Frugal Friday

I need to lose some weight and tone up, desperately. I am going to be in a wedding this summer that I would like to look good (better than I do now) and I would like to feel better. So here is my new, frugal plan for weight lose.

Pedometer: I found a pedometer I got a couple of years ago for free. I did some research online and found that "sedentary" people walk 2,000 to 3,000 steps per day. Walking 6,000 steps per day will keep you healthy and reduce your health risks and walking 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day will help you lose weight. Last night in about 4 hours, which included working in the front yard and having a race with Cadence, I walked close over 4,000 steps. Today I have been wearing it all day, and am so far at 4,000 steps. Today Ben took Cadence to and from school for me, so I definitely lost some steps right there. My goal over the next couple of days is to see how many steps I average per day so that I can increase them. I will have to add activity of some sort to get to 10,000 steps.

DVDs: I have 5 work out dvds that I have collected over the years. My goal is to do something every single day, and hopefully to work these dvds into my routine. I think for right now I am going to have to do them in the evening, because I just can't seem to get up early enough to do them. Maybe once I start doing them and realize how much better I feel, then I will be able/willing to get up earlier.

Watching what I eat: I think this will also help me alot. I am switching fruits and 100 calorie snacks for chocolate and otherwise fattening snacks. I am going to try to eat more slowly and not get "lost" in my food and not pay attention.

The only thing I will have to buy is a new sports bra. My old ones are from high school, enough said.

I am also planning on using this blog to post what I have done to motivate me. So you see, you can work out and lose weight without spending any money! Wish me luck!

Not Me! Monday

Yes, its baaaaack! I stopped the Not Me! Monday about 4 weeks ago in respect for MckMama and her baby Stellan's battle with SVT. Click her name to read more and please pray for this sweet baby, his 3 siblings (under 5) and their struggle. Here we go:

I have not taken to giving the Prince an empty bottle to use as a pacifier to go to sleep. I also have not been taking a bottle of formula with us when we go places where it would come in handy to keep him occupied (like a wedding).

I have not been told more times than I can count lately that I am "the worstest mommy" by my ever so dramatic 5 year old daughter. And she definitly did not add "on the planet" one really bad time.

I have not recently realized, nor am I admitting, how much my daughter loves tv and movies. This is her zone time and relaxes her, however she has recently been watching too much of it! So it has been a battle scaling back, which is where most of the "worstest mommy" comments come from!

I am not constantly amazed by how fast our house can go from clean to dirty. I swear it is clean when I go to bed and dirty when I wake up. How does that happen?

I have not been super jealous of my husband's new tattoo. I have definitely not been heavily hinting that it will be my turn soon. FYI: The blue fish is for Henry and the orange fish is for Cadence.



I have alot to be thankful for, so I am going to combine my Not Me! Monday post with a Grace in Small Things post.

Grace in Small Things
5/365 (still determined to do 365, even if it takes me a long time!)
1. A long talk with an old friend
2. Sunshine
3. A friend who babysat my children so I could attend a wedding shower
4. The way Henry hooks his right arm around mine when I hold him, and clings like a monkey!
5. My house, I love my house. Its not fancy, but it is ours!

Missing in Action

Yes, I have been missing in action. I was finally getting some organization and rhythm to my blogging, and then life came and it was gone! Here are some numbers to give you an idea of how busy we have been the last two weeks:
Trips to Walgreens: 8
Doctor's Appts: 3
Volunteer Trainings: 3
Conference Calls: 3
Firefighter trainings: 4
Birthday parties: 2
Cheerleading tryouts: 1
Wedding Shower: 1
Trips to Target: 4
Trips to Border's (Twilight obsession): 2
To BOK Center: 2
Trips to Owasso (for JBF Sale): 2
Books read: 3 (Twilight series)

Wow. Now, this may seem like a normal couple of weeks for some of you. Its not at all normal for me. First of all, now that I work from home, I just don't drive that much. Since I am not already out, or in a certain area, I really re-consider my trips to the store and such before I go. I make sure there are more than just one or two goo deals before I make a trip to the store. In fact, thanks to my coupon stockpile (and tiny kitchen with no cabinet space) I have not been to Wal-mart (Neighborhood Market, my main grocery store) in over a week! I am happy about this, because I am trying to use some of our stockpiles because our kitchen is bursting at the seams.

The amount of doctor's visits were definitely not normal. All three trips were in one week. First, Henry had his one year check up, where he received 5 shots and had blood drawn. Two days later, Cadence had a check up for her perforated eardrum. That same evening Henry came down with a 103.3 fever (too late to be caused by the vaccines) and was miserable. I took him to the doctor the next morning, where they discovered he had double ear infections. He was also mildly dehydrated from such a high fever and from feeling bad. Unfortunately to make sure he got enough fluids, we had to give up weaning (we had two nights down!) because he drinks so much better from a bottle, to make sure he got re-hydrated. The day after his appointment, he started dripping from his eyes and mouth, so I gave him some of his as needed allergy medicine and if it is not better on Monday, we will call the doctor. He also has a follow up visit next week from his ear infection. You can always tell when Henry is sick because it changes his personality so much. Normally, he is a smiley, non cuddling baby who is too busy to stop and is a voracious eater. Sick Henry falls asleep while I am holding him (which he has not done since he was 6 weeks old!), never smiles, rarely eats, and only wants to be held. He is getting a little better, but is definitely not back to his normal self.
So, in a nutshell, these are all the things that have been going on that have caused me to be MIA. I am back. Thanks for your patience.

Praying for Stellan

MckMama at Mycharmingkids.net is a blog I read religiously and she is also the one who started Not Me! Monday. Her youngest son Stellan is in Pediatric ICU and is not doing well. Please click on the picture above to go to her blog and more than anything, please pray for this sweet baby boy.

Frugal Friday

A couple of the blogs I read do a Frugal Friday post, and since being Frugal is a part of my daily life, I thought I would add one to my blog and see how it goes. Basically I will the Frugal Friday post to talk about ways I save money each week, or new ideas I have read. Here goes nothing!
This week was a very frugal week for me, not just out of habit, but also out of necessity. Even Mr. Wright was frugal this week! Here are some ways I saved money this week:

• In the mail this week, I recieved quite a few of the free magazine subscriptions I had signed up for, including Martha Stewart!
• I also received a free sample of popcorn and lots of coupons from offers I had signed up for this week in the mail.
• My sister and I went to Gardner's used books and bought well over $100 worth of books for $30. I finally got Twilight and have started it!
• My mom, sister, the prince and princess and I took advantage of the Salvation Army's 50% off all clothing on Wednesdays. I love thrift store shopping, as does my mom. We got to spend time together, have fun, and left with 4 bags of clothes for all of us and books! My mom got especially lucky with clothes for her, which was great because she really needed some clothes. When I find really, super-great deals, I will even get bigger sizes for the kids and put them away for upcoming seasons. That way they always have clothes to grow into and I don't have to run out and spend full price on anything.
• I am trying to be more aware of using only half of the recommended amount for most household items (Shampoo, dish detergent, clothes detergent, etc.) I usually try to do this, but I have not been as aware of what I am using lately. Most items like these you can get by with using a much smaller amount than most of us use.
• All of our Spring Break entertainment has been free. We went to the park at the River one day, had a friend over, played at the neighbor's house, etc.
• I am trying to make sure paper has been thoroughly used up before it is recycled. I use both sides to print on, cut used paper into scraps, and write on both sides of the paper I use for my to do list. This is not only frugal, but good for the environment, as alot of frugal doings are!
• I am being more diligent about lights. Both Mr. Wright and the Princess have a tendency to leave lights on when they leave a room. I am trying to double check for them and turn them off.
• On the hottest day this week, we left the windows open and fans on until right before bed to cool down the house. We also only used the heat for a teeny bit this morning, other than that it has been off all week.
  
• When the trash bag in the can is full, I take it out of the can, and continue to use it. There is so much more room left in the bag!
  

I would love to hear anything frugal tips you have, or your frugal doings for this past week. Hope you learned something from mine! Can't wait to hear some of yours, be sure and post some tips! Now, I am off to read more of Twilight. I think I may finish the book tomorrow. Yes, its THAT good!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Here we go again!

I am definitely not excited for the Princess to be on Spring Break this week and to have the excuse to cut back on my working hours. I love my job and working is always a pleasure! I am also not going to pretend that I am a Stay At Home Mom this week while she is off, as opposed to a Work At Home Mom!

I am not so horribly exhausted this morning that it is hard to look at my computer screen without falling asleep. And this is not due coughing all night last night and having an over tired little boy who woke up way too much last night. I also did not just give up on weaning him from the bottle last night because the night before was to miserable for both of us! I am also not contemplating napping when Henry, Abi (who is playing with us today) and Cadence take naps this afternoon. I have too much to do to nap!

I did not think how pretty Henry's hair would be if we were a girl last night, right before Oma gave him his first hair cut. I did not wish for just one second and Henry and KK had each other's hair!

And I am not totally enjoying the silence while Henry and Abi nap and KK play's at a neighbor's house. Ahhhhh.....

Weaning

The Prince is now 1 year old. And that means its time to wean. When Cadence was getting close to this age, we gradually started weaning her, and by her first birthday, no more bottles. Alot of this was just her personality also. She did not really rely on the bottle. Now comes Henry. Since Henry spent most of his first year going to work with me, he got hooked on bottles to go to sleep. Since I was in an office close to clients and could not let him "cry it out" as we had with Cadence at a much earlier age, Henry has never really had to do this. I have relied on the bottle to get him to sleep for naps and bedtime. (I know this is a huge no-no!) So here we are now, working from home, where he can cry it out, and while I have been home for close to two months, I have not even tried weaning him. Its just gotten so easy to put him to nap/bed with a bottle and that's it. Now its time to wean him. I am dreading this. See, when Henry was a young infant, it took quite a bit of training to get him to sleep. He did not know how to sleep well, and I literally had to train the kid to sleep. Well, I have him well trained now. Nap time starts to roll around and he is cranky. 6:30 at night and he is ready for bed. The problem is the bottle. And I know part of the reason I am hesitant to wean is because of all of the problems I had getting him to sleep in the begining.
Earlier this week, I was training volunteers one evening while Ben had the kids at home. When I got home, he told me he put Henry down for bed without a bottle and it took 1.5 hours for him to go to sleep. But he went to sleep eventually. So yesterday I decided that for afternoon nap, I would not give him the bottle. I knew that Ben could pick KK up from school so that if it took Henry a while to fall asleep, it would be okay. I put him down about 1:30. By the time Ben and KK got home, 3:15, he was still crying. So I left to go run errands, and when I got back at 5:15, HE HAD NEVER GONE TO SLEEP! I went and got him out of his bed, and I found this horribly tired baby.
Look how red and tired his eyes are. So, I gave up weaning for the day. I think tonight I may try to put him to bed without a bottle. I am thinking that starting at bedtime will be a smarter option. Wish me luck!