Apartment/Moving, Work and Workouts

Shannon talked to his mom the other day and apparently, they are wanting to move back to NC.  They are interested in the apartment complex we applied to.  They had looked at it two years ago when they were moving out of their house but on a whim, they decided to move to the beach instead.  Now, they want to move back to NC.  After my father-in-law's health scare a few months ago, they realized that it would be better for all of us to be near each other.  They can help us and we can help them.  Plus, they are already familiar with the area.  We also have Trader Joe's and a few other natural foods store that they like.  In their current city, the closest Trader Joe's is a few hours away. 

We still have not heard any word from the apartment complex regarding our application.  They told us it would take around 3 days (we turned in our application on Wednesday), so hopefully on Monday we will hear something.  We drove by that area again.  They have Walgreens on the corner (there is also a CVS across the street on the corner) and Harris Teeter (grocery store) and many other stores directly across the street from the complex.  The entire apartment complex property is on 32 acres of land.  It's a huge looking place.  When we drove through it, it looks so quiet and peaceful.  Very family oriented.  Plus, the office does a criminal background check. 

Shannon worked 12 hours last night.  He had to work from 7pm until 7am.  He had to work one site from 7pm until 11pm and then do his supervisor shift from 11pm until 7am.  But during the 12 hours, he will be paid the same rate of pay!!!   The acting manager (they still haven't filled the position of the former Account manager) told Shannon that he will have more hours for him this week!  I am so glad there are plenty of hours to be given out to everyone.  It sounds like everyone is getting extra hours or overtime if they want it. 

Since I am feeling completely better and no longer have dizzy spells, I started March off to a great start.  February was not a good month for me.  I am back to doing pilates for now.  I am going to continue with pilates and then add yoga here and there.  Once I have done that for a few weeks, I plan on adding Turbo Jam and then Turbo Fire.  I am just taking it day by day. 

Friday work schedule

Shannon worked from 12pm until 7pm at Best Buy.  His security job called him while he was at Best Buy and asked him to come in an hour early to cover, so he's working 10pm until 7am.  He then has to work Saturday at Best Buy from 12pm until 7pm, I believe. 

I started taking a weight loss supplement called Raspberry Ketones.  It is recommended by Dr. Oz.  I am reviewing the product for my other blog.  I am also trying to get back into Turbo Fire.  I strayed from the program about a month ago.  I think I've been doing Turbo Fire for so long.  I am trying to stay motivated.  During the last month, I changed up my routine and rotated between pilates, yoga and Turbo Jam.  There's a new workout program coming out in mid-December but I think I'll wait to see what others are saying about it once it's out. 

Back to Turbo Fire

I am now on Week 2 of Turbo Fire.  In the weeks before, I was doing Turbo Jam to get my body and endurance up for Turbo Fire.  I took the summer off from Turbo Fire since the workout schedule is so intense and Kyle was home from school.  During the summer, I was focusing on pilates and yoga.  Now that Kyle is back in school, I wanted to get back into Turbo Fire. 

So far, I am staying on track and my body isn't that sore the next day.  I can feel my muscles getting strong faster this time around on the schedule. 

Good to be home

It is so good to be home.  Nine days is too long to be away from home.  I started feeling homesick and I think Kyle did too.  I was ready to return home after only 4 or 5 days. 

I have a few obligations at home that I want to keep up with. 

Today is our first full day home.  I am caught up on laundry!  I woke up early to update my blog.  I also did yoga and pilates after nine days without it. 

Feeling better

I woke up this morning feeling much better. I still have a cough but I'm feeling better than this weekend. This morning, I had the urge to do yoga since I wasn't able to workout all weekend. I did 20 minutes of yoga!

Kyle woke up soon after I did. I ended up taking him for a walk to Walgreens.

We went to Walmart this evening because we were out of food! Our shelves and refrigerator were pretty much empty.

This evening, I did 20 minutes of Pilates!

Pilates and Yoga

I've been keeping busy with doing Pilates and yoga workouts on Netflix! I love having a few videos to choose from! I rotate between pilates and yoga each day, depending on my mood.

Old Shows and Pilates

Since we now have Netflix, we are taking full advantage of it.  I found a handful of pilates workout videos that I plan on using. 

I found a few shows that I saved to watch.  I started one series that I am watching from the very beginning.  I didn't really watch it when it was on the air, I am enjoying watching it now and seeing actors that I know from other shows in the present. 

Staying ahead

I've been doing good with staying on track with my workouts!  Yesterday I added a pilates workout to my day!  I am going to try to add pilates in the evenings. 

I look forward to the weekdays because Kyle is at school.  It seems it's the best time for me to work on my school work.  This weekend, I started my discussion questions for this week and finished them today.  I also did my reading and completed my quiz!  I got a 9 out of 10! 

I have found that when I stay at least 4 or 5 days ahead of my college schedule, it helps me feel organized and gives me enough time to do my school work.  I am done with everything for next week except my rough draft essay!  Next week, we have to write a rough draft essay and the final is due in a few weeks! 

Essays make me nervous since I haven't really had much practice in over a decade. 

The one thing I do miss about online college is lectures and being around other students and teachers. 

Change in workout needed

I feel like I need a change in workout.  While I love Turbo Fire, I need something less intense and with shorter workouts.  Today, I ended up doing Turbo Jam and pilates!  I would love to try a whole new workout program but I am still researching and looking at different ones.  In the meantime, I am saving up my Amazon gift cards to hopefully buy new workout DVDs. 

I am going to mix Turbo Jam and Pilates and rotate my current workout DVDs. 

Something old and new

While I was working out yesterday, I looked down at my abs and was not happy with what I saw.  Since I don't want to use belly wraps or spanx, mainly because I can't afford to buy them, and second they are only temporary solutions.  There is a home business out there that sells "body wraps" and other wraps to "melt the fat" I believe.  But they seem to be temporary solutions.  I was tempted to look further into them but I'd rather go back to something that actually worked for me.

This morning, I woke up sore [from my workout yesterday] and thought about doing pilates again.  I did a 30 minute pilates workout and felt really good afterwards.  I am going to start incorporating pilates in my workout schedule.  If I am feeling sore, I will do pilates instead.  Or just add it on after my cardio.   I already know pilates works for me, so I don't need products to "hide" my fat.  I am going to use pilates to tone my body. 

Pilates worked for me after I had Kyle.  Eight days after I had Kyle, I started doing pilates again.  I had done pilates before and loved it so I couldn't wait to start doing it again.  I think pilates really helped me tone my stomach and my entire body. 

I am having a lot of fun trying to figure out how to make soy candles.  I love burning soy candles, so making them seems to make sense.  For now it's a hobby.  Plus, burning soy candles has an additional benefit, it adds fragrance to our apartment!

Another Round

My in-laws informed us today (I wish they had given us more notice) that they are doing another round of using the septic tank cleaner in their septic tank! Which means we have to conserve on the water for 24 hours. Since the last time they used the cleaner, we were limited to doing one load of laundry per day. I have only done two loads in the last week and a half!

I am taking the weekend off from working out. I did 30 minutes of pilates yesterday and my body is paying for it today. I am sore all over!

When it was time to pick Kyle up from the bus stop on Friday, the bus was already there waiting for us. Apparently they arrived early and they tried calling us. They said every time they tried calling us, they would get the fax machine noise. My MIL and her friend were trying to send a fax during that time! It sounded like the bus had been there for at least 10 minutes! I felt so bad. I am going to give the bus driver our cell phone number. I don't have the voicemail set up on it, but they can always text us too (since many people have cell phones these days).

We went to Walmart yesterday to pick up a few things. I talked to one of my former co-workers and he said that I could come back to work there (he already asked for me). It made me wonder if I really want to go back to work there. I've been thinking about taking the certified nursing assisting course. I guess North Carolina doesn't have a requirement of how long the course has to be, because this course is only one day! Once I take the course, I can take the State tests to get certified. There are actually several places that offer the "one day/fast track CNA course." Typically they are taught by one or two Registered Nurses, it sounds like they do this on the side for additional income. I have also looked on the local hospital website and they are currently hiring for CNAs.

Lately, we've been letting Kyle play on the computer. He plays around on the Nick Jr. website. They have games, art, videos, and radio of all their cartoon shows. As he plays, he's learning eye-hand coordination, he gets to hear music and cartoon characters talk to him. He loves it!

Our forecast is calling for a "winter mix" on Tuesday, which usually means snow and/or rain! Hopefully it won't be so bad to where Kyle will miss school on Wednesday!

Nice Monday

Today was a nice day. Kyle had school, so it was a nice quiet break for us!

I did a Turbo Jam workout this morning and a pilates workout this afternoon! I was feeling energetic and decided to take advantage! I am feeling a little more energetic since I started taking my vitamins!



Kyle looked like he just woke up from a nap when he got off the bus! So cute! When we got home, I gave him a little snack, which he gobbled up! He still looked a little tired. We came upstairs and I pulled out some coloring books and he colored for a bit. Meanwhile, I took that time to skim through my new pilates DVDs! While I was watching them, Kyle came up and ended up falling asleeping next to me!

That was fast!

My pilates DVDs that I ordered last week arrived today! I was so surprised they arrived so quickly! I watched them just to see how they were. They look challenging, but fun.

I already did one of the videos. I had intended to do one section but ended up doing the entire workout! This video is broken down into 3 sections with a bonus 4th workout. This was definitely a nice change and they are different from other pilates workouts I have done.



This video looks like a challenge since it's a 43+ minute workout. The first 28 minutes of it is standing pilates inspired cardio. The last of the video is mat exercises.

Lazy Weekend

This has been a lazy weekend for us! Besides going grocery shopping yesterday, we haven't done much! It's been a nice relaxing weekend! I did write two letters today, so hopefully I will have two new pen pals! One of them is in San Francisco, CA which is exciting to me, as I am from California!

Earlier this month, I ordered a workout DVD on amazon and have yet to receive it. Per the vendor/seller, it was shipped on February 3rd. According to their email, they said it should arrive within 4 to 14 days. Well, it's been 18 days! I am tired of waiting so I emailed the vendor asking for a refund. It was shipped via USPS and I know things don't take that long to arrive.

I am anxious to receive my pilates workout DVDs! Yesterday I did a few different pilates workouts from videos I found on youtube! I forgot how much I enjoy pilates.

Kyle still enjoys school! He loves riding the school bus too! He's always so happy when he gets off the bus, I can see it in the way he acts while we are walking home (from the bus stop). The school already has snow make-up days set, which is great! I didn't like that Kyle had to miss a whole week of school.

I must be bored!

I must be bored with my current workouts with Turbo Jam. While I love Turbo Jam, I just need a change. I've been doing the same 5 workouts for almost a year now and it's definitely getting old. I am still waiting for my workout DVD that I ordered a few weeks ago! I am still looking forward to that workout.

Since I had another $15 gift card from Amazon from another online program that I used, I just ordered two pilates DVDs tonight! Soon I will have a small collection of workout DVDs to rotate!

I definitely miss my pilates workouts! I did a few pilates videos online last week and I could tell it's been too long! The challenge will be good for me. Now I just need to find my pilates mat that's still packed away.

I am looking forward to working on my core and other muscles. Turbo Jam helped me slim down, but pilates can help in many other ways that Turbo Jam can't.

Overall, I am just bored and need a change! I am excited to try my workouts and ready for the new challenge!

No School Again

There's hasn't been any new snow fall. It did rain here and there today. It's supposed to rain tomorrow as well. I don't think we'll be getting anymore snow until the weekend.

We just received a call that there is no school tomorrow! Surprise, surprise! I have a feeling there won't be school on Friday either. Either way, I am kind of glad because Kyle is still sick. He woke up this morning at around 2:45 AM, but that's only because he fell asleep at about 7:45 PM! He's been coughing and still have a running nose. He also felt "warmer than usual" to the touch, but I am not sure if it was a fever. I have him on cough medicine today.

Last night, I placed another order on Amazon and my order came to $0!!! I saved up enough gift cards to pay for the order. I ended up buying another workout video and coconut oil. I plan on using the coconut oil for my hair and skin. It's supposed to be really good for your scalp, softening your hair, and making it more healthy. I can also use coconut oil as body lotion and it's good for those with eczema! Another use for coconut oil is as deodorant, I am curious to see how that works. I bought a new workout video because I need a little change from my current workouts. Not that I don't like my current workouts, I just need a little change here and there.

I also found Winsor Pilates workout videos on youtube! They are entire workouts! So I plan on going back to Pilates here and there!

Yoga for a bit

Today was a nice mellow day, aside from Kyle's constant whining. I am not sure if it's his 3 year old tantrums or he's tired and really needed a nap. He normally doesn't take a nap, but he did when he was sick.

I am feeling a little better today and seem to have a little more energy. I am going to try to work tonight after Kyle goes to bed. I've been slacking the last few days since being sick. I just didn't have the energy or motivation to work.

I ended up doing yoga last night and another yoga workout this morning! I hate going too many days without working out and I felt the need to workout last night. I am doing yoga because pilates can get a little mundane and I needed a change. Anyway, both workouts were a great change of pace and nice to try out. They weren't the type of workout to hold a pose and breathe 82 times and then switch poses and breathe 82 more times. I hate slow paced workouts because I get bored.

I just happened to check my backoffice for my job and they already have the amount of my earnings for last month posted. I should be getting paid around the 21st of this month! It's a nice chunk of extra cash!

So I did Yoga yesterday

Have you ever tried a new activity, sport, or exercise, and the next day you feel sore? Can you remember the last time this happened to you?

Yesterday I was tired of pilates so I decided to do yoga instead! I am not a fan of yoga because it seems to be too slow paced for me and a whole lot of breathing. I get dizzy and lightheaded from all the breathing. LOL Anyway, I did some yoga and it felt really good and different, which I needed. It helps to change up my workouts here and there. Today my legs are really feeling it!

The hospital

I received a letter from the hospital where I had our son 2 ½ years ago. At first I thought it was another bill, which I knew we paid off. It was official looking and it just had that “bill” look. So of course I had to open it right away to see what it was all about. Apparently my personal information may have been accessed by an unauthorized party. Because of this, I was able to sign up for 1 full year of service with a credit protection company. They send me alerts anytime my name and/or social security number is used. I am upset that my information was accessed and compromised but I am thankful that they gave me a year of free service. I signed up without a problem and took a look at my credit report. It’s not as bad as I thought. LOL

Shannon is doing good at work. We really like the place he works for and it seems to be a great company to stay with. Unfortunately there have been a few people who have tried to slander his name, but they are met with dead ends. He is well liked by the General Manager, Director of Human Resources, and the Assistant General Manager of Hotel. They already know his skills and what type of person and manager he is. So when these fools make a fool out of themselves, they are just digging their own graves. Plus, the idiot bitches who are trying to do this are not well liked. They think they know their shit, but they don’t. LOL One of them actually tried to complain to the General Manager about my husband and the Assistant General Manager!

Kyle is still having tantrums here and there. I figured out that his bedtime is between 9:30pm and 10pm, which doesn‘t give me a whole lot of time at night to relax. I don’t know how he can stay up for so long without a nap during the day! I must be one lucky mother - having a 2 ½ year old who doesn’t take a nap!

I started doing Tae Bo again last week. I am doing the “8 minute workout” video. The first few days was torture. I was so sore. My arms hurt so much that I could barely lift them over my head, let alone move them at all. My whole body was sore. I wanted a little break from pilates, so I am glad I found my Tae Bo video.