Settling In!

So we have been in our new house for almost 2 weeks and I love it. It is so nice to have all the space and we are able to bond more as a family without all the "outside interference" and people trying to "butt in." My girls have been adjusting-they have had their ups and downs. So have I-it has definitely been different for us and we have had a LOT going on! From struggling w/the dog and cat's needs, to writing the rules for Caitlyn being home alone as we go, to Gabriella's persistence w/ going UP and DOwn, Up ANd DOwn the stairs- and especially not getting cable/dsl hooked up for 8 DAYS! It has been hard. My grandma is sad and I worry about her all the time. She calls a lot, I had her over for the day last Sunday, I made sure Caitlyn called her the other day too. She called last night and said she wanted to see us and missed us. I told her we would visit Friday. She also told me that my uncle hasn't been home until after 11 at night all week-which really irritates me. Someone needs to be there to make sure she eats and takes her medicine and quite frankly doesn't burn the house down or get hurt. She told me the other day she tried to make Chicken Paprikas and thought the stove was on simmer but it was on high-she burned the food, the stove burner and the pan-she had to throw out the pan and the stove burner because they were so badly burned. No one will listen to me-most of all her- SHE HAS NO BUSINESS COOKING OR USING HER STOVE AT ALL!! I am so scared that something bad is going to happen to her. The weekend I moved Gabriella ate lunch over there and my grandma warmed her something up in the toaster oven before she spent the day w/Len's mom. I was at my grandma's about 3-4 hrs later, and the toaster oven was STILL on! I purposely mentioned it to her in front of my uncles, and she joked about it and my other uncle just said, "Mom you need to be careful about those things." Ok sure.
So-my workouts-they have stopped. I went from working out daily to not at all in the past like 3 weeks. I have tried to workout at home a few times, I have an exercise bike I've gone on twice and I do crunches and stuff every night, but it is so not the same. I still continue to lose weight, which amazes me. I have not been as careful w/ my diet and upped my calories to 1600+-still way below normal, but I had a cookie the other day, last week I had some wendy's fries, again not NEARLY as careful. But on a great note- I have been wearing my old shorts, they fit me perfectly. SIZE 6-my goal has been achieved! So really now all I have to do is tone. Easy, right? sure. I definitely need to get in some sort of fitness routine because my unpacking is done, the move is complete-I'm sure all that really helped w/ my fitness, so I don't want to stray at all. You can be at a good weight and still be out of shape or in poor health, which I do not want to do!
Caitlyn has been a trooper-again good days and bad days, c'mon she is 12 1/2. She is so good about keeping the house clean, making sure the dog goes out, not wasting electricity, cleaning up after self-which is SO NOT her. I think she appreciates that this is our house and not just us living at my grandma's. She has some friends that live 1 street directly behind us, and between our houses there is just a parking lot of a church so we can view each other perfectly w/not obstruction. The girls (sisters) are good kids, their mom is a Lorain cop. But yesterday after telling Caitlyn 3 times already I realized that those kids are eating me out of house and home. They went through 1 whole box of mini-pizzas, 1 box of Lean Pockets (guess whose), 16-yes 16 fudgesicles, 3 smuckers cheese sandwiches, etc etc and not all from yesterday, but most from yesterday. Plus Caitlyn has had a few visitors come over to hang out and play volleyball at night, besides these girls a boy has come over which I think is her boyfriend, but of course she will not admit it. I know what you are thinking-I don't think that the boy has come over during the day, I have specifically told her no boys over and no one over without me knowing, and I also told her (fib) that I had an agreement w/the neighbors and they were watching the house to see if anyone was coming over-then last night I said the neighbors (fib) said there were kids over and she said "Yes! Caitie and Alexis!I told you about that!" I know she is telling the truth. Plus I said that my dad and uncle were going to drive by the house every day to see what was going on too.
(fib) But we continue to come across new things daily-now her phone is not working so I have no contact w/her. The first day we discovered it wasn't working and I asked her why she didn't use her friend's phone to call me, she said she didn't think of it. Yesterday I left her money for the payphone, she never called. She said that the friends' mom had her phone-which I did try to call & it was turned off, & she said that she did not find the money. So today we are trying it again. I gave her money and said she MUST call me 3 times, and if she doesn't she will be going to my grandma's house all next week. So far she has called me once! The problem with her phone is-long story short-her new camera phone I got her was stolen so she is stuck w/ one from my stepmom from like 2001. It is horrible and I think I need to get a new battery. We have already had so many problems I have taken it to Verizon twice already. But a free phone is a free phone, so what else can I do? If the battery is a lot I might just get her a new one again, but I told her there is no way I am getting her another camera phone again! That was nicer than mine and she only had it for 6 days! I s/w the principal several times because it was stolen in school-she knew who it was, I talked to the kid that night he was dumb enough to answer the phone before I finally had it cut off, we filed a police report, etc. We had no proof so the kid, who was suspended for something else like 2 days later, so he probably ditched the phone and he got away with it. I feel so bad because she loved that phone and she is so trusting and naive sometimes. She was probably messing around with it and he saw her, the teacher asked for her help to hang something in the hall and in her next class she realized that it was gone. So we are stuck w/ the Craporola hand me down.
Ok I guess I am getting back to work now. I have some funny stories to share about my new neighbors that I will write about next week!