Naked blogging: It Works

I've been debating for a long time whether to share this information, because I didn't want to admit that I had doubts about the products I've been using and selling, but I've come to the realization that a LOT of people have doubts about the products I've been selling, and sharing my story can only help.  This is hard to admit and even harder to put into writing, but I truly hope that sharing my doubts and worries can help someone out there to overcome their own.

I've been using It Works! products for a couple of months now.  I start my day with Thermofit (a natural metabolism booster) and Greens (to detoxify, alkalize and balance the body in addition to providing 8 servings of fruits and vegetables), take Fat Fighters (which bond with fat and carbs you consume to flush them out of your system) as needed if I cheat on my healthy eating or eat something to which I am allergic (my allergies aren't bad enough to prevent me from eating the things I like, but I have found that the Fat Fighters help flush the icky stuff out of my system before it gives me too much trouble) and end my day with New You (so many benefits I won't list them all here, but I will say it helps me sleep better!) and It's Vital (a multivitamin).  I felt a lot better, had more energy and less affects from my allergies but just didn't really feel like I was getting anywhere weight or inches loss wise, and I have to admit, I was getting pretty discouraged.  My wedding dress was tight and uncomfortable, my clothes weren't fitting any better and I didn't feel like I looked any better.  In the weeks leading up to the wedding, I had just about given up.  Between the I'm-too-busy-to-make-dinner-so-let's-just-go-out-to-eat and the I'm-too-stressed-out-to-curb-my-emotional-eating I just knew I was gaining weight.  Thankfully, my dress had a corset back, so I knew if I packed on a couple pounds I would be more uncomfortable, but still able to wear the dress.  I wrapped four times (a complete treatment) in the week and a half leading up to the wedding and still didn't feel like I was seeing any results but I just couldn't worry about it at that point.  Miss Thing, overhearing BBS and I talking about my frustration and anxiety over how the dress would fit, told me she thought I looked like I'd lost weight, but I just wasn't seeing it.  I felt awful about myself.  And then the big day arrived.  I don't think anyone else knew, but I was on pins and needles all day long.  Not because I was nervous about marrying Man, but because I was worried my dress wouldn't fit!  I hadn't had it on in about two weeks and I was just sure I was going to end up busting a seam and getting married in my sweats!  As I stepped into my dress, I worried that I wouldn't be able to get it up over my huge hips.  But it easily pulled up.  As I held the dress up I fretted that Mom wouldn't be able to snap the modesty panel in place.  But, despite her having to dig out her reading glasses to see the tiny closure, it clipped easily into place.  Then, as Mom laced the corset back, I agonized over whether she would have enough lacing to close up the whole back.  But there was lacing to spare and the dress fit better than ever.

All my worrying was for nothing.  I should have trusted my body instead of my mirror.  Despite eating junk, not getting enough sleep and running around like a crazy woman, I felt and still do feel) better than I have in years.  Looking at the pictures, I see now that I look better than I have in years.  I think we all have these images of ourselves in our minds, where we will never look as good to ourselves as we do to other people.  When Miss Thing mentioned that she thought I looked like I'd lost weight, we discussed that sometimes other people see the weight loss or body changes before you do because they don't see you every day, but I really think a lot of it has to do with how you look at yourself, too.  When I looked in the mirror I saw the crazy, stressed out nearing-bridezilla woman that I was at the time.  Now, looking at pictures, I'm able to see the happy, healthy, in love woman that I am.  And I am so thankful for my It Works! products that helped me survive that crazy time and will continue to help me become the most healthy version of me I can be!

Continuing in my lazy ways of the past two weeks, I have no creative title here. Feel free to make one up.

Yes, it's Wednesday, and yes, I should be writing a "What I Like" post but I just have to comment on the fact that I've been gone for 2 weeks now and I'm still consistently getting views.  You guys are awesome!  I know I haven't been lately, and I really am hoping to get back to posting nearly daily.  Things have been a bit crazy with settling in to married life, adjusting to changes at Man's job and preparing for changes at my job but that is no excuse and I WILL work harder!

I can't say much on the job front at this point since I'm not sure how or when the changes are happening, but I'm excited to get to stay with a company I know and like while still moving on to bigger and better things and hopefully some new challenges!

As for married life, things are good great!  Our oldest worried a lot before the wedding that things were going to change and somehow her life was going to be turned on its top but Man and I have worked really hard to make sure things haven't changed and we're all settling in nicely.  I told our oldest the only things that would change would be that we would each wear a wedding band and my last name, and I really wasn't too far off.  I've never been a big advocate of living together before marriage, but when there are kids involved, I really do think it's the best way to go.

So, while there are still many changes coming (my job, hopefully finding a home that's big enough for all 5 of us plus our zoo, etc.) and I know there will be many rough times down the road, I really am so lucky to love such a wonderful family!

What I Like: Flowers, flowers everywhere!

First, a little thing I don't like: What I Like Wednesday is quickly becoming What I Like Thursday due to my inability to get a post to publish when I schedule it.  So...either no more writing ahead of time or I need to change the name of this series!  As always, I'm open to input.

Now on to the meat and potatoes (um...petals and stems?) of this one!  I'm doubling up on this post, because I actually got my flowers for the wedding from two different sources and I don't want to leave anyone (who earned a place here!) out, but I also don't want to have the wedding posts drag on forever after the wedding!  (which is this Saturday!  Eeek!)  I figured I didn't want to get too far ahead with wedding stuff, because you never know how things are going to go until you've actually received the product or experienced the service, but these two are done or nearly done and so great I just can't not brag on them!

I contacted Janice at Heirlooms and Blossoms about doing my flowers, because I wanted a mix of fresh and silk flowers and she's the only person I know of that does both.  I always planned on having all fresh flowers at my wedding, but when Man and I sat down to talk about it, we decided that between the girls being rough on things (fresh flowers probably not looking very nice by the time they finally walked down the aisle) and the fact that the girls would want to keep their flowers (we figured it would be an issue if our youngest got to keep her flower girl basket but the older two didn't have anything to keep) that we should really do silk for them.  Then we decided if the younger girls had silk, the older girls should too.  And it snowballed from there.  Wouldn't have dreamed it, but we decided to go with all silk.  I met with Janice a total of three times (once to describe what I wanted, once to see what she was working on and give her the go ahead to finish them and once to do a final review and pick up the finished product) and each time I got more excited about our decision.  Janice did an amazing job and just rolled with every change I made.  And I made a lot!  At our first meeting I said I still wanted fresh flowers for my bouquet but silk for everyone else.  At our second meeting I both added and deleted people on the list who needed flowers, changed my flowers to silk and asked her to add on flower girl baskets and decorations for the arch under which we will be married.  I don't think I made any changes at the third meeting (thankfully!) but I did go over everything with a fine toothed comb.  And it's perfect!  The flowers are amazing and somehow all look real, everything is beautiful and Janice was such a sweetheart.  The whole experience was really great.

The only problem with doing silk flowers is that we needed fresh flower petals for our flower girls to scatter (it's a requirement of the hall, since it's an outside wedding and they don't want to have to chase down a million silk flower petals!  I totally get their logic on that one!).  This wouldn't be a problem, except generally when you do flower petals you use roses since they have nice, big petals and dark purple roses aren't exactly easy to come by.  I know that Kroger has the largest florist in the nation, so they were the first place I tried and they were so super helpful it was ridiculous.  I called the Harrison location, since they're the biggest one close to us and not only were they super nice, they really went the extra mile.  When they couldn't get what I wanted from their normal distributor they called around to other places and not only got me the flowers I wanted but got them at a discount!  One dozen roses for $9.99?  Yes, please!  Today they called to confirm my order and my pickup time and as we were about to get off the phone, the lady said, "While I have you, would you like us to pull the petals off for you or did you want them on the stem?" to which I replied, "You mean I can not only get what I want at a great price but you'll save me the work?"  She laughed and said, "Sure, you've got enough to do!"  I love it!  I know a lot of people think of Kroger as a big box store and don't expect to get very good service, but they prove that wrong time and time again, and they are quickly making me a customer for life!

Awesome experiences, awesome stuff, it's going to be an awesome day!  I can't wait for Saturday!

Almost married

While watching a wedding show (I think most brides are obsessed with these.  Man keeps hoping it will pass after the wedding!) I look at Man and tell him if he mashes the cake in my face like that couple just did I will be PISSED!  Without missing a beat, he looks at me totally deadpan and says, "yeah, but by then it will be too late."  Such a smart aleck, but so much fun.  I'm very lucky to love my silly man!

What I Like: Hooray for non-stock parts!

What I Like somehow didn't get published on Wednesday, so here it is a day late, but still just as great of a business!

I bought a real lemon of a car.  My brother-in-law (who is in car sales and does a fantastic job and will be featured here eventually) tried to talk me out of it but I was dead set on this particular car and although he knew a Ford would serve me better, he also wasn't going to force me to buy something other than what (I thought) I wanted.  So now I've got a lemon.  I bought it (from my brother-in-law) a year old with almost 10,000 miles on it and it is now three years old with about 65,000 miles on it and I've already spent well over $1,500 fixing it.  That's not just the normal maintenance, that's repairs.  Ridiculous.  On the bright side, I've developed a really good relationship with the guys at C&C Tire in Harrison, Ohio.  They've done such a great job, talking me through each thing that has gone wrong and fixing things that even the dealership (not my brother-in-law's dealership where I bought the car, but the one where the original owner bought the car) couldn't find or fix.  The last time I had my car in the owner of the company called me to tell me what was going on, what it was going to cost to fix it and how long I could drive it with what was wrong so I could save up for the repair.  Not only did he give me honest, helpful information, he didn't charge me for taking my car completely apart to figure out what was wrong.  Admittedly, I may get a little bit of special treatment since he knows my dad, but that is definitely what I call good business!

Yesterday I picked my car up after finally taking it in to have those repairs done and it is seriously like driving a new car.  C&C not only fixed the problem, they made my car drive better than it has in the entire time I've had it.  At my request, they used after market parts instead of stock and really did things right.  When I got home from picking up the car, Man looked at the bill and was shocked by the price.  With all that was done, he expected it to be way more, but C&C does great work at a fair price.  C&C, you've got our business for life!

These thoughts are entirely my own and I was in no way persuaded or compensated by C&C Tire.  Not that I would mind if I were.  Hey, C&C, get on that!

Really, it's there a better sight to come home to?

Counting the days to the Aurora Farmer's Fair

Driving home from Schmo's birthday party last night, our oldest and I were playing the alphabet game, where you name a category and come up with something in that category for every letter of the alphabet.  Our category was food, so we did apple, banana, cantaloupe, dragonfruit, eggplant, fennel (and on and on) and it just now occurred to me that we did eggplant and fennel instead of elephant ears and funnel cakes.  Clearly we need festival season to get here quickly!

Hungry, hungry hippos, er, umm, something funnier. I just don't have it today.

Wolfey is about the most impatient animal you've ever met.  When he needs outside he follows me around and whines until I open the door.  When he decides it's time to come inside, he stands at the back door and barks (not constantly, just every couple of seconds like he's rushing you along) until someone lets him in.  When he's hungry he grumbles (he seriously sounds like a grumpy old man) the whole time I'm making his food.  Man frequently tells Wolfey what a jerk he is being when he does these things and while I don't like the name calling, it's pretty much true, so I let it go.  Since we started giving Brady wet food he's started doing the same thing, though he meows instead of grumbles (by the way, we found THE BEST cat food).  Brady's food just has to be dumped into a bowl, but since it's refrigerated we have to let it warm up a bit, so even though his is the first I get out at feeding times, he is the last to be fed and he does NOT like having to wait!

As I was preparing the animals' food they both started in.  Man told Wolfey what a jerk he was being and I told Brady what a pain he was being and all the while Lolly was sitting patiently and the following ensued:

Man: "Good thing at least one of them is patient!"

Me: "There's no need for her to get worked up, she knows she'll eventually get some food."

Man: "Who would have guessed that out of the three, Lolly would ever be the good one?"

Me: "I meant she knows if we don't feed her she'll just go counter surfing!"

Man worked a half day today so he could go pick the girls up after school.  On their way back home we video chatted to say hi and let me know their plan for the evening, since I don't get off work until 8:00 tonight.  Man asked me if I had to do anything after work or if I would be straight home and our little one interrupted him, pointed at the camera and said in her best diva voice, "you better be home for cuddle time!"  I love the technology that allows us to communicate so easily and have those little moments, but even more, I love that the girls want me there and can't wait to get home and have even more special times!

Oh, and I spent the morning putting the finishing touches on several wedding things and now I've got subjects for several more "What I Like" posts.  This may not wait until Wednesday!

What I like: first edition, cat food

I've decided I need to start having a few series on here.  I've already started naked blogging but I don't do it on a regular basis (just whenever I feel the need to overshare or get all sappy) and I'd like to have a series or two that I do on a relatively set schedule.  So here's the first one.  I'm calling it "What I Like" and I plan to do it every Wednesday (because I'm all about the alliteration of "What I Like Wednesday").  My goal is that each week I will give a link to a product or service I have used in the past week and liked.  I am not being paid in any way for my endorsements, these are just companies or products that I really like and would like to share with other people.  I've done this many times before (in fact I went back through old posts to add in some links and there were just too many!) but now there will be an easy way to go back and reference them.

You're welcome.

I know you're thinking that all the products I like are going to be It Works! products (and let's be honest, I do love everything I've tried from that company!) and this would be a great opportunity to shamefully plug my business, but there really are a lot of other awesome things out there and this week, because it's what's on my mind right now with our recent battles to find Brady a cat food he'll actually take from both of us, we're talking food.  Cat food, specifically.  I like our new cat food.  Like, I REALLY like our new cat food.  With Brady being so. freaking. picky. we were really struggling to find something that fit all our criteria.  Basically, it had to be relatively convenient (we're not opposed to making his food like we do with the dogs, but we are opposed to having to grind up whole animals, like was suggested in much of the literature I read), high in protein and calories (he needs to gain some weight), not break the bank, not make him yak and, most importantly, something he would actually eat.  We went through five different cat foods before finally landing on Pet Pride.  Not only does Brady love it, it's cheaper per serving than the leading wet cat food and actually SMELLS LIKE FOOD!  Most wet cat foods smell gross and I wouldn't eat them if you gave me $20, but this one smells like you could toss it in a skillet and serve it for dinner!  You can actually see the bits of chicken, carrots and fresh herbs and Brady absolutely loves it.  Interestingly enough, this is actually a Kroger store brand product.  Who knew?!  The only down side I've found is that it's refrigerated and needs to warm up a bit before the cat can have it, but Brady loves it so much that when you pull the bag out of the fridge he comes running and then harasses you until you give it to him.  Pretty awesome, and this is definitely what I like!

These thoughts are entirely my own and I was in no way persuaded or compensated by Pet Pride or the Kroger company.  Not that I would mind if I were.  Hey, Kroger, get on that!

You'd think 3 weeks would be enough time to recover from having the girls for 3 weeks.

It's not.

And in two short days we'll have them again.  I miss them like crazy and can't wait to have their smiling faces and laughing voices filling the house again, but I also can't believe how these last three weeks flew by so quickly.  I'm still not back to myself after the weeks of our little one waking me in the middle of the night to help her potty, fighting with our oldest over makeup, clothes (did I ever mention that she has the immodesty of a toddler.  10-year-old body hanging out all over the place is NOT okay with me!) and anything else she could challenge me on and Wolfey and our middle child breaking my heart but I'm getting there.  I have high hopes that I will be back to blogging daily here shortly, but in the mean time I'm taking my New You to help me sleep better and my greens for energy and just plugging away!

M.I.A.

Ironically, when we have the girls and I have tons of silly/funny/interesting stories, I'm also too sleep deprived and brain dead to write.  I promise I'll be back to normal soon.

In the mean time, I did want to mention that one month from today, I'll walk down the aisle to my love, my future, the rest of my life.  I am truly a lucky woman.

I truly have the best Man in the entire world

I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in about 2 weeks.  That is in part just my weird body not letting me sleep well, in part due to not sleeping soundly because I'm listening for the girls and in part because the girls actually have needed me during the night.  Last night, Man and I got in to it a bit, only because he's worried about me and I'm bull headed.  He was suggesting different methods for me to get more sleep tonight (taking a sleeping pill, going to bed immediately after dinner and letting him take care of the evening craziness of getting the girls through the bath and the animals fed, etc.) and I was getting mad at him for trying to tell me what to do.  Sounds about right.  After all, I was still pretty grumptastic.  So, long story short, we fell asleep with Man feeling defeated and me more than a little irritated with him.  And then I overslept.  I was supposed to be at work at 9:30 this morning and woke up at 9:50.  And I have a 45 minute drive.  I have no clue how I managed to sleep that late (I never sleep past 8:00) but I woke to the sound of the girls giggling in their room, rolled over to see how early they'd woken up and jumped out of bed.  Man never said a word about him being right about me needing sleep, but jumped out of bed and asked what he could do to help.  He filled my water bottles, packed my lunch and fed the animals.  He ushered the girls out of my way so I could fly through the house like a tornado getting ready.  He kissed me goodbye and saw me out the door without saying a single "I told you so."  And let's be honest, he would have been totally justified in saying that.  Then, on his way to his appointment (to which he was late, by the way, because of helping me get ready), he called just to make sure I had made it to work and was okay.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am SO lucky to love such an amazing Man!

It's better to be pissed off than pissed on

Living in a small three bedroom house where one bedroom is used as an office for Man, we have three girls stuffed into one bedroom like sardines.  Okay, it's not quite that bad since it's a big bedroom, but it's still tight quarters with three girls, three beds, three wardrobes, you get the point.  Consequently, bunk beds are a must.  For some reason, our youngest insists on being on the top bunk and although some may question the merits of putting a 6 year old on the top bunk, it's worked out pretty well.  Until this week.  Sunday night, just as Man and I were getting into bed, we heard our youngest giggling.  We thought she was having a dream (she frequently talks in her sleep) and didn't think much of it, but she just kept going, getting louder and louder until we were worried she would wake her sisters.  Finally Man went in to quiet her down and she told him she'd wet the bed.  We're still not sure why she laughed when she woke up in a wet bed but I talked to her the next day and she told me the reason she peed the bed was because she was afraid she wouldn't be able to make it down the ladder from her bed.  We talked about better ways to handle it and agreed that from then on she would call for me if she had to potty during the night and I would help her down from her bed.  It sounded like a great idea until she started calling for me every night.  I haven't slept through the night since Sunday night and last night, for some reason, between the two of us, I was up 3 times during the night for restroom breaks.  Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather go running to get her out of bed than have to change her sheets in the middle of the night, but I could really use a good night's sleep.

I'm one of those people who really needs my sleep.  I can go a couple nights with less sleep, but the longer I go, the grumpier I get.  Today, I'm pretty grumptastic.  I was at the point of saying she couldn't sleep in the top bunk any more when my foster friend had a brilliant idea.  She suggested we get our youngest a touch light to mount at the top of the ladder, so when she wakes up she can hit the light and climb down on her own.  I'm not sure why I didn't think of it on my own, but it's genius.  I plan to pick one up tonight and stick it up there before bed time, and I'm really hoping to get to sleep through the night tonight!

Wolfey just choose or middle child over me. And now my heart is broken.

Calling all moms

And cosmetologists.  And wedding planners.  And anyone else who has an honest opinion on this one.

In many ways, our oldest is more mature than her age, but in so many others she's just a baby.  I think going through the divorce put her in a rough spot and she has sometimes been put in the position of being the other adult in one house or the other.  I have seen Man put responsibilities on her that I don't think she should have (little things like taking her sisters to the restroom when we go out to eat or being the one in charge while he works from home) and you can tell just from spending time with her that her mother has done the same, though even more so.  She is quite the mother hen to her sisters and doesn't call them by their names or "my sisters", but always calls them "the little girls" and gets upset if you remind her that she is little, too.

It's tough, because she's 10, so she's right at that age where she thinks she's big and she's well on her way, but she's still a child.  This is evidenced by the fact that she still needs tucked in every night, still wants me to brush her hair and still needs Man to make her plate and cut her meat at dinner.

So here's the deal: I'm battling our 10 year old on the makeup issue right now.  She wants to wear makeup for the wedding and I told her we could do a little.  Then her mom bought her clear mascara and she suddenly thinks that's an every day thing.  In fact, our middle child was going through the bag they took to the sitter's today (my awesome cousin has the girls today and was going to take them to the pool until the weather turned sour) and found a bag of makeup our oldest had packed, even though I've told her countless times she is not to take it places.  So now that the little bit of makeup I was going to allow for the wedding has become the norm, since her mom gave it to her without clearing it with Man or me.  This wouldn't be such an issue, except she thinks she has to do more than what she does every day for the wedding, so now she has decided she needs black mascara for the wedding.  Bear in mind, not only is she 10, but she's got red hair and a porcelain complexion.  Black mascara is going to make her look like a raccoon!

So today when we were duking it out in the car on the way to our dress fitting before I had to be at work, I got to thinking about what I did when I was 10.  And unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I had the clear mascara back then.  The difference was, BBS is 3 years older than me, so I pretty much got things when she did, so I was ahead of the curve, while our oldest is (obviously) the oldest and I am so NOT ready for the other 2 to be wearing ANY makeup!  So here's where I need help: do Man and I make her put the clear mascara away somewhere when she's here so it will be a special thing for the wedding or allow the clear mascara as a daily thing and then allow more for the wedding?  And if we go that route, just how far do I let her push it for the wedding?  I KNOW I'm not going to let her do black mascara, but does anyone have any other suggestions?  Help!

Some people

Customer (on the phone): "The cord is pulling away from the plug on my pump.  Do you have a new adapter cord?"

Me: "Yes, it's $12.99 and we have them in stock."

C: "Do you think I need a new one or could I just wrap it in electrical tape?"

Me: "You might be able to get away with that over night but it doesn't sound very safe as a long term solution (then in my head) but hey, if it's worth risking electrocuting your family to save $13.83 with tax, go for it!"

Have I ever mentioned that I work at a pool supply store?

You really do learn something new every day

Okay, I actually wrote this in...oh...March?  I thought for sure I had published it the very next day.  Today, I got into my drafts folder because I wrote something yesterday that I wanted to finish and publish and found this staring at me!  It's good information, so I definitely want to share, so you'll just have to wait on the other post!  Enjoy your education for the day!

My washer crapped out on me.  My high efficiency, top of the line, didn't-get-any-better-than-that-when-we-bought-it-five-years-ago washer.  I don't know about you, but to me, five years just doesn't seem like that long for a washing machine.  Especially when for over three of those five years it was just my laundry and I'm not a dirty person.  I mean, it's not like I play in the mud for a living.  Another almost year of those five years it was just me and a toddler.  Again, not a ton of dirt.  Admittedly, I do have more dog hair going through my machine than most people, but I'm pretty anal about cleaning it out regularly and running vinegar through the machine pretty frequently (about once a week) to flush everything out.  So, I called a repairman.  I was thrilled that we didn't need to replace but a little surprised at the problem...I've been using too much detergent!  I use HE detergent, in the amount recommended on the package (although, admittedly, on the rare occasion that I do have something really dirty in there [think rags used to clean up doggy messes], I have been known to add a little extra detergent).  The repair man was super helpful (if you're in the greater Cincinnati area, try Morris Appliance Repair.  They're prompt, friendly and super helpful.  And no, they didn't pay me for this endorsement, they were just that good!) and gave me a little lesson on doing my laundry.  Apparently in an HE machine, you should only use 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of detergent recommended, even though you're using HE detergent.  And you should never use traditional detergent.  Really.  If you have some left over, give it to a friend.  It will save you money in the long run!  So that doesn't sound like much detergent, and you may be wondering how your clothes will get clean with that little soap, but think about it - an HE machine uses WAY less water, so it won't be able to rinse out as much detergent.  So really, how can your clothes get clean if you use too much soap?  High efficiency washers don't clean your clothes with soap and water, they work based on the friction your clothes create when tumbling around in there.  So there you have it - stop overusing the soap.  You'll save your washer and save yourself money on detergent, too!  By the way, this is also a good reason to only run your washer when you have a full load of laundry.  If you don't have enough fabric in there, you don't have enough friction and your clothes won't get clean.  So there you go, saving yourself money on detergent, plus on water and electric but not running your washer as often since now you'll only do it when you have a full load...man, I should start a money saving blog with all these great ideas!

UPDATE: Yeah, because I have time for that, when I didn't even take the time to realize I never published this post!  Hope you learned something, anyway!

Shower report

The shower was awesome! :)  Of course I knew BBS and my aunts weren't going to torture me too much, but it was really a great day.  My foster friend came over to do my hair and we were almost done when Man got home with the girls.  We finished up real quick and ran out the door.  The girls immediately gravitated toward Princess and Miss Thing while I made my way around visiting everyone and when it was time for gifts, all the little girls (our three, Princess and my cousin's two little girls) swarmed around me and "helped" me.  They brought me presents, unwrapped things, held things up for people to see, wandered off with gifts (especially the really cool stuff I really wanted!) and photo bombed just about every picture.  It was crazy, chaotic and wonderful!  There was one time when I had to ask the girls to back off just a little because I was starting to feel claustrophobic with them all so close but there was another time when I said to my aunt "I certainly feel loved today" and our oldest piped up with "we love you every day!" and that made all the squishiness totally worth it!  I am so lucky to love such amazing women who want to throw a shower for me, more awesome women who want to attend said shower and a bunch of crazy girls who steal the show and make it such a great experience for me!

Naked blogging: That's my gift

Tomorrow is my first of two bridal showers.  I have to admit, I've kind of been dreading them.  It's not that I don't appreciate them, in fact I've thrown lots of showers and not only do I know how much work it is (and really, really appreciate the fact that BBS is helping with both my showers!) but I also know how much fun they can be.  It's just that I'm not one to love the spotlight, despite my singing, dancing and acting background.  I was always part of the group on stage, not one to stand out.  These two days are going to be all about me.  I'll be in the hot seat, and even more than that, everyone is showing up to give me presents.  I just got off the phone with an old friend who was heading to shop for our shower gift.  She wanted to know if there was something special on our registry that I was super excited to receive.  I didn't register for stuff I don't want.  In fact, it was really hard to make a list of all the stuff I wanted instead of just buying it.  After all, it's for me, why shouldn't I buy it for myself?  How weird is it that I got so incredibly lucky as to find the love of my life and we get to share that with all our loved ones and have this huge celebration, and they all have to give us something?  If anything, we should be giving gifts to our family and friends for helping us along this journey that led us to each other.  As the dates approach, I find myself becoming excited about my showers, but it's not because I'll get to sit around and open presents; it's because I'll have the opportunity to gush about Man all day long without anyone telling me how silly-in-love I am!  I found this amazing man, I fell madly in love and I get to share it with the world.  That's my gift.

Facebook PM between my old "new girl" and me

• (work talk that I won't bore you with.  Now that she works at a different store, we often keep facebook up at work so we can chat in between customers.)
• 

  5:46pm
  

  Karen
  

  
  

  Is anyone else finding it a little ridiculous that we're fb messaging and texting?

  That's a good idea
• 

  5:51pm
  

  H
  

  
  

  i know lol we are weird
• 

  5:52pm
  

  Karen 
  

  
  

  but awesome
• 

  5:52pm
  

  H
  

  
  

  excatly lol

Many animals + hot summer = lots of water

We tried switching over to the big water dispenser but after two days Wolfey is still scared of it so I finally put his water dish back down. Goofy dog gets all freaked out if I even put my hand in the dispenser water while he's taking a drink.

Cat conundrum

It's been a while since I've written about feeding the animals but today we had a weird food issue.  With the cat.  When Man adopted Brady about two years ago he was severely under weight and unhealthy.  Man nursed him back to health but unfortunately he's still under weight.  When I took Brady and Lolly to the vet a couple weeks ago they said Lolly needed to lose a few pounds (my little porker was under weight when she came to me, but she has really packed it on in the past few months!) and Brady needed to gain a few.  It's really too bad it isn't as simple as doing a quick transfer!  I had been on Man for months to switch Brady to a home made diet, or at least soft food (cats really shouldn't have dry food) but he was hesitant to change anything since Brady has had so many changes in the past year.  I had been giving Brady bites of the dog food, leftover scrambled eggs and other little bits here and there but had left the dry food as it was, in an automatic feeder where Brady could eat as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted.  When the vet heard my concerns about Brady vomiting a lot and not gaining weight until I started in with supplementing his diet, she repeated everything I've been saying without me even suggesting that that might be the solution. Man finally conceded and gave me the go-ahead to start the transition to a home made diet.  The vet recommended that we start by giving Brady a purchased wet cat food that was similar to his dry food, then slowly give him more and more purchased raw food until we finally get to the point of the home made diet.  Man bought some decent quality wet food and I began giving it to Brady in small amounts in the morning and evening.  I slowly started mixing the store-bought raw food in and Brady continued to gobble it up and began almost completely ignoring his dry food.  I continued to make sure Brady had dry food available, but it seemed that he was eating less and less of it.  I got to about a 50/50 mix and Brady turned up his nose at it so I decreased the raw just a bit and we were coasting along just fine.  I figured I'd try to increase the raw in the mix again in a few days, but for now just the fact that he was about off the dry food and hadn't vomited in several days was a huge success in my book!  Last night Man finally showed some interest in Brady's new diet and asked if he could feed Brady.  Of course I jumped at the chance to teach him something new and showed him how to prepare Brady's food and Man took Brady's food to the basement (that's the only place we can keep it away from Lolly the Porker!) and made sure he had a little dry food available, too.  This morning, when I went downstairs to feed Brady, I found that he hadn't touched his wet food but his dry food was completely gone and there were two piles of vomit on the basement floor.  I can't figure out where we went wrong, but I can't help but wonder if it had something to do with the fact that Man fed Brady last night, and Brady is so used to Man giving him dry food.  It's the strangest thing and I'm definitely going to have to experiment with things and keep a close eye on Brady for a while.  I'm so thankful Man is on board with changing the food and wants to help out, but it looks as if I may be doing all the animal feedings from now on!

Naked blogging: I choose to be engaged today

I don't wear my engagement ring all the time.  I know so many people who do, but somehow I'm always afraid something will happen to it when I'm cleaning, doing dishes and rough housing with the kids or the dogs.  I take it off as soon as I get home and don't put it back on until I'm ready to leave the next morning.  The other day, as I ran back into the bathroom to grab it out of my little jewelry dish I said, "I choose to be engaged today."  Man was brushing his teeth at the time and gave me a look as if I'd hurt his feelings.  I didn't understand why it upset him but Man explained that he took that as me having the option to not be engaged. To me, it's the process of making a conscious decision each day to put my all into our relationship and now that I've explained that, he actually likes that I say my little daily mantra.  I truly believe you have to remind yourself daily why you love your significant other.  Some days it's easy; other days you really struggle to remember.   I read an article today about "happily-ever-after" versus "reality-ever-after" that said it so much better than I could ever hope to:

"Being married isn’t one decision. Being married is deciding to stay married every single day. It’s hard. It’s boring. It’s not terribly cinematic."

It's hard to admit that it's not all roses and puppy dogs, especially when we're not even married yet.  No one likes to expose their flaws.  But it's important to talk about those things and to remember, we're not alone on those down days.  Everyone goes through it, and it's the healthy, successful relationships that come out the other side.  I hope I can remember this and continue my mantra now and forever.  I am so lucky to have found the Man of my dreams, and today and forever, I choose to be with him.

I love the way she sleeps

My little girl is growing up

Last year's "new girl" is this year's superstar.  She has gone above and beyond anything that anyone should have asked of her, picking up extra shifts, covering other stores and doing way more of my managerial duties than I like to admit.  And all of this without a pay raise.  She had a promotion dangled like a carrot at the beginning of the season and then snatched away when an old manager returned to the company looking for a management position.  She took it all in stride.  Today, she has finally received the recognition and promotion she deserves.  Today, I welcome my "new girl" to the management team.  I couldn't be happier for her.  She has clawed her way to the top and I am proud to call her my friend, my former employee, my equal.

It's a wonderful life

Remember when I said I have some really awesome family?  Well, I really do.  In fact, I have more examples.

Sunday I was completely wiped out after work.  Man called and asked me to stop at the grocery store on my way home to pick up a few last minute things for dinner.  I got home and he had things almost completely ready and was just waiting on my few items...which, of course, I got wrong.  Instead of getting frustrated that he put so much work into something I screwed up, Man totally rolled with it and made my mistakes work.  And we had an amazing dinner!  It was really awesome to come home to yummy smells and happy faces around the table!

Monday Man tromped through pastures, ducked into corn fields, climbed a semi and sat on farm equipment all in the sweltering heat so I could have the engagement shoot I've always wanted down at Dad's farm.  Yes, we did get engaged  in January, and yes we did just get our engagement pictures done in July, but time kind of got away from us, deal with it.  Additionally, an old friend from high school gave up an evening with her family and joined us in that sweltering heat at 7 months pregnant to take the pictures for us!

Wednesday BBS and I took 9 kids from 4 different families to the zoo.  We had BBS's 2 little ones (the 3 older ones are on vacation with our parents), Man's 3, the 3 kids BBS babysits and BBS's niece, ranging in age from 10 months to 11 years.  We sweat, we got rained on, we had an awesome time.  We fully acknowledge that we're crazy for taking so many kids, especially with only 2 adults, but there's no one else I would have rathered do it with!

Life may not be perfect, but I'm not sure how it could get much better!

Potty mouths

Yes, I really mean poop talk.  If you're not amused by poop humor, maybe skip this one.  You've been warned.  Also, potty mouth language, just a heads up.

Last night, as Man and I were preparing for bed we were talking about our days and trying to figure out why we both had such bad headaches.  Headache talk always leads to analysing what I've eaten over the course of the past day or two, because usually I can track my aches and pains back to eating an allergen and last night was no different.  Man started with my intake yesterday and eventually got back to the three ears of corn on the cob I'd eaten at our 4th of July cookout.  Yes, I know better, but come on, it's corn on the cob on the 4th of July and you just can't pass that up!  So as we're talking food intake and he mentioned the corn, I burst out with "so that's why I shit my brains out today!" and we both moaned at my over sharing but then laughed uncontrollably, with Man commenting on how inappropriate I am and inquiring as to whether I was going to discuss texture and color.  I pretended I was disgusted, so Man launched into a description of his "frothy" poo, saying he had a crappuccino and we again dissolved into fits of laughter.

It's true that we're gross.  It's true that we overshare.  It's true that we're horribly inappropriate.  But it's also true that we really enjoy each other and can have more fun brushing our teeth together than I could have with some past boyfriends actually going out and doing some fun activity together.  I really am so lucky to love someone who loves me not only for my good, appropriate side, but also for the silly, dirty, inappropriate, craziness that is me!

Damn cat

The dogs sleep gated in with us so Brady can have free reign of the house during the night, since the dogs rule during the day.  Every morning when he hears Man and I stirring, Brady comes to the gate at our bedroom door and starts meowing.  When I get up to let the dogs out, Brady usually stays put next to the door and the dogs go by without encounter but some mornings he stands crosswise in the hall so we cannot pass, meowing like he's distressed that the dogs are coming toward him.  It's like he can't figure out that the dogs couldn't care less if he's there or not, as long as they can get to the back door to go out to potty.  I can't decide if he thinks he's so special that he just can't wrap his head around the fact that the dogs don't care or if he is literally scared stiff!

I have some really awesome family

Two of my cousins came out to the house yesterday to work on our AC unit, which has been peeing all over our basement floor.  Correction: my cousin's husband and my other cousin's boyfriend came out.  They're not even technically family, but they still do these awesome things.  Turns out the drain line was damaged so they repaired it and updated it so Man and I can do maintenance on it ourselves.

Another cousin (who is also, legally, not a cousin, but is my aunt's ex-husband's son and chooses to stick around our family, because that's just how great we are!) is coming out next week to work on some plumbing issues we have and install our new dishwasher.

BBS has been busting her hump preparing things for my bridal showers.  Yes, showers.  As in, plural.  And BBS is taking the lead on both of them.  She has recruited an aunt or two from each side of the family and they've been working like mad women to ensure I have not one (my wedding), not two (my shower) but three (my second shower) special days.

BBS and hubby threw a 4th of July party yesterday and not only invited Man and I (who were the only ones there who were kidless, since our girls are with their mom) but waited dinner on us (since I had to work) and then raved about the strawberry pretzel salad Man made in which the jello refused to set up, so it was more like strawberry pretzel mush.  We had a great time and although the kids struggled with waiting until dark to set off the fireworks, we still got to see some of the prettiest ones!

For the past several weeks, Man has dealt with a grumpy, sleep deprived, over-worked-and-under-paid, confused and weepy Karen and taken it all in stride.

I've really been struggling lately with trying to find a balance between work, home, wedding planning and starting my It Works! business, but with such an awesome family, I know it will all work out.  I am so lucky to love so many amazing people!

And this is why I love you

Text conversation between Man and I:

Me: "We keep saying we're going to put that wine in the fridge and then not thinking about it when we're home to do it.  You're home and I'm thinking about it.  Just saying."

Man: "Ok.  It's in the refrigerator."

Me: "And this is why I love you :)"

Man: "That's why?"

Me: "Because you humor me and don't question my ridiculous logic, all the while spoiling me by enabling me to drink on a work night?  Umm...yeah."

Me: "That and the millions of other reasons why you're amazing!"

Man: "If you say so."

Yep, he's all that and modest, too!

It really does Work!

I kept seeing these facebook posts from people who put Defining Gel on sunburns and bug bites and had near-instant relief, but I thought they were crazy.  How can a product designed to firm and smooth your skin take the sting out of a sunburn or the itch out of a bug bite?  And then I tried it.  Amazing!  I was already completely sold using this product on my chest and upper arms (I can't have saggy arms showing in my wedding dress!) and seeing great results but now I'm a total believer in its many awesome uses!  I've had a huge bug bite for the past several days that seemed to be getting worse instead of better and finally broke down and used the Defining Gel last night.  Within 15 minutes I didn't itch any more and this morning, while the bite isn't any smaller, I could barely feel it.  Even though it didn't itch, I put more gel on after my shower and I haven't scratched once today!  I'm in love!

Our little family

They're all grumpy so they don't want to hang out together but they're such a pack they just can't bear to be too far apart!

I've become one of those women

It was purely unintentional. I just realized it. And I think I'm going crazy. I've lived on my own for so long I've learned to take care of just about anything around the house on my own. Yet somehow when Man moved in and started helping with things I became I've if those helpless women who relies on her man to take care of her. The biggest problem, though is not that it's not me, but that it's causing fights between us. I can admit I've spent a good portion of the past weeks (since Man started his new job and is helping around the house less) irritated with him. But there's no reason to be! Man said he'd install the new under sink trash system we bought (it's one I'd those ones that slides out for easy access) weeks ago but it's been sitting in the garage ever since. Yesterday Lolly got into the trash and Man and I both ended up irritated, though for different reasons. Man was upset with Lolly for getting into the trash while I was upset with Man, because the whole mess could have been avoided if Man had installed that darn trash system. But today it hit me: why am I upset with Man when I could have installed it just as easily? Yes, Man said he'd do it and should have done what he said he was going to do, but it's my house too and it's about time I start acting like it. I'm so lucky to love a Man who puts up with me getting irritated with him and lets me come to these realizations on my own instead of beating me over the head with them! For the record, I installed the new trash system this morning.

The butt of every joke

Man: "Your damn dog is licking himself again."

Me: "He's anxious!  That's how he expresses himself."

Man: "He's like an alcoholic, but with licking his crotch."

Me: "Is there such a thing as crotch lickers anonymous?"

I'm pretty sure the animals intentionally wait until we've run the vacuum to drop these nice hair balls.

Warning: Grumpy Karen ahead

I'm having a day.  I promise Happy Karen will be back tomorrow, but today you're getting Grumpy Karen.  Deal with it.  I'm tired, I'm working someone else's store and it's dirty and unorganized and I'm tired.  Or did I say that one already?  I'm not sure, I'm tired.  In the past 12 days I've had 1 day off (the vast majority of which I spent on the road to visit The Girl and at a meeting for The Arc) and worked 83 hours, not counting the 10+ hours I will have worked by the end of the day today and the 12ish hours I'll work tomorrow.  Oh, and I'm working all weekend.  So please forgive me if I'm a little tired.  And grumpy.

So here it is: I just can't understand how some people can be so incredibly stupid and still have the confidence to speak.  I don't know how many times today I just wanted to throttle someone just for opening their mouth.  Thankfully I'm a professional, and I maintained what my employees call my "customer voice" but on the inside I was screaming "SHUT UP!!!"  I am beyond ready for this day to be over so I can go home, get a hug from Man and crash.  Who's going to bring me a beer?!

I had big plans to write this long post to wrap up some of the stuff that's been going on this past week with Man starting his new job, Wolfey being sick (we found out the poopy accidents weren't from the brownie but a bacterial infection in his GI tract), stuff with The Girl and our girls being with us this past weekend but when went looking for posts to link back to I realized the last 3 posts I wrote aren't here.  I'm beyond frustrated with this darn blog, completely exhausted and just a bit irritable so rather than go on and on about my technology terrors, I'm just going to say that even with as much as I've had go wrong lately, life is really good.  I have a steady income and the opportunity to earn some overtime the past few weeks, a comfortable roof over my head, food in my belly and some awesome friends and family.  In times like this, it's really easy to focus on the negative and how strung out I am (from lack of sleep, not from drugs, though at this point maybe they'd keep me going!) but I'm choosing to see how lucky I am.  I wish all my readers a happy Wednesday, a beautiful Spring and a sunny outlook!

Happy Father's Day

The girls and I woke up early (or earlier than Man, anyway!) and made blackberry, raspberry and blueberry crisp, as well as bacon and eggs.  Man woke up just as things were wrapping up and we had an awesome breakfast together as a family before I had to leave for work.  There's absolutely nothing like spoiling your man with homemade breakfast and spoiling the kids with dessert for breakfast!  Bonus: the girls thought they were getting some awesome treat, when really it was a sneaky way to get some different fruits into them!  On the way to work, I stopped by my parents' house and surprised my dad with a second berry crisp.  I'm so lucky to have such amazing fathers in my life!  Thank you both, and Happy Father's Day!

I would be remiss not to mention that there are undoubtedly some guys out there who would love to be celebrating Father's Day with their little someone specials but are unable.  Whatever the reason you are childless or without your child, know that you are not alone.  Happy Father's Day, Happy Not-a-Father's Day, or just happy day.  I celebrate with you, I grieve with you and, perhaps most importantly, I understand.

Progress

I had my first skinny massage last night and had the best night's sleep I've had in ages.  I don't know if it was the "skinny" or the "massage" but either way I'll be doing that again!  I feel so rested and clear.  Between the detoxifying greens and the amazing sleep last night, I'm feeling way more with-it than I have in a long time.  This is going to be the easiest way to get healthy and fit I've ever tried!

I think we've got some sleepy puppies. Wolfey went to the vet today and is now on antibiotics and seems to be feeling better. I hope this continues!

Puppy risotto

Wolfey still has some icky tummy going on so its rice with just enough meat to get him to eat it for my poor pup tonight. I sure hope he feels better in the morning!

Damn dogs

And this morning Man woke me up around 5am to tell me one of the dogs had just thrown up. I put them outside (and if course couldn't put them on the tie out since Man mowed yesterday and forgot to hook it back up) and got to cleaning. Since I had to wait for the dogs to come back anyway I changed over the laundry. The dogs finally came back but I couldn't get back to sleep. Man says they're conspiring against me but I think they're just trying to help new use my time in a more productive way. It could be the lack of sleep talking.

Apparently it's all Man's fault.

Yesterday Man called to tell me he received confirmation that he'll be starting his new job on Monday; we decided to go out to our favorite local restaurant to celebrate.  We were both so excited that when I arrived home from work we both changed and immediately walked back out the door.  When we got home, we opened the front door to let the dogs out and took them for a walk without even going in the house.  On our walk, we stopped by the post office to get our mail and my It Works! kit was there, so we went straight home for me to dig in to my goodies.  Once again, I was so excited I didn't pay any attention to anything else, but spent a while going through things while Man fed the dogs their dinner, then we each showered and headed to bed.  Several times during the night Wolfey woke us up whining.  This is really out of character for him, but I was so exhausted I just yelled at him to go back to bed.  Finally, around 4am I woke up and took him outside and things settled down for a while, but he was back at it at 6:00.  When I finally got up around 7:30 (I overslept from having my sleep interrupted so many times), I found 2 poopy accidents in the bathroom.  Poor baby was trying to tell me he had icky tummy but I was too wrapped up in my own stuff to understand what he needed.  I woke Man to help me get ready for work and of course he was grumpy that Wolfey had pottied in the house, but I reminded him that Wolfey tried to let us know but he couldn't let himself out to go.  Thankfully Man got up and helped and he reports that Wolfey has been better all day, but I felt so horribly guilty.  It really makes you think twice when a seemingly uneventful decision puts into motion so many other events.  If Man hadn't called to tell me about his job I wouldn't have suggested we celebrate.  If we hadn't gone to celebrate, I would have unpacked my bag as soon as I got home from work.  If I had unpacked my bag, the dogs wouldn't have gotten my lunch leftovers (including a pretty good sized brownie). If the dogs hadn't gotten my brownie Wolfey wouldn't have ended up sick.  The secondary chain of events is if  we hadn't gone for the walk we wouldn't have gotten my It Works! stuff.  If we hadn't gotten that package I would have paid more attention when we got home and seen the brownie packaging in the living room.  If I'd seen the packaging I would have anticipated some icky tummies.  If I had known to be on the lookout I would have gotten up the first time Wolfey woke me and not only would everyone have gotten a better night's sleep, but I wouldn't have had such a mess to clean up this morning.  I guess the moral of the story is, never celebrate Man's accomplishments.  I'm so glad to have figured that out.  He's going to be so happy!  Maybe we should celebrate...

Reality check

I was really having one of those days this morning.  I overslept, which sent everything tumbling all wonky.  I took a shower and realized was out of my favorite conditioner so I used the other stuff and now my hair is all heavy and weighed down.  I tripped over Wolfey getting ready for work and he looked at me like I'd beaten him, which was just about enough to send me to tears (especially since I'm PMSing).  BBS called and as much as I wanted to talk to her I had to rush her off the phone since I was running late.  I packed my lunch for work and couldn't find anything I needed, so I made a huge mess of the kitchen I just cleaned last night.  Finally, when I realized I was 15 minutes late leaving for work and didn't even have my shoes on yet, I woke Man out of his hibernation (and boy, can he be a bear!) to clean up after me.  I sped as much as I could but was still more than 10 minutes late to work.  Thankfully I always build in a cushion so I can get the store ready without having to rush, so I wasn't late opening my store, but I was definitely running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  It was really looking like it was going to be one of those awful days where absolutely nothing goes right.

And then I got my first customer.  He was a tall, thin, elderly gentleman who needed some help finding something that was right in front of him.  I put on my usual "friendly neighborhood pool supply lady" smile and went about my job, helping him find everything he needed and requesting that he pull up to the curb so I could load the heavy items in his car and he headed out the door.  My next customer, a young woman with a little boy, came in and was very friendly but pretty self sufficient so I told her to let me know if she needed anything but that I was going to stay near the front of the store so that I could see when the elderly gentleman pulled up.  I waited.  And waited.  And waited a little longer.  Finally I started scanning the parking lot to look for him, hoping he hadn't left without his purchases; I saw him standing in the middle of the parking lot with a completely bewildered look on his face.  I told the woman who was in the store what was going on and she offered to go out and help the man, but I was worried that if he was completely confused, having a stranger approach him might scare him, so she then offered to stay in the store while I helped the man.  We finally found his car (it was on the complete opposite side of the parking lot from where he thought it was), got him all loaded up and on his way and I returned to my store to ring out the lady who was watching the store for me.  The first thing she said when I walked in the door was, "I hope he's okay.  If he's that confused, I wonder if he's safe to drive."  Talk about restoring your faith in humanity!

I overslept, but it was because I have a comfortable, safe place in which to lay my head.  I didn't have the conditioner I like, but I had a hot shower and enough resources to have alternative conditioner on hand.  I tripped over my dog, but it's because he wants to be near me.  I rushed BBS off the phone, but she loves me enough to call me even at a time when she knows she may be rushed.  I had troubles packing my lunch, but I have food to pack.  Man was a little grumpy with me about being woken up, but he loves me enough to do it anyway.  I was late to work, but I have a job and enough job security to know that being late one time isn't going to get me fired.  It was such an awesome realization when it occurred to me that this woman had put her errands on hold, volunteered to help a man she'd never spoken to and taken complete responsibility for a store about which she knew nothing and her only concern was for the health and safety for a man she would never meet, and it really put my entire day into perspective.  I am truly thankful that I not only have these wonderful things, but to have these awesome experiences that help me appreciate how lucky I really am.

Now I've done it

All my favorite bloggers (fosterhood, the bloggess, etc.) are on twitter.  I've resisted, because (despite my incessant blogging) I find most social media to be a huge time suck, but at the same time, I've also kind of wanted to see what it's all about.  More out of morbid curiosity than actually wanting to be involved or follow anyone.  But with my new business venture and more opportunities coming down the road (don't worry, I'll keep you posted!) I'm seeing it more as a necessity to connect with my customers rather than a waste of time.  So I'm trying it.  Come check me out!

I'm a lucky girl

My parents recently bought a swim spa and absolutely love the tub but have no clue how to take care of it. Mom called me yesterday asking for help so I picked up some chemicals and a test kit at work and headed to their house this evening. Long story short they had some real issues and I ended up spending a couple hours there. I had told Man I would be home for dinner and finally at 8:30 he text me asking if I was on my way home yet. Since its a half hour drive home I knew I wasn't going to be home at a reasonable time. Thankfully Man knows me well enough to know that when I'm with my mom or BBS I'm never going to be home at a reasonable time! I'm so lucky to have a family I really love to spend tine with and a Man who understands that!

All my favorite boys playing corn hole together

Family party today. Not all men are good with kids. Not all Dads are good with kids other than their own. Somehow I got lucky enough to find a man who us not only a wonderful father but also amazing with my nieces and nephews!

Please note Doll Baby's hilarious get up with his underwear hanging out of his pants. I wish I could show you the previous picture with his pants up under his armpits but it shows his face. He told me he was a hobo. Not sure where he even learned that word but it was pretty funny!

I want.

Have you heard of the NapTV?  This thing is a stool you can sit on, but on the under side there's a TV, so you can lay it on its side to lay on your side or belly to watch TV or you can stand it up over your head so you can lay flat on your back to watch your favorite show.  I think the idea is that it helps drown out the outside noise so you can just get to sleep, but in my opinion, it's scary and a sad commentary on how lazy we are.  And I need one.  I mean, seriously, how many times do I fall asleep on the couch watching a show only to go to bed and be wide awake?  If I could take my show to bed with me, once I fell asleep Man could just put the NapTV on the floor and I'd never know the difference!  I know what you're thinking, "Karen, why not just watch a show on the TV in your bedroom?" but then you have to sit up and when you fall asleep you're all scrunchy or you lay down to watch it and then you get a crick in your neck from trying to angle your head enough to lay down but still see the TV, it's really a pain.  Ahh, first world problems.  If only I were lazy enough to think it was actually worth it!

Naked blogging: It Works! edition

My weight has always been a struggle for me.  Growing up with a sister who was a stick because she took after our mom's side of the family while I was "curvy" (which is just a nice way of saying I've always been a big girl) because I took after our dad's side of the family was always tough, but I really need to stop using that as an excuse to be overweight.  Now is the time and It Works! is the tool.  Check out the rest of the story on my It Works! website.

Lots of rambling, but it's worth it. Just wait for me to get to the point!

Last night Man and I were driving home from a jam packed day together.  We did some housework in the morning, then went to my cousin's house for Man to get a massage (don't worry, he's not just having random people rub him, my cousin is a licensed massage therapist) and for me to sign up to be an It Works! distributor.  By the way, if you haven't heard about this crazy wrap thing, you definitely need to check it out!  I'll post info and links to my website soon!  Anyway, from there we went to visit my grandpa in the nursing home.  I know I haven't given an update in a while, but it's because not much has changed.  He's doing better than he was when he was in the hospital but still not great.  He looks a lot better but is still weak and isn't all there mentally.  They're saying he may not ever recover further than he has, but we're holding out hope.  Okay, where was I?  Oh, yeah... so then we ran some errands and went to dinner.  It wasn't the most exciting day, but it was productive and enjoyable and it was really great to spend the entire day together.  So on the way home, we were talking and laughing and just generally enjoying ourselves.  I got to thinking how sad it is that no one else gets to see the hilarity that is our intimate relationship.  Man brings out a side of me I've never known before and I absolutely love it!  I can truly let go and be fun, silly and spontaneous with him in a way I can't with anyone else.  Even Bestie, who I've known since college, or BBS, who (obviously) I've known my entire life can't get me to relax the way Man can.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that I truly hope that everyone has a Man in their life, because I know that I am so lucky to love this Man!

It Works!

I just joined an It Works! team! I can't wait to start wrapping and changing people's lives! More info to come soon!

I promise I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I'm just having issues with my smarter-than-me phone and have been too busy to sit down at a computer. I promise I'll be back soon but for now I'm phoning it in with this picture of our adorable girls on our family outing to the zoo the other day.

I'm starting to think Lolly likes her bath.  Not in the sense that she is pleasant during bath time, but in the sense that she purposely does things that result in me having to give her a bath.  And when I say "does things"  I mean "rolls in poop".  Disgusting.  I hope this is just a phase because I'm getting really tired of smelling poo when I lean down to wipe her feet when she comes in and giving her baths every other day!

UPDATE:  I actually wrote this about a week ago but there was just too much going on and I didn't get around to posting it.  Today I was going to post about our zoo trip yesterday but I can't get the pictures to load, so I'm resorting to an old post.  Okay, all that was to say that we have started tieing Lolly in the back yard when she goes outside and she has now gone nearly a week without a bath.  It also keeps Wolfey from wondering as far since he doesn't like to get too far from Lolly.  This is working nicely and also forcing Man and I to walk daily so Lolly can get her exercise.  Win, win, win!

Juicing, part 7, the final days

Wow, I realize this was more than a week ago and I'm just now getting to cleaning up the post and publishing it.  Oops!  I promise I'll wrap this whole juicing thing up soon!

Day 13: Friday, Weight 201
Today is the last day of the full fast.  I was really hoping that number up there was going to be an even 200 but for some reason the weight loss has slowed down.  I can't complain too much, though; 15 pounds in 13 days is pretty impressive.  I'm feeling good and enjoying the fact that I no longer need to eat but I am looking forward to real food again.  I still wonder if this was the most healthy way to do a cleanse, but all in all I feel good and it's been a fairly positive experience.  I really hope we can keep up with juicing once I'm eating.

Day 14: Saturday, Weight 200
I DID IT!!  I had to weigh myself again today just to see if I was able to hit 200 before starting with real food and I did!  I'm really looking forward to dinner tonight!
Later in the day: Dinner was kind of a disappointment.  Man and I took the girls to our favorite restaurant and although it was great to eat again and even better to sit down together as a family, the food just didn't taste that good.  I only ate about half of my meal and took it home with me, hoping it may taste better to me tomorrow.  (Note from the day I'm posting instead of the day I wrote this: it didn't really taste any different.  I'm wondering if it was the food and not me)  I'm really looking forward to seeing how this goes in the future.  The plan is to continue to juice during the day, but to eat a healthy breakfast and dinner.  We'll see!

Sick puppies

Man and I have been crazy busy lately. We ran out of our premade dog food and have been scrounging for whatever we can give them. Admittedly, there have been a couple times lately when that has meant dry food or just a piece of chicken thrown out the back door so they can gnaw on it at their leisure. Unfortunately, this means they haven't been getting their supplements at every meal. I didn't really think about it until Man told me he arrived home to a big Lolly puddle today, but I wonder if that's why Wolfe has been acting out, too. Lolly's illness is kidney disease. Pretty straight forward. If she doesn't get her meds, her kidneys start to shut down, she doesn't process things right and she has accidents. Wolfey's illness, on the other hand, is much more complicated and tends to manifest as behavioral issues. This could explain why he's been licking himself more, why he's regressing in his behavior toward the cat and why he snapped at Man yesterday. It certainly doesn't justify that behavior, but it sure would explain a lot!

Man v. dog

Poor Man is just having problem after problem with the dogs.  First Lolly rolled in something so stinky it about made Man throw up (I was at work so I didn't have to deal with it), then Wolfey bit Man and broke the skin (long story and definitely needs its own post) and then this morning Man and Lolly were going around a corner toward each other and didn't see each other and ended up in a head on collision with Lolly's head hitting into Man's knee.  She hit so hard it brought Man to tears (I can only imagine the headache she must have today!).  He's convinced the dogs are conspiring to take him out and I just feel so bad about what he's going through.  I wish I was the one staying the dogs and kids instead of Man.  Poor guy!  I'm just lucky I love someone who loves my dogs, despite their rotten tendencies!

Voicemail from Man

Sorry I didn't answer but  my phone didn't ring.  Umm, I just got your message.  Did you call me Wolf?  I'm not Wolfey, you know.  Are you confused?  Anyway, call me back.

Either I mumbled, he can't hear or we're both crazy but I'm pretty sure I didn't call him Wolf.  The world may never know!

Okay, I promise I haven't been intentionally neglecting you guys!  I did write and publish a post late Wednesday night but some how it's GONE!  I'm not sure what happened and unfortunately I can't even remember what it was (give me a break, it was late!) but it's MIA, much as it appears I have been the last several days!

I do have an excuse, though.  Wednesday I spent about 5 hours on the road driving to have lunch with an old college friend and visit The Girl.  It was a great time but really exhausting.  Of course, it didn't help that I had time to kill in between so I went shopping!  I was hoping to get a dress for our engagement pictures next week but came home with two dresses, six shirts and a pair of shoes!  Thursday Man and I went to IKEA in hopes of finding something to help us organize the girls' room and came home with about $125 worth of stuff, none of which was for the girls!  Oops!  Still, it was a great day and we really needed that fun time together.  We got home just in time to do a quick clean up of the house before our realtor arrived to check out the house and give us the bad news that not only has the house has depreciated about 25% since I bought it five years ago, but there have been so many foreclosures in our area that even the nice houses are being listed for way less than they're worth.  So this whole selling the house thing may have to be put on hold a little while.  I did the math and with Man getting a new job in Cincinnati and me already working on the outskirts of Cincinnati, we could save almost $750 a month in mileage just by moving closer to the state line (we currently live in nowhere'sville Indiana).  We know the benefits of moving, but now that we know the cost we had to sit down and really hash it out last night.  We still haven't decided for sure what we're going to do, but at least now we know our options and have had the opportunity to really talk about it.  We shall see what happens!

So anyway, that's my laundry list of reasons why I haven't been around much lately.  Forgive me?  I promise I'll finish up the juicing info as soon as I can!

Juicing, part 6

Day 11: Wednesday, Weight 202
Things seem pretty normal now.  I don't even miss eating any more.  I still think I need protein and that doing this long term would be pretty unhealthy, but all in all I'm feeling good.  No more horrible headaches, no more hunger pangs (my stomach does still growl a lot; I guess I'm just able to ignore it) and I'm no longer having cravings.  I'm looking forward to getting back to eating and seeing how my attitude toward food has changed.  Don't get me wrong, I'd still love to chow down on a huge melty pizza or dig into a giant bowl of ice cream, but I also look at that number up there and realize how close I am to being under 200 pounds and that feels better than any food could ever taste.  Oh, boy, I just went all Kate Moss.  Sorry about that!  Really, though, I do look better and feel better about myself.  BBS says she can really see it in my face and while I'm not seeing the weight loss in my body or how my clothes fit, my face definitely looks thinner and my skin is so much clearer!  Though we won't be running again until after this is done, Man and I have started walking daily and I think that's going to help keep up the weight loss even after I go back to eating real food.

Side note, I got to spend the evening with my mom tonight and it was really great to catch up.  My parents live in a beautiful, quiet neighborhood and we sat out on the porch and talked for hours.  I've missed that!  Grandpa is still in the nursing home and not doing the best, but things are finally settling down and we're all having an opportunity to catch up on some much needed together-but-not-at-the-hospital time!

Day 12: Thursday
Scratch that about not seeing the weight loss in my body or in how my clothes fit.  I can't keep my pants on I think I need a belt!  Today was a truck day at work and every time I bent down to pick something up or move a box I had to stop and pull my pants up.  My coworker was teasing me that she's going to get me suspenders for my underwear.  This is crazy!  It's amazing how all the sudden I'm really seeing the weight loss.  I have high hopes of losing 25 pounds by the wedding.  On our walk tonight Man and I discussed how far we've come and what our plan is for keeping this up.  To do the true 15 day fast I shouldn't eat until Monday but we agreed that tomorrow will be the final day of the full fast since we'll have the girls for the weekend and we both think it's more important to sit down to dinner as a family than to do another day and a half of the juice fast.  I'll do juice only until dinner time, when we'll all eat a healthy family meal.

I realize I haven't given an update on Man in a while, but it's because he has stopped keeping notes.  He says he's doing well and feels like he can sustain eating one sensible meal a day and juicing the rest of the day for quite some time.  We'll see how that works once I'm eating again and he has more access to food, but I hope he's right.  He hasn't seen as much weight loss as me, but he says he can feel it in how his clothes fit and I can see it in his skin and clarity of mind.  I'm so proud of him for completely stopping drinking pop (he was drinking nearly half a case of Diet Coke a day) and nearly eliminating the processed foods.  He still has a ways to go to really eat healthy, but this is amazing progress in a short time and he's really trying!