Day 6: Things that Make Me HAPPY!

I am several days behind on the blog. I have to do a blog blitz in order to catch up...so I hope you're ready. Put your reading eyes in, because I'm sure this is the first of several blogs you'll see from me in the next day or two. I'm so far behind that I'm not sure I'm doing the topics in the right order!

Anyway, according to Courtney at Cowboy Cookies, I think today should be about things that make me happy. She did 3 things but I'm going to write about more than that...how many, I don't know. I'll write until I get bored, which will probably be at least 15 minutes after you've gotten tired of reading.

A disclaimer before I start...these are "THINGS" that make me happy.This is not about the people in my life that make me happy, so don't get upset if you don't get to read about my wonderful husband and baby girl. There will be more about them, later. This blog is about the other things that make me happy. The superficial, concrete items that make me smile.

1. Dunkin Donuts Iced Mocha Lattes. Oh, DD...what did I do before you came to Lebanon? How did I exist on McDonald's iced mochas and Starbucks alone? I do my grocery shopping primarily at Publix, with a side of Kroger thrown in for good measure. Both, much to my happiness, are on the DD side of town. After a hard afternoon of grocery shopping and power couponing, it's my treat to myself to have an iced mocha latte. It doesn't matter if it's -20 degrees or 110 degrees...I love the cool, chocolately coffee goodness. Once, when I drove through, Lily was having a total meltdown in the car. I pulled up to the window and said "Someone is mad because they haven't had their coffee today." For a split second, the cashier looked like she wasn't going to give me my coffee. Then there would've been TWO of us in the car, having a meltdown. But, I digress. Dunkin Donuts...how I love thee....

2. Coupons. Who doesn't love saving money? I mean, that's a no brainer. If there's money to be saved, *I* want to be the one saving it. My sister in law started couponing...she carries a big binder filled with baseball card sleeves full of coupons. At first, she was my only coupon mentor. She got me started. Then, as word of ME carrying a big pink binder with baseball card sleeves full of coupons spread, I found out I had more friends than I thought who couponed. Meredith, author of The Woman With You, is also now one of my coupon mentors. Now I can go to the store and know, without a doubt, my grocery bill will be at least half of the total once they're done scanning my coupons. Once, I cut my bill from $157 to $53...I was so happy I danced in the checkout lane. I like the challenge of looking for matchups, the best deals, competitor coupons, etc, and now that I have it down to a science, it doesn't even take that long. My only regret is that I didn't start couponing when Lily was a newborn (or even before she was born) but, as Meredith says, "Be thankful for the deals you got, not the ones you missed."

3. Shoes. Generally, the most impractical, highest heeled, treacherously dangerous shoes you can think of are the ones I gravitate to. Luckily for our bank account (and my ankles), I don't own many of these types of shoes. But I still secretly love them, and if I ever had reasons to be dressed to the nines somewhere that would require no walking whatsoever, I'd have more pairs of them. But, even now, I still have a lot of shoes. Boots, flats, sneakers, moderate heels...I have them. But ask me what I wear, and chances are I will point out about 4 pairs of shoes out of about 40 in my closet. Habits are hard to break.

4. Eye makeup. Over the years, I have dwindled my make up collection down from about a million items down to the necessities plus a lot of different types of eye make up. I like being able to change my whole look by just what color shadow I put on. Changing my look often soothes the Gemini in me.

5. The fact that my Grammy arrived here, in TN, today, and plans to stay until after Lily's first birthday (which is in a month and a few days...*gasp*) makes me very happy. I love that Lily is able to spend time with her great grandmother. My grandmother is the only great grandparent on both sides that Lily has so it's really wonderful for us all to spend time together. It's a great thing to have 4 generation of women together.

6. Thirty-One stuff. Until my friend Shelley and I had our party, the only Thirty One item I owned was a lunch tote. Now I have an assortment of stuff, and I just love it! I love being able to be organized, yet stylish! It makes being organized, cleaning and straightening up, more bearable, when you can put items away in cute things instead of boring plastic totes and stuff like that. I guess I could expand this to not only include Thirty-One products but any kind of cute, practical organizational item-- baskets, bags, hooks, whatever. If you know where I can find any, please let me know.

That's all I think I'll bore you with in this entry. Until next time...

Not sure where I'm going with today...

Hello readers...if there are any...

Today is supposed to be "Day 5: Siblings"...but I'm an only child. So, what to write about? First, I thought I could write about my siblings-in-law. They're wonderful, and I'm certain I could write a blog about them, but it wouldn't really be the introspective post that kind of follows the pattern of the others so far, because I really haven't had them in my life that long. We have great memories already, but not the kind that blood siblings would have.

So then, I had an idea to write about my best friends, because they're the closest things I have to siblings. There are only a few of them, and they've all been around for important events so I'd definitely have things to write about. But, then I got to thinking that I have other, not-as-close but still amazing people in my life that deserve to be written about, too. And there are a lot of them, and that might take a long time. And what if I left someone out accidentally? Then I'd feel like a big, fat jerk, and who wants to feel that way?

Next, I thought I could write about Lily. She is definitely a topic I'm not short on words to write about. After all, she was the reason I started this blog last June. I started thinking that I talk about her a lot already, and I'm sure there will be another post sometime in the next 30 days that will be better suited to talk about her.

Then came couponing, particularly after my awesome trip to Publix today. 10 jars of Beech Nut baby food, 210 Pampers wipes refill pack, 72 Pampers wipes container, 72 Huggies wipes container, 36 pack of Huggies size 3 diapers, 80 pack of Pampers size 3 diapers, 2 bottles of Infant's advil, hand sanitizer, cocoa butter lotion, rubbing alcohol, 2 large coffeemate coffee creamers, a 1.37lb container of Similac infant formula, and a 1.37lb container of Similac Grow and Go 9-36 month formula...all for $53.76...for those of you who might have been trying to figure all this up in your head...my total before coupons was over $157, so that's a savings of $104!! So yea, I could definitely write some tips and tricks. But I kind of want to save that for another time.

So what to write about? I'm incredibly sleep deprived (for the record, Lily STILL hasn't cut that tooth, and last night was so bad JP had to come home from work early just to help me, and I still only got 2 hours of sleep), and have a laundry list of things that I could be doing (including, well, laundry) instead of blogging but yet, here I sit. I think I'll fill you fine people in on some of my short term goals.

1. I want to learn to garden. Not flowers and pretty things, but fruits and vegetables. My dad puts out a giant garden every year, and he always just asks us what we'd like and he plants it. In my ever on-going quest to become more "handy" and self sufficient, I've decided I want my OWN garden. Now, this won't stop me from taking a share of seeds to my dad, just in case I have a purple thumb instead of a green one (a girl needs her vegetables and fruits regardless of gardening ability), but I want to try it on my own. So over the next few weeks, my dad will be helping JP and I mark off a spot in our yard. There, we're going to build a boxed area where my garden will be. I've also decided I'm going to plant a grape vine by our fence, along with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. The garden itself will contain: cantaloupe, watermelon, green beans, peppers (green and some colored ones), onions, tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, squash, and cucumbers.

2. Hand in hand with the garden...I want to learn how to can and preserve. I have two friends who can. One does more vegetables and the other makes her own jams, salsas, and tomato sauces. I'm hoping to learn as much as I can from them, and an old book I found at my mom's, so I can start providing my family with fresh vegetables and a more organic array of food. Aside from being homegrown and healthier, it will help us save even more on our grocery bills. We eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, and let's face it, that (along with good meat) can get expensive. And no one makes coupons for fresh stuff.

3. I want to learn to run, and not only just be able to say "Yes, I can run without looking like a duck with two left feet". I want to run a 5k sometime in the fall, and half marathon by next year. These are VERY lofty goals for someone as uncoordinated and non-athletic as myself. But I want to do it.

I really want my family to be healthy and active, and I think I need to start making these changes for myself so everyone else will just follow suit. I want to raise Lily as an active, healthy child who won't refuse to eat anything but McDonald's. I want her to look at her parents and see that we're not couch potatoes who weigh 2308940239502 lbs. Not only that, but I also want to show her the value of hard work and budgeting. I don't want to just GIVE her anything she wants. Don't get me wrong. I want to be sure that we have the money to provide her ANYTHING, but I don't want to teach her to be spoiled and entitled. I want her to see that hard work pays off. I want her to learn the value of a dollar, so when she wants us to buy her things, she knows how hard we've worked for it.

I think I've rambled on enough. I don't know if anyone even reads this, but it's nice to write this all down. I wonder what I will think when I look back on this in a year or two or five?

Day 4: My Parents

So, I'm back. This should really be day 5, but I took the day off yesterday. Lily is teething and it's torture for her, so by proxy, it's torture for me, too. Sheer exhaustion prevented me from writing yesterday. It threatened today, but right now, she is calm, watching Ni Hao, KaiLan (after a healthy dose of motrin and orajel), and I was already on the computer super couponing (another blog entirely), so I thought now was the time.

Thirty minutes and not one, but THREE password resets later (have I mentioned I'm exhausted?), I bring you to this blog, about my mom and dad.

I don't really know, nor care to know, my real dad. The only thing he ever did worth mentioning was providing half of the chromosomes needed to form me. After that point, to say he was a dead beat is being nice. Luckily...Thankfully...God sent my mother a truly wonderful man, who was not afraid to date and consequently marry, a woman with a toddler. In fact, she brought me with her on their first date (he snuck me chocolate...I knew he was a keeper). They married when I was 3, and he legally adopted me practically the second my real dad signed away his parental rights (which I guess, is the only OTHER thing he did that is worth mentioning). As far as I'm concerned, the second he married my mom was when he became my dad.

My mom and dad were married in 1986, so I was adopted by him in 1987. In 1992, we left Baltimore, MD and moved to Lebanon, TN. Most of my dad's family was here, then, and for my mom and I, it was the first time to meet some of them. They moved here for the good of our family, which was me, the two of them, my dog Lacey and a turtle that I found about a week before we moved.

One thing you need to know about my mom and dad is that they are complete opposites. They always have been, and watching them interact is hilarious. There are a lot of "yes dears" coming from my dad. My mom and dad always worked hard, and sometimes we didn't have much, but they always loved me and gave me everything they possibly could.

My dad was always the stern, strict one in the house. The one who took away my favorite toys when I was bad, or made me sit at the dinner table until I cleaned my plate. My mom was always the one with the temper but no follow through. I told you they were opposites. As a result, growing up, I always talked to my mom more. About 5 years ago, my dad gave his life over to Christ, and really transformed into someone I would've loved to have met sooner. We are closer than ever, and I've learned a lot from just hanging out talking to him.

I am 27 years old, and am now as much of a Daddy's girl as I was when I was 4.

My parents are awesome, and have helped JP and I out so much. My mom watches Lily every day, and if she goes more than a day or two without seeing her, she'll stop by our house. I have never seen my dad more in love with anyone than he is with his granddaughter. He'd buy her the whole world if he could. She had her own room at their house, exploding with toys, before she was even born. Both of my parents would do anything for my family, and they're a phone call away for anything all the time, which is an amazing blessing. Not everyone has parents that they get along with, or even two parents to look up to, but I'm thankful to say that I have both of those things!

Day 3: My First Love

I'm back for Day 3. It's 7:30 in the morning and I've been awake for somewhere around an hour. My little cuddle bug is sitting in her swing watching Pinky Dinky Doo and talking to Pinky. Today's word of the day on Pinky Dinky Doo, if you're interested, is "random". By the time Lily can really talk, she's going to have a wonderful vocabulary, because "random" is the smallest, shortest word I've heard them highlight on this show.

But, I digress. This blog is not titled "Day 3: What Lily watches on TV at 7:30 am".

This blog, much to my chagrin, is entitled "Day 3: First love..." This should be full of a lot of introspection.

I think everyone's first love is their mom and dad, and family. It has to be, because they're who the hospital entrusts with your well being. They cuddle you, feed you, change you, bathe you, let you spit up on them...that's love, right? I have a great family and I've NEVER felt un-loved. We may not have had tons of money, and I may not have been spoiled, but I was for sure loved. And still am. I'd show you a lovely picture of a four year old me, with my mom and dad, but it's too early for me to go digging for it. Maybe in another blog.

I know, you're all reading this thinking to yourself "Of course we know her parents love her and she loves them. But that's not what I want to read! I want to know about her first loooooove!"

I thought about what I would write here for a few days, even before I officially started the challenge, after reading a few others. Honestly and truly, at the end of the day, my first TRUE love...the kind that knocks your socks off, the kind that makes everything you ever thought might have possibly been love before fade into the darkness in comparison...the kind that makes you want to go to the end of the earth or even to the moon and back...was JP.

See, I've always labored under the idea that if I have to think about whether or not I'm in love with someone, then I'm not. I dated...and dated and dated...some I just went out with once or twice. Some were a few weeks, some were a few months, and some were even off and on for a few years. But I wasn't ever in LOVE with any of them, and I knew that. Pretty sure they did, too, which explains a lot of problems we had. Did some of those guys hurt me? Absolutely. Did it feel like my heart was broken? At the time, yes. But, recovery happens fast when your heart really isn't cracked into a million pieces and you suck it up and get over it. When I look back on certain situations, I realize 100% that it wasn't anything REAL.

But one thing I do have to say for all of those experiences...they all made me realize what I wanted in a spouse. I was able to figure out yes, I like this characteristic. No, I don't like this one. All of the tumultuous experiences I had were all for a reason..so I would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, when God put the right person in my life.

I mentioned in one of the blogs yesterday...from the first time I saw JP, I knew I was going to marry him. I don't know how. I just did. (Kind of like how I knew Lily was a girl from the second the shock of a "PREGNANT" popped up on the test strip. I don't know how I knew that. I just did.) Of course, it was a few years before we even met, but the rest is history.

If you asked me to explain what love is, and how I know that is what I feel for him...I probably couldn't. I joke around and say things to him like "You just farted in bed and tried to pull the covers over my head, and all I did was laugh. That's love." or "I let you have an entire room of the house for your guns, Star Wars stuff, and cop stuff. That's GOT to be love, right?" He really is my perfect match, because even though he can annoy the crap out of me, at the end of the day, I can't imagine myself with anyone else. I can lay my head on his shoulder and all is right with
the world. Love isn't always sunshine, roses, and candle lit dinners. Love is 2:58 in the afternoon, hanging out on the couch finishing up Season 3 of your favorite TV show in your pajamas. Love is everything that makes the daily grind worth it.

Another, different type of "first" love happened at the hospital, April 9, 2010, at 3:30 in the afternoon. That was when Dr. Deppen handed me my few seconds old, blood and goo covered newborn daughter. I honestly thought my heart was going to explode in my chest at the amount of love I felt for her, and for JP, in that minute. She was (and still is) the most perfect thing I've ever seen in my life. The love that I felt then (and still feel, now) is so overpowering and overwhelming sometimes that it's hard to imagine that I even deserve it. When Lily came, the love that I had for JP expanded and changed ten fold. Looking down at Lily, knowing that we created her with love (whether we realized we were creating her or not!), and knowing that there is a little person that is a perfect mix of the two of us running around the world now, just deepened and intensified everything. Grown-up love became GROWN UP love.

And yet another, totally different kind of true love is the love between best friends. I have one best friend that has been in my life since I was 12. She knows who she is (and most of you do, too). A best friend that you can talk for hours to about nothing...someone who will listen to you complain and cry and whine about things that were, for all intents and purposes, your own fault and never once judge you for them...someone who is there for you unconditionally because they WANT to be...and you are all those things for them. That is love. When my best friend and I went our separate ways for a few years, largely due to my own selfish, stupid choices, I was literally heartbroken. I cried harder, and mourned the loss of that friendship more than I'd ever mourned the loss of any one other than my grandfather (Poppy). Once I grew up, thankfully, we were able to repair the pieces...that's also love.

So, I had to stop writing this blog in order to get us to Me-Maw's on time, and, after probably one of the worst days I've had in a LONG time, I'm back to writing about love. It's now 8:54 pm. More than 12 hours have passed and I'm still trying to figure out what to write about my first love.

What, or who could I say was my first love? The thing about love (and hate) is that we use it so...freely. "I LOVE this song" or "I love breakfast in bed" or "I love Gwen Stefani's new outfit". But that's far from actual love. It's more like, well, like...a whole, whole lot. That brings me back to the beginning, where I talked about the people I dated before JP. All of them...every single one...fell into the "like" category. Some of them I liked a whole, whole lot. But I never truly LOVED until him.

Ok so I did Day 1 and Day 2 backwards...so here you go, both in the same day now.

So I got a little ahead of myself. I told you what my blog name meant before I told you who *I* was. I guess I figure you all know me, so what is there to tell? But, here's a recap:

My name is Amy. I was born June 9, 1983 at some little hospital in Dundalk, MD (the hospital closed a little while after I was born after a bunch of newborns died of dysintery). My mom and dad didn't stay married long and when I was 3, my mom married my step dad. He legally adopted me and he is, as far as I'm concerned, my ONLY dad. I'm an only child. I met JP a LONG time ago...7 years this Sept...and we made it all legal on June 2, 2007. JP is everything I could have ever asked for in a spouse, and more. God really knew what he was doing when we randomly met at a friend's house. (An aside to this story: I used to work at Captain D's when I was in college, and JP used to come in to eat. I thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and proclaimed loudly to anyone who would listen that I was going to marry him. However, I was completely terrified to actually TALK to him. So much so that I ran and hid from him when he came in so I wouldn't even have to say hi. It took a shot of tequila and a dare from one of my best friends to speak to him when he showed up at a get together at her house. Best thing I've ever done, hands down.)

Lily Katherine, our first child, was born on April 9, 2010. Not only was she completely unplanned, but she came 4 weeks ahead of schedule...4 days after JP's birthday. I told him she must have wanted some left over birthday cake. Lily and JP are my whole world...and I'm not ashamed one bit to say that. Lily changed my whole world, and being her Mommy is the greatest thing I'll ever do.

Let's see...I have lived in TN since I was 10, so that'll be 18 years this summer. Since it's more than half my life, I'd like to think I'm no longer a yankee, but I understand this is still up for debate. I'm allergic to darn near everything...including chocolate (it doesn't stop me from eating it, however). I love to read, I can paint, I'm a Gemini...long walks on the beach, blah blah blah....

Still reading? I sure hope so.

Anyway, this is me:
(and JP, of course)

(and this is Lily and I...I know, she's so much cuter...)

I have a wonderful family, fantastic friends, and I've been blessed with awesome in-law family. Who could ask for more? I have a job that I can't really complain about with a great company. I wake up everyday and have long lists of things to be thankful for...I am truly blessed.

Now, according to the challenge, you get to read 15 Fun and Interesting (or boring and nonsequential) facts about me.

1. I love turtles. Not as much as this little boy, clearly, but I do love them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNry4PE93Y

2. I am an AVID couponer. I could seriously write a whole blog about just that. I get so excited when I save a bunch of money using coupons, that even the check out people at the stores are excited.

3. When I had my allergy test done, I joked with the allergist that I bet I'd be allergic to my three favorite things: chocolate, milk, and dogs. Guess what? I am. Oh well, that's what allergy shots are for, because I'm not giving up chocolate, milk, or my dogs, or any combination therein. Who's laughing now, allergies?!

4. I'm not athletic, but after having a baby and having all the fast food I ate in college catch up to me (all at once, I think), I'm going to attempt to learn to run. You see, I run sort of like a blind penguin right now, so I have a long road. But, I'm shooting for Sherry's Run in the fall, and to lose approximately 209250890349 lbs. Well, maybe not that much.

5. I hate math, yet I am a teller at a bank, and I have worked at the bank longer than any other job in my adult life. You figure it out.

6. I blame #5 on the fact that I'm a Gemini and I have the whole duplicity thing going on. This is also why I love something one day and hate it the next (the weather, my hair, the color purple...whatever), and I live in a constant state of organized chaos. It's ok, though, because if you don't love me today, you probably will tomorrow.

7. I hate, loathe, and despise the following: cottage cheese, tomatoes, peaches, okra, grits, and peas. I try them all every few years to see if I may have grown to like them, or imagined that I don't...yea, I still hate them.

8. I may or may not be allergic to Penicillin. As far back as I can remember, my mother has told doctors that I'm allergic to penicillin, and she knows this because I had a terrible reaction to it. So, whenever I get REALLY sick, doctors have the worst time in the world finding meds for me. But, the last time I got sick, my mom said "Why didn't they give you Penicillin? Why don't you ever get Penicillin?" and now claims that I'm NOT allergic to, nor have I ever had any kind of reaction to, penicillin. So now, I beg the question...Do I attempt to take penicillin at some point and risk some kind of awful, excruciating reaction or not?

9. I love Farmville on Facebook. I know. Lame. But for some reason, my little farm is my form of relaxation. JP has paintball, guns, Playstation, Xbox 360...Lily has Yo Gabba Gabba...I have Farmville. Shut it.

10. I have to have at least one glass of milk everyday. When I was pregnant, I drank about a gallon every 2 days. That's a lot of milk over the 36 weeks I was pregnant.

11. I love music. There is just something about immersing yourself in a good song and feeling the lyrics and music deep down in your soul. My love for music doesn't stop me, though, from having a few guilty pleasures (and I mean guilty): Lady GaGa, Britney Spears, and the Black Eyed Peas. I know. I know. I promise I really do love some good music. I think that's another blog, though, so I'll save it.

12. It's harder than I thought coming up with things about me. Does this mean I'm as boring as I think I am? At least I can't see you all shaking your heads yes.

13. I am a Dave Ramsey convert. JP and I did Financial Peace University and we're about to actually start doing the 12 wk program again. We should be debt free, except for our mortgage, by October.

14. I love dogs and babies. If I had an unlimited income, didn't hate cleaning up dog hair so much, and wasn't totally miserable when I am pregnant, I'd have many more dogs and babies.

15. I have never had a cavity. Yes, you just read this ENTIRE blog to find that out.

So I'm a follower...You wanna make something of it?!

I decided after reading a few of my wonderful friends' first 30 day blog challenge entries, that I really should try it myself. I was pretty regularly blogging, and planned to as a way to let everyone know about Lily, our family, and just the general goings-on of my (our) life (lives). Well, looking back at my last entry, I did really pathetic. FOUR total...the last update was when Lily was just under 2 months old. Wow. What a blogger I am!!

So anyway, I've decided to be a follower and try to accomplish this 30 day blog challenge. Maybe someone will read it...maybe no one will read it. I don't really mind either way, but I really would like to look back next year and see more than four updates.

I think what I'm supposed to do first is give you some kind of awesome, intriguing reason why I picked the name I did for my blog.

When I started this blog, last year, Lily was only a few weeks old. I wanted to do something, other than Facebook status updates, where I could ramble on incessantly about her, JP, myself, and whatever else popped into my brain. Given that I was a zombie for the first few months of Lily's life, because mine became nothing more than one long day with some naps, diaper changes, and feedings in between, my brain was mush. My thoughts were jumbled, and I figured nothing I wrote would make a bit of sense (reading over those entries, I'm actually surprised at how much sense they make). My excuse for rambling, jumbled entries was going to be that I had "Mommy Brain", hence, Inside the Mommy's Brain was born.

I'm noticing writing this, that my thoughts are still jumbled, and I'm still worried nothing will make sense...so maybe the title is more fitting than I thought, and maybe it's the later stages of baby-dom that really bring out the "Mommy Brain".

Well, here goes nothing, I guess!

I need a maid or more hours in the day!

I still haven't quite wrapped my mind around how something so little can be so demanding when she sleeps in a couple hour stretches throughout the day! How can I have so little time to get things (like laundry) accomplished? Even with JP helping, it seems like at the end of the day there is still a list of things that need to be done!

I guess we can't help some of that. Because of the dogs, we have to vacuum every other day. We really should every day right now because they are shedding SO bad! I also have to clean the kitchen every day right now because we have a mouse. I hate mice! Cook's Pest Control has put out a ton of glue traps and even put poison in a couple of the cabinets and under the house, and this sucker won't die! Because I'm a germophobe, I feel the need to bleach wipe the counters all the time because I know that little germy icky thing runs all over the place at night! I don't know why it's still here...it doesn't get into any of our food or paper products or anything! It just lives here to annoy me, I think.

Anyway, Lily is asleep right now, but everytime I get up to go do something, she wakes up. She just whines for a few minutes until she sees me, then falls back to sleep. I have to quickly run and try to do things between these wake up/fall asleep things. Not that I mind...everytime she wakes up, she looks around and smiles at me. So it's kind of hard to mind running in every 10 minutes to hush her!