Thursday, August 30, 2007

Happy birthday to me!

For my birthday present to myself this year, I'm getting in shape. I signed up for some personal training sessions on campus, got some new workout clothes, and bought an iPod shuffle. My first session is Tuesday - more of a pre-assessment, really. Then my first workout the next day.

I know I worked out for a bit after Justin was born. I was living with my mom in PA while Darrell was in Korea. My younger sister and I signed up at the Y. I went quite regularly for awhile. Not sure why I stopped. Then at some point when I was at K-State before, I had a few months where I was going to the Rec. Again, not sure why I stopped.

Now I'm having at it again. I'm done having babies, so there are no excuses any more. Before, I always had in the back of my head, "well, this'll be a moot point when I get pregnant again and am back at 180 pounds..." We're done. No more kiddos.

I've been VERY slowly losing weight, just by eating less (not always eating better, but definitely eating less) and am back to my RPI weight. Go me! But now I need to firm up what's left. That's my plan, and since I know I don't have the willpower to get back into a program by myself (and my best friend is student teaching this semester, so she has NO time), and since the personal training sessions on campus are a STEAL, happy birthday to me! :)

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Long overdue update...

Wow, it's been too long since I've been in here.

1) The house is now SOLD. We had only a minor issue with the second closing. Literally two minutes before it was scheduled to start, I got an email from the paralegal stating that both Darrell and I had to call or email them before the closing to verify that we were alive and well. Obviously that wasn't a problem for me, but Darrell was in the middle of a training exercise and did not have his phone on him. Nor do I know his email password.

Are you kidding me? They clearly did not understand the situation we were dealing with.

My realtor just had them write something up for our attorney-in-fact saying that she had no reason to believe that we were incapacitated in any way (or some other legal yada yada...)

Had we known about this, we would have made sure Darrell had his phone on him. He could have taken 15 seconds out of his exercise to call. But giving us a ridiculous requirement TWO minutes before closing? What if he'd been in Iraq?

Anyway, it's over. Whew!

2) Justin has started school. He loves his teacher, the after school program, the playground (he gets THREE recesses!), and everything else involved. Most mornings, I drop him off at Sam's house up the road. He then walks to school with her kids once it's late enough to head out.

3) Kaden has adjusted well to his babysitter's house. She has two of her own young girls, plus another boy and two infant girls. Other than a little separation anxiety that kicked in about two months before we moved, he's doing great. In fact, she has him sleeping on a cot instead of in a crib or pack-n-play and he actually stays in it! Amazing.

4) Darrell has graduated from his course. He kicked butt, with a 99.5% grade. As usual. :)

5) I've started school as well. I'm taking a full load (12 credit hours) and teaching a little bit. Right now, it seems I have all kinds of time since I'm not on the clock any more and of course my classes don't take the entire day. I need to get in the swing of things with homework and studying before I get used to having time to myself. I have every intention of scheduling in some gym time, though. Personal trainers at the gym on campus are CHEAP and I'd be crazy to pass up this opportunity to get back into shape. I haven't run much more than a half-mile since soon after I got pregnant with Justin. No more excuses. *laugh*

There's more little stuff going on, but that's our major news. Speaking of homework, I need to get to it.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Brand new video of Kaden and Justin

Click on the "Our Videos" just to your right for a video taken yesterday of Kaden walking. Yes, he's walking now! Darrell missed it by three days. Bummer.

Anyway, it's been about two weeks and K's able to go from one side of the house to the other (and more if there was room) without touching a wall.

re-closing scheduled!

A thousand thanks to a Columbia friend of mine for agreeing to be our agent at closing! We've both given her power-of-attorney, so she'll be able to sign a thousand times for us and SELL OUR HOUSE FINALLY!!

Unfortunately, it's not happening for another week or so, but as far as I know, all the kinks have been worked out. I'll be glad to get that finalized so I can stop stressing about the past and start stressing about the future (kidding! I'm not one to stress much about anything...)

Seriously, though, I need to get my head back in the game for this next semester. It still seems very far away, but I'm sure the time will zoom by and before I know it, I'll find myself back in a classroom. Again. I've lost count how many times I've re-gone back to school. I'm proud of myself for making it happen, especially with two kids. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard something along the lines of: "It's so hard to start back up, so just don't leave until you're done! And with two kids? You'll never find yourself the opportunity..." Poppycock. I've had no problem getting back into the swing of things. My kids don't slow me down, I just find better ways of managing my time. And I've been lucky enough to put myself into a situation where my school pays for itself.

So there. :) And this time, I may actually finish the masters...

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes...

I can hardly imagine having 33% more stuff. Yet that's what we're allotted when the army moves us. We get a 12k pound allowance and we were just over 8k. That's a LOT more stuff!

Anyway, we now have a house full of boxes. I've been emptying them as the motivation strikes. K's room is done. J's room is almost done (just have the desk boxes to go, plus the final organizing/cleaning). Much of the hall storage is done. The kitchen is mostly done; just need to find places for the miscellaneous stuff. The garage is piled high with all the random "I don't know where to put it, so it goes into the garage for now" stuff. Yikes, that one is very intimidating.

I guess I'll start on the master bedroom next, if only to find myself something else to wear... After my nap.