Adios Amigos!

The Sunny Side Saturday

I may be tired, but I am tired because God has given me an abundance of work and a quiver full of children!

My house may be messy, but it is messy because we have enough

clothes, food and money to buy toys for the kids

My husband may be injured but his injury brought him to a company

that gave him a work vehicle, salary and a 401k.

My daughter may be having surgery, but she is having surgery because we could afford to go to the orthodontist and have insurance that will cover nearly all of the cost of the surgery.

Three Things Thursday...ok I am a copycat

1. Words I am sure you never thought I would write...I am tired of working!  I love UL, love our products, love my customers but I am tired.  I have 14 parties to close this month and it seems that everyone in our house is having surgery.  I actually have to work the night of one of those surgeries and I am rather heartbroken that I have a prior commitment.

2.  I officially hate ISAT's.  I think that schools put undue pressure on our children, teachers and quite frankly...us.  I don't like being told that I "should make sure my kids have a good night of sleep", or "are well fed in the morning".  Jeesh!  DUH!  Why is this week more important to their education than the other weeks? 

3. If I had a day off this weekend I would be doing TONS of house stuff.  Painting the rec room, planting my seedlings, re-arranging, cleaning...etc.  I am actually bummed out that these things are being put on the back burner.

Kyla's 7 year old photos

An award...for me???? :)

Thanks go to Erin, over at "yes our hands are full" for this Over the Top award!  Truthfully, I think she was just checking to see if I was still alive!  I apoligize...I have been SO busy at work and appreciate this WAKE UP!!!!

Here are the rules for the Over the Top award:
-Answer the questions below.

-Pass it on to five people.
1. Where is your cell phone? To my left.

2. Your hair? is going grey more and more each day.

3. Your mother? a saint!  Married to my dad with 5 crazy children!  Seriously...a saint! and does NOT have more grey hair than me...jeesh.

4. Your father? has more grey hair than me, and is in the west for half of each month.

5. Your favorite food? mexican

6. Your dream last night? I don't remember my dreams too often

7. Your favorite drink? coffee

8. Your dream/goal? to be able to stand at the finish line and know that the words "well done" could be applied to my life.

9. What room are you in? living room

10. Your hobby? working...I serilously love my work.

11. Your fear? drowning

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? I want to have this house finished!  And wow...6 years means the twins are 15 so...I guess I want to be sane still?

13. Where were you last night? out with a friend

14. Something that you aren't? calm

15. Muffins? banana

16. Wish list item? SPRING!!!!!!!!!

17. Where did you grow up? Canada until 4, Wheaton, Illinois until 7, Woodstock, Illinois until...now!

18. Last thing you did? went to the bathroom(AND THE PHONE DIDN'T RING!!!!)

19. What are you wearing? workout capri's and a tank top

20. Your TV? not a flat screen

21. Your Pets? 2 dogs, 7 guinea pigs, 6 fish

22. Friends? I LOVE MY FRIENDS!!!!!!

23. Your life? insane

24. Your mood? geting more and more amped up as I move furthur into my week and closer to another 5 day work stretch.

25. Missing Someone?  my brothers.  I don't see them often enough.

26. vehicle? mini-van

27. Something you're not wearing? socks

28. Your favorite store? JC Penney

29. Your favorite color? blue

30. When was the last time you laughed? last night

31. Last time you cried? at the dentist a week ago

32. Your best friend? Sean, April, Mom

33. One place that I go to over and over? to the coffee maker :)

34. Facebook? yep!  LOVE IT!

35. Favorite place to eat? with the family
Here are my 5 blogs:

1. Our daily blessing.....Life!
2. Something to talk about
3. Sweat and Make Up
4. Chad and Nikki
5. A stirring life

Thanks again Erin!!!

Almost a week wearing a bugg!

This month I spent a little of my Uppercase money on a Bodybugg.  What is a bodybugg???  A bodybugg is a high tech calorie/step/activity monitor that you wear on your left arm.  It has been used on The Biggest Loser and uses a process to count these different things.

The process is based on:

Motion: The armband contains an accelerometer that measures motion from multiple perspectives.

Steps: The accelerometer counts steps by measuring the distinct patterns created by running or walking.

Galvanic skin response: When you sweat, your skin becomes more electrically conductive. This measurement helps the device understand how active you are.

Skin temperature: There’s an electronic thermometer inside your armband that monitors how hot you are.

Heat flux: When you move, your muscles produce heat. Your armband measures the heat that’s flowing from your body into the environment.

I have been thinking of buying one of these bugg's for over a year now.  I have thought of it, forgot it, lost weight, gained weight, worked out, sat on my booty and overall...the yo-yo'ing that I am doing is taking a toll on my self esteem and health. 

So, here I am...week 1.  And I know...it could be that it is a "new" thing, but at the moment...I don't feel like I am on a diet at all.

 I wear the bugg, enter my food for the day as I go(or at the end of the day...depending on the day).  My target burn according to bodybugg is 2400.  And my target calorie consumption is 1400.  Neither of those have been hard at all.  HOWEVER...the goal is to put 1000 calories between the consumption and burn.  I have noticed that I am burning alot more on some days than others.  On days that I hit the gym AND go to work, I have seen burns around 3400.  On these days I could "technically" eat 1000 more calories without going off my program.  The goal is to have a defecit of 7000 calories per week which is equal to 2 pounds.  Make sense? 

The bottom line for me is that I am not feeling "food guilt" which can de-rail all of my progress.  If I want a snickers bar...I eat it and enter it into the program!  I know that my goal is a 1000 calorie defecit for the day and as long as I get there I am "on program!"

Growing on the mind...

I am SO excited to get started with my garden this year...so excited in fact that we have
-seeds
-growing system(for seedling)
-three new plants growing in the house(money tree, sunflower, and paperwhites)
-and...a few new books and magazines!

(photo from last year..grill is now g.o.n.e!!!!)

If you remember last year, Sean built me two 3' x 12' raised planter beds(measurements are approximate...as measured while looking out the window).  Well as you can tell from the photo, I had a plan that I thought was going to work out well.  I am glad that I walked blindly into last years planting...I learned alot about what grows well here and what I want to plant more of because I didn't have enough of a harvest.

So...enter the next great idea...Square Foot Gardening!!  It is a book dedicated to helping you grow more vegetables and flowers in less space all the while saving you money(on wasted seeds) and time weeding.  I am thrilled to try this method and will take pictures along the way to document the process.  I think with any luck, and some educated guidance...I will be happier with this years garden!

Now to pray for the warm weather to come quicker :)

What a gift!

2 years ago today...

I had no idea what Uppercase Living was.  I was and still am a stay at home mom who was up to her armpits with a 10 month old and 2 year old at home.  I had no idea what getting out of the house to share a passion that I didn't know I had, would do for my self esteem.  I didn't know whether I could succeed or not at anything outside of being a mom.  Really...I am dead serious.  I didn't know that there was a life for me outside of breastfeeding and diapering.

So on February 11th, 2008 I took a leap of faith.  I didn't have any Uppercase in my home, I hadn't applied a piece of vinyl to anything, and I had no idea if people were going to "get" what Uppercase was.

The day that my starter kit came, I signed up my first recruit.  A woman called me out of the blue and wanted to know all about Uppercase and how she could sell it...I literally had to go outside to get my starter kit off my porch to talk to this woman.  I STILL hadn't applied any vinyl...

The rest is history.  God has moved me from one place to another with this company that I have been nothing but impressed with.  Since I started I have had over 160 parties, been promoted twice, made the 35K sales circle last year, earned the FREE eastern caribbean cruise with the upgrade, earned more prizes,  been to Anaheim for convention and had the priveledge of working with an amazing team of people.  My goals have all been met, and I am pushing towards some new ones!

Above all, I love helping women create the atmosphere that they are looking for in their spaces.  Paint can change a mood in a room but the words can make it yours.  Don't ever underestimate the power of words!

As I write this I can glance up and remind myself that God has been faithful to us!  It is written on my wall.

Our birthday traditions!

At 6 we take them away by themselves overnight to a hotel for swimming or theatre.
At 7 we take them to American Girl for the day.
At 8 we get them pets(seriously...reconsidering this one!)
At 9...LEGOLAND!

Yesterday I took K1 and K2 to Legoland Discovery Center in Schaumburg.  They had alot of fun and although it wasn't as big of a place as I expected(I went to Legoland in Canada when I was little), there was still alot to do!  If you haven't been there I would go!  I definatly suggest going during the week if you don't like crowds.  I can only imagine that it gets pretty busy on the weekends.

Here are a few pictures of the experience!

And just in case your wondering what we are going to do for 10.....MEXICO!!!!!!  Thanks to Uppercase, Sean and I are going to take the twins with us to Mexico next March(I am still working on earning this trip but am over 70%).  Our hope is that each year we can take a different kid with us on our FREE Uppercase trips.  K3 is waiting until July to find out where her trip will be!