YAY for weight loss!

I've lost 11lbs. I'm so excited. I still have about 20 more to lose until I'm at a good weight for me, but 11lbs is exciting! I'm sure some people would think I'm obsessed about eating, because I've been counting calories, fat, carbs and protein. using sparkpeople.com it's a great site to help track nutrition.

I've pretty much mastered the not caring about what others around me are eating. I've sat back and fed my kids ice cream without eating any, right now the girls are eating Oreos, I'm proud to say the package is almost empty and I've had NONE. The best thing about what I'm doing is that I am able to eat some sweets, the other day I did have some ice cream, but it fit into my calories and fat for the day.

Only problem is, we're going to visit my husband's family for a few days and I'm scared they will think I'm obsessed or crazy, really I'm just trying to eat healthier. The reason I think they'll think that is because I thought that about my sister before I started trying to eat healthy. But I'm not healthy and I need to be, so I'll do what it takes. Even if it means looking crazy.

I used to get scared when we'd leave home, thinking I'd come home and the house would be burnt down or something, i rest a little easier now that we have renters insurance, when we got our home insurance quote I was so shocked at how cheap it is! Everyone renting should get insurance, especially if you live in an apartment where other people's mistakes could cost you everything.

School

Lately my husband has been looking into going back to school, he's looking at taking online classes in graphic design. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this, because I know it will be more time that I don't get to see him. It's kinda funny because he's been home for over a year, so we really are around each other a lot, but the problem is it's not normal time around each other. It's more like "here, watch the kids while I do something" "ok, your turn" type thing. really 'family time' doesn't normally start until super time, and then he normally has stuff he has to go do. It's quite odd. I'd like nothing more than for him to get a normal 8-5 Monday-Friday job. Maybe then we could get the kids normal again? oh and us too?

I know a lot of people who have been going back to school lately, my sister being one, it's kinda fun because she lets me sell textbooks when she's done with them. It's a great way to make a few bucks. Man, if you're in college I hope you're buying used books, you save a TON of money! I did that through my 2 years of college, I did buy a few books new, normally only when I couldn't find them used though. Another thing I did was share books with other people who were taking the class, especially if they were taking it at a different time than me, it worked out great. Anything to save a few bucks when you're in college!

TV

I've been watching a lot of tv lately. probably too much. Seems like our tv is on ALL DAY LONG. normally it's PBS, but from like 7 till we go to bed it's real shows. I am so happy Chuck is back on, it's one of my favs. I do get a kick out of all the commercials though, especially the ones for drugs and weight loss diet supplements. They always have a list of warnings, or statements about the FDA.

I'd really like to get the TV usage under control, especially Lexi's. She just loves that tv on. Of course this week she's been sick and hasn't been as active as she normally is so it's seemed like it's been on a lot more. The thing that cracks me up about PBS is that they show the same show like 3 times a day. Especially if we flip from one PBS channel to another, then we can see the show more than 3 times! That makes it fun.

Working out..

I have found that I miss the short month that we had at the YMCA. It was nice to be able to run inside, and even have a "sitter" for the time that my husband and I were there...We got access to everything, even tried out a spinning class. Ouch is all I'm going to say on that one. We would get to run on the treadmill, or elliptical, and then we would usually go over to the weight training circuit. We would take the wipes and start working, switching out back and forth as much as we could to try to avoid wiping down every single machine in there twice. It just really felt good to keep building muscle. My husband kept saying that he was going to get some of those protein shakes or something like that. He was reading what he called a muscle milk review, he said it had a bunch of different options to help him get bigger..too bad we aren't going to the gym any more :) Maybe with tax time coming, we'll get something to put in our house, like a treadmill or something, to help us get into shape, instead of just having one. We'll see..

Girls!

I can't believe how big the girls are getting, The other day Lexi started writing her name on things. Seriously, she's almost 3.5, how did that happen? Caylee is 16 months old too. Crazy. Caylee is still a mega cutie and gets into everything. Lately we've been battling eczema with Caylee. I was putting the eczema cream we got on her, then I read all the warnings and decided I'll stick with lotion. seems to be working.

I've been enjoying the girls though, even though they give me trouble sometimes. I was reminded today at Bible study that God has put me here in this place, and has given me everything I need to do my job. It's so easy to get overwhelmed with the feeling of just being a slave, or a maid. I spend most of my day cooking, cleaning, folding clothes, cleaning up kids etc. Truth be told, we're supposed to be servants. We are supposed to be like Christ, and he spent his entire time on earth being a servant.

So now it's going to be my aim to have a positive attitude each time I fold the clothes, or wipe Lexi's tushy. :) After all, being a mom is all about taking care of my blessings.

losing weight

So lately I've been focusing on losing weight. I lost 7lbs in 14 days. just by cutting out snacks, soda and coffee, no diet pills here! Only thing is I still have about 20lbs that I want to lose and I seem to have hit a wall. it's kinda discouraging when you've done so well and then suddenly the weight stops coming off.

So what are some things that work for you guys when you're trying to lose weight? Some of the things I do aside from cutting out snacks and bad stuff like soda, is drinking a glass of water before meals. Also I've been running 3 days a week as exercise. I need to start doing some other stuff on the days I don't run but i haven't found the right thing yet.

Back to CVSing

I've finally gotten back into the CVS deals, after about 16 months of being out of the game. I've used all my shampoo and conditioner I had in the closet, and even had to buy some. That's when I decided I needed to get back to CVS. I started off with what would have been a really awesome deal, had one CVS had everything I needed to complete my deal, but they didn't.

I went to CVS in hopes of getting 6 12 packs of Mt Dew, and a box of soy joys. The soda was 6 for $20, and you get $10 in ECB's back. The soy joys were $6 and you get all $6 back in ECBs. I also had a $5 off a purchase of $25 coupon. So I would have spent $21, and gotten $16 in ECB's back. However, the store that had soyjoys didn't have soda, and visa versa. So I got the soda, and bought some lotion, spent $21 and got $10 back. I also have a rain check for the soyjoys.

With my $16 ECB's hopefully I'll be able to keep them rolling over and stock up on all the toiletries we need! It was nice to go a year without having to buy shampoo and conditioner and toothpaste. I'll probably end up with more random things I won't use like age spot creams and heartburn meds, but oh well. If it's free- why not? Surely someone can use it.

on the road again

Well, I've started running again. It's been 10 months since I ran the 8k, and 10 months since I've ran regularly. I got this crazy idea to run a half marathon. That's 13.1 miles. I'm ok as long as I don't think about where I'd be if I got in the car and drove 13.1 miles. :)

So I started training last Monday. Keep in mind, I haven't run more than 3 miles since last March, and the last time I even did that much was in July. Monday I ran two. Wednesday my schedule said 5. I did a total of 5, but walked about one of the miles. Saturday was 6 miles. and to my amazement I ran all six of them. I've never ran more than the 5.1 miles of the race. It felt good to know I set my mind to something and did it. Today I ran five more miles.

I fell good, aside from my knee pain. A runner friend at church suggested some exercises to do and some vitamins to take to help with getting my knee better. Hopefully they help. My knee really only hurts the day I run so it's not like constant pain.

I have about 11 more weeks of training before race day. I'm still in shock that I decided to run a half marathon!

quiet

I haven't been blogging much on either of my blogs lately, my computer has been majorly slow, I think it needs a vacation, or maybe it's on vacation and that's the problem, I did notice a search for montego bay vacation packages open on the screen the other day. Maybe I should look there.

Right now I can't even get on my other blog because my husband is trying to update it but ran into some sort of problems. But when I want to blog here I have to come upstairs and use my husband's computer, which he's been using almost all day every day. I requested some computer usage from him today, and he went down stairs to play with the girls. I love to seem him interact with them. I went down a minute ago to start supper and he was sitting on the floor, Lexi beside him and Caylee snuggled up on him. They love their daddy so much and it's so cute!

So.. What's next?

I mentioned in my last post that a lot of changing has been taking place here. I'm so happy about that. One thing my husband and I have really been trying to figure out is where God wants us. You all know he's been unemployed for 14 months now, after a year of unemployment the amount we get per week has been cut and we can't pay all our bills now. We pay too much for rent in my mind, only because we're not used to the high cost of living that is associated with living in this area. To some $625 for a two bedroom apartment might seem normal, or even low, to us it's high.

We're really hoping we get some major revelation soon because we don't want to step out of God's will. When we moved here from Tennessee we really thought this was what God wanted, now we're not so sure. But right now we don't think we're suppose to move back, we're hoping that cross country moving isn't in our future, but honestly we aren't certain where God wants us. We are looking at a few options right now, and really praying hard that God makes one clear, we know something has to happen soon, either a job or a move because we don't want to get even further behind with our bills.

So here we sit, waiting for some sort of answer as to where God wants us!

It takes work

It's so easy to notice big outward sins, something like an affair, or alcoholism, cussing, those types of things. But I've never struggled with those things, all my sins have been the type that deal with changing my attitude. I struggle with jealousy, judging, patience, self control (in a lot of areas). I kept thinking that one day I'd wake up and I'd be able to control my eating, or I'd wake up and have no desire to talk trash about someone.

The past year brought out a lot of bad characteristics in me, or at least made them a lot more clear to me. I realized just how impatient I was, and my eating got out of control. I got lazy, and my desire to keep a clean house went away as I realized it was so much easier to sit in front of the computer complaining about how little sleep I got. I really got into a bad funk.

In the beginning of the year God started talking to me about self- control, I looked up The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. I wrote down all the fruit, and a definition for all of them, I also looked up 1 Corinthians 13, and wrote down all the characteristics of love. I looked at these characteristics that I am supposed to have in a whole new light. It was then that I decided something needed to change. As I looked up verses I realized something I had been overlooking my entire life. It takes work to change. The idea of waking up and not being tempted to snack on cookies all day was thrown out the window and replaced with the fact that I was going to just have to tell myself no. EXERCISE Self control. Just like exercise it takes work. DAILY.

I've found the easiest way for me to work on this is stay in prayer and memorize and meditate on scripture. I have different verses tucked into my head that I bring out in difference situations. If I'm starting to worry, Mathew 6 comes into my mind "Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

If I find myself wanting to judge someone there's a whole list of verses, Like Mathew 7:5 " you hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." If I want to gossip, Philippians 4:8 "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praise worthy think about such things."

One other verse that has stood out to me lately is Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind THEN you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will.

I've been convicted of all these sins I was trying to hide, God has shown me what he desires me to be and he showed me it will take work to get there. He lit a fire under my butt to make me want to change. I love God. I desire to love him more and know him more. I want to seek first HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness, I want to be transformed with a new mind so that then I will see His will for my life.

I wish there was some super powerful machine like those mega hand dryers that blow your skin around, so I could just step under it and have all the sin nature just blow away, but there isn't. That's why each day I must wake up determined to change, stick my head in God's word, and spend time with Him.

It's a New Year

2010. Amazing. I've been out of school for 10 years. The 2000's were good to me, I graduated, spent two years at Grace College in Indiana (and loved every minute, well at least most of them.) I was engaged, broke up, met a guy online, made a crazy move to be near the guy, got engaged (again, this time to Mr. Right), got married, moved to Tennessee so my husband could be in a band, had a baby, had a molar pregnancy, moved back to North Carolina, had another baby, had two miscarriages, spent over a year with my husband unemployed and now it's 2010. FEW.

Some of the major highlights of the past year were our GREAT vacation to New Jersey for my cousins wedding, then to the Hershey PA area for a week of camping with my family. It was better than ski vacations!

Really, the past year has been challenging, but God has been working on me, and I am finally realizing that being a "Good Christian" doesn't come naturally. I am slowly working on my self control, patience, kindness, and jealousy issues! I think 2010 is going to be a great year, despite the circumstances that it may bring. I am determine to learn and grow. No more sitting back and letting my laziness control me.