Bad Weather

We had some awful weather this week - hail and tornado warnings. Just last week on Mother's Day there were tornadoes very near here. Moving around so often as a kid gave me a healthy exposure to different kinds of "weather" - tornadoes and thunderstorms in Oklahoma and earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis in Hawaii. Not that I was ever in a tsunami, but in Hawaii they teach schoolchildren what to do in case of one. Come to think of it, I wasn't actually in a volcano, either. But on was erupting while we lived their and we did stand a few feet away from the oozing lava. Anyway... Because of all that I've never been especially nervous about weather. I'm not a tornado chaser, by any means, (though Twister is one of my very favorite movies of all time!) but I'm not one to run to Walmart every time there's a rain cloud either like certain Grannies I have! And yes we've told her Walmart is a bad place to be in a tornado - some habits are just too hard to break.

But all that was to say this...the bad weather on Tuesday made me nervous. Just realizing that I have four little ones to get to a safe spot and that I could be doing that by myself if hubby were at work was a little frightening. So was the fact that only one flashlight had batteries in it and once the power went out we had NO contact with the outside world (cell phones only worked some of the time). So I'm making some quick bad weather plans.

Here are directions from The Weather Channel on what to do in case of a tornado...

In a Frame Home
Make sure you have a portable radio,
preferably a NOAA weather radio, for information.
Seek shelter in the lowest
level of your home (basement or storm cellar). If there is no basement, go to an
inner hallway, a smaller inner room, or a closet. Keep away from all windows.
You can cushion yourself with a mattress, but do not use one to cover
yourself. Do cover your head and eyes with a blanket or jacket to protect
against flying debris and broken glass. Don't waste time moving mattresses
around.
Keep your pet on a leash or in a carrier.
Multiple tornadoes can
emerge from the same storm, so do not go out until the storm has passed.
Do not leave a building to attempt to "escape" a tornado.
In a Mobile Home
Leave your mobile home immediately and take shelter elsewhere.
Outside
Try to get inside and seek a small protected space with no windows.
Avoid large-span roof areas such as school gymnasiums, arenas, or shopping
malls.
If you cannot get inside, crouch for protection beside a strong
structure, or lie flat in a ditch or low-lying area and cover your head and neck
with your arms or a piece of clothing.
In a Car Ideally, you should avoid
driving when tornadoes or other kinds of dangerous weather threaten, because a
vehicle is a very unsafe place to be. If, however, this is not possible, stay as
calm as possible, and assess the situation.
Your best option might be to get
out of the car and lie flat in a ditch or other low-lying area that is
sufficiently deep enough to protect against the wind.
If you do so, beware
of water runoff from heavy rain that could pose a hazard; get as far away from
the vehicle as possible and shield your head from flying debris.
Or, if possible, take shelter immediately in a nearby building

I have lots to do around here to prepare including making a bad weather kit and buying a weather radio. Any ideas about what must be in the kit?

Things change

My Sunday was lovely. After Sunday School the kids and I headed out of town to a family reunion and we all had a great time. It was wonderful to catch up with cousins and let the kids meet cousins they didn't know they had. It was wonderful.
But Sunday evening I got some very upsetting news. My pastor announced his resignation. He is taking a church about two hours away from here. I am heartbroken at the idea that they'll be leaving. I feel like I'm losing part of my family! (And my babysitter! What will I do without Lauren!?!)
And yet as Casey and I talked and then as I talked to Sherri, my pastor's wife, I can see God's hand in all of this. I know my pastor to be a man of prayer and I have faith that he is following God's plan.
It's so uncomfortable when God changes things, isn't it? I cling so tightly to the idea that I can control our little lives, even picking and choosing the areas that I turn back over to Him. Please Lord, change this and this, but don't change this! Growing up as an army brat, I swore that once I got grown I would settle down and never move! But for all my big plans, things do change. People come and go from our lives. Friends we see several times a week are suddenly "email only." Family dies. People change and make decisions that separate us. Even my precious babies who, right now, consume all my time, will need me less and less as they grow.

The only relationship I can truly rely on is my relationship with God. So why is it the easiest to put off? The easiest to coast along in?

Mother's Day

I'm glad I read this post of Meredith's the other day. Levi brought me these beautiful blooms from our garden yesterday. Unfortunately he left the stems so more flowers would grow:) They fit in the dish my grandma bought me in the mountains, though, and really brightened up my kitchen. Isn't he the sweetest?
Happy Mother's Day!

Wrapping Up Kindergarten

Only three more weeks until I'll officially declare this school year over. Levi has done so well. We've worked our way through the starfall.com website and his reading is really exceptional for a kindergartener. I know that sounds like bragging, but I really can't take much credit for it...he just seemed to pick it up. I started him on English for the Thoughtful Child this spring and we both like it. It does have quite a bit of writing and he gets a little tired of that. Sometimes I make him plow through and sometimes I let him narrate to me.
We've also covered the whole Saxon K book and we're working on Saxon 1. I really love Saxon's spiral approach of doing a little of everything everyday, building on concepts slowly. But Levi does get bored with it, so I edit quite a bit when I know he's had enough repetition. As a matter of fact, we probably could've skipped Saxon K altogether. Now I know.
He's on Book 3 of the Draw Write Now series. I love these books for drawing and handwriting. Levi loves to draw so he loves them, too. We're almost done with the beginning MindBenders book and Beginning Geography: How to Use a Map - both of these have been fun. This spring we started doing Spelling as a separate subject using Spelling Workout A. I skipped the first few lessons because they seemed a little simplistic for a kid who's already reading, but the book itself is really good. We've done lots of other things like making a nature notebook, learning hymns, memorizing the books of the Bible and learning the catechism. Most importantly (to me, anyway) we've both gotten used to the idea of homeschooling and learned to adjust things when they need to be adjusted.
I planning now for next fall. I've planned to follow the general outline of The Well Trained Mind since I first read the book when Levi was a baby. The thing that appeals most to me is the idea of studying history in the order that it happened. We bought The Story of the World already and Levi is going through the activity book picking out projects he wants us to do (will I really be able to stomach making a real chicken mummy? that's right mummifying a chicken we bring home from Kroger, y'all).
Since we'll be beginning with ancient history in the fall I wanted to go back just a little farther and study how history started in the first place. Of course Levi already knows the creation account from the Bible. But I wanted to really delve into it a little deeper this summer so we're going to do a unit study on Genesis using books like these
The Creation
Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden
Dinosaurs of Eden
Dinosaurs by Design
The True Story of Noah’s Ark
Tower of Babel
There will probably be a lot of emphasis on dinosaurs if I know Levi...I just plan on exploring whatever he shows an interest in.
I think I'll post about what I'm planning for next year later since this post is already probably more than you ever wanted to know. Just one (maybe two) last thing(s). If you're homeschooling little ones or thinking about it, Holly has a great series going on here, here, and here. And I've decided to start kindergarten with Brenna next fall, even though she's just turning four this summer. I'm certainly not trying to rush her at all, but it's really just a matter of labels. She insists on doing school with Levi anyway and if she isn't ready for first grade work after one year of Kindergarten we can always do another year. For me having a grade level is just about the kids being able to answer "what grade are you in?" when other kids ask them. It will make history study much easier, though. We'll study ancient history, for example, next year when Levi is in the first grade and Brenna is in Kindergarten so she'll start at the beginning, too.

Recuperating

Everyone is feeling better...we're left with just a few sniffles and stuffy heads. Everything looks better after a visit to Grandma's house. The pecan trees are in bloom - maybe not so great for my allergies, but definitley balm for my soul! I don't know why Grandma's yard makes me feel so much better, and I don't know why I don't load up the kids and go more often. They had a blast fishing...

And I got to eat fish and unwind while the kids played and my uncle put the baby to sleep... It just doesn't get much better than that.

Still sick...

The kids are all better and straining at the bit to get outside and play. It is beautiful here - blue skyies, light breezes. Casey is even feeling better. But I'm still sick. I'm guessing it's a full-on sinus infection cause I feel lousy! I'm going to doctor myself up this evening and go to bed early. I have to get better before Friday - my grandparents are having a fish fry!

Some Sort of Spring flu has knocked us for a loop

I think this is the first time that all of us have been sick at one time - a right of passage, I suppose for moms of "large" families. We've all had fevers, sinus issues, and assorted other aches and pains all week. Well, Brenna has really only had a runny nose so I guess this might not qualify as my first epidemic after all. But it was major enough to keep us all home from church today and that almost never happens. I hate to admit this, but it was so relaxing to get up and just hang out at home. Casey is usually home on Saturday mornings now that he's quit his side business, but he's usually up bright and early to work downstairs (that reminds me, I need to post more pictures soon). So it's pretty rare that I get to sleep in but that's just what I did this morning. It was lovely.
Despite being quite sick this week, I've still had more energy than I can remember having in a long time. Nursing Christian has been tough for the last few months and, as sad as I was to end it, I feel a lot better physically. It's been the perfect time to start the getting organized plan. The new grocery plan is up and running. I've really just gone back to the way I used to do things, which I'll have to write about after the kids go to bed. But I'm also making a lot more things from scratch and looking for a lot of substitutes for the convenience foods we've gotten (much too) used to. The reality of having four little kids doesn't always match my ideal of making all our food from scratch. Sometimes it's better to feed them frozen pizza if it means we have time to do a science project or play outside a little longer. But we all like Casey to be home to play, too. And the better steward I am of our resources, the more he can be home. It's all a big balancing act. Which hopefully will be easier when my ears stop popping.

Field Day Is Tough on Babies

Here's a picture of Christian because I can't believe I forgot to take the camera with me to Field Day. We're just getting involved in the homeschool group here in town and so far Levi is really enjoying it. Today was the first really good and hot day - to hot for me and the littles to stand outside and watch, but that was fine with Levi. He made new friends and was fine. It's always me that's a little nervous.

We were all pretty tuckered out when we got home though.

Spring Schedule

Okay, here's the first draft of the new spring schedule. We'll see what gets tweaked over the next few days...

6 AM
Feed Christian
I’d like to get up and have some quiet time in the mornings
7 AM
Jack’s usually up by now, I’d like everybody to get up and start on their morning chart before Casey gets home
Breakfast
We can all sit down for breakfast together and then I can take a shower while Casey hangs out with the kids
Before 9 AM
Casey goes to sleep
School time
Feed Christian and put him down for a nap around 10
Around 11
Finish up school for the morning
Kids play
I can do whatever I need to work on for that day
1 PM
Lunch for everybody
Kid need to pick up toys while I fix lunch
After we eat, Jack goes down for a nap and big kids pick out books for reading time
Quiet Rest Time/ Reading Time
Big kids read or are read to for 30 min to an hour, then rest w/tv
While they rest I can work at my desk or on whatever I didn’t get done earlier
Around 2:30, feed Christian and put him down for an afternoon nap
After QRT (3- 4)
Go outside to play
5 PM
Come inside to fix supper
Wake up Casey
Kids can play
6 PM
Eat supper
Clean up kitchen, kids pick up toys
Baths & get ready for bed @ 8
Feed Christian at 8 and put him to bed
Around 9
Casey gets ready for work
I can finish up my projects
Go to bed at 11

Well, that would be a "regular" day. There are lots of exceptions to the rule...
Grocery shopping on Thurs @9 - Levi can do school after we get home
Library Tues @ 10:00 - Levi can do school after we get home
Church Wed @ 7 - supper at 5:30
Baseball practice 5:30 Monday - supper @7
6:30 Wednesday - supper @ 5:30
Baseball games? Who knows?
Thorough housecleaning - Friday mornings 9-11, short school after
Field Trips/Play dates - Friday afternoons

I got something on my list started! I'm so excited! I've already missed my bedtime, though. I'm going to need to work on that.

Getting Organized

This sure seems to be a recurring theme around here. That's probably because, while I love getting organized - containers! lists! schedules! - staying organized is not my strong suit. Hmmp. Not my strong suit, indeed. And things change so fast around here that I have to revamp everything pretty regularly so even if I did manage to stick with a plan for any length of time, I'd be making lots of adjustments all the time. At least that's my story.

So back to the organizing. When the first Duggar special came on tv (and I have them on tape, y'all) I just knew I'd pick up a couple of tips. And I did - we now write our names on cups and only buy one kind of socks - the thing that stood out the most was a comment the dad made about the mom not really being all that organized until their fourth child came along, at which point it became a matter of survival:) I, um, see what they mean. I have Mommy Brain in the extreme. And, yet, I essentially have to be the brain for myself and four other people. If I don't write it down, it never happened. Also, as the kids get bigger there's more to do - homeschool, baseball, church things, etc.
So all of this has been to say that I'm going to spend this spring getting things in order with a system that will be easy to live with. Some things I've already got figured out, but I'll be writing about all of it here because, like I said, if I don't write it down, it never happened. And on that note, here are the first areas I'll be working on...

• getting the car in order for spring/summer outings - I have a good start here, but I still need to clean out the car and get it nice and neat
• kids rooms need to de-cluttered. I like the way both rooms are organized, but sometimes there is just too much stuff
• the grocery shopping system is working very well, but I want to get it written down and I want to work on spending less on groceries
• laundry! I've tried doing some every day and I've tried saving it all for one big laundry day, but neither of those plans seem to work to well for us.
• my kitchen needs organizing something awful - the fridge is crowded with leftovers no one ever eats, I can't remember what's in the downstairs freezer, and my cabinets are pretty inadequate for the way I shop.
• Jack needs to start potty training, which doesn't sound like an organizational issue. But trying to get four kids quickly to the potty in Walmart for an emergency is a feat for a civil engineer:)
• Our daily schedule needs revamping now that we're going places again. Staying home has been lovely this fall and winter, and I'm still trying not to run around much, but it's time to venture back into the world.

That's not all (by any means), but it's all I can think about right this minute without my brain exploding so I'll leave it at that for now. Hopefully, I can get some work done on our schedule today and post an update tomorrow. Hopefully.

I can't decide if this is scary or hysterical...

I just read this article, "Three Kids? You Showoff" by Pamela Paul, in the Post. It's hard for me to imagine that people really think it takes a million (that's right, the author guesstimates a million) dollars to raise a child. Or that anyone would have a child to show off. They do realize that children are real live people, right, not a new purse or a cool car. Right? And children need a nanny? Or two nannies? And squash?!? Are people really making their kids take squash lessons to get them into Harvard? I had no idea my poor children were so deprived! Only one mom to care for all four of them? Only one extra activity per year (regular old baseball? I guess a state school is in their future, huh?)? Cold diaper wipes? Plain old wooden blocks instead of an iPod or Wii?
Check back with me in 12 years to see how much we spent on Levi - I'm guessing we'll come in a little under Ms. Paul's budget.

Staving Off Mommy Guilt Via Advanced Planning

Levi's first baseball practice was last week on what seemed like the coldest day this year. The long sleeves I put on the kids were useless in the face of biting wind. Not the best of times to discover that Casey had cleaned out the trunk of my car for me...taking all the jackets inside. So how come I was still the one feeling guilty about my freezing little ones? Cause I'm the mommy, that's why. But my friend Debbie came to the rescue pulling hoodies out of the back of her van like some kind of supermom, wordlessly reminding me that I need to get our "on the go" stuff organized. Through the winter we stayed home a lot, just venturing out for church and our library's storytime. But now that baseball has started up we'll be running a lot more and running with a baby and a toddler (and a preschooler...and, oh did I mention, a kindergartener?) requires much more stuff. And so I must organize the stuff. Also, organizing the stuff is a handy way to avoid trying to figure out why I feel threatened when other moms appear to have it more together than I do. Cause really, that's a whole other post.
So...what does one need to keep several small children warm or cool (you just know as soon as I remember to put sweatshirts in the car it will be 99 degrees), fed, entertained, safe, clean (enough), and out of (too much) mischief?

• sweatshirts or jacket
• baby wipes and diapers
• a small first aid kit
• a potty seat lined with a diaper in a plastic bag
• paper towels
• extra clothes & underwear for babies and toddlers
• a throw blanket and/or plastic tablecloth for picnics or for sitting on when the ground is wet
• Tylenol & Benedryl ( I might add Valium to this list later)
• plastic bags and baggies
• sunscreen
• a hand broom to knock the sand of the playground set before they get in the car
• drinks and snacks
• toys, paper and crayons or markers (which would hold up better in a hot trunk? Probably markers, huh?)

I have a rubbermaid container in the trunk that usually holds most of this stuff, but I may need to upsize a tad. On the one hand, I like to be a simple mom.

Need a drink? There's the water fountain.

Want a snack? Use your money.

Bored? Go play on the playground.

But my kids are too little for all that simpleness to be very effective. One mom with four kids (one who's yelling "hey, mom, watch this" like every.five.seconds.) is NOT simple and I need to just admit that and move on. So what am I forgetting on this list? What other possible scenarios could I be prepared for?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

I certainly did. Jack woke us all up very early but as I was grumbling to myself I remembered Mary walking to the garden to prepare Christ's body. I'm sure she wasn't complaining about the early hour - she was on her way to do the only thing she knew to do for her Master. And aren't I doing all of this for Him? So I snuggled with my babies and we read the Resurrection story. What better way to start the day?!
The day wasn't all perfect (um, by any stretch of the imagination), but I did have a wonderful peaceful feeling all day long. Here's hoping I can hold onto it.
Because baseball starts tonight.

Jobs

Being a mom is a big job all by itself. Even just raising one child - feeding them healthy food, seeing that they're educated, involved in appropriate activities, making sure that they grow and develop at the rate they should, all the various appointments involved, making sure they get enough love and attention - well it takes a lot of brainpower. Multiply that by four. And factor in a husband with scheduling issues ( to put it mildly!). Add in homeschooling, church, and trying to run a house. No wonder I'm tired:) It doesn't leave much time for deep thought. Or any thought for that matter, which is why posting here is so random. It isn't that we aren't doing interesting things, I just don't have time to blog about them.
I do seem to have especially a lot on my plate right now...Christian is teething (the first one is through! yeah! please no one remind me how many more to come!). Levi is also having some dental issues so we're finding a dentist. Fun. Can you feel my dread? I hate the dentist. Speaking of Levi, he's finishing up everything I had planned for kindergarten already, but I hate to lose the momentum we finally have going so we're starting on some new stuff. And the kids have started Kids Club at church on Wednesday nights, which is fun, but really messes up our evening routine. And there is red crayon melted on about 1/4 of the clothes we own - any ideas? And I'm trying to rearrange the grocery budget since groceries have gone up right along with gas. The church library I started is still sitting in my garage. And the garden (how can I be behind already?!). Plus Easter!
Okay, I've got to stop there. I'm getting tired just thinking about all that. Actually, I'm going to have to scratch some of that. I just realized as I was typing it out (and that is only a partial list!) just how nuts it is to try to do all that with four little ones. No wonder I haven't been anticipating Easter like I want to. Who's had time to think about it! So I'm off to look at my to do list and see what should be cut and what should be postponed. Then I'm getting out the Easter stuff!

Great Post at Mommy Life

I just thought y'all might want to take a look at this post. This is a subject that really touches a nerve with me. I came right up against it for the first time last year at Thanksgiving and I really liked reading an author's take on it.

Consignment Shopping for Kids

There is not much secondhand shopping in our little town. Yardsales are wonderful and plentiful, but it's tough to get out of the house alone on Saturday mornings and, frankly, I'd pay full-price before I'd try to take four kids yardsaling. Thankfully there is a huge consignment sale for all things kid-related twice a year. I've been shopping there since Levi was a baby and in the last few years I've sold some things, too. Last year I even made more than I spent! Last fall I was too busy to sell anything and only shopped a little on the last day (everything half off!), so I'm planning on making up for it next week! Hopefully, I'll be able to clean out some storage space, make a little money, and get all of the kids spring/summer clothing bought in one fell swoop. Since this is a big project I thought I'd think out loud for a bit and try to get organized.
The first thing I need to do is go through the clothes we have in storage and in the closets and pull out the clothes I'd like to sell. Since there may be more babies in our future I don't want to get rid of everything, but I do feel like I'm holding on to too much. For the boys clothing, I'll only get rid of things we have too many of and things we just don't use (I've been holding on to a baby sleepsack for 6 years, but I swaddle new babies so it's never been used). The girl's clothing is a little trickier. We only have Brenna so far so I feel wasteful holding on to all her clothing and yet I'm especially attached:) I think I'll save most of her church dresses, coats and shoes, but only keep the really precious casual stuff.
Once that's done I'll separate the "to be sold" pile into fall/winter and spring/summer piles and tag everything. The woman who runs this particular sale has very specific rules about sorting and tagging, which I used to thing was such a pain. It makes shopping so easy, though!
Now, I'll prepare to shop! Thanks to my parent's generosity and hand-me-downs from my sil, I don't have to buy much. But as I'm going through all the clothes, I can pull out what will fit this spring and summer. Christian's clothes are already out since I keep clothes for the whole first year in one container -otherwise I'd be getting out a whole new wardrobe every few months. Looking at what they already have will make it easy to put together a list of what they still need. And, hopefully, prevent me from going crazy with the church dresses. I love church dresses:)
One final thing I need to remember is to make a list of everyone's size and make a tracing of everyone's feet.
Then I'll go to the first sale for seller's only. This is where the best deals are snatched up and where you find the best selection. I also try to go back on Saturday when everything is half-priced, but this sale is so well attended that most of what is left will have been over-priced to begin with. There are deals to be had, but I don't kick myself if I miss it.
I'd also like to go through the movies and toys to see what we could thin out. I'm not sure I'll have time though so that may be put off until we move everything downstairs. Then I'll just set it aside for the fall sale. And I keep meaning to make up a few extra baby carriers and hairbows to sell. Sometimes my good ideas are more than I can follow up on though so we'll just see how that goes.
Next I need to think through exactly what kinds of clothes the kids need. They have a pretty simplified "uniform" already but I'd like to have it written down. My brain seems incapable of processing thought these days (as in I frequently don't remember the you know, thing that you say with the letters word I'm trying to say).

Progress on the Downstairs

Casey has really gotten a lot done already. We had to wait for the air conditioning unit to get here since the whole plan hinged on whether or not we could get a deal on it. We bought it directly from the manufacturer - there's a plant here in town - and saved a ton!

This is the new closet in the big bedroom downstairs. I'm hoping the double folding doors will make this wide closet more accessible than the one in Brenna's room which only has a narrow door - and lots of wasted space.

Here's the bathroom. It has a wall now and a bathtub! We've done a lot of wondering about why the builders put the toilet so close to the plumbing for the tub - there is just enough room. I'm looking around now for a vanity and sink. I really like this... but $1500.00 (on sale!) is a little out of my price range! I'll have to see what I can come up with...

This is the closet in the small bedroom. I originally didn't want a closet in this room. It's fairly small and I didn't really want to eat up any floor space. Plus I already had the furniture all arranged in my head:) But after discussing it with hubby and my remodeling guru, Meredith, I mentally rearranged things and made space for a closet.

I'm getting very excited about all this. Hubby keeps reminding me that there will probably be very little cash left over for decorating when we get done - I think he's worried I'm getting too carried away:) But I'm hitting the yardsales and planning on having one myself to raise some spending money.

Perhaps this should've been a big kid only event...

I thought we'd make homemade valentines. Seemed like a simple enough project. I let them eat their valentine candy from Grandma. Oh. My. Word. The control freak in me wanted to hand them each little heart shaped doily and tell them where to put it and how much glue to use, but I'm trying over come that impulse. Mostly because it doesn't work - they're way too fast for me. And that's why some of the valentines Brenna made have candy wrappers glued inside - that's right, empty (possibly licked clean, but I kinda hope not) candy wrappers. They had lots of creative fun - that's what I keep telling myself. Now excuse me, I have some slave driving, um, I mean supervising to do.

New stuff at my house

It's looking like a season for new stuff at our house. The new haircolor is looking pretty good. It isn't a new color exacly, just a little more "toffee" and a lot less mousy. I liked the Perfect 10 haircolor alot (the comb thingy is great), but the scent was quite strong. The conditioner smelled great, though.
In other news...Levi is ready for first grade work. We've nearly finished everything I had planned for kindergarten because he flew through the work (and because I didn't want to overschedule him so I didn't plan enough). By the end of February he'll be done with the Starfall reading workbooks - which we have loved - and with the Saxon Math K (I should have just started with the first grade Saxon). It's also time for the third Draw Write Now book. I'm ready to start planning for the fall, but I guess I'll be planning out the rest of this year first!
We're planning our garden. I've never done a vegetable garden before. Casey tilled up some land for me at our old house when Levi was a baby because I wanted a garden, but surprise, surprise having a baby was more of an adjustment than I thought and the garden just didn't happen. This year I'm planning to start very small and put my little helpers to work!
And one final new thing...an exercise program. Now the whole weight loss thing is hardly new to me. Stop laughing, y'all. But exercise is a whole different story. My aunt has had wonderful success with Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds videos. Dawn recommended them ages ago and I even went so far to as to buy the video a couple of months ago, but I put off trying them until the other night and now I'm kicking myself for not trying it sooner. It's so quick and simple, I can do it in front of the tv without moving furniture around and it's effective - I can feel the burn:) Meredith's post about her new scale really got me thinking so I've been talking to Levi and Brenna about being good stewards of our bodies and making healthy choices...hopefully my desire to be a good example will overrule my desire for more chips.
So, all that, combined with working on the downstairs, means there's a lot going on here at Walton's Mountain:) But that means more to blog about!

It's the first ever Fight the Frump Friday!

I'm sitting here at the computer in my black yoga pants and black t-shirt with my really dark brown (when did my hair get so dark?) hair pulled back in a ponytail. Blah. No makeup, no polish, no perfume. Blah. Care to guess how I'm feeling? That's right. Blah. So I've been reading Mrs Fussypants' fabulous blog and waking up to the idea that a) I've gotten frumpy and b) there is something I can do about it. I'm just tickled with her Fight the Frump Friday idea so I'm joining right in.
Now I could use some new clothes, I need to lose weight, and I'm dying to try that new mineral makeup stuff. But yesterday I pulled 14 grey hairs out of my very dark hair so I'm starting at the top with this stuff...in butterscotch boom or full-tilt toffee (who comes up with this stuff?). I use to dye my hair all the time but I haven't done it in ages because, well, because I have four kids and I don't have time. But it only takes 10 minutes and I need to lighten up:) Also, there was a $7.00 off coupon. Just how expensive is this stuff if they're going to take seven bucks off? Whatever. I want to feel pretty:)