Valentine's Tree

This week started out with me and the girls off work and school for the MLK holiday. We mostly just hung out at the house and went and had lunch with Toni at work. On Wednesday I went in for my stress test and echo heart scan. The tests themselves were no big deal and I should get the results this Friday. Last Friday I decided to try something different to see if the palpitations would stop. Since around the time they started I had been having Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal every morning. I had been noticing that the palpitations would start within a couple of hours. So on Friday I stopped eating oatmeal and haven't had palpitations since. I've never heard of anyone being allergic to oatmeal but it is kind of strange that as soon as I stopped eating it the symptoms stopped. I'll talk to the Doctor about it on Friday.

On Monday Emma also decorated her all year Christmas Tree for Valentine's Day. We both are very happy with how it turned out. In other news, Toni and the girls made it into the Embrey newsletter for Toni's job. They had done a 5k with her job and got into the company newsletter. :)

Hopefully this week is a good one. I have the Doctor appointment on Friday morning and then I'll be spending the afternoon at the DMV getting my Driver's License renewed which should be a ton of fun...

What A Week..

This week was quite eventful. On Tuesday Caitlin was running a fever and had a bad cough so I kept her home. She's doing better now but still has a cough from time to time. Since right before Christmas I had begun noticing that I was having heart palpitations off and on. On Thursday at work it seemed to be getting worse so I left work and went to an urgent care to see a Doctor. Everything came back ok which was good. The Doctor said that given my age she could order some additional tests. She said they weren't necessary but if they would give me peace of mind she'd order them for me. So next Wednesday I'm scheduled for a stress test and an echocardiogram. I will get the results 9 days later. I feel fine and have been walking and even running for short times with no issues which is a good thing. Apparently what's happening is known as a PVC which is basically where your electrical impulses in the heart messes up. It's nothing life threatening but I'd like top get the other tests done just for peace of mind.

Also this week we went to a PTA meeting that Emma performed in. The performance was the kids playing drums as part of an exercise program. It was cool and Emma seemed like she had a lot of fun. Also this week I found "The Most Stuf" Oreos and got a pack for Emma. I recorded her reaction and put it on YouTube. You can watch the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umni2dk6idI&feature=youtu.be

Today we went to breakfast with Grampa Joe which was fun. When we got home, Toni and I went for a walk which I've been trying to do since the 1st as my New Year's resolution. On the way back, we stopped to get the mail and I was greeted to..... A JURY SUMMONS!! Not at all looking forward to that. That will be on 2/3/20... Tomorrow is MLK Day so I'm off with the girls. Unfortunately Toni has to work. Hopefully it won't be too cold and me and the girls can find something fun to do.

Back In The Groove

This week marked the first week back at work which was thankfully pretty uneventful. I was on call so we mostly stayed around the house. Today we started taking the Christmas decorations down which is always depressing to me. This year Caitlin's decided not to continue her all year Christmas tree in her room but Emma would like to continue the tradition. We may go get her some Valentine's decorations since her old ones seem to have been lost over the years. Yesterday we went to Cousin Maddie's birthday party at a place called Urban Air which is like a trampoline park. It looked like the kids had a lot of fun. I've been keeping up with my New Year's resolution and doing at least 6,000 steps a day. I've been eating better as well and so far have dropped 3.4 pounds this year. I'm hoping to keep taking small steps to make it to my goal of breaking 190.

Happy New Year 2020!!

Wow.. That's all I can say.. Wow.. I'm sitting here typing and I'm in total disbelief of the fact that it's 2020! The fact that I started this blog over 12 years ago blows my mind. I really wish I hadn't missed so many updates.. This year I'm going to really make a serious effort to get back to posting every Sunday, even if it's just a picture. 2019 was overall a good year but it wasn't with it's ups and downs. In June, we went back to Disney World for the 3rd time since 2016. We had a great trip as always and there is a growing part of me that wants to move to Orlando at some point. The girls are doing well in school. Caitlin is now in the 6th grade and Emma is in 3rd. This year Emma got braces on her top teeth and Caitlin got a back brace for scoliosis. They are both growing up so fast. Caitlin is now over 5 feet tall!

Looking ahead to 2020, I have some goals that I'd like to put down in writing to hopefully keep me accountable.

1. Update the blog every week
2. Lose weight. On 1/1/20 my weight was back up to 224. By 1/1/21, I want to be under 184.
3. Continue improving my finances.
4. Deal with anxiety.

Basically outside of updating the blog, my goals deal with health, wealth and overall wellbeing. The last 2 are personal goals that I'll work towards outside of the blog and are here more as a reminder to me to pursue them. I hope everyone had an awesome 2019 and 2020 is even better!