Weekly Weigh-In

OK, so I've changed my WW weigh-in day yet again.

It started out on Mondays at 12:00pm, but I quickly realized that with Isabella in school I am usually super busy on Mondays, so it wasn't a very convenient day/time.

Then I started going on Sundays, but I have this terrible habit of not eating anything before weigh-in (terrible, I know), and by the 1:20pm meeting time I was usually dying of hunger and horrible headaches.

So I decided to try Saturday mornings (9:00am) and I think I might have found the perfect day and time. Hopefully this will continue to work going forward.

Alrighty then, so what's the verdict you ask?

Pounds lost this week: 3.6 lbs
Total lost: 9.6 lbs

Now, that's what I'm talking about!

I'm very happy with the results from this week's weigh-in. I tried my hardest to stay within my points, increase my water intake and eat smaller meals more frequently. Not to mention my recent Zumba experience (ha, ha, ha).

So here's hoping for another great week with a lot more activity.

*****

PS I want to congratulate my good friend Rachel for her wonderful week with a 3 pound loss. Woo Hoo!

PSS I also want to congratulate my friend Lynn for re-joining WW. The first week is the hardest with all the adjustment that goes on and stuff, but I can't wait to hear about your weigh-in. You go, Girl! I'm sure you'll do great.

I am so glad to be doing this with you guys, even if it is via phone and/or e-mail.

Meet the village idiot

The following conversation took place bright and early this morning while Isabella, Sam and I were having breakfast. Sam started grunting and his face turned really red; obviously he was taking care of business.

I: What's Sam doing?

Me: I think he's pooping.

I: Why is he pooping?

Me: Well, because everybody poops.

I: Well, I don't go poop,...

Insert long pause here ~ long enough for me to foolishly think she had finished her statement. Right! Silly me!

Me: Of course you poop, Silly! Everybody poops!

Insert a raised index finger and a whole lot of attitude here.

I: I wasn't done talking. (Insert long pause for dramatic effect.) I was saying I don't go poop ON MYSELF,... I go poop in the potty.

Insert an overly exaggerated sigh from Isabella here.

I: I am so much smarter than you.

WHAT? EXCUSE ME?

OK, so here's the thing, on more than one occasion I've said to Scott that I think Isabella thinks I'm like the village idiot. To her "Her Daddy" is the greatest and strongest and fastest and smartest thing since sliced bread. Nobody compares to him in her eyes. As a matter of fact, she cries every morning begging "Her Daddy" to NOT go to work and the second "Her Daddy" walks through the door, it's seriously like I'm instantly dismissed. It's like I'm the Latin maid/nanny that needs to disappear through the back door the moment "Her Daddy"" (the Master) makes an appearance. Poof! Be gone, Consuelo!

When Scott's not around either she knows I'm all she's got until he gets home or, dare I say, she actually enjoys being with me. But things are really good. We laugh, we play, we talk, we dance, you name it ~ it's great. And she is SO loving and affectionate. So this "statement" of hers today actually took me by surprise.

Here lately she's been constantly saying that she's faster than X or that she's stronger than X, so I think today was just another adaptation of being " ___er than X". But did she really have to add the "so much"? I mean, seriously!!!

So today we had another conversation about being humble and respectful and considerate of others' feelings. She said she was sorry for hurting my feelings and gave me a big hug. Awww!

Hmm, you think maybe deep inside she was thinking: "Oh, how dare you reprimand me, you underling? I'll have "My Daddy" deal with you tonight. Pack your bags, you village idiot! You're so outta here! Adios, amiga!"?

Nah, she wouldn't,... or would she?

Shhhh! It's a secret.

Hey, look what came in the mail:

But whatever you do, you CANNOT tell Isabella!

As you guys are probably very aware of by now, Isabella LOVES The Backyardigans. Her last birthday party had a Backyardigans theme. Our DVR has about 37 episodes stored in it, so we watch it quite frequently! In the car most of the DVDs she watches are Backyardigans. And every time we see The Backyardigans Live commercials on TV all I hear is: "Mommy, I weally, weally, weally want to see this show because I wove Pablo". She calls the show Pablo, and I guess it's because it starts with "Hi, I'm Pablo", but her favorite character is Tyrone ~ yeah, our girl's complicated like that.

Actually, she's been sporting this here tattoo since yesterday morning.

(This is one of the many left over tattoos from her birthday party.)

Well, with this crazy Pablo obsession of hers, as you can imagine I've been stalking their website to see when they might be coming to town, but unfortunately they haven't added Memphis to their tour schedule. So Scott and I had this grand idea of combining two things into one. We can buy tickets for the St. Louis show, go up there, visit with friends and family and on our way out of town, enjoy the show. Genius!

The reason we CANNOT tell Isabella (can you tell I'm pretty adamant about this?) is because the show is still a few weeks away and she would drive us all to absolute insanity between now and then. So for now, every time we see the commercial and she says: "Mommy, I weally, weally, weally want to see this show because I wove Pablo", I just respond with: "I know you do honey. We'll see if they come to town". Oh, I feel so sneaky!

But we really are so very excited to take her. Hmm,... I just hope she's not disappointed to see human faces instead of her beloved cartoons. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Is there a defibrillator in the house?

So a couple of my friends invited me to join them for a Zumba class tonight. I couldn't very well say no being that (A) the class is in the evening, so Scott would be home to keep the kids (B) the Community Center where it's held is literally less than a mile from my house and (C) after my less than stellar weigh-in, I decided this was the week to kick butt, remember? So I went. Mind you, I had absolutely no idea what Zumba was. Have you heard of it? Apparently it's the latest craze in the aerobics world and everyone everywhere is talking about it.

The Zumba website describes it as follows:
Zumba fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy to follow moves to create a dynamic workout system that will blow you away. Our goal is simple: We want you to want to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. Zumba Fanatics achieve long term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exhilarating hour of caloric-burning, heart-racing, muscle-pumping, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements meant to engage and captivate for life!

OK, let just start by saying that I don't even remember the last time I did aerobics. Or any type of aerobic activity. Or really any type of activity at all. If I had to use one word to describe my activity level here lately it would probably be, oh I don't know, maybe something along the lines of sloth-like. It's so bad in fact, that the four of us went for a walk to the park this past Sunday and I was literally about to die on the way back. I did NOT think I would make it. And I was the one pushing the stroller, which I am positive is the only reason I was able to remain upright. How's that for bad? I know! I'm not exactly proud of it, which is why I'm doing something about it, OK?
Anyway, I went to Zumba and it was loud and funny and entertaining and fun and exhausting and hard work. Although I must admit my life did flash before my eyes on more than one occasion, I stuck with it and did the the whole thing. I do not lie to you when I say that I cannot feel my legs right now, my waist is killing me and my arms are like Jello. Imagine what it'll be like tomorrow, especially when I have to carry our 23 pounder around ~ YIKES!

Will I go back again? Absolutely! Having some girlfriends there definitely made the experience a lot more enjoyable for me. Although we laughed a lot ~ with each other and at each other ~ it never once felt awkward or competitive or anything crazy like that. And to top it off it was Latin music Baby, and you know that's right up my alley.

So there's my first step towards becoming active again. But with how I'm feeling right now, when I'll be able to take the next step it's anyone's guess. So wish me luck and a speedy recovery! Yes, I said I would kick butt this week, I just never thought it would be my own.

And finally, being that I'm not a huge fan of posts without pictures, here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

This one is now sitting on his own (for a little while anyway),

and chomping at the bit to start crawling.

He's almost got it,... Lord help us.

This one has entered the "crying over everything stage". Yes, everything.

Oh, I'm sorry, did I say everything? Because I what I really meant to say was EVERYTHING! And let me tall ya Folks, it's super fun! If you don't have one of those, you really must go out and get yourselves one immediately. It's just SUPER! It should be illegal for anyone to miss out on this much fun.

But this, well,... this just melts my heart.
To see them playing together and enjoying each other, that's just pure bliss.

Alright, gotta go now, take a shower and most likely die. It really was a pleasure knowing all of you!

Weekly Weigh-In

So I went in for my WW weekly weigh-in today, since tomorrow Mr. Sam is having his 6 months pictures done. I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed and maybe it's my own fault. I might have set my expectations WAY higher than they should be. The previous times I've done the program the weight just melted off initially, almost effortlessly, and I'm not really seeing that this time around.

OK, without further ado:

Pounds lost this week: 1.6 lbs
Total lost: 6 lbs

Now, I know that 6 lbs in 2 weeks is great and I really shouldn't be complaining, but once you've done the program before it's hard NOT to compare your progress to your previous results. Scott's explanation was that it's two kids later and I'm also older. Right,... love ya too buddy!

He also asked why losing 1.6 lbs has the same effect as if I'd gained 5 lbs. I was quick to explain it didn't: losing 1.6 lbs made me sad and disappointed; if on the other hand I would have gained 5 lbs, he would have had to go find me and drag me out of The Commissary BBQ while trying to pry an entire slab (or two) of ribs off my hands. See the difference?

And besides, there was a lady at the meeting (talk about older, much, much older, like granny older) who lost 8 pounds on her first week in the program. Kind of makes you wonder what am I doing wrong (or what laxative did she take last night ~ sign me up!).

Anyhoo, not much I can do about it now. I'm starting my new week with a new attitude.

I'm kicking butt this week!!!

And if I don't,... well then brace yourself The Commissary!

September OPAM ~ What's in your pantry?

Today turned out to be a rainy day in our neck of the woods, which was great because it kept us in the house and allowed me to get some stuff done. Well, I got ONE major thing done, but the sense of accomplishment I'm feeling right now is pretty much through the roof. YAY me!

OK, so I know I'm kind of cheating here, but I will declare this my OPAM for the month of September. Yes, although you have not yet seen the results from my May OPAM, and I pretty much totally neglected it during the Summer months, I am now resurrecting it and presenting you with a new AND completed project. (If you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about or what OPAM is, please go here)

So today I tackled our pantry, and what a project that was. YIKES! I started at around 8:30 this morning and I just got done taking a picture of my final product. Of course it wasn't without interruptions and breaks, with the kids, the phone, the Internet (yeah, that's where the "break" comes in, that damn Internet!), it was stop and go there for a while. But now it's officially done.

This is what the pantry looked like and has looked like for as long as I can remember:

And here's a closer look, just in case you haven't gotten the idea quite yet.

A heck of a mess, don't you think? It seriously takes FOREVER to find anything in there. So often times we don't even look and we just go out and buy another of whatever it is we need, which of course just made the problem worse. But really, how many Chili Powders does one family need? I found four,... FOUR!!!!

So the first thing I did was take everything out of the pantry and place what we are keeping, separated by category of course, on the table:
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I found some stuff with expiration dates of 2003 and 2004 and 2005, some,... about two big trash bags full.

Then I came across these little gems:

and both of them had this on their side:

Yeah, that says "Sell by 3/01", in the event that maybe you missed it. Mortified doesn't even begin to describe it. What in the world are we doing with flour and wheat bran that we obviously DO NOT consume and expired over seven years ago? Guys, we weren't even married in 2001.

Oh, but it gets much better, my friends. You see I found one item that dates further back than these two. The gold medal for longest time sitting in our pantries (because we have moved two times and have apparently transported this baby along with us BOTH times because Lord knows you just can't buy it new in your new location) goes to:

WHAT?

Just in case you didn't catch that this is not one of those "Better if purchased by,..." Oh, no, this one says "Better if used by". I don't ever really use Flour, and especially not Whole Wheat flour, so I'm sitting here wondering when did Scott buy this, in 1999? Holy Cow! I don't even know what to say right now.

I feel like I'm about to start hyperventilating any second now so I must immediately move on to the happy stuff, cause as I'm looking around here there's no paper bag anywhere in sight.

OK, deep breaths. Inhale,... exhale,... inhale,... exhale. And again, inhale,... exhale. Much better.

Ladies and gentleman I now present to you the new and much improved pantry:

Oh yes my friends, that is actual available space you see here before you.

I replaced that tiny itty bitty spice rack (what in the world was I thinking?) with the Mack Daddy of racks ~ yeah baby! Our pantry just literally almost doubled in size, instantly!

Question, do you think I should ask Scott why he thinks we need to own three, count them, three racks double filled with spices? Hmm, maybe not. I can see how that could backfire. Oh well, at least now they are organized.

Senate Bill 1738

I love our DVR and the fact that I can record programs and watch them whenever I get a chance to, like when both kids are napping at the same time, which almost never happens. Well, it happened today. So, I just finished watching yesterday's Oprah show. To say I was appalled, sad, disgusted and angry as a result of watching it is putting it mildly.

The show was about child pre * da * tors, specifically internet pre * da * tors. Some of the things mentioned on that show literally made my cry. I cannot even bring myself to repeat it. So I decided to do something about it, to take a stand. Since I'm sure that not everyone I know reads this blog, I will also follow this up with an e-mail later today to pretty much everyone in my address book. So please forgive me if I repeat myself, but in my opinion this so worth doing.

This is not a political statement by any means. Regardless of your political tendencies or beliefs, Senate Bill #1738, the Protect Our Children Act, is a bipartisan bill to assist the underfunded law enforcement efforts in protecting our children from pre * da * tors. It will allocate additional financial resources to law enforcement who investigate child exp loi - tat ion, make child rescue a top priority and allocate funds for more advanced electronic tracking.

All you have to do to ensure this bill gets passed is write your senator and request that they vote to pass Senate Bill 1738. Just click here and it will take you directly to Oprah's website where she will walk you through everything you need to do to contact your senator. You can even copy a letter to paste on your senator's contact form so most of the hard work is already done for you. I just did it and it took no more than a few minutes.

Please note, the deadline for this petition is September 26th, so please act quickly since we don't really have much time.

So that's it,... let's do what we can to put our hard-earned money to good use.

(BTW, the words that appear to be a little crazy are purposely typed that way. I learned a very useful tip from my friend Marci when posting certain words on blogs.)

Six things about our boy

at six months.

1. As of this morning's 6 month check-up he weighs 23 pounds and is 28 inches long ~ he is one Big Baby Boy!
2. He is actually quite mobile for his tender age ~ he's either rolling all over the place or he's up on all four lunging forward to get places. I know I'm dreading the inevitable, but before I know it he'll be crawling all over the place.
3. He has his two bottom teeth and looks absolutely adorable when he smiles.
4. He lights up when he sees big sister Isabella and his Daddy, but he is head over heels in LOVE with his Mommy. He's actually started showing some signs of separation anxiety when Mommy is not around.
5. He loves baby food and at the rate he's growing, I'm pretty sure he'll be consuming finger foods quite soon.
6. He is always happy, always smiling, such a snuggler and an absolute joy.

Off to a good start

Although my first Weight Watchers weigh-in was supposed to be tomorrow, right after I drop Isabella off at school I have to take our baby boy to the doctor for his 6 months check-up (can you believe it? 6 months already?), which of course involves some shots. Well, I decided to go to WW today so that tomorrow we can come straight home after his appointment and I can make sure that he is as comfortable as possible.

OK, here it goes. Drum roll please,....

After my first week of WW I have lost: 4.4 lbs.

YAY!

That's exactly the motivation I needed. I am certainly feeling ready to face this coming week with its set of challenges.

P.S. Yeah, don't think for one second I didn't scarf down a medium bag of popcorn yesterday at the movies. There are some things I WILL NOT quit, like popcorn at the movies. It's bad enough I'm totally off my much beloved Coke. But on the bright side, I did not add butter and I did account for the popcorn points.

The Women

OK, so do yourself a favor, grab some girlfriends and go see this movie. Once you get over how Meg Ryan has butchered what once was her pretty little face, it is quite a good movie. My friends and I laughed and cried and then laughed some more. I highly recommend it.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say,...

... that maybe, just maybe, he likes Baby Food.

So, today we ventured into the new and exciting territory of Baby Food. On today's menu: Sweet Potatoes.

And yes my friends, that is yummy sweet potatoes all over his face, hands, in his ear and on his eyelashes. He's taken "enjoy your food" to a whole different level.

I'm not really sure why I'm so surprised he liked it. The child eats his morning cereal like he hasn't been fed in a couple of weeks ~ eagerly, almost desperately, opening his mouth and lunging forward in his chair. And he usually stares at me while I eat, mimicking me while I chew my food (which in all honesty, is a little creepy sometimes). Yeah, I think he's actually ready for a big ol' plate of meat and potatoes, but we'll stick with these "solids" for a little while longer.

Oooh, I almost forgot ~ notice his two little bottom teeth on the first picture. How cute is that? Him gnawing on our fingers these days? Yeah, not so cute anymore. Pretty painful actually.

It's definitely a good thing!

I stumbled upon this site earlier today which is filled with hundreds of fun little mindless quizzes. After having some fun with a few of them I decided to do this one and basically confirmed what I've known for years ~ I am my mother!

And you know what? There's no one else I'd rather be like. I love my mom so much. She is an unbelievable woman who I have grown to respect and admire more and more throughout the years. She's my best friend. She's my biggest cheerleader. She's my favorite teacher. She's my favorite preacher. She's smart and caring and loving and considerate and unselfish and compassionate.

You Are Totally Like Your Mom

You and your mom are practically clones. You think alike, and you even seem to read each other's minds. You're definitely you're mother's child... and that's just fine with you.

Are You Like Your Mom?

I know there's no rhyme or reason for this post and it's as random as it gets, but I wanted to say I love you Mami and I pray that my children and I will develop the kind of relationship you and I have.

Our Beautiful Dancer

Seriously, is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen in your whole entire life?

Isabella started dance classes today. As much as this girl likes to "dance" or show us "her moves", in all honesty I wasn't sure how she would do in a class environment: would she be interested, would she follow directions, would she participate? After much research I finally settled on a school that offers non-competitive, come have some fun and learn some steps while you're at it type classes. And you pay monthly tuition, so there's no long term commitments. If she's absolutely miserable, then you're not out an obscene amount of money.
Although moms don't get to actually sit inside the dance studio and observe while class is in session, there is a two way mirror so that we can peek inside and watch them in action. Oh my goodness, all I can say is ADORABLE! It was so great to watch her follow the teachers' leads and enjoy herself as much as she did.
After today all of my questions as to whether she'd like it or not have definitely been put to rest. She loved every single minute of it. So much so in fact, that when they came out to the parents' waiting area she was crying because she didn't want to go home, she wanted to dance some more. So let me just tell you ~ what was originally just ballet lessons quickly turned into ballet and tap classes going forward. Next stop? Payless to pick up some tap shoes for our little dancer. Can you imagine? All these cute little three year olds tapping? Seriously, can you stand it?

Hello, old friend ~ we meet again!

Well, it was bound to happen and it finally did. I'm totally fed up with the way I look and feel. Which means what exactly? I've finally joined Weight Watchers,...again.

I went this morning after dropping Isabella off at school and met up face to face with my nemesis ~ that awful scale! Of course the number it spat back at me didn't surprise me one bit since it was precisely the reason I was there in the first place. But still, GEEZ!!!!

Please don't let my (,...again) comment confuse you. I happen to be a HUGE (hmm, I might want to choose my words more carefully) fan of the WW program. The first time I joined was back in 1999 and I was unbelievably successful. Back then I was single, working crazy long hours in a new town with no friends. With not much else going on in my life at the time I gave the program 150%. So what happened you may ask? Well, I met and fell in love with Scott. I was happy and in love and eating late night dinners and desserts and drinks. As my personal life was on an upswing, apparently so was my weight. At some point I stopped going to the meetings altogether, which is a big NO NO for me.

I rejoined WW when I worked with my friend Lynn in St. Louis. Remember, Lynn? It couldn't have been more convenient; the meetings took place during lunch time in the building that we worked in. It was definitely fun to have someone to do the program with, go to weigh-ins, make little wagers and serve as a support system ~ you know especially at times when you're standing there unable to breathe while staring at a box filled with a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Then at some point the doughnuts won and it all went to downhill.

In 2004 I joined again and was doing great. I lost a little over 20 pounds within the first month and that was all the motivation I needed to stay on track and keep going. Then one day SURPRISE! I was pregnant with Isabella and could no longer follow the program and/or attend the meetings. But I had such a wonderful pregnancy and such a beautiful little girl, I wasn't discouraged. I knew I'd be able to go back and give it my best when I was good and ready.

So fast forward a couple years and there I am walking right back in there with an additional 10 pounds. But it was OK, I was just as motivated on following the program as I had been the other times. Again, history repeats itself ~ I lost about 20 pounds that first month. I was feeling good and totally determined to do this, just like I knew I'd be, and then BAM! Pregnant again!!! This time with our wonderful "little" Sam.

Anyhoo, here are a few observations on my very personal journeys with the WW Program:
* I do GREAT when I have NO life
* I do OK when I do the program with someone I know
* Weigh-ins and meetings are a definite requirement for my success, without that accountability I might as well not even waste our money
* Apparently I love a good challenge since every single time I go back I show up with 10 extra pounds than I did the time before
* As soon as I'm down 20 pounds I'm going to have to send Scott to sleep on the sofa, at least for a while ~ I mean seriously!

I am very excited to have rejoined, feeling super motivated and looking forward to my weigh-ins. And the reason I am telling you all about this is because, like I said before, I do much better when I have a support group and accountability. So every Monday I will update the blog with my progress, which will hopefully be pounds lost.

So wish me luck for this coming week. I'm definitely gonna need it!

Festival Fun

This morning I woke up with a desire to get up, get ready and get going. Lucky for me not only is the Fair still in town, but this is also the weekend of the annual Germantown Festival. I really wanted to go to the festival and I knew that presenting it to Scott as an option to the Fair was definitely the way to go, since I just happen to know that he would never willingly go to the fair.

So off to the festival we went. It was a perfect day for it ~ overcast, in the high 70's and breezy. Although we did walk around and looked at a lot of what the vendors had to offer, it mostly turned into a fun little trip for Isabella which included some face painting, some games and a whole lot of rides.

I managed to get one picture of her face painting seconds before her hair blew right into it and turned it into a very colorful mess, which we then had to clean up. Mommy has some serious OCD tendencies, as you may already know,...

Other than a rinky dink train she's been on the last couple of years during our visits to Uncle Fudd's Pumpkin Patch and the local mall Merry-go-Round she's never really been on rides before. Personally, I was little uncertain on how she'd like them because she's a pretty cautious little girl and not really into things that have the potential of causing bodily harm. But she loved it. Ride after ride ~ the rides kept getting faster and she kept asking for more.

A lot of the rides looked like they came straight from the 1940's. And I'm not talking about the style. Oh no! It all looked like it had barely survived a few World War II attacks.
Yeah, I got dizzy just watching her go around and around at a very fast speed while trying to get a decent picture,... she on the other hand enjoyed every second of it.
Spin Art ~ my favorite part of the day. Oh yeah,.. I like to live on the edge. Hmmm, I wonder who Isabella gets that from?This is pretty much what Sam looked like during our little morning adventure, except of course while he was napping.
In all honesty, what we probably should have done when we left the festival was run, not walk, to the nearest hospital to make sure Isabella got a Tetanus booster with all those old, rusty, metal rides she was on, but we were tired and hungry and decided to go have some lunch instead. Hey, I practically bathed her with hand sanitizer before we got in the car so that counts,... right?

She's officially a Preschooler

Yes ladies and gentlemen, today was her first day of preschool. And honestly I gotta tell you, as ridiculous as it sounds, I'm feeling a little weird about the whole thing.
Although it's the same location she attended last year, she's no longer going to MDO (Mother's Day Out), now she's going to Preschool. She no longer takes a sippy cup, now she takes a juice box. She no longer has an hour allotted for nap, now it's 30 minutes of rest time. She can no longer take her special blankie to sleep with. I no longer pack diapers in her bag. Her classroom looks like it's for big kids. When did this happen? When did my little girl get to be so big?
Oh, she was so excited to go to school this morning. Two of her little friends from last year were going to be in her class again and that's all she could talk about on the way there. She even made us leave a little bit earlier than usual. We got to hang out in front of the school and take some pictures until they opened their doors.
We walked inside to her new "big kids" classroom and after hugs and kisses she walked right in without missing a beat, like an old pro. Me? Well, I just stood there blocking all the other parents' way and looking like an idiot. But I did mange one final shot of her inside the classroom before leaving. Seriously, she looks so big.

Not an educational read by any means,...

... but definitely an entertaining one.

If you were a 90210 fan like I was back in the day and constantly wondered what the point of Donna Martin was, then you might also find it pretty entertaining.

I remember being in college and loving the show (as well as Melrose Place). I watched it religiously when it was at the height of its glory, but episode after episode I though to myself: "Wow, Tori Spelling sure is lucky that her Daddy's the producer. That has got to be the only reason she's in this show." I was definitely not impressed with her character or her acting or truth be told, her looks. (I know, I know, that's very shallow of me,... but isn't that what all stars subject themselves to for being in the public eye?)

Anyway, fast forward about a decade or so (although the show ran from 1990 through 2000, I stopped watching before it ended) and as I've tuned into a couple of her reality shows, I've actually thought that she seems dare I say, quite "normal and likable" and not the spoiled little rich girl I always thought she was.

I ventured into Amazon and was shocked to see that her book was #2 on the NY Times Bestseller list and most of the reviews were extremely positive and painted her in a very favorable light. So I ordered it.

After reading her book I've come to the conclusion that not only was I not the only person in this planet who thought those things about her, but her childhood and upbringing was actually a very sad and lonely one. Boy, am I happy my family did not have any money!

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha, ha, ha! Right! Whatever!

Moving on, if you're wondering if I'm going to tune into the new 90210, the answer is an adamant NO. I'm already hooked on too many TV shows that I have to record because I don't have the time to watch when they air.

And now, the good news,... Isabella starts preschool tomorrow so I'm sure the next posting(s) will be much more interesting and much less random. So please come back,...

I'm a Sucker for a Bargain

OK, so I've been eyeing this pretty little mosaic table and chairs at Gordmans ever since they first put them out this last spring. But all three pieces were marked at $14.99 each and although not too terribly bad, I just couldn't bring myself to spend $45 on the set, as adorable as it is.
Well, my neighbor Christie called me up last week and told me that Gordmans had marked them down on clearance to $12 each and that there was an additional 50% off clearance event. So I decided to go and check it out last Friday. I mean $18 for the three piece set? Yeah, I was definitely willing to pay $18, no doubt.
I got there and looked through what they had left in stock and picked the pink table (also available were yellow and blue) and two chairs with different butterfly backs. Everything was outside in front of the store, so I loaded all the stuff in a cart (no easy task with Isabella and Sam along) and took it inside to check out. The cashier scans all three pieces and says: "That'll be $9.83". So I looked at her somewhat confused and asked if she had scanned all three pieces. To which she replies "Yes, but everything's 50% off, remember?" OK, now I'm no mathematician ~ actually, I am and always have been pretty bad at math, but I can do the basic calculations as well as the next guy. So let's see:

Option 1: 3 pieces x $12 each = $36 and 50% off $36 = $18
or
Option 2: $12 divided by 2 = $6 and $6 x 3 pieces = $18

I'm pretty much arriving at $18 every time. But apparently what I didn't know was that the chairs were ringing up at $3 clearance price, therefore $1.50 after additional discount. So basically it rang up at $9.00 plus tax for the three piece set. Hey, who am I to argue? I'll take it!!!

We brought it home and immediately set it up in Isabella's room. We absolutely love it! On Saturday morning as soon as she woke up she had her very first tea party with her friends, crazy morning hair and all,...

It's Miller Time!

Our friends the Millers were here visiting this weekend and it was such an awesome time. For the last three years we've made getting together over Labor Day weekend our little tradition. They are without a doubt some of my favorite people in this whole entire world and we absolutely love spending time with them. We pretty much just hung out all weekend and did low key stuff that allowed the little kids to run around and play while the big kids got a chance to relax and catch up.

On Saturday Isabella was insistent that we had to take the boys to the Botanic Gardens so that they could feed the fish and the geese. Isabella loves feeding the fish and has been asking repeatedly to go back since our last visit in June. So off we went packed with drinks, snacks and bread for the geese. The kids fed the fish and the geese and then ran and ran and ran until they could run no more. Once we got back to the house we put their swimsuits on, filled up the little alligator pool and had them play outside until it was time for dinner.

Is this not a face of pure delight?

Feeding the fish was definitely a highlight for Jack as well.

On Sunday we went to church, dropped off all the kids at the nursery and enjoyed a wonderful service. The current series is on creating margin (free time/availability) in your life, yesterday it was specifically related to your work life. Afterward we went to Jones Orchard to pick peaches and apples. The kids loved being able to pick the fruit right off the trees and place it in their baskets. Even Sam got a kick out of pulling leaves off the trees.

This is Jack ~ he's such a charmer.Robby and Sammy ~ quite the duo.

Here are the kids reviewing and approving Rachel's pictures.This is Luke ~ he's the mysterious one.
Carrying the baskets around was the best part.

Jack & Isabella picking apples.Hmm, it appears some of us picked more than just fruit,...
Gotta love a man with so many talents.

Oh, how I wish we lived closer together and were able to see each other more than once or twice a year. Love you guys! Until next time.