Cheesy Loves Me

Each evening, I normally sing a few lullabies and songs to get MB to go to sleep. I usually let him sit on the sofa with me with his blankets while I do this. I started singing "Jesus Loves Me" and he excitedly rolled off the couch and hit the floor running. He ran all the way into the kitchen and yelled "Cheesy! Cheesy! Cheesy!" while pointing up to the cabinet where we keep the Cheetos. It's funny that he thought that I was singing about cheesies.

Speaking of eating cheesies late at night...I'm learning to take baby steps as I try to lose weight. Today I asked myself what I really want and what my minimum goal is. My minimum goal is to tighten up the floppy belly a little and lose ten pounds by October 1. I think that the kind of person I am, I have to concentrate on a small goal like that. I basically want to look and feel better before our trip to visit my family down South in October. I really got a good start on exercising today. I got up early and went walking. It really made me feel good.

The only thing that went wrong today is that I forgot to eat dinner. Sometimes it is hard to remember that when I'm trying to get the kids to eat & especially if they are being stinkers. Since I'm exercising more & working on the depression issue, it is a huge downer if I don't eat right. I really felt terrible & evil by the time Mark got home tonight. Thank goodness he knows what to do. He got the kids ready for bed and kind of took over with them. And now I get to post for the first time in days. I feel more sane after getting to do that. :)

We had a good time on our trip to see the trains in Strasburg, PA. It was a little harder keeping up with two very energetic toddlers, but they both were able to enjoy it more.

It's such a beautiful relaxing place. We stayed at our favorite Motel... "The Red Caboose". The neat thing about it is that the train track and trains go right by and you can watch from the front porch! Your room is a real caboose that's been refurbished. If you visit Mark's blog, there's an additinal picture. :)

We're Back

Hello. We're back from our little trip to the Strasburg Railroad. It was fun despite the bit of extra trouble I had with being depressed. Blah to that! I'll probably feel better tomorrow & will post some fun pictures of the trip. I've been reading the new Harry Potter book & like it so far. I had to take a quick peek at the end, though, because I didn't really want to read it if Harry Potter met his demise. Silly, I know, but it would have made me sad!

July 4th at the Zoo

I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago. Here are a couple of pictures from our July 4th outing. We visited our favorite zoo. I really love going to this particular zoo. It's so shady and wooded and just a beautiful, relaxing place. You get to be closer to the animals there than at some of the bigger zoos. MG's favorite animals are the lizards! What's your favorite zoo animal? And when was the last time you visited the zoo?

Being Creative

Hello! I thought that I'd add a few fun things to my blog. It cheered me up to do something fun. Also, look at these funny pictures of Tansy! I will have to keep them around for a few laughs! Have a great weekend!

Fatness is in the Eye of the Beholder

I became friends with Yoko from Japan and Betty from Kenya during my first year in college. Yoko told me that her family really teased her when she went back home for a visit. They thought that she'd gotten fat during her first year in the US. She wasn't overweight! She looked so tiny to me! With Betty's family, it was an opposite reaction. They were horrified that she had LOST weight and thought that she looked too thin! So, who is fat?
I know the answer. It's me. I am fat! Sometimes I see other mothers with kids and they are so thin! How did they get so tiny after having two and sometimes three kids? How did it happen? Were they ever chubby? Why am I having such trouble losing weight? Maybe they had to struggle and diet just like me. Maybe it's easier for some people to lose weight than others just depending on their body type.

Well, I had been trying to cut back on my eating and trying to exercise more,but it wasn't good enough. I have been stuck at the same weight for several weeks. Today I decided that I have to start doing something more drastic. I started using slimfast. I thought...hey, this isn't so bad. I had a slimfast shake and a spoon of peanut butter for breakfast. Later I had a celery stalk for a snack. For lunch, I had the shake and a baked potato. I started cooking dinner and felt so extra hungry and mean & kept making mistakes & fumbling things. Now I feel ok since I ate a normal dinner... lots of squash from the garden and two small slices of pizza! Hope that this gets easier!

Many hours later......update 4:11 AM
WIDE AWAKE! I'm mean and hungry, too. I drank a cup of coffee around 9PM...big mistake. Now all I can do is contemplate life and think too much, because I am not going to give in to the temptation to eat. I just now drank a glass of water, and that feels better. This isn't going to be easy is it?

The Totally Terrible Toddler Workout

I should lose weight if I repeat this workout every day, but I would probably lose my mind as well. Here's what you do....

Take two toddlers outside on a hot day and let them loose.

Chase two toddlers down the steep hill to the garden and make sure that you catch them before they take off down the road.

Lug two toddlers over your shoulders back up the steep hill.

Put two toddlers into the sandbox to play.

Now, the two toddlers will immediately hop out of the sandbox and go running down the hill again. You may repeat the whole workout four times or more or until you get smart and put the kids into the house instead of the sandbox.

*Be sure and drink plenty of water and take deep breaths so that you don't hyperventilate or pass out. Also, don't yell too loudly while all this is going on or you will get a sore throat.

Whew....I really need to get in shape so that I can keep up with these two!

It really bugs me that blogger is doing this malfunction that doesn't allow me to put in a title! Argh! I wanted to write about bad customer service because I got mad at a hair stylist who was extremely rude to me today. It really doesn't happen very often, so I always get caught off guard when it does. Since I always try to be nice to everyone, it really makes me upset when I get someone being a turd. I never tell a rude person off because I'm never ever expecting to be mistreated. So you guys get to hear about it. I think that if someone was being mean to my family, then my claws would come out, and I wouldn't just stand there and take it. Oh, well. My job involves customer service, and I know that I'm always nice to my customers no matter what mood I'm in personally. Do you guys have any bad customer service stories? I hope that Mark will write about his crazy experience with a cashier at Target. :)

Learning to Blog

For my job, I'm learning how to blog. Isn't that cool? We get to find ways that blogging is useful to our work & learn how to do all kinds of fun things. I'm going to work on adding some new things to this blog. I feel that I'm learning so much. Now I feel goofy because I have four blogs. This one, the Southern one, a secret poetry one and a work blog. I'll be adding some fun things soon! :)