How different things were...

The prompt, "Share what you were blogging about last year at this time...what has changed?"

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Last year I was celebrating the birth of Big Sister's second daughter. She turned one yesterday and I have no idea where the time went. I can't wait to see her dive into the cake at her party this weekend!

  

I also had a little series called Ask the Expert. My incredibly brilliant mom, who has about eleventy billion graduate degrees in education and psychology, answered your questions. I really should do that again...

  

And of course there were pictures of Pie. This one in particular will be pulled out when she starts dating.

Things couldn't possibly be more different now. After the whole Topomax/going legally blind thing my blogging has dropped off tremendously. I'm trying to get back into the swing of it, but it's hard. Really hard. And in the time I was gone, I lost followers and my readership dropped dramatrically. Talk about out of sight out of mind...if you'll pardon the phrase. Hehehe...blind joke...good times.

What we thought would be a couple of weeks has now turned into nearly four months of uncertainty, pain, anger, and pretty much every other emotion you can imagine. I'm still not at the point where they can take corrective measures. I still can't drive. I still can't work full-time. I still can't read Pie a book unless the print is HUGE and the contrast between words and background is stark. I still can't believe this happened.

But all I can do is keep moving forward. Keep trying to get back into this community that I have missed. Keep trying to hold my stabby-shiv making impulses to a minimum. I think booze should help with that last bit...

34 for 34 {Final Update}

So here's the final update on my 34 for 34 list. As I am now officially 35 (how in the world did that happen?!) I'm not checking anything else off. However, since I've spent the last several months being blind, I'm knocking a quarter of the things off to make myself feel better about what I've accomplished. So for the purposes of this update 8.5 of these items are now being considered "optional". Check it...

1. Update my blogroll
2. Read at least 5 books that have neither pictures, nor rhyming verses DONE
3. Start getting to work earlier so I can leave earlier DONE-ISH
4. Exercise more DONE
5. Decide which Masters to start DONE
6. Start Masters program DONE
7. Sign Pie up for a dance class DONE
8. Be more social with neighbors so Pie has kids to play with close by DONE
9. Organize work/store area at home DONE
10. Re-launch HMH
11. Start participating in The Red Dress Club prompts again DONE
12. Get published in some non-internet publication
13. Finish some of the crafts that are sitting half done on my desk DONE
14. Try bangs...eeekkkk DONE
15. See a movie in the theater DONE
16. Take my camera off auto
17. Have a proper date night with Husband DONE
18. Organize Pie's closet DONE
19. Finish guest room
20. Organize my Pinterest boards DONE
21. Finish Pie's baby book
22. Make book for Pie's Bios
23. Help Husband organize his world domination plan DONE
24. Become more active in the adoption community
25. Figure out the right way to take care of Pie's hair DONE-ISH
26. Ride a bike again
27. Actually complete a craft/tutorial I have on my boards at Pinterest DONE
28. Clean out the linen closet. I'm thinking space bags will be involved DONE
29. Buy new, matching, towels
30. Ride the skywheel when we go to Myrtle Beach FAIL
31. Finish Pie's coloring table and find a good place to put it DONE-ISH
32. Rearrange furniture in bedroom
33. Plant bushes on cul-de-sac side of the house
34. Send friends/family more snail mail. Who doesn't like getting that?

So that makes 17 complete, 1 fail, and 3 done-ish. By my new accounting that only leaves 4.5 things I didn't get accomplished. Yeah...let's go with that.

As for the three done-ish things:
Getting to work earlier and leaving earlier was sort of taken care of for me since I don't work as much as I used to with the whole blind thing.

Figuring out how to take care of Pie's hair is mostly done. I've got a good idea and have put several things in place, but it's not quite perfect yet. I'm still tweaking the system. It would really help if she would stop putting dirt and sand in her hair forcing me to wash it much more frequently than I should.

Finishing Pie's coloring table...while this was a labor of love, it's one that's been forgotten. Pie mostly just pushes the thing around to aide in her attempts to climb onto and jump off of ever increasing heights of things. So there's no point in trying to find it a permanent home. And since she just uses it as a stepping stool, the paint is all chipped and funky so I've given up on that too. But it makes her happy, so more power to her.

And that's it. I'm not sure I'll do a 35 for 35 since I'm still in total limbo with my eyes. No use putting more on my plate when I can't see what's there to start with...hehehe.

Do you have Prince Albert in a Can?

The prompt, "Share something you learned embarrassingly late in life."

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I really hoping I'm not the only one, but I seriously didn't understand the joke about having Prince Albert in a can until maybe two years ago.

When I heard it, I always thought of this Prince Albert:

In this kind of can:

And it just didn't make sense to me.

Finally I had had enough. I took a deep breath and admitted my great shame to Husband. Once he started breathing again from laughing at me so hard, he explained that the joke was about this:

Prince Albert Smoking Tobacco that comes...wait for it...in a can. Yeah. I'm an idiot. Now if someone could just explain to me why this is funny...

{+}

Wordless Wednesday {Going On A Bug Hunt}

Birthday Recap

My birthday was awesome...ignoring the fact that I turned 35.

I got to sleep in, and Hubs and Pie got me coffee and breakfast. Then Pie gave me the best birthday card ever.

And then she went outside, found this beauty, handed it to me and yelled "SURPRISE!!" Goodness does that kid crack me up. 

Then Pie and I got our finger paint on. 

And were completely exhausted by all the creativity, so a nap was next up. 

Then dinner and margaritas with the family. Such fun and so tasty. 

At the end of the meal, my mom surprised me with these amazing, tiny bundt cakes. They're from a place called Nothing Bundt Cake...hehehe...and they are 2-3 bite versions of the normal thing but SO MUCH BETTER. Yum. 

And when a came into work this morning, my friends had decorated my office and bought me some beautiful flowers. So sweet. 

But wait, there's more. I get to celebrate all over again this weekend with a big family brunch and a real, no kids allowed, date with Husband. I can't wait.

35

I Can Do Better....Can't I?

My life is full of "those" moments. You know the ones where teachers, bosses, parents say that you aren't living up to your potential?

I've got millions of them. In fact my entire school career, until I went back as an adult to finish my Bachelor's, was one never-ending moment. I can't even count the number of times I got into trouble because my teacher thought I was coasting by, or my parents felt I was doing the bare minimum. The truth is...I was. I always figured if I did well enough not trying, why kill myself to do slightly better?

Granted that was all when I was a kid and knew everything. And certainly knew more than the grown-ups in my life. :) Ahhh, sweet, stupid youth.

But as I got older, I realized that was a cop out. I really didn't try very hard. I really wasn't working at my full potential, and I wanted to change that about myself. So I started trying. And yes, it was a lot more work. And yes, it made me more vulnerable to failure. But it was good.

I strive to be good at the things I choose to spend my time doing. I hope that I'm a good daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend, student, employee...I really try to be.

But lately...I'm back to coasting by. And the thing that kills me is that there's nothing I can do about it. My eyes are shot. They hurt all the time. If I use them a lot, it gives me a crazy headache, and often makes me throw up. And it's affecting every. single. part. of. my. life.

I'm a terrible employee, a lackluster student, an absentee wife, a sideline mom. I haven't been to any one's blog to see how they are, and I'm barely here on my own blog. All of those things hurt. And each one makes this whole situation a little worse each day.

Just know that I really do miss you guys, and I keep trying to get better.

I'm still hoping that's possible...

Silly Straws Make Everything Better

My darling Pie had a very exciting milestone this weekend. She used her first silly straw...and she's hooked!

Which works for me because I could watch that little mouth pucker and those mile-long lashes flutter with excitement all day long.

*It also happened to be the first time she had lemonade...so she was digging that too. :)

We DO NOT put boogies BACK INTO our nose....and other ladylike things I've said lately.

So if you've been around for awhile, you know that I'm quite the delicate flower. Always proper and reserved, easily offended, always...what?!...you know I can actually hear you laughing through the interwebs. Shut it!

But lately it seems I've had the occasion to say a number of really unladylike things. And because they all made me laugh, I figured I'd share.

1. "We DO NOT put boogies BACK INTO our nose."
    ~said to Pie as she proceeded to do just that.

2. "A few more of these margaritas and you're right!"
    ~said to my mom and dad and sister and brother in law after my mom commented on my
     recent weight loss by saying my pants were going to fall off.

3. "Every time I move it feels like someone is punching my in the right ass cheek."
    ~said to Husband the day after I fell down our stairs and landed quite hard on said cheek.

4. "Would you mind rubbing my butt?"
    ~said to Husband after falling down the stairs in the least come on-y way ever.

5. "Do you think it would be wrong of me to use the phrase 'balls deep' more often?"
    ~said to Husband after reading the phrase in a book.

6. "Hey Toots!"
    ~said to Pie (while laughing hysterically) after she made some noises that only frat boys
    should be able to make.

7. "Apparently she pooped."
    ~said to random Walmart customer with a shrug after Pie announced it to the store.



Hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with lots of unladylike comments! XXOXX