Really Real Housewife of Madison County - Episode 2

A Day in the Life of a RRHMC

 For some reason, when I woke up this morning I thought to myself, "Self, you should take pictures throughout the day and expose what a Really Real Housewife's life is like!"  So here it is, the glamour that is my life! ;)

Breakfast time! Here is Amelia enjoying her cinnamon waffle (courtesy Eggo) and Levi snoozing in his swing. He's already had breakfast.

Remember now, this is about keeping it really real. So here's a real mess! :P I was lazy last night and didn't do dishes before bed, so I had to catch up this morning. I decided to let bottles soak while I ate breakfast.

Personally I like to eat my breakfast on the fine china.  What can I say, I'm just trying to keep it really real.  I decided to try and catch up on my coupons while we were eating. UGH.

After she ate her brekafst, Amelia decided she wanted clip coupons, too.

Somehow I missed taking any pics between breakfast and naptime.  Basically the rest of the morning went  like this: Dishes, clean up kitchen, play with kids, eat lunch, get Amelia down for nap.  I made myself some coffee to enjoy during naptime.  I've already had one cup, going back for my second!

Doing today's Bible reading/devotions. (See previous blog post)

Its really hard to focus when you have this going on .  Sheesh.

Gorgeous fall day today, so I decided to step outside while Amelia was still asleep and breathe it in.   Seeing as how this is an episode of Really Real Housewife, I should point out that in my neighborhood, people drive only the finest of vehicles.  Check out those sweet rims. *cough*

This is one of my favorite parts of our daily routine around here: post-nap chocolate milk and snuggles. <3

Time to get supper started! I was feeling some chicken-n-dumplins.  My mom makes these, and does so excellently.  I decided to brave it all by myself, to see if I could live up to her standard!  Here are the dumplins waiting to go!

Letting the chicken thighs cool after boiling them, so I can pick the meat off the bones and add it back.

Here's the broth from boiling the chicken thighs, nice and seasoned up, ready to go!

Daddy's home from work now!  This is also part of the daily routine.  He calls it, "Daddy Playground" lol.

I DID IT! They were delish!! Amelia gobbled them up and Keith lavished praises on them.  I am complete.

Daddy helped out with bathtime tonight while I cleaned up the kitchen.  Somehow I forgot to take anymore pictures after this.  The evening concluded with Amelia's nightly routine of milk, lullabies and snuggles.  She is now in dreamland and Keith and I are relaxing until it is time for us to go to bed, too!

 So there ya have it.  Be jealous, dahling.  This is a typical day in my wonderful life and I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

today's devotions

Today I took the opportunity during naptime to sit down with my Bible and give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to speak to my heart. (Disclaimer: Please do not get an over-inflated idea of me as a Christian because of this. A personal walk with God is an area of my life that admittedly needs much growing! But I am working on it! :D ) My pastor once suggested this for a daily Bible reading schedule: Read Psalms everyday, and read the chapter numbers that correspond with the date. For example, today is the 16th, so I read Psalms 16, 46, 76, 106, 136. The times that I have done this, I have been fascinated that the chapters often carry a theme when grouped this way. This is what I feel the Holy Spirit gave me from my reading today (I encourage you to read the chapters for yourself, you will undoubtedly gain a blessing!!!): Psalm 16 - Decide to make God the Lord of your life. Trust Him and know that He won't fail you. Psalm 46 - No matter how scary the circumstances may seem, God is always in control, and provides a refuge for us. Psalm 76 - God is in control. He will make His glory known. Psalm 106 - Even the most dedicated Christian fails sometimes, and God's judgement is perfect. But how wonderful that God also has forgiveness and gives grace to get back on track! Psalm 136 - God's mercy endureth forever! Though the times are ever-changing, though we are imperfect, God's mercy endureth forever!!! And this is what makes living worth living!!

One of my favorite songs

"The Love of God" - Fred­er­ick Leh­man

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Refrain

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Refrain

Really Real Housewife of Madison County - Episode 1

I have joked before about being a "Really Real Housewife of Madison County," when referring to real life domestic issues (cleaning, laundry, baby stuff, etc). I think the "Real Housewives" show series are grossly distant from true reality, lol. Anyway, I think I will start these posts as a place to put my ramblings of domestic life; the adventures of a stay at home wife and mommy.

My Really Real Housewife thought for today: Why are cloudy, dreary, rainy days perfect for doing a whole lot of nothing productive?? Today it is cool, about 60 degrees and sort of dreary. Therefore, the babies and I are spending the day inside, in our jammies, doing a lot of snuggling, playing, and laying around, LOL. Oh sure, there's plenty of things I *should* be doing (read: laundry, dishes, vacuuming, etc). But I guess the babies and I are taking a day off today.

I've really been in the mood to craft, and I think its been brought on by the changing seasons. Unfortunately my craft desk looks like Michaels puked all over it. O__o I really do have to get in there and straighten it up though, because I need to get started on some cute things for my bff's baby shower coming up.

Its getting close to naptime around here. I'm praying I can get both babies to take nice long naps at the same time today (please refrain from laughing...aw who am I kidding, go ahead!) so that I can go tend to my craft desk! ;)

Reconnecting!

Clearly it has been a very long time since I have touched this blog, ha! But I am finding now that I am a stay-at-home mom taking care of 2 babies under the age of 2 (WOWZERS), I enjoy reading blogs and using them as sort of my adult connection to the "outside world," ha! There also times that I have things in my life that I like to share, whether it be a thought, a creation, a bargain, etc. Anyway, I hope that I can use this little blog to be a blessing to others! :)

New Motivation

Well, I wasn't a die-hard Biggest Loser follower this season, but I did enjoy checking in on it once in a while, especially toward the end.  Watching tonight's finale was amazing!  Especially seeing all of these heavy-set woman develop these gorgeous, fit yet feminine bodies gave me a little boost in my own weight loss journey.  

My whole life I have felt like a fat person.  While I have never been one of those naturally skinny people, up until I was about 18 I was not what I would now consider "fat."  However, I always felt like this huge, disgusting person.  Remembering how I felt while looking back at pictures of what I really looked like kind of makes me sad.  Maybe if I had felt a little better about myself back then, I wouldn't have let myself turn into the overweight woman I am now.  I literally now look the way I felt back then.  I guess since I always just felt that I was fat anyway, I let myself believe that it didn't really matter what I ate or how lazy I was, I was already fat, right?  Then the pounds just kept coming over the last 6 years.  But now I realize the damage I have been doing to my body, my emotions, my confidence.  I am determined to undo all this!

So while it may not come as fast or as obvious as I would like, I figure as long as I am working out 5-6 days a week and making smart eating choices throughout the day, then I am improving my health.  

So here's to getting back on, and staying on track!

New Motivation

Well, I wasn't a die-hard Biggest Loser follower this season, but I did enjoy checking in on it once in a while, especially toward the end.  Watching tonight's finale was amazing!  Especially seeing all of these heavy-set woman develop these gorgeous, fit yet feminine bodies gave me a little boost in my own weight loss journey.  

My whole life I have felt like a fat person.  While I have never been one of those naturally skinny people, up until I was about 18 I was not what I would now consider "fat."  However, I always felt like this huge, disgusting person.  Remembering how I felt while looking back at pictures of what I really looked like kind of makes me sad.  Maybe if I had felt a little better about myself back then, I wouldn't have let myself turn into the overweight woman I am now.  I literally now look the way I felt back then.  I guess since I always just felt that I was fat anyway, I let myself believe that it didn't really matter what I ate or how lazy I was, I was already fat, right?  Then the pounds just kept coming over the last 6 years.  But now I realize the damage I have been doing to my body, my emotions, my confidence.  I am determined to undo all this!

So while it may not come as fast or as obvious as I would like, I figure as long as I am working out 5-6 days a week and making smart eating choices throughout the day, then I am improving my health.  

So here's to getting back on, and staying on track!

A Bargain Scrapper's TFTD (tip for the day)

For anyone out there who may not know this about me (although it would be hard not to, LOL), I am completely obsessed with scrapbooking/cardmaking/papercrafting.  I call it my creative outlet of choice.  Unfortunately, the deeper the obsession grows, the deeper it can reach into your wallet!  There is such a myriad of brands, products, design lines, and tools available that you could spend hundreds of dollars a day and never have enough!  

As for me personally, I simply can't afford to just buy up all the pretties that I want!  Sad fact, I know.  So I am developing myself into a Bargain Scrapper.  I have to be on the lookout for the most cost-effective way to grow my hobby!  So I have decided to use my little blog here as a way to offer some the money-saving ideas I have found for other papercrafting addicts out there.  

Thus is born the Bargain Scrapper's TFTD, or Tip For The Day.  Anytime I find a useful tip for saving green while crafting away, I will post it here and share it with others!

TFTD 5-11-09:     If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times...do not buy products at full retail price if you can absolutely help it.  Large chain craft stores just offer too many sales, discounts and coupons for us to be spending precious $$  on regular priced items!  For example, this week Hobby Lobby has an online coupon for 40% off one regularly priced item that you can print and use in store.  I LOVE these coupons.  Even if you just need some new scissors or a new pad of plain cardstock, you can save yourself 40%!  Michael's usually has coupons in their weekly ads to be on the lookout for, also.  

So to my fellow bargain scrappers out there, this week, go buy yourself a scrap goodie, no matter how big or small, at LESS than regular price!  I'll post later whatever I find!  :D  

Happy  Scrapping!

The Dreaded Plateau

UGH.  I have officially plateaued.  I knew it was coming, as it does to anyone starting a weight loss journey, but why oh why did it have to come three weeks before we go to the beach?!?!  I have been stuck for a little over a week now at 12 pounds weight loss.  I don't think I'm going to reach my goal of losing 25 total by the time we go to the beach.  *sigh*  Oh well.  Just gotta stay on topside, I guess.  

I think Keith has lost a total of about 17 pounds now, if I'm correct.  And the proof is in the pictures!  I must say that I laughed at him for taking pre-dieting pictures, you know, posing with no shirt on, LOL.  I refused to take any pictures when I started because for one thing I was pretty sure that the camera would break, and second I did not want a single more "fat picture" of me floating around out there.  But now I kinda wish I had.  The difference between Keith's Day 1 pics and Day 30 pics was pretty amazing.  So much so, that he even showed my  mom!  LOL.  Now I wish I had taken some sort of pictures to kind of be able to step back and look at my progress.  

In other Jones Household news, I have recently developed a new obsession with Rhett and Link, a couple of vloggers and internetainers as they call themselves.  http://www.rhettandlink.com  These guys, to me, are pure comedic genius.  I could watch these videos over and over and just laugh my head off!  And they are so dang adorable too!!  I'm going to add them to the "blogs I follow" list.

Blogging would be so much more fun if...

I knew that more than one person actually read it, LOL.  Oh well, I guess I could think of it as a journal for myself.

Well I guess the biggest thing in the Jones household is our healthy lifestyle changes!  The husband and I have started eating much healthier and exercising nearly everyday.  We're both trying to lose weight and just improve ourselves.  I got on the scale when I first started so I knew where I was starting at, and that was the last thing I remember before I apparently experienced cardiac arrest from the mere shock and had to be rushed to a trauma center.

Kidding, lol.

Seriously though, I had never seen that number before and I never want to see it again!  I guess since my whole life I have just thought of myself as fat no matter what size I've been, I didn't really notice all that much when I started steadily packing on pounds and inches.  Well no more!  I am determined to reclaim the hottie that is smothering underneath all of this cushiony layer of fat, haha!

So right now, I am down 9 pounds after about 4 weeks, and Keith is down 11 pounds after 5 weeks.  We leave for Myrtle Beach on May 26, so my goal is to lose about 15-16 more pounds by then.  It might be a lofty goal, but at least its a goal!

ITS A NEPHEW!!!

My sister-in-law finally had her baby this morning, Friday, January 9, 2009, and its a boy!!!!! Little Josiah Paul was born at 7:35 am and weighed in at a little over 8 pounds!!! WOO HOOOOO!!!!

Kicking the Habit

Well I have decided to get a jump start on one of my new year's resolutions. I am determind to kick my mt. dew/caffeine addiction. I just know that its not good for my body and therefore I want to stop consuming it! I am two days into my recovery.

Anybody got a valium? Xanax?? Anything?!?!?!

Just kidding.

Sort of.

Yesterday I ended up with a terrible headache and today I am just flat out exhausted. I had so much planned to accomplish tonight and it looks like I'm going to get none of it done, lol.

Here's to recovery!

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH

I've taken this moment to step away, breathe, collect myself, and prepare to get back to work. So pardon me while I momentarily freak out...



*AAAAAAHHHHHHHH* *RAAAAWWWRRRRR* *GRRRRRRRRRR*



Okay. Much better.



Its just this crazy time of year. I love every minute of it even if it does make me a little crazy. I devoted the entire day today to Christmas shopping, hoping that I could complete it all. Boy were those lofty hopes, LOL. I spent the entire day on my feet in Lexington and the three people that I went to Lexington to shop for, I bought nothing for! I'm just not very original, I'm a person who needs specifics. *sigh* But I did get some others marked off my list, so I'm happy. I also had a marvelous lunch and some fun shopping with Haley, she came down to Lex from Georgetown to meet me for a while.



As for the moment, this is what I am buried in:

Tonight I have to finish the Christmas cards I volunteered to make for the gift baskets the church is giving out tomorrow night when we go caroling. They're the burgundy ones with the gold christmas trees on them. I also REALLY need to get my butt into serious gear to finish my personal Christmas cards and get them in the mail. *doh* And throw in there somewhere finishing the last of my shopping.

Can somebody get me a valium?

Kidding, kidding! Sort of.

;-) Here's to wonderful holiday madness!!

I <3 Gatlinburg!!!

Every year since 2004, the Jones family has taken a family trip to stay in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains for Christmas. It has seriously become one of the highlights of the year! We always have so much fun, see beautiful sights, eat like pigs, act like dorks, relax like slobs and love each other's company!! ^_^ I'm usually a picture taking freak on these trips, but for some reason I just wasn't this year. I did catch some good stuff, tho!!

I am hoping that this kid's *serious* adorable-ness is distracting you from the strange distortion of my face....wait now I told....dangit!

We love getting in an outdoor hottub when its 30 degrees outside! Its a tradition!

Movie time snacks!!! Yay!!!

I know...we're adorable. ^_^

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!! WOOO HOOOOO!!!! I love everything about it, the music, the decorations, the gift buying and wrapping and giving!! It truly is a magical time of year. I do realize one important thing about myself this year. For my family (which currently consists of Keith and I LOL) I want to make sure that the true meaning of Christmas--Jesus' Birth--is the center of our holiday. I don't want that to ever get buried under the glow and magic of the season!

I've started my Christmas shopping, but I'm not done yet. But hey, I've done better than I usually have by this time of year!

Hopefully soon I'll be posting some pics of our family trip we took last weekend to Gatlinburg, fun stuff!!!

Poor, dried up and shriveled, neglected blog...

Don't you just *love* it when life steps in the way of all the fun stuff you wanna do?? LOL My poor little excuse of a blog has been so neglected and dejected. Courtney, you've inspired me to get in touch with it again......more to come!!

She's growing up!

Me and the sister, lol.

Haley and "Jimmy" aka, Secret Asian Man, LOL.

Linel, Bailee, Haley. Pals of several years.
My baby sister graduated high school last Friday night, with the grace and beauty of woman. It was kinda weird, seeing her all grown up! I wish her all the best as she blazes her own trail through life.

Lord, I need patience. Amen.

Well Keith tore out the old shower in the house so that we could replace it with the new one. Only it turns out that there is significant moisture damage to the floor. AAAHHHHHH!!!! So the bathroom project is growing, and my patience is waning, LOL. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that we have to be out of our apartment by April 30. This means all our stuff is moving to the house, and we are going to be going to my inlaws to stay until the bathroom is finished. I don't mind staying with my inlaws at all, I love them to death, but its not very convenient for our everyday routine, LOL. Anyway, here are some pictures of what my bathroom looks like at the moment. Heaven help me, lol.

WOO HOOOOOO

WE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY HOMEOWNERS!!!! Praise the Lord we finally closed on our house today at 2pm!!! It doesn't even seem real yet, I don't think!! More updates and hopefully pictures to come later....God Bless!

House Update again

Today is Monday, and we still haven't closed. *sigh* The selling realtor still hadn't taken care of the termite treatment like they were supposed to do. (The house had some live termites in the landscaping timbers that had to be treated, but we're going to take out all those timbers once we close.) So now we're just waiting once again for yet another closing date. It should be this week. At least it better be, LOL.