A little of this a little of that...

Oh boy! Its early, I could go back to bed, however I would rather blog! (BE THANKFUL! BE VERY THANKFUL!) ha ha ha!

What is happening in our world.....lets see....I got up real early this am as Kameron is working today so I was gonna back cookies for a family who is traveling next week to deal with some medical issues. However, I have no vanilla. WHAT?! How do I not have vanilla? I am sure when we moved I threw it out, along with most everything I am currently missing. So needless to say I have to go to the grocery store later today and stock up on things and pick up some vanilla while I am there. I am pretty proud of me for doing the "only go to the store once a week thing" I love it! I really do! I am definitely spending less, which works out well for our family!

I am also up watching The Best of Trading Spaces with Paige Davis reruns. They are on early on the OWN channel, you know Oprah's station. I remember many years of watching this show on a Saturday night with my family! :) Paige is totally rocking the mom jeans and sleeveless top like no one else ever could! They actually look good on her, will fashion ever think mom jeans are cool again? I know they look dorky but sometimes I think I would rather have them then the low cut denims that show your undies and butt crack. I also was happy to hear that skinny jeans are on their way out, they only look good on skinny people who don't eat cookies and don't have hips. But if you are looking for new fashion you could always wear jeggins. Which to me are like stirrup pants with out the stirrups. I mean seriously, don't challenge me on this one. Also have you seen Pajama Jeans? I think I need a pair, not even kidding. Jeans that are comfy, that has to be a miracle product! I have yet to find the "PERFECT JEAN" I am convinced that they don't exist. Okay off my fashion soapbox, who knew you were going to get a "Project Runway" blog.... :) Heidi Klum, I am not. :)

Okay what else are we up to, oh yes Kynlee, our little sunshine with spitfire like nothing else I have ever seen! She is crawling EVERYWHERE, almost like she is in a race with someone. She is VERY busy ALL the time. I am pretty sure she gets that from Kameron, I mean really, I am so relaxed all the time. ;) Don't get me wrong, I am so happy that because Kynlee looks EXACTLY like her father she at least has a few traits from me. However, I really could have lived without the nosey, drama queen, busy body traits. Oh well, at least we know she is mine! :) She is trying to walk. She walks behind all sorts of things pushing them around the house, we know the day is coming that she will take off on her own! She tries to stand up by herself but then just sits down and crawls to her destination. She eats like a champ and makes a bigger mess with her food than I know what to do with (good thing we have Sadie!). She is always making noise (another one of my lovely traits!), she says "MAMA, MAMA, MAMA" a LOT! Also said "dadda" on command last night! It was so awesome. I know she is close to saying "bye-bye" as she waves she opens her mouth like she is gonna say it, but nothing comes out! :) Soon enough, soon enough! There are days that I wish she would just talk already, but pretty sure between her and I no one else will get a word in! :) She LOVES to Skype with Kameron's parents about 5 nights a week. We hope to get my dad & Frannie in on it too and next is my parents. Its so wonderful for Kynlee to get to see everyone! SHE LOVES IT! :)

Kameron is doing better since his little health scare. I will post all about that sometime, I just don't have the energy yet! He is working a lot, even today. He never works on Saturday's but took off Wednesday and so he adjusted his schedule. He may work tomorrow too, he will let me know on his break. Other than that he is the main snow remover in this house. We all know I would not be shoveling, its just not in me to do that. Shoveling or raking, I told Kameron before we got married almost 4 years ago that he would have to pick up my slack there. He told me that he doesn't clean bathrooms and loathes doing the dishes. So far things have worked out well between us! ;)

We are taking a mini-vacation to Las Vegas next weekend. Yup, we fly out Friday and back on Monday. We are REALLY looking forward to it! :) I bought the flight as a surprise to Kameron back in September. I figured after having a baby and moving we needed a trip. I knew if I scheduled it in January it would also work as our anniversary/Valentines Day gifts! :) Little did I know that after Kameron's "near death experience" we would REALLY REALLY REALLY (you get the idea) need a vacation! :) So Kynlee will head to my parent's house next Thursday night and then we will meet them on Monday in Minot to pick her up. We are looking forward to it and I know my parents & Emy are too. Oh and I should mention Sadie is also going with, she and Polly (my parents dog) get along really well! Neither of us have been to Vegas and we are excited to see the sights! We have a million and one good recommendations of what to see and do while there! :) I did want to get back to my pre-baby weight before we went, however that totally did NOT happen. Oh well, no big deal, Kameron loves me either way! :)

I kind of decided that 2011 was the "Clean Sweep" year for us. We are ready to "de-clutter" our lives. There are a couple ways we are doing this, actually 11. For those of you who read my 11 list a couple weeks ago you know how well this works for me. I wasn't going to post the 11, but I feel if I do, it will make me more accountable.

1. Less clutter in our house....meaning one thing....SELL SELL SELL or GIVE GIVE GIVE! We just have too much "stuff" and it needs to go! Yes I know this would have been helpful prior to moving, but either way its getting done.

2. No random shopping. I love retail therapy. Let me rephrase that, I LOVE RETAIL THERAPY. But sometimes its more expensive than real therapy and it just clutters our house. This doesn't mean no more shopping, it just means limited.

3. Only grocery shopping once a week. This will save us money and make me plan more.

4. Planning out a week of meals, this goes along with the weekly grocery shopping. Not to mention I like to be organized (why hadn't I thought of this before!)

5. More fresh fruits and vegis. Not only is this helpful health-wise, but also a good practice for Kynlee to follow. When we lived apart it was hard to buy lots of fresh food because neither of us could eat it fast enough and it would go to waste.

6. Less eating out. Very healthy for our bodies and our check book. Not to mention trying to only drink water when we are out. I mean really why must a restaurant charge $3 for a fountain pop, we all know it only cost them like 3 cents to pour it in to the glass. (Don't yell at me, yes I get it...overheard, however I still want to complain!)

7. Work on a budget. So not easy for me! I hate budgets! I haven't even kept a check book register in years. We are now working hard on keeping tabs on every penny spent! :) Thanks to Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University we are trying hard to pay off some debts. Its an uphill battle, but I know we can do it.

8. Utilize resources that are right in front of us. Why would we not use online bill pay? Its free from our bank and so super easy to do. I save so much time not writing checks and using stamps.

9. Mail less. I love mail, everyone knows that. I love mailing things. Its actually what people make fun of me for most... the standing joke is "how many letters did you get from Cassie this week". So I decided after all these years of making fun of me, I am going to slow down. I didn't say stop, I just said slow down. For years (sometimes decades) I have been sending birthday cards to MANY people. Sad that I only get about 5 back each year. So if I send around 50 birthday cards a year @ .44 for a stamp and $2 for a card thats.... $122 a year. Crazy. I know people love birthday cards, but really why am I wasting my time. Not to mention the birthday gifts I do, the baby gifts, the "oh its Friday" gifts, I just have to be done. I spend a lot of money & time  each day/month/year doing this. Not that I need to be getting something back from everything I do, but at this point its a financial decision. I can utilize texting, emails, facebook and ecards to send greetings. ALL FREE SERVICES! :) This also goes along with Christmas cards. There are people I have sent to for a long time without a card back. Kind of like a slap in the face, I need to limit that list. I have been working on that and am getting the list down. This also saves money and time! :)

10. Cleaning out facebook. I am working hard on deleting people that I don't need to have on fb. I also get made fun of for the large group of "friends" I have, so I am trying to widdle my way down to a "normal" number of friends. This is really hard. Its frustrating when I see someone out in public and they don't say hi, but we are expected to be friends on fb. Its strange I know. This whole fb world is just wacky! So I am working hard on deleting people, but I don't like telling someone that "I don't want to be friends with you" its like elementary school all over again! However, I really need to clean out this list, I have some people on there who are negative ALL the time. You know the ones, " Oh I am sick again, the weather sucks, my life is horrible...." blah blah blah. Not that I am Sally Sunshine 365 days a year, but I cannot listen to negative all the time. If your life is that bad, get off the computer and do something positive. BE THE CHANGE YOU NEED! No one can make your life better, except a change in your attitude! :)

11. Less TV, more family time. Everyone knows how much I love TV, I do, I am a child of the TV generation. I love reality tv the most. I am trying to "clean sweep" my life and the shows in it. I don't want to have Kynlee growing up watching nonsense shows. We watch plenty of tv, however we have started to eliminate shows that didnt make us feel good about ourselves. I am not preaching to you about what shows you are watching. Whatever works for you, do it! :) I took out watching Desperate Housewives, I never felt good after watching it, I felt slimy, so I decided to be done. I have never watched Jersey Shore. I just don't think its a good show to be on with Kynlee around. She doesn't need to see Snookie making a fool out of herself on the beach. I have been trying to stick to the philosophy that "Is this healthy for Kynlee?" or "Is this show rotting my brain?" I still have some guilty pleasures, but I am working REALLY hard on this. We have been trying hard to shut the TV off at 8:00 each night and have quiet time until bed. Kynlee goes to bed about that time and then Kameron and I read in bed. We haven't been 100% perfect but we are sure starting to read the millions of books we have from many of my retail therapy sessions! :)

Okay thats all! Have a super duper Saturday. Kynlee and I will spend our day folding laundry, making cookies, doing more laundry and vacuuming the basement. Yes I know you are jealous, it may not be a glamorous life, but its our life! :)

Much love!

Cassie and gang! :)