Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 27th anniversary so I thought I'd make a post!  It hasn't always been fun, but we've always been committed to each other! I think the problem with a lot of new marriages today is that they don't go into it thinking it really is forever. Mike and I went into it saying that divorce was not an option and it hasn't been. There were times when it might have been easier, I'm not sure since I've never been down that road, but I'm glad we never thought that was an option for us!  We are happier today then when we got married and it's because we've made it through the tough times!

Mike brought me lunch and a bouquet of flowers. I'm not a big rose fan, he brought me my favorite flowers, but I didn't have a vase...but I did have a paper towel roll!

I've lost about 18 pounds since I started trying to get healthy. I am not using the personal trainer anymore, but Mike and I have joined a gym that's open 24 hours a day. We like it so far! We are signed up for an 8k on March 17th so I have to put some miles in! I am afraid I'm going to be hurting when it's over if I don't get busy now!  LOL

I am not sure I mentioned my toothache here, but I had one for several months while Mike didn't have insurance. When his insurance kicked in I went to the dentist and was told I needed a root canal, but when I went the decay was below the bone so it had to be pulled. It hurt for longer than I thought it would after it was pulled, but now it's almost back to normal. It's been three weeks today. It still feels funny, but I'm sure I will live! I don't know if I'm going to get anything to put in it's place or not. The insurance we have actually didn't pay for the extraction so I'm glad I couldn't have the root canal! The extraction was expensive enough!

Cody is on his way to Disney World with his dad's side of the family. He wants to try out for track, but I'm not sure his dad is going to allow him with all the ball stuff coming up, but I think he should...it's all after school and won't interfere with baseball!  :)

Haley starts piano lessons next Tuesday! She says she's not excited because she doesn't know how to do it, but I think once she starts she will be fine. She is taking ballet too. She wanted to stop that too until we were able to change her teacher to the one she had this summer!  Then we found out that someone from her class at school is in that dance class and a neighbor girl and another girl from first grade at school!  :)

That's about it from here...I will try to have pictures from the 8k and post here!

A New Beginning...

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted here. I need to make an effort to get here more often to post my thoughts and feelings.

I'm back on my weight loss journey. I've lost 12 pounds since the middle of January. Yesterday and this morning I was up a few pounds, but that could just be a fluctuation because I have been faithful with my eating even though my exercise is only when my personal trainer is here!

Yes, I hired a personal trainer!  She comes twice a week which is okay although I wanted three days a week. And I wish that I could motivate myself to exercise more on the days she doesn't come, but I suppose that will come. I did feel today a little more energy...just a little more pep in my step!

This is exam week and I'll have a little extra time the last three weeks of this week so I hope to get into an exercise routine that will continue once we get back into a regular schedule for school.

Cody and Haley are doing great!  I don't have new pictures to post today, but I will soon. I did get a new camcorder but wasn't totally pleased with it so I returned it because I couldn't justify spending so much money on something I wasn't totally pleased with. Today I found a little Kodak that isn't even out yet that I just love and it's $100.00 less expensive than the other one so I'm going to try that one when it comes out in a couple of months!  :)

Cody's foul shots

Cody had a game tonight and I used my new video camera. I'm not thrilled with the quality of the video, but will buy an HDMI cable tomorrow and if the quality isn't better than this I'm taking it back! I can do better than this with my phone, but I can't zoom on the phone while videoing!

The one feature I love about this camcorder is that I can take still shots while I'm videoing. Here are a few stills from this video.

Starting my journey again!

I met with a personal trainer last week and I really like her. She is going to come to my house twice a week and I believe she is going to have a plan for me for the other days she isn't with me. I have already lost a few pounds this week just being conscious of what I'm eating.

Cody had a great game last week, he scored 14 of the team's 33 points in one game and he only played 2 1/2 quarters! The coach took all the starters out because they weren't keeping their hands up on the court. I agree the boys should do what the coach says, but to pull the starters, especially the high scoring starter for 9 minutes of a game I think is shooting himself in the foot!  When he took the starters out they were only behind by 5 points, but we lost by way more than that! But I'm still proud of Cody's work while he was in there! (their quarters are 6 minutes long)

Haley has her ballet recital Saturday so I'm anxious for that. I am going to buy a new camera today...the website says they have one at Walmart, I will call again before I go, although it might be another wild goose chase like for Cody's iPod Touch a few weeks ago!

I'm using a few new websites that I hope will help me with my health journey this time. LiveStrong.com and Cozi.com. LiveStrong is very new to me except that I knew it was associated with Lance Armstrong, but Cozi I've used for scheduling things that gives me an email reminder!

Haley went to a Princess Birthday Party yesterday so I will end with some of the photos from that!

Thoughts and things!

Cody's basketball team isn't that good this year. They have lost their first two games, but Cody is doing okay. The first game he was a starter and got six points, the second game he didn't start (which we like cause last year the coach played the same six or seven boys almost all year and no one else got to play), but he did score a three pointer so we are very proud of him!

The first two pictures are of him throwing free throws and he made both of them!





This picture is from warm ups in their second game with their yellow jerseys! The lights were yellow too so it looks weird! LOL



Haley, Mike, and I went to Chesapeake for Thanksgiving. It was just a quick trip for two days, but it was very nice. We actually had our Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday because we had to leave early on Thursday to come back home for Haley to eat with her dad's side of the family and Mike needed to rest because he had to work a 12 hour shift starting at 10:00 Thursday night through Black Friday madness so we wanted him to get a good night's sleep.

Here are a few pictures of Haley while we were there having fun with her cousins! The first one is a hat that someone crocheted for Michaela, but Haley is modeling it!




I think Michaela treats Haley like a little doll she can dress up...and Haley has fun too so it works for everyone involved!  LOL  Here is one of MANY dresses that she was dressed up in!  :)



Yesterday I watched Haley and tutored a student whom we are trying to catch up in the homeschool DVD's. I didn't mind...nothing else to do, really!

I guess my big news is that I've contacted a personal trainer. I emailed her a couple of times yesterday and I'm waiting to hear back from her about a time to get together for our initial consultation to see what her game plan might be for me and if I think we can work together well. I generally get along with most everyone, but on the off chance that we might not click I don't want to make a commitment until I've met with her. It's expensive in the here and now, but will be worth the expense if I can get my weight and health under control and I won't  have health problems as I get older!

I will let you know how that goes!  :)

iPods and basketball!

Cody made the basketball team again this year for his middle school team. We are very proud of him!  The first team practice is today from 8:00 to 12:00. Because his mom is not an early riser (she would do it, but I don't mind at all!) and he wanted his new iPod set up he came to spend the night with me last night. It was very nice!  We watched two movies together, the second was my favorite, The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend, about Pete Maravich.

It was the perfect movie in a couple ways: one, because it was about basketball, two, because the movie was about Pete when he was in 8th grade.

When the movie was over Cody and I looked up about his career and life. It's quite amazing that he did as well as he did because he died at age 40 due to a congenital heart defect. He was born without a left artery (I think that was it), which is what supplies blood to the heart muscle! He was with James Dobson when he passed away, he was playing a pick up game of basket ball and had said he was feeling great shortly before he passed away.

Cody and I got into bed a little before 1:00, but after all the tomfoolery we were probably settled a little after 1:00 and the alarm rang at 7:00! We ran to Walmart to get a couple of things and we were the first ones to practice this morning, but that's the way Cody likes it!  In that way he's much like me...he doesn't like to be late and wants to be early!  :)

Haley is doing well too!  I will have stuff to write about her soon...she is doing ballet and loves it!  She will have a recital December 10th so you will hear and see all about it then!

November 3, 2011

Six years ago yesterday my mom went home to be with the Lord. I don't think about her everyday or dwell on it, but there are times when there is a void in my life and I know it's because she is missing! She wasn't perfect, but she was perfect for me!  :) I wouldn't wish her back here with all her pain again for the world.

My weight isn't going anywhere...up or down...which is good and bad news!  It could very easily be up 10 pounds in one month, but it's stayed the same which is good for me!

I told you in my last post that I was going to get a Thrive for my birthday. I finally settled on a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, but decided yesterday to take it back and just get another laptop. Mike and I watch TV through my computer hooked up to the TV so we need two at night in order to watch TV and the tablet was nice, but did not do everything I had hoped it would. After talking to my sister yesterday I made the decision to take it back and not keep trying to like it!

I now have a beautiful Gateway laptop that I think will last me a good long time and didn't cost me an arm and a leg!  I'm very happy with my choice.

Mike would love to get on daytime work at Walmart and one of his managers was supposed to go to daylight soon and Mike would be able to follow after Christmas, but that is less certain now than it was a few weeks ago. We are praying for God's will. Mike is not getting the right kind of sleep working 40 hours a week through the night and trying to sleep through the day. Our desire is for him to work daylight time, but if that's not God's will we will be happy that he has a good job with insurance!

Here again!

This weekend was Homecoming at Liberty University and my sister, Brenda, and her family came to spend one night with us. It was a very fast visit, but it was nice to see them!  I picked Haley up from school and she was jumping up and down saying she got to see her cousins!  I asked her teacher if she had been like that all day and she said no!  Thankfully!

Mike is working right along at Walmart and enjoys his work, the problem is the hours! He works at night and it's just hard on him at 60 years old to be working all night and trying to sleep during the day. His favorite manager is moving to daytime and Mike mentioned that he'd like to go to daylight too and the manager said he'd see what he could do!  I'm not sure if the guy really meant it or was just talking, but we are praying that he can get on daylight! If he did that this would be the perfect job! Mike likes the work and the people he works with for the most part so you can't ask for more than that!  If he got on daylight I see him being able to do that job for another ten or more years!

I'm still tutoring away. I did have two students withdraw from our school, but honestly that just made my schedule nicer and more relaxing so I'm not complaining about that at all! I want a Thrive for my birthday. I've looked at all the tablet sized gadgets and I think that the Thrive will meet my needs the best! My birthday is in the few days so I hope to talk Mike into buying it for me, but if not I'll just buy it myself!

I have really been considering my weight again...I was walking for a couple of weeks, but have gotten out of the habit again. This weekend two of my friends went to Baltimore to do the half marathon that we all planned to do six years ago...I went, but we unable to participate because I had a pulled hamstring...then when I got home I was going to get busy with my weight loss and three weeks later my mom passed away and then it was all downhill from there!

Anyway, I really need to get busy with my weight loss. One thing that happened about six weeks ago was that my daughter's mother-in-law passed away at the age of 59! I'm just 52 and that's just way too close to my age so I need to be around for my family and I want to start taking care of myself!

I ordered some stuff from Biggest Loser...I am going to take a good hard look at it and see what I think. I believe the cost of the stuff is $120.00, which is a little pricey, but if it helps me get my health back it will be well worth the money!

Almost 8 months...

It seems impossible that it's been almost eight months since I last wrote in my blog!  Much has happened since I last wrote. I have lots of photos to share, but I will try to do them in an orderly fashion!

Cody is still playing travel ball and his team is really good and gets to the championship game almost every tournament. Right now he's playing on his All Star team for the county recreation department. Because the Dixie Youth World Series is at our field this year (literally in my backyard, I can see the lights and hear the cheers from my house) our boys got an automatic bid to the World Series and didn't have to play any games to lead up to it so their coaches too, them to a travel ball tournament. The boys won five games without a lose the whole weekend!  In fact the last three games were won by slaughter rule and the most innings we played were 4 innings!  :)  Here is a picture of the Madison Heights All Stars at the Covington Clash Tournament!

 

Cody is third from the left in the second row!  When we were at the hotel I was in my bare feet and he had his sandals on and he was just a tad taller than me and I'm 5'9" tall!  :(  My baby is growing up!  Where are the days where I held him in my arms and rocked and sang to him?  Oh, that was just the other day!  He's a 100 pound almost 6' tall baby now!  LOL

Cody also went to basketball camp this summer at Virginia Episcopal School (where he will go to high school) and he won the MVP and Hot Shot award! The Hot Shot award was given to the boy who scored the most baskets in a minute!  :)

Cody also went to another basketball camp, but didn't get any awards from that...but it's a larger camp so he's a little fish in a big pond there, but I believe learns as much or more there being the smaller fish!

The other big thing for Cody this summer was some yellow jacket bites the Thursday before the All Star travel ball tournament! He is better now, but it was a long time before the swelling went down!  We weren't even sure he would get his glove on the hand! The second picture is the back of his forearm! It actually healed a lot faster than his hand!

I have more to share with you about Haley, but I will wait to do that!  :)  I don't want to bore you all in one day!

Pretty in Pink!

Haley called a couple weeks ago (actually, I was talking to Michele and Haley wanted to talk to me!) and asked if I would buy her something!  I told her of course I would, what did she want?  She told me she wanted a pretty pink princess dress!  Well, you know, Nana had to get right on that one!  I wasn't going to forget a request like that so this last Wednesday we went shopping for a pretty pink princess dress...not green or red (of which there were plenty this time or year!) not even purple...we had to find pink!

You should have seen her face and heard the joy in her expression when she saw the pretty party dresses at Sears!  I would do it all over again in a heartbeat to see that joy!  She was going through picking up the dresses and looking at them.  She knew exactly what she wanted and didn't want!  We found the perfect dress and I got two of them in different sizes to try on.  We got the size 6 because there will be plenty of room to grow!

I get the feeling she wanted to wear it out of the store, but I made her take it off to get home!  We also picked out pretty new socks, shoes, purse, and headband!  Here are ALL the pictures because I couldn't pick just one!

 Wednesday was Michele's birthday so we took her out for dinner and these pictures are from that night.  I just love the one of Michele with Cody and Haley!  I am a blessed mother/grandmother, indeed!