To Love and be Loved

It's Friday!

2010-05-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

Friday-Fill Ins!

1. I just had the best sleep I've had in a long time.
2. I'd love to go to Paris.
3. The third sentence on the 7th page of the book I'm reading: Even in morning disarray, with a belly like scow, she was majestically good-looking.
4. Getting ready to pack for our beach trip tickles my fancy.
5. I was walking through the house and tripped over the baby gate.
6. My husband makes me laugh!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to painting my nails, tomorrow my plans include driving to the beach and Sunday, I want to relax, relax, relax!

To Be Ten Months

2010-05-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Lily's ten month birthday last week. It's getting harder and harder to get good month milestone pictures. She is obsessed with the camera, so that makes it a little more difficult. We finally got some good shots after bringing out the bubbles.

At ten months Lily is crawling around like crazy. She is constantly pulling herself up on anything she can find and loves to wave and clap. It's weird to me that she is doing all these new things. I guess I just never imagined her not being a helpless baby.

To Loathe Mondays

2010-05-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

The weekends are supposed to be for relaxing, catching up on sleep, and not doing anything in particular. Well, this past weekend did not involve any of the above. Kirby had not been acting his normal self. I guess it all started on Thursday evening. He was super clingy and shivering.

Anyways, on Saturday afternoon I took him outside. He was using the bathroom for a ridiculous amount of time. Just squatting there for two straight minutes. Finally, I decided to look, just to see if he is seriously peeing for that whole period of time. There was blood. Surprisingly, I was kind of calm when I told Josh.

Josh took him to the Emergency Vet. They were convinced there was some sort of blockage or kidney stone, but after the x-rays they could see that this was not true. They were unable to get a urine sample, so they sent them to another animal hospital for an ultrasound, thinking it would be able to pick up on something that the x-ray could not? I'm not sure. I just know that it took us $800 bucks to discover that it was a urinary tract infection. Saturday night he did not sleep much, and neither did I. He was very anxious and just wanted to roam around the house.

So, the weekend was not relaxing. It was pretty stressful. For awhile there I thought that maybe this was it for Kirby. I am so glad he is home with me right now and sleeping on the couch next to me. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Wishing

2010-04-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday. Wish-List Wednesday. A day I can wish for whatever I want, even though I know that what I wish for probably doesn't exist. Mostly because, in my head the things that I want are really inexpensive. Then I go shopping. See the actual prices of my desired items and I am totally blown away by how expensive they are.

I really want to start being more realistic about these things.

So, today I want to go to the thrift store. We need a new dining room table. I would love love love a hutch to go along with it. There's always craigslist too, so I won't forget about that.

I still want a new plum rug for our kitchen, but the search is still on. I found one at the World Market, but it was too big.

Oh, and I want the dogs next door on both sides to stop barking in the middle of the night...that would be wonderful.

To Be Green

2010-04-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

At MOPS today we learned about going green. I thought I was doing my part by recycling and buying "non-toxic" cleaners. I had no idea about the kinds chemicals found in the cleaning products and personal care products that I use everyday. I guess maybe because it isn't required to list all or any ingredients in cleaning products.

I'm all about getting rid of germs, especially with antibacterial soap. Well, guess what. Anything that wants to market itself as antibacterial must contain Triclosan. What's Triclosan? Oh, well it's just a chemical that has been linked to cancer in lab animals and is not recommended for use in the home by the American Medical Association. This link talks more about the harmful effects of triclosan.

Tackle it Tuesday: I am going to make some home-made cleaners and start getting rid of a lot of the toxic chemicals I have accumulated. I found some good recipes here.

I probably sound like a crazy, conspiracy theorist person that believes everything she reads...that's what my dad would say at least.

To Be Cuter

2010-04-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how it happens, but I think other moms can probably relate. How is it possible for your baby to keep getting cuter? I don't know the science behind it, but Lily gets cuter everyday. I look at her in her playing/sleeping/eating and am just astounded that she has once again gotten more adorable than the day before. It's a mystery.

And, this guy's not too shabby either, even though he's a bit shaggy.

To Be Friday

2010-04-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

Time for another Friday Fill-in.

1. I'd like to magically have a clean house.
2. One of my most favorite romantic memories is when I got married in Las Vegas.
3. Last night, I had vegetarian "meat" loaf, potatoes, and mixed veggies for dinner.
4. Sorry for the pissy mood I was in last night.
5. Can we make up now?
6. One of my worst temptations is dessert; Tiramisu is so hard to resist!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to just hanging out, tomorrow my plans include cleaning the house because I probably won't do it today and Sunday, I want to go to the kid's carnival at church!

To Love Wishing

2010-04-14T07:22:00.000-07:00

I have a problem with wanting things. I really do wish I didn't want so many things...but...I do. So, here is another Wish-List Wednesday.

I would love to actually use my time more wisely and teach myself to knit. I can cast on pretty good, but that's about all so far. If I actually picked up the needles and yarn during Lily's nap I might be a little further along.

I would also really love to have my hair colored. It would be nice to be a little blonder.

And Finally, I would really like to go shopping. I really like this dress, so I wish for the ability to actually look good in it:

To Be Tackling

2010-04-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Laundry is my most dreaded chore. I don't really have a problem separating the clothes and throwing them in the washer. I can even handle folding the clothes and placing them in the basket. When it comes to actually carrying those baskets upstairs and putting the clothes away, I usually fail. Right now, I have two baskets full of clean, folded clothes. One has been upstairs for about 4 days, the other one hasn't made it that far.

I was inspired by Five Minutes for Mom, and decided to do a Tackle it Tuesday post. So, today I am determined to actually put these clothes in their respective homes instead of picking through the laundry basket every time I need something!

To Not Love Lemons

2010-04-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Monday already?! The weekend went by super fast, as usual. On Saturday, Lily and I enjoyed a coffee/play-date in the morning. Later, we went to Tyler's Taproom. Lily enjoyed eating some fish, and later we gave her a little taste of lemon...she loved it:

So, maybe LOVE isn't the right word and maybe giving her a lemon wasn't the smartest or nicest thing, but it was pretty cute.

To Love Friday's

2010-04-09T05:43:00.000-07:00

I love Friday's. I guess a lot of people probably feel the same way. Friday Fill-ins is one of the many reasons I love Friday's. That's because it saves me the trouble of finding something interesting to talk about. Anyways, here it is:

1. In 1992, I was 8 years old and living in Virginia Beach.
2. Babies bring lots of emotions: joy, anxiety, love, laughter and smiles.
3. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
4. Getting a pedicure in a spa is where I'd like to be.
5. The trees and flowers are telling me that they're glad Winter is over.
6. I've been dealing with a crawling baby that doesn't want to sleep and that just keeps going on.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to my brother visiting, tomorrow my plans include hanging out with Josh and Lily and Sunday, I want to do something creative!

To Love Shopping

2010-04-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

Had a rough night last night. Someone has been too busy crawling to bother with sleep. Naps haven't been much better.

We went to our 9 month check-up today. Lily weighs 19 pounds. Her head is in the 97th percentile, and her height is in the 30th percentile. Big head, short legs. Utterly adorable.

Tonight we went to the mall for some shopping therapy.

She went to sleep at 7. Hopefully we shopped enough to make her sleep through the night again.

To be Wishing on Wednesday

2010-04-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

This is where I usually write about how much weight I haven't lost. I didn't even weigh myself this morning, but I'm pretty sure it's the same number as last week (if not worse). Of course, I am having one of those weeks where I pretend like I don't care. Hmm, chocolate cake for dessert, oh yea, I don't care, give me a piece and add some ice cream too. I don't care, I don't care, I don't care. That will probably lead to a huge guilt trip by this time next week, but I don't care.

So, I decided today I am going to do a Wish-List Wednesday. Maybe I will wish for the motivation to care again, but I don't really care.

What I really want is this:

Also, I've been wanting a new stroller:

and I do believe I might get one this evening off of craigslist!

I want a new rug for the kitchen:

To be Crawling

2010-04-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to church. The service was outside and it was hot. Came home and ate some yummy food and hung out for the rest of the day.

The Easter bunny brought Lily four new teeth and the ability to crawl. What a generous rabbit. So, this morning I have been pretty busy. Following Lily around. Making sure she isn't harassing the dog too much. Plus, she is kind of refusing to sleep. It's going to be a long day!

To Love Friday Fill-Ins

2010-04-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

Here's another Friday Fill-In

1. All you need is Jesus (and love).
2. Hearing a baby giggle fills me with laughter.
3. Each generation, as it grows up, will rebel against previous generations.
4. Close-mindedness is something I have a hard time dealing with.
5. A trip to the beach is what I need.
6. Give and you get back.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching Sherlock Holmes, tomorrow my plans include coffee in the morning and Sunday, I want to enjoy the Easter celebration at church!

April Menu

2010-04-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today is April 1st and I just realized that I hadn't planned a dinner menu for this month. I was just online searching and searching for something yummy to make for dinners during the weeks the month of April.

It's hard to find semi-easy vegetarian recipes, and I'd ideally like to have meals that require fewer than 20 ingredients that I never have on hand. I came across this site after I searched for "minimalist vegetarian."

I was pretty ecstatic because there are tons of recipes that sound delicious and the stuff required to make the meals seem easy enough to acquire. Here are a couple of options I might choose for this month:

Greek Pizza
Pesto-Polenta SpoonBread
Confetti Spaghetti

I think I'll keep the garlic ginger tofu on the menu this month. We can't get enough.

...and I need a few lazy days...so I'll make:

Pierogies with peppers and onions
Spaghetti with Boca Crumbles OR (most likely) a frozen dinner...or two.

To be Weighed-In...Again

2010-03-31T07:12:00.000-07:00

Seven weeks until our beach trip. I keep passing all these cute little bathing suits in Target. I am not quite brave enough to try any on.

The scale this morning said 148. Okay, two pounds down from my five pound weight gain failure last week. That is a little bit encouraging. I have stopped eating past seven in the evening. I'm not sure if that really works, but I do feel a lot less bloated in general.

I guess my big struggle is with carbs. Who doesn't love carbs? We eat pancakes for breakfast every single morning. Yes, I get up every morning at 7:30 and make pancakes. BUT, they are Fiber One pancakes, so that makes it okay, right? Right.

I am still on a mission to lose weight, but it's more like a mission to be more healthy. Eating more fiber, more protein, more fruit, and less desserts and high calorie snacks. I will continue to weigh myself each week, but I really need to learn not to expect to see huge numbers each week because that is not how it works, for me at least.

To Love Making Old Things New (Sort of)

2010-03-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

I have had these kitchen canisters in my kitchen for over a year:

Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, and Sugar. As you can kind of see, the only one I ever used was the sugar canister. I kind of love sugar.

So, they've been taking up precious counter space for months and months and I just decided I'm going to throw these things away. But wait! How wasteful! There must be something I can use them for. I pondered on it for a second, and looking atop my cabinets to my collection of boring old vases I had an idea.

I found some old faux flowers I had purchased from the dollar store and voila:

I like the idea of hanging my grandmother's old dining ware on the dining room wall, or framing some of her silverware she gave me a few months back. There is a lot of junk in our upstairs closet that needs to be sorted through, but some part of me looks forward to going through it.

So, for this edition of Tuesday's Tip Jar: create new and interesting ways to use the things you might otherwise throw away. Or, you could just give them to Goodwill! Either way, we won't be supporting the ever growing landfills.

Linked with Tuesday's Tip Jar and Tuesday's Tips.

To be Looking Forward to Easter

2010-03-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

Easter is coming up. In case you didn't know...now you do.

I don't even know what Josh and I have done for Easter in our previous years. I guess it wasn't that important to us. We were baptized in December so I feel like Easter this year is going to be something more meaningful.

Our church is having Easter service at Koka Booth Amphitheater, in Cary. I'm hoping my good friend Cathy and her husband will join us at church and then some yummy food afterwards. I've been trying to come up with something delicious to make, it was hard since we don't eat ham or any meat except fish. Here is my tentative menu:

Pecan Encrusted Salmon
Roasted New Potatoes
Fruit Bowl
Blueberry Corn Muffins

The forecast for Sunday looks awesome. Can't wait!

To Love the Weekend

2010-03-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Kohls, but Josh and I didn't find anything too special there. Lily, on the other hand, always finds something good....

She has become engrossed in practicing her crawling. Not sure if it will ever happen, but it's pretty cute watching her try.

We finally got some baby proofing supplies for the house. Some gates, electric outlet plugs, table corner covers etc etc. It was a pretty good weekend.

Friday Fill-Ins

2010-03-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a cute idea. So I thought I'd try too!

1. The right word is sometimes on the tip of my brain but I can't seem to spit it out.

2 Turn off the lights and shut the door quietly, please.

3. Up until today I had never posted a Fill-in Friday.

4. On the couch, watching Roseanne is where you'll find me.

5. Ooh! What is that? A rumbly tummy?

6. Eating a snack is a good idea.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching Dexter with Josh, tomorrow my plans include shopping and Sunday, I want to get some coffee after church!

Weigh-In

2010-03-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off writing this post all day.

This morning the scale said 150. 150!? That's four more pounds than last week. I didn't really think that I had gone too overboard this past week. I gave half of my birthday cake to the neighbors and only ate dessert on Friday night.

I could probably come up with a million excuses, but I'll spare myself. I'll just pretend that it will be better next week.

Tuesday's Tip Jar

2010-03-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

"Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love." -- Mildred B. Vermont

This morning I heard a devotional about the importance of spending time with your children. Duh, spending time with your children is important. Initially, I couldn't help but think I didn't need to hear this devotional, I spend time with Lily everyday. Then, I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. The point of the devotion was not only spending time with your children, but taking joy in your children. Enjoying the little moments.

I wasn't relishing the little things that happen during the day. Instead, I was rushing around the house. Doing Laundry. Folding clothes. Vacuuming the floor. Scrubbing Dishes. And, I'm ashamed to admit, sometimes surfing the internet as she played by herself.

As Lily and I proceeded with our day I tried to remember how precious time is. Work around the house can wait. The satisfaction I get from finishing the dishes is no where near the satisfaction that a bashful smile from my daughter brings. Pure love. What an awesome experience.

So, my first Tuesday Tip ever is this: Take joy in our children, if only for just a little bit everyday.

Rag Quilting

2010-03-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

I have a problem finding the perfect bedding for our bedroom. I buy a bedding set that I love, and then realize it doesn't match the way I thought it would. Instead of returning it I just pretend in my mind that it matches good enough, but after a few months of this I begin to search for the perfect bedding again. I never find it, or I find it and it is way too expensive.

I am going to make my own duvet cover and it's going to look exactly how I want. Well, hopefully.

I bought some fabric at Joanne's last week. I love fabric, and this fabric was on sale so that makes it even better.

I've decided this duvet cover is going to be a rag quilt. I am kind of just winging it with this project. I've never made a quilt, and I'm kind of cheating. I'm using a queen sheet as the bottom layer. The top layer will be the squares of fabric sewn to the middle layer of flannel. After I sew all the squares I will sew the top and bottom layers together on the bottom and sides. I might use Velcro or buttons on the top of the duvet cover. We will see how it turns out! This is how much I have done so far:

Spring is here and...

2010-03-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Someone finally has enough hair for a bow!!!