Feel Good Friday: The Vice President speaks.

 

Welcome to Feel Good Friday!  I can’t even tell you how excited I am to be hosting this for Erika today!  I may have even peed my pants a little when Laura offered to let me host.  Damn it.  Did I just call her Laura?  Am I the only one having trouble with this whole Laurika thing?

Moving right along.  If this is your first time to my blog, Welcome (!) and thanks for stopping by today.  As Erika mentioned, you are among royalty here, because I’m actually the Vice President of The Girl Next Door.  Erika said you all would have to ask me about it, and since Melissa did ask, I will briefly tell you how I came to have that honor.

Well, it’s like this.  I gave it to myself.  Yup.  When Laurika went all fancy pants Wordpress on us, I noticed one of the links at the top labeled “The Best Blogs.”  So, I clicked and lo and behold, there I was.  At the very freakin’ top!  (Possibly by default of alphabetical/numerical order.)  Naturally, I then emailed her and declared myself Vice President.  Clearly it was destiny, I mean, I was at the top.  She accepted my offer, but so far I’m about as useful as Joe Biden…I smile, wave, and drop F-bombs at inappropriate times.  What more could you ask for?

Ok, we’re really moving on now.  If you’re new to Feel Good Friday, click here to choose your prompt.  Then, write your post and link up!

This week I’m choosing to write about something that is going to happen, that I’m sure will make me smile.  It’s also something that involves happy memories, and something nice that I am doing for someone else.  So, I guess you could say it’s a combination of a few of the prompts.

Annie is one of my favorite movies from my childhood, and tonight I’m taking my daughters and my Mom to see a local production of Annie!  I’m so excited for so many reasons.

As a (part-time) stay at home Mom, I do have a lot of one-on-one time with my daughters, but we rarely go out and do something “special” like this.  I’m also so thankful my parents live close enough to us, that my Mom can join us.  My daughters don’t even know yet that we’re going to the show, so I can only imagine how excited they’ll be when they find out we’re going and that Grandma is coming too!

It’s so wonderful that my daughters are finally to the age where they are making “lifetime” memories, and I truly hope that this will be one of them!

Have a great weekend, and Happy Feel Good Friday!

Consider yourselves warned.

Guess what?  I am hosting Feel Good Friday this week for my good friend The Girl Next Door!  I know I’ve told you this before, but just so you know, it’s not this girl next door:

It’s this Girl Next Door:

So, let’s keep it clean, okay people?  Oh, who I am kidding?  It can be dirty if you want it to be.  Whatever makes you feel good, right?

Any-vajazzle, the reason I’m telling you all of this is because I want you to link up and play along tomorrow!  Okay?  You don’t want to make me look like a douche bag by not having any links on the McLinky, do you?  Don’t worry, if I don’t, I won’t blame you.  I’ll blame the fact that I just said “vajazzle” and “douche bag” all in the same paragraph.     

For those of you who are not familiar with Feel Good Friday, click here for all the details.  Now, go write your post, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for:

Why do some animals eat their young?

I have something very special for all of you today.  A vlog!  Well, sort of.

You should be forewarned though, if you are on the fence about having children, you may not want to watch this video.  It’s truly that horrifying that all of your eggs (or sperm) may shrivel up and die.  Seriously.

A little background information (which will make absolutely no sense until you hit play):  the outside temperature was only in the upper 70’s, we do have central air, and it was on.  Oh, and because someone asked me this, NO, they were not locked in their room.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(If the video doesn’t load, hit refresh)

In case you didn’t hear it, one of the first things Alivia said was “This is the worst day of our life!”  Sound familiar to anyone?  If not, feel free to take this trip down memory lane.

These children who are (almost) 5 and 6.5 years old went on with this shenanigan for nearly 5 minutes!  After this, I can understand why some animals eat their young.

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Oh, one more thing, click over to my friend Ange’s blog, to enter her Hump Day Giveaway.  You’ll love it!

Weekend Update.

First of all, thank you to everyone who responded to last Wednesday’s post! I think my friend appreciated it, although some of it may have been difficult to read. Again, thank you!

We had a long weekend this weekend, which started on Thursday afternoon. Before I get to that though, a few pictures from during the week!

This week was the National Baby Food Festival in Fremont, my hometown. When my girls got wind of this, they just had to go. I hate to say this, but if you’re ever in Michigan the 3rd week of July, the Baby Food Festival is not a must-see. In fact, a few years ago Reader’s Digest listed it as the “#1 summer festival to avoid.” There are some interesting things such as a baby crawl, baby food eating contest, and baby food cook off…but overall, it’s just a lot of fried food and carnies who haven’t had a shower all summer.

Oh, and if you’re reading this, and you’re wondering why in the whole wide world Fremont has a baby food festival, it’s because Fremont is the home of:

Ok, on with the pictures!

The girls painting on a giant mural which was in the parade on Saturday:

The girls on some of the carnival rides:

Shawn took the girls on the Gravitron, although Alivia had actually been on it 2 years ago at a county fair. We were a little worried about Lainey, but she did great. However, there was a fat boy who rode it at the same time, and promptly threw up everywhere after he got off!

In case you can’t remember what the Gravitron is, it looks like this from the outside:

It does look like more of an adult ride, but I assure you that my children met the height requirement!

On Thursday afternoon Shawn and the girls picked me up from work and we drove to Ohio. That evening there was a baby shower for Shawn’s cousin’s wife who is having twins in October. Sadly, I didn’t take any pictures at the baby shower. Then, on Friday we were going to go to the zoo but it was 95 degrees with a heat index of 110, so we decided against it. Instead, we went to the Imagination Station in Toledo. Before the Imagination Station, Shawn excitedly proclaimed that he had some place to take us to lunch. He said it was even famous!

Tony Packo’s! Guess what? I went, I ate, and I still have no idea why it was a big deal. There were autographed hot dog buns on the walls, and seriously, does it get any better than that? If you’re not picking up on my sarcasm, then you might as well just leave now.

Shawn of course got a hot dog which made me want to vomit:

and so did Lainey:

I opted for a chicken sandwich and Alivia got the mac n’cheese, which looked delicious, but she complained about it the whole time!

After our wonderful lunch, we headed to the Imagination Station. We all had a great time, and I would highly recommend it!

Lainey inside the hurricane simulator:

There was a pretend grocery store, and a pretend hospital, which was one of Alivia and Lainey’s favorite areas. Alivia was especially thrilled with the doll she found in the hospital which had a penis:

This is actually really funny to me because when I was in 3rd grade I went to my friend Trincie’s house and she had a doll with a penis. I was so excited that I told my Mom all about it when she came to pick me up. I think Trincie’s Mom was mortified! I’m glad Alivia shares my love of dolls with peckers!

Playing tug-of-war with Dad:

This was one of those no-gravity-tippy rooms:

On Saturday, Shawn and I went to a wedding, which was actually the whole purpose of this trip! We had originally planned on taking the girls with us, but when Shawn’s aunt offered to keep them for us, we took her up on it! They love staying with Shawn’s aunt and uncle…they picked sugar snap peas from the garden, did science experiments, had a water balloon fight, went to church, and then had Wendy’s for supper.

The wedding we went to was for one of Shawn’s best friends from college. It was in Hicksville (yes, Hicksville!), Ohio at a restored Opera House. The location was really cool, although I didn’t get a lot of pictures because I couldn’t figure out the best setting for my camera :(

Their children were the maid of honor and best man, they were so cute!

Ang walking down the aisle:

The end of the ceremony:

The reception was at Founder’s Hall at Sauder Village in Archbold. The decorations were so beautiful!

Shawn and I actually ended up sitting by ourselves, so I told him the cake in the center of table was all for me!

When they cut the cake, instead of feeding the cake to each other, they threw the first piece at the photographer!

You can also see the back of Ang’s dress in this picture, it was so gorgeous!!

Shawn and Ang:

I also got my picture taken with Shawn and Ang, but I decided I looked morbidly obese in that picture, so here I am sitting down:

Ang told us when we left we should take the cake on our table. She really had to twist our arm, because I hate chocolate cake…

I wasn’t really going to take a bite, but who can ride a half hour holding a chocolate cake on their lap without taking a bite?

Not me!!

What would you do?

In the past year that I have been blogging, I have found one of the greatest things about it is that when you post something, you find that there is always someone out there who has been (or is) in the same situation.

Examples? Alivia’s urinary reflux, which I have posted about several times. Before I had my blog, I did not know one other person whose child had this problem. Now, I know at least two! Another example would be my infamous IUD post. After that post, I had at least two people (jokingly, I think!) offering to take it out and several other women who had emailed saying they’d had theirs removed and wished they had just taken it out themselves. Thanks to one of my BFF’s, I even got information from a midwife who said I could totally take it out myself, but the most difficult part would be grasping the strings.

I have many more examples, but I want to get to the point of my post. I received an email from a friend last week about a situation that has come up in her marriage. I thought and thought about it, and then I think I probably gave her the worst advice possible. After thinking about it further, I asked if I could post about it here to see what suggestions you all might have or if maybe someone has been in a similar situation?

From her email:

“_____ and I have been married for nearly 2 years. Before we got engaged he told me that he wanted to have a family with me. For the past two years he said he wanted to have kids but he just wasn't ready yet. On Sunday night he told me he never wants to have kids. He said he was taking the original plan off the table and that he didn't want his life to change so he doesn't want to have kids anymore. I don't know what to do and I am a complete mess. It has never been a secret that I want a family. How do I give up having kids to stay with him? Or how do I give up my marriage to him to have kids?”

I suppose you’re wondering what my advice was? Well, brace yourself, because this is going to make me sound like a terrible person. I told her I would get pregnant anyway. Yes, that’s what I told her. I told you it was terrible! So, before you comment with your answer, here is a little more information she told me after I gave my advice:

“I have thought about getting pregnant, but the one thing holding me back is that _____’s mom tricked his dad into having a baby and since _____ knows he was born out of dishonesty he is strongly against it. Also, we use condoms every single time.”

My friend (and I) would love your honest opinions on this, one thing I do ask is that you don’t bash her husband. Her husband is actually a very wonderful and supportive partner. They have been together for 8 years and they have a great relationship, so this change of heart was completely out of the blue.

So, there you have it. What would you do?

This post is linked to Shell’s Wednesday meme:

P.S. In case you’re curious about the IUD, it’s still in! I couldn’t grasp the damn strings!

Monday, Monday…

I’m finally doing Monday Minute again this week with Ian!  However, the co-host(ess) for this week’s Monday Minute is Michelle from Mommy Loves Stilettos.  Michelle is awesome, so go check her out!

 

Ok, onto the questions!

1.  What is your real name?

Tamara Nicole, but I go by Tami.  Oh, and since someone will probably ask, I pronounce it Ta-mar-a.  My Mom sometimes pronounces it Tam-a-ra though, so who the hell knows what my name really is?

2.  Have you ever fabricated a story or anything on your blog?

Absolutely not!  I think there are too many people who read this blog that know me in real life, so if I lied on here they would probably totally call me out on it.  There is honestly only one topic I don’t blog about, and unless you know me IRL or have followed me for a long time, you probably wouldn’t even realize what it is.

3.  When in the car do you listen to the radio/CDs/iPod/etc?

Well, it depends on if my kids are with me.  If they are in the car we are always listening to XM Disney.  Ugh.  So, basically I listen to a lot of this:

If my kids aren’t with me I generally listen to XM22, which plays a variety of music.  This is one song I am currently loving:

4.  Describe the 'sexiest' item of clothing that you own.

Wow, that’s a hard question.  I’m going to say a new dress that I got at a boutique when I was on vacation.  The dress itself isn’t necessarily sexy, but my arms and shoulders look super sexy in it!  I’m going to wear it to a wedding next weekend, so stay tuned for pictures!

5.  Would you be willing to breastfeed your friend's three year old child?

Seriously?  No way.  Not a chance.  Not even one single time.

I didn’t even breastfeed my own children (I couldn’t because of medications that I take), so there’s no way I would breastfeed someone else’s, let alone a 3 year old!  Not to mention I don’t think my husband would let a 3 year old manhandle my ta-ta’s which he’s got so much money invested in! :-)

Have a great Monday!!

Feel Good Friday: How do you sleep at night?

A few Fridays ago I posted about Shawn’s possible sleep walking expedition which included Fruit Loops and Sports Center at 1 o’clock in the morning.  I’m not sure, but I think he may be up to it again.  You be the judge, okay?  Here’s how it went down…

Last night I was laying in bed, wide awake, thinking about the trip that I had just booked for my Mom and I for next month.  I tossed, I turned, I thought about a naked cowboy…but I couldn’t fall asleep.  I was just too excited!  So, I did what any logical woman would do, I decided to talk to my husband about it.  Mind you, it was 12:30 am, but he was awake, right?

Me (poking and jabbing at Shawn):  “Hey!  Hey, Shawn!  Are you awake?”

Shawn:  “Wha wha what?”

Me:  “Are. You. Awake?”

Shawn:  “Kind of.”

Me:  “Kind of?  What does that mean?”

Shawn:  “It means I’m kind of awake!”

Me:  “Well, anway…I can’t get to sleep.”

Shawn:  “I can.”

Me:  “This isn’t about you, it’s about me, and I can’t get to sleep!”

Shawn:  “Well, I can.”

Me:  “Ugh, whatever!  I can’t sleep because all I can think about is the trip!  I’m so excited!”

Shawn:  “Yeah, it’s great.  Good night.”

Me:  “But I can’t get to sleep!  I keep thinking about what I’ll do when I get there.  I don’t even know what I’ll do!”

Shawn:  “You’ll sightsee.  What else would you do?”

Me:  “I don’t know!  I don’t even know what I want to see or do!”

Shawn:  “Go see the naked cowboy.”

Me:  “Is he actually naked?  He can’t possibly actually be naked.”

Shawn:  “Who cares!  It’s 12:30 and I want to go to sleep!”

Me:  “But I can’t go to sleep, I’m too excited!”

Shawn:  “Well, I’m going to sleep.”

Me:  “Noooooo!”

Shawn (getting up and taking his pillow with him):  “Well, I’m going to sleep, so I’m going downstairs!”

Me (rolling over and spreading out over the whole bed):  “That is so rude!  I just wanted to talk to you!”

Shawn (climbing back into bed):  “No, talking to someone in the middle of the night is rude!  Hey, what are you doing on my side of the bed?”

Me (not moving an inch):  “Sorry, I already moved into my new area of the bed.  I’m pretty tired, I’m going to sleep.”

At this point Shawn sighs and grumbles and grabs his pillow again to go downstairs.  As he’s walking out I yell:

 

“Hey, stay off of my new couch, okay?  I don’t want any drool on it!”

 

So, what do you think?  He had to be sleep walking, right?  No man sleeps on the couch/floor just to avoid talking to his wife, does he?  Impossible!  Oh, and the naked cowboy?  Apparently he wears tighty whities, see for yourself:

This post is linked to “Feel Good Friday” because thinking about that naked cowboy my New York City trip has really made me smile this week!  Click on the picture below to link up and play along!  Happy Friday everyone!

A girl on a bike.

I was going to post more vacation pictures today, but then something happened.  I realized I had something to say, to all of you!

When I posted a few weeks ago about my duathlon, you girls came out of the woodwork with your comments telling me how proud you were of me, and how awesome I was!  The one thing that struck me the most though, was how many comments I got from you and from my friends on Facebook saying “I wish I could do that.”

So, my question is this, Why can’t you?  What makes me different from you?  The answer is simple.  Nothing.

I am not an athlete.  I’m a girl who ran cross country in junior high, but gave it up to be a cheerleader in high school.  I’m a Mom who walked into a gym almost 4 years ago with a one year old and a three year old in tow, and decided to lose 20 pounds.  I’m a failure who lost the 20 pounds, but then gained it all back plus 10 more.  I could blame that 30 pounds on having Mono and then Shingles the following year, but I won’t.  I blame me.  Well, and the Oreos, ice cream, and Diet Coke didn’t really help.

So, what makes this time different?  Why when I set a goal on my 29th birthday to lose 30 pounds by my 30th birthday did I achieve it?  How am I able to maintain it?

Again, the answer is simple.  I found something I loved.  Last winter I saw an Oprah episode where she was talking to Kirstie Alley about struggling with weight loss.  At one point they were talking about exercise and Oprah said “I’m not going to lie, I hate to exercise!”  I think my jaw hit the floor, and I thought “Silly, Oprah, that’s why you keep getting fat!”

Maybe you’re reading this and you’re thinking “everyone hates to exercise!”  Well, I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong.  If you don’t believe me, come to the gym with me on Monday morning and look in on the advanced step class.  I bet those bitches have been doing step since the 80’s, and they are loving every minute of it!  Or, come on Wednesday morning to see the Zumba ladies.  Those chicks can shake their ass like nobody’s business, and they are burning calories while doing it.

I’m not going to lie to you.  When I first started spin, I hated it.  I stared at the clock counting down the minutes, I even puked after one class.  But, by the third or fourth class I was addicted.  I was hardcore.  I was never going back to leisurely doing the elliptical while watching The View. 

Last night I went out for a ride on my bike.  Most of the time when I ride I think about how many calories I can burn and how fast I can go.  But, last night was different.  Without even realizing it I was riding around a lake watching the sun start to set, I was watching baby ducklings follow their Mom across the road, I was getting a drink from an ice cold artesian well, I was flipping off a house where my daughter’s old babysitter lived…

By the time I got home, I had ridden 15 miles, burned 650 calories, and I had loved every minute of it.

Am I an Iron Goddess?  Maybe.  But, I’m just a wife and a mom like all of you.  The potential is there for all of us, you just have to find what you love and let that drive you.

Oh, and one vacation photo…just for shits and giggles.

P.S.  This post is linked to Shell’s Wednesday meme:

This is my very first time doing “Pour your heart out,” so don’t judge!

Did you miss me?

I’m baaaack!  You know you missed me!  This is actually the first break I’ve taken from blogging since last summer when I first started my blog.  Speaking of which, one week from today is my one year blog anniversary!  Yeah!

We actually got back from vacation on Saturday, but I just haven’t had a chance to sit down and write anything.  I honestly have so many pictures to share, I don’t even know where to start!

Maybe I’ll just go in order, that might be easiest.  We left on Saturday afternoon, after spending at least an hour trying to get the car packed up.  By the time Shawn was done, we totally looked like the Beverly Hillbillies!

Oh, and see that yellow ladder on the right edge of the picture?  I climbed up on top of the car, and then couldn’t get down!  I was up there whining and crying, meanwhile my children were pointing and laughing. 

On the way to Silver Lake, we stopped at the Country Dairy because that day was their yearly ice cream social!  Hey, I’m all for free ice cream!  So, we ate ice cream, made butter, petted some calves, and the girls got their picture taken with a cow:

I think we finally made it to Silver Lake around 4pm.  I’ve always loved the view on the road we come in on, you can see the sand dunes, and behind the dunes, the blue part is Lake Michigan:

We spent our first two nights there in my parent’s motor home, because the people who own the condo we rent wanted to stay in it for the Fourth of July weekend.  It wasn’t ideal, but we made the best of it!  On Sunday my brother, sister-in-law, and baby Ethan came up to spend the day.  We spent almost the whole day swimming at the pool and then watched the fireworks over Silver Lake that night.

Ethan loved playing in the water:

He is cutting his top two teeth, so he kept biting his top lip…my brother and sister-in-law were calling him a bull-dog!

Alivia and Lainey swam almost every single day.  By the end of the week, Alivia was even diving into the deep end!

Ethan stayed awake to watch the fireworks, which he seemed to love!  He never cried or anything, but he wasn’t a fan of me taking his picture:

On Monday my sister and her whole clan came up.  Again, we spent the whole day playing at the pool and that night the kids went and rode go-karts.  I sat out the go-karts this year due to the fact that I was involved in a crash last year between Shawn and my brother-in-law two adult males who shall remain nameless.  I’m still pissed about that, especially since both guys keep pointing fingers at the other!

Okay, onto the pictures…

Alex and I playing in the pool:

 

Before I go on, I have to tell you how stinkin cute this kid is!  When I was in the shallow end with him, he pointed down to the deep end and said “Hey, Aunt Tami!  See that #8 down there?  That’s my favorite number.  #8!”  My sister told me to tell him my favorite number, which is 7, and he even remembered it on Friday when he came back!

My brother-in-law asking me “Hey, does this look normal?”

Um, no.

Riding the go-karts:

Watching the other kids ride:

Grandpa and baby Ryan:

My niece, Natalie, wearing her Dad’s hat:

Whew!  That was only the end of the first two days!  I hope I don’t bore you to death with all these pictures.  I’ll leave you with one more picture of one of the many beautiful sunsets we saw: