But there's NOTHING to do there!!!!

These are the words I heard on MORE THAN ONE occasion from MORE THAN ONE mouth. OK, I get that our house is the "hang out" house. We splurged on a nice BIG TV a little while back. We have more Wii games than almost anyone I know, and low and behold..I cook during the day generally. So that means EVERY ONE of my children's cronies comes HERE to hang out!!! Well, today that was NOT cool! Not cool, at all!!!


Today ice came to Dallas. Yeah, yeah, everyone living up North is calling us a bunch of pussies. Well, we're warm weather people here, we DON'T know how to drive in this shit (but some of us THINK we can!!!) Schools across the metroplex shut down (ours called us at 5:30AM to let us know by recorded message that there would be no school today), people that could work from home worked from home, the local news had a reason to stay on through the ENTIRE FOUR hours of the Today Show! (Bastards! I wanted to see Matt, Al, Ann, and Meredith, not four cars stuck on an overpass for 2 hours!!!) Yeah, Texas pretty much shuts down when ice comes to town.
So my husband was one of those that opted to work from home. And I use the term work loosely here. Because on more than one occasion there were screaming matches between myself, the kids and him on who was allowed in the house and why. My son's BFF came over first thing this morning to "play". They usually get WAY too loud when they play. Josh cranks up the surround sound and no one in a 3 block radius can concentrate because of the sounds of Rock Band blaring from our home. Then my daughter gets going and wants to play Boogie on the Wii. To which my husband tells the boys to play with her and QUIETLY!! This is after I've already lectured both sets of children about LEAVING DADDY ALONE, HE'S WORKING.
So after all this, and arguing that I refuse to FEED the masses when we're TRYING to watch our expenses around here, I tell the boys to go over to BFF's house. "Nut there's nothing to do over there!!" I heard this from BOTH boys!! WTF?!?! So I countered with..."OK, so let me get this straight, BFF has a Wii and an xBox...WE have a Wii and xBox...BFF has a big screen TV, as do we. And yet there's PLENTY to do around here, but NOTHING to do over there?!?! Ummm..No! not buyin' it!!" They'd already tried to tell me that BFF's parents had to go to work today, then it was BFF's parents are still in bed. So I argued that by noon they are OUT of bed! GO OVER THERE!! When they tried to get away with saying that BFF only has one guitar for Guitar Hero I told them to take our oldest one and GO!! So the boys leave, all is well again. Hubby can concentrate and I can Wii Fit FINALLY.
Then the girl lets TWO of her friends in, and the chaos begins again!! "Why can't you go to their houses?" And their response? You guessed it..."But there's NOTHING to do there!!!" OMG!!! I'm about to start spitting pea soup!! So I finally ended the tirade of BOTH children (the boys had spent ALL MORNING over here and came back after AN HOUR over at BFF's). I told everyone to go home and made my spawn clean the house. This was met with the usual groans, but they knew not to fight me or I'd open the door to the dungeon (aka office) and let out the fire-breathing dragon (aka Hubby) to rain down on them HIS wrath!!
So when the dragon emerged, laundry was cycling, the kitchen was clean, dog poop was picked up, and order seemed to be restored. So tonight I decided to end the day with a little Rock Band. The Hubby and I first played (me on drums, he on guitar) then it was Hubby (lead guitar), Me (vocals), and the girl (bass guitar). Right now Hubby and the kids are the game room watching a Ken Burns documentary entitled The War and I snuck off to check email and write a quick post. I'll leave you with a picture of me singing. The boy took the picture.

In the spirit of honesty

So I've received this lovely award recently, and from TWO people mind you. I'm a little slow on getting it up here though. Sorry gals!! Most recently it was from Annie at Cookies, Chaos, & Conversation. apparently some of you people deem me as honest, and I'll take that! hehe I TRY to be at least. So here's 7 things about myself that are 100% honest.

1. I just today learned how our investment accounts work (before today I didn't think I needed to care, so I didn't).
2. I am frustrated with the fact that no one will hire me to do office work, even though I know I'd KICK ASS at it.
3. I love being 34 and feeling like I've REALLY lived my life!
4. I eat out way too much.
5. I shop alone because I don't want most of my friends to know my real sizes.
6. I'm scared of what the immediate future holds for my little family.
7. I hate to clean.
8. I obsess about my movies being in alphabetical order.

And now I'm going to share something with you all that I hope you'll find funny. YEARS and YEARS ago I was a dating woman, OK a girl. I was 15 yrs old and had a date with a guy named James. I'll keep his last name a secret to protect the guy. He picked me up and we went out to a movie (I think). He drove a VW bug so quarters were DEFINITELY tight. After the show he asked if I wanted to go "drive around". I agreed.
Now at this point I think "drive around" is guy code for let's go find some quiet spot to sit and make out. Cool!! This guy's gonna make a move. MAN am I gonna have something to tell my BFF about on Monday!! Nope, to him, drive around mean....drive around. I kept waiting and trying to play it cool when we'd turn off onto some quiet street in the near country. Nah, he was just drivin. what I wouldn't have given for a cell phone then to have a friend call with some "emergency" that I HAD to head back for!!!
But before we did that he needed to "check in at home". Oh, that's cool. Little did I know what this REALLY meant!!! So we pull up to the house, he goes inside and I wait in the car, as previously asked. Then he comes outside, in a much more sneaky manner, and asks me to get out of the car. Oh cool! I get to meet your parents and grandmother? No ma'am! He didn't get approval to stay out any more and didn't tell them his DATE WAS IN THE CAR, so we need to sneak away from the house. OK, VW's are not known for being the QUIETEST vehicles in existence. And this one was no exception. So here I am, all gussied up in my chic lace-up flat boots, tight jeans that I could barely breathe in, and a bright (nearly florescent) pink shirt, hair perfectly coiffed...helping PUSH HIS FREAKIN CAR!!! We bushed that SOB a block and a half away (so we were out of ear shot) and then he started it up and we were on our way..to drive around some more.
About an hour and a half into "driving"...YES AN HOUR AND A HALF!!!!...we stopped for some drinks...at 7-11. He got a Big Gulp and I got a piece of candy and a small Dr. Pepper. No, for those of you who've ever ridden in a 70s VW bug you know that there's not a lot of options for drink placement. So he held his in his lap/against the steering wheel. Well, at some point something happened and he quickly grasped his cup...styrofoam cup. Oh hells yeah!! ALL over his lap it spilled!!! He pulls over to the side of the road (we're still "driving around") and gets out. I'm about to wet myself I'm holding in so much laughter!!! But I'm trying to be a lady and not simply scream "TAKE ME HOME NOW FUCKER, this is NOT a good date!!" He's outside of the car, Coke dripping from his crotch, cussing up a blue streak!!! Upon his speedy departure from the car, I turn my head towards my window and giggle softly while wiping tears from my eyes. He gets back in and having had plenty of notice by the growing sound of his approaching anger I had ample time to pull it back together myself.
I guess at this point the driving around bit had lost its thrill for him and he chose at this point to take me back home. He refused to get out of the car and walk me to the door, as his acid washed jeans looked like he'd had a horrible accident and couldn't control his-self. So I hugged him inside the car (did I mention I'd yet to have been kissed by ANY boys) and he gave me a soft peck on the cheek (TOTALLY doesn't count!). I walked up to the door, and asked if I could bring him a towel or something. When I opened the front door my mother was sitting in the living room watching TV. she looked rather puzzled as I doubled over behind the closed door and laughed uncontrollably!! I shared the story with her and when my father overheard the story he felt sorry for the guy.
But I did wonder how he got the car back in his own driveway without making any noise. Hmmm, guess it sucks to live on an uphill one-way street now. HA!

The Rockinest Part EVER!!!!

So last night my GIRLZ showed up for my party, well those that could make it..and we ROCKED OUT until 6:00 THIS MORNING!!! Yep it was a 10 hr par-tay!! Here's some of my favorite pics from the night!

Blowing out my candles

Strikin' a ROCKIN' pose!!

Yeah, we're cool...hahahahaha!

My BFF Lacey jammin to Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer"

I got up around 10am this morning and have been up ever since. I still need to do my Wii Fit for today, I have yet to miss a single day all week. So even given last nights FABULOUS times, I'm going to stick with it!!!

Throw yer' hands up...Itz ma birthday!!!

HAHA!!! Ok, so technically tomorrow the 24th is my official birthday, but I'm having my party tonight. And check out the SWEET cake I made!!

I made the whole freakin' thing!!! The bottom layer is Funfetti cake, middle and top are Chocolate, and there's homemade buttercream icing in the cake too!! Yummm!!! I used fondant to decorate it and even make the cool shoe on top!! Its my own little replica of the Manolo Blahnik shoe from the movie Sex and the City that Carrie had in the AWESOME closet!! Here's a little better shot of the shoe (along with a shot of the actual shoe). and YES there's 34 candles on it!


For my party I've invited some of my dearest friends over for cocktails and movies. Of course, we're watching Sex and the City (pre-planned that one) and having at least one Cosmopolitan! I've even gotten everyone little "swag bags" (aka..grown up goodie bags). But no need to worry, most of the stuff is incredibly cheap and childish...hehe...but I threw in some Slumber Parties swag that I had lying around too. Can't wait to see who gets the anal beads!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

So I'm off to finish cleaning up around the house and get dressed for the festivities! Can't wait! Wish EVERYONE of you guys could be here too! MAN what a party THAT would be!!!

Biggest Loser

LAst night I was watching (1/2 way paying attention) to NBC's The Biggest Loser. A few years back while perusing my local Wal-mart I happened upon a book published from the show. I've had it sitting around the house for some time and last night really sat down and read through much of it.

Twenty-two pages into this publishment I happened upon a questionaire. I'm going to share these answers with you, and challenge those of you out there to take some time out of your busy day and answer them for yourself. Start a journal and write them down, or simply add them to a blog and use your blog to track (this is what I plan on doing).

From Reasons to Resolutions:

Like the cast members of The Biggest Loser, you too may have some deeply personal reasons for losing weight. But how strong is the resolve behind those reasons to actually lose weight and get in shape? To turn those reasons into heartfelt resolutions and achievable goals, answer the following questions.

Why do you want to lose weight?List the most important reasons you can think of -- for example, to look better, have more energy, be able to play sports, be more self-confident, improve specific aspects of your health, and so forth.

• To look sexier
• To not feel out of breath walking up stairs
• To be a better mom and wife
• To gain a better sense of self
• To not feel judged
• To WANT to be in more pictures of my family
  

Next take each of thse reasons and reflect upon how your life will improve if you address them. For example: How will looking betterbenefit you? With more energy, what will you do that you are not doing now? How will you feel if you do all these things?

Being in better shape and not constantly being out of breathh, I will feel better about my overall health and life. I will feel more competitive in the job market. I'll be able to go into my closet, grab anything, and feel great with the way I look and feel.

Finally, set some weekly, doable goals for yourself to help you move forward in a positive manner. Depending on what you wrote above, as yourself such questions as:

What can I do this week to improve my appearance?

Shower and get dressed every day, go out of the house and take pictures.

What can I do this week to increase my energy?

I can go to bed at a reasonable hour, wake up and get out of bed before 7:00am, eat a healthy breakfast and attack my day.

What sports, exercise, or other physical activities can I do this week to improve my fitness? When and how often will I do it?

Every morning get up on the first call and work out for no less than 40 minutes. Do a combination of cardio and stretching (Wii Fit, treadmill, Yoga, Strip Aerobics...mix it up and do Wii Fit daily as well as some other activity).

What can I do this week to boost my self-confidence?

Smile

What actions will I take this week to improve my health?

I will not eat any more than THREE servings of "junk" food.

***********************************************************************
There are several "daily affirmations" listed in the pages that follow. I believe I'll use my copier at home and copy this page, cut out the affirmations, and make them into stickers (I have a Xyron Sticker Maker to make this happen) ad place them in my bathroom and on my fridge, as well as around the computers upstairs in the office (on the monitors). Here they are listed out.

KEEP ON KEEPING ON

YOU CAN DO IT

I'M PREPARED FOR TODAY'S WORKOUT

I HAVE A STRONG, HEALTHY BODY

JUST ONE MORE MILE

FIT FEELS GOOD

I CAN DO THIS

I LOOK GREAT

ONE DAY AT A TIME

I'M BEAUTIFUL

If you want, perhaps you could use a program of your own to make these words decorative and make stickers or note of your own. Leave them all over you home, car, wherever so you can see them and have little encouragements towards your efforts.

Wipe the dust off that treadmill

So this morning I didn't get up at 6:00am as I did yesterday. I got up at FIVE A.M.!!!! I had a grapefruit for breakfast and then started in on Wii Fit. I worked out there for half an hour (Hula Hoop, Boxing, Step Aerobics, and some Yoga) and then moved onto the treadmill after I got the kids out of bed. I jogged along there at a slight incline and decent pace for another 30 minutes, making for a full hour of workout so far today.

I CAN say that I DO feel better overall already! It certainly helps to have a great way to start my days. I truly enjoy the mornings of quiet that I get all to myself. Kyle talked about wanting to get up and exercise in the mornings himself as well, but I'm not sure if I'll encourage that just yet. hehe As for now, I get a little bit of time (usually an hour or two) to just be alone with my thoughts and re-center myself overall.

This morning after the swearing into office of Barack Obama I think I'll do a lil' Rock Banding. hehe I have yet to try my hand at singing in Rock Band 2, so that will likely be the course I take this morning.

I'm still on the hunt for a job and haven't lost my enthusiasm. I got a postcard in the mail from one place I'd applied letting me know they'd gotten my resume/application and were processing it. I continue to search around in an attempt to find out how to get into data entry/transcription at home. I've seen countless websites asking for a "small investment fee", but those are the ones I'm trying to avoid right now.

Well, I'm off for now friends! Be well and enjoy this beautiful Tuesday!

New Beginnings

I've been absent here lately for a few reasons. One is my parents' health issues, another is my husband's job, yet another is my stagnant skinny search, and lastly is pure-dee laziness. But all that stops TODAY!!! And the best part of it is, I'm writing this after having ALREADY set this plan into motion. Yeah me!!!

Yes, I've been slacking in my search for my inner skinny. I have tried my best to concentrate more on a search for employment in an office instead of just getting to it!! But I've been eating better, watching my calories and WHAT I'm eating, and I'm getting up and getting going in the morning. This morning I woke up at 6:30am and instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, I got out of bed!! Step one...DONE! Although I don't think it is as big a stretch as you might think. The past several mornings (even this whole weekend) I got out of bed around 7:00am, even though no one else was stirring. However, this is the first morning I've done something productive with my alone time.

This morning I made myself some breakfast (Peaches & Creme Oatmeal), watched a little bit of the Today Show while I ate and then came downstairs to change clothes. I changed into the appropriate workout items and cranked up the Wii Fit! I worked our for about 45 minutes. I started with a warm-up of Boxing and then moved onto Step Aerobics. It felt GREAT to be jumping into a better lifestyle first thing in the morning.

And my Wii Fit told me good news this morning....down 4.6 lbs!! WHOOO HOOO!!!!

And for those of you wondering about that first interview this past Friday? Ugh!! I got all dolled up in a nice suit and headed out. I arrived about 15 minutes early (a rule of thumb for me) and went into the office. It was NOT in the best part of town, nor in the nicest building. But I ventured on and tried not to judge. I walked into the office and about 3 other people were already there. The office was shabby chic at best. I was asked to fill out an application and given some basic paperwork on the company (the same paperwork I'd been emailed). We all sat in 15 chairs (yes there were 15 of us there for this "interview"). It felt like a cattle call as the Scottish gentleman explained a little more about their company. Then he called us one by one into a private office for an interview. It was what I'd feared half way through the "classroom setting" of the process. We were being asked to come in and fill a position of sales, door-to-door sales. NOT something I'm at all interested in doing. He had one position in recruiting open that he offered me. It would consist of checking out resumes and calling in people to partake in the same process I had just experienced. The pay would be about $9/hr. Yeah, thanks...I'll let you know. Nope! It would not be worth it to drive to near downtown for that amount of money. It would hardly pay for my gas to get there and back every day. So I'm still looking.

I have not given up hope, nor lost enthusiasm. I plan on spending the better part of today combing through the newspaper and a few online want ads.

Here's my list of what I've done today:
Exercise: Wii Fit: 43 minutes (Boxing and Step Aerobics)
Breakfast: Peaches & Creme Oatmeal & 1 glass milk
Snack: 1 bottle (23oz) South Beach Living On The Go Drink

I'll also be posting some of my pictures I've taken for my 365 over the course of today.

Hitting the ground running

So my husband's company is not gone now, but it IS on the chopping block. I'm praying that they bring in some revenue SOON and they are able to remove themselves from the danger zone they seem to be in now. And to combat this possible change in our lifestyle, I am once again seeking employment. But there's one big change this time. I will NOT give up! I have refined my resume, I'm practicing my typing (up to 49 WPM), and concentrating on a great position in an office.

I think this is also beneficial for my weight loss as well. I'm making better choices, and due to the lack of wealth in the bank, I'm also skipping dining out. This way I can eat what's at the house and not what I can grab at Sonic or the like.

If things don't work out on the trail I'm on now, then I am going to register with an agency and take that route.

Sorry if the posts are short here lately, I'm working through some things and just not sure how to put them into words.

1/365

The romantic swing in my parent's backyard

A little something to do in my down time...HA!

Yeah, I know, WHAT down time!!! I've been a little slow on making my resolutions this year. However, this past holiday season I got a fantastic camera. So I was perusing blogs and came across a wonderful idea by OHmommy at Classy Chaos. She's recently gotten a nice camera as well and wants to take 265 pictures and then put them into a book. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea!!! So I'm somewhat piggy-backing on this idea. For the better part of a year I've wanted to hone my photographing skills. I feel they COULD be great, if only I invested the time and energy in them that true desire deserves. So starting today (well, lets say starting yesterday as I have a nice photo to add from then) I'm going to do this too. Then at the end of the year I'll have 365 photos to display for anyone willing to look.

Sorry this is a short post, I've slept about 5 hours and woke up 3 times in the night. Currently I have an aggrevating headache on one side of my head (right near the temple). I'm hoping it doesn't develop into a migraine as I have forgotten my migraine meds at home. That, and I fear a headache of THAT calibur might delay might departure.

I'm going to set up an account for this on either Flicker or Kodak's website. As soon as I get it going I'll be sure t share it here.

Is that a light, or the business end of a train?

I've been here for some time now, and gotten a LOT done!! Over the past couple days we've had a few realtors come in and give their opinions on what still needs to be done in the house and what the fair market value would be of this lovely home. Yesterday e were told that we needed to fill in some of the crack in the cement around the pool and then we could easily paint the entire pool deck by ourselves with a cement paint. My dad and I got the supplies and proceeded to paint. WOW!! That was NOT easy!!! But here's part of the finished product. (Note, the white part around the pool is everything we painted).

Its a panoramic shot (three pix put together). I showed it to one of the realtors and she asked if I could send it to her and she'd use it for the shot they advertised with. Now, if only I could get PAID for some of this while I'm down here!! Ugh!!

I DO feel like we've gotten a load of stuff done, though. I'll put more pictures up in the coming days. Mother wants me to take pictures of the interior of the house tomorrow. She feels like I have a great camera and am good at capturing the right look of the rooms (light usage and such) and likely much better than the dinky cameras some of the realtors would bring in (note: the realtor commented that she had a "dinky camera" not me. hehe).

Mother has had 4 good days this week when she's been out of bed, eating MUCH better, and coping unmedicated much more. She still takes several of her meds, but she doesn't freak out quite as much if she's missed a dosage because we've been busy working around the house. Dad's been fantastic! He's been helping me out pretty much every day aound the house and yard. Usually he tires out quicker, but that's due mainly to age and health overall.

Thank you all for the well wishes and prayers! Keep 'em coming! I am hoping to be heading home either Monday or Tuesday (Jan 12th or 13th). Hubby misses me, as do the kids...I think I've been too busy to think about it most of the time.

Be well friends! I try to check all of your new blog posts when I can, but inevitably I end up not doing so for several days and have to wade through 400+ posts. So if I haven't comments, worry not...I'm still around. Laters!

Ah the joys of travel

Yep, I've been doing my fair share of traveling over the past few months, as has the hubby. Right now I'm in South Texas at my parents' home. My mother has fibromyalgia and it REALLY has her down. I'm slowly trying to get her to take on some better eating and healthier overall living habits. Its been an uphill battle as she seems to sustain herself on tootsie rolls and mexican food. And from what I've read sugar and caffeine only aggravate her condition and worsen her pain. Ugh!!! I'm down here trying to help her and my dad stage their house so that it can be put on the market. We've packed up quite a bit, but in my opinion we have only yet begun this fight.

My dad is diabetic and I'm trying to get him motivated to get up and around and eat regular meals as well. Most days they both seem to spend MOST (about 18 hrs) in bed. UGH! UGH! UGH! Its requiring a lot of tough love, but I feel like I'm up for the task.

Eventually they will be living with us in our house, at least for a few weeks at a time while they shuffle between my house, my sisters, and theirs during the months while their house in on the market. THAT will be interesting for sure!!

I got a call from the hubbs this morning infoming me that they need someone to go to the Philippines next week. Again its a 3-week stint. Naturally, he is their first choice...however, since he's playing Mr. Mom and I'm about 6 hrs from home he's asked if someone else can take this first shift. If not, looks like my trip gets cut short as I need to head back and be home with the kidlets.

Well, I'm sure this post has been sufficiently confusing and random, but I'm just trying to organize my thoughts and plan what to tackle next. But if anyone has any information on firomyalgia and treating it naturally (holistically) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me or leave a comment here.

Thanks friends for your continued support. I hope to be back to my happy perky self before too long.