JustaBlog

Just Do It.

"My suggestion is that in life, you can be one of two things: the man in the arena, or one of the spectators. I think that seminars, books, internet sites, and forums are great opportunities to transfer information, but I am sure that many people leave these devices without ever asking their own questions. In essence, they are just spectators. So remember, where you are is exactly where you are supposed to be in relation to the things you either did or did not do, questions you did or did not ask. As long as you are cool with your current situation it is ok. If you are not and you are blaming it on someone else or because of something you did not find out, accept that it is your fault. Anything less is delusional."

-- Martin Rooney

The umpteenth return

I'm skipping the whole apologizing for not blogging more often. It's all too regular.

So Adric is obsessed with "hair-dos". Every day 10 hairdos at least. Does hair-do have a dash or not? I'm not getting a spell error with either way. Anyways, so sometimes it's spiky. Sometimes combed like Daddy's. We've had to limit it as the water in the bathroom when he wets his hair and makes a huge mess. So now that he's not allowed to do it whenever, he's decided that outside with the hose is the best way to get his hair wet for his hair do. Or hair-do or hairdo. No spell error red underline. Ugh. So here's one of the many "dos". A spiky do obviously and one done outside with the hose (note all the dirt on his face). And like every single photo shoot I do with Adric, I have to take a million just to get one of him smiling. Such is a four year old. Does that have dashes (yeah yeah I know there's some sort of Grammar word for the dash and one day when I teach it to Frankie I will know it but not right now).

So first he comes all serious thinking that he is going to get in trouble for playing with the hose (that's a no-no) and he just wouldn't smile.

But it didn't last for long.

He's such a cutie.

And this is one of the reasons we homeschool. If the weather is great, and the power goes out we can go outside. This was a great day.


Chickens deserve an education as well. We're all for equal opportunity education.

And of course being outside is perfect for things that make a mess like putting brown rice all over the glue on a letter A page.

And as always when I end these posts - I'm off to bed. It's too late. And hey I already resized some pictures on the other computer so I can do a post with some cute little baby pics tomorrow. G'night.

Contest for homeschoolers

I'm posting this and entering this contest because I have ALWAYS wanted Rosetta Stone for my children but it's always stayed on the "school stuff I WISH I had" list and has yet to make it over to my "have the money to buy" list.  If you're a homeschooler enter it! I'd love for one of my readers (um or ME!) win this thing.

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE! 

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.

This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program.  Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking.  Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included!  For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports.

 

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these (blue) paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/ and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it.  And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it. And good luck! The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg.   And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win.   Yay for free stuff!

No pictures or anything of interest

Nothing interesting. It's really late, I just now got to workout and I needed to log my weights since I lost all my log from last week on a notebook somewhere in this house. So I'm logging them now so I don't lose em.

Workout B

Deadlifts
Set 1 - 75# x 15 reps
Set 2 - 75# x 15 reps

Superset 1
Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Set 1 - 17.5# x 15 reps
Set 2 - 17.5# x 11 reps

Pullups on a chair (pullups on the bar with my feet on a chair assisting)
Set 1 - 15 reps
Set 2 - 15 reps

Superset 2
Lunges
Set 1 - 12.5# x 15 reps on each leg
Set 2 - 12.5# x 15 reps each leg

Swiss Ball Crunches
Set 1 - 15 with 10# plate
Set 2 - 15 with 10# plate
(now I note that I had to have my feet against the wall since they slipped on the carpet so it wasn't as challenging hence the weight. Saturday I'll do it on my mat and they will be WAY harder!)

okay off to drink a protein shake, iron, make Clay's breakfast and whatnot and go to SLEEP. I'm exhausted.

Weight and all that jazz

Hmm how long ago was it when I said I was going to "diet naked"?  That was... December right? So much for putting it all out there. Well so the last time I talked weight I weighed in at 201 lbs. Today I weighed in at 193.0 lbs. So slow and steady wins the race. Up until Garrison was 6 months I wasn't really supposed to lose more than a lb a week. I can shoot for 2 lbs a week now. But it still will be around a lb a week.

It hasn't been easy. Not insanely hard but not easy by any means. Losing weight is hard. Period. It takes sacrifice, self-control and just downright hard work. I have put in many hours of cardio, tracked way too many meals, given up in my mind more than once, and yeah, worked hard. I wish I could blink and have it all gone. I hate that it is going to take so long to get all this weight off. I do. I still have around 50 lbs to go. And that can be SO overwhelming for me. But I realized yesterday that I have lost 30 lbs. Well 29 but still... and hey, I weighed in at 191.4 yesterday so in the weight fluctuation I have lost 30 lbs. We often get so caught up in what we still need to lose that we forget to give ourselves credit for what we've done. Whether it's 5 lbs or 50 lbs it's OURS. WE made the changes to lose that weight and we need to embrace it. Hey and even if it's NO weight, if you've made positive changes in the way you treat your body that is something. It's better than Joe Schmoe is doing. You rock. I rock. I've lost 30 lbs. So there. Eat that you 50 lbs. I'm coming for YOU~! And I'm coming with a vengeance.

Ever feel like you're doing all this work but it doesn't seem to be enough? Or the right work? I know that I don't have a personal trainer. Am I doing it right? Am I doing enough? I have read SO much, done so many different types of workouts and cardio and it never seems right. Well I have found it. For ME anyways. It's called the New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift like a man, look like a goddess. Yeah Lift like a man. Love it. I'll call it NROL4W from now on.

See that physique? That comes from lifting in the way everyone's told you will bulk you up and not tone. Um.... she's not all bulked out. She rocks. Lou and Alwyn debunk the myth that lifting heavy weights will bulk a woman up. We aren't built to bulk. And don't ask about female bodybuilders. LOTS goes into making a woman's body do THAT. And you and I aren't going to be doing those things. The book explains in detail the science behind why lifting and heavy lifting at that is the best and most important exercise for both losing weight and general health. (you did know that lifting IS a cardio activity right?? No? See,what information have been feeding  you?)  So Clay has the men's version of this book and from the second I started reading his version (which is the New Rules of Lifting )  I have been hooked. Everything about what he says, the program, everything just speaks to me. I don't just want to be thin. I don't want a weak, thin body. I want a fit musclular body. I want to be cut and STRONG. I have a growing family. I want strength. I want to be fit. You know what the Bible says about that Proverbs 31 woman right?

"She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms" (Proverbs 31:17)

So here I am girding my loins with strength and strengthening my arms. Yep. So I started officially this week. I have done some Alwyn workouts the last couple weeks but my official start week was this week. I do three workouts a week, alternating workouts. A, B, A one week. B, A, B the next week. There are multiple stages to work through and challenge yourself as you get stronger. And of course, not being afraid to add weight! I'm already looking forward to the next workouts to add more weight. It admittedly was hard figuring out where my baseline on different exercises was. I underestimated most of them. Here's an example of one of the workouts to get an idea of it.
2 sets of squats (15 reps each) I did 45 lbs and will move to 55 lbs next time.
2 supersets of :
15 pushups, 15 seated rows
2 supersets of:
Step-ups and prone jackknives.

I am still sore from that workout and it was Tuesday. But I did Thursday's B workout and it was the perfect muscles to compliment the A workout. Alwyn is SO about balance and I really love it already and I just started. I can feel muscles working that I may have never used. HEHE you should see Clay. Now he has been lifting weights for a long time now but he used muscles he NEVER uses and has been WAY more sore than I am (and used the same weights as I did hehehehe lol! Love that. Of course, being a man he will pass me before I know it but still. I can enjoy it for now)

I won't go into cardio but I am looking at that in an entirely different way as well. Let me see if I can find an article Alwyn did not too long ago. While I do, go look here at the NROLW forum at JPfitness. It's the best and has the presence of the authors:

NROL4W Board Link

Okay I found the article, but the site has some risque pictures of bodybuilders so I won't post it. But if you want to read an awesome life changing article about exercise for fat loss, email me or comment and I will copy the text into Word and send it to you.

Okay baby's crying. Later!

Family Bits

Just a few minutes before bed to post some pictures. Enjoy. Or don't. Whatever. :)

This is what happens when you try to take a cute picture of Frankie (note silly geese in background):

This is what happens when a big brother keeps jumping in front of the camera of the little girl who wants all the attention for herself:

This is what happens when you try and take a cute picture of all three olders:

Here is a not so great but super cute pic of the three of them - FINALLY:

Now on to a few of the baby doll. This first one, while his shirt is unbuttoned and his fingers are in his mouth, just for some reason really "looks like him". If that makes sense. Sometimes you can snap pictures of babies that don't look like "them" day in day out. This picture just looks like Garrison to me.

( I should have cropped that some.)

Anyways two seconds later I snapped his cute outfit so he didn't look like such a ragamuffin. Cassie must have put him in like that. Yeah. That's it. Cassie did it. Anyways... cute smile alert.

And another of my amazing generous sweet daughter with her favorite baby.

I know this blog has turned into a glorified photo album. But that's great and right now that's great. I feel blesses to have the internet where I can post pictures for friends and family.
So I'll close with a picture of Adric's outfit today. He said he was ready for winter. Nevermind the insanely FABULOUS sunny weather today.

later gators.

He's growing up.

Frankie had an incident today.

So we went to church at a friend's church. They invited us back to grill out and have burgers. There was a park but it was a tad farther than we like from the grill. The children could hear us and we could see them but we couldn't hear what the children were saying or anything like that. We usually don't do that kind of thing. We have either Clay or I by the park so we can watch our children's behavior and monitor interactions with children we don't know. But for some reason we just ignored our normal rules and hung out with the grown ups by the grill.

So shortly before it was time to go (we had been there for a couple hours at that point) an older kid who was about 12 or a big 11 yo came over and told us that Frankie splashed water on him and BIT him. WHAT??!! He BIT you?? Um... Frank is 8. He doesn't bite. So Clay goes over and talks to Frank and finds out what happens and makes him apologize. When Frank comes over he tells me that the kid pushed him down and he skinned his arm and he bit him.

So when we get home I'm washing dishes and I ask him about the biting incident. He tells me that the boy had pushed him down, then pinned him down poking his fingers painfully into the sides of his neck. Frankie couldn't get up and splashed the water from his water bottle then bit him. As he's telling me this, Clay walks up and asks why he didn't tell him that at the park and tells him if he had a problem he should have told us. Then my sweet now 8yo big boy got teary eyed and said it would have been embarrassing to call for his Dad for help. Awwww. Sweet boy.

We talked to him more about his behavior but it was hard to be anything but sympathetic with the sweet boy who had been bullied by that big kid. He was big.

I know in theory if he were in school he would have been exposed to that kind of behavior more. I know I saw LOTS of it in school by the age of 8 even. But I am glad he doesn't and hasn't. I feel horrible as a mom for going against what Clay and I normally feel is right for our family and letting things happen at the park. It turns out from Frankie and Cassie that the boy had been picking on him for a while. I feel horrible. And sad that Frankie Nathan is growing up so fast. TOO fast. He's huge and acts so grown already and my baby is gone.

I shall give you rest

Quick Adric cuteness.

So for a few months now every night after dinner Clay does devotions with the littles (I love that guy!) So the other day our devotions was about rest, spiritual rest, how the Lord promises to give us rest, etc. At one point Adric puts in his 2 cents about how he takes a rest every day on the couch for quiet time. Yes Adric, resting is like you on the couch for quiet time. So the devotions goes on to talk about the Lord, giving you life to him and how he will give you rest. We talk of his yoke being easy. And Clay talks about the Lord using prayer and His Word as tools to help give you rest.

Fast forward to the next day or so. It's quiet time. Adric comes striding in with his Beginner's Bible. He proudly states "I'm going to do just what Dad said!" And lays down on the couch with a blanket and his Bible.
So he's reading for at least half an hour before I realize what he meant by doing what Daddy said. He was reading his Bible for "rest" LOL! So he reads for an hour or so, pointing to things and telling the stories (yeah yeah he's not supposed to be talking during QT but he was so cute!). Then I look over and...

I guess it works!

(Matthew 11:28 KJV) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

(Matthew 11:29-30 KJV) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Resuming Regular Programming

LONG POST COMING…… BEWARE…..

Okay well I'm back blogging. I not only miss rambling on here a bit but I hate that I've taken so much time off from sharing pictures with my family. Okay yeah yeah Mom I am finally getting around to posting some pictures. No more getting on my case. I can't find where Clay put the card reader so I can't get the loads of pictures that I have on there but I DO have some of the pictures from the tornado and I'll share that tale.

So a few weeks ago now, or was it a couple weeks?, anyhoo, a little ways back a tornado ripped through the hollow behind our house. It was an interesting life experience, that's for sure. So... we're watching tv on a Tuesday sometime in the last few weeks. Okay before I go on, can I say that for the last two Tuesdays before that it rained horribly and the satellite went out and I missed watching the Biggest Loser. I think the Lord is telling me something about watching that show. Because the tornado came and had me miss the third Biggest Loser. But I digress.

So we're watching tv. They of course obnoxiously right as the Biggest Loser started, cut to the weather and there was a big storm a-coming. So we spent the next half an hour watching them talk about potential tornadoes and baseball sized hail and 100 mph winds. It was fascinating. It was during the Biggest Loser but fascinating nonetheless. So there comes a point when one of the big supercells (or whatever you call it when it's a super strong cell of a storm)  well so it looks like it is coming somewhere by where we live. So I ask Clay. Where on this map are WE? "Ahhh way over here. Don't be a worrier, blah blah" Um.. right. So I get the laptop and check and low and behold it's coming right for us. So amidst more talk of me being a worry wart I convince Clay to move the van to under this small cedar tree in case of hail. He does. I continue to be a worrier and make sure all the children are sitting on the couch by me. :)

But it doesn't rain. It wasn't stormy. Or windy. Or rainy. It wasn't at all. We kept talking about how is there supposed to be this monster storm when it wasn't storming. It didn't suddenly stop, it never started. So we're talking about that. I mean the news people said the storm wouldn't be here for at least 15 minutes or more. Sure weather people. And then it got QUIET. Yeah that eerie quiet. So Clay goes and peeks out the door. He cracks it about 18 inches or so to look out.

And he sees it. The big black cloud.

And he hears it. The sound of trees imploding. The sound of the giant tree in front of the house coming down.

And I see it. The look on Clay’s face. The look of terror. The look that says get the children up this moment and get them under the stairs. 15 minutes my rear end weather people.

So Clay goes to shut the door and he can’t. He had to push as hard as he could to get it shut and latched the latch to keep it shut. The power went out. Cassie screamed. I yelled for everyone to get under the stairs. And we sat. There wasn’t time to be scared, or freak out, or worry. It all happens so fast. And the Lord gives you peace that is beyond your understanding. Perhaps for the children more than anything. Frankie luckily had his spy glasses with lights on them he got for Christmas. So he had those lit as we sat in the dark and listened to the sounds going on. Then it was over. Almost anticlimactic in a way.

Are you bored with my story yet? I’m getting there. Can you imagine how many times I’ve told it? Well.. what’s once more?

So we all get out from the stairs, find the two tiny half melted candles we have from the last time the power went out. Okay, you’d think we would have gotten candles after that last time so we wouldn’t have had candle nubs to use the tornado night but nope. That’s not how we roll. And… do we have candles now? Oh come on. Don’t you know us well enough by now to know we wouldn’t have gotten around to getting candles?

The next few hours were spent with Clay going up to the pay phone to make different calls while I finished reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins, then going on to read the book Heidi by candlelight. We also had the yummy dessert, sliced bananas with chocolate syrup drizzled over. If you haven’t tried it, it’s great. It was when we were at the table eating when Frankie noticed this:

Okay I admit. That is when the flames started getting bigger. BUT that is not with cropping. That is me standing on our back porch taking that picture. So...our nearest neighbor is a sawmill. Up until now we couldn’t actually SEE the sawmill from our house because of the thick woods but of course now we can. Sawmills regularly burn. The tornado of course fanned the flames. Clay called the fire dept and they said they were too busy. Lovely. They said that if it started to threaten us or our house to call them back. Even better. So now we had to stay awake until the fire got big enough to call back. And it did. I mean there are mountains of sawdust as large as our house. Clay went over there and said that was what was on fire. So eventually the flames were gargantuan and Clay drove down and called back. The finally showed up at 2 am. Sleep? What’s that?

So we finally get to sleep. I drift off thanking the Lord profusely for his mercy and excited to see what the outside is going to look like.

I awoke to the sound of chainsawing as Clay was clearing the large tree out of the front. Turns out that tree fell right where our Minivan was. Yeah the one I was told I was a worry wart about when I made him move it. Yeah I said “I told you so”. I don’t get to do that very often you know. Turns out Frankie had been up with Clay for hours. They had already walked the whole woods and cut trees. So here are some pictures. Let's start with some general tornado carnage pictures. These next few show how the tornado just mowed down the trees as it went past. The force is amazing.


Okay in this last one it might not be clear what that picture is. It was a thick wooded area. Yet right down the middle it got run over my a tornado lawnmower. It was thick trees. Now it's leveled. This is back behind our house. It ran through the hollow behind our house. It skipped up into our yard as the hollow splits right behind our house then it decided to go one way and kept going.

This next one coming up is one of Clay's favorite things. It never ceases to amaze him the force of the tornado. These trees weren't just broken off, they were twisted off. Does that make sense? They look like pencil tips. Pointy. This is also behind our house.


This next one is our yard. It also used to be thick woods. In the dead of winter you still couldn't see the horizon like you can in this picture. Our entire treeline is GONE. We felt a tad secluded in the back but now it feels open and bare.

Next, a moment of silence for our trampoline.

And somehow despite minor damage our chicken coop made it through fine despite a tree falling on it. Like our house, the chicken house was full of occupants that the Lord spared from any injury. I bet those birds were freaked out though!

A quick note about this next one. Cedars are WEAK. Every single one of our cedars broke. No, not roots coming out, but broke. Hmm I can't find the picture I have of the big cedar broken in half. Well tomorrow., But here's one to show you how lame that the best winter trees we had were so weak.


The next 2 or three are to show how the children find the whole thing one giant playground. I guess it is and I would to if I were them.

Okay it's late and I'm tired. All my cute pictures of the children are on the other computer. So I will leave you with a picture that is SO common here. Every time I look sweet Cassie has this baby, smiling at him, making him laugh, showing him things. His head isn't that bad now. That was a bad period. Ignore the owies on his head :)

Goodnight!

Quick Update and scrapbooking ramble.

Hey long time no blog. Oh, and Becki, I just saw your PM at Prima and need to get back to you. That PM was weeks old! Ack.

Anyways, so it's been forever. I think mainly because Clay hasn't shown me how to get the pictures from the main computer to the laptop (Clay's Dad gave us his old laptop and it rocks to be able to sit out here and read blogs, get recipes with it on the counter, just in general it rocks). So I put off blogging until I get the pictures then of course I never remember to have Clay show me what to do. And if I'm on the big computer I feel like I need to just work, work, work instead of browse or blog. So tonight, I'm going to get pictures and blog them. Oh, actually Mom needs some pictures to print out so I'll have to post some later. Yeah, pictures from that TORNADO we had rip through here. Oy! I'll tell all about that when I post the pictures.

Quick as I get ready to do a readaloud to the kids and get them down to quiet time I thought I'd talk about scrapbooking. I honestly hardly scrap anymore. I don't have the time. When I have time I sit and design. I feel guilty spending computer time scrapping. I know there are a lot of designers like that. And I hate it. I started this whole thing because I loved to scrap. I miss it. And I miss getting those memories down as they happen. I forget them. I realized reading another blog, that one of the reasons I don't scrap as much is I have made the whole thing way too complicated. It's easy to spend hours and hours on one layout isn't it? Adding a gazillion elements, tweaking things endlessly, and still not sure if it is "good enough"? I want to be done with this whole keeping up with the Joneses scrapbooking nonsense. So for the first time ever I'm going more simple. I'm getting out my copy of Cathy Z's Clean and Simple Scrapbooking the Sequel and reading it again. Well not that I don't like element goodies on my pages. I love them and can't give them up. BUT I want my pages to actually get DONE too. So I'm on a mission to find the middle ground between my personal style that can take hours to do a single page to a style that is possible for the time I have to spend scrapping.

I think if my children were gone during the day that it might be different. Not that Moms that have children in school have it easy but there would certainly be more hours in the day if there were no children in them for 7 or so hours. We have been working, working on, and tweaking our schedule and I still have less than 2 hours of time I can use to WORK let alone scrap everyday. And even then I don't have those 2 hours every day of the week. Actually I have yet to HAVE those 2 hours since we started the schedule but twice. So I need to be able to get my pages done in as little time as possible and still be happy with the "art" part of my scrapbook pages. I sometimes think people make it all too complicated and I am certainly one of those people. So my mission begins. To love my art, while still having it take as little time as possible, and start to actually get my memories recorded instead of just wishing and pretending I am doing that.

Okay off to real life. Clay just walked in the door, children need reading to and sleep, and I need to straighten up, workout and perhaps try and get a little bit of that work time in lol!