Sunday, June 29, 2014

Something Finally Bit Him Back...

I'm sure I've talked about my Moose before. He's one of our four doggies. He showed up one day, almost two years ago. After trying to find his family through our vet, flyers, etc., and having no luck doing so, we adopted him.

More accurately, he adopted us!

He's an 85 pound lap dog that acts like a toddler, ALL the time. :D

What's his is his, and what's ours is his. He takes up half the sofa...
He wanted in my lap. Didn't care that I was in a recliner meant for one person. He climbed up and rearranged and got quite comfy.

He also likes to play with everything. EVERYthing. Animals, people, furniture...you name it. And his idea of "playing," basically boils down to "can I put you in my mouth?" LOL. I don't know how he doesn't get that some things don't want to play with him, but I think he got a little glimpse of that this past week, when something finally bit him back.

A copperhead to be exact.

UGH.

Poor guy. That lump on his muzzle got larger and oozy, before it finally started to get better.

Fortunately, after a coupla trips to our vet, and a butt-ton of medications, he seems to be on the mend. Yay! We love this silly big guy so much.

"Me dog want cuddle. You human let me. Cause cute. Seeeeeee?"

Not a lot planned for this coming week. We are still plugging through project "reduce our possessions by half." It's coming along great. We have tackled, and conquered, all of the rooms in the house except my bedroom (which is the worst...over the years, it ended up as the catch-all for everything that didn't officially have a home somewhere else in the house), and the boys' room. We are starting those this week. Fingers crossed we make real, visible progress.

Side note, because I've been asked by friends - books, movies and tech/gadgets get a pass from this project. I don't generally part with the any of those things, lol, so I'm not even going to try to reduce those.

Probably won't really try and get the boys to do much school stuff, outside of reading and their weekly spelling test online (there's a great 4th of July spelling/vocabulary word list on Spelling City!). Maybe something else will creep in, but I'm going to make them focus on cleaning/thinning out their room so I can get this DONE. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful, fun and safe 4th of July with your loved ones!

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Happy Birthday, Nanny!

This is my beautiful grandmother. She turned 80 today. Yep, EIGHTY. And we were lucky enough to spend part of her birthday with her and some other family and friends.


So what does one such as Nanny do when she turns 80? She goes to her favorite Mexican restaurant, gives them hell because they won't serve her a margarita on a Sunday and asks the owner for a lap dance.






If you have ever wondered where my...erm...quirkyness, for lack of a better word, comes from...well there ya go. ;)

I love this little lady a whole bunch, and I'm so grateful that not only do I still have her in my life, but that my boys still have such a spunky great-grandma in their lives!

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This past week was fun. We signed up for Kids Bowl Free, so we went bowling twice. Tons. Of. Fun. We loved just hanging, the three of us goof balls. The bowling didn't go to badly either! Our goal is to go bowling once or twice a week, until the program ends at the endish of August.






School-lite continued. They did some spelling lists that revolved around the World Cup and the Summer Solstice. They also played some math games. Given how many times I had to correct my eldest about saying "me and so-and-so" instead "so-and-so and I," I probably should have made them do grammar worksheets. Ah well. There's always this week.

I am still trucking along with my walking. I didn't have another 20,000 step day this week, but I did hit my 10,000 step goal every day, averaging between 11,000 and 13,000 steps per day. Yay! :)

This upcoming week we will continue working on our new year's resolution, to reduce our possessions by half. That kinda got put on hold during tax time, but we are picking back up on that. Last week, and this weekend, we finished up the dining room and kitchen areas, as well as our computer/school room. Which means all that's left is my room and the boys' room. Granted, those are the worst as far as hoarding goes, lol...but it's a huge relief to know we have gotten finished with the rest of the house. Fingers crossed that we make real progress on those bedrooms this week!


Saturday, June 14, 2014

Lazy weekend...

We all need them. Even if they aren't all that lazy. Just some time where we don't have anything scheduled or any place we have to be. That's what this weekend is for us. We have an out-of-state friend visiting for the weekend, but he's easy enough to entertain. ;)

I'm looking forward to the down time.

The week went well for us. The boys have logged into their secular homeschool curriculum a couple of times, and they have worked on some fun special-themed holiday spelling word lists. They enjoyed a Flag Day list, as it made them want to google/wiki more facts about the flag and its origins. They also had fun with a little Father's Day list (granted, it was way too "young" for either of them, but they like working through ALL of the holiday lists, lol).

I have stayed on track with my fitness goals this week. That feels awesome! Basically I am still just walking, but I'm walking as often as I can. Mid-week, the boys and I were able to get some extra steps by hiking at our local state park. That was nice! Different views for a change. :D


Also, I hit a major goal for me last week. Broke 20,000 steps! I can't do that every day (I'm hoping to do that at least a couple times a week though), but it felt so freaking good to see that step count at the end of that day!!


Next week, I am going to start the Couch to 5K program. I downloaded a nifty app, and I am crossing my fingers that I can do it this time. I've tried it in the past, but I'm much more motivated this time around. I just hope my body can keep up my brain's determination, lol. I have decided that I want to do my very first 5K in September. I. Will. Do. This. :)

Okey dokey. Signing off so I can enjoy that downtime I was hoping for. Leaving you with a Happy Father's Day wish for all the dads out there, with special shout outs to my daddy and my husband, who are both wonderful fathers!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Really? June??

June. Again. Already. Geez...faster and faster time flies...

This post will have two parts. About the boys and about school. And then all about me. :)

Part One - Some Learnin'

The boys logged into their T4L this week, for the first time in weeks. I know, homeschooling parent of year award coming right up. Whatevs. We were unschooling. I'm good with that. 

While I used to make them do a set number of lessons a day, I had to change that this year. The high school courses were taking Bailey a little longer to complete, and Braeden would blow through some of his. Anyway, we changed from a set number of lessons, to a set amount of time. 

This has worked out well, but they aren't going to finish the subjects at the same time. Both of them will take whole days and do nothing but science and history. I'm ok with that, because regardless of when they do their english and math, it will get done. But I know they are going to be miserable when in a couple of weeks, they are only going to have english and math to do, lol. Ah well. 

Additionally, I really have to (really, really have to), get them both set up with a writing course. Bailey loved the one he took a while ago, and I have been meaning to have him do another (maybe essay writing), and Braeden do his first one (maybe elementary mechanics), but ya know I'm a procrastinator. Ugh. 

Outside of schoolwork, we had a wonderful play/swim date with fabulous friends on Wednesday, got back into our homeschool group park day on Friday, and had dinner and supahfuntimes with friends on Friday evening. Great week. :D

Okay, all about me now. 

Part Two - Some Exercisin'

I can't tell you how many times I have started a fitness routine of some sort, and then promptly failed. Generally, I fail because I try to start out doing too much. Going from sloth to a marathon, with nothing in between, lol. Duh. 

So when we were in Florida, and Tracy got a swanky new Fitbit Flex for her birthday, I started walking. We started with a little under a mile, then got up to a little more than a mile and just kept moving. I had never really put a lot of stock in pedometers (had one once, hated it...very inaccurate and kept popping off my waist), but the whole "fitness tracker" thing appealed. So I did a butt-ton of research and ended up opting for a Fitbit as well. I got the One rather than the Flex. I don't think either are bad, but I had personal concerns with the Flex. 

I. Am. In. Love. 

It's not just the tracker though. It's the app and how everything works together. I can see how many steps I've taken in a day (this is huge for a work from home/school from home gal - sometimes you don't realize just how little you move throughout the day), how many calories I've eaten, how many calories I've burned and more. I can set goals for myself, and you and other friends that have a Fitbit can be Fitbit buddies. It's fun to motivate each other (and also, I'm a giant immature ass that likes to win). It's absolutely ridiculous how much this one little device has changed me, in such a short amount of time. I walk at least twice a day, and I look forward to walking again. Even if I'm sore or tired, I want to walk. Please believe...those are not words that I'm used to saying, lol. I am logging some serious miles, too! I've had my Fitbit for 10 days, and I've already received a "50 Lifetime Miles" badge. :D 

I'm not selling anything, not promoting anything and I don't get points or anything for referring anyone. I simply wanted to share what FINALLY made a difference for me. Thanks for listening. ;)

My Fitbit One. Teeny tiny and I've clipped it on a shirt collar, a bra strap and facing inward on a pants pocket. Works anywhere!

My best day so far! I've gotten over 15,000 steps several times, but haven't gotten back up to this again. Definitely a good goal to have...to beat this day! 

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Post Vacation Blech

It's always so hard getting back into the swing of things after vacation, isn't it? It's nice to be home and to be able to get back into the routine, but "nice" doesn't always mean "easy."

I struggled last week - okay, struggled isn't the right word. Failed is a little more accurate, lol. I think as far as we got with school was me checking out some homeschool book reviews to see if there was something either of the boys wanted to read. Official "schoolwork?" Nada.

You know. I take that back. There was a some music education going on. Bailey went to his very first concert. And it was without me.  But he had SO much fun and has declared himself a concert goer for life!

Who did he see?

Foreigner, Styx and Don Felder.

Yep, that was my 14 year old's first time at a live music event. At least he started off right. ;)

As far as other learnin'? There's always next week...