I'm working on it

Yesterday as I was in my exercise clothes Emma came up behind me and "smooshed" my love handles. "This looks normal," she says as they were flattened by her smooshing. Gee, thanks. "Is that why you do all that work?" Yes, dear--I try anyway.

Good thing she is my own daughter. I'm off to the treadmill, although I don't think any amount of running will ever make those love handles "normal". Just one of the many gifts of childbirth and genetics. I can't wait to tell her that in about 30 years.

Where did this ambition come from?!

I think I've mentioned before that I am very decorating challenged. I don't know what my decorating style is, or if I even have one besides "cheap, easy, and boring". My crowning achievement in decorating is the gallery wall I put up last year, but other than that we have lots of blank wall space. I mean LOTS.

It seems like everyone's house I go to is beautifully decorated. Obviously they have more talent (and money) than me. I've even put off having the neighborhood gals over because of my lack of decorating skills. Don't get me wrong, I have a beautiful house--I just want it to feel like my "home".

I have a couple friends (and friends of friends) who are either interior designers or just very good at decorating. In the past couple months they have visited and given some suggestions, and yesterday I decided to get cracking. I started with the entryway since it is the first thing everyone sees when they come. I still have a few things to finish off, so no pictures yet. (I know, this post is useless without pictures--I just wanted to document that I actually did something!)

Here are a few sneak peaks of what may be in store for when you come to visit:






The rug I got is actually bigger than this one has has more of the floral pattern to it. For all I know it may be way too big for the space but the colors were exactly what I wanted and I loved the pattern.

There is also a picture frame (awaiting a photo from our photo shoot) and my large mirror which I need to rotate after being given that suggestion by someone who knows way more about decorating than me.

Now I only have about 8 or so more rooms to go. I have a few more ideas rattling around my head and even have some of the materials to put things up, but need many more opinions from the "experts".

And what is your feeling on the vinyl wall sayings? Can you have too many? Will they be passe soon? I love the look of the one I put up in the entryway and am ready to put them up all over.

The county fair--by the numbers

Number of:

• Nights spent at Grandma & Grandpa's -- 4
• Hot dogs/corn dogs consumed by two girls -- too ashamed to admit the actual number
• Homemade ice creams devoured -- 2 (not enough, but I stayed away this year)
• Times riding the small train around the fair -- 3
• Hours spent riding rides -- 4
• Times they asked if they could ride rides again -- 10,000
• Times the girls went on the pirate ship -- at least 8
• Meltdowns -- 1 (seemingly over a hamburger split into 2, I think she was over-tired)
• Wheels on the stroller with cow poop currently on them -- all
• Contests entered -- 1 (we didn't win)
• Miles put on the van just going back and forth to the fair (6 mile round trip) -- 80
• Withdrawals from the Bank of Dad -- I lost count
• Potty accidents being in underwear full time -- 0
• Times I did my new Jillian Michaels "No More Trouble Zones" DVD while on vacation -- 2
• Miles I ran at the fitness center while on vacation -- 2.5
• Calories consumed -- not enough to be burned off by 2 DVD sessions and a 2.5 mile run
• Years of marriage celebrated by my parents today -- 40

I hope to get pictures up on the blog, they are on Facebook already. We had a great time!

Lazy Days of Summer

As someone *cough, Glenda* pointed out on Facebook, it has been awhile since my last post. Like about two weeks. And although I wish I could say I was too busy organizing the closets that need it desperately or I was working on the girls' baby books which are fairly empty and incomplete at 6 and 4 years after their birth--that wouldn't be the truth. The truth is being lazy takes up a lot of time.

I will say in the past two weeks we have been to a minor league baseball game, picniced (is that a word?), got drenched, watched fireworks, played golf (not me, hubby), ate good food, played with cousins and second cousins, had family photos taken, visited the zoo, watched hubby play softball, visited with a college friend, and went out with adults by myself. So see, I haven't been that lazy. But since most of that happened in a three day span, we don't do too much on our "off" days.

I promise, there will be more posts coming. There are things I can talk about like how maybe we have conquered potty training. And how I am crazy and am running a 5K tomorrow. Maybe even some pictures of our fun three-day vacation to Omaha. And next week the girls and I are making our annual trek to my hometown for the county fair, so lots of blog fodder there.

Before that I'll leave you with a link to a preview from our family photos. I "met" Amy online when she and her husband were looking for information on the hospital in Omaha as they were expecting a baby with CDH and leaning toward moving there. Their CDH baby, Liviana, is now almost 18 months old and cuter than can be. Amy joins me in the ranks of overeducated and underpaid moms as she also has a master's degree and stays home. She recently discovered a love for photography and started her own business. I was so happy that she was able to meet up with us in Omaha and meet Leah and take some pictures. Check them out here. And that adorable girl in her header is Miss Liviana, their CDH miracle.