Miller HQ: Organized Chaos

Christmas Zachary...

2012-01-31T07:30:00.001-05:00

The youngest. Christmas morning.

A few of these photos may be a bit blurry. This boy was a wild man opening his presents!

Christmas JJ...

2012-01-30T07:30:00.001-05:00

The oldest son. Christmas morning.

Christmas Sydney...

2012-01-27T07:30:00.001-05:00

The second born. Christmas morning. She got a haul this year.

Apparently living so far away for so long has taken it's toll. They grow fast but not quite that fast!

Christmas Tahlia...

2012-01-26T07:30:00.001-05:00

The oldest. Christmas morning.

Christmas Morning...

2012-01-25T07:30:00.001-05:00

Did I mention that Joe got me a new camera lens for ~~our~~ my birthday? A 50mm prime lens and it's SO nice! These were taken with it and have only a little editing on them. Fabulous!

Christmas Eve Park...

2012-01-24T07:30:00.001-05:00

We spent Christmas Eve morning in Norfolk. Joe had to get an MRI on his shoulder that morning (Yes. On a Saturday. Yes. Christmas Eve. Go figure!) Afterwards, Joe and I decided to go caching. The crew used to like trekking around on our treasure hunts. Now? Not so much. Zachary will still get excited but the older kids are starting to rub off on him.

Our goal was to get 300 caches by the end of the year. I believe we hit 301 that day! Our new goal is one cache everyday. Started on New Year's Eve and so far so good. We made it one week. Then two. Now headed toward one month. One day at a time!

Of course every cache at a park is a good excuse for a break to let the kids play. Even Tahlia isn't to old to goof off on the playground.

Then it was off to the Christmas Eve service at church and an impromptu drive around our neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. Fun day!

In other MillerHQ news: Since the cold has not drained all of my energy away it's back to real exercise. I jogged 1/2, walked 1/2, jogged 1/4, walked 1/4, jogged 1/4 and walked .35 miles. Took me 31 minutes total. It was hard. I haven't done anything in almost a week due to that stupid cold. Plus the weekend was full of snacking. Ugh! I used to do Weight Watches and the counting points (calories, really) system but I decided not to this time around. I am going to, at least, start keeping a food log. I mentally keep track of everything I eat but it might help to write it down.

If I could just get a little jump start on this weight loss thing! Motivation would skyrocket!

i ♥ faces - By the Book...

2012-01-23T11:17:00.000-05:00

I haven't done an i ♥ faces submission in a long time. September, I think. But as soon as I saw the theme I thought of this picture. Sydney was only 4 months old! Wow! I attempted some editing and clean up and here it is. So sweet!

Be sure to check out all of the other (better) submissions!

A Month Later...

2012-01-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

You're not the only one who has been waiting to see all of these photos from Christmas! I'm finally getting a chance to look at them, too!

These are from Christmas morning. Brand new, awesome stockings! I'm so proud. They turned out better than I expected and it's something I've wanted to do for several years. The kids enjoyed them, too. Well, they actually enjoyed what was in the stockings more than the stockings themselves.

In other MillerHQ news, the boys are signed up for baseball for the Spring. Zachary gets to play this year. This will be his first sports experience and I think I might be more excited than he is. JJ is also playing but for some reason it took a bit more convincing to get him to play but I think he's looking forward to it now. He seems to have such natural sports ability and I don't see why he resists. Sydney, on the other hand, doesn't want to play softball. She really wants to do gymnastics but it's quite a bit more expensive. We just don't have the extra money for it. Still trying to sell a house...

Thankfully, my cold has finally dwindled and my energy level is back up. So, it's back to the whole exercise thing this week.

Day 16 & 17...

2012-01-20T07:30:00.000-05:00

And then I get hit with a head cold. Go figure! Just when I'm about to get really motivated I end up on the couch! OK, so I sat at the computer. Point being that I was all ready to get up Wednesday and try another mile run. Felt miserable when I got up and was worse by the time I went to bed! No jogging for me.

Thursday I woke up feeling a little better. Cold is still there and draining the life out of me but at least I can function. I didn't walk or jog in the morning but I did take Bailey on a walk for about 20 minutes before picking up the kids at the bus stop. I probably walked a mile. Better than nothing!

Day 15...

2012-01-18T07:30:00.000-05:00

I'm still alive! It's a miracle!

I jogged for an entire mile. Took me 12:45 but I did it. And I survived! Actually, I think that's a pretty good time considering I don't jog. So in case you were wondering if it was even possible to get up and do something, I'm living proof that it is. I jogged for an entire mile. Then I walked for another mile! I'm tired and can't feel my legs now, but that's ok.

Worked on tagging photos for a little while but I just couldn't drown out the massive pile of laundry calling my name begging me come fold. So I folded laundry while catching up on some missed TV. It was actually more boring than it sounds.

Might try another mile jog on Wednesday.

Day Fourteen (I Think)...

2012-01-17T07:30:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how one day of not eating well can ruin a week of doing so well. At least my weight was down from last week. But, I'm really not getting anywhere. I can see why people give up so easily. So much easier just to sleep in or sit and watch tv or eat fast food and snack on chocolate.

But! I'm determined. I will not let one day ruin everything. I will continue to walk or do some aerobic-something every day. I will continue to work on eating habits. Maybe it's all because I'm getting old and my metabolism is slower than ever. Probably. ;)

I've been sitting on my butt a lot this past weekend and that certainly doesn't help. My computer needs a processor fan and we can't find one (cheap) anywhere. So, that causes it to overheat and crash (restart). Plus, the part of Photoshop that I use to organize my photos on that computer keeps freezing and crashing. This has been going on for about two months. SO... as a result of all of that I have officially taken over Joe's computer. He hardly uses it anyway.

Unfortunately for me, that means I have to reload all of my photos from the external onto ~~his~~ my computer. And, because the program isn't stable on my old computer I can't get a decent back-up. I have to start from scratch. I have a handful of photos from before 2000 and a ton of photos from 2000 to the present. I finally have them loaded and stacked (grouped). Now it's on to tagging them all. That makes it a whole lot easier to find certain photos. I have everything tagged up through 2003 but that's still EIGHT years left to go! Gonna take a while.

My goal is to get that done and then scan all of my photos from the early years. I have a big box of old photos that I want to get "backed up" to the computer and tagged. They're mostly sorted and I would love to get them all (or just some) into real albums. The kids are in school and I have about seven hours to myself every day. This might possibly be an attainable goal. End of the year, too??

Oh! Our weather has been colder than cold! High 20's to low 30's all weekend. I had to pull out the big blanket the other night. Our house is drafty and our bedroom can't stay a consistent temperature. I'm trying not to bump up the thermostat so our heating bill doesn't skyrocket. It's been long sleeves and jackets around here. "You're cold? Put a coat on!"

No school Monday so it's back to the routine today!

I'll leave you with a picture of ~~Joe's and~~ my birthday cake from last month.

Day Ten...

2012-01-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean. All day. I got up (late) and had a bowl of cereal. No walking/jogging or Just Dance today. Just cleaning. Non-stop. I cleaned every room in the house from top to bottom. And, I was putting the mop away and collapsing into the chair exactly as my alarm went off telling me to go pick up the kids.

It never ends.

Joe is off tomorrow and Monday (the kids are only off on Monday) so we have date "day" tomorrow. He has physical therapy in the AM and then we'll probably go see a movie with our Christmas money. Might even have enough for lunch, too, if there's time. Think we might see the Sherlock Holmes movie.

A couple silly Christmas kid pictures for you.

Handsome. Handsome. Handsome.

Christmas PJ's!

Day Nine...

2012-01-12T07:30:00.000-05:00

Walked and jogged. Ate well except for the small bowl of ice cream and iced animal cookies. But, I didn't overdo it.

Yep. That's all I git for the day. It rained which I always enjoy.

Day Eight...

2012-01-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

Yeah! Two successful days. I may get this weight off yet. Walked/jogged a little more than two miles in 34 minutes. Ate well all day and had a generally good day.

Spent part of the morning slicing apples and peaches to put in the dehydrator. Joe had wanted one for a while so I got him one for his birthday. Let me say the so far dried apples are the best. Just slice and dry. So, so sweet and very addicting. I made six apples worth and they're already almost gone. The peaches weren't as appealing but that may be because they're not in season.

Finally, as promised.

Day Seven...

2012-01-10T07:30:00.000-05:00

Finally! A good day. Joe got up with the kids again and took them to school. I, once again, slept in later than I should have. But, I got up and did some more Just Dance 3 on the Kinect. Most definitely an aerobic workout. Think I'll go back to walking for a couple days.

Meals and snacks were very good. It helped that I got up late and therefore had a late breakfast. Then I was gone for a few hours getting groceries so I couldn't snack on anything. By the time I got home and got everything put away it was time for dinner. Basically, I just had to make it past the critical after dinner cravings. And I did.

I find that I tend to snack when I'm bored. If I keep busy I don't think about the sweets or make ten trips to the kitchen for no reason. So today was good because I was fairly busy. I think that is what helped me back in 2005 when I lost all the weight then. Joe was deployed so I was always busy with the kids. Not so much now so it's a matter of changing habits and making a change. But isn't that how most goals are accomplished?

Sorry, but still no pictures. I'm working on it!

Day Six...

2012-01-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

And this is why I'm giving myself an entire year.

On Friday my wonderful husband took the kids to school so I got to sleep in. Ahhhh! But I eventually forced myself out of bed. I dressed. Tied on my shoes and did some Just Dance 3 on the Kinect for almost an hour. Now it ain't no easy video game. It was solid aerobic exercise. My heart was pumping and I was sweating. I will definitely be trying it more.

Unfortunately, I'm discovering what I already knew. My eating habits are horrid. Like I said the other day, I have a good breakfast and lunch then fall apart right before dinner and right before bed. I have to get some groceries soon so I'll be searching for some healthier snack foods. I always have a terrible case of the munchies.

My "official" weigh-in is on Sundays and yesterday wasn't pretty. It was up but I think it is a more accurate starting weight anyway. Still, I am not comfortable enough to tell it to the world.

I fully intended to post a few Christmas pictures and even got a few ready. But my Sunday consisted of sitting on the couch watching football. I promise. I'll get at least a couple up today.

Day Three...

2012-01-06T07:30:00.000-05:00

Got up. Took kids to school. Came home. Walked 2+ miles (35 mins) and read two chapters in Judges. I may make it through the Bible eventually.

Really tired. But! I've been going to bed by 10:30 every night since school started back. That's a big deal since I'm usually not in bed before midnight and I have to get the kids up at 6:00. I even skipped watching Parenthood on Tuesday night so I could get to bed on time. Thank you DVR! It's such a good show but it's on NBC. They're notorious for cancelling good shows. Friday Night Lights. American Dreams. Heroes. Most of the time it's without warning! I'm not getting my hopes up but I think this one may be around awhile.

I did a lot better at not snacking today. Still have to work on it but a lot better. I realize this is not something that is changed in a week. That is one reason why I'm giving myself an entire year. I seems like such a long time but I have a lot to lose and a lot of changes to make. All for the better.

Day Two...

2012-01-05T07:30:00.000-05:00

Started off day two with another 2+ mile walk. Took a little more than 36 minutes again (at 3.5/17 min mile). Had to motivate myself a bit to get up the stairs to the treadmill. And, once I got upstairs I had to persuade myself to turn left to the treadmill and not right to my bed. By the way, there is next to nothing good to watch on TV at 7:30 in the morning. So, I got my phone out and opened my Bible app and read a few chapters in Judges. Gideon - a doubter. Yet God used him dramatically to defeat the Midianites.

I started reading through the Bible chronologically last January 1st. I made it into March and then promptly got bored. Yes. Bored with the Bible. I have never been much of a "study-er" or a reader. I tend to skim through a chapter or read-fast through it. I have a hard time reading something in order to "get" something out of it. I guess I see where my kids get the just-enough-to-get-by attitude. At this point, it's better than nothing. Right? Maybe.

My day always starts well. I exercise, eat a good breakfast (cinnamon vanilla pancakes yesterday ), drink water and have a good lunch. Then shortly after the kids get home and I'm starting on dinner I start the munchies. Then dinner is not always the healthiest but usually decent. Then I'm always craving something before bed. I'm going to have to brainstorm ideas to squelch that. Brushing your teeth is helpful.

Day One...

2012-01-04T07:30:00.000-05:00

Day 1. Tuesday. I would have to say Tuesday was only half successful. I walked a little more than two miles in 36 minutes. I was only at a pace of 3.5 which is a 17 minute mile. I am going to try and keep that pace for the rest of this week. Next week I'll bump it up a bit.

But (and this is my downfall) meals were not up to healthy standards. Breakfast was oatmeal. Late lunch was soup (it was freezing outside today so hot soup was very nice!). Afternoon consisted of sneaking several Hersheys Kisses. Dinner was a chicken and rice meal but it had a lot of sodium and no veggies. Then I snacked on a few more Kisses. Good thing is they're almost gone.

Tomorrow is another day. It's just a matter of putting my mind to it and changing old habits. Snacking and chocolate are my weakness! And ice cream.

In other Miller HQ news... I'm having some computer issues and haven't been able to do much with my pictures. Right now it's all I can do to get them uploaded off the camera to the computer (external drive thankfully). I am slowly taking over Joe's computer and am working on figuring out how to transfer the Photoshop program files. I will try to get a few Christmas photos up in the next few days.

On to a new day!

Final Forty...

2012-01-03T07:30:00.000-05:00

No. Not forty years. It's the beginning of the final forty pounds. Yes. I need to lose a whoppin' forty pounds and it all begins today.

Kids are back to school today. Joe is back to work today (and on DAYS!). I am back to the normal routine today.

That routine includes walking daily and eventually jogging. Maybe even running. *shock* Either on the treadmill, in the neighborhood or at the park. Of course, Bailey would enjoy the neighborhood and the park. I am even setting a goal of running a 5K. Our church has a S2S (Seat to Street) training program that culminates in a 5K in February. That may be a bit too soon for me but I believe they hold another one in the Fall. Not sure what kind of time to shoot for yet. Seems like 30 minutes is typical. But, I'll get to that eventually.

I'm giving myself one year to lose the weight. Back in 2005, while Joe was deployed, I lost close to 40 pounds. A lot of it was baby weight from my pregnancy with JJ. From January to December I went from a size (almost) 18 to a size 10 (WOW!). I never did realize exactly how much I had lost. All I could ever see was a huge belly sticking out. Later, after seeing pictures, I could see the difference. My face was thinner. My waist was thinner and I looked healthier all around.

I did it once. I can do it again. And I will.

You with me?

Stockings...

2011-12-23T18:49:00.002-05:00

I have wanted to get ~~matching~~ coordinating stockings for the Miller crew for about three years now. I looked everywhere. Most places will have three or four similar stockings but no one has six! I came to the conclusion that I would have to make my own. But, for the past couple years I just haven't had the chance.

This year, I had time!

I turned this:

Into these:

Joe, Tomara and Tahlia's:

Sydney, JJ and Zachary's

Club FX...

2011-12-21T07:30:00.000-05:00

One of the benefits of attending an enormous church is the massive number of kids and kid's activities. Every month our church's Kidville hosts Club FX for elementary school kids and their parents. It's a evening of fun worship, dramas, videos and general goofy-ness! Sydney and JJ have a great time every month.

December's Club FX was a chance for the kids to help with the worship portion of the program. JJ was very much not interested but Sydney was gung-ho for it. She did a great job and we all had a ton of fun!

Sydney and her new friend, Keayla.

Some of the kids doing hand chimes.

Drama time!

One last song.

Awards Day!!...

2011-12-20T07:30:00.000-05:00

I have been more than blessed to have super smart kids! The second and third grade classes had their awards ceremony for the first quarter and Sydney and JJ were honored! In fact, Tahlia had all A's, Sydney had one A and the rest B's, JJ had all A's and Zachary had all S's. And, this is at a school that has a high grading scale! SO, SO proud!

Some of the second grade students with High Honor Roll. JJ's in the middle in brown.

JJ peaking through in the middle!

Sydney receiving her award for Honor Roll!

Quick Trip to the Park...

2011-12-19T08:22:00.001-05:00

We're blessed to have a beautiful nature park just a few miles from the house. One of the kids was begging to go play at the park so we loaded up and spent about an hour there.

Tahlia spends a lot of time reading.

Daddy teaching the kids the finer points of rock skipping.

Today...

2011-11-24T07:30:00.000-05:00

From the Miller Crew to you...