Questions for you!!!

Ok b/c I've been gone for so long... I have some real dumb questions I'd like my lovely supporters to please answer for me! :D haha! I know I am an intellegent person but I am a firm believer us smarties are big goofs as well. ;) So here goes it:

1. I've been checking out every body elses blogs trying hard to get caught up. WHERE IS EVERYBODY GETTING THESE AWARDS FROM? Like was it 1 contest or a thing done one month or do random people hand them out? Or can I give them to people? I have no idea how they work! Please explain!

2. I thought the other day I should update the background for my blog. I'm just a tiny bit tired of it myself so I google "blogger layout" and find 1 I love, love, love! Well now I can't figure it out! I downloaded it and I know where to put it in on blogger but I cannot UNZIP the file. I don't get it! I don't comprehend. I didn't think they were that difficult. I didn't do that with the background I have now. I just copied/pasted the HTML code. Any advice on how to unzip a file on WindowsXP?? Please help!!!! 

A few pics from today, of course...

Mama dressed up a bit to take my boys to Sunday morning Brunch! (by our front door)

I was posing for Riley for this pic and got distracted. I was playing w/ my dress while Konnor ran in the picture and I didn't know he'd even gotten the pic. NOW I think it's cute b/c I look like a lil girl playing with her hem line! (in our driveway)

And me trying on a new dress at Walmart. It's a size Lg in the womens department and FIT! :D and yes, I bought it!!! I love it!

Also, I did try on some clothes at Walmart hoping their stuff ran "bigger" and I'd get into a size 14. Not the case, for me. I still fit into 16 jeans and Large tops. So I'd say I'm still sitting cozy in a size 16, I guess officially or unofficially. That's ok though. But while I'm here let me touch on a topic we all know too well, I assume. When I started this journey busting out of my 22's I remember thinking... "When I get into 18's I'll feel 'fat' rather than 'morbidly obese'". It seemed as if that was, TO ME, a more acceptable size jeans but I still wouldn't tell anyone that that was my size. And I thought back then, "When I get into a 16, I'm gonna flip a lid because that's what I was in HS.". Then I thought, "When I get into a 14, I'm gonna throw a party because I don't remember for sure when I was that size last, so it'd have to be Junior High. And being a 14 now would be amazing b/c I'm a grown up and I've had 2 babies.". So I'm sure we all have special reasons or things in our lives that make a certain size or weight, monumental to us. But I have to say, I have been very, very surprised at my ACTUAL reaction when that goal is met. When I got into an 18, that WAS  a bit emotional for me. And really I only think it was, because of the whole situation at the time. I had NO jeans I could wear, I had just gotten extra money I planned on spending on clothes, and Old Navy was having a $15 jean sale! I was stoked! So I headed out with my Mom at 10pm at night to catch the start of the sale and I KNEW they did not carry over 18 in the stores. I was wearing baggy 20's at the time. So I was hoping and praying, (hoping and praying***reminds me of that song on My Best Friends Wedding w/ Julia Roberts gay fiance sings at the restraunt... hoping and praying) anyway...I was desperate for their 18's to fit. And when I slid them on like my skin was butter, yes my dear, butter, I was soooo happy! I tried on 3-4 diff fits and they all fit so amazingly well. Just tight enough that they'd stay with me for a bit while I shrunk. So I bought 6 pair of jeans that night! So getting into an 18 was a big deal, but I didn't actually CRY like I had imagined I would. And I honestly don't even remember what moment I got into the 16s. I had a friend give me 2 pair of DKNY jeans in 16s and my mom gave me a pair that were Tommy and I had an old gap pair. And that's it! I don't remember the actual day that I started wearing all of those! So getting into a 16 was not "the end of the world excitement" as I had imagined.

Alas, maybe 14 will make me go insane! MAYBE I WILL want that party! I dunno. I honestly think, that any size smaller than what we are now is just super exciting BECAUSE IT'S SMALLER! It's a physical representation that we are shrinking and we are doing our body good! It represents that YES we ate well, YES we worked out, YES we avoided soda as much as humanly possible. So, I'm going to conclude that the size of jeans on MY ass really means nothing when it comes down to it. It just makes me happy some days, and most days, doesn't matter at all. As long as I think I'm S-E-X-Y before I step out the door every morning, that's all that really matters to me. So I'm going to STOP expecting for my world to end when I get into smaller jeans. That'll be that, ya know. Keep losing and I'll get there. I don't guess I should expect it to be anything else, other than a damn pair of jeans! That's it!

So how am I identified today: A lovely size 16 jeans and a size Large is most tops! A size large in dresses. A size 3 in spanx (which I do still lovingly wear EVERYDAY), and size 9.5 shoe (which shrunk 0.5 sizes). I love me! FOR ME!!!

Lovingly yours,