What We've Been Up To

I didn't really mean to take a week off there, but quite honestly, I just haven't been in a blogging mood. Things have been going well, and we're all happy here, but I just haven't had a whole lot to report.

(Wait...GMA is on right now and there's a woman who had a 14-pound baby with no pain meds. WHAT?!?!?!)

(Also, let me say for the millionth time that I love, love, love Robin Roberts.)

Okay...let's see.

Here's just a random pic of Amelia that represents pretty much any day we have at home.


One of my favorite lines from her last week occurred when we were in the car, driving to the gym. It was really foggy outside, and she said, "Momma, it's FROGGY outside and we can't see the sun!" I love these little mispronunciations of words. I know all the books say to correct them, but I just can't yet. (Like when she says "I winned!" whenever she beats one of us at something.)

Hmmm...what else? Oh yeah, I made cupcakes last Friday. I was just in that kind of mood, you know?


They were good, y'all. And despite the cupcakes, I was able to get the runner on my ticker to go forward again. :-)

Over the weekend, I had lunch with my friend Casi, whom I hadn't seen since May. We both laugh about the fact that we think we saw each other more when we lived in two different states than we do now that we are in the same area.

Other than all that excitement (haha), I've been hanging out with Amelia, working on/finishing up some scrapbook projects, and trying to keep the house maintained somewhat.

And I don't really know how to end this exciting post, so I'll just end it. :-)

Just Some Thoughts on Things

1. I'm watching GMA right now, and a feature just aired about single women who are planning their weddings without even being engaged or having a boyfriend. Ladies, nothing is going to scare a potential husband off more than having the wedding planned before you even meet. I'm just sayin'.

2. I'm going to confess that I am watching The Bachelor yet again. Really, you should judge me for that. I'm just going to argue that it is indeed one of the best comedies on TV. (This bachelor, meaning the man himself, might be the most disappointing one yet. Seriously...why are these women fighting over him?)

3. You know what I'm over on Facebook? "Tests." There's this new status going around that says something like, "I'm seeing who really reads my status updates. Leave a comment that starts with the third letter of your first name" or something like that. Seriously?? You are "testing" to see who reads your updates? Maybe I read your updates, but I don't want to play your stupid game. I also detest the breast cancer awareness statuses that involve posting the color of your bra or what country you are traveling to (I'm not opposed to breast cancer awareness, just the silly games) as well as bold Christian proclamations that suggest you aren't a true Christ follower if you don't copy and paste the bold Christian proclamation as your FB status. Wow. It felt good to get all that off my chest.

4. Today looks like it might be the only day it is going to be sunny outside. I think Amelia and I should take advantage of it, don't you?

Weight Loss Failure

If you look at my little ticker on the right, you might see that my runner is running backwards.

As Amelia would say, "That's not good."

This time the gain can be blamed on Louisiana cuisine, as the three of us made a quick trip to Baton Rouge last week.

(I say "quick trip," but there was nothing about that trip that was quick. Between rain, numerous stops for a 4-year-old who never seemed able to coordinate her bathroom needs with rest area stops, and so on, we were in the car 20-plus hours round trip.)

All I can say is that there was King Cake, and King Cake and I had a much anticipated reunion after about six years of being apart.

And I might be having one more slice of King Cake with my coffee before bidding farewell to it. A fond farewell.

BUT...

I want to toot my own horn for a minute because I am still following the half-marathon training program, and on Saturday I actually did my 5-mile run (and by run, I mean run/walk) at the LSU lakes.

And I didn't hate it, probably because this was my view:

So...I'm about to indulge in one last slice of King Cake, and then it is back on the wagon for me.

And let's cross our fingers that the runner on my ticker actually runs FORWARD next week. :-)

Cakes, Pageants, and Pounds

My friend Tim invited a few people over this past weekend to watch the Miss America pageant. I was PUMPED about this because I don't think I had watched this pageant with a group of people since, oh, college. And really, some shows are meant to be enjoyed as a group, and a pageant is definitely one of those.

Anyway...I volunteered to bring a dessert for us to enjoy, and I decided upon this chocolate cake recipe that I had received in a sample cooking magazine in the mail a few days ago. Unfortunately, when I was finished with the cake, it looked like this.


But y'all. It was GOOD, cracks and all. (And it might be the reason why I gained back a little of my four pounds this week. Yikes.)

Back to the pageant...we had a great time watching. I have so many thoughts about this pageant (one contestant had "afraid of windmills" as one of the facts about her on the screen--what???), but let me just say that the greatest moment of spontaneous laughter took place when this dress appeared on screen.


Y'all, this photo does not do that bow justice. Seriously, I think I had that bow on the top of my Christmas tree in 2002. (I'm sure she is a lovely young woman, but that BOW. My word. It hardly fit on the screen.)

Anyway, we had a wonderful time. Thanks, Tim, for hosting!

Project Life, Parenthood (the show), and other musings

Project Life. I started to begin this sentence with "You might remember that two years ago...," but then I thought that probably nobody remembers this because my scrapbooking endeavors are very likely not at the forefront of everyone's mind.

Anyway, I have embarked on a scrapbooking project for the past two years called Project Life, and I'm doing it again this year. In 2010, I tried to do the "photo a day" thing, and while I mostly enjoyed it, I also found it burdensome. Getting photos developed and catching up on journaling of all the photos could sometimes be a nightmare, and the point of scrapbooking -- besides recording memories -- is having fun, right?

Last year, I tried the digital version, and about a month into it, I realized I didn't like it that way. I thought I would enjoy eliminating the "photo developing" step, but I just got lazy with it. (Nothing was wrong with the product itself, mind you. It just wasn't for me.) In fact, that album is only about halfway complete, and I just work on it a little from time to time. I feel compelled to finish it, though, because I paid for it up front so I could get an extremely discounted rate.

So this year, I'm going back to the traditional version, but I'm doing more of a "week at a glance" kind of thing--photos, receipts, lists, journaling. Just little snippets that represent daily life. No pressure to do that "photo a day" business. Next week, I'm going to post what I have so far.

(1--That whole discussion probably bored you to tears, didn't it? And 2--I've had to get up three times so far because Amelia becomes Miss High Maintenance when in comes to how she wants her hot chocolate. First she didn't want the marshmallows on top, so she wanted me to take them out. Then she did want them. Then it was too hot. It might be a long day around here.)

Parenthood. I have started watching this show on Netflix and I LOVE it. (By the way, I am totally into the whole "watching a show on Netflix" thing. It's how I became obsessed with Mad Men. And speaking of Mad Men, WHEN IS IT COMING BACK????) I had to make myself go to bed last night (or this morning) at 12:30 because I wanted to keep watching. Alas.

Football. Y'all. I can hardly talk about that National Championship game the other night. What was UP with the Tigers? (In all truth, while I love my team, I thought it would be very difficult to beat Bama one more time, but I didn't think we would be SHUT OUT.) Also? I learned that I like a high-scoring game. More touchdowns, I say. A low-scoring game is a SNOOZEFEST.

New Year's Resolutions. Actually, I'm doing okay. I've been eating much better, keeping up with my workout plan, and reading the Bible with the goal of finishing it in a year. However, I'm in the middle of Job right now (I'm doing the chronological plan), and oh my goodness. Job is long, y'all. And a bit repetitive. And depressing. After Job, I might find the rules about the temple very exciting.

Rain. When we were in Baton Rouge over Thanksgiving, I saw some rainboots on sale and came "this close" to getting them, but I refrained. Of course, since that moment, Atlanta has felt more like Seattle. Seriously, y'all...rain, rain, rain. I'm pretty sure, though, that if I had bought the rainboots, it would be sunny here all the time.

That's all.

Monday Thoughts (on Self-Improvement)

Y'all! I lost 4 pounds! FOUR POUNDS!!

I'm sorry. I'm slightly excited about that. It is giving me motivation to continue onward in my weight-loss/fitness journey. Last night, I was losing my resolve (and might have eaten some potato chips). But now, I'm ready to eat my bowl of delicious Kashi cereal. Yum.

(But I'd rather have a doughnut. Don't get me wrong.)

I also successfully completed Week 1 of my Half-Marathon Training Plan. And survived.

I also got my hair cut Friday, and I really like it. However, last night I was with my 9th grade small group, and no one acknowledged my haircut at all. (I'm not all that self-absorbed, but I know from my teaching experience that students might not catch on that the "A" is for "adultery" in The Scarlet Letter, but they DO notice a haircut.) And it is an obvious haircut (seriously...I think I got at least four inches cut off the back.). So my theory is that if a haircut is obvious and no one mentions it, then no one likes it.

(Y'all. Those 9th graders make me feel so self-conscious. It's like I've gone back to ninth grade myself. I think this is something I need to work on.)

Well, I have a list a mile long of things that need to get done today, so I need to shut down this blog post and get going.

A Few Thoughts

1. I feel like someone should come visit us right now because our house is the cleanest it has ever been. We, and by "we" I mean "Darryl," went on a huge "get rid of the clutter" mission during the holidays, and I have to confess it is a good feeling. Yay for a clean house.

2. I have been obsessed (OBSESSED!) with watching Louie Giglio's Passion Conference online. I don't even have the words to express my thoughts about it. Simply amazing (and a wee bit convicting).

3. I'm a little sad because this coming weekend is the annual Glen Ella scrapbooking retreat, and I'm not going this year. It was an unnecessary expense in a time when I'm not working, and I was originally okay with not going. But now everyone is talking about it on Facebook, so I'm sad. While I'll miss the delicious food (oh...the food...), I really will miss laughing until my face hurts.

4. So far, I've done well with my New Year's Resolutions. Granted, it's only Day 5, but I'm on a roll, people!!

5. Even though I am sad that I'm not going to Glen Ella this weekend, I am very pumped that I'm going to get some time this weekend to hang out with my friend Sabrina. We haven't seen each other since last summer, and I'm excited to catch up with her.

6. I'm getting a much-needed haircut tomorrow. It really hadn't been my intention to go long with my hair, but I haven't know what else to do with it. In all honesty, I really wish I could go super-short, but I think my face is not the right shape for it, especially now that I'm in the, ahem, upper end of the weight spectrum. I've selected some photos from Pinterest, though. I'm thinking something along these lines:

But, if I lose my 27 pounds, I might go even shorter, like this:

Of course, I'd also just like to look like Michelle Williams, but whatevs.

7. This really might be the most pointless post I've ever done. You know you've hit a low when you are showing hairstyles.

Resolutions And Such

So we're on Day 3 of 2012, but I figure it isn't too late to publish a couple of resolutions, right?

Here we go...

1. I would like for "losing weight" to not be one of my resolutions next year. (In other words, I want to lose some weight this year.)

2. I would like to run a 1/2-marathon. And by run, I mean a combination of running and walking. If you know me and think this is crazy because I am not an "athlete," I want to remind you that Oprah ran a full marathon once, and the Biggest Loser contestants (many of them much heavier than I am, thank you very much) ran a full one last season. I think if I train, I can do it. We shall see...

(Also, I have absolutely NO desire to do a full one. Just a half.)

3. I would like this to be the year I read the Bible all the way through. I've attempted several times, but I always get stuck in Leviticus and all the rules about the temple. I'm trying a chronological plan, and I've already learned something...I had no idea that Job lived before Abraham! See? My knowledge has already increased!

4. Of course, I want to be a better mom, wife, friend, daughter, etc. I'm not sure how you list that as specific goals...

And that's it...

Oh, I must add that I stayed up until the wee hours (for me, "wee hours" would be 1 a.m.) to watch the David Crowder Band's last concert on live stream from Passion. I'm so tired this morning, but the concert was SO good. They will be missed!