29 with a curfew?

I decided that my life needs to have more of a "schedule" instead of just waking every day and doing whatever on a whim. So I spent the day yesterday making said schedule and started it last night, and continued it today. It includes scheduled workouts, and Bible time as well as a bed time (yes I know I am almost 30 but I feel like it is important, at least for now).

The other thing is that I eat out pretty much every meal. So I decided I needed to cook more also. I am only allowing myself to eat out 2 meals a week. This is a really big deal for me. like BIIIIIG. I really dislike cooking and really hate the clean up afterwards. But I don't want to teach my kids that it's okay to eat out every single meal. They really like it when I cook and I'm really pretty good at it!

So this is Sydney being silly eating the turkey spaghetti I made tonight:

And this is Rhett from Furr's the other night. I just think it's funny how far he sticks out his tongue to lick... I mean can it go any further?? lol

Take care and until next time...

Christmas tree!

1st let me say it has been a really long time since I have written a blog! But as I was telling my Christmas tree story, several people told me I should Blog it. :)

Here is my Christmas tree this year:

I saw the idea on Pinterest and thought it would be really cute and easy to do! My husband Patrick is working out of town and wasn't able to make it home before Christmas to get all of my Christmas decor down from the attic and so I wasn't going to do a tree at all but my 5 year old REALLY wanted one mom!

So off I go to Hobby Lobby, Target, and Walgreens, and there are no white trees to be found but I finally find one at Walmart and for only $39 prelit with white lights! Yay! That night I open the box and find that the tree has multicolored lights and this was the night it had been snowing all day and I really didn't want to get back out in the weather so I waited until the next morning to return to Wal-mart. I went to 3 of the 4 Wal-marts and ALL were completely out of white trees... lit or otherwise so now I know I am keeping this tree.. But that's ok because I have a plan! I am going to by some strands of white lights and just replace the bulbs. (side note: I'm not sure if you have ever looked at how the lights are on a pre lit tree, but they are definitely ON there.)

I make it home later that day and start changing lights out and this plan is NOT working.. It completely kills the entire strand when I put the lights in so that's now out also.. Well that's ok. I will just take these 400 lights off and put the new white lights on.. But I am going to try to save these lights because we can use them for something else... hahaha WRONG! After I spent an hour on just the bottom level of meticulously taking off the twisty ties and cutting the zip ties off, I'm pretty frustrated and get the scissors out. I am no longer interested in saving these lights. I just want them off! 3 hours later and all of the lights removed, and a new snow storm in my living room floor, I am ready to set up the tree!

I get back into the box, and CANNOT find the legs. So back to the store I go. I am just going to get another tree stand. I go to CVS, Dollar General, and Wal-mart (again)... there are NONE! I am done for the day. :) So I think about what I am going to do and decide I am just going to go back to Wal-mart, get the same tree but the green one, steal the legs out of the dang box and return the tree... and that's what I did! And I don't feel one drop bad about it because at this point, I have already spent $60 more on lights for a $39 pre-lit tree! This is now day 3. Now, I have to buy a skirt for the bottom of the tree bc the green legs do not match the white tree. So by the end of day 3 I have the tree finally up, and lit, and skirt on the bottom.. Yay! I am so happy! I even take a picture of it with the hat and scarf and balls. Love it!

Day 4 I am finally going to be able to make the Paper Mache head! Although I have never done this, I find directions online and think I can get it done.. Until it says wait 24 hours between each layer, minimum of 3 layers! Well crud! I only have 2 more days until the cookie exchange! Ack! so I do the 1st layer that night and try to blow dry it but that isn't really working well... back to google to figure something else out! Oh I can bake it! (I have a balloon as a base).. so I turn the oven on 1st, let it get to 350 degrees and then turn it off.. open the door, put in my balloon, leave the door cracked and it works! It dries half of it, so I take it out, warm oven back up, turn oven back off, and balloon goes back in. This really works! I would just say if you are going to do it, the 2nd time you put it back on in the same layer, you need to watch it because the balloon starts to expand and it will crack open your mache.

So end of night 4 I have 2 layers on and last layer goes on day 5.. I let it go ahead and sit and dry after baking it that whole day just to make sure it was good and hard... I painted it day 6 in the morning. (day of cookie party)

Other side note for mache-ing.. make your last layer computer paper if you are going to paint it.. It really helps in not having to use so much paint to get it white from using the newspaper and it works really well.. I just let it sit in the flour/water paste a little bit longer than the newspaper.

Got the black balls online and the lit tree branch arms from Holland Gardens. Hat came from Wal-mart and had an ugly band around it, so I removed that and taped on the red ribbon to match the scarf. :) If you wanted to make your black balls, you could just get round styrofoam and paint them and add beads if you want..

I let the kids (ages 5 and 3) do a paper mache head also and paint it, and have a smaller prelit white tree snowman in Sydney's room.. Here is her snowman: ( I painted this one, Sydney did some of the paper mache for it.. The one they painted was just for fun and did not make it on a tree)

I really like how they turned out and next year will be much easier to put up! Merry Christmas everyone!

Week 3 @ the WNP Ranch

I am a little late on this week's update but late is better than never. This last Sunday, I lost another 4.8 lbs bringing my total to 10 lbs so far. Danielle is kicking butt and I realize that I need to up my workouts this week to be competetive with her. So instead of just walking the mall on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we opted to do it every day. Monday and Tuesday we walked and then didn't on Wednesday. So I went shopping and got some walking in that way. I went to United and Wal-mart and tried to walk extra around. Surely pushing the cart helped, right?? :) Weds though, aunt flow finally came to visit and I have been worried about retaining water and for the first time, really, I have been craving some things! Weds we ate burgers from 5 Guys. Thursday we didn't walk again but my mom bought a Spin bike, so I did that for 30 mins and boy does it work your butt out! Literally! Friday walked the mall again so overall I am feeling okay for the week. I am hoping that by the weigh in tomorrow, there will be no more water retainage. My goal is to lose 5 lbs a week and that would give me an end result of 50 lbs. Still not to my goal weight but definitely a victory for me!

Rhett has stayed healthy this week and Sydney got over being sick. Praise God for no more germs! Last night I went to the Ladies night at COTR and signed up for a Beth Moore bible study on breaking free. I am still so excited to see what's in store for me this year in Jesus Christ! I am so ready to stop trying to do things on my own and rely on Him to guide me and my husband. I have really been thinking about going back to work, possibly even just part time. It would help financially but more so, I think it would help my sanity. I do love staying home with my kids, but some days are just a real struggle to remain balanced with them. I want to do what is best for them and so I am waiting to hear from God about what I should do. Until then, I am just waiting. :) Well God Bless everyone!

Getting Healthy

2009 was a really tough year for me. I was glad to see it go and to see 2010 ushered in. I really believe that this is a year of break through for me in more areas than one. I am looking forward to seeing my marriage renewed and taken to a place far better than I have ever known. This is also the year that I become healthy. I do not want to be this fat, lazy, complacent mother. I want to be the mom that can play and run with her kids and I want them to learn at a young age to be healthy and active also!

I am now on week 3 of an 11 week commitment to Weigh N Pray. This is such a great group of ladies and I have really been inspired by everyone. I decided that I wanted to start blogging weekly of my victories and set back and so I need to catch up the first 2 weeks.

Week1: I had a really great week one. The first day was the hardest but once I got past it, the rest of the week went by pretty smoothly and I lost 6.4 lbs! That was pretty exciting.

Week2: Had a pretty rough week. I made right choices with food and have been exercising and still gained 1 lb. It was very frustrating because I knew I was doing what I could to lose and still gained. But for any of you that watch the Biggest Loser, know that week 2 always does strange things for the contestants so I decided not to get too down about it and start out week 3 with the expectancy that it wouldn't be the same. Tune in next week to see how it went!


Rhett is turning 2 on Saturday. Poor guy has been sick with one thing after another for the last almost 4 months. We are going again to the dr today. It is really frustrating as a parent because there is not really anything else I can do for him that I already don't do. I wipe carts down at stores with the disinfectant wipes, and I give him vitamins to boost his immune system. His DR during this time has misdiagnosed him on more than one occasion. We are going to a different dr today. I am going to try the chiropractor for him to get his immune system back up. I have heard really good things about him so I'm hoping for the best! And I just really hope he is not sick on his birthday!!

Sydney is turning 4 next Tuesday and she is just way too big for her britches. She says the funniest things sometimes. She cracks me up on a daily basis. She is a little princess and she knows it. She has her Mimi and Popo wrapped around her little finger. She is just so full of life and goes, goes, goes 90 mph all the time! It's a joy to spend time with her.

Well that's all for now! <3

Dog Story

My mom was at my house this morning and she went to the front door to unlock it for my dad who was about to be here. She says to me, Hey is your dog out? I looked back and sure enough, the dog wasn't in the fence so she tells me that she saw him running down the street. We both go outside and we are whistling and hollering, TOBY!!! Well he pops his head from about 100 yards down the street and sees us so he is hawling butt to get down the street. He runs up jumps on me and gives me a lick and turns to run in the door. About that time I see a black collar on his neck that does not look familiar and I say to my mom, that's not Toby! She looks up to see Toby standing up on the back window looking in at us and this new dog. LOL. So I chased the dog down and out of the house just in time to hear a whistle coming from down the street. I'm sure the owner was wondering why we were calling his dog into our house. We got our morning laugh this morning!

Dear West Texas Wind and owners of mangled trampoline

Dear Wind,

Thank you so much for your overnight gift of a trampoline! If it were not for the fact that we already have a trampoline, I might have been fairly excited about it. However, I do have a trampoline and besides the one you gave me wouldn't have worked out. No, it's not the fact that you barrelled it through our grill, smashing it into pieces, or bending the fence. Though the trampoline is now mangled, that is not the reason either. What really gets to me is that you took it through my beloved vegetable garden and annihilated my tomato plants! My big beautiful tomato plants that I just couldn't wait to eat a big juicy tomato from! So I will have to reject your gift and I ask that you please take it to someone else!

Til your next gift (bc I'm sure there will be one),

Candra

Dear Owners of said Mangled Trampoline,

Just in case you are new to West Texas and need a clue, I will help you out! When you live in a new addition in which it is mostly wide open, you have to SECURE things so you don't lose them. I'm sure your kids are upset about the loss of their trampoline but I'm afraid you are going to have to get a new one. Though it is possible to salvage most of this one, you would have to look for a while to find all the missing springs and legs that have been strung along the street and neighboring yards. That being said, please come get it from my yard! It is a lovely decoration next to the weeds but I'm afraid it has to go.

Thanks in advance,

Your thoughtful neighbor

Taking time to relax!

So this is nothing special, nor is there a specific message. Just getting caught up. Yesterday I had to go to good ole' Wal-Mart and took all 4 kids with me. Somehow me and the older boys, Jordan and Tristan, had got on the topic of God. They said even though one person in particular had tried to convince them there is no God, they both said that they do believe in Him. So I asked why? I said do you just believe in Him because me and your dad do? Jordan says no I know he is real because when I got saved and asked Jesus into my heart, I felt Him. (Wow!) I said that's awesome Jordan! He said he could feel God's presence and that It made him cry. I told him that it didn't just have to be a one time thing, that if he asked Him to, God would do that often, all he had to do was ask! I told him about the first time Patrick felt God's presence. We were getting prayed for and were holding hands. Patrick squeezed the life out of my hands and then later said, did you feel that?! So we all kind of laughed about it. Here in a minute Sydney pipes up and says God squeezed my hand and I got a bandaide because it was bleeding! Haha!

Rhett got to do his first fireworks this year at a only 17 months. He was so serious about it that you wouldn't even know he was having fun... until it went out that is, then he would start hollering for another one.

Well that's all for now! God Bless!