If You Make a New Schedule...

...your children will sleep late and throw the whole thing off on the first day. (Sigh.)

It was a really pretty schedule too. It's color-coded and I hung it on the wall in page protectors. Oh well, we will follow the order, if not the time slots.

I feel it's time for some updates around here. One thing is about this multi-tasking I wrote about earlier. I can't do it anymore. It's now officially driving me insane. Thus, the new schedule where Sweetheart goes to play while I do some Pre-K activities with Little Bit and then they switch places. So, that's update number 1.

Update number 2 is: I was talking to S about some character issues with one of the kiddos and he said, "I read your blog and all, but I really think they would do well in their own rooms." So, we talked about it and all the pros and cons and decided to think about it this week. They may end up in their own rooms because he had some good points about our girls. There will be ground rules and all to go with that, but that's update number 2.

I learned earlier in the year that just because someone writes something on their blog doesn't mean they are still following suit a few months later. I guess we all forget to update.

So, there. Now I am off-schedule, but I am updated!

Fitness Friday--The Premier

The bloggy world is kind of slow on Fridays so if someone is not interested in my weight loss goals, they needn't be bored to death. That's why I decided Friday would be the best day to document my (presumed) progress.

So, after I wrote yesterday's post, I had a realization of how wrong and ugly my attitude towards my weight really was. I was super honest and shared it with Karly and guess what? She understood! I KNEW there was a reason we were friends!

Karly told me (via e-mail, we have that issue of several states being between us) that she knew she needed to lose weight and be healthier, but she just couldn't care. I was so there just a week ago! I told you all about the little helpful reminders I keep running across. (I also remembered JulieMom has been posting about it too--see how good I am at ignoring it?) Well, I just can't ignore it anymore.

Karly and I will be encouraging and motivating each other and we just wanted to share the love. If you want to join in on Fitness Fridays--just please do so in the comments! We'll Mr. Linky it up later if there is a need...

OK, my friend the tape measure and I got in the bathroom this morning (before breakfast, mind you) and I wrote all my measurements down. I'm not sure I want to share those right now. I feel funny telling the world wide web how big my bust is, OK? I'm sure I'll get over it. And I don't know how much I weigh, but it's a big number. I'm 5'7", so it will always be a bigger number than say, those who are 5'3" but I'm OK with that. I just want a smaller number for ME.

Maybe this weekend I'll buy a scale and share all the numbers with you. For now, I have them written down so I can share how many inches I've lost each Friday. Assuming there will be inches lost.

Stay tuned next Friday for the update! And go check out Karly's post today!

Oh, I almost forgot! My goals this week are:
1. Cut out cokes.
2. Cut out bedtime snacks.
3. Snack healthy during the day.
4. Watch portions (those labels come in handy!)

Exercise? Not sure yet. I'm motivated...not crazy!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Why I Can't Lose Weight

I really need to. I used to be so skinny. I don't even want to be skinny anymore, just thinnER. I would settle for that. My sister was all motivated this summer to lose weight and I should have jumped on board and done it with her but I just couldn't make myself care at that time. But I keep seeing little reminders all around me that I need to...

First, there was Terry. When she started her challenge I just couldn't get the care going that I needed to. Then, there was MamaTeaching2. She went all out and posted her measurements--everything! Her updates are so inspiring and honest. And there's also Lara. (I suspect we will be hearing about her success soon!) You know, actually, GB was first at Restoring the Years. Wow. I've been ignoring these hints for a while now! And there are several other little things I have read or come across lately that keep reminding me: You need to lose weight!

Wanna know one reason why I don't want to? Because when I do, people will tell me "Oh wow. You look great!"

Huh? You don't want compliments, Brenda? Yes. Yes I do. But people gushing about how much better I look will only mean that I looked horrible before and I have tried to convince myself for a few years that "it's not so bad." So that will mean I was wrong. And I do look bad. That's hard to face up to.

And I don't have any idea what I weigh because we don't own a scale. I'm not sure I want to know. I'm very afraid to step onto a scale. I don't really even want to measure myself.

And I'll just go ahead and say it: I'm not doing this for health reasons. I WANT TO LOOK BETTER! There. Vanity revealed.

But they say to start small and have goals so here are my goals this week:

1. Cut out cokes. In Texas everything is "a coke." You know that right? It goes like this:
Host: Would you like something to drink?
Guest: I would love a coke.
Host: Sure, what kind do you want?
Guest: Do you have Dr. Pepper?

2. Cut out bedtime snacking. Folks, I'll eat even when I'm not hungry. That makes no sense. I can go to bed without a snack. At the very least it can be a healthy one.

OK, those are my goals. We'll see how it goes.

Traveling to the Land of Farm Animals

OK, so I've been looking for a tutorial online on how to make a sweatshirt cardigan. I asked my sewing buddy Rachel if she could help me find something and she sent me a link to this pattern. (Which is perfect for what I needed!)

And ya'll, it just took me straight back to the early 90's!!!! Look at their hair! Better yet...look at the scene behind them!!! That wreath on the wall reminds me of the punched wreaths I used to make out of little scraps of fabric with a screwdriver. Heart-shaped ones, no less. I gave them as Christmas gifts one year. I cough just thinking about the dust those babies attracted on someone's wall.

And that got me to thinking about our college apartment. My roommates and I had quite the 90's country abode, let me tell you. We frequented craft shows and collected all manner of country goodness along the way.

Our kitchen and dining room (if you can call the table area of a 2 bedroom apartment a "dining room") was done in cows. There was cow and cowprint accessories on every square inch of that poor little kitchen. One morning at breakfast I counted 70 something cow items. My only contribution to that room was a cow magnet on the fridge. I still have it too. When I got married a few years later I was clearly too sophisticated for something like cows in the kitchen. I had pigs instead.

In every window of our apartment (that would be...3) we had a balloon valance. Now these were made by hanging a length of fabric from a spring tension rod. Then, you put a spring tension rod on the bottom of the fabric and tucked it up underneath. And last, you stuffed the whole thing with plastic Wal-Mart bags so it was puffy. Oh, they were fine.

Our living room was done in American flags. We started noticing some flag stuff popping up at craft shows and we declared that they would be "the next big thing." So we had Americana pillows on the couch, little flags stuck in all the ivy plants, a flag picture on the wall, etc. Then the Gulf War broke out and you couldn't walk past a booth at the craft show without seeing a flag. We were country when country wasn't cool--so ahead of our time.

And talking about the living room reminds me of our end tables. My roommate Molly procured these huge wooden cable spools for us and we used them as end tables. When we realized we had one more than we needed we all helped take it to Molly's truck so she could take it home that weekend. Well, it was far too big to carry so were letting it roll down the sidewalk and walking behind it. Did I mention it was really hilly where I went to college? The thing was starting to get away from us and giving us splinters trying to hold on to it. It was then that I uttered quite possibly the stupidest phrase to come out of my mouth all through college:

"Ya'll just let go and I'll go down to the bottom of the hill and catch it."

I'll let you soak that statement in for a minute. My roommates didn't think twice about my statement. Obviously, none of us had learned anything in our physics courses.

That sucker picked up momentum in a way none of us could have ever predicted. And things started to move in slow motion for me. I first saw one of my roommates get a horrified look on her face and rush over to try and put her foot in front of the spool. It kicked her back a mile. Then, I came to the realization that I was standing in front of a guy's pick-up truck who lived nearby in the apartments. The spool was headed straight for me and the truck. Still going in slow motion, I became aware that the owner of the truck was watching us from his second story window.

That spool HAD to be stopped and I was the only one to do it. I don't remember much else except that somehow I launched my body at that cable spool and somehow, we both came to rest about 2 inches from that truck.

I still have a scar on my left wrist. I don't really have a moral to this story except to say: don't underestimate the importance of bringing those physics lessons to life. Reading it in a textbook didn't do it for me.

But back to that 90's decor--it was divine. My mother-in-law had a goose kitchen which I remember LOVING. What awesome 90's decorations did I leave out?

Cause I seriously doubt any of you have a story to share about stopping a huge wooden cable spool that was rolling straight towards you downhill.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress

OK, Rachel sent the dress on and here is the post at Ahh Duh!. This is the coolest thing ever! Here are the original posts just in case you missed them:

My post
Rachel's post

Thanks Lexie and Lexie's mommy for playing along!

Wonder where the dress will end up next?



Now, scroll down to the next post b/c it's a Keepin' It Real Event, people!