Small Successes Rev 6

Hopping on the F&FL train once again this fine Thursday morning. It's a B-E-A-U-tiful 68 degrees as of right now which is the calm before the 120-degree storm that is chomping at the bits to take over. If any of you want to know what the weather in hell must feel like, spend a summer here in Phx. On the bright side, you can save some moolah on utility bills by cooking breakfast on the pavement outside.

Moving along...

1. We FINALLY took down these last bunch of decorations from H's 1st birthday party (that was almost 4 months ago) to prepare for for our painting project. The Mauve-of-Death I mentioned in my previous post can also be seen here. Our paint guy bears a striking resemblence to Vin Diesel....if Vin was Polish...and about a foot shorter...and had a thick Boston accent.
2. I was going on a few weeks w/o a single hang nail ever since I bought a hand cream to keep at my desk at work but I slacked yesterday and noticed a couple begging for my attention. If the definintion of insanity is to repeat the same action over and over again while expecting a different outcome then call me Charlie Sheen. Everytime I see that annoying piece of skin flapping at the end of my finger, I think I can somehow bite/rip it off cleanly instead of waiting to get a pair of nail clippers only to be left with bloody, painful cuticle tears. Ok so this isn't really a small success but rather a huge fail. Let's just focus on the few weeks I was hangnail-free.




Don't be jealous of my perfectly un-manicured nails. My piano teacher would be appalled at the amount of white showing.


3. Despite the wonderland of goodies that Jorts keeps our freezer & pantry stocked with throughout the year (but especially during the Lenten season), I have managed to stay off the wagon...or is it on...whichever means I'm being good. Other than a small piece of cake at the Diocesan Women's Conference (one of the speakers said it was close enough to Sunday and we wouldn't want any of the food to go to waste), I have stayed true to my Lenten promise. I'm 2 for 3 so far. That last one of not getting testy w/ Jorts no matter what is proving to be the biggest test of my discipline. Pray for me dear readers.

Peace out home slices.

Pictureless

Link ups to F&FL now officially make up 25% of my weekly updates based on the last month or so of posting trends. You can call it lazy, you can call it consistent...just don't call me Oriental. I'm not a rug.

Feedback is welcome on whether I should keep these small success posts rolling or if they should be eliminated like the pesky fruit fly I so cunningly captured with a single hand yesterday. (I have ninja in my blood)

1. My new orthotics arrived! (I'm 27 going on 75) They're much slimmer than my other pair so I can now wear them in cute ballet flats instead of being limited to Uggs when I go to pick up my monthly case of Ensure and Centrum Silver.
2. Finally got my library card. My local branch has a fantastic program where you can check out a culture pass for free admission to all kinds of funtastic places like the zoo, children's museum, botanical gardens, etc. I need to get my boys out before it reaches triple digit temps (which corresponds to triple digit electric bills which is when the free admission really comes in handy).
3. "Caillou" and "oopsie" are this week's updates to H's vocab. We're still working on "Mommy is my favorite."

Small Successes Rev 5

It's Thursday and y'all know what that means! It's time for me to link up with F&FL and share a few of my little victories this week. *queue Rocky theme* (but on low volume since these are small successes)

1. With a few exceptions when my hands were full, I have taken the stairs everytime to my office on the 4th floor.
2. We have not thrown away a single drop of leftovers. (Except for some soup that was hiding in the dark recesses of the fridge but I'm not counting this since it wasn't made this past week. Frankly, I don't know how long it's been there. Don't judge.)
3. Highlights from H's 15 month checkup:
• Height - 60%
• Weight - 75%
• Head - 90% (He's clearly my son)
• We were shocked to learn he had an ear infection. Despite all the horror stories of how babies act like they have the plague, H clearly established his 'tough cookie' (or maybe 'tough potsticker' is more fitting) status by not showing any symptoms.

Happy day-before-Friday!

Small Successes Rev 4

A week into Lent and I am a tad bit ashamed of how deep I had to dig to come up with this week's 3 small successes but a here here goes:

1. I kept my last minute stop at Sprouts to under 15 mins. This is HUGE for me. I am notorious for somehow turning a "quick" trip to pick up a few items needed for dinner into an hour of going through the entire store and picking up fruits and vegetables that I've never used before just because they're on sale. Yesterday I only bought the pint of heavy cream that I went to Sprout's for (and a few pounds of sausage that are this week's special but it's ok b/c I use this yummy meat in my pasta sauce.)
2. I participated in my first Nun Run last Saturday (and forgot to include it in my weekend highlights.) Our auxillary Bishop Nevarez was in attendance and the Poor Clares sisters who ran in their full habits were truly inspirational. I shaved 1:30 off of my last 10K time!
3. Downsized our recycle bin to a cute little blue basket that is about a quarter of the size of the old ginormous Rubbermaid container. My baby's daddy wasn't too thrilled with the change since it meant he would have to empty it 4 times as often but I was set on getting rid of the dingy eye sore from our kitchen.

Share with me some of yours! (Only if you want. Or you can tell me to mind my own bid-ness.)

Small Successes Rev 3

Another week has flown by and here are a few of my "yay me" moments I'd like to share with you beautiful people:

1. In past years, I always chose things for my Lenten penance that were a bigger benefit to my waistline than my soul (i.e. chocolate, dessert, etc...) Even then I would often cheat by trying to reason that Nutella was not chocolate nor dessert. According to its commercial, it was a healthy spread made of hazelnuts and skim milk that should be a part of one's complete breakfast. This year I prayed for the inspiration to make a more spiritual sacrifice, one that would discipline my soul and not so much my eating habits, and a little note from Fr. Dan in last week's church bulletin gave me just the motivation I needed.
2. I will be saying goodbye to my trusty Honda Civic today! It came into my life senior year of college and together we have gone through so much. It has served me well on road trips to CA & NM and has seen me through marriage and my first baby. It will be a bittersweet goodbye but I am looking forward to new, exciting adventures with my first mommy-mobile.
3. This is my last week in my old group and will be starting my new gig on Monday!

Check out other small successes here and celebrate your own!

Small Successes Rev 2

After a couple weeks hiatus, I'm linking up to Faith & Family Live's 3 Small Successes once again.

1. I managed to fit all 3 of our things into one suitcase for our trip to Portland. I get bonus points for not exceeding the max weight limit. Otherwise it would've been a hefty $50 charge! It's highway sky-way robbery, I tell ya.
2. Matt & I discussed the details of our child care plans for baby #2 (me stay at home or -gasp- him stay at home, etc). Calm down folks, this isn't my subtle way of announcing anything. I just wanted to make sure that we are prepared with a gameplan when it does happen since it will be close to impossible for my mom to handle 2 rugrats at once, expecially with her inability to say no to a grandchild. My husband has a phobia of addressing anything that's not an immediate reality so the fact that he was able to keep his patience and talk about this matter without having an anxiety attack was truly a miracle.
3. We have managed to stay under our total monthly budget for 3 months in a row AND I have put all my bonuses this year straight into savings. Oops, I guess technically this is a 2 for 1.

Try not to burst at the seams from this scinnnnntillating post. I'll try to not have bottom-of-the-barrel material for next week's successes. In fact, that will be 1 of my 3. I'm doing big things here, people. Big things.

Thursday is Jerse-day

I'm pretty sure I have graduated from the novice blogger to the intermediate by doing my first official link to another blog. Or maybe linking is still considered rookie business and I won't beat this level until I create one of those neat personalized signatures. Whatever the rules may be, I'm pleased to jump on the 3 Small Successes train.

1. I was able to stay cool & calm while getting H's dinner ready last night despite his need to express his sense of urgency through barks & roars (and not the cute kind where he's impersonating a puppy or lion). I narrated each step in the sweetest voice possible ("Mommy's getting your mashed potatoes." "I'm cutting up your chicken now." "Let's get some milk in that sippy cup.") in hopes that he will learn that he doesn't have to yell to get what he wants. Maybe I'm expecting too much patience from a 14 mo old.
2. I worked out 5 days last week and am on track for doing the same this week. Even though I've somehow managed to gain a few el bees in the process, I'm not going to lose steam. (I know muscle is supposed to weigh more than fat but it's hard to keep that in mind when the numbers on the scale go up.)
3. The hubby and I have established a treaty involving the thermostat. He would set the temperature to a steamy 72 degrees and I would change it right back to 68. Everytime one of us walked past the thermostat, it would get changed. After weeks of this nonsense toggling, I was able to win him over by showing him our gas bill. Our house is now set at a steady 69 degrees.

These may seem silly or trivial to you but they are undeniable successes in my world. What are your 3 small successes?

Happy Jerse-day!