Fabulous Friday...

I love having my husband home. Really I do! But that usually doesn't stop me from doing what I need to do, he's the best! Today was sort of fun actually, even though I didn't do anything spectacular at all!

I got to go baby shopping. NO, not for me... for my co-worker who we are having a shower for next week!!! She's having her first little girl and I can't wait to meet her! I kind of feel like an Auntie, but I know she's going to have lots of Aunties and be about the most spoiled little girl ever... but it was so fun to shop for her! Two of my other co-workers and I went in together, mostly because I was already heading over to the store where she was registered and it's quite a hike to get there and they weren't going to have time. Which made it more fun!! I love shopping with other people's money!!! So I pretty much stuck to what she registered for, but I threw in one more thing.. can't wait to see the baby holding the little giraffe rattle!!! It's SO cute...

So then I had some lunch.. I love Panera! It makes things so easy to stop there and it's delicious and there are tons of healthy choices which is great. Then I came home and we cleaned up a bit. Not the best part of the day... And then we all, the four of us, went for dinner! I love having the four of us together, even if the boys have their iPods on they still participate in the conversation, and to this mom it feels wonderful to talk to my teenagers!!! We headed over to the Meijer across the street for a couple of cleaning supplies and I ended up getting one of those Libman mops with washable pads that squirts whatever cleaner you like onto the floor for you. I don't like a lot of cleaners, but I do like me some Pine Sol.. so that's what I got. The kitchen floor hasn't looked or smelled this good in a long time! And it's easy and fun and I think my younger son might actually like using it!!! We'll see how long that lasts, but I'm going to try and keep the floor cleaner. Something about it makes the whole house look and smell better!!!

Ok, so then I went to the gym. I ran yesterday and will do my long training run tomorrow, so tonight had to be something different and involved cross-training instead of running. The plan says something like weight lifting (which I also did yesterday) or elliptical or bike.. something like that. So I found an app for my phone that has all kinds of different workouts and I've been wanting to try this 31 minute ab workout (I know, it's wierd for me to want to work out at all!) so tonight I did that plus 30 minutes on the Arc trainer at the gym. I think I'm gonna feel that tomorrow!!!

So that's it. Sad that I think this was a good day, but to me it was. I didn't have any stress, got a little cleaning done, exercised and stayed under my calorie goal again for the second day in a row!!! AWESOME!!! It's a long journey to change your life from a couch potato to a healthy hot mama... but I'm in it for the long haul this time. No quick fixes, no shortcuts, just hard work! I really like the website I found for tracking my calories.. myfitnesspal.com. If you go on it and decide to sign up (it's free) you can add me as a friend and we can take the journey together!!!!

TTFN!!!

Does it Get Any Better???

That's my question for today. Does it get any better than this??? I have my usual Thursday off (and not a ton to do, thank you very much) and my kids are on snow day #2 due to yesterday's Snowmageddon, and this morning my husband came home for a couple of days!!!! Wahoo!!! Life is good...

Although.. my morning could have started better. I was sleeping (I didn't set the alarm since nobody had to get up) and my phone rang at 7:53 am. It was my husband. He needed me to drive down to his truck yard, which is about 20 minutes away, because he had... wait for it... locked his keys inside his running vehicle. Yes. My husband, professional truck driver extrordinair... locked his keys in his running, I said it, running vehicle. I was barely awake, with frosty frozen car windows, and I drove down to rescue him. Wife 1= Hubby 0.

But then we went for breakfast. Which was really nice. We hit McDonald's because I was ready to try their new Fruit and Maple Oatmeal. Let me just say.. it was really really good!!! I will be getting that again, and am very happy to be able to take my kids out for a quick breakfast again someday where I will actually eat something that won't ruin my whole day! 290 calories, 5g of protein, and it was yummy!!! Hooray for yummy, healthy, fast food!!!

Anyway, we're about to find some lunch for the four of us. Later!

Snowmageddon 2011!!!!

Holy moly.. it REALLY snowed last night! The roads have been horrible and the wind and snow was just too much for the plows to handle all at once! Here's the pic from my front door as I headed out this morning....




My son came out to help me shovel so I could get to my car, which was great! Then he tried to get to the snowblower which is in the shed behind the house... and this is what he saw....




Yeah.. that didn't happen!!!

But I went to work and had the most boring day EVER in the history of my office. Seriously, we had about 15 patients TOTAL in the entire day... we're used to about that many every half an hour!!!! So I'm off the rest of the week, Thursday's are my day off anyway and I'm taking a vacation day on Friday so I don't end up losing it. Looking forward to shopping and relaxing and cleaning and whatever else I can find! I'm sure more shoveling will be in my future as well. Hopefully I can get the snowblower started tomorrow... my son couldn't get it started today!!! But the best news is... I survived Snowmageddon 2011!!!!!

Snow Day!!!

My kids have a snow day tomorrow due to the blizzard that's a-brewing!!! I have to work, of course, so I might be waking them up at 7am to help shovel me out... but we'll see!!!

I had a great post all ready to go here, but then it didn't... and I don't have the time to retype it (even if I could remember it all!!!) So if I can think of it I will try again... or not!

BTW, Biggest Loser = Awesome TV!!!!

Thanks!

Awesome Weekend!!!

Yes, I had an awesome weekend!!! I went to college with some of the greatest people I know and joined a professional music fraternity called Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI). We are sisters through and through and have been there for each other through some awesome times and some sad ones too. One year ago, we lost one of our dear sisters to breast cancer. Her name was Laura and we all miss her dearly. One of the saddest things about her passing was that many of us didn't even realize she was sick until it was too late. We had lost touch, as many busy moms would understand. Laura understood. She too was a busy mom, wife, teacher, friend... life just runs away from you sometimes. Well, after her funeral those of us who had gathered to pay tribute to her decided that we could not let that happen. The losing touch thing. So many of us hadn't seen each other in over 10 or 15 years!!! That's too long for sisters and friends who care about each other. So we made a plan to get together more often. January and July at least. We can do this!!! July was a great family picnic where many of us brought our spouses and kids and even some other awesome WMU friends were there.. it was great!!!

So, fast forward to this past weekend. Since it's officially the anniversary of Laura's passing, we as sisters got together to just be sisters. It was great. We met at a lake house owned by a sister's parents (awesome!) and just sat around and visited, ate, drank wine, and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company!!! So wonderful to get hugs and talk and catch up! Then in the evening our lovely and talented hostess had planned for those of us who could to go out for an evening of Drag Queen Bingo!!! Yes, Bingo, hosted by a funny fabulous drag queen named September Murphy!!!! Hilarious!!! Now, if you know me, you know I very rarely win at anything. I'm just not lucky that way. So imagine my surprise when, at the end of like three rounds of bingo I actually won!!!! So fun!!! I received my prizes, a Glee calendar and a $25 gift card for the store that hosted the bingo (which of course is a 2 1/2 drive from my house). Since I wasn't likely to get back there any time soon, I went ahead and used my card right then on a cute glass pitcher/mug type thing that has great big hot pink polka dots on it!!! So me!!!! I'll have to see if I can post a pic. I haven't done this in a while!!!





Anyway, it was amazing to see my sisters, to spend a day without my kiddos and just being a girl! I can't wait to see them again, and plan to make plans to do that this summer (if not before)!!!! Now I need a fun twisty straw so I can drink something awesome out of my sweet new "mug"!!!!

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes....

Sorry, couldn't help myself.... but things are changing. Changing in my attitude. Changing in my body. Changing in my faith. And it's exciting, and exhilarating, and downright frightening!!!!

I have been talking a lot lately about changing my body through fitness and exercise, and that's not going to stop, but for tonight that is not my focus.

I sing and play on the worship team at my church. I truly feel that my voice and musical ability are gifts from God that should be given back to Him whenever and wherever possible. We have quite a vibrant group and I'm honored and priveledged to lead worship with these wonderful people!!! We, of course, have a leader. Our fearless leader Jon. Tonight he called a meeting for us basically to challenge us to live out our faith in more ways than just playing a guitar and singing on Sunday mornings. Here's a quick synopsis of the "plan".

1. We are going to challenge ourselves to pray for the entire world.
It's easy to pray for ourselves and our families and even our churches, but when was the last time I prayed for the orphans in Rwanda??? Honestly??? Probably never.
2. Read the entire Bible.
This is something I've tried to do in the past by myself, but my enthusiasm usually wanes around Deutoronomy!!! I've read the entire New Testament, but the Old??? Nope. Never. But I'm gonna give it a try, and we are going to try to keep each other accountable for it even if we're not on the same exact page. No time limit, just read it through! Planning to start on Feb 1... if anyone else wants to join in, go right ahead!!!
3. Sacrifice your money to another purpose.
I am really struggling with this one, and will for a while. My husband and I don't make a ton of money as it is, and while I know that sacrificial giving is Biblical and important, it's hard to know how to give up things that seem so important... but they really aren't... this one is going to be difficult for me for sure.
4. Spend time in another context.
This one is something I've been trying to figure out how to do for a while. My time is precious, working full time, raising my boys, but there's something else out there that I'm supposed to be doing. I've felt that way for a long time. For a while I thought I was supposed to be in a band. That didn't work. But I still think it might have something to do with my music. That's partly why I started taking guitar lessons last year. My teacher has inspired me to start writing music. I've written a couple of songs so far, and of course, they happen to be worship songs. I know that's what I'm supposed to write, it just feels right!!! I love secular music too and listen to lots of different genres, but I truly think God has something for me up His sleeve and somehow I'm supposed to keep doing music... when/where/how/whatever I'm not sure, but I'll wait for God's nudging on that one. I'm ready for whatever He has for me!!!
5. Commit to multiplying...
I don't think I got the words right, but the jist of it is discipleship. Making disciples and spreading the Gospel. I have a hard time thinking of myself as a disciple, but my pastors are really focusin on that right now, so I've been thinking a lot about it anyway and am just convicted that I'm already one.. now I just need to act like it!!!

Ok, sorry if you're not into all that "church" stuff... I'm really not a preachy type person either, but I'm very spiritual. I always have been. It's something I'm passionate about especially when it comes to music and worship leading. So now comes my attitude change. It's coming, and I have to work some of the kinks out yet, but I feel it. Watch out world... there's changes coming from this little mama!!!!!

Oh. My. Gosh.....

A crazy thing happened at work today. I just had to share!!!

So a week or two ago we were tipped off that there have been several optical offices that have been shoplifted by a group of people, mainly a man and a woman, in several cities across West Michigan. One of the tipster offices sent along an email with several surveillance photos attached so we would be aware of the individuals if in fact they came into our office. We all took a good look at the photos and went about our daily lives... until today!

While I was at lunch, the other girls in the office noticed the man from the photo, along with a girl who looked like the one in the photo, and they were asking about some random eyewear line that we didn't carry. While one girl helped them and kept them talking, the other called the police. First the Zeeland Police came, and he took the story and called the Grand Rapids Detective who is running the case, who came out and arrested them. The man had three warrants in the state, at least one for home invasion, but the girl didn't have any warrants. Oh, and their driver took off when the cops came!

It was about the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me in our little town!!! I didn't have to talk to the police, they took them outside pretty soon after I got back from lunch, but we are so proud to have been the ones who helped bring these thieves to justice! I don't want them stealing from anyone!!!! Just wrong. And sad.

I went to Bible study tonight and realized just how much I need to pray for these individuals. There's got to be a reason for the thefts. I don't know if they are desperate due to a job loss, have grown up as criminals, have a drug habit, whatever. I'm sure there's a story there, and while I may never know about it, I can still pray for them. I can pray that they see what they've done is wrong. I can pray that someday they will repent and change their ways and will come to lean on Jesus instead of crime and deception. It's not much, but it is.

Like I said... Oh. My. Gosh....