Happy Homemaker Monday

So today, I am joining Sandra today over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for her Happy Homemaker Monday theme! 

Breakfast time, what is on the plate this morning:::: I had a bowl of lucky charms cereal. Not the healthiest but was in the mood for it.

On this week's to do list:::: I have decided to change this to a weekly to do list because it makes more sense to me... So this week we have: Benjamin speech therapy, back to work for me, back to school for Rebecca, Jacob open house for preschool, Rebecca has softball, Rebecca has a birthday party to attend, and dealing with my hubby's crazy schedule. 

Currently reading:::: The Healing Quilt by Wandy E. Brunstetter and The Matchmaker: A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand

On the TV today:::: At some point this week I want to watch "A Walk to Remember" that I DVRed last week.

The weather outside is::: . We are supposed to have storms later today.

On the menu this week:::: I actually have some ideas of what to fix this week, but am not assigning days as I find that too constrictive.....so our choices for this week are: 

Chili and grilled cheese
Fish sticks, broccoli, baked potatoes, sweet potato fries
Pizza and salad
Hamburgers and french fries
Subs, chips and watermelon
Hot dogs and baked beans
Potatoes and sausage bake and macaroni and cheese
Baked bbq chicken, green beans, corn and carrots

If I have a few minutes to myself, I will:::: browse Pinterest for some exercise ideas and motivational quotes

Favorite photo from the camera::::

Praying for:::: direction and patience to wait on His timing. For my husband who is dealing with depression. For Rebecca as she goes back to school this week. For me, as I go back to work.

Bible Verse, Devotional that is resonating me with at the moment:::: 

picture credit

Thanks Sandra for hosting! Hope everyone has a great week! 

Date night and weekend randomness

Ever have one of those days were you feel like you are running around in circles but never really getting any where. That was me on Saturday. Rebecca was supposed to have softball practice, but it got cancelled at the last minute (10 minutes before she was supposed to be there) so that kind of threw my day off. I did get some exercise on the wii in which was good. Then the afternoon was filled in with getting all 3 kids bathed while Bill was gone for work. And I had to get myself and Rebecca ready to leave by 4:10 as there was open house for Rebecca and back to school mass as well. I had to work open house for my job, so I took Rebecca and Bill stayed home with the boys. After I got back home, Bill decided that he was going to be in charge of our date night.

For our date night, Bill decided that he would be in charge of dinner for us. He fed the kids before Rebecca and I got back home....When I came home, he said he had to go get our dinner. He ordered us subs from a local pizza place, that is actually right across the street from where we live. He ordered me my favorite sub from there...the BLT sub! It was yummy.

After we got the kids to bed, we sat down to watch a movie and to have some french silk ice cream. I opened a new account at our local Family Video store and since I get half price rentals for a month, I went over and decided to rent:

I will have to say that Bill and I both enjoyed this movie. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it looked like the most interesting movie that the video store had to rent. I was pleasantly surprised and would highly recommend it.

Today, I think we are just doing a lazy day at home for me and the kids. Bill has a bunch of writing to do for work. I need to make a run to the library to see if they have any Disney Nature movies for the kids to watch. And I need to get some laundry done, as well as some cleaning and getting ready for back to school, which for us is Wednesday.

Have you done anything fun this weekend? What are your plans today? 

Meant to be Mine by Becky Wade (book review)

From the back cover: 
Ty Porter has always been irresistible to Celia Park. All through high school--irresistible. When their paths cross again after college--still irresistible. This time, though, Ty seems to feel exactly the same way about Celia. Their whirlwind romance deposits them at a street-corner Las Vegas wedding chapel. 

The next morning they wake to a marriage certificate and a dose of cold reality. Celia's ready to be Ty's wife, but Ty's not ready to be her husband. He's a professional bull rider, he lives on the road, and he's long planned to settle down with the hometown girl he's known since childhood. 

Five and a half years pass. Celia's buried her dreams so that she can afford to raise her daughter. Ty's achieved all of his goals. Or thought he had, until he looks again into the eyes of the woman he couldn't forget and into the face of the child he never knew he had.

How much will Ty sacrifice to win back Celia's trust and prove to her that their spontaneous marriage can still become the love of a lifetime?

MY THOUGHTS: 
I have read other books by Becky Wade and one of the things that I like about her books is that her characters are real. They are relatable and you really feel like you are living through them. Meant to Be Mine is no exception. I love that Ty is a totally self absorbed, frustrating bull rider. He fits the epitome of what I feel a bull rider should be. Celia was likable as a girlfriend, in that you felt her frustration and pain at the situation while also sympathizing with her loving Ty but wanting to deny it. You felt for her being a single mom who only has her best interests of her daughter at heart. 

Along with the characters, the story in and of itself was heartwarming and moved along quickly. I finished the book over the course of 2 days because I could not put it down. There were parts that leading up to (like when would Ty find out that Celia's daughter is his?) seemed to be on a predictable path, however Wade doesn't follow the predictable path. She keeps the reader intrigued through this way. 

I would highly recommend Meant to Be Mine by Becky Wade. 

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Things on my mind: random post

Do you  know how hard it is to watch 2 rambunctious boys on the playground while also trying to have some vested interest in a little girl's softball practice? Welcome to my world. Last night Rebecca had softball practice, and there is a playground right next to the field that she was practicing on. Which is great, except Benjamin has decided it is his goal to escape to the road that winds through the park anytime I do not have my eyes directly on him, and Jacob decided that he didn't want to get along with some of the other children there last night. And to make matters worse, Bill had to stay at work instead of being able to come and help. He got there the last 15 minutes....

It wasn't all bad news though...Benjamin learned how to go down the slide by himself. Which he enjoyed doing over and over and over. LOL

This morning, I decided to take a chance and walk the kids down to the playground near our house. It is about a 15 minute walk there.  The kids seemed to enjoy the walk and they liked playing on the playground, although it was stressful for me as it is not really meant for 2 year olds. The bonus was that they were the only kids there and so they had there run of the playground. The other bonus was it meant that I got a 30 minute walk in for exercise! :)

I did learn something this morning to file for later....when you take the kids to the park before 10am, make sure to take a towel to dry off the slides or you will hear that they are wet all the way on the walk home, but not on the playground itself. LOL

Today, I need to get some stuff done. I just got my work schedule for next week and the week after and because of a change in school dismissal time, I am losing 1.25 hours of time. Stinks, but there is nothing I can do about it. I can't believe that school starts next week. This weekend we have softball practice for Rebecca and Open House for Rebecca and I have to work it for my job.

Sorry this post is just kind of random, but that is where my mind is today.....

Weigh In Wednesday #3

In an effort to lose 40 lbs over the course of the next year (by July 28, 2015) I have decided to have a weekly accountability forum here on my blog. Every Wednesday I will be posting a "Weigh In Wednesday" post where I will post my weight taken that morning and things that I did good on the previous week, and things (goals) to work on for the next week. I think that by doing this, I can break it down into smaller goals and hopefully make myself more accountable!

First let's recap my official starting weight was:::  235.6 lbs.
My weight last week was::: 235.8 lbs
My weight this week is:::236.4... a gain of over half a pound :(

My food goal for last week::: Only drink 1 pop a day, the rest of the time choose water.-- 
I did okay with this goal for the most part. I definitely drank less pop and was more conscious of what decisions I was making. Or at least I thought I was. But apparently since I gained again, I really wasn't.

My fitness goal for last week:::Do an exercise activity at least 20 minutes at least 4 days this week.-- I only did 1 conscious workout on the Wii...although I did run around in the yard with the kids one day and I chased the boys on the playground during Rebecca's softball practice. 

I think I just stink at this. I am frustrated. Lying to myself that I am making changes. I am ticked off right now. Maybe that is what I need. To be mad. To be angry with myself. I thought about putting that I had not gained or lost this week on here because I didn't want to face it. But you know what, that would be lying and I hate liars. I have to stop lying to myself. I need to buck up and do this. 

So, my food goal for this week is::: I am going to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks. No eating after 8pm. 

And my fitness goal for this week is::: Do 3 20 minute workouts. 

So there you have it. I had a very bad week. This coming week will be better because I am ticked off.

Any words of wisdom? Thoughts? Advice? 

I would love to have all the support I can get!!
If you are trying to lose weight, feel free to tag along on these posts as well! Would love some company on this weight loss journey! 

Shopping wins and frustrations!

So a few weeks ago, I used a gift card to buy me 2 pairs of jeans at Kmart. The jeans were 27.99 and 17.49 each. Well when I put them on at home I really didn't like how they looked so I decided to take them back.

Well tonight, we headed out to Kmart as Bill needed some new jeans and some new tennis shoes. Kmart had men's jeans for as little as $10.99 each regular price! All their women's jeans were at least $24.99 or more. I found a pair of capris I liked, but was not going to spend $26.99 on them!  Seriously, why are men's jeans so much less than women's???? Frustrating!

Overall, tonight Bill was able to get 2 pairs of jeans, a t-shirt and a pair of tennis shoes for the price I paid for 2 pairs of jeans that I returned. ANNOYING!!!!!

It wasn't all bad though. I have been wanting to get a new comforter for our bed, as the one we have been using is at least 10 years old. I found the perfect one and it was on sale too for $19! It is turquoise on one side and green on the other and matches our sheet set perfectly! I am really happy with it.

Earlier today the kids and I went to our local Goodwill store to see what they had in stock and I will say that I was able to get 2 pairs of pants that I can wear to work,a dress for church, and 2 sweaters for winter that I can wear for work as well.

So it wasn't all bad shopping today...just frustrated over the price of women's jeans versus men's jeans!

Happy Homemaker Monday

How can it be Monday afternoon already? This weekend flew by...Saturday's date night was a HUGE SUCCESS! Bill was surprised that we were going to Subway, then was THRILLED that I was taking him to see "Guardians of the Galaxy." I will admit that the movie was nothing like I thought it would be. It was nothing like the other Marvel super hero movies that we have seen. But it was REALLY good! There were numerous funny parts and I was impressed. 

This morning, I had my last tutoring session of the summer (can't believe school starts middle of next week!) and then had to take Benjamin to his speech therapy session. I am finally sitting down to type this out....Monday's seem to move along rather quickly.  

So today, I am joining Sandra today over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for her Happy Homemaker Monday theme! 

Breakfast time, what is on the plate this morning:::: This morning I had to tutor and so I had an easy breakfast of cheerios and a banana! Easy Peasy! 

On this week's to do list:::: I have decided to change this to a weekly to do list because it makes more sense to me... So this week we have: Benjamin speech therapy, getting back into work to get some things done, working on work from home, Rebecca has softball, need to make a trip to the library, need to make a trip to Kmart to return some pants that don't fit. 

Currently reading:::: The Healing Quilt by Wandy E. Brunstetter

On the TV today:::: kids were watching cartoons this morning, I have "A Walk to Remember" on the dvr to watch, but I might just tune into some shark shows for Discovery Channel's Shark week, although I had to turn off the one last night as it was all Hollywood and not really a documentary. I like REAL documentaries and not some fantasy shark shows. 

The weather outside is::::Today it is rainy. We need the rain, so it is okay with me. 

On the menu this week:::: I actually have some ideas of what to fix this week, but am not assigning days as I find that too constrictive.....so tonight we will chicken patties, french fries, and apples
The rest of the week we will have the choice of: 
spaghetti
ham and cheese rollups, green beans and fruit
fish sticks and clam strips, peas, and carrots
sloppy joes, green beans, applesauce
pizza
????

If I have a few minutes to myself, I will:::: read some of my book, browse Pinterest

Favorite photo from the camera::::

This is the mess that Benjamin decided to make with his yogurt one day with his lunch. LOL

Visiting with blog friends (blog you want to share, blog post that caught your eye):::: I really think I might want to make this chicken broccoli hotdish for my family.

Praying for:::: direction and patience to wait on His timing. For my sister as she is preparing to head off to college. My brother as he is preparing to enter high school. Rebecca as she is preparing to head back to school. Jacob as he is preparing to head to school for the first time. 

Bible Verse, Devotional that is resonating me with at the moment:::: 

Picture Credit

Thanks Sandra for hosting! Hope everyone has a great week! 

Date night with hubby

So the other day I got a book in the mail that had 52 different ideas for cheap dates to go on with your spouse for review. (Look for the review in the next couple of weeks). When I opened it, Hubby and I started talking about how we need to start making it a priority to have a date night at least twice a month. We were having a date night once a week but then with summer we got away from it, and we need that adult time with each other. So we have decided to have a date night at least 2 times a month at minimum, with each of us responsible for 1 of those nights. We said that they don't have to cost a lot of money and they may in fact just be us eating dinner at home after the kids go to bed or an idea like that. We will probably try out some of the ideas in the book as well.

Well, tonight is my turn. I told Bill that I would plan a date night this week. After the week we have had, I think we need a night out. So I have decided to do something that we used to do when we were dating...dinner and a movie.

I know it sounds cliche, but I think this will be a good choice for us tonight. To keep costs down, I have asked my sister to babysit. She is leaving for college in 2 weeks, so am trying to take advantage of her being around. Also instead of going somewhere fancy for dinner, Bill and I will go to our local Subway shop to eat.

As for the movie, I am planning on taking Bill to see this:

We have seen all the rest of the Marvel movies. Most of them we saw in the theater, but a few we have only seen on DVD. I think that after the emotional week that Bill has had, I wanted to do something for him that I know he will like. And in keeping with the idea of keeping cost down, I have a free movie ticket that we had won at Rebecca's school's dinner auction last year that I will use. And since we are going to go eat first, I will probably suggest we don't get popcorn. I don't need the extra calories anyway.

So I hope that this date works out and that Bill has fun. I am trying to do something I know he will enjoy, but also keep it somewhat low cost and do things a little different than we would normally do.

Do you date your spouse? 

Any date night ideas for future dates? 

So, hubby got a job offer and other things on my mind....

First of all, I have alluded in posts in the past, that my husband is looking for a better paying job. If he wants to advance his career in sports journalism, he has to find something else and more than likely that something else would be out of the state of Ohio. Well yesterday, hubby received a job offer in North Carolina, which happens to be one of the states that we would like to move to. It was for a little more than what he is making now, however, it was just a little less than what we are making combined now. And we just can't make that work. Finances are tight right now as it is, and if we were to move to the area where it looks like the cost of living is about $1000 more per year than what we are making combined now then it is a no go. Bill is very disappointed. I am disappointed, but it wasn't meant to be. 

One thing it did make us realize though is that we are not prepared to make a move to another state in the next 2 weeks. We have so much stuff and crap in this house that I need to do a major declutter. So I will be focusing a lot of energy on that here in the coming weeks. In an effort to declutter, I have been selling some items on our town's local facebook yard sale wall. I have sold several items of kids clothes and toys. It is frustrating though when people want the stuff, but don't get back to you about picking it up. Annoying....

School is getting ready to go back into session...Rebecca goes back in about a week and a half. Jacob starts preschool right after Labor Day. I went and got all their supplies today. I just need to make sure Rebecca's uniforms fit her. That also means that I go back to work....I have mixed feelings on this. I like my job, but there are times that I feel I should be doing something more.

We had to take Benjamin for a developmental/autism evaluation yesterday morning based on a referral from his pediatrician and his speech therapist. We were able to get an appointment within 2 weeks, when we were originally told that it would probably take 4-5 months. The good news is that most of the behaviors that have his speech therapist worried and us worried are normal 2 year old behaviors. The couple of items that he does, like spinning chairs, etc., that were warning flags for his speech therapist, are not something that we need to be concerned about and they do not believe he is on the autism spectrum. However, she would like us to have him evaluated at the main hospital to see if there are some developmental delays that we should be working on. She said it would probably be 3-4 months to get an appointment...well we have that appt, in a few weeks. Things are moving along fast with that. 

So there you have it. I have had a LOT on my mind the last week or so. Life has been stressful, but we are looking ahead to the weekend which looks busy, busy, busy. 

How is your life going? Any big things going on? 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! 

Weigh In Wednesday #2

In an effort to lose 40 lbs over the course of the next year (by July 28, 2015) I have decided to have a weekly accountability forum here on my blog. Every Wednesday I will be posting a "Weigh In Wednesday" post where I will post my weight taken that morning and things that I did good on the previous week, and things (goals) to work on for the next week. I think that by doing this, I can break it down into smaller goals and hopefully make myself more accountable!

First let's recap my official starting weight was:::  235.6 lbs.
My weight last week was::: 235.6lbs
My weight this week is::: 235.8lbs....meaning I GAINED 0.2lbs. :(

I did bad on my goals last week which is why I gained.

My food goal for last week::: Only drink 1 diet pop a day, the rest of the time choose water. Well I started out really well....then slipped off the wagon. The weekend was especially hard, as we were out of the house all day Sunday and I had Dr. Pepper at Burger King with lunch, then shared Sierra Mist with my hubby at the zoo, then had 2 diet cokes at Roosters for dinner. Monday, I had 2 pops, and on Tuesday I had a caffeine free coke as well. Need to really work on this. 
My fitness goal for last week::: Do a Wii Fit activity for 20 minutes at least 4 days. This was a fail. I didn't do any Wii workouts. In fact other than housework and walking over 2 miles at the zoo on Sunday this is a complete fail.  

Last week was not a good week. I was in a depressed mood a lot of the week and really didn't eat very well over the weekend. It wasn't that I was snacking a lot, it was that I ate out too many times and made bad choices when we did eat out. I know that. And if I want to make these changes, I HAVE TO STEP IT UP! 

So I really need to step it up. I need to do this so that I can hit my goals. Once again I will focus on drinking less pop, making better food choices and moving more. We shall see how it goes. 

So, my food goal for this week is::: Only drink 1 pop a day, the rest of the time choose water. 
And my fitness goal for this week is::: Do an exercise activity at least 20 minutes at least 4 days this week. 

So there you have it. I had a bad week. This week will be better.

Any words of wisdom? Thoughts? Advice? 

I would love to have all the support I can get!!
If you are trying to lose weight, feel free to tag along on these posts as well! Would love some company on this weight loss journey! 

Went to the zoo....

I owed my sister a trip to the zoo before she heads off to college in a couple of weeks. She had not been to the zoo since she was in the first grade! Also,  my in-laws wanted to take Bill, I and the kids to the zoo for my birthday last week (We were supposed to go last Sunday, but it ended up being rainy and stormy all day). So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and invited my sister to come with us for our trip to the zoo on Sunday.

There was some minor disturbances as we headed to the zoo. Bill has printed off directions, as the zoo is a little over an hour away. However, at one point we had to find a different route, as one of the roads had a bridge out. We were able to use the GPS on my sister's smart phone (as Bill and I both have "dumb" phones), which of course took us a route that Bill didn't want to go, but we got there anyways...We were 15 minutes later than what we had told my in-laws that we would meet them, but we got there.

The weather was warm and sunny...and so the zoo was packed and we had to park 0.4 miles away from the entrance (Bill mapped it out last night).....

Once in the zoo, most of the animals were sleeping, but there were a few that were wide awake. We went to the zoo's new Africa exhibit that just opened a few months ago, and it was crowded! I love the fact that the lions are now closer to you (before they were just in a chain link cage) and that the zoo finally has giraffes back, but overall I was underwhelmed at the exhibits.

We visited the African safari exhibits, part of North America exhibit, the seashore exhibit, and the African congo exhibits and of course the kids had to stop and climb on every scultpture that they had!

Rebecca, Jacob and Benjamin loved looking at the animals. Rebecca's favorite animal was the okapi. Jacob said he liked the monkeys. And Benjamin liked pointing to the different animals; this is the first trip where he has shown interest in some of the animals. My sister said her favorite part of the zoo was the humans! She said she liked people watching. My favorite I think was the giraffes, just because I think they are beautiful animals, and they were so close!

As we were just leaving the zoo and heading home, my dad called and invited us to meet them at Rooster's restaurant for dinner. So we got out my sister's GPS again and headed that way. We had a fun time at dinner with them and had some tasty wings! Then we headed home after a long, hot, busy day!

When was the last time you were at a zoo? 

What is your favorite zoo animal? 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Man this weekend seems to have gone by fast. I had high hopes for getting things done, but really only got a few things done on my to do list. Part of that was that we spent the entire day out of the house yesterday---first with church, then lunch, then a trip to the zoo, then meeting up with my parents for dinner, finally getting home around 10pm last night. So I have just added those things to my to do list for this week, and I am okay with that as that is how life goes at times.... 

Today, I am joining Sandra today over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for her Happy Homemaker Monday theme! And to keep things interesting, she has given us some new questions for this week :) 

Breakfast time, what is on the plate this morning:::: This morning I had to tutor and I got up late, so I had a muffin, a banana, and a glass of orange juice.

On this week's to do list:::: I have decided to change this to a weekly to do list because it makes more sense to me... So this week we have: Benjamin speech therapy, getting back into work to get some things done, working on work from home, Benjamin has an evaluation appt in Columbus, Rebecca has softball, need to make a trip to the library, back to school shopping for Jacob, plan a date night with Bill. 

Currently reading::::Family Pictures by Jane Green

On the TV today:::: kids were watching cartoons this morning, I have "Chasing Life" on the dvr to watch, but the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds are playing tonight so I may have to watch that.

The weather outside is::::Today it is sunny and warm

On the menu this week:::: I actually have some ideas of what to fix this week, but am not assigning days as I find that too constrictive.....so tonight we will have salmon, fish sticks, rice, broccoli and carrots. 
The rest of the week we will have the choice of: 
spaghetti
chicken tenders, green beans and fruit
baked chicken with sauce, corn, potatoes of some kind
taco bake and green beans
pizza
hot dogs and macaroni and cheese

If I have a few minutes to myself, I will::::make a list of date ideas, read some of my book

Favorite photo from the camera::::

Visiting with blog friends (blog you want to share, blog post that caught your eye):::: This article caught my eye this week about finding the joy in each individual child and their milestones. 

Praying for::::direction and patience to wait on His timing. For my sister as she is preparing to head off to college. My brother as he is preparing to enter high school. Rebecca as she is preparing to head back to school. Jacob as he is preparing to head to school for the first time. 

Bible Verse, Devotional that is resonating me with at the moment:::: 

photo credit

Thanks Sandra for hosting! Hope everyone has a great week! 

My LONG weekend to-do list

Photo Source

I can't believe it is August already!!! Time is flying and I have been trying to just take it easy, as with August comes back to school, back to work, softball for Rebecca, more appointments for Ben, and just more life....Since I have been trying to just enjoy summer, time has gotten away from me this week. I really have gotten nothing done at home, for no real reason, other than maybe laziness. Things have piled up and seriously I am fed up. I have made a major to do list that I would like to get accomplished between today and tomorrow, that will hopefully help set up next week for a good week. 

So here is what I would like to get done:

• Clean out pantry/mudroom-- this room has become the dumping ground for stuff, as it is the room we enter when we get home. Needs some major decluttering.
• Mop kitchen and dining room floors
• Email fall ball softball schedule to grandparents
• Laundry--- Would like to be completely caught up by Sunday, this involves washing, drying, folding and putting away. I have at least 4 loads to do, probably more. 
• List at least 20 things on local facebook page to sell
• Write and schedule latest book review
• Have Rebecca try on her school uniforms to see what if anything we need to get
• Exercise at least 2 days over Friday, Saturday, Sunday
• Get work binder together and completed
• Find a calender that works for me to schedule work, softball, blog, etc. 
• Clean out pictures folder on my computer
• Balance check book
• Clean off desk

I am sure there are more things that need to be done, but these are the things that are bothering me right now.

So hopefully I can get some of the things done! 

What about you? Do you have a to-do list for this weekend? Any fun plans?