Yes, I am doing a 5K

Some of y'all might know that I am training with Chrissy to do a 5K this June. I haven't told anyone in my family that I am doing this. I have told some of my work friends, and lets just say the response to me doing this is what I kind of expected. I mean really look at me I don't scream "runner" They look at me in disbelief or chuckle, I had one "friend" tell me to be careful because people fall over and have heart attacks or worse die.

Okay I know that she means well and is probably concern about my well-being, but I wish she would have kept her opinion to herself. And I am one that lets things roll off her back. But this bothered me.

I haven't told my family, really my mom, because I want to surprise them. I know when I go home in March I will hopefully lost some more weight but not enough for them to get to excited about. I just want to say in a casual conversation, Oh yeah by the way I just ran a 5K race.

I am really proud of Chrissy and me. We train 5-6 days a week. I love our signals, we put on our front porch lights on to let the other know 'I coming' I try to get up at 5:30 to wake up and get going, but when I get up I am thinking how much I don't want to. And after we go 2 miles I feel so great! And yes it is very very cold at 6 am. I couldn't go to sleep one night because that morning run was so great that I was thinking about getting a membership to the Centre or a personal trainer. I can't afford one right now but it if I could I am going to do it.

So I am all about rewarding myself for the accomplishment. I have been thinking what could I get? Well I found the perfect thing, it is a running shoe charm. And I can have it engraved, which I will probably put the date and 5K on it. It will be my first charm that I get to put on my bracelet. I am super excited! Crazy that I charm makes me gittie, but it is more about the accomplishment. I have not accomplished a lot in my life, so this is a very personal. I want to show myself and other that I can do this.

Creating Memories

As some of y'all might remember I had an Easter Egg tree last year. And I will be doing another one this year. My mom had always made them when my brother and I were little and I have vivid memories of that. I want to do the same for Bailee. I am not going to go crazy and decorate the whole house for every season or holiday, but I want Bailee to remember that for Easter mom and I made the tree.

So I have been thinking about Valentine's Day. I didn't want to do a whole lot but a little something that would last the whole month of February. I remember a magazine article with this idea and thought, I can so do that! And I did! The article was for Easter and they used jellybeans, so I thought I would do one with candy hearts. I plan on getting something for then inside vase, Wal-Mart had some really cute lollipops. I wasn't going to use candy hearts at first, because I don't like them. I was going to get Hershy's Kisses or Valentine M&M's, but a wise friend reminded me that I would eat them and have nothing in there when Valentine's Day actually came. I knew she was right.

I just hope that when Bailee becomes a mom, she can look back and remember the little things I did.

36-Interesting Things About Me

Okay since reading Tina's blog I thought it would be fun. And that I will be 37 this year I better get it done now, because I don't know if there is 36 interesting things about me, but I will try.

1. I called my mom to tell her that I was skipping school and going to the lake and taking the wine coolers from the frig.

2. I have never been drunk, I usually fall asleep!

3. My nicknames in high school-Steven Tyler (because I can scream really high and loud) Vorpahl, Vorpool, Vortex (any variations from my last name)

4. My husband was my first

5. I love going on cruises for vacation or Vegas!

6. I had a killer tan when I was in high school.

7. I drove a 1984 Monte Carlo with mud flaps.

8. I have never had the flu.

9. I told the owner of Schliterbahn that he could not go into the park without an arm band, hey I was just doing my job. By the way, got in trouble for that one.

10. Rode the elevator with Carrot Top.

11. Been on Daryl Singletary's Bus

12. Terrified of umbrellas and fishing poles

13. Terrified of being stung by a bee or wasp (never been stung before)

14. Never ever smoked anything ever!

15. I loved being in High School

16. I have never lost my voice, every Saturday morning friends would call and see if I still had a voice after screaming through an entire football game.

17. Never shot a gun before. (Which is really amazing if you knew my family)

18. I love road trips from the planning to the actual trip.

19. I am never late.

20. I love anything chocolate

21. I have a speeding problem

22. I hate conflict.

23. I love my job and schedule

24. My favorite show are: Friends, Little House on the Praire, The Cosby Show, Friday Night Lights

25 All time favorite movie: GREASE

26. I would love to go to New York City, with lots of money and go clothes shopping-oh and be a size 12-14

27. I can't do a cartwheel, never could.

28. Can't drive a stick

29. I can't cry at funerals-ever since my dad died and people are older than he was I have a hard time shedding a tear

30. I adore my mom and my grandmother

31. I make great nachos

32. I love going two stepping and actually dancing

33. My first concert was in the fifth grade and I saw Alabama.

34. I twirled fire during a half-time show and no I didn't catch the football field on fire

35. I fell down a mountain in Colorado on my face!

36. I am grateful that I put this list together and will probably never do another. So enjoy and if you have questions or comments post them.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend! And how many more days until spring?

If you know me!

If you know me, you would know what my favorite flower is?

Tulips!

I love them! They just have a way of making me happy and smile.

If you know me, you would know that I don't buy cut flowers, because I think it is a waste of money!

So guess what I did today! I bought myself some Tulips. I had just gotten my hair done and I drove by Lisa's Flower Shop and thought you need a pick me up. So I went in and asked if she had any tulips and I bought all that she had. I went and put them in the vase and I can smell how close spring is.

By the way if you know me that is my favorite season.

What would you grab?

If your home caught on fire and you could only grab one thing (knowing that your children and husband are out of the house) what would you grab?

I would grab the quilt that my grandmother made me. When we found out that I would be moving to Missouri she started making it. I had picked out the fabric and she did the rest by hand. She hand stitched every detail. I love this quilt! It is so beautiful. And when I am feeling a little homesick I will wrap myself in it and think about all the wonderful times I have shared with my grandmother-Nanny. I strive to be like her everyday. She has battled so much and she keeps on going. When I go to visit we can sit and just talk about anything. I love her so much.

Jealous

Do you ever look at pictures on Facebook or on a blog and think man they have it together! Or how can they afford that house. I recently became friends with my second cousin and I was looking at her pictures and I was a little jealous. She has a big, beautiful home and 3 cute kids. Please don't get me wrong I am grateful for my home and family, but when you see others with more it really makes me feel like I don't have it together. I don't have my dream house or the 2 kids that I want. Now, I know that possibility of me having another child is very slim and getting my dream home is not going to happen anytime soon. So why do I feel this way? Why can't I be content with what I do have? Am I just not happy with myself or is it the material things in life that desire? I sit here and think that I need to be thankful and improve what I have. I have a vision of what I want my house to look like, but we just don't have the money right now to do the things I want. We are in the process of paying off 2 credit cards, 2 school loans, a car and both of our moms. Which I figured it out will take at least 2-3 years. Why couldn't I have started this getting out of debt thing earlier in life? For those that are just starting out in adulthood please don't go in debt, it is so not worth it!

Important Info for those in Saint James

Jim has started an alert system for the city of Saint James. You can sign up to get email or text alerts when something is going on in town-traffic, community, street closing and weather alerts.

Please go to http://www.nixle.com/

Enter the city name (you will need to spell out St.)

Then in the right hand corner is sign up now.

Click in it and fill out the info. make sure that you read the info below the I Accept.

Also make sure that after you sign up go under setting there might be some stuff you don't want like Homeland info etc. And go under account, I had to change my timezone.

He would really appreciate if you would sign up and pass the information along to family members and friends.

Jim

This time of year

This time of year I usually start cleaning out the office. Meaning I go through paperwork and reorganizing my files and get ready for taxes. This year was no different, however I wanted to move the full size bed out of Bailee's room and put it in the computer room. In doing so I had to get rid of the file cabinet, it is just a 2 drawer cabinet but with everything else in the room it had to go so that the bed would fit. I was pleasantly surprised that our desk had a drawer that you can hang files in, but I had to clean out that drawer that is full of paperwork. Have I mention that I hate filing paperwork? Anyways, 3 hours later and I am done. I got all the paper work that was in the file cabinet condense to one drawer. Jim even went through some of his stuff and actually got rid of some. And Jim moved the bed into the room. We also moved Bailee's crib and now I just have to wait for our toy box. I love the feeling of accomplishment. I also love the fact that we have a guest room now, well sort of. I wish that we could move the computer and desk out of the room, but there is no where else to put it. I finally feel like I am getting my house the way I want my home to be.

What is your Crutch?

I was watching T.V. and I commercial came on about medicine to quit smoking. And they talked about how smoking was her crutch. It got me to thinking, we all have crutches. Don't we?

I mean we all lean on something that is not the best for us and we know things we should do it in moderation, but it makes us feel good. Examples-Overeating, drinking, smoking, too much computer/TV, too much soda, etc...And yes I know that some of these things are very harmful, but my point is this. If we get rid of an addicting behavior how do we stop from gaining another?

If anyone has an opinion or comment I would love to hear them.

Sorry if this post is poorly written.

Secret Shopping

I do secret shopping. I am sure that some of y'all have heard about it, but think it is too good to be true. Well, it is true, I get paid to go to McDs!

I do a lot of retail merchandising jobs and I happen to find this company that list secret shopper jobs. I figured I don't have anything to lose, so I applied. The jobs are mostly for McDs and some Panera Bread. They have some store retail jobs but usually not in my area. They pay you for going to the store and pay for some of your purchases. They give you a limit or tell you what you have to order. All you have to do is report back on your experience. And if you wait long enough and no on else has picked up a job they offer more money for you to go. Yes I got paid $20 to go to McDs in Owensville plus I got 2 breakfast paid for. This job is great for me, because I go to so many different towns in the area for my 'real' job that it is worth it. It gives me a little extra blow money. I have cut back on doing secret shopper jobs for a while but I do try to fit them in when I can.

If anyone would like information about this company, please let me know I would love to pass it on!

Welcome 2010!

This last week Jim went to a Blues game which I wasn't to crazy about him going, because our house is falling apart. Before he left I told him that this weekend he has to stay home, not go into the office and work on this house. He agreed and told me to make him a To Do List. (BIG mistake on his part) So 2 pages later he has his list.

As usual Jim worked New Year's Eve night. So I went to bed around 10. He got home really late, so I decided that Bailee and I are going to Washington. I figured he could sleep in and at least start on the list. The biggest To Do was to fix our back door. For some reason the door knob was stuck and he had to take the door completely off the hinges. I knew having Bailee and me there would not be a good thing. We went to Target and Kohl's. I got the new Wii Fit Plus game. And other stuff clothes, hairspray, etc. When I got home he had 4 things completed! I was just hoping for 2 things. We have been working on the rest of the list today. Which makes me so happy! I love marking things off. Speaking of marking things off I bought magnetic Weekly To Do List tablet. I have cleaned off my counter top and thrown away tons of stuff. I really feel sorry for the garbage man, you know that everyone reorangize and throw stuff out during the coldest part of the year.

Anyways here is my To Do List for 2010:

1. Keep going to Weight Watchers.

2. Keep working on our debt! We are so close

3. Start training for the 5K in June! Yes I am going to do this, even if it kills me.

4. Eat at home more. We have been eating more at home, but I would like to see that we only go out 2-3 times a month and that includes fast food.

5. Make weekly to do list. I know that if I can make the list it gets done!

6. Potty train Bailee! (I am really nervous about this, so any suggestions would be appreciated!)

7. Help Jim get his crap organized!

8. Enjoy outside more! Hopefully we will be getting a fence, which will help out!

9. Buy new clothes!

10. Be a better friend and mom!