Skinny Girl - Wimpy Girl

Before I start this super awesome and amazing post for today I have to announce something... Skinny Girl Vodka = weaksauce. I've been known to be a gal who can really hold her liquor. Guess that comes from a long line of alcoholic family members (I kid... sorta). But this is just pitiful. I might as well be drinking Nuggie's apple juice. Whatev - at least I'm hydrated I guess... I've been chugging glasses of Crystal Light mixed with the stuff. I bought it in the first place b/c it's lower in calories and this "skinny girl" typing away has FINALLY started to get her chubby ass in gear and I lost three pounds this week. All this to say - save your $$$, stick to the good stuff.

Alright, back to the list.

#3 - Describe your relationship w/ your parents.
This one is tough and so I'm pleading the 5th.

#4 - List 10 things you would tell your 16 year old self.

---> 1. Don't stress about the drama of high school, as soon as you graduate it'll all stop mattering. College is the place to make life-long friends and to find where you really fit in.

--> 2. Sort of with #1, it'll get better. If you're perhaps not the prettiest or the most popular, maybe you're the one that's a little different, just wait. Life gets better and you'll find true friends that love and support you and think you're spectacular. I promise.

--> 3. Enjoy your shape and size and body in general. You might not love it, but honey, when you're 30 you'll look back and think how great you really had it. Appreciate it now. 

--> 4. But take care of that body. Do not tan yourself silly. Do not skip out on exercising. Do not eat five bags of cheetos, just bc you can. You might have a 16 year old metabolism right now, but you're doing lasting damage to your body. Especially the tanning thing. 

--> 5. Don't take out student loans for college. Just don't. If you need to stay close to home to go to community college then do that. Or go to a state college. Or work your fanny off and get a scholarship. That fancy private school is NOT worth starting your adult life $60,000 in debt. You think you can travel the world with that hanging over your head? Or hold out for your dream job? Or buy a wonderful first home? You can't. 

--> 6. Don't kiss a bunch of frogs. High school boys (and most college boys) are icky. Spend your time with friends and focus on school. If you must kiss, then keep a smart head about you.

--> 7. Spend some time with your parents, they're not as bad as you think they are. Tell them you love them, even if that's "not cool". They're actually pretty smart, they love you and do want the best for you. You never know when they might be gone and you'll miss those chances to love and hug them.

--> 8. Overalls are. will. and will always be. a bad idea. Don't rock them. Unless you're painting something. 

--> 9. Get a part-time job. Save some of it and spend the rest. Enjoy being young and being able to spend your money on fun extras. As soon as you're on your own you'll have to spend your money on things like electric bills and insurance... so buy those fancy jeans now. Might as well before your ass doubles in size after child birth :-)

--> 10. Love yourself. You are a gem. No one else is just like you. Hold your head high. Be proud of who you are. Smile and show the world how fabulous you really are. Don't be a door mat - be a force to be reckoned with!  

--> Bonus #11 - Do not major in Music Business when you head off to that fancy private school. You might as well major in Flying Monkeys to Space. You'll waste your amazing time, money and effort. I hate that it's kinda boring, but major in something that's responsible and live up your college life while you're there. Enjoy those four years then get a great job and be able to enjoy the perks of being an adult.  

#2 I Ain't 'Fraid of No Ghost

Day 2 is here - what, what!

Describe 3 fears, and how they became fears

Fear #1 - Spiders. This is pretty typical. But my fear goes a little bonkers. I literally (well ok, not LITERALLY) but I feel like peeing my pants. Isn't it the worst when you walk through a web? I always get the feeling that a spider has hidden away in my hair and I must dance around and flip out till I'm sure the creepy-crawler is no longer hiding on my person. UGH. Things didn't get an easier when we realized our cute little house was absolutely infested with poison, deadly brown recluses... I really wondered how I could burn the house down??? But, we found a great exterminator and got smart about living with the awful bugs. Seriously, spiders are the worst.


Fear #2 - Earthquakes. I know we live in TN and before that I lived in IN - not exactly your earth shaking epicenters. However, any time a truck would rumble by or the ground would vibrate a little for whatever reason I would/will lose my mind. It all started when we lived in CA for while when I was younger and we experienced a few really big earthquakes. To this day the very thought of an earthquake scares the frap out of me. If the house gets really quiet and still, especially at night, I'm sure "the big one" is about to tear our house down. Why do I get so worked up??? This is a dumb fear.


Fear #3 - Driving near semi-trucks. I always feel like they don't see me and are just surely going to smash me to bits. I especially hate driving near them on the highway and if I find myself sandwiched between two in the lanes around me I get all anxious and nervous and just want to zoom away from the trucks. I really hate semi-trucks in general. They're such an obnoxious addition to the roads. 


In no particular order... I'm also afraid of thunderstorms, tornadoes, big dogs, food that might have potentially spoiled, touching raw chicken, bugs crawling into my ears, the bottoms of lakes and ponds and anyone ever seeing me in a bathing suit.

Stolen - 30 Things

i am seriously lacking blog inspiration this summer... i've got this new job, but it's not really right to share the who's and what's of it all. my ethics class is a.w.f.u.l. and not at all worth blogging about. nuggie is doing great - but i don't have a whole lot to share. life is just sorta chugging along. enter my super fabulous blogging (and real life) friend - shannon! she shared this little idea on her blog and i'm completely stealing it. i hope you don't mind friend! head on over and check out her blog here.

THE LIST:

1. List 20 random facts about yourself.
1. i LOVE end of the world disaster movies... the cheesier, the better. sci-fi channel movies are the best - 12.5 megaquakes and killer tornadoes from mars - LOVE IT!
2. when we went to NYC a few years back we totally saw richard simmons running down the street in his teeny tiny shorty shorts.
3. the weather and i... we have a love/hate relationship. i'm far more obsessed with it then someone my age should be. i'm terrified of storms. but give me a lovely fall afternoon and you'll hear me exclaim, "i'm in LOVE with this day!"
4. i don't like cantaloups. ick - they taste like slime!
5. i can't sleep any other way than curled up in a ball on my side. i'm getting some super awesome wrinkles on my chest from snoozing this way, but i can't help it. i literally can't sleep any other way.
6. if i had had my way nuggie's name would have been journey. seriously. i think i've got some better names picked out now though for future kiddos.
7. i've got two tattoos. and i've got another one picked out for when i graduate from nursing school. i've got a rose on my foot (for sweet little nuggie) and an abstract seahorse on my back shaded in with the colors of the thyroid cancer ribbon (since i'm a thyroid cancer survivor).
8.  npr on sunday mornings is the best... car talk, wait wait don't tell me and says you - LOVE them all!
9. i have very clear memories of a ghost being in our house when i was about three. i called him mr. greenbean and he wore a green hat. i wonder if he was real or if i was just a nutty little kid?
10. i firmly believe that there isn't much better than a new purse. filling it all up and keeping it organized makes me happy. 
11. marrying my amazing hubby, giving birth to our sweet baby girl and going back to school are the three things in my life that i'm most proud of. three of the best decisions ever.
12. i desperately want to be on a game show. any one will do really. i think i'd like to be on wheel of fortune the most though.
13. saltine crackers with butter on them are the best snack ever. 
14. i've never left the country. i hope to fix this someday.
15. my favorite book is "a tree grows in brooklyn" - it's such a wonderful story. read it.
16. i don't know how to swim.
17. in college i took aerobic walking. how is this even a class?!?
18. i use a gajillion nicknames for everyone, even in real life. my poor hubby has had to deal with probably a dozen in the ten years we've been together. sorry if this bugs people, i just love it.
19. another weird sleeping thing, i can't sleep with my hands uncovered. i feel like something will get them if they aren't shoved under my pillow or blanket.
20. i still hope someday to live on a houseboat out west :-)
2. Describe 3 fears, and how they became fears.
3. Describe your relationship with your parents.
4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year old self.
5. What are 5 things that make you most happy right now?
6. What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?
7. What is your dream job and why?
8. What are 5 of your passions?
9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.
10. What is your most embarrassing moment?
11. What are 10 of your pet peeves?
12. Describe a typical day in your life.
13. What are 5 of your weaknesses?
14. What are 5 of your strengths?
15. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
16. What are 5 of your greatest accomplishments?
17. What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
18. What has been the most difficult things you've had to forgive?
19. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
20. What are 3 significant memories from your childhood?
21. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?
22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
23. What are you top 5 hobbies, and why do you love them?
24. Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.
25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong?
27. What is your favorite part of your body and why?
28. What is your love language?
29. What do you think people misunderstand most about you?
30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered ************************************************************************           

my day in a nutshell...

hey, i had a great day. let me tell you all about it...

my daughter is picky eater. like picky, picky. i have no idea where she get this. her father and i will eat literally almost anything. we keep a house full of pretty healthy options. yet the girl wants to eat nothing but cereal, granola bars and cheese. i make these yummy smoothies in the morning with yogurt and fruit and other yum yums to sneak some good stuff into her life... all this to say, i've made the smoothie and i'm doing a few things around the house and i hear something that sounds suspiciously like spitting. but i choose to ignore it. my precious baby angel would never spit her smoothie all down the front of her shirt.   yes.she.would.
GROSS.

fast forward like thirty minutes. i'm in the "potty" and just as i get up to flush, our sweet new kitten mosby head dives in. uh yea, into, well, yeah - pee. and because he's a cat he of course then rockets right out. covered in pee water. just at that moment nuggie drops her cup of cheerios (b/c the whole freakin' family joins mommy when she has to pee). and i push her out screaming "yuck, yuck, yuck" and trap the pee-water soaked mosby in the bathroom. so there it was... a bathroom with a filthy little critter running around in it tracking pee water onto EVERY surface. including a cup of cheerios that have now scattered all over the floor. needless to say, mosby got his first bath and the whole room got doused with bleach.
GROSS.


i'll stop here. there were several other fun little adventures today. things involving cat poop and nuggie peeing on the carpet... but we've got more how i met your mother to watch... season six - OLE!

 and i had to add this just cause it's so stinkin' cute! i jacked my phone all up and somehow a bunch of old photos suddenly reappeared. look at little 11 month old nugget!

late to the game...

hey, there's this show called "how i met your mother" - maybe you've heard of it? yeah... this was me about a week and half ago. i have this thing with CBS shows and neil patrick harris. i don't typically like to watch them. BUT, after bub kept hounding me to give it a chance, i relented and well, here i am - nine days later, smack in the middle of season five. we have done nothing but watch every.single.episode. each night after nuggie has gone to sleep. how the heck have i been missing this?!? it kinda makes me feel dumb, like i'm running around screaming to people - hey, have you heard of this little show called friends? whatever, better late than never, right? anyone have season 7 they want to lend to me? netflix only has up through season six.

a new little buddy has come to live with us :-) his name is mosby (duh, like ted mosby... told you we've been living in the land of HIMYM). anyhow, he's a sweet little 10 week old siamese kitten. long story short, he was abandoned and needed a home. we've been wanting to bring in a little companion for olive. and he is perfect. i know it sounds kind of silly, but i feel kind of blessed that he came to live with us. he's absolutely the sweetest little man. he's so patient with nuggie playing with him and never, ever scratches or bites. he let's me rub his cute little belly. he loves to snuggle. he loves to play. he's not a sour, snippy, meany like olive is. ollie will always be our number one - we've had her just as long as bub and i have mr. and mrs. it is nice to have a sweet, little compliment to the fam.

i survived work orientation last week. being away from nuggie for four full days nearly broke me. i have a huge amount of respect for working mommas. work-work starts this week. just two days. no big deal. though it will be rough getting used to working 12-13 hour days. at least they're day shifts. i have to complete eight day shifts shadowing another tech, then after that i can be "on my own" sorta, kinda. and then i can work days, nights, weekends, whatever. nights will be best for us though, so bub can stay home with nuggie and i won't miss too much family time. nights are gonna stink. any advice from other night-shifters out there? i'm afraid of crashing about 3am and curling up on some empty bed somewhere :-p all that aside, i really am excited about getting started. i'll let you know how it goes.

picture picture

 last weekend for memorial day we headed over to gramp's house. we made a stop at the chattanooga aquarium. it was nuggie's first trip there :-) she had a blast getting up close to the fishies!

 on our way home we made a pit stop at sonic for milkshakes. nuggie had her first one... she LOVED it!

 this pic is from a few weeks ago - BUT, isn't it great? bub found this at the nashville farmer's market. "the main ingredient is Love" :-) and it's "hot slaw" - just sounds southern. i don't do spicy stuff, but he says it's delicious...i'll take his word for it.

 

sweet pea's hair is now long enough to start getting up in a little pony tail. my baby is growing up WAY too fast.

and this is all sorts of out of order... but, this is a piano at gramp's house. nuggie hopped right up on the bench and started plunking away at the keys. maybe we'll have a little musician in the family.

the last couple of weeks have been nuts. i'm getting all geared up to start work training next monday. WORK!?! it's been so long since i earned a paycheck. i'm so ready to start!

the fence is all done in the backyard except for one last gate bub has to install. it looks awesome! and it's such a blessing to feel a little more secure when playing outside with nuggie. i'll have to post some pics of that soon.

my summer reading list is pretty short so far, but right now i'm getting through - abraham lincoln, vampire hunter. has anyone else read it? it's actually a pretty good read. it's totally different and pretty well written. the movie comes out the end of the month - i cant wait to see it!!

spanxx alot

it's friday - ole! this really means nothing to me, now that my days are all sort of a big blur of kiddo fantastic-ness... but to all you working stiffs out there - rejoice! it's a LONG, holiday weekend :-)

our holiday weekend will kick-off with a super awesome yard sale. if you know me in real life and want to come by tomorrow, we'll be hawking junk in the grass. come early though. it's gonna be freaking hot, so we'll probably wrap up by lunch time.

after church on sunday we're heading over to see nuggie's gramps. we're spoiled and typically he comes to us, but we're making the trek to him this time. i have to admit, i'm really sort of dreading the car ride. and the being in a new place with nuggie. and the trying to get her to sleep in a strange environment. ugh - traveling with a toddler is really icky :-( we'll survive though.

a dear, sweet friend (who shall remain nameless to protect her cute little spanxx covered tooshie) recommended that i purchase a pair of "spanxx" for my very own. they will change your life she promised me. then they went on sale on zulilly. and so i thought - well woo-freakin-who! the stars aligned for my rear-end!!! i've been rushing to the mailbox each day, hoping my super-panties would arrive. they showed up TODAY! i can't wait to give them a whirl!!

and speaking of woo-freakin-who... i am once again employed! it's been nearly two years since i contributed a paycheck to our little family. a little extra income will be amazing. AND the position i got is perfection. i'm a nurse extern! i seriously couldn't ask for a better way to start my soon-to-be nursing career. it's not the job i applied for or even the one i discussed with the woman in HR the first time we chatted. it's a total, wonderful blessing that this is what came of all of that.

enjoy your memorial day weekend lovies.