I know....

it's been a while since I have blogged. Some people have been getting on me about getting back to blogging. I guess I am currently trying to overcome my fear of blogging. I know....it sounds strange to be fearful of blogging, but every time I blog about life one of those dreaded little beasts pops up somewhere and then I go into a slump. But a lot has been going on in the Schultz household that I should let people know about! So here it goes!

Last week an incredible group from Greenville College (in Indiana) came and did a week long football camp for the kids of the neighborhood. It was great! Everyday from 4-6 pm all three kids went to camp. Sarah was tagged with the nickname "El Pancake". I guess she was a pretty good defensive player. Matt had a great time running and doing the different drills. Daniel just had fun playing outside! I had a wonderful time of two quiet hours in the house! We were all sad to see them leave!

Friday morning, the Darrow clan and all of us went to the Kimmel Center to attend "Beethoven Lives Upstairs" put on by the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was incredible! I love the orchestra and could attend it weekly if I could afford it! They did a really great job keeping the kids interest and teaching them about Beethoven's life. Even Daniel sat for the entire concert. One of the reasons I love living in Philly is so that we can attend events like this one. I am hoping that we can attend more school concerts next year.

The house is coming along....slowly, but surely. Andy is back to ministry full-time and so has limited time to work on things. We are currently looking to purchase three windows - one very large one for our living room and two for our bedroom. Our bedroom windows really need to be replaced as they are original to the house. They are the old weighted and chain pulley type windows. They are pretty cool - but very drafty! I can't imagine how warm our bedroom will be after we replace them! We have discovered, however, that windows are not cheap! We are planning on using some of our tax refund to replace the windows.

Since joining the gym on March 6th, I have gone everyday, except yesterday (we were out of town!). I REALLY like going. I feel like I am actually accomplishing something. Today I was scheduled to meet with a trainer. When you join you get one free session. I didn't plan too well for it, however. I went my normal time, 6:30 am, and did 47 minutes on the elliptical (my favorite cardio machine). I then started working out with the trainer at 7:30 am. He was good and was teaching me some great exercises for my abs and legs. Then it happened - I could feel myself starting to crash. The trainer must have recognized the signs because he asked if I was okay. In short I had to end my session and go home to eat something. I was really bummed as I didn't get to finish the session. The good thing is he said I seem to know what I am doing and to just keep pushing myself. I guess I need to learn to eat more before going to the gym - an apple doesn't cut it! I am still learning how to deal with this whole new lifestyle.

And yet another one!

Last night after teen club Andy came home and started tearing the sofa apart. He had fallen asleep on the love seat (funny to think of a 6'1" man on a less than 5' love seat!) a couple of nights ago and some bites had shown up on his ankle. He found one. UGH!!! Now the count down starts all over again. I am ready to just pitch the furniture - even though it is only two years old this month. I am just not up for the battle - it seems it would be easier to just get rid of the furniture, buy some cheap sofas, or maybe some metal chairs, until we are truly done and then save up to get a nicer set - maybe when we retire? But Andy wants to fight the bugs and keep the sofa's - more power to him. I can't even sit on them without thinking about bugs. Will I ever be sure they are totally gone from our house? Who knows!

Tonight we are down to one kid - Daniel. Sarah was invited to go to an American Girl Fashion Show with my sister. After talking with her tonight she was on cloud nine! She had so much fun! She was able to enter into a raffle for some American Girl things and will find out next week if she has won. Since Sarah is with Lisa, my sister, Sam, her son, is with my mom. My mom offered to take Matt with her as well so the boys could spend some time together. They were enjoying MomMom time. The went to a movie, ate at Chick-fil-a and then Cold Stone Creamery - lucky dogs! They were playing Wii when I called. They are both highly competitive.

Andy and I decided to go up and visit his Mom since Dad is out of town for the night. We went to Applebee's for dinner. I was proud of myself as I didn't order what I REALLY wanted and ordered a Weight Watchers approved meal. I figured I have been to the gym every morning this week and shouldn't ruin all that work on one night. My new schedule has me getting up at 6:10 am and getting to the gym by 6:30 am. I use the elliptical for 45 minutes and then do weights for 30 - 40 minutes. I thought I was going to die in the beginning of the week - but I am not so soar right now. I have always enjoyed getting up in the morning - I get my brain going and cleared and can focus on the kids and school when I get home. Since I am getting up so early, I am also going to bed earlier - usually by 11:30 pm. It feels good! So, I am now off to bed!

Death to all parasites!!!

Parasites are the worst thing ever! What falls under the category of parasites? Ticks and Bed Bugs. This past weekend we journeyed up to the Schultz Farm to attend our home church missionary conference. We had a great time seeing old friends and wonderful supporters. Andy did a great job representing the ministry and talking with all the people who had questions. We had decided to sleepover as Andy was asked to share in Sunday School.

Sunday morning Andy came to me and said "Matt has a tick embedded at the hairline in his neck. We need to call the pediatrician to see what to do." Can you believe it? March 7th and we found a tick on our son already!!! Haven't we had enough blood syphoned from our bodies this year? That little tick was really embedded. It took us at least 20 minutes to convince it to let go. Obviously our greatest concern now is Lyme's disease. Jonathan's dog (Andy's brother) was just diagnosed with Lyme's disease as well Jonathan himself and they are both on antibiotics. Thankfully, I already had a doctor's appointment for Matt scheduled this morning because his knee, the one he fractured 3 1/2 years ago, was causing him some pain and I wanted to have it checked out (Diagnosis: tendinitis). We will have Matt tested in about four weeks to see if he has Lyme's and if so he will be put on a course of antibiotics. The good thing is is the doctor said kids are much more treatable than adults and have a better cure rate. Please be in prayer that Matthew does not have Lyme's disease.

When I came home, my husband did not have a happy look on his face. He had been preparing the beds for the exterminator to come and do, what we had hoped, was to be our last treatment. In the course of him taking the boys bunk apart he found a live bed bug. UGH!!! It had been two weeks today since we found a live one. What else can we possibly do? The exterminator is baffled. He has no idea what else can be done. He did a treatment and will check in with us in two weeks to see how we are doing. My biggest disappointment is that we will not be able to declare ourselves bug free before we go on vacation April 30th. We leave in 53 days and you need to wait 55 days. With the way things have been going with this whole situation I would not begin to doubt we would find one on days 54 or 55. That's just the way this thing has seemed to go. I guess we will have to do the guinea pig test while we are gone. You put a guinea pig in the middle of a bed and surround it with glue traps. The idea is that the bed bugs will go after the guinea pig because it puts out a lot of CO2. If you find them on the glue boards, then you still have bed bugs. I guess we'll be acquiring a new pet come April.

I am tired of parasites. They are literally sucking the life out of me. But one thing I realized this weekend is that no matter where you are - they can find you! That became even more real when we met Pastor and Mrs. Haggar. Amy Haggar had a terrible rash all over her body. In talking with her we discovered that they believe they have bed bugs. She had a bite that became infected and had a terrible reaction. They, however, have never found an actually bed bug. THAT has to be even more difficult. I am praying that they don't really have bed bugs, but maybe a spider or two that is causing the bites. They have been dealing with this since November. Please pray for the Haggar family and that their situation would be resolved quickly.

Thank you for all your prayers. They are being heard and I still have a peace. We will get through this. Each day gets better and God is faithful.

I joined....

a gym!!! It is something that I have wanted to do for quite some time, but never got up the guts, or the money, to do. But after re-figuring finances and the great deal the local gym was having. I got up the guts to call my friend Laurie's daughter, Joy, and we went over together. Joy already has a membership and showed me all the wonderful things that are there. We did the elliptical for 20 minutes and then the bike for 20 minutes. She also did the treadmill for 20 minutes while I had to take the tour and sign up. It felt so good to exercise!!! I have missed it so much these past few months. I am already excited to go tomorrow morning before we head out to Andy's parents for the weekend.

Many of you know I have been on a quest to lose weight. Since September I have lost 24 pounds, but have been fiddling around with two or three pounds the last few weeks. I used to exercise almost everyday at home using the Biggest Loser Workouts on DVD, but with all the construction going on in the house there has been no room to do it. I am hoping to get back on the weight loss track since I have joined the gym. I would really like to lose another 20 pounds by May 8th which is my 40th birthday! I would like to say I lost 40 pounds by the time I was 40! I then hope to reach my weight loss goal by September - a total of 60 pounds. We'll see!

As far as bed bugs go, the last alive one we saw was February 16th. Andy had some suspicious looking marks on his ankle last Sunday, so we tore our sofas apart, vacuumed them, steamed them, and then laid pesticide on the parts that we don't touch (under the sofa and inside the back cushions). Since last Sunday we haven't had any more suspicious marks or any sightings of bed bugs. I am praying that we have reached the end of this trial. Hopefully, by the time we go to Florida on April 30th, I can declare our house bed bug free and we can put it all back together in June. It will feel really weird to live "normally". Not going to the basement for our clothing? Not having to look in every nook and craney with a bright flashlight? Everything back in it's place? My school room empty of all the excess stuff from the other rooms? Weird!!! I can't wait!