February 22, 2013

Time for my weekend update! :) 

Guess how many walks I took last week?!

None. 

Whoops! 

Let's see how my week went.. 

Monday Clint and I went to Phoenix. Had lunch, got him a tablet (yay!), and did some shopping. Mostly groceries, but I did get a pair of maternity shorts that I love! Also stumbled into a Babies R Us. I didn't get anything, but it was nice to see all this baby stuff up close and personal instead of just online! We had a mostly nice day, with a few hiccups. Got home later than we wanted to and I was exhausted! I didn't even get all the groceries put away, just the cold stuff. So no real walk that day, but I walked around stores so that's something!

Tuesday I didn't go for a walk but I was crazy productive around the house! So it was worth it! I need more days like that!! I did all the stuff that was on my list for Monday and Tuesday, and did a little bit in the craft room. 

Wednesday was very opposite. I was suuuuper lazy. Oh well! Can't win them all. I swear I barely left the couch. I blame the snow we were getting! :p

Thursday I covered at the fitness center, opening shift, meaning 4AM-1PM. Yawn. I managed to stay awake at work.. I think. I had a package to pick up at the post office and it was the clothes I ordered from JC Penny at least 2 weeks ago... finally! (In their defense, it was all clearance, and they probably had to ship from multiple warehouses to get it all in one place before shipping to me, so thats why it took so long.) Luckily, I liked everything. I got a pair of flats that don't fit perfect, but they're cute and I'm wearing them now! I got a maternity shirt that won't be my favorite, but it will work. And I got a "maternity basics" kit of sorts which had a tank, a tee, and leggings. I've really been needing a long tank top, so yay! And I think the black tee will be good for some of my maternity pix. Its just a plain simple tee shirt. Leggings.. IDK I always want to wear them but I never know how, so we'll see! After trying on all my new stuff, I ended up napping for a couple hours... no surprise! And that was Thursday!

And today is Friday and I'm at work. 

Walks will start Monday. 

Really. 

So I mentioned last weekend that I was feeling him move. I didn't feel him since until yesterday! He really likes to keep me guessing! I've been feeling him a lot yesterday and today, so yay!! Maybe he's not gonna be so shy. Last night we were laying in bed and I put Clint's hand on my tummy, hoping he'd be able to feel something, but baby boy wasn't moving! Then Clint fell asleep with his hand there THEN baby starts moving around! Figures! Oh well. I don't know if you can feel it from the outside yet anyway. I can never tell. He'll feel it soon enough, I'm sure!

So I have been in nursery mode this week!! Months ago I had planned this whole black & white with either blue or pink nursery, depending on the gender of course. So once we found out he's a boy, I was still planning on that. Then I went into that Babies R Us and saw other cute stuff.. Damnit, gotta change my whole plan! The bedding that got me started was called Snickerdoodle, and it was gender neutral and giraffe themed. Super cute. But there was like no color in it. Mostly just tan and light orange. So I started looking around more. Then I thought about fish! Clint loves to fish. At first I was thinking cutesy fish but then I started seeing fish themed nurseries on Pinterest with real-looking freshwater fish and Clint and I actually talked about it and we think its a great idea, so the nursery is officially fishing-themed! I'm really excited about it! I like that its different, kinda original, and something that Clint can relate to! And chances are our boy will be into fishing! So we're gonna paint the walls a light blue. I don't think we're gonna get crafty with the paint, but we may if we can figure out something that's fairly easy. I don't want to try to get creative and have it look like crap! lol. 

We're gonna put these fish decals on the wall somewhere, not sure if they will go around the entire room, just one wall, or what. We'll see how they look once we have them. 

I want a rug. I'm looking at this one, but not 100% sold on it. We'll see!

I LOVE this idea of a fishing net for the stuffed toys instead of a hammock like you see a lot. And the little bobbers hanging from it would be easy to make! Cute!!

We also love this idea for wall decor! I found the plush fish on Amazon. We'll just have to find a stick and we'll be set!

I don't know if I'll get this exact crib, but I do want a crib/changer combo. This one is at Target. I'll get all dark brown furniture. The glider I'm looking at is actually white, but the coushins are dark brown.

This is the bedding I'm gonna get. There's no fishies on it, but the colors go well.

Also I have a friend, Ana, who has offered to make me a fishy mobile! She's never made a mobile, but she's made other great things, so I know it will come out great! She has an Etsy shop, if you're interested! Thanks so much Ana!! 

If you want to see the rest of my Pinspiration for the nursery, click here! :)

And just for shits and giggles, here's just about all his stuff so far! The blanket that Nana made isn't in there, or a couple stuffed animals that he has. Its not much, but its a start, and I'm trying not to buy too much yet, especially clothes, because people like to buy stuff, and I'll have a shower. Trying to wait till after that to go crazy! But we are gonna buy all the important stuff- furniture, car seat, etc.. probably the bedding too! I just want to be SURE that I have it. 

While doing all this nursery planning, I've also been building registries! Mostly on Amazon, but also Target. I'll add more to the Target registry next week when I can do it in person. It's just easier to find things that are available in the store if you actually register in the store! Go figure! I want people to have in-store and online options, so that's why I'm registering at both places. My Amazon registry is getting big fast! I know I won't get much off of it as a gift, I'm mostly doing it for me! Its like my shopping list. Like, the bedding is on there, and I plan to order that before too long. Its just convenient to have it all in one place! I do hope that people shop off the registries though. 

Well I think that's a good enough update for today! I better get ready to close up shop! 

Till next weekend... 

February 16, 2013

I can't believe I didn't mention yesterday how ridiculously awesome my husband has been!! He's been understanding and affectionate and almost clingy at times. I guess pregnancy creates some kind of bond between us. Its really been nice. I'm so lucky to have him!! The closeness has also positively effected other areas of our life.. if ya know what I mean. ;) So it's all been good. Just wanted to say that! :)

February 15, 2013

Look at me updating again!! It hasn't even been a month yet! :D I really am gonna try to do weekly updates. I work weekends again, and its a good easy time to do it, and gives me something to do! I didn't update last week because I ended up doing housekeeping ( :/ ) on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, worked here at the course Friday afternoon, then it snowed Saturday so we were closed the rest of the weekend. That was a pretty lazy weekend for me...

Sooo we had our big ultrasound on Wednesday!!! Our baby is healthy and perfect... and male!! Yep we are having a boy! Just about everyone thought it would be a boy, myself included, so I'm really not surprised. I was happy with the results at first, overjoyed really. He is healthy. That's amazing! But then we got to wal Mart and I saw the cutest little Easter dresses. :(  I don't get to buy Easter dresses!! I've already started thinking that our second really needs to be a girl! I feel the pressure already, from myself, its ridiculous. Boys are cute and awesome too, I know this. And I already love him so much and always will. But I can't lie that a part of me wishes it was a girl. I hope he never reads this!! LOL. I've always wanted one of each anyone, so please let the next one be a girl because I really only want two kids total! LOL

But the ultrasound was great, it ended up being just Clint and I in there, with my mom on speaker phone for part of it. He was moving his hands and his mouth... like he was eating. It was really cute. We got to see and hear his heart beat and it was just awesome. The dr. said there are no concerns with me or baby. We're all healthy and that's just the best news ever!!

(Crappy cell phone pic)

A cute ulrasound moment: She was showing us his little feet, but they were overlapping and it looked like one. But Clint counted 7 toes and he's like "woah why do I count 7 toes?!" And she told us it was both feet! What a relief that we don't have a 7 toed baby! LOL

After the appt we went to Olive Garden with Clints mom, sister and her kids. We shared the pictures and talked about the baby some, had a nice time. I was showing his 4.5 year old neice, Ellie, the pictures and there's a lot of his head so I kept flipping through the pictures saying "this is his head, this is his arm, this is his head, etc..." and at the end she asked "Why does he have so many heads?" LOL Kids are awesome!!

But what's not so awesome is that I've now gained 17lbs. Sigh. That's awful!! Dr. O isn't terribly concerned. He said its more than average, but he's not too worried, which is really surprising to me, as hard as I worked (with him!) to lose the weight. Maybe he figures I'll be able to drop it easily again? I'm doubting I will though! He said to eat lots of protein and watch my carbs and sugars. I know this, but its difficult. So so difficult. I really need to find more yummy protein sources. Because I'm just not that into meat right now. Maybe protein bars or something would be good. Of course that's sugar. I don't know.

The week before last I was committed to walking! Well I was gonna go to the gym but it was nice out so I figured it made more sense to take Z for a walk. So we walked... for about 15 minutes. Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I got preoccupied helping Clint with something. Thursday I ended up working in the afternoon. Friday I worked. Saturday & Sunday it was cold and snowy. And yeah I'm sure I have excuses for Mon-Thurs, but.. The walking thing just didn't stick! I'm gonna try it again next week! Wish me luck!! I just need to get SOME exercise! And with those short walks I did take, I realized how out of shape I'd gotten. They didn't wear me out, but they were short, and I could feel that it was more effort than it should have been. So I really need to get back into the swing of things. Wish me luck!!

So I am hoping to get to go to Ellen's Mother's Day show. LOL For YEARS I've been saying I want to go to her Mother's Day Show. Its an audience full of women expecting their first. I'll be about a month and a half away from having him at the point. No reason I can't go! She gives away some amazing stuff and I've always wanted to go to her show! I wrote in, so we'll see! I'm sure there are thousands of people trying to go though. So wish me luck on that also!

What else? I'm slooooowly working on getting my craft room cleaned (its a freaking disaster!!) so that I can start scrapping again but also so that I can move stuff from the current guest room into there. The guest room is gonna be the nursery, so I need to get on with it! I'm gonna move the futon into my craft room and maybe the desk thats in there. It should fit. We don't really need a computer desk, but its a good place to keep the printer and computer stuff. Once I get all that done I can deep clean the nursery... carpets, walls, windows, whatever. Get it super clean for our son! Then we can paint and start putting it all together.

I'm trying to make myself a little chore list. Thing I need to do daily, and things I need to do weekly, and then a list of things I need to do before baby comes. I'm only working three days a week now, there's no reason I can't be getting house work done regularly the other 4. I'm setting one day aside for going to town. I should never have to go more than one day in a week, but I guess you never know. But its at least a guideline. When I break things down into daily, its really not that much work. Its like an hour or so a day (plus laundry) if I'm keeping up with it. There's no reason I can't handle that, and be able to work on the extra pre-baby stuff too!

Oh I can't believe I didn't mention that, well the morning after the ultrasound I was laying in bed, just waking up, and I could feel him moving like crazy!! Until then, I hadn't REALLY felt him in a way that I was sure was him. But this was definitely him. I feel like seeing him and how big he is (Big, btw, I think he's gonna be huge. eek!) and where he is helped me wrap my head around it all and now I can feel him more. Well it makes sense today anyway! And today I was sitting here at work, just doing my own thing, and I felt him kick! I wasn't even trying to feel it, just there he was, kicking and moving around in there, for several minutes! It made me giggle and smile real big and its just the best feeling ever!! I love him so much!! I can't wait till Clint's able to feel him. He'll love it. He loved seeing him at the ultrasound. I love how excited Clint is about the baby! He's as thrilled about it as I am and that is great!!

Okay I don't think I have anything else to add, and really, I've babbled enough! So thanks for reading! :)

January 27, 2013

     Well what a slacker I've been!! Seriously meant to update FOREVER ago! Well, in my defense, I've been a little preoccupied, because........

....but chances are you knew that already! I had every intention of updating the blog shortly after announcing on Facebook, right around Christmas, but that just didn't happen! My bad. 

     Anyway, a little back story because I wasn't super chatty about this round of TTC. At least I don't think I was. I got off the pill in January. Nothing. So I got back on Clomid for June-Sept. Nothing! I decided to skip the Clomid for October because they made me pretty moody this time and I didn't want to be weird while on vacation. So we had a GREAT time in Oregon with my Mom and Keith. A great time. Like, the best. But more on that later. Toward the end of October, I was expecting my period, thinking I COULD be pregnant, but we didn't put a lot of effort into trying that month, not sure if/when I ovulated, so I really didn't have my hopes up too much. I took a couple tests in mid-October, one at the clinic when I had a bladder infection and it was negative. She put me on the baby safe antibiotics anyway. I had a few other signs.. I remember my boobs being sore at the gym, had some hot flashes. Well on the 23rd I got my first for sure positive test. I had tested the days before with the cheap tests, and I never even told Clint. They were very faintly positive, but I wasn't getting my hopes up till I finally used a good test and there it was!! Two beautiful pink lines! I tested 3 days in a row, and it only got darker. It was really real!! 

     In the beginning I was more scared than excited. You can read my TMP journal for more details about the first few months. Its mostly symptom updates because I realized that I didn't document that very well the first time I was pregnant, and I was really wanting to compare. So I tried to keep up with that kind of thing so that I have comparison for next time. Really I wanted to me sure that this pregnancy didn't feel like the first one. I really wanted it to be opposite, if that makes sense. My major symptom has been lack of energy! Especially the first trimester. I just wanted to sleep all the time. I was napping at the end of my lunch breaks and again after work (for an hour or two) and still going to bed by 10. I lost what little desire I had to cook, and I'm not into big slabs of meat anymore. Like pork chops, steak, burgers. Bleh!! I can do jerky, sausage or ground beef in marina sauce over pasta, lunch meat (yes, I heat it), anything little like that. But big pieces just grosses me out right now... unless its fried. For some reason fried chicken or steak is still yummy to me. Poor Clint has been such a trooper with the lack of cooking! Lately I've been more apt to cook, but I still don't want anything like the aforementioned things, which is the bulk of what we used to eat. So I hate to admit that we've started doing hamburger helper here and there, and frozen lasagna. If it was just me, I would probably have pasta, pizza or boneless wings every night for dinner. Or flautas from the deli. I swear I can live on those right now. Mmmmmmm!! So my energy is coming back over the last month or so, and that's good. BTW, I'm about 17 weeks now. 

     I am starting to show. I guess I wasn't expecting my body to change so fast. About a month ago I realized I needed maternity pants. Actually probably more like 3 weeks. I don't know why I thought it would take longer. But I've got a few pairs of maternity pants now, and already had enough shirts that will work for a while. Maternity clothes at this point are a pain in the ass. They like to ride down and I feel like I need a belt all the time. But I'm getting used to it. Maternity pants don't hold in your gut the way jeans do. Regular jeans totally hide that low gut I've got and maternity jeans really only enhance it. It took a few days of maternity jeans and kinda letting it all hang out to accept that that's how it'll be for a while. I worked so hard to lose weight and I've been sucking my tummy in since middle school. Not being able to do that, and having to let it show and try to be proud of it is a whole new experience. It bothers me that it bothers me, ya know? Especially the first time I wore maternity jeans. I was so self conscious. I caught myself walking around Wal Mart with my hand over my tummy just so people would know I was pregnant. I feel like I look like I'm farther than I am. But I'm getting used to it, and it bothers me much less. I look pregnant. I'm happy to be pregnant and I need to embrace it! So what if I look farther than I am?! 

     Speaking of my body, I've gained about 13 lbs already. That worries me, but Dr. O doesn't seem concerned. I haven't specifically asked him about it, but whenever I see him he says "weight's normal, urine's normal, etc" so I guess its ok. It obviously doesn't worry me enough because I eat terribly. Well I already mentioned the hamburger helper. Also cookies and well pastas and a severe lack of veggies. Sigh. I did so good for so long and now that I'm eating for two, I'm eating crap, and that's not good!! But I can't find the motivation to change! I just know I'm gonna fail the GD test. :/ With the lack of energy, I obviously haven't been to the gym. I kept going for a couple weeks after I found out I was pregnant, then realized that time would be better spent sleeping. And I was right. My body needed the rest. I need to start going again, just to walk at least and get some kind of exercise. I really don't want to gain all 80 lbs back while pregnant. :/ 

     What else? Oh.. work! I get to go back to the golf course very soon. Probably the second weekend of Feb! Yay!!! Housekeeping is killing my back! I've been helping with the hotel and guest houses the last month or so, and making beds is just awful! SO happy to be getting back to my cozy little desk job till baby comes!! 

     Oh yeah so our trip to Oregon was great, as I said. Clint and Keith hit it off so well. They went hunting and fishing and just had a great time together.. they have a lot in common! Mom and I shopped and spent a day with Grandma and relaxed and that was nice too! Zoey had a good time with their dogs, even if little Willie is a little territorial! My Z put him in his place! LOL She's so tough! We spent a couple nights at the casino.. no big wins to speak of, but it was fun to get out and do that kind of thing. Clint doesn't normally go for that sort of thing, but he had a good time too! 

     Speaking of Clint, its his birthday, and I've got birthday brownies to make, so I better stop rambling now. I'll try to update more, but you've heard that before... 

Sept 8, 2012

LOL I love that the first line of my last post states that I plan to start updating every weekend. And that was on June 2nd. Oh well, shit happens!

So that weekend ended up being my last at the golf course. They did some rearranging of people and I got the short end of the stick and got booted out of the golf course. I was so bummed. I love my golf course and all my regular customers! But oh well. They did offer me another job with townsite (townsite runs everything around here), and I am a cleaning lady now. Yes, me, a cleaning lady. Doesn't fit me well, but I'm truckin' along! I've been doing it a few months now. I clean the conference rooms, the laundromats and empty houses, mostly. The conference rooms and laundromats are daily (I work M-F, 8-5) and the empty houses are as they come along. I also do the random things they ask me to. Pretty much I'm thier bitch. lol. Last week I spent an entire day with the movers they hired to move furniture from 4 intern houses into the storage room. I'm not there to help, just to let them into the houses and tell them what to take and where to put it and  that kind of thing. A couple weeks ago I and a few others were moving all the junk (and I mean junk!) out of the old cafe because they've got people wanting to look at the space, I guess. It would be great if that got reopened as some kind of food place! I still get to cover at the golf course when needed, and I've worked at the gym a few times too. So I do it all. And I still do the mine tours.. I get to take time away from the cleaning job to do that, so its nice! :) I didn't want a full time job, and I still don't. But it's what I've got, so I'm managing. I've learned alot as a cleaning lady, like razor blades are great for so many things, and pumice stones make toilet bowls shine! But do you think my house is cleaner? Heck no! By the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is clean. I still keep it as clean as I have to, but its not great. And I don't cook as often as I used to. I mean I used to cook every night except for the random occasional eating out, or him cooking, of course. But now I can't tell you how many times I've initiated "fend for yourselves" nights. That's not me, and it has to stop! So I've been making a greater effort lately to cook more often. Now, when I do clean my house good, I do it better than I used to, and I have more of a system. I guess that's a plus.

With all this working, I began slacking off with the gym. Its a fairly physical job (some days more than others), so I felt like I was getting a decent enough workout in at work. And I would come home so exhausted and the gym became so unappealing. I would still go 2-3 times a week, usually just do cardio with the occasional weights. Of course I also eat more... a lot of granola bars and things throughout the day. But I've still maintained around 197-200lbs, and I've been ok with that. Up a little from my lowest weight (193) but still not bad. Well lately I've noticed that I LOOK like I'm gaining some back. My tummy is a little bigger and my pants are a little more snug. So I pulled out the old measuring tape and OMG! Apparently I'm losing muscle, so therefore not gaining so much weight, but still getting fatter. Not cool. I'll post the measurements in a minute, but I want to say that they lit a spark under my ass and I am back at it!! I hit the gym every day this week, after work. If I bring my clothes to work instead of coming home to change, I'll actually go. I've done at least 4 weight machines each day... I did all the weight machines twice this week which used to be common, but not so much lately. And I'm trying to challenge myself with weights again, by upping the weight I do. Building muscle cuz I want to see those inches fall right back off, and then some. I'm really glad this motivation kicked in again, and really hope it sticks! It's been about 6 months since I've really been in the swing of things and I guess I needed that break, and now I need to get back in gear. I'm counting calories again and have stayed within my calorie goal all week! Woot woot! I have adjusted my calorie goal (I'm using MFP again) though.. before I had it set at trying to lose 1.5 lbs a week and a sedentary lifestyle. Now I've set it at 1 lb per week, and a "lightly active" lifestyle. I could probably say I'm "moderately active" but it depends on the day, so I'll underestimate it. So my net calorie goal now is 1800 which is really easy to stay within. Last time I was counting calories I think it was at 1450 or so. I'm not as strict on my diet as I was a year and a half ago when I started this weight loss journey. I'm not really watching carbs or anything (and I probably should be), I'm not cutting out soda (yet). I'm just watching calories for now. After my next blood draw (should be soon), if my blood sugar is up I'll probably start watching carbs again. If my blood sugar is still good, then yay! When I say "good" of course I mean "better"... it still wasn't where it should be at my last check. Which was like 6 months ago. Damn... Dr. O dropped the ball on that one, I was having it checked every 3 months! I'll have to get an appt made for that.

Anyway. The measurements! (I used to call my hips my waist (beause I didn't know where my waist was, lol) and my wasit my torso, so I'm fixing that now, and calling it right.) (Last time I measured was mid-March, the difference will be in parenthesis)
Sept 5, 199.25 lbs (^4lbs)
Hips: 47.25" (^1")
Chest: 37" (^1.75")
Bust: 43" (^.5")
Thigh: 25" (^1")
Waist: 38.5" (^1")
Arm: 13" (^.75)
Butt: 43.5" (^2.5) (not sure if I measured that exactly the same as it was a new addition..)
So, see! Gain gain gain! Not good!

So enough about that. Clint and I are taking a real vacation at the end of the month, and we'll be gone for a full week and a half! We're driving to Oregon to visit mom and Keith. Clint & Keith will do some hunting a fishing. Mom and I will do some shopping and talking, and it'll be a good time! We're spending a full 7 days with them, with 2 days driving on each end. On the way there, we're planning to stop at Shoshone Falls in Idaho, just for something to do that's Zoey friendly. Of course we're bringing Z! I'm so looking forward to it, I think we really need this!

I think I'll end this for now. I've got to get dinner going for the husband (because its what good wives do!) before he goes to work. I'll try to do this more often now that I'm on the weight loss rollercoaster again!

Weekend Update: June 2, 2012

I'm gonna try to start updating every weekend, since I'm so bored at work anyway. Not that so much goes on in a week that I'll actually have things to talk about, but.. oh well. Maybe I'll do themed posts or something, idk! Today I'm gonna try to figure out what I did wrong last time that made my post one great big paragraph. How annoying was that? My apologies!

Well I think that fixed it. I was in HTML mode, I need to be in Compose mode. Ok.

Maybe I'll fix my last entry.

Alright so here are some pictures. Of course if we're Facebook friends you've seen them. But oh well.

My little family! <3

My Mommy and I! <3

 And here I am looking super sexy, in my not so humble opinion. ;)

And this one is probably a little more "me."

The last two are, of course, from my photo shoot with Jenn. I hope to get the CD with the rest of the pictures soon. :)

So. I guess there's not much to update on. Life is still good! I don't think anything amazing has happened since my last post. Clint's been working a lot of overtime, which is nice! I mean the paycheck will be nice. Well, who am I kidding? The extra me time is nice too! :p

Oh! Well I did have a birthday since my last post. But I'm just another year older. Didn't do anything special. Actually I went to town for grocery shopping that day, had lunch with Jess, and had a pretty good day. But I was in a foul mood that evening for some reason. Not a good start to my 29th year. But oh well!

Our anniversary is on Wednesday. We're terrible. No plans. IDK why we don't do stuff for special occasions. But he IS working a lot and maybe we'll go out to dinner that evening. Maybe we'll plan something for later in the month. I'm really wanting to go to a water park again, like we did the day after our wedding. That would be a fun belated celebration!

Okay I'm out! Peace!

May 2012

Well it's been damn near two months since I've updated, and blogger has been rennovated! Oh snap! I'm sure I'll get used to it and love it soon! :) For now, it's just diiiiffferent!

So I type this from work! I got a brand new laptop the other day and am able to get online at work at the golf course, so this is awesome! I've been meaning to blog, so here I am!

Where to begin? Work. Work is good! I really enjoy working at the golf course... don't ask me why! It's pretty boring most of the time (well not now that I have internet), but I've met a lot of people and I feel like I'm making a name for myself in this small town. I'm not only known as "Clint's wife" or "Kallie's/Robin's sister in law" anymore, and that feels good! It's a super easy job, all I do is greet people, take their money and drive golf carts. And some light cleaning. Easy peasy! I work alone mostly. My boss is in his office right next to mine a lot, but not all the time. Then there's the yard boys and mechanics who are in and out. I get along with everyone just fine, even though I don't get to see much of them! Most of the time its just me and a book (now a comp!:) ) hanging out at the front desk.
I'm also still doing the tour guide thing. Still learning, honestly. I officially passed pit driving yesterday and am allowed to drive without supervision. However, I still don't know nearly enough about the mines processes to lead my own tour. Yesterday I drove a second van and that went ok. My driving was spot on, but I didn't know some of the stuff. A lot of the stuff. I don't know if I'll ever feel ready to lead my own tour. BUT I'm okay if all I ever do is drive the second van, and let the other guys take all the small tours. We'll see I guess. What I do love about the tour guide job, is the social aspect, of course (same applies to the golf course, duh!). The tours are usually older folks, and they're always so nice. It's interesting to see the different groups of people, and different reasons they come on a mine tour. I think I'm good at the tours because I'm so personable. The man who has been doing the tours for years is a sweetheart, but not vert chatty. We all know I don't have that problem! :p
What comes along with working? MONEY! I cannot express how nice it is to have spare money again! We were sooo living paycheck to paycheck, just barely skating by. And now? Well, now we were able to afford for me to get a new laptop. We got internet at home. Clint got a smoker, with accessories. I got a lot of new clothes. Life is just good and easy again, and I'm not taking it for granted. We also got caught up on some debts and we're making effort to get a lot of the things that we need/want. But not just firvilous things, things of real value (mostly). Last time we had money, we ended up with nothing to show for it. This time will be different. We've got a few major purchases in mind for the near future. Can't wait! :)
You know what else comes with working? Less free time. I swear I feel like I have been "booked" for months. The tours are only a few hours, but add that time to gym time and its a fairly full day. I don't have a lot of days off that I don't have something to do like go town (be it for fun or not). I'm just busy. It's nice, but I would like a couple days to get caught up on my DVR and scrapbooking/card making. I think I've made ONE card since I started working. Well now that I have internet at work, I'll be able to catch up on Hulu! And I can bring netflix to work.. I also haven't watched a DVD in probably a month. So yay! I'm making progress. Because tv is sooooo important you know!

So my mommy came for a visit!! We had THE BEST time!! I don't think I've ever had so much fun with my mom! It was Mother's Day weekend. Her plane landed Thursday just after noon. We had a nice lunch, then went to Arizona Mills for hours and hours. She wouldn't let me buy much for myself, no matter how hard I tried! LOL But I got a bunch of new clothes that day, including a swimsuit that I actually feel like I look good in! Can't wait till the pool opens so I can wear it! We got home pretty late that night, but had to get up early to listen to Chris's bands radio interview online. (I guess I should mention that his band as a song being played on local Arkansas radio!!) That was super cool. The rest of Friday was pretty relaxed. I showed her around town and Clint smoked up some ribs. Saturday we went to Prescott and did a little shopping there. Then we headed to Phoenix where we did even more shopping and had a nice dinner before heading to our hotel. Mom's flight left early Sunday morning and it was sad to see her go. The hotel felt so empty when she left. (She took a shuttle and I went back to sleep). We had a great time though, we laughed so much and didn't get cranky with each other at all. It was great! Then Sunday I met at a mall with Rheannon where I did EVEN MORE shopping! I probably didn't buy as much stuff as I'm making it sound like. But more than I've ever bought in a weekend, that's for sure. And lots of shoes overall. I no longer wear flip flops with everything!! :) It was good to see Rheannon, she's still crazy as ever! After that I did my grocery shopping then headed home. It was a long day. A long weekend. But wonderful!

What else?

 Oh yeah, my body. Probably hasn't changed since my last update. My weight is fluctuating between 195 & 198 ish. Usually I gain on weekends and lose during the week. I'm not getting exercise or eating as well at work. I need to work on that, but it hasn't happened yet. That being said, I'm feeling pretty good about where I'm at. I would love to lose another 30 lbs or so, but if I stay at this weight, this size, forever, I think I'd be okay with that. I look the best I've ever looked. EVER. I'm still not thin, but I'm small enough that if I dress right I don't look fat. And I feel good. I feel great, actually. So I still want to lose more, but I also want to be able to wear all these new clothes for a while, so I probably won't worry much about it for a while. As long as I maintain, and don't go over 200lbs again, I'll be happy. For now, anyway.

Speaking of my body, Jenn did a photo shoot with me again. She did one last year too. These are considered my "after" pictures. They're 51 weeks later. They're amazing. In some of them, I think "damn I look sexy!" I love the pictures so much, and I've only seen 10 of them. There are 10 more coming next week! She is so easy to work with too! She gets all excited about the pictures as she's taking them and she just has the best energy!

I'm afraid I'm getting cocky though! Maybe its just a new level of confidence. I don't know, but I'll try to keep it in check. But damn I look good! ;) (the winky face makes it okay, like I'm kidding!)

What else.... Clint is good. Zoey is good. I've got a birthday and an anniversary coming up. We're having Clint's family over on Sunday for my birthday. Not sure if we're celebrating our anniversary. We should. But we'll see. Hmmmm now my wheels are turning!

I guess that's all I've got to update on. And I really should start on my daily cleaning list. So I'll end this now. It's already a novel anyway! :) Maybe I'll do a picture post tomorrow. :)