Quote of the Week (10/20/2014)

Quote of the Week: “Don’t wait for tomorrow. Don’t wait for the right job, the right house, the right salary, the right dress size. Be happy today. Be happy now.”  – Joseph B. Wirthlin

Isn’t this the easiest and the hardest at the same time?

Coming off my sweet-o-holic post and my constant visiting of real estate websites, this quote is a much needed, healthy reminder. I need to remind myself daily, hourly, minutely that my life is pretty amazing. I have a great husband who is also my best friend and lifeline. I have two of the coolest, funniest, sweetest, craziest little boys. I have a large and loving family. I have a house that is safe and warm. I have a job that I am good at and that I enjoy. I really do have it all and so I will not wait to be happy. I will be happy right now. Period.

Simple pleasure #7

Simple pleasure#7: dance parties! (solo or with my boys)

Tonight’s music selection was the Shrek 2 soundtrack.  I proudly taught my son how to shake his butt. Later he was correcting Bryce’s beat. That’s my boy!

While the cat’s away….

In my head:  A clean house, a happy child, a relaxed fiance… I might go away for the weekend more often.

Every year for the past 12+ years I have done an annual girls weekend away at my friend’s family cabin.  Most of the girls that go to this annual event have been friends of mine since grade school.  We have history, memories, and stories that go as far back as t-ball years.   Now that we have all hit our thirities, it seems like these weekends of debauchery and little sleep have transitioned into bringing breast pumps, trying out new recipes and taking every opportunity to sleep in as late as possible, something that we don’t get to do in our “real” lives. 

With me being away for the weekend, this left my two boys at home left to their own devices.  Normally I would do everything in my power to set-up the weekend to be as easy as possible for Bryce and Logan… you know, grocery shop in advance, make a meal to two for them to just heat up, have all the laundry done, and possibly schedule an event for them to stay occupied (aka not be lazy).  This weekend I didn’t have the time or energy to do any of this.  I was surprised I was actually able to get myself packed and out the door at a decent hour let alone think about what I hadn’t done for my boys.  This left Bryce fully and completely in charge. 

I would like to say I was nervous, but I wasn’t.  I had a really long week, one with little sleep and lots of stress.  Bryce and I had argued Thursday night and so for the first time in a long time I was feeling slightly selfish.  Something I am slightly ashamed to admit now. 

Throughout the weekend, Bryce and I would talk briefly, but the connection never truly allowed for a good and thorough explaination of what the boys had been up to with mom out of town.  I had to rely on text messages to give me a play-by-play.  By Sunday morning,  I was itching for some boy time.  I love my girls, don’t get me wrong, but two nights with 10 females in a cabin with one bathroom and too much alcohol, the fun had definitely expired and the drama was beginning.  I needed to get out before I got sucked into it.  Around 6PM I arrived home, and outside of an overflowing laundry basket, my house was clean, my lawn was mowed, projects had been completed, Logan was presumably well cared for and even in a respectable outfit and Bryce seemed relaxed.  I learned that while I was away they went to Target and got Logan a new elephant and some sort of robot arm toy.  They also went to a couple new parks and even went fishing for awhile too.  To say I was proud would be an understatement. 

Now it’s Tuesday, the laundry is nearly finished.  My house is still relatively clean.  And all three of us seem to have a newfound enjoyment of eachother’s company.  Apparently girl’s weekend isn’t just about being with my girl’s, it’s also a vacation from the reality for all parties involved.

Simple pleasure #6

Simple pleasure#6:  Not having to share my bed for a whole hour!

I realize that this may seem very simple for others of you that don’t have a 2.5 year old who has practically never slept through the night. This, however, is not the case in my house.

Simple Pleasure #5

Simple pleasure #5: Mr. Sketch Markers

Currently I am using the pink one, and though I don’t know what it is supposed to smell like, I just love that my writing apperatus has a pleasant and uplifting smell.

Defined by music

In my head: How much I love Pandora!

Assigned with a big project at work that is going to require me to be in front of my computer screen for at least an hour…. I pandora.

It’s Logan’s naptime, it’s a perfect day outside and I have four chapters left in my book… I pandora.

In the car stuck in the middle of the talk show grind… I pandora.

No this isn’t a commerical, just a love letter to this really random website that I use quite regularly, and now that I am an Adroid phone user, I found that yes, “there’s an app for that.”

The thing about Pandora that sort of freaks me out is that it KNOWS me.  I pick one band, one song, or some random music related word and it formulates a whole station of songs for little ol’ me.  The other day I was listening to my John Mayer station and it was one good song after another, and I kept thinking to myself… “I have this CD” or “I’ve downloaded this song” or even if they throw in something I haven’t heard before its a song that I really like and I want to know more about it.  

If you haven’t already tried Pandora, I think that you should check it out.  Let me know if it freaks you out too!

Simple pleasure #4

Simple pleasure #4: My biannual visit to the dentist office. 

I love the feeling of professionally cleaned teeth.  I always say to Bryce that, “this is gonna be the cleanest my mouth is going to be for 6 months so he should get in a couple good kisses!” 🙂

A night in the park

Fun fact: I have taken my Myers-Briggs assessment a couple of times, and each time without fail, it tells me that I am an extrovert.  duh?  I am probably raising an extrovert too.

Much like any child, my son loves to go to the park.  On a pretty regular basis, Logan and I will go out with the idea of finding a NEW park to play at even though we are fortunate to have a nice sized park just right up the street.  Yes, Logan enjoys going on the swings and wanting me to push him as high as physically possible, and yes, on occasion I find myself reminding him of the things we don’t do with sand (you know, throw it or eat it), but I am pretty sure that the thing that Logan likes most about the park is playing with new kids there.  Usually when we get about 50 yards away or maybe even further, I’m no good with estimating yardage, Logan will ask me, “Any kids ‘der?” (Apparently my son has been watching a little too much Car Movie, he is starting to sound like Larry the Cable Guy). 

If the answer to my question is, “Not today, Logi.”  His inquisitive mind will then say, “Where’d they go?”

Luckily for me, when we went to the park the last time, there were not only kids there but kids his age!  Logan soon made three new friends: Nevin, Noah and a sweet little girl named Benna.  Logan is sort of that creepy kid at the park who, in my opinion he has just advanced beyond individual play earlier than others, and will follow his new friends around the park wanting to do whatever they are doing for the remainder of the time there.  If Benna was building a sand castle, than Logan wanted to be butt-in-the-sand building one too.  If Nevin was on the swings, then Logan was going to be swinging too. 

Then it came time to leave, Logan was physically looking exhausted and he was in dire need of  a bath, especially because during the sand castle time mommy found him playing with sticky sort of sand that I am pretty sure was not sand at all.  As a parent, this is the worst part, you want to form an immediate alliance with the other parent to leave at the same time to make this goodbye process simpler and cry-free.  If both parties could silently agree to leave the park at the same time, then neither kid will feel like they are missing out on the fun.  This night I wasn’t so lucky.  I found myself bribing Logan with a popcorn party when we got home and promising him that he could pick out whatever jammies he wanted.  Logan was not so impressed but thankfully he obliged begrudgingly.  Amazing what the power of popcorn persuasion will do!