I HATE that i've been ignoring this thing lately, I've just had so much to do! Stuff with doctors and appointments for the kids. It's only Tuesday and I am WIPED. My surgery is coming up SOON so i've been getting ready for that. I have to go on a two week liquid diet. Something about shrinking my liver. My entire stomach is going to be yanked DOWN and back into place. And then they reconstruct the bottom of my esophagus. Or something like that, lol. I do know that the whole area (diaphragm, bottom of esophagus and part that connects to my stomach) needs to be "re-done". Ouch. I think about them yanking my stomach down with pliers or something and it grosses me out. Glad I will be asleep for that. I still have a few pictures of the flooring we did to post on here, but really....i've been so pressed for time. I do all of my Facebook updating on my Blackberry these days. Classes are starting for me next week. And i've got Lily's ballet stuff, costumes and helping her practice for her first show in May. Not to mention her Preschool stuff! I've got to get 12 eggs and goodie bags ready for her classmates for Easter. And knowing all of the other parents, I'm going to have to come up with something good. I don't know what it is about private school. It's like every parent goes over the top when it comes to Holidays. Lily got SO many little treats, goodie bags and things for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentines Day and i'm feeling like i'm the last mom in the classroom who hasn't come up with anything cute to do for the kids. So its my time to shine. I've got to turn in eggs for the kids Easter Egg hunt and i'm thinking I will do some kind of cutesy goodie bag to add to that as well. Blah. Any ideas? I absolutely love her school and she loves it as well, but I still feel so out of place there sometimes. It's insane to see these other mothers all decked out in their yoga or tennis outfits, with nannies and Lexus' and whatnot. CRAZY. Of course, not every mother is like that (happily, there a lot of regular ones like me) but you send your kid to private school wondering if those private school parent stereotypes really exist and I am here to tell you that THEY DO. They absolutely DO. Even at a Christian school. Go figure.


Well, i'm just a regular mom. And thank God for that. I'm too high strung for yoga and cant swing a tennis racket to save my life. I also could NEVER afford a nanny, which would be sad anyway because I really love spending time with my kids. So ohhh well. But this regular mom has definitely got to get some nice goodie bags together. I can't believe Easter is less than 4 weeks away. Where does the time go?

Just a quickie!

It's been a busy week and I haven't had time to sit down and blog, unfortunately. I did end up transferring my pictures onto my computer so I will make a picture post later today or tonight and get those up. This week was much better than last. Still stressed, but....there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I also got some GREAT news about my upcoming surgery, which I will share later. Got to run, I've got to drop some paperwork off at my doctors office today and then hit up Target for a couple of things. They are having sales on some of their picture frames and we desperately need a few!

The computer continues to fail me...

Wow, didn't realize what a lengthy post I made yesterday! I'm really glad to be back to blogging. I love it. It's an outlet for me. I wish I had more time to post lots of fun things, like favorite recipes and whatnot. There is just always something to do around here. My kids have been SO hyper lately...I don't know whats up. I REALLY wish I could get Lily to go for a nap when Noah does, but I have never had luck getting her to takes naps and I don't think I ever will. I wish she would because the two of them wear me out. Maybe I should start trying to hit up Monkey Joes with them once a week. Would that help? They both want to jump around and wrestle and play, might as well do it where they won't get bruises. I have to check and see how much Monkey Joes is because we haven't been there in awhile and i'm sure their prices have gone up. I might also consider putting Noah in a twice a week or 3 times a week preschool type setting. Lily goes to Wynnbrook Christian Preschool and we just love it there. They are awesome. I know they have "baby" classes and every time i've dropped in it seems like the babies have a lot of stimulation and fun. I really might consider that because it would be really nice to have some time for myself during the week. I've been a completely stay at home mom for over 4 years now and I'm a little burnt out. I want to go back to school and do other things that are adults only!

Tonight I am going to get an external card reader. I have given up hope that my computer will just start working right again. I have lots of pictures I need to upload and i'm tired of waiting to do it! Tomorrow is officially Friday, YES!! Lots of stuff to do this weekend and hopefully it all goes well. :)

"Thou Shall Not Give Into Temptation"......uh oh

Pretty sure my memory card reader slot is broken. I stick my memory card in there, the little light turns green, but NOTHING happens. I've repeated this process at least 20 times already. I have so many new pics to post and AHHHHHHH!!!! What do I do? Dumb computer. I hate that the shelf life on these things is so short. Doesn't it always seem like computers start to break down before their 5 year mark? Either that or I just have the worst luck. Our laptop died last summer. And boy, is it dead. Dead, dead, deadski. Our computer is officially 5 years old. And my SD card reader is broken. Boo.

We installed our new dining room floor last weekend. Did I mention that already? I love it. I really, really love it. My kids have been giving it hell all week and its held up like a champ. Not a single nick anywhere on it. I can't WAIT to do the living room. We now have most of the materials and are just waiting for some leeway in Joey's schedule so we can do it. I figure it's going to take at least 3 days. A day and a half to two days to actually install it, and another day to let it acclimate and then nail down the trim. If anyone is in the market for laminate hardwood, I highly recommend DuPont.

Now if I can just get the husband to install our new storm door. It's pretty much just looming over us in the living room. Still wrapped in its cardboard. The majority of our tax money has gone to fixing up our house, which was long overdue. Our carpets were bad. I mean, BAD. It was so gross pulling up the dining room carpet. I can't imagine what the living room carpet is going to be like. Eww. The rest of our money goes in to savings. We really want to try for Disney World next year. Lily has been begging us to see "the castle". There's just so much to be done this year (my surgery, Joey's training in Missouri, etc.) that there really is no time for a vacation this year. I will be very happy if we can even make it down to the beach before the end of August with everything we have going on. I'm sure a little beach getaway can be squeezed in there somewhere.....right?

Since I hadn't bought myself anything in who knows how long and I was WAY overdue for a new one, I splurged and bought myself a new purse. It took me DAYS to settle on one, I must have looked at 6 different types of purse websites. I ended up with a brand, spankin' new Melie Bianco. I love Melie Bianco. I drool over half of her stuff, if not more. But she's a little pricey. And with two kids and a house and bills and everyday life, I just don't really have it in me to splurge on something for myself. My splurging always goes to my kids. My kids have newer clothes than I do. My kids get haircuts every month. My kids have new shoes every few months because their feet grow like little weeds. My kids have Britax carseats, Combi strollers and boutique hairbows. Well, Lily has hairbows. I'm sure my husband would protest them on Noah. Haha. Anyway, the point i'm making is that my jeans are 4 years old, I have split ends, and I wanted a new purse. So I bought myself one! It arrived in the mail in Monday and WOW...I love it. I love it so much. Best of all, I got free shipping and 20% off the original price. Even with all of those discounts, I STILL paid $72.50. Crazy, right? But I absolutely love it and I won't need a new one for a long, long time. I will post a pic of it in all its glory as soon as I can figure out whats wrong with my stupid card reader slot. Dumb computer.

I was pretty happy with that purchase. And THEN I had to go and one up myself. Boy, did I..

This is the part where I hide my face in shame.

I have always maintained that although designer clothes are great quality and are very nice looking, buying them for a child is pure nonsense. A child is going to grow. The clothes will not fit for very long. Why spend $100 on a designer item for someone who hits a growth spurt every 6 months. Not to mention this person could not even PRONOUNCE designer names, much less spell them. Labels are all about the parents, right? The kid has no clue and doesn't care. Well...I still believe that. So why I did what I did makes no sense. But, there I was. Trolling around the Nordstrom website. I love Nordstrom. I really do. We don't have one here, which is why a couple of times a month I go hang out on the site and dream of all the gorgeous stuff I can't afford to buy. The softest cashmere sweaters. The most beautiful sateen toddler dresses. Pairs of jeans that are two hundred dollars plus tax, but feel butter soft and hug every curve the right way. I truly love clothes and Nordstrom, to me, is like chocolate to a chocoholic. Whenever I go back to Texas to visit my family, I stop by Nordies and stroll around for an hour or two. My best friend and I have lunch at the Bistro and then we window shop. It's a ritual. But I digress. Cause the real point here is that I buckled and became one of those ridiculous moms who bought their child a designer clothing item at an insane price. Damn you, Nordstrom. I happened by their website last week and hit the mother of all sales. It so happened they were advertising Children's clothes at up to half off. And that is when I fell in love with a pair of True Religion jeans.

I. Love. True. Religion.

Back in my skinny days, I would try on TR's like crazy. I could never afford them because ,unfortunately, back in my skinny days I was a high schooler. They had just come out back then, so they were new to the jeans scene. But wow did I love them. They carried them at maybe 2 places in my city and both places were boutiques. The jeans were crazy expensive and oh so desirable. For a girl with a not so small butt and hips, True Religion jeans were like the answer to my prayers. But yeah, my mother would never buy them for me. I guess I can't blame her. And after high school, life started to move very quickly and I never did get to own a pair of these coveted jeans while I was small enough to fit into them.

So...I stumble across a pair of TR's for children. 50% off. Which made them $86 dollars. I'm just staring at them like "This is nuts. Lily doesn't need these. They are JUST jeans". I added them to my "cart". Checked the cart. Noticed that Nordstrom had taken another $16 off. Jeans are now $70 dollars. Shipping is discounted to 5 dollars. So what do I do? I buy them. And as it turns out, I bought the LAST PAIR. In a size 5. Because that was the only size that was left. My daughter is blessed with her fathers genetics. And a tiny waist. She can actually still wear her 3t jeans from last year. And she does. Soooo.....yeah, yeah I know. No excuse. I am ridiculous. And now I am in a possession of a pair of True Religion designer jeans that originally retailed for $172 plus tax. Jeans that can only fit a child. Wow.

They are too big on her. She needs a belt and the bottoms to be cuffed a little. But gosh I love them. And I am hoping that she will be able to wear them for the next couple of years so I get my moneys worth. When the time comes that she can't fit them anymore, I hope I will have luck on Ebay reselling them. Used True Religions seem to make a pretty penny on there. And they are the classic "Joey" Rainbows so they are even more coveted.

Of course I let my husband know about all of this BEFORE I actually did it. And since I guess he knows my burning desire for a pair of True Religions, he actually okayed this purchase.

I am embarrased to admit that I bought a pair of designer jeans for a 4 year old because it really is a silly thing to do. And it's a big wake up call to me that I need to lose all of this extra weight so that I can stop living out my fashion dreams vicariously through my daughter. I made sure not to let onto her that these jeans cost more than any of her other jeans combined. I don't want her to think that we are what we wear. I always try to teach her that we take care of our things no matter HOW MUCH they cost. So i'm ashamed I succumbed to my retail temptation. After my surgery is over, I am vowing to change. I need to become a healthier person. My diet is ruining my health. I know that part of the reason I have this hernia is my own doing. And if I want to go nuts and buy a ridiculously expensive pair of jeans, I should at least buy them for myself. For my birthday. Or at a very, very special occasion.

::sigh:: I need a nap.


Hopefully picture post later on today. Dumb computer.