Wow

I just realized it's been a LONG time since I last posted! Lot's has happend! School started, Thanksgiving has passed and we are headed into the Christmas season! I got a new camera which I have really been enjoying playing with! If you'd like to check out some of my work go here.... http://shuttercal.com/calendar/RennieC1/2009/11/ click on each of the pictures in the calendar to see them bigger! I'm in full holiday mode with decorations going up and presents bought. I am DONE with my shopping!! Woot! Here is a picture that I took of one of the houses in my Christmas village. I was actually able to put it up for the first time in 5 years!!

South Beach end of phase one....

So today marks the first day of phase 2 (YEAH FRUIT) I started phase one at 173 pounds and ended phase 1 at 163 pounds. So I lost 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks. Now comes the tricky part of phasing back in carbs and sugars without over doing it! I have to admit I am excited for fruit and the occasional piece of bread but I think I could still survive okay without them. So on to the next phase. I'll be on this one until I reach my goal weight which is 140....

Week one ends......now round two!

Okay so last night at 11:59pm ended week one of South Beach. A couple bumps along the way and I've had to modify breakfast just a little bit but at the end of the day it all seems to be working.... so I started on Monday at 173 at the end of week one.....drum roll please.......................................I've lost 7 pounds!!!! Holy Moses!!! If I keep up like that by the end of week 2 I'll have lost 16 pounds. That's CRAZY!! Motivates me to stick with it though. Even though it's hard. We went hiking at Mt. Baker yesterday and with the heat I think I might have burned more calories than I ate!! Felt a little tired last night and today the muscles in my legs are letting me know I used them!!! Feeling good this morning. Working for the next 3 days so this should be interesting! Just....say...no...to...french fries!!! :o)

It's day 6 and I'm still going....kinda

Okay okay I admit it I cheated this morning! I had a waffle with peanut butter (the waffle part is a no no) BUT I figure if that is the only cheating I do then I am good. I am not an egg person. I don't care for them, I very rarely eat them and the thought of eating another egg this morning made me want to gag. So I did the waffle. We'll see if it makes a difference in the morning. I did control myself last night though. Was very hard. The family had pizza....ooey gooey warm and yummy smelled so good I stared at it the whole time I was eating my salad pizza.... way to torture myself huh?? But I didn't have any! Not even a bite!! YEAH ME!!! (anyone watch suit life???) Anyway, yesterday was my hardest day by far. I was sorta in the downy dumps and was just about to throw in the towel but I didn't and I'm still going (waffle aside it was whole grain if that makes a difference....) anyway weigh in on Monday we'll see how I'm doing then!!!

South Beach + Hot weather = torture

OMG I am having such a hard time with this diet and the weather. First of all I LOVE ice cream and what better time to have it then when it's so hot... but I can't. The sugar free popcicles just don't seem to be doing it. And on top of that this diet requires you to cook... I can not even fathom turning on the stove right now. We had turkey hotdogs and cottage cheese last night because I was able to micorowave the hotdogs!! I'm sticking to it though. Still haven't cheated to the best of my knowledge and other than the ice cream craving I seem to be wanting sugary things less and less. I think I'll wait until Monday to do the weigh in. That way it's been a full week......

Another day of diet

Doing good and so begins day 3. I think I got a little off scew yesterday. I don't think I ate enough for lunch and with the heat I ended up not feeling well yesterday afternoon at all. Nausea and sweaty (yes even more so then with the heat). I retreated to the basement where it was cooler after a nap and then took the kids out for dinner. There was no way that I was cooking in this house! We went to McDonalds where I had a grilled chicken Caesar salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette. Watching the kids eat french fries was such torture!!! But I'm sticking to it! I'll step on the scale and post some results on Friday. That way I'll be 5 days into it!! According to Wii Fit yesterday I had lost 1.4 pounds from Monday.....

I made it to day two

I did good yesterday. No cheating! It was really hard though. Especially the not having bread part. I wasn't thrilled with the lunch of turkey wrapped in lettuce. I think I'll go for a salad today. I made a really yummy coconut chicken recipe for dinner. The afternoon I think was the hardest part. I drank a ton of water and had some almonds and pistacios which I am allowed to have. Now we're into day two. Started out the morning again with scrambled eggs and turkey bacon but this time I put a little cheese on the eggs jazz em' up a bit! I'm staying off the scale for a day or two though if I do happen to get on Wii Fit today it will do the weighing..... I am having some massive sugar withdrawls. I went to bed with a horrible headache that Tylenol didn't help and though it's better this morning it's still there!! I'm just hoping this will get easier as the days go by!

South Beach Kick Off

Today I begin my South Beach endeavor... I'm hoping that I can stick to it and it becomes a lifestyle. I started off the day with scrambled eggs and two slices of turkey bacon. Not too bad. I am beginning this journey at 173 pounds by hopeful goal is 140 with an ultimate goal of 135. I plan to walk Lake Padden or do some hiking at least 2 days a week and work out on my wii fit 4-5 days a week (you should see my mii she's so fat). Anyway I will post here from time to time with the foods that I've had and my progress. Hopefully with the support of my family and friends I can make this work for me!! Wish me luck!!!

New Neighbors

Anyone that has moved into a new house in their lifetime knows that new homes come with new noises and sounds. This place is so much quieter than we are used to. At the old house we had a train behind the house and the airport not far and here...nada. So we are sitting out on the deck one night and we hear the weirdest noise. One we have never heard before. Upon some investigation this is what we found....

This guy along with 3 others live in a tree in our backyard. They don't hoot like most owls do they make a very strange noise that is hard to describe. We think there are babies too. How cool is that???

Baptism

On July 5th our little family was baptized. It's something that has been tugging at my heart strings for a while and when Lena asked about being baptized I knew it was time to obey God and go forth with this very important, very public statement of my faith. Jason also decided it was time for him as well. We were not possitive about Aaron as we belive that baptism is a choice. Something that one has to decide upon themselves. He said he wanted too but we were not sure if it was because he wanted to in his heart or because the rest of us were. He gave valid reasons and we all decided he was ready. Jason went first and then was able to baptize both of our children which was an amazing thing for me to be able to witness. I went last and Jason was also able to baptize me which was a very significant thing for us as it was Jason that led me to Jesus. So our family all together did this amazing thing and now are on to the next steps in our journy...new house, new life...great start!!!

Our New Home

I seem to neglect this poor blog and vow to try and write more often now that we are settled. We finally have moved. I thought I would be sadder leaving our old house but amazingly did very well when we pulled out of the driveway for the last time. Lena and I rolled down our windows and waved goodbye to our old house. Unfortunatly that wasn't the begining of our new adventure. There were 10 days between the closing of our old house and the closing of our new house. Thank God for our friend Sean who actually had room for the 4 of us and allowed us to stay with him. It wasn't the best as Sean is a single guy and used to his solitude and here we came with our two children and two cats and invaded his space!! But given the circumstances it was alright and better than staying in a hotel! On July 1st we got the keys to our new house and moved in!!! We LOVE LOVE LOVE our new home! There is so much room and the kids have their own space and I have the most AMAZING kitchen ever! I've been cooking and baking like a wild woman!! I need to stop before I gain another 10 pounds!!! So out with the old and in with the new the Cory's have begun a new chapter in their lives and we are SO excited about it!!!

Going...going.....on the market!

Our house it up!! Whoo hoo!!! The last two months of back breaking labor to get this sucker up is over and ready or not here it goes! We did a ton of work on the house and it looks amazing. Jason and I joke that our house hasen't been this clean since we moved in 10 years ago!! We have found two houses that we really like and now the waiting game. We wait for ours to sell so we can make an offer on the one we want and hope that it doesn't sell in the mean time. I am most likely one of the most impatient people you will ever meet so this whole hurry up and wait thing is killing me. I know it is all in God's timing and when it's time it will go.... now I just need to remind myself of that everyday!!! Selling our home is bitter sweet for me. I know once we've sold it we

will be moving up to a bigger and better house but I have lived here for 10 years. Both my kids were brought home from the hospital to this home. A lot of blood, sweat and tears have been shed here and I am going to be sad to see it go. BUT I know the future holds new beginnings and I am excited about that!

Welcome Breanna Cathleen!!

Well this last week was quite a doozy! My best friend Tammi was expecting a baby on May 16th but due to high blood preassure they decided on Tuesday morning they would beging the process of inducing labor Tuesday night. Now I should back up a bit and say that I had been invited by Tammi to be present during her babies birth! I can't even tell you how excited I was that not only would her and her husband share this amazing moment with me but that I would get to be on the other end of child birth! I had been through it but never witnessed it! Anyway, so Tuesday night turned into Wednesday morning when they brought out the big guns and started pitocin... yeah didn't work. So they stopped it at 5pm and said we'd try again tomorrow. Thursday morning came around pitocin again this time we were getting somewhere!! Broke her water and man alive was she off and running!! She was such a trooper and labored for about 3 hours before asking for the epidural. Finally about 5:30pm the doctor decided after 3 days and not as much progress as he would like it was time for a c-section. Baby was ready and it was time. Breanna Cathleen was born at 6:06pm on April 30th. She weighed in at a whopping 6lbs even!! She is the most adorable little peanut and I can't wait to watch her grow!! Thanks Chris and Tammi for letting me be there for you. Despite the circumstances it was really quite fun and the end result was SO worth it!!!

A new home?

Well we've found our house I think. We've been looking at quite a few and keep gravitating back to this one. Now we need to get our house on the market. Because this house is a bank repo you can not do a contingency (sp?) on it. So we've got to get our house sold so that we can make an offer. We love it and are trying really hard not to get our hopes up. Wish us luck and hopefully we'll get the house...

Dance Weekend

This weekend was Lena's dance recital. I always love her recitals because her teacher takes such care in planning a theme for the show and then making sure each dance and song goes along with the theme. This years theme was "Disney Through the Decades" Lena was a part of A Whole New World from Aladdin and The Enchanted Tiki Room! She looked beautiful and did a great job. This year was especially fun too because I had friends who's daughters were in the show so I knew kids in numerouse dances not just our own. Another year down and can't wait for next year! Most of these pictures were taken by my wonderful sister in law Jen.

Remodling to move up

We have begun the process of preparing our house to put on the market. We have lived in this house for 10 years and are now ready for an upgrade. My family has out grown the openess of the 1600 sqft design that makes up my home. There is no rec. room, no room over the garage, no play room. My kids don't like playing in their rooms they always want to be in the living room under foot. So we decided that it's time for an upgrade. Along with the process of looking for a new home we are having to re-do some things in our house to get it ready to sell... our first project is the master bathroom. We are completly renovating it. We have painted the walls ripped the big ugly mirror of the wall, hung a new light and now are needing to replace the flooring, bathtub and sinks. It's a bigger job then we expected but we are having a ton of fun doing it!! Stay tuned for before and after pictures of the bathroom!!

First photography experience

Last night I joined Radley from Artiem photography his friend Dave and Naomi also of the studio at the Kafe Beach Bash. I had my first experience as a photographers assitant and as a candid shooter at an event. I have to say I SUCK as a candid shooter. I just don't have the confidence wtih the camera yet to get in peoples faces. I hear it comes with time and even the seasoned photographers have a a hard time with this one. I had a really good time and got to play with a really neat camera. All in all I learned a lot and had a ton of laughs (these guys are so much fun to work with) and I can't wait until my next job!

What Aaron says about me

I asked my 6 year old these questions and here were his answers...

1. What is something mom always says to you? I love you
2. What makes mom happy? Me
3. What makes mom sad? When I'm bad
4. How does your mom make you laugh? tickling me
5. What was your mom like as a child? I dunno
6. How old is your mom?30
7. How tall is your mom?how tall? I don't know taller than me
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Work... (uh okay)
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Work (you'd think I wasn't a SAHM for the last 6 years)
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Being on a game show.
11. What is your mom really good at? Guitar Hero
12. What is your mom not very good at?Expert on Guitar Hero
13. What does your mom do for a job? Work at McDonalds
14.What is your mom's favorite food? Lasagna
15. What makes you proud of your mom? Giving me kisses
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Pinochio (??)
17. What do you and your mom do together? Read Stories
18. How are you and your mom the same? Our skin is the same color
19. How are you and your mom different?Our Hair color
20. How do you know your mom loves you?Because you give me kisses
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? That he works (ROFL)
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Home

My silly niece...

I get the pleasure of being able to watch my neice most weeks for a day. I've come to the conclusion that she idolizes her cousin Aaron because everything he does she copies. Way back like 6 months ago he had been going on an "adventure" and had a gameboy case across his body like a purse and his "sword" as soon as he put them down Carley was dressed up the same way. My son has an obsession with guitar hero and being a rock star he will turn anything into a microphone... guess who has this obession now too! Carley will sing into anything and loves to sing. Then I had her on Wednesday for whatever reason my son had a butterfly net on his head. Yep you guessed it as soon as he put it down little miss Carley had it on her head too!! I think it so cute that she loves to copy Aaron... I think I just need to be careful of what he says and does from now on!! My little Miss. Bean is more of a nut I think!!!

Tag is a kids game...

My friend Holly at SnowMommy tagged me with this cute little lemonade stand. Holly is one of the most amazing people I know. She is a mom, a wife, a friend, a student, a daughter, an aunt.... the list goes on and on. I could sit all day and tell you the amazing things about Holly...

The idea is to talk about the person that tagged you and then tag your friends. You are supposed to tag 10 but I don't know that many! So I tag:

Jen and Snapshots of a Life: I know you hate these but I had too!

Samantha at My Life as I Know it: Love you girly just giving you something to blog about!

Amanda at Jampac Clan: You haven't blogged in ages... get on it!

Out of a total loss comes a new beginning

I have been in the downie dumps since this whole thing happend with my car. It came at the worst possible time of year, I really liked my car, we're putting money into this process that we don't have.... I'll be honest I've been having a pity party. Well almost two weeks ago now we went car shopping for a new car. I got another Explorer this one a 2006 and I LOVE IT!! It is so much nicer and better than my old car. It's got all kinds of features and extras. Last Friday night I took groups of Awana kids around the town on a scavenger hunt and they all kept telling me how cool my car was! The great thing is we got a rockin intrest rate and actually pay LESS per month on this one then we did on the old one. We are saving $75 a month on car payments! So once our ordeal with the drunk driver is over and I sue him to get back the money I had to pay out on all of this. I think I'll thank him. Thank him for getting me a better car....

A total loss

We were told last night that my car will be declared a total loss. Damage was estimated at $10,157.94 who frickin knew? You should have seen the damage estimate it was 7 pages long! So after all the insurance kicks in I'll be looking for a new car. I think I will stick with an explorer. They have proven to be crash worthy and I really really loved my car. *tear* I'll miss my girl. She was the first car that I have had that I can truely say I loved. I would have driven her till the wheels fell off if I was given a chance. But someone, somewhere had other plans for me. So I'll send my baby off to the junk yard in the sky and say hello to a new car.

New Floors

We got new floors put in our house this last week. They look so much better then they did before and I LOVE them!!! This is before, During and after....

Thank God for Miricles

Today I got a touch of how fragile life is and how we really never know what is going to happen. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.

My parents are here visiting from Arizona and while they are here they borrowed my car. Today they were hit by a drunk driver and walked away from the accident unhurt. I am angry that my car is totaled and I don't have a vehicle but I thank God that he kept my parents safe and that no one was hurt. The 24 year old driver was headed home after a night of partying in Bellingham. He hit a guardrail before hitting my parents almost head on and then fled the scene. They caught him three hours later at his home (luckily he left his licence plate behind) and when given the breathalizer test he blew a .24 3 hours after the accident happned. They are assuming he was well over a .30 when the accident occured. Let this be a testiment to why you should not drink and drive. This could have been so much worse.