Tests, Needles, & Scooters: It's Been a Long Week!

So, it's been a busy week for Brandon.  Monday he went to school with me for his Kindergarten Assessment tests.  He tested into a "fast track" reading program, which means he's farther ahead than most Kindergarten students.  He also tested into a math class that some of my 3rd graders were in!!  That was very exciting news to hear.

I discovered that to register him for Kindergarten, I needed to get him up to date with his shots.  I knew that he was a little behind, but was devastated to discover he was going to need FIVE shots.  Yikes, this wasn't going to be fun.  The last time he had shots was when he was an infant.  Sure, they scream, but they don't fight back very hard.

Yea, WHATEVER.  For the record, I don't think this picture is real.  I believe it is COMPLETELY staged.  No one is THIS happy when they are about to be poked with a long needle!

We were lucky enough to have two doctors "tag team" him, and two of the shots were combined into one, so he was only receiving four sticks with a needle.  He was doing great mentally until the doctors came back with the needles.  It was over then.  Thankfully my mom was with me.  Brandon sat at the edge of the "patient's bed" (what is that thing called?),  I held down his arms, mom held his chest up, the male nurse kept his legs down, while both he and the female nurse each poked him twice in each leg.  It was a little like this, only it was a five year old and required four people in the room!

Anyway, after that trauma we were looking forward to the birthday party for my niece on Saturday.  It was a fantastic water party, so Brandon was able to get very wet.

After the party Brandon was playing outside with some boys that were my nephews age....about 9 & 10.  They were using the water guns that had been used during the party.  One boy, we'll call him Bob, (just because) was getting another boy, we'll call Rob, wet, even though Rob was asking Bob to stop shooting him.  Bob just wouldn't stop.

All the adults were in the house when suddenly we hear Brandon scream, and run inside.  My mom got to him first.  Apparently Rob, tired of Bob getting him wet, became VERY upset, and to prove a point about how tired he was, he picked up the scooter he was riding on, and swung it around.   Yeah, he swung it straight into the left side of Brandon's head!!!  Needless to say, he had quite a gash on his head, and we were off to Urgent Care to have it taken care of.

When my mom told me that he was probably going to have staples put in, I became very nervous.  I've had stitches before, but never staples.   I didn't know how this process worked, and I kept thinking of this:

You know, the tool that is handy to have around whenever there is a psychopath in your house?  You just push this into their head and they usually die.....right?  It always works in the movies!

Anyway, I was very concerned.

Well, it wasn't that big a deal.  He was given gel that numbed the area, and then the doctor came back into the room with this:

I didn't watch the process, and luckily Brandon was nice and still for the doctor....well, more still than he was for the shots!  As dumb as this sounds, I was expecting to hear the sound of a stapler when they were put into his head!

So this:

Plus this:

Equals four staples to the left side of his head.

He took it like a champ, and we went back to my sister's house where he continued to play!  If this is what having a boy is going to be like, I'd better toughen up and prepare!

On a side note, I got my hair cut yesterday.  I chopped it all off.  I don't take pictures very often, so here you go.  I'm still loosing weight, and I'm thrilled that school is out, I can really get going again!

Liberty Hill To The Rescue

This has been a CRAZY week! 

A few weeks ago we began looking for a new place to live.  We knew we wanted to live in a townhouse, and get out of apartment living.  After living in this HORRIBLE complex for over a year, we're tired of hearing every footstep, toilet flush, shower, party, barking dog, and creek made by our horrible neighbors.  (and no, I'm not exaggerating at all.  As I write this, our neighbors are upstairs in their apartment and I know exactly where they are because we can hear their footsteps!)

We also want Brandon to be able to run and jump around like a 5 year old should be able to, without our neighbors complaining.  Oh, and being able to exercise WHENEVER I WANT TO without said neighbors knocking on my door to whine would be fantastic!  A townhouse would give us this, along with the feel of a house, without the big payment.

It all came together yesterday.  We wanted to stay in Sandy, but we found a townhouse community in Draper, the next city south.  The last time all the "chips" fell into place like this was when we moved to Utah.  The complex had a five month waiting list that was just lifted this week.  The exact townhouse I wanted was available, it's a smoke and pet free community, and to make it even sweeter, it's an end unit and the model home is next door, so WE WON'T HAVE ANY NEIGHBORS AT ALL!   

Welcome to our new townhouse!  I will have a kitchen pantry, (which I don't have now), an island with cabinets inside, (don't have one of those), a coat closet (also something I don't have now), IN UNIT, BRAND NEW LAUNDRY (which means we can sell ours and don't have to move it!), a linen closet (another thing I don't have now!), huge closets, AND A GARAGE!  (yep, I don't have that now either!)  I've never been big on cleaning bathrooms, but now that we'll have 2.5 of them, I'll have to get over it.

It's in a much higher elevation than where we live now, so it's much colder.  And it has a country feel to it, (which Nick loves) even with the other townhouses around it.  The video walkthrough is the model next door to us, and is the same layout as our new place.  We move the beginning of March, and I begin packing tomorrow!

Weight Loss Challenge 2; Week 3, 4, 5

The first two weeks of my "new" challenge were wonderful.  I was motivated, excited, eating healthy.  I came home from work the second Friday, and after I exercised I instantly became very sick.  High fever, throat swollen, I couldn't talk, chills that lasted for hours;  yep, I caught Strep Throat.  For five days I was MISERABLE.  I couldn't talk, swallow, sleep, or eat unless it was something that was soft or made of ice.  To try and keep myself from putting weight on, I looked for healthier food.  Instead of buying ice cream bars, I found some really good Dreyer's fruit bars that had no sugar, were low on calories, and are simply divine!

Surprisingly, I lost almost three pounds during that 5 day stretch.  Week three was a bust in regards to exercising.  I simply wasn't healthy enough and I knew if I pushed it I would later regret it.

Well, that week off from exercising DID NOT HELP MY CAUSE.  Week four was a COMPLETE AND TOTAL BUST!  My motivation was gone, I wasn't eating healthy, I was worried.  I gained the three pounds back very quickly and decided to simply act like I'd never lost that weight to begin with!

At the end of week four I had still met my goal for the month of January.  I'm shooting for 5 pounds a month, and I'd lost six.  I was still bummed though because after being sick the idea of exercising wasn't appealing AT ALL.

Going into week 5 I knew I needed to do something drastic.  I was trying to find a way to get my motivation back.  I remembered a DVD I used all summer long, The Firm.  Before week 5 I'd been doing a 20 minute aerobics routine to work my way into using The Firm again.  I decided it was time to jump in with both feet.  I'm using the "express" 35 minute workout during the week, which combines circuit training with aerobics and burns A LOT more calories.

I started the DVD on Tuesday, and have lost 3.6 pounds this week!!!  My motivation has returned, and I am so excited about this.  I'm almost back at the weight I was when my first challenge ended.  I have 1.6 pounds until I'm back at that weight and then the skies the limit!!  I have about 30 pounds that I still really want to loose.  I'm finding that exercising right after I get home from work each night is best for me.  I get dinner ready, put it in the oven and exercise while it's cooking.

After I run all my Saturday errands, and clean the house, I'm going to do the entire "Firm" DVD, which is 55 minutes long.  Saturday is the only day I truly have time for it, and I'm actually excited to do it again.  My body doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart like it did earlier in the week when I first started 'The Firm", and it's to the point where my muscles are remembering again that I used to do this all the time!

Here's to week six;  I think it's going to be great!

Weight Loss Challenge 2....Week 1 & 2

Well, in week one I started off needing to loose 11 pounds to get me back down to where I was when my first challenge ended.  Yikes!

I began doing the same things I did last time.  I figure they worked before, why not use the same tools again?

Week one was great.  Getting back into exercising wasn't easy, but I found that I still loved it.  I decided that instead of exercising after dinner, I tried exercising right when I got home from work; 5pm...20 minutes later I was done and my evening was over.

I was only shooting for about 1.5 pounds down.  I ended up loosing 3.6lbs!  I was excited and ready to move onto week two.

I weigh myself daily, but the day that "counts" for me is Friday morning.  Last Monday when I stepped on the scale, I about died....I had PUT ON A POUND!  What the heck?!  So I spent this week trying to loose that pound.  A little came off here, a little there, and then on Wednesday I had a great loss:  1.2lbs!  Finally.  Thursday a little came off and then this morning I almost fell off the scale:  2.2lbs down for a total of 6.8lbs in only two weeks!!

After exercising today, I now have a fever, sore throat, and a horrible case of the chills.  Fun, fun.  Oh, and I'm a little nauseous when I stand up!

Since I've set my weekly goal for between 1- 1.5lbs down, I'm way ahead.  I could very well hit the 10lb mark this month.  That would be awesome....but I'm not going to get all excited about it.

Have a great week everyone!

ThePianoGuys

It's been a long time since I've found something that I thought was truly awesome.  That has all changed.

A few weeks ago, I posted about a Star Wars parody called "Cello Wars".  If you didn't catch it, click here to watch the video.

(I'm now assuming that you have either previously watched the video, or just watched it.)

After watching that, I "liked" their Facebook page, and that's when I was opened up to the world of ThePianoGuys.  They live in St. George, Utah, and all of their videos are made in different parts of the state.  Each week they post new videos to YouTube, sharing their INCREDIBLE talents with the world.

I'm a huge music fan, and this group is simply AMAZING!  They write their own arrangements of songs that most people have heard of before, but add their own flare.  The following is a wonderful example:

Their video for this week popped up on Facebook a few days ago.  It's the song "Paradise" by Coldplay.  I must admit, I'm not up to date with popular music today.  I think most of it sucks anyway.  However, when I heard ThePianoGuys version of this song, I had to find the original.  With over 24 million views of the actual music video, I'm guessing this must be a popular song.  Here is the original.




Ok, now ThePianoGuys version


Seriously?  Are you kidding me?  How absolutely mind blowing is this cover?!?  The piano, cello, the amazing singer....the location!  Holy moly!

Since I'm so in love with these guys, here's another clip.



Don't even get me started on how incredible THIS video is!!!  Using only the instruments and objects in the room, they created this amazing piece.  I am beyond jealous of their talent, but so excited that they share it with us!

Anyway, needless to say, I'll be purchasing their album in the very near future.  I've been glued to YouTube for the past two days, watching all their videos and learning all about them.  Even Brandon and Nick enjoy them.  Their videos are so fun to watch, but even without them, the music stands on its own and is breathtaking.

Thank goodness there are people in the world who still create incredible music!