Rantings of a Grumpy Old Woman

Anyone out there? Lol

I just realized that when I deleted an album off of Google+, it deleted all the pictures I had on here. bunch of crap. Sorry. :p

So, I've been entirely too lazy and preoccupied to post anything lately. Well, that and nothing really interesting or exciting is going on. We're still in the househunting process, although we're getting close. I'm so excited to get out of California. We need this for our family. Of course we're nervous... there are so many variables and who knows what we'll do for jobs, or what house we'll end up with. Who knows where the girls will go to school or how far away the damn grocery store is. Of course if hubby has his way, we'll be an hour from the next neighbor. lol

You better welcome us back with open arms! We'll be moving back to Arizona the first of July. There were many factors in our decision. Mainly cost of living. We want a bigger place, but prices out here are insane. I'm ridiculously excited, and if we could, we would go now. We have to wait for our stupid lease to be up on this shithole first. For what we need space wise, we could buy a huge house out there for under 70k (which is what we plan on doing). Our moms also live out there, so it'll be nice to live near them again. I really do miss my mom and I couldn't be happier to be closer again! Granted, there are a couple people I will really miss out here, but we have to do what's best for our family in the long run. Obviously it will be hotter than hell out there, but I'm used to it, since I lived there for 5 years. I'm really looking forward to the monsoon season though! I was born and raised in California, have lived here most of my life, and there are

Dear School, I don't like you. I'm seriously done with classes, studying, and stupid papers. I suffer through you because I'm focused on my career and what I want out of life, but you're driving me crazy. You make my brain hurt. Go eff yourself. Sincerely, Ellie

Yeah, I know I spelled "wait" wrong. This blog is about weight. Clever little play on words there, don't ya think? No? Oh well. I went shopping today and bought a new pair of jeans. Only one for the time being. My current ones are hanging off me, which is I guess is good... unless you're talking to your husband and daughter, and your infant child walks up behind you and pulls them down around your ankles. I'm not losing as fast as I'd like, but at least I'm making progress, which is awesome. Anyways, just thought I'd share. :D

It's been a year. I can hardly believe how fast time has gone. I should have remembered... after all, Zoe is turning 17 in a couple of months. Time has not slowed down over the last few years. In fact, it seems to be picking up speed. I was unprepared by exactly how fast time would fly by. All I can do, is love her with all my heart, and cherish every moment I see that beautiful face. I'm a couple of hours early, but a very happy birthday to my beautiful little girl. I love you so much more than you will ever realize. Olivia Jo 2/23/11 12:45pm 7lbs-5oz 20.5 in "Before you were conceived I wanted you Before you were born I loved you Before you were here an hour I would give my life for you This is the miracle of life" ~ Maureen Hawkins 33 Weeks Birth 1 Month  2 Months  3 Months 4 Months 5 Months 6 Months 7 Months 8 Months  9 Months  10 Months  11 Months  12 Months

As we inch closer to Olivia's birthday, I've been reflecting a little about when she was born. I had written my birth story on my mommy messageboard, and thought I'd share here as well. Public service announcement***If there are any guys reading, there will be talk of all kinds of girly things. If you don't want to have to bleach your eyes out later, please discontinue reading*** I had my doc appt at 39w 5d at 4:30 in the afternoon. We had talked previously about a membrane sweep at this appt, however I was still pretty closed, and cervix was 0% effaced and very high. Baby had not dropped either.  Because of baby's size and a few bad symptoms I was having, doc decided to induce. She called the hospital and asked me to go ahead and come back to check in at 8pm the same night.  So.... I went home, stressed out for about 2 hours, and off we went to the hospital. At around 9:30, i was given cytotec. at 1am, I was checked for the third time, and was still only at a 1

Okay, so maybe not calgon. I don't even know if that stuff exists anymore but you get the idea. This is my vacation.... My escape. I take baths pretty often. And I love it. Take now for instance...I'm hangin out in the bath with my fluffy bath pillow, my bubble bath, and a book. So what if I'm cheating and I'm reading on the Kindle on my phone. I know I know. I must have a death wish because I'd MUCH rather drop some paper in the bath than my phone but whatever. I like to think I have cat like reflexes anyways.  So back to this whole bath thing. I had a busy day. Baby, homework, entertaining guests, cleaning, dinner etc etc etc. Oh, and I can't forget the obvious teen drama that takes place in my house on a regular basis. Sometimes I just need time to myself to unwind. I can think of no better way than to lay here in this tiny porcelain tomb and just destress for a few minutes. Of course ill probably just be asleep in 5 minutes anyways, but the five mins I d

Mobile blogging!  Woo hoo

I hope you read that in the voice of the little Asian guy from "Team America". But I am lonely. With hubby working two jobs, and the teenager off at school all day, most of my days are spent in the company of the cutest, chubbiest one year old you'll ever see. While I enjoy it immensely, she isn't much of a conversationalist. The most we interact together, is me begging her not to climb up the entertainment center, and her grunting her disapproval at me. I have bounced around from the Inland Empire, to Phoenix, and then back to Orange County. Most of my friends are in the first two places, which really does me no good. I can't exactly make it to Phoenix and back in time for dinner, and with the time I would spend on the 91, I might as well be driving to Phoenix. Not only that, but many of my friends either don't have children, or have older children... ones that Zoe grew up with. Some of my friends, I have honestly just... outgrown. The older I get and t

It's no secret that over the years, medically speaking, I have had the worst luck. In 2005, I started getting migraines. Not just one here and there. Constantly. They were horrible excruciating. They affected my ability to get up out of bed and do everyday things while making me extremely dizzy and brought nausea and vomiting with them. At that time, I not only had Zoe, but two other children to look after. It was not a fun time in my life. It is now 7 years later, and I am still dealing with them. Granted, I don't experience them as often as I did, but they are still plaguing me years later. In 2007, I came down with Bells Palsy. If you're unfamiliar with that, it is basically a condition that affects the nerves in your face. The entire side of my face... eyes, nose, mouth, etc, completely went numb and it looked like I had a stroke. I went immediately to the emergency room, where they diagnosed me, and started me on my treatment of antibiotics.. and steroids. It persis

Oh blog. I've neglected you for the last couple of weeks. I haven't really felt well enough to sit on the computer and do anything. I even had to take a small leave of absence from school for a few weeks until I feel better. Truth is, I actually feel worse now, so back to the doctor tomorrow!  I guess that's the price you pay when you get old. I better just pull up my big girl depends and deal with it though. ;) Anyways, 11 more days until my little one turns a year old. I am having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she's been here an entire year already. This time last year, I could barely contain my excitement, knowing I would meet my new daughter any day. I watched her grow from a helpless little bundle of adorable, into an independent little person who communicates and is mobile (very). I took the cutest one year pictures of her, but I'm not allowed to post them for another week or so. he he. I love the way they came out though! We did however h

Why are you tired all the time, Ellie?  You sit on your ass all day at home. How could you possibly be tired? Well, I'll clue you in and give you a little glimpse into the awesomeness that is my day to day routine. . Olivia rarely naps anymore.. I'm lucky if she takes a two hour nap around 10 or 11 am. Since I have a mountain goat instead of a child, most of my waking time consists of pulling her down off of the furniture, and keeping her away from the things she knows she's not supposed to have, such as cell phones and Wii remotes. Then there's mealtimes. Cutting up tasty bites of food "just so", so she can happily throw the carefully cut bits and pieces onto the ground, while laughing about it. There are 9 million (I swear... I counted) diaper changes to be done. Not only is it just fun all around to change a diaper... try to change a diaper on a child that just wants to get up and run around, right in the middle of it. I'm thinking about petitioning

Olivia had her first official playdate today... although I suspect that it was more of a playdate for us mommies. I got to see my awesome friend Melissa and her beautiful daughter Whitney at the botanical gardens. I've known Melissa for about 7 years now, and she never ceases to amaze me with her humor and wit. I love hanging out with her, so it's such a kick in the pants that she lives 2 hours away. I think we found a loophole for this though. We can meet halfway between our houses! What a fantastic and original idea, eh? We obviously picked the wrong time to go though. We ran through the entire place, pushing strollers... while goldfish crackers and other random objects went flying through the air. I don't know why they chose to turn all the sprinklers on at the same time. Regardless, Whitney and Olivia had a blast playing with their toys and getting into everything. They especially liked the tasty snacks of leaves and sticks. I love these girls. Can't wait to s

I knew this day would come... I just didn't think it would arrive so quickly. While she doesn't have it down 100% yet, she's got the mechanics of walking down. The one reason that I know she's got it, is that she prefers to walk instead of crawl. Instead of crawling where she needs to go, she'll stand up and attempt to walk there first. It's really cute watching her try so hard. She still falls here and there, and she looks like she just knocked back a couple of glasses of mommy's beloved cabernet, but it's the most amazing thing to watch. In my eyes, she's so tiny. She's roughly around the 50th percentile in height and weight, but to me... she looks like she's entirely too small to be running around our living room. When I think of babies and kids walking, I think of them as tall, older children. It's just weird to see. My little tiny baby, the one I cuddled with and nursed not that long ago, is gaining her independence, and is gro