Confession: We love our electronics around here. Confession #2: We are fond of Nintendo products. While we do have limits on how much time our children can be interfacing with screens (unless they are reading on the kindle), we do own quite a few options for the time that they are allowed. Both boys have DS handhelds and we've had a Wii for years. I'm not much of a game player, but even I've had a rockin' good time with the Wii. So, when Nintendo offered to send me the Wii Fit U and the Fit Meter to review, I was all over it. I've always wanted to try out the balance board and I'm definitely looking for new ways to help my one child burn off excess energy and to get the other child moving. Takeaways: the Wii Fit U game … [Read more...]
Throwback Thursday and Foodie Pen Pal Reveal
8 years (and 50+ pounds ago) Shoo and I had a deal. He was not to arrive until after Jones' birthday party and Boo at the Zoo. He obeyed, barely. Three hours after Boo at the Zoo, my water broke. I spent the next 7 hours in mild labor, cleaning my house (in the middle of the night) and watching tv. At approximately 8:30 in the morning, after 10 minutes of active (AKA painful) labor and 10 minutes of pushing, Shoo was born at home on Halloween morning. I have since learned that that's how Shoo rolls: staying justthisside of following the rule, never slowing down, and always looking for a way to make a statement. What else would you expect from a Halloween baby? Happy birthday, my boo! And here's my Foodie Pen … [Read more...]
Monday Confession: I didn’t run
This weekend played out just as crazy as I expected. And I didn't make running a priority. I could say there were lots of reasons. I could say we were crazy busy. I could say my kids came first this weekend. But really, I was just making excuses I could have run right after Shoo's field trip. It's not like I've never picked him up from school sweaty before. I could have run after I picked him up from school. Beer Geek was home, as was Jones, not to mention I have a treadmill. I could have run after Shoo's soccer game (we won't even pretend I'd consider running before a morning game). I could have run before the kids arrived for Jones' party. Heck, I could have run during the party - Beer Geek was here and the … [Read more...]
TTT: Sore jaw, race plan, and Revolve ride
It's rainy here today and Shoo decided he needed to get up early even though he has no school today, so my day is starting a little rough. Why is it that children have to be blasted out of bed on school days, but bounce out at the crack of dawn on days when you can sleep in? I'm a bit of a bundle of stress lately. I have a bad habit of focusing on the worst possible scenario in situations. I'm wrapped to tight, I feel like I might implode. So, I'm taking it out on my house. It's either sit and eat from the stress or clean until my fingers are pruny. It's a good thing I clean with vinegar and other natural products, or I'd probably have asphyxiated by now. So, here's some randomness from my life: 1. My jaw is still sore from … [Read more...]
Breakin’ my little green heart + a giveaway
I'm kind of a crunchy, granola chic. I do my best to follow the philosophy of "reduce, reuse, recycle". We follow "green" practices for our yard. I'm kind of uptight about short showers, turning off electronics, and walking when we can. Heck, I even work for a company whose mission is to help organizations promote environmental causes, especially clean water and water conservation. And I've always been proud of the fact that my children (and Beer Geek) have always packed lunches in reusable containers. (Yes, my husband carries a cloth lunch bag with his sandwich, apple, and snack in cloth sandwich bags.) This is what typical lunches look like in our house: thermos of milk, sandwich, fruit in a plastic BPA-free container, and … [Read more...]
Decluttering
My house is all in one piece again. You can't even tell where the hole was in Jones' room and the floor only looks different from the rest of the house if you know to look for it. My dining room is a dining room again, with a slowly refilling china cabinet. (I'm getting a great workout carrying my china and glasses back up from the basement - you can only safely hold a few things at a time, so lots of trips.) As part of moving Jones back into his bedroom, I'm requiring him to make a decision about every.single.thing before I put it away. The amazing part of this is that my hoarder has finally let go of some of the random art work and other stuff that had been in his room. I wouldn't call him a minimalist just yet, but his room will … [Read more...]
Three Things Thursday
How can it only be Thursday? I feel like this week has been a million years long, but the kids have only been in school two days. On the bright side, everyone is so tired no one has asked to stay up later than their bedtime (me included) LOL. 1. I have a ceiling in my dining room again! And a new chandelier! And Jones has part of a floor and the hardwood guys come today to start working on that part. I can't wait until this part is behind me! 2. The weather here has cooled off a bit. I love it. If you ever want to visit DC, late September and October have the best weather. This is the time of year I love living here. Just a few more degrees and I'll be subjecting you all to soup recipes. We are in a food rut and need to … [Read more...]
Living in Chaos
This is what my house looks like this morning: And it's just going to get worse before it gets better as they rip out the ceiling in my dining room and the floor in Jones' room. This is my favorite time of year to run in Virginia - and I haven't been running. There's been no lack of exercise, though. Yesterday: I walked 2-3 miles over the course of the day. I carried at least 30 loads of stuff from the upstairs to the main level playroom or from the main level to the basement. (I'm pretty sure I even made a few trips between the second floor and the basement.) I lifted bookcases, took apart my son's bunk beds ("this end up beds" will surely survive a nuclear blast. Just sayin'), emptied his closet... I shopped for … [Read more...]
(Video) Phone a Friend
Beer Geek contends that I always have my phone in my hand. He may be right, but I say it's all good. This has been a stressful week. Some of it was good stress (getting a new car). Some of it was bad stress (I swear I thought the gecko was dead Thursday morning.) Know what I do when I'm stressed? I call my parents. (I'm sure they just love those calls.) And you know what's even better? Video calls. (Admittedly, Thursday morning's call was cell phone to cell phone, not Facetime, but that was probably good because I had the "ugly cry" going on.) I even called my dad during my car negotiations. Yes, yes, I did. Ever since my dad bought an iMac and an ipad, we've called each other via Facetime. And I LOVE it! Living … [Read more...]
Checkmark on the To Do list
Yesterday was a really long day. Really long. As planned, I dropped my kids off at a friend's house and headed to the car dealership. (Side note: It's good to have a friend who'll help you hide the body. It's even better to have a friend who'll take your kids on short notice, take them to the pool, feed them, and then get her ex-husband to take them when you are still at the.damn.dealership.) Anyways, ahem, the test drive went well. As did the actual price negotiation and decision to purchase. The rest of the day kind of sucked. I sat around FOREVER waiting to sign documents. I still have no idea what took so long. I came with a loan in hand, so it's not like they were working on financing. Finally, after 3+ hours of … [Read more...]
Fitting it in
This week, Jones is attending a computer camp. He's loving it. He's learning all sorts of things I don't understand. I, on the other hand, am not loving this week. Why? His camp is a 50 minute drive away. So, I have two options: drive 50 minutes 4 times a day or drive 50 minutes 2 times, but have to kill 8 hours away from my parents' house. Monday I chose the "kill 8 hours" option and spent that time test driving cars to replace my Civic. While it was time well spent (I decided which car and even did some negotiating), it was EXHAUSTING. It didn't help that the last salesman had the personality of a wet sponge and knew less about the car than I did. I walked out of that dealership completely drained. (And since I know … [Read more...]
There’s no place like home
We just got back from a week long vacation in Kentucky. I've never been so happy to roll up to our front door! Of course, that probably has something to do with the fact that we put more miles on my Pilot last week than we usually put on in a year. I'll do a post about everything we did, but I'm sure you are wondering "Why Kentucky?" Well, why not? Growing up as a military brat, I saw a lot of the U.S., most of it from the back of our station wagon or van. My dad was stationed in California, North Dakota, Alabama, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Virginia while I was growing up. I didn't go on my first plane trip until high school. So, guess how we got everywhere? Yep, driving. I have been to every state at least once and most of … [Read more...]
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