Dear John

Dear John, Laura, Self,

There are some things you should remember on a daily basis.
But life gets busy and you tend to forget.
So this blog post is here to remind you.

1. doughnuts, pizza, and everything else that you love that is not healthy tastes amazing....but is totally NOT WORTH IT.
Put down the cupcake Fatty McFatterson.

2. abs are made in the kitchen not the gym. see also #1. It doesn't matter how long you workout or how hard you workout, if you leave the gym and eats 45 tacos, they cancel each other out.

3. K&A are gonna argue. Period. They are gonna knock on the bathroom door at least 468 times while you are in there. They are going to stand on top of you while you dry your hair, and they are going to whine when you tell them it's bedtime. Get over it. One day you will be an old lady sitting in a quiet house and you will miss the noise. {Cue the music: Yooooooou're Gonna Missssss Thiss}

4. FH is the greatest thing that ever happened to you. Do you remember the nights you prayed for a husband that would appreciate and love you?? Do you remember what it was like to have a husband that didn't even want to come home at night? Tell him you appreciate him every single day. And show him, he deserves it.

5. Work is work is work. It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, as long as there is a decent sized paycheck in your hands, it's a good day.

6. Love your friends. Text them just because.

7. Stop and smell the roses. Every single day I'm hustlin' we are running around trying to cram as much into the day as possible. Don't forget to just sit with your family and enjoy them.

8. Some days, you should dress up. Just for kicks. Maybe even wear heels. I know you don't have to at work so you normally don't. But it will make you feel good when you look good.

9. Jeans are tight. Don't freak out and feel like you have nothing to wear. I'm pretty sure it might scare FH just a little.

10. Walk outside. Even if you feel like sitting at home and relaxing. A quick walk/run around the block doesn't take long but will make you feel amazing...and then give you the energy to workout more.

Love,
Lora Pin It Now!

Late to the Party

What does one do when work is busy and blog ideas are short?
Join a linkup that happened yesterday, of course.

1. If calories didn't count, I would eat... Buffalo Wild Wings for breakfast, a pizza buffet for lunch, and Mexican for dinner. All day, errrrday. Oh and I'd probably wash it all down with chocolate milkshakes.

2.  On my Prom night.... I broke up with my then boyfriend because he didn't want to go downtown with a big group of us after prom. Sorry 'bout that one. Every party has a pooper.

3. When I go to the store, I always buy... peanut butter. I swear we go through more in our house than normal people.

4.  Family functions typically... involve lots of laughter. Lame, I know, but there's not a lot of drama in my family. :) But there are lots of VERY LOUD people. Myself included.

5.  I think my blog readers... should all move to Memphis so that we can hang out more. Well actually, I think you should just all move to my neighborhood so I don't live with all retired old folks.

6.  I'd much rather be..... at home with FH right now instead of at work. I swear I haven't seen him much lately because we have been busy and that drives me nuts.

7. I have an obsession with.... getting a bun in my oven.

8. My work friends.... are few and far between. There are 2 or 3 that I super love, other than that, I don't talk to many people. I am definately not popular at work, I come here to make a paycheck, that's about it. But I super love the friends that I do have here!!

9. When I created my Facebook account.... I thought it was super lame compared to MySpace. I mean, you didn't even get a song on your profile.

10. My least favorite word is... ain't. Cause ain't ain't a word, y'all.

11.  I really don't remember.... the last time that I felt skinny. Gross, I know, but it's a daily battle.

12. Justin Bieber.... actually has some decent music. But man, I bet he is SUCH A LITTLE PUNK IRL.

I'm gonna leave you with an original poem written by Kate.

The girls have to write like 10 poems for school and I love this assignment. It's hard for me to help them though cause I just want to write it for them. I see blogging in their future.

This poem was a color poem and she had to follow certain guidelines, I think she did well.

Red by Kate

Red is the color of roses.

Red is the pepperonis on my pizza.

Red is the color of my energy.

Red is a big bonfire in my backyard.

Red smells like a garden of roses.

Red tastes like strawberries.

Red sounds like fireworks.

Red looks like a ladybug.

Red feels like a hot sunny day.

Red makes me want to cheer for the rebels.

Red is the sign of stopping.

It took a lot for me not to tell her to add that Red is the name of Taylor Swift's new CD.......

Happy Wednesday Y'all!!



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Cause It's Not a Party until the Ambulance Shows Up

Remember that time that I had a skating party for my kids.....

...and I thought that no one was coming because apparently the letters R,S,V, and P mean nothing in the year 2013 so I continued to invite everyone I knew....

....and then every single kid on this side of the state came to said party?

Oh yeah, that was yesterday.

And remember how one little girl fell, but her parents weren't there, and she didn't know their phone number so we had to google to find it....

...and then the paramedics showed up to splint her broken elbow.....

...and her dad rushed her to the hospital and she had surgery the next morning to get pins put in her elbow. Remember that?

Other than stressing over running out of food and drinks, having people show up that I didn't even know since I let the ex invite some people for fear that no classmates could come, and the little girl that got seriously hurt....the party was a MAJOR success!

Oh yeah, and also I have zero pictures.
I understand if you want to unfollow me now because it's obvious that I'm the worst blogger ever.
But you see what happened was, I have a big ole otterbox case on my phone now. And an otterbox plus tight jeans just don't go together.
I normally have my phone on me 24/7, but not anymore since it won't fit in my pocket.

I'm pretty sure some other people got pics though so I hope to share them soon.....maybe.

We had a fabulous weekend.
The girls got a ton of stuff for their birthday.
It made me really miss the days when they were young and got cash or giftcards and they went straight to me.
Now they feel like they get to keep them. What's up with that?

It was also that type of weekend where you close your eyes and all of a sudden it's Monday.
I'm pretty sure I hardly sat down at all.
And I did not get enough quality FH time in at all.
I need a weekend in order to recover from my weekend.

Oh yeah, and I run a half in 2 weeks and I haven't ran in like 3 or 4 weeks...no big deal. Also, I think it's snowing in StL now....please please please let it not be snowing when we run the half.
Cause that would be just wrong.
But then again, if I'm super duper slow {which I will be} then I can totes blame it on the snow.


Happy Monday Y'all! :)

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Cowgirls that don't Kill Each Other

A strange thing happened last night.
K&A didn't try to kill each other.
They told me they were best friends.
And that they wanted to dress like twins today.

It might have something to do with their upcoming bday.
I still can't believe they will be 10 tomorrow.
Where on earth does time go??

Seems like just yesterday they looked like this:

And today they look like this:

I know this whole getting along thing won't last.
I'm not throwing away my referee shirt or anything.
But I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Last night they had their first softball practice.
This was a big deal because they moved up to the big league.
And A was scared. Not so much K though.

But they did awesome.
I was one proud momma.
When they ran, 1st and 2nd place went to K&A.
Not that it was a race or anything, but to me everything is a race.

I LOVE our coach. I always hate when they have some super young dad coaching who barely knows what he is talking about.
And yes, I'm that mom who coaches from the sideline.
I can't help it, I coached them for years.
But our coach this year is great and he looks like Santa Claus. Bonus.

When they were done, Alex walked off the field and said "I had no idea I could throw that hard."
I really wanted to say "Me either."

Hope everybody has a great weekend! TGIF!

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Bipolar Fitness

I'm bipolar.
But not in real life like Janelle from TM2,
but more like in my fitness/diet life.

One week, I'm freaking Jillian Michael's chubby twin sister.
I'm obsessed.
I work out in the morning.
I work out in the evening.
I don't touch junk food.
I chug water like a college girl with beer in a frat house.

And then something happens.

I decide I shouldn't be so obsessed.
I stop tracking calories.
I'm tempted by junk food.
I realize that I have a husband who loves me just the way I am.
I realize that I shouldn't be obsessing when I'm trying to get knocked up anyways, I'm just gonna have to do it all over again after a baby.
I think that I should just enjoy life.
I sneak Taco Bell and throw away the evidence.
I read a book and nap instead of working out.

And then something happens.

I miss working out.
I really do love it.
I miss waking up just to jump on the scale and be excited about losing.
I miss getting high fives from FH because I killed it at the gym.
I miss posting pics of my calorie burn on IG.
So I get back into it and love it.

And then something happens.

It's a viscous cycle, I tell ya.
I feel like one day, ONE DAY, I have got to learn to be consistent.
One day I will have a good week, followed by another good week.
I will have will power every.single.day.

I know what to do.
I know how to do it.
I can do it.
So why aren't I??

I have been on an emotional rollercoaster this week.
And the rollercoaster ends on Monday with good or bad news.
Either way, I'll live.
I have to stop letting life get in the way of things.
I have to stop being lazy.
And dangit, I have to get off my butt.

Summer is just around the corner....this should be enough motivation.
I don't want to sweat it out in jeans all summer long.
I want to wear shorts.
And tank tops.
And swimsuits. Maternity swimsuits to be exact.

At least every single morning, I can start out fresh.
It doesn't matter what I did yesterday or will do tomorrow,
it only matters that I focus on today.

Hope everyone is having a great week.
I know I have been a little MIA lately, but I swear I'm alive and well.
You know, besides my bipolar tendencies.
Keiiiiiffffffferrrrrrrrr!!!

Happy Thursday!

***Don't forget to link up with me tomorrow for Friday Favorites!*** Pin It Now!

I need a Red Bull IV, STAT.

Y'all, I'm tired.
I have no idea why.
If you knew me in real life, you would know that normally I am annoyingly full of energy.
We are talking bouncing off the walls at 5AM kinda energy.
I don't need coffee.
I can go from sunup to sundown without sitting.
But lately, I'm just tired.

I am almost falling asleep at my desk.
I go home from work and just want to nap on the couch.
My alarm goes off in the morning and I hit snooze like 452 times.
Poor FH asks me to go the gym and I would rather sleep.
A blog post about my amazing weekend just feels like too much work.

What is wrong with me??

I'm not in a bad mood.
I'm actually extrememly excited/happy about some good news I got yesterday.
I'm not depressed, I love my life.
I'm just tired.

The point of this post isn't to get any Web MD advice from anyone.
I just want my friends to know why I am in a blogging slump right now.
But rest assured, I always have energy for emails & texts & IG.
Ain't nobody have time to not have time for that. :)

In other news, life at our house is back to normal.
Loud kids, tween attitudes, bedtimes, and all.
And I'm trying to plan for a birthday party for K&A which is this Sunday. Man, I put this off til the last minute!

Here's to me finding more energy and getting my butt back into the gym. If I don't do it soon, I will be a beached whale this summer in a swimsuit.

Happy Tuesday Y'all! Pin It Now!

Thursday's Random Thoughts

Today is Thursday, right?
Of course this kid-free week has just flown by while normal weeks move at a turtle's pace.

So Tuesday night Janessa and I went to Lindsey's house to watch Teen Mom 2. It was fun stuff. We all live within 3 minutes of each other, but we haven't been able to do stuff like this since 2 out of 3 of us have husbands that work at night. I guess we could bring along the kids, but I know my girls would be way too interested in hearing the grownup talk to do anything else....and boy did we grownup talk gossip, a lot. It was good stuff. And I may or may not have stayed up WAY past my bedtime.

Side note, that link to Lindsey's blog is to a random post...for some reason my work decided to block me from her blog but it will let me pull up random posts?? I'm not sure why....but I'm sure you can click on Home on her page to read current posts. :)

Speaking of which, work is being dumb and has started blocking me from random blogs. What gives?! This is really affecting my social life. I have been reading from my phone so if you haven't seen me comment on your blog lately, it's not because I don't love you. I'm still reading all my favorites, I just can't comment as easily.

Annnnd while we are on the topic of blog reading, I should note two things. 1. Apparently google reader is gonna be no more as of July 1?! Really?! I don't use google reader, I'm a Bloglovin' gal....but I know a lot of people do use google. And honestly, I have no idea how to "claim" my blog on bloglovin' so I'm not sure how to keep up with followers on there....guess I'll have to figure that out soon. And 2. Don't forget to make note of all of your favorite posts you have read this week, I will be having my Friday Favorites linkup again tomorrow.

Moving on.

Have I told y'all lately how hilarious FH is? Well, he is trying his hardest to keep up with all my new blogger friends and I will admit, it's pretty dang hard. I'm sure this is how any normal husband of a woman gang member feels. I tell him about blog posts and about going to so-and-so's house and how so-and-so isn't coming out with us Saturday night because of such-and-such. It's hard to follow. But I love that he cares enough to try to keep up! I'm sure once he puts a few names to faces, he will remember them more.

Speaking of FH....man, I have loved not having to share him with K&A this week. I love those girls...but sometimes they interupt a hug with "Don't you be hugging on my man! Michael Harper is my man."

No but for real.

He is a popular man in our house so for me to have him all to myself makes me one happy lady.

Although, his birthday is coming up on Sunday...and if I hear one more time "...but it's my birthday!" I might just have to stab myself in the eye.

I may or may not have influenced him on this the entire month is my birthday so I should get my way every single day concept.

But that's not the point.

I'm still trying to convince him that I should get presents on his birthday. It's not working so well.

We will be staying at The Hilton for his birthday night though.

So you know what that means, don't you?!

Brown chicken brown cow.

Awesome pillows and a super comfty bed!

I love The Hilton.

Hope everybody is having an awesome Thursday....and don't forget to come back tomorrow to link up! :)



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Kid-free and Crazy

Y'all want to know how I spent my first week night with no kids?
It was wild and crazy.
I came home from work and crawled into bed with FH.
And cuddled with him while I read.
For like 2 hours.
It was amazing.

Who knows what wild and crazy-ness I might get into tonight.
Having no kids just turns me into a teenager again.

K&A are staying in the mountains with my dad.
They are getting their country on.
And it helps that my dad is REALLY tough, so I have no doubt that those two girls are going to come back home with zero pre-teen attitude. Hey, a mom can dream.

They have been texting me often.
I love texting with them because they basically never have a lot to say, they just pretty much like to look cool while texting.

Here's some of the funny-ness for you to enjoy.

Those girls...

She is hot and feels home sick.
That translates to she was bored.
And apparently today she is stacking wood.
Child labor rules don't apply on Spring Break.

And since I requested pictures on the mountains, they sent them!
Pay no attention to their clothes.
I just threw everything warm that they owned into luggage and they are wearing what they want.
I'm pretty sure there are more animals than people there, so they don't have to match well...good thing. Fashion is not their strongest.

I miss them, already.
But I can't say I don't enjoy the quiet at least a little.

Hope everybody is having a happy Tuesday! I'm going to get my hair did tonight....stay tuned to find out if I change it up a bit or just get the same ole, same ole. The closer I get to my appointment, the less daring I get! :) Pin It Now!

Just Some Sentences

Just so you know:

1. My intern is out this week so work will be super busy with just me holding down the fort. I will blog, but they might all be short and sweet like this post.

2. I ran 10 miles on Saturday. Sorry, I just have to brag because that's the farthest I have EVER ran. I FINALLY feel as though I can manage the half in April. If I can run 10 miles alone then I know I can bust out 13.1 in a race. And seeing that I burned over 1,200 calories during that run, it's safe to say that I'm addicted to running now.

3. I hurt my knee running Saturday. This is normal for me...whenever I run I get bad shin splints (which didn't actually happen too badly Saturday) or my knees get fluid on them and hurt like a mother. My left knee, which is my good knee (I had surgery on my right one) has fluid on it now and was SUPER sore yesterday. I iced it and elevated it almost the entire day, so it's feeling a bit better today.

4. Because of said knee pain, I missed 2 days of the JM challenge. I am BEYOND dissappointed in myself because of this. I was doing SO WELL. And honestly, I got home around midnight Saturday night, and I was going to do the Shred. That's how determined I was to keep it going...and then I realized I could barely walk. Then yesterday, I started the video off, only to realize that the first jumping jack had me almost in tears. Not cool. I'm hoping that I can get back into it today. I'm not giving up.

5. My kids are out of town for spring break the ENTIRE week. Can you even believe that? FH and I won't even know what to do with ourselves all week....we can actually hold a conversation without getting interrupted. Strange.

I think that's all....maybe, I can't know for sure. I have about eleventy-billion things going on at once right now, but I couldn't just NOT blog a tiny bit. Hope you all have had a fantabulous weekend and are ready to get this week started off right!


Happy Monday! :) Pin It Now!

Blogging Mojo

I feel as if I have lost my blogging mojo this week.
Normally I can't wait to blog, but today and yesterday I've been just kinda blah and not really having much to say.
Which is weird, I always have SOMETHING to say.

Am I the only one who ever feels this way??

I'm tired and work is busy. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.
Oh, and I'm barely eating. No, but really.

I started a new detox challenge.
Since everybody in their grandma started the Advocare cleanse yesterday, I decided to start a detox that I had done before and still had the product on hand....but let me just tell you, when they say detox, they are really just saying "starve yourself for two days".

Or at least that's what I think.
The detox I am doing is the 8 day Xyngular cleanse.
You can google it and read all about it....but I should note that I don't recommend it. Just being honest.
It is expensive. Like really expensive.
And you can't eat as much food as you do with Advocare.
But I hit a plateau and I must see a move in the scale.
Live and learn.

So yesterday and today, I have 3 protein shakes for my meals, then 2 small snacks of just meat. My stomach is literally eating itself.

In other news, I have my first half marathon in less than a month...and I haven't ran more than 2 miles since my last 10K.
No, but really.
I'm kinda of in denial that I'm actually gonna have to run that far.
And I'm counting on my competitive nature to get me to the finish line.

Today is day 10 of my Shred Challenge.
Honestly, I'm sick of it....but I'm still doing it because I know it works.
Although exercising when you have hardly eaten is not a fun time.
I hope everyone or at least a handful of you are still sticking with the challenge....link up will be March 25. Right, Kimmy??

I think that's all I got for now.
Hunger is clouding my judgement...but I can tell you that I'm already down 2 lbs in one day. You can imagine my excitement this morning!

Happy Tuesday Y'all! Hope you are all having a great day! :) Pin It Now!

Keepin' It Real

I had big plans of Friday letters today.
And then, my blonde hair happened.

This picture has nothing to do with this blog post...but you gotta have pics, so here you go!

And since I like to keep it real 'round these parts, I'm gonna share.

Cause I'm an idiot.

And we could all use a good laugh so feel free to laugh at me.

So you see what happened was.....

I got an email this morning.

I was half asleep and it said "Congratulations, you won the Feb giveaway!"

So of course I did a  fist pump and texted everyone I knew.

Holla! I won lots of free crap, happy freaking friday.

I was already spending the giftcards in my head.

And then, my friend Amy was all like "that giveaway looks cool, but it says the winner was someone else....."

FAIL.

Apparently I got the email because I participated in the giveaway.

I know, I know. I'm an idiot.

Oh, AND I replied TO ALL.

Something lame along the lines of "Thank you so much, that is awesome!"

I'm sure everyone on the email, we are talking a lot of freaking people here, are completely confused now.

In my defense, the email was not "to" anyone, had she put Dear So-and-so or whatever like your English teacher teaches you to do in like 5th grade, then my blonde moment would not have occurred.

And if you were in on that email, and you think I'm an idiot, please keep it to yourself. Or comment, cause that's funnier.

Hey, maybe someone will be confused and accidentally send me a giftcard. A girl can dream...I never win nothing!

In other news, aside from me being a complete idiot with my Friday fail, I went to bootcamp and LOVED it last night!

I almost threw up, several times.

In my book, that means success.

They have the class 2 nights during the week and on Saturday morning so I hope to be a regular from now on.

I am completely frustrated that I am doing awesome and the scale isn't moving...but I'm not giving up.

That scale WILL move eventually if it is the death of me.

I also am excited to tell you that once I get off work today, I have ABSOLUTELY nothing planned except for a Friday night date with FH for gym time. So I plan on catching up on all my favorite blogs tonight before gym time......I hate being behind on blog reading.

Hope everyone has a fantabulous Friday!

Beware of misleading emails that make you think you are a winner, when in fact, you are still a loser.      :)

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