After we ate about 3,000 calorie for lunch, we finally moved on to some car shopping. I drove an over priced Hyundai, a Saturn, a few other rice burners, and tried to drive a few Toyota’s and Honda’s but either they wouldn’t start (uh-oh) or the dealership claimed that they didn’t have the keys (huh?). And, finally, I met my soul mate of cars. Perfect size for taking the kids to gymnastics, art, or ballet… for about 25 mpg… and for a handful of cash… My beautiful little VW Jetta:

I’m offically a VW Momma. I’m in love with my new (old) VW Jetta! The only thing that makes me happier than being the owner of a “new” car is that this “new” car gets 25+ miles per gallon! Yahhhhhooooo! Save the planet AND get to town for less than $6. I’m a happy girl! My sweet Jeremy even bought and connected my Sirius radio. Fahrfugnugen Y’all!

We celebrated when we got home with a car wash and a beer. Austin seems to think he’s old enough for a swig…

But he had to settle for a momma kiss. Which, by the way, you are not aloud to outgrow. Momma kisses are good for life, cars are not… I said to Austin right after this pic: “Austin, you owe me all the kisses I can stand for the repayment of my 24 hours of labor with you.” He said? “That’s only one day of labor, what’s the big deal?” The “Big Deal”? The “Big Deal” wears a 13 in shoes, is as tall as I am, and eats me out of house and home. Geesh. Shut up and give me a fargin’ kiss!

And thank goodness my old man never gets too cool or too old for my kisses. He always appreciates them.

Thank you, Baby, for being my VW buying Sugar Daddy! I’m head over heels for you… My VW Jetta… and my Sirius radio!

I’ve been busy doing much of nuthin lately. I sold my Expedition though! I’ve been showing it to people for the past few weeks. I parked it at Wal Mart and left it there for a few days next to some other vehicles for sale. I got a million calls on it but few people wanted it after asking about the MPG. Three people test drove it on Tuesday and then Wal Mart called to tell me I had to move my car. I was so discouraged because there’s no where to park it to sell it and it ain’t gonna sell parked in my driveway. After the 3rd person drove it on Tuesday, I loaded the kids into it and took them to McDonalds prepared to just take it back home when we were done eating.

While we were eating a couple of Mexican men who worked at McDonald’s asked me about the vehicle. They hardly spoke English, so we had to have an interpreter. One of them test drove it and came back saying he wanted to buy it. He asked me to come back at 2:00 when he got off and he’d buy it. I thought, “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that before.” But I did come back at 2:00 and he did have cash money. The monkey is officially off my back! I’m going car shopping tomorrow! I’m not buying anything fancy, something under $5,000 but that has good MPG. I could afford a car payment but don’t want to replace one monkey for another. So wish us luck! We’re driving an hour South to a larger town to shop for a car and while we’re there we’re going to eat somewhere delicious! Mind you, I’ve been eating under 800 calories a day for the last 3 weeks so I’m one hungry bitch. I want a BUFFET!

Speaking of diets and food, despite that I’ve been eating lean meats, veggies, and fruit and keeping it under 800 calories a day, I’m kind of holding still at 136. I’m a little bummed about that. Jeremy thinks my body has found a happy place and wants to stay put. Perhaps he’s right and I’ll just start incorporating fat and carbs back into my diet again. I can handle 136, it’s a great weight. Not only do I not have a monkey on my back now, I also don’t have love handles on my hips.

Momma Magpie is getting some great traffic, even more than Stepherz.com. I think maybe this is because it’s new and because I’ve been posting there daily. I don’t have many commenters, but hopefully that will change. I’m learning about all kinds of new thrifty shopping places, which is fun. Stop by and say hi if you get a chance. And if you see a celebrity outfit you would like me to find a thrifty copy of, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

Tah-tah for now!

It rained all day and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I made forts with the kids. I made some rockin’ chicken breasts. I shopped online for things I can’t buy, I dreamed about lying on a sandy island in Florida (which I will be doing in a few weeks), I read a bit of Stephenie Meyer’s new book. And… finally… I made a new blog.

I haven’t been writing here because I’ve been busy, but also because I’m bored with Stepherz.com for the moment. I thought I’d try something new. I may not be consistent with it either, or maybe it will get my enthusiasm going again.

As much as I like making fun of myself, I really like making fun of celebrities. It’s wrong and it’s silly, but it’s fun. So, Momma Magpie is going to be a place where I can snark on celebs and steal some fashion ideas from them (such a contradiction). I’ll share some of my beauty/fashion secrets, or talk about new/old products & styles I’m using or trying.

“Momma Magpie” isn’t a self explanatory title. When I moved here to CO, I was fascinated by these crazy ass birds called Magpies. They are attractive and yet awkward. They have horrible singing voices. They are such comical creatures, full of character. They would sit in the middle of the road pecking at shiny items– soda can tabs, trash, brightly colored anythings. They didn’t care if you were an inch from smooshing their feathers all over the pavement with your car tire because they were on their mission to get the pretties. And then I met a special little Magpie. He would visit my bedroom window everyday, squaking this hideous song, and pecking at my glass snow globe that sat on my window sill. He was relentless. He wanted that snowglobe so badly! While he got on my nerves, he made me laugh and I admired his diligence. I guess this obnoxious, awkward, silly, relentless, animated lover of beautiful things kind of reminded me of myself. Thus, the name “Momma Magpie”. Go give me a visit!

Oh, I’ve been busy. Busy with the Children’s Museum, busy with trying to sell my car, busy with trying to lose some weight, busy trying to breath in the last bits of summer… Busy.

The kids all have cavities, which is besides me. I can’t figure out why. We brush religiously, it’s the one thing I can say I’m most obsessive compulsive about. There is a normal amount of sugar in our diets, nothing excessive. I’m really discouraged because Austin went until he was 13 before he got a single cavity and suddenly he’s got 6!? WTF!? Just when I had had almost enough saved to get his braces put on, he’s got $1000+ worth of cavities and other work (a tooth growing sideways under the gums that has to be sugically removed) to be done. And that’s WITH dental insurance! Sheesh. Kids.

Good news is that I’m down to 139 pounds. Which is not so bad on a 5′10″ stature. I did the cabbage soup diet for a week, then started a low fat & calorie diet. I guess it’s low carb diet too because I won’t eat rice, beans, bread, or potato anything. No sugar, no juice, no junk food at all. I don’t even lick my fingers after making a peanut butter sandwich for the kids. I’m eating lean meats (chicken breast, fish, turkey breast) and fruits and veggies to my heart’s content. I lost 10 pounds (7 the first week and 3 last week) and have another 10 to go to get me to my “pre-pre”-Bella figure. I hope to be 129 pounds by the time we go on vacation on the 22nd of September. I don’t plan to diet at all on my vacation, and after having gone that long without yummy goppy foods, I expect I’ll gain 5-10 of it back after a week of seafood and southern deliciousness. Who cares! It will be my reward to myself and I’ll get back on the diet when I get back. But worse case, I’ll be 139 when I get back from vay-cay. I can live with that, after a week of purging to my hearts content!

No one guessed the paintings right! I thought that it would be really obvious because of the lips and eyes of the animals, but Jeremy and I obviously have the same styles of painting. Thank you all for humoring me by guessing! It was fun to read your guesses!

Steph:

Flamingo, rhinos, giraffes, monkey.

Jeremy:

Elephant, zebra, lion

It turns out that once I get a shot of Crown Royal in my belly, I paint really fast. I’d be done with 3 critters and Jeremy would still be painting on his first, so then I’d move on to sewing pillows. Thank goodness for the motivation that is alcohol! We barely got done by our deadline. I’ll post pictures of the Museum soon– we’re sooooo pleased with how it came out!

I just wanted y’all to know I’m still alive, despite that I’m MIA in the blog scene. Don’t go removing me from your blogrolls just yet! I’ll be back…