Getting Older & Loving It! on Tuesdays with Taryn

Life really does zip right by. A few years ago, I remember crawling back in bed upon the dawning of my birthday, after everyone was gone to work and school, so tired and wore out, physically and emotionally that I intended to sleep a good portion of my day away.

This year, I got up yesterday morning, baked my cake, which is probably going to wreak havoc on me by the time this week is over, especially since I'm endeavoring not to "diet" but to make sustainable changes to my eating habits along with the adage that I should "Move More, Eat Less."

I had lost 11 pounds before my birthday, so here's hoping my birthday dinner (Mexican food, which I couldn't account for the calorie/fat count) and the slice of cake don't do me in completely.

I started laundry, did my yoga, ate a sensible breakfast and got all my email and messages out of the way and I actually felt spunky, which I haven't felt on my birthday in quite some time. Such a HUGE difference from how I felt 3 years ago. Later in the day I did a few low impact Everybody Dance exercises.

I received a little money from my parents, my grandmother, my in-laws. The mask above comes from my husband's dad and his wife to add to my mask collection in the living room. LOVE IT! So beautiful.

We've made plans to go out to eat with my mother-in-law and her husband later this month to combine my birthday and hers into a nice outing and she called me yesterday and talked for a while.

Hubby tried to surprise me- mostly because he kept asking me what I'd like and I kept telling him I didn't really know what I wanted. (I can be as bad as him when it comes to this sort of thing. He's SO hard to shop for, and I get frustrated when I can't find a nice gift for him for his birthday or Christmas.) I just don't see the point in spending money on things unless I really need it or want it desperately and I just don't have anything I feel is necessity or something I want so badly at the moment that I can't live without it.

They were showing a Maroon 5 commercial on television the other night because of an upcoming concert in Nashville and I told hubby, "There, that's what I want."

He said I should have said something sooner.

I said, "No, that's what I want. I want Adam Levine."

He denied me that gift and I pouted momentarily. ;)

He did get me a small pot of Rieger Begonias and a latte mug with a sock puppy (I'm not a fan of the monkeys, but a puppy is all right.) Bless him, he accidentally dropped the bag when he got home and broke the cup. {shaking my head} It's the thought that counts and I glued it back together and told him I could use it for an ink pen mug since I don't really drink a lot of coffee or cocoa or hot tea from a cup that big anyway.

As for my birthday money, I am contemplating the idea of an outfit or two for my yoga. The clothes I have aren't exactly right for it and not always comfortable, so that's a thought. Or maybe a new mat. My other one is showing some wear and tear or maybe a new yoga DVD. I will have to think on it for a while longer.

I was really surprised at how happy I was though and how good I feel to be at this 30-something place, a place I used to think was SO OLD. I guess I could be older, but even then it's all a frame of mind, I do believe. Our bodies might age, but our hearts and minds don't have to. I think that's part of the secret to a long life- positive attitudes and a willingness and desire to stay young at heart.

My daughter reminds me of this on a daily basis and yesterday she surprised me with a homemade birthday card, which she worked on at school and then had her teachers, classmates, even kids on the bus coming home, SIGN it to wish me a happy birthday. She even had my husband and stepson sign it too before she gave it to me.

And here I'd been shocked and overwhelmed with emotions all day because I had so many friends and family wishing me "Happy Birthday" on Facebook. For it's faults, FB is a wonderful place to be on your birthday. The amount of friends who left me comments yesterday just floored me and I was left with a multitude of smiles, a few tears and a heart full of gratitude because I felt just about as special as anyone can.

All in all, yesterday was probably one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time, not for gifts, but just acknowledgement and appreciation for my family and my friendships. I truly am blessed to know so many wonderful people and that makes getting older a much easier weight to bear. Thanks Bunches to everyone!

Have a GREAT Tuesday!

One Blessed Momma~ Tuesdays with Taryn

This week is busy busy. Today is my stepson's 14th birthday. My daughter will be 10 two days from now and I find myself trying to pull back a little, to find balance because life seems to be zipping by- especially this month and the rest of this year.

It seems like it was only yesterday that I moved here, eager to begin my new life with the man I now call my husband, and in that move, I also became a step-mom to a little 2 1/2 year old boy with a big smile and a quiet disposition. He loved his "Doodle Doo" (as he couldn't pronounce Scooby-Doo) and because he also couldn't pronounce my name, he took to calling me "Yoohoo." It's a label I will take with me till my dying day. He STILL calls me Yoohoo and in some ways, I hope he always does.

I can hardly imagine that he's nearly an adult....already. It doesn't seem possible, but here we are, standing at that precipice, knowing we're going to have to let him take flight one of these days. I miss my little man who would fall asleep in my lap or on the couch beside me, and sometimes even under the coffee table. I still remember the fights over lunch and the grumpy refusals at nap time until he wore himself down. I remember changing bedsheets every morning as we struggled to learn to bed-training and rocking his feverish body back to sleep when he was sick or after he awoke from a nightmare and singing to him low and sweet.

I remember many a night sitting at the kitchen table helping him learn his letters and words in kindergarten and the thrill I feel that all the reading I did with him when he was little has turned him into the avid reader he is nowadays. (I know for a fact that my hubby didn't spend a lot of time reading with him and from what my stepson has told me, his mom hardly kept children's books at her house for him)...He currently reads at an adult level in 8th grade and he's already read all the Harry Potter books, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books. He loves Christopher Paolini's Inheritance series, Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and Brian Jacques' Redwall series.

I've said it for years now, but I'll say it again~ He might not have been mine by birth, but he is mine by heart and I love him dearly. 

And then we have my daughter. Ten years have never been so long and so short at the same time. She's my precious gift, my brown-eyed girl, who looks so much like her father, there's no way he can deny her and as far as I'm concerned, she's one of the prettiest things I've ever seen on the planet (but then I'm biased.)

Pregnancy wasn't the highlight of my life- had a lot of nausea, etc, but the resulting bundle of bouncing baby girl was my reward. She's spunky and sharp as a tack. She excels in school and loves it (a blessing). She works hard, and also loves to read, but then why wouldn't she? The hours of reading I've put in for both the kids isn't even a drop in the bucket, from There's a Monster at the End of This Book to Turtle Time and The Story of May, my 10 year old 4th grader reads at a 6th, nearly 7th grade level.

Currently she's reading one of the Harry Potter books for her AR (Accelerated Reading) at school. Some of her favorites are the Ramona Quimby, Ivy & Bean, The Magic Half and The Spelling B series and a couple of her most recent favorites were Karen Kepplewhite is the World's Best Kisser and Dancing Shoes. She's getting Ballet Shoes in her stocking this year (The book, not the shoes. The one mentioned in You've Got Mail). I started her early though on classics like A Little Princess, Anne of Green Gables and The Secret Garden.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some of her other favorites, but these are ones that I believe have shaped her as a reader. (If only for the reason that she has had me reread them to her, if she hasn't reread them on her own.)

She's a lazy bones on school mornings, but on weekends, her crooked sleepy smile brings me pure joy and even though she tried to smother me with love sometimes, I wouldn't trade her for anything. She's artistic and loves music, has a real stubborn streak (though I'm torn who she gets that from- me or Daddy). Her stubbornness though isn't always a bad thing- she's braver and more outgoing than I ever was growing up. She auditioned for Chorus and got in and she's also in the Gifted and Talented program at school, too.

I'm one blessed Momma to have two wonderful babies.