Family Living: Abbott Style

I read a book this weekend that was a God sent.  Talk about good timing.  It is titled Heaven is For Real .  I suggest, if you haven't read it yet; read it now.  And if you have already read it; read it again.  It is an easy read, and I did it in a day.  But I think I would like to re-read it again before returning the borrowed book to my mom.  I actually read it allowed to Haley, and she seemed to content just listing to me read.  While reading, I took a break to pray about something that was on my mind.  Literally, within 5 minutes, I received an undeniable answer to my prayer.  It was something simple, and small, but I think He knew I needed it. Soon after, as I continued to read, the author was quoting scripture: Ask and you shall receive. (Once again, with the timing....) After I read that.  I literally laughed out loud and said , "No Joke."    Anyways, read the book, it's good. The other...

....the apartment is within 5 minutes of the Oak Park mall... I am not a shopper.  I hate shopping.  My body is hard to dress.  Everything on my body is long.  Generally, I have to special order my jeans extra long.  Long sleeve shirts, are rarely long sleeve on me.  To get a shirt that is long enough in the midsection, I have to buy in larger sizes. I'm curvy.  I'm tall.  I love it.  But it's hard to shop.  And generally not a lot of fun. For my birthday, I decided to do some shopping.  Because what I hate more than shopping is not having anything to wear.  So I sucked it up and hit the mall. There are so many points I want to make here so stay with me. First, the awkwardness of being in-between.   What I mean is, I am no longer a junior.  Junior clothing is not flattering on me.  It was hardly flattering on me when I was an actual junior.  But Misses clothing generally has terrible fits ...

1659 - William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson became the first Quakers to be executed in America. 1787 - The first of the  Federalist Papers  were published in the  New York Independent . The series of 85 essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, were published under the pen name "Publius." 1795 - The United States and Spain signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo. The treaty is also known as "Pinckney's Treaty." 1858 - Roland Macy opened Macy's Department Store in New York City. It was Macy's eighth business adventure, the other seven failed. 1878 - The Manhattan Savings Bank in New York City was robbed of over $3,000,000. The robbery was credited to George "Western" Leslie even though there was not enough evidence to convict him, only two of his associates were convicted. 1880 - Theodore Roosevelt married Alice Lee. 1904 - The New York subway system officially opened. It was the first rapid-transit subway syste...

So awhile ago I mentioned that I was giving up Facebook. I made this decision for several reasons.  One being that I had access to it on my phone and would check it without even thinking.  Smartphones are amazing things, but they can be pesky as well.  It started driving me nuts that both Ian and myself had our phones in front of our faces 24/7.  So I took the step to quit Facebook cold turkey.  It would be a stupid thing to let something like Facebook distract me from spending time with my husband as our time if fairly limited anyway. The second reason was Haley.  I wanted to focus on being in the moment with Haley.  When I was nursing, I would have my FB app open just looking.  Then I realized that this was a treasured time that I will never get back, and I was wasting it.  And sure enough, at 5 months old, I am already missing that special bonding time. I also wanted more personal relationships with people.  Facebook friendships...

Hola! Que Pasa? As you all know, I am not a fan of Tuesdays.  Well today was a much better Tuesday than usual.  This afternoon, Ian and I had a meeting and we were going to run some other errands but I opted for us to head home instead.  This turned out to be a good choice as I ended up enjoying about an hour nap.  Naps are always good.  Especially when I started my day somewhat cranky.  But I woke up refreshed and ready to take on the rest of my day. Thank you Ian for letting me nap.   The evening was a little crazy.  I got my buddy off the bus and hung out wfith him for awhile.  I had an engagement after that, that I needed to rush to but needed to run home first to walk the dog, pick up my banana bread, and check the mail.  Since moving to the apartment, we have forwarded our mail but yet we have not gotten any mail.  Which pretty much sucks because pay checks come via mail.  No mail = no pay checks.  Kinda frust...

My chubby little girl.  5 and a half months.  I can't believe how big she's getting.  She rolls over, but only when I'm not watching apparently.  She has learned to squeal....loudly.  She thinks Winston is seriously funny.  She has the ability to make me do stupid things just for a laugh.....and she's growing up way too fast. 

So, I'm going to do some more bragging.  Because it is my blog and I can do what I want.  I have the coolest sister-in-law and brother.  First, they volunteered to watch my cranky little girl this evening so I could play some basketball. But also, they brought me over my birthday present since my birthday is Thursday, and I'll be 23.  It's my birthday week!  And I have to say, they are goooood.  And I couldn't help but share... The smaller bottle of wine is just to show how massive the bottle of wine is they bought me,.  I don't feel as if the picture does the bottle justice.  How cool is that?  I'm guessing this is not a bottle I should polish off by myself in one night.   Guess what I do? This is simply brilliant....let me show you. Please forgive the video orientation.   Cool right?  This is simply the best thing that has happened to me since the birth of my child.  Seriously.  I really really suck...

It's Sunday, who listens to music as loud as possible on Sundays? Don't you work in the morning or something. Really.  Turn that down.  No one wants to hear your lame music.  I've got a 5 month old trying to sleep down here.  And can't you walk a little more softly, or must you stomp stomp stomp everywhere you walk in your apartment.  Don't even get me started on the fact that you have had your exhaust fan going in your bathroom for over an hour now.  What, did you eat you some Chinese buffet or Taco bell? That's just nasty.    Well that's all.  Have a great night.  But not too great, because I don't want to hear that again too. Bre

I've been enjoying apartment living for over a week now.  I was looking through pictures of Haley and saw one of her sitting in the old kitchen.  It finally set in that I won't be going back there again.  That is no longer our home. So far, it's been good.  Different, but good.  I'm just waiting for this to start feeling like home.   This weekend went by in a blink.  Friday night I thought I was going to go out, but ended up feeling sick so I stayed in and napped for awhile.  Saturday was super busy.  The morning was full of errands.  The afternoon was a family get-together at the Antioch Park right off of Shawnee Mission Prky.  It was absolutely beautiful outside.  The shelter was located right on the lake.  Haley loved all of the attention and enjoyed being passed around.  I did, however, almost go mama bear on some guy who wanted to feed her some ranch onion dip.  But luckily, I think I have the nasty ...

I had a very nice blog post written on my phone, but my phone died and it got deleted.  Sad times.  So I'll keep it short and sweet. Until next time...

Not to brag or anything, but I am getting paid to sit around and do nothing all day long. I feel like I should be paying her and not her paying me.  Seriously this is great.  I should go into the business of house sitting. Because here is the thing, when I am in the apartment, I can always find something to do.  Laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc.  Here, there is nothing.  I can just sit here, take care of my kidlet, and relax.  So I am officially opening myself up for business, if anyone would like me to house sit for them, apply within.  I'll let you know my rate.  Just kidding...kind of. But anyways, that is not my point of today.  My point of today is to discuss Johnson County drivers.  First, I have to state that in high school, I was voted worst driver of my class--by a landslide.  Which is pretty terrible considering I rarely drove my friends anywhere.  In high school, I hit a curb which ended up bending my a-arm an...

Ah, welcome back Terrible Tuesday. Last night was basketball.  Our record, before last night, was 2-1 and we were playing the top ranked team with a record of 3-0.  According to the standings, they seemed to be dominating the league...until last night.  We pulled out a pretty solid win.  It was a close, low-scoring, game.  Both teams played some tough tough defense.  I pretty much sucked last night, but I am happy the team won.  I ended up with maybe 7 points at most, a couple rebounds, a couple blocked shots, and maybe one steal.  My defense sucked and my head wasn't at all in offense.  I really need to try to get myself open and make some picks and such.  So I was disappointed in myself.  Next week I don't have a sitter so I will have to wait two weeks to try to redeem myself.   Speaking of basketball......Mizzou, you suck.  I was watching the news this morning, and it looks like Mizzou will be announcing that they ar...

There is an undeniable, rhythmic squeaking noise coming from the apartment above.  I suppose I'll just turn up the volume on the TV and never be able to make eye contact with the folks upstairs with a straight face.   Sometimes, I question my own maturity. Until next time.......

Moving sucks, but I think I’ve already mentioned that.   Luckily, 99.9% of everything is finished and put away.   I’m thankful too, because this upcoming week is going to be a busy one and I am not real sure I’ll actually be spending much time at home.   Before I take you on a tour, I just wanted to share a bit of info. Old English may possibly be the best invention since wood itself.   Seriously, this stuff rocks.   It is inevitable, while moving; furniture is going to get scratches.   Instead of using my furniture pens to touch-up, I gave Old English a shot and it is like magic.   So far, I am loving apartment living.   Everything is on the same floor.   No running up and down stairs all day.   The washer and dryer are like two steps away from the bedroom.   It’s mellow and laid back.   Winston has adapted well.   It has new carpet, which means either someone died in here or the people before were disgusting people. ...

Well...I'm officially a Johnson county girl who works at a tanning salon part time (however the tanning salon is in wyco, Premiere Tan by Dannys.  It's owned by friends so everyone should check it out.)  Still have a lot of work to do as far a moving goes, but I think the apartment is going to look pretty cute with a lady's touch.  The people seem very friendly.  Even had a nice gentleman offer to help carry.  I declined because you never know about people, but it was nice that he offered.  The girl who lives on the second floor looks like Jenna Marbles, I wonder if she makes funny videos in her apartment in her spare time.  The lady on the corner sat outside for hours on the phone, talking loudly, and clearly gossiping.  My very first apartment experience! How exciting! It was a long tough day.  I'm so ready to crawl in bed and sleep.  Tomorrow..... TGIF! Until next time.....

Enough said.

Why. Am. I. Awake??? Ughhhhhhhh. I woke up with such a rush of emotions.  Emotions are driven by thoughts, so I wonder what my brain was doing while I was sleeping. At least I haven't been having crazy dreams like I did in the past.  I wonder if that means my preggo and post preggo hormones are returning to "normal".  I have so much I could say, but won't.  I'm exhausted.  I'm exhausted of thinking about all this stuff that I don't even want to write it.  So ill focus on crap that's unrelated.  Like my birthday. Avoidance . Two weeks from today, I will be 23.  I'm not sure why I am a huge fan of my own birthday, but I am.  I wonder if that makes me a bit narcissistic.  I have zero plans to do anything grand.  Probably just visit family and such. But I keep having my eye on that week hoping that, by then, life will calm down.  Last night I went to a funeral as a member of Ians family passed.  That's always a bummer....

I've been so stressed this week that I forgot to mention how much fun basketball was Monday.  We won, most importantly.  Personally, I scored at least 14 pts.  Had at least 7 block shots and probably close to 10 rebounds.  What I continue to struggle with is scoring off of the pass.  My post moves and post up have been weak.  Lack of confidence mostly.  Because there is no reason I shouldn't be owning the post on offense.  I miss my coach and mentor.  Sometimes when I'm playing, I imagine what he would tell me.  I'm pretty sure he would be having me drop down and give him some dog push-ups if he saw how pathetic my post moves have been.  So next Monday, my goal is to own the post.  I'm still not half the player that I use to be, but I hope to start playing closer to my personal best by the end of this season.  I need to find sometime to go practice and shoot around. I'll spare the boring stuff.  Just know it's pretty...

After waking up and having breakfast, I asked Ian to keep an eye on Haley while I showered and primped.  Be advised that Haley sleeps in her own crib every night. Naps in her crib.  We try not to hold her or cuddle her when she sleeps so we don't create or foster any bad habits.  So this picture is a rare event and I couldn't resist but to let them be.  I guess they missed eachother this weekend.  They were completely snoozed and snoring together.  Can't help but love them both to pieces. 

It is easy to wake up in the morning when I wake up to this adorable morning person! 

Sometimes you just need a weekend away. Ian was working crazy hours with the races this weekend, so I decided that Haley and I would skip town.  To the lake we went with my mom and dad. It was a very mellow weekend filled with great food (always a fan of my mom's cooking)  and just some time to sit around and be lazy.  The weather was beautiful and the lake was quiet. A month before heading to the lake I ordered a book online that a friend recommended.  I had started it, but hadn't had time to really get in it until the weekend.  And now I am recommending it to my readers. On the way home, we hit up a craft show.  I don't consider myself to be "crafty"  but I really enjoyed this craft show.  I got so many great ideas.  I know I am going to get bored this winter as I will be living in my tiny apartment, so I am planning to start working on a few craft projects.  Fun stuff. And I would like to say it feels good to be home, but t...

Today is a day of packing......so let's crank up some talk radio and see how much I can get done in 12 hours............

It is a good thing we are moving, because I may or may not have looked like a crazy woman today in our neighborhood.... It started around 1:30 today.  Ian, Haley, and I returned from running some errands.  When we pulled in, we noticed the gate to the fence was left wide open  (our guess is the meter-reader left the gate ajar).  We didn't even need to say anything, immediately we knew our dog was long gone.  You see, when he gets out...he runs...and runs...and runs....and runs....and runs....and runs...you get the point. So I frantically get out of his truck and in my car so I can go search for him.  I was on limited time because Ian had to get ready for work.  So I returned home, empty handed, and teary-eyed so I could take Haley.  I loaded Haley up and continued searching.  I stopped and spoke with anyone and everyone I could find.  Usually with tears streaming down my face like a fool.  I felt terrible and literally ill to my...

I am having a fantastically smooth day all things considering....I'm generally not a fan of Tuesdays, but this Tuesday has been fabulous. Checked out the apartment.  Everything looks good.  Nice and clean with brand new carpet.  When we went through the model we could only see the one bedroom, so it was good to see the two bedroom...our two bedroom.  It was surprisingly big.  I wanted to take pictures but decided the chick showing us would think that I was weird so I resisted.  Haley's closet is gigantic.  The kitchen was bigger than I expected.  And there is a nice grassy area right outside the door for my dog to do his business when it is cold out.  Overall a huge success.  The chick said, Well I'll see you next week when you move in.   Next week???? Do what.   I guess it already is next week.   Then it was off to look at storage because there is a lot of crap that will not fit.  Got that mostly squ...

you only have time to shave one leg in the shower you re-watch the same cartoon a bajillion times because "kidlet" likes it you hear your mother's voice, in your own voice, several times a day you stop saying, "when I become a mother, I will NEVER" because truth is, when baby comes along...all bets are off you turn the radio up, not because it is your "jam", but because you trying to drown out the crying (don't judge me) you lick your thumb before cleaning something off your kidlet's face you find pacifiers in your purse, even on girl's night out you're more scared to get pregnant now than most teenagers you drive 5 under the speed limit, even when the backseat is empty you start to "get" the invention of the mini-van (however, I don't think I could ever really go there) you sport carrot and milk spit up on your basketball shirt..... *sigh* I love being a mom. Until next time....

I have a confession.  I am an emotional eater.  At least I think.  Any maybe just today. But I am not even sure how many oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I have consumed.  I couldn't make it to the gym to work out anxieties today, so I've been eating.  Crap.  Good thing I have basketball tonight. We had  a vacation planned for South Padre for about a week, but obviously we are not doing that this month.  Anyways, so we needed to cancel our hotel reservations.  We were going to be staying at three different hotels.  One on the way down, one while we were there, and then one on the way back.  Problem was, I deleted all the emails with the confirmation numbers.  So we called the Hilton number, no problem.  With a last name and city, state--they can look up the hotel and cancel it.  Only problem was neither of us could remember what city we were going to stop in on the way home and without that information the H...

Bug bombs, landlords that show places while high and smelling like weed, places that smell worse than a bar......shall I go on. Apartment searching is not easy.  BUT it's over and the place is picked out.  In less than two weeks, I will be dwelling in a 2 bedroom 2 bath, 900 sq feet apartment for at least the next 6 months.  I am in a love/hate relationship with this place, but it is the most ideal with all of the factors that needed to be considered.  Let ne break it down.... Love Location- a rocks throw away from the highway, my grocery store, and 2.5 miles away from a YMCA (if it's not freezing out, I can actually run there).  I feel safe there unlike the other places we looked at. Big bedrooms Cute kitchen Allow dogs Bottom floor Washer and dryer (no saving quarters for laundry..score) The other residents don't seem scummy. Haley will be crawling soon so I don't have to worry about stairs.  Plus the apartment has brand new carpet, so I ...