We Have Vegetables!

This year Gabe (yes, Gabe - I'm just plain done with initials) and I decided we should have a garden. We adore fresh vegetables and have a yard that's more than big enough for one so it really was silly that we'd never done it before. Also, fresh veggies are excellent for you but dear Lord they can get expensive in the store and they just plain don't have anywhere near the flavor of homegrown vegetables. Of course as with everything else in our lives right now this ran way behind and we didn't get anything in the ground (and by we I mean Gabe - he planted our veggies, not me) until near the end of May. But that doesn't matter because they're doing great and we now have vegetables!

This is a cucumber that tasted FABULOUS. We have also planted green peppers and watermelon, which are budding but don't have anything big enough to eat yet, and zucchini, which I've gotten two gourds off of so far and they are delicious - Gabe even discovered today that he likes zucchini! Who knew??

This is one of the tomato plants. We planted regular tomatoes and cherry tomatoes and I honestly don't have a clue which one this is but Gabe took the pic last week and they are already getting bigger. I know they will be red in no time at all and I can just about taste the yummy goodness already. I need to go weed it out, which I think will happen tomorrow.

On a side note, Livi's night of torturing her mama didn't last too long. I really think it was a combination of teething and a late 9-month regression phase. She is just about ready to start walking so I should have been looking for something like that to hit. She did eventually go down for the night about 30-45 minutes after my post the other night and slept through the night. Oh and really, CIO hasn't even been that necessary for her. We do have to use it sometimes but most of the time I can lay her in the crib at her bed time, sometimes she will play or chatter for a little, and then she's out. She is a MUCH better sleeper than Aiden ever was (the boy still sleeps with us - yes, you read that right, he still sleeps in our bed) and I know most of that has to do with necessity but either way she went down at 10:30 last night and again slept through the night. I could most definitely get used to that very easily.

Sleep Is A GOOD Thing

Livi has been crying for the last hour. She has been changed, she has been fed and she has even been given teething tablets. Apparently she has decided sleep is for pansies. Whatevs. Sleep is good and mom needs some down time to be able to function. Oh and CIO sucks when it's your child doing the crying. Trust me on this one.

Coffee Shop

Please peruse the left side of this blog for the new button I have added. The Coffee Shop blog is FABULOUS and I want them to redo my blog template. It has been the same forever and new digs would be nice. Send them some love!

What a Waste

Yesterday it rained most of the day. We did make it out to the parade in the drizzle but it really wasn't bad. Aiden and Olivia weren't big fans of the noisy fire trucks but when asked if he had a good time Aiden got a big smile on his face and replied with a "yeah!" so that made it worth it. Our town still put on a fireworks show, apparently because the people doing it couldn't come back tonight for a rain date, and basically wasted about $25,000 worth of fireworks. We most certainly didn't go but a few people we know did and said it was very disappointing. I hate that we didn't get to see fireworks on the 4th this year but we did get to see them last week and it was awesome so I can't complain too much. I hope your 4th was filled with family and fun.

Independence Day

Freedom is never free and all I can say is thank you.

A Little Stressed

My two main jobs take up a lot of time and my two classes take up the rest. Of course I also have the cleaning job (only about 2.5 hours a week) but in a busy schedule that makes things even harder. Add in a holiday weekend (which is one of my favorites!) a family night at the drive-in because, hello, I have to have some fun time with G and the babies, and that makes for one stressed out me.

G and I are meeting a bunch of friends and going to the drive-in to see the new Tranformers movie and Year One with Jack Black. I love going to the drive-in. It of course starts near dark, which around here is about 10:00 at night this time of year. We take the pack n' play for Livi, who falls asleep close to the start of the first movie, all bundled up and sweet. Aiden usually falls asleep during or close to the end of the first movie and sleeps through the second, also all bundled up and adorable. I get to eat my 94% fat free Smart Pop (which I LOVE!) in the kettle corn flavor, yum! And G and Aiden chow down on candy and soda. We hang out with our friends and get two shows for the price of one out under the stars.

Tomorrow we'll be heading to the parade in the morning. I have always loved the 4th of July parade but our town parade sucks a little. Well, maybe a lot. Basically we live in a very liberal college town so there are a lot of people with crazy agendas that put themselves in the parade even though they have nothing to do with patriotism, which is the point of the holiday and the parade in the first place. The parade does technically have rules for floats and all of that but they are rarely enforced. One year there was a half naked girl cage dancing on a float and most years there are these hippy, no underarm shaving, chicks with sticks that walk the parade. I have no idea what they have to do with celebrating our country's independence but whatever. I prefer the marching band and the people that actually decorate their floats in a patriotic sort of way. My church has even been in the parade before and trust me, our floats were decked out in a red, white, and blue sort of way.

Tomorrow afternoon will probably be my study time and boy do I need it. Tuesday I have a paper due and Thursday is my mid-term. I also have a quiz due by Sunday so I'm a bit stressed out there. Luckily there is also an extra credit paper I can write to help me at the end of the course (in about 4 weeks), which I'm sure I will be writing just to cover my mid-term and final grades. So far I have 100% in the class but I am VERY nervous about the mid-term. Ugh. I am actually getting sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Oh and that's just about me Psychology class. That doesn't even cover the things I need to do for my health and fitness class.

Tomorrow night will be the fireworks show. Well, hopefully. There is a chance of rain here but I'm REALLY hoping that will bypass us altogether. It rained on the parade last year and that was a real downer. Aiden wasn't a big fan of fireworks last week at our church's show but hopefully being a little farther away from the action will help. Oh and we will be taking a blanket to put over his head if necessary. That's the only thing that made him happy last week - G's hands over his ears, sunglasses on, and a blanket over his head. Livi just slept through most of it. I love that age.

Sunday is a family bbq for G's dad's side of the family. That will be after church in the afternoon but of course that's also when my stuff is due. I'm thinking I will just have to suck it up and make sure everything is done tomorrow because there is no way I will have time for any of it on Sunday. Oh and I have to get my cleaning job in there somewhere too. I have no idea when but sometime.

One day I will get a vacation right?

Making Progress

The only blogs I've actually deleted off my reader are national newsletter type ones that I have no time for anyway (like Perez Hilton and such). Otherwise the rest of my peeps are intact and slowly but surely getting caught up on.

Cleaning Up

Do you ever go through the blogs that you read and delete some of them off your reader? I feel horrible doing it but I know it must be done. Of course I agonize over deleting a blog, like I'm betraying someone, abandoning them, throwing them away. How silly is that? Ugh. I stress over the smallest things. Can you tell?

I realized I have 248 blogs on my reader, most of which I am VERY behind on reading (please see the image for proof of this!).

That's not really fair to anyone, including me, so I'm going to slim things down a bit. Of course, I would never stop reading any of you that read and comment on here, that just wouldn't happen. But then again, if you haven't commented lately I may not know that you're one of my readers - so shoot me a quick comment. Let me know you're out there. You will stay on my reader and will most definitely get comments in return.

So get to commenting! :-)

Not Just The Weight

Things are definitely changing and it's not just the weight coming off. I can walk a whole lot further without wheezing, my thighs aren't rubbing together as much, and I just plain have a bunch more energy. Slowly but surely I am getting healthier! Not only is my weight coming down but of course so is my BMI. In just over 6 weeks I have lost over 4 points off my BMI. I still have 5 points to get down to "overweight" and 10 points to get to "normal" but it will be here before I know it and I can't wait!

So What's New With You?

Not too much to report on here. I am still going strong with the Weight Watchers regimen. So far I'm down over 20 pounds (seriously, I can't even believe it myself!). This week was really great for me but the previous two weeks' weigh-ins were a bit off (female issues I suspect). I am starting to wear clothes that I haven't put on since before I got pregnant with Aiden, which is an AWESOME feeling and people are starting to notice. The work and frustration are definitely worth it. I'm thinking "before" and "progress" pictures may be coming soon.

In other news I did get another part-time job to help get us through. I am back working in the office for a national carpet cleaning company. I was their Office Manager years ago before they decided to downsize and consolidate offices. Now they are under new ownership and needed some help so here I am. I am getting 20-32 hours at the hospital and 15 hours with this job. I also do a cleaning job once a week that takes about 2.5 hours. Oh yeah, and I'm going to school part-time. Luckily I do the hospital work at home and my classes over the internet or I might be pulling my hair our right now. I am not nearly as stressed about paying the bills but things are still very tight. I think that's just the nature of things right now, so many people are in the same boat we are at this point.

I'm seriously considering doing a few "vlog" posts so don't be surprised if you start seeing something like that on here soon. I would love to answer any question any one out there has for me - be it weight loss related or otherwise. I especially love to share recipes or tips if you want to send any my way. Well I guess that's all for now - as Suze Orman would say "now you be safe!"