Radish-ulous

Another day, another radish-ulous* conversation with Binderclips. 

Binderclips and I have been trying to focus a bit more on eating healthy and eating more veggies. I used to love crunchy carbs (like chips and pretzels) but whenever I crave them now, I eat some crunchy veggies instead. Because of this I've been packing our lunches with tons of veggies, but I get bored with the same old mix of carrots, celery, cucumbers - so, I switch it up. That's totally normal...but what is not normal is how Binderclips responds to change...in general.

Yesterday, I packed both Binderclips and I radishes. Around mid-day I get the following text from him (his texts are in gray):

At this point I'm thinking 'all he has to do is not eat them, if he doesn't like them'....but is it that simple to him? No. No it is not.

Then he sends me the following bitmojis, because I believe he continued to eat them....

Because I'm genuinely confused I respond with:

If you are imagining me responding to his "Don't Play" bitmoji by looking at my phone with a "you want some of this!?"** look on my face...hoping he can feel it through the phone or telepathically, then you are on the right track.

Today, I packed a few radishes in his veggies on accident (seriously, I have all the veggies in the same container and grabbed a few on accident when I was packing his veggie snack bag).

He takes the bag of veggies out of the fridge to put into his cooler and sees the radishes. He gives me a look, that can only be described as a look you would give to someone that has just slapped you across the face (in other words, in complete and utter shock),  then says "This is like a middle finger...in veggie form. Seriously!?"

Our girls look at the bag confused, because they have no idea what he's talking about (and have no idea what the middle finger is or means).

He looks at them and says "It's not a big deal. Your mom is just trying to put me in anaphylaxis." Then looks at me with a "you're seriously trying to kill me" type of look.

He's not even allergic to them, people...he's just THAT dramatic. I just start laughing in response. What else can a person do? Especially when dealing with someone so insane in the membrane...

There were maybe two in there people. TWO. Yep, it's a veggie middle finger alright. He's crazy.

Let's hope he survives the radishes today...and I survive his craziness. Wish me luck! Later gators!

*See what I did there? it's a play on ridiculous ;)
**Link to explain what this looks like, even if you are not trying to get into a fight with someone...but let's be clear, I was looking at my phone wanting to fight Binderclips in THIS case.

Wyoming Trip

 *The pictures included are pictures we took on our trip to WY

It's been a long time since I've posted anything....almost 2 years!! Where HAS the time gone?! My kids are getting older...I'm getting older...Binderclips is getting older. It's weird...

If you would have asked me 17.5 years ago where I'd be now, I would never have imagined that I'd be where I am. Why am I thinking about 17.5 years, specifically? Well, I met Binderclips 17.5 years ago. This year we will have been married 10 years. 10 YEARS!? At that point, the day we were married was one of the most impactful days of my life. It remains as one of the most important days to me. I don't know what I did to convince such an amazing man to want to marry me, but I did.

Falls Park - Sioux Falls, SD

Then my kids came along. First my oldest in 2011. The day she was born was a day of complete change for me both physically and emotionally. If I had to put words to describe the metamorphosis I experienced the day she was born, it was a likeness to ice melting into water. Not only did my state of mind change, but my physical state of being changed. A clearness in both that allowed me to value something outside of myself because it was a part of me...made up of me... and Binderclips... combined. There was a clearness of understanding that I was not only responsible for myself, but for this little beautiful being for the rest of her life. A softness took over me that taught me, quite instinctively to be a nurturer and a giver.

Badlands

Then, my mom passed away...right around the time my daughter was 6 months old. She passed away unexpectedly in my home, while visiting. It was truly heartbreaking. The moment I realized she had passed away, everything changed. Every. Single. Thing. From the moment before I learned she passed away to the moment I realized she had, I was a completely different person. First, my heart broke into a million little pieces that I sincerely felt (at the time) couldn't be put back together. In fact, from that moment on, for what seemed like years, I felt that way. I went (and still go) through the full gamut of emotions that you feel while grieving (it's a process that never really ends). I was so sad that I felt bad for having my daughter, not because I regretted it or thought I made a mistake, but because I knew she would feel the same pain when I pass away some day. I was mad that she had left, for a while. I mourned the relationship that could have been. Now I forgive her...for leaving me too soon...for making mistakes...and have a deeper understanding and compassion for the choices she made while she was here.

Mount Rushmore

The next biggest change came, again, after giving birth to my second daughter. The state of change that occurred when I had my oldest, happened again with my youngest. You become more aware of life. More present. More thankful. You learn to live and lead and most importantly, love deeper than you ever have before.

This takes me to this year. This year has also been a huge year of change for me. Not because things have changed around me, but because they have changed within me. I turned 40 this year and what did I want you ask? I wanted to go "home", to remember my roots, to re-explore significant geographical points to remind me of being a child....and that's what I did, with my family.

We took a trip to Wyoming, the state I was born in. I left there when I was 12, leaving my brother and my father behind to go live with my mother in Michigan. It was a decision I haven't talked about before and, to be honest, I'm not sure I want to. I missed my dad and brother when I left and all I can say is that a mother has a very strong hold on the emotions of a child...especially a mother who is only seen by her children during the summers.

Devils Tower

Anyways, the trip to WY changed me. I was able to see some relatives that I haven't seen in 25-30 years and meet some that I have never met before. Driving out there from Michigan was very reminiscent of my childhood. We saw some really amazing sights that I hadn't seen in a long time; Sioux Falls, Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, the Great Plains...but the most reminiscent
things were the sight of the Black Hills as we drove into WY. I remember seeing those hills on every drive to and from Michigan. The sight of them literally brought tears to my eyes.

Seeing my family also impacted me greatly. We stayed with one of my cousins and we realized that we are extremely similar. One of the ways we are most alike is in perspectives on life. She believes you can do anything you put your mind to and so do I, down to my core. But it's not only her that thinks this way, it seems to be theme across my father's side of the family. Whenever presented with a challenge of any capacity, it seems our first thought is "I can do that". There is never a question of what might stop us from completing something, instead we just move forward with confidence and enthusiasm. I always thought this was a trait specific to me, but after having spent time with my Uncle, Aunt and cousins in WY, I'm sure it's a genetic trait.

I also realized we are story tellers, some of us, at least. We love to talk about our experiences and laugh about them. The simplest interaction can result in the funniest of circumstances and we love to share the joy of laughing (either with us or at us) with you. This is definitely genetic too.

Things I learned on our journey:
1) My Uncle's stories are the best
2) My Aunt's hugs are the warmest and the most loving (much like the way I remember my mom's hugs being)
3) My cousin is a badass hunter and has and will continue to do great things
4) My other cousin is like the sister I never had and she can do anything she puts her mind to

My family

All in all, the journey back home reminded me to be authentic to who I am. It motivated me to continue to challenge myself, because I can do anything I put my mind to and also to keep telling stories because it's just what we do. I feel a new sense of purpose and belonging that only could have been realized from this type of trip "home". Thanks to my family for the reminder of who I am, I'm so proud to call you family.

Jack Hammered?

Budweiser. He drank it from the time he woke up to the time he went to sleep. He even drank it while driving...always. He was such a high functioning alcoholic that he passed sobriety tests when pulled over, which, wasn't very often because he drove like he was sober even when drunk. He kept beer in his truck and when he took breaks at work, would go out and sit in his truck and drink it. He always smelled of beer to me. I'm not sure how he stayed employed, honestly, but he managed to hold down a job at MichCon for a long time. Up until a couple of years ago, I cringed when I saw Budweiser anywhere. It reminded me of him.

His name was Jack.

He was my Mother's second husband, for not even 24 hours. Let me back up for a moment and share some other things with you prior to getting to that. On the weekends, Jack would stay in the master bedroom and literally not come out, not even once. There was a master bath and my mom would bring him food and beer. I'd go in occasionally to say hi to him. He always seemed off. Although, I never could place my finger on it. Although, the night of their wedding it all came together for me.

The wedding itself went well, but after the wedding things took a turn for the worse. It was after the reception actually, but no one could find Jack. My mother was frantically looking for him everywhere. He was eventually found in a compromising position with one of the bridesmaids. It was then that my Mom shared that he was high on heroin and then that I realized that's why he seemed off on the weekends. He'd basically go on drug binges in the master bedroom every weekend.

Anyways, after finding him with the bridesmaid, my mom and him went their separate ways. And by that I mean he kicked us out of the trailer we lived in with him and we moved into a trailer in a different trailer park. We lived there for two weeks (or something close to that) without utilities. This happened during my sophomore year of high school. I believe he died a couple years after that of Hepatitis C, most likely, from sharing needles.

I made this for my mom and find myself thinking of this often...and especially with this post.

Why, if Jack was such a negative influence, would I share this with you all? Well because I've been thinking about it a lot. Not because I'm lamenting about my past but because I'm thankful. Thankful of how situations like this helped me grow. In fact, I'm still growing from them. Even negative past experiences can impact us in the most positive of ways. I'm fortunate to have a great family and friends that I love dearly. You people are the best. Thanks for being a part of my life.

Later gators!

Last Year vs This Year

Hello out there!! I'm sharing something I never thought I would in this post...pictures of me in a bathing suit!! Deep breaths....deep breaths....ok, here I go...

After having my kids I focused on them more than myself (something I think lots of moms can relate to). Although, while I didn't focus on my physical appearance at that time I learned a tremendous amount and grew emotionally. My mother passed away during that time too and it was (and is) an incredibly difficult situation to go through. Your mom is there and then...she's gone... forever... You will never hug her or hear her voice again. People who place judgement on those grieving should let that sink in for a moment...and that's all I'll say about that. I will say, the grieving process (for me) has resulted in growth in many ways.

Looking back I realized I needed the time to focus on introspection and internal growth. I am thankful that I focused on that and am happy to say I'm back to focusing on my health and feeling confident in my (2-Baby and 2-Laparoscopic surgeries) body. 

When I met Binderclips I was in great shape, but I focused on muscular strength more than anything. My approach now is to address all the major components of fitness (I do have a couple degrees in this stuff, after all); body composition, flexibility, muscular strength & endurance, and cardiovascular endurance. Since I've been back to it  - I run, do yoga, weight train (I do not belong to a gym and mostly train at playgrounds - some of the best and most fun workouts I've ever done), do HIIT/tabata, I try to pepper in pilates, barre, & suspension training (TRX), and watch what I eat also (although I could improve in that area greatly).

I'll be perfectly honest, folks, sharing pictures of me in a bathing suit is terrifying. I took these pictures to review by myself and see my progress over the last year, I did not plan on sharing them. However, I think I need to for a couple of reasons:

1) My goal is to continue to improve how I feel & look, so I need a time stamp to measure progress against. Here I am now, I can't wait to see if I can make more progress in the next 6 months to a year and after.

2) If I can motivate others to make positive changes in their lives, that would be awesome.

3) And most importantly - I can show my little girls what beauty is; being confident, strong, smart, courageous and to be passionate about the things they love and life in general.


So, here I am...before picture was taken in May of 2015, the after pictures were taken within the last couple of weeks.

I'm going to keep working at it and I'll keep documenting my progress too. I hope you get something out of this post. :)

Later gators!

Full body

Close up of the abs

Hulabuns Paradigm Shift

Life Lessons; some are hard and some are not so hard. But are they equally as important? Absolutely.

Having kids has really forced me to dig deep, really look at what emotions exist inside and why they remain there. Within the last year I've realized something; I no longer try to succeed at things because I want acceptance from others. I mean, of course I don't want to be an outcast...but I don't do things to hear others give me praises. I do them because internally I want to succeed, for me. Crazy, right?

Something changed in me over the last four years, since my Mother's passing...I became more self-reliant and confident. Is this because she is no longer there to give me encouragement? I don't know because a lot of what motivates me today are the things she used to say to me that weren't so nice. And let me correct that last statement by saying that "she" didn't say them but her "addict/bipolar self" said these things. Regardless of who said them, it still hurts to think of these things, however it also has pushed me over the years to succeed at things. I know my mom (minus the drugs/alcohol/bipolar episodes) would have been encouraging and kind. But here's the thing - she wasn't dealt the fairest of hands. During her life she experienced tough times and didn't always make the right choices to overcome them... or didn't have the choice.

In my life I haven't really felt a wave of positivity behind me propelling me forward. Is that because it didn't exist or because I didn't perceive it in that way? I'd like to think it was the latter. I now perceive many of the negative happenings in my life as very positive things. Had I not experienced the downs early on, I would not fully appreciate the ups that I experience today.

Again, and again the word perseverance comes to mind. I remind myself of it, almost daily. I didn't have it as bad as others have, nor did I endure physical abuse - I am thankful for these things. I am driven not only by my ability to persevere in my circumstances but also by seeing others do the same having been given harder circumstances. These are the people I look up to.

Also, I am thankful that this journey of grieving has helped me grow and that my children and Binderclips motivate me to continue to learn on this journey called life.

I hope all is well out there and that you got something from this post. I, at least, got it off of my chest and am feeling better because of that.

Later gators!

Back to Blogging?

Helllllooooooo!! I can't believe it's been soo long since I've blogged. Having two kids has been absolutely the BEST thing that could ever happen, however that meant I had no time for blogging, unfortunately. Now, I know what you are thinking "did she give her kids away, so that she could get back to blogging?" The answer is no, no I did not....I mean, I've thought about it...but...have not followed through with it...yet.

Anyways, what have you all been up to out there???!!! Pretty exciting stuff, I'm sure. Most likely, much more exciting than me. Really I just wanted to see if anyone still actually follows me with this post. I'm going to try to post every once in a while and more frequently if I'm able.

So, I'm going to start back with 5 facts about myself that not many know...and because that might be slightly interesting? We shall see. 

1) I used to dream of being a basketball player when I was in middle school. This is strange because: 1) I'm not tall and 2) I've never played on a team...EVER.

2) I'm giving up on mean people. That's right, if you are someone who is not kind (to me or others), I don't want to be around you. I've been around some really awful people in life and didn't have a choice in a lot of those situations, but now I do and I'm choosing not to do it anymore...because I don't have to. So there.

3)  I can do anything I put my mind to...and so can you. Why haven't I done anything really amazingly great then? I have. I have had 2 little ladies with 1 amazing man and I try to do nice things for others. That's my great contribution to the world. 

4) One of my favorite sayings is "Where there's a will there's a way" - I live by it. I believe this to be true down to my bones. 

5) I used to be unkind and self-centered...maybe I still am, but I try not to be now. I had the opportunity to learn some invaluable lessons growing up, but some of them made me a cold person for a while. I used to blame how I acted on the things that happened in my life, but have since realized that, while my experiences did have an influence on who I am, they did not make me who I am. I decided that I was going to live in the now and be thankful for all I have and not dwell on the past.

An oldie but goodie of Binderclips and I...I owe everything to this guy. 

Eye Patches R' Us

Since I have a patch on my eye currently I figured I'd repost one of my favorite posts from 2010. Oh, why the eye patch you ask? My 3 year old, let's just call her "Dagger Hands", tried to claw my eye out. Ok, ok....that's not true. She accidentally poked me in the eye the other day. At first I thought she had just scratched my eye, but no. She actually cut a small piece of the white of my eye off...but not completely off, so there it dangles (being flip-flopped around each time I blink). Sound painful? It is. Any who, I hope you enjoy the repost below!

Originally posted 10/28/10

Hello out there in blog world! So, what's going on with you guys? It seems like I'm forgetting something....oh that's right! I almost forgot that Halloween is just around the corner. Geesh! Thank goodness I have an idea for coming up with a costume in a pinch. You must hear about it! 

First, a reminder that, I can be pretty... but, only when I want to be (well, when I'm having a good hair day - naturally curly hair makes for lots of bad hair days, by pure luck my hair looks ok today). Ok, so I was saying...

Mmmmmm, look a chocolate muffin!

What's this? Oh a chocolate chip*! Hey, I have an idea...

...if I put it on my tooth like so, maybe it will look like....

...I have a missing tooth.** HA! Success! And I'm soo scary that Turner can't bare to look at me anymore. Hmmmm, what else could I add to this to make it a full costume?

How about a scarf from the closet, an eye patch (doesn't everyone have an extra eyepatch laying around??), and a hook made out of foil?? Now all I need is pirate talk!

Only a nancy-pants can be keelhaulin' on the treasure chest.
 I shall hornswaggle that reef monkey with my anchor. By the foul bowels of Davy Jones! Arrrrrrggggghhhh!***

 In addition, all I have to do is put on the a white button up shirt (I'm thinking tuxedo style) and some tight, black capri pants, funky tights, well and some jewelry and WALA!! Now, if you find yourself in a pinch you can come up with a costume and everyone loves pirate costumes (and if they don't, they should)!! (Plus, you have an excuse to talk like a pirate the entire night!)

Happy Halloweening everyone!!

Some Halloween Facts:
-Ancient Celts thought that ghosts/spirits wandered the streets on Hallows Eve, because they didn't want to get recognized as human by them, they would wear masks/costumes.
-Halloween is the second most commercially successful holiday, Christmas is the first.

*Any dark foods can be used, i.e. fudge, chocolate cake, etc. They also sell black wax just for this purpose, however I find that food is much more fun - and tasty!

**For Binderclips' sake I feel it should be noted that he hates this post, specifically the pictures of me with the chocolate chip on my tooth. He told me "you're pretty and I don't like seeing pictures of you like that" - which, is actually kind of sweet. That's why I posted a picture of me beforehand - for his sake, just an FYI.

***The pirate quotes above are randomly generated from this site, which I linked to in another post referring to gangsta talk. Check it out!

8 Legged Runner

One of my recent works of art...what do you think? I call it "I want to use all these colors in my living room, so I put them all in one painting" or "Not good to see on your EKG". :)

Hello folks!! Looking good! (I'm guessing you look good, I can't actually see you...but because you're a good looking bunch, I'm sure I'm right.)


Not much happening here, except the usual dysfunctional stuff. Since were on the topic of dysfunctional-ness I might as well share what happened last night with you.


1. I decide to go to bed and go into our bathroom (in the back portion of our house) to brush my teeth and wash my face. G is sleeping in her room and as usual, Baby A is sleeping on the couch (she falls asleep there every night next to me and I move her to her crib after I get ready for bed). Binderclips stays in the living room to make sure my danger baby (Baby A) doesn't do anything dangerous (even in her sleep she's dangerous).


2. While in the bathroom I notice a black spider hanging out (literally) on the wall. I immediately start to freak out but decide against screaming as I didn't want to wake the kids up (believe me, this was a very difficult feat).


3. I decide to hurry up (as fast as I freaking can) and do what I need to do then go get Binderclips to "take care" of the spider.


4. At this point, I turn back around to make sure the spider is where I left him (on the wall). NOPE. "Where is he??!! WHERE IS HE!!??" I think frantically as I scan the room.


5. I finally spot him running at me (Do spiders run? YES, THEY FREAKING DO!).


6. He makes a run for it under a squeegee we have sitting on the ground. I take this as my opportunity to "take care" of him. I start pressing on it but he tries to escape!!! I finally succeed but only after spastically moving about the room. I should note, not once did I scream during the entire ordeal.


7. I go out into the living room where Binderclips is and tell him I have to talk to him about "something important". He, pats the seat next to him (creepily) to tell me to sit next to him.


8. I ignore the creepiness and proceed to explain to him what happened with hand motions (think hand inside of a pretend puppet and explosion-type movements). He listens, looking at me as if I'm an alien (I ignore his looks and proceed in my explanation). I explain to him that "I was attacked....the spider was black with a red hue...he came running at me... I had to use the squeegee as a weapon..." and tell him I need his help "getting rid of it".


9. After I finish my very animated *handamation, he looks at me and says "Is that what you were doing back there?" very calmly.


10. I think "clearly, there is something wrong with him! How can one be soo calm about something soo scary!" I start looking at him like he's an alien.


11. I say "oh, you could hear me?" to which he responds with "Ummm, yes. You were making quite  a bit of noise banging stuff around."


12. "And you didn't think to come SAVE me??!!" I think but instead say, "I didn't scream but I wanted to, you should be proud of me." I proceed to have (what I think is) a deep conversation about how if a spider attacks me, it's game on. He continues to sit there calmly.


What did I learn in this situation? If a spider comes running at me, I will attack and Binderclips clearly is waaay to used to me. I'm thinking I need to start hiding in cupboards again to scare him.


Later gators!


Handamation = hand motions emphasizing what I'm talking about

Sleepy Creepy Talker

G

Baby A

Some pictures of my girls for your viewing pleasure. :)

I'm back! I hope everyone is doing well out there in blog world. It's gotten kind of hard for me to post with work and 2 kids, however I feel like this is something I must share with you all.


Let me set the scene:
This past weekend Binderclips and I went to visit my Dad, my brother and his wife in Indiana. It was our first time visiting my Dad at his new place, so we decided to rent a room at the only hotel within walking distance to my Dad's place. The place was established in 1865.


When I made the reservations I decided to go with a room with 2 full beds as I thought Baby G would end up sleeping with Binderclips and Baby A with me. Baby G is almost 3 (so definitely not a baby anymore, more like a very independent toddler who can do everything on her own according to her, I'll just call her "G" from here on out) and Baby A is almost 11 months (I call her my danger baby, because she always finds her way to the most dangerous items for a baby in any room she's in).


Anyways, while I expected that to be how the sleeping arrangements would go, it did not go that way at all. What happened you ask? G insisted on sleeping with Baby A and I. Because Baby A likes to pull G's hair I couldn't let Baby A sleep in the middle. Therefore, I slept sandwiched in between them. And by "slept" I mean didn't sleep at all. The entire night I tried to hold on to both of them so that neither of them fell out of bed. On top of that, it occurred to me (only after everyone but me had fallen asleep) that the hotel we were staying in was very old and, for some reason, this creeped me out. I laid there (again, sandwiched between my 2 cuties, holding on to them for dear life) looking around hoping not to see anything scary. Eventually I drifted off to sleep thinking 'this place isn't haunted, I'm just being a scardy cat'.


The next morning we went down to eat the free continental breakfast that came with the room. In doing so, we met an interesting character that shared with us that the place was, in fact, haunted.


Fast forward to the second night. I had us moved to a king room since I figured that all of us in one big bed would be less stressful for me and I might actually get some sleep.


Binderclips slept on one side with G next to him, I was next to G and on the other side of me was Baby A (Binderclips, G, me, then Baby A). Immediately everyone falls asleep but me again. However, this time I looked around for ghosts and got increasingly more scared. I eventually woke Binderclips up, had him put his hand on my back (What am I a baby? Yes. Especially when it comes to potential ghost encounters.) and could fall asleep. Hey, he signed up for this kind of crazy [pointing at myself], so he has no one else to blame but himself for having to put up with my weirdness (which, if you ask me, is solely due to his weirdness).


To my dismay, about 3 hours later, I was woken up by Binderclips because I was "creepy mumbling". I remember having a dream and very clearly saying "Why?" in it, however apparently because my lips were asleep it just came out as a creepy mumble (I should note I do recall saying "why?" repeatedly in the dream).


He woke me up saying "you're ok". But instead of it having a reassuring tone to it, it was more like he was asking a question (as if to communicate that he wasn't really sure if I was, in fact, ok).


At that point, neither of us could get back to sleep, although for different reasons. I obviously was scared and he was uncomfortable. I looked over at Binderclips to see him balancing his 6 ft frame on 1.5 ft of bed and thought 'that's not enough room for him, no wonder he can't sleep'.


I looked over at where Baby A was sleeping. I had put some pillows beside her on the edge of the bed taking up approximately 2 ft (or more) of the bed. At that point I had an epiphany "Binderclips should lay on the other side of Baby A!" I thought. I told him "Why don't you lay over by Baby A?", to which he got up and walked over to her side of the bed.


From the look on his face I could tell he had enough of not being able to sleep. He looked down at the pillows, then looked up at me with a glare. I thought "What a great idea, now he can get some sleep!" I must have looked pretty proud of myself because then he said "You had all this space over here the entire time?!!? I thought we were taking up the entire bed! Now I see that you are sleeping directly in the middle!"


I look down at myself and realize, I am sleeping directly in the middle (hey, I didn't want Baby A to fall off, ok?). I shrug it off and go to sleep and so does he, because, let's face it, we were both exhausted. The next morning we recap the night with each other both laughing hysterically. In fact, as I type this I am laughing.


In short - Is there something wrong with me? Yes, his name starts with "Binder" and ends with "clips". That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


Later gators!

Don't Judge Me

(originally posted 4/25/2013)


Today is not one of my better days, let me just start with that.



Like any other morning I got up and got dressed (sounds normal so far right?). Things were as usual until I was in the middle of a call for work.



As I sat on the call I noticed something moving near my foot out of the corner if my eye. I looked down to see a gigantic (and I mean HUGE) centipede crawling around. Immediately I screamed as if I was being kidnapped or something. At that point I remembered I was on a call for work. My first thought was 'thank goodness I was on mute!' My second thought was 'great! Now I have to present my teams' information' (which is on my computer in the area where I encountered the centipede, the area in which I can't bare to be in).



At that moment they call me to present our information...I grab the laptop and like a madwoman rip the cord out of the wall. I'm out of breath because I'm so stressed from the encounter with the bug. Standing, with my laptop in my hands, I give our status knowing that I sound as if I just ran a marathon.



I decide to go sit down at the kitchen table to calm myself down, then see this post it note that I wrote out earlier today:

In case you can't read my chicken scratch it says "I put my bra on inside out today and didn't notice for a couple if hours."

I'm not sure what's worse; the fact that I wrote myself a note like this (I wrote it to remind myself that I did it because I wanted to remember to tell Binderclips, and lets face it - I'm VERY forgetful lately) or the fact that I actually did it?

OR that I forgot to fix it and, therefore, am still wearing my bra inside out? (Oh come on! It's a sports bra type thing in my defense.)



Any who, I thought you all needed to know about all of this (as embarrassing as it is). Don't judge - you know you're not perfect either and surely you've put something on inside out at some point?



Alrighty, that's it from me. Later gators!

Look Into My Eye

There's nothing like a creepy eye picture to end your Friday! This has NOTHING to do with this post btw.

At first, it may seem as though this post has something to do with Target, it doesn't. I just thought that if you got your hopes up I would be sure to tear them down immediately.

We recently moved to Birmingham, MI. Today I went to one of my favorite places to get a smoothie for lunch - Beyond Juice. The place was hoppin' with people. What I noticed is that there were basically 3 different classifications of people:

1) Those who looked perfectly groomed, not a hair out of place with impeccable clothing and accessories to match.

2) Those who looked like they didn't care what others thought but had expensive clothing and accessories to match on.

3) Those who looked disheveled who didn't seem to care what others thought. These people also had no-name brand clothing on (which could also be expensive).

Which one do you think I fit into? 1? Nope. Most of the time my hair goes one way and I go the other. I don't think I can think of one day where this hasn't happened in my life. 2? Wrong again. I'm just going to say this and I hope I don't offend anyone with it. I don't even get the whole women and shoes and/or purses thing. I am soo not into it. For the longest time I had a Nike purse that I used. I finally gave it up when I was faced with an purse intervention at work. Since then my wonderfully, beautiful, fashion-forward sister-in-law bought me a purse that is awesome and that's all I have, the 1 purse. I am not into fashion (or fashionable, if you ask my brother) and I'm perfectly fine with that. I am also perfectly fine with others being the opposite, I just am not that way.

I usually don't notice what others have on, in fact I have no idea what is even good. I just know that Louis Vuitton is supposed to be pretty popular and I saw that name on several of the 1 and 2 folks' bags today. It got me to thinking, of the 3 groups of people who I seek out (knowingly or not knowingly) as friends. Hands down, I believe the answer is the 3rd group. So, here is a letter to my friends to let you know how I feel about you:

Dear Friends of Hulabuns,

You know those people with every hair in place? The people who look like they just walked out of a catalog? If you're friends with me, chances are, you are not one of those people.

Yes, I know, I hate to break it to you but I'm pretty sure at some point you have had a hair out of place...and, I love you for it. You are the perfectly imperfect friends that make me feel normal for my imperfections. I appreciate that you don't notice the spit up on my shirt or jeans or the salt stains on the bottom of my jeans. Or if you do, you accept that I am a work in progress (sometimes at it's worst point in production).

If I was one of those people who never had a hair out of place I would be exhausted. Looking as messy as I do is even exhausting on it's own.

I'm happy with being in the 3rd group above as I think I belong there. I am not one who wears fancy clothes or even buys expensive things. I believe living humbly best suits me, it gives me more time to value the people in my life and experiences I have more than I value possessions.

Thanks for being in my life and accepting me for who I am.

XOXO,

Hulabuns

My Mind - Unrestricted Access

Tight Pants Pic from Jimmy Fallon Show for your viewing pleasure

I was just taking a break from the kids, in other words, taking a shower. While in there I had, oh I don't know, maybe 20 full minutes to myself. As I was standing there soo many things were going through my head that I felt like I needed to document it somewhere.


Just a warning: This may be hard to keep up with, therefore I have included a  Change of Topic (COT) notification when they occur.


Anyways here we go:


Yay! Me time! Too bad at the end of it I will have handfuls of hair to say goodbye to*. Maybe I should wear a wig? I could literally have a different wig for every day of the week! Might be confusing to the kids tho...


COT


Man, Bruno Mars' hair was high during the half-time show.
I wonder if he hid snacks up in it? I'm pretty sure he could have hid some up there if he wanted to.
I wonder how much taller his hair made him? It looked like it was at least 6 inches high.
I bet guys and gals who are short were thinking "good idea, I could gain an easy 6 inches off of a hairdo like that."


COT


Singing "Everybody's talkin' bout my tight pants, I got my tight pants, I got my tight pants on"


COT


Will Ferrell's hair in the tight pants skit with Jimmy Fallon was really funny. It looked like that teacher's hair that I took Child Development (or something along those lines) from in high school...what was her name again? I believe she taught Child Development but didn't have any kids...


COT


Singing "Everybody's talkin' bout my tight pants, I got my tight pants, I got my tight pants on"


COT


I am soo not interested in wearing tight pants. I guess the pair I have been wearing lately are kind of tight but are they really tight pants? What makes a pant be classified as tight? Probably just that they are, in fact, tight...


COT


I'm hungry ... Singing "I like chicken...."


COT


Continue to sing "...I like liver, meow mix meow mix please deliver"


COT


The new black hole is the unblack hole?  Or would it be more like an tunnel based on Hawking's new theory? Black tunnel? But it converts stuff into other unrecognizable stuff... Unblack converter tunnel?


COT


Singing "Everybody's talkin' bout my tight pants, I got my tight pants, I got my tight pants on"


And that's all that I could remember that went through my head! Well, now 1 of 3 things has happened:
1) The tight pants song is in your head
2) The meow mix song is in your head
3) Both songs are in your head


Hope you have a great day!


*Do you know that when you (I'm talking to the ladies on this one) have a baby (or at least when I have just recently had a baby) your hair falls out in droves? Oh yeah, it literally cannot get off of your head fast enough...it's like your head is the plague and it's trying to avoid it.

A Letter to a Person Who Recently Unfriended Me on Facebook (PWRUMF)

Dear PWRUMF,

I hope all is well! I wouldn't know because, well, you unfriended me and I can't see if you are ok or what is going on with you.

Two days ago you shared a news posting that was talking about the Disney Channel and how they recently had a lesbian couple on one of their shows. Your comment was that you won't be watching that show anymore or something along those lines. It seemed like it resulted in a firestorm of comments with people disagreeing and agreeing with you. I wouldn't have even noticed the post if one of our mutual friends hadn't pointed it out. This individual didn't comment on your post and neither did I, and just so you know - the individual is gay. The person who pointed it out was saddened by the post, which makes me sad because I care about that person. 

Soon after I read the post you unfriended me. I only know this because the same person who told me about it asked me if I could see the post later in the day as they thought you had deleted it. When I went to check if it was still there, we were no longer friends.

That being said, I think it's important to understand that people have different beliefs (religious or otherwise) which, in some cases, dictate what people do in their every day lives. Sometimes (in fact many times) I don't understand this especially when it results in excluding certain groups of people based on various different reasons (sexual orientation for example). Let's just say "I don't get it" and leave it at that.

Either way you lean on this issue - I respect your beliefs. I may not agree with them but I do respect them.




So, you may ask yourself, why am I posting this if the person will never see this? (Let's be honest, even if I post it on Facebook, not many people will read it.) I'm posting it to say thank you to this PWRUMF. I'm thanking you because you made me come to terms with what I already knew but I guess didn't want to admit to myself; we aren't really friends and never really were to begin with (acquaintances - yes, friends - no).

It stung my ego a little for you to unfriend me, but after coming to this realization I realize I'm not going to miss your posts (even though they were few and far in between). I always hope you are doing well but I've never thought "I wonder how ____ is doing?" about you, which leads me to believe it was the right choice for both of us.

My hopes are that you unfriended me for this reason and not because I have different beliefs than you do. If that's the reason you unfriended me than I can say without hesitation, I think it's the wrong decision; one that only someone with a closed mind would make.




Goodbye.

P.S. Maybe we'll see each other at a class reunion someday - that'll be fun, right? And not in any way awkward. :)

Making Decisions: A New Approach

Yes, I did just actually do this...

I was going to make smoked salmon quiche, however I made it on Monday night and have been eating it all week. While it was good - I'm sick of it. 

It did help me make a decision but now I have to fill out another one. Wish me luck!

Snaz Fisheries aka My Battle with a Dangerous Predatory Animal

Saw these guys at the Kansas City Zoo a few years ago. Glad I saw them there and not out in the wild as described below.

Hello Everyone! We've had a lot going on the past couple of months (I mean A LOT)...had a baby, bought a house, that kind of stuff. I'm not going to bore you with those details. Instead, today I was reminded of this post by reading a Popular Science article today about an African fish that can catch and eat flying birds. I had to post this blog again because as soon as I saw this article it was all I could think about. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!


I originally posted this back in April of 2010, but thought I'd post it again, since it's one of my favorite Hulabuns nightmare stories and I'm pretty sure most of you haven't read it.

This one goes back a couple of years. One night Binderclips and I were in bed sleeping. I was sleeping with my head on his shoulder (this was before we realized what happens to me when I get hot while sleeping, more on that later). So, he was on his back and I was all snuggled up on my side laying towards him with my head on his shoulder, near his ear.

Anyways, I was having a dream that basically consisted of me watching a documentary on predatory animals. It started with the black bear and how it "cautiously sneaks up on elk and moose" (said in a documentary type voice - think Alec Baldwin-ish (but not the yelling at his daughter Alec, more like 30 Rock Alec)). It went on to describe how "the black bear only hunts salmon at night as it's dark fur is easily seen during the day". I found this to be gripping and could not stop watching such a fascinating documentary.

Next came the Snaz fish, in which "sneaks up on it's prey, then, without warning, eats the prey whole in one gulp!" 'HOLY SHIT!' I thought, 'it looks like such a harmless fish'. I was obviously not expecting it to eat the nice little fishy it was following (think Finding Nemo with Dory following around Marlin type deal) whole - in an instant. 'And I thought they were friends!' I thought, devastated.

Then, all of a sudden, I was dropped into the water to compete with the Snaz fish. "Swim quick and keep chomping" said the documentary type voice "you must catch the prey before the Snaz fish does." So, what did I do? I FREAKING STARTING SWIMMING AND CHOMPING SCARED FOR MY LIFE!! I was chomping and swimming and swimming and chomping and just could not catch the darn prey AND THE SNAZ FISH WAS QUICKLY APPROACHING!! I just tried to swim faster and chomp harder!!

Next thing I know I'm looking at Binderclips who's looking at me with a terrified look on his face.


I'm awake. 'Crap, guess I lost that competition' I think. "What are you doing??!!" he says (in a terrified voice). I respond with "Oh, I was just having some dream about a documentary in which I was in a competition with the Snaz fish. I had to eat the prey before it did, you know that kind of stuff" (thinking he must have just woken up from a terrifying nightmare himself). I follow it up with "Are you ok? Must have been some nightmare you were having, you look terrified". Still looking terrified he says "NO, I'M NOT OK! I thought you were going to bite me!!"


"Bite you! Why would I do that?" I say. "Because you were squirming all around and chomping at my ear!" he says. To which I respond to with a burst of laughter. I flash back to my dream and do recall doing both of those things, however did not think I was really doing them or was I?

I finally get him to believe that I was not actually trying to bite him (it was harder than you might think as we had an incident before this in which he was teasing me with a piece of chocolate and I MAY have bit him, accidentally, of course).

To this day he does not let me live down the Snaz fish incident. In fact, on occasion I find that he's named things 'Snaz Fisheries' (he made something on my computer this name, I forget what it was exactly). We still have discussions on how I came up with "Snaz fish" as the type of fish, which I honestly have no clue why that was it's name. :)

Have a great day folks! Later gators!

Originally posted 4/7/2010

Baby A - Makes Her Entrance

Baby A's inquisitive look

Wondering what I've been up to? 

Baby A decided to make her entrance on September 15! Only 9 days early! I thought for sure she was coming the week prior to that...I was having consistent Braxton Hicks (every 2-5 minutes for a couple days there) and that's what happened the day before Baby G decided to make her entrance (she was 11 days early).

Our little smiler, she's' always smiling in her sleep!

Any who, in case you were wondering (and really even if you're not, cause I'm gonna tell you anyways) how the whole labor and delivery thing went - I figured I'd share the story.

First thing's first though - isn't she cute??!! Seriously. She's probably the cutest thing you've ever seen, I'm sure of it. ;)

So back to the labor and delivery:

At around 4:30AM on 9/15 I woke up because I was uncomfortable. Thinking that I just needed to adjust myself and how I was sleeping because I looked like this and was HUGE:

I tried to adjust and realized my discomfort came about every 3-5 minutes. The real contractions had begun. Binderclips had went into Baby G's room around 2AM and had fallen asleep on her floor waiting for her to fall back asleep. To make matters worse, Baby G, who had never done anything like this before, somehow found her way to directly in front of her bedroom door to sleep. This made it near impossible for me to open the door and tell Binderclips what was going on without waking her up.

By 6:30AM my contractions had gotten more serious. I decided it was time to wake the hubs up. I opened up the door and peered into Baby G's room and whispered "this is it" over and over again until he woke up. He finally got up, called his parents to come and get Baby G and they showed up in between 7:30-8:00. By this time, my contractions were definitely getting stronger faster. I kind of struggled to get Baby G's diaper changed and get her dressed to head out the door with her Grandparents.

We arrived at the hospital at 9:00AM...so that makes the count for how many hours I was in labor at this point 4.5 hours. They checked me and I was only dilated to 4cm. By 9:30 they admitted us.

I also should mention that because my contractions were so powerful at this point I decided that standing up and leaning over onto the bed made them slightly (ever so slightly) less painful. From 9:30-10:00 I stood there taking my contractions in stride. Almost right on the dot, my water broke at 10:00.

I asked for an epidural immediately. They told me the anesthesiologist was giving another patient one at the time and that they needed my lab work before he could give me one.

It was amazing that I even survived the half hour between 10:00 to 10:30. I literally thought I might die. I continued to stand there, leaning over when contractions hit and got increasingly more painful. I kept asking where the anesthesiologist was and eventually all I could say was "please help" as my brain and mouth combined seemed to not function anymore than that. In my head I was saying the worst profanities you can imagine. I'd like to say that this is a testament to what it would take me to drop an f-bomb in public. I came close but not even childbirth itself was able to bring it out of me.

Do you know that when your water breaks things (and we'll just leave it at that) continue to find their way out? Well they do. Every time it happened I would say to the nurse "{insert object of your choice here} is coming out!!" and she would say "that's normal". It was around this time that the nurse said to me "Now, if you feel any pressure, you need to let me know as soon as possible."

Well, people, I felt some pressure right at 10:30. I told the nurse and she told me I needed to lay down. Did I mention that the anesthesiologist still hadn't came?? I laid down so she could check me, to which she said "Ok, honey you're ready to push."

"WTF!!?? Push? PUSH?? No. NO. I'm not ready to push! My body and this little girl were ready, I'M NOT READY! I didn't mentally prepare for having this baby with NO pain relief. OMG OMG OMG!! I'M NOT GOING TO MAKE IT! " I thought frantically.

It was at this point that I also started to think about how mad I was at Binderclips for doing this to me. As he walked around the room I thought "Must be nice to be able to walk around IN NO PAIN WHAT-SO-EVER....JERK!"...amongst other things.

At that point the doctor had made his way into the room and I began to push. By 10:37 we had welcomed a perfect little girl into this world!

The only difference between her and Baby G was a half of an ounce. I'd like to think my body hits it's max capacity when the baby gets to 7 lbs 13.5 oz (Baby G was 7 lbs 13 oz) and 21 inches (both were this long). (There must be no more room left at that point or something, who knows.) Baby A came out looking around at the world taking it all in almost immediately.

So, there you have it. I had Baby A au naturale. I guess the good thing is now I can say I did it once!  Enjoy the pictures!

The girls together, one of my favorite pictures