Oops

Guess I need to start updating my blog again - sorry y'all - I will work on that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things are great so far - going to get better - no where to go but up - Will post a detailed post laters :) Huggles y'all!

Bad Day? I think so!

Okay so yesterday was an awesome day! Ran errands, deposited hubby's check. Babysat Keaton for about an hour while Amy did her PT Conferences. Then had mine.

AWESOME reports on the kids. Dallas is a little moody at the drop of a hat (just like her momma sometimes, however I think she is coming into time for her 'cycle' - oh the joys of being a momma of a girl!) But she has only one B - the rest of her grades are A's!!!

Massey has 2 B's, the rest are A's :) Only complaint is that he likes to talk to his best friend a bit much, and to a couple girls in class. Also, one of his teachers says he can always tell when he is going to clown around because he gets that 'I wonder if I can get away with it look' LOL. But he's a hard worker, and always gets his homework in on time.

Andrew is doing AWESOME - and it was the best decision ever to hold him back for Kindergarten again! He's ready for 1st grade!!

Come home - rode bikes with the kids, so they could deliver their cookbooks.

Had my first team meeting which I believe went really really well! Super proud of myself!

Today however.

I get up at 6, get the kids ready for school - they throw fits (well Andrew mostly) because they don't want to go. Thank god for a 4 day weekend coming up and summer soon!

Then I have issues with UPS and printing a label, and them not refunding my money.. It will auto refund in 30 days if that label isnt' scanned. - wth?! Ugh

Then Find out hubby is going to be gone a few days if not all week next week - that sucks :(

Then (yes there is more), find out that a company that charged me for something they shouldn't have, will not refund my money. They won't really give me a reason. When I call to speak with them, they tell me they will email me about the matter. Why the hell can't they talk to me over the phone?!

Then... Get an email from UPS - my SOTM shipment delivery address has been changed to my old Address, which we haven't lived at since November. I call them to find out why. They say it is because my current address doesn't exist. I tell them to hell it doesn't, they delivered a package here yesterday - and I get 3-4 pkgs from them a week at this EXACT address. They pretty well tell me I'm crazy, and that since the pkg has to be signed for, they will send it back to Scentsy if no one is at the old address. Ugh!! Really?!

Then............. I find out that insurance thru BCBS is WAYYYYYYY expensive for the two of us. Will cost hubby and I more together then him alone, even tho he is on a plan with high risk truck drivers - ugh!

And then......... was offered an event.. was waiting on information from it then got told 'Sorry I gave it to so and so instead' UH rude!!

And then!........... Had a gal refusing to pay me for an auction item. Ugh - really?! Don't bid if your not going to pay right???

And THENNNNNNNNNNNNN... Have two gals giving me the run around on trades about my items even tho they already received their items from me. :(

Ready for more?? Have a gal in Canada who I sent Scentsy to (for a trade) from my stock about 3-4 months ago. She was supposed to send me some seasonings via Epicure. 4 months later I still don't have it. I message her and she tells me customs won't allow her to send it over the border because it is a food item :(. BULLSNARKY!! I've gotten food items from Canadian consultants before. I tell her she is full of it. I tell her she needs to send my items back. She refuses because she's started using them. I tell her she needs to pay me for them. She tells me no, its my loss. So I call her company and speak to them. They say because it was a trade between two consultants there is nothing that they can do :( UGHGHHHH

And of course then hubby and I get into a huge argument on the phone - makes things worse!!!

To top it all off I am having a BAD Fibro day and hurting like none other! Really?! All of this before 11 AM! What the hell is in the air today??? Hubby calls and we are going to dinner tonight apparently - awesome. Haven't seen him since Tuesday morning, so hopefully the day will get better!

I don't mind when things go wrong - I deal and get over it - but when they alllllllllll go wrong at once?! Wow

Binder Bandwagon....

So in attempt to organize my life, I decided to jump on the Binder Bandwagon. I have been skipping from organizational blog to organizational blog. Not to mention Pinterest (which is awesome btw!) I've been reading new ways to organize each room.

So far I haven't input anything yet. I am starting off with an organization binder. At the moment I am waiting on my binder to show up in the mail. (ordered one online, along with tabbed dividers, and pens SPECIFICALLY for the binder).

I decided after I bought these items. I need to get some pocket protectors, for birth certificates and shot records, and some baseball card holders, for our social security cards. I also want a binder zipper pouch to store my pens in. And I've not figured out if there is anything else I want yet :) I did make sure to have dividers with pockets. This way I can store the bills where they need to be, etc.

I will have a financial tab (where I keep track of bills, our budget, business phone numbers, monthly spending list, grocery lists etc).

I will have a health & wellness tab (where I keep track of our doc info, medication info, healthcare budget, exercise log etc...)

I will have a family info tab (this is where I will have our important information such as kids id sheets, with recent photos, important information for sitters, family/neighbor phone numbers, emergency numbers, kids daily routine, chore charts, Birth Certificates, Social Security Cards, etc)

I will have an information tab (where I keep our personal address book, fave website list, website/password information, etc)

I will have movie tab (where I keep a list of all the movies we have in our home. I do this because we lend our movies out quite often, and I want an inventory since we have 400- 500 dvd's, also considered doing this for music, since we buy music on iTunes and put on our iPod and have thousands of songs LOL)

I will have a Home tab (this is where I will keep track of our home projects, how much we spend on our home projects, and possibly later keep photos of them, as we are working on remodeling our home)

I will have a Calender tab (where I have a yearly calender, and weeks at a glance)

I will have a personal tab (where I have inspirational quotes, goal journal, rebate/freebie trackers, and personal notes/reminders for myself.)

I'm sure I will find more things I need to add, however, this is what I am starting with. I plan on making a pretty cover for my binder to make it look good, and keeping it in our safe when not in use or being carried with me.

I'm working on putting up a gadget to the left that will have the forms I use, for download by you for personal use only - please do not sell these, and if you wish to give them away - send folks here to find them :) Thank you

I'll keep you posted!

Home Improvements Part 1

So here lately, we are working on improving our home. Eventually we will buy this place, and any work we do now, won't be a waste of money vs if we were only renting. I'm excited. We haven't been able to do much yet. So far, peel and stick tile on the kitchen floor, a couple new outlets (as this house only has 2 prong outlets, and VERY few of those), new water heater... So far the things we have done inside the house (other the the tile) is more out of necessity then want.

However. Outside we recently fixed our little mud pit problem. We build a walkway between our house and the shop. We were tired of tracking mud everywhere, not to mention, it was slick when raining. In the process I also fixed the flower beds. And all of this SUPER CHEAP!! So here's how we did it.

Materials

13 Landscaping beams (about 4-5$ each at your local Orschelins)

1 Trailer full of gravel (15.00 per trailer load)

Walkway Stones (were already at our house - but usually 2-5.00 depending on type)

2 bags of mulch (3-4$ each at Orshelins or Walmart)

15-20 Solar lights (.97 cents each at Walmart)

As many old bricks as I could find laying around!

And here are the progress photos.

BEFORE

LAYING OUT THE LANDSCAPING BEAMS AND STARTING GRAVEL

CREATING FLOWER BED

FULL OF GRAVEL & FOOT STONES

BEAUTIFUL AT NIGHT! GIVES ME A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT!

MAKING IT LOOK BETTER BY THE PORCH & CREATING FLOWER BEDS WITH BRICKS

FIXING THE FLOWER BED BY THE TREE - SO PRETTY!

All in all, this project cost us less then 100.00!!! Yay for saving money!!!

Day 12

So I didn't work out more then twice last week. Its been a painful week/weekend for me. I am working on it though. Going to try doing a little bit less, and taking my pain meds shortly before I work out to see if that helps. On the upside, I LOOK a bit slimmer, and hubby says I feel lighter when he tries to pop my back. We will see!!!

Working out...

So last night Rachel and I did our first Zumba workout, then went for a walk afterwards to 'wind down'. Kind of hard to follow for a newbie, but I know I will get the hang of it. And wow am I sore! I could feel it everywhere! Loved it. It was so much fun! Today is day two of my shakes. So we will see how that goes.

We did our weigh in and our measurements yesterday.. Plan on weighing in once per month, and measuring at least that often if not more often, haven't decided yet. Today is the Wii Fit.. Feel the burn!! Hope to up my routine to more minutes at a time as I get a little more used to it. I really don't want to over do it, or I will be in severe pain.

Anyway - here is the 'before' photo (no I don't do the whole, shorts and sports bra shots, I'm not confident enough for that, thats for damn sure)

My biggest concern (personally and from my doc) is my weight. If I can get my weight down, I know I will feel better. Plus, I would love to not be considered 'obese' anymore. I despise that word! My personal concern with my 'shape' is my stomach. Going to work on getting rid of that 'spare tire' around my mid section. I HATE that. Nothing fits right, and I look like a cow with it. So that is my focus. My stomach.. if you have any tips on removing stomach weight (without surgery) let me know! I do know they say that it is the hardest to get rid of. So I will be pushing.

I am continuing to cut back on my soda intake. And this time, since I am doing it gradually, I am not getting the migraines I normally get! Yay me! I'm also cutting back on my food intake. Going to try to portion myself. 

Thanks for all the support everyone. Keep shoving me when I need it!

Weight Loss??...

Okay, so I've been taking Phentermine for a while now, and shedding a couple pounds here n there, but not the weight loss goal I want... My biggest complaint is that I want to lose my stomach. I could deal with being a 'thick' woman if I could lose my stomach... I'd be happy being 'curvaceous' :)

So starting today. At least 1 Body By Vi shake per day. To replace my breakfast. Possibly a second one to replace my lunch, but if not, then just a light, healthy snack for lunch. Going to cut back on my Carbs, and up my protein intake. When Raye gets here this afternoon, going to take a few measurements, and mark them on the Calender. Cutting back on my soda intake. Quite a bit actually... Hope to eventually quit, or only have 1 per day, like my cup of 'coffee' in the morning.

So goal one is to lose the stomach fat. Goal two is to quit drinking soda (or maybe one per morning). Goal three is to lose weight in general. Goal four is to lose enough that when I quit smoking, if I put a little bit back on, I won't be this big again. Goal five is to be healthier, to not be winded when I try to do something like playing with the kids.

This is the biggest I have ever been in my life. I need to get my weight back down. That's just all there is to it.

So the workout plan...

One week. 3 days (Mon, Wed, Fri) Zumba on the Wii. 2 days (Tues, Thurs) Wii Fit routine. Every day, Walk around town. Second week, going to switch it around, Wii Fit routine on Mon, Wed, Fri and Zumba on Tues, Thurs. Hopefully this will break it up enough to keep me from flatlining fast. Eventually, I would like to add strength training. And workout on the ab lounger.

So this is me, on the road to a better me. My life is finally on track the way I want it to me. Now to get ME the way I want to be. :) I need all the support I can get. Thats for damn sure. I need to be pushed when I feel like giving up. I need to be smacked when I give excuses. Give it to me straight. Cuz that is what I'm looking for!!