Addiction

My name is Dee, and I am an Instagram addict. There, I said it. If you're not familiar with Instagram, it's a photo editing/sharing application that until recently was only available on iPhones. FINALLY, they made an Android app, and while it's still nowhere near what the iPhone has (they promised upcoming upgrades will bring it more up to speed), I am obsessed! Check out these cool photos I've used their tools on:

So, welcome to my addiction. Have a seat. I'm sure to force more of my pictures upon you soon. :)

OUTLET SALE!!!

As you remember, I am a consultant with the company Thirty-One Gifts. Good news, kiddies! They are having an outlet sale...50-80% while supplies last today through Friday. Here's my link. Happy shopping!!!

http://shop.thirtyoneoutlet.com/

Wait. I Never Said That, Did I? Aw, Crap.

Well, the time has come. T is now sleeping through the night (usually), and I promised myself that once that happened I would start running again. *sigh* So, I have decided that beginning tomorrow morning at 5:00am, I will be hoofing it around my neighborhood to try and get back to having a pretty kick-ass personal image (because right now my personal image is jiggly and gross...doesn't matter if I look that way or not, that's how I feel).
I really want to start signing up for races this year. We're entering the time of year that those bad boys are popping up left and right, and I know myself well enough to know that the only way I will run with any kind of discipline is to register for a race sometime in the near future. I'm way to cheap to pay for something and not get the most out of it. :)
So, while you're all snuggled up in bed or having your coffee tomorrow morning, send me some good vibes, because God knows I'll be cussing up a storm as I huff and puff my way around my neihborhood.

Oops, I Crapped My Pants!

Not literally, but pretty darn close. For those of you that don't already know, the kids and I were t-boned on the way to my mother-in-law's house on Wednesday. Someone exiting a parking lot didn't see me coming and slammed into the passenger side of my van...approximately a foot and a half away from where Teaghan was sound asleep in her car seat. Hole. E. Crap. I've been involved in a couple of fender benders before, but nothing like this. Add to that the fact that I had my 3 babies (I don't care how old they are...if my kids are in danger, they're my babies) in the car...terrifying. Fortunately, the guy that hit me was moving as fast as he was, because if I had made it any further along the road before he hit me, I can say with absolute certainty that at least one of my kids would have been hurt. And then I would have gone to jail for beating up and old man.

After my rental car was dropped off and I went to clean all of my crap out of the van, I got a good look at how close the point of impact was to T's seat and began thanking my lucky starts that if I had to be in an accident, at least we all walked away...well, except for T, but c'mon...she's only 4 months old. Not a lot of walking going on there. 

Kony 2012

I usually try and keep things pretty light and funny because, let's face it, there's enough heavy stuff out there already and who needs any more, am I right? Well, I saw something online today that hit me really hard as a mother, so I'm going to lay a little heavy on you. Brace yourself.
There has been a video plastered all over Facebook the past couple of days, but since it's 30 minutes long and I do most of my internet surfing at work, I hadn't watched it because of it's length...finding 30 uninterrupted minutes at my job is pretty rare. One of my bestest friends posted the video on his Facebook page, so I knew it was worthwhile, and took half an hour of my morning to check it out. Holy life-altering, Batman! Please, find 30 minutes and watch this:

If you actually took the time to watch that, thank you. As a mother I just cannot imagine a child having to fear being taken from my home on a daily basis. So, I decided to do something. I have sent a handfull of emails to various political figures as well as emailing a few of my fave celebs. I also got my "kit" and am going to encourage EVERYONE that I know to do the same. This is not something that can continue. It has already gone on for too long.
To purchase your kit, read more about the war, or maybe just donate a few bucks simply click here.

The Times, They Are A-Changin'

Everyone knows that once you have kids, you sacrifice some, if not all of your "me" time. Time I would've spent putting on a little makeup before heading to the grocery store is now spent getting the last ounce of formula down T's throat before we have to run out the door. Time I would have spent going for a run is now spent grabbing a quick shower and a cup of coffee before the kids wake up. I realized just how much I have let myself go the other night when I had to run out to the grocery store at 8pm because I had forgotten it was Paige's day as snack sharer for school the next day. While in the juice aisle debating between Hi-C with Dora on the box or Juicy Juice with Lightning McQueen on the box a STUNNING woman around my age comes around the corner. She had perfectly styled hair, her makeup was flawless, her outfit was spit-up free, and her shoes were to die for. Cut to me: Hair in a ponytail, makeup that was done 15 hours ago by that point, a pair of sweats, a long sleeved tee shirt with spit up stains on the shoulder , and old fake Uggs. I had one of those, "What the hell happened to me?" moments. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I need to get all gussied up to go to ACME, but I'm finding myself sacrificing so many of the little things that make me feel good about myself. I'm not even doing it because it's necessary. Carl is perfectly capable and willing to put T to bed if I wanted to zip out for a quick jog after the big kids are in bed. I see a lot of this, not only in myself, but in other moms, too. Why do we insist on making sure that everyone else is so dependant on us for everything? From this point on I am making myself a priority. I suggest you do the same. :)

I Think It's the Chili

For months now we have been having dinner issues at our house. If Carl IV likes it, Paige doesn't. If Paige likes it, Carl doesn't. If I like it, nobody likes it. Oy! So we have held pretty firm in our, "We're having what we're having. If you don't like it, you're not eating," stance because I absolutely refuse to be a short-order cook and have kids that only eat chicken nuggets and macaroni. Needless to say there have been MANY nights of "Moooooom, I don't want this. It's grooooooooss!" and "Mommyyyyyyy, it's yuckyyyyyy!"  (Allow me to interrupt myself here to state that I am not that bad a cook. I do not make "gross" of "yucky" food. They're just punks. Alright, moving on...) Well, the other night I made chili. Who doesn't like chili?!?! You can put cheese on it. It's awesome on a cold, damp day. I even made it super-wimpy mild so that nobody would complain about it being to spicy. One look at it and both kids were in teeth gnashing mode. "Eeeewwwwww! I don't want thiiiiis!!! Not thiiiiis! I want pizza! Waaaaah!" Rude. So, Carl III and I ignored them, had 2 bowls of my awesome, if wimpy, chili and the kids had no dinner.
This morning Carl IV is eating his breakfast and tells me that his mouth hurts on his gums. I look at it, and it looks like he's just jabbed himself with his toothbrush. It hurts, but he'll live. That's the end of it, right? Well, I thought so, but was sorely mistaken. Apparently when he was at school he was complaining and whining so much about his teeth hurting that his teacher actually called my mother-in-law! She said he's complaining about his mouth and teeth hurting "really bad." I know exactly what it is. The kid is so OCD that he gets completely fixated on something and can't let it go, so he's probably been poking this scrape with his finger and/or tongue all morning so it's irritated. But, no...he'd never admit that. When Mrs. Porter asks him what happened he says, "I don't know, but I think it's the chili my mom made me eat." !!!!!! WHAT?!?!?! Now my chili is not only "gross" and "yucky" but causing physical harm to anyone within 5 feet?! Ugh. This kid...