Just Some Stuff

One of these years I'm going to make it through the WHOLE year of doing Project Life.  I didn't even attempt it for 2014, despite faithfully making a place holder image each week on Instagram and pinning ideas all year. I decided to try it again though for 2015.  I have to start scrapbooking again!

I was going through the journaling cards I've made and collected that I have saved on my laptop, and I realized that I really love those fill-in-the-blank, form type cards.  For example:

And then I made this one, just to be funny:

Some are my own design, others I took something I saw somewhere and recreated with my own twist, others may be lifted from Pinterest, but I'm not completely sure.  

Let's see how far I make it this year.

Fall is BACK!

Second day of FALL, Y'ALL!  Only...

Yeah.  Insert frowny face here.  The high for today is supposed to be 102.  How lame is that?  Still, I can pretend!  Let me share my favorite things right now with you, in no particular order.

This child's bed head.  Her hair is super curly and super fine, and she is a crazy flip-flopper in her sleep.  It makes for some pretty epic bed head.  Thankfully I've figured out how to tame it!

This boy. Total mom brag moment here - He started Kindergarten this year and not only is he the only kid in his class who can read, he's reading at a second grade level.

Also, I want to add my haircut.  I finally feel like I found a good haircut and style for me.  Now let's see if I can properly maintain it.

My sorority.  Yup, eleven years after the fact I've decided to get back into it.  After all, it isn't supposed to be for just four years, it's supposed to be for a lifetime, right?  I need to get out of the house more and be more involved with other adults.  I was thinking to myself, sure, I can go out and look for something, but I already have this thing with people I already know built into my life.  Why not get back into that?  I've attended two alumni events in the last month and we're going to start planning for our grand convention next month.  I've paid my alumni dues, busted out my lavaliere and badge, and even bought a cute violet pin to wear for more casual events.

I may or may not have also started to teach the baby recruitment spirit songs. It's super cute!

Speaking of getting her ready for college, I'm also getting a huge kick out of teaching her slightly inappropriate things such as how to play flippy cup.  I'm easily amused.

Making The Team.  Dang I love me some Kitty Carter, but I wouldn't want to have her judging me.  The woman is awesome yet scary as hell.

Fall scents!!!  I so look forward to this time of year because it has the best scented candles of all!  I waited until Bath and Body Works put these on sale 2 for $22 and then printed off a $10 off $30 coupon to make these a great deal. Also, that lotion?  I wish I had gotten a bigger bottle.  YUM.

My pretty new fall wreath.  I saw one just like this on Pinterest years ago and finally decided to bite the bullet and make myself one.  The last one I made before Bubba was born, if I recall correctly, so it was time.

Glow in the dark nail polish.  It's so flipping cool!!! I found this at Target in the Hallowe'en section. This is my favorite brand of polish anyway (yes, even over OPI and Essie) and the fact that it's only two bucks a bottle doesn't hurt either.  I polished my nails and Kelly's nails with this and then when I went to bed I couldn't stop admiring my glowy nails under the blankets.  Again, I'm easily amused!

Card making.  Finding out that one of my neighbors is into stamping and paper crafting too has really gotten me back into this hobby.  We split orders to save on shipping, text each other pictures of completed projects, squeal over YouTube videos from our favorite stampers, and sigh over cool new product because we want to buy it all and know we shouldn't.  We've reorganized our stamps and dies and borrow items back and forth.  In fact, those are her stamps in this photo because she had a baby on Monday so I knew she wasn't going to be making anything any time soon!

So I guess I should add my stamp buddy (my husband calls her my pusher, haha) to this list!

Pumpkin spice chai lattes.  I can't drink coffee.  It's too harsh on my stomach and when I do manage to drink it the taste is usually too bitter because I'm not used to it.  The closest I get is the occasional Frappucino.  Chai lattes, however, are a different story entirely.  Add the pumpkin spice flavoring to it and it just tastes like Fall.

And yeah, I totally was watching Scooby Doo. Alone at night, without my kids.  Don't judge.

Hallowe'en decorations!!!  I look forward to Hallowe'en every year, not only because it's seriously fun, but also because it usually marks the end of the hot weather here in the Phoenix area.  That's right folks - summer here lasts until almost November.  How bad does that suck?

Until that cooler weather comes, I can distract myself with glorious Hallowe'en. I love going out shopping to look for new decorations to add to my collection. I love to look at pictures of how others have decorated online.  I love planning costumes for my kids. Honestly, Hallowe'en is second only to Christmas on my list of favorite holidays.

The blow mold ghost is a new acquisition this year.  I didn't even know they still made blow molds! I will admit that I would love to have a bunch of vintage ones in my collection, but they don't really show up in the thrifts or antique stores around here very often.  It's too bad, because I just love the retro look of them.

The spider is new too.  That big metal circle thing has to be about four - four and a half feet across, to give you some idea of how huge the spider is.  I debated between getting the one big spider or covering it with a bunch of smaller ones, but I'm glad I went in this direction.  It's really freaking creepy!

This guy.

And his weird little bendy self.

I love having him in our family since Leila passed this summer.  He's the perfect cat for our family, even though I could probably do without him getting on the fridge or the tops of the cabinets. He snuggles with me in bed, plays tag with the kids, tolerates them when he's not playing, and in general is just a good cat.  Let's not forget to mention that he's an absolutely gorgeous flame-point Siamese! A lot of these cats have really badly crossed eyes, or strange dark spots on their noses, but he has neither.  He's just handsome.

This isn't to say that I don't miss having a dog.  I think about getting a dog every day.  I miss having a dog, but I know that now isn't the right time for our family.  That doesn't make the void any less noticeable for me though. I love the cat but I know I really need a dog.

That's a little peek into where I am now.

Please stop saying "I'm SOOO ocd!"

Have you ever heard of trichotillomania? It's a form of OCD where the sufferer pulls out their hair one strand at a time, usually by the root. It usually starts as something you do absentmindedly and gets worse during times of stress or anxiety.

THANKFULLY I don't pull out my hair. I do, however, pick at the skin at the bottom of my feet. I know - gross, right? Since I got home from Paris last June I've picked so much skin from there I honestly don't know how I even have any left. I have many cuts on my feet where I have picked until I bled, and a few larger sores up to the size of a dime.

As you can probably imagine, it hurts. I hobble when I walk barefoot, or when I have been on my feet too long, or when I shower. It hurts but the pain isn't enough to make me stop picking. I'm now resorting to wearing socks on the house to deter myself, sort of how you would put an e-collar on a dog to stop them from licking a wound. Poor stupid animal can't help its self, you know? They are my "socks of shame" I guess.

Since my symptoms are worse in the summer, I'm hoping I'll be able to stop soon.  Last summer my OCD and anxiety manifested itself in the form of a 35 pound weight gain in about four month's time.  I still have not been able to lose that weight.  So at least that didn't happen this year.

So why am I telling you this? To show you that OCD isn't funny. Some people see it as a punchline to a joke, or something to giggle about as they straighten a picture on a wall. It's not a joke to those of us who have it. OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  You are not a disorder, so if you do find yourself uttering the phrase "I'm so OCD!" just stop.  You are not being funny.  You are being insensitive and coming across as terribly ignorant.

I just want to do my part to build awareness about this.  I was first diagnosed in 2003, have been on medication for it off and on since then, and have even found myself in a mental health facility (AKA a "nut hut") due in part to this. It's a crappy crappy crappy thing with which to live.

So Tell Me...

Am I the only one who did not know that this:

Can do this?

When the guy at the Apple Store suggested just buying that plug bit when we got to France instead of having to buy a whole set of plugs to get the appropriate converter, I was shocked.  Here this whole time I thought I had broken the dumb thing because that piece kept trying to pop off.

Duh.

Bon Jour, Beezies!

Today I am greeting you, through the magic of scheduled posting, from Paris!

Hennie Haworth

My friend Suzy and I are working on our fat kid status as you read this.  Bread, cheese and macarons, baby!  Come to mama!

My husband, who is the BEST HUSBAND EVER, is currently at home with our chirrens, so don't go trying to Google me and rob my house.  He is there and so is the dog.  ;)