Snow Days!

We had a decent snow Wednesday night so the kids had a snow day yesterday. Was still a virtual school day but only a couple hours of work then they could play. 

SO fun! It's melting today but there's still enough ice to get some sledding in. Love watching these kids play more than anything. 

Otherwise, not too much going on. Beachbody still going strong, I've lost 10 pounds exactly as of this morning! Woooo! But just ate my weight in chips and queso to celebrate...oops. But still happy with it. I hate it. Like really hate it...but I have goals. Blahhhhhh. 

Also got Audrey's dresser done! 

I think it turned okaaaaaay. Was super super happy with it until I coated with polyacrylic to seal it. Then the finish wasn't as matte as I hoped but better to be protected I guess considering my twin tornadoes...and their path of destruction. 

More updates to come on her room makeover. Until then, byeeeeee. 

January Blanuary

 Ugh January. I think for me January and February are just the worst. Not a lot going on and cold/rainy/sleety/snowy. Already looking forward to Spring. 

So I’m on week 3 of dieting and Beachbody workouts. Down 6.6 pounds, not great but not terrible either. I’be been cooking a lot of healthy meals and I’m super happy with how yummy and fun it is to cook them. I’ve been using my Mealime app and a new Instant Pot healthy eating cookbook I got. I made this good looking meal tonight, steak kabobs and cauliflower kabouli. It was so yum! 

I will admit I fell a bit off the wagon over the weekend. The Bills are in the playoffs and we had some great Buffalo wings Saturday. They actually won and are playing in the AFC championship Sunday. Todd is over the moon! 

I got started on Audrey’s room, massive clean out and started patching the one million holes in her walls. Trying to pick a wall color but I’m having trouble. She wants blue, I like the really light ones. I think I’ll wait until her bedding gets here to decide. 

The kids have still been in person this week and although I miss them I have been very productive while they are at school. Time to exercise and cook healthy food on my lunch hour is so nice! Have I mentioned I never want to go back to the office?? 

Healthy Train and Lunatics

 So started the old diet on Monday and I'm down 5-1/2 pounds! Surprised at quick results but my first week quitting all my junk food and fast food eating is usually pretty decent. 

I'm mainly counting calories and doing a workout each night. I went to the gym on Monday night and was shocked that I had a room to myself! It was great. I was anxious to go back because of Covid but I was worried for nothing. 

The rest of the week I have worked out at home. I signed up for a free trial of Beachbody and dang I'm old and uncoordinated and super lazy, haha! But I'm keeping with it so far. Erin has been doing it with me and that girl a beast! Oh to be nine again. The other night while cooling down we turned on one of the meditation programs on the app and it was kinda neat. Although Max didn't really understand why we were just sitting there breathing. 

I've been cooking healthy meals for Todd and I. Mostly I cook separately for the kids, I've tried to get them to eat like us but it's super expensive to cook something like this for 4 kids and they eat none of it and end up having a peanut butter sandwich. 

So for the most part they still have their spaghetti, chicken nuggets, etc. but sometimes they'll eat what we eat. 

Other than that and the lunatics at the Capitol this week has been pretty uneventful. The lunatics I'm speaking of stormed the Capitol to try and stop the counting of the electoral votes because they still believe Trump was cheated out of his election. Yikes. It's scary but I'll be honest, very good tv watching. (also ignore or second "football tv" below our main one, Todd likes to set up like a dang sports bar on Sundays). 

Hopefully all the Capitol unrest is over - Biden is supposed to be inaugurated on Jan. 20. I'm hoping for boring politics again after that. 

Baking fail for this week. These cookies. Don't know what I did wrong, I went over the recipe to the letter. But they were floury and gross. The kids still ate them so I guess they weren't a total fail. I am trying to redeem myself today by making some lemon cookies that are currently chilling in the fridge. TBD if they will be edible. 

Happy New Year!!

 2020 is over! 

Where to begin. Over six months without blogging. I decided that would be my New Years Resolution - to blog more! I think I can actually maybe possibly accomplish that one. My other resolution is to lose weight, like a lot of weight. I've put on the quarantine fourteen plus some - so for our 20th anniversary in October I'm hoping to be about 50 pounds lighter. It's a hefty goal but I think if I can summon the will power I can do it! Starts Monday...for now I'm guzzling some wine and eating a big ole bowl of pasta. Lord help me. 

So....a lot happened since May. I just don't see anyway for me to recap every little thing so maybe I'll just hit the highlights. 

Summer was great - still Covid-19 craziness so we stayed home sooo much. Like, all the time. And being the introvert I am I loved every minute of it. We finished projects around the house like rebuilding the deck, decorating the downstairs patio, turning a coat closet into a mudroom nook, painted the beast cabinet, fix the ceiling in the bedroom, redecorated the front porch, reorganized all kinds of things and we had the basement finished out since waterproofing it last summer. Oh and purged out of control garage of about 75% of all the things!

No, this is not an episode from Hoarders... 

 After! 

Evan turned 11, Erin turned 9. Unreal. 

I'm still working from home with I LOVE! I never want to go back into the office even though i know eventually it will have to happen. I hope I have a few more months at least. I can't even think about going back...the commute...the daycare. Gah! 

The kids spent all summer either in our pool, having nerf wars with the neighbor kids or playing Fortnite or Among Us on their devices. Screen time limits went out the window with me working from home and I'm not afraid of any long term damage their screen time the year of Covid will cause. Actually Evan playing online with his friends he's had more socialization than any of us! 

Fall rolled around and we were so worried it would be an all virtual school year. But starting a couple weeks late the kiddos got to go in person! It was great for them (while it lasted). They had to wear masks which I think they adapted pretty quickly and they didn't seem to mind. 

On Fall Break we knew we wouldn't get to have the typical crowded Panama City Beach condo vacation. I searched and searched for the right destination and we landed on St. George Island Florida. We rented a house with it's own pool and were only a block from the beach. It was HEAVEN. Quiet beach, not a ton of people, golf cart all over the island. It was so fun and it was nice to get outta town for a while. 

When we got back we had a few more weeks of in person school and then it went virtual before Thanksgiving and we are still virtual for at least another week. Kids are due back in person Jan. 11. Well see if it happens. But good news, there's a vaccine!! Healthcare workers have already started receiving it and it seems like the general population might start getting them this Spring, maybe summer. Fingers crossed. 

A few weeks ago I decided that with Winter looming I needed something to keep me occupied so I started learning to bake. I've made cake, cookies, cupcakes, pretzels and I'm on my third try with Macarons. I'm doing better but baking has never been my thing. Those pretzels though - dang they good!! 

The holidays were also great even though the pandemic is still in full force. We had a white(ish) Christmas.  We kept it small on Christmas with just my dad and brother. 

New Years was super low key - like the rest of the year. The most exciting thing was we had take out sushi and I made a charcuterie. Loved it!! 

I feel like I missed so much in this recap! But that's the basics... hopefully I'll stick with my resolution and update more.