Category Archives: Life in General

Remember months back when I made a post for July goals?

No? You can read it here if you like.

Well, one of the goals was finally making a decision about something big that I was keeping under wraps.

Well, I never did make a final decision about that big question. But I think that this month may be it. I need to shit or get off the pot, as they say. If I decide against the big thing then I need to take the steps to ensure it doesn’t happen, but if I decide for it, then I need to get started.

Yeah, I know this is very vague post and a very vague topic but I don’t want to go into detail until I have a definitive decision one way or another.

I’m just hoping that by the end of this month, the decision will be made and I can stop the almost constant debate in my head.

I cannot believe that it is already December 7! Where has this year gone?

Anywho, our 13th wedding anniversary is tomorrow. We don’t have any plans, though. We went out to Texas Roadhouse for our anniversary dinner last night. Mike has been battling what we thought was a cold but turned out to be a possible sinus infection (thanks to a trip to urgent care) so we’re just spending the rest of his days off at home. Which is fine with me since I have a ton of movies that I want him to watch and I really do enjoy him being home. Then next weekend we have our friends ugly Christmas sweater party, which will be a ton of fun. I cannot wait!

I am also planning on having a Christmas get-together for the family. Nothing big, just some finger/party foods and good company. Since my Nan passed away in 2011, the Christmas tradition on my Mom’s side of the family of getting together on Christmas Eve just stopped. And it really is a shame because it was always one of the highlights of the season. So I’m hoping to start a new tradition for the family.

Unfortunately, the remainder of this month will be work, work and more work. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and the whole family/presents thing. But the extra work required so I can assure my family has some good gifts can be more than a bit stressful. Especially when there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in a day to get everything done. But I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling stressed during this time of the year.

October has ended and November is in full swing. I don’t know how I feel about that. On one hand, I’m looking forward to decorating for Christmas and doing all the family-related Thanksgiving/Christmas activities that come along with the holiday season. On the other hand, I’m not particularly fond of the cold and just hate that, with each passing year, the time seems to go by so much quicker. And, at the beginning of the year, I honestly thought I would have more things accomplished by now then I actually have. Time can be a cruel bitch.

This time next year, Raven should be in college. And if she has it her way, she will be living in the dorms. Which means that for most of the day, it will just be me and the two cats until Mike comes home from work. While I am no stranger to being alone (as an only child I’m pretty much use to it), I am still not looking forward to her heading off to college. How could I? She has been one of the few constants in my life for over 17 years and now, in a matter of what will be mere months, she is going to be out of the house and starting the journey into her own adult life.

To say I’m sad about it would be an understatement.

On the bright side, the college she is going to is only about 20 minutes away, which means she will have no excuse to not come home on the weekends and holidays. And even if she does have excuses, I can easily stop by on my way grocery shopping.

It just still won’t be the same without her actually living here 24/7.

It won’t feel like home anymore.

It will feel like something is missing.

Her.

It’s been a little over a month since my last post. Things have been busy, busy, busy and I just didn’t have time to blog. Along with my normal workload, I have been making our costumes for the Halloween party, which is tonight. I made the masks and armor using pepakura, which is essentially paper craft. You print out the desired item on cardstock, cut it out, fold it and glue it together. It is time consuming but such fun! And the costumes came out awesome. I cannot wait to post pictures. I’m purposely not divulging what our costumes are. The husband wants to keep it hush hush until the party. But pictures will be posted in the coming days!

Last weekend was a busy one, in a good way.

Friday Mike and I watched our 2 year old niece (I’ll just call her L on my blog) and not-even-a-year-old-yet nephew (who we’ll call R). Taking care of a toddler and baby is something that we haven’t done in ages. Raven is 17 years old so it’s been awhile. But it was actually pretty fun.

L watched 3 Disney movies (starting with Frozen, followed by Aristocats and then The Little Mermaid), made her own chocolate milk, ate pancakes for breakfast and scrambled eggs for lunch, tried to play with our 2 cats (she essentially just threw their toys at them), made us act out scenes from Frozen, colored, played with various toys she brought with her and explored our small home.

R was easy peasy. He didn’t fuss much, expect for a few seconds when he was tired but quickly feel asleep when I rocked him. He seemed content with either sitting on mine or Mike’s lap or having me hold him while I cooked. He was also amazed at the cats. He would just stare at them and then burst out laughing before babbling like crazy. I think he was trying to talk to them.

After they left, Mike and I ended up taking an hour nap before Raven came home from school. Even though both L and R were an absolute dream to watch, it sure did wear us out! I cannot wait for them to come back! But I need to remember to buy some coloring books (we already have an abundance of notebook paper and crayons) and maybe some kid-type crafts for me and L to do when she comes back over.

Saturday we were suppose to go to Audra State Park to swim with some friends. But it got canceled because of the weather. Ninty-percent chance of rain and thunderstorms. We are hoping to go this weekend. Instead, we went shopping for a birthday gift for our friend’s 2 year old son (who is another awesome kid) and just hung around the house. Sunday was the birthday party, which was fun and the cake was YUMMY, and afterward we just hung out and talked with more awesome people.

How was your weekend?

What I’m Looking Forward To This Fall:

• • Days with less humidity
• • Pumpkin EVERYTHING!!! (yep, that deserved 3 exclamation marks)
• • Leaves of a different color
• • Long sleeve shirts
• • Fall decorating
• • Baking pumpkin bread and cookies
• • Fright Farm
• • Apple Butter Festival
• • Halloween
• • Did I mention PUMPKIN FLAVORED EVERYTHING!!!

What are you looking forward to this fall?

So, it’s now Friday morning and I have – so far – resisted the major urge to step on the scale. But despite the pull to check my weight, I feel pretty good. I think my face looks less bloated, or at least it seems that way to me. I have been avoiding snacking when I’m simply bored, which I tend to do a lot, and have increased the amount of exercising I do. Along with a short kickboxing routine, I have been trying to increase my steps to 10,000 a day. Despite those possibly positive aspects, I’m a bit worried about stepping back on the scale Monday morning. What if there is a gain? Then the little bit of positive feelings I have will go straight out the window. So there’s that.

Besides all the weight issues, I’m just trying to prepare for Raven’s last year of high school. Her first day of school is this coming Thursday. She has already gotten her senior vaccinations last week but still no new glasses. No place will take our new insurance that we were forced to get because of Obamacare. However, if nothing else, we will just pay out of pocket for the exam and glasses.

We also have to finish school supply/clothing shopping. We got most of the school clothing shopping done, but I would like for her to get a few more shirts and a new pair of shoes.

What about you? Are you ready for the upcoming school season?

I am one of those people that immediately (after using the bathroom) weighs themselves every morning. In fact, I usually periodically weigh myself throughout the day. I know this is ridiculous and a big no-no since your weight fluctuates, but I just have an urge to step on the scale. Usually I feel horrible afterwards but sometimes, on those rare occasions when my weight drops a pound or two, I get ecstatic.

But this week it’s going to be different. I have vowed not to step on the scale until this coming Monday. And while I do still have the strong urge, I haven’t weighed myself since Saturday morning! Instead of focusing on a number this week, I’m going to focus on trying to make the right choices (no, I don’t need to grab a snack just because I’m bored) and exercising a bit more.

The exercising is difficult for me at the moment because I have just been feeling extremely tired. It’s not uncommon for me to be tired since I have iron deficiency anemia (had it since I was born, my body cannot hold on to iron like it should so I have like no iron in my body at all, which means I am always tired and could become jaundice and require a blood transfusion), but this past month it seems like I am even more tired than normal. No matter how much sleep I get, I am just worn out. But I’m trying to push through the tiredness and up the amount of movement I do during the day.

So, I have a new theme, as if you couldn’t tell. And I am still getting everything straightened out. If you notice anything a bit wonky, I would be extremely appreciative if you would let me know! Now, I’m going to take a break from my blog and bake some cookies.

So far I am doing OK on my July goals. Not great, but better then even I actually expected. Here is a quick update so far:

Lose 5 to 10 pounds.
I have lost 2.5 pounds so far, so I guess that’s something. I don’t want to get too excited in case I end up gaining them back. But the end of the month is quickly approaching and I’m not sure if I can make it to my goal of losing 5 to 10 pounds.

Walk at the very least 2 miles five days a week.
Ha ha ha ha, nope. I did start exercising again but twisted my ankle yesterday when weed-eating so that will throw me off.

Manage my time better.
I don’t think I will ever be able to accomplish this task.

Go on some kind of day trip.
This hasn’t happened yet, but I am hoping we can somehow squeeze in a small day trip before the end of the month.

Wash the outside of our house.
I actually did this task a week or two ago. But it didn’t give me the results I was hoping for. Our house has wood siding that is painted a grayish blue. And I thought that giving it a good scrub down would make it look so much better. While it did improve the look a bit, the siding is just so stained that it still looks a bit dingy.

Get the basement cleaned up.
Haven’t tackled this task yet.

Re-organize and clean the storage room.
Starting on this one sometime day.

Increase the number of clients I have.
I am extremely happy to say that I did increase my number of clients. And while it was an increase of only 3 (so far), it looks like I will be working with those 3 new clients on multiple projects.

Finally make that BIG decision.
Another goal that I haven’t even begun to touch. I am still wishy washy on this decision. Some days I feel like it would be great and am full steam a head, and other days I am like “WTF, how could I even consider it!”