with water, in the middle of nowhere

Over the course of my nearly-thirty years, I have taken a lot of trips to Myrtle Beach, SC.  If you've ever been to Myrtle, you know that it is an absolute carnival of overindulgence.  Too many shops, too many amusement parks, too many go-kart and laser tag places, too much putt-putt, too many restaurants (well, maybe not-- there's still always a line!), too many cars, and way too many people. 

I've also been to other beaches, sure, but they all seem to have way too much.  Maybe that's because I always go with my mother, and she's the absolute Queen of Too Much. 

There was this one time, though, that she let someone else choose the location and we stayed in a little beach condo on the Outer Banks.  That was heavenly.  There was nowhere near too much.  There were maybe four or five other families on our stretch of beach.  Of course, we've never been back.

But, now that I am nearly thirty, it might at some point be time for my husband and me to start choosing our vacation locations.  Just maybe.  What do you think? 

So, inspired by Mama Kat's Writing Prompts, I started thinking about what my ideal vacation home would look like. 

And, then I realized that I don't even care what the actual house looks like.  It should be small, as my family isn't that big.  It should be Ocean Front, with not many other houses around.  It should have a little walkway out to the beach (preferably a raised deck so that we wouldn't encounter snakes or other creepy-crawlies as we traversed the dunes), and it would be comfortable.  A kitchen and three bedrooms would be a must, and a porch with rocking chairs and a swing, too.  But that's it.  I'm not that picky.  I just want quiet relaxation, that's all.

rainbow sprite

I really had to force myself to go to the gym today.  Really.  My Biggest Loser Roanoke final weigh in is this coming Saturday and I'm just having a really tough (mental) time of it.  You see, I'm not trying to make excuses here, but it is so easy to fall back into them.

There's no way I can win.

I haven't worked hard enough.

I had pneumonia in the middle of the competition, for heaven's sake!

The power went out, so I couldn't meet with my trainer that one week.

My trainer took me off heavy weights and I haven't lost nearly as much sense.

I haven't been drinking enough water.

Maybe I drank too much water.

I shouldn't have thought I could win anyway.

And on, and on, and on some more.

But, you know what?  So what if I don't win this measly competition.  Just participating in it has given me the results I was seeking.  I am 100 times more active now than I was when I first signed up for it back in April.  That, in itself, spells victory.

Where was I?  That's right, back to the gym this morning.  I truly had to drag my butt there.  My plan was to go to the lunchtime cycle class, which in itself presents challenges with an early lunch and so forth.  But, I made it with five minutes to spare.

Right away, I knew I was in for a treat.  The instructor was this cute little sprite of a thing wearing neon workout gear with peaced-out knee socks and a tiny lime green bow in her pixie cut.  Oh, and was she energetic!  There were only two other people in the class, both of whom were older men, which is kind of funny, but whatever.

Upon opening the class she announced it was going to be a "bad girl sort of a day."  Oh, was it fun!  From a virginal warm-up (courtesy of Madonna), through Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, and Ke$ha (did I spell that right?), the ride was fantastic.  We had so.much.fun.  The instructor's energy was infectious as she sang along with the music and introduced me to "jumps."  Honestly?  I can't wait to go back.  THAT'S what I like! 

So, so what.  I'm not going to win the competition on Saturday.  There's no way.  But, my body is changing shape.  My clothes are loose (too loose).  I have more energy.  Oh, and I've found out that I just have one chin.  That's awesome!

ikea love

Last weekend, I took a long, long road trip to visit with some fantastic friends in Delaware.  More about that later.  On the way home, I planned a pit stop at one of the Ikea stores in Baltimore.  I was a first-timer and boy, was I enthralled! 

There were some really awesome things there and they were all SUPER cheap.  Like, Walmart cheap, but much nicer-looking, and seemingly better quality, too.  How do they do it?  One will never know. 

Katie chose to stay with me, rather than go to their kiddie corral, but isn't it so great that they have a staffed play area for children?  And, it was decorated to the hilt, too!

So, off we went, taking a big yellow bag to fill on our journey through the maze of home goods.  I found a table/organizer/thingie that I really want to organize all the homeschooling junk in the kitchen, but thought I'd better table that purchase until after I'd spoken with Mr. Hull.  Isn't it fabulous, though?  It is hip-high and big enough for all our stuff, with project-drying space along the top.  Maybe we can look forward to bringing it home when we visit Atlanta and Charlotte in a few weeks.

But, I did actually buy some super fun things. 

Katie picked these out.  The elephant is a cover for one of those flat-sided exercise balance balls.  I thought the ball was included because I apparently can't read Swedish, but that's fine.  I bought the ball on ebay when I got home so we'll actually have the whole thing set up in about a week.  They had them out to play with in the store and she had so much fun bouncing and flopping on it that, for what I thought was $15, it was a no-brainer.  The utensil set was actually on sale for a dollar or two, and the stuff is really heavy duty, so I don't anticipate that the dishwasher will melt these.  We had been running really low on forks and spoons for her, so this well help a lot.

I bought this nifty chalkboard for our homeschool.  I'm thinking I will hang chore cards from the hooks and use the caddy area for... something.  I had wanted to paint a chalkboard on a big wall in the kitchen (as in, paint the whole wall), but Mr Hull nixed that idea, so this will work instead.  Again, only $15.  Super!

 

Finally, just for me, a set of four bird placemats.  I thought this package contained one thick, pliable cutting board.  However, again, I don't speak Swedish, so I didn't know.  Perhaps the fact that there were other placemats  pretty close by should have clued me in.  Oh well.  I like them.  And, the fishy ice cube tray.  I think I'm going to use it mostly for jello-jigglers though.  Fun!

I must add, when I was searching for these photos, I found a lot of this stuff on ebay for much more than I paid for it.  Do I see a lucrative business opportunity in the future?  Perhaps if I lived closer to an ikea.  However, I don't think the gas would pay for itself.  Oh well.  Another day.