Why I LOVE Our Thrift Store

This is why I love our thrift store.  $1.65 - That's exactly how much it cost me to get these three reference books and a cute book about pigs.  That's a savings of over $75!  Can you believe that?! 

 These aren't the beginner dictionaries and encyclopedias either.  See how fat they are?

 There is a lot of great in-depth info in these.  Just what I was needing for the next step up.  The Lord always knows, and He always provides at just the right time!

 While we're on the subject of homeschool, I thought I would throw this picture in.  The skeleton is a puzzle that came with an anatomy book we bought at a yard sale this summer for a dollar.  Compared to the dictionaries and encyclopedia, that was a fortune, lol. 

 We had a pretty good snowstorm over the last couple of days.  Nothing out of the ordinary for Wyoming, but noteworthy because we haven't had any snow since before Christmas, which is very unusual.  Today they called for 100% chance of snow.  So of course it isn't snowing, and doesn't look like it will.  I was surprised to hear the weathermen didn't even give themselves that 1% chance just in case.  They ought to remember that saying about never betting on a sure thing...

 Anyway, after school yesterday the boys (mine on the left, and one we watch after school on the right) made a snowman.  I thought it was funny that they used four snowballs.  But it's art, right?  They can be as creative as they want!

 The younger two keep us on our toes.  The poor baby!  He can't even lay on the floor without his 3 year old brother trying to smother him.

He's a pretty happy guy now that we've gotten his allergies figured out.  I can't believe how much different he is now than he was a month ago.  It's so worth it for me to have to be more careful about my eating habits.  You would be surprised how many things dairy products and eggs are in.  He's allergic to nuts too, so that's even more limiting.  But like I said, I'm glad to do it for him.  Besides, I'm winning in the exchange too.  So far I've lost 10 pounds (since Dec. 21, when I found out about the allergies).  That's a total of 18 pounds lost from my highest weight!  I figured when I had to cut eggs, dairy and milk, I might as well add sugar to the list and ensure a change in me as well. 

My next goal is to get on the treadmill 6 days a week, and to cut my consumption of sodas.  I only drink caffeine free diet coke or pepsi, but that's all I drink.  So it's going to be quite a radical change for me.  I'm not trying to go completely off it, but at least have half of my liquid intake be from water each day.  As far as the diet goals are concerned, I have fought my weight (and been the loser of the battle) my whole life.  It occurred to me that I am turning 40 this year at the end of April, and I have to renew my driver's license.  For once, I'd like to honestly be able to lower the weight listed on that card, and feel like I look better in the new photo than the old.  I also thought about how people say the older you get, the harder it is to lose weight.  It occurred to me (like a 2x4 hitting me in the forehead with a giant "duh" written over my head) that it would never be easier to lose weight than it is right now.  Wow.  That was profound, huh?  So, I'm working on it.  My goal is to have lost 40 pounds by my birthday, and losing 120 by the end of the year.  That's a doable 10 pounds a month, or the recommended slow loss of 2.5 pounds per week.  There will be no "before" pictures until I feel good about the "after" picture.  And I doubt I will ever tell you what my top weight was.  I'm adding a ticker to my sidebar to keep track of my progress.  My debt tracker is so motivating that I figured a weight tracker would be too.  Well, anyway, I hadn't intended to get into the weight discussion, but there it is.  Wish me luck, and please pray for me!  So far I haven't cheated at all, and it feels really good.  I'm wondering how long I can keep it up :)