Sparkpeople.com

I used this when I had a health scare a couple years ago. I was pretty good for awhile, but then got too busy to keep up. It really helped me in terms of eating habits.

You have to log everything you eat. The cool thing is that so many people use this site, that everything I eat has already been entered. Meaning, I just have to click on what I ate, and it already knows all the nutritional stuff. It will show you how many calories, fat, carbs, protein, and cholesterol you took in for the day. It's nice to see it all put together. You can also edit, so if you want to eat something, you can put it in and see how it will affect your day. A very nice deterrent.

You can also set workout goals and track them. You get points for reading articles, tracking your goals, entering the food you ate and posting on the forums.

I've found a forum for hypothyroidism. It's nice to see that I am not the only one struggling with my weight. I have to watch what I eat and workout just to MAINTAIN my weight!! If I want to loose, I have to kick ass. It's very frustrating to see other's progress when I'm stuck at the same. But, this forum has helped me to see other's face this too.

Anyways, I'm ready to KICK ASS now. I did loose 10 lbs before the wedding, but gained 7 of it back by Christmas time. I blame part of that on my new job and the candy bowl. But, I haven't touched that in a couple months, so I'm ready to get back on track now.

I just visited sparkpeople.com for the first time in almost a year. I reset some of my goals and I'm ready to go!! Look for progress posts!!

Everyone's sick at our house. Well, almost everyone.

DH has this terrible flu stuff going on. It started on Tuesday with a trip to the ER thinking he was having a heart attack. Rapid heart rate, chest tightness, and elevated blood pressure. The Dr. sent him back to work because by the time he was seen, he was feeling better. Well, he wasn't really feeling better, but his heart rate was back to normal. Then Wed. he felt like shit. On Thursday he couldn't leave the bathroom. He's sleeping right now.

Then this morning I woke up to what sounded like a baby crying. I really couldn't figure it out. I know it wasn't DS, he does have night terrors sometimes so I remember what he sounds like. It turned out to be DD. She was burning up, crying about a headache, her heart was racing, she said she couldn't feel her legs, and she was dizzy. We called the Dr. and she said there was stuff going around that sounds like that and to give her Advil. If her fever doesn't get any higher and she doesn't start throwing up, she should be fine. She is sleeping now.

When I woke up on Tuesday, I thought I had pinkeye. I've never had it before, so I didn't know. My eye hurt, it was crusted over, but it wasn't red. I went to the Dr. and she said it was a stye (sp). A blocked gland in my eye. So, I'm putting this ointment in my eye 4 times per day for 7 days. The pain is gone, but now it itches, and if I itch it, then it hurts again. I'm not sleeping.

DS is fine. His allergies are really acting up, but this weather is too enticing for him. He was having a fundraiser at our local amusement park today for his school. Well, we already paid for the tickets, but he was the only one who could go. Thanks Grandpa for taking him!!! They played miniature golf and arcade games.

The great thing was that the rides weren't opened, so we got free tickets to attend anytime this year!!

FREE MONEY!!

Who doesn't like free money? Seriously, it's free. You don't have to put money into the account, or even use it at anytime. They just want their name out there, and this is a good way to do it.

I came across this on a blog I was reading today. I've already opened an account, and the free money is already there!!
It's an account like paypal and google checkout, but there are no fees.

Anyways, here is the link to get your $25.00:



And here is what the blog I found had to say:
The offer only take you less than 5 minutes to sign up. Revolution Money Exchange (RME) is like Paypal with no fees. The $25 is the quick and easy money. Again, there are only two days left because the promotion ends on April 15th. You can refer your friends or family and get $10 for each referral.
They do require to have your social security number. RME is legit since all funds are held at First Bank & Trust, Brookings, SD. The website is http://www.bankeasy.com/ and the FDIC Certificate # 3973. The opening process was very quick and my bonus show up instantly. However, it takes a few days to verify my bank account. Once it has been verified, I can withdraw my bonus money.

Trying to read more

I LOVE to read. Unfortunately I don't always make the time for it. I've added a new sidebar thingy on here to tell everyone what I'm reading. I got this picture from Amazon.com, hence the search part. Oh well, I'll try to make it look better next time.

Thanks to Katie Sue for helping me add that feature!!

My daughters weekend. Leadership

What do you do with kids' who need a behavior modification? Ship them off to the Marines! What if your kid isn't old enough for that? Jr. Marines!! This program has been great for self-esteem building in DD. She got chosen to participate in a city competition, and here we are freezing our rear off.

It was a very cold morning. Here is DD checking in. See how cold she is?
This is how the smart ones stay warm, get that blood moving.
Ready for the first activity. I remember these in PE. I hated them, I'm the least flexible person ever!!

Hold those legs down!
And that's all there is to that one. Ready for some sit ups? With a smile like that? I couldn't get it, but she kept that smile on just up to the very end.
The end. I think that smile might still be there!
Next up is the shuttle run.

Ready..........set...........go!!

Pick up the first one.
Drop it off.......Look! They're tied!!
When she picked up the second one, she slipped. This is the end.

I thought the flag in the window would look cool. Guess not.
They don't look too happy about the next event. Pull-ups. Actually, the girls do hangs. They pull up and stay there as long as they can.
She's up.
Going down. It counts until their arms straighten out.
And done. I don't remember the time, but it was very good, 2nd place so far for the girls'.

Lined up for the 1/2 mile run.
Not sure what all this was about.
There she is, still with her best friend, soon after she goes off on her own, leaving her friend behind. Of course we were yelling on the sidelines to do it for herself..........
The older guys were running with the girls, motivating them along.........here's DD at the finish line.

And here comes her buddy to the finish line!
Next up is the cook-out!
Now it's time for the awards. Here they are getting into formation.Look at those other schools. Do you call that formation??
Very nice.
Here's the main guy (I don't know titles) Announcing awards.
This is one of our guys........

And another one of our guys......

Now he's announcing the top 3 schools, we got second place!! The team is telling DD that she was voted to go up and get the trophy. She can't figure out when this discussion took place. Notice she's not moving. Ok, so you can't see that in a picture, but that's how it happened.

Here's the Sarge, pushing her up there.

And she made it!

See the trophy in the front! What a proud moment. They did a great job!!!

I like it when I take pictures and can let them tell the story!!

Cassie's Birthday.......long overdue.

This is the cake made by our very talented cake making friend, Tammy. I guess is was supposed to be the picture below, but after some attempts that didn't work, we got the above. And trust me, I would much rather eat a cake with body party on it than a jayhawk!

I guess I didn't take many pictures! This is some of us getting ready to sit down. Cassie's birthday was right before Halloween. We asked her what she wanted to do, and she decided on a haunted house.
Now I am a big chicken when it comes to stuff like that. But, I sucked it up just for her. We ate at TGIF's. I should have taken a picture of the knife they brought out for us to cut it with! Biggest thing I've ever seen.

I debated on whether to get drunk before the big event or not. On one hand, liquor gives me courage, and lord knows I needed some of that! Did I mention that DH stayed home with the kids. I didn't even have him to hang onto. As far as drinking, I decided not to. I was really afraid I'd either make myself sick with fear and the liquor would speed up that, or I would pee my pants.

When we got to the haunted house, it was actually a huge field. Remember Children of the Corn? Yeah, right here in Kansas. With me waiting in line for it. The crazy things I do for my friends.

In all, the worst part was waiting in line. For 2 hours. Yes, for 2 hours we stood in line. And it was cold. There were about 10 of us. They only let 6 go in a group. We had to split up. Not only was my husband not there for me, but 1/2 my friends made me go first.

Let's go back to the line part. There were some really freaky people in line. They scared me. Then there were some VERY young children in line!! I'm talking like 3 years old!! WTF?!?!?!?!? How could someone think that something like this was appropriate for their children? My kids' are much older and I wouldn't let them go.

OK, so now it's my turn to go in. There were 5 of us in the group. They put us in this little room while we waited until we could enter the field. I starting crying for DH. I made the woman tell me that if I freaked out too bad, someone would carry me out. It took her a bit, but she finally said ok.

I started out in the middle of the line. I quickly realized that those insane people mess with the middle people, knowing they are the scaredest. I quickly pushed my way to #2. I was concentrating so hard on being brave, that it actually wasn't that scary. And we were all so quiet, we were actually sneaking up on the insane people. We caught several off guard and they didn't get the chance to scare us.

There was one part that we had to walk through this building they made into a house. We walked through rooms with a dead family in it. Blood everywhere. Dead bloody baby in a crib. Ok, so I handled that, but what about those little kids I mentioned above??

I have a feeling this post is getting too long and no one is still reading. So, I'll end it now.

We got out. We survived. Our group hardly even screamed. Our friends behind us screamed so loud that we heard them the whole way. They also ran their asses off! At the end they had actually caught up with us. If I would have been in their group, I would have not made it.
My brave group made me brave. And we survived. I'm here to tell about it. Even if it is 6 months later.

And I may be persuaded to do it again. On 2 conditions. I have lots of alcohol and my husband.

Remember when I said everything was falling down around us?

And here is how..............

Warning: This post includes cute doggy pictures!!

We knew we had fence problems. We've been saving to replace the back fence. I was thinking it would be around $1500. We were hoping to have that by September and replace it then. We also thought the above picture was our bad spot. Why haven't the dogs cleared that yet?? We were wrong.Here I am, taking my dog into our backyard on a leash. We had a horrible storm last night, and down went our fence. I was back there a few days ago and noticed it wasn't stable, so we rigged it with the post and chain, seen above. It didn't stand a chance against the winds last night.


And there's another spot that falling back.

I can not, under any circumstances let this dog off a leash. He is a repeat offender, skilled in the art of escape. Notice the yellow things at the bottom of the fence. Yes, we had to break down and put an electric wire along the base. He did everything to get out. The wire finally stopped him. Now about 3 months after we put the wire down, it snapped, (with help of the weed trimmer) and has not been fixed. That was about 2 years ago. Today was the first day he ever got close to that fence. I mean heck, how could he resist that gaping hole?

I wish I could have seen him. I know he couldn't have gone straight for it. He had to have pondered it. Paced back and forth, deciding if it was worth it. Then finding out it was. Poor guy has no clue he could have cleared that fence at any time in the last 2 years, he didn't need the damn thing to fall down!

"But mom, I promise I'll be good, just let me go!!"
There's Cinnamon, watching us from the window.

The next 3 pictures are of the length of the fence. I tried to get it in one picture, but it's just too long. 110 feet. $2700 to replace it. $1200 more than what I was budgeting for, and 5 months early.

And now it's Angel's time to go outside. These dogs usually go out and run around for about an hour. They love the big yard, and the big yard is one of the reasons we bought the piece of shit house. To make our dogs happy. Of course, when we bought the house, we didn't have any dogs. But we knew they would be an addition.

She stands in front of me, making sure there are no dangers.

Angel is very loyal and a homebody. She doesn't care to take off. I'm standing in front of the fence and let her off leash. She eyed it, then went off to guard me. I'm not sure what she heard, but she sure did turn her head quickly.Yep, the cat is still watching out for us.

"Here mom, let me lead the way. I need to make sure everything is okay"

I couldn't get a picture of it, but she kept looking back, checking on me.

We had quit a bit of snow these last few months. It's over now, but it did cause some damage.

The snow is clear up to her belly!


Ok, I almost forgot, this is a post about everything falling down around us. So, here it is. The covering over our porch couldn't handle the snow and down it came. Not the best picture, but you can see it hanging down. And see the dogs checking things out before they ventured out to the snow.

"Ok, I'm ready to come back inside now"



So, last fall, we had the guttering on one side of the house fall, then in the winter our porch cover, and now at spring time the fence. What will summer bring??

My guess is the rest of the gutters. Which I did have budgeted to fix, but since the fence is going to be so high, we have to take out of that fund. So, hopefully they will last another year.