Brightness

"Change of lifestyle" that's what my sister calls a diet, and she's right. Over the last 9 years I have let things get in the way of keeping myself healthy. I could point fingers and lay blame for my weight but when it comes down to it, I am responsible for me. I have allowed myself to gain 100 lbs more than I should. Let me tell you it's awful to write/type that here where it is so public but I need to be honest. If I'm not honest this "change of lifestyle" wont ever work. So I am on a journey to lose that 100 pounds. This is a scary journey but also an exciting one. I want and need to be here for my son. If I keep allowing food to control me then I will be a fat blob who can't do anything with their child. I don't want to be that, so I'm changing. I'm taking the bull by the horns and doing it!!! :) So what am I doing you ask, well it's really quite simple. I'm cutting my calories. I have a Biggest Loser cookbook (which is ok...

Well lately I've had some new stuff to blog about so I'm going to blog. :) First stuff first, NO I'm not pregnant! :) Had to get that out of the way. My son has an allergic reaction to peanuts, especially peanut butter. While Andy and I have found this out the hard way in the past (he breaks out in blisters when it comes into contact with him) we found out today it's something to be very careful about. We are lucky that Maddux's outbreaks haven't been severe, yet. Today he came into contact, some how, we aren't 100% sure, with some sort of peanut product and rubbed his eye. His eye became very swollen and had small blisters around it, his typical reaction. So I called the Pediatrican to just make sure he was ok and that I could give him Benedryll. They are calling us in on Thursday for an epi pen consultation. We will get a pen and be trained in it. They said that peanut allergies have a way of getting bad very fast and it's important for him to have one...

Ok so this is going to be a vent blog. I just need to let it out somehow so I'm choosing to it on a blog that many don't read. :) This week has been a week from HELL!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if it's the full moon (Saturday) or what but I CANT WAIT for this week to be over!!! First I haven't gotten much sleep since Sunday because my son hasn't been sleeping well, or my husband is snoring freakin' king size logs. So I'm a bit emotional because of that. But my son hasn't been sleeping hardly at all. He went from taking 2 naps regularly to me adjusting him to 1 nap a day and last week he would sleep for 3 hours during his one nap. This week it's been at max an hour and a half nap. Then he's a cranky butt and a nightmare to be around. Today he threw the BIGGEST fit he's thrown ever. Hitting me, practically laying on the floor throwing his fit. Now I know he's almost 2, he's going to be testing his boundaries, blah blah blah. It is NOT ok...

Ok so most of you who know me know that I am obssessed with coupons and finding good deals for my family. I'm still learning, "the game" but I think I am progressing nicely. It's all about finding the good deals then the coupons that go with it, then making your dinners around those. Which is proving very hard. If any of you have advice, good healthy recipes, or just tricks let me know. I am out to save my family the most amount of money possible. It's the one thing (besides raise our son) that I feel I can contribute. Anyway, there is a new contest going on with my friends blog: iheartcoupons.blogspot.com that cellfire (a place where you can add extra coupons to your Dillons card) is giving away $100 grocery gift card and one of the things you have to do is blog about so guess what? I'm blogging about it. :) I'm also adding her button to my page. Seriously though if you are in the Springfield area you should check out her page. I have known this sweet lad...

So I love youtube . I can't help it. I go on and see all these old school videos and new videos and they intrigue me, except when they aren't by the artists themselves, then they frustrated me with their cheesiness. Except for one. Our church was bringing Mark Shultz along with Point of Grace for a concert and I wanted to know what Mark Shultz had done, realizing that I probably HAD sung his songs at one time but couldn't place them. So I typed in his name and up popped "He's my Son" with a video from "The Passion". Well first let me say, I LOVE this song, and I DID know it. :) But I have never seen "The Passion" and really I don't care to see it. Why? It's SO violent. I know it would probably make me see things in another light but I HATE violence it gives me nightmares so I opt not to see it. But I clicked on the video and was shocked by what I saw. Not the violence so much, but from the perspective of Mary, Jesus' mother. ...

So lately a lot of my friends have been talking about seasons in our lives. I enjoy talking about this because it reminds me to take each moment because it is fleeting. I LOVE seasons. I love the way the air smells in the fall, like crisp leaves. I love the way the winter smells and looks. Everything so fresh and clean. I also love the way that spring smells, feels and represents. I love it when the air starts to get warmer, the rain makes everything green and bloom. Really I'm not a huge fan of summer, too hot, but I enjoy the way the heat feels on my skin while I'm in the pool. :) Seasons represent so much change, for better and for worse. I am learning that in my own life right now. Maddux is a growing, healthy, active 19 month old and I enjoy him walking and running. I love that he is more independant and is becoming more verbal. What I don't enjoy is the defiance and the strong willed nature my sweet little innocent boy presents at times. While we are at home I handle ...

So I'm sitting here in my warm, dry, and for the moment quiet living room on the 13th of January and I am beyond blessed. How often I take this house, my car, my son, my husband, my clothes, my shower, my water, my food, my everything for granted. As news from Haiti starts to come in I feel a loss that has nothing to do with the tragedies not that far from home. I feel a loss for that which should break my heart on a daily basis and doesn't. Let me explain. My heart physically hurts as I hear stories and see pictures of the destruction in Haiti, but more for the suffering people are going through. Those who has lost children, parents, friends, family members. And I feel compelled to do something, ANYTHING, to help. To ease their suffering. As I watch on CNN (because everyone else has moved on) the images of broken families, homes, and lives I am torn into small pieces at the pain people are going through as I sit in my warm, dry and for the moment quiet living room. But shouldn...