I Wish Someone Else Took Pictures At My House...

'Cause you sure would have gotten a treat tonight. I was soaked, dirty, tired and wrastling with 4x4's in the rain this morning.

But let me start at the beginning. Daddy took Friday through Monday off work with the grand idea that he could install our entire privacy fence in that time. Do you see where I am going with this? Oh, and the boys really wanted to help. They even got their own work gloves.Well, with some help from his brother, Michael and friend, Jim (this was one of their short breaks)Friday he got a bunch of the posts cemented in, Saturday got panels up on two sides of the yard, and by Sunday night was still only halfway done cementing the third side. Here is before and after on the back. It looks so great.
And here is that nasty third side. The ground slopes so it has been difficult lining up the posts, plus the people who installed the original cut the old posts off at the ground rather than remove them so we had to dig some of those out.
Then when things seem to be going well, we hit a rock the size of a mountain. This sucker took a couple hours to get out.After that, it was pretty much the end of the day, and the end of Daddy's extra helpers. We decided that rather than have my planning time at school this morning I would stay home and help try to get this done. Of course it started raining the exact minute we started working, rained for a solid 3 hours, then quit when we stopped for lunch. We had piles of dirt all around the yard which turned into piles of mud that I kept slipping in. My gloves got so soaked that I had to wring them out. But I am very proud of myself. The panels you see in this next picture I installed.
And these are some of the old posts that I literally yanked from the ground with my own hands.

The boys? This is how they stayed busy Saturday afternoon. "Helping" got real boring after a while.

So, yeah, I wish someone would have taken a picture of me wet and filthy so I could have a memento of my contribution to this project, but I just have to satisfy myself with writing about it and taking pictures of everyone else.

Today's Workout

Tae bo II Advanced, 57 minutes, 624 calories

Good workout.

Update coming on the fence. Suffice it to say for now that it has been a looong weekend.

Today's Workout

Tae bo Amped Core Express and Live in LA, 50 minutes, 509 calories

Total for week, 246 minutes, 2375 calories

Last week, 267 minutes, 2589 calories
2 weeks ago: 240 minutes, 2372 calories
23 weeks ago: 175 minutes, 1915 calories

Today's Workout

Tae bo Energy, 40 minutes, 317 calories
It was boooring. Not doing that one again.

Total for week, 196 minutes, 1866 calories

Life Is Good

Nothing really exciting going on, just been feeling like things are going well in many areas or our life right now:
*Ben has shown dramatic improvement in attitude and anger the last few weeks. All of his teachers report that he is doing really well and I have witnessed some great moments, like interacting with unfamiliar people and being purposefully nice to his Daddy and friends.
*We've gotten back into our routine which I apparently was really missing. I just feel so calm when I know whats happening next and what to expect of myself. I get up at the same time every day, go to bed at the same time, workout, watch some new shows, do a small amount of housework, read with the kids, read by myself,...it's just great. Sounds boring, but it is all I want out of life.
*Speaking of working out, I've been a beast on that front. I'm getting stronger and more confident, even though the scale isn't being my friend yet. With as much as I've been doing, there should be some results any day now.
*I finished reading the book of Matthew in the Bible last night and now will be going on to Proverbs, per Jacque's recomendation. I don't think I understand it all, but it is giving me a sense of peace to be doing something productive in that area.
*Daddy has been working hard at getting our new privacy fence installed. There is something about seeing your man work hard to improve your home that is just heartwarming.
*The only negative going on right now is the lack of a paycheck. I finally get my first paycheck next week, pretty much been broke since August. I try not to stress about it too much, I know it will be fine, but I'd sure like to have some money in the bank right about now.

*Oh, and Joey's pigeon died. Apparently we bought a sick bird and we couldn't make him well. Joey is not too traumatized, which is good since this will happen again (and again) with all the birds we will have.

Today's Workout

Tae bo Rockin Buns, 43 minutes, 416 calories

Total for week, 156 minutes, 1549 calories

Getting ready to watch Biggest Loser now.

Today's Workout

Tae bo Amped Full Throttle, 55 minutes, 600 calories

Total for week, 133 minutes, 1133 calories

Faith

I have been really thinking about my faith lately and what my beliefs are, what it means to me and my family, and what I can do about it. It really started when I got this job at a Christian preschool. Although I've gone to church (off and on at times) all my life, I don't feel like I was really applying the message. Then I started working with one of the most faithful (without being pushy) women I've met, Carol. Then Carol was dying and the faith that her family showed was truly an inspiration.
Yesterday our Pastor gave a sermon on understanding and studying God's word. He asked those of us who were willing to commit to reading the bible to stand up so he could pray over us. I decided that this is the time to learn more and I stood up. Last night I pulled out my confirmation bible and decided to start with the Gospel of Matthew. I'm easing my way in, since the Gospels are pretty familiar to me. The one verse I read that made me think was "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one."Matthew 5.33-37
So, why do we swear on a Bible in court still? Why did we ever? This goes against the whole idea. It kind of makes me think of all the things we hear that don't actually come from the Bible, that aren't actually His Word. I have some reading to do.

After I'm done with those, I'm going to find a "read the whole Bible" study guide. I'm sure there is something like that out there. Or I'll just go back to the beginning and work my way through it. I don't know. But I shall be reading the entire Bible in the next few months. Join me if you wish.

Today's Workouts

2.25 mile walk with the boys in honor of matt, liz, and madeline. 50 minutes, 225 calories

Jillian 30 day shred, 28 minutes, 308 calories

Today's Workout

Biggest Loser, 60 minutes, 532 calories

Week total, 267 minutes, 2589 calories

Last week: 240 minutes, 2372 calories

2 weeks ago: 175 minutes, 1915 calories

Lots To Share

First of all to my scrappin' girls: Hooby Lobby ad for Sunday has many things 50% off including stamps, paper and embellishments.


Second I have some before pictures of our fence and pigeon loft remodel:
This is inside the back of the garage, where the loft will be.

This is outside the back of the garage. Daddy just put up the gutter. He also plans to replace the bottom of the siding and put windows in.
The fence is going to be 6 foot wood privacy fence. Right now he's working on digging up tree roots and old fence posts.
These are some of those heavy panels I carried the other day.
Ben really loves helping his Daddy. He fetched the pieces for the gutter in between playing in the loft area.

Third: You should be so proud of me. Yesterday I had an irate parent and I handled it so calmly and professionally. I was able to calm her down without getting defensive or upset. I was so awesome.

Fourth: I wanted to document the boys prayers. Tonight they were thankful for friends, food, walls, beds, stars, toys, stores (Ben); movies, Mrs Johnson (we still think about her alot), bats (apparently they eat bugs), Jesus and God, and please help Jesus' birthday come soon (Joey).

Fifth: I haven't done a gratitude list lately. I am thankful for good friends, Billy Blanks, cereal, string cheese, my husband's hard work, the new season of television, inter-library loan, part-time jobs, Johnny Appleseed, cooler weather, hugs and kisses.

Sixth: Joey has been writing again. I just found a piece of paper that says "I love my mom." His favorite ice cream is vunlu (vanilla), show is chootr (chowder), and suoprman. He has also read almost an entire Junie B Jones book over the last 3 nights. He got his first progress report today: all satisfactories, and the teacher said he is a hard worker and listens well. He warms my heart.

I think that's all for now. Have a good weekend.

Today's Workout

Tae bo Total Body Fat Blast, 52 minutes, 560 calories

Total for week 207 minutes, 2057 calories

Had a migraine all day, but recovered to work out :)

Down 3 pounds this week, but still not caught up.

Asthma Attack

My nail polish remover was sitting on the end table today (yes, my house is a mess). Ben saw it and asked "is that to give bugs asthma attacks?"
"No, it's for my nails. Why?"
"Well, we need to give bugs bad food so dey have asthma attacks and dey don't know where de doctow is so dey get dead."
"Why do we want them dead?"
"Cause we don't like bugs. Not spidews or bees or beetows, or odo (other- I can't figure out how to write it) spidows, or ....."

So funny.

Today's Workout

Biggest Loser Power Sculpt (in honor of my show starting back up last night), 53 minutes, 505 calories

Total for week, 155 minutes, 1497 calories

I'm seeing muscle again.

Real Busy Again

Last night I went to bed completely exhausted. First, we had Ben's field trip to the Apple Orchard. Since I am staff as well as mom, I did more helping than enjoying. It was good, though, because I got to visit with some of my former students and parents. Then after dropping Ben off at his second school I got to come home and do manual labor. First we had to unload the trailer from last week of floor panels- you should have seen me staggering around the yard. Then we had to return to Menards to load the cement, 4x4's, and fence panels. 20 50lb bags of sand and 20 4x4's. My arms wanted to fall off. We were still finishing up when it was time to go pick up the kids so I ran for them and came back. We all came home and shoved the trailor into the garage so Daddy could go to work. I came in and washed dishes, cooked dinner, straightened up in hopes of finding my keys (they've been missing since Saturday- they seem to be nowhere, and the boys are too big to have hidden them from me.) Then it was time for Joey's first Tiger Scout meeting. Dropped him off with Daddy while Ben and I ran to the grocery store for milk (ran out again) and to the library (I have a bunch of books to read right now!). Picked Joey up, came home, showers for the boys, bedtime stories, into bed. I also had to get publicity done for my genealogy society, then I was hoping for a few minutes of reading. I think I managed about 10 minutes before I closed my eyes for the night.
Ok that doesn't really sound like that much. You'll have to trust me that I had a really busy day yesterday:)

Today's Workout

Tae bo Rockin Abs + Elliptical, 46 minutes, 403 calories

Total for week, 102 min, 992 calories

Today's Workout

Tae bo Amped Full Throttle, 56 minutes, 589 calories

Yes, I am actually up 2 pounds. Grrr.

Seriously. Grrr.

Today's Workout

Tae bo Fat Burning Blast, 53 minutes, 564 calories

Total for week: 240 minutes, 2372 calories

Last week: 175 minutes, 1915 calories

Our Newest Venture

When my dear husband was young (before we met), he raised and raced homing pigeons for a time. He has always recalled that time with fondness and I should have known that this was bound to happen. A few months ago his friend who has quite a managerie at his house brought home some pigeons. The more hubby visited the birds, the more convinced he became that he really wanted to get back into it. He finally asked for my approval to build a loft in the back of the garage a couple weeks ago, yesterday we spent 4 hours at Menards getting all the building supplies (plus we're re-doing the privacy fence in the backyard), and this morning we went to a "small animal swap meet" in Freeport. I never knew. There were all kinds of birds, rabbits, geese (why not just stop on the side of the road?), ducks, swans, kittens, llamas, etc., and supplies. Of course, we are not ready to actually have pigeons yet, but of course we bought two. These ones are not to race, but for Joey and Ben to call their own and be involved. The black and white is Ben's called Sammy, and the red and white is Joey's called Jo-Jo. I'm sure there will be many adventures to report in this whole process of building, breeding and racing. Stay tuned for the mishaps.

Today's Workouts

Tae bo Sculpt Express, 45 minutes, 425 calories
Mowed the lawn, 15 minutes, 75 calories

Total for week, 187 minutes, 1808 calories

Ate a piece of ice cream cake before I worked out:(
But at least I still got up:)

Today's Workout

Tae bo Rockin Buns, 48 min, 515 calories

Total for week, 127 min, 1308 calories

A Lesson In Rudeness

Is it not considered rude to tell someone that they are rude? Or gang up on them in front of complete strangers? It just baffles me when I run into people who feel "entitled" to respect from others but don't give it. And those store cashiers are people, too. They are not getting paid extra for people to yell at them.
Here's the story: I was in line at Target and the woman in front of me had some shorts which she thought should have been clearance. Anyone who shops at Target knows that their clearance has red tags, but apparently she didn't care. She pointed out the rack that she got them from to the cashier and then to the manager. The manager walked over to the rack, came back and told her that the clearance sign is on the back of the rack and the shorts are clearly marked $8.99. I was relieved because, really, I had been in line for a while and wanted to check out. All of a sudden this lady is yelling at the manager that she is rude. The manager apologized, several times, saying that she didn't intend to be, she just was trying to let her know that the shorts were not on clearance. As I'm gaping at this woman, another woman from another line started lecturing the manager as well. Oh. My. Please control your mouth if you have nothing nice to say. So the poor manager eventually walked away with a very red face, and the poor cashier had to complete the sale while these two ladies just ranted and raved. I have been treated badly many times by those customers who are always right, and it never gets easier or less embarrassing. We all say things that perhaps come out the wrong way. Just because we are employees does not mean we have to be called on it out in public. I find myself smiling in commiseration with cashiers frequently, and it just gets worse and worse.....
Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox now. I realize I was ranting and raving there.
Just please, please, remember that cashiers are people, too, and we all deserve respect.

Today's Workout

Elliptical, 30 minutes, 260 calories.

Week total 79 min, 793 calories

Portrait Session

With the beautiful weather today, and since I didn't get any good pictures of Ben on his birthday, I decided to drag the boys out for a photo shoot in the front yard. Here are some of my pictures after I played with them on Piknic:

Funny Conversation

Conversation we just had:

Daddy: Who wants to go to Home Depot?

Boys: Me!

Mommy: It's too close to bedtime, and Daddy likes to wander around. Let's watch tv for a few minutes instead.
(Mommy leaves the room for a minute)

Ben: Let's blow up ballons and put them in our beds so Mommy will think we're in our beds when we go to Home Depot!

Mommy and Daddy: (Falling on the floor laughing)

PS: Guess who's at Home Depot right now, too close to bedtime? (How can we resist?)

Today's Workout

Tae-bo Fat Blasting Cardio, 49 minutes, 533 calories

Still going strong

Goodbye To One Commitment

So here's a little bit of what's been going on in my head:
Last February I discovered an awesome company called Once Upon A Family. I thought it was so awesome that I decided very quickly to become a consultant and start selling their products. Even though I've never sold anything in my life and am not very good in new stiuations, etc, etc. There were lots of reasons for it not to work out, but I really believed in the product so I took a chance. Eighteen months later I have to say that it was a good decision. I had to step outside my comfort zone and do some very new and big things like public speaking and I will never go back to being that girl who couldn't talk to people. Unfortunately, I'm still not much of a salesperson. The only time I made decent sales, the effort was way more than the payoff. Now I haven't had a sale in several months, and if I don't have $300 in by the end of this month I lose my consultant status. So...if there is anything you would like to order, now is the time. I have so much else going on right now that I think I am going to let this go. Visit my website and check out our new products and September specials, then let me know if you need anything. Many thanks to my girls who did support me in those first months when I was trying to get started.

PS: I will give you my cost for anything you order, generally 20% off.

Today's Workouts

Tae-bo Total Body Fat Blast, 54 minutes, 580 calories

Total for week, 175 minutes, 1915 calories

Is that a pound yet?

Happy Birthday Ben!

My baby is four years old today. I know this is a worn out line, but wasn't it just yesterday that we went into the hospital to have him? Then he was a happy-go-lucky baby, a busy toddler, a feisty 2 and 3 year old. What is in store for us next? I really feel that school is doing him worlds of good (I just hope I don't suddenly find out that he has been awful there) and he is really starting to go places. He learned to snap the other day simply because his brother could do it. Now I wonder if he'll just start reading because he sees Joey doing it. Daddy's coming home for half an hour this evening so we can have cake on his birthday, but first we're going to Sapora Playworld and then the favorite McDonalds for dinner. He got a remote control dinosaur and a view-master projector from us, and various what-nots from grandma so far.

I have more to talk about, but saving it for a separate post- stay tuned for more details:)

Today's Workouts

Biggest Loser Workout, 55 minutes, ~600 calories (I accidently stopped the stupid heart rate monitor and lost my total)

Total for week- 121 minutes, 1335 calories


(In case you are starting to think I am insane or starting out too fast, I am taking tomorrow off. And I feel pretty good but real sore today. And I stepped on the scale which gave me great motivation. I'm not telling how much I had already gained back, I'll just let you know when I'm back to where I was.)

Today's Workouts

Tae bo Rockin Abs, 40 minutes, 422 calories

Total for week, 66 minutes, 735 calories

1st Day Recap

The first day went really well. We had only two upset parents because they didn't have the physical that they had all summer to get so their baby couldn't start. One crying 3-year old in each class, but they both stopped in the first 10 minutes. A couple of kids who I can tell are going to be quite the handful. And mostly just a great group of adorable kids. We are going to have so much fun this year.
Daddy and Grandma managed to get Ben onto the bus this morning, and Daddy was able to pick up both boys with no mishaps (it was not a sure thing). Then Daddy walked out the door to go to work as soon as I walked in. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be a little hard because we won't see each other at all, but the other days we'll have a couple hours in the afternoon while both kids are at school. We have plans tomorrow afternoon to go shopping for Ben's birthday present. Poor Ben. I will never have another child with a September birthday. I have been so busy getting ready for school to start and getting all of us in a routine that I haven't even thought about what we're doing for his special day. And Daddy and Joey are going camping for the whole weekend so we won't be able to do anything then. Oh well, at least he gets to celebrate at school, twice, unlike Joey and I.

Today's Workouts!

I managed to get my butt up and work out today for the first time in... well, let's just say a while. So I'm going to do like Sardonic Catholic Dad (on a much smaller scale) and hold myself accountable on my blog.

Today: 26 minutes, 313 calories, Jillian Michaels Cardio Kickbox

Woo Hoo