Shopping and other woes...

Yesterday morning Owen and I went shopping for jeans. I decided I should have something besides my black elastic waist pants to wear while in Montana. I have an assortment of these pants. They are part of my SAHM uniform. Black pants with elastic, t-shirt either short sleeved or long, athletic socks (when it's cool) or none (when it's warm) and sandals or some other slip on shoe. I do have one pair of jeans that I bought shortly after Owen was born that fit. Sort of. They are Levi's with a little stretch in them. They like to find their way to the smallest part of my body. Which is apparently my knees!

To back up a bit, I did look at Penny's for a jeans after work on Tuesday. Their petite department has a lot to be desired. Unless you are 80. Then it's good. All of them jeans and pants are bootcut. I cannot wear that style jeans. Well, I suppose I could, if I wanted to accentuate the part of my body that I am really trying to hard to hide, and deny it's existence! So I asked a sales lady if they had jeans that were not bootcut. I told her I didn't care if they were petite or not I can hem them. But she said I'd need them for the rise. Oh, yes, the rise. Or the lack of rise, I should say. So she proceeds to show me the ugliest jeans they have. In color. In style. In cut. No thanks. Sorry to have bothered you.

So back to Kohl's. I load up the stroller with a stack of jeans a foot thick and wheel us into the biggest fitting room I can find. I undress while Owen tries to wiggle free of the stroller. I try on jeans, Owen wiggles. Both of us have no luck. I haul the stack of jeans out to the return rack and proceed to the petite department where I hope I will have more luck. Why they can't put all the jeans together is beyond me. I think Nikki needs to go to Kohl's and do some reorganizing. She likes to be in charge. She'd do a fantastic job!

In the petite department I come across a whole rack of jeans that are A. for petite women B. NOT expensive C. have some stretch in them. Yippee! I again load up the cart and proceed into the dressing room. To prevent the wiggling I give O some snacks. I brought in two of each style in two different sizes. I decide to try the larger size first. Low and behold they are the ones that fit. I am a bit disappointed by this as it is not a size I wear. Or rather, want to wear. At any rate it is NOT MY SIZE! But I roll up the bottom (yes, I am that short!) and go out to the three way mirror to check out how things look in the back. As I turn around and get a glimpse of my backside I realize that it is not my butt in the mirror. I don't know who's it is, but it is certainly not mine! NOT MINE! It cannot be my butt. It just can't. Someone has put their junk in my trunk. I am not happy about this. But the jeans do fit. And thanks to spandex are comfortable when I sit down and do the deep knee bends. But there are different styles with different pockets and finishes so my work is not yet done. I don't bother with the other smaller size as it is not going to fit. That butt will not fit! So I take the two pair I do like and put the rest back. I try on a couple more. Admire (not really) the NOT MY butt in the mirror a couple more times and decide on two pair. Plus a pair of fall crops and a cute pair of casual mary janes in brown.

Now that I have the jeans home I'm still undecided about them. They are comfortable. But they are also more fitted than what I am accustomed to. Namely my black elastic waist pants. I don't like clothes to be restricting. But maybe if I did have a little restricting I wouldn't have someone else's butt behind me. So I may have to go back to the store. Alone. Without Mr. Wiggles. And try on some more jeans. Until I'm sure I've found a pair I can wear. For more than say 5 minutes.

On another note I did find a cute black cable knit cardigan at Penny's. And the sleeves are not to long! It's my new favorite sweater!

I really hate shopping for clothes!

In other news, Owen is not sick from bad chicken. I took him to the doctor on Tuesday. He's not dehydrated, no temp, tummy feels fine. She thinks it's due to teething. He has one coming in on top in the front. But yesterday I got brave and decided to stick my finger in there and feel around. I made sure to keep my finger to the sides of him mouth because he will bite if he gets the chance. And sure enough I felt a pointy part of his gums! He's getting a molar!

The diaper rash is clearing up and the diarrhea is too! I'm so happy about this! I was not looking forward to taking him on a plane for 2 hours with the prospect of changing one of those diapers in flight! I get on, sit down, and don't get up until the plane lands again!

And now it's time to make lunch and rouse Owen so we can go have lunch with Grammie and Auntie Sissy!

Sometimes...

life gets in the way of our best intentions. As I've mentioned many times before I am a bit rigid in my expectations. Of myself mostly. And sometimes other people. Mostly Morgan. I have not found the ABS diet to be delivering the results I wanted so I went back to the 3-hour diet (insert Mom rolling eyes and thinking "quit with the books") but a bit modified. I wanted to be able to fit into some pants without elastic when we went to Montana. So I set some goals for the week and a goal of losing 8 pounds by the time we left. We leave in 6 days. I've still got the 8 pounds to lose. Not for a lack of trying mind you. I've tried. I've worked. I've gone without. Which is the part that doesn't work for me. And I know this! So the last few days I've had some cravings. And I've caved to them. Ice cream. Chocolate. Pizza. Which I don't care all that much about. I just prefer Morgan not make a mess in the kitchen that is almost clean. I'm starting to get concerned. I've never had this much difficulty losing weight once I put my mind to it. But since I had Owen it's be difficult. Even once I set my mind to it and got back on track. And I'm not patient. Which is not a good combination. And I'm so tired. Even though I'm eating well, drinking a body of water a day, and getting plenty of exercise. I even think I'm sleeping better. But who can tell. When you're asleep and all. So maybe I need to go to the doctor.

And then there's the messy house. Which I can't deal with anymore. I've spent most of the weekend cleaning. And doing laundry. And putting it away. I like to clean. I like to do laundry. I just wish there wasn't so much to do! Always so much to do.

I'm also in a creative funk. I go down to my craft cave and just sit. Looking at all my fun supplies. And I can't come up with a thing to make. Pictures hold me back. Not a lack of them. But sizing them. That's the thing about digital. I can size and crop and mess until I have exactly what I want. But I can't seem to decide what I want! Morgan had a great idea though. He suggested maybe I do the layout first and then add the pictures so then I will know what size I want them to be and can add them last. I can know which pictures I want to use and make a place holder for them in the layout and then add them when I'm ready. I thought that was a great idea! One of these days I'm going to make him scrapbook with me. Since I have participated in all of his hobbies in some way or another. Biking, hiking, skiing. Beer brewing, bread baking etc. Some very much against my will and better judgment.

And finally there is Owen. Who has been sleeping decently but has been a fuss bucket while awake. I was trying out other diaper brands recently and the last set (Luvs) did not seem to work well. I also think he ate some undercooked chicken at Macaroni Grill the other night. So the Luvs caused a bit of a rash and then he's had diarrhea for two days so he's got a rather raw and sore bum. Last night I let him go without a diaper in the kitchen for a while. Which turned out to be a bit of a mess given the diarrhea. Ugh! Three times he had a squirt on the floor! And wasn't happy about having to be wiped after it. I think it's getting a bit better though. Not so raw and tender. But he still cringes at the sight of the diaper changing pad. So if you have suggestions for a good rash remedy let me have em!

So that's life her in a nutshell. Now I'm going to go watch the season premier of Desperate Housewives. Life on Wisteria Lane is always worse then mine!

Oh, and stop by and say hello to Ashton Henry. He's got his own blog now! And if you have been participating in Funky Photo Friday there will be a new challenge posted October 12th. I've got to have time to get material for new challenges, redesign the blog, and get a flickr group ready!

Introducing...

Ashton Henry Bimpwick

Ashton Henry (yes, he goes by both names) had some recent adventures and will be sharing those with you soon! Thank you to everyone who offered up names for him. After pondering the suggestions and making a list those three just seemed to fit him. He will soon be ready for some traveling. If you are interested in hosting Ashton Henry in your home please let me know!

Week 37 DOM card...

This week's challenge was to Draw Something. I used to draw a lot. A long time ago. But I don't much anymore. So I stuck with what I know. And that's color. I drew the rows on a piece of kraft colored cardstock and then randomly divided them into boxes. Then I colored them in with my Berol Primsmacolor colored pencils. These are wonderful colored pencils. I like to layer colors and then blend with a Lyra blending pencil. Which is another great tool. You can also blend colored pencil using Turpenoid which is a turpentine substitute and is oderless. Big plus! I saw a painting in a magazine at Borders not too long ago that has stuck with me. This was inspired by that. I need to get the colored pencils out more often. I loved using them again.

Last night I went to a photography seminar called Capture and Creativity presented by Clay Blackmore and Jane Conner-Ziser. I had never heard of either of them prior to this seminar but they are pretty big names in photography. Overall it was a great seminar for the price ($60). However, some of the information was over my head at this point. And a lot of my criticism of the presentation comes from the perspective of an educator rather than a photographer (Go figure!). They also did not have the handout materials available. I took what notes I could but tried to just absorb what I could by listening and watching and hoping my post-pregnancy/mommy memory will be able to connect what I absorbed with what will be in the notes that should arrive via e-mail sometime in what I hope to be the near future!

And now the little man is waking and I must go....

Hello!

It's been a whole week since my last post. I can't believe it. It's just been rather crazy around here with Owen's sleep issues and a variety of things Morgan and I both have going on. This week we are alternately not home in the evenings all week.

This will be a quick post as I hear Owen waking from his nap. Which was a good one! 2 1/2 hours! And last night we all slept well and he woke at 7:15am.

Last Saturday we took Owen to the Minnesota Zoo for the first time. Here are a few pictures from our adventure!

I don't know if he was all that into the animals but he really enjoyed all the walking! We took a ton of pictures but all in RAW format so they require processing before I can post. These I did quickly for today but have others I'd like to share some other time.

5 unknown things about me...

Sabrina tagged me yesterday for this so here goes!

1. My birthdate is made up of all odd digits. When you the digits together you get 15. Also odd and only divisible by 1, 3, 5 and 15. All odd. Maybe it's why I'm a little odd!

2. I don't paint my fingernails. It makes my fingers feel funny and I have to pick it off.

3. When I was little, around 3 and 4, I used to tell people I had 100 brothers and sisters. I didn't have any but wanted some.

4. I don't drink regular Coke or Pepsi. It tastes gross.

5. I've always wanted to dye my hair blue. Or at least a little blue. I was not allowed to do any kind of hair dying when I was a teenager. Nevermind that my sister did! My mom always said my hair was too pretty to do that. I guess she was right. And I think Miranda's was too but my mom knew she wouldn't listen anyway!

Now I am tagging my sister, Rachael, Toni, and Lynn. I know it's not five but Sabrina already picked Noelia!

DOM Week 36...

Here's my card for this week. It's very similar to the one Emily did. I loved her's so I used the idea of multiple pictures on the card. The theme is Life is beautiful. I filled it with 1" square pictures of things or people that make my life beautiful. It's an all digi layout again. It's missing a picture of my mom though. I didn't have a good one of her to put on. Go figure! She is the most difficult person to photograph. I usually get a hand or an armpit! Oh, and the lamb on the bottom is from the fair. Just the cuteness of the little baby made me include it.

God made dirt...

and it don't hurt!

Owen LOVES to be outside. He gets this from his daddy. At 7:30am he was already pointing outside and trying to climb the gate. Yesterday we spent almost 2 hours outside playing in the dirt. Something else he loves. And he doesn't love being cleaned up!

I however was not so ready to got out at 7:30am. And truly, neither was he. He has not been sleeping well again. Saturday night he was up at 2am and wanted to watch Elmo. So we did. And then he went back to sleep. Sunday night he was up at 12:30. We rocked and I put him back down. Then he was up again at 2:30. This time it was not so easy. It was big fit time. Wandering around screaming and choking and throwing himself down on the floor. Wanting to be held. Not wanting to be held. Wanting me, not wanting me. Wanting daddy, not wanting daddy. Monday night we gave him a dose of tylenol and he slept fine. Last night he was up at 2:30 again. I held him in the chair in his room until 4. I tried to put him down twice but he just started crying again. Finally at 4 I just put him back in and let him cry. And I do try to let him work it out himself before I ever go in. But after 45 minutes of it getting worse, not better I go in. I don't know what else to do. So tonight he's getting tylenol again. Maybe it's teeth.

He's also working on his independence. When he doesn't get his way he throws a fit. Which now includes hitting his head on the floor. I don't get all hysterical about this though. He's doing it to himself and if it hurts enough he will stop. He's just frustrated. I'm sure it's irritating to try and communicate with someone who doesn't understand what your trying to "say". Our baby class teacher said frequently this sort of behavior peeks just before a child has a language growth spurt. I'm hoping she's right. I could really use some words. Instead of the fits and the grunts. It's frustrating to not know what he wants too!

So I'm hoping for some sleep and some new words. Then maybe a clean house. But I think that's just not in the cards for me!

Name this Gnome...

Soon he will be setting out on some exciting adventures. But he can't go without a name. So that's where you come in. He wants an exciting and memorable name. Can you help him? Post your suggestions on the comments of this post!

Hello Friday!

This will be a rambling post so if you don't like those move on...

The MN heatwave appears to be over. It's currently 74˚ and mostly sunny and low humidity! Hooray! Had a few storms move through yesterday and behind them was a cold front. Which from what the weather people say means better weather. I am very particular (I know my mom is chuckling here) about weather and what is comfortable for me for being outside. (I'm particular about a lot of stuff actually.) I like it between 60˚-75˚. And seriously, 75˚ is my max when it's sunny. And a little breeze is nice. And not too sunny. I burn easily and I don't like to wear sunscreen except on my face. (Thank you Oil of Olay). By mid next week it will be in the mid 60's and I am totally ready for that.

Today has been a good day. Despite being woken up by my loving husband at 5am. I decided at 6am to just get up and do my workout. So nice to have that done! Then when Owen got up we had breakfast, did some playing, and then I took a bath while he made as much noise in the bathroom as possible. That was totally great! Because I LOVE loud noises! The more the better. (Are you sensing the sarcasm). And this is where you wonder, "how did she manage to teach children for 8 years!??" You are not the only one to wonder this! As with lots of things in my life I was in control of the noise. When it happened. How loud it was. How long it lasted. Being in charge. It's a good thing.

I've been in a photography rut lately. It's like I'm blind. I can't zero in on things. It's a little bothersome. So I've been sewing. Working on the placemats with the Amy Butler fabric. I'm loving how they are turning out. The fabric is just so lovely. Bright and beautiful and pushing the tacky envelope just a tiny bit. I think that may be my new description for myself!

Speaking of me... I was watching Oprah the other day, which I hardly ever do (not a good TV time around here) and she had women on, mid 30's and older, who were in some way or another in the best shape, condition, mindset, of their life. Women from the Campaign for Real Beauty too. And it was just so inspiring. Particularly this one woman who had started practicing Tae Kwon Do at at 41 was in the best shape she'd ever been in. She talked about not being athletic as a child. Not being in shape and before beginning this how she was not happy. And I just had this profound ah-ha moment. No Tae Kwon Do, but change my mind. I don't have to look at the picture I have of myself at 22 and wish to be that way again. I can be better than that! I can change my career path. I can still do whatever I want to. And why I keep forgetting that I just don't know. My mom is still being whatever she wants just like she always has! So I'm going to continue to try and be a hot mommy! Even at under 5 feet tall!

Here's a few peaches for you to delight in. The picture is not how I envisioned it when I took it! Too much yellow. But the peaches have been so wonderful this summer. The Colorado ones. Firm, ripe and come off the pit easily. I don't each peaches off the pit. They need to be sliced. I don't like my food messy!
And just a bit more....

A few things I've been thinking about lately. Things I don't get. About people.

1. Stocking hats in the summer. What is that about?
2. All cars are equipped with turn signals right? Why can't people use them?? I find it's the people who drive the most expensive cars who use them the least. Maybe they are not in a convenient place.
3. Sourdough bread. Could it be any more difficult to make??
4. If I am lifting all the weights, why isn't the fat burning!?
5. Stupid people. Why are they always in charge of something? No else notices their stupid?? How can this be??
6. (and finally) Leash laws. Obey them! Just obey them and we will all be a little bit safer.

Have a great weekend! If you're in MN or western WI don't forget to check out the big sale in Lakeland on Sunday!! Info is below. If you need more put in a comment and I will give directions!

FYI...

If you live in MN Twin Cities Area there will be a great stamp/craft sale this Sunday. Details below.

THE BEST
RUBBER STAMP AND CRAFT SUPPLY SALE IN TOWN

Come and Check us out!
This is a gently used sale including Stampin’ Up! Stamps, stamps of other brands,
accessories, embellishments and all sorts of craft goodies
at great discounted prices.

When: Sunday, September 9, 2007
Time: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Where:Common Grounds Coffee House
Lakeland, MN
(located in the strip mall on Hwy 95 in Lakeland)

I have a ton of stamps in this sale!! I'm hoping they all sell! If you are in the area stop in there and check it out!

State Fair recap...

On Friday Morgan and I went to the MN State Fair. We went in the evening, which we haven't done before, but we were going to see Garrison Keillor that night. We had a couple hours to see a few things and eat. Here' s a little picture recap of what we did.

The Miracle of Birth Barn

My favorite Signs

Morgan's two bread entries in the Creative Activities Building. Neither won but both were displayed. It's a rather competitive endeavor, which we were not aware of prior to Morgan entering. Other displays in the Creative Activities building.

The Wind Blade by the Eco Exhibit Hall.

A few night photos of the midway after the show

And the fireworks!

Today would have been the first day of my tenth year of teaching. The Girls called me about a half hour ago. I got the run down on everyone's outfits and how things were shaping up. It's supposed to be close to 90˚ today so I hope they all stay comfortable. The school doesn't have A/C so it can get pretty hot in there!
I got a bit teary after I hung up with them. I love being home with Owen and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I just miss some things about being at school. Especially The Girls.

Happy September!

September has traditionally been a special month for me. At least up until Owen came along! Now, it's just sort of another month in the line of 12. The Girls are going back to school tomorrow without me, for the second time. Maggie said it would be so much better if I were there. And I told her being home would be so much fun if they were all here! But I can't pay them and I don't really know what we would do all day. 4 women and a baby! We discussed starting our own home school!

So this post is dedicated to The Girls! I don't have a new picture to post though! We were going to take one on Friday when we got together for lunch but it didn't happen. Too much talking and holding O! But I will paint a little picture for you with some insight into each one of them!

Nikki recently said something I found funny. I learn a lot of my potty humor from her (or Morgan!) So to quote her, "A fart is just a turd honking for the right-of-way." And I will leave it at that!

This year, starting tomorrow, Maggie is aiming for a positive attitude. So we made her write down all the things she is "done" doing. Things that hinder her having a positive attitude and creating her own happiness. I have the sheet (we tore it from the table paper at Macaroni Grill!) and will remind her often!

As I've mentioned in the past Lori is the nice one of us. She was the reason we got together on Friday for lunch. It was her birthday yesterday! Lori's birthday starts the year, Nikki's birthday ends the year. Lori generally has a good attitude about things, even when they are bad. So she's like the rock. The big sister.

And so my wish for my dear girlfriends going back to school is that you have a good first day and week. That is isn't too damn hot (there's no A/C for them!). The kids behave. And the staff dresses appropriately!

And I'd like a conference call!