Blog everyday in May: Day in the life

This is the part where I tell you how terrible I am at this challenge.

And now that that's out of the way...

A day in the life-Wednesday, May 15. See, at least I was thinking about blogging that day. I should get partial credit.

Wednesdays are for work. I've instituted a pretty amazing sticky note system.

Tick, tock, tick, tock. Emails and widgets and whatnot. I head to Target to scope out the boys shoes and pick up stuff for dinner over my lunch hour. I am just not so nutsy for the footwear options they have for little boys. Am I right? All function, no flash.

Back to work for a quick lunch and then to my cube again. I stand on my mat that I scored from TJ Maxx. It's considerably cushy.

Tick, tock, tick, tock. Emails, phone calls, circling back, synergy. Time to head out and pick up Dexter from the sitter.

Got him.

We head to the yard to play with bubbles from the Easter Bunny. Yes, he is rocking Mardi Gras beads and a dogtag. I told you we like our flash in this household.

Tacos for dinner.

We end our night with a book. Most of the time it's Cat in the Hat. Some of the time it's a lift the flap book where he knows what is under every single flap before he opens it. This is one of those sometimes. "Oh, wow, a scarecrow, good job..."

To bed he goes, to the basement we flee. Catch up on our social media and watch Modern Family. Then Josh and I do our best to ignore time and the idea of the daily grind. We do this by staying up much later than we should. Take that, adulthood. Damn the man, save the empire. You can get partial credit if you know the movie ;) The man will prevail though and cackle with glee come morning when we start all over again.

Blog everyday in May: Pearls of wisdom

Day 8: advice from me to you.

Are you sick of me yet? It's okay to say yes. I'm a bit sick of me too. This blog everyday thing is tough. Not only finding the time but finding the words for each specific topic. It's like the most narcissistic homework assignment ever, said the girl that started a blog about her life.

And now some very obvious advice...

Procrastination has been a very good friend of mine. And you may recall I am quite good at sleeping. This is a terrible combination. Deadly for productivity. It is the reason that I do things like take a nap on a Sunday and then spend my nights after work painting the trim in the living room. Yes, this is happening right now. We are on the second coat. I'm glad we're doing it but I'm quite certain it would have looked just as good had we done it over the weekend.

So advice from me to you-- just do it already. Whatever you're trying to accomplish, just get on with it. No better time than the present and all that jazz. Eventually you'll be able to kick back, relax and blog about it. :)

Also, if you think that piece of advice kinda sucks, here's another gem to consider:

Just say yes. I read this somewhere recently. If you have a knee jerk reaction to say no to something (and I often do), pause, think about why you're going to say no and then try hard to say yes. The idea is that good stories, the really good ones, all start by saying yes. I feel like it's held true for a lot of things in my life--I almost said no to UNI, our dog Suds, our trip to ACL (man, I'm kind of a fun hater ;) )--but it's still a hard one for me to put into practice.

That's all I got, folks. Now I must go drift off to sleep engulfed in paint fumes.

Blog everyday in May: fear

Today's challenge: thing you're most afraid of.

Missing out on seeing how this kid turns out.

Blog everyday in May: blog friends of which I have none

Today I am supposed to write about the awesomeness of one of my blog friends. Funny story about that, I don't have any blog friends. Sure, I read a bunch of blogs but I tend to show up quietly, read your post and make my exit. In short, I'm a creeper.

Anyway, today I will do a shout out to the girl that introduced me to blogs. This girl. Years ago, she started reading Pink is the New Blog. That was the first blog I read. She started a blog and I did too. Because in addition to being a creeper, I'm a copycat. Later on, I ended up getting hooked on a few more blogs she recommended and then joined Google Reader, also upon her recommendation, to help wrangle all those interesting reads.

So here's to you, Jennifer. A real life friend who totally endorses my creepiness.

She's one helluva driver too!

Blog Everyday in May: A quote

So here I am blogging on a Saturday night as part of this challenge. I could've done it earlier today but this rainy and snowy weather had rendered me useless. I was too busy sulking about it. That takes a lot out of a girl so I eventually took a nap too.

Day 4: Favorite quote.

One of the best quotes appeared on my facebook profile back when facebook was the facebook and only college kids were on it. Actually, it might still be on there now. This gem came from Joshie, "You can't beat Lil Jon. You can only hope to contain him". Good one, right?

Not my favorite though. I actually decided that this one is my favorite. So much that I'm hoping that we get one of those subway type signs made with it for our next house.

It's from this song by The Avett Brothers. Could it be anyone else? Nope. And now that I've wandered into Youtube to find that link I will spend the next few hours being sucked down into the rabbit hole.

Also, the image is from here. You type in your quote and it generates a typographic poster for the webs. 

Blog Everyday in May: this is awkward

Day 3: Things that make me uncomfortable.

The word "moist".

Obscenely long distances in high heels. Like a block.

The first time visting a confusing restaurant where you can't tell where to order or where to pay.

Arguments where I am an innocent bystander. Please stop, nervous giggle.

Being uncomfortable. If one of my limbs is trapped underneath something or tangled up in a blanket and I can't get out immediately I freak out.

Salespeople offering to help me. I know it's your job but I'd rather just figure it out myself, says the girl who only buys stripes.

Being mistaken by strangers for another Asian girl they know who might, but most likely does not, look like me.

Which brings me to my next point, people who actually do know me...but who I cannot recognize for the life of me.

Two-year-old tantrums at the store. Please save for the privacy of our own home where I can ignore and not be silently judged by others.

Comedians. I hate watching them wait for a laugh that may not come. I overcompensate by laughing at everything even before they get to the punch line. Best audience member ever.

Blog Everyday in May: How 'bout sleeping?

Today's challenge: educate you on something I know a lot about or that I'm really good at.

The latest activity that has been incorporated into Dexter's bedtime routine is fake sleeping. It started a few weeks ago after his bedtime story. We were all cuddled in our bed and we started to make ridiculously fake snoring noises. This delighted Dexter to no end. He threw himself on the pillows, stuck that thumb in his mouth and started snorting like a pig. Thus, a new game was born. We finish his bedtime story and then he looks at us and says, "How 'bout sleeping?"

I am amazing at sleep. You should know that it took years of practice. When I was a kid I was a nightmare to get up in the morning. I was quite good at ignoring the prodding, cajoling, shaking and yelling.* It eventually came to pass where a spray bottle of water was introduced to my face and that's what broke me.

In college I perfected the art of the nap. Nap after class, nap between class, nap before dinner. It was glorious. And I was excellent at it.

I had no idea that I had been blessed with such a gift until I met Josh. He tosses and turns before bed. I pass the eff out. He wakes up with every tiny noise. Noise, what noise? He can't nap. I'm napping right now.

Dexter was a terrible sleeper at first but my sleep prowess was too great and I overwhelmed him. I say that I let him cry it out but I also think that maybe I am just too awesome at sleeping and the side effect of this was that I didn't hear him crying for very long. Bad mom, admirable sleeper. He eventually came over to the dark side. He has a six hour nap under his belt. He also slept through the night after said nap.

So how 'bout sleeping?



*sincerest apologies to my parents for being so good at sleeping during those years. As a parent of a kid who likes his sleep and hates mornings and needs to get to work on time, I get it. It's not cute. Well, maybe for the first 30 seconds but after that, not cute.

Story by numbers

So I was reading this blog and stumbled upon this Blog Everyday in May challenge. To which for some kooky reason, the girl who shows up here once (and that's being generous) a week decided to say, "Challenge accepted."

The first topic for May Day...the story of my life in 250 words or less.

I have lived in Iowa all my life. My parents are originally from the Philippines and while most islanders tend to stick to the coasts, the Midwest called to them apparently. I was enrolled in kindergarten when I was four, not sure how that happened but it seemed to work itself out. Except for when I was 15 and everyone was driving except me...and then when I was 20 and everyone was drinking (legally), except me. Other than that, yeah, it worked out. I had grand plans from age 7-10 to be an elite gymnast. That did not work out. I was a camp counselor in high school for two summers. I had never actually gone to camp as a kid. After battling cancer for almost three years, my mom passed away three weeks before I left for college. I still don't talk about that much. One of the last decisions she helped me make was which school to go to. She liked UNI. I ended up meeting my husband Josh and making some of the best friends there. Those four years were pretty gosh darn good.  I moved back to Des Moines after graduation. Josh came too. We worked. We got engaged. We bought a house. We got a big dog. We got married. We had a kid. He's two now. I'm turning 30 this year and still get ID'd. I don't like it and am aware that makes me sound like a jerk because who doesn't like to look younger than their age? Answer: me.