I can't think of a title for this...update I guess

I can't even think of anything to write to update my family.  I wrote on my other blog the other day for the first time since moving.  It's been almost four months since we moved.  I think it's safe to say I'm not even close to being a blogger anymore.  And I kind of...wait, totally...love that!  I always hated the term 'blogger.'  I still do, it's like I can hear the contempt in people's voice when they say the word.  

I like reading my friends and relatives blogs.  There are a few blogs that I'll read here and there.  Most blogs that I used to like I haven't looked at in years.  The few bloggers I really can't stand (and they all can't seem to stand each other either) I haven't looked at in years.  I see them on other social media platforms now and then.  But I definitely burned a few bridges along the way, I didn't mean to.  I'm really not a mean person and I hate conflict.  But life happens and you make mistakes and not every one is going to like you.  Oh well.

For any family or friends that might still check this out from time to time here's a little update on us:

Husband still loves his job.  He's lost over 40 pounds since September and looks AWESOME!

I'm still running and need to get the guts up to register for a half-marathon (well, two of them honestly) that's I'm eying.  I LOVE that we moved up here because there are races all the time.  Seriously, I just registered on Wednesday night for a 5k that's tomorrow.  :)

My oldest is about to turn 8 and finish second grade.  In our religion 8 is a big age and she will be getting baptized in a few weeks and can't wait!

My middle is about to finish kindergarten via homeschool.  We are so ready to be done with this little adventure.  It was definitely the right choice for this year (we lived where she missed the deadline and moved to where she made the deadline. If we hadn't done it she'd be going to kindergarten next year as likely the oldest kid in the class and I wasn't cool with that).  

Our youngest is amazing.  We had a scare with her this week.  She became suddenly ill on Monday and we rushed her to the doctor.  Lots of tests later and they have no idea what made her so sick.  But they were as worried about her as we were.  It's been a week of ups and downs for sure.  The poor girl needs a break from doctors after a failed IV attempt (for fluids), one failed blood draw, two successful blood draws, a finger prick for more blood, and four shots in her legs (2 in each).  Plus a catheter...shudder, I hated that she had to have that.  I've been there done that after two of my labors.  Hated it!

That's about it from here.  We're just taking things a day at a time.

Happy Mother's Day this weekend to all the mothers out there!

Singapore Math

Next year my kids will be attending a new school.  I went to a parent meeting a few nights ago to learn a bit about the school.  They went over the new curriculum they will be implementing next year and that includes Singapore Math.  Until we moved here in January I'd never heard of it.  When my 7 year old started school and brought home this "new math" that seemed crazy and complex I was a little worried she was going to be so behind the other kids at her new school.  The good news is she's thriving even if she isn't enjoying math the way she used to.  The bad news?  She isn't enjoying math the way she used to.

Anyway, when I saw they were doing Singapore Math I was a little worried.  Then this math "guru" explained it.  I suddenly wished I could go back in time about 15 years and start college over so I could be a math major.  This math looks...dare I say, fun?  I want to go out and get some books of it to work on with the girls this summer.  Partly for their sake...and partly for mine too.  My husband says I'm a nerd.  I'm pretty sure he's right.

In completely unrelated news...and this being something that I should probably put on my weight loss blog, but I'm too lazy...I'm stuck in a rut.  A big, ugly, plateaued rut!  I've been playing in the same 2 pounds since we moved and I'm more than ready to see the scale fall again.  I've been exercising like a crazy woman lately.  The time change has helped with that...thank you daylight for sticking around later!  Runs in the evening after my husband gets home are awesome!  Here's to hoping that helps...you know, that and strictly counting calories again, I was getting lax on that.

Big weekend plans here.  My mom arrives, my husband and I run a 5k, we celebrate the littlest cutie's 2nd birthday, we go on a date!  Yay!

We moved

Hello...hello...hello...anyone?  I'm pretty sure I can hear crickets in here and there's a thick layer of dust.  Man, when I "quit" blogging I really quit, huh?  

Anyway, we moved.  No more small town.  No more southern Colorado.  No more home owners.  No more living in the boonies.  No more getting mail from the post office instead of where we live.  No more lots of stuff.  Hello civilization!  We're in the Denver metro area now!

My husband's job is the same as it's been since January 2012.  He's been working up here and was only home on the weekends until now.  We're so happy to be a full time family again!

I'm loving living in civilization.  I'm contemplating getting a job because the cost of living is higher and our rent is MUCH higher than our mortgage was...and this is the cheapest place we looked at.  Sure, we could've moved to some questionable areas in Denver or Aurora and our expenses would have been lower, but I have 3 kids and I'm not doing that to them.  How does one go about finding a job these days?  I looked in the newspaper and there doesn't seem to be a help wanted section anymore.  I haven't worked in just over 6 years.  And I want a job that's mostly Saturdays and Mondays...my husband's days off.  I'm sure that's impossible, but I can't get a job just to pay a day care bill.  Sigh...

My oldest is adjusting well to her new school and new Girl Scout troop.  We need to get her set up with piano lessons again and her life should be just about like it was before.

My middle is still being homeschooled.  We're a little behind because of the craziness of the move.  But we're working on it.  (We had 20 days from the showing of the house to the closing of the house...we had to pack up our lives and find a place to live...all while still being in a commuter marriage, it wasn't fun)

My youngest is still the cutest little almost 2 year old in the world.  Love that girl so much!

That's about all that's new here.  It's a lot and not much all at the same time.  Haha!

Hey...look over here!

So um, hi there!  I'm not much of a blogger these days, am I?  I always hated the word 'blogger' to be honest.  No offense to those proud to be bloggers.  The word has always just been like nails on a chalkboard for me.  So it's been nice disassociating myself with that.  But I do have friends and family that like to check up on us occasionally and I've been VERY neglectful of this little space in the blog world.

I did just write a post on my other blog, the weight loss one, that I hadn't updated since this summer.  You can check it out by clicking here.  There's even a before & after style picture...it's more a work in progress kind of pic.  But you can see what I've been up to...heck, I even fess up to my size.  Not quite brave enough to fess up to my weight. Although my current weight isn't embarrassing, my before weight was.  I think admitting it before reaching my goal would put me in a shame spiral.  I'm not in the mood for that.

Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas! Ours was low key but good.  We let our oldest get her ears pierced for Christmas, our middle daughter got a tea set that she so desperately wanted (gotta love when a $10 present is their greatest desire), and I made the baby a fleece tie blanket that caused her to squeal with delight.  Awesome!  "Santa" brought them some smiles as well with an Easy Bake Oven, Minnie Mouse on the Go Fashion kit, and a LalaLoopsy doll.  Add on grandparent gifts, friend gifts, and stocking stuffers and my girls were in heaven!  I got Kohl's gift cards from my mom, dad, and in-laws.   So I hit the day after Christmas sale and scored new boots and several tops.  I got some cash from my husband's grammie and hit the Express sale before Christmas and got an awesome pair of jeans and top for super cheap (for Express).  So I'm happy, I have clothes that fit now that aren't circa 2002. 

Speaking of...on Monday we donated SIX full garbage bags full of old clothes to Goodwill.  Goodbye early 2000s clothes!  My closet looks weird with all those clothes gone, clothes I'd looked forward to fitting into again...clothes I don't need. One of those bags was from my husband's closet...yeah, he's lost about 30ish pounds and had stuff to get rid of too.  :)

We rang in the New Year with friends and are looking forward to what 2013 has in store for us!

LATE Happy Thanksgiving!

So Thanksgiving was a week ago...but, Happy Thanksgiving!  Lol! Man, when I stopped focusing on blogging I really stopped, huh?  Oh well, I'm busy all the time and rarely online other than checking Facebook, Instagram and a few games on my phone.  Even Pinterest has been neglected and I used to love looking there.  I really need to hop on there though, I've lost quite a bit of weight and need to some fashion HELP!!!  I unpacked all my pre-kids clothing (think stuff purchased 2000 - 2004) and dang, these clothes aren't as cute as I remember.  And the shirts are so SHORT!  Did we really wear our shirts that short?!?!?! They barely graze the top of my jeans and no one needs to get a little peep show of my tummy...or really, in my case, a glimpse of my funky Mormon underwear.  I have some Down East Outfitter layering shirts that I love, but those have gotten too big for me too.  They'll do for now, but even with them the look isn't great because those shirts really are short.  So, I guess it's time to budget some clothing into the budget and hop on Pinterest so this boring stay-at-home mom can figure out what looks good.

Anyway, sidetracked much?

Our Thanksgiving was good.  We got up early and got ready for a 5k.  I ran it last year, weighing about 50 pounds more and running almost 12 minutes slower.  This was my husband's first 5k.  Mr. I Hate Running actually ran a 5k!!!  And liked it!  He's even considering doing more of them with me and possibly the Warrior Dash with some co-workers.  After the race we took the babysitter home and got ready for Thanksgiving.  We headed north to spend the day/night with friends.  We had a yummy dinner...first time in 4 months I didn't count calories...and then my friend and I headed out for a marathon session of Black Friday shopping while the men cleaned up dinner and took care of the kids.

Black Friday shopping was pretty insane!  I hadn't been in years!  I used to go all the time with my mom, aunt and cousin up in Boise.  We'd head out in the early morning hours, wait in some ridiculously long line to get into some store where we'd be handed some door prize of an ornament or some other trinket and then run to whatever item it was we were after.  I'm pretty sure I was never looking for anything specific but was just along for the ride.  But I did score an awesome big George Foreman grill one year that we still use at least a couple times a month.  And, sidetracked again...anyway, Black Friday has changed!  It seems the days of waiting to get into the store like that are gone.  No more fun trinket for being one of the first *enter number here* people in the door.  We started at Best Buy.  My friend was in line around 5pm or so.  We had another friend meet us and they sat there in camping chairs until 10pm when tickets were handed out for specific items.  She had her eye on one of their big deals for her mother-in-law.  I waited with them for awhile then headed out to Michael's where I bought most of my older girls' stocking stuffers and some stuff for my best friend and her kids.  It wasn't too busy since it had been open for hours.  I was thinking this wasn't going to be too bad.  I had driven past Toys R Us and the line outside was nuts.  But the item I wanted there wasn't on sale (just not available down where I live), so I didn't think much of it, I wasn't going there for a few more hours.  After Michael's I headed to Walmart.  I got lost.  That's what happens when you're in a big metro area (Denver) that you're not too familiar with.  But I found one...just not the one my friends had tried to guide me to.  

I had no idea Walmart was open all day that day.  So I was confused when the parking lot was full but no line outside.  I soon discovered how this was working and got my rear over to the Ninja blenders.  I wanted the $39 blender from the ad.  We've been making protein shakes as part of our weight loss journey and our blender was more than a little worse for wear.  I was one of the crazies standing next to the blenders when the 8 o'clock hour struck and people dove in for the items they wanted.  I got one!  Then I scored the 28 piece Rubbermaid set we wanted and the $3.99 mixer my friend asked me to pick up for her.  Then it got nuts!  I really wanted the Brave BluRay that was on a great sale.  But it took forever for me to get through the madness and find where they were located.  The produce section.  Really?  Never would've thought.  That section was being mobbed and anyone with a cart had no chance of getting in.  I had to abandon the idea of finding that dvd and move on.  So I went in search of the PJs for my kids.  At $4.50 a pair they too were a hot item.  They were located in a weird area too (by McDonald's at the front of the store...nowhere near the kids clothing section) and it was another mob scene.  I was able to score pairs for my older two kids, but couldn't get through to the toddler sizes.  I made my purchases and put the stuff in the car then headed back in sans cart.  I found PJs for the baby and tried to check the BluRay/DVD section, but it was mostly abandoned by then and all the good stuff was gone.  Sigh...

I got in line for the guaranteed in stock 32 inch tv that my friend wanted but couldn't be there for because she was in line at Best Buy.  They had us waiting in lines through the grocery section...I was stuck in the ice cream aisle for over an hour.  Ice cream! My biggest temptation in the world starting at me for over an hour.  Rude!  Haha!  I met some nice people though.  Some lady tried to convince me that we needed to move to Littleton when we move up north.  We'll see.  First this house needs to sell.  At 10 the line started moving and I had their tv.  As I worked my way though the crowd to the registers (holy long lines Batman!) my friend called and said they had the ticket from Best Buy and would meet me there.  That's when I had to admit I had no idea what city I was even in (Centennial in case you're wondering...was supposed to be in Greenwood Village or something like that).  I had to stop an employee and ask where I was.  They had a good laugh at my expense, haha!  As I waited in line I discovered that someone had abandoned a copy of that Brave BluRay right by that register.  Score! $8.96 instead of close to $30!  I'll have happy girls on Christmas morning!

I ended up meeting my friends at Toys R Us which was still pretty crowded.  I scored the gift my 5 year old is dying for (some Minnie Mouse fashion on the go thing) and left.  This is her Santa gift (just FYI if you know us and see her with it...mommy did not buy it, Santa did!).

From there one friend was down for the count.  She was tired and headed home.  The other stayed with me and we got hot chocolate from McDonald's (told you, didn't count calories that day).  Then it was off to Park Meadows mall where she got a bow and arrow for one of her sons and I got a pair of jeans from Express.  I'd told myself once I reached a certain size I could get a pair there.  About a week earlier I'd hit that size and the jeans happened to be 50% off that day.  It was a sign they had to be mine, right?  Whatever, that's what I'm telling myself.  The line there was crazy and I'm pretty sure I lost a few brain cells from the vapidity that surrounded me.  But it was worth it, I love the jeans!

We were exhausted! It was 1am, we'd left at 4pm.  But we still had to get back to Best Buy with that ticket.  We naively thought we'd get in, pay, get the item and leave.  We were wrong!  Best Buy was the only place in town that seemed to be enforcing the fire code.  We had to wait outside in a line for awhile.  Then we got in and had to wait in line there for at least an hour!  And still didn't have the item.  She'd paid, but we still had to drive around back to pick it up.  Again, another line!  We saw a tv get stolen...long story, I think everyone in line was shocked.  There was nothing any of us could do.  But she got her item and we were headed back to her house.  We got in close to 4am.  Totally exhausted!

But my Black Friday wasn't over yet.  I was up a few hours later (thanks kids) and my husband, kids and I headed out.  We went to the LDS temple for new garments (losing weight meant mine were falling off, lol).  Then headed to Old Navy.  My husband scored a belt and pair of pants on sale and I got 2 shirts from the clearance rack...one was a size SMALL!!!  What the heck?!?!?  This formerly XL girl fits in a size Small (usually a medium).  Yay!  Then we walked over to Best Buy.  My husband felt left out since he hadn't been there.  I felt I'd had more than my share of that place.  Haha!  But he scored some Skull Candy ear buds for $9.99 and we left.  No more Black Friday shopping unless you count grocery shopping at Sprouts and Walmart.  I was more than shopped out!

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.  Lots of cleaning, relaxing, running and church.  

I was going to skip Cyber Monday.  No money left and pay day a week away.  But I had $25 in Amazon gift cards so I hopped on late that night after the kids were in bed. And scored a pair of JBuds J3 ear buds for $13.95 (about a $40 savings).  Even with shipping they didn't cost me a dime thanks to my Amazon cards (earned at Swagbucks).

And that was our Thanksgiving...did you make it this far?  This post sure turned into a novel didn't it?  I guess that's what happens when you write less than once a month. ;)