I am a planner.  I like to have everything planned ahead of time and scheduled just so.  When we take a vacation I like to plan each day out with where we will be going and what we will be doing.  Rich on the other hand is a spur of the moment type of person.  He’s a “hey, let’s go to Disney World tomorrow” type of a person.  (We don’t live anywhere near Disney World, by the way).  I, on the other hand, am a “let’s plan a trip to Disney World for next year so that I have time to research every little detail before we go” type of person.

So last Saturday morning when Rich said, “Let’s go to the zoo this afternoon” I said, “No way, we can’t go to the zoo today.  When are we going to do that?  It’s not in my plans.” 

Rich said, “We can go this afternoon.”

To which I responded, “This is why everything must be planned ahead of time.  I am going grocery shopping this morning.  Then I need to feed Hailey her lunch and then she has to go down for her nap at 1pm.  After her nap (which usually goes until about 3-3:30-pm) I must feed her a snack and then go to Target.  Then I will be hurrying home to get dinner ready.  The zoo closes at 5pm.  How in the world will we have time to go to the zoo?  If you had told me ahead of time that you wanted to go to the zoo we could have gone this morning.”

I went to get ready to the grocery store.  I started thinking about how much Hailey would love a trip to the zoo, she thinks animals are fantastic.  I thought if her nap was cut short so we could go that afternoon it wouldn’t really be all that terrible. 

So, guess what I did?  I changed my plans, at the last minute.  And I only twitched a little bit. 

I got the grocery shopping done.  Rich fed Hailey an early lunch and put her down for an early nap.  When she got up we went to the zoo.  We had a blast. 

After the zoo we all went to Target and got home in time for me to fix dinner and still eat at a reasonable hour.

Imagine that.  Last minute plans and things still went smoothly.  Who knew?

I am happily living my dream right now.  Ever since I can remember I have wanted to one day have a baby and to be able to stay home with my baby.  So, being a stay at home mom to Hailey is a dream come true. 

Of course when I was dreaming of being a stay at home mom I never realized how much work it would be.  That picture over there on the left?  No- my closet didn’t throw up.  And no, I didn’t just return from a trip that required lots of clothes.  That’s just the clean laundry I have been avoiding.  I don’t know why I hate folding laundry so much.  But, I always put it off until it piles to the ceiling. 

For some reason before I was actually a stay at home mom I had these visions of my baby sitting quietly and playing while I worked on my scrapbooking and cross stitching.  Of course, reality set in very soon after I brought my little bundle home from the hospital and I’ve learned that being a stay at home mom is the hardest job I’ve ever had. 

I have a shirt that perfectly describes my life.  I would model it for you because I love it so much, but that will have to wait until I reach my goal weight.  But, this picture over here on the right- that is what is on my shirt that I got from LTDChix.  The laundry shirt is perfect for me.  But there are lots of other choices and I’m sure you can find one that would describe your life.  LTDChix has choices for working moms, minivan driving moms, moms who cook, moms who clean, and so much more.  I personally love my shirt- it’s the perfect choice for me as it seems my piles of laundry are never done.

But while being a mom is the hardest job I’ve ever had, it’s also the most rewarding job I’ve ever had.  The smiles and giggles and hugs and kisses that I get from Hailey make it all well worth it.  So, even though my life isn’t exactly as I dreamed it would be, I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Remember last week during Meme Monday when I said that no one had tagged me the week before?  Well, apparently you all took that as invitation to tag me like crazy.  Because since then I have been tagged about 428 times.  Or maybe just six times.  But still, that’s a lot.

So, rather than overwhelm everyone on Monday with way too many memes, I decided to post one today.  Besides, I didn’t have anything else to post.

I was tagged by Mama Meji for this meme meant to help us to get to know our bloggy friends better.  And if you actually read all of this, you will know more about me than you ever wanted to know!  So, here we go:

Copy this entire list of questions and change all the answers so that they apply to you.
Then tag and pass it along to other blogging friends. Let’s see how well we can get to know one another!

1. What is your occupation? Stay at home mommy
2. What color are your socks right now? I don’t have any on
3. What are you listening to right now? Seinfeld is on TV.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream. Bad, bad Melanie.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes, my first car was a stick shift.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Light blue
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Receptionist at a doctor’s office
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Absolutely!
9. Favorite drink? Chocolate milk
10. What is your favorite sport to watch? Football
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? I have had highlights, but I have never actually dyed all of my hair.
12. Pets? My dog, Dottie.
13. Favorite food? Just one? Rich’s homemade pizza.
14. Last movie you watched? The Bucket List (it was excellent!)
15. Favorite Day of the year? Probably Thanksgiving- what’s better than family and food?
16. What do you do to vent anger? Possibly cry or maybe eat
17. What was your favorite toy as a child? Since I always wanted to be a teacher- probably my chalkboard that I used to teach my dolls and brothers and friends and pretty much anyone I could get to listen to me.
18. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Fall
19. Hugs or kisses? Hugs and also kisses
20. What kind of pie? Strawberry rhubarb made by my mom (hint, hint)
21. Do you want your friends to email you back? Well, since I’m not doing this as an email, I want them to post it on their blogs.
22. Who is most likely to respond? People who have nothing else to post.
23. Who is least likely to respond? People who already have lots to post about.
24. Living arrangements? I live with Rich, Hailey and Dottie.
25. When was the last time you cried? Last Friday when I saw The Bucket List.
26. What is on the floor of your closet? It would be better if we didn’t talk about that.
27. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? I’m not sending this to anyone
28. The friend you have known the shortest amount of time that you are sending this to? See previous answer.
29. Favorite smell? The scents of fall
30. What inspires you? Music makes me feel inspired.
31. What are you afraid of? Losing someone I love.
32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheesy!
33. Favorite car? I don’t have a favorite car- if it gets me where I want to go then that’s perfect for me.
34. Favorite cat breed? I don’t have a favorite cat breed.
35. Number of keys on your key ring? I think 4, but I’m not getting up to check.
36. How many years at your current job? 16 months
37. Favorite day of the week? Weekends
38. How many provinces have you lived in? None.
39. How many countries have you been to? 4, including the one I live in.

I have no idea why the questions stopped at 39.  Why couldn’t it have been a nice round 40?  Anyhoo- ignore me and my even number obsession.  If you’re still awake and you’d like to play along- let me know so that I can read yours.

Have a great weekend.

At least that is what people always say about Hailey.  I am constantly hearing that Hailey looks exactly like me.  So, when I saw this Look-alike Meter on Tammi’s blog and then again on Andrea’s blog I had to give it a try.

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter – Search for family tree for free – Vintage pics

So, apparently Hailey looks equally like me and Rich. 

Then, for fun I decided to try it out using Brooke’s picture.  While Brooke is my step-daughter we have always been told that we look alike.  Usually people think we’re sisters.  So, anyways, I decided to try it out with her picture. 

MyHeritage: Family tree – Genealogy – Celebrity – Collage – Morph

And I got the same results- she looks equally like me and Rich.

Anyhoo- I know it’s not anything scientific- but it was fun to try it out.