OMG OMG OMG OMG I am so excited!

As I sit here and munch on refried beans, I can barely contain myself with excitement.  First off, the move to Orlando may not happen like we wanted.  I dont have enough time to go into it, but somethings happened and I will come back at a later date to explain.

So without further ado, I am now a big sister!!  OMG I am so excited about this.  My father was separated from my mom when I was a baby.  He ended up getting another woman pregnant.  My parents got back together and then eventually divorced when I was in 5th grade.  It was right after they divorced that dad told me that I had a sibling.  Because the other woman wouldnt contact him after the fact, he had no idea if the baby was a boy or girl.  After becoming an adult, I began searching and searching and searching.  Dad has even hired PI's to no avail.  Well, he told me that Sunday he talked with the husband of the woman whom had given birth to my sibling.  In all of my searches, I had listed on a genealogy board that I was looking for this woman and her child.  The child found my post on Monday and emailed me.  I have a brother!!!  He is two years younger than me.  This is so surreal.  I have talked to him by email several times and have received pictures of him.  He is my father's child because he looks just like my dad when dad was his age.  OMG OMG OMG OMG  I am ecstatic.  I cant contain myself. lol 

Ok, need to go.  Got lots to do.  Promise, I will come back and give details on the Orlando situation.

lunch

Getting ready for our garage sale this weekend. Pray we make a lot of money! Here is a picture of my lunch that God had blessed me with.

I'm gonna make you an offer you cant refuse!

What a day!  My lil guy is no longer a first grader!!  We had a pool party at one of the homes of his school mates.  He had a great time.  There was food all over the place.  The only protein they had was hotdogs.  So, I had a hotdog without the bun.  I also had a small slice of watermelon.  The host kept trying to push more food on me.  I guess they are use to fat people eating more.  Cake, ice cream, chips…. You name it, I think they had it.  Finally I just came right out and told them that I do not eat a lot since I have had lapband surgery.  “Oh, ok” was the reply and she soon walked away.  Was it something I said?

Anyway, continuing on from yesterday.  What was this offer that we could not refuse?  Brent and our friend worked together at Emeril’s in Orlando for over 3 years together.  I was on the phone with the wife on Friday and told her (unloaded in tears) about everything that happened.  Very calmly she told me to pack our backs, pick up our son from school and head to Orlando because we (all 4 adults) had some things to talk about and decide. 

So we said ok.  I packed our bags quickly, picked the munchkin up from school and was Orlando bound.  Then I remembered that I forgot to pack my pj’s.  Oh No!!  Had to stop and spend $$ on pj’s that I forgot since I cant sleep naked.  Not that I would anyway since our son still comes into our room in the morning.  After our detour, we finally made it to Orlando.  Here our friend is, an executive chef with Cheesecake Factory, and his wife prepares fish sticks and frozen pizza for us.  LOL  LOL  LOL  I love it!!  She told me that he would be horrified if he knew that she was not cooking for us.  I nibbled on a few fishsticks and had salad. 

After he got home – with a slice of cheesecake (damn him, lol) – we had our talk.  He told Brent that he knows a lot of people in other restaurants and could have a job for him immediately.  They proposed that we move into their home with them and their 3 kids RENT FREE!!  Yep!  I joked around all weekend and told them that we couldn’t do that.  But they kept asking.  Well, not really asking, but telling us that we were moving in. 

On our way home we really started to discuss it and decided it REALLY does make sense.  After they take out what they are taking from Brent’s paycheck, we will not have money to pay bills and live on.  I called our friends back and told them that we would take them up on their offer, but only if Brent could get a job.  Mike, our friend, immediately called his contacts (I was on the phone with his wife) and had a job lined up for Brent within minutes.  Brent is going to meet with the executive chef of another restaurant on Monday.  Brent has worked with him before also, and they both kinda remember each other.  If all goes well, and their personalities are compatible, then Brent will accept the job (HE HAS NO CHOICE OR I WILL HURT HIM – LOL). 

It looks like within the next month we will be moving to Orlando.  This is great for us because it will allow us to save a lot of money and will give us the type of support system that we miss by not being near family.  Right now, all we have are a few people that we have met, but not like family.  Our friends are like family.  Their words were, “Come up here and let us show you love.  We know you have no family near so we will be your adopted family.”  Love, love, love them!!  Oh, and in case you were wondering if I ate the cheesecake he brought home – only 2 bites!!  Moderation!  Before, I would have gobbled it up in 2 seconds.

Get outta my mind!

Decisions, decisions!  What do we do?  It is so hard trying to keep my eating under control during this stressful time.  I want pizza, ice cream, hamburgers, etc, etc.  You know, all the bad things for you.  I know this is mental.  I know it is stress.  I pray I get a handle on it soon. 

Well, yesterday when my hubby went into work, they had a nice, lovely letter waiting for him to sign that stated that he AGREED to their terms (even though he didn’t) and that if his employment ended (fired or quit) then he is still responsible to pay back the money and they will take us to court and make us pay their attorney fees, etc.  He told his HR rep that he was not comfy signing without his attorney to look at it.  She wrote him an email and told him that if it was not signed by 4pm, then they would take his paycheck.  Yeap, all of it. He wouldn’t get anything.  Nothing to live on or pay rent.  Oh My Gosh!  He had to sign it.  I told him to go to his supervisor and inform her that he was very stressed and under duress when signing it.  Oh how I hope this does not turn into a legal fight with them. 

On the other hand, we have friends in Orlando that we like to stay with when we go there.  These friends are the bestest in the whole world!!  The whole story starts years ago when I first met my hubby.  We had just started dating and I wanted my friend to meet him.  I really wanted her opinion of him.  She thought he was the greatest.  While we were out having fun that night, my hubby called his friend and invited him to join us.  Then you can guess what happened: boy meets girl, etc.  They fell in love and got married.  My hubby had played matchmaker and somehow knew that they would hit it off.  Our son and their daughter were born exactly 2 weeks apart.  During this whole saga with Brents job, they made us an offer we could not refuse. 

Ok, gotta go pick up my lil one from school in a minute.  I will be back tomorrow to tell more about the too good to be true offer.  Have a great day everyone.

another weekend at disney

I am so glad we already have year tickets or we would not be able to come here. It is already HOT! Lol That's to be expected. Following up with a prior post - I do not think I will have a problem with getting my water in today. We met up with our friend from Chicago and her boyfriend that we are just meeting. We are going to spend the whole day with them and then we are going to spend the night at our friends house. The friendship we have with our Orlando friends is a story for another day. We love them dearly and try to spend time with them often. I do hope everyone is enjoying their weekend . Here is a picture of my view right now.

He's looking for a new job!

Well, my hubbys job wants him to pay back the money.  They refused to accept responsibility for any wrongdoing.  They admitted that within the past two years they have had another issue exactly like his!  Sucks for us!!  They would not work with any of his suggestions on how to recoup the money (tuition reimbursement, etc).  They were trying to get $300 per paycheck from him.  He became upset, but never showed it.  They told him that if we REMOVE all of our insurances (health, dental, vision, health care savings) that this is where the $300 could come from.  WHAT??  We need insurance. They told him that since he was upset he could go home, but they expected to resolve this today.  Oh, and they AUTOMATICALLY took his PAID TIME OFF (vacation pay) to pay back some of this money.  I dont think that is legal.  We will get through this.  He told them that he was head of household and that his wife does not work due to our son and his medical issues.  So they decided to spread it out a little further and make it $150 per paycheck.  Still something we can not afford.  He told him the most he could afford is $25 per paycheck.  So, we have tried to call attorneys to see if what they are doing is legal, but they all want $200 consultation - that we dont have.  He called out today and told them that he was just too distraught to come in.  He is sitting beside me on his laptop putting his resume on different websites, calling staffing companies, etc.  I dont know what he is going to do next week.  It's not that we dont want to pay the money back - we just cant afford to on their terms.  What to do, oh what to do??!!?!

Today is D day and WATER!!

Well, just to touch on the $$ issue, my husbands job finally will meet with him today to resolve the overpayment issue.  We do not have any extra moneys to live from, so hopefully they will go easy on him and agree to like $10 a pay check.  It's hard when you only have one person working - one pay check - just to get by.  But this was a choice of ours with our son.  We wanted one parent to be home with him.  

Ok, so I have been thinking about this drinking a whole "ocean" of water every day.  Just what does it do for us?  How good is it really?  Why do we need a boat load of water in one day?  I started searching the internet and this is what I have come up with:

1. It helps you lose weight. I’ve noticed that I definitely get full faster and am taking in less food without feeling deprived. This has been an easy way to kick up my weight loss efforts.
2. It’s easier to be hydrated for exercise. Since I am always drinking water, I start my exercise routine already hydrated and don’t have to take in as much water to stay on top of my hydration. When I am well hydrated, I exercise better! I don’t feel sluggish and it takes longer for me to feel tired. I did not expect simply drinking water would be so beneficial to my exercising.
3. Your skin texture improves. I’ve read that your skin gets plumped up and dewy because you are hydrated. I don’t know about that, but I am definitely breaking out less and generally having fewer skin problems since I started drinking more water.
4. Drinking water helps maintain digestive health. I have definitely noticed that water helps with digestion, and (this is probably an overshare) helps to keep you “regular”….with your “evacuation” processes by making things easier and more frequent. 
5. Drinking water helps flush out toxins. Although most people refer to the benefits of drinking water to flush out toxins that come from our food and the environment, the best proof I have is how water helps to prevent hangovers and minimizes the effects of alcohol. This is probably more of a hydration effect than a toxin-flush effect. I noticed before that whenever I had a glass of wine at night , I used to feel pretty sluggish and drained during my run. Now that I am taking in extra water, I can have a glass of wine and still feel fine for exercise the next day. ***This one is not mine - it is one that I read and thought that it made sense since it talks about flushing toxins - not drinking.  Sorry if it offends anyone***
6.  Speaking of exercise, I definitely get more exercise as a result of drinking water. This is because of all of the bathroom breaks I need to take during the day. I feel like I am constantly walking to the bathroom.   If I wore a pedometer, I bet this would add a couple of thousand steps to my weekly tally.
7.  Taking in more fluid helps reduce fluid retention. Like many women, I retain fluid and get some swelling around the time I menstruate. However, I’ve noticed that I am now less swollen since I began drinking water.
8. You have more energy. I don’t know why, I just know that I feel more alert and have fewer days when I hit the afternoon slump since I started drinking more water.
9. You save money. Bottled water is definitely cheaper than most other drinks, and tap water is free! Most people in the US have access to good, clean, safe tap water. If you want to learn about the quality of your local tap water, the Environmental Protection Agency monitors and publicly reports the quality of tap water throughout the US.
10. You know the location of every bathroom. Have I mentioned how much you go to the bathroom drinking all of this water? Let me just say that a benefit to the popularity of Starbuck’s is you are never very far from a bathroom. If you are stuck, with no Starbuck’s in sight, a good back up is a nice hotel. Most of them have bathrooms somewhere in the lobby.

 So, some of these are mine, some are not.  But I thought it was important to look at some of the benefits of water.  I am STRUGGLING to drink my water.  Yesterday, I only got 3 - 8oz glasses of water in.  Today, I am trying really hard to get more in.  This is my struggle right now.  I do not have a problem with my calorie intake, only my water.  How can I get my water intake to improve.  I found this on someone's website and thought I would post it here.

• Carry a bottle
  A lot of people find it useful to get a big plastic drinking bottle, fill it with water, and carry it around with them all day. I like to keep a glass of water at my desk, and I drink from it all day long. When it's empty, I fill it up again, and keep drinking.  **STACY COMMENT> I do keep an 18 oz water bottle filled with crystal light that I carry with me most of the time.  I have another in the fridge waiting to "go" after I have finished my first one.  END COMMENT**
• Set a reminder
  Set your watch to beep at the top of each hour, or set a periodic computer reminder, so that you don't forget to drink water.
• Substitute water
  If you would normally get a soda, or an alcoholic beverage, get a glass of water instead. Try sparkling water instead of alcohol at social functions.
• Filter
  Instead of spending a fortune on bottled water, invest in a filter for your home faucet. It'll make tap water taste like bottled, at a fraction of the price. **THIS IS ME> We bought a britta pitcher and fill it up and make crystal light from it in a separate pitcher.  I constantly try to have filtered water in the britta pitcher.  I do not like the way water taste from the tap, so this is easier on my taste buds!!  OK END OF STACY COMMENT**
• Exercise
  Exercising can help make you want to drink water more. It's not necessary to drink sports drinks like Gatorade when you exercise, unless you are doing it for more than an hour. Just drink water. If you're going to exercise, be sure to drink water a couple hours ahead of time, so that it will get through your system in time, and again, drink during and after exercise as well.
• Track it
  It often helps, when forming a new habit, to keep track of it -- it increases awareness and helps you ensure that you're staying on track. Keep a little log (it can be done on an index card or a notebook), which can be as simple as a tick mark for each glass of water you drink.

I do hope that everyone is ok with the copied info.  Once again, I just thought it was important.  If I am struggling with it, how many of you are too?  How do you handle getting all of your water in (without feeling like you have turned into an ocean)?  Any tips or advice that can be shared would be great.