2016 - Success Begins with CHANGE

Now that Christmas and the Holidays are out of the way, I feel like I'm ready to buckle down and do things differently.

Set some goals for success, make a schedule, discipline myself... changes have to happen to get better results.

Writing things down and setting a time line is going to have to be a must. I'm normal pretty "fly by the seat of my pants", no plans. Just spontaneously going about everything. Well, as much as I like doing things that way, they haven't worked out well.

If he was here

Starting to get excited about the house being finished. We have less than a month left. But what I was thinking about this morning was how I wish my dad was here to see it. 

I can see him now. He would come to visit, walking around with no socks on and a pair of jeans hanging off his tail with the cracks of his tail showing, laying around on the bed, on the computer listening to gospel music, getting cookie crumbs in the bed and wasting pop on my carpet. Then I would look at him and say, "When you leavin'?!?"

I miss seeing the world through my camera lens.  I haven't picked my camera up much in the last year, since my dad died. He loved taking pictures.  Always told me I was great at it.  Couldn't wait until I started taking them more professionally.  He was my cheerleader with that.  Couldn't quite figure out why I would pay for my kids sports pictures and school pictures when I could undoubtedly take them myself. 

It's been a year and I finally picked up my camera just for the enjoyment of it.  I took pictures of a friend's kids.  I'm rusty.  I feel like a rookie again, trying to figure out the right settings.  But it made me smile to do it again.

New home

We're building our new house. Which is pretty exciting right? Scheduled to be complete by December 11th... With lots of prayers. I haven't quite got excited about the house yet. Even for our first house I never gotten excited during the building process. I think that getting excited over something that could potentially fail was a little scary to me. And that may be the case this time. But the house has started going up, they've already started framing it, and I have to admit, that when I saw all the house being framed I was pretty excited. Maybe more so because I'm excited for it to be complete on time. I mean, talking complete right before Christmas. I want to be moved into my house and settled enough to put up a Christmas tree and enjoy Christmas in our new home.

Feelin' all mommy-like and stuff

Got the blender going this morning... as always. A little something to boost my energy. 

Got the husband off to work with his coffee. 

Got the kids off to school with a breakfast and packed lunches. 

As usual, I'm debating on going to the gym. But, as usual, the gym will win the debate. 

So I start the day of the stay-at-home mom who doesn't stay at home. And while you often might hear me complain, I love this job. It's the most rewarding job I'll ever have. And even though I use to complain that I really really wanted a "real job", job where I can be anything other than just a mom, I just can't see myself not being here for them if ever they need me.

Thanks for Sharing, Kids!

I just love that my kids want to share everything with me. They share how their day went, who got in trouble in class, how many laps their coach made them do. They share all of the gossip they hear on the sxhool bus and from the neighboorhood kids. They share the jokes they learned and the tricks they can now do. They share how much they've grown by comparing themselves to being "almost as tall" as me. They share their personal side, even the things that are TMI!  They share the reasons for their laughter and the reasons That they cry. They sometimes share their snacks and always share flowers they pick from outside... just for mom.

I love how much they share with me and how much of themselves they give. 

I just wish they would stop sharing when it comes to their colds...

Technology Takeover

I've lost the fabulousness to my mommyhood.  My kids are addicted to their game apps and so am I.  No one goes to be before midnight and I don't go to before 1am.  The kids are bored and often stay in pajamas most of the day.  This summer heat has sucked the life out of me.  NO!  This computer has sucked the life out of me!  Between work, school and game apps, I don't want to DO much else.  I suck at parenting! 

Something's gotta give!

Summer Workout Plan with the Kids

Spent the morning working out with Miss Missy and CJ (Cam had a lot of attitude and spent his time doing chores instead) and had a ball.  I was kind of surprised that Miss Missy kept up without giving up.  I found a great Spartan Kids Training Program for kids that was posted by a friend, but you can find the printable version at kidsfitfoundation.org

I think we'll stick with this.  I also added in my new challenge.  Right now, we're doing the 30-Day AB CHALLENGE in my group.  Many are still working on the 30-Day SQUAT CHALLENGE and some have opted to do them both.  Want to join us?  Click on the link and join the group!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/170603523095306/

Here's the 30-Day AB CHALLENGE:

One thing Hubs and I agree on is teaching the kids to be lead healthy lifestyles.  For us, allowing them to spend countless hours playing video games without any outside time is not going to happen. 

Does this mean they aren't allow to play video games? 

Not at all.  The boys love bonding together playing NBA Live and Miss Missy has a bit of a ROBLOKS addiction when she can find an empty computer, but often we as parents tend to get lost in our own worlds and take advantage of the quiet time that the video game marathons give us.  A lot of kids spend a lot of their time playing games indoors rather than enjoying the outdoor games that we did when we were kids. 

Kids have lost their imagination and creativity and when they go outside they are BOOOOOOOORED because they can't find anything to do.  What happened to the games we use to play to pass the time while we were outside?  You  know, those days when your mama said, "Don't come back in this house or you're staying inside."  Yeah, so because of those words, we hydrated at the water hose  in the neighborhood and came up with games to play OUTSIDE. 

TAG, RED-LIGHT/GREEN-LIGHT, MOTHER-MAY-I?, JUMP ROPE, KICKBALL

Any of these sound familiar?

Kids now have absolutely no idea what it means to just play outside and have FUN until the streetlights come on.

So, this summer, we're shooting for NO LAZINESS as we get up out of our beds in the mornings and get in a workout... TOGETHER!  I have committed to doing a workout plan anyway, so to add in the kids workout is just a great way to push me that much harder.  So, I'm ready.  I'm going to BEAST it this summer and be an example for the kids. 

WHEW!  I'm already tired just thinking about it!

Doggie Hunger Strike!

Ginger ran out of dog food the night the night before we were to drive to Albany for my stepdaughter's graduation. Her normal dogfood comes from Petsmart and because it was after 8 when I noticed it and I was in the middle of braiding Miss Missy's hair AND there is no Petsmart in our little town (it's about a 15min drive down the highway), Chris went to Foodlion to grab her a bag.

Now, if you know Ginger, you know that she is the most picky dog in the world. Any dog that will walk away from a half-cooked turkey meatball that has fallen out of the frying pan on to the floor really is not your average dog. Apparently it wasn't done enough for her. Well, Chris was sure she would eat the dogfood because it had chunks of chicken in it. I simply smirked as he put if in her dish because I know that changing her food usually causes the dog to go on a hunger strike. 

Well, she laid down next to her bowl and started eating. (Yes, she is just that lazy that she LAYS down to eat her food!). She was eating it. A few minutes later she walks away, leaving chunks of dogfood on the floor.  She'd done just as I though she would. She took out all of the chicken pieces and left the green vegatable and other pieces in the bowl. 

So now, refusing to buy her another bag, Chris has banned everyone from feeding her until she eats the other pieces of food on her bowl!

He doesn't know her very well because I'm sure she will sooner starve than eat food she doesn't like. As I type, her stomach is growling SO loud and so much I'm going to have to sneak her some food out of sympathy! 

The Pain! The Agony! THE FEET!

It was quite the beautiful morning this morning and I got up and decided to walk the kids to school.  The school is literally a 5 minute walk and I think they could seriously walk it daily if the rules here in Groovytown were not that kids can't walk to school without a parent..  There were only 2 other parents that walked their kids to school today.  Sad, I think because it's a great bonding time and great exercise as well.

However, my feet hurt so bad!  Every since that 4 hour walk Chris and I took down by Savannah River, my feet haven't been quite right.  And the 2 weeks off of them that the doctor recommended, well that didn't work.  My arches are non-existent.  I'm not happy about that because that causes me the worst trouble in my exercises.  I think it also could be the cause of the cramps I'm always getting in my leg muscles.  I think it's the peroneus longus (Whatever that means)


So what's the solution?

New shoes?  Dr. Scholls?  Surgery?  Not sure what the next step is, but It's only getting worse and it's now hurting to walk around stores, take walks and stand too long.