Just catching up

Good heavens. So much has been happening in the past few weeks, that it was just easier for me to not even think about blogging. But now...I have WAY too much to say! You know what that means? Bulleted list!

• High school is going really well for Shannon. She's making friends, and doing pretty well! There are lessons being learned about needing to be organized, etc. But I think that's par for the course! Patrick and I have been to both 9th grade parents' orientation, and then curriculum night, and we are SO impressed with her school.
• Since mid-July, my dad has been hospitalized 4 times, for a total of about 3 weeks time. He is doing well now, and all we can do at this point is just pray it continues! I *think* we're finally on the right track...so here's to healing and recovery!
• I went back to work on August 11th and have been super busy getting my classroom and curriculum ready. Both of my assistants (one for each class) also help in other age levels, which is completely fine...but what it means is that I did quite of bit of work on my own. I'm really proud of how much I accomplished! This week we had a curriculum night for each class, and then an open house for the kids to come meet us and play in the classroom, etc. Now? Now I have over a week off! Woot! Classes start the day after Labor Day.
• Patrick's got some exciting stuff going on, but I'm not really at liberty to talk about it *just yet.* But any good thoughts you could send his way would be appreciated!
• We're watching The Weather Channel nonstop this weekend, watching hurricane Irene abuse the east coast. We're sending lots of love and prayers to everyone in her path.
  

High school???

Could someone please tell how it's possible that my sweet, loveable, darling baby girl started HIGH SCHOOL this week?!? I mean, it was like...last week that I was just snuggling her like this, wasn't it?



Wait. It wasn't? Sigh.

My sweetie had a GREAT day at school. She said it was the best day ever! She's gone to an out of district high school to be able to participate in the International Baccalaureate program. What that means is, she knows NO ONE at her new school. I am so proud of how outgoing she is being, and how many new people she's meeting. She's awesome!

Five Question Friday...first timer!

I've seen so many bloggers participate in Mama M's "Five Question Friday," hosted at My Little Life, that today I decided I was going to play too! If you want to play along too, it's easy...just head over there, copy the questions, and get to it!

OK...time for the questions!

1. Do you have siblings and are you close with them?

Yes, I do...I have a brother and a sister, and while my relationship is fine with both of them, I wouldn't say that I'm CLOSE to my brother. We email and text occasionally, but that's about it. I know he'd be there for me if I needed him, and hopefully he knows the same about me...but he's 10 years older than I am, and lives in CA...so that's kinda what it is. My sister and I have probably the closest relationship we've ever had, and I love it. She really took to heart the role of "mean big sister" when we were kids, and as a result...we didn't really get along until we were adults. But now, it's all love...and she may even be moving out here to GA soonish! Excited!

2. Would you rather be slightly UNDER weight or slightly OVER weight?

Well, I've been "slightly" (hahaha) overweight for much of my adult life. So, to answer, I guess I'd rather be slightly underweight, just to see what it feels like. But my honest answer is that I'd just like to be a healthy, fit weight. That's my goal. (And I'm working on it! I've lost 4.2 lbs in the last 2 weeks.)

3. What's your favorite State Fair food to splurge on?

Mmmm...corn dogs or funnel cakes.

4. What are your thoughts on your kid(s) going to school in a few weeks?

This is a big year for us; Shannon is starting high school! Mostly, I'm excited. But there are worries of course...will she like it, will she be overwhelmed, how will she handle the pressure, will she be strong enough to resist peer pressure? Also, she is going "out of district" for school, to one that offers the IB (International Baccaulaureate) program. Only 2 other kids from her school are going there...so she's going to be making all new friends, too. Next Thursday (the 11th) is the day!

5. Pool or Ocean?

To look at? Ocean.

To play in? Pool.

I love being at the beach. I love playing in the sand. I even love playing in the (shallow) waves. That's about it, though.

I love that pools are crystal clear, that there isn't any (potentially dangerous) wildlife in there, there are no big waves to knock you down or drag you out to sea. It's just much more my speed.

I hope you enjoyed visiting my blog...please come back again! If you'd like to visit another participating blog...look below!

Bye bye summer hair!

Early in the summer, we dyed the underside of Shannon's hair BRIGHT pink. I loved it, and we referred to in as her flamingo tail.



As the summer went on, her hair grew, and the pink faded. Last week, she got her "back to school" haircut, and most of the pink got cut out. Her dark roots were back, and some "shreds" of pink still peeked out. We decided to bleach out those dark roots and see how it looked, lol!



She jokingly referred to that as her "science experiment hair." With the start of (high) school looming next week (eek!), she decided it was time to go back to conforming.

Here's before,



And after:

Lose It!

All summer I've been trying to focus on my weight and fitness level, but have been hit and miss (mostly miss, sadly) with my results. I believe that any workout is good for your body, whether or not the scale actually does anything...so I know it's all been worth it...but clearly, I was missing something. My weight pretty much has not moved at all since school got out in May. Frustrating!

While I was sitting in my dad's hospital room, I stumbled across a FREE weight loss app for my iPhone (also available for Android) called LoseIt! In just the few days since I downloaded it, it has completely re-directed my efforts, and guess what? I've lost some weight!

It's really very simple and easy; nothing new or revolutionary. In order lose weight/get in shape you have to watch what you eat, and exercise, right? Right! So why do I love the app? Because it kind of feels like a game. When you create a profile, you enter your age, height, weight, goal weight, and how "quickly" you want to lose. (It allows you to choose increments between 1/2 lb. per week and 2 lbs. per week.) From there, LoseIt! establishes a daily "budget" for you. Then you simply enter the food you eat (it tracks all of the nutritional information), and all of the exercise you do...and it does the rest! It's so easy to see when you're "done" for the day. It's SO NICE to see how your meals stack up, and have a limit set to monitor your intake. Plus, there are fun little features like earning "badges" for sticking with it, etc.

Who knew the motivation I needed was an app?!? For the first time in a long time I feel like I'm on the right track!

(I was not asked to review LoseIt!, nor is this a paid endorsement...I just simply love this app and wanted to let you know about it!!!)

Home!

Oh, blessed home!

My dad came home from the hospital yesterday. Patrick and I brought him home around 4pm, thinking to ourselves "now we can take a nap!" But then we spent the rest of the day chasing prescriptions, getting the oxygen delivery, etc. We finally fell into bed around 11pm, lol.

But it's so great to have Dad back home. He's alive! He's recovering! Thank you, God.

I slept til 11:30 this morning. Can you imagine? But good lord, it felt good. Got up, and ate a hot breakfast and then went to the gym...where I KILLED it. You'd think I had some built-up stress or something, lol!!!

Tired

My Dad's surgery was a week ago, and he's recovering pretty well. He has COPD, so his lungs are having a hard time. Since surgery, he gets into respiratory distress when they have him move around too much, so we're having to be really careful of that. Plus, he's still retaining a lot of fluid in his chest cavity, which of course is affecting his ability to breathe deeply. We're looking at maybe Friday as the first chance he may come home. He will most likely come home on oxygen.

I kinda got to the end of my rope yesterday. It's been a long, long 2-1/2 weeks. I've been spending all day, every day at the hospital. I've been doing all the driving (it's down in Atlanta), running of the errands midday, hustling doctors, etc...and with all the worry, etc...I was just overwhelmed. I found myself just over-emotional. Weepy, angry, anxious, etc. Patrick took my mom today, so I could have a "day off." I spent the day with Shannon, which was just what I needed.

We did some back to school shopping, and got haircuts.

If you'd keep sending prayers this way, I'd appreciate it!!! <3