Last night was the Leslie girls Christmas Eve. They will be going to their Dad's in Utah this Thursday, and last night was the only night that would work for our party, so last night was Christmas Eve.
Let me digress for a moment and explain Christmas in Southern Cal. I was Christmas shopping a few days ago, and I was walking by a fountain. First of all the fountain was running, and not frozen. And then two children ran up from behind me and through themselves in. Yes, it's hot here. Yesterday it hit a high of 81. I'm loving it. I know, I know. Don't I miss the seasons! Don't I dream of a white Christmas? No. N-O. Not at all. We spent two hours on Sunday night walking up and down streets with extravagant Christmas lights and weren't cold!!! I was born to live here and spent 34 years not knowing it. Of course I think I am still thawing out from my many years in SE Idaho.
So back to our early Christmas Eve. We had it at my place. Steve came of course, and Lizzie and Shad and their kids. We did the nativity play, which was less than reverent. We watched Small One. We exchanged gifts. Which required my girls and I to purchase a boy toy. It was a little bit of a challenge for all of us. I told Tanner later that I would have really rather bought him a Barbie. He thought that was pretty funny. In all seriousness, the Transformer we got him was the ugliest thing I have ever bought in my life. The minds of little boys are beyond my understanding. He also entertained us in dinner with snorting and burping. It was very funny, although it was new and different for us, I wouldn't change it. We had a marvelous time. Family, traditions, and holidays are so important. It's what life is made of.
After they left my family exchanged gifts and they opened up my gifts. I decided to go for one big gift this year, instead of lots of gifts. Aliese got a Cricut, Anna got a guitar, and Gracie got an American Girl. It was quite magical for them to focus on one gift. And then this morning is was fun all over again when they went back to their gifts.
I take the girls to Utah on Thursday, and I'll be back on Friday. Then I'll have 2 weeks off. As sad as I am that I won't be with them at Christmas, I'm really looking forward to a break and trying to look at that as a bright side. Steve and I are driving up to Mom and Dad's for Christmas. So I guess I'm dreaming of a rainy Christmas.
Love you all.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Lost 40 Pounds and Engaged!!!
I can hardly believe the difference between these two pictures. When I have a not so good day because I didn't fit in my workout, or I had cinnamon toast for dinner, I go into panic mode and think I've ruined everything. I step on the scale the next morning and I'm the same, and I think wow. That's amazing, and then when I looked at these pictures I was shocked. I showed them to a new friend here in Redlands, and she said, "That's you?! I don't recognize you." Wow.
And my sweet Steve saw through it all and still kissed me on our first date (which is huge for him, in 51 years of life that was only the second time he had kissed on the first date!!!!!). Of course he loves the smaller, slimmer, skinnier, and sexier me. Nice alliteration. Steve keeps telling me I need to write lyrics for him.
Which brings me to the next subject. We are officially engaged. We've been talking about marriage for a while, but it is real now. We don't have a date yet. We're working on that. There's a lot to get used to. Mainly the kids getting used to him, and him getting used to the kids. They all like each other, it's just a big adjustment. But wow, I'm getting married. A year ago life was so dark I honestly can't remember it. I have selective amnesia. I know we went to Disneyland in December, and I know we got a dog. But I really can't remember much about it. And now a year later, I'm engaged.
I went to the temple tonight, and was invited by the girl who sat next to me to join her singles ward. The singles ward where no one has been married and there aren't any kids. The kind of ward where the age limit is 30. Sigh. I love my genes. Thank you Mom. I told her I was engaged, and have three kids. "Oh wow. How old are your kids?" I told her. "Twelve?" she replied with a look of confusion and shock. I told her my age (34). It's always the same response. "You don't look that old at all. You don't even look 30."
I love love love the temple. If you have a recommend and don't go as often as possible--GO!!! If you don't have a recommend--GET ONE PRONTO!!! I promise you the more you go, the more you want to go, and the more you realize how much you need it in your life.
Gracie is for sale if anyone wants her. I'd barter too. I love bartering. I need some new kitchen chairs--white ones, or a camera, or just dinner out. The price is extremely negotiable. Seriously though, Gracie has been such a handful. She steals and hides the item and lies about it. She destroys things. She cut her hair. She dumped out two trash cans all over her bedroom. She threw away some things she had bought with her own money. And then I'll need her to empty the dishwasher (her chore) and out of the blue she'll jump up, say, "Yes, ma'am," and hurry and do her chore. What the heck is that about? But then other times she'll say no, and scream and throw a fit when I ask her to do her chore. She can also be really sweet. I repeat she is for sale. Maybe there could be a clause in the contract about my reserving the right to buy her back in a year or so.
I'm extremely tired. It's almost midnight. And I have school in the morning, followed by Disneyland. Love you all.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Schedule...Ugh...
Still love living here, just in case you were wondering. It's still beautiful, it's still warm...and we went to Disneyland twice last week.... This week we're going to try the LA zoo.
Tried a homeschool group last week at the park and...met some of the people that give homeschool such a bad name. You know the kind...Harry Potter is evil...must be with my child 24/7 to protect them from the big bad world. Good grief. Their poor kids. I'm confident they thought I was the freak because of course I couldn't keep my mouth shut, and I offended at least one person, made one apology, and possibly offended others. I have a really hard time with others paranoia and ignorance. Come to think of it, I have a hard time when I'm paranoid and ignorant. Anyway, then I have an even harder time with keeping my opinions to myself, so really, I'm probably in the category of people that give homeschooling a bad name too. Sigh.
Steve and I are good. He came to Disneyland with us on Friday. Or rather, we went with him and two of his brothers, and their families. It was wild, but it was great. He was very patient with us four temperamental women who were tired and cranky by the end of the night. I think he is pretty amazing to give us a try. We're a lot of estrogen.
Back to the title of this post...Schedule...Ugh... The word schedule is difficult for me. I love being spontaneous, I love doing what I want, I kind of love the eat drink and be merry philosophy without the drinking part. BUT, it is not the Lord's plan, it is not the best for me or my family and I MUST fight my natural man. I absolutely MUST learn to get up at the same time every day and teach my children this very important life skill. So we're starting a new schedule tomorrow. We had a long family council on it. It will probably need some revamping, but I'm hoping it's a good rough draft. We really need help, all 4 of us. What I would really love is a personal assistant. Wouldn't that be nice? Someone to wake me up. Someone to hang up my phone and yell at me to get busy. I think I could really thrive in that environment.
My girls are great. The same. They love to write and draw, sing and dance, play barbies and pollies. That pretty much sums up their lives. They've been getting along really good lately. We're going to start cooking lessons tomorrow. Part of our new schedule. I'm going to teach them how to make muffins and how to use the wheat grinder. I figure I need some help in the kitchen. I mean really...I was baking cheesecakes when I was Aliese's age.
My apartment is so much better than the one we had in Shelley. I swear the walls and ceilings have some sound proof barrier, or my neighbors don't move, listen to music or flush their toilets. We could hear everything at our last place. We hear nothing at this apartment. It's wonderful. It's also very pretty. Lizzie came up on Saturday and we swam in the pool. That was way fun.
I'm tired. Feels like a boring post. Oh well.
Tried a homeschool group last week at the park and...met some of the people that give homeschool such a bad name. You know the kind...Harry Potter is evil...must be with my child 24/7 to protect them from the big bad world. Good grief. Their poor kids. I'm confident they thought I was the freak because of course I couldn't keep my mouth shut, and I offended at least one person, made one apology, and possibly offended others. I have a really hard time with others paranoia and ignorance. Come to think of it, I have a hard time when I'm paranoid and ignorant. Anyway, then I have an even harder time with keeping my opinions to myself, so really, I'm probably in the category of people that give homeschooling a bad name too. Sigh.
Steve and I are good. He came to Disneyland with us on Friday. Or rather, we went with him and two of his brothers, and their families. It was wild, but it was great. He was very patient with us four temperamental women who were tired and cranky by the end of the night. I think he is pretty amazing to give us a try. We're a lot of estrogen.
Back to the title of this post...Schedule...Ugh... The word schedule is difficult for me. I love being spontaneous, I love doing what I want, I kind of love the eat drink and be merry philosophy without the drinking part. BUT, it is not the Lord's plan, it is not the best for me or my family and I MUST fight my natural man. I absolutely MUST learn to get up at the same time every day and teach my children this very important life skill. So we're starting a new schedule tomorrow. We had a long family council on it. It will probably need some revamping, but I'm hoping it's a good rough draft. We really need help, all 4 of us. What I would really love is a personal assistant. Wouldn't that be nice? Someone to wake me up. Someone to hang up my phone and yell at me to get busy. I think I could really thrive in that environment.
My girls are great. The same. They love to write and draw, sing and dance, play barbies and pollies. That pretty much sums up their lives. They've been getting along really good lately. We're going to start cooking lessons tomorrow. Part of our new schedule. I'm going to teach them how to make muffins and how to use the wheat grinder. I figure I need some help in the kitchen. I mean really...I was baking cheesecakes when I was Aliese's age.
My apartment is so much better than the one we had in Shelley. I swear the walls and ceilings have some sound proof barrier, or my neighbors don't move, listen to music or flush their toilets. We could hear everything at our last place. We hear nothing at this apartment. It's wonderful. It's also very pretty. Lizzie came up on Saturday and we swam in the pool. That was way fun.
I'm tired. Feels like a boring post. Oh well.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Yes, I'm a Dreamgirl
What is a dreamgirl exactly? That is a question with many possible answers. I would like to answer it for you. I am living in southern California. I have a great apartment and live one hour from my kindred spirit Lizzie, and one hour from my very hot boyfriend Steve (yes, even a 51 year old can be hot), one hour from the happiest place on earth (Disneyland), one hour from the beach and 10 minutes from the temple. I'm living in the lap of luxury on alimony and child support for a year and a month longer. I have 3 gorgeous girls who think I'm pretty great. I'm only 34 and have my whole life in front of me. I live a dreamy life. I also have big dreams. Big, big dreams. My dreams don't have solid lines around them, and seem to change often. But that's why they are dreams and not goals. I've always been a dreamer. My dreaming days took a break last year, but they are back. I'm very happy. I'm living the dream. I'm a California Dreamgirl.
As of this morning I've lost 33 pounds. I had my first gain a week ago, have lost that, and am back on the weight loss train again. My favorite new hobby. I call myself Zeena the warrioress. I bench press, I squat with 55 pounds on my back, I can do tons of lunges with weight, and then there's my claim to fame--I do boy push ups. Lots of them. Amy posted I did 40. Well...that was in three sets. All within 10 minutes, but still in three sets. Normally I do one set. This morning I did 28, in a row, no stopping. My size 10s fit perfect now. They aren't tight, and I even have a pair of 10 jeans. I bet one more month, and I'll be in an 8. Totally crazy and surreal.
I love California. It is so much prettier than Idaho. So much more green, so many more trees, and tons and tons of flowers. The sky is blue, the sun is bright, and I actually live here. No more visiting CA. Just living instead. Living and thriving as a dreamgirl.
As of this morning I've lost 33 pounds. I had my first gain a week ago, have lost that, and am back on the weight loss train again. My favorite new hobby. I call myself Zeena the warrioress. I bench press, I squat with 55 pounds on my back, I can do tons of lunges with weight, and then there's my claim to fame--I do boy push ups. Lots of them. Amy posted I did 40. Well...that was in three sets. All within 10 minutes, but still in three sets. Normally I do one set. This morning I did 28, in a row, no stopping. My size 10s fit perfect now. They aren't tight, and I even have a pair of 10 jeans. I bet one more month, and I'll be in an 8. Totally crazy and surreal.
I love California. It is so much prettier than Idaho. So much more green, so many more trees, and tons and tons of flowers. The sky is blue, the sun is bright, and I actually live here. No more visiting CA. Just living instead. Living and thriving as a dreamgirl.
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