Weight Loss Blog

I started a new blog specifically for Erik and I and our weight loss journey. :) I can blog about it here too, but if I ever decide to share it publicly.....meaning apart from family and friends.....then I don't want all the extra personal stuff about the kids,etc. written in with everything diet that I don't care if I share with strangers. Here's the link!!! http://erikandjodishrinking.blogspot.com/

The Last Supper.......

Mine, that is. Medifast will be delivered some time today and my weight loss journey begins tomorrow. So, now, I'm trying to decide what I want to eat tonight that will be a no no tomorrow. lol Pitiful, isn't it? I don't think I'll have any major sweet cravings. That should be covered with the Medifast foods....which have puddings, brownies, shakes, etc. My biggest cravings will be for rice and potatoes....maybe even a little bit for pasta. I'd like to maybe go to Wasabi, I think. Their rice is the best part of the meal! :) So, I guess I need to get the scale out and dust it off to chart my progress (and Erik's). Also take some "before" pics of us as well. I am really excited to get this thing started!!! :)

AMAZING NIGHT!!!!

Erik and I went to see Celtic Woman last night. It was absolutely AMAZING!!!
Erik got home from work and quickly changed his clothes and the babysitter arrived right on time. We drove to Knoxville and figured out where we were going and got to the Coliseum to discover a huge line. Seeing that, we decided that we needed to park and go to will call to get our tickets right away. So, we're walking up to the line and are starting to think that we are in the wrong place. Tons of college age kids.....dressed like, um....not nice.....and crazy hair and piercings, etc. and we're like are these people really here to see Celtic Woman???? So, we get up to the will call office and discover that there are actually two events going on at the civic center and that yes, we were on the wrong side of the building. lol The kids we were seeing were in line for the Three Days Grace concert. lol That made MUCH more sense. So, we got our tickets......but were then kind of stuck there due to paid parking. We hadn't had dinner. Crap. So, we asked if they had concessions there and they said yes, so we were like okay a hot dog is better than nothing. WRONG. Their concessions were extremely limited. So, we had a dinner of coke, sun chips, goobers and cracker jacks. BLECH!!! Ruth's Chris just down the street was calling my name and this is what I got! lol Oh well! The rest of the evening was just amazing. The music was incredible and they've got such great energy. Especially the "fiddler" Mairead. She is awesome! :) Fiddling while dancing and jumping around....I could only wish for that kind of coordination! lol A couple of songs made me think of Mom and got the tears flowing. I was really glad we'd moved to an empty row of seats (across the aisle from our ticketed seats) so that I wasn't sitting next to a total stranger in those moments. ;) Mom would have loved it, for sure! :) It was a great night....so glad we got to go! :)

This is the song that sent me over the edge....You'll need to stop/pause my playlist music to hear it! :)

Sunday, a day of rest? Not so much......

In my opinion. It seems like Sundays are as crazy and hectic a day sometimes as any other day. We wake up in the morning and it's a mad rush to get everyone up, fed and ready for Church. Sometimes, there are meetings before Church leaving one parent behind to take care of it all at home. Sometimes, we don't arrive in such happy hearted, spiritual feeling moods. ;) Then we spend three hours at Church. Sometimes we have meetings AFTER Church. Today, we were bombarded with a surprise Scout meeting......right when I was worn out from 2 hours of Sunbeams and ready to go home and REST. We had a nice, leisurely afternoon. Took a nice drive a few miles up the road to Frozen Head State Park. Enjoyed nature and the sunshine. Then, had to head back because Erik had to meet with the rest of the EQ Presidency to go visit a new family in the ward. He left over 2 hours ago. It's almost 9pm. I really hope they've not intruded on this family for 2 hours. I don't know if they had additional business to discuss. But, come on....this is ridiculous. There shouldn't be soooooo many meetings on Sundays and there definitely shouldn't be anything keeping the guys away from their families this late in the evening. I've now had family prayer and put the kids to bed without their Daddy. UGH. I know these things need to be done and I guess the thinking is people have so many other things going on during the week, which is true. But, sometimes, even doing Church business seems to go against the Sabbath being a day of rest.

Feelin' like a brat

Ever have those days when you just want to give in to that inner two year old self and stomp your feet and scream? That's me today. lol I'm really tired this morning for some reason and I'm sure that's lending to my crankiness. Got a wild hair this morning and decided we should go somewhere fun and different this weekend and have fun.....Atlanta was the plan. Thinking we could hit up the aquarium or some other ATL attraction and of course, my beloved......IKEA. Aidan doesn't have a soccer game this weekend and it's the only weekend (though we missed it last weekend) from the beginning of March through the end of May, that he doesn't have a game. So, I'm thinking it would be perfect. I call Erik and he is totally on board....even suggesting we drive down tonight and get a hotel room. THEN.......he remembers that Alex has a merit badge thingamajigger for Boy Scouts this weekend. ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ONE weekend Aidan doesn't have a game and nothing else is going on THIS has to be going on. Really, it is optional. But, it is also Alex's first opportunity to do something with the Boy Scouts. It's very very frustrating having something for one person going on completely stops the rest of the family from doing something. So, I guess we'll hang around the house and maybe make it in to Turkey Creek or something. *sigh* Since Erik doesn't have any vacation time any time soon, the weekends are ALL we have to do fun stuff as a family and there always seems to be something holding that up too. We've been to Nashville several times.....but I'm really wanting to do something different for a change.

Going to see Celtic Woman In Concert!!!

I'm sooooooo excited!!!! I LOVE Celtic Woman and the other day, I was folding laundry when a commercial came on saying that they are coming to Knoxville next week. I was like, "OOOH OOOH OOOH!!!!" and the next thing I know, I'm being handed a printed confirmation of tickets Erik purchased for us!!!! :) He also rounded up a babysitter last night, so I guess we're really going. :) Yay!!! I may get a little emotional as Mom loved them so much too. Wish she could come with us too.....maybe she will! :)
Now to decide what to wear...... :)

Rescheduled......

Got a call this morning that Connor's preschool has been rescheduled for the second time this week. He only goes 2 days a week. I have really loved that this program was in effect in our ward and that we've had the opportunity to take advantage of it....but it's sometimes a little frustrating too. Last Thursday, it was canceled completely.....and she had rescheduled one day either the previous week or the week before that (can't remember now) and I wasn't informed and drove all the way over there to discover that no one was home. So, now, it's just feeling like we're in a bit of a bad pattern. I get that people get sick and I appreciate not having the germs brought to our house.....but this wouldn't happen in a regular preschool. We didn't have much choice in preschools here. There are only a couple that aren't actually day cares with a supposed preschool curriculum....and they had wait lists that were a mile long when we moved here. So no chance of getting in really. Leaving Shining Stars Preschool is the one big regret I have about leaving Rio Rancho. It is such a great program and it was so cool that Connor had actually gotten one of the very coveted spots. Barring snow days, it never would have been canceled. Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad that we've had this preschooling option available to us.....but it's disappointing to Connor when school that he looks so forward to is canceled and it puts a wrench in my plans too. Oh well....got a nice thunderstorm going on outside and it's nice just being lazy and staying in my jammies and watching the storm too. ;)

The difference 2 days makes!

The forest behind us just keeps getting greener and greener and DARKER. I took the pics below two mornings ago. Look at the pics of the forest in that post....then check out these I just took. Crazy, isn't it???

Spring time in Tennessee!!!

I have to say.....I have been LOVING spring time here in Tennessee!!! :) After 4 years of living in the barren desert, it is awesome to see the Earth coming back to life after a long, cold winter. :) We've had a little bit of allergies, but really not too bad. The juniper pollen in New Mexico used to absolutely kill Erik and Connor. So, in comparison, it's not been bad....especially considering there are so many more things blooming here that could get to them. A couple of weeks ago, I took pictures of the daffodils along the roadway as we were driving in to Knoxville. I had noticed that they were all over the neighborhood (including our yard!) but then realized they are growing like wild flowers EVERYWHERE. It's so beautiful to look at! Then, we were gone this past weekend and came home to see our yard in bloom! Not having been here before, we had no idea what our yard would look like. After having been admiring the other yards in the neighborhood, I'm happy to see we have some of our own right here in our yard! :) Here's some pics of the daffodils on the road way and our yard! :)

Fabulous Weekend!!!

Spent a great weekend in Franklin. Started the drive Thursday evening when Erik got home from work. I had everything ready to go and he literally drove up, went potty, locked the door and we were off! Love it when things work out so smoothly! The ride was decent...except for about a 13 mile stretch that we were stuck in bad traffic and moving at a snail's pace because they were re-striping the freeway. WTH were they thinking on a holiday weekend! It took us an hour to get from that point to the exit at Cookeville, where we stopped for dinner. All in all, it put us about 2 hours behind schedule.

Friday, Debi and I went out and I bought new sandals, then she treated me to a pedicure for my birthday!!! HEAVEN!!!! :) We mostly chilled the rest of the day and colored boiled eggs with the kids.

Saturday, Erik and I were able to get our BY OURSELVES (woohoo!!!!) and do Easter shopping and go to lunch! It's been so long since we've been out really alone together, it was awesome! That afternoon Erik took the boys to a movie and I ran errands with Paul & Debi. We met up later with Erik & the boys and Caity & Maddi and went to dinner at Logan's for my birthday. :) That ended with me being embarrassed with the announcement of my birthday and having the entire restaurant giving me a birthday "YEEHAW!!!" lol She did tell everyone I was turning 21 though. HAHAHA Don't I wish! We got home and Erik and Paul hid the eggs around the yard and then the kids went on an Easter Egg Hunt. He worked Sunday, so it worked better to do it that way so he could be there. After we put the kids to bed, we put the baskets together and then I fell asleep as we were watching The Ten Commandments.

Sunday morning, Erik got out of bed and was getting dressed to go downstairs. I thought to myself "AWESOME!!! I get to sleep in for my birthday!!!" Then Erik said, "Jodi, we've got to go downstairs." Oh yeah. The kids were ready to see what the Easter Bunny had filled their baskets with. Crud. lol So, I had to wake up AND watch other people get gifts. Birthdays and Easter for adults kinda stink. lol Then we got cleaned up and gathered our stuff to go home.
It was obvious an Easter dinner wasn't in the plans there.....Paul was at work and Debi is on the Medifast diet that we're going to start soon, so she wouldn't be eating anything. So, we left so that we could get home and do something for my birthday. I refused to cook an Easter feast on my birthday.....and we'd have had to go to the store to get everything....so we ended up at Wasabi for dinner. lol I have *NEVER* eaten out on Easter before and it felt a little like A Christmas Story when they ended up at a Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner. HAHAHA
It was really slow there AND we ended up with the BEST chef!!! He is HILARIOUS and so entertaining as he cooks. :) He really took his time too, because there wasn't really much else for him to hurry for. Erik even got in on the fun. :)

Then we came back home and put in some solar lights along the sidewalk in front of the house and had some cheesecake with strawberries for my birthday cake. :) While we were gone, our yard absolutely BLOOMED!!! I need to go outside and take some pics so that I can post them here! :) Was an AWESOME weekend!!! :)