Birthdays~

Hap-py Birth-day to meeeeee! Today is my actual birthday, as opposed to all those other times where I have extended my birthday. I like to think I am charmingly obnoxious about celebrating my birthday but I may just be plain ole obnoxious. No matter. Now that I am officially 32 I am too old to change.

Being a Tuesday and being that I love sleep more than anything, except Jack and pizza, celebrating this year will be less rockstar party and more slumber party. Donuts in my pjs with my Mom and my toddler friends. Pizza for lunch with Olive and my adorable nephews - still in my pjs. Dinner out with Jack -although probably not in pjs. Followed by presents and adoration til bed. Lovely.

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Floor Plans 2~

Lucky for all of you I am a waaaay better blogger than handyman. Also lucky for you....I am completely willing to make fun of myself and share my mistakes.

Today was the first serious day of floor work after my evening of demo. I built up my motivation, which took awhile, changed into destroyable clothes and stepped into the room. Then.....I immediately injured myself. I was using these scrubber things (the official term) to clean up all the crap on the surface if the floor and immediately shoved a sliver the size of a ballpoint pen into my finger. It hurt. I screamed. I pulled it out, sucked it up, and perservered. Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything and ten minutes later I put another sliver in - except this time I put it in so far that there wasn't an end left so I could pull it out. And it bled, and I cried, and I bandaided it up while whimpering like a baby....and then I sucked it up and perservered. Again. Despite my non-life-threatening injuries I managed to successfully clean all the guck (another official term) off the floor so it is smooth and clean - and I used my uninjured hand to pull up all the inside carpet staples. And that is all I got I got done. I still have crazy stains and spots everywhere BUT....I am making progress. This promises to be a lenghty project. Doh.

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Floor Plans~

So from time to time my brain snaps and I believe that I am adept at all things construction. Never mind that I have zero experience in anything that requires manual labor or that my avorite kind of project is one that is neatly wrapped up in four hours or less. However impractical, I have random moments of grandiose dreaming where I believe I know all.

Prime example. When Leah and I first moved in together we were sitting around - at like six o'clock in the evening mind you - when we decided we should paint our bedrooms. Not one of them, but both. Painting party! So we got on painting clothes, headed up the road to Menards where we spent at least an hour debating colors, came home and moved all the furniture and started painting......at eight o'clock at night. And not just plain painting - we got creative. One whole wall in my room is striped four different shades of blue - which looks really cool if you stand far away and ignore the fact that I freehanded it so I could do it all in one night instead off taping it off and being patient like a normal person. Leah painted her room green with drawn on circles and stencils. We were up for a very long time.

We get this trait from our dad. The entire time I was growing up my dad was always into some kind of project. These projects almost always were a surprise to my mom, who would come to find a random wall demolished or her cupboards all ripped out, the dreaded drop clothes spread out. However, my dad probably knew what he was doing most of the time - where I just think I do.

What prompted this blog? I ripped out my bedroom carpet last night at around seven o'clock. I was certain there was beautiful hard wood floor underneath so for three hours I moved furniture, yanked up carpet pulled upholstery nails, tore up padding, and generally made a mess. Underneath was a beautiful, old wood floor.....littered with spots and stains. Perhaps it was overly optimistic of me to assume a gorgeous floor was just sitting there waiting to be revealed, but now I have no carpet and a wood floor that requires more loving care than I think I am qualified to give. So I am going to give it my best shot - possibly rent a sander and play with it over the weekend. Perhaps try and shanghai Jack into helping me by offering up my body for the good of my floor. And if all else fails....I will shopping for area rugs Sunday night.

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Pre-birthday~

This year my family is unwittingly helping me extend my birthday celebration even longer. Just when I thought I had gotten as much mileage as possible out of my birth, I was once again shown that more is possible. The universe WANTS to celebrate my birthday in a spectacular way! Who am I to refuse?

Actually, the blame for my super early pre-birthday celebration falls on Lola's mother-in-law. We will affectionately dub her 'Stewie' in this blog for two reasons. One, she is a kick ass Martha Stewart kinda mom. Two, the character Stewie is the exact opposite of everything about her - which makes it a hilarious alias. I am going to laugh every time I see it. And that is what the blog is mainly about....amusing me.

Ok, I am slightly off topic....

So Stewie's family has a monthly family dinner where they celebrate everything for that month - and Lola loved the idea so much that we stole it. (Thievery runs in my family apparently) Because we decided to do ours the second Sunday of the month, my Jan 18 birthday began yesterday on the 10th....a full eight days early. Genius.

As if the eight day pre-birthday were not enough, I have guilted several of my sisters and friends into a girls night out on the 22nd....four days after my birthday. In between those twelve days I plan on talking Jack into drinking with me one night this weekend and having pizza and cake and drinks on my actual birthday. So I am getting in lots of celebration as well as gifting myself with a Nook, a pedicure, and a massage. I love January.

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2011~

2010...one very, very busy time in the life of this blogger. So much happened - with me and my family. New spouses, new babies, new relationships. It was a very full, very exciting, and very packed year. And I am sure that 2011 will not be any different. Here's hoping anyway~

I only have two resolutions for the new year. Because my life is pretty much perfect of course. Kidding. Kinda. But this is the year of simplifying so I am going to start that off right by keeping my resolutions simple. Last year I had many resolutions and did fairly well on all of them...this year I have few resolutions and I am going to rock them.

Resolution One:

Get my financial life organized and put some cash in my travel fund. That travel fund is my reward for getting organized. If I follow my budget the way I should then I should be able to go cruising around the Caymans next winter guilt free. If I don't follow it, then I will probably cruise around the Caymans with the guilt. Which is a prime example of why I am bad with money. I have zero self control. Wait...I HAD zero self control! This is a new year, new start. Now I magically have self control and am a budget queen. I forgot.

Resolution Two:

Get in shape enough to run the Warrior Dash without embarrassing myself or looking scary in stretchy workout gear. This is a 5k race with a dozen obstacles stretched throughout - things like jumping floating logs, climbing rope walls, and belly crawling in mud. And we get Viking helmets! Doesn't it sound like fun?? I think it sounds WAY cooler than a plain, boring, all running 5K. Also, it means I don't need to run straight for three miles - which I can't do anyway. My training plan is extremely flexible. Sometime during the week I will run on my elliptical and lift some arm weights. Notice there is no mention of how long or how many days or if I need to do this while eating an ice cream sandwich or not. In my new simple plan for 2011, I find it easier to set goals I know I can manage. Don't wanna stress myself out just to become a Viking Warrior for July. Because let's be really honest here...I am not going to get super buff and get recruited for someone's Viking team once they see my fantastic rope climbing skills. My goal is simply not to drown in the mud slide.

So there ya have it. Goodbye 2010 - thanks for the insanity and the fun and the new blessings. Welcome to 2011 - year of simplification, organization, and mediocre fitness.