Treasure

These are some of my treasures. This is my teddy bear from when I was little. He's all torn up and old but still a treasure.

Petals from the very first roses Josh ever bought me.

Kept in the box of a box of chocolates he got me our first Valentines as a couple.

Valentines Day

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day. I don't care that everyone says it's a holiday for stores to steal our money. This is one girl who loves chocolate and roses and anything stuffed and cuddly. Secret - half the stuffed animals in Justace's pile were mine first.

However, I'm not a fan of turning the holiday into some big to do for couples. I remember year after year growing up of secretly hoping I had some secret admirer and being disappointed year after year while watching all the beautiful girls in class get cards and chocolates and flowers. And, growing into adulthood, this didn't change much in the work place either. I grew to resent the holiday.

And then...Josh Jackson happened. Josh, despite his outward personality, is inside a huge romantic, probably more so than I am even. Our first Valentines Day I received a bouquet of roses at my desk at work as well as a giant singing card. I was super embarrassed by all the gifts but also so happy...my first roses ever! I got home to giant stuffed animals in random places...one stuffed in the washer I discovered and more all over the apartment. Another Valentines he made us a beautiful 2 person dinner complete with chocolate martinis. Another he bought me a dress and jewelry and took me out to a beautiful fancy restaurant. He's pretty much the best at surprise and romance.

This year we both agreed not to do anything in order to save money. I made cookies and home made cards for a few friends but that is all. And honestly, I think way too much pressure is put on this one day of the year to make it the perfect romantic day and there is too much room for disappointment in it. I think, instead, we should devote every single day of the year to showing our love not only to our significant other but to all the loved ones in our lives. And so I promise I will do one thing, even if it's something very small like just texting him I love you to show my love every day of the year.

Organization Plan

Talked to Josh today about how much I hate how dirty and unorganized our house is so I'm coming up with a plan to get it clean and organized over the next 6 months to a year. I figure even if we move in the meantime it'll make me feel better to do something to try and make it a little more livable. I will have weekly and monthly and long term goals. The biggest issue is not having enough space or places to put things. We have very little extra money to spend on shelves or organizing stuff for the house so I am going to very slowly month by month get stuff for the house...maybe just one thing per month to help give things a place to go. In addition each week I will focus on one area and get rid of anything we really don't need or use and find a place to put the rest. Goals for this week include:

1. Rent a pressure washer and clean the outside of our house.

2. Clean all waste baskets in the house with soap and a hose. Some of them are really nasty and smell very gross.

3. Not sure about this just yet but thinking about shopping end of season garden sales for garden tools and plants and flowers and planting some things in the yard. Everything is super cheap right now.

4. Clean out our dryer vent...it's been making a weird noise and I'm wondering if I clean the vent if it might help.

5. Ongoing for the month will be to go through all our stuff that needs to be in storage (memorabilia, old outgrown baby things, holiday stuff, etc...) and throw away or donate anything I possibly can to make some room in this house. Anything we are going to keep I will organize into categories and place in plastic bins for Josh to haul upstairs to the attic for right now.

I plan on spending one hour a day cleaning the house and at least 15 minutes a day organizing things and making trash or donate boxes. Hopefully in another 6 months or a year we will be organized. Hopefully we will also be looking for a better place to live by then and being organized will just making packing for the move that much easier.

Photo Thursday

Playing in his sprinkler pool toy.

New pajamas.

Picking cherries. He couldn't get enough.

Being silly.

Reading about cars.

Thankful Wednesday

1. Time spent with good friends eating good food and laughing.

2. Smiles and laughter from my son.

3. Nightly routine of bath and books and lullabies before bed with Justace.

4. Waking up with my man snuggled up against one side of me and my cat and dog snuggled up against the other side.

5. Three days off work that have been so relaxing and filled with time spent with Josh and Justace and friends.

115 lbs

115 lbs. Didn't do well this week again on diet and working out. I went running Monday but that is all. We skipped walking the dogs most days because we were either too busy or I had to work or it was just way too hot. Won't be able to run again today because I really can't run except at night but tonight we have a bbq to go to and most likely will not want to go running afterwards. I should be off work the next 3 days though so maybe I will go running tomorrow to make up for tonight. And we have two bbq dinners to go to...one tonight and one Thursday night so our diet is probably going out the window this week.

My biggest thing I want to focus on, besides running and walking the dogs and doing pushup and situps and squats, is I really need to try to give up soda. I love Coke and Dr. Pepper and while I don't drink it as often as some people do, I really need to not drink it at all except perhaps on special occasions. It's very addicting and adds way too many calories and bad things to my body. So my new weight loss/health goal is to stop drinking soda. I've been pretty good about drinking water every day. I set an alarm on my phone to go off every 15 minutes to remind me to drink water and that works pretty well.

117 lbs

I got off my diet and exercise plan for just one week and gained back 4 lbs. I'm currently 117lbs again. Did good today though. Not as good on the diet but I did take each dog for 2 walks today and I did go to the track and jog/walk for 30 minutes after I put Justace down. I must say having the right music really makes jogging less like torture. I need to really make sure to stick to my exercise plan and at least try to eat somewhat healthy this week again.