Do you like to save money on kids clothes?

Then let me tell you about a great little website!!

thredUP is a really amazing website! I've been a member for quite a long time actually, just never thought of sharing about it on my blog! *DUH!*

What thredUP is, is a website that sells a TON of name brand kids clothes at a discount price. (Sometimes as much as half off the original price!) And, when you have clothes that don't fit any more, send them back, and they pay you for them! You can either use the money to buy more clothes from them, or you can cash it out. We just sent in a BIG bag of Bug and Monkeys clothes and I'm ANXIOUSLY waiting for that to show up in my account so I can get those two a few more nice things for school!

They have sizes Newborn all the way to size 20(childrens)! These are VERY nice clothes! I buy them for my children, and have never ever had a problem with them. The last order that came to our house was 2 shirts for Monkey, and a dress and capelet for Bug. On the long sleeved Tony Hawk shirt there was a little sticker on it that said that there was a flaw so it was free! (There was one on the packing slip as well.) We checked all over the shirt and couldn't find the flaw that they were referring to anywhere! This company has extremely high standards!

Also, if you join now thru my referral link (click here), you get $10 towards your first purchase! That's almost enough to buy an entire outfit!! (or a really nice pair of Ralph Lauren jeans!! ;-P)

Insanity and my knee

Well... I know I said I would blog my Insanity workouts.... and I was!!

Until I hurt my knee again. :-/

I'm not giving up! I'm just giving my knee time to recoop and then I'll be back at it again. :-)

Insanity - Day 1

So... I did it. I started Shaun Ts' Insanity today.

I have this to say:

I THINK I'VE LOST MY MIND!

LOL

It was only the fit test and I thought I was going to vomit and pass out! LOL

I forgot to take my "before" picture before my workout this morning... so I will have to get one of the kids to do it later today. :-P

In 60 days from now (which I will be blogging for) I hope to see a significant difference in my appearance!

MAYBE at day 30 I will post pictures... we will see!! ;-)

Monday weigh in

I'm not going to lie. I'm going to keep it real here.

I've had a VERY emotional week, I did way too much eating, not enough exercising, and I gained FOUR POUNDS!

This sucks... sucks terribly!! I don't EVER want to see another increase in the scale ever again! :-(

My husband and I ordered Insanity. It's going to be TOUGH! I know this, and I TRIED to tell hubs that I thought he should start with something a little "easier," but that's what he wanted. We're going to do it together, starting next Monday, 09July. I just hope that after a few days, when he's sore in places he didn't know he had, that he will still keep it up! If he doesn't give up, then neither will I.

I'll also be restarting my 90-days of blogging again, even tho it's only a 60 day program. Hubs will be home for 1 week, and that will hopefully be enough to get over the initial soreness, and keep him active when he travels again for work.

I'm going to clean up my eating again this week.. do a few workouts... see if I can't lose a little bit this week!

Monday weigh in

I know I said every day for 90 days. I'm sorry. I had some personal things come up and felt that I needed to take care of them before my blog. I hope y'all (you? Lol) are okay with that. (Cos if not, I don't really care anyways... lol)

Anyways!! I lost another 3.6 pounds this week! Wooooooot!! I'm excited!!

That's all I have for right now!! <3

Day 4

I'm taking a rest day today! We took our puppy for her final puppy shots! Then we took her for her very first walk at PetSmart! :-) She got a new harness and leash that will last her instead of the little tiny "I'm a 4.5 pound puppy" collar! :-)

We went to Chick-fil-a for lunch, and I got a grilled chicken sandwich and a fruit cup with a diet lemonade. MAN was that sour!! LOL

For dinner we are having beef stew. Yes, it is SUPER hot here, but, I didn't take that into account when I made the meal plan. (Duh!! LOL) After dinner we are taking the dogs on a walk. :-)

Day 3

Turbo Jam again this morning! 45 Cardio Party! I didn't really know the "routine" so I didn't get quite as good a workout as I do with the 20, but I'll learn it and it will be a good one! For breakfast I had Coco Wheats. I know it's a kids thing... but I really like 'em! LOL

For lunch I had leftover chili again! Num!! That stuff is SO good!!!

(And again for dinner because I forgot to put the stuff in the crock pot this morning!)


***
Hey sorry this didn't go out yesterday!! I fell asleep before I posted it!! LOL

Day 2

Another Turbo Jam workout this morning!! 20 minutes of cardio. I was taking a break between cardio and abs to check on our chick order (which was sent to the wrong post office... LOL) and Bug woke up and decided that I got a quick kiss and she was going to watch TV! Then we went to pick up the chicks. (Which are ADORABLE!) I didn't get my ab workout in, which is okay, but not optimal. Breakfast was 2 pieces of whole wheat bread, toasted, with butter.

Lunch I had chili (see recipe, previous post) and a sandwhich.

Dinner was taco salad! Yum!!

Day 1

This mornings workout was Turbo Jam 20 minute workout, followed by a "late" breakfast" (at 8am, but I'd been up since 5:30) of chocolate Shakeology, made with 2% milk and a Tablespoon of Jif PB.

Lunch was 2 lunch meat sandwiches and cottage cheese with pineapple chunks!

Dinner!! Ah glorious dinner! I made Eggplant Parmesan! No pasta, just eggplant. it was delish!!

During commercial breaks in Americas Got Talent (rerun) I did 15 crunches/sit-ups, 15 push ups, and 15 squats! I'll probably be sore in the morning! :-P

Something different

So, I'm going to be doing something different.

I'm going to blog every day for 90 days.

I'm going to blog my workout, my meals & snacks, possibly with pictures, recipes, and weight! Of course, not all of those will be every day, but, the meals, and workouts will be! Starting tonight! So be on the look-out! :-)

(Talk about extreme accountability!! :-D )

Monday Weigh-in and Chili!

Today is my little girls 9th birthday. I can't believe 9 years ago she was just a tiny little thing wrapped up in a pink blanket! She has grown SO much, in more ways than one! She's super smart, she's in all advanced classes in school, she is a helper at our church, and everywhere we go, she always knows someone, and if it's an adult they always tell me what a sweet girl she is. Makes my heart smile. :-)

Anyways! My weigh in! I lost! WOOHOO! I'm at 204.6 as of this morning. According to my Sparkpeople.com goal tracker, I SHOULD be at 201, but, that's okay! I'm slightly behind, but, not enough to be a big deal. I will figure out how to lose that "extra" at some point in time.

Yesterday I put chili in the crock pot before we went to church, and when we got home, the entire house smelled so good I wanted to eat the air! It was REALLY good! Tho, if you have or have people in your family that have sensitive mouthes, scale back on the chili powder a tiny bit. :-D

Crock Pot Chili
Serves 10-15

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 28oz can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 8oz can marinara (or regular tomato sauce)
• 1 small diced red pepper
• 1 small diced green pepper
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced small
• 3 medium carrots, cleaned and shredded
• 4-5 TABLESPOONS chili powder (I used 5, kids said it was a bit spicy)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 15oz can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed.

1. In a large non-stick skillet, crumble ground turkey and brown, turning often until pink is gone, 6-7 minutes. Transfer to 6-quart slow cooker
2. Add remaining ingredients and gently mix
3. cover and cook for 8 hours on low, or4 hours on high.

Monday Weigh-in and a Recipe!

So, my husband left last night to go to Quantico Virginia for 3 weeks, so these past few days has been "celebration time!" For those of you that don't know, my birthday is tomorrow (12June) and my daughters birthday is next week (18June). We ate out a few times. I didn't get exercise in as much as I would have liked.  Wednesday night Bug came home from school and was crying saying her throat, head, and stomach hurt. I took her to the doctors and she had strep AND the flu. Then Monk started throwing up later that night. They both missed the last 2 days of school. :-/

Anyways! No excuses! I weighed in this morning, and I'm back to 207. GAH! It's okay tho. I didn't go any higher, and I'm getting back on the Turbo Jam wagon, back on the healthy eating wagon, and we'll be fine! :-) Sam is gone for the next 3 weeks, so it gives me time to work out a new routine with the kids being home for exercise and everything else.

Last night we had some REALLY good nachos!! (I LOVE NACHOS!!) I thought I would share the recipe with y'all!

Cheesy Chili Nachos (adapted from Eat More of what you Love)
Serves: 4

• 8 oz lean ground turkey
• 3/4 cup diced onion
• 1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
• 1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 oz whole grain tortilla chips
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 teaspoons flour
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• pinch of garlic
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Add ground turkey and onion to medium skillet at medium high heat. Cook until meat is browned and onion is soft, about 10 minutes
2. Stir in chili powder, cumin, and cayenne peper. Stir in tomatoes and 1/2 cup water. Reduce hit to low, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in beans and heat until warm.
3. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter and add flour, whisk until smooth. Add chicken broth and garlic and bring to boil, stir continuously until thick. Remove from heat and whisk in 1/2 cup of cheese at a time. 
4. Spread chips out over plate (or platter). Spoon meat mixture evenly over chips, and drizzle cheese over chili. Top with favorite garnish, and serve!

It really  filled you up with all of the whole grain chips, and it was lower in calories!! (around 200)

We watched Secret Millionaire and Extreme Makeover: Weightloss Edition last night. I really like Sunday night "feel good TV." Secret Millionaire makes me happy that there are still people out there willing to help. Gives me hope for the human race. EM:WE makes me REALLY happy! I absolutely LOVE Chris Powell! During the program, he challenged everyone to do his "commercial exercise" which was 15 sit-ups, 15 push-ups, and 15 squats. He said that doing that during the commercials was something easy to do and it gave you quite the workout. I did that for about an hour.. maybe a little longer. I can say that my abs and arms are a bit sore today! I guess that means that I need to do that every night while we watch our TV shows.

Anyways! Busy day today! I thought I would share with you a little video about the program that I'm currently doing. It's called Turbo Jam, and it's REALLY fun!! If you have any questions about this, or would like to order a copy of this AMAZING workout, let me know!!

Monday Weigh-in

So, I'm going to keep it real this week.

I stepped on the scale and it said 206.8

Yup... I gained.

I kinda figured I would.. considering I worked out one day and didn't track any of my food. What the heck is WRONG with me?!

I will be back at it today. Working on my Turbo Jam. I just have to remind myself that just because I had a gain this week, it doesn't mean I need to give up! I just have to be more diligent with working out and tracking my food!

Monday Weigh-In

So, Memorial Day BBQs weren't too kind to me this weekend. I SHOULD have just listened to my body and quit eating, but I feel OBLIGATED to eat what people offer me sometimes.

I weighed in at 205 even.

I was weighing in on Wednesday and Thursday at 204, but, like I said... BBQs weren't nice to me this weekend!

It's okay tho. I lost instead of gained, and that's a step in the right direction! :-)

Monday Weigh-In

So, since I didn't really get any exercise in, I didn't expect to lose any weight... especially since I cheated a bit with some dark chocolate this week. (Okay and a glass or two of koolaide... and a glass of lemonaide at church yesterday... just keepin it real!)

But I did!! Of course, it's not a huge amount... but... it's a small step for man kind! :-D

I weighed in this morning at 206.4 so I lost just over half a pound.

I AM starting 30 Day Shred this morning tho.

Sam went to Pensacola this week for work. The first day or two I really miss him, but after that, I'm okay. This seems like it's going to be a regular occurring thing. He said that they have a few more weeks here at LeJeune, then they go to Quantico, then I think he said back to FL, then Pendleton!

He told me that there is a fitness room and a pool at his hotel, so he would start some light workouts, which is a HUGE step for him! I kinda feel bad for Sam, because when he was growing up they didn't have any money for family vacations or anything like that. Then when he got into the Marine Corps... they don't stay in hotels! LOL So, this has really been the first time that he's every really gotten to stay any place nicer than Uncle Bobs Bargain Shack. He told me how the room had a microwave, and a couch, and he could order room service! I'm sure it's the nicest room he's ever been in. We'll remedy that soon tho. :-)

Slow start

So, I know I said that I was going to do Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred every day until June 15th. Well....I lied

I didn't do it on purpose tho! I promise!

I worked out on Monday. It was an okay workout. It kicked my but like I thought it would. Then on Tuesday I had a bunch of stuff to do. One of those things included going over to the crappy trailer that Sam decided in his "time of bad decisions" that he needed, and needed to fill with furniture and whatnot. *long sigh* It turned out okay tho. We'd been needing a new couch for some time. Ours had holes in it, one side of the springs were broken, and it's been sewed up more times than a plastic surgery addict. So, we had the couch and love seat delivered to our house. That still left the problem of where to put the OLD couch and love seat. Bright idea me says OH! Lets post it on LYS.. which is like a craigslist time website for our area. We have craigslist as well, and as I was writing up the little post for that, I was inundated with requests for pictures of my free "well loved" couch. Some people never responded back after I sent the pictures, which is fine. I don't care. I mean... what do you think a free couch is going to look like? Brand new? LOL

Anyways! Someone told me that they were going to come pick it up either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, and I told them that was fine. I sent them a message yesterday morning to confirm that they were going to come pick it up... no response. I waited a while, did things that I needed to get done, whatever. Meanwhile, I had already told about 80 people that they were pending. I had one person keep pestering me about if they were still available. I told them that they were pending (again) and that if I hadn't heard back from them by 3:30 that afternoon that they could have them. I emailed the person that was supposed to have picked them up and let them know that if I hadn't heard from them by 3:30 I was going to give them to someone else. So at 3:30 on the dot, I get another message from the person asking if they had responded. I tell them they hadn't and that they could come get the couches.

They then say "Can I pick them up Friday?" O.O Are you KIDDING me?! I tell them that I need them out ASAP. They tell me "Okay, I can try and get them tomorrow after work" which is fine.. whatever. Later that evening, I get ANOTHER call about them. I told them that someone was supposed to pick them up tomorrow (Thursday) around 7, but if they didn't show up that I would call them. She said that she would be more than happy to come right over and pick them up.

One way or another, these couches will NOT be in my house this weekend!

So, here's the truth...

I'm fat.

Yes... I said it. I'm a fatty. Oh I know... you look at my nice little banner up there at the top and say "There's no WAY that she's fat!" Well.. that picture was taken more than 4 years ago by a great friend of mine. He was trying to build his photography portfolio and I agreed to help him out. I used to LOVE to have my picture taken... but not so much any more.

This morning I stepped on the scale at exactly 207 pounds. Egad. My scale has a weight tracker option where it gives you 4, 8, and 12 week past weights. 12 weeks ago I weighed 27 pounds less. Holy CRAP! That's gaining a little over 2 pounds a week for 3 months!

Today is the day that I'm going to change that.

So, today until June 15th, I'm going to do Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I've had luck with that one before. It's a 20 minute work out, 27 if you could warm up and cool down. I can do that between getting Austin off to school and waking Jillian up to get ready. I'm going to cut out all soda and juice. Water (and milk) only! I'm not going to add sugar to things. (Unless the recipe calls for it... like bread) No more sweets!!!!! After my initial 30 days, I'll be moving on to TurboJam. After that, hopefully I will be able to afford TurboFire! I REALLY like TurboJam, but, until I can get myself back into a routine of eating right, working out, and housework, I need the short, sweet, bust your chops workouts.

I'm not a big fan of "Lets cut out fat!" and all that stuff. I would rather lose weight eating better, than replacing my foods with chemicals. I'll still drink my whole fat milk, because that's what I like, that's what my children like, and even tho Sam buys reduced fat milk, I can't stand to drink it because it has no flavor.

As soon as we get our bills under control with Sam just starting his new job... I'll be getting back on Shakeology as well.

We have a book called Eat More of What You Love and it has some really good recipes in it. Altho we haven't cooked any, I can tell by the recipes that they will be good. I'll update more when I've cooked some of them.

I don't have any good recent photos of me.. because I hate having my picture taken since I've gotten so big. There is no excuse for me to have gotten this big other than I'm too lazy to work out and eat right. I've let Sam slide under the radar one too many times when I've spotted him putting cakes, candies, and chips in the grocery cart. No more!!

I guess that's maybe why I haven't done so well in my Beachbody biz. I feel too much like a hypocrite telling people that they can lose weight and be healthy when I can't do it myself. As my Pastor always says, let your test be your testimony! My testimony starts today. :-)

More change?

So, Sam and I had a very long conversation last night full of lots of tears on both of our parts. We are still both committed to our marriage, but with the state of our marriage at the current time, we both know that we cannot continue the way that we are going.

We have decided that instead of just completely ending our marriage, that we will try a separation and work on our issues with each other, and our issues as individuals.

I know that this decision will not be looked at favorably by some, but, it is what is best for me, and my family. Sam and I do love each other, but have lost sight of what is important, and have let things come between us.

I do thank all of you for the prayers, for the concern, and for most importantly, being there for me in my time of need.

Changes

So, some of you, the ones that I know personally.. or that follow me on twitter/facebook.. know that my husband told me today that he wants a divorce today.

I can't actually say that this comes as a total shock, but, it still hurts a whole hell of a lot. I tried really hard at my marriage. I wanted it to work. I know I have an anger issue. I am not saying that I am perfect. I'm very far from it.

In the end, I guess all I can do is pick myself up, dust myself off, and keep moving forward. Did I ever think that this was going to happen? I had my suspicions for a while, but I had hoped that with him starting a new job in less than a week, that when he started that things would start to get better for us.

I guess that will never be now.

I've already started looking for jobs. I have some resumes out, and some friends looking for me as well. I guess we will see what happens.

Did you know?

That I have a blog for our garden? Eventually we will have a farm, and I want to write about our 'adventures' as we become more self-sufficient.

I would love for you to check it out and follow along!

http://IvyHillFarm.blogspot.com

Eight years

Eight years ago today is a day that I will never forget. Let me back up a bit and I'll tell you a little story.

It was Early March 2004. Everything was pretty good in my life. I lived with a family from my church, I had just landed a full time job, and I was one step closer to getting back on my feet. The my sister-in-law called me. It was kind of strange to get a call from my sister-in-law, so I knew something must have been going on.

"Your Dad is in the hospital. He's got cancer."

I made arrangements to delay the starting of my job so I could go down and see him. He looked so frail lying in his hospital bed. My Step-mom was holding up as well as one could while sitting by. They'd been married almost 24 years, almost my entire life! He didn't stay in the hospital for too long while I was down visiting. He was transferred back to their house, and hospice was called. I spent some time with Dad, my brothers and sister, and with my step-mom. I had to return home. It was so hard knowing that I probably would never see my father alive again. He was on so much morphine that he didn't really realize what was going on. Even tho he was so small compared to what he normally looked like, he still had all his strength. He hugged me tight, told me he loved me so much, and told Buggy to be a "good lil fella" for me. He thought Bug was Monkey, not realizing that Monkey was 5 years old by that time, and Bug wasn't quite 1.

Eight years ago today, I got up to get ready for work. It was early. The phone rang. I ran to answer it so it didn't wake anyone up.

"Jacque, Dad passed away. We're driving down today if you want a ride." My brother and sister-in-law were giving me a ride down. I was crying at work, but still tried to do the best job that I could. Once I told them that my dad had passed away, they sent me home. We didn't talk much on the way down. My sister had stayed and was there when he passed away. It was very early in the morning, around 3 or so, and she said that when he passed that he had a smile on his face, and that there was a robin singing outside the window. Now every time I hear a robin, I think of my dad.

We had the funeral at a local funeral home where my dad and his wife lived. I was still sort of in shock. My daddy was gone. I wouldn't ever see him again. I wouldn't ever hear him say "I love you kiddo." I wouldn't ever hear about how we needed to start stock-piling things because the end of the world was coming. I wouldn't ever hear him lecture me about how I needed to get my life right with God. I had gotten my life right with God.

Amazing Grace still brings back memories of his funeral, of my daddy laying in his coffin, of the flowers that he didn't want, of the little tray that we put fishing lures and pictures and letters in. It still brings a tear to my eyes and reminds me of how much I miss him. I know that he is in a much better place, that he's in no pain, and that he is surrounded by angels. I know he's with my Gramma & Grampa. I just hope that when he looks down from  Heaven that he is proud of the woman that I have become, that he approves of my husband, and that he is happy with the way that I'm raising my kids and leading our life.

I miss you Daddy. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of you. <3

Just too cool

Monk likes to put different glasses on Lilly and we take pictures of her. Here's one from after church.

She's such a good dog. :-)

Tag! You're it!

Thank you Nicole! :-D

1. I always sleep on the side of the bed that is farthest from the door. 
2. I always put on my right shoe first.
3. I cannot resist chocolate. The darker the better!
4. I always wanted to learn to play the violin, but learned how to play the flute, saxophone, and clarinet instead.
5. If I forget my phone, I will go back and get it, no matter how far away from home we are.
6. I sometimes get jealous that my daughter has more guppies than I do.
7. I'm a dreamer. I sometimes see something in a store and say "I can make that!" but in reality, I really have no idea how to do it.
8. My eyes are blue, but I have a light golden brown ring in both of my eyes as well. 
9. I hate coffee.
10. I'm addicted to The Sims.
11. I really like to garden, and can't wait to have our own farm so I can grow more! 

The Rules

1. You must post the rules (and link up who tagged you.)

2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.

4. Tag however many people you want.

5. Let them know you've tagged them!

Nicoles Questions For me:

1. What's your best accomplishment in life up until this point?

* I would like to say just being the person that I am. I could be super bitter about the things that have happened in my past, but I try to not be.

2. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

* I really like it around here! If Sam could find a job around here that paid enough for us to have our dream farm, I would totally stay here! It's nice for the most part year round, I like the fact that if I wanted to go to the beach, I'm only 30-45 minutes away, and I like the kids schools. Tho... I have seen some schools around Raleigh that would be AMAZING!!!!

3. Describe your perfect date night.

* Perfect date night.. hmm... I would have to say, a nice dinner on the water, watch the sunset over the ocean, and hang out and just listen to the water lap the beach while looking at the stars. Amazing!

4. What do you think is your best feature?

* Hmmmm.... *I* think my best feature is butt... LOL 

5. What's your favorite picture of you an your hubby?

* Ha!! It's from right after we got married... Sam, myself and Jocelyn and her husband had all gone to our company Christmas party (That was actually in January.... LOL) and she took a picture of me where it looked like I was picking Sams nose... LOL 

6. If you won a million dollars, what's the first thing you would do?

* Pay off all of our debt, put money away for the kids to go to college, and start our dream of having our farm.

7. What's your favorite snack food?

* CHOCOLATE... or popcorn

8. What's your favorite meal of the day?

* Usually dinner! I lurv to cook!

9. Favorite guilty pleasure TV show?

* The Bachelor/Bachelorette I don't know why!!! I just love to watch them. *sigh*

10. Best book you have ever read?

* Oh gosh... ummm... that's a tough one! How about.... either The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd or One True Theory of Love by Laura Fitzgerald

11. Describe your perfect Sunday.

* Church,  lunch, dinner in the crock pot, and relaxation!

I'm going to Tag:

Molls @ O hushed October Morning Mild

The Bug @ Bugs Eye View

My questions:

1. If you could go back and do something in your life over, would you?

2. What is your hidden talent?

3. If you could change your name, would you? If so, what would you change it to?

4. What is your favorite childhood memory?

5. What is your favorite adult memory?

6. Do you have any pets?

7. What size shoe do you wear?

8. If you could meet one person, past, present, or future, who would it be?

9. What is your biggest fear?

10. What is your favorite meal?

11. Which is better? Chocolate, Vanilla or Neapolitan ice cream?

Project 365 - Week 3

Okay... this weeks P365 is going to be a lil thin... I'll admit.. I can't exactly remember what all I did this past week. I try to write things down in my house manual, but sometimes I'm not exactly successful! I'm also not very good at remembering to take pictures every day. I don't lead a very exciting life.. as my friend Nathan reminded me today I'm "just a housewife." *eyeroll* And yes... I know I'm late again... I'm so very sorry!

15 January

Kimberly left today, but we all went to church at Discovery, which is our home church. That is our associate pastor with the awesome mohawk. There are approximately 15 boys at our church with mohawks now, and countless girls with bright pink, or green, or blue in their hair as well. Bug is disappointed that I won't let her color her hair. We went out to eat at The Kettle after church. We normally just go home and have something at home, but, we splurged a bit. It was nice. :-)

16 January

I started the seeds today for Ivy Hill. It made me think of Lindsay, and how I wished that I could show her the plans for our future farm. Our farms would have been completely different, but, a farmer is a farmer, right? I miss her. We also fixed Monks bed! A while back his friend Joey broke it, and we just hadn't managed to fix it. We either forgot about it, or we didn't have the money, but we got it done! He was SO happy! He said he felt like a king sleeping in that bed. It made me both happy and sad at the same time. I wish that I would have just fixed it a long time ago, but, it's done now. I'm sure in the next few years I'm going to have to get him a new bed anyways. He's going to want a more "grown up" bed, I'm sure of it. I know I always wanted a bigger bed when I was a teenager. Hopefully when Sam gets out of college (if he ever goes!!) we can buy/build a house that has big enough bedrooms that both the kids can have full sized beds instead of twins!

17 January

Today Bug and I went to get hair cuts. She got quite a bit cut off of hers! I was very sad. She wanted to look like Amanda Bynes, but, it didn't quite work out that way. It's okay... it still looks so cute! I also made spaghetti for dinner. Not only did I make sketti, I also made a loaf of french bread, cut it in half, made garlic bread topping, and then made it into garlic bread. My GOONDESS it was good!! So.. I thought I would share it with all of you. :-)

Garlic Bread Spread
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cups flat leaf parsley leaves, lightly packed (I used about a Tablespoon of dried)
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400. In a food processor blend the garlic cloves until finely chopped, add the parsley, Parmesan, basil, and salt, and oil. Scrape sides if needed. Blend until smooth

2 Cut bread in half horizontally, spread mixture on both sides. Wrap each half loosely in aluminum foil

3 Bake bread until heated through (about 15 minutes). Unwrap top of bread and bake for another 3 minutes. Cut each half and serve warm.

18 January

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Today I had my MRI for my knee. That's about it. LOL

19 January

Today I had a date with Nicole! We took her puppy to the kennel, went to Starbucks, we went out to look at her new house, and then we went back to her house to look at scrap books. LOL It was a very fun day! I love hanging out with Nicole. :-)

20 January

Happy Gotcha Day Dusty dog!! Two years ago today we brought Dusty into our home. She was SUPPOSED to be a foster, but, she was so sweet and wonderful that we couldn't get rid of her. We totally failed Fostering 101. Dusty usually sleeps with me, but Bug wanted some Mommy time and curled up in my bed. Dusty decided that she wanted to sleep in there too, so she just snuggled right up to Bug! It was so cute.

21 January

I'm not going to lie... I have NO idea what we did on Saturday. I THINK we might have gone to the PX and gotten a bunch of meds... but I could be mistaken. How sad is that? I can't remember an entire day!

As always, if you want to join in on the fun, you can go to Saras blog and join in! If you don't want to join in, you could just look at everyone elses week! Should be lots of fun! :-D 

Project 365 - Week 2

Yes yes I'm a little late. Sorry!! This week was not exciting at all. I only have a few pictures to show because we were completely broke, waiting on a paycheck, and I basically stayed home and cleaned and waited for our paycheck to come in. 

08 January

Buggy had a sleepover with a couple of her friends last night. I made a GIANT stack of pancakes for everyone. The one girl I swear had to live under a rock. She didn't know how to cut a pancake, didn't know how to make hot tea, and even said she had never HAD tea before! GAH! How do you get to be almost a teenager and not have had tea or know how to cut a pancake?! Flabbergasting! 

After breakfast and a bit of clean up, I sent the girls home so we could get ready for church. We LOVE our church. We're not a huge church, but, at the same time, we're not a super small church either. We had grown big enough to have the need for 2 services, so, I guess we're doing something right! :-)

We then went to Walmart and had to pick up a few things. The kids spotted a display of suckers and asked if they could have one. We decided that we would all get one. Four giant suckers for $2... not a bad deal in my book! 

09 January

I get the kids off to school, get my workout in, throw a load of jeans in the washer, do some dishes, then I clean the kids bathroom. This is when my week decided that it was going to take a DRASTIC turn towards crappy week. I've told the kids that because it's THEIR bathroom, they need to be responsible enough to clean it, but since I have company coming over on the weekend, I decide that I would go ahead and help them out and clean it. At least that way I KNEW that it would be clean at least once that week. This is where I'm glad it was me and not one of the kids. I spent the rest of the week stressing about the hot water that was trickling down the kids bathroom tub drain.

11 January

My Spiderplant is blooming!!!!!!!!!!
I got this little plant as 4 tiny little starts from my friend Meridith. She told me that her plant was dying, and that she knew I loved plants so she wanted to brighten my day with these little guys. That was about a year and a half ago, and now I've finally got my OWN starts! :-)

13 January

FINALLY PAYDAY!! The very first thing Sam and I did was go get the stuff to fix the shower. We talk to a very nice man at Lowes who tells us where we might be able to find the shut off valve for our house. (It wasn't there.. but it was close!) We buy a new faucet, some caulk, a new handle piece for the toilet, and some gorilla glue to fix the broken toilet lid. (Yes.. I know... very redneck-ish, but it worked!) We get home, I put one some old clothes so I can low crawl about 100 feet to find the water shut off, then low crawl back about 100 feet.

That crawl takes forever... trust me on this! Now, the only way to actually get to the back side of the shower to get the parts off of the shower... we had to take the wall panel off of Monks side of the wall!!!! It was a mess!! (hence the first picture...) We actually had to make THREE trips to Lowes that day. The first time to get the stuff, the 2nd time because we bought the wrong faucet, and the 3rd time because the PVC pipe was so brittle that when I tried to tighten the bolt on the new faucet it broke! Sam helped some... but I did the majority of the work myself. After all was said and done, I low crawled about 400 feet, changed clothes 3 times, and FINALLY got to take a long hot shower! (No long hot showers since Monday mind you, only short, luke warm ones at best.) I was going to make homemade pizza, but by the time everything was said and done, we ordered pizza and soda. My friend Kimberly showed up about 6:30 to stay the weekend.

14 January

My best friend is having a little girl in April. Her favorite color is red, and she is by FAR not the the girlyest girl I've met. She doesn't like pink, so getting her cute little baby clothes is sometimes tricky. She also doesn't like flowers or anything like that on her baby clothes. SO! We all had gone to the PX to do a little shopping and I found this ADORABLE baby outfit, but I knew she wouldn't like it because it was pink. I then started looking around and I found several I really liked, but then I found the one in the picture. I knew she would LOVE it... so I bought it. I also got an ACE bandage because my knee decided that it did NOT like something that I did to it, and it wanted to swell up and be a real pain in the knee!! We ended up renting some movies and staying home the rest of the day.  I had a really great time with Kimberly over the course of the weekend.

I know that there were no pictures for January 10 and 12... but literally all I did was housework. Boring picture.. ;-)

If you want to look at what other people are doing for their P365... check out Saras blog here!

The smack down!

Have you ever had one of those moments when you get smacked in the face with something and then realize that it's totally a God thing? 

Sam and I have been arguing quite a bit here lately. Mostly because I think that he should go out and get a job until he goes back to college (see previous post here) which is another very sore subject with me. Anybody that knows me knows that I'm a worrier. I worry about everything. Small things like: is my hair okay, does my butt look big, does my food taste good, but also bigger things like: are we going to have money for groceries, will we be able to maintain our household bills, how are we going to make these repairs to the house/cars/garden/etc. I also worry about other people: I hope Crystals' son is okay, I wonder when Nicole is going to know the final word on her house, my friends' friends' aunt is in the hospital. Sometimes its very taxing to worry so very much about things that I know I don't have any control over. I know I shouldn't worry so much, but I just can't help it! I've ALWAYS worried about everything! Well, okay, that's not entirely accurate. When I was in HS I worried about everything BUT homework! ;-)

Well, there for a while I hadn't been reading my Bible. (I know! I know!) Well, last night I got into bed, finished my conversation with my friend Kimberly, and decided that I would pick up The Good Book and read some. I had been reading thru Proverbs before I had stopped, and apparently I was meant to pick it back up at that point in time. When I opened my Bible to where I had stopped, Proverbs 17:1 stared back at me

Better a dry crust eaten in peace

than a house filled with feasting - and conflict.

Talk about floored! I stared at that verse for a while and milled it over. I then continued reading and another one smacked me right in the face. Proverbs 17:9

Love prospers when a fault is forgiven,

but dwelling on it separates close friends.

Again I milled it over for a while and continued. The final smack down of the evening was issued with Proverbs 17:14

Starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate,

so stop before a dispute breaks out.

At this point I put down my Bible and chuckled. I said "Okay.... I got the message" just as Sam walked into the bedroom. He said "Got what message?" and I explained to him what I was reading. We talked about it for a bit, then went about our business for the evening. (Mostly because it was almost 10 and I was sleepy!!) These were things that I NEEDED to hear, and I'm sure glad I did!

Project 365 - Week 1

It's that time again folks!! Project 365... or should it be 366 since this year is a leap year?? Anywho!!

I'm not going to waste any time... just jump right on in! :-)

01 January

This is my lovely Mommy and myself. We watched football on Sunday. This was Moms last full day here. Her and my Step Dad got here on Christmas Eve, but Kevin wasn't able to stay as long as my momma. Monk turned 13 on the 31st, so momma wanted to be here to celebrate with him. We had a lego cake. Oh.... and Sam retired from the Marine Corps. WAHOO!!

02 January

The kids went back to school today. Mom and I hang around for a while until it was time to leave for her to catch her flight. I was sad most of the day, and was really sad after she left. :-( I miss my mommy! Sam and I indulged in our guilty pleasure and watched The Bachelor. All I can say is JENNA IS CRAZY!!!! 

03 January

Yes yes... I know Jillian isn't on The Biggest Loser any more... but I love her SO MUCH!! I usually throw a few choice words at her from my living room 6 days a week as I feel like I'm going to die. (Oh yea... I started working out again on the 1st!) I also watched Celebrity Wife Swap (another guilty pleasure...) but I spared you from pictures of Gary Buseys' teeth. You can thank me later. Another rather boring day today. 

04 January

A mostly boring day... except for soup!! I LOVE me some potato soup! I made bread bowls as well. I was going to throw in some bacon for a nice "loaded" baked potato, but when I got the package out I was greeted to ONE slice of bacon. I think SOMEONE *cough*Sam*cough* made some without me knowing.  It's okay tho. Bug didn't want bacon anyways. 

05 January 

I can't help it... I'm a GIANT fan of Grey's Anatomy. I'd never even watched the show before I met Sam, but he watched it and got me hooked so now I am utterly addicted! I mean... why wouldn't you want to be addicted to Derek Shepard, Mark Sloan, Alex Karev, Jackson Avery (drool!!!), and Owen Hunt?! Good question, eh? I know it's not like REAL doctors or anything.. but it's okay! I like the eye candy. :-D

06 January

This makes me a bit sad. I found out that they're taking EM:HE off the air. :-( :-( This is one of the "feel good" shows that we would watch as a family. There is only going to be one more, which is next Friday, and that's it other than a few specials sprinkled here and there. I have my issues with EM:HE, but, for the most part, it was a great show. I wish that I could somehow find a way to keep the good deeds of this show rolling. Maybe someday after I win the lotto.

07 January

This was Monkeys FAVORITE day this week. A few months ago, our Xbox petered out. It gave us a red ring of death and wouldn't work. Well, Sam and Monk decided that they would try and take it apart, clean it up, and see if it worked. They worked for a good 10 minutes getting the case off of it without breaking any of the parts needed to keep it held together. Finally after taking it apart, getting it to work, and then dropping it and having to take it apart again, they finally got it fixed. We basically just used it for a DVD player when it was in the living room, so we told Monk that since he helped fix it, that he could put it in his room once it was clear of the the junk. I don't think I've ever seen him clean his room that fast!! Bug had a couple of neighbor girls spend the night and I went to bed early. Sam got everyone into bed around 11 and then fell asleep in the couch. Oops! 

If you want to take part in the P365, just head over to Sara's blog here and link up!

She wen and did it!

So, my older sister Kris finally joined the blogging world! If you want to check it out, she's here.
She told me it wasn't "fancy like mine," so I told her were to find free backgrounds. She's still playing around with it, but it looks pretty good!
Check her out, leave her some love, welcome her to the blogosphere! :-)

**Yeah... so I posted that via my phone and didn't realize that it was a screwed up link... Sorry about that!! It's fixed now and you should be able to visit no problem! :-D

This is me today

That is all...