This morning was pretty much a nightmare. I had to take the kids with me to get an oil change and I think I would rather look for auto insurance quote every day for the rest of my life than ever do that again!

First of all, I called yesterday to see if they had time to get my car in and they said they didn’t have time yesterday, but definitely did today. I made sure to get there early so that they didn’t have time to get behind yet. But when I got there, they said they wouldn’t even be able to start on it for at least 45 minutes. I thought about just going home and coming back in 45 minutes, but it’s a 15 minute drive each way, so there wasn’t much point in doing that. And I didn’t have any errands to run, so I told them I’d just wait.

Within a few minutes, the kids were already bouncing off the walls. I guess my first mistake was going to the bank before I went to the mechanic, because the kids always get suckers there so they had a bit of a sugar high. I also didn’t think we’d be waiting long at all, so I didn’t bring any books or toys with us.

My biggest mistake was locking the keys on my phone and letting Kelvin play with it to distract him for a few minutes. The little stinker did an emergency call to 911!!! (When the keys are locked, if you press the menu button, there’s an “emergency call” option) I could have died of embarrassment…luckily they didn’t send a police car out or anything, they just called me back to make sure everything was OK. That was definitely a first for me! Oy.

From there, things weren’t nearly that exciting (thankfully), but we still had to wait for at least another hour. The kids entertained themselves by making me run after them down the hallway to the garage, sticking their fingers in holes in the floor and nearly knocking the TV off the stand. It was just too much fun, I tell you!

From now on, I can guarantee you I’ll be scheduling things better and getting my oil change done when Chad can be home with the kids! Better yet, maybe I’ll just get him to take my car in for me!

Posted: January 29th, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 3

We had a great “last few days” since my last post!

On Saturday, I had everything all ready to go to church in the afternoon and Chad and I started talking about when we would go up to see Kim’s baby (I know…he’s over a month old and we still hadn’t seen him!!). We realized that all of our weekends were pretty booked for at least the next month, so Chad said, “Why don’t we just go today?” Usually, I don’t do “spontaneous” well at all, but since we already had stuff packed for an afternoon at church, it was pretty easy to swap a few things out and get ready to go up to Omaha instead.

It was supposed to be a surprise for Kim (Chad had called Rob so he knew), but we’re pretty sure she had figured it out by the time we got up there. I think she was still glad to see us though! Their baby is very cute and Ava loved holding him (I’m so mad that I forgot my camera!). Both of the kids had a lot of fun playing with Myra, too.

On Sunday, Chad was planning on working, but he changed his mind and stayed home. I took full advantage of that and went shopping all by myself (and not for anything boring like truck accessories)! I got some groceries in the morning and then after I fed the kids and got them down for their naps, I went to Goodwill, Pier 1 and Walmart. I had really good luck at all 3 places, but especially at Pier 1. I found a spice rack that was marked from $40 down to $20. It had a crack on the bottom board (it was to be sold “as is”), but I was pretty sure that Chad could fix it, so I bought it. I got it home and he used wood glue on it and you can barely even see the crack anymore! Pretty good deal for a nice rack, with quality spice jars that were already filled with spices! Just the spice alone would have cost more than $20!

On Monday, we had a MOMS Club social and they had an English professor come in and give a class on early childhood literacy. I learned quite a bit, but the really awesome part of the morning was that Kelvin stayed in the nursery with NO FUSSING!! That is a definite first for him!!

Tomorrow, I’m taking the kids swimming all by myself. I’m pretty nervous about it, but at least we’ll be with the MOMS Club, so there will be people there to help if I need it! I’m sure I’ll be posting about that soon!

Posted: January 26th, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1

This morning, the kids and I went to the Brown v Board of Education historical museum. I’d never been there before, but now I realize that it was way over their heads. When Chad asked Ava what she saw, she said, “Shows…and shows….and shows.” Pretty much the only thing they had were historical videos playing in each room and displays explaining what happened. Ava was very upset that she didn’t get to see dinosaur bones (Night at the Museum (Widescreen Edition) is one of her favorite movies, so she thinks there should be dinosaur bones in every museum). But I learned a little bit more about the event and it was a nice way to get out of the house. (By the way, I’ll be posting pictures on Motherhood Moments within the next few days)

After the kids went down for their naps, I attempted to do the Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred again and I think I’m just going to have to accept the fact that I can’t. It’s not that the moves are too hard or my muscles are so sore, it’s just that it wreaks havoc on my joints because it’s so high-impact…and I’m pretty sure if I keep going, I’ll need to cross paths with someone doing a healthcare job search because fixing this is going to be a full-time job! I only got halfway through it today and my knees and feet were hurting so bad that I had to stop. I guess it’s back to Pilates! (If you have a workout video you really like, would you leave me a recommendation in the comments?)

And now I have cinnamon roll dough in the bread machine and I’m very worried about how it will turn out. Usually I cut the recipe in half, but I forgot this time and I’m afraid it won’t get kneaded completely and I’ll have to do it by hand. And I hate kneading by hand which is why I got a bread machine in the first place!

Anyway, I need to get up and be a little more productive than this before the kids wake up! And if you have a minute click over and read about Kelvin’s obsession with coffee. It definitely has me laughing!

Disclaimer: The video links in this post are affiliate links, but I have not been paid anything to promote those videos.

Posted: January 22nd, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1

Most of you know that I had a year of college under my belt before we found out we were pregnant with Ava. With our move to Kansas, school never quite made it back into the plans. Sometimes I do think about finishing my degree by attending an online university, though.

I’m not sure if that’s something I’m 100% serious about doing right now, but Western Governors University makes it very appealing. They offer a variety of programs and degrees, including an online nursing degree, which would be perfect for me since that was my intended major. Plus, since it’s completely online, there’s considerable flexibility, which is very important to people in situations like mine. And it’s affordable, since WGU is a non-profit online university!

All that makes it a school I would definitely consider when the time comes!

Posted: January 22nd, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: none

Today was one of those days…you know, the ones you’ll need top rated eye cream afterwards!

We had a great morning. We hosted playgroup for the MOMS Club at our house and the kids had a blast. And Kelvin even managed to share pretty well, even though he told me yesterday that he was not going to!

The day pretty much unraveled after that, though. For the last two days, I’ve had a headache that I just can’t kick. Not even ibuprofen cuts it. So that got worse around the time the kids went down for their naps.

While they slept, I had to go to the post office to mail out three items that I sold on ebay. Those three boxes cost $75 total!! That’s SEVENTY-FIVE, people! It’s robbery, I tell you!

And after the kids got up, they pretty much decided to be the worst possible version of themselves and add to my already bad headache. We had fussing, we had screaming, we had yogurt flying, we had toilet plungers being waved around, we had cupboards emptied…you get the picture. Not one of my shining moments as a mother.

But then they redeemed themselves by going to bed without a fight…and I’m hoping they’ll decide to make tomorrow a better day by sleeping well tonight!

Posted: January 20th, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: none

After that awesome sit-ups video I left you with yesterday, I got an even funnier push-ups video today!! Luckily Chad was willing to do another set after I raced upstairs for my camera. This is easily the most hilarious video I’ve taken so far this year!

Between Chad with his sit-ups and push-ups and me with my 30-Day Shred, there’s no need for cla weight loss here!

Posted: January 20th, 2010 under Chad's Posts.
Comments: 1

Even though I already gave you the link to Ava and Kelvin’s new photobucket in my previous post, I couldn’t resist sharing this video with you. Chad has been doing sit-ups and push-ups everyday lately (no weight loss pills in our house!) and the kids always insist on helping him. I haven’t been able to get a video of them helping him with push-ups yet, but their idea of help involves laying on his back. LOL Here’s a video of them helping with sit-ups:

Posted: January 19th, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: none

A new year, a new photobucket!

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that I started a new photobucket for Ava and Kelvin in 2010. Of course, I’ll also add it to my sidebar so you can get to it quickly when you want to see the latest pictures.

There are already some good ones in there…go check out all the antics that will soon give me wrinkles even moisturizing night cream can’t prevent! LOL

Posted: January 19th, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: none

Tonight was the first time in quite awhile that I got a much-needed Moms Night Out. I was thinking about it and I haven’t had a Moms Night Out with no kids since before I got pregnant with Kelvin! I think it was way overdue!

It was a lot of fun…I went and had coffee with a couple other ladies from the MOMS Club I belong to. It was awesome to just be able to sit there and drink a latte (which certainly didn’t help my fast weight loss!) and have a real conversation and not have to be glancing around constantly trying to keep track of the kids.

It was a great break and I’m already looking forward to the next one!

Posted: January 19th, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1

Now that I bragged on my sister a bit, I think it’s high time to brag on myself, right?

I started doing the Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred (again) on New Years Day and have actually stuck with it pretty well! I also tried it last summer, but it hurt my feet so badly that I had to take a break and never started it again. I’ve been trying to reduce the impact on my feet as I do the exercises this time and I’ve done it almost every day with no pain (other than sore muscles, but that’s to be expected!).

Since I’ve been able to stick with this, I’m definitely on the right track to losing the rest of that baby weight without any best weight loss supplements!

The link to the 30-Day Shred is an affiliate link and I will get a small percentage back, should you decide to buy it through that link. I was not paid anything to put that link in this post, though.

Posted: January 17th, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1