Friend Makin' Monday

One of the blogs that I read on a regular basis has participated in Friend Making Monday for a while. I have never participated, but decided to do so... at least once, but hopefully on a more regular basis.

 
If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

1. Share one thing that you plan to do for yourself in 2013. I plan to use the year 2013 to focus on me. While it's in my nature to be giving, I have got to concentrate on myself. I'm 28 and my health is going down the bucket and I want to remedy the situation before it's too late.
2. Share a good habit that you will continue doing into the new year. My good habits all went down the toilet this year. One thing that I was really good at was not drinking soda. I had several months where I would go without soda. It would be nice to go without soda all the time.
3. Do you make new year’s make resolutions? If so, do you typically stick to them? I do, but I rarely stick to them. I usually make a list of 10 resolutions. It's a tradition that I've done since I was young. Last year I only kept one of my resolutions. I hope to have better luck in the coming year.
4. Do you have any health goals for the new year? I have a lot of health goals for 2013. I want to work on me which includes my health. I have about 70-75 pounds to lose. I'd like to lose about 50 this year. I also want to concentrate on getting healthy, not just losing weight. I want to exercise more. I want to eat better. I want to feel better.
5. Share one thing that you plan to do in January. A small group of friends and I were considering starting a once monthly game club. We get together, play board games, eat, drink, and be merry. I would like to schedule the first game night sometime towards the end of January.
6. Do you have any travel plans for the coming year? If so, where are you most excited to go? I don't really have any plans to travel in 2013. I'm going to work on saving some money. I would love to travel to Los Angeles sometime in 2014. I suppose, I would love to travel to Wisconsin and visit my "nerd friends" (as my mom calls them) along with my family that lives there.
7. What are your plans for New Year’s Eve? The same that they are every year. I normally stay home with my boyfriend and watch movies until the new year arrives. We usually order in pizza, get some alcohol, and just relax. I'm looking forward to that. Oh, I also usually read a book at some point during the night. I started a new book yesterday and I will probably finish it tonight... though if I wait til after midnight, it will count on my reading list for next year... hmmm... :)
8. What are your resolutions for 2013? I will post an entry tomorrow with all of my resolutions. Like I said, I like to have 10 of them and I'm not quite done with them yet... Once they're perfected (haha) I will post them.
9. What are you looking forward to most over the next 12 months? Finding myself again. I've lost myself over the last few years and I'm looking forward to figuring out who I am again.
10. Share something unique that you hope to do in 2013. Unique??? No idea. LOL  

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments, and say hi to someone new!

Have a happy and safe New Year's! :)

Getting Healthy

As many of you know, I blog on another website. On that website, for at least five years, I've ran a weight loss group. It started as me taking over for a girl who ran a group, but couldn't anymore. Then I stopped running hers and ran my own. It's changed a lot over the years, but it's still mine. Granted, nothing has come from it for me. I just looked back and the first phase that I ran on my own, I weighed around 200 pounds. Last time I weighed in (Friday), I was 224.4. So, my weight has gone up... My Elf4Health gave me an idea that I hadn't really thought of before. I'm surprised I hadn't thought of it either... The next phase of my weight loss group, which will begin towards the end of March, will be ran in both groups. I need to work out ideas for how it's going to be run and prizes for competitors, but I strongly believe that running the group with even more participants will greatly help me out with my weight loss... which is honestly the reason why I love running the group. :) Look for a new tab on this blog very soon with my ideas for adding my blogspot blog to my other one. :) I'm so excited. The current phase of my group just started today and I don't really have time to incorporate this one into that one so, yeah... it'll start with the next phase. :)

The Loot + Sadness

I made out like a bandit again this Christmas. Here's a list of what all I received...

From Matt's sister-in-law: a cute pair of short brown boots

From Matt's parents: a 7 quart slow cooker, a pair of red pajamas with white hearts on the pants, a makeup bag with some travel size goodies in it

From my sister: a pack of apple cider k-cups

From my brother: a pink Aeropostale hoodie

From my parents: a cute cupcake cookie jar, a ton of k-cups, a k-cup carousel, a pretty shirt, new sheets for my bed, and my favorite gift??? a quilt for my bed:



I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday as well!!!

On a sadder note, my great uncle that I wrote about on the 14th passed away this evening. He went into the hospital for back surgery and had complications in the form of blood clots. They got those removed via surgery, but he was pretty much brain dead after that and for the past 11 days, his body has slowly been shutting down. R.I.P. Uncle Donnie!!! As sad as it is that you are gone, I'm sure Grandma was thrilled with her Christmas present of seeing you again.

Tracking + Furious + Cleaning Question

I had a friend suggest that I try looking into a natural planning method to avoid pregnancy. I think we'll do this. I haven't really looked that far into it, but from what I understand, it's basically what you'd do if you were trying to get pregnant... take your basal body temperature, chart your periods and symptoms, etc... and then avoid sex when you're most fertile. I like this method. I'm also allergic to condoms (I swell and break out into a rash)... The only other form of contraception I've used is spermicide and honestly, that takes away from the fun because it's got to melt before you can go at it. LOL I downloaded two apps to my phone "Fertility Friend" and "Period Tracker". So far, I think Period Tracker looks more easy to use than Fertility Friend. I can't quite figure out how to log my last period on FF. *shrugs* We'll see how this goes.

I am FURIOUS at my sister's boyfriend... incredibly angry. It's a week before Christmas. He told her he is no longer coming to see her for Christmas... at all. He's not coming to my parents' Christmas and he's not coming to get her so she can go to his parents' Christmas. The problem is this... my sister has learning disabilities and because of them she doesn't work. She probably could work, but she couldn't do more than a minimum wage job. She also does not have a car and she would need to pay a babysitter to watch my niece. So she doesn't work. She gets WIC and a Link card (food stamps) and a medical card. She does not get any disability or anything like that. My niece's bio-dad is a piece of crap and he doesn't work so that he doesn't have to pay child support. My sister gets no extra cash... My mom and dad pay for a lot of their non-food items. Anyway... my sister's boyfriend promised her that he'd come for Christmas... and he promised her he would buy presents for everyone. He never did. It's a week before Christmas, he's not coming and he didn't buy any presents at all. My niece has NOTHING for Christmas now because my sister thought her boyfriend would stick by his word and buy presents... My sister is sad. I don't think she's fed up with him yet, but she's sad that he did this to her. My mom invited my sister and niece to spend Christmas night with them. My parents' bought my niece a tricycle for Christmas. If they stay at my parents' house, my mom is going to let this be my niece's Santa gift. My mom is also going to give my sister $100 so she can buy us all a $10 gift each. I'm going to take my sister shopping Saturday morning.

Our bathroom was remodeled probably 5 years ago. The tub was bought new then. It's a nice tub/shower combo, but the bottom of the shower is textured. I like it because it's non-slip and I don't have to worry about falling in the shower (I'm a klutz and have done it before)... The problem being this... my bathroom ceiling is low and this makes our shower liner lay in the bottom of the tub a few inches. Those few inches are disgusting because dirty water gets trapped under the liner. No matter what I do, I can't get rid of the dirt and grime that is there... I've tried diluted bleach, bathroom cleaners with bleach, dish cleaning liquid... I've tried just about everything. If people looked at my tub, they'd think we were dirty people, but I swear we're not. I clean my tub often... Any ideas???

Jealousy + Appointments + Mourning

When I was younger I was always super jealous of my siblings. They're both petite with blond hair and blue eyes. They're both thin... they take after my father's side of the family... I was always more like my mom's side of the family... I'm big boned and have brown hair and brown eyes. I've always struggled with my weight... They're also both fearless. They would hop onto anything with wheels and take off without fear of being injured. I was always such a worrywart that I would fuss and cry because I might hurt myself... The older we get, the less jealous I am... While they may be fearless and able to ice skate the first time they try, I can fairly easily learn how to do anything. I may still struggle with my weight, but the older they get, the thinner they get. Haha... I don't know what possessed me to write about this, but I've felt like writing about it for a couple of days now...

I had my doctor's appointment today. I spoke with my doctor about going off my birth control. She completely supports that decision but suggested using other forms of birth control for at least three to four months. The main reason being, we don't know how my body is going to react when I go off my birth control. We need three or four months of non-pregnant me in order to figure out if I still need to take my blood pressure medication or not. She also strongly advised against getting pregnant while on Prozac and she said the least amount of time she recommends staying on it is six months. I just started my fourth month. So, I will be done with Prozac in March or so... So, after this thing of pills (which I'll finish next Saturday), I won't be buying any more.

I still can't believe how much I'm mourning over twenty-six people I don't even know. Those children... those poor innocent children... Ever since I saw the photos of them being posted, I can't forget their little faces. And the teacher who saved her entire class by putting them in the closet and then telling the shooter they were in gym class and then getting shot to death herself... so brave... and the school principal that lunged at the gunman to protect a couple of teachers and was killed in the process... so admirable. Just typing this small paragraph out brought tears to my eyes. Ugh. So sad.

Sickened

I cannot believe that anyone would walk into an elementary school and open fire. My heart breaks for the children and families affected by the shooting in Connecticut. An entire kindergarten class viciously killed... I cannot imagine what their families are going through... especially this close to the holidays. And all of the children who survived this event, I'm sure their lives will never be the same... ever. I would be traumatized as an adult being in a setting such as that... I cannot imagine being in grade school and being witness to such atrocities... I am beyond appalled. I'm beyond sickened. There really are no words. I've been at work all day and haven't broken into tears. I've greatly wanted to, but I've held it in... It seems like there's this blanket of sadness all around us. I ran errands on my lunch and everywhere I went, it seemed like people weren't as happy as normal... I believe that it's sad enough when the lives of adults or teens are taken so early, but twenty kindergarteners is beyond tragic. On my lunch break today, I watched the news in horror as they started relaying more and more information about the circumstances of the shooting. When the president took the stage, it seemed like he had an extremely difficult time keeping his composure. He said that he reacted as a parent first, not the president... These senseless deaths are... beyond words. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those touched by this tragedy.

To make matters even worse for the day, about an hour ago my aunt messaged me on Facebook asking where my mom was. I told her my mom was working. My aunt said that she had been trying to call my mom with no answer. Then she said that my great-uncle is in the hospital with a blood clot and they don't expect him to live more than a couple of hours. They were taking him into surgery about an hour and a half ago, but they don't expect him to make it through the surgery. Sad...

Domesticated + Other Ramblings

I am going to feel all domesticated this weekend! This is my to do list that I started yesterday:

1. Go through refrigerator. Read labels on all condiments and throw away old ones. Clear out anything spoiled.
2. Clean refrigerator fully. Thoroughly clean off all shelves with hot soapy water. Includes freezer.
3. Go through mess on end of kitchen counter.
4. Go through basket on baker's rack (where I keep my "important" letters).
5. Give Rusty a bath.
6. Wash Rusty's bed.
7. Wash our bed sheets.
8. Clean out bedroom closet.
9. Scour bathroom. Includes: cleaning toilet, cleaning sink, bleaching toothbrush holder, cleaning off storage shelves, scouring bathtub.

That's quite a list. I want to have all of that done by the end of the weekend. I was going to give Rusty a bath tonight, but I'm really tired. I don't feel like giving him a bath and washing all of the bed sheets and his bed. I'm currently baking some cookies.

Anyway, I had another talk with Matt today about making babies... I didn't pressure him at all, but I did tell him that I want to go off of my birth control. Here is a list of possible side effects of my birth control that I do have:

• Enlarged Breasts/Breast Tenderness: I have been taking vitamin E for years now for breast tenderness. And my breasts have gotten ginormous since I started birth control, but that could also be because I've gained roughly 75-90 pounds since then. *shrugs*
• Irregular Periods/Absence of Menstrual Periods: Sometimes my period is heavy and sometimes it's non-existent. I worried about not having periods until I saw it was a "normal" side effect and you shouldn't be concerned unless you don't have a period for three months in a row.
• Weight Gain/Change in Appetite: My weight has gone up a lot since I started birth control. I've also had a lot harder time controlling my compulsive overeating. Hence the Prozac...
• Sinus Irritation and Congestion: Maybe my allergies really aren't allergies, but are because of the birth control. I mean, I started this birth control in April of probably 2010... so two and a half years ago and that's when my "allergies" kicked into high gear
• Low Energy/Chronic Trouble Sleeping: I am always tired and could always fall asleep at the drop of a hat... I also don't sleep very well sometimes. 
• Yeast Infection of Vagina and Vulva: I get yeast infections a lot and very easily. It's annoying. I hate them!
• Migraine Headaches: I have been getting migraines a lot lately. I didn't realize this was also a side effect of birth control. Hmmm...
• Diarrhea/Incomplete or Infrequent Bowel Movements: I either have one or the other. I'm either constipated as all get out or have diarrhea that doesn't stop... My close friends know this about me... It's annoying, but again, I didn't realize that it was a side effect of my birth control.
• Easily Angered or Annoyed/Mood Changes: I tend to get irritable really easy. You can just ask my friend Brenda. LOL I can be in a perfectly good mood and as soon as something small happens, I snap and get angry. 
• Altered Interest in Having Sexual Intercourse: We all know that I have virtually no sex drive.
• High Blood Pressure: I always knew this was a side effect and my doctor keeps trying to take me off of the birth control because of my high blood pressure.

I went through the complete list of possible side effects and didn't know that some of them were even side effects. . *shrugs*  Anyway, Matt agreed that I could stop taking my birth control. Like I said previously, we don't have sex often right now so I'm not worried about getting pregnant yet. We didn't talk about his decision about having a baby or not. I don't know if we're going to just not prevent pregnancy or use other forms of birth control or actively try yet, but after I'm done with this pack of pills, I'm not getting any more. :) Yay that! It's a step in the right direction...

Onto the dieting front... I haven't been watching what I'm eating in the slightest. I've been eating whatever I want and that's not good for me. I need to lose weight, not stay the same. My weight is no longer going up really (I bounce within the same 5 pounds). At least I'm not binge eating consistently and that helps. It would also help if I had more money to buy some healthy groceries.

I'm so poor right now it's ridiculous!!! I am COMPLETELY broke right now. Both of my credit cards are maxed out ($620 total). I have absolutely nothing in savings and have around $10 in my checking. I get paid tomorrow, but after I pay my bills, I'll have about $20 left over to last me until the following Friday. That's when we're supposed to get our Christmas bonus. They're taxed like crazy. If I use a formula against how much I got last year, I'll get $350ish back this year. Now, I KNOW I will get this bonus because it's basically paying me back for not taking my sick time. I just don't know for sure that I'll get it that Friday, but it should be that day. He's always given them to us the last work day before Christmas. He also gives us a Christmas card with a $50 bill in it. So, I should get an extra $400 next Friday. Then my last paycheck of the year (the 28th), I only have a few bills to pay. I looked over my budget, and the good news is that by the time I get my tax return back (assuming I get back everything I paid in like I do every year... roughly $1000), I will be out of debt (except my two loans) and even have a couple of hundred extra to put in my savings. Yay that!

Okay, my timer is buzzing that my cookies are done. G'night!

Fear

What I feared happened... My other blogging site has currently been down for AT LEAST 42 hours currently. There has been no word from the blogging site creator, but according to one of his admins, it is a hosting issue and not a server issue. Apparently it's not really a big deal, but they expected the site to be back up yesterday and it's still down. *sad face*

I had "the talk" with Matt about having a baby. He was in a silly mood so I almost didn't talk to him about it, but here is the gist of our conversation (I'm bolded):

Me: I have something serious I want to talk to you about. 
Him: No!
Me: It’s not regarding marriage…
Him: You want to buy something?
Me: No.
Him: You want ME to buy something for you?
Me: No. 
Him: You need something from me?
Me: Well, kind of. 
Him: What? (said really silly-like)
Me: If you’re not going to be serious about it, I’m not going to talk to you. 
Him: What do you need?
Me: I want a baby… 
Him: (shocked look)
Me: I was watching TV the other day and found out that by age 30, women lose 90% of their eggs. You could be fertile forever, but me, not so much… and the women in my family have problems with having babies anyway… You always told me you wanted to have kids with me. 
Him: Ummm… (looks shocked still) Rusty, you wanna go outside and play?

I sat there for a little bit until he came back in and then:

Him: Let me think about it. That’s a huge deal.
Me: Okay. 
Him: We’re not very responsible.
Me: (shrugs) 
Him: This house is too little to have a baby.
Me: Oh no. My great-aunt lived in this house with four kids. We could make it work with one. 
Him: Okay, let me think about it.

He didn't flat out say no which is amazing. I'm excited at the prospect, but I'm trying not to get too excited. I think I'm going to talk to him again before my appointment next Monday and tell him I want to stop taking my birth control regardless. I have no sex drive. None. I'm sure part of it is because I'm overweight, but I can't remember the last time we had sex. That's insane because we're young people living in the same house... It also raises my blood pressure and I think it would greatly help my blood pressure if I went off of it. *shrugs*

Anyone have any suggestions of things I should ask my doctor regarding trying for a baby (if Matt agrees)? Right now I only have a couple for her:

1) Should I wait a certain amount of time after stopping my birth control before trying to conceive. (I think I read somewhere that you should wait 3 months, but I'm not sure if that's valid or where I heard it from.)

2) Would it be best to go off of my Prozac before trying to get pregnant? If so, how long after stopping Prozac can we safely try to conceive?

3) Would it be best to go ahead and change my blood pressure medication to something that's pregnancy safe or should we wait until a positive pregnancy test?

Sensitive

I think I'm too sensitive for my own good. I've always been incredibly shy and I have a hard time making new friends because I'm not good at the small talk and I don't like putting myself out there. I found the internet when I was in junior high. I've made a ton of good internet friends over the years. The first internet friend I had was a kid named Scott who lived in a suburb of Chicago. We found each other in the Yahoo! Personals before it was a dating site. He and I shared a birthday. I still have a Christmas card he sent me a bajillion years ago. My best friend for the longest time was a man named Phil. We were super close and I loved him a lot. He moved away and we lost contact. I still have him on my Yahoo! Messenger. He's occasionally online and we talk. I miss him a lot. The man who taught me to be more open and not as shy... the man who taught me that I could be loved for me and I didn't need to change for anyone. I met him online too... His name is Ryan. I ended things with him and he was so hurt we haven't talked much since. He was a great friend...

Anyway, my whole point for writing all of this is that I don't take well to criticism. I'm always so harsh on myself and I don't like when other people are... It makes me defensive and angry... usually. I know a lot of people are like, "If you don't want opinions on stuff, don't put it out there on the internet." I don't have a lot of friends in real life. I've made some lifelong friends online. I don't want to lose them and I don't want to lose the opportunity to meet great people...

Brenda: Some days, I don't know what I would do without talking to you. You let me vent. You let me cry "on your shoulder". We talk about everything and, while this might be strange since we've never met, you're probably one of my best friends. You know more about me than most of my real life friends.

Jolynn: I am so glad we met. You are an amazing woman and an amazing friend. I can't wait until you're done with school and have more free time. Maybe we can hang out again then!!! :)

Jaime, Shauna, Jennifer, and everyone else: Thank you so much for reading me over the years and giving me your advice.

I know I sometimes jump to the wrong conclusions. I know I've probably said harsh things to you and yet you're all still here. You put up with my venting and my excitement over lame things and everything.

This isn't a goodbye... I know it might sound that way, but it's really not. I'm not going anywhere... This is just an explanation of why I do the things I do... why I react the way I do. I'm not a big fan of people disagreeing with me because it makes me evaluate myself. I'm finally getting to the point where I don't care what people think of me as much as I used to. I hate confrontation. I hate fighting. I hate disagreement. I need to get stronger skin. 

Seriously

I had the hardest time sleeping last night. My co-worker's 22-year-old daughter had a baby girl yesterday morning. She is adorable and precious and she makes my biological clock tick really loudly. I think I'm going to have to have a talk with Matt very soon. I was always one of those girls who wanted to wait until marriage to have kids. Matt doesn't want to get married right now. I don't understand his reasons, but I respect him and don't want to force him into marrying me when he doesn't want to...

The thing is, I was watching television and a girl on the show I was watching found out that at age 30, women lose 90% of their eggs. I googled it and it's true. I'm already 28+. I've got less than two years before I lose 90% of my eggs. Men can stay fertile forever basically, but women, not so much... I've already explained to him that women in my family have a hard time having babies as it is... At that time he still didn't want to get married, but he said, "Let's make a baby!" I told him not without a ring on my finger first and that was that...

The more I think about it, the more I'm not sure that I DO need a ring on my finger... Yes, it would be ideal. Yes, I should be married before starting a family. However, I have been with Matt for almost nine years. He makes me happy. He supports me. He is loving. I honestly believe that we will be together forever... regardless of his holdup that he doesn't want to get married. What does a marriage license prove?

I go back to the doctor on the 17th for another check up. I want to talk to Matt before then. If he's game with trying for a baby, I want to talk to my doctor about what I need to do to try to become pregnant. I mean, I know what you need to do to get pregnant, but medically speaking. I know I'll have to stop my birth control (duh), but should I wait a few months after stopping it before actively trying to become pregnant? I am also on my blood pressure medication and Prozac. I know she said that, should I get pregnant, my medications would have to change. If I'm actively trying to get pregnant, should they change before hand? Also, are there any methods of tracking that she finds beneficial?

I'm not getting ahead of myself here. I don't want to get all excited about the prospect, and then have my heart crushed if he doesn't want to try yet... I don't know what to expect when having this talk with Matt, but I do want children and it needs to be soon if I'm going to try at all. *sigh*

Thoughts

I think it's funny that I'm running the DePhoMo group, but that I'm not really posting pictures. The reason I'm not doing it is because I don't want my photos out there with everyone else's photos… mostly because I am hosting DePhoMo. I don't know. *shrugs* I am not really in the mood to take photos, but I love looking at everyone else's photos. 

I went back to the gym last night. I went one day in the past month and before that I haven't been since the summer. I hate paying for a gym membership and not going. I went religiously for a while and was so happy and healthy. I felt great all the time. I wasn't tired all of the time. It's frustrating to me… I don't know why I don't use my membership. 

I keep thinking that I just need to find something that works for me. I don't know what I want to do though. Counting calories doesn't really work for me because I do silly things like eat ice cream for dinner. I'm honestly debating doing Weight Watchers online again. *shrugs* I got an email from them today and I've been thinking off and on all day about it. I've seen a lot of people get great results on the new plan. I tried it and didn't think it was for me, but that was a while ago and I wasn't fully vested into getting healthy. Maybe I should try again. I won't be able to afford it until the end of the year, but I could buy the three months online and stick with it until my three months are up and see what happens. 

Question for my readers: If you could afford it, would you pay for Weight Watchers, or do you think counting calories is good enough??? 

Question for those who have done Weight Watchers before: Do you think the meetings help or would online be good enough? I mean, I might be able to afford the meetings come the new year, but honestly, I live in a small town and the majority of the people who go to those meetings are older… and by older I mean in their late 50s or early 60s. 

Okay, I think I'm done for now. 

Reminder: I am doing my first vlog (video blog) this Saturday. If you have anything you want me to discuss, you can either leave me a comment/note on this entry or email me at crystal@crysrochelle.com.

Busy, Busy

Today was pretty busy.

I went to bed kind of early last night because I was tired and bored. I know, I'm lame… I'm a 28-year-old female who was in bed at 9:30 on a Friday night because I was bored. I need some friends. LOL Or some more, not as busy friends… Whatever… I woke up at 3:30 in the morning because I couldn't breathe out of my nose. Our humidifier ran out of water and that dries out my nose like nobody's business. So, I got up and filled the water tanks up on it. I couldn't go back to sleep so I stayed up with Matt and we watched a documentary about dogs on Netflix. It was so interesting. I just always wish they'd talk about Boston terriers on there. Haha… I went back to bed around 5:30 or 6.

My mom called me at 9 am and I was still in bed. I didn't wake up quickly enough to answer her first call. She called me again and I answered it. It was nice out today (low 60's) which isn't normal for December 1 st in Illinois. She wanted me to come out and help her take Hailey's Christmas pictures. I got up and threw a load of laundry in the washer, gathered up my stuff, took a shower, got ready, threw the clothes that were in the washer in the dryer, and headed to my parents'. I had to make a pit stop at the gas station or I'd have to walk (it's like 15-20 miles) and then I ran by McDonald's for breakfast. I was starving! I didn't feel well last night and didn't eat any dinner. I got to my parents' shortly after 10.

My mom and I spent about two or three hours taking pictures of Hailey and my dad's co-worker's son (Colton). Hailey will be three in a week and Colton is about 16-18 months old. They were a handful when it came to taking the photos. We literally took over 500 pictures of Hailey and got maybe a dozen good ones. We only took about 150 pictures of Colton, but we got several good ones of him which is awesome.

When we were done, we went to Walmart and IGA to get food for a birthday party tomorrow. Like I said, Hailey's birthday is next Saturday… she shares a birthday with my cousin Iris. My brother's girlfriend's oldest turned 12 less than a week ago… Kyndra's sister Linda's birthday was in August, but we missed it because she was with her dad in Chicago then. So, we're having a birthday party for all four of them tomorrow. Good times.

We went back to their house. We wrapped a few presents for the birthday party. Then my mom made us dinner. I went through some pictures we took and then we sat around talking for a while. I left at 8, came home, fed the animals, let the dog out, and here I am. Writing this… watching Restaurant: Impossible on the Food Network (I love Robert Irvine!) and waiting for 9 so I can check out the DePhoMo photos that were posted today! Alright, I'm out of here! Goodnight!