Day Zero Project Starts Today!

Well, its been 5 days, but I finally got my list to 101 tasks I would like to complete in the next 1001 days! I think I covered just about every aspect of my life, and am really looking forward to checking things off the list! If you want to check it out, the link to my list is in my last post! I've added the list below also.  I think if I manage to complete every item on my list I will be a much better and happier person, wife, and mother!

1. Read 10 literary classics (0/10)

2. Try 5 new foods (0/5)

3. Visit three countries I have never been to before (0/3)

4. Graduate with my MAS

5. Get the truck painted

6. survive deployment

7. Visit Ireland

8. Start working out on a regular basis

9. Start volunteering on post

10. Take my boys to Disney and Sea World

11. Pay off credit cards completely

12. Read 1 book every month

13. Catch up both boys' scrapbooks

14. Ride a horse

15. Play at the beach with my entire family

16. Visit Alaska

17. Do at least 1 random act of kindness each month

18. take a weekend trip with just the hubby

19. Learn at least passable German

20. Read every book on my bookshelf

21. Visit the Grand Canyon

22. Get a tattoo

23. Go camping

24. Complete a 365 day photo challenge

25. Run a half marathon

26. Visit a state I've never been to before

27. Go to bed before 10pm every night for a week

28. Try a new recipe

29. Organize my itunes

30. Read the Bible

31. Find a personally inspirational quote and work it into a piece of art or home decor

32. Watch a Cirque du Soleil show

33. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter

34. Complete a Sudoku book

35. Have a romantic candlelit dinner

36. Blog at least once a week

37. Pick 5 people who have changed my life and write each of them a letter (0/5)

38. Assemble an emergency kit for the house

39. Color an entire coloring book

40. Fly in a helicopter

41. Do the 30 day song challenge

42. Donate to Toys for Tots

43. Donate $5 for each goal I do not complete

44. Donate my hair to Locks of Love

45. Treat my parents to lunch at a nice restaurant

46. Teach Keirnan the alphabet

47. Potty train both boys (0/2)

48. Take the boys to DC

49. Clean out the extra stuff in the house

50. Go to the top of Pike's Peak

51. Go to Garden of the Gods

52. Get a Friends of the Zoo membership

53. Go to a Ghost Town

54. Go Skydiving

55. Teach the boys to swim (0/2)

56. Take a Boat out on the Lake

57. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years

58. Go to a concert

59. Stop Biting my Nails

60. Get rid of 100 things

61. Go bowling

62. Learn to snowboard

63. Send Christmas cards

64. Bake and decorate cupcakes

65. Join a sports team

66. Fly First Class

67. Play a round of golf

68. Make a Halloween costume

69. Find a community service project to be active in

70. Develop a workout routine

71. At least double amount in savings acct.

72. Attend Church Regularly

73. Send anonymous flowers to someone who is having a tough day

74. Back up all my music and pictures

75. Donate money to charity

76. Get a new mattress set

77. Learn to Control my Temper

78. Have a "Me" Day

79. Donate Blood

80. Play in the Snow with my Boys

81. See a movie in 3D

82. Inspire someone to make a 101/1001 list

83. Stop swearing for a whole month

84. Find and Buy my Perfect Little Black Dress

85. Make a weekly schedule of household chores

86. Get Passports for the Boys

87. Take a photo of a place through all four seasons

88. Write a love letter to my husband

89. Go to Universal Studios

90. Read Atlas Shrugged

91. Complete 7 goals in a week

92. Do the 200 Sit-up Challenge

93. Use the Wii Fit at least once a week

94. Make and follow a weekly exercise schedule

95. Cook 3+ Meals per Week for 3 straight months

96. Pay off my student loan

97. Have professional family photos taken

98. Bake someone a cake for no reason

99. Do a sponsored run / walk for charity

100. Go to a wine tasting event

101. Donate all my unwanted books to friends or to the local book store

My Day Zero Project

A friend started this and shared, and I really like the idea, so am going to try it out! I am still in the process of making my list, but am excited to see if I can finish everything on my list in the next 2.75 years! Wish me luck!!

http://dayzeroproject.com/user/VeronicaGriff

If you're lazy and you know it...

Well, just continue watching TV and playing on the computer! So, I am trying this for the um-teenth time this week! Lets see how far I get before the wonder baby wakes up! So, Will left awhile ago, or so I thought. He actually left under 3 weeks ago! Holy Crap, can time go any slower!? No wonder I have had such a short fuze lately!! The difference between the first half of the deployment and these first coule weeks of the second half are like night and day- complete opposites! (I am not attracted to this difference either!) So, here are the differences:

Half 1:
- Dinners were planned out and we actually ate pretty well. This in itself is a major feat for a variety of reasons. The most important being that I don't cook!! Seriously, Will has done the cooking in this family since he kicked me out of the kitchen while we were still dating!
- I kept busy and had something to look foarward to each month without really even looking for it!
- The housework was actually getting done immediately! Again, not one of my strong points, especially with two little monsters constantly demanding my attention!

Half 2:
- I made a plan for dinners the last two weeks, but only did about half of them!
- I have nothing in the upcoming months to look forward to as short term goals.
- The boys are driving me so ragged that getting the house picked up is about as good as I am getting! The only room in this house reletively clean is the kitchen because I just can't cook without a clean kitchen!

So, here it is we've started a real countdown at 5 months to go! I'm counting down to Halloween, knowing its a give or take sort of thing!

The boys are driving me insane. James has become pretty clingy, which I know is a regular stage, but with Keirnan crashing into the terrible twos, my hands have been full! Its gotten to a point where I feel like I am always on edge! So, now I am trying to get my deployment mojo back. I'm hoping one step at a time will get my groove back! First is figuring out how to get Keirnan to stop ignoring me!! Next, will be figuring out what to look forward to each month! Following steps and having a plan is the only way I get anything done. I seriously cannot function without lists!

So, please pray for my insanity! I am tired and starting to lose my train of thought to go any further! Maybe I'll go into more detail about the laziness I orionally meant to discuss later! Good night!!

Holy Texas Toast!

I've never used that one before, but Keirnan has developed a major attitude that I swear is the size of Texas!! So, here I am starting a third blog for this week and for the third time just as I start James decides to start making noise!! Seriously!? I think the boys are conspiring against me!! My parents will be here in a few days and I am so excited for the diversion! Since Will left its been crazy! No wonder why they say after R&R is the worst part of a deployment! I might pull my hair out by the end of the month! My new mantra is: Only 5 more months!! I swear I chant it to myself multiple times each day as I try desperately not to go berserk on the boys!! Well, off I go to get James from the evils of his crib!

Big Week!!

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I got lots of love from my boys and we went to the lake for a picnic with some friends. It was a beautiful day and Keirnan had a blast playing on the playground! He did skin his knee up, but was such a big boy about it! I guess its the first of many, I'm sure! For dinner I made a new chicken dish I wanted to try. It was easy and yummy, and Keirnan ate it!! What better present than one kid actually eating what I make, and the other coming off his growth spurt! (And thus letting me sleep!)

Tomorrow is a double special day, first up is our anniversary! We have been married 8 years! Wow, we are closing in on 10 pretty quick here! I am sad we won't be together for our day, but tonight we have a skype date and that will have to suffice until he comes home! Either way, I am proud that we have made it this far. There were so many who didn't think we would and each year we happily add to the count makes me so proud! My husband is my best friend, and when he isn't here, I am missing a part of me- the best part. What we have together is special, because I married my best friend!

Tomorrow is Keirnan's 2d birthday! I can't believe he will be 2! Boy, time flies! And sometimes I forget he is only 2! He is such an amazing little boy and I am so proud of the person he is developing into! Though he has his moments, and proves regularly that he has my temper! lol I love that little stinker with all my heart! We aren't doing anything special since we had his party while Will was home 2 weekends ago. It was a bit cool, but a pretty nice day at the park, and he had a great time on the train and playground with his friends! Everything turned out amazingly!!

Here is a general shot of the party! I took a regular "Happy Birthday" sign and printed off "Chuggington" pictures to put over the end and center pieces.

My own little engineer playing on the train they have right there in the park!

And this is the cake! It was super yummy! I got the edible icing picture from an Ebay store called OhToppers and the Commissary did the actual cake! I was in love with how it turned out!

I still need to get a picture of the gift bags, but they were blue and lime green paper bags with red and yellow tissue paper respectively, and a "Chuggington" picture on the front. I promise a picture will be coming eventually! :P

And Friday James will be 6 months old!! He started sitting up on his own right before Will left and has jut gotten better and better at it! He still over corrects and gets tired after a bit, both resulting in him falling over! But he really seems to love the new view!

Lost: My Butt! If Found, Please Return to owner!

So, I have been thinking most of this the past month or so, but it seems to be a very controversial view point, so if you start, please hear me out! I am fat- I am not obese, but I am fat! Yes, I know you are asking how a 5'4" female, who weighs in at 125lbs can be fat, but please hold all questions and comments to the end! Also, this is something I am putting here, because I can't really discuss it with many of my friends. I have a friend who has lost an amazing amount of weight by working out and eating right. While she may still have 40-50lbs on me, I know she can out run me, and out everything else me! Yet, she will still look at the two of us together and see me as the healthier person! (That is what is wrong with our society, its the pits!)

As you can tell, I have never had a problem admitting my weight. (even pregnant! Keirnan topped me out at 152, and James 148) I am proud that I am a small person. I am, however, not proud that I am a lazy person. Though, I have no problem admitting it! It is one of the things I hate most about myself!

So, James will be 6 months old next week! (Holy cow, time flies!) Well, I am back down to under my pre-pregnancy weight, but its all fat! I don't think I have any muscle beyond the bare minimums to function left in me! I do however have a decent amount of fat. My arms are small, but they flab when I wiggle them, what's left of my butt jiggles, and Keirnan has a fun new game that involves squeezing and wiggling my stomach flab! He thinks its great- me, not so much!

This is why I say I am fat, because everything on me is fat. And isn't that what qualifies a person as fat? I know I am not obese, and other than being jiggly and being about ready to call in the guard to find my missing rear end, I have a good self image. (In fact, overall, I like what I see in the mirror more now than I ever have before! Especially in my new jeans that seem to lift my thighs into the general vicinity of my butt and thus make it look like I have a rather cute one! Ah, the power of jeans!)

So, what all this tells me is apparently, though I didn't know it, I had one hell of a toned ass, since it is now MIA along with all the rest of my muscle, and that I really need to get into shape! So, Will's honey do list for R&R was very short- only 4 things! The top of that list was rearrange the family room to fit my elliptical in so I can be lazy in front of the TV! Now, isn't that the best idea?! I think so! Now, I just have to find time to get to use it! Since I am writing this tonight, maybe I'll try it out tomorrow while I watch my Thursday evening shows! See, told you I am lazy!

I am really looking forward to getting back in shape, and have been wanting to go to the gym, but with the boys, its a PITA. We do have a "Mommy Cardio Room," but its just cardio, with no room to do anything, like stretch! And since I have an elliptical at home, really what's the point!? So, I like to think, if Will were home I would be able to go for real in the evenings. It would give me some alone time and I'd get back in shape, but that can't happen for 6 more months! (BTW, we're half way through our deployment!!) And I really don't want to wait that long! So, my own elliptical it is. The goal is to tone myself back up, lose the wiggles and the jiggles, and either find, or replace my missing butt! I don't even mind gaining a few pounds in the process! After all, muscle weighs more than fat!

I am old!!

I remember when I was a kid, I thought 28 would mean I was a 'real' adult and make me old. I decided on this amazing age probably because it would be my age at my 10 year high school reunion! Who knows why I do anything, really?! Well, I have now been 28 for a whopping 2 months and a few days now, and boy was I right!!

I am old! Why, do you ask, do I think I am old? Well, it started with something happening this morning, I don't remember what, and my thinking "that will make an excellent blog topic!" I remember that happened three separate times today, but for the life of me I can't remember what the crap I wanted to share with everyone! Apparently, it was blog worthy at the time though. And I'm sure it will be again at 3am when I remember everything from the previous day while my son happily eats his midnight snack! But like a dream, when I wake up in the morning, I will once again be clueless as to what this amazing experience was!

People told me when I had kids my brain would just seep out my ears and fall to the ground. I think it more than likely got washed down the drain when I took my daily showers! As I was slowly losing the blond hair I grew up with, I apparently lost my mind also! I bet you don't hear that too often do you!? I got dumber as my hair got darker! But, its true and I did!

I now am told by other, more experienced mommies, that its "Mommy Brain" and very common. Well, ya think!? So this is my ramblings about how I don't remember what I wanted to share with everyone today.

But, since we're on the topic of my 10 year high school reunion... (You remember, we're on that topic, I mentioned it way up top!) I have to mention how a friend of mine from days long gone recently told me she never pictured me being the type to settle down and have a family, or to be a stay at home mom. Funny, I was always the mommy type, but I never did either. In high school, all my friends thought I should be a guidance counselor since they all came to me for advice, to vent, to mediate, etc. In college I was the "mom" of our group.

Dude, I remember!! Oh shit, now I forget! See this is how it works, my brain teases me. For a split second I remembered what it was I originally forgot!

So, anyway, back to what I was saying... I was the "mom" in college. Unless I was having a really bad day and decided to drink, I was always the DD. I was always the one to recognize a friend was having issues and force them to talk about it until they felt better. (part of that is I'm just nosy, but shh, don't tell!) I am a problem solver, I like to help people! Almost to the point where I need help! And, if you ask my friend Ashley, I even dressed like the mom. I've gotten better! (I am a lot like Kate Gosslin in that, my wardrobe has gotten better as the number of kids I have has grown!)

So, maybe back as a kid I wasn't the mother type, and I just didn't see the change because it was gradual. But, I did agree that I never pictured myself as a SAHM. I thought I would go stir crazy. Well, I keep busy and drag my boys everywhere so I don't! But, anyway, all this is just to say I was surprised when she made that comment. Because, even as a kid I knew I would one day grow up to marry a military man and be a mom, albeit a working one! I love my life, and though its nowhere near where I thought it would be, I love the course my life is taking! And I am proud to say I am an Army wife. Because, though its not the most defining part of who I am, it is the largest part of who I am!

So, those are my ramblings for the day. And they really are ramblings aren't they?! I don't do very good at staying on topic, hence ramblings! I also write like I talk. I used to have a lot of professors try to make me change that in college, but one actually loved my writing style. She said it was refreshing to read a paper that sounded like I was right there speaking to her! OK, see there I go again. Good night!