Blog Hog!

That is what I have become. I am totally and completely out of control with blogs. I have this blog which is about everyday life. Then there is my blog for my hobby. AND, Guess what? I just started back up my other one that I was doing two years ago. It is actually my journey to health. I stopped doing it when I had all the medical complications and was diagnosed with the hypothyroid disorder. I just could not take it. It was like it was going to turn into a whine feast and that was not the purpose. It was like I did not know how to balance trying to get healthy with my hypothyroid disease. Now, I am in a different place emotionally and physically. It is not like I have done nothing for the last two years. I have. I have learned about what I got and about my body.

I also wanted to shed a few pounds before starting that blog back up again -- which I have. I have lost 17 pounds. So, it is time. I am ready to go back to blogging about this interesting journey that I am on physically.

Another reason I stopped blogging about it was because I am extremely turned off by people out there who are so consumed with weight loss and looking good that I never ever want to come across as one of them! Please understand that I eat and exercise and then move on with my day. How fat or thin or muscular someone is does not mean crap in my book. I could care less what someone can bench or run at the gym and it is so sickening to constantly have to talk about it. See my delima in blogging about my journey?

 My blog is just place to keep track of my exercise and food stuff as well as emotions that play into it.

With allllllllll of that being said I am only allowing a certain few to read my blog because it is going to have personal things on it -- like my weight and I am not comfortable sharing that with the world. If you want to read it and follow me on this journey in my life AND will respect me as a person and not the number the scale says I am, can keep it about the journey itself and not turn it into a place to give "diet" opinions than I would be more than willing to have you read it. You will have to drop me an E-mail or send me a request to read and follow it.

Here is the link:

http://journeyto35.blogspot.com/

I truly hope that this post has not come across as incrdibly bitchy.

Show Your Work!

Does your kid do something that just drives you crazy? I know, I know, you are thinking "what do you mean something? Don't you mean SOMETHINGS as in more than 1?" Yes, that to! There is one thing that Logan is doing that is literally driving me batty. I don't know if it is because he is going back to public school next year and the habit is not acceptable in school (that is another post for another day....our choice to put him back in school and it has nothing to do with me wanting or not wanting to home school still. It is what is in the best interest of Logan, but another day we will go there.....or maybe not...LOL!). Maybe it is because I can't always grade his papers correctly. Perhaps it is because he misses problems because of the bad habit. Or, maybe it shows me how freakin' OCD I am with organization and what is "proper" assignment completion. Truth be told, it must be a combo of all of the above.

So......


do you want to know what my kid is doing that is wasting so much darn time and causing him to have to redo his math? You do know that when he redoes an assignment I have to literally sit there AGAIN and make sure he does it correctly, right? Often times that mean an additional hour of school a day. DO you know what I could do in an hour?

Mop the entire downstairs

Clean all the bathrooms

Prep dinner

Dust and vacuum the whole house

Read

SCRAP!

Take a shower, do my hair and put on a full face of make-up.

These are just a few things I could do in an hour. Imagine what a kid could do in an hour? An hour is like a lifetime to them. He could be doing so much, but no. We spend another hour on the flippin' math assignment! Grrrrrrr!!!!! You would think that after...oh I don't know.... SEVEN LONG MONTHS of the same freakin' thing he would get the point, right? Wrong!

I then had to come to the realization that maybe this wasn't a "Kid" thing, but the "teacher" thing. The "teacher" being me! Yeah, this is most likely totally my lack of showing him what is needed.

Have I told you what the problem is? Logan does not show his work when he completes math problems. This leads to him getting answers wrong. I know that some things he does not have to show his work for, but the majority of it he does!

The first thing I did was gave him a blank sheet of paper and told him to write the problem, solve it, and then put the answer in the column on the side that he had numbered. Well, that went over like a fart in church -- not well! I then drew a box for each problem he had to do and he was running out of space. Finally I came up with this:

Graph paper and boxes have done the trick! Hopefully, by the time he starts school in the fall he will know how to set up his paper like this. In the meantime I am making copies of it for him to "SHOW HIS WORK ON!" Heck, I may just send him to school with a bunch of these next year so he does not fail math or drive his teacher nuts!

Hot Spot

Where is your hot spot in your house? You know, that place that tends to be the catch all for everything. Our house it is usually on top of the pop corn maker, but last week it turned into my desk! Most everyone knows that I DO NOT like it when stuff is put on my desk and if you really want to see me stress out just sit in my chair. Seriously, it is MY desk! Keep out and off of it! Better yet, don't come within 18 inches of it on all sides. Maybe I am territorial....I don't know, but you can imagine my shock and horror when I walk in from the store on Sunday and see this:

This was so not gonna work for me. Not only does it just drive me crazy, but I have to teach today (Monday). My "work" environment has to be in order or I can't perform my "job". Sorry....that is just how the good Lord made me and those that don't understand please understand that I am completely green with envy over your ability to function in all environment. Me? Not so much....
I went out to Joann's (thankfully with no children....I needed a break in a bad way) and bought some really pretty stuff for my desk. I then worked on getting it back in order and the crap off of it for the next two hours. This is what I woke up to:

Ah!!!!! Pure bliss! Totally started my week off on the right foot ;-)

Mmmmmmm.......Cookies

Something special happened in my home yesterday...I actually made cookies. I know, I know, you are thinking "so what?" In these parts that is kind of a big deal because unless it is Christmas I don't do the cookie thing. Not because I don't like cookies, no no I LOVE me some cookies. It is because I don't consider myself a very good baker.

I would much rather cook rich meals dripped in butter! I love love love love love to cook! My favorite time of day is around the supper table. The family comes together and talks about their day. We each take turns saying at least one thing good that happened and one thing bad. It is our tradition and home cooked meals go with it.

Another reason I don't bake cookies is because usually I end up eating the whole batch. I mean we are lucky if the batter even gets into the oven to become a cookie! Seriously, cookies are my worst temptation! Well.....

brownies too...

and....

Ice cream.....

Maybe chocolate cake as well.....

However, this is not about THOSE things! This is about the cookies I made yesterday!

If you want the recipe it is easy to find! simple go by "Nestle" chocolate chips and it is right there on the bag! ;-)

Have I mentioned that I have lost 17 pounds AND I have been eating what I want? There is a secret on how I did it. A secret I am gonna share with you. This mystery diet secret is called "MODERATION". Yep! instead of eating the entire batch of cookies I had two! Oh, and three for breakfast this morning. Then there was the two heaping tablespoons (tablespoons for a monster) that I had to "taste" the batter. I better start practicing that "MODERATION" things some more.

Can you Color in the Lines?

I can't! Color in the lines that is! I need all the help I can get. Truth be told as a child I learned how to color the picture first with the crayons and then outline it with a marker so I can hide all of the sloppy outside the line strokes on the page. It is so apparent that I can not color within the lines, that when I went to visit friends in Georgia I asked for a child's menu at the restaurant just so I could color! I would think that after all of these years I would finally learn, right? Nope! At the ripe well seasoned age of 33 I still could not do it!

In case you are wondering this post is just silly randomness. I really don't know if their is a worthy point to it...yet...maybe. I guess we will have to wait and see if it was worth even writing about at the end. Since this is my blog I shall do pointless posts from time to time and it shall be okay in my world....in which everything is out of line!

When I went home for a visit from college (way back when....over a decade ago) my Mom saw me applying lip liner, lipstick, and finally lip gloss. She told me I was wasting my time and money and could not understand why I was going to all that effort on my lips. She told me all I needed was lipstick and the rest was just a waste. I disagreed, but politely put my mirror and lip liner away and did not whip it out until after I was back at school. I could not figure out why my lips looked "sloppy" for the rest of the trip. It then dawned on me -- lip liner!

I have a secret.....

This is a vain little secret that I have never ever told anyone. No one knows this, let alone that it actually really bothers me!

Are you ready?

Can you keep this secret?

Oh this is so embarrassing.....


I don't know if I can go through with it....

Ugh.....

Here it is:





wait......



I am not ready....



Yes I am


Okay




Deep breath



People in cyberland are not gonna think any less of me for revealing this vain little bit of top secret information about me....



Right?


Right!



So, here it is.....



I am totally and completely insecure about my lips because they blend into my face! Pretty sure that when God created me he left out the pigment in my lips. They are so bland and boring that I don't know where they end and my face begins!

This is where lip liner comes into play. See, I need to apply lip liner every day so I can draw my lips on. I then need to fill it all in with lipstick and gloss it up to make them socially acceptable!

I need lip liner,

(you did not actually think I would post a picture of my lips with out the clown like lip liner on them didja ya?) so that I can color in my lips and make them even with the rest of my face!

Betcha you would never have guessed that this color I am wearing on my lips is super duper bright hot pink?

Yep, my lips just suck it up! They suck up all of the color and make me look normal. Normal is a figurative word because I still don't know what that means....regardless, you will rarely see me without lip gloss on me and lip liner. I have learned that I am not a huge fan of lipstick because lip gloss comes in a bunch of pretty glossy shiny colors!
I can live with out a lot of things, but please don't ever make me give up my lip liner and lip gloss!

Condition 1 - Broken (Chapter 2 "Girl From the Ghetto")

Here is my next "chapter" to the "Girl From the Ghetto" that I am writing. It is super duper rough to say the least! LOL! If you want to read the first chapter you can find it here:

http://homefrontchick.blogspot.com/2011/03/conditions-girl-from-ghetto-1.html

Condition 1 – Broken
The summer before my junior year of high school was a life changer for me. I had gone to visit my sister (like I did almost every summer) and it was during that summer visit that a series of events started to take place. It seemed as if I was surrounded by those that believed in me and basically told me I could do anything I set my mind to. I don’t know if they realize just how profound an impact they have had on my life, but I am convinced that if it was not for that summer – the summer of 1991 I would be in a far different place than I am now. Like, I am pretty sure I would be bagging groceries at the local Safeway in my hometown, divorced with a kid or two (or never ever married).
My freshman and sophomore years of high school were a joke. I was more interested in boys than I was in education. I was more worried about where we were gonna have to move next and if my step dad and mom were gonna have a knock down drag out fight (literally) than learning Alegebra or English or any subject for that matter. I had a 1.66 GPA leaving 10th grade. I don’t even know how I passed 10th grade, but I managed to get on to 11th grade.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I was not a “bad” kid. I held down a job at a Christian preschool in which I was an aide. I did not party. I did not drink. Come to think of it, I did nothing at all other than work and make out with my boyfriend – a lot of making out we did at his house on Friday nights. We even watched the Superbowl at his house in January of 1990. It was the Denver Broncos….his team. His mom made hot wings. AND we made out on his couch a lot that day too.
I would say that he was my first “real” boyfriend. He was 2 years older than I was and the relationship lasted for 6 months. He ended up breaking up with my after NJROTC in senior hall and I slapped him (I was in my uniform too). Yeah, I slapped him so hard his glasses flew off his face and they broke. That was not one of my finer moments. My best friend was there and so was his. Pretty sure both of them were quite shocked at my behavior. Needless to say we did not get back together and his best friend teased him about that for many years after that. I did have an opportunity to apologize to him years later and he quickly forgave me (or said he did) and actually tried to make up an excuse on why I did and how he understood.

Ah shucks….
What a guy…..
Not the guy for me, but still it was awfully decent of him to at least let me off the hook on that one considering I like slapped him in front of everyone.
So, needless to say, I spent all of my sophomore year pinning over the loss that relationship. However, I am glad it came to an end. The path we were heading down would have lead to early parenthood for us and a hard life. Still letting it go and saying good bye was pretty tough.
So, comes my summer of 1991. It was a good summer and I had a lot of fun! I came back to high school for my junior year ready to take on the world. I finally had some confidance which is exactly what I needed. I had taken Spanish in junior high and did not do well at it AT ALL! I knew I needed two years of foreign language in order to get into a college. I was terrified of French, but….wait……what was that? Is that German? Yep! My high school was offering German and I signed up for it AND I did really well! I earned straight A’s in it for two years. My teacher was amazing and even hooked me up with some babysitting jobs in her neighborhood.
The first week of school I was placed in the “resource” math class…you know the “stupid” class. Anyways, I made an appointment with my guidance councilor and told her I wanted to take Algebra. She told me my testing and grades would not allow it. I then told her to give me three weeks. She was so impressed with my “balls” that she agreed to it. Within those three weeks I was actually advanced to the next math class and got into grade level college prep English.
I could not believe it….I mean, I had dyslexia and I was stupid! My Mom always told me that math and science were too hard. I just figured that since the apple did not fall far from the tree I would not be able to be successful in those areas and everything would be too hard for me.
By the end of my junior year my GPA for that year (not cumulative) was 3.8. I started to toy with the idea that maybe I really was not dumb and probably of average intelligence. Whenever I started to fall back into self doubt I would cling to the summer of 1991 and that would pull me out of it. Truly, it is what got me through!
In my senior year I knew that I wanted to go to college and I even had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to become a teacher and show kids that just because their circumstances were grim did not mean they could not achieve their dreams. I wanted to pass on that belief and life lesson that I learned in the summer of 1991 to other kids in similar situations as I was. The problem was I had basically messed around my first two years of high school. So, I went to my guidance councilor for….well….guidance! She advised the community college would be my best option. I, however, did not like that route.
See, by this time, my senior year I had another boyfriend. A boyfriend whom was crazy about me. Head over heels in love with me and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I must confess that I thought he was pretty swell to, but I knew that I was not ready to walk the plank…..er….I mean walk down the aisle to eternal matrimony. Not that he was a bad guy or anything like that, but I was just scared. I had a lot of life to live and figure out who I was before I could make the marriage commitment. I had seen my mom do it several times and get it wrong. She started the cycle really young and I just did not want to go there.
I knew that I had to get out. I had to get out of the area and stand on my two feet. If I went to the local community college I would end up “stuck” and I did not want to be stuck. I prayed. I prayed long and hard over what to do. Then, an opportunity landed in my lap.
My German teacher had a guest speaker come in and talk about doing a year of study in Germany. I honestly did not think that I would ever ever get selected to do this, but I figured I had nothing to lose and filled out the application. I kind of had in the back of my head that I would move to Florida (that is where my sister was at the time…have I mentioned that she had found me another boyfriend in Florida that I was writing to and really wanted to met me? Yeah, he was 6 years older than I and was looking to get married too. Ha-ha!) after high school and start my life there. Never the less, my German teacher thought I would be a great exchange student and I filled out the application, jumped through the hoops and was selected.
I was stunned. I was dazed. You could have knocked me over with a feather! The year would cost me $5000 which I had saved in the bank from working since I was 12. I told my mom and she told me it would be to hard…that sealed the deal for me – I had to go!
So, in August of 1993, after I graduated from H.S., I packed two suitcases full of 5 pairs of jeans, 10 sweaters, 5 short sleeve shirts, a winter coat, and a pair of tennis shoes and boarded that plane at San Francisco International airport for Germany.
It was gutsy….
Kind of stupid….
But it was my choice! I was officially running away from my life and was gonna go find myself in Germany. It then dawned on me that I told God I would not ever live overseas! It was my FIRST condition for cryin’ out loud! What? Did He pull a fast one on me?
Not exactly….
However….
I am quite certain that He did chuckle in heaven at me and said to his angles “this is just the beginning. She has no idea just what she is going to do there or where her life is going to go.”
So, my many hour flight over the Atlantic Ocean I spent having a conversation with God and totally and completely doubting myself and what had just happened. I was literally going to live half way around the world with people who spoke a different language. YIKES! Not that it mattered what language they spoke because I got totally lost and confused at Heathrow airport in London England and that was in an airport in which I could understand. That is not the point or what matters. What matters is that I was about to grow up and experience things I never ever dreamed were possible for a girl like me …. a girl from the ghetto.

In This Moment

Thoughts For Today: I don't understand how the state can be hurting so bad for money for our school -- so much so that there is now a paper shortage -- yet there is so much work being done on our highways and freeways that are in excellent condition! I know that the voters did this, but can't common sense be used and we can bring it back to the table? The teachers have had a pay freeze for a few years now and their benefits just get worse and worse and cost more and more for them, yet we can improve our already good roads? Wake up America! Talk about wasteful spending! It really chaps my hide! I am even for not spending it on roads or education and put the power back in the hands of the parents. Hello voucher system!

Then again, about that paper shortage that my daughter's teacher told me about might be a good thing! The two days that she missed she only had to make up half the work, but it was 40 worksheets!!!!!!Homeschooling is such a wonderful option...just sayin....

Out My Window: Green grass!!!!!! I can't even believe it! Wow! I thought it would be dead forever, but now it is green!!!!!

I am Wearing: a blue jersey material dress. I did have some leggings on, but got to hot and took those suckers off!

I am Hearing: Sponge Bob Square Pants

I am Reading: Nada thing because it is spring break and I am busy playing with my kids!

Menu: Since I am two days late on uploading this I will just start from today! Tuesday is Pork roast, rolls, and steamed vegetable. Wednesday is vegetable cheese soup and salad. Thursday is Chicken spaghetti casserole and salad. Friday is most likely left overs or pizza.

To Do: Vacuum, dust, and switch out our winter clothes for summer. We can no longer wait on the clothing so all of this will be done in the morning. I will then treat the kids to a cheap movie after lunch for helping....they just don't know it yet ;-)

Creative Juices: Make a thicker PP for my Etsy store just to see if there is any interest in it and to get rid of some of my thickers!

Errands: Nothing. Nada. Well, enjoy spring break by going to a museum (which we did), movie, and a spring training game.

Picture of the Week: This was taken over the weekend. Yep, it is that time of year again!