Weekly Preview and Review

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

So here this is a day late. Or two, depending on how you are counting. But maybe you're not counting at all!

Actually I had the dollar. But I needed $4 since I was sending David up to the gas station for a gallon of milk. Since I went out TWICE and neither time remembered to get milk. So, I raided the stash of quarters and sent him out into the cold. Fresh air is good for him, right?

Saturday - Baby Shower & Thrift shopping
Sunday - Go to church, SOF planning meeting, and watch Downton Abbey
Monday - WORK 5 hrs, Lessons, Gymnastics
Tuesday - WORK 5, Lessons
Wednesday - WORK 5, Lessons
Thursday - WORK 5, Lessons
Friday - WORK 5, No Lessons, SCRAPBOOKING
Saturday - SCRAPBOOKING!

Everything is all back to normal - no Christmas decorations in my house. The lights are still up on the porch, but that's not my domain. I love getting it back to normal.

Last week I went to Bob's doctor appointment with him. I used to do this regularly, after his accident. But once he was able to drive, I didn't go anymore. Maybe I should though. He never seems to know what the doctor told him. So, this time I went and asked her to give him some dietary guidelines for his high blood pressure. She said, no more than 4000 mg of sodium a day. Try counting that yourself sometime. lol

The kids had art class on Wednesday and after I dropped them off, I hit the Christmas clearance at Rite Aid. Got some LED lights we'd been hoping for and a few other odds and ends. I always look for clearance wrapping paper that doesn't look Christmas-y. I scored a few rolls of that.

Friday was co-op, but my co-teacher (and good friend Darlene) was teaching this week so I didn't have to prepare anything. We are reading Mansfield Park and it is SO MUCH BETTER the second time reading it. I enjoyed it! The girls like reading Austen too, which is so gratifying! We are well underway in planning the Regency Ball.

Saturday, I went to a baby shower for a book club friend. Suzy and Emily went with me and some other friends were there, so that was a nice time. And I didn't eat any cake.

I have not eaten any sweets in a week! That's amazing. And I lost 5 lbs from my high on New Year's Day. ACK - that was a shocker on the scale, seeing the number so high! LOL I still need to lose 20 to get back to my lowest weight. I hope to get back into the exercise routine this week.

I got all my pictures printed out for scrapbooking - the year of 2007 should be all scrapped after this weekend. I am working on powerplanning it right now to make it smooth as silk! Emily is going along as a teen worker - she gets to scrap too and she is over the moon with excitement!

Re-visited a church on Sunday. The kids all like it. I'm not so sure. Bob is probably going to take a while to acclimate wherever we go.

David has made dinner - brats and rice, so I better go eat it! Suzy set the table and picked a veggie. Wonder what it is? And James and Emily get to clean up! LOL

Thursday Notes

Suzy was "playing" the piano earlier today, not something I let her do often. She was plinking away at the high notes and James said, "That sounds like someone pounding icicles into your brain!" lol

I'm finally at 25 pounds LOST since January 1. And I've lost two pants sizes. YAY! Go me! I've journaled a lot of calories and exercised a lot of hours to hit that goal. I'm not done yet. I have 13 more pounds until I've hit my goal weight. And then I'll set a new goal. And I hope to run a 5K this fall. Actually RUN it, not walk/jog. So, there you have it.

The little kids have been going to a soccer camp/VBS this week every night. They seem to be having fun and they know a few people there. The first couple nights David rode along with me, just to get out of the house he said.

Last night, I took Emily instead and we had a little girls' night. She and I went to the thrift store and tried on pants - she got a couple pair and I got a pair of capris (a size SMALLER!) and a shirt. Then we grabbed some slushies and some McDonald's and went for a walk at a nearby park. Then we headed back to the church and still had a few minutes to wait and we sat together - I finished my book club book and she wrote for a while. A nice night together - we don't get that often enough.

Bob had an interview yesterday afternoon and it went pretty well, I guess. All we can do now is wait and pray. A lady from our church was in the waiting area when Bob came out from his interview.

I hear the ice cream truck!

Regain, Redress, Replay

Weighed in today at the same weight I was two weeks ago. Before Sister Weekend and scrapping weekend. lol So, the treats have been worked off. Hopefully next week, I'll have a loss to report.

Emily and I made a trip to the thrift store today to get her some spring clothes. She has been looking a bit like a hobo lately and I was afraid that once the weather warms up (if it EVER does) she'd have nothing to wear. Two trips to the fitting room netted us 7 short-sleeved shirts, a pair of jeans, a pair of capris, a pair of shorts, and a cute sleeveless dress. Oh yeah, and a very cute black spring jacket. I also grabbed a short-sleeved dress for Suzy and a nice pile of books.

Suzy climbed in bed with me this morning complaining of a headache. "Oh no," I thought, as this is how James first presented on Monday. He's still sick, too, by the way. He seems to be better and then worse again. He spent most of Wednesday laying on the couch. And he's had bad dreams three nights in a row. So, Suzy and James have spent the day so far laying around moaning. I stocked up on library & Netflix DVD's to occupy them.

So, Spring Break's been kind of a bust between the sickies, the cold and snow, and the fact that I'm working on test scoring online now. Also Bob has been volunteering every night at the homeless shelter from 3 - 8 AM. Makes me wish we could take another week off, but we won't.

Time to go to work!

Not Much To Say

Wish I had something to say here, but all I've done so far this week is teach lessons and edit my book. Oh yeah, I watched Nights in Rodanthe and cried buckets. I haven't read more than just a few pages in either of my books. I haven't even gone out of the house since Sunday morning when I taught SS. Meals have been concocted but they wouldn't win any culinary awards.

I have exercised twice this week so far, keeping up my 3 sessions a week. (Though I haven't yet managed to add a 4th session). I've kept my calorie count within my limits every day except one (when I ate ice cream). I lost 2 more pounds!

Editing is going well. I've sent the first chunk out to most of my beta readers and the second chunk out to one since she read the first part and responded already. I've gotten 93 pages edited (out of about 236). It's mostly the old stuff I wrote in 2007 and edited already in 2008 so this isn't the challenging part. Hopefully I can push through the rest of that (about 40 more pages) today and move on to the new stuff.

The kids are playing with a remote control car. The boys aren't feeling top notch today, but I need to move them into their lessons. Bob is at the church working on a painting project.

So, same old, same old, here in the Wagner house. Can't wait for SPRING!

The Nitty-Gritty

I did watch the inauguration, about an hour of it anyway - the actual swearing-in ceremonies, Aretha singing, Rick Warren's benediction (which was the best part, imo), John Williams' music, etc... The kids and Bob watched too.

Bob has been a little better every day. He can sit up and sit down by himself now, which he couldn't do for about 4 days. Today, however, he has a migraine, which has pretty much flattened him. He spent most of the day in bed resting. I also have a headache, but a couple ibuprofen took the edge off. My back is about the same - just a nagging ache, especially when I bend over, at which time I groan like someone's sticking me with a knife. Not that I know what that feels like.

Have tried and failed to get into a number of books lately. Gave up on a few. Read the intro part to The Shack and it didn't grab me. I do intend to finish it, but I'm not in the mood. Reading The Jane Austen Book Club now, which was made into a movie. The movie version was the impetus for Dar and I starting OUR OWN Jane Austen Book Club, better known as The Rollicking Readers. Anyway, the movie wasn't all that good, and to be honest, so far the book is worse. Blech.

Watched Waitress last night. Though it made me cry, I didn't really like it. Not big on movies that condone extramarital affairs, even if the husband is mean and nasty, or senile and drooling. Whatever. Also watched Panic Room this week, which was better, but quite scary. Jodie Foster is always good. And, no, neither of those star Hugh Jackman . I can look beyond my current obsession, you know.

We have also been watching Planet Earth DVD's and they are awesome, but they'd be better on a TV that isn't all washed out like ours is. There's no way of fixing it. It's just the way the darn thing is. Old and stupid. At least it works. I'd like to replace it with something NICE AND BIG but Bob resists.

Let's see. I've been exercising three times a week in the mornings. Long ago, I taped some fitness shows off ESPN - the Fitness Pros. (See how long ago that was? I had CABLE then. It was when David was a baby, I think.) I liked them then and I still like them now, so I dug out that old tape and put it back into service. Once I get a month of this routine down, I'll take it up a notch, perhaps by adding a 4th day to my routine, or maybe by adding strength training on opposite days. Not sure yet. Once it gets warm enough (April?), I'll add walking to the routine.

I've also been counting calories and staying within my calorie limits almost every day. (I went slightly over a couple days and on scrapbooking weekend, calories are free, or so I've been told.) Candy has an amazing amount of calories in it! ACK! So anyway, hopefully results will follow.

I'm getting rather discouraged that we haven't heard the results from Bob's disability hearing. Apparently it doesn't matter to them that our whole LIVES hang on this decision and we really can't move ahead until we know. The hearing was September 16th, so that makes it over four months we've been waiting now. I hope there is not some simple reason why, like they don't have a report from a certain doctor, or something. Those things we could hurry along IF we knew about them!

David's bronchitis is a little better, I think. It's hard to mother a sick teenager. He resists at almost every turn, but then is surprised when he isn't healing.

And no one wants to play Word Twist with me. Wah!

OK, laundry needs folded, dinner needs worked on.

Watching my Weight and the Weather - While Working and Wishing I Were at Walmart on Wednesday

Homeschool field trip today was to the candy factory. LONG video on how chocolate is grown and how chocolate candy is made. Then a far too quick walk down the 100 foot observation hallway where we could see into the "candy kitchen". A candy sample and then BAM - you're in the gift shop. I resisted buying any treats since I am 1) cheap and 2) watching my weight.

Speaking of watching my weight, I am participating in a Sister Weight Challenge for Sister Weekend (coming THIS WEEKEND! WOO HOO!) and I have lost some weight for it. Will post the exact number after I weigh on Friday.

But today, I went to the thrift store and bought 3 pair of jeans and all 3 were one size down from what I've been wearing. And my regular pants have been roomier than I like! Whee!

I am so exhausted. Worked last night and tonight mostly on my feet.

Dying my hair right now and then I'm showering and heading for bed. I've got to go to Walmart at some point before the weekend and I was thinking about tomorrow morning. HOWEVER, we are supposed to have wintry mix in the AM. Sigh.

Spring! Spring! Where art thou?