5 Things You Might Not Guess About Me

Sure, it's common knowledge that I'm an army wife and mother of five creative, energetic, and noisy little children, but did you know that.....

1.) I make my own hula hoops and have been into "hoop dancing" as it's called for the past several years. I don't get to practice as often as I'd like since things like moving, cold weather, and pregnancies have gotten in the way, but it is something I really enjoy. This video is from 2009 when I was first learning how to hoop.

2.) Back in the day I used to do some really crazy, fun things with my hair.

 

3.) I am a gigantic, geek-out over every little thing, Harry Potter nerd. I spent years and years making fun of Harry Potter and the people who were obsessive about it until the year that my husband was in Korea and the kids and I were stuck in the states. We used to get pizza and a movie out of the Redbox kiosk every week and after being dead tired of full length cartoons, I decided to get Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince since it seemed family friendly but NOT an animated film. I wasn't really expecting to be that into it since I hadn't seen any of the other movies, but it was only a buck so what did I have to lose? We rented that movie SO many times and then snow-mageden happened and at the same time ABC Family was doing a Harry Potter marathon. Since we were stuck in the house we decided to watch and I've been hooked ever since. I read through all of the books for the first time last year and I am already re-reading them. I've got all the books in e-book format so I can keep them on my phone and on my nook. I have all the movies on DVD and had the Deathly Hallows on blu-ray over a year before we actually owned a blu-ray player. Now that we do have one, naturally I'm dying to get all the movies on blu-ray. I play the video games on xbox even though I generally hate video games. Huge, huge, fan.

 

 4.) I am extremely particular about food. I eat meat, but I won't eat it off the bone. Something about it weirds me out. I don't put any condiments on my sandwiches- no mayo, mustard, dressing of any kind. I also prefer to eat salad without dressing most of the time, and often I would rather have spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese than any sauce. I also eat hot dogs plain, burgers plain, and gravy on mashed potatoes just won't do. Oddly enough, I'll only eat a grilled cheese sandwich if I can dip it in ketchup. I don't eat barbeque, and even though I'm Mexican, I can't stand beans.

and....

5.) I love research. If I am interested in something, I want to find out all I can about it. Whether it's planning a theoretical vacation or a new drugstore lipstick, a new stroller or some other type of baby gear, I bust out the google-fu and will know every single in and out of whatever product or plan that vacation that I will probably never go on to within $100. I almost never buy things on impulse and when I do, I typically end up having buyer's remorse and regretting it.

Flashback Friday

This was taken in the summer of 2007 and the sweetie on my shoulder is my second oldest, Ephraim. I think he is 15 months old in this picture, which is how old my youngest son, Hickory is now. This was also taken 11 months into my husband's 16 month long deployment to Iraq. Thank you to my friend, Jen, who found this photo the other day! I could not have gotten through that time without her!

Not your typical resolutions

     I've only been to the gym a couple time since Christmas since when my husband and kids are on holiday schedules, I prefer to be spending time with them. However everyone returns to their regularly scheduled programming this morning and I know it's that it's that time of the year when my gym is going to be very crowded with a bunch of new year's resolution folks all trying to shed the pounds. The sad part is that nearly all of those people will quit by Valentine's Day. At the end of 2012 I myself had much the same ambitions. I was all, "I was this size when I came into my twenties and I want to leave my twenties the same way!" Something changed between Christmas and New Year's Day, though. My husband has ALWAYS told me that he loves me the way I am. That I'm beautiful and attractive to him just the way I am. He's supported my desires to join a gym and make better eating choices because it's what I wanted to do and they are healthy decisions, but he has never once made me feel like I am anything less than perfection in his eyes. According to the BMI plus calculator on WebMD which takes you height, weight, age, body type, and waist size all into account I'm also totally healthy. It just clicked in me one day:

     If I am healthy the way I am now, and my husband is totally into me the way I am now, then why isn't that good enough for me? Who am I trying to impress? And furthermore, what type of message am I sending to my daughter by saying that being healthy and being attractive to your spouse isn't enough?

     I know my daughter is only 4 months old and not really aware of things like that yet, but it's still something I want to be on guard about. I don't want her to grow up with me teaching her that it's not enough to be healthy. For months now, really even since before she was born, I have been telling myself that I refuse to buy any new clothes what so ever until I am at my goal weight/measurements. It's almost like I'd been punishing myself. It's like I was telling myself that I don't deserve to have anything nice and new that I really love because I'm not as small as I used to be. The funny thing about that is that when I was a size 2 I could never find clothes that I really loved because I was more of a juniors size and body type and I didn't then and don't now want to look like a teenager! It was so hard to look like the mature wife and mother that I am when I was that small. I had exercised all the curves of a womanly figure away and while I loved how fit I was and how great I felt inside, I longed for the curvaceous va va voom figure that I've always wanted. So why on earth was I aiming to make myself miserable in order to gain a body that I wasn't in love with when I had it? It's ridiculous!
     I have declared 2013 (for me at least) to be the year of "yes". Yes, I am beautiful the way that I am. Yes, I can have a new skirt, or pair of pants, or dress at this size. I am going to embrace who I am today and the body that I have right now. I'm still going to make better decisions when it comes to food, but if it's one of the kids' birthdays I'm not going to skip a piece of cake for the sake of getting skinny and then pout cause I'm missing out. I'm still going to go to the gym because I just feel better when I have that break in the day that is just for me and I can those endorphins going, but I'm not going to be trying to burn 1,000 calories every time I walk through the doors. I'm going to say yes to being healthy and happy.
     Now I know that there are some people out there who maybe do need to lose a few pounds for health reasons, and I say power to you and wish you all the best. But for the other ladies out there who feel the pressure to lose weight just because they aren't at their pre-baby weight anymore or because they aren't the size of a celebrity or runway model, I'd like to ask you to pause and see where you are getting the message that being a size whatever and healthy isn't good enough. Let's all band together and encourage each other to be healthy and love each other as the unique shapes that we are whether they are curvy hourglasses, or apples, pears, or rectangles. Let's learn how to love ourselves where we are NOW in the new year.

Downton Abbey

     Are you a Downton Abbey fan? Downton Abbey is a period drama on Masterpiece Classics on PBS. I first came across the show when season one was on Netflix when I was pregnant with Hickory. It's really not something I would have clicked on, but John thought it looked interesting, so we watched the first episode and then I was hooked! Mr. Bates and Anna who are so in love but plagued by so much strife. The relationship between Lady Mary and Lady Edith. At the beginning of season one Lady Mary seemed like such a shallow girl and poor Lady Edith was stuck living in her shadow. However, it wasn't long before I saw Lady Mary as frank and practical and Lady Edith as a conniving, witch of a thing. And The Dowager Countess of Grantham played so beyond perfectly by Dame Maggie Smith! She delivers the absolute best one liners and is hilariously funny. And the costumes and the castle!! They are simply breathtaking.

Season three has already done a complete run in the UK and I know many of my friends watched it online, but I decided to hold out until it aired on PBS and guess what folks! Sunday is the long awaited (for me) day! I don't have Netflix anymore, but I'm pretty sure seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Amazon Prime video right now if you'd like to make it a Downton Abbey weekend and get refreshed or just start from the beginning to know what's going on in the story. Season one begins with the sinking of the Titanic and season 2 ends just after the end of WWI. Season three starts Sunday evening on PBS at 8pm here in Idaho, but you can check your local listings.

Are you a DA fan? Did you wait for season three or will you be watching it again if you didn't?

New Year, New Clothes

     It's been almost a month since my last blog post, but what can I say? December is a crazy month. It seemed like it took us FOREVER to finally shake the evil flu from the house. Luckily Nicola and I didn't get sick, but my husband and our sons were passing it back and forth for weeks. We only lasted on Truth in the Tinsel for about a week and a half before throwing in the towel. While the concept was wonderful and my kids greatly enjoyed the crafts, I feel like a project of that magnitude is better suited for either children that aren't school aged yet or for homeschooling families. My kids are in regular ol' public school and when they would come home they'd have homework and dinner and by the time we could do the day's ornament it would be a scramble to get it done before bedtime or they would end up staying up late. Plus, let's be honest, the last thing I feel like doing at 7-8pm is digging out a bunch of messy craft stuff that I'm then going to stay up late cleaning up. I'd still like to do some version of it next year, but I think limit it to just an ornament for each Sunday in Advent.
   
     For Christmas my mom gave me some money to spend at one of my favorite places to online window shop- Heartbreaker Fashion. I have been looking at their site for a few years now, but had yet to actually buy anything because I've been pregnant for much of the past three years. The husband and I are officially DONE having any more babies, so now I get to try and build up a wardrobe practically from scratch since it's been so long since I could buy non-maternity clothes and I don't have much that fits the way I'd like anymore. This is what I finally settled on ordering:

First I decided every gal needs some good, basic tops. I like knit tops myself. I find them more comfortable for day to day tasks of dishwashing, picking up babies, changing diapers, and other motherly things. So I decided to get the Hollie top in black, and the Michelle tee in white.

Hollie top by Mandie Bee by Heartbreaker

Michelle tee by Heartbreaker Fashion

(The model in the white tee is Angie Alamilla. Isn't she gorgeous? I love to hunt for the photos of her in the clothes because in the summer when I'm a bit more tan my skintone looks just like hers. I don't see models too often that have very olive skin like my own to gauge what a garment is going to look like on my coloring. I hope they use her to model their stuff forever. lol.)

To go along with my basic tops, I thought a fun printed skirt would be nice. I decided to get an a-line since it's easier to move in than a pencil skirt, but it won't catch in the wind on the same scale that a full circle would. I've been dying to get this particular skirt ever since it came on the site because I honestly cannot think of a print that is more "me" than this:

A-line skirt in Cosmic by Mandie Bee for Heartbreaker

Dear Lord!! It's turquoise and coral and atomic print!!! Basically all of my favorite things and would look great with my new black Hollie top in the Fall/Winter as well as with my white Michelle tee in the Spring/Summer. I think it's safe to say I am most excited about that one.

Lastly something that I deemed a necessity is a sweater. I've lived in the south my whole life so I haven't really had the need to own legitimate winter clothing. However, Idaho has REAL winters. There's been a good layer of snow on the ground for a week and today the temperature didn't climb out of the single digits in Fahrenheit! For most of today it was all of 3 degrees F. (That's -16C!!) I'm tired of just trying to put a cardigan on over things, so I broke down and ordered this bad boy:

The Graduate sweater in argyle by Heartbreaker Fashion

 It actually extends all the way to the hip, so it will look nice either tucked in or left out. I love the 1960's vibe of it. They also have a cardigan version of this if you don't live in a frozen wasteland like myself.

Something I love about Heartbreaker is that they are made in the good ol' USofA, honey! I like that I'm supporting people that are making a living wage as well as the US economy.

I think it's probably going to take a couple weeks before my order arrives since I ordered while they were closed for New Years, but I can't wait to try on new stuff! Is there ever a time that a gal stops being excited about new clothes? What do you think of Heartbreaker Fashion? Like it? Love it? Do you own any of their stuff?

Anonymous Blessings and Truth in the Tinsel

Every year at Christmas time you hear on the news about people paying off layaway for others and people finding money on their doorstep or in their mailbox and this year it happened to me! Last Friday I received an envelope in the mail with no return address and inside their was only a small note that said, "Merry Christmas! May God bless you!" and $150 in cash! The envelope had my first and last name and my current Idaho address. Seeing as we've lived in Idaho for less than two months, I initially assumed it had to be someone who knew me. I have no idea how anyone else would get my address. Never the less, I wanted to make sure we did something meaningful with this blessing.
If you remember, I had posted a Jesse Tree reading plan using the Jesus Storybook Bible that I was intending on doing with the kids this year. Well, instead of doing that, I decided to use the mystery money to buy the necessary craft supplies to do Truth in the Tinsel with the kiddos instead. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but we don't do Santa with our kids. Never have, and never will. I would write out all the reasons for that, but the lovely Jen Hatmaker already has a blog post the sums it up with much better writing skills than I posses, so I'll just link you to her thoughts. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Elf on the Shelf unless you either don't have kids or live under a rock, and that was a big influence in us choosing to go with Truth in the Tinsel. I wanted something that created that same daily sense of anticipation and excitement for my children, but centered on Jesus instead. After all, isn't that what Advent is all about? I like the hands on nature and creative outlet that goes with Truth in the Tinsel, but knew we wouldn't be able to do it because I just don't have a ton of craft supplies on hand after moving. However, with the arrival of money we weren't expecting I suddenly DID have money to go out and get all the supplies!
Here is our first week of ornaments:

Quest for the Perfect Christmas Tree

     Today is the infamous Black Friday.  No shopping going on here. Instead we bundled up and headed into the Caribou-Targhee National Forest for our first experience with cutting down our very own Christmas tree!

The trail. The picture does not do justice to how steep it was.

      The trail leading up the mountain was crazy steep and the ground was frozen.  We did our best to make some distance between us and the parking area, but it wasn't long before the cold, thin air was burning our lungs and the kids were slipping on the path so my husband and the older boys took a detour to the closest tree that would meet our height restriction while I stood with the younger three kids on the trail.

Canon and Ephraim on the mountainside.

Hickory.

John with the winning tree!

     If getting up the hill was tough, getting back down to the van was down right treacherous. I had Nicola wrapped against the front side of me so she could be bundled up in my coat, but Doyle wanted to hold my hand and I was terrified that he was going to pull the baby and me down the side of the mountain, so John ended up taking him down while I stayed with the tree, the axe, and the shotgun.

John and the kids headed back to the van.

Tree loaded up on the van.

     We had to stop a few times on the way home to tighten the tree down because it kept wanting to shift around, but eventually we made it home and quickly set to work getting it all trimmed with big cool white bulbs and blue and silver ornaments.

Doyle and Hickory in front of the tree.

I got our ornaments at Wal-Mart and the cool spiral hooks I got at Big Lots. Aren't they pretty?

Say cheese!

       How did you spend your Black Friday? Were you part of the hoards of crazy shoppers? Did you put up your tree? Did you sleep off the turkey hangover??