Finally.... SUMMER "VACATION"s!

Just thought I'd write a quick or not so quick post to let you know what's been going on & what's about to go on in my life.  It's been a busy month.... On the 16th we attended the awards dinner for March of Dimes March for babies.  Brian & Emily got awards for 2nd place & 5th place (in top walkers & youth walkers) I also was acknowledged for being a $500 + walker. Our Family team came in 4th place in our County,  not bad when our team consist of only 6 members, many of the other family teams have upwards of 20 members.   It was a very nice night, Brian again was the family team speaker & gave a very moving speech sharing Emily's story & why we walk & thanking & encouraging other families to keep walking each year & letting them know this was our family's 12th walk & we plan to keep going.  It was a great speech & he didn't even have anything written.  He's so good off the cuff like that.  I'm completely jealous,  I'd be a nervous wreck up there in front of everyone, BUT he was cool as a cucumber. I was proud of him. :)  Anyway.. Emily finally is finished school.  Her last day was June 20th! She came in the door SCREAM singing, Alice Cooper's "School's Out for Summer" upon entering the house that last day! Her last day was made even better by the fact that her grandma was visiting for a few days before they left on a very special trip.  Emily's 13th birthday trip.  Her grandma (Brian's mom) takes her grandkids on a special trip the year they are 13.   Emily decided she wanted to go to Washington DC-in fact they are there right now, & from all accounts having a great time! :) They've already visited the Zoo, the Lincoln Monument, Mt. Vernon, they even toured the White House-which was no small feat since you have to get permission in advance & through your Senator! Pat- is such a great grandma! Emily made a list of all she wanted to get done & Pat is making sure she does most, if not all.  I love her!!  They are also doing a trolley tour today.  They have a few more days there, then we will meet them in DC & are off to New Mexico.  It'll be Emily, our nephew Patrick (17), Pat & I on a road trip adventure.  Should be interesting & FUN! :) The closer it gets, the more exciting I'm getting... that might also have something to do with missing EMILY & my excitement over seeing her again!!! This is the longest time I've ever been away from her.  It's tough.  In fact she's never been on a trip without one of us, either Brian or I EVER! So this is a new experience,  but she seems fine.  When she calls at night she doesn't even seemed fazed by the absence.... I'm glad she's having fun BUT geez a little missing us,  would be nice! ;)  Anyway..... Brian is going to be re-doing our bathroom while Emily & I are in New Mexico.  He thought this would be best since our shower/facilities will be out of commission for a few days, he's just gonna go to the gym & shower there...LOL! At least that gym membership is coming in extra handy. I'm gonna miss him though BUT It will be nice to come home to a fresh new bathroom.  Our current one is quite embarrassing... tile missing, duck tape on the shower faucet... yeah, it's bad! LOL! We could easily win one of those worst bathroom contest.  Anyway.... I feel kind of bad that Brian will be doing so much work while we're away but he insist he doesn't mind.   He'll probably be happy without me micro managing...  who me? LOL!  Anyway... I have lots to get done before we have to leave so I guess I should go.  But wanted to pop on here & get this down.  Hope whoever reads this, is having a great summer too, now that it's finally HERE- took forever this year it seems. Peace- Missy

Diet UPDATE-Day 22

Hi Everyone... figured I should let you all know, I'm still doing my diet.  While the weight loss has slowed down, I'm still down 14.4 lbs in 22 days! I'll take it!!! Still only drinking water w/ lemon & I feel really great, my blood pressure is steadily coming down too. WOO HOO! :)

A Happy (& Sad) Father's Day post

It's hard being on facebook sometimes.  It's just a reminder of all that is missing in life.   Like on Mother's Day when everyone is posting pictures of their mom's.  It makes me miss my own so much.  It's just hard.  Since Father's day just passed everyone was busy posting pics about their fathers.  One post someone posted said, what's your dad's favorite quote/saying.  I read it, some were funny, most were loving & it made me a little sad. The truth is I don't miss my dad... cause I don't really remember life when I had one.  I just miss the "idea" of a daddy.  I would love to have had a really loving father, who looked at me like I was his "princess" & the "apple of his eye".  To see the pride I see that Brian has towards Emily, be felt by me from my own Daddy.  I guess it just wasn't in the cards for me.  It does kind of suck though.  I know I'm not alone in this,  & there are so many other "daddy-less" daughters out there.  I'm glad though that I get to see a loving example of a Daddy through my husband & I know that my daughter is really lucky to have him in her life & that provides me with a lot of "happy".

It's all "Relative"

I don't think there is a truer statement than " it's all relative".  My daughter, Emily has always been an excellent student-I hate saying it because it sounds a lil' obnoxious but it's true, she's a "gifted" student.  She's just one of those kids that easily got all A's every marking period in Elementary school.   It was all really easy for her- and honestly (as annoying as it might sound) we never really had to think too much about whether she'd do good on a test..because she always did.  She had other struggles in school but grades weren't one of them.  To be honest with everything else (medically, socially) it was really nice to have the issue of grades, that so many parents/students have to worry about (including my own mother w/ me) off the plate.  So last year when she started "middle school" we thought ok- let's see how this goes?  We had heard from some other parents...how it might ALL change in middle school. Guess what happened? Straight A's again.  So we breathed a bit of a sigh of "relief" that her first year went so well, but this year (7th grade) it finally got a little more tough.  She was accepted into a "honors" math class they offer to a select few 7th graders (Pre-Algebra program) and the teacher was no joke- he was a self proclaimed "tough" teacher and it was *understandably a little harder for Emily.  So when she got that first test/quiz back with a grade she had never seen before, on ANY paper EVER.... that was really hard for her.  She beat herself up about it.  She was a bit shocked because that was not what she was used to.  See, it's all relative... most students have probably seen a grade like that before and so it might not affect them the same way, but to Emily it was shocking and she wasn't happy about any of it.  With how hard Emily was being on herself, we took a pretty gentle approach about the whole thing,  we knew she had to maintain her grade average to stay in EXCEL, the National Junior Honor Society and this advanced math program, *to us aside from the academic aspect of being in these programs was the "social" one of being in them- we wanted her to stay with this small tight knit group of the same kids.  (Emily has a VERY hard time making friends) BUT we knew she could still bring the grade back up.  But Emily had to do something she never really had to do too much of before... she had to work!  We had to explain to her that this was a wake up call, it was getting harder & she would have to "work" at it,  & the effort or lack there of she always put in, simply wasn't going to be enough... she'd have to dig deeper.  For the most part she has,  she's still learning that her "priorities" need to change but she's definitely learning. Know what, she's done pretty well....  she's gotten B's all year in that class so far... yep she's still IN school, until the 20th! Believe me the girl has never been so eager to have any school  year over, she's never had to work so hard!  We are extremely proud of her, considering all the changes & struggles she's had this year, it wasn't an easy year FOR her & yet she did it!  What we know, that she won't understand until she's older... is that this was good for her.  It was good to really "work" at something- this year has taught her so many important life lessons.  She's made mistakes this year, she's had to work this year,  but she got through it, she did it & all with out an aide (this is the first year she hasn't had an one on one aide as part of her IEP) I am always proud of Emily, but I am in ways more proud of her B's this year than all the years of A's because she had to work at them & she's grown up in many ways because of them.

Diet Update- Day 9

Day 9 of the #SmartforLife diet.  We are doing well.  I'm down 9.2 lbs & Brian is down 16 lbs.  So it's been going really great.  It is getting a little harder for me to keep up w/ the "strict-ness" of the diet.  I actually have done pretty well--- we even went to a birthday party over the weekend.  That was tough.  They had meatballs, baked ziti, potato salad, macaroni salad, hot roast beef sandwiches, brownies, cake, fruit- It was torture!   I cooked up some grilled chicken & we brought it with us, & ate it there along w/ veggies & salad! It was really hard not eating the "party" food. Confession...  I did cheat but only a little.... I had a teaspoon of macaroni salad & a tiny sliver of cake! Ofcourse Brian didn't cheat at all-ugh! (haha)  I figured it wasn't the end of the world &  It wasn't.  I maintained that day. Aside from that day,  the worst time for me is at night.  I really like to snack while relaxing & watching tv.  So that's been hard.  But this morning I'm doing well. I had my first cookie/water & am due for another in 46 minutes or so. ;)

Diet day 7- UPDATE

I'm down 8.8 lb!!! WOO HOO! :) This was an awesome week.  I hope next week is just as good. #SmartforLife diet

Diet Day 5 UPDATE

My diet update -7.4 lbs since Sunday! I can do this!

Growing up... The worry free years part 1

Every single person has many stories to tell.  This one is about the "worry-free" years of my childhood.   When my mom was probably around 27, she married a guy named Bill who was around 50.   My sister & I were around 9 & 5.  I was the baby then. We moved from a one bedroom apartment we lived in to his very small ranch house.  It's funny how it seemed like such a big difference at the time. This house was a very small house,  years later when I went to visit it... I couldn't believe how truly small it was.  But it's all relative & us girls had our own room so to us it was a mansion. (really) My mom married Bill very quickly,  I don't know why it was so rushed.   While my mom & my "real" father were separated for a while I believe, it wasn't until recently when I found my mom's divorce papers from that marriage, did I find out that she had in fact married Bill only a few months after her & my "real" father's divorce was finalized.  Which surprised me.  My sister & I were not at the wedding.  Which I find strange even now?  I think Bill didn't want us there & mom went along with it.  I'll never really know the reason.   I knew even when I was very young, like when I was in middle school the reason why my mom married Bill.  She wanted "security" & he provided it. Saying that,  I know they were very happy for a while & obviously loved each other as well.   I don't know all the details of why my mom & "real" father split up, but what I've been told is that it wasn't a good relationship, that he drank a lot & didn't provide for us the way a "daddy" should.  I never saw "my real" father again.   Not much of a father, was he?   My sister & I never really warmed up to Bill.  He wasn't what you would call a "warm & fuzzy" type.  He didn't beat us or anything but let's just call him "strict" & "oldfashion" & at his age that didn't really surprise us.  Or at least that's what my 5 year old self thought.  Now in my 40's I have a totally different opinion of 50.   NO....50's not old at all,  but see the response you'd get from most 5 years old.  BUT even with my opinion now...I would still refer to Bill as "old fashion" even at the young age of 50... *I'm tired so I'm going to stop here.  I'll write more later.

Diet- Day 3 Smart for life UPDATE

Well I know my last post stated I started my diet on Wednesday... BUT I actually decided to wait til Brian got back so we could do it together & help each other, so after those first 2 cookies, which let's just call a "taste test",  I OFFICIALLY started  (following the rules totally) real diet on Sunday.    SO after 2 1/2 days (My before weight was officially....I don't want to put this out here but I weighed 199.6 lbs yikes!)  You see why I needed to go on this diet! (200 lbs was the # I didn't want to get to) SO I'm happy to report I've lost 5.2 lbs!!! This morning I weighed 194.4!  WOW! I can't believe it!   The truth is- it's a really easy diet BUT I am not going to lie I am hungry sometimes.  It helps that you get to eat a cookie every two hrs but it doesn't really "Fill" you up. But it isn't suppose to, the idea is to learn to accept when your hunger fuel gauge is about 1/4 to 3/4 full.  By learning this, when you stop the diet, you can still use that as a way to avoid overeating.  Let's hope!   The diet is super easy as I said... just remember to open a cookie & eat it. Every 2 to 3 hours!  & then eat a healthy dinner.  For instance... Yesterday I made grilled chicken 8 oz w/ Mrs. Dash, A big salad *my salad dressing was A lite raspberry vinaigrette that was only 40 calories, & steamed green beans!! It was really YUMMY! You are not allowed any fruit. & you must remember to drink a big glass of water with each cookie! I've been averaging about 10 glasses of water a day! YAY! I know the weight loss will probably slow down but it's such a drastic change for me that I'm hoping for atleast a few more days of this positive "reinforcement"! It hasn't felt good to go on the scale in a long time. :)