Monday, February 29, 2016

Leap Day!

It was quite a day, friends. We started off the day with a funeral for my friend, Danielle's grandpa. It was so sad. She was very close with her grandpa, and it was hard to watch her and her family feel so much pain. 

From there, it was off to an appointment for Natalie with an oral surgeon. We scheduled her surgery for March 11. She is having two teeth extracted. 

We stopped for lunch at Olga's Kitchen, where I made my good food decision of the day by getting a veggie sandwich with no fries.

I didn't do any nurturing today, I also didn't do any exercise. I also have no idea how tomorrow might go, there are murmurings of a possible snow day tomorrow. Yes, ANOTHER snow day. I really hope this doesn't happen, I'm worn out from being around kids 24/7 since sometime Wednesday morning.

Well, we will see how this goes. I'll update tomorrow evening. Wish me luck!

Sunday, February 28, 2016

I'm back!

I took a break from posting for awhile there. I'll sum up my absence this way:

1. A grief breakdown
2. My husband went out of town 
3. Huge snowstorm 
4. 2 1/2 days home with all the kids because of the weather 
5. No real exercise (except snow shoveling!)

I feel better now. I'm back and ready to start posting daily again. Some good things happened while I was gone. 

I started going to grief counseling again with a new counselor. I will only be going once a month and I think that will be perfect for me. 

I stuck with my no-sugar during lent plan! I was stressed as all heck, but I didn't break down and go crazy with sugar (no matter how badly I wanted to! And believe me, I DID want to!)

Finally, I signed up to run a 5K with Joe, my oldest kid! He is 14 1/2 and talks incessantly, so he's great at keeping me distracted. It's on April 23rd, so we have plenty of time to train.

Today I went to church (nurturing), I got no exercise, and I made a good food decision by eating a reasonable lunch and dinner.

Tomorrow I have a funeral to go to, followed by an appointment for Natalie, so I'm not sure how the day will go exercise-wise. I will check in tomorrow night.

I'm back, Baby! Enjoy your Sunday night!

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Thursday, February 18

I felt better today. I had some running around to do and did not work out. I ate very reasonably until dinner. We went out for dinner as a fundraiser for Natalie's school choir and I ended up getting a coney with chili cheese fries. I should have made a better choice but it was gooooood!  

I don't think I did any nurturing today, so I need to work on that. 

Tomorrow I will be babysitting my nephew all day. It will be just the two of us, so I won't be able to go to the gym. We may go for a walk if it isn't too cold.

I will let you know tomorrow night! Enjoy your evening!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

A Good Day, With a Side of Grief

My day was great. I got so much done. I went grocery shopping, went to the gym and did Aqua Zumba, and got a ton of things crossed off of my to-do list. I made really good food choices that included a nice salad for lunch.

The difficult part to my day came in the form of a hidden grief land mine. I was looking through Facebook posts and saw something someone else posted that reminded me of a conversation Sue and I had. This person happened to use the exact phrasing Sue used in our conversation.

Just like that, the tears were flowing. The "why can't I have my sister back?" thoughts flooded my brain. I was taken right back to what it felt like to have her in my life. She always had my back, she always made me laugh. There is now and always will be a big Sue-sized hole in my heart. She was a small person physically, but that hole is HUGE.

It hurts. It's not fair. I'm angry.

It was a good day overall, but the pain of grief knocked me down this evening, and I need some time to rest and process it.

Have a good evening, I'll check in again tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Tuesday February 16, 2016

It was another day at home with all four kids and I loved it. When I don't have to get up so early (5:30), I feel much better and have a lot more energy. I got a lot of things done around the house, and did a lot of cooking. I nurtured myself by playing several games of solitaire. Exciting, I know, but I love me some solitaire!

I did a good job with eating today and made lots of good food decisions. Then I went to yoga class and it was a bit more challenging than usual. 

It was a good day. The kids go back to school tomorrow and I'm feeling ready to go back to the gym, so I'm hoping to have a great report. Have a wonderful evening!

Monday, February 15, 2016

Monday, February 15

It was a nice, relaxed day here at my house. The kids were home from school and I had a few trips out to drop off/pick up a couple of them at a friend's house and a birthday party. Other than that I put some Jambalaya in the crockpot and we just hung out together. This whole day counts as my nurturing! 

I did not exercise today, but I did a good job with my eating. No sugar! 

It was a great day! I hope yours was too!

Valentine's Weekend

Good morning! It's Monday. I didn't blog for the whole weekend, so I have some catching up to do.

On Friday I waited around at home for the guy from the window company to come over to fix a window that wouldn't completely close. It was just as well that I sat around at home, because I felt like I was coming down with something. I got a few things done around the house and the window got fixed, so it was somewhat productive. I did not exercise, but I had no sugar, and I read a lot (nurturing).

Saturday started with my dog-walking date, but it was COLD! We cut our walk short, it was -11 F with the windchill. I couldn't feel my legs when we got back. I think we made it around 30 minutes (we had to make it to Starbucks and back! Priorities!). I took Joe for a haircut, and had my nephew over to play with Ben for awhile, then we started to prepare for Card Night.  Frank's sister, her husband, and their son came over for an evening of pizza and Euchre playing. We love having card night!  I couldn't have any of the dessert, but I stuck with it.

Sunday was my first day of working in the kitchen at church to help serve Coffee Hour (big spread of breakfast/snacks after the service). It was fun, but there were Valentines goodies everywhere! Since it was Sunday, I was allowed to have sugar, and I did. After church I relaxed for awhile (nurturing) before Frank and I went to dinner and the movies for Valentines Day. I had dessert after dinner, which, coupled with the stuff I ate at church, means I went overboard on my one day when sugar is allowed. I need to be more careful next week!

Today is Monday, and the kids are off school both today and tomorrow. It really throws off my workouts when there are four extra people around to distract me! I'll report tonight on how things go. I'm back on the no sugar bandwagon. Have a great day, and happy belated Valentines Day!


Thursday, February 11, 2016

It's a Challenge, This Week...

Another day of craziness! Today I got up, took kids to school, went to work at the church for a few hours, then off to lunch with a friend, back home to bake several dozen cookies for Valentines Day parties, kids got home, made dinner, and now I am sitting at the weekly middle school book meeting at the library. 

So, let's see...I didn't exercise, I stuck to my Lenten no sugar rule, my lunch with my friend (and fun conversation) was my nurturing. This is clearly not one of my best exercise weeks. I'm a little frustrated with myself that I keep not fitting it in. I'm proud of sticking to no sugar  (and that was a challenge while baking several dozen chocolate chip cookies!).

I will be stuck home tomorrow to wait for a guy to fix a window, so no gym for me (again!) but I can find a yoga video and follow along. I'm going to work on that tomorrow.

Have a great night!

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Sick Kids, Clean Dog

It's been another crazy day! The first sound I heard when I woke up this morning was like a warning bell to a mom-of-four's ears--the barking cough. The croup cough, which sounds just like a seal barking, can wake me from a dead sleep. I've had a LOT of experience with it, unfortunately, and I knew immediately that our Ben would not be going to school today. Soon after checking him out, Natalie came to me complaining of nausea and fatigue. So, I had two kids home sick today. (Only one was okay with being photographed.)

Isn't he adorable and pitiful?

I didn't exercise, except for a 15 minute stint of snow shoveling. I made it through day one of lent without eating any goodies. I'm not sure I spent any time nurturing myself. I was too busy taking care of two sick kids, doing the (long overdue) grocery shopping, picking up Sam from an after-school club meeting, getting the dog groomed, and helping the two little boys fill out five billion Valentine cards and do homework. Ack! 

I'm tired tonight. I have a full day planned for tomorrow so going to the gym doesn't look like a good possibility right now, but we'll see.  

The good news is that Violet looks and smells lovely, and Ben perked up enough to do some yoga! Have a great night!





Super Bowl Weekend

Oh my, did I have a busy weekend! I need to lay low today just to recover from it! I'll take you through the weekend day by day.

Friday, Feb. 5: I started off the day by going to the gym. I did walk/run intervals on the treadmill. Then I came home and did some cleaning before going to lunch with some friends (nurturing!). After the kids came home, it was time to go back up to the school for the school carnival. The kids had a great time playing games and hanging out with their friends. Thankfully nobody won a goldfish! I don't recall making any good food decisions on Friday. Oops. 
Here's Ben at the fair. Joe paid a bunch of tickets to get him arrested and put in jail.

Saturday, Feb. 6: I started the day with my dog walking date at 7:30 am. We walked for about 45 minutes. When I got home, we left to drop off a table from our basement to a friend's house. We had Subway for lunch (I'm counting that as my good food decision because I talked myself out of Taco Bell). We came home but then I was off again to take the little boys for haircuts and a new pair of shoes for Ben. After that, I came home to rest for an hour. Frank and I had plans to go on a date (my nurturing). We went out to dinner and to see a play. It was a lot of fun, but by the time we got home, I was exhausted! 

Sunday, Feb. 7: It was my day to teach Sunday school to my class of k-2nd graders at church. I'll count that as my nurturing because I like having a chance to be a teacher once in awhile, and the kids are fun. We came home and stayed home for the rest of the day. I did a lot of cooking for the Super Bowl. I made a few not-so-good food decisions at our Super Bowl party. I didn't exercise.

Whew! That was our crazy-busy weekend. Now today I'm being lazy, but doing very well with eating. Im nurturing myself with rest, but not exercising. 

I hope you had a great time over Super Bowl weekend, and I'll give another update tomorrow!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Tuesday, February 9

Today started on a rough note. I'll spare you the details, but I ended up having to drag Ben onto the bus this morning while he screamed that he was NOT going to school. Ugh.

After the kids were off to school, I came home, wrote out my grocery list and read my library book for awhile (my nurturing). When I got ready to leave for the grocery store, I stepped outside and realized how deep the snow was. I needed to shovel. Ugh again.

I spent an hour and a half shoveling the driveway (my exercise for today) and when I finished I decided to grocery shop tomorrow instead of today. I was worn out, the snow was heavy!

Today is Fat Tuesday and I only had some chocolate Chex mix, no other bad stuff. Tomorrow starts Lent, and I will be giving up sugary goodies. 

Since I desperately need to grocery shop tomorrow, I'm not sure what my plan is yet for the gym. I'll report on that tomorrow.

Have a wonderful Tuesday night!

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Thursday, February 4

Just a quick entry tonight because I'm headed to bed. I didn't exercise today. I made good food choices by eating a healthy lunch and not eating anything after dinner. I nurtured myself by going to a bible study meeting at church. I don't usually go to these meetings but I had time today so I went. I really liked it!

That's all I've got for tonight. Have a great Thursday night! See you tomorrow!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Aqua Zumba, Blood Donation, and Nutter Butters


Today my kids had "late start day" which is when their schools start 50 minutes later than normal on every other Wednesday. (This annoys me in so many ways, the least of which being the mental math I have to do to figure out start times of three schools by subtracting 50 minutes. Oh sure, it sounds easy but considering that I can't really remember what time their schools start on a normal day, and I'm doing it first thing in the morning, before coffee! Blahhhh). 

Anyway, the point here is that I left later than normal, which got me to the gym later than normal. This was good because I got there in time to try a class I had been meaning to try for awhile: Aqua Zumba. This is a class consisting of high energy dancing. In water. Was it awesome? Why, yes it was!

After class, I decided to make a blood donation appointment for later in the day. Then I rushed home, showered, ate lunch, and ran back out to make it to my appointment.

Confession: after giving blood I ate a snack sized bag of mini Nutter Butters. But the blood drive workers practically forced the things on me! The woman pointed to a big box full of snacks and said "Pick one."  And there were Nutter Butters in the box. It had to be done, folks.

After giving blood I usually feel more tired than usual, and today was no exception. I was glad it was Natalie's night to make dinner. I mostly rested until dinner, then did the dishes and clean-up, supervised homework, and lunch-packing.

I nurtured myself by resting and reading my library book. I made a good food choice by having a healthy, reasonable breakfast. And now I am fulfilling my blogging goal. 

I told several people at the blood drive about my sister, Sue, and why I give blood in memory of her. I like to get the chance to tell people about my sister. Just a reminder, if you haven't given blood in a long time, please consider going onto the Red Cross website, finding a blood drive near you, and making a donation. You may be forced to eat Nutter Butters. And if that doesn't convince you, then nothing will!

Fell Asleep on the Couch

I had a good day yesterday. I was busy all day, then went to yoga in the evening. After yoga I plopped onto the couch and fell asleep. 

I made a good food decision of having a healthy lunch. Then I made a bad decision of making peanut butter oatmeal bars "for the kids" and eating one. (It was delicious, but I'm not supposed to be eating sugar during the week).

I nurtured myself with yoga. I love yoga! I always end up so happy and relaxed (see  "fell asleep on the couch")

I forgot to make my blog post. 

It was a good day with some ups and downs. I will report on today later.

Have a great day! It's sunny and unseasonably warm here in Michigan, and that makes me happy!

Another Busy Day

Oops! I wrote this on Friday, but apparently didn't post it. Let's go back in time!

Today was busy, but fun. I had a breakfast date with a friend (my nurturing!) and it was wonderful. By the time I got home I had just enough time to  hang some curtains in the bathroom and do a little cleaning and the kids were coming home (they had another half day).

We went shopping for supplies for Natalie's paper mache project for her Social Studies class. Then it was home to make dinner, and now here we are.

It was another day of no exercise for me. I ate some sugar this afternoon/evening. I made a good food decision by getting a healthy, veggie filled breakfast at the restaurant. But I have my dog walking date set for tomorrow morning, and I have high hopes for next week.

Have a great night! Happy Friday!


Monday, February 1, 2016

Catching up

We hosted a birthday party for my husband's brother last night and I forgot to do my blog post. I made some bad food choices at the birthday party (Cake! Ice cream! Yum!). I went to church for my nurturing, and I didn't get any exercise.

Today went pretty well. I started off my day by going to the gym! Yes! I finally went back to the gym. I walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes, I kept increasing the incline to keep my heartrate up. It felt like a decent workout. Then I came home and had a healthy lunch.  Later I spent some time reading my library book as my nurturing for the day. 

Since it is the first of the month, I'll report on my progress thus far. I have lost 4.5 lbs! I don't see any difference from last month, but I'm happy that I made some progress.

Thanks for reading, and have a great Monday night!