Return of the slob...

Well it's been almost a year since my last post.  BUT, I have the best excuse on the planet...

Yep, I done went and had a baby!  Squish graced us with her presence in October and will be 4 months old next week.  Hope that's a good enough reason to have neglected this whole blogging thing.  I actually suffered from a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum which resulted in a 24 hour IV I had to carry around with me in a backpack for the first few months.  I had it my last pregnancy with Bug but was even worse with this one.  Thanks goodness it cleared up about halfway through and I was able to have an uneventful rest of my pregnancy and delivery.  This time I've been so lucky to be blessed with a happy, easy-going baby that loves to sleep.  If you had told me after I had my son that those kinds of babies existed I probably would have punched you in your face.



Needless to say, our lives now require even more organization so we don't all descend into utter chaos.  Also, this is the most I've weighed in my entire life.  Stay tuned for a new plan for this here blog and how it's going to get me to the stepford wife I've always known I'm capable of being!

Blurgh...

That the sounds of my brain bubbling out of my ears.  Work has been Cuh-Razy lately!  I can't keep up with the weird.  I got into a rather heated e-mail exchange with someone at our corporate office who has MUCH more power than I do.  But, I knew I was right and I was willing to take a stand.  Guess what?  It totally paid off and they apologized for their aggressive approach.  I love getting results like that. 

Speaking of results...  Tuesday mornings weigh-in?  Same.  I think I'm going to try to eat small snacks through the day because I think maybe I've thrown my metabolize all out of whack with the lack of food.  We'll see if I notice any difference on the scale Monday. 

My house is in shambles, but ya know.. sometimes that happens?  I'm still gearing myself up to start my FlyLady lovin', but I know that unless I'm 100% committed, it ain't gonna work.  I'm getting there though and once things calm down with work I think I'll be ready to dive in.  Hubbs promised that he would do the dishes before I got home from work today so I'm crossing my fingers that a clean sink will greet me this evening.

Hope all of you loverly ladies are doing great.  HAPPY WEEKEND!

The Things Us Gals Do

Yesterday was another boring day at work followed by an equally boring evening.  I love those days!  My life pre-Hubbs was a bit slanted towards the dramatic.  I've always wanted a life lacking drama and now I have it and I love it.  I don't usually expect much of myself on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays and yesterday was no exception.  I commute an hour and a half each way to work on those days so my evenings are spent curled up on the couch rocking and sucking my thumb trying to forget the terrible drivers that torment me three times a week. 

Today was a different story.  Hubbs was actually awake during the daytime hours instead of pulling his normal vampire routine so we ran errands.  We hit up the winter farmer's market here in town and dropped a few bucks.  While Hubbs and Bugga looked at video games, I ran into the nail salon and got my eyebrows waxed.  I love getting that done because it makes me feel like my face is a better canvas to work on now.  After getting home I decided to keep doing those crazy things us girls do to improve our looks and applied a generous amount of Nair to my upper lip.  I'm pretty sure most Stepfords don't sport unruly caterpillars on top of their eyes and mustaches above their collagen-injected lips.  So on my to-do list for next week I've added making a hair appointment and getting a manicure. 

Stepford-ness.. here I come!

And she got up!

Yes, you read that right.  Today I got off the couch!  HALLELUJAH!

I think I've found the key to making the most of my Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Make plans.  Yep, it seems to be that easy.  As long as I have a reason to get up and get going in the morning I remain upright.

Today's excuse was the wonderful Culligan Man who came to install our new water softener.  He was due to arrive between 11a & 1p so I had to get up and get breakfast for everyone (this entails me sitting at the computer eating cereal) and get ready for the day because we had some plans, yo.  My goal was to clean this morning because we had a play date scheduled for the afternoon at our house.  That didn't quite happen.  Hubbs let  me sleep in and by the time I got ready (wet hair, no makeup but clean!) the Culligan Man was ringing our doorbell.  So I figured I would clean while he was doing the install.  No dice.  They had our water shut off most of the time so I just picked up as best I could and resorted to using my Ready Mop instead of the real thing.   And it was fantabulous because snoozing on the couch with the Culligan guy there just wasn't a possibility.  No sooner had he left than our friends arrived and I was busy with that until nearly Bugga's bedtime.  It felt great!  I actually have more energy now (past midnight!) then I have for days.  I guess it is true; laziness totally leads to more laziness. 

Also, hosting play dates at my house means I have to clean.  Public shaming is an excellent motivator.  Anytime I clean Bugga asks who's coming over.  Sad, huh?

Baby steps

Well I was right.  I didn't get much done in the way of cleaning but the meals and laundry have been kept up, at least to my standards.  Damn those standards are low...

Anyho, for dinner last night I fixed potato soup and it was MMMMmmmm good!  The boys inhaled it all.  So now I have a large stock pot on my fantasy wish list so I can start doubling or tripling soup recipes.  I imagine that a good Stepford has a supply of belly warming soup on constant rotation in her fridge.  Yes, please!  Tonight was a smorgasbord of leftovers and sammiches.  WHICH WAS ON THE MENU!  *Fist pump*

As I explained the other day, my parents are coming to stay the night tomorrow night.  Hubs and I are going to see Brad Paisley with my sister and then out for drinks with friends.  The parentals were going to keep the little one at their house (an hour away) but I'm always begging them to come up here and spend time with us, so now they are coming here to watch Bugga and spend time with us Saturday.  The kicker?  We are just now trying to develop some sort of guest bedroom.  We moved into our house in late July and then had our wedding in October.  After that it was a whirlwind of holidays and now we're finally back to focusing on the house. 

So... the guest bedroom.  We have 4 bedrooms on the second floor of our house.  So far we had designated them as Master bedroom, Bugga's bedroom, an office (I work from home 2 days a week) and then decided to use the last one as a playroom until any more "lil C's" decide to make an appearance.  Ideally, what I would like to see happen is to purchase a nice contemporary daybed to put in the office along with a trundle that can be pulled out to make the daybed a nice full size bed for guests.  Well I think we all know that what you want isn't necessarily what you get.  My parents (and us) always stayed with my sister when they come to town but now that we've moved here too my son, who adores his grandparents, always wants them here.  For Christmas they slept on an air matress in our basement and while they didn't complain, I knew I wanted them to be much more comfortable when staying here.  Then lady luck threw a couch with a hide-a-bed our way!  Ok, lady luck was actually my mom's friend, but either way we now have a couch in our office and it is in great condition too.  So tonight Bugga and I went to Walmart (oh I loathe thee) and came home with some goodies for the room.  After we put  down mattress topper on it with t-shirt sheets and a fleece blanket, I may start sleeping in here!  I also got them a nice down throw because my madre always gets cold.  Since I know it will be a few years before I can set everything up the way I truly want it, this a fantastic solution in the meantime. 

The next step will be to go all Stepford and get a nice nightstand all set up with guest amenities in a cute basket.  Oh yeah, and finish unpacking in here and get all our boxes sorted and sell the pile of e-bay stuff in the corner and put up a curtain... AND HAVE YOU SEEN THE CUTE NEW BEDDING??  That's all they're gonna pay attention to... right?

Already?!?

I feel like I just began my search for "perfection" and I'm already sucking at it.  My parents are coming to stay with us Friday night and I just looked around my house and literally had a panic attack.  Woe is me and my ready-to-be-condemned home!  It seems that I can focus on or two areas of improvement and any more than that sends me reeling for the closest bottle of liquor.  (Or Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss as the case may be tonight.) 

Oddly enough I'm doing really well with the menu planning AND executing.  That's a first.  Normally I can plan the hell out of something and then promptly lose all interest in actually making it, you know, HAPPEN!   So I did my meal plan, went to Sam's Club and Wal-mart to secure all needed ingredients, and then (get this) actually have made the planned dinner for the last three nights!  Go me!!  And yes, I feel that this deserves a large pat on the back seeing as how I am one lazy-ass mo'fo' (see also; whole blog for reference).  AND tonights dinner was even healthy.... O.M.G  AND, and... I exercised tonight.  OK, I kicked my 5 year old's ass on Dance Central and Just Dance, but I was moving dammit!

So with the focus on meal planning and execution as well as trying to throw some healthy shit in the mix... my house has fallen into disrepair.  So I'm torn.  Do I a) just focus on keeping up momentum in the aforementioned areas or b) slack back down to mediocre and add household management skills into the ringer?  I'm leaning towards keeping up my good works so far and making them habit before adding in anything else.  I'll have to have an all-night-power-clean before the parentals arrive which will probably shred the last of my sanity... but HEY, dinner will be served!

Two out of three

Well the family room got picked up and I got 2 loads of laundry done (not put away yet cause that would mean finishing something I start).  Unfortunately the dishes were left to continue fighting the good fight until Hubs and I get to them tonight.  So 2 outta 3 ain't bad! 

Tonight's goals:

• Finish meal plan and associated grocery list
• Put away laundry
• Finish 2 loads of laundry and PUT THEM AWAY!

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That's as far as I got with this post yesterday.  I had to run out of work after I realized I was already 10 minutes late starting my commute.  I did manage to relax all night!  Wait, you mean that wasn't on my list of things to do?  Oh well!  Maybe I need to start scheduling that in also. Do Stepfords do that?  Schedule the time needed to just breathe and take in life around you?  Probably not but dammit I NEEDED to watch 'Beauty and the Beast' with Hubs and Bugga.  So there!

Today has gotten off to a rocky start because Bugga decided to sleep in until 10 am.  Since he's my alarm clock that means we all got started a bit late.  We're catching up now.  Just got done throwing a load of laundry in and will put the finishing touches on my grocery list.  I'll try to work on uploading our meal plan for the next 2 weeks so I can keep myself accountable. 

Today we've got a ton of running around to do so I'm hoping tomorrow can be a cleaning day around the house.  Knowing us though we'll get sidetracked by something more fun and I'll spend the week playing catch up and wishing Hubs was home to help.  That's always the hard part.  Wanting to enjoy his time off with him but also making it a productive time.  We're still working on that balance.  Any tips?

While I'm thinking about it

I just threw the whites in the washer and Bugga is putting his toys away in his playroom.  I'm totally going to win this!  And yes, I'm the only one competing in the housekeeping division and probably the only one that cares.  Wait... my boy will probably like wearing underwear to school tomorrow so I bet he's rooting for me.  ANYWHOS!

I sat down here to get a blog fix and wasn't sure which category I should start checking first.  There are so many to choose from and I listed out most of of them in my first post.  It got me thinking about how overwhelming this whole Stepford journey is right now because there really aren't too many areas of my life that don't need to be overhauled.  Hubs would probably disagree because he thinks I'm perfect but I pay him to say that.  So here's my list of very vague life topics that I gots to get goin' on!

• Housekeeping - This includes the cleanliness of the house overall, laundry and dishes.
• Remodeling - We bought a house in July 2010 and still haven't finished upacking, let alone decorated or remodeled.  My butt (fat as it may be) needs to get a move on!
• Organization - With a little one and a big one (I'm talking about my boys!), a house and job, there is alot that goes on in our tiny corner of the world.  I feel like organizing our belongings and planning for things like meals will help organize our schedules by default.
• Weight - This is a big one... both my body and the goal.  This will probably deserve a weekly post dedicated solely to this battle.
• Hobbies - I need to work on getting a life and doing things I enjoy. Two things I'd like to focus on are learning to use my pretty DSLR camera and becoming a crafting fool.

I'm sure I've left things out, but as I said, these are just broad areas to focus on.  What else does a Stepford wife/ mom need to be perfect at?

Hello? Is this thing on?

Hi I'm JC and I'm a slob! 

(Welcome, JC!)

I was reading one of the 105 blogs I follow in my Google reader, sipping my can of pop (Pepsi if you must know!) and munching on some Cool Ranch Doritos when it hit me...

I need to stop being inspired shamed by these people and get the hell off the internet and DO something!

So I decided to start a blog.  I never said my logic made sense...

I am overweight, lazy and borderline depressed with myself.  Not my life, because that's pretty frackin great right now, but with me, myself and I.  I can do better than this. And I know my two favorite guys want better for me too.  So here I am.

I'm mom to a 5 year old boy and newlywed to my awesome-sauce hubby.  We bought a house, moved cities and got married last year.  I don't give details on the first date so you'll have to stick with me to hear how all of that came about.  Needless to say, I spent the rest of 2010 "relaxing" because I "deserved a break" and basically got lost in my couch.  I need accountability folks and this little blog will hopefully provide that.

My goal is to go from super slob to stepford-like mom/wife.  Everyone else seems to have their shit together way better than I do and I want in on the action.  I read cooking blogs, crafting blogs, home remodeling blogs, daily fashion blogs and even shopping blogs.  I bookmark things and think "Gosh, I could totally do that and will when (insert every lazy excuse you can think of)." 

NO MORE peeps!

I'm going to get off my lazy ass, get in shape, do laundry, cook a few meals and maybe even throw in a craft or three.  Also... try to look good while doing it all.

Will this blog be another thing I don't do well?  Probably.  I'm nothing if not consistent in my laziness.