Yeah, I'm that mom

I'm that mom who woke up to pack her sons very first ever school lunch.
It was being packed, because he was having his first ever field trip, on only his second day of pre-school. They were taking a trip to the planetarium to see the stars.
I'm the mom, who thinks, hey, his first lunch, on a trip to see stars, well then this obviously makes sense!
And he ate every bite!

Sometimes we all just need a good freak out

Do me a favor, go over here, read this, and offer some encouragement!

The hole in my lip

Below is a picture of my brand new dress. It cost me $4.99. What a steal huh. It came complete with boob stains and all. What isn't pictured is the milk stains. You see, last week I went to run some errands. I was hotter then shit hence the boob stains. Then, since I wasn't with Codi and it had been a few hours I looked down and noticed that not only was I leaking milk, the milk was leaking so bad it was actually DRIPPING out of my dress and all down the front of my dress. It was at the exact moment where the dripping milk and boob sweat meshed together that I had to walk into the Apple store and explain to them that between my two year old and my 6 month old my computer suddenly stopped holding a charge and was less brigth white and more, Grey.

Then I got hungry. My cousin offered to get me a sandwich. Since I was still running around and in a hurry I decided to eat and drive. Hence the guacamole stain on my dress.

The worst part is, I'm allergic to any fruit with a pit, including avocado. Meaning I spent the rest of the day in total pain making me that much more pissed over the stain. Pain + stain = Very fucking mad!

Here is a picture of my teeny tiny tomato. I think he's cute. I have jalapenos and bell peppers and peas and so on. Brandon loves to point to the jalapenos, declare them HOT and then say, those are daddies. I find it funny.

(Insert photo of laundry clusterfuck here)
Yeah, I was so mad about the mess I found in the dryer yesterday I didn't even get my camera. I bought two new dresses with strings that tie around the neck. I tossed em in the laundry and opened it to find EVERY! SINGLE! FUCKING! piece of clothing somehow strung together in one massive knot. The best part was when my husband walked by and said, "thats pretty funny". I felt like cutting the waistbands off every pair of underwear he owned. One tank top was so fucked up and tangled that when I got it out the right strap was 2 goddamn inches longer then the left one from being twisted so badly. On pair of shorts some how got so tied up in the clusterfuck they were permanently wrinkled. So wrinkled they laughed at my iron, and laughed harder at my spray starch stuff. It took me a good 8 minutes to untangle that shit! EIGHT MINUTES PEOPLE!

Also not pictured is me spending 4 minutes in the parking lot trying to figure why in the zombie fucks sake I could not open my husbands car door. It had nothing to do with the fact that I was clicking the remote for my car. I'm almost positive that wasn't the problem. It also had nothing to do with me jamming MY car key into HIS door hole. Pretty fucking brilliant this one is.

And, if I wasn't messy enough, while visiting this weeks farmers market I picked up a Pluot took a bite and this shit happened.

So if the floor looked like that, take a guess what the front of my shirt looked like. Also, my manicured toes were covered in sticky shit for the remainder of the day. As compensation I purchased, cauliflower, salmon, scallops, leeks, raspberries, strawberries, white nectarines, pluots, beets and whole wheat garlic pasta! I'm eating like a queen.

Or, a queen with a massive fucking hole in her lip!

Be back soon

My beloved computer is paying a visit to the Apple hospital. She is having a problem with her battery. Something about a small 6 month old baby chewing on her cord and then shorting the battery board gizmo. As soon as her new parts come in I will be back with some good blog, including pictures...and boob sweat!

In which I get myself in big trouble

Last night I had a date to go see Stephanie. We planned to go for a quick walk and what not. I was running late because I had to do something for my husband. In the end I just took his car. His freshly washed and detailed car. I text Steph asking if she wants some coffee and she says yes.

This is where it all goes down hill. See there is a Starbucks right down the street from both our houses. But, it isn't a drive through. Codi was super mad last night so I didn't feel like dragging him into the coffee shop then trying to carry his car seat and two coffees out. I decide I'll just drive one more street away to the drive through Starbucks. I grab the coffees and head down that street towards her street. At this point I have no clue if the street I'm on actually goes to her house so I jokingly text her,

"I'll be there as soon as I get unlost"

I wasn't really lost because I know this area like the back of my hand. So I keep driving. All of these roads are stupid long so I'm driving along listening to a good song when I get this message,

"Where are you lost?"

I reply,

"I'm at a dead end"

Seems they are still doing construction so they haven't made the road I was on connect to her road yet. At this point I'm sitting there staring at a dirt road. A road that I know leads to her house. BUT! I'm in my husbands freshly washed detailed car. You know his BLACK CAR! So I'm sitting there having a conversation in my head and it goes like this, "Shannon don't drive on that dirt, you will get in trouble. Big trouble. Rob will be soooo mad if you get his just washed car dirty. " But then as I'm saying these thing I look down and realize my feet apparently got a mind of their own and with out even realizing it I'm driving on a dirt road.

I AM IN SOOO MUCH TROUBLE!

So. I keep driving. Only I miss the road that connects to her house and end up about 5 MILES AWAY on a whole new road. I call her and tell her and shes just laughing her ass off. I finally make it to her house with cold coffee and a pissed off kid. I showed her the dirty vehicle and we were like okay it's cool it is early enough that after the walk you can just run to the drive through car wash and never get caught.

We set of on our quick walk. An hour and a half and 3 miles later we made it back. It was really fun and we talked and talked and talked. The best part was when we started comparing notches in the wall, and crazy shit we did in high school. We were totally one upping each other with cheating escapades. I don't remember exactly but I think I won that one. We continued chatting and I went inside to hang out with her and Eli. He had cooked some tacos and if I ate meat I would have eaten the whole pan because it smelled great. I finally fed Codi and even asked for some water. In fact, I took my shoes off put my feet up on the couch and relaxed.

This meant though that by the time I left it was way to late to rewash the husbands car so I had no choice but to go park it and wait to get in trouble.

I'm getting better people. I think something changed in me when I went to Oregon, and I sat down on the floor with Jen and drank water out of regular glasses at restaurants and went walking after dark. I'm slowly getting better. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders financially, and personally things are getting better. My friends read my blog and they all saw what I was saying and reached out. Ginger knew I wanted to spend time hiking and seeing the side of my down I forgot about. So she took me hiking, and has agreed to go eat at some fun little places with me. Katie read my post whining about lack of fresh food here in Reno and promptly took me to our Saturday market. It was amazing and I loved it and got some of the best food I've had in years. Stephanie saw that I was still unhappy with my weight and said she would go walking with me after work, late at night when everyone else is settling down for the day.

My husband has probably helped the most. He's been walking with me after work, going on hikes, letting me try brave new things in the kitchen and just being extra supportive of me. While I was hiking with ginger and shopping with Katie and smelling the pine trees and seeing the abundance of food I was reminded of why I love this town. Next weekend I've got my mom convinced to go to Tahoe with me. I can't wait. I miss Lake Tahoe so much. I haven't gone much because it is cold, or I was pregnant, or I had fears of taking my baby to a lake. With water. Where he could drown. But now I'm okay. I want my kids to grow up like me, appreciating our town. I can't wait for Tahoe. I'm already mentally packing a picnic in my head, and lamenting about the sunburn I will get.

I'm glad I had this blog. I think if I had never been brave enough to reach out on this blog and talk about everything, the people in my life would have never known I needed help. Now, I'm surrounded by crazy love, and having a great time, and in the end, I feel like I owe it soley to this blog.

Some day, when I post about the other huge changes in my life, I'll tell you how my parents have played one of the largest rolls of all in saving me. But, I've given you enough to read for one day.

Just know I'm getting better, and sillier, so expect a lot of retarded Shannon is an idiot posts to come!

The downside to this blog thing

Is that your friends can totally embarrass you on their blog. Sigh.

It's true what she says, only me. I'll post more about it tonight because my side is pretty fucking funny.

I'm to far out of the game

A friend of mine recently asked me,
"So at what point did you ask Rob what you guys where, and how did you approach it?"

I answered but now I wonder if things are still the same all these years later. So ladies. What is the proper etiquette for "asking where things are going?" When do you move from just seeing each other to boyfriend girlfriend? Do people still even call it boyfriend girlfriend? Help me out here. I feel so clueless and unhip when I get asked shit like this.

Summer market inspired dining

This weekend I went to the Reno farmers market (On California street for you locals). I browsed around for some dinner items. It was opening day so the selection was limited since most stuff isn't all the way in season. I came home with, fresh spinach pasta, a roasted bell pepper sauce, fresh caught halibut, white corn, strawberries, raspberries, cherries and salsa. Tonight I decided to make a meal that was inspired by my purchases. The only items I purchased at the store were asparagus, garlic and Parmesan. I made this great dinner, and had fresh berries for desert and all of it supported local farmers, and was great quality. I plan to visit the farmers markets around town every Saturday, so expect more great meals like this. Both recipes will follow this post. Enjoy. And remember, sometimes you have to let the produce that is available decide what you eat. It can be more fun and exciting that way. I had never cooked halibut before and I could have easily gone to a store and bought salmon or some other fist I was familiar with but this is what the fish guy was offering so I thought why not. I hope my ideas inspire you to visit your local market and create some magic in your own kitchen.

(The rosemary and lemon thyme were grown in my own garden, but still, they weren't purchased at a store)

(There will be a much broader selection to come, citrus, fruits, garlics, lettuces and a wide array of veggies, lets get creative people).

Citrus grilled halibut

Fresh grilled corn on the cob

Update

The first pic is a little over a month ago. I don't actually see much difference aside from the whole I'M WEARING SHORTS THING! Also, I'm down a size. I started this diet a size 18. I moved down slowly and a month ago when that last photo was taken I was able to comfortably fit into a size 14 at American Eagle and mush myself into some size 12s. This weekend I went and tried on clothes and I fit comfortably into a size 12 and could mush into some 10's. I'm on my way people. Anyway here is me about a size 14

I realize the shirt is not even kind of flattering at this angle but it is sooo cute from the front. So here I am in my size 12's.

Also just for kicks, I seriously need a hair cut eh?

* This post was part of my monthly photo updates over at Tuesday Tummy Tuck. If you are interested in finding out how I've lost 40 lbs and possibly joining come on over and check us out!

It is that time of year again!

Throughout my journey of weight loss I have set mini goals. I found this helpful since weight loss can be sooo overwhelming. When I set out to start this I had to make major mind changes. One of them being that I had to learn weight loss was going to be slow this time around, and, I had to have realistic expectations. So I set up a series of goals. The first set of goals were 10 pound goals. I wanted to lose ten pounds and then start over. Losing 30-50 pounds just made my goal seem so inaccessible. Then I made other goals. I wanted to fit into old jeans in my storage. I wanted to be able to cross my legs the right way, not resting my ankle on my knee.

Then I made other goals. If I reach 170 I get a hair cut or something. My most recent goal was that if I reached 150 I would buy new clothes. I'm currently at 153. However, it is hot as fuck here in Reno, and getting hotter so I made the executive decision to adjust my goal and say I could buy new clothes when I lost 40 lbs instead!

So I bought a bunch of great clothes. Can you believe I got dresses and khakis at Aeropostal for $4.99 each! I love a deal right now since I intend to keep losing weight. My husband and I went on a 4 mile walk today then I took the boys to the park and did some marathon shopping. Needless to say I was due for a shower. I was in the shower and I was mentally laying out all of our clothes for the next day when I realized, it's that time of year again. You know what I mean. That time of year when you start wearing shorts meaning, you have to start shaving your whole leg and not just below the leg.

Damn! I hate full leg shaving season. However, then I started thinking and realized that FUCK it is probably almost bikini line shaving season. People, I can handle shaving my jiggly thighs, but I am sooo not ready for lawn maintenance!

How do you know when it is summer?