Week 7: If I could turn back time...

I try to live with my life with no regret, and I would say I have been pretty successful at it.  For the most part I am happy where I am.  Would I like to make things better, sure...who wouldn't?!  But really, life is pretty darn good!

However, if I had the opportunity to turn back time, there are two things I would probably change. 

First off I would not have gotten out of the military when I did.  I often wonder how life would have turned out if I would have reenlisted and made it a career.  Now that I am older and wiser, I know career wise and retirement wise it would have been a good thing.  Although I really do love living in beautiful Colorado, I have built up a great network of friends and colleagues and genuinely love the climate 90% of the time!  I think staying here and not moving multiple times actually suits us better, but still its fun to wonder what might have been had we both stayed in!

Second, I would have had a second child somewhat close in age to Morgan.  That's easy to say, but for us we might have tried and tried and never ben successful.  We struggled for a long time to get pregnant with Morgan.  I suffered two miscarriages, one before her, one after her.  We were told we could not get pregnant at all.  Once we had her, we decided that science isn't always right, so we opted for protection for the first year.  Maybe we shouldn't have.  We started trying again when she turned 1.  For a year we tried.  Right after she turned 2yrs old we had another miscarriage and decided that was the end of the road of trying to conceive for us.  Just too much heartache and worry to deal with.  We had our beautiful blessing we prayed so hard for, it was time to turn the page on that chapter.  But I often wonder what it would be like to have two children.  I wonder what Morgan would be like as a big sister.  I wonder what another child of ours would look like.  Should we have kept trying?  Should we have tried right away after we had Morgan.  Who knows.  And really, I love our little family.  I love the dynamics, I love the one on one time, I love the quietness of one child.  Sure she can be loud and crazy at times...but man the neighbors across the street with 4 small children never get the quiet that we get!  :)

So there you have it...what I would change if I could turn back time!      

ten on tuesday

1.  Okay, its not really Tuesday.  But I meant to post this yesterday, that has to count for something! 

2.  Life has been crazy busy all the sudden.  We are getting ready for school to start, trying to get back into a routine.

3.  Morgan is attending a Girl Scout day camp this week and the theme is dancing.  She is loving it!  I can't wait to see the performance at the end of the week!

4.  I love watching Extreme Weightloss.  Such amazing stories each week!

5.  I did it.  I joined the Lean Eating program that I mentioned that week.  I am committed to making this an EPIC year.  I hope to see some serious changes to my body and health in the next year!  Stay tuned!

6.  I had a powerful lesson lately.  I'm not gonna go into the specifics right now, but lets just say...that old saying "don't judge a book by its cover" is so very true.  Once you get to know somebody you might be totally surprised!

7.  The government furlough stinks!  I should be running a 5k race this weekend, the same one I have every August for 3 years.  But I had to skip it this year.  We just can't justify the extra expenses.  Losing $1200 a month for three months stinks!

8.  I've spent the morning planning for this coming girl scout year for our troop.  Can't believe its already time to start thinking about that!

9.  I want to re-do our bedroom...as soon as the furlough is done!  So in October I plan to buy a new bedroom set and no bedding, curtains...the whole 9 yards.  I need some good ideas though.  Help me out!

10.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you might see a lot of Elf On The Shelf pins lately!  Yes, getting ready for that as well.  Next thing you know its doing to be December!

Week 6: If I could be anything in the world..

Darn it!  Late again!



If I could be anything in the world...

I have thought about this question a bit.  Its actually kind of a hard one!  I often say I am unhappy with my job, or that life didn't quite turn out the way I dreamed.  But the more I think about it, I don't think I would have it any other way.  Life is pretty good right now, and I am pretty happy with where I am.

Although, if I could be a SAHM I would be.  I know what you are thinking.  I could be a SAHM if I really wanted to be.  But our lifestyle would change so drastically.  And that's not what I want.  I would want to have the means to be a SAHM with the lifestyle we have now.  I don't want to sit at home all day long because we have to, because we have no money.  I want to be able to get up and go to the gym early before Morgan gets up, to take care of myself and my spirit.  I want to be able to have a membership to a pool, to travel to Denver to see friends at the drop of the hat, to make big lavish meals and bake whenever we want. 

So I guess my ultimate dream for right now would be to be a SAHM, with enough money in the bank to not have t worry about anything, to be able to do whatever we want.

Just because that's my dream right now, doesn't mean it will always be.  And to be honest its more of a pipe dream than any dream I would actually try to work towards.  Its just nice to day dream sometimes!

ten on tuesday

1.  I did it!  I committed to the Precision Nutrition Lean Eating Program!  I have wanted to do it for a couple years now, and finally decided to do it.  I hope to have EPIC results at the end of the year end program! 

 

2.  My friend Sean, otherwise known as the averagesupermom wrote a post about all her cardigans.  I happen to have a ton too, so every time I wear one or buy one I think of her!  This weekend, I bought another one!

 

3.  Speaking of my new cardigan...it was also my first ever Ann Taylor purchase!  I'm cheap, and up until a few years ago I was always over weight.  I never wanted to invest in expensive clothes because I didn't want to be that size for long, and I didn't really feel like wearing beautiful clothes when I felt like I wasn't all that beautiful.  So, this weekend while at an outlet mall, I stumbled on some amazing deals at the Ann Taylor store.  I love their clothes!  And they seem to run kinda big, which means I fit a size small comfortably!  Once I realized that, I had to buy something!!  So I added yet another cardigan to my stash!  A cute beige short sleeve one, with a racy little animal print tank to go under it!

 

4.  I have struggled with migraines for years.  In fact I was almost kicked out of the Air Force because of them.  The past couple years I found a prescription that works for them, and have been able to manage them.  For some reason the past 4 weeks I have been getting them bad and they are nasty.  I had one this morning and one yesterday morning.  I'm really hoping its just a phase.  I'm tired of them!

 

5.  We had an awesome water fight in front of our house this evening.  All the kids on the street were out, the girls were on our driveway, the boys were across the street.  A few moms even joined in the fun!  Summer time is so much fun!

 

6.  Pink lemonade "tea" parties are a regular occurrence in our backyard now.  All the girls love the new playhouse!

 

7.  Am I the only one that doesn't love small kids birthday parties?  We have four of them to go to this weekend.  I don't mind them when I know some of the parents, but they are down right painful when I don't know anybody!  3 of the 4 might be a little painful...I know the parents throwing the parties but nobody else.  Ugh! 

 

8.  A friend of mine shared this video of his friend's first dance at their wedding.  So fun!

 

9.  I finally got caught up on all the Nashville episodes from last season.  I am really loving that show.  Can't wait for the new season to start!

 

10.  School starts in 2 and a half weeks!  I can't believe it!  I don't want summer to come to an end just yet!     

Week 5: If I won the lottery

 

 

Week 5: If I won the lottery:

 

I like this dream!

 

I'd quit my job. If I won the lottery, I would quit my job right away.  Without a doubt.  Most likely the hubby would stay working, or maybe transition to something he likes better.  But I would quit my job without giving it a second thought.  I would volunteer more than I already do.  I would take Morgan to school and pick her up.  I would make a nice home cooked meal every night.  And I would do things that make me happy!

 

I'd go on vacation.  It would become a priority to travel a lot.  We want to go to Ireland, San Diego, Portland, Canada...and I am sure we would add many more locations in the years to come!

 

Buy a second house in Florida. Maybe not on the beach, because lets face it...hurricanes suck!  But I would buy a house in my hometown.  I would make it our second home, to visit whenever we wanted, but mostly to spend time down there in the winter.  Even with the hubby working, we would be able to take lots of long weekends and holidays there because he has gobs of time off with his current job!

 

I'd sell our house and buy something bigger and nicer.  I don't mind our house.  But if we could buy something else a little bigger, a little nicer, a little bit more "us"...then I would do it!  A bigger, awesome kitchen...a beautifully landscaped yard...an exercise room...a large laundry room and mud room...a bonus rooms for crafts...a man cave...oh and a cleaning lady every other week to keep it all clean!  :)

 

Donate to charity.  Everybody says this...but I really would.  A Lot!

 

Adopt a child.  I would love to adopt.  Morgan would love to have a sibling.

 

 

Week 4: My Biggest Weakness

I'm a little late...okay, four days late...

Oh well, better late than never!

 

The theme for this week's edition of

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose is "My Biggest Weakness".

 

This is a hard one for me.  I could sugar coat it and say something silly like chocolate.  But if I am going to be "blogging with a purpose", I might as well be honest.  I have two big weaknesses that I struggle with constantly.

 

The first is my anger.  Oh man do I have a sharp temper.  Most the time I am pretty happy go lucky and laid back.  But, I can get fired up so fast...about the stupidest things.  Its something I have always struggled with.  Its something I try to improve, but I struggle with it for sure.  I have ZERO patience, and that always gets the best of me.  Luckily, I am very patient with my daughter and always have been.  I'm not sure why that is, but I am very thankful for it. 

 

The other weakness is food.  I don't know how to put it any other way.  I like to eat.  I like food.  I like bad food.  And I like eating unhealthy amounts of food.  I have managed to lose a good deal of weight the past two years.  In total I am 65lbs lighter than the day I gave birth to Morgan six years ago.  Keep in mind, I only gained 18lbs when I was pregnant.  I couldn't blame my weight on baby and pregnancy.  I have the exercise part figured out, and I have managed to control my eating for the most part.  But its a constantly struggle.  I am constantly wanting to eat, constantly making poor choices, and constantly hard on myself for it. 

 

I'm afraid there are no easy "quick fix" cures for either of my weaknesses...just something I have to constantly be mindful of, and constantly try to improve on.  But thats the spice of life I guess.  Nobody is perfect...we all have little irritating things about us that need some work.   

 

So there you have it...the down and dirty on my weaknesses. 

Whats On My DVR

 

The past few years my TV viewing habits have evolved quite a bit.  Prior to having Morgan, I watched every popular show, had all sorts of things recording each week and was a classic couch potato.  But once Miss Morgan arrived, I started watching kids programming only.  I tried to squeeze in my shows at night after she went to bed, but it got harder and hard to keep up with them.  Then I took up working out, and that was pretty much the end of watching TV for me.

 

Now days, I record things with the hopes of watching them.  I do get around to it, eventually!  It just takes a while!

 

For instance...

 

1) Nashville - I have all of the episodes of Nashville that aired from January till the end of the season in May sitting on my DVR waiting to be watched.  The only reason the first half of the season isn't on there is because I had a couple of quiet evenings around Christmas that I was able to catch up on them while Morgan was asleep.

 

2) Parenthood - Again, more episodes than I care to admit that are waiting for me to watch.  I figure, at this point I might as well wait to watch them till the fall season starts.  That way I don't have to get totally engrossed in them, and then have to wait for more!  :)

 

3) The rest is kids programming.

 

That's it.  That's all I have.  Because that's all I have time for!  I used to love Grey's Anatomy, but haven't watched it for 2 years.  Same with Private Practice.

 

Morgan and I do watch a couple of shows together though:

 

- Extreme Weightloss

- Amazing Race

- Biggest Loser

- The Voice

- Big Brother

- House Hunters

 

I love it that we can enjoy some shows together...that aren't cartoons!

 

So, what's on your DVR?

ten on tuesday

1. I'm mourning the death of Google Reader.  I knew it was coming.  I planned to find a replacement.  I poked around a little bit.  I think I was in disbelief.  July 1st rolled around and I logged into Google Reader just like any other day and read all the new blog posts that I follow.  I logged in again today...no more Google Reader.  :(  I tried my Feedly app that I installed a couple weeks ago on my tablet and got an error that it was overloaded.  Not a good sign.  I need to find a good alternative fast!

2. I'm kicking around the idea of breaking up with my gym.  We have been tight for over two years.  The day I toured it, I fell in love instantly.  I thought we were in for a very long relationship.  I got up early every week day morning to go to the gym.  I was hardcore devoted...for almost 2 years anyway.  The past year I have slacked big time.  I'm just not feeling it anymore.  Ugh!  So for now we are on a break.  Its a pricey place, and the idea of having all that money is sounding very nice. 

3.  Morgan and I did a photo scavenger hunt yesterday on Instagram!  We had so much fun that I decided we should do the big one with Clickin Moms too!

4.  I'm taking a month long class at Big Picture Classes called The Phone Photography Project and the first fun challenge was to take a picture with the theme "From Where I Stand", so I took a picture of my feet at work, looking at tile with a designer.  You are welcome to follow me on Instagram if you would like..to see all the challenges this month!

5.  I have already learned about a few new apps thanks to that class...I downloaded Photoshop Express, PicFrame and the SmugMug app this morning to play around with!

6.  I am seriously considering joining the Lean Eating Coaching Program for Women from Precision Nutrition on July 18th.  I know I just said I am on a break with my gym...but maybe this is the jumpstart that I need.  From what I have read, I don't even need a gym to do it.  If I do it, I plan to track my progress along the way here!

7.  Why is it so hard to find an awesome backsplash?  I have searched high and low and just can't seem to find the right one.  I don't want anything too ornate, or too industrial and funky.  So for now, I just have paint on my backsplash!

8.  We officially have 4.5 weeks till school starts.  That's crazy!  It seems like summer just started!

9.  Do you like Pampered Chef?  If so, you should check out their Outlet Sale going on right now.  I am not a consultant, just a cook that loves a good product!  I scored some awesome deals too!   

10.  It was just announced this morning that Fireworks are back for the 4th of July in Colorado Springs and we couldn't be more excited!  The ban was lifted thanks to all the rain we have gotten recently.  We haven't had fireworks for a few years now, so it will be a nice treat! 

Week 3: My Life 5 Years From Now

Hi There!

 

Its Week 3 of 52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose, and the

theme for this week is "My Life 5 Years From Now.

 

That's a tough one for me, because I don't really know what I want to be when I grow up or which direction I want to take my life. 

 

On one hand, I would like to be working less and have more time to devote to my daughter and her activities.  But on the other hand, if I am working, I would like to have more of a leadership role in whatever I am doing.  Yes, I realize those two things don't really line up together that well. 

A girl's gotta dream though, right!

 

I hope I am still in shape.  I hope I am in rockin' a better body in my 40s than I was in my 20s.  I have been able to pull it off so far in my 30s, so here's hoping! 

 

I hope I finally run the Bolder Boulder 10K, that has been on my bucket list for the past 3 years.

 

Yikes, I just realized I will be almost 42 in 5 years.  Gosh that sounds old!

 

Anyway, in 5 years I would like to have less debt and more money.

 

I would like to have all my home projects done...heck maybe even be moved into an even nicer home that doesn't have any projects that need to be done!  :)

 

If I'm really dreaming, then I would like to be an established photographer by then.  But I gotta put in the time and effort to do that, and right now I just don't see that happening.  Maybe someday.  Though I guess that being a photographer might work with my first goal of working less and having a leadership role.  Hmmm....might have to pursue that a little bit harder! 

 

In 5 years, Morgan will be just about to turn 11 yrs old.  Wow.  That sounds old!  She will be starting middle school, which kind of scares me.  Though luckily our school is K-8th, so middle school there is a lot less stressful and scary than a true traditional middle school...at least for Mom anyway! 

 

I hope I have a great relationship with her, and can be her rock as she works her way through the teen years and beyond. 

 

Well there you have it, a glimpse into what I hope is my view of the world in 5 years.