36 Bleh.....

I hit the big 3-6 this week. I've been thinking of this birthday as the start of the last half of my life. When I tell people this they ask "Are you only going to live to 70?" I don't think that exactly. I just can't deny I'm getting old, my mindset is changing and things are starting to break down. For example.... my birthday started when I woke up for no reason at 5am. I fear this may be the beginning of a new era of early rising biorhythms. When I got out of bed the bottom of my feet hurt when I walked. Gout? Arthritis? I tried to "walk it off" but gave up after about 10 steps when I realized I looked like some sort of zombie puppet. I then made some tea with milk to help ward off osteoporosis and sat in our recliner. Yes we own a recliner. It's fabulous! As I sat in the recliner I randomly began to think that we should buy some coasters, that I should be asking for lots of free condiments when we get fast food so I don't have to buy it at the store and that I really need to start moisturizing every day. Yep I'm old.

Food for Thought

Going to buy groceries is one of my least favorite things to do. I will put it off until we have eaten all the food in our house.

Last weekend when Sid came home from visiting her grandparents she opened the fridge and was surprised to see that there was actually food in it. Her response was, "Mom where did all this food come from!? Is it MAGIC?" Even the 4 year old knows it's more likely that magic filled the frige than I went to the store.

I've been trying to do better about feeding our family. More home cooked meals and fewer drive-thru meals. I've been shopping at the HEB in Midland to motivate myself.

Damon is not a fan of this. Everything we need should be purchased in Odessa according to him because Odessa > Midland. Maybe that's true about schools and it's definitely true regarding hospitals but Midland's HEB is just better. The produce department is huge and in the 3 times we've been to the store I still haven't seen everything they have to offer.

So we'll be making the 15 minute drive to Midland for groceries for the time being because Damon likes to eat and Sidney needs to learn where food comes from - the magical Midland HEB!

Decorating a Big Girl Room

Now that we are settled into our apartment routine it's time to pretty the place up!

I've been mulling over what to do with Sid's room. I want to transition it from baby to big girl but still keep her personality a part of everything.

This painting is one of the things we kept from her old room. I love that it's 1.) educational 2.) girly and 3.) colorful. I used it as one of our inspirational jump off pieces.

Santa brought Sidney this Barbie palace. His elves worked for 2 1/2 hours putting it together! Installing a 3 story elevator in a dollhouse is more complicated than you might imagine. After so much bonding time with this peice of plastic (not to mention that it dominates a large portion of her room) I felt we needed to incorporate it as another inspiration piece.Here are some of the items we have purchased so far:

I love that I can throw this quilt in the washing machine. It is also reversible to a solid if Sid gets tired of the dots. The quality is great. I think this is a blanket she could have through college.Sidney is a Hello Kitty fanatic. This throw pillow was pretty much a no brainer. When we found it at Target she insisted on carrying it until we got to the check out and then I had to persuade her to let the cashier have it to scan. It's a perfect match to the pinks in the quilt!We were in need of toy storage so that we could walk through Sid's room without stumbling over horses, Barbies and tea sets. Damon and I put this together twice since I can't read instructions. It's pretty and has safety latches so she won't get her fingers smashed. It's in front of her window where it can also double as a window seat.We ordered 5 of these panels for Sid's window. They give her room a pretty pink glow when the sun shines through them.

This is the bedskirt that coordinates with her quilt. We also picked up a pink zebra body pillow to put behind the quilt shams.

There are still quite a few things to pick up before her room is complete. We need a good lamp for reading and a wall clock. Some of the things we're considering adding to the pink madness:

I found this clock on etsy. They will personalize it with your child's name. With all the pink in her room we need some purple to balance things out.

I found this mobile on etsy also. They will customize the butterflies to coordinate with your child's room. It also looks really cool when it spins. It's as though you have a globe of fluttering butterflies above your bed.

I discovered PBTeen when I was looking for quilts. I love this site! Very fun and funky. I like all of these lamps. Going to be tough to narrow it down to one!

I had seen some vinyl wall quotes at Target but none of them seemed to fit Sidney. I was blown away by how many online options there were. Here are a few of my favorites:

Sweet Pea

Practically Perfect

Fairytale

Pixie Dust

Spirit of the Sun

Monsters

How to Introduce Little Girls to Star Wars

Damon usually reads Sidney her nightly bedtime story. Her favorite book of the past few weeks is a charming yarn called Barbie and a Fashion Fairytale. It isn't great literature. I know this because the pages are covered in glitter. It's really an infomercial for Barbie products disguised as a learn to read tool. But night after night after night it's her book of choice. Tonight as I passed by her door I heard Damon reading the story but with a slight twist:

Damon: "The gunship roared over the Eiffel Tower. The Clone Troopers were in desperate need of a fashion make-over. There was only one place they could achieve their objective - the city of Paris. They had worn their battle armor for 3 missions and it was time for a change. They needed Barbies help to add a little flair..."

HaHaHa! Here is a fun Star Wars PSA.

An Eye Full

I've been a Dior mascara fan for a few years now. It's a splurge purchase ($25+) so I try to make that little tube of black gunk last as long as possible. Today I picked up Dior Extase to help ring in 2011. It promises to transform my lashes in a single stroke. We shall see!

Christmas - Another One Flies By

The entire month of December has been a blur for me. I hadn't realized how Sid being in school was going to affect our typical Christmas happenings. Between her school pageant, teachers gifts, ballet practice, my work and the regular seasonal stuff there was a lot going on. The good news is that we got most of it done and I'll be better prepared for next year.

Some of the highlights:

Damon and I were invited to a Christmas party at Venezia's in Midland. The food was amazing! It was especially fun to hang out with grownups for an evening.

Sid had a lot of fun with her school Christmas program. This year she sang with the other kids in preK and next year she will get a speaking part. I was very impressed with how all the kids did. The teachers did an amazing job getting them ready.

Damon and I got to sit in on one of Sidney's ballet/tap practices. She is starting to get the hang of it. Her first recital is in May and I think her teacher has her work cut out for her with this group of dancers. Lots of personalities and a few divas!

We got to see my good friend Sara and her family. We met at Rosa's for dinner and then got hot chocolate at Star Bright Village. I miss them tons and I'm so glad that they will be moving closer to us.

We had dinner at Shirrie's a few days before Christmas. She is such a great cook! We hadn't seen Mark and his family in years. It was good to catch up with them and Damon loved having someone to talk tech with. Sid had a blast playing with all the kids after she got over being shy. When we left she kept asking when we could go back to play.

We went to Kermit for Christmas Eve/Day. It was wonderful to spend time with Damon's parents, grandma, aunts and uncles. Santa brought Sid a new doll and 2 horses for the doll to ride. She named the doll "Chocolate Diamond" and the horses "Barbie and a Christmas Carol" and "Barbie Cowgirl." Santa also brought her a new Barbie dollhouse. She loves the Barbie! Her toy box is overflowing with all the new loot.

Life is returning to normal around our house. Of course we're already starting to gear up for our next holiday - Valentines! My favorite!

And Now For Something Completely Different

Have you ever had one of those months where you decide to sell your house, get rid of half of your possessions and move into an apartment? I have! It was crazy. But a good crazy - in a "clean out all the junk you've collected in your life and start fresh" kind of way.

Our life consisted of garage sales and maximizing the space in our dumpster for about 5 weeks. We gave a lot away. Deciding which of our things were priceless and irreplaceable was the hard part. It's amazing how much lighter I feel now. Holding onto things just because they belonged to someone else had created a crushing amount of sentiment. I didn't realize how much pressure it was until I got out from under it. So the moral of my story is - the things you possess may come to possess you.

As for the apartment, we're still getting settled. Our living room furniture currently consists of a plastic storage tub and camp chairs. We're working on changing that but after getting rid of so much clutter we're being picky about what we bring into our home. In fact maybe a little overly picky. It took me 4 hours at Target to pick out a rug for our bathroom. Yes, 4 hrs of my life were spent agonizing about the color of a floor mat to put around our toilet. After working so hard to get rid of stuff, bringing more stuff into our lives seems a bit counterproductive. I won't even tell you how much time went into picking out the sofa...

My Mom

Tomorrow will be 9 years since my mom passed away. Really miss her. She was a lovely person and a great mom.

Three Things...

...that made me happy today:
1. Damon made breakfast for the family.
2. I got several hugs from my patients just because.
3. I had a good talk with my boss. I was able to share some things that had been frustrating me and now feel much better about work.

Two Things...

...that made me happy today:
1. Having my little girl run up to me and jump in my arms when I picked her up from school.
2. Finding out that mystery spot on my arm wasn't cancer.
*Smile*

First Day of Pre-K

Sid was so excited to go to school! No tears from her but a little bashful when we dropped her off. She gave Damon such a tight hug around the neck he was afraid she bruised his thyroid. I got a little misty eyed but mostly had butterflies in my stomach for being nervous that she have a good first day. Damon went up to spy on her during chapel and said she was smiling and happy. So far so good! 13 more of these to go.

Football! Football! Football!

Found these on one of my favorite Texas Tech sites: DoubleTNation.

Guess Who's Back in the House...

MAX!!! He's back in the house but on probation. So far so good!

Sidney and the puppies.

Sidney showing how to put a dog in a headlock. Poor Star! Such a good sport!

New Heights

This year we spent our summer vacation in the Colorado mountains. Beautiful views, cool temperatures, trees and streams. A recipe for a great time except for the altitude. Damon is not a fan of heights and this trip happened to be full of them. He is such a trooper though and tagged along with Sidney and me on the Pike's Peak Cog and most of the Seven Falls climb. Here is a pic of Damon and Sid on top of Pike's Peak. You can just see New Mexico in the distance. Damon is smiling because his eyes are closed.

I asked Damon to take a picture of Sid and me on the edge. When we got to the spot I looked up and saw Damon on his hands and knees with his arm covering his face and bracing the camera for the picture. An old man next to him was about to call the EMT's for help. As we were coming back down on the cog Damon said, "When the conductor said we could see Kansas...that was one of the worst moments of my life!"

Here is Damon half way up Seven Falls. It is 224 steps to get to the top and gorgeous waterfalls all the way.

This is how much further we had to climb to get to the top.

Damon decided to wait at the bottom.

He was very brave the whole trip but he's insisting that next year our family vacation be to someplace less vertical.

Inspiration

This past week we found out our puppy Max has a new favorite food - poop. I was informed of this during a department meeting by Damon. Our conversation went like this:

Damon: "Did you know Max eats poop?!"
Rochelle: "No I did not know that."
Damon: "He eats poop!"
Rochelle: "Well did you give him some dog food? Maybe he's hungry."
Damon: "No."
Rochelle: "Did you scoop the yard?"
Damon: "No. He can never some inside the house again!"
Rochelle: "You know I'm in a meeting...at work..."
Damon: "He eats poop!"

When I got home Sidney showed me how she had captured this conversation in drawing:


This is a sign that says: "No poop eating dogs in our house!" You'll notice the use of brown watercolors to highlight the poop as well as the giant "X" to show poop-eating will not be tolerated. Picasso couldn't have done it better!

The Summer I Impersonated a Blonde

In honor of my 35th birthday I decided to mix things up a little - starting with my hair. The reactions have been mixed. One of my patients asked me, "Who talked you into doing that to your hair?" Several people have not recognised me. This list includes Aunt Shirrie - who also happens to be my hair dresser. My best friend Denise told me I looked younger. One kind soul told me I looked thinner. I've noticed that I catch myself smiling more and just feeling happier in general. It's been a fun change. But I think my blonde days are numbered. My roots are calling me back to my brunette self. And you can't forget your roots - especially when they keep staring you down every time you peek in a mirror.

After 3 Weeks of E-mealz

We took a little time off from the plan to go on a trip to Austin and honestly because we were too lazy to go to the grocery store for a few days. We're now back on the E-mealz wagon and I'm glad. We eat more veggies when I cook for us at home. I also think the food tastes better than our usual diet of fast food. Our big $ savings are going to pay off a few speeding tickets but such is the journey of life - especially when you like to live 13 miles over the speed limit.

Week 1 of E-Mealz

Dave Ramsey's radio program frequently advertises E-Mealz.com. After 4 years of listening (being brain-washed) to these commercials I decided to try it for our family. In the past I have added up how much our family of 3 spends on food during a month and the amount is often more than our mortgage. We Jackson's like to eat!

We purchased the Walmart Family of 4 Plan because I thought it would have the best savings. There are several plans to choose from but you can only change your plan once every 3 months. Currently they do not have a plan for HEB which is my grocery store of choice. They do offer an "Any Store" option but it does not include a $ estimate for you to track your savings.

E-mealz promotes their program as $5/month but you must purchase it 3 months at a time. I thought this was a little sneaky on their part but not having to think about what to make for dinner for 3 months won me over. Hopefully, now that I've already paid for the plans I will stick with the program and our bank account will thank us.

Damon and I decided to split the work so he buys our weeks worth of groceries and I cook the meals. I think I got the better end of this deal and he thinks he got the better end. It's a win/win!

I didn't think we would like some of the recipes and I was already planning to call in Pizza Hut as backup. However, everything was surprisingly tasty and we were able to stretch all of our meals to cover lunch the following day. When they say the meal will feed 4 I think they mean 4 grown men that have just finished a hard days work in the fields.

One meal involved cooking a lot of pork chops in the crock pot. I like the ease of crock pot cooking and this meal was probably the best tasting of the bunch but the clean up is a pain. Yes, I know I need to buy some crock pot liners but when I only use it once every 6 months it hasn't been something I think about.

To purchase all the ingredients for the Walmart shopping list we spent about $75. This amount did not include staples. Lemon juice, mayo and capers are some of the listed staples. Capers?! I would like to meet someone in West Texas that has a ready supply of capers hanging out in their pantry.

Damon went shopping on a Saturday and said he will never go back to Walmart on a weekend again. Hehe! So I switched us to the Any Store Plan after our 3rd day. Hello again HEB! The Walmart dinners were also heavy on starches and cheese which is probably why they tasted so good. The Any Store Plan had more veggies and fresher ingredients. We'll start it tomorrow night.

After our first week of E-mealz we probably saved $150 but our food budget was admittedly out of control. This program has de-stressed dinner for me since I can now just go on auto-pilot after putting in my hard day in the fields. A person that is organized and disciplined could probably do this all on their own but that person isn't me. So far E-mealz has been great for us.

Puppy Love

My life seems to have gone to the dogs the past few weeks. Between groomers, vets, shots, and picking the "right" dog food these 2 pups have kept me on the go.

Sid loves playing with Max and Star. She also enjoys helping me "scoop" the yard. I'm sure our neighbors are tired of her yelling, "MOM THERE'S SOME POOP OVER HERE!" Yesterday she told me, "Mom you're good at this. You're a magical mom!" There's really not much "magical" about carrying a HEB grocery bag full of processed dog food to the dumpster, but I appreciate the encouragement. She's been extra encouraging since she stepped in some that I missed. Imagine crying and gagging at the same time. Poor girl did not inherit my nursing nose.

I've been taking them for lots of walks which has been good for meeting more of our neighbors. I've also been watching re-runs of The Dog Whisperer. There are some crazy pet owners out there that I'm in danger of turning into. I asked Damon to get me a therapist if I start referring to Star as my "doggy soul mate."