Mr. Chefstachio!

Using the random number generator I combined the entries on Facebook and the entries on here in order of the time they were entered. The winner is commenter 3 which ends up being Wendy Grimm! Congrats Grimmslee, Mr. Chefstachio will look fantastic in your kitchen!!

Another 3 bit the dust.......

Yep, 3.3 more down! I can't tell you how good that feels. I think it feels good because I'm not killing myself right now. Typically when I start to diet I go full bore and that has obviously gotten me no where but fatter. So, to ease into things feel nice and so far I am still seeing the rewards!

Let's talk about rewards. I'm someone that typically gets what I want. I don't mean that in a spoiled brat kind of way, I just mean that when I'm out if I find something cute that I like I get it. If I decide that my toes don't look pretty enough I go and have them painted, if my hair is showing roots....well you can tell how this story is going. Basically to sum things up, I'm fat in my spending and I'm fat in my eating. I've decided that it's time to pair these two pieces together and not just let my self throw out the money whenever I feel like it.

Instead I will give myself rewards. When I lose 10lbs, I will get a pedicure. When I lose 20lbs, I will get a massage. When I lose 50lbs, I can get some new clothes and so on and so on. That means, that from this point on....no spending on me until some goals are reached. I haven't set all the goals yet, only the first 50lbs. The one thing I will continue to do is my hair. I know now that after not having it done for a LONG time it makes me feel good and I don't want to give that up.

Thank you for all the support you have given me so far. I have been blown away by the comments I have received and am sorry that I have not addressed each one separately! It is so nice to know that while I put myself all out there, you all have given me the warm virtual hug I needed to know that it's all O.K.

Thrifty Adventures

I knew this week for Thrifty Adventures that I wanted to give something a makeover. The trick was finding that something. When I go to thrift stores I commonly will find something that I like but will be to hesitant to buy it. So I'll play a little game with myself and leave it there. If when I'm done looking through the store I go back and it's still there I'll snatch it up. There are many times that the item is gone, there are others where I get back to the item and STILL don't buy it only to go home later and wish I had.

I made a trip to Thrift Town on Stockton Blvd this week and there was an item that has been there for over a month. The first time I saw this chef I couldn't figure out if I liked it or if it was the ugliest thing I'd ever seen. Could the fact that it had been over a month and it was still there be telling me something? I decided to throw caution to the wind and buy the $3 item so I could give it a make over.

There is a trend right now with finding items and giving them a coat of spray paint. It's simple, cheap and can completely transform something. Tom and Jaymi of JaymiPop do it best with their love of pink spray paint. I wanted to give it a try myself, only I went with bright yellow.

Here is the finished product... I think it came out fun and funky! What do you think? I thought I'd make this even funner and give this guy away! If you like him and want him in your kitchen leave a comment on this blog or Facebook and I'll draw a winner on Monday. I'll even include a couple spatulas!

Where did your thrifty adventures take you this week? Be sure to check Katie Jean to find out what adventures she had this week!

Why the change?

I'm having a little issue with baby clothing right now so lucky you gets to read a bit of a rant post. Leyton is 8 months old, he fits in 12 month clothing. I have no problem with that because he is a big boy and I find sizing in baby clothes to be a bit of a farce anyway. The problem I have is that 12 month clothing is so different from 9 month.

Footie pajamas have been replaced by pj's that don't have feet. I mean, what 12 month old needs warm feet? In addition, just finding pj's that are one piece is a challenge now. Everything is a top and a bottom. This means that I find my child in the morning with his top wedged up in his armpits while his tummy is exposed and chilly.

Onesies are also a thing of the past, now it's tops and bottoms in his daytime clothes. Oh, and don't even think about finding pants with snaps in the crotch because you see...apparently 12 month olds don't wear diapers so there is no reason to make a diaper easy to access.

Seriously, I feel like 12 month old clothing is made in the style of a toddler. Unfortunately I still have a baby and while I don't mind that he's getting bigger...I just want my 9 month old clothing back.

Lab Rat

I took my little lab rat in for another study at the UC Davis Infant Cognition Lab. We pretty much get invites every two months and I feel it is worth it to help them out and get a certificate and toy in exchange.

The studies have been pretty much the same each time. Leyton watches a tv screen and they observe how he notices changes. On this trip they put a headband on him with a sensor that detected where his eye was focusing. They showed the results and I found it so interesting. If there was one item on the screen he would always focus on that item, even if it flashed and moved around the screen. On the other hand, if there were multiple items on the screen he would only focus on the item in the bottom right corner. I think that's fascinating!

3 down 90+ to go!

When I decided to rework how I was living my life I knew that I was not going to make the changes overnight. I've done that before. Full steam and tons of motivation leaving every bad habit in the dust as I trailed ahead. Somehow on those trails I would always get lost. So, this week was about figuring stuff out and getting "warmed up." I set up my Wii, I checked out some of the new Wii Fit Plus options so I could create a good workout. I got a new stroller for Leyton. I joined Weight Watchers and spent time figuring out how their new Points Plus works. I didn't count calories, I didn't track points, I didn't worry. What I did do was try to be more aware. I spent the week trying to make smarter choices. I tried to drink more water. I basically tried getting my toes wet. In that process I lost 3lbs....not too shabby. Most importantly, I feel good about it. I'm not worried about how long it's going to take me, I'm not over thinking things or punishing myself....I'm just going with the flow.

My goal this next week is to start tracking my WW points. I downloaded the application for my iPod and that will make it easy to take the program with me. If I can get a couple work outs in as well that would be good. If I only get my normal walks in, well that is ok too. So, I'll check back in with you next Monday and let you know how the next week goes. I also want to spend a little time talking about motivation and rewards. See you next week!

Cleaning House

I have spent the past few evenings cleaning around the house. It started with a drawer, and then a closet and then a cabinet and now I can't seem to stop. Maybe it's the gorgeous weather, maybe I'm just tired of clutter. Either way I'm fired up to get rid of stuff.

One of the big projects was organizing our file cabinet. The funnest file in this cabinet is typically the "personal" file. It's where various items and papers go when they don't have anywhere else to go. Inside this file I found this bracelet.At first I didn't think anything of it. I mean, I've been in the hospital a zillion times and so it could be one of many. Then I noticed it is my maiden name. Then I noticed the date. At that point I knew immediately what this was from.

On July 19, 1986 I dove into a pool and hit my head on the bottom, ending up with a broken neck. I was 10 1/2 years old and it officially ruined the rest of my summer. I've always been a bit accident prone and part of the reason I swam was because it seemed so safe. Of course this was also back when you dove off a platform that was a little over 2 feet off the ground into a pool that was only 3.5 feet deep to begin with. The biggest memories that I have of this event are that I couldn't feel my legs for a while and yet walked myself to the edge of the pool, I remember hold my head by my chin as if to think I would crumble like a rag doll if I let go, I remember getting frustrated by how many times I was asked what my name/date/age/etc was. Finally, I remember a little girl leaning over me while I lay on a back board with a big brace on and saying, "Is she dead?"

Little Drummer Boy

Leyton got some new blocks and immediately wanted to only play with the long tubes. I found him drumming away and just couldn't resist making this video. Enjoy!

Thrifty Adventures

Another favorite item to look for when I go to thrift stores is vinyl. Remember those? Think a cd only larger for you young folk out there. The hubby has a nice vinyl collection and the first Christmas we were together I was trying to impress him and got him a really nice record player. Apparently it worked because he married me! Sometimes I look for albums for him, sometimes for myself and now that Leyton is around I've been looking for him too.

On my last thrift store trip the albums were half off so I got both of these for $1 each at Goodwill! I scored a Blondie album for myself because sometimes you just have to dance around while you are cleaning the house to Blondie. I also got a Sesame Street album for Leyton which I can't wait to play while I sing along to him!

What did you find this week? Be sure to check Katie Jean to see where her Thrifty Adventure took her and don't forget to grab a button!

Dreams do come true!

Seriously people, do you have any idea how amazing last night was?! Oh my goodness. We got to LA so we could attend the A Night of Hope benefit for SMA and checked into our hotel at The Figueroa. This place was fantastic! We quickly did a wardrobe change and hoofed it to the J Lounge where the event was taking place. Right away I spotted Angela and Alex of The Damnwells and Morgan of The818. I held my composure, said my hellos and then quickly went full dork and gave everyone a big hug! I probably could have kissed them all so at least I kept some of my emotion in, until I later gushed about Ryan Reynolds and wood chopping but that is another story for another day.

When this all started falling into place I knew that it was going to be an amazing adventure. Then I met Angela and Alex who are just about the most adorable couple I have ever met. Nice, charming and super funny. Throw their talent in there and you want nothing more than to just hang out and talk.

When they went up to perform I scrambled to try and get my little video recorder set up and waited until the next song. I started recording and suddenly Angela walked away and left Alex there with just his guitar. In my heart I was hoping that by some miracle he would sing "I Will Keep the Bad Things From You." Well my friends, he did. He sang it for Kate, Getty and I. I stood off to the side lines balling my eyes out. I told you I would need waterproof mascara.

The performance was amazing, the night was amazing. To have a musician that you admire and a song that you are absolutely in love with dedicated to you? It just doesn't get any better than that. It is one of my top three moments of all time, trumped only by marrying the hubby and having Leyton.

The album "Sweet Water Child - Lullabies for Getty" will be coming out soon and you know that I will be giving you all a heads up as soon as that is about to happen. I also hope that we spread the word of this album like wildfire and take over the only blogging and twitter world with the buzz.

Thank you so much Alex, Angela and Morgan. I am a better person having spent last evening with you. You made this little girls dream come true.

I have a dream....

Today is Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, today is also my birthday. For the sake of today's post, we are going to call this my re-birth day. I've mentioned that some changes were coming for me in 2011. I didn't want to make any resolutions on New Years because resolutions are almost always made to be broken. Instead I wanted to give it a little more time, think out a plan and it just seemed to be perfect timing with a birthday.

So, here is the big secret people.....I'm fat. In fact, I'm not just fat...I'm obese. Well, now that feels a whole lot better doesn't it? No, not really but let's charge ahead.

I didn't always used to be this way. For most of my life, from the time I hit 5'10"...which was roughly around the 8th grade, I weighed 150lbs give or take. Sometime around 22, when I stopped swimming I crept up to about 190. Oh man was I scared. 10 lbs way from 200lbs? So, I started working out. I swam 2 days a week and did water aerobics 2 days a week. Then I joined Weight Watchers and the pounds just melted away....until I was 137lbs. Yikes, I know.

It was a great plan, but I wasn't doing it the best way. I was doing it the fastest way. I was also assuming my body could keep up with me and I could just go on like that forever. Then my shoulder went out and I had my first surgery, and weight crept back on. It took a long time and didn't happen all at once but soon enough, there I was creeping towards 200lbs again. Only this time I started playing the diet game. The popular game of I'll start tomorrow, so today I'm going to have everything I want. Then, I had another surgery.

I continued playing the yo yo dieting game until I got pregnant when I decided "fuck it." I wasn't going to eat everything I wanted, but I wasn't going to worry about it either. Well, I got so sick that I lost a ton of weight and when all was said and done I walked out of the hospital with a baby and a body that was 10lbs lighter than when I got pregnant. It felt great and so what did I do to celebrate....I ate!

Now, here I sit. I have a son that I want to be healthy for. I have a husband that I want to be sexy for. Lord knows that right now I'm not either of those two. In fact, want to know where I really stand right now?There you have it people. The big secret. I blew right past that 200lb mark and now sit at 264. Wow, it's out there....the scary weight. Do you know I spent my entire pregnancy making my husband wait in the lobby while I got weighed in because I just didn't want him to know how much I weighed? How sad is that? I'm not sure why I felt like the secret needed to be told now. Maybe to motivate me more? Maybe so if there are others out there reading this they will relate and know they are not alone.

So, now the bigger question is what am I going to do about it? Well I'm going to create a get healthy routine based on being a mommy. The easiest excuse is that it is too hard to go to the gym, too hard to go to Weight Watchers meetings. I've decided to start by cutting out the excuses. I'm joining Weight Watchers again because I do feel like it is the best program out there, but I'm going to do it all online. Who needs a meeting when I just told over 500 people how much I weigh? I'm also going to use the Wii and walks with Leyton as my primary exercise. Each Monday I will check in and give you an update. I'll let you know what I did, I'll let you know what I loved, what I hated and all the mistakes I made along the way. I'll also let you know my weight each week. If you are feeling up to it, join along with me.

My primary motivation for all of this is my family. I don't want to be an embarrassment, I don't want to end up sick. I am 35 today and I want to have at the very least 35 more wonderful years....although I'm shooting for a lot more. Thanks for coming along on this ride with me while I go from Wii Fat to Wii Fit!!

Leyton at 8 Months

Leyton turned 8 months old on the 14th. It's amazing how big this kid is getting. I'm going to have to weigh him soon, when I carry him I feel like I'm holding a couple squirming bowling balls. Leyton is a total chatterbox right now and does the most hysterical fake sounding laughter. He's up on his knees and trying to figure out crawling. He went from the tummy to sitting up the other day, but can't seem to figure out how to do it twice. We still have two teeth, but a stuffy nose is telling me maybe there is more coming! Oh lord help us.

My favorite cake!

This evening we had our final hoorah in Olympia! We got together at Mike and Lisa's GORGEOUS new home for some burgers and family time. After dinner and a trip to the ladies room I came out to a complete surprise....my most favorite cake in the whole world! My bday isn't until Monday but they wanted to have a little celebration and got a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake with mint chip. Oh lordy I was in heaven!We go home tomorrow and I'm going to miss all these folks so much it will hurt for a couple days. Thank you for such a wonderful time and for flying us up there for a week of wonderful!

Thrifty Adventures

Right now I'm in Washington so the thrift outings had a specific purpose. While I definitely looked around for cute items, my mission was to find some of the comforts of home for my wee beast. Since everything was new I wanted to find him a couple things that we weren't able to pack that would bring home to vacation. Of course, I had to find "Goodnight Moon" and scored another great hard cover edition for 50 cents. What I really needed though was some entertainment. Something I could put Leyton in where he could entertain himself for a bit. I knew, I needed to find a Johnny Jumper. Luckily I scored one in the first place I looked, Small Threads in Issaquah! These sell new for $25 and I scored it for $9 in perfect condition. This leads to the video you are about to watch. My son has decided that bouncing isn't good enough, instead he wants to get dizzy.



He learned to wind himself up and then lift his feet. It makes me nervous though so I've only let him do it twice, once while we figured out what he was doing and twice to video it. Unfortunately this means...no more Johnny Jumper! Oh well, sometimes with thrifting you win some and you lose some. Part of me thinks this video was worth the $9 spent though!

What did you find this week?
*Having issues with the linky tool! I promise we'll have this up and running correctly next week!!

Jump Jump Jump

Today Leyton had a good old time hanging out with the kids from his Aunt Lorrie's daycare. He spent some time in his jumper and the kids had to join in the fun with him. I mean, what fun would it be jumping alone??

Always good times!

A trip to Washington and some time with the Weaver kids is always sure to provide some entertainment. Last night I got a sweaty work out while playing a dancing game on the Wii. I'm happy to say that I kicked butt dancing to Step by Step from New Kids on the Block.

We took a trip to the outlets and my niece Carey and I got Dea a couple new items so she could look tres chic at school today. Then the evening winded down with Dea doing some of her homework....the coloring of the uterus and the infamous question, "I wonder what color my uterus should be?"I personally think it went well with her tie dyed shirt and polka dot pants. I think Hayden was just trying to figure out what the heck a uterus was. Our motto of the night was "No uterus, no you!"

Frequent Flyer

Today Leyton went on his first airplane trip! After a lengthy plan to surprise the hubby's twin sister for their 40th bday celebration we made it to Washington and pulled the surprise off without a hitch.

Leyton was SOOOO good on the plane! He fell asleep before take off and woke up about 30 minutes later. At that point he just chatted, looked around and had a good old time. He even earned his first wings!!

Good Cowboy vs. Bad Cowboy

Tonight the hubby was playing around with his cowboy hat and of course, it had to go on Leyton. We were trying to get a shot where you could see the top portion of the hat and ended up with two pictures that with a little tweaking and putting side by side give the ultimate good vs. bad cowboy. If the hat in the bad cowboy shot was black it would be even more perfect!Damn having kids is fun!

Thrifty Link Party!!

Before I had Leyton and even was thinking about having a baby I was always drawn to the kids stuff at thrift stores and garage sales. I've always been a fan of the old Fisher Price toys and would snatch them up whenever I found them in good shape. Now that I do have a kiddo it is even more fun looking through this section to find items that are perfect for him.

At just shy of 8 months it is already very obvious that "Goodnight Moon" is his favorite book. Of all the books I read it is the one that he pays the closest attention to and from the moment that "In the great green room" comes out of my mouth he is all smiles. Needless to say I was super excited to find these two items on my thrifting adventure at Goodwill on Hurley and Fulton!I spotted the game first. With games, if you are hoping to play them, it is important to make sure that all of the pieces are there. Many times it will tell you inside what is supposed to be there and lucky for me, this game was intact and cost me $1.99. I was even more excited when I ventured over to the kids books and found "Goodnight Moon" in Korean! I think it will be fun to show Leyton the differences between different languages and how we write. The book was $1.49. Such great stuff for just $3.48!

I'm going to make sure that with each Thursday posting I tell you where I found the items and how much they cost. For you locals it might give you some good thrift stores that you aren't already going to and I think it's fun to see the value of thrifted items! Thanks for joining my party today and hope you have something cool to link up!

Thrifty Link Party!!

If you are going to talk about thrifting, and team up with someone to have a party to promote it...there is none better than Katie Jean! Katie and I started talking last year, which seems so long ago when you say that, about hosting a thrift link party on our blogs. I'm happy to say...it's finally time to get this link party started!! Here are our party plans

1. Every Thursday on our blogs we will be posting our thrifty find of the week. Sometimes we might even be giving our finds a face lift and making them something new!

2. You are invited to join us and link back here with a picture of your treasure and a link back to your blog sharing what you love about your find.

3. We will be sharing some of our favorites from your submissions each week so check back on our blogs and see if you were featured!

You will see on my sidebar two buttons. One is for the link party, so grab away, tell your friends, post on your blog and let's get this party started! The second button is for those of you that get featured to post letting the world know we love what you have to share! It wouldn't be a party without you so come and join our adventures tomorrow!!

Night of Hope

The blogging world is a very crazy place I tell you and it all came full circle for me in the most amazing way recently. In fact, if this is the biggest thing that comes out of this blog then my friends it was a true success and I have been soo happy to share it with you! You may remember back when I did my 30 days of me that I mentioned in a post what my favorite song was. It was hard to pick the song "I Will Keep The Bad Things From You" but the more I thought about this song by The Damnwells the more I realized it was a song I could listen to for eternity. It was a song I wish was written about me. Just a few short weeks later Morgan from the818 wrote a post about having Alex and Ang over for dinner. I've read Morgan's blog for a while now and reading that she was friends with The Damnwells made me fall over in my chair. I just had to comment and tell her about the coincidence, and boy am I glad I did!!

I'm so happy to announce that because of this there will be an album released soon, Lullabies for Getty by none other than Alex and Angela. Monies raised from sales of this album will go to both The Storm family and Sophia's Cure. As if this news wasn't great enough, through a series of more events they will now be performing at a benefit event in LA called A Night of Hope. To make it better, I will be in attendance with Kate. I mean seriously people, does this shit really happen? If this is just a total normal occurrence maybe tomorrow I will post all my favorite things and just try to knock them all off the list.

In all seriousness, what Alex and Angela are doing is above and beyond normal. The generosity of these too, and we also have the mention the amazing Morgan....I mean I am just breathless every day.

Of course, I hope you get involved in this also! If you are in the LA area or are feeling like getting away then please consider attending A Night of Hope. All money is going to Sophia's Cure which goes directly into research into a cure for SMA! If you can't help now then hang tight and we'll have more information about purchasing the album very soon!!

365 Days

I decided to participate in the 365 Project and take a picture of my life each day. Thought it would be another great way to chronicle things that are going on and of course my little guy since I'm sure a ton of the photos will be of him. Here's to a year of taking pictures! You can follow me here or participate yourself! The nice thing is....you don't even have to start on the 1st. Make any day your first day!