Due to giant piles of snow…

And being stuck on a highway…

No intelligent thoughts will be shared today, just this sad picture.

This is some NaBloPoMo dedication! 

Grandma's Little Helpers!

Moving along…

Hello, fellow NaNoWriMo-ers!

I can’t do an update on my sidebar with a cute Word Count Widget because I’m not rich enough to self host yet, and WordPress isn’t into that sort of thing so!

My Word Count for Week One of NaNoWriMo: 11,119

Did you know that if you miss two days of writing, your average word count tanks faster than you can say book? Well, it does. I went from an average of just over 2000 words to just over 1200. Rad.

This weekend was my writing nemesis, and by nemesis I mean mortal enemy, and by mortal enemy I mean my car died, hubby worked all weekend leaving me and the girls to our devices, and nothing got done. The past three days have been like three days of consecutive Mondays, and I couldn’t be happier that it’s TUESDAY!

Three cheers for Tuesday! Hip, hip, Hooray!!

I’m planning on catching up a little more today and getting my estimated time of completion back into November, because December 8, 2011 made me want to throw up a little bit. The good news is I’m having an easy time with this novel. Some of the dialogue is cheesy, but I’m getting the hang of it, finally. I’m better at writing than I am at discussion, so I’m learning to think of my dialogue as writing rather than trying to have a discussion in my head. Does that make sense? I’m hoping that the rest of the novel comes as quickly as the first 20 pages have, though. I already have the ending written in my head and I’ve thought about writing it out, but the problem is that as I’m writing, the story is changing little by little and I love it more than I loved my original ideas. Writing the ending would be counterproductive at this point, I think, since everything is changing, I’d have to go back and rewrite it. There’s no time in November for rewriting.

I’ve noticed something about the past week, and it’s that I’ve been more productive. I’m trying to squeeze in writing a blog post, writing a novel, household duties, playing with two very active 11 month olds, and I’m somehow managing it all. If it’s possible, I believe that I am managing my time better now that I’m too busy. It feels great!

Onward and upward, as they say! Stay tuned for more NaNo updates!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? How are you managing your time and other commitments? How’s your novel coming?

1. Nothing says fall like caramel apple cider! I haven’t had this yet this year because of Project: Lose the Cow, but I’m definitely planning on changing that next week! I know a place that has a great one. Hey, if I’m going to do moderation, I’m going to do it with gusto!

2. My favorite autumnal tradition is apple picking, hay rides, and finding the perfect pumpkin. None of which I have done in the past ten years. How sad. This is changing this year, too! The girls will love it! I can’t leave this blank without a shout out to college football! A tradition that will never get old! Go Badgers!

3. My favorite fall treat is anything pumpkin or apple. Cookies, pies, cupcakes, crumbles, muffins, drinks, enrobed in caramel, and fresh off the tree or vine.

4. Fall makes me think of fresh starts and happiness because it’s the start of the holiday season. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy and as cheese ball as that is, I can’t help it. I just love this time of the year. Warm afghans, fun family activities to do, great comforting food, and gorgeous colors.

5. Autumn free form word association, go! Colorful crunchy leaves, crisp breezes, comfy jeans, giant Wisconsin sweatshirts, fuzzy socks, apples, pumpkins, holidays, candy, delicious food, family, friends, warm beverages, happiness.

6. My go-to outfit in the fall is (if I had an amazing closet) brown boots, chunky sweater, dark jeans, a great colorful scarf, dark hair (tee hee), simple jewelry.

7. My favorite fall holiday is (Halloween or Thanksgiving) Thanksgiving! I love getting together with family, eating great food, and relaxing. No pressure for gifts, football is on, we watch Christmas Vacation and eat pumpkin pie, and appreciate each other by giving thanks. Warm fuzzies for everyone!

Ryan and I drove to Ann Arbor on Sunday for my surgery yesterday, which I’ll talk about tomorrow. It was so nice to have conversations about topics not revolving around diapers and bottles and money. We stopped about halfway and had lunch with some of our friends at Panera. It was great to catch up with them, but we ended up being *those* parents who talk about their kids non-stop. Oh well. I guess you can’t totally escape reality.

Panera, however, has some very interesting cookies on display for the Fall season. Have you seen these?

Thank you, Tom.

These weren’t the “pimpkin” cookies on display in the Panera we visited though. They toned their “pimpkins” down to G-rated pumpkins and just frosted the tops green. Their signs sure did display the originals though! How did they not notice this? Or are they pulling a Disney? Geez, Panera!

We continued on and took zero pictures together. I snagged one of myself, though. I bought this new to-die-for lipstain a couple of weeks ago, and finally put together a look with it. (It’s the Just Bitten, Jessica Biel variety by Revlon in Frenzy.) So I had to. My glasses are in the way so you can’t see my mastery of the winged eyeliner, just trust me that it was *perfect* and I was proud. You can’t see my cute braids in my hair, either. Photo Fail.

We made it to the hotel and got all checked in and settled and then kind of looked at each other like “Now What?”. We decided to go see the movie Drive, grab dinner and then go hang out at a coffee shop and read. Well, we found the theater, but there was exactly one restaurant near there and it didn’t look very appetizing. So we drove all over looking for somewhere else to eat, got lost, found ourselves again, consulted the GPS and ended up at Joe’s Crab Shack, which from now on will be known as Joe’s Crap Shack. The food was terrible. Our server had a great attitude but was really slow, especially since the place was barely breathing with customers. Our food wasn’t hot when it arrived at the table, but was so spicy, our lips were burning. Poor Ryan never finished his food and when the bill came, I wanted to cry. Plus, we missed the movie by 15 minutes because of the slow service. Another chapter of Live and Learn, I suppose. Thankfully, all was not lost, because we ended up at this fabulous cafe called Sweetwaters.

courtesy of sweetwaters cafe

They roast their own coffee and blend their own teas. It smelled heavenly. The service was fantastic. If you’re ever in Ann Arbor and you’re looking for a place to hang out, drink coffee, read a blog or two, and not feel rushed out of the building, this would be your destination. Ryan had a Crème Caramel, which I stole a sip of and was blown away, and I had a Mandarin Orange Rooibos Tea. If you’ve never had Rooibos tea, you should. It’s wonderful. It’s an African red tea that is naturally sweet and usually a really pretty red color. This one was orange, for obvious reasons. You don’t get the earthy after taste that you would with an Earl Grey, either. It’s really smooth and perfect for night time sipping. We also grabbed some cheesecake and a piece of OMG chocolate cake. (SH… don’t tell my diet. I wasn’t eating at all the next day anyway.)

We went back to the hotel, fed each other yummy desserts, drank our tea and coffee, and watched, of all things, Ghost Adventures. Romantic, right? It was either that or Hung, and we’re not into porn. We shared a lot of laughs, especially when we got lost going back to the hotel from the cafe, which was a block away. We ended up on the highway about four exits down because of a traffic circle that had me literally driving in circles. I almost pulled over, because I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t breathe.

It was awesome to be able to hang out with my man again. No time constraints to hurry home to the girls. No plan to stick to. Just hanging out and enjoying each other. I forgot how much I love spending time with him alone. We went to bed and vowed to do more date nights, even if we just go get some coffee. Don’t you just love nights like those?

GO BADGERS!!!!

Well, this weekend, that rivalry is coming to a head.

My Wisconsin Badgers are playing his Nebraska Huskers, and Wisconsin is favored by 10 points. We’re both extremely competitive people, and when it comes to college football, the stakes move up a few notches. Every week we do our picks, and whoever wins the most games wins the week. I’ve won 4 out of 5 weeks so far. This does not a happy husband make. Add to this fact that Wisconsin is favored by 10 whole points and we’re playing at Home? I think my husband might need some of my old blood pressure medicine before the weekend is up.

I would say “It’s all in good fun.” or that “It’s just a game.”, because it is and it really is, but we live in the Midwest and college football isn’t just a game here. If you live here, you understand. Your team is like your extended family. You get choked up when they run onto the field, you get pumped up when the band plays your fight song, and right before kick off you feel as if your heart might explode from joy. This weekend? Our families are fighting for their pride and glory in the Big Ten, and unfortunately, my husband and I are not related.

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
-William Shakespeare

GO BADGERS!

Daddy's Girl! Go Huskers!

So here’s what I’ve been up to:

1.
(via pinterest.com)

If you haven’t joined and want to after reading this, leave me with your email address and I will *gladly* invite you along. I’ve heard there’s a waiting list now, but it’s worth the wait. My friend Mandi originally told me about the site and I’m not kidding you… Facebook who? In about 4 seconds flat. Here’s how it works… basically you sit on your ass all day and pin stuff to your boards until your eyes bleed and you’re so inspired that you have to take a nap. Honestly. It’s like eating potato chips, you can’t pin just *one*. The great thing about Pinterest, other than everything, is that you can find new recipes to try, DIY projects or as I call them, DIMY (for Do It MYself), fashion inspiration, quotes that rock your world, things that will make you laugh and laugh and laugh… It’s a whole lot of inspiring and a whole lot of fun. You can connect it to Facebook and Twitter, too!

Some of my favorite boards from Pinterest!

Pins from The Drool Pool.

2. Collecting Things For My Smash Book

Thanks to Pinterest and another friend of mine (also, coincidentally named Mandi), I’ve found the perfect blend of pack rat and scrapbook. I can still keep my oodles of crap, but I don’t have to be all pretty about it. That’s my kind of scrapbook/journal. Meet: Smash Book. It comes in all kinds of colors and you can buy all of the decorate-y stuff to go with it, but you don’t have to. The pages come prettied up and you just glue your “oodles of crap” onto the page. Done and done.

I love the pink one. (ooooof course)

3. Making Money By Doing Stuff I Already Do

Hello, Swagbucks and Recyclebank, oh! and Pampers Gifts to Grow! I’m sure you’ve heard of Swagbucks already, unless you’ve been avoiding Facebook like the plague because you’re too cool for school. You search, you earn Swagbucks, you cash them in for cash (!!!) or gift cards (!!!) and that’s that. Easy money for stuff you already do. But have you heard of Recyclebank? First of all, do you recycle!? Or want to recycle? I bet you will after I tell you about this. Here’s how it works… you care about the environment, you recycle and/or learn about ways to recycle and/or tell your friends to recycle and voila! You can earn a $10 gift card to places like The Gap, Old Navy, Panera, Home Depot, WalMart, etc. Plus other great deals on so. many. sites. Just by recycling. Now go rinse out that milk jug! (Pampers Gifts to Grow is a program where you collect codes from the insides of diaper packages, wipes packages, inserts and online. You enter them in on pampers.com. You earn points. You cash them in for cool stuff. I’m saving up for a magazine subscription. I can’t decide between Fitness or Better Homes & Gardens though. Oh, what a plight!)

4. Going Green & Saving Money

It just makes sense. Plus, it’s kind of fun. (Especially now that we’re earning money for it!) I mentioned that I collect Pampers Gift to Grow points. I should say that most of my points now come from the internet because I don’t use disposable diapers or wipes. We’ve been cloth diapering since the girls were about 2 months old, I would’ve done it sooner, but I didn’t want to spend money on pre-folds for newborns and didn’t research it before they arrived, my bad. BUT…. cloth diapering: It’s easy, it’s cheaper, and my house doesn’t smell like a baby’s ass. Wonderful all around. I recently started using cloth wipes though and I was sold at wipe one. The day I decided to finally try it out, the first diaper I had was a poopy one, of course. I used one wipe for the whole mess and from then on, I haven’t bought a single disposable wipe. Selling my husband on the idea was a challenge, but once he tried it, he was also sold on wipe one. (He used to use 7 or 8 wipes for a poopy diaper, which drove me up the wall and around the corner because if you multiply that by two, your heart stops for a second while all the money falls out of your wallet and into the hands of a grumpy Walgreens cashier.)

I made some of my own wipes (to save money while going green, ha!) and I’m planning on making more of them and selling them. I’ve seen what they go for on Etsy and I know how much it costs to make them and it seems like the business for me to get into. They’re great for use as wash cloths, rags for cleaning, rags for dusting and are a great replacement for paper towels. The more you wash them, the more absorbent they become. It’s easy to tell them apart because you can make them in all kinds of different fabric designs and sizes. You really can’t go wrong.

Other things we’re doing are: composting, Ryan’s carpooling to work with our neighbor because Peanut is a gas guzzler these days what with all of her PMS and all (not to mention we only have one car and what if I decide to get brave and go out by myself?), we’re slowly using up our cleaning products and transitioning to more Earth friendly ones. I found a great site with tons of cleaning tips for those of us who need more than newspaper, vinegar and water. I love a clean window, but my bathtub and toilet need a little more TLC. We have babies, you know.

I’ve also made my own planner to save money and am considering selling those on Etsy as well. It’s completely personalized and has lists that *I* need every week. Stuff like grocery lists, cleaning lists, which bills to pay and when, birthdays, weekly lists, daily lists… I love lists. And my life has a lot more order to it now. For under $6. Try to find that in the store and you’ll be spending three times that amount and *they* don’t have a cute picture of my kiddos on the front. So there. There are also sites like Groupon and Living Social, coupons, gardening, making my own freezer meals, making my own baby food, and watching sales.

5. Etsy

Hello, consider me a convert. I always thought Etsy was a giant mess of crafty crap that I would never want to buy. And now I want to open my own shop. I haven’t decided on a name, but my hubby and I have been throwing the idea around (because we make all decisions together regarding money, it’s easier than fighting about it). He’s more crafty than I am. Don’t tell him I told you that. But he is. He can build just about everything but he’s not great at painting. It’s why me make a good team. Because I’m great at painting. And sewing squares. And dreaming up crap for him to make us.

You might’ve noticed a little bit of a design change around here, too. I was bored with the other one and this one gives me a little more space for the text box. I can’t complain about that. Plus, more pink. Happy Tuesday, or Monday, or Wednesday or whatever day it really is! I’ve lost track.