Working at Home

As all of my family knows, I work at home. I used to work outside the home, but since my hubby has started his own business, I have been a work at home girl. I love it! It gives me so much more freedom then working for someone else. I can set my own hours. If I don't want to start working until noon, no problem. There is no dress code. Most days you will find me sitting at the computer dressed in sweats. And if I am sick one day or my kids are sick then I don't have to worry about being reprimanded or the possibility of getting fired because of it. I'd always thought that it would be boring to be home all day, but I'm telling you that isn't so. Even though I'm not out smoozing with others, I am still connected to the outside world through all of our customers. Working at home is the best thing that I've ever done. If any of you ever get the chance to do it, I strongly recommend it.

work at home business opportunities

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

You Are a Tree

You love every part of the holidays, down to the candy canes and stockings. And you're goofy enough to put a Christmas tree ornament on your tree!

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

Holiday Shopping

Why does it seem that people lose all sense of respect and courtesy around the holidays when it comes to shopping? We went to the mall today to get some of our Christmas shopping done and there were so many rude and obnoxious people out there that I finally just said the heck with it and left. I was only able to purchase one gift and that was only after much patience to even get to the product on the shelf. There was this one woman who, even after I asked her nicely twice to move out of the way, just rolled her eyes at me and continued looking at what she wanted to see. I finally just had to reach around her. She didn't care for that either, but I'd already been nice about it and that wasn't getting me anywhere. I knew there was a reason that I did the majority of my Christmas shopping online. So that I don't have to deal with people. Does that make me anti-social or a Scrooge regarding the holidays? I don't think so. I think it just makes me a person who would like to see some holiday spirit get into these people for a change.

A few Thanksgiving funnies

Asked to write a composition entitled, "What I'm thankful for on Thanksgiving,"
little Timothy wrote, "I am thankful that I'm not a turkey."

What key has legs and can't open doors?
A Turkey.

What did the mother turkey say to her disobedient children?
If your father could see you now, he'd turn over in his gravy!

Why can't you take a turkey to church?
Because they use such FOWL language

Can a turkey jump higher than the Empire State Building?
Yes - a building can't jump at all

What did the turkey say before it was roasted?
Boy! I'm stuffed!

Why did the Indian chief wear so many feathers?
To keep his wigwam

Thanksgiving Eve

Happy Thanksgiving Eve to everyone. I hope all is going well. I've been a busy bee around here the past few days, trying to get things ready for company. On top of that, I've been sick. Colds are such a fun thing to have when you're busy....NOT! At least it isn't the flu or something to where I can't still go about my day and get things done. It would just be way more enjoyable if I wasn't stopping to sneeze and blow my nose every five minutes.

So anyway, I've been cleaning and sorting around here. It's amazing how much junk one can accumulate without even realizing it. I've tossed tons of stuff that I didn't even know I had. The sad thing is that there is still tons more that I could get rid of. The kids are off of school today for break and have been helping me finish up. The floors have all been vacuumed and the kitchen mopped, clutter has found a home and the dust has been dusted away. I still have a pie to make and a dishwasher to load, but otherwise I'm done for the day.

Tomorrow I'll be hosting dinner with my family. A total of ten if my grandma is able to make it. It'll make for a housefull, but nothing compared to when I was a kid and we'd all congregate at my aunt's house. Now THAT was a full house. It was nice though and brings back fond memories.

I hope everyone has a wonderful time with their families and friends tomorrow. Don't eat too much!

New 'Do

I was feeling like a bit of a change so yesterday went to the salon and got a new 'do. I'm loving this new style and color. Amazing how something so simple can make you feel so much better about yourself. I went from a redhead back to a brunette and from hair past my shoulders to hair that is just now skimming the shoulders. The new profile picture is my after pic. Figured it was time to change that too. Now if you could just go to a "body salon" and get a body makeover just as easily, wouldn't the world be a perfect place? I know it's not that simple though so I'll just keep trudging along. I'll make it eventually.

Update on my son

My son is feeling a bit better. The rash seems to have finally stopped spreading, but he is still itchy. We've done the moisturizer, the benadryl at night and the oatmeal baths, but the itching is still there. At least it isn't getting any worse though and we're keeping the fingers crossed that the rash is gone sooner rather then later.

Have you ever heard of this?

I had to take my son to the doctor today. For the past week, he has had a rash on his stomach and back that has been driving him nuts. It itches like crazy and seems to be spreading. I thought it was just dry skin to begin with because the moisturizing lotion that we were putting on it seemed to take the itch away. But yesterday he said it was really drying him crazy and could I PLEASE call the doctor. Thankfully, they were able to get him in today and since the kids didn't have school that worked out really well for us.

When we got to the doctor, they actually got him right in. We only sat in the waiting room for maybe five minutes, if that. The doctor came in not long after the nurse left us in the exam room, which was also shocking because usually we have a much longer wait. Anyway, the doctor looked Matt over and started asking him questions about where the rash was located, what the itching really felt like (tolerable or drive you insane itching), did it itch more at certain times of the day? The doctor suggested scabies, but my son didn't have all the symptoms of that (Thank God!!!) so he kept on going. He thought it might have been contact dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, etc. Then he noticed that my son had two larger patches on each side of his neck. They looked almost like an old burn that had dried up with the skin starting to flake. That's when he gave me the diagnosis.........PITYRIASIS ROSEA.............huh? I'd never heard of it before.

This is what the doctor told me. Pityriasis rosea is a rash that usually follows a viral infection or upper respiratory infection (My son had this a couple of weeks ago) It isn't contagious, but it is very itchy. There is no cure for it other then symptomatic treatment such as moisturizing lotion and a antihistamine to help control the itching. Here's the kicker....pityriasis rosea usually takes anywhere from 4 to 12 WEEKS to heal and go away. At least once you have it, you generally don't get it again. Similar to chicken pox, I guess?? So, I guess for the next month, at least, we will be moisturizing and taking benadryl and hoping that the itching and rash goes away. Should be interesting.

How Many?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 14 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone! Are you ready for all the little trick-or-treaters to come knocking on your door tonight? Do you have plenty of treats so you don't get tricked? I hope that I have plenty although I won't be here tonight as I'll be driving my son around to his favorite stops. Hubby and daughter will be manning the doorbell tonight. Good luck to them!


Update on the daughter: She is feeling fine now. Must have just been a 24 hour thing. She went to bed Sunday afternoon and said she woke up at 2:30AM, feeling wonderful and wide awake! She was able to fall back to sleep, thankfully, and got up Monday morning raring to go.


Update on Weight Loss Challenge: It ended Sunday (the challenge, not the diet) and hubby won, but we all figured he would. He lost a total of 5.6% of his weight, I came in second by losing 3.9%, daughter lost 3.4% and son lost 3.1%. We're all moving right along though. No challenges set for November. We figure with the holidays coming up that will be enough of a challenge in and of itself to deal with.

Again, I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween. TRICK OR TREAT!!!!!

More sad news and illness too

More sad news has hit the family. Our neighbor passed away Saturday from a massive heart attack. Good grief when is this going to end. I can't handle anymore bad news.

Daughter is also now sick. I don't' know if she has the flu or what, but she's been vomiting all day today. No fever or aches/pains or chills, but it could still be the nasty flu. Son was sick last week, but felt better after a few hours of staying in bed. This thing with my daughter is a bit worse then what he had. Hopefully she won't pass it on to anybody else.

Sad news

Sorry I didn't post last week. Things have been hectic around here. There was an accident last weekend that was pretty upsetting to my daughter. She was so worried that a couple of her friends were involved in it, but thankfully they weren't. Still, it led to a LOT of phone calls, emails, and what ifs. Then on Monday, we found out that a friend of hers had committed suicide over the weekend. Talk about another punch in the gut. She cried pretty much all day. She's doing better now, but has the funeral to deal with tomorrow. She wants to go, but then again doesn't. I don't blame her. It's hard enough when someone has lived a full life and passes on, but this boy was only 19 and had just begun to live. How do you say goodbye to someone that young?

Another week

Another week has passed in our family weight loss challenge. I lost one pound this week. Not as much as I'd have liked, but at least it was a loss. My daughter also lost 1 pound. Hubby actually weighed yesterday too and in two weeks he has lost twenty pounds. It's a big chunk and I know it is mostly from starving himself, but he won't listen and I get tired of arguing with him so haven't been saying anything to him about it anymore. My son also weighed to a two pound loss this week. So, we're all doing really well. It's nice to be doing this as a family. I must admit it has made it so much easier to pass up the junk with the whole family passing it by.

We went out over the weekend two different times and just knowing that everyone else were passing on their favorites made it easy for me to do the same. We ate pizza Friday evening and normally we would order the large with everything plus bread sticks or garlic bread. We ended up ordering the salad bar and a medium pizza instead. Then yesterday we went bowling and didn't order nachos or anything else fattening from the snack bar, just some diet sodas. Afterwards we went to Applebee's and all of us ordered weight watchers selections although I really wanted something from the new Tyler Florence entrees. After eating, we went to the mall and walked and walked and walked. Then on to Sam's Club and walked some more. I'd say we easily burnt off the majority of the calories we took in. Then on to the furniture store where we looked at couches. We ended up buying a very nice one with recliners at each end. We were in my car though so had to make a trip back home to get our truck to pick it up. Anyway, our Sunday was very nice and fun.

Today, however, I'm fighting a major sinus headache. Or maybe it is allergies, I don't know. I just know that I feel terrible (upset stomach, stuffy nose, stiff neck, achy muscles, and sneezing, sneezing and more sneezing) Ugh! I hope to feel better as the day progresses, but right now I just want to curl up in bed and go to sleep, which is exactly what I think I'll do.

Weigh In

Sorry I didn't log on yesterday to post our weigh in results. We left early and I completely forgot about doing it last night.

I am happy to announce that I lost 7 lbs. this past week:) My daughter lost 4 lbs:) The guys are being secretive and not telling us how they did. They both said they are going to wait until the end of the month and reveal all then. The sneaks!:)

The weekend went well. We were all able to stick to the plan and eat well both nights that we went out to restaurants. Now if we can just keep doing that, we should be fine.

Onward and downward we go!

Now comes the hard part

All has been going good, so far, but now we are coming to the dreaded weekend and that is where I have the most problems sticking with a diet. We ALWAYS go out on the weekends and that inevitably includes eating at a fast food restaurant. Not good. I have such a hard time choosing the healthier foods, not that there are a lot to choose from anyway. I've done well today though and am hoping that the good habits carry into the weekend.

Better news. I hopped on the scale this morning just to see if my healthier eating habits have shown any results and it actually looks like it has gone down a few pounds. yay! My official weigh-in will be Sunday so I'll be back then to let you know how that goes.

And this is better?

ARGH!!! What is it with my hubby and his way of thinking? I thought after the argument we had Monday evening about his not eating during the day that he MIGHT do better yesterday and actually try. Nope.

Yesterday's menu was a granola bar for breakfast, a pack of beef jerky for lunch and a 200 calorie microwave meal for dinner. That's it. No more. So again, we had another disagreement. He thinks if he cuts 3500 calories a DAY from his meals that he'll consistently lose 7 lbs. a week. When I tried to explain to him that it isn't healthy to do that, you could see his eyes gloss over and you could just tell he wasn't listening anymore.

How do I get through to him that I just want him to be healthy? I know that he wants to lose it fast. Heck, so do I. I guess i've just tried to do this so many times that I have finally realized that there is only one way to lose weight and that is slowly. I hope that he realizes this soon. I don't want to write about anymore arguments between us. You'll all think that I'm a real nag to be around:)

Round 1

So, in my last post I told you how the whole family is having a competition to see who can lose the biggest percentage of weight by the end of this month, right? Well, the weekend was great. We all ate healthy and got in some exercise. Yesterday, I did well and got in my exercise. The kids ate well and also got in their exercise. My hubby, however, made me super duper mad. When he came home from work, he announced that he was ready for dinner because he was starving. I figured it was just because he had cut down his portions and was still getting used to that, but nope, it was because the only thing he'd had to eat ALL DAY LONG was a measley little granola bar at 5am!!!! WHAT?!?!?! Wasn't one of the rules of this healthier lifestyle that nobody would starve themselves? Yes, I believe it was.

So, of course, I asked him why he hadn't eaten anything all day and here was his reply. "You know that I work hard all day, I leave the house early and don't have time to fix breakfast in the morning. I am filthy by the time lunch rolls around and I don't feel comfortable eating anything in the truck (it's filthy too) and I don't have time to stop, clean up and eat in a restaurant" MY REPLY: "Ok, hmm, why not fix your breakfast the night before along with a lunch that you can take with you (no stopping), lunch could be a portable sandwich that you can keep wrapped in the plastic wrap while you eat so your dirty hands don't touch it. Even a Slim Fast shake would be better then nothing. Or better yet, STOP! Take a break! It won't kill you to take 20 minutes to stop for lunch. As a matter of fact, it would probably do you a world of good to get away from it all for a little while. I know we run our own business and you want to make it profitable, but it doesn't mean you have to kill yourself to do it." Needless to say, he didn't like my answers and actually got mad at me for even suggesting them so I just quietly read my magazine and let him go about his business. At least he walked on the treadmill. And he didn't really go overboard for dinner, but still. I would guess that he only ate about 500-600 calories total yesterday. Not good.

Round one goes to the kids (in my opinion) who were able to spend the entire day at school and still eat healthy then come home and get their exercise in. Yay Kids!

And the competition begins.........

This is what is going on here in my household. Over the weekend, the entire family decided to change our unhealthy lifestyle. We tossed all the junk food from the pantry and freezer, stocked up on healthy foods, fresh fruits and veggies and got to moving.

In order to keep our momentum going and not poop out after a week, my daughter came up with the idea to make this a bit of a competition. So, each month we are going to have a challenge. This month we are going to see who can lose the biggest percentage of weight. Kind of like The Biggest Loser, if anyone watches that show. She had originally said whoever lost the most weight in a month, but we changed that since everyone knows men lose weight faster then women and the heavier you are, the more you tend to lose when you start out. She didn't want to give her dad any type of advantage:)

We are all pretty much watching what we eat, but I am also following the weight watchers plan. I have been half-heartedly following it for two weeks already, but not faithfully. Now, I'm going to stick with it 100%. Anyway, since I do the cooking around here I'll be trying out some new recipes and putting the ww spin on them. Hopefully it'll help everyone out in the long run.

So, I will post here every week to let you see my progress and also see how the rest of the family is doing. Wish us luck! (Preferably send the extra luck my way so I can win that challenge! LOL)

Smile for the Day

How do they do it?

I've been reading some success stories in my current weight loss magazine and am just wondering how in the world they did it? I've tried countless times to lose weight, yet never seem to be able to stick with the diet long enough to meet my goals. How do they stay motivated? How do they overcome the frustrations? I really wish someone would tell me.

I am AGAIN back to trying to lose the weight. I couldn't even stomach the idea of going back on NS. The food wasn't bad, but I just can't eat another bite of it. So, I am back with Weight Watchers again. Doing the At Home version right now, but will probably go to the meetings eventually. I've only been on program for two days and so far, so good. I really hope this time is the charm. I need it to work this time. I am sick of losing and gaining the weight again and again. BTW, I've gained 35 of the 45 pounds that I lost on NS BACK! Yikes!

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions on how to stay motivated on this journey, please please please leave some comments. I need all the help I can get.