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Food Journal Thursday Aug 2

Daily Point Target					21
Food				points	Countdown
Coffee				1	20
WW smoothie				1	19
snack w/kids				1	18
rice puff cereal				1	17
soy milk				2	15
various crap i shouldn't have snacked on				6	9
Totals
Day 2 in Week - Weekly DU Remaining: 22
Morning Weigh in 137.2
Activity Log

Haircut today!

Before...
After!

I love it! The color is a lighter blonde than I've gone before. It's very cute and feels much lighter and healthier than before! I am just NOT photogenic! Ugh!

Food Journal Wednesday Aug 1

How on earth did it get to be August already!?! Ouch! I cut WAY into my points today. I had a hair appt and didn't eat before I went at 4:45. Then when I got home at 7:30 I was starved and DOVE into pizza! I'll have to hoard the rest of my "bonus" points for girls dessert night on Saturday. Even then, I'd better bring a veggie tray or something! The good news is, I lost some weight in hair today!

Daily DU Target					21
Food				DU	Countdown
WW yogurt smoothie				1	20
coffee				1	19
grilled cheese (1.5 sandwiches)				9	10
ice cream bar (x2) blush!				6	4
pineapple				2	2
2 slices meat lovers pizza				11	-9
1 chicken wing				2	-11
dehydrated apple				1	-12
V-8				1	-13
Totals
Day 2 in Week - Weekly DU Remaining: 22
Morning Weigh in 137.5
Activity Log

Weight Watchers

So, I have been doing Weight Watchers for the past 6 weeks. I've had great success the weeks I've tracked what I eat and gained weight the weeks I don't. It's amazing that the program works great when I follow it! :) I hate keeping track of my points in the little books, so I'm going to try to blog them for now.

Today felt a little like going to confession (well what I guess going to confession would feel like, I've never been.) Forgive me Joanne (my WW leader) for I have sinned. It's been two weeks since my last weigh-in. I have gained 3 and a half pounds since my last weigh in. Ugh!

My Weight Chart:

Food Journal Tuesday July 31

Daily DU Target					21
Food				DU	Countdown
Weight Watchers Smoothie				1	20
Coffee				1	19
Annie's Mac and cheese				5	16
pineapple				2	14
chicken delicious				4	10
brown rice				4	6
lite caesar salad				2	4
ghiradelli caramel square				2	2
ice cream bar				2	0
Totals					21
Day 1 in Week - Weekly DU Remaining: 35
Check off your waters XXX
Activity Log

Meal Plan Monday June 4th

This is a crazy week, so I'm getting myself organized! Organization begins with a meal plan, as far as I'm concerned. Dinners this week are fairly easy with two birthdays!

Monday - leftover BBQ chicken sandwiches on wheat buns with zuchinni and carrots
Tuesday - Happy Birthday Mom! (dinner out)
Wednesday - Happy Birthday Abby! BBQ burgers and hot dogs (and chicken for Papa?), potato salad, chips, and corn on the cob, Grammie's bringing the cake!
Thursday - homemade sesame chicken with stir fry veggies (darn! should have bought that wok at ikea this weekend!)
Friday - sour cream chicken enchiladas (double recipe to freeze)

Egg on my face

I am so thankful for God protection this morning. I was making a simple egg yolk in the microwave for Abby this morning (she can't have highly allergenic egg whites yet) and had cooked the yolk in a small custard cup that has become standard for our microwave egg adventures. I was pretty sure the yolk was all cooked so I took it out of the microwave and, while holding the custard cup, proceeded to cut into the yolk with a fork to make sure it wasn't runny.

BAM! The yolk exploded. I screamed as I felt hot steam and yolk in my face and dropped the custard cup. I blinked a few times and realized that I didn't seem to have hot yolk in my eyes and my vision was just cloudy for a few seconds. Some yolk did land on my elbow and gave me a very minor burn. But, other than REALLY needing a shower, I'm unscathed. I am SO thankful God spared my eyes. I'm sure I could easily have done permanent damage to my vision.

If I'd been thinking clearly, I would have taken pictures of the egg on my face and in my hair (and all over my kitchen.) But, I was pretty shaken and still had a hungry daughter to feed! (I'll let you just wonder whether I picked the egg off my kitchen floor to feed her.)

Whoo hoo!

When Abby was born, my parents gave us the fabulous gift of 4 house cleanings done by one of the sweetest women I've met, Symone. She really blessed us in my very difficult recovery from Abby's arrival. We hired her to clean every other week after our "gift cleanings" were done. In December I was feeling more in the swing of taking care of two kids and we really didn't have it in the budget to have Symone continue to clean, so we sadly parted ways.

Two weeks ago, I recieved a call from Symone asking if we could exchange services! She has a fourth grade son who needs some extra help in reading. So, I am going to tutor in exchange for cleaning! We are both thrilled with our arrangement. I am excited to use some of my rusty teaching skills and she is excited to have tutoring for her son. I think I have the better end of the deal, but she seems honestly happy with the arrangement!

There are some additional benefits as well. Totoring twice a week will give me some routine in my Tuesdays and Thursdays. And with "guests" in the house twice a week, I will have initiative to keep the house picked up between cleanings.

This isn't something we needed, but it is a sweet blessing to our family and me. It also allows me to feel confident about taking on some of the additional responsibilities at church that Danny and I have recently agreed to take on.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I am so thankful to be His daughter and that He expresses His love to me in such a personal way.

For Ian

As promised long ago. The kids!

Welcome to the party!!!

I'm late joining the blog party at 5 Minutes for Mom, but then again, I'm late for almost everything, so you may as well get used to it! :)

Hi! I'm Martha! No, not THAT Martha. Although, I love her show and I wouldn't mind being compared to her in my home keeping and organization. I did have a car that my friend named Stewart while I was in college. "Then we can see your car drive by and say, 'There goes Martha's Stewart!" G-R-O-A-N!

Not THAT Martha, either. Although, I identify with her as well. Perhaps not the character traits I'm most proud of.

I am a 28? 27? 27. Yes, 27 year old wife and mom of two. Why am I late joining the party you ask? Aren't the kids excited? Well, I'll let you take a look for yourself.

Let me introduce Joey. He's 2 and a half. He is running a temperature of 101.2 at the moment and is spending the afternoon with Caillou and his family.


Let me take you into the nursery and introduce you to Abby. Shh! She's not feeling well, either! She had Joey's fever last week and has been a stinker-pot today. Abby will be 9 months old tomorrow.


Please don't let me mislead you. My children are usually joyful, giggly and exuberant. Joey loves to play trains, jump on the bed and be in charge. Why not? He is the oldest child of two first-born children!
Abby is very mellow and loves to flirt with anyone who will let her. She is always moving her body and is trying with all her might to figure out how to crawl.

My blog is a brain dump for my thoughts on my life as a child of God, wife, mom, and the many other roles I serve. Thanks for attending our somewhat subdued party! I hope you will come visit again when everyone is feeling better!

Don't forget to wash your hands on the way out!

Conviction and family time

Danny is home today for President's Day. We canceled playgroup (which was supposed to be at our house) at the last minute so that we could have our first day without any plans in an age! We also were/are in need of some family time after a busy week of wedding events. Joey provided the evidence of the need as we drove to our second birthday party yesterday and he exclaimed! "We go Ben's party! Daddy go! Mama go! Abby go! Jojo go!" It was exciting to see his joy at us going somewhere all together. We've had a lovely morning so far with bubble blowing and swinging outside and Mom and Dad got TWO! CUPS! OF! COFFEE!!! WITH! WHIPPED! CREAM!!! truly a delight in my world.

Our only plan for today is to go on a picnic at the park at lunchtime. I'd like to go for a run but that involves changing clothes and will make the shower and hair doing I'd like to skip today inevitable, so we'll see if I get my run in. I WILL spend some time with the Lord today. Everyday Mommy linked to some incredible writings called Just Suppose and A Fitting Vessel. Perhaps I will be able to reflect more on them here later, but for now, my heart is longing for time with God. So, that is what I am off to do.

My Daniel

I had the honor of being a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's wedding today! This meme seemed appropriate as I reflect on the husband God's blessed me with.

His age: 29

How tall is he: 5'11'

How long have you been together (married): Married five years (it will be 6 in June!)

How long did you know each other before you got together?: We got to know each other through instant messenger for a few months before we began dating. We dated 3 days short of a year before we were married.

What physical features attracted you to him first?: His dark hair and understanding eyes

Eye color: Dark brown

Hair color: Dark brown

Hair style: Short, thick and wavy when it gets longer

Normal Outfit: Jeans and a t-shirt.

How did you meet: I wanted to attend a conference in Tucson while living in Flagstaff. I found Danny's instant messenger name on the church website, contacted him about the conference and we kept typing!

How serious is it: Til death do us part

Are you "in love": More each day!

Do your parents like him: Sometimes more than me! I'm kidding. He is fully incorporated as a part of the family.

Do his parents like you: They like me, I think. We don't hear much from them.

Do you trust him: With every fiber of my being.

Would you share a toothbrush with him?: Yuck! Only if I was desperate and could rinse it with Listerine.

Would he let you wear his pants?: Yep. I have a few times while pregnant.

Do you have a shirt of his that you sleep in?: Nah, I'm more likely to borrow his PJ bottoms. Well, I guess I do borrow his t-shirts once in awhile.

Do you like the way he smells?: Yes! He always compliments me when he smells me. He has a great smeller! :)

Can you picture having kids with him?: See footnotes labelled Joey and Abby

What bothers you the most about him?: Seeing him upset

Does he have a temper?: Only when driving or children aren't sleeping. Even then, it's VERY tame

Are you happy to be with him?: Estatic!

Does he embarrass you in public?: Isn't that his job? Just kidding!

Does he smoke or do drugs?: No and no.

Does he have any piercings?: No.

Any tattoos?: No.

Does he have any scars that you know of?: Many. More than 3 on his head. He had a rough and tumble boyhood.

Is he a Party dude or Stay at home?: Stay at home.

Is he Outgoing or Shy?: Both. It depends on the situation.

Would he hang out with you and YOUR friends?: Absolutely.

Sing?: To the kids and at church. He has a beautiful baritone voice!

I love you Daniel Philip. I'd say yes again any day!

The Libby Christening Gown

Passed down my Mom's side of the family is a gorgeous christening gown which my Great Grandfather, Grandfather, Mom, and I all wore to our infant baptisms.
Danny and I have decided not to baptize our children as infants, instead they will be "dedicated" to the Lord as children. This has much the same meaning as the infant baptism I experienced. It is a promise by the parents and congregation to raise the child in the faith. (Baptism has nothing to do with salvation as some faiths believe.) It is a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
My infant baptism was "confirmed" when I professed my faith by joining my (Presbyterian) church at 13. (I did feel led to be baptized as an adult as a public profession of my faith and obedience.)
Because the baby dedications our church does are much less formal and later in life than newborn baptism, I choose to photograph Joey and Abby in the christening gown. We hope that someday our children will treasure these photos of themselves in this heirloom gown. We also look forward to the day they decide to be baptized as their own personal profession of faith!
Here is Joey in November of 2004. He is almost 4 months old and about the same size as Abby is now at 8 months! I remember thinking Joey looked feminine in these photos, but it is amazing to look at them and see so much boy in Joey! Especially compared to my fair girl! Boy, he was a chunk! His arms were already so long in the sleeves!
It's also quite evident I'm a much better photographer now with a much better camera. Thank you Matt Lang!

Here is Miss Abby at 8 months old. She is all girl! My angel! On second glance, her arms look too long for the sleeves too. But, she is 4 months older than Joey in these photos!

Another new template

This one doesn't make me nauseous to look at. I HATED the old one. Now I just need some content on here! Posts coming soon...

Lots of kid photos...
Joey's use of KY mistable personal lubricant
The Ultimate Blog Party!

My celebrity look alikes

The lesson I really learned from this? I have very few photos of myself. I typically don't enjoy looking at photos of myself, but the kids might appreciate documentation that I was around someday. :) We have lots of photos of Danny and the kids. Guess it's time for me to hand over the camera more.

Snow!

This is belated but in January, we had some rare snow here in Tucson! Danny and I saw the snowfall in the evening, but nothing stuck on our side of town. Danny's work, however, was beautiful! Alli and I packed up the kids and caravaned to see the snow and the boys!

Joey experiments making footprints in the snow.

Our family!

Abby is wearing bunting which my Aunt made for me in 1979!

Matt, Mady, and Joey

Danny took a turn at lunch with the chunk-o-kids! Nathan and Abby

Anti Procrastination Challenge!

Mrs. Wilt over at The Sparrows Nest is hosting an anti-procrastination challenge this week. I am joining a bit late, but a prize is up for grabs and I'll settle for any motivation to get some projects done!

My first project today was making a list of things I've been putting off but need to be done. I decided to begin by cleaning my refrigerator, a task I haven't done in a LONG time.

Here's my before. You can't see how dirty the shelves and walls of the fridge are.


I emptied the fridge of everything and wiped the entire inside down. I usually use glass cleaner and paper towels on the shelves, but we are out of paper towels. I didn't let this deter me. I used my scrubby sponge and water and just repeated to myself the Flylady mantra "Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family." Even though my shelves aren't streak free, they look SO much better!

I then sorted the contents of the fridge (which were on the counter) and check expiration dates. Many things ended up in the trash. I put the rest back and my fridge looks so much better!


I had wanted to get to the freezer and top of the fridge today and I still might, but for now, I'm proud of my accomplishment!