Whoa, Baby! Nightmares about Motherhood

I have had a disturbing dream quite a few times now. In my dream, I am working, out with friends, at a function...whatever. Basically, I am out of the house. All of a sudden, I will remember I have a baby who is only a few weeks old. My baby. An actual baby I gave birth to. Horror fills my heart to the brim. I rush off to find my poor, neglected baby at home.

When I pick up the baby, he or she is crying, filthy, and starving. My heart breaks as I give the baby food, a bath, a clean diaper, etc. After I get it all taken care of, though, I try to hide the fact that I completely forgot about the baby.

Is this disturbing, or what? My hubby and I have no children yet and I know this wouldn't happen. Yet every time I wake up from this dream, I feel very apprehensive. Has anyone else had dreams like this but turned out to be a wonderful mother? This is starting to affect my confidence as a potential mother. Crazy, I know, but I can't shake the feeling even now, just thinking about it.

Whoa, Baby! Nightmares about Motherhood

Complaint Free Week

Hey, all. Where do I keep disappearing to? I really don't know. :-) I've just needed time away from the computer lately so whenever I'm not working, I tend to run away from it. I came across a challenge on The Striving Wife blog called the Complaint-Free Week Challenge. And ya know what? I'm going to take it.

I never saw myself as much of a complainer until recently when I started to read books, articles, etc. that brought to light just how much I really do complain. Whether it's in the form of a sarcastic comment, nagging the hubby, making a quip about someone in passing, or just incessantly saying "I'm tired," the complaints are there and they are affecting my attitude and ultimately, my life.

So, bloggy friends, do you think you can get through the week without complaining at all?

Complaint Free Week

Laundry Debacle

Recently, I made some HUGE laundry mistakes. Thinking to myself that the rules of laundry don't apply to me, I tossed my hubby's jeans, white jerseys, and some other darks and whites into the wash. Together. Honestly, it would have been fine except I didn't notice that I put very dirty jeans in there. Hubby had been working on a demolition project with his cousin.

Hubby nags me about mixing colors and whites, but lets it go after a few minutes. Until he pulled his white jerseys out (Cardinals jerseys, I think). He then notices one has dirty spots all over it thanks to the jeans. Oops. The other one is ok, so he starts to put it on. Did I mention these two shirts were his favorites? He starts to button up the jersey when he realizes that not one, not two, but THREE buttons fell off in the wash. Boy, did I hear it then.

I have now realized that the rules of laundry do apply to me. Break them and the washer will cut off your buttons and make you look like a complete tool.

Laundry Debacle

Carpeting porches

Image via Wikipedia

I'm not sure who ever came up with this idea but it is bad, bad, bad. We bought this house nearly two years ago and while it's cute, we want to make some changes to make the house look better. Who doesn't, right? One of the things that must go is the carpet on the concrete porches.

Why for the love of all that is Holy would someone carpet a porch? Especially one that has no roof and is totally exposed to the elements? We get rain, snow, sleet hail, sun, and all that good stuff. The carpet looks...ugh...just icky no matter what we do to it. It's gotta go.

We are going to build a front porch (wooden, of course!) that will extend along much of the front of our house. It will look so much better. If you're thinking about putting carpet on your porch, don't. Just...don't.

Carpeting porches

If You're a Sinner, Don't Read This...

That's what this little booklet in my Grandpa's bathroom said. They had this old coffee can on a shelf in there full of nuts, bolts, odds and ends...and that book. I was just being nosy pilfering through everything (they always hated that) when I happened upon it.

Hmm...If you're a sinner, don't read this. OK, that doesn't mean me. I'm just a kid! Nervously, I read the title one more time then opened it up to the first page where it said something along the lines of, "You're going to hell." It went on to tell me the fiery torment that I was going to endure, forever and ever. Oh my gosh! All because I opened this book?

After sitting in the bathroom crying for a while (Hey, I was 7 or 8!), I came out of the bathroom and confessed to reading the book. I explained that I shouldn't have been going through their things but didn't think that was bad enough to go to hell for. After everyone there laughed their butts off at me (picture aunts, uncles, grandparents, and my parents), they assured me that I was not going to hell for reading it and that the book was only for "bad grownups."

I still had nightmares, though.

If You're a Sinner, Don't Read This...

Small Town Tuesday

Thought I'd share some pictures of our lovely little town every Tuesday. I actually got this idea from another blogger (though forgive me for not remembering who). These photos were taking while we were driving 50 mph with the windows on the truck up (you can see the glare)...so don't judge.

I'll get some better ones later this week for next week's "Small Town Tuesday" segment. Be warned, there will be lots and lots of horses, cows, and barns. That's what we have around here. Love it.

Small Town Tuesday

Winners of the Romano's Macaroni Grill Gift Baskets...

Thanks for SO many entries! I loved reading everyone's responses. It seems most of us have problems when it comes to getting dinner on the table. The three winners are...

• Thomas Johnson
• Undermedicated Mama
• Leslie (LeslieVeg)

I'll be contacting you all via email to get your mailing addresses.

Thanks again for the entries!

Winners of the Romano's Macaroni Grill Gift Baskets...

Romano's Macaroni Grill

**The contest has now ended. Winners will be announced 4/20/09.**



When MyBlogSpark asked me if I wanted to try Romano's Macaroni Grill, I jumped at the chance. I am a girl who loves (LOVES!) her pasta. It's a serious addiction. I received my basket a couple of days ago and in it was a colander, serving spoon, cheese grater, box of the Creamy Basil Parmesan Chicken & Pasta, and coupons to get 3 more free packages the next time I visit my grocery store. Sounds yummo.

Earlier today, I decided to make this for lunch. I expected it to be like most box pastas, but it is much better. Inside the box you get linguine pasta, grated parmesan and romano cheese blend, basil and cheese seasoning, creamy sauce, and sun dried tomatoes. The ingredients seemed to be of a much higher quality than most boxed pastas. After about 20 minutes of a delicious smelling kitchen, it was finally done. I still have to get hubby to try it when he gets home later but as for me, I really enjoyed it. It tasted more like something I could buy in a restaurant rather than something I whipped up in 20 minutes.

Next time I'll definitely follow the quick "cooking tip" on the box and buy already cut up chicken breasts. Touching and cutting chicken weirds me out anyway.

You can win a basket just like this...

Just leave me a comment telling me what your biggest struggle is when preparing a family meal. Three baskets will be given away, selected randomly from the entries. The deadline is midnight EST on Sunday, April 19th. Please answer the question...an entry that just says "thanks" or something similar will not be counted.

Romano's Macaroni Grill

Are You Doing What You Love or...

Just paying the bills?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I have a great job, no complaints about that, I just want to do more. I want to write. Well, technically, I have started writing (surprise to my friends who didn't know that), but I have to do more before I officially think of myself as a "writer." Hubby works in social work and while he enjoys working with the kids and can see the potential in them, he loathes working with the adults because they almost never change. He's not doing something he enjoys. He also has a job doing construction, which is something he would enjoy as a hobby or in doing his own home improvement projects, but again, isn't something that he wants to do forever.

I'm now 27 and he's 28. We have a plan to pay off our debts in the next two years so that we can have children (and more financial security) after that. There are some other changes that we'd like to make, too. I'd like to start writing more and he has actually always wanted a job in law enforcement. Of course, law enforcement doesn't pay very well. In order to do this (career changes and all), we have to be responsible and take care of the bills first. A slow transition, I suppose. I think I'll always have other side projects, too, because I like variety. I also can't imagine leaving the company I work for - I don't want to. They've been wonderful. I need to find a balance, then, of doing that in addition to working more towards the career I want. I know that I need to do it soon, which is why I've been working on it now. I'm sure it would be much harder to make these sorts of decisions when we have kids because it's harder to make those sacrifices (giving up a stable income, changing careers, going back for my Master's) when you have your children to think about, too.

Inspire me. My friend Tammy recently quit her office job to start working her at home job full time. I thought that was pretty ballsy and really admire her for it. I hope you aren't still having nightmares about them trying to make you work, Tammy!

Are you doing something you love...or at least something you're good at and enjoy? Do you consider yourself to have a career or is it just a job to you? Is there such a thing really as people loving what they do?

Are You Doing What You Love or...

What's Your Taste in Furniture

When I look at furniture, I try to take into account the style of our home and our personal tastes, too. I tend to like modern country while my hubby likes rustic country. In keeping with those themes, I think I have found the perfect office desk in a rustic furniture style at Scenic Furniture. It's the walnut 3 drawer corner desk and it is gorgeous. I think I could get really creative with my writing at a desk like that. ;-) It reminds me of my childhood when we lived in a log home. Of course, I'd have to find some matching bookshelves, too. I can never have too many of those. What would your dream desk look like?

What's Your Taste in Furniture