Moving

Moving is an adjustment! I'm still settling in and at times I miss my own place more than I did before. I guess when you 1st move it's exciting and you overlook some things you had before. Like every morning I didn't have a fenced yard like I do now, so I had to actually walk Karl outside. Every morning a friend would meet me and give a glance over the fence. I would say, "Hi".

She would watch us for a bit.
Then she'd go on her way.

I was never a big horse person until Sidekick; she's a celebrity in our old neighborhood. When Lucas was little we would walk over to Sidekick's house and feed her an apple, carrots, or sugar cubes. I miss her.

Maybe someday we'll have a horse neighbor or better yet a horse!

For now I've decided as I work on my office area at the new house- I need a horse picture. I absolutely love the horse picture at the Chelsea Hotel in NYC. It was one of the 1st things I noticed walking in there.

I wonder if that picture is still up?

Weird - it does sort of look like Sidekick. Maybe I can get Sidekick a photo-shoot.

Well- Like I said moving is an adjustment. I didn't realize how set in my ways I was until now. Somedays I'm a real baby about things. Wow. I love my new home and family. Thank God they cut me some slack!

Plus a fenced yard is great for Karl to actually be able to run free.

It's all about ME!


Well I did receive Christmas money and I know I'm old because of what I purchased! I ordered an IBS kit($100). There is nothing more annoying than having a poop problem. It's funny at times but usually not.

http://www.helpforibs.com/diet/recipes.asp
Anyway I found a website with a ton of info and I was lead to a kit that actually contains a CD for family members to listen to. Why do they need a CD? Because if you have any experience with IBS it is at times very difficult to deal with. I mean I'm newly married and I'm hoping my husband never finds out I poo. LOL So the CD will blow my cover but it will also explain that I'm just not being a "B" when there is something going on and I just can't do it. The kit also contains a book, CD for me, and ice/hot packs. I guess there is a mind/gut connection so hypnosis can help and the CD will do some of that.



What else did I get: Core Rhythms ($44) I'm excited! Exercising has been tough, so I'm hoping these help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X06Q4a9Vqk

Oh you know what has gotten be moving Beyonce's Single Ladies Video! Watch it on YouTube! When I was young I would see a video like Janet Jackson Rhythm Nation and I would want to dance. Well I seen this video and I wanted to dance....I'm not the only one!!!! You'll see if you check out YouTube. WOW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU4uEWyRt_U&feature=channel_page

The rest of my Christmas money will go to Yellow Flats???? and clothing!?


Last but not least I purchased a Martha Stewart flower pot ($29) for one of my favorite plants.



I'm still 118, but I have been eating better. I figured out that for some reason I can't eat oatmeal, must be something with my IBS. I was loving eating it, but I tried going with out and I actually feel better.


Still no Diet Coke, but I think of it still. The only reason I don't drink it now is because I know I would O.D. on it.



Lucas and Rob are doing great! I think they may be doing better than me. I still struggle with fruit. I was having blueberries every morning with oatmeal, but now none. There are nights I just shove fruit in because fruit is my friend.

I started crocheting which will be helpful with snacking. I can't snack when I'm crocheting so that's good.


Here is my 1st completed project:

I like this because it's not a full scarf and it keeps my neck warm.

I really liked this when I seen it on Jcrew.....and I almost have it sort of.

Remember this top (from my shower)And here is my purse from my wedding:
Jeans I probably have something similar - I can make a hole in, maybe I won't go that far. Bracelet won't be hard to get or make out of something I already have. Sometimes if you just look through magazines you will get ideas on switching things up.

So all I need is yellow flats...I LOVE yellow. Yellow flats???

Sometimes the "Bad Times" are remembered as "Good Times"

Last I posted about Lucas and I playing "PowerOut". This is a game Lucas remembers as being a lot of fun and actual became a game we would play on occasion. What Lucas doesn't know is that the power was out!

When I was on my own it was hard. The hardest part was the money for me. I was determined to live in my house and it was costly. At times child support wasn't worked out and we struggled. I wasn't willing to go to parents for help so I ran into trouble at times. There were many nights of sitting on my bed trying to figure out how to pay all the bills. I was a wreck.

One time I was scraping by and I finally got my utility money together....but well it was too late! The bill was paid but they already processed the shut off. What to do? 1st I didn't want to let Lucas in on the problem, but how do I explain no power? Make a game of it. It wasn't fun buying ice to fill a cooler with items from the fridge, getting flashlights together along with a candles. You don't realize how important your utilities are until you don't have them. The game became PowerOut. We ate sandwiches and played board games on my bed until it was bedtime. I was dying inside of guilt and fear but Lucas on the other hand loved it. Now that I think back it was fun for him. It was quiet and just fun. I guess I wanted to post about this because I learned as times goes on I realized a couple things 1. It's hard being the Breadwinner in the family (I have huge admiration for anyone who is the Breadwinner) 2. It's OK to reach out to family for help. 3. It's sometimes OK to explain to your children about struggle and sacrifice, and lastly 4. These times that seem so hard or confusing may one day be something we laugh about.

It makes dealing with problems a little easier to take.....oh along with this quote: Problems are gifts giving to teach us some. We seek out problems because we need the gift they contain. Not sure who said that, but remember it from one of the many self-helps I've read.

Pre-teen Boys!

Just last week Lucas said to me "I miss you mom" and "every time I see you I just want to give you a hug" and "remember when we used to play PowerOut together". Then later in the week he said something like this "Maybe I'm just getting older and you guys bother me". I don't get it. I'm just assuming it's hormones and something a boy goes through when it's time to be a little more independent? As I've done in the past I will read up on it.

Going from being with a single mom to a family situation is good, but at times he misses the good old days! Being a single mom you always feel bad for your child. I always did. It's especially hard when you have a boy and a father who little or never around. I did have my father to help out a lot, but it is always different. I remember my godmother telling me that being from a broken home will make Lucas stronger. You also here these children have a better understanding of what not to do when dating and starting a family. This is something single parents think about. But still you see a child does miss out on some stuff.

As I was going to be on my own I could only look to the good, because otherwise I would be a miserable divorcee you hear people make fun of. I took the time I had to enjoy Lucas to the max. I was able to teach Lucas a bunch of things I may have not if I was married. Lucas spent time with me doing just about everything. We had good times and we had times when we struggled. Family functions were always difficult for me because I was alone and as Lucas got older he noticed the difference between us and them. There were times he cried and then I would cry, but we made it through.

I grew a lot when I was alone and Lucas was there for it. I hope it wasn't hard on him.

I'm not sure what life will be like for Lucas not having his father around, but I pray it will be ok. When I have a problem with Lucas I often think what did I do wrong? Or this is it he is now going to have major problems. I get so scared, but maybe it's just normal boy stuff.

I know this is an important time for a boy to have a father around and I am so lucky to have Rob. When I was single I thought Lucas will be ok - how much different can it be having a guy around? Well it is different and Lucas seems to like it. Lucas himself is more "manish". He loves that Rob thinks the toilet seat should go up after 9pm because when they get up in the middle of the night it easier? They do guy things together and I see Lucas grow a little more into a jr man.

I guess it's time for my Lucas to grow up and that's hard for me. So I guess it's hard for him too, but it's something that has to happen. All I know is that I can't wait till this stage is over. I live for the days when Hugs are good again.

I love Lucas so much!Here's a moment when it was o.k. to smother mom.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB!

I would have liked to post this sooner, but thanks to the flu I didn't get to .

We celebrated Rob's birthday on the weekend and it was great!

I love Rob so much. We had planned on going out of town to dinner, but thanks to a snow storm that wasn't possible.

BUT instead we went to dinner, bowling, and sleigh riding! It was one of the most magical nights ever.

Rob and Lucas surprised me with the bowling which was a lot of fun. Then when we got home at 11 they said they had another surprise sleigh riding. I was totally surprised and wasn't going to go, but I did. It was so fun. I watched Lucas and Rob and they both looked so happy it made me cry.

Rob is so wonderful to have thought of such wonderful things to do on his birthday. I love how Rob really thinks about things and does the right thing. I'm so lucky to have found him.

So many times Rob turns situations around. He is level headed and thoughtful. Rob is so good to Lucas and myself. I know all of us living together has been a huge adjustment and Rob does a lot to make it easier.

Rob is known for calling me and leaving a vm of encouragement.

Rob loves things to be neat and clean and in their place, but gives in a lot when it comes to Lucas and I.

I love when Rob dances around the house and makes me laugh. I love when he hides and scares the crap out of me. I love when he peeks in the kitchen window and I'm taking my clothes off to throw down the basement.

I could watch Rob and Lucas play games for hours. It's so sweet when the two of them do things together.

I even like it when Rob get grumpy because he hasn't had enough garage time.

It doesn't hurt he's good looking too...wink

He cares so much about his family and friends.

Rob came into our life and made us very happy.

We love you Rob

XOXOX

Hair It Is

Well the holidays are over and we are in a lull. At this point I'm looking for different things to do with my hair. I found a couple of dos I like and the website even had directions!
There are directions here:
http://www.totalbeauty.com/content/gallery/p_17_styles?tx_tbgallery_pi1%5Bpid%5D=511


Directions:
http://www.totalbeauty.com/content/gallery/p_17_styles?tx_tbgallery_pi1%5Bpid%5D=581

O.k.
I was going out to dinner with a friend so I thought I would try this style minus the flower in my hair.

My hair was washed the night before, twisted and pinned for some waves. Something else I learned. The directions called for a smoothing serum. I can't use those b/c my hair is fine. Instead I get one of my lightest, creamiest moisturizers and put in on my hands a good amount(I apply like I'm moisturizing my hands but not all the way in) and then I pull my hair in a pony tail and wrap the tail around my fingers to get moisturizer on my hair. Any frizzy pieces I can twirl individually around my fingers.

This is largest curling I own and actually for my hair and peanut head it was good.



I did a lot of bending at the root section of the hair. My hair already has some wave from last night.
















I did more of this than curl than curl the whole piece. Then at the end if something need more curl I curled it.


Here's the back- not liking it, but I'm late and had to leave. I wish I had a mirror to see the back of my hair.














I teased my hair toward the back of my head, but I should have done more teasing right on the top for more height. In the directions it said to put the rat tail of the comb in there (the top of your head section) and pull up. Well that works better when you have tease in there. I ended up using about 5-6 bobby pins.


Oh well here is the hair pinned.








If you have hi-lights you should try and pick those to pin and also do a better job than I pinning them.


Finished:
















So it was quick and pretty simple and I'd do it again. That's the point of the notes!


No flower in my hair BUT I did pin my new flower pin (Christmas gift from Rob's parents) on my new purse (Christmas gift from my bro Joe and Nicole)
























Diet update. When I weighed myself I was shocked I weighed 118. I haven't been that heavy in a while. YIkEs!!!

As far as the 3 of us eating better. He managed to eat all our fruits and veggies I purchased. Well I still have package of spinach I will cook and eat for a snack on the weekend. And Lucas didn't eat all his pears. Lucas skipped pop tarts for a snack and had turkey sandwiches instead. Every day for lunch he ate his veggie and fruit! I did too. Rob ordered his sandwiches on wheat and skipped a couple of sweets.

Cheers

Happy New Year

I guess this post should be all about the new year and what it could be. What I will attempt and what I will not.

As the year ended I felt sick a lot. I actually am sick of feeling sick so I will start the new year by going back to the doctor.

As the year ended I said goodbye to a dear friend:
RIP- Diet Coke













I still think about an ice cold diet. So sad.

This year I will connect with an old friend:

Feed the Fam
Feed Rob, Lucas and myself good food.
We are going to eat healthier in our house. This week is the 1st week. I love food so this is hard. I know we need to eat more fruits and vegetables and less junk. The problem is I can not give up food I like, and start eating things I don't like all at the same time. So I pick the fruits and vegetables I need to eat for the day and I let myself eat anything I want all day! The Catch- NO matter what I've eated that day I must eat all the fruits and vegetables. I'm thinking I will end up sick of eating junk? Is this a crazy idea? I just know if I don't let myself eat any junk food I'll go nutz. Eventually I hope to be able to handle a "free day" every week to eat what ever I want. If I attempt that now I would probably eat the week's worth of junk in the 1 free day.
I won't even mention exercise that's a given when getting healthy.

What else am I going to do? Enjoy my family. To really take time to enjoy the time I get to spend with my family. Like my parents, brother, sister-in-laws, brother-in-law and kids. Make more time to see them. We all live so close but it's hard to get together. Why?

I did invite Joe and his family over and it was actually really nice to just hang out for no reason. The kids loved it! I used to love spending time with my cousins. There is something special about cousins. There just is. It was so fun.


I will also make more of an effort to visit with friends. I will try and be more like Amy! I realized Amy was wearing off on my when I spent time with a friend and did something b/c Amy did it. Amy is always so sweet and up beat. She makes an effort to see friends and be a friend. She loves clothes and shopping like I do. Amy is very honest and just plain uncomplicated and great to be around.


I will embrace more sports. Lucas loves sports and I will get more excited about sports. I hope to attend a pro basketball game with Lucas.

I will work hard on family traditions. As time goes on things just change and maybe I need to step it up and take on some responsibility with the holiday meals.

I will try to be more like my mom at the holiday- coo,clean, get dressed up and still greet a well dressed dog when he come over for dinner. How often does someone do something like that.

It's nice to marry into a family where they do have traditions and standards!

I believe Lucas has been initiated into a Pod tradtion.

I will start wrapping presents in different boxes so no one has a clue what they are getting. This is something Rob's mom does that is really neat. This means I will have to go the extra step in compete in wrapping with my sister-in-law Becky and my brother Joe. They both really know how to wrap a gift.

I will hug and kiss my family when I see them and when I say goodbye. Wrestling is o.k. too.

Last I will have more fun like my dad does.

The end.....