I want my baby back!

Where has my baby gone? I can't find her anywhere.

Unbeknownst to me, my little girl is no more. Just yesterday she wasn't happy (no tears, but not thrilled) when I didn't stay in the cafeteria until her teacher came to get her at morning drop off - a matter of minutes. Yesterday after I picked her up from after-school daycare, she informed me that she wanted to walk to the cafeteria by herself the next morning so I wouldn't have to park and walk in with her.

Today, she insisted again that I just drop her off at the front doors. I did. She put her backpack on, said "love you" and away she went, into the school all by herself!

I am more sad today than I was the first day of school. I'm not ready for this!

1st Day of Kindergarten!

My baby girl is all grown up now. *Tear* Today is her first full day of kindergarten.

Free Play @ Orientation

1st Day - Orientation

Yesterday was orientation for a couple of hours, but today I had to leave her at the school. She made me promise last night that I wouldn't leave if she wasn't okay. I left when she was lined up with her teacher getting ready to go to the classroom. I had to leave. She was okay.

It's hard to see my normally loud outgoing rambunctious child be so quiet and shy and nervous about something new. Even her teacher commented that she seemed much more nervous today. Mainly it's because the kids all meet in the cafeteria. All kids grades K-3 meet in one location, and it gets LOUD! E doesn't like loud noises. Yesterday I couldn't get her to go near the cafeteria, because it was so loud. Today she went in, but she wasn't happy about it.

 I know in time everything will be all routine, and she won't need me to stay. Sadly that will probably be next week!





1 year later - Progress!

I've made it through my first year in becoming healthier and taking back control of my body. Over all I am satisfied with how far I have come. Obviously I wish I had lost more weight, however, slow but sure is working for me. The website and app I am using is My Fitness Pal (MFP).

Here's what I have done in the last year.

It's been a long time... Many changes.

It's been a long time since I last wrote. There have been changes to our household, but ultimately all good. Strange but good.

My Baby Is Growing Up!!!

Today was my baby E's first day of preschool. Okay, so she's definitely not a baby anymore, 4 years 9 months old already. But she is my baby currently. I can't believe how much she has grown up already.

NO WAY IN HELL!

Why should we rearrange our lives for you when you haven't changed? My stepdaughter wants to move back in with us. She wants things to return to the "way they were before." All I can think is NO WAY IN HELL!

The journey has begun! Here's to the new year!

My journey is to lose weight and become the person I want to be. I have never been a thin person. I have always been curvy. Even when I went through Basic Training, I only lost 10# after 9 weeks of torture. Exercise has never been fun for me. I prefer to workout with a group. In AIT I discovered that I can run, and I was actually pretty good at it. However, at 15 weeks of total training (BT and AIT) I returned to Minnesota during the winter to small town with no gyms nearby. That was the start.

Thanks to all...!

I am so thankful to my family and friends that helped me yesterday to paint the downstairs and help move my desk to the other corner. I have a bad case of tennis elbow so today I am so sore I shouldn't even be typing this. While the men were watching football and occupying Ella, the rest of us women were downstairs (all three of us) painting. With their help I was able to finish the one corner enough to move the desk to that corner. Overall, the downstairs is over half painted. So happy! Would be happier if I wasn't so sore after doing all that work.

Now everyone is napping and I am debating if I even want to venture out of the house to look for a nice winter jacket that will fit me better than the ones I have. My brother is watching Jeff Dunham on TV, great comedian.

Its one of those days where I want to do absolutely nothing, but at the same time there is a lot of things I want to do. I could be downstairs cleaning and moving more furniture or out braving the crowds on Black Friday. Did that last year. Left the house at noon and lines were still wrapped halfway around the stores to check out at 1pm. Oh well, there isn't really anything I want to go out to get. I could order things online, but there isn't really anything I need. Trying to figure out certain Christmas gifts. Easier said than done.

Oh well off to figure out the day. Wish me luck! Happy Black Friday to all!!! Hope your Turkey day was wonderful too!!!

Progress

I am making progress on getting the downstairs cleaned and organized and fit for living in. The downstairs was J's domain and her responsibility to keep it clean. Let's just say it was anything but clean. I am so thankful that we have a steam carpet cleaner. It makes me willing and able to walk on the floors without shoes. We plan to repaint the living area and the bathroom. They both need major touchups and we are going to go with a different paint scheme. The bathroom is also getting new flooring and new curtains for the shower and closet. It will look so different. We plan on getting rid of our 32 inch hulking heavy TV set and getting a flatscreen to put up on the wall. That will free up some floor space and look much better.

I feel loved...

It has been an interesting couple of days. It's all been building for the last 3 years or so. Finally everyone is seeing how hard it has been for me to live in a household with a teenager that refuses to listen to anything I say and to obey the household rules. She operates to her own agenda. If it doesn't benefit her, then she wants no part of it.

Basically all started when I went downstairs at midnight on Wednesday (school night) to find her still on her cell phone instead of asleep. Rule is in bed asleep at 11pm. When I told her to get off she basically said she will stay on the phone all night if she wants to. What she neglected to say at any point was that she was talking to her best friend (whose boyfriend just broke up with her - nothing new) and that her friend had cut herself. If J had just said what was going on instead of turning into a snotty little bitch and not having any respect for me, none of this would have happened. Hell we would have been in the vehicle driving over to this friend's house to talk to her parents to let them know what's going on. But J felt she could control all situations and this is what happened.

Garage Sale Success!

While I still have a bunch of little girls clothing and women's clothing left, ultimately the sale was a success. We made just over $1,000! Crazy!!!  I need to look into consigning the remaining clothing. I would like to have it gone.

I would have to say the absolute highlight of the weekend was when a Vietnam veteran came by and bought up any and all military gear/clothing we had. Absolutely loved him. I don't have to look at that stuff ever again, don't have to move it around or go through it again to determine what we are going to do with it - it's gone!!! It's bittersweet becuase the military was such a big part of our life for a time, but we are both out now and have no use for the clothing anymore and most of it didn't fit anymore either.

So again the sale was a success. I certainly do not plan to do this again anytime soon. Maybe in another 7 years!

Garage Sale

Heaven help me, what have I gotten myself into? We decided to do a garage sale this coming weekend. Thought about it the last couple weeks, and there is so much to do yet and I only have 3 more days. I started pricing the baby clothes last night and got through bibs/burp cloths, bath towels, shoes, and some winter accessories. Haven't even touched the huge stack of baby clothes or the rest of the items that need to be gone through/set out yet. Essentially its 3 years of baby/kids clothing, and I was very generous about buying her clothes. If I didn't have to work all day before getting home and starting to tackle this mountain, it wouldn't be so bad. Wish me luck. I guess if I don't get all of it out just means I need to do this another weekend. I really don't want anything to come back in the house if it doesn't have to. I would rather try to sell things before donating to Goodwill or Salvation Army. Even if it's super cheap, something is better than nothing in my opinion.

Back To School!

How the time flies. J starts back to school, 10th grade, in three weeks. School clothes, school supplies, bus fee - All very expensive. If only J was more like me as a teen. I was aware of money and where it comes from and where it goes. I would get the most I could for a set dollar amount. She doesn't plan her clothing into the winter months - she is only concerned about her current wants and needs.

Follow Up - Credit Card Fraud

Just a quick note that Bremer Bank has found in our favor and reimbursed us the $400 that was stolen from our account. (See previous post for more details). All I can say is thank God! I am happy that this worked out. I am happy that we are at a place in life where we had a little money in savings so it wasn't a complete nightmare being short the money. Still makes me mad that there are people like this in the world. So I certainly won't be leaving my credit card info on any future Amazon.com account. Still won't stop me from making purchases online though.

FRAUD

Credit Card Fraud Sucks!!!
Thankfully it was only $400 and thankfully we have enough money in savings to cover it until we get refunded, but it sucks. And it takes up to 10 days for everything to process and people to get back to you with the final result. Easy to get the credit card cancelled, but now I have no check card and actually have to go to the bank if I want to get money out of my account for the next few days. Easier said than done some days.

Growing Up!

First Official Raincoat!

"I have sand for you."

Me and E July 4th Weekend

Candy - Serious Business!

Starting Tomorrow...

The next 6 weeks are freedom for me! J is going to visit her mother and 3 sisters in Virginia for her summer visitation.

Last year it took E two weeks- 2 full weeks - before she asked where sissy was. Shows exactly how much time J spends with her little sister who lives in the same house as her. I can't think of any more than 5 minutes in the last month where J has spent any quality time with E. Pretty sad. J makes bunches of promises to E that would involve spending time with her but never ever follows through. Ask E if she wants to stay home with sissy and the tears will flow with an adamant "Nooooo!" No love lost there.

Evening Cook Out

We went to a military friend's house last night for a cook out and had a great time. Hubby and I took E with us. We knew ahead of time that there were going to be a few other kids there her age so it worked out very well. The kids had a great time playing in the sand volleyball court or checking out the river which was right there as well. Within two minutes of arriving E was a grubby little girl. There was dirt/sand all over her face and arms. Needless to say she got a bath immediately when we got home.

E played by herself mostly in the sand, but it was nice. Hubby and I were able to sit down and relax and actually visit with the other people in attendence. Overall it was a good time. We definitely have to do more things like this again. Now that we have our own grill, I think we need to do this at our house sometime. There isn't as much for the kids to do, but we do have a trampoline! Next time I get some wine/winecoolers for myself!

Daycare Infractions

I'm so thankful for the great daycare center that I have. E loves it there. Has a really good time and has learned so much. A neighbor mom and I were out last night so the kids could play before supper. She asked me what I thought of a punishment that her home daycare had implemented on her 2yo daughter. Apparently little girl had two seperate incidences on two seperate days.

The Sun Is Back!!!

The sun is back for a few days and I am happy. Time to air the house again and spend plenty of time outside soaking up some vitamin D!

That's all I have to say for now! Enjoy!