Yes, I realize it's been a while.

But I suppose that's what happens when you have a 7-month old who doesn't want to sit still to save her life, work 40+hours a week, and are trying to clean (unsuccessfully, I might add) for above 7-month old's baptism this weekend.  And honestly, I have no clue where the time went to!  My house still looks like a bomb hit, Ella is still crawling all over the place - well, Army-crawling - and work is still....work.

I need to go couponing hardcore.  I went to CVS last night and got my freebies from the magic coupon machine.  I got my free pantyliners, my free candybar, and my free bandaids (which were out of stock, but I got a raincheck for the free box).  But I need to go back tomorrow and scan my OTHER CVS card to get more freebies, use my free bodywash coupon, and get some stuff for Ella's baptism.  Plus I need to do some major grocery shopping.  My cupboards are b.a.r.e.  That just goes with the whole I-don't-have-time territory.

Oh well.  I'm enjoying watching Ella get into things she shouldn't and then watching the look on her face when I take them away or move her to a different area.  I really think that if she could talk, she'd be like "bitch, do you know how long it took me to crawl over there?!"  She loves the dog dishes, for whatever reason.  Fortunately my dogs are pigs and don't leave any food behind, but they do leave plenty of water....

Where Does Life Go?

I feel like there are not enough hours in the day.  I get up at 0530, put the dogs out, warm up Ella's bottle, get the dogs inside & feed them, change Ella & dress her for the day, feed her, put her back down to sleep, shower & get ready for work, make my lunch & get Ella's bottles ready, drop her off at day care, go to work for 8 hours, pick Ella up, get home and get the dogs out, feed Ella, feed the dogs, play with Ella (& maybe squeeze some dinner in, if Ella lets me), bathtime for Ella, feed Ella and put her down for bed.  When she is safely in dreamland, I clean up the kitchen, make her bottles, maybe do some laundry if I feel motivated but most times I don't.  I'll plop my ass on the couch until 10pm, put the dogs out one last time, and then drag my butt into bed.  It's exhausting.  I love being a mom, but I'm tired. 

And Adam helps, when he's not working.  But he works the 6pm to 6am shift as a cop, so he's rarely home at night.  He's an amazing dad, though.  And he's a great husband.  He watched Ella for a few hours on Saturday morning so I was able to go to the mall and try and find an outfit for Ella's baptism next weekend.  I found one, and I'm kind of excited about it, but I wanted a dress and ended up with white pants and a sheer yellow floral top w/ lace cami underneath.  Oh well, it's cute nonetheless.

But back to my point.  There aren't enough hours in a day.  I feel like I never have a chance to get my house cleaned.  When the weekend rolls around, I spend it sleeping in til 9am (after I get up at 5:30 to put out the dogs and feed them and Ella and get her back to sleep) and then lazing around the living room until noon.  I need to get a better handle on things.  Any tips?  What are you guys doing to "keep your head above water," so to speak?

Shark Week

Andy Samberg - host of "Shark Week" on Discovery (pic on Discovery.com)

Who else watches this?  Come on, 'fess up.  It's your guilty pleasure, isn't it?  Well, it's one of mine.  This is pretty awesome.  I've been watching nothing but Discovery Channel (except for a 30 minute stint of news each night to know what's going on in the world) since Sunday night.  I've always loved sharks.  I'm fascinated by them.  When I was little, I had posters of them all over my room, we always visited the aquarium, were at the beach, etc.  I wanted to be a Marine Biologist.  I'm not sure what changed my mind, save for the fact that I suck at all things science.  If I could have become a Marine Biologist without the science, I'd probably be sharing really awesome pictures from underwater with you right now :)

I'm currently watching "Into the Shark Bite," which is where these two guys rig up different cameras to suit 5 different types of sharks to try and get them to bite the camera so they can analyze the view from the business end of the shark.  It's pretty freaking neat.  The one they just got showed the gills and "tastebuds" of the shark from the inside.  That's the closest I ever want to be to a shark's mouth! ;-)

So share with me - who else is watching Shark Week 2011?  I know I'm not the only one enjoying this!

Winner, Winner... Chicken Dinner!

I need to give a big thanks to a fellow January mamma, Amy from Tales From the Mothership... she was doing a Thirty One (www.mythirtyone.com) giveaway on her awesome blog and I was the lucky winner! :)  I scored a thermal tote with personalization!  I opted for the Black Parisian Pop pattern with raspberry monogramming!  I can't wait to see how awesome it looks when it arrives on my doorstep! 

Picture of the thermal tote in Black Parisian Pop

So a big thanks to Amy for offering the giveaway, and I'll post pics of the bag when it arrives! :)