randy said earrings are for girls, but presley quickly corrected him and said earrings are for girls AND boys. so this is for all the girls and boys, i suppose!

have you ever caught the “magicbax” infomercial? if not, your tv is probably not permanently tuned to hallmark like mine 🤷🏼‍♀️ but if you have caught it, were you as intrigued as i? i immediately went to the website and put some in my cart — buy one pair, get one free! except one pair was $19.95 PLUS shipping. uhhh. no. you marketed to the wrong girl, magicbax. i rarely spend $20 on any ONE thing, let alone a dang earring back that no one will even notice how magical it is besides me. 

so i did what i always do in a situation like this... a situation i find myself in often... finding something frivolous i want for myself or the kids, but not willing to pay the price.

i went on ebay and found the exact same product in china/hongkong/wherever for a whopping $3.18 with FREE SHIPPING. sure, it took 84 days (or 3 weeks, but it felt like a lifetime as it always does), but they came in (2 pair! a silver and gold) and they are indeed magical. my droopy little ear holes have been redeemed and every pair of post earrings will forever look fresh in place from now on. boom. 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F253389749214

another thing i’ve been quite impressed with is the new soft pretzel twists from sonic. 

it’s a perfect companion for my beloved “large coke zero with extra ice”. honestly i was still reeling from the whole “no gravy” sitch, but this pretzel may have made it a tad better. 

and from the (self-appointed) “official president of the fake nacho cheese fan club”... DO NOT EAT THE CHEESE SAUCE THAT COMES WITH PRETZEL. you’re welcome. but maybe try it with marinara instead 🤔

https://www.sonicdrivein.com/pretzeltwist

i realize these two bits of info have zero to do with living in california, but i do not even care. goodbye. 

i’ve been meaning to get over here and update my little space about recent happenings, but i just haven’t had a chance... much too busy. 😂 jk. i just forgot.

i think we have found a church home here in bakersfield! we have tried a few different churches, and this one just felt right. it’s on the smaller side, so the kids go to the same place and presley is quick to tell us how eli behaves... “he only cried for a little bit.” 😂😂 randy and i really like the pastor, and the people are nice. they also just redid the sanctuary and the whole front wall is covered in wood and it smells amaaaazing. so there’s that. ha.

i have also found my “grocery store home”. i know, i know. huge news. you’ll never guess where i chose... so i’ll go ahead and tell you. it’s albertsons. i really like the old fashioned check out lanes with turntables instead of conveyer belts. and also, there’s a lot of old people shopping there and i just really like old people, so that’s a win.

y’all will also be really proud to know that i’ve been bringing my reusable bags everywhere i go and i feel like i’m really fitting in now. if you saw me on the streets of bakersfield you probably would never even know i wasn’t from here. except all we ever wear are houston shirts and hats and hoodies... oh and also my car still has texas plates. and i still have a texas drivers license... but other than those tiny details, i’m totally fitting in.

did you know that we bought a house without a single fan?
did you know that i didn’t realize that until AFTER we bought it?

so today, randy and i fixed 1/4 of that situation and installed a ceiling fan in our bedroom.
it was... arduous. do you know how tricky it is to install something of this variety  without LIGHT?
did you know that it never rains in bakersfield? it’s literally the desert. but guess what? it rained today. the natural light that usually POURS through our bedroom windows was straight overcast because of it. also, the ac wasn’t blowing because we had to turn of the breaker. so i was really sweaty. and the kids were grabbing parts and running. and randy was asking too many questions. and second guessing things. and he told me, straight up, word for word, “i have very low expectations that this is gonna work.” 😑
BUT. good news—it worked. right away. and it isn’t even wobbly or anything!💁🏼‍♀️
and bad news—we still have 3 more to install another day.
also, presley told me after we were done, “mommy i’m so proud of you!” and “it looks so
precious to me!” 😂😂 that girl knows how to give a compliment!

y’all, something miraculous is happening as i’m typing this.
it’s huge. and, quite frankly, unbelievable.
it’s every mother’s dream. (no, i’m not at target, alone. or getting a massage, alone. or a pedicure, alone. or using the restroom, alone.).... i am ALONE.
because..... MY KIDS ARE NAPPING AT THE SAME TIME. 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

i can’t remember the last time this has happened under my watch (it probably happened all the time when grammy had them 🙄). but i’m taking full advantage of this situation by cleaning every surface of my house and doing all the laundry and getting dinner started and meal planning for next week laying in bed, drinking a coke zero, and enjoying the silence. i’m feeling kinda guilty about it, but i am TIRED. we hit up krispy kreme, costco, exxon, and albertsons all before noon and that’s equivalent to circling the earth twice when you have two kids with you. bless all you parents that have more kids... y’all are the real heroes.

we are all still a smidge under the weather. glad the worst is over, but still ready to not have kleenex all over the house.

i'm so saaaaaad.

my parents have come and gone in what was the shortest 6 days of my life.

they came in last thursday, and we took them to our fave sushi/asian restaurant that night. the babies were SO happy to see them, and Eli quickly went back to being "grammy's boy." 

friday we had breakfast at 24th street cafe, which was on DDD! it was THE best breakfast, and Guy Fieri really knows what's up. we will definitely be taking all our of out of town guests here, so if that doesn't make you want to come visit, then just stay home. 💁🏼‍♀️ that night, we went to Buck Owen's Crystal Palace. we've been wanting to go check this place out since we found out we were moving here, and this was the perfect time. it is such a neat place, with tons and tons of memorobilia that will take several visits to see it all. we didn't stay for the live music, which just happened to be Buck's son, because, kids. but the food was decent, the atmosphere was incredible, and we will be taking all of our out of town guests here. 😂

the weather was such a bummer, it was COLD. and also, WE ALL HAVE COLDS. but even so, we had the best time with grammy and papal. there were lots of special memories made, and we couldn't miss them more. papal took presley riding her bike up and down the street a couple times, and grammy got to do bath time a few times. 

we went to one more DDD restaurant, Moo Creamery, on monday night. randy and i had been before, for breakfast, but had been looking forward to dinner. i am going to go on record saying that i ate the best hamburger in my entire life there, and we will be taking all our out of town guests here. 😂

i actually cried when they left yesterday. but i waited until after they walked out the door, because my mom had just told me that she was "proud of how strong i was". #blewit 🙈

after they left, my kids both had doctor's appointments. they were just well visits (even with colds) because it was our first time seeing someone here in bakersfield. they both had to have finger pricks. presley didn't really understand what was happening until it happened and she had the most epic meltdown that i kinda wish i could have got on camera, but i felt like the doctor probably would have judged me, and wrote it up in her chart. you would have thought they cut her whole finger tip off by the sounds of the wails coming from her mouth. bless her heart. eli didn't even flinch. not a blink. not a tear. meanwhile, presley was still crying for about 20 minutes following the prick. everytime they squeezed her finger to get more blood out, she turned it up another notch. randy and i were laughing like the great parents we are. the nurse offered her a lollipop and she cut the tears and plain as day said, "green" and went back to wailing. back to reality!

valentine’s day 2018

another valentine’s day has come and gone.
not a holiday that’s terribly important in our house, but i like that it’s an occasion for randy to spoil his princess presley. he has gotten her a disney princess movie each year since she was 1 and that’s a fun little tradition. i hope this will eventually turn into a daddy/daughter date night as she gets older. i pray she will see how her dad treats and respects her and ME, and will find a godly husband one day that treats her like the angel she is! and i pray that her brother will emulate his daddy’s behavior and become a godly, loving, and loyal husband.

we started the day with pink pancakes... eli ate at least 12 (silver dollar sized). presley wasn’t far behind. girl LOVES her some syrup. after that we had an incident which you probably don’t want to hear about, but for the sake of preserving memories, here is the shortened version. presley had to potty (#2) and eli follows her wherever she goes. next thing i know presley is calling out to me “eli got poopoo on the toilet.” sparing lots of details here, i’ll let your imagination lead you... but baths immediately followed.

after baths we took a trip to target and took daddy a treat to work. side note-the kids and i got randy socks with our faces on them for valentine’s! he’s known for his loud socks, so this was the perfect gift, in my humble opinion.

we ended the night with daddy bringing home balloons for the kids and hamburgers for mom. win!
we also facetimed gigi & pepaw, and grammy & papal.

the quest to find the perfect grocery store continues.
i tried another store last week, “foods co”, which is a kroger brand. i got a little too excited because kroger is FAMILIAR and i NEED familiar.
well, upon walking in and wondering around, foods co is NOT a winner. it’s not even a competitor. it was like a discount Kroger type store? maybe? i’m not sure? not that i have any qualms with discount stores, but i NEED a deli counter. i like freshly shaved deli meat and that may be my grandma coming out in me, but it just tastes better. and “foods co” had no deli counter, no meat counter, and it was also kinda dark. and, of course, i forgot my reusable bags. and, of course, they were $.15 at the “discount store”. something just isn’t adding up here. good thing i only needed two, or i woulda gone broke.

at this point i’m doing the majority of my shopping at trader joe’s and walmart neighborhood market.
i love tj’s because i can pick up fresh flowers and vanilla joe-joe’s and the produce is usually the best. but can we talk about their miniature buggy’s? no, not the kid sized ones. the actual buggy’s they have for adults. they are not enough for a mother with two kids that needs ALL THE THINGS. presley has to sit in the basket part, and she is always complaining because the milk is touching her or  she’s kicking the bejesus out of the kettle corn. or she’s standing up saying “i’m so stuck in here!” 🙄
i also have major issues with the fact that there is ONE SINGLE BUGGY RETURN in the whole parking lot. and it’s in the very back. literally next to the street. i am very very passionate about returning my buggies to the return and i will give some major side eyes to all the lazy people who don’t use them. you just walked for 30 whole minutes around the grocery store with your sweet little buggy, but suddenly when you get to the parking lot it’s like you’re disgusted by its capabilities and you must dump it as quickly as possible. propping it’s wheels onto a nearby curb??? people! it takes like 20 seconds at most. unless you’re at the trader joe’s in bakersfield. then it takes 500 minutes to walk to the back of the parking lot or back up to the front of the store with a baby on your hip and a death grip on your running toddlers arm/shirt collar (“mom! i’m choking”!) to return it, BUT I DO IT because i have a soul.
whew. that went in a direction i wasn’t anticipating.

there is an empty lot across the street from our neighborhood and i’m really hoping it becomes an acceptable grocery store. it’ll never be an heb, which is disheartening, but i’m hoping for a legit kroger at least. but, just in case, if anyone happens to see scott mcclelland, tell him to call me, ok?
and if anyone is wants to mail me some heb staples including, but not limited to, the bare bread (it’s crustless and it has like a six month shelf life and it makes the perfect pbj’s and grilled cheeses for my kids), and the heb brand jalapeño chips... well, i’d be really really happy.

moving on from grocery store business, a lot of people have asked literally not one person has asked, but my bottom is still bruised. i haven’t fallen again, so that’s a step (get it) in the right direction.

and just for fun, here’s a list i’ve been keeping mentally.

bakersfield cons.

• no local channels on directvnow. except cbs. but i’m not my parents and don’t watch any of those terrible crime shows. so this does me no good. i just want to watch the olympics with the rest of the world. 
• it’s not texas.
• grocery stores suck.
• where is an ikea?
• i miss my family.
• the air quality is terrible.
• i need TEXmex. 

bakersfield pros. 

• the weather is amazing. for now. 
• the sunsets are the most beautiful.
• i can see mountains from my kitchen window when the air quality is good, so like once a month.
• target is like, 6 minutes away, door to door.

so i’ll keep this list running. can’t believe it’s almost been a month since we moved here!

also, i’m going to get this out, because i haven’t told anyone yet and i need to let my secret breathe....
i cried watching kylie jenner’s baby video. not just teary-eyed... like, full on crying. i don’t even keep up with the kardashians or follow them on instagram, but i got sucked into the video somehow and i cried like she was my sister. i am going to blame this on “being a mom”. and if you’re judging me right now, i don’t even blame you, just please don’t tell me 🙈

super bowl sunday and regular monday.

over here in the pacific time zone, the game started at 3:30 (stupid!)... so, surprise! i didn’t watch it. i was too busy cooking, feeding the kids, and cleaning up the aftermath in my kitchen. i did, however, lean my head in that direction to see JT perform. i was really hoping for an *nsync reunion, so imagine my disappointment. 

forget what i said about the super bowl starting at 3. i changed my mind(and i’ll give bakersfield it’s point back). because i was in bed at 8! i know who won, for the record i was pulling for the eagles, and i was IN BED, face washed, and tylenol pm’d at EIGHT. i would have watched This Is Us with the rest of the world, but Directv Now doesn’t have local channels in bakersfield ( MINUS 1, bakersfield). 

randy had to go to houston for a short 1 night trip today. cue me freaking OUT. i hate hate hate hate staying in the house without him. i have freaked myself out so bad by watching neighborhood activity in my ring doorbell app. i’m so glad the only person who reads this blog is my sister, so no one here locally knows i’m in the house alone (with my kids!). 😂

so here i am, watching This Is Us in bed, with a box of vanilla joe-joe’s to console me. because somehow i forgot to eat dinner and this was all that i could find in the panch (what presley calls the pantry). i really love this show, even though it shatters my heart every. single. episode. it’s like the creators are sadists or something. idk. but besides the obvious that jack is everyone’s favorite character, my runner up is definitely randall’s wife, beth. i think i can relate because we are both married to a randall, but i also love her witty comebacks and side-eyes. same, girl. same. 

oh, also. mom of the year, over here. i put eli down for bed tonight and left the light on in his room. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME. i felt terrible when i looked at the monitor... an hour later. 🤦🏼‍♀️ but he was so tired that he passed out somehow. i did get to see his sweet sleeping face, which might be my favorite thing. 

true story... i sometimes sneak in and take pictures of them when they’re sleeping. it’s like, no matter how crazy they made me during the day, seeing them calm and peaceful just makes all those crazy moments disappear. i forget ‘em all.