Counting on my dreams

Ooh, my quality of life just improved. The kids get on the bus later than last year. Much later. That means we get to sleep in. More sleep = a happier me. This, however, may mean that I won't be getting up a half an hour earlier than the kiddos. Because they will probably wake up on their own with this new schedule. Earlier than they need to. And I'm not waking up a half an hour earlier than early. Sorry. Not happenin'. Trust me. I'm down with this new plan. (is that last sentence still cool?)

Also. I realized in the commotion of switching to a new bank that I made a $137 oversight. In my favor. Ha! Even better than finding a $20 in your pocket.

Which sort of makes me wonder if I'm doing the right thing by going back to school for Tax Preparation. Oh, yes. And I'm really excited about it. If I like it, which I'm 99% sure I will, I am going to go for my Accounting degree. YAY! This is kind of a huge thing for me, but I'm really happy to do this for myself. My history has shown that when my baby gets to be this age (over a year), life gets easier and I start looking for something for myself. I've never dared to take this step in the past. Which is weird, because I've done other things- like the Fitness Instructor thing- that weren't necessarily a long term goal of mine. I guess the things that you really want just hold so much more value and therefore the chance of failing at them is a greater risk. But greater risks also mean greater rewards. So why not do what I really want to do? That being said, I'm incredibly nervous and excited in equal portions. It's kind of life changing for me, if you can understand that. I'm really allowing myself to do something that I've wanted to do since high school. Kids to raise or not. I've realized that if you don't embrace your opportunities for happiness, who will?

So here's to fulfilling life's dreams and ambitions! And getting more sleep in the process.

It's been a long time since anything has made me laugh as hard as this did. My favorite office people (T-bag, A-game and Kristy) take note. My shoulders are still shaking from the aftershocks.

Color me healthy. No, seriously. Try to.

I did one thing today that I pretty much swore I'd never do. No, you weirdo, I did not healthify chocolate chip cookies, thankyouverymuch. I told you I would never do that and on that, you have my word. I made homemade crackers. Not that I have anything against it. Certain circumstances, like dietary restrictions, make it reasonable to make something like that. It's just not something I was ever planning on doing. But. I did. And they were pretty good. The kids helped me cut them out with miniature cookie cutters, so it was a fun thing to do with the girlies. Heaven knows I have enough girls to include in things.

Oh. And a second thing. I made healthified popsicles. Hoo boy. I didn't make them in a these-are-just-as-good-as-ice-cream-sandwiches way, I made them in a these-are-a-funner-way-to-eat-your-veggies way. And I told my kids as much. They have the choice to take 'em or leave 'em. The girlies all claim they are delicious. Logan hasn't taken the plunge. Hey, if they are falling for it...

Plus, a third thing. I healthified dessert. Well, it goes like this. I love dessert. And I rarely reward myself with (homemade) dessert. That being said, I'm not against a cookie here and there. Or Dove Dark Chocolate. Anywho, healthified homemade dessert = less guilt. And, it actually was good. If it wasn't, I wouldn't waste the calories. Trust me. Win, win. It included my two favorite fruits: nectarines and raspberries. So why not? Of course, this is coming from the lady who decided, halfway into the abs challenge, that two months of really healthy eating was over the top and proceeded to make up for lost time with two varieties of Oreos and pizza. Heh. Hey, if it isn't good- don't waste your time putting it in your mouth. (When I Z suggested we invite someone over to share this dessert, I quickly vetoed him. I'm not pushing health upon my guests. I will feed them the sinfully delicious variety. Plus, it didn't make a big pan and I wasn't against cleaning out the remainder myself.)

The links that I included are from two different websites that I've stumbled upon. The eighty twenty website is new to me. LoVe. I love her concept. It suits me well. As a matter of fact, it's like she stole thoughts from my head. And the other one? Well. She doesn't buy snacks for her kid(s). She makes them all from scratch. Which is great in theory, but something tells me that she doesn't have as many kids as I do. But it got me thinking, maybe I could be a little healthier with my kids meals during the school year.

And I've set some goals for myself.

1. Wake up a half an hour before my kids, to enjoy the calm before the storm. Idea taken from Molly Shannon. Great idea. On the rare occasion that I do this, I never regret it. I'm hoping that over the summer I've learned to love waking up to an alarm clock. Heh.

2. In that time, I can start on a real breakfast for my kids. Cold cereal will be for weekends. I need to keep those bellies full. Some grades eat really late and I don't need my kids to be distracted by their bellies screaming from hunger. I'm ahead of the game and have been baking things like muffins and pancakes in excess and freezing them for an easy breakfast.

3. Pack healthier lunches. A water, good sandwich, something healthy (yogurt, fruit, string cheese, etc.) and healthier treat (dark chocolate or something).

Hoo boy. This is a lot of goals and I'll probably crash and burn two weeks into it. And my kids will be waking up ten minutes late because the snooze button has become my friend and they will be trying to shovel as much cold cereal as they can into their mouths before the bus comes and grabbing a Lunchable on the way out the door. Actually, scratch the Lunchable part. For the same price, they can eat an equally questionable, but warm school lunch. But you get the picture.

Picture. Oh, picture! That's right. Isn't my cayenne pepper beautiful? I can't wait to try it in my Migas tonight. YUM-O. I should have waited until it was completely red, but I got ahead of myself. It's just so pretty with all the different colors it is wrapped in.

So. I can't talk anymore. I have an Oreo in my mouth.

I am laughing at me. With you.

It's so much fun when you have a good hair day. I had one once. Best day of my life.
It totally sucks when you have a bad hair day. Or bad hair life.
What's even worse? When even a good hair day won't draw the attention away from whatever else you got going on with your head. That didn't happen to me. The good hair day part.

I'm telling you this for two reasons.
1.) I'm actually trying to give you a nudge to get your moles checked out. If you are my friend, you will do it for yourself.
2.) Because we should lighten up a serious topic.

I had a nudge from a serious situation. And then another from a friend. And I went in and had that really weird looking spot on my part checked out. Turns out, on a scale of 1 to 5: 1 being fine, normal and 5 being cancerous, mine was a 3. It turned out to be nothing (really) for me, yet. So I am glad I got those nudges. Thank you. I went in for a second biopsy to have more area removed. Because they didn't get it all the first time and I sure hope they did this time.
So.
Totally unprepared, because my first biopsy was painless, I underestimated how ridiculous I'd appear for the next few days.

Walking out of the clinic: I had headwrap on. Which, from a distance would look like the headbands that you see people sporting with their ponytails these days. Except I wasn't smart enough to bring in a binder, so I couldn't even pull that off. My hair just sort of hung awkwardly this way and that. Oh, and my hair was streaked with blue from the permanent marker they used to mark the area. (They made a mistake and had to redo it, turning my hair blue.) Add to it: one eyebrow higher than the other. Really. If I had just had a biopsy on the other side, too, then I could walk around looking surprised instead of suspicious/skeptical/whatever emotion one raised eyebrow represents. Anywho. Headwrap, check. One eyebrow raised, check. Oh. And. My eyelids on the one side of my face twitching from the numbing medicine. Nice.

The doc explained to me that within the next day or so, I would end up with either a black eye or a puffy eye. Like almost puffed shut. So when I woke up on Tuesday and my eye was not black, but starting to puff- I thought I was going with the puffy eye. What actually happened was that my forehead became paralyzed and puffy. Yeah. It looks like I have a fat roll on my forehead. Is that even possible? Do people gain weight in their foreheads?! The swelling went away on my eyelids, though. Along with the twitching. But I can't raise my eyebrows. Or. The other eyebrow. Previously mentioned eyebrow is still up there, acting superior to the other one.

At least I got the headwrap off, even though the stitches are bright blue and my hairline is now caked with vaseline. People make a wide berth around me when I walk down the street. Quite possibly they think that I haven't showered in days and don't want to have to risk offending their noses. I just walk past them, one eyebrow raised in question.

Jealousy. That's what that strange new thing you are feeling is called. You wish you could be so cool. Don't worry. I've resigned to wearing headbands or a hat and sunglasses to diminish the attention I've received. It's all a small price to pay for catching something before it became a real problem. Go get yourself checked, it really isn't that bad.

Michigan Woman Finds Tomato With A Nose

Alternate headline: Michigan Woman Finds Tomato Shaped Like a Teapot

Before you go thinking I have completely lost my mind (I actually did a long time ago), this is really meant for someone. And she'll appreciate it. It would be the same person who knows a good news story when she sees one. The person whom I lived with when the breaking news about the potato shaped like a duck came out in the ED. Small towns. There's nothing like 'em.

I just wanted to bring a smile to her face. She is one of my BFF's. She is just no BS and I like that. She listened to me while I moaned and groaned about living here. She inserted the proper sympathetic remarks as I unloaded.

And then the funniest thing happened. I realized I don't mind it here as much as I was thinking. So, I started splashing my house with that color I talked about. And I decided it would be really hard to move out of my house, once I get it to match my vision. But she expects that kind of thing from me -and us- by now. After all, she is one of my BFF's, so she knows me. So to thank her, I had to share the tomato.

I hope I made you curious about my house. I browsed Etsy yesterday and found possible stencils to use for different projects that I might do. I hope you'll stop and see. And offer your opinion or any other suggestions.

SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

They don't know they are here. So don't tell them! Can you imagine how fun this reunion was? Our hostess was Sarah S****. And. Her cousin Heather S**** dropped in for a quick hug and hello. Within the last couple months, I've been feeling a little melancholy. Amongst other less- than-fun emotions. So this was just what the Dr. ordered. I have a long list of reunions I would love to post here. Starting with Lenny & Penny. And you and you. (You know who you are) And then ending with a (finally!) gathering of my blog-tastic network. Seriously. I actually have a prescription for it.

I love this. It makes me smile.

If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands.

What makes a perfect day?

Waking up in time to see your favorite guy before he leaves for work. And. Having him bring the trash to the end of the driveway for you. Then. An hour of quiet time to yourself. Remembering the lunch date you had yesterday with some friends from way back when, two you haven't seen in 8 years. Trying your pre-baby jeans on, just on a whim. And realizing they fit. Like really fit. Not just in a I-just-won't-breathe-or-sit-all-day kind of fit. Finishing the last book in a really good trilogy, with a cup of steaming coffee in your hand. Scrambled eggs for breakfast. Shutting off the A/C and opening the windows. Seeing that it might rain- yay!! And realizing after all of this, it's still only 9:30am. You still have a whole day of happiness ahead.

This is my town.

*happy sigh* Best FB page EVER. "You know you are from C***** if..."

Amongst my favorites go something like this:
*You don't know why, but you kind of miss George and Joannie.
*You've ever heard George's employees kick him out of his own restaurant.
*Or keep working after he "fired" them.
*You bring a cake pan to the Corn Carnival for the corn.
*You ever sat at The Norse for five hours and the only thing you ordered was a coffee.
AKA: Mud.
*You still call Daniels "The Norse".
*You have ever had a conversation with Dick the Lip.
*You know Lowell Dodge. Who made it to FL with $5. And you start to worry if you haven't seen him in a couple years. Might I also add: You heard he died, only to have him show up in town again.
*You know the dress ladies.
*You sat at the DQ or Marketplace to watch them burn the old houses across the highway.
*You survived "the big breeze".
*You went sledding down the terraces.
*You remember dialing just a 6 and then the last four digits of a phone number. 6-2904. 6-5158. You could even call your own house, if you had two phones.
*Your first job was detasseling.
*You know that there is such a thing as male corn and female corn.
*You can spot a "rogue" from a mile away.
*You know what it means to know something "backwards and forwards and frontways and sideways and upside down and inside out and any way you look at it".
*You bought bubble gum ice cream at Tom Thumb. Erma scooped it.
*Mrs. Peroutka made you stand on the wall at recess.
*You refer to that one building as "the old chicken shack".
*If you were looking for someone in the time before cell phones, you just called the DQ or the Norse and asked for them.
*You know what an Egg C***** is.
*You've been bridge jumping.
*You know exactly where to find teachers on their smoke breaks from school.
*If you remember the story of when the bank got robbed. And that Andy L was in the bank at the time.
*You know where the four-way is.

You know you're from there, if your heart is feeling a little too big for your chest after reading the memories compiled by people who grew up there. What a wonderful place to be from. *happy sigh*

This is my town.

Jet-set, go!

I really felt my jet-setting lifestyle take it's toll on me after my wild Friday night. Scrubbing my kitchen floor on my hands and knees. Oh, yes, I'm wild. Z was working late and so...

However. The weekend did redeem itself. On Saturday, Maddie, Haley and I took the retail world by storm. And. I had saved up $80 worth of rewards cards from Old Navy and I took my 15% off coupon... holy wah! (heehee) Did I get the deals! AND. Best ever. I went to JcPenney and got a pair of $36 shoes for Kaija for only $.85. Oh, yes. They sell shoes that spendy for little toots. Ridonkulous, I say. Unless you get them for a steal. How did I? Well. They were on clearance for $10.80 and I had a coupon for $10 off any purchase. An economy in the tubes equals really great deals to be had. That, combined with painting, a spur of the moment date and a whole lotta relaxin' on Sunday, it turned out to be an almost perfect weekend. *sigh*

Here's to a week of jet-setting like I did on Friday...