30 in 30 January Update

1. Lose "30" pounds. (10/30)
2. Get my diabetes under control (0/12)
3. Visit my grandmother at least twice a month (7/24)
4. Read three books for leisure (0/3)
5. Complete three bible studies (0/3)
6. Complete 30 sewing projects (2/30)
7. Learn 3 new crafts (0/3)
8. Complete 30 new scrapbook pages (0/30)
9. Do 30 random acts of kindness (30/30) - helped a family out for the whole month of September, and it looks as if it will continue on for months, also is continually helping a single teenage mom, plus other small random acts...
10. Go on a cruise
11. Complete 12 monthly flylady challenges (0/12)
12. Make a control journal
13. Send out Christmas cards
14. Plan a Christmas gift exchange for Jason's side of the family
15. Have a "sister night" with Veida and Shayda three times (0/3)
16. Learn to make homemade pie crust
17. Learn to make yeast rolls
18. Blog twice a week (17/104)
19. Make caramel apples
19. Get a pair of glasses
20. Go to a pumpkin patch (never had the money or had the money and not a kid to go with)
21. Shop on Black Friday it was just for hats and gloves for the parade of lights, but it was still shopping.
22. Start a new tradition for Thanksgiving and Christmas (2/2) Thanksgiving - we went around the room and told everyone what we were thankful for, cheesy and ordinary maybe, new to us, yes. Christmas - we adopted a child from the angel tree at walmart and bough Christmas for them. This is something I NEED to do each and every year.
23. Have two date nights a month (3/12)
24. Activate and use Etsy Account
25. Raise $10,000 for church in fundraisers ($430/$10,000)
26. Seriously track fertility each month so I can have a child (5/12)
27. Plan a birthday party for Jason, Aaron and Alyssa (1/3)
28. Make/eat breakfast at least 5 times a week (30/260)
29. Pray for 15 mins a day (8/365)
30. Make a weekly budget with Jason and stick to it (0/52)


bolded is being worked on
red is not going to happen
strike out is finished

2010 in review

January
Alyssa turned 9, she had her birthday party at a local skating rink. (Skating is a big thing this year; Pawpaw took the kids skating a lot)

February
I made cool sugar cookies for valentines. We went to Jason’s coworkers for the super bowl….I made more sugar cookies!!

March
We had TONS of Snow!!! Oh how wonderful it was! It was funny that the snow happened at the end of the month.
I sold my Mazda 626, it was a sad day!
I went to Ladies conference

April
My mother moved in with us. She was having a hiccup in life and needed support.

May
Jason went to Mens Conference and came back with a renewed spirit.

June
We had our first official family vacation. It was completely orchestrated by the Lord. He arranged for Jason’s co-worker to GIVE us his timeshare, and it was big enough to take Jason, me, Aaron, Alyssa, Tracy, Hershal, Dray, Julie, Shayla, Jasmine, and Ainsley. On top of the timeshare in Celebration Florida, my cousin Farid worked at Disney, and was able to get three people into Disney for free (each day we wanted to go) Farid also got us free parking at the parks, and he was a great tour guide. We bought two tickets off of craigslist, for super cheap, but then we found out it was military passes. You have to have a military id to use them. As soon as we walked into the park, I found someone from the military who was willing to help us redeem the tickets. The Lord is amazing and awesome.
We drove safely to and from Disney, and my husband who has never traveled, got to see the South.
We got to visit my cousin Reza, his wife Sandra and their two precious girls

July
My mom moved out, and life started returning to normal.

August
I turned 30! Eek.
4 days after my birthday, my little sister had her baby. My little nephew Nikolas Marine Dima was born. He is too precious.

September
Aaron turned 14 and we had a skating party for him as well.
A friend of Aaron’s stays with us a lot, as well as his little brother. We make sure they get to school on time. Their family lost their apartment, and needed help.

October
Our family started helping out a girl from church, she is a teenage mom who is trying to go to school. I watch her son in exchange she is to go to church anytime the doors are open, as well as make good grades and not get into trouble.

November
Jason and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. And the day after the anniversary, we had the lapband surgery.
Thanksgiving was fun.
On Thanksgiving day, we went to our friends house. Corrine and Scott were getting married two days after Thanksgiving, and had some family in town and needed help with Thanksgiving Dinner. Our family dinner we hosted at our apartment on Friday, we had 20 plus people in our small two bedroom apt.
Friday after thanksgiving we took my Grandmother to downtown Fort Worth for the Christmas Lights parade.

December
We had a fabulous time this month. Lots of Christmas fun and we tried to develop new traditions.
We had a smaller Christmas dinner…and had my Grandma stay with us for a few days. I had a bad stomach bug a few days before Christmas….yuck.
We ushered in the New Year at church. Exactly at midnight I was praising and worshipping and thanking the Lord for another year.

Happy New Year!

This picture is absolutely hands down my favorite. My grandma is the best!

I will do a 2010 recap for you tomorrow. Yay for 2011!

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30 in 30 December update

1. Lose "30" pounds. (10/30)
2. Get my diabetes under control (0/12)
3. Visit my grandmother at least twice a month (2/24)
4. Read three books for leisure (0/3)
5. Complete three bible studies (0/3)
6. Complete 30 sewing projects (2/30)
7. Learn 3 new crafts (0/3)
8. Complete 30 new scrapbook pages (0/30)
9. Do 30 random acts of kindness (30/30) - helped a family out for the whole month of September, and it looks as if it will continue on for months, also is continually helping a single teenage mom, plus other small random acts...
10. Go on a cruise
11. Complete 12 monthly flylady challenges (0/12)
12. Make a control journal
13. Send out Christmas cards
14. Plan a Christmas gift exchange for Jason's side of the family
15. Have a "sister night" with Veida and Shayda three times (0/3)
16. Learn to make homemade pie crust
17. Learn to make yeast rolls
18. Blog twice a week (7/104)
19. Make caramel apples
19. Get a pair of glasses
20. Go to a pumpkin patch (never had the money or had the money and not a kid to go with)
21. Shop on Black Friday it was just for hats and gloves for the parade of lights, but it was still shopping.
22. Start a new tradition for Thanksgiving and Christmas (2/2) Thanksgiving - we went around the room and told everyone what we were thankful for, cheesy and ordinary maybe, new to us, yes. Christmas - we adopted a child from the angel tree at walmart and bough Christmas for them. This is something I NEED to do each and every year.
23. Have two date nights a month (3/12)
24. Activate and use Etsy Account
25. Raise $10,000 for church in fundraisers ($330/$10,000)
26. Seriously track fertility each month so I can have a child (4/12)
27. Plan a birthday party for Jason, Aaron and Alyssa (1/3)
28. Make/eat breakfast at least 5 times a week (25/260)
29. Pray for 15 mins a day (8/365)
30. Make a weekly budget with Jason and stick to it (0/52)


bolded is being worked on
red is not going to happen
strike out is finished

(side note: did anyone notice that I was missing 10-13 on my last few posts, I only did today because I KNEW I put the christmas card goal, and couldn't find it when I went to make it bold. Silly me.)

The LB Story Part Six

We woke up about 6, Veida was coming with us and she was going to be at my house about 8am....
There were videos we had to watch, so we spent the morning watching them, showering, and being sort of nervous....oh and thirsty, we were unable to drink anything since midnight.

Veida and Nikloas came and picked us up, and we got to the Surgery Center. Checked in, and I went back first.
My nerves were through the roof!!

I stripped down, took a pregnancy test (they wouldn't do the surgery if i was pregnant) and went to get weighed.

I weighed 301. So that means, I lost 5 pounds since the day we set the surgery date. I felt defeated, what is 5 pounds to the 120 I need to lose?

I got put in the bed, the nurses were chit chatting with me, they had all had the surgery already and were giving me encouragement. The Surgeon and Anestisologist came by and said hello, and asked me if I had any questions. I didn't.

While I waited they brought Jason back, he did his thing, then went about getting weighed. He lost 15 pounds. Jerk. lol.

Then we said our goodbyes and they took me back.

Now the last thing I remember is them wheeling me into the room and me looking around thinking, this is a small room.....that was it.

(Jason says he waited for my surgery to be over, the doctor came in and told him how I was and then they took him back, he actually remembers having to get up and move beds and they laid his hands out and then he was asleep)

When I woke up, the nurses kept telling me that I had to get up. Some time passed, I was in and out of it, then they made me move from the bed to a chair. I remember falling asleep again.
Eventually they woke me up telling me that Jason was out of surgery and that I could sleep a little while longer because I had to wait for him to come to.
The last time they woke me up, they said i had to get up to get an xray. I walked int here, my legs super shaky, and had to drink barium. At this point I was very thirsty and when I thought the drink they were going to give me was going to be refreshing, it was gross, I almost puked. lol.
The nurses brought me back to my chair, gave me my contacts, and then I was awake. I saw Jason in the bed across from mine, and he was kicking and waving his arms. The nurses kept telling him to calm down and stop trying to roll over. He wasn't listening, so this itty bitty nurse put the palm of her hand on his forehead, and he calms down. Her words were "It is funny how a 400 man feels like he is being pinned down when I do that"
About an hour later the nurses told me it was time to go, I get up, and hear Jason saying "An 8 an 8 my pain is an 8". I wasn't experiencing any pain...just a little discomfort and pressure.
I climb in the backseat of the car and wait for Jason and Veida. I fall asleep waiting. Apparently he was an hour behind me.
We get home, Veida stays with us for the afternoon. I sleep alot.

Lots of people called to check on us, and Jenna came by to drop off some soups and Popsicles.

We had some gas pressure, and Veida had picked up GasX for us. We had also pulled the mattress off Aaron's top bunk and put it on the floor. Thats where I was staying. And Jason was on the couch.

The next two days we were feeling a bit of the pain, but it wasn't too bad. My issue was I was sore all over. I couldn't figure out why, but then it dawned on me. I was sleeping on the floor, and to get up and down, I used every muscle I had in my body to hold my stomach from having to do all the work, and that made me sore.

Day two we were up and about. They said the more walking we do the better off our gas pain would be.... We went to Costco to walk around and pick up more soup. That was a chore. Man, I have never farted and burped sooooo much in my life. it was crazy, lol.

Day three post op we went to church

Day four post op we went back to costco and picked up a scale.

Day five.....we were still sore, but up and about doing our normal every day things.

Did I mention that I was watching kids this whole time? lol, yeah.....well I got Nikolas back on day 5 but I had Ainsley.....

by the next week we were pretty much good to go.

Here are a few pictures.......

At the surgery center.

Sexy sexy manVeida being mean and eating and drinking in front of me.Nikolas waiting with us in the waiting room.Right before I was taken back to the pre op room.After........that night.

2010 Christmas Questions

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper!! Gotta have it cute with ribbon and such.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial and pre-lit. Thats how we roll.

3. When do you put up the tree? typically the day after thanksgiving, but this year we were two days late.

4. When do you take the tree down? Depends on my mood, last year it was the day after Christmas because I was sad about not having a happy holiday season with my sister, but normally New Years day I do a major cleaning after taking down the tree and decorations.

5. Do you like eggnog? not one bit, my grandmother loves it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? that I can remember, a bike and a baton. Then I was told that when I was two I got a mini piano that I wouldn't leave alone.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Grandma, she is sentimental, however she has everything she needs most the time, and the things she asks for haven't been made since 1979. lol. (does anyone know where to get silky moomoo style actual nightgowns???)

8. Easiest person to buy for? Pretty much the kids.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Thats a touchy subject...I had one from Avon that my grandmother was going to give me, but it was sold on accident from her storage, a few small ones have been given to me, and I either don't like it, or gave it away.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? This is my first year to send out cards, I am doing it by snail mail, who doesn't like getting fun mail??

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I was given a maternity skirt when I was 16. The excuse was, Target doesn't have much transition between the plus size and their maternity sections. It did clearly say "due date" on the tag.....sigh.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? As soon as the December bills are paid for and we have extra cash.....that hasn't happened yet this year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? sure, i am that person.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? chocolate covered cherries

16. Lights on the tree (colored or clear)? C.L.E.A.R. ABSOLUTELY!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home, and visit local family after we have done our little family Christmas traditions.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes

20. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree? We have a star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One gift on Christmas Eve, and it is always pajamas. Then everything under the tree is wrapped, Santa's gifts have a different paper.

22. Favorite children's Christmas song? I want a hippoopatumus for Christmas

23. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Tacky lawn decorations or colored lights on a tree along with a complet huge hodge podge of crapy ornaments....i.e. my grandmothers tree growing up..

24. Favorite ornament theme or color? Red and Gold

25. Turkey or ham on Christmas day? I think typically, ham.

27. Does anyone in your family dress up as Santa? Ha Ha No.

28. Age you discovered who Santa was? I was roughly 9 or 10, but I had my suspecisons before then.

29. Eggnog, hot chocolate, or apple cider? Hot Chocoate or Cider, depends on my mood.

30. Traditional colors (red and green) or other colors? I am all for matchy matchy colors, red and gree or gold and red or blue and silver, things like that.

31. Do you have any Christmas decorations on your roof? No. I don't have an offical roof, we live in apartments.

32. How does Santa get into your house? Chimney or magic key? Depends on if we have a fireplace or not, either way.

33. Do you prefer gifts or gift cards? Depends on who is shopping for me and how well they really know me.

34. Favorite children's Christmas Cartoon? The traditional Frost the Snowman, Rudolph.....you know the claymation ones.

YOUR TURN!!

This year I get to be one of THOSE people, thanks to shutterfly.com

I have always wanted to be one of those families that sends out a Christmas card. And this year on my 30/30 (30 goals I want to accomplish in my 30th year) one of them was to send out Christmas cards.
I have read several dozen blogs that advertised for the shutterfly.com promotion to bloggers. If you write up a blog for them, spread the word, they will give you 50 free Christmas cards. Who can beat free???
So I went through their site and I saw many styles I love, but this blog I am going to show you only 5 of my favorites. Remember, if you are on my mailing list, you will see one of these again soon!!!
Now to only get a fun picture made......

Without further ado....here is layla's favorite shutterfly cards.


With all said and done about Christmas, I was thinking if there is enough time between now and Christmas, I might have a family calender done as well ... wouldn't that be fun?

Ohhhhh and maybe, get some invitations made for birthdays, thats always fun too......my cousin did this for her daughter and sons birthday, and it made them so personal and cute. Not to mention easy to scrapbook....

crap.

must.
stop.
looking.
at.
shutterfly.com!

Thanksgiving 2010

If I had the time to sit and list all the small things I am thankful for, we would be here all day. The number of things is endless. I can tell you I am thankful for the odder trapping kitty litter in my bathroom, or the invention of the remote controls. but that to me would take away from the point of thanksgiving.
Sure modern conveniences are wonderful, and I would be lost without them, but....I feel this time of season is to reflect on the things I am deeply thankful for. Ponder on these things, and lift my voice to heaven and remind the Lord how wonderfully thankful I am. So in honor of the Thankful Thursdays, I am making my final list, my simple list......the list that will be chiseled into my heart for the rest of the year, and possibly the rest of my life.

My Husband, he is my best friend. My soul mate. My lover. My heart. He takes care of me like no other person ever has, will, or can. I love him.

My family. Yes, all of them. Even though we have had our issues, and or are still going through them....my family has molded me into who I am. I love all of them. Sisters, Mothers, Father, Nephew, Cousins, Aunts and Uncles. I love them.

Jason's Family. Despite what has happened and the recent dramas that have left scars, I am thankful to have learned from them, for those who honestly do, I am thankful for the acceptance they have given me as I enter into their family and take their name. But mostly, I am thankful for Julie, who gives of her time energy and money for just about anyone who needs her. She gives me a friendship beyond the ages, a sisterhood of sorts....she is my bestie!!!

Our Friends. I say our, and not my, because we share them. The friends that have been there through it all, the new ones we made, the ones we lost touch with, casual and best friends.....each soul that has entered into our lives has made an impression into our hearts. Without friends Jason and I would have never met (Thanks again Jennie!)....

My Personal Savior. Last but definitely not least, Jesus Christ. Without Him this life would be lived in vain. Without Him, I would be lost. Without Him, I would be putty in the hands of Satan. He is my source of Strength, my source of Love, and my source of Life. I am nothing without Him. He paid the ultimate price for me. He had me in mind when He hung from the cross and He did it despite of the me who sins, He did it so I can live with Him in Heaven and with that, I am truly THANKFUL.

30 in 30 November Update

1. Lose "30" pounds. (8/30)
2. Get my diabetes under control (0/12)
3. Visit my grandmother at least twice a month (1/24)
4. Read three books for leisure (0/3)
5. Complete three bible studies (0/3)
6. Complete 30 sewing projects (1/30)
7. Learn 3 new crafts (0/3)
8. Complete 30 new scrapbook pages (0/30)
9. Do 30 random acts of kindness (30/30) - helped a family out for the whole month of September, and it looks as if it will continue on for months, also is continually helping a single teenage mom, plus other small random acts...
14. Plan a Christmas gift exchange for Jason's side of the family
15. Have a "sister night" with Veida and Shayda three times (0/3)
16. Learn to make homemade pie crust
17. Learn to make yeast rolls
18. Blog twice a week (6/104)
19. Make caramel apples
19. Get a pair of glasses
20. Go to a pumpkin patch (never had the money or had the money and not a kid to go with)
21. Shop on Black Friday
22. Start a new tradition for Thanksgiving and Christmas (0/2)
23. Have two date nights a month (2/12)
24. Activate and use Etsy Account
25. Raise $10,000 for church in fundraisers ($330/$10,000)
26. Seriously track fertility each month so I can have a child (3/12)
27. Plan a birthday party for Jason, Aaron and Alyssa (1/3)
28. Make/eat breakfast at least 5 times a week (23/260)
29. Pray for 15 mins a day (8/365)
30. Make a weekly budget with Jason and stick to it (0/52)


bolded is being worked on
red is not going to happen
strike out is finished

The LB Story Part Five

The Pre op diet from Hell..... or so I thought.

The pre op diet is required because we being fat people, have fat....with the fat it collects around organs, and since they have to move your liver out of the way to do the surgery, they want as little fat as possible around your liver. The pre op diet helps to shrink the fat....

The pre op diet our doctor had us on was as follows.

breakfast: 1 egg and 1 piece of toast
lunch: 1 protein shake
dinner: sensible foods
a few hours after dinner: protein shake

Well, we bought Vanilla muscle milk, thinking, we can add chocolate flavoring and or make all sorts of smoothies with it....
that stuff was G.R.O.S.S.

I gaged on it with every smoothie I made. The peanut butter smoothie wasn't bad till you got to the after taste. UGH.

We tried Strawberry EAS.
NASTY
Even Jason couldn't do it, and he has a strong tongue that can tolerate lots of gross stuff....like liquid medicine and nasty protein shakes.

Then we ended up with Special K premixed shake, less protein but do-able. Until I finished the whole one, and had the after tastes, and it was gross again.

I would cry almost everyday because I didn't feel like I could do it, the diet part wasn't all that bad, but the shakes *gag*

So I modified my diet, I did no protein shakes.....and sensible lunches instead.....i got over it. lol.

I did for real cry EVERY DAY. lol.....it was bad. Poor Jason. I love him so much for putting up with my crying. lol.

The day before our surgery was our one year anniversary. And luckily it was the one day we could cheat on our diets and eat whatever we wanted.

We went to Golden Corral (because we figured after all said and done we will never eat a buffet again).....we I was excited to get my food on. I made the usual huge salad I always made, and got my chicken .... I make a big chicken salad then go back for dinner then dessert. I began eating, and I didn't even get half way through it when I realized that I was way too full to even go back for regular food....WHAT? my stomach had shrunk a little because of the preop diet.

That night we went to Chilis with friends and ate and we shared our new traditional white molten lava cake.

We were sooooooo full it was horrible.

As of midnight though, we were unable to eat or drink anything......and so the day of surgery is next.

The LB Story Part Four

Surgeon Consult.
Oct 18th,2010
We went to Dallas for our Surgeon consult. I was for sure that since I couldn't get my PCP to clear me the Surgeon would say no....no lapband for Layla.
Getting to the office, we were in a group setting, there were several people there who like us needed to schedule their appts, there was a woman there with her husband who just had lapband the day before our appt. And there was a lady who was there just for information, she hadn't had any meetings, consults or anything up to this point.
In the group meeting, we were greeted by an advocate who had lapband done three years before. She lost over a hundred pounds and is now in the "maintenance" process. She explained she is keeping her weight off herself, there is no saline in her band to give her restriction, so she is doing it on her own.
After the advocate went through the do's and don'ts of lapband, pre and post operation diets and any questions we had, we went one on one with the surgeon.
In the office, we were weighed, and our date of surgery was scheduled. We had the choice of two dates, November 8th or November 22nd.
Our wedding anniversary is the 7th of Nov and having the surgery on the next day would put a damper on our celebration, because we would be in our pre op diet.....or if we waited for the 22nd we would then be on a post op liquid diet for Thanksgiving. Being my choice, I chose the 8th.
Choosing the date was fun and all, but I was still convinced that the doctor would not operate on me because of my diabetes.
Dr Marsden came in and proceeded to tell me how he would still operate on me as long as my sugars were not over 400 on the day of surgery. He was saying that Diabetes basically kills your metabolism and that if i tried to lose weight right now it would be an uphill battle.
He was very laid back and easy to talk to. He made me feel really comfortable and eased my mind. He also thought it was cool Jason and I wanted to go together, when everyone else in our lives freaked out saying we needed to stagger our days so we can take care of each other.
We went home from the appointment with the surgeon with a week before our two week pre op diet was to begin.....eeeeek.....it was closer than I realized.

Thankful Thursdays - GlamLife Linkup

I am a avid fan of a young mother/wife from the midwest. She always has the funnest posts, and I covet her mothers style and grace and gifts at holidays, ha ha...you should take a look sometime her name is Whitney and has the cutest kid....not that we know each other, but, it is fun to read and pretend we are best friends, ha ha...
Well with all that said, she is doing a Thankful Thursday link up for the month of November. Now I am a bit late, so I will be starting with this Thursday and go ahead and join in. I have a lot to be thankful for!

Thankful Thursday

1. My husband - he is a man after God's own heart. He is a strong leader for my family, he is fair and kind and sweet. He makes sure to tell me daily he loves me, and will sacrifice anything he has for my happiness.

2. Family - Between my sisters who always lend a hand when they can, to Aunts Uncles and Cousins, I always have someone who is willing to help me out at any point for any reason.

3. God's Grace - to know it is new every morning, is amazing.

4. Jason's job - not only for the fact he has one, but because of his job we had the insurance to do the lapband, he provides for our family allowing me to stay home, and he gets to work from home so I get to see him more than most wives get to see their husband.

5. Holidays - No matter how crappy life got as a kid, the holidays sparked happy times, traditions, normality that I crave to this day. I think of the holidays and go into the lists of things we did as a kid from watching the parade and making stuffing for thanksgiving to staying up late on Christmas Eve with candles flickering everywhere, watching Christmas movies and wrapping gifts..... I need this stuff like I need air.