5 lbs lighter!

1st week on diet report: 5.2 lbs lighter and I knew I could feel a difference! Even when I walk I don't feel so wiped out or out of breath and the seatbelt fits a little less snug than it used to. I'm pretty excited!

Hump Day!

Today I get to stay home with my kids! Yay! Of course not good for my babysitter who is sick, but good for me. I had to take a half day off anyway so it's actually better to not have to go in at all. I hate working a half day, it disrupts my whole routine not to mention the long commute is not worth it. I, along with the boys, have a dentist appointment this afternoon. Ugh. I hate going to the dentist, but doesn't everybody?

Having unexpected days off like this is a good chance to get the house cleaned to a point where we won't have to do anything this weekend with it. So my flower pot baby birds have all left the nest. I was able to get a picture of one of them before he was gone for good. I suspect he wasn't able to fly right off the bat since the nest was empty and saw his brothers and sisters watching me take his picture along with their momma from the rooftop next door. The way she was chirping at me you'd think I was going to harm the little fella. "Poor little feller. He's just a boy."

What is Happy?

Happy is when your tears well up inside you out of the blue when you realize your family is all together and on the same page. Happy is everyone eating watermelon and spitting the seeds in the same direction as we are doing tonight. Happy is being able to provide for you and your family all the while keeping a balanced home, whether you are there full time or not. Happy is the time of day you love most. For me happy is cooking with my husband, watching a movie with Michael, playing with Savannah, and wrestling with Jacob. Happy is teaching them important lessons and seeing them grow even if it is through tough love. Happy is knowing you did a pretty damn good job at raising what are now two respectable young men while you were single and lost in your own life. Happy is petting the cats and they love you back. Happy is the dog who never fails to greet you when you walk in the door. Happy isn't measured by the time you spend with someone, but how you spend the time you do have. To be a working mom does not entail that one has a new SUV or a large house, to be a working mom means that we have a future, a hope for our children that when we are no longer physically able to work on this earth, they will not have to take care of us. From one working mom to another, we make every minute of every day count! for all purposes in life!

Just a lazy Sunday evening...

The smell of peanut butter cookies is torture to my starving belly, or at least it thinks it's starving. I never realized how much I ate before until now. Yes, I'm officially "dieting." Can you believe it? My family doesn't think I'm overweight so I have to remind them that it's important to me to eat better regardless of it. Come to think of it, I would have eaten cookies until my little heart desired no more. I would have also had seconds on dinner and snacks in between each meal today. So here I am, blogging to try to get the scent from my husband's peanut butter cookies out of my mind while it's still fresh in the air. I may be wrong, but I think his desire to make cookies is more of a test than a craving. I'm not sure if they take me serious quite yet.

On a better note we just got a freezer for the basement and attempted to fill it up with two month's worth of meat and bread. It's still got plenty of room and I'm happy to say we took advantage of some good stuff on sale and will not have to worry about it on our next grocery list. It's been our goal to get a freezer for a while and this one just fell in our lap for free. A little cleaning up goes a long way and as soon as we order some replacement shelves, it will look as good as new; well almost new considering how old it is. Glad we waited as long as we did. I'm sure the popsicles will disappear in no time being that they are easy access for the boys during video playing time. Gotta love summer and the endless popsicle sticks that fill the trash, right? Hope you all had a good weekend.

Week One and 43 lbs To Go!

No more excuses for not putting forth the effort to getting healthy again! Last week I found out that a group of people in our office put together weekly Weight Watchers meetings for employees next door for our office during lunch hour! How odd that only two weeks ago I was looking online at the program and considering my membership but put it off contemplating the extra time spent away from home and spending the money on something for me. I like to go straight home from work, and not have to stop for another meeting let alone running errands. I'm away from home 11 hrs a day as it is, so this is great news!

To put it bluntly, I'm 19 lbs heavier than when I got pregnant with Savannah making my weight loss goal today, twice as much as it was then. No more government employee attitiude for me. Sure I might sit at a desk all day number crunching federal and state funding amounts into a gazillion Excel spreadsheets but that doesn't mean I need to slack off about getting back to feeling good about myself. And like I've told the others, it's not about losing weight so much as it is just to feel good again. Of course I need to excercise and plan to, but even more so I need to be better educated about food and change my eating habits. I feel this program will help and support me and I'm excited to get going! I even turned down the "what's become almost a daily thing" cheese danish my coworker offered to me this morning! I don't know why others like to encourage the people around them to eat up by bringing doughnuts, bagels, and other crap. I guess it's the highlight of the day for us state workers? Maybe...

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Charlie! Didn't get much time to blog yesterday but just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate all you do and have done for the kids' sake. Hopefully the rest of your gift to go with your grill cover and cookbook will arrive soon and we will be eating that rotisserie style chicken sooner than you know! p.s. Thank you for going to Dad's grave with me yesterday too. I love you!

Talking about Surprise!

Remember that little surprise we found in my hanging flower pot on the front porch? Yep! You guessed it! I didn't kill them after all, even with all the watering!

You know you work in government when...

You sat at the same desk for 4 years and worked for three different departments.

You worked for the same department for 4 years and sat at more than 10 different desks.

You've been in the same job for 4 years and have had 10 different supervisors.

You order your business cards in "half orders" instead of whole boxes.

When someone asks about what you do for a living, you can't explain it in one sentence.

You get really excited about a 2% pay raise.

You use acronyms in your sentences.

Your biggest loss from a system crash is that you lose your best jokes.

You sit in a cubicle smaller than your bedroom closet.

It's dark when you drive to and from work.

Fun is when issues are assigned to someone else.

The words "challenge" and "opportunity" makes you shiver in fear.

You see a "good-looking" person and know it is a visitor.

Free food left over from meetings is your main staple.

Weekends are those days your significant other makes you stay home.

Art involves a white board.

You're already late on the assignment you just got.

Dilbert cartoons hang outside every cube and are read by your co-workers only.

Your boss' favorite lines are "when you get a few minutes" or "when you're freed up."

You read this entire list and understood it.

Thoughts.

Been missing my dad lately. Like a little kid I keep telling myself, "It's not fair!" and am heartbroken that I can't see him or take Savannah over to play with him. It's not fair that someone who has a family that loves him has to lose him when there are others out there without already who could have gone just as easily. Our garden didn't quite make it with the frost on Memorial Day weekend, but a few plants survived and our corn is sprouting. Gardening reminds me so much of my dad; pulling the weeds, the feel of dirt in my hands, the sound of the roto tiller, the seeds, the smells. His truck sits in front of my house so empty and alone. Even when we're driving it, it is not full and never will be. I just long to see him during this time of year the most.

Will you sign my yearbook?

Can you believe another school year has gone by? When the boys bring home their yearbook each year we have fun comparing mine to theirs. I can't believe the difference in hairstyles. There are a few "fros" on some of the guys but for the girls it's ultimately straight hair. And of course in mine there was curl, volume, and what we thought was "style." (Including my own mullet. ) Their yearbooks have much better photos and all the students in high school, Freshman to Senior, are in color. For the seniors they had baby pictures and cute little excerpts about each of them. (Probably a Utah thing?) I think it would have been better to do a then and now photo and have the kids talk about what they did during the school year.

The biggest difference between their books and mine though, is in the way the kids signed them. Maybe it's just cause I'm a girl and had 99% girls sign mine, but 75% of the kids who signed Jacob's mention sex, swear words, and other profanity. I think was embarrassed by it and crossed it all out. I guess they wanted something for him to remember them by? Pretty pathetic that they can't think of something better and that is all that is in their hormonal heads. I'm glad I'm not a teenager anymore for that very reason! What was funniest was when the boys made a comment that I had a lot of signatures. I admitted that I wrote a lot of them to myself and added a lot of other graffiti when I would get bored. Mainly it was about the guys I liked back then, practicing signing my name with their surname on the end. What a dork, but we all did it, right girls?

I'm an aunt again!

My brother and his wife delivered their little boy last night. He is 6 weeks premature weighing 3 lbs and 9 oz! Since he has had a struggle with life so far, I was hoping he would be wait for another few weeks but I am glad he is here. In the beginning he was having trouble making amniotic fluid and they weren't sure he was going to make it this far so this is truly a miracle. We have never had a preemie in the family so bless his little heart. They named him Cash and I assume after Johnny Cash but I am not sure. He's doing well so far and I can't wait to see him! CONGRATULATIONS MARTY AND CHERISE!

Letter to my pets

After writing how my pets were for sale earlier this week and since there were no bids, I couldn't help but clear a few things up with them as they are indefinitely staying with me:

Dear Dog and Cats,
Your dishes can be found in the same spot every day and will contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate of food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest. (This doesn't include you Muffers, you keep a good distance.)
The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years - canine or feline attendance is not mandatory.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

Rules for Non-Pet Owners Who Visit and Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.(That's why they call it "fur"niture.)
3. I like my pets a lot better than most people.
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly. Dogs and cats are better than kids ...they eat less, don't ask for money all the time, are easier to train, usually come when called, never drive your car, don't hang out with drug-using friends, don't smoke or drink, don't worry about having to buy the latest fashions, don't wear your clothes, and don't need a gazillion dollars for college.