Self-esteem, your table is ready.

So lately I've been feeling a little blah, blah, bleeh about myself.

My hair is giving me this "you're not the boss of me" attitude and I just can't regain control. Not that I'm not used to this. I get it every single day from Olivia. She recently perfected the "over the shoulder, eye-roll as she's walking away" look.


She's five. No kidding I did not prompt her. I simply asked her to clean her room while I was holding the camera and this is what she did.

Every day is pretty much a really bad hair day. Right around 4 months after I have a baby, my hair decides it no longer wants to be a part of my life and packs it's bags and storms off in a childish huff. It's an ugly break-up for everyone involved. It falls out by the handfuls and it causes me daily stress and anxiety.
But, as bad as I think it is, it is not this nightmare.







On top of that I just can't seem to shake the extra baby poundage. I know, I know...I can hear you saying it. "You've just had your 5th baby, relax, give it a minute, you'll lose it, don't worry." I know all that and it sounds good and all but in the back of my mind there is this annoying little creature running around saying things like "neener, neener..you'll never fit into that fav swim suit again" or the equally depressing, "hello, meet your new best friend, the swimsuit cover-up. You'll never go anywhere without her."




If only that little creature would run around in other people's minds as well.



I've also felt a teeny tiny bit...okay TOTALLY, COMPLETELY disorganized with my time. It's noon or later sometimes when I finally hop in the shower. And don't tell, but sometimes I jump in and *gasp* I don't wash my hair. And then there are days when I simply throw on some clean clothes and spray myself with Fabreeze and then avoid close proximity with anyone who smells like strawberries or coconut.

Still, I am not attracting insects who's sole purpose in life is to eat as much rotting matter as possible before they die.
You can go throw up now.......really...I'll wait.




And then there's the brain damage that has apparently occurred. I find myself having difficulty with the simplest of tasks. And it seems that recently they started introducing Rocket Science to 2nd graders and trying to pass it off as simple math. How dare they. And my memory..don't even get me started on that. Uhm...what were we just talking about? Hmm.
But at least I get to be stupid and forgetful in the privacy of my home in front of small children. This sad lady got to be stupid and do so for a much larger and harsher audience. Poor thing. I wonder how many times Regis asked her if that was her final answer.


For quite a while after I have a baby I feel like I look pretty Frumpy most of the time. I try my best but I just don't feel like the Fashion Diva I would like to be.
But then just when I'm afraid I've hit rock-bottom with the fashion sense and good taste......





Yep ladies. That's just what you think it is.
My question is this. SERIOUSLY???




So even though I'm feeling a little like a slug at the moment, at least I can be grateful there's not a snot-nosed 7 year old boy standing over me with a giant salt shaker.

Hope you feel good today.
Here's to common sense and good taste.

You want $14.50 for that?

We took the kids to see the Disney on Ice a couple of weeks ago. They loved every minute of it. Well, maybe not every minute. Lindsay brought her own money so she could buy something and was absolutely disgusted that the only thing she could get with her $14.50 was a crown-wearing duck eraser and a ziploc size bag of cotton candy. I mean, what? they don't make enough of an impression with the price of admission? They have to kick you in the butt on the way out with those ridiculous "souvenirs". I was very proud of my oldest for being so wise and frugal and deciding to spend her money on "something way better than that."
It really was fun though. We went with some great friends who had tickets in the Huntsman suite. Now that right there is a reason to marry someone with money. Right after this I am going to find out if the Huntsman's have any grand-sons my daughters ages. Only kidding...sort of.
It was so nice to not only have extra elbow room but room to get up and walk around. There were no annoying people sitting behind or in front of us and I can't even tell you how nice it was having your own bathroom 4 feet away. The kids had a ball and the show was really fun. Disney does know how to put on a production. The girls were also a little disappointed that there were no princesses. That reminded me of something I've been wondering for a while.


When I was a little girl my favorite princess was Sleeping Beauty. She had blond hair and eyes like me and I thought for sure I would look like her when I grew up.
*oh the delusions of children*
Anyway, I always picked her as my princess. Lindsay loves Snow White. Makenna loves Cinderella and Olivia loves Belle. Not only for the physical resemblances either. Lindsay is my sweet, helpful one who believes in Happily Ever Afters. Makenna fully believes that pumpkins could turn into carriages and that her Prince Charming will find her one day. Olivia is strong, independent and does not want to be told what to do. And all I can say about the Handsome Prince 'rescueing' her is.....Good Luck with that boys!!
There's Mulan for the little Asian girls. Jasmine's got things covered for India. And the beautiful Pocahontus rocks for the Native American girlies. Redheads are even represented by Ariel. There isn't a latin princess but there are at least a couple that have dark hair and darker skin for the little chicas. So I got sad thinking about all the cute little black girls that wander through the Disney gift shops looking for a princess that looks like them and I wondered why Disney hasn't had a black princess.
And it's not just Disney.
There really are no great leading, animated, female characters for them to look at and want to be like. They are usually the friends of the main character or another supporting character. Although Oprah Winfrey did play the judge in the Bee Movie, but what little girl dreams of wearing a robe and carrying around a gavel?

Then I saw this.

Yay for Princess Tiana.
I'm sure there will be controversy and lots will be said about the prince being white but I'm just glad that there will be at least one more choice for all of the little black beauties out there.
And I'm sure you can plan on paying a ridiculous price for her merchandise as well.
"Someday, my prince will come........."

It is a recession after all.

The early Native Americans probably would have done just fine during times like these. They knew how to make every little thing count. They respected all parts of any animal they killed and made every single one of those parts useful. They understood how to make the most of what was available to them.
My mom and dad both tell stories of what it was like when they were growing up. They had to eat every bit of food on their plate. If there was any food that wasn't consumed by humans, that food was given to the farm animals. I try pretty hard to get my kids to eat all of their food (those late night "Starving Children" commercials have been the best guilt trip I could use on them) but if there are bits of food left it gets scraped off into the garbage or rinsed off down the sink. If I am struck by a moment of guilt, the left-overs get wrapped up in a ziploc baggie and hang around for a few days until I throw it away.
I remember tin can after tin can in my grandpa's little shop. They were used to hold things like old nails and rusty screws and other trinkets. We throw cans away left and right and just love the cutesy little baskets that we pay $3.99 for that sit on our shelves and house little trinkets that we never use. They saved everything and used every little bit of it. My grandmother made aprons out of shirts that could no longer be used as shirts. Not only did she re-use the material, but every button was taken off and put into a big, round tin for later use. And then the thread that held those buttons to the shirt was carefully unpicked and rolled up and put away to be used to darn socks or sew on another button. People throw away clothes every day because they have stains on them or they simply don't want them anymore.
My dad still to this day dries off after a shower with a wash cloth so that there is not more laundry requiring more water. He turns the heat down in winter and the air down in summer. He loves to torment my mother by turning off her curling iron if it's been on longer than 2.3 minutes. If we're cold, the heat goes up. If we're hot, the air comes on. Everyone likes a long, hot shower and sometimes my flat-iron stays turned on the whole day. (sorry Greg).
There are still people today that hike for miles for two buckets of dirty water. I mean, people used to bathe once a week and share the bath water with the whole family. (If there was ever a time to be the early bird). If they were cold.....yep, go out and bring in some fire wood that you chopped yourself and build a fire. And if you were hot...too darn bad, maybe go jump in the swimmin' hole but only after your 3 hours of chores are done. I hate that dinner takes me an hour. I can only imagine how pleasant I would be if I had to start on dinner right after breakfast. I get bugged when the store doesn't have the kind of bread I like.
Really?
I mean it's all made and put in a little, plastic bag with a twisty tie. They even slice it up for me into nice, even slices.
We live in a "give it to me now, that's too hard, It's not new so it's not useful" society. We live in such convenience that we don't even realize how convenient things are. Going out to dinner used to be such a big deal. People would get dressed up and make it such an event. Now we can go through drive-thru's in our pajamas, eat in our cars and be done with the whole affair in 15 minutes with our only human contact being with a disgruntled fast-food employee through a speaker who's only concern for our happiness is whether or not we want that "Biggie sized".
And do you remember the last time you got a hand-written letter from someone delivered to you through the U.S. Postal Service?...... Really, when was the last time?
Don't get me wrong, I love my e-mail and Facebook and I'm sure that if I wasn't slower than a turtle, I would love texting. I'm just hoping that when my children hear a funny joke, instead of saying "LOL" they will actually laugh out loud.
So, I have decided that I am going to reduce, re-use and re-cycle much more than I have been. I am going to follow in the footsteps of my very wise, frugal forebearers and I am going to use things more efficiently. I will turn off the water when I brush my teeth. I'll scrape out that last little bit of Peanut Butter and I will use stained shirts as rags or give them to those in need. And the girls will just have to play with that one-armed Barbie doll. And the next time my brother goes hunting, I'm going to have him go the Native American route and save the most useful and beneficial part of the deer or elk he gets.
And then I'm going to make me a pair of these bad boys.






Hey, I'm just trying to do my part.

So I did this 25 list over on the Facebook and thought I would put it on here for record keeping purposes. So if you read this over there, hit escape now and have a lovely day. If not, see if you learn something about me that you didn't know.

1. I love dragonflies. I think they are so amazing.

2. I am terrified of drowning but I'm obsessed with water. I would love to be a dolphin for one day.

3. I love to shop at the D.I. I love finding something old and making it new and usable again. I have 7 designer purses that I purchased for $1.00 each at the D.I.

4. I love graham crackers and milk. So good.

5. I hate, hate, hate to run but would love to run in a marathon.

6. I love to go out to eat. Anywhere.

7. I learn something new every day from one of my children. Hey with 5, the odds are pretty good that one of them will teach me something. Most of the time it's patience.

8. I have a fascination with trees. I love to climb them. I love everything about them from the leaves, to the bark to the creatures that call them home. I think it's ironic that I'm allergic to most of them. Whatever.

9. I love pina colodas. anything with coconut in it actually. It reminds me of Hawaii. Mmm, I love Maui.

10. I love baseball, especially old school baseball. I'll take Ted Williams over A-Rod any day.
"The Natural" is my personal "Gone With The Wind" or "The Godfather". That's just good movie-makin.

11. I am a 4th of July freak. It is my favorite holiday hands down. My idea of heaven is sitting at a ball game eating a hot dog with the smell of fireworks in the air. Okay, maybe heaven is a bit dramatic but doesn't that just sound nice? I am a really patriotic person who has a real respect for soldiers and veterans. I really enjoy war history. And even though we have some crazy issues going on, I think we live in a pretty spectacular country. And I think we have the coolest flag. Okay I'm done.

12. I'm 2 years older (and smarter) than my awesome husband.

13. My husband makes fun of me all the time but I can sing the entire Jordan High School song word for word. He makes fun of Jordan Pride but I think he's secretly jealous of the Beetdiggers.

14. I would love to be on Survivor just to see if I could do it.

15. I mowed my first lawn last summer...and I liked it.

16. However, I do not like to weed. I love flowers and gardening but I do not like to weed.

17. I am full of useless information. I seem to retain all the crap that won't help me do anything but win at Trivial Pursuit. I love Jeopardy.

18. I used to be a Security Guard for concerts. I worked all kinds of Heavy Metal, Rap, and Rock concerts and the only time I had to get physical with someone was at a Dan Fogleberg concert. I mean, come on, Dan Fogleberg? I did get sung to by Lars Ulrich from Metallica backstage. He sang me a lullaby.
I really love music. All kinds of music. Well, almost all. I've really tried and I appreciate that it's art and all but I just don't get rap.

19. If I could have dinner with one famous person it would be Cal Ripkin. Or Simon Cowell..or Paul Newman..or John Stockton. No, Cal Ripken. Or Coldplay.

20. Unlike most people, I enjoyed my first kiss. Good Job Cory!! (Is that inappropriate?;)) Oh well.

21. I have an amazing family and fantastic in-laws. I'm proud to call all of them mine.

22. My favorite thing to eat is cereal. Any kind. I would eat it for all three meals.

23. Although I can do a pretty mean stick figure, I would love to be an artist. To make something beautiful out of nothing.

24. I'm late for everything. I just am.

25. I like, totally loved growing up in the 80's. It was like the best. I had the raddest friends growing up and I like, way loved Jr. High and High School. (No, I wouldn't do it again. I'm just saying I'm glad I'm not in High School now. Yikes.)

26. I'm a pretty good speller.

27. I think Dr. Phil is full of crap. I think Dr. Pepper is full of goodness.

28. I love going to the movies. I love movie popcorn and the seats, good movies, bad movies..whatever. I like going to the movies. And I tend to like supporting characters more than leading characters in movies.

30... Oh, we were only supposed to go to 25. Sorry.