Keep those abs in tight

This is a phrase I hear constantly while doing my workouts. In the beginning, it really drove me crazy. I would yell "SHUT UP!" every time I heard it. I couldn't even tell where my abs were, let alone whether or not I was holding them in tight. I would just suck in and hope that something was happening. Now, entering my 7th week of doing these workouts, I can not only tell that I have ab muscles, they also feel tight the entire time I am doing the workout. That makes me feel pretty darn good. For the record, I have lost 2 1/2 inches off my waist so far. The same from my hips. I've also lost another half inch from my arms and thighs. I'm feeling pretty happy.

Grammar

Avery, Peyton and I were driving home last night from my sister in law Rachel's wedding. Congratulations Rachel & Keith. Ryan was in his truck with Tyler and Cameron. (They left several minutes before us. So, there was no way we would have seen them on the road.) Peyton saw a truck that looked like Ryan's and yelled out, "MOM! DAD"S TRUCK!" There's no point in trying to correct a toddler. So, I just said, "yeah, that's Dad's truck." He obsessed over it and kept saying it all the way home. He'd say, "Mom, where's Dad's truck? I don't know." I kept saying "I don't know" back to him. Over and over and over. After several minutes Avery piped in with, "Awwwww....listen to Peyton. He's talking more gooder all the time." I laughed pretty hard and she didn't get why.

Bounce

Ryan hung a mirror in our rec room several weeks ago. He did it so he could check his form while exercising. In the beginning, it terrified me. I could hardly watch myself as I was working out. I didn't like to see the flabalanche. Slowly, ever so slowly, I've been able to take sneaky peeks and I've been getting less disgusted. Parts no longer move quite as much as they did in the beginning. It's kind of nice to be losing my bounce.

Last night I started a wedding cake for my sister in law, Rachel. It smelled really good and so, I licked the bowl when I was done. I don't care if it's not good for you. I wanted it. I enjoyed it and now I'm over it. Done. Today, while doing my workout and not bouncing too much, I swear I was sweating cake batter. I could smell cake everywhere. It was kind of gross and very disturbing.

When I get hit on

I check my stat counter every once in a while to see how people are being referred to my blog. These are 4 things that consistently give me hits.

• This image of Chili Cheese Fritos (again Food Mayhem, I apologize for not originally giving credit where it was due)


• Anything related to Down East Basics, but most often people are looking for coupon codes


• This image detailing the type of congenital heart birth defect I was born with


• And this phrase

The 2 which generate the most are the Fritos and my heart. I get hits for either of those on an almost daily basis. Sometimes, multiple times a day. Yes, almost every single day, someone in the world wants to know something about Chili Cheese Fritos, or Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venus Return. I don't get it either, but I hope I help answer their questions in at least a small way.

Could it be!?

I was looking online at the weather forecast for my area and I saw nothing but sun and a few clouds for the next few days. We've had rain here pretty much every day this month. Do I dare to hope that it is actually going to let up? I don't mind the cooler temperatures that have come with the rain. What I do mind is all the mud. I haven't been able to keep my tile floors clean for weeks. If the forecast is true, I can hardly wait to mop my floors and have them stay clean for longer than a couple of hours.

Happy Father's Day

Ryan & Avery when she was 2 weeks old.

I almost let this day pass by without recognizing all of the fathers in my life. I love and appreciate all of them. I hope they know that. Happy Father's Day to all.

Why is it funny when a 22 month old says it?

The word no drives me crazy. I see red when I hear it and there are days I hear it a lot. (Those are not good days.) Usually, my kids say it to silly stuff, but they always get in trouble when they do. It's just so disrespectful and rude. Besides, I'm the mom and they have to do what I say. ☺ No matter how ridiculous they think I am because I want them to put their shoes in their bedroom. Heaven forbid they put their shoes away so that people don't trip over them.

Today, I said to Peyton, "Do you want to get dressed?" He thought about it for a minute and then said "Ummmmm.....NO!" and ran away. I immediately laughed over it and chased him down. I don't know why, but it's always funny to me when my babies are naughty. I bet that by the time he's 2 1/2 I will think very differently. However, today, I actually thought the word no was kind of cute.

Oh sweet mystery of life

This is a post about my husband. Not a complaining one (well kind of) because I love him. I really do. This is a list of some of the mysterious things he does. Things that kind of annoy me, yet sometimes find cute, but mostly leave me wondering "Why?".

This is also a test to see if he ever reads my blog. Occasionally, he will mention something, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't read often. So, I don't want anyone telling him about this post. That means you dad. Yes, you. No asking him if he read it, or telling him he should. No little hints or saying that you have a secret about him. No matter how much it kills you to keep it to yourself, and I know it is already, you can't say anything to him about this. I want to see how long it takes him to find out on his own.

• In our laundry room, we have bins of sorts for putting dirty laundry in. You can see pictures of them here. There's a bin for underwear, socks, shirts, jeans, etc. Ryan, for some strange reason, never actually places his dirty items of clothing inside the bins. He drapes them across the front. Why? Is it kind of like a "food can't touch on my plate" quirk? Which, by the way, is just plain weird. He can't have his laundry mixing with the rest. Does he want to make sure I notice he was a good boy and put the item of clothing where it's supposed to go? Is it his passive aggressive hint that I need to do laundry? I don't know.
• He has a goatee. He's had it pretty much always since we've been married. (I know that sentence doesn't make sense. I don't care.) He's shaved a couple of times for reasons like Halloween. (He goes all out when he dresses up. He likes to be authentic.) Another time, he was the Young Men's President and he went with the youth on a pioneer trek. He grew out a full beard and then shaved it into a Brigham Young style one for the trek. Yes, it totally grossed me out. The reason he doesn't ever shave it off is because I won't let him. I like the goatee. When he does shave it off, it really creeps me out. I find his upper lip scary when it's bare. Don't ask me why. Anyway, it's necessary to occasionally trim the goatee. He does this in the bathroom. Well duh, of course he does it in there. It's not like he would do it at the dinner table. He leans over the sink when he does it so that the hair will fall into it. Once he's done, he doesn't rinse out the sink. He just leaves it in there. Somehow, every time he does it, he manages to do it on the same day I've cleaned the bathroom. I love a clean bathroom. I love walking in and seeing everything sparkle. I know that it doesn't last for long and so I treasure the time that it does. It's like a knife through my heart to walk into it and see the sink full of hair. I don't think it would matter when I did it. I could clean the bathroom at three in the morning and he would most likely instinctively wake up and feel the need to trim his goatee.
• He has a hard time throwing candy wrappers and such into the garbage. He simply places them on the kitchen counter. If he's in the bedroom, he will leave them on the bedside table. If he's downstairs in the family room, he places them on the nearest surface. The bookshelf where we keep our DVD's and games. One time, I was standing at the sink doing dishes and he came in and placed his garbage down on the counter. I said, "are you kidding?" He said "what?" all innocent like. I turned, pointed at the garbage can and said, "it's right there!" This one actually does make me a little crazy.

So, there you have it. A few little, tiny gripes. Nothing serious. All easily dealt with, but still slightly annoying and puzzling. I'll probably never figure any of them out. For the record, yes, I do a few things that annoy him. I'm only 99% perfect. I'm practically there. ☺

Now, let's see how long it takes him to see this.

Top to bottom

It's so annoying to me that when you gain weight, you gain it from the butt up. When you lose it, it goes from the top down. If I'm going to shrink starting from the top, why can't I lose inches off of my giant noggin? I have a seriously massive head. Really, it's huge. Ryan wears a 7 1/4 size hat. I can't even pull it on past my hairline. It kind of just rests on the top of my head. Oh well. I'll take whatever weight loss I can get.

I was admiring trying to look at my shrinking upper body without too much disgust in the bathroom mirror the other day and noticed that I actually have some definition in my upper arms. Like, when I flex them, you can see muscles. I waved at myself (in the manner of Queen Elizabeth, very royally) and my skin and triceps didn't continue to wave after I stopped. I have guns! I keep asking my kids if they want to feel my guns and telling them I'm pretty sure I could take them in a fight. They just roll their eyes and shake their heads. You can tell exactly what they're thinking too. "Oh, brother! Are we really stuck with this weirdo for a mother?" I don't care. I have guns!

It burns

I am now in the 3rd phase of Slim in 6. The way the program works is like this: There are 3 daily workouts that you do 6 days a week. There's a stretching and abs routine you can do in conjunction with the daily, or you can do either if you don't have time for the daily. The first daily is called "Start it Up". It's about 27 minutes long and not too strenuous, but still makes you sweat. It also killed my arms the first couple of days. It's mainly to get you familiar with the moves. You do it for about a week and a half. The second is called "Ramp it Up". It's about 48 minutes long, is a little more complicated and makes you sweat even more. You do it for about 2 and a half weeks. The final is called "Burn it Up". It's 59 minutes long and it does exactly what the name implies. You will really feel this workout and you will be a wet dripping mess after doing it. A stinky, very red faced, wet, dripping mess. Or, maybe that's just me.

I took a few body measurements back on May 17th because I forgot to take my "before" shot in the beginning. Dumb. I needed to have something to be able to compare with after I was done. So, I thought measurements would be better than nothing. Here's what I measured:

• Upper/inner thigh
• Thigh
• Hips
• Waist
• Chest
• Arm/bicep

No. I will not tell you what the numbers were. They're too gross. And depressing. I decided to take new measurements at the halfway point, before I started the final phase. Here's what I've lost so far: (Yes, I said lost! It's really working!)

• Upper/inner thigh: 1/2 in. lost off my right / 1/2 in. lost off my left (at least I'm symmetrical)
• Thigh: 1 1/2 in. lost off my right / 1 in. lost off my left (I'm not symmetrical there)
• Hips: 1 1/2 in. lost
• Waist: 1 in. lost
• Chest: 1 in. lost (I haven't lost cup size. I'm pretty sure what I've lost is back fat. Ewwwww.....gross.)
• Arm/bicep: 1/2 in. lost off my right / 1/2 in. lost off my left (symmetry again)

Now, I will attempt to add all those inches up using my preschool math skills. If I'm right, I've lost a total of 8 inches off my body so far. Coincidentally, that is the same as the number of pounds I've lost. I am really, truly, peeing my pants thrilled. Seeing those numbers makes the burning sweat in my eyes worth it.

I've been doing well with my diet. However, I sinned yesterday. I really, really, like really wanted something sweet. I decided to treat myself with some crepes for breakfast. I thought, "hey! After losing all of those inches, I deserve it!" I didn't care that I would probably add back at least a 1/4 of an inch to all those places if I did eat them. I just wanted something sweet. I made a couple of them and topped them in my favorite way. A little okay a lot of butter and a little a lot of confectioners sugar. I couldn't even finish half of what I made. They were making me sick to my stomach. Unbelievable. I've never been made sick by something sweet in my life. Perhaps, it was the universe trying to tell me something. Avoiding stuff like that really isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's probably the best thing. Dang.

It's already started

Yesterday, I heard "I'm bored!" from my kids no less than 30 times. Actually, I could probably multiply that number by 5 and not be exaggerating. I heard it a lot. I am a little sympathetic to them. I did spend most of my day laying around coughing, sneezing, blowing my nose and generally feeling sorry for myself. I took a small break from wallowing to kindly ask force them to do a little cleaning. Isn't it strange how when you don't feel good, your whole house seems to look as crappy as you feel. They cheerfully got to work whined and complained, but finally complied. I predict the neatness will last through this afternoon and the cleaning will have to happen again tomorrow.

I've already heard "I'm bored" and "we never get to do anything fun" around 25 times today. I can tell this is going to be a very long summer.

The dog days of summer

Today is the first official day of summer at our house. So far, it's been a pretty good day. I was actually able to sleep in. If you consider 7:45 to be sleeping in, which I do. It was so nice too because I'm feeling like poo today. I have one of those amazingly wonderful summer colds with snot and coughing galore. I'm going to have to do something I dread and avoid like the plague. I'm going to have to take all of my kids to the grocery store so I can buy some cough medicine. Just thinking about the trial it will be, literally brings tears to my eyes.

I auctioned off a birthday cake for my ward's Relief Society Angel Auction. I made it over the weekend and will post pictures of it on my picture blog later today. I'm not terribly happy with it. I've made a few cakes in my day, so I have some experience. There have been times I've been able to breeze through them, but this one was a very sweary one. I had a persnickety and irritating batch of fondant that didn't want to roll out well for anything. Also, I probably should have been wearing my glasses when I was leveling it because it's slightly on the lopsided side. I guess I could pretend it was supposed to be asymmetrical. Oh, and it's nothing like how I pictured it to be. I hate it when that happens.

The weight of the world on her shoulders

Last week my mom asked Avery what she wanted to be when she grew up. She immediately replied with, "a doctor". My mom said, "oh, a doctor." Avery said, "yeah. I did want to be a princess, but it's too much responsibility. So, I decided to be a doctor." I think she has made a wise decision. ☺

Boys are gross

We have a sofa sleeper that my parents gave us 7 years ago. It was left by the previous owner when they bought their house. I would say it's at least 45 years old (not totally sure), but you would never know it. It had never been used when they gave it to us. In fact, it still had original price and manufacturer tags on it.

We kept it in the front living room of our condo for the first 4 years and only sat on it when we had guests. When we moved into our current home, we put it in the room on the side of our detached garage. (By the way, Tyler has taken to calling that room "The Rec Room".) It hasn't been sat on really at all for the last 3 years.

Ryan decided he wanted to give the Rec Room a really good cleaning and asked me what I thought about moving the sleeper sofa into the empty spare bedroom. I was fine with the idea and so we did it on Monday night. The kids went crazy over it. Tyler, Cameron and Avery immediately started asking if they could sleep on it. "No way!" was my response. I could see disaster written all over that one. I was sure there would be no sleeping and lots of playing if I let it happen. They nagged me all day yesterday and I again said no. Last night when I went downstairs to put them in bed, I found them all laying on it with their pillows and blankets, all ready for bed and smiling devilish grins. They were sure they had got one past me. They were right. The grins did me in.

"Fine," I said. "But if I hear one sound from you guys it will be straight to your own beds." They all fervently promised they would be good and not fight with each other and go to sleep quickly and sleep all night and get up right away when it was time in the morning and not be mean and ornery when they did. I heard that from all three of them, at the same time, very fast and very loud.

Amazingly, they did all that they promised. They went right to sleep, slept there all night and got up right away for school this morning. I'm very proud of them. They all proclaimed it to be the most fun they had had in a long time. I promised that if they were good today, they could do it again. They're all very excited.

I asked Avery what she thought of it after the boys went to school. Did she sleep well? Did she have enough room? (It's only a full size mattress.) She replied with, "Oh yes. I slept good, but I did hear Tyler and Cameron snoring all night and I heard a lot of farts too. Boys are kind of gross."

I guess he showed me

Peyton has still been waking up earlier than I would like him too. I've also still been trying to force him to sleep in/stay in his bed a little longer by not getting him up. Today, I learned that isn't a good idea.

He woke up and I ignored him for a while. He played and talked and cried every once in a while and I still ignored him for a bit longer. Finally, he yelled very loud and very insistently. Enough to encourage me to get up off my butt and get him out of bed. He had a surprise waiting for me.

He had stripped out of his pajamas, taken off his diaper and pooped and peed in his bed. He had a look on his face like "SEE! This is what will happen if you don't get me up when I want you to". I guess he showed me who was boss. I will never leave him in there for long again.

P.S. I have a new look on my Christa Cooks blog. Go look at it. I think it's super fantastically cute. I again purchased the special from Designer Blogs . It is such a great deal. If you want a new look for your blog, but don't want to wait long for it, look into the current special. Thanks again for it Erin. I have been so pleased and impressed with all that you have done. I love all of them!

This just occurred to me

Today marks the beginning of the last week of this school year. Don't tell Tyler and Cameron this, but I'm actually kind of excited. I've been getting a little sick of having to get them up and ready for school. I will be ready for summer vacation to be over after oh, probably a week, but I'm ready for a little respite right about now. Just remember to not tell my kids that.

Something just occurred to me today. Since this is the last week of third grade for Tyler, that means he will be starting fourth grade next year. Yes, the powers of my brain never cease to amaze me as well. What I mean is when he's in fourth grade, that will mean that he's halfway done with elementary school. Halfway already!? Really!? No fair. Another thing that's not fair: he now stands just past my chin. He'll be passing me up by the time he's 11. Maybe even sooner.

I've posted lots of new pictures here. A lot of them aren't that great, but I still keep trying. One day I'll take a good picture.