Crazy busy!

All summer long our weekends have been occupied with something or another, but August somehow gets the brunt of it all. Fitting in stuff we somehow couldn't find room for in the earlier months. The zoo. The amusement park. The large aquarium I know Cole will love.

Tomorrow is the last day before all hell breaks loose for a week. Thursday is appointments: Tay for her ears and me for my hair (whoo-hoo!!). Then I need to shop for Tay's birthday as she turns 13 on Monday *sob*. I'm not ready to have a teenager! Friday afternoon we leave to travel to Iowa for my brother's wedding on Saturday. DH and Cole need to be there early to try on their tuxes. I'm super excited that I got my dress on clearance and I LOVE it. I've been working out like mad and I know it will look good. I'm bummed I'm not included in the wedding party and this wedding has been a lot of drama, but I'm happy knowing I'll look good and have a great time with my cousin. We never get to hang together so we're excited :)

We'll come home on Sunday and DH will leave for a trip to Kansas to pick up a tank or two. The next day is Tay's birthday and she opted for a sleepover. Send good thoughts, I'll need them! Tuesday we will *finally* hit the amusement park. My mom is watching the little ones so we can go and have a good time without worrying about changing diapers or finding a restroom *right now*.

Later this month we have a weekend for the zoo and that aquarium (one on Saturday and the other on Monday). I say it every year, but next year I'll mean it : I'm planning this stuff earlier! :)

Tomorrow, last day of the Shred! I haven't seen a big loss, but I'm okay with that. I was looking to tone and I have so I'm happy with that. I think I just need to come to terms with the fact that this just might be the weight my body is happy with and it's healthy, so I can live with it.

August. Wth?

I can't believe it. August is *wait, I'm checking the calendar on my computer* 6 days away. Yikes. Where is the summer going? Busy weekends have made the months fly by. While I love having things to do, it makes the time go by so much quicker.

Well, at least I haven't been sitting on my butt, lol. We have hit the Relay for Life this year...my first time ever! I have purchased luminaries in the past, but this year the kids and I went out to visit my sister's employers Relay team. What a great experience. I think it was very eye-opening for Taylor to see all those luminaries lining the track and all those that walked the entire time we were there. Cancer has touched us through friends and family but she was too young to understand when those times happened. Our family had 9 luminaries lit that night: 3 "In Memory" and 6 "In Honor". One of my favorite pics from the night:




It was a great night....the weather was a little cool for it and we didn't stay all night, but I'd love to go again!!

Speaking of great weather, this weekend weather was awesome. Not hot July weather we're use to, but perfect for being active outside or relaxing on the deck at night. We leaving for DH's family's annual camping trip this Thursday so I hope we get lucky with the weather again!

I talked about not sitting on my butt earlier, and boy, if that isn't the truth! I started Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred" and w.o.w. The workouts are only 20 minutes long, but she whomps on you for those 20 minutes! You do Level 1 for 10 days, Level 2 for 10 days and Level 3 for 10 days. As of today (Sunday) I'm on Level 2, Day 5. I'm just looking to tone up and lose some baggage upfront, but the 20 minutes is enough to make me feel good and hopefully I'll keep on working out when the 30 days is done.

When the world is passing you by...

You just have to wonder, what the hell am I waiting for?

Today on Facebook I received a group invitation from my sister. An invitation to a group she created to help promote a new "business" of hers. It's photography, scrapbooking, video editing, etc. That is the second or third person lately who is just off and running with a new project. I feel very left behind, lol. I guess I feel that way because we own 2 businesses and all I do for them is paperwork. Sure, someone has to do it, but it's not very exciting or anything. Nobody sees my "talents" of balancing books. Whoo-hoo. Even a friend started a scrapbooking business where she made enough money to buy a Kindle DX. Now I'm jealous because we *should * be able to afford one as well (I'm running out of room for my collection of books), but things are kind of icky right now. Anyway....

This September we have a truck show we go to every year...there are hundreds of trucks (semi), some big and new, some small and shiny. Of course, ours get the special treatment to look it's best as well. In the past, I have seen "boards" next to a truck, showing the progression from a not-so-fancy state to pretty darn nice looking! I thought that would be a great thing for ours...it looks NOTHING like it did when we first got it. I mentioned it to DH and he was all, "Eh." Oh well, maybe I'll do it for ourselves and he'll like it enough to take it with.

I think I just feel a little low because despite all the hard work being done, we have very little fun to go with it. DH works a lot, and the trucks are running.... it's just that the time it's taking some of these construction companies to pay us is insane. We are owed a lot of money and it's depressing to wait for it when our bills aren't exactly taking a hiatus or anything. :::sigh:::

In other news, I briefly abandoned my pity party for an a** whoopin' today. After reading some posts on a SAHM board where they were talking about "shredding", I was intrigued. Long story short, I received my Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred yesterday and started it today. Wow. Each level is 20 minutes and there are 3 levels. You do each level for 10 days and then move to the next one. I checked out the reviews and most of them were very positive, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. What have I got to lose? Oh yeah, the baggage upfront...forgot about that;)

Terrifying.

The motion.

The scream.

The helplessness.

That is our motorhome and Cole, the reason our motorhome is where it is.

We had a graduation party for DH's cousin this weekend and chose to stay over since it's a 2 hour drive. We also wanted to spent the night and visit with family into the later hours. We parked the motorhome up by the garage so the kids could crash early and we could still hear them. This morning DH and I were in bed, he was sleeping and I was listening to Lexi chatter away in her playpen. I had just heard the door open and close so I figured that Cole stepped out to answer the call of nature (we don't use our bathroom in the motorhome unless we are camping). Moments later I felt a jolt...we were moving. Backwards. Downhill. Things from there are a terrifying blur...DH sat up, I heard a scream (and it sounded like a kid), and we braced ourselves. We couldn't get out of our bed, we could only ride it out and wait for the crash because we were going to hit something.

We finally "crash" and DH bolts out of bed to check on the kids. I was focusing on the scream and nearly hysterical thinking we ran Cole over. Turns out, Cole was in the driver's seat (the scream was my sister-in-law or her daughter, they witnessed it happen). Lexi was in her playpen and fine. Despite being at the angle we were, her playpen barely shifted. What I thought was the door opening/closing was Cole shifting the motorhome into neutral. Back in 1985 the makers of Chevy must not have thought to have a locking mechanism on the gear shift when there are no keys in the ignition (we hide them from the kids while using the motorhome).

Thankfully, no one was hurt. Cole had actually latched our door open (as you can see in the pic) so DH's phone and my (new!) camera fell out since they had been sitting on the kitchenette counter. We took out a pine tree that DH's uncle had talked about moving anyway! The motorhome itself has some dents and the pipe for the generator bent something awful, but we drove it home with no problems.

I'm sure in the future we'll laugh...in fact, we all shared some chuckles this morning after the dust settled and everyone could see we were okay. Cole has been banned from sitting in ANY driver's seats for the next 20 years and the next time we use that motorhome there won't be enough brakes and blocks in the world to secure that beast.

Plans

I have a lot of them this summer:

• Take the kids to a zoo. The other day we saw an advertisement for the zoo and it featured a giraffe. Cole hopped to his feet all excited and said, "I have to see one of those!"
• Valley Fair. We didn't make it last year. We WILL make it this year before Taylor decides we're not cool enough to join her and her friends, lol.
• Underwater World at MOA. My new camera has an aquarium setting that I would love to try out. Cole has also really been into fish lately. Loves them!
• Not give a flying rat's patoot about what my flaky and fake SIL does. After some thinking, I feel sorry for her. I have the great husband, nice house (which we can pay for), and the awesome friends. I can live without drama, she can't survive without it.
  
• Find my storage room. I'm so excited for this!!! We are finally getting a shed *knocking on wood* so the tools, saws, etc. are getting out of my house. The day will finally come when I can say, "Oh, that it's in the storage room" and I will be able to find it. Decorating for holidays will be easy because while it's already organized, I'll be able to reach it! Whoo-hoo!
• Go to the park a lot. We live 2 miles from a small town with a few parks. The best thing? The paved bike trail right next to us leads us there. Fun for the kids, exercise for mom:)
  

The sun will come out...

and then go back behind the clouds. Yuck. Oh well, we had SUPER weather this weekend. The kind of weather where if you could hug it, you would. After days of rain (well needed) it was so nice to sit outside for graduation parties this weekend. Loved it! While it's not raining right now, we're suppose to get a good storm tonight and our yard needs the water something awful.

A solution may have been found as to what my issue is with being so damn tired all the time. At least, that is what I am hoping for. DH mentioned vitamins and how he feels "off" when he isn't taking them. I do have vitamins, I just rarely take them. Just basic over-the-counter womens vitamins that I'm suppose to take with food. For some reason I find that to be an inconvenience. For the last few days I have been taking special care to prepare breakfast, take my vitamin and then eat. It has only been a few days but I'm not struggling today, which is so nice. Such an awesome change of pace and I'm really hoping that swallowing a giant pill each day will be worth it in the long run!

Now I'm hoping this newfound non-tiredness will help me get back in gear with working out. I miss it, but I don't ya know? I prefer to work out in the morning with no distractions, just me and the Wii Fitness Coach or me and my Ipod with the exercise bike. Either way, it's June. And I recall that back in March I was hell-bent on not getting to June and wondering why I didn't start whooping my butt into shape back in March. :::sigh::: Oh well. Hop back on the bike (literally!) again!

If yawning were a sport.

I would score a gold medal, no problem.

After dealing with irritating video monitors that constantly have LOUD "blips" of static, I had enough Friday morning and looked for a new one. Last week was so busy however, that I wanted to stay home for a day. DH said if I found one I liked (online) he'd stop in and get it on his way home. Now mind you, I wasn't replacing those damn video monitors. We received them as gifts when Cole and Lexi were born, I just wanted something that worked and that wasn't too expensive. That all brought me to the wonder that is shopping. Why on Earth are 95% of the products only available online? Little tidbit of info to you giant chain stores...you want my business? Let me have it NOW. Not 5-7 days from now. And certainly not $6+ more for shipping and handling. While I really liked one (but would have to order it), I found one that would work and we could buy it right away, yippy! It had one review, but it was good. Yeah, I gave the opposite opinion earlier today. It worked great for 2 nights. 3am this morning? Same damn "blipping" noises! Ugh. We have checked this house all over, tested unplugging things while the monitor is on, moved the monitor, etc. We're rural and our nearest neighbor is down the road so I don't think we're crossing any wires with them. Just frustrating. Why work great for 2 nights and then stop? I wanted a plain monitor to check on Lexi until she's in a toddler bed..almost a year or less from now. So, I ordered the one I really wanted but at the cost of $6 shipping and handling and an arrival window of sometime NEXT week.

::::sigh::::

I just need sleep. We're thinking that is why I'm so tired all the time. While I eventually fall asleep, I think the "blips" from the monitor keep me from the deep sleep I need. For now we'll use the intercom (also ruled out as the cause) to hear her at night. What a pain.

In other news...literally...Cole, Lexi and I will make our local paper debut sometime this week. Sadly, on Saturday a teenager was killed crossing the road we live on while riding the bike trail. Having seen cars driving way too fast and bike riders repeatedlyblow their own stop sign, I dreaded that day. I contacted the local news station and the local paper asking them to please bring attention to this story as a reminder to all that safety measures count EVERYWHERE. This morning the local paper showed up to interview me as they planned to run a follow-up story on the trail and this accident. A photographer showed up later to take pics of me, Cole and Lexi walking with our wagon on the trail. Tay will be bummed, but she was in school at the time. I'm just glad attention is being brought to this problem. It's so great to use this trail, it's paved, long, and goes through/near little towns. We like to sit outside and watch families bike by and little old couples make their way for a little walk. Thankfully we didn't witness the accident, but somehow we missed the commotion as Lexi was napping at the time.