heavenly sleep! and other things

I think last night my brain and body finally reached the "so tired there is no way to not sleep" stage and I had a wonderful full night's rest. Yea! I don't think I turned over all night. Although I am still crying out for a nap. Which we have cut out completely btw. For both of us. Moment of silence for the blessed naps please.....

Ok so no more naps- Anna is now doing a "quiet time" instead. She just goes in her room and plays for an hour to an hour and a half. Quietly, with toys or books. It is working VERY well- she is able to go to sleep quickly at night (as opposed to the hour to 2 hours on a bad day process I am used to) and isn't grumpy or anything during the day. If we can continue this schedule and the easy falling asleep that will be such an immense help this fall when I am trying to keep up with school again.

I must admit to some fears about school creeping quietly into my soul. I keep hearing what an intense program it is. I knew this going in but when I first started the process the actual "intense program" was far enough away that I could file it under "DENIAL" and not think about it. January is ....not far away. I really don't think I'll have a problem doing well in the classwork but maybe not up to my standard for myself? Ugh. In any case, there is nothing to be done but just to go full steam ahead and cross those bridges when I get there. Has to be done, I want to do it more than even I expected, so time to once again put on the big girl panties, lay the fears aside and get to work! I was considering getting my books early and getting a heads start on note-taking but I have decided to wait and squeeze every bit of relaxation time out of summer that I can.

I cannot believe how nice the weather is in July! But man, am I thankful for it. Kinda makes me want to move somewhere where the summer is like this all the time. If I could just convince my entire circle of family and friends to pick up and move with me.... Anna and I stayed out on the deck again today. She played and played and played. I read and read and read. It was wonderful. I am so glad I fixed all that up for her. She makes huge messes with the sand box and fills her buckets and bowls up with sand and water. She talks to herself and her "friends" and goes down the slide and waters the flowers and when the weather is nice like this- you just can't beat it as a way to spend the morning. I took some photos so I'll post those later this afternoon.

I am trying to think of some yummy (and lower calorie) ways to cook up chicken- so if you have any good recipes please pass them my way. I just sprinkled on a bunch of different spices that Adam uses on his steak (which btw- he makes an incredible steak. And I don't even care about steak all that much. But this steak is really good- he won't make me one cause I keep asking him to cut off the fat and he says this is an insult to steak. But he will let me have the outer pieces of his steak if there's no disgusting fat. And it's so yummy). I didn't know all the correct amts so I just kinda threw it on there and gfg'd it. (George Foreman Grill) It was pretty good. Anna wouldn't touch it of course. Silly girl.

Well I guess that's all the news. Not much as usual. Have a wonderful day in this beautiful weather!

No title

I am super tired. Exhausted really. And already feeling like maybe I won't sleep again tonight. Crap.

I had a fantastic time out tonight with some girlfriends- shopping, pizza, conversation, extremely evil cake- :) doesn't get much better than that!

I got a great deal on some frames for some enormous and beautiful pics of Anna today- let's hope they all work and fit on my wall. Probably should have measured BEFORE buying....

Have been doing really ...much better... on my eating. Except for the aforementioned pizza and cake. Must up the motivation and do even better so we can be in better shape for nursing program.

Have not done well on exercise so much. Must also up the motivation on that and get out by myself if necessary!

Did I mention the exhaustion?

Nice day

Wow! What a nice day everyone! You gotta love 80 degree weather in July! Anna and I took advantage- actually Adam did too- just not with us. :) He went heli flying. Anna and I ate lunch outside on the back deck then Aunt Stacey came over and we complained chatted about life while Anna played in the kiddie pool and the sandbox. Then we took a quick jaunt down to the local fruit stand and grabbed (literally in Anna's case) some blueberries. Not much else to report!

Happy Birthday Julie!

Happy Birthday to one of the best friends I have ever had! :)


Julie and I plan to be friends for the rest of our lives- we have it all laid out. After the hubbies kick off are mourned appropriately, then we are heading to Florida and living it up like the Golden Girls. Yes.... I know I'm Dorothy...sigh.... Julie is Blanche or Sophia depending on the day. Haha! Then when we get too old and crazy to live unsupervised we are gonna terrorize a nursing home of our choice. We'll be the old ladies getting in fights and racing our wheelchairs through the hallways. Well, actually, probably what will happen is that Julie will still be coming up with schemes on how to race by the nurses desk and egg them and I'll be the one tricked into pushing her wheelchair so I can convince myself that I didn't break any rules cause I was just the getaway driver. Or she'll be wanting to steal all the toilet paper out of someone else's room so she can paper the nursing home, and I'll be the one worrying about getting kicked out. We compliment each other like that.


Actually Julie and I compliment each other in a lot of ways- maybe that's why we get along so well. We are completely opposite in so many ways that it's kind've a standing joke. She likes dogs, I like cats, she likes fashion... I could care less, she never wants to go back to school, I don't ever want to leave school, etc etc. And yet, we can still fill hours and hours with great conversation! I guess we are alike in the important ways. :)


Julie and I have kids very close in age and I think that is one of the biggest things that brought us together. We have talked our way through pregnancies, labor, sweet tiny babies, diapers, potty-training, breast-feeding, no sleep, puking kids, discipline decisions, screaming toddlers, almost moves, actual moves, broken bones, loss of loved ones, fears, cares, worries, excitements, shopping, movies, food, friends, and so much more. I think we both know that we will always be there as fast as our cars will carry us if the other one needs something. Julie is not an easy person to get to know- I feel like as time goes by, I have been trusted with more and more areas of Julie's heart and mind and I always feel like it is such a gift to see into her soul because she protects it from so many others.


Julie is fun, witty, loyal, smart, caring, introspective, a great listener, sarcastic (which is kind've a requirement of mine for a best friend), able to laugh at herself, great at making ME laugh, inspirational, has an enormous heart for kids in need, always has some project in mind for us to do together, is fabulous at entertaining kids or finding us something to do to keep them having fun and us from going crazy, she always remembers important dates, always calls to check on you, she is just a great, great, great, great friend and a beautiful woman. She has the talent of making you feel like you are cared about. And that is invaluable to me.


I will always be grateful to Julie for what a great friend she has been to me. There have been times in the past few years where she has literally dragged me out of the house when I desperately needed it and forced me to keep moving when all I wanted to do was collapse and cry. She has talked me through so many struggles and decisions and anyone that knows me, knows how much I have to talk everything to absolute death. At the top of my list is an evening out with Julie- just for the conversation! We figure things out together and have fun doing it.


Love ya Jules- I am so very glad that we are friends and that now we live so much closer!

Sleep Deprived

oh man people- I need to SLEEP. Like BAD. I cannot settle down and go to sleep for whatever reason. So, I'll blog a little. Here's just some things...

1. Anna "painted" her little people house (side note- do we really not have a better name for toys then "little people"? seems a "little politically incorrect" to me) and her barn and some random other toys with a banana at some point in the last month. I have no idea when this painting occurred....or what in the world possessed her to do it.... but I do know that it took a lot of elbow grease to get it off.

2. My friend told me the other day that she had named her car "Lily". Her car is a beautiful bright white so this is fitting. It reminded me that I named my car when I first got it too. But I couldn't for the life of me remember what I named it. So I looked it up on my faithful blog that just records every little thing I write in it, and discovered I had named it Clarissa. What the heck did I do that for? I am totally changing that- I have no idea where that came from and its my car so I can change the name if I want to. It's new name is Lucy- just like my old car and I'm just gonna stick with Lucy from here on out for all my cars. Yep, that's what I'm doing.

3. Something else funny that Anna did this week~ I hope Adam doesn't kill me for telling you this. If number 3 is missing from this post tomorrow then you'll know he asked me to remove it. Anywho, Anna loves to tease her daddy. And one night this week she was in an especially wild mood and got extremely tickled over the fact that "daddy belched". So when he walked into the bathroom and shut the door, she walked right over there and started pounding on the door yelling "Daddy! Stop that belching in there!" Over and over. I, of course, was hysterically laughing because I knew he was in there just thinking "I just want to take a crap in peace!"

4. I so loved waking up early early this morning to the rain. I am ready for fall already. I know - sacrilege to you summer lovers, but enough already with the heat.

5. Also, enough already with the not sleeping. This is driving me insane. Some nights I am up til 2 or 3. Last night I read a completely retarded book about a demon that was terrorizing a town every 7 years and it scared the pee-wadden (I might have made up that word... or maybe I heard it growing up. I know what I think it means but I hope it doesn't mean something different or offensive to anyone else) out of me so then I really couldn't go to sleep.

6. Stacey was kind enough to watch my child for me the other day and she said afterwards she had to go home and take a nap. 3 yr old energy level, anyone?

7. so much darkness

8. I can't wait to make my friend a coconut cake for her birthday... and then help her eat it. I do get to help eat it right, Jules? Cause if not... I have more ingredients to buy.

9. I am tired and running out of things to write about. I like the number 9 as an exception to my odd number rule (which you all know about because I think it comes up on every single blog that I number) so I can stop here without any interference from Stacey.

Mom guilt

I used to be a supreme time-waster, a great relaxer, wonderful at doing whatever came into my head at the moment. Then I had Anna and became a MOTHER. And we all know that mother's are not allowed to be lazy- we must be efficient, busy, bustling, and various other things at all times of the day. In fact, sometimes it feels like we should actually not sleep but instead just clean through the night. And sometimes, the amount of work that needs to be done actually will fill my entire day. Especially when I was in school and studying had to be added in there somehow. This summer, however, I am finding myself with extra time on my unbusy hands. A LOT of extra time some days. No studying, best friend with a broken foot (cuts down on the social excursions), and a child that is really beginning to play very well by herself all leaves me with more time than I am used to having. Now make no mistake- I am succeeding at being lazy and watching a LOT more tv than I am used to. But wow- the mom guilt that is kicking in over being lazy. WOW. Anyone know how to turn that off? ;) I'd like to go back to enjoying my laziness in peace.

Picking Blueberries

We picked blueberries last week. We tried a new patch (new patch to mom anyway- I've never picked blueberries before). They were incredibly nice- letting Anna eat as many berries as she wanted right off the vine. I am surprised by how much I enjoy picking the fruit- even in the heat. Not that I want to go get a job doing it just so we're clear. Stacey went with us too, but she turned into a crazy Nazi blueberry picker the minute we got in the middle of the plants and wouldn't talk to us much. She gave us several "no talking, must pick enough blueberries to last us through a nuclear meltdown" looks. I made a sudden move towards her basket at one point and thought she was gonna take my arm off about it. She wasn't even deterred by the spiders! Girl likes her some blueberries! :) Anna picked some berries to eat but mostly she stole other people's berries (deja vu anyone?) right out of their buckets, by the handful. We all managed to come home with almost a gallon each of blueberries. We all freeze them for this winter when there is no beautiful blue sweetness to eat. I think we're all obsessed enough that we are going back out this week. They're that good!

Here's my next review

B-Ray Blueberries from local blueberry patch?

big ole yummy and delicious!

Movie review

Trying out some movie and book reviewing on the ole blog- here's the first one...

I saw My Sister's Keeper last night. Here's my official review...

"eh" and a shoulder shrug

:)

For those of you that don't know- the movie is about a young girl dying of leukemia, and her sister who is a "designer baby" specifically made to save her sister's life. Her parents continue to take cells from her throughout her life to save her sister and at the time the movie takes place, they are trying to take a kidney.

The book was better in my opinion- it had much more depth to it. I thought the characters were horribly miscast in the movie. I have never been a fan of Cameron Diaz (which is a very nice version of what I would like to say but won't). She should stick to her candy-apple, bubblegum characters and not try to portray a grieving mother. She just doesn't have the depth for it. The attorney is played by Alec Baldwin, who I don't have strong feelings about either way. He did an ok job in the movie but the screenwriters chopped up his character so badly and left out so much of what was in the book that they should have just left him out entirely. The entire point of his character was lost. The aunt in the movie is easily shrugged off, which is weird because she plays a much bigger part then she did in the book. I also think they missed a really great storyline by leaving out so much of the brother's story. They allude to the fact that he has become quite the little hoodlum but they don't develop it at all. The dad does pretty well, but again, I was disappointed by how much they left out. The only one worth watching in my opinion is the designer child herself- played by Abigail Breslin. She is fantastic as always.

So overall, it's an ok watch- but don't expect it to live up to the book and don't expect another Steel Magnolias (wink wink to Julie B!)

Summer So Far

I am having lots of trouble realizing my summer is going by so fast. Everyone keeps asking when I go back to school and I really do need to find that out. I'm a little afraid that it's way sooner than I'm hoping so I am avoiding calling. Not that I don't look forward to getting back to my beloved books but there are so many things I haven't yet accomplished with my summer!

Here are a few pictures of what we have been doing so far....

One of my pretty Golden Finches that visits me every day

My other Golden Finch

My Cherry Tomatoes


My other tomatoes

My watermelon plant with teeny tiny watermelons growing on it!

Adam's heli- he likes to fly right at sunset


Anna blowing bubbles

More Bubbles


Chasing fireflies

Anna's "broken foot" just like Miss Julie (poor Miss Julie)

Splashing like a wild child

Exploring with Gpa