fussypants

Merry Christmas from the Boys.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

The Dude Says Hi

**ahem**

Oh hai!

You must be looking for my Mom.

She's busy today.

We are at the hospital getting my gigantic tonsils and adenoids removed.

Rumor has it that I snore like a 700 pound man.

Mom says something about Sleep Apnea.

She hopes I will be able to get a good nights sleep one day.

She hopes she will sleep one day, too!

If you need me, I'll be here watching Backyardigans, Max & Ruby and eating my body weight in popcicles.

Mommy will be back here tomorrow. Guess what?  She's still be sleepy.

Love, the dude

It is over, and I am so darn happy

   

So you may have noticed over the last few months all the vague references to my living situation. Mr. Smartypants was always home, our house was for sale, he was always interviewing, house sold, we stayed here & there, and lots of homeless jokes. Well I am so happy to say it is over, and only now I can talk about it.

Here is a quick rundown of my last year in cheesy Fussy photos.

October- Hubs lost his job, but had a severance package. I was all, "No worries, we'll hang out until Christmas and then move in the new year." I was so cocky and naive. I had no idea what the next year would hand me.

  Then, after Christmas, I noticed he wasn't getting magical job offers and no one ever came to see our house. The house I planned on raising my children in, and no one was begging for it? I was not pleased.

I decided to start an online women's magazine, a cafepress store, and a jewelry business. I became a shameless self-promoter. The proverbial dancing monkey.

 

I worked and worked. I went from super confident to terrified as I learned just how quickly life can go from cushy to down right scary. I now understand how easy it is to lose it all.

I went on bedrest and turned to you, my friends, and was given love in an amazing amount. Your comments, emails and notes were like a lifeboat in the middle of my storm. I am still humbled by the love y'all send my way everyday.

You welcomed sweet baby, Jeremiah, with us. Thank you!

I watched as God used our situation to teach Mr. Smartypants and I faith and preserverance. I watched as my husband was slowly humbled and then built into an amazingly wise soul.

I had my tough moments. Moments when I lost faith. One night I cried and told God how mad I was that this was happening. I felt utterly abandoned by Him. I questioned if He cared. That very next morning without any notice, my sweet friend Meredith showed up at my door with a hot lunch for my family and every single dime she made in her huge yard sale. She refused to take no for an answer. She was the messenger to tell me I was not alone. Yes, when her blog says 'cheerful frugality'- she lives it! There are just no words to describe her.

Another night I called Karla in tears. The anxiety over what lay ahead for my family was overwhelming. She told me to go read Shannon's post called, Wilderness. Her words spoke to me and I began to feel like there was light at the end of that long tunnel.

We packed up our house, and watched job after job fall through at the last possible moment. We held out for a job in a good area for our family and feared we had waited too long. I remember how my heart was breaking as I took this photo and while I wrote this post.

We spent the last month with my sweet family. It was such a lesson in humilty and gratitude. It was hard, scary and now that is over, I see that is was wonderful. Forgive me for not giving you more details as life was swirling around me. I think I felt as if I spoke of it, the enormity of the situation would be too much. I needed to address it when I could look back.

We are coming back home to Nashville! Hubs has a wonderful new job. We are earning half of what we did before so you'll see me starting even more things online. I'm officially a work-at-home, homeschooling mommy now. (Lord help me!) Sure, the house is gone, and that is fine. I may have lost my house, but what we gained for our family is priceless. We have come out of these long hard months with a new perspective on my life. I'll write more and more about it as time allows. Today we will be gleefully searching for a rental house!

 

I don't pretend to know what life has in store for my life, but I know He is in control and I will continue to trust in Him.

Now, share with the world exactly why your life doesn't suck. Anything that makes you happy will do. Have fun with it! ;)

Love you tremendously, Alli

Oprah, Dr. Oz & Fussy say Stop Poisoning Yourselves!

My homeboy, Dr. Mehmet Oz and his amazing eyebrows, were back on Oprah to teach us how to stop poisoning ourselves.

The show started with two supa-unhealthy people. They followed Dr.Ozzie's instructions on how to stop killing themselves get healthy. Voila, now they are healthier and happier. ~Yawn~ It wasn't exactly titillating, hence the lack of photos for ya'.

The good part was when he gave great tips that we can do immediately to stop killing ourselves! Excited? Good, because this was a good episode after all.

Take Your Shoes Off Inside!

     Mothers of the world- pump your fists in the air! Whoop, Whoop! Let's do an 'I told you so' dance.

I always worried about dog poop in the house, but apparently all the toxic lawn care products are even worse. Yikes! Ozzie said that the chemicals get trapped in our carpet. Babies will ingest them, and they become airborne when we walk over them. Dog poop- OK. ChemLawn- Not so much.

Never Heat &/or Microwave In Plastic-

 

  Oh, Sweet Redemption, I've been annoying people informing the masses forever. Plastic wrap over food and heating plastic containers releases chemicals. These plasticizers and PBas are endocrine disruptors. They mimic Estrogen in our bodies.

Only nuke your food in glass! Use a plate to cover the top. Melty plastic wrap that touches your hot food? Yikes, you are just begging for breast cancer. Stop it, now! California just passed a law banning toxic plastics in children's products. Good Job! Hopefully, more will be done to stand up for our health.

Have y'all read my post about plastics? "Exposure in even small amounts (plastic) has been linked in some studies to early puberty in girls, genital defects and reduced testosterone production in boys and impaired sperm quality in men, although the chemical industry disputes the strength of the studies.

Under the new law, any product made for young children that contains more than one-tenth of 1% of phthalates (pronounced "THA-lates") cannot be made, sold or distributed in California beginning in 2009."

Clean Without Poisoning Yourself-

Most cleaning products are full of toxic chemicals that build up in our homes and cause serious damage to our health. Have you seen commercials for Clorox Spray Disinfectant? We are lead to believe spraying that chemical gumbo on our kid's highchair and toys is a good idea? Not only do the chemicals we clean with build up on hard surfaces, but they become airborne.

Dr. Oz also mentioned how it is the teeny tiny airborne particles that do the most damage. Our homes are built airtight and these toxins just build up in the air we breath! We should open up our windows for a bit everyday to release the chemicals and particles we are breathing.

I have found White Vinegar works on my hardwood floors. I also love rubbing alcohol to clean with. Toxic? Don't drink it, but the inhalation of a bit of alcohol fumes aren't carcinogens like you have in household cleaners. Unless you are sniffing it in a closet, you should be OK.  If you have been sniffing it in a closet, you have worse issues, go get some help.

Check Your Basement.

Do the smell check. If it smells, then you probably have mold. Toxic mold is some nasty stuff. Go buy a dehumidifier and keep it going.

Also, keeping cans of paint, varnishes, et cetera- are supa-dangerous. If flammability doesn't give you pause, the fact that, even when closed, the toxins leak out into the air- should scare your pants off! If you keep them, then store them in a well-ventilated area, like your garage. Now, go put your pants back on. Yes, you too!

Dry Cleaning Doesn't Have To Kill You-

Normal dry cleaning solvent is a carcinogen. Bring it in your home, hanging it in the closet, and then taking the bags off is the worst thing to do. The out-gassing release of the chemical solvents will just build up in your supa-energy efficient home. Then we breathe in the chemicals for 6 8 hours every night!

I found a "Natural" Nontoxic chemical using cleaner for hubby's shirts. It is no more expensive and he can't tell a difference. Trust me, if it were any different, Mr. Smartypants would know. A quick peek in the yellow pages should show who goes "green" when dry cleaning.

Because I'm avoiding laundry duty of my high journalistic standards, I wanted to show y'all what I discovered in my fridge....

Unsafe plastics-

#3- PVC

#6-PS

#7-Polycarbonate

Look for-

#1-PETE

#2-HDPE

#4-LDPE

#5-PP

Love to all y'all,

Fussy

Be Happy About Something Darnit!

Gratitude, happiness, smellin' the roses- there are a million different ways to say it. The point is that we need more of it. Oprah has been commanding her viewers to do a dopey-sounding "gratitude journal" for a decade. But lately I am beginning to think there is something to that.Yep, "the Oprah" has won me over.

So I am definitely starting a new Linky. One day a week we gotta stay positive, be grateful, at least pretend to be happy. C'mon, you can do it! If you don't Tom Cruise will kidnap Oprah. Just look at his maniacal smile and crazy eyes looking at her. It's up to you friends of Fussy!

"But Fussy, it would be so boring!"

Pshaw! You don't have to make a list of happy moments with Aunt Mabel on the farm. Maybe you did something exciting that you never shared before.

Like your days with the dancing ninjas.

Or did you go see a movie? Even if it stank up the screen, you were out of the house without the toddler right? That is good stuff right there!

Or maybe you just want to show off some pictures from your life that make you happy that week.

You have a week to gather some happy thoughts. My post will go up next Wednesday evening for Thursday.

What shall we call it?

"Stop yer whinin' Thursdays?"

"The Oprah Made Me do it Thursdays?"

"Life doesn't Suck too Bad Thursdays?"

Ok, your turn- let me know if you are in on the fun and think up some great names. I'll pick my favorite & have a graphic for us to use next week.

Love, Fussy

PS- You could just post about your astounding awesomeness. Like how you've lost weight lately. Yes, I do notice. You look great. ;)

Peek into my Life

"cocoon of love"

I am in love with the asian style babywrap. It is the first time in 10 years the babies don't hurt my back. Pure bliss.

"me, cheese"

"calm after the storm"

After the tantrum comes the nap.

"cause and effect"

I am unable to look at this without yawning.

"overwhelmed"

Our house finally sold after eight months.Yay! We have 8 more days to pack. It makes me sad to pack up and go. Mr. Smartypants is still interviewing & flying out this week for even more. We're having a hellacious time finding a hospital with the right salary range. The immediate future is still up in the air. But the good news is the post-partum hormonal roller coaster is smoothing out. Double yay!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," ~Jeremiah 29:11-14

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope you are having a great Saturday. I'll be here packing, babywearing, and catching up on my reader.

Love, Fussy