Perfecting Imperfection

I have a pain - in the hip. Argh. It's not unbearable, just really really irritating. So...I'm taking Ibuprofen for it. That's what the doctor prescribed. 600 mg of Ibuprofen twice a day. At first I was a little annoyed. After all, Ibuprofen I could have done all on my own. I do think it's working, though...a little at least. Plus, I don't want to be on anything that is going to make me loopy or out of it while I'm home with the kids. I've decided if it's still hurting like this on Monday I'm calling the doctor back and asking to be seen. I've got a bit of a nagging cough, too - so maybe I'll make it a two-fer.

My other "issue" right now is my kids. They don't want to sleep. My darling baby girl (she's 22 months old) would cuddle up with you as you walked her upstairs and fall right to sleep in her crib for both her nap and the night. Now - no deal. She does the cuddling up the stairs thing...then lays down nice and quietly...2 minutes later she's screaming her head off wanting to get out of her crib. This is for naps and bedtime. Then there is my 3-year-old son. He'll lay down with me to take a nap - but then he wants to stay up until all hours of the night. He hasn't fallen asleep for me before 10:30 the last 3 or 4 days! I'm at a loss. It must be something in the air around here because it's both at once. It's wearing on my patience, though. I have soooo much to do. I have a huge paper to finish by the 7th and am getting no time to really work on it. It doesn't help that sitting in the computer chair for longer than 15 minutes makes my hip ache.

Had enough complaining? hehehe I promise the next post will be full of hap-hap-happy news...I'll be paying extra attention looking for it! :)

It's not that I didn't believe my parents when they told me that after 30 you have a lot more little aches and pains. I figured they were right...they usually are. However, I now UNDERSTAND what they meant. Little things that I would bounce back from quicker are starting to nag at me a lot longer. Today it's my hip.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping with Nate - it was a little better than going shopping with both kids...but I still had to threaten and bribe him to keep him in the cart. Before I got into the car I felt my hip "pop". Then it started to annoy me a little. It was just sore. By the end of the night it was stiff and sore...this morning it was stiff, sore, accompanied by shooting pain down my leg. I took some Advil, a hot shower, and am trying one of those WellPatch heat things on it - but nothing seems to really be doing much other than taking the edge off. Argh.

That's when it hit me - my parents were right, again. After 30 things start to linger a little more and be a bit more of a "deal" than before 30. It probably doesn't help that I lug 2 30 + lb. kids around on a daily basis...I mean they can walk down the steps...but why would they when Mama can carry them? Well - I need to get my butt up off this chair and stretch...plus my chocolate milk addict is calling for his latest fix. :)

So I went to the midnight viewing of the movie Twilight last night with my niece. She is a freshman in High School and had read all of the books (there are 4) and then passed them on to me to read. I fell in love with the books - the first 2 are very young adult but the last one is more adult. They were easy reads and you couldn't help but kind of fall in love with the main characters...for me it was Team Edward all the way, but I've always had a thing for vampires...no surprise there. :)

The movie wasn't a total disappointment...although Edward looked like he either wanted to eat Bella or throw up the entire movie - I guess that's the point, though. It wasn't as good as the books...as usual. I also think it would be hard for someone who wasn't already a fan because of the books to say it was a good movie - anyone over 15 that is. I did have a great time, though. It was fun to take my niece out and do something special with her that I know she was excited about. She had a good time and it was worth staying up late to hear her reactions to the different parts of the movie and how much she loved it in the end. I'm a little tired today, but I created a great memory - and had a really great "vampire" dream last night. :)

I'm off to take a nap now...maybe I'll be visited by vampires again - there is one in particular I hope to see. Cheesy, I know...but that's what Twilight did to me. It turned me into a teenager again with a crush on a fictional character. :) Don't worry babe, I know a good thing when I see it and you already survived the worst part of being married to a Twilight obsessed fan. You made it through the week it took me to read the 4 books!

Okay, so that is probably an exaggeration. They do make my life a heck of a lot easier, though. So, I thought I'd pass them on to you all - all 4 of you who have been reading my blog. hehehe

Flylady.net - It's a lifesaver for me because I am not one of those people who was "born organized". It helps me to know that I can do just about anything for 15 minutes and feel good about it afterward. Plus, my kitchen is so clean right now I would invite ANYONE to come have a cup of coffee in it with me...of course, we'd have to stay in the kitchen - but I can live with that. :)

Allrecipes.com - I LOVE this site. It helps me with my meal planning each week. All I do is pick out 5 recipes I want to make for the week, print them off, add them to my shopping list and I'm good to go. I also save them in my virtual recipe box on the site so I can go back and repeat them if they are "keepers"!

Grocerygame.com - I'm new to GG, but had a great first week! I saved $50 on my grocery trip this week. I spent $102 out of pocket...so it was a 33% savings! I didn't have a lot of the coupons they had for this week's list because I'm new to the coupon clipping, too. I have never enjoyed grocery shopping, but I'm actually excited about next week!

Facebook.com - Facebook is my guilty pleasure. I LOVE Facebook. I waste a lot of time on there, but it's so great for keeping in touch with people that I haven't talked to in years or don't see as much as I would like to see. I use to do the MySpace thing, but not so much anymore. I'm a Facebook convert for sure.

Paperbackswap.com - Got old books hanging around the house? Wanna get some new books without paying a lot? I LOVE paperbackswap for this reason. I get to get rid of the books I don't know what to do with by shipping them to other people and then getting credits for new books I'm looking for! I've saved about $238 so far on PBS just by mailing books and then requesting new ones!

Well ~ that about does it. I'm sure there are other sites that I'm not thinking of right now, but those are the ones I'm on most often! :)

How about you? Any good sites to share?

So, as if I needed one more distraction or thing to take up my time, I started playing the Grocery Game...well, I haven't really played, yet - I'm getting ready to play. I signed up and got my first list - but the list had already kind of expired by the time I got it. So, I'm awaiting a new list this Sunday. Anyway - between that and FLYlady, and school, and work, and birthday parties, and Halloween, and birthday parties, and Thanksgiving, and birthday parties, and Christmas - I am going to have no money and no time and no sanity left come January. :)

I have no Christmas shopping done - this time last year I had everyone but my kids done. I have made no definite plans for my son's birthday...which is a week and 1/2 away. I have a paper to write and submit by Sunday evening and then a big huge one due on Dec. 10th, or around there somewhere. I am sure that this will all get done and I will be just fine...but argh.

Okay - done venting. I just didn't have anything else to post about and felt like writing. I'll now have to post about my GG savings, too!

My kids LOVED helping me make this easy recipe for "Ice Cream" sandwiches. They LOVE eating them, too. We made them at Preschool and I brought the leftovers home. DH suggested I get the stuff and make more because they were such a hit!

Here's what you need:

1 Box of Honey Graham Crackers
1 pkg. of Pumpkin Spice Jello Pudding
1 Tub of Cool Whip (the regular size - not the big one)

Mix Pudding and Cool Whip together in a big bowl.
Make sandwiches with the Graham Crackers.
Freeze - ENJOY!