Slacker

I haven't had it in me to post lately!  I realized this morning though, that posting may be the exact therapeutic thing to do!  I've been busily prepping a commercial and trying to figure out babysitting, while Syl has been waiting to hear about a job opportunity.  Friday he received an offer from an out of state company!  The problem is that the salary is not where we were hoping it would be- to justify packing up and moving.  The upside is that the company appears to be an appealing culture-one that he would enjoy more than his current employer.  What kind of monetary value do you put on that?
To add insult to injury, things have been disappearing around our house-which is stressful, but easily explained by two busy little ladies...
I feel like I need to juggle so many things and emotions right now--I may just be a sloppy clown at a make-shift parking lot circus!  Here's to finding all the stuff and the right answers!  And to having a successful shoot!  Today, I will purpose to smile!

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A confession of busy-ness

Oh how the last week has flown by!  We went to Stockton (near Sacramento) for a wedding last Saturday and suddenly it's the day before Halloween!  Yikes my pumpkins aren't carved!  At least the candy is bought (and partially eaten, much to my waistlines chagrin!).
The biggest thing to slip through the cracks?  Ahh, that messy house of mine... I grabbed the clutter bull by the horns--he's a strong one--and went through the girls' toys (also #54 on the 101 list)...
Now for the scary part of the confession, here is how it looked when I started:

   I"m hiding under the laptop at this point...

And to make it worse, here is the during:

I feel like a poster child for a TLC intervention cleaning show!

Here are some of the things we are boxing up for a friend that is having a baby: 

Finally, it was clean!  Of course, the girls 'helped' some.  It's not perfect, but every basket is organized & what can I say?  We have a lot of fun at our house.

Happy Weekend and Happy Halloween!  Looking forward to trick-or-treating tomorrow!

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Update on The List!

I've been working at checking numbers off my 101 list!  So let's see--
#95-inspire someone else to create a list--several friends have said they were going to make a list, though I have yet to see one 'officially', so I suppose that one is half-way off.
#85-Cut my hair!  I had almost 15 inches off just about a week ago-check the pics-

Boy Howdy!  It needed a snip snip!  I'm so happy I did it.  The drawback?  My pre-preggo hair was curly and I was hoping the curl would come back into it with the cut, no such luck.

#11-Go on a date night with Syl-what a fun check!  We went to the U2 concert on Tuesday night, it was an awesome show.  We were on the lower level about 20 rows from the stage.  They played for 2 1/2 hours!

Here's a little eye candy from the show...
  

This was the first time Syl had seen them.  I remember the first time I saw them in '92 and we pushed our way all the way to the front and Bono dripped sweat on us!  Ahh, youth...Now I wouldn't even consider standing in line so long and cramming into the space on the floor.  This is my favorite check so far!

Onto the rest of the list!

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Lilly's First Birthday

My littlest baby, Lilly Belle, turned one (yikes!) about 3 weeks ago!  It was an awesome frog party--everyone came to our Lilly Pad for the shin-dig!  Tami Martin of Tami Martin Photography came and took pictures for us!  Does that seem a little yuppie? Maybe...ya know, I don't care, it was awesome to have her there.  Here are some of my faves...

 Here is the table all set for the party

We had bubbles for favors along with their plate and cups.  I made packages of frog and heart crayons for each little guest. And of course, lots of food!

 These are 'toadstools' that I made from marshmallows dipped in candy and topped with M&Ms and decorated with white icingNow these, are 'toadstools' I made from hard-boiled eggs topped with tomatoes and feta cheese!  The hubs helped with these, I would have done them a little different, but they came out really fun! I read about making them on the internet, but can't remember where now.Ahh, cake!  Lilly loved her cake, once Daddy showed her what was going on...Seriously, cannot believe my little one is into her second year of life!  We were so happy to celebrate this special day with so many family and friends! 

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101 things in 1,001 Days!

Here we go!  Some lovely ladies I know, Jaye & Kirstin are doing this list of goals called the Day Zero Project.  They inspired me to start my own list.  Here are the details:


The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific ( ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days? Many people (me included :P) have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. Apparently, the key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities. Hopefully, I won't wait until day 999 for some of them!

And
Now
We 
Have
Drum Roll Please...
The List!
Family

1. Go to park everyday for a week
2. Write a letter to go with the Christmas card
3. Write letters to each kid for when older (0/3)
4. Take the girls to the library twice a month (0/66)
5. Emmy out of diapers
6. Totally diaper free
7. Emmy done with therapies
8. One day a month devoted to Gary (0/33)
9. One day a month devoted to Emmy (0/33)
10. One day a month devoted to Lilly (0/33)
11. Go on a date night with Syl once a month (0/33)
12. Get Syl to go to bed early 5 nights in a row
13. Write kids' birth stories (0/3)
14. Ride bikes as a family at least 6x (0/6)
15. Finish/create baby books (0/3)
16. Organize Syl's family pictures
17. Do the 365-photo-a-day project with pics of the kids (0/365)
18. Get Syl a passport
19. Get the kids passports (0/3)
20. Take the kids fruit or veggie picking

Financial/Giving

21. Make a larger financial contribution to the house
22. Don’t eat out for a month (including quick fixes)
23. Put $10 away for each goal completed (0/101)
24. Pay for the person behind me in the drive thru
25. Have a substantial savings account besides e-fund
26. Tip 100% for excellent service
27. Buy and donate an item to the food bank every week (0/143)
28. Clip coupons
29. Buy a fancy schmancy digital camera
30. Buy a new Mac
31. Adopt an entire family for Christmas (0/2)
32. Give five 'I saw this and thought of you gifts' (0/5)

Travel

33. Take kids to the snow
34. Take kids to the Grand Canyon
35. Take a spontaneous trip in state
36. Take a spontaneous trip out of state
37. Go to zoo lights
38. Feed the giraffes at the zoo with the girls
39. Take a trip out of the country
40. Visit Kelley in CO
41. Build a sandcastle

Organizing/Home

42. Keep house REALLY clean for a week
43. Decide what to do with all leftover wedding stuff
44. Cut down clutter in office by half
45. Completely declutter office
46. Organize all-important papers
47. Get a safe for papers
48. Do legal documents (will, etc)
49. The TV one day a week for a month (0/4)
50. Organize photos
51. Frame wedding pics
52. Create a wedding album
53. For every item of clothing I buy, purge 2
54. Cull girls toys every month (0/33)
55. Turn the computer off every night for a week (0/7)
56. Plant flowers
57. Keep pantry clean for a month
58. Use only reusable grocery bags--REMEMBER to take them to the store!
59. Get the whole family on a chore chart & follow it for 3 months (0/3)

Crafty/Learnin'

60. Learn to decorate a cake
61. Learn to sew
62. Sew an item for each family member (0/5)
63. Hand make some Christmas gifts
64. Take a photography class
65. Learn Photoshop
66. Take pics around town of things that start with A-Z (0/26)
67. Make a blanket
68. Get  or make new blinds/window treatments for all the windows in the house
69. Paint a mural in the girls’ room

Cooking/Entertaining

70. Cook everyday for a week (0/7)
71. Bake a cake for a friend
72. Make a thanksgiving turkey
73. Do a weekly meal plan 5x (0/5)
74. Make homemade bread
75. Have a just because party
76. Host a game night
77. Plan a surprise for someone

Personal

78. Lose 5 lbs
79. Lose 10 lbs
80. Lose all post-wedding weight
81. Go to the gym 3x a week for a month (0/12)
82. Blog about goals
83. Have 25 blog followers (0/25)
84. Take a dance class
85. Cut off my hair!
86. Read a book every month
87. Take a voice lesson
88. Send a postcard to postsecret
89. Paint a canvas
90. Forgive 3 people
91. Edit family movies
92. Say no to something I don't want to do

Misc

93. Take puppets to a new church
94. Write a non-Christmas puppet show
95. Inspire someone else to do their own 101 list
96. Compliment a stranger
97. Compliment a friend
98. Meet more of our neighbors
99. Meet an 'online' friend in person
100. Walk in a charity event
101. Make a new list of 101

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