Blurry photo and weight loss

After feeling so good about myself yesterday when I saw that photo I decided to step on the scale yesterday. All time high. 207 my friends. UGH.

So I still feel good about myself, but this weight is out of hand. I don't have any good quality recent fat girl photos. This one my son took on Christmas. Sorry for the blur. But you CAN see my huge gut. Which is the most dangerous place to store fat of course. So it's got to go.

I have been praying and researching what I want to do for about a month. Today I made my decisions.

I rejoined my gym. I loved the gym, then sort of started slacking off, eventually I convinced myself I'd just run from home. That lasted a few month and then it was done too. But I really miss the gym. And my gym has Kids Club where I can drop my little monsters off while I work out. It is hugely stress relieving for me to get a bit of time away from the kids and to work out. I included classes in my membership so I can do the Zumba class I miss so much.

I'm also signing up for Weight Watchers. I'm going to do the combo thing where you go to the actual meetings AND have access to all the online stuff. I actually found out that a friend of mine is in the same meeting time that I plan to go to. She joined in October and has lost 26lbs. That is AWESOME.

So that's what's up. I'm not going to make this into one of those cool weight loss blogs, but I'll do occasional updates. I hope this is it. I'm not depressed, but I'm a bit desperate. I am motivated. In the past I've started because I was depressed, or felt pressure from my husband. I don't feel that now. I feel encouragement from Brian and I honestly feel GOOD. I'm happy, I feel pretty, but I want to feel better. And look better. I won't lie to you, I am concerned about my health, but my main concern is my looks. Might be horrible of me, but there you have it. I want to look good. In clothes and *gasp* out of them. And I want some new clothes. Cool, cute ones. And I want them by this summer!

Photo magic and a train table.

 Usually in photos I look bad. I don't SHOW you those, so don't mention the millions of good ones you have seen. But in the vast majority of them I look hugely fat, with terrible skin and lank, oily hair. But sometimes I look amazing. And this is one of those times. THIS is how I look in my mind by the way. When you see me with unwashed hair, no makeup and sweats on and wonder who I think I am walking around with my head high, it's because in my mind I am this girl. Unfortunately Calvin didn't get the memo that we were taking the best photo of Mommy in years, because he has the, "I'm not too sure about this, and also the sun is in my eyes" look. If he had smiled I'd get this put on billboards around town. It's photo magic. This was yesterday. We went to a park in St. Augustine. It was just a wonderful day.

This is a train table I made. It is WAY smaller than one you buy, but I like that. I didn't want to loose half my room to a stupid table. I made it out of an old coffee table that had broken legs. I nailed down all the pieces. I painted the table this simple white so it would take up less visual space in my new screen room because I want it to stay looking huge and open. Calvin LOVES it. Ethan likes it quite well too, as you can see here. So I'm happy I made it.

That's about all. Home School is not my most favorite thing ever. I love seeing Ethan advance so quickly. I love that I feel like his time is not wasted. But I don't really like it for ME. I find it frustrating and somewhat boring. Also my house is not as clean as it could be now. And it is oddly tiring for me. But for right now it is what I'm doing and it is doing a world of good for him so that's good.

Bookshelves

So I saw THESE SHELVES and had to have them. And the people put a cool diagram. Easy peasy!

Well they were easy. But mine do not look like theirs. Mine are not so perfect and lovely. But they will do.  Every time I build something I wish I could take a carpentry class. I think of cool projects, but when I go to actually make them they are a hot mess. I wonder if my tools are part of it. I don't have a power sander, maybe if I had one I could have made these so much smoother. Anyhow I'm going to love them just as is. They look so cool with the books on them. This is in the narrow hall to the kid rooms. That is the bathroom door you see, then there is a bedroom on either side of these shelves. (I painted that flower thing, by the way.) These are to hold library books that we have out. Then we see them easily and keep them segregated from the other million books we own.

So I told you yesterday that I was teaching the 9 and 10 year olds. It got changed. Changes are very common at the beginning of the year and with a new Presidency, so it wasn't a shock. I am now teaching the Nursery class. That is babies from 18 months to 3 years old. BEST CALLING EVER. I've been saying for about 5 years that I'd love to serve in the Nursery. You get to supervise playtime for a while, then give a super short and active lesson, there is snack and singing. It's basically toddler play time but at church. And my own toddler is in there, so that's super fun! On the other hand I was super excited for the other class. And that's the awesomeness of my church, because we fill all the positions ourselves everyone gets many opportunities to serve in different ways. I bet someday I'll teach that other class, and it will still be awesome then.

Random, with new doors

Look at this photo Calvin took of me: 

 Bootsie loves to sleep with the boys. 

 At our favorite restaurant. Pepe's Hacienda in Jacksonville, is AMAZING, cheap, authentic Mexican. 

 Here are two wreaths I made for a Valentine's Day swap I'm in. They are hanging on my NEW DOORS to the office! I love the doors so much. 

In other news:

Homeschooling Ethan is going well. There is a learning curve for both of us. I love how much material we can cover in such a short time. He loves sleeping in and not being told he is a horrible person at school. Which, by the way, has not ended. Several kids have asked Stephen if Ethan is out of school because he is so bad he got kicked out or told Stephen they are glad Ethan is gone because they hate him. Stephen is horrified and shocked by this, of course. I kind of hate kids sometimes. 

Speaking of kids, I have a new calling at church! I'm not the Primary President anymore. I'm now a teacher of the 9 and 10 year old kids. Super fun! I love teaching. I have enjoyed being the Primary President so much, but I'm also happy to have a chance to do something different. Change is good. 

Terrible Twos still going on. Calvin is great in a million ways, but TROUBLE. It's mostly fun though. 

Updates

Ethan, as you may know, is having issues at school. It is a long story, but he's being verbally bullied. I cannot seem to get the school to take it seriously. It is affecting his academics. He actually reads less well than he did at the end of last year. So I'm pulling him out and home schooling. I am going to waitlist him for a charter school that I think will serve him better. Stephen is still doing well so I'm leaving him but I am putting him on the list for the charter school too. We shall see. 

 Terrible twos are still in effect for Calvin. He is the sweetest but he's also driving us all insane.

Here is one outdoor shot of the house in the daylight with the new paint. I have to get a better one soon.