Can you get a concussion from head butting a toilet?

It's a serious question - can you get a concussion from head butting a toilet?

See...what had had happened was....

I was in a rush to go use the bathroom and get back to the studio - so, I decided to multitask.  While I was um...taking care of business...I also decided to put my hair back in a pony tail.  So, I positioned the hair tie on my wrist, ready to be deployed onto my assembled hair.

Here's where I had a judgement of error.

I forgot that the toilets at work have a much taller flushing mechanism than the ones at home.  So, when I vigorously threw my head back to capture my hair in my hands - I literally reverse head butted the toilet.

Big thud.

Saw stars.

Yelped in pain.

And because of being seated for the um....other task at hand...I couldn't fall to the ground like I wanted to.  I just held on to the rails to steady myself and whimpered.

Now, my ears are ringing and my head hurts. 

Is that what a concussion feels like?  Or I am just hoping for something really bad so that people will be compassionate rather than make fun of me?  (Awww...who am I kidding?  People are going to make fun of me even if it IS a concussion!  I would - if it happened to someone else...but let's face it, stuff like this only happens to me!!)

One big difference between men and women

I am very excited - S and I are getting ready to take our first trip away from the baby.  Nana is going to watch her for the weekend, and we have another couple going with us up to the mountains to rent a cabin.

Today, I was texting with Kim about the trip - and she mentioned some of the food items she is going to bring:  coffee, filters, all the ingredients to make sausage quiche for our first morning there, other breakfast goodies for the other two mornings we are there. We agreed that we would, most likely, go out for the rest of our meals. She's also bringing her cookbook, so we have options if we choose to cook any of our other meals.

Then, I got home, and saw this on the kitchen counter.

When I asked my sweet husband why he had purchased them, he said "They are snacks for this weekend."

That was the full extent of his purchases.

Chips.

For a three day weekend.

And that, my friends, is the difference between men and women.

(Alright, to be fair, S also made reservations for us to go out to eat on Sunday night, and has also mentioned that he just figured we would go out for all of our meals.  I am 1000% sure we won't starve!)

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Do you have a story like this?  What makes you REALLY notice the difference between men and women?  

How I Ruined A Sexy Moment With My Husband

As new parents, my husband and I are trying to navigate this new world and find the balance between being parents and remembering that we are still husband and wife, as well. 

Because I haven't been feeling too secure about how I look, I have asked S to be a little more obvious about his feelings towards me to help bolster my self esteem. Yes, I know it's "self" esteem - but it doesn't hurt to have your husband throw you a compliment!

So, being the good husband that he is, S has been making great attempts for the past several days.  On Sunday night, I got roses (for no reason!), and he's been making sure to give me more hugs and kisses and say nice things.  Truth be told, I have been eating it up! 

Well, last night, without meaning to do so, I ruined one of his well-intentioned attempts to have a "sexy moment". 

I was on my way to the treadmill (gotta stick with those resolutions!), and he stopped me and said "Come here for a minute..." I walked over, and he grabbed a single out of his wallet and attempted to tuck it in to the waistband of my pants. 

That's where the moment got ruined.

I was wearing my maternity stretch pants (I was going to the treadmill - I didn't think I needed to be sexy!), and so when he reached for the waistband, he had to lift my shirt higher and higher and higher.  Finally, I just grabbed the dollar bill and say "Thanks for the try, babe", and we started laughing. 

Sigh....

Maybe next time. 

At least he tried? 

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How have YOU ruined a sexy moment? 

Why I am not mad at the government for my smaller paycheck

Adversity is a comma in our story, not a period.
It is not the end…often, it is the point at which the story really gets good.
After all, cloudless skies make for boring sunsets.
Safe adventures make for boring stories. --Jon Acuff

Often times when I am in a rough spot, I feel "stuck" or like it's going to last forever.  I need to remember the quote above, and that adversity is an opportunity.  As cliche as it might sound, there IS always sunshine after the rain (even when it lasts for 18 days in a row like it has here in Alabama!).  

I have a choice to make:  am I going to stay stuck, or am I going to take some action to get out of my rut?   

For today, I am choosing action.  I am chipping away at my resolutions - a lot of which involve bettering my financial situation.  Each time I find myself with a few extra minutes, I am taking one small step towards furthering my progress on those goals. 

A lot of people were posting today about how frustrated they are about their paychecks getting cut due to the actions (or inaction!) of Congress.  Some people were blaming Obama.  I am frustrated, as well - but it's not like we didn't see this coming.  The fiscal cliff was years in the making - and the responsibility to come up with a coping strategy is up to US, not Congress or the President.  

Instead of posting about my frustrations or engaging in long conversations about why it's all their fault, I am taking a long, hard look at what I can do to better my own situation.  Does it suck?  Absolutely.  Does it help to complain about it?  NO!   

This payroll tax nonsense doesn't have to be as bad as a lot of people want to make it out to be.  This COULD be an awesome opportunity to pursue extra opportunities to make more money.  Who knows?  It might be just the motivation you need to try something you've been putting off for years.  I've always been interested in real estate - and now, I am in the process of getting my license!  

My story is just getting good....

Stay tuned. 

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What have you been putting off trying?  Could this be the comma in your story??

A sure fire fix for the blues

I have been kind of bummin' this week - I think it's a combination of the rain and clouds for the past 10 days, over committing myself, still fighting a cold, and being tired.

However, I have a sure fire cure for the blues...anyone want to borrow her? I am so grateful for her. She makes everything feel ok again...

Progress report on New Years' Resolutions

It's January 10th - and I know it's become kind of a punch line for some people to joke about already "falling off the wagon" on resolutions they made for 2013, but I am trying to stick with all NINE that I made!

So, here goes:

1. Get real estate license - I have an appointment next week to talk to someone about how to pursue this! 

2. Clean out every closet in whole house and attic - and donate/sell everything we don't need!  One box down!  I cleared our DVD drawer - and started in on the bookshelf.  We also put the Christmas stuff up in the attic - and I threw out an entire box of stuff we will never use again! 

3. Run 3 different 5k's - I am in week 2 of Run University - and so far, so good!  Signed up for Dirty Girl Run in March - Race for the Cure in October - need to find one to do mid-year to stay motivated.  Even while being sick this week, I ran - I figured I would STILL be sick whether I ran or not, so I forced myself to get on the treadmill.  Here's to Week Three!

4. Raise $5000 for Komen - Arranged for some publicity for our Chefs for the Cure event, which will hopefully bring in some big bucks this year. 

5. Rework my blog to make it profitable - I wrote more often this week, which is a step in the right direction, and remembered to promote it by posting links on social media.  I have some reading I am going to do this week about what to do next. 

6. Create new profile for ACX and Voice 123 and pursue voice work - I sent an email to find out more about premium membership for Voice 123, but other than that, I couldn't do much because of being sick.  No one wants my voice when I sound like this.

7. Get back down to my wedding weight by my anniversary - I lost 2.8 pounds this week!  37.2 to go!  We had one night where we went a little crazy, fueled by exhaustion and a steroid shot that the doctor gave me to try to beat my cold, it seemed like a great idea to eat our way through the chocolate from S's stocking and the kettle corn that my brother and his wife sent us as part of our Christmas present.  Other than that, I've been pretty good - my friend Alison and I are reporting to each other about our tracking progress, and that helps keep me accountable too. 

8. Beef up our savings account and fully fund our "down payment" fund - We started Diana's college fund this week, and readjusted our retirement contributions.  Now that we have those both in place and our automatic contributions are set to go, we can focus on socking away any extra in savings.  (I also spent some time this week looking online at dream houses, which kept me motivated!)  We went to Costco to do a lot of grocery shopping - hubby's idea! - to start getting our food budget a little more under control.  

9. Drink 64 oz of water a day - done!  This one isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be - I just need to carry a water bottle with me most of the day. 

Drama in my driveway on NYE

For those of you that don't know me too well yet, there were times in my past where I may have overdone it on New Year's Eve with the revelry and rambunctiousness.  However, for the past decade or so, I've settled down quite a bit, and especially since this was our first New Year's Eve with a little one, I kind of expected a quiet night.

No such luck.

Last year, our new neighbors had a full on party, complete with over an hour of setting off fireworks in their backyard and driveway.  This year, since I saw two blue balloons on their mailbox, indicating a recently born baby boy, I thought that they might curb their festivities or eliminate them all together.

No such luck.

We had gone to a friends' house for a short while earlier in the evening - ate some yummy food, got to be a little social, but then, we headed home around 9pm to settle in for the night.  We got the baby to bed around 10pm, and decided to call it a night. 

I ended up sleeping on the couch (my beloved snores a little loudly for me to sleep through), which ended up being fortuitous, considering what unfolded just after midnight.

At the stroke of midnight, much to my dismay, the fireworks began.  It was sporadic, at first, but quickly picked up momentum over the next fifteen minutes.  They were having a good time, and while I was annoyed at being woken up, I recognized that it was New Year's Eve, and I would be a scrooge if I went out and asked them to stop. I hoped it would fizzle out, without incident, pretty quickly. 

No such luck.

At 12:15, I heard one of the fireworks literally fly across our lawn, and smash something glass in our driveway.  I flew off the couch - and stormed out to the driveway to find out what had been damaged.  The first words out of my neighbor's mouth were "Wow, you got out here fast!", followed quickly by many apologies, and a blurry, slurry explanation of how the bottle rocket had "tumped over" and before they could get it set up straight again, it had fired off towards our house and directly into the light fixture, smashing it. 

Realizing the futility of getting mad or attempting to do anything about the situation in the dark, I asked if we could just be done with the fireworks for the night, and said we would talk in the morning.  They agreed, and I thought we were finished for the evening. 

No such luck.

About 5 minutes later, I heard voices in the driveway, and ran to get my husband (who had slept through the first part of the incident).  He decided to go out and survey the scene.  He exited through the garage, and raised the door with the opener.  The scene we found would have been hilarious, if it weren't on our own house:  three slightly intoxicated people, who had apparently removed one of the fixtures from their own house, and were attempting to replace our fixture with theirs...complete with rewiring it, in the dark, while drunk!  Thank goodness that my husband didn't hit the light switch when he opened the garage, or he would have electrocuted them all! 

After a few minutes of supervision/consultation, my husband determined that they had, in fact, wired everything properly, and sent them home.  

So much for starting the year off quietly - instead, we had drama in our very own driveway!  

Gratitude in a doctor's office waiting room

I guess I could be pretty cranky and grumpy, since I am not feeling well, at all. I have a cough that rattles my chest, throat and head - and sinus pressure to beat the band. So, instead of sending out invitations to my pity party, I have decided to use this time to make a gratitude list, in order to turn my frown upside down. (Ew. Yes, I just said that.)


Today, I am grateful for:
- a walk in clinic close to my house, relatively speaking
- remember to put gas in my car the other day, so it wasn't on E when I headed here. It would have sucked to have to pump gas when I feel this gross.
- a husband that works from home, so I could ask him to take over on baby duty when I headed over here.
- am ample supply of entertainment magazines that I actually hadn't read yet.
- health insurance. As flawed and expensive as it may be, it is better to have it than not to have it.
- support from friends when I mentioned I don't feel well.
- sweatpants and hoodies - nothing feels better to wear when I am sick.

Dear God, thanks for all of the stuff I mentioned - and for the many things I didn't. I know I am a pretty lucky girl, overall, and that this is going to be a short term deal. Help me to remember that and to keep perspective on how things could be much, much worse. Thanks. Amen.

Is nine resolutions too many?

Every year, I make a list of New Year's Resolutions, and I am actually relatively good about keeping them.  (Some years better than others!) I feel like it gives me a focus on where to focus my energies, instead of just feeling like I need to change EVERYTHING.  


In 2012, one of my favorite writers/bloggers named Jon Acuff instituted what he called "Finish Year", where he set goals/made resolutions and then, reported his progress each week.  He challenged his readers to do the same, as well. When I thought about doing that, I was inspired - and a little intimidated.  It's scary to put my goals out there (they could be judged!) and to report on my progress (I might fail!).  However, I know that accountability is probably one of my biggest motivating factors - and it's also good to have a set appointment to take stock of my progress to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. 

Without question, my number one priority for 2013 is to be the best mom to Diana and best wife to S that I can possibly be.  That being said, I do want to make sure I am pushing myself in other areas, as well, and I think that by doing that, I become a better person...and better mom and wife. 

So, here goes!  This is my list for this year, in no particular order:


1. Get real estate license - I have been interested in real estate for years and have never done anything about it!  This year, I want to get my license!

2. Clean out every closet in whole house and attic - and donate/sell everything we don't need!  We are planning on buying a new house in the next year or so, and I don't want to move anything single thing we don't need.  When we were opening boxes of Christmas decorations, I found one box with sweaters in it...from before 2002!  That means, I have moved that box of sweaters 6 different times. Never again!

3. Run 3 different 5k's - I have missed running, and to get back in the swing of things, I have already signed up for the Dirty Girl run here in Birmingham in March.  If I want to keep going after that, I will have to another race on the horizon or I will probably slack off again.  Three seems like a manageable number, and while I would LOVE to think I could tackle a half marathon (or even a full!), I want to set goals that I can reach, and especially with having a new baby, this seems more practical!

4. Raise $5000 for Komen - Last year, I raised $2000 on my own for the Race For The Cure in October. This year, I want to crush that.  I also want to find sponsors for another fabulous event that we started last year called Chefs For The Cure.  (FYI, it's on June 20th at The Club, if you want to save the date!) 

5. Rework my blog to make it profitable - I love to write.  That's the whole reason that I created this blog!  I would do it all day for free, but I also know lots of people that use it as a part time job/extra source of income.  I'd like to figure out a way to make that happen. 

6. Create new profile for ACX and Voice 123 and pursue voice work - In the down economy, like everyone else I know, I am trying to figure out ways to make extra money.  One of the things that I have been "meaning to get to" for quite some time is pursuing opportunities to do voiceovers.

7. Get back down to my wedding weight by my anniversary - That means I have just under 40 pounds to lose in 8 months.  A pound of week.  Totally doable and healthy.

8. Beef up our savings account and fully fund our "down payment" fund - I actually have a dollar amount in mind, but I don't want to give S a heart attack by sharing that publicly.  This is the only resolution that I'll have to be kind of vague about each week.   I desperately want to move closer to my work and to S's family.  I love our little neighborhood and our neighbors are awesome - but considering the time of day that I go to work, I'd like to have a shorter commute.  I would also like to be closer to my in-laws.  They are such an important part of our life, and of Diana's now, too.  I never want the physical distance to be a deterrent from spending time together. 

9. Drink 64 oz of water a day - Every single health expert stresses the importance of drinking enough water, not just to lose weight (see #7!), but also for overall health.  Who doesn't want to be healthier? 

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What are YOUR resolutions?  Want to be accountable with me?