Diet update: Week 5

     On Monday, I celebrated my birthday by taking all the kids to CherryBerry after school.  They even had Birthday Cake flavored frozen yogurt.  I have to confess, I did add some not-so-good-for-me-but-oh-so-yummy toppings. =) I also must confess that I've eaten some other things this week that I really shouldn't have, and of course the scale shows it. Instead of losing weight this week, I have gained 1.5 lbs. Interestingly though, I have dropped 3 inches off my waistline since I started my diet. I personally don't see that big of a change in myself when I look in the mirror and I haven't lost enough weight to drop down a size in my clothes yet. My pants do fit a bit looser and shirts seem baggier on me though. I guess that's good.


    Another confession: I'm not very good at keeping an exercise regimen. It's not that I don't like my Wii Fit or my Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, because I love them. A LOT! I do feel good after I have exercised and feel proud of myself for accomplishing something. I guess I'm too much of a procrastinator and before I know it, the day is over and I've not done what I should be doing. I'm full of excuses, but in my defense, I am usually very busy. Some of you know that I run a small Christian private school from my home and that takes up the majority of my day. By the end of the school day, I tend to feel exhausted. This week has been extra rough, because my kids had to go to another school to take their standardized testing and they had to be there at 8 am. On Tuesday I even volunteered for a few hours before I had to get Brandon to work. On Wednesday he had to be at work much earlier. I really felt like a taxi driver this week. We are used to starting school that early, but don't require as much time to get ready in the morning because they only have to walk out into the living room.  Our days this week began much earlier than normal and because I'm a night owl, I stay up way too late and get little sleep throughout the night. I could probably go to bed much earlier than I have been, but I find it difficult to fall asleep without my husband next to me, and he's still wide awake when I'm ready to conk.


   I did get some exercise in this week, though. On my birthday, we also stopped at Lowe's because my husband was shopping for a new lawn mower and we went through the garden area and picked out a few tomato plants for this year's organic garden project as well as some boxwoods to plant in the front yard.  On Tuesday, after I picked up the kids from the other school and had our lunch, we got started working in the front yard preparing a bed for the new bushes. I insisted on minimizing the possibility of weeds, so I dug up the grass and much of the dirt, which is mostly clay. B.J. did all the lifting as I dug and made a huge pile on the porch.  What a mess! After about an hour of digging, my friend down the street sent her 3 boys and their neighborhood friend over to help out.  I think they were so very excited to play in the dirt and thought it was amazing that much of it was clay. They diligently separated clay out of the dirt for about 2 hours, so I let them take some home with them. The girls mostly played in the sandbox while the boys and I worked until they gave up and went inside. To my surprise, they actually went inside and made glasses of ice water for all of us. It was really sweet. After 3 hours in the sun, even though it wasn't that hot out, I was burnt and sore from all the digging.


    Brandon worked the early shift on Wednesday and after I picked him up from work we went back to Lowe's to purchase the lawnmower he had decided on, as well as some top soil and edging for my garden bed. When we got home, we put together the mower and he mowed the front lawn while put down the top soil, a fabric weed block liner, and dug holes to plant my bushes. By that time it was already dark out, so Brandon helped me with the edging and finishing it off with the mulch.  It's amazing what 5 little bushes can do for curb appeal.  Someday they will grow into a nice hedge. I still plan to do some more to the garden bed, but was so thankful to get that finished in time for my party the next day.


   Thursday evening I played hostess for a Lilla Rose party. My good friend, Kim, just started selling these beautiful hair pretties and I thought I'd help her out by having a party. Why not? I'll even get free product out of the deal. Several of my friends showed up and brought their beautiful daughters with them. I think the girls had so much fun trying out hair styles with her hair clips and hair sticks and I had fun playing with their hair. The party turned out really well, and I'll probably post some pics of my daughter and I with our new hair pretties when we get them.


    Friday evening our church put on a ladies event called Romance, and we had Lisa Young as our guest speaker. The message was awesome and I'm so grateful to my friend, Valerie, for picking me up and taking me home so I wouldn't miss out on all the fun, and to Kim for offering to watch my kids, so I wouldn't have to leave them home alone.


     As you can see, I've been busy EVERY day this week. So maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself for not exercising. I just wish I had remembered to take my allergy meds each night before bed, because this morning my allergies really kicked my butt. Today, I sat around in my P.J.'s all day with a stuffy nose, sinus headache, sore throat and feeling a little sorry for myself. I don't feel like I've accomplished much, but I did manage to do some extensive research online for a Christian art program that I want to use in my school next school  year. I hope they will be at the OCHEC convention later this month. Oh, and I did manage to get this blog posted. =)