Halloween Belt Test

Presenting my Little Blue Belt! This morning we got up bright and early and went to That Other Kid's karate belt test! This was the "Blue Belt" level where he went from a "green belt" to a "blue belt"....and yes, he can kick some serious butt! As long as it's a short butt....I mean come on he's only 44 inches tall!! He can kick past his "belt" which is what their goal is...in fact I believe if you look carefully you can see he is kicking "chest level" on a lot of his kicks! I'd say that is pretty good for someone who's legs are less than 2 feet long!!





Anyway, "Belt Test day" is always a lot of fun and excitement. He only has 3 more levels to through before he gets to go to the "Beginner's Level" Karate class. These classes are designed for ages 7 or older, so he is pretty excited about that possibility coming up.

So this was the excitement of our day! Tonight we will turn all the lights off and sit in the dark and watch a movie and eat UNBUTTERED popcorn together! (Dairy allergies really suck at holiday time or bascally any day of the week time!) After the movie he will go to bed and I will exercise all those popcorn calories away, cuz you gotta know just because he can't have butter doesn't mean I can't!! We are full of excitement at our house, huh??!!

You Capture -- Autumn

Over at Beth's today she is hosting a "Autumn" You Capture. I haven't been over yet but I can hardly wait to see all the different takes on Autumn. Here in North Texas we don't have the traditional kind of autumn where the leaves turn beautiful hues of reds, oranges, and yellows. Instead we celebrate autumn a little differently! We have constant RAIN!or at least we do this year...we've had well over 8 inches of rain this month and guess what?? It's not done yet! UGH....soooo tired of rain! Anywhoooo, since seeing pictures of constant rain usually doesn't excite too many people (unless you are suffering from a severe drought, and if you are I'm sorry) I decided to shoot a different kind of Autumn perspective for you!

Yesterday we (meaning That Other Kid and I) went to the big American Airlines Center facility in downtown Dallas and we were given a tour of the facility and all that goes into preparing for a HOCKEY GAME! and let me tell you for a little boy that lives and breathes hockey he was in HEAVEN! We got to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs practice and stand up against the glass...some of them even banged into the glass for the kids! He was one happy boy!



We got to see the Zamboni up close and personal -- he tried to touch it but they caught him just in time to stop him from doing that!

Here are a few shots of the kids during the tour...of course That Other Kid was being hammy for the camera. His friends were none too excited to have their pictures taken -- oh well at least there is proof that they were there too, right??!!





After the tour we went outside and had a picnic lunch (or at least tried to before it started raining again). While we were getting set up for our picnic the local news station was ending their broadcast and so they took a flash shot of him and some of the others that participated in the tour! My kid was on tv, folks! and my friend caught it in this flash on the 50' Platinum screen out in the AT&T Plaza with her camera!! so this shot is courtesy of my friend. That Other Kid is the little one the far right and her son is right next to him! What a great way to end the morning field trip!



This is what my attempt at getting that same shot got me!! Good thing my friend's camera is better than mine!



Then last night we got to go back to the AAC and watch the Stars play the Maple Leafs. That Other Kid was in HEAVEN again! His friend had never been to a hockey game and was very enthralled by it all! It was even more exciting because the Stars won the game in Overtime --
4-3!! YEAH...Go Stars!! What a great way to end a very exciting day of Autumn Fun!!

Yesterday's Weigh In and New Challenge!

Ok...first of all let me just start by saying over at the Sisterhood we are starting a new challenge to celebrate their 1 year anniversary! I'm so excited about this because this is a challenge that EVERYONE can participate in! All you have to do is WALK, and log your miles and report in everyday! And we can even win prizes!! How cool is that? We win on their anniversary!! Usually the person celebrating the anniversary gets a gift, but not with these girls (and don't forget Brian)....the people participating WINS!! There will be other challenges going on during this time, too so if you get bored with just doing the same thing jump on the bandwagon and do some of the other challenges, too!

Anywhooo, yesterday was a crazy, busy day where I left my house at 9 a.m. and didn't walk back into it until 11 p.m. More about that later today or if I get busy tomorrow. I did manage to squeeze in my weigh in because it's important to me! So...
although it's not what I had hoped I managed to not get disappointed after looking at the numbers, and I logged them into my handy, dandy phone so I wouldn't forget cuz I knew it was gonna be that kind of day!

Weigh in for the beginning of this challenge : 197.9

That's .5 pounds up from last week, but I have been pretty bad and have indulged in a number of cokes! So...back off the cokes, girl and get those numbers down!

My goal for this challenge that ends on December 16 (perfect timing if you ask me) is to knock past that 30 pounds lost (2.1 pounds left to get there) and get down below 190! My original goal for Christmas time was 150 pounds, but that obviously was an unrealistic goal! I have to keep reminding myself that I didn't put this weight on overnight and if I want it to truly be gone it won't come off that way either!

I have a lot going on during this challenge -- another moving sale (next weekend if the weather will cooperate!), packing up the house we have lived in for the past 6 years and then moving to another community 30 minutes away! I also have to try to squeeze in some homeschooling for That Other Kid and all the other day to day "stuff" that a mom and wife does. BUT I have to remember I am important too....so I'm going to make sure I exercise every night, too. I really do love that "me" time -- although there are some nights I just want to sit down and "veg out" in front of a movie or a good book, those days will have to wait a while longer. My health needs to come first and that can't happen while watching a movie or reading a book!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Tiny Talk Tuesday celebrates our children and their view of the world. They continually make us laugh and by recording their Tiny Talk we can focus on one of the many JOYS of parenting! If your kiddos made you laugh this week (don't they always), then feel free to share the humor! Check out more Tiny Talks with Mary.


Today is Tuesday and I'm finally getting a chance to sit down at my computer (thanks to dh's monitor) and type out a Tiny Talk dialogue! There have been many discussions going on around here about moving, since we are moving out of the only house That Other Kid has ever known (or lived in) in just a few short weeks. Thanksgiving Week to be exact! Nothing like moving over the holidays to reduce this already stressful time, right?!!

Anywhoooo, first discussion was about packing all our stuff into boxes.

"Mom why do we have to put all our stuff in boxes? Why can't we just put everything in the truck and carry it over to the new house like that?"
Uh, yeah can you just picture that one? Let's just load up all those thousands of little lego pieces and toss them in the truck and see how many we end up with in the new place!

Next funny happened the afternoon we went over to actually look at the apartment unit we are going to live in. We went over to measure some things and just take a look at the actual unit. Of course it's empty right now, so appearances are deceiving! "Mom, this place IS HUGE!!!! We'll have PLENTY OF ROOM FOR ALL MY STUFF and all your stuff too!"

Now the funny thing about this statement is we are moving out of a 1800+ square ft home into a 1300 sq. ft. apartment! Yeah....we'll have lots of room, huh?!! (Thus the reason we are selling most everything we don't use on a regular basis!!

The final thing before leaving the apartment That Other Kid said was the thing that cracked me up and still makes me laugh everytime I think about it. He opened the sliding glass door and said, "Where's the BACKYARD?? Where will I play?"
I told him, there is no backyard but we can set the basketball goal/net up on the patio (about 2" x 6") and play there! I also told him there is a park nearby and a couple of good friends to play with so we will adapt and have close friends!!

That seemed to make him happy! Friends always make a new place seem more special!

True Confessions Again!

Today is True Confessions Day over at the Sisterhood and boy do I have some confessions to make! So I'll just jump right in...

1) Saturday morning I woke up HUNGRY and ate and ate and ate! All day long I felt FAMISHED!! I tried to eat fruit, drink lots of water and stay away from the kitchen! I was totally unsuccessful! I baked myself 8 chocolate chip cookies and ate ALL 8 of them, within a 30 minute time period! They tasted yummy! but my digestive tract did not appreciate all that fat and sugar! I spent some time in the bathroom "paying" for those cookies....so not worth it!

2) I didn't really want to eat after that, though so that's a good thing!

3) In the Big D we are used to sunny, warm weather for most of the year. Sometimes we have periods of "downright HOT" -- like the 4 months of summer! Other times we have periods of rain, and occasionally in the dead of winter (like January or February) we will get a cold, ice storm. But USUALLY we are blessed with "nice" weather. However, over the past 2 months we have had soooooo much rain and cloud cover it's starting to really get "OLD"! How do the people of Seattle deal with this year in and year out?? There is no way I could live like this long term...Anyway, my point is that I'm so stinkin' tired of rain and clouds! we haven't been able to play outside, take walks, or anything requiring the "great outdoors" because of the constant RAIN!! I don't know how much we have had but there is a lake out in my backyard!! UGH!!

4) I NEED SUNSHINE!!! PLEASE!!! and a bit warmer weather than 55 degrees would be 'swell' too! Remember this is Texas??!! It's supposed to be WARM!! I have had to turn the heat on in our house nearly every day for the past week or two and this is not something I am accustomed to doing till mid November! and I can't remember a time when it has had to run periodically throughout the day until DECEMBER!!

5) I'm thinking all this cloudy and rainy weather is causing me to be a hormonal mess! I'm usually pretty even tempered but lately 'I'm a mess'!!

6) Instead of packing boxes and preparing for our move that occurs in 4 weeks I'm sitting in here reading blog posts, and typing up my own.

7) I also just sat down to a 'healthy' lunch of chips and queso! That outta help me meet my goal of only weighing 195.8 this Wednesday, dontcha think?? But at least I didn't drink the coke sitting in the cabinet, right? I drank water!!

8) Well I can't think of anything else...just didn't want to be "odd" and stop at 7!!

Go check out the other "Confessions" over at the Sisterhood! You'll be glad you did!

Updating My Life

That's what I feel like I'm doing today, so that's my title!

Here is what's going on with me and mine ---

1) I took my computer into the "geek squad" and they told me that my backlight is definitely out on my laptop. All I have to do is backup all my stuff on an external hard drive (which I don't have) bring it in and they will send it in to Dell who will charge me a small fee of $300 to $400 to fix my backlight! HELLO!! Oh and btw, I would need to buy a external hard drive and they would be happy to download it all for me...that will only cost me $100 and the hard drive thingy will be about $70 to $100 depending on the size! HELLO..that's $500 to $600 to fix a 2 1/2 year old computer...If I had that kind of money laying around I could go buy myself a brand new laptop with a bigger hard drive! Instead I had dh hook my laptop up to his monitor (who knew you could do that?? Not me!) Only problem is -- his monitor is big and heavy and in the bedroom/office...not the living room where That Other Kid lives and breathes....this limits my time on the computer, which I'm not liking one little bit, but at least I can use my computer again!! YEAH!!

2) We are preparing to move out of this house (the one we have lived in since 1 month before That Other Kid was born) and into a smaller place. The main problem with this move is that we have TONS of stuff that we need to get rid of to make room for "what we have to have"! Did you know that most Americans have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF?? I am definitely included in this group of people. I went and looked at a storage unit facility today to figure out how big of a space we will need to rent to store all out "extra stuff" -- you know the sentimental stuff that I'm not parting with under any circumstance?? While I was there I saw some people and they had two 20' x 20' storage units and for the most part they were FULL! That's a lot of "extra" stuff! It made me think...do we really need this much "stuff"? As Americans we waste an amazing amount and we also tend to accumulate an amazing amount of "things" that we either don't need or don't really have a reason for. We just get them because we CAN!

Deep stuff for "just a move", right??!!

3) Yesterday I spent the day cleaning and preparing for our landlords to come over to show the house to a potential renter they have for after we move out next month. Now granted I'm not the best housekeeper in the universe, but I'm not the worse either. I would say I'm somewhere in the middle. On the surface, things are pretty clean, but when you get right down to it I should spend more time doing some "deep cleaning" more often than "when someone 'important' is coming over. Anyway, I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the tile floor when That Kid came home from working a game and he sees me and says, "Why are you cleaning the floor?" It made me think do I clean so infrequently that he thinks there is something going on before I will clean the floor? Apparently so! It's made me think ever since...that maybe I should spend more time cleaning!

4) I have been working out most every night for 40 minutes with my WiiFit! I am absolutely in 'luv' with my WiiFit! It's so much fun and before I know it I have been exercising for 40 minutes! I have been trying out new exercises and perfecting some that I had only tried a time or two previously. Go me!!

5) This past Tuesday I went shopping with a friend and tried on a pair of size 14 jeans with elastic waist. I didn't buy them cuz I didn't want to spend $20 for a pair of pants I wasn't crazy about. BUT...I have 2 pair of size 14 jeans sitting in my closet, THAT DON'T have elastic waistbands. TODAY I am wearing 1 of them!!! YEAH!! They are tight, I had to squish my flabby tummy into them, but I AM WEARING THEM!! and I can breathe in them....I can hardly believe that I am finally losing enough weight to be in "regular" size clothes again! This just motivates me even more to watch what I am eating and to make sure I exercise every night. I know that while I am busy preparing for this move it will be hard to stay consistent but being able to squeeze into these 14's is a great motivator!!

6) I guess that's really all I have...just wanted to fill you in on the happenings of my life! Thanks for playing along! You know it's always an adventure here!

Picture of "My Cans"!!

Ok...I finally have my computer up and running (sort of) so her is my picture that I took for the last challenge for the "Lose For Good" Campaign. This is really 10 pounds of food....which in my estimation what I should have lost in the time period alloted so...instead of only donating my little more than 5 pounds of food the food banks will get 2 times that!

Just wanted to get that out there...

Weigh-n and Parade of Cans

Well todays the day we Sisters are supposed to show off our cans for the Lose For Good Campaign. I was very excited to do this because its for such a great cause. So many people are out of work or underemployed right now that the area food banks are really hurting so any food that can be donated will be greatly appreciated by those in need. Our family has been hit hard this year, as well but we are so much better off than many others. DH has work, and we have enough to eat and shelter our head. Many others can't say that, so for that I am grateful. Anyway, I wanted to show you "my cans" but I'm having to use my phone to type this so I don't know if I'll be able to load my picture. (Hopefully I will figure it out!)

I went over to the gym this morning for my weigh in and I have had no change since Saturday - still 197.4. But I did go to Kohl's with afriend yesterday and I tried on another pair of size 14's. I was happy that the p-r I had on last week was not a fluke! I didn't buy them, because I decided I didn't want to spend $20 for a pair of pants that I won't wear for long and I didn't really like the way they looked on me. Maybe I was just being critical of myself but I thought they made me look fat and I'm tired of looking fat, ya know?? I still have my poochy stomach that makes me look pregnant in most clothes unless the clothes squish it in so that needs to be a target area for me to work on.

Anyone know of some good "stomach flattening" exercises?? I need to hit them hard!

In other news, I have been doing my 40 minutes of exercise every night since Saturday and after taking 5 days off it feels great! I really do love the way exercising makes me feel - both on the inside and the outside! I am more physically fit than I have been in years even though I still have much weight to lose. I have good muscle ton and can lift more than most people would think! It feels good to lose this weight the RIGHT WAY!

i Feel Lost

When I was shutting down my computer last night something weird happened but I didn't think much about it. It was late and I was tired so I just turned it off and went to bed. But this morning when I went to turn it on it botted up like it always does, but I had no images on the screen! What's up with that, I thought to myself, so I started pressing buttons and trying to figure out what was wrong. After doing everything I knew to do(which wasn't much) I called Dell tech supportn who told me, "uh sorry its not under warranty any more but if you will give us your credit card number I'll be happy to transfer you to someone who can help you!"

UGH!!! So I hung up and did what any technically challenged wife would do - texted dh and whined that my computer screen isn't working! HELP!!!

Since he can't see it, he can't help till he gets home tonight. So I've been without my computer all day! I think if I didn't have my handy dandy little Blackberry to check emails with and get on Facebook with, I might actually start having the shakes! I feel so lost without access to my computer.

You would think that since I can't waste hours of time with my computer I could actually get something done around here, but NO! That would be too logical and such a good use of my time! No, instead I continually restart my computer, check emails from my phone and sit around feeling LOST!!

You think maybe I should get a life or something?? Maybe clean house, load the dishwasher, start packing for our move next month?! Or how about clean the house so when the landlord comes over this weekend to show it I don't die of embarrassment from the way the house looks! No, I'll wait till Friday night to worry about that! It'll just get dirty again, right?!!

So here I am lost without my computer but grateful for my Blackberry and for all my online friends to listen to my woes!!


So how do you react to "no computer use"?? Apparently I kinda freak out!

Final Weigh In -- Shrink For Good/Lose For Good

Today is the final weigh in for the Shrink for Good/Lose For Good Challenge over at the Sisterhood. This is for such a good cause and I had the BEST OF INTENTIONS, but sometimes life kinda gets in the way of GOOD INTENTIONS! No, I didn't fail, but I didn't do as well as I wanted to. During this challenge we teamed up with Weight Watchers and are donating food to area food banks. I know that Texas is not hurting like a lot of other states as far as the economy goes but there are people everywhere hurting right now...and lots of them can be helped by just giving them some food.

So...this was a great cause and I'm happy to report that I will be donating 5 pounds 6 ounces (or more) of food to this very worthy cause!!!Yes, during this challenge lasting 6 weeks I lost 5 pounds 6 ounces!! I'm pleased with this in one way, but disappointed that it wasn't more.

Today's weigh in was: 197.4
I started this challenge at 199.9, bounced up to 202.10 then back down again!
I have stayed under 200 pounds for 3 weeks now!! I think I can say "GOODBYE" to those numbers!

The past 6 weeks have been hard for me on the exercise area. I had such a great rhythm going, but when our family's routine got messed up mine did too. I'm working to get it back, and I think I have got it figured out. We are moving into a smaller place (thus the reason for the before mentioned garage sale) in about 5 weeks so things are going to be pretty hectic for a while, but I am determined to EXERCISE and not BLOW IT. I've worked too hard to give it all up now!

I'm only 2 pounds away from losing 30 pounds (since I started on March 25)and Christy said she'd make me a special button if I do it, so over the next couple of weeks I'm going to work REALLY HARD to keep on track. A lady came to my garage sale this weekend and bought some of my clothes that NO LONGER FIT!! She commented about how I must have lost a lot of weight if these were my clothes!! I can't tell you how good that felt!! OMG, I just wanted to go hug her (and no, I didn't know her)!!

So....get ready Christy those last 2 pounds are coming off SOON!!

For WeightWatchers and the Lose for Good Campaign I get to donate 5 pounds 6 ounces of food!! Go WeightWatchers! Go ME!!

Garage Sale

I'm sitting out in my garage on a nice cool fall morning in North Texas playing on my Blackberry phone that dh graciously bought me this summer. I didn't really "need" it but really "wanted" it. Now that I've had it for a few months I am hopelessly addicted to the convenience of it. As I said I'm sitting in garage watching over my garage sale and playing on my phone! Doing facebook, blogging, and checking emails are just some of the wonders of technology that I'm blessed with. People are coming and going and buying things and I'm enjoying the pleasure of taking their money for what I perceive as my "junk". None of it is really junk but I don't need it and they can use it or they wouldn't buy it, or would they? The neighbor behind us (age 9) came by yesterday with $20 from the "tooth fairy" and bought $10 of stuff. The day before he spent another $10 on stuff. Did this 9 year old really need $20 of my stuff? I think not? Why did he buy it then? Because he could is my guess.

Something the past few months have taught me is that we can live with a whole lot less "stuff" than we think we can. As I was going through the house preparing for this sale I continually asked myself, "do I need this? Have I used it recently? Is there a benefit to keeping it?" If I answered no, then it is now sitting in my driveway or garage waiting for someone else to take ownership of it. I hope it doesn't just sit in their house collecting dust! I hope they are buying it because they truly want it!

Weigh In- Lose For Good Challenge

Ok...first things first...See these pictures...the picture of me wearing the black pants! Guess what??? They are a SIZE 14!! I haven't worn a size 14 since I first found out I was pregnant with my almost 6 year old!! I know I still have a long way to go as is evidenced by my weigh in today, but I am making progress in the right direction....I'm so excited to be back down into a size 14! I'm having a garage sale this weekend and I'm getting rid of all my "fat pants"!! The other 2 pictures are my progress pictures. I'm having a hard time telling the difference in this month's pictures and last month's except that I am definitely having to tighten up the drawstring on those pants,(but you can't see that, can you?) so I'm just leaving it at this...

It's been a tough month for me. I'm having a hard time squeezing in exercise every night, and I have not been eating great and not drinking my water is hurtin me in more ways than one. But I am getting better. Once the garage sale is over this weekend I will have a bit more "free time" and maybe I can get my "groove back".
Over the past five nights I have managed to exercise 3 of them for my assigned 40 minutes. My goal is do it every night....that seems to keep me focused, if I am doing it every night.

Anywhoooo, my weigh in results:

Last week: 198.8
This week: 198.0

So that's a loss of .8 or 1/2 pound. Since my original weigh in at the beginning of the Lose For Good challenge I have gone from 199.9 to 202.10 and then back down to 198.0. So I'll be donating at least 4 pounds 10 ounces of food and I'll shoot for even more by Saturday's final weigh in. I would really like to get to 195.8 but that's not likely to happen by Saturday, so I'll just do my best. That's all anyone can ask, right?

OK...I Did It!! and other news!!

Yesterday was a flop in the exercise department. By the time I got everyone to bed it was 11 p.m. and I still had to do some sewing for That Kid before he had to leave for Tulsa this morning, so I didn't get to exercise. I was determined it was going to happen tonight, though. I managed to get everyone to sleep and settled by 10 p.m. and I was ready to go!!

I already had the WiiFit set up so all I had to do was turn it back on and go. I got right to it and did the Yoga, then moved onto Hula. At this point I was at 23 minutes on it and didn't really feel like doing Jillian tonight so....I kept doing different things on the WiiFit. I tried several new things; like boxing, strength exercises, balance games and I even RAN -- can you believe it??!! Of course, it's really running in place and it's mostly moving your arms and such, but I did RUN the short run!!

I did all 40 minutes on the WiiFit....and it was so FUN!! What I like about this new challenge that Lissa started was that we can do "whatever" as long as we are moving for 40 minutes. Now I know that 40 minutes is A LONG TIME, but when I am working out with the Wii and WiiFit it doesn't really seem like very long at all...now that's what I call a good way to exercise!

Ok...here's something weird. I'm already thinking about what I can do tomorrow night to exercise for my 40 minutes!! I think I have a sickness or something!!

On to other news...
I'm having a garage/moving sale next weekend to help clear out a lot of excess stuff we have. In about 5 weeks we are moving into a smaller place and we are not going to have room for most of the stuff we have. We are going to have to rent a storage unit to store a lot of sentimental stuff but we want to get the smallest unit we can. As I am preparing for this sale I am looking around and finding that we have ALOT of EXTRA STUFF around here! By nature I tend to be a packrat, but I think it has really gotten out of control. When we moved into this house nearly 6 years ago, I was 8 months pregnant and was unable to lift anything over 5 pounds. Needless to say, most everything just got thrown into boxes and packed, then moved to this house. Nothing got thrown out or given away. Once we got moved in, I was dealing with a high maintenace baby, who nursed pretty much ALL DAY LONG...Things are finally to the point where I can and have to purge...NOW EVERYTHING MUST GO!! If we don't use it NOW...it's going to be SOLD!! We are praying for 1)great weather and 2) everything to be SOLD.

We have everything from a treadmill to an old "teacher's desk", old refrigerator and freezer to small kitchen appliances. We are selling some of our furniture that won't fit in the new place, too. We also have hockey gear that That Kid outgrew,as well as things a pre-teen and teenager would like but a almost 6 year old won't be interested in for years!! As you can tell we have a wide range of STUFF.

So if you live in the DFW area and need STUFF -- email me and I'll give you the details!! Friends and family get first dibs on everything!!

And if you aren't in the area...could you pray for the BEST SALE POSSIBLE?? We need this sale to be a major success!!

WeighIn Week 6 - Shrink For Good Challenge

I don't seem to be "getting this" Shrink for Good means SHRINKING not gaining weight every other week, right?? I went to the gym this morning - even before eating and jumped on the scales. I wasn't expecting much; exercising has been pretty sporatic and I've had some rough bouts with "gotta have chocolate!" So as I said I really didn't much...soooo

Today's weigh in -- 198.8
Last week's weigh in -- 197.7

So that's up 1 pound 1 ounce this week! I'm bummed but not surprised. This week will be better. I have a game plan. I'm going to be exercising for 40 MINUTES so that will definitely be a step in the right direction. DH suggested I start food journaling again so I'm going to start that. Anyone know of a good FREE site?? Thanks...

Overall I have gone from 199.9 up to 202.10 then back down to 198.8 so I've really only lost 1 pound 1 ounce, but since I went up to 202.10 I will be donating food for those pounds too! I'm really going to try to get down to 195 by the end of this challenge, so I can donate 6 pounds of food and I can be down 30 pounds in 6 months!!

Missed Weigh In....

I missed the weigh in today with the Sisterhood because I couldn't make it over to the gym till late and I figured, why bother? I can just go tomorrow morning so that's what I'm going to do. This is already week 6 of the Shrink For Good -- Lose For Good Challenge...wow where is the time going??

There's a new challenge going on over at Shrinking Jeans, but it is a running challenge and my knees....not gonna do it...so I have been debating what I can do to continue with my loss and still get the support from these wonderful ladies. Not that I "have" to participate in a challenge to be supported by them, but I feel like I'm a part of something productive, ya know? Anyway, Lissa and I were chatting via emails and she's not able to run right now either, so we have decided to do our own little challenge -- EXERCISE (any kind -- Wii, DVD's, walking, whatever) 40 MINUTES EVERY DAY!!! Read about it here. That oughta kick some weightloss butt, right??

So I told her, "yes, I am in"...then I went to get started and did 26 minutes on the WiiFit and sat down because I remembered I needed to write a quick email about getting my windshield wiper fixed and here I am 1 hour and 15 minutes later...still on the computer!! What's up with that?? So from now on...ABSOLUTELY NO COMPUTER TILL I HAVE EXERCISED FOR MY 40 MINUTES!! I can't get this weight off if I sit around on my computer, can I?? I don't think typing and checking emails, blogs, and facebook are going to burn very many calories, do you??

So...tomorrow is a new day. I'm going to go weigh myself, I'm going to clean and organize and prepare for a huge garage/moving sale I'm having next weekend, and I'm going to exercise NO LESS than 40 minutes!!

So ... now that I have wasted an hour and a half, I think it's time to go to bed...night all!!

Entertaining Tiny Talk Tuesday

Tiny Talk Tuesday celebrates our children and their view of the world. They continually make us laugh and by recording their Tiny Talk we can focus on one of the many JOYS of parenting! If your kiddos made you laugh this week (don't they always), then feel free to share the humor! Check out more Tiny Talks with Mary.



This morning in the "Big D" is foggy and rainy and dreary and blah!! So I'm movin' even slower than I normally do in the mornin' time. I just HATE dreary days....they really grate on my nerves....anywhoooo...

As I sit here watching That Other Kid play Mario Kart on the Wii I'm listening to his rambling conversations with himself and trying really hard not to laugh out loud! He is so comical without even trying.

So here are some of the things he is saying as he plays his favorite video game of the day:

That Other Kid -- "Get ahead, boy! You don't want to lose, do you?"
"B-b-b-b-b I know what starts with "B"! The word bed! and I think I know how to spell it too...B-E-D !!

Me -- "That's right, bed is spelled B-E-D! What else starts with "B"?

That Other Kid -- "Bell starts with "b", too! and so does boy!"

I love how he will just sit and play and try to figure out what letter the words he would normally say, start with! It makes me realize that I am doing something right with my little boy!

It also makes me realize that "all the time is learning time" not just when we have a designated "school time"!!

Having Problems

Today is Confessions Monday over at the Sisterhood of Shrinking Jeans and it's also the beginning of a new challenge. I'm not participating in this one -- it is a 5K run and I just know myself well enough to know, I'm not gonna run! So I have to find a new "challenge" for myself to keep myself going with the exercising every night.

Herein lies my confessions for the week --

1)Since the WiiActive Challenge ended Wednesday night I have only exercised 1 time.

2)I'm tired and depressed and exercising at the end of the day is difficult when I am so tired. Thereby creating more depression...ya know the vicious cycle, right?

3)I fixed a "comfort food" dinner tonight and I ATE IT!! Not only did I eat it, I ate a bit more than my "normal" serving.

4)Then I went to the pharmacy by way of the local Culver's ice cream store and bought myself a nice big (actually it was their "short") Concrete Mixer with Heath Bars. I ate it in about 10 minutes....while driving home so I could throw the cup away before coming inside to be spotted by the children! (That Kid is home from college this week on Fall Break!)

I need to get back on track and find "my groove" again....but I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight. Maybe I just need some sleep.

I have a lot to do over the next couple of weeks and I think I'm starting to feel overwhelmed by it all. So...I'm going to prepare for bed at the most unreasonable time of 10:30 and hopefully I'll be asleep by 11:00 p.m.!! Wow!! That would be something for me!

Bad Night

Yesterday started out as a typical (for now) Friday. Got up at 5:30 a.m. fixed dh breakfast, cleaned up a bit, took dh to the office he's working at, stopped at dry cleaners, came home, fell back to sleep with That Other Kid for about a hour and a half. When we got up about 9 a.m. I did my usual stuff. You know, check emails, check bank account, check favorite blogs and websites, showered and ate breakfast. I also started laundry, and all those exciting types of things.

We had a scheduled field trip at a nearby Nature Preserve where That other Kid learned all kinds of interesting facts about insects. They even took a short hike to look and try to catch insects. He actually caught a grasshopper, but before I could get the camera ready the grasshopper escaped from the net...bummer!

After leaving the Nature Preserve we ran to the grocery store for a quick, "we gotta have these things" run. Those trips are always fun with a 5 1/2 year old, don't you think?! Immediately after dropping the groceries off, we went to HOCKEY PRACTICE!! Going to hockey practice was the highlight of the day for That Other Kid, since he hasn't been on the ice in about a month! He could hardly wait to leave for practice! That Kid is home from college this week because of "fall break" (yeah for fall break!!) so he tagged along to watch practice. After practice we went and picked dh up from the office and went home.

I got That Other Kid ready for bed and was ready to CRASH and CRASH hard. I got dh situated for bed (he goes to bed really early now that he gets up at 5 a.m.) and I went to the living room to exercise. Here comes the really BAD part!!

By this time it is 10:30p.m. and I just didn't have it in me to exercise and I was HUNGRY!! Can you guess what happened here?? Oh come on...take a wild guess...I know you want to....

Any guesses??

Ok, I'll just tell you...I SAT ON THE COUCH AND ATE HALF A BAG OF CHIPS AND VEGGED OUT WITH MY COMPUTER till 11:45 p.m.!! Yes, that's right instead of going to bed at 10:30 like I could have (and should have) I sat in the dark living room by myself and ATE a BIG BAG OF CHIPS for an HOUR!!

Ok...so now that's over...You are supposed to confess your sins, right??!! So I've done that and today is a new day. I'm going to make the most of it...I have a big pile of laundry to fold and put away and I need to run to Wally world to pick up some toiletry items. I also need to load the dishwasher and start going through some of our stuff to try to sell in our garage sale that I'm going to have in a couple of weeks. No time to waste and certainly no time to sit around here feeling like a failure for last night -- not that I ever would do a goofy thing like that, ya know?

Hope ya'll have a good weekend!!!!

Homeschooling Questions....

Go here if you are looking for new ways to respond to the "age old" questions of "Why do you homeschool?"

There are some wonderful responses and I whole-heartedly agree with them!!

We homeschool because "we want to"!!

Can I get an "amen"??

Thanks, Melissa for the link!