Dance Off the Inches!

I just wanted to give an update about my exercise routine, and say THANK YOU to my friends who commented on that post. It really made me feel so much more motivated just knowing that other people I KNOW have wrestled with this situation and CONQUERED! (Congrats again, Elisa! :-D)


Just so you all know, I've been working out every other day for the past 2 weeks via a workout DVD from the library: Dance of the Inches!
haha, I got two kinds: jam and country line dance. I didn't ever do the country line dance, but I love the other one! It doesn't take very long and it just makes me feel like I've accomplished something already for the day. I don't think it's making any physical difference, at least not in appearance, but my hips feel so much better and I'm getting some calf muscle back! On top of that, the emotional difference is amazing! I feel so much better, so much happier...I just feel like I have control again. It's great!

Again, thanks for the encouraging words...and for just being who you are! :) I'm going to keep working, keep dancing...and mostly, keep trying to be patient. :-)

Happy Halloween!!

Here is Caleb in his "I love my Mummy" outfit again. I love it! He can sport a pretty grumpy/bored face for pictures. I hope our family ones in a few weeks get a few smiles from him!

At least here he seems to be kind of grinning..smirking?

This is what we decided was his Halloween costume: A Boston Red Sox Uniform. It looks like a real one (so Justin assures me) and it was really nice! So, he became a Red Sox Player. This is also a classic "BORING" stare. :-)

I like this face a lot, though! He'd kind of happy, kind of not upset...basically, just being himself! What a cute baby!! I'm allowed to be emphatic about that! :-D

And here is me with my little baby.

These next pictures are actually from Sunday. I made a pumpkin dish that a friend game me the recipe for last year...but I never got around to doing it. Well, a different friend gave it to me again this year (Thanks, Dan!)...and it was SOO good! It's super easy, so if you want it, feel free to ask. Basically, you cook up some hamburger and rice and then bake it for an hour inside the pumpkin...and then you can eat the pumpkin, too! Some of you experienced and skilled cooks might have already tried this. I loved it! I think we're gonna make it an Autum tradition!
Justin decided to carve it. See, we bought 2 small pumpkins at the same we bought this cooking pumpkin...but we STILL haven't carved them. lol. I know Justin still wants to...we'll just overlap with Thanksgiving a bit. He was getting a bit of practice in with this dinner pumpkin.
Happy Halloween!!!

Deep Cleaning: Garage

One of the many home-improvements needed for the house was a new garage floor. Most of it had cracked, and when we lifted it up ("we" is used very loosely here), we found that it was mostly hollow underneath. Somebody cut corners somewhere! Luckily, there was no foundation damage, so we didn't worry about the rest of the house. But, the cracked floor had to be ripped up...

That meant

1. First, Justin scored it with a diamond saw;
2. second, we broke it up with the jack-hammer (that was FUNNY!) and Mom even joined in on that task;
3. Third, we tore up the old floor and had to get the ground ready for the new concrete. Ask Justin about the difference between concrete and cement.
   

So, here is step number one and two.

This is up mixing up the concrete/cement (?)... It was pretty fun!

And then the final step of pouring the stuff onto the prepared floor.


It ended up looking really nice!
Just took lots of time and a curious cat to waltz across it before it was dry.

House Cleaning

This was a little while ago...
But just a quick picture of Justin and Dad power spraying the house.


This is only one side...they did the WHOLE house!!
It's a bit of work to get the house ready to sell--both inside and outside

Caleb laughing!

Here is a wonderfully accurate video of our little baby's laugh! He really likes tongues, like in the song about the little green frog. So the noises you here are me sticking my tongue out like a snake and then sucking as if I had a straw.


Oh the things we do to make our babies smile and laugh! :D He gave himself the hiccups shortly after this and still attempted to keep laughing, but it was very interrupted.

Oh, and that's his "I love my mummy" shirt. Cute, huh?