10 Day Challenge: Channel Someone

For today's 10 Day Challenge prompt--yes, I slacked on the past 2 days--we were asked to to channel someone (seriously, go look at Kayla today, she is so clever and cute).  Mine today kind of happened by accident.  I was running late for story time at the library so I pulled my hair back in a few bobby pins and viola!  Er, wait.  It looked like a mess.  However, I left it in and thought this will be me channeling Kate Middleton.   I love how soft and pretty her hair always looks and sometimes mine looks too structured and stiff.  Or, maybe I just look like a hippy and not duchess.  Especially considering I have a ghetto shower curtain in the background.

Layers

You guys my wardrobe is so tired I literally dozed off for a second while getting dressed today.  It's just so bland.  Maybe the 10 Day Winter Challenge can help me think outside the box and do something different. As for today's challenge to Layer, I had to go with one of my favorite layering pieces: a scarf.

Sorry for the headless face.  It's no makeup Monday at our house and I didn't want to frighten anyone.  

Tomorrow is monochrome.  This could be scary.

10 Day Challenge

Sounds like I'm going off of sugar or carbs for 10 days, but actually I am going to participate in Kayla's 10 Day Challenge: Winter Edition.  Basically she gives an outfit prompt each day and you post your interpretation of it in photo form or blog about it.  So you'll be seeing scary pictures of me attempting these prompts over the next few days.  I'm not exactly what you would call a fashionable person, but I love challenges like these.  Anything to get me out of the sweat pants.

32

Had a small get together for the hub's birthday on Tuesday.  I can't make a cake and not try something a little over the top (as over the top as an amateur can get), so this time I tried the technique I saw over here and made the letters for his name out of candy melts.  I think it worked really well, and it was sooo easy.  Just printed off some letters I liked, turned them over and traced them on parchment paper.  Tracing them backwards helps them look flat and pretty on the front.  I will definitely try this technique again!  Now if I could only hand pipe letters as neatly.

Happy Birthday babe!  

Also, I'm coming up on 33....and I don't know why but that sounds so old to me.

DIY: Kitchen Cabinet With Wrapping Paper

I am determined to get organized this year.  And not just organized, but pretty organized.  Now remember, we only moved in a month and a half ago...but this is how the cabinet above our computer desk looked:

Wow, embarrassing!  We literally were just chucking stuff in there daily, and I was not pleased with where this cabinet was headed: permanent junkville. So when I saw Jen's cabinet from TT&J and how she revamped it with wrapping paper, it gave me the jump start to dig in and clean this thing up.  The other night I won a new roll of wrapping paper at my bunko group so it was perfect!  I started by clearing the whole thing out, and then just stuck the paper up with Loctite.  I had a couple of Target gift cards leftover from Christmas so I picked up all of my baskets there.  Here's how it turned out:

Can you not hear heavenly angels singing??????  AHHH, I love it.  Even the hubs (who is not impressed by a dang thing) was like "Wow, can you do that to all of the cabinets?"  Ahem, yes I can.  And seriously go to Target right now, they have the cutest baskets.  The blue ones also come in red, green, and black.

Thanks for the inspiration Jen!  Can't wait to tackle the pantry, the linen closet, and the kids closets.

Linking up to the Tatertots and Jello link party.

2012

Last year I decided to do monthly resolutions.  Each month I would try to accomplish something different and then at the end of the year feel like a super woman.  Then we sold our house, moved, built a house, and moved into that house.  I didn't do horribly, but for the most part resolutions went out the window.  This year I decided NO resolutions (well except for the one about controlling my anger), however there are things that I would like to do.  So for 2012 I want to:

• Read more.  My sister in-law just lent me this,

 and said I HAD to read it.  It took me 2 weeks to even pick the book up, but once I did I could not put it down.  It was such a quick read and the whole time I was dying to know what would happen next (so excited for the movie in March!).  Up next I want to read the other 2 books in this series, along with The Help and Tina Fey's Bossypants (I've been dying to read this one for some time.  The woman is hilarious).  Any other book recommendations would be welcomed!

• Be more patient and play more with my daughter.  Yes, she is so difficult sometimes I want to jump out the window.  But I have got to be more patient with her, no matter how difficult she is.  She cries and cries over every little thing, and where I used to get upset at her and tell her how not to act, or put her in time out, I am going to take the advice of my cousin and just show her love.  It sounds so simple.  And I feel like such a bad parent for not having used this tactic most of the time.  That's what new beginnings are for though, right?  I have taken this different approach a few  times already and the results have been awesome.  Also, I told myself that every time she asks me to play, read, etc. I am going to drop what I am doing and oblige her.  This has also happened a couple of times just in the past 3 days, and every time I wanted to make an excuse as to why I would have to read or play with her later.  I'm shocked at how much I brush her and her brother aside.  I'm going to try really hard not to do that anymore.

• Lose 10 pounds.  Because it wouldn't be January if I didn't want to lose some sort of poundage.  

And now that I'm finished with this it looks like a list of resolutions.  Man I hate that word.

The Wound and a Resolution

The day after Christmas I was rushing my daughter to her room for a time out.  I was in a fit of anger.  I slipped on the hardwood floor and both of us tumbled to the ground--with my leg going directly into the door jam of the kid's bathroom.  My daughter was ok, but I thought I had broken a bone, my tibia.  It was so painful I bawled like a baby.  Ten minutes later and I was ok, although it hurt so I popped some ibuprofen.  Shoot to a couple of hours later, I look down at my leg and it looks like this:

Folks, that's not my knee.  That is the middle of my shin.  Pictures don't do it justice.  It was gargantuan.

The best part was showing my family, their reactions really made me feel better (sarcasm).  Thankfully I have a physical therapist and a chiropractor in the family.  My sister in-law, Jenni, who is a physical therapist, has really helped me in all of my panicking moments of what should I do/it looks like this/is this normal/etc.  She's even got me wearing a compression stocking on it to help with swelling (it is HOT), and tracing the alphabet with my foot to avoid clots.  Jake did an x-ray and the bone looks great, no break.  He also taped me up with Kinesio tape.  You know, the stuff Kerri Walsh wore in the Olympics on her shoulder.  I look like a bad ass athlete....right?

Ok, not so much.  

Well here it is today, the KT tape came off and amazingly everywhere the tape was there is no bruising.  Made a believer outta me. Still looks nasty gross though. The bump is only slightly gargantuan, but the bruising is down to my ankle, the whole front of my leg is yellow.  Gross.

I haven't ran in almost 2 weeks. I feel like a tub of lard.  My SIL says it's almost like I broke a bone and it might be weeks before it's better.  Fantastic.

In other news, my one New Year's resolution is to control my anger.