LOST

Woot Woot! LOST comes back on tonight! I looooooooooovvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeee LOST...I didn't watch the first 1/2 of season one. Then my co worker(s) convinced me it was worth watching, so I when they showed the first 1/2 over again I watched it and was totally HOOKED!

This show drives me totally INSANE, but I keep watching. I get pissed off at it, but still have to watch. It's like a car accident on the side of the road...you should turn away, you want to turn away, but in the end you always look (Well at least I always look)

He won't say it...Grrrrr

I am married to a good guy, yes he has his faults (I have way more I assure you), but all in all he is a good guy. A guy that will watch the kids while I go out, A guy that will do laundry and probably does more dishes than I do (I admitted freely to my faults already), A guy that goes out of his way to be generous to myself, our kids and even others. I have friends/family members that are interested in renting and or buying my husband. Of course they don't LIVE with him on a permanent basis, they just get to see the awesomeness from afar.

With all that being said...My husband, in all his awesomeness glory, will not say 1 single word about my weight loss efforts. I have lost 16 freaking lbs. in the past 4 weeks & he has not spoken one encouraging word to me NOTHING, NADA, NOPE, SILENCE on the issue. What the heck is the deal with that???

Ok, so I figure 2 things, and I am just about sure it is one of these, if not both

1) He doesn't care, he loves me for me. He doesn't care if I weigh 300 lbs (Yes, I HAVE) or 160 (What I was when we first met). He doesn't see weight as an issue.

2) He is scared, scared to say something in fear I will be having a "moment" (again with the faults) and say something like "So, what you didn't like me 16 lbs. ago?" or "Yeah, here I am working my butt off (literally) and you are just now noticing"

LMAO, I really do think it is #1 and I guess I should just be happy about that. I have already gotten compliments from others (some that knew I was trying, some that didn't) that there is a noticable difference. I guess I should just take those and be happy, but it really would be nice for my lovely hubby to confirm that for me

On a side note, I met my first "mini goal" of 10 lbs. (or more) down by Valentines day! That was a pretty easy goal...all with the "Building myself up" so now I am on to the 20 lbs. (or more) by Easter. Stay tuned....

My fun gift

I got a gift yesterday! Woohoo, I am a gift/surprise loving freak...it doesn't even have to be anything great...$1 gifts are good too...anyway

David bought me the CUTEST thing a 1 GB MP3 Shuffle (not Ipod) it is tooooo freaking cool. I should say that Mikayla got an MP3 for Christmas and I decided I needed one, but had not gotten around to getting one yet. Anyway, David bought me one...it is Metallic Pink and it has a pink "skin" too. Last night David loaded my CD's (about 15 of them) on to it! So, WOW all of my CD's on a little thing not much bigger than a quarter (ok maybe fifty cent piece)! Yes, I know I am a dork MP3's/Ipods are old news, but for me it's new! OH and the gift factor makes it ALL that much COOLER!!! It's also kinda funny that I have Carol King, Hannah Montana (Yes, I work out to Hannah Montana), Reba, Nickleback, Daughtry and JayZ (among others) all on the same player fun stuff!!!!

Just for Giggles

If you are reading this blog on a regular basis (or just today) could you leave a comment? Just wondering who is out there looking in on my fantabulous world!

Body Snatchers or something like that

I can't remember if I have blogged about the fact that the last 6 months of living with "the one that is my daughter, Mikayla have been pretty hellish. I was begining to chalk it up to hormones, what with the appearnce of boobs (yep) in the last 6 months as well. Every day has been a pure struggle, with a piss poor attitude, full on pig headedness, sass mouth of the south & the skill of antagonizing Dylan to the point of fist fights! David and I had done EVERYTHING we could think of, up to and including, taking just about every single item of entertainment out of her room, grouding her from spending the night with friends/family, banishing to her room, standing in the corner you name it we tried it. It had gotten to the point that Mikayla and I didn't have much of a relationship other than yelling at one another and I was REALLY down about it. Not to mention her grades slipped last 9 weeks and I was at the point that I DIDN'T REALLY CARE because fighting over homework, studying, reading etc. just meant more yelling, fussing etc. David and I were seriously on the verge of taking her to the Dr. to see if something was going on physically to make her so nuts acting.

Flash forward to about 2 weeks ago, I don't know what happened (see title of the post), but it is like a switch went off in her head and BAM we have a TOTALLY different child! I mean I can't keep telling her enough about how marvelous this transformation is. I make a point to make a HUGE (probably border line ridiculous) deal out of her attitude. She has even taken to saying "Yes Ma'am and Yes Sir" ?????????? something we have never been particularly strict about unless we are trying to get their attention and make sure they understood something. She has been helpful, studying up a storm and making 100's left and right, no attitude, no sass ass etc.

I do feel that I should point out that I knew in my heart that I did not have some kind of demon spawn on my hands. I am constantly complimented on her behaviour in social situations or anytime she is out with someone or staying with anyone. She has never given ANYONE a problem (other than here at home) so I KNEW she had it in her to be a near perfect child.

So yeah, I don't know what happened, maybe she was having some kind of issue with having another baby brother (not outwardly, Brody is the one person in the house she has always treated perfectly no matter what), maybe it was some kind of hormone issue...I honestly do not know, but I do know that I am LOVING the "new and improved" Mikayla. She reminds me now of the precious, sweet, little girl that she was as a toddler/preschooler. No, she has never been PERFECT, God knows I'm not either (bet you didn't realize that did ya??), but she has the potential to be a really WONDERFUL person. I am happy to see that "side" of her flourish.

Sweetening the deal...or not

A couple of weeks ago David took Dylan to a "Free" private Karate Lesson. Basicaly this was the lesson they give you to get you hooked in to signing up for the class. David took Karate as a kid, he took it for several years and has wanted Dylan to take it. Anyway...after the private lesson David sits down with the guy to get the "Schpeel" of prices etc. and WOAH NELLY...I would like to know HOW people afford this stuff. Ok, the inital offer was a Free Month (twice weekly class) with the purchase of the uniform $50.00 THEN after that the next month (Still twice weekly classes) was going to be $160.00 then every month after that would be $120.00! Yeah, let's just say this was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than we had anticipated. I was thinking more like $50ish a month, was that stupid of me??? So obviousley David left NOT signing Dylan up for Karate. We talked about it and there is just NO way we can justify that much money on an extracuricular activity!

Today, we get a 2 page letter from the Karate Center...it is a big "We are so great, don't let your kid miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity, you kid deserves to be the best they can be and we are the only people that can teach them that" kind of letter. Full of quotes from satisfied customers/parents & kids. Then there was a coupon to help "sweeten the deal" FREE uniform and 6 weeks of twice weekly classes for $99.00. So, of course at first glance it ALMOST gets you thinking "Maybe" then I started to realize...the orginal deal 1 month free classes with the purchase of a $50 uniform. This new deal of 6 weeks and the unifrom means if the uniform costs $50.00 that leaves $49.00 for the extra 2 weeks of classes...so really it's the same deal as the first one, just said a different way to "trick" people.

Bottom line, Dylan won't be taking Karate...we are going to look in to soccer and he really wants to play Football in the fall...works well for me as it won't mess with Mikayla's Softball schedule this Spring!

Randomness

School went back today, after being out since last Thursday. The weather is still kind of "iffy" and even though I was glad to send Miss Thang packing this morning ;) I still worry about the busses etc. I am sure everything will be fine.

Dylan is spending a little "alone" time in his room, I have found that sequestering Dylan in his room is the best "punishment" there is for him. We have tried the "naughty spot/chair/corner" etc., but I am not all "Super Nanny" with the running him back and forth to the place he is supposed to be.

Sadly, the play pen seems to be winding down to it's last days in the house. Mr. Brody is not nearly as happy/content to play in it anymore. This is not good for a variety of reasons #1 it makes it so much easier not to have to worry about where he is going/what he is doing etc. #2 I don't like that he seems miserable in there. I have no problem using the play pen as a mini play "room", but I'm not all about using it as a cage ya know? I think baby gate shopping is in our very near future. The bad thing about that is, the opening between our living room/dining room is very large and requires one of those specialty "over sized" AKA pretty darn expensive gates
:( We used to have one, I think we paid $65-$70 for it, but it didn't exactly make it through Dylan's toddler years :( Oh well, maybe there is something new on the market...

Dear, Dear, Deer...David called this morning to say that he hit a deer...or should I say another Deer. He just hit one right about a year ago! I think it might have been Feb. I remember it was butt freezing cold out when it happened so it had to be about this time. Anyway, we take my Durango for the insurance estimate on Thursday. David said the damage is almost IDENTICAL to the last accident. Lucky for us he can do the work himself and we have a wholesale place we get the parts. Hopefully there is enough $ left after the repairs to buy new tires. That will be the one "good" thing that comes out of this. I can't believe he had had bad luck enough to hit 2 deer in MY TRUCK not the crapped out Jeep, oh no my nice truck :(

Transformers 2 is in production, (remember the title of this post is ranomness). I am happy about that, though it is not due to be released until 2009 OUCH...I found out this info. via www.imdb.com this is the GREATEST site ever for people that like TV/Movies. Have you ever seen someone in a movie, but can't remember where you saw them before or what that other show/movie they were in was called?? Yeah, me too...check out imdb (internet movie data base) for all the answers to those mind bending questions that drive you crazy!

Mini Goals

So, as I mentioned I am once again full speed ahead in my "weight loss journey" (No diets for this girl). I have a BIG goal of 100 lbs. down in a year (well, actually I'm in week 2, but you get the point). So far I am right on track, if not ahead of the ball game. I am not naieve and I know it won't always be easy (like, it's not really easy all the time right now), but I do know I can do it, I know it can be done. However, I do think I owe myself a couple of "mini goals" to go along with the BIG over all goal. I thought I would post them here, so not only can I come back and check them out, BUT I can share them with you too! So here we go

Mini Goal #1 = 10 lbs *or more* gone by Valentines day...

Mini Goal #2= 20 lbs * or more* gone by Easter (this one might be tough, but hey I didn't say the mini goals had to be EASY

Mini Goal #3 = Adding Pilates 5 times a week to my stationary biking I am already doing 5 times a week

Mini Goal #4 = Going down 2 pant sizes by our beach trip (2nd week in June)

Mini Goal #5 = Convincing myself I don't have to wear a minimizer (AKA "Shape Shifter") under certain outfits to feel even close to comfortable

OK, so that is 5 mini goals (for now, I am sure there will be more). I am thinking of starting a "micro mini" "GOAL OF THE WEEK" to be posted here every Monday (weigh in day). This will help me stay motivated even on the down days. Right now I am 100% stoked and HIGHLY motivated, but just like weight loss it's self this too will have a "plateau"

ALSO< I promise not to make this a "My weight loss journey" blog, that's not what this blog is for. There will still be plenty of family/kid/friends humor to go around

Snow & Kid Craziness

The snow came...with it means a day home from school. My kids are so dang crazy...I don't think it was as much being "bad" as it was being loud and hyper and unruly. The first thing was that my brother (who has no children) called them this morning at 9:00 am to tell them he was coming to take them sledding. This is all very nice, However, my brother does not have ANY concept of time, and niether do my kids! I knew that he would probably be afternoon actually making his way here and I TRIED (unsucessfuly) to convince my kids of this. Let's just say the next 4 hours were very long...very, very long. The kids took turns between running around the house going nuts, to picking on one another until someone was ready to throw punches, to waiting at the door with their noses pressed firmly to the glass. Finally, my brother showed up around 1pm, I got the kids dressed (it takes FOREVER to get them ready to go out in the snow) and FINALLY they were gone...the house was soooo calm, just me and Brody. It is amazing how quiet the house can be when 2 of the 3 kids are gone. I miss quiet (I have blogged about it before).

The kids had an absolute ball playing in the snow, sledding and both of them learned how to snow board for the first time. Dylan was quite good at it...doesn't surprise me, he is one of "those" kids that just seem to be "good" at whatever he does. They both came home to a warm bath and hot chocolate. It didn't stay quiet for long, not long at all...one good thing is that Dylan got really worn out playing in the snow, so he crashed around 8:30

No school tomorrow so we get to do it all over again!

Finally back on routine (sort of, maybe...

Between the Holidays, Sickness, School being out and David being on vacation for a week I have been a bit MIA. It is so hard to be on schedule/routine with all that going on. Not much has been happening just normal (as if) family stuff. I am back on the road of weight loss after taking a year off after having Brody. I am happy to report I was able to "maintain" within about 15 lbs my pre pregnancy weight. As some of you may remember I lost around 60 lbs in the 6-8 months prior to finding out I was pregnant with Brody. My goal is a BIG one, 100 lbs GONE by this time next year. It is a healthy and atainable goal, of course it will be hard work and will power from me, but I have no doubts. I was well on my way before, but this time I am starting out 50 lbs. to "the good"! So anyway, enough of that...if you see, hear etc. from me in the near future you will probably get your own ear full ;0)

On other fronts...
* Brody had his 1 year check up, shots etc. He is GREAT...growing, smart, and quite the little flirt.
* Dylan is doing good, we are working on having him sleep in his OWN bed ( another post all together) or at the very least on the couch, should he get out of bed. Basicaly as long as he doesn't get in bed with US (or one of the other 2 kids in the house, though he has never done that before) I am not really stressing about it if he sleeps on the couch. We are also starting to really push the Kindergarten readiness (YIKES).
* Mikayla is good, she is back in to school full swing, doing the Math-a-thon, and preparing for Softball. She is excited that Ball will be starting soon
* David is working, working, working, but after a weeks vacation that is a good thing ;)

So, that is a little Davila run down, hope all of you are having a great 2008!! So far so good around here...of course the snow is apparently coming...Joy (not really)

Scary

This weekend I found out that a friend of mine has friends whose 3 (almost 4) year old daughter was diagnosed with cancer over the Christmas Holiday. She has been having problems with her stomach, but the Ped. totally missed the fact that she has a tumor the size of her stomach in her abdomen. It is so large the Dr's that went in to remove it in an emergency surgery, could not remove it, she is not undergoing radiation treatments in an attempt to shrink the tumor small enough to be removed. Everything is up in the air right now as to what type of cancer, prognosis etc.

Things like this scare the begeezus out of me! I can't understand how a seemingly totally healthy child can go to the Dr. for a routine problem and come away with the diagnosis of a terminal illness. It baffles me!!

Recently a 16 year old girl I knew died of cancer, she woke up one morning about a year ago with her eye being irritated...until that time the girl had been 100% healthy, athletic, no problems. She goes to the Dr. and after a quick test is diangosed with a very rare, very deadly cancer, already in STAGE 4!!!!! The Dr's were simply amazed that someone as sick as she really was could still be WALKING AROUND, much less living a totally normal teenage life! It just hit her all at once, BAM, no warning nothing STAGE 4 (end stage) cancer! She lived the last year of her life in and out of hospitals, having good days and bad, the cancer eventually metastasized to her brain. She opted to not have a final surgery, that may have given her some relief and a few days. She died at home, in her own bed about 48 hours later.

Of course the question of WHY? always is the first to pop in my mind, but beyond that is the question of HOW? How do kids get this sick with virtually NO warning, no warning until they have a fever that won't go away, a lingering tummy ache or something as similar as an irritated eye? I just don't understand it, you would think "In this day and age" with the technology out there, there would be something, some kind of test, some kind of scan, SOMETHING that would detect this stuff earlier BEFORE stage 4 cancer has ravaged just about ever muscle/bone/organ or BEFORE a tumor is the size of a stomach.

It's scary & it makes me sad...so sad

Vacation

David is on vacation this week...for a lot of reasons it is nice, #1) Back up of course, there are 2 of us here with the boys all day, 2 of us doing homework, dinner, baths, bedtime etc. David is a manic neat freak so the house will be cleaner this week than it will be until he goes on vacation again, I got to take a nap etc.
For a few reasons it is not so nice #1) David thinks that every day he is on vacation means we have to GO somewhere, even if it is just to "The bad place"...knowing that for us to walk out of the door will cost us on average $75 we can not afford to go out every day he is on vacation we are saving for the "real" vacation this summer. #2) Projects, David always starts projects on his vacations...notice I said STARTS, 'nough said
Lastly, we always get off schedule/routine when Big Daddy is home for an extended period of time. We just came off the holiday break from school, so we haven't had a chance to get back on our normal schedule/routine anyway
I guess the good out weighs the bad, cause it is really nice having him home and getting to spend more time with him. He also gets to spend a lot more "quality" time with the kids and of course the are ALL ABOUT that!

Ode to Jill....

This one's for you Jill...you read my blog every day, you leave nice comments almost every day. I thought you deserved a "shout out"

My friend Jill

Jill has an awesome personality...reminds me somewhat of myself, very laid back and easy going, BUT don't mess with her kids, family or friends WATCH OUT if you do

Jill has 2 beautiful kiddos...her daughter Ally is one of the cutest little girls I have ever seen!! Her little boy Danny reminds me of Dylan...gotta keep at least 1 eye on that little guy at all times

Jill is CREATIVE, she MAKES HER OWN CARDS and sends them to you! She also makes these awesome little Fairy doors...and lot's of other stuff she sends pictures of ;)

Jill is THOUGHTFUL...she embroidered little personalized hangings for Dylan when he was a baby, then did another one for Mikayla when I mentioned how cute it was...they are still hanging on their doors! Jill also sent Brody a personalized print for his room when he was born

Jill is FUNNY...I always catch myself smiling after reading email from her (the student in your bosses office...I still laugh just THINKING of that one). Also your family pictures I think that was last Christmas? HILARIOUS!

Jill is a GREAT MOM...she spends a lot of time making sure Ally is secure (Be Hermoine) sp? with herself...**Great things come in small packages ;)**

OK, so these are a few great things about my Friend Jill...wanna know a secret? I have NEVER MET JILL "In real life", but I have "known" her for the past 8 years and talked to her on a DAILY basis. I consider her (and my other "girls") some of my very best friends. I am sad that I have never met Jill (or the others), but I promise myself EVERY day that one day I will!!!

Love ya Jill!!!!!

Let him eat cake...

My little baby boy is 1 year old! 2 days after Christmas he officialy turned 1, but we celebrated on Sunday...He had a very nice party with lot's of friends and family. A few people had to miss due to THE sickness that has gone around our town, but over all it was a nice turn out. Brody had a fun time opening his presents and looked very excited to realize everyone was singing to HIM...
Here are a few pics of Bro Man with his cupcake, he gave us some great cake eating pics. I actually love the 2nd one because he is looking at me like "Mom, do you really want me to eat this cake? Are you sure you want me to eat this by myself??" LOL