The Thoughts of Laura

My last post was June 25th, quite a while ago....break down on where I am: - Get back into my Mummer/Yoga shape (ugh), the Elliptical & Yoga equipment aren't going to use themselves.          -TOTALLY DID NOT HAPPEN! I don't know what is going on. I feel like crap. I've gained 3 pounds in a month?! WTH! I need motivation. I do a lot of walking when I go out places & carry Lucas up and down some steps, nothing is helping. - Don't let myself feel so bad if I want to indulge in a Tastykake once a week!         -I really do not eat bad foods so I did stick to this one. HOWEVER, I have no clue why I can't fit into my new pants, I should be allowed one big, bad snack a week without gaining excess weight.  -  Pay off *most* of the Target Visa card.  (getting there, at least it is down in the $750-$800 range now).          -Let's not go here....maybe it is stress weight... Money is tight, very tig...

- Get back into my Mummer/Yoga shape (ugh), the Elliptical & Yoga equipment aren't going to use themselves. - Don't let myself feel so bad if I want to indulge in a Tastykake once a week! -  Pay off *most* of the Target Visa card.  (getting there, at least it is down in the $750-$800 range now). - Get Lucas potty trained (double ugh!). (He isn't doing too bad). - Have more patience with Lucas while he is being potty trained & learning new things. - Have a fun summer even though money is tight & it may be 100 degrees outside! Natural sunlight is good for us! I'll post more as I think of them! -Laura

Who actually reads this?! No one ever comments, comment & let me know who you are readers! -Laura

I am no longer a member of the Golden Sunrise fancy division.   That is what I have been teasing at the past week or so.  For some it will not come as a surprise.  I have been stressed the past few months trying to wrestle the idea, it was not easy.   It was a tough decision to make but one that needed to be done.  I am a Mummer but 1st and foremost I am a musician.  I will miss Golden Sunrise (on some level), it was a fantastic place to be in  some regards (the way I could parade with my family), but some things needed to change & they were never going to.  As a musician since grade school (in some way or another) not playing music was beginning to bug me.  I made a decision 3 years ago (almost to the day) to give up playing in order to settle down & work on my future; I had no clue where life was going to take me at the time.  Here I am married & a mother to an incredible 20 month old who is just as crazy about music ...

Lucas is waking up from his nap, sounds like he is just playing with his books and toys in the crib. We'll see how long I have! Last night Jim & I went on our first real date since October 16, 2011. A little over a year and a half between dates is bad!  We started the day in Wildwood, NJ with my parents it was beautiful down the shore; very warm (we have some sun burn). Lucas rode a bunch of rides (as did Mommy; dizzy), we snacked on Curly Fries & Lemonade shake-ups. Then we went to Joe's Seafood Co. for lunch & margaritas. Joe's has amazing pizza if you have never tried it; highly recommend the garlic & shrimp white pie! We ran into some old Golden Sunrise friends who were on the same page as the rest of us. Then we headed home. 3 of the 5 of us passed out for part of the ride, thank you to my dad who filled my gas tank & did the driving! You are more then welcome to drive me more places if I get to nap! Got back to my parents & did the quicke...

"Don't you know they change Oh, things change As long as this world is turning Things are gonna change Gonna keep on changing Gonna change." I never knew how good things could feel when you make simple changes to your life! I finally stopped & opened my eyes to things going on around me and realized how much I needed to change. They say things can't change overnight, I beg to differ. In just the past 48 hours I feel so much more alive and happier about the way things are going. I know it will take more time for issues on the money front to change but with everything else looking bright maybe it will feel less stressful *who am I kidding, it sucks when you don't have enough cash to fill your gas tank, hence why my credit card is so high*. Begin Rant! (Every week or two I struggle with the fact that I have to add another $50-55 to my credit card, that is what made it so high to begin with back in 2009 when I got the damn card! Whether I was putting car repa...

-Debt -Unemployment -Job searching -Finding jobs you like & never hearing back -Finding jobs you like & hearing back that you aren't the "match the company is looking for".  With that, I will keep my head up & continue to search for work! In the next episode, a new (old) chapter in my life is about to start (again)!! -Laura

Just another day. Not sure how I feel about this heat wave they are calling for this week! Gives me a chance to wear all of my shorts that I did not wear last summer.  Lucas, is getting smarter every day, this is crazy! So much changes with him on a day to day basis. He is repeating words, now we have to watch what we say even more! He learned the word steps this weekend. He loves to color. And he loves baths! I wish I knew what was going on with this cold that he has, we took him to the doctors the day before we went down the shore (2 weeks ago), when we took him he had already been sick for a week-10 days. We are sure that this is allergies the cough is insane, he had two coughing fits last night that last like a minute each time. I should probably look up asthma and allergy specialist for his age and see what they say. I don't want to keep giving him OTC allergy meds if this is going to last all season. Job searching,  I've applied to 13 different places, 3 jobs at one ...

I wish there were cooler fonts I could choose!  Anywho, Wildwood was nice. Friday was beautiful we played on the beach & rode the rides! Lucas & Noah (my 2nd cousin, what does that make him to Lucas?) had a great time together.  Saturday was a bit overcast but not bad. Saturday night, it rained so we couldn't do any more rides. Sunday, complete waste of a day :( We had Maui-Dogs and left at 1pm. We had a fare share of yummy food all weekend! Pedro's pizza, Laura's fudge, Hassel's ice cream, Samuel's Pancakes, Curley's & Maui-Dogs. I'm surprised I didn't gain any weight. A swim would have been nice on Friday but it never happened. Can't wait for warmer weather. This week is moving slow, must be the heat! I'm running the AC in my apartment & car...not ready for this weather just yet! The bedrooms get incredibly warm (unbearable to sleep without a fan or AC on), Lucas only has a fan & I can't leave his door open or else S...

Proud Mommy moment today! For those of you who don't know, Lucas can sometimes be a picky eater. We would try to feed him meat mixed with vegetables (in an attempt to hide the meat, he doesn't really care much for anything other than chicken)! Today for lunch he ate Turkey breast without any issues! I gave him some ketchup & BBQ sauce as dippers, he enjoyed every last piece! It is an accomplishment seeing as how at Easter he would not touch any meat at all. It gets better, at dinner I was out of options because he eats the same things all of the time. I decided that PB&J may be worth a shot since he has been eating the little Plum Organics sammies. So I grabbed the potato bread, PB and Raspberry jelly and made the sandwich, I figured he would not eat it as a whole sandwich so I cut it in 4 pieces. He ate almost the whole sandwich! We got to the last 2 pieces & I had to take a bite & nibble out of each to get him to finish it. But I am so happy with my little pea...

Finished The Great Gatsby, pretty good book overall. Now I will see the movie on Wednesday morning! The movie is over 2 hours long, I'm hoping it is good. Wednesday I am also going to have my Mother's Day dinner at Georgine's, yummy! Well, I have to make this post short, Lucas is up from his nap, only about an hour or hour and a half today, which I am glad about, yesterday's 3 hour snooze took a toll on his bedtime! Time to make his lunch. -Laura

In reading The Great Gatsby I have come across a passage that sort of stuck with me. "I wouldn't ask too much of her," I ventured. "You can't repeat the past." "Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!" He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand. "I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before," he said, nodding determinedly. "She'll see." He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some ideas of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.... (The Great Gatsby 110). Now to continue reading...67 pages to go! -Laura         

Oy, I am about to start the C25K program. This should be interesting! Jenn & I will probably both pass out half way through it, but I can't wait to try! I need to pick up a pair of running shoes because the sneakers I have are toning walkers. Note to self: check Modell's or Famous tomorrow! I knew I should have bought the pair they had in January when Jim got his sneakers. Here is to hoping they have some on clearance still. Reading The Great Gatsby, still! I should be done it but every time I go to pick it up & start reading either Lucas needs me or I'm distracted by something else. It is a short book at only 180 pages, the first day reading I got to page 61 & yesterday I could only get to page 75 before I had to wake Lucas up for parties. He just fell asleep, so my goal is to get almost to the end. I want to make plans to see the movie with Katie on one of her days off this week while Jim is off as well. But the book must be done first!! I have till Wednesda...

There were quite a few teen movies out in 1999-2001 range. Right now I am watching "She's All That", not sure what I will watch next! Netflix took off some of the 80s movies I had originally planned to watch. In the past few months I have watched: 'Cruel Intentions', 'She's All That', 'Down to You', 'Drive Me Crazy', 'Wish Upon a Star' and 'Whatever It Takes'. I have to see if I have '10 Things I Hate About You' on dvd, I would also like to watch 'Save the Last Dance' & 'Summer Catch'! I've never seen 'Varsity Blues', so that will have to be on my list. There are plenty of movies from this time frame that I am missing out on. I must find a check list. There hasn't been too much going on with me. Looking forward to vacation. 1 week to go! Trying to potty train Lucas has been eventful, I hope he starts to catch on. VACATION!!! This just in: 'License to Drive' is on ...

Happy May 5th! I'm tired, long day. -Woke up & had some Shoo-Fly Pie for breakfast (yummy calories). -Got ready for a day trip to Seaside Heights -Picked up mom & headed down the shore -An hour and a half to get to Seaside, we stayed for an hour. It is sad, there is not much going on down there right now. The boardwalk is getting there, but the piers will not be ready for a long time. They are saying they will have Casino Pier running this summer. I say 2014. On the way home from Seaside we stopped at White Castle!! Hell yeah!! I only get White Castle once, maybe twice a year if I am lucky. -Headed back to Philly (felt like it took forever). We stopped at Roger Wilco for some much needed Cinco de Mayo supplies! Gold Tequilla & a bottle of Jose Cuervo skinny margarita mix. I also picked up a $3 bottle of Blackberry Brandy for the next Mummer event! -Dropped off mom & headed to CVS. Used coupons & saved myself major money on top of the sale prices! I LOVE c...

It's Wednesday, just another day for me but a great day for my friends who work the M-F gig! So happy hump day to my working friends. On to the countdowns.... 165 days till Disney World!  164 days till Georgia for my cousin Jeffrey's wedding. Only 16 days till Wildwood. I love vacations, can not wait! I need my Curly's Fries, Hassels ice cream, Sam's Or Macks's pizza, Laura's fudge & Maui Dogs!! Vacation = free to eat what I want! I had to put Lucas in his crib for a time out, hopefully he will go down for his nap as usual. I'm not sure what time he woke up this morning, I heard him in his crib talking & playing with his toys around 8-8:30 but didn't go in to get him until 9 which makes sense since he did not go to bed until 9 last night, he sat in his crib playing for the hour. He needed a time out he kept throwing the balls from his ball pit out onto the living room floor, every time I told him to leave the balls in the pit he would laugh a...

I can't figure out how to link a song to my blog, so for now, this will have to do! I watched Cruel Intentions last week (mmm Ryan Phillippe), the song has been in my head since. I have always loved it! That is all, -Laura

In an attempt to cut some calories, I have left cheese off of my sandwich today. Instead of my normal grilled cheese with *insert lunch meat choice*, today is a grilled turkey breast & humus on my whole wheat bread (Delicious, I swear things taste better without cheese!). In addition I have stopped using margarine on my bread & switched to the spray butter stuff with no calories! That right there would be about 100 calories in just 1 slice of cheese & a tbsp of margarine, instead now I can do a healthy snack since I just found out bananas have over 100 calories in them!  Now I know my friends out there are saying "Why are you cutting calories?" or "You don't need to lose anymore weight!" Yes, I am aware of that, it is not about losing weight for me, it is about eating healthier and maintaining my current weight. Being a stay at home mom has changed my eating habits, I am not as in shape as I was 6 months ago when I was working. I have an elliptica...

Is it possible that it has been over a year since my last post? That is a crazy thought. Lucas is 18 months, where did the time go?!  My little peanut is not so little anymore, he has his 18 month appt. on Monday morning, at the last visit he was 24lbs. & 32" tall. Life with Lucas has been fantastic, every day is something new with him. My little man is so intelligent and catches on to things so quickly.  Here is a quick run down: Mom was his first word! His language development is fantastic-surprised the ped at his 12 month appt. He knows 15 words and picking up more every week!  He started walking around 12-13 months. He currently has 12 teeth with 2 coming in. He loves to read. Follows directions pretty well, still working on some things. Very independent & stubborn! LOVES music & mummers! And we are starting the potty training process, I think he is going to pick up on it very quickly!  I could go on and on about Lucas! But there is ...