So yesterday I was yet again contemplating how life is a never ending box of change.  Today I should be mopping the floor but instead I am writing random thoughts.  I hate mopping.  Right up there with cleaning the shower and the toilet.  Those are three tasks that should never have been invented by God.  I mean couldn’t he of just given us self cleaning bathrooms and floors?!  Does that make me greedy?

I’m so proud that next week is my 1 year Blogaversary and I have a very special surprise! My new website design!  I am so excited for it and think my husband is the bomb for what an awesome job he has done.

Wrath – I gained 4 pounds last week.  What is wrong with me?  Ya ya ya I know…some of it is probably water weight.  I don’t care, 4 pounds in a week is ridiculous.  I even had to get down my FAT JEANS on Saturday.  It was that time of the month and I just needed something comfortable to wear, and they are still falling off of me but still that is never a proud moment.

To combat the effects of my recent laziness and gluttony I started Jillian Michaels 30 day shred video yesterday thinking it was gonna be cheesy and um ya it wasn’t.  It’s only 20 minutes and I stuck to level 1 but I still wanted to throw up afterwards.  Almost every muscle was hurting this morning.  I did it for a second time today and wanted to throw up a little bit less then yesterday.  Hopefully tomorrow there is no throw up factor.  And I am sooo envious of the abs on those chicks in her video.

I’m also doing the diet plan on her website jillianmichaels.com/shred.  It’s free for 30 days, she gives you your meal plan for the entire week and it comes with a shopping list and all the recipes.  It’s my second day and so far I’m super psyched about it, don’t feel hungry at all, have more energy and no cravings…so far.  The meals are AWESOME.  The recipes are not for those that are afraid of the kitchen but they are super delicious and healthy, full of fresh produce.  Even my husband liked the dinner I made last night.

As for extravagance/lust(how are those two the same thing anyway?).  I don’t know, I guess I’m one short.  So really this post should be called the 6 deadly sins.  Ya whatever.

One parenting lesson I’m learning right  now and that so many others have learned before me is that weekends aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be.  Now that my lil’ munchkin is growing into a healthfully defiant 2 1/2 year old, weekends tend to throw a wrench into our well oiled routine.  We wake up Saturday morning with the highest of hopes for a nice respite from the busyness of the week only to be pulled abruptly back down to reality.

The past couple of months Eva just cannot handle the change in routine a weekend brings.  She is so happy to have her Daddy home, and I am so happy to have her Daddy home so he can take care of her, and I can get a little bit of a brake but it just doesn’t work out that way.  Our toddler NEEDS routine and does not do well when it is disrupted.  This leaves me feeling resentful that my husband is home on a weekend?!  WTF?! 

As far as letting Daddy do the usual routine things like taking her to the potty, getting her dressed, brushing her hair.  She will have none of it.  Daddy is not for taking care of me!  He is for playing with me!!!

All of this disruption in her routine makes her a very grumpy little girl.  Crying and throwing a fit over every little thing.  Daddy tries to do something like say get her dressed, she will have none of it and start crying, mommy steps in to try and work some magic, she starts crying even harder “I want my Daddy!!!” 

This reminds me of how I used to be when I would come home from being at a friends house all weekend.  Now I know why my dad would tell me.  “If your going to be so grumpy when you get home I’m not letting you spend the day at a friends house anymore.”    I totally get it now Dad.  Just what you always wished for right?

Maybe the real lesson I’m learning (over and over again) is that life with kids is an ever changing process.  Nothing ever stays the same for long.  I used to look forward to weekends…now I look forward to Mondays.  Go figure.

photo credit: Chelsea Peterson (go check her out on flickr)

I love thunderstorms but last night it was so loud I thought the sky was gonna break.  At least we are finally getting some rain though.

Don’t you just love the smell of rain?

We are going on three months of our debt diet.  I printed out our spending reports (yes I track everything on Money) and we have already spent $8,000 less this year then we did for the first six months last year.  Yee Haw!

Speaking of saving money.  Sunday night I went to the grocery store with about a million coupons and my total savings ended up being $150!  That’s a new record for me.

We’ve been watching a lot of old movies lately.  I love watching the really old ones, like from the 1930’s because the there are zero special effects.   We just watched the original Dracula last night and for the still shots of a house or a hillside the camera would just focus in on an actual picture.

My favorite part about old movies is the melodrama.  The actors or soooo over dramatic, I love the expressions on their faces.

Eva’s favorite new book is Princess Baby by Karen Katz.  She knows all the words and has to dress up like a princess every time we read it.  So cute.  Then she calls me Princess Mommy and I’m all like “Ahhhhh”.”

I absolutely LOVE the CD I won from Michele over at the The Integrated Mother.  It’s Ziggy Marley’s new Family Time CD.  The very last track is Jamie Lee Curtis reading her book Is There Really a Human Race? I highly recommend buying the book for your little one.  Check it out.

PSA – Please please please don’t talk on the phone while your kids are in the pool.  I know it’s  a little late in the summer for this but better late then never right?

I’m getting a shiny new website design soon!  My husband is working on it and it will be up shortly.  I can’t wait!

One last thing…If your kids are looking forward to seeing the new Disney G-Force movie this Thursday Ask.com will have a special promo for the movie.  You can go to there sight with your kids and ask silly questions about Guinea Pigs and stuff.  Anyway here is the spiel.

A preview of the homepage is available below and will include interactive ‘rollover’ components that prompt parents and their kids to experience Ask’s ‘Smart Answers’ [allowing users to obtain answers to their questions without clicking on additional links] first hand for two days to help kick off the opening weekend.  From encouraging children to ask ‘Where did guinea pigs get their name?’ to ‘How is a 3-D movie created?’ the homepage encourages online education, discovery and exploration.   These types of exercises are a great way for kids to learn and for parents to encourage safe searching habits along the way.

So there are your random thoughts for the day some more random than others.  If you’d like to join in jog on over to Keely’s blog at TheUnMom.

A few years ago, before I was a mom, I asked my dad if I would feel more like a grown up once children came along.  My 62 year old father of 8 children and 14 grandkids replied “No, you’ll always feel like a kid, I still do.” 

This conversation is why I read the book Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?: And Other Questions I Wish I Never Had to Ask.  To quote the back cover “Despite her forty years and a successful career as a rock journalist, Jancee Dunn still feels like a teenager, especially around her parents and sisters.”  It’s a hilarious, light read about crazy families you just can’t help but love anyway.  I mean really, how many of us would get through the holiday’s without being able to laugh at the craziness around us?  It is the perfect book to read for a day at the beach. 

Jancee mainly writes about her nosy, highly opinionated, overbearing siblings and parents.  I could relate to a lot of it.  No offense Mom. 

Think “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” meets “The Bronx Beat”. 

My favorite parts are when her and her husband have a discussion that has changed my views on Tip Jars forever.  “Why stop at coffee shop employees? Why not tip the gas station attendant or the UPS man?”  Or the affection she develops for a high tech toilet she got to use at her hotel room in Japan.  “Sometimes I would rush to beat the automatic lid.  It always won”

So how about you.  Any light summer reads you can suggest for me?

Is it still Tuesday?  Yes?  Great. That means I can throw all of the thoughts cluttering my head into this one convenient post and be done for the week?  Perfect!

Do you find you have a million tiny bottles of lotion everywhere.  I just cleaned out my junk drawer and had 5 in there.  I just counted the ones in my purse…I have 7!

When I decided to leave my job and be a SAHM I remember one mom was telling me this story of how someone had told her to please at least brush her hair that day.  I remember thinking “How could you not brush your hair when you wake up in the morning.”  Well it’s been 9 months since that day and now I totally get how you could go the entire day without brushing your hair.  That first month I was home I woke up every morning and did my hair and put on makeup, still thinking to myself “Pshh how could so and so not brush her hair?! Please!”  I still love doing my hair and makeup even if I’m not going anywhere but I’d say it happens about once a week now instead of everyday and at about 3:30 in the afternoon instead of first thing in the morning.

My poor husband.  He told me once that the fact that I would come home from work and put my pajamas on straight away made him “Terrified what it would be like when you left your job.” Hahaha.  Poor sucker.

For more random fun check out Keely at the TheUnmom. She puts me to shame.