Oddly, my monthly goals are quite similar to Tori’s! I guess maybe that isn’t so strange. Spring is in the air, so it’s only natural to
begin spring cleaning. And then there’s
the whole we’re-both-moms thing. Also,
“great minds think alike” and all that jazz.
(Oh, the conceit!)
First and foremost in my mind is getting ready for
Easter. We’re hosting an Easter brunch
this year with my parents, hubby’s parents, my grandparents, and my brother and
his girlfriend. And (the wonder!) the
four people that actually live in my house will be there too. Ugh.
Just mentioning it causes me to start an internal dialogue about how
many chairs I need, which room I should clean first, blah blah blah. Then I also need to get a couple more things
for the kids’ baskets, dye Easter eggs (which, because I’m difficult, are going
to be done with natural dyes *sigh*), AND figure out who is making what foods
and what we’re actually eating! You know
what? Jesus knows my house is usually a
mess…it’s just my in-laws that aren’t in on that secret. I need to quit with all this stress. (And
then I saw a flying pig! I did!)
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| Told you I saw him |
After Easter (because I like to stress out and die early in
life), we’re planning a combined birthday celebration for our kiddos. Cheerio Champ turned five this week, and
Princess Cheerio turns one the first week of April. The theme is going to be bugs. Each kid is going to get bug themed
loot. Naturally, there will be
cake. With bugs. And in my infinite wisdom, I decided to make
a smash cake for both my kids. So I have
48 cupcakes and two smash cakes to bake, in addition to making dirt pudding (a
must for a bug theme), snack bags, planning the menu (mostly crock-pot things),
and purchasing decorations. Don’t
forget! I also have to remember/stress
over all the things I’ve forgotten!
We’re finally getting family photos taken! We’ve been a family of four for a year
now. There aren’t any photos with all of
us in them (to my knowledge. Creepy
stalker people not included). That’s
partly because I take the photos around here, and ,mostly because I was so
uncomfortable with my weight and/or what I was capable of fitting into
clothes-wise that I avoided the camera like the plague. There’s a photo place in a nearby town that
prints your photos the same day, so we decided to go there. They do smash cake photos too! I can’t tell you how happy I am about
that! I was going to do a set up for Princess
Cheerio with a shower curtain liner at her party, but now I don’t have to let
her get nearly as messy at the party proper.
The downside is I now have to make yet ANOTHER cake for the photo that
will take place between Easter and the birthday party! I should mention that I never bake
cakes. Ever.
I also plan to do some crafting/sewing in April. First up is a tutu for Princess Cheerio. I had planned to make her one for the party,
and I thought she’d look adorable in the tutu with cake all over her. Now, as we’re doing the smash cake at the
photo place, I don’t know what she’s wearing!
The tutu I bought tulle for matched the party colors and was part of the
planned outfit for the day. I think I’m
making yet another tutu in some other color for the smash cake photo. I’m out of my mind.
Earth Day is coming up April 22nd. I’m hoping to find some way to celebrate
Earth Day this year. We usually go to a
combined Arbor Day/Earth Day celebration at a local park, which I’m hoping
falls at a time hubby isn’t working.
They give away free trees, which we have planted in past years. This year though, we don’t have a yard big
enough for one. How sad is that? Maybe my folks want another tree?
I’ve been overhauling our family diet. We don’t eat a lot of overtly unhealthy foods,
but we eat a lot of processed foods.
Most of it comes in the form of snack foods. I decided to add more fruits and vegetables
these past few weeks, and it has helped us to feel tremendously better. I’m still struggling to get Cheerio Champ to
put down anything at all that is green.
My April goal is to make sure we each get a serving of fruit and a
vegetable serving with each meal. If we
don’t get one or the other with a meal, we make up for that by having it as a
snack. And then there is one additional
serving each of fruits and vegetables for a snack during the day. It has definitely cost me more in produce
(but less in pantry items!), and I have to go to the store every week when I
prefer to be an every-couple-weeks kind of gal, but it’s worth it.
I regularly do yoga with Cheerio Champ. I would like to start doing some walking or
strength training in April in addition to the yoga. I have seven more pounds to lose before I’m
at my goal weight, but I’m not in nearly the shape I’d like to be. I can’t walk for twenty minutes at a brisk
pace without being exhausted. That just
isn’t acceptable. I have two kiddos I
have to keep up with, so I want to be in the best shape I possibly can.
Sort of related to that is a self-defense related goal of
mine. It is my career goal to become a
self-defense instructor. I would like to
regularly begin training in aikido next month.
I’m sort of toying around with it here and there at the moment, but I’d
like to dedicate a certain block of time to it several days a week. I also plan to read another self-defense book
this coming month.
I have to do some shopping in April. Christmas shopping. Feel free to slap me with a fish. Actually, don’t do that. And I don’t know why I said that. It’s early, okay?? But as I say, I need to start Christmas
shopping. Every year, I tell myself I
won’t wait until the last minute. Every
year I lie profusely and am still shopping for someone and/or something a few
days before Yule. This year I mean
it! I have one Christmas gift already
purchased! ONE!! That’s one more than this time last
year! I’d like to be done with it come
November. Then I can just sit back and
laugh at all of you/get insanely busy with crafts and other Christmas-y things
I feel I have to do.
I owe $43 on a hospital bill for when Princess Cheerio was
born nearly a year ago! I’m almost paid
off! I plan to pay that off in April,
and almost completely pay off my final student loan from my big whopping one
year of college. I’ll actually finish
paying that off in May. And then on to
the large chunk of student loans we owe from hubby’s schooling. Yay?
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| Story of my life. :( |
The final thing is to buy a house. Well, that’s not accurate. The final thing is to talk about the prospects
of buying a house. That’s completely
different. I think hubby and I are going
to go to a home-buying seminar and read some books/do other research and check
out our credit report. We’ve wanted to
get started on this process for several months, but I told hubby I’d like to
wait until all the party stress was out of the way before we discussed anything
more stressful (see? I can be wise on
occasion). It’ll be at least three years
before we’re ready to buy I believe. But
what do I know? Not enough. That’s why there’s research to be done!
Looking back on this post, I’m convinced that I’ve bitten
off more than I can chew. But it is what
it is. I’ll make it through April. I always do.
What are some of your goals for this coming month? Any advice on home buying? Check back Saturday for Leslie’s post, and
naturally we’ll have a new topic next week!
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