finding a happy place...

hello out there...do y'all remember me? i can't believe how much i have not blogged this month. and i find that it's difficult to get back into the swing of things after such a long (though unintended) break. so, today i'm just writing for the heck of it...

ever since our almost-house-fire and our "soft goods" being returned at a time when we had no *time* to deal with them...well, our house has been a disaster. chaos. not a happy place.

but this weekend felt better. this weekend was good. matt was working nights (not the good part) and we didn't have spencer (also not the good part). but we had no plans. nothing going on. and it was a happy mixture of long overdue quality time with coleman and seriously needed productivity....

:: several loads of laundry

:: lots of morning cuddles and snuggles with my best little guy

:: new wire shelf liner + a little purging = a tidier kitchen pantry

:: coleman and i took an adventure into the woods and did some collecting (of pretty leaves, pinecones and bug bites)

:: finally, finally got our master closet back to normal...do you hear the angels singing???

:: morning coffee and play time with the neighbors

:: loaded PSE7 and iTunes onto the new laptop

:: coleman and i ate supper at the table like a real family...even if it was just the two of us

:: updated computer with email addresses and websites of spencer's new teachers

:: pool time for coleman and colton

:: tidied up and purged spencer's room

:: supper with neighbors

:: we made the slightest progress in coleman sitting on the potty

so there you have it. our low-key, git-r-done weekend.

week in the life {back story}

if you followed my week in the life posts, then you know there has been a lot of rambling about our bad luck and "almost" house fire. i should've posted this story prior to beginning the daily week in the life updates...but, alas, i didn't.

so here we go... (warning: text heavy, no cute or fun photos).

it all began many moons ago, or maybe just a few weeks ago. it seems like a lifetime, at this point. i got an itchin' for some boiled peanuts (a tasty southern treat). i decided that purchasing them from our favorite roadside vendor was no longer acceptable and that it was time for me to step up and become the southern domestic goddess that would make my husband, mother-in-law, oh heck...it'd make someone proud!

though "boiling peanuts" seemed obvious, i decided i should check in with a few experts and asked my two sisters, who happen to be peanut boilin' pros, how to go about doing this... good thing i did. turns out you have to use green peanuts (who knew???). and so the hunt began...it took me a few weeks of calling and visiting every grocery store and roadside stand until i found my lovely green peanuts (which for the record, are not green...of course, right?).

somewhere in this couple of weeks is when a sane person would've just given up and bought some darned boiled peanuts. but, i found the elusive green peanuts and they were expensive and i was excited.

proud as a redneck having caught a big 'ole bass, i hopped in the car and headed home. i pulled out my biggest pot and started boiling away. now, for those of you that are not to my southern domestic goddess level, let me explain that boiled peanuts take several hours to reach their prime level of yumminess.

i was doing a fantabulous job of checking on my pet project. adding water and salt as necessary. things were going peachy. and then...

a few moments away from the oven and suddenly our precious home was full of smoke. just. like. that.

the boys were quickly ushered outside. a glance at the stove top showed the most bizarre thing we'd ever seen...the pot had melted. literally, there was liquid metal all over our stove.

the amount of smoke was unbelievable, making it so difficult to breathe. we never had flames, but the incident resulted in an unimaginable amount of smoke damage.

dear hubby spent his entire week off scrubbing, cleaning, trying desperately to restore our home to a livable state. but to no avail.

a week later, we gave in and filed an insurance claim. a few weeks later, we just spent our first night back in our clean home full of fresh, breathable air...after ten days in a hotel.

and that, my dear bloggy friends, was the reader's digest versin of our "almost" house fire.

week in the life {sunday ~ july 31}

day seven...

this is coleman's new thing...taking everything out of my pocketbook, spreading it out on the kitchen floor and playing with it. the good thing is that it makes it easy to do a quick clean up of the contents. as a result, i've also found some pretty funny things later on (like a nickel stuck in a tub of lip gloss).

after several months, i finally hit *1000* on my list of one thousand gifts. what an awesome feeling. i have no plan to stop though.

this morning, i pulled out coleman's (very limited) selection of playdoh and toys. he desperately needs a real set of this stuff... he hasn't mastered the concept of playing with it yet, but he seemed to have fun and i'm sure he'll *get* it more if i actually remember to let him play with it more often.

and while coleman played with his playdoh, his mommy flipped through the newspaper ads.

and clipped coupons... i haven't been doing nearly as well with my couponing efforts as i used to...but i'm still clipping and saving money. saving something is better than paying full price, i suppose!

sunday afternoon, coleman and i went over to hang out with the monks (a summer weekend tradition). the boys played in the kiddie pool and the inflatable water slide. coleman and colton absolutely love this thing! they have a blast on it every weekend.

later on, inside, the boys snuggle together to watch a movie. this adorable moment actually didn't last long, but it was cute for a minute! the two of them do play really well together and it's nice that we are just two houses down. we ended up eating supper with tara and warren before heading home.

you can see all of my week in the life photos here at flickr.

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week in the life 2011 | july 25-31

 

inspired by ali edwards

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week in the life {saturday ~ july 30}

day six...

our morning snuggle time. coleman is playing with matt's iphone. while sitting in my lap.

in the car before 8:00 on a saturday morning...very unusual. though it feels kind of good to be up and at 'em that early. hit the mcdonald's drive through and picked up an iced coffee for myself and a strawberry lemonade for cassidy...

coleman playing on the slide at cedar crest park. we met cassidy and giada there for a playdate. we went super early (8:30), in the hopes of beating the obnoxious heat. the kiddos both had a good time. it's a great toddler-friendly park! i know i took a picture of giada but it disappeared. i can't find it!!! ugh! anyway... we lasted until about 10:00 and it really started to get toasty. it was great to catch up with cassidy. much overdue.

my outfit for the day. nothing very exciting.

coleman and i headed to old navy, after i realized i had a groupon that was expiring today. he was very good in the store (a huge improvement from our last shopping trip there). apparently, behaving that well must be really exhausting since he pooped out on the way home...cuddling with his new soccer ball.

i didn't buy much at old navy, but i saw this shirt on a mannequin as soon as i walked in, and fell in love with it. i was tickled that they had it in my size and it was on sale. yay! (i think this dark shade of yellow might be my new fall color). the only other things i bought were the soccer ball and a winter coat for coleman. pretty impressed with my willpower.

coleman brushing his teeth. as part of his routine, he pulls out his stool and puts it in front of the sink. he turns on the water and i put the toothpaste on his toothbrush. he insists on brushing his teeth himself...though it's not very thorough.

after brushing teeth, comes bathtime. he usually enjoys his bath but he does go through phases where he likes it more or less. he loves his bath toys and transferring water from different containers.

we are having a hard time with "potty training". he cooperates and does really well at aj's house, but simply is not interested at home. this photo is actually the first time we've been able to even get him to sit on it at home. it only lasted a couple of seconds and he didn't go potty...but at least he sat on it!

rio and cooper...very thirty doggies...

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week in the life 2011 | july 25-31

 

inspired by ali edwards

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week in the life {friday ~ july 29}

day five...

a slight recovery from yesterday's scary low photo count....

so today transitions into a different schedule than most of the week. monday through thursday, matt was off from work and spencer was with us. however, matt is now working nights over the weekend and spencer went back to his mother's...

this photo was taken approaching my office in the morning. this streetlight is at the intersection that leads to the lowe's campus. if you squint and tilt your head slightly to the left, you can see a building ahead on the left side of the road (to the right of the water tower). that's where i work.

i was dressed particularly casual for work today because we were doing work at the planogram facility. at the last minute, i grabbed my newest friendship bracelet (in gamecock colors). i (re)learned how to make these recently and have been kind of having fun with it!!

after a long morning of real work, as mentioned before, mike (my boss) and i grabbed a late lunch from panera bread before heading back to the office for more work (less manual labor though).

aj sent me this photo of coleman playing outside. i love, love, love that she sends me picture messages of my sweet baby boy during the day. sometimes i will send her a text asking how he's doing because i know she will follow up with a photo (shhh...don't tell my secret!!!).

our temperatures lately have been ridiculous. this is actually a bad representation of what we've been dealing with, as far as weather is concerned. this screen shot shows a "feels like" that is lower than the actual temperature. many days have had a heat index well above 100 degrees. oh...and that 26% humidity...that's a dream day!

pumping gas. something i do a lot. too much. i am not a fan of having to stop, so i always fill up completely. matt, however, usually only gets a little bit of gas at a time. and considering he drives a gas-sucking monster, he literally stops for gas every day. and since i'm the one that balances the checkbook, it annoys the bejeebers out of me that he has so many debits! just fill it up!!! i forgot to take a photo of the sign with the gas price...we are averaging around $3.50 a gallon right now.

coleman sitting at his little table, enjoying some supper and a bottle of water. looks like he is chowing down on a nice healthy hot dog. that's my go-to lazy supper. it's quick and he always eats it. purchasing this table last christmas was the bestest thing ever (yes, i know that's not a real word).

apparently my dinner was tasty...some concoction on a tortilla. when matt works night, i just make whatever for supper. it's usually totally random and often on a soft tortilla. while we ate, i made my weekend to-do list.

so, did you know that smoke can kill a laptop??? well, apparently so. it's dead. gone. finito. ugh!

looking at this picture, i can smell clean baby. i love, love, love a fresh, clean baby (or toddler...whatever!). actually, even spencer smells pretty good after a shower - ha!

and then there were the bracelets. i'm trying to remember when he started this...maybe a month ago? two? he wears a combination of my hair bands and a few silly bands on his right wrist all the time. bed - check. bath - check. swimming - check. daycare - check. everywhere - check.

*all photos were taken and edited on my iphone with the instagram app

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week in the life 2011 | july 25-31

 

inspired by ali edwards

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week in the life {thursday - july 28}

day four...

supposedly, the mid-week days are the worst for picture taking...i like to help prove statistics correct (apparently). i was actually kind of shocked when i realized i only had six photos...and not very good ones at that!

cooper peeing...now, isn't that something that you really wanted to see????

this is my load of crap that leaves with me in the morning. it's pretty ridiculous (and this is a day i don't even have to take coleman - and his stuff - to daycare!!!). so, what is all of this "must have" stuff????
pocketbook. work bag. lunch bag. grocery bag of food (that wouldn't fit in the lunch bag - not a daily thing, but typical after a grocery trip). coupon binder. tennis shoes. travel coffee mug. folder with some papers that i needed (and i was too lazy to put in my work bag????).

matt + spencer wraslin' (that's wrestling for those of you that don't live in the South). they do this a lot. and have forever. sometimes it's cute. sometimes it's funny. sometimes it's annoying. (i'd like to blame the difference on them, but i'm pretty sure it has a lot more to do with my mood!)

i realized at this point that i had taken two pictures of cooper and none of rio. the nice thing about this pain-in-the-arse dog is that when you call him and tell him to pose for a picture, he actually does. he's better trained than the rest of the boys in our house!

spencer watching matt play video games. their most often played game is call of duty (whatever the newest one is that month). they can play two players, but for some reason don't like to do that (???) so they take turns. i think it's weird, but i'm a girl.

matt dressed coleman today and happened to put him in the newest baseball tee, which was a gift from my mom (a.k.a. grandma sharon). i took this (horrible) photo to send to her. but now that i'm looking at it, i don't remember if i ever did. DUH! oh well, she will probably read this blog post and then she will know that her adorable grandson looked nice (and blurry) in his new shirt.


*all photos were taken and edited on my iphone with the instagram app

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week in the life 2011 | july 25-31

 

inspired by ali edwards

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week in the life {wednesday ~ july 27}

day three...

an apple for breakfast at the office. i'm a horrible breakfast eater. i never eat anything at home. sometimes i get around to something at work. i try to remember to bring in some easy things (fruit, granola bars, etc). i get up at 5:00 and don't get into work until 8:00. most days, i don't touch food until at least 9:00. this is not a good habit and i know it.

my life binder. or home management binder. or whatever trendy name you choose... i look at this now and think "when the h*ll did i have time to make this look cute???"...whatever. parts of this are really working for me, parts are not. i need to re-think it a little bit. but overall, i like it and glad i put it together!

my work to-do list. at the front of a moleskin notebook. i love lists. i love moleskin. i love narrow-ruled paper (yes, that's weird and i'm ok with that). a list on narrow-ruled paper in a moleskin notebook with bunches of things scratched out and some sticky notes added in...pretty much this is a snapshot of what heaven looks like! do you think God has a to do list? probably not. but i bet his angels do. i mean, working for God...that's a tough gig, right???

my work outfit. i wore jeans because...well, because i could. this sheer striped shirt is ridiculously old. i think it's from old navy...like, before the logo update. crazy.

when i started going into the office everyday (as opposed to working from home twice a week), part of the agreement was that i'd leave early a few days. it's a tough thing...a constant battle of where i'm "supposed" to be...the balance of work and family. today, i did leave early and hit the grocery store on my way home. here you see the bread section of harris teeter, my most often shopped local grocer. (perfect example of being torn: upon entering the store, i had to pull my cart over - next to the nice floral displays - and send a couple of emails to deal with some open issues.)

and no grocery trip is complete withput my coupon binder. i've been at it for a while now...around two years, i believe. the "glory" of saving money is long gone. but now that i know what can be saved, it's impossible to accept full retail. i struggle with keeping my coupons clipped and filed in a timely manner, and i don't save as much money as i used to, but i'm still living the dream ... one doubled coupon at a time.

and the final product... the full buggy. (that's what we call shopping carts in the South). see my list on the left? yes, it's typed. spencer makes fun of me. i yell at him. no we don't eat that many potato chips, but when they are buy two get three free, ya gotta stock up. it's a rule. well, a rule for those of us that have no regards for our health. but whatever.

speaking of health...here is my precious toddler eating yogurt. that's healthy, right??? granted, it's "fun" yogurt. and it's not organic. and it's probably not that good for you. but maybe. of course the sad part is that i'm not crazed enough to even know if it's good for him or not. oh, and he's eating this a few minutes before dinner. because that's how we roll.

and here i am in my not-work clothes. because they are so dramatically different than my snazzy work clothes, right? i found this camo shirt tucked in the back of my closet. i haven't worn it since my weight loss. which actually means i haven't worn it in years because i was too fat to wear it but i really like it so i refused to get rid of it in the hopes that i wouldn't be fat and could squeeze into it again. and i did. thank you very much. (p.s. please do not point out the muffin top because that will totally ruin the moment for me.)

speaking of muffin tops...this is what causes them. not the salad. maybe the croutons and bacon bits and chicken strips...but really...it's that darned ranch dressing. it's heaven in a plastic tub (not to be confused with the moleskin heaven...cuz that's different). oh, if you're wondering - this deliciously unhealthy salad is a to go order from the white horse, which a local restaurant that my husband adores...i don't get it. well, maybe a little because their ranch dressing is heavenly...did i mention that? wanna know why we ordered out after i spent two hundred dollars at the grocery store? me too. matt's logic..."i saved thirty bucks on your tires today, let's order white horse." ummm....ok?

*all photos were taken and edited on my iphone with the instagram app

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week in the life 2011 | july 25-31

 

inspired by ali edwards

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