Joules - Pocketful of Joules

Plan of Attack

We all know I like a good bargain. Well, I more than “like” a good bargain… I stalk something until I find the best deal and then I jump on it like a spear wielding warrior and claim it for my own!

Since I also happen to hate clutter, I work really hard to keep my bargain buying under control. It’s great to get a good deal, but if you don’t actually need the thing in the first place you didn’t REALLY get that good of a deal, did you?

With baby stuff, it is easy to become buried in baby clutter so I’m extra careful to not buy things that we don’t need. I was really lucky to receive a bunch of things handed down from friends and family and will be returning them or passing them on as soon as we’re finished using them.

Since Jack is a growing boy, whenever I see something cute in the clearance section I grab it up and put it in a drawer for later. This works especially well at Target, where I find adorable shirts for $1.50 each. However, at the rate my little butterball is growing I’m going to need more clothes stat.

So in that ‘totally great timing’ kind of way, I just heard about Tot Swap and can’t wait to go! In a nutshell, Tot Swap is like a children’s yard sale on crack. It’s a huge consignment event that is held in four different locations around Maryland. Of course, I missed the one closest to me, but there is one being held in Gaithersburg later this week.

I don’t have enough stuff to consign myself (and I’ll probably just end up giving most of my stuff to friends anyways), but I am super excited to go to the sale to stock up. Apparently they have everything from children’s clothing to outdoor play equipment, so I’m sure I’ll find everything I want and more.

Which brings us to the point of this post – if there is everything I want and more, how do I keep from going into a deal buying frenzy and bringing home a ton of crap that I don’t really need?

My plan is to write down a list of things that I ACTUALLY NEED for Jack and try to stick to it. I’m also taking my awesome friend, Lindsay to keep me in line. Of course, that will probably backfire and the two of us (with my baby strapped to my chest) will probably run around squealing about how cute the clothes are and buy 10 times what we need.

So, I’ll let you grade me. Here’s what I think I need:

Little boy clothes 6 month – 12 month sizes. Nothing bigger at this time, since I’m not entirely sure how quick Jack will grow.
An activity gym toy thingie to keep at my mom’s house (we have one at home that a friend gave us and he LOVES it).
Any type of cheap organizing boxes or baskets – I could totally use this in other areas of the house.
A few toys for the crawling-to-walking upright stage – maybe 1 – 2 for my house and 1 – 2 for my parent’s house.
Books. You can never have enough books!
Childproofing stuff – mainly outlet covers.

I’m going to the sale on Friday and I’m going to try really hard to stick to my list. I’ll report back and let you know how it goes.

I do have a task for you – am I missing anything?

Jack is currently 4ish months old, so any suggestions for “must haves” that I’ll need for a baby between the ages of 5 months – 1 year would be appreciated! Leave me a comment here, on my facebook page or tweet me @JoulesDellinger.

Living the Wonderstruck Way

I’ve mentioned Live Wonderstruck a couple times on my blog and if you haven’t visited the webpage, make it a point to click over there today. Not only is the website full of fabulousness on it’s own, I’m today’s featured interview!

As a little bonus incentive, there is some never-before-shared-online information that may cast an “Ah HA” on some of my previous blog postings.

Live Wonderstruck was created by S.M. Hutchins and “encourages readers to find contentment right where we are, to notice the beauty in their ordinary daily encounters, and to pay attention to what is truly important to them.”

What you might not have known is that I first met S.M. Hutchins in elementary school… back when she was just called Sherri and was totally down with playing Barbies in her super cool basement. We lost touch for awhile and found each other again about 5 years ago through Facebook (or was it MySpace..?). Our lives and our goofy husbands are surprisingly similar and I totally wish that she’d move back to Maryland so that we can see her and her amazing family more often.

So a great big “THANK YOU” to Sherri for the honor of being interviewed on her inspiring website, Live Wonderstruck.

For the occasion, I had to dig up one of my old birthday party pictures to share. I was 10 and it was my “punk party” — which was a bit more Madonna punk than ACTUAL punk (hence all the pink and side ponytails).

Have a Living Wonderstruck kinda day!

Working on my Fitness

As of this morning, I am exactly 3 months away from turning 35.

Yikes.

I don’t exactly feel old (except on nights that Jack wants to have an eating party at 3am), but I definitely thought I’d be in better shape by time I hit my mid 30’s.

I’ve never really been into the whole eating super healthy and working out thing. I had a period of time in my early 20’s where I actually went to the gym on a regular basis, so I was in pretty good shape. However, settling into ‘happy marriage’ mode means that some extra poundage has crept onto my body.

And as nice as it is to have an awesome husband who loves what he sees, sometimes I feel like this video is almost exactly my life (with one kid instead of three, of course):

He may see a saucy mama (who wears way too much eyeliner), but I see a frumpy mom running around like a mess!

Before the baby, every so often I’d decide to drop some weight by working out like a fiend and eating nothing but veggies and air to get some quick results. I’ve tried the Special K diet, the 4 day diet, the eating nothing yummy diet – and {surprise surprise} they don’t work long term. Wow, such a mind-blower, right!?

I didn’t really have an incentive to get in shape before I got pregnant because I was just going to gain pregnancy weight anyways. I actually dropped what I gained while carrying Jack pretty quickly without doing anything special and am now within about 5 pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight. However, it seems like everything shifted around a bit and I’m not so happy with the results.

Since I have my birthday coming up, in addition to a baby who will soon start eating actual food and emulating my eating habits – I feel like now is the time to make a permanent change.

My goal isn’t to get super skinny. I happen to like my curves; I’d just like them to be a little… less.

Like that Tim McGraw song, “My next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight. Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late.” I need to start making better choices instead of just having whatever I want. So, I’m using this opportunity with my quick three month deadline to push myself to get back into shape. Or at least, START getting back in shape.

No quick fixes this time. I’m combining a few different things together to make my own fitness plan. Which I’m calling Get in Shape, Girl (imagine that Chelsea Handler is saying it, that’s how it sounds in my head). And yes, for any kids of the 80’s I named it after the super awesome pink and purple workout program of my youth:

Now I kind of want a fun ribbon to spin around with and some weight bracelets… Anyways, moving on.

Here’s my 1-2-3-4-5 plan to being a hot mama:

Now that Jack is able to control his neck/head and I can use my jogging stroller, I’m going to get back into running. To keep me going, I signed up to do one of my favorite 5k races with a girlfriend in the Fall.

I work on an incredibly beautiful college campus and I’m going to start taking advantage of it by taking walks at lunch.

I’m joining a local group called Stroller Strides, which offers outdoor workouts WITH your baby in his stroller. From what I can tell, it’s a mix of walking, running, situps, pushups, etc. I’ll take my first class on Friday and can’t wait to try it out! If I like it, I’m going to go to classes on both Friday and Saturday mornings.

I picked up a copy of the Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 DVD – which has awesome reviews (including the super buff mom next to me at the Target that credited the DVD in part for her awesome body). The workout is only 30 minutes long, which is great to fit in when I don’t have time to suit up and go out for a full run.

I’m going to go back to eating a lot healthier. Not super-dooper-life-sucks-because-I-can’t-eat-anything-good healthy, just more fruits, veggies and whole grains. And less soda and sugary snacks. I’m not saying that I’m going to cut out all the “bad” food, just put it back into that “in moderation” column, instead of the “I’m hungry, get in my mouth NOW” column.

So, that’s my plan. My goal is to lose 15 pounds by September 19^th.

By telling you all, I’m hoping to hold myself accountable instead of sticking with a diet for a week or so and then reverting back to soda and French fries.

Wish me luck! Change is always hard, but I’m hoping that I’m able to make some permanent lifestyle and eating changes that stick with me for the long-term. Not only do I want to achieve “hot mama” status, I also want to set a good example for Jack to look up to.

And yes, I totally referenced three different songs in this blog post. If only my life was like that musical episode of Scrubs with everyone singing instead of speaking. Without the brain tumor though, that would be a drag.