Every time I go MIA for a few weeks, I promise to do better.  And every time I end up in the same spot.  Busy.  Rushed.  Frazzled.  Blogging is such a great outlet for me – but finding time gets tough.  I’m sitting here staring at the calendar, and I can’t believe the date.  Is it really the end of April already? 

 

Right now we’re back to working on unloading our house.  We know we have to sell at a loss, but we’re willing to do it.  We need to get out.  It’s currently listed For Sale By Owner so we can try to minimize the financial loss – a realtor’s commission just pushes our bottom line price too close to the max of what we think we can get.  So if anyone knows anyone looking for a lovely little townhouse in the LTZ, send them my way.  The deck is freshly painted, the landscaping tidied and the floors… well… I plan to clean those soon. 

 

Over the last 2 weeks I applied, was interviewed and almost immediately told I was not going to be considered for, a new position at work.  I waited 9 long months for an opportunity to come along and just that quick, watched it slip away.  “Potential conflict of interests” says HR… So this has brought the potential of school back into focus.  Maybe a baby step – an associate’s degree.  Make something of the 70+ credits that I’m sitting on.  It’s difficult to think about doing it on top of the full time job, wife and mom thing… but it may be my only shot. I’m certainly not getting any younger. 

 

Life with a toddler is wonderful.  Challenging.  Infuriating.  Exhausting.  Amazing.  She’s doing and saying so much.  She can articulate her wants and needs pretty clearly.  Although not as articulate, she’s no less adamant when we get it wrong.  She never wants to come inside, and never wants to ride in a cart or her stroller any more.   And heaven help me if I don’t listen when she says “no mommy, DIS way!” and tugs firmly on my hand.  We have our first swimming lesson coming up on Saturday.  I’m looking forward to it, even though it means squeezing into a bathing suit.  In front of people.  Ugh. 

 

I guess that’s it for now.  I’ll report back if we have any news on the house or anything else exciting in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, stay tuned for Birthday Party plans (my baby is going to be TWO in just 10 weeks!) and Easter Pictures.  Hopefully early next week, as long as I finish my essays for my CBCP certification! 

It's a Party!

I noticed this on a fellow blogger's page, and I thought "oh - how cool!"  I'm always looking to connect with other bloggers and moms who share the same (and different) interests from me.  What better way than crashing a blog party?



5 minutes for mom is having their annual blog party and I'm coming through the door, martini in hand!

My name is Kelley.  I'm a working mom of an amazing 21 month old daughter, and married just over 4 years to Shaun - my bestest bud and partner in crime.  We live in a small town in South Central Pennsylvania where we enjoy cooking and spending time with our friends.  I love to write and take pictures even though I'm not particularly prolific at either.  I started my blog as a way to chronicle my pregnancy and help keep family up to date on what was happening, and kept it going as I realized what a priceless memoir it was turning into and continues to be as our daughter grows. 

I look forward to "meeting" more of you and watching my blog roll grow!

Always one more project...

Something I've been wanting to try for a while is blogging some of my favorite recipes.  Nothing fancy, just an easy way to save/share some favorites.  I finally got it started tonight, so have a look!

http://klgshgcook.blogspot.com/

MIA Again

I have to be honest, I just haven’t had much to say lately.  Kayla is growing and learning by leaps and bounds.  She’s also not sleeping very well again.  It’s a good thing she’s cute, otherwise I’d have sold her to the circus weeks ago… (I kid, I kid.)

 

It’s been a stressful time for us though.  The shitty housing market is having more of an effect on us than we ever thought possible.  For five years we’ve apparently been throwing money at a worthless pile of wood and drywall… it’s beyond frustrating.  Last weekend we went over to my Dad’s house and watching her run around in their back yard was great, but it was also heartbreaking.  I want to be able to give her that, and right now we just can’t. 

 

Work has been sending both Shaun and I batty in different ways.  I’m still spending a lot of time on the road.  I like not being stuck at a desk all the time, but the constant driving hither and yon is getting old.  This records project can’t go on forever though; today we decided on a drop dead date of 6/30.  Three more months and we have to be done.  It’s good to see light at the end of the tunnel.  I just hope it’s not a train this time. 

 

Better weather and better times are hopefully around the corner.  I’ve been trying to focus on planning Kayla’s birthday party; even though it’s just over 3 months away, the celebration will coincide with a holiday weekend, so we want to get the invites out early.  It’s also given me something to be excited about.   

 

So long story short, we’re just slogging through real life for now and hoping for the sun to come out soon. 

Toddlerhood at its best

Busy times in the house lately... I've been running non-stop everywhere except where I should be - on the elliptical.  It's been a tough week, but hopefully I haven't set myself back too far.  Work has been insane... I am so sick of driving all over the state and crawling around in dusty basements and labeling boxes.  Then when I finally get back to my desk, I have so many projects going on that I hardly know where to start. 

Kayla on the other hand, is doing everything she should and more.  She's really picking up a lot and saying more phrases every day.  She loves to talk, and has finally started opening up at daycare.  She says "please" and "thank you" pretty regularly.  She's counting to 10 with no help, and we're still working on letters and colors.  She loves to sing songs, and do "this little piggy" on her feet. 

She's very opinionated and has a sense of style that's all her own.  She no longer lets me pick her outfits in the morning - she has to have a say in that matter.  She discovered her Babylegs in her top drawer and loves to pull them over her arms like sleeves.  She loves to have her back scratched and her feet rubbed.  If you start one of those, don't plan to stop... 

The latest thing that has me worried is her tendency to go all kamikaze out of nowhere.  She loves to climb onto her chair and then tumble off onto the floor and giggle.  She runs full bore around the house and occasionally takes a spill.  She usually handles it pretty well, but we've had our share of tears as well. 

So that's the latest and greatest. What's going on with you right now?

Happy Valentine's Day

From us and the little girl who couldn't even put her balloon down to have dinner. 

Bowed but not broken

So week 2 of the C25K program didn't go well for me.  I decided to repeat week 2 starting tonight.  Maybe it was the crap I ate at lunch today.  Maybe it was the cold I'm starting to come down with... but tonight my heart just wasn't in it.  I'm still floating out there in limbo-land... waiting for the weather to get warm so I can take this show outside. 

Hopefully that will help.  Maybe?

Sometimes order comes from chaos

My schedule this week was completely FUBARed.  Monday we had the HOA meeting.  Tuesday I ran.  Wednesday I was on the road from 8 am until 6:30 pm for work.  I missed dinner.  I was too late for bath time.  I had only a few minutes to snuggle my girl, feed her snack and put her to bed.  Thursday I was on the road again.  Picked Kayla up at my in-laws' house, made dinner for the family, cleaned up, bathed her, blanched some green beans so I could freeze them, and by the time I should have been on the elliptical, I was being undone by these little monsters:

These were itty-bitty versions of what I normally make.  Dozens and dozens of them.  Little army men marching me off the cliff of death by sugar high.  And that was only from the occasional finger lick.  I didn't even get to enjoy one of them.  Ahh, the things we do for our children.  The word on the street is they were quite a hit at Kayla's Valentines Day party today.  Totally worth it. 

So tonight I snuggled Kayla a little bit more than usual before I put her to bed.  I changed, stretched, waited a few minutes.  Then I made myself go downstairs to do penance for missing last night.  I hopped on and started to move, and I stood there looking at the console of the elliptical: my iPod (gotta have tunes), my Blackberry (just in case Shaun needs to get in touch with me), the baby monitor (since I'm on my own if she wakes up)... and it hit me as though I had run right off the machine and into the concrete basement wall.  I had actually really started to enjoy this.  Not because I like to run; Lord knows that hasn't been the case in over 10 years.  Not because I really want to exercise - let's be honest - who really wants to do that?  But because those 25 minutes, 3 times a week... those are MY minutes.  I go to the basement, crank my music and I don't think about packing lunches or doing laundry or did I return that email or what did I leave sitting on my desk that evening when I finally clocked out?  I don't count the days since I last ran the vacuum or scrubbed the toilets.  I don't wonder if the humidifier is full or if Kayla is sleeping OK.  I don't really think of anything.  I just go.  And I love that.  I love that time when I can shut off my brain and let my  muscles take over for a little while. 

It's amazing when a small moment of clarity hits you in the midst of the craziness of day to day life and you realize what it's all for. 

McFatty... Tuesday?

So things got shaken up a bit this week.  Last night I got home from work, inhaled a quick bite and gave Shaun his birthday gifts so we could bathe the baby and take off for our HOA meeting.  We were there until after 9 pm, so the workout got pushed to tonight. 

The progress?  Slow.  My weight is still hovering around the same place it was 2 weeks ago.  I'm OK with that.  I don't think I look much different, nor do I feel much different.  That's tougher to deal with.  I know I'm only in week 3 of running, but I really thought I'd see or feel some difference by now.  I still haven't started my weight training either.  That's my goal for this week.  Even if it's only a few sets of bicep curls and some sit ups - strength training is super important. 

Anyway, I did run workout 1 of week 2 tonight and it felt pretty good.  I'm glad it's done because I didn't feel remotely like running.  I'm also glad that I pushed through and did it.  Tomorrow I will be on the road for work again, hefting boxes and moving a lot.  Hopefully I won't also be paying for tonight. 

She melts me

Tonight Kayla was a real mess.  She threw a fit when we tried to get her to have dinner.  She cried all but non stop for nearly an hour.  Finally I managed to get her to eat some grapes.  When she had emptied her bowl she held it up and asked for more.  As I was cutting them for her, she came over and wrapped her arms around my leg and said "thank you, mommy."

I think my heart is still laying in a melted puddle on the kitchen floor.