Birthdays are coming!

I can't believe that Connor will be turning 20 in a month!!  Where did the time go, seriously?!!  I honestly can't believe that I've had this amazing little dude in my life for 20 years already.  I still call him my little dude, because he always will be, no matter how tall he gets, how much facial hair I have to shave off his adorable face, how deep his voice gets, etc., etc.  So, last night, we had a big issue in our house - his digital voice recorder (aka, the yak back) broke...  it was the first thing he thought of when he went to sleep last night, and this am when I woke him up for school, before his eyes were even all the way open, it was "mom, are we going to get my new yak back today, because mine broke last night!"  After we dropped Chris off at work, we headed to Target.  Well, Target only had an RCA DVR, so we headed down the street to Walmart and there it was, the Sony DVR, thank God!!  He was a trooper going to both Target and Walmart, and the great news is that we have like 3 Walmarts and probably 4 or 5 Targets not far from us, so we had options if they didn't have one at our closest one.  Another perk of living in Florida!  I was happy we only had to hit two stores though.  Now he's happily in his room with his computer, recording all kinds of cool new sounds :)

So, JR will be celebrating his 45th birthday on February 2nd.  Yes people, he will be equal age with me again, after those long 3 months of me being 45 BEFORE him!  To celebrate his birthday, he will be attending a 3-day meeting in Orlando for work.  Ha ha, just kidding, he really will be attending a work meeting in Orlando for three days, but not on his birthday, a week later.  The fun part is that I will be joining him with friends of ours, the Jakicic's, and we will be spending two ADULT DAYS (wahoooo!!) at Disney - something we haven't done since our honeymoon almost 24 years ago!  Tim Jakicic is also a store manager for PetSmart, so after the boys get done with their meetings, his wife (also a Julie) and I will be driving up to meet them.  We're going to hit Epcot and the Magic Kingdom - can't wait to check out the new Fantasyland!  It will be SO nice to get away for a few days alone.  Big thanks to my mom and dad, who will be coming over to stay with the boys while we're gone!

I'm still looking for part-time work that I can do from home, so if any of you out there know of anything, please let me know!  It's so hard looking for this type of work on the internet because you just don't know what's real and what's a scam.  Some of the scams stick out like a sore thumb, but some of them sound like they could be legit, but after further researching them, they turn out to be scams too. I'm sure something will come up!

We're very thankful that we live where we do, especially after the frigid temp.'s up north this past week.  Thinking of all my Vermont friends and family and hoping you're all staying warm!

Moving right along

Going on five days of my new life of eating healthier and exercising and everything is going great so far.  I've exercised 3 out of the 5 days, so I'm happy with that.  Plan to start walking this coming week.  Waiting for the pool heater to get fixed, then I'll be back to my water aerobics, which is my favorite form of exercise.  I HATE to sweat, so LOVE water aerobics.  It is also much easier on my knee and back being in the pool.  The temp. in the pool right now is a balmy 67 degrees, so um... no, I won't be getting in until the heater is fixed, thank you very much!  I'm very excited to get back into the pool though, because I totally kick major ass with water exercise.  I plan to get my workout up to an hour over time.  Will start at about 1/2 hour and work up from there.  Tonight for dinner, Chris marinated steaks yesterday and grilled them for us tonight, and I steamed green beans and we had some alfredo noodles, but I cut the butter in half and we use 1% milk, so they were OK to eat.  I also had two glasses of white wine, which is my "treat for the week".  Again, not going to starve myself and deprive myself, because from experience, I know that doesn't work.  It's all about knowing what you need to do, and doing it effectively, not idiotically.

So, kid update.  Connor got his latest report card on Friday, and he has all A's and B's!!  We are SO proud of him!!  He is rocking the LIFE Academy, and he is just so amazing!  We have an appointment at the end of the month with Voc. Rehab. to find out what they're all about and what the future will hold for him regarding employment opportunities.  I also have his IEP meeting this coming Tuesday, so can't wait to get the update!  Chris has decided (of course, you have to remember that he changes his mind pretty much daily...) that he is moving back to VT this summer.  His plan is to find a job here and to save up enough money to get himself back there.  Apparently he and a few of his friends are going to get an apartment together.  We'll see how that goes.  I hope it works and he can be successful.  He really wants to go to culinary school, which I think he'd be great at.  However, we kind of need to rob a bank or find someone who wants to donate to a great cause (ha ha!)  Seriously though, culinary school is very expensive. I told him he needs to look into grants and student loans; that's how JR and I both put ourselves through college.  We paid on our student loans for years into our married lives.  That's how you are successful, by doing it yourself and paying for it yourself.

Lastly for tonight, I'm looking for part-time work.  I really need something I can do from home, as I need to be here for Con after school, and during the summers.  I really don't want to do the whole medical billing or transcription thing, but it's in the back of my mind.  I would really love to take in an infant, just one thanks, to watch here in our house.  I've signed up with Care.com, so we'll see what happens there.  If any of you know of any work at home opportunities, PLEASE let me know.  Thanks!!

Time to go - JR and I rented a movie from Redbox tonight - The Five-Year Engagement.  Hope it's good!

Time for change!!

So, the hubby and I are sitting here tonight, watching The Biggest Loser.  I feel so bad for these obese kids they have on the show this round.  It's hard enough being an overweight adult, but how much these kids get picked on is so sad.  I think it's great they're having kids on the show though.  I usually don't like to watch this show because it reminds me of the "biggest loser" I am.... people talk about how hard it is to quit smoking, to quit drinking, well take it from me people, quitting eating too much is the same damned thing!   It's all the same thing.  And it's all about starting with baby steps.  Right now I've got a lot of weight to lose, and I am very out of shape, and I'm very serious about getting myself to a better place.  I know how great I feel when I'm lighter and more active.  It's funny, I thought with moving to Florida and not working, I'd be much more active than I actually am.  Well, that needs to change.  I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, because people hardly ever keep them.  I do believe in making yourself healthier and more active, and that's what I need to do.  I have obstacles in my way, my bum knee, my low back pain, and of course the good 'ol heart palpitations that always strike the worst when I exercise, but I will persevere and I know my knee and back will both likely feel better when some of this unwanted weight is GONE!!  Not going to say "I'm going to lose 25 lbs. by _____ date", that never works.  It's a slow process but it can and will be done!

While I think The Biggest Loser is a great show, and most likely very motivational to many people, I won't continue to watch it because it's just not for me.  I can't wait to start feeling the muscle aches and pains that I know I'll be feeling for the first few weeks.  Bring it on body!!

Stay tuned.  I think blogging about this journey will be very therapeutic and motivational for me :)