We are back home now. The laundry is almost all done, and the house is on the way to not being a total disaster! I love going to the farm, or just about anywhere for that matter, but coming home, and the first day or two back are just a beating for me. We drag a mess in just with our luggage and laundry, and getting everything put away and washed is a job. But we had an awesome few days at Mom and Dad’s!
Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. Mark drove over and Christy’s in-law’s joined us. We had a fantastic dinner, with lots of delicious food! When everyone settled in to watch the Cowboys win, our family headed back over to Frisco for our annual Thanksgiving evening with Wayne and Buena. We got there in time to see the 4th quarter on the big screen. Then we had a nice little visit and watched some of the Longhorns beating the Aggies. It was a great day!
I am really looking forward to December. I am trying to find things for the kids and me to enjoy and not spend a fortune! So far, our list looks like this:
1. Bass Pro Shop’s Santa Land
2. Grapevine’s Parade of Lights
3. Lewisville’s Christmas Parade
4. Weatherford’s Christmas on the Square
5. Farmer’s Branch Lights Show
6. Make Ornaments at the Arthouse
7. Flower Mound’s Holiday Stroll
8. “Santa Clause is Coming to Town” at Casa Manania
9. The Trains at North Park Mall
We will probably go spend a few days before Christmas at Mom and Dad’s too. We didn’t get everything done that we wanted to this time. When I am there I love to work outdoors. It is kind of funny, because at our house, outside is Mark’s domain. Anyway, there are fences to paint, cookies to bake, leaves to burn and all kinds of good stuff to look forward to. . . I can tell, December is going to FLY by.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A Truely Wonderful Day
This day started out with me waking up with Major in my face, just as most days do. But this day, as with the two before, we woke up at the farm. There is something about being here that is so peaceful for me. It is coming home for me. Me and the boys came over late Sunday and are going back with Mark tomorrow (T-giving Day). We have really enjoyed ourselves, but done nothing that we had planned on doing. I brought our History books and new books for the boys to read. We have done no History, and I think the boys have read just a little bit.
Yesterday, Christy and the babies come over. My big thing for the day was bricking our fire pit. It sounds like a much bigger deal than it actually it. Out in the back we have half of an old metal trash can sitting on the ground. It was so old and rusted that it actually rusted in half. We have the top part sticking up out of the ground and have burned in it only one time before. That time, the ashes came out around the rough edges. So, Mavrick and I moved about a hundred broke-in-half bricks around our old rusted half trash can. It really looks fantastic. We had a late lunch yesterday afternoon and cooked some hot dogs on it. It really was a lot of fun, and cooks some good dogs!
Today, after straightening up things just a enough to move around, me and Michael and Mavrick went outside. Mom wanted them to clean out the gutters. Mav was all about climbing up on the roof and going for it. We carried the ladder around front from the back, propped it on the roof and Mavrick climbed up. Then it was Michael’s turn. He went about halfway up the ladder and got scared and came back down. Mom and I were both telling him to go back up, and he turned to me and said “you go!” So, I did. After about three minutes he was up there with us. We blew off the roof and then they cleaned out the gutters. After a while I had to remind them that if they were going to be on the roof they needed to be working and not playing.
During the roof excursion, Mom was burning leaves out front. So when I got down I started raking leaves in the back yard. It was probably about 11:00 when I started. Finally, about 3:45, I stopped because it was time for me to go to yoga. I don’t know why, but it was so fun and felt so productive to rake those leaves into piles and then to burn the piles. I have recently had just too much on my mind, and it was so nice to spend a whole afternoon focused on something else. It was amazing what a difference it made in the backyard also!
Then tonight after dinner, we went back out to one of those areas of burning embers and cooked us some marshmallows and made s’mores! What a fun day we have had. This really has been a wonderful day and wonderful trip to see Mom and Dad.
Yesterday, Christy and the babies come over. My big thing for the day was bricking our fire pit. It sounds like a much bigger deal than it actually it. Out in the back we have half of an old metal trash can sitting on the ground. It was so old and rusted that it actually rusted in half. We have the top part sticking up out of the ground and have burned in it only one time before. That time, the ashes came out around the rough edges. So, Mavrick and I moved about a hundred broke-in-half bricks around our old rusted half trash can. It really looks fantastic. We had a late lunch yesterday afternoon and cooked some hot dogs on it. It really was a lot of fun, and cooks some good dogs!
Today, after straightening up things just a enough to move around, me and Michael and Mavrick went outside. Mom wanted them to clean out the gutters. Mav was all about climbing up on the roof and going for it. We carried the ladder around front from the back, propped it on the roof and Mavrick climbed up. Then it was Michael’s turn. He went about halfway up the ladder and got scared and came back down. Mom and I were both telling him to go back up, and he turned to me and said “you go!” So, I did. After about three minutes he was up there with us. We blew off the roof and then they cleaned out the gutters. After a while I had to remind them that if they were going to be on the roof they needed to be working and not playing.
During the roof excursion, Mom was burning leaves out front. So when I got down I started raking leaves in the back yard. It was probably about 11:00 when I started. Finally, about 3:45, I stopped because it was time for me to go to yoga. I don’t know why, but it was so fun and felt so productive to rake those leaves into piles and then to burn the piles. I have recently had just too much on my mind, and it was so nice to spend a whole afternoon focused on something else. It was amazing what a difference it made in the backyard also!
Then tonight after dinner, we went back out to one of those areas of burning embers and cooked us some marshmallows and made s’mores! What a fun day we have had. This really has been a wonderful day and wonderful trip to see Mom and Dad.
A Couple of Yogi
So, I have really gotten into Yoga lately. I am going to my gym on Saturday mornings and Monday nights. I really do enjoy it. You really must focus on your body for an hour. It is always fun to see if I can push myself to the next stage. There is always one step further to go, and you can’t think about anything else and do the poses too.
When we decided to come to the farm for the days before Thanksgiving, I decided to try to find a place in Weatherford to take Yoga. I looked on the internet and found a cute little shop right on the square called “Heartstring.” (www.heartstring.org ) They do yoga and beads. I went last Tuesday night by myself to see how it was. You never know what you are going to find at a new yoga studio. It was pretty normal, but nothing like the sessions I have been going to at LA Fitness. At my gym there are always at least 20 people there and it is HOT. They turn off the air! At Heartstring, there were 4 of us, including the instructor.
Feeling safe about it, I asked the instructor if I could bring my kids. She said that would be fine, and recommended the 4:30, because sometimes no one else comes. Yea! When it was time to go today, Mavrick wanted to go. He did really well and said that he LOVED it! He probably told me 20 times on the way home how much he enjoyed it. He can’t wait till we come back at Christmas so he can go with me again. I am thrilled that I have found a studio in Weatherford that I like and that will allow my kids to join us. We are both hoping that Michael will join us next time!
When we decided to come to the farm for the days before Thanksgiving, I decided to try to find a place in Weatherford to take Yoga. I looked on the internet and found a cute little shop right on the square called “Heartstring.” (www.heartstring.org ) They do yoga and beads. I went last Tuesday night by myself to see how it was. You never know what you are going to find at a new yoga studio. It was pretty normal, but nothing like the sessions I have been going to at LA Fitness. At my gym there are always at least 20 people there and it is HOT. They turn off the air! At Heartstring, there were 4 of us, including the instructor.
Feeling safe about it, I asked the instructor if I could bring my kids. She said that would be fine, and recommended the 4:30, because sometimes no one else comes. Yea! When it was time to go today, Mavrick wanted to go. He did really well and said that he LOVED it! He probably told me 20 times on the way home how much he enjoyed it. He can’t wait till we come back at Christmas so he can go with me again. I am thrilled that I have found a studio in Weatherford that I like and that will allow my kids to join us. We are both hoping that Michael will join us next time!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Little Pumpkins
We had two really good trips to pumpkin patches last week. On Wednesday we went to the Flower Mound Pumpkin patch. The boys loved it. It was nice weather, with just a little chill in the air. On Friday we went to the Pumpkin Express in Argyle. It was fun too. They had a train ride, so Major got to ride on a train for the first time. He did really well, and seemed to enjoy it. It was way wet out there though. The owner said that they had been closed 13 days of October due to rain! Everyone had soaking shoes and mud all over our jeans! It was a really good time!
Insurance sucks!
The last few weeks I have been having major depression issues. It came on slowly, and got real bad last week. My mom thinks it is raging hormones due to out of whack woman parts. I think she is right. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. If I am looking at two weeks of this every month than that is not going to work. I have started looking for better insurance and will probably plan a trip to the hospital early next year.
Last Thursday afternoon I spent several hours talking with insurance people and still didn’t come up with anything better. Private health insurance sucks. Really, all aspects – looking for it, paying for it, using it. It all sucks. I said something about it on FB and someone responded not to worry about it because Obama is going to take care of it. I am not holding my breath.
Last Thursday afternoon I spent several hours talking with insurance people and still didn’t come up with anything better. Private health insurance sucks. Really, all aspects – looking for it, paying for it, using it. It all sucks. I said something about it on FB and someone responded not to worry about it because Obama is going to take care of it. I am not holding my breath.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Michael's 10th Birthday
Tuesday, my first baby turned 10. Maybe that is why I have been a little depressed lately. WE took the day off of school and did what he wanted to do. He wanted to go to the five story mall? We went to the Galleria. They wanted to walk through the whole thing. We did. They wanted to ice skate, so I let them. They actually both did really good. They would skate over to the wall where Major and I were sitting and talk to Major thru the glass. He would go over and touch the glass. It was really very sweet. On the way home we went by Toys R Us. Mavrick bought him a guitar, so we had to sneak it into the car while he was in the store. Then when Mark got home, we went to eat at Chili’s. It was a very fun day!
On the way to the mall, I looked at Michael and saw a pimple on his nose! OMG! I realized at that very moment that I am not ready for puberty! And lately, he has had this “man stank” thing going on. My baby is growing up! He is almost as tall as me and already weighs 110 lbs! WOW!
He is a great boy. He tests me a lot, but he is a wonderful little man, a great son, and a fabulous BIG brother. We have been so blessed!
Me and JC (written 10/14)
That’s right. I joined Jenny Craig (again) today. I realized just a few weeks ago that in a mere 17 months I will be 40. I don’t want to be fat and 40. I want to be HOT and 40.
It doesn’t help that the media has jumped in their new bandwagon of “40 is the new 20.” It is getting to be as difficult on the 40 year olds as it has always been on the younger women. Shows like Cougar Town and women like Madonna, Valarie Bertinelli and Demi Moore don’t help either. All those skinny women of my youth are now skinny women of my late 30’s! This aspect of being a woman sucks.
What really sent me over the edge was a picture that was taken of me last weekend at our family reunion. I was tagged in a picture on Facebook from over the weekend. I am huge. It was heart breaking! I have literally been depressed since I saw that picture. I removed the tag because I didn’t want anyone else to see me like that! So I am hanging it here, in the hall of shame!
I chose JC because on Sunday, my mom said “That is what I would like to see Michelle do. She did really well on Jenny Craig before.” Sunday night Mark asked me what was up, why now? I told him about my turning 40 thing and that I felt like if I turned 40 weighing what I do now, I would wake up the next year and weigh 30 pounds more and 30 pounds more the next year. That is so not what I want. On Monday, Mark brought up JC. I took it as a sign and called on Tuesday. I went in today, and start tomorrow… which happens to be the 15th, which is exactly 17 months till my 40th birthday.
I am not overly excited. I know that I can do it. I have done it before. The keeping it off is the biggest issue. I will admit, I never learned the “lifestyle change” part. I may be eating their food forever. I am probably more cautiously optimistic than I have been before. Maybe I will be excited in the next week or two.
It doesn’t help that the media has jumped in their new bandwagon of “40 is the new 20.” It is getting to be as difficult on the 40 year olds as it has always been on the younger women. Shows like Cougar Town and women like Madonna, Valarie Bertinelli and Demi Moore don’t help either. All those skinny women of my youth are now skinny women of my late 30’s! This aspect of being a woman sucks.
What really sent me over the edge was a picture that was taken of me last weekend at our family reunion. I was tagged in a picture on Facebook from over the weekend. I am huge. It was heart breaking! I have literally been depressed since I saw that picture. I removed the tag because I didn’t want anyone else to see me like that! So I am hanging it here, in the hall of shame!
I chose JC because on Sunday, my mom said “That is what I would like to see Michelle do. She did really well on Jenny Craig before.” Sunday night Mark asked me what was up, why now? I told him about my turning 40 thing and that I felt like if I turned 40 weighing what I do now, I would wake up the next year and weigh 30 pounds more and 30 pounds more the next year. That is so not what I want. On Monday, Mark brought up JC. I took it as a sign and called on Tuesday. I went in today, and start tomorrow… which happens to be the 15th, which is exactly 17 months till my 40th birthday.
I am not overly excited. I know that I can do it. I have done it before. The keeping it off is the biggest issue. I will admit, I never learned the “lifestyle change” part. I may be eating their food forever. I am probably more cautiously optimistic than I have been before. Maybe I will be excited in the next week or two.
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