Googling your name & other stuff

Oh my gosh, I was reading on Jen's blog and in the corner are her fave blogs and what their last post was, and WHEN it was. Mine was 4 weeks ago!! How sad. =(

I should just hop on here more often, yes? And not wait for these like, grand monumental blog posts to come forth first. Ha ha.

I HAVE been blogging, just not here - I joined a private forum for a specific fitness program called Venus Index and I LOVE it. I also love that it is private so only the girls (no guys except the 3 trainers) can read what I write. I can post before/after pictures, etc without wondering if the whole world wide web is going to see them.

Seriously, oh my GOSH you guys - way back in like, 2002 I started working out and my first program was something called Body For Life. They encourage before/after pictures of course - and I know this IS good for accountability, but holy moly, NOT on a public forum. I guess I just didn't realize that whatever you put on a forum like that, can be called up via Google?

Anyway, I posted my before & after pictures on there IN A BIKINI. Yes, I know. It's not like I looked atrocious, but .... I went on to become considered somewhat of a professional in my field of selling on Ebay in later years. I started a newsletter that was published online and had many subscribers, even up to 2,000 at one time.

So my name got out, people started to know me as an "expert" (ha ha - it's awesome how you can become someone so quickly online!! Yet no-one really does know you, right?). People would google my name and......

....yeah. I got some emails from people letting me know so thankfully I wasn't in the dark about that for too long.

But it is funny, how many things you write online you just don't think about. I googled my name again just now and there's a post I wrote on a forum when I was pregnant with #6, asking if people had ever gotten a pregnancy portrait done. That's not THAT private, but still - don't spill your guts on forums online if you don't want everyone reading it.

I think blogs are different - like when I googled my name, none of my blogs came up. Not sure how that works, but it seems to be harder to find by just googling someone's name.

Peanut Butter on my Jeans

I didn't really know what to title this post and as I was thinking about it, I looked down and wa-lah. Peanut butter & jelly on my jeans from handling my sweet 15 month old after lunch. I think she believes that the best way to eat a peanut butter sandwich is not to EAT it, but to apply it to her skin like lotion. LOL!

There isn't a main point to this post, I just wanted to get on her and express my thankfulness for my home, for my family, and for my job that God has given me. Because right now I am feeling discouraged and like seriously, the house WAS CLEAN yesterday. Oooh, it was so pretty and clean and I loved it! It felt like a breath of fresh air!

That was after I worked hard and nonstop for 1 1/2 hours - JUST TO DO THE BASIC STUFF! Like, sweep, unload/load dishwasher, wipe counters, handwash big dishes, throw a loaf of bread in the breadmaker, feed the washer & dryer, pick up the floors & vacuum the whole house, tidy my bathroom counter, make my bed, feed meals, make dinner (Goodness, how does that take like 1 1/2 hours of my day, anyway?!!! It sure was yummy though!).

Sometimes I sigh, and feel like I am so tired. Do you know the feeling? Tereza, you have been SUCH a help for me in that because you are honest to acknowledge that you feel like that (and scream at the housework, ha ha TRUST me I have been there!) BUT then plunge in and get it done. And of course we feel so much better about ourselves AND our home when we're done.

I think sometimes it can become more of a burden to keep doing the same thing over and over, because of so many little hands and feet quickly undoing what we just did. I am thankful for older ones and for their assigned chores - it used to be the most monstrous task for me every evening to make the dinner, set the table, put the food on and serve it, feed the baby during dinner, then clear the table, load the dishes, clean up the kitchen...and that doesn't even count trying to do anything with the little ones.

So now I have helpers that set the table, clear it, and do the dishes - although of course I seem to have my hand in all of that as well, teaching them the right way and lending my help when they seem to be about to wither up in "I can't doooooooo it"-ness. =)

Today I felt like throwing in the towel and NOT doing my workout. NOT doing any housework (will one day of just kind of lounging, really make that big of a difference? Do I really want to find out? LOL), and just heading to my nice clean bedroom (still! From yesterday - wow!) and taking a nap.

But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what I feel (I did do my workout, by the way - that always starts my day out right). What I NEED and WANT to do, is my job that God has given me as a steward for Him, to do! That's what it comes down to, isn't it? Simply being faithful to the tasks He has given me no matter what my feelings are.

My husband is a good example to me there. I realize that my job does require 24-7 responsibility, but to be honest, I really do get a very nice break from when the kids go to bed, to when they wake up. So I really can't complain.

He goes out to work EVERY SINGLE DAY with not one complaint. He always appreciates and is thankful for the lunches I pack, always has a smile on his face when he walks in the door. And he works long hours too, often he is gone when I wake up at 6:30 and doesn't come back home until 6pm most of the time. I know that many days he doesn't feel like getting up IN THE DARK and doing his job.

But he does, day after day.

So I will do the same so I can stand shoulder to shoulder with my husband and do the good works that God has prepared for me.

Off I go to take care of the kitchen which is needing some love after making m&m cookies with my little helpers! (who are now napping...ooooh lucky them...hee hee)

An hour later....here are the results! Before & afters...

Prettiest Pink Playdough

I just wanted to share because no-one else in my family cares, ha ha! Today I promised DD4 that I would make playdough - but when I started to make it, realized that we are OUT of food coloring. Darn!

I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to color the playdough - ANY color, but ended up just settling for white after looking through all my pantry and coming up empty handed.

Then...I happened to open the fridge and ding ding! Lightbulb moment. BEETS! I've been juicing in the mornings lately with beets, carrots, and apples (yum! DD4 begs me for some, lol). So I juiced one small beet and ohhh it was so so so pretty! Beautiful deep burgundy color. I poured it in - and in hindsight, will probably use it as some of the water required for the recipe, as it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to harden/cook with the extra 1/8 cup of liquid.

But it turned out the pretties deep pink color, kind of like I've always WISHED my playdough would turn out, but I didn't want to use up the entire bottle of food coloring since those things are spendy to keep on replacing (thus, no replacement yet in my cuboard, lol).

I've been enjoying the pink color and my mind is busy figuring out all sorts of veggie colors:

Orange - carrots
Green - spinach
Purple - cabbage?

I'm thinking fruit will probably make it too sticky. Fun!

Oh, and here's my recipe (I always double it, as we love playdough in our house!):

1 c. flour
1 c. water
1/2 c. salt
2 T. cream of tarter (I buy this in bulk JUST for playdough)
1 T. oil
food coloring

Mix together in the pan, then cook on Medium, stirring fairly constantly especially towards the end. Store in fridge in an airtight container.

I Love My Life!

Sometimes life can be so totally crazy.

Like today, DH was gone overnight for work so he finally got back at 6:15, but called me ahead of time to say that he had a last minute dinner meeting he had to go to, at 7:30 for work.

I was thinking earlier in the day that it'd be nice to take the kids to the family activity center near our home so I could get a workout in, and the boys could hang out in the game room or art room. Then my DD6 wanted to come so we thought hey no problem, she could go to the daycare room. This is new to us, and I've never done it before so it was going to be a fun adventure.

But when he got home?

Oh, my.

I didn't have to get dinner for him, since he was going out - but I realized oops, the kids hadn't eaten yet.

So I quickly threw together some taco meat (already cooked, in the freezer), grated cheese, and tortillas for their dinner. Super simple, yummy.

But then I realized that he'd had a long hard day - and while he would have totally done it with no complaining or bad attitude, I didn't feel like it was fair to saddle him with having to feed all the kids while I skipped town. LOL.

Then chaos totally started. Jack (2) didn't want his. I had skipped the tortilla and just gave him meat in a bowl - he didn't like it.

So - threw the entire thing onto our (carpeted) dining room floor.

Harmony (1) was in her highchair crying for HER food (which needed to be spoon-fed to her or she'd make a horrendous mess), and DH was rushing around trying to get dressed and ready for his meeting.

The kids were bummed when I told them we wouldn't be able to go. And me? Ha! I was feeling SICK from eating too much cake which was due to needing an "up" because DH was gone and I needed something to enjoy and look forward to since you know, child rearing as a single parent can be daunting.

So that was the scene, quite overwhelming. But THANKFULLY I was able to arm myself with my go-to weapon against freaking out and which almost always works - singing. Doesn't matter what, as long as it's uplifting and encouraging and turns my thoughts towards God and the real reason I'm doing all this in the first place!

After dinner I ran into our bedroom where DH was getting dressed (I did, I ran! Ha ha!) and plopped myself on my bed where I laid on the pillow...aaaaahhh. So nice. But I laughed and said, I wonder how many seconds until they come in to find me?

Sure enough, THIRTY seconds later there was little Harmony banging her fists on the door wanting Mommy. That's OK though, she's cute. =)

Anyway, the reason I love my life is because moments like now, when the household is generally happy. Everyone is fed and DH is gone to his meeting, the dishes of course are waiting to be done - but at least I know how to do that, dishes don't cry and holler and tease. (or maybe they do??? Sometimes.....)

So they're all watching a movie and I'm watching my Ebay auctions end. Really happy with some like this one (I paid $10!), and really SAD about some like this one (I paid $10 =( which my daughter LOVED and I would have totally kept it instead of selling it for that price! Aaagh!

Such is life.......tomorrow is a new day.

PS - Jen...if you're reading this (which you probably aren't!!), I am thinking of you and praying for you!! I am so glad everything turned out okay, and I can't wait to meet little Macy Grace!

New Blog!

To help inspire myself to continue on in the good path of home warming =) -- I have started a new blog that will be devoted exclusively to that part of my life, complete with my yard sale finds, before/afters, my thoughts, struggles, fun finds, etc! It should be fun. =)

Come join me! (and do you like the vibe?? My first attempt at "decor"....online! =)

http://simplyrejuvenation.blogspot.com/

Interior Design & DIY (do it yourself)

I am excited for this fall & winter. Knowing I'm not pregnant, too, lifts my spirits ONLY in that I am glad I won't be sick. To be honest, I was kind of settling in to the fact that I *was* (self preservation technique; accepting, then embracing) pregnant and kind of gearing my mind towards that.

The past 5 days I have been obsessing about cleaning up my house - to the point where I'm like DANG! If I was pregnant I would definitely be NESTING. Hee hee!

When I say "cleaning" -- I don't mean cleaning in the sense of making it clean. What I mean is making it nicer, neater, more of a HOME than a house.

I have PLENTY, and I mean so so many areas that could definitely qualify for the "Room of Shame" award. LOL. I suppose that's too harsh of a word, shame, so we'll tag them as "Room of Embarrassed".

Sound better?

When I see my house with the eyes of someone else walking in who has not been here before...

Ouch. It's cringe time.

And since I don't especially like cringing at the thought of my home, I've finally decided to do something about it.

Six years ago (yes, SIX years, folks. How embarrassing!!!!) we got a nice tax refund and I was pregnant and due in 2 months - nesting, much? I hired my SIL's to paint my ENTIRE interior house. Seriously.

Girls room I painted a fun purple/pink.

Boys room, blue. Main living area - light olive green, some walls khaki (love this combo still!). Main bathroom half blue/half yellow.

My room - an absolutely ATROCIOUS (omg it is SO ugly) sage green with burgundy on the bottom.

Most of the colors I chose were nice, and would have LOOKED NICE if I had finished what I was planning! But then I had a baby, and you know how that goes. Four children ages 5 & under doesn't exactly make for a motivated mommy. So seriously, my walls in THREE rooms are still painted half on top and half on the bottom with no distinction in the middle. No wall border, moulding, or anything. And since there is nothing to tie those colors together, they look really strange. Especially my bedroom. But you know how it goes when you're super busy and trying to just EXIST and maintain; things that are not necessary to live, go unnoticed after a while.

My new interest is also partly due to the thought of the kids going back to school too - I will have four full timers in school this year. For the past TWO years in a row, I have had a Kinder which means I had to drive to the school 3x each day, 5 days a week, for 10 months. Fun, fun times. =)

I'll still have three littles at home each day, but just taking out that one interruption is going to be divine! You know how it is when you have to drop a project or cleaning or whatever, to pack all the kids up and leave. Even if it's just for 10-15 minutes, it really chops up your day and can leave you disoriented, out of your groove, and 9x out of 10, the project is left until the next day.

So back to the original reason why I am writing today.

When I get interested in something, I will research it to DEATH -- all my spare time is spent learning about it, how to do it, the results, different ideas, etc. Then I go after it with the tenacity of a bulldog and don't stop until I get the results I want.

I can totally see that in the weight loss/health arena......I've tweaked things and hundreds of hours training and learning until finally I've learned what *my* body responds to and have the blueprint that works for me. Now I don't really need to worry about it - I've gotten the results I wanted through much trial and error, blood, sweat, and discouragement. But I did it!(okay well mostly, still working on that baby tummy flab but it took me seven babies to get there which is let's see....63 months to get there so...)

I've been bummed for a very long time about my house, wishing I could make it look adorable and beautiful but I just never could figure out HOW.

I knew obviously that we don't have the money to go get an interior designer to tell me what to do, and also to BUY the things she would suggest, anyways. Like custom curtains? Pppphhtt! Yeah right. Plus, with 7 kids? Yikes! Don't want to spend mucho $$ anyways, just to have it get ruined.

(DS 2 got ahold of the green food coloring the other day. Woohoo! How FUN to SQUIRT it on the cream colored couch (suggestion: don't buy that color with kids no matter HOW pretty it is and HOW cheap it is) and on the CREAM colored carpet and on the wall. I have no idea how to get it out because when you wash it, it smears BIGtime!)

So....blogs! I LOVE LOVE LOVE blogs. You can find blogs for just about everything you are interested in. People who have "gone before you" so to speak, tried this or that. And there are always those who are willing to do tutorials with pictures, detailed instructions, etc. REAL people. Who make mistakes and tell you not to do that particular thing, lol! Not some pat article that makes it sound like they know everything.

My new obsession is DIY and interior design blogs. I especially love the before/after "parties" where everyone posts links to their current projects and rooms they have completed. Complete with how-to's! I love it!

I'll be posting some before/afters on here as I do them, and if this sticks (sometimes my obsessions don't, lol) then I might start a new blog about it.

I'm especially excited about moulding and battan walls. I have always loved the look, especially around the ceiling. Wished I had the money to hire a contractor to do it for me. Wished that DH would do it for me. But he has so much going on. I just don't know HOW to do it, it seems so complicated and you need like a special expensive saw, have to measure all these things, etc.

Then I saw this post from a blog I am already learning to love! WOW I could not contain my excitement and I can't WAIT to try it!!!! I'll let you know how it goes - my thought is to do the ceiling moulding in my living room, and in my bedroom too. I would have it in my whole house if I could!

The other thing I LOVE for the girls' room is the battan walls. I just love the look and this is totally something I can do.

My whole house needs repainted - I read that after 2 years you need to repaint because the color fades, etc. It's been 6 years for my house. But anyway, in the girls room I'm probably going to be doing a pink & brown theme. I'm thinking to paint the walls a softer pink than is in there now, (it's like true bubblegum pink now)with the white batten on the bottom. I am so stoked about painting - it's a relatively inexpensive way to really brighten and change a home!

My room is going to be an Italian/Old World theme with fresh sunny yellow walls - what a change that is going to be from the current colors! It's pretty dark in there right now. This is the picture I am getting color inspiration from - love the yellows, reds, pinks, greens, and the strong lines of the black iron.

Aunt Flo visited me today!

She is definitely here. I don't know if I'm happy or sad??? What a rollercoaster these past 4 days have been!!

So even though I am not pregnant, I am really glad I wrote that post. Because it is a document for me in later years, to remember how each time I found out I was pregnant, it was ALWAYS a time of extremely mixed emotions, and ultimately a surrender to His will and a thankfulness for what He brings. Even if we don't have any more children, I never want to forget that feeling/time in my life!

I'm still a little concerned about the nausea and weird taste in my mouth when I eat, though. That is SO the pregnant me. And never the menstruating me. So that's strange, but we'll see if it turns right side up in the next couple of days.

Update - no news.

I took a test last night and true to *my* history, it was negative. I pretty much knew it would be, although I wasn't sure, obviously. That is exactly how my body works. I FEEL pregnant and yet, the test remains negative for up to a week after my missed period. Then, there is the positive. LOL! Makes for an interesting emotional ride, for sure!

Still no sign of a period, though - guess time will tell. Probably when I receive my 12 tests in the mail I'll start taking one every morning until my period starts or I get a positive. I'll keep you posted!

I think I might be pregnant.

My period is 2 days late, and I have been nauseous for 3 days straight. My food tastes weird. My stomach is doing crazy poochy things like it does everytime I get pregnant, pretty much the very minute I find out. I am tired. And I am emotional, ooooh boy am I emotional.

I am in tears.

I don't want to be pregnant! Is that wrong of me? I know we women are fickle creatures, and many times we don't know WHAT we want.

But I don't want to feel nauseous for the next 10 weeks straight. I don't want to go through the trauma of giving birth again. I don't want to feel heavy and tired and get big boobs again. I don't want to have a newborn next year for summer conference (baby would be due May 1st). I don't want to have a postpartum body next summer. I don't even want to think about having 8 kids ages 11 & under - that just seems like so, so many to me! So many LITTLE ones.

I think I just was not ready for this; completely caught by surprise.

But....that still, small Voice is whispering to me, as well.

Whispering that this is His perfect works for me. The most wonderful, most beautiful thing that I could EVER use my body for in this entire world. That I am giving my life, my plans, my dreams, my wants, my ideas up as a sacrifice and IN RETURN??

Oh, IN RETURN I am going to be receiving the most precious gift that anyone, ever, can imagine. A sweet baby that smells so good and is a new life to mold and give back to Him. A new brother or sister for Harmony, who I have mourned at times that she will never experience, being the youngest.

And, what do I know? How do I know that this baby is not THE ANSWER TO OUR PRAYERS for wisdom and help with our oldest daughter, who at 11 is challenging us with things far beyond her years. Maybe this little one will be what binds her heart to God, to our family - and here I am wishing it wasn't so??

I have watched my baby girl grow from a newborn to a toddler, and now she is 13 months old. From the beginning of her life we felt that God was speaking to our hearts that seven was the number of children we were meant to have. Different reasons I won't go into here, but especially in the past year I have seen that *I* am not as strong emotionally as I have been in the past. I felt that 7 was all I could handle.

But then other times I would think wistfully back to when Harmony was born, and the fact that I would never, EVER have another baby? That was just too much - that is all I have ever known! Like, ever. It took us 11 months to get pregnant when we first got married and after that I continually was pregnant at around 1 year postpartum. My babies are all 17m-23m apart. Even with a miscarriage, so I have been pregnant 8 times and my oldest is 11.

I can't even explain what I am feeling right now.

So many emotions!

I had a heart to heart with God in the bedroom today. That was after I had been working on something on the computer and accidentally erased it 2x (!!!) so was doing it the 3rd time and THEN DS2 came along and pushed the power button on the computer.

I cracked, flipped out. Ran into my room and slammed the door two times (apparently two is better than one. Ahem.) and then proceeded to scream at the top of my lungs. Twice.

Then I prayed from the bottom of my heart for grace to go through this. For strength to know, to KNOW that He will not, will NOT give me more than I can bear. To let my children know that they are needed, are wanted, are loved, are NOT REGRETTED for one single moment. To embrace this new time in our lives and rejoice in the fact that He is giving us another new little one.

You know what came to me?

It was quite amazing, actually. I got a vision of Jesus in the garden, the night he was betrayed. He cried out with loud cries and tears, asking if it was God's will, that this cup be passed from Him.

It was so amazing to think that HE TOO did not want to go through what His body was going to be going through. He was headed for some extremely painful and emotionally draining times. Hard times. And yet He said, "Thy will be done." He gave his body as a living sacrifice not only for God, but for all of mankind. For me!

It was a moment that really drew me to Him in my bedroom and reminded me that He went through the same thing I am going through now. And He is there to help me at the throne of grace for the strength that I need.

So that is me, today.

I bought a pack of 12 pregnancy sticks on Ebay for $2 - remember those, RA? =) But then I forgot to pay for them! Dumb. So I can't wait any longer, I am going to go take a test tonight.

Will let you know the verdict.

Regardless, though, even if I am NOT pregnant (what is up with the nausea then? It's annoying! LOL!) -- this will have been a really good experience for me, and brought me into a huge amount of need.

Off to make dinner for 8 hungry mouths.....

"To thy glory and praise I will live - grace abundant to me thou doest give." This song has been been playing over & over today in my house, and has spoken to me so much. It is a STATEMENT. A fact.

Dear God, I will live for Thy glory and praise only, and not for my own gain.

Our "Family Closet"

Tereza asked about this, so I thought I'd make it a whole separate post since I have a picture to share. =)

I was first introduced to this method when I read the Duggar's book. They have, of course, a whole separate room devoted to clothing - which I suppose you'd need if you had 18 people living in one house.

Mine came about because for years I fought with my kids to 1) not take ALL their clothes out of their drawers when they're looking for one thing and leave them on the floor to mingle with the other dirty laundry. And 2) to actually have the clothes make it TO their bedrooms once they're cleaned. The ever looming pile of laundry kept somehow staying on the couch, and you don't even want to know how many times DH and I got creative when company came. Ha ha!

It was like a lightbulb moment went on one day, when my Mom asked us if we needed/wanted my little sister's drawers/shelf combo. She said it had stickers all over the front but I said I wanted it - we were desperately in need of dressers in the kids' bedrooms.

My family closet is very loosely termed as such, since it is not in a separate room AND the clothes are not hanging. Basically what happened is, when I we got it - it was on the verge of falling apart. waaah! So DH put it in the family room (our toy/computer room) and we decided to just leave it there while we decided what to do with it. And, he put it backwards so the stickers (kind of messy) wouldn't show. It's kind of to the point where if you move it, it'll probably break.

Anyway, here is what I have done. I took misc. baskets/bins (clear) that I had around the house and gave one to each child, with the boys 7 & 9 sharing one since they almost wear the same size. I cleaned out their drawers (eliminating alot) and closets and put all their clothing in their own bin/basket. I put it on the shelf, and wa-lah. The family closet.

For the past 3 months, I have kept up on the laundry more than I ever have in our entire married life. And why wouldn't I? It's a snap to carry the pile of laundry to the couch, and take 3 minutes to quickly sort them into their own baskets.

I realize this looks pretty dumpy, lol. Someday I plan to get matching bins, put a nice/neat label with the child's name (this is handy for DH and babysitters), and of course get a nice solid shelf --- think Ikea of Pottery Barn style. Even better would be a shelf that SHUT, kind of like a sewing station or an entertainment center.

The drawers on this particular shelf are backwards so they don't open, but drawers would be handy for socks - I think maybe socks and underwear would be nice to have somewhere else so I can get to them quickly. Just have to figure out a way that the little ones can't get into them...for now I have one whole basket for unmated socks, and each basket has mated socks for that person.

This method also works AMAZINGLY well for when we go to conference!! I get all their backpacks and get their basket down one by one, all in the same place. Also for coming back, I just empty out their backpacks and put their clothes back in their baskets. Dirty laundry hampers are in their bedrooms so they never actually have clean clothes mixed with dirty clothes.

DH and I also "share" in a way, but only because I like to have a place to put our clothing when I'm sorting it. I try to make it a priority to hang our things as soon as they come out of the laundry, and quickly put away in our drawers. This is a blessing to him, and I like to have his clothes clean and ready for when he's looking in the early morning hours. So that's what the extra bin is sitting on the couch in the picture.

Another thing I love about this method is that I am continually going through their baskets, so I know what clothes they have, and what needs to be put away for the next season, is stained and needs to be donated, etc. Before, it seems like they always had outgrown/stained things that NEEDED to be put elsewhere, but just kept getting shoved into the back of their closets/drawers.

A Jubilant Return from Family Camp!

Oooooh my dear blogger friends - how can I describe how ecstatic I am to be back home? I have never experienced it like this before, coming home, and starting my first Monday back. I am practically beside myself with DELIGHT to be here!!

I enjoyed a luxurious sleep last night in my own bed, so soft and welcoming in my air conditioned bedroom. After snuggling with DH, of course. =)

This morning I got to sleep in until 8:30, when I was "gently" woken up by a loudly demanding/crying 4 year old who told me in no uncertain terms to MAKE MY CEREAL (uh...wrong side of the bed, much?). And then, a tantrum when I said I'd get it in a little bit (invited her to come lay down in my bed with me which she usually likes, but no way, not today!) and then a pretty hard slap from the child.

Oh, boy.

Not getting your cereal now for sure, my little darling! I rolled onto the other side and pretended to sleep more, at which time DS7 came in and persuaded her to come watch a movie with him. Amazingly, I was totally calm and talking to her in a nice voice - that was actually a good way to start the day, not giving in to ahem, the "other" voice. =)

So here I am! SO so so so so excited to start my day. To return things to normalcy. To do my laundry and see everyone's clothing nice and neatly put in their baskets in our family closet, all clean and ready to be worn. To clean my kitchen! After being responsible to clean a huge commercial kitchen 3x per week, doing my OWN is a snap! (except, the 7-minute dishwasher is oooooh so worth drooling over!)

And ah, to do the bills!!!! I have been DYING to know what our budget says for this month - DH and I are planning a SUPER fun 2-night trip in 2 weeks and I need to know: do I have to sell some things on Ebay? Or do we have enough to pay for the hotel, babysitter, food, fun, etc? We got paid while we were gone, so now I can settle in with a nice cup of tea and find out. =)

And speaking of going on trips and wanting to look nice - I can get back into my workout routine! Oh I cannot wait to get right side up again - I love it!

While I was gone, I basically always skipped breakfast and had watermelon for lunch/snack, and tried to reign in my snack attacks at least until dinner time. Then I would usually eat quite a bit more than my allotted 1100 calories per day that I need to have, in order to attain my fat loss goals. We're talking chocolate, pizza, even some MEAT (O.M.G. did I just say that??!!! Oh but the spaghetti sauce just looked sooooo good at the time! And it was! =), jalapeno poppers, peanut butter popcorn (RA it WAS yummy!!!), french fries, wine, chips.....wow. I really went all out, eh? I also ate often late at night which is a no-no for me...but it was super fun. =)

But guess what is really weird? Like, SERIOUSLY weird.

In the past (a year ago) if I did that? Like, every day? I would have been up FIVE pounds, possibly even 8. And some of it would come off as water weight in the next couple of days, yes, but 3-4 lbs of it I would have to work HARD to get off, like a week's worth of solid sticking to my plan or even 2 weeks if I am not solid with it. Just to get back to where I was, how depressing.

Yesterday I came home and weighed myself: 118. I about fell off the scale. SERIOUSLY?!!!! The LEAST I have ever weighed is 116, and I shoot to stay between 115-120 but have battled to even get beneath 120 for months and months and months. My body seems to "stick" to 120-125. When I left for summer camp, I was 117.

There is a theory, that once you get your metabolism going and become fit, your fat burning workouts will burn more fat than an average person. The more fit someone is, the more fat they will burn after a workout session. You can read about it here - it's pretty fascinating. This is my FAVORITE fitness site, by the way! By following the advice on here, I have seen amazing results. But anyways...lol...

Bottom line is, I think this is why I didn't gain anything. I did my TacFit workout 6x while I was there, and I also went running 6x. Oh, and fasted for 24 hours 3x while I was there. I knew in the back of my mind that you can't out exercise bad eating, but I figured it couldn't hurt, it kept me in shape so I wasn't going backwards and losing muscle by just not doing anything, and also - most importantly - running in the early mornings is absolutely GLORIOUS!!!!

I really was able to connect with God in a new way, praying specifically for different needs and it was most special to be out in the crisp morning air with the warm sunshine promising to be a hot day. That was the biggest reason why I went in the first place - weight control was in a way, almost just an added bonus.

Today I am AMPED to be a good Mom, to fix my house up so it is a HOME, and to make it good for my family. I am back in my element and while I had a WONDERFUL time, I love my nest. =)

So, my friends, how is it for you when you come back from a long vacation?

Summer Conference, Day 3

We are entering our 3rd day here at Macleay, our church's summer camp. It's been pretty rough - DH ended up having to leave again at the last minute right when I was all packed up and ready to go. He has a pickup truck so most of our things we just throw in the back and haul over here. Since he had to leave, I had to figure out how to stuff everything we needed in our car which seats 8 and has every single seat taken by a child.

The first night was really hard, I lost my patience a number of times. I usually lie there half awake most of the night, on the first night whenever we come here. I don't know why, I guess I'm always just worried that at the first noise, the little ones will wake each other up.

Which, they did - but it wasn't the end of the world. Yet I was super super tired and by the end of the day yesterday, was feeling like I just wanted to go home. Part of it is having DH gone for so long, I just am craving normalcy right about now. And being here is, of course, anything but normal!

But the conversations and fellowship I have had with the friends here have been lifechanging for me already - and I am so thankful that everything always, ALWAYS looks better in the morning anyway. LOL. We're definitely here to stay for the long haul, until the 15th.

I have been able to establish a nice exercise routine so far, in the 2 days we've been here. I wake up at 6:30 to start my workout at 7am, and go in an empty dorm room to do it. Afterwards I go for a nice run around the loop. On my no & low intensity days, I jog 3 1/2 times around the loop, then powerwalk the rest of the day. Moderate and high intensity days, jog 2x around, then powerwalk around.

I LOVE this because it is purely for my own enjoyment and peace of mind that I am going jogging - it is not "required" in my current workout regime, since the actual workout I do incorporates cardio WITH resistance training. But I absolutely LOVE it!

The crisp morning country air is absolutely glorious - 7:45 (kind of early, but not too early that it's still dark) in the morning with the early sun shining and the sprinklers going on. The grass is so green and the flowers are vibrant - I have used this time to pray for my children one by one, and then for whatever else God brings to mind. It has established a really really nice start to my day and I'm already trying to figure out how I can do this at home too.

The other thing I'm realizing is that when I wake up before the kids do, I can exercise, shower, and get their cereal ready all before they are up. That way when they do wake up, I am refreshed and ready to handle whatever God brings my way for the day. I find that especially here at conference, when I sleep in - it is really hard for me to be warm and good to them in the morning when I am sooooo tired and just want nothing more than to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

The only thing that is a variable in my perfect plan, is that the past two nights I have gone to bed at 10:30. So....if I ever decide to go visit someone at night and stay up late, I'm going to be hurting in the morning getting up so early. So I'm not making it a hardcore MUST DO to do this - just as it fits.

One More Day....?

Just got the news that DH is going to be gone at least another day. He left on a Wednesday, came home on Sunday for 4 hours, then left again and came home on Friday evening. Then left again on Sunday afternoon and now looks like the earliest he'll be home is Tuesday night.

Ever take a step back and clearly see that God is taking you through the winepress, to be worked with and humbled, yet you can also see SO CLEARLY that He is very careful in making sure you are not crushed?

That is me right now. For some reason I feel so blessed right now.

True, I just woke up from a 2-hour nap. HA HA! Who wouldn't feel blessed after that? Especially with 7 kids running around the house? Hee hee...

Seriously though, I just feel like I am so lucky that God plans my life so carefully that He sits there longing for me to take this situation right so He can change me through it. Knowing that it's not too much for me, yet just enough that it puts the squeeze on my comfort level so that I turn to Him in need.

This week, we were supposed to pack up all our things and move out to our church summer camp from the 1st - 15th of August. Everyone was so excited, we all our - but not having DH here has really thrown me off. So it looks like we might not move out there until Wednesday.

Super good for me to be happy in all my situations! I am thankful. And humbled that I have it so good.

Homemade Corn Tortillas

I love food. I don't just like it, I LOVE it. I love gloriously yummy things to eat when I'm doing something fun and relaxing. RA, I could SO relate to your post when you wrote that all you wanted to do was eat something deliciously yummy from your pantry when you were reading your book.

I just need to steer that love for food in the right direction.

Cuz, corndogs are not the right direction. Apple fritters are most definitely not the right direction.

My current health plan is for 95% plant based - no meat, no dairy, no processed food, and no sugar.

Mexican food falls nicely into that category, and I love mexican! On Monday I made a big pot of "refried" beans with pinto beans, onions, garlic, tomato paste, cumin, and coriander. They're pretty darn good!

Yesterday I bought some Masa Harina (corn flour) and today, attempted my first corn tortillas! Wow, are they ever EASY. I didn't even have a tortilla "press" like is often talked about. In fact, I don't even have a rolling pin either. LOL

I just used the roll of plastic wrap. Took me 3 tortillas to actually get the hang of it, how to roll it in such a way that it is semi-round when I am done with it.

They take 50 seconds to cook on each side, then wa-lah! Warm, moist, really yummy corn tortillas. I can't wait to have some for dinner with my beans, salsa, corn, avocado, lemon wedge, tomatoes, and cilantro.

Will not get overwhelmed, will not get overwhelmed...

...repeat...repeat...repeat until...um...I don't know, I'm not overwhelmed? LOL. At least I'm not chanting "I can't do this!!!!!! I can't do this!!!!!!!" because obviously that has a more negative affect because it is focusing on the negative.

Some deep thoughts here today. Hee hee

Well my friends, if you could see my house today you would look around and then give me a knowing, "Ah...I see" response. Every single room needs help. Even the hallway, which is wear our washer/dryer doors open into, and it is calling me to do laundry as well.

BUT - I just pressure washed the front porch, watered the hanging baskets, and sprayed off the pretty fake tree that lives on our porch. Does that count?

Why is it so much easier to do THAT than clean my bathroom? Ha ha....gotta' run, maybe I'll post on here later that I got my whole house sparkling clean!!

PS Small victories - I did NOT eat that handful of chips I was thinking would taste mighty good this morning! I'm really working on eating healthy so that I will feel good both inside & out during conference coming up.....2 weeks of camp with the fam! Woohoo!

Now if I could just leave right now and forget about the mess....hee hee

Soooo tired....and Thrift Store finds

This morning DS2 woke me up at 5:30. It took me 2 times of his crying to figure out that he was wet through so I did the whole changing sheets, diaper, and jammies thing. Then DD4 who sleeps in the same room drowsily sat up and said she was hungry and wanted cereal....it was barely light outside but enough so that she probably thought it was morning.

I told her no, to go back to sleep and she started crying LOUDLY. Errrrr.....I promptly took her out of bed so she wouldn't wake the other 2 sleeping kids, and she slept in my room on the floor for the next 3 hours. DH had to wake up at 6:30 to get up and pack for his trip, and then I remembered how the bills still needed to be paid and they were overdue......and how it'd be nice just to get my workout done early in the morning before the kids got up.

By then unfortunately, my head was buzzing with thoughts so I just got up and did my workout. I ROCKED it - that was fun - did better than ever, enjoyed it more than ever, and was sore afterwards and out of breath...felt good.

A friend of mine, Janice H, came over to babysit and I spent a relaxing, fun afternoon at Value Village digging up all sorts of school clothing goodies for my kiddos.

I love that store!!!!!!!!! I had a 30% off coupon and STILL spent $179.00. But you should have seen the mountain of clothing I got. I was able to buy six pairs of jeans EACH for my boys who are 7 & 9 - you know how often boys THAT age go through jeans?? I was lamenting the fact when adding it up, that I was spending $50 JUST on jeans, and then realized that if bought brand new, that would be the equivalent of MAYBE 3 pairs of jeans in the store.

So - let someone ELSE pay big money to walk their jeans out of the brand new store, only to have their son wear them a few times, and then donate them....so I can buy them, lol.

Keeping my kids well stocked in clothing is a daunting task sometimes - not just any clothing, but nice looking, you know? It's hard to figure out what is the most frugal, yet necessary way to keep them clothed. I've tried buying a whole wardrobe brand new (clearance prices) at the beginning of the season, and almost every time it seems like the clothes shrink and get all ratty halfway through the season.

It does depend on the store, though. It seems like department store clothing isn't as good as The Children's Place or Gap/Old Navy, for instance. And I love the fact that preworn clothing has already withstood the test of time - there are PLENTY of shrunk and faded clothing on the racks so I am able to see which ones will and won't do that.

Our Family has been....Sugar Free for 9 days!

Weekend before last, I took DD11 to the beach for a Mother-Daughter trip. We both ate a LOT of sugar and alot of junk foods - chips, pop, donuts, pizza, chocolate, ice cream....ugh, it hurts to even write out the words! It was the worst we had both eaten in a really long time. We DID have fun, though, and eating fun things did make it more of a memorable weekend. So - mission accomplished.

When we got home I mentioned to DH how much sugar we'd had, and then we talked about the effects of sugar especialy on our oldest daughter. Many times I've wondered if her attitude and seemingly complete abandon of concern over hurting people's feelings is attributed to sugar.

Anyway, we decided that ALL sugar (except natural forms - honey, Stevia, dates, obviously fruit) was going out of our house. Now, I'm the type that loves to make things fun for my kids - I love having a little stash of sprinkles to put on their pbhoney sandwiches sometimes, or in their oatmeal. To pull out a candy for them during special times. Often times in our home, each child has their own collection of sweets that they are allowed to choose from, usually one per day.

I grew up like this, and it was so fun for me! DH did NOT, and was not even allowed to have pop until he was way older, even as old as 10 maybe. He shared with me that it is hard for him to see his children having so much candy.

Being the health queen (uh...at times, at my non-binging times, lol!) I am, I was all for that. So we threw out everything including syrup, a big tub of licorice I had just bought was given away, even a big bag of dried fruit I took away from Rachel because of the sugar they add to the fruit. (hey Jen, do you want it? It's the Costco brand)

I am absolutely SHOCKED at how often I turn to giving them sweets! We go to the grocery store, and I want to get them a free cookie. We have dinner, and I want to make something yummy for them for dessert. We have a movie night and I want to pull out the sweets to make it a fun time. DH is gone so I wanted to get some cones & ice cream to make it fun for them. Is it really necessary to pull out the sugar in order to make it fun?

Geez! So it's been really enlightening to figure out how to give them special things without sugar. I even threw out the semi-sweet bag of chocolate chips we had. But mostly for MY sake because I can't stop eating them. LOL

So for movie night on Friday I made them parmesan popcorn and gave them fruit rollups. I know those are not like 100% sugar free, but I figure it's a much better alternative than the candybag from Candy Thyme I had reserved for movie nights, lol.

I've told the kids that we are going to not be giving them ANY sugar until we leave for family week at our church. But even then it's not going to be much - I am really liking this!

Trip to Costco, Value Village, & Lunch at the School

Today is my fasting day, which I fast until dinner - total of about 20-24 hours twice a week. I woke up totally craving a watermelon, and the ones at Costco are SO SO SO good, big and round (the hotdog type shape doesn't work for me the way I eat it, cutting it in half and spooning it out like a bowl), and only $4.99 each.

It's just kind of a big trip to go to Costco with ALL the kids - but it was worth it for me today. Since DH is going to be gone pretty much the entire week (he might drive home tonight, but will be leaving early in the morning for another stay somewhere else for the rest of the week) I decided on the spur of the moment to feed my kids totally crappy dinners this week. Ha ha!

Not really, I mean I didn't purposely DECIDE to do that, but I bought a box of corndogs, a 2-pack of beef hotdogs, and a big bag of Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets. Also a 2-pack of spaghetti sauce since my attempt at making it myself with tomato sauce and seasonings kind of flopped the other night. So I figure that should take care of most of the dinners.

I think I'm going to be making some Spinach and Potato Curry that goes over rice, for my dinners this week. We got some microwave meals from the food bank a while back and they are just so good! But I would way rather make my own since that would eliminate the preservatives, sodium, salt, etc. I found a good recipe to try here - and I'm going to make it tonight. It falls within the guidelines of my plant based food that I eat so...looks good!

So anyway, it was fun to see you at Costco, Jen! I can very much relate to having all 3 kids sitting like sardines in the cart while sporting a very pregnant belly, lol. I had two kids sitting in front, and four kids hanging onto the four corners of the cart, then 2 of the biggest ones trailing behind me. I always like to have them attach themselves to the cart so that we're not like this huge crowd moving through the aisles and getting in people's way. They just kind of stand there crowding all around me when I'm getting food and don't see that other people are trying to get by.

After that we zipped over to Value Village, one of my favorite stores in the whole world, it was hard not to go to all my fave racks and check them out. Ooooooh I wanted to, especially since I have a little extra money to spend.

I got them each one thing $3 or under, and it was cute to see them picking it out and deciding, and then ALSO not asking for more things and being happy with what I got them.

We rushed to the First Methodist church to get some lunch and arrived there at 12:15 - they started serving at noon. I got them all out of the car, hungry and tired for naps and the guys at the door told me they had run out of food.

So back into the car we went, with me trying not to get stressed out - I really didn't want to have to go home and get everyone lunch, it saves us so much grocery money being able to eat out at the school or church (whichever one we go to) every day. Thankfully I grabbed the list of all the schools in the area and saw there was one right down the road. We ran down there and arrived just in time. They only had one chicken nuggets left so DS2 got that one, and the rest of them had meat/cheese sandwiches, graham crackers, baby carrots, apples, and chocolate or regular milk.

I didn't do my workout this morning, enjoyed sleeping in too much after getting up at 6:30 for the past 3 mornings. So now I have to do it, grr. Oh well, it's only 18 minutes of yoga stretching and I DO enjoy it once I get started.

Yeah, so....

...we only made $20 today at our garage sale. ROFL! But to be honest, I did close up at 1pm and we actually were getting some more traffic - I think people tend to drop by on their way home from church, OR maybe they've slept in and eaten breakfast and THEN mosy on out the door.

Who knows. Regardless, it worked out SO perfectly I can't even believe it! I plucked out those various things from my inventory that I didn't want to give away, things that the kids were selling and also some things my MIL wanted to keep if they didn't sell.

Then I posted a big fat listing on Craigslist "GARAGE SALE - EVERYTHING LEFT IS FREE as of 1pm!!" Ha ha - I knew that would get their attention.

Sure enough, they started showing up pretty quickly. But before they came, right AFTER I posted, some people showed up and I told them nonchalantly that everything was free. LOL they whipped their heads around and were like, what?!! Seriously?? Everything? Are you SURE? It was fun, I felt a bit like the good samaritan, or maybe even Santa Clause!

Everything was nice, really - and it was fun to watch THEM having fun. Shoot, if someone said that to me at a garage sale I'd have been in heaven!

Anyways, about 20 min. after I posted it, a big burly man walked up with his wife and said they wanted to take all of it. Wow! ALL of it? Yep, they were having a garage sale next weekend in their HUGE yard and wanted all of it!

You know those scenes in The Grinch That Stole Christmas where he goes into the houses and puts everything into a huge bag, and lastly even takes the Christmas tree? There is maybe one small Christmas ball left behind, if that. (Sorry Annalise, I got your email about an hour after that - but I didn't have that much in those sizes and no exercise stuff).

Yep, that was my yard! It was awesome! I was so thrilled - very little cleanup, I had my $270 to show for the weekend, and DH doesn't have to haul anything to Goodwill.

BEST of all, there was a meeting at church at 4pm and DH was due to arrive home at 3:30 with my two older boys - he's been gone since Wednesday. My SIL came over to babysit and we went there together, just the two of us. HEAVEN, I tell you, heaven! Both to be with the love of my life and also to sit in the 2nd row and listen without one single distraction the entire time. Very encouraging.

Afterwards we rescued a ball from the pool that DS2 had left there yesterday and was pining after, then headed out to McGrath's for a wonderful date dinner. We sat outside and were the only ones out there for a long time, with flowers all over. It was a balmy evening and I was kind of feeling on cloud 9 due to the fact that I had been with the kids 24-7 for the past 5 days and bam, I was wisked away and in the company of my prince charming. JUST him. So so so nice.

After that we walked around downtown and had a yummy drink at one of the cool places there - it was really, really nice.

I don't know if I'll keep on blogging every single day but for now it's fun! Especially when you guys leave comments so I know you are reading it, thanks!!! I was getting a bit lonely on my diet blog, but I'm still not ready to open it up to the public again, I don't know if I ever will - that's OK, though.

And Jen, super nice to know you're out there and reading too - sorry you didn't get to go tonight. =( But Mommy-hood is the best place because it's where God has us. He sees us!

G'night - looking forward to seeing Jen & Tereza this weekend, hopefully!

Well....it's 8:33 and...

..not even ONE garage sale person yet! I feel kind of dumb sitting there all dressed, showered, freshly exercised and ready for the big onslaught of people and nobody is even coming. ha ha!

The kids are still sleeping, believe it or not! Lots of sun and playing yesterday has them exhausted, I suppose. Today at 12pm I am going to pull all the good stuff that I can sell elsewhere, and announce that everything is free. I HATE doing that - I have enjoyed my garage sale times this summer so much! And there is so much good, sellable stuff left - it just takes the right person!

Like a friend gave me a LOT of really nice baby boys things in sizes 0-2T. The winter stuff is already folded and ready to take to the consignment store, but the summer stuff is so adorable and just sitting out there, at 50 cents a piece! Lots of like new onesies for a quarter each....aaaagh! I wished I could find a garage sale like this when I was pregnant with Jack and didn't want to go pay like $6 per pack for 3 brand new onesies.

Since I'm "bored" (OMG did I just say that?!! Is it even legal for a Mommy of 7 young children to breath that word? Ha ha) I'm going to take a picture of my sale so you can see exactly HOW MUCH is left. Good Lord, isn't it alot???

Here are all the clothes - I also have alot of cute baby girl things from Harmony last summer in that same size, 0-12 months.

And here, what do you think of my handy dandy homemade rack for hanging clothes? I got this idea from my sister Angela who is super creative and thinks of things I could never come up with in a million years.

I took two of my dining room chairs and turned them away from each other, then took a sturdy rake and put a plastic bag around the chair, then taped it over & over until it was pretty strong. Cool, eh?

My first customers, gotta run!

Day 2 of Garage Sale Crazy-ness!

Today started once again with a rise & shine time of 6:30 - why does that seem SO early?? I routinely got up at 6:45 when the kids were going to school, lol. I had a snuggly little 4 year old visitor in the middle of the night with her pink blanket. It was so cute - usually I don't let her stay in my bed because 1) I can't sleep and 2) there is no room with DH and I and 3) she'll repeat it every night and it'll become a habit. But last night there was no DH so she cozied up to me for a while, then I scooted her over onto his side. Precious moments....

My workout was hard today, it's a 4-day cycle that begins with no intensity, then the next day is low intensity, the next moderate, and today it was high. Tomorrow is low again and only 18 minutes as opposed to 35 or so - nice! I plan to get up at around 7am to do it.

Today my garage sale totally tanked. I mean not TOTALLY, but we made MAYBE $40 - and people were really scarce and scattered. Lots and lots of little 25 cent purchases. It was insanely hot today, though, and that's probably why. 97 degrees when we closed at 4:20pm. My sign says 8-5 but I couldn't hold out when we were getting like 1-2 people per 15 minutes as it was! People are CRAZY to be garage sailing in that kind of weather!

It was kind of a neat day, though, in that my 2 boys 7 & 9 were with DH on their trip, and daughters 6 & 11 were at our church for a kids games day. So I just had three little ones here at home - kind of like school days! Those days are nice. =)

After we closed the garage sale, I piled them in the car and we went to our church to swim. Did that for an hour, and then I realized I was getting tired and still had to go pick up DD11 at my mom's house, drop off my niece who was swimming with us, and get all the kids in bed, etc.

My attitude when I picked up DD actually surprised me - I was pretty short with her and just kind of annoyed at life this evening. I pinpointed the reason why it it came out that I was getting tired of being without DH and I have basically been going like a million miles an hour for 2 days straight. I also have been struggling with eating for the past 2 weeks - and being at the pool, I could tell the difference. My stomach is bloated and I felt kind of ucky wearing a suit.

I actually considered not going to the pool because I was embarrassed! This coming from a girl who is AT her goal weight....so see, people? In my opinion it doesn't even matter what you weigh, it's all about the mindset. And, I suppose, whether you've been doing something about it or not, if you do want to lose weight and/or get toned. I find I'm not so down about myself when I know I'm actively doing something to fix it. If I am eating pizza and ice cream then....that's not so fun.

Thank thank thank thanksssss to the person who invented portable window air conditioners cuz, we are very much thankful for them tonight. I'm off to take a shower and put the last of my girlies to bed, who are currently watching "Toothless".

Day 1 of Garage Sale Crazy-ness!

I was QUITE proud of myself for getting up at 6:30 this morning to my workout, despite THREE of the kids (not one of them was the baby, either!) waking me up at least 5 times in the night.

Our sale did really well, though! There were a few panicky moments on my part when certain things happened, like DS2 walked up to me holding up fingers full of something that looked like peanut butter....only wasn't. Thankfully we were not slammed at that moment and DD11 was able to sit and be in charge of the money while I dashed into the house to change an ucky diaper and thoroughly wash some equally as ucky fingers.

Tereza, to answer your question (and I'm glad I made your day by my post, lol!) - no, we're not moving. DD11 and I had a garage sale in early June to pay for a beach trip that she and I were taking together over the weekend, just the two of us. We solicited things from our friends & family and got quite a nice assortment of things.

We made enough for our trip, but still had a bunch of stuff left over! So I decided to have it again the next weekend - and it rained...waah! Rained after setting it all up and we were only able to have it for one day before I had to take everything down again. THEN my parents called to say they had bought a storage unit (long story) of my aunt's and had kept everything they wanted but there was still a TON left. Did I want it for my garage sale?

I couldn't resist that. (smile) So anyway, it's all been stored in my garage for a month and now I'm happily having my 3-days-in-a-row garage sale and then will be just as happily giving everything away on the last day. I LOVE doing garage sales - we made $170 today on the first day! Wooot!

I had TONS of energy today. Like wow, I did so so so so much! I was basically on my feet the entire day doing the garage sale from 8-5, with small snatches of sitting down here and there. In the midst of that busy-ness, I managed to clean alot of the garage and sweep it, as well as setting up ALOT of garage sale things, organizing, etc.

Then I came in to the house to face a big fat mess, which is what happens when you leave 7 children to fend for themselves (not REALLY, but you know what I mean) while you're out "playing" garage sale. =) I had lots of fun, I loved it, but I didn't so much love the mess.

But I still had energy to clean the main part of the house - vacuumed, did the dishes/cleaned the kitchen, put away 2 baskets of laundry and folded a load of towels. I sorted a bunch of clothes to sell tomorrow. Now the house looks wonderful, as does the garage. Love that!

G'night all!

Just feel like talking...

...not about anything in particular, probably more because I don't want to go to bed, lol!

DH is gone until Sunday where he'll briefly appear and then leave again to be gone until at least Monday night. We're having problems with DD11 keeping DD6 up until the late night hours by playing in their room, even sometimes waking up the baby who just turned 1.

Ah, the joys of small home living. But that's totally fine, we deal with it - lessons are always learned, regardless of whether you have a big home with a nice bedroom for each child, or a small home where they all have to sleep in one bedroom. Right?

Anyway, so due to her statements of "I am NOT going to go to sleep no matter what you do..." type of thing, DH and I decided that for a short amount of time she is going to go to bed EARLY and go to bed in our room, on the floor.

Don't worry, she's got plenty of cushion (that was her first complaint/excuse for not having to sleep in there so we took care of that right away!).

Problem is, now I'm basically banned from my room because if I go in there I have to tiptoe around and can't turn on any lights, etc. It feels like I have a newborn again! Usually I enjoy some leisure time at night reading or watching a movie or just surfing the net in my bed on my laptop.

Anyway, that's my great grand excuse for not going to bed/taking a shower at the late night hour of 10:47pm.

In the morning I am supposed to wake up at 6:30pm to do my newest and most exciting TacFit Commando workout, then shower and have all the kiddo's clothing and cereal ready for them as quickly as possible because....

....I am attempting a ginormous garage sale BY MYSELF with all 7 kids. Am I crazy?

Ha ha, guess I'll have to get back to you on that one. We'll see how it goes in the morning. Here it is in all it's splendor as it looked tonight after it was set up - and I have about 1/4 that much MORE to put out.

In the past I have experienced panic moments when I am the lone person in charge of the garage sale and it is flooded with people in the morning hours, and I have half dressed/orphan looking children coming outside crying for me to make their cereal. And/or to complain that so and so is teasing them, and/or that they got hurt, etc etc. Oh yes, or peed their pants. LOL!

I guess I'm taking a gamble this time around...but I do have DD11 here who is capable enough - she can do pretty much anything except for clean up a poop/pee mess and change and/all diapers. She doesn't "do" diapers.

My garage sale is planned for Friday, Saturday, and half of Sunday - at which point, after 12:00pm, I plan to announce that everything is free. Of course I'll bring in the things I do want to keep, but most of what I have is other people's things that they gave to me to sell, instead of taking it to the Goodwill. I definitely don't want any of it, THEY don't want any of it, and our garage does not want any of it.

Tonight I was wondering if I should get my head checked when I was trying to put up the signs around town and my kids were pretty much literally screaming in the car. They were super tired and of course, fixated on something pretty insignificant normally, but HUGELY huge in their eyes at that moment. I think they wanted to get out and play with their new ball every time *I* stopped to get out and put up a new sign.

Which was like, every 4 minutes. And each time I would have to buckle them in, etc. So I said no, and boy, they did not like that.

Tomorrow my MIL takes 2 of my boys to Seattle to be with DH and stay with some friends of ours so at least I will only have 5 children on my watch tomorrow. Granted, they're probably 4 of the hardest of my bunch, but oh well - I think if I determine to see the good in whatever comes, it will turn out okay.

Guess I better head in......g'night!

Tooth Extractions and Rockin' Article

First, I got 4 teeth extracted on Monday. It actually was completely WAY WAY better than I thought it would be. I was sedated and honestly can't really remember much about it. Everything went smoothly, DH took half the day off, and spent the last part of the day watching the kids while I slept and watched a couple shows on my laptop in my bed. Hee hee it actually was kind of heavenly, ROFL!

Fast forward to today. I think one of them is infected. It's swollen and very sore to the touch. The reason why I think this is abnormal is because 1) it's been 4 days and swelling is supposed to peak at 2 days, then go down and 2) the other 3 are perfectly peachy and have given me pretty much no problems or pain at all.

So I'm back to square one, where I have tooth pain again.....and tonight we are leaving to go stay for 9 nights at our church's retreat center in a dorm with lots of other families. It's always an adventure and I am working hard to make it a good time FOR THE CHILDREN so that I am not all mean to them because I have this tooth pain and I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS RIGHT NOW. Ha ha. I'm sure you know *those* thoughts. =)

I'm kind of thinking maybe we should wait until tomorrow morning to go, actually. Why not? The house is clean, all laundry is done, and all we have to do is just physically pack stuff and get it over there (15 min. drive). It's also been raining today and the back of DH's truck is our main source of transporting our things.

Why not? I'm sure my kids will have ALOT of reasons why not, LOL. I'm going to go talk to DH and see what he says. In the meantime...better get to packing, lots to be done!

So, the article I just read on eating like a normal skinny person is pretty cool. You can read it here:

Trust, Hunger and Chocolate

Little Diet/Exercise Update!

So - hello dear blogger friends! Probably no-one even reads this anymore, lol, so this will be more of an update to myself probably.

So....this is the part where someone you haven't seen in a while asks you, "So, what's new in your life?" and you get this total mind blank. Ha ha. Of course I had all kinds of things I wanted to make SURE to update on this blog and now I can't think of any of them.

Probably the chocolate chips I just ate. I'm kind of buzzing from them. Not a good thing, since it's almost midnight, yikes!

But on that note, (I guess diet is a good place to start!) I am very proud of myself because I only had a very small handful of them. Yay me! My "past" me would have eaten them until 1)my heart started racing from too much sugar or 2) I felt that "I'm full" signal from my brain.

This time, I put some in my little baggie (yes I was tempted to bring the WHOLE BAG into the living room where I was watching me movie but I did not!) and limited it to just that much. I enjoyed them, savored them, and was finished and did not get more. I really like indulging in those particular chocolates because they are not the kind of thing that calls me 24-7 like a bag of Dove milk chocolates would, for instance, and commands me to eat the entire bag. They are always there because of cooking needs, but are not something I crave constantly. Yet, they fill the need for chocolate now and then. Perfect match, I'd say!

My current way of eating is so wonderful, I absolutely love it. Perfect? Probably not. In fact, definitely NOT. In my opinion, perfect would be 100% low fat raw vegan. But that is why I love it, because I hate hate HATE being put in a box. Put me in a box and I squirm free within 2-3 days.

I always laugh at myself because even on my current eating regime, I cannot stick to it 100% for more than 3 days. Seriously. I can almost count down to the minute of 72 hours and bam, there I am eating something not "on" the diet.

So what have I done? Basically planned to eat off my diet every 3 days. It works out pretty good, I'd say! And I don't claim to follow it 100% either, but it's the best guideline and has kept me feeling great for quite some time now.

I love watermelon. Tereza, you and me - we are like peas in a pod when it comes to watermelon. Give me a big 'ol $5.99 watermelon from Costco and I am ONE HAPPY CAMPER. That will last me through breakfast and lunch, and even win out over any late night snack I am craving. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! I am so glad watermelon is in season for like 6 months of the year. Thank goodness! I literally crave it like I would crave anything else. And I feel so wonderful after eating it, too!

Currently I eat somewhat like this (and keep in mind, I do not have a specific health issue/reason for eating this way - it is just what I have done to become fit and like the way I look, so when I go "off" plan so to speak, there are no health repercussions I have to face. It is 100% purely fitness motivated which in a way makes it harder? I don't know.):

Mondays & Thursdays - I fast until dinnertime. I eat a normal dinner of PLANT BASED foods; usually a humongous salad (think 4 fistfuls of greens), then some type of beans/rice/potatoes, and then a nice healthy serving of cooked veggies. But I eat a normal dinner's amount.

I follow a loose rule of not eating after 7pm, but that is only to keep my junk food cravings at bay - I am free to eat whatever raw fruit or veggies I desire. Love that!

Some of my faves for when I'm watching a show or reading a book in my down time later in the evening are a bowl of cherries, bowl of sugar peas in the pod, and of course about 95% of the time, a big bowl of watermelon.

Now my fast days, they help keep my calorie count in balance so that I am allowed to eat off of my "plant based only" diet several times per week. For instance today, is the day before my fast day. See below, the bolded items are "on plan". I ate:

2 Bananas
1 cup of butter air-popped popcorn
1 1/4 cup of cooked oatmeal + 3/4 c. blueberries
1/2 garlic toasted wheat bagel
1/2 cup of pasta w/tomato sauce & mozzerella cheese
1/3 large watermelon
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Lots of water

I give myself a little lee-way the day before I fast, so the calories even out a little. That way I can still have some "normalish" food and yet with tomorrow's way less calorie count, over the WEEK it evens out so I can still see a drop in fat percentage. I love this approach and have been doing it for quite some time now, although not as religiously as I'd like.

The rest of the days I eat plant based only, so my day usually consists of watermelon - breakfast, oatmeal - lunch, and then potatoes/salad/asparagus (for example) for dinner, and watermelon for snack if I'm hungry later.

Sunday - higher calorie food day w/a little dairy/sugar/processed
Monday - fast
Tuesday - normal plant based, usually 1100 cals
Wednesday - higher calorie food day w/a little dairy/sugar/processed
Thursday - fast
Friday - normal plant based, usually 1100 cals
Saturday - normal plant based, usually 1100 cals

Of course I don't always stick to this because hey - I hate being in a box, right? But I love it and it works well for both DH and I - he is doing the same thing except more loosely and he only fasts on Mondays.

So far I have been able to stay at 120 pounds and about 23% body fat, fluctuating down to 119 sometimes or even up to 122 sometimes, but rarely over or under that. I am totally okay with this - I actually love how I look for the most part, although I am working to get my body fat down to 18% someday. That's my dream and it sure has taken time to inch my way down towards it!

I also work hard to maintain & build muscle 3x per week, and also do my HIIT cardio 3x per week as well. There's still the saggy lower abs/tummy thing going on, where my belly button looks like a prune. LOL! But my upper abs are getting definition although not completely there yet, but coming along. And I'm okay with the progress - I know it'll be slow but steady if I keep working on it.

My goal for this summer was to get abs, and I am VERY happy with where I am in comparison to where I was 4 months ago! I know if I continue on this path I'm going, in a healthy way, I will eventually see my goal through to completion. Summer is not over, I still have 2 more months so I'm excited to see where my fitness regime will take me.

It's funny though, as I write this - because I am, after all, a 33 year old mom of 7 in 10 years, my oldest being 11. It's funny to think of "defined abs" being a goal of someone like me. Because when I think of it, it really is not such an important thing. I know I'm talking about it alot on here tonight but I do have other areas of my life that are important too, lol. Much more important!

I just think that like as a runner can run races to keep their interest and the challenge is there - as my husband does - that is what motivates them and keeps them getting up in the morning to run. To be faster! To be more fit! To be more ALIVE! To beat their previous personal best!

So goes the same with me, only there is no race - I mean yeah, there are figure & fitness contests but that is not for me. I have absolutely NO desire to get up on stage in a teensy weensy bikini showing off my body. Zip.

Yet, there really isn't any thing besides those contests that I can strive for to keep me motivated as far as keeping a fit physique goes. I know there are all kinds of sports I could participate in, but I am not really a SPORTS type of person, if that makes sense. I just want to live like an athlete and enjoy the way it feels, if that makes sense? Because it really feels awesome, it really does.

I love that I can wear a size 3, sometimes even a size 1 in some brands (but that's pushing it). I love that every time I move I feel like that sleek leopard yawning and stretching after it's nap in a National Geographic video.

I feel like every part of my body is ALIVE when I move, I can feel each muscle like it is really THERE. Not just there under a pad of fat and concealed, but visible both inside and out.

Sometimes I look in the mirror and that girl is not me. I don't know where she came from, but out of the blue - there she is. The girl I wished I could look like. But never really had the tools or know-how to get there, before last fall. Yes, I did attain a certain part of that by going raw. But it wasn't until I combined BOTH the exercise WITH the plant based diet that I saw such FUN results!

I also wanted to say, though, that I do enjoy running, just not for long periods of time really. I love my HIIT and then am ready to stop. And it's not like I have this major health issue so that if I DO eat badly or stop exercising, I'll be hurting my body.

So I've found something to strive for to keep me in this wonderful place of consistently being healthy - and that is to shoot for a nice flat stomach with ab definition.

So it's kind of like a game to me - and it's fun for me as long as I am able to keep it in perspective and not lose sight of my REAL goal in life, which is to be in the Bride of Christ and live for Him. And bring my children back to Him.

Okay, so wow, this turned out to be really long. I guess I haven't blogged in a while, even on my other fitness blog, so it's nice to get my thoughts out there. It is now PAST half past midnight so I'm going to call it a night. Thanks for listening, if anyone is out there....I'll update more when I can! =)

...That time of night...

This time of night, precisely 8pm, is the hardest time of the day for me. All the kids need to be put to bed and prayers said with them - why is that so hard for me? Why don't I enjoy it more? It seems like I am.so.tired by the end of the day and it is such a daunting task to get them all dressed, teeth brushed, in bed, and STAY there, and then to make my rounds praying with each one. They always have questions about things, and one of my children in particular can ALWAYS be counted on to say, "....Mom?" right after I say "Amen" to ask some question he's been mulling over. LOL.

Then once they're all tucked in, I am faced with kitchen cleanup, rooms cleanup, to make it semi-decent so I can wake up to a clean house in the morning. Otherwise I get so overwhelmed!

Oh, wait. I AM overwhelmed. Right now. Ha ha I am just laughing at myself as I type this - I think every mom can relate to the fact that sometimes in life, maybe ALL the time while your kids are growing up, you are constantly in that "overwhelmed" state.

So tonight, DH is away at fundraising and I have a pretty good sized head cold. My nose feels like someone is trying to blow up a balloon inside, and at the same time, turning on the faucet ever 2 seconds - usually right after I have just blown my nose for like, the 20th time in the last 5 minutes. That same balloon seems to be AROUND my head too.

DD10 usually does the dishes for me. Usually without complaint, and usually does a pretty good job, although I always come up after her and check things/make them "mom ready" if you know what I mean.

Tonight she is gone with a friend - she was in the middle of doing the dishes and got invited to go to the swimming center. How could I say no? So....now I get to finish them.

And I'm tired.

And half the kids are not put to bed, they're jumping on the trampolean right now, actually. And I promised three of them that I'd jump on the trampolean with them, 10 minutes each - which is FINE because I do need to get in my 30 minutes of cardio for today. Works like a charm cuz they keep bugging me so I can't put it off.

BUT - I rented a movie, "Lovely Bones" to watch tonight. WITH DD10, but now she's gone so...I'll watch it by myself. After I jump with the kids. After I put them all to bed. After I clean up the kitchen. After I clean up the other rooms.

Looks like the floor is in bad need of a vacuuming too. Hmmmm.

Today I had a dentist appointment in Eugene, which takes about 70 minutes one way. It was a consultation so no dentist work was done, but you know how it is when half your day gets taken away and you arrive home to a mess. And hungry kids.

But want to know the good news? I was listening to a CD on the way there & back - that was sooooooo nice. Anyway, it was from a conference from our church, and Bro. Kare was talking about how God knows those who are his. And He has surrounded us with chariots of fire that are ready to immediately go to battle for our sakes as soon as we ask, the INSTANT we ask. They are there! To help us fight against our enemies.

I was really encouraged and given a vision for my work here at home, that I belong to Him and my enemy right here, right now, tonight, is to get irritated that I have so. much. to. do and it seems like it's not fair. Like when I'm sick, I should just be able to crawl into bed and watch a good movie like DH gets to when he is sick.

See?

That enemy is not going to have power over me. Instead I am going to go to the throne of grace to ask for His help in my time of need - and I know He will go to battle for me, and pour out His grace and help me to be so thankful that I have this wonderful home, and my children, and like I said before:

SO THANKFUL that the only thing about my children that has me in a tizzy right now is that I have to do work and I don't want to. THE ONLY THING! It could be oh, so much worse.

So off I go, and when my house is all clean and I have candles burning (got inspired by your before/after pictures the other day, RA!) I will remember this post and with a smile, start watching my movie - content in the fact that I have given of myself and not complained, but happily done the works that God has prepared for me.

I just kind of hammered this post out as it came to me, as fast as I could, since I really DO have to go work. LOL. So hopefully there aren't too many misspelled words and random open-ended paragraphs.....!