i'm baaaack!!

Wow!! Has it really been more than 3 months since I last blogged?! Oops! My bad. Honestly, the catalyst behind my lack of posting was the fact that my little laptop had a piece break off of it and I have yet to replace it, thus rendering it useless for the moment. Again, my bad. I am hoping to carve out more time where I can get on our desktop computer, now that I am home more during the day, thanks to work slowing down for the summer. So, what has happened in my life in the last three month, you ask? Not too awful much. My daughter turned 6 in April and I am currently planning my son's 1st birthday party (which will happen in less than 3 weeks). Where does the time go?! It feels like just yesterday I was pregnant with Baby LL and now he's turning ONE?! And don't get me started on the fact that in 2 1/2 weeks my little Sweet Pea will no longer be in Kindergarten. Can't they stay little forever? No? Not fair! I think the biggest thing that has happened to me personally in the last few months has been the loss of almost 20 pounds! It has been a long, hard process. One that is not yet complete, but one that I am proud of nonetheless. In a future post I will outline what I've been doing, what I will be doing, and how I stay motivated. I'm excited about getting back on the blogging bandwagon and already have so many ideas written down for future posts. Stay tuned!

mini book review :: the passage by justin cronin

4 out of 5 stars.

Well, actually it would probably be more like 3.75 stars.

The actual story/writing itself was great. 

Government experiment gone awry leads to a devastated human race.

I really enjoyed the book as a whole.

The Passage is the first book in a trilogy.

It was published in 2010, #2 will be published this year, and I think #3 is slated for 2014.

What I didn't like was that in the 766 pages of book one, you could easily have gotten several books.

There were multiple story climaxes and, to me, the way it was written almost warranted multiple books.

And seeing as the books are being  published every other year, I think I would have preferred smaller books and faster publication dates.

All in all I give it two thumbs up.

xo

a reading challenge

One of my resolutions goals just about every year, is to read more.

If you know me, or read my posts (like this one OR this one) , then you know that I'm something of a bookworm.

Always have been, always will be.

I did go through a bit of a dry spell when my daughter was little, maybe that's why I vow every year to check more books off of my "to-read" list.

 

One of the ways that I'm doing this is by being a loyal visitor of the Goodreads website.

Not only does this site track books that you either want to read or have read, it also lets you keep your friends up to date on the progress that you're making on books you are currently reading.

Add to that the ability to rate and review books and you've got one awesome site for book lovers.

Oh, but WAIT, you can also create your own reading challenge!

You decide how many books you want to read and the site keeps track of your progress (I really like that it tells you how far ahead or behind you are in your challenge by both book amount and percentage).

 

My personal goal for 2012 is to read 52 books, or one book a week.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I  feel like I'm challenging myself even more by being on my third books already this year that has 750+ pages in it.

I have, however, been able to stay ahead of my one book a week goal, and am currently 2 books ahead, having completed 7 books so far this year!

 

One of my blog goals for this year is to also start posting more book reviews, so if you're interested in what I've read and what I think about those books, be on the lookout.

photos via

Do you have any reading related goals for this year?

If so, what are they and how are you keeping yourself accountable to them?

xo

weekend craftiness :: kitchen display

Another home craft project can now be checked off my list!

In a previous post I wrote about us deciding to renew our lease and the fact that I now had a bunch of projects that I want to do to jazz up our place.

Well, here is the latest one:

  

It's a little display crate for my salt and pepper shakers and various other knick knacks.

The idea originally came to me when not only had I run out of space for my (inadvertent) S&P shaker collection, but the space that I did have for them was getting on my nerves.

I used to have them lined up on the back of my stove top and I was constantly having to wash them because they were always getting the splatter from whatever was cooking on them. Yuck!

I have a small apartment kitchen with only one usable wall in the space, which previously housed a small dry erase board.

Going into this I knew that whatever I did would have to be extremely inexpensive, so of course I wanted to upcycle something I had on hand.

Enter a pair of old video/dvd/cd storage crates that I've had for well over 10 years.

Kid A is using one in her room for it's intended dvd storage purpose, but the other one was just sitting in her closet.

A few coats pf aqua craft paint and some scrapbook paper cut to size for the backing and VOILA!

Instant kitchen display!

Eventually I want to change the paint color and the paper backing to a scheme that I like better, but for using what I had on hand, I don't think this turned out too shabby!!

 

 xo

this, that and the other :: the weekend, crafty projects, etc.

Happy Friday, y'all!!

Yes, I'm from Texas and I say, "y'all".

No, I don't ride a horse or have an accent (that I know of).

Random sidenote - speaking of the word y'all, one of my pet peeves is when people spell it ya'll instead of y'all. It's a contraction of the words "you" and "all", hence the placement of the apostrophe. 

Get it right people!!

Anywho, the weekend is ahead of us, do you have any plans?

I plan to finish a home craft project that I've been working on today.

Here's a little hint, it includes aqua paint and my kitchen.

Stay tuned for a look-see.

Also on the agenda is a whole lot of reading.

Currently I'm going through two books.

One is 700+ pages; the other 800+.

Why do I do this to myself?!

Baby LL sleeping update - for those who are interested, Baby LL is sleeping SO much better!!

The hubs, bless him, came home from work the day I posted about making a baby nook and promptly moved some furniture around in our room and set up the crib.

That was two nights ago, and guess what?!

Those are the two best night of sleep that Baby LL has had in several months!!

He's also taken a few naps that have lasted more than two hours!

Who knew that just putting him in a new sleep space would make that much of a difference?

We're not on to a FULL night's sleep yet, but I'll totally take this over the waking every 1-2 hours.

I might be around here this weekend; I might not.

I also have something in the works that I'm (tentatively) planning to unveil on Monday, the 16th,

so stick around!!

xo

3 on Thursday :: sights to see

I don't know what really got me thinking about this, but I was recently contemplating not only places I would like to visit one day, but also sights that I wanted to see.

These are three things that I honestly think would give me chills to see in person, as they are already amazing in photographs.

1. Machu Picchu

via

2. the Northern Lights

via

3. the Loy Krathong Festival, mainly to see this -

via

If you could see anything in the world, what would it be?

routine

Tomorrow starts "real life" for us as a family again.

Kid A goes back to school and Baby LL and I go back to work (the hubs started back at work yesterday).

With that comes the need to get back into a routine.

When Kid A started school in August, I had a nighttime routine down pat.

After about two months, I started relaxing bit by bit in the routine, and (of course) over the Christmas holidays that routine completely flew out the window.

I've also noticed that over the past few months Baby LL's attitude and sleep ability has really deteriorated, could there be a correlation??

No matter what, I know that having a routine with these kiddos brings at least me some peace and comfort.

I know that everything gets done, nothing gets overlooked.

And selfishly, I know that at a certain point each night, I'll have some quiet time to read or watch tv or craft.

Lately Baby LL's sleeping has been so screwed up.

He wants to be held and he wants to be nursing.

He wants to sleep in my bed and if I'm actually able to put him in his own bed, he only sleeps for 1 1/2 hours, TOPS.

This is the same kid who used to sleep a 6-8 hour stretch, followed by a 3-4 hour stretch EVERY NIGHT.

And with this erratic sleep pattern, his days can be less than pleasant.

Baby is tired. Mama is tired.

I have to keep in mind that he probably won't just jump back in to an incredible sleep habit, it will probably be rough for a few nights, but hopefully getting back into a nightly routine will help us get back there.

As a mom, all I want to do is make my babies happy.

So when Baby LL gets fussy I hold him; I nurse him; I do whatever I can to keep a smile on his face and tears out of his eyes.

Obviously this hasn't completely worked out, as he spends a good amount of time each day fussing, whether I'm holding him or not.

And simple tasks such as doing my hair, folding laundry or cooking dinner have become frustrating for me because I have to do them with a baby screaming.

Time to toughen up, mama.

Hopefully since his crib is now set up (yay, baby nook!!) and his sleeping space is now bigger and comfier, he will start staying asleep longer.

I know that when he learns to self soothe and is sleeping longer stretches and more soundly, we will both be FAR happier.

I just have to be strong enough to get us to that point.

And I have to realize that it's not going to happen overnight.

So, routine, my old love, we're coming back to you.