Welcome

by Ang

Finally!! Sorry I've been missing. You would think that with all this time that's passed that I would be completely done unpacking. Oh but I'm not. It's a slow process for me. But I'm chipping away at it. It will get done!

Here's the few things that I can share--

The door to my humble abode, and my sad attempt at a fall decoration:

It needs some help.

This is the office portion of my living room. I wanted two separate areas, and I think it worked out really well. When you walk in my front door and turn to the left, this is what you see:

Aw, let's get a closer look at that fabulous computer wallpaper.

I switch it up constantly, but it's always a picture of Little Miss A.

This is the rest of the living room. Well, kind of. There's still a little portion that I can't show yet because of boxes. But this is the important part (when you walk into the living room and look to the right):

Ignore the curtains. I don't think they're staying. And ignore the folding chair by the tv. I forgot to move it and was too lazy to take another picture.

And no post is complete without a fat cat picture:

So there you have it. Thanks for checking out a portion of my humble abode! More pictures to come!

I'm Back!

By Amy

I made it home from my trip Saturday around noon. As mentioned before I had to travel with my boss to help with a party. They have another residence in Wyoming which is where we stayed this summer. For privacy reasons I can't show you pictures of their residence or of the party but I will say it was amazing. And my boss is a beautiful person who surrounds herself with wonderful people so even though I worked my butt off, I also had a great time. Wyoming is gorgeous this time of year. The leaves are changing colors.

One of the things I did was tie ribbon and cloth on these root beer float glasses. All ninety of them!

We did have time to take a tram to the top of the tetons.

I felt pretty happy about the view up top.

This is smoke from a fire from Grand Teton National Park. Thankfully it was a controled fire.

I had a nice time but it's great to be home. Hopefully Ang will find her camera battery charger and she will be able to post pictures of her new place soon!

M.I.A

By Amy

Just wanted to let you all know that I will be missing in action for the next few days. I'll be traveling with my boss to help her with guests and a party at another one of her residences. It will be fun, exciting and exhausting. In the meantime maybe Ang will fill you in on how her unpacking is going. Love and hugs to you all!

The Great Big Move

By Amy

I think Ang had a succesful move yesterday! We started around 9 and were finished moving boxes and furniture at about noon. It helped that we had alot of strong boys, er, men to help us!

Grandma watched the truck so no one would steal it. And that's my dad in the truck.

Our Grandma and our momma.

Even Little Miss A and her mommy showed up to help!

She's a good helper. (:

Here is the new place.

The boys deserved a much need break. They watched a very disappointing football game.

Hopefully within the next week (or two) Ang will be able to show you the "after" pictures.

Guess Whose Feet These Belong To?

By Amy

Give Up?

HERS!!!

Yes that's right she is at my house as I type this. She's down for the night so I won't see her lovely face again until morning. Then we will have a busy day. My sis is moving tomorrow. Of course I'll bring my trusty camera so you'll be sure to see more pictures of Little Miss A and the mighty men and women who will be carrying boxes down three flights of stairs and then up two flights to her new digs. I'll blog again when I can lift my arms. (:

The Weight of It

By Amy

I have horrible eating habits. Anyone who knows me well would say that I would rather have dessert then dinner. It's true. In fact last night I had ice cream for dinner. And I'm ashamed to say that I had it for breakfast too. I ate a banana too. That's cancels out the ice cream right? I am addicted to sugar. I must have something sweet after every meal. If I don't, I literally start to feel sick to my stomach. I think about what I'm going to eat for the next meal right after I'm done eating. It's disgusting.

I have this battle in my mind. I think to myself, I should have this (a salad) but I really want this (chicken nuggets and McDonald's chocolate chip cookies). If I eat McDonald's for lunch then I won't eat any supper. Because it's soooo healthy to skip meals! Of course I don't end up skipping supper because I'm starving so I end up eating something half way's healthy (because I do feed my family well) but then I totally bomb again with snacks afterward.

I think my lowest point was a couple of weeks ago. I was craving McDonald cookies. Have you ever had them? They are delish! Especially when sacked with something warm and then the chocolate chips get all melty. The best $1.07 I have ever spent. Where was I? Oh ya..so I went to McDonald's and had already paid when I get up to the pick up window and the gal says, "Sorry but we are out of chocolate chip would you like oatmeal?" I'm sorry but no. So then she offered me a hot fudge sundae. I suppose that would do. So I got one and drove away. Thinking, RATS! I really wanted those cookies. As I am slurping down my sundae I drive by another McDonald's. Alright I didn't exactly drive by one. I went out of my way. Just a little. Ok alot. I ordered the cookies at a different location.And not just one order. I ordered two. I ate the sundae and SIX cookies. I was totally disgusted with myself. I felt gross afterwards. Do I not have a single stitch of self control in my body?

As a result of my indulging I have high cholesterol and I have packed on some pounds. When my youngest was 6 months old I dropped down to 125. And slowly within the last eight years it's been creeping up. And up. I went to pull out my winter stuff the other day and low and behold! I barely fit in my jeans. I cannot afford to get new clothes. I just can't. And I don't want to squeeze myself in my clothes because muffin tops are just not attracted. So it comes down to this. I must start eating better. I have to. I would say it's not about the weight it's about being healthy but let's be honest here. It always comes down to weight. When you eat healthy, chances are you are going to drop pounds. I'm not asking to be the weight I was when I got married. I would have to lose 30 pounds! I'll never be that thin again and I don't really want to be. I just want to see that 2 as the middle number. It's not really asking to much. Even if it's 129.9. Just to see that two would make me feel like I accomplished something. Something good for my body and my family for being healthier and not a hypocrite. How can I tell my kids to eat well when I don't?

So here it goes. I'm going to show you my weight. You can call me brave or stupid. I call it motivation to change.

I realize this isn't a bad number! Well maybe some of you are cringing but I bet the majority of you think it's just fine. In fact I believe it's normal weight range for my height. Honestly if I stayed this weight for the rest of my life I would be ok with that. However if I keep eating like I am I won't stay this weight and I may end up shortening my life. And I just feel so crummy all the time. I have no energy. So this is it. I'm giving myself until December 1st to step on the scale and see that two in the middle. I'm not planning on loving salads at the end of this. Or having rock hard abs. That's never going to happen. But if I can just lay off on the sugar, eat more "good for me" foods and learn to be satisfied without dessert after every meal, I will feel pretty good. Hopefully as a bonus I will have more energy, get my cholesterol lowered and drop a few pounds. Am I ready for this? No, but I have to start. Today. Ok tomorrow. (:

Hospitality

By Amy

I love having people over. It's just alot of work and usually I'm to tired to even begin to THINK about cleaning and cooking. But with the help of the whole family we were able to get the house looking good and I was able to cook up some grub. We had about 14 people over on Sunday. I love it when my house is company ready.

My boy took a picture of me in my favorite apron.

I was a cookin' fool! Didn't get any pics of the food though. By the time I remembered, it was all dug into and not so pretty anymore.

Such beautiful people.



Look at these two cuties.

The weather was really nice so a few played B-ball.

See that little lady in the pink shirt?





She totally kicked the boys butts. LOVE IT when that happens!!

Even the cat had a good time.

It was good food and great conversation. I am DETERMINED to do it more often.

Complete and Total Randomness

by Ang

*Today I woke up and my eyelids were puffy and swollen and I had no less than 3 sneezing fits (you know the ones where you sneeze about 10 times in a row and it HURTS) within 20 minutes. When, oh when will allergy season be over?

*I'm listening to the Husker game online. The score is 24-6, and yet I'm still listening.

*Playing Scrabble on pogo.com is addicting.

*I am missing my niece terribly. I mean, look at her (but ignore me):

Only 6 more days until I get to see her. She is just a little ball of pink baby goodness. I want to smell her and kiss her head.

*I am a big fan of 'The Office'. I've decided that my all-time favorite episode is "The Injury" from Season 2. It's just a classic. Michael burns his foot on his George Foreman grill. Here's a couple of clips from it (but not the funniest ones).

http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/clips/the-injury/116363/

Michael Scott: Pam will you rub butter on my foot?
Pam Beesly: No.
Michael Scott: Pam, please. I have Country Crock.

*Here's a super funny picture my sister took at my place last Saturday. What are they doing??

*My apartment smells like cardboard. I can't wait until moving day.

*I'm glad it's cloudy today.

*Sunmaid now makes yogurt covered raisins in individual boxes. Tasty.

Remembering

By Amy

Around this time last year me and Ange were in California visiting my Uncle, Aunt and Grandma. I would never have guessed that it would be the last time I saw my Aunt. I was looking through my pictures and thought I would share a few of my favorites.

My Aunt and my sweet Grandma. Two peas in a pod.

Love this picture of my Aunt and Uncle strolling the beach.

They could never resist petting other people's dogs. They love animals.

My Aunt's own dog, Binky, who is always smiling. And keeping my Uncle company during this really hard time in his life.

All of us out to dinner at a seafood resturant.

She loved ordering the clams! I always thought they were picture worthy.

My favorite picture of us. How I miss her so.

Just Like That

by Ang

A couple days ago, we went swimming.

Today, this is what I saw when I got home:

Fall is coming. It's my favorite season of the year and I'm so ready for it, but this sight made me a little sad. I'll never see this pool full again. I've had fun times in it with my nephews over the summers that I've lived here.

But I'm moving in a week and a half. So instead of swimming at my place in the summers, we'll have to come up with something new. Maybe the zoo? Playing catch in the big front yard? I'm sure we'll think of something. We seem to have fun no matter what.

The Sea of Red

By Amy

Guess where all my boys went on Saturday? I'll give you some hints.

They had a blast of course. Meanwhile I spent the afternoon with Ang. I had a blast too. (: