Dear DSW,

I love you, with all my heart. I don't know why it took until a month ago for me to try you out, but I am so glad I did. You are amazing. I now own these and two other pairs that I can't seem to find on your website. Dang, because they're really hot. You better believe that I'll be back for more.

Six

Avery, you're six years old today and I don't even know how it's possible.

• You'll be starting 1st grade in a few short weeks and will be at school all day.
• You're becoming more independent.
• You're a beautiful dancer.
• You are such a good helper. (Sometimes, you can be too much of a help. ☺)
• Your laugh is contagious.
• You're creative and have an amazing imagination.

We have a full schedule today to make all of your birthday wishes come true. You and I will be going for manicures and pedicures, some jewelry making will be happening and we'll have dinner at Chick-Fil-A at your request. Should be fun!

I love you very much Avery and can't imagine my life without you! Have a very Happy Birthday The Most Special-est Queen Avery!

Don't act like you're not impressed

I actually did it. I added new songs to my running and it didn't throw off my groove. I would even say I had an excellent run. I reached the 2 mile mark faster then I have in ages. (No, I won't tell anyone what my time was.) I went 3.16 miles total. (No, I won't tell anyone how long it took me to go that far.) I.am.awesome. I hope to add some distance and shorten my time (even if it's just a bit) when I run again on Thursday.

Some things I would love Pt. 3

• Dust repellent furniture. I don't mind dusting and do it at least once a week, but I wouldn't be sad if I never had to do it again.
• To find the handle that flushes the toilet in our guest bathroom. Peyton lost it months ago. Why the manufacturer made a toilet with a removable handle is beyond me. Now, flushing is an interesting challenge.
• To find a swimming suit that effectively hides my thunder.
• To ask my kids to do some kind of chore and not have any, even tiny complaints uttered. A cheerful response would be lovely.
• For Peyton to catch on that when I sit him on the toilet, he should do his business in it. Not just sit for about 10 seconds, jump down and flush. And not do that about 10 times in a row.
• For my kids to learn to control the volume of their voices. There is a difference between an inside voice and an outside one.
• For Peyton to be willing to add a couple more movies to his repertoire. I like The Incredible, Monsters, Inc. and Up just as much as him, but wouldn't mind something else thrown into the mix.
• To be able to make bread in the summer and not have the oven heat up the house in the process. It's awesome in the winter and it's 30 degrees out. Not as awesome when it's 95.
• A sprinkler system in my yard. It really isn't that big of a hassle to haul around the hose and spend all day watering the yard, but this is another thing I wouldn't be sad over never having to do again.
• For earwigs to cease to exist. I'm not scared of them, or anything like that. However, they are disgusting looking and I hate finding them in my house.

And isn't it ironic, don't you think?

I find it very ironic that exercise (which is good, necessary, important, blah blah blah, for your body) can leave your body feeling so stiff and sore you can hardly move/use it. Thereby causing you to only want to lay, unmoving with ice or heat packs covering it to ease the stiffness.

I don't want to do it, but I have too

Because Peyton won't keep his clothes or diaper on, I've decided to start potty training him. If he would just keep his clothes on, I wouldn't be starting. I think potty training is the most pure form of evil and was hoping to avoid doing it with him. My thought was to just let him do it himself. You know, when he was ready. Because that can happen. Right?

I bought some Pull-ups (for the days when I get sick of dealing with accidents), underwear of his choosing and a Buzz Lightyear costume as incentive. The idea with the costume is that he has to keep Buzz dry, or Buzz will get very sad. I'll probably try some sort of candy trick too. I'm sure it's going to be easy peasy. Uh-huh. If he follows the same timeline as his brothers, he'll be fully potty trained in about a year.

I'm scared.

I have to listen to the same songs each and every time

I'm still doing P90X. What I am not doing is the Plyometric or other cardio workouts of the program. I've been substituting those with running. I should probably say "running" because it's really more like jogging. Or, perhaps it's a soft "j" and it's yogging. Anyway, I've been running a lot more. Every other day, in fact.

I'm a serious creature of habit. I really don't like to change things. I can't even rearrange my furniture because (1) that would require work and (2) I don't like things to be different. Different scares me. It throws off my routine. My bed has sat in the same spot in which it was placed almost 5 years ago when we moved in. And I'm totally fine with that. I would say the only thing I'm okay with changing is my hair color.

I have to listen to the same music and in the same order each time I run. It goes like this:

1. Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love - Coldplay
2. Viva la Vida - Coldplay
3. Mr. Brightside - The Killers
4. Somebody Told Me - The Killers
5. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
6. Hysteria - Muse
7. In Da Club - 50 Cent
8. Holla Back Girl - Gwen Stefani
9. Lose Yourself - Eminem (This one is my power song. It pushes me and gets me through at the end. I will sometimes listen to it 3 times in a row, but I only ever listen to it at the end of my run.)

That's it. I don't ever get sick of any of them. However, I'm trying to go for longer runs and have come to realize I kind of need to add a couple more songs to the mix. I'm psyching myself up for it, but if my bed has been in the same place for 5 years, imagine how long it will take me to add a song.

Counting down

Avery's birthday is on the 27th of this month. She has been counting down since July 28, 2009.

She's asked for a few things:

• a Pillow Pet
• a snake for a pet
• a hamster for a pet
• a baby sister for a pet

I'm only willing to get her one of those things.

Battle of wills

I have a very strong personality. I like things the way I want them to be. Avery has a very strong personality. She likes things the way she wants them to be. You can imagine what happens when two strong wills meet.

Lately, Avery has been in a "I don't want to eat this dinner" mood. Like, every night. She sits at the table for ages after everyone else is done and everything but her plate has been cleared away. She stares at her food. She plays with her food. She sings songs to her food. She does dances for her food. She does everything but eat her food.

A couple of nights ago, I was really sick of it. I set a timer for 5 minutes and told her that if she didn't finish in that time, she was going to bed for the night. (Just so you know, yes, I've tried this trick before. No, it's never worked because I've never followed through with my going to bed threat. I was determined to not be a wimp on this night.) She played her same old game for the entire 5 minutes. The timer went off, I checked her plate and saw all the food on it. I took her by the arm and took her to her room. She went kicking, screaming and begging to be given another chance. I told her I was very sorry she was upset, but it was her own fault she was going to bed so early. I told her if she wanted to avoid having this happen again, all she had to do was eat her dinner. She then said, "well, just make sure that you always make something I want to eat and we'll never have this problem again." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!