A Recap...

A lot has been going on since my last post (12 days ago!).

The most obvious and not so awesome thing is that I've been laid off, again, for the second time in less than 12 months. Fortunately (if you try to pick out some of the positives) it wasn't an immediate layoff, and they've let us know they will be keeping us on through the 31st of October! I love Halloween, and annually lament the fact that I usually have to work the day after. If things go absolutely as unplanned and I am in fact not employed on November 1st, that wish will finally come true! My hope is that I am instead dragging my butt into the office on November 1st, just a different office. I've actually got 3 interviews lined up for the 29th of August, and there is one job in particular that I've got my eyes on, and hopefully will be starting that gig as my current one ends.

Enough job stuff.

House is still awesome as ever. Love House. J and Pa-in-law have been tillin' away, planting plants and making the outside even prettier than it already is. I've got big dreams of slappin' some paint in a few places, but there seems to be a movement lately involving white walls, so I might have to give that some more consideration. I've got a pile of "thank-you's" to write, and I plan on handing them out with baked goods, so that will be a project for this weekend.

The weather around these parts has been simply amazing. Mid 80's. Breezy. The leaves on the dogwood trees are already starting to change color. Fall is just around the corner and I am SO excited for it! I'm also excited for scarfs, and leggings, and boots! I plan to enjoy every second of my very first fall season with lots of roasting (meat and vegetables!) and baking of pumpkin bread! If the mosquito's would just go away, we'd all be much happier and playing outside a lot more!

I never did get around to starting that Whole30 challenge. I still want to do it, but I don't want to eat garbage just because i'm NOT doing the challenge, so I think I'm just going to try and get back to my 90% paleo rule. The 10% off paleo for me involves diet soda and low carb rockstart energy drinks. And white potatoes sneak in every once in awhile.

*shrug*. My gut tells me that white potatoes are better for me than white bread, so I'm going to have to roll with it.

I need to try and get a little more organized for before/after school/work. It seems like everyone's got hurt feelings in the morning, and the only thing more stressful than getting two boys ready for school, is getting them ready for school while they are both having meltdowns. After school everyone is tired and cranky, and of course starving, so I've got to figure out a way to deal with that, too. In this case, I do think a little planning will go a long way. For example, Mikey is slow to wake up in the morning, so if I'm trying to shove his head into clothes before he is mentally there, I wind up with a sobbing mess on my hands. Instead, this morning, I snuggled him awake, walked him down stairs first thing and got him set up on the couch with Oobi (<3 Nick Jr!) and a cup of juice. Then I can go get dressed, and by the time I'm ready, he is happy and smiling and more than ready to get going for the day. After he is ready (and happily still entertaining himself with Nick Jr) I can conquer the Johnny monster. He is just a hot mess of 18 months who has recently acquired some new vocabulary. My least and most favorite are the same word: No! It sounds so cute coming out of his mouth, but if he is saying No! to something that we just have to do, there is no amount of cajoling, reasoning or convincing I can do to prevent the tantrum about to go down. Yesterday it was sparked by not allowing him to wear Mikey's shoes to school. Lastnight it was because I wouldn't let him wear his shoes to bed. This morning it was because I had to take away the wooden dowel used as additional security behind our sliding glass door. You and I both know that 18 month old + long wooden stick = disaster. With Johnny it is all about distraction and redirection, so I need to do a better job of being prepared with things that can take his mind off of his current object of desire.

Anyway, that is what is going on around here right now... Will try to post more regularly!

Doomsday Prepping...

I've got to get my nose out of this Kindle. The first book in the Newsflash series was brilliant! "Feed" was based in a post zombie apocalypse society, but it was more of a political conspiracy theory thriller. Oddly enough, the candidate for president for the GOP is from Wisconsin. I was reading every spare second I could find between child rearing and work, and I felt like the book was never going to end! I finally looked it up on Amazon, and turns out the sucker is 609 pages long in print. Oh. The 2nd book in the series comes in at 570 pages, and book 3 is 621 pages, so I think I may just have to slow down and enjoy it (otherwise my home may fall into a state of disrepair, and my children suffer neglect).

Of course, now my mind is back on the zombie apocalypse. Our property is large enough that we could conceivably prepare and survive when the inevitable happens. In the case of "Feed," the inevitable was caused by the cure for cancer interacting with the cure for the common cold. Crazy, people! So, anyway, in order to be better prepared, we are going to need to establish a barrier. Fencing is not nearly as popular here as it is in AZ. AZ folks don't know how good they have it with all their 6 foot cinder block fencing. So, anyway, we're going to need a fence. And not the split rail fence my mother-in-law dreams about. I think a zombie could probably push over the wooden privacy fences that are also popular around here. We're probably going to have to opt for the chain link school yard variety. At least for the back and side yard, anyway. I don't want the zombies sneaking off with my chickens or my fresh herbs!

It rains enough here that we could probably rig up some sort of crazy rain water storage device and use that for drinking.

(right now my plan is to put our collection of pint glasses on the deck to catch rain water that way)

Just some random thoughts... don't every come running to my house if the zombie apocalypse happens tomorrow. I'm not prepared yet!

Oh, also, please see above where you can click on the "Whole 30" tab. I'm endeavoring to take on this 30 day challenge. I assume it will result in me being better equipped (from a physical standpoint) to survive should the dead begin walking.

Stuff...

Getting settled in and cozy in the new house. Life outside of Bridgewood is somewhat hectic (the glamorous life of the banking industry has its downsides, ha). It has been raining like mad - and I love every minute of it! August is supposed to reach highs in the upper 70's towards the end of August, which is just amazing and wonderful and I'm getting gooey just thinking about it. My yard is full of trees, so I will be getting up close and personal with my very first FALL!

Once the skeeters disappear, we'll be spending a lot more time in the great outdoors (assuming we are able to convince our hive of hornets to move out of the tree just on the other side of the fence that separates our property from state property).

I've been spending my spare time with my nose in the kindle lately. Just finished the Fever series by Karen Moning, and I'm in the first book of the Newsflash series by Mira Grant.

And because I'm a sucker for a good cover song:

[Brandi Carlile - Creep]

Songs for Johnny...

This song will always remind me of my first few weeks hidden away in the master bedroom with Johnny right after he was born. As easy as Mikey was, Johnny was equally sensitive those first few weeks. I kept this song on repeat playing off my Zune mp3 player on repeat, right inside the pack n' play with him. Even now he seems to relax when he hears it (although that could just have to do with Enya).

Anyway, this is how I found serenity with you in those first few weeks, my sweet Johnny.

Here.

There are a million words trying to escape my fingers all at once, and none of them are coming out.

To say that we love this home of ours would be such an understatement. I crave the feeling of my bare feet on these hardwood floors. I wander from room to room, my fingertips grazing the walls and marveling that something so wonderful is the place we lay our heads at night. So much love has already been poured into this place - from Ma & Pa-in-law, and our sweet neighbor Miss Ann. We all gather around the table, scheming and dreaming of what we might do with our sweet House.

It feels so good to have arrived here.

I can't stop listening to this song...

{Alone in this Together| Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs ft. Mike McCready}