Paisley is absolutely a little home body. There is no place she loves more than being home. I love that about her. The last time we were going to Rapid, she actually cried for the first 15 minutes in the car because she just wanted to stay home. This morning she came into our room as I was getting ready and crawled into my bed to watch TV. Jed was still in bed too, so I came around the corner and said, "Hey, that's not fair!" She quickly scooted over and said, "I'll make room! Is it a stay-at-home day for you, Mommy?"
Sadly, no. It's a go-to-work day for Mommy.
They get to stay home with Jed on Fridays and basically have free reign over the house since Jed is in the other house all day. It's becoming a favorite day I'm afraid.
Jayda is quite the opposite, she loves to go. I love that about her, too! She is always up for getting out of the house, but is getting smart enough to ask where exactly we will be going beforehand. She likes to know what she's getting herself into!
*Update on her school stuff. Her teacher sent home a set of flashcards last night :(
We are going to wear those babies out and get this taken care of! She told me that sometimes they have to spell words out loud in class and the kids sitting next to her will whisper the answers to her. She thinks they think she doesn't know how to spell it so they are trying to help her. Which is actually kind of sweet of them, but it's very frustrating for her. She does not like people to think she doesn't know something. So I'm going to talk with her teacher about it and see if we can help her out. The crazy thing it, she is actually a very good speller. I'm a little amazed sometimes how good she does with very little practice.
Thank goodness at this point the only thing Paisley is worried about at pre-school is what accessory she is going to wear. I'm not even joking. There is quite the competition between the girls in that class on who is the most fashionable. On any given day one of them may look like Mr.T, but they are workin it!
Friday, January 31, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Accidental mom
One of my very best friends from childhood and still today wrote a beautiful blog post on all the things she wants to be and do for her children. If you don't follow her, you should. She's pretty amazing.
http://roerandomness.blogspot.com/2014/01/not-resolution-but-my-hope.html?m=1
Her post was incredibly inspiring and also left me feeling incredibly inadequate! No offense intended, as I understand it was her sincere thoughts and goals of how she wants to improve her own mothering.
I just find myself feeling buried by the duties of motherhood about 98% of the time. The other 2% is around 8:30pm when the kids are in bed, sleeping! Am I alone here? I feel like I'm not helping Jayda enough with her school work, or spending enough time teaching either of them. Jayda isn't doing very good in math and her teacher has recommended she reads each night to improve her reading accuracy. But do you think I can figure out a way to make her find reading and math fun? Uh no. By the time I get supper on the table and the kitchen cleaned up, all I really want to do is crash on the couch and have just a moment (or an hour) of "doing nothing" time. Then I feel awful that she struggles with math, because her mom is too lazy to help her :(
Next year will be a whole new ball game when I have TWO in school. How will I keep up then? Two kids to supply weekly treats for. Two to keep up with homework on. Oy. This is EXACTLY why we do NOT need another child. I'm barely staying afloat as it is. AND I don't even know how to swim!!
Then of course there's the whole other aspect of mothering and playing the role of the nurturer. I know I fail at this daily, simply because I'm a bit of an unsympathetic person. It's not that I don't care. I care very much, I just have a very low tolerance for whining and self pity. Basically a "suck it up, sister" outlook on life in general. And I realize that this outlook doesn't always fit for parenting a child! Jayda came home last week from school and said she had a bad day. I asked her what happened and she said her "friend" was mean to her at recess and basically made her feel inferior because she is just a second grader and this friend is a third grader. Her words were pretty cruel and it immediately pissed me off. I easily go into defense mode when she is treated badly, and really wanted to spout off what Jayda should have replied to her. Except I'm glad she didn't! Instead I told her to remember how that made her feel, and to make sure she never treated someone like that (namely her little sister). I doubt the lesson will stick with her very long, but worth a try.
I know I fail them everyday, and honestly do not know how to be a better mother. As the title of the post states, I am completely an "accidental mother." Having children was never my life goal. I would not change anything for the world now that I have them, but I often feel not worthy of raising them.
I lose my patience too often, I yell too much. I fail to build them up and help them blossom. BUT, I want to do better. Each day I set out to do better. To make it through our morning drive without yelling at them, to make it home, without yelling at them! Anyone who has been in a car with kids, should understand how difficult this can be! Some days we make it, some days we don't! Some days we have to go to Lowe's with them and my urge to choke them escalates significantly. I have to give them credit for hanging in there with us throughout this whole house building process. It has not been easy on any of us. They have spent far to many hours in Menards and Lowes and carpet stores than I ever wanted to. They have spent countless weekends inside watching netflix and taking care of themselves, and dealing with the stress of everything this project has put upon their parents has been a side effect. We keep telling ourselves, in the end it will be worth it. And I sure hope it is!
http://roerandomness.blogspot.com/2014/01/not-resolution-but-my-hope.html?m=1
Her post was incredibly inspiring and also left me feeling incredibly inadequate! No offense intended, as I understand it was her sincere thoughts and goals of how she wants to improve her own mothering.
I just find myself feeling buried by the duties of motherhood about 98% of the time. The other 2% is around 8:30pm when the kids are in bed, sleeping! Am I alone here? I feel like I'm not helping Jayda enough with her school work, or spending enough time teaching either of them. Jayda isn't doing very good in math and her teacher has recommended she reads each night to improve her reading accuracy. But do you think I can figure out a way to make her find reading and math fun? Uh no. By the time I get supper on the table and the kitchen cleaned up, all I really want to do is crash on the couch and have just a moment (or an hour) of "doing nothing" time. Then I feel awful that she struggles with math, because her mom is too lazy to help her :(
Next year will be a whole new ball game when I have TWO in school. How will I keep up then? Two kids to supply weekly treats for. Two to keep up with homework on. Oy. This is EXACTLY why we do NOT need another child. I'm barely staying afloat as it is. AND I don't even know how to swim!!
Then of course there's the whole other aspect of mothering and playing the role of the nurturer. I know I fail at this daily, simply because I'm a bit of an unsympathetic person. It's not that I don't care. I care very much, I just have a very low tolerance for whining and self pity. Basically a "suck it up, sister" outlook on life in general. And I realize that this outlook doesn't always fit for parenting a child! Jayda came home last week from school and said she had a bad day. I asked her what happened and she said her "friend" was mean to her at recess and basically made her feel inferior because she is just a second grader and this friend is a third grader. Her words were pretty cruel and it immediately pissed me off. I easily go into defense mode when she is treated badly, and really wanted to spout off what Jayda should have replied to her. Except I'm glad she didn't! Instead I told her to remember how that made her feel, and to make sure she never treated someone like that (namely her little sister). I doubt the lesson will stick with her very long, but worth a try.
I know I fail them everyday, and honestly do not know how to be a better mother. As the title of the post states, I am completely an "accidental mother." Having children was never my life goal. I would not change anything for the world now that I have them, but I often feel not worthy of raising them.
I lose my patience too often, I yell too much. I fail to build them up and help them blossom. BUT, I want to do better. Each day I set out to do better. To make it through our morning drive without yelling at them, to make it home, without yelling at them! Anyone who has been in a car with kids, should understand how difficult this can be! Some days we make it, some days we don't! Some days we have to go to Lowe's with them and my urge to choke them escalates significantly. I have to give them credit for hanging in there with us throughout this whole house building process. It has not been easy on any of us. They have spent far to many hours in Menards and Lowes and carpet stores than I ever wanted to. They have spent countless weekends inside watching netflix and taking care of themselves, and dealing with the stress of everything this project has put upon their parents has been a side effect. We keep telling ourselves, in the end it will be worth it. And I sure hope it is!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Friends
A friend shared this article about weird things girls do and how funny it was that she and her friend do most of them.
/http://thoughtcatalog.com/christine-stockton/2013/12/weird-things-girls-do-when-theyre-alone-together/
So I gave the article a look and kept going down the list, No, No, No, don't do ANY of those things. It became more and more apparent that I don't spend much time with "friends" and a little glad, because....well..these things are just stupid. I guess if you're a 12 year old girl, or in high school, these might be things I would do. Maybe I am not the audience it was targeted towards. But the person who shared it, is my age, so I thought it should be relate-able. Nope.
I guess if anything, the article made me very glad that I have sisters. Built in friends that are always there. No matter how irritating or annoying they can be (kidding, mostly) they are always my go-to people. When I'm bored and want to chat, they are there. Well...except Taylor sucks at responding to texts unless she wants something. And thankful that we don't have to compare nipple size or texture. Really? People do that?
Maybe if I didn't have sisters I would have a larger base of "girl-friends" that I'm really close to. I've got Jed though, so that's close enough. And Lord knows I've got enough "girl" in my house with the wild women running throughout that I call Jayda and Paisley. Don't get me wrong, I think non-family friendships are certainly important and I'm thankful for my small group of lifelong friends that I have maintained over the years. But I've also experienced how those friendships can change and sadly deteriorate right in front of you.
In the past year I've had a friendship that has sort of felt like a rollercoaster. I've watched this person go from being independent to completely dependent on her new husband for every decision. Maybe it's a phase of young love, but not being able to eat lunch with me before talking it over with your hubs seems a bit much. We've also had to sort through the stages of living in the same small community and not necessarily associating with the same people. It's been a journey to say the least and I'm hoping in the long run we'll figure out our places in each others lives. Right now it feels like we are in two completely different phases of our lives, and that's ok. We remain friends and when we do actually get together, everything seems as it used to be. I'll continue to work on me and being the best version of myself and let things out of my control fall where they belong.
In the end, I have my little family and our happy place is with each other.
Monday, January 27, 2014
House update
Our weekends (and Jed's weeks) continue to revolve around finishing the house. Sometimes I sit inside it and think to myself...it's never going to be done. After spending an entire day staining and still not completely done with that small portion, it still seems so overwhelming.
Then I look back at our pictures and realize how far we've come. There's hope we may live inside it ....someday!
They have all the tongue and groove ceiling done, just need to finish it with trim. Now Jed is working on finishing plumbing to all the tubs and showers. Yesterday he opened the valve and turned the water on. That was kind of exciting to hear running water! Of course one of the hoses wasn't the right size for the toilet so he couldn't get that running quite yet. Man it will be nice to have a working toilet in there! Our heating/cooling system should be finished up this week. The installer (co-worker) promised he was coming out Tuesday AND Wednesday this week, so I'm going to hold him to it. And throw a pouty fit if he doesn't show up.
Below are some updated progress pictures
Left of the tile in bathroom before grout. Right picture with grout. This tile is in all the bathrooms.
This is the shower curtain I think I'll do in the upstairs bathroom for the girls. And Paisley's room will be in these colors also. The picture on the right is what I want to do in Jayda's room, with those colors and a turquoise accent wall.
These are the before and after of the ceiling.
And this is the ceiling steel we are going to put in the kitchen and bathrooms downstairs.
Then I look back at our pictures and realize how far we've come. There's hope we may live inside it ....someday!
They have all the tongue and groove ceiling done, just need to finish it with trim. Now Jed is working on finishing plumbing to all the tubs and showers. Yesterday he opened the valve and turned the water on. That was kind of exciting to hear running water! Of course one of the hoses wasn't the right size for the toilet so he couldn't get that running quite yet. Man it will be nice to have a working toilet in there! Our heating/cooling system should be finished up this week. The installer (co-worker) promised he was coming out Tuesday AND Wednesday this week, so I'm going to hold him to it. And throw a pouty fit if he doesn't show up.
Below are some updated progress pictures
Left of the tile in bathroom before grout. Right picture with grout. This tile is in all the bathrooms.
This is the shower curtain I think I'll do in the upstairs bathroom for the girls. And Paisley's room will be in these colors also. The picture on the right is what I want to do in Jayda's room, with those colors and a turquoise accent wall.
Wrong direction
Welp, the scale was not nice to me this morning and I was up a half pound. Dangit! Honestly I was afraid that was coming because I didn't give my eating 100% this past week. I ate way too many chips, but I just couldn't stop! I also ran out of my favorite soups so my lunch plans got thrown off.
But it's Monday, the beginning of a new week, and I'm stocked up on all my '"go to" foods and WILL make this week count. I've got my at work routine cleaned up, need to work on my at-home foods now. I've been guilty of shoving anything I can find in my mouth, the minute I get home and that's just not going to work! We ran out of lettuce last week too and didn't have a single salad ALL week. So that didn't help my efforts at all either. Got to have your greens and I simply did not get mine in. Really should think about going back to weekly meal planning. It really helps lay it all out in front of you and keeps our meals more balanced. We tend to eat beef every night and really should be eating more chicken and fish.
Goal for this week: stay on track with healthy foods and lose 2-3 pounds to get back on schedule!
But it's Monday, the beginning of a new week, and I'm stocked up on all my '"go to" foods and WILL make this week count. I've got my at work routine cleaned up, need to work on my at-home foods now. I've been guilty of shoving anything I can find in my mouth, the minute I get home and that's just not going to work! We ran out of lettuce last week too and didn't have a single salad ALL week. So that didn't help my efforts at all either. Got to have your greens and I simply did not get mine in. Really should think about going back to weekly meal planning. It really helps lay it all out in front of you and keeps our meals more balanced. We tend to eat beef every night and really should be eating more chicken and fish.
Goal for this week: stay on track with healthy foods and lose 2-3 pounds to get back on schedule!
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Smells like
Little people can be so gross. I considered putting this conversation on facebook, but decided against it. Couldn't handle the judgement. But you people love us, so you get to hear it!
Paisley scooted next to me on the couch and said, "I just washed my hands Mommy, because they smelled like butt fingers."
Me: Well maybe we should go take a bath so your butt doesn't smell like butt.
Paisley: Paused..... Naw, my butt is supposed to smell like butt!
We might be the on our own on this, but we call them butt fingers, because apparently sometimes they both dig in their butt, or go ahead and scratch whatever itches. The smell afterwards on their hands...not so rosey.
Note* We DID go take a bath :)
Paisley scooted next to me on the couch and said, "I just washed my hands Mommy, because they smelled like butt fingers."
Me: Well maybe we should go take a bath so your butt doesn't smell like butt.
Paisley: Paused..... Naw, my butt is supposed to smell like butt!
We might be the on our own on this, but we call them butt fingers, because apparently sometimes they both dig in their butt, or go ahead and scratch whatever itches. The smell afterwards on their hands...not so rosey.
Note* We DID go take a bath :)
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Weekend Recap
Jayda and Paisley survived a dentist checkup without any cavities! Yay!!! In true Paisley fashion, she came skipping out of her cleaning, smiling and laughing. She even exclaimed, "I love the dentist!" Jayda does not agree! She did OK and they were able to get x-rays and get her cleaning done, but there is no part of the process that she finds remotely enjoyable. She was relieved she didn't have any cavities though, and I think has figured out how important it is to take care of her teeth so we can avoid painful experiences. I'm just glad it's over and we made it out nearly tear-free.
Here are a few pictures from the weekend.
Here are a few pictures from the weekend.
Jayda and her friends at the Rush game
Paisley and I at the Rush game
Josie and I before the Lady Antebellum concert. Which by the way, was AWESOME!
Charity, Taylor, Josie and me again!
We had so much fun!
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
6 Pounds
I forgot that Monday morning I would wake up in a hotel room without a scale, so this week's weigh in comes on Tuesday! Much to my surprise I actually lost 1 pound! After a weekend of way to much McDonald's, I was fairly sure my scale was going to show me a dreaded number. I stuck with diet pop all weekend and opted for a salad over french fries when given the choice. Friday I only had an apple for lunch because I knew we were going to the pizza ranch for supper with the girl scouts. I loaded up on lettuce there and only had 1 piece of pizza. I did however indulge in the dessert pizza, because well...it's just so good! So Friday wasn't a fail I didn't feel like. Saturday I know I went over my point allowance. We had to pick Jayda up from her girl scout sleepover at 7:30 and both girls were hungry. Since we were staying with Taylor and she was still sleeping we went through the McDonald's drive through. Not our best choice, but it worked. Lunch was Wendy's chicken sandwich but I cut my portions in half and didn't get my usual Coke. We ate at Perkins Saturday night. I should have ordered a big salad, but really really wanted the chicken melt. So I did, but with a side salad instead of fries. Baby steps here...and I ate just a little over half of the sandwich.
Sunday we didn't have breakfast and hit McDonald's (again) for lunch. That ended up being my only meal for the day. We had intended to order pizza from the hotel before the Lady Antebellum concert, but time slipped away and it was go time. I think I have had my McDonald's fill for a while. Ack. Kind of makes me sick to think about how much we ate there.
Anyway, back to good, clean eating today. My morning spark and an apple, lunch was chicken noodle soup (progresso light) and supper will probably be a salad and chicken. One day at a time. My total is now at 6 pounds!
Sunday we didn't have breakfast and hit McDonald's (again) for lunch. That ended up being my only meal for the day. We had intended to order pizza from the hotel before the Lady Antebellum concert, but time slipped away and it was go time. I think I have had my McDonald's fill for a while. Ack. Kind of makes me sick to think about how much we ate there.
Anyway, back to good, clean eating today. My morning spark and an apple, lunch was chicken noodle soup (progresso light) and supper will probably be a salad and chicken. One day at a time. My total is now at 6 pounds!
Thursday, January 16, 2014
It matters
I was putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher last night and Jed got up from his chair and said, "yah, you look like you've lost 5 pounds." Awww. Thanks for noticing while I was bent over!
I'm continuing to do good on my eating and have been getting 30 minutes in on the treadmill 5 nights a week. I tried on a few pairs of jeans that had gotten tooooo tight last night, but they were still tooooo tight! Five more pounds and I'll try again! I'm drinking a ton of water during the day at work and go to the bathroom at least every 30 minutes!
Trying to hang in there and avoid pop as much as possible. I have not bought a single pop at work so I'm also saving some money! Barely any, but I'm not frantically digging in my purse for quarters anymore. I've thought about taking some "before-after" pictures but I have a strong fear of them being on my phone, and me losing my phone, or one of my kids playing on my phone and posting them accidentally for the world to see. So yeah, haven't gotten that far. People keep saying that you really should take weekly pictures in the same clothes, and I am always a sucker for before-after pictures of others. Might give it a try next week.
I know I've said this before, but I am SO SICK of people saying the number on the scale doesn't matter. The only people who say that are THIN people. So of course it doesn't matter to them anymore. But I can guarantee at some point, that dumb number did matter to them. And it will continue to matter to me. Yes, I completely believe that different body types look completely different while weighing the same amount, but an unhealthy weight IS an unhealthy weight. Period. Sure, if you lift weights and are ripped, you are going to weigh more, yet still be lean and small. We get it. Is the number on the scale the only thing that matters? No. Is it important? Yes. Does it define a person? No. Do I feel better when there are 30 less pounds hanging on my body...absolutely. OK, I'm good now, got that out of my system.
Catch you on weigh in Monday.
I'm continuing to do good on my eating and have been getting 30 minutes in on the treadmill 5 nights a week. I tried on a few pairs of jeans that had gotten tooooo tight last night, but they were still tooooo tight! Five more pounds and I'll try again! I'm drinking a ton of water during the day at work and go to the bathroom at least every 30 minutes!
Trying to hang in there and avoid pop as much as possible. I have not bought a single pop at work so I'm also saving some money! Barely any, but I'm not frantically digging in my purse for quarters anymore. I've thought about taking some "before-after" pictures but I have a strong fear of them being on my phone, and me losing my phone, or one of my kids playing on my phone and posting them accidentally for the world to see. So yeah, haven't gotten that far. People keep saying that you really should take weekly pictures in the same clothes, and I am always a sucker for before-after pictures of others. Might give it a try next week.
I know I've said this before, but I am SO SICK of people saying the number on the scale doesn't matter. The only people who say that are THIN people. So of course it doesn't matter to them anymore. But I can guarantee at some point, that dumb number did matter to them. And it will continue to matter to me. Yes, I completely believe that different body types look completely different while weighing the same amount, but an unhealthy weight IS an unhealthy weight. Period. Sure, if you lift weights and are ripped, you are going to weigh more, yet still be lean and small. We get it. Is the number on the scale the only thing that matters? No. Is it important? Yes. Does it define a person? No. Do I feel better when there are 30 less pounds hanging on my body...absolutely. OK, I'm good now, got that out of my system.
Catch you on weigh in Monday.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Everyday I'm Shovel'in
I can't remember if I mentioned that all Paisley really wanted for Christmas was a shovel and a bucket. She was referring to a shovel and bucket for the lake (wishful thinking) but since we live in South Dakota and it's WINTER, finding the sand type of tools was impossible. So we bought her a kids snow shovel and she seems just as content with that. She did mention that she WILL be taking it to the lake and how much better it will shovel than those little tiny ones! We were in the grocery store last night and her pre-school teacher from last year asked her and Jayda what they got for Christmas. Jayda listed off a few things and Paisley shouted out, "I GOT A SHOVEL!" with pure excitement! No one can believe that she truly wanted a shovel!
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Hair trials
Today I finally tried curling my hair with my flat iron, simply because it makes sense to only have one tool and it seemed like it would be quicker since I already have the flat iron out. I have seen it done by Mama Laughlin (a blogger) and she makes it look soooo easy! It definitely takes some practice I think and by the time I got the top section of my hair, my curls were starting to look a bit better. I don't feel like I had as much control over the direction and where the curl would lay, but it was time saving. Here is the link to her blog where she has a video tutorial. She does it in like 2 seconds, so don't feel bad if you "don't get it" right away!
If anyone is looking for great hair products, my favorite every day items are these two: Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum and Regis hair powder. The skinny serum makes my hair smooth and sleek and protects it against my flat iron. The hair powder is sprinkled on the crown of your head, before teasing. I've tried a few different brands and the Regis and the Osis Dust it brands are my favorite. I've tried a couple others and they don't blend in very well and you can see the white powder (ew). My favorite hair sprays are Osis Freeze Spray and Kenra spray, either level 20 or 25. They leave your hair shiny and do their job!
So there you go! A few of my fav's!
Here is my picture of my own curls! I ended up pulling it up in a loose pony, but I did get some good definition in the face framing curls. Call me crazy but I think I lost those 5 pounds in my face?
If anyone is looking for great hair products, my favorite every day items are these two: Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum and Regis hair powder. The skinny serum makes my hair smooth and sleek and protects it against my flat iron. The hair powder is sprinkled on the crown of your head, before teasing. I've tried a few different brands and the Regis and the Osis Dust it brands are my favorite. I've tried a couple others and they don't blend in very well and you can see the white powder (ew). My favorite hair sprays are Osis Freeze Spray and Kenra spray, either level 20 or 25. They leave your hair shiny and do their job!
So there you go! A few of my fav's!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Get over it!
Last week Jayda went to kid's club at a nearby church after school so just Paisley and I were in the car on the drive home. From the backseat comes the question, "Mom, how do you just get over something?" I then asked her what she meant and she said, "like if someone calls you a name or makes fun of you, how do you get over it?"
I was kind of giggling at this point, because she was genuinely interested in learning the magic of getting over something and she has clearly been told a time or two to do just that..get over it!
Bless her little heart for having the courage to figure out her world problems on her own! I told her that if someone is calling her names that she should tell them that hurts her feelings and give them a hug! She piped in, "and a kiss!" I said sure! A kiss too! I wasn't real sure how to answer her question. Conversations with a four year old can get interesting!
I was kind of giggling at this point, because she was genuinely interested in learning the magic of getting over something and she has clearly been told a time or two to do just that..get over it!
Bless her little heart for having the courage to figure out her world problems on her own! I told her that if someone is calling her names that she should tell them that hurts her feelings and give them a hug! She piped in, "and a kiss!" I said sure! A kiss too! I wasn't real sure how to answer her question. Conversations with a four year old can get interesting!
Week 2 Update
Guess what?!!! When I woke up this morning I was officially 5 pounds thinner than I was two Monday's ago! YAY!!!! I lost 2 pounds this past week, bringing my total to 5 so far! As you can imagine I'm pretty excited about this first, baby milestone. Sometimes week 2 doesn't go so swell and it's so discouraging to feel like you're losing momentum so soon in the game. I'm half way to my first, small goal of 10 pounds. Really would be great to get 5 more off by the end of January, but will continue to take it one day at a time.
This Friday we are going to a Rush game with the Girl Scouts, then I'll be in Rapid Saturday, Sunday and come home Monday after dentist appointments. I'm a little nervous about being away from my routine and healthy food choices for that many days. I'm going to do my best to make healthy choices and not give in to old habits. I had a Coke last night, my first Coke in 2 weeks, and man it was good! Most importantly, I didn't crack one open this morning and mixed up my spark. One coke every once in a while will not hurt anything, but 5 a week, WILL!
This Friday we are going to a Rush game with the Girl Scouts, then I'll be in Rapid Saturday, Sunday and come home Monday after dentist appointments. I'm a little nervous about being away from my routine and healthy food choices for that many days. I'm going to do my best to make healthy choices and not give in to old habits. I had a Coke last night, my first Coke in 2 weeks, and man it was good! Most importantly, I didn't crack one open this morning and mixed up my spark. One coke every once in a while will not hurt anything, but 5 a week, WILL!
Friday, January 10, 2014
House pictures
These are not the most exciting pictures to view, but I'm going to show you them anyway! First picture is Jayda's room with the sheetrock up.
Another of Jayda's room below. Her window faces the north side of the house.
This one is taken from inside Jayda's room and looking out her door, down the hallway upstairs. You can see the fun angles and tall walls we will get to decorate! (below)
Another of the upstairs hallway. The door to Paisley's room is on the left.
Middle door is their bathroom and end door is Jayda's room.
A view of the stairs and the front door.
I'm standing in the living room near the front door in this picture. L shaped kitchen is the sheetrocked area. Sink will be below that window. You can also see the door opening on the left for the walk in pantry.
The black door on the left is the door that comes into the house from the garage. The door on the right is the walk in pantry that is basically behind the kitchen wall that the stove will be on.
And most excitingly, the tile floor going in! The upstairs bathroom tile is all down. This is the master bathroom. The tub you see is a 6 foot jacuzzi tub! Can't wait to fire that up! Our double sink vanity will be on the left where you see the pipes coming out of the wall and a walk in shower is on the right. A toilet is between the shower and the tub (not seen). We also plan to put tile in the blue area above the tub. The doorway seen to the left of the tub is a half bath/laundry area.
And lastly, the view from outside! The roof has really changed over the winter and is very much more brown than galvanized color now. Which is what it was supposed to do!
Thursday, January 9, 2014
So close
I probably shouldn't leak this information quite yet, but I don't think my readers will spread the gossip. Last night we were told that our daycare is going to close at the end of the school year. Which sent me into a tailspin of brainstorming on my way home to think of where we would take them for the summer. I'm still not sure what we will do but I asked a teenager who lives about 10 miles away if she would be interested in "nannying" for us. I told her I'd want her to come to the house Monday through Friday. She said she would love to, but needed to talk with her parents first (1st sign of a responsible teenager!). She is a sophomore in high school and her older sisters had babysat for us previously from time to time. Hoping this option works out. It would be really fantastic to not have to haul them into town every day and Jayda is really "over" being at daycare with little kids all summer. I think they would have fun with her, so pray for us that this option works out!
Thankfully we are very close to being DONE with the daycare stage all together. I never thought the day would come!! I plan on having them ride the bus home next year after school so my daycare woes should be over by then!
I'm also getting very frustrated with Jayda's girl scout group. Their lack of leadership and organization is driving me crazy. I was just informed today that they are having a meeting tomorrow. Great! We don't have daycare on Friday's so it would be nice to know further in advance than one day. I'm thinking this might be her last year. We will see. Paisley will be old enough to be in it next year too, but I'm over the hassle. Get your $hit together or don't bother!
Jayda had her second violin lesson with the new teacher. She reported it went well and she's very excited to continue on.
One last little story from our car ride home a few nights ago....
Jayda was telling me that she is not doing very well in Math and they do this tests on the computer where they try to answer math problems before the computer does(timed exercise). She said their goal is to get 12 right before the computer beats them and the closest she's ever gotten was 11 and now the teacher was bumping up the goal to 14. I was telling her she would just have to keep trying and she would get better and she said, "Well I do get 11 quite a bit, but never 12." Then Paisley piped in, "Well Jayda, that's still berry good for you!"
It was too cute how she was trying to encourage her and build her up!
I don't think I've blogged about how every day when we drop Jayda off at school Paisley tells her, "bye-bye pumpkin pie!" Every-single-day! It's so adorable and gives Jayda a good giggle
Thankfully we are very close to being DONE with the daycare stage all together. I never thought the day would come!! I plan on having them ride the bus home next year after school so my daycare woes should be over by then!
I'm also getting very frustrated with Jayda's girl scout group. Their lack of leadership and organization is driving me crazy. I was just informed today that they are having a meeting tomorrow. Great! We don't have daycare on Friday's so it would be nice to know further in advance than one day. I'm thinking this might be her last year. We will see. Paisley will be old enough to be in it next year too, but I'm over the hassle. Get your $hit together or don't bother!
Jayda had her second violin lesson with the new teacher. She reported it went well and she's very excited to continue on.
One last little story from our car ride home a few nights ago....
Jayda was telling me that she is not doing very well in Math and they do this tests on the computer where they try to answer math problems before the computer does(timed exercise). She said their goal is to get 12 right before the computer beats them and the closest she's ever gotten was 11 and now the teacher was bumping up the goal to 14. I was telling her she would just have to keep trying and she would get better and she said, "Well I do get 11 quite a bit, but never 12." Then Paisley piped in, "Well Jayda, that's still berry good for you!"
It was too cute how she was trying to encourage her and build her up!
I don't think I've blogged about how every day when we drop Jayda off at school Paisley tells her, "bye-bye pumpkin pie!" Every-single-day! It's so adorable and gives Jayda a good giggle
Monday, January 6, 2014
House frustrations
I should know by now that anytime things start to get exciting and seem like something might move forward, that something will backfire instead and leave us at square one.
Last week I talked about the tape/texture guys coming this week to begin on that project. Well.....they came over on Thursday to look at the house and basically told Jed they didn't want the job! They didn't know how they would reach the walls in the living room (open vaulted area) and they didn't know how they would keep the logs clean. Uhhhh what? There was scaffolding in the living room already and a sheet of plastic should do the trick on keeping the logs protected. It was bizarre. Jed was pretty amazed at how ridiculous they were. His cousin Justin was there too and couldn't believe it! They are even from Belle Fourche, so it's not as though there aren't log homes down there. Soooo, back to finding someone to do that project. Hopefully we can find someone who can get up here within the month. I was really getting excited to paint!
Our heating/cooling system guy is going back to our house today. I had to put on my bitchy pants and tell them (here where I work :) that we needed the job done NOW. If they couldn't get to it, then they needed to find someone who could. Remarkably, that was on Friday and today he is on his way! I hate having to do that, but it seems to be the only way to get things done.
Another dilemma is what color of rock to put on the fireplace. I thought I had it figured out from the color samples in a pamphlet, so we went to Lemmon to order it and the real-life samples were WAY different. The one I liked best was awful! So I've been staring at pictures on their facebook page for 3 days, trying to pick. It's so hard to try to coordinate everything together when NOTHING is actually laid out in front of you.
Last week I talked about the tape/texture guys coming this week to begin on that project. Well.....they came over on Thursday to look at the house and basically told Jed they didn't want the job! They didn't know how they would reach the walls in the living room (open vaulted area) and they didn't know how they would keep the logs clean. Uhhhh what? There was scaffolding in the living room already and a sheet of plastic should do the trick on keeping the logs protected. It was bizarre. Jed was pretty amazed at how ridiculous they were. His cousin Justin was there too and couldn't believe it! They are even from Belle Fourche, so it's not as though there aren't log homes down there. Soooo, back to finding someone to do that project. Hopefully we can find someone who can get up here within the month. I was really getting excited to paint!
Our heating/cooling system guy is going back to our house today. I had to put on my bitchy pants and tell them (here where I work :) that we needed the job done NOW. If they couldn't get to it, then they needed to find someone who could. Remarkably, that was on Friday and today he is on his way! I hate having to do that, but it seems to be the only way to get things done.
Another dilemma is what color of rock to put on the fireplace. I thought I had it figured out from the color samples in a pamphlet, so we went to Lemmon to order it and the real-life samples were WAY different. The one I liked best was awful! So I've been staring at pictures on their facebook page for 3 days, trying to pick. It's so hard to try to coordinate everything together when NOTHING is actually laid out in front of you.
Week 1 Sucess
I could hardly wait to get today's blog post up! After one week of being on weight watchers again, I'm down three pounds! Yahoo! I couldn't be more thrilled with only one weeks worth of effort. My goal was to shoot for two pounds, so seeing three fall off was super exciting! Week two is now underway and I'm still aiming for two pounds this week, although I'd certainly be OK with three, but I know two is more realistic. I also remember the days of only seeing one pound come off each week and how miniscule that can seem. But one each week adds up and slowly, but surely we start hitting our goals. I'm also excited for this week because it WILL get me over the hump of losing a few/gaining a few and basically losing/gaining the same two or three pounds over and over again. Wish me luck!
So far I've just made small changes but substantial healthy ones, I guess I'd say. I've cut out my morning Coke for an entire week. This is HUGE for me! That Coke was basically all I looked forward to in the morning. I've replaced it with Spark and so far so good. Pop free for one week! I have had diet pop in the evening, so I guess I'm not completely pop free, but it's a start. I'm eating a lot of fruits EVERY DAY, all day, and having a salad almost every day at supper time. If I feel like I've ate heavy foods during the day, then a big salad at supper is all I will have. If I eat lighter during the day, then I eat the same food the rest of the family has. I've been adding a vegetable with every supper for the whole family's health too. For lunch last week I had Progresso soup 3 days. I like the light beef pot roast and the light chicken noodle/vegetable. The other days I had cereal and went out to eat one day (hit the soup and salad bar and a half of a grilled ham/cheese). Over the weekend I had Chinese, stuck to a tiny bit of rice with broccoli, chicken and mushrooms. I did cave and had a couple crab rangoons. That evening I wasn't very hungry so I had a salad. Sunday we had biscuits and gravy at 10:30 as a brunch/lunch, then didn't eat again until 5:00 and had light super nachos. I used beef instead of chicken and put the girls portion on chips. So as you can see, it's still very possible to eat the foods you like, it's just about balancing them. I saw a clip on the news last night about a guy who ate McDonald's for every meal for 90 days and actually lost 40 pounds. Which again proves, if you balance the right foods, you can still lose weight. It's all about choices.
Here is the link to that story. 90 days on McDonalds
So far I've just made small changes but substantial healthy ones, I guess I'd say. I've cut out my morning Coke for an entire week. This is HUGE for me! That Coke was basically all I looked forward to in the morning. I've replaced it with Spark and so far so good. Pop free for one week! I have had diet pop in the evening, so I guess I'm not completely pop free, but it's a start. I'm eating a lot of fruits EVERY DAY, all day, and having a salad almost every day at supper time. If I feel like I've ate heavy foods during the day, then a big salad at supper is all I will have. If I eat lighter during the day, then I eat the same food the rest of the family has. I've been adding a vegetable with every supper for the whole family's health too. For lunch last week I had Progresso soup 3 days. I like the light beef pot roast and the light chicken noodle/vegetable. The other days I had cereal and went out to eat one day (hit the soup and salad bar and a half of a grilled ham/cheese). Over the weekend I had Chinese, stuck to a tiny bit of rice with broccoli, chicken and mushrooms. I did cave and had a couple crab rangoons. That evening I wasn't very hungry so I had a salad. Sunday we had biscuits and gravy at 10:30 as a brunch/lunch, then didn't eat again until 5:00 and had light super nachos. I used beef instead of chicken and put the girls portion on chips. So as you can see, it's still very possible to eat the foods you like, it's just about balancing them. I saw a clip on the news last night about a guy who ate McDonald's for every meal for 90 days and actually lost 40 pounds. Which again proves, if you balance the right foods, you can still lose weight. It's all about choices.
Here is the link to that story. 90 days on McDonalds
Friday, January 3, 2014
Making Music
I'm happy to report that Jayda had her first lesson with a different violin teacher today and it went very well! Such a better fit and I'm re-excited for her! I stayed for the duration of this lesson, just to get a feel for things and it was 100% more fun, less demeaning and Yay! When we left and got out to the car, Jayda said..."That was FUN, Mom!"
What a relief.
And as an added bonus, she will go to her lesson on Monday's immediately after school and I'll pick her up when I get off work. So much easier. I feel like it's late enough when we get home (and dark enough) that staying in town an extra 45 minutes to an hour was really not working for us. Both Paisley and Jayda are always super hungry as soon as we get home on a normal day as it was.
I found some of her teacher's work at this link http://www.reverbnation.com/elizablue
And if you're bored you can look her up on youtube.com and search for Eliza Blue. Super talented, neat person! She's very unique and original in a refreshing way.
What a relief.
And as an added bonus, she will go to her lesson on Monday's immediately after school and I'll pick her up when I get off work. So much easier. I feel like it's late enough when we get home (and dark enough) that staying in town an extra 45 minutes to an hour was really not working for us. Both Paisley and Jayda are always super hungry as soon as we get home on a normal day as it was.
I found some of her teacher's work at this link http://www.reverbnation.com/elizablue
And if you're bored you can look her up on youtube.com and search for Eliza Blue. Super talented, neat person! She's very unique and original in a refreshing way.
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