My 3 Day Walk Training

Losing weight...

2008-06-26T11:00:00.002-04:00

Last week while the kids were in soccer camp, I sat around with some moms and we talked about everything under the sun! Seriously! We were there from 9-12 every morning so there was alot of time to chit chat! One subject that came up was about eating healthier and losing weight and how, especially now since most of us are in our mid 30's, it's not as easy as it used to be. One mom was saying she's doing the diet pill route and using lipovox. Another mom was saying she's been going to the gym everyday but admits her eating habits could be better. Then another mom was saying how she's on the South Beach Diet and is doing wonderfully. I've just been trying to eat healthier and then next week I'm going to start putting some exercise into my daily routine. I need to get one good habit started and going until I start another one. And the eating healthier one is going full force right now.

Anonymous Mom!

2008-06-22T10:44:00.000-04:00

Have you seen this yet? It's great! I love it. I haven't posted on there just yet but I know the time is coming! You can share whatever you feel like sharing and feel good in knowing no one will know it was you that posted it. Share your thoughts, your dreams, your stories, whatever. Your secrets are safe there and you can choose to remain anonymous or let people know who you are. It's up to you. I think it's a great idea and let's you get that "something" out that's been nagging at you or bothering you. It's like that saying that says something like "it feels so much better just to get it off your chest".

Are you too negative?

2008-06-15T10:53:00.000-04:00

You Are a Positive Person

No one would accuse you of being too negative!
You're a naturally upbeat and optimistic person.

Like everyone else, you come across things you can't stand every day. But unlike everyone else, you ignore what annoys you and focus on what uplifts you.

Are You Too Negative?

Yup, this is me. Whenever I come across something that pisses me off or makes me mad or just annoys me, I try to make that feeling something that doesn't last long. Most things are just not worth it. I've been working hard on living in the now: feeling feelings that arise, but then letting them go just as quickly as they started. And i have to say I'm a much happier person for it!

Working out with the kids home...

2008-06-08T15:35:00.002-04:00

Summer has officially begun here in Tampa. The kids have been out of school since last Wednesday and any hopes of me starting some kind of exercise routine died that day. It's my own fault. I kept saying I'd start a new routine "tomorrow" but "tomorrow" never came. I need to sit down and come up with something though. Walking on treadmills is always a good way to exercise and we do have one in our bedroom. I guess I could always wake up earlier then the kids and walk for an hour. That actually might be kind of (almost) relaxing and help me to start off the day feeling great (or tired) and on a good note. I'm always afraid though that I'm going to get up at say 5:30am and the kids will hear me and then they'll be up too. Everyone being up at 5:30am makes for a very long day! And that's one thing I don't want. And the way our house is set up sucks too. If I wanted to wake up early and do a workout DVD I'd have to do that in our den and all of the bedrooms are off of the den so one of the kids is bound to hear me and wake up! And when one is awake, so are the other two. That's just inevitable.

I do see what I'm doing though - coming up with excuses as to why I can't workout. That's not good either. I guess I just need to start doing something, whether kids wake up or not.

Sean's new meds...

2008-06-08T15:25:00.003-04:00

For the past few months Sean's been on medication for Gout and for his high cholesterol. I told him, he's 40 now, the time when you have to start taking medication on a daily basis. ;) He just renewed his one prescription but couldn't get to the pharmacy to pick it up so I did it for him. And holy cow - the one pill he has to take looks like it could be the same size as some of those horse supplements that they give horses. It's huge! I'd have to cut it in half to swallow it.

I'm actually proud of him - so far he's remembered to take his pills everyday. He leaves them in the kitchen by the coffee maker, that way every morning he sees them when he's going to make coffee and then remembers to take them. The Gout ones seem to be working too. He hasn't had any Gout flare ups since he started taking the medication. I think the Gout meds are lifetime meds to help control it. The cholesterol meds are until he gets his cholesterol levels down. I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon though. It's one thing to take the meds, but you also have to change your eating habits as well - something he hasn't been doing! He can be flabbergasting at times!

Keeping "track"...

2008-06-08T15:05:00.003-04:00

With the way the world is today, letting your kids go off on their own is a scary thing! My kids are too young yet for cell phones and to be honest, they don't need them yet considering their ages and the fact that I always know where they are anyway. I see 6 and 7 year olds with cell phones and I think that's horrible. Seriously. Is it that necessary or are these kids just spoiled? It's sad in my opinion when kids these ages have cell phones - do you not know where your kids are at that age?

One thing I do like about cell phones these days is the gps tracking that some of them have. I think that's an awesome idea for when my kids are old enough to have a cell phone of their own. (Which won't be until their teen years - our kids don't have TVs in their rooms yet either - another pet peeve I have but that's for another post altogether).

Teens will be teens and having that gps tracking in their cell phones is definitely peace of mind for parents. It also lets you know if your child is lying to you or not. Something some teens do often (too often). I was a teenager once - I know what it's like and I know all too well how they can be. I have a few years left before we hit the teen years here thankfully.

Spring cleaning...

2008-05-30T15:17:00.002-04:00

I've been doing a little spring cleaning here and there this past week throughout this house. Bleaching the bathroom tiles and sinks. Since everything in both bathrooms is white bleach comes in very handy! The tub is white, the tile is all white, the bathroom sink is white, the cabinet top is white and even the toilet is white! Which is surprising considering the woman who lived here before had 2 kids. You would have thought she would have chosen kid friendly colors. Or, maybe she was thinking that using bleach on white is easy?

Some other spring cleaning I've been doing is steam cleaning the carpets. It's killing my back and my hand though so I only got about halfway through our den/dining room area. I did Kieran's room a few weeks ago. And once I get the den rug done I still have to do Tristan's and Caelie's bedrooms and then the master bedroom. It's slow going but I'll get there eventually.

Here it is!

2008-05-30T15:16:00.001-04:00

What you've all been waiting for!

Drumroll please!!!!!

First, I have to say, I was THE HIT of the salon this morning. I walked in and in front of about 8 women told them what I was doing (as far as chopping it all off and donating it) so from then on I had everyone in the salon's attention. They all watched as she chopped off my ponytail. Then as I walked through the salon for them to wet it so she could style it they all oohed and aahed. They even watched as she styled it and when I was done, they all loved it and congratulated me on a job well done.

And now, without further adieu, the pictures! Now remember, I'd never been to this salon before! And those highlights you see in my hair as she's cutting it, are my REAL natural highlights! I haven't died my hair in over 4 years, maybe more. I can't wait to rewash it and style it myself!

I decided to put it in a slideshow for easier viewing and to take up less space on here. For those of you that I sent a picture to via cell phone - disregard that picture, it came out horrible! It looks so much better in person!

The Look of the Year!

2008-05-22T10:54:00.003-04:00

Have you been thinking of becoming the next top model? Have you been waiting to be found? Then you should go to http://lookoftheyear.com/, send in your picture and have the chance of being the next top model! And you could be the next top model in such places as Paris, Milan or New York! So for all of you young, beautiful people who love to enter beauty contests what are you waiting for? This is the chance of a lifetime! Go and sign up and possibly be THE next top model!!!

This is neat!

2008-05-13T11:15:00.000-04:00

I found this cool website at Musings From Left Field and thought it was cool.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
54
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

That above was for my first and last name together. 766,231 share my first name of Kimberly and 21,284 share my last name.

If you do it too leave me a comment and let me know what it said!

$25 bonus to sign up now for Revolution Money Exchange!

2008-05-06T13:10:00.000-04:00

Revolution Money Exchange is like Paypal where you can send and receive money but they have no fees! And, if you sign up right now...before May 15th they will give you $25 as a sign up bonus! But, it has to be before May 15th so hurry and go sign up right now. Just click on the green button over there on the right side of this blog...sign up...and get your $25 immediately!!!! It took me like 2 minutes to sign up and as soon as I did the $25 was sitting in my account! AND, for everyone you refer there's an extra added bonus. But to find out what that bonus is, you need to sign up first.

This is not a sponsored post!

The news today...

2008-04-29T14:39:00.002-04:00

Lately, the news has been horrible. Rapes, explosions with fatalities, murder (right here in our town in fact), etc. It's rare actually to find a good bit of news these days isn't it? A friend of mine has even gone so far as to look into buying self defense products for herself. She works the graveyard shift at her company so when she arrives at work, the parking lot is dark and scary and there are alot of places for someone to hide to stalk her. Her husband jumped at the idea and then even talked about signing her up for a self defense class. Personally, I think they're both great ideas. Especially since a coworker of hers was attacked not too long ago in that same parking lot. She needs to protect herself and now!

Testing

2008-04-29T09:41:00.001-04:00

I just installed Windows Live Writer so this is just a test post to make sure it actually works. Fingers crossed!

Signs for the 3 Day

2008-04-18T14:20:00.002-04:00

Both years I walked in the Tampa Breast Cancer 3 Day my family came out to cheer me on at cheering stations and at closing ceremonies and it was awesome! And all of those times they came out with signs made just for moi. Sean had said he had even thought of buying digital signage for this past Octobers walk just as a pick me up because he knew how badly I was struggling last time. I laughed at that asking him where he could have plugged it in and what it would have said. He wasn't sure about what it would have said but he thought he would have been able to somehow hook it up to the cars battery and display it on the hood of my minivan so all would see when they waked by. I told him that just having the kids, my mom and him there was enough to pick me up and was all I needed to keep me going!

Laptop computers...

2008-04-18T12:19:00.003-04:00

Before going on our trip last week my friend bought a new laptop computer so she'd have it with her during our trip. The whole week I had to hear from Sean how he's never allowed to use our laptop and how I wouldn't let him bring it to Louisiana for those 5 1/2 weeks he was working out there. Does he realize how expensive laptop computers can be? He should considering he was with me when we bought it and it cost us $1300! No way was he bringing that there to either have it broken or stolen or who knows what else. So, I have thought about possibly getting him a cheap one since his 40th birthday did just pass. He doesn't need alot of software on it considering he'd really only use it for the Internet. If I could find him a good, basic one for like $300 that would be perfect! And he'd be SO surprised! Hmmm, maybe next week that will be my mission - to find a good, cheap one just for him so his moaning about him never using this one can finally stop! LOL

Neat idea!

2008-04-18T12:15:00.002-04:00

I was reading another 3 Day blog called Our 3 Day the other day and she was saying how she took one of the 3 Day tshirts and sends it to everyone to sign who has made a donation. I think that is such a cool idea! I had done something similar last year - I took the same tshirt she's using this year and anyone that made a donation to a specific person, I would then write their names on the tshirt. I had wanted to wear that tshirt one of the 3 days last October but it was SO hot those days, and the tshirt was made of 100% cotton - there was just no way I could wear it. I was sweating like crazy in a tank top the one day.

Insurance...

2008-04-17T09:25:00.003-04:00

About a month or so ago we found out that our property taxes hadn't been paid yet and we had a horrible time of finding out why and how this happened. Not a fun couple of days. Once we got that all sorted out (and found out we had to then pay it and within about 2 weeks) I started getting worried wondering if our home insurance hadn't been paid as well. What happened was, right around the time that property taxes come due, we refinanced our mortgage. During that time we asked our new mortgage company if our taxes would be coming out of our mortgage and they said yes. We should have specified what year we were asking about though because they meant the taxes that would come due November 2008, not that taxes that came due November 2007. It sucked big time to have to shell out that money but it's one of those "you've gotta do it and just suck it up" things. I did look into our homeowners insurance and that had been paid before we refinanced so that was all good.

Oh the joy of home ownership - there's always something when you own a home!

Pens as a fundraiser?

2008-04-16T14:10:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine suggested making logo pens with a catchy phrase on them and selling them as a fundraiser for the Avon Walk. I think that's a great idea, but I'm not sure what phrase to put on them. Maybe "Save 2nd Base" or "Save the Tata's" or something along those lines? But, is it worth doing? As in, will people actually buy them? I'm wondering if I could buy say 10 and see how that goes first instead of having to by like 100. Maybe I'll keep this idea on the back burner for a little until I can decide on a catchy phrase and then need to find somewhere to order them first that will sell in tiny quantities.

Living in the lap of luxury!

2008-04-10T13:25:00.000-04:00

The "Spijack Family" is having such a blast this week. Between having fun times with great friends and being here in this awesome house - I feel rich and blessed! The kids are loving the indoor/outdoor heated pool, the theatre room and the game room and the adults are loving the hot tub, the great sounding stereo system throughout the house and the huge kitchen and everyone is just having a blast!

To see what you're all missing click here and then there's even more awesome pictures here.

I wish this week would never end!

Mortgage Life Insurance?

2008-04-04T19:55:00.002-04:00

The other day a friend asked me if Sean and I had mortgage life insurance and I was a little confused as to what she was talking about. I mean, I know there's mortgage insurance, and then there's life insurance, but what is mortgage life insurance? Then she explained to me how mortgage life insurance gives you a death benefit which can then be used by your family to pay off the remainder of what is owed on your mortgage. It's all so confusing - all the types of life insurance around. There's term life, or a return of premium policy or even a universal life insurance policy and now, come to find out, there's also mortgage life insurance. Sean and I have yet to get one just because we're not sure which one to get.

Earth Hour 2008

2008-03-29T10:27:00.003-04:00

I just read about Earth Hour over on a blog I frequently read and the kids and I are going to participate in this tonight. When I told the kids about it at first they got kind of scared saying "But it will be dark" and "How will we watch TV?". But then they thought about it for about a millisecond and decided it would be fun with candles lit. So, from 8pm - 9pm all electronics in this house will be turned off and unplugged and all lights off. I encourage all of you to do the same.

My family....

2008-03-19T22:16:00.002-04:00

I was thinking about my family history and when I think about them - in general - our family is kind of known for it's longevity on both my mom's and my dad's side. My great grandparents lived until they were in there 70's (on both sides of the family). My dad's parents died at different stages of their lives - my Grandpa was only in his 40's when he died of a heart attack but my Grandma was 95 when she died. As for my mother's parents - my Nana died at the age of 64 due to (they think) a blood clot in her leg (she also had severe Alzheimer's) and my Pop died in his late 70's of a stroke. I don't know what got me thinking about this tonight. Maybe because sometimes I look at my parents and hear how many times they've been to the doctors in the past 6 months and I get scared. They're both in great health (for the most part) but I guess it's just one of those things you think and worry about from time to time.

Allergies....

2008-03-19T22:13:00.004-04:00

Anyone else out there suffering from seasonal allergies like I am? They are seriously kicking my butt lately. I have no white left in my eyes. No kidding! I woke up that way this morning and found eye drops I was given last year this time and luckily they helped. Not only with getting the white back, but also with the itching. I've been using Visine as well (the allergy version) but this morning my eyes were so bad they needed something different. Nothing is helping though with the sinuses part of the allergies. Claritin D does nothing! Sudafed PE helps some but makes me kind of sleepy so I can only take it at night. And last year my doc gave me some prescription allergy medicine but that does nothing either. My brother swears by this nasal allergy medicine which I think is Veramyst. I might ask my doc about that one.

Dark Sky Festival

2008-03-19T19:46:00.003-04:00

One of the things I noticed when we moved from New Jersey to Tampa, Florida was how many of the streets around here don't have lights on them. The main ones do of course, but alot of the back streets do not and it's actually kind of nice. I do believe there is also some kind of light ordinance here. I'm not 100% positive, but I do think there's some kind of "light law". Even the street lights on our street aren't that bright. They're bright enough to see when you're walking outside but they're not that really bright light that makes you squint or that you see sometimes up north (like in New Jersey).

I overheard someone talking about the Dark Sky Festival which is scheduled for Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at Harmony's Town Square in Harmony, Florida. The kick off is scheduled for 7:00pm. This will be the 5th annual Dark Sky Festival to take place there and it actually kicks off the start of National Dark Sky Week. I think the whole thing is awesome. Both the week and the festival are held to deter light pollution and to educate people on better outdoor lighting practices. It's to show everyone the benefits of a sky at night time, free from light pollution and artificial lighting.

The festival itself sounds like it's going to be so much fun. They will have telescopes available so you can view the stars. There will be music by Motown recording artists such as Rare Earth. They will also have a kids zone where there will be a speaker talking about Myths in the Night. The festival is free and open to the public so if you live in or around Harmony, make sure you get there! It sounds like it will be a fun, interesting and informative night! If you get there, come back here and let me know all about it!!!!

If you'd like to learn more about the festival please read the press release below:

"Get Ready! This Year’s Dark Sky Festival is Out-of-this-World

HARMONY, FL – March 15, 2008 – The 5th Annual Dark Sky Festival at Harmony will be held on Saturday, April 5, 2008. Sponsored by the Harmony Institute, the Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau, several astronomy clubs, the Osceola News Gazette and Florida Travel & Life Magazine, the event will kick off at 7pm in Harmony's Town Square.

“The Dark Sky Festival is intended to celebrate and promote the benefits of a night-sky free from the effects of excessive artificial lighting,” said Greg Golgowski, Harmony’s Conservation Director and a key member of the Dark Sky Festival Planning Committee. “Poor outdoor lighting not only washes out the splendor of the heavens, but also reduces visibility at night, wastes energy, and disturbs wildlife.”

As with the past four Dark Sky Festivals, attendees will be able to enjoy viewing the night skies through a variety of telescopes. There also be lots of music and food, numerous specialty booths, an educational zone with presentations from astronomers and other scientists, nocturnal creatures, a Cosmic Kids Zone and so much more.”

Local favorite, the Silver Clouds Orchestra, will start the entertainment portion of the evening at 7:00pm. This will be followed by a free concert by legendary recording artists, Rare Earth.

Rare Earth will take to Harmony’s outdoor amphitheatre stage at 8:00pm for a live concert chock full of their greatest hits including “Get Ready” and “I Just Want to Celebrate.”

“We are ecstatic to have Rare Earth performing at this year’s Festival,” said Shad Tome, president of Harmony Development Group. “We are encouraging everyone to wear comfortable shoes because Rare Earth is known for getting the whole audience up and dancing.”

The festival will be emceed by Magic 107.7’s afternoon drive on-air personality and program director Ken Payne.

The Festival is open to the general public. Over 3,500 people are expected to attend the event this year. The event will conclude around 11:00pm.

This date was selected because it falls on the heels of National Dark Sky week (March 29 – April 4); where people in the United States are encouraged to turn out their unnecessary outdoor lights in order to temporarily reduce light pollution.

For more information, please visit www.DarkSkyFestival.com or call 407-891-8358."

Pink Ribbon - Ribbon

2008-03-19T19:43:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to find ribbon that has the Breast Cancer pink ribbon on it and I'm having a really hard time finding it. If anyone out there knows of any websites that sell it please let me know. It's so hard to find because when you type in "Breast Cancer Ribbon" in the search box for any search engine, of course it's going to show you websites with the pink Breast Cancer ribbon on it. I'm looking for actual satin ribbon or cotton ribbon or any type of fabric with the Breast Cancer Ribbon on it. I have a feeling I could be here all night.