A House Tale

So...about two months ago we moved out of our "penthouse apartment" into a house with a yard. We have been wanting to do this for YEARS, but never bit the bullet until now. We are loving the space and the fact that we can all run around the house without anyone downstairs banging on the ceiling with a broom (true story).

One thing we never really had to worry about in the apartment was bugs. We never had any bug issues; no spiders, no ants, no creepy crawlies of any kind. We did have the occasional bee, but never in OUR apartment, just the hallway before our door or outside. I knew moving into a house would change this. It would mean there would be a chance that bugs could be lurking in every crevice and corner.

Now, I'm not really afraid of bugs, or spiders, or anything, except for bees, ironically. Well, let us talk about this morning. I wake up and groggily mosey into the kitchen and turn the light on. What do I see scaling it's way down from the cupboard to the counter?! A tiny, little, brown spider, that I think, just might, be looking to bite my head off and eat me alive.

I froze, I wasn't sure what to do. Of course it scurried it's creepy little butt away and I didn't see it again. So, I went down stairs to take my shower and as I'm drying myself off I shake my towels out about 30 extra times. Because, we all know that if there is one spider there is a million more and most likely they are hiding in my towels. I get dressed and I feel my pant leg tug on my calf ever so slightly, this is when I swear the spider has sunken it's death fangs into my calf and I just need to wait for my leg to whither and fall off later today. I go back upstairs to take a drink of my Diet Coke, morning fuel if you will, and I swear that a million little creepy crawlers are just floating on top of the succulent, dark liquid waiting to attack my precious tongue.

actual size vs size in my head

 

Of course none of the latter is true. There was only the one little guy, who probably will get zapped up behind the fridge or something. None the less, I will be checking my bed a little closer tonight before I sneak my feet  into that deep, dark hole at the bottom of my bed. I do want to keep my toes after all.

Procrastination at it's best!

I am the world's biggest procrastinator. It's a very fitting title for me. I tend to put things of until the last minute, my alarm in the morning, Kaydin's bedtime (just love having time with her), mailing packages, you name it I procrastinate it. To me, life gets too hectic to care about the time crunch all the time. I have gotten much better, MUCH better about arriving places on time. I am even the first person there on occasion! But, in the general sense of things, I think that it's nice for me to step back and get that extra five minutes of sleep, to find one last thing to go into that birthday package to be mailed, to have one last huuuggg from Kaydin. I always feel so busy all the time, mostly because I am, and I really want to remember these little moments in my life.

Anyway, that was my long introduction into why I had such a long break before I posted anything again. But, I did do some things off of my 30 days to 30 list. Quite a few actually!

Okay, first one, I missed writing about it before, buy a stranger's dinner. Once upon a time I was grabbing lunch through the Taco Bell drive thru when the car in front of me paid for my 7 dollar meal. I thought to myself, well that was sweet I better pass on the love. I told the cashier that I would pay for the car behind me and handed her my card. She said, are you sure? Their total is 22 dollars? How do you back out of that!!! Ummm, no Ma'am I am actually too big of a cheapskate and will not be okay with that. I paid for their meal and felt good about it none the less. Well I wanted to repeat this scenario, but at a restaurant instead. My friend was getting married and having a bridal shower at a local restaurant and I thought to myself this is the perfect time to do this. She had some bridesmaids coming from out of town and I knew one of them didn't have much money (she had spent quite a bit on the plane ticket and dress). I decided I would buy her dinner! It was exactly what I wanted to do and it felt really nice because I could actually see it happen this time.

We love to eat, love it. I especially like to eat out. One of my goals was to eat at a new restaurant. Problem with loving to eat out so much is that I had been to most of the restaurants in town. Lucky for me a new one just opened up this month, Smiling Moose Deli. It was delicious and I have already been back again.

Sticking with the food theme, I also took Kaydin to the farmer's market. She had a blast running around looking at all the pumpkins. She also got to taste test a few things, including a carrot. Girl loves carrots. I hope to make it more of a regular thing this next summer.

 

I love to do my hair, but I am quite lazy about it. I do ponytails about 99% of the time. Doesn't mean I don't like to get pampered, right? So, I decided to let my dear-old-friend-hairstylist do whatever she wanted to my hair. She did and I actually really like it!

I deserve to be pampered, I am a hard working lady with lots of STRESS (not really, but it helps plead my case). I got my first massage on the day before my wedding. It was glorious. I haven't had many since, but I wanted to get a 30 minute one. The theme here is 30, trust me 60 minutes would have been even nicer! But, 30 minutes did the job and my back thanks me for it. I should really do it more often. I also got a pedicure, these I do more regularly. I miss when my dear-old-friend-hairstylist was in school and I could get cheap pedicures from her. I used to go every other week for awhile, I was very swollen with 'ye 'ol baby in my tummy. I love to get them and, again, should do it more often.

 

 

Last one! Alex told me to sleep in until 10 for part of my 30 days till 30. I was off this last Monday and thought I will do it then! Nope, woke up when Kaydin woke up, let Alex get her and closed and squeezed and willed my eyes to put me back to sleep. Never happened, it was a good effort though right?

There's my time in a nutshell. I gotta get moving on this list. It's almost my birthday already!!!!

Pinterest for the win

Right about when Kaydin was 6 months old I started using Pinterest and all it's craftiness, Marhthaness, glory. I pinned an idea to do a first year time capsule. You put all the first year's memories in a container and give it to the child when they turn 18. Cheaper than a car, amirite?

I finally sat down to do it last night. I love sentimental stuuuufffff. I would have LOVED it if my mom had Pinterest way back in the 80's and made me a little box of goodies like this. I hope, HOPE, that Kaydin loves this little box as much as I do. Going through and packing it was such a bitter sweet moment. Her little hat she wore in the hospital, her take home outfit, and her 1st birthday invitation. I am about to get all crafty up in here and make her 2nd birthday invitation, so this one was the hardest I think.

When I first had Kaydin it was hard, really hard. It was a big adjustment and she cried and woke me up ALL. THE. TIME. But, she was a newborn and this is what she was supposed to do. It took awhile before I fell in love with the role of motherhood. I didn't have that immediate feeling of, "this is what I am supposed to do". I still feel 16 half the time and wish my mom still did my laundry. But, right around 16 weeks or so I was absolutely  smitten. I never looked back. My world is wonderful because of Kaydin and I wouldn't change a thing. Packing up her first year and putting it in a time capsule is surreal. She is about to turn two and time just flew by!

As Ferris Bueller says, Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. And he didn't even have any kids!

25.   Make Kaydin’s 1^st year time capsule (FINALLY)

It's getting cold in here, so put on your mittens!

Well that was fun, probably not. Thursday night it started to rain and we had a blizzard warning. Blizzard warnings are NOTHING when you live in South Dakota. We are used to them "threatening us with mounds of snow." It never, ever, ever happens. Whelp, better eat my words on this one, it happened AND I was stuck at my sister's across town from my dear, loving hubby.

It was chilly, but warm, power went out, but it wasn't TOO bad, but by the third day, I was ready to get out of there! We were having a grand old time in the beginning. We woke up to a little blowing snow and heat, glorious heat. We watched some TV and ate some snacks. Then we laid the kids down for a nap and the power went out. So, we twiddled our thumbs, complained, and low and behold! The power came back on after an hour! Yahoo! We proceeded to do normal snow day rituals, chatting, cuddling on the couch, and all that jazz. We were making dinner when the power went out AGAIN, but then it came back on? So, we were like hmm, okay we are still cool with this whole snow day deal. BUT half an hour later, it went out again.

So, we ate by candle light, put the kids to bed, and followed suit shortly after. After about the worst night of sleep ever and a nice 5:30 am wake up call, thanks to a little lady who will remain unnamed, we settled in the living room, just to find out power had not been restored and mother nature sneezed a crap-ton of snow all over the place. It was awful, terrible things happened, and I'm not just talking about the microwave not working. Weddings were cancelled, cattle were killed, and many homes were damaged. People were stranded in cars all over the city, homes are STILL without electricity, and I was still far away from my home, my husband, my bed.

We finally all got out the following evening after a plow happened to clear our street, even though it wasn't supposed to. We lucked out. We really did, with everything. We had tons of candles, a gas stove, and a propane mini-heater that helped us through. The kids were WONDERFUL. Couldn't have asked for a better-worst-snow-day-ever.

And I even checked some things off my 30 days till 30 list! I started reading a non-school book. I love to read, love it. But when you get home from work, make dinner as a family, and then play with your baby for an hour before laying her down for bed, you don't have much time to read. I usually am doing homework after I put Kaydin to bed. But I really wanted to start reading a book, so I did. And I'm about THIS far into it, but I started it and that's the important part.

 

                                      

 

I also built a fort with Kaydin. She LOVED it. Silly little lady. Was running in and out going oooo and ahhhh. Totally worth it.
                             

And lastly, we tie-dyed some shirts yesterday. I let Kaydin pick out the colors, pink and purple, and we went to town. She had a ton of fun, until she got pink toes, but totally, again, worth it.
                                

I know none of the things on my list are all that remarkable, but I am really glad I am doing it. It is helping me to remember that doing one little task a day, no matter how big, really helps me focus on something else.

Well that was long, boring, and all of the above, but here a few photos...maybe that will help the boredom syndrome after reading this :)

                                                      

                                                     

                                                     

                                           

Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere!

I love bubble baths. I have loved them forever. I used to take them in college and all the time and when I first moved out on my own. The apartment that Alex and I live in is the same apartment that my sister and I lived in. When my sister and I were living together I loved to take me some baths. But, for some reason, when Alex and I moved into the SAME apartment, I fell out of love with baths.

Our bath tub was icky. The lining had started to chip and I would get grossed out if I tried to take a bath, because, you know, germs. When I became all nice and round pregnant with Kaydin I dreamed of a magical bubble bath. Of course I had read you aren't supposed to take baths too hot, and no hot tubs, and yada yada yada. But I still dreamed of taking a lovely bubble bath and drifting away to relaxation land.

About 7 months into my pregnancy Alex and I were set to go to Vegas with some friends. I kept saying the only thing I wanted to do there was take a nice, long bubble bath. We were staying in a mini suite room and I knew there would be a bathtub to accommodate my dream. We arrived and checked in, and there it was! It was everything I had dreamed of! An oversized jet tub and looked fabulous. We went about our vacationing business the first day and retired to our rooms that night. I prepared myself for the best bath of my life.

It wasn't. I filled the tub up and my lovely husband insisted I turn on the jets. I did, even though my dream bath experience didn't have jets involved. When I did this, ummm, stuff started floating in the tub. Like it wasn't cleaned properly. AHHHH!!! In Diana language that is disgusting. I got out and went to bed. To top it all off, even after the tub had been empty, the jets would not. turn. off. all. night. Lovely. It turned out okay because we got into a different room and still had a wonderful time. Something was missing though, I still hadn't had my dream bath.

About a month or so later I was getting done volunteering, it was about 8 pm in the middle of the week. Alex kept asking when I was getting home and I said on my way! (I thought I was the needy person in this relationship :)) Anyway, I got home and walked into our bathroom and he had made the very bubble bath experience that I had wanted. He scrubbed the tub of the germs!!! Set up some candles, and had a cold glass of water waiting for me. It was the best surprise of my pregnancy.

I haven't taken a bath since I was pregnant. So I knew that had to be on the list! Last night I took a bubble bath and it was glorious! I used the same bubble bath as before and it brought me straight back to my pregnancy, which isn't a bad thing at all. I laid in there forever!! Or half an hour, but none the less, perfect way to get over that hump day that damn camel is so excited about.

 

Second thing off this list!

1.       Take a bubble bath

poop.

MUST RESIST THE URGE TO DRINK DIET COKE.

30 days till 30

Well, I am turning 30 this year, actually in a month. I have always LOVED my birthday and I promised myself I would never lose that little magic in me. Then it happened, 30. It's, ummm, well, it's OLD. But, I still want to make it a big deal. I want to still love it and feel SPECIAL. So, I came up with a list, a list of 30 days till 30. I want to make this last month worth it. (there are technically 31 days until my birthday, but the 31st is Kaydin's (my little, itty, bitty, baby girl) 2nd birthday. That day will be dedicated to just her. So...here's the list!

30 days to 30

1.       Take a bubble bath

2.       Send 30 cards to 30 loved ones

3.       Hike Harney peak

4.       Get a pedicure

5.       Get a 30 minute massage
6.       Go on a date with my husband

7.       Pay for a stranger’s dinner

8.       Try a new restaurant

9.       Eat something new at a favorite restaurant

10.   Get a tattoo with a friend

11.   Take a small road trip (be a tourist for a day!)

12.   Dance my pants off at a wedding

13.   Get a new hairstyle (let Brandi pick whatever she wants)

14.   Carve pumpkins with my friends and family

15.   Have a movie night with Kaydin

16.   Take Kaydin to a football game

17.   Make a pinterest treat and bring it to work

18.   Take Kaydin and my husband mini golfing

19.   Start a mommy blog (I expect it to be successful ;)) <~~~double chin smiley face

20.   Read a non-school book (this one will be fun!!)

21.   Call a friend and catch up (you know it will be Clara)

22.   Take Kaydin to the farmer’s market

23.   Carve my family's (Kaydin, Alex, Diana) names into a tree (Maybe my mom’s J)

24.   Find an entire outfit while thrifting and actually wear it once (but no shoes, ew)

25.   Make Kaydin’s 1^st year time capsule (FINALLY)

26.   Tie-Dye some shirts with Kaydin

27.   Build a fort for a day with Kaydin

28.   Take Kaydin through Spearfish Canyon to see the colors

29.   Sleep in until 10!!!
30. Buy myself something pretty for completing a 30 day challenge!

Five things to do every day.

Do the 30 day crunch challenge
Do the 30 day squat challenge
Walk one mile every day for 30 days
Drink no diet coke
Eat no fast food

Here is a pat on the back for me for completing one thing today! And here is hoping that it is as much fun as I want it to be! Bring on 30!