The Scale=Discouragment

So for the past 60+ days I went back to using "my fitness pal".  I decided my food handling was getting out of hand and I wanted to see what I was really eating.  A couple of weeks into summer vacation, I started really exercising more.  Two classes on Monday, two on Tuesday, and one on Thursday.  I also picked two other days to run.  Late July, I had to drop one of the Tuesday classes only because of my work schedule.  Today I continue to do 2 classes on Monday, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday and sometimes one on Wednesday.  I also run on Fridays and if I don't do a class on Wednesday I run then (or I try to fit in another one on the weekend).
     So after plugging in my numbers on my current weight and what I wanted to weigh etc  my fitness pal will give me the calories I need to eat per day.  Of course I get extra if I exercise, but it calculates all of that for me.  I would say 95% of the time I am in my range, except if there is a special event or we go out to eat.  My Fitness Pal always says....."if every day were like today, you would weigh ---- in 5 weeks".  I didn't weigh for 5 weeks and to my surprise, the scale had not moved.  What?  Are you kidding me?  Here I am at 60+ days and I might be down 2 pounds.  Talk about discouraging.  (Remember that I had gained some extra weight in the fall and around the holidays and did not get serious about taking it off until June).  I even measured myself thinking I maybe had lost inches from my previous MFP entries and to my surprise, they had not moved either.  I know people say you can't measure yourself by the scale.  In fact, I have one instructor who never weighs herself.  I'm not sure what I am doing wrong as I am exercising 5-6 hours a week plus staying within calorie limits, but it sure is discouraging that I should weigh "blah blah blah".  I will continue working out and I will keep logging in my food and maybe someday my work will pay off.

September is around the corner

I can't believe that September starts Monday.  Where has the time gone?  The kids seem to slowly be getting used to the new routine.  We've almost finished our 2nd week of school.  I'm looking forward to a long weekend getting together with friends on two separate days.
     I'm hoping to get into some type of groove next week.  I've been working T/W/Th full days, but next week I get cut back to part time.  In a way I am glad, but yet I feel that I am missing purpose.  I'm glad that I have more "me" time, but then I struggle with having free time.....does that make sense? I have several things planned.....I take class on Monday mornings and Tuesday mornings and I try to run Friday mornings (plus another run sometime in the week).  W/TH I usually do boot camp before school so that frees up my time.  Wednesdays is usually grocery mornings....but that still leaves a great amount of space, even with the classes.  I'm thinking about volunteering at school one day a week and maybe trying to get the chance to do lunch dates with some friends, but many of them work or homeschool themselves.
      I also struggle because it is really hard for me to form a bond with the new child.  He is really sweet and absolutely not a problem at all, but it is different that having Jack and Kara.  Jack and Kara were like my own children.  The parents are so sweet and kind (much different than the other boy I kept in the afternoons last year) but I can't tell if they are disappointed with the new sitter or if they don't like our house (it's not near as big as theirs or Jen's) or what.  But hopefully things will be better once the routine sets in.
    With time passing so quickly, Christmas will be here very soon!!!

Time for School

Wow...it's over.  The kids started school today and I had to go back to work at early morning care.  Getting out of the house by 7:10 was tough, but we managed.  Thankfully, I do lunches in advance so we pretty much just get dressed, grab a bite to eat and we are out the door.  I have two in middle school this year!!  Jenna will be there next year. I'll be honest....I really had a rough weekend because I still really wanted to pull Joshua and homeschool him, but we are going to give it a try. I admire the little guy.  He has faced so many obstacles since the day he was born, but he has turned out to be a young man full of personality:).....his cleft palate was a start of a lot of things. He has endured surgery, many rounds of ear tubes, speech therapy, numerous teeth pulled because of his small mouth, some ADD issues (which does have a link to his cleft palate) constant leg pain at night and other issues.  Most of this does have links back his cleft palate.  This is going to be a very difficult year for him, but as Mandisa sings "he's an overcomer".  He will stay in the fight till the final round.  God will do great things for him.

Jacob started middle school.  Poor little guy....once again his "favorite school friend" didn't come back.  We did meet a kid at the pool Friday that will be in his class so I am praying for a good match.  Jacob is very good at getting along with everyone, so that isn't an issue, but I know he wants a "special friend" to hang with.  He had great spirits today.  I'm so pleased with the teachers he has this year.  He gets to start a computer/robotics class this year, so I think he will really like that.

Jenna is in the 5th grade.  She also gets along well with everyone.  She will do absolutely fine.  I love her two teachers so that is a plus.  Her group of girls in her class are so-so.  There is a couple that she is happy about and some that she wished she could switch out.  She didn't get with her "close friend", although they aren't tight (if that makes sense).

Me: well, today I went to the gym to work out and cleaned up some rooms in the house.  I have the rest of this week with two boys 3 full days.  Next week the older one goes to school so I will only have one of them full time 3 days a week.  Hopefully after Labor Day I will get into a groove as I will only be working T/W/Th from 1-5:15.  Until then I am not really sure if I am coming or going and I wake up every morning thinking "what day is it and what do I have to do today"!

more grocery fun

I had another fun day at HT.  Spent 11.33 saved over $60 in coupons.  Got two cookies, 2 balance bars, two packages of pens, one deodorant, one package of taco shells, refried beans, 4 taco seasonings, fisher peanuts, snackwells cookies,  two sugars, eye wash, two boxes of southbeach bars, one hair styler and 2 Hawaiian punches.  I then went to another HT with my mom's card and saved over another $20 in coupons, although my total was $40 because I had to get some meat and other misc. groceries.

August?

Oh, summer....where are you going?  In just about two weeks school starts.  This means my morning job is back (7:30-8:30) and we have to get up early.  No more pools, no more being lazy ugh!!  We surprised the kids over the weekend with a trip to Myrtle Beach.  It rained in the mornings, but I did two 5 mile runs.  We enjoyed the beach, pools, and slides and did some tax free shopping (SC still has tax free weekend).

In school news, it was our intentions to home school Joshua.  My dad is now retired so he really doesn't have the means to pay for one child any more.  I prayed that if God wanted Joshua back at SCS he would need a full way there.  The school came back with a $1k scholarship for him and we had to decline.  A couple months later a full scholarship was offered for Joshua to attend school, so we knew that this is what God wanted.  Also, I got a call from a friend from church saying she could no longer keep the little boy that she was watching and wanted to know if I could take him.  She wanted to make sure he went to a good home.  After talking to her and finding out that the kids were good and the mom was GREAT (a problem with one of my afternoon kids last year.....not Jack or Kara) I decided to go forward with it.  God even opened the doors even more and she asked if I could keep him and his brother starting in July....so we have been doing that.  I keep the boys on T/W/TH.  The older boy, Caleb, will be going back to school the end of August and after that I will just have Joshua on T/W/Th.  I will pick him up from preschool at 1:15 (right around the corner from my house) and keep him until 5:15.  This will still leave my mornings free and Mondays/Fridays completely free.  It isn't as much as last year, however, I am so grateful to be working again.  We may face this scenario again next year.....can he go back, will I homeschool, will I work....but for now, God has made things perfectly clear for me and I am grateful:)