Ipod PSA

We got the kids refurbished Ipod touches for Christmas this year. They have been a total hit. Sometime in January Andrew's started acting weird. None of the apps would work. We thought we had gotten a bummer pod but Paul got ahold of tech support and got it up and running. Something he did in the process of fixing the Ipod required a credit card.

See where I am going with this?

Last Friday the kids did not have school. By 11:00 am they were Boooooooo-red. (yes they made it a two syllable word) It was a loooooong day for all of us.

When Saturday rolled around I was very willing to do all the Superbowl grocery shopping, ALONE! I left and headed for Wal Mart first. I checked in while at the store to ask Paul's preference on something and all was still right in the world. I called again when I was done and I could tell something bad had happened. I knew something was seriously wrong. I could just hear it in Paul's voice. He was beyond pissed.

I asked what had happened and he told me that Andrew decided to buy a really expensive app just for fun, not realizing that it would charge a credit card. Emma was there the whole time and said he could do it because it would just say that there weren't sufficient funds. (That is what it did to her since she didn't have a card linked) I asked how much and he said Andrew thought it was $400 dollars. Holy S-word!

Paul could not get through to a real person at Apple. Everything had to be done by email and all over the website warnings were posted,

"All Sales Final". 

On his account he could see another charge for $150. Oh good grief! Seriously? 

$550 on crap apps? 

Oh this was not good. I suggested he call the credit card company to see about disputing the charge. I hurried home without going to the other store that was on my list.

When I got home Paul had calmed down, a little. The credit card company said they would work with us but not until Wed. when the charge posted. He also realized that it was only one download and it was the $150 one he could see on the account. 

It took a while, and some lunch, before Paul could relax enough to almost laugh about it. We removed the credit card, disabled his wireless so it wouldn't down load the app, and talked to the kids about what had happened. We found out yesterday that Apple would give us a credit and everything would be okay.

Now do you want to know what the app was? It was a navigation app, for Europe, 

written in 

GERMAN.

Superbowl XLIV

 

Yesterday we watched the long awaited Suberbowl. We had lots of good food and lots of fun. 

I made pulled pork sandwiches and twice baked potatoes.

                                       

We had a lot of snack food. The kids even used some to entertain themselves when things got a little boring. 

There was some snuggle time too.

I tried making Rice Krispy footballs. There weren't nearly as cute as the pictures but they tasted wonderful.

We weren't quite sure who we wanted to win. I liked the Saints best but thought it would be fun for Austin Collie to get a superbowl win. I hate Manning though. Hate! In my heart I was rooting for the Saints. When I saw these images after the win I wondered how I could have ever second guessed myself. How cute are these pictures!?! 

Congratulations Saints!!!

Frustrated

I really started gaining weight when I stopped working in ‘07 and it has just been a slow and steady climb since. Last spring, when we got back from Hawaii, was when I noticed a big increase. By last summer I hit my highest weight ever. I was heavier than when I went in to give birth to my 10-pound baby boy. It really bothered me when I saw these pictures from our family vacation over the summer. I knew something had to change.

Oh. My. Gosh.

When the kids started school last fall I began exercising fairly regularly. It started with the occasional workout using the 30-Day Shred and some long walks with Maggie twice a week. Then I decided I would pay myself $5 each time I exercised so the workouts increased.

I was eating smaller portions and trying to make some better choices. It was nothing too drastic but I did lose several inches around my waist and lost about five pounds. That put me into a new set of numbers on the scale. I was thrilled.

Right before Christmas I slacked on the exercise a bit. I didn’t really see a weight gain so I was happy. At the beginning of the year I was up a couple of pounds (back in the old numbers by the way) but didn’t think much of it. I figured it would come right off when I started working out on a regular schedule again. 

These were taken in Dec. I think I can see a bit of a change. Am I imagining it? 

                             

To motivate myself I joined an online group and our challenge was to lose 10 pounds by Valentine’s Day. I had a little over 5 weeks. I knew I could do it. Boy was I wrong!

I have done the 30-Day Shred every Mon-Wed-Fri since. I have walked for 30-40 minutes and biked for 10-20 minutes on each Tues & Thurs since. I have eaten crappy tasting Smart Ones meals for a lot of lunches and some dinners. I think I have only been to Taco Amigo twice in the last 5 weeks!

I have lost nothing, no inches, no weight. As a matter of fact I have gained weight and if anyone says it’s muscle I will scream at you and then rip your head off. Seriously.

What gives? Yes I still eat some junk food. Yes I still go out to eat and have the occasional soda. Yes there is room for improvement, but with the changes that have been made you would think I would see some kind of change.

Paul says my heart sounds healthier. (Apparently even at a resting heart rate it sounded like it was going to explode it would beat so fast.) I don’t give a crap. I want to look healthy. I heard that muscle helps boost your metabolism. That’s why I used the Shred DVD but I am thinking that it was a mistake. I can tell that I have built muscle but it is still wrapped in layers of fat. Honestly I don’t want muscle if that’s how it’s going to be. I don’t like the way the muscle looks. I just want to be thinner. Nice and lean.

I don’t like to fail and I have. Come hell or high water I was going to exercise 5 times a week for five weeks. Where did it get me? Unless I chop off a body part I am not going to be 10 pounds lighter by Valentine’s Day. I have no motivation to even try this week. It sucks. I’m frustrated and I don’t know where to go at this point. Why isn’t what I’m doing working anymore? Where do I go from here? What do I try next? This isn't a "please validate me" post. It is just something I have to get out. I mean it is my journal right? 

Shhhh! Don't tell.

See what I made today?

I am making one of these for everyone for Valentine's Day. Today I glued all the candy and only got just this one put together. Now that I have one under my belt I think I will get quicker. One down, three to go. I think the kids are going to love them. 

I got the instructions here.  http://ediblecraftsonline.com/candy_bouquets/index.htm

Thanks Dalayney for the inspiration.

Holy Hormones Batman

Yesterday we were strapped on a roller-coaster of hormones and I never thought the ride would end. Emma cried no less than a dozen times. It was *really* out of control. First she wasn't popular enough, then it was because we had a fence (WTH???), then there were tears over homework, tears because grandma was there, tears when Paul came home from work, tears because her teacher told me she was a really good student and doing great academically, tears because of this & tears because of that. 

You get the idea? Every. Little. Thing. Made. Her. Cry. 

Paul wanted her to know that she is loved and very special to us so he asked if he could take her to lunch. Unlike the birthday lunches I was allowed to come with them this time. We went to Rubio's and it was delicious. We were able to talk rationally (hallelujah) and let her know that she is loved and that we are very grateful to have her. 

I am so glad that today was a better day because yesterday I was ready to lock myself in a closet until she was 18. Please tell me it won't always be like this. 

Not something you see every day...

We're driving over to American Fork to meet Paul for dinner at In-N-Out and Emma says "I think I just saw a sheep give birth." My response? "um, I really doubt it." She then says "well I saw a red bubble hanging out of it's butt." My response? "That's worth going back for!" I whip the car around and sure enough there is momma licking a new baby clean.  

We watched her for a minute will all the appropriate oohs and ahs and then decide we better get going so we don't make Paul wait too long. As we are getting in the car she turns and we see her start to have a contraction. 

***Warning*** The picture below could be considered graphic by some. 

So she contracts for just a minute and out pops #3. We *SAW* it fall out and we saw all the stuff gush out. The kids, oh gosh how I wish I had this recorded, were like awww, then oh yuck, then EWWW!!!  Seriously it was the funniest thing. I'm laughing right now thinking about it. The looks on their faces when all the afterbirth stuff came gushing out was priceless. 

There's nothing like eating a cheeseburger after watching a birth. 

Now that's a big mess of nasty spongy fries! 

We all got the cheeseburger combo but each burger was different. 

On the way home we had to drive by the lambs/sheep. (seriously, what are these things?) Two of the babies were up and #3 was just starting to stand. 

They were so cute!

Dang Groundhog!

Will someone please stuff that critter back into it's hole and tell him to try again. Please? 

So, my list of 10 can't miss photos things to represent January turned into 24 pictures. Hmmm, wonder how that happened? I think that this really does represent our January though so I am happy. Maybe I can work harder on taking less pictures in the months to come. Nope, I don't really see that happening.

On a sad note, we can't find my Valentine decorations. We have all of our holiday stuff in plastic bins from Costco on shelves. While they aren't organized very well, we can get to them all and none of them had V-Day stuff in them. Paul was saying that he remembers the love stuff was in a different kind of bin and I'm thinking he is right. I don't know if it fit on our shelves or not so I am thinking that it is buried under our pile of things we are hoping to yard sale. The other place it could be is storage but I really doubt that. I'm ready to brighten things up by busting out the pink and the red.