Trying To Get Organized

Do you ever feel like screaming because nothing ever feels like it is organized? I do. All the time. 

And I am not going to lie, I can be pretty OCD sometimes, but only to a certain extent. For example, I am super OCD at work. I go absolutely nuts if my office is a wreck. At home though, that is a completely different story.

I wish I could blame it on something else, ha!

I don't know what it is, but I can't seem to keep anything clean/organized. And we don't even have kids! I will spend hours getting things put away and in their place and then a day later, the house is a total wreck again. How does this even happen? 

How can I be so OCD in one aspect of my life, but not in the other? Not that being OCD at work is a healthy thing. Some days it definitely isn't. But I would love to just have that same type of obsessiveness when it comes to organizing my house. 

All I know is that I can't take it anymore. But I don't even know where to start. I think my biggest problem is that I hold on to too much stuff. I am essentially a pack rat and so is my Husband. I always worry that if I throw something away, I will need it. Will I? Probably not, but just the thought that I could gives me a slight panic attack. I know, I am crazy. But admitting it is the first step, right?!

I need some advice my fellow bloggers. How do you stay organized in your home? How do you find the time to stay organized? What are some good tips that you can give me on staying organized and letting go of those things that I don't need and will probably never use?

Weekend Recap

Well hello there Monday. Not too thrilled to see you. I could definitely use a few more days to catch up on a zillion different things. Oh well, soon enough I will have some time off to catch up. Anywho, I am not here to gripe about it being Monday. I am here to tell you about my weekend. 

Friday night I left work and then headed to go pick up the Hubby from work. We decided to stop at Best Buy on our way home. We picked up "Trouble With the Curve" and then something that I have been trying to find for a while now! I definitely squealed with excitement when I saw that they had it on Blu-Ray. That's right, it was the Charlie Brown Holiday collection! It has "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas!" I was a very happy girl after I found this and made it mine!

After hitting up Best Buy we decided to grab something to eat and then head home. This new bakery called Kneaders had just opened up near us, so we decided to give it a shot. Although the food was pretty good, we probably won't be going back any time soon. We had to wait in line for 15 minutes just to order our food. At that point we decided to take it to go. After ordering, we waited for our food for almost a half hour before it was ready. A half hour for a sandwich. I mean it was good, but not that good, which is why we decided to wait a while to go back so that the newness of it will hopefully settle in and they will get all of the kinks worked out with getting the food out a little bit quicker. 

The rest of our Friday night was spent watching "The Trouble With the Curve" which was an amazing movie. I mean it had Justin Timberlake in it, so of course it was going to be good. I mean just getting to stare at him for a good hour or so will make anything amazing! Just saying!

Saturday we got up and started our day off pretty early. I took Louie to the groomers, went to the bank and then picked up Aran and then we headed to the gym. I went to Zumba while he did some cardio on the treadmill. After the gym we ran a few other errands, then I went and got my eyebrows waxed, picked up Louie from the groomers and then headed home to meet my Mom so that she could drop a few things off. 

After my Mom left I got ready to go out to a party with my friend V. It was at her Mom's house which is a good 45 minute drive from either of our places, so she picked me up and we headed out. There was food, good people and a lot of laughs. There may have even been some Spice Girls karaoke thrown in there. We rocked it of course! At about 11 we decided to head back into town. I didn't get home til about 12:30ish, so I immediately went to bed. It had been a fun night, but I was exhausted. 

Sunday I spent the morning grocery shopping and then we headed over to my Brother's house later in the afternoon for a Pre-Thanksgiving dinner. Since my Mom is in town and probably won't be when Thanksgiving rolls around, we decided to do a Pre-Thanksgiving so that we could all enjoy some good food and some time together. 

It was a good test for me too. Thanksgiving is one of my biggest down falls when it comes to food. So it was a great practice run to see how I will do in a few weeks. And if that meal was any indicator, I will have no problem with Thanksgiving. I made great choices and didn't over eat which felt great. I did however have an Angry Orchard Cider to drink, but I still stayed within my calories even with having this, so I decided that it was okay. 

I also had a great time spending some time with my family. I jumped on the trampoline with my Nieces and watched them play and run all over the house. I can't believe how quickly they are growing up. It is just crazy. But I enjoy every minute of it. And it has been amazing getting to spend so much time with my Mom and Step Dad since we don't get to see them that often. 

Like I said earlier, I definitely could have used a few more days to get some things done, but I still had a great weekend. I love spending time with my family and I wouldn't trade that for anything. 

Fall Goodies Swap Link Up

Happy Friday my lovely followers!

The day has finally come for all of our Fall Swap participants to link up and share the goodies that you received from your swap partner.

I unfortunately don't have a post to share with you guys, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to see what everyone else got!!! I can't wait to see all of your fun goodies! Don't forget to link up!

Have a great Friday everyone!

The Next Day

We have all had one of these. You know, that day after you just put in one of the best workouts of your life at the gym, only to wake up the next morning and you can't move because of how sore you are. Yeah, one of those next days. I could barely get down our stairs at home today. My Husband found it hilarious. Jerk!

I had my first of four sessions with a personal trainer at our gym last night. I knew that he was going to put me through hell and back, but I need that type of workout because I am not doing them on my own. 

We did circuit training stuff because he said that I don't have to necessarily use the free weights and all the machines to put on some extra muscle that will help burn extra calories. Good to know for the future, but I still would like a little bit of instruction on what I could do with the weights at some point. 

We also went over nutrition stuff, my goals and where I want to be and all that fun stuff. He said that my goal of being in the 130-140's is definitely attainable, but it is just going to take a while. But he seemed to see no reason that I couldn't get there as long as I continue to eat healthy and work out. So you know what? I am going for it! I would love nothing more than to be in that weight range and nothing is stopping me but me. So no more excuses. It is going to happen! 

I feel better about this than I ever have. I have always thought that there was no way that I could get down to that weight. I always thought that my body frame wouldn't allow it. But hearing from someone whose job it is to help you lose weight and be healthier that I could definitely get there, I think it gave me that extra push that I so desperately needed. 

My journey to change my life and my habits started this week. And I am not giving up until I meet these goals. I can't give up anymore. No matter how sore I am the next day. No matter how hard it gets at times. I have to keep going. 

Weigh-In Wednesdays

Happy Wednesday everyone!

The time has finally come that Weigh-In-Wednesdays are being reinstated. That's right, I have become uncomfortable enough with myself, my weight and the way I feel and look in my clothes. I shouldn't be surprised about this considering that this is my pattern. This is how I operate. I get frustrated with how I look and what the scale says. So of course I do something about it, but then I get comfortable once I start to feel good about myself and then I gain almost everything back. It is a vicious cycle and one that I plan on breaking at some point in my life. I mean one of these times these habits are going to stick right? Let's hope. 

So here I am again wanting to do something about how I look and feel. I started out the week by eating healthy and exercising and I am still going strong. I must say though that this is an odd time of year for me to start trying to get healthy, especially with the Holidays coming up. But you know what? I need a challenge like this. I need to know that I can make it through the Holidays without going off the deep end. And not only that but I am tired of using the Holidays as an excuse to not get healthy. Every year I say, "Oh I will just wait til the first of the year because of Thanksgiving and Christmas!" And every year on the first of January, I regret that decision to wait because I have usually gained more weight back. So no more excuses. I have to start somewhere and now is as good a time as any!

Let's get down to why I am really writing this post. As of this morning I weighed in at 222.2 lbs. Which means that I have gained about 13 lbs back since this summer when I was at my lowest weight of the year at 209 lbs. Of course I am not happy about this, but at the same time I need to be happy that I didn't gain everything back. I am glad that I started to feel uncomfortable sooner rather than later.

I have set a few goals for myself for the next week. Eating healthy of course is at the top of those. But actually getting my butt to the gym is the other. I have done pretty well with that so far this week. I just want to keep it up. And I won a few free sessions with a personal trainer at my gym, and my first one is tonight. So I am excited to see what he can teach me that I can actually use on my own. It is definitely something that I am looking forward too!

Here is to starting over and getting this shiz under control! 

Niece or Nephew??!!

Last Monday my Sister-In-Law went to her 20 week ultra sound to find out if her and my Brother would be having another little girl or if a little boy would finally be joining the family. 

Little bit of background for those of you that haven't been around these parts that long. My Brother and my SIL already have three kids. And with each pregnancy they had, they hoped they were having a boy because my Brother wants a little boy so badly. And with each pregnancy, they found they were having a girl. Which was hard but still exciting at the same time. We were excited to have another precious little girl joining our family, but it was hard to see that dream of my Brother having a little boy slip away. 

So when my Brother and SIL found out they were pregnant again and told all of us, we all just started praying and hoping that this time around it would be a boy. But we didn't want to get our hopes up. I myself decided that it was a girl and just didn't even think that it was possible that it was a boy. I mean they already had three girls, so there chances of having a boy were really slim. 

So last Monday I waited on pins and needles all day because my SIL's appointment wasn't until 4:30. My stomach was a big ball of nerves all day. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't sit still. It was just awful. You would think that I was the one finding out what I was having. It was crazy. I can't even imagine what my Brother and my SIL were feeling. 

5 pm rolled around and I still hadn't heard anything. 5:30 rolled around and still nothing. I couldn't handle it anymore. I was going crazy. And then finally, my phone rang. It was my SIL. The first words out of my mouth to her were, "Let me guess. It's a girl." Her response was, "Nope! It's a boy!!" 

At first I thought she was just messing with me. She likes to do that kind of stuff to me, so naturally I didn't believe her. Until she kept saying it and she wasn't backing down from what she was saying. At this point I realized she wasn't lying and I started bawling my eyes out. My Brother was finally getting his little boy!! And I can't even begin to describe to you guys how excited I am. Or how excited my Brother and my SIL are. My whole family is absolutely elated. We are finally going to have a little boy on my side of the family.

I still get choked up every time I start thinking about it because I still can't believe that it is real. A baby boy! Aaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh! Excuse me while I go squeal with joy for a little bit! 

A Nephew it is! And I couldn't be more excited and happy to welcome this new little man to our family!

Weekend Recap

Why is it that it takes sooooo long for Friday to make it's way here, but then Monday has no problem making it's way back into our lives! Ugh! I know technically that makes no sense, but just go with it!

We didn't really have any set plans for this weekend, which was really nice, but somehow we still ended up being pretty busy. 

Friday night on our way home we decided to go to IHop for dinner. I wanted some french toast so bad and since we don't keep bread in the house, I can never make it. So instead we just went to IHop and I got my french toast fix and then we headed home and did nothing the rest of the night. I think I even went to bed early. I was completely exhausted from the past week and it was finally starting to show. 

Saturday I got up and Louie and I ran to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. After eating and watching TV for  a little bit I started cleaning the house and taking down our Halloween decorations. Once the Hubby decided to roll out of bed, we headed out to run a few errands. Our first stop was Lowe's. We needed a bunch of random crap for the house, like a new filter for the furnace and spider killing spray, so we took care of those items. 

After Lowe's we went to Target for a few more random things and then headed to the grocery store to get our grocery shopping done for the week. For some reason, and maybe it is like this every Saturday and I just don't know it, but it seemed absolutely crazy everywhere that we went. It was actually really frustrating, but not much that we could do about it. 

On our way home from the grocery store we stopped at our favorite BBQ place and the liquor store and then headed home to enjoy dinner and my new favorite alcoholic beverage. I am a big fan of Woodchuck and Red's Apple Ale, so my Brother told me that I needed to try Angry Orchard, so I did. And oh my effing geee, it was delicious. I was very impressed by it and very much enjoyed it. 

The rest of our Saturday night was spent catching up on some of our favorite TV shows and getting a little bit of cleaning/organizing done. 

Sunday we got up and immediately got to work. I made my breakfast cups for the week and continued taking down our Halloween decorations and cleaning up a bit more while the Hubby mowed and fertilized the lawn for the last time for the year. I also was busy making Enchiladas for our family dinner that we were having later that night.

After all of our yard work and house work was done, we headed down to  my Brother's house to have a big family dinner with my Mom and Step Dad to celebrate my Sister-In-Law Cassie's Birthday. We had a big Mexican Fiesta for dinner. I made Enchiladas. My Mom made these bomb Fajitas and we also had a ton of other food! It was all so good! 

After dinner we had one of my favorite cakes, an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. It was delicious. All in all, it was a good night. We had a lot of fun hanging out with my Mom, Step Dad, Brother, SIL and all my Nieces. It was fun catching up with everyone and celebrating Cassie's Birthday. 

For us not having any real plans set in stone, we were still really busy this weekend. But it was definitely the good kind of busy. We really needed to get a lot of this stuff done, so I am glad that we finally did. And spending time with my family was the perfect touch to this busy weekend. 

I hope you all had a great weekend too! And I hope you have a great week!