Friday, May 3, 2013

April Showers bring May Snow????


It's been a few months of chaos in my home! Life has just been crazy busy with working two jobs, going to school and taking 4 classes (oh who's ingenious idea was that), and being momma to my precious baby girl! The most exciting thing that has been going on during these last few months is that I have been very diligently working on having my weight loss surgery. Starting towards the end of January we were waiting for my surgery to be approved by the insurance company. That was two weeks of me being a neurotic mess and being highly impatient. After that the fun began, I had to start meeting with the surgeon, the nutritionist, the physical therapist, and then a psychologist. Most of the time I lucked out and was able to schedule all my appointments in one day. I was given a surgery date of 4/5/13. Which was perfect it gave me a little over  a month from surgery to lose some weight and get in my dress for Brittney's wedding in May. Between January and surgery I had to work very diligently on changing my diet and changing my eating habits, along with that I had to learn how to exercise more frequently. I think I successfully accomplished this task because I managed to lose 32 pounds before surgery

Anyway, at this point it has been four weeks since surgery and I have lost another 21 pounds and I'm 9 pounds away from being under 300 pounds. I'm super duper excited! So much closer to my goal already. It's amazing! I have more energy already and love going to play with my little girl! It's the greatest feeling in the world feeling like I can keep up with her!

Lorelai is doing amazingly well! She has been fighting some allergies but seems to be handling it well. She seems to be talking more and more everyday. Along with that she is learning new words and she repeats just about everything. I really have to watch what I'm saying around her. Every time I look at her it seems that she has gotten taller. We are anxious for the weather to warm up. We had a taste of 80 degree weather and now its cold rainy and in the 40s and its May!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Winter Wonderland....2 Months Late

Well things were pretty quiet and easy going......minus the crazy deadlines at work....until we got hit by what is so lovingly being referred to the Snowpocalypse of 2013 on Feb 21st, 2013. I woke up that lovely morning at about 5 am and not a single drop of snow outside. My thoughts are a) the weather man is crazy and really exaggerating b) I'm going back to bed and I will get up in a few hours and head to work. Of course 8:00am rolls around and I so eagerly (notice the sarcasm) mosey my way out of the bed and look out the window only to find several snow covered vehicles that honestly look like they are giant snow balls. I then get Lorelai up and get her dressed. We go outside and dig our way out of the snow. I have decided I'm still going to try to get to work at this point. You have to understand when you live in South Dakota a foot of snow is nothing and my thought is that I can totally tackle this feat! I finally get the car dug out and Lorelai is safely in the warm van as we creep our way up the hill to Ashland Rd and then slowly creep up Ashland Rd to Stadium. I'm beginning to realize just how heavily the snow is falling and that I can only see about 10 feet in front of me. I drive a little bit further and determine I'm calling my boss and telling her I'm not coming in to work. The worst thing ever for me would have been to be stuck at work and unable to get to my daughter. Needless to say Lorelai and I turned around and went home! We spent the day just hangin out around the house and cleaning. I was able to clean, do laundry, and got to play on the wii a bit. In fact we were able to find Super Mario Bros 3 on the wii! I was so excited about that!




Friday, I was luckily scheduled to work at the apartments. So, I was able to take Lorelai to daycare and then walk around the corner from my apartment to the office which was nice. It was pretty quiet other than dealing with calls from tenants regarding the snow and how upset they were because the company that we hire to plow the snow was plowing snow apparently behind their cars. I'm sorry the snow has to go somewhere and unless you are planning on moving your cars before they get there then yes the snow is going to a little stacked up behind your car. Enough of my rant about that. The weekend was pretty normal, just my typical work schedule, homework, and a little bit of play time with Lorelai. Monday I was able to get back to the office and work on some things that really needed to get done. However, Monday afternoon the MoDot issued a No Driving Advisory for 48 hrs starting Tuesday due to another snow storm. So, guess what Tuesday was another snow storm. This one we didn't get as much snow accumulation but it had very heavy wind and the snow that did fall was a very wet and heavy snow. It caused a few roofs to collapse on some businesses, a ton of residents in the MidMo area lost power, and I was out of internet for a large majority of the day due to a fiber optic cable that got cut. I didn't try to go outside that day until about 2:30 in the afternoon when I looked outside and the roads looked like they had been pretty well cleared off. So, Lorelai and I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby to pick up some things to create my Picture Collage on the empty wall in the living room that was driving me nuts! I also was able to make a coat rack which I had been wanting to do. So, it overall was a productive afternoon. Anyhow, it's now Thursday and it is still snowing just not as bad and yet again they are calling for another snow storm on Tuesday! All I can think of is that we need to have inclement weather pay! Lol. I'm kind of sick of snow at this point and have determined that God just wanted us to have our winter wonderland a little bit later this year and that the groundhog lied big time! :-)

P.S. Walmart on Conley closed today due to a fear of the roof collapsing from the heavy snow. However, I made it there before they closed it down and I was able to find Lorelai an absolutely adorable hat that actually fit over her head! Plus it was on sale!! Super Excited!



Happy Snow Days Everyone!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

7 Months worth of craziness!!!

According to blogger I haven't blogged in approximately 7 months! Ahhh!!! So, I figure now is the time to
attempt to catch up on the happenings of the McDougals!

July: Was pretty normal, nothing to super exciting. The 4th of July came and went. Lorelai seemed to enjoy
the fireworks more this year than last. She just stared at them so intently it was rather amusing!



August: Turnover season at the apartments which means it gets a little chaotic and crazy! That's pretty much all that happened in August.

Septemeber: Beginning of Fall which is totally my favorite time of year! The weather cools downs just enough, the orange, yellow, and red leaves start showing up, and of course that means Halloween is right around the corner!

October: Well let's see my baby girl turned 2!!!! We had her birthday party at the Little Gym. I think that was the greatest thing ever! They did practically everything as far as sending out invitations, having games ready for the kiddos, etc. It was just great to have so much fun celebrating w/ Lorelai and getting to see her with her friends! The middle of October I started a second job at MBS Textbooks in their call center. I had worked their previously when Lorelai was first born during their "Winter Rush" as we so lovingly refer to it. Now, they have hired me as a part time permanent order processing agent.It's fun and exhausting but you do what you have to do to make it sometimes!Halloween was also this month. Lorelai dressed up as a witch.However, we didn't make it out trick or treating. She decided throwing a temper tantrum was much more enjoyable. So, after her temper tantrum we curled up on the couch watched movies and ate pizza! Quality mommy-daughter time!




November: Was Thanksgiving. As usual protocol with the McDougal's we all gathered up at my mom's house and celebrated with her! My friend Chris and his parents came over to have dinner with us as well which was great. I love having family and friends around and just getting to enjoy quality time with each other!

December: Christmas! Christmas was at my mom's house this year. It was wonderful! I was super excited to have the family around as usual! Zoe got to come home for about a week. Although, I wish she would have stayed longer but I know she needed to get back to Kansas City to go to work. I was able to get my mom a 32" Flat Screen Tv for Christmas and she was totally suprised and excited. It's really a nice feeling to be able to get your mom something that she has been wanting for a while and totally wasn't expecting to get. I was also able to get Lorelai a Wii for christmas. I'm hoping that I can find some good educational games for her to be able to play on it! Also, on Christmas an unusual McDougal family tradition is to go to a Chinese restaurant for Chrismtas dinner! So, that is what we did!

January 2013!!!: A new year! Well it's January and in the accounting office that equals craziness!!!!! It means W-2s have to get sent out and we are transitioning from 2012 to 2013! It also means the start of tax season for us! Also, I have started classes again! I'm taking Intro to Business, Accounting I, Macroeconomics, and College Orientation. I have decided I'm a little crazy....single parent, working technically 3 jobs (although it only feels like 2), and taking 4 classes. I guess it will all pay off eventually. This year  my best friend Ashley will be coming home for about 6 months while her husband Nic is being deployed to Japan, my friend Chris will be moving back home after being in Kansas City for entirely way to long, my munckin butt aka Gabe will be turning 4, I'm turning 24, Zoe is turning 20 and my best friend Brittney is getting married on her birthday, Parker is turning 22, a mutual friend of mine and Zoe's who we love dearly will be getting married in July, I have heard whispers of vacations to the east coast this summer to see family, Lorelai will turn 3 in October,  and the most exciting thing for me personally is I will hopefully be having the lap band surgery done!

That's been the last 7 months & a little of what the new year has in store for us!