Leopard Spots

....at the movies....

You just heard about my new couch. Loving it! To make my fabulous new living room even better, on Monday Netflix introduced streaming video for the Wii. Quite possibly the best news that I have heard all week. 

I got the disc in the mail today and am all started up. Ahh...the simple things in life to turn me into the ultimate couch potato. But seriously. The quality is decent and now I don't have to worry about what is going to ship next or running out to rent something...or paying the ridiculous fees for pay per view. This is fabulous! I love cheap movies!

Also, FCC...this is all me...I just like talking about things that make my life easier. 

 

A Couch Story

A long, long time ago I got married. Oops. But when I got married I bought a couch. It was a cheap couch. But it was a couch. Perhaps because I was on bed rest for a bit when I was pregnant, perhaps because my (soon to be ex) husband didn't take care of things very well. Anyways the couch soon died, was put in storage for a bit, but the (badly) broken couch was donated to charity where I'm sure they threw it out. In step a sectional, it was better but his side of the couch was soon breaking as he spent a lot of time on it. As part of my immediate remodel after he was gone I got rid of the couch. It had to broken apart because it was too big to go back through the house. I cannot lie. There was BLACK MOLD on his side of the couch! Wow! So glad I got rid of it. However, being newly single I didn't have a whole lot of money to replace it, instead I used an old futon my mom had bought at a garage sale for $25. It did it's job but I've always yearned for a grown-up couch again. And let's be honest, that futon just was not comfy! 

This year I've been hit by the remodeling bug. As I've mentioned before we've been pinching some pennies, forgoing major travel to do some remodeling. And the room that I had left? What else, the living room! 

 

Isn't my new couch pretty?!?!

Right now the rule is no eating or drinking on the couch. (Even though secretly I do after the girls' bedtime) 

Just one more thing is left. The living room is in DIRE need of a fresh coat of paint. I picked colors today and am super tempted to paint this weekend, but I'm sill recovering a bit from last weekend's final purge and well, I already have some plans so it will have to wait for a couple of weeks. But then when I'm done I will have an amazing living room! 

Well okay, I still have to replace the carpet...but that's a project I've planned for awhile out...apparently putting in a new floor is slightly labor intensive! 

 

The Final Purge!

I did it y'all. I finally cleaned out the garage! I am finally rid of all of my ex-husband's items, a local charity is going to come and pick up the rest of the items that need to be donated. I found a few items that I have been looking for, for a while...example...I finally have all of my parents' yearbook together (something that is mildly important to me) and they're all green! Way to be original two separate high schools that were 1500 miles apart! 

The other big purge was the house. I have been on work vacation for 9 days and while I've spent most of the days hanging out with the ladies and having fun. We have cleaned the entire house, and we finished today. I own so much less than I did a week ago and it feels so good! This week has been amazing. And now that it's over perhaps I can talk about something besides ridding myself of material items :-) 

I hope everyone else has had a fantastic spring break or will...even if you don't take the spring cleaning literally. 

Happy Easter! 

The Pleasures of Pinching Pennies

The above named article was just in "O" magazine. By Carla Power. 

This piece just spoke to me. Mostly because I have spent a lot of time pinching pennies to travel with the girls over the past year. We've been all over the country and have given up a lot of everyday spending to do that. We don't go out to eat very much anymore, we think of fun things to do around the cities for free. We have so much fun reinventing things it doesn't really feel like we're missing out. Because we're not. 

This year however, we're not traveling. There are a few other things we want to spend money on. A few things we are doing around the house and a doll collection we are very committed too! 

In order to accomplish all of this around the house. We're downsizing. We're done with excess stuff. Since last spring we have been quietly purging massive amounts of items. We've gotten rid of over half their toys (they love donating stuff to charity). They're focusing on only a couple of toy collections right now. I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff in my living room, over half of my clothes and tons of other items. 

Most of the changes are complete around the house. We just have one room left to do. Every time we finish a project, we marvel at how easy we've made our life. How much simpler life is with less stuff and honestly, way more fun. And also, we have a lot more time because we aren't busy managing and cleaning up after all of our stuff! 

I'm excited to continue this. To see if I can pinch a few more pennies. There are a lot more things we want to do and pinching pennies to do these things makes it all the more fun :-)

Your Best Life

I've already started this post a thousand times. A few times in the past hour. A lot in my head. I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't really blogged at all in the past few months. More will come on that later. I'm sure you've noticed a new header. It's missing the kids. Yeah. I'm probably not going to talk about them much anymore. They're older. Aside from their day to day stories. Which are always funny...well, hilarious I just don't want to talk about their lives on this blog. They're older now, and I'm generally an embarrassment to the older one anyways so I'm going to let their lives be their lives. Because honestly, it's really not my business to spread theirs everywhere. 

You've probably also noticed a new header on this blog. Meaning I'm not going to cease blogging. I'm just going to change directions a bit. Yeah, you can't get rid of me that easily! 

Over the past couple of years I've thought a lot about how we get to be who we are. Is it huge life events that define us? Well, perhaps. A culmination of all the everyday things we go through? Sure. Do we ever stop changing? I don't think we do. 

Part of the reason I haven't really blogged since the fall is because I've changed a lot. I've helped my children through a ton. And now, settling in on the other side I can reflect. On the relationships that have been changed forever. On the hurt I've perhaps felt. On the heartbreak that has been had. The pure joy that has coursed through me. The love that I've given and received. 

I'm not sad about anything that has happened. I'm grateful. Because having gone through everything that has happened has made me a different person. A more patient person. A person that can find the positive life experiences in well, just about everything. 

I'm like a better version of me. The core of who I am hasn't changed. It's never going to change. My sarcastic wit is here to stay people. The smiley trio of myself and my daughters well, that's not leaving either. The foundation stays the same, but the windows, the paint, the decorations...sometimes that changes.

So the title of my blog remains the same. Leopard spots. Grow, learn and be silly...but never change your spots.

:-)

Thanks for the Guilt Trip Sun Chips

I like to consider myself an earth loving "greenie." Yes, I've named us. Because let's face it sometimes we're annoying. My canvas bags sitting in my car, my coffee tumblers, well, always tumbling around. 

But I'm going to be honest with you, I'm kind of only half hearted about it. Sometimes I forget about my canvas bags and I don't always bring my tumbler into the 'Bucks. 

Also, I'm that mom...yeah the one whose kids don't get candy too often. We don't have chips in house and they don't even really know what soda is. 

But, I do every once in awhile bring in the chips. Especially the Garden Salsa variety of Sun Chips. So imagine my delight when Sun Chips announced that they would have 100% compostable bags! Now when I indulge (which honestly isn't too often) I can help the environment at the same time! 

So today, I decided I could indulge in some chips and purchased a bag of Garden Salsa Sun Chips. 

Now I'm conflicted. 

So, so very conflicted. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the environment. I even want it to be around for their kids. But I can't stand the CRUNCHING of this environmentally friendly bag. 

OMIGOD!!!!

It's the loudest thing ever. It's like an old lady with her lozenge in the middle of the opera. I want to back hand this bag. Badly. 

But now I feel so bad. If I buy chips, which are also bad for me, I don't think I can buy the Sun Chips brand (anymore). I mean, because of my sanity, which is hanging by a thread most of time anyways. 

So I'll be ingesting more calories (only rarely) in a non-environment friendly bag because I can't stand the CRUNCHING. All this while knowing I could be enjoying slightly healthier chips from a very crunchy yet environment loving bag. 

So yeah, Sun Chips. Thanks for the guilt trip on multiple levels! 

LaPooh, as many of you know, has had a super rough fall. I hope with seasons changing life will get easier for her. I heard this song today and I teared up thinking of my baby girl.

I love you LaPooh!

eff love

I'm still surprised that all of our stories sound the same. 
 

Rihanna is so very strong and she is so eloquent with her answers. 
 

The following is her 20/20 interview. All three parts. It's quite long, but make the time and watch it. 

On costumes and dressing alike...

I do have stories about LaPooh. They're not quite as epic as Stinka's stories though. 

You will also know that LaPooh is dressed as a cat. For Halloween this year I told the girls that they could be anything they wanted to be. However, I would not be buying them a costume. They would have to use their imaginations and their pretty monstrous collection of dress up clothes and past costumes. The ladies had chosen their costumes but within a couple of days of Halloween had both decided that they wanted to be cats. 

This is probably where I should go off on a little side tangent about how they LOVE to dress alike. And this is in NO WAY my doing. Just recently LaPooh said she can't wait for them to be the same size so they could share clothes. I think it will be great as well until they want to wear the same thing on the same day. Yeah, I don't really want to think about how epic that will be! 

However, I only have one cat costume. As odd as it is I just don't have extra cat ears and tails lying around. I know, I know. Very odd indeed. 

I immediately thought of black tight and a black leotard. Very basic. Making cat ears is pretty easy. A headband and construction paper. But a cat tail? This was going to be hard! While out with friends a couple of evenings before Halloween we came up with several ideas to create cat tails (who would ever think that would be a piece of conversation)! 

However Grams came to the rescue and happened across a set of ears and a tail on Halloween morning. So there is LaPooh as a cat. And while the rules were bent slightly (thanks Grams!) I wound up not buying anything and now I have two cat costumes. You know. Just in case!    

 

Stinka's Hallows Eve

 

This is Stinka. She's epic. Everyone knows this. 

If you don't. Well, let me tell you a story...

First of all, a side not on her nickname. Everyone calls her Stinka. And she demands it. She was actually quite disappointed that I insisted she be called be her actual name at preschool. Because as she says, "I want to be your Stinker forever!" Basically, even in actual conversation she is referred to as Stinker, Stinka or Stinky. Now here is a story to illustrate why.

Because it was so cold on Halloween we decided to go to the "World's Largest Indoor Trick or Treat" at Mall of America. We went last year and it was really fun and the girls got a lot of candy (not that they ever eat it all, but the pursuit is great). 

 

However, it seemed that everyone else had the same idea. It was crowded and horrible and not nearly as many stores as last year were giving out candy. After about four stores the girls wanted to go home. We made one more stop (a place I knew they would love but not get candy). Someone asked them to share their candy. Stinka (and her sister) immediately pulled their candy to the side and made a wide circle to avoid her they had to pass again and did the same thing while giving her a weary look! It was quite the scene. 

After we left that place we went home and the girls were then excited to hand out candy. I wasn't paying really close attention to the candy giving as we live in a safe neighborhood and the girls know the routine. What I didn't anticipate was that Stinka would combine the candy that was to be given out and her candy and then ONLY give out her candy rejects! 

Yes, that's right at the precious age of 3 years she has figured out the perfect solution to getting rid of the less than desirable candy! Now she has a bucket full of "good" candy which she has forgotten about. Now how many of thought of that when we were kids? Let alone at three years old! 

This is why I call her my Stinka!