Computer issues these days and i have been so busy.. i listed all kinds of stuff on ebay and it's selling. unfortunatly the $$ i was saving toward a new computer is now going to fix the truck. the car is up and running BUT still has an issue - when you pull out and floor or rev it - the car stalls... real good for me in traffic.. told hubby i am not happy and FIX it.

oh do not get me started on Public schools. i know teachers are under such hard rules- i don't blame the teachers. Brittney & zachary were both pulled out of Public school when teachers called Brittney a loser and stupid (to my face no less) and zachary was called a pig pen and a messy,stupid boy. well brittney graduated 2nd in her class and was on the presidents list for college for 2 semesters.(she went to a small school group that was sort of like homeschooling )- Zachary & Jocie go to a private school in town Zach is in 6th grade and is doing 12 th grade math and is reading 2 years above grade level. jocie is in 2nd grade 7 years old and is reading at a 4th grade level with a 4th grade vocab. she is doing math that her friends in public school in 3rd grade haven't done yet. ( my inlaws pay for zach to go and my hubby works Saturdays for jocie to go. I also do volunteer work there to help pay tuition. thats why we haven't bought a house and why we live in a little bitty duplex so we can help our kids. At their school they do not "teach the test" as it is around here. and they go from 8 to 3:30 every day instead of 8 to 2 and get this.. on Wednesday's public school kids get out at 1:00 - but they complain the kids don't get enough learning time. ok off my now sorry.

OO applebees- i haven't eaten at one in years. Melissa- what sizes are the girls in?? i am goign to go thru jocies clothes soon and not bother w/ ebay- i'd be glad to send them your way they'd be good for play clothes but they may be too big?? most are 4-5 and 6-6x but you can have them if ya want?

congrats on the pants. you are doing great candice.
The weather here is turning hot and muggy- summer is gonna be a killer. my feets are swollen as TOM finally showed up- i am miserable and feel like a cow. - last week was miserable too I was Bloated like crazy. we have to run the air during the day. i won't even go near the scale right now.
Hope to be back on later
Sandi

Well I am happy to see a post! I guess everyone has been extra busy lately. I am definately going to homeschool the grandkids if there isnt' enough to send them to private school. I really wish the school voucher thing would pass here! It keeps getting on the ballot but people aren't voting it through although it was closer last time. Joshua will be the only exception because of all his disabilities and to be frank, I need the break unless the private school would be willing to deal with him too. Odessa is in a 4 and Amanda is a 3T right now but if you want, I will take them because they will be in those sizes before I know it and it is appreciated too! My little brood keeps getting larger. I keep trying not to fret about the new baby in May but I keep picking it up. I may have to move anyway because apparently my landlord is wanting to raise the rent above what my cap is for my housing assistance and I would have to pay the difference. I am already at the stress level as it is and I pay all the utilities here on top of it. Water, garbage, sewer, gas electric ugh! I really don't want to move unless I have to due to another child coming here and even then I don't want to lol. I thought it was hard moving when I just had the girls! Between my Dad and brother I got muscle for furniture but all the cleaning ect afterward is a pain with all the little ones. Staying away from the scale during TOM is wisdom! I don't go near it either because of water gain and bloating. I know it isn't really me.

Ex did come through with some of the support so I bought a few groceries this morning with the kids. The laundry is close to being done too. Doing good on food again too. I feel so hit and miss lately and it doesn't help when I feel stressed about things but I am trying to keep busy so I don't think about it. I haven't heard anything out of Kate for a week now so not sure what is going on with her. Kids are all doing well though and Josh is with the ex so it is really peaceful at the moment. I hope everyone comes back soon too.
Melissa

well i totally pigged out today and now i feel gross. sundays are always terrible for me because we have a snack and lunch at church, then once i get home i am hungry again. the rice and veggie-type stuff we usually have there don't stick with me long, although it is not particularly low-cal. today was chinese new year, so there were actually two lunches today. i only had a little bit of each, but it was still too much i think. i also had a big dinner with lasagna and cheesy bread. uggh. tomorrow i am going to get back on track! it's going to be another long day though.. i start work at 4 a.m. again. grrr. i need to look on bright side.. all the free coffee i can drink! i should be able to hang in there until my afternoon nap

We all have days like that unfortunately. I felt like I ate too much yesterday, too, even though I know I didn't eat anything that wasn't healthy. Just more than I usually eat in a day. Not much to do about it other than put it behind us and move on. You are doing awesome and you'll get right back on track.

Melissa something to remember about public schools is that there are some really great ones out there, too. I would have moved to another school district before letting my kids go to the school in the district that we live in, but fortunately we have an awesome public school district that is a few miles farther away and we were able to use our open enrollment option and send them to whatever district we wanted to. I couldn't be happier with the school they are in now. They offer so many extra programs in music, sports and academics, they have an amazing scholarship program, the teachers are outstanding, and kids that need extra help get it, and kids that excel get the extra challenges and accelerated classes that they need. They are guaranteed at least 180 days of instruction per year, and if there are extra snow days they are made up in the spring. If open enrollment is an option for you it may be worth checking into some other nearby public districts. Yes, they still have to deal with the ridiculous standardized tests, but the benefits far outweigh that in this particular school in my opinion. Our school even provides busing for my kids even thought we are out of the district.

I love Applebees WW menu. Unfortunately the closest Applebees is an hour's drive from us, but we still manage to get there once in a while. I love the tilapia (without the salsa as it is too spicy for me) and the shrimp skewer items. I'm not wild about the rice but I love the roasted veggies so I usually get extra veggies and no rice if I order something that comes with the rice. Last time they gave me such a huge plate of veggies I couldn't come close to finishing them.

I actually have Josh in a good one this time. It is his 3rd one since Kindergarten. I guess maybe I get a few more headaches since he is in special ed. One school I almost sued because of their treatment of him. It was so bad that the bus driver filled me in and after a meeting I told them I was going to call cps and boom they put him in another school that was supposed to better taylored to his needs. The second school one day the assistant principle showed up on my front door at 8a to suspend my son and I had never been contacted about any problem and then that school also broke blood vessels in his arm. I pulled him out again and now he is in yet another school. This one so far has been much better. The thing that really irks me is that if I sent him to school with broken blood vessels or bruises they would call cps on me in a minute. royal pain to deal with-I live with him but I guess I expect more out of "professionals". I have had trouble with pediatricians too who KNOW he has autism and then I take him in and they refuse to deal with him. It just gets so frustrating at times.

I too have been eating more than I need. No junk food or anything just more than I know I need. This rent increase thing, possible new baby, Katy, it is all just getting to me I think. I am going to have to probably quit going to meetings and put that money into savings so I have it for a deposit on another house.
Melissa

melissa- i don't know how you do it - i would be eating non stop and living on chocolate if i had to deal with everthing you do- you are in our prayers. i am slowly going thru jocies clothes and as soon as i get a good bundle ready i will ship them off. they will be good for around the house play clothes.

Kayelle- I agree there are some great public schools out there. our high school here in town is fantastic and there are a few good primary schools here too- sadly one of the schools has a lot of issues with teachers and they are not an a or even b school and they bypassed the school classroom size and there are 39 kids in a class- too many for my taste. i know my 2 get music, PE, drama and everything they'd get in public except they are expected to do more and there are only 15 kids to a class. I feel bad for teachers around here they are underpaid and have too much to deal with. we do not have open enrollment and a new rule put in 3 years ago was that no changing classes or schools for any reason unless you moved. I was not impressed with the teacher who would have had jocie as when i went to meet her she was necking with her BF in the hallway. i asked for a more modest teacher and was told to get over it.Jocie did not go there . now if i could have sent her to another school 1/2 block from my work she would have gone as it is an A school and has great teachers. again teachers are underpaid. I guess i have issues with a football player making millions and teachers and firemen etc. making nothing.

OK where's Theresa?? Laura went on a trip (lucky) so she 's gone for a couple days..
i had to totally restore my computer today. took me 2 hours. and today at noon my MIL called and said my FIL was in the ER & had a stroke.
it wasn't a major one but kinda medium effects. he's in the hospital now for 3 days for tests and other things. so we went to lunch today and i had a corned beef sand. with chips. i was so upset i just didn't care. I love my FIL- he is so wonderful and good to us. i hate he is not well. of course eating bad will not make him better BUT i will blame it on TOM.
have a good day everyone
see ya'll tomorrow.
Sandi

Hi everyone! It looks like it's been pretty quiet here. I guess I'm not the only one that's been MIA. I hope everyone is well, Theresa, we miss you
Melissa, I don't know how you handle as much as you do. I'm sorry to hear that Kate has been so irresponsible yet again. I know it must be hard to think of having to take in a newborn on top of just taking in Logan too. You are in my prayers and let me know what I could do to help in any way. The sad part of all this is she doesn't seem to realize what a great thing she is missing out on by not being a MOM to her kids.
Sandi, computer issues must be catching. I spent sat & sun trying to save my computer. It's limping along for now but I doubt it will last much longer.
As for me and OP it's been an on/off relationship the past week. The biggest culprit has been being so tired after working so many hours. I just can't seem to get into preplanning meals and keep grabbing what's available. I haven't gained or lost in the last week so I guess that's one thing to be thankful for.
My dh is having eye surgery tomorrow. Hopefully this surgery will correct the damage done by the last surgery. The last time left him legally blind in one eye due to scar tissue.

Well ladies, january is just about done. Can you believe one month of the New year is already gone?? I'm ready to get a fresh start with a new month, how about it gals, any joiners?? Let's make a challenge for the month, those seem to help quite a lot.

Time to get ready for yet another night at work, I will check in tomorrow.

Suzette

theresa come back! we miss you!
i finally got to try the applebees weight watchers menu everyone raves about. i had the quesadilla thing. it was pretty good, but expensive. and honestly, i could have made something at home with fewer cals and better tasting. but i like the "going out to eat" experience sometimes (mainly because its so rare that we can afford it, and when we can, it seems like such a treat). most restaurants' "diet" items have at least 600 cals, so kudos to applebees for that.
today has been ok. i had a biscotti and a tiny bite of brownie at work. hopefully the rest of the day will be op.
i like the idea of a feb. challenge. i can't think of a good one yet though. i will mull it over and hopefully y'all will think of something useful.

Hello from sunny and warm CA, a big change from cold NY and the weekend in raining Seattle. Can you all guess who I had lunch with in Applebees just north of Seattle on Saturday?
Laura