little flowers and sunshine...

time for more pics!!!

100...1 hundred...one hundred.

i logged on to Nike+ after my run this morning and this popped up!!!
isn't that a cool little feature! so encouraging that it makes me want to run 100 more!
notice the date is March 30th, so i've actually run a bit more, but still...cool milestone tracking, huh?!

twins...

Your Celebrity Boob Twin:

Scharlett Johansson

Who's Your Celebrity Boob Twin?

and she's FHM's #3!

New pics...just for you.

it's been 15 years...

and i can't recall his name.

i had lunch today with a friend of mine who i hadn't seen in 5 years.
she' married now to a guy who went to school in a small town west of where we live now. and when she told me where he was from my mind went immediately to date i had 15 years ago (1992), because he too attended HS in this small town.
it was the date from hell, really.
the absolute worst date of my entire dating career...it was just the beginning, actually.

he picked me up to take me out and we hadn't really made plans as to what 'out' meant.
so, we decided to go see a movie, he chose "Mo Money". (i said repeatedly that i had no interest in seeing it...i guess he didn't hear me?)
we got to the theater, early. so, to kill 45 minutes! rather than get something to eat (i hadn't eaten) he decided we need to just hang out there at the theater...in the arcade! 45 minutes of me standing waiting while he plays air hockey with some creepy little guys neither of us knew (i didn't care to know). when the show started, he refused to buy concessions...i still hadn't eaten and didn't bring any money with me (lesson learned). i was so not into the film that i fell asleep, right there in my seat. He woke me up when the show was over, and i asked him to take me home. he agreed, reluctantly, and as he drove me home in his old beat up Cutlass, seat almost completely reclined, wrist resting on top of the wheel, 'cause he was cool like that, we almost had a wreck with a car next to us when he just had to express his awesome macho-ness...the guy next to us glanced over as he passed, very casual, everyone does it...well my date threw his hands out at the guy and yelled, 'you want a piece of me?' at the rolled up window!
at this point i just wanted to him to put his hands back on the wheel, and get me home, away from this freak.
i didn't call him back when he asked for a second date.
i ran into him again in 1998...he hadn't changed one bit. he was a car salesman!
(not that there's anything wrong with that, but, well...)

i wish i could remember his name.

TGITh...

i am crazy happy its Thursday...
thursday night for me means
no more work 'til next week,
thursday is my friday.
Grey's and October road are on.
weigh day is tomorrow morning...
{i always weigh on friday
so that i know how bad i'm
allowed to be over the weekend}
time to plan the weekend.
i think, this weekend, we're going
to have some 'do nothing' time.
maybe go to the park,
weather permitting.
a trip to the library.
and i have a late lunch with an old friend
scheduled for tomorrow!
what a perfect way to kick off the weekend!

promises, promises...

i know i shouldn't have, but back at my anniversary i did tell you all that changes were coming where 'myownlifehouse' was concerned...well, no promises, right. i can barely find time to blog and read all of your blogs, much less, change mine. so, i've decided, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." (you are now witness to my most hick-ish blog statement ever.)

so, i hope you like it. 'cause this is what the place will look like for a while to come.
please continue to stop by. i really do enjoy your company.

No worries...

is what he says. but does he even have the slightest idea? a mom with no worries? do they exist?
'he' is my boss, and whenever i started to tell him (yesterday, on what was my first day back at work after five years of being mommy) anything upcoming with my family that i thought he might need to know about that might conflict with me being in the office, "No worries. No worries, take care of the baby." he says.
{even though she's not a baby anymore, he still thinks of her as such since that is how it was when i last worked.}
this was her wishing me luck yesterday morning...or actually just trying to get into the picture that i was taking to document my first day back at work...i do scrapbook, sometimes.
and this is what i came home to in the late afternoon...
to me from E and the girl, they really are too sweet to me sometimes. actual live flowers with two pink balloons that the girl picked out just for me, 'but for her really' she said. one read 'Princess' and the other 'Its a Girl!'. but both were pink; thus the basis of their appeal.

so, i'm back at work, and in with lots of familiar faces and right back into a project that i had worked on when it was just a babe, and oh how its grown!
but, no worries.

i think this may work out for us...with a little help from friends and family. ;)

its official.

i am no longer a SAHM.
i took the job today.
it was an offer i just couldn't refuse.

so, i'll be a part-time Business Systems Analyst
starting monday and will continue to be until the
fall when the girl starts kindergarten, at which
time i will become a full time working mother.

wish me luck.

Different points of view...

one thing i cannot stand is when people act 'entitled'...as though something is owed them for some obscure reason, when in truth they're not at all deserving. i hope that i live and raise my child in a manner that allows the recognition and prevention of such behavior.
lets be realistic...there are few things that anyone is entitled to beyond some basic human rights. one thing that i think most people will agree upon is that we are all entitled to our own opinions. and i just think it awesome that we live in a time when its okay to express yours and make up your own mind.
For instance, i just know that when i read Kelly i'll always get exactly where she stands on something...never any hesitation to tell it exactly how she sees it. and i might not agree, and thats fine. she shared her thoughts, in a further reaching manner, on what Dr. Robin had to say about the whole 'racism and sexism' controversy lately. and she has an interesting view.
and then there's Mitzi, who has her opinion, as well. and i might not agree with everything she says...again, that's fine. this time, though, i think i'm definitely with Mitzi on this one.

and i found this quote that i really liked and i feel happens all too often...

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
~Daniel Patrick Moynihan

new look...

for my front door.
what'dya think?
there were shears up when we bought the place...i should have taken a 'before/after' shot, but i didn't.
i think this is much more 'homie', more my style.

the mix

is the ultimate in snack time cuisine.
this is what i'm munching for lunch today...
totally out of the ordinary for me, but not uncommon for my 5yr old.
when she's in from school she always wants a snack...'can i have a mix?!'
'get a bowl.' is my response if the answer is yes.
she brings her bowl which is always her favorite color of the day, most usually pink, and i begin to make a 'mix'.
a mix is a combination of several ingredients, in almost equal portions totaling about 1 cup, and may include any of the following:
from the carb category...(2 parts)
Cheez-its
Goldfish crackers (not at the same time as cheez-its)
pretzels
rice or corn chex
annie's sourcream & onion bunnies
ritz peanut butter mini's
pizza flavored pretzel combos
cinnamon life cereal
cherrios

from the protein category...(1 part)
peanuts
almonds
pecans
pistachios

and for the sweet category...(1 smaller part)
golden raisins
licorice bites (strawberry)
mini marshmallows
fruit chewies (with a barbie or disney princess likeness)
various dried fruits
plain or peanut M&Ms
depending on the season, the occasional candy (ex: jelly beans or candy corn)
she always asks for more of the sweet, because i never put very much of it.

and while assembling, i never snack. it always looks appealing and most days she gets what i'm in the mood for. so today, with limited options for lunch, i decided i was having a mix.
and it was good.

sad.
that the highlight of my day so far is that i'm allowing myself to eat like a 5yr old.

*Contents of pictured mix: cheez-its, golden raisins, cheddar pretzel pieces, terra stix(seasonal mix of root vegetables, usually taro, sweet potato, and taro colored with beet juice), dry roasted peanuts, plain M&Ms.

what to do...

what would you do...?

in 2002 i had a baby girl.
i worked until i had her, actually 3 months after my maternity leave ended so did my job. i never intended to quit my job to be a SAHM, though my husband wanted me to. i had every intention of staying right where i was for a long time. but layoffs came around and i was downsized...less than five months after having the baby i wished that 'downsizing' was literal, if ya know what i mean ;) anyway, the decision to stay home seemed to be made before i even had time to realize what it meant.
the first six months were the hardest. that is one 'adjustment period' i will never forget.
now, 5 years have passed.
i've settled in.
and the older she gets the more i get to do some things that i want to do.
daytime outings with the girls, shopping, going to the gym; all while she's at pre-k.

one day last week i came in from the gym to hear my husband was just saying goodbye to someone he had been talking to on the phone. when he hung up he came down to tell me that the call had actually been for me and that i should be expecting a call back.
later that afternoon, it came. a call from the company i worked for 5 years ago, wondering if i would be interested in coming back to work.
a manager i had worked a project for remembered me and called to see if i was interested!

what would you do?

Humps...really?

my SIL sent this to me...i just kept thinking, 'Is this for real?'

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1751711

Guest Post...my E

Subject: I hurt my back, so I'm WFH

Saturday I went to a 5 year old's birthday party at X World of Gymnastics. Here is what I learned.

You can play with the other 5 year olds.
Run faster than the other 5 year olds.
Jump higher and further into the foam pit than the other 5 year olds.
Climb the 30 foot rope higher than the other 5 year olds, I made it all the way up.
Do bigger sissy boy moves, as my wife called it while rolling her eyes and making sure none of her friends were looking, off a trampoline than the other 5 year olds.

I had more fun than the 5 year olds.

My age is equal to six and a half 5 year olds, and all six and a half of them have had problems standing, walking and sitting for two days.

So, in the end I learned I am not 5 years old.

E