8 Weeks After Swimming Lessons Began ....

My Awesome Computer

Last night my routine was the same as it is most Friday nights. Home from work and school, deep sigh of relief that we made it up 52 intact, cook dinner, wash clothes for swimming lessons, fall asleep in Avery's floor, wake up, stumble in to the living room, open up unpredictable laptop, but wait, it didn't open to Facebook. Nope it was a word document that said (in a font that filled the whole screen in all caps) I WISH I WAS A MAC LIKE THE ONE UNDER THE COUCH. I was baffled. My laptop doesn't have office and I hate that word pad. I don't remember even opening it. Wait, what did that say? I stand up, look under the couch, and there is my very own Mac Book Pro.

I love you Greg Linkous! You and MAC = My Awesome Computer

No is not a word I am good with. I am a people pleaser. It is very difficult for me to say no. I say yes a lot, even when I don't want to. I say yes to everybody, yet I hear no a lot. I am going to start practicing my no. Are you ready?

2 Shots, Zero Tears, That's Right Suckas!

I am so proud of Avery. Today was a big day for me. I finally broke down and got Avery the MMR shot. I have been hiding from this shot since the day Avery was born. It petrifies me. I won't go in to why, and I won't bore you with my logic. I will just tell you that it scared me to death. That's really all that matters.

So I get a letter from daycare saying that is Avery doesn't get both the MMR and the chickenpox shot by March 30th he is kicked out of daycare. UGH! So, I wait, and I wait, and I wait, and today, we go for the shots. I literally cried all day at my desk, and I will be honest, I don't think a soul noticed. Meghan actually busted me wiping my tears, but I didn't say a word, and she didn't ask so I kept my mouth shut. It didn't help that Avery's teacher told me before 8 a.m. that Avery has been scratching "his friends". Blerg. Part of me wanted to shout, "hells yeah, at least he didn't bite anyone!", but that seemed oddly inappropriate. It kills me. I don't want Avery at school Edward Scissorhandsing the other kids. That is not cool, and the last thing I want is the teacher's being frustrated with him. I remember what happens to the pain in the cuss kids. Nobody likes them, and they end up weird-o loaners with dead flies taped to their jackets and manifestos in their back pockets. For the love of Pete, I don't want Avery to be that kid.

Anyhow fast forward to the doctor's office. I am pretty sure they all think I am a flake because I ask a million questions, avoid vaccinations, and ask for the shot side effect sheet. Yes, I am a worrier, a nerd, and slightly, if not wildly, neurotic. The super sweet nurse, who looks really familiar to me, but I don't think she went to my high school, tells me to put Avery on my lap facing me, and that the shots will go in his arms.

She inserts the first one. Chicken pox. Side note, does this come from chicken's? What a weird name for an itchy rash virus. Anyhow, I slightly cover Avery's eyes, and I had let him have the safety sucker which I don't take away from him. He doesn't flinch or make a peep. He even takes a look at the needle coming out. Trooper.

So, super sweet nurse tells me Chicken pox is the easy one, but MMR really hurts and Avery will most likely cry. In goes the needle, Avery flinches, squeezes me slightly (just like he does in elevators), and keeps sucking his sucker. Not a peep out of his mouth, not a tear, not a swat, nothing. My boy took it like a champ.

Now we have an up to date shot record. Insert cheesy finish line music here......

By the way, these pictures have nothing to do with this post. I took them on Avery's second birthday. Greg and I took the day off to spend it with Avery. We went in to his room together and sang Happy Birthday to him. These pictures are of his reaction. It didn't cost us a dime, but I wouldn't take a billion dollars for the memory. Remember when you used to say a million? Inflation!

Hello Sunshine, Welcome Back Old Friend

Time change you suck. Really. Try explaining daylight savings time to a 2 year old. They don't give a cuss. Really, the DO NOT. Not even a little. I am very excited about the additional hour of daylight, but not overly, or even a little, excited about getting up an hour earlier.

Today we saw the sun. Legitimate big bright sun, with minimum wind. Unfortunately Greg was feeling pukey so my day wasn't quite what I had in mind, but we did get to play outside a little. We let the sun shine on our faces, got our pants dirty, and stretched our legs a little. It was glorious.

I don't want to go to work tomorrow. I want to stay home and pick flowers with Avery. He's so darn good at it!

One Plus One = Three

So today I log on to Facebook and I see this:



Now not only is this super clever, but it is super exciting.

What it means is this girl:


And this guy:



Decided it would be a good idea to make one of these (or some variation on the same theme):


I, obviously, think this is an awesome idea. We need more smart, cute people having babies. It is imperative!

Thanks for doing your part Team Timmons. Let the good times roll!

Love It!

I never craft anymore, and in general, I don't miss it, but sometimes I see an idea and it really makes me want to craft. This is just such a "thing"!

I really have the Easter bug this year, and this makes me think of Easter, but you could leave it up all spring. I think I might let myself craft up something similar. I've already made one for each of you in my mind today and they turned out so cute!

All of the credit for this lovely idea goes to this blog. If I get more than motivated I promise to post a picture of my version. If you get motivated too please show me what you come up with.

There are so many cool ideas out there!!

Too Sweet

I am so inspired, motivated, and driven by my peers. I feel like I am in the pool with a bunch of olympic swimmers and no one has noticed I have on my swim wings. You really should surround yourself with over achievers. You don't even realize it, but they push you.

Tonight I jumped over to my friend Jen's blog. Jen has been a very good friend to me for many years. She is someone I admired, looked up to, learned from and in return she made me a better employee and pushed me professionally. Most importantly, she believed in me. It was puzzling at first, then flattering, then downright motivational.

Now that we are new mommies together she continues to motivate me in new and exciting ways. She has her own photography business, she donates her time to charity, and she is an incredible stay at home mom. She's also one of my favorite bloggers.

Today's blog is exceptionally incredible. It is a tribute to her mom, Beth. I love Jen's mom too. Beth is awesome, and as a result she developed an awesome person. This apple didn't fall far from the tree. Happy Birthday Beth!!

Easter

Well, the next holiday is just around the corner, and I am not talking about St. Patrick's Day. I don't mean to skip it at all, and I totally love it, I just don't have time to get anything done before the 17th!!

Easter is the holiday to which I am referring. I have always secretly wanted to have an Easter stash to rival my Halloween one. I love dying eggs, Easter baskets, the whole 9 yards, but I never get around to doing any of it. I am going to make a conscious effort this year. I think Avery will really enjoy dying the eggs, and hopefully I can get a batch of pictures out of the deal. Fingers crossed!

There seems to be an abundance of really cute Easter ideas out this year too. I love this next place card holder from Pottery Barn. They really have the coolest stuff. I would love to live in the Pottery Barn.



I found the cutest picture of a sweet little Easter bunny. What do you think??


I think this boy is ready to dye some Easter eggs!

The Glass Castle

My pals Ginger and Lindsey have been after me to read the book, The Glass Castle, for a really long time. It isn't that I didn't want to read it, I just feel incredibly guilty when I read. I have time for little else. When my house is a disaster, my laundry is overflowing, and my sink is full of dishes I feel like a total heel reading. Ginger wouldn't take no for an answer, and she even enticed me by reading little bits of the book to me aloud. Well, it worked, and this weekend I devoured The Glass Castle. I think just about everyone in the world has read it. It is a real page turner. What is super weird about this book is that a good portion of it takes place in the very area my entire family is from. Well, 12 miles away, Welch, West Virginia.



I don't have trouble believing most of the story, but these are my big questions, and I may add more as they come to me:

1. In the very beginning of the book the author, Jeannette Walls, sets herself on fire cooking hot dogs. I have no trouble believing she set herself on fire at the age of 3 cooking hot dogs, but what I do have trouble believing is her recall. Not of the tiny details really, but of the bigger things. She claims she was in the hospital for 6 weeks, but I can't believe a 3 year old would understand that kind of passing of time. I can't give her parents credit for remembering those types of details. Maybe I am wrong, but it just seems a little far fetched and prettied up for the sake of sales. Perhaps I am being too critical.
2. I am to believe by the end of the book that Jeannette's mom has a jewelry collection and a piece of real estate worth $1 million. Ok, this family moved all over the country. Their kids were so hungry they literally ate from the trash, but they managed to keep payments made on some type of holding cell for this collection of jewelry and paid taxes on this land? See, I find that impossible to believe. You have to pay taxes. My mom used to watch the paper all of the time for properties people were losing because of back taxes. You could just pay the taxes on it and the land would be yours, but I am to believe that these homeless wanderers kept their hands on this land? Really?
3. The mother in this book is a complete looney bird and probably the most selfish person I can imagine. Your kids are eating trash and you are buying art supplies? In ever chapter you read about these stinking art supplies of her mom's. I can only surmise this poor soul suffers from some horrible mental illness, but at least 1/2 of her problem is that she seems very selfish. She didn't ever seem to put her kids first. At one point she is eating a Hershey bar on the down low while her kids are starving.
   
4. The father is a straight up alcoholic cuss hole. He steals from his own children, and drinks away their food money. While, by the way, the mom is away renewing her teaching certificate. What the cuss? I feel like the author wants me to have some compassion for him because he was sexually abused by his own mother. Don't get me wrong, that is sucksville fo sho, but you can't be out bar hoppin' while your kids are starving, and by the way, have your freakin' signature line be: "has your old man every let you down?" Ummm, yes cuss head. Every freakin' day of my life! Yet, she still seems to hold this man in high regard. He loved his kids she says. Well, ok. He was your dad not mine, so I guess you gotta call 'em like you see 'em. Good for you, I wouldn't be quite so gracious.
5. She claims her teeth were in good shape, but she had an overbite. Ok now, this girl was taking a bath maybe once a week, lived in a house with no plumbing, ate trash literally, but her teeth were in great shape? In one chapter she and her sister ate a stick of butter mixed with sugar. I am sorry, I have a little trouble believing your teeth wouldn't rot out of your head. I never saw the dentist regularly and my teeth are held together with fillings and prayer, but this girl's teeth are awesomeville? That just doesn't add up.
   

Overall I "enjoyed" the book. Enjoyed doesn't seem like the right word. I have never been hungry, I have never not had power or plumbing in my house, but I have lived in the very area and gone to the very schools she talks about in this book. I remember being the new kid, being hated, taunted, and bullied. I hated every second of it. I thought I had been dropped in to a cesspool. It seemed like a different awful scary world. I only lived there about three years, and I feel guilty talking about it in such a negative light. I still have four first cousins living there, but I never felt like I belonged.

This book was hard to read, and in my opinion it boils down to one thing. Don't have kids if you don't plan to take care of them. Idiots!

You Say It's Your Birthday, It's My Birthday Too!

Another birthday in the books. I am thankful for another year, but so sad to see them pass. It is not that I am some vain person who minds getting older, it is just so hard to watch everyone around you also get older too. My family has dwindled down to just a small handful, so many people are sick with cancer, and it is all just so scary. To quote Dolly Parton in my favorite movie of all time, Steel Magnolias, "Honey, time marches on and eventually you realize it's marchin' across your face!"



I am so in awe of the things I have in my life, and the people who make it more than "making the donuts" every day. Just today I got in the mail from my BFF in Charlotte an awesome owl necklace from Etsy, a woot shirt I had been lusting after from Ginger, a great book from Greggie, and a handmade card from my almost-sister-in-law.

This is my Woot Shirt! You love it don't you? Me too!!

Not to mention all of the cards and well wishes. I am not a birthday hater, I just have a hard time saying goodbye to the passing time.

This time next year Avery will be three, Greg will be done with grad school, and there will be at least a few new little people in my little world (come on Ginger, won't you and Christopher do your part?). That makes me smile, but it scares me to death to think about the other side of the equation. Maybe this happens to everyone when they get older, but it takes my sleep some nights.

I do wish I could worry a little less. Thanks for reading my blog on my birthday. Gobble, gobble!

Stein Mart, I Think I Love You

Today at lunch Lindsey and I went in to Stein Mart to spend a $20 gift card that she couldn't find once she got to the register. I laughed at her, not with her. She found the coolest hat that was crushable, foldable, and had SPF50 protection. Plus, it was my second favorite color, red!


I had forgotten how many cute things Stein Mart had. I might go back tomorrow! Don't you love this hat? It is never to early to think about sun protection (says the girl who had a melanoma!)

I think Stein Mart was destined to be a success because of my mood. On our way to lunch I giggled the who entire time. Ginger had told me about this site: http://parentsshouldnttext.com/. This site is hysterical. I don't know why, but they legitimately make me laugh out loud.

B-Tim first got me hooked on http://damnyouautocorrect.com/. Also hysterical and ridiculous. Greggie and I really could submit to this site. Autocorrect will get you divorced if you aren't careful!

I am warning you, either of these sights will suck you in and tickle your funny bone!