This MUST be some kind of sick joke..

So I don't even make an effort to hide the fact that I have NO work to do anymore at my job. I come here, I play on the Internet and get paid for it. But as my husband says, I have reached the end of the Internet. I am so bored and feel like my "talents" are being wasted here. The problem? Nothing I could get for a new job would pay me as well as I get paid now. In many parts of my life I am feeling stuck and this one is no exception. Don't have funds to go back to school, even if I did not sure what the heck I would do anyway? Can't afford to quit or take a pay cut. So here I am. Trying to keep myself busy with random projects (that are quickly wrapping themselves up) Miserable. Everyone seems to think it's so great. But honestly, it's not. I am tired, burned out and ready for some challenges, which I'm most definitely not getting here.

So what do I do?

And in the meantime, anyone have any great websites to while away the boring hours here?

A post I'm sure ALL moms can relate to.

So lately when I've had to update a profile picture for say, Facebook or other sites I use, I use a picture of Lillian. Until yesterday, when I sorta wanted a picture of myself but low and behold, I did not have one. Not a single one of me, unless Lily was in the picture with me. And don't get me wrong I love my Little monster. But there are times when I want to be Miranda, and not Lillian's Mom. I Love being her mom and would do anything in the world for her, but someday I'll have to be Miranda again and I won't know what the heck to do with myself.

So I had Adam take some pictures of me this morning so I could update with pictures of just myself. And as I edited the photos it came to my attention that I Hated the pics. No, he didn't do anything wrong when taking them, I just don't like them. *sigh* I guess I just can't win.

Anyway, here's a picture of me and the monster together this morning. The last Friday she's going to grandmas and therefore the last Friday I'll get to see her in the morning. So we did a pony this morning and no outfit could be complete without some "lipstick" She carries them everywhere and clearly she wasn't having any of it when I tried to pull her arm down for the picture. So stubborn. Not sure where she gets that from though....

My 15 month old...

Had her very first sleepover.

Can say MANY words now, puppy, daddy, ducky, hi, baby.

Will happily run and give daddy a hug and kiss before bedtime.

Can't go to sleep without having a story read.

Did I mention she has to choose the story.

Her current favorite is Lullabye Little One.

Can drink with a straw and almost prefers it that way.

Is definitely getting the hang of a spoon and fork.

RUNS from you when you are outside cause she likes to be chased.

Would rather be outside than inside.

Refuses to smile at me when I try to take her picture (thus the reason there aren't many pictures lately)

Makes me laugh at LEAST once a day.

Has 8 Teeth!

We made $15 anyway...

So last fall I was walking with Lily a couple streets over from our house and there was a woman outside raking leaves. She seemed normal enough, and most people are drawn to babies and ask questions. But this was no ordinary woman, and no ordinary conversation. I think I said about 3 words to this woman the entire conversation which lasted probably a half hour. In that time I learned about how horrible her neighbors were, where she grew up and where she worked along with a bunch of other stuff I blocked out. I remember distinctly coming home and telling Adam that I would NEVER, EVER be walking down that street again.

Fast Forward to Saturday, This woman stopped by my garage sale. She bought a pair of shoes and walked around in them talking about how wonderful they were and asking me questions about them like they were a new puppy. " how old are they?" "Did she wear them a lot?" and you see, I couldn't answer these questions since there weren't my shoes. Which I did make very very clear to her and she still asked me questions about them. Anyway she walks around the sale talking about how she would buy this and that if she had the space. (cause that's really what I want to hear when I'm trying to get rid of this stuff) FINALLY, she leaves.

Fast Forward to tonight at 7:45, I'm upstairs in bed (Don't judge, I'm old) and the dog starts freaking out barking. Whatever, he doesn't like other dogs. Then I hear Adam come up from the basement and he starts calling for me. THE CRAZY WOMAN CAME BACK. Everything was boxed up, She wanted the smaller TV we were getting rid of. To top it off she brought people with her. So Adam deals with it and he's out there for a while and I eventually wander out there to find these people digging through the goodwill boxes, shopping. SO Bizarre.

I have found my crazy neighbor, have you?

When is she going to say Mommy anyway?

So you show my monster a picture of mommy and daddy together and all she has to say is DADDY. Humph. I get it. I know daddy is easier to say than mommy is and I know that I DO say daddy more than Adam says mommy to her. But still. It's not fair.

All in all the girl says several real words now. Daddy, Puppy, Baby, Ducky, (her own version of Fish), She says Spongebob (BobBob) and generally can get her point across with a good nod, shake of the head or by waving.

She's getting so big. She'll be 15 months tomorrow! I'm thinking some new pics are in order. I think we shall go to the gardens this week (or weekend) and get some fantastic pics of her.

It was the crawfish by the way.

So Adam and I had a much needed vacation from the ordinary. Last weekend we went to Wisconsin Dells. Alone. We had a lot of fun, we left bright and early on Saturday morning (or should I say not so bright since it's still dark at 4AM) We stopped for breakfast on the way and got there about 8:30-9:00. Wandered the shops downtown and had some lunch. Did a few of the little haunted house stuff and the Ripley's museum. We then checked into the hotel and did some more wandering around before we saw the Tommy Bartlett show, which was fantastic! Then had dinner. We ate at a place called Crabby's a seafood buffet. The food was good for the most part, Adam and I both tried some new things. Raw oysters and some sushi rolls and craw fish. I really only liked 1 of the three, Can you guess which one it was?

Then we slept. Still didn't sleep in. Dang it the girl has me programed to be awake before 7 now and I can't seem to get myself to sleep later than that. But we just did breakfast in the hotel and checked the weather a lot since it was raining. Eventually we went out and had some lunch and realized it was clearing up a bit and so we went back to the hotel and got our swim gear and headed to Mt. Olympus. We had a BLAST. That wave pool is pretty awesome along with a ton of other stuff to do there. Adam got quite the sunburn but it was well worth it. Kinda cloudy on a Sunday in the beginning of the off season meant there weren't a million people there. After we left there we hit up the McDonald's (classy right?) And just hung out in the hotel room, eventually swimming at the hotel for a while before calling it a night.

Monday we woke up (of course by 7) and had breakfast in the hotel and then got packed up and headed out. We made one last stop downtown to get something for Lily and for my mom who was watching Lily for us. And then started the drive home. We got home about 3:30 or so and we were so happy to see Lily and of course she was pretty happy to see us too.

Tuesday was Adam's birthday (happy birthday honey!) so I got up and took Lillian to daycare and then stopped and got breakfast at McDonald's and brought it to him. Then we just hung out around the house for the day and I went and got Lily and we just relaxed.

All in all a great vacation but I've said it before and I'll say it again, THEY GO TOO FAST. I'm still not ready to be back at work yet.

I'll probably miss her a little though...

So Adam and I are going on Vacation this weekend. Alone. That means without the baby. I have had several people ask me if I will miss Lily, and to each of them I say, it's only a weekend, but I'll be happy to get home to her. Adam and I are very fortunate that we have parents and friends that are willing to watch Lily for us so that we can get some time to ourselves now and again. My parents take Lily for us one weekend a month so we can have a night to sleep in or go out or just get stuff done around the house without having her following us around screaming by your feet cause she wants you to play with her. And I think I can speak for both of us when I say we can never truly express how blessed we feel that both sets of our parents want to be a part of her life and understand that sometimes as parents, you just plain need a break. (No matter how great your kid is) We are a couple, a team, and it's important for us to spend time alone together, to reconnect and just be together. Sure we may usually end up talking about Lily and wondering what she is doing and hoping she is behaving so that people still want to watch her for us. But we enjoy it.

This weekend is a special treat for us. We are going to Wisconsin Dells. Water park capital of the world! Alone. In a hotel! Which we for sure don't get often. Neither Adam or myself have ever been there so it will be something we can both experience together for the first time. I have no doubt that we will have a blast!

I took the day off work tomorrow so that I could clean and mow the lawn and pack and grocery shop, heck that sounds like way more work than actually going to my job. But Adams parents are watching Lily for us so I'm sorta looking forward to the day to myself to get stuff done at my own pace instead of having to rush around and get it all done during nap time. Then my mom is coming up to watch Lily and the dog for us for the weekend. Adam and I plan to leave at like 4 in the morning on Saturday and we'll be home sometime on Monday! I can't wait!

So a very special thanks to everyone who watches Lily for us. We would truly be insane without you!

I'm sure we're in for it when she's a teenager though.

Sometimes a friend will tell me something like how they had to drive around for 35 minutes to get their baby to sleep. And I catch myself wondering WHY? I mean I know all kids are different but is it more of the parents issues than it is the actual babies/kids. (Hey the theory rings true on Nanny 911) But then I feel bad for thinking that. Cause surely anyone that knows me and Adam knows that we are FAR from perfect and yet, in my honest opinion we have a perfect child. People tell us ALL the time how easy going she is, and how she really just goes with the flow so easily. Sure she had bumps in the road at times, but we NEVER had trouble getting her to sleep or eat, or really anything we wanted her to do. We stuck to a pretty strict schedule of things (for many reasons) and it really seemed to work for us. So then I wonder, will it be this "easy" the next go round? Will our schedule work with another baby that is NOT Lily? Will I end up eating my own words and thought? Will our next baby never sleep and be colicky and cry all the time? I have the hardest time picturing that. Seeing us with anything but a happy baby just like Lily just seems weird and out of place. And I'm sure for all of the thoughts I have about other parents who have 2 year olds that still don't sleep through the night that I'll be just tortured and forced to eat my own thoughts with our next one.

Which then makes me wonder....Do I really want another? Maybe having one is enough for us? But then another part of me knows that I do want another, and maybe even to test my theory about sleep habits and stuff like that. But at the same time I LOVE things the way they are right now and I'm not sure I can even really imagine life with Lily AND another baby.

Oh so many choices to make.

She didn't learn to drive from me.

So I went to pick up the monster from daycare yesterday and they were outside playing. One little girl got out of one of those cars that you sit in and push with your feet. She just left it there and wandered off. Insert my kid holding onto some toys, she promptly went over and put the toys in the drivers seat and proceeded to SMASH the car into things by pushing it from behind.

I'm pretty sure we won't be taking her to anymore demo derby's for a while.

A review, I don't do them often.

So I started The 30 Day Shred last Friday as it's become painfully obvious that just eating right isn't going to work for me if I want the body (and the health too I suppose) that I want. I had heard about this on the Weight Watchers message boards and people gave it great reviews. So I thought I would check it out. I read TONS of reviews on this and all of them gave it fantastic reviews, such as how easy it is to follow, meaning no complicated dance moves for those of us who are not very coordinated to try and figure out. It's short, it takes 20 minutes from start to finish. You can do it in the privacy of your own home. You don't need ANY fancy equipment other than a couple of hand weights (start off small with like 2 pound ones). Now, I really have to say I'm always skeptical with myself about starting a new workout. I get bored easily and worry that I will hate it, or it will hurt or whatever. And I fully admit after I did it that first day I was SORE. But a good kinda sore, the sore that tells you that your muscles are working hard and you are going to be stronger, leaner and meaner for the work you just did. I actually debated skipping the second night to give my muscles a break, but ultimately decided to just go with it and go a little easier where I needed too and I made it thru. It IS easy to follow, the moves are hard physically but you don't have to be coordinated really to work them the proper way. Jillian is great! She explains everything very well and encourages you without putting you down (which is something super important to my sensitive soul) and most importantly she really talks to you in a way that makes you WANT to keep on going when you think you are about to die.

Anyway I just thought I'd post my review of it since there are so many out there and coming from someone that HATES exercise this is a fantastic workout! You get a lot of bang for your 20 minutes.

I'll update with my losses once my 30 days is up, though I fully intend to keep on going beyond that! Tonight will be day 5 and I really anticipate that I'll be just as happy with it on day 55!

I should add it does have 3 levels. Level one is "easy" (if you wanna call it that" and so on. (I'm still on level one)

So go! Get it! If you've been wanting to get fit but don't have a lot of time OR money, this it the DVD for you! (and no, I'm not getting paid for my review, though it would be SUH-WEET if I did. )