Archives for 2010

Gymnastics Day 1

January 7, 2010 by Amy 4 Comments

So today was the girls’ big gymnastics debut. I feel a little behind on the whole organized sports/activities at 5 and 7 but really, they haven’t begged to do anything and if they aren’t 110% in it, why spend the money? Since they both seemed ecstatic about it back in December, I forked over the money for 8 weeks of lessons and two new leotards and there we went.

The good news? My frugalness patience paid off because both the girls had a BLAST tonight. None of the shyness showed up one bit, even for a second. It probably helped my face was stuck to the glass the entire time but still. They weren’t stuck to me and there were no tears. Well, once there were tears when Emma fell back into a chair in the waiting room but that’s neither here nor there I suppose.

You could tell neither of them really had NO idea what to do but I was proud they were actively listening to the teacher and just following the other girls around them who had obviously been in gymnastics for at least a previous round or two. Several times I saw a little girl instruct Emma. Lexi several times went to her teacher when she didn’t know how to do something. For example, Lexi was trying to do a handstand against the padded wall and y’all, if I showed you the video, I know it would make rounds on YouTube but she kept butting her head into the pad instead of tucking it under before she threw her legs up. But she kept trying and when the little girl beside her couldn’t help her, she had no problems asking the teacher who was helping other girls do a back bend. Thankfully, the teachers both seemed very responsive.

Emma did floor work, uneven bars and the long jumpy thing. They don’t have it in the Olympics so I’m at a loss for names here. Lexi did floor work, balance beam and the vault.

They were happy to watch each other during the times when their classes didn’t overlap. Unfortunately I couldn’t get two classes exactly at the same time so if I hang around the gym for both classes, I’m there for two hours!

I SO want to show everyone the video of the two of them. I can’t help but be so proud of them even if they’re pretty clueless just beginners right now. At least they’re getting out there and trying. I just don’t feel comfortable posting a video with about 75 other little girls in leotards. I did crop some pictures. They’re bad first because they were all taken behind a glass wall and second because they were cropped so tightly to avoid any other children in them. Anyway, I hope it at least gives you a little idea of their time tonight.

Daily Peek

January 6, 2010 by Amy 4 Comments

I haven’t done a post on couponing in quite some time but be rest assured I hit CVS up weekly. And like today, Harris Teeter. It’s super double coupons this week and I can’t tell you the joy I got from the look on the cashier’s face when my total went from $60 to $3.84.

I’m sporting ghetto nails today. Actually it’s an adventure trying to type this on my phone. I bought these at the dollar store for the girls’ Christmas stockings and thought they had stickers. They didn’t. I glued Emmas on today. I started to put Lexi’s on and she decided she didn’t like them. In a genius moment I thought I’d put them on just to mess around. Well here we are 8 hrs later and I still have them. It feels like my entire nailbed might rip out of my thumb when I try to remove them so they all stay. In fact, I glued back on two that had fallen off just so I didn’t look any more ghetto than I do. It was all for naught though since I lost a pinky nail whilst couponing.

Dollar store ghetto nails and free food. Yep, that was my day.

Posted via email from Amy’s posterous

Tuesday Random

January 5, 2010 by Amy 7 Comments

Let’s make a list!

We’ve caught Dave Ramsey on TV a few times. I haven’t read his book but listening to him for just a few minutes is enough to make you second-guess your spending habits. After digging into a month or two of ours, well, let’s just say we’re making changes. As of today, it’s been over a week since we’ve had dinner out. It feels really different but in a good way. Speaking of, does anyone successfully use any budgeting software they can recommend?
Emma has become miss sassypants lately. I think she’s getting it from girls at school but we’ve really had to pay more attention to it lately. Not fun.
Lexi has suddenly adamant about what she is wearing. She’s 5! I used to pick her outfit out and got minimal kickback. But Sunday she had a meltdown because I put a white shirt under her sleeveless dress. On Monday she was trying to tell me something about church and she said, “You know the day I had to wear that white shirt with my bow dress?” I’m sure I’ll hear about that day for many years to come. Trauma, I tell you!
I’ve been enjoying the winter hiatus on TV so much. In its absence, I decided to go back through Lost starting at Season 1 and Scott has stuck around for several episodes now. In fact, once we were done with Season 1, he asked for Season 2. The show may travel too much on the scifi side for him, especially in Season 5 but it is nice to have another show that we can watch together.
I’m so tempted to create a fan site for CW’s new show Life Unexpected. It’s gotten good reviews. I’m just not sure whether I have time for it and also there is already an established site for it out there.
Emma and Lexi start gymnastics for the first time Thursday. We’ll see how this goes. I think it will either be a huge hit or a complete disaster.
This Saturday I’m running for 20 minutes in a row for #C25K W5D3. I’m trying not to freak out. I think it’s the longest I’ve ever run in my life. LIFE.
I’ve all but given up on my book. I’m just eh about it right now. I got the story on paper and that was my goal.

I guess that’s it for updates around here. Running, cooking, cleaning, laundry, taxi-ing, blogging here, here and here should fill in all the gaps!

The Bachelor: Week 1

January 4, 2010 by Amy 6 Comments

Maybe I’m the crazy one for blogging about this but…

Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. How do you even begin to blog about this episode?

The CRAZEE came out on the Bachelor tonight.

With a few spoilers in my pocket, I heard that this was going to be a different season. And with Jake as the upstanding, gentleman that he made himself out to be, I for some reason though this was to be a tame, almost boring season.

Oh my.

No sirree.

I was ANYTHING but bored tonight.

In fact, that had to be the most entertaining Bachelor premiere yet.

The antics that these girls came up with to get his attention were way beyond any other season. A handmade spinner…a double-sided coin…a peacock feather…dirt from Texas. It was endless. It quickly turned into a game show all about who could do the stupidest thing to get Jake’s attention to the point it was easier to remember the girls that DIDN’T do something.

I made a list as we went through the introductions at the limo. I usually pick my favorites very early on. It’s easy to spot normal in a limo full of crazy but here were my picks from the limo convos ONLY.

Ali – the yellow dress with the peacock feather
Tenley – the divorcee
Kimberly – NBA dancer who we saw say goodbye to her family
Elizabeth -the nanny
Ashley – the teacher with the spinner

While I don’t necessarily approve of their antics I think they seemed like the most sincere, normal and genuine people there. Considering the pool of women I’m not sure how much that says but if I had 5 impression roses at that point, that’s who I would hand them to.

The crazy REALLY came out during the party though. Oh my. I have to my honest here and say that while I realize the chances of real love being found on the show is slim to none, I do watch with hopes high that something will work out. Trista and Ryan! Ed and Jillian! Jason and Molly! The party was so hard to watch and take seriously though. I ended up laughing my way through it. And really, that’s not all bad.

“I’m a puma in the bedroom”

“I’ll die if I don’t get the first impression rose”

“This is my pretend ring”

“I want to be your co-pilot”

“I would love to be the passenger in your plane”

“You can land your plane on my landing strip any time”

The funny didn’t stop.

But apparently Jake didn’t see my short list. And apparently he didn’t really spend enough time with Michelle. Or Rosaline for that matter.

After the full night, I think I added Ella the mom and maybe the flight attendant to my short list and Ali and Tenley are my favorites from my original list. I know Tenley came on strong and seemed on the verge of crazy but I think she’s ok.

Oh, Bachelor. You keep me watching.

Who are your favorites from Week 1?

Couch to 5K – Halfway Done

January 3, 2010 by Amy 6 Comments

I know I just posted about this but I wanted to officially declare myself halfway done with the program. Yesterday morning I had a great run, finishing up week 4 of 9. And after the first of week 4 I really didn’t think I’d say that again. I did make a few changes that I thought were worth talking about.

I stretched and stretched and stretched and used The Stick liberally for the 2 days prior to the run.
I used these energy goo things Melissa bought me for Christmas 15 minutes before the run. It’s hard to tell if it helped but it is one thing I added. I also determined that vanilla gingerbread probably isn’t my favorite flavor.
I listened to a podcast versus music during the run.

I think the last surprisingly made the biggest difference. I love music and I love spinning/cycling to music. It’s the main reason I love my favorite spinning instructor. He always makes sure we are peddling to the beat of the music. But running to music? It has just NOT been working for me, especially since I’m switching between run and walk all the time. I found with listening to the podcast, I simply listened. It was easier to not pay attention to the running and I wasn’t using a ton of energy trying to keep up or slow down with the beat of the music.

For you runners…what else am I missing? What flavor of the energy gel is your favorite?

For you non-runners, when are you starting C25K??

Breakfast for Dinner – The Pioneer Woman’s Sour Cream Pancakes and Egg-in-the-Hole

January 3, 2010 by Amy 7 Comments

We were supposed to go out with Mom and Dad after church today but they decided they had enough leftovers to stay home. Breakfast for dinner is always my go-to meal but I remembered that Ree had a pancake recipe. Actually my nephew said while looking at the recipe over Christmas, “Sour cream in pancakes?? Ewww…” But I knew Ree knew what she was doing when she added it to the cookbook and anything with sour cream in it is usually a winner. Ree didn’t let me down again.

Honest to goodness, these were THE BEST pancakes I’ve ever had in my life. It was so good it was almost like dessert. But not in the IHOP cream cheese, I’m going to die if I eat this dessert way. It’s basically a batter with a lot of sour cream, vanilla and sugar all fried up into a pancake. Yeah, you don’t want to eat these every day of your life but WOW, were they delicious. I made a HUGE mistake by halving the recipe. Most of the time Scott skips on the pancakes and we have leftover pancakes even with the halved Bisquick recipe on the box. But not this time. We were scrounging the kids plates for any bits left behind.

The kids declared it good. Emma said, “Mom, you need to bookmark this one.” Lexi I believed declared it the best pancake ever. Let’s just say kid tested, mother approved was never more appropriate.

And I certainly don’t want to leave out the egg-in-the-holes. I wasn’t at all familiar with this thing but it was easy and it was different than just over easy eggs. And hey, bread, butter and eggs? Can’t really go wrong.

They were easy-peasy and delish.

How many recipes do I need to make and blog about before you go buy her cookbook?

Expectations

January 1, 2010 by Amy 2 Comments

Wednesday night was spent on the large part doing two things. One, I went to the gym with Melissa to struggle through Week 4. Two, I recorded a Friday Night Lights podcast with Kaitlin and the hosts of another FNL podcast. You might not think those things were related at all but I found one common theme: expectations.

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I think I figured out that C25K is even harder than I thought this week because I truly expected that each week would be very doable, comfortable even. I thought they’d work us up slowly enough that it would seem easy as we went. In fact, week 3 actually did seem a little easy. But as I talked to Melissa and read a little on it, it appears that every workout is doable, but it WILL push my body. So I think if I step back and look at the fact that it has been both doable and challenging and that it will continue to challenge me every step, I can brace myself for the run better. I didn’t expect a challenge, but I got it and I can do it.

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You don’t have to watch Friday Night Lights to get this but we were doing reviews of several new characters. And for one of them, I had high expectations. I expected a full-on bad boy with a lot of grit and push-back. But for me, he didn’t live up to those expectations. He’s much more compliant and warm-hearted than I imagined. I expected one character and got another. But it’s ok. I think I’m going to like this new person they’ve created.

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Both of these things rolled around in my head right before drifting off to sleep last night and I realized how expectations relate to life. Maybe you got something you didn’t expect or maybe you didn’t get something you expected. Can anyone relate to a missed promotion, an unexpected sickness, blissful marriage, unruly children, the loss of a friend? But while you’re in it, if you take a step back and take your expectations out of the equation and look at what’s in front of you, it’s ok. Maybe you need to see what’s in front of you for what it is and not what it should have been. I think you’ll find it’s a lot easier to deal with. It won’t change it but maybe it will change your perspective. Perhaps you can become more appreciative even though it’s not what you wanted? Prepared for what’s to come? Accepting of the past? And maybe, just maybe, you’ll find it’s better than expected.

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I can’t think of a better day other than the first of a New Year to take stock, evaluate and maybe shift some perspectives. And no matter what our expectations were, we all have something to be thankful for from 2009.

For me, today is going to be a day to appreciate all God’s blessings this past year and to be hopeful for what He has in store for 2010. Things I can always expect and never be disappointed in His love, mercy and grace. May we all experience it richly in 2010.

Happy New Year!