Photo Crazy

Anyone who is friends with me on FB knows that I'm a little bit of a picture-aholic....

Ok a lot.  Like it's a problem. 

Everyone makes fun of me and it drives my husband crazy, but I LOOOOOOVE taking pictures!  I think that it's one of the most inexpensive ways to create, save, and share memories!  Thanks to FB- you don't even have to pay to have them printed to share them! (Remember when I said I'm cheap?)

I'm on a FB page for moms who had babies in the same month and a mom shared a picture of her baby on a bed of candy corn.  I nearly flipped out.  Candy corn is my FAVORITE!!!!!!!  (If I get a bag of the pumpkins... just count on them being gone in about 30 seconds and I probably won't share.)  So- I stole her idea!  I sent my mom a preview and she said she was surprised that my son didn't realize he was in danger of my eating a hand of his by accident while trying to get to the candy corn.  Nice.  

Here are my pictures from our fall leafy time, pumpkin carving time, Daddy's birthday time, and candy corn time!  

Shoe have got to be kidding me....

So last night was the worst errand-running-night EVER.

I needed to run out and, quickly, exchange a pair of shoes at Rack Room (I'd ordered the right size, but they didn't fit), pick up my hub's bday present (which I'd already called about), grab a couple of things from the grocery store (like- literally 4 things), and pick up pizza for dinner (on a credit from the last order, which they'd been over an hour late with).

"What ha' happened wuz..."

First- bday present.  I got there, got through everything and went to pay for the item that was already picked out and they didn't have it in the right color....black. The basic of all colors.  I was like- seriously?  They said that I could drive 30 minutes to go to another store to pick it up.  I explained that I couldn't go right then and that it was the only time I'd have for sneaky errand running without my 10 week old and I really didn't want to drag him out for shopping again this week.  I asked if I could buy it in the red, give the gift, and he could return it unopened for an exchange.  They said it would be a $35 restocking fee to do so.  I asked if I got that as a discount off an order since they hadn't stocked it in the first place.  They didn't get it.  So.... I ordered it and it won't be here in time for his bday.... tomorrow.  I'm wrapping up an IOU.  Wife of the year award goes to.....

Next was the shoe errand.  This is where the night went from annoying to .... something beyond horrible.  The first thing you need to know is I'm 5' 11" tall.  That's pretty tall for a girl.  I wore size 10 shoes until just after college when I started wearing sizes 10 and 11.  I had to have bunionectomies (no idea how to spell that) on both of my feet one summer.  (Super fun 6 weeks of no walking.)  After that, though they'd assured me it wouldn't happen, my feet could no longer comfortably fit into all of my beautiful heels.  They hurt to wear them too long and only size 11 shoes really fit properly.  So there went a good chunk of my shoe collection (which was fabulous, by the way, as you can tell from the pictures of my former favorites).  

Ah, sparkled perfection....

Cute, but not fabulous...

I rarely wear heels anymore, especially since getting pregnant.  No one wants to see a giant rolly-polly-preggo fall because of her heels, so I contented myself with wearing some super cute flops and sandals for fun and some reasonably cute, flat, sensible work shoes.  I went last night to exchange some shoes I'd ordered for the winter work season.

I proceeded to try on, seriously not exaggerating, almost every single size 11 shoe in the store that wasn't a tennis shoe... and a couple that were.  They didn't fit.  Not one.  I tried on flats....I tried on trendy heels..... I tried on boring grandma shoes....I tried on backless clog types....I tried on the stupid furry-looking cloth ones.... I even tried on Crocs (the antithesis of a cute shoe)....nada.  The only ones that fit, and were actually too big, were a pair of $80 shoes meant for wear in a restaurant kitchen.  (As in- the box said that's what they were for.)  I finally tried on a couple of pairs of Bobs, also NOT a cute shoe. and found a pair in black that fit well enough. They have little silver threads running through the fabric so they're slightly cuter than the flat colored ones that neighbored them.  

Not.  A.  Fan.

This took AN HOUR!  Seriously.  I was almost in tears.  I got out those old school metal foot sizers and measured my feet.  It was as I'd feared.... 11.5.  My feet apparently grew while I was pregnant and I couldn't tell because I was wearing almost all backless shoes.  I totally teared up in Rack Room as I exchanged my cute flats for the I-can't-believe-I'm-getting-these flats.  I left hating shoe shopping for the first time in 30 years.

Now it's a miserable night.  One should not shop for food when one is miserable.  Taking away the love of shoe shopping from a girl who is trying to lose weight is a good way to make sure she eats terribly.  Which I did.  I bought a cherry pie to eat after our pizza.  (I never bring home desserts.... that's my hubby who does that.)  I bought Pringles, a package of hard salami (delish with cheddar), and all sorts of other random, highly fattening foods.  (The pie was so not worth it, by the way.... but I ate a giant piece even though it wasn't that good.)  $100 in groceries later, I left the store.  Remember how many items I'd been going for??  Yeah- 4 would have cost me less than $20.  Whoops.

Last but not least - picking up the pizza.  As I waited in line, I texted my husband that I was sorry it'd now been TWO HOURS since I'd left him with the baby, but that I was almost ready to head home.  I realized I was next, so I put my phone away.  I wish I hadn't because what happened next would have made a great picture for FB.  The lady in front of me was probably close to 70 and thus her order took for-ev-er.  Apparently she was a frequent shopper at this particular pizza place, because she kept saying things about "you know how I am" and the like.  Finally, she said, "and here are my toppings.... you know me!"  She pulled out two baggies from her purse... one full of chopped onions and one full of pepperoni slices.  She apparently brings her own toppings for her pizzas.  I just stood there and laughed.  Thankfully she didn't realize what I was laughing at, but I thought that was the funniest, weirdest thing I'd ever seen.

That didn't make up for my feet now being so big that I'll have to order shoes from specialty websites, but it sure did give me a good laugh.

If you have recommendations for where to find shoes that aren't red and honk when you walk, I welcome them!

Party City is not a shoe store!

Shutterbug with Shutterfly

Lemme tell ya... Shutterfly is friggin awesome!

I ordered a book full of J's first month and a half.  I couldn't have been happier with the product.  (I'd gotten a pregnancy journal one and loved it, too.)

Living Social, Groupon, and Similac Strong Moms give AWESOME discounts or free products with Shutterfly.  My pregnancy journal, with all the extra pages I added, was only $19 after shipping.  The first baby book, with almost a hundred pages, was about $50 after discounts.  Ah-mazing.  

The pics I have in the text are all of the screen shots when you use the preview feature.  (That's super helpful for checking your alignments.)  The pics at the bottom are of my actual book.  

I didn't realize it, but there's more than just what's suggested for use---They have tons of "stickers" to enhance the pages (verses for dedication, specialty frames, images and sayings) and great backgrounds.  I'm a super scrapbooker from way back, but I so don't have the time like I used to, so I was very happy to see that I could customize an album so that it was exactly what I'd want.  You can choose for Shutterfly to fill in your pics for you or can do all your own customization.  That's what I did and it was easier and faster than I'd expected!

I added and arranged the cars, the text, and the little dashed line swirly thing
behind the car in about one minute.

Some of the pages were one giant photo, some were layouts they provided, and some were totally custom arrangements that I messed with.  Even the spine of the book is able to be unique to your book!

Layout option with no text or graphics (showing off J's many faces).

I loooove the "call of doody" badge!! We play xbox together, so it fit us perfectly!

In the end, I got a totally amazing book that I'd have paid double for.  Shutterfly secured my business for the rest of J's life.... or until they come up with baby books that are holograms. 

Summary- go Shutterfly.  You'll love it and you'll get a great product every single time.

Enjoy some of my pages from J's first book!

Hi my name is....

.... and I am addicted to Scandal.


That is all.

At the Starting Line

     I suppose I should explain a little about myself and why I'm attempting a blog.

     I'm thirty, happily married, and a brand new mom.  My hubby and I have been married just over a year, but we've been best friends since we were twelve.  My son just turned two months old and I'm about to go back to work.  I teach third grade and love working with kids.  I also sell Premier Designs jewelry, which makes me way more money than teaching does.... plus it's a blast to give away bling!  I'm a huge fan of reading (Outlander is the best series ever.  EVER.) and shopping (duh).  I bleed orange and blue-- GO GATORS!  Aaaannnd.... hmm... I love the beach.  (Enough random info about me?)

Soooo....

The hubs and I on Christmas--the day we told our families we were preggers!  (about 6 weeks along)

     I was already overweight when I got pregnant.  Then, I gained FORTY pounds during my pregnancy.  Only about eight of it was my boy. 

Delivery Day--- I.  Was.  Huge.

    So- in the last two months, I've worked to get the weight off.  As of today, I'm two pounds UNDER my pre-prego weight!!!  I have about forty to go, though, to be where I want to be.  Instead of having a goal weight, I want to get back down to being a size 10/12.  That's when I was at my healthiest and I think healthy is more important than skinny.  

Look at how much thinner he is in this pic from the beginning of September!  Christmas to September- he did soooo great!

     My husband and I agreed that we want to raise our son to be healthier than we were as kids, so he stopped smoking and cut waaaaay down on his soda intake.  He lost forty-five pounds in less than six months.  Yep.  No working out.  Just cut down on his sodas.  Ladies- this is the ultimate so-not-fair-gender issue.  How do they lose weight so easily and quickly?!  UGH.  

We have started taking walks around our neighborhood a few nights a week.  I also have done some yoga, including a mom and baby yoga video.  I'm selling them for.... just kidding.... I googled.  I really don't have any excuse as to why I don't usually work out.  There's lots of places to go walking and lots of workout videos online for free.  I'm just lazy.  I.  HATE. working. out. Seriously.  

Me about a week ago-- four lbs over my pre-baby weight!

     My plan for the blog is to give me an outlet of accountability, get ideas from readers, and share various parts of my life.  I have some recipes that are pretty yummy and reasonably healthy (not a fan of rabbit food either) that I'll share.  I'll also share some of the baby products I think no one should go without and what I honestly could have skipped.  I also want to share and get ideas from y'all about teaching... I love learning and sharing!!  Maybe I'll even share some of the "romantical" bits of life, too.  Yep- I made up the word.  It happens a lot.  

So- there ya' have it.  I hope to hear from some of y'all.  :)  Have a happy day!