I Am Not Cool or Fun

Last night, after a fun time at Orem SummerFest, the local celebration of summer's beginning I had the strong feeling that we needed to visit our friends Matt and Emily. Everything was working against that idea: our kids were starving, I felt mildly sick (which turned out to be a migraine), it was their kids' bedtime, et cetera, et cetera. But as we drove closer to home, I just knew we had to go over there. Caleb called and made arrangements while I stuffed our kids with on-the-go dinner of turkey and graham crackers.

When we got there, I knew it was the right thing to do. We did not save them from some woeful state and we didn't avoid burning down in a house fire. I don't know why it was right, I just knew it was.

Emily and Matt are pretty cool folks; they have four cute kids, they have varied interests from books to movies to history, and I could sit and talk to them for hours. It is too bad we didn't find each other when we were all kidless and carefree! We are actually hoping to move close to their new abode when we move at the end of the summer -- instant friends will make the neighborhood change easier for all.

I say all of this to let the world know that you should be extremely jealous that I know Emily and Matt. And here is something that you should not be jealous of:

 

During our visit, Emily told me that she wishes she were cool and fun like me. I decided this morning that I would wake up and show off the real world of Holly Flanagan. One of my blog goals is to make sure that I don't just show a "perfect" version of myself, but display the entire kit and caboodle. That would include my daily outfit: some sort of lounge pants, some faded shirt, and unkempt hair. I embody the stereotype of the slovenly blogger; if I don't have anywhere to be, this is what I look like.

The morning is a little sluggish for us, so we all need to do our own thing for a bit. Jack usually eats and watches some sort of pedantic television, Lucy works on her crawling skills, and I flit around on the internet. It's important to me that we don't let this go on too long, but the length changes based upon the day. I would also like to point out that the toys only get cleaned up for guests or for Daddy's arrival from work. Otherwise, it's a sty in the living room. I am not cool.

I am on a diet. It's a premium blend of The Fat Smash Diet and Weight Watchers. As you can tell from my daily food plan for today, I am not fun.

The food plan for the rest of my family is summarized by this picture of my pantry. I don't know if the whole grain pasta, the garbanzo beans, or the brown rice give it away, but I am not cool or fun. The ramen and the cheezits might give you some pause, but don't worry, those are for Jack.

In the TMI department, I'm also on my period. Cool? No. Fun? No.

And no matter how hard I try, I can't get my cowlick to work. I inevitably have this one strand of hair that refuses to play nice with the others. I would characterize that as annoying, not cool.

So, when you read my blog, I would appreciate it if you would remember these pictures. Forget this:

Remember this:

 

Wow. Always keepin' it real over here in Hollyland.