First of all, I want to thank you all so much for your kind comments on my last entry. I think I was just overreacting. I need to learn to not be so sensitive! :)
Yesterday, I spent a good part of the afternoon combining two kids' bikes together to make one functional bike. There is a little boy that lives a street over from us, and he comes over to play with my boys just about every day. His name is Seth, he's 5 years old, and SO cute. He's extremely talkative and asks 10,000 questions a day--many people would probably be annoyed--but I'm very patient with him because from what I've seen, he doesn't have a great situation at home. Jerry saw his dad yelling at him, and just screaming cuss words left and right, and then grab his bike and throw it up against a tree. We haven't seen any signs of physical abuse, but I hate that his dad screams at him like that. He has the most lively spirit you can imagine in a little boy, and I would hate for his dad to break his spirit.
He hates to go home, and he always comes up with excuses to stay a little longer at my house. I have to keep my doors locked at all times, because he tends to just walk right in my house and start playing ;) I find it cute, but I don't want him thinking that's okay. Anyway, he has a bike that's probably 10 years old (he said it used to be his brother's bike)--very rusty and the chain always comes off. I really wanted to buy him a new bike, but I didn't want to step on any toes at his house, so instead, I took Noah's old bike (about 2 years old) that needs new tires and I put Seth's tires on Noah's old bike. Seth was THRILLED and so grateful! He rode it all afternoon. I hope his parents aren't mad that I did that, but I had to put the chain back on his old bike about 6 times yesterday morning, and it was getting ridiculous. I'm happy that it worked out to give him the bike.
I woke up this morning from a dream that I got on the scale and weighed 174 pounds. Yikes! That was a scary feeling. I still haven't weighed myself, but I do keep note of how my clothes are feeling (getting a little tighter this week!) After this trip to Illinois, I'm going to go back to counting calories (boo!) until I can get under control again. I haven't been binging, but I've been eating too too much. I think I'm probably at the high 140's. I will weigh myself on August 19th (the 2-year anniversary of when I started this weight loss madness).
I just went to Goodwill, where I bought waaay too many clothes. I really was in desperate need of summer clothes--I only had ONE pair of shorts that weren't exercise gear. When all was said and done today, I had spent $86 and I got: 3 summer dresses (all with original tags on them!), 3 skirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of shorts, 5 pairs of shoes, a purse, a tote bag, 9 shirts, and a couple of toys for my kids.
Just a few of my favorite items:
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All my new shoes... grand total of $12 |
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Love these American Eagle shorts... the perfect length (knee length) |
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Cute tote bag |
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Sundress with built in bra :) |
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LOVE this dress!! |
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This looks much cuter on me than on the hanger ;) |
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Comfy skirt with shorts underneath |
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A pretty, feminine skirt |
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A cute American Eagle top |
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Love this shirt too |
I would have done a fashion show for you, but my photographer (Jerry) is at work. So you're stuck with the hangers. I'm so relieved to have clothes that I'm not going to sweat to death in. I also discovered that having small boobs is very convenient, because I can go braless with all 3 of the summer dresses I bought.
Do you ever shop at thrift stores? That is the ONLY place that I buy clothes (and garage sales, of course). I was in a store a couple of years ago (I think Elder Beerman) and I looked around and just thought about how wasteful (as a country) it seems to have all those brand new items when there are tons of used things that we could have instead. Ever since that moment, I've been buying my clothes from thrift stores (with the exception of running shoes and a couple of items I haven't been able to buy used).
Last Christmas, Jerry and I were shopping at a thrift store with the kids, and a woman said "Merry Christmas!" to Jerry and shook his hand. She had slipped a bill into his hand, and he thought maybe she was giving him a dollar to buy a toy for the kids, but he looked down and it was a $50 bill! The lady left the store with her husband before we even got a chance to thank them, but how generous was that?! We were having a rough time financially because I had just broken my jaw and Jerry took a couple of weeks off work to care for me--so we were SO grateful for the extra money! I would love to be able to pay it forward one day ;)