Sunday, November 30, 2014

Car Decals and Feminism

I feel like I should start this post off by saying, "you know what really grinds my gears?"
This is just a really glorified rant that I would normally post to Facebook because that's how people deal with frustration these days. But hey, that's the way this cookie is going to crumble today. 
A few weeks ago I saw something that really irked me and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I was on my way back from lunch to the office and a woman's car in front of me had a vanity plate that read "OILBOO"
I'm thinking, "WTF is an oilboo?"
Oh wait. Then I see the humongous decal on the back window. It was hot pink and read, "OIL FIELD WIFEY" and was surrounded by flowers or hearts or something. 
Oilboo as in "Oil-boo", like "boo" as a pet name you give your spouse. Okay then. So this woman is extremely proud that her husband is working in the oil fields.

Being in the military I see a lot of women with those stickers on their car saying how proud they are to be an "army wife" or something like that. I get it and I'm not trying to say they shouldn't put those stickers on their car or be proud of their spouse, but lets be real here. My husband doesn't have an "army husband" sticker on his car. They don't sell those stickers at the Exchange. They exist but I've never seen one on a car. EVER. 


You know why that is? It's certainly not for a lack of female service members! It's because we are taught that the husbands job is more important than the wife's job. We are taught that a woman is defined by her husbands career because she will never have a job as good or as important. 


It's normal to be proud of your spouse and their job. It's also much more of a "lifestyle" to be in the military, but it's really no different from most other jobs. There are tons of jobs where one spouse is gone for long periods. There are tons of jobs that require you to move every few years. There are tons of jobs that are dangerous and you could end up getting killed while doing it.


Until I see a sticker that says, "I'm proud of my SAHM" just as often as a "Proud Army Wife" sticker I will maintain that they are completely and totally sexist.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Capsule Wardrobe Progress Update



So guys, I lied. I like to you and I lied to myself.

Twice I have gone through my closet in an attempt to rid myself of anything I haven't worn so I can make space for new clothes. I've decided to give the "Capsule Wardrobe" a shot, which means going through everything and keeping only the things I love. The first time I thought I had done a good job. There were still some clothes in there that didn't fit the season. Still some maternity clothes that I might need later on. It wasn't good enough though, so I went through it again.

The second time I said, "Not joking around this time! No keeping any 'maybes' or things I sorta like. Get rid of it if I don't love it."

The second time I thought I really had it. I thought I had a fairly clean closet. Turns out that wasn't true. I woke up yesterday morning after a nice Thanksgiving-dinner-pumpkin-pie-induced snooze and looked at my closet, spilling out with clothes I could tell I wasn't planning on wearing again anytime soon. So while the rest of America went out to shop the sales and acquire new things, I stayed in a purged my closet for the third time. Wardrobe Clean Out Phase 3 commenced.

I filled donation bags with all those "maybes" and "kinda likes" and packed away anything I thought I might want next spring into space bags. I packed up my maternity clothes. I even separated out my lounge clothes and workout clothes so I could count the actual items that would be going into my capsule. I went deeper into the closet and pulled out out old duffle bags containing winter coats I don't wear anymore and even old bed sheets and other random things I had forgotten about. I went into the hall closet and took out shoes and old flip flops and threw them into the donation bags.

Six bags! Six donation bags full of stuff. This doesn't count the stuff I've sold on Ebay, things that went into the trash and things that are still lurking around. There is a box full of crap in the bedroom that has been there since we moved in (we don't have bedroom furniture yet so it kinda turned into a space to pile stuff on top of) and I still have a bunch of things I want to sell.

I feel so much better, guys! I feel like a burden has been lifted off of me. I no longer have a closet full of stuff I don't even like. Some of my keepers are honestly take-it-or-leave-it, but I can't get rid of everything or I'd be naked! Right now I have a total of 18 pieces of clothing for rotation.

1 grey cardigan sweater
2 pairs of skinny jeans, one dark and one light
1 pair of black leggings
2 blouses
1 dolmen sleeve hounds-tooth sweater
1 grey striped tank top
2 t-shirts, one grey and one black
2 fitted tees, one grey stripes and one grey leopard print
1 green winter coat
1 hooded cape
1 pair grey converse
1 pair black boots
1 pair moccasins
1 pair brown boots

My lounge clothes/pajamas have been sized down to a pair of boxers, yoga pants, pajama pants and a couple of tees and tanks that I can wear with them. My workout clothes are a minimal two tops, a workout hoodie and a pair of black capris. I have some sentimental items like a few pieces of my grandmothers clothes, a college t-shirt from my dad and my old sorority letters, but I think those will just get packed away for now.

This leaves me with a ton of room for new clothes! The max number I'm going for is 37 items.

This means I can shop for the following number of items:

5 pairs of shoes
2 jackets/coats
5 bottoms
7 tops

I plan on shopping in 6 month increments rather than the "seasonal" capsule like lots of people do. I don't have money for that and I don't see a big need to replace items when there isn't too big of a difference between fall/winter and spring/summer. All I have to do it layer up or down. Not to mention it's taken me practically a month just to start out my first capsule so by the time I finish it will be a new season already!

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Ellie Nova Ottati - 7 Months!


I totally fail this month because her monthly update is 9 days late. This week was a busy one. The following months are going to be pretty crazy around here so I'm hoping I can keep up!

Growing? She is 15 pounds and has 7 teeth! Four on top and three on the bottom.

New and Exciting? She can get up on her knees and rock back and fourth. I think she might start crawling backwards soon. She loves to roll all over the place and still likes to hold herself up with her arms most of the time. She can say "mama" now, though it's more like "mamamamamaaaaa" which I don't think qualifies as saying an actual word. Her dad is still jealous though.

Loves? She seems to enjoy her green beans and sitting in her high chair. She bangs her hand on the tray like a drum and throws things on the ground. For some reason she loves to roll under the bureau in the living room to kick it. It must be a blast because she is always going for it. She also loves my phone. She will do everything she can to grab it away from me, look at it, and then throw it on the ground. 

Hates? She hates getting her mouth wiped off while she eats her baby food. I don't know why but she starts crying every time. She must like getting messy! Obviously, as the picture illustrates, she does not like to stay in one place. 

Looking Forward to? When she learns to crawl. Or maybe I shouldn't be looking forward to that?


Saturday, November 15, 2014

I Hate Clothes Shopping



I've been working on my 29 before 30 goals and one of them is to get myself a new wardrobe. I cleaned out my closet and started selling a bunch of stuff on Ebay, which takes a little time, but seems to be slowly building up a nice little fund for new clothes. I've been obsessively "window shopping" on the internet (or would you call it screen shopping? eh...) and I've come to the conclusion that I hate buying clothes.

Can I be considered a girl if I hate clothes shopping? Ok, so hate is a strong word. I mean, I don't despise clothes shopping. It's not like I would rather be at the dentist or something. It's always fun to buy yourself new clothes. It's just so stressful! I'm not a fashion person. I don't "style" my outfits or call individual clothing items "pieces." After clicking away and wish-listing things on a half a dozen websites I came to the conclusion that I'm only going to purchase things that are black, white, grey or shades of brown. This is because I can't for the life of me figure out how to combine colors in outfits. One minute I look in my cart and I've got three red things and I don't even like red that much. The next minute I've got burgundy socks, a yellow blouse and a black skirt which I KNOW aren't going to go together. This doesn't even take into account jackets and purses and shoes that all have to match. 

Oh yeah, and then there is money. Clothes are expensive, people! I don't want to buy junk from Forever 21 anymore just to save money and have them fall apart in a couple months. I'm too old for that shit. When I spend my money on clothes I need to make it count.

OH YEAH, and another thing: time. When I'm back to being civilian and going to school again (I got accepted to my school by the way!) I'm going to have to wake up early to get Ellie to daycare.
Daycare starts at 7.
Ugh.
So theoretically I'm going to be waking up around 5 to get ready, eat breakfast and get the baby ready by 6:30 so I can make the half hour drive. This doesn't count snow removal time from the car or defrosting-the-window times. Am I really going to wake up and put together a multi-layered outfit with a skirt, tights, knee socks, boots, a blouse, a cardigan, a scarf, a fashionable jacket and a hat? 
NO.
I can tell you with certainty that will not happen. 
What will happen will look like this: I wake up at 5. I am tired a cranky and cold. I will put on skinny jeans and the first decent looking t-shirt I can find. I will put on makeup and my hair in a bun if it hasn't been straightened already the night before. I will put on the warmest coat I own (aka: Not fashionable. Because being warm means looking like a marshmallow.) That will be that.

So what the heck do I do with all this?
My fashion idols are the likes of The Clothes Horse and The Dainty Squid. But this will never be my fashion destiny. So I've switched gears and tried to take some inspiration from Caroline's blog Un-fancy and her "Capsule Wardrobe" idea. 
Holy moley, guys. There is even a downloadable Wardrobe Planner. I don't consider myself  big "planner" but I AM a Virgo and Virgos like to have things organized. This might be my saving grace. She may become my clothing sensei and I will be that little grasshopper kid.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

6 Month Essentials!

I took a look at my 1 month baby essentials post and realized how much things have changed in six months! So many things I needed back then are almost all irrelevant these days, so thought I would do a little updated  baby essentials list now that Ellie is six months old (Ok, she's actually almost 7 months, but that's beside the point.)


1. Blames Ikea High Chair - This high chair is awesome. It looks great and blends in with the rest of the decor without looking like "baby furniture"

2. Pyttig Padding for High Chair - This is a pad for the high chair that you put in if the baby can't sit up by themselves yet. I love the stripes! It was hard to blow up but so inexpensive and looks great.

3. Plufsig Folding Gym Mat - This was a life saver! We had a big puzzle floor mat out before for Ellie to play on and it looked horrible. It wasn't easy to clean and the puzzle pieces fell out of place all the time when I tried to move it. This mat is amazing. The ombre colors look great, it's easy to clean and folds up super fast. This way we can have our living room back when Ellie isn't playing and we don't have to walk around a big ugly puzzle piece mat.

4. Comotomo Bottle - If you've never seen this bottle before, just know it's very squishy! It's got a wide mouth that's easy to clean (no more shoving a bottle brush in) and you don't have to buy those drop-in liners because the bottle itself is made of soft silicone that "deflates" as the baby sucks the milk out. Is that the right word? "Deflate"?

5. Little Owls Night Book - This is the cutest book! We haven't gotten a bedtime story time down yet but we hope to soon. There just aren't enough hours in the day, you know?

6. 4moms Rock-a-Roo - Nap time central. When she is cranky and tired just a few minutes in this baby and she is out! I love the toy mobile that she can pull down to play with. I haven't used the speakers in it very often but it's nice to have if your baby likes white noise or music to sleep to. She's actually getting a little big for this now since she can climb out of it when she isn't sleepy, but when she's tired it's our #1 life saver.

7. Best Bottoms Covers - After trying out six different brands of diaper covers we found the Best Bottoms are the best. They never get soaked through and we can use them for up to two days sometimes! The hedgehog print is adorable too :) I've got my eye on the tie dye one too.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Halloween Adventures

We had a fun Halloween in Lake Charles. One of my bosses who volunteers there watched Ellie for us while we went through a haunted ship. It was pretty scary! I screamed ALOT. Joe and I were in a group with three others, two were 13 or so, and they begged us to go first because they were scared. My reaction? NO WAY. 
It makes me wonder what my reaction would be if there were a zombie apocalypse and two young teenagers needed me to kill a zombie to save them... NOPE! Sorry kids, you're on your own! 


Joe was Buckethead. Creepy, huh?



I went as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark! Ellie was my black kitty.


We had a fun night!
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