5 on Friday

I thought I would try 5 on Friday.  I think I have done it like once before on a week where I missed the 10 on Tuesday. lol

1. MOPS yesterday was sooooo awesome. It was more than we could have expected. So many people showed up. We had almost 50 people. That is a HUGE jump from last semester. We had an amazing speaker, Kim Songer. She just has so much experience in so many areas that she was so perfect for our group. She was so joyful and real. It was just the start we needed. Everyone seemed to have a great time. We played a silly dress up game with the mentor moms. So much fun!

2. The food was amazing at MOPS and I even lost from yesterday. MIRACLE! I'm almost down to my lowest weight ever (since losing). Just a few tenths of a pound to go.My stomach feels smaller. Love that feeling.

3. I'm still sick. I wish it would just go away already. I am feeling a little better though. The congestion isn't quite as bad. The aches aren't as bad either. But everything is there still enough to be annoying. Especially the cough when it starts. It sometimes makes me feel like I'm going to throw up. ewww

4. It hasn't happened much yet, but I'm waiting for it. One thing I have learned doing these challenges is that everyone has an excuse. The problem with that is that eventually you could come up with an excuse every week and never show any progress. There will always be a birthday party, a celebration, a holiday, or something else in our lives to challenge us in our weigh loss goals. It's up to us what we are going to do with those challenges. Are we going to succumb to the pressure of the temptation or are we going to rise above it and choose to change. Because after all, it is our choice. We have the power to pick the veggie platter over the chips and cookies. I'm not saying it's not hard. I'm only saying that you do have the power. And once you reclaim your power and start making those little changes, they can add up to big losses.

5. I'm so proud of Courtney's reading. She is doing so well. Learning new words every day. My mom gave her a book to read that she wanted to try to read. It's a chapter book from a High School Musical series. She needs help on lots of words, but she's trying it and not getting frustrated. My mother-in-law told me how I could figure out what grade level the book is at and it's a 5.1 (which means 5th grade reading level). I'm so proud of her for even trying it. With hard words like bureaucratic in it, there is no wonder she needs help on some words. Skyler is doing great too. She is starting to sound out some words and knows some too. I need to start the flash card words with her again.

10 on Tuesday

1. The 1/2 Marathon is only a week and a half away. I did a 5K last night to keep with the training. I'm only doing shorter runs until the actual thing. My right leg especially (and my left heel) is really not appreciating the long runs.

2. The last long run I did was 9 miles. It was so much better doing it with a friend. Thanks Kristin! It made the time seem to go by faster. Plus it probably helped that it was a new route and we were hoping to remember it. The first part of it was the loop I will be doing for the 1/2 marathon. I wanted to try it out so I wasn't doing it and getting lost next week. We had to stop at a friend's house for water. I had some graham cracker with me too so I had a little of that and some nice cold water and we were on our way again. I'm glad our house is the mid way point for next week so I can stop for some much needed energy and hydration. If I need to, a few friend's houses are on the way too.

                Boo!!
3. A very stressful update for you today. My hubby did not get one of the 7 positions (out of 12 people trying to keep their jobs). So he only has a job until the end of September. There are several other locations of his company that he is applying to but all of those other locations we would have to move. No fun. I do not want to move. But I guess you do what you have to do, right? He is applying for a lot of jobs not at Chevron too (and has been since he first found out about the possibility).

This was taken on the day of her photo shoot.

4. We have a beach ball that is deflated. It must have a hole in it. But it's sentimental because it was the one that the director gave to Courtney on her photo shoot for Oprah Magazine. She gave it to her because she did so well. So, I normally would just trash the thing, but it's sentimental. So, I keep blowing it back up. lol

This picture was taken when Skyler was 2. She figure out how to dribble a ball all by herself. All over the yard.

5. Skyler starts soccer this weekend. This is her first organized sport (with a team). She's done gymnastics before so I don't want to forget about that, but this is her first team. She is on a green team with no name so far. Her daddy and cousin will be her coaches. It's so fun knowing so many people on the team.

6. Be prepared for cute water pictures. We are going to Splash on Friday. We are so excited. This is our first time going. The girls have been saving up for this and the tooth fairy made it finally hit enough to go. Splash is a small, overpriced, waterpark near our house. (Assuming Skyler is feeling better by then.)

The first one was taken after her front top 2 came out. The bottom one is after one on the bottom came out. (Sorry so blurry. It was with my phone.) So, now it looks like she has 4 out. One of them is starting to peek through on the bottom. She has lost 6 teeth all together now.

7. Courtney lost 3 teeth last week!!! So insane. She lost her front top 2 last Thursday when her daddy was playing a game with her and her sister. They got scared and ran into each other and they fell out. Thankfully they were already loose. One was practically falling out (she just needed to pull) and the other wasn't as loose. The third came out when we were at a birthday party on Sunday. What's the going rate on your tooth fairy? All I want for Christmas is my 4 front teeth!

8. Tonight is Skyler's "Read-To-Me" Reading Club party. Sadly, she will not be going. She's just too sick. Poor thing. She was up all night coughing last night and she looks sick right now. I hope she sleeps tonight. For all all of our sanity. We stayed home and mommy did face painting just like they wanted to do at the party.

9. I am reading the last book in the Twilight Saga, "Breaking Dawn". Ahh...so fun. It's my favorite book of the series. Finally things start happening that you seem to be waiting for the whole time. It's been fun re-reading the whole series.

10. We have some pretty awesome table names this year for MOPS. They are some of my favorite words. What are some of your favorite words? I'm thinking I shouldn't give it away just yet. Suspense and all. :)

Monday Morning Update

I thought I would do something a little different this week and do an update instead of a weekend review. I managed to GAIN .4 this week. I am very surprised that it wasn't more than that. For so much of the week it was way higher then all of a sudden shot back down.

It's so frustrating because I felt like I was doing pretty well. I had it in my mind to seriously kick butt this week. I exercised more than I had been. I even went to the gym twice (even though I'm loathing running there) and ran outside twice. I even felt like I was eating fairly well. There are somethings I did eat that I could do without and do much better though. So, I know it's probably that. But still. It didn't seem like enough to gain. Maybe it's a water thing or hormone thing. ahh It really doesn't matter I guess as long as I move past it and get my groove back. I felt really good last week with all of the exercising I was doing. I felt like I was getting back to it.

I keep hurting my feet after running (near the heel). To the point that the rest of that day and the next I can't walk on them much. My left is the worst. I have described the feeling to a few people and they both think it's Planter Fasciitis. My mom actually had it for a really long time so she was showing me stretches to do. Thankfully I can walk normally today, but I can still feel it a tiny bit. I guess I will just have to be more careful. Ok, now after reading that article myself I'm pretty sure that's it also. I need to get some orthodics to relieve the pressure on the fascia. This doesn't surprise me since I have a high arch. I have been tempted to get one anyway. Also new shoes that are stability shoes would be good too. Too bad I don't have the money for that though. Orthodics it is. See how that helps first.

Oh this 1/2 marathon training is killer. I have a 9 mile run this week for my long run. (10 next week, then a rest week for long runs, then the 1/2 marathon 13.1 miles) I have come to a conclusion about running. I really prefer shorter runs. My favorites are 5Ks (3.1 miles) to about 5 miles. Anything over that and it's more torture than anything. lol However, I do have to say that it felt good doing my long runs so far (the 7 and 8 I just did recently). Maybe I just have a different mindset when I'm doing them. I know, mentally, that I have a long way to go so not to keep looking at my miles to see where I'm at.

In other news: The girls finished their swim lessons. I could not believe it when I saw Skyler swimming by herself to the wall. She swam about 15 feet all by herself. I was so proud. Courtney did everything in her class really well. The only thing she needs to work on is diving. I'm amazed at how well she swims now.

This is me being happy because I'm outside the bug room.

We went to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles on Friday with Scott's parents. We had a great time. The girls loved every minute of it. My favorite was probably the butterflies and the big whale bones. It was so huge. (And that's why I don't like the ocean. Too many large mammals underneath.) Skyler said her favorites are the dinosaur and whale bones and the dead animals. hahahaha  Courtney said her favorites were the butterflies. Scott's favorite part was the BUG ROOM!!! ewwww! I had such a problem with it. It totally creeped me out. I seriously had to leave the room because it was so creepy. Especially after I found the black widow on display. However, it was a good pic for my blog becuase the sign said that black widows are mainly in California. So, that explains one of my questions from last week's 10 on Tuesday. I even took a picture just for all of you.

We also had the party for Courtney's reading program at the library. They had to read and report on so many books in the summer to be able to go to the party. There were SOOOOO many kids there. It was a little insane.

Still no update on my hubby's job. He should find out very soon though.

A few more pictures just for fun.

10 on Tuesday

1. Today marks one year since my dear friend, Monica passed away. It's so hard to believe that it has been a year already. I think about her all the time.

2. I lost 1.2 last week in the challenge and am tied for 7th place. I'm hoping this week is better.

3. I feel so much better today. I need to get my booty back to the gym. I have been sooo slacking with that.

4. There is such a fine line between eating enough sugar to combat low blood sugar and overdoing it and making myself sick and too much to overeat. ug! I want to lose weight, but this is all complicating matters. I will be reaching for more fruits at home when it's low, that's for sure.

5. It scares me a little to think about the results not coming back as having this. Because otherwise, it's like, what the heck?! The side effects of both scare me too. Those foods making me sick is only the beginning of the underlying problem of it causing liver, kidney, and small intestinal damage. Let alone the horrible things that can happen with damage from low blood sugar. I'm going to try not to think about it in the meantime.

6. We had a good sex talk at bible study today. You read that right.

7. I'm a little sad and a little excited that softball is over. It was so fun to watch. It made me want to play. But exciting that we don't have somewhere to be 3 times a week.

8. I have really been enjoying reading with the girls. Courtney started reading her Fancy Nancy books to me yesterday. I'm so amazed at how great she is doing after asking about the words once. Most of them she remembered when she read it.

9. I feel a little stressed right now. I think it's from all of the testing and figuring everything out. I need to go work it out at the gym.

10. You would think with my fast yesterday that I would have lost some weight with it. NOPE! Boo...that bad scale. Come on...at least .2! Nothing.

Twilight

So, I started reading the Twilight Series of books. Let me just say they are awesome. How I came to find out about it was weird. If you are on facebook, you know that they have lots of applications on there. One of my favorite ones is "Pieces of Flair". It's a "Office Space" reference to the little buttons that they made her wear for work. Anyway, you can send these to your friends. I kept noticing lots of pieces of flair that were about Twilight. Being the dork that I am, I looked it up to find out who this Edward was and what Twilight was all about. It peeked my curiosity. So I decided that the next time I was at Target I would look for it. Well, that didn't take long. lol (I love Target.) I started reading it last Saturday. I finished reading the first book yesterday (all 498 pages). I got the next books last night and started the next one "New Moon". I'm already 150 pages into that one. It's nuts but I am so into this story. I highly recommend it. It's so fun that a few of my friends are reading it at pretty much the same time/pace. Shout out to those girls (Shauna, Diane, & Windy). It really is a fast read too. The author is Stephenie Meyer. I know what some of you are thinking, but no, it's not the Stephanie Meyer from La Serna. Darn. That would have been even better.