I saw Keith yesterday

On a video teleconference and he looks great. Must have dropped like 15 pounds which kills me but he does it everytime he deploys. I know he is eating pretty good over there and not exercising everyday so really, what is his secret? It is not burning up hot like Iraq and Texas so he can sweat it out sauna style. Perhaps he is not sitting in his office all day. I know every once in a while he hikes over the nearby village but not enough to call it an exercise routine. I tell you what, it gets on my nerves!

I have been sweating it out for weeks now and my own weight doesn't make sense to me either. You know the first couple of weeks you all out-- exercising all the time until eventually you have to find a balance or quit. Well I haven't quit but I am not going to the gym everyday anymore. I only lost 3 pounds after 4 weeks of sweating and thought I was a hopeless case. I was getting a ton of cardio, lifting weights and eating fairly decent. I got rid of that nasty trainer I actually gave money too and went out on my own. So I am a little slow....

I think exercising too much might be a detriment to me (wouldn't that be awesome!) I decided to start eating like a China man. Lots of rice, noodles, vegtables and broth soup (miso). I went to an Asian market where I couldn't understand most of the packaging and no one speaks english to find all my ingredients. These last 2 weeks I have been devouring it--- and I know last week I only worked out twice (this week I am already up to 4x) and the weight just fell off. I am not kidding- just melted off of me. I will post number later-- when they are much lower!

So I think I am onto something. No more weight lifting until I am within 15 pounds of my goal and eat rice, sushi, seaweed, vegtables, noodles, eggs, and miso. I am also going to buy all the traditional dishes these meals should go into. I am eating with chopsticks also! If it works--- you got to full out, right?

And you should read all the labels on this kind of food also. I hope they don't pay their intrepreter very much because he is not very good. It is better then reading the cerealbox.


And this is the cold noodle dish that includes a little mustard oil-- blah!! Mustard oil tastes like what I would imagine snake venom to taste like. So I only made one bowl with that crap.


Worked on a few things last week also for SWANKY

And the shadowbox frame that doesn't have the glass frame in it yet.


Jadyn turned 10 this last Wednesday and we are celebrating this weekend. Bridger is going to church camp today and then Jadyn and I going to Dallas. We are doing a whole American Girl theme day there. We got reservations at their Bistro and we are going to shop like crazy. This is also my birthday present so I can't wait.

My Garden

I have done a pretty good job journaling about my gardening and yard projects on this blog and I thought it was about time for an update. Unfortunately, not all has gone well this year which is such a bummer since we worked hard getting everything built up. But, it is not all my fault either as I have spent many hours in the yard working it. Some of my failures are due to this Texas heat. It has been unreal!

My 8 tomato plants are suckin! The only ones that produce are the grapes tomatoes and even those are the size of marbles. Not very good to eat. I did some research online and in my Texas gardener magazine and I found out that tomatoes don't like to grow when it stays above 80 degrees at night. Well it certainly does around here, so my huge plants probably won't get any tomatoes until the end of September.

This is the jungle I made of them, I could probably spread them out a little more next year. But my zucchini and cucumber died off also. I am reseeding inside the house now and will plant them again the first week of September as Texas Gardener said to do. Lets hope I get something.

Now some plants that have faired pretty good in the heat are the plants along the back of my house. If you remember when I first planted and it looked like this.


Now I have this

There is one little bush behind the red starflower that didn't grow very much but the reason I planted it behind the flowers was because it was supposed to get much bigger. Maybe next year? Should I try some miracle grow perhaps?

Anyhow, here is close ups of my plants that LOVE the heat.

This is called the Egyptian Star Flower-- I plan on getting more of these for my future planter in the back corner of the yard.

And I love these, they are a form of rosemary but I can't remember what kind. I will definitely be getting more of these.

And this little guy is actually a groundcover called Ice. Its leaves are like a succulent and they grow out pretty big. I love them.

Today was the first day in a long time that it has stayed under 90 degrees so I got some weeding done. I also worked up another vinyl project for the Etsy shop. It is a chalkboard Menu-- I think it is cute.

When it rains, it pours!!!!

The last 48 hours have to have been the craziest part of this deployment...hopefully! Spouses complain all the time that that everything falls apart the second their husbands walk out the door. I know mine complains that I break everything when he leaves! A couple of weeks back all my computers wouldn't connect to the internet and I was stricken with panic. No communication with the outside world!! What is a girl to do? And I didn't even know who our internet provider was to call them. So I had to wait until Keith called to help me figure it out, and he said "geez paige, I haven't been gone 30 days and you already broke all 3 computers!" It turned out the modem was shot and I replaced it quickly...so NOT MY FAULT!

And last night I went to leave the house and my Tahoe wouldn't turn over. It just clicks. I went to get the neighbor to see if he could help me hook my battery up to Keith's truck battery and while doing that the neighbor locked Keith's truck with the ONLY key inside and it still running! Grrrrrr. So not only did it NOT help my Tahoe on bit, now I had to call Pop-A-Lock to come out and open the truck that only had like an 1/8 of a tank of gas. Once they did that, I drove straight to the gas station to fill it up and I missed a Family Readiness Group meeting.

I need a little sunshine over here!

Happy Birthday to me!

so today is my birthday-- I am now a whopping 34! Nothing very exciting today, went to church and just waiting for my kid's playdates to arrive. Jadyn's birthday at the end of the month will be way more exciting

But I have a couple of other people who I know whose Birthdays are also today. So here is my shout out to Karla Glidden, Kim Folkman and my cousin, Steve Hawkinson.

Happy Birthday!!!!

Trying to figure out

how to copy this DVD onto my computer that Frontier Camp put together for the week with music. It is very awesome and gives a good overview to what the kids did for the week. When I picked them up this morning, Jadyn said it felt like she got there and for next year I should leave her there for 2 weeks and the only class she wants to take is horsemanship. She is begging me to buy a horse-- dream on child.

Bridger also had a fantastic time and asked to return next year. I guess his best sport was archery because he won some award for it and then got to go on an extra excursion because of that award to put his archery into practice in the woods. He also loved horsemanship but said he never could get up on the wakeboard, so next year he would rather take kayaking.

When I got to the camp at about 8:30 this morning, I saw Bridger right away playing ping pong with his Jr. counselor. He also said he wants a ping pong table bad! Once again, dream on child!!! But I didn't get see Jadyn until we all met in the chapel. The kids sang Christian rock songs and danced around like it was and Oingo Boingo concert. I even saw Bridger jumping up and down with his hands in the air!! That never happens y'all.

So I signed them up for next year, put my deposit down and everything. They are ready to go. I don't think I could ask for anything better for my kids then fun, a good dose of God and His plan for their lives, and an appreciation from me to finally have them back home again.

I tried to take a picture

but I can't get it to upload for some reason and instead of wasting anymore time I am just going to say what I have to say. It was a beautiful picture of my diet this week!

Being all by myself in my own house has been interesting to say the least. Haven't slept well at all this week. Right before I went to bed last night I saw this commercial by Brinks home security systems of this guy trying to break into a house. It made my heart race and then I tried to go to bed. I mean it was midnight and all.

Anyhow, the diet this week has been
1. Sushi - just been buying it from the grocery store instead of making it and it is delish!
2. Goat cheese and pita chips with a side of grapes-- very upscale!!
3. Strawberries
4. can of refried beans
5. marinated mushrooms

That's it-- that has been my diet this week! I wish I could get away with it forever but this week is almost over.
I am going to out to eat tonight and trying a new resturant. I am hoping that I get authentic Italian food- that would be nice!

Very Excited for the kids - Camp day 2

Just got some updates from the website and snagged a few pictures to share here. It seems that the campers got up at 6am for prayer and devotionals. wow! They are eating like kings and having the time of their life.

Here are two pictures I found

do you see Bridger? The only one with a shirt on all fours? Apparently they set up a huge tarp and covered it with shaving cream and had a heck of a time. They also launched waterballons and rode the water weinie. And this was after all their classes today that I mentioned above.


Here's Jadyn, hanging out with a buddy! good for her.

Looks like they aren't missing me a bit!!

Camp Paige

Dropped the kids off at camp yesterday and I know they are really going to love it. it was beautiful- nice cabins, great counselors, beautiful lake, gorgeous horses, the works. Jadyn got teary eyed when I had to say goodbye. I kind of felt bad for her- but I also know she is going to have the time of her life!

They sent us parents home with a CD to listen to in the car that gave a great overview of the camp, information for next year, an interview with your child's particular counselor and a great sermon on how to parent using the 25 year plan. I love it and found it extremely helpful.

Jadyn's activities include: horsmanship, outdoorsmanship, dance/cheer, kayaking
Bridger's - horsemanship, archery, riflery, wakeboarding

This camp also has a website that I can access with a password and read the overview of the day and see all the pictures from the day. I did find one picture of bridger as of last night. Will eagerly be looking everyday to see what I can find.

So this week I am all by myself-- in more ways then one-- no contact with Keith even as of yet. I wish I could figure out what is going on over there!

I have all these great plans to get things done around the house- hopefully it will all work out and Saturday won't come too fast!=) Day 1 has been very enjoyable for me!!