Crazy Holiday Time

Let me just start off by saying this has been one of the craziest Christmas seasons I have ever experienced! We live in North Texas and it RARELY snows, but guess what it did Christmas Eve!! It SNOWED!! So much so that they closed the highway going to my mil's house. We were stranded on the highway within 50 miles of her house for over an hour when we found out that the highway was closed and that they were not sure when it would reopen, so we found the nearest exit (about 1/2 mile from where we were) and floored it through the grassy/snowy median and turned around. It then took us about 4 hours to get home!! The whole trip to her house should have taken about 3 hours....we were in the car about 9 hours and we didn't even get to celebrate Christmas with the family! Oh well, we made it home safely and we opened Christmas presents on Christmas eve (after our all day car ride, That Other Kid was in amazingly good and I felt he deserved some FUN!).





Christmas morning we got up, and checked the weather and discovered that the road to dh's step-mom's house was iced over and closed, so we spent Christmas at home! I managed to pull together a pretty decent Christmas dinner with just what I had on hand. It's amazing what you can find in your home to eat when you want to!! It was peaceful and kind of nice to "just be home". No obligations and no place to go....By the middle of the day on Christmas the roads around here were clear and most of the snow was gone so we didn't get to enjoy it much, which is a bummer but it allowed That Kid to go spend some time with his girlfriend.

On the 26th That Other Kid got to be in a fun "Holiday Hockey Festival". The kids got to play 3 short hockey games, get their face painted, and other fun things. It was a great way to end the Christmas season for us. He chose to have his face painted like a lion!! And he thought I was incredibly mean for making him bathe that night!!





Sunday and yesterday were spent just regrouping and beginning to clean up after the holiday. I still need to hang photos on the walls, get the Christmas decorations down and put away and find a way to "hide away" the game systems that are just laying on the hearth of the fireplace!! The month has flown by so fast I haven't had time to do much of what I had planned, but we have managed to have some fun and enjoy the season of Jesus' birth!! We will start back with homeschooling on Monday, the 4th just like all the other kids around here, so I need to spend some time over the next few days getting organized and ready for that.

I also will need to regroup with the weightloss journey that I have been on over the past 9 months. I haven't been real dedicated to it the past couple of weeks but I have been conscience of what I've been doing, so that's at least better than previous years. The Sisterhood has a great new challenge starting TOMORROW!! Today they are giving away a $25 ITunes gift card! (As a sidenote - I have won numerous things through the Sisters and I can tell you this group of ladies are VERY generous with their giveaways!!) I'm planning to be onboard with this new challenge. I really need to get refocused and get back on track....I hope you will be too!! The Sisterhood is such an awesome support system I know that you will get some great support. It has been proven that people that have a "support system" will lose weight faster and keep it off better....and that is the ultimate goal, right??

Hope you will join us in our new challenge and you had a wonderful Christmas!! I also pray that your 2010 is a blessed and prosperous year!!

Wow!!

I can't believe it has been 5 days since I have written anything here. Time is just slip, slipping away from me. Things have been busy and fun in preparation for Christmas and I guess I just let time get away from me. That Other Kid and I went to the mall on Thursday to see Santa. We don't really "do" Santa (I know I'm evil for spoiling all the fun of childhood), but we do allow him to have fun with the season. He told "Santa" what he wanted for Christmas and I took his picture. We also went and saw the Miniature display of trains (amazing!!)and a couple of puppet shows. It was a great way to get ME in the Christmas spirit. It seems like I am just too busy this year to give it a whole lot of thought...but that doesn't mean I'm not getting into Christmas this year. It's just taking me a little longer!

This weekend we also had a hockey game for That Other Kid and he got to play goalie! He was super excited about it, and played a great game.




I have been playing the Game On Diet with some friends. Friday night we will have our celebration dinner and I think we are all looking forward to it. Today we decided that since "the other team" won (meaning the team I wasn't on) we would not count points this week, so basically yesterday was the end of the game for us. We all had success and lost weight which was the whole point of it. I lost about 8 pounds during this 5 week period which included Thanksgiving, the flu, our move and all the stresses involved in these things. My exercise routine got completely disrupted during this time as well as my "normal" eating schedule. I feel like I could have done better had I done this at a different time, but was still successful at busting past some of my nasty habits and a plateau I had been stuck on for several months. I'm not pleased with my point count, but I am pleased with what I did accomplish. I'm also happy that my friends asked me to join in and participate with them in this. I really didn't want to (at first), but am glad I did! I don't really plan to change the way I am eating now, because I saw success, but I am glad I don't have to count my points anymore! I bumped my exercise up last night and today I am sore, which tells me I need to keep it up...

Oh and I won again over at the Sisterhood. This time I won one of the 12 Weight Watchers Chocolate Pecan Clusters that they were giving away yesterday! What a yummy treat I will receive in January!



If you want a chance to win some yummy Weight Watcher products check in over at the Sisterhood, because they are giving away product EVERY day till Christmas! Great presents for us from Weight Watchers and the Sisterhood of Shrinking Jeans!

Well I gotta go fold some laundry and clean a bathroom and finish loading the dishwasher then get That Other Kid to bed....ya know just normal mom stuff!

Lots of Random Stuff

Ok...there are so many things going on in my life right now and I've been incredibly limited on "spare time". So I'm just going to fill everyone in with some quick (or not so quick) bullet points!

** We are moving in 2 weeks to an apartment 30 minutes away. We are going from a 1800 sq. ft. house with a garage to a 1300 sq ft apartment without a garage! Can you say downsize?? We are selling or have sold everything that we think we can get rid of so that we can rent the smallest possible storage space. Some stuff just won't fit! Like boxes and boxes of sentimental stuff that I just can't seem to part with no matter that they have sat in boxes for nearly 2 decades! Lots of stuff still needs to be packed into boxes and yet here I am typing out a blog post and not schooling That Other Kid! Priorities, right??!!

** A group of my homeschoolng friends decided to try the Game On Diet Plan. You can read a short overview of it here. I think it is going to be a lot of fun and it is already challenging me on a couple of different fronts! The main thing that I am struggling with on day 2 of it is eating all 5 of my small meals with plenty of VEGGIES! I'm more of a 2 meals and a decent size snack kind of girl. And can you say "no veggies"??? Yesterday was the first time I had ANY veggies in I don't know how long! Not with this game/diet though. I lose points if I don't eat right and I don't want to let my team down! So I've been eating my 5 meals and eating my veggies....for example SALAD for lunch, thankyouverymuch. Now I've got to pause a minute and get my meal number 3 -- some lowfat cheese, almonds, hard boiled egg white and some carrots. Be right back...

Ok I'm back...but I'm eating so this may take a minute...so what's going on with you?? I haven't had much time to check my favorite blogs lately, so tell me what's going on with your life!!

** A few months back we brought home a stray cat that some friends found. That Other Kid had been wanting a pet for FOREVER and we thought ok, why not?? Last week we took him to the vet (Sammy the cat, not That Other Kid) and found out that he has cat Luekemia and is fading fast. Since we got home with him last week he has eaten very little and has now starting vomiting, so tomorrow we have to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep. That Other Kid is beginning to put 2 and 2 together becasue I keep telling him that Sammy is very sick and we have to take him to the vet to "get better". I don't want to lie to him, but I don't really want to tell him "the whole truth" either. When I called the vet this morning she seemed a little upset that I wanted to schedule this appointment and then not tell That Other Kid exactly what was going to happen. Keep in mind he's just under 6 years old, but he is smart as all get out. What would you do in this situation?


** Over at the Sisterhood we started a new challenge yesterday. This one nearly anyone can participate in -- WALKING and Logging your miles! So yesterday I packed up my liter of water and walked to the park that is about 3/4 mile from my house. Then while That Other Kid was playing and skating around the track, I walked some more. All in all I logged 1 1/2 miles yesterday. Today I decided to take it 1 step further so we walked to the library and back. This made about a 3 mile walk round trip, and on the return trip I was carrying a backpack full of library books and VHS movies.

Little side note here -- why do libraries still carry VHS movies? Don't they know that most people watch DVD's now? And why is my local library so lacking in DVD movies for kids? I could understand this if I lived in a less affluent town or the community was "low on funds" but I live in a very affluent small town. Most of the homes in this town start at $250,000. What is up with this??

** Speaking of the Sisterhood there is a new group in town that is designed for chatting about everything under the sun and is a lot of fun to get to know the Sisters on a more personal note. If you are interested and haven't joined yet you should check it out! You can find out more about the 'hood by clicking on the link. We are having such a good time getting to know everyone and having discussions that you might not see on the normal Shrinking Jeans blog!



** Speaking of the Sisterhood, and I do that alot, huh? November is their anniversary month and they are giving away tons of stuff all month long!! How cool is that?? This is their anniversary and we win stuff!! Cool stuff, too! Check them out...but don't bother leaving a comment, I'm trying to win some stuff and if you leave a comment you might win what I could have! ya know??? Just joking of course...cuz I know you would share with me, right??!!

Anywhoo...I've been sitting here long enough and as I've said I have too much to do, so I gotta get busy...

True Confessions

Monday's are True Confession time over at the Sisterhood and I have a few confessions this week I want to just get out there in the open...

1) I was out trying to teach That Other Kid to ride his bike without training wheels and I was winded after going up and down the sidewalk in front of my house 3 times! I thought I was in pretty decent shape, but I obviously have a long way to go! I guess I better beef up my cardio!

2) I didn't indulge in candy for halloween (we didn't do t-o-t) but last night instead of working out I sat in front of my computer and ate Teddy Grahams!

3) I was tired and felt like going to bed early and knew I wouldn't manage to do that if I exercised, but because I got hooked on the computer I didn't really go to bed early. It was about an hour earlier than normal, though so that's not as bad as it could have been!

4) I walked to Sonic and back today for lunch (it's almost a mile one way)--- I ate a corndog and fries. I DID NOT drink a COKE...I drank a Diet Cherry Limeade! So I walked 2 miles which is not too shabby!

5) I have been exercising NEARLY every night for 40 minutes. I have been doing the WiiFit and have enjoyed it thoroughly, but don't feel like I'm working hard enough. Need to do something else with it....maybe WiiActive or Jillian's Shred. Decisions, decisions!!

That is all....thank you.

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!