And then I moved in with my husband, and sort of lost that bit of free time every week. Besides, who wants to let their new-ish boyfriend see them with green mud all over their face?

At some point over the past couple of years, I purchased some new facial stuff. I probably used it a couple of times, and then set them aside and forgot about it. I found them again yesterday while digging through our storage room, and pulled them out.

Today, I am dedicating a few hours to Me Time again. Becca slept in this morning, so I had the chance to do a mini-facial and use some nice lotion. I even painted my toenails a startling shade of blue. (It was the only nail polish I could find.) Becca keeps coming over to check them out.

A little later this afternoon, my very talented cousin is coming down to chop a few inches off my hair. My last haircut was over seven months ago– I’m long overdue. I’m going with a much shorter, and a little bit flirtier, cut. I might even start looking at hair colors. My hair is caught somewhere between blond and brown, and I would like to give it a nudge in one direction or another.

It’s summer. I’ll be spending a lot more time outside. You know, in public. That means that I have to at least attempt to look a little put together, especially with now running a business that requires me to actually meet people. No more hiding behind the computer.

I’ll post some pictures a little later later this week. I can’t wait to see the final result.

We’re getting ready to stock the freezer with hot dogs and hamburgers, fill up the propane tank, and, within the next couple weeks, pack up the last of our winter clothing. (That’s it, Southerners. Laugh. We had snow on Monday, tomorrow is supposed to be in the 80’s. You just never kn0w.)

Because Mark was out of work for a month earlier this year, using up his two weeks of vacation, we won’t be going camping this year. Which really, really stinks. We had reservations for a beautiful campground, with a spot on the river, in Alex Bay during Pirate Week. And, unfortunately, it’s not going to happen. Instead, we’re planning a series of mini-trips.

One of the first possible trips, assuming the insurance folks Mark’s company works with ever gets his paperwork straight, is Darien Lake/Six Flags towards the end of May. The Imagination Movers will be performing, and you know how we love the Movers in the Upson household.

We are spending a couple nights in Buffalo, going to the Zoo and Niagara Falls. The zoo has giraffes, rhinos, and polar bears. There’s also a ton of other family stuff to do up there.

We’re taking a trip to Enchanted Forest/Water Safari. Enchanted Forest doesn’t have much in the way of rides, but kids get to wander around through a magical forest full of storybook scenes. Water Safari is a decent sized water park, with enough stuff there to keep all three of us busy.

Rochester has a Museum of Play that looks like a lot of fun, and would be a good option for a one day trip at some point. I was peeking at their website this morning, and there is so much there! We’ll also be heading to the local science museums a few times over the summer, and I’d really like to bring Becca to the drive-in theater up in Auburn.

I want to go pirate golfing. There’s a miniature golf course in town with a pirate theme. The opened 4-5 years ago, and I have never gone. I think Becca might be old enough to get the hang of it this year (okay, I’m overly optimistic, but we’ll give it a go), and we’re going! I’m about the worst mini golf player ever, but it’s fun, so I don’t care.

I want to grow flowers, and maybe a few vegetable, in containers. I want to pick berries this year, get to the park at least once a week, and go for a walk every other day, at least. It seems like last year, I didn’t get out at all. I know I did, but summer went by way too fast, and I didn’t do as much with Becca and Mark as I wanted.

This year, we’re doing thing’s a little differently.

As part of my healthy living plan, I had to find some new recipes. One that I stumbled across online has become my absolute favorite treat, and it is so easy to make. And you also only need one ingredient– Bananas.

Soft-Serve Banana Ice Cream

Peel and slice ripe bananas. I plan on just over one banana per person when I make this. Place the slices on a sheet tray covered in wax or parchment paper. Place them into the freezer.

A few hours later, once the bananas are well frozen, take them out, place them into a food processor or blender, and process them until it resembles soft serve ice cream. You might need to add a tiny bit of milk to get the process started.

This is good just as it is, or you can add in a bit of chocolate sauce, peanut butter, frozen strawberries, or anything else that would go well with the bananas. By itself, there are no added sugars, it’s a great way to use up bananas, and I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t like it. It really does taste just like soft serve ice cream. Yum.

Enjoy!

A few months ago, I wrote a post about how I was going to start focusing on getting more exercise and eating less junk. I was doing awesome for a while, dropping about 2 pounds a week for the first month and a half. I was committed. It was finally happening!

And then real life reared its head again. Mark was home for a month, making it harder to exercise (can’t do it when people are watching. Just can’t.) and eat healthier. I was still eating a lot better than I was, though, and I was still getting some exercise. Just not as much as I had been.

The numbers on the scale quit moving quite as quickly as they had been. A few times, they even went up a bit. I didn’t give up, though. Small steps lead to big changes.

A few days ago, I stepped on the scale again, after ignoring it for a week. 166.2, down from 186.6. Just over 20 pounds gone in three months. I still have another 11-16 pounds to go (my goal is between 150 and 155), but I am well on my way. I’ll get some pictures taken, and try to find a before picture somewhere or another, and get them posted soon.

When I started this, I didn’t know how successful I’d be. I’ve tried to lose weight before, and it never worked out quite like I hoped. I’d drop a few pounds, then gain it back. Or, I’d not lose anything at all. Both were frustrating.

I am now a bit under my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m lighter than I have been in probably three years. By the time I reach 155, I’ll be lighter than I was when I met my husband.

I’m not going for extreme weight loss. The lowest I could go, without looking too skinny, is around 145. I’m 6′ tall; I know my limits. Even 150 is in the lower side of my healthy BMI range. I’m good with that.

Of course, the only problem I’m having now is that my pants are all but falling down, even with a belt sometimes. I’m on the last loop of one belt (the one I stole from Mark when it became too big for him), and I’m between holes on my other belt. The second belt wouldn’t even fit around me until recently. That one is sort of my measure of success. I’m currently between the first and second holes.

My shirts are looser, and I can fit into shirts that I was too big for last year. I’ve regained an hourglass shape (YEAH!).  Seeing that the little bit I’m doing is actually working, I’m more excited about doing more. More exercise, healthier eating habits, and drinking more water. I never thought I’d be in the 160s again. Now, I’m aiming for the 150s. I can do this!

To that end, I have started a few new projects. I have been trying to write a novel for the past several years, and I’ve never been able to finish anything. My first project is to blog a novel. I’ve posted the first two chapters, and am currently writing the third. It’s a romance novel about an authoress who ends up in the world of the books she has been writing.

If you would like to read along (and I’m hoping you will), the chapters can be found on Writer at Home.

My other project is to go back to school. Kinda.

Five years ago, my parents bought me a cake decorating kit for my birthday. I had been looking forward to it, and quickly jumped into making cakes. I’ve made cakes for birthdays and a couple other events since then, but I’ve never actually gotten serious about it.

Then I was flipping through channels a few days ago, and I came across a show called Amazing Wedding Cakes. Watching them design cakes, and seeing some of the cool new tools that are available now, I got interested really interested again. A day later, I agreed to make a cake for my Grandmother’s birthday. Then the local adult education brochure showed up. There are two cake decorating classes, spread out over 12 weeks, that go from the very basics through advanced techniques. Again, the courses will be a gift from my mom, dad and step-mom for my birthday.

Assuming I can find a babysitter one evening a week, I’ll be taking a cake decorating course. I’m also putting word out that I’m interested in making cakes for family and friends who might need one. Eventually, I’m planning on decorating cakes professionally, as a “money making hobby.” To actually start a baking/catering/cake decorating type business, you need to get permits, have a separate kitchen, and go through a health inspection. I live in an apartment with a tiny kitchen.  And I only want to be doing this on the side, anyhow. I’m still a writer first.

I have a couple people in mind for potential babysitters, and I’m fairly confident that it will work out. I’m really looking forward to being able to get out of the house for a couple hours a week, doing my own thing. It’ll be nice to tackle something that is a bit of a challenge.

In the mean time, I have a lot of work to keep me busy. I need to finish the third chapter of my book, and I have to get a little extra work done each day at this point, too.  I also want to find the time to practice up on a few cake decorating skills between now and the first class. Especially for the beginner class, I want to go in with a head start. I’d like to be able to show off just a bit.

And I have grown complacent. I feel like I should be a little more “together” by now. I have kept up my fitness and weight loss goals (almost 20 pounds gone, just over 15 to go), but all of my other goals have fallen by the wayside.

This year, I wanted to finish at least one novel. I also wanted to get our finances in order, and build my business. I am not even close to any of these goals. I’ve gotten off track somewhere, and I need to fix that. I need to work a little more, and work on building my career. If I’m bringing in extra money, it will be easier to get the finances settled. I need to start training and learning again. I have over a dozen books sitting on my bookshelf, bought for work purposes, that I have not read yet. It’s time to get with it.

I have a couple projects in the works, and I have a plan to get everything under control. I just need to actually get out there, and get this stuff done. I am going to relaunch my career, my goals, my life. And I’m going to be doing it Rockstar style.

Central NY is having a heat wave, and we celebrated by heading to Syracuse for the day. We were about half way there when Becca started coughing, and then she started throwing up. We cleaned her up, and kept driving. She didn’t have a fever, and hadn’t been acting sick. I think it was just motion sickness.

One of the parks had an Easter egg hunt, so we headed their first. It was crazy. There were hundreds of people, all mashed together in a small area. Trying to get through the crowd to get Becca up in the front for her turn to gather a couple eggs took 5 minutes. And then the kids get 60 seconds to grab some eggs. Parents aren’t supposed to help but, of course, most do. And then, you get to go back through the same crowd to turn the eggs in. All of the kids got the same little bag of candy, whether they gathered 20 eggs or two. Becca had a lot of fun, but we probably won’t go again next year.

After that, we headed to the zoo. There were special Easter enrichment programs with a lot of the animals all day. Becca enjoyed seeing all of the animals. Most of the animals were sleeping, though. It was right around noon, it was hot, and it must have been nap time. We saw the elephants get their Easter baskets (watermelons and bunny peep marshmallows).

We finished up the zoo, and started on our way home. Becca was asleep before we were out of the city, and was out until we got to the grocery store back in town. Mark and Becca ended up meeting his mom at a park for a couple hours while I worked, and then we colored eggs later in the evening. Becca was a little hard on them– we had several crushed, thanks to her enthusiasm.

This morning, we went for breakfast with my mom and sisters, and now, I’m waiting for the potatoes to cool off so I can make potato rolls for dinner tonight. I have to get my marmalade glaze for the ham together soon, too.We still haven’t decided on a dessert for tonight. I’m debating between putting a little effort into it, and making a lemon meringue pie, or cheating and popping open the can of orange rolls. I don’t want too many more sweets around the house than necessary. Maybe cookies? And then I can freeze most of them. I’m thinking lemon cookies with white chocolate chunks. Yum.

Except, the pain didn’t go away. It got worse. So, two weeks later, Mark was told that he was out of work until April. Four weeks, with an MRI and a few more doctor’s visits scheduled. His doctor thought that it might be a torn rotator cuff (it wasn’t), and then maybe just swelling (maybe). The new theory is a possible slipped disk in his upper spine.

I’ll admit it. I panicked at first. Like many married couples, Mark and I tend to fuss and fight regularly. Always over stupid little things, but still fights. And these fights always seemed worse on the weekends, when we were stuck together for 2-3 days. So four whole weeks seemed like a horrible idea. I figured there was a decent chance that we’d either be on the verge of calling it quits by the end of the month, or one of us would have to smother the other with a pillow. I love my husband, but that’s 31 days, people.

The first day was kind of nice. I worked, he relaxed and watched Becca. A couple days went by, and things were going pretty well. Then we started playing games almost every night. Uno, Skip-bo, Yahtzee… We’d sit around the dining room table, and laugh and talk for a couple hours a night. We were really enjoying spending time together. We began trying harder again, doing nice things. I even got a foot massage. We took a few day trips to Ithaca and Syracuse as a family, rented movies once or twice a week..

The month passed much quicker than I thought it would. He goes back to work today, working from noon to 8:00, Monday through Friday. And I am really going to miss him.

Unfortunately, with him going back to work, this does mean that our vacation has come to an end, and he won’t have more time off until some point next year, as the company he works for has employees use up their vacation time before they’ll switch to worker’s comp. So, no trip to Alex Bay this summer. But I’m okay with that.

If you had told me, back at the beginning of the month, that these four weeks were going to make our marriage a lot stronger, I probably would have laughed at you. While we were definitely happy together, we had lost some of the connection we once had. I am thrilled to say that the connection is back. And it’s a really good feeling.

We enjoyed some wine, played with Becca, and then watched Joe Black. I watched most of it alone, because Mark thought it was depressing. Finally, we put Becca to bed, and I fell asleep. Mark watched a little more TV, then he went to bed too.

At 6:00, we were awoken by a beeping noise. It would go off every ten seconds or so. Mark wandered out to see what it was. Our CO2 detector was going off, but by the time I got out of bed, it had stopped.

We stood there a moment, and nothing happened. Mark checked the stove, and then we headed back into the bedroom. I hopped on the computer to see what could be going on. If it was actually CO2, it wouldn’t stop beeping, right?

It started again, and then stopped. And then started again. We bundled up Becca (who had still been sleeping), called the fire department, and went outside to wait. Two firetrucks pulled up outside a short while later, minus the lights and sirens. I was starting to worry about our neighbors. Should we have woken them? What if there was a leak upstairs, and everyone else was dead? My imagination was getting away from me. It was really early, and I was tired.

The firemen went into the apartment, and then called us in. The detector had stopped going off, and there was no CO2. They waited a minute, and then two of them left. The third was starting to head out, too, when it started beeping again. So, back we went to the kitchen. Still no CO2.

All of that excitement for a faulty CO2 detector.

We had scouted out the chair we wanted a week before. It was pink, and could be used as an insert for the regular toilet, or as a chair on its own. I pointed to it, and Becca let out an excited squeal. “Potty!”We also picked up some Pull-Ups and a step stool to make it easier to reach the sink. Then we navigated over to the party supplies. Two packages of Mickey Mouse stickers for decorations.

We got home, and Becca and I immediately ran into the bathroom to set everything up. Mark took care of the last of the groceries, and then he joined us. We all sat down and started applying stickers. Now decorated, the potty was ready for it’s maiden voyage. Off came the diaper, and Becca sat down. We sang, we played games and we waited. After a few minutes, she had her first success. I don’t know who was more excited– her or us. We called all of the grandparents, and a few of the aunts. Our adventures in potty training had officially begun.

Fast forward a few weeks. Becca does very well with BMs. She very rarely misses one, partially because poopy=two hearts on the reward chart and a small piece of chocolate.

She does still have a lot of wet pull-ups, though. I think we’re picking up some “big girl panties” this weekend, to try to speed that part of the process along. She doesn’t make much of an effort to get to the potty on time, and we’ve been going through a ton of pull-ups and diapers (still used at nights). We’ll also get one of the purse-sized portable potty seats, so we can start training away from home, too. I’ll be getting a bigger bag, to hold everything while we’re out and about.

The only thing I’m concerned about is choosing to train away from home too soon. I’ll probably give it a week or two after we start with the actual panties, just so she can really get used to it. I’m okay with this taking a while, as long as we get there eventually. Becca’s doing really, really well with all of it, so I don’t think it will take too much longer. She’s very excited about no more diapers, and more than ready to do the work to give them up.