Deep breath, breathe, breathe, it's okay, you can do this! (Pardon me while I give myself a little pep talk.) I know it's been almost *gasp* 10 months since you've posted on this here blog, but it's okay, you can do it!
So what better way to try and get back into the swing of things than to tell you all the reasons I haven't been swinging, err, I mean blogging. But I haven't been swinging either, unless you want to count the few minutes on my front porch.
1. I'm busy. But that's really a given. I mean isn't everyone busy? And aren't we all tired of hearing how busy everyone else is blah blah blah. We're all busy in our own little ways. So what if my busy means watching Sarah's House while reading a regency romance and making a list of all the things I really DO need to do. I'm still busy. (Hey, I said they were excuses, not necessarily good ones.)
2. Gorgeous New Nephews (yes, plural). My sister had twin boys in June! My sweet little nevies were born at 27 weeks and they were seriously tee-niny. Zac weighed in at 1 lb 14 oz and Will was 1 lb 10 oz. It's been the most emotional thing I've ever experienced. It's an absolute roller coaster (I can't even imagine how my sweet sister and her husband have held up so well, so proud of them!) . Z came home about a week ago, and but our Iron Will still needs one more surgery before he can come home.
3. Cooking for a Crowd. Being a family of six and dedicated Dave Ramseyer's, we almost never eat out. I've pretty much quit buying convenience foods (my son's still mourn pizza rolls and hot pockets so don't bring those up if you come by, please). Which means I've got to put a little more effort into my menu planning (the planning, not the execution).
On that note, here's a link to my most favorite pizza ever. It's become my go-to dish for potlucks, family dinners, etc. (it's cheap, easy and available--the ingredients that is). And, just one more side note, I've been making homemade cinnamon rolls for quite a while, and I thought my recipe was a-ma-zing. Until I tried Pioneer Woman's recipe....Shut Up! Seriously, these are indescribable, uncontainable, awestruck...oh, sorry, my apologies Chris Tomlin. (And, again, sorry--honestly, could this get any longer--have you heard C. Tomlin's remake of "Where the Streets Have No Name"? Fab.)
I've also been following the Nester's 31 Days Series and she's addressed laundry a couple of times too. Good stuff. And I will admit, this is usually my Waterloo. I always have the washer and dryer going, it's the folding and putting away that trip me up. D said to me, there's a monster in our bedroom and it's growing. I told him my methods weren't working, if he'd like to be my knight in shining armor and slay it for me. My knight hopped on his faithful steed (his recliner) and booked it to the next kingdom (living room). (Hee hee, sorry honey.)
Anyhoo, I've actually stayed on top of the mountain of laundry for about a week and a half. But that was before this little thing called apple butter at our church took over my life from last Wed-Sat and it will do so again this week. I'm getting ready to gird my loins and do battle this afternoon. Here's what my bed currently looks like:
5. Football. Practices 3x a week, games, stinky laundry, making dinner for family members at odd times. See, everything goes back to laundry and food? Everything! (And from March - July it was baseball, August to October Football...just to clarify my entire six-month sabbatical).
6. Eldest Boy. The eldest is growing up way too fast. He's 15 and a half, took his first real date to the homecoming dance, and is doing the preliminaries for his driver's license....boo hoo. (Or as my mom sang to him at the football game the other day..'you are 15, going on 16'...bahahaha. He didn't have a clue what she was doing. It was hilarious...and, yes, slightly embarrassing. Not b/c she was singing to him, but she really needs to wait until next year so she can do it correctly.) And can I just say: girlfriends + driving + almost 16 = Mama is not handling this very well :(.
7. School. Okay, this is really a lame excuse because I'm taking one, yes, ONE class this semester. It's sociology, it's actually interesting and totally and completely easy. Online and all open book. I mean ALL. Tests, quizzes, etc. I really should take this off the list but I'm running out of excuses.
8. I'm Lazy. Yep, I'm one of those people who knows how much I can handle and when my little teapot gets to perking a little too hard, I know it's time to turn the heat back. I like to chill. I like to be a nice mom and not a mean, stressed out, yelling crazy woman (I mean sometimes I still am but for the most part I try not to be).
Now here's where we get to the nitty-gritty.
9. I'm Addicted to HGTV and Regency Romances. As I said in #9, I need down time, I crave alone time. I absolutely have to have some time to myself or I will. go. crazy. The problem is sometimes my down time creeps into my productive time and well, like I said in #8 (which is basically spreading into #9) I know when I need to decompress so I use that as an excuse to watch more TV and read (okay and, yes, eat).
10. Stuck In the Designer Decorating Dumps. Due to my above-mentioned addiction to HGTV, I also have a bug that's been eating at me for a few months now. We've been in our house for 16 years and about 90% of the decor has been the same for that time. So I spend a lot of time researching, planning, dreaming and wishing my house looked different. And then due to #9 and #8 (with a bit of #3 and #4 tossed in--especially the Dave Ramsey budget stuff), I basically do nothing. That's right. Nothing.
So that's it, my Top Ten Reasons for Not Blogging. And yes this post is WAY too long. I offer my most sincere apologies...now off to work on that everloving #3 and #4 again....
I'm linking this long list of randomness to Top Ten Tuesdays over at Oh Amanda's!
