Chickens...?

Can chickens get any dumber? Our next door neighbors, who are also Josh's aunt and uncle, have a bunch of chickens. And some of them are actually ours but we keep them over there because they have a coop. Well, they don't leave the chickens in the coop, they let them run around their yard...which would be fine with me if they stayed in their yard. You would think that they would stay away from our yard because of the three barking dogs, one of which is the size of a pony...but do they? Absolutely not.

I believe I told the story on here about the first time that Apollo caught a chicken after chasing them for many months...it wasn't a pretty sight. But, I called over there and told them that Apollo had killed a chicken and it turned out to be a rooster...which was fine at the moment because they had too many roosters anyway and they were going to kill and eat them eventually...well, a few weeks later, they called Josh to tell him that Apollo had killed yet another rooster, but he had killed the one that they were going to keep.

So far, he has killed about seven roosters I think (they had ten I believe), and they were mad. Well, my dogs are contained within my yard by a fence. It isn't my fault that your stupid roosters keep coming over the line and getting themselves killed my my dog. It isn't like he left our yard and ran over there and killed one. I could see that as being our fault, but he doesn't leave the yard. But every single day, those stupid chickens are strutting around right on the line and every once in a while, one crosses over too far and Apollo grabs it.

We have told them to put the chickens up because they keep coming in our yard and that is why Apollo kills them...but they still let them run around. Yesterday, Gabriel was looking out the window and he said, "Look, mommy, a chicken!" so I went to look but about that time, the chicken went around the side of the house and Apollo spotted him...and he took off and went around the house after him. I ran around to the back windows and saw Apollo coming around the back of the house with yet another chicken in his mouth...and he was running back towards the front of the house. So I went and shut the front door really quick so Gabriel wouldn't see it because he kept asking me where the chicken went and I just kept saying, "I don't know, sweetie."

So I texted Josh and told him to call his uncle and tell him that if he wants to keep any of his stupid chickens alive, he needs to put them up and stop letting them run wild and get themselves killed. He didn't call him, and I don't blame him, because he will be mad and act like it is our fault! I'm sorry your moronic chickens keep waltzing over to our yard, where they know an extremely large dog lives, and then never returning home...but it isn't my fault! And it makes me mad to know that they will blame it on us...ugh!

Sorry, I know, completely random blog post, but I had to vent about those friggin' chickens!! They drive me crazy!!!

Goin' strong!

So I haven't weighed myself because I am waiting until Monday morning, but I have really been sticking to my points and I am excited to find out how much I have lost already and how much I will lose by Monday. I am not going to keep my goals really low for now and I really just want to lose about ten pounds before April 9th because that is when I am in Leslie's wedding...ten pounds will help me feel better about standing up there in my gorgeous strapless dress!

I have also been doing really good with only drinking one bottle of Diet Mtn Dew per day and not drinking any caffeine after 6 p.m....it has helped me fall asleep faster! But...and I don't know if this is related at all...I have had really strange dreams for the past two nights. I dream a lot and I remember most of my dreams too unlike a lot of people, but two nights in a row and them being about a ten on the weird scale...that is definitely new for me. I love to dream, even if they are weird dreams, because they are fun. But if they are sad, or a bad dream about my son, that is when I don't like it. I am curious to see if I will be dreaming another crazy dream tonight.

A bust!

All right, so this weekend was a bust! My bestie Leslie is getting married in April and I am a bridesmaid...her bridal shower was this Saturday and one of the other bridesmaids, Jenny, made these amazing cupcakes and I had two (because I couldn't help myself) and a bunch of other snack foods. And then yesterday, my hubby made this awesome mac and cheese (which is a lot of points on WW) and I just decided to take the weekend off and start up fresh and new today...so that is what I did.

I have also decided to cut back on my Diet My Dew intake and up my water intake...so I am going to stop drinking any and all caffeine after 6 pm (because I can't sleep to save my life and I don't know if that is part of it but we will see) and I am only going to drink one thing of DMD (whether it be an 8 oz glass, a 12 oz bottle, or a 24 oz bottle like I have now) and then drink water the rest of the day...that way I can still have my drink but I will be drinking more water and I am hoping that will speed up my weight loss. And instead of weighing myself so often, I am going to weigh myself every Monday morning (starting next Monday) and no more...

Oh, and we aren't going to be able to have a baby right now because we can't afford it...we got his first paycheck from the hospital and it is way way WAY less than he used to get with his other job...and way less than we thought it was going to be. We are going to wait until he can move up in the hospital and get a better paying job...at least we hope to. But I am still going to stay on WW until I get pregnant again (unless I reach my ultimate goal before then) just to get into the habit of doing it again...

And another one bites the dust!!!

So, after being on Weight Watchers for two days I have lost two pounds. If I keep this up for a month losing one pound per day, I will reach my goal!! This is definitely encouraging and I am still going strong for Day Three!

I am also excited because my parents are coming to get Gabriel today and I get a break...well not really, because I have to clean. But they are going to New Orleans for a week and before they go on a trip they like to spend as much time with him as they can because they see him so often, they don't like going too long without seeing him if they can help it. I don't know what they would do if we ever moved away.

This is going to be a short post because I have to get Gabriel ready but I might write some more later.

One Day, One Pound

All right! Well, I have lost one pound and I am going strong into Day Two! I did really well with my points yesterday and I was rewarded for it by the loss of a pound!! Yay!

Yesterday was a pretty good day, all in all...Gabriel went to the potty four times and he wore his Pull-Ups training pants for the last half of the day. I'm still not wanting to put him in regular underwear because he doesn't tell me everytime he has to go to the potty...he just tells me the times when he wants to go. Once I get him really working and going to the potty more times than he uses his trainers, I will start putting him in underwear.

I really would like to have him potty trained before his birthday which gives me almost three months...I am a little behind on getting him potty trained because I haven't been working with him as diligently as I should have been...but I definitely want him trained before we have another baby because I only want one in diapers!

I want to redo the bathroom next to Gabriel's room, which will be his bathroom, in something for him. It is also the bathroom that everyone uses when they come to our house, but I want it to be his bathroom. I want to make it into a kiddie bathroom so he will feel like it is his...but I don't know what theme I want it to be yet. They have great stuff at Target and Walmart, so I am just going to have to do some looking around and see which one I like best.

Okay, so this was definitely a random post, and not what I thought I would be writing about, but this is just something that has been weighing on my mind a lot.

Well...so much for that...

Okay, so starting today, I am back on Weight Watchers. I tried a few other things and they just weren't working fast enough for me...so Weight Watchers it is again. I was going to stay on Weight Watchers the whole time I was pregnant anyways, so I figured I would just start now and then stay on my whole pregnancy and then after I have the baby until I lose the weight...which if I stay on Weight Watchers and only gain twenty to thirty pounds like I am supposed to, then it won't take any time at all to lose the weight instead of keeping it on this whole time like an idiot...

Day One of Weight Watchers has gone pretty good so far. Josh and I have been talking about it and I also talked to Tyler and we aren't sure if we are going to wait til June to start trying to get pregnant again. Tyler told me that he wouldn't be upset or offended or anything if I had a baby while he was overseas, and he is excited that we are going to have another baby soon. And since I am on Weight Watchers now, I won't mind getting pregnant before I lose all of the weight because I will still have enough time to lose all of it before I really start gaining any baby weight.

The only thing we are waiting on is for Josh to quit smoking. He wants to quit anyway, and there is a program with Carilion that will pay for everything he needs to quit...like the gum or the patch...and I am pretty sure it is a support group type of thing too. So, that is his motivation to stop smoking and that is my motivation to lose weight....

My will power is really being put to the test now because we have so much candy and so many sweets in the house left over from Valentine's Day and just in general, but I am determined to stay strong and lose this weight...as much as possible...before I get pregnant again.

Valentine's Monkey

I took Gabriel to the store to let him pick out what he wanted for Valentine's Day. I told him he could pick out one toy or stuffed animal and one thing of candy.

Well, he didn't want candy, he wanted marshmellows and he didn't want the mini ones like he usually gets...he wanted the big Jet-Puffed ones that were strawberry flavored...so that is what he got. And which stuffed animal did he want?

The biggest one there, of course. Now, normally I wouldn't let him just get whatever he wanted...but there were some special circumstances thrown in there today so I got him the biggest stuffed animal they had...

...a monkey that is bigger than him. So there he is enjoying his strawberry marshmellows and his Valentine's Monkey...that I have started calling George because he says it reminds him of George of the Jungle.

And, of course, he wanted to take George to bed with him and cuddle with him instead of his stuffed Larry from Veggietales's The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Larry got bumped to the toybox and George got the bed. After I read to him from The Chronicles of Narnia series like I do every night and he fell asleep...he had his arms slung over George's legs.

So when he woke up this morning and came walking into my bedroom and opened the door, the first thing I saw was George. He was carrying George and his blankie that he sleeps with too and he somehow opened the door haha.

He propped George up on his daddy's pillow and leaned back against him to read a book...George is now sitting on the floor with Gabriel while he is playing and running around.

He absolutely loves his Valentine's Monkey George...I don't know how long it will last, but for now it is adorable! And I had to share! :)

Bye Bye, Mater!

So...a while ago, Josh bought this piece of crap truck. It was silver, it didn't run very well, and it was all nice and rusty like Mater from the movie Cars...so that is what I started calling it. Over the next few months, Josh took all of the spare money we had and put it into this stupid truck and redid the entire engine...but it still didn't run. He would go out to start it in the morning and for one reason or another, it wouldn't start and he would have to take my Xterra, leaving Gabriel and me stuck at home.

We got the truck so we wouldn't have to share a car anymore and after spending a few thousand dollars, we were still sharing a car. I have hated that truck since the minute he bought it. We don't need to go a lot of places but we haven't been able to do anything like getting our weekly adjustment at the Chiropractor or spending time with my family on Thursdays which has been a weekly thing for as long as I can remember...it was frustrating. Plus, being stuck at home was really driving me crazy...I couldn't just get out of the house if I wanted to and be around other people.

Now that Josh is working two jobs in Roanoke instead of one job at the lake (not ten minutes from our house), we wanted to sell his truck and get a car that is better on gas milage for him to drive...oh yeah, and one that actually runs! A friend of his had a car that he wanted to trade for an SUV or a truck, so Josh talked to him the other night about trading the car for his truck...

MATER IS FINALLY GONE!!!!! He came over last night, left his car here, and took the truck for good. Thank goodness!!! Now, the car needs a few things before he can drive it but Josh is taking care of them today so that I can have my car back to go to church tomorrow. I am so happy to see that truck go! I just hope this car lasts for a while.

Another Baby?

No, I'm not pregnant...yet...but Josh and I have been talking about trying to have another one in the next month or two. But my brother leaves March 18th for training and then he leaves May 26th ( I think) for Afghanistan and all I could think was...I don't want to have a baby while my big brother is overseas. When he leaves in May, he will be gone for 9 months, so I started thinking I would rather wait until June to start trying that way the baby won't be born before March and Tyler will be getting back in February. (Unless the baby comes super early, but we won't get into that)

I also thought that this would be the perfect time to get pregnant again because it would give me something to be happy about while Tyler is gone. I'm going to be a wreck while he is gone and being pregnant and looking forward to having another little munchkin on the way would definitely be something to be excited about. It would bring some joy to a not so joyous time.

AND...it would also give me four months to lose this weight that I wanted to lose before I got pregnant again. There is my motivation! I already told Josh that when I got pregnant again I was going on Weight Watchers to keep from gaining too much weight like I did with Gabriel and I don't want to be in this position again...

I am also in my friend Leslie's wedding in April and my dress is gorgeous. It fits, but it would look even better if I lost a bit of weight before then...I am getting excited about the next few months and that is really saying something because I have really been dreading this year for a while just because my best friend isn't going to be here...he will be in danger overseas and I was already planning for a bad year.

But with this plan...this year is looking up already. :)

Freezing!

I am sitting here in bed freezing my butt off!! I have a sweater on and a huge fluffy blanket and I am still shivering. That isn't really what I wanted to write about but I didn't want to have another entry titled Update haha so I figured I would start off with a little something random and completely off topic.

Josh has been training all this week and he really likes his new job, and he started driving the bus again on Friday. He is excited about having two jobs, but I know it is going to wear him down really quick. We don't know how much he will be making, but we went together and filled out the applications and paperwork for our benefits and we are both really excited about that...and we are willing to work with less money for the benefits that we are getting.

Also, Josh is excited already about moving on up and getting a better job with more pay and better hours. He has his foot in the door with all jobs Carilion and he is definitely excited...we both are.

And now that I have said excited a million times, maybe I should talk about something else...but the only problem with that is I really have nothing else to say. Things are going pretty good now but I am still stressed. And I'm not even sure if I am really stressed or if I am just in a rut. Do you ever get in a rut where you just fell blah all the time?? That is exactly how I am feeling now and have been feeling for a while.

I'm not exactly sure what to do about it either and it is not a fun way to feel. I really want to get things moving...I am very impatient. I want to swim and be in the water and take my scuba classes and get my dives in and become an instructor and I want it all to happen now. Then again, I want to lose the rest of this weight that I can't seem to get rid of...and I want that gone now and I am so blah and discouraged because things are so slow paced that it is driving me crazy! Ugh! I think I am going to stop ranting and go work on my novel (one of many that I am working on at the moment) while I have some great ideas in my head...who knows how long that will last! :)