Well hopefully we will take one in 6 months when Nicki is out of school for the summer.  I really want to go to IL, it has been over 7 yrs or so since I have been there.  I want my grandma to meet all of her great grandchildren.  She hasn’t really met the 3 lil ones.  She saw Lil Tony when he was like 6 months or so but that is it.  I just really want to go see all my family, I miss them.

It would be way too expensive to fly so we will definitely be driving.  I want to say it’s about 10 hrs.  Hopefully by then Lil Tony will handle a car ride a little better than he has in the past.  Oh my he hates car rides, going to the store is a challenge. 

Tony would really like to rent a car to use to drive, that way we don’t put the extra miles on our vehicle and if something happens to the rental it would be covered.  I said that is just an expense we probably shouldn’t make and just get our truck in good working order before we leave.  Make sure the tires are good, oil change and tune up.  I am sure if we have any problems we could find a Chicago auto repair shop. 

My friend had a water pump go out in their Toyota Corolla and had no trouble finding somewhere to get it fixed for a decent price. 

I just really hope things work out so we can go.  I have been telling my family for several years that I was going to make a trip home and for financial reasons I have not been able to make it.  I would have really liked to make it there this past month for Christmas but I had just had Max in the beginning of December and certainly was not up for a car ride plus Tony wasn’t able to get vacation time to go. 

So cross your fingers everything will work out this time! 

So with the start of the new year and the fact I’m not pregnant anymore I think I need to get to a gym.  It’s cold here in Virginia so it’s not like I can go walk some trails or anything. 

I stopped in Anytime Fitness the other day.  I can’t believe how small that gym is.  I am surprised they even had ellipticals but I was happy that is my favorite machine.  They had about a dozen cardio machines and a small weight section.  That was it.  That is the only gym around me that is 24hrs though and with 4 kids I need some flexibility.  It would cost me about $35  a month and about $60 security fee.  I feel bad because Tony wouldn’t be able to go too, we just couldn’t afford that much a month.  I just need to lose at least 45 pounds more to be reasonably happy.  I will still need to lose more but that is my starting point. 

I will still have to wait another couple weeks before I will be able to get started.  Until then I will just have to watch what I eat, which is pretty hard with all the great food we make in this house.

NEED I SAY MORE:

My brother said to me the other day that he thought we had planned on buying the house we our renting.  I told him definitely not.  Our landlords love us and every time we see them they say they hope to sell us the house some day.  Tony and I always look at each other and say “yeah right”. 

The house needs some tlc and it really isn’t big enough for us.  However, after my talking to my brother, I got to thinking…maybe we could buy the house.  Our plan was to buy a “fixer-upper” and do the handy work.  It is possible.  We did plan on staying here for at least 5 yrs and after 5 yrs are we really going to want to move. 
In the 7 months or so that we have lived in Virginia we have looked at land and houses and it is a little expensive to buy here.  We originally wanted to buy land and build but we weren’t able to find any land for less than $10k an acre.  We have looked in other states that has had it for under $3k/acre. 

We then looked online at the tax info for the house and we think our landlords bought the house for $155k.  Tony LOL and said he would not have paid that amount for the house. 

Anyways, before he burst my bubble and said he didn’t think we would be able to buy the place I started thinking about things we could do to the place.  Things that really bother me, that would need to change.  Mostly the kitchen.  We would certainly need to work on some structural problems and maybe make the “den”, the room that will be Nicki’s soon here, a little bigger. 

The kitchen however, would need to be changed.  We would need to knock down a wall and get more counter space and without a doubt we would need a dishwasher.  We need more cabinets.  Some cosmetic changes would be nicer cabinets and counters, maybe granite.  I would also like to put copper tiles around the stove or something like it. We do a lot of cooking and baking and that area needs an easier way to be cleaned up. 

I would also have liked to see if we could finish the basement.  Not sure if it’s possible since the ceilings are already pretty low but it was an idea. 

BUT my idea was shot down when he saw how much they would probably ask for the house.  So unless they ask for way less than they paid, we probably won’t be buying the place. 

…..my weight problem that is.  Growing up I was always an average person I guess.  I wasn’t overweight but I certainly wasn’t a size 0.  My weight gain began with baby #1, Nicki.  I am not sure how much I gained or what I weighed after having her but I know when I look at pictures I was a way overweight.  Back then my weight loss problem was fast food.  I ate a lot of it.  It was fast and convenient and well we just ate a lot of it. 

About 6 yrs ago my friend and I decided to try a new diet, we went to a nutritionist and got vitamin B shots and were on a decently strict diet.  I went from eating meat and potatoes and large bowls of ice cream at midnight to eating 3 meals a day consisting of chicken and veggies or fruit and not an ounce of sweets.  That lasted a month and I dropped about 30 pounds.  But I “fell off the wagon” if you will, I ate sweets.  My mentality when I did that was “I failed”. 

I then moved to Florida, I was recently single starting in a new place.  I had lost some weight and I was feeling good about myself.  I was by no means at my “ideal weight” but I still had a little more weight to lose to make me happy.  I started dating and got in to a relationship with someone that was a big fitness buff.  We went to the gym a lot, sometimes for 3-4 hrs a day.  I lost more weight, I ate a lot of boxed Weight Watcher meals.  We broke up after about a yr and a half.  Again single and dating.  I was at a “comfortable” weight.  That is when I met Tony.

I watch a lot of shows on TLC and I have watched several episodes of Biggest Loser.  They want to make everyones weight problems stem from some sort of childhood trauma.  I came from a split family, I have had my issues growing up but I certainly don’t eat because I am depressed.  I eat because food is DAMN TASTY!  I love to eat out and I LOVE sweets! 

Now here lies our new problem, Tony is a damn good cook…..I’m not so bad myself.  We don’t eat out, too damn expensive with a family of 6.  We MAY eat out once a month…..if that.  We do however make some good ass food.  LOL!  Let’s see this week we had enchiladas (my specialty), Cacciatore (it has chicken, tomatoes, onions, green peppers…doesn’t sound unhealthy but we eat it over rice and we use both dark meat and white meat), Tony made a carrot cake the other day, I’ve been making cookies, (and I’m not sure what to call it)we also had a mustard crusted baked chicken (again doesn’t sound bad but it was dark and white meat).  Yesterday morning we made breakfast burritos, OMG they were YUMMY.  Some of the other breakfasts we have include potatoes, toast, eggs, oatmeal and maybe a meat.  Shall I go on?

My point is we make a lot of good food.  Oh and Tony also started making homemade tortillas.  They are tasty. 

I try and think about how I can lose this baby weight.  Over the last month I lost a lot of baby weight and water weight totaling about 30 pounds but I still have at least 45 more to go to be CLOSE to happy.  How can I do it with all this good food around, without being able to go to the gym?  When I dove in to the weight loss and exercise last year (after having Isabel) I lost 67 pounds in about 4 months but I let eating healthy and exercise consume my days.  I logged everything I ate, I worked out almost everyday (we had a free gym in our apartment complex).  I have 3 little kids and no stroller big enough to tote them on a walk, not to mention it’s colder than shit outside.  I have an infant that requires my constant attention.  The other issue with my weight loss plan last year was I was eating in an unrealistic manner for long term.  I can’t afford to always eat the things I was.  We buy whatever meat is on sale, chicken breasts are expensive.  We eat well balanced meals now, we just use butter and oil and we like to eat, we like to cook and we like to bake. 

So my point is my problem stems from liking food and having a good cook in the house, not all overweight people have traumatic pasts to make them the way they are.  LOL!

Just over a week ago I had a really horrible experience at my local grocery store, Food Lion.  It really sucks too because most of the people that work there are really nice.  They know my face, so when I walk in they always make it a point to say “hi”.  If I would be across town near one of the other locations I would drive to the one that I always go to. 

Well there is one cashier that I try to avoid at all cost because she is just nasty.  We have had 3 separate instances of her being NASTY!  My issue that I had with them had to do with products being in stock.  I won’t go in to full detail but their shelves were bare.  When I went to check out I was walking past the nasty lady’s register and she looked inviting so I thought I would give her another chance.  DUMB idea.

She was so rude, so unprofessional that by the end of our conversation I was yelling at her and the C/S manager and I was almost in tears.  I have NEVER acted like that before.  I was so mad at myself for letting someone get to me like that.  I have never been treated like that before.  Well the whole incident prompted me to email corporate. 

Within 2 days I got a call from the asst store manager (store manager was on vacation) and we talked for about 25 min about the nasty cashier and proper customer service.  The manager said he has had numerous complaints about her and that incident will be addressed.  He offered me a $15 gift card for the problem I had. 

In the meantime, before getting a call from anyone I decided I was going to shop elsewhere.  There was another grocery store across the street, Martin’s.  I don’t know what I was ever thinking going to Food Lion.  Martin’s is so nice and clean and ALWAYS fully stocked.  They have a directory in the main aisle to tell you which aisle something is in.  It is also open 24 hrs which is really convenient. 

When I received my call from the asst manager he did sort of  make the whole incident better, he was really apologetic and felt truly sorry for what happened.  Then when I went in to get my gift card, all the nice cashiers and managers also made me feel bad that I was going to ban going there.  Here’s the thing, they aren’t always stocked and compared to the Martin’s across the street Food Lion is considered the ghetto.  LOL! 

Food Lion occasionally has discounted meat, it’s still good but it is about to expire unless it’s frozen soon.  We can get really cheap turkey and chicken.  So I may still shop there for that but otherwise I will make Martin’s my normal grocery store. 

Then to top it, I received a call today from the district manager.  I didn’t answer so he left a message but he said he would try and call again and he was calling about the issue I had.  I will answer the next time he calls and tell him exactly how I feel about the cashier and that my issue had everything to do with the fact the shelves where not stocked and both the cashier and C/S manager made it seem like it was my fault. 

Hopefully I never have any experiences like that at Martin’s.

Tony and I have been discussing over the last couple weeks about whether we need to have cable.  When I think about what I really watch on TV, do we really need it?  I watch some talk shows and game shows, my kids don’t watch TV.  We get Netflix and that is what we watch most of the time.  We spend about $50 a month and don’t really use the service.  I mean the TV is on all the time but I don’t really watch it, nothing is ever on.  We have basic cable with HBO and I n ever seem to be able to find anything on. 

It’s not that I can’t live without it, it’s that it has been the norm to have TV.  For as long as I can remember I have always had TV.  We have talked about cancelling the cable service and I think I am going to do that within the next couple weeks. 

The other thing we want to do is get a new plasma TV’s with  plasma mounts.  I want one for the living room and one for the bedroom.  I want them on the wall so Lil Tony won’t touch them and for the bedroom especially because we really don’t have room for it anywhere else. Tony wants to get a TV that he can also use as a computer monitor.  That way with the Netflix we can also use the “watch instantly” option. 

We will have to wait until we get our tax return because we just don’t have the extra money to get anything now.  LOL!