Focus on the Positive!

WOOT!!!  I am SO going to focus on the things going right in my life :)  We overcame sickness in 4/5 of our family members in the past week!!  I have done two loads of laundry and I ran the dishwasher twice today.  Then, there was the small matter of going to the gym and taking the "assessment" (I call it a TEST).  Oh yes, I rocked it!!  Well... you know the pictures going around now about what you think you look like.. and then what you actually look like??  hehe, It's kinda like that for me.  I feel good, and I know what I'm doing is good for me- even if it's less than half what someone else can do- it's twice as good as what I'd be just sitting on the couch!  It's all good, and I feel great about it!

We are looking at changing the way we eat here at the Slacker household.  This really sucks... because I don't "cook" per se.  We need to eliminate gluten, I fear.  My dear son keeps getting hives, and they seem to be getting worse as time passes.  I'm going to try to get him in to the doctor soon, but man, I do NOT want to change our whole food-lives!!  I have to find a doctor.  The one we have used is never available, and I don't trust all of her back-up providers.

It's the Little Things

I love my little MP3 player.  I need to rephrase that.  I LOVED my little MP3 player.  I listened to free audiobooks from my library ALL the time on it.  Every time I went to the barn, the earphones were on and I was enjoying a book.  Well, last night (or should I say this morning?) in the chaos of trying to get the boy to the toilet, my MP3 player got knocked off the nightstand.  The touchscreen cracked, and now I can't control the thing.  I was so desperate, I took out an old, non-working iPod and plugged it in (desperate times and all).  I'll be darned if I didn't wait a while, and the thing kicked on and started charging!!  I am loading my WAV file books on there as I type this!!!  HOLY COW.  I am so thankful.  I would go crazy without being able to escape with my audiobooks!!  *sigh* this has been a WINNER of a day!

My boy is well, so he can go to school tomorrow!  I have my workout tomorrow evening... and I am sore from learning the warm-ups!!  It's crazy.  I really like the women in the group for the contest!  I'm trying to stay involved and active... It's not like the Biggest Loser where someone is following you around 24/7!

The only thing left to do in my Before Bed Routine is brushing my teeth.  I think I'm going to do that, and then I am hitting the hay.  An hour and a half of sleep last night is not cutting it for me tonight!

3:30 in the Morning, for Pete's Sake! (Not for the Squeamish)

Just in case the time isn't stamped on my blog entries... yes, I am writing this at 3:30 am.  I have a sick boy, and he's not doing so hot with his bucket.  Therefore, I need to stay awake and guide his precious little head to avoid having to wash/clean even MORE stuff. (plus, I have no sheets on my bed right now, even if I wanted to crash there- wanna guess why?)

I hate it when my kids are sick, but I wonder if all boys are as pitiful as mine at throwing up?

Ok, I'm done with the puke talk, I think

I had a busy weekend- Said Boy(see above) turned 6!  We all went out to dinner on Friday night with Grandma and Grandpa, Saturday was soccer and our dear friends came over, Sunday was our first church service in the new building at The Ridge and then... (sorry, I just had to leave for a bit to take care of my boy, then... I poured another cup of coffee.  This is going to be a long, long night)  on Sunday afternoon, I had my initiation meeting for the Strong, Healthy, Empowered fitness contest!

Last evening (Tuesday evening), we had our first workout time.  We went over how to warm-up.  That seems so simple, but I am overweight, relatively healthy, and I have NO joint/muscle/tendon problems right now.  I think doing warm-ups correctly is going to be key for me- If I do it right and avoid injury, there are no physical limits to what I might be capable of!  Ok, coordination might come in to play with some things, but you know what I mean!

Now, for the confessions... My inner BRAT (Peggy is her name, I've introduced you before) throws fits at routines and responsibilities.

On Friday, I straightened up, wiped up, etc. because we were having company. The house looked pretty good (not great- let's be real).  It's a good thing, because the rest of the weekend wasn't so great.

I have also been lousy at my before bed routine!  I am sitting with my face unwashed, I brushed my teeth at about 4:30 this afternoon, so that doesn't count, my sink is full of dishes, and I have these fruit fly thingies hanging around,  They like to swarm around my freshly-picked tomatoes, and it ticks me right off!  If you have any suggestions for getting rid of these fruit-fly gnat thingies, I'm all ears!  I finally broke down and put the tomatoes in the refrigerator even though I prefer them at room temperature.

I got on here tonight because I was going to adjust the settings to make this blog private- like a personal diary.  I have struggled with keeping it up and public since I failed at posting through the week, but I really NEED this.  I need to keep things out in the open, even though I have no readers at this point.  But, if you know me at all, that's my way of coping- as soon as I start struggling, I want to take things private- draw it all in- so no one can "see" me flailing or failing.  I can see I am going to have to deal with this major issue in the gym, too.  This is serious.  I like myself pretty well, and I don't want to beat myself up, but I have GOT to put myself out there and ask for help, reach out to others, and be vulnerable.  If I keep doing what I've always done, I'm going to GET what I already had.  I want and expect MORE of myself!  So, here I am, and welcome to my never-before-seen-real-live-world!!

There you have it.  It's been 6 days since my last confession- it feels good to come clean!  No apologies, I'm just pushing forward!  No one's perfect.

A Day of Firsts

First #1:  I volunteered in Kindergarten today!  I love my kids very much, and I think they are great- And I know I put myself at risk of being judged by simply stating this... but hey, I'm "out here" to let my faults and this whole learning process hang out for the world to see, right?!  Well, I'm not really crazy about the idea of being responsible for other kids.  It always turns out better than I anticipate (I had a fun time today- that class is just fantastic!), but I am uncomfortable being in charge of (responsible for) other people's kids.  So, today was really an exception, and volunteering was more than just tolerable as I had feared!  I like his teacher and the kids in the class!

First #2:  I watched/helped with a cria birth today all by myself! This was our 5th birth on the farm, but this was one that I waited out and helped with on my own!  Ok, I really didn't do anything- Emmy did the pushing and the birthing stuff... but, hey, I got the baby's nose out of the limestone- that counts, right??  And this baby was a GIRL!  Girls are coveted among alpaca owners (ask more if interested, I can talk alpacas all day!)

I ended up in the barn for the majority of the day after I got home from being a Kindergarten volunteer.  Here is the kicker... When I came in the house, it was picked up AND my sink was shining!!! WOW, it seriously felt like someone gave me a gift. Oh wait- I did that!!!  (happy dance- that felt great!)  I am NOT saying my house was squeaky-clean! We are far, far from that.  But this success felt good, all the same.

I did my before bed routine in it's entirety last night, and I am hoping to get all finished up and in bed by 11pm tonight~

This was a good day :)

Laziness Devotional

I am finding a desire to study the Bible. Of course, being a habitual thinker and "starter" (NOT "finisher")I want to research where to begin from here to Kingdom Come (bad pun, I know).  I caught myself, though, and remembered one of my beloved FlyLady mantras about jumping in right where you are!  I found some free devotionals online- and I thought they would be great for me! The first title I downloaded is called "Laziness", the second is "Overeating"... you can see where this is going.

I got about halfway through the Laziness devotional, and I couldn't keep going.  I feel lazy on a pretty regular basis.. and this devotional was just crushing me!  It was totally focused on the BAD.  I don't even know if I can make sense of this, because I agree that laziness is bad, but to offer 12 citations in Proverbs that only re-word how BAD laziness is... well, folks, that's what I call "beating me down"- I want something that mentions how God feels about laziness, but then I want actions, steps, ENCOURAGEMENT to move toward change instead of giving me 12 versions of  "laziness is bad, mmkay?"

We happened to be at the library today, and I happened to remember the Dewey Decimal guide... so I wandered over to the devotionals (242 is where I went) and got "Purpose Driven Life".  I have heard much but read none of it yet!  I hope it's a good place to start again!

Tonight, I am going to bed as soon as I am done here- my first day of volunteering at school is tomorrow!

I have done ALL of my bedtime routine! WOOHOO!! Go me :)
I fixed the fence in back of the boys' pasture, I fixed their cattle panel, too!
I weighed the cria
I took more pictures of the cria
I cleaned out the dog kennel (washed it down and everything!)
I did laundry (2 loads)
Took DS to soccer
Homework is done
Time for bed now!

Oh, and I also found out that I missed an ad for the contest on Sunday- so I went and fished out the paper and cut it out!  I think I might hang it on the fridge :)

Cria and Brat

We had our first 2012 cria today!  What is a cria, you ask? A cria (pronounced cree' ah) is a baby alpaca!  They are very cute, and I will post a picture soon to show you (my, uhh, nonexistent readers at this point- thank goodness!).

This brings me to another part of my life I suppose I'll be sharing; we have a herd of  eight alpacas with #9 expected any day!  They are awesome, fun, low maintenance, and I'm sure I'll want to share more about them later!

Now for the "Brat" part of my post. (deep breath and remember confessing is good for the soul).

After learning I was selected as a contestant in the fantastic opportunity with She Magazine, I did what any self-loathing brat would do... I started eating junk, staying up later, and being a general b-uhh- Witch.  My inner brat jumped into my fore-brain and yanked my controllers down- and I heard her yell "Hang on, cause I'M in control NOW!!"  I am going to have to spend the next couple days bargaining with her (Peggy is my brat's name- if you're familiar with the Slob Sisters, you'll know I'm not completely crazy).  She only wants to have fun... so we have to focus on the fun and back off the bloating, bingeing, bickering and so on! Yikes.  The way I have felt for the past four hours or so is just plain scary.  I see now why I love junk food so much.  I literally feel like I've had too much to drink.  My head is fuzzy, I'm not completing my thoughts, and I am having trouble focusing my eyes. (and no, I haven't had any adult beverages or medication at all!).

I did manage to make the kitchen much improved each night this weekend.  This is a big step for me to do it this many days in a row.  Last night, I stayed up too late, but I did my complete "Before Bed Routine"!

Today, I offered my first service to our new church. A couple weeks ago, an email went around about serving meals to folks dealing with illness in their families.  This sounded great- I have not volunteered or done anything of significance besides common courtesy/friendliness for others in way, WAY too long.  I wanted the chance to DO something for someone else!  So... I signed up to cook a meal for a family today.  Awesome opportunity, right?  Not too hard, right?  Wrong.  I loved being able to serve, but I am a ... let's just say a bad cook when it comes to entire meals. One dish, I'm golden- a whole meal- mmm, not so much.  I think I need to sign off that volunteer list or figure out a few fail-proof dishes (if that exists!).

I feel much better after "fessing up" to my weekend-long tantrum.  I also saw the positive in that I still did most of my "Before Bed Routine" despite the junk food and exhaustion from lack of sleep.