Johnsons' Journey

I think I am enjoying this spring vacation way too much, and am getting so very lazy. *lol* I need to get better about coming here to post, and I also need to get better about the blog-hopping thing… I don’t want Facebook to take over my blog, but sometimes I fear that is what’s happening! So not a good thing! … It’s just that I get more responses off facebook, than I do here on the blog, so I tend to go there… For the “attention”, I guess. *lol*

We had an OK weekend…

The boys had their bowling league on Saturday morning. They both bowled well, and got over their average in every game… We don’t know if their team won the games or not, because one of their team-mates was gone. We’re assuming that he post-bowled, and we’ll find out how the games went on this Saturday… Up until last Saturday the boys’ team (The Cougars) were in 1st place… I’m hoping that they still are, as it would make the boys SO HAPPY if they finished in 1st.

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As many of you know, I am a HUGE fan of Little House on the Prairie… Not only the show, but the books as well. Heck, I even share a birthday with Laura Ingalls Wilder! … Some day it’s a dream of mine to go to the Rocky Ridge Farm in the Ozarks of Missouri, and see the farm that Laura and Almonzo built for themselves and for their daughter, Rose (which is where I got Amanda’s middle name from ). It would be so amazing to see how they lived! (Also wouldn’t mind a visit to DeSmet and Pepin, Wisconsin. ) … Of course, if we ever make it to Missouri, I have a couple friends I wouldn’t mind seeing as well.

Another place that would be great to visit would be Branson, Missouri. I’ve heard great things about it. Joe and I have even been told that we should have gone there for our honeymoon, instead of Nashville/Opryland. I should look into a Branson vacation package, to see if maybe sometime we could visit there!

Me, April 1994

As I mentioned in my last post, my hair seems to always been falling out! … Before I had kids, I had really thick hair. It was my best feature.. To be honest, it was my only good feature. It was long, thick, and really soft… I loved my hair!

Then came the kids…

Now don’t get me wrong! I would trade ALL my hair for the kids… Any hair loss I have because of the kids is WORTH it… But still…

After each of the kids, I lost an amazing amount of hair in the first few months after they were born, and each time it didn’t all come back. So my hair got thinner after each one was born.

But it’s been 6 1/2 years since Amanda, and I am still getting thinner… I wish I knew some other reasons for hair loss, so that I could see if I could prevent it! … What’s really annoying, is when my “lost” hair clogs things up… Like the fan on the laptop, and the brush thing on the bottom of the vacuum cleaner… Not to mention the drain in the shower! Uhg!

Can I whine for a minute???? … Cause I don’t feel very good… Oh, it’s nothing serious. Just monthly female problems, which is bad enough, believe me! … I tend to get hit pretty bad for the first 3-4 days, with terrible cramps, fatigue, and dizziness. The kids are being great though… While Jared is the only one who knows what “female problems” are, they all still know I’m not feeling well, and are always ready and willing to help me out. I have such wonderful kids!

Isn’t it funny how I can blog about female issues, but you couldn’t pay me enough to mention them on facebook?! *lol* … Too many men in my contact list, including the pastor of the church we went to in Portland. When I am hit by AF, I just facebook that I am not feeling well. *lol* … It always feels a little deceitful, because people think I am sick, when I’m not… But I just CAN’T mention AF. *lol* (Yes, I have issues )

Not much going on this week. Just a bunch of homeschool lessons, as we’re getting ready for our 2 week spring break. It’s going to be so nice to have some time off school. Our weekends are getting so busy, that it feels like we never get R&R anymore. I need a day where I can just sit and not think about anything. *lol*

My laptop ... In pieces!

When we got my new computer, we asked our computer guy, Thomas, to look at the laptop… This is the laptop that has been repaired TWICE by HP, and 2 or 3 times by Thomas himself… I was so sick of the eternal problems, which is why we got my new computer (we just want Alicia to get the laptop for watching iTunes, which is why we’re having Thomas look at it again)… Anyway, since last summer the fan has been making this loud, annoying noise. Turns out that the fan is fried (for the 2nd time)… Turns out that a bunch of my hair (which is constantly falling out), had gotten sucked in and wrapped around the fan. *sigh* What a nightmare!

I’m sure Thomas just wants to throw that computer over the fence! *lol*

Since I have been trying to lose weight, one of the things I have to think about, is how to exercise…

Now we do have a treadmill, which we got a couple years ago. We got it on hopes that I would be easier on my knees, what with the arthritis and all… But it turned out that my knees hurt on that too. I can use it, but I can’t go any faster than 2.5 mph, or my knees start hurting pretty badly.

I also have my Leslie Sansone workout videos… Those also hurt my knees to some degree.

The thing is, I feel like I should be using the treadmill, since it cost us a couple hundred dollars (we got it on an amazing sale)… BUT… I seem to have more luck with the actual weight loss, when I do my walking vidoes with Leslie Sansone… So while my head says, “Don’t waste the money! Use the treadmill!” … My heart is saying, “But you actually lose more weight while walking with Leslie, keep doing that!”

*sigh* … What would you do?

Speaking of weight loss… I was wondering what you guys thought about natural diet pills? When it comes to losing weight, I usually just try to eat less (by counting calories), and move more… It works, but it’s hard to do. You know? … I wonder if a natural diet pill would help… Not by itself, but in addition to the eating less and moving more… I guess I figure that I have so very much to lose, that anything that would help would be a plus, you know? *lol*

Since I jumped back on the weightloss bandwagon, Joe started thinking about it too. I noticed that he stopped ordering sodas and got water instead. He also told me he was cutting back on coffee, and not eating as many sweets… He tries to eat less, but he just can’t seem to do that! *lol* He always seems to need to eat until he’s full… Of course, seeing as he’s got a lot of muscles (you should see his arms!), his body will burn a lot more calories than mine will… Maybe if he used testosterone boosters, he would build up even more muscles so he could burn even more calories a day… Then he wouldn’t have to eat less!

I haven’t wanted to mention it here (yet), but I am on another weightloss journey… I actually have a weight loss journal, which I’m not quite ready to share yet… Mainly because I am too ashamed to have you know just how much I weigh. *sigh* … Anyway, I started this new “journey” on my birthday (2/7), and so far, as of today, I’ve lost 12.8 pounds… I know it isn’t much, but it’s a start!

Maybe when I get 25% to my goal, I will post a link to my weight loss blog… Or I will Email some of you with the URL. We shall see what I am brave enough to do. *lol*

Anyway, I’ve been doing some research online, trying to find different ways I can lose weight (though I mainly just do what the doctor says… Eat less and move more! *lol*) … If you’re curious about losing weight in other ways, you can click here to learn more.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but we have our vacations all figured out for the year… Joe get’s 3 vacations a year now, which is nice for him! He works so much, and so hard, that he really needs the time off!

Anyway, Joe gets a week off in a couple weeks (March 15-19), then he gets a week off in the end of May, and then the week of his birthday (8/26) off too.

For the vacation this month, we have a lot of little things planned. We want to try to get to the beach for a day (maybe spend one night in a motel), and maybe get to the zoo for a day too. We would also like to paint the laundry room… Joe has so many little things he wants to do, there is no way we would be able to get them all done! *lol* … Guess we’ll just take it a day at a time, and see what happens.

As for May, we’re going camping at Beverly Beach… I would have rather gone in the end of June, or some time in July, but all the weeks of vacation were taken, so we had to go with May… We’re hoping it isn’t too cold and rainy… The last time we were at Beverly Beach was in May too (in 2007), and that turned out to be a lovely week. Here’s hoping for repeats!

In August we’re going camping in Prineville. The weather should be awesome then, and we’re really looking forward to it… We also want to take a day trip one of the days and go into Bend to see the High Desert Museum, and we also want to go to MacKensie Pass.

Sometimes I wish we could do something “bigger” for our vacation… Like go so Yellowstone or Mt. Rushmore… Or take the kids to Disneyland, etc in California… Another big dream is an Orlando vacation. We could do the Disneyworld thing, and see the Atlantic ocean for the first time. Maybe it would be interesting to look into an Orlando timeshare… I know Julie, keep dreaming… Keep dreaming!