Ask and it will be given…and…

Yesterday Mike was getting worried about a job. He’d been home for 5 days plus the weekend and was getting antsy and worried. So we sat down and prayed. Just an easy, “Lord, Mike really needs a job, he’s working hard to make a living, trying toget ahead and become a man, will you please help him?” and last night he got a phone call. 3 days out of town. Last time out of town meant 3 weeks so we are hoping but will take 3 days and go from there.

Not quite a hop, skip and a jump away but 125 miles away. He’s happy, they company asked for him so they are happy and all is good.

Well the kids worked on ornaments tonight, we did stain glass ones but used regular paint because I didn’t have the plastic paints. They turned out beautiful if you ask me and I’ll be putting them on the tree tomorrow.

 

Remember our geo-caching?….I finally downloaded the pictures. Rachel and Abby had never gone before and Scott wanted to come along so Mike took them all. They found 3 out of the 4 caches.

 

 

 

Joss wanted to help on Monday put up the Christmas tree. She is such a doll and loves just being and playing. Check these out.

 

And my Sweet Tooth Challenge…..it is not easy but each day is just a bit easier. Today is day three and I didn’t think about anything sweet 90% of the day and when I did I had a piece of gum and that seemed to curb that. It’s sugarless but smells like mint ice-cream and if it works.

So hump day is come and almost gone. The week has been good, busy and a blessing. I hope all is well with all of you. Take care my friends. God Bless you all!!

Day one…Sweet tooth challenge and ….

I want candy, I want candy. Really I did great all day until after dinner and now I want candy. Just a piece or two, just a handful of M&M’s. Please, I want candy. BUT!!!…. I’m not going to indulge, I’m just going to go to bed soon.

Now I have something super to share. I ran today, I ran at 5.2 for 3/4 mile and then 5.0 for 1/2 and 4.5 for 1/2. It felt awesome. I did walk some too because I’m not up to par yet but oh it felt so good. 2 miles in 29 minutes, not great but not complaining either. I got a good 2 hour work out in before heading home to daycare.

Today we put up the Christmas tree and a few decorations. I don’t put up lots because I can’t stand the clutter and being closed in but I so love the lights and color.

Starting Wednesday I am going to have my after school kids work on Christmas ornaments to decorate the outside tree. Last year we had a tree we started at Christmas time, then kept adding ornaments for different holidays until after Easter. I’ll share what they make each week. I wish I knew where my hot glue gun is, it sure would make crafting a bit easier.

So that was today. A busy day but a really nice one too. Mike is still out of work so hopefully soon he’ll find something or the resource center will. Like all of us he already has a bill or two to pay plus rent so work is a must.

Take care my friends and sleep well. Tomorrow’s a new day filled with challenges. I’ll be up at 5:00 to go swimming and get my workout done with, then daycare and ??? I have the beginnings of a cold so I’m trying to survive the cough and hope it doesn’t get any worse. Blessings to you all!!

I need help so….

Maren from Cow to Wow has put out a challenge and I wasn’t going to partake but seeing that I can not kick the sweets from my last period I have got to do something so starting tomorrow morning (from November 28th to December 18th) no more sugar. Now I don’t mean like what’s in fruit or what’s in my oatmeal or that kind of stuff, I mean candy and cookies and treats. Now I really don’t eat lots of the stuff but enough that I’m craving it. So tomorrow it’s time to give that sugar a kick in the pants. I know that the first few days are going to just drive me nuts but I can do this. Thank you Maren for this challenge. Good luck everyone that has excepted this challenge…like Caron.

Have a great day. I’m off to the gym at 5:30, daycare at 8:00 and a house that has exploded from the long weekend and guests, plus I haven’t had Joss for a week so lots of play time and cuddle time. Take care my friends, blessings!!!

CDCC week 11….

Only 3 weeks left to get into my dress. I’m not positive it’ll happen or if I do get into it it won’t look like it did in 1980. But it won’t be from lack of trying or lack of focus it’ll just be because I am one of the slowest losers in the world but I am still losing, both weight and inches so even if it doesn’t fit perfect I will be wearing it for Jim at Christmas.

177.4, that’s the new number on the scale. Not quite a full pound but I’ll still take it and run. I am going to wait until the new year to work on keeping track of toning measurements. This challenge goes until just before Christmas and then I’m going to take a couple weeks off from blogging about weight and losses and more and then the 1st of January I’ll start that part of my new life style changes.

My book, well I’ve come to the end of the 40’s into the 50’s, I still can’t believe I am getting to be that age. There are some major changing happening to my body and mind in my 50’s. Not bad things but some major things. I have picked a new book. Check this out…

Since I am still learning to take care of myself I want a heads up on what else to expect. Of course the usual mentalpause, extra weight gain (which I am going to make sure doesn’t happen to me), hot flashes (which I get to experience almost on a daily basis now), loss of sexual desire (nope not happening here, in fact with weight loss that has turned into something pretty darn cool) and a super slow metabolism (which well has been with me for some long now)  but I want to know more. I can’t afford this book now but maybe I can put it on my wish list for Christmas.

I have visited each of you at least once this week and you guys are awesome. Yep, we screw up, yep we learn but you’re honest, your powerful and you all are teaching me something new along the way. Thank you!!!

It’s a new week, a week full of challenges and learning experiences and so much more. Will you succeed? I know you will, I have the utmost faith in all of you, I DO!!!! 

Take care my friends and have a blessed Sunday and a super successful week.

I won!

Jillian over at I'm in love alright, with my crazy beautiful life had a give away for a free download from My Memories Suite. I’m not a scapbooker and really don’t even understand 99% of this program but tonight I worked on a page, just to see what I could do and though it’s not nearly as nice as even 1/10th of the pictures and pages I saw here’s my first page I created.

I think it’s going to take me a very long time to figure out how to embellish a page or add stuff (and it’s not cuz the program is hard it’s I just don’t know what goes with what).
Thank you Jillian for hosting this give away and thank you Random numbers for picking me. I’ll keep working on it and see just what I can learn to do.
Yesterday was an awesome day. Mike took the girls geo-caching and they found 3 out of 4 caches. I have some pictures but need batteries so will add them later on. Then the girls and I went swimming. We had a blast. We were gone from 10-4 so by time they went home at 5:30 they were tired and me, well I was dragging too.
Today Brenda and I went thrift store shopping. I took $8.00 with me and needed to buy milk and apples too. I found a red long bathrobe and a green brush suede 3 piece outfit, and was able to get the milk and apples. A great day today. Tonight our Venture Crew got together to play volleyball. I love volleyball and we played for a good 2 hours. Another great day of exercise and fun.
I’ll get to my update for the CDCC shortly. I hope you have a great night sleep and a blessed Sunday.

The day after…

So do you have any regrets from yesterday? Did you enjoy your family and friends and just eat what you need to stay happy and healthy or did you sorta add a few extra things here or there or did you just throw it all to the wind and have to start over today? Me I ate like I was suppose to, just like I had planned and even better. Minus one yucky taste of some awful pumpkin pie from hubby’s plate. We went to the casino for their Thanksgiving buffet

 

and it is the most wonderful place to eat. It’s a treat, we go twice a year with my in-laws, Thanksgiving and Christmas so for me I don’t have to fix a huge meal. My plan was to have a huge plate of salad but without all the extra fattening stuff you put on it so my salad consisted of dark greens, ice-berg salad mix, a spoon full of chopped eggs, a dozen pieces of cucumbers, carrots and broccoli and a tiny drizzle of dressing (I’m not a dressing fan so it’s so easy just to add less then a teaspoon for the taste). My second trip up was for the fresh fruit, I had pineapple, muskmelon and cantaloupe. Third trip for the soup, chicken dumpling minus the dumplings. It was gross so had a couple spoonfuls and nixed that. Forth trip, turkey and cooked green beans and a tiny piece of ham. By now I’m getting full but decided just a tiny bit of cranberries and a bit more fruit and that should be it. Opps, I was over full. I should of stopped at the meat but I ate the last of my fruit and quit. I did try just a tiny bite of Jim’s pumpkin pie because it smelled awesome but it didn’t taste that way. I wasn’t missing anything there. All in all ate well and that was all I ate for the day. When we finished we walked around the casino (I’m not about to gamble, I’m not a person the wins much so why spend money I don’t have in the first place).

 

We left at noon, ate at 2:00, home at 4:00 and was still full at 9:00. In fact it’s almost 8:00 this morning and I am not starving yet, yeah!!!

When I got home all I wanted to do was sleep. A long neep, that was what I wanted but because I have worked way to hard to get to this point in my life I knew that wasn’t it so I went for a walk. Not just any walk, a 1 1/2 hour move my butt trot. I took the dogs who had been cooped up all day and they wanted to go so we did. Really I wanted to see if I could get a close up picture of the swans on the lake and in order to do that I was crawling around in the woods, being as quiet as I could to sneak up on them. Yeah right, they see, hear and move faster then I could even imagine so all I did was get to see them lots from a distants. Then just as we were heading back home I found out I had lost my mitten, my good black warm mitten so we back tracked a good mile to find it. Dogs sure didn’t mind but by time I got home, it was dark.

 

Mike had Scott over for the evening so the boys had a great time, we all watched a new movie we picked up sometime this summer and by 11:00 I was in bed snoozing away the day.

It was a great Thanksgiving and now it’s time to move on and keep getting fit and healthy.

Today I have just the two oldest girls, Rachel and Abby so we have a full day planned. They want to go geo-caching and since no snow and it’s suppose to be 40* again that’s what we are going to do and then go swimming at the Hallett Center. After that a late lunch and then we’re heading to town for me to do my cleaning job and their daddy to pick them up there. It’ll be another busy but great day. The perfect way to end my work week especially since I didn’t work with kids all week.

I hope that today is a great day for you and you know, if you did screw up yesterday, today’s a new day. You should of planned better but plans are not always a possible thing to keep going so just start today fresh and get to being the most healthiest you possible. We have 30 days till Christmas…remember you want to be wearing that new outfit and looking fabulous and all that takes effort…lots and lots of effort but you can do it. I know you can. I have some toning to do, I don’t want to have to wear shape gear to be less lumpy, I want to put on my under things without being confined. So I have lots of work to do to unfluff and buff up.

Take care my friends and here’s to a great TGIF!!! Blessings to you all!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

THANK YOU, LORD
A newly arrived soul in Heaven was met by St. Peter. The saint toured the
soul around Heaven. Both of them walked side by side inside a large workroom
filled with angels.
St. Peter stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the
Receiving Section. Here, all the petitions to God said in prayer are
received". The soul looked at the section, and it was terribly busy with so
many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets from
all the people of the world.
They walked again until they reached the 2nd section, and St. Peter told the
soul, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and
blessings the people asked for are packed and delivered to the persons who
asked for them down on earth."
The soul saw how busy it was. There were so many angels working in that
room, since so many blessing were being packed and delivered to Earth.
Finally at the farthest corner of the room, the soul stopped at the last
section. To the surprise of the soul, only one angel stayed there idly,
doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledging
Section," St. Peter told the soul. "How is it that, there is no work here?"
"That's the sad thing," St. Peter answered. "After the people received the
blessings they asked for, very few send their acknowledgments". "How does
one acknowledge God's blessing?" "Simple," St. Peter answered. "Just say,
"'Thank you, Lord'."
Thank you Lord, for giving me the chance to share this message with others
and also, for giving me so many wonderful people to share this with. If you
have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a
place to sleep .. you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish
someplace .. you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness . . you are more
blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of
imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation you are ahead
of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest,
torture, or death ..you are more blessed than three billion people in the
world.
If your parents are still alive and still married .. you are very rare,.
If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful ..
you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.
If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder
.. you are blessed because you can offer healing touch.
If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that..
someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over
two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
Have a good day, count your blessings.

THANK YOU LORD! Happy Thanksgiving and may the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

A beautiful day…

It is so unlike Minnesota to be this nice this late in the fall but you will hear no complaints from me. I am loving it and enjoying it. Mike has been laid off from his current job so today was ours and with no daycare until after school it gave us time to just be out hiking and enjoying.
Here’s our day in pictures…

Trumpeter swans just on the lake next door from the house. I love hearing there guys. The gray swans are this years babies

The beginning of the trail. We started off on the walking trail and then headed up the tailings pile to climb and play.






Geese on Serpent Lake on our way home. This picture is just a handful of them. I bet there are at least 100 of them.
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And because Mike’s suburban needs some major working on he picked up this little Caprice for $300.00. Check this out….

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Tomorrow is the day. The day to give blessings for all that we’ve been given. To break bread with family and friends. To remember just what we have to be thankful for. I am truly blessed in all areas of my life. I have the most wonderful family, the best friends, the greats blogging buddies, truly an awesome life.
Happy Thanksgiving my friends. God Bless you all!!

Pillowcase 1…

Well it’s not perfect by any means but it is kind of cute. I’ll keep trying and maybe the next one will be a bit more square. Here’s what I did….

 

Pick the fabric and cut the fabric. I wanted a contrast and this is kind of cool.

Start sewing it all back together. Opps, suppose to be right sides together not one right and one wrong.

I’m not a quilter so was surprised my points are pretty darn close.

   

The finished pillow case. It’s not perfect but it’s my first. The band on the left needs to be a different color so the pillow would look more centered. Also I need to measure a bit better so the left triangle is the same size as the right one. It’s a start. I’m going to make another one tomorrow however the colors are reversed. I cut them at the same time so could make two (I’ll adjust the triangle to be closer in size).

I was at the gym at 5:30 today and had a really good work out. 2 hours worth and I don’t hurt so things are improving. Then I worked at mama and daddy’s this morning. We cleaned up in the attic a bit and mama is making a blouse and ran into a snag so helped her figure out the problem. Daddy and I went for a 2+ mile walk just to get out and about together. A bit of sewing, a bit of laundry and that was day two of my week off (well part week, I do have after school daycare tomorrow and I work Friday). Tomorrow Mike is off and it’s suppose to be in the 40’s I’m thinking we can go hiking a bit, hunting season is over so the trails will be opened again.

That’s that my friends. I’m pooped so going to head to bed early tonight. Up too late last night, two super busy days in a row and enough stress to keep me on my toes makes for a tired body/mind.

I hope that you are all have a great week. Turkey day is coming, have you got your plan in place? Take care my friends, blessings!!