more random thoughts and info

Really, this post could be called "It's 10:06PM on a Monday Night and Ashley Doesn't Know What to Blog About."  But that is a bit excessive, is it not?  So I thought I'd just throw a hodge podge of stuff at you again, and call it good.  I suppose I could have just posted nothing, but what's the fun in that?  You'd rather hear me ramble, I know.

Since I got called out on my lack of comment response after Friday's post (no worries, no offense taken), I thought I'd do my best to make nice/explain myself in regards to how I approach comments.  To begin with, I greatly appreciate all of the positive feedback I receive from you all, really it means the world to me and gives me the courage to keep putting myself out there.  And all of your helpful tips, advice and suggestions are awesome, I am so thankful for your responses.  But I don't plan on responding individually to every single comment of that nature.  Just know, again, that I do read every single comment (they come to my inbox!) and truly do appreciate them.

When questions are left in the comment section, I usually do one of four things:  1.  Respond to the comment directly in the comments section.  But I need to figure out how to better set up the comment section on my end so my response can be located directly next to the question.  2.  I answer the question in a following blog post.  This is honestly what I try to do most often, because a lot of the questions I get are something I think other people might wonder too.  3.  I plan to answer the question in a following blog post, and either forget, or spend forever trying to come up with the best way to word my response and never actually go through with the post.  4.  I open the e-mail on my phone and straight up forget there was a question I needed to answer.  That, well, happens way too frequently.  And not just with blog comments.  I am TERRIBLE about opening an e-mail on my phone, not being able to respond immediately, and then flat out forgetting I had an e-mail to respond to.  I need to mark them as unread (or not open important e-mails on my phone) but it doesn't usually happen.

I decided to go back through the last 30 days of comments, and try and catch any questions that I know I haven't responded to.  There were more than just these that I didn't respond to in the comment section, but I know I e-mailed the question asker (very official term of course) personally so I'm just going to skip over them.

In response to my gym rant, Jess said "Are you training for a half?  I love running outside."
I would most definitely prefer to run outside, but for me it works best to get my runs done in the morning, and in order to have someone watch Ryann I have to hit the gym.  The treadmill is lame, but it is better than nothing!  And yes, I am going to say I am training for the KC Half on October 15th!!

My bestie wanted to know what I thought of the Trader Joe's Sunflower Seed Butter.
At first it was kind of weird, because I was expecting it to taste like peanut butter.  Which it does in a sense, but really it tastes like, well, sunflower seeds.  I have no idea why :).  It took a couple times, but eventually I got over the fact that it weirded me out a bit.  And I discovered I really like carrots dipped in it.

CoreysGal wanted to know "Is it awkward to be around other children Ryann's age with how much she is talking and how much she already knows?"
Well, yes and no.  I have said it OVER and OVER, no kid is the same and none of you out there should be comparing your child to mine.  Yes, Ryann's vocabulary is insane.  I have no idea why.  I didn't do anything magic nor do I have special tricks up my sleeve.  I present her opportunities to learn letters and numbers and things of that nature because she seems to enjoy it.  It is something we can do together.  When we are with other kids, or just around people who know kids Ryann's age, I do hear a lot of "Wow she is so smart!  My kid can't say that."  Or you know, my kid doesn't know that, my child only says this or that.  The only reason it is ever awkward is because, well, I'm awkward.  :o)  Seriously, it's true, I don't know how to react to positive reinforcement or praise in person.  I try and downplay the situation and just keep talking myself into more awkwardness.  But ultimately we move on, they're just kids.  And usually the child we are playing with can kick Ryann's butt in running/throwing/climbing/jumping, you know, the gross motor skills.  She has a lot of fine motor skills and a pretty good attention span, but she still doesn't move her little body around as well as a lot of other kids.  It all evens out.

Jamie asked, "What type/brand of frozen yogurt do you eat?"
I usually buy the Kemp's Fat Free Chocolate Frozen Yogurt.  I've gotten the low fat chocolate, as well as the fat free cookies and cream, and the are great too.  Recently we did our grocery shopping at WalMart and they didn't have Kemps, so I ended up with Blue Bunny's Strawberry Banana.  It was REALLY good, and I wouldn't mind getting another carton of that when my chocolate runs out.  I have mentioned that I eat my ice cream (frozen yogurt) every night, no matter what, right?  :o)

I think that about covers it.  If you have any questions you really wanted me to answer, feel free to ask again here or on my facebook page.  I swear I'm not trying to ignore you, I'm just really forgetful and scatterbrained a lot :o).  Hence the posts where I tell you 9 million things that don't relate and often don't matter...  which leads me into my randomness.

::  Ryann has been waking up earlier and earlier again.  Like between 5:30 and 6.  I'm crossing my fingers it is because more teeth are coming in.  But it is driving me crazy.  Especially with daylight saving time on the horizon.  4:45 most certainly is not morning, so she better get that figured out!

::  This outfit makes me smile.  I really want to try and pull off something like it.

from pinterest via sunday crossbow

::  Who out there has made pumpkin pancakes?  I'm in the mood to give that a go, but looking for the perfect semi healthy recipe.  Any suggestions?

::  Is it excessive to make chili once a week (and then eat it for the next three days)?  Chris and I more or less fought over the leftovers (he asked if he could finish them off for lunch one day, and I gritted my teeth while saying yes, they were so good).  That doesn't happen in our house.  Usually I will eat leftovers once or twice, Chris maybe once if I'm lucky, and then it ends up in the trash.  We aren't big leftovers fans.  But the chili?  It was amazing.  I'll share a recipe when I make it again.

::  Ryann has pretty much mastered her sad face.  And she will do it while saying "Ryann saaaad."  With the eyes and everything.  We are so in for it.

Eh.  That is all I've got right now.  Must sleep.