23 lbs down

Has my plateau ended? After 2 months of not losing anything, I lost 2 lbs this week. Now, I am not going to get my hopes up, but boy was I excited! I was so worried about gaining weight since I couldn't exercise the whole time I was in St George. But I LOST!!! I just can't even believe it. For those of us keeping count, that is 23lbs altogether. I am very pleased. Maybe that little break kick started my metabolism. And after my water aerobics workouts, my body finally let go of some more weight. I just hope it lasts! I am going to be praying that I continue to lose. Especially at this time of year. It is going to start to be very difficult, very soon. Halloween candy, Thanksgiving, Christmas, my Pumpkin Party is coming up next week... but I have resisted before, I can totally do it. Right? I did not walk at all this week. I am catching up on sleep. I have been so sleepy! The night before last, I went to bed at 9 and woke up at 11 am!!! I slept 14 hours!!! I didn't know that was possible. Anyway, wish me luck! I have got to lose more weight!!! I would love to lose another 10 lbs by Christmas. That would make my year!!! So give me advice, give me encouragement, give me money... oh, wait, no you don't have to give me money! Unless, of course, you want to give me money. I won't argue...

invitations and H2O aerobics

My friend dropped off the invitations for my other friend's baby shower. I cannot even tell you how cute they are. I mean, soooo cute. I never in a million years could have thought of something like that. So now I have to deliver all 20 of them. Which is going to be difficult since I don't know where most of them live. But I will get it all done. This morning in water aerobics I got my foot floats. Ok we do deep water aerobics which means you need floats to hold you up. I have been using a float that goes around my waste. I finally got used to that. And I was getting good at all of the exercises! And then today I got the ones that go on my ankles. These things are powerful!!! I got in the pool and ended up with my feet in the air and my face in the pool! It was humiliating. But everyone assured me it happens to everyone when you first get them. It took me the entire class to get the basics again. Very frustrating. But, boy, what a workout!!

Lots to do

I am home. And very happy to be here. I have a beautiful new diningroom set, new end tables, a piano, numerous lamps and many other treasures from my grandmother. It has been so fun to go through all of the stuff and determine where to put it. Although, Justin had pretty much done all of that before I even got home. Yesterday Caroline and I went shopping for her stuff for her "Pink Party." Her birthday is on Monday and we have invited a ton of girls over for what will prove to be a fiasco, I am sure. But she is excited because we got lots of pink stuff. Her party bags will be filled with Hello Kitty Pez dispensers, pink "snowballs," and tons of pink candy. I thought it would be easier than it was to find pink stuff. There is pink stuff everywhere but you have to buy all the other colors too in order to get pink. They don't sell a lot of just pink. If I had thought ahead I could have found a ton of stuff online, but I didn't. We made the invitations yesterday. Caroline picked out the paper and stickers. I cut them all out, she glued them together and put the stickers on. She was very proud of her accomplishment. If I had a digital camera I could publish a picture of them... but I don't. But they were very cute and very cute. I just hope people will be able to come. I am always afraid that noone will come! Anyway, I am hoping we have given people enough notice. Today I have to clean the house because Justin's parents are coming up, I have to go to the store to pick up some things, and then sometime this week I have got to get Caroline's birthday presents!!! I haven't even thought about it! But it will get done before Monday... Maybe Justin's parents can watch the kids while I do a little shopping. Anyway, I have a busy weekend ahead of me. I have not had time to sit down since I got home on Sunday. I don't like being this busy. But it is good for me. Maybe I am burning calories...

Better Days

Ok. SO yesterday was so much better. And Mom and Dad are way ahead of schedule and expect to be home this evening! And Justin totally misses me and wants me to come home. Which feels great because he loves to be on his own. But maybe he just wants a clean house... No, he really misses me and it makes me so happy. And I watched LOST last night which is such a good show and keeps getting better and freakier every day! The kids went to bed on time last night so I had some time by myself that I felt unstressed. So it was much better. Today I have been cleaning so the house is perfect for Mom and Dad when they get home. They are always so busy that they don't have time to really clean. THe house is not dirty by any means, but I think it will just be nice for them to come home and not have to do anything. But I did get some frightening news! My sister called me last night and her ex-husband's mother died last night! She had diabetes and it was a heart attack related to that. Boy was that a wake up call for me! Just crazy that you can really die from this disease! Granted she did not take care of herself at all. No diet or exercise or anything, but I realize that I really need to get in gear and lose weight so I can totally be free of this thing. I don't want to die! So I will really make a better effort. I haven't falllen off the wagon but I know I can work harder and that is what I am going to do. I am totally going to get rid of diabetes. I don't want to just control it, I want to get rid of it all together! Anyway... I am hoping to be home by Saturday.

Locked out

OK. It could be worse. I recognize that. But at this point, I am so tired that I can't think how. But today will be a better day. I will tell you my story. Last night I was putting Hilton to bed in my parents' room. That is where we are sleeping. Hilton was not ready to go to bed. He kept screaming and crying and generally making me mad. Finally, he decided he had had enough and was NOT going back in that room and he locked the door. Usually no big deal on a bedroom door, right? Except this door needs a key. Like a key to the front door or something. I tried every single key in the house. Then I called my parents who are on the road from Michigan back to here. I said to my dad, "Please tell me you have a key to your bedroom." He said, "no, of course not, why would we?" He didn't even realize that his bedroom door had a key lock. He thought it would just be one of those locks that you just stick a paper clip into and pop it. So I tried everything to get this lock open. I used a hair pin, several paper clips, keys, key/paper clip combinations. Nothing worked. I tried the window but it was locked. I called some of Mom and Dad's friends and they came over and tried to get it open. NOTHING! There was nothing I could do. So I called a locksmith. He popped it right open with his handy dandy little burgulary tools. Then I asked him to PLEASE make me a key, and after a HUGE chunk of money late, I was in the bedroom again trying to get my son to go to bed. Now, I called the locksmith and he got there at about 10:30 at night. Hilton did not go to bed until after 11:00. I needed chocolate. Yes, I am an emotional eater, but it made me feel better and I did not go into a diabetic coma. But I also did not get to bed until after midnight. Then Hilton was up at 7am. I still want to beat the child, but I am controlling myself and blogging about it instead. Hoping and praying that today is a much better day... and night.

HIVES

My kids have hives. My parents have a dog and I think that has to be it. Caroline is worse off than Hilton, but they are both pretty miserable. Hilton has several sores on his tongue so he doesn't want to eat. Caroline has one in her mouth but is covered all over her body. Some places are worse than others. Her legs and arms have it the worst. Hilton only has them on his arms and legs, not on his trunk, but they are not as bad as Caroline's. I am going to give them an oatmeal bath and hopefully that will soothe them a little. I have some Benedryll too... Poor kids. They are never going to want to come back here again! And we still have several days to go. Justin's parents may have to come down and get them!

Sleeping positions

Sleeping with your children is so different from sleeping with your husband. The kids kick and cuddle and generally annoy me. I have gotten used to sleeping with my husband. We both have our boundries. A No-Cross zone, if you will. Children do not respect this zone and it is really irritating. But is only for another week or so. You would think with my parents' gigantic king size bed, there would be plently of room for all three of us... (Caroline, Hilton and me) but the bed is not big enough for the 3 of us. If the kids would just lay there without moving in your normal vertical position, everything would be great! But they are both constantly moving. And they cannot stay vertical. They end up horizontal with someone's foot in my face and someone else's foot in my back. The joys of vacation. I want my bed back, with my normal-sleeping husband.

Spud Harvest

I am eating my lunch in between doing things to get ready to go to St George. I will be going down for almost 2 weeks to stay with my Grandmother. THe kids are coming with me. Caroline has Spud Harvest Break. For those who don't know, it is potato harvest time in Idaho and some kids still live on farms and have to harvest potatoes, so the kids have a week and a half off from school. So we are going south to warmer weather. We will miss Justin, but it will be nice to get away and see my sister and sisters-in-law and grandma. And the kids are really excited to play with their cousins. So I am off! But I will ahve access to a computer down there so you can't get rid of me.

Reality TV and pushy bishops

Today I woke up very sleepy because I stayed up until midnight watching Project Runway. I just couldn't help it. Last night I went to Book Group and afterwards took the girls home that I drove and we all stayed in the driveways talking and talking forever. Then I got home at 11:00 and I was too awake to go to sleep. Usually Justin will stay up with me to watch but he hasn't been feeling well so he was gone... Out like a light. So I stayed up and watched one of the best reality tv shows on! Ok, I admit, I am a reality TV junky. It is horrible. I am the first one to say, STOP THE MADNESS! No more reality tv. But it is just so good. Soooo real... oh, yeah... But just funny and entertaining. Project Runway is about fashion designers competing to win money to start their own collections. It is awesome. I also love the Amazing Race. My friend Chelsi got me hooked in St George and I haven't missed an episode since. And this season is no exception! I just can't get enough. I like Dancing with the Stars but I don't HAVE to watch every week. As long as I know who gets kicked off, I am cool. I am the same about Rockstar. That is pretty much all I am into. I have enough other tv shows I have to keep up with. Oh, so we go in to see the bishop the other night. He was giving us callings. But first he wanted to get to know us a little so we told him. He said, "are these your only children?" We said yes. He said, "Huh... Do you plan on having more?" OK! How insolent can you be? That is the rudest thing ever!!! I was so mad. but Justin was calm and said, "Maybe." Then the bishop said that he had 9 and the other counselor in there has 5. He warned us there is something in the water here so we had better watch out. We said we would. Sometimes living in Mormonville is not all it's cracked up to be. Thank goodness the whole town isn't as ignorant as our bishop. But unfortunately, he is our bishop... Maybe he is a nice guy, but so far, I am not impressed.

33

I am 33. My birthday was yesterday and not a totally tragic event. I didnot lose 33 lbs like I had hoped. But my clothes are loose on me and people are noticing that I have lost weight. Even if my husband doesn't. He just sees me every day... But I am ok with being 33. I am not where I thought I would be at 33. But where I am is a good place. I am happy in this 33 place. I have a great family and a nice home and I love my town and I love being involved in things. I have good friends who care about me and what I am doing. I don't get to eat good food all of the time but I made an exception on my birthday. Justin got me a chocolatey chocolate ice cream cake. It was devil's food cake with chocolate ice cream with chocolate shavings in it, then covered in fudge ganache. It was decadent, and evil and something I should only do once a year. But I felt like I deserved it; being 33 and all. So am I in my mid-thirties now? Or am I still in my early 30's? I think I would like to stay in my early 30's for one more year, if that is ok. I am still trying hard to deal with the fact that I am no longer in my 20's. This is difficult. Although someone said to me just last week that I don't look old enough to have a 6 year old. Do you know how GREAT that felt!!!??? Conceivably I could have a child much older than 6. I could have a 13 year old! Because I am 33. But having a young oldest child keeps me young. Caroline turning 7 is going to be a hard day for me. Just a few more weeks away... But for now, I will have to be happy being 23. Oh, I mean 33, that's right, 33.