Monday confessional

The girls are back in town! 

We returned from the coast today after 4 blissful days of crafting and shopping and chick flick watching and talking. 

Oh the talking!

It is what leads to my confession: I stayed up really late every night, and on the final night I stayed up reaaaalllly late. Like possibly, maybe, almost 5:00 am late. 

Yes, I am very tired. And happy to be home with my husband and children again. And not quite ready to accept the fact that my youngest got his hair buzzed off while I was gone. 

Russell the hair clipper maniac strikes again.

So I will recap the weekend tomorrow... and tell you about my AMAZING 90% OFF SHOPPING EXTRAVANANZA! Oh yes, it was THAT exciting.

Good night my friends!

The good, the bad and the ugly

That pretty much sums up my week. Luckily the good has outweighed the bad, and it’s about to get even better!

Today I leave for the coast with four girlfriends for a scrapbooking getaway, and we’re not coming back until Monday! That's right, four GLORIOUS nights without kids or duties, just lots of girl talk, eating, crafting, shopping and relaxing. I CAN. NOT. WAIT.  

Yesterday, while shopping  for food for my family to eat while I’m away (read: frozen pizza, taquitos, pop tarts, and other nutritious snacks), I stopped in at Plato’s Closet and found these adorable puppies for $6.00. They look like new, are purple and have a slight wedge… a winning combination in my mind.

And even after blowing my Weight Watchers points for the second week in a row while out on our date night last weekend, I was still down another pound at weigh-in last night. Sweet! Slow and steady wins the race right?

All of these things lightened my spirits after my hellacious Tuesday in which I discovered our visa debit card had been compromised and someone in South Korea had gone on a shopping spree with it.

And spent $380.00 of our money.

Instead of going to bible study like I’d planned, my day turned into a mess of back and forth trips between the bank, my house and the police station, waiting for call backs and filling out fraud forms. My nerves were frayed and at one point I may have hung up on my husband out of frustration. 

Oh yes, I rise to the occasion and shine under pressure!

And speaking of the ugly, look who continues to get himself into all sorts of trouble!

That would be Covergirl lashblast mascara. I guess I should be grateful he's watched me put it on enough to know that it goes on your face and not all over your body.

I'll tell you what I am grateful for though: GIRL'S TRIP! Restored money! Cash for the outlet mall! A great guy that's staying home with the kids so I can get away! And NEW SHOES! :)

I love to laugh

Which is a good thing since I've been doing it a lot lately. 

- Like on Sunday afternoon when I walked into my kitchen and saw two German shepherd dogs I had never seen before slowly trotting past the window. Interested, I looked out back to where my husband and his best friend David were working on a project to see if they would notice the dogs and start yelling at them to scram. 

Oh they noticed alright, the dogs were headed straight their way. But instead of yelling at them, I watched the guys RUN FOR THE TRUCK AND JUMP UP INTO THE CAB, getting clear out of the way. I busted a gut right there and then in my kitchen. And then opened the window to make sure they could hear me laughing my head off at them. They both grinned sheepishly before climbing back down and watching the dogs continue across our tree field and onto the neighbors property. Best moment of the day. 

- Or yesterday, when Kendall said she wanted to tell me a cool thing she made up about God. It went like this:

G stands for Good to us

O stands for Always there

D stands for Does good

Of course I told her it was lovely. Especially if we prayed to GAD.

- Or last night, when Russ decided to live on the wild side and watch TWO episodes of Monk on Netflix after his basketball practice, explaining that we better start getting the maximum enjoyment out of our new flatscreen as quickly as possible before he starts regretting his purchase.

Oh I really laughed then. In what could possibly be interpreted as an evil "I TOLD you so!" kind of way. Which it totally was. I just love being right :)

Let the record show...

I'm going to tell you something that happened yesterday because I would like it in writing for future reference. 

First off, we have been without a properly working TV for the past couple of months. At first something happened that stopped us from being able to watch regular television, and then a couple of weeks ago the sound went out so we couldn't even watch dvds or Netflix. 

Yesterday Russell had enough. There were important football games going on for goodness sake! After multiple failed attempts to try and fix our set, my FPU loving, budget fanatic husband went against ALL he knows and loves about finances and made a LARGE, SPONTANEOUS purchase on a brand new flat panel LCD TV.

my excited peeps

And this is the important part: I, Mrs. free-spirit spontaneous shopper herself, tried to talk him out of it! Not that I wasn't ready for a TV again myself, I just didn't want any part of the future guilt that may or may not occur when the shiny new TV excitedness wears off.

ALSO: Why is it that we can break all of our self-imposed budget rules for a TV when someone suddenly wants to watch sports, but not for a laptop for a certain someone else who has important blogging business to take care of and doesn't want to get kicked off the computer when her husband wants to look up basketball game results?

HMMM???

I would like to file a complaint please. 

*Russell says my complaint is denied and thanks me for all my help looking up TV's online and giving my opinion on which brand I prefer.*

Alright fine. My opposition to the purchase was brief and gave way to pure joy within moments of the thought of viewing live television once again.

Instead, I would like to file a petition please. Something large and spendy for myself... I'll take either a laptop or a DSLR camera, thank you very much. 

Chop, chop honey! ;)


p.s. In all fairness to my husband, let the record also show that no credit cards were used in the purchase of this item. In addition, I think my hubby is a stud provider for our family and deserves a spiffy TV to watch his games on. Or at least a working TV. But I'm still rooting for that laptop! The end.

Seen and heard

Overheard in the car today:

Dylan (Cooper's friend who came over for the afternoon): Hayden is the BEST FIGHTER IN THE WORLD!
Cooper: Hayden Hernandez, the little one?
Dylan: Yeah him!
Cooper: That's my cousin! I LOVE him! Is he your cousin too?
Dylan: He's part of my family...

This conversation was interesting for the following reasons:
A) Hayden just turned 3 years old. While I've never seen him fight before, based on his age alone I question the validity of Dylan's remark.
B) Hayden is the only person Cooper knows with that name so I'm not sure what "the little one?" comment was about...
C) I also had no idea Cooper's feeling for his cousin were that strong!
D) Dylan and Hayden are in no way related at all.

Too cute.

Caught in the act today:

Blake, stuffing wadded balls of wet toilet paper down the bathroom sink drain, which unfortunately has a removable stopper. Apparently I didn't catch him very early in the act either because the drain pipe was FULL.

Surprised and excited by today:

The news that my husband is taking me out on a late night date tonight after his team's basketball practice. Yessss! I love surprises and I love date nights... well done honey, well done. 


(Edited to add...) 
Frustrated BEYOND BELIEF by today:

The discovery that Blake has locked me out of my bedroom and I have no way to break in. He came asking for "daddy's key" over and over again and after not being able to figure what he was talking about he lead me to my locked door. UGGHH. 

Russ has left for practice already and is expecting me to be ready to go out when he returns later with a babysitter. Well if you consider no makeup, crazy hair, and an old turtleneck and baggy sweatpants "ready", then I'm golden!

DOUBLE UGGHH!

Another list

1. American Idol started last night. And I just found out today. What has happened to me? I used to be "in the know" on these kinds of things! I blame the loss of our TV reception and refusal to get satellite or cable. Thank goodness for Netflix and the promise of 5 more seasons of Monk to watch.

But seriously, if you DVR the show I will accept your weekly invitation over immediately. 

2. My sister started a blog and you need to check it out because A) it's super cute and fun. B) it will make you very, very hungry, and C) I don't want to be alone here in my puddle of drool over her fine dishes. And pots and pans. And adorable babies.

3. And speaking of hunger, I read the last two books in The Hunger Games series in the last two days. Yes, when the mood hits I am quite the voracious reader. I won't say much in case you want to check them out yourselves, except to say that they (mostly the last one) didn't end up being quite what I expected and I agree with my friend Annie L., the first book was definitely the best. 

4. My lovely Grandma in New Zealand writes to ask how I did on Weight Watchers this week... down another pound Grandma, thanks for asking!

5. This text message from my husband made me laugh yesterday: (while at the doctor's waiting for an x-ray) "they're checking to make sure I don't have nimmonia". 

Oh Russell, your spelling errors never cease to crack me up. I made sure to make fun of him in my reply of course. Because he just loves it when I correct him on things like that. 

6. Today I finished calling through 7 printed pages of local businesses, asking for donations for my kid's school benefit auction. Not a fun task you may think but I wasn't a part-time telemarketer during college for nothin! I busted through that list baby!

7. The telemarketing job only lasted 7 months actually. Lord help me, that was MORE than enough. After that I moved on to bigger and better things, working as a customer service rep in a call center. That's right - people had to call ME now!

A 20 year old me on what looks to be the world's most giant cell phone.

8. Alright it wasn't that great either. People can be nasty no matter whom called who. But once I became a supervisor I quite enjoyed myself.

9. Not enough to keep me from quitting once I had my first child however.

10. How did this turn into my work resume? AMERICAN IDOL, PEOPLE. CALL ME.

We came, we saw, we squealed

Alright, maybe it was just me that squealed. But I'm telling you, when the lights went dim and the music started up and groomsmen in tuxedos started a synchronized dance routine to "dynamite", something just came over me and I literally bounced in my seat as I clapped and cheered. 

Wow, that might sound a little creepy. No, I was not at Chip 'n Dales. It was the Portland Bridal Show! 

(Also, I have never been to Chip 'n Dales. Just to be clear.)

My cousin Linley is getting married in July and a group of us girls went with her last Saturday to check everything out and get ideas. 

Helen, Linley, Gretchen, Therese, Vanessa, and Annie waiting in line to get in.

The soon to be mother-in-law Helen, Linley and myself.

Our tickets said no cameras inside but I was not aware of this until we arrived so I hid my camera in my purse and decided to try to stealthily take some shots anyway...

There were tons of gorgeous cakes

and yummy treats to try as well - yay!

We tried out the photobooth (but didn't quite squeeze in enough)

and ooh'd and aahh'd over $5000 dollar dresses.

But the highlight of the day for sure was the fashion show. I seriously didn't want it to end. So. Much. Fun. 

I was not brave enough to attempt pictures during that though, my flash would have been a dead-giveaway.

And let's be honest here, I was too busy cheering to snap photos anyway :)

Monday confessional

If there's one thing our church knows how to do well, it's throw a conference that will get people out of their homes on a weekend night. Free dinner? Check. Free babysitting? Check. Great speaker? Double check. 

Which is what led me to be standing in our church hallway in front of the book table on Saturday night with a plate of salad in one hand, a cup of lemonade in the other, and a dish of cheesecake balanced on my wrist waitress style, perusing the CD selection on my way back to my seat.

Except I guess the cheesecake wasn't that balanced because it slid off my wrist and bounced from the table to my leg to the floor, leaving a trail of strawberry topping and creamy goodness behind as it splattered everywhere. Fantastic! And it was the last piece of strawberry cheesecake too! 

I actually wasn't even that embarrassed, by now I'm quite used to stuff like that happening to me and I mostly just felt bad for the owner of the tablecloth... but it did remind me of one of my most embarrassing moments waitressing:

I was a junior in high school and working at the local Chinese restaurant. It was Valentine's day and we had a packed house. One of my tables held a dating couple from my school, there with the girl's parents. For some reason serving people I knew made me more nervous than serving strangers so I was a little on edge and out to impress.

Which I'm certain I did when I carried out their food with both hands and arms full and subsequently spilled the dish of sweet and sour sauce that was on my wrist ALL DOWN THE BOY'S LEG.

I'm sure it was their most delightful Valentine's day yet!

I, of course, died. 

Dear Keith and Maggie,

I'm sorry for ruining your lovely Valentine's date way back when.

Seeing as that you went on to get married

and have two children however,

I can only assume it didn't ruin anything else. 

Perhaps I even brought you closer through laughter and mockery?

And in fact caused you to realize you loved one another

even when covered

in bright red dipping sauce?

Well if that's the case,

You're welcome my friends! 

Signed, 

No longer in the food industry, thank goodness.

Blog brain

I tried to write a blog past last night and came up with... nothin'. Literally. It's the first time since I started this little ol' blog that I had a real and serious case of BLOG BRAIN. I think it may be from all the late night reading binges that have been going on. 

Oh yes, The Hunger Games is finished already and it took all the self-control I possessed to not download the second book in the series to my kindle and start it immediately, at 11:35 pm last night. Instead I went to bed and this morning I swept, vacuumed and mopped my floors before heading to a lovely brunch at my mother in law's. 

She made me quiche. I looove quiche. My husband hates it and refuses to eat it so I've stopped bothering to make it or buy the delicious two pack from Costco that I gaze at wishfully every time I stroll by the refrigerated case. Because if I buy them or make them I will eat them all by myself and gain 20 pounds. 

Look at me having self-control all over the place!

I wish the same could be applied to my chocolate and dessert loving tendencies, sadly it is not so.

Which makes me wonder what I'm in for tomorrow because I'm headed to the Portland Bridal Show with my cousin Linley and a group of friends and if they have wedding treat samples all over the place, so help me, I'm a goner!

I have no idea if they will or not, I've never been before. But I'm really excited to go because, hellooo, runway fashion show!!! If that doesn't shout out my name I don't know what does. 

That, and "procrastinates cleaning floors until it's embarrassing because she despises mopping".

for your viewing pleasure

I am in the depths of The Hunger Games right now and don't have ONE. SINGLE. MOMENT to write about my very non-consequential day yesterday. 

Except to tell you that I made the error of driving Russell's evil car to Weight Watchers after dark and halfway there the headlights went out while I was going 50 mph. First the darn thing locked me in, now it's just trying to kill me! Thankfully I was still out in the country and there were no cars behind me because I came to a dead-halt in about 2 seconds flat. The lights then came right back on again and I drove 35 mph the rest of the way with no further incident. Unless you count the bad word I may or may not have called the car. 

(In case you are interested, I was down 1.2 lbs at weigh in. Seeing as that I used up all my extra weekly points by Sunday, I consider this to be quite a successful first week.)

Anyway, instead of the lengthy blog post that I can never seem to get away from, please enjoy this piece of adorableness!

This picture of my nephew Elijah makes me smile every time I see it. 

"Elijah, you are so cute Auntie wants to steal you!"

That would be a crime though so I hijacked his picture instead. Off my sister's facebook page, which is why it may be a bit blurry. 

Alright, enough idle chit-chat! Back to my book!

A Letter

Dear husband,

I very much appreciate that you lay out your clothes

in the living room at night

so that you won't wake me when you get up for work

at the crack of early each morning, 

but I'd like to request you don't lay them out quite so...

 

That way, when I walk out to the kitchen at 11:00 pm

without bothering to turn the lights on,

so that I can add something I just remembered we need

to the grocery list,

I won't see them out of the corner of my eye

as I walk back through the living room, 

AND SCREAM AND HAVE A HEART ATTACK.

Thank you for understanding honey,

Love me.

the chair man revealed.

P.S. I think you're cute for laying them out like this. 

BUT STOP.

Monday confessional - a classic sanguine move

The sanguine part of my personality came out yesterday in flying colors.

(Wait... is that how the saying goes? I've been bungling them lately, like the other day when I told my hubby I was ready to sit and relax with him for the evening because I felt like we'd been passing each other like "ships in the wind". Good grief.)

I think I mean came out in full force. Yes. That's what I mean. The sanguine part of my personality came out yesterday IN FULL FORCE.

Saturday night I finally finished the saga that is Francine Rivers two newest novels; "Her Mother's Hope" and "Her Daughter's Dream", on my kindle. And by saga I mean SA-GA. Holy moly! Not so much my faves of hers. 

Anyway, I started to browse the kindle store to find my next potential read and download it myself for the first time, and remembered Jana telling me she was part way through "The Help" and was really enjoying it. I looked it up, and also browsed several other selections suggested by Amazon, downloaded my book in 30 seconds and then went to sleep because it was just a leeeeetle past midnight. Or 1:00 am. 

Yesterday morning at church I was excited to tell Jana I'd downloaded The Help and we chatted about the book for a bit. After my required Sunday afternoon nap I turned on the kindle to start reading, and that's when I remembered that the book I'd downloaded was actually The Hunger Games. NOT The Help. Because it was only $5.00 and I'd heard a lot of my friends really liked the series. 

Who looks up a book online, decides not to get it yet and chooses a completely different one, and then the next morning completely forgets and talks to her friend enthusiastically about the not-purchased book as if she owns it and is excited to start it?!

A sanguine is who. 

Text to Jana: 

So I accidentally TOTALLY lied to you this morning. 

I looked at buying The Help on my kindle 

but actually bought The Hunger Games! 

Oh my gosh, I don't know how

I even got that confused in my head! 

Jana was very gracious and thought it would be easy to mix the two books up when they are both so popular right now. That is a kind friend for you. I'm sure what she was probably thinking was: "You nut".

I know that's what I'm thinking. 

I have no words

Just laughter. 

Cooper showed me this yesterday. He was quite proud of it and laughed out loud at himself while looking over my shoulder as I read it. 

 Okaaay....

Wow. Classic boy if I ever saw it.

Please note the ear wax coming out of the ear, the holes in the teeth, dripping nose, bright red zits, "rosy cheek" (had to ask on that one), and as Cooper pointed out, the tiny speck on the inside corner of the eye - an "eye booger". 

I seriously laughed out loud. A lot. 

And then thought, should I be slightly concerned here??

(Also, as a mother I would like to point out that the part about the cavities is in fact NOT true. Thank you.) 

Some things

1. I am enjoying my new Kindle immensely. I won't mention how late I've been staying up every night reading the new Francine Rivers books my parents loaded on it, let's just say I'm bordering sleep deprivation.

2. My mother emailed me this shot that she took of me opening it on Christmas with the comment that it was quite possibly her favorite picture of 2010.

I don't know that I'd go that far but it does capture the moment perfectly. Not only Dad's satisfaction and my shock but Russell's look of curiosity because he has no clue what the heck it is.

3. Last night I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting since falling off the wagon in November of 2009 and I discovered that I am no longer a seasoned pro... the new program is significantly different. And I'm totally excited about it.

4. One of the things I had to do was purchase a new points calculator because my old one will be useless now, so I had the registration lady show me how to use it, bought one, and then came home only to find two calculators in my purse.  

Darn it all, I accidentally stole something!

5. That will be an embarrassing conversation for me come next meeting.

6. We finally took our Christmas tree down. I always wait until after New Year's but somehow managed to drag it out 5 days longer this year. And it was still a little sad. But it was starting to feel pretty weird.

7. The workout classes at my church started again this week after a 3 week hiatus over the holidays and all I can say is that it might as well have been a 3 month break for all the strength and stamina I retained. Meaning, I feel like JEL-LO.  

8. It was back to the dentist again this morning for another 2+ hour stint and let me just say that if I have to get any more shots in my mouth this year I might just shoot somebody myself. 

Not really. I don't take to violence actually. And I love my dentist, I truly do. 


Just joking Dr. Johnson!


9. I'll tell you something else that's not fun. Scheduling an 8:00 am appointment and waking up to a text from your mother at 7:36 am - saying that she's ready to meet you in 9 minutes to take your toddler when you drop your kids off at school. And all three of your children are still dead asleep. (Please see #1 for this error.)


10. Newsflash: when panic endorphins take over there is no need for coffee... no need at ALL.

What I Wore Wednesday

Well another week has come and gone and look, we're in a new year! 

This is my 25th week of WIWW, and of blogging in general. I briefly considered whether I wanted to continue taking the daily outfit shots or not this year and came to the easy conclusion that YES - I AM SLIGHTLY ADDICTED. 

"Heck No, she won't go!!"

Ahem.  

Thank you Lindsey for continuing as well. Check out The Pleated Poppy for her never-ending cuteness and to see other 'What I Wore' participants every Wednesday. 

Wednesday: mid-week church service
shirt: Ross
jeans: Lauren Conrad - Kohl's
boots: Costco
scarf: gift

Thursday: shopping day

striped top: Kmart
scarf: Ross

skirt: Gap - Goodwill

belt: Goodwill

leggings: Walmart

cardy Uggs: Christmas 

 Friday outfit #1: errands in town

gingham shirt: Old Navy clearance

cardigan: Old Navy - yard sale

belt: rummage sale

jeans: Gap - Goodwill

flats: Old Navy

I told Russell this was my 'English weekender' outfit. He stared at me blankly until I explained that I felt quite preppy and proper and then offered up that he wasn't too sure about the shoes. Pssshhh, boys! 

Friday outfit #2: New Year's Eve party

cardigan: Old Navy

top: Ross

jeans: Gap - Goodwill

bracelet: Walmart
necklace: ?? - had forever

interesting side note: I snuck into my sister-in-law Tricia's bathroom during the party at her house to take my outfit pic. So.. ummm... surprise, Tricia! Your bathtub has now been featured!

Saturday: final family Christmas shin-dig

tunic dress: Charlotte Russe

cardigan: Old Navy - yard sale

brown leggings and boots: Walmart

necklace: Plato's Closet

Sunday: church

dress: Old Navy

cardigan: Old Navy

belt: yard sale

boots and tights: Walmart

and I took this pic solely for my sister-in-law Cara's benefit because 

I was so excited to have PATTERNED TIGHTS! 

Look Cara, PATTERNED TIGHTS! (thought you'd be proud ;)

I will admit, I was feeling pretty snazzy in this outfit so I asked Russ if he would like to take me out to lunch after church so I didn't have to change out of it yet. We enjoyed our Chinese very much, thank you :) 

Tuesday: basketball game
striped tee: Shade
vest: Ross
jeans: Lauren Conrad - Kohl's
belt: Goodwill
same cardy Uggs
earrings: Forever 21

Memory lane

After talking about my Weight Watchers journey yesterday I took a little walk down memory lane, going through old digital photos. 

(This led to hours of looking at my kids when they were just wee little things... so cute.) 

I wish I had better "before" pictures but to be honest, back then I used to delete almost all pictures of myself because I hated how I looked so much. But lookey loo at all the pictures of me after I lost weight! Must have felt pretty good about myself :) 

Seriously though, you are about to see a ton of pictures. 

 

That was the first round of weight loss. Skip forward two years, I've had my third child and am struggling to lose weight again...

So back on the Weight Watchers wagon and this is what happens...

 

I am excited for what is going to happen this year, and I'm going to take monthly pictures to prove it. 

(Although really I already take daily outfit pictures for What I Wore Wednesdays, but I'm not going to count those because I angle myself to look my skinniest. How's that for full disclosure! ;)

The Weight Watchers wagon - my Monday confessional

I've climbed back on folks. Third times a charm. 

I first joined Weight Watchers in February of 2006. I lost 40 pounds in eight months, became a lifetime member, maintained my weight loss for a solid 7 or 8 months, and then got pregnant. 

And gained 45 pounds. Those darn babies!

After having Blake I lost 20 pounds on my own before getting stuck so I joined again at the beginning of 2009, lost the 25 pounds I needed to get back to maintenance, kept it off until Thanksgiving hit and then between turkey day and New Year's Eve I gained 5 pounds. I didn't want to go back to my monthly weigh-in and have to pay (for being more than two pounds over my goal weight) so I skipped until I was back down the 5 pounds, but gained instead. 

And kept on gaining. 

Which brings me to today... 10 pounds short of my original highest weight ever back in 2006 and in full-on panic mode about it. 

When I first joined in 2006 I didn't tell a soul besides my husband because I had no idea if I would be able to stick to it or if it would work. After 12 pounds one person noticed, and by 20 pounds everyone did. Now I know it works, if I will stick to it, but that's the biggest problem... getting back the enthusiasm for the program I had when I first started. So I'm confessing up front...

I'M BACK ON THE WEIGHT LOSS WAGON!

Hello 2011

For the NINTH year in a row we ditched our kids let our kids sleep over at their grandparents and brought in the new year partying with our peeps. 

It's the best party of the year.

If you like to play games that is. Because there are a LOT of games. 

There's also enough food to feed a school bus full of children.

And a little dancing to "Dynamite" blasting from the stereo, at least three times throughout the evening because when Erik likes a song it never gets old.  

Goodbye 2010 - you were wonderful and fun, except for all the dental drama, and most of all you went by very, very fast.

Hello 2011 - I'm hoping you'll bring me a finished add-on and about 30 lbs of weight loss. That's not too much for a girl to ask, right?

Russell suggested we pick two new year's resolutions each and then tell them to each other. I told him he was too late, I'd already picked mine AND his. He didn't really appreciate being told what his resolutions should be so I gave him my top "recommendations" instead. 

I mean come on, who wouldn't want to improve their dirty-laundry-picking-up habits in the new year?

I guess he had loftier ideas of being a better husband/father/servant of God or something like that. Which, okay fine, sound like good goals and all, but I still think my idea was top-notch.

Happy New Year from the Halversons!