Lots of sentences. Zero pictures.

This is my 304th post. It really doesn't seem like that long ago when I was writing my 100th post of 100 Things I Love. How many posts I've written has nothing to do with this particular post. I just have a few things on my mind that need to get out of it.

p.s. I just looked over that list again, and it made me happy just reading it. :)

I really want to redo my blog layout. I gave it a mini-face lift not too long ago, but I want a serious makeover. Oh, did you know you can search my blog for past posts? It's pretty sweet. Check it out in the sidebar.

Campmeeting is in two weeks! That's so soon! I already made our packing list and everything. Hello, I'm a freak.

I smell like spit up right now. And I've already taken a shower tonight, so I'm pretty much screwed.

The days need more hours. There is just not enough time to snuggle and play with my kids, do the Sunday paper crossword, read my Kindle, sew fun things, work out, keep up the blog, obsess over Pinterest, play board games, and sleep (aka all the fun things I want to do) and still be able to keep the house clean, finish thank you notes, cook dinner, go grocery shopping, balance our budget, and run errands (all the bleh things I need to do).

We're going organic. Okay, so not really. I wish, but we can't afford to do it all. We used to do organic milk before I couldn't bring myself to fork over the money for it. But we're going back to it. That and cage-free eggs. Gotta start somewhere, right?

Some of my very favorite people in the entire world are coming in town to visit this weekend!! Candie and Ricky and Jacob are coming from Austin to meet Landon and I can't wait to see them!

My phenomenal photographer of a sister updated her blog look this week. I still miss her cutesy logo, but it's nice this way, too! Plus, you can find things by category. Go check it out. You know you want to.

Why am I still awake? Landon's sleeping (probably for the night; yes, I'm spoiled), Avery's been down for a couple hours, Matt's not home, and I have no reason not to be in bed right now.

It's so. stinking. hot. I hate Texas right now. Okay, fine, I never hate Texas.

GO RANGERS. Had to throw that in there. The boys are definitely on an 11 game winning streak. No big deal.

My daughter is hilarious. I'm about to write a post of all the funny things she's been saying lately. And by "about to" I mean "will try to get to sometime in the next couple of weeks." They probably won't translate as well to the blog, but her comedic timing is spot-on in person. :)

She did see her first movie theater movie today! My mom took her (and my [adult] brother and sister) to see Winnie the Pooh. Apparently she loved it (and the popcorn; she is her mother's daughter after all). I'm still a little sad I didn't get to go with her (Matt and I took the preteens to church camp). We did have a date night last night though and saw Horrible Bosses at the drive in. I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty darn hilarious. It's also pretty darn adult if you know what I mean, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Um, I think that's it. I'm going to bed. Right after I eat some cereal. I told you that wasn't just a pregnancy craving. Gosh, I'm so glad I'm not pregnant anymore.

Okay for real now. Goodnight.

And the Award Goes To...

...ME!

Haha, thanks to my awesome neighbor Brooke for dubbing me a "Stylish Blogger." This might be the first time in my entire life that the word stylish has ever been used to describe me, so I'll soak it up while I can. :)

The fine print:

1. Link back and thank the person who gave you the award.2. Share 7 things about yourself.3. Award 5 recently discovered blogs.4. Contact them and tell them about their award. 

7 Random Awesome Things About Heather:

1. I bought 11 boxes of Annie's mac and cheese when I was grocery shopping today. I would've bought 12, but they only had 11 left. (Don't judge, they were $0.49 each!)
2. I'm going through a little bit of a Bachelor withdrawal tonight. Monday was my only must-watch TV night, so now I suppose Matt and I will spend our evening watching...
3. ...Parking Wars. Seriously, have you seen this show? Our friends told us about it, and I was admittedly pretty skeptical of a show that revolves completely around ticketing, booting, towing, and impounding cars in Philadelphia, but it's strangely fascinating and now we're hooked. Now if only they'd add more seasons of Airline to Netflix, I'd be a happy girl.
4. Pregnant or not, I could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I guess it's a good thing that I have two other people to feed in this house, otherwise I probably would.
5. I don't miss teaching. I thought I would, but the decision for me to stay at home with my sweet little girl was one of the best that Matt and I have ever made.
6. I love lists and pretty fonts. So now most of my lists are typed out with pretty headers and categories. It's ridiculous. 
7. If you follow this blog at all, you already know that I've become obsessed with gotten into sewing. My mom used to sew all sorts of stuff for us when we were kids, and I had absolutely no interest in learning back then, but I'm so glad that she taught me after my recent interest in the craft. I'm also seriously considering opening an Etsy shop and attempting to make a little extra cash. If I wasn't so much of a perfectionist, I would've already started it, but I can't bring myself to make it official until I have everything just so. 

Tag, You're It!

The following five blogs on my must-reads list have now been given the Stylish Blogger Award. Check them out!

Allison @ Allison Jean Photo

April @ Pieces of April

Corrianna @ Southern Mother

Kati @ Living Well

Sarah @ Casa del Arnold

Top 2 Things I've Learned About Blogging

1. Write about what you want to write about. I know that seems like a duh, but if you try to force a post or topic, it's pretty apparent. I write my blog so our family can look back on it in the future and remember what we were up to at a given point in time. So right now that means I post about pregnancy, toddler-hood, what we do on the weekends, my opinions on everything, and just whatever pops into my head. Usually it's not too deep (I personally prefer to keep those thoughts for real-life conversations), but it's also a way to keep family and friends up to date on our lives.

2. Schedule your posts. For me this means two things: 1) I try to keep a general routine to my posting so I don't sit down and go uhhhhh, what do I write about? I do pregnancy updates on Mondays, organizing challenges on Thursdays, my Friday Five (and sometimes Show Us Your Life), weekend updates on Sundays, and sometimes a Wordless Wednesday or Tuesday's List (maybe now Top 2 Tuesday instead?). I can still tailor each post to what I feel like writing, but it gives me a starting point. 2) I blog when I have time (i.e. when Avery's napping or when she's asleep for the night and Matt's not home), but it's not always ideal to publish five posts in one day. Enter post scheduling. I write as many posts as I feel inspired to write in my given amount of time and then schedule them to post later in the week. It keeps my posting more consistent while giving me the freedom to write when it's convenient, not because I feel like I have to.

I'm not a professional blogger (ha!) to say the least, so check out The Undomestic Momma's MckLinky for more tips!

Blogs I'm Loving

I've gotten a couple of shout outs in the blog world lately, so I'm using this post as an opportunity to share the love. I subscribe to a LOT of blogs (thanks, Google Reader!), so I won't list all of them (you're welcome). Here are some I think are worth checking out:

People I Know in Real Life

Allison Jean Photo. Mi hermana. It goes without saying that I loooove her. She hasn't updated in awhile (ahem, get on that, please!), but her posts are sometimes funny, usually include phenomenal photography, and are always genuine.

Living Well. Kati! Despite our disdain for each others' taste in sports, we were good friends in high school. We went our separate ways in college but have recently reconnected through Facebook and our blogs. Kati's blog is about food, exercise, life, and now pregnancy! Kati is having a baby in a few months, and it's been so much fun following her journey.

The Petty Adventures. This is my neighbor Brooke and I just love her! She and her husband are both twins, and they have two dogs and the same house as us, so I love to get decorating inspiration from her (and our other neighbor Whitney). Hehe. Brooke always has funny stories to share about family, faith, and friends.

Pieces of April. April and I went to college together. But we didn't know each other. Well, I knew who she was, but I'm pretty sure we never spoke. She was friends with my husband, and I got to know her well after college through her Facebook status updates (how lame does that sound?). I've decided that we're long lost soulmates, but I'm pretty sure that's creepy. Anyway, check out her blog. I love reading her thoughts on motherhood and ministry, and she's just real.

Southern Mother. Corrie does a great job with her blog about photography and her life as a mom and wife. She's a Texas girl living in Missouri, and I just love her writing style. Plus her photography is just gorgeous (which I don't say about just anybody!).

Casa del Arnold. Sarah was one of my teaching partners during my last two years MHS. She is just so sweet, and she's witty and artsy, and her blog is fun. Love her!


Bring on the Crazies. Write this down. I am an inspiration. Haha! I suckered Tiff into blogging and she just started her blog on Monday. So I think you should send her a little love and encouragement because you will want her to keep blogging. I promise. She's really funny and has lots of crazy stories about teaching and life with a newborn. Maybe she'll share them with you. If you're nice.

Randomness

Catalog Living. Remember the Sonic commercials with the short haired brunette mom-in-a-minivan? Well, she has a blog. She's funny as all get out. The whole premise of the blog is that Gary and Elaine live in your catalogs. You know the ones, Pottery Barn, Ethan Allen, West Elm, etc. She picks one picture a day and writes a caption for it. Subscribe to it. You won't be disappointed.

There's No Place Like Home. This chick has the cutest house ever. And she has a cute baby. And she has a cute blog. Are you picking up on a trend?

Stuff Christians Like. Some Christians find him offensive. Some Christians also don't have a sense of humor (in my opinion). This blog is about the stuff we like getting in the way of the God we love. It's satirical and serious all at the same time. Love it.



MckMama. Life with 5 kids ages 5 and under. Crazy! But MckMama can make me laugh and cry all in the same post. I adore the way she lives out her convictions (even the ones I don't necessarily share). Plus, her kids are beyond precious and her photography is impressive.

Kelly's Korner. I actually don't even know why I read this blog so religiously. It's really just about Kelly's life, and I have absolutely no ties to her. It's not exceptionally well-written and doesn't make me laugh out loud, but she's doing something right because she has a kazillion subscribers and I, for one, just can't stop reading.

Love From Texas. This girl lives in a neighboring town, and I feel like she's my long lost best friend. However, she has no idea who I am, so I'm pretty sure it would make me a stalker if I acted on that. Although her grammar and spelling sometimes drive me up a wall, her blog is just cute (I'm running out of adjectives). I do wish she'd bring back Tuesday's List though...

Home Sanctuary. I've known Rachel since I was just a geeky little adolescent with braces. Her blog is dedicated to helping women make their homes a sanctuary by doing one "Small Thing" a day. There are even points involved, which is heaven for a competitive freak like myself. 

Money Money Money

I used to subscribe to around 10 budget-friendly blogs, but it was just, well, overwhelming. I've since whittled down my reading list to three.

My Dallas Mommy. Warning: she posts a TON. I don't even try to read each one. But I've found some budget-friendly tips, free magazine subscriptions, and coupons here. She's the chick on WFAA if you watch the morning news.

Money Saving Mom. Same principle, but not nearly as overwhelming. It's worth checking out if you need help with your home economics, lol.


Baby Cheapskate. This site tells you where the baby scores are, from the cheapest places to buy diapers that week to online deals and coupons.

Okay, so these aren't ALL the blogs I love, but I just don't have the time to list and describe them all. My house is messy. I should fix that. 

Which ones am I missing? I'd love to hear from you.

Happy reading!!

I'm bored.

Two more days and counting until I'm not relegated to my desk day in and day out. I'm ready to be a productive member of society the classroom.

I want to kick somebody. Although we usually play on Mondays, I'm so relieved that we have an indoor game tonight because I have some pent up aggression that's begging to be set free.

Have you ever checked out this blog? The Hostess With the Mostess is brilliant! And I've discovered her just in time to start planning for Avery's first birthday. Holy cow, it's hard to believe that this summer she'll be a whole year old. No need to fret: I will not be joining the ranks of parents who spend thousands of dollars on a party their kid won't even remember. I do, however, want to come up with a color scheme and some cute ideas for a small family party. I need an excuse to get creative. (Plus, the kid may not remember, but pictures last forever!)

I never thought I'd say this (ever), but I'm beginning to prefer Walmart to Target. Oh, it hurts to admit it. Most of our grocery shopping is done at Kroger or HEB, but when I do have to get food items at the superstores, Target hates me. Their produce is awful (and so expensive). Their frozen fruits are laden with sugar. Their frozen vegetables are pre-salted. Their baby food jars (that I have to buy for day care, but that's a whole other issue) are either Gerber or Earth's Best (both overpriced and where's the Beech Nut?!?). And they don't sell unfrosted strawberry Pop Tarts (so what if I shouldn't be eating them in the first place?). So boo, Target, I'm sad that our relationship has come to this point.

I was interrogated yesterday. TWICE. Once at school by our on-campus officer (crazy drama there, but it's off my back now-- whew! ) and once at home by a private investigator who was digging up some dirt on a loan company who had signed the papers on the mystery house across the street. Juicy! Or not. But it did add some intrigue to our evening.

I'm nearing my 100th blog post. That milestone calls for a list. I'd better get on that.

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks.

Is it self-absorbed that I love my new layout so I keep going to my blog just to look at it? I mean, check out that header! Granted, I used a pre-made background on it, but I discovered that photo editing software is way out of my league. It wasn't even Photoshop; instead I tried my hand at the poor man's version, aka paint.net. I gained a new appreciation for my ridiculously talented sister (who can maneuver Photoshop like nobody's business), and, in turn, got a lesson in humility. I pride myself on my document-formatting and spreadsheet-creating skills, so it was much to my dismay that all those crazy layers and backgrounds and lighting options were beyond my capabilities. This simple header took me like TWO hours to make! And it's barely anything! I really need to figure out how to become more efficient in header-creation. 

Last night I tried another new thing. My talented friend Kendra is directing Thoroughly Modern Millie at the small Christian school where she teaches, so she asked Matt and me to come to her final dress rehearsal to take notes for the kids. I've been in my fair share of musicals and revues, but more than that, I am obsessed with everything musical theater and like to pretend I actually know what I'm talking about. (Matt actually has had more "directing" experience as of late, but he's not such a know-it-all.) So naturally we said we'd do it and made the trek up there to help out (and see the show for free-- score!). As the show began and I was sitting there with my rockin' glow stick (to write notes in the dark, of course-- how cool!), notebook, and paper, I suddenly felt like such a poser. What in the world was I supposed to even watch for?!? Fortunately, being opinionated and critical has its upsides. I filled up four whole pages of comments, questions, and critiques. They weren't even all negative! And it was surprisingly fun. It didn't hurt that the show was fabulous. Just call me Heather Ebert. Two thumbs up! 

Tomorrow's my birthday, and although I don't get quite as excited as this, I'm actually looking forward to it. I haven't had a good birthday in like four years, mostly because I'm always coaching on my birthday, which translates to spending the evening outside in the cold, wind, and rain. But 26 just sounds old to me. I know it's not, but I can't help but to be aware of the fact that I'm officially in my "upper twenties," I'm officially out of the under-25 category, and I'm officially four years away from thirty. Yikes! 

But then maybe I'll be thirty, flirty, and thriving. 

And still learning new tricks.

Friday Five.

I love...

1.  ...this blog. Go there. 

2. ...the fact that research papers are due today, and although that also means I now have to grade all of them, I don't even care as long as the end is officially in sight. Bonus: Up on my board I wrote the order that everything needed to be organized in their turn-in folder (obsessive compulsive much?), and I snuck in "chocolate so I'm in a good mood when I grade your paper" to see if they noticed (joking of course! or, uh, not joking so much; it's relative), so I now have a mini-fridge full of Kit Kats! Now when I'm done grading papers, I will also fit back into my post-pregnancy-still-a-little-fat jeans. Wait, that's not a good thing? Dangit.

3. ...that we're driving to Austin tonight to see Candace, Ricky, and Jacob! We've never met the little Jake-O-Lantern, and we're so excited to spend some time with some of our favorite people. Not to mention that they live very close to some amazing outlets. Score! 

4. ...Thanksgiving. It's coming up so fast, and I cannot WAIT. A whole week off= a wedding weekend, catching up with the in-laws, family pictures with Allison (she's amazing, check her out if you're looking for a photographer), Thanksgiving at Nana's (yum!), movies in an actual theater (vs. the good ol' RedBox standby), shopping, decorating for Christmas, and spending the whole week with Avery and Matt. Those moments truly are priceless.

5. ...Google Reader. It lets me continue my blog-reading obsession much more quickly than going to each individual blog.  Side note: If you only read my blog on Facebook, you're missing out on a super-cute layout (that I'm actually looking to change up a little once I get the hang out the poor man's version of Photoshop, aka Paint.net) and links to some awesome blogs (seriously, check 'em out on the left side of my blog).  Oh, and while you're there (or, uh, here), leave a comment. I like to know who my stalkers are. :)

Have a great weekend!

 

Well, well, well.

It has been TEN days since my last post! And my consistency had vastly improved before this horrendous gap in the written word! I am ashamed. And as much as I hate excuses (just ask my students), I have one. It's a good one, too.

Wanna know what it is?

Good, I thought you might.

My computer revolted. Seriously! It locked us out. Okay, so I suppose it was our own fault. To make a short story long...

I bought this computer five years ago. (Yes, I know, I know, five years is an eternity in computer years.) It still worked great, UNTIL the hard drive crashed (I'm blaming a virus). So my handy dandy husband bought a new drive and everything was as good as new except that we didn't have the original operating system cd to reload Windows. Once again, Mr. Handy Dandy himself came to the rescue. His idea: we could just load an old Windows cd, and voila, it should work. And it did work. For one month. Did you know that you can use Windows for a month without a serial number and teases you by working just fine, but then after that month is up, it just snatches it right away? I know now.

So I had a great blog about my day as a Stay at Home Mom (complete with pictures!). I had a Tuesday's List blog about favorite beauty products (although you were probably actually saved by not having to read that one because, I can accept it, I'm not really an expert on beauty). I had a blog about my grocery shopping adventures and how I saved lots of money (yippee!). I had ALL THESE BLOG ENTRIES and I couldn't write them! And now it's just too late and my (four) readers will just have to be disappointed forever. If you just can't stand not knowing what my past 10 days have entailed, you can just out my new-to-blogging husband's update.

Never fear, there is hope in sight. I finally got in touch with Dell, who assured me that I was entitled to one (how generous) backup copy of the Windows version for which I did have a serial number. It's (supposedly) on its way. Until then, my also-handy dad gave us a substitute that should work for now.

Side note, please do not tell me I need a Mac. Yes, I love them. No, I cannot afford one. They have problems of their own, so I'm just fine with having a PC at home.

No new pictures today. No pretty signature at the end of this post. Blog fail. No, make that computer fail.

Heather ( <---- ugly "signature")

New Blog Layout!

I have to be honest. I'm just posting tonight because I want to show off my new blog layout, thanks to Whitney and Brooke. I'm still not all the way finished because I still have to play around with paint.net to make a banner...BUT I'm getting there. Yay!

We had neighbor dinner night tonight and, don't be shocked now, I cooked. Eek! It's actually been awhile since I cooked because Matt's just so dang good at it that I've gotten spoiled, but considering that it's ALL gone (except for the massive batch of mashed potatoes that Matt made), I'd say my first foray back into the kitchen was an edible success. Point for Heather. On that note, we love our neighbors-- check out their blogs!

After all that yummy food (plus Funfetti cookies, so much for losing baby weight), I popped in my post-natal workout dvd with which I have a love/hate relationship. Tonight the hate was clearly evident. Lindsay Brin kicked my butt! Hopefully I'll stay with it long enough to rediscover my abs. It's been awhile.

Give me five.

1. I really want a cool blog layout, but I have no idea how to make them. I like to think of myself as fairly intelligent/competent, so I'm pretty sure I could look it up and just figure it out, but I really want somebody to just show me how to do it.

2. I love change. No, not like Obama-campaign-change. Like, coins-in-the-coke-machine change. I find it strangely enjoyable to sort it, count it, and then wrap it up in those cool little rollers.

3. I could watch Bridezillas all day long. You know, the ridiculous WE show. When Matt and I were engaged, I would rent seasons of it at a time from Netflix and just have marathons every night. Yes, it's trashy. Yes, I think a lot of it is staged. Yes, it gave me nightmares about my own wedding. No, I do not care.

4. I like lists. A lot. If I have a lot going on, I even make lists of the lists I need to make. If I'd thought of it soon enough, I would've named my blog "My Life in Lists" and made every post some sort of list. It's an obsession.

5. Speaking of obsessions, I love the new Special K chocolate pretzel bars. I'm not even delusional enough to think they're actually good for me (have you ever looked at the ingredients?). But would I like to eat the whole box? Yes, please.

Darn you, interesting blogs.

Blame Google Reader. I've been blog-stalking lately, and ever since the madness began, I've been thinking in blogs. I keep coming up with all these blog topics without anywhere to post them, but alas, I remembered the ol' blogger.

So I'm back.

A lot has transpired over the last year since I last ventured over here. I'm now in my fifth year of teaching, we got another dog (Sadie-- so cute! More to come on her...), I got a new sister-in-law, and oh yeah, we had a baby. Needless to say, life has changed a little bit in our household.

I'll leave it at that for tonight, but I'll also leave you with this precious face. How could you not just love this adorable baby girl??