Erin Akin Carroll

So we’re all about extreme honesty over here, right?

I have fallen off of my Weight Watchers wagon. There. I said it. We went to Dallas for two weeks and then when I got home I just didn’t have my act together. I wasn’t prepared. My pantry and refrigerator weren’t stocked with healthy options. So I just did nothing and ate what was there.

Fortunately, I haven’t gained a pound, but the softness is still there. Bleh.

For the first time in a long time, I feel like if I don’t get out and exercise I’m going to lose my mind. I’ve got so much energy and need to get it out of me! The weather is finally tolerable, so I just need to get out and pound the pavement. With the stroller. And the Golden Retriever.

So I’m sorry. I was supposed to be back and in full force, but I fell off the fit train again. I could give you a list of excuses like why I really want to eat some of the foods that were forbidden when I was pregnant and cold weather makes me want comfort food.

Do y’all forgive me? I have no recipes this week. Life is just crazy.

Late last night, Todd and I were lying in bed talking and the subject of baseball came up.  I started singing the Alabama song, “The Cheap Seats,” and this is how the rest of the conversation went.

ME: (singing the lyrics to Cheap Seats)

We like our beer flat as  can be,

We like our dogs with mustard and relish.

We got a great pitcher, What’s his name?

Well we can’t even spell it.

We don’t worry ’bout the planet much

We just like to see the boys hit it deep…

TODD:

What did you say? Did you say, “We don’t worry ’bout the planet much?”  It’s the pennant!

ME: (laughing hysterically through my embarrassment)

What?!

TODD:

Yeah, you know. Baseball. The pennant. They’re not worried about the pennant. Why wouldn’t they be worried about the planet? That doesn’t make any sense.

ME:

I just thought it meant, you know, they don’t recycle and stuff. They’re not worried about the planet. They’re worried about baseball!

TODD:

No, that’s wrong.

It’s nice for your husband to humble you every now and then. The best part about this is that I’m always correcting him about misheard lyrics and then I go and confuse “pennant” with “planet.”

here’s a refresher for all of you if you can’t remember what “Cheap Seats” sounds like.

Yesterday was exactly one month away from my birthday. It’s never too early to make a birthday wish list, right? I’ve got a few things that I’m “suggesting” to Todd in case he needs a little help figuring out what to get me for my birthday.

He never does need any help, by the way. He is such a great gift-giver and has come up with some fantastic little getaways and gifts all on his own in our years together.

But I make a little list anyway just to see what happens.

The first thing I’m thinking about is Adobe Creative Suite for our Mac. If not the full Creative Suite, then just Photoshop will do. And not Photoshop Elements. I had it on my old computer, but that belonged to my former employer, so I didn’t get to keep it obviously.

And I know you’re never supposed to ask your husband for anything that comes with a plug, but I really want this vacuum cleaner. It’s the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Vacuum. Y’all would not believe the vast amounts of Boudreaux hair that collect all over our house. I love our little Oreck vacuum, but the poor thing just can’t handle all of this dog hair. We’ve also had to start vacuuming furniture and all of our draperies because the hair just goes everywhere. We have the Furminator and use it. We’ve switched his food to try to cut down on it, but he’s a Golden Retriever. Unless we shave him there’s no way to stop the problem. We just need to learn to deal with the problem. Here’s my solution:

I love the Tory Burch Leopard Pony Print Abbey. I tried them on and they look great. I just decided not to be impulsive that day and purchase them. Instead, I thought I’d put them on my birthday list and see what happens. So comfortable, too, and perfect for moms!

Isn’t this a beautiful coat? I have two black coats and a cream-colored coat already. I wear coats until they fall apart. I just don’t see the point in purchasing coats every year since they last so long. I try to buy a coat that is timeless and durable to get the most bang for my buck. But I am lacking when it comes to a fun, punchy coat with lots of color. It’s the Double Cloth Lady Day Coat from J.Crew in bright cobalt. I just love this color!

But what I really want is a collection of images from our session with Tracy Turpen at the end of the month. Y’all know that I’m constantly adding photos to our gallery wall and I just know that it will be such a fun session and we’ll want tons of prints!

So it’s just a little list I’ve put together in case Todd needs an idea. (I obviously only want *one* of these things and don’t expect them all.) I got a pretty amazing gift on June 5 of this year and every morning feels like my birthday or Christmas when I get to go into Hudson’s room and find a smile waiting for me in his crib. I can’t imagine being any happier than I am right now.

By the way, for those of you that were wondering, I’ll be 27 next month.

Television can inspire you to do lots of things, right? You see a gorgeous bag on your favorite character on your favorite show and you set out to find and purchase that bag. You watch The Biggest Loser and before you know it, you’re in your living room in front of the TV, doing jumping jacks while you watch the show (or at least I am).

But does television inspire you to clean and nearly purge all of your useless junk?

That’s what Hoarders does for me.

I know that I am no where close to living in such disgusting filth as these people do, but just looking at their stuff and hearing how they got to this point makes me want to get up, go through every nook and cranny in my house, and throw stuff away.

These people look clean and put together out in public. How can they find their clothes when their entire house looks like this? How could you ever feel clean after showering if you had to walk through a house that looked like this? It makes me feel like I’m suffocating just looking at it.

I’m definitely guilty of buying things that I don’t need and know that I could get by on a lot less than I have. This show is enough to give me a big slap across the face wake up call and stop me from ever bringing anything home without throwing something else away first.

I know that I’m never going to have enough rotting food hidden throughout my house to bring diseases all over my house and kill my family. I can barely keep a stocked refrigerator now. But some of these people have pets that poop all over the floor and no one cleans it up. They have kids that have to get dressed for school, do homework, and eat dinner in houses that look like this.

Have y’all seen Hoarders on A&E? Does it inspire you to get up and clean your house– and consider purging stuff?