I wanted to finish posting the pictures I wanted to post in my last post before Easter got here. Having Easter in March is throwing me off a bit. I prefer Easter to be in April but oh well :) This will mostly be a picture dump.
If you've been reading my blog you know I am very interested in weather. More specifically severe weather. Just to clarify, I do not wish a tornado on ANY city, person, house, property, thing. I would love to one day see a tornado up close and personal, but in an open field where nobody or property or animal gets destroyed. Anyways, I got myself a birthday present. The picture on the left is the app I got. I've been wanting this app since last year, but couldn't justify spending $10 on it. I thought my 30th birthday was enough to splurge lol. It's what I think most storm chasers use. If it's not, then it does exactly the same thing as theirs. I have been trying to learn to forecast by watching youtube videos or reading online...I know, they make a program for this, but as I learned in a podcast yesterday they do not teach you about storm chasing. I am very interested in storm chasing and even though I don't have a written bucket list...it's definitely on my list I have in my head. If I had $7,000 plus air and hotel fare then I could storm chase with the one and only Reed Timmer in the dominator. Unfortunately I do not come from that kind of money and the only way I could actually save enough is if I wanted to save approximately $550 a year and wait until Maddy is 19. The right picture is my town's first severe weather day. It was on my birthday of all days. We were supposed to get severe thunderstorms, but the temperatures didn't get as warm as they were supposed to and the storms weakened. Georgia got the brunt of the storm and actually went tornado warned. Every morning I look at the severe weather outlook map to see when to expect these strong storms. April 1-3 started out looking like a widespread tornado day, but the models show the storm weakened and moved south. South Texas is supposed to get some strong storms and possible tornadoes on April 1, but we are still too far out to tell exactly what is going to happen. Ok, enough weather talk...I'm sure some of you all fell asleep lol.
He isn't a "celebrity" so to speak, but he was on Discovery Channel's tv series Storm Chasers. I got so excited when I saw he was following me. I'm nobody special to him I know but he's the only famous person to follow me on anything. We almost share the same birthday and he isn't much older than me and we have the same passion of storm chasing. He was born on March 17 and is 33 years old. I was born March 18 (but my mom labored with me all day on the 17th) and I am 30 years old. He's a good match for my future husband...jk lol.
This was so neat. My mom chose THE perfect theme for my birthday. She chose to center it around my favorite bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11. I actually have a canvas with that verse or part of it hanging in my house. I had a friend send me a card that knew nothing about my party and what my theme was. When I opened it up and saw what verse was on there, my jaw dropped. My mom told me that this verse was for me and Maddy and honestly I just felt God's presence during my party. I had to walk away because I was about to get emotional, but it was a very neat party.I have some major life decisions to make that are scary. The thing is I don't really have to decide...it's more like an answer to prayer has been given so there is no doubt about what I SHOULD do, but my prayer being answered forces me to step out of my comfort zone and into the unknown. Even though I have prayed so many times about this and my mom has prayed for me about this and I am getting what I want, I find myself saying, "But God what about this and God what about that." I have to make that leap of faith, but it's really hard to step off that ledge. Anyways, I feel that God is showing me through my own birthday that He is here for me and will take care of me and Maddy and He has a plan for me, for her and for us...I just have to trust in Him. I do find comfort in knowing that He does have a plan and that ALL things work together for the GOOD :)
We recently had a Just Between Friends Consignment sale. When Maddy was younger, I used to buy her entire wardrobe for that season through this sale. As she has gotten older, the selection just isn't there. I still go to check or will go for pajama's. This year I was primarily going for toys for her reward box. I spent around 30-45 minutes shopping...I really think it was more like 30 minutes, the rest of the time I spent in line. The line was ridiculously long...it was about a 2 hour wait no joke. The top picture is just what was in my bag and then the bottom picture is my favorite outfit I got her. I actually think it was the only "outfit" she got. She got some PJ's and then quite a few toys.
This farm came from the sale and she has a ball with it. Here lately I have found her playing on her bed with her farm, Noah's Ark, and castle lined up on her bed with all her "peoples". It's really cute and I'm so glad she enjoys playing with them all.
These are NOT spring temperatures! I was shocked to find snow in our forecast. It did snow Monday and Tuesday. I'm ready for much warmer temps.
Here I am unknowingly spreading my stomach bug germs...oops!
These videos are Maddy singing her songs. She loves to make up songs, which is partly shown in the twinkle twinkle one.
I finally found a chicken crock pot recipe I could use. This is what we are having for dinner tomorrow night. It's in the crock pot now actually. I've been trying to find recipes for the crock pot using ingredients I already had. The only thing I did different is add seasonings such as garlic and nature's blend, omitted the peppers because I didn't have any, and added a can of black beans. I've learned to read the reviews before I cook because most of the time the recipe is bland. I'm not sure how it's going to taste but will find out tomorrow.
I hope everybody has a good Easter and remember what it's is all about...Jesus raising from the dead. I am so thankful that He died for MY sins and rejoice in knowing He is not dead, but rose from the grave.
I had no intention of taking a little blog break but everything happens for a reason. In the midst of my little break I did have something fun happen...I turned 30! This was a huge milestone for me. I don't know why but it was. I wanted to go all out for my birthday and I did...just not at all the way I wanted to lol. I knew I was going to have a party even though it was originally going to be a surprise. As much as I would love to go into details about my party I don't feel comfortable right now. I am seriously contemplating turning my blog private and allowing only certain people to read it so I can post these details that I want to while still maintaining my privacy. The day of my party I felt fine all day. I actually didn't even know anything was wrong until 3/4 of the way into my party. I felt so bad because I had just exposed everybody that was there to this yucky bug without even knowing it. I did make it through my party and once I got home things took a turn for the worse. Obviously I will not give you every detail but the symptoms I had were a high fever (103 nonstop), lower back ache(hurts just like when you have the flu), nausea, other issues lol, and you get so dizzy when you stand up that you cannot walk. When I stood up for the first time I was trying to get me some Powerade to try to settle my stomach and thankfully it was dark so I was holding onto my bed because if it weren't for me holding on I would have fallen. My legs almost felt non existent. I was dizzy as well. At one point I almost decided to crawl because walking was so hard but I just bent over and slowly walked as I held on to anything that was around. I also was beyond freezing. I took a hot bath with the water as hot as it would go and was still shivering and I bumped up the heat pretty high but it didn't really help. My poor mom had to come at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. to help me and I contemplated asking her to take me to the ER. I've had stomach bugs before but nothing like this. I showed no signs of improvement on Sunday and was worried I would be stuck being sick on my birthday. I prayed and prayed Sunday. I had my birthday off and didn't want to spend it sick lol. I woke up Monday morning to my fever drastically reduced. I ended up going on with the plans I had originally set for that day, but it was very tiring. I did have a good day and was so thankful for my mom's help. I will say only one person ended up getting sick and funny thing is they weren't even at my party. I feel like God helped protect everybody and I was so thankful because I didn't need that on my back...I would have felt HORRIBLE! That's the most exciting thing that has happened since I've blogged last.
Something I found funny that Maddy told me on Friday (March 17) was that she was just talking to herself. She had been talking to herself and I stopped working to see what she was saying. She turned around and looked at me and kept right on pacing saying, "Mommy, I was just talking to myself!" It was so cute and funny. She also did something else but I am having a hard time remembering.
Our Spring has been very cold lately. We went from a potential tornado risk on March 18 (my birthday) to snow. The snow isn't sticking...it's just spitting snow but the temps are just so cold. Next week we have another potential day of tornado risk as long as the models don't change too much. I really am a weather geek and should probably just go ahead and get a meteorology degree.
I'm going to post pictures that I've missed posting but may need to break them up as to not overload this post.
I received this in the mail from a friend along with the fun "30" confetti and present :)
We were waiting to go to my birthday lunch. It was such a nice day out. She looks like she is in trouble or something, but she wasn't and was in a good mood. The sun was really bright. She picked out her own shades at the store when I got mine...she's got good taste.
We were at Olive Garden for my birthday lunch :) I don't have many pictures of us together so I decided to be cheesy and take one of us at the table. For some reason she was not interested in sitting in her own chair. She usually does really good sitting in her chair but on that day she wanted to sit in my lap. I cherish these moments because they don't last forever.
I am only posting this pic because I thought we looked a lot alike here. Our "serious" facial expression is the same. I think the older she gets the more and more she looks like me.
It's not everyday I take pictures of myself with Maddy...I had to have some fun on my party day lol
My "diva" crown I wore during my party. I also had on a pin that said something about being 30.
You can definitely tell I was NOT feeling good here lol. It really is a miracle Maddy didn't get sick.
These two pictures were from my mom. These were on March 17. This is probably the longest time I've spent away from Maddy. I told my mom I was thankful I had some phenergan because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to sleep. They spent the day at a local park and outside. It was also the first night Maddy spent away from home. I wanted so bad to be around her but I did not want to risk her getting sick. My mom knew how hard it was on me not being able to be around her. When I saw her smile it instantly made me feel better on the inside...I LOVE seeing her smile. The top picture is at my mom's house. They got chickens a while back and Maddy got to see them for the first time. She also got to help gather the eggs. My mom said she didn't really know what to think about the chickens but she enjoyed getting the eggs.
She rode her bike for a mile and a half. She's known how to ride this from the first time she got on. She still can't steer her car though. I can only assume it's partly because school has trike like toys and also whenever she's in a car she just enjoys the ride, which is what she does with HER car...pushes the gas and sits lol. Hopefully this year she will get the hang of driving...not that I want to rush that lol.
This girl gets all into her sleep. I'm not really one who should be talking because I do too. I wake up and I'm all over the place lol. I went to check on her and whereas it's hard to tell in this picture, her face seemed so peaceful. She has sleep problems. She is scared to go to sleep, therefore, she will keep herself awake as long as she can so when she does fall asleep it's not good sleep. I was glad to see her more relaxed. I went to check on her tonight and she is sprawled out again but on her back. I hope these sleep issues go away as she gets older.
I will post the rest of the pics on another day. I've had a really rough day today and am ready to relax a little before going to bed...I actually need to be in bed now. I've been oversleeping a lot lately with this time change and stayin up this late isn't going to help me any. I hope you all are having a better start to your week than I am :)
As I approached the last two weeks in my 20's, I decided to get my mind set right and was determined to get on a lifestyle change that would help me kick this extra weight I've been carrying around. I started off last week trying out the 3 day military diet. I was skeptical to even try it because it claims you can lose 10 pounds in 3 days. Anytime you lose weight THAT fast, chances are you will not keep it off. At first my goal was to lose some weight...not 10 pounds although I do need to lose 10 pounds, but I decided not to make it about weight and make it about decreasing the amount of mello yello's I drink during the day. I struggle the most with this while I am at work. As stress piles on me I tend to get up and get a mello yello to give me that extra humph that I need to make it through the day. I knew this diet was going to be hard and technically I started cheating from the start because your two choices of drink are coffee or tea. I didn't have any tea made and I didn't want coffee. I told myself I would have one mello yello and then drink nothing but water. Here is what the first day looks like:
I also didn't have all the foods I needed so I had to improvise, which also is something you shouldn't do because the foods they have chosen works with the chemical reaction your body has in breaking it down so it won't hold as much fat. I did surprisingly well during the first day. I actually had to break my dinner up because I was so full I could not eat it. Day 1 I only got hungry at one point and that was the stretch from lunch to dinner. Day 2 and Day 3 is where I struggled...no more caffeine, strictly water to drink. I managed to get through day 2 but day 3 I just didn't have it in me. I do think I slimmed a tiny bit from what I did do because I was drinking a lot of water and was only having 1.5 soft drinks a day. I felt like I needed something that let me have the foods and drinks I wanted and when I wanted them. I have done weight watchers in the past...like 8 years ago and it did work. I went ahead and signed up for it online last Wednesday night. It hasn't even been a full week, but I can already tell that I have at least lost some inches. No, I don't mean literally lost inches but I have slimmed down. Pants that were starting to feel tight are no longer feeling that way. I am almost to the point now to where if I could get my stomach toned back up I might actually be able to get back in a two piece. I mean I have a long way to go before that actually happens but it's amazing to me how far I've already come. The best part about it is it is SO hard not to cheat. You get weekly points as well as your daily, so if you go over your daily points you start eating into your weekly points. You won't gain weight if you use your weekly points, you will just maintain your current weight. My first real day on it I ended up eating into my weekly points, but it was only because a silly salad without dressing was 30 points by itself plus my guesstimated amount of dressing I did use cost me 4 points so 34 points. I didn't feel bad about it though because I hadn't eaten very much. I woke up still feeling slimmer and I knew I was going to be happy with this plan. I know this isn't for everybody, but it works so good for me. For the most part I am only having one soft drink a day, however, if I need another one I can but it will cost me 5 points. I don't find myself hungry throughout the day. I have noticed my appetite has already shrunk too because the frozen meals they have I used to still be hungry after I ate, but now I do good to eat a whole one in one sitting. I can eat half a meal and be stuffed. It's all about the choices you make...you can go for that yummy hamburger over there, but it's not going to stay with you for very long and you will use up all your points, or you could go with that baked chicken and vegetables that will not use up a lot of points and keep you full. I am a huge pasta lover and I will go ahead and admit that on my 30th birthday, which is coming up, I will be indulging in some Olive Garden that will send me over my points the entire day plus some of my weekly points. I've already looked up what my points will be for what I eat. Here is the breakdown: The yummy salad is only 2 points. The breadstick is 4 points. The chicken alfredo....30 or 33 points. Plus the coke I will probably drink...a gazillion points lol. A 12 ounce is 4 points. A grand total of 43 points. My daily allowance is 26 points so I will almost use up half of my weekly points. I do have a plan for this day though. I will choose not to eat until I get there and I plan to do portion control and eat maybe a quarter of the alfredo and I hope I can make myself drink water, but I hate ordering water in restaurants because it's tap water and I can taste the chlorine...yuck! Anyways, I think you get the point. I don't know if I've lost weight or not because I don't keep a scale in the house nor do I care to step on one. I'm going off of how I feel and how my clothes fit to tell if it's working or not and it is! Here is how the app looks:
As a little tip I just wanted to point out that I think this go round with weight watchers has been easier for me than it was last time because I started a diet prior to joining. The last time I joined I had a point allowance of 29 and they did not count carbs. Now I only have 26 points and they do count carbs. It does make it harder because I love my carbs, but so far I've been fortunate in not feeling hungry and being able to stick with it. This could all change a month down the road, but in the few days I've been on it it's been great. I love that I get to decide what I want to eat and when I want to eat it. I love that I can still have candy or cake or soft drinks if I really want them, but I have to live with the consequences of possibly being hungry due to having no more points. I hope this time next year I am still feeling good about where I am going with my health and weight and will at least be close to my pre-pregnancy weight/body because I can tell the changes my body has already made in preparation of turning 30 and it just loves to hold on to everything :)
If you've been reading my blog, you know Maddy has woken up many times in the middle of the night letting out blood curdling screams. If you've been reading my blog you know Maddy, like most toddlers, despise bed time. The older she gets the worse her fear/anxiety gets. Here lately she has been wanting her door open and the hall light on. In her defense I will say her room is extra dark and as an adult I myself want some kind of light in there. I meant to grab a night light at the store but totally forgot. In the mean time I had been giving her my flashlight, which she loved, but she keeps it on all night so by morning there is no battery left. I don't know about you all but I certainly can't afford to buy two batteries for 365 days. I decided to look on Amazon to see what they had because I knew they could ship it faster than if I waited for the weekend. I had planned on going with the kind you plug in the wall and even started preparing her for it. I stumbled across one that caught my eye. It's a Kinderglo portable night light and comes in different animals. It is SO neat! I got it today and she is LOVING her new light.
These are the different kinds. We got the moon one...it's actually called "Quarter Moon." I chose that one because she could easily carry it or hold it. It also changes different colors, but it isn't too bright. I was actually worried it wouldn't be bright enough but it's just perfect. I just went to go check on her and she was all kicked back in her bed with her light right beside her.
Not a great picture I know but you get the point. She calls it her night sky and I thought that was adorable :)
My niece's birthday is February 1. I felt so bad for her because with my other niece she had to wait over a month to celebrate her birthday due to sickness in the family. I joked with my older niece and asked her if she was sure she didn't want to postpone her party. She laughed but quickly said NO! Well, her original party did get delayed due to more sickness in the family. We finally had her party today and it was a blast! We used our church's indoor play area. All the kids had a blast.
After our time was up the whole family packed up and headed to Ichiban, a Japanese restaurant. I guess I should have added that I chose to start the military 3 day diet today because I didn't realize we were going to eat. I had done so good all day until dinner. Looks like I will be starting my day 1 again on Monday :)
Maddy is so scared of the fire when the get the grill going. I was hoping she had grown out of that, but it petrifies her. Now all she is talking about is the fire lol. She seemed to like all her food. She even made her own concoction that was disgusting! She poured the white sauce into the soup and actually ate it saying it was yummy. Yuck!
What you can't tell from this picture is the meltdown we had prior to this. She has had no nap today on top of playing her heart out for two straight hours on top of waiting 20-30 minutes before we could even sit down. She kept telling me she was ready to go eat. All I had on me was candy and she was starving and tired. She was banging her fork on her plate, on the table, on the menu, and then ended up poking me. I did not let her keep banging her fork due to germs and her possibly breaking the plate. She then wouldn't sit down in her seat and then she just lost it. My uncle had an extra pack of goldfish on him and that got her to eventually calm down. I told her she could pour them out on her plate and use her fork to eat them because the whole fit stemmed from her not being able to have her fork. It was rather interesting and felt like all eyes were on us.
She liked the soup, but it was a bit spicy for her. She wanted to eat it though. She also tried the salad, but she got a big glob of ginger dressing and I'm sure it didn't taste too good.
This happened soon after the fire. She sat like that for the longest time. She then watched a little more as the chef caught an egg in his pocket and then cooked. She wanted to get down because she was so tired, so my step dad cuddled with her.
Once it was time to leave she decided she wanted to climb back in her seat and eat. I finally was able to convince her to put the rest in a box to take home. Yes, I did let her eat lol. She was playing with her soup concoction but did not want to put her food up. Needless to say when we got home she went straight to bed. I let her play computer in bed on Friday and Saturday nights. Tonight she played only a few minutes before I heard it turn off and all has been quiet. Now it's time for me to clean and hopefully get some decent sleep :)
I actually did this last year. It was a lot more awkward to do than I thought lol. I was still living at home with my mom and step dad, so that made it even more awkward. Me and Maddy now have our own place and our lives are different. I'm going to write out a normal week day schedule, then post the video I made last year to help make this post not so boring.
Unfortunately I do not have the privilege to be a stay at home mom. That has been THE hardest thing for me to let go of. I am, however, so very thankful God has provided a job for me and He has continued to provide for our needs along the way. I generally keep my alarm set for 6:45 a.m. I am a work at home employee, so I am able to start my day later than if I had to work in the office. I am also very thankful for this opportunity. I rarely actually make it up at 6:45 a.m. I tend to get up anywhere from 7:30-7:50 a.m. I always run myself late because we really need to be out the door by 8:30 a.m. I wake Maddy up the second I get up. I always tell her good morning and give her hugs. I then get her clothes ready for the day while she goes potty. She is very talkative once she is fully awake and talks nonstop. Once she is dressed we go into the living room and turn on the tv. She loves having waffles for breakfast, so that is what we stick with. Once her waffles are done I get her chocolate milk and brush her hair. By this time it's around 8:10 a.m. Once she is all ready I get myself ready and Maddy gets her an animal to sleep with. I do not worry with make up because I am not a morning person and would rather have my sleep as opposed to getting all dressed up for nothing lol. I brush my teeth and my hair and then throw on some comfy clothes. We do pretty good to get out the door by 8:25 a.m. It takes roughly 25-30 minutes to get to her daycare. I always dread dropping her off because here lately she has THE worst separation anxiety. She will take my keys and not give them back, or she won't take off her jacket, or she won't put her animal in her cubby because she knows if she doesn't do that I can't leave. The routine at school is they put their stuff up and the parents help them wash their hands and then say their goodbyes. Here lately I am unable to get her to wash her hands and her teacher has to get her off me and let me leave before they can get her hands washed. It is so hard leaving like that, but I know she is ok once I leave. After I drop her off I go back to work. I generally log in around 9:30 a.m. I am an hourly employee so I have time to get in. I am also on year round overtime usually so my work week ends up being 48-50 hours year round. I am thankful for the money, but it is so exhausting! I don't get to take a normal lunch because I spend my lunch time taking Maddy to daycare. I work until 5:15 p.m. and then fix her a snack and drink and go pick her up. I usually arrive at her daycare around 5:45 p.m. and she is SO excited to see me. She always asks what I brought her to eat in the car. I've learned not to tell her until she is buckled in her car seat because there have been times I told her inside daycare and she just pitched a fit because it wasn't what she wanted. We get home around 6:15 p.m. and I fix her dinner and she watches tv. Once she eats I go back to work. When she gets done eating she usually plays until time for bed. Her bed time is 7:30 p.m. We read a book and rock and then she hops into bed. I generally start working again by 8:00 p.m. depending on how long it takes to get her in bed. I work from 8-10 p.m. I either clean or work out or do nothing when I am done with work. I typically don't get into bed until midnight.
Posts
