Disneyland Bound

In case you didn't know...

Emma loves Tink

Abby loves Princesses, especially Ariel

Matt loves McQueen

Millie's name is similar to Minnie's. Does that count?

Tomorrow after school we are leaving for Disneyland. I can't wait!! The packing is mostly done (just have to pack the stuff we need to use tomorrow), the cleaning will be done by this evening, and I just have to get to the store for some last minute items. Ah....

March (Movie) Madness

Several movies have made their ways into my mind lately. Here are a few things I've been thinking about:



Tonight First Wives' Club was on. I love this movie. Probably because when it came out I was a non-dating high schooler that was bitter about my situation and loved the companionship of my girl friends. After seeing this movie in the theater, we decided that Annie (Diane Keaton) was most like my friend Mindy, Brenda (Bette Midler) was most like my friend Cindy, and Elise (Goldie Hawn) was most like me. You couldn't get it any better than that. Plus, there was Shelly (Sarah Jessica Parker). "Shelly the Barracuda. She's 12." My name isn't used that much, so when it is, it's kind of fun. Also, Goldie Hawn always makes me think of my friend Tara. Just a movie full of memories and thoughts.

Have you ever seen or read Anne of Green Gables? It's really a good one. In fact, I'd like to read it with the girls. But after reading it for a bit, you kind of get to the point of thinking, "For Heaven's sake, girl. Are you ever going to stop talking?" This is Emma. Perfectly. Completely. You think I talk a lot? You don't know that half of it.

Remember the movie The Beverly Hillbillies? Remember the scene when the family is leaving Arkansas to go to Californy and they have to tie Granny to the top of the car and as they're going down the road a low lying tree branch is coming up. Jethro says, "Watch your head, Granny"? And then the tree knocks Granny tied up to her rocker down onto the road. The kids saw this the other day and cracked up laughing. Well, a few days later Emma was doing her hair in the bathroom with the door closed. Abby opened the door and promptly hit Emma and Emma got upset. In an effort to make her feel better Abby said, "Watch your head, Granny." Emma didn't think it was so funny, but I laughed.

The day before yesterday Matt and Josh were wrestling. Remember in Shanghai Noon when Owen Wilson said, "I may not know karate, but I know ca-razy!"? So, Josh was on his back and Matt came over to him and said, "I may not know crazy, but I know punching!" The last time we saw that movie was a few weeks ago. Good memory, Matt.

Millie has developed a bit of a raspy voice. She was gurgling at me the other day and made me think of Multiplicity. Remember the part when Laura (Andie MacDowell) asks Number 4 what he wants and he says with a bit of a raspy voice, "I want pizza. Give me some pizza." Of course we knew that one of my kids was going to be a bit of Number 4. It's unavoidable.



And not to leave Josh out, we watch Ratatouille every time it is on. Not because the kids love it, but because Josh does. Anyone need an idea of something to buy Josh? This is the perfect gift.

And here's a homemade movie. Sunday Millie is 3 months old! Holy cow, the time is flying!! She's such a joy in our home. It's like she's always been here with us. We all love her so much!

'Fess Up Friday

Okay. Here's my big confession for this week: I almost quit on Monday! Yes, after everything I've begun, all the exercising, all the meal changes, all the talk, I almost consciously didn't exercise on Monday. The old habits have tried to find their way back into my life. I wanted to be lazy and stop--after all, I'm out of the Women's sizes.

But I couldn't let myself do that! Especially since Tuesday was Day 45, halfway through my Power 90. Today is Day 48. I already know I have the temptation of making bad choices next week (we're going to Disneyland, baby!) but I have to keep myself in check then too. I need to watch what I eat and wear my baby when possible. BTW, I'm not planning on blogging while we're gone, so no 'Fess Up Friday next week. Well, I'm not planning it into our vacation. If it happens, it happens. Kind of how I feel about official exercise while we're gone. But until then I need to remain diligent. I'm down another 2 lbs this week, but with little change in my measurements. However, I can see the changes and I'm confident that I'll be happy with myself in another 42 days. I'd be shocked if I were at my target weight by then, but I know I'll be brave enough to post before/after pictures by then. At least I hope. Is that called Near Optimism?

How'd you do this week?

An Award, Two Tags, and A Big REWARD

My friend Celine gave me an award:

The LOVE YA award:“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award"

I've decided to tag my "usuals" (because I love you) but also add a couple of people that probably don't know that I've been following them (Sing with me, "I wear my sunglasses at night...").

1. Carrie

2. Pam

3. Cindy

4. Mindy

5. Tara Dawn

6. Jeri Dawn

7. Kayleen

8. Kidz

Celine also had a tag of fun Get-To-Know-You questions. I thought I'd share and answer them too.

1)What is your blogger name? Shelly

2) When is your birthday? September 16th

3) How long have you been blogging? September 2008

4) Who tagged you? Celine

5 ) Tell me your 5 most favorite body parts : Eyes, mouth, chest, arms, rearview ;)

6) What do you wish most for your birthday? To hit my goal weight

7) What color are your nails now? Natural

8) Any depressing thoughts lately? No depressing thoughts, but yesterday things kept going wrong.

9) What's your next month's plan? On Easter Emma will be baptized. So much more to come about that, I'm sure!

10) At what age did you have your 1st crush? I was probably about five.

11) Did you attend any school reunion after you graduated till now? Both my fifth and tenth.

12) Have you ever passed gas in public and pretended you didn't smell anything? When you're pregnant you have no control over your bodily functions. That's all I'm going to say about that.

13) Are you a clean freak? Please, I wish!

14) Which era do you wish you were born into? I'm glad I was born when I was, but the Victorian era is really fun to play on stage.

15) Are you a vegetarian? Yeah, no.

16) How many pillows do you sleep with at night? One. Two when Josh is home--ha ha.

17) Are you a light sleeper or an I-don't-care-if -there's-a-bomb-here sleeper? I have four children, therefore, a very light sleeper.

18) Do you secretly wear comfortable granny panties when your man is not around? My undies are never a secret.

19) What is your ultimate dream job? To be paid to act would be incredible. Otherwise, motherhood is a pretty good gig.

20) What is it your hubby does that annoys you the most? I plead the fifth (Josh reads my blog).

21) What is your dream car? I don't know anymore. A clean one?

22) Do you easily wake up in the morning? When I have to. If I can sleep in, I will.

23) Do you like hairy men? Oh yeah.

24) How about goateed men? Not so much.

25) Which one would you prefer, 2 hour spa, 2 hour Thai Massage, or a two hour foot massage? A 2 hours spa maybe. Never had one, so I don't know!

26) Have you ever wished you had a different name other than your real name? I'm pretty sure I did. I think I wanted to be Tiffany. This was in the late 80s, early 90s.

27) What is the most extreme sport you have ever done? Probably white water rafting. But then I almost died, so now it's going out into public without a diaper bag.

28) Do you prefer traveling in Europe or Asia? Never been to either, but I always wanted to go to Europe.

29) What is your favorite food? Chocolate

30) What is the most embarrassing moment when you were out on a date? I went on a blind date with a friend and her date. We went bowling. My friend bowled something beyond 100, her date was an amateur bowler, and my date bowled four strikes in a row. I bowled a 32. I suck!

My friend Tara had a tag on her blog. Choose the sixth picture in your sixth folder and tell about it.

This is Abby in 2002. I have no idea what the point of the pic was except to have a picture of my pretty girl. The date on it is two days after my 25th birthday. That means that we had just moved to Alamosa and Josh had started his first semester of full-time college. Man, that was a long time ago.

By the way, I tag anyone that wants to play!

And my big reward for the day was this: Millie laughed for the first time! She started out smiling at me, but as I was cooing at her about her naked bum (I was changing her diaper at the time) she broke out into her first laugh. Oh, it melted my heart.

Top O' The Mornin' To Ya!

I went to Walmart today. As much as I complain about it, it has the lowest prices by far and when you live on a budget, prices matter. Anyway, I was greeted by a very jovial grandpa-man who called out to me, "Top o' the mornin' to ya!" And Happy St Paddy's to you, old grandpa-man!

The kids got some head gear from Josh's mom. Here's how cute they are:

I hope the leprechaun's were nice to you today!

Surrounded by Girls

I don't know that having three sisters is all that catastrophic for Matt. People make comments all the time of, "Oh, you poor boy! Three sisters! Are they nice to you?" Of course they're not nice to him. They're his sisters. It doesn't matter if he had an additional three brothers, his sisters would still give him a hard time.

But, I think that the overwhelming influence of femininity has helped Matt begin to develop more of his feminine side. He has an obsession with being "cute." He can't be handsome or cool. He has to be cute. If something doesn't make him cute, than he doesn't want anything to do with it.

He's also becoming quite a nurturer. I consider Matt to be my "Manny." Who needs a nanny when you can use Matt the Manny? He's the first to attend to Millie's needs. He sings to her, gives her her pacifier, tries to entertain her, and I think he'd change her diaper if I'd let him. I can easily go take a shower and know that Millie will be okay with Matt.

He's also a helpful personal shopper. But first I have to go into a bit of background. It has been a very long time since I've been able to shop in the regular women's section. I've been a big girl for quite a while. If you've never been forced to buy your clothes from the Women's sizes, let me tell you what it's like. Imagine finding a boat-sail sized piece of cloth with a pattern to rival your grandmother's clothes. Drape it around your large bust, and this is a basic experience shopping in the Women's section. (Actually, my grandmother dresses very well, so think stereotypical.) Trying to find tops to wear to acting competitions was a joke. The styles and cuts were not flattering and Extra Larges in stores like Maurice's (that's the only clothing store in Alamosa besides JC Penneys) were still too small for me, or shrunk way too much after the first washing. This is probably why I always got cast as the mother, or the nun. Anyway, last night we went to the store for a few things for our trip and decided to get some shirts. I was actually able to pick shirts out of the regular women's section--not the big girls! I didn't even realize it until after the fact, but I'm still really excited about it. Anyway, it has been a very, very long time since I've been able to easily wear tops that are a bit form fitting and even flattering. Here's where my personal shopper comes in. Matt looks at me and says, "Wow, your boobs look nice!" Mortified? Me too.

I'm not too worried about Matt's uber estrogen environment. After all, his father has many of these same qualities and he's by far the best husband I've ever had. ;o)

'Fess Up Friday

Is it already Friday? I swear this week totally got away from me. I seriously had to have an internal debate over whether it was appropriate to wish Matt's preschool teacher a good weekend. What if it was only Wednesday? But, it is Friday. Time for me to face the music to the rock-opera of my weight loss journey. Too much? Okay, on with it.

This week was so rough! Sunday night through Wednesday night I was dealing with a very fussy, sick baby girl. Oh, the fussing! Wednesday night was the worst. The only way I could calm Millie down was standing up with her in my arms. By midnight I was a bit tired of standing. She finally wiped herself out and stayed asleep until about 1am. Then Emma came up about an hour later and said, "Mother..." That's never a good sign. She'd had a bad dream. Needless to say, I didn't get good workouts in this week. I even missed Wednesday completely. My first miss. Ugh. I didn't want to do that until our vacation. Frustration.

The good thing is that my balance is improving a LOT! I'm so glad. I can actually balance on one leg easily. That's a miracle. My dad will happily tell the story of when I was being tested to see if I could enter kindergarten a year early. I passed every portion of the testing until we got to the physical development. I couldn't keep my balance to hop on one leg. I missed going to kindergarten a year early because I couldn't hop on one leg! Well, look at me now, Superior Montana School Testing! I could kick that test's butt! And it only took me 26 1/2 years to do it, baby!! Thank you Tony Horton and Power 90. I've finally overcome that emotional hurdle. Whew!

How'd you do?

JOYISNOWHERE

Tonight I went to Enrichment Night. Enrichment is an activity for the women at church to come together and be invigorated, or enriched. We were celebrating the birthday of the women's organization at church called Relief Society. The Relief Society was organized in 1842 (I think) to provide relief for others, both temporal and spiritual. It's an incredible organization, and I love being a part of it.

To celebrate Relief Society's birthday, we had a guest speaker named Martha Jones who is a Laughing Yoga Specialist. Everyone was a little nervous about what this yoga was going to be like. I had an idea that it wasn't going to be anything like the Power Yoga I do everyday. No Downward Dogs. What we did was use breathing techniques to prepare us for the different ways we laughed. It was so fun. We had to simulate a call on the phone, not using words, but laughing. We had to argue with people around us only using laughter (so hard!). My favorite was when we had to giggle like little girls telling secrets. I've always loved giggling. This whole thing loudly reminded me that I have a belly laugh. I've also been told that I have a Betty Rubble laugh.

Ah, you've got to love a cartoon with a dubbed in laugh track. Anyway, it was such a fun night. I love getting together with the other women from church and being a part of the Relief Society.

Oh, as for the title of this post. Joy is a matter of perspective. Did you read that as

Joy Is No Where

or

Joy Is Now Here

Something to think about :o)

Everybody Needs a Laughing Place...

...A laughing place to go-o-o!

In about sixteen days the Johnsons are going to Disneyland!! I can't wait! I want to go have some fun right noooooowwwww! We've decided to make this trip all about the kids. We have some really great things planned. We'll do dinner with the main Disney characters in Goofy's Kitchen one night. We've also got a date with the Princesses another day. But don't tell the kids, they don't know about all the extras. In fact, I asked Emma if she thought we might be able to get Mickey ears hats and she said, "They don't make those anymore." Ha, ha! Little does she know!!

I'm really looking forward to seeing the kids' faces for the five days we'll be in the Magic Kingdom. The last time we went Abby was 9 months old and so Emma was 22 months old. The picture above is Emma hugging the only character that didn't make her burst into tears. The silly ol' bear. I know Millie's going to be way young to be out on vacation, but I think it'll still be a great experience for us all. I'm thinking I'll end up carrying Millie around in a Snugli or wrap, so that will most likely supplement the loss of exercise I expect to experience that weekend. We're going in between Josh's stretches at work so he doesn't have to take time off so it will be a long weekend and the kids are going to miss school. If I were them, I'd be LOVING my parents for taking me to Disneyland instead of school.

I'm so mean, though. The kids are earning their spending money by completing all of their chores everyday. They earn a dollar a day. My house is almost clean! It's like a miracle. My house is getting to be the Happiest Place on Earth!

In the Spotlight: Ab-alicious

Abby, 2004

Abby's turn. I'm going to educate you all on the wonder of Ab. I think the easiest way to describe Abby is to tell about the day she was born.

I finally got to the hospital (a story all on its own) and progressed pretty quickly through labor until the final cm. Because I stalled, the doctor put me on pitocin (wretched, horrible stuff) and he went to assist in a c-section. No one thought much of that until about an hour later. I didn't have an epidural, we've already discussed my fear of needles before, so I could feel everything that was happening. Now, up until this point in my life I thought women who had babies in the car on the way to the hospital were just weak and couldn't control themselves. I had it half right.

Abby's birthday, May 21, 2002

Out of pretty much nowhere I told everyone that it was time to push. The nurse went to go get the doctor but he was still assisting the c-section. When the nurse came back in to tell us the doctor would be delayed, I told her that that was too bad because Abby was coming. Everyone began telling me not to push. Here's a little secret about natural childbirth--your body is under the complete control of the little person trying to push herself out of it. Abby has always been a very independent and determined girl. ALWAYS. Here's a dramatization of how the next several minutes happened (I can't remember it verbatim):

Nurse: Hold on. Don't push. The doctor is on his way.

Me: I can feel her. She's coming!!

Nurse: Don't push!

Me: I can't help it!!

Nurse: Just don't push!

Me: I can't help it!! She's coming!!!

Finally the nurse pulled some lone man out of the hallway and dressed him in a gown and shoved some gloves on his hands. I think he was a doctor. His left hand's fingers only made it into the palm of the glove and he was actually holding his fingertips against Abby's head as if that would keep her from popping the rest of the way out. The nurse was trying to get the glove on his right hand a little better than the left in case he needed it to catch Abby. Of course the whole time everyone is shouting at me not to push and I'm shouting right back, "I can't help it!!!" At the very last second my doctor walked through the door and delivered Abby safe and sound.

Abby, 2002

And this explains just about every facet of Abby. She's a great worker and has an excellent sense of humor. She loves horses and anything cowgirl. She's got some awesome pink boots and pink cowgirl hat. She has a smile that can melt your heart.

Abby wanted her own video, so I humored her and this is what she wanted to showcase. Sometimes I just have to smile and say okay.

Rock + SNL = Funny

I may be a little too distracted to complete this post. We'll see. I'm watching Saturday Night Live and it is HILARIOUS!! Oh, except for the toilet part I just saw. Why does there always have to be one part that just goes too far?

Anyway, I love Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock. He's hosting tonight. Yes, I know he's not the greatest thespian to hit the big screen, but he's not the worst. He just always makes me think of Josh. The first time I ever really paid attention to him was his first appearance on SNL and my favorite sketch was when he played "Nicotrel", who was a man who helped you stop smoking.

Of course, the way he did it was to beat the crap out of the man who formerly smoked. It was hilarious and Josh and I just laughed and laughed.

Josh and Dwayne have similar builds. And Josh is an unstoppable comedian on stage.

They're both bigger-than-life presences around others they perform with. I wish you could've seen Josh play Ellard in the play The Foreigner. He was so funny he made one kid pee his pants. I'm so glad I wasn't the house manager yet.

Is it too much of a pun to say that Josh is my Rock?

Tonight's SNL had Dwayne singing and dancing burlesque, almost immediately followed by him playing Barack Obama's Hulk alter-ego. So freaking funny. If you want to watch it, I've got it on DVR. Just stop on by.

'Fess Up Friday

TGIF!! I'm so glad it's Friday for a few reasons. Number One: It's almost Sunday, which is (supposedly) a day of rest. Number Two: My children are cleaning the house tomorrow. Josh is working all weekend, so that's not a factor in the happiness.

Well, today is officially Day 34. Yes, I've been hurting myself for 34 days now. Sometimes I feel good about my progress and some days... The other day I was leaning back in the recliner with Millie on my chest. She was doing the cutest stuff, so I had Josh take a picture of her. When I got to see how the pictures came out I was mortified to see that I resembled Jabba the Hut. Oh, it was gross and very disheartening. The only good thing was that I could call Josh my Princess Leia (is that disturbing, because I think it's funny). Anyway, I have to crop those pictures before I can post them.

I figured that I'd give an overall status of how it's going since I've passed my 30 day mark. I haven't taken another photo of myself yet and I'm very scared to since the Jabba moment, so that may wait. So far, since I bought my scale three weeks ago, I've lost 7.4 lbs. Since February 2, I've lost a total of 11 inches (bust, waist, hips, arms, thighs). I'm making progress, I just wish I could see it as well as the numbers sound. According to the Power 90 testimonials, the first month you see a difference as you begin to lost fat, the second month seems almost a stand still as muscle mass begins to build more, and the third month the weight just slips off. We'll see.

I decided to add a little humor since laughter is so good for you. This is Millie and Matt kickboxing. I've mentioned this before, but here is the visual.

So, let me know. How'd you do? What's working? What hinders? Any and all advice or encouragement is absolutely appreciated! My biggest challenge is the patience thing. Stupid patience!

Christmas Presents Revealed

I totally have to share what Josh and I made for our parents for Christmas this year. I couldn't go any earlier than this because Josh's dad reads our blog and I didn't want to ruin the surprise for him. Well, since we finally got his present out to him last week (just a little late), I can finally show off my husband's incredible skills.

We got the idea from one of the posts at Kidz about how to take your pictures and change them into coloring pages. We thought it might be interesting to do this somehow, but just coloring the pictures wasn't quite enough for a gift for our parents. Josh came up with the incredible idea to transfer the coloring page onto wood so he could burn the picture.

So, we went from this

to this.

Isn't he amazing? I love bragging about how great my husband is, and he keeps giving me stuff to brag about. You can think I'm sappy, but I don't really care (see my previous post if you really want to get into it with me!). Really, I think Josh did great and I can't wait to see what else he can come up with.

By the way, if you want to learn how to make the coloring pages we used (the coloring page is on my old dead laptop, sorry) go here.

Irish Temper

So, I've come to notice that the public schools around here celebrate St Patrick's Day for weeks in advance. It's almost as big a holiday as Christmas, and I guarantee it will be celebrated way more than Easter. So I began thinking about why this is. Tonight I've discovered why.

I am Irish. Not full blooded by any means, but enough to be able to claim it. I have subtle red highlights in my hair and the temper to prove my Irish-ocity. I know it's hard to believe, especially by those of you that I've been close to, but I have a bit of a temper. I know! You're thinking, "You? Shelly? Really?!?" Yes. When I get like this, I hate everyone and everything and I will gladly commit murder. It takes every ounce of control I can possibly muster to not yell at the stupid people all around me. And everyone around me is stupid when I get like this. Not just the people at Walmart--I didn't even go there today, I can only imagine what might have happened there.

Back to my point. The reason St Patrick's Day is so widely celebrated is because if you don't celebrate it, some Irishman is going to frickin' punch in you in the face.

One of the few things that made me laugh today was this Youtube.




I like Charlie. I wish I were as cute as him to get away with biting someone annoying me.

The Rest of the Story

I just found out that Paul Harvey, the legendary voice of radio news, passed away on Saturday. I never really knew anything about Paul Harvey except that I enjoyed listening to him read the news ("Stand by for the news!"). And my favorite was The Rest of the Story. It was always interesting and rarely predictable. I use Smart Balance butter because of him. I know all about the Bose Sound System and the Rennai Tankless Water Heater because of his advertisements.

Mr Harvey was 90 when he passed away. He died less than a year after his wife/producer Lynne. I'm kind of sad about this because I've listened to him since I was a kid. But I'm sure he's happy to be reunited with his wife.

I am not Obsessive; I am not Obsessive; I am not...

Okay, it's that time again. Time for me to admit my, uh, weaknesses. I have issues.

I don't know if it's more of a behavioral problem, I'd have to go dig out Josh's nursing textbooks to see, but I'm pretty sure I have obsessive issues. I tease Tara about our days at Utah State and her need for our alarm clocks to be synchronized, but the truth is, I liked that. Yes, yes, I liked the incessant order. I liked how things lined up just right. Tara got teased about the order her cd's were in. I never did step forward to admit that mine were not only ordered by genre, but also alphabetized within the genre. They still are!!! But this is just a small bit of the obsessive issues that I'm pretty sure I have.

When I get into something, I can't really let go of it. You can tell what I'm into by what I watch on tv. When we wanted to buy a house and began the process, we watched HGTV and DIY Network constantly. I haven't watched them much lately, but spring is coming so I have been indulging in shows like Desperate Landscapes. When I was pregnant I watched the Discovery Health Channel and TLC. My days and nights mostly consisted of A Baby Story, The Baby Diaries, Deliver Me, I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant, 17 Kids and Counting, and anything else about babies and pregnancy. It seems like each pregnancy I end up watching 9 Months at least twice (I love Joan Cusack). Now it's the weight loss thing. I've been watching every showing of The Biggest Loser, both past and current episodes. I'm loving the show Bulging Brides with women that just need to lose a little weight before their weddings. I don't even know what it is that I like about it. Maybe that it's women closer to my own size.

What the heck is wrong with me? Am I the only one that does this? I've been trying to avoid the more violent shows that I usually love like any CSI, and other crime dramas. I had a really violent dream the other night, so I really don't want to get into those shows right now. Anyway, it seems that my obsessive compulsions are giving me a safer tv zone if nothing else.