How fast do you type?

If you’ve got a few extra minutes for fun:

http://www.typeonline.co.uk/typingspeed.php

I did 64 words per minute. Not too bad for someone who doesn’t ever type.

A "Grown-Up" dress

I got a chance to go shopping by myself today. T is helping a friend lay some tile today and their family offered to watch my kids for a while. Nice.
I headed to the mall in search of a dress or outfit that would be suitable for a funeral and that could also be worn on other occasions.
I walked to the “dress” area and was confronted with a lot of old lady clothes. Have I really hit that stage in life?!?
The church that we attend has a casual atmosphere and I don’t even own a dress at this time. It was a tough thing for me to try on dressy things. I kind of felt like the folks on that television show “What Not To Wear”. I longed to have some fashion people there to help with the “rules”!
I finally settled on an outfit that consisted of a black skirt with some embroidery on it and a black “suit top” (it that’s what you call it) with some embroidery on the sleeves. I think it would pass as okay but I’ll have to get T’s opinion on it… just for the sake of being accepted in public.
I still have my doubts. I have never owned something with a “suit”-like top. Perhaps it’s time for me to be a grown up… or not. I’ll let you know what the hubby decides.
D said that I looked weird with “the buttons on my shirt”. And L smiled and said that I looked “good”.If the dress passes inspection, I suppose that everyone will see me wear it eventually on some occasion. Or on several occasions… since it's my one and only grown-up outfit.
(I think I need to shop and get out more!)

smaller portions?

As of today I am 2 pounds less and on my way to a “hot mama” body. I think that I’m determined to be a cutie by the end of June and it’s extra motivation to know that a lot of people know my goal. I will consistently go to the gym for my Body Step and Body Pump classes on M-W-F. That’s 6 hours per week… pretty good, eh? And I’m attempting to eat smaller portions…

Tonight we are eating at Vinnys! One of my new favorite restaurants, right up the road. (not a chain to the other vinnys). We went to the post office today and parked right in front of the restaurant. Who could pass that up??? It was so tempting- so L called T today and worked his kid magic. We’ll be meeting T after work today.
Yummy Yummy!!
I’ll try to keep it to a reasonable amount of pizza. I would say “one piece”… but two pieces would actually be cutting it down for me!

Happy Day

It’s been a cleaning day here at home. I’ve cleaned everything in the house for the first time in about a month. The ring around the toilet is finally gone!! Yay!
I’ve warned the kids about all the activities that can mess up my environment, such as playing, walking, running, drinking, eating, reading, coloring and breathing. I’ll see how long it lasts.
I’ve realized that my mood is very closely related to the status of my environment. When my house is clean and ready for company, I feel on top of the world. And when the place falls apart and gets icky, I mope and wallow in despair.
Looks like I need to get a new grip on reality here.
Until then… the kids will just have to play outside.

A new room!

T has started to construct a wall that will separate the “shop” side of our basement from my laundry side. He will complete the wall, put up drywall to finish both rooms, put down a floor and a drop ceiling. The room is currently the “unfinished” side of the basement. It will be cool to have it “finished”.
I am thrilled.
T has been given ton of wood working equipment from his grandfather. He wants to start making things… bunk beds, new cabinets, tree house, etc. Since making those things will produce a large amount of sawdust and dirt, the room separation was a beautiful idea.
He has been busy at work with all the “man” details and I have been busy dreaming of all the final decorating touches.
I need to come up with cool storage shelving/cabinets, paint color for the wall, tile color for the floor, and all the nifty things that would make a laundry room cool. I think I’ve got the hard part…waiting for my turn to play with it all.
I’ve been told that it will be done by mid march or late February. I’m keeping my fingers crossed since the last room that we remodeled was completely done in a mere three years.
Can’t wait!

Thought for the day

"Bathing suit".
Yes, Target has their bathing suits out now. They’ve been on the sales floor for several weeks. The suits are a great reminder that we will be going to the beach at the end of june!
I’ve decided that something must be done with 20 pounds of my body. I’ve vowed to think about bathing suits for the next few months.
I had thoughts about buying a bathing suit, one size smaller, and hanging it up in the kitchen (kind of like that girl in the yogurt commercial, except it won’t be an “itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini”) but, T said it probably wouldn’t be a good idea. He figured that it would just lead to a lot of whining and crying. He’s right.
So, the goal is to loose the weight before the bathing suits sell out of stock. I hope that no one other than my bro-in-law is shopping for bathing suits in January!!! I want to have a good choice to pick from when I’m a hot mama!
I'll keep you posted.

Creative genius

D is supposed to dress up as his favorite “fairy tale character” tomorrow at school. Some of the examples were: the three little pigs, little red riding hood, puss in boots, knights and dragons, etc.
D has chosen to be a pirate. I thought that was pretty original.
He also designed his own costume! He found a bandana for his head, a striped t-shirt, a pirate sword and a belt. He worked hard yesterday at constructing a paper eye patch.
(Today we went to Wal-mart and got some felt and material to make a more sturdy patch.)
I was particularly proud of him for designing this costume under his own initiative. We had known about the costume day for several weeks and I was personally dreading the reality that I would have to create some great costume to impress the class. Boy, was I relieved when D did it all on his own! What a cool kid.

Feeling good.

I finally got my hair cut today.

I was letting it grow long... "just because" and to simply spite the folks that kept asking "when are you going to cut your hair?"
Alas, it had gotten out of control and way too stringy. So enough was enough.
L and I went to the "beauty shop" today for a chop.
I'm feeling light and free.
Now I can just work on dropping about 20 pounds and I'll be feeling really "light"! haha

Fun with friends

Yep. Their driveway WAS a mile long. So neat! :)
We enjoyed dinner on Friday night with our small group and ended up staying overnight for a “sleep over”! We had a terrific time.
The kids enjoyed a huge area to play in, a big tree fort with two zip lines, a huge swing, a “skunk hunt" at night (with the men), a movie, etc.
We got up in the morning to enjoy the most delicious French toast that I have ever tasted.
We hung out on Saturday and hiked our way along a creek to see beaver dams and their lodge. It had rained on Friday night so the ground was mucky with mud. We all had on boots and got to cross several areas of muddy creek water. The kids even got to cross over a fallen log with the help of Mike (he was wearing cool waders, and he was able to go in the water and help us across the tricky sections). The beaver dams were impressive and we saw many trees that the beavers had been working on.
T and the boys piddled in their yard on Saturday and enjoyed a ride on an ATV.
We all had a great weekend retreat. It was great to be around friends and have so much fun. Can’t wait to do it again!

Ahhh..."country" life

I have really enjoyed my somewhat “country” life. Tonight we head down the road to have dinner and small group at our friend’s house. It will be our first visit. From what I understand, they live in the middle of nowhere. They have mentioned that their driveway is a mile long. And I assume that they were telling the truth. We’ll see. They say that they have lots of room for the kids to run.
(Our small group consists of 6 adults accompanied by 9 kids. I have always been thrilled at how well the kids get along.)

It’s also great to have friends that are close by too. I was able to drop by one friend’s house to pick up random items for a salad. I just love these “country folks.” Always happy to see you... even if you take things from them! haha.

I think that city life doesn’t offer some of these rare finds. City people seem too busy to just “drop by” or borrow things from each other. And city kids rarely get to tromp around on acreage in the middle of nowhere.
Good buddies and room to roam… what more can you ask for?

Barber shop

Forgot to mention that I walked in on L the other day. He was hiding in D’s closet. As I turned the corner I heard the unmistakable sound of scissors cutting hair.
He did it again!! (He cut a small chunk of hair out a few weeks ago but it wasn’t extremely noticeable.)
So, we packed up and headed to find a local barber. This was a small feat for me since I have been faithfully taking the boys to Lynchburg to see Alison, their most favorite barber gal.
We found a local shop…Ron’s Barber Shop. Inside we met Ron. He was a nice older man. He proceeded to give L a buzz cut but still couldn’t salvage the damage that was done by the scissors. So, L has short (but cute) hair with a baldy line. Kind of looks like he was struck by lightning or possibly has a natural scar.
Everyone seems to notice his new look and they all comment on how cute he is.
I hope it's true. I think so :)

Date nights are resuming!

I highly recommend a regular “date night” for couples.
We are friends with a wonderful family of 6. Before the holiday rush, we scheduled regular “date nights” in which we would swap babysitting duties in order for us to get out with our spouses.
I am really excited that my work schedule has slowed down and I actually have free evenings this week.
Looks like it may be our turn for a date! Yay!
We drop the kids off with our friends before dinner, and proceed for a night on the town.
Then we’ll return the favor by keeping their kids next week. Fun fun fun.
I am looking forward to getting back into our routine of this…it does wonders for a marriage AND it develops good friendships for the kids.
What a blessing :o)

Just need a little "vision"

My husband likes to say that I lack "vision" when it comes to home projects or "fixer-uppers". I suppose that he is right. I completely panic about large house projects. I think that I'm such a scheduled person that I have a hard time living surrounded by rubble and building supplies.
Perhaps it is just lack of "money" and not lack of "vision".
I've been watching some of those home shows on cable and they are very interesting. But usually the folks on tv have a ton of money to throw around.

We visited a friend today who has done a ton of work on their house in just a short period of time. And they did most of it themselves. She showed pictures of completely gutted rooms which are now re-done and completely beautiful. SOoooo nice! It was encouraging to see what they had accomplished. Perhaps there is hope for T and I do to something like that in the future.
Meanwhile... I'll have to work on getting a "vision" in place.

New Years Resolutions

T's New year resolution is to quit smoking :) haha

I don't make resolutions... it's bad luck.

Home from the holidays

We are officially home and getting back into the swing of things…. Slowly. T went to church this morning while the kids and I slept in.
We managed to disassemble the Christmas tree and put some of the many Christmas gifts in their proper places.
Thanks to everyone for all of the fun kid’s gifts. They enjoyed staying home today and fiddling with all of the neat things.
We had a super time visiting with family this past week. It was also really nice to meet some long lost relatives in Pennsylvania.
We managed to throw in a short visit to Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. The kids got a kick out of it and enjoyed learning how chocolate is made.
T’s brother, and family, will be visiting tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
Back to work tomorrow as well. Ugh.

Happy New Year to everyone!!