An Apology

I must apologize to all of my Houston & Brenham area friends...you see, it's a LaPorte day. That's the only explanation I have for the sleet and rain and overall yuck. I had to laugh yesterday when I picked Noble up from school and saw "listen for school closings!" signs everywhere. Have you noticed that every 2 weeks, on Thursday, we have some sort of weather event...or a major weather event predicted that falls through? God, are you trying to tell me something about this gig?!

So, stay warm and dry. And I'm sorry.

Blog Envy

I know, I know...jealousy is a horrible emotion. But I'm laying here, blog-hopping, hoping to be able to find my way back to sleep (Noble's 2 AM wake-up call worked, what do you know?), and I have seen some amazing blogs. Now, I'm a little envious that these women have these amazing, DECORATED, homes...but those are just things. What I'm really envious of is...you know, maybe I'm not envious. Hmm.

It's more like, I'm in a season of my life when I WANT to write...but life has other plans. I have my family and my home and my work...unfortunately, some days, not in that order. I don't have time right now to read the blogs I'd like to read and spend time with my thoughts and wishes. I'd love to take time to comment on some of the wonderful things I run across...love to read more...love to share favorite things with you...love to learn more about how other people live, parent, love...

I don't wish for this time...because God has a sense of humor and He'll either help me find time in the middle of the night...sigh...or, well, let's not think about it. :)

So there it is. To all of you amazing women--and men, like my boy--who are out there blogging away and sharing the love, thanks. Someday I'll join you...

The Devil is in the Details

Kayci is soooooo my girl--she notices every little detail. Usually.

Two winters ago, when I was still pregnant with Noble, we redid our bathroom. I've always loved the Moda cowboy prints, and I found a sheet set downtown that was such a good buy, I couldn't pass it up. Mom turned the flat sheet into a shower curtain with the ribbon loops inside like I like (have you seen that? The liner hooks TO the shower curtain, so no second bar!), and I absolutely love that shower curtain. The idea was that since we only have one bathroom, we'd start mixing in some elements from the main parts of the house (ha, our house probably isn't big enough for "main" parts, but you get the idea) instead of having a bathroom that matched our bedroom back when we first got married. :) Anyway...so this was two years ago.

Last week at MOPS, we made a fun chalkboard frame. I went with red bandanna print, thinking this would be the oomph! the bathroom counter needed after all this time. When I set out the frame, I liked it a lot, but the counter was unbalanced.

I brought Kayci's old boots in from the living room (they've just traveled from room to room since we've lived here...I love them and love to use them, but they've never found a permanent home). I like them here...think it would be funny to find a tall enough soap dispenser that a soap dispenser could live in one boot, lotion in the other. Hmm.

So this is where we are now. I like it. Someday I'll swap Kayci's cowboy/cowgirl couple for an embroidered "Dear God, please tell Mommy that cowboys don't have to take baths..." but I want an embroidered one, not a print. Still looking, have been for years. :) Anyway, the only thing that's changed is the counter. And here's where the story was headed all along...on Sunday, Kayci says, "oh, so we have a cowboy bathroom now." I said, "it's been this way for two years, except for the counter." And she says, "really?"

Um, yeah.

Mirror Image

It's been an eye-opening experience, being back in the gym again for the first time in YEARS. I've had to face myself in the mirror, literally. Jonathan, our trainer, makes me watch in the mirror to make sure that I'm exercising correctly and so I can learn the form for when I'm on my own. Yesterday I did a set in front of the mirror and then when I turned away out of habit, he made me turn back. It wasn't a big deal, as deals go, but something fell into place. I realized that I don't ever LOOK at myself. I look at bits and pieces of me, whatever part I'm dressing or making up or whatever, but I don't every step back and look at the whole picture. That realization hit pretty hard. Over the past couple of weeks, so many truths have come to light about me and my body and how I've straight up neglected it and abused it for the past 7+ years. Longer than that, really. If we're being honest. Which I've decided to be--you've seen me. One day last week we did an inverted pose in yoga and I put my hands on my waist to steady my trunk. It was squishy. Like, it kind of grossed me squishy. And this is what James feels every day? Poor guy! That moment was a low point, but it made me realize that I've just ignored the parts of my body I haven't wanted to deal with. Legs getting cottage cheesy? Wear capris, not shorts. Post baby stomach? Longer, looser shirts. You get the picture--you girls have done it, too, I'm sure. I just haven't LOOKED at myself and seen the REAL me that you all have seen the past several years. I've ignored the wobbly bits that my husband sees every day. So this whole looking in the mirror thing has been eye-opening for me on so, so many levels.

Yesterday I kept my first food log since Quick Weight Loss back in 2005. Get this--I thought I had a GOOD day. I had my one cup of coffee in the morning (turns out with the milk and sugar, there's 100 calories) and water the rest of the day. I skipped the sausage in my breakfast burrito. I made a healthy salad for lunch. And here's where it gets dicey...after lunch, I was hungry. So I ate a couple of pieces of celery while I worked. Still hungry, so I grabbed a string cheese when I went to pick up the kids. Still hungry...so at dinner, I had a second serving of turkey goulash. And then ate a piece of Noble's bread. I didn't snack or have a beer or anything after dinner because I knew that second portion blew it for me (did I mention, Jonathan's going to review my food logs next Monday? Um, yeah.). This morning I added it all up...and get this: 1874 calories. If I'd had the sausage for breakfast, that would have been another 230 calories, putting me over 2000. Yes, I worked out for 2 hours yesterday, but I did NOT burn that many calories. Holy crap! I'd cry if it weren't so freakin' funny. I thought I'd done WELL yesterday, other than the second serving. I was hungry, for pete's sake!

So, here's the good news: I feel better after a couple of weeks of steady yoga and workouts. I'm on track to feeling like the old me again. I haven't known that girl in a long time, so I'm curious to see how she'll fit into my new, grown-up Mommy life. So far, she's taking away my blog and Bachelor time each week. Dammit.

Back to work...bet you're counting your calories right now, aren't you?

In His Shoes

As we head into Valentine's week (yep, it's a whole week now, didn't you hear?), how we show love has been on my mind a lot. It's easy to love on my kids and my boy, but there's a lot to being loving and showing them kindness and love.

Yesterday right before James left for his SuperBowl party we were frantically running around trying to make the house decent for our dinner company, and I found myself starting to fuss at him over leaving the coffee filter, etc. in the coffee pot instead of cleaning it out that morning. Silly, right? There's no other word--I was fussing. That's even sillier! Things undone drive me NUTS--it's the OCD that hounds me. So as I started to bring it up to him, I stopped...and put myself in his shoes. He has made coffee every day for the last week or so, where we usually switch off. He hasn't said anything, he's done it gladly and even made my coffee most days. He's spoiled me. So, why does it matter if I have to throw away the filter and rinse the carafe? Really--DOES it matter? Did it matter enough for me to "correct" him last night? Nope. That was MY issue, not HIS. So I stopped myself. And I told him what I had planned to say and why I stopped, and thanked him for making coffee without complaint. It was such a small thing--but those small things, when left unchecked, can add up to big resentments.

So that's my challenge this week, girlfriends--let's check ourselves before we fuss at our boys and our kids. I think there's a happy week on the horizon at my house...I really, really need to take my own advice when it comes to Kayci. She's been experimenting lately with a little sass and some clothing choices that I wouldn't choose, and I need to keep my mouth shut as she's not hurting anyone and she's still totally appropriate. It will be a challenge for me, but the payoff is worth it. Wish me luck!

Macdazzled!

I got out my laptop this morning to catch up on a report...and laughed.

When I opened said laptop to post some family pics on the blog (go check it out if you just read this on Facebook...www.ipharaon.blogspot.com), along came the undazzler.

My MacBook is bedazzled no more. :( Oh, well.

Happy Sunday, friends! If you drive by today, say happy birthday to Sami Dog--she's 15 today!

Really Random Friday...

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted something. It's not that nothing's happened...maybe it's just that too much is going on. Ever get like that? This was one of "those weeks"--lots of Dad memories (fire was a year ago Friday, his last surgery was a year ago Tuesday, this week a year ago we were living in a hotel and furniture shopping for their new apartment...crazy, huh?). I'm learning that when times like this roll around, I tend to head into my head until things settle down again. Which, in turn, makes it nearly impossible to be productive and happy and all of the things I'd like to be on a daily basis. But, here I am on the other side. Hope I stick the landing...

On a lighter note, a year ago this week I was working to finish a big Region 4 project and spending lots of time in the hotel room on my laptop. I finally bit the bullet, sitting there, and joined Facebook. I got a lot of flak for my first profile picture since it was turned the wrong way (thanks, Keely, for pointing it out...repeatedly!), so I snapped a pic in Photobooth. I loved this picture!

Last Sunday we met Nana, Dan & Celena for lunch. We went to Cypress Station, which we've been meaning to try for forever. It was a really great restaurant--we'll definitely go back! Afterwards, we went over to Target (of course), and there was a Wii Fit tent in the parking lot. We decided to go check it out, and they were giving away $15 Target gift cards just for playing a Wii Fit game. Isn't that cool? We took our $30 like giddy little schoolgirls and skipped into the store. Since it was free money, we decided to buy something we wanted but didn't need. But...then we walked by and they had a fun Julius bathing suit in Kayci's size, and since they go so fast, we decided to grab it. And then they had Noble's suits and rash guards out, so we picked that up, too (rash guards sold out FAST last year!). So, not exactly what we'd envisioned but it was fun to have money to play with (we probably wouldn't have ponied up the $30 for bathing suits this week...and regretted it next month when we were ready to buy them and they were gone). Oh, Target. What would we do without you?? You bring us such joy...and great stuff. I've been meaning to talk to you about the dollar spot, though--does it seem like they're paring it waaaaaaaaaaaaay down, or is it just me? Worrisome!

Monday I had a big day--messed up on my schedule and ended up accidentally spending the whole morning at the gym. Long story. But good workouts--all freakin' 3 of them. And yes, I hurt on Tuesday. A lot. It messed up my schedule, since I had to be in Houston that afternoon for a meeting. So anyway, after the marathon morning I ran into WalMart to grab something I needed for dinner...and they were marking down their toy clearance. I was SHOCKED at the stuff they had for $1, $2, $3...suffice to say, Noble's birthday presents are bought...along with every other kid we know for the next year. Seriously--crazy, crazy good deals. I literally had a cart full of stuff and spent just a little more than our monthly gift allotment. (So worth it!) Yesterday we were talking about it at MOPS, and when I went to go get dog food later I ran into a friend of a MOPS friend with a cart full of Hasbro stride to rides...with her Hasbro printable coupons, they were FREE. This is the thing Mom & Dad bought Noble for Christmas last year...it was hard to find and $25 at the time. Crazy, right?? But good for them--the ladies that coupon like that give a LOT of stuff away to charity...it's really a cool thing that they do. I admire them, but I'm not ready to jump on that bandwagon just yet. I think it could be a big time drain...like Facebook, but with free stuff. :)

What else? It's been a good week around here. I only went to Houston TWICE--down from the last few weeks. Kids are awesome, James is a happy boy (he got a new lens this week for his new personal camera, then yesterday his new Mac arrived at work...he is a SERIOUSLY happy boy!). We've been lucky to spend quite a bit of time with friends this week and this weekend we get to go out to the Bogans' for Addie's birthday...looking forward to that. We'll probably post pictures on our family blog, as it's a dress-up Pirates and Princesses party. Kayci can't wait!

Work is going really well; there's lots of cool stuff on the horizon. I have a to-do list a mile long, so hopefully I'll knuckle down and get stuff done today. After yoga. :) Two weeks ago today, James was home with a messed-up back. He's done a lot better since the shots this fall, but he overdid it at the Conference and was paying the price. His doctor recommended yoga, so we tried it...and he loved it! Now, several years ago when Lauren and I went to yoga almost every day he tried it and did NOT love it, but he was such a gym rat back then I think it was just not enough of a workout for him. :) But it was really good for his back, and once he got over the stretching in a room full of people, he enjoyed it, I think. I enjoyed it so much, I walked right out and signed up to join the gym, which I've been considering for...oh, the almost 4 years we've lived here. I just did it--it's time.

I think that's where my "online" time has gone, to the gym. While that's good in a lot of ways, I'll find a balance so I can still blog. I miss it! I find myself driving, writing blog posts in my head that I'll never publish. Do you do that? I even snapped a picture while I was sitting in traffic Wednesday night of the sea of taillights before me. It was beautiful...and frustrating. 3 hour drive home because of the rain and wrecks, can you believe it? I was grateful, though, that I made it home safely and in time for bedtime stories.

Yesterday was MOPS, which is always fun. I baked mini sopapilla cheesecakes which turned out really well (so much for modest--I loved them!). Last night was Kayci's Daisy Girl Scout meeting, and I baked cupcakes and set out frosting and about a bajillion different sprinkles for them. About 30 seconds into the melee, I realized that I'd made a tactical error, and perhaps "make your own pizza" would have been better. The girls were WIRED and loud and crazy...but it was awesome. This may be our only year in Girl Scouts, the way things are going, so my goal is to have fun and make it memorable for the girls. So far, so good, I think.

Today my agenda is report, yoga, personal trainer, laundry, curriculum, report...work, work, and more work. But it's good stuff. I woke up this morning thinking, one more work day then it's the WEEKEND. I'm looking forward to 2 days with James and the kids. I'm not sure what the kids and I are going to do during the SuperBowl...we might hang out with one of the Dude's families. We'll see. Who knows--maybe we'll have a quiet Sunday evening at home!

Alrighty...time to hop in the shower. Yes, I shower BEFORE I go to the gym. You've seen my hair, right? :)

Hope you have a fun Friday!