OK here goes : THE HOUSE

Here are the pix of the new house.... they are in all sorts of odd order so bear with me. If you have questions, let me know, I'll do my best to answer!
So, here goes..

Stairs down to basement from livingroom
Upclose of the blue tiles on the gas fireplace in the LR (so pretty!)
Main bath upstairs with jaquzzi tub (LOVE it!)
Master bedroom closet and bath view from the den
Master bedroom view of the den
Master bedroom with view of den, bath and walk in closet (ohh yeah baby)
Livingroom from entryway (tell me how I'll clean those windows??)
Entryway from livingroom (double doors, so nice!)
Diningroom from kitchen (love the blinds IN side the glass doors)
Kitchen from diningroom (Look at the pantry! in the corner! it's huge!)

What do you think?
Luvs, Darla

I AM BACK ONLINE!!!!!!!

Happy happy dance! I am back online on my very own lil' pc - thank you so much Ed! You are the best hubby ever!

:O) Darla

PS readers....photos to come soon! Yes, the new house photos!!!!!!!!! :O)

The SABERTOOTH MOUSE Attack!

YES, you read right. It was in fact a huge, monsterous thing, a mouse in our garage at the new house and that stinkin' horrid thing BIT ME!!!!! Oh my gosh I about had a stroke too - sneaky lil' devil, I reached down to pick up a box and felt something wiggle by my little baby pinkie finger and before I could think to jump or scream he was BITING ME!!! So, off I went for a tetnus shot and a lot of laughs from the nurses at my Dr office. Now, the joke is "are you craving cheese?" and the fact that a "sabertooth mouse" attacked me. Not funny people, not funny in the least! (Blake, John, that would be YOU GUYS thank you...) I am wounded here don't ya know?????

Geesh! So, now here we are about 10 mouse traps later and the dang thing keeps sneaking in and out of the garage in the broad daylight with all of us out there, he is a brave soul I tell ya. That's ok, I'll get him, I will! Then we'll see who gets the last laugh! Ha ha ha!

Darla

I'm still alive amongst the boxes

As previously stated, we are IN the new house, good bye and toodaloo to the old place, however, I am more than burried with work at the new place! OYE! I have been cleaning and unpacking and donating and trashing and purging like a crazy woman!
So, yes, I am still alive, but just a hermit amongst all the 10000001 boxes I have to go through! Ed is burried himself - at work - so the internet set up is going slow but sure. I'll be on my own computer soon though, just be patient, I AM! LOL

I have a TON of pix of the new house but can't download them yet, so those will be to come soon as well.

Kids started school this week, so far so good. Chris is a SR this year, Dani in 9th and Tiff jumped from 5th to JHS to a "sevie" and Micheal started 2nd. Busy kids!!!!

Our old house is now being semi demolished - stopped by today as Blake was tearing out the kitchen - LITERALLY tearing it out, crow bar and sledgehammer - the whole bit! Now, I'll say there were many a time I'd loved to have slammed out that *&^%$ stove but this was crazy nuts! He offered me a swing at the cupboards but seeings how I was in sandals, shorts, ect... not too safe - but MAN that would have rocked! LOL

Guess that is about it... see ya when I see ya! Oh, and I HAVE been getting to the gym some, but not running like I wanted to - but trust me - this moving business is quite the workout!!!

Take care.
Darla

Wer'e "IN"

Everything is out of the old and into the new - sort of. We moved every single freakin' thing we owned in 2 days. We busted butt all day Fri and Sat and have it all piled a mile high in the new garage and only have a minor heap pile in the old house garage for the dump and to donate to thrift shop. *sigh* It has been an extremely long and rough weekend and although I am LOVE LOVE LOVING the new place I am still feeling overwhelmed and stressed. It is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now.
Lots more to report but I am wiped out and crashing - Ed is working on getting computers all up and going so I may/may not be online a lot. Just don't forget me! OK?

HUGS and well wishes!
Darla

Buh- bye for now

Getting packed up to do the big move this weekend. Ed will be taking down all our computers tonight so we'll be offline for a while.

Lots to do. Wish us luck!

More later...

Darla

As a matter of fact it *IS* all about me!

Sorry dear reader (whoever the brave soul named "anon" may be) I just wanted to clarify for you and anyone else who chooses to read this blog that yes, this blog is in fact all about me. It is about my daily life, my family, my personal journey of weight loss and fitness and change. It *IS* about me. I sometimes choose to share about other things but mostly just tell about myself and what is going on in my world around me. Self centered (not "senetered") maybe, maybe not. Guess it just depends on who and how you look at it. If it bothers you and you find it too much then I guess it is time to stop visiting. Whatever the case may be - on MY blog I try to focus on the positive as much as possible (thus the forced optimism title) and you trying to bring me, or anyone else down, did the opposite, just boosted me up and helped me to be even stronger! Thanks to you for your good deed! Have a GREAT day!

Ta ta for now!
Darla

Day two - check!

OK more like 1/2 a check. Running was no good this morning! Whaaaa! :O( I went to the gym and did a so-so workout mostly bc I was showing my friend how to do the new fitness routine (aka torture) that the trainer guy taught me... but that was ok bc I was going out to run anyway. HA! Well, my sister Lisa, her daughter Mindy and my best friend Lisa all met up bright and early at 6 a.m. downtown to hit the greenbelt. We decided to do a different section than normal.... the regular part is 2.34 miles - this one was only 1.39 miles. We ran a good part of it but did a lot of walking too. We really SHOULD have done a 2nd lap but we all wussed out. Danggit! I really need to be pushing harder. My dang thighs are so sore from these workouts though it is hard. Anyway, at least I went. However, at this rate I'll never get into a sexy cute lil' bikini! (Was I ever?) LOL I just don't want to go out lookin' like ol' Marge up there... think I'll have to keep her around to remind me of what I need to be doing? You think so too? Maybe tonight I can do a bit more if time allows? If not there is tommorrow and I will push myself harder!

That is about all that is going on here aside from the drag of packing and cleaning. I cannot wait to start moving and get this all over with!!!!!!!

Tommorrow: all about the great quest for a purple iPod - stay tuned!

Later!
Darla

explains so much

OK, not that I didn't already sort of know this but it is good to have it reinforced in my wee lil' brain... a good friend of mine sent me this message tonight and I am ever so thankful for her thoughtful and sweet ways - you rock Dolly! Maybe this will keep me going for one more day, or hour, or whatever it takes! :O) Darla


"You may see very little weight loss if you are building your muscles mass but your clothes may fit more loosely. This is because muscle weighs more than fat, but takes up less space".

So far so good

Day one. I am in. Hey, not too bad for an old fat mommy! LOL

So, day one, I did my gym workout (kicked my own butt this time) and did the "jello legs" routine that the evil trainer guy "MIKE" taught me. I pushed myself hard and I think I did him proud?! My legs hurt like heck so that should be the indicator I think?

Then I went out for my run. OK let me tell you, when your legs are so fatigued from the weight and fitness session it is H A R D to run. I did it though. I went for 30 minutes and did about 1.5 to 1.75 miles. I ran two 1/2 mile straight runs and then speed walked the rest. My legs were SO giving out in the weirdest places. Usually I get cramped up in my left calf and that is when I know it is time to walk... this time from the get go the front of my thighs were burnin' and my butt even hurt! I know it is from the other training, not an injury, so I just pushed through the pain and kept going. In the end, it felt great!
Can I stand up now? Probably not. LOL
But it is all in good intentions right? Oh, and soon enough those freakin' boxes and boxes of hand me downs from my friends and sisters WILL fit me! HOORAY! There is my incentive! LOL
On that note, I just have to say POOOOOOEY POO on the clothing industry! C'mon people! Get consistant on sizing please. For the love of Harry, let's get the clothes that say 18 or 20 ALL to be 18 or 20. AND what is with womens' size 18 being way off from PLUS size women's 18? GEESH! I hate that! I was all giddy excited to shop in "real" ladies sizes and not the moo-moo section, and I'll just say that the 18 vs the 18W is a BIG difference! ack! Oh, and also, don't even accidently buy yourself a "goal" get of jeans for weightloss off the clearance rack without looking closely at the tags. *oh yes, I did!* I got this cute pair of tan jeans in a size 18 and kept trying them on with MUCH dismay.... uh, laugh was on me, they were MISSES size 18 .... yet another evil thing they do to us women! UGH!

OK that is all the venting I have in me so far for today. I'm certain more will come as the day moves on. LOL OH, and I forgot to mention, hugs and luvs to my kiddos, Dani is sick with a nasty ola' sore throat and lil' Micheal man split his chin open at the swimming pool last night. Poor bugs! :O(

Darla

This song from 3 Doors Down is so what I am about on my health and where I am going with myself right now. I love it when songs actually "say" something, ya know? I think I posted it once before but DANG! it is a song with some meaning! Love it!


3 Doors Down Lyrics
It's The Only One You've Got Lyrics

Commit Me

I am making a personal committment today. Starting this week I plan to run a MINIMUM of 5 days a week and work my hardest to getting back up to my full mile run so that I can start working towards the 1.5 miles again and then my 2 miles that I have concquered once before. I have wavered back and forth in my head and heart over this one and think I need to just rely on good old fashioned self control and drive to push myself to do what I already know I CAN DO! I will keep up with my gym routines too, especially all the evil jello leg stuff... cuz' it obviously is a good thing... but the running is going back up front in my fitness routine again. I can do it.

Happy Sunday to you!

:O) Darla

jello legs

Well, much to my oldest son Chris' dismay, I am temporarily over the pear shaped body incident and onto better food images for my body. Like today, I do believe that after a 40 minute training session with the fitness guru dude at Anytime Fitness my legs have indeed turned into a blob of jello. Seriously. No more pear concerns for now, just jello, wiggly, wobbly, jiggle and wiggle jello legs. I can barely stand up now and walking up and down the stairs - ah ha ha ha hahahahhahahah! Funny.

Yes, just call me Jello Legs for today. (Sorry son)


Darla


**just wanted to add**
It is now 11:30 pm and what a funky night we had! Two of the kids and I went out with my sister Lisa and her kids to dinner and did some backtoschool shopping then met up with our friend Liz and my youngest son Micheal at the park for some nighttime frizbee! (Started as frizbee golf and turned into a lot of fun) After that we went back to my sisters to play "Apples to Apples" and had homemade carmel corn and it was silly crazy fun. THANK YOU to my sis for a great night of fun and THANK YOU to my kids for ALL being such good sports! It was not such a lonesome and boring night as I was afraid it would be! :O)

running pooeys

poo on the gym
poo on running
poo on skinnny jeans
poo on weigh in fridays
double poo on 4:00 a.m. alarms

I really wanted to be pushing myself super hard to get back up to my endurance on the running/jogging.... so far I have consistantly been going, but not building up much more endurance at all. I am down to about 1/2-1 mile MAX distance run and I very flustered. I don't know if I am pooey on it because other people have lost interest that were doing it with me or because I just need a break but I really want to do that 5k in Oct and be able to run the full thing, not do the run/walk interval like I did with the other 2 earlier this year.
I can honestly say that 99.99999999% of the time this health and fitness deal is a great and wonderful thing but than teeny tiny tidbit of the time that things don't go as I want them to sure can drag ya down... maybe with the moving and trying to get stuff done, kids getting ready to start school, all that, mabye it is all just pulling me too much? I by NO means want to drop my routine and I really still want to push myself on the running but mornings like today it seems futile.

poo.

Almost 2 years

Wow....I realized today that it has been almost 2 years since I started this crazy health and fitness thing and although I often get discouraged at how slow my weight has come off, I know that the past 2 years have been some of the funnest and happiest times of my adult life! I am a totally different girl than I was 2 years ago! And I love it! Here is what I wrote on my blog 2 years ago to the day when I started this... Aug 21, 2006 "get some quality excersize time in with my slave driver sister " meaning, Lisa my big sis who pushed me to get to start this and helped me get where I am now! Whoo whoo thank you sis!

I am thinking I will have to do a before/after photo thing again here... just for fun. I love to do that, it makes it so much more real to me to SEE where I was before. So, I know your all sick of these pix but here goes... the old one is with my sisters Carlee and Lisa (I am in the green tee)almost exactly 2 years ago, and the new one was last weekend with my OTHER sisters Odessa and Tammy (Ed's lil' sisters)over in Boise (I am in the pink). Wow! I like the new one much more!!
Pat pat pat my own back, I can reach back there now you know! ;O)

Have a GREAT day!
Darla

Ahhhhhhh nice and cooool outside!

Good Monday morning! Hope all is well in your world today and the temps are nice and cool where you are too! I woke up this a.m. to go workout and then went out for my run and it was SO SO SO nice out - the sun was up, but rather than beating down on my hot sweaty head it was so nice and cool out there - it felt great! We are only supposed to get into the 80's today and I am allll good with that!

So, busy busy day ahead. Have a lot to do - Chris registers for his Senior year of HS today (I KNOW!!!!! Can you believe it?). Also I have the baby here which always keeps us busy! I have housework and laundry to do and I hope to put a big dent in the packing. I am thinking I will work on some closets and my scrapbooking supplies today. That is a LOT of packing itself! LOL

Not much else going on really, but I'll leave ya with a couple more pix from Boise just for fun. (Tammy and Uncle Ken, Tammy, the girls with Mom, Ed and his sisters 'better' side, and Micheal with Pappa!)

Have a GREAT Monday!
Darla

SLEEP IN Sundays....

Sleeping in has got to be the best thing in the entire universe don't ya think? Seriously! I love to sleep in. Lay there, let the sun shine in the window, glance over at the clock and think "hey, I just don't care! I could lay here all day"... LOVE that sleeping in thing! Sunday's are usually the only day we get to do that, our bf's almost always take a Sunday nap - we love to give them crap about it too but honestly I guess to each is own - sleep in late - nap all day - whatever toots your horn and you get some extra rest is all good in my book! :O)

So, quick review of the past few days here. We left Wed night for Boise to go for Ed's Grandma's funeral services. We got in Wed night to his baby sister Odessa's house and his other little sis, Tammy, was there too. Tammy drove all day from Oregon to get there in her CUTE little green VW Bug! We stayed up way too late visiting and being ULTRA silly but had a great visit!
Thursday morning we got up and moving and were to the services at 1:00 pm downtown - a very very nice memorial with tons of people who knew and loved Granny. It was extremely HOT out that day so when we left to go to the graveside it was more than miserable. I think it was like 108 or 107 degrees outside? ick! Fortunatly, the graveside was short but very sweet and we were all back in our AC cars soon! After that we had a HUGE family picinic downtown at Julia Davis park for the rest of the afternoon/evening and the weather, although hot, was bearable and a water fight helped everyone cool down! I think Granny would have loved it!
Friday we vegged out. Seriously lazied around, visited with Grandma and Grandpa and then went to Ed's Uncle Harry and Aunt Mary's house for a mini party where everyone had fun playing a SERIOUS round or two of Guitar Hero and Rock Star... it was great! Very relaxing and fun! Huge thanks to them for hosting all of us, we sort of crashed their bbq and they were so gracious to have us stop in! Thank you guys! (PS Uncle Harry, Timmy Turtle is doing FAB in his new virtual world! ;O) hee hee!)
OH! And Friday morning I hunted down the local Anytime Fitness gym and went for a KICK BUTT workout myself then a bit later in the morning our nephew Joshua took me on a little hike up into the foothills by their house, it was SO HOT outside but we had fun! So I more than got my workouts in while over there!
Anyway, Fri night we snuck over to the hotel where Ed's Aunt Lillie was staying and went for a quickie swim...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it was so cool and so nice! THANK YOU AUNT LILLIE! We'll miss you!
So, Sat morning we s l o w l y got up and going, headed to Grandma and Grandpa's (this would be Ed's folks house) and visited for a while, took lots of pix and then headed out to home. Wish we could have stayed longer but we needed to get back. Chris had only stayed till' Friday morning and was home alone plus our 2 poochie pups were missing us too! The drive home was long but nice and quiet as most of us napped the majority of the trip! :O)
Today has been good. We DID sleep in, as I said before, but I did get up and go to the gym too. Had a REALLY good workout and ran some on the treadmill too which felt great. I think I'll go for a run tonight when it cools down outside too. I have to work on that 3 miles before October!!!
So, have a GREAT day and here are a few pix from the trip. Ed, myself and his sisters, and some with his Mom, and Josh and I on our foothill hike, including a view of the Boise skyline and the burned area where we hiked... and some flowers I loved too! (Tammy is the one with glasses who is next youngest to Ed, Odess is the baby and is wearing white, I am in pink and Mom is in a stripey pattern type shirt)
Take care and luvs!

Darla

wer'e home....

Well, it was a fun, but long, few days over to Boise and back for Ed's Grandma's funeral - great to see family but also great to be back home. This is how much fun we had.... the drive home was great! :O)

I have a lots to share but I'll just leave you with this for now and play catch up later.

HUGS to all the family who now have my blog link and I hope you all stay in touch!
Love you!
Darla

Ouch!

Morning all. Ouch! That is what I have to say today. I pulled something and it hurts. LOL Laugh with me here.... because ya can't cry, you have to laugh. Here is the deal. Yesterday when I was stretching out I felt like the inside of my upper thigh was "tight"... I wondered if I didn't stretch a little too much and pull it a bit or somthing but it wasn't bad. I still did a great workout and went running with no problem. It just felt tight is the only way to describe it. This a.m. I was late getting to the gym and sort of rushed through my warmup but didn't skip it - when I was doing my lunges I went down a bit further than normal (which usually bothers my knee or hip...) and HOLY COW I knew I'd done something. I about cussed out loud! I felt it definatly pull bad in there - 4-letter word ow! Well, I figured I had to keep moving so I went and got on the treadmill and walked, it was sore but I was ok. Then I went and met my friend Lisa to go running but there was NO way that was happening bc by then even my butt hurt! So, I think I have pulled something in there somewhere and now I'll have to play nice to my leg/butt for a couple of days I guess? I just REALLY hope this does not screw up my running! :O( I will cry if it does!

That is about all that is going on here. We will be leaving for Boise either tonight or early tommorrow for the funeral - not sure how long we'll be staying either. So, if I am not here blogging for a few days you'll know why!

Toodles and take care! (and stretch GENTLY please!)
Darla

GOOD day!

Happy Tuesday! Having a GREAT day so far, feeling wonderful! I had a good workout at the gym and went for a walk/run with my bf Lisa and feel great!!! I am at my lowest weight ever and am just jazzed to heck to weigh in on Friday - this 9 day challenge is going to be so good!
So, having a good day so far - hope you are too!
Be good, behave and be nice to your bodies! :O)

Darla

Monday once more

Morning and hello. Finally made it to another Monday - where do the weekends go? Ours was pretty laid back but busy with lots of little stuff. It ended very tough last night on a bad note - we recieved the phone call that Ed's Grandmother (on his Dad's side) had passed away. It is a very sad time for Ed and his family but it is also a great relief to know that she is no longer suffering. Grama's poor ol' body was so worn out, she lived a long and vibrant life and what a tough nut she was! I send my love and prayers to all of our family right now and hope you are all feeling at peace at this time.

Darla

Well hello there

Hello out there in blogger world. Sorry I have not been around much the past couple of days - busy busy you know!?
So, Sat was a sort of busy but lazy day. I did get a workout in, did FABULOUS on my foods, got some megga housework done, and went out for a super yum dinner with friends and STILL stayed good on my food points! WHOOWHOO! (even had a bit left for some licorice too!)
Sunday, so far so good. I was up megga early this a.m. - went to the gym for a good hard workout then my bf Lisa met me at 6:3o this morn and we went for a long walk/run and it felt SO good! Lisa did great, I was quite impressed! Of course she ran way faster than I did (long legs vs short nubber legs not fair) but we had fun and had a great talk too! Feeling really good about the day so far.
Not much else going on here. Chris got home last night from his High Adventure for Scouts/Church and was wiped out - poor duffer. Today will just be working on packing and cleaning and I am trying to come up with some fab dinner idea but nothing is popping into my head right this second. Hmmmm
That is it!
Hope your enjoying your weekend!

Darla