Summer is here!

Summer is here and I have decided this year, I am going to put away all the modern technologies that my kids so very much enjoy, and give them a digital-age free summer. Meaning, we’re going to spend our entire summer days outdoors or doing other things indoors without any computers / electronics devices for entertainment. 

This means:

No Computers

No Wii / PSP / Game systems

Limited TV for those family nights of movie watching and relaxing

And lots of outdoor fun and memories of a fun summer, fishing, catching fireflies, rolling around in the dirt and getting all sweaty and dirty and having a blast doing it. 

These days kids have such demanding schedules and I think it's time to change that and relax over the summer like kids are supposed to do. When I think of summer, I think of the times I used to have as a kid, going over to friends' houses and walking to the local park for the day, playing till I just couldn't play anymore, roaming around in the weirdest places (I walked through the local drainage passages with friends for fun, I think we were chasing a cat or something?) Riding bikes around all day long, stopping for an ice cream and then taking off again, going to a lake and spending the day hiking and even diving in for the heck of it. That's what summer is about, playing until you're just so tired that day, and then doing it all again the next day, because it's fun. 

That's my plan for this summer with the kids, along with getting back in shape while having all this fun!

Ramblings

Today was a snow day! 
We all bundled up in layers of clothing and went out to work. Well, I went out to work and shovel the snow and the kids got busy playing. 

My 27th birthday is in a week. Since no one will be creating a cake for me, it's up to be to make one for myself. I'm thinking... chocolate? With little fondant piggies romping around maybe? I'm not sure yet. I don't know if I really want to make a cake either, it's just a thought. 

I may dart out for a shopping trip next week, maybe. Ross is on my list for places to go check out. My favorite leather knee high boots seem to be on their last limb, the sole has cracked right down the middle. I originally got them from Nordstrom in Texas, for $40! What a fabulous deal that was. But I am looking for the same style, and I cannot find it, at least not for a reasonable price. I don't want to spend $200+ on a pair of boots. I can't spend $200 on one pair of shoes. I want a pair of black leather knee high boots with a platform and a chunky heel, under $100 preferably. But seems that's pretty much impossible to find now. 


That's really all I guess I'd like to find for my birthday. I saw a pair of boots that were what I was looking for but WAYYY out of my price range, a pair of Prada boots for $850. Whew. 


Oh well, anyway, off to go and debate whether I feel like making a cake to celebrate my own birthday. It takes a lot to create those little fondant creatures and honestly, I guess I don't really see myself as a priority on my little imaginary life list. I'm somewhere more near the bottom end I suppose, somewhere between folding the monster pile of laundry and cleaning out the fridge.

 

2011 Resolutions

Well, 2011 is here! 


I have decided that I really need to get back in shape. Especially since we'll be moving later this year, in about 6 months or so, give or take. So, I want to shed all the extra pounds and get myself back in shape! I think that I still have about 10 pounds of excess "baby/pregnancy" weight still hanging around and the other 10 pounds or so from just living here, it's so cold that I can't do anything half of the year. So total, my goal is to kill off the extra 20 pounds that I'm lugging around. 


I hate that I've gained weight, it used to be so hard to gain weight when I was a teenager, and now it's like they're magnetized to me or something. I want to look and feel like a (almost) 27 year old. Young, fresh and in shape. Picking up the clutter around the house and vigorous vacuuming is no longer doing much of anything for me, it's time to kick it up and do some real excersize.


I am going to start with just simple 10-15 minutes each morning, just things like jumping jacks and lunges/ crunches to get my body used to it for this week. I am really going to try to cut back on a lot of sugar and junk, half a cup of coffee should suffice to avoid the caffeine headaches, and chug more water! 

I am pretty disappointed that I've gotten so out of shape. I used to go running every afternoon as a teenager. Now, I think it'd be a miracle to run down the block. I was a very active and sporty girl. Played volleyball, soccer, did all that cross country and track (which screwed up my left knee, thank you hurdles), ran 1-2 mile laps each afternoon. I went from that, to vacuuming and laundry delivery to the kids' rooms. No wonder I gained weight and got fat. UGH!

Another thing to work on for this year is, along with getting my body back in shape, to get the rest of me back. If I'm going to slim down, I'm going to look good while slimming down, and that means I WILL make time for myself to play with makeup more often. I found this stuff at Walmart that MsJackieChu from Youtube (she's my favorite YT Guru) was raving about. It's the original kind, not the one that she actually had in her video, but I think it did the same thing, maybe a little less shine than her product gave. 
It's the Henna 'N' Placenta hair treatment. It's basically a deep conditioner, YES it has placenta extracts in it, but it's not a gross nasty mess, lol. It's EXTRACTS. It looks like regular old conditioner, and smells wonderful too. I tried some out yesterday, I found some for $.98 at Walmart the other day, so I picked some up. My hair is so soft and smells great. I had changed shampoos a while back, to the higher end stuff and it tends to dry out my hair more, so this deep conditioning was awesome. 
<- That's what it is, but like I said, Walmart has it for $.98 each. And Sally's Beauty Supply has the other kind, with Olive Oil for I think $2.59? You just shower, and shampoo as usual, then towel dry your hair and apply the packet. The WHOLE packet (it's a lot) that way every piece of hair is saturated in it. Run a comb through to distribute the stuff all over. Then you can wrap up in a towel, or pull your hair back (that's what I did) and heat it with your blow dryer. It says leave in for 10 minutes. I actually just rolled up my hair into a bun, heated it up and then went down to prep dinner. I think I had it in my hair for about 30 minutes or so, and then rinsed it out. 


It's pretty awesome stuff, give it a try, I'm sure that there won't be much disappointment! Well, that's it for now, off I go to get back to my day's work!