Short one

Ok, because I have news and because I also have homework due today this'll be a short post.

Today I weighed in and I lost another 3.4 lbs for a total of 7.6 lbs !!! I'm down to 149.0 lbs. I'm super excited about it. But sad to lose that 1 point that WW makes you get rid of when you go down to the next level.

10 things

My friend Julie has 'tagged' all her friends to do a list of 10 things that other people have likely NOT done. So I've been thinking about it for a little while and here is my list:

1. I have had over 25 different jobs.

2. (Don't read this one mom!) My friends and I used to jump off the roof into the pool.

3. I graduated high school early.

4. I've been enrolled in at least one college course for 11 years now.

5. I turned down an opportunity when I was 16 to go to the south of France for a month. :-(
(because I was too scared to go)

6. I have a Class A CDL drivers license. (which means I'm licensed to drive an 18 wheeler,lol)

I need to come up with 4 more and I'm having a hard time!!

7. I got a microwave as my high school graduation present.

8. I asked a guy to marry me and he said, "no"

9. I rode my bike 50 miles for charity (I was supposed to ride 50 miles back but my butt couldn't take it any more,lol)

Oh my, just 1 more,

10. I once paid $600 for and online dog grooming course, that I never finished. Don't Laugh, I know I was stupid!! The whole thing was stupid!!

Alright I'm done, you can stop laughing now........please!

Obviously Out

Well, I'm out. Obviously! And much to Melodie's delight, I'm sure.

I had a fun weekend with my mom.

Saturday night Andrew and I went out. We went to Olive Garden and then to see National Treasure.

On Sunday, Andrew took Hunter Muddin' with some friends from his work. Here is Hunter grinning from ear to ear next to the filthy mud covered truck. My boy is definitely a country boy!

On Monday we went down to the Manatee Viewing Center. I'm the shadow in the middle carrying Stella and my mom is on the left of me. Oh and there were also about 75 manatees swimming around. You can see 7 clearly in this picture, although there were way more that you can't see lower in the water and in the shadows of the picture.

On Tuesday, My mom left in the morning and we won't see her again until Spring break-ish. Also Lucas welcomed his new baby brother, Logan Robert. Here is a picture of Lucas and Logan at about 4 hours old. He's got the same expression on his face as he did the last 3 babies he's welcomed in to the world, "What the heck am I gonna do with THIS!"

I love catching the kids reading. I really love catching them in the act and being able to snap a picture. She just plopped herself down in the middle of the busiest walkway in the house and enjoyed her book!

Temporary housekeeper

My mom is here!!!

They have been here since this morning and already she has cleaned my kitchen, cooked dinner and clean up afterwards, bathed the kids, and put Stella to bed. She also had dinner waiting for me when I got home from work! (I picked up a shift for one of the other girls)

How great is all of that!! But I have to remember that's it is only temporary. It sure is nice to have someone help out that much!

1 Hr Later:Crisis nearly averted. The sleeping arrangement is not perfect with 2 additional in the house and a certain person is not the most patient with other certain littler people. Ugh! So now Stella is up and the one(s) who caused the commotion are now sleeping. I'm not sure what to do tomorrow night. Hopefully I will find a solution that will make everyone happy(er).

It's almost 11pm and I'm tired. So sorry for the short post, I will do better tomorrow.

MNO

Hello, I know that most of you that read this know what MNO means, but for the rest of you it means Moms Night Out. (For future reference MNI means Moms Night In) So last night we went to The Melting Pot and had a total blast!
I hadn't laughed that much since I don't know when.
My night started out driving to Amy's to carpool to Julie's and on the way we picked up Jen. Once we got to Julie's we all got in the Escapade (Karlise's version of the Escalade, he he) and Scarlett drove all of us crazy girls to the Melting Pot over in Tampa. We all shared 3 cheeses and 3 chocolates, Mmmmmm, they were oh so good!!! I totally pigged out and finished my entire dessert plate. Mmmmmm!! I don't think I can eat the rest of the week. I'm pretty sure I used up all my WW points. Can I earn exercise points after the fact? I hope so!

I didn't get home until midnight and basically as soon as I walked in the door Stella woke up and needed to go potty and then was pretty much up from then on about every 30 minutes or so. I have no idea why and now I'm pretty tired.

My mom will be here tomorrow morning and the kids are pretty excited about it. They are bringing down belated Christmas presents for them which is part of the reason they are so excited. While they are here Andrew and I will go out (free babysitter, can't pass that up!!) and I want to go on Monday to see the manatees down at the TECO place. Other than that we have no plans. So my plans today include a little cleaning, a little laundry, a little nap and that'll pretty much be my day.
Oh I almost forgot, I have to go get a present for a girl's birthday. Lucas was invited to Katie's birthday, she's a girl from school. I'm interested to see how many kids she invited and what the mix of boys and girls is going to be. I don't know whether to stay or just drop him off or what. It's at the Family Fun Center and I know that the other 2 kids will want to play, so will see how it goes.
That's all for today, I'm off to do a little bit of all that stuff I mentioned above that I need to do.

Veggies and Hair

Ok, I'm not trying to be a copy cat but Scarlett has some pretty darn good ideas. After she posted her picture of what she got from her produce club I had to go get me some. I had considered joining before but was not sure if it was really worth the drive and the cost. I was never really sure how much I would get in my basket of stuff. So after seeing the picture on Scarlett's blog of her basket and all it's goodies, and the fact that I just started WW (just like Scarlett) it would be good to have good, nutritious, low point food in the house. So here is a picture of my $15 basket from Parke Family HydroFarms.

And here is the basket all spread out so you can see what I got in it. I'll tick off the contents just because you can't really see it all: 3 bib letuces, 3 other lettuces (not sure the kind), 1 chinese cabbage, 4 cucumbers, 5 tomatoes, 3 zuchini, 3 yellow squash, 3 peppers, quart of strawberries, quart of spinach, quart of peas, bunch of carrots, bunch of white radish, and 2 containers of herbs (parsley and I don't know)

See how much that is. I have managed to use most of it so far. But I am still wondering what to do with those white radishes??


This is just a picture of Stella on the neighbors trampoline. It was causing major static in her hair. I just thought it was cute.

Blogging challenge

This blogging challenge has not gone on too long before we had our first ones out. Amy was first and then Kandee, both missed a day posting. Well actually, Amy just missed posting by about 7 minutes but Kandee just didn't post. Then there is Julie who starting writing her post the day before and finished it on Monday. It was dated Sunday but obviously there were pictures from Monday so she will slide by with that one. This time anyway!LOL!

At work today I was able to weigh myself. Last time I weighed in was January 1st and I was 156.6lbs. Today I was 152.4lbs. For a total loss of 4.2lbs. Yeah me!! This is the first time I've actually made it a full week on a diet (ahem, lifestyle change) and not totally deviated from it. It's working though and I feel like I can keep it up. Congrats to Scarlett who has also lost some on her first week! Yeah you!!

Older pictures

I was looking through some of the older pics on my computer and came across these wonders.
Stella must've been having a not good day. How sweetly pathetic, with that lip all thrown out there. LOL!!
Then on to this giggling girl...

Then to this toothy grin...


And this last one is from the first messy party we had out at my house. I'm almost positive that that is Alex throwing a handful of slimy spaghetti at Hunter. I you look close enough you can see that they are both also covered in flour. Which later on turned into a lovely glue like substance.

Weight Watchers

Lately I have been neglecting myself totally and had put on a few more pounds than could reasonably fit into my currently owned pants. So my friend Scarlett inspired me to start a diet (PC: lifestyle change, LOL) Although I didn't weigh myself properly at the beginning, I do have an idea of where I was and I know where I was 1 week before I started. I was at 156.6 if you must know and I will weigh myself tomorrow at work to see where I am after one full week on my new lifestyle change.
I am actually wearing a pair of pants that I haven't been able to get on for a while. They are a bit snug still, but not cutting off any circulation, LOL!

Friends

I went over to a friends house last night and we watched a movie. I had a really good time. It IS really necessary to get out now and then. I does my mind good. Friends are really great to have to. They can put things in perspective and give you ideas you hadn't thought of.

Friends can also open your eyes to things. Different things. Some of my friends have hobbies that border on obsessions. They have these contraptions they use that are just odd. Don't ask because I couldn't tell you what they are called. But it was interesting to say the least.

Love having friends!!

As Requested

I have changed my page set up so people won't have to scroll down past my Meez to see whether I have posted today or not. As for the music, you'll just have to lean forward and turn your volume down. Or you could suggest something. Or you could put music on your blog that you like and then I would have to listen to that whilst reading you blog.

Bugs

Today, actually just a minute ago, Stella wanted to go outside in the backyard with Hunter to play. She doesn't like bugs and insisted that she put on pants and I spray her down with bug spray to keep them away. It is too funny. A kid insisting on putting bug spray on. Normally kids run away when you want to put stuff on them. She's weird. She's also a door closer. If she walks by a door and it is open, she has to close it. Even if she's on the way to the potty and in a hurry she will stop to close a door. Weird!

On another note, this blogging challenge could go for quite a while. There are several people who have insisted that they will win. I'm waiting for them to forget just one day. I'm, at least, hoping that they forget the day before I do, LOL!! I have had to log in to check to make sure I blogged that day. That's how bad my memory is. Wish me luck.

Cheese with that Whine?

Oh my gosh! Hunter is a man in training for sure. He was home sick today and did NOTHING but whine.
All Day.
If he was saying something he was whining.
I took him to the doctor and he gave us some stuff for his allergies/asthma.
But I can't pick it up from the pharmacy because he is whining so much we can't get out of the house.
And what is it with sick children, they just think you can sit with them ALL day long.
Hello?, I've got stuff to do and another kid to do stuff for.
I do feel bad for him, but making me miserable isn't helping him feel better.

He must really feel bad though. He has fallen asleep several times today. He never does that unless he's really sick.

Oh, and Andrew is going out with his buddies tonight on a boat to go 'fishing'.
I would have serious mommy guilt and wouldn't be able to go and enjoy myself, especially if Hunter begged me to come home soon, like he did to dad today.
Mommy guilt.....I've never heard of daddy guilt, but maybe that's because it doesn't exist.

Chocolate

Conversation between myself and Stella:

Me: Would you like to go pick strawberries?

Stella: Yes!

Me: Ok, we'll go in a little bit.

Stella: Need chah-kit (chocolate)!

Me: For what?

Stella: For dip! (said in a 'duh', tone) (also motioning like she's dipping the strawberry into the chocolate)

Me: Oh! (also thinking, 'gee! that does sound good')

Crazy

Crazy on so many levels.
Where to begin.....hmmmm
Well first I guess I will comment on my Meez. That is the crazy way my husband would tell you that I dance. I do dance better than that. I swear I do. Especially in my own head.

Next crazy would be that I can't figure out why my printer is not working and it's driving me crazy. It's plugged in and has power. The computer knows it's there. The computer is sending the job to it but nothing is happening! I just started classes people. I need the frickin' printer to work!!!

Another thing that makes me crazy are those people who insist that they are so important and must get to where they are going so quickly that they can't slow down for the 90 feet of school zone. So today I pulled out in front of one such person and slowed WAAAYYYY down to like barely over 5 mph. I could see her cursing me in the rear view mirror. That felt good. Crazy. I know. Julie posted about this same speeding through school zones thing the other day. So I'm not the only one irritated by this.

Another thing that makes me crazy is that no matter when I mop the floor or how often or how much I warn the kids or don't warn the kids, within 4 hours of cleaning it to a squeaky clean, someone spills.
And not just water, something horribly sticky like orange juice. Ugh!! I just mopped for goodness sake.

Andrew would just tell you that I am crazy. Things don't make you crazy you either are or not.

I guess I am.

Oh well!

Nintendo DS and papers

I (or should I say 'we') want to get Hunter a Nintendo DS for his birthday that is in March. I am worrying about it now because I am worried about being able to find one. We have some gift cards to Best Buy so that's where I need to get it from, but unfortunately they don't have anything but pink ones(he wants the crimson one) on their website. I called all the stores in the area and they are all sold out. They also have no idea when they will be getting them. They are such a hot commodity that I am worried that they still won't be available in March except on ebay. I might be irrational but it's the one thing that my boy wanted for Christmas and was SO disappointed that he did not get it from Santa.

The papers part of this post is that my Sociology class requires that I write 6 papers in total. UGH!!!
I hate writing papers!
And, there aren't any due dates except that they are all due buy the end of the semester. I'm a major procrastinator!!
Put those two together and you've got a mom who will be VERY busy the last week of April frantically writing 6 papers with reference pages and the whole nine yards.
And again
UGH!!!!
I hate writing! (well formal writing, this blogging thing doesn't require references or a title page)

Random dessert

So tonight after dinner the kids all asked for dessert. The problem was not that they wanted dessert but that they all wanted the same dessert and there was only one left. The desired dessert was a chocolate cookie ice cream cone thing. I also had some other desserts but only one of each of those. (a cookies and cream dippin' dots and a chocolate ice cream push up Scooby-doo thing)

So how does one decide who gets what??

They all wanted the same thing.

So I did a blind pick. I put each of the 3 items under 3 different bowls and they each had a chance to pick one. Stella then Luke then Hunter. In the order that they finished dinner. Stella got the dippin' dots, Lucas got the chocolate push up thing and Hunter got the sought after cone. He's a happy boy right now. He thought because he was picking last he would get the rotten one but he didn't.

The kids liked that whole blind pick thing. They said they want to do it again.

They are strange!

Bob's visit

Well, I promised more about Bob. In preparation for him we made brownies.
Of course I had 'help'.
How did you know?
This is my help... and if you look closely you can see dad in the background 'helping' too. LOL!

We have added another member of the family fighting for time on our one computer. She has discovered that there are games for her age and she asks to play often.
Such concentration!

Now more about Bob. The visit was good once we figured out how to handle the dog situation. It took about 8 tries to get this picture of them. All the others had someone turned around or tongues hanging out or something wrong with it.

Uncle Bob 'playing' with the boys.
Guess who is upside down and loving every second of it?
As promised, a picture of the cutie-pie puppy, and Bob sleeping too! LOL


This last picture is at 1 o'clock in the morning after she woke up just yelling and crying. I finally got her settled down but she had this look on her face for about 30 minutes. Sad. Puffy lipped. Stare of death.

School starts

Tomorrow I start classes again. The break was nice but part of me is ready to get back to studying. In case anyone forgot or just didn't read it I am taking Nutrition and Sociology. I need to start the application process to the Dental Hygiene school and start looking at loans and grants and whatever other financial aid information I can get my eyes on. If anyone has any personal experience with this I would appreciate your help!!!

I always get whatever textbooks I can off of ebay and sell my old ones on ebay and this semester I actually sold my books for more than I bought them for. Even after the ebay fees and paypal fees I still made a few bucks!! (only $3-4, but that's better than going negative, right?)

Celeb matchup

In reading some of the other blogs I read I decided to see who exactly would I be matched up with......
and the lucky guy is...

The Celebrity Matchmaker

My Result: George Clooney

That's right, a charming and gorgeous dreamboat like George Clooney is just what the doctor ordered.


Smart and sophisticated, you need a soulmate with a brain to match. Only someone with intelligence and beauty will create your perfect storm. Lucky for you, your celeb match has plenty of both to spare...and a villa in Italy to boot. From dinner dates in LA to chilling on Lake Como, you'll be sure to have a heavenly time. Good night and good luck!

Take this test >

I could handle that. And he's good friends with the Pitt-Jolie clan. That would be neat too!! LOL

Rewind 3

So back to my rewind through the month of December. Christmas eve was spent making chocolate chip cookies for Santa and spreading the magic reindeer food of the front lawn.
Hunter loves the camera and does an exaggerated pose of throwing the magic food on the front lawn. Giant grin included!

Here are some pictures of the tree and all it's glorious presents prior to the kids ripping into the pile.


Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the present opening. i was too busy videoing it and I have yet learned how to fully operate the downloading aspect of it. (Julie help please!!)

That's pretty much it as far as the rewind is concerned. The next event was NYE which I already posted about and I added pictures a few days later in case you didn't see.

F*cktard

I'm just gonna use Julie's word. Do you want to know why??

My cousin Bob showed up last night at 8:45 when he said he would be here about the time the kids got home from school. So he finally gets here (after the kids are in bed) and the kids get back out of bed to say 'Hi' and just to see what all the noise is.

What noise you say... one should just come in have quiet conversation, maybe get something to eat.

Nope, that didn't happen.

What did happen you wonder...

Bob brought his 9 month old pit bull puppy named Zeus.

Well that's not so bad you say...

Georgia wets herself out of excitement and so does Zeus (after Bob tells me he doesn't pee)

So there's pee all over the floor.

And my male boxer, Joe, wants to KILL him.

Well just separate them.

Yeah.

Too cold to put one of them outside, so we had to listen to them whine and growl all night.

I wanted to ask him what the hell was he thinking??

You don't bring a dog unannounced to someones house,

I wanted to tell him to go home or stay at a hotel.

But he is my cousin and the kids were excited that he is here.

I know he just didn't even think about it.

Bob,

Think.

Please.

Related but unrelated, the puppy is so darn cute it's hard to be too mad.
Maybe I'll get a picture today and post it tomorrow.

Rewind 2

As promised I am going back to all the things I neglected to post during the holidays. The first picture is of myself and Stella putting the finishing touches on the Christmas tree. We got a fake this year because of Andrew's and Hunter's allergies. I don't think it's too bad for a fake.


Hunter asked for weeks to do a gingerbread house and I finally caved in. It just seemed like a lot of work for something that the dogs were going to try to eat. Here is the first stage:

This is the completed house with it's two artist/decorators. This beautiful gingerbread house only lasted about 10 minutes. Then it came to pieces....lots of little pieces!!LOL It had help from two hungry decorators!!

The weekend before Christmas we went to my dad's house in Crystal River. My dad and stepmom had a few gifts for the kids. Hunter got two Webkins (which he loves), Stella got a Dora blanket and Lucas got a alarm clock/radio/docking station for the iPOD (which he loves).

Stella was just plum tuckered out by all the fun and running around on the property up there. She fell asleep on Grandma Jeannie's lap, all snuggled in her coat.

On the property next to my dad's they have 5 cows and 7-8 donkeys. So we hopped the fence and went over to check them out.

They decided to come check us out.

Especially our shoes...

Andrew's must've smelled really good or the cow was really hungry!

This one also tried to eat my shoe too. Talk about a shoe fetish!!

Andrew and Lucas camped out by the fire. Hunter wanted too but his asthma was acting up because of the chilly air and the smoke from the fire. He was pretty bummed about it but got over it quickly.

While we are up there we usually spend almost the whole day outside because it is so nice and quiet. Everybody also gets a ride on the big tractor. Here is one of Stella and dad taking a ride.

Tune in again tomorrow for another Rewind.

Rewind

So I'm going back to the first part of December to bring all of you up to date...plus I needed something to post about for the challenge, LOL.

I know I had posted already about going to the Lakeland Christmas parade but I never posted a picture, so here's a picture of my clan and 2 of 3 of Jen's clan. Jen's family was wonderful and treated me like they had known me for years. It was very nice!! Thanks again , Jen!!
This picture doesn't need too many words only that he asked for me to do that to him and then promptly asked me to undo it!! He said he wanted a mohawk, but he wanted to spike it up like real tall.... well your hair has to be long enough to do that. His wasn't.


This is a picture of Lucas's Fall Band Concert at the Mulberry High school auditorium. You can't see him even if I zoomed in real close. He's behind a bunch of other kids. In case you didn't know, he plays the saxophone.

And this last one for your viewing pleasure is Lucas's end of season soccer party at Pizza Hut. They handed out trophies and ate lots of pizza. The kids had a good time seeing each other off the soccer field. Several of the kids did not show up, but the ones that were usually at the games and practices were there.


Stop back in tomorrow for some more Rewind from the past!!

Blogging challenge

So some of the ladies in the mom's group are having a challenge to see who can blog EVERYDAY this month and maybe even next month too! So far, Julie hasn't posted today and AMY hasn't posted today either. I think she is going to be part of the contest. I mean she's been saving blog fodder( Can someone tell me where this word came from)? for like 3 MONTHS now. Her last picture is of Halloween!

Happy New Year to everyone!! We had a nice evening. Hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill, a fire and roasted marshmallows, fireworks and kids fireworks (poppers, champagne poppers, sparklers)Shannon and her boyfriend and Jillian came over to celebrate with us. We all had fun and I hope you did too!!!