Fears & Nightmares

 In the true spirit of Halloween, I figured I should write something related to fears and nightmares. I always enjoy thinking back to when I was younger and what I found terrifying opposed to what I am afraid of today.

 Reoccurring nightmares of the past-
I was always afraid of being abandoned. I constantly had nightmares where I was with my parents and siblings one minute and the next I'm looking from far away at them leaving without me. Gasp.

Reoccurring nightmare of the present-
To be honest, I haven't had a lot of reoccurring nightmares. But the ones I have had on numerous occasions but not lately are my catmares. That's right, my totally irrational 'fear' of cats.
I can be around cats but I would just prefer not to be. I don't trust them... My catmares start out with things being normal and then I see a cat. Out of nowhere my dream goes from being totally fine to me being attacked by one and  no matter what I do, I can't escape it.

Quick review; my dreams from the past are more adult than my irrational fear of cat dreams... Interesting.

True fear of the past-
 Besides being left behind, I had fears of the dark like most kids. I was afraid of our basement in our house because it gave me the creeps. One fear I had when I was much younger was getting into trouble. When I was probably six I had this puppet I made and I threw it onto the bird cage with our budgie bird Buddy inside. Well Buddy lost his nut and freaked out. It scared me and I thought if my parents found out, I would get into so much trouble!!! Of course my older sister totally capitalized on this and used it against me for years! I still remember her empty threat; "If you keep doing that Haley I'll tell mom and Rudi that you threw your puppet on Buddy's cage!" It worked like a  hot damn until I finally got wise and told her to do it...

True fears of the present-
Not passing my courses and exams. I am so afraid of failure. I just, don't think I would take it very well. I would feel like I wasted our money, my time and I would feel like a big, old, dumb loser. So yes, that's a big current fear. As for general fears- I don't like spiders or any bugs. I will avoid going through a box left in storage if I have any indication that there might be a spider or two inside. I am also totally afraid of REAL ghosts. Yeah, I know... some people would argue that they aren't real. But, I have had some experiences, pretty small but still... I am totally fascinated with true stories of real paranormal activity but if there was a ghost hiding in this new house, I don't think I would handle it so well.

 I am super sad to report, that I have no plans to dress up for Halloween today. I.. can't believe it. I have always done something but now that we have a little one, she takes precedent over me finding a fun and witty costume for work. But, we did find a moment last weekend to carve pumpkins.

Susannah from Simple Moments Stick featured a bunch of bloggers for her Halloween inspired blog post a couple of weeks ago. I was featured, can you find me!?

Happy Halloween everybody!!

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An Interview- With A Toddler

 Sooo.. it may have been noticed that I haven't been posting on Fridays for my MHB updates. That is because...
 I haven't been working out. Gasp! I know... However, I have been having a very hard time waking up in the mornings to study because I've been so tired. I've decided until November, I will stop with the working out. Once I take my final exam for pharmacology, I will start up with working out again. This school thing is pretty serious stuff and I have to make sure that I'm all there in order to do it. Working out has to take the back seat for a bit. Although, it is sad because my one year anniversary is coming up in November. I didn't quite make it, which kills me. I would have been consistently working out for one full year. I was so damn close!!

 On to more important things like.. my ever changing baby girl! Alina is growing like crazy. She now counts, with prompting and repeats just about any word you ask her to. (IF she's in the mood.) She gets into everything, but not in a bad way. We can usually tell her to put something back and she will OR she'll run away and make you chase her. I think that's more of a game rather than just being a little shit. She has laid off on the whole, "noooooooo" thing which I'm relieved about. I was really getting sick and tired of hearing her answer "noooo" to everything.

 Alina has really stepped up her dancing game. We will have little dance parties in the living room from time to time. It's funny to see what music gets her head bobbing. She'll always get into the techno beats or some rave music. But then she'll surprise me and really groove to some old country. The kid likes her some beats and it doesn't matter which genre. (Which I really like about her.) She's a blast in the bath tub. She sings and counts and tries to recite the alphabet into her sand bucket. (A real genius in the making... I know!)

  If Alina could write.. she would make a list of her favourites and it would go a little something like this:

 Her favourite food:  Everything. Unless my mom is trying to get me to try something at dinner and then I will usually refuse. Take me out of my high chair and put me on the floor and suddenly all I want in the entire world is that food my mom wanted me to try because it's on her dinner plate. Muffins, CANDY from dad, raspberries, crackers and Oreo cookies (thanks to my Papa.) I'm also obsessed with juice. It's basically magic. I had my 18 month old needles last week and it hurt until mom and dad gave me some apple juice and miraculously I forgot aaaall about it.

 Her favourite t.v. show:  Obviously Sesame Street. It's the one show that mom lets me watch consistently since I was a baby. Although on Saturdays we've been watching some really interesting animation movies like "Monsters Vs. Aliens" and "Frozen".. I think my mom enjoys them more than I do...

 Her favourite activities:  I have a crazy shoe fetish as well as this new strange thing about clothes in hampers. It doesn't matter if they're clean or dirty, I just like to get in there and wrap the garments around my neck and walk around like I look pretty amazing. Sometimes I'll just drape something right over my head and walk around, bumping into walls. I don't care, it's fun.

Okay, well this is a basket.. but you get the idea...

  What's been getting her into trouble:  Listening. I grab whatever I want and then I either run away so that my parents chase me or I give it to them right away. It depends on my mood. They're starting to get mad at me when I grab certain things like, beer bottles with beer in it, or the other day Papa was eating pizza and I grabbed his sharp knife. He really yelled out and I don't get why, but apparently I shouldn't touch those things..... in front of them. Oh and the fire place- they are super uptight about me going near it, and they really lose it when I try to sit on the edge. I love sitting on ledges, don't they know that!?

This is Alina's sad face when she gets into trouble..

 We've been having a really great time with our little person these days. She keeps us very, very, very busy and extremely happy.

So I'm Doing The Blog Tour

 I have been a little MIA lately and when Nancy from Sincerely and Sarcastically emailed me to see if I would want to participate in this Blog Tour, I decided that it would probably be a good idea to get back out there. Out there in blogland that is. So here I am... answering questions and linking up with some other bloggers. 

What are you currently working on?

 I am currently working on a whole lot of nothing. Well, I have one blog post sitting in my drafts that I have been meaning to finish but haven't found a moment to myself. I'm doing the whole after work, online schooling right now and it's eating up any free time that I have.  

How does my work differ from others of its type/genre?

 I'm supposed to write something really creative, something that will lure readers to my blog, but to be honest... well that's just it; I'm honest. I don't take selfies of myself when I'm looking my best.(Or ever..) IF I'm snapping a selfie of myself, it's first thing in the morning for my workout posts.  Believe me, there's nothing pretty about it! So when I write, it's all real and I don't filter too much. An example? Sure... I wrote about Alina's poop faces last week and I'm pretty sure one day she'll be so horrified over it. You're welcome teenager Alina...

THE selfie that just made me a total liar liar pants on fire..

Why do I write what I do?

  I literally write what I want. I write about my husband Rob and all of the craaazy ass shit he does. I can't help but write about my daughter who is now 19 months old. I don't want to be pegged as a mommy blogger because I don't feel like one. I'm a mom and I think I'm okay at it. But I'm definitely not mastering DIY crafts and pinning a redecorated house on Pinterest. 

It is completely normal and somewhat encouraged to wear a basket on your head in our house...

 How does my writing process work?

There really is not much to my writing process.  I think of an idea, I write it in my notes on my Iphone and then when I find the time, I pick from my list and that's pretty much how it is done. Exciting, I know. 

Now now.. get your own damn material bloggers...

 I read  used to read a lot of blogs. There are the bloggers that write almost everyday and I will read their posts if the title catches my attention and it interests me. There are some bloggers that I like more than their blogs. I read their posts because I like who they are and I want to support them. Then there are the bloggers that write when they can. The bloggers that aren't always on my bloglovin feed but when they are, I'm already clicking on their post. 

 Sarah from The Baloney Bin is one of those bloggers for me. She's married to Brent, a man with claws... and a serious obsession with the fact that he was once crowned Prom King. ;) She's surrounded by her three puppies and full of hilarious material for her blog. No joke, Sara has me laughing out loud every time I read her posts. Little tip though; if you don't know who Laura Ingalls Wilder is, than Sarah doesn't want to know you. No, scratch that. She might want to know you, but you might not get her Little House On The Prairie t.v. show reviews. I do, and I love every single one of them.

 Amanda from Rhyme and Ribbons is one of my all time favourite bloggers too. She is an actress making her way, in the UK. She has been living there for years with her english boyfriend, Sam. The two of them live in London and are seriously doing it right. They are always learning about the history of where they live and Amanda is always blogging about her experiences. She also bakes and cooks the hell out of food! I have recipes linked on my home screen of my Iphone. THAT is how often I cook her recipes. I don't know how many times I've made her seriously delicious mongolian beef.  

  If you can, visit both of these bloggers because I don't think you'll be disappointed. 

Who are your favourite bloggers?

Excuse Me, You Have My Name

 If there's one thing that bloggers like to do (at least I think)- it's answering questions. I have an interesting question to ask...

 What famous person shares your name and you're totally okay, maybe even proud of it? For me, Haley isn't a suuuuper popular name so it's kind of fun for me to find anybody famous with the same name.  In a post about how I got my name I mentioned that Hayley Mills is one reason why I am known today as Haley. But I'm not super proud that I was named after her.

 One kick ass chick that has an insanely great voice, in a pretty fun band shares my name and I am totally okay with it...!

 Hayley Williams from the band Paramore. She is one cool chick. She is funky and a little crazy and totally her own self. I admire that she seems to know exactly who she is. I guess it's bold of me to assume that. A lot of people hide behind their images. But I watched some interviews of her and she seems to be the center of attention in her band and she is totally okay with it. She is also somewhat modest for how talented and beautiful she is.

Via

 If there is one thing I want Alina to have it is confidence. Rob made a good point the other day. He said he would rather that Alina was overly confident rather than not confident at all. That was hard for me to decide on, but I agree. I really don't like people that are overly confident but being a complete door mat is not an option for Alina either. This Hayley seems pretty damn confident too. She blasts her lyrics with so much fervor, it's contagious. I listen to her songs and I'm tapping my foot to the beat and singing along with just as much energy and verve. (Wellllll, maybe not as much, but the point's been made.)

Via

  So yeah, I'm completely okay with sharing my name with Hayley. Technically it was my name first because she's a little bit younger than me. But she's doing our name proud, so it's cool.

Who do YOU share a name with and you're completely okay with it..??

OR- who shares your name and you hate it because they're just shaming it all over the place?

Knock Knock.. You There?

 Where have I been!?

 My life is flashing before my very eyes. Seriously, I can't believe how fast the work days are going by. My mornings whiz by and before I know it, I'm at work wishing I had eaten that banana when I had the chance. Every day after work, I get home, give Alina supper while I'm making our dinner, bath the girl, put away leftovers, fill the dishwasher and eat. Then, it seems once all of that is taken care of, it's eight and time for Alina to go to bed and for me to begin my two hours of schooling. By ten I am never quite finished and it is always after ten before I actually settle down with Rob to watch a show. Once I feel like a human, I head for bed and sigh with stress and worry that I have to do it all over again in the morning. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm getting up early everyday to study a little bit and every other day to run on the treadmill.)

 I'm totally burning out but this is how it is right now. Besides, at least I'm not doing this entirely by myself. How do single mothers do it?! I mean, really.

 Instead of a fun, original post, I have only pictures to show off what we've been up to lately. This is all I have time to offer. Once I finish posting this, I have to catch up on my journal.. I'm a few days behind and then it's a movie or a show.. Although I should probably go to bed because when I was reading over this week's material for one of my courses I could have sworn I just blinked but in actuality I just started to fall asleep sitting up.

 When I'm not spending time with the family or at work, this will be my view:

 And if it wasn't bad enough.. my new blog design made its debut and I didn't even realize. So I just wrote an entire post and failed to mention the elephant in the room... My blog has had a make over and I'm pretty happy with it. I'll post more about the details on that soon!! (Just add it to my list of things I have to do!!!)