It's been a long time baby!

I have realized that it has been over five months since the last time I posted anything on my blog.  I started this blog as a form of therapy, during a very stressful time in my life.  But it is nice to still jot down thoughts and feelings from time to time.  If anything....forming some documentation of what happens.  Whether anyone ever reads this but me, it is still good to have a timeline of events for me to look back at.  And the therapy it provides is still nice, even though things are not quite so stressful. 

Well, maybe I should rephrase the stress level.  It isn't constantly stressful any longer.  It just comes in waves from time to time. 

February 1, 2013....I was in an auto accident.  That brought the stress level up a notch or two for a while.  And this happened in the midst of the stress of remodeling.  But in a nutshell...we survived!  A little stronger, wiser, and grateful.  The events of the accident are foggy and I am going purely on what I have heard from my husband and son.  I got out of work shortly after 4:30pm, walked out to my car (the Intrepid), seen my co-worker's husband in the parking lot waiting for her, and brushed off my car.  That is the last thing that I remember until the wee morning hours of the next day, Saturday!  Apparently, I waited for Jere to meet me at work after he dropped Dustin off at work.  We then proceeded to Menards, Van Hill, and Carpet Bonanza to do some shopping.  The order we went and what we did at each store....I do not remember.  Then we stopped at McDonald's for something to eat through the drive thru.....again I do not remember any of this or of what I ate.  I dropped Jere back at his van, which was parked at my work.  He had to brush off his van, and he also brushed off a couple of the other vehicles of some of the girls at work.  I left and proceeded home.  The roads were actually pretty good, I was told.  However, when I went over some railroad tracks, I hit some "snow boogers" that had fallen off of trucks and cars.  The "snow boogers" or slushy crap, caused me to loose control and hydroplane.  Jere said that you could see my tracks were I tried to get control and then spun off and hit a telephone pole.  I totaled the car!  I hit the pole with the main structural point on the car.  By doing so, I took the blunt of the impact, because the car didn't "give" much on impact.  Because I took the blunt....I bounce around something wicked in the car.  Suffered a lot of bruises and a concussion.  It could have been much worse!  I ended up having to miss a week of work.  And to this day.....I have a gap of 7-8 hours or so in my memory.  I had a lot more pieces of memory missing over the previous weeks leading up to the accident....but they have all returned except for about the 8 starting at around 4:30pm Friday night til around midnight.  Scary!

Remodel.....oh the remodel!  I should post pics of before and after!  We made so many changes in our home....and I LOVE IT!  Basically involves new drywall, painting, laminate flooring and new carpet through out!  Picture will definitely show this best!

Now I am currently working on CE's for work to renew my tech license.  And looking forward to taking some time off from work in a couple of weeks to work on the yard, some furniture projects, and possibly a yard sale. 

Life Around Here Lately!

It has been quite a while since I last sat put my thoughts down on paper screen.  So much has happened over the past few months.  Nothing exciting, just a lot of the same busy day to day. 
School for the kids, is going great this year....again.  Dustin has been loving Career Tech Center.  It is amazing to see him excited about his future.  Knowing that he has goals for his future is very comforting as a parent.  I am very proud of him.  (He still is my little boy in many ways!)  Still struggles with self confidence from time to time, but nothing we haven't been able to work through.  No drivers license yet....but he is okay with that.  He is very much aware that driving is a privilege, and at this point....not a necessity.  Our goal is to continue to give him more experience over the winter, under our guidance and then in the spring/summer we plan to take the road test. 
Anna had a few set backs before school started, with her anxiety.  She has managed to get things back under control.  School and the routine it brings.....is a huge help in achieving this!  She tried out for Hamilton Idol this year and she did amazing!  She didn't make the finals, unfortunately.  But the fact that she put herself out there, standing on a stage, in a spot light, singing acapella...is huge!  And we are so proud of her!  We were really amazed at how well she can sing.  She continues to thrive in MP3 and currently has a part in the 8th grade production that includes a couple of singing solos.  She continues to do well in school, socially as well as academically. 
Jere, thankfully continues to have a job with Jeff at Pyramid Acoustics.  He has looked into making a job change, which he pursued a position at BPW.  Went through the complete hiring process of interviews and testing.  However, they chose the other guy.  Jere loves working for Jeff and the thought of working somewhere else is very hard to think about.  We continue to leave everything in Gods hands! 
I continue to work for Paul's Pharmacy.  VERY BUSY!!!  Love the women (and Darryl) that I work with!  My little family away from MY FAMILY! 
It's been almost two years now, since mom passed and the days are finally getting easier when thinking of her.  I still miss her so very much!  For the first time....I am actually feeling the holiday spirit.  I look forward to decorating my home this year. 
I am very blessed with life!  I have two beautiful children that are growing into very solid and happy young adults.  My marriage is strong and I am blessed with a very loving and understanding husband.  We continue to be able to provide for our family, financially.  And with Gods grace, we look forward to what each day brings us!

Oh Mammo!

This week was a big week for me, in many different ways. Monday was my physical...still healthy as an ox!! So thankful for my health. 41 years old, perfect blood pressure, and down 27 lbs. as of today!! Whoot whoot!! The only questionable thing....is that I am shrinking! SHRINKING!!!! I use to be 5' 7" and I am now 5' 5.5" ~ I have shrunk 1.5 inches!! What is up with that? For now, I need to start taking a supplement of Vita D 1000mg daily and we will see if I shrink over the next year until my next physical.
The big event this week was my very first mammo! It wasn't that bad I must say. Yeah the girls were flattened and stretch in ways that they have never been touched before. Definitely no room for modesty, much like the day I delivered my babies!! Just waiting now for results. Still may have to have ultrasounds done on the girls...just to get a base line...because this was my first mammo. Pretty sure my results will be normal...not worried. All that's left is blood work. I WAS going to go to the lab early in the morning on the day I had my mammo....but I licked pb&j off of the knife that morning while making lunches for the kiddos :( Yep, I'm just that weak! But I have a couple of days free next week to get that done...so all is good!
Tuesday (May 1) would have been mom's 60th birthday. That was the other big event this week. It's hard to believe that this is the 2nd birthday of hers we celebrated with out her. And Wednesday (May 2) marked 18 mos that we said goodbye to her. Big week! An anniversary, a birthday, an annual, and a first! Oh mammo!

I'm still standing!

It's been a month since I last posted anything. I'm still alive and standing. The weight loss is still happening, although a little rough this past month. Things have seriously slowed down in that area. As of 4 days ago....I am down 21 lbs. I have my physical in two weeks and I hope to be down a minimum of 25 lbs total at my visit.
Things around the Veldheer household have be hectically busy, but happy and healthy non-the-less. In addition to our usually busy work and school schedules, we have been working on updating some things around the home and Jere has been busy doing side jobs to supplement the income.
Dustin has shown a huge interest in golf lately and even tried out for the High School team. He didn't how ever make it:( But it has not deterred him, he worked for a week with an instructor at the golf course and plans on doing the summer program with the high school varsity coach. Very proud of him!
In other BIG news!!! Dustin was excepted into the CTC program for his junior and senior years. He will taking Health Care courses working towards college credits in Physical Therapy. As of now, that is his career choice. Again.....SO PROUD OF HIM!!!
Anna is still thriving very well in middle school, she continues to blossom into a wonderful young lady. More on her later...she has the first showing of the play "Mulan Jr." tonight. The MP3 program is always entertaining.
That about covers it for now....and for now....I'm/we are still standing:)

Weight Loss Update

Thought it was time for a little update on the how the diet is going.....well mostly, just thought I felt the need to keep myself accountable for my progress. I am officially down 17.6 lbs!!! Just a little over 2 lbs to go....whoot whoot! I am so proud of myself. I have lost every week but one. Not bad for six weeks if I say so myself!!

booyaa!

Yesterday was weigh in day and I am officially down 12 lbs!!! Boooyaa! I feel that I have lost weight, but I can't see it.....yet! Jere says he "feels" it on me too :-) I think he is full of it....LOL! Men will say anything, to get physical attention! Anyways....I know the weight coming off is going to slow down....which bums me out. Guess I will have to wait and see what Monday brings next week, and throw in some exercise....maybe.

Yeah Baby!!!

Well yesterday was weigh in day for me....and I was down a whole 7lbs!!! Yeah baby!!! I traded in my 5lb incentive goal for weight watcher tools. Yay me! I figured is was the better thing to do. I need to support the process, right? I am so proud of myself. I just hope that I can keep this up! Only 68 more lbs. to go!! I still think that I need to post a beginning pic then when I have reached my goal....a hot momma "finish line" pic.