Small Toot 4 Me

I would edit this into my previous post, but I'll admit it's already too long of a post. Lols.

So, 3 weeks ago, Jan. 6th, I decided that excuses of my weight need to be stopped and I'm going to change my eating habits and make myself healthy. The little one is getting older and more active and I want to be able to run with her. I wasn't quite sure what road I was planning to go down, but then a bunch of ladies at work were talking about starting this high protein diet, eat 5 times a day, approx. consuming 1200-1300 calories. I will admit that number seems ridiculously low. Right? But really, I am forcing myself to eat stuff for my 3 meals and 2 snacks, b/c I'm just not hungry. The good news, this is def. something easy for me to stick with and it's pretty already a habit at this point.

Yesterday for my weigh-in I finally broke my first 10 lbs. I really couldn't be ecstatic. I just wanted to share my joy in this small feat among the overall big one I have ahead of me. :o)

Not so Wordless of a Wednesday

** Warning: This will be long!**

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First off, Kels over at Authenically Me: Living a Life of Love, sharing how she joined in on this fun alphabet game circling other blogs. You get given a letter and then have to list 10 things you love that begin with that letter. She gave me the letter "P". At first I was totally befuzzled on what if I could even think of 10 things that begin with the letter "P" that I love, but once I sat down and thought they came rather easily and quickly. If you too would like join in on the phone, leave a comment on this post and I'll assign you a letter. :o) Ok, now for my list, in no particular order.

1. Purple - my all time favorite color! I love all shades of it. Have made it a prominent color in Emma's room. And especially love buying her & myself for that matter, purple clothing and little things.

2. Peas - I have always loved peas. But on my new diet they are on the top of the list of things to eat, so I find myself stocking up even more on these things when going to the grocery store. Yummy!

3. Pumpkin - They help to symbolize my favorite season of the whole year. I love going to our local PumpkinFest. Out to the pumpkin farm to pick ours. Carving them. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin rolls, homemade pumpkin spice cake with home made cream cheese icing, am I getting you hungry yet?

4. Photography - I think as with any parent, who can resist not taking pictures of our little ones? Since having Emma my photographer skills have improved, and I love just taking pictures in general. Not just of her, but of the beauty around us also.

5. Popcorn - Love the fluffly kernels, butter goodness, with some cheese flavoring.

6. Portraits/Pictures/Photos - I love taking Emma for her portraits, not a bigger joy. Love surrounding my home with photos of our loved ones. There is not a bare space of wall without some kind of picture or photo frame. Pictures/Works of Art - nothing more to really say about that.

7. Pajamas - Who else is addicted to buying pajamas. I love them. Over the years I've changed my tastes, but there's nothing better then coming home and getting into your comfy pj's and curling up on the couch.

8. Pulse - To be alive and living well.

9. Pages/Paper - So much can be said on a page. Whether it be a blank page waiting for you to take your pen and write out your heart. Books. The beautiful pieces of art Emma creates on a piece of paper. My scrapbooking pages that help to share a story.

10. Pillow - I love pillows. Especially nice soft ones for our couch. Love curling up with them. Bed pillows have to just right. Amazingly, I can def. tell a difference between the hubs pillow and mine, we sleep on them differently so have different fluffiness. Yes, pillows are a great thing!

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Bloggy Rant: I'm going batty over hear with Word Verification! I totally understand why some poeple might feel the need for it due to spammers. But it always takes me at least 3 tries to get the dumb thing right, even though I could swear I'm typing it in correctly. Seriously, there is nothing more frustrating! Just had to get that off my chest.

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I found this great scrapbooking board called Making Memories for You from stubling across Ivon's blog, Crop with Style. They are having an open call for guest DT's (two paper and one digi) for April, and to be published in their ezine. These women on this board are extremely friendly and talented.

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And lastly, as I logged into blogger, I was skimming through the blogs I follow their little summaries and this topic kept popping up. I found it interesting and very informative. Copy/Paste/Pass it Along!

It is a Blog-in. Help pass it a long. As parents and concerned citizens I’m sure most of us at one time or another have been confronted with the question of lead poisoning. But have you asked yourself what your government is doing to protect your children from lead contained in toys? The answer? They're banning toys, taking books from schools and libraries, hurting low income families, killing entrepreneurial spirit and risking putting the economy in an even greater depression than we've seen in decades. I'd like to introduce you to their solution: the CPSIA.Do you know about the CPSIA? No? Then I ask you to take a few minutes to find out about it.The CPSIA stands for Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, a new set of laws that will come into effect on 10 February, 2009 and will impact many, many people in a negative way. Make no mistake, this is very real. View it for yourself. If Forbes, the American Library Association and numerous other media are paying attention, perhaps you should too.

How will these new laws affect you? Well, here are a few examples:

To the Parents of Young Students:Due to the new law, expect to see the cost of school supplies sky rocket. While those paper clips weren't originally intended for your student to use, they will need to be tested now that your 11-year-old needs them for his school project. This law applies to any and all school supplies (textbooks, pencils, crayons, paper, etc.) being used by children under 12.

To the Avid Reader:Due to the new law, all children's books will be pulled from library and school shelves, as there is no exemption for them. That’s okay though, there's always television. Our children don’t need to learn the love of reading after all.Article from the American Library Association http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322

To the Lover of All Things Handmade:Due to the new law, you will now be given a cotton ball and an instruction manual so you can make it yourself since that blanket you originally had your eye on for $50 will now cost you around $1,000 after it's passed testing. It won't even be the one-of-a-kind blanket you were hoping for. Items are destroyed in the testing process making one-of-a-kind items virtually impossible. So that gorgeous hand-knit hat you bought your child this past winter won’t be available next winter.

To the Environmentalist:Due to the new law, all items in non-compliance will now be dumped into our already overflowing landfills. Imagine not just products from the small business owners, but the Big Box Stores as well. You can't sell it so you must toss it. Or be potentially sued for selling it. You can't even give them away. If you are caught, it is still a violation.

To the Second-Hand Shopper:Due to the new law, you will now need to spend $20 for that brand new pair of jeans for your 2-year old, rather than shop at the Goodwill for second hand. Many resale shops are eliminating children's items all together to avoid future lawsuits.

To the Entrepreneur:Due to this new law, you will be forced to adhere to strict testing of your unique products or discontinue to make and/or sell them. Small businesses will be likely to be unable to afford the cost of testing and be forced to close up shop. Due to the current economic state, you'll have to hope for the best when it comes to finding a new job in Corporate America.

To the Antique Toy Collector:Due to the new law, you'd better start buying now because it's all going to private collection and will no longer be available to purchase. “Because the new rules apply retroactively, toys and clothes already on the shelf will have to be thrown out if they aren't certified as safe.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123189645948879745.html

To the American Economy:Already struggling under an economy that hasn’t been this weak in decades, the American economy will be hit harder with the inevitable loss of jobs and revenues from suppliers, small businesses and consumers. The required testing is far too costly and restrictive for small businesses or individuals to undertake.

To the Worldwide Economy:Due to this new law, many foreign manufacturers have already pulled out of the US market. You can imagine the impact of this on their businesses.If you think this is exaggerating, here is a recent article from Forbeshttp://www.forbes.com/2009/01/16/cpsia-safety-toys-oped-cx_wo_0116olson.htmlAnd for those of you prepared to be stupefied and boggled, The New Lawhttp://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html

Did you know? If this upsets or alarms you, please react.

Still here

I'm here, just have had minimal time to get on the computer the last couple days. Tomorrow I plan on doing a catch-up post for an award, a fun game I joined *you can too if you want*, a small bloggy rant, and sharing pics from the hubs bday which was yesterday & we're continuing the celebrations into today. :o)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

I tell her to smile and say "cheese", this is what I got. How I love her!

Nope, NOT ME!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I've been reading these for months and always enjoy them, so figured, I mind as well make my own attempt.

I DID NOT slap the husband in the middle of the night, to wake him up so he could go tend to the little one because she was crying. I would never do that on a night he has to wake up for work. Nope NOT ME!

I DID NOT make chicken of some form for the 4th day in a row. My dieting has made our freezer be stocked with chicken and nothing else, b/c I haven't been to the store. And now the family is suffering.

I DID NOT guilt the husband into helping me around the house Sunday, when he was just as content watching golf all day, nope NOT ME!

I DID NOT hurt my finger playing guitar hero with the husband this weekend. I wouldn't keep challenging him to play just so I can beat him, even though now it hurts to bed my finger, nope NOT ME!

Zumba Anyone?

So, a couple weeks ago, MIL asked me if I'd be interested in doing a night exercise class of some sort with her. With my evening work schedule one of the only ones that would work was an Intro to Basic Zumba with Yoga/Pilates Fusion. What is Zumba do you ask? Latin Dancing. The instrutor explains if the first time you go through a song, then we just did the song again no instruction, we did 3 songs like that, and 1 with just instruction. By the end of February we'll learn 9-10 dances, and in a class period we'll just go from song to song to song, to re-instruction. Here's a video I found. <-Click on that link! But honestly, I was a little scared the first song, there was some kind of a crow, and our instructor would yell out "Kawkaw" (that is supposed to be a crow sound) and flap her arms like wings. I couldn't even look at MIL or else I'd lose it, but in the end it was a really fun class!

My thoughts, your heart gets a pumping, my sides and legs were hurting by the end of each song. And who doesn't like finding some new movements especially with their hips. I know the hubs liked the few moves I showed him when I got home.

So, I think if you have the chance, take a Zumba class, the time flies by, you have fun and get a great cardio workout!

Congratulations

on my cousin's and his wifes new bundle of joy, baby boy - named Landyn, that was delivered this afternoon. I'm so excited to go meet the new addition to our family, and now Emma will have a playmate in the years to come.

Crazy Clutter Keeps Taking Over

So, the end of last year I saw that Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick was going to be hosting a Mission to Organize & DeClutter. I got excited becasue this is right up my alley. My house desparately needs it. I mean Yes, I occasionally do rooms. Like last spring I did our room, the little ones, room and our spare room, which really is the craft room/our dressers, and the catch all of all catch alls. The end of 2008 we decided to flip flop rooms with our daughter and actually headed down to the basement to get it clean so our spare room can officially be a spare room. Which has just made the bug even bigger to be completely organized.

My Hot Spots that Need IMMDIATE attention:
- The Bathroom Closet, which is all bathroom ammenities, plus cleaning supplies for the house.
- The Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers - I just do not even want to go there, a lot of wasted space for stuff we just DO NOT USE!
- The buffets in my dining room, you can bet that any misc. stuff just gets tossed into the puppies so am a little scared to see what will be lurking.
- The back half of the basement which consists of Emma's Clothes she's grown out of and all of those big spaced Baby Toy/Items. How is it that one little person can accumulate SO MUCH!!!

Not only that but I swear clutter just begins to suffocate you. It really is so nice to go through things, get rid of what you don't use and then be able to really enjoy the space.

Are you the Type of Person who just CAN'T throw things out/Donate them?

- You must. If you've never used, haven't used it in the last 6 months etc. then get rid of it. Decide whether it's actual trash or to be donated, sold at consignment, or hold a big yard sale. You will feel better as you get rid of things.

I personally do not have a problem holding on to things, you can tell when I'm cleaning out, because I accumulate bags and bags (the 60 gallon bags) out on my porch to be tossed or taken to my gramma's for a yard sale this spring. I'm pretty sure the whole neighborhood knows on trash day when we line it all up. Lols, but in the end it feels good! Sentimental things are different, and even then there comes a time if they are just taking over but packed away and not enjoying them, get rid of them! I personally love filling up bags of stuff that are leaving my house one way or another and getting it out!

So, who wants to join in on the fun? You know you want to. Your home, family and you will be happier and enjoy it all the more at the end! So join the Mission with me and let's share our tips & tricks.

The Hiatus must come to an End...

I can't believe it's been practically 3 weeks since my last post, I haven't even been reading up on anyone, I have much much catching up to do.

Our Christmas was wonderful. We are so lucky and very blessed by our loved ones. We had our final Christmas last weekend. Still have some presents to put away and outside decorations to take down, but all in time right?

New Year's was a great time spent with friends. And New Year's day we got to witness my aunt's annual polar bear dip in front of her house. Too cold for us though. And spent the afternoon at Sesame Street Live.

Today, is my birthday, turned the big 2-4! Woo-HOO! I took the plunge and finally got my tattoo that I've been wanting. It's beautiful and I love it. Unfortunately bad weather canceled our original plans but the day turned out wonderful anyways.

For some reason on birthdays and perhaps it's just because it's the new year, it's a time for reflections and things I want to change.

- I finally feel like I'm in a good place, and that feels good!
- I'm putting my health up to the top of my list. Am getting serious about making myself and my family healthy!
- This year I'm going to finish decluttering my house. November and December I really started and in this process of getting out all of that junk, I've finally fallen in love with our home and it is a home, no longer just a house. I love being here.
- Venturing on new and exciting things such as opening an Etsy store with my dear friend Deann, will keep posted on the grand opening and everything.
- Being more serious with our money and getting us back on budget, I did so well the end of last year and the past month or so have fallen off of the wagon some. Time to hop back on.
- Taking more time for my friends and family members.

It feels good to get all of these things down and out. I myself and heading up to bed, tons of pictures I'll be sharing throughout the week of our holidays, room flips, some projects, awesome homemade gifts we got and bday celebrations.

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This policy is valid from 03 November 2009


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