Keep on Runnin'

I've started running. Today is day 2 of my running. I hate running.

However, I'm committed to keeping at it 3 days a week (weather permitting) to get my butt back in shape and FINALLY losing the weight I want to lose. I was overweight before getting pregnant, then added pregnancy weight, then lost all the pregnancy weight plus 10 extra pounds and now I'd like to get off 20 more. So, based on the success of some of my friends who've been running, I'm giving it a go. My legs feel like they've been run over, but I hope to keep it up until I don't feel like puking at the end.

My sister and I have a Vegas trip planned for this 4th of July weekend, and I really like to be down the poundage by then. 20 lbs in 6 months...I think I can, I think I can!

erin

Hello, Hello Again!

Well, that was a quick 2 months gone by. Apparently I'm not going to be quite the daily blogger I once was. I guess a 9 month old will do that to you. To me, anyway. So, I thought I'd just sum up the previous 2 months with photos...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

Very first pumpkin!

Cutie!

Let's Carve!
Rock Star!
Happy Halloween!

First visit to Santa
Christmas Party!

We are just about to walk



Decorating...
The tree!
Christmas Eve Party!

Just a couple of gifts...

Happy Holidays!!

Hope to post again soon!

erin

Welcome back!

Blogging has become such a different priority for me now that I am a mom, but I still enjoy doing it so I'm doing my best. Plus our internet is so shoddy, we never know when the darn thing is going to be up and running. It's a problem we're currently working on.

Well let's get to the main news of my life...

Eleanor is wonderful! She just went for her 4 month check up today (though she turned 4 months on the 22nd) and here is what's going on with her:
weight: 14.88lbs
length: 24 & 1/8"

Today she also sat up by herself 3 times for anywhere from 5-15 seconds and the doctor gave the okay to begin stage 1 baby food since she is doing so well on rice cereal.

I cannot believe my tiny baby is getting so big and grown up so fast! Wow.

In other news:
-My uncle, cousin, sister, brother-in-law and nephew all visited this weekend...lots of fun and one over-stimulated baby!
-I cut my dog behind the ear trying to cut a hair clump out of her fur and that turned into a gross, smelly nightmare. But, being the ameteur vet that I am, I fixed it.
-I keep finding dead mice in our basement. Smelly, yucky, boo. I am fixing that situation with poison.
-I joined a local baby talk group with friends...lots of fun.
-Bought a few new furniture items for the house...love them.
-Moved the computer upstairs so I don't have to use it amoung smelly dead mice.
-Danny is still working (yay!)
-I'm planning a Vegas trip with my sister...now just trying to figure out when the hell we'll be able to leave kids and go!

Days are moving fast and my to do list is never empty, but I really like the way things are going for me and my family.

Hope to post a little more often!

erin

You Say It's Your Birthday

Okay, I will...

It's my birthday. Today I turn 27, which seems too old for me. 27 is not old, but I don't feel like I should be that close to 30 already! This is also my first birthday as a mom and my first birthday without my dad, so all in all...kind of a weird one, but also a good one. I went out to dinner with Danny and my mom (and Miss Eleanor, of course) last night and got a new pair of earrings from Mom, which I was really hoping to get. I'm the kind of person who puts in a pair of earrings and continues to wear them everyday, I never take them out. Well, I had a nice pair of studs for that, but Harrison ate them, so I was left only with large, dangly earrings and you can't sleep in those. But now I have another pair of studs, so I'm set! I feel that earrings give my face a much better look in some way.

Tonight Danny has something planned or at least a surprise for me, so I'm not sure what is happening there...guess I'll find out after work!

Tomorrow my sister and nephew are coming to town and she and I are going to dinner and to see Eclipse. We're not quite the fanatics of this series like other people, but we enjoy seeing the movies.

Tomorrow is also my very last day of work! This was sort of a birthday present to myself, I guess. And of course I'm looking forward to my new line of work - stay-at-home-motherhood.

This weekend is the 4th. It was this time last year that I unknowly but thankfully got pregnant (is that too much detail? Oh well, it's no secret). I remember feeling SO bad on the 4th of July, plus is rained all day so that didn't help, but actually I was feeling the early early effects of pregnancy. I didn't find out about it until the 19th. It's hard to believe I've gone through all that and now have a smiling sweet little girl to show for it. It really is a miraculous process!

So, here's goodbye to the last year, year 27, and here's hello to the beginning of my 28th year. Man, thirty is just around the corner!

erin

Working on the Chain Gang (part II)

No longer!

That's right, I officially gave my 2 weeks notice on Monday. I am so excited to be a stay-at-home mom!

I certainly didn't think I would be leaving the job so soon. I really wasn't planning on staying for too long, about 6 weeks or so while Mom watched Eleanor, but circumstances changed and I am leaving now!

Interestingly enough, I will miss some stuff about work...some of the people, some of the events and so on. I'll miss being on the inside of the organization and having a hand in a lot of the goings on here, but the reward of being home with my girl certainly outweighs it all for me. I think things would be different if I was in love with my work, but I'm not, so the decision is pretty easy in that regard, but still, for the last 8 years I've worked in some capacity at this place, so it will be odd to not come here daily (and nightly and on weekends and ALL THE TIME!). Now, instead of running the camps, we'll be the campers, instead of booking the volunteers, we'll be the volunteers (um....maybe). Instead of wearing heels and staying in the building, we'll hike the bike trail and have picnics outside (if the heat index ever goes down, for the love). And who knows, maybe someday I'll work here again (part time, PART TIME), but until then, I'm going to enjoy myself as a mom.

And I have to thank my husband for being the lone breadwinner now. With his last raise we decided this was pretty doable and he works HARD for his money. I really appreciate his willingness to carry the burden of financial support. But let's be honest, I have the real hard job!

On to the next adventure...

erin

Oh Danny boy...

Gotta keep it festive...St. Pat's day right around the corner!

I've been a bit neglectful of the blog only because I'm tired and uncomfortable and trying to tie up loose ends here at work (where I do most of my blogging...sorry work) and really, until a birth a child, nothing is going on.

Spring is making an attempt here in Illinois! Warmer temps, some sunshine (not today, today is dull and rainy), my garden is beginning to grow also! Well, I think it still qualifies as Mom's garden. All the work put into is hers, I just inherited it with the house and all the years I lived there and watched her cultivate, pull things, transplant things, tend it and so forth, I never really got too interested. I watered occasionally, but that was about it. I reluctantly tagged along to buy flowers and it's not like I had a bad time, I just wasn't so interested then. Now, though, I have a growing motivation to take charge of it (with my mom's help though...mom.) and keep it going! I might even want to plant more things, vegetables and herbs and such! Ah spring, how you motivate me so...now the real trick it sticking with it. Add it to the list of projects I'm DETERMINED to stick to: lose the baby weight plus the weight I needed to lose before the baby, maintain the garden, raise a child, keep house clean, etc.

I guess we're about to find out how it all goes! Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, and let's just throw a shout out to Danny so the title of my blog is appropriate. Go husband! He really has been pitching in around the house lately. 2 days of laundry in a row, vacuumed the house, grocery shopped...he is ready for me to no longer be pregnant just as much as I am!

erin

Hazy Shade of Winter

Or a Whiter Shade of Pale...either will do.

Anyone else tired of winter? Anyone that lives not in a tropical or temperate climate, that is?

Beginning tonight and continuing tomorrow and possibly even the next day, we are in for more snow. Oh snow, you've come around here 3 or 4 times this year and I've simply had enough of you. I'm tired of driving precariously. Not that I drive like a crazy person, but when you have to begin breaking 1 mile before your stop and creeeeep around corner so you don't lose traction, that is annoying. I'm tired of shoveling snow (and when I say "I" I mean Danny because I haven't picked up a shovel one time this year...but I grow tired of him having to do it out of sympathy). I'm tired of picking snow clumps out of Harrison's paws. Every season has it's paw debris, winter is no exception and snow, while being the least offensive to me out of the others (mud, leaves, grass), is still a pain to extract from a wiggly, impatient 85 pound dog's paws. I'm tired of the power bill costing me my life's savings because it is so cold and rates keeps going up as a surprise. Actually, I'm tired of two power bills costing me my life's savings, but that's another complaint for another complainy blog.

What I'm hoping is that since this potential "snow storm" has been so hyped up now by all the locals and news, it won't amount to much, as is usually the case. I remember so many times wishing for huge amounts of snow in order to get out of school and anytime it got all hyped up, it never happened! Snow days now are no fun when you still have to go to work, but I'm still hoping the stigma stands true. And it's not like we're even supposed to get tons of snow...3-5 inches is all, but that is enough to cause me irritation. It's enough for drivers across our great state to forget how to drive. It's enough for a mass run to the grocery store for soups and milk (and I actually NEED to go to the grocery store, poor timing snow!).

Here's the deal...as this has been a pretty negative post about our weather potential, if it turns out to be not so bad, I will write a happy winter post to make up for my bitterness...how does that sound, snow? Sounds good to me!

In other news, Danny and I have become Prepared Childbirth Class dropouts. I know! I've never dropped a class in my life, and Danny, well academic loyalty knows no truer observer than my husband (riiiiight). Last week we were both sick with colds so we opted out of going and it turns out that was pretty much the "here is what to do with your baby after it is born" class, so since we missed that one, we're going to just forgo this last one on breastfeeding. Plus, I learned nothing I hadn't already read in my "baby quest" of last year, so it seemed a bit of a waste. We did get to go on the hospital tour, so that was good and I feel we'll survive even though we are dropouts. Those pioneers didn't have prepared childbirth class and look how well they did! We're simply following the "parental pioneer" way of child rearing. Our kid will churn butter with the best of em!

I'll see ya on the other side of our winter weather...here's hoping!

Shower the people you love with love

Paint it Black

Oh Black Friday...

We went.  The "we" was my sister and me.  We hadn't been since she was pregnant back in 2006 (right?) and we had gone for a few years up until then.  And then we didn't go for a while.  I'm not sure if it was because plans kept us apart on Fridays or we just had enough of the crazies and needed a reprieve, but for whatever reason, this was our first venture back into the madness of the start of the holiday shopping season in a few years.

At first, I had no intentions of going.  Emy mentioned something about heading out, but I was unsure of my level of commitment and stamina due to being just about 6 months pregnant (tomorrow!).  But then, I got a second wind...first wind?  Was there even wind at this point?  Nevermind.  I got motivated to go and there were some deals Em wanted to score like the 32" flat screen at Target for $250.  I really had nothing pending I wanted, but Black Friday shopping is no one man task.  So I was all set to go!  Then she broke the news of what time we were heading out.  4am.

4am!

Also please note that we were doing Thanksgiving at Mom's later that day, so we still had cooking turkey, potatoes, green beans, etc. to accomplish that day.

So I reluctantly agreed to be up and ready and pick her up at Mom's at 4am so we could get to Target no later than 4:30am for the 5am opening.

When we got to Target, I first saw no line of people, though I did see plenty of cars.  Well, there was a line.  What I thought was a long line.  But, by the time 5am rolled around, the line had grown to at least 1 mile long, wrapping around the entire store.  Our goal was a tv, though being about 100 people back and hearing the store manager talk about no running, pushing, biting (yes, biting), we were skeptical of our chances on the tv front.  So we figured out what else we would shoot for ($3 toaster, blender for mom, husband gifts, maybe sheets?).  We got into the store and we were off.  No, there was no real running, though my sister did run about 3 steps in the end, rebel...but I was on cart duty and she planned on heading straight to the tv section, which according to our maps was to be located in maternity on this cold morning.  I lost her in the crowd in my attempts at cutting people off to get a cart (sorry) but when I caught up with her, she was smiling, and hauling a big tv box back through the racks!  SCORE!  We got one of the probably 25 tvs available, that literally were gone by 5:02am.

We also managed to pick up everything else on the list and got in the long long line by 5:20am (I was the time keeper) and by 6am, we were back at home with our loot, ready for the day!

Oh Black Friday, you may be crazy, but we former Evans' girls heart you so!

erin

Thanks for the Memories

We all know Thanksgiving is this Thursday and this time of year is when we all take a moment to reflect on the good things in life, the things we are thankful for...

And sometimes that's hard, especially this year. This year has been hard. There have been a lot of things this year that we've had to struggle with, struggle though, and struggle to comprehend and I have a difficult time finding reasons to be thankful for such struggles. Death, no work, bad economy, 12 months of negative pregnancy tests, rude/thoughtless relatives, rude/thoughtless co-workers, too much rain...the list flows like floodwater, especially this year.

But, there is also something that comes with struggle and that is strength. And even though it is harder than hell to look past what is right in front of you to find the thing that keeps you going, it's important to try. This is what separates us as survivors in life.

So here is my list of thanks for the strength I've found through the struggles:
-Danny has worked 2 months in 2009. This has made life a definate struggle financially and emotionally, but we've perservered through it and managed to both make ends meet and do a lot of home projects. We've also learned to cope with the stress of no work, so I'm thankful for that.
-There have been instances where people have shocked me with their rudeness and thoughlessness, even relatives in our family. I've really struggled with letting the resentments for these people go this year, but I find that in doing so, I no longer have to harbor feelings of resentment. It doesn't change them, but nothing will. I, however, do not have to make myself feel worse because they lack a level of maturity and sensitivity. So they can have it, and I'll move on and be thankful that I am able to do so.
-Our house is still for sale. I realize many people have faced this and are currently in the same boat due to our current state of economy. I would be so happy if someone would just buy the damn thing, but I'm thankful for our situation and that we don't have to make 2 mortgage payments, we don't have to go through foreclosure, we can just ride this out until it's over.
-12 months of being told "no" sucks, plain and simple. I never thought it would take so long for us to get pregnant and during those 12 months it was very hard to hold on to hope that nothing was wrong. Turns out, nothing was wrong and here we are, 5 months pregnant. For that I'm thankful, but I've also realized I'm thankful for that year. If nothing else, we learned that having a baby is something we truly want. During our moments of stress and worry, it's still something we desperately wanted and our resolve was tested. So now we get to fully enjoy the experience of waiting without worry for our child to be born. Nerves, sure, but not worry.
-And that leads me to death. I want to say that I am in no way thankful for losing my Dad. He wasn't in pain, he wasn't sick, he wasn't ready and I'm can't find any "thanks" for his passing. I would give it all back to have him back, but unfortunately, that's not how it works. And everyday it's a struggle to think about and deal with and everyday I have to find the strength to deal. But a lot of days I do find that strength and I am able to deal with it. For this I am thankful and I credit this to my dad. Somehow, I believe, he made it possible for me to go on without him here. And the strength I've gained by going through that whole experience is something no one can take from me. It's almost a bravery to face the unknown. Many times in life you try to prepare yourself for bad news by picturing the worst thing that could happen to you and thinking of a coping mechanism for that. Well I've been through the worst and look at me, I'm doing alright. So what else is there to fear? What else is there to worry about? Not much, and for that I am thankful. Thanks, Dad...you still keep me going.

So there you have it. A list of struggle that I've taken control of and giving a new spin to. For that ability, I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

erin

Working on the Chain Gang

Whew!

That's all I can say.

I think nesting mode is kicked in!

Now, usually when I "dedicate" a weekend to cleaning, it's a half-hearted thing. I have the best intentions, and then I usually scale back what should get done to what really only needs to be done to look passible until the next round of cleaning happens. And after that 2 hours or so, I'm totally non-functioning for the rest of the weekend.

Not so this past weekend.

I didn't even go into Saturday with a gigantic to-do list. I had somethings I wanted to accomplish, I knew my mom was going to be helping me, and that was that. I was even attempting to scale back as I made my way to the grocery store for the first time in about a month (yay for macaroni and cheese keeping us going).

But then I picked up Mom and her cleaning equipment, we made our way back to my house, put groceries away and it was on!

What we accomplished:
After I filled in at work from 7:30am-9:30am:
-I cleaned both bathrooms
-Mom vacuumed the MOUNDS of dog hair from the dining room
-Got a load of dishes washing
-Mom and I washed the dining room floor (this is a large floor, mind you)
-Followed by steaming the dining room floor
-Followed by polishing the dining room floor
-I vacuumed other rooms in the house
-We put clean dishes away
-Mom did more dishes. I swear dishes multiply while you do them!
-I promptly fell down on my bed for 40 minutes while Mom finished ripping down all wallpaper from my old bedroom to prepare for the transformation into a nursery.
-Danny finished painting in the hallway (so all rooms but the nursery have now been repainted).
-Danny fixed our fence out back so now there is a working gate.
-Danny and I both raked/swept leaves in the front and back yard (that 97 year old rake that we've had my ENTIRE life gave me wicked blisters because I did not wear work gloves...silly me).
-I participated in a very futile job of cleaning the back door of dog nose and paw prints. They will return shortly.
-I made dinner, which is not a big deal, but I totally wasn't planning on doing so and hey, it was a long day! Then I did dishes, again!
-I fell asleep at 8pm
End Saturday.

On Sunday, my entire plan was to do nothing but watch mindless television, which I did for a good while, but then I started a load of laundry, picked up drop cloth in the living room, attempted to move the piano (I thought I would just slide around, not so much), folded AND put away said laundry, started another load, and finally took a nap.

I did notice that soon I will need to vacuum the basement steps and change out the shower curtain in the guest bathroom, but I think those tasks will have to wait until the next nesting jag kicks in...which could be later today.

erin

The Monster Mash

It's almost Halloween!

I'm realizing that this will be one of the last Halloween's that I don't have to do much.

I pretty much stopped trick or treating in middle school, when a lot of my friends kept doing it for a few years. Besides myself and a few friends, there were a ton of other kids trick or treating in my neighborhood, so when we kind of lost interest, that was that. For a few years after that I helped pass out candy, but over the years the trick or treating really dropped off in my neighborhood.

Then I went to college. And literally I am trying to remember what we did on Halloweens...I know one year we opened our door for kids who would trick or treat at the dorms (that was Freshman year, when there was a lot of other options on Halloween and our dorm was so far from life, it wasn't worth the walk). But seriously, I can't recall specifics on college Halloweens. Hmm.

Then I had my own home in a more popular trick-or-treating neighborhood and Danny and I were pumped to hand out candy until like the second group came by and then it was a "no you do it, no you" kind of thing. Lost lots of appeal very quickly.

So last year, we went trick or treating with our nephew which was nice and we didn't have to deal with buying/eating/handing out candy, though since Austin was only 1 and a half, we did eat most of his candy...sorry, buddy.

This year we are going to a Halloween costume party (I got really creative and bought cat ear and a tail...whoo!) and again, won't have to worry about candy, however, now that we've moved back to my childhood home, I doubt the trick or treating has picked up much.

From now on though, I will have a child, upon which this holiday really revolves. Costumes (do I go store bought or homemade?), candy (do I go cheap or fun?), eventually classroom parties (do I become a room mother or stay out of it?) trick or treating (who stays to pass out candy and who takes the kid?). It's no longer a "whatever" time of year. It's one more opportunity to make a lot of decisions, get cavities, and above all else, have fun.

Happy Halloween!

erin

You've Really Got A Hold on Me

My ode to Macaroni and Cheese...

I love macaroni and cheese, any kind really. I especially love the old run of the mill, out of the box Kraft kind. I know, I'm fancy. It seems like mac and cheese has had a significance in my life from a very early period.

My first memories of mac and cheese...I can't have been older than 3 or 4, and I, excuse the graphic nature of this memory, but I got sick in the hallway of what is now my home again and my sister SWEARS I left a "macaroni trail" which I kind of recall. Gross, but there it was.

Every time I was sick or stayed home from school with something, my mom made me macaroni and cheese, and to this day anytime I feel under the weather, that's what I want to eat if I feel like eating. And it's really perfect if Mom is around to make it.

It was the food I could make myself from start to finish, no problem. Since then I'd like to say my culinary skills have somewhat improved and I've even made mac and cheese from scratch, but I did get the timing down to a flat 7 minutes when it comes to the kraft version.

And now that I'm growing a person, its the food I want ALL THE TIME. I guess you'd call it a craving. Now don't get me wrong, I don't eat this stuff everyday (Mom, this is for you), and I'm happy to incorporate other foods into my meals, but I kind of need it at least once a week. Today at lunch, Danny made some and I couldn't get out the door to head back for work until I had some of his...I already ate my lunch. I asked him to pick up some at the store the other day and when he came home with 12 boxes, I figured I was a little obsessed.

Hopefully, when my child is old enough to fully enjoy the goodness that is mac and cheese, I will let him/her actually eat some.

I've got a feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night...

Thank the lord my husband is FINALLY going back to work!

Hopefully for a while....but you never know...

After getting laid off in January, we're now looking at more than just a couple days work here and there or side jobs, though side jobs have really gotten us through this long 7, almost 8 months. And I have to give him hugh props for seeing this through as he has. Yes, he's brought home unemployment and other funds, but not working takes its toll on a man, mine at least and in the last few months I can only count on one hand the couple of times its really gotten him down to the point of being outwardly depressed. Fortunately for him, he had the finishing rennovations on our house to sustain him for a few months and yes, side jobs, couple of which he'll continue doing on weekends, but to have someone call and say we need to at work tomorrow morning...he's been waiting for that!
"Because if he would have had to clean our house one more time...." guess I get that lovely task back, in other words. I'll take it. I'll take cooking and cleaning back happily. I've always had laundry, I can't get rid of that job at all! But it's too bad, because that guy can make a mean dinner!

In other news, our facebook is still a no go here at work. Boo.

It's my birthday too, yeah!

My birthday was on the 1st, right in the middle of my vacation.

The vacation was my gift to myself.

I had a really nice day! Danny planned a fun dinner with friends which was a big surprise to me, although I started to suspect something when he suggested I wear my new top to dinner. He rarely suggests outfits. My mother-in-law made me a fantastic cake, too, which we enjoyed back at our house with all our dinner companions. Earlier in the day I made the trip up to Bloomington with Mom, who was delivering Austin back to Emy and Nick after spending the night in Elwin. So I got to see all my family on that day too.

Danny got me a beautiful necklace that matches a ring he gave me on our first Christmas (although he didn't know that at the time) and an air popcorn popper! We have already enjoyed a few batches of popcorn from this.

On Thursday, I went to the pool with Mom and totally burned my legs to a crisp. Oh well, being fair skinned and getting absolutely no sign of burnage on our Mexican honeymoon, I was due. Then Danny came and met us for lunch.

On Friday we went to dinner with Mom and Dad and then off to meet friends and I enjoyed one or two or seven drinks. That was also a really good time!

Now I have to remember to get my license renewed this weekend so I don't end up not doing it for 9 months like my husband.

Here's to being 26!

erin

Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies

Or cloudy, rainy, chilly skies...

So, 4th of July...really? That was it? Independence Day, Land of the Free, and I spent it how?

I woke up at roughly 7am, and it was darkish outside, cloudy. I fell back asleep and awoke later (obviously, but I don't recall the time...9am-ish?) and it was still dark and cloudy. Now something about my house, and I'm going to be bold and post this even though we are in a "state of sale" because I don't think any of the 7 people who read this blog are planning on purchasing my home...well our house, you cannot tell if it's raining. Let me clarify. It's not like there are no windows, quite the contrary, but just the positioning of the neighbors and trees and things of that nature, you have to literally walk up to a window and look out to see if it is raining. So, when I woke up and saw that it was dark and cloudy, I was unsure if anything else was going on. Apparently, it was raining.

And it rained all.day.long.

Happy 4th of July! A day to get outdoors and light sparklers, have block parties, grill out, golf, swim, hang out with friends...not this year! Not at all!

We were invited to a party, initially starting at 6pm. Then, due to forecasted rain, it was changed to 2pm. At 2pm, it was pouring, but our friends were determined to have their party. So it was moved back to 5pm. Danny went. I, however, opted out due to my Sunday plans. I remained bored at home with the dog, continued re-reading my Harry Potter books and watching tv. We got into bed at like 9pm, due to Sunday plans, and listened to fireworks. I saw no fireworks this year. They postponed the official fireworks until Sunday night, but lots of individual Independence day celebrations went ahead with their own and I listened to them while Harrison barked at them for about an hour. Happy 4th of July! We didn't go to the rescheduled fireworks on Sunday because of my Sunday plans.

So the Sunday plans...woke up at 5:30am, tried to get dressed. I put a particular t-shirt into the dryer the night before and only the t-shirt to ensure its dryness for that day. Apparently I did not set the dryer for very long because upon opening it up the next early morning it was more than damp. So I tried to get a few more minutes of dry time in, but ended up donning my uncomfortably damp t-shirt and "still wet from fording through the river that was the Kroger parking lot yesterday" jeans that I thought would be dry as well. Then a co-worker picked me up at 6am and low and behold he had an official event t-shirt for me to wear for the event of the day: The Rodney T. Miller Triathlon. It's Chicago Bears' orange, so Danny feels I can easily sew some kind of Bears logo over the Triathlon logo and wear it this football season! Sure, hon!

Anyhoo, I was one of 12 volunteers for this triathlon, who would be in "safety canoes" out on the lake for the 1 mile swimming portion of the race for tired swimmers to hang onto during the course. We had 5 people stop by our canoe and almost tip us, and we had to maintain our position for 1 hour before the race actually began in the cold, drizzly, windy weather. My back it sore today, but all in all, it was a decent time. However, after spending roughly 5 hours down at the lake and getting up oh-so-early on the last day of my vacation and working for free led me to not want to return to the Lake and sit and watch fireworks with Decatur's finest and get bug bites. Also, Danny golfed that day, all day, and he was too tired for fireworks. All fireworks. Instead, we got Pizza Factory calzones (of which I only ate half, whereas a few months ago I would have eaten the entire thing...portion control, it's essential) and ordered the movie Notorious off our On Demand. It's the movie about the rapper Notorious B.I.G. It was pretty good, entertaining anyway.

And so today, Monday, July 6th, I find myself back at work after a week of a fantastic vacation and great 26th birthday, which I will blog about next time. What was waiting for me when I returned? Well, here's a short list:

-Lots of mail
-Lots of email
-1 potential new volunteer
-1 potential new volunteer clean up event
-My CPR/First Aid cards made out to "Erin Moyes"
-An article deadline that I was assigned WHILE ON VACATION (what?!)
-Missed co-workers
-Not missed co-workers
-Lunch hour phone duty
-No voicemails! Hard to believe, but appreciated.
-A new calendar of events
-A "typo" pointed out to me on a flyer I created
-A "typo" on an already-created pamphlet I used to create my flyer, therefore negating a "typo" on my part. I pointed this out with a smile.
-Chips in the kitchen. There are ALWAYS chips in the kitchen. I ate none.

Sad to be back, yet okay with being back. And what's really getting me through the day is the rest of my calzone waiting for me at home. I even texted Danny to remind him not to eat or let anything happen to it because I AM GOING TO EAT TO TONIGHT AND I CAN'T WAIT! Portion control also makes you manical about leftovers, apparently.

erin

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Man, it's been a while and I've done many things...so here's a recap of sorts:

-"Bon Voyage" party for some friends who are going on a 4 week trip to Europe. Just the two of them. I don't know if Danny and I could handle that, but it sounds like a great time.
-Took dog to vet...1 year old, 84 pounds, she's still the most popular dog there!
-New front door installed, looks fantastic...way to go hubby!
-I made a kick-ass lasagna on Sunday that is still only halfway eaten...this probably isn't noteworthy, but I will post the recipe on the other blog (it's one I stole from Pioneer Woman).
-Danny defended my honor, such a good husband.
-Memorial Day=No Work!
-Moved a mattress downstairs to sleep because the upstairs was SO HOT and I won't turn on the AC. Turned out to be really fun to sleep on the floor in front of the big tv with Harrison jumping all over the place.
-As a result of the above, we basically just hung out all weekend together, watching Jon & Kate plus 8 marathons, relaxing. I have to give my husband props for sucking it up and watching that show with me, plus I let him bitch about Kate as much as he wants...compromise.
-Band practice has been really fun lately!
-Yogilates (this is the correct spelling) kicked my butt on Tuesday, but it was still fun.
-Personal day Wednesday = 12 hours of house cleaning with help from Danny, Mom, and Dad...things are really coming to the finish.
-Realtor came today, looks like we can ask more than we thought for the house...he'll let us know the official number early next week (yay!)

We're just rolling along with life. I'll tell ya though, I'm ready to be done spending money on this house, I'm ready for someone to pay me big bucks for it, and I'm ready to move! I haven't even started packing...that just makes me shudder. But it's right around the corner.

Rollercoaster of Love

So, in a mere 3 weeks, I will no longer be a newlywed.

Or, at least I won't if you go by the whole "you're only a newlywed for the first year" thing. Our one year anniversary is quickly coming up on the 7th of June. I'm really looking forward to it and, of course I can't believe it's been a year already! So many things have happened that I never expected and so many things haven't that I totally did expect. Oh life, aren't you funny? Ha.

Anyway, to celebrate we've had a few ideas. This first...well I don't remember the first. There was some kind of plan, but it went by the wayside quickly, thus me not remembering what it was. Then we were going to get family pictures taken with Harrison. That was a cool idea as the first anniversary is the "paper anniversary" and photos are on paper, yada yada, how fitting! Well, for some reason that kind of went on the back burner and then Danny came home all pumped with his grand idea to celebrate....A weekend in St. Louis, including a trip to Six Flags and the St. Louis Zoo! Hell yes to this! I haven't been to either place in AT LEAST 14 years. The last time I remember going I was 12 and that was Six Flags, I think the last time I went to the zoo I was like 6...so, it's been a while.

So we were all excited about planning the trip and all of a sudden I had a thought...what if I wuss out on the rollercoasters? See, the last few times I've done the six flags thing, I did, in fact, go on the Batman and some of the other rollercoasters, but I always had the safety net of choosing not to participate if I got nervous last minute. There were always enough people going to allow some to ride, some to watch or participate in some other way. Now though, it will just be us and if I don't want to go, he'll have to go by himself and who wants to do that? So I was trying to express this concern and all of a sudden, the whole trip was off. No one was mad, but the point was made that if we're not going to take full advantage of the trip, why spend the money to go? Good point! So, I'm going to just suck it up and ride! What a marital compromise!

We also booked a hotel room, a suite (for once in my life!), and we'll be taking our wedding cake top layer to eat. Wonder how that will turn out in reality. It's been sitting in my parent's freezer for this past year so it wouldn't be prematurely eaten by yours truly. I'm a cake fan, what can I say?

Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to this trip! A little getaway, but without the pressure/stress of going out of the country, catching trains and planes, going through customs, getting swine flu, getting stuck across the border, being sold into an underground prostitution ring, or whatever else we're warned about on the news.

Rollercoasters, here I come!

erin

In the Summertime when the Weather is Nice...

You should grill some turkey brats because those are good!

And I guess if you want to get technical, it's still the springtime, but it sure is nice! I just popped out of my office for a bit and hiked a trail and it was all I could do to come back inside.

And speaking of turkey brats (not an everyday sentence for me), that's exactly what my hubby and I enjoyed last night on our patio. We took Harrison on a walk through the park after I got home from work and then we had brats, fresh spinach salad and strawberries for dinner outside in our backyard. It was really nice! We talked about our plans for the new house, eventually we want to add on and reconfigure some stuff. We talked about our timeline of projects to finish on the current house so we can get it on the market asap...just a few to go! We talked about how much I would not let us have 2 dogs after we move. One goofball golden retriever princess baby dog is enough, especially when we were talking about adding a german shepard to the mix. Not happening.

All in all, it was a lovely evening at home, plain and simple. Looking forward to many more of those this season.

Boom Boom Pow

I've got a new song obsession!

It's been awhile since the last one I blogged about.

This new one, Boom Boom Pow, is a Black Eyed Peas tune and at first, I was not impressed. Way too techno-sounding for me and what is "boom boom pow" anyway? Nevertheless, I found myself bopping about my office. So, the next time I hear it, I discover that in fact, I LOVE this song! I can't not dance to it when it comes on the radio, which is of course, 1100 times a day. So I encourage you to seek this song out if you haven't and give it 2 listens. You'll love it by the second time through. BOOM BOOM POW (stupid, but catchy)!

Speaking of boom boom pow, we were supposed to have all kinds of thunderstorm activity today and while it did rain pretty hard for like 8 minutes, I'm seeing no lightening, hearing no thunder. I am ready for our spring storms! Nothing major, I don't need to have my home relocated or anything, but a little lightening and thunder? Is that too much to ask? I'm sick of this wimpy drizzly business. Let's just do this thing and move on to sunny skies.

Segue to Festival of Spring...very sunny and warm, I even got my first sunburn of the season, though very mild. We had roughly 700 people out that day and I ran around like a crazy person, per usual. After the event, I dragged myself home, showered, saw my husband for the first time in 2 days (in his new glasses no less - he's so cute!), suffered through watching the NFL draft (seriously, that is boring) and headed to my brother and sister-in-law's house for a "wine and wigs party." I wore a wig for the obligatory picture of all of us in our wigs and then I took it off for the rest of the party. Also, I drank no wine or alcoholic beverage of any kind, so I guess I didn't really participate in the theme so well. But, I did eat food, drink water, and rock out on Rock Band, and leave promptly at 11pm...which was way longer than I thought I would make it being tired and sunburned. It was fun! Who doesn't love a good theme party?

Sunday I had to address our laundry situation. Let's just say I was minus pants without ridiculous holes in them and underwear. It was a weird clothing day for me. But I managed to get some stuff clean so I can sit here at work with underwear and a complete pair of pants.

Also, as a side note, while I appreciated the beautiful weekend weather we had, I'm going to have to "tsk tsk" at the humidity in April. I will not be bullied into turning on my AC in April, so mother nature can just take her humidity elsewhere until at least mid-June. And our octogenarian of a house just doesn't cool down well, especially when only like 4 windows open. So, I realize I've spent a good portion of this blog as a weather stickler, but darn it, that's just how I feel!

How do you feel?

erin