What I Wore Wednesday

Hey, y'all!  It's WIWW again with The Pleated Poppy.  I'm thankful for cooler weather finally, and a chance to sport boots (though I haven't worn my Uggs yet!).  Until next week...

The I-Joined-The-PTA-and-Can-Wear-Jeans-on-Thursday Outfit

 tunic - goodwill

skinnies - plato's closet thrift

rosette flats - target

The Yee Haw!

 top - goodwill

skinnies - plato's closet thrift

cowboy boots - goodwill (NWT for $10!)

The It's {Finally} Fall Outfit

tunic - goodwill

skinnies - gap clearance

necklace - goodwill

The Saturday Night

 cowl neck dress - goodwill

jeggings (I can't believe I just typed that word) - gap clearance center

The Ruffliest

dress - goodwill

sweater - NY&Co.

flats - CATO

The Yup, I Had To Buy Them for $1 Pants 

I don't even have words for these pants.  But they have pumpkins on them, and I might be considering wearing them for the Fall Festival at school and/or for actual Halloween.  Just because they're kind of awesome.  {Sidenote: The brand is Totem - anyone heard of that?}



30 days later.

It's difficult to write this post without sounding ungrateful and depressing.  So, ahead of time, I'm sorry.  But not really.  I need to write.  Because hopefully writing everything down will somehow make me feel better in 2 or 3 years when I'm able to sit down and reread this post and be grateful for whatever my situation may at that point.  So I'm going to throw it out there and put the buzzword bold blogging to good use.

Here goes...

I hate working full time.  Hate it, hate it, hate it.  I HATE IT.

It's not the work I mind.  I do have a passion for teaching and I love being a teacher and working with children - but, I HATE being away from home. 

I miss Beckham terribly.  I hate that he spends the majority of his time out of my care.  I hate that he cries more often, that he's been sick for going on two weeks straight, that he wakes up in the middle of the night frequently (which is something he hasn't done consistently since infancy), and that the two waking hours I do spend with him I am usually past exhaustion.  I am not giving him my best. I feel it and I'm pretty sure he feels it too. 

I think I cry just as often as he does these days.  Something just doesn't feel right about being gone all. the time.  I leave for work at 6:30am so that I don't have to stay late, and, despite that, I am at school until 4:30pm anyway tying up loose ends and emailng and blah, blah, blah. 

And this, what I'm about to type, is going to sound just downright awful.  But after I spend 7+ hours giving my all to twenty-four children, it's hard to come home and give my all to my own.  And that is the worst.  The absolute worst feeling ever. 

On top of all that, there's still marriage, laundry, bills and other facets of life that require care and attention.  It's hard.  Is there a trick to this?  Am I just missing the part where everything just falls into place and works out?  Because we're only 30 days into the school year, and with 147 left to go, I am seriously wondering just how I'm going to make it through until May as the emotional wreck that I am right now. 

And it's hard for B too.  He's juggling this new stay-at-home dad gig, all while trying to sneak in study sessions during naptimes and deal with me who is crying into his shoulder about how miserable I am.  I guess it isn't easy for any of us right now. 

My prayer lately has been that somehow God will make a way for our family so that I don't have to teach fulltime for very long.  I don't know how.  The lottery, maybe?  Though yesterday, when I picked up my pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks, I seriously contemplated what it might be like to work their early shift so I could be home early enough to take Beckham to preschool.  I hear they give benefits for part-time...

And, as I said, I'm sure I sound ungrateful.  But I truly am not.  I am grateful that I do have a decent job that pays the bills, provides benefits, and that B has gone back to school to pursue his college degree.  I just wish there was more time in the day, the money grew on trees, and that childhood lasted longer than a blink.  But none of that is true, unfortunately.

I don't have any concluding statements to make, other than a peppier Babbling Abby will be back tomorrow for What I Wore Wedesnday.  At least I'll look that way in the pictures :) 

Just a Monday.

Our weekend was delicious.  And not just because we went out to eat at a local spot and Becks had his fill of bacon. 

 But because we finally had time to let our nothing-to-do-ness dictate what we were going to do.  It was bliss.  After dinner, we had the privilege of previewing a slew of Christmas decor at The Depot.  I mean, come on, it's September.   But, whatever.  Becks was totally into it. 

 A little bit of train watching happened next...

 And, here are these pics, just becuase they're cute :)

Have a happy Monday :)

Thanks Be to Blogger

Dear Blogger,

Thank you for finally upgrading the picture uploader.  It's about darn time.

Sincerely, A Happy Blogger

Goodwill Hunting: Thrifty Finds

Goodwill Hunting = Posts pertaining to my adventures in thrifting.

In something very un-BabblingAbby like, I bought 4 pairs of brand new shoes on Target.com last night. I know, I can't even believe I did it. But, in my defense, they were buy one get one 50% off, I've been on the hunt for non-Ugg boots, and pre-worn shoes kinda skeeve me out in a toe fungus kind of way. I'm certainly not opposed to wearing thrifted shoes if the proper conditions are met (i.e. barely worn, no toe fungus), but haven't found any worthy of purchase before. {FYI: I bought two pairs of boots and two pairs of flats - with skinny jeans and fall weather in mind.}

Which brings me to tonight. Chels, Sophie, and I decided to hit up our fav Goodwheel (as Soph calls it) with little more than pocket change to spare. Literally.

I brought my camera for photographic proof of our adventures because it is totally normal for people to take pictures outside and inside of a thrift store, no?

I turned the camera over to my fav niece for this pic, and I think she did a rather stellar job. As evidenced by the pics, after school, it's all about ponytails and leggings for me.
We snatched up some Polos for B, though I only ended up getting the blue striped one. Becks, too, wears a lot of RL Polo and it's all thrifted - either from Goodwill, yard sales, or St. Vinny's. I love their classic appeal and their durability. And don't you think I spend more than a buck or so on each because I refuse. That way, when he muds it all up playing in the mulch or sand or whatever I don't have to rip it off of him or distinguish between nice clothes and play clothes. Anyway.Then I told Soph I wanted some red shoes, so she helped me look through the racks of toe fungus and pulled out every pair of red shoes she could find. All were a definite no. And then, the Heavens parted and shined a glorious stream of light onto these babies and I let out an enormous STOP.THE.WORLD.

Are those slouchy, brown, brand new cowboyish boots IN MY SIZE?!


Um, yes. Yes, they are.


Oddly enough, they are from Target! I die.


And, get this: THEY WERE $10. Let me repeat: STOP.THE.WORLD.
I was content to leave after that, but continued to peruse the aisles to no avail. Well, I did buy three new breakfast bowls because, I kid you not, our's have disappeared into oblivion. Or the garbage. Who knows.

So, after Chels dropped $5.35 in change...

And Sophie dropped to the floor in a pouty fit over us not buying her a pink Beanie Baby flamingo...

We posed with our wares...

And our thrifty adventure was over for the day. Success.

{I've had a lot of questions/comments pertaining to Goodwilling, so I'll do a how-to post sometime in the future! TGIF!}

What I Wore Wednesday

Raise your hand if you're ready for fall?! Omiword, I can so do without this 90 degree weather! It's really puttin' a cramp in my style. My brain is saying boots and tights and sweater dresses, and the thermometer is saying Walmart tanks and sundresses. And - stop the world - I'm ready to pack up the Walmart tanks for the season. Anywhoooo....

It's time for another edition of What I Wore Wednesday with Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy.

The I'm-In-Between-Seasons Outfit

peachy pink top - banana republic outlet (I've had it since June and couldn't figure out what to wear it with!)

light grey pants - goodwill

The Dutchgirl
yellow top - NY&Co.
dress - goodwill

The Jetsetter Goes to School
tunic - goodwill
skinny pants - gap clearance this summer
belt - macy's pre-Becks
rosette flats - target this season

The I Really Want to Wear Scarves Outfit
tunic - plato's closet thrift
leggings - target
scarf - Miley Cyrus for Walmart
rosette flats - target this season

The Mt. Adams
navy top - goodwill
skinny jeans - plato's closet thrift
rosette flats - target this season

The Love This Top/Necklace Outfit
rouched turtleneck top - NY&Co.
pants - NY&Co.
shoes - Cato
necklace - goodwill

Are you playing along this week? If so, let me know! I love checking out everyone's cute outfits for inspiration and ideas :)

Happy Wednesday!

A-Corn-y Kinda Post

Sometimes, the best kind of nights are the nights you stroll down the street, collecting acorns to fill up a coffee can, with your mom and dad.

Totally, the best kind of night.

Monday Miscellani

{Bedhead.}

1. How happy am I that two of my favorite reality stars are on DWTS?! Monday nights just got a little more interesting since Sitch and Audrina are on. I hope Justin Bobby and Snooki are audience members sometime this season - they can marvel over each other's hair.
2. Becks has his first full day of school tomorrow. He gets to take his lunch box and everything. I'm kinda kicking myself for not ordering a cute little monogrammed number from L.L. Bean or something, but the plastic Batman one that his daddy was given as a going-back-to-school gift will have to do. Temporarily.
3. I'm not feeling good about eating an enormous slice of chocolate mousse cake from Cosco today at school. {Has anyone had Cosco cakes? Because they are really good. Not as good as my mom's, but as far as store-bought goes, they totally...ahem...take the cake!}
4. I really want a pair of riding boots for fall. And some booties too. Thoughts? Suggestions?
5. I went to bed at - get this - 9:08pm on Friday night and slept until 7am the next morning. I haven't been in bed before 9:30pm since possibly middle school. Not even kidding.
6. Do any of my bloggy teacher friends participate in an RTI (response to intervention) block at their school? If so, how do you implement it? Please let me know.
7. Dear Lindsay Lohan, please stop doing drugs. Thanks.
8. Becks was up at 12midnight last night. Wailing. After I couldn't console him or rock him back to sleep, he slept with us for an hour before I'd had about enough of his feet in my face. So at 1:17am I decided that I might just have to turn the monitor off if he continued with the wailing once put back in bed. Thank goodness he didn't because 5:30am came awful early.
9. I am ready for fall weather. It was almost 90 degrees today and, darnit, that is too hot for the end of September. I'm ready for butternut squash soup and pumpkin muffins. YUM.
10. What are your thoughts on Activia yogurt? I am, intentionally, not going to elaborate.

Happy Monday!!!!!

Weekend Adventures

A weekend at home! YAY! I so needed a weekend where I got to wake up in my own bed surrounded by the people I love most (literally, Becks was up at 5am and was in brought to bed with us). Besides attend the couple's shower for one of my favs, we spent an uneventful weekend doing nothing extraordinary. There was coffee and yard-saling and donuts and the Sunday morning paper and dinner with B's family and, well, I was really okay with being very boring. I can totally appreciate a slower pace in life for once.

But, back to the shower...

This is Katie and Ian. They are getting married in October.

I am also one of Katie's bridesmaids, and get to wear a stunning one-shouldered number for her Big Day. Katie was one of my college sorority sisters/roommates at UK, and is pretty much hilarious. One of the best story-tellers I have ever met. She makes you laugh the entire time you talk to her. I could listen to her tell about how her future-husband retrieved a broken bike from a garbage can to come a courtin' her down Euclid in Lexington, over and over again. I am laughing just thinking about it!

Anyway, she's getting married in October, and we had a great evening showering them in Mt. Adams. Looking forward to the wedding - mostly just meeting her Persian family, though ;)

The Bridesmaids :)

It's going to be a busy week around these parts (what's new?!), and I hope y'all have a good one!

Lately.

I've had a difficult time relaxing lately, as I try to precariously balance the many hats that I'm wearing these days. When I should be doing one thing, I'm inevitably thinking about another and wondering if I shouldn't be doing that instead. Since school started, I haven't once felt like I've had it all together. I've been staying up way too late and relying on too much caffeine (even for me!) to give me the proper accelerant to make it through the day.

And I'm having a hard time accepting my new role. I love teaching, I do. A lot. But, I really really really really really really really miss being home with Beckham. Plus about a billion more reallys. According to my bundle straws at school, we're only 21 days in, which really isn't a whole lot of transition time. Maybe in a month I'll feel more confident in our situation. If it wasn't for health insurance, I could see me going back to part-time, but for now that's not an option.

My mom sent me a card recently and in it there was a quote that said this:

All the flowers of tomorrow are the seeds of yesterday.

And that is the perspective that I need to adopt because I ultimately do want to be a stay-at-home mom. Thus, me working full time while B pursues his degree will hopefully pay in dividends in the future.

And now for the pictures, that do a darn good job of disguising the stress :)

Have a great Thursday! TGIF tomorrow!

What I Wore Wednesday

It's another edition of What I Wore Wednesday with The Pleated Poppy! And, as always, completely out of order on my part :)

The Run-around

tunic - goodwill

necklace - goodwill

skinny jeans - plato's closet thrift

sandals - target clearance

The Bachelorette

dress - H&M borrowed from the bride's sister

necklace - borrowed from Dr. B!

sandals - target clearance

The New Orleans

top - NY&Co.

skinny jeans - plato's closet thrift

heels - I haven't a clue, but they KILLED my feet.

The Jet Setter

tunic - goodwill

leggings - white house black market

jewelry - thrift

The Sassy Snow Leopard

sweater - goodwill

dress - gap circa 2004

sandals - target clearance

The Michigander

sweater - j. crew outlet

dress - Michigan boutique

leggings - target

flats - target

belt - borrowed from a dress

flower - made by moi - with LOTS of hotglue ;)

Are you playing along today? Let me know and link up with Lindsey!