Ups and Downs

That is what life consists of right now. Complete ups and downs. Better than ALL downs though, right?!?! ;)

Christian had his Winter Wonderland day at school on Friday. Jarrett stayed home from work so that he could watch Ava and I could be a part of it. It was so cute! They had little stations set up around the room and the kids were divided up in groups of 4-5. Me and another mom were in charge of the "Penguin Waddle" game. The kids put a beanbag on their feet and had to waddle like a penguin to the finish line. SOOOOOO cute and the kids got a real kick out of it! It was way harder than it looked though! LOL They also had a story/hot chocolate station, relay race putting on winter clothes (hat, scarf, gloves, etc...), winter snowglobe craft, a science station where they painted with ice cubes (water with food coloring frozen with a popsicle stick in it) and made a string stick to an ice cube floating in water by sprinkling it with salt, and a snack station where they made a snowman out of little powdered doughnuts. It was all SOOOOO cute!!

He also had PJ day at school yesterday. His whole class got to wear their pajamas to school and they looked so adorable! He told everyone about it and he's been looking forward to it for weeks now. They got to sit on a blanket and watch a "Franklin" cartoon while having a snack. A BIG deal when you're 4 yrs old! LOL

We took the kids bowling for the first time ever on Saturday! It was sooooooooooooo much fun!!! Christian would have stayed there all day if we left him! Ava got bored after about 4 frames, so he played her games for her too! Yep...do the math...He did 3 and a half games all by himself! They pulled up the bumper rails so that the kids couldn't get gutter balls and it was such a blast. I'll have to post pics tomorrow. I haven't downloaded the camera yet!

We're not really sure what is going on righ tnow for the whole "home" front. We can't get any kind of an idea what the estimated taxes are going to be for the new house which is SO frustrating! We also have a couple options to break off a piece or 2 of the property and sell it to make this all possible again. I truly hope that we can figure out a way to afford to build the new house. It means so much to me! The land has been in my family forever and it will be so nice to continue our life on it.

We still have a bunch of people looking at the house too, which is SO hard! Someone is coming again tomorrow morning....UGH!! Supposedly, the person that was here on Friday has "some interest"...whatever the hell that's supposed to mean! Show me an offer!!!!!

SO...life is up and down...trying to stay positive and hoping that something happens soon! Happy Tuesday!!! {HUGS}

Another emotional day...

but aren't they all anymore?!!? :( It just seems like there isn't very much good news coming from anything right now. We contacted the realtor and asked him to lower the price on our current house again. Hopefully it will generate some more interest and an offer. Please keep the good vibes and prayers coming our way! If it sells while we have no other plans, we are just going to move in with my parents for a while. Not the most ideal of situations, but at least an answer for now.

We also talked to our potential neighbors last night to see if they were interested in buying a piece of the property we are building on. It would have helped us significantly money-wise, but as of right now, they are only interested if we give them a big enough plot to build on. This is a MAJOR thing to contemplate because the piece we would have left wouldn't be the flatest or greatest of yards. A LOT to digest, that's for sure.

The kids are being extremely rowdy today too, which isn't helping my situation at all. They are driving me nuts!!!!! God love 'em, but they need to calm down today or momma is going to be taken away in a white jacket!! lol

I feel like such a "Debbie Downer" recently. My normal happy go-lucky attitude is on a major vacation right now...and I have a feeling it will be gone until we get some answers on this house situation. It is just so disheartening and depressing. I really, REALLY hope it works out soon!!! Everything is such "bad" news right now when it comes to this. Hopefully one day soon I can come on here and post some WONDERFUL, POSITIVE news!!!

Have a great day! I'm off to hopefully get some designing done, 'cause ya KNOW I need the money!!! ;)

Tough times...

We're having some major headaches right now. This house not selling is really making it hard. And then, the realtor says that we need to drop the price again a bit. We aren't thinking that we will be able to afford to build the new house now. :( It's just going to be too hard. Hopefully we will get it all cleared up though. Keep your fingers crossed.

All of this stress has also affected so many other parts of life too. My diet and exercise are pretty much thrown out the window for now. I haven't been scrapping at all recently, let alone designing!! WHICH...in turn makes for less sales, which makes for more money issues....ugh... :( I really need to get out of this funk RIGHT NOW! I'm seriously driving myself nuts.

I really don't have much else to say today other than....GIVE ME A BREAK!!! :( We really need something to break open here to give us some closure on some items. I know if we keep the faith, it will all work out, but it is so hard to keep a smile on, KWIM? Send us some positive vibes, okay? {HUGS}

Ugh...money!!

Why is it such a pain? Why is it such a factor in every single aspect of life?!?! Honestly...it just drives me nuts. I am blessed to be a stay-at-home mom, but I would love to find a way to make more money to help support us. Yeah, I sell my digi designs at Oscraps already, but we have so much money stuff to worry about. It would be SO nice to find another source of income. A part time job outside of the house is out of the question. Family life is too important to me.

Anyways...just needed to vent. We had 2 strokes of bad money news today and I'm just frustruated, KWIM? We are definitely going to have to write a check to get out of this house once we sell it and today our realtor told us that he really feels we need to lower the price again. The market is just crappy and he thinks it is best. Ugh...we haven't made a decision yet, but the amount of the check we would have to write is OBNOXIOUS!! Seriously...I have no clue where that money is going to come from.

Rant over...and yes...this is my second post for the day. I need to get off my ass and start doing something other than worrying!!!!!

STAY POSITIVE, right?!?!?!? ;)

One day down...SOOOOO many to go!

So, yesterday was a good one for the new "healthy living". I put in the Turbo Jam videos I've had now for over 2 months and finally did one. Let me tell ya...it was so fun!! I started out with the Learn & Burn and I get a little lost in some spots, but it is a blast and I worked up a great sweat. When Jarrett came home, we both did the Learn & Burn again. He wanted to try it out and he didn't care for it as much as I did. I also used the Ab Roller twice yesterday and did some leg exercises while laying on the couch. All in all, a great day! I DO have to say though...I am sore today! lol But at least it's a "good" sore, if that makes any sense.

Here's the rest of the breakdown for yesterday:

Calories (between 1200-1500): :( I went over a little bit. I didn't realize how bad the leftover wedding soup was! Those white flour noodles are a killer!
Water (between 80-120 oz): :) I did VERY good on this!!
Exercise: 40 min of cardio (Turbo Jam), approx 20 min misc exercises (ab roller, legs)

Yesterday was a pretty low key day. We just hung out around the house and did nothing. I have a LOT of catching up to do today though! Our Christmas decorations are still up....I know...pathetic, eh?!!? They are in the process of coming down today. I also have laundry to do and also a church Session meeting tonight. I haven't been to church much in the past 2 months. I'm kinda burned out by the negativity surrounding it and I've been avoiding it like the plague. I missed the last 2 Session meetings because of it, so I decided to suck it up and try to overcome it. Being more positive....

Word for the year
On that note...my word for 2008, ala Ali Edwards, is...
POSITIVE

Yep, it's time to get back to the happy-go-lucky person that I used to be. I have been so stressed out this year with this house being up for sale, getting together ideas/plans for the building of the new house, money issues, and in the process of all of that...gaining 35 pounds, which made me even more miserable. Now, I've noticed that I'm just crabby, miserable, and a little depressed almost all the time. I want to get over the stress and get happy all the time again. I know it can happen, so this is my pledge...staying POSITIVE!!

Alrighty...off to pick up Christian from preschool. Have a wonderful day!! {HUGS}

A kink in the plans already!

Yep...you heard me right. A kink in the plans already!!! Today was supposed to start extreme healthy eating and exercising. Want to hear what happened?!?! We got a call this morning (while I was taking Christian to preschool) saying that someone wanted to come look at the house tonight. UGH!! Having the house ready to show to anyone at a minutes notice is a lot of hard work...especially with a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old! The house has been "officially" for sale with a realtor now for a little over 2 months. We are just hoping for that special someone that wants to buy it!

Anyways...I digress...since so much time today went into cleaning/scrubbing/etc, no exercise happened and we ended up eating in the mall food court for dinner while the people were here looking at our house. Thank god I ate really good all day and only drank water, because we did Taco Bell for dinner. Here's how the day ended up...

Calories (between 1200-1500): yes :)
Water (96-120 oz): yes :)
Exercise: no :(

Pretty good, all things considering. I also did some grocery shopping this morning and got lots of healthy food for us all. Tomorrow will be a better day exercise-wise hopefully!!

~ Cute kiddo stuff ~

Here are some really cute things the kiddos are doing recently:

Christian:
~ Woke up this morning and told me he was dreaming last night. When I asked him about what, he said "about how much I love my momma & daddy". Awwww...does it get any cuter than that?!?!? Then he told me, "I dreamt that I loved you guys even more than I already do, but that's not possible, Momma, because I already love you thiiiiiiiis much!" *spreading his arms open as wide as he could* My gosh. This kiddo warmed my heart tremendously and he was only awake for 5 minutes!! :)

~ He says some of his words so darn cute. It makes us smile every time we hear them! Such as "wevver" for "weather", "skirtcles" for "circles", "nuffin'" for "nothing". He's adorable!

~ He LOVES going to preschool! His teachers are Mrs. Patterson and Ms. Cole and they are awesome! He has a different job each week, has a different letter they focus on each week with show and tell being on Wednesdays (the item they bring has to start with that letter), he says the Pledge of Allegience and sings My Country Tis of Thee. His best little buddy is Carter and they just love each other!

Ava:
~ Is in such a kissy mood recently! :) She is so darn cute about it. She puckers up her little lips and just lays one (or twelve) on you when you're not paying attention. She also gives you big 'ole bear hugs and tells you she "wuvs" you all the time. It is simply SOOOOOO adorable!

~ She wants to snuggle nonstop. Every time you lay her down for a nap or to bed at night, she wants to have someone lay down with her.

~ She is in love with her baby dolls. She likes to dress them, feed them, pretend she's changing their diaper, etc... She is always carrying one of them around and she takes care of them just like any "mommy" would. It is so sweet!

That's enough rambling for today...I have so much stuff to do!! It's 10:00 pm and I swear, I feel like I can never get caught up. :( Ugh... Happy Monday to y'all!! {HUGS}

Has it really been 6 months?!?!?!

Seriously...has it really been 6 months since I posted anything here? PATHETIC!!! :( One of my new years resolutions is to post more regularly again. This is a great way to remember all the little daily things that I want to cherish always.

Also, tomorrow starts my "new life". I have quite a few resolutions this year. I'll be sure to post them all in the next day or so. I have just been so busy, stressed, and unfocused for the past 6-9 months. I really need to get my life back in order so that I can go back to the happy, easy-going person I once was. NOT the miserable, moody bitch that I am now. Seriously...I am SO moody! It doesn't take much to throw me over the edge right now. Most of it revolves around money issues, house issues, and of course, the 30 pounds I've put on in the past year. My biggest resolve right now is to start getting healthy again. I need to lose a TON of weight and start eating healthier. Not as much takeout and sitting on my butt. I need to lose at least 30 pounds as a short term goal and more like 45-50 for my long term "ideal" goal. Just losing a bit will help to make me feel better about myself. All of my clothes don't fit or fit like absolute garbage. It is so sad and pathetic that the only pants that fit me are some running pants and a pair of dress pants that I had to buy in a bigger size just so I would have something to wear to church. HORRIBLE!!!

SO...starting tomorrow....

~ Drinking only water/crystal light.
~ Healthier eating. Between 1200-1500 calories a day.
~ Track my calories daily.
~ Exercise at least 20-30 min a day 5-6 days a week.

Other than that...that's where I stand as of now. Starting over a new leaf and getting back in the groove. :) Hopefully I may actually get people to start reading this thing again too! LOL Happy New Year!!! {HUGS}