random

I went to SEVEN stores plus window shopped many more today WITH Lexi to find a dress for Wednesday night.  I even called D to see what she had on hand that I might borrow.  Unfortunately it sounded like her stuff was still in storage.

I’ve determined I’m going to have to go to the “big city” of Charlotte to a few favorite stores to get something.  And I have one day to do that.  I was supposed to go to Scott’s shift party with some other wives since the guys are working tomorrow night but I think I’m going to skip it and go shopping.

So here’s my dilemma.  None of the styles this year look good on me.  It’s either a cute tunic short dress/long shirt with leggings type thing like this one (don’t really like the sleeves on this one but it’s the first picture I found that had the type of thing I’m talking about) :

That type of dress just hangs on me and just makes me look anorexic or something.  The other style is the 50s style with a skirt that goes straight out and is poofy sort of like this one I tried:

While cute, both looked HORRIBLE on me.  I’m hoping to find something tomorrow at Forever 21, Express or Ann Taylor I’d like to check at the mall that takes a little more effort to get to.

The other thing is while I probably could have gotten away with a few dresses I saw at Kohl’s, I’m technically a chaperone at this one and don’t want to go the too-sexy route.

We’re now less than 48 hours though and if nothing else, I may have to resort to my red satin shirt from last year and good ‘ol black skirt.

I keep hearing about snow around the blogosphere but not around here!  Up to 77 in two days??  Great news for our cotillion on Wednesday..we won’t be freezing our extremities off for the sake of of fashion but 77..seriously??

I’m a little overwhelmed right now.  I came to the realization today that I have less than 2 weeks to finish my Christmas shopping since we’re going to Maryland the 19th and I had a total of 3 people marked off my list.  The girls and I ended up making a trip to the mall and Wally World (ugh, but I had gift cards to use) and were able to knock five more people off my list.  And may I say how good my girls are shopping these days.  Emma walked beside the cart and Lexi rode in the cart and didn’t even ask to get out in the toy department.  She just kept telling me to scoot the cart one way or the other.  Fine with me!  And I didn’t even buy them anything even though we bought for four other children.  Very proud of them tonight.

Beyond Christmas, tonight I was feeling a little overwhelmed because I had two implementation for work and then two production jobs failed.  Also tomorrow is my last day with my consulting company so I’ve been trying to finish up all the paperwork and number crunching to make sure I’m paid correctly.

Beyond Christmas and work, I have stuff on the side to do. The pastor asked me to get some clips from some DVDs together for the Christmas cantata.  I have two people interested in me doing web sites.  I need to get Flash installed (and learned) pronto.

Beyond Christmas and work and side jobs, I have miscellaneous stuff like getting my elliptical fixed.  It’s squeaking really badly bad a lot and I had to call the manufacturer today.  They’re supposed to be sending us parts and a technician within a few days.  Also Scott ordered us DirectTV last week and the guy is coming tomorrow to install it.  My only instructions from Scott were to "make sure the house is cleaned up so he’s not tripping over stuff."  Nice. 

Beyond Christmas and work and side jobs and miscellaneous house stuff, I have Christmas parties to prepare for.  Food to prepare and gifts to buy/find and wrap.

And beyond all of that, I have the normal fix food, do laundry, watch tv stuff I need/want to do.

Yes, I’m overwhelmed right now.

Can you see the problem? 

Somehow Lexi did this all on her own and took Scott and I both about 5 minutes to figure out how to fix it.

I just found a video from Tamara’s website that left me in tears.  I highly recommend you getting through the 7 min and 38 seconds.

Scott and I sponsor a child named Alexander for $32 a month.  That’s one nice meal out for our family and it sponsors him for the whole month.  We write letters to him and his family writes for him since he is only 5.  He asks for pictures and wants to know what Emma and Lexi like.  He’s a real little kid in the world and we get to have a direct impact on his life for Christ.

It was amazing to hear this girl’s story of being a Compassion child and the impact that Christ has had on not only her but her family.  I highly, highly encourage you take consider sponsoring a child.  Like Tamara said, we CAN make a difference.

I’ll be at the office again tomorrow which means no access to this site.  Then tomorrow evening is church so tomorrow may be a quiet day. 

I saw this article on people where Jennifer Love Hewitt responds to some unflattering photos have been circulating the web with her in a bikini by saying "Size 2 is not fat".  And of course I had to check out her blog post and then check the pictures out themselves. 

Just a few thoughts..I think the only unflattering one was the one of her backside and her boobs are only unflattering because she needs a different type of top.  And honestly, can we say thank goodness we’re not the only ones with cellulite?? 

Besides that, I think she’s still gorgeous even though she doesn’t look nearly as skinny as I thought she was.  I got to thinking about that Hanes commercial she is in and thought she looked much skinnier there.  I happened to see the commercial last night and I don’t think it showed her bottom half at all. 

And that got me to thinking…I think we are really duped by the media about how celebrities look in real life.  I know people always say it but I don’t think we quite believe it.  I know, I know, I AM a size 2 and what do I have to complain about but seriously I feel a lot of pressure too to lose weight and look thinner even at my size because my tummy isn’t quite as flat as, oh, pick one, Eva Longoria.  I always remember someone asked Tyra Banks what she had learned after years of modeling and she said something like, "Quit caring so much about your tummy.  No one cares about it nearly as much as you do." I would agree with Jennifer and say, slap on your swimsuit and get out there and be proud!

Yes, I’m going to continue to work out but I need to keep reminding myself that my health is of the utmost importance and if the outward physical appearance happens to change, well then, that’s just a bonus.

Wow, I didn’t realize when we were talking about buying an elliptical machine how big the thing would be.  It looked much smaller in the big sports store.  I’m not sure if you can grasp how big it is in the picture but those arm thingies are taller than Scott and he’s 5’11".  It does actually fit nicely in the corner of my sunroom/office and you can barely see it from the front door–which I was worried about.  The only downside is I’m facing the wall.  It has wheels on it so it’s possible to move it but I’m guessing it won’t happen too often.  As of now, I’m planning to crank my iTunes from my computer for a good 30 minutes every day and get back in the habit of exercise.  I really miss the feeling of working out and haven’t been sleeping as well since I quit back in October.  Since I wasn’t overly impressed with the 24 hour gym I visited, I was going to rejoin the YMCA in January but I guess this is my little gym for now.  Throw in some push-ups and sit-ups and I should be back on track.