February

Ok, I am managing to remember to post. Woohoo!
Not much is going on right now. Winter has been weird this year; too warm and not enough snow, but it seems to be trying to be normal again now.
Hubby is off at work for another week and a half and while he's been gone this time I decided to try a new diet. Shockingly, it's actually working! I lost 3.5 pounds last week, and 15 inches over all! This is the first time since the car accident in 2007 that I've been able to loose anything at all and I'm loving it! I know I've lost more inches since I did my weekly weigh in check (do those on Sundays) and I'm just loving this! Not sure how long I'll be able to stick to this once T comes back from the slope, I'm not supposed to do this for more then a few weeks at a time anyway; but I am going to be doing it every time he's gone, that is for sure!
I have been taking a provident living class every other week and this week I managed to get started on the "home work" for it. We were told to put together 5 cook book binders and start collecting our favorite recipes. The binder topics that were "suggested" didn't really work for the way I cook, so I came up with my own and wound up with 10 of them to start with. Some of them are for things we haven't covered yet in the class, but it will make it easier for me to sort my recipes.
And I'm going to be getting ready to get my seeds started for this year's garden here any day now. Soon as I get a chance to sit down and see what all I have and if I still need anything. The greenhouse is up in the front window and nearly ready to go. I need to find out from Hubby if I'll be able to use the window bay in the master bedroom this year or not (it is a construction zone currently) so I know how many tomato and pepper plants to plan for.
The de-construction of our master bed and bath continues. Well, it's on hold while Hubby is away, but he got a lot done last time. The linen closet walls are down, there is a big hole for a window in the wall between the 2 rooms and the sink counter is out. There is, sadly, a big pile of drywall bits on the floor as it was too cold to move those out before he left, but those won't be there long. We are hoping to get the tile and tub out this time and to maybe even get started on replacing the flooring in the bathroom area. We will have to order the tub itself soon and it will take several weeks for that to show up. (We have to special order it because of the color we want it in - gray.) Should all be very nice once we get it all done. Just hope it doesn't drive us all crazy until then. :)
In other news.. B1 and C have a house!! They close on the 17th and we're all very excited about it. It will only be about a 20 minute drive from us, so it's not too bad. :)
And.. B2 took first place on her oratory last weekend in speech and debate!
That brings everything new and exciting more or less up to current :)

2011 A new year, new hopes

Ok, so I was just reviewing and saw that it had been 2 months since I posted.. so, it's about time.. My only blogging goal for the year is to post at least once a month on each of my blogs. We will see how that goes.
Thanksgiving was a hoot. We had all 3 girls here, plus the SIL and grand daughter and the guy the kids have been house sitting for, whom the SIL also works with. It was packed and crazy, but it was fun. Because hubby's work schedule kept him away until Friday, we did the big dinner on Saturday. Which was nice as it spread things out a bit more for the girls. They did Thanksgiving day with their grandparents and aunt and uncle, then Friday we all went to town to pick their dad up and went to see the Harry Potter movie, then Saturday we had the big bash. That was also the grad daughter's 3rd birthday, so we made it a double party. Tons of food and some video games. Things wound up being called a bit short of our original plans as the eldest step daughter had to go to a funeral, but we still managed to have fun before the younger 2 left on Sunday.
Christmas was quiet for me. Hubby was at work through Christmas and New Years this year, so we didn't do much. So I got a nice quiet restful holiday for a change. This doesn't happen very often.
Tomorrow we get our new stove at long last!! After having spent most of the last year with the oven not working properly and making due with a large toaster oven, a crock pot or two and an electric roaster oven (thankfully the burners worked! though once in a while you'd have to start them with a lighter. Though, honestly, it's amazing how much you can work around with those, I even did a full Thanksgiving dinner!) we are finally getting the new stove we've been saving up for. It will be so nice to actually be able to cook again! And this one is a nice 5 burner, double oven stove. I am seriously so excited. I have no idea what I will cook first on it. I ordered it New Years Day and it will be showing up here just days before our anniversary. I told Hubby if he was smart he'd try to make it a Christmas and Anniversary present, but he's even smarter and says he doesn't count major appliances as presents.. Which is almost sad, because he has one of the few wives who would totally count it. lol
Health wise, this week has kind of sucked. I feel fine, actually. Blood pressure and everything are all fine, I've just been dealing with a LOT of pain this week, and that just drains me physically and emotionally. Though so far, at least emotionally, I've been able to bounce back quickly after the worst of it eases up. Just makes housework that much more of a hassle. I really am getting tired of the pain though. I'm trying to exercise more and get the joints in question to feel better about it, which, I'm sure is part of why they want to hate me so much right now.
Things are brewing with the kids.. most of it I don't feel I can talk about quite yet, though we are waiting to hear back from lawyers regarding options for trying to get the younger 2 up here full time.
But, the eldest has big news.. they finally found a house they felt they could put an offer on and it looks like they might just have a place to call their own soon, if all goes well with inspections and what not. It would only be about 15 or so miles from us, so that's not too bad at all. We are very excited about it. It will be nice to finally have them permanently settled.
Meanwhile, we've finally started the demolition on our master bed and bath. Hubby tore down some of the dry wall, cut a big hole in one of the walls, and generally made a big mess. He enjoyed himself immensely. There is still tons to do, but it feels nice to have it properly started. Sadly, it has left me with a bit of a cough, but then, we expected that, which is why I don't get to be part of the demo. Just have to get him to clear the tub and get to the tile removal soon. It should all be very nice once it's all done though. I think we finally figured out exactly what we want to do with it now, no more questions.
As for our adoption plans, we are still hoping to get everything in and done this year. Things had to go on a small hold as Hubby had to switch companies, so we are temporarily between health insurance coverages, so have to wait for that to kick back in, but that will be here soon. Sadly, it looks like I'm not going to be getting some of the money I was hoping to get this year to help cover costs and all, and depending on how things go with the girls and legal costs there, things might be a bit tighter then we were counting on, but we will manage one way or another.