-awake for the day at 630am...that was a blast. We didn't even sit down to start nursing/going to sleep until 830 last night, I was a bit sad when she started wailing this morning and realized she wasn't going to stop. Sometimes she goes back to sleep on her own and sometimes she'll nurse back to sleep when she wakes up super early like that, but not today. I still don't know why she woke up so early because she didn't have a dirty diaper, must've been a bad dream or something.

I think the time change screwed up her internal clock or something. But she hasn't really been sleeping or napping well since Island Week. She did nap today for almost 3 hours, and hopefully she'll go down for the night easily.

Syracuse played again today and made it into the Sweet Sixteen! Very exciting! I made some St. Patrick's Dayish food for the game. Drew deep fried some onion rings (le sigh, I ate some :( also this was my first time using avocado and I had no idea what I was missing!) and I made a Shamrock pizza and Green Goddess dip! It was so delicious! The pizza was this awesome recipe for no rise crust and had sausage and green peppers in shamrock shapes! I'm glad the crust worked out because it is 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 ap flour-so it's healthier than all ap flour and it was super easy! I'll definitely be making that crust again! The dip had avocado, lemon juice, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic salt and fresh ground black pepper. Which wouldn't be that bad except I had to add some mayonnaise :( I had added too much chili powder and it was a mess! Luckily it was only a rounded teaspoon or so and it worked out and was very tasty! We had that with cut up veggies. Here's a picture using my crappy interim phone:

(Now that I know I can put pictures on here, fairly easily, I might be doing so more often :D )
Hopefully, because tomorrow we are going out to visit my dad and have corned beef and cabbage to celebrate St. Patrick's day. We might stop at the in-laws if they are feeling better (everyone there has been very sick lately) and we have to go to my mom's so Drew or I can hook up her DVD player. Yes, her DVD player. She and Jim are not very technologically inclined and would rather have someone else do it for them. We also have a wireless router to install at Lacie's house. It's an old one we had offered to her a while ago and couldn't find all the parts. She's been begging us to find the power cord and it's been sitting in the trunk of the broken Alero, which is now in my dad's driveway.

Very busy day tomorrow. For the craft fair, I got some headbands done today and I'm going to make some bows and flowers with pin backs, so they can be mixed and matched. They're sized headbands and the first one was a little too big-even on my fat head, so I'm going to try and find some adjustable headband patterns then they'll fit more different sized heads. :)

Ok, a-crafting I will go ;)

oh yeah...

...I forgot to update yesterday about ttc. I am still not pregnant and still have not had a period this month. It is so weird. I've never missed one before except while I was pregnant and then the 1st 13 months of Meghan's life. I've had a period every month since then.

Besides now.

I took another test this morning and it was glaringly negative. Today is day 37 of my cycle, which is just ridiculously long. Maybe I'll just skip this month and resume again next month. I don't know. Of course, I just stocked up on feminine products at BJ's (warehouse store where they sell in bulk).

I still blame breastfeeding for these wacky hormones I've got going on. Some days I just want to wean her col turkey style, but then she toddles over with a big smile, signing "milk" (that's the sign we use for nurse-it looks like when you nurse a cow!) and my heart just melts.

(photo credit)

I had mentioned before about how she was clamping on for dear life, and then today we had the sweetest, most gentle nurse. Very uncharacteristic of her, as of late.

I've been thinking about our family size lately and how her breastfeeding still is affecting that. I have always wanted a large family, for as long as I can remember. And it seems that as long as she's nursing, even though I do (or did) get semi-regular periods, I'm not ovulating at the right time. The obvious solution to that is to wean her. I'm thinking I would like her to be weaned by her 2nd birthday, then hopefully she would have a sibling before her 3rd. I don't want a bazillion years (dramatic, I know) in between our children because I fear they won't have good relationships.

There are 3 years in between my older sister, Lacie and I and 2 years between Kait (younger) and I. Kait and I have always had a better relationship than Lacie and I. Lacie wasn't really a good role model when we were growing up and I hope I was a better role model to Kait than Lacie was to us. Lacie was already out of the house by the time Kait made it to high school.

Eh, tangent. The point is, I had wanted children close in age so they could be supportive of each other and foster good relationships. I have such high hopes for our little family :)

And it is very hard to not be jealous of the other mommies around me getting pregnant so easily with their 2nd (3rd, 4th, 5th, etc) babies and I feel like I'm failing at what I feel I was designed to do. Sad face.

Well, that got a lot heavier than I intended.

you know when...

...you're doing some mundane task and suddenly lots of bloggy ideas pop into your head? That's how it's been for me lately. I think of such great things to post about and then I hop on here, usually days later, and can't remember what I was going to go on about.

The solution there is to write everyday. ;)

Hah. I don't see that happening.

My grandmother gave me her old bread machine, so I've been experimenting with that this week. We've have fresh baked bread everyday. I've done white, 1/2 whole wheat (using both whole wheat and white flour), pumpkin, pepperoni, cinnamon raisin and oatmeal applesauce bread is baking right now. So far, the white is my favorite. I tried another batch of cinnamon raisin today with double raisins and double cinnamon and that was a mistake-so that batch got thrown out. The other day I put the yeast right in the bread pan with the other ingredients instead of the yeast dispenser, so I had to throw that batch out too. I can be so absent-minded sometimes. I also don't take the time to read things thoroughly, like, ever; so that doesn't help either ;)

I also whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and we're having left over BBQ pulled pork for the Syracuse game this afternoon. Drew is an avid fan of Syracuse, so he's got a jersey on and Meg's wearing orange today as well! We tried to get Dylan to wear a jersey, but he refused because it's too big!

Kim, Drew's sisters: Michelle, Val, Liz and I are doing a craft fair/garage sale at the end of the month. Michelle and Val both said they might have things to sell. Considering that Val's closet of clothes has expanded/taken over the hallway closet of their house; I'm pretty sure she's got some things to get rid of ;) Liz makes bracelets and Kim's the craftiest, so hopefully we'll have enough stuff. I have some cowls made, but I wanted to do some mohawk hats and crocheted headbands. I know a quick fabric headband too, so I might sew some of those up.

The fair is at the end of the month from 8am-Noon at the school in my hometown. Which, I think, is an odd time frame. Not only because I'll have to get up super early! ;) The school district does a Holiday craft fair every year and I think it goes all day, maybe both days of the weekend. Plus, the woman who's running it has done them before at other schools and supposedly the 1st year is slow but then the years after are a hit. This is the 1st year at our hometown so we'll see how it goes. I also have an etsy store (albeit, empty right now :D) so anything that doesn't sell, will get posted there. We have 2 tables (banquet tables, I imagine) to ourselves, so I"m off to get crafty! ;)

might as well...

...go eat worms! :( Nothing has been going right lately, surely it will turn around soo, right? Right?! Hah. At least I can laugh through all this, although I imagine there will be more sad smileys than happy ones in this post.

The Alero broke down tonight. My dad called earlier, he had gone over to Donnie's (the mechanic) this morning, but he wasn't there. My dad thinks he might be down south getting more cars. I hope so, because we definitely need one now. :( Drew was on his way to play music with some guys and only made it about halfway before he heard a loud pop and the car stopped. Which is what my dad said would happen when the cam shaft goes. And it went. :(

I told Drew to have it towed to my dad's house (thank goodness for AAA!) I've also been texting my sister, Kait, throughout this whole ideal, but she hasn't answered so I don't think she's home. Drew then texted me that there was a hole in the oil pan. I don't know how he knows this, maybe the tow truck driver took a look? I have next to zero knowledge about cars, but a hole in the oil pan doesn't sound nearly as bad as the cam shaft breaking! My dad sure will be in for a surprise when he wakes up tomorrow!

(Also, Drew is getting a ride home from one of his friends, so no worries there, but no clue how we're going to get anywhere-good thing I just stocked up on groceries!)

In unrelated news, I'm not pregnant, but I still haven't gotten my period. My cycle is so messed up! And it's very frustrating because I know that breastfeeding is screwing with it and there isn't much I can do! Meghan is still very interested in nursing, still feeding when she wakes up in the morning and when going down for naps and bedtime. Occasionally throughout the day, she nurses as well, especially if she's tired, cranky or hurt. I had to work so hard to be able to breastfeed, I don't want to give it up and neither does she!

I have been seriously contemplating weaning her though. She enjoys it, but sometimes refuses to nurse. She also refuses to stop biting me. She clamps on with her upper teeth and hangs on for dear life! I have bite marks on me every time she nurses and it hurts! ;) If I ask her to be gentle, she does lessen the strength of her hold. We also would really like to have another baby-despite all of our trials lately. Clearly, not being pregnant has been a blessing! And it seems like my cycle will never return to normal unless we stop breastfeeding. I have largely been an advocate and practicer of child led weaning, so weaning Meghan has always felt sort of off to me. I wonder if she would've weaned herself by now, if I wasn't a stay at home mom?

Sorry for such a downer of a blog post, but such is life ;)

I have got to stop...

...waiting so long in between posts! This is ridiculous! I've only got 1 kid, it can't be that hard right?! You'd think I could just sit down and write already, I know the suspense of my day-to-day is killing you all. ;) Hah.

We have been very busy lately. After last time I wrote, we went to court with our landlords, celebrated Island Week with Drew's family, celebrated 4 birthdays in a week, might be pregnant (cross your fingers), car's breaking down, fell off the exercise/diet wagon, might be moving out, still have 0 income...not in that order, but you get the gist.

So, we went to court and settled with the lawyer before we went before the judge. Ended up borrowing money from my mother so that we could get all caught up with the landlords. I went to her house to borrow the money the night before they went on vacation to Costa Rica! My poor, yet so helpful mother :) She is really awesome, and always there for me when I'm in a jam. And she was at the top of my "People I Can Borrow Money From" list, so that was nice. Ironically enough, our ceiling started leaking last night and this whole fiasco started out with the leaking ceiling last May! Needless to say, I cannot wait to get out of here-even if we have to move in with Drew's parents! :)

Island Week is the Winter Break where all the kids are off from school. Drew's family doesn't go on vacation, they do Island Week! They decorate the living room/kitchen area, dress in bathing suits and island attire, listen to island music and eat island food. It is so much fun and a wonderful family tradition. This year, Meghan and I spent the whole week there! Meghan slept in a pack and play and I slept on a spare bed in Drew's sisters' room. We had a lot of fun and ate sooo much good food! I am never disappointed when we go there to eat!

We played a lot of limbo-which I never win, hah. Played a lot of Rock Band on the Xbox, drank lots of pina coladas and Malibu-and-pineapple-juice (this is my all time favorite grown up drink and it really needs a shorter name!) and danced a lot! Meghan loves to dance and groove and loved all the islandy (yes, that's a word) music!

I also love Island Week because we get to see all of Drew's siblings and their significant others within a few days. We are hardly ever in the same place at the same time besides holidays and apple picking in the fall. :) I especially was glad to see Drew's brother Pat and his wife, Alex. They work crazy-long hours at a hospital in the big city and sometimes even miss holiday get-togethers. The Super Bowl was the first time I had been to their house and they've been there almost a year!

March is a ridiculous month for birthdays in our family! Five in total! The 2nd is Drew's brother Luke, then the 5th is my mother. Olivia, Drew's sister, was born on the 6th. His sister, Val on the 9th and his mom on the 29th. We have been spending a lot of time in our hometown recently! We went to Chinese buffet for dinner on the 4th for Luke's birthday because he was at the church's Brother Conference all weekend. We went with Drew's sister Michelle, her boyfriend Corey, Luke and their cousin, Joey; who is very good friends with Drew and Pat. He was the groomsman in our wedding! Then we had chinese takeout for dinner at my mom's on the 5th. Back to the homestead on the 6th for Olivia's birthday and tonight we had dinner again there for Val's birthday.

I think I did a fair job as far as presents go this year. I got Olivia a really cool tshirt, but it is a bit big. It looked so small on the hanger! I guess I didn't realize she's gotten a lot slimmer recently with all the gymnastics she's been doing! I got Val some really cool nail polish, earrings and a candle. She loved the earrings and polish-which I'm glad for because she is so hard to buy for! I made Luke a mohawk hat, and then realized I made the mohawk part very crooked so I had to re-do it while we were visiting. We also ordered him something that he doesn't know about and are waiting for it to arrive :)

Found out today that our only car is probably on it's last legs. With less than 93,000 miles on it too! Can we ever catch a break with cars?! :) The alero is making a knocking noise that gets louder when you accelerate and my dad thinks the cam shaft is going, which is not good and expensive to repair/replace. Add that to the leaking anti-freeze, leaky but not holey tires, and shutting-itself-off issues and we may as well walk everywhere!

We might be able to trade it for credit towards a used car at a (hometown) local garage my dad used to work at. He's good friends with the owner, Donnie, and he has been getting cars at auction down south to sell up here. My dad is going to talk with him tomorrow about maybe working out a deal where we make payments towards a new-to-us car. I'm hoping something works out as we have no clue as to when the car will just stop working. :( But, I am determined to look on the bright side of this as we may be needing a bigger car anyway...

:D

Haha. Today is day 31 of my cycle. I've gotten out of practice of taking my temperature everyday. We were at Island Week and then Meghan and I were horribly sick in the weeks after, so I haven't been charting at all. I also haven't had any period cramps-I haven't had any pregnancy symptoms either. Who knows? Either way, if my period doesn't come by tomorrow morning, I'm taking a test! :)

My lifestyle change was also hit hard by Island Week and being sick :( I didn't exercise at all and ate so much yummy, but bad-for-me food. It was definitely worth it though. Being out of our apartment for more than a couple hours was great, like a mini-vacation! While there, I made a few cowl/neckwarmers for an upcoming craft fair (or my etsy store, if they don't sell) and also finally finished the baby blanket for my good friend, Klare. She's due in April and I was worried I wouldn't finish! Now I'm working on a stripey earflap hat for her son, Scotty (he's Meghan's age) and then I have to go deliver them!

As far as moving out, I definitely don't want to live here after our lease is up at the end of April and I don't imagine that the landlords will be renewing our lease this year. Especially after all the flack we've given them and the whole court debacle. I just hope we can find something or work out a situation with Drew's parents if we have to, but with 0 real income, it's hard. Drew gets unemployment at about 72% of what he was making before and I am still getting paid by Lacie for babysitting Dylan during the week, so it's not really 0 income, but it is so scary for neither of us to have a "real" job.

Leading from that, I have joined some sponsored blog sites where I could be paid for writing blog posts about different topics. Each post will have a disclaimer, hopefully I'll be able to put at the top, so if you don't want to read it you don't have to. I am also hoping to get topics that are related to what I already write about. Nobody wants to read about quantum physics here, right? ;)

How's that for an update? See you tomorrow? ;)