Just Say Julie

Day 13: Blue There is lots of blue in my house.  Wonder Bug is just one of the many things that has taken over my living room that is bright, bold blue. Day 14: Heart Of course the heart on Jackson's Valentine's bib is the heart I decided to use to represent the day of love.   Day 15: Phone Yes, I used my office phone.  Yes, I suck. Sorry...it was easy and I was still sick.   Day 16: Something New The elephant humidifier for Jackson's room purchased to help my poor baby's sinus issues he so luckily inherited from me and his dad.   Day 17: Time A clock in my living room was that was given to me as a wedding gift (the first time). I love this little clock.   Day 18: Drink My sangria swirl margarita at lunch at La Margarita during a date with my hubby.  We don't get time alone often enough. Day 19: Something You Hate to Do I can't think of any household chore that I really like to do but folding and...

It is no secret to those who have known me for a while that there was a time not that long ago when I didn't want children. I didn't think I had the maternal instinct and I just couldn't see myself with kids. We used to joke in college that I was going to be the favorite "aunt" of my closest friends' children. Ironically, I am the only one of us with a child now. One of the things that worked with my first husband was that he felt the same way about having children as I did. Towards the end of our marriage, my thoughts on the subject were beginning to change and that added to the problems between is. Ultimately, I realized it wasn't that I didn't want kids but that I didn't want them with him. Getting divorced at 30 led me to believe I wouldn't have a chance for motherhood. Chris even told me once that he believed I would be happy whether or not I had a baby but I knew in my heart of hearts I really wanted to experience it. I am glad that cha...

Chris and I aren't big on Valentine's Day so we decided to go the low key route this year.  That ended up being a good thing since Jackson and I were both sick with sinus infections. (What is it with us and sick on the holidays this year?) I walked into the room and Chris had left my gift with Trevor so I added his to bed so we could open them at the same time. I decided to dial in dinner since I felt so bad and opted for the Heart Baker pizza from Papa Murphy's.  We got one of these on our first Valentine's together so I think I am going to make a tradition from now on instead of going out to a fancy dinner.  Mom got Jackson this sweet bib for his first Valentine's Day so I had to make sure I sent him to school in it despite the fact he was a snotty mess. (No fever though.)  Here is Jackson's Valentine's to us.  I just love the tiny footprints at the bottom. And I love that our daycare makes sure to send home something we can keep for years...

Day 6: Dinner  Crunchy Beef Casserole, mixed vegetables, and a Dr. Pepper of course. Day 7: Button The button on J's play mat. This one gets pressed a lot and the music tortures me because I will get it stuck in my head all day long. Day 8: Sun I didn't really see the sun all day since my building has no windows so I opted for something sun related. I did get a good view of the setting sun as I was doing 75 around the flyover to the toll road on my way home from work.   Day 9: Front Door The inside of my front door.  The other side is red, crimson red, of course.  One of the things I loved about this house when I bought it.   Day 10: Self Portrait A typical look from me: bored at work and ready to go home. Day 11: Makes You Happy I was heading to Babies R Us for formula and diapers when I saw this sign for the World Market two doors down.  How could I resist.  Mama needs some wine! Day 12: Inside Your Cl...

I decided to post a quick followup to the Elephant story I posted earlier today.  When I got home, I was able to snap some pictures of Elephant in his current state.   Before Here is what Elephant looked like in happier days before he encountered the rough life of living with Maverick. (This is Elephant the 2nd.)  After Here is what Elephant looks like now.  Such a stark comparison of the life one could lead.

I really think Chris and I are getting the hang of this menu planning thing.  I typically spend some time on either Saturday or Sunday selecting the recipes I'd like to use each week and comparing that to weekly ads for any deals that make help make my decision.  We are also trying to be better about eating our leftovers.  By doing this, we have been able to make most of our meal plans last us two weeks instead of the one they were originally planned for.  This is really helping our grocery budget go down.  I am still getting most of my recipes from Pinterest and we've been pretty pleased with a lot of what we have tried.  Here is a list of the ones we have tried recently: Mexican Casserole : This one was easily a family favorite.  We ate off the casserole two nights and Sean asked for seconds both times.  Even Chris, who doesn't like beans, thought this was great.  I did leave out the onions and we used mild Rotel to save on the spiciness....

When I was preparing to bring Maverick home as a 7 week old puppy, I purchased a couple of stuffed animals for him to play with. I thought Mav would love them and it was cute because Mav would try to get both Bear and Duckie in his mouth at the same time. However, I quickly learned that stuffed toys do not last long with my dog. Bear made it a couple of weeks and we went through 3 Duckies in the first couple of months. Since then, I have avoided giving Maverick stuffed toys because I hated cleaning stuffing up after the dog demolished the insides of the toy. About a year ago, a friend of mine gave me two stuffed elephant dog toys. One for Maverick and one for the yet to be determined baby. I gave Maverick his elephant and he quickly removed the stuffing and the squeaker (I think he hates the squeakers) and I set about the task of cleaning up after him. I was waiting for him to discard the body of Elephant so he could be disposed of properly. Only Maverick wouldn't give up Elepha...

I decided this month it would be easier to post my photo-a-day pictures weekly instead of trying to post them daily. So here is my first stab at weekly posting. Day 1: Your View Today My view every day Monday through Friday. Day 2: Words This is a fortune I got from a Chinese restaurant years ago and I have had it taped to my computer ever since. It's just a great reminder to keep trudging on. Day 3: Hands I took this picture a couple of weeks ago and thought it was perfect for today. Jackson feel asleep holding my hand and I just thought it was the sweetest thing ever. Day 4: Stranger Sitting in the food court at the mall waiting for Chris to bring me my dinner while I fed Jackson in his stroller. There were tons of strangers around. Day 5: 10 AM I didn't get a picture at 10 AM yesterday because I was busy and I forgot so I snagged this screenshot of my phone today instead.

It's February, finally! January was a terrible month in our household.  I should have known it was going to be bad when Jackson woke up with a 102 temperature on Christmas morning.  New Year's Eve was spent nursing him back from the respiratory infection he had had all week. So we started the year with a sick baby and the month of January just went downhill from there. Less than two weeks later Chris and the boys were meeting Clay, Jenny, and me for dinner in South Austin after I got off work. Chris's car broke down on the way there and they barely made it to the restaurant.  Turns out the clutch went out and the the flywheel was cracked so the repairs were only a band aid and the car needed to be replaced.   That led to us spending the next Saturday at the car dealership working out a deal on a new car which required me to get rather huffy with the auto loan department at USAA for giving us conflicting information. We were able to work everything out but it was a ...

It is February now which hopefully means the awfulness of January has passed and 2012 will start to brighten from here.  I have decided to take on a couple of challenges in February because...why not?  The first one is a continuation of last month's photo a day.  I found the list for this month on Fat Mum Slim's website  and, while I wasn't always great at posting my pictures, it was fun taking them.  Here is what we are working with this month: My second challenge for February is going to be the really hard one.   Jenny announced on Twitter at the beginning of this week that she and Kristie had decided not to do any spending on themselves for the entire month of February (it's a short month, right?).  I thought about it and decided I want in because I am trying to tighten our budget a bit anyway and I've already given up buying unneeded makeup for myself.  What's skipping a few more unnecessary purchases?  The first thing I...

Day 23: Something Old I really love my something old but I can't wear it anymore.  My fingers have gotten too fat.  This is a ring that my grandmother passed down to me.  She had the stones from her wedding band and engagement ring made into this ring after my grandfather passed away.  I absolutely love this ring.  It's probably my most treasured possession. Day 24: Guilty Pleasure You all know my love for makeup.  Here are my Sephora and Ulta VIP cards to prove it.  I could spend a small fortune in both of these stores.  Nothing makes me feel better than a fresh makeover.  Day 25: Something You Made So I cheated a bit on something I made. I realized all the stuff I have made in the past is at my parents' house.  I guess I grew out of my craftiness as I got older (or I never had any to begin with). Technically I did make Jackson with a little help from Chris.  I did all the baby baking.  Day 26: Colour ...