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Category: Life

2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 1 husband – life isn’t perfect, but it is what we make it

Aaachooooo!

Published by dee on April 15, 2010

IMG_3888Our pear tree in full bloom

While I really, truly, with all my heart, LOVE Spring, my head does not.  Allergies have gotten the best of me over the last couple of weeks.  I’ve been a bit cranky and a lot tired and that combination just isn’t a good one.  I take Zyrtec year-round for allergies which does help, but when Spring really hits it just doesn’t hold up.  My throat gets scratchy, my eyes itch like crazy, and my nose is either running or sneezing 24/7.  Plus, my entire body is just tired from trying to fight it.  Sounds pleasant, doesn’t it?

The really bad part is that allergy season hits hard right around the same time that Hubby’s work picks up for the year.  In his line of work winters are slow and there is little work to be done so he ends up with a lot more free time.  Dinner is usually on the table when I get home with the kids and we have fairly relaxed evenings.  Then, when we finally get a little bit of a heat wave in the Spring, things pick up and he’s suddenly working 11-hour days.  Not only does it wear him out, but it changes our whole evening routine because he gets home later.  I can barely get the kids fed and bathed before it is time for them to go to bed, much less fit in any extras.

The combination of allergy season (for me) and busy work season (for Hubby) can make for a not very pleasant household.  Both of us get a little more snippy with each other and with the kids.  The fun part is that I know it is coming every single year, yet it still seems to take me by surprise.  And every year it takes me a while to figure out why everyone in my house is so darn cranky.  Oh, yeah!

This too shall pass.  I have to get myself back into the summer routine, which includes making sure we have supplies ready for our favorite quick-fix meals (which means I have to get to the grocery store on the weekends) and relaxing a little if the kids don’t quite get to bed on time.  It also means I need to cut Hubby some slack and remind myself that I’m not always the easiest person to live with.

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Sunny Bliss

Published by dee on April 14, 2010

The weather in Kansas City has been just absolutely beautiful over the last few days.  Even with my insane allergies, I can’t help but want to be outside.  The temps have been hovering in the 70-80 range and the sun has been shining.  Flowers are blooming, the grass is getting greener, and it is just beautiful all around.  This is why Spring is my favorite season of the year.  If I weren’t so dang tired from the allergy meds I have to take to survive, I would be so motivated right now.  Weather definitely affects my moods and Spring has always been my time to shine.

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This past weekend I got the opportunity to have my two youngest nephews over to spend the night.  My sister, her husband, and my oldest nephew were headed to Joplin for a school competition Friday night so they dropped the younger boys off on the way.  I got to pretend like I was the mommy for four kids and boy was it a lot of work! Actually it wasn’t so bad. The kids are all so close in age that they pair off and play really well together.

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Saturday morning, after some Wii time and my run, I put them all to work cleaning up the sticks in the yard so Hubby could mow. They did pretty well until they started getting bored (we have a BIG yard!). After that, they played outside for a bit until I suddenly realized they were all getting really cranky and that it was well after lunch time. Oops!

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After lunch, naps, and a little quiet time (where I escaped for a bit to sit on the front porch, paint my toe nails, and read my book) they were all ready to go again. We headed back outside for more play time and Hubby made some snow cones for everyone.

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Then it was time for a little t-ball! I was actually pretty impressed with how well my nephews hit the ball. The only problem was that the four kids fought over the two balls and two bats that we have. Everyone wanted to have their own because apparently sharing just isn’t as much fun.

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After dinner, baths, and tucking everyone in for the night, I was pretty wiped out. Unfortunately, there was still laundry to fold and it really couldn’t be put off since we had a full day coming at us Sunday too. My sister picked her sleeping boys up a little after 10:00 and soon after that I was passed out in my bed.

Even though it exhausted me, I had a lot of fun with the kids.  I really had fun playing outside and enjoying the sunshine. We’re supposed to have sunshine all week and I’m soaking it up!

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Time For Change

Published by dee on April 8, 2010

I’ve been having some thoughts about this little space here on the web.  I’ve been thinking about these things for a while, but haven’t really been able to make any decisions so I haven’t moved forward.  I really want to make some changes but (besides being indecisive) I haven’t had the time to put into it.  However, I’m also really tired of all this stuff bouncing around in my head so I’m putting it out here.  I’d love any feedback/ideas anyone has that they would like to share.

  • I want a new name for my little space on the web.  Voices In My Mind was just something I threw out there because it happened to be in my head at the time I was searching for domain names, but it just isn’t me anymore.  I want something catchy, something that is me – not just some random lyric that I came up with.
  • While I’ve always kept this mainly as a personal/mommy blog, I want to start including more photography/craft type of posts rather than putting them in separate blogs.  I kind of want all of me in one place, if you will.  My recipe blog will stay where it is, but everything else is going to merge together.
  • I need a new design/look.  I like what I have now, but it just all feels a little stale.  Sprucing things up always seems to motivate me again (at least for a while) and I need that right now.  I also want to clean up the sidebars while I’m at it.
  • I’m re-considering the ads on my blog.  I’ve had BlogHer ads for a long time, but I’m not sure how much they actually benefit me.  The small amount of traffic I get from them is nice, but the pennies I make from them don’t necessarily make all of the restrictions worth it.  I’m not really sure yet which way I’m going to go with this, but it is something I’m thinking about.
  • I want to revise all of my categories – consolidating some and expanding others, but the thought of going through and re-categorizing every post kind of makes me sick…and extremely tired.  Not sure if that one will actually happen.

I think that’s it.  As I said, these ideas are still bouncing around but at least this gets them out of my head.  Please feel free to add any input in the comments below.

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Easter Snapshot

Published by dee on April 5, 2010

Easter Morning 2010

We had a really busy and really great Easter with my family.  We colored Easter eggs with all the cousins on Saturday night, then spent Easter Sunday in Sedalia with my Dad and his wife.  After the kids were all worn out from going to church and egg hunting, we took them to the park to wear them out some more.  We finally headed home with some exhausted, sweaty, slightly sunburned kids around 6:00 last night.  They both crashed in the car, and when they woke up in the driveway at home they immediately asked for more candy.

I took about 1,352,458 photos that I still have to sort through, but wanted to share this one.  Even with my girl’s cranky face on, she looks adorable in her Easter dress.  I keep hoping that someday it will get easier to actually get a picture of my kids together with them both smiling but I’m guessing that won’t ever happen.

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Brutal Honesty

Published by dee on March 15, 2010

A while back I decided that I was ready to make some changes in my life.  I’ve made this decision many times, but I start and stop and eventually I completely fail.  For one reason or another, I always find an excuse to stop trying.  It’s too hard.  I’m too stressed.  Life got in the way.  I don’t have time.  I’m the queen of excuses when it comes to these particular goals and quite frankly, I’m just tired of it.  It is time to get serious.  I want to get more fit.  I want to lose some of the weight that I carry around.  I want to be healthier for myself, my kids, and my husband.  I want to be a better version of me.

I wanted to start blogging my progress, but not here.  I was tired of telling everyone about my failures when it comes to fitness, so I did it privately on a separate blog.  I wanted the accountability, but I didn’t want to tell everyone I knew when I failed…again.  Since I started the fitness blog, I’ve started and stopped twice – the first time because my knees were killing me, the second because life events happened that really were out of my control.  But today I started over.  This pretty much sums up what I think about it:

I’m beginning to think that I should plead temporary insanity and call it a day today.  I decided to start the Couch to 5K program and nearly killed myself before 7:00 a.m. this morning.

If you want to read along, you can follow my progress at A Better Version Of Me, my fitness blog.  I don’t plan to say much about it here, but at some point I may decide to import the entries over.  For now I just need to keep that space separated from this space.  I’m trying to be brutally honest about everything over there and sometimes that is harder than others.  This here is my happy place and I want it to stay that way, therefore, the separation.  As I said, if you want to follow along over there, please do.  I can use all of the encouragement I can get!

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