2011 Review -- How'd it go?

Originally posted at: http://itsaworkinprocess.blogspot.com/2011/01/list-for-2011.html.

Time to review how I did with my goals from last year:

1) Have a Girls’ Night Out 1x/month. I have successfully completed this action item for January!! Hooray! Now, who’s up for February – December?

Did I make it?: Yes, I was successful in forcing myself to interact with adults! For good measure, I went out 2x last week.  I expanded my comfort zone - went to Roller Derby, went to a pool hall, and had a couple too many beers on several occassions. Mission completed.

2) Update Kitchen. The Dream would be: New Counters (Quartz), an Undermounted Sink, New Floors, and New Paint. I will continue to live with the cupboards and appliances. I will settle for New Paint and New Floors.

Did I make it?: Epic fail. Nope.The closest I came to this goal was having my father-in-law measure my counters and floors. The floral border that was in my kitchen when we purchased the home 2 years ago is still there.

3) Update Front Yard. We need to increase the grade in the front-yard to avoid basement water seepage. A bonus would be to build some sort of retaining wall and get not dead yet plants.

Did I make it?: Nope. Nada. Fail.

4) Lose at least 20 pounds through healthy-eating and exercise. (sigh) This sucks, but it must be done. I’ll feel better and look better. It must be at-least 20 pounds. No compromising.

Did I make it?: Nope. Nada. Fail. I have lost about 10 pounds but not 20. Damn me for putting the 'at least 20 pounds' clause in there.


5) Make the leap and start law office. No more excuses, no more hiding behind “what-ifs.”

Did I make it?: YES!!! I'M A WINNER!

6) Have a garage sale and clean the house of excess crap.

Did I make it?: I completed this one as well. I used my proceeds to have a girls night out and too many Blue Moons.

7) Hire a babysitter for the kids and graduate from Hoffert training camp.

Did I make it?: Yes! The Hoffert administration issued my certificate of completion.

8) Become a master salsa maker this Summer and stock-pile salsa for winter months.

Did I make it?: Yes. I enjoyed some salsa just yesterday.

9) Seriously research and consider the possibility of buying Jeremy a new vehicle.

Did I make it?: Um. no. We did not have the finances to consider doing this.

10) Either eat lunch at home/work at least 2 days per week. I need to stop spending so much money on eating out.

Did I make it?: I didn't keep track of this, but I do believe I accomplished this.

11) Stay up until midnight on December 31, 2011.

Did I make it?: Yes I did!!


So, How'd I do?  I completed 7 of 11 goals for 2011, with a completion rate of  64%. Ouch!

Holy *&^! Where have I been??

Apparently I haven't blogged since September, and based upon the fact that nobody has come looking for me..... well, I'll just attribute that to the fact that "HOLY &^%$ things got mighty busy this Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year's-Almost V-Day Season....

I've become pretty occupied at work, the transition back to attorney-land has been sucessful. There are many days that I have to remind myself that I'm not really an attorney, I am a severely underpaid actor. I am still scared silly to have to go to court, but I have to be all Julianna Marguiles and pretend that I know what the eff I'm doing, and that I like what I'm doing, and that the Judge and the other attorney don't rattle me. I am paid to know all the answers, or at least pretend that I know them and that the other people are all wrong. It's been a change from spending my days on FB all day and playing mindless, but fun, games.

When I started this blog, I did so with the intention of keeping friends up to date on my life, my kids - but also to keep a running diary for my kids so they could someday see all the craziness we put up with and love that we have for them.  In order to keep that goal alive (since I am almost 6 years behind in scrapbooking), here are some pics:

HALLOWEEN!!

Brynn the Unicorn, channeling Elvis.

My baby dragon.

Still not sure what my mother was dressed up as. A fortune teller? A pirate? A gypsy?

DANCE RECITAL!!



 The cutest cheerleader ever :)

GINGERBREAD HOUSES!

JP and I took a couple hours off of work and helped Brynnie make her house! It was so much fun - even more fun is making faces when your mom is trying to take 100 photos of you...

 The finished house!

How to Use Sidewalk Paint.

Brynn got sidewalk paint for her birthday. Awesome right?  Well, it was until she and her brother realized that sidewalk paint could easily double as body paint.  I am a big supporter of sibling bonding since there is sooooooo much sibling rivalry in our house, so I just snapped away to document their sweet and messy moment together -- knowing that a hose or a bath could easily remedy any 'damage' that was done.

I like pink feet and I cannot lie.... the other brothers can't deny...

Jeremy couldn't watch.

I think Picasso also dabbled in street art.

Body art evolved into vandalism.

and the clean-up begins. 

Turns out, the watering cans weren't sufficient. Jeremy was pleased to turn on the hose and spray both kids off, and then I took over tub duty.

Kisses to You!

Our Daily Deal Adventure

Rather than Groupon, my town has 'Daily Deals' -- and oh, how I've spent waaaaaaaay too much money on that thing.  A couple weeks ago the family ventured out to The Children's Museum at Yunker Farm....a place we hadn't gone to in years, but since I had purchased that 50% off coupon, we now HAD to go.

A little pre-museum dancing to get us started.

This picture totally cracks me up... I like to pretend that it's not a horse in the middle, but rather an ass.... of sorts.

Mere seconds after this picture was snapped, she yelled out 'MOM?! IS THIS A REAL PENIS??" The other parents cleared out of there pretty quickly...

My super cute babes!

He was totally airborne trying to pound those maracas!

Yikes! Two Boomers -- scary thought ;)

A crazy pretend knife wielding chef...

Great shot,eh? I'm so happy to be on a train!!!

At least I'm not squinting in this one!

The kids had a great time! I'm glad I impulsively purchased that coupon -- and I'm even contemplating buying a family membership there. I think it might be a fun place to escape to on the winter weekends!

Row your Boat is Supposed to be Gentle and Merry....

A Scene from 15th Street:

A toddler returns home from daycare with a bad diaper rash.  He is somehow predisposed to getting blistery rashes on his inner thighs if poo sits on his delicate bum for more than 30-seconds.

A husband swears that all the child needs is a large band-aid and some neosporin. A wife goes to a local drug store to purchase the miracle items and leaves husband to bathe the wounded toddler and to supervise the required air-dry time afterwards (and to clean up the inevitable pee all over the floor).

The wife returns home and the couple decides to bandage and diaper the child as a team-effort.  The toddler is restless. Being naked is fun.  Getting medicine on your leg with a sticky band-aid half the size of your leg is not fun.  The Wife decides to sing 'Row Your Boat' to the toddler while the husband secures the band-aid and diaper.

The toddler loves this song.  He loves it so much, the Wife wonders if he's ever heard this before.  She had no idea that this was such a giggle-inducing melody.  She decides to sing it again. Toddler giggles are awesome.

And then....

The toddler grabbed the neosporin and rammed it into his mother's eye.  It hurt her like a &^%$!  She instantly grabs her eye and stops singing.  The toddler immediately said "Shorry! Shorry Momma!"

The Wife informs Husband that she's pretty sure she's going to have a black eye in the morning.  He dismisses her.  The Wife then removes her hand from her eye and reveals the blood pouring out.

Husband gasps and quickly advises Wife, "You should really put some neosporin on that."

The Wife declines.

Posing with the Perp.

The morning after... it's super shiny up close.

A Real Dilemma...

Oh I KNOW that this isn't a good idea and that as soon as mom puts down the camera, she's going to yell at Brynn...but ooooooooooooooohhhh it looks like so much fun.

I really love having an older sister.

Oh Mondays...

Oh that familiar obnoxious melody that causes every parent to quickly shuffle the children indoors, frantically close the windows and draw the blinds, and then turn the tv on really, really loud....

Yes, Monday night is when the ice cream truck comes S-L-O-W-L-Y rolling through our neighborhood.

I think the song of the ice cream truck is powerful enough to wake a child from a coma.  It's like the call of the Sirens...but for sugar-addicted children.

So, last Monday I prepared myself, and I prepared Brynn.  "Eat your supper -- all of it-- if you want me to even consider the ice cream man tonight."

When the obnoxious haunting creepy melody could be heard, we gathered up our dollars and went to purchase the least-messy thing he sold.

Yeah, that was a bit of a fail.

A bit of brain-freeze ensued...

But it was sure tasty.

Bathtime soon followed.