journalism Archives - My Life: A Work in Progress

Looks like rain…again…

8 August, 2012 6 Comments

It rained all day yesterday, which was unfortunate for me, since it was diaper wash day. I ended up having to dry everything in the dryer. It’s a waste of electricity. Stupid nature. Don’t you want me to help save you!?

So I told Hubby last night: “Guess what!? I’ve lost weight!”

Hubby: “Good for you, Babe! That’s awesome!”

Me: “Do I look skinnier?”

loooong pause. awkward look from my husband.

Hubby: “I don’t know.”

Me: “What do you mean, you don’t know?!”

Hubby: “So do you want me to start paying attention to how you look?”

WHAT KIND OF QUESTION WAS THAT??? SERIOUSLY???

It’s come to that. *sigh*

I still have about 20 pounds to go until I hit my pre-baby weight. Well, it’s probably less than 20, because my boobs are bigger. That has to count for something, right? My pre-baby weight isn’t my ideal weight though. My dream is to have the post-basic training body I once had. I never understood how some girls went through boot camp and looked virtually the same. One girl even gained weight…in all the wrong places. By the time I finished all my Army training (I’m including AIT here, where I learned my Army military occupational speciality [it’s just a fancy word for a job]), I had nice, ripped abs and could pump out a decent number of pushups for a woman. I’m not going to share the number here. I’m just going to say it was a decent number, okay? Probably more than you can do! Unless you’re a dude, or built like a dude. The reality is I will probably never get back to that fitness level. There’s no way I have time to hit the gym for hours every day.

In other news, I had an argument with a friend about cloth diapers last night. I’m going to write a post convincing him, and other unbelievers, that cloth is awesome! I’m actually a little offended (just mildly), that he thinks I can’t come up with any decent arguments. Obviously he hasn’t read any of my articles. *humph* I’m a decent journalist. I’m actually award-winning, and my articles and photography have appeared in many high-profile places and outlets. But I’m not going to brag. I never brag. Well, almost never. I brag to my friends. But I’m not one of those people who posts every military ribbon or award photo to Facebook. Even though I could. I’m pretty sure the number of awards I have blows any of my peers out of the water. “Oh, you just got THAT award? Good for you. I have two.” I’d have to either kill 30 bad guys or drag 30 good guys out of a burning building to get another award. Okay, that was bragging.

journalism, parenting

Today is not my day

31 July, 2012 No Comments

First, my husband tells me before he leaves for work that today is his duty day (so he won’t be home until tomorrow afternoon…yay Navy). Second, my son sleeps in (which I thought was a good thing initially). Third, now my son won’t nap. Fourth, my deadline for the Army Reserve article is TODAY. Fifth, I totally thought tomorrow was the 31st, hence why the article is not finished. Sixth, since my son won’t nap, the article is not getting finished in a timely manner.

Ack! Okay, I’m going to try to put him down for a nap again. I’ll nurse him first. Boob milk is like knock-out juice for babies.

cloth diapers, journalism

I have no idea what title to write

19 July, 2012 No Comments

My hubby’s home early from work! Well, school. His ship’s in the yards for upgrades until next winter when they start sea trials for their next deployment and move to Spain. In the meantime, he has several Navy schools to attend. The next couple of weeks, they’re having shorter days at his current school. He’s going to use his free time to help me get things put away from our move in April. We still have boxes we haven’t unpacked. It was a crazy time. I moved here; J came home from deployment; the baby was born. All of that in a 3-week period, and then J was gone for another 5 weeks. Once we get the boxes cleared away in the second bedroom, J’s going to put the crib up. Another nice thing about him getting home earlier this week and next (I hope) is he can watch the baby during my phone interviews.

I’m working on a big article for an Army Reserve sustainment command. They’re getting ready to deploy again to Afghanistan. I was with them in 2009, so I’m familiar with the information I’m writing about. I’ve had 3 interviews so far over the last couple of days with a 4th in about 40 minutes. This piece is going to be a lot of work, but it is fun to get back into writing again.

Here’s my update on cloth diapers: I tried the prefold again. This time, I adapted my own roll to fit baby J, and it seems to work better. I haven’t tried it against a BM yet, just pee. He’s having a growth spurt, so his daily explosions have diminished while his body uses up everything. Either I have to get a lot better at rolling prefolds, or I need to sew them into fitted diapers. There’s no way I can fold/roll these onto baby J when he’s older and squirmier. I’m finally getting a sewing machine (hallelujah!), so I’m going to attempt making fitted diapers. I’m taking my inspiration from the Green Mountain workhorse fitted diapers. They’ve basically taken their own highly-rated prefold diapers, and sewed them into fitted diapers. They’re a great price, but I figure if I can get it done correctly, I can sew them myself for virtually nothing.

Hubby’s starting to come around in regards to cloth diapering…I think. I’ve been showing him charts on the cost effectiveness of cloth diapering. The truth is that cloth diapering CAN cost a lot of money up front. But over additional years (and especially additional children), you save money…a LOT of money.