Ugly Worthless Thieves

My purse was stolen for the first time in my life last week.

I've been too mad and sad and angry and MAD! to blog about it until today.

A week ago, I was at the gym just like every other weekday morning.

Before I left my house I hid my purse under a Seattle Seahawks blanket in the very back of my SUV. 

When I got back to my car after my workout I opened the back to get my purse and discovered it G-O-N-E!!

Even though I specifically remembered putting it under the blanket, I decided to drive home to check if I'd gone crazy and perhaps left it on my kitchen counter.
No such luck.

So....

#1 I called Matt at work. (He started calling the bank and credit card companies to report the theft.)

#2  I called the police to file a report.

An officer came by the house and jotted down some information.  He said parking lot thefts at day-cares, schools & gyms were very common in the area as of late.  He said there wasn't much (zip, zero) chance of getting my stuff back.

What he didn't say was that I was stupid for leaving my purse in my car.

I thanked him for that.

After he left, Matt and I finished calling the credit card companies to report the theft.

In total:  I was at the gym for TWO hours.  It took ONE hour for me to file the report with the police AND get all of my credit cards reported stolen and ultimately cancelled.

In that THREE HOUR time span, the Ugly Worthless Thieves were able to wrack up about $600 worth of charges on my three credit cards and all at GAS STATIONS!!

How can they do that?  A car only holds a certain amount of gas...even if they fill up a couple of their friends' cars.

My question was answered while Matt was talking to one of our neighbors today.

Our neighbor was at a gas station the other day (near the airport, in a shady part of town) when a young man approached him and said for $20 cash he'd fill his gas tank with a credit card. Our neighbor said NO but I'm sure quite a few others said YES.  Hence the $600 charged to my stolen credit cards at gas stations in the span of three hours.

Ugly Worthless Thieves

STOLEN was this purse that my momma got me for my birthday three years ago.

I loved that purse!

Can you see how they gained entry into my car?

They jammed some sort of tool under and through my lock.

Ugly Worthless Thieves

As Ugly and Worthless and Thievy as they are...

I am done with them.

I am back to my normal routine which includes going to the gym five days a week.  I no longer leave ANYTHING in my vehicle but I now have an eye out for anything suspicious in the parking lot.

My Momma happens to be in town and bought me a brand new hand bag!

I love it!!

And my kiddos had their winter pictures taken/made today.

Looking good L and T.

You got nothing on us you
Ugly Worthless Thieves

Tuesday Totals

pounds lost this week  = 3.0

total pounds lost =  23.8

(I didn't post last Tuesday but I was up 1.6 pounds.  I knew I'd be up because I splurged a little but was okay with that.  I knew I'd do better the next week and I did!)

3.4 pounds to go to reach my Christmas goal.

Time to gear up for a quick beach vacation and then Thanksgiving.

Grammy's Here!! and a Weekly Menu

We are all excited to have Grammy here for a two week visit.  She got in on Saturday and we'll keep her as long as we can.

The kiddos are especially excited to have a companion to play Life on the iPAD.

We brought Grammy to church with us this morning and it was a great service all the way around.  Us grown ups enjoyed ourselves as did Lauren.  She learned about choosing friends wisely and back at home decided to highlight some verses in her bible.

(Proverbs 13:20, Proverbs 12:20, 1 Corinthians 15:33 & Proverbs 14:6-7)

I'm pretty sure she'll choose her friends wisely.

Grammy has had some issues with acid reflux so before she got here I bought a cookbook titled "Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure"

The Weekly Menu this week focuses on recipes from this cookbook.

Weekly Menu 11-17-2013

Sunday:  Chicken & Black Bean Stuffed Burritos & Black Bean Soup & frozen veggies & apples slices

Monday:  Spaghetti Squash and Sausage Bake

Tuesday:  Sauteed Shrimp with Angel Hair Pasta & Whole Grain Bread w/ garlic salt

Wednesday:  Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts (can't find the recipe online)

Thursday:  Oatmeal-Crusted Rosemary Salmon (scroll down until you find the recipe) & asparagus

Friday:  Dinner Out or left-overs

Saturday:  Dinner Out or Chicken South of the Border Style (can't find the recipe online)

Happy Eats to All...I'm off to enjoy my Momma aka Grammy.

Operation Christmas Child

We were excited to participate in Operation Christmas Child with our church this year.

L and T had fun filling the shoe boxes with age appropriate gifts.

They were so careful at the store to pick out the best gifts they could find.

 Lauren chose a 2-5 year old girl. 

Tyler chose a 5-9 year old boy.

They learned a lot from this experience.  They were shocked and saddened to learn that this shoe box will most likely be the only Christmas gift their new friend will receive.

If you want to get a shoe-box together there is still time.

Operation Christmas Child

Blood Pressure Update

(warning:  nothing cute or kid related in this post...it's all about ME.)

Remember what jump-started my whole Tuesday Total weight loss thing?  It was a trip to the Doctor back in August where I had high enough blood pressure that they automatically asked me scary questions like if I was currently experiencing chest pains.  Here's an excerpt from my 8/21 post Who's Got the Doldrums:

"Not only has the weather made me grumpy and lazy (hence the lack of blogging)

it also makes my blood pressure high.

Well maybe that isn't due to the weather but it's high.

I went to the Doctor and it was 150/90.

I think that's pretty high because she immediately asked if I had chest pains.

(No)

It's high at the Doctor because while they take my pressure I freak out inside my head.

I have total Doctor office anxiety. 

(I've fainted at the Eye Dr. and Dentist before.)

I took it again at home and it was 120/80.

(perfect)

They won't take my word for it and want to do some blood work in two months to see if they can find out what's causing it.

So I decided to take these two months to get to a healthy weight and see if that makes a difference.  I'm about 12 pounds over the max healthy weight for my height so I'd like to lose at least that in the next two months.

Last week I went back to Weight Watchers (instead of just paying for it) and lost 2.8 pounds when I weighed in yesterday. 

(go me!)"

Well my two (closer to three) months are up and I went back to the Doctor today for blood work. My goal was to lose 12 pounds to be at a healthy weight but I have lost 22 pounds to be at an even healthier weight.  (I still have more weight-loss goals but we'll address those in future Tuesday Totals.)

At the Doctor I did just fine while they drew my blood and did the other yucky annual exam stuff but my mind was focused on the Blood Pressure Cuff.  I warned the nurse when she wrapped it around my arm that I have White Coat Syndrome.  She assured me that since she was wearing a purple jacket that it wouldn't affect me.  (love her!) I took a deep breath and then totally freaked out inside my head.  

Either her purple jacket did magic or it was my weight-loss but I passed the freakin' blood pressure test with flying colors.  118/69  I'm so old and lame but hearing her say that made my day/week/the last two months!

Imagine how low my blood pressure actually is if I got a 118/69 result in a clinical setting?!  

I've been getting light-headed when I get out of bed at night to use the bathroom or when I stand up too fast so I asked the Dr. about this and if I could cut back on my blood pressure medicine.  She said to start with taking half a pill every day and to keep monitoring my blood pressure.  If I'm still getting good readings in another 10 days or so we can cut down even further on the medicine or perhaps do away with it altogether.  BEST NEWS EVER!  

Same Car, Different Wreck and Repair

Matt and his once again shiny and new car

I haven't mentioned it earlier because I'm sure you're bored with all of these "Matt wrecked his car again" posts but 17 days ago Matt wrecked his car again.

(remember this time? and that time? oh and also this one?)

Ok...not all were his fault but I'm pretty sure his car is cursed.

He was driving to work in awesome Atlanta I-85 traffic and some drivers in front of him slammed on their breaks because they were wimps and were afraid of some boxes that flew off of someone's truck.  Matt wasn't a wimp and he slammed on his breaks anyway but, obviously not soon enough.  Dang it!

To top it off he he was ticketed for following too close.

The silver lining is that we now have 4 punches on our Corbitt's Collision frequent customer card.  If I understand correctly we only have one more repair until we get the next one free.

And the Favorite Parent Award Goes to:

Once Again their DADDY!...(*mostly)

A friend of mine noticed that in my last blog post the kids were playing the new Nintendo 2DS (instead of their regular DS.)  She is correct and I thought I'd elaborate.

Last weekend A.D.D. DADDY (sometimes we call him that because it just fits) decided in the spur-of-the-moment to take the kids to GameStop.  He had them bring their Nintendo DS gaming systems.  I stayed home to mop the floor but in hindsight that may have been the wrong decision.

The kids came home with their own brand new Nintendo 2DS gaming systems!!

(they each received a whopping $20 credit for trading in their old DSs)

Why wait for CHRISTMAS when you can make the kids think you're their favorite parent right now?!! 

Look at these smiles!  Daddy is definitely winning.

When the kids got home from GameStop with their loot I jokingly rolled my eyes and asked them what it would be like if Daddy was always in charge.

*Lauren (my sweet girl) said it would be "horrible."

She said, "we'd be able to do screen time all the time but we would get chubby and not do good in school."

(love this!  She's repeating what the Pediatrician said about the common consequences from excessive screen time.)

So even though Daddy has the Favorite Parent Award, I'm going to hang tight to my *asterisk* and consider myself a runner-up.

(Daddy Disclaimer:  In our family I, Momma, am the main disciplinarian because I am home with them all day.  Daddy is the main provider who works hard for our family all day, everyday.  When he comes home from work he would rather play with the kids then scold them for any misdeeds from the day.  It works for us even though I may jest occasionally about them liking him more.  They respect us both in unique and different ways.)

A Typical After-School Day 2013

School Days are so Typical that I often don't think to blog about them.

But for future reference, here is what our after school days look like these days.

When the kids get off the school bus they get a snack and then start on their homework.

After their homework is done they each do a "screen-time." (20 minutes in front of a screen/ipad/DS/computer/tv/etc.)

This is so typical that I didn't take a picture.

After the screen time is over they find something else to do.

Such as...

Work on Operation Christmas Child boxes for church...

Or make Minecraft papercrafts...

Then they wrestle.

I think Tyler has finally realized that he weighs more than Lauren and can take her down.

When it's ready we eat dinner, and then change into PJs, brush our teeth, and do another screen time if we have time.

(Screen time with their new 2DS)

Finally, it's 30 minutes of reading before bed.

(an optional 30 minutes of reading is allowed in their bedrooms before lights out)

Tonight Lauren is reading Nancy Drew: The Clue of the Tapping Heels

(She loves all the Nancy Drew books and must be close to reading them all.)

(Romy loves Lauren.)

and Tyler is reading Hungry Hungry Sharks.

His reading has absolutely taken off and I'm very proud of him.

After the kids go to bed Matt and I typically watch a show or two and then hit the hay ourselves.  We definitely keep up the rock star lifestyle if I do say so myself.

And this concludes a typical after-school day in our house. 

Tuesday Totals

pounds lost this week  = 1.4

total pounds lost =  22.4

(It was a nice surprise to lose this week since I missed 3 days at the gym due to evil Fire Ant bites.)

With this week's loss I have reached my Thanksgiving Day goal!

My next goal is to lose 4.8 pounds by Christmas.

A big thanks to all of you (especially my husband) for your support.  Your feedback, comments, e-mails, flirty glances (Matt,) mean so much and keep me going.

I'm within ten pounds of my ultimate goal (like my 23 year old) weight.  Let's do this.

Weekly Menu 11-4-2013

Last week was a bit rough (healthy-living wise) so it's time to get back to basics.  Starting with posting a Weekly Menu which I haven't done in awhile.

Last Monday night I stepped on an anthill and my right foot was ferociously attacked by evil fire ants. By the next evening my foot had swollen up to a freakish level.  Because of the evil ants, I missed 3 days at the gym. (My tennis shoe would not fit over my foot.)

(I apologize...even with picmonkey edits my feet (swollen or not) just aren't attractive.)

And then Halloween with extra candy left-over...  And then Bunco with a bunch of food and adult beverages....

It's time to get back to basics!

Weekly Menu
Monday: Slow Cooker: Coconut Thai Curry Chicken Breasts
Tuesday:  Tortellini in Garlic Broth with White Beans and Greens
Wednesday:  Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Thursday:  Easy Ziti
Friday:  Bunco  (l/o or pantry meal for Matt and kiddos)
Saturday:  Football party with friends
Sunday:  Sweet and Sour Chicken


I promise to never again show my feet and list my weekly dinner menu in the same post again. =)

Well Visit with Dr. J

Standing next to their growth chart.  They look awfully close to me.

Today L and T had their 9 and 7-year-old check-ups with Dr. J.

This may be the last year they can have their check-up at the same time...in the same room.

They giggled and fought over who would be checked out first and who would get the first shot.

(No one got a shot today...just the Flu Mist vaccine to the nose.)

Vitals:

Lauren: age 9, height 4'7" (70th percentile), weight 66 pounds (39th percentile)

Tyler: age 7, height 4'4" (91st percentile), weight 68 pounds (90th percentile)

Tyler has officially passed Lauren in the weight department.  Soon he will be taller and then he will really be able to thump her around as payback.

Everything was going great until Dr. J started asking me all these questions about if Lauren was approaching the big P word.  ((puberty))

"Are there any physical or emotional signs you have noticed?"

Nooooooo!  And not for a long time I hope.

He said it typically (but not always) happens when a girl approaches 100 pounds.  He thinks Lauren is quite a few years off.  

Thank goodness!!  I want her to be my little girl for as long as possible and then some.

So, before I go play Barbies with my sweet baby girl, check out how brave Romy has gotten.

He likes to be outside as often as he can sneak out and he prefers to chill out on the railing of our back deck.

(sweet keey keey)

Happy Halloween 2013

 Halloween seemed to sneak up on us this year.

We have a couple of things going on right now and the holiday got put on the back burner.

I didn't even buy pumpkins to carve!  

(for the first and last time)

But, I brought out our electric jack-o-lanterns and the kids picked out AWESOME last minute costumes from Walmart and I think we totally rocked it!

Zombie Southern Belle and the Glowing Eyes

I'm sure she has a great personality though.

Nah...she's just down right scary!

Tyler's glowing eyes flash on and off.

I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark suburban neighborhood.

Our trick-or-treating crew

We stayed out way too late and ate way too much candy.

Best Halloween Ever!

Sneak peak at what L and T are doing while I'm typing up this post.

(Tyler is checking out Lauren's stash and seeing what trades he might want to make.)

Hope you all had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN...now go brush your teeth!