My quilt picture showed up on Explore on Flickr. This is very exciting for me. I told my husband and he was like, “great honey, what’s that?” I told my friend Stephanie and she was like, “what!? that’s awesome!”

Stephanie always knows just what to say.

We’re headed to visit my father-in-law tomorrow. Should be a fun trip. They’ve recently purchased a new home near South Padre. My husband is especially excited because it’s on a golf course that has gps-enabled golf carts. Big whoop, right? Well, my in-laws don’t even play golf. I’m just happy that my son gets to spend some good time with his grandparents.

I finished the bird wall-hanging, it’s in the dryer. I’ll post a pic when it’s pressed.

My kid is doing this new high-pitched whine when he’s mad. A-NOY-ING. He’s totally playing me. He knows it gets my attention, so he does it for everything. Here’s my plan: ignore it. It’s proving difficult. Even when we’re playing and he has my full attention, he does it when somethings wrong (booger in his nose, can’t get the trains to link up, train tracks came apart…life’s tragedies.)

Anyway, I better get packing. We’ve got an early flight tomorrow. I want to make sure I have all the bustiers. Just kidding. I meant diapers. Good thing we’ve got nice new luggage!

Recently, on Bill Maher’s New Rules, he mentioned that adults shouldn’t wear crocs. I personally have nothing against the shoes, but I don’t really like the way they look. I’ve considered them lots of times because I have foot problems, but I just can’t ever bring myself to actually purchase them.

Anyway, his point was about how Americans are getting more and more casual, aiming for the final outcome of wearing nothing but a diaper in public - the ultimate in casual and comfortable. Although, I would be very uncomfortable wearing only a diaper anywhere. But we get his point, right?

How much are we going to dress down? I am particularly guilty of casual dressing. My basic uniform consists of jeans and a black shirt. Sometimes a black cardigan, but usually a black hoodie. I also enjoy my black converse. I have other clothes, nice clothes even. But as a work-at-home-mom, I don’t have much cause to wear them.

Then I go to albertson’s in my uniform, and I see other mom’s with curled hair, full make-up and very cute outfits. Granted, they’re not usually shopping from my normal selection of plus size clothing, but even that’s no excuse. There are tons of cute options for my size 16/18 booty. In fact, I even own some.

What it really boils down to is effort, right? My hair is unruly and difficult, so I’m going to skip that part for another blog post, but everything else is too easy. A little mascara and lip gloss, actually putting in earrings, trading in my hoodie for a nicer sweater. That’s easy, right?

Well, yesterday, I did those things. I put on a button down white shirt and a nice sweater. (I like preppy clothes.) I put on mascara. I wore a belt instead of letting my pants droop down all the time. I put on cute stripey socks.

I really felt a lot better about everything. Now if I could just get my big ass to the gym!

I haven’t given a fitness update in sometime - mostly because it’s depressing. I had to stop going to the gym for a couple weeks because the baby was sick and on two different rounds of antibiotics. I didn’t want him in the daycare, so we walked and jogged around the neighborhood. It’s crazy how much harder jogging with the jogger is than jogging on a treadmill. One problem is that my jogger lists to the left, so I constantly have to pick up the front end and turn us. Pain in the butt. But I also think it’s the sun, the asphalt, the Santa Ana winds, my bad attitude, etc.

So anyway, back to the point. I’ve been going to the gym a little less regularly (3-4 times per week vs. 6-7), and I try to go when my husband can watch the baby, so he doesn’t keep getting sick from the gym daycare. Even with all these interruptions, my jogging is improving, and I’m up to two miles straight (at 5.0 speed) on the treadmill! The Airborne Ranger cadences on my iPod truly make all the difference.

To keep up the good work, I’ve stopped weighing myself. I plan to weigh in once a month, and that’s it. I’m also hoping to do a 5k in May - something to shoot for. And if I walk, I walk, but I’m still healthier. Who cares if my butt is as big as ever, as long as my heart can sustain it?