What’s Up Wednesday

A Wednesday post this week!  

I used to do What’s Up Wednesday every month, but then I kind of stopped. Maybe I can keep it up for 2020!  

I’m linking up with Sheaffer and Shay to give everyone a look at what we’ve been up to. 

What We’re Eating

Ugh.   

Food has been weird at the Kissel house lately.   

As of January 1,  Matty and I have been going gluten free. He’s been grain free for awhile now, and I decided to give up gluten after reading up on how it can affect sleep and thyroid levels. You may remember I have been having some MAJOR insomnia the last few months of 2019, and I’ve been on thyroid medicine for years, so I decided to give it a shot until my annual physical in May.   

I’m happy to report that after only about a week of going gluten-free I began sleeping like a dream! It’s been WONDERFUL!   

But . . . it’s not easy to do. Gluten is delicious and was a big part of our diets. So now meal planning and grocery shopping have become a bit of a challenge. I know, I know, you may be rolling your eyes about the whole gluten free thing. Honestly, I used to as well. However, I’m trying not to be crazy about it. For example, pizza was the main dish at my nephew’s birthday party so I had one piece, no big deal. But when I tried a burger place for lunch in Texas, I ordered my cheeseburger without the bun. Things like that are easy. I’m going to do what I can and see where it takes me!  

All that to say . . . we’ve been eating a lot of meat and veggies, with some rice thrown in.   

Tomorrow I’m trying a soup recipe that my friend Marie gave me, and I’m switching out the noodles for rice. Hopefully it’s still yummy!

What I’m Reminiscing About

We’ve been watching a lot of old videos of the dogs recently. They were the bane of my existence for years, but I sure do miss them now. I miss the cuddles, the playing, and the walks.

  I know we shouldn’t get a dog right now, but if someone left some sort of small Doodle on our porch, I wouldn’t be able to say no!

What I’m Loving

Listening to Emily sing her heart out in the car . . . at the show . . . in the grocery . . . on the couch. She has no shame!

Listening to Lucy sing her “Jesus songs”, as she calls them, that she learns in school. It is the sweetest!

What We’ve Been Up To

We finally made it to the show to see Frozen 2!

There’s been a lot of dress up and dance parties going on in the Kissel house lately.

  And yesterday we hosted some preschool friends and siblings that turned into the ultimate dress up/dance party!

What I’m Dreading

I have to take two classes by June in order to renew my teaching certificate. 

Nooooooo!  

Also, we have to go register Lucy for Kindergarten tomorrow night and I’m not sure how it’s time to do that because we just brought her home from the hospital a few weeks go!  

Double Nooooooooo!

What I’m Working On

We’ve got some winter house projects in the works. Emily’s room is going to be painted over the next two weekends (hopefully to be followed by the girls’ bathroom), I’m working on getting some bulletin boards to create a wall for both girls’ school projects in our hallway alcove, and I think I FINALLY found a sideboard for our dining room . . . now I just have to convince Matty that we need to buy it! 😉

Also, I’m ATTEMPTING a blog overhaul/relocation. It’s a huge process and a lot of work. I made a little headway with all the free time I had in Dallas, but it’s still nowhere near ready. There’s a lot of researching/reading/trying to do things on my own but then ending up having to email people for help. It looks like I’m going to have to break down and pay someone to help me do it, which is a bummer, but it’s going to be great when it’s all said and done! I hope. 

What I’m Excited About

February!

February is a big month for us. We’ve got my birthday, then Valentine’s Day, and then Matty’s birthday. Traditionally, Matty and I haven’t done much for Valentine’s Day since it’s sandwiched in between our birthdays, but now that we have the girls I LOVE making it special! I hit the jackpot on a random trip to Walmart the other day, and now I think I’m pretty much set.

I declare this the year that we start the tradition of getting a heart shaped pizza for dinner with the girls. And now I’ve got the classy paper plates and plastic heart goblets to go with it! Oh, and some cute snack cups and baking cups as well . . . because we can always use those. 

Last year we started putting hearts on the girls’ doors each night in February saying what we love about them. It was super cute and fun, but Lucy gave me a heck of a time when I was ready to take them down. I’m a little wiser this year, and I got each girl a special mailbox: Frozen for Lucy and a unicorn for Emily. We’ll keep them up in the loft, and each night Matty or I will use the cute panda paper to write a love note and stick it in their mailbox. No ripped, crinkly paper hearts on the doors in MAY this year!   

Oh, here’s a tip: last year we sat down the first night in February and filled out all the love notes so we didn’t have to remember to do it each night. I highly recommend it!

I grabbed these stickers for the girls to use while decorating their Valentines for family. 

I’m going to make up a cute gift bag for each of Lucy’s classmates. They’ll each get a Rice Krispie treat and one of these adorable stacks of heart crayons. I’m also looking for tiny notebooks to include. Her teacher also asks for parents to donate little prizes for all of the kiddos to get in their party bags, so I picked up some cute baby duckies. Are my kids the only ones who still love those things?!

We aren’t allowed to take in food treats to Emmy’s class. Each girl in her class will get a heart notebook on the left with the heart crayons, and I’ll put them in those cute Valentine’s day lunch bags. The boys will get the blue and red heart notebooks with fish crayons in the red bags. 

What I’m Watching/Reading

I FINALLY finished Jane the Virgin on the plane to Dallas. It is definitely one of the best shows I’ve ever watched. I LOVED it and felt so sad when it was over. I felt like it had broken up with me and I wanted more but it was out of my life forever. I wish I was kidding. Matty’s rolling his eyes right now because he’s tired of hearing me talk about it! If you have Netflix, watch it.

  I have yet to find another show that is just for me, but Matty and I are currently watching The Assassination of Gianni Versace, and it is GOOD. But also creepy. Serial killers are so creepy!

And, of course, it wouldn’t be the dead of winter without . . . The Bachelor!
The antics never get old, I tell you! There’s no way the producers of this show are getting paid enough. The drama that they create never fails to disappoint!

As far as what I’m reading, I’m slooooowly making my way through Maybe You Should Talk to Someone. I’m not going to tell you not to read it, but I’m also not going to tell you to drop whatever you’re doing and start reading it. While it’s certainly picked up a bit as I’ve gotten further along, it’s still a little “meh,” if you know what I mean. 

What I’m Listening To

At Matty’s suggestion, I started listening to my first audiobook! He highly recommended 11/22/63 by Stephen King. At first I said there was no way I was going to read a book by the same man who cursed us with It, but Matty insisted that it’s nothing horrifying like that. So far he’s right. I’m really enjoying the storyline and, surprisingly, I’m enjoying the audio book experience much more than I thought I would. There’s only one problem: the written book is over 1,000 pages, which makes the audio book THIRTY HOURS long! Matty has a 30 minute drive to work each day, plus long drives to Ford/GM/etc. I have 10 minutes in the morning while I unload the dishwasher before the girls wake up! If you’re interested in finding out if I liked the entire thing, kindly ask me in five years when I’ve finished listening! 

Other than the audio book, it’s all Carly Rae Jepsen or Disney Princess music around here. All four of us are now capable of belting out “Into the Unknown!” 

What I’m Wearing

The exact same things I’ve been wearing since October! I’m definitely over my winter wardrobe, but I know it’s still got a few months left.

Oh, I did get a new Columbia jacket while I was in Dallas and I loooove it. I have zero pictures of myself in it, and I can’t find it online, so this announcement was really pointless. Sorry, everyone!

My $15 birthday coupon for The Loft should be coming in the mail any day now, and I’m super excited to add a new soft and comfy Lou and Grey item to my wardrobe.

What I’m Doing This Weekend

Other than watching the Super Bowl on our couch, I may take the girls to visit my parents one day so that Matty can paint Emmy’s ceiling in peace. Surprise, mom, I’ll call you to confirm! 😉

What I’m Looking Forward to Next Month

All the February festivities.

Oh, and it’s a Leap Year! Seems like I should do something fun with the girls since we get an extra day!

What Else is New

This is totally random, but Matty recently switched our home and car insurance. Our new company sent sensors to keep in our vehicles for 90 days to monitor our driving, and our performance affects how much of a discount we get! I am so excited about this! We’ve only had the sensors in for two days, but so far I’m doing better than Matty. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone! 🙂

Have a great weekend!
XOXO