Sunday, April 30, 2006

A Little of This and a

little of that. I have been sick this past week. Sorry for my absence, as not much of anything exciting has happened around these parts. Just blowing, running, lots of Vicks, lots of Benadryl, lots of NOTHIN but sickness. A few things of interest though,

1. I lost another 4 pounds, hurray! The scale doth move for me once again.

2. My kids are biting and doing the hair pulling thing. Can't we all just get along. I just don't get it. Just be nice. BE NICE, DANGIT! Isn't that the way it is supposed to be? I know they love each other, as I catch them hugging, too. They have a love/hate thing going on.

3. Four-year-old daughter has taken to saying, "I am so sick of it!" Me thinks I need to calm myself down because I know where she got that phrase from.

4. Almost two-year-old boy and four-year-old daughter both like to climb and so I have taken to doing this so that we do not all fry to death in our home because I worry about them climbing through the window which is on the second floor of our house. But what about those cords hanging down, you say? Yes, they are already put up and out of the way. How many countless ways are there for children to hurt themselves? I never want to find out.

5. Is it possible to ever tire of watching this movie? I think not. I luv it. In fact, I have it on right now.

6. I had to do this to my jeans! They are stretchy Just My Size jeans. What is up with that? A patch on the corner pocket so it does not rip in the buttocks region. So sad! This is why I am trying to lose weight. It is terribly sad when this happens to jeans with stretch in them, so sad.:(


See that is it for last week so borrrring, but a good week despite being sick and my kiddos fighting a bit more than usual. I think it is spring fever and mom being sick and being stuck in the house this week when it is so gorgeous out. This week we will attack the parks and run and jump and play, hurray! Hope your week is a great one!:)

Monday, April 24, 2006

Weirdness

Rachelle tagged me to do six weird things about me. Well, I had to ask my husband if there were any weird things about me because I could come up with nothing. I thought to myself that there has to be something weird about me, but I was coming up blank. I think it was just a brain not working on Monday type of syndrome because I do have my quirks. My husband was of no real help because asking your husband what is weird about you is like asking him if a pair of pants or a certain dress makes you look fat. It is just not a good idea for them to answer those kinds of questions. Anyways . . . after much thought, this is what I came up with.

1. When I shop for food, toiletries, etc., I always take the package behind the first package and put it in the cart. I never take the first item on the shelf like say crackers, but I will put the one behind it in my cart if I decide to buy it. I really don't know why I do this. It might be a subconscious thing that there are more germs on the first package of dental floss, shredded cheese, or toilet paper put there by those millions of Walmart customers. Who knows, but it must be one of the packages behind the first package.

2. I don't like my foods touching each other on my plate. On top of my food is okay like mashed potatoes and gravy, spaghetti and sauce, etc., or a casserole with things mixed in it but I really prefer that they are separate. My husband has converted me to mixing my peas into my mashed potatoes though. He grosses me out because he mixes everything together. Yuck. He always tells me that it is all going to the same place anyways so what difference does it make. That is just so wrong.

3. I went to a Neil Diamond concert and I really loved it. Neil Diamond is awesome. I also like Barry Manilow. Can we all say Copa, Copacabana? (I also love other music like country, 80s, 50s, 60s, 70s, Mo-Tab, contemporary, etc. I just like Neil and Barry, too.)

4. Rainy days make me happy. Being that I am originally from Seattle, it may be just that I am used to it. Around where I live now, we do not get many rainy days and I just get thrilled by it. It reminds me of home.

5. I don't like to snuggle. This might be more weird to just my family because they are all snugglers. My husband loves to snuggle and so do my kids. It is not that I am not affectionate and don't give hugs and kisses and snuggle and hold my babies, which I love to do, but when I am sleeping I need my space. The only exception to this is that I like my feet to touch my husband's feet while I am sleeping. I also don't like people invading my personal space or box or bubble or whatever it is that most people call it. When I am in line at a store, I hate it when people are right at my back in line or like there was this lady we once knew who would talk about what felt like two inches from my face all the time. I wanted to tell her to stay out of my box, but she was so nice that I couldn't do it.

6. I obsess a lot, too. You name it I obese. Are the kids safe? Did I lock the front door? Did I turn off the iron? Is the heater off? Are the car doors locked? How many times in one day can I weigh myself before I go insane? There is a long list, but I do not want to sound like I need therapy or something, so I will stop here.

7. Just one more weird fact. I have a hard time reading a book and not reading the ending. I cannot stand suspense. It drives me nuts. I need to know if everyone is going to be okay and that all of it works out. Action/suspense movies make me crazy because I can't stand not knowing what is going to happen next. I have gotten way better about reading the endings of books, though. I hardly ever do that anymore.

One thing I have found out from reading the weirdness of others is that I am not that weird after all. Most of the people who read my blog have already done this, but I would like to tag:
1. Grammy Rules.
2. Heather at One Woman's World.
3. Stephanie at Home Is Where My Heart Is.
4. Southern Living.

Friday, April 21, 2006

My Day in Pictures

We went to the zoo and well . . .

It was a zoo!:)

We saw a lot of these. I think that I watched more people than animals. It was a very strange experience.

Then we saw these. And this. And Chilly Willy.
We also saw Santa. Since when does Santa drive a train? Is this what he does in the off season?
We also had a cute kid sighting. There were at least three of these cute kids in total. One of them was in blue overalls.

But the thing that amazed me the most are these and no it is not the butts. It was hard to look like I was not taking pictures of people's butts. Oh, the things we do for our blogs. Now, I am tall, so maybe I don't get the wanting to be tall thing. I am around 5 feet 8-1/2 inches, but even if I was short I would think that it would be uncomfortable to walk around the zoo in the above shoes. If you have a pair, I still love you but I just don't get it.

It was actually the lady with the black pair that I was trying to get a picture of and did not even notice the lady with the tan pair. There were multiple sightings of these kind of shoes at the zoo today.

Just please don't start wearing these because we may have to have a lesson on fashion. Have a great weekend everyone!:)

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Tid Bits

Well, considering that I ate my body weight in ham on Sunday, it is suprising that I lost a whole pound this week. I will not go into the nasty details but Sunday was not a pretty site. Easter grass was flying and jelly beans were eaten. You all know how much I love Easter candy. I did eat a lot more veggies and fruits and I feel good about that this week. I am back on track and will update further on the progress later.

I have been a bit of a lazy blogger this week. It is spring break where we are. Oh, how I love having my kids home all the time (can you see my eyes rolling). No really, I do love having them home. The extra mess, fighting, screaming . . . . It is soooooo much fun!

Actually, I really have had fun this week with my kids. I look foreword to summer breaks and school breaks and having them home. I like to go play with my kids and do things with them. As corny as it may sound, it is like living my childhood all over again. My oldest is 12 and it is also nice to have someone to talk to during the day and who has more to talk about than Dora or Diego or preschool or who has sentences longer than 2-6 words like her 2-year-old brother.

One other thing I would like to touch on, when did swimming become such an event? It was quite the scene when I rolled up to the rec center with two small rolling suitcases full of towels and clothes and toiletries, floaties, goggles, and three kids toddling along with me. We looked like the traveling circus. We had a blast. Hope you are all having a super week! Spring has finally sprung!

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Easter

I have been asked a couple of times and heard the question posed about why the church that I belong to does not use the symbol of the cross on our buildings or books, etc. When I first joined the LDS church 14 years ago, the thought never really crossed my mind. With all my heart, I love the Savior and the gift of the Atonement and the Resurrection is a debt I can never repay. My husband and I discussed the issue and came to our own conclusions which were very close to this article by our church president, Gordon B. Hinckley, from April 2005 Ensign. Whether you are affiliated with the LDS church or not, I would encourage you to read this article in its entirety (I promise that if you are not LDS that it will not make you sprout horns or anything like that). It is a wonderful reminder of what the Easter season truly is about. As it is Easter tomorrow, I would like to leave you all with the following from the article as it says a lot about how I feel.

Following the renovation of the Mesa Arizona Temple some years ago, clergy of other religions were invited to tour it on the first day of the open house period. Hundreds responded. In speaking to them, I said we would be pleased to answer any queries they might have. Among these was one from a Protestant minister.

Said he: "I've been all through this building, this temple which carries on its face the name of Jesus Christ, but nowhere have I seen any representation of the cross, the symbol of Christianity. I have noted your buildings elsewhere and likewise find an absence of the cross. Why is this when you say you believe in Jesus Christ?"


I responded: "I do not wish to give offense to any of my Christian colleagues who use the cross on the steeples of their cathedrals and at the altars of their chapels, who wear it on their vestments, and imprint it on their books and other literature. But for us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the Living Christ."

He then asked: "If you do not use the cross, what is the symbol of your religion?"

I replied that the lives of our people must become the most meaningful expression of our faith and, in fact, therefore, the symbol of our worship.


The article goes on later to state the following . . .

In light of such declarations, in view of such testimony, well might many ask, as my minister friend in Arizona asked, if you profess a belief in Jesus Christ, why do you not use the symbol of His death, the cross of Calvary?

To which I must first reply that no member of this Church must ever forget the terrible price paid by our Redeemer, who gave His life that all men might live—the agony of Gethsemane, the bitter mockery of His trial, the vicious crown of thorns tearing at His flesh, the blood cry of the mob before Pilate, the lonely burden of His heavy walk along the way to Calvary, the terrifying pain as great nails pierced His hands and feet, the fevered torture of His body as He hung that tragic day, the Son of God crying out, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

This was the cross, the instrument of His torture, the terrible device designed to destroy the Man of Peace, the evil recompense for His miraculous work of healing the sick, of causing the blind to see, of raising the dead. This was the cross on which He hung and died on Golgotha’s lonely summit.

We cannot forget that. We must never forget it, for here our Savior, our Redeemer, the Son of God, gave Himself, a vicarious sacrifice for each of us. But the gloom of that dark evening before the Jewish Sabbath, when His lifeless body was taken down and hurriedly laid in a borrowed tomb, drained away the hope of even His most ardent and knowing disciples. They were bereft, not understanding what He had told them earlier. Dead was the Messiah, in whom they believed. Gone was their Master, in whom they had placed all of their longing, their faith, their hope. He who had spoken of everlasting life, He who had raised Lazarus from the grave, now had died as surely as all men before Him had died. Now had come the end to His sorrowful, brief life. That life had been as Isaiah had long before foretold: He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. … He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him” (Isa. 53:3, 5). Now He was gone.

We can only speculate on the feelings of those who loved Him as they pondered His death during the long hours of the Jewish Sabbath, the Saturday of our calendar.

Then dawned the first day of the week, the Sabbath of the Lord as we have come to know it. To those who came to the tomb, heavy with sorrow, the attending angel declared, “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (
Luke 24:5).

“He is not here: … he is risen, as he said” (Matt. 28:6).

I would like to leave my testimony that I know that the Savior died for every soul that ever walked the face of this earth and that is irregardless of religous denomination or social backgrounds. He knows each one of us individually and loves each of us more than we can possibly understand and the Atonement and Ressurection is for all. Happy Easter to you all and may God bless each of you.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Crazy!

I worry about my second child doing something like this all the time. She comes up with the weirdest ways to freak me out. Prayer is a big part of my life. Poison control has been called at least three times on her behalf and the 9-1-1 once and this was before the age of two. I am so glad this little boy was okay.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Battle of the Bulge

Has it really been a week? I tried posting an update last night, but I could not get into my blog account. Perish the thought. This was not good. I wanted to post an update. To those who must know, I hate the scale this week. It is exactly the same. Well, at least that is not a gain like I usually do the second week of any diet. Things are going well.

I have come to the realization that the scale is some sort of torture device designed to inflict great pain on its victims. Right now, I am trying very hard to learn to let go of it and to just keep doing what I am doing and it will work. There is no reason that I should complain about losing 12 pounds in 2 weeks. That is awesome and my clothes are fitting much better, so the scale and can bite me.:)

This week, I am going to focus more on getting my 5-a-day in. I think that will help. Water is getting a bit better, but I need to cut out the soda. Oh, how I love Black Cherry Vanilla Coke. I am really trying to limit it, as I know it is not good for me.

I have another good breakfast idea. I layer Yoplait light yogurt, strawberries, and a low-point granola type cereal. Walmart has a brand that is 2 points per serving. This breakfast comes in at about 5 points and keeps me full for a long time.

During the past week, I have been working on modifying all my favorite recipes and you know what, my family really has not noticed hardly at all. They still eat even if it is 98% fat free or light sour cream or low-fat milk. Really, they did not wither away or starve to death and it is good for them to learn to like it.

One last thing, the Easter Candy, it is still calling my name. I will get through this. Instead, I will just eat a Skinny Cow. Yum. Expensive, but yummy and so worth it. Have a great day!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Something Fun

I thought these were funny.
Hope everyone is having a super terrific day!:)

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Update

Well, it has been a good week and I lost 12 pounds this week. Now, before anyone screams and says, "You were not eating enough" or "That is dangerous." I am here to tell you that I ate all my points and then some because I used some of my exercise points and extra points over the weekend. I did have a couple days where I ate under my points by maybe one or two points. I consider this progress for me, as I am trying to realize if I am not hungry that I do not need to eat those last one or two points just because they are there unless I feel the need to. Anyways . . . I made up for it on the weekend. I never felt too extremely hungry either and I am still breathing and did not dwindle away. Just remember that I work out about on an elliptical trainer for an hour six days a week most weeks. Sometimes, I use the bike and sometimes I use a treadmill or alternate between all three, but I almost always work out for about an hour.

I always lose big the first week I go on a diet or get back into the swing of things. The second week, I usually gain a pound even though I do everything right. My body kind of goes into some kind of shock and it is frustrating. So, I have decided to do something that has worked in the past for me when I hit a little plateau or I feel my body is not cooperating. It is still WW, but I use something called the Wendie Plan from time to time. It kind of shakes things up. My body just gets used to things and that is why I vary my exercise or my calories each day when I get stuck. I just thought since in the past I have been a gainer usually the second week why not use it now. The third week, I usually go back to losing and will go back to regular points until things need to be shaken up again.

This week, I have really focused on listening to my body and hunger and when I am truly hungry. I also realized that if I slip up that it is not the end of the world. I just need to get right back on and keep going. I will get there eventually. In just one week, I feel about ten times better than I have in a long time. I think Heather said she felt empowered. That is exactly how I feel. This has been my biggest problem for my entire life. If I can do this, I can do just about anything.

Just have to share a favorite 6 point breakfast of mine. English muffin, one egg cooked how you want it, one Kraft single pepper jack cheese slice, one slice Canadian bacon. I put a little brown mustard on mine or my hubby likes a scraping of mayo and some ketchup. This is only 6 points and very filling. I try to usually keep breakfast more around 4-5, but this is worth it.

Another thing that helps me with lunch time are soups. They are awesome. Many are low points. My favorite is 98% Fat Free Clam Chowder by Campbell's. The entire can is only 3 points. I swear you can hardly tell that this stuff is low-fat. The 98% Fat Free Broccoli and Cheese made with 1% milk is 5 points for the entire can. I usually have a bowl for lunch and maybe save the rest for an afternoon snack.

As for this week, I am just focusing on the same and getting healthy. Water drinking has gotten way better. Yeah. Here's to good health and a good week to all of you trying to make changes in your life.!:)

Monday, April 03, 2006

Mobsters and Mormons

Did anyone find this movie painful? Not in a bad way painful, but kind of like a King of Queens painful. Some of the scenes in that show make me want to yell at the screen and say, "What are you stupid!" or "Please stop now because you are heading into a train wreck with your wife!" I am weird in that sometimes I just have to change the channel or close my eyes or put my fingers in my ears and have my husband tell me when it is over because a show or a movie gets too painful to watch. We rented Mobsters and Mormons this past weekend and while I liked it some of the scenes were so hard to watch. It is kind of like when you watch something happen and want to fix it or tell them to stop but just can't get there fast enough or the words just don't come out. I am glad that my hubby and I can laugh at our Mormon "culture." There are most definitely things that I hold sacred, but we most surely are "special spirits" and I mean that in a good way.:)