Got My Motor Runnin’ For a Wild Weekend

Name that song and singer and I’ll….congratulate you!  And think you’re really cool for knowing it! Ha ha!
First off, thanks to the participants of the Vlog link up yesterday, it was so much fun for me and Kadi!  And welcome to my new followers!  Leave me a comment so I can say a proper ‘hello’!
I am so happy, my husband made it back safe and sound from his bridge load rating class (BO-ring!) last night with a Papa Murphy’s pizza in tow for supper (boom!).  Lots of hugging (maybe some kissing) and we are all back together again!  Such a relief, now I don’t have to fight off any boogey men on my own (or the monsters under my bed that, according to Kadi, can eat my toes as I’m getting into bed at night – ha ha, Kadi, loves you!).  We did a lot of laughing, so much so my belly hurt from laughing so much.  Awww, such a good feeling to have him back! 
Yesterday it actually got WARM outside!!! Ok, warm might be an exaggeration, but it was in the mid 50’s and sunny, so it was awesome!  What do you do on the first day it warms up a bit? Go for a walk and bike ride of course!  This top one cracked me up, my little Brenner’s melon is too big and his helmet would barely fit.  Time for a new one!  But look at how sweet he is! Aww!  I’m a pile of mush!

And last night I finally stuffed Easter Eggs for the McGuire Family Egg Hunt Extravaganza.  Ok, I just have to say, if you were a kid this is the family you’d want to be apart of at Easter time.  There are 4 grandkids, and typically around 300 eggs full of sweet and sugary deliciousness for those 4 kids to hunt and find.  Seriously, how ridiculous is that???  And my boys are given 2 Easter baskets full of goodies a piece – one from the grandparents, one from the uncle and aunt.  Here’s my small contribution to the extravaganza.

My husband took today off so we could spend it together since he’s been gone, so we’re off to Menards to buy stuff to start another project around the house.  Then I am meeting a friend for supper (Hey, Jenny, hey!!), which I absolutely canNOT wait for!  She’s a doll, super sweet, pretty, fun and awesome and I love and adore her. We’ll have a great time catching up and giggling.  Saturday is the McGuire Family Egg Hunt Extravaganza, Sunday is Easter mass and dinner for my mom’s side.  That pretty much sums up my weekend in a quick, short sentence.  What are your plans?
Oh, and I am SO sorry for the crazy long vlog yesterday.  I watched it back with my husband last night and he started glazing over around minute 8!!! ha ha, sorry, I got carried away.  Like I told him, by the time I recorded that he’d been gone long enough I was dying to talk to anybody, even a camera!  Thanks again for linking up, welcome to my new friends and HAPPY EASTER!
Erin

Iowa Girls’ Vlog Link Up–Woot!!!

Hey, Birthday Girl, heeeeyyy!!  Yay for Kadi’s birthday!!!  Because of this awesome day we are co-hosting a Vlog Link Up today!  Have fun with it, get crazy, and don’t forget to wish Miss Kadi a Hippity Happy Birthday!

<a href="http://homemadehappenings-erin.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag29/kadimarie28/Iowa-Girls-Button_thumb5_zps17a8b10a.jpg" alt="button" width="350" height="350" /></a>

Here are the questions to answer:
1. What is your biggest regret? 2. Have you ever seen a ghost, alien or angel?  Explain 3. What is 1 thing on your “Must Do Before I Die” list? 4. If you could have lunch with any living celebrity, who would it be and why? What would you talk about? 5. Show us your special/hidden talent. 6. What is your most favorite vacation you’ve ever taken? 7. If you could give the world one piece of advice, what would it be? 8. If you could have a room full of any one thing, what would it be? 9. What do you value most in other people? 10. If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass on to your children, what would it be? 11. What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail? And now, my vlog!  Sorry it’s so long, I was obviously WAAAAYYYY too comfortable in front of the camera! Ha ha!

Happy HAPPY happy HAPPY happy HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS KADI!!!  I hope you have a wonderful day and that The Boy spoils you like crazy!  I’m so glad you’re my friend!  See you at the State Fair!
And I’m going to link up with Trista over at Stewart Street for her fun Accent Vlog Link Up!  Not that I have an accent or anything!  I live in the MidWest, the non-accent part of the country!  Oh, and I think that answer to the rain on the sun question is RAINBOW.  Sorry for the blonde moment, ha ha!

Erin

Wednesday, Ugh!

I’m linking up with Shannon over at Life After I Dew for So What Wednesday.

So what if….

• I have nothing else to talk about today so I am doing another link up
• I have cooked a decent meal since last week, Andy’s been gone all week and I don’t feel like cooking a meal when he’s gone.  Tonight I’ll get back on track
• tonight we have conferences at school and I’m terrified to go in the school for fear of catching Influenza B, the stomach flu or the mystery fever that’s all going around there
• I still cannot catch up on my sleep from the time change that’s happened over 3 weeks ago.  I’m tired, dammit! 
• I didn’t dry my hair this morning, or even put any product in it, and I didn’t put on makeup and I’m sitting here looking like death warmed over

Eek, that all sounds pretty crappy, doesn’t it?  It’s not really that bad, promise!

Don’t forget about the amazing Vlog Link Up tomorrow with me and my gal pal Kadi!  And don’t forget it’s her birthday, so make sure to wish her a happy one!

<a href="http://homemadehappenings-erin.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag29/kadimarie28/Iowa-Girls-Button_thumb5_zps17a8b10a.jpg" alt="button" width="350" height="350" /></a>

1. What is your biggest regret?

2. Have you ever seen a ghost, alien or angel?  Explain

3. What is 1 thing on your “Must Do Before I Die” list?

4. If you could have lunch with any living celebrity, who would it be and why? What would you talk about?

5. Show us your special/hidden talent.

6. What is your most favorite vacation you’ve ever taken?

7. If you could give the world one piece of advice, what would it be?

8. If you could have a room full of any one thing, what would it be?

9. What do you value most in other people?

10. If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass on to your children, what would it be?

11. What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?

 

Have a great Wednesday, see you back here tomorrow!

Erin

Link-ity Links

I’m loving link ups lately, hope you don’t hate me for doing so many.  I actually love it when others link up, some of those are the most fun posts. 

Linking up with the amaze-balls Holly and her protégé Jake. Go get ya some!

1. If calories didn't count, I would eat... donuts, Pagliai’s pizza every single day and non-stop Mt. Dew!

2. On my Prom night.... I went with Andy to both my Jr. and Sr. proms.  Jr. prom I wore a white dress, Sr. prom I wore a navy dress.  We danced, went to after prom and I stayed the night at his parent’s house.  Not very exciting description, I honestly can’t remember it that well.  Andy was fun, the rest must have been boring.

3. When I go to the store, I always buy... whatever is on my list, and then some.  I make a list for every time I go to any store, otherwise I forget something and have to go back which totally stinks.

4. Family functions typically... give me and Andy something to talk about for the ride home and part of the next day.  Regardless of who’s family function we attend, we always have some gossip to share, or have some major 'thing’ to discuss that happened at the function.  My other answer is they make me happy, because I love my extended family and always have a great time with them.

5. I think my blog readers... are awesomely amazing and I wonder what they think of me (weirdo, train wreck, etc)

6. I'd much rather be..... sitting outside in the warm sun then sitting in this house! Where’s Spring??!!??

7. I have an obsession with.... nothing at the moment.  In the past I’ve been obsessed with the Beatles, Matthew McConaughy (sp?), Mt Dew, Whatchamacallit bars and Andy in high school and college.  Now I can’t think of anything I really obsess about.  

8. My work friends.... are awesome, and I miss working with them but am happy we get together once in a while!

9. When I created my Facebook account.... I was scared to death!  I had to be bullied (peer pressure!) into setting it up! And I was so worried I’d not have any friends friend me!

10. My least favorite word is... mole.  I just call them all freckles.  My cousin hates the word ‘moist’ and I use it at every opportunity in front of her! LOL!

11. I really don't remember....  my birth, I was too young to remember that.  Ha ha! But my family gives me a hard time for all of the weird things I do remember from when I was growing up.  My first memory is from when I was 3/4.  I don’t remember things from yesterday very well, now it seems I have a terrible memory.

12. Justin Bieber....is starting to go over the same cliff Brittney Spears did.  Just sayin’.

Fun link up!  Thanks to Holly and Jake for hosting!

Now on to the link up Kadi and I are co-hosting on Thursday. 

This is a vlog link up, but if you don’t like vlogging you can just answer the q’s.  We’ll forgive you! Ha ha!  Here are the q’s if you want to get started today!

1. What is your biggest regret?

2. Have you ever seen a ghost, alien or angel?  Explain

3. What is 1 thing on your “Must Do Before I Die” list?

4. If you could have lunch with any living celebrity, who would it be and why? What would you talk about?

5. Show us your special/hidden talent.

6. What is your most favorite vacation you’ve ever taken?

7. If you could give the world one piece of advice, what would it be?

8. If you could have a room full of any one thing, what would it be?

9. What do you value most in other people?

10. If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass on to your children, what would it be?

11. What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?

 

I hope you all join in on the fun! That’s THIS Thursday a.k.a. Kadi’s birthday, so make sure to send her some birthday love that day, too!!!

Have a great Tuesday!

Erin

Finally Finished!

Hey!  This is my 250th post!  I can’t believe I’ve wrote that many posts!  That’s crazy to me!  And it snuck up on me, was totally surprised when I saw that yesterday!

I had my post baby appointment this morning.  Everything is great, and we got the go ahead to start trying for another baby!  To say I’m not a little (a lot) nervous would be a lie.  I just can’t believe it’s been 6 weeks already since the baby’s been gone.  Most days I am 100% OK, but there are those few days where I think of what I’ve lost, or see a new baby and feel a pang of sorrow, or just get mad for what we’ve had to go through.  Luckily those days, moments, are few and far between.  Luckily I still have Andy and the boys.  Luckily we can try again.

On a much happier note, we sort of finished the closet this weekend!!!  We are 98% done, just have to dab a bit of paint on a few spots and get a cushion made for the bench.  Yay yippee yoo!!  Here are some pics.

I am TOTALLY in love with that green color!!!  Andy was so nice to bow out of the color choosing portion of this project and I of course ran with it!  Green is my all time FAVORITE color and I just love this one!  The baskets we found at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  The hooks I ordered from somewhere online. 

I got my very first Brady Band today in the mail!!! I’m so excited to try it out!  W3D1 of C25K is today, you can bet that beauty will be in my hair!  I’m so excited!

Don’t forget about the amazingly fun link up I’m co-hosting with Kadi over at Sheer Serendipity on Thursday!!! That is, if PhotoBucket can pull their heads out of their behinds and start working!  Ugh, technology is so frustrating sometimes!  I’ve been trying since last night to upload my button to it so I can attach the HTML code thingy.  But of course, it won’t upload!  It sits there and grinds and nothing happens.  I left it ‘uploading’ all morning and still nothing!  So you might get a button, you might not.  Boo!  And if not, that would be too bad b/c I think the one I made is pretty fun!  Anyhoo, come back Thursday for sure to link up vlog style (and if you’re chicken, just blog your answer’s and link up that way!).

Just finished a book last night, it was a western romance set in the late 1800’s and was really good!  Give it a try!  ‘One Wish’ by Linda Lael Miller. 

Nothing too major planned for me this week.  The boys’ conferences are Wednesday evening at school, and no school Thursday and Friday. I need to try to plan something fun for them on one of those days, just to get out of the house.  Then it’s Easter weekend.  We are hosting Andy’s family here Saturday night for supper and an egg hunt, Sunday we go to a nearby small town for dinner (lunch) with my mom’s extended side of the family.  There will be around 75 people there, all family!  I love getting together with the Marie’s (last name!).  How about you? What’s on your schedule this week?

Talk soon!

Erin

It’s Finally Friday!

Good day!  Today I’m vlogging it up, just because. And I’m linking up for Happies and Crappies!  The first video is of my little love bug, Brennan.  Enjoy!

 

 

My pedicure.

Have a great weekend!

Erin

Another Liebster!

Hey, it’s Thursday! One more day to the weekend, woo hoo!

I was nominated for a second Liebster award by the sweet, pretty, kind and awesome Jodi over at Love and Crayons.  We actually nominated each other yesterday, so not ‘tagging back’ and breaking the rules, it just happened to work out that way. So don’t turn us in to the Liebster Police!  I’m just going to answer her q’s today since you saw my bizarre ‘11 things’ yesterday and I don’t need to scare any more of you away than I have already!

1. What’s your #1 most played song on your play list? It’s a tie between JT’s “Suit and Tie” and Olly Murs’ “Troublemaker”  LOVE them both and I crank them up as loud as I can get away with!  Then I belt them out because I can’t NOT sing along with them!
2. If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? Wow, good question!!!  I have never ever thought of this!  Hmm, I’m really digging the name Avery right now, so maybe I’d go with that.
3. What was the last movie that made you cry? Sarah Plain and Tall’s Skylark.  Seriously, just watched it over the weekend and cried my eyes out!  ha ha, lame
4. What is a necessity for you in the morning? Chocolate milk!!!  I should say brushing my teeth, but honestly, if I had to choose one or the other I think I’d go with chocolate milk – sue me!
5. What do you miss most about being a kid? Having no worries!!!  And playing with Barbies.
6. 
7. If you have 30 minutes of free time, what do you do? Read blogs!!!  And if I’m caught up on those, read a book or watch TV.  Sheesh,I need a life!
8. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?  Dance old-style, like a 2 step or s/t cool like that that older couples can do together. 
9. What is your favorite outdoor activity? Gardening
10. What is your favorite type of food? Before I was pregnant I would have said Mexican, but for some reason the baby didn’t like it and now I gag when I think about it.  I think I could get down Carlos O Kelly’s without any major problems but authentic sends me over the edge.  So now I’d say pizza. And I’m not talking about Pizza Hut pizza, I’m talking about those awesome joints that serve their own kind of pizza.  I haven’t found one I don’t like!
11. What is your favorite season? This is one question I can’t answer.  It’s like saying ‘which of your kids do you love more’.  I just can’t choose!  Each season has it’s own amazing qualities that I love.
12. What is the last book you read?  Hmm, what was the name of it?  I don’t remember!  I’m starting ‘One Wish’ by Linda Lael Miller soon, it’s a hand me down from my aunt, we’ll see how good it is. 

Thanks so much, Jodi!  Fun questions!

I had a great time last night getting my pedicure and hanging out with my friend.  We ate at the Olive Garden after and our toes were FA-REEZING!!!  We looked like idiots wearing our flip flops, too!  Kind of like “Yay, it’s the first day of spring and by golly I WILL wear flip flops today!”  It was about 25 degrees out and definitely NOT flip flop weather!  But our toes looked great! Ha ha!

W2D2 of C25K went great yesterday.  I keep feeling stronger as I go, glad I’m sticking to it.  Today is a walking and strength day.

I’ll leave you with this because it made me chuckle this morning. OH, and can anyone tell me how to get one of those gif things on my blog from Tumblr?  Thanks!

See you tomorrow!

Erin

KimmyBows Makes Me Happy!

So if you remember from my earlier post I mentioned how I was a bit down about the lack of weight loss on the scale this morning.  Then at the end I said how a friend and I were going to get pedi’s tonight, so that made me feel a little happier.  And then, when I was reading my blogs today, I saw that Miss Kim over at ‘That’s the Thing About Destiny’ nominated me for the Liebster Award!  That made me feel SUPER happy!  Thanks, girl, for the love! Another reason I love blogging, you girls lift me up!

HERE ARE THE RULES FOR RECEIVING THIS AWARD:

• Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
• Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
• Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
• Go to their page and tell them.
• No tag backs!

My 11 ‘things’

1. Let’s just go balls to the wall and start this off right – Hello, my name is Erin, and I don’t believe dinosaurs ever existed. Ok, lets not get too crazy here, no you’re-stupid-I’m-never-reading-your-blog-again hate mail please.  It just seems so crazy to me that poof, there was the world.  Poof, there were dinosaurs.  Poof, there weren’t dinosaurs.  Poof, there are humans.  My brain doesn’t compute.  The bones, those were manufactured by the people who want you to believe.  Yep, I’m a freak.
2. I am a licensed cosmetologist and I miss being in a salon like crazy!
3. My favorite color is green but I do not own any clothing with green on it.
4. I really like to garden.  I love flowers and wish I could buy them all at the nursery.  And I love going to my veggie garden and picking fresh veggies.  I just wish I had a ‘magazine perfect’ flower bed.  Someday…
5. I was a girl’s basketball cheerleader in high school.  They won the state championship my senior year.  I cried my eyes out when my cheerleading career was over.  My husband (boyfriend at the time) really REALLY liked it when I wore my uniform. Ha ha!
6. I get excited when I see a hummingbird in my yard.  (Yes, I am really 72 years old in spirit!)
7. I am not a daredevil AT ALL, and the thought of bungee jumping scares the heck out of me.  I wish I was more adventurous.
8. One trait I would love to have is the ability to decorate my house really well, which I think would translate to me dressing great, too.
9. If I could live in any decade I would live in the 60’s as a teenager.  I’d rock bell bottoms, flower power, would dance on American Bandstand and would know all the words to all the songs on the radio. OH, and I’d see The Beatles in concert!
10. When I was 15 I had a tumor in the bone of my hip.  It was benign, they removed it and I haven’t had any problems with it since.  But it was super scary.  And about every male doctor-in-training saw my 15 and 16 year old butt.  Better than my 32 yr. old butt, I guess. LOL!
11. I say what I mean, and mean what I say.  If I say something, good or bad to you, I mean it.  Love you!  <--- I meant that!

Here are the lovlies that I am nominating.

1. Jodi @ Love and Crayons
2. Jax @ According to Jax
3. Shelli @ Beauty and the Baseball Coach
4. Becky @ Fitzpatrick Follies
5. Lauren @ Life Happens Plan Accordingly
6. Ang @ Mean Ang
7. Kristen @ My Firefighter Family
8. Kadi @ Sheer Serendipity
9. Nicole @ The Running Kidd
10. Kate @ The Widgeon Nest
11. Keyona @ Skinny And Delicious

And the questions for them to answer.

1. Do you believe dinosaurs existed? Ha ha!
2. What decade do you wish you could live in from the past and why?
3. What is one trend you wish would come back in style?
4. What is the one super power you wish you possessed?
5. What is the one website you MUST visit every day that is not a blog?
6. Would you rather kiss a snake or hold one?
7. Sausage or pepperoni?
8. If you could go somewhere that is tropical, where would you go?
9. Socks or no socks in bed?
10. How many boys/men have you kissed?
11. Who is your celebrity crush, both guy and gal?

And now I will answer the q’s from Miss K.

1. Favorite Movie Quote?  This one stumped me, I’m not one to quote movies very much so nothing is coming to mind.  I fail.
2. Most embarrassing Moment? Being pushed into Steve Brechler’s crotch in the garden when I was in Jr. High.  It still makes me blush!
3. Biggest struggle as a human being? self confidence
4. Favorite Sport team? The Iowa Hawkeyes, duh!
5. favorite exercise? Swimming
6. chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
7. favorite drink? Mt Dew
8. best childhood memory?  So many to choose from, hard to pick.  I guess I’ll choose when my sister and I would take our Barbie’s to the timber where the sheep ran right by our house. We’d use their trails as roads, have the houses be under roots of trees that were buckled up.  It was so fun, even if we were playing in sheep poop!
9. what thumbprint do you hope to leave on this world when you go? Children and grandchildren that are successful in making the world a better place.
10. favorite type of music? Oldies
11. Paper or Plastic? Neither, I have reusable grocery bags

Thanks again, KimmyBows,for making my day!!!  I heart you!

Erin

What I’m Loving Wednesday

Hey there!  How’s your Wednesday going?  Mine is ok, feeling crabby again and a little blue – not a great day on the scale.  Makes me so mad.  My husband has not changed his diet at all, he just started walking on the scale and has lost 4lbs.  I have worked on my diet, walked, ran, did RI30, did strength training here at home and have GAINED .8lbs!  WTF????  Ick, I hate ‘wtf’ but seriously, what is going on here???  All that hard work and I get nothing?  Ok, not nothing.  I can see a small difference in my body, so something is working, but I want that scale to go down!!!!  Just frustrated, sorry for the tantrum.  Moving on.

Linking up today!

What I’m loving today is my new shelves and vinyl wall quote in my bedroom. I have a cousin who’s husband has software and a cutter to make them so you just send him a quote or a picture of one you’ve seen with the font you like and he can do it for you!  So easy and way cheaper than Uppercase Living! If  you’d like his contact info let me know!

The shelves and picture frames are from Hobby Lobby, the little bottle is from my church’s gift shop. 

I’m all hooked up with Bloglovin, so click on the link to the right and follow me on there! 

Have a happy day!

P.S.  My day just got a whole lot better!  I just got asked to go to the big city tonight for pedicures and supper with a friend! Hallelujah!

Erin

FTF

Hey there!  Sorry I’m late in posting today, I had a play date with my husband today!  He needed to take a vacation day or lose it, so I talked him into taking it today since I didn’t have to watch Baby A and both boys were in school.  We had fun, did a little retail therapy, ate lunch (in the car, so wasn’t what we had planned but we weren’t hungry enough for Olive Garden so Panchero’s and Panda Express it was!), goofed off and just enjoyed being together.  Here’s a pic of us eating in the car (already posted on IG, sorry if you’ve seen it already. Follow me at homemadehappenings.)

I’m linking up for First Things First today!

First Ever Blog Post:

My first ever blog post was pretty boring.  It was just an overview about me.  I wanted to have something to do with some of my thoughts since I was a new SAHM.  I freaked my husband out by starting up the blog, he thought I was inviting stalkers into our home so I quit the blog.  Then I started it back up almost 2 years later and THIS was my first post.  Pretty bad, hard to read, boring, etc.  Hopefully I’m better at this now!

First Ever Blog Comment:

I waited for what seemed like FOREVER for my very fist comment on my blog.  It was a bit painful, I felt like I was wasting my time writing posts every day and felt like a big fat failure.  Then, out of nowhere, my first comment!!!  I was so excited, I replied back right away!  The comments slowly started trickling in and now I seem to get at least a few comments every day.  These comments keep me going, without them I would have stopped a long time ago!  Thanks to all who comment! 

First Ever Blog Friend/s:

It is so crazy to me how I have made friends through blogging!  I always wish I had more friends, and some days emails are all I have to keep me in touch with the outside world. Once I started getting brave and commenting on other blogs I started hearing back from those bloggers.  Slowly I made friends with some of them and now I have several blogging friends that I email and communicate with on a daily basis!  My very first blogging friend was Holly.  She helped me with some of my blogging questions and was just a super friendly gal.  And she started commenting on my blog, which made me feel so good.  Now, in about 6 weeks, I get to meet her in person finally!  I am so excited and will probably cry and hug her so hard I crush her tiny body!  Thanks, Holly, for being my first blogging friend!

 

That’s all for now, have a great night!

Erin

I’m Crabby Today

I am so sick of being tired because of this damn time change!  It’s making me crabby!  Anyone else?

We had another great weekend.  I want more!  Why can’t we work 2 days, have 5 off every week?  We went out Saturday night with some good friends and went to a new brewery in the big city.  It was a neat place, we’ll definitely be going back. We got a sampler of 5 of their beers, one tasted like coffee and I thought was TERRIBLE!!!  But it was fun to try some new beers. And being with our friends was so great, we laughed all night long.  I had so much fun that I didn’t even take any pictures!

Sunday we went to my folk’s farm for dinner (lunch) and to see their new baby lambs.  Lambing season is in full swing out there so they had a lot of new babies to see.

My boys and nephew.

The kids had fun playing on the hay in the barn.  The one in the pink coat is my niece.

While there I dropped my camera and broke it.  Ugh!  I am not sure if it can be fixed, but if it can I have no idea where to take it!  I’m going to have to get online today and see what I can find.  Otherwise I’ll be in the market for a new camera.  I want to get a fancy one.  Does anyone have a camera they can suggest?

After the farm we went to our local farm store and looked at the baby chicks and bunnies.  So cute!  Aiden is still talking about how much he wants a bunny today.  Too bad for him it won’t happen! In the summer it wouldn’t be too big of a deal, but the rest of the year it would have to be inside to keep it warm enough and I do NOT want to deal with poop all winter long! 

Speaking of winter, this one is dragging on and on and on!!!  I am so sick of the cold!  Wednesday is the first day of spring and they are calling for a high of 21 degrees!  Seriously!!!  Today it is snowing…again!  Less than an inch forecasted, but it’s already pretty white out there again.  So frustrating! 

Saturday morning I volunteered at our church’s gift shop.  It is run by our church, and yes it does have some religious stuff in there, but mostly it’s your typical gift shop with cute things for decorating your house.  I saw this sign and loved the message so wanted to share it with you all.

Make the most of your day and have a good one!

Erin

Follow Me

 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Jewelry, Concerts and Beds

Good FRIDAY morning!  I am feel extra spunky today so watch out!  Who knows what craziness will fly from my fingers onto this blog today! LOL!

Last night I went to my good friend Jenny’s house for her Lia Sophia party.  I had fun fun FUN!  She had awesome food (have you heard of a Reuben dip?  She found it on Pinterest and holy heck did it taste JUST.LIKE.A.REUBEN! So yummy! Look it up and make it at your next par-tay!), wine, and the consultant kicked butt (i.e. she was lots of fun).  I won the booby door prize because my birthday was closest to the party date (I never win ANYTHING so was super stoked!), so I received a $5 discount on my order.  And here’s what I ordered. 

Aren’t they fun?  They are super light weight and I can wear them with almost anything.  Ree Drummond has a pair very similar and I just LOVE hers and have been jonesing to get myself a pair.  Thanks, Jenny, for hosting, it was a great night  It brought the ‘me’ out of me!  Which explains me being so crazy today!

OMG, so guess which concert I am going to in May!!!  Any guesses?? Come on, don’t be shy, throw the suggestions out there. I’ll wait.

               *******************************************************************

Ok, you’re all wrong!  I am going to see WILSON PHILLIPS in concert!!! Ha ha ha, so not who you expected, right? 

But I am so totally excited I am almost peeing my pants!  I’m going with awesome girls, we’re making a night of it AND its been so long since I’ve been to a concert that I’m giddy with anticipation!  So, what do you wear to a Wilson Phillips concert?  I’m going to bust my album out and listen to it all day!  Oh wait, it’s a cassette tape, not a CD. Shoot, now what to do? YOU TUBE!!!

So I’ve mentioned to some of you before how I don’t tell friends about my blog because it makes me nervous about what they’ll think and I feel like I’d censor myself more and not be myself.  Well, last night a friend who has recently started reading my blog gave me the best compliment about it.  She told me it sounded just like me, like she was standing there talking to me when reading it.  I just couldn’t believe it, it made me feel so good!  And she said she liked it, so that was great to hear, too.  But, it gave me a little bit of courage to share my blog so I think I’m going to branch out, just a little, and share my blog with my closest friends.  Yikes!  BUT!  That means I will NEVER share my weight on here so unfortunately for the rest of you who are dying to know just how overweight I am, sorry I’m not sorry. *insert smiley face*

One more thing.  My dear, sweet, cute, adorable friend Kadi from Sheer Serendipity and I are going to co-host a VLOG link up on Thursday, March 28th.  It’ll be a q & a type link up – we ask the q’s, you answer them!  I’m so excited and we are planning some crazy little q’s for you to answer so be sure to link up with us on the 28th (also Kadi’s BIRTHDAY!!!).  You won’t want to miss it!

Ok, I lied.  I said ‘one more thing’ but I have ONE MORE THING to share.  You all need to go check out my CANADIAN friend (Eh!) Jodi from Love and Crayons.  Some days I think to myself “I should just go on up there to CANADA and put her in my pocket so I can take her out and play with her whenever I want.”  And not in a weird way. What I’m saying is, I really adore Jodi and I think you will too.  I am always so surprised at the friendships I have made through blogging and Jodi is definitely one I call my friend.  AND, how crazy is it that I have a friend from Canada?? I’ve been a bit in love with C for years, since I read Anne of Green Gables as a kid, so to have a friend from there? Amazing!

Oh shoot!  I almost forgot to share pics of the boys in their new beds!!!  Brennan just loves his!  He was so excited that I could lay in bed with him now!  Here they are.

Both comforters I bought at Target, although Aiden’s had his for a few years now so now available anymore.  Just in case you're wondering.

And NOW I’m done.  Happy Friday crazy loves!

Erin

Bloggity Blogs

I’m going to start today by hi-lighting a few bloggers who swapped buttons with me. 

First up, Becky from Fitzpatrick Follies.  I have only known Becky for a few weeks but I already adore her!  I talked about her in last week’s Blogger Crush post.  She blogs about her everyday life of being a mom, working and losing weight.  I just heart this gal! 

Here Comes Another Human is written by Vanessa.  Mom, wife, lover of Christmas!  If you can’t associate with one of those things I’m wondering why you’re reading MY blog! Ha ha!  Vanessa’s a sweetheart, stop by and say hello. (Plus, look at those sweet chubbies on her little gal – adorable!  Baby #2 due this September is sure to be just as sweet!)

The Divine Miss E, need I say more??  Who doesn’t know Erin from She’s A Big Star?  If you don’t, run (not walk) over to her blog and start following her!  I met Erin through Mama Laughlin’s Fit Camp over on Facebook.  Every day I’d see her posting comments and they were all so POSITIVE!  I instantly liked her and felt like I had to get to know her!  So somehow I found her blog and I’ve followed her ever since.  Seriously, folks, she is the MOST positive person I know.  And she co-hosts Weigh In Wednesday, which translates into ‘she’s on a weight loss journey like the rest of us’! 

I hope you check these gals out, they are all wonderful!

Tonight I am heading over to a friend’s house for a Lia Sophia Jewelry party.  Food, friends, fun – need I say more?  I am so excited to see some friends I don’t get to spend enough time with.  But I’m going to have to hurry home because the Hawkeyes play tonight.  The Big 10 Basketball Tournament starts today (yippee!), so I see a lot of basketball viewing in my future!  Its funny how you change your ‘likes’ as you grow.  I never liked basketball growing up, and didn’t even really like it when we first got married.  Now I love watching it, especially when its our beloved Hawkeyes playing!  I do NOT watch NBA, yuck, but college ball I love! So,on that note, GO HAWKS!!!

The baby I watch is wearing her St. Patty’s Day green today and OMG does she look cute!  I just love having her here, she’s 4 months old already and just sweet as pie.  She’s nice and chubby and I just love snuggling with her!  Sorry, no pics, she’s not mine to share.

Did anyone else watch the new Pope being announced yesterday?  Pope Francis I.  I’m excited for this new chapter in the Catholic religion.  But a little bummed out Cardinal Dolan didn’t get voted in, I really like that guy! 

I got my 2 a day workout in yesterday!  W1D2 of C25K was knocked out after I got the boys from school, RI30 I did last night after they were tucked into bed.  I feel pretty good today, not as sore as I expected to be.  I’m hoping to work in 2 workouts again today, but with going to the party tonight I’m not sure how I’m going to work it all in. 

Oh!  One last thing (sheesh, is this the most random post or what?!?), we finished The West Wing Tuesday night, which means we started The X-Files last night!  Uhhh, David Duchovny – soooo hot, want to touch the hiney! (Can you name the movie?)  Andy was not an XF watcher back in the day, but me? I was obsessed!  Loved that show!  So I am excited to watch it again.  I have this weird thing where if I’m scared I can’t have any of my skin showing (except my face), so I was huddling under a blanket when it started.  It wasn’t as scary as I remember it being, it made me giggle more than anything (probably because DD was strolling around there!).  But, it was SO GOOD!!!  Gah, I just love it and love that Andy’s watching it with me!

Okee dokee, I’d better stop this randomness and get moving.  The boys’ new beds are coming today so I need to get their rooms ready.  Yay!

Erin

Wednesday, Enuf Said

Hey there!  Can you believe its Wednesday already?  This week feels like it’s going so slow and at the same time, it’s already Wednesday!

First up, my workout recap.  Last night I pulled out JM and killed the RI30 workout.  I thought I remembered it being harder than this, maybe I actually made it to Level 2 last time and that’s where the difficulty began.  IDK, I will find out next week!  After I kicked butt with that I hopped on the treadmill and walked a sloooow 1 mile.  Not as far as I have been going, but I stuck with my plan for the day, so that is my NSV for Tuesday!  Today’s start is not so good in the eating department.  I have been starving for the last two days and this morning I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore, so I made a big glass of chocolate milk and had 2 pieces of toast for breakfast.  Fail.  But I have the rest of the day to make up for it!  I have MFP to help me get there.  That app seriously helps me, it makes me think twice about what I’m about to put in my mouth.  On the days I use it (I seem to fail on using it on the weekends) I seem to stay within my calorie allotment for the day. 

Thank you to everyone who has swapped buttons with me!  Take a look to the left at the buttons, click on them and give these gals some love!  First up, Mean Ang.  Ok, here’s a secret for you – Mean Ang is NOT mean!!! She’s actually super nice, funny and has a big Italian family, which totally intrigues me.  I should ask her if she has any Guido's (sp??) in her family! Ha!  She is working on getting in shape like so many of us (she is doing Mad Abs March with me and I talked her into trying a Spiderman push up this week, the emails back and forth about that one were hilarious!), and blogs about that, her daily life and her big, crazy Italian family.  This girl HAS to do a vlog soon so I can hear how she talks!  Stop over and say hello!

Life Happens:: Plan Accordingly.  This is Lauren, and she is beautiful!  I’m just going to copy and paste her own description because I just love it!

A 20-something year young Mama. Believer. Book Reader. SunDrop drinker. Sushi eater. Lover of all things that Glitter!

Sundrop drinker!  I die! Glitter? Yes, please! Anyway, I really like her and her blog so go on over and give her some love.

This is Kristen.  Gah, I just adore this girl!  Just take a look at her profile picture and you’ll instantly fall in love with her, something about her eyes!  Anyway, another mom who is working on getting fit (we’re everywhere!), she blogs about working out, her boys and her daily life.  Another great read, she has a great way of speaking through her blog. 

Please check these gals out, they are all awesome!

Well, Lovelies, I have a shit ton of laundry to do so I’d better get my butt moving for the day.  Happy Hump Day!  See you back here tomorrow!

Erin

Jewelry Review & Exercise

Hey there!  Tuesday.  Is there a song about Tuesday?  Monday has a song, Friday has a song, Saturday does, too.  Can’t think of one about Tuesday, though.  Hmm, maybe Holly can come up with one.  * Insert smiley face *

Today I wanted to tell you about some fun and INEXPENSIVE jewelry!  My cousin Shannon sells a jewelry line called Paparazzi Blingz and Thingz.  EVERYTHING IS $5!!!  EVERYTHING!!!  That’s ALL necklaces, ALL earrings, ALL rings, ALL bracelets! 

It is lead and nickel free so it won’t irritate sensitive skin. 

They also have a kid’s line.  Those bracelets are $2, rings and earrings $1.  You can’t beat these prices!  I have loved the pieces I’ve purchased, they look just as good in person as they do online. 

If you’re interested in purchasing some of the jewelry just visit her website. 

www.blingz-and-thingz.com

It will take you to a Facebook page.  Look at her photos and if you’re interested in anything just click on it and write ‘sold’ in the comments.  She’ll contact you from there. Oh, and tell her I said ‘hi!’.  And NO, I’m not getting paid for this review!  Shannon can ship to anywhere in the U.S. and I’m sure for any Canadian readers out there (Hey!!!) she could ship there too! 

---

C25K, W1D1, DONE!  It went great.  It was so much easier running on the treadmill compared to when I started it last Fall outside.  Today I am walking and hitting RI30 with my girl Shelli.  Eek!  That one kicked my butt last year when I tried it.  I’m going to work my way through it this time, though, and in 30 days I will be able to say I finished it!  I’m also kicking butt on the March Abs Madness calendar.  I finally printed it off yesterday so I could ‘X’ out the days when I’m done.  I have changed the side plank to a regular plank because I couldn’t feel anything happening except for my arm wanting to break.  So I killed the plank for 25 seconds yesterday!  When I tried a plank back in November I could barely hold it for 5 seconds, so 25 is a HUGE improvement!  Yay for me! 

Here is the next Pinterest workout I’m going to do.  I’m not sure how or when I’m going to work this in yet.  Maybe on my C25K days I’ll do this, on my walking days I’ll do RI30.  I’ll figure it out as I go.

And some Pinspiration:

Have a great day!

Erin