Having two full weeks off work has been nothing short of glorious.
It always is, of course, and makes having to return that much harder.
Lucky for me (and the rest of the Midwest), these bone-chilling,
record-breaking temperatures have granted me one more day off. I'm not a
fan of the cold, but I will gladly compromise for a day off of work.
Especially an inservice day that {supposedly} doesn't count against our
four built-in snowdays. Horray!
I had a number of
things I wanted to accomplish over break and I'm feeling rather good
about accomplishing most to all of them. And because I like to make
lists just to check things off, it calls for a blog post. :)
My Winter Break Goals:
1. Transfer iPhone photos to laptop.
I
had nearly 3000 pictures on my iPhone. Not 30, not 300...3000. (I
might have a problem.) Therefore, I was never able to download the
latest operating system because I didn't have enough available space. I
transferred each and every photo to our laptop and then deleted 1500 of
them from my iPhone. I nearly had a nervous breakdown in the process
of "deleting" all these pictures, but accomplished the goal. Which
leads me to the next one...
2. Download iOS7.
Three
plus months after it was released, my phone is finally up-to-date with
Apple's latest operating system. And I must say, I'm loving {almost}
everything about it! It's new, it's fresh, it's fast. I finally feel
hip with the iPhone world again.
3. Clean up laptop: transfer photos to external hard drive & delete old files.
Currently, there are over 6000 photos on our laptop. And that's
after
I moved many of them (three years worth?) to the external hard drive.
It's amazing how deep cleaning a computer gives you the same feeling as
deep cleaning a house.
4. Paint Brantley's big boy room.
This
was "my" goal, even though the hubs would be the one to do the actual
painting. Luckily, he was on board and even gave up watching football
on New Year's Day to change the wall color from one shade of blue to
another. I love how it turned out!
5. Assemble the new crib.
Again,
"my" goal, but not my job. Once the walls were finished, the hubs was
motivated to finish the entire room in record time. He didn't have to
twist my arm. I love a good home improvement (or redecorating)
project!
6. Get Brantley's haircut.
In
early December, Craig sent me an email at work that read "I think we
need to get Brantley's hair cut. It's just uneven in spots and is hard
to manage in the mornings." After laughing out loud over the "hard to
manage" part, I agreed to make an appointment. I did, for last
Thursday, and then as the appointment neared, I started having second
thoughts. Sure, some days his hair seemed long--long enough for a
cut--but other days, I was convinced the stylist would laugh at us for
bringing him in. So I cancelled. But now, just three days later, I'm
kicking myself for cancelling because it seems rather long again.
7. Figure out how to get Brantley to eat veggies.
This
goal seems to be more of a magic trick. And I'm not sure it was truly
accomplished. But I did make some muffins with carrots and squash in
them, and he likes them, so I'm going to consider it a success! Thanks
for the recipe, Rachel!
8. List and sell (or donate) some old clothing/shoes.
I'm in this JoCo Mom's Facebook group.
After cleaning our guest bedroom and moving things to the basement, we
came across some stuff to sell. I finally had a chance to take and post
some pictures of the items and have made $50ish easy dollars from doing
so!
There were also a number of things not on my "list", but things I'm happy were accomplished nonetheless!
1. Magnet board in our kitchen.
Brantley
got some letter and number magnets for Christmas. We copied some
friends and hung a drip pan in our kitchen for Brantley to stick these
magnets to.
2. Start/finish Brantley's "big boy" room and transition him to sleep there.
This
turned out to be a whirlwind of a project! When the hubs and I get
going on something, we never like to leave it unfinished. So, in about
three days worth, Brantley's new room was started and {nearly} finished
and he's officially moved in. This also spawned a couple of DIY
projects...
It also leaves us with an empty nursery for a few months.
3. I bought a Cricut.
Yes,
this is worth posting about! I used my Christmas money to buy a used
Cricut and got a steal of a deal! It probably helped that I bought it
from my cousin's mother-in-law.
4. Bought some new maternity pants.
I was on an online search for new jeans for Brantley when I came across a couple maternity deals at Old Navy that I just couldn't pass up. Two new pairs of pants that are technically jeans, but could also, paired with a nice top, pass as nice work pants. It's amazing how much more comfortable they are than the jeggings I was squeezing into!
5. Lots of around-town fun with Brantley.
Brantley
is finally the age where we can venture out and enjoy some of the kiddo
activities around town. Among our new, winter break experiences:
Legoland, Cosmic Jump, Chuck E. Cheese, and Monkey Bizness! I've said
it once, and I'll say it again...having a kid is so much fun because you
get to act like one all over again! I'm pretty sure I was the most
excited one in the bunch for our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese!
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| Chuck E. Cheese |
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| Chuck E. Cheese |
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| Chuck E. Cheese |
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| Monkey Bizness |
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| Monkey Bizness |
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| Legoland |
6. Sleep in.
Not exactly on your "list" when you have a 1-year old, but for some reason, our 1-year old decided to sleep past 8am nearly every day of break! He's going to be in for a rude awakening come Tuesday. As is his Mama...
7. Extra play time with this handsome boy.
It's finally dawning on me that these are the last few months Brantley will spend as an only child. The center-of-attention, always-focused-on only child. And making me a bit sad. So of course, I enjoyed the extra time with him.
And
that is how I spent my winter break. I'm so thankful for a job that allows me time off around the holidays to relax, rejuvenate, and spend some extra time at home. Not exactly looking forward to
returning to the daily grind on Tuesday, but I am looking forward to my next day off - only two weeks to go!
