Midpoint

I don’t claim to be a super mom (well, maybe a little) but I like to believe I manage things well. I am a full time wife and mother, a full time employee, and a graduate student. My house is never clean and there is always laundry to fold, but I get S**t done. Excuse my language but if you knew me in real life that is exactly what I would tell you if you asked me how I balance everything?

I firmly believe if you want something bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen. No excuses. I believe life is all about the choices you make or let others make for you. (Shout out to my momma and MK Linda Toupin) We are all given 24 hours a day, use your time wisely. If it’s paying off debt, losing weight, or in my case going back to school; if you want it bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen.

I did not take my decision to go back to school lightly. I cried to my husband nightly about what I should do and prayed to God for direction or a sign that I was making a smart decision. I was so worried I would be sacrificing time with my daughter and it would hurt her. I knew what my end result would be, I would be a teacher and do something I have always wanted to do, but the journey scared me a little.

Looking back, my only thought is I wished I had started school sooner. At the end of April I will be at my halfway point and I am set to graduate my 42 hour MAT program in December of this year. 1.5 years of my life is all it cost. (and $$$ student loans but such is life) That’s not bad at all. My daughter has not been neglected one bit. In fact, on the nights I have class her Aunt Amanda comes over (if daddy is at baseball) or she spends quality one-on-one time with her daddy and he puts her to bed. I am very lucky to have the support of my husband and family.

This picture encouraged me to write this post. I put Dora on in the living room tonight so she could play while I was in class in our office. She came in and pulled out some markers and sat in the office with me and that was fine by me. I want to remember these good memories of the time I went to school when Kendall was two and see how I made it all work.

If I can encourage anyone who is struggling to make a decision in their life, whether it’s school, work, or hobby related, I hope this was of value. There is never a better time to start something than today!

BEFORE Pictures Eeek

I can’t believe I’m about to do this but we are all friends, right? RIGHT?

These were taken 2 weeks ago. I wouldn’t be posting them if I wasn’t on week 3 of C25K. I wouldn’t be posting these if I was going to start the Ripped in 30 program with my husband per his request that he wants to do “one of those crazy” workouts. Isn’t that cute? He wants to do it after Kendall goes to bed. Ha! Date Night!

Anyways, every one else and their mom has posted their BEFORE pictures on the internet and it seems to hold them accountable. I mean I will DELETE this blog before I post pictures where I haven’t lost any weight. Seriously.

So here it goes…

  

(excuse the hair flip motion shot)

Here are my stats as of today.

Weight 163 (-4 loss from August holla!)

Goal 145

Size 10 pants (Goal size 6-8)

Arms – 12"

Chest – 36.5 (D’s please holla!)

Waist – 31

Hips – 37.5

Thighs 23.5

These are my measurements after I did 3 weeks of the 30 day Shred. I have lost 8.5 inches and KEPT them off. I’ve also kept off 4 pounds.

I need to KEEP working. Starting with Week 3 Run 2 tonight… Laters!

Book Review, Consignment Sale and Classes

Since my life is about to get a whole lot busier come August 27th, I have been trying to maximize my current free time by reading and getting things done.

I have a few books I want to read before I start reading for school. One book involves my first book club meeting which I am SO excited about! It will be hard to squeeze in reading for pleasure then I’m sure!

I finished Kathleen Brook’s Bluegrass State of Mind this week. It’s a quirky little suspense/romance set in good ‘ole Kentucky! You should read this if you want something fun to read. The author has written two more in this series (and a spinoff) I may read because I really liked the characters and would like to see their stories develop more.

*******************************************************************

Last fall I discovered the Little Treasures Clothing Sale. For $85 I purchased Kendall’s fall/winter wardrobe. I attended the spring/summer sale as well and didn’t have as much luck. Most likely because I waited several days after the sale opened to shop.

This year I signed up to be a consignor. I will make 70% of my sales and will be able to shop early. I’m super excited. There are strict restrictions on how items are to be labeled and turned in so I want to start working on this asap! I plan on rummaging through all my baby clothes totes this week and preparing items for the sale.

My classes for the Fall semester are …

Term I

The Modern Elementary School & Reading and Writing Foundations

Term II

Issues/Trends in Special Education & Methods/Materials for Social Studies

I’m really excited about starting this journey and can’t believe I will be 1/3 done by December!!!

Thursday Weigh Day & January Expenses

Thursday is not going to be a "weigh" day today. I have done bad this week! Instead of focusing on that I'm going to make February my b**ch. Sorry for the foul language but I mean it - I'm really going to push myself.

I just highlighted all the possible evenings I can work out for the month of February in my day planner. My hope is by March I will start seeing fantastic results so I will be motivated to wake up and workout 30 minutes Mon-Fri before I get ready for work. I have yet to pull myself out of bed thus far.

I cannot have a Skinny Jeans blog if I don't ever fit into my skinny jeans!!!

January Monthly Expenses

Sorry it took a few days but as promised here are my monthly expenses for January 2010.

Things we did not need: $80.15
Eating Out (Together & Separate): $201.40
Groceries: $327.27
Necessities (haircuts, dog, home/school supplies): $342.88

Gas: $418.8

Pathetic! Now I get to explain...

Things we did not need - I can handle this amount.

Eating out - Awful! That's $200 that is not necessary and could've been an extra credit card payment! However we deserve to eat out sometimes! The problem about this is we only ate out together like twice - the rest of the purchases were us eating out individually!!!

Groceries - This is kind of high - there is only 2 of us and we ate out a lot this month! I am going to start clipping & organizing coupons this weekend! I can save so much more!

Necessities - This is high because we bought like $300 worth of books for Chris's school!

Gas - I never dreamed we spent this much on gas in one month! Chris goes to school 45 minutes from our house and I have a good 30 minute commute both ways. That's how you spent $400+ on gas!! Scary!

4 Days into February

Things we do not need - $25.85

Eating out - $2.96

Groceries - $73.49

Necessities - $57.27

Gas - $0

New Size = Shopping!

Greetings Friends!!!!

I am so excited to report that while (unnecessary) shopping today I tried on some pants - I decided to grab a size 10 instead of my usual comfortable size 12 and they fit. I am a size 10! This is the size I was wearing last year at my wedding! It's funny though because I still have about 8 lbs to go to get to my wedding weight. Oh well! I'm not complaining!

To celebrate I purchased a pair of jeans and a pair of black dress pants - in size 10. I also bought this cute scarf!!! I think it's so feminine and I LOVE scarves... And I bought these cute boots with a bow on them!

Now back to this!!!!!!!! Blah! I hate organizing stuff! Plus I need to make dinner!

Sick Day and new RED jacket

First... HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY! I just want to thank everyone who is serving or has served our Country. Everytime I see a solider I tear up because of the huge sacrifice they make for people they do not even know. God Bless You!

Sooo... yesterday I was MIA! I woke up with the worst sinus headache & sore throat. So I called up my dad (who I work for) and decided to catch up on some Zzzzz's. Honestly that did the trick I woke up around lunch feeling much better.

I was obviously well enough to go to my MK meeting and I'm glad I did! My newly earned RED jacket came courtesy of the UPS truck and I wanted to sport it at my unit meeting. I looked so hot I know!!! LOL

The other MK consultants surprised me and two other new Star Team Builders with a bunch of red gifts. Yay! My mom brought me RED roses. I love MK! The sisterhood is amazing and everyone is such an encouragement. Knowing that many people support me makes me want to work harder for my business.

I forget sometimes why I started MK. It was my last semester at UofL and I was doing an internship at their HR office. It was then I decided I wanted to work for myself like my parents do. I want to be my own boss. My dad started his company out of our living room and my mom has been in MK for 10+ years. Naturally I like the lifestyle that goes with being your own boss. It's not even about the money - it's about the quality of life. The ability to make your work - work around your schedule - not the other way around. Of course driving one of these would not be so bad either!!!

Another positive - you know how I have not been weighing myself for the last few weeks - well it really works! I was scared I had gained like 10 lbs but I have MAINTAINED! 6 lbs to go to meet my Thanksgiving challenge!!!!!

Yay! I am going to post a giveaway soon!!!