Cheer Up Swap and Fat Ass Friday

Have y'all met Brandy from You Don't Know, yet? If not, you need too...she's awesome. She's funny, and crafty, and her little boy Grayson is adorable :)

Brandy has all kinds of excitement going on at You Don't Know, and this week I decided to join in.

First, I signed up for the Cheer Up Swap.

You should check it out if you like getting packages, and c'mon...who doesn't like packages!?!

I am also joining her for Fat Ass Friday. I actually weigh about 15 pounds more than I weighed at my 6 postpartum appointment. Seriously. Not cool. I've blogged about my weight issues a little here, but I have never really made changes that "stuck." Here is hoping that this is the time they do.

Here is Brandy's cute button for Fat Ass Friday.

And my stats:

Starting weight: Erm. My scale is broke. My best guess is 143 though...it was right around there last time I weighed myself. 
Goal weight-125Last week's weight:-
Current weight: 143-ish
Weight +GAIN / -LOSS this week: -
Total weight lost: -


And here is my 143 pounds in pictures:

And proof I have a face...and need to get my eyebrows done. And brush my hair.

Have an awesome weekend y'all and go say hi to Brandy!

Snow Day!

We are finally getting snow today! This is our first real snow storm of the season.

I am completely lazy today. I baked muffins earlier today, and that is about all I have accomplished. I still have to clean the kitchen up.

Right now, Gemma is napping and I am laying in bed with her watching Brothers and Sisters.

Lazy, lazy, lazy.

I think I like snow days.

Money, Money, Monday

I've posted a little bit on here about saving money.

Saving money is a good thing.

The problem with how I save money is usually I save money on stuff that I am buying.

Buying things isn't always a good thing.

Of course, everyone needs certain things, but truth be told, most of us do it in excess. (Buy things that is)

Personally, I have struggled because...well...I don't make much money. Goals like buying a car, getting my own home, paying off my debts seem almost impossible so...I just.don't.bother.

And I buy stuff.

It's true.

So, with a little bit of a monetary windfall headed my way (thank you, Uncle Sam!) I have decided to try to get a better handle on my finances.

I looked up my credit report for free here. I faced my debts head on. Now, they weren't as bad as I thought, but they are still bad. Ick.

I also signed up on mint.com to set up a budget for myself. It's a work in progress, but hey, now I have a budget! (Oh, and if you are interested, Mint has an android app and also an iPhone/iPod touch app.)

These are definitely baby steps for me, but they are steps in the right direction. Many young people struggle with money, and sometimes it is overwhelming to try and figure it all out...but I'm gonna try.

Someone's gotta pay the bills, right?

Do you have any advice for me as I work towards financial independence?

Calling All Blog Designers!

So, I have decided that this beautiful blog needs a new look...because that teeny tiny baby in my header doesn't exist anymore...she's been replaced with a big ol' toddler.

Plus, I have...ideas.

Secret ones.

For now at least.

I know that there are lots of blog designers out there, but I wanted to take it to my readers first and see if there are any of you who do blog design or if you know/have used a blog designer that you love and think I should check out.

Oh, and, I can pay someone this time. 

That's usually important to mention.

Happy Sunday Y'all!

xoxo,
Kacie

I Stole This

From my blog buddy Jordan at This Is My Now.

I like this so much that I made it my facebook picture.

It is exactly what I need to remind myself right now.

Thanks Jordan!

Happy Weekend Y'all!

Que Sera, Sera

So...

I mailed my grad school application today.

Holy crap, I'm nervous.

For a whole list of reasons, this is the only school that I am applying to. If I don't get accepted, it is on to Plan B.

The problem is...

Plan B doesn't exist.

I am crossing all of my fingers and toes, knocking on wood, and all that good stuff.

I want this so much it is crazy.

It's out of my hands now, so I guess all I can do is hope for the best.

By the Time I'm 25...

In 5 months and 8 days I am going to be 25 years old!

Eeek.

I keep thinking about who I want to be at 25 and how I am not quite that person yet.

So, I am on a quest for self improvement, both in and out.

I really want to overhaul my life and be the best me I can be.

I might try to focus on self improvement here for awhile. My life needs a lot of work and it sounds kind of silly to talk about these things out loud in real life...so I will let it all out here.

I want to be more patient, find inner peace, and reconnect with myself spiritually. I want to read more books, keep myself on a budget, and get more organized. I want to focus on my diet, exercise, dressing nicer, taking better care of my skin and hair.

I know I was kind of wish washy on the whole resolution thing, but I really need to make the changes I want to make like now.

After all, now is all we've got right?

P.S. 159 Days 'til I'm 25

Family Portrait

Gemma, Right Now

So, I realize that I haven't posted those monthly photos in...err...3 months, but I have been taking them, and I promise, Gemma keeps getting cuter and cuter. I used to write a little bit about her at each month, but I haven't done that since I quit posting pictures, so I wanted to just get out a little bit of randmomness. Feel free to skip this post, hey, it is Friday night anyway...should you really be in blog land? :)

Gemma is such a sweet, sweet girl...except for when she is pulling your hair.

She call toes piggies and likes to sniff...and sometimes lick (gross)...them.

Brushing my hair is fun for her and sometimes painful for me.

Just yesterday she started SCREAMING the dog's name "Ojjjjjjj." (His name is O.J., but we call him Oj...sounds like Oh plus G as in Giant.)

She's afraid of bugs, which is unfortunate because we STILL have pesky freakin' stink bugs.

She calls most drinks "milk" and desperately wants whatever I am drinking.

She loves ducks, and says "quack" whenever she sees them. Her quack sounds kind of aggressive, but so do all of her other animal sounds...

She has so many distinct intrests now! Cars (vrooom), dinosuars (rawr), babies in both doll and photographic for (bay-beh!).

She likes playing dress up, by throwing clothes around her neck or she tries to to put my pants on. She also tries on any pair shoes that she comes across. She likes applying lip gloss, uses lotion on her hands, and puts bracelets and hair ties on her wrist...like her mama.

She no longer just says "hello" on the phone, she has long gibberish conversations.

Anytime she sees a pillow, bed, or blanket, or when the t.v. is off (this shows my bad habits!) she says "night night."

She loves splashing in water...especially the dogs' water. Ick.

She's definitely off and running.

She likes to spin in circles. She gets really dizzy after a few spins and falls on her butt.

She likes rocking chairs and assumes most seats will rock. She says "rock, rock" as she sits.

Gosh, she really is the best baby ever!

You disagree?

Okay...maybe not the best baby ever.

But she is pretty freakin' sweet.

Seriously.

Here's an awful camera phone picture of her that was taken earlier this week. She is drinking a juice box and hanging out with her Aunt Abby...

I Swear My Kid Doesn't ALWAYS Have Junk Food on Her Face

But sometimes she does.

Here's Gemma saying "CHEESE."

And playing in the dirty clothes basket.

With chocolate on her face.

At 10:00 o'clock at night.

Awesome.

Random Funny

Not much to say today.

What I Ate on My First Day of "Dieting"

All day yesterday at work I felt fat.

Uncomfortable in my skin, hanging out of my clothes, catching a glimpse of how I really look now, fat.

I resolved myself to finally, once and for all, making a real go of loosing the 20 or so pounds that have really been irking my nerves today.

For breakfast, I had one and a half fried eggs, two slices of white toast with butter, and two strips of bacon.

For a snack I had gooey butter cake and a glass of milk.

Lunch was almost an entire sesame chicken lunch special and half an egg roll.

I will eat dinner tonight, at 9:30, I'm not sure what .

According to my nifty calorie tracker app, I have already consumed over 1900 calories today.

Eeek.

At least I haven't had any soda!

And as always...tommorrow is another day.

Wish me luck.

And will power.

Sunday Savings

Confession time.

If you've been reading this blog for a while you probably know I tend to get obsessed with things. Often. Everything from taco flavored potato chips to crazy reality shows to entering giveaways starts as something small for me and then becomes much bigger.

I guess I have an addictive personality.

My most recent obsession is online shopping. I think the combination of loving to shop, having a baby that is hard to shop with, and having lotsss of time to kill online (while I'm at work...I'm a receptionist, so it's okay!) has sort of created this online shopping monster...

Muahhahaaha... (that's an evil laugh. Could you tell?)

The only thing that makes my obsession no-so-bad is that I am not just shopping indiscriminately...

I'm bargain huntin'.

(Say that in your most country accent. Or like Elmer Fudd. Either one works.)

I have been a major fan of sites like Shop at Home and Ebates for cash back (note, those are referral links), I use Retail Me Not to find coupon codes, and I stalk Slickdeals to find bargains that others have posted.

I really am sooo addicted.

I know that this post might just seem like an excuse to post my referral links (promise it's not.(Only the first two links are referrals btw) I just wanted to share with you where a lot of my online time has been spent lately :)

My most recent deal was from American Eagle.

American Eagle and Aerie clearance is an additional 30% off in your cart. When you purchase any 3 items you also get free shipping. There is a code for $10 off of a $35 purchase (78865547) and a code for 15% off of your entire order (either 65023617 [Exp. 01/20] or 35476511). The codes cannot be combined, but you can try both in your cart and see what gives you the best price. The free shipping will be automatically deducted when you have 3 or more items in your cart.

I got these New Balance Cross Trainers, and 3 other small fill in items (ahem) for $27 using the $10 off of $35 code.The shoes alone were originally $64.50. I think it was a pretty sweet deal...

If you are in need of a new pair of shoes for the gym and wear a size 6 or 6.5 you should definitely check this out. There are lots of other cold weather clothes on clearance too, so you should be able to find something great!

So, are you a bargain shopper? Do you have any tips or suggestions that would help fuel the fire (not that I need it).

Blog Sweep

I was following 216 blogs.

I'm now following 34.

My goal was 15.

Ehhh, close enough.

Catching up with my favorite blogs has been nearly impossible recently, as it feels like I am always skipping past stuff that I don't really read so I finally broke down and decided to clean house.
It feels nice, real nice.

I would suggest you do the same.

Even if I don't make the cut.

My feelings won't be too hurt...

Promise

*Sidenote: I was a little delete happy and now I am thinking that I probably deleted some of my favorite blogs. If you realize that you lost a follower and you think it might be me, leave a comment or send an email and I will re-add you. If I have never read your blog but you want me to check it out, let me know and I will follow you too!*

See you tommorrow friends! 

Oops!

So, I kinda sorta already failed at my whole "Post Everyday in January," resolution. But I have a good reason. I was sick...like, left work early sick. Luckily, I am feeling mostly better today. Not so luckily, I am stuck at work.

Life has kinda been just trucking along...

My great grandma came home from the nursing home where she was receiving rehab for a hip surgery. I am so happy that she is back home again! She has really helped me through so much of the past two difficult years. She has always been someone that I can talk to and confide in and I am beyond thrilled that she is well on the road to recovery.

I have been trying to motivate myself a little more. I have straigtened my hair like 3 days this week which is really good for me. I know it seems silly, but I feel sooo much better about myself when my hair is done, and actually taking the time to do it is an accomplishment for me. I bought a book, and I have started reading it... (This, if you are curious.)

I am also finally really working on my grad school applications...

Like I said, just trucking along...

Special Appearance

It's Me!

On my own blog.

Go figure.

This is a random mom's side of the family Christmas picture.

We're kind of random, but love makes a family, right?



Last Year's Resolutions (aka I Suck) and a Free Biscuit

Last year I got a little...ambitious...with the whole new years resolution thing.

I said, hey, why have 1 when I can have 101.

Seriously, can anyone tell me what I was thinking?

When I look back on those resolutions, I realize that I have accomplished probably...10 things on the list?

Not so awesome.

I still love the idea of a 101 in 1001 challenge, but I am wondering if I need to revamp the list, or if maybe it is just unrealistic.

I wonder why we, people in general, set so many goals for ourselves that we don't meet. I mean, nothing is our way but ourselves right? What makes it so hard to pick up that book, hit the gym, wear the make up, save the dollar, mop the floors, save the kitten, make it to church and so on and so forth.

I don't get it.

Maybe we all need to resolve to be more resolved.

Or maybe we should just say eff it and eat a free spicy chicken biscuit.

Life's weird.

The Year of Me

2009 was The Year of Gemma. Two years ago tomorrow, I came face to face with the little pink line that would change my life forever. (This happened in the bathroom at the grocery store, but that is a story for another time.) My 2009 was spent growing this baby, accepting this baby, meeting this baby, and learning how to care for this baby, this baby I wasn't quite sure I was ready to have. (Or maybe I was quite sure I wasn't ready to have this baby.) The whole of my 2009 revolved around Her.

2010 was The Year of Us. Gemma and I. Our own little two person family. I really learned how to be a mother to this child and in turn she grew to love and trust me. My love for her is unexpected and special. Looking at her is like looking at the best parts of myself. It has been a hard year. An exhausting year. A year that I sometimes didn't want to keep trudging through. All of the struggles of 2010 were worth it though, because 2010 made Gemma and I an Us.

I have decided that 2010 will the year of Me. Obviously I am going to keep loving Gemma, caring for Gemma, and being the best mama that I know how, but I also want to turn back some of my life's focus onto myself. I want to start graduate school. I want to take care of my body. I want to have fun. I want to get to know this girl who has changed so much in 2 years that she hardly recognizes herself. I want to spend 2011 working on Me.

2011 New Years Resolutions

Get Accepted to Grad School OR Come Up with a Plan B

Weigh 125 by my 25th Birthday (June 26th)

Read More

Blog Everyday in January (Except on My Weekends Off)

Do Other Things that Make Me Happy, Bring Me Towards My Goals, and Help Me Find Myself Again

By this time next year I want to be my very best self.

Who knows, 2012 could be the year of Him.