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I’ve been kind of cranky lately. It could be that we’ve got over a foot of snow piled up on the ground and my kids have had 3 snow days and 2 holidays in the past 2 weeks. That’s enough to get a person riled up. :-)
Lately I’ve been fantasizing about running away for a few days. I like to think about what everyone would do without me. I have to admit that I feel rather under appreciated. I guess that’s just the way it goes in my line of work. The kids aren’t exactly lining up to praise and thank me for all the things I do around here. They just expect things will get done and they do. Thank goodness I’m never so sick that I’m in bed for days. I have to say that I’ve been very good about being on call 24/7 for years and years now with never more than a few hours off.
I find it quite funny when people get excited about the weekend and the time they get to relax from their job. If anything, my weekends are usually more work and more stress because everyone is home. Or when people talk about taking the day off work and then they get to relax and do things they don’t normally get to do. If I were able to get away for a few days without all my usual responsibilities, I’m not even sure what I’d do with myself. I bet I’d be bored after a day. It’s certainly a bizarre cycle I’ve got going. When I’m busy working, all I can think about is when the kids go to bed and when the chores are done so I can sit and read. But after I’ve read a little while or if I can’t find anything else to do, then I’m just bored. Or if I got away on a vacation without the kids, I know I’d miss them and I’d surely feel guilty about leaving them.
Sometimes when I’m busy doing a particularly annoying job, I find myself grumbling. I think about how no one appreciates me and how no one cares about how hard I’m working and how no one will thank me for doing that job. Then I catch myself and wonder why I feel so entitled to thanks from others. Why do I get so cranky? It’s certainly not helping me out. I know everyone wants to feel appreciated and BE appreciated. But what should I do if I’m never appreciated? What if I go most of my life with no thanks for all the mindless little tasks I do? Should I be bitter and angry about it? Certainly not. I wish I could be better about just being happy to serve. Even serving my own family. Even when it feels like no one cares about what I’m doing or appreciates me.
What do you do when you feel over worked and underpaid? Or in my case, not paid at all and get very few thank yous. How do you help yourself love your job and feel good about your work?
On a side note, I have to say that Joel is THE BEST at expressing his love for me. He seriously tells me MANY times day day the following statements:
“Mommy, I LOVE you.”
“You’re the BESTEST mommy I ever did see.”
“You’re the BESTEST mommy ever.”
“Guess what mommy? I love you.”
“Mommy don’t go, I will miss you.”
(All of these statements come with such a sincere look of love and a big hug too.)
I hope Joel keeps this sort of thing up and passes along the same sort of sentiments to his wife. She will feel so special and loved! Thanks Joel, you’re the bestest Joel I ever did see.
Category: complaints, family
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I forgot to make my weigh in post last week. But I’ll catch up here.
Starting Weight: 129.2
End of Week 1: 128.4
Week 2: 130.0 (Yikes! I was not happy to see this, but I think this was mostly water weight due to certain monthly timings….if you know what I mean…. :-) )
Week 3: 127.4 (I’m very happy to see this!! I’ve been using the Wii Fit a lot and I went to the Y this week too. Hopefully the food I ate at book club won’t come back to haunt me. Thankfully I’ve been much better about not eating junk food so often.)
Category: exercise, goals, health
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Even though I weigh myself daily and even though I use 3 different scales depending on where I am at the time, I’ve decided to use one official weigh in every week.
I was supposed to weigh myself yesterday at Fit Club, but the scale wasn’t there. We decided to have an official scale that we’ll keep at church so that we’ll always have one there and it will always be the same scale.
So now for the weigh in.
Starting Weight: 129.2
End of Week 1: 128.4
Not too bad. I’m pretty happy that I’m down a pound. But I’m trying to keep in mind that person’s weight can fluctuate by a couple of pounds in a single day. Which really makes losing “just 10 pounds” kind of challenging when I can fluctuate as much as 3 pounds in a single day! For me, it doesn’t really matter so much what number is on the scale. What matters more is how I feel and how my clothes are fitting. When my current jeans start to feel more loose, then I’ll know I’ve really made some progress!
In other news, last week I went to the YMCA 2 times. I wanted to go a 3rd time last Friday, but the kids had a 90 minute school delay which made me miss that early morning step class. Ah well. I am feeling really glad that we have Wii Fit now. Even if I can’t get to the gym, I can do SOMETHING with Wii Fit. It’s better than nothing at all and it’s fun.
Category: exercise, goals
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Hi all. It’s another snowy, cold day here in Cincinnati. The snow has been on the ground for several days now and bit by bit the layers are growing. I’m quite tired of all the white. Then again, when all the snow melts, it will just be brown and muddy. Not sure which is worse. Never been a fan of winter. The snow is pretty enough to look at, but I don’t care for going out in it. And the worst thing is trying to keep gloves on babies and toddlers who don’t like to wear them. But there’s only 5 more months before it is consistently warm again. :-P
Dan is off this morning with the 4 big kids. He took them all to stake conference down at Buttermilk Pike. Seeing as the meeting would interfere with Ezra’s nap, I decided to stay home with him. And actually, Ezra is already taking a nap at this early hour. After several weeks of successfully taking 1 nap a day, he woke up extra early today and I knew he’d never make it on just 1 nap.
In the mean time, I wish I didn’t have so much work to do on a Sunday. But living with 5 young children means that my house is in a constant state of disarray. That’s just the way it is. Sure we have them help pick up toys, but we can’t expect the house to be spotless all day long. I figure that while most of the kids are out of the house today that I can tidy things up. I just wish I didn’t have quite so much to do during this morning nap Ezra is taking. It would be much more fun to curl up with a book. :-)
My mom sent a new dress for Amy the other day. She is wearing it for the first time today and it’s just beautiful. Amy seems to really like it too, which is saying a lot for Amy. That girl is very picky about what she wears. Here are some pictures:
Challenging to get a good smile out of these kids when you ask them to smile. They always give me the “pained look” fake smile. :-) But Amy is still really cute in her dress. Thanks Mom!
Well, I’m off to get to work around here before Ezra wakes up!
Category: church, family
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Nearing the end of my first week of exercise and slightly better eating. I say slightly better because I’m trying to be more mindful of what I’m eating. And since the holidays are over, I don’t have access to tons of cakes and cookies like I used to. The worst thing that I’m ingesting lately is the occasional cup of hot chocolate. I’m also trying to be mindful of drinking more water and being sure to eat fruits and vegetables every day. I’m not doing perfectly, but I’m more aware of it.
The best change I’ve made this week is my exercise. I’ve done some form of exercise every day this week. Monday I went to the Y and worked out in the gym. On Tuesday I mall walked with some friends. On Wednesday I did a step aerobics/ strength training class at the Y and today I did Wii Fit and I helped shovel the driveway. It really feels good to be moving around more. I’m hoping to go to another step aerobics class at the Y tomorrow. But that will all depend on the weather and road conditions.
Which brings me to the “stuff” part of this post. The kids had a snow day today and we got around 5 inches or snow. I haven’t seen the official accumulation report or anything, so I’m just guessing. Dan also worked from home, which was nice. It was pretty nice to have the whole family safely home during such bad weather. We were all pretty bummed out that we had to miss the Cub Scout pizza party that was supposed to happen tonight. It had to be rescheduled. Hopefully the roads will be clear and safe by tomorrow morning. I bet the kids won’t be happy about having to go back to school. But I really want to get to that step class! :-)
Our next Fit Club meeting will be on Saturday. I’m looking forward to it.
Category: exercise, family
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Long time no see, eh? Well I’m back. And I’m here to report on Fit Club. A gal in my ward who has some background with health and nutrition offered to put together a fit club. Today was our first meeting. We all did a weigh in and then body measurements. We also got to measure body fat with a super fancy scale. Then we had the opportunity to share our weight with the group and share our goals. Though I don’t normally go around announcing my weight to groups of people, I felt it was important to share that with everyone so that I could be accountable. Oh, that reminds me, we also split up into pairs so that we could check in with a specific person as well as the whole group.
We will be meeting weekly to weigh in and discuss our goals and health topics. In addition to those meetings, we’re also going to form a Face Book group that we can report our progress on. I hope that I can attend the weekly meetings, but as our schedules changes throughout the year, it may not always be easy to attend those. And now I’ve decided to keep up with my progress on my blog as well.
So now for all the starting information:
Starting weight: 129.2
Body Fat%: 21.4
Measurements (rechecked monthly)
Bicep: 11 1/2 in.
Chest (under bust for women): 30 in.
Waist: 31 in.
Belly button: 32 in.
Hips: 38 in.
Thigh: 20 in.
Calf: 13 in.
And now to talk about my goals and troubles. I think my main trouble is that I’m addicted to sugar. I love eating sweets. I crave them. My long term goal is to replace those sugar cravings with natural fruit. And save sugary sweets for once a month, like when I go to book club. This goal alone will be very hard for me. I might have to break it up into smaller goals. Like only having a sugary sweet once a week.
I’d also like to drink more water and eat more vegetables. I actually love fruit and vegetables. But I can be lazy about preparing them. I want to learn how to prepare healthier meals on a budget and how to get my children to try new/healthier foods.
I don’t really have a specific weight that I want to get down to. I weighed 120 pounds before I got pregnant with Ezra, so I guess I’d like to lose about 10 pounds. But I think it has more to do with how I feel and how I fit into my clothes. I have a pile of pants that I still can’t fit into. So I’m working towards that. And I’d like to exercise regularly again. I used to work out regularly at the YMCA back before Ezra’s naps got in the way. And now the step aerobics teacher that I liked so much has quit working at the Y. I just need to get back to the Y, especially now that Ezra is mostly transitioned to one nap day. I really want to feel healthy. I want to have more energy and feel like I’m strong and in shape. I also want to run the Blue Ash Women’s 5 K again this summer.
So that’s it. This is my starting point.
Category: exercise, goals, health
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Ugh, I am so sick of everything today! I feel like screaming and bashing my head against the wall. I am so tired of telling my kids (particularly Amy), over and over and over again not to do certain things. I’m tired of cleaning up the same messes and dealing with the same issues so many times that I feel like I’m going mad.
Can’t I just go back to bed and wake up in a few weeks?
Category: complaints
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Joel just told me, “Mom, if you die then I’ll miss you. Don’t go in the lava!”
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Ezra has been waking up at night again the past few nights. It might have started a few days ago when he was sick with a fever. But now it’s getting to be a regular thing. And I don’t like it one bit.
Dan and I went to bed later than normal tonight because we stayed up watching a movie. I got myself all tucked into bed, but then I wanted to check one more thing before I settled down. So I got up again and then next thing I know it’s 30 minutes later. Just as I’m starting to really feel sleepy and wanting to crawl back into bed…I hear Ezra. That kills all desire to try to sleep. I hate being woken up. I’d rather stay awake for hours on end, than risk an interrupted nap or night time sleep. It’s so irritating. I don’t even want to allow myself to get comfortable in my bed if there’s a chance that someone in the house will start crying.
Alas, I can’t stay awake forever. It really is unfortunate that I’m so dependent on sleep! :-) Well, as I’ve been writing this, Ezra has quited down. Perhaps I shall get into bed and go to sleep for real. Here’s hoping that no one disturbs my beauty rest!
Category: complaints, sleep
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