What a day!

Today started out like every other day. We got out of bed and had breakfast.

Just east of our house they are doing some road construction so my son was super excited to watch them unload the machinery and set up. We were outside at 6:45 in our PJ's and robes on the front stoop watching the "worker men". We had planned on going to the free family movie at the cinema by our house today too. They were playing Everyone's Hero. A VERY cute movie if you 1) like baseball and 2) like a good moral to your cartoon story. We really enjoyed the movie and might even rent it so Daddy can watch it with us. So far, so good right???

Before the movie we decided to run by and see Nana at work. I had a few things to drop off to her and it is semi-on the way. We visited for a few minutes and then headed off to the movie. When the show was over, we headed home for lunch. We ate lunch and were just about finished when I got a call that my new glasses and contacts were in. Still no biggie... We finished up, got shoes on, potty breaks taken care of and headed out the door to go get my eye wear. We arrived at the eye store, went inside and got everything we needed. We leave, get to the car, start it, back out of the stall, headed for home and THEN.....

About 50 yards into my drive, the car just putters off and dies! I can't get it started again. I have over 1/2 tank of gas. The car was just serviced about 1500 miles ago. It is generally a great car. I have no clue as to what is wrong! I call my hubby SEVEN TIMES and he doesn't answer. I finally had to call his work and have his phone alerted so he would get a message that we need him. He finally called back to help. Thankfully he has an "in" at a local tow company because he worked there for over 3 years and they sent someone out to rescue us and tow us home. :(

We are home now and hubby just left to take the car in for a diagnosis. It still is not running, but we should know tomorrow what is wrong with it. Thankfully for us, Nana works for a car dealership and we will benefit from her employee discount on parts and labor.

Overall I guess we should be thankful that we broke down in a parking lot and not on the side of the freeway. Thank goodness I remembered potty breaks and we had water in the car! No one was hurt in the process and our bank account shouldn't suffer too terribly bad unless something is terribly wrong. Keep us in your thoughts. I'll keep you posted.

A quote is a quote is a quote...

I found this quote recently:

"While we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause."

I find it interesting in that it seems to apply directly to me and my weightloss efforts. I can sit around all day and be bummed out because my favorite pair of capris are too tight and then I'll go have a cheeseburger for dinner. Not exactly helping the situation. But, since starting my new diet plan I feel like I'm finally on the right track. YAHOO!!

Keep this quote in mind the next time you grab for that doughnut or candy bar. :)

Shouldn't "exercise" be a four letter word?

I've been on again, off again on a diet for the past...oh I don't know...10 years! Two years ago, I joined WW "for the last time" and dropped 52 pounds. Slowly some (14 pounds) have found their way back. So, a few weeks ago I started my new plan. It's been going well thus far.

My biggest concern regarding weight loss is the exercise. I loathe it! That being said, I think I've managed to figure out a way to get in some exercise and trick myself into thinking it's not actually work. :) This is GREAT news for me!

See, I'm typically the gal who goes gung-ho into the diet portion of whatever plan I choose and think that just that alone is going to fix my problem. As most of us know, this is not the case. Diet works well for a time...you loose a bit of weight...and then you plateau. The only thing that kick starts your metabolism again is to increase your activity level. This is where I typically fall off the wagon. UGH!

But this time, with this plan you are encouraged to walk only. They don't want you to do a whole lot more than that. I LOVE THIS! I CAN DO THIS! I already walk weekly on Sunday morning with my good friend Paisley Penguin. One "exercise" day down! WHOO HOO! And, after talking with my neighbor I learned that she too would like to get more "exercise" into her week. So we decided that we would walk in the evening after the kids are in bed. YAY! Even more "exercise" days down! Now, mind you I don't particularly enjoy walking either but having someone to do it with makes it seem less like "exercise" and more like a gab session. This I like. :)

So back to the tricking myself. So far this week I have walked on Sunday, Monday and tonight I played badminton with my hubby and our neighbors. I think I've figured it out folks...you have to PLAY...not "exercise" and that makes it all good! GO PLAY! HAVE FUN!

So what? I like to make things!

My hubby often time teases me about being "Amish". Now mind you, I would have thrived had I actually been born Amish and I would LOVE every minute of it. But he teases me none the less.

I'm a very crafty person. I enjoy working with my hands and creating something from a pile of stuff that isn't really anything on its own. I love cooking, crochetting, scrapbooking and just plain old crafting. I'll try just about anything once.

Recently a friend told me about a friend of hers that has started making her own laundry soap. I thought the idea sounded great and decided to try it. Let me be the first to tell you that if you haven't tried it, you should! The stuff is fabulous! You can find the recipes here. I personally used recipe #4. I think at some point I may try one of the liquid types, but for now the powdered one is sooooooo easy, I think I'll stick to it. I'm on my second batch and I still have supplies left from my original purchase. I've been completely happy with the results of this detergent and have passed on the recipe and a sample to my mom, MIL, and several good friends. I also tried the white vinegar in the rinse cycle to remove any leftover soap residue (it actually acts as a fabric softener surprisingly) but it does leave a slight vinegar smell in my clothes so I put one dryer sheet in with the load in the dryer. Another GREAT side effect of the vinegar in the rinse cycle is that it will brighten your clothes like no body's business! I was shocked! The whites were whiter and the colored clothes were brighter. I love the whole idea homemade laundry soap and vinegar rinse.

In addition to making my own laundry soap, yesterday I was perusing the grocery store and came across plastic freezer jam containers by Ball. These were located right next to the SureJell. I thought they were cute and decided to buy some. So I did and I bought the SureJell too. I already had strawberries in my cart so I was well on my way to homemade jam! My mom has preserved jam and jelly for our family for years and it always tastes better than store bought varieties. This combined with the fact that my 4yo will not eat jam with "chunks" made it really easy for me to decide that I wanted to try and make my own jam. I'm calling it jam even though it doesn't have "chunks" because I did use the whole fruit (not juice) but I did puree the crap out of it so as to remove any trace of "chunk". This process was soooooo easy again and it made me 6 cups of jam. I put one in the refrigerator and the other 5 plastic Ball containers in the freezer for later use. My son was so excited to see that I was making him special jam that he asked me for a PBJ for dinner last night. I of course declined because the jam had not finished setting. :) The whole process to make this jam took about an hour. Not too bad for homemade jam! I will do it again. The recipes come inside the SureJell and they give you lots of ideas for different varieties. I think I might make some up for gifts at Christmas too.

I know that being Amish is a lot harder than just making homemade soap and homemade jam, but I think they have the right idea and I might adapt more of their simple living lifestyle. Not only do I get to be "crafty" but I end up with something useful out of the deal too...and I save a bit of money in the process. Not too bad for a days craft.

Holiday hangover....anyone?

Long weekends are great, don't get me wrong. But, do you ever feel like you need a weekend to recover from your weekend? I seem to feel that way every time right after a long holiday weekend!

Thursday night DH came home from work accompanied by a fabulous pressure washer to clean off our roof and patio. He also decided since we had it, he would clean the house, the sidewalk in front of the house and the driveway! He was pressure washing his little heart out until 9:30 at night.

Friday we were getting ready to host family for the 4th of July traditional BBQ. The food was fantastic! DH really is the master of the grill! We all had a really great time with the exception of my FIL feeling it necessary to discuss bathroom habits of my BIL and DH. I do not understand the facination! I got a bit of color too which is nice because I'm normally the color of the white crayon in the crayola box. :)

Saturday was nice and quiet. I ran a few errands and got a pedicure. Yay, cute toes! Our friends J & S had their second baby on the 4th so we went to see him. We welcomed baby Morgan with open arms. He's so cute, looks just like his sister. And everyone is doing well.

And then on Sunday, I went for my regularly scheduled walk with my good friend Paisley Penguin. Then I came home to a tornado of a house occupied by my DH and DS. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day with my chores. I also finished reading a really great book by Jodi Picoult called Plain Truth. I couldn't put it down. DH hates it when I bring home a really good book because he doesn't get to talk to me for days. I promised him I wouldn't start the next one for a week. ;)

So, today we are going to RELAX and do something FUN! Hope you are as well!

On a side note: The diet is going really well. Today is the beginning of week 3 and I have lost 9 pounds! WHOO HOO!!

Holiday Long Weekend!!

This weekend promises to be fun for all of us.

My hubby is off for all three days. He's going to be crazy by the end of it. He's the type that can't sit still for more than an hour at a time without getting bored. :) He's got a list of stuff he wants to accomplish...we'll see how it goes.

We're having family over for a BBQ tomorrow night to celebrate the 4th. I went to the Dollar Tree and bought some festive paper plates, napkins, and plastic flatware so I can enjoy everyone's company without the worry of dishes.

My 4yo son is on the brink of riding his bicycle sans training wheels. He can actually ride and balance fine, it's just the stopping that he has trouble with. He hasn't figured out that he has to put his foot on the ground to avoid the spill. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can have him on two wheels by the end of the weekend! He's super excited because then he can go "SUPER FAST"!

I'm planning to relax and enjoy the family time. I really want to not worry about messes, cleaning, laundry or anything else home-maker related.

We might go and get some poppers and maybe some sparklers just for fun too, but otherwise as far as fireworks are concerned we probably won't be out that late. Maybe next year.

Whatever you decide to do to celebrate the holiday, stay safe and have fun!

Updates...

I realized today that I haven't been checking the blogs that I've grown to love reading in almost a week. So, I got back on track and caught up. Now it's time to update my own.

• The yardsale last weekend was a great time! We ended up with 6 families involved and we had a great turnout. It was busy busy all day and in the end, we took two vanloads and a carload to the donation site. I'm not sure how much the boys ended up donating, but they had a lot too. Total sale, we made $379.65 to split amongst us all. It was a good day and much fun was had by all!
• My portion of the yardsale money coupled with money I made earlier in the week for babysitting went to pay the first payment on our newly consolidated credit card. We now only have ONE! YAY. And I got to make the first payment. :)
• The diet is going really well! I forgot to weigh in this morning (day 11) but as of yesterday, I had lost 8.4 pounds. That is significant for me. Usually I'm a -.2 per week kinda gal. So, I'm keeping to this one. We'll see how the long weekend goes as Monday is my actual "weigh in" day.
• We're still on track for our financial goals of the summer and this makes me happy!

I guess all in all, the past week has been a really good overall. Hope you've been so lucky as well.