No.

I am so tired of everything being my fault.

It does me no good to try and discuss my feelings because whatever the problem is, whatever went wrong is because of some deep seeded character flaw of mine.

The bank account is low...
... because I spent all the money.

The house is a mess...
... because I don't spend enough of my time cleaning up after everyone.

There is no milk...
... because I didn't buy enough.

The boys think I hate them...
... because I refuse to put up with their crap anymore.

Marley couldn't get ready fast enough so she got left behind from movie night with dad...
... because I was sick and didn't get up to help find her an outfit and shoes to wear fast enough.

Sorry but I call bullshit.

He spends more money on court fees, jail, tickets and lawyers in any given year than all of my "frivioulous" expenses added up over the course of our entire marriage.

I AM a happy person, in fact I'm a very happy person. People like being around me. I laugh all the time, with other people that is. And no matter how miserable you think I am ... I'm not mentally ill. Sorry but you will NEVER convince me of that.

Pinterest Funnies

50 Before 30 Results

My 30th birthday has come and gone (heck, it's not even my birthday month anymore!... slacker much? haha) But. He is the post you've all (actually, its probably just Brad) been waiting for!

 

So, after realizing that  my 50 before 30 list was going to fail short I decided to do 30 acts of kindness on my birthday as well, to make it up to myself. It was fun ... and hard at times... like Jesse paying for my lunch, when I had planned on paying for his and counting it toward my 30! Or when I realized that I might not be delivering the newspapers to the right "front door". (My grandma uses her back door as her front door, in fact she never uses her actual front door.) So when I secretly dropped her paper at her back/front door it made me wonder how many other people did this same thing-- meaning, my act of kindness was more of a "missing newspaper" game they may not be too thrilled to play first thing in the morning... I decided taking garbage cans back to their house instead of hiding their newspapers would be more kind. haha.

 

My favorites ones were putting change into a vending machine and walking away. Taping quarters to those silly toy machines at the front of stores and making a little ol' lady's day just by taking the time to stop and chat. :) I am not going to list out all the good deeds I did because then it becomes less about random acts of kindness and more along the lines of self indulgent bragging for how awesome I am ... and since everyone already knows of my awesomeness there is no need! haha

 

Bottom line, great birthday. :) 

 

 

50 Before 30: The recap!!

 

 

Financial

1. Save Money. Put money into a Savings Account AND leave it there.
2. Find a budget that works.
3. Get a handle on our debt, at least know what it is and what we owe to who.
4. Set up a bank account for Quinn and Marley BUT I did this for the big boys, so they have debit cards and will be learning the importance of smart money management, because money does, in fact, buy happiness.
5. Start a new investment portfolio with the hubs. Pssh... yeah right. Good thought though!
6. Get caught up on my tithing. BUT I did attempt to do it, so that is a success in itself!
7. Become coupon savvy for grocery shopping.
8. Tip a great waiter or waitress 100%.
9. Leave $5 somewhere for a random person to find with a note that says "It's your lucky day, Enjoy!"
10. Get another source of income, part time job maybe?

Physical

11. Enroll in a group exercise at the club.

12. Participate in an organzied 5k run.

13. Lose 40 pounds... at least! (40/40) Hey. Getting deathly ill still counts! I didn't say how I had to lose it! lol.

14. Get each of the boys into a physical activity/sport.

15. Buy a bike, and go bike riding. Yeah... no. haha.

16. Go to the gym with Brad one time.
17. Do the 30 Day Shred.
18. Create the ultimate workout I-Pod playlist. I was never quite satisfied but it is pretty legit!19. Master Winsor Pilates.

20. Whitten my teeth to perfection. Pretty dang white is close enough.
21. Get a tan... a real one. Not sure this is an attainable goal?! lol

Personal

22. Be specifically thankful for one thing every week for one month.
23. Have a "girls only" activity once a month. (6/6)
24. Read the BOM cover to cover. Lofty goal, I can't even read a magazine cover to cover! Next time.
25. Buy something extravagant for myself. The most amazing $100 running shoes!! :) Thanks Jackie
26. Find the perfect bra. Not affordable, but perfect!
27. Start a blog. Good thing it doesn't say keep up with blog!
28. Create a routine that allows me time to myself daily.
29. Spend one night away from my kids.
30. Find the right medication for my craziness. I settled for one that works, it's right for now.

Family/Community

31. Host Sunday dinner 10 times. (50/10) ... now I can't stop! :)

32. Hold Family Night once a month for a year. Hmm.. Epic Fail.
33. Start a scrapbook for each kid.
34. Create a master birthday calendar. It even has all my new step-family members! Thank you facebook! haha
35. Get a one month supply of food storage for emergencies. I was SO close. Then the boys came down some teen boy ailment, ya know... the one where they are never not hungry. Now I am lucky to have a one week supply of food at one time.
36. Make a family photo album. ... in progress, so it counts!
37. Participate in a food drive.
38. Adopt a child for Christmas.
39. Host 10 service projects (10/10)
40. Donate time at a local shelter. My house is amost a local shelter.
41. Set up a regular date night with my husband.
42. Do 25 random acts of kindess. (25/25)

Random Ones

43. Eat at 10 different, new or little local resturants.
44. Take an online class, just for funsies.
45. Go to every park and play land in the Tri-Cities and take pictures. Close... This one will continue goal list or not! It's fun.
46. Create an ABC photo album. It's my family album, two goals, one album!
47. Sew pj pants for all the kids. *Christmas
48. Make a quilt for each kid. *Christmas
49. Give homemade gifts *Christmas
50. Smile at every person I see for a whole day. (harder than you think!!)

2012 Night of Champions NPC Body Building Competition, Spokane WA

Waking up way too early to drive way too far (with littles anyway!) on only 3 hours of sleep sounds like a disaster, but let me tell you - it was a GREAT time!! Even if I may not have agreed with the judges... in fact I strongly disagree with their decisions. I am pretty biased though so I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Here is the photo:

 

In case you don't know. Brad is in the front, wearing the #1... and yet. He got third. THIRD. Not even second.  See the teeny, tiny boys behind him? Yeah. They both beat him. Really judges?!..  Interestingly enough the twiggy twins are both good ol' local boys from Spokane.

 

Can you say political win? 

 

The announcer shook his head and sighed when he saw the results.

 

After getting their awards, the top three get their photos taken and the official photographer said this to Brad "Hey big guy you stand here, then 2nd place here and 3rd place there".  When Brad walked over to the 3rd place position. The photographer said "No, no, no... we need you to stand front and center." When Brad told him he got third place, the photographer stopped and said "Huh. Uh ok, you're in the right place then."

There were other comments like:

"You should have walked off stage."

"I would have kicked the trophy at the judges"

... others I'm sure I wasn't privy to. I know I wanted to throw a few chairs, but Brad handled it like a champ. He was calm and cool about it, disappointed of course but he allowed himself to be sad and then got over it. He was back to his happy, dorky self in no time :) It was a really good trip and we all had a GREAT time supporting our very own rising star.

 

 

 

 

Expensive Addictions

It's expensive to have an addiction, we all know this. And in my opinion the only thing worse than blindly paying for your own addiction is knowingly paying for someone else's. Here's an example... hypothetical of course.

Say you are a smoker.

Maybe you smoke a pack a day.

Each pack costs you around $8 dollars

In one week you (as long as you stick to one pack a day) it will cost roughly $60.

Nearly $250 a month.... just for one little, incredibly unhealthy and disgustingly smelly addiction.

Good thing I don't have a really bad and expensive addiction, like drinking or smoking. Not sure how I'd be able to pay for that and all the other important necessities of life, like a mortgage or food.

Please excuse my crankiness I had to cut back on my caffeine, it was getting too expensive. :) lol

Sisters (...and Brothers)

Three Sisters

By: Francis I. Gillespie **edited a bit by me :)

        

We are three sisters

Three sisters are we

I love each of you,

And I know you love me

We’re not always together,

Life sometimes keeps us apart.

But we're never really separated

Because we’re in each others' heart.

The Lord has given me lots of happiness and glee

One of the best things, was making us sisters ... all three.

My sister rock!!! And... I'm so lucky because my brothers are amazing too!!

I can't imagine my life without any one of my siblings and I have been particularly thankful for each one of their roles in my life lately. We are all so grown up and our bonds are getting even stronger now that we are all older and I freaking love it. :)

I wanted to sit down and type out a list of all the ways they have helped me so I could truly be grateful and have a reminder of how amazing they are.

 ... but it's never ending. (Seriously, I tried...)

There isn't a kind act in the world one (or all!) of my siblings haven't helped me with. Everything from rescuing me from the side of the road (hanging out with me until the AAA guy shows up counts too), washing my dishes, pulling weeds in my yard (even if you pretend to be tanning), Babysitting my kids for hours on end or listening to me whine and cry. Bringing me dinner when I'm too sick to cook, running errands, picking up kids, dropping off kids, driving me to the hospital's emergency room over and over again, being the calm voice of reason, telling me a joke to make me laugh, stopping by to see how I am doing, texting me just because they love me, hating people just because I hate them, thinking of me when funny things happen ...

... see what I mean?!! It could go on and on forever, and not the normal kind of forever, the Sandlot kind of F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!...  and they do it all with a smile on their face.

They never made me feel like I was being a burden to them, because helping me was exactly what they wanted to do that day.

:)

Positive thinking ...

Some days I find it's hard to think positively, and I really don't like negativitiy or bad feelings/thoughts to linger so when I need a little bit of good energy in my day browse Pintrest.

 

I enjoy searching for happy quotes, zen habits, awe-inspiring 'I should write this on my mirror so I see it every day' mantras or just some good 'ol fashioned pee your pants funnies. Here are my favorites from today.

 

 

 

 

Now, back to my life. :)