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Every day in May…mostly in May…whatever.

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Before I get sidetracked…..Mental Awareness Month….click HERE and “plant a seed” and my friend’s company is donating up to $10,000 toward Children’s mental health network.  Let’s do SOMETHING!!!!  Ok, stepping off soapbox!

Why do I force upon myself these ridiculous little goals that make me no money, cost me time and force me to sit down and put together some coherent thoughts???  Oh, I actually enjoy writing, sometimes have something to say worth reading about or laughing about and it gets me in a good habit because writing is actually my happy place.  That and a piece of cheesecake…..

So, I missed yesterday but I was in a super crappy mood (sorry, but if the shoe fits…), couldn’t put my finger on WHY I was in such a foul mood and went to bed at 8:30.  I woke up refreshed and in a much better mood.  Still not fully sure of what happened but my guess is that sometimes when things are going REALLY, REALLY good I feel like it’s just too good to be true and prepare for the bottom to fall out.  A lie from the king of lies, I know and I don’t always get sucked in quite so deeply and yet this time I did.  A good night’s sleep +  prayer before sleep=refreshed.  I’ll take it.

Today was our final weigh in and measurements for our contest and Saturday is the award ceremony.  I am “officially” down 6 pounds and 7 inches in 5 weeks.  A great jump-start to my summer!  Thursday we do assessments on exercises to see how much strength we’ve gained, etc….just a real encouraging way to end up the contest.  I’ll keep you posted!!

Alrighty, my cat is being the neighborhood bully so I need to drag his furry self in the house so I don’t have to hear cat fights all night.  Sigh.  The problems with taking in a stray cat is you just can’t really get the “outside” desire out of him.  It’s all good, he knows where the good food and comfy sleeping spots are!

Until tomorrow….probably!

Mother’s Day Wrap-up

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Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, and all moms out there.  We’re having a nice day here so far….I woke up with a headache/migraine-starter, 50% chance of rain expected for the afternoon BUUUUUUUUT……I have Excedrin on board, with coffee, Hubby is making breakfast, our youngest couldn’t wait to give me her present (which promptly made me cry) and she promised to smile this year for our picture.  Here’s hoping for the best!

Today though, I realize that it hasn’t always been such a super day for me and it isn’t such a super day for everyone else.  In fact, today can be a painful reminder for many women.  Today I’ll remember my cousins who buried their mom a few weeks ago and other friends whose moms have passed away over the years.  I’ll remember friends who are estranged from their mothers and struggle and doubt their own motherhood and parenting (which, BTW is phenomenal!!) .  I’ll remember friends who’ve never had a chance to be a mother due to infertility.   I’ll remember friends who have lost children.  I’ll remember friends who  care for special needs children.  I’ll remember friends who are single mothers.  I’ll remember friends who are struggling with prodigal children.  I’ll remember friends  who might be let down by the commercialism and in-your-face-ness of the perfect Mother’s Day.

This morning and this day I cried a few times, tears of joy and love, from a heart filled with gratitude toward my husband who is setting a beautiful example for our children through our marriage and his parenting, for children who test me, teach me, love me, forgive me, make me laugh and make each day better just by being part of our family.

 

Blast from the past!

Blast from the past!

Me, my Mom and my sister

Me, my Mom and my sister

Last year. Just keepin' it real. Truly a favorite picture!!

Last year. Just keepin’ it real. Truly a favorite picture!!

Mom's photo after Mass, my awesome necklace, cake and card.

Mom’s photo after Mass, my awesome necklace, cake and card.

And so the kid photo is a little blurry…Hubby is no fan of the iPhone camera and gave me full permission (demanded) I get my real camera fixed….beautiful necklace of which you can design your own HERE, the Publix cake and sweet girl’s card/letter to me.  And just think, my birthday is only 4 days away and we can do this AGAIN!!!!

Beach workout Saturday

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Saturday morning, bright and early!!  Enjoying a few quiet minutes until I wake up the big boy–he’s getting some volunteer hours in at the Church Thrift Shop before a day filled with skateboarding with his buddies.  Hubs is off to his Saturday morning meeting and Adoration and all the kiddos are still snug like a bug in their beds.  I will be off to my last workout class for the contest.  This morning it’s at the beach!!!  Don’t hate!

IMG_3873

A little update on the contest and such.  First of all, the 6 week contest was actually a 4 1/2 week contest when it comes right down to it….buuuuuuuuut……at last count I was down 6 pounds.  I didn’t weigh in last weekend and I’ll hold off today since we have our official last weigh-in on Tuesday.  HOWEVER…..on a measurement scale, I am definitely down.  Clothes are feeling better and I’m creeping seriously close to the next size down…from a 10/12 to a 10.  Not to mention, I’m seeing a little more muscle definition and having more energy.  Win-win!

The 3 key things that have brought me the biggest results have also been my biggest struggles this past week:

  1. Planning and prepping meals.  I work full-time out of the home  pre-cooking on the weekend is huge.  I enjoy cooking, however, sometimes I really don’t want to be in the kitchen for a couple of hours on my precious free time on the weekend.  The truth is, without that prep and planning, it’s challenging to stay on task and not get tempted throughout the week.
  2. Writing down what I’m eating.  I’ve been using the app “My Fitness Pal” and it works great.  Only downside?  We have a pretty strict no cell phone use at work which they’ve suddenly decided to enforce and so logging has become more of a challenge.  I guess I need to just jot it down throughout the day and log in later.
  3. Planning exercise.  It’s May.  I may have mentioned that the other day…..crazy, crazy, craziest month of the year. All the more important to plan it and DO IT.  For me, that will mean getting my rump out of bed in the a.m. because aside from these classes at night, it just doesn’t happen once I get home from work.

And so, with the contest almost over and a good jumpstart for me….I’m ready to keep on keepin’ on because it is bathing suit season, people and there is no hiding from it.

I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished this past month and look forward to seeing my overall results.  Our contest’s presentation to the winner is the next weekend so I’ll keep you posted on the final results for everyone!

Have a great weekend!!

Flashback Friday..QuickTakes Style!

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Phew.  Friday.  Thank you, God!!!

For a wrap up of the week I’m hanging with Jen and the peeps all sharing about our week..go visit, bring coffee…and a donut…or if you are eating clean, maybe some hardboiled eggs.

As for me, I’ve got a few flashback moments of kiddos…I guess all these graduations are making me a little nostalgic!

— 1 —

The dangers of going commando.  Our youngest son, in 3rd grade, learned a difficult lesson in the importance of wearing underpants.  A classmate decided that “pantsing people” (you know, randomly yanking down pants of unsuspecting or suspecting people and running away) on the playground would be fun.  Our son and some friends thought it funny and the 6 of them just chased each other around (our son had a belt on and felt invincible) until the mastermind of the game had the tables turned, our son pantsed him and much to everyone’s surprise….the kid was commando.  Game over.  All 6 boys were suspended for the day, our son got a 2 day suspension (since he was the ill-fated puller-downer-of-the no undies boy–don’t even get me started).  He doesn’t “pants” anymore and I sure hope the kid who was “exposed” learned to put on some underpants.  Funny now.  Not so funny then.

— 2 —

Our oldest girl has begun the braces.  3rd child.    If only thumb-sucking wasn’t so cute in little kids…..she has her spacers in and impressions taken and next week we go for the next step.  It brought back memories of our oldest when he had his braces and expander and HEADGEAR at night.  Oh the crazy of the hair in the a.m.  Good times.  Goooood times.

— 3 —

Our youngest sweet pea was a real stinker when she was little.  She still gives us a run for our sanity, but when she was about 2 she would stand at the top of the stairs in the middle of the night at the gate and bang on the wall for me yelling at the top of her lungs…”Mama….I talking to you”.  A bullhorn would have been less intrusive to sleep….

— 4 —

Another time, I put her on the balcony for a time out and she banged on the side of the house so loud the back neighbors came running because they thought it was a gun shot.  True words.  Last time I picked that spot for a time out…..epic parenting fail.

— 5 —

When I had my first knee surgery, our oldest daughter was being sweet and figured she’d share a Warhead candy with me.  I was in bed, propped up, immobile.  And apparently a sucker…..Have you ever had one?  No?  Well, go to your local convenience store, grab your video, open the wrapper and let the YouTube viral hits begin.  My mouth still salivates and tingles just hearing the word “Warhead” and my daughter tries to repeat the episode from time to time….uh uh…ain’t gonna happen.  But you go ahead….

— 6 —

The time our youngest son—-hoo wee…this kid’s got a bunch of ’em—-decided at about 6 years old to make a slingshot in the backyard/woods out of 2 young saplings (still attached to the tree).  He was successful for about a few turns, until that ONE rock backfired and busted him in the mouth…cracking 2 teeth and bloodying his EVERYWHERE….oh….the….blood…In the end, he didn’t lose any teeth, there was a fracture but the root was spared and there was a slight gap and two front teeth chipped.  He’s 13 now and since he’s finished with braces we finally got the teeth bonded.  He didn’t want to do it since it was such a part of his history…but it made Mama feel better.  And we all know that when Mama’s happy….it’s allllllllll good.

— 7 —

Mother’s day is upon us….Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mamas out there….babies, fur babies and spiritual babies, May God Bless your mothering spirit!!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Everyday in May…sorta.

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My super-de-duperty creative and brilliant friend, Lea who has been blogging for several more years than I….has for several years had a theme of “Blog every day in May”.  I’ve participated in the past 3 years and somehow………

it is May 9th!!!!!!!!!!   WHAT?!?!?!?!?

and she called me today to remind me that NEITHER of us has begun the annual blog-fest and promptly directed me to her blog to see what she did to rectify that situation.  Yep.  The woman done went and CAUGHT UP!!!  So now….my goal-oriented-task-driven-competitiveness has kicked in.  I won’t even bother to back track.  Serious talk.  Too tired.  BUT…..I did blog last Friday and for us, weekends are a kind of bonus, so I’ll start now.  So go ‘head…”follow”, add me on Bloglovin’, follow on the Twitter…whatever you need to do and git ready!  Because I’d really like to celebrate with some blackberry grits and tea with Lea after this!!

And so here’s the deali-O…if you are blogging everyday in May…leave a comment and we can check it out and spread the word.  I’ll leave a little list at the bottom of this post of some other bloggers doing the same.  OK, OK, just one for now…but let me know if you’re blogging every day!!   If I REALLY get ambitious I’ll put a sidebar with May bloggers to make it easy…no promises, just dreams of grandeur.

It’s really just wrong we do this anyway…. I mean…it’s MAY!  The busiest month of the year….truly.  Even December…baby Jesus’ birthmonth isn’t as stressful as end-of-year wrap up, testing, recitals, First Communion, birthdays, Mother’s day, etc, etc, etc!  But hey, if a little writing and reading gets us through….blog on we shall!

Rachel Balducci @ Testosterhome…..got boys?  lots of ’em?  and a princess?  She does, too!!!  And stories abound.  AND she even wrote a book!!