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What I Love, Writing

Now Writing!

During our writing retreat last weekend, Steph told me her writing group was doing Novel-in-90 starting March 1st, so I joined that community. Yesterday we started. I didn’t get as much done as I wanted because I was busy, busy, and more than busy, but I hope to make up for it today.

I am working this year mainly on the Magical PTA novel, which I started during a different Novel-in-90 with the same group of people a couple years ago. I’m about 25,000ish words into it already, as I obviously didn’t finish last time. Hoping to do much better this time around. 🙂

Crafts

Homecoming for the non-conformists

My eldest kid surprised me last night with a request for a homecoming mum for his girl. LAST NIGHT. After three weeks of me saying “Are you sure you’re not going to change your mind?” They did and they didn’t. They still aren’t going to the dance, but they are going to go out and he requires a mum for this process.

First I was flabbergasted.  Then I flippantly said at this rate all that would be left was Halloween ribbons and I could make a Harry Potter mum. His date loved the idea.
This morning I spent an hour and a half and $119 and now we have supplies to make our own mum. For $60 I could have purchased a pre-made one, but this one is half-school spirit, half Harry Potter so it’ll be better. Also, it will be bonding for David and I and that’s priceless, right? As a bonus, I can hot glue him to something when he pisses me off.
There was an owl selection process. 

After multiple texts, we chose the one on the front right because it had feet and did not have a stick up its butt to deal with.


Some of the rest of the supplies. Oh, and a Bible. Cause I’ll need it after dealing with a kid and a hot glue gun for hours later.
Wish us luck!

Around the House

Long Time, No See

I know, I’ve been gone forever. Well, there is a very long list in my head right now about things that are super aggravating me and that is one of them. Here are a few so I can feel like I have vented and can get on with my day:

  1. Fundraisers – I know, I know, I’m on the committees and I know all about the budgets and where the money goes and why we need it right now just after all the school supplies were bought, but that doesn’t mean I am any happier about it than the rest of you. I really, really hate fundraising to the very core of my being. I wish we all had all the money we needed to do all the things that need being done.
  2. All the stupid reminder apps I need to download to keep in touch with kids schools and extracurriculars. Dude, I am so happy you want to keep in contact with us, but can we just agree as a whole town or state to use this one thing and be done with it? I have two for Greg, three for Ben, and two for David. Plus Evite and FB Events and PTAvenue and WordPress and and and. MY PHONE IS FULL, people. Either the state or local government needs to start paying for more storage for our phones or stop using these things. Remember paper? I like paper. Paper is good. I can set it on fire when I get tired of it. I CANNOT SET MY PHONE ON FIRE. It’s very toxic.
  3. Schedules: I just want the school schedules to get along. I want to drop my kids off youngest to eldest and pick up that way and I want to be able to have time to drive to one school and get in the pick-up line in a decent place at the next school without someone running me over or giving me death looks every day. I also want the elementary programs not to overlap the middle school or the high school and all that vice versa. I don’t want to figure out how I am going to chaperone a high school football game for band and a dance for the middle school at the same time or how to pick my kid up from band, take him to scouts (which he’s late for because it runs the same time as band, which makes no sense because scouts are usually band kids), and attend a school board meeting all at once (which, seriously, all the scouts meet on Monday night and scout parents are usually the kind of parents you want at your school board meeting.). Also, money pick-ups for schools: If I am dropping off and picking up all my kids at the same time as the schools want me to be picking up money brought to them by said children for PTA stuff, how am I supposed to be picking up and dropping off my kids? I literally literally cannot be in that many places at once. Do you see why I am insane?
  4. Ok, I think I’m done. I mean, I have more, but my brain feels a little calmer now and the ringing in my ears and the tightening of the vice grip of anxiety has lessened to a point where I might be able to get on with my day now. Thanks for “listening” people. I love you. 🙂
health

Phase One: Done!

I am done with Phase One of my diet.

Phase One: Complete!
Before and After Phase One

Measurements:

Weight: -5 lbs

Neck: -.5 inch

Arms: -.15 inches

Waist: -4 inches

Hips: the same

Thighs: -.5 inch

PROGRESS!! WOO HOO!!

health

High point of the week

After a couple days of being the crankiest woman on earth (so hungry, so tired of these 20 foods in phase one), I noticed this morning that my jacket fit so much better. A week ago, I was having trouble getting it to zip and was worried I’d have to get a new one. So I measured myself…and I’m down 5 inches at the waist! *doing a happy dance* More measurements tomorrow when I start Phase 2.

health

Back to the Healthiness!

So here’s what I’ve been up to since my surgery: sitting on the couch, resting, eating, resting, more eating, more sitting, more resting.I’ve gained back all the weight I lost in the fall and then some.

Sunday I bought the book The 20/20 Diet by Dr. Phil. The book is chock full of information on getting down to the why’s behind why you eat and exercise the way you do…and why it’s all not working for you. There’s a diet and exercise plan to follow. The meals seem super easy to make and don’t require too many weird ingredients (though I haven’t found rye pasta yet in a real store). The exercise plan is similar to what we do at Curves to keep our heart rate up in between using the machines for resistance training, so that’s all good to.

Yesterday I started the food plan. The first five days you have a combination of just 20 ingredients for foods. It’s to help you get past the sugar and carbs cravings, it says. I ate pretty well yesterday. You eat every four hours and I only started getting munchy the last 30 minutes or so until my next meal. If you eat slowly and pay attention to the food, it goes really well. I had one meal that I ate too fast and that’s where I got the hungriest in between.

I woke up today and felt pretty good. Starving beyond words, but not weak or headachy like I thought I might have been (there’s very little caffeine in this plan). I had my breakfast and went off to the gym for the first time in over 6 weeks. It went pretty well, but I was shaky before Zumba started, so I didn’t stay for that this time. I’m hoping to stay for it on Thursday. (My gym has changed hours, though, and I’ll no longer be able to work out on Wednesdays. 😦 )

Anyway, I’m excited to get back in the swing of things again. I think this will be good for me. Most of the foods on the diet are things I like, or at least don’t hate. The exercise plan is close to what I’m already planning to do. I won’t say it will be easy, but it is looking like something I can follow through with.

Around the House

Rear Window, y’all

Once upon a time, oh, maybe 3 neighbors ago, there were beautiful palm trees planted in the neighbors backyard along the back fence. They were lovingly wrapped up several winters in a row, until the neighbor before this one let them die of neglect.

The latest neighbor, faced with dead palm trees, has decided to use a 4-wheeler to remove them. For the first part of this process, he drove into the stumps repeatedly, bashing the poor stumps over and over. Then he moved on to a new plan of action and tried tying a rope to them and then driving back and forth to pull the stumps out. The rope eventually snapped.

Now after a long period of quietude where I thought about checking that he was still alive, he’s gotten a chain out and is trying tactic #2 again. It’s a very noisy process and I’m worried that he and the 4-wheeler might end up in the pool. So I’m staying right here by the window, phone in hand, hoping he doesn’t drown or come crashing through the fence.

health

Sinus Surgery – 3 weeks out

1. Still having drainage weirdnesses. It’s just gross, y’all. You don’t want to imagine it.
2. While I do have more energy than I did, I am still falling asleep places and times when I don’t want to be (ahem. church. ahem.).
3. I am seriously tired of soup. Yes, I’ve eaten other food here and there because I didn’t want to make a fuss in public about how it hurts to eat real food, but at home it’s been soup, soup, more soup, how ’bout a side of soup? There’s only so much soup a person can eat.
4. So happy my spouse is home. They say you heal faster when in physical contact with your bestest person. I can tell you that for real you heal slower without them.

health

Sinus surgery posts coming soon

I’m working on editing posts I made in the last few weeks about my sinus surgery. Some of them were a little too drug-addled for publication and some of them just too gross. But soon, my friends, soon there will be updates.

health

Sinus surgery – Day 18

I am thankful for smaller pains. You know how when you have a deep papercut on your finger and you realise that you use that finger for a LOT of things and every time you use it there’s a stabbing little pain? Imagine that in your nose every time you breathe in and every time you breathe out. That’s been me the last few days. Before this there was too much big aching pain in my face to notice this smaller irritating pain. So I’m thankful for this smaller pain today, my friends.