Sweet Life in the City

Prayers needed please! As you know from my little tantrum on Thursday I have been having a rough time. For the past ten days or so I have not been feeling great. I have had a sore throat, headache , extremely tired ( more than normal), and a touch of lockjaw. Every morning I can only drink coffee or some other beverage because my mouth cannot open wide enough to get a spoon in my mouth. It has been popping and my whole face has been hurting. I took another three house nap today and when I woke up I just felt horrible. I thought about trying to get in to see a doctor tomorrow. The more I thought about it I thought I probably should go today. So I went to a local walk in clinic that we usually go to when we do not want to wait to get into our doctor. I get to the clinic and the sky is turning black and a tornado warning is being issued for our county and the county I am in at the doctor. I am terrified of storms so it was a antsy time at the doctors office. Jeremy and the kids got in the...

You know your day is not going as planned when the first three people who see you say "You are not feeling well today, are you?" I woke up this morning with a sore throat. Thankfully it has not gotten any worse so it is probably just allergies. It is rainy and just yucky today, so my fibro really doing a number on my body. I told someone this morning I just could of stayed in bed but then I remembered that staying in bed tends to make me hurt worse. My kids at school have been high strung this whole week and I love them dearly, but they were getting to me today. There is a possibility of severe storms and flooding tonight and I have to go to Nashville to class. My house is a complete mess even though I have cleaned it a million times in the past week. I have about a months worth of work to get accomplished in the next 8 days!!! So, I am struggling today! Ok. Thanks for letting me vent:) It has been a rough week on me. I really do feel so overwhelmed that I could burst into te...

I know, I know, I have not blogged in two days and I totally missed my next ten day check  in.  On top of being swamped with EVERYTHING my computer is acting all weird. It has been hard to post on here. It freezes up every few seconds so please over look any thing that does not make sense. I will be typing along and not even realize that the little pinwheel is just a turning. So there is not much to report on my next ten days. I only lost 1 pound and I only exercised 4 days. I have done really well since Saturday about making wise eating choices. I am actually all about eating yogurt these days. I know it will not last but that is what I like eating. I told my sister maybe I can be like that girl on that commercial a few years back where she fit into her little poke-a- dot bikini just by eating yogurt:) Well I will skip the bikini, but it would be nice not feeling like a beached whale this time when we go to the beach:) Saturday was spent cleaning the house and getting some school work...

Oh wow, I cannot believe it is already Friday.! This week has been some what of a blur. I am not sure the last time I had such a busy week. Tuesday night I had class so I did not get home until almost 10:00. Wednesday was Emma's Gotcha Day. I went to Curves after school and then we did some special things with Emma and the other kids. After the kids went to bed I started working on my stuff that was due for my Thursday night class. After school yesterday I came home and grabbed a bite to eat and then I headed back to Nashville for my Thursday night class and then had a full day today. I am trying to get my house cleaned up so I am not spending all weekend cleaning. I also need to get tons of things done for my class and for my students. I also need to get things ready for my trip (which is in two weeks). Man, are you tired yet? I am exhausted:) Anyway, in all my craziness I did not eat so great this week. I did not eat a lot but I just did not make the best choices. It was easy to ...

Happy Valentine's Day! This has been an extremely long day. We were only in school for half a day last week so it was difficult getting back in the swing of things. To make matters worse we had  our Valentine's party today at school. My kids were so sweet and I got so many cards and even got some balloons from one of my boys. Well I could not let this day go by without thinking about my favorite Valentine memory. Three years ago on Valentine's Day I finally got to see and hold my sweet Emma. I wish I could say that it was all hugs and smiles but it was not. Emma did not want anything to do with us. It was difficult loving and waiting for little girl and she did not return  the feelings. It is still my favorite Valentine memory:) Well, I have not slept very well for the past few nights. I am exhausted and praying that I can sleep tonight. I also need to report that I did horrible with my eating yesterday and not so great today. I am hoping that tomorrow I will get back on tr...

[caption id="attachment_2377" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Seoul Korea from the taxi."] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_2378" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Emma at her foster mother's house"] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_2380" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Emma finally fell asleep in daddy's arms."] [/caption] February 12th is one of those dates that will forever be a part of my life. Those of you that have been reading my blog/know my story have heard this before, but I like to take a minute to talk about the significance of this day. We have to go back to 2004. Ten months prior to February 12, 2004 I was diagnosed with endometrium cancer. I was 25 years old when I was diaganosed so the doctors were hoping to treat me rather than have a hysterectomy. So, I went through 10 months of treatments. It was the worst time in my l...

We are once again enjoying a snow day here in Middle TN.  I am hoping this is the last round of snow until next winter. It is supposed to get to 40 degrees today so the snow should be leaving us soon. It is supposed to me in the 60's by Wednesday! I have had a pretty productive day. I finally can see the bottom of all our laundry baskets and my laundry room floor is completely free of dirty clothes. I worked on my class some and worked on stuff for my classroom. I am hoping to get out later and go to Curves but I am not sure if the roads are 100% yet, so I may wait and go tomorrow. Well, neither one of my things were cancelled last night:( I did get the information about the Guatemala trip today and I am getting so excited. It is crazy to think that I will be leaving three weeks from tomorrow! Well, that is all there is to report from the Riggs' house today. Here are some pictures I got of the kids playing in the snow. [caption id="attachment_2371" align="alignno...

[caption id="attachment_2364" align="alignnone" width="768" caption="Emma got a haircut!"] [/caption] Emma could not decide on blue or pink so she wanted both! [caption id="attachment_2366" align="alignnone" width="1024" caption="Sam and Emma watching daddy. They wanted to go out soo bad! Too bad it is 7 degrees outside."] [/caption] So, we are on snow day number 11 ,I believe. It is so pretty outside but it is also so cold the kids cannot go out in it to play. We may let them go out if it warms up some. I am once again getting the house cleaned up even though it is a losing battle with all of us home. I am also trying not to stress about to things I need to be at tonight but will not be  going to either one of them. There is a Guatemala meeting that was scheduled for Monday but was rescheduled because of the  weather. I am hoping they will reschedule this meeting as well. My second class that I am taking...

So I have made it the first ten days. The first 7 were pretty easy but these past three days have been rough. We went to school this morning but the snow is moving back in to the area so we were dismissed at noon. I was trying to take a nap but Sam keeps waking me up. The past three days have not only been rough on my eating but I have been hurting so bad since Sunday. Monday night I was just in tears because my body was in so much pain. I have also been taking more medicine and so I think that has added to my increase in my appetite. I have also been so sleepy. Yesterday I slept in and then I took a three hour nap with the kids that afternoon. I thought I would be up all night but at 9:00 I was in the bed and asleep. I am not sure if the weather is adding to my fibro pain. Well, I said that I would give an update every ten days on my progress. I have worked really hard and I wish my weight loss was more but I am not going to dwell on that because I do feel better then I did ten days a...

We made it through a full week of school without snow but the snow has returned. All weekend they were calling for a light snow on Monday and a greater chance for snow on Wednesday. We had a teachers clinic yesterday in Nashville so I did not have students. I took the girls to school and Sam went to Gran and Papa's house. It started snowing in our area around 11:00 so the school was closing at 1:00. I left the clinic and picked Sam up and then headed to get the girls. Well our little dusting of snow turned into 3 inches. Our roads are pretty bad so we do not have school today. Jeremy had school but he ended up staying home because when he tried to leave he was sliding all over the road. I have class tonight but I do not think I am going to try to go. The sun is out and the roads will probably clear up for me to get out but I do not want to be getting home at 10:00 tonight. I know I talk a lot about how back our roads are so I posted a picture of part of the road that we take to get...

Sorry no pictures today. Today has been a pretty good day. We had a great service this morning. We are in a series called "Lies" and is about breaking through the lies that we have made ourselves believe. This morning was about forgetting the lie that we are not good enough or not qualified to do the job God has for us. The pastor was talking about stop being afraid and just trust God is going to equip us. Our Creator made us for a reason and when we say we are not "good enough" for the job He has for us we are saying that He messed up somehow. I think for the most of my life I have been controlled by my own fear and insecurities. I know I have missed out on so many opportunities because I was too afraid to trust God and His plan for my life. It was a great reminder as my trip to Guatemala is just around the corner. After church we came home for lunch and I did pretty good with what I ate. Before Sam came home I had joined Weight Watchers and did really well with we...

[caption id="attachment_2347" align="alignnone" width="614" caption="This was taken a few weeks ago when we took Lucy to the vet."] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_2349" align="alignnone" width="819" caption="Emma playing with her doll house. Please excuse the dirty face:0"] [/caption]   [caption id="attachment_2348" align="alignnone" width="614" caption="Chloe has put this puzzle together about 50 times! She has carried it around with her since she got it."] [/caption] Well if you are reading my blog I guess you noticed that I did not blog yesterday. I was so exhausted when I got home last night. Yesterday was rough keeping to eating what I should. It is strange but it seems like Fridays and Sundays are the hardest to make good eating choices. I guess on Friday I just do not want to think about it. I made cupcakes for my class at school and there were a few extra ...

It has been a crazy day! I have not gone to school this many days in a row in so long I am pretty wiped out. I did really well today with my eating and I drank all my water ( something I have not been doing). I also tried to be better about eating enough. Last night I went to Curves and I did p90X with Jeremy. I woke up at midnight and I was so weak and dizzy from being hungry. I ate a banana and a Tbs of peanut butter (my new favorite snack) and felt so much better. I am about to watch "Bones" and then we are going to exercise. Well the kids and I went to the store after school and they got their Valentine's cards for school. They were so excited but then Emma says "Mom, what are these for anyway." She cracks me up! We got home and there was a box from Grandma and Grandpa was waiting on the porch with all sort of Valentine goodies. After supper I told Sam and Emma that we needed to call Grandma and thank her. I was cleaning up from supper and I heard Sam in the...

"The Lord is my light and my salvation- so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?" Psalm 27:1 So, this blogging every day is a lot harder than I expected. I feel like I am writing the same thing every day. So I will give a quick update on how I did today but I thought I would share a little of my thoughts and concerns about my upcoming trip to Guatemala. But first how I did today. I actually did really good with making good choices when it came to what I was eating. I did hit a rough spot about 2:00. My class could hear my stomach growling:) but I pushed through it and ate my apple after school. I also got to Curves this afternoon and had a great workout! I had not been all month because of sickness, bad weather, and van issues so it was nice to be back. Well, I leave in 32 days to go to Guatemala! That almost seems unbelievable. It is still hard to believe that I am actually going to another country. The truth is ...

How in the world is it already February?! I know that I am posting early today but I have class tonight and it will be late when I get back. I realize that I have several hours to make totally wrong choices, but I am going to take my chances and will report any successes or failures with tomorrow's post. I have done well today even though it has been a rough day. The drastic change in the weather, the rain, and another big change in the weather has been so rough on my body. I could barely get up this morning (it could have also been from the P90X also). Anyway I felt so sluggish all day and by this afternoon I was craving something with chocolate. I have had a headache ALL day and I almost gave in to the chocolate. My sister asked me if the headache was from no caffeine and I assured her that I am not completely crazy I am hanging on to my Diet Coke. I am drinking it in moderation but not cutting it out of my life:) This afternoon I needed something so I got a Diet Coke out of the ...