Another year…

Older, hopefully wiser, defiantly happier!

I like to think the older I get the more enlightened I become and with that thought, I thought I needed to look back on my last year and look ahead to my next year.

Things I learned in my 31st year:

Staying home with children, well child, is the defiantly the hardest job EVER, period, the end. But in that same thought, it is priceless.

To do what I want to do and not worry about “what they think.” I have a hard time letting of go of what people think (this isn’t something a lot of people realize about me), but as I become more comfortable with myself and my decisions, I am starting to acquire Eric’s attitude – let it go!

Running a marathon might not ever be in my future. Running more than 6 miles hurts me, I am slow and really, is it worth it for me to try to get faster when I hate every minute of it? NO

Taking my time and actually training “by the book” does pay off. I started off and could barely swim 4 laps and the whole time I thought I was on the verge of drowning and now, I can swim ½ mile without stopping and found my rhythm.

Off my Lifetime List:
Do yoga daily
Swim 20 minutes straight
Swim 30 minutes straight
Take adult only vacation
Start garden – well, not really me, but Eric and that was the plan all along!
Teach Ian how to recycle
Ian in toddler bed
Ian’s room organized
Scrapbook blog (leopardsandlilies.typepad.com) in case you want to look
Etsy business – I got my log in, banner and am setting up shop. I will send out email when all done – hopefully next week.

Here’s to another wonderful year.

Two for One tonight.

First off – HOLY SHEET I DID IT, I DID IT, I. DID. IT!! I swam the full ½ mile in 22 minutes tonight. And before I swam that, I swam an additional 400 meters, so really I swam ¾ mile tonight, all without drowning. But the most amazing thing happened about half way through my 800 (that’s a ½ - which took me a long time to realize!) I got it. It all came together, all the drills I had been doing, all the panic washed away and I got it, I got into a natural rhythm, my breath was normal and I wasn’t about to hyperventilate (which was all too common on my swims). I am on cloud 9. I wasn’t exactly sure I was going to be able to swim the whole ½ without flipping to backstroke or changing strokes, but I did, I did, I DID!!!

Follow Up on HA HA HA post. So, I got home and Eric said, guess who called me tonight? Hell, I don’t know – who? The park dad’s WIFE. WTF?!?! I thought – they aren’t looking for anything “nasty” are they?!?! No, she was calling with a “business opportunity” for us. Is this a circuit they have going, was Eric used – poor guy, his first park pickup turned out not to be out of love but out of scam.

Either way, still funny as all get out to have this happen to my sweet and innocent hubby. Don’t worry sweetie, there will be a true park pickup in your future!

I need a raise!

Seriously, I heard on the radio on my way to pick Ian up from MDO on salary.com, it states the average stay-at-home-mom should make $118K/year. Well, I am not sure I do $118K worth of work a year, but if that would be the average, I am WELL underpaid – I need to talk to HR about this issue!

Ian paid me enough today to last me a good while. The flower pot picture they made at school for mother’s day completely melted my heart and the fact he was SO ready to give it to me made it over the top special. I used to think that all the stuff people kept from their kids was a bunch of crap – well guess what – I don’t think that at all anymore. AND I am thinking I will even be okay this year having Ian help me make and decorate ornaments to go on the Christmas tree. Anyone who knows me well, knows this a BIG deal for me to even throw this out there – I LOVE CHRISTMAS decorations and love them to be perfect but I now see the perfection in imperfection.

Speaking of mother’s day, mom and I went to Norah Jones last weekend at Stubb’s – wonderful show! We had a great time together and I was sad when she left on Sunday. I miss having time with her.

And still on mother’s day, I am SO excited about my mother’s day present. Six months of hot yoga. Yes, you read it correct – I asked for and already got a 6 month pass to hot yoga and I love every sweaty minute of it at 6:00 a.m. I have always known a few things: working out in the morning is best for me but pounding the pavement at 6:00 a.m. doesn’t really agree with my aging body, I need to lift weights but absolutely hate it and yoga calms my mind – which is hard to do. So, this is how I decided on hot yoga, oh and well Laurie told me she started doing it 3 months ago and is now 7 pounds below pre-baby weight – yes, she is a b*tch for this!

I hope everyone has a happy mother's day on Sunday. And remember if you stay at home, tell your employeer you need a raise!