HI Everyone!!!!

I just wanted to get on here and say HI to everyone who reads this. I found out this week that a lot of my friends have been checking out my blog almost daily and I didn't even know that they were. They are desperately trying to figure out a way to leave me comments but they can not figure it out. I told them that one day we can get on the computer together and I can show them how to do it. So this is to all my friends out there that have been checking out my blog, HI and Thanks for looking at it and for all your comments you have told me over the week that I have talked to everyone. Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement, on and off of here. I know most of my family has been looking at this and have left comments THANK YOU!!! I can not wait for Christmas Peg so we can all be together again as a family. I am really really looking forward to it.
I am feeling absolutely Fantastic. I am so glad and blessed that I have chosen to do this transformation in my life. It has truly been wonderful. I am right on task as far as what the doctors say. I am Truly HAPPY again, something I have not truly felt in a long time. My self esteem is so High, my energy is so High, my positive attitude is so High. And this is just the beginning. Wonder how I am going to be feeling like in 6 months or a year. Yall are going to have to hold me down. LOL!!!!!

Anyway, again I wanted to say HI to all my friends and my family. I want to THANK each and every one of you for all of you support. And from the bottom of my heart, I love you all. You all know who you are and how much you mean to me.

THREE MONTH ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!

I COULD NOT WAIT TILL TODAY. It has been three months since I have had my surgery and it was my weigh in day today. So AS of today I now have lost a total of 58 lbs. And it is now time to post another picture of me. YEAH!!! I can really really see the difference now. CAN YOU?????

HERE I AM!!!!! SMILING AS USUAL!!!!!!

And here was me the day of surgery three months ago.

I changed my music

I changed my music on here. I was in the mood for some "soothing nature sounds" and I found some and put them on here. Makes my page a little more relaxing. What do you think??????

TGIF!!!!!!

I LOVE MY JOB, But I am so glad it is Friday. It has been a crazy week. The teachers that I work with has been out most of the week at a conference. And there are usually 6 adults in our room. So for the past three days, we have had 2 different substitutes each day and sometimes it is just easier to not to have them. I know that sounds mean, but sometimes if they have never been there it is almost like they are in the way. It makes it a little difficult because we are so busy and they really don't know what to do, and we are going about our business and we have to stop and think and tell them what to do, it is almost like by the time we tell you what to do we could have had it done already type of thing. So it has been a little crazy this week. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should have the chance to substitute at least once in our building because you get a feel for the hard work we do, but it just gets a little overwhelming when you have a lot of people in one room trying to help the kids and sometimes they are just in the way. You know what I mean. So the teachers should be back on Monday and everything should be back to normal.
I have three days next week that I have meetings or appointments. Not too much. That goes with the territory of being the president of my local union. Someone always needs me or wants me to do something. But I love it. I tell you what, I CAN NOT wait till November 4th when this dam election is over. I am quite frankly tired of looking at the signs on the roads, hearing the slander against each other on the radio, seeing the negative campaigns on the commercials. I just think it is just getting way too out of hand. One person is always trying to out do the other person and it is just getting crazy. So after Nov 4th it should all be back to normal. And we will have a new president and Delaware will have a new Governor and other political people and we will all see a change happening within our states as well as our country.
Ok I think I have written enough of a book for tonight. I am done complaining and gripping. I will post more tomorrow on my adventures of this weekend.
Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!!!!

It's been a few days!!!!

So I am home tonight. The first time I have been home all week. I had meetings, appointments, a parade and errands to run all week. So last night we went to a night time parade. They do it in the town of Milford every year around Halloween. It starts at 6:30 and it went on for like EVER. It ended about 8:15. IT WAS FREEZING outside. We all had big coats, blankets, hot chocolate. it was not fun at all. The wind was kicking. Our eyes were watering. But unfortunately we were stuck there because where we parked in a bank parking lot, we couldn't get out because it was on the street the parade was on. The kids were complaining, everyone had to go to the bathroom, the parade was long. IF I heard another complaint, I was about to leave them all there. But I do have to admit, I was just as miserable. As soon as it was over, we like ran to the van and cranked that heat up. My thermometer in the van said it was only 39* out. No wonder why we were so cold. It was too cold that we didn't even enjoy the parade. So I will definitely keep that in mind next year when they have the parade again. If it is as cold as it was last night. They can have the parade with out us there that is for sure.
Anyway, in other news. Kimi got a job, YEAH!!! I know it is not a permanent job but it is a job none the less. She is working at the Halloween Outlet store here in the mall. She will have this job til the middle of November. In the meantime, she is going to look for another job when this one ends. Places are finally hiring for the Holiday season. So she could get something else soon. She is so happy. She has been looking for a job like forever. It pays $7.50 an hour, just enough to pay for her cellphone bill that she owes me. So she is happy, and she is going to school three nights a week for her GED. She should be done with school in January.
As for me, I feel great and I am doing wonderful. I still will only weigh in on Sundays so in a few more days I will see how much more (if any) that I have lost. I went through my clothes last weekend. And my friend gave me some clothes too. So that is good.
Well tomorrow I do not have anything going on after work so I may be able to post something on here two days in a row. We shall see.
Have a great Friday everyone!!!!!!!!!

Sunday's Newsflash!!!!!!

So It is Sunday, my weigh in day and so I weighed myself this morning as I always do on Sundays and my total Weight loss as of this morning is now up to 54.5 lbs. I was so excited. I am getting thinner every day. Every time one of the neighbor boys comes over he says I look skinnier. I feel fantastic. I feel energized. I feel great. I feel like I can move around a little better now. I can get up without effort. I just feel wonderful!!!!! Next Weekend I will post more pictures of me on here because it will be my 3 month anniversary of my surgery. So I will have to post pictures so everyone can see my transformation.
I didn't go to church this morning again. I know I am a bad girl. I just decided to take the day and clean up the house and I went through all the closets again in the house. I got rid of some more of my clothes that are getting way too big for me. I have some clothes that I just can not wear anymore. They are literally falling off of me. SO I went through some clothes that I had saved in my closet for those days that I can fit into them again. And I fit into almost all of them again. So I do not need to buy any more for a little while longer. I will wear those clothes for a while and then I will have to buy some next time these fall off of me because I won't have any more to wear.
So that is what I did today. And now I am on here listing things I am selling in EBAY. I am just trying to get rid of things we don't need anymore and trying to declutter my house. I hate clutter and I hate to keep things if we don't need them anymore. I am 100% NOT a pack rat and it drives Sam crazy because he wants to keep things and I am first one to get rid of all kinds of stuff. So if anyone wants to check out my stuff I am selling on eBay, my name on there is purplepattireid check it out. I don't know how to put the link on here.

Hurray for the WEEKEND!!!!!

So it is another weekend, a chance for me to catch up on housework, sleep, husband, and stuff around the house. Because Sam works nights and I work days, I never see him anymore. I get off at 3:30 and that is the same exact time he has to be to work. So I finally got to see my husband today. And Of course nothing happened because Aunt Flo decided to visit yesterday and she wants to stay for a few days. So I had no choice but to make room for her. LOL!!!
Anyway, so this morning, I took Tyler to go to his friend's house for a few hours to play over there with them. Then I took the rest of the kids with me to do some Political action thing in town today. We had to go to different developments and drop off literature in people's doors about the candidates that are running for local offices. Cody really did not want to go but I made him go so that he can get out of the house for a little while. Well, while we were there, he says to me, "I am having fun even though I didn't want to come. If you want me to do this again, I will." SO it pays to MAKE your kids do things they don't want to do sometimes. After that, we came home and I took a much needed break. I sat on the couch, read a book, took a nap and just chilled out. I have been so busy in the past few weeks and I just needed to do NOTHING. So my plan for tomorrow is to weigh in and report on my weight loss then go to church and then in the afternoon, I have to go to a funeral. This past week, we have lost three people's family members at work. One of the custodians at school lost his wife to Lupus, at the age of 62, last Saturday. Then on Wednesday night, a girl at work lost her father to Alzheimer's at the age of 87, and then on Thursday another girl lost her dad to a Stroke at the age of 64. So it has been a tough week at work for all of us. Because we are so close to each other at work it is like family there and so we get to know each other's families. It was pretty tough to lose people like that especially all in the same week. So tomorrow I am going to one of the girl's father's funerals because I really got to know him and I want to show my respect for the family. They say death comes in threes but dam does it have to be in the same place at the same time. I guess when God is ready for them he doesn't have a time limit.

Next week, Wednesday night, I am taking the boys and Kimi to a Nighttime Parade in the town of Milford. It is a Wonderful parade. It is for Halloween, and they have all kinds of things that light up and bands playing and different "pimped out" cars that are all cool. IT is the best parade I go to all year round. And of course because it is a political year, I'm sure all of the candidates will be there too. It starts at 6 and goes for like 2 hours. So that is going to be cool.

Man Have I been busy

Well, today is Wednesday and it is the first time I have been on here since Sunday. I had a really good time on Monday night. I was invited to attend a really wonderful dinner banquet. It was at Dover Downs, a really fancy place here in Dover. I didn't have to pay, I was there!! Anyway, everyone and anyone involved in the political scene in Delaware was there. It was to honor and recognize the people who are in political office. And the candidates for this year were there too. Along with a whole lot of "Official People" of Delaware. So I met all kinds of people and "smmoozed" with some big named people. It was really nice. And guess who was the GRAND Guess speaker himself? Our very own Joe Biden, the vice presidential candidate. Man did the house erupt when they heard him being introduced. We are so proud of Joe and what he has done politically and especially for us little ole Delawareans. So it was a really, really nice night. I know not too many people are not into politics but it is an important year. And we are proud of our very own Joe Biden.

So that was Monday. Tuesday, I had a meeting and it went well. Nothing too exciting to say unless you know what we do.

Then today we had a field trip to Killens Pond state park. We got to go on a hay ride, go through a pumpkin patch and each pick a pumpkin, then we got to take a walk on the nature trail and see all the trees, insects, butterflies, and all that stuff. Then we had a picnic lunch. It was such a beautiful day and the weather was fantastic. We couldn't have asked for a better day. Then when we got back to school, we were EXHAUSTED. The kids took a quick nap for like 25 minutes and we unpacked and cleaned up all the stuff we had to bring with us then it was time for us to get them up and get ready to go home. What a very busy day we had. So, needless to say, when I got home, I took a nap too for like an hour.

So there you have it, my week so far. It has been busy and exciting. I still have two more meetings before this week ends and I am involved with something politically again this Saturday. BOY I can't wait till November 4th is over.

Sunday's Newsflash!!!!!!!

Well today is Sunday. Yeah. The day that I weigh myself. I know I told mentioned on here yesterday that I went to the doctor and my total is now 51 lbs. WELL, I still weighed myself at home because that is the scale I am used to and that is the numbers I have been using all along. I weigh myself three times at once in the morning and then I take the average of the three and then I determine my weight. And that is how I come up with my total weight loss. So today I did that right, and Now I am up to a total weight loss of 53 lbs. Can you believe it? I am so excited, I feel wonderful. HOWEVER, I am sick today, I went to bed last night with a very bad sore throat, I think I had a fever because I was FREEZING, my nose was all stuffy and I just felt miserable. SO I wake up this morning, I can't hardly breath, my throat is killing me, and I just feel like crap. I am not going to Church today because quite frankly I just do not want to. I don't even want to get dressed today. I feel like crap. And I have to go to work tomorrow because I took off on Thursday to have a day to myself and now see what happens to me, I am sick now, I guess karma came and bit me on my ass. LOL.

So my total weight loss as of today is now 53 lbs. YEAH!!!!! Still no goal though. I never had one and I never will have one. I just want to stay healthy and live better. Thanks for everyone's support. Love you all.

I am so EXCITED!!!!!!

I had a doctor's appointment in Wilmington yesterday. It was a check up for my post-op. It has been 2 1/2 months since my surgery and the doctor said I am doing AMAZING!!!!! My totals up to this date are 51 lbs lost, 15.5 % reduced body fat, and 11.25 inches off my whole body. Everything is doing great. She said I look wonderful, all the blood looks great, I Feel wonderful. I still won't post anymore pictures until my month anniversary which will be on the 25 of October. This is the best thing I have ever done for myself and I should have done it a long time ago but I wasn't mentally prepared. I would have not done it right if I had done it a while ago.


So now that I am approaching the big 40 I am going to be healthy AND beautiful. Just like my GRAM. LOL!!!!!!!

I did something bad today!!!!!

Did you ever just wake up and not feel like doing anything? Did you ever feel like you just could not go on? Did you ever feel like you just needed a BREAK? Well, that is how I felt this morning. I have been so busy lately: working, meetings, appointments, errands, and list goes on and on. While I LOVE TO STAY BUSY, I just woke up feeling like I needed a break. I needed a mental health day. I needed to regroup and just chill. I have been so busy and so overwhelmed, that I was getting crazy. SO I took off of work today (bad girl I know). I don't usually ever just take off, there has to be a reason, but today, I just needed it. I got the boys up and sent them off to school, against their will. They wanted to stay home because I was. But I was "no that is why I am staying home, to be by myself". Then I went back to bed til like 9:30. And I am totally enjoying the peace and quiet. I am enjoying the silence, I am enjoying my time alone. Although I am doing Laundry which never seems to end. And Kimi and her boyfriend are here, they are just chilling out and watching TV. Sam is still sleeping because he has to go to work later this afternoon.
So I guess it is not that bad everyone needs a mental health day every now and then to get themselves back on track, to get themselves refreshed, to have a "me" day. So unless anyone tells my principal that I was not really sick, I will be fine. I will go back to school on Monday and be just fine, we do not have school tomorrow because it is a state wide professional development day, state wide all the teachers have to work but not the paras so I have off tomorrow anyway. So by doing this, I have just given myself a 4 day weekend. What is wrong with that? HUH???
Anyway, so that is what I am doing at this time. Enjoying my piece and quiet. Until 3:00 that is, when the boys come running through the door and the silence will then be broken.

Fall is in the AIR!!!!!!!

I woke up this morning to the feeling of crispy, fall, air. IT was wonderful. Fall, if you do not know by now, IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR. I love fall. I love the weather. I LOVE the colors. I love to decorate. I love the feeling of not having to put the A/C or Heat on. I love to have the windows open all day. I love the crispness in the air. I love the apples, pumpkins, leaves, hayrides. I love it all. So I am so glad it is finally fall. And I am so glad that I am loosing weight so that I can enjoy the outdoors a little bit better. We are going on a field trip next week Wednesday. We are going to Killen's Pond State Park. We will be looking at all the trees, picking pumpkins, going on a hayride, decorating pumpkins, taking a nature walk. It will be so much fun and I can't wait. If I had a bigger house, I would decorate every room in it in fall colors. I actually like fall and Thanksgiving better than Christmas. Christmas has become too commercialized and too expensive and people are loosing site of the real meaning, that it is no really fun anymore. I love Thanksgiving, being with family, enjoying each others company, eating turkey and everything that goes along with it.

So from my heart to yours HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!!!!!!

Sunday's Newsflash!!!!!

Well today was a good day and a bad day all in one. First, kind of bad, I weighed in today and I only lost 1 1/2 lbs this week. I know that that is still good. And I know that My body will do that sometimes, It has to get caught up with itself. I am in no way, shape, or form fighting myself for it or beating myself up about it. It is just that I was and still am so so so very close to that 50lb mark that I thought for sure it was going to be this week. I have been averaging about 2-4 lbs a week, I thought I would lose 2 this week. But I guess my body says no not this week, but definitly next week. So I am fine with that. I am kind of bummed because I didn't get on the treadmill as much as I have been doing in the past few weeks. I usually get on it at least 3-4 times a week, well this week, I didn't manage to get on it at all. I was so busy and I was so tired by the time I was done with everything that I just wanted to crash. But I will do better this next week. So I am very happy to announce that my total weight loss so far is now at 49 1/2 lbs. SO SO Very close to 50 lbs I can taste it. But not quite there. SOON though.
Anyway, I didn't manage to get to church again this week that is two weeks in a row, I hope God understands. I will definitly get there next week. The reason this week is because, my good part of the day, we went to my BFF house for a BBQ and had a wonderful time. We got there like 12:30 and stayed till 6:00. We had all kinds of food, friends, and fun. It was a great day. We played badminton, jumped on the trampoline (I couldn't seem to stay standing for too long), we played Boggle (my favorite game in the whole wide world). And we just hung out with friends and family. It was so fun. It was nice to get out of the house for a little while and do something different that didn't cost a lot of money.
Then we came home, the boys got their showers, I got on the computer for a few, and now we are all chilling out.

Happy Birthday Aunt Jeannie

Well today, October 3rd is my Aunt Jeannie's birthday. However, 8 1/2 years ago, she passed away from complications with Diabetes. She contracted diabetes at the tender age of 11 years old and she had to live her whole life with this disease. At such a young age, she had to learn to give herself shots every day for the rest of her life. She never let it stop her though. She was amazing. She grew up having this disease and she never let it control her. She got married and had two wonderful sons and she was an amazing women to all of our family. I can remember our family always getting together for weekends and holidays and I can remember her always happy and smiling and loving life. As I was growing up, I started to realize that what she had was slowing killing her. I remember her starting to get sick and then she had to go on Dialysis. But throughout her life, she was happy and made the best of it.

When I started working with Handicapped children at the age of 15, I told her all about it. She was sssssoooo very proud of me. She told me that I was an angel in her eyes. And that one day, God is going to call me to his home and all the children I have been helping over the years are going to be there and free from their disabilities. We created such a bond towards the end of her journey on this earth that when she died, I realized right then and there that she was MY HERO!!! She was so proud of me in the things I was doing with the children. But she suffered so much and throughout it all, she never let it get her down. She is everything I wished I could be. She was the definition of Strength.

I never got to tell her the feelings that I had for her. I never got to tell her that she was my hero. I never got to tell her that she was the reason I am who I am today. SHE was the reason I love my job, I love the kids I work with. She was the wind beneath my wings. I am the person I am today because of the encouragement, love, and support that she gave me.

The very day that she passed away, the very minute I heard about her passing away, this song was on the radio "The Wind Beneath My Wings"!!!!!!! So right then, I knew that what I was doing with my life is what I have been placed on this earth to do. I knew right then that My Aunt Jeannie was MY HERO!!!!

Money Sucks!!!!!!

SO today is Friday, the day I usually pay bills. It is a weekly event Yeah!!! NOT. Sam is the only one who got paid today, I get paid every other Friday. Well it seems like as soon as I get the money into the bank it is gone. I don't know what is going on. He makes the same amount every week. But it seems like the money is just disappearing faster. I think it is because of the price of gas, food, electric, etc. Everything is going up except our paychecks. IT really sucks. I just don't know what this world is coming to. I am actually starting to go through my closets and shed to see if there are things in there that I can sell just to come up with some extra cash to make ends meet. I am half tempted to sell everything except the clothes on our backs. LOL. That is just the kind of mood I am in. I hate dealing with money, I hate stressing over money, I HATE MONEY!!! I wish we can get our paychecks and be able to save like 1/2 of it every week just so we can have a little saved up in the bank for those "emergency" "rainy days". And you know what really sucks, we make too much money to qualify for financial assistance or food stamps. So I guess I just need to be delinquent on my bills, sell all the things I don't need that bad, and get a second job just to make it in this country. I sure do hope that who ever does win this election year, fixes this financial mess this country is in. And I hope they help us poor lower/middle class people. WE need a break. WE need change. WE need help. WE need a new president!!!! And I am not ashamed to say that I am for Obama all the way. WE need a change.

It's been awhile since I posted

Wow, I haven't posted anything on here in a couple days. I was almost posting daily but I guess Life has gotten in the way with my posts. Anyway, I have had a really good week so far. I know it is almost over and it is almost the weekend again. Man time sure does fly. I didn't have many meetings this week, only 2. One of the meetings I had happened today. As the president of my local union we are in negotiations with the school district for a new contract. If anyone has ever been in negotiations it is a long, drawn out process, and we are just in the beginning stages of it. So we had a meeting today for like 4 hours and I left there feeling like we did not accomplish anything at all. It was the weirdest feeling. But as the time goes on, we should be getting closer to a settlement. This process can take months or even years to accomplish. But I am in it for the long haul. We have 6 members on our team all fighting for the rights of the paras in our district. It is really a cool experience to be involved in if you are into that kind of stuff. And me, I am into that kind of stuff. I like being the president and I like having people work together to accomplish something that is for the good of all. Together we are a team. I can not do this alone.

Ok so enough about my boring life.

I am doing wonderful, I still feel fantastic, energized, and new. I know I have probably hit the 50 lb mark by now. But I will not weigh in till Sunday. So Sunday I will post another update on how I am doing. Until then there is not enough words that I can say that can describe how wonderful I feel. This is truly been wonderful for me to have this change in my life.