Never Ever Have I Ever II

One of my favorite posts I've written is the Never Ever Have I Ever post from last year. Immediately after I posted it I came up with a couple more items to add to the list so I started a drafting a part 2 right away. 18 months later, I finally have a list long enough to share. I cannot come up with even one more "never". But how much ya wanna bet I'll come up with a couple as soon as I hit that publish button?

Anyway, if you are unfamiliar, this comes from a drinking game where you take a sip every time someone says something they've never done that you HAVE done. So I've never smoked a cigarette but if you have then you would take a sip of your drink. Got it? Ok. Get your drink ready and here goes.

 

Never ever have I ever....

...smoked a cigarette.

...had mastitis or a clogged duct.

...been scuba diving.

...drank Everclear.

...gone for a test drive. (bought lots of cars - never wanted to test drive them)

...been to a counselor or therapist.

...been to a chiropractor.

...eaten with chopsticks.

...been sailing.

...had a sinus infection.

...been to a rap concert.

...been to a strip club.

...paddle boarded or surfed.

...gone hunting.

...shot a gun.

...played hockey.

...been house shopping with a realtor a la House Hunters. (I've always wanted to though!)

...been to a MLB game. (That's a lie...I just remembered I have been to one!) Let's change this to:
...been to a major league soccer game.

...been to a state fair. Plenty of local fairs, never to THE state fair in any state.

...had an ingrown toenail.

...bobbed for apples.

...attended a protest.

...milked a cow.

...received an "F" as a grade.

...rode a unicycle.

...dyed my own hair.

...gambled in a casino.

...hired a babysitter that wasn't family or a close friend.

...been to the movies in 2016.

How did you do? Can you even read these words any longer? Nice and tipsy for a Tuesday evening?

It took me a year and a half to come up with this second list, so I think next time I need to list weird things I have done so I don't seem as sheltered and inexperienced as these "never" lists make me sound. I've done things! Really! I have! Once I went swimming...WITHOUT waiting 30 minutes after I ate.

Loving Lately

Here are some things I've been loving, lately.

This bathing suit top.

Publix's Jalapeno and Cilantro Hummus

WITH SOME Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips

This kid's shampoo (SheaMoisture Mango and Carrot)

This little holder for little hands to more easily wrangle playing cards.

The Chick Fil A One App. OMG. This should be the first thing on this list.

CoTZ Face Sunscreen. Is tinted, so this is all I wore on vacation. So light! Love it!

The Yeti Colster. Honestly have no idea what the point of other koozies are anymore.

And in that same picture, the Aden and Anais sleep sacks. So perfect for summer.

Again, from Publix (grocery store here, if not familiar to you), the cajun catfish filets from the seafood counter. So easy. So delicious. You want these.

The Norwex Dust Mitt

The Young House Love Podcast

Planning upcoming Disney trips on MyDisneyExperience.com.

Our camper

Season 4 of Orange is the New Black

These beach towels. (The Big One from Kohl's)

This man.

These girls.

Darn Lillian, Biopsies & Backup Cameras, For Short

Another bulleted list type post because I have several short thoughts swirling around in my head that I want to share.

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Let's start with Lillian. Remember in school in French or Spanish class you had to pick a French or Spanish name for yourself? I took French in middle and high school and my French name was always Lillian. So, it is pretty ironic that for the last year or two I've periodically gotten phone calls over and over and over asking for Lillian. Mostly seem like telemarketers (and not my previous French class classmates) so my theory is this - there is a Lillian somewhere that has a junk phone number she gives out when filling out surveys or the like. Much like my junk email address I use for the same kind of deal, Lillian's junk phone number is likely one digit different from her regular phone number so it is easy for her to remember. But listen here, Lillian. Unless you purchase a burner phone and use that number to give out instead of your real number, it's not the same as using a junk email address. There is actually a person with that phone number you are giving out getting really annoyed with your brilliant idea!

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Recently I had to go get a biopsy of a nodule or two that have developed on my thyroid. They caused me mild discomfort for a few days when they first developed so I went to get them checked out by my general practitioner who sent me for an ultrasound. Ultrasound confirmed they were thyroid nodules that were mostly fluid filled, but also had some cells in them as well. So then they sent me on to an endocrinologist who STABBED ME WITH A NEEDLE TO THE NECK to drain them. But I'm being dramatic. It sounds worse than it was. The needle was smaller than the one they use to do blood draws so I didn't feel the stick at all. I did feel some discomfort while the needle was in my neck, but I wouldn't even call it painful. I think I made one wincing noise and that was it. Much better than I expected. I already got the results back too and there were no signs of malignancy. I really wasn't too concerned though - another family member also has these nodules and has had many biopsied before with no scary results, so I was hoping for the same.

Thinking back to the throat discomfort that caused me to go get them checked out in the first place though - it felt sort of like my throat was constricted a little. It was just something I hadn't felt before and the doctor is so close to my work that I thought "oh why not?" and just scheduled a quick visit during lunch. I'm not one to even go to the doctor often so I was actually surprised at how quickly they knew what it was and how the ball got rolling from there. And had I waited it out - that discomfort that I felt those first few days completely dissipated by the end of that week. So I would have gone on thinking I was healed and never thought about it again. What I'm saying is - I think I may run to the doctor for every mild discomfort from now on! This whole process has me feeling like I'm turning into a hypochondriac. How will I know whether or not I should go to the doctor for the next mild discomfort I feel?

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In other biopsy news, I also had a skin thing biopsied earlier this year. I go to the dermatologist twice a year for a full body check (twice a year instead of the usual once a year because I had Basal Cell Carcinoma on my face 10 years ago or so) but that full body check really only covers about 95% of the body. You keep your underwear and bra on, so those portions of the body don't really get checked. Soooo, for the last couple of years there's been this spot on my butt. It wasn't a pimple and it wasn't irritated or anything, but it came out of nowhere and then just stuck around. It really only bothered me after a shower when it would sometimes be itchy. (Isn't that a great visual? Naked Lacey scratching her butt after a shower.) Every appointment I'd chicken out from telling the doctor to take a look at it because the whole pulling your underwear to the side to expose your bare butt cheek makes an already awkward appointment awkwarder. But I finally did it back at an appointment in November. He just took a little piece of it to test it but was feeling pretty certain it wasn't nothing.

But, yay me! It wasn't nothing. He said it was an atypical spitz tumor that they couldn't 100% say was cancerous or non-cancerous, so the recommendation was to take the whole thing off. So I had to go back a second time for him to take the whole thing. And, yay me, again! The tumor went pretty deep so to get it all out he had to cut a large football shaped hole and then give me 5 stitches to close it all back up. It was pretty darn painful for those first couple of days, but I survived. And I have a lovely Frankenstein scar that I'll never show a soul but I'll tell the entire internet about.

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I'm still going strong(ish) on the whole Weight Watchers thing. To date I've lost 16 pounds and my ultimate goal is to lose 5.8 more. The deadline I gave myself for the goal is exactly two weeks from today so realistically I could actually make that. Two pounds a week is pretty standard, so that's just being extra good for a mere 14 more days and then I can switch to just maintaining. It sounds so doable, right!?

So doable in fact that I didn't DO it at all today. We had lunch brought in at work today from Firehouse Subs. Their subs are very high points, so I knew before I ordered that I'd get no chips and eat just half of my sub. And then I got it and ate the whole thing. That was all of the points I had remaining for the day.

At dinner, I truly wasn't that hungry (likely because I ate so many points at lunch) so I decided I'd just snack on something if I got hungry. I never got hungry actually, but then as I'm cleaning up dinner (Charley had a leftover piece of pizza as part of her dinner) I see that Charley left about three quarters of her piece of pizza untouched on her plate. It would be a shame to toss that pizza, and it wouldn't make much sense to save the last piece of pizza that had been eaten 1/4 of the way already. So. I ate it. Of course.

But all is not lost! If you eat too many points in the day, just exercise to earn some points back and get out of the hole! Easy peasy! We've got a gym in the basement!

And yet. Here I sit. Blogging.

TOMORROW. TOMORROW I jump back on my wagon for a strict two weeks! I can do this!

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A couple weeks ago John got some work done to his truck which took a while and left us with just one car for a week and a half. My mom very graciously allowed us to use her car as often as we needed to, so many days I took her car to work with me. I really loved driving her CR-V except for one thing - no back up camera! Isn't that so ridiculous?! When I bought my Pilot almost 5 years ago now, that feature was a cool-to-have feature, but by no means did I consider it a must-have. But I had no idea how reliant I've become on the feature! I was so confused with just where to look when backing! It sounds so dumb - I know - but it really threw me for a loop. On top of that I've been back-up anxious ever since I backed into that van after dance class so I was doing my best to find pull through spots every time I drove her car.

Speaking of car features though - isn't it funny how with each car you own you develop a new must-have-feature? Maybe it is just me. But I feel like with the six cars I've owned since I started driving at 16, each was an upgrade and each one added something to my must-have list for the next car. I gained a sun-roof from my first car (Civic) to my second (Celica). Then when I got the next one (Scion TC) I gained auto-shut off headlights and boy - definitely cannot go back after that unless I like dead car batteries. With the next (Trailblazer) I gained, well, not sure what I gained there. It was more of a lateral move because we needed a vehicle that could tow a boat. From there I got another Civic and got in-dash navigation and blue tooth capabilities. Thought I couldn't go back on those two things. They were must haves for sure. And then baby came along and compromises had to be made and I lost both of those things. Womp womp. I thought they were must haves, but the must-haviest thing at that point was more space, so I compromised on not having those but I did get leather upholstery! And a back-up camera! And a bigger (coughmoreexpensivecough) car to carry my babies around! So. Yeah. Where was I going with this again?

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I mentioned dance above. Charley was trying out dance this year and we were just about through with it. She really wasn't enjoying it much (besides the candy they passed out every single week at the end of class, which coincidentally was right at dinner time. Ugh!) so I was just determined to make her stay and finish it out. I had several things happen over the year (season?) that made me very irritated with the dance school so if we continued on with dance, I knew it wouldn't be at the same place. But, then they announced the recital for the recreational classes and it was on the Saturday of freaking Memorial Day weekend. Ughhh. Noooooooooo. NOooooooooooobody has plans on that weekend. Especially those with parents that both work and like to take advantage of holiday weekends. So, more annoyed.

Then a couple weeks ago the dance teacher calls in the parents after class to tell us about the recital. We'd need to buy new tights ($8) on top of the UGLIEST OUTFIT OF ALL TIME that I'd already purchased ($75), and here are some "optional" things we could buy, but we were strongly encouraged to buy these things because the ones that didn't receive these things on recital day would be very upset when everyone else WAS getting these things. First, was an ad in the program ($40) similar to the senior advertisements placed in year books. My kid can't even read, so no. Then, a message could be purchased ($2) and placed on the chair where they get ready. Again, kid can't read - no thanks. And then there are personalized frog stuffed animals in tutus ($12) available to order. And of course flowers bouquets after the recital was over ($15). And pictures (price TBD)! And the video of the recital of course (another price TBD). That may be it, but I swear it went on and on and on. My head was spinning. So all of that, on top of Charley not enjoying dance, on top of the stinking recital being on a weekend where we had planned to go camping as a family and we decided we were done. It just wasn't for us. We of course let Charley decide and not surprisingly, she chose camping over the recital.

I do feel like we have no closure since I never got to see a recital (but did see mini-performances in class a couple of times) but oh well. She's four. She's got plenty of time to find something she likes (or something else she doesn't like) where I can make her stick it out until the end. This wasn't it for us - we are not dance people. Just ask my friends after I've had a few drinks.

We do have a super adorable (lies!) hot pink, zebra print and polka dot dress if anyone wants it! That thing is too ugly even to keep in the dress up box. Bleh!

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And a picture from tonight. Laney found a cheerio on the floor from who knows when. (Well, likely from within the last 5 days since the house was pretty clean before her birthday party last weekend.) Anytime she sees food she says "mmmmmmmmmmmm" and I think you can almost hear her saying it by looking at this picture. Love it.

AVOIDED

On the brink of baby number 2 coming, I thought I'd make a list of things that I've avoided thus far while being a parent to see if I hold strong through baby number 2 as well. Some of these I don't necessarily have a strong opinion against or anything - I just somehow got by without ever using or having them so I'm curious if I'll find I will need them or will end up with them with a totally different kid.

So, in Charley's 3.5 years, we've avoided:

• NoseFrida, or anything other than the bulb aspirator
• Crocs
• Stick Figure family bumper stickers
• Gripe water
• Mastitis
• Clogged ducts
• Video Monitor
• Rock N Play Sleeper
• The blow-up duck tub
• Diaper Genie
• Pacifiers
• Bath spout cover thing
• Cabinet Locks
• Safety Harness/Leash
• Bed Rails
• Diaper sensitivities
• Jogging stroller
• Bassinet (other than the Pack N Play) or Moses basket or Arms Reach co-sleeper
• Sling carrier
• Sink baths
• Bottle drying rack
• Orajel

And then there are the things we avoided with Charley but are prepared to use with Laney:

• Boppy lounger
• Glass bottles
• Hands free pumping bra
• Muslin swaddle blankets (we had tons of blankets, just no muslin ones.)

I love reading different people's MUST HAVE lists and seeing how different they all are. And I know a few of these aren't baby products but I just felt like I will never remember which baby used which stuff or with which one I suffered through xyz ailment, so I decided to include them to even though I have no control over those items. And rest assured that there were a couple of common ailments that are not listed that were for sure NOT avoided with Charley. I'd love to be able to put them on the AVOIDED list with Laney. 

How many of these things are on your MUST HAVE list? What things did you avoid that seem like everyone else swore by? Don't you dare insult Sophie by putting her on the AVOIDED list. Charley only had the classic Sophie, but I'm thinking Laney may need one of each variety. MUST HAVE.

[I think it is only fair to add that no, no baby yet. I know several of you are only reading this to get baby news. Ha! Due date is tomorrow!]

Top 10 Reasons Why I Got Crappy Sleep Last Night

Back in the old days where I could stay up late enough to watch a late show (and before they put all the best parts on YouTube the next day), I used to really enjoy watching David Letterman and his top 10 list. So I made one myself and it only took me all night to come up with this list.

And so, imagine I'm reading from my little blue note cards as I give you: The Top 10 Reasons Why I Got Crappy Sleep Last Night.

10. Our cat Reese. He always sleeps at my feet probably because I'm less likely to kick him off than John, but John's side was vacant last night and yet he still tried to sleep wherever I wanted to put my feet. MOVE CAT.

9. I actually had to get up and pee once. ::ducks to avoid daggers thrown at me from every other pregnant woman ever::

8. While laying awake in the 3-4 o'clock hours somewhere, I decided to catch up on Facebook, Instagram and Timehop. Newsflash: they didn't lull me back to sleep.

7. Hot. So, so, hot and the switch to turn on the ceiling fan is so, so far away so I'll just stick one leg out of the covers and hope that helps.

6. Cold! So cold! Pulled my one leg back under the covers and screwed up all the covers in the process. Super hard to fix them with this giant belly in my way.

5. Frozen pizza for dinner = Indigestion. No worries - Tums were on the nightstand.

4. I came down with Charley's cold overnight. So breathing was already tough with Laney hanging out by my lungs, and this just made it worse.

3. John was out of town last night. I always wish for more space when he's in the bed with me, and then when he's gone I can't sleep as well.

2. Because when I finally fell asleep and got my deepest sleep of the night, my alarm to wake up went off 45 minutes later.

1. And finally, because I was mentally writing this post as I lay awake from any of these other 9 reasons. Couldn't turn the brain OFF.

Weekend by the Numbers

Donuts eaten: 4. Make that 5.

Dishwasher loaded: Twice

TV shows watched by me: 0

TV shows watched by Charley: Too many

Rolls of toilet paper used due to Kleenex outage and 3 snotty people living here: 3

Stores visited: 3

Dollars spent at those stores: $58.86

Miles driven: 26.4

Valentines given: 1, to Charley. I was a total Valentine failure this year.

Valentines received: each of us got Valentines from my sister and my parents, so 6 in total.

Average high temperature this weekend: 57

Average low temperature this weekend: 27 (I swear it felt much more like the low than it did the high!)

Minutes I spent outside: 2 - to walk to and from the mailbox once

Minutes Charley (and John) spent outside: 45 or so, and they came back in freezing.

Games played: 1 (Kerplunk)

Items purged and sold: 4

Dollars made by said purging and selling: $45 (with promises of more $ to come tomorrow)

Pictures taken: 64

Of those pictures, pictures that were of things to sell: 42

Hours slept by me: 19.5

Naps taken by any family member: 0

Projects completed: 3

Projects worked on: 6

Flowers made: 20

 

Loads of laundry done by me: 0, but I did help fold/put away a couple

Loads of laundry done by John: 4

Text messages received: 30

Text messages sent: 9

Prenatal vitamins taken: Shoot! None. Let me go do that now.

Meals from take-out: 1. Just the donuts for breakfast this morning.

Meals I cooked/prepared/reheated: 3.

Books read: 3. All to Charley

Family members seen: 4 (Parents of course, brother Colt, brother-in-law Danny)

Minutes spent thinking about these: 20, which was about 15 minutes too long.

POST.

This And That

It is the weirdest thing. For the first time in years, there is more than one song I actually enjoy and turn the volume UP on the radio when they come on the pop radio station. The morning show I listen to is on a pop radio station so I hear at least the top 5 songs at the moment each morning and I cannot believe that there are a few that are tolerable to me right now.

The songs I am currently enjoying are:

Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars
Take Me To Church by Hozier
I'm Not The Only One by Sam Smith

I'm either getting cooler, orrr yeah no. That's probably not it. It's just coincidence they are all popular right now. I obviously like male singers, and a male ballad is even better.

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Have any of you ever done or ever considered the IKEA childcare place? I've never even considered it because strangers scare me but Charley INSISTED Sunday after seeing the kids playing through the window. So, I made her stay with me for the first half and told her if she still wanted to play when we got downstairs I'd allow it hoping she would change her mind. Spoiler alert: she didn't.

So I signed her in and she walked right in and never looked back. I stuck around for a few minutes to see if she would run back to me and want to leave but she didn't at all. It was only for an hour, so I went on and shopped but I couldn't focus because I was staring at the pager just KNOWING I'd get paged any minute. I of course forgot my list in the car and my brain was stuck on worrying about my baby so I did a poor job of making the most of the IKEA trip. And then about 10-15 minutes earlier than I was due I went back and got her and she came bouncing back to me safe and happy. Whew! And then I got us both IKEA ice cream cones because it was warranted. Her for being a far braver child than I ever was, and me for letting go just the tiniest bit even though if you studied my brain for those 45 minutes it may tell you a different story.

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Charley: Laney likes to swim!
Me: She sure does!
Charley: But, isn't she getting her dress wet?
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You know what is awesome about new job? When I leave at 5 o'clock on the dot and there are hardly any cars left in the parking lot. Old job: When I left on time I felt like I was taking a walk of shame out of the door. How dare she leave on time?!

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Twice this week I've checked my Timehop app to see what happened on this day 1 year ago, 2 years ago, etc etc, and found spelling errors from my posts in the past. Now, grammatically I know I screw stuff up on here often because I prefer to type in a more conversational tone instead of making sure I don't end my sentences in a preposition, for example. But spelling is a different story. I don't do misspellings. I'm hoping that I noticed both errors shortly after posting and went back and edited them and that Timehop just didn't pick up the corrected entry because otherwise those spelling errors will live on in my internet history for the rest of time.  FOREVER. And now that I'm reposting the picture of one of the errors here so it really will live on forever. I'm ashamed of myself.

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Charley got a haircut last Sunday and it is the CUTEST thing I've ever seen. I wanted to shorten it up some because her hair is pretty fine and it was getting stringy looking the longer it got. The lady blow dried it after she cut it which made it straight and Charley instantly aged 3 years when we walked out of there. 

The next night after her bath her curls had returned. When Charley later saw herself in the mirror she told me that she didn't think her hair looked pretty and asked me to blow dry it for her. It only took seconds to straighten it back out again with the blow dryer so she's gone all week looking like a Kindergartner. Cute as can be, but mahhhhhh bayyyyyyybeeeeeeee. :(

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Happy weekend!

Never Ever Have I Ever

If you are unfamiliar, this is part of a drinking game. The goal is to say something that you truly never have done that you think most other people HAVE done, and for anyone that has done that thing, they must take a drink. Even though it has been several years since I've played this game or any other drinking game (sadly!), I could NEVER come up with anything good to say on the spot when I would pull this card. So I started this post probably 8 months ago and it took me that long to come up with this list. Man, there are some really good ones on here that I'd like to go back several years and use! It's Friday (or it will be when this posts) so grab your favorite drink of choice and I'll see you drunkies at the end!

 

Never Ever Have I Ever....


...hired a moving company.

...shoveled snow.

...painted a room.

...been skydiving.

...bungee jumped.

...been in a tanning bed.

...had anything sent to collections. (Heh, cause, you know the townhouse was in John's name.) (That's not to say I haven't had tons of debt before. I was just really good at making sure to pay those minimums. Ha!)

...had a root canal.

...made a salad.

...been on a cruise.

...worn contacts...though I think my day is coming.

...driven on a toll road.

...gotten a tattoo.

...had a facial.

...been skiing, snowboarding or even snow tubing.

...played in an organized sport. One season of cheerleading in the 4th grade doesn't count.

...waited tables.

...mowed the grass.

...been to a Broadway show.

...been arrested.

...done a cartwheel.

...been in a hot air balloon.

...been parasailing.

...taken a red-eye flight.

...had chicken pox.

...owned a Droid phone.

...owned or used an Apple computer.

...been able to climb the rope in gym class.

...changed a tire - though I think I could if I had to.

...sewn on a button.

...been to Canada.

How are we feeling? Nice and tipsy? Now that I've finally posted this after it took me FOREVER to come up with the list I'm sure I'll come up with 30 other things. I'll save them for another Friday - perhaps one where I can have a drink with you.

Cheers!

2014 in Review

Hey! Guess what a pregnant lady does on New Year's Eve? If you guessed "lets her kid stay up late watching Netflix, eating chips and sausage dip and blogging" you are correct! Let's make this year's post count a solid 50.

So, in lieu of the usual year-in-review survey I've completed in the past I'm going to do a quick bulleted-type list review. With pictures - of course - always with pictures. This will be difficult for me to keep my wordiness in check. You people know I'm wordy. Okay, so 2014. Here goes.

1/16/14 - Pregnant!

1/18/14 - Not pregnant. Chemical pregnancy.

1/18/14 - 1/20/14 - My child is potty trained in three days! Yah!

2/14/14 - You'd think I'd say something about Valentine's Day. But no. Decorated my foyer.

 

2/15/14 - Pregnant again!

3/20/14 - Confirmed miscarriage. This makes #4.

3/28/14 - Camping at Dreher Island for the weekend.

4/10/14 - Interview for a new job much closer to home!

4/12/14 - Leave for Daytona for a week's vacation.

4/14/14 - Turn 32 years old and celebrate with my family at the beach.

4/24/14 - Charleston, SC for a few days.

4/27/14 - Family pictures

5/6/14 - First ever broken bone - my baby toe!

5/15/14 - Second interview for new job. And yes, I squeezed that broken toe into heels and hobbled my way into the interview.

5/25/14 - Hosted a fun little Memorial Day cookout at our house.

5/29/14 - I got the job! And with its acceptance, we officially put any efforts in trying for baby #2 on hold.

6/13/14 - Last day at my old job. I was there for 7 years. Don't miss the commute but do miss a lot of the people.

6/14/14 - Take off with John, Charley and my parents for a 10 day trip to Chicago and Michigan.

6/21/14 - Attend our only wedding of the year which was the reason for the trip in Petoskey, MI. It was for my old coworker Katie whom I hadn't seen in a few years! (Sure, that post is about a different coworker but Katie and I were in cahoots for all of that so it's appropriate to link that up!)

6/24/14 - Start my new job.

7/4/14 - Spend the day at the lake, but it's just not the same as it used to be. Come home early and take Charley to fireworks instead.

 

8/15/14 - Still NOT trying to get pregnant while at a new job and all. So naturally:

8/16/14 - Camping at Foothills Family Campground.

8/28/14 - Charley starts preschool.

8/29/14 - Camping at Dan Nicholas Park for Labor Day weekend.

9/4/14 - Charley turns 3!

9/6/14 - Charley's birthday party & the cake I'll never be able to top.

9/11/14 - Finally good news at an ultrasound. Baby measured perfectly and is healthy.

9/19/14 - Hilton Head Island for the weekend.

10/11/14 - Camping in Myrtle Beach, SC for a long weekend.

10/31/14 - Halloween!

 

11/2/14 - It's a girl!

11/25/14 - Anatomy scan & she's a HEALTHY girl. Hallelujah.

12/8/14 - John turns 33.

December - holiday stuff. Craft shows, parades, craft day, Christmas parties, Polar Express, Christmas, etc.

12/31/14 - It's 11:30 p.m. I didn't think I'd make it this late. Charley's asleep, John's asleep and I'm blogging. It's been a good year even though there were some really obvious low points. Hoping for an even better 2015!

Get Your Wallets Out

I meant to do this earlier in the month - you know, in case I sold you on something so well that you decided you may want it for Christmas. But yeah. We know how that goes.

Here are some things that I'm loving lately.

Reusable Napkins

It's been nearly a year since these were delivered to my house (ironically they came on a day I did A Day In The Life post) and I honestly have not bought a single roll of paper towels since. Originally I bought them because I saw my lovely husband repeatedly skipping over the dish towel to grab a paper towel (OR TWO!) to dry his hands with after he washed them and it was making me crazy. I thought if I can just have these in a place close to the sink to eliminate that alone then we'd be doing good. That part was a success as expected.

The part I didn't expect was not having both the choice of a paper towel AND a reusable napkin. Once we ran out of the paper towels we had, we just never saw the need to purchase them again. We were using them for every meal, every spill, every anything and the need was just no longer there. We toss them in our laundry sink (one day I'll buy a separate basket to house them in the laundry room, but sink works for now) when they're ready to be washed and the 3 dozen we bought seems to be just the right amount. They take up such a small amount of space in the washer that it didn't add an additional load in our weekly washing - we just toss them in with towels***. I fold them in fourths and place them in a little square basket I found at Target and it resides right next to the sink.

***The washing instructions included suggested using Woolite on them to keep them as absorbent as possible and we did start out following those instructions. But one weekend we were out of Woolite and laundry must go on so we just tossed them in with towels and our usual Tide and never looked back. If they aren't as absorbent we haven't noticed yet!

AG Hair Cosmetics Shampoo and Conditioner

So one of my good friends (who also happens to be a fabulous hair stylist!) offered to get me some hair products because I admitted my shampoo of choice was "whatever was on sale". I had fallen off the CVS free stuff wagon because I just wasn't able to keep up any longer and my stash of drug store brand shampoos and conditioners was dwindling, so I thought this would be the time since I was about to start paying for stuff anyways. She knows my hair very well so I just let her buy whatever she thought was best since I had absolutely no clue where to even start. She chose these for me: AG Hair Cosmetics Xtramoist Shampoo and Ultramoist Conditioner. She chose really, really, really well. I'm in love.

Now, seeing as how prior to this I was just a whatever-brand shampoo user, it IS possible that I may have had the same results with any real brand of shampoo but I'm not willing to give these up to give anything else a try right now. My hair has never been as shiny and just all around easy as it is right now. And I know my hair WAS better while pregnant with Charley also, but it wasn't like this. This is like BETTER better. Definitely better.

So naturally, when I left my beloved shampoo and conditioner in the hotel shower last weekend I had to immediately run out and replace them the next day. And yeah, they weren't cheap at Ulta even with a coupon. I paid $26 for both the shampoo and conditioner, but based on the price per ounce I can get them even cheaper on Amazon next time. Worth it though to me to have good hair with no where near as much effort - especially since I've been lazy about curling my hair as much as I did pre-pregnancy.

KMS California Free Shape

While we are talking hair stuff, my same friend also bought me this stuff to try. Another big win in my book.

Remember when I told you I hate showering? And then a ton of you secretly judged me and pinched your nose closed? Hehe. Well, a ton of you didn't and felt the same way as me about showering and using your hair to drive your need to shower. Especially the fellow working ladies and even more-so when dealing with morning showers. Showering + drying + styling hair was such a process that the mornings just cannot accommodate that kind of time commitment.

But then came this stuff and my life changed. Okay, so I'm not showering more often (and all of you just pinched your noses back closed), but I am morning showering more often which I prefer so I don't have to undo the mess that sleeping on wet/damp hair can do. A morning shower and then spraying this stuff all over on my wet hair while I switch tasks and get Charley ready makes drying and styling my hair doable in the mornings. It truly does help your hair dry faster. And it smells good and is a heat protectant too! Win/win/win!

Soma Vanishing Edge Undies

Again - not my most frugal purchase but another one that I promise you is SO SO worth it. Find a good sale, use ebates, and a coupon code or whatever and get these undies. Your butt will thank me.

And sure, it may be weird to share a picture of myself in underwear for the world to see but what good would a product review be without a picture?

Now that we've got that out of the way let me tell you how wonderful they are - SO SO wonderful. They don't move you guys. Like, at all. You put them on and they don't wishy washy under your clothes at all. Not even a millimeter. The edges really do vanish and just sit perfectly flush with your skin and you can't even TRY and make a visible panty line at all. It's VANISHED. Gone. Donezo. The line doesn't exist. These undies have become one with your skin, no matter how round certain parts of you may be. And then up top where you may worry about some squeezing and muffining - nope. None of that either. Another vanishing line.

My favorites are the hipsters or bikinis and I like the microfiber ones quite a bit too. I have bigger hips (obviously they look way bigger than pictured above) and a bigger butt and these are perfection. I didn't discover them on my own - a couple of girls suggested them to a group of us and they have spread like wildfire. We are all converts now. You want these. I promise.

The Wet Brush

This may be the third time you are seeing this recommendation if you run in the same blog circle as myself, but I feel like my own friends and family deserved to know about this brush as well.

The Wet Brush is not going to break the bank and is something I think you can get at a regular store if you still frequent those types of establishments in lieu of online shopping. I personally loved it for myself - it just sort of massages your head as it goes and it feels quite lovely, but the real test was Charley. She HATED HATED HATED getting her hair brushed daily. Now, she doesn't mind at all. Maybe it's the fact that she has her own mini brush, or maybe it's the fact that it is pink, or just maybe she likes the feeling of having her head massaged as well.

I bought the regular sized + mini sized combo pack, but they do sell just the one brush by itself in different colors if that's what you'd prefer. And you know what else - sometimes I use this brush when my hair isn't even wet! GASP! It's just as wonderful then. Quick! This is a good stocking stuffer and Amazon can still make that happen!

SO Riding Boots

If you've seen me in the past 10 weeks or so where I've been wearing maternity jeans (and therefore wearing the ONE pair of maternity jeans I own) I've likely also been wearing these boots because the jeans are skinnies. No you say, I was wearing brown boots instead when I saw you? Oh then yeah, I was still wearing these boots because I own that color too. Oh no? They were tan boots I was wearing. Then yes, those too were these boots because I bought all three colors available when I scored some sale where I got them for $16 and some change each. I figured for that price they were worth a try and if I hated them I could return them, and if I liked them then I could just pick one or two I'd like to keep and return the other(s).

But I loved them! They are comfortable, they aren't tall heels which make me look even more Amazon woman when I wear them, and the calves are SMALL and fit for a change! I've had to resort to slouchy boots in the past because I have skinny chicken legs and boots either looked crazy for the gaps they had all the way around, or they became slouchy boots when they weren't intended to be slouchy boots. So annoying. So anyways, I doubt they will last THAT long since they aren't real leather and were so cheap, but $16 (times three...ahem) is definitely worth it for just one season to me if that's all they end up lasting.


I know as soon as I hit 'publish' I'm going to think of 10 more things that all of you must have, but this is all I can come up with at this moment. I love and hate these types of posts because I inevitably buy something/everything someone suggests but I usually end up loving the stuff too because nothing sells something better to me than a personal review.

What are you loving lately? I'm sure John agrees that I haven't yet spent enough money in December. ;)

One Year Housiversary

We've been in our new house for one year now and on one hand I think we've gotten a lot done, but on the other hand we've completely neglected a few areas. You would think we would have had time at some point during the last year. But oh well. I don't like to rush into things apparently.

So I thought I'd do a quick bulleted list type run down on each area at this point. Might be fun to update this annually and see what plans get accomplished versus what plans get scrapped. This is what I've done and what I'm planning to do at the 1 year point.

(Two things I'll apologize for: 1, the crappy quality picture. I need a wider angle lens for my camera so instead I just used my phone, and 2, that I obviously made no effort to take before/after pictures from the same angle. You'll get the general idea though.)

Outside

Obviously a slightly different angle - the tree didn't split into two over the course of a year.

Done:

• Added shrubbery we scored for free on Craigslist.
• Planted grass.
• Installed irrigation system in the front and then the back.
• Added a few flower beds around the house. 
• Built the deck.
• Added Charley's play area underneath the deck.
• Created a garden.
• Added a stepping stone sidewalk. (not pictured because it got done in the middle of typing up this post/taking pictures)

To do:

• Move Charley's play area to the bottom of the yard next to the garden.
• Build a lower deck with swings. Just trust me - I want some swings.
• Build Charley a play house.
• Clean up the woods/natural area by the road.
• Build an arbor around the garage doors.
• Make some sort of wall to hide the garbage can.
• Add some more flower/shrubbery beds around the house.
• Refinish our current patio table and furnish the rest of the deck.
• On the front porch, replace the church pew with a few more rocking chairs and repaint them all.
• Finally decide on a paint color for the front door.
• And maybe one day, replace the whole front door/sidelights with something more attractive. 

Office

Done: 

• Painted the walls.
• Bought a light fixture to replace the boob light.
• Added Charley's desk.
• Started the travel collage.

To do:

• Find an office chair since the one from Craigslist never panned out.
• Finish travel collage and fix a few of the items already in it (map, mat on framed picture of Paris, etc).
• Restyle the bookshelves.

Dining Room

Done: 

• Found a table and mismatched chairs. 
• Refinished a thrifted chandelier for the room.
• Started a collection of pieces for the china cabinet display.

To do:

• Decide on a wall color/paint the walls.
• Find window treatments.
• Build a buffet.
• Make silverware art piece for over the buffet.
• Make a backboard for China hutch and style the dishes inside.
• Refinish table and all chairs.
• Find and purchase a rug.

Kitchen

Done: 

• Painted.
• Added shelving to the pantry.
• Replaced and moved the light fixture over the table.
• Added plate collage.

To Do:

• New counter tops.
• Back splash of some sort.
• Possible cabinet refinishing.
• Get some bar stools already.
• Replace the builder's basic sink/faucet.
• Decorate.
• Maybe build an enclosure for the fridge - it sticks out a bit since it's not a counter depth fridge.
• Wallpaper or paint the pantry walls.
• Replace the spaceship looking light fixture with recessed lighting, and add pendant lights over bar.

Living Room

Done:

• Faux fireplace installed and decorated.
• Shelving system designed, built and decorated.
• Furniture, curtains and rugs purchased.
• Made a floor lamp.

To Do:

• Find an accent chair or something for the corner by the window.

Charley's Room

Done: 

• Painted, decorated, and hung curtains.
• Found a big girl bed and purchased mattress.
• Added shelving in the closet and purchased bins and baskets for organization.
• Purchased some will-work-for-now bedding.
• Replaced the boob light with her nursery's light fixture from the last house.
• Added blinds.

To Do: 

• Refinish the headboard.
• Find bedding that coordinates a little more.

Spare Bedroom

Done: 

• Added shelving in the closet.
• Got rid of, used or stored the decor that used to clutter up this room.

To Do: 

• Paint.
• And the rest is a mystery. Maybe a nursery one day, or if that doesn't happen then make it a more permanent play room for Charley.

Charley/Guest Bathroom

Done:

• Nada.

To Do:

• Add shelving in the closet.
• Paint.
• Decorate. (won't be kid decorated because 1) I'm not really a fan of that and 2) it doubles as a guest bath.)
• Do something with the mirror - either frame it in or replace it.
• Replace faucet and Hollywood light fixture.
• Replace towel bar with hooks.
• Window treatment of some sort.
• Replace the linoleum with tile.

Master Bedroom

Done:

• Put shelving in the closet.
• Added blinds to windows.

To Do:

• Paint.
• Decorate and find/purchase curtains.
• Find a chaise or accent chair for the corner.
• Refinish our nightstands or get/make new ones.
• Change out the lamps & get new lampshades.
• Get new sheets and pillows to match the "new" duvet.
• Attach the mantel surround to the wall and decorate it.
• Paint the dresser and mirrors (which are still in primer) something other than white and replace the hardware.
• Replace the french doors with pocket doors.
• Replace the door to the bathroom with a pocket door.

Master Bathroom

Obviously these two angles are from opposite ends of the room, but either way you can tell nothing has been done.

Done:

• Not a darn thing.

To Do:

• Replace the linoleum with tile.
• And this MAY never happen, but I would really love if it did - switch the placement of the toilet and the shower. We have a shower stall and a whole room for the toilet. It really should be the other way around and I hate I never thought of that until the house was built and we were living in it.
• Paint.
• Decorate.
• Update the giant builder's basic mirror by framing it in or replacing it. 
• Maybe finally hang the full-length mirror on the wall instead of letting it lean against the wall.
• Replace faucets and Hollywood light fixtures.
• Replace towel bars.
• And in the meantime in case we never switch the placement of the toilet and shower, add some chunky shelving over the toilet and decorate the tiny room.

Laundry Room

Done:

• Added cabinets, shelf and drying rack over the washer and dryer.

To Do:

• Get one of those fancy fold-up ironing boards or figure out some other solution for where to put our ironing board.
• Build or buy a counter top over washer and dryer.
• Paint. Something fun in here. Stripes or something. Maybe wainscoting.
• Replace linoleum floor with tile.

Basement

Done:

• Added flooring in the gym.

To Do:

• Walls, floors, lights, etc.
• Add a bathroom to the roughed-in plumbing.
• HVAC and all that jazz.
• Organize our crap down there. Shelving or something would help.
• Build a bar.
• Figure out what to do with the rest of the space.
• On the stairs coming out of the basement, add (removable) wallpaper to the stair risers.
• Stain the treads and paint the handrail.

So yeah. We are basically done with this house, right? Heh. Heh. Looks a little daunting all listed out like this. Any ideas, suggestions, remarks or otherwise? Please share!