Effort

Exhaustion has set in. The crack-of-ass wake-up call? Is killin' me. I love all of the plusses that go along with the early morning routine (the uninterrupted me time, the exercise, the better mood), but by the time the girls are in bed napping? All I want to do is join them. And I've tried. I've hunkered down on the couch...all cozy and warm in my Snuggie. And sleep? Evades me. I stare at the ceiling. I'm absolutely exhausted...but will my eyes close? Nope. Awesome.

So in an effort to stave off the afternoon sluggishness that creeps - and also in an effort to stay away from the yummy WW approved cupcakes hiding in my kitchen - I find myself dicking around on the computer for most of the afternoon. (Before I started waking up at 5:30am, my afternoons were spent doing the things I now do at the crack-of-ass: exercising, cooking, cleaning, etc.) Which is great...and also very frustrating. I don't want to sit here and dick around. Reading or crocheting would feel a bit more constructive, but both of those activities make me even more tired in the afternoons. And sleep? Still evasive. So posting about nothing is today's effort at trying to keep my eyes from rolling back in my head.

So. Life? Is good. My kidlets? Are awesome (and really freaking cute). I can't shouldn't complain (I say shouldn't because I can always find something to complain about).

Monday MEme: I Must Have It!!

Supah and MommyBrain have once again helped to make my Monday fabulous. I ♥ memes! This week's meme is about the one thing you (I) wanted most as a child. So...

So...the one thing I wanted most as a kidlet? Well...see...ummmm...I'm basically what you would call spoiled. I didn't want just one thing...I wanted EVERYTHING. And I almost always got what I wanted. So I'm spoiled (as are my brothers - but not to the same extent). And in all honesty, I am not ashamed to admit it. Maybe I should be. But I'm not. At all.

So...as a kid. I wanted toys. Pretty simple. Toys that I coveted most? Anything Barbie. Barbie styling heads, dolls, clothes, paper dolls, cars/trucks/campers/airplanes, houses, McDonald's...I wanted it all. And I had it all. The vast majority of it came from yard sales or were hand-me-downs from cousins - but I still had it. Didn't matter to me that I was driving my dolls around in the 1972 camper instead of the 1985 one. The only Barbie thing that I kind of wanted was the Barbie Dream House - I never got that.

I also really liked things that were miniature (thank you Mom and Gramma R!!). "Littles" stuff, Charmkins, Glamour Gals - I had it all. And I loved it. I had Ginny Dolls, Raggedy Ann dolls, toys from the movie "Annie" - again. If I wanted it, I almost always got it. My parents pretty much kept Knickerbocker in business. If you want to know what any of those things are, Google them. I'm feeling lazy...

When it came to clothing...I also almost always got what I wanted. My tastes were simple...jeans, shirts, and shoes. I loved Converse. At any given moment from the time I was 10 through maybe age 16, I had at least 5 pairs in various states of wear. My Mom and I wore the same size, so I borrowed hers when I needed a fresh pair to match some new shirt. And yes...I matched my shoes to my shirts. I also matched my glasses to my shirts - but that's a different story. I went through an Aigner snake skin phase when I was in 5th grade. Yep...I seriously rocked loafers with a matching purse.

Basically, what it boils down to is that I was/am spoiled. Not rotten...just spoiled. My parents love(d) shopping, and I love(d) going with them - and both of them are crazy bargain finders. I was guaranteed at least one "present" if I spent the day suit shopping with my Dad - and when my Mom and I went out, I always came home with something, too. My parents (and grandparents) owned an antique shop, so we also did a lot of yard sale-ing, flea marketing, and auction-attending on the weekends. If I behaved, I got something "new". I was the only kid in first grade that proudly played with her entire set of Partridge Family paper dolls (remember - this was 1984...not 1971). Again...spoiled. I know.

The other awesome thing about having parents that loved shopping was that when my Mom or Dad decided they no longer wanted some random piece of clothing or jewelry, I got to have it. My Mom handed down her diamonds and sapphires, my Dad gave me his old silk ties and oxford cloth shirts (which became my obsession when I was a senior).

The spoilage has continued into my adult-hood. My Mom feeds my Vera Bradley and American Girl Doll obsession, and my Dad keeps shoe companies in business. In turn, I am doing my part to keep toy/clothing manufacturers in the black. I am my parents in that I spoil my kids. Am I ashamed? Nope. It is out of hand? Sometimes. But I am also my parents in that I have boundaries, and I am an expert bargain hunter. I hit up end-of-season sales like a woman possessed, and I also yard-sale (and hunt for stuff on eBay). I am perfectly content to clean up a used toy and pass it off as new, and I have started "recycling" my unwanted goodies (my kids have books, old toys, purses, shirts, jewelry, etc. that were mine).

Ok, so the point...I never really had to "sell" my young soul to get what I wanted. I just got it. Well, unless I whined about it. Then I got NADA.

Crack of Ass

That's what time I've started getting up in the mornings - 5:30am - a.k.a. the ass crack of the day. And while I cringe when the alarm goes off, I am loving my new routine. I am much happier, I have less stress, and I am getting so much more accomplished.

The reasons for the early wake-up-call? Are many.

1) My husband used to run. I say "used to" because the man hasn't bothered to drag his sorry (and currently slightly larger) ass out of bed to trot for almost 10 months now. He claims that he's too tired to get up, that he doesn't want to leave me alone in the house with 3 kids so early in the morning (WTF? He leaves me alone with them all day. I realize mornings are tougher, and I annoy much easier, but still. Not at all a valid argument now that they are almost completely self-sufficient.), and that he doesn't have the time. I am sick and damned tired of listening to him bitch that his jeans are too tight and that I am somehow holding him back from running. He's also been really frustrated lately. Running has historically been his outlet for stress-relief, and he needs to get back to it. So I told him that if he got up, I would get up. He scoffed. So now it's all about spite.

2) I've gained between 15 and 20 pounds. The 66 that I lost was awesome...but at the end of that year, I was starving myself to maintain something that wasn't possible. This girlfriend needs to eat more than salad, chicken broth, and sugar-free jello. I'd like to lose 10 of those pounds. My jeans and everything are still cozy, but I'd like them to be a little looser. And I'm going to Florida in a few weeks. It would be nice not to jiggle quite as much. So since the hubby is getting up to exercise, I am, too. I've been exercising every day (or at least 5 days a week), but I'm only doing the bare minimum. Since I started getting up earlier, I am getting in a decent workout before breakfast, and then after I drop E off at school a friend and I walk at least 2 miles in the mall. So instead of averaging maybe 7 miles a week + a little extra cardio, I'm up to 10+ miles with a lot of extra cardio. I walked 4 of those miles today. Hooray!

3) Winter sucked. I hate the dreariness and general blahs of the season, and now that it's getting nicer out I want to make the most of the day. My kids are sleeping in (around here, we consider 6:45 sleeping in), and I am able to get a ton done before their feet even hit the floor. Lunches are packed, laundry is done, dinner is at the very least planned, coffee has been consumed, Facebook games have been played, and I am in a much better mood. Again...hooray!

4) I hate wasting the day sleeping. As much as I love sleeping, I feel so lazy if I stay in bed past 7am. Dragging myself out of bed at 5:30 has really alleviated the tension I feel in the morning. When I was getting up later, everything felt rushed - and that was very frustrating. I would be easily agitated, and I would end up yelling at the kids for basically no reason. Now that I'm exercised, caffeinated, and showered before I even have to look at my kidlets, the mornings are much smoother. Jon's much happier, too, now that he's back to running every morning - and he's noticed a huge change in my morning attitude.

5) I realized that I am a morning person. I fought this notion for years simply because I didn't want to get out of bed. But I am so much happier and more productive in the morning. My fantastic mornings give way to fantastic afternoons, and the evenings? Have been nothing short of awesome. Sure the kids are annoying, but because I'm nowhere near as stressed out I'm better able to deal with it without losing my temper. Much.

Monday MEme - Pretty or Not: A Prom Story

Prom. Oh the mem'ries. Below you will Courtney in what she deemed the height of Junior Prom fashion. That red satin ballgown was my first purchase from Victoria's Secret. What? You didn't know that once upon a time they sold actual clothes? That covered more than the bottom half of a boob? Well...they did. Every year they put out a holiday dress guide...and this was in the Winter 1995 edition. And I fell in love. And, if I do say so myself, I looked pretty damned good!

My date was an ass. He was the high school boyfriend that treated me like absolute and total shit, and he was cheating on my 17 year-old self at the time. Awesome. There are pictures in my yearbook of him making fun of me behind my back while we were dancing. Again...awesome. I spent the evening crying and being miserable. But, he can suck it. 'Cause I loved this dress. And I looked fabulous!! Especially when I completed the ensemble with my Gigi's mink stole. Yeah, I was that girl. Mink, huge pearls, silk garters... but again...I looked fabulous!


After the horrific time I had at my junior prom, I decided to take a friend to my senior prom. Sure I had a crush on him - and I had a boyfriend (who was away at school) at the time, but such is life. This is what 1996's dress looked like:

Courtesy of the Deb shop. Very short, very shiny, and very blue. It also cost over $200 less than the red dress. I still wore silk garters, but the milk was replaced with more silk and the pearls with diamonds. You can't see the hair, but it was also very shiny - my french braid was wrapped in gold ribbons, and it looked awesome. I had the best time!! My girlfriends and I danced and danced, and my date was fun, too. He didn't make fun of me, he treated me like a lady, and he looked great, too. It was a fantastic night.

I don't cringe much when I look back om my prom experiences. Junior prom taught me that I didn't deserve to be treated like a chump (though I let the Tool treat me like a chump for another year), and my senior prom showed me how awesome it was to dance til my feet hurt with my buddies.

I Can't Believe It.

I have a 6 year-old. How in the world did that happen? It boggles my mind.

My handsome boy with his loot.

Special birthday breakfast!

Mommy loves you, Gabriel!!

Making a wish.

Totally Tube-ular, Take 2

Once upon a time, there was a pretty little girl named Janna. She was a sweet, bubbly little thing, with huge brown eyes and a mop-top of brownish curls. She had cute pink ears that stuck straight out from the sides of her head. And while these cute little ears were absolutely adorable, they also hated Janna. No one knows why Janna's ears hated her, but every winter they caused her pain and suffering.

One winter morning while Janna was still a baby, Janna's Mommy took the pretty little girl to a special doctor. After sitting in the waiting room of the Special Doctor's office for over an hour, the Special Doctor looked inside Janna's ears and was very upset to discover that the little girl's ears were filled with yucky monsters. So a few weeks later, the Special Doctor put magical green tubes in Janna's cute little ears. The monsters went away, and Janna and her Mommy were very happy.

Time passed, and the monsters didn't return. Mommy was very excited, and thought that maybe the monsters had gone away forever. Then one day, when Janna was two, she started to cry. Her ears were hurting her. The monsters had come back! Mommy was very upset, and took the pretty little girl to the doctor. They went to the doctor every few weeks, and Janna had to take lots and lots of pink medicine. But the monsters wouldn't go away.

So Mommy called the Special Doctor. And she took the pretty little girl to see him again. They sat in the waiting room for well over an hour again, and when the Special Doctor looked in Janna's ears he saw the monsters. And he was very upset. He didn't think that such a pretty little girl should have such ugly monsters in her ears. So he told Mommy and Janna that he would once again put a set of magical tubes in the cute little ears.

To be continued after March 19th...that's when the Special Doctor is going to do battle with the monsters in Janna's ears.

MEme Monday: Smoochie Smooch!!

I ♥ MEme Monday. It just makes me smile. This week, Supah and Mommybrain want to hear a story about your FIRST KISS. Good times!!

I was a late bloomer. Seriously. I was still very happily playing with Barbies and stuff while some of my girl friends were experimenting with kissing. I had crushes and I knew exactly who I wanted to kiss, but I really had no desire to actually do the kissing. Just the thought of someone sticking their tongue in my mouth was enough to make me want to puke - and the fact that one of my BFFs gave me specific details of what it was going to be like didn't really help. Basically what it boiled down to was that I was scared. And completely freaked out.

My first technical kisses - the small peck and the French one - were both with the same boy - the one I had a crush on and actually wanted to kiss. 8th grade for the peck, 9th for the tongue. The peck was fine. Nothing to be overly tense about. It was in front of the buses after school. The other one? Freaked me out. Well, the anticipation had me freaked out. He'd kissed other girls...I'd kissed no one. I was still slightly disgusted by the thought of tongues actually touching, and I was of course petrified that I would do it wrong. We were kind of on a "double-date" (my BF dated his cousin so the four of us hung out a lot together), and the other two left us alone in a very dark bedroom. It was very weird and I was very nervous. So I pretty much dove right in. I guess it was ok with him since he pretty much dove right back. He was a total tool, but we did a lot of kissing though high school and into college.

My first real kiss? The kind that made my toes curl and knees go weak? Was with my now husband. We'd been dating for a while, and I knew I liked him...I just wasn't sure how much I liked him. Back story: Jon came home to visit one weekend (he went to school in NY, I was in PA), and he brought a female friend with him. She, of course, was a skank that wanted him, but it didn't really bother me. Until the next week. When he told me that after he went back to NY with her, they kissed. It pissed me off in the worst way, and I realized that I was a complete fool. Long-ish story short, he came home again two weeks later, and I kissed the hell out of him. Toes? Curled. Knees? Weak.