Zombie Shoutout

My little sister, Amy, is very crafty and talented at all sorts of crafty craftiness. She's been embroidering lately, and some of her stuff was just featured on an embroidery blog. Yay, Amy! I'm so proud of you!

What's the big deal?

I've had more than one person tell me I'm brave/crazy for posting my weight online and being so frank about what I've gained and what I'm going to do about it. I don't really understand why people are so embarrassed about their weight. I mean, anyone who knows me and sees me can tell I'm overweight - by a lot. It's not like I look skinny, and then to find out I weigh 190ish pounds is such a shocker for someone. "I had no idea you were fat!" they might say. No, people aren't stupid, if you are fat, they know it, they know you know it, and the number is not something to be ashamed of.

The single mostest cutest thing I have EVER seen

Mary Ann, Mariah - my sister-in-law, and I were talking at dinner tonight about baby squirrels. Mary Ann said you never see them out and about - ever. I realized this is true, but we do have a book here that shows a nest of teeny-tiny hairless baby squirrels. So I said I had seen one, but only in pictures. I just received an e-mail from Mary Ann with a picture of a baby squirrel, one a bit older than the pictures I'd seen. I don't know if I've ever had something make my heart thump and nearly stop beating out of cuteness before, but this about did it.

Random Empowering Thought of the Day

The boys are asleep, Bryce is out working, and I've been cleaning like the Queen was coming to visit tomorrow. But you know what? I'm just NOT going to clean my baseboards. I mean, why? I don't want to. It's not like we're going to be licking them. If a major stain develops, sure, I'll wipe it up. Kid vomit splashes on the baseboards - I am so there with some bleach and an old rag. But other than that, nah. So I'll sweep, I'll mop, I'll wash some dishes and laundry and put it all away. Hell, I may even dust from time to time. But I'm just not going to worry about my baseboards. Not even when I have a party. And I'm not going to feel guilty about it anymore. I'm okay with that.

This may not be much to you...

... but when I see little guys like this, I know there is a God.

Summer Survival

Ewan has a need to entertained constantly. Despite his reading abilities, he is not a child who will go sit quietly and read for an extended period of time. He has never enjoyed playing alone much, and besides wrestling Fynn in great matches that rival WWE Smackdown, he can't find anything to do. I tolerate the wrestling as long as I can, until Corgan is sleeping or my ears start to bleed, but he just won't/can't stop. He just moves constantly at lightning speed. From one end of the house to the other, over and over again. He truly can not even sit still for a short conversation or even to one sentence. And he has become quite belligerent - talking back, telling me no, questioning literally every tiny thing I say. I've taken the kids swimming, let them play out back in the water and mud, play in the sprinklers, taken them to the play area at the mall, and turned on more PBS Kids than should be legally allowed. But he's bored stiff. He really is just too smart for his own good, and I can't keep up with him! Mary Ann has offered to take him some or to watch the other boys while I take him places, but he can't be going somewhere constantly. He won't read, won't play blocks, loses interest in his Transformers very quickly now... I'm at a loss. He blossomed so much while in PreK, and I just can't wait for him to start kindergarten. He really needs that structure, constant learning, and something new every day. It's going to be a long summer. (That's not to say I won't bawl my eyes out when he starts, but, hey - methinks I'll get over it quickly.)

Corgan has two teeth now, yay! And they are the cutest teeth I've ever seen. Fynn is just busy being Fynn, talking in longer sentences every day. Not much else to report besides some cat in the neighborhood is a mourning dove assassin and I am finding their carcasses in the yard several times a week. It's been real swell.

I will go ahead and be quite frank here on my blog - I think it helps me. I've been in major denial about my weight until last week when I stepped on the scale on a whim. The wind was knocked out of me when I saw that I now weigh 194 pounds. I about fell over. With all three pregnancies, I managed to keep my weight right under 200 up until delivery day, so to see myself that close and NOT be about to deliver a baby, it freaked me out. I've cut waaaaaaay down on my Coke habit (love referring to it that way) and my abiding love for Cinnabon Cinnamon Bread. I admit I've fallen off the wagon the last two days, but it won't stop me. I'm doing it this time, by gosh! I even bought some fun exercise DVDs geared to kids and their moms. Should be fun!

'Sup?

I was just about to head to bed, but remembered I wanted to try and post something every day, just to get back into the groove. So read at your own peril, it's really just me trying to fill some space. Things are going well over here at the Taylor household. Bryce and I are finally starting to feel like we are catching up financially due to his second job. So we're breathing a little easier, which is always a good thing. Ewan is already bored senseless since school isn't in session, and some of those interesting behaviors of his that had largely disappeared with pre-K attendance are now back with a mighty vengeance. It's going to be interesting getting through to the new year. Fynn is feisty, feisty, feisty. It's funny to look at your children and see yourself manifested in them. I thought Ewan was exactly like me, with some of his anxieties and behaviors, but I realize that Fynn is also exactly like me in a different way. Just ask my mom - apparently I came out of the womb practically hissing in feistiness. That's Fynn for you - it's me all over again. Corgan is now sitting up on his own, but he absolutely refuses to even attempt a crawl. It's frustrating because the Baby Olympics are in a month, and he's behind in his training.

We've had another pet death, our gerbil, Piper. I really don't know what happened. She was just dead. I feel bad for Sophie, her cage mate, because they were just the best of friends. You can't put another gerbil in with one that is already established, because they'll fight. But they are quite social creatures, so I'm sure she's lonely. Poor thing. You may think I'm totally crazy, but Flex's death bothered me so much that instead of getting my cat fixed as planned - I pimped her back out for another litter. She's starting to get all round on the sides. (Don't tell the animal activists, they'll picket my house.) I just want a kitten that doesn't have to have a territorial fight with Ruby over the house. We've already had two cats abandon us because we brought Ruby home. So this way, they know each other from the beginning! Sorry, I'm just a total cat freak. I may even keep two kittens. Just to make up for the trauma of losing Flex the way we did.

By the way, if you haven't already, got to Primp and Tell to enter our latest giveaway. It's a good one!

Okay, I'm already going to bed an hour later than I promised myself, so auf wiedersehen.

Indecisive Ida

I had put down on my Facebook status that I was shutting Skillywidden down and keeping it as a personal journal. But I don't really want that; I like updating everyone with pictures and stories and tidbits. The problem is that while I was pregnant and tired and hurting nonstop, I just got so burned out, and I haven't shaken that feeling quite yet, but I want to. Because of my lack of updating, the number of people who actually look at my blog has gone down to less than 10. When I very first starting writing a blog, I loved it and felt I was good at it. I want to enjoy it again, and will make more of an effort to get back to where I was before my pregnancy turned me into a shell of my former self. It's funny - my pregnancy with Ewan was mostly okay, but with Fynn and with Corgan - my butt was totally kicked. I used to be an avid gardener, but during my pregnancy with Fynn, I lost all interest and haven't really gotten it back yet. Then with Corgan it was my writing that I fell out of love with - and I haven't gotten it back, either.

Well, whatever the reason, I'm going to make an effort from now. I'm going to try to actually write something every day - not really for the sake of updating, but to get me back into the groove of writing. I do love to write, and always have. So you'll be hearing more from me.

I think.