Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Day 1

Well, I have been working to follow my new schedule and it is really helping me focus! I know when things are going to get done and I know what I need to get done today and tomorrow, so I know that I can work to get ahead or not worry about not getting everything done because I should have time to finish it tomorrow. It is keeping me focused on the tasks at hand and not wandering around looking at all the stuff that I have to get done with no plan of how or when it is going to get done and feeling depressed about it.

I knew that I didn’t want to spend the weekend working around the house, so we spent the weekend with family and friends and each other. We saw some friends whom we connect very well with, but hardly ever see. Nikki and I are very like-minded when it comes to parenting. We both love to cook and are organized, routine-loving people so we get along great! Sharing ideas and supporting each others decisions. I would really like to see them more and while we were there, we scheduled another breakfast at our place in about a month, so I am looking forward to that.

We shared two meals with my dad and step-mom and that was nice. We spent lots of time with Smug-Baby refilling her little attention cup. Given the week that we just had and the week we are diving into her quality time with mommy and daddy has been/will be limited, so we spent tons of time with her, just playing and rolling on the floor and stuff.

I spent zero time cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, nothing!! Sunday evening I did run a few loads of laundry because I knew that Monday was laundry day and I wasn’t going to be able to come back to the house during the day due to this special project that I am working on at work. I am able to work remotely, but still have to have care for Smug-Baby and Smug-Niece.

Today, I ran more laundry before I left for the office, I spent the day at Smug-Sister’s and my dad and step-mom came over and cared for the girls while Smug-Sister and worked. When I finished up, I ran by to see a friend who is in from out-of-town and visited with her for a bit and then got home about 6:30. I worked on finishing up the laundry, straightening up the house and making dinner. After Smug-Hub got home and dinner was consumed, he and Smug-Baby rolled around and played on the floor and cleaned up the kitchen and finished the last of the laundry.

Then it was bath time and we all got ready for bed. Now we are waiting for someone to get tired enough for sleep. It is close to 10:30 and she is still up and playing and having a good time with her daddy. I wonder if she is fighting sleep because she is just so happy to be with us. She has been bursting into tears on and off and I wonder if her belly is hurting. She had pizza for the first time today and I wonder if that is too much concentrated dairy for her sensitive stomach. I haven’t felt great in my stomach either today after I indulged in some pizza too, so…

Tomorrow’s task is to do the grocery shopping so I have spent some time tonight clipping the coupons and putting my lists together. I also found some organizers on sale at Target, so I might try to run out there after work too – I have big plans for the space under the stairs!! I will also need to collect all the trash and recycling and get that out. Not too much for one day really is it??

Time to get this baby concentrating on bed!!

Friday, July 22, 2011

A Brand New Plan

I have been trying to come up with a way to structure my work/home/family life in a way that is more workable than the running around like a chicken without a head like I have been recently. I have been trying different approaches but nothing so far as been working for me. I have found a lot of ideas online, along with some free printable lists, schedules, menus, etc to help one organize and run their lives. However, nothing that I have found was a totally “me” way of doing things and I wanted to customize a plan that would fit into my life.

As you know, if you have been reading my blog a while, I am working part time for the company that I have worked for since 2001 (6-10am), then I work several days a way for my sister caring for her little girl (10:30am-5pm). I also handle the house cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, bill paying, diaper washing, etc. I don’t handle the garage or the outside, Smug-Hub takes care of the yard work, the landscaping, the little garden, mowing and shoveling snow, etc.

It has always been my position that since I am not bringing in as much money or working as long of hours as Smug-Hub then the responsibility of the other areas of our life should fall to me. Having said that, Smug-Hub does a lot around the house too, part of his responsibilities include picking up the slack and doing the things that I am not able to get done in a day/week. He is always willing to help if I ask him (he does tend to whine about it for a while, but he does do it).

So, my goal has been to find a way to run the household and get all the chores done during the week, so that we have the majority of the weekend to be together as a family and do fun things. I don’t want to spend the whole weekend cleaning, shopping, doing laundry or cooking. I want to take my family to the pool, go to church, get together with friends, etc.

It boils down to finding a balance between the things we have do to bring in the money, the things we have to do to run the house and the things we have to do to stay connected as a family.

Enter a new development…

Smug-BIL just got a promotion which is going to change his schedule from a rotation to Monday-Friday with an occasional Saturday. So, instead of waiting until Thursday or Friday to find out what days in the coming week, if any, I am going to not be working for Smug-Sister, I will have a more set schedule.

This is how we are going to move forward on a trial basis, Smug-Sister is going to watch her baby herself on Friday’s, so I can plan on being off that day each week. Then I am going to work for her the other four days of the week. The plan is that I will come to her place right after I leave the office at 10am. I will nurse, change diapers and whatnot for a bit and then put the girls in the car and let them have a nap. When they wake up we will be at my house and I will let them play while I attempt to accomplish something around my own house.

To this end I have developed a schedule that I think will be doable given the short amount of time and the huge amounts of distractions I will face from the girls while there:

Monday – laundry (this includes the normal loads, plus a monthly rotation of curtains, blankets, rugs, etc.)
Tuesday – grocery shopping (this includes trips to Kroger, CVS, and Wal-Mart) and collect trash and recycling.
Wednesday – this is project day (more on that later) and washing diapers
Thursday – clean both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms
Friday – the dusting, vacuuming, sweeping and mopping. Also, since I will be free after 10am, this is the day to complete anything that I may not have gotten to during the week.

That leaves Saturday and Sunday both free to spend together as a family, with the exception of running another load of diapers through the wash on Saturday.

Now about project day (Wednesday) – I want to maintain a really clean house but I normally end up doing a surface cleaning of things (dusting the coffee table without cleaning inside the drawers, or sweeping and mopping the entry way without washing the grubby fingerprints off the banister, etc.) because I am warn out and have a limited window of time. So, I concocted a 3 month rotation of deep cleaning that, once I get it done once, should be totally doable within the few hours that I have on Wednesdays to maintain.

There are 12 areas in my home (dining room, living room, hall, bathrooms, master bedroom, Smug-Baby’s bedroom, kitchen, entryway, laundry room, office, & garage). If I concentrate on one area each Wednesday, each room will have a deep cleaning every 3 months!

I have created a checklist with the tasks that need to be done within each room to complete the deep cleaning. I figure that I will be able to follow that list, marking off each one as I complete it throughout each project day. This way, if the girls’ need me or I am otherwise interrupted I will know quickly where I need to pick back up to complete the day’s task.

This plan also allows me to spend the evenings during the week focused on spending quality time with the family making dinner, having bath time and story time without pressure to clean something. My daily plan will include things like making sure the kitchen in clean and the house is picked up before I head to bed.

I know that life will sometimes get in the way and I won’t always be able to stick to my schedule, but if I can I really think that it is doable and will balance all the areas of my life without weighing me down and wearing me out!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Pool

Today Smug-Grandma and I took all four kids to the pool. We actually had a lot of fun and when the girls got tired, I took them for a drive while Smug-Grandma stayed at the pool so the boys could play more. The girls slept almost 2 hours!!! I guess all the swimming wore them out!

It was a good day overall! I came home and made kabobs and grilled potatoes and corn on the dob for dinner and Smug-Hub said it was a big hit. We worked together to clean up the kitchen and then he watered all the plants while I did the bath thing with Smug-Baby. She was almost asleep by the time he got back inside, so we laid her down and spent a few minutes talking about our respective days. Now he is watching TV and I am updating you :)

It was a nice day, but I have had a headache the last few hours that is seeming to be getting worse. Now my throat seems a bit scratchy too, I really hope that I am not getting sick! While it is almost the weekend and if you are going to get sick its nice to not have to miss work and put Smug-Sister in a bind, but I would hate to be sick!! It is supposed to be a nice weekend and I have a massage scheduled for Saturday morning! I want to enjoy it and not be feeling horrible!!! Oh well, I will double up on the Emergin-C tomorrow and hope for the best!!

Good night cyber world!! Sleep well!!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

What To Do...

I am conflicted…

I guess that my desire to have another baby and my fears of running out of time are overriding my fears of the finances and handling the day to day stuff. I think that if we got pregnant here soon, then Smug-Baby and the new baby would be close enough in age to be friends, close enough that my putting off going back to work wouldn’t be like 10 years away. I could home school Smug-Baby until the new baby was school age and return to work then. I could have Smug-Niece brought to me for care instead of my going over there a few days a week and I go there a few days a week and just plan to run errands in the evenings or on the weekends (which is kinda what I do now most weeks anyway). Smug-Niece would be older by that time and perhaps no longer nursing at all, so it would be more like traditional child care.

If we got pregnant right away, I would be due about April/May which would mean that I wouldn’t be huge during the hottest part of summer and not have to worry about going into labor during a snow storm or something either.

I’ve always said that you shouldn’t have another baby until you need that new person in your life like you need air, and I’m not there yet. But, the thought of running out of time and losing my chance to have another child, the birth that I want, a sibling for Smug-Baby, etc. makes me feel really panicked too.

What should I do?

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Best Laid Plans

Well, Tuesday hasn't gone according to plan, but when babies are involved how can it? Firstly, Monday night wasn't good. Smug-Baby was up a lot and so I have been awake since 1:30am. I am actually doing OK since I got some sleep over the weekend I guess.

My plan was to get Smug-Niece and take them grocery shopping and then let them fall asleep on the way home. This way I could unpack the groceries while they slept, however, Smug-Niece was really tired and therefore fell asleep before I got there. This introduces a wrinkle because by the time she woke up Smug-Baby was really tired. Also, without Smug-Niece to play with, Smug-Baby was very lonely and kept running down the hall to try to wake her sleeping cousin.

Anyway, I tried to play with them for a while and hoped that since Smug-Niece hadn't slept long, they would be able to fall asleep together. So I headed for the grocery store, but Smug-Baby was too tired and promptly fell asleep, so I decided to keep driving and hope that Smug-Niece would do the same. All I ended up doing was wasting gas!

So I ended up just going home, I figured I could play with Smug-Niece while Smug-Baby finished her nap. However, she woke as I pulled into the garage so I took them both upstairs and we played. Now, Smug-Baby was fairly refreshed and Smug-Niece was getting tired! We shared some crackers and a banana and after a while I decided that I need to try to get some errands run so off we went!

Wal-Mart was fairly productive, although the wait in line at checkout wasn't fun for the girls. Then a quick trip to Lowes to return something. Then they both fell asleep! Dang I thought, how am I going to get anything else done and I'm outta gas!!

So I got gas first and then picked up Smug-Grandma and she stayed in the car with the girls while I picked up a few things at the Co-op. Then we went back to her house, changed diapers on everyone (they were awake by now) and I worked on trying to get her printer connected (which I failed at and if anyone has any ideas, please share!!!) then it was about 6pm so I took Smug-Niece back to her waiting mama!

I decided that instead of going grocery shopping, I would stay and have dinner with my sister and her family. I never get time to just hang with my sister. I know that I see her everyday, but not more than "when was the last diaper changed?" its sad really.

Anyway, she made this fabulous pasta and Smug-Grandma joined us and brought salad. It was a nice meal and after I helped with the clean up I headed home. Smug-Hub got home just as I did and Smug-Baby was so happy to see her daddy, waving her little arms around and grinning!

I unpacked the look I picked up at CVS and Wal-Mart while Smug-Hub made himself some dinner and Smug-Baby played. Then it was about bath time and while she was splashing in the tub, I did my house pick-up routine and Smug-Hub cleaned his dishes.

Now, they are having their normal play time on the floor and I am filling you in on my day. I think that I am going to sign off and go watch Warehouse 13 and Eureka while Smug-Baby works on getting sleepy!

Tomorrow I have got to finish the grocery shopping, again I hope to to that before the girls get too tired. I would also like to attempt to clean the entry way of my house, sweep the porch, dust, cobweb, mop and clean the nasty banister!!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Ambitious

I have my sights set pretty high for tomorrow! Today was an unexpected day off from caring for Smug-Niece, so Smug-Baby and I went home and I have spent the day organizing the bedroom. I have two boxes of winter clothes that now are safely housed in totes under the bed. I also have a huge trash bag of clothes for the Goodwill and another bag of some random trash. The room isn't "clean" but it is organized (well, I didn't do anything with Smug-Hub's stuff cause he wasn't home and therefore unable to help/advise). When I do my weekly house cleaning on (hopefully) Friday, I will take the extra time to wipe the baseboards, wash the window and dust the walls in addition to my normal dusting, vacuuming routine. I felt really good about getting that room well underway.

While Smug-Baby took a (HOLY CRAP) two hour nap, I emptied the dishwasher, washed dishes, clipped coupons, straightened up the house, folded two loads of laundry (the rest of the laundry was all finished, folded and put away before Smug-Hub got home from work!) and put some photos into the photo album.

I made homemade spaghetti sauce, which starts with some onions and celery and mushrooms that were all starting to turn and I purred this huge zucchini from the garden of someone we work with. Then I added a jar of store bought sauce and some fresh basil. Then it looked a little green so I added a can of tomatoes, two cans of tomato sauce and some tomato paste. It was good! We are going to have it for lunch tomorrow and just think of all those veggies!!

Smug-Baby and I had eaten and gotten the kitchen cleaned up along with Smug-Baby's bath by the time Smug-Hub got home from work (he had a flat tire that delayed him) and while he played with Smug-Baby I made up the menus and grocery list and worked out the schedule for Tuesday.

My plan for Tuesday involves a quick trip to drop of the stuff at goodwill and then a visit to Family Dollar, because it is on the way and because I am hearing buzz that they often have the best deals on household cleaning stuff and I want to check it out. Also, Smug-Niece's daddy doesn't go into work until later, so I have some time before I need to get there.

I plan on trying to get a workout video done while the girl’s play, as they are generally happiest when I first arrive, and then have lunch.

After lunch I will take the girls for a drive that may or may not include a detour to CVS that depends on how quickly they fall asleep. When they wake, we will do the Kroger shopping and end up back at my house.

While they play, I will attempt to clean the entry way. It shouldn't be a hard project, basically give the banister a good washing, vacuum the stairs and landing, sweep the outside porch and steps. I would also like to try to give the whole house a quick dusting and run the vacuum, but those are optional depending on how the girls are doing.

I will drop Smug-Niece back home at 5 and hit Dollar General as I have a few coupons there that I need to take advantage of and it's on the way home.

Then I will play with my girl and give her all my love and attention until about 7, when I will start dinner. I think that we will have Spanish Quinoa with veggies! After that a quick bath and play time with daddy and let's hope we all have a good night's rest!!

I'm ready to sleep now and Smug-Baby is looking tired too. I bet she will sleep well tonight :)

Wish me luck on my ambitious plan for tomorrow!!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Tried...Still

Last night was better, but I think it was only because I was so tired I slept through Smug-Baby waking up and wanting to crawl around and nurse and play. I remember her sitting up. I remember nursing some. I remember stroking her hair and hearing her whimper. But that is about it. I know that she was up and tossing and rolling around quite a bit, because I looked at the clock a few times. Once at 11:30 and again once she was back asleep at 12:45, but I really think that I was asleep most of that time. Latching her one and comforting her all while still sleeping.

Smug-Hub wasn't in bed for any of this despite his continued empty promise to come to be by 11:00. I had to pee so once she was finally back settled into sleep I got up. He was in the downstairs bathroom, so I took the laptops and the TV remote and hid them before going back to bed. I was pissed!

When I got up this morning, I remembered that he told me he needed to work on his review so that may have had him up late, however when I swiped the laptop, it wasn't powered on or anything. Also, I noticed that he had washed all the dishes, which was really nice to see those done. I sort of feel badly for being mad when he was doing dishes, except that the dishes took maybe 10 minutes and that is being generous! There is no reason for him to stay up all night long!

The only option at this point is separate bedrooms and just spend a few days/weeks getting Smug-Baby used to not having him in bed with us ever. I hate to take that step. I already feel like we are sleep walking through this marriage right now between our schedules and never seeing each other and me feeling angry a lot of the time.

I feel like I am being punished for something but I don't know what it is. Like he is being passive aggressive and I am missing the big picture. I feel like he shows me how unimportant I am and Smug-Baby are when he does stuff like this. I feel like he knows how important sleep is to me and to her and chooses to put himself first. I hate feeling like that, because I know he loves us, I guess he just loves himself more...

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Tired

Today is Thursday. Today is day 5 in a row that I have not slept much at night. Last night was the worst I only slept 3 hours and have been awake since 12:30am. I am very tired and sort of twitchy, I couldn't get comfortable even after Smug-Baby finally went back to sleep at about 3:45 and thus didn't even get that last 30 minutes.


I find myself very irritable at everything and everyone and I know that all the things that are bothering me are small, but combining them together and adding the lack of sleep, equals dangerous territory. I was alternating between falling asleep and road rage driving to work this morning and find myself wanting to place blame for everything that is “wrong” in my life on those around me. I feel like if only my house were in better shape, my body were in better shape, I was getting the sleep I needed, the money problems would go away, etc. etc. etc. then everything in my life would be good again.

I know that my husband has his faults, but he is really a super great person and I love him with all my heart, however when I am so tired, I would really like to poke little holes in him with a paring knife! I feel angry at him because he makes things harder at times. He takes his clothes off in the living room and leaves the dirty clothes on the floor for me to pick up rather than taking them to the hamper. He complains about how we need to keep up on the dishes because the ants are back in full force, and then leaves his dinner dished in the sick (not rinsed or anything) overnight and they are waiting for me when I get home from work (at both my jobs). That being said, I could not have asked for a more loving and patient father for my child. I have a really good friend in him, we laugh together and there are many times in our life when we are having the exact same thought at the exact same time. There is so much that is good and wonderful in our marriage and I don’t want to let all these little things add up to something huge that could cost me/us everything we have built together.

I don’t ever really find myself mad at Smug-Baby for not sleeping or for being whinny. I guess that I understand how frustrating it is to not be able to communicate your needs or understand what is being said to you in return. She woke up last night alternating between grabbing her mouth and screaming (she has two new teeth breaking through as we speak) and asking for water. She was so tired and in so much pain that it is impossible to be mad at her for my lack of sleep. I just end up getting mad at everyone else. From Smug-Hub’s snoring, to his employer for not paying him enough to allow me to stay home full time and not work, to my employer for my position requiring me to get up at 4:30 in the morning, to my sister for having a baby that I take care of, to the Republicans for the economy that has our finances so tight we can’t afford for me to stay home full time, and on and on. They get pretty ridiculous when I am so overtired!!

I actually don’t even think that this post is making much sense – maybe you didn’t notice cause my posts are always disjointed and all over the place J

I really am trying to keep my perspective. Smug-Baby has 6 more teeth left until she is finished (until her 6 year molars anyway) so it won’t last forever. Every week I spend with the girls gets better as they learn to play together and share. My sister has agreed to let me take both girls back to my house daily so I can work on getting my house in shape. As the girls do spend more time playing without needing my full attention I will have time for an exercise routine. Smug-Hub and I will both get raises in time and will continue to chip away at the medical bills and credit card debt and things will improve. All the things that I am raging about are temporary and Smug-Hub and I love each other enough to weather any storm.

It’s just today, not able to concentrate, not able to focus, eyes burning that are hard to deal with. There is a perpetual lump on my throat and the tears are being held at bay only by shear will at this point and I know that they will spill forth before the end of the day. But, I will get through this day, this week, this month and things will improve as each hour passes. I have faith… I think.  

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Independence Day and Beyond

Monday Smug-Hub and I put Smug-Baby in the back-pack and hiked up to the local city star on top of a mountain near our house. I carried Smug-Baby up and he carried her down. We did it this way mostly because I always roll my ankles and I was very nervous that I would fall on the way down with her on my back. I also secretly love the sense of accomplishment that I get from doing something hard and especially that I did something he didn't. Isn't that so wrong? It's like feeling stronger, better, tougher than he is, even though he totally would carry her up if I asked him to. Oh well, it is what it is I guess.

The rest of the 4th was spent relaxing and recovering from the hike! We came home and all got showered up and made some lunch and then everyone fell asleep for a while :)

In the late afternoon, Smug-Sister had everyone over to her place for a big family cookout - it rained the whole time and we ended up making S'more's in the microwave!! It was actually a really good time except for Smug-Niece who kept banging her little head into stuff. She did! She cracked her little noggin like 4 times and has a purple bump on her forehead poor girl!

We went to a friend's place that is close to where the city sets off the fireworks but Smug-Baby was too burned out to stay for the whole thing so we took her home and got her to bed. All in all it was a really nice Independence Day!

Then, Smug-Baby tossed and turned all night and rolled around the bed (because, of course, Smug-Hub stayed up until 3:30) so I was up from about 12:45 on and that made Tuesday really hard. I need a decent amount of sleep in order to function during the day. I need to be able to focus at work. I need to have a good supply of patience when taking care of the girls. I need energy to get stuff done at my house.

As it was, I was able to rest a bit while the girls napped in the car (not nap myself, but close my eyes for a bit) and it was a short day at Smug-Sister's, so when I got home I spent a good two hours playing with Smug-Baby and nursing and noticed that a new tooth is coming in, which explains the rough night and the recent whining.

Then she got playing and watching Sesame Street and I spent about an hour straightening up the house, making wipes, folding laundry, hanging some pictures, washing diapers, made the bed, and got dinner cooking all before she really needed me.

Then she wanted to nap again, so I took her outside and let her play in the grass until it was time to really get dinner ready. I made this Orange Sesame Tempeh Stir-Fry from Peas and Thank You and it was amazing! Smug-Hub loved it! Smug-Baby not so much, but she was really happy with her banana!!

After dinner, they went and played and I cleaned up the kitchen and folded laundry. Then I did the bath time routine while Smug-Hub took out the trash and recycling and cleaned up where a raccoon had gotten into the stuff outside. By then it was after 9pm and Smug-Baby was showing no signs of slowing down, so I was able to empty the dishwasher and fold the last load of laundry.

They are playing right now, but I think that she is winding down. At least I pray that she is, because it is almost 11, which means that I have been awake for the last 22 1/2 hours and I am dying!!

Tomorrow, Smug-Sister has meetings all day, so I think that I will plan on bringing the girls to my house. Since everything is picked up right now, I will try to wash another load of laundry and tackle another cabinet or two in the kitchen while they play.

Wish me luck!!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Still Slightly Slumped

Well, I am still having issues pulling myself out of my slump and I hate that I struggle so with everything. I feel so lethargic a lot of the time. I hate to place blame, but Smug-Hub (while wonderful in many ways) is quite lazy. There really isn't a nice way to put it, he is lazy. If he can avoid doing something strenuous or even something at all he will. I tend to feed off his laziness and then I get lazy too. It's two fold really, if I see him making food in the kitchen and not cleaning up after himself, then I have a hard time getting in there and cleaning it up. I feel like he made the mess, he should clean it up. Secondly, I feel angry that he is sitting there watching TV while I am folding laundry or making up wipes or cleaning the kitchen or working on a project, so I sit my butt down and don't do anything either.

If he were up and working on one of his projects, then I would be to, but when he is sitting on the sofa and hollering for me to bring him the remote that he left in the kitchen so his lazy butt doesn't have to get up and get it, then I lose all interest in working on something. Also, it is really frustrating to spend hours working on cleaning and organizing something and have him come in and start junking it up within 2 hours!! Like why bother??

We have talked about it, but he is just kind of lazy and he is only going to do what he wants and there really isn't much I can say to change that. He cleaned the house (as in, ran the vacuum around) one day when I was out of town. He spent some time cleaning out the crates that house Smug-Baby's toys, putting like with like and making everything look nice. Within about 12 minutes, she had pulled everything out and put things back in "wrong" areas. He was so upset that his time had been wasted (not really upset at her or anything, but you know what I mean) I tried to explain that this was how I felt after I spent hours and hours cleaning the house and then he came home and dropped his clothes on the floor. Went right over his head...

I feel like if I could just get the whole house cleaned and organized then I could maintain it without too much trouble. Like take 15 minutes each evening to put things away and wipe things down and then everything would remain clean and organized, but in order to get it that way, I need to spend hours and hours getting it to that place. I feel that way about my weight too, if I could just get down to my goal weight then I could maintain it without much trouble. I can fit in exercise a few times a week, but in order to lose weight, I need to do it everyday for long periods of time and I can't fit that into my life right now. Of course, if my house didn't require so much of my time, then maybe I would be able to find the time for large amounts of exercise :)

Smug-Sister sent me a text a few days ago about The Firm Express that she saw on an infomercial that promises that users will lose 15 pounds in 30 days. I watched it and even the little wording at the bottom of the screen (those little words that on other infomercials states that the results are not typical) says that users on the supervised program lost an average of 17 pounds and 23 inches, but your results may vary. That sounds promising! Also, if you have say 30 pounds or 45 pounds to lose, then you just repeat the system over and over, losing another 15 pounds for every 30 day cycle of the program, so there isn't a ton of other DVD's they want you to puchase.

This is what I want. Something that will allow me to quickly lose all the weight that I need to. I would need to do this cycle 3 times and be finished with losing in 3 months. I am not gaining right now. I am maintaining right now. I eat really well 75% of the time and I exercise a few times a week and that is enough to maintain my current weight. If I was finished losing, then I know I could maintain with my normal, healthy eating and whenever-I-have-time exercising. But the program is $90 plus shipping and I just spent $90 on Tracy Anderson's program and I feel like her program would work too. Its just that The Firm is 20 minutes, 3 times a week and Tracy's is 60 minutes 7 days a week and I can't fit that in!!

Maybe I could if my house was in good shape...

I need more hours in the day!!!