Dr. Phil style-It's time to get real!

I'm 5 weeks and 4 days post-partum. I had my 6 week post-partum check up today. I had to schedule early to take advantage of the babysitters we have in town. But more on that later!

Dear Mid-section,
It has been 5 weeks and 4 days since you were released from the stretching you endured from Miss Parker Lou! I'd really appreciate it, if you didn't hang over my jeans or cause a pouch-like look in my shirts. I realize the 8 cookies I've been eating daily is probably not helping, but don't worry Grandma Loretta has run out of cookie dough so she won't be baking anymore. I also realize I have not made it to the gym since Parker, but I am NOT quite ready to rekindle that relationship.

What gives? I believe you were not this stretchy or jelly-like after Lane, in fact, you toned up just nicely. Please let me know if you have any plans on shaping up soon. At least I don't have to wear a swimming suit for 6 months. Is that enough time?

P.S. The last 8 pounds that are hanging around...mostly over the waistline of my pants...can take a hike too!

Love,
Angela, wife of one, mother of two plus a dog, publisher of newsletter, sister, daughter, friend (can't you see with all of these titles I really don't have time for you or your flabby-like state!) Thanks!

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He's listening

No matter how much crap your husband gives you for buying "organic." Apparently something is working...

He ran out to run errands one Saturday morning and took Lane. I had been up a lot of the night so he wanted to let me sleep a little. They got dressed and headed out before 8 o'clock. I'm pretty sure a Dunkin' Donuts trip followed by a Target trip and then a run to Old Navy occurred. I was told he remembered we needed milk (that in and of itself is amazing!) and when I opened the fridge this is what I saw:



Good job honey! Skim and whole and organic...wow! No matter how much of a hard time you give me, I know how you really feel! Besides, Mr. turkey sandwich-with yogurt-Sun chips-an apple-carrot sticks-and a granola bar for lunch every.single.day. you cared about healthy eating loooong before I did! I only learned from the best. ;-)

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Amos

On Luke and Ali's last night with us in Greenville, we got a babysitter and went to see Amos Lee. He was playing at a bar up the street from us. And even though it was up the street, we still drove because up the street is a giant hill and while I love it to start and end a workout, I don't so much love it to start and end a night out! The venue was amazing...very small and intimate. It felt like we were in someone's basement watching him play and because it was so small we were right near the front.

Awesome!
One of my favs...but who am I kidding, I loved every song. This one in particular reminds me of my Sweet Pea...Lane David.
(It's long, but my brother was recording and had to get the "jam session" in the middle...)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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The Scene around here...

Yes, it's that time of year again. Definitely bigger than the Super Bowl or any other type of championship, in our house at least. The NCAA tournament. My husband L.O.V.E.S college basketball so this time of year is like his Christmas. In fact, a friend of ours from Peoria comes down to Greenville and they spend 4 days doing nothing but watching basketball. Matt takes off 2 days to sit in front of the T.V. This has been the tradition and I must admit, I kinda like it!

Brackets laying around (Our highlighting system-Orange=over Green=good, engineering degrees at their finest!) (Don't worry, we have spreadsheets in there. C'mon, Matt never does anything without making a spreadsheet...from buying a house to choosing a place for dinner :-)

Laptops available to get up-to-the-minute scores and highlights

Buckets of beer on ice

The unmistakable sound of the Illini bottle opener, playing the Fight Song, as one of the guys cracks open another beer, platters that once housed cheese and lunchmeats for sandwiches, trays full of dip, the never ending chip bowl...

Homemade pizzas to keep hungry bellies happy

Yells of delight,


yells of disappointment

Yells from the mama to NOT WAKE the sleeping baby (That ones new this year)
Whistles, shoes on the basketball court, swishes in the hoop, bricks on the backboard, the sound of upset (sorry Kansas!) even though it totally messed up all of our brackets, we were totally pulling for Northern Iowa. Illini fans = not fans of Bill Self.

AHHH! the sound of the NCAA tournament. That's the scene at our house these days. Too bad our beloved Illini are not a part this year. But we are still watching them on the NIT, not the same, but still rooting. Oh and we have brackets and we bet, big money (5 whole dollars), we've done this for at least 5 years. It's a lot of fun. Especially for me because I win the majority of the years. My secret: don't think at all about your picks, base them on how well you like the name of the mascot or if the town is a place you would visit. It's worked for me so far! And the goal of the guys, you can bet, is to just beat me, for once! Hah!

And because this technically is Lane's blog and he wasn't mentioned or pictured once...a few more pics from our Friday...

"The NCAA tournament is awesome!"

"The NIT...what the heck is that? Is that even a real tournament?"

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You know it's a good Monday when

1. There's a front row parking spot waiting for you at the gym when you arrive!
2. It's 65* at 10:00!
3. Your parents, whom you haven't seen in 2 months, will be at your door in 24 hours!!!
4. You decide during nap time that sitting on the deck in the sun in a tank top and yoga pants hiked up to your thighs sounds much better than washing the floors. So you forego the floors and soak up the sun while giving yourself a mini manicure and pedicure!
5. Nap time was extra long today so you get the floors washed, the house dusted, and the bathrooms clean for your impending guests!

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It's Paisley

I sat through 3 songs just looking at the pattern. It was a pattern I've seen before, but I just couldn't place it. It seemed to be a pinkish-red. What is with that pattern? I am a pattern queen. I have to be, right, working at The Shop, I've seen it all. Show me a pattern and I can name it! Damask, Floral, Striped, Gingham...but something about this pattern I just couldn't place it. During the 3rd song, I finally leaned over to Matt and asked, "What's with the pattern?" He said, "It's PAISLEY!" Oh, uhhh, right...cause he's Brad Paisley! Why couldn't I see the paisley pattern? I'm going with, because it was on a guitar and you don't normally see a paisley pattern on a guitar, unless of course your Brad Paisley. So after I was put in my pattern-place by my hubby figured that out , it was all good. In case you haven't figured it out yet, last night we went to see Brad Paisley!

Lane got some playtime with Miss Pam and Matt and I got some grown-up time. Yes, that's right, Matt went to a country concert. Lane, Daddy is not a fan of country, but in his words Brad Paisley can "shred." Which means he can play guitar really well. So I didn't even have to convince him to go. I saw the billboard a few months back as we were driving down 385, I shut my eyes and cringed and said, "Brad Paisley's coming to the Bi-Lo Center, do you wanna go?!" And he said, very matter of factly, "yes!" So I got on ticket master right then and there and bought tickets. We had pretty good seats, despite what the pics look like. We were sort of off to the side of the stage in the 2nd bowl. And these were also taken with my phone.

One of my favorite Brad Paisley's....even used some of these verses on our wedding program.

This one's for SP and BIL

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Girl Scout Cookies...

ruining productive workouts at the gym since last week. UGH! So I was helping a good cause by buying Girl Scout Cookies after church on Saturday, right? Right, helping their cause and totally destroying mine. Darn you Thin Mints and Peanut Butter Cookies. I am only glad I didn't buy a fourth box of Caramel Delites. Then I really would have regretted it. But they are so good....

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A shower for the Bride-to-be

Sorry this post has nothing to do with Lane, I usually don't like to do that....but I have to show Sister Puss some L-O-V-E! Plus, a lot of people at the shower read the blog so now they get to see themselves on it!

We had Lace's shower in the Banquet room @ Uptown..always a good choice! We transformed it into a little pizzeria since Lace and Ty are the 'pizza' couple. We served flatbread pizzas as appetizers (4 cheese and Caprese) and salads as the entree (choice of Cesar or Spinach). They got tons of nice gifts and a great time was had by all!

The Bride and the MOH

The guests

The "girls" since 5th grade (or was it 4th??)

Aunt Sue and her new grand baby Bella Sue. (born 10/3)

The Mattioda girls!

Cutting the cake...Patti's new job @ all the future showers.

The "Pizzeria"

The cake delivery girl

The favors

Rie's new job @ all future showers is to make the rehearsal bouquet!

The sweet groom-to-be bringing some flowers for his bride...and taking pointers from other sweet grooms. ;-)

The bridesmaids (minus Gig)

Amy and her sweet niece

The Amcore girls!

Love my lil' SP!

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Thirsty Thursday

We started our summer brew last night. This will be Matt's 4th home brew he has done. It's fairly easy and a good way to spend the evening having good conversation and a few drinks because watching HGTV every night in the summer gets a little old. (Seriously, TV stinks right now...we're boycotting!) Brewing is a lot of hurry up and wait...you boil water then wait, add the malt extract, grains, hops...wait, boil water for yeast then wait for it to cool...etc...etc. So we ordered a pizza from Happy Pie and brewed a summer ale which will be ready for our vacation to the beach and Lane's party!! (The home-brewed beer is just one of the things we've got cooking for the par-tay!)
Our drink of choice...can you guess which one is mine?!?! I can only handle so much of Terrapin...

Good reference

The brew master looks confused! (He's so weird!)

Adding the malt extract.

The brew master's assistant

The batch is now fermenting in a huge glass jug in our 1/2 bathroom off the living room. I get to visit it every time nature calls! Ha! We have to bottle in about a week. I'll let you know how it turns out and what we decide to name our brew!

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