Leaving Tomorrow Morning!!!!

Hi all!! My count down is FINALLY Complete. I am leaving in the morning to go to San Diego, California for the National Education Association Conference. And we will be in this very Convention Center that is in this picture. Isn't it beautiful?? I am all packed and ready. I am super EXCITED!!!! Obviously I have never been to California before so this is going to be an experience of a lifetime. I am so looking forward to it. I will be out there till Next Wednesday, July 8th. I will take tons of pictures while I am out there and I will try and post while I am out there too. I can't promise though because I will be very busy and not wanting to be sitting in front of a computer all the time.

So bye for now. I will blog again when I can!!!!

~~~~HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK~~~~

~~~~A WONDERFUL 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND~~~~

~~~~HAVE FUN AND SEE YOU ALL SOON!!!!!!!!

THIS IS THE BEACH IN SAN DIEGO!!!!! APPARENTLY IT IS ONLY LIKE 3 BLOCKS AWAY FROM OUR HOTEL!!!! I WILL BE THERE!!!!! AMAZING!!!!!

LOOK @ MY THREEREIDBOYS!!!!!!!

I have not put up recent pictures of my boys in like forever. Well the other day when we were going to my niece's wedding, the boys were actually kind of dressed up so I took pictures of them. They came out ok. My camera really is old. But anyway here is my threereidboys.

Sam is 16 already

Cody is 13 already

Tyler is 11 already

Sunday Newflash!!!!!!

WOW I can't believe that I am almost ready to go to San Diego. I am all packed and ready to go. I even have the clothes out that I am going to wear tomorrow and Tuesday. I am leaving Tuesday morning about 10:30 am.

So today is Sunday. I had a thousand things I had to do today to get ready to go. And the pampered chef stuff came in today too. I had to sort through all of that stuff. I had a party about 3 weeks ago and everything came in today. SO on top of doing laundry, cleaning the house, paying bills, getting things together for my trip, I had to sort through all that stuff. I am so tired. But I am so excited that I won't be able to sleep for the next 2 days.

I did weigh in again today. AND I don't know what is going on. I have not lost anything again. I think I have hit a big plateau. WHICH that is totally fine. I have not lost anything really in like 3 weeks. I think my body needs to catch up with itself. I have lost a total of 132 lbs (which is amazing!!!!!) and I am so dam happy right now. That if I don't loose anymore at all I would be totally ok with that. I have done more then I thought I would in the amount of time it has been. It has been 11 months already. Can you believe it.

LOOK at me now!!!!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE IN 11 MONTHS AND 132 LBS LIGHTER!!!!!

I FEEL FANTASTIC!!!!!!!

Only 4 more days and lots to do

I can not believe it is finally here. I am leaving to go to San Diego this coming Tuesday at 10:30am. I still have so much to do. I have to finish laundry, clean the house (I don't know why cus it will only be a mess again when I get back), I have to go grocery shopping, pay some bills, pack, organize Sam and the boys stuff for the week (all the things that I do without even thinking about) etc. So much to do. BUT I am taking a break this afternoon!!! One of my friends and her family went camping this weekend and we are house/pool sitting. So we are going over to her house this afternoon and go swimming in her pool for a couple hours. It will be fun. The first time we have actually gone swimming this whole summer. It has been too nasty and raining all the time. But it is very hot today, very sunny, perfect pool weather so that is what we are getting ready to do.

I took pictures of myself and they are in my camera. I also took updated pictures of my boys too. SO the next time I get on here, I am going to update pictures of myself and my boys. It has been exactly 11 months since I have my surgery. I have lost 132 lbs so far. On Sunday I will weigh in again and give another update on my weight loss.

It's been a few days!!!

Hello to all my blog friends and family. It has been a few days since I have actually posted anything on here. I guess I have been very busy or I just have not had the chance to even get on here. THE TRUTH is that I have been absorbed by another BOOK. I love to read and I don't do it very often, but when I do, I get sucked into the story and that is like all I really want to do is read my book. SO I started another book on Sunday and I just finished it this morning. So I have not posted anything on here in a while. I missed my Sunday Newsflash and everything. So here is a short version of what has been going on in my life.
Friday-I had off of work. Took Little Sam to get his licenses. He got his permit for 6 months now. He is driving can you believe it. So after Sam got off of work on Friday we went to the beach. It was lil Sam and Tyler's bday this weekend and that is what they both wanted to do. GO to the beach. So we took off here like at 4:30 and went to the beach. We didn't plan too well, cus they all got in the water, NOT ME, it was WAY too cold for me. But we never brought any change of clothes. But we were all ok. They all just sat on towels. Then after the beach we went to Bob Evans for dinner. It was really good. Haven't been out to dinner IN A LONG LONG TIME. We just can't afford it anymore. But the boys bday only comes once a year and we wanted to do something with just the 5 of us.
So Saturday-we went to my niece Tanya's wedding. IT RAINED all day long and we were so worried that it would spoil her wedding. But the wedding was an evening wedding and by the time everyone got there it had stopped raining and the sky was blue again. It was a beautiful wedding. THEN we danced our butts off. WELL I Danced my butt off anyway, Sam and the boys don't dance. But we had a lot of fun. We didn't get home till after midnight.
Sunday-Father's day we went to the Dover Air Force Base-Air Show. They open the Base up every 3 years or so to the public for free and they show an air show featuring the Thunderbirds. IT was really cool. They started at 10 in the morning and went on till 3 in the afternoon. We had a great time. Except the WALKING. We had to park at the old mall and then they shuttled us to the base by bus. They dropped us off and then everyone had to literaly Walk the whole section base to get to where the air show was. And it was so crowed with PEOPLE all over the place. I felt like I was going to loose one of my kids a few times. But everything worked out ok. After we got done with that, we came home and took a nap and chilled out. I didn't even cook dinner. We were so tired from everything we did over the weekend. Oh and Sunday I did my weigh in too and I lost another 1 lb so my total weight loss is now up to 132 lbs.
Then we went to work. And I have been having a Fantastic time at work. We went on a field trip today to Xbos. It is an indoor play place. It has bowling, soft play climbing stuff, giant slides, etc. video games all kinds of things. IT was fun. BUT I am so tired from climbing all over all the stuff. We were all climbing all over the place. but we had fun.
So that has been my week in review up till now!!!!! Tomorrow is my 11 month anniversary from having my surgery. I will take more pictures of me and post them on here real soon. I want to get it done by the weekend.
I am leaving on Tuesday to go to San Diego, California. And man I can not wait. I am so excited!!!
Well I will post more on here over the weekend and before I leave. Until then EVERYONE HAVE A FANTASTIC REST OF THE WEEK!!!!!! ENJOY THIS WEATHER!!!!! & HAVE FUN!!!!!

ONLY 10 MORE DAYS!!!!!

SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA HERE I COME!!!!! ONLY 10 MORE DAYS TILL I GO TO SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA FOR THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVE CONFERENCE!!!!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!

LOOK WHO IS 11 YEARS OLD TODAY!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY TYLER BOY!!!!!!
I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU ARE 11 YEARS OLD ALREADY!!!!!!

My Tyler Boy, as I call him, is 11 years old today. He is such a great kid. He is going into the 6th grade when school starts again. I can't believe how fast time flys by. He LOVES to read. He LOVES school. He reads on an 12th grade level. We got his report card the other day and he only got 2 "C" in the whole year. He has had straight "A's and B's" the whole year.

Tyler Daniel Reid was born on June 20, 1998. He came into this world weighing 8lbs 3 oz. He was my biggest baby. He had a cute little dimple on his left side of his face from the very beginning. He was so dam cute. He still is!! Tyler LOVES LOVES LOVES TURTLES. Anything and Everything to do with Turtles. He has probably 60 different things that are turtles or turtle related. Every time I see anything with turtles it reminds me of him and I try and get it for him if it not too expensive. Everyone who knows him knows he likes turtles too, so they try and get stuff for him with turtles too. He even has a real turtle and his name is Tucker. Tyler says he would like to study Turtles when he gets older and maybe he could become a marine biologist. That would be great if he can do that.

Tyler is very very mature for his age. He loves to have an in depth conversations with people and he is very smart. And he is very caring and compassionate!!!!!

We are going to my niece Tanya's wedding today so we will be celebrating the boy's birthdays next weekend. At first Tyler was a little upset that we had to go to a wedding on his birthday but he got over it. He is fine now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY TYLER BOY!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

LOOK WHO IS 16 TODAY!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE SAM!!!! YOU ARE NOT SO LITTLE ANYMORE!!!!!!

I can not believe my Little Boy is all grown up now. I have to take a more recent picture of him because this was him during Christmas time. But still he is all grown up now. I am going to be taking him to the Motor Vehicle this afternoon to get his permit. He passed Driver's Ed in school and the day he turns 16 he can get his permit. I can't believe he will be DRIVING. He will be a Junior in High School already when school starts again. He is going into the construction field when he graduates. He wants to do like Commercial Construction. So that would be good for him if he can find work out there.

Sam is a wonderful kid. I remember when I first had him, I cried and cried because I could not believe "I" actually had a baby of my very own. All I kept saying was "I have a baby, I have a baby...." It was amazing! Your first born is always Amazing! So on June 19, 1993 Samuel Alex Reid entered this world weighing 6 lbs 11 oz. He was so tiny and just perfect. Now he is all grown up and becoming a MAN!!! He has turned out to be an AWESOME PERSON!!!! Very Respectful, Polite, Smart, Funny, Well Mannered, and the list can go on and on. I am just so Proud of him and I can not believe he is 16 years old already.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY, WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!

First week of summer school

So this has been the first week of summer school for us. Yes I am working summer school. It is extra money and the kids still need to come to make sure they maintain what they have developed. So summer school started Monday and the kids first Day was Today. Well because we split our classes up and we changed rooms, our poor kids were so confused today. It was so sad. They didn't know what to do. Thank God we didn't change staff or they would be TOTALLY confused. But anyway, we got them pretty much settled. It took a while. But they got themselves together. And we had a wonderful first day with them. We only have 8 kids as opposed to the 21 we had in the year. And it was like all day long, we were feeling like we were missing someone. IT went so smooth, and we were able to get a lot more done. And we are going to be able to do more things, go on more field trips, and help them accomplish more of their goals because we are such a smaller group now. And this is the same group that we are going to have in the fall so that is going to be wonderful.
So anyway, other then that nothing else is really happening around here. Lil Sam's bday is Friday, taking him to get his driver's permit, then we are all going to the beach after work on Friday night and chill out on the beach and maybe get some pizza down there. Saturday is Tyler's bday and we have to go to my niece Tanya's wedding. So we are going to just chill at home and then go to the wedding. So next weekend we are going to have their bday party. This Sunday is Father's Day and the Dover Air force Base is doing an airshow with the blue angels. And it is FREE so yeah I am up for that and Free too. So that is our plan for this weekend.
The boys have been home now for like 2 weeks from school and they are already BORED. If I hear it one more time when I get off of work every night, I am going to tackle them. LOL. I can't help that we have to work and they are home all day. I can't afford to put them in a camp or anything and we can't do too many things at night cus we have no money but they will be alright.
Lil Sam called me at work today and they were hungry, they said there was nothing to eat in the house. So he says to me that he wants to make spaghetti. I was hesitant at first, but I trusted him to do it. No meat of course, he said that was too much like work. So I had to tell him how to make the noodles and the sauce. I expected to come home to this HUGE mess! I WAS SO WRONG!!! I came home and the only mess was dishes in the sink. He cooked, they ate it, He put it all away in the fridge, and HE CLEANED his mess up. AMAZING!!! This is his first like big meal that he has made, usually it is like frozen stuff thrown in the oven or microwave, or sandwiches and stuff. Not anything that you actually have to cook. And he did a GREAT job at it. I was pretty shocked. I guess he is growing up. And very responsible.

Sunday's Newsflash on Monday!!!!

Ok so I know I am slipping. I usually always get on here on Sunday and now it is Monday. Look at me, I'm not keeping up, what's wrong with me. So anyway, Yes yesterday was Sunday. My day that I usually update on my weight loss and everything that is going on. I never even got on the computer yesterday. I cleaned the house and then I had friends over all the rest of the day and we were hanging out and chilling. So my Sunday's newsflash is that yes I did weigh myself and I stayed the same again. So my weight loss is still at 131 lbs. which is awesome. I'm still feeling wonderful and fantastic. Can't complain at all.
Not much else is going on here. Lil Sam's bday is this coming Friday. He is going to be 16 years old already. Can you believe it? He is going to be driving. I have to take him to the DMV to get his permit. Then he has to do 50 supervised hours then he can get his license in 6 months. Tyler's bday is this coming Saturday (yes the next day-5 yrs apart). He is going to be 11. He still doesn't know what he wants for his birthday. I don't know what I am going to get him either. I do know that he wants to go to the beach and hang out in the water and chill so we may do that on Saturday during the day. Then on Saturday evening, our niece Tanya is getting married so we will be going to her wedding.
So other then that, the boys are now all done with school and they are staying home mostly because we just can't afford to do anything at all. We will be doing some things in August but not too much.
Well everyone have a great Monday night and I will post more as the week goes on!!!

Had a Yard Sale Today

So today started out to be a great day. The weather was wonderful and my friends and I got together and had a yard sale to get rid of a bunch of junk. We set up like 3 tables in the front yard. Had everything all laid out and displayed all nicely. Posted the ad in the paper. Posted signs on the corners towards her house. Did it all. We were ready. Had our drinks, chairs, snacks, change....you name it. Well then we sat and sat and sat some more. It was like 1 person would come, then about 1/2 hr later another person, then 1/2 later another person. It went on like that all morning long. We didn't get as many people as we had hoped for. And we were basically just sitting out there in the hot beating sun and baking. It got REALLY hot around like 10am. So by 11:30 we called it a day. We were a little disappointed with all of our efforts and not too many people came. But that is what happens when you have a yard sale, it is like hit or miss. Sometimes you get a lot of people and you get rid of all kinds of things and sometimes you get just a few people and you get rid of a couple things. For us it was a few people and hardly nothing. I made like only $16.00 today. That's all. BUT I DID get a pretty good TAN. LOL.
So that was my day today!!! How exciting!!!!

News about my work!!!!!

I have been so very very very excited all this week about being at work it is just not even funny. You see, I have been working with my teacher (Joyce) for 13 years now. And for the past 6 years, we have been with another teacher in the same room. The new teacher, just out of college was not comfortable taking a class by herself. So for the past 7 years, Joyce and Dee have been "team" teaching. Well with this team teaching it has made our classroom have 21 students and 6 staff members. Well for the past few months, it has been crazy, too many students, too many adults, too many WOMEN in the same place, too much furniture, too much equipment.....and the list can go on for ever. And in this past few months, it has just been very stressful to go to work every day and keep a positive attitude with so much ciaos going on. SO THIS WEEK~~~~Joyce and Dee have SEPARATED!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!! They have each gotten their own classrooms!!!! And I am still with Joyce and we have another Para with us too, her name is Margaret. So this week we have spent the past few days setting OUR room up the way we want it, we are doing things the way We want it done. It just feels so Wonderful to finally be on our own again. WE HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY this week at work. The kids were done last Friday and they had this week off and then Summer school starts on Monday. And each of us are working summer school. So it is going to be fantastic to have our own classroom with only 9 kids instead of 21. And we are having a blast decorating it, arranging it, getting our office set up (we actually have an Office in our classroom) it was an old storage closet that we created into our office. It is so cool, it is half office/half storage. Just wish it had windows. BUT WE ARE NOT COMPLAINING ONE BIT ABOUT OUR NEW ROOM. It has been a long time coming. When you get that many women, that many opinions, that many bosses, that many....... it just gets too be too dam much and it gets to become where you don't even want to work with the staff anymore. And it is sad to say that it has come to this point. BUT Joyce, Margaret, and I are WONDERFUL together!!!! Joyce and I make a wonderful team together. We RESPECT each other and do what we each need to do for the Children. And this being Margaret's first year, she is catching on real quick as to how Joyce and I work together and she is fitting right in with us. Now the three of us are a Excellent Team Together. IT is going to be a fantastic summer school and an absolutely wonderful next school year. We can not be any more happier at this time.

:) I LOVE MY JOB!!!!!!!!!! :)

I did it!!!

I put a counter thing on the side of my blog counting down to my NEA Conference in San Diego!!! Check it out!!!!

Sunday's Newsflash!!!!!

Hello everyone!!!!! :) Today is a brand new Day ~ today is a better Day. I am having a good day today. I am done being sad. I woke up and realized that God has plans for everyone and everything and everything happens for a reason. We may not know why but they do and we just have to accept the reason and live with them. And become stronger by living through God. So hopefully I have a better week next week. One thing that will be on my mind all week is one of my best friends (Margaret) is having surgery on Tuesday. Female stuff. I hope and pray everything works out for her. I will be by her side as soon as I get off of work.
We have no students this week at all. Their last day of school was Friday. Now we have all week long to prepare our rooms and stuff for summer school which starts on Monday June 15th. Most of our students come to summer school because of need for PT, OT, and Speech services that they get. Plus the fact of it being really hard to find someone to stay with them while their parents work. So I am working summer school this year. It is extra money and HELL yeah, who wouldn't work for extra money right?? :)

So I am have a huge Yard Sale with my friends Doris and Donna next weekend. We are gathering all kinds of stuff and even posted the ad in the paper. Hopefully we can get rid of a bunch of junk. If anyone wants to come to our yard sale, come on down!!!! It will be at Donna's house behind Dover High School on Wilson Dr. I have spent most of the weekend, cleaning closets out, toys from the boys room, junk that I just do not need. I am the farthest from a pack rat and the more junk I can get rid of the better. I hate keeping STUFF just to Keep it. I don't see the point. If I don't use it in 6 months or more, I do not need it. I live on the motto ~~~ less is more~~~ I hate clutter, I hate mess, I hate junk!!! LOL.

Today is my weigh in day too. AND I FEEL FANTASTIC!!!!!! I have lost another 1 lb. So that brings my total weight loss to 131 lbs. YES I said ONE HUNDRED & THIRTY ONE POUNDS!!!! Can you believe it? It has been 10 months. JUST AMAZING!!! I just can't say enough about what it has done to my life, my self esteem (which was high enough to begin with) LOL, my body, my mind, my spirit, JUST MY OVER ALL BEING!!! How much more happier can I get right now? If only I had money to help with my bills I wouldn't need anything else. LOL.

Hey guess what??? ONLY 24 Days till my NEA Conference in SAN DIEGO California. I can not wait!!! Hey I need to get one of those counter things that mom and Peg have on the side of their blogs too. I don't know where they get them? Mom, Peg help me get one of those things.

Ok everyone~~~~HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!

ENJOY THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER!!!!

KEEP ON SMILING!!!! :)

What a SAD week I have had

HI Everyone. I tell you, life sure does have a way of slapping you in the face and fast. I have had such an extremely sad week this week. I am emotionally drained.

On Saturday last weekend, one of the girls at work, her son got murdered. YEAH what a mess. He was 28 and lived in New Castle, De. He was married. Wife upstairs sleeping, him and his buddy down stairs playing Xbox and they got robbed. Three men came into the house to ROB the house, did not expect people to be awake, shot my friend's son in the head, and beat his friend to death. SO EXTREMELY SAD. Then on Monday, one of the girls at work got rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, having severe chest pains, respiratory, and head ache. Said it was an anxiety attack. She didn't come back to work all week. Then on Tuesday, we found out that one of the girls at work, her son has Terminal Cancer spreading through his whole body. He is only 14 yrs old. So we are trying to fix meals and collect money for her and her family. He has to go through all kinds of treatments and chemo and all. Also on Tuesday, the little boy that I take home with me sometimes, his grandmother has custody of him. Well she called me on Tuesday night and told me that she has Breast Cancer now. So she is going to have to go through chemo and stuff. I told her I would be there to help her with our little boy. Then on Wednesday, one of our former students who graduated from our school, passed away. Heart attack, she was 26 yrs old. Friday was the funeral for the girl's son who was murdered. That was the most saddest funerals I have ever been to. And today was the funeral for the former student from our school. It is so hard when you get so attached to our students and they pass away so quickly and so young too. As long as I have been working with Handicapped Children, I have been through loosing so many of our students. I have actually lost track of how many. I know in the 24 years of working with these children, I have been to well over 15 funerals for our students. It is just so hard. :( It is just part of our job. A Part we don't ever get used to or ever want to have to go through but a part that Has to be.

So tomorrow I am doing nothing. I am emotionally drained, physically exhausted, and just plain tired. :(

Happy Tuesday!!!!

Hello all my blog friends. I have not had any appointments or meetings or anything this week and It has been very nice. So I have decided this week to start reading another book. I LOVE TO READ. But when I am so busy it is hard to get into a good book because it takes so long for me to get through it. So I have not been on the computer, I have not done too much around the house, I have not done too much of anything. I have been working and coming home and absorbing myself into this book. I know it is not anything special and it is not a book everyone will go out and buy. IT is just the fact that I have been so relaxed this week and enjoying reading a good book.
This past weekend was RACE WEEKEND HERE IN DOVER!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!! It is the weekend that WE ALL STAY In our houses. LOL. If anyone has never experienced Race Weekend in Dover, come visit me sometime in June or September and I will be glad to show you around town ~~~ NOT!!! LOL!!!! No it is just so crazy here, there are THOUSANDS of people here during Race weekend, the traffic is nuts, the people are EVERYWHERE, the campers are EVERYWHERE, it is truly a sight to see. I don't see what people see in Nascar except when there is a crash or something. But everyone likes it. So to each his own.
So my cousin Marleen and her husband came to visit us this weekend. NOT FOR THE RACES though. They came in to visit cus we haven't seen each other a while and she wanted to come to my pampered chef party. They came in on Saturday morning and they left Sunday afternoon. I sure do wish they could of stayed longer. They may be moving here in the next few months. They own their own business and they are trying to expand. So that will be great if they do move here so that me and Sam can help them and get some business for them and we will all be working together. That would be really nice for everyone. It was a nice visit although we didn't have too much time together. I made a really nice Beef Stew in the crock pot for dinner on Saturday and on Sunday Morning, we had our own IHOP here. We made LOTS of Pancakes, blueberry, banana, chocolate chip, and apple cinnamon. IT was wonderful.. We all had a great time making them and eating them. They were so yummy.

Well I have to get off here, I am making dinner and my BOOK is calling me LOL.

Talk to you all soon. Enjoy your Tuesday Night Everyone!!!!!!!!