Adventures in La La Land

1. I read 6 books this week. Hahaha. Now that you've stopped laughing at that owl . . . I read a series by Kristen Heitzmann (one of my favorite authors) in high school, but the library doesn't carry it and I haven't been able to find it elsewhere. So imagine my excitement when I came across the first 4 books at a thrift store for $4! I binged on them this week. Then a book I ordered came in at the library, so I read that. And then a friend gave me a book I've been waiting for forever, so I devoured that as well. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much this week. And my kids watched more TV than they should. 2. I also really struggled with depression this week. I'm worried it might be related to my reading binge. I felt guilty for ignoring my kids, but not guilty enough to put down my book. And then I hate myself for choosing books over my kids. So then I try to rationalize it by telling myself it's good for them to be bored and I'm not their pl...

1. We had a nice Easter with our families. I tried to do too much with the girls in the morning before church and ended up a little frazzled. Haha. They opened their Easter baskets first. They each got a mermaid tale blanket and bluetooth headphones. Of course, the bluetooth headphones aren't compatible with their tablets, so that was a bust! (It's a good thing they were just $5 from 5 Below!) Levi got animal crackers, yogurt melts, and Hot Wheels cars. Then we did an Easter egg hunt with our Resurrection Eggs . I've wanted them for a while, but couldn't rationalize the price. So I was excited to find a set for $1.90 when I was out thrift shopping a couple weeks ago!! After discussing the real meaning of Easter, we made resurrection rolls and cinnamon rolls. Then I got the kids all dressed up in their pretty outfits . . . and forgot to take a picture! I told you I was frazzled. We spent the afternoon with the VanderKoddes and the evening with my sisters and parents. It...

1. This week was brutal. It was so freezing cold/snowy all week that I refused to leave the house. We drove 6 miles to the library on Wednesday and it became apparent that something is wrong with my car. I couldn't get it to go above 30 mph and the RPMs were jumping all over the place. Transmission, right? Exactly what was wrong with the van I just got rid of. Oy. We have an appointment to have it looked at on Tuesday.  2. Since we never made it farther than the library, I never got groceries this week. I decided to take it as a challenge and see what I could scrounge up for dinner every week. One day we had canned soup and a freezer burned Lean Cuisine, but the rest of the week wasn't too bad if I say so myself! Monday was homemade mac n' cheese with ham, Wednesday was chili (made with spaghetti sauce since I didn't have tomato sauce, but with enough cumin, no one was the wiser ;-) ), Thursday was chicken fried rice, and yesterday I dug out an ancient frozen pork ten...

1. Lucy got this game from one of her friends at her party on Saturday. It boggles my mind! Every card has exactly one match to another card. They don't have to be in a certain order or anything. Every card has one and only one match to any other card in the deck! There must be some kind of serious mathematical equation that allows for that. Anyway, Lucy loves the game and we play it multiple times a day. I don't mind playing it either, which says a lot for a preschool game. Haha. 2. I spent a couple days this week reading this book: Justin's grandma loaned it to me like a month ago, with a glowing recommendation. It's way different than the books I usually read. Yes, it was technically Christian fiction, and it had a little bit of romance. But it was mostly a political mystery/thriller about the drug trade in Bolivia. It took me a while to get into it, and it's ridiculously long (over 600 pages), but I eventually got sucked in. I ended up staying up '...

1. I had such an amazing time last weekend with my girlfriends. We went up to Traverse City for 2 nights and enjoyed the perfect balance of downtime at the hotel and going out and about. We shopped, wine tasted, ate and ate and ate, sat in the hot tub, watched HGTV and TLC, giggled and talked and cried. I'm so blessed to have these ladies in my life: 2. So did you all notice that I got my smartphone this week? ;-) I'm going to drive you crazy with my Instagramming. Hopefully the novelty will wear off, but for now I'm loving it. I was worried I'd hate the touchscreen on my phone, but I've gotten used to it quickly. Thanks again, Rachel, for hooking me up with Republic Wireless! It's awesome! Some instagram faves from this week: This is my new go to when Lena is grumpy: youtube cat videos. 3. May 1st marked one month of trying to eat healthier/exercise. I lost 3 pounds (mostly in my boobs - had to go buy a stinkin' smaller bra). I still have 10 po...

1. Tuesday marked one week of dieting/exercising, so I weighed myself: down 2 pounds! I weighed myself again yesterday and was down another 2! One of the benefits of eating pure junk all the time is that my body is so shocked by healthy changes and sheds pounds immediately! Haha. I haven't been doing anything too hardcore. Normal breakfast of coffee and an English muffin with peanut butter, healthy lunch, small portion of regular dinner. Less snacking and less Dr Pepper. I generally try to stay under 1500 calories, but don't stress too much about it.  2. The exercise has been killing me. My knees seem to think I weigh 400 lbs and am 82 years old. I had to do 200 jumping jacks the other day (for the beach body challenge) and I thought I might die. I just kept thinking, "If the people on the Biggest Loser can do this, I can do this." My other problem is that I have zero core strength. My pregnancies totally destroyed my core. I'm supposed to be doing planks fo...

1. I made another verse poster and had it printed at Wal-Greens for free thanks to a code my friend Cara shared with me! Now I just need to find a frame and place to hang it: Love it! 2. Articles I read this week: A hilarious take on bedtime.  - I identified with so much of this. I was just thinking earlier this week that I need to manage my e xpectations with bedtime. I expect to get Lucy upstairs by 8:15, in bed by 8:30, and have the rest of the evening to myself. When that invariably doesn't happen, I get so frustrated and annoyed. I need to learn not to expect time to myself until after 9. If You're Feeling Overlooked and Underappreciated   - This is from the daily devotionals Proverbs 31 Ministries sends me. I don't struggle that much with feeling overlooked and underappreciated, but I do  struggle with the menial, monotonous daily tasks of life. I tell myself all the time, what this article reiterates: this is my job right now. This is what God has calle...

1. The Potty Training Chronicles: Lucy stayed dry every night for a week, then the past two nights has woken up absolutely drenched again. Frustrating. 2. It's actually been a horrible week of sleep around here. Not only have I been changing bedding and pajamas in the middle of the night, I've been up with Lena multiple times every night. I really think she's getting some teeth. (Finally - she still only has the bottom two.) Her top eye teeth are raised and white but have yet to poke through. Come on, teeth! Just pop out and get it over with!! 3. We heat our house with an outdoor wood burner. All spring, summer, and fall my dad gathers, cuts, and stacks wood like the hardworking ant. But this year, thanks to our especially long, cold, brutal winter we're out of wood! We're gonna have to start burning our furniture if we want to stay warm! Fortunately, we have an indoor fireplace, but the heat doesn't reach upstairs in our bedrooms. Also fortunately, our barn...