the dreaded "catch up" blog

Yep, the blog post where I am far behind and I just try to cram as much as I can into one post to get caught up, lol

Here we go....


two weekends ago Roman has his "Circle the State with Song" Choir performance....









that weekend we took a couple of different walks with the dogs, including snowball in Starla's grocery cart....




















The monday before spring break Bourbon's choir had a "winter" performance..... (if & when I ever get a fully functioning computer again, I wull upload the video as well. I'm so tired of having virus-ridden computers! My laptop has been out of commission for months, due to a windows virus, being passed from person to person who thinks they can fix it. Our home computer has so many virus's on it half of the programs, including all video and flash players, don't work. My brother is supposed to come over and wipe it clean and reset it all up for me, but I have no idea when that will actually happen, sigh)









hee hee, while watching the biggest loser (which is a 2 hour show!) each week I've been trying to work out, this particular day I was sitting on my stability ball, working my arms with weights (Roman & Bourbon kept doing it too, and then Bourbon went outside and ran up & down our front porch stairs and then jogged to the end of the street and back, and then Roman had to go do that too....lol, the show is inspiring all of us to work out!) and Starla said "Hey, I can do that too!" and went into her room and got one of her big balls and picked up the smaller set of weights and worked out right along side me....





the tuesday before spring break was western day at school for Starla & I...





the thursday before spring break was the member preview night of the return of the elephants at the zoo, which of course we were SUPER excited about....























I spent the majority of my spring break cleaning, organizing, getting Starla's toys & clothes tagged and bagged for the JBF consignment sale, making sock monkeys (I had 2 orders of 4 monkeys!) So we didn't really get to do anything fun or exciting.


the 4 Starla's teacher ordered for the girls in her daughter's dance competition....





the 4 my cousin from Calvin, Oklahoma ordered that I had to mail her way...



monday evening we went over to my brother's house for a little birthday bbq for him....









tuesday we went to the gym, to the post office, to the library, and then got to play at the park for just a bit before heading back home for JBF stuff to be done...





this picture cracks me up, one high up in the tree, one hiding below the wall and one right in the middle...





This is Starla's friend Persephone from dance class. Her momma invited us over for a girls night tuesday night. We had pizza (and us mommas sampled some import beers!) and brownies and took a dip in the hot tub....





Starla was scared of the "bubbles" when she first got in, check out her face......



Wednesday my parents came back from the lake to take another load there, and the kids went back with them for a few days. On the way there, they hadn't even gotten there yet, Starla started crying that she wanted to come home!!! But once they got there, she was fine, and they didn't come home until Saturday afternoon. At least they got to do SOMETHING for spring break and have some fun, so I didn't feel so bad. :)

I spent the entire time they were gone working, working, working. My parents had given us some furniture, which meant I had to spend time cleaning it, moving stuff around to make it fit, and putting everything back into place. This took me an entire day, and things STILL aren't really all put away, lol.

One of the things was a china hutch that we got from Japan when we lived there when I was 5. It is beautiful wood and has carvings of japanese scenes, and has glass doors that open. I remember as a kid every saturday was "cleaning" day, and my parents would put on country music and we would all clean house. I would spend hours dusting and putting old english on this hutch as well as all the other matching furniture, so it brought back such memories as I sat in my own living room some 20 odd years later, with my old english, polishing this same peice of furniture. :) They had given us the wall unit a few years ago that goes with the set, but we don't have room for it, so it is in storage. My brother Nate got the matching coffee table and 2 ends tables, and my brother Mark got the matching lamps.

Friday I dropped all my stuff off at JBF which is a long drawn out process as they inspect every single piece of clothing (of which I always bring TONS) for stains, holes, tears, etc. before allowing them to pass inspection.

Sunday I got to shop the pre-sale, and got all of Starla's summer wardrobe and a few toys at ridiculously cheap prices. I love that place.

I volunteered today from 10-2pm. When you consign, you make 65% of your profits and get to shop the presale, but if you volunteer a 4 hour shift you get 70% and get to shop 2 hours earlier. So it makes it all worth it in the end.

Just at the pre-sale I sold $68 worth, but today's sales haven't been updated yet. I do know I sold Starla's toddler bed for $40 today, because they came through my line with it when I was scanning at a register. :)And the sale is all week long. Last time I made $350 selling all of Starla's old toys & clothes (and a few of the boys stuff too) and only spent $200 replacing her entire wardrobe with the next size up. We'll see if I do that well this time....

We have been busy busy busy.

Loser week 4

Wow, I may never get caught up on my blog. I might just have to do a quick recap of highlights and start fresh, lol

I swear I was much busier during spring break than I normally am. And not busy like we got to go do anything fun, busy like working on stuff that needed to be done.

But this post is about my weight loss journey!

This week I gained 1 pound. But it's not a big deal, because I worked out 6 days this week, and I know I am gaining muscle and losing inches. I did however splurge quite a bit too, although not giant amounts in any given day, just lots of little splurges all week. But I'm ok with that. I am taking huge steps on improving my health, so I know these little splurges won't hurt me in the long run.

Bourbon really ejoyed going to the gym with me this week, and it was kinda fun to have a workout partner. :) And it forced me to vary my routine so that I could show him how to use all of the machines. Which is good. I tend to get stuck in workout routines and do the same things over and over again, which really isn't that good for you. Once your body gets used to a routine, you aren't really doing much anymore, you gotta change it up, switch things aound, use your muscles in new ways. Which is what I did all week long. I got a new DVD from netflix this week too; The Biggest Loser Bootcamp, which didn't seem too hard when I was doing it (oh, it's a challenge, but I got through it and thought "wow, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be") but the next day I was paying for it, lol, AND the day after that. You know it's a good workout when you are sore for 2 days in a row. :) I really enjoy these DVD's too, they are actually kind of fun.

And I am about halfway done reading the Master Your Metabolism book, and learning so many things. It really is kind of scary the amount of crap that we put into our bodies and don't even think about it. This book gives you a crash course on the different additives and such that we ingest, and how it affects us. Like sugar replacements. Our bodies don't really know what to do with man made chemicals, so they just plug it in wherever they can and make it work, but it confuses the body. When you eat certain things, your metabolism will react in certain ways. Like protein, when you eat protein, it takes 35% more energy to digest, so your metabolism automatically roars up when it gets protein in the system (which is why the atkins diet works so well, but the body also NEEDS carbs to work effectively). When you eat sugar, your metabolism knows that it has to rev up to burn it (which is where the sugar high comes from, but then it crashes as soon as the sugar is burned through, which doesn't take long). BUT when you eat sugar replacements, your body senses the sweet, but then there isn't any calories with it, and it gets confused. After a while of doing this, your body thinks "ok, well sweet equals no calories, so we don't have to rev up the metabolism to burn it off" and your metabolism actually slows down. And not only is THAT bad, but then once it has made this switch, when you DO actually eat something with real sugar, it won't automatically rev back up and it will work at the slower pace that is has become accustomed to with the fake sugar, and then you actually pile on more pounds than you normally should. Crazy eh? You could actually be sabotaging yourself by eating diet food all the time, making your metabolism slower and slower. Who knew?! It's very interesting stuff.

So Jillian says, if you are going to indulge in a sweet, eat the real thing, just eat it in moderation. Eat the real ice cream not the no-fat, no sugar fake stuff that is full of these crazy chemicals that are messing up our bodies. Which makes total sense. I mean I moved us to using real butter a few years ago when I learned that margarine still has trans fats, but that the labels were allowed to say they were trans fat free if they had less than .5 grams in a serving. But when you use more than a serving, which most people do, you get much more than that. And ANY trans fat is ridiculously bad for you and your heart. I would much rather us use the real stuff and not use as much, than put that crap into our bodies. So it makes sense to do that with everything.

So I am going to try to clean up our food and get rid of as much as the chemical crap as possible, which of course includes high fructose corn syrups and all that fun stuff. That means I need to wean the kids off of oreos and make homemade "whole foods" cookies instead using all the real stuff. I need to get them off the boxed mac-n-cheese and make the real stuff instead. These kinds of things. Wish me luck, because I am going to need the force to be with me..... :)

Loser Week 3

Sorry this is late, supposed to post on Mondays! But I have been super busy, which is why there haven't been any posts lately. I will get caught up....eventually. I always do. :)

This was a FANTASTIC week! I lost 3.2 lbs which was exactly what I needed to lose to make my 10lbs in 4 weeks goal, so I was excited that I made it!! Now if I can keep dropping 10 lbs each month for several months, all will be good. :)

I also have lost 19 inches since January 10th. Which has resulted in me wearing pants 2 sizes smaller. WOO HOO! So excited.

I have been just reading reading reading all of the Jillian Michael stuff about how to eat so your metabolism works it's best, and all the biggest loser stuff, and trying all the recipes, and just doing everything I can. I am trying to work out at least in some way 6 days a week, even if I only get a 10 minute workout in.

This week I signed Bourbon up on our gym membership since he is old enough (Roman is mad he's not old enough now!) and I told him he would probably go every day this week, just because it is spring break and we can. :) We do 30 mins of cardio (although in that time, which I do all on the elliptical, he changes machines 6 times, lol) and then we work the weight machines. Yesterday we worked our abs and back, and today was upper body (chest, back & arms). He said today "Mom I think I pulled a muscle, it hurts." and I said "No Son, that's what it feels like when you actually use it, just wait until tomorrow...." hee hee. He can't quite keep up with Momma. Tomorrow we are doing lower body. He wants to take the kickboxing class tomorrow night, but I am hoping I can talk Alan into taking him to that, I don't really want to do that one, hee hee.

I have done so amazingly good on my eating, staying in my 1550 calories each and every day, making healthy choices. So this week I decided I can cut myself some slack, not a WHOLE lot, but some. Which I figure since I am going to the gym every single day, I can still be ok. Like yesterday at my brothers birthday bbq I had a hamburger with all the fixins, but I still managed to only get up to a little over 1600 calories, so not bad. And then tonight one of Starla's friends from dance class invited us over for a girls night (with hot tub included, sweet!) with pizza and brownies. Which will put me at just over 1900 calories if I have 2 slices and 1 brownie. And then thursday I am making irish coffee cupcakes and corned beef & cabbage and I am going to enjoy them! But even though I am relaxing somewhat this week, I won't go overboard because I don't want to mess up all the hard work I have done!! And I have been working very hard at this!! I don't want to lose my momentum.

So I may or may not lose as much this week, but we shall see. Maybe all the excercise will help me even it out. I still want to get in my average of 2.5 lbs a week so I can get to the 10lbs a month.

I am hoping we make it to Martin Nature Park this week and go hiking as a family, and the zoo at some point which will get us walking. So extra workouts built into the week hopefully. But really we are pretty much staying home this spring break, which is unusual for us. I just have so much to do around the house, and we just don't really have the money to do anything, so it's keeping us "grounded" :)

I will try to get on here in the next day or so and update our family life and not just my weight loss journey!

Cookbook fundraiser

Hey friends & family! Starla's school (which of course is also my work) is selling cookbooks for our spring fundraiser. We collected all teh recipes from employees and the families of the kids that attend the school. It is full of pictures of the classes and the pictures the families submitted with their recipes. I put in like a dozen recipes, so you know they are good. ;)



Plus you know some of the best cookbooks are compileds ones, that have those dishes that have been passed down for years and years, or even new fun ones that are just tried and true!



Lots of pics in it, including one of me & roman in aprons, one with starla with her nanny and one with starla and her papa, and lots more!



They are $10 each, you know you want one!!! Just let me know. :) Thanks!

Loser Week 3

So it is week 3, and I have lost 2.8 lbs this week for a total of 6.8 for 3 weeks. Not bad. Not quite where I want it to be (again my gaol is 2.5 a week, for a total of 10 a month) but I can't complain either, a loss is a loss.

on monday of last week I went to the library and checked out every single biggest loser book they had....



So this week was spent reading them all, cooking food from them, doing the excercise video from netflix, learning new things. :)

I started a food journal this last week, keeping track of all the food I eat in a day, which is said to help you figure out what works and what doesn't, and helps you to eat less. This week I am going to keep a more detailed one, like what time I ate, if I was still hungry that day, etc. I also want to start keeping track of my calories, but I think this will take me longer than a week to master. Baby steps though. Small changes each week.

I've learned that in order to lose weight you are supposed to take your weight and multiply it by 7 and that is the highest number of calories you should consume in a day in order to lose (although they say you should not eat less than 1200 either). I also learned that it takes 3,500 calories to create a pound, and you must burn an extra stored 3,500 to lose a pound. So in order to lose one pound a week you need to burn 500 more calories a day than you consume. Well, I want to lose 2.5 lbs a week, which is more like 1250 calories more burned than consumed! Woah momma. That means combining excercise and eating fewer calories. So my goal in the next week or two is to invest in one of those devices that you can wear that tells you how many calories you burn each day, which will help me figure out how many I should eat. Lots of work involved here..... :)

I did really well for most of this week. Monday I didn't get to go to the gym because I had to take Bourbon to a 3 hour intake assessment at OU medical center for a group therapy program that his therapist reccommended. She thinks he would benefit from being in this group with kids his own age, so we had to go sit through that all day so I didn't make it to the gym. Then tuesday I woke up sick and spent the day laying on the couch, so there wasn't any activity that day either. But by Wed. I was up and at em again. I walked wed & thursday, went to the gym wed. and did my biggest loser workout friday & saturday, and then went walking sunday.

I ate well all week long too. I really like the receipes in Jillian Michael's cookbook, and the biggest loser cookbooks, they are yummy and healthy, which makes it feel like I'm not on a diet. I even made almost all the dinners for all of us from the cookbooks this week. Listen to some of these dishes;steel-cut oats with apples & pecans, chicken sausage with poached eggs & sweet potato hash (I realized I forgot sweet potatoes, so I made it with butternut squash instead...DELICIOUS!), oatmeal chocolate chip muffins (which had dark chocolate & orange zest, sweetened with coconut milk & honey, not a bit of sugar, and sooooo good!), ham, apple & cheddar on grilled country bread, roasted pork stuffed with artichoke, feta & black olives, and beef stir-fry with broccoli & shittake mushrooms. Those were all things I ate this week, they were sooooo good! We are having mediterranean lamb burgers and fish tacos this week. It makes dieting fun. :)

But it's not so much a "diet" as a lifestyle that they are trying to stress. Eating whole foods, not processed. Avoiding "white" stuff (flour, sugar, etc) eating whole grains and healthy oils and fats. Combining the right amount of protein & carbs & fats. Did you know that when you eat carbs alone, they get digested in about 40 mins? But when you eat protein it takes it about 3 hours to be digested. And when you eat carbs with protein, it is forced to be digested at the same rate, which means you are fuller longer. Also when you ingest carbs & protein at the same time, your body naturally produces a growth hormone that increases your metabolism, causing you to burn more calories than you normally would. Fascinating stuff. So if you eat carbs, eat protein with it!You are supposed to eat a ratio of 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein each day.

I really am enjoying learning this stuff. I think it is interesting.

I am also trying to find ways to move more, get the kids to move more. I want to start doing something as a family each week that gets us out and moving; rollerskating, hiking, bowling, whatever. Something fun though, so even though it is excercise, it's fun and family time. It's a goal.


These are the books I got at the library tonight.....




the little one is a calorie counter with like over 2,000 different entries, everything you can imagine, including fast food and restaraunts. So I am going to ty to learn to track my calories each day, and then maybe the next week I can figure out how many calories I use each day, so I can make sure I am getting the right amount eaten and burned to meet my weight loss goal.

I am looking forward to another great week with a good weight loss!! :)

The incredible growing Snowball

This was Bonita when we first got her, the first week of January 2010 (which funny enough a neighbor found her out in the snowstorm all by herself at a gas station, and then Snowball will be born during a snowstorm.....) she was somewhere between 4-6 weeks old as far as the Vet guessed.







I swear Snowball is already bigger than Bonita was at that time!










Snowball is now just short of 4 weeks old, and Alan decided it was time for her to move out of the garage and into the shed out back. So she got to go outside for the very first time, and Tex got to meet his daughter for the first time....

Roman tackles breakfast...

We went to Saturday evening church so that we could have sunday morning free for Roman to learn how to make breakfast and to enjoy it all together.

So Roman got to learn how to make bacon, scrambled eggs and pankcakes.










While making breakfast Roman said "Wow, making breakfast is really hard work...." :)



He also said "Before I become a famous actor, I think I should be a chef for a while....."



He didn't make it all by himself, I helped him quite a bit, because it was his first time with it, and because cooking several things simultanously takes a little practice...... :)






The critics gave it a thumbs up.....