Are you there..?

It has been a long time!! Have you missed me? I have missed you! ;)

 I have obviously decided to take a few weeks off. I will be back. I keep thinking I will stop in and do a quick post... stop by a few of my blog friends and say "hello" but... it hasn't happened! I was struggling with a blogging routine before summer hit... then summer hit. I miss it.

Summer has kept me so busy! And having these adorable kids home has .. well been distracting, fun, at times exhausting, sometimes severely annoying, exciting, and loud! I seriously think if I get asked one more question, by anyone under the age of 14... my head may explode..... just sayin'.

Momma Gets Real has a quote on her blog that states....

If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers. ~Edgar W. Howe 

Yep... I'm feeling that! I love them dearly, I do..... :)

I am heading out tomorrow for a week long vacation with the family... half of it ALONE with my husband!!

 I promise I will be back for reals on the 20th!

In the mean time... follow me on Instagram, I'm shelbyjojo7. If you aren't on Instagram... you should be, it is so fun! Sign up and follow me! I will follow you! ;)

See you all on Monday the 20th! Hope you you are all having a fabulous summer!! xoxo ~Shelby

Keeping it real....

I made a few changes to my blog. You see, I had set up an appointment to fancy up my blog a bit.... well then I backed my car into our RV in my drive way. So I decided I have no business paying to polish up my blog. Maybe i should pay to polish my backing ability.. ehem. Anyway.. with 2 cars in need of repair I had to decide to love my blogs imperfectness. So I played around on blogger to make it look new, to me! I even taught myself a few new tricks. Maybe some day I will get her some work done... but for now I must be content, which I am here... but everywhere else.....

Today is suppose to be WIWW. I am really struggling with this lately. I have put on 25 pounds this past year.. (This past year has had some really stressful moments!) I have been having a terrible time getting dressed, don't want to go buy new clothes because I am fat and am not loving pictures of myself. I think I really just noticed the past few weeks how much I gained... I guess I knew, I don't know... I'm sad because I have never been this heavy and I don't even recognize myself. Plus I see all these cute women in their cute clothes and it honestly depresses me.

With all that said... I won't quit. Yet. I have started exercising, I'm doing the 45 miles in July challenge and usually exercise makes me feel better. But somehow right now it is overwhelming me... because I already do not have enough hours in the day. Trying to find time to do it as well is stressing me out. I need new running shoes.. but oh wait... I wrecked 2 cars... so, yeah, I will wait.

Eating right is stressing me out just because I am stressed out, and when I'm stressed out, I eat... it's a vicious cycle. My house is in a shambles, my laundry is outa control and I feel behind in every area.  I backed my own car in to my own RV. Are you kidding me? I know it is because I feel so undone. But it just makes things worse.... I feel horrible about the trouble and cost of my stupid mistake.

I feel like I am always behind and I feel out of control. I feel like this is a pity party. I feel bad that you are reading it.

I honestly do try to see the joy and the good in my life but for some reason right now I feel like I can't. But I must. I want to be the mom my kids deserve and I said it last week.... A happy mom has happy kids. So I better get a grip. I think complaining is so unattractive... but well, sorry, I feel unattractive. I will be back to my happy self... I promise, I just need to get things into perspective.

Then a friend texts me with a great compliment about how sweet and polite my son is. A buck walks through my yard. Scott pulls me in close next to him while we watch TV. Maddie tells a silly story, in a way only Maddie can, that makes me smile. Doyle the dog gives me that look, that he understands and loves me... dog owners know the one. And I realize how silly I am being. How out of perspective I have gotten myself this week. How sweet and wonderful my life is and how I'm wasting it by being depressed about my weight. Yes, I weigh more than I'd like and more than I should. Yes I will stop feeling sorry for myself and get off my @$$ and do something about it.

First off I will get my house in order. I do know that if my house is undone I feel like my world is undone. I will keep exercising too.. I said I would and I can't let myself quit.  I need to establish some routine. I need to breathe deeply and focus on the big picture. I will relax and enjoy the rest of my summer, knowing soon fall will be in full swing... school, homework, soccer, cross country. I will miss these summer days.

So I don't have anything I wore this week.... The pictures were fuzzy and I put very little effort into WIW anyway, I know it would make me feel better if I did, so I will start again... 25 pounds and all.

Thanks for letting me rant... "talking out loud" always makes me feel better. It also helps me to see things clearer. I'm off to clean something, fold something and do some mileage. To breathe deep and put a stinking smile on my face!! ;)

I hope I haven't scared you all away.... I will be back... with something HAPPY tomorrow... promise.

These are the days

Linking with Life Rearranged for Insta Friday... Showing my week in pictures! To see more follow me on Instagram! I'm shelbyjojo7. My photos wouldn't or didn't?, download to picasa so I did my best to create a collage for ya so this post wasn't a mile long...

Played with some glow sticks... and made some wishes...

Had tons of fun with the sweet little cousins here!  My big boy surprised the little ones by doing the slip and slide.. in his clothes... the response from one... "Hims crazy"   ;)                                                                                                       

                                                                                       

Made red, white and blue treats and painted red, white and blue toes. Rocked our shades and swam in the pool, enjoyed some fabulous fireworks.

Maddie created a book report form on the computer and did a book report... this is my kid who doesn't like to read? She amazes me! 

Con got some new shoes, his old ones were falling off of him, how he destroys shoes like that I don't know! He asked me to take this picture in Trader Joe's to send to his dad... His reply was Yikes....  Conner  likes the bright blue because they will get noticed, and he will be the only one that has them... I wish I had that confidence.

No pictures but I had a date with this amazing guy last night! Dinner at PF Chang's then we saw Abe Lincoln Vampire Slayer... yes I love him a lot to go see that one.  Actually, I liked it. Tons of action...I held my breath through half of it. If you can handle violence and blood (they are vampires!) go... it was good. I'd go do anything with that fella though!  almost... anything. ;)

I  have decided I might just not get a post done everyday over the summer. I am having a hard time getting in a post writing groove and my laptop isn't working. Sitting in this dark computer room when I could be having coffee on my porch is bumming me out. Plus this summer is going by way to fast and my summer fun list only has 2 checks!! EEK! I gotta start cranking out the summer fun! I will still post a few times a week, I like to do every day, but, the sunshine beckons! I have noticed my page views have are about halve of my usual the past 2 weeks anyway... I know I'm not finding the time to check out my blog friend every day.

I am off to do my blog house keeping then to a busy weekend swimming, bbqing, drinks with my cousin and a short day trip in our new RV, we gotta test it out! ;)!!

Go enjoy your summer days...except Jane from Lovely Little Loves, you go enjoy your winter days!! ;) I can't tell you how impressed my husband is the I have a follower in Australia!! Check her out people, she's adorable and she lives in Australia! How cool is that!!?


Love you all! Thanks for reading my nonsense! It still amazes me that you all show up! Thanks from the bottom of my heart!! :)

What the heck am I doing?

Since starting this blog back in November I still haven't told anyone that I have one. My parents and my husband, my aunt, but no one else. It feels a bit like giving people a key to my diary. Like I am opening my self up to feeling like I am in high school all over again. Will I fit in to the blogging world out there? Will people think it's weird? Will they like what I have to say? Will I bore people? Is my blog "good enough"? Will I offend some people with my opinion? All of these things cross my mind everyday.

I have stopped posting a few times worrying that I have no idea what I'm doing and no one would want to read it anyway. For probably a year before I finally started my blog I pondered it. I would think through out the course of my day "I could blog this, or I could put that on my blog."

So finally one day I decided to bite the bullet and did it. I think I decided that the answer to all of the above questions was YES and NO.  I decided to stop trying to compare myself to bloggers who have been blogging for years and just start where I'm at. It is such a learning process. I am not super computer savvy so it has been a challenge to figure out what I am doing.

For about a year I have been taking pictures of my own outfits for What I wore Wednesday at The Pleated Poppy. When I started this blog that was going to be my Wednesday post... however I still don't know exactly how to do it! I got photos people!!

Speaking of photos I have learned so much about taking photos. Still have along way to go though! My pictures of myself are the worst. Good Lord, maybe it is good I can't link up to WIWW, I'd scare y'all! I did figure out how to grab a button today, not that I know what to do with the darned thing! But it makes me feel a little more official. ;) I am hoping to add WIWW to my "line up" next week! Send me good linking Mojo!!

My line up..... I have been all over the place. I never wanted my blog to be about one specific thing, not a decorating blog or a foodie blog but just random musing of this perfectly imperfect life I lead. I have decided to go with more of a schedule aka line up. I think I had to just dive in before I could figure out what my line up would be. Soooo, I am getting rid of some stuff and adding new stuff as my confidence grows.

I actually got the guts to comment on a few blogs this week and got my first REAL comment! And it wasn't from my my husband sitting on the couch!! Thanks Momma Gets Real!! You made my day!!  I really was giddy!! Sad, I know! But a real comment made my blog feel real.  :)

I also need to work on my time management! I have things to do folks and at times I feel like I am on here all morning!! No I am on here all morning!! I know as I go everything will go smoother. Until then I can just go buy my people new socks and underwear if the laundry doesn't get done, right? Besides... does the laundry EVER really get done?

So I guess I have decided to stick with this blog thing and see where it goes... see what I can learn and what I might have to offer. See if I can get some real readers. Swallow my pride and get my self out there... seriously tough I am scared to death... well not to death, that is awfully drastic, but I feel sooo vulnerable! Time to put on my big girl panties and deal with what ever comes my way... good and bad.

If anyone is out there, thanks for stopping by and please do come again. If you have any amazing advice for a new blogger in distress bring it!!

Have a great half way to the weekend day!! ~Shelby