I have been pretty overwhelmed here in the beautiful state of CO. School is truly dominating my life. I thought I was done with one class and all it's projects only to be given another major project for this same class. Talk about stressful.

We have been dealing a lot with DJ these past few weeks. I really want to pull my hair out because of all the mess that the school is creating for us. So last Monday DJ’s Para was basically trying to get DJ organized at the end of the day. She wanted to change some stuff in his planner and it was making DJ upset because it was going to make him miss the bus. He kept trying to tell her she was making him upset but she was not listening. So he was already at his breaking point when another one of the teachers (who we have MAJOR issues with anyway) came up to him and said that she was going to right him up for “scaring” a little girl that we seem to have big issues. (This little girl was walking and turned around and DJ was there and he said Boo…this scared her) So this teacher basically upset him even more!!! Well he got even madder and walked out to the hallway and when he did he pushed open the door hard. It caused no one any harm and caused no damage either. So the Para took a hold of DJ’s arm and said that he had to go to the counselor’s office. By this point he was (in his own words) on a scale of 1 – 10 a 42~! So as he was sitting in his counselors office he was saying that he hated the school, that he wasn’t listening, started banging his head on the wall, and was covering his ears. He was very upset. His whole structure of his after school routine was ruined. So they held him past the time for his bus and because they didn’t have a place to put him they put him in detention. Basically, they said they didn’t want to put him on the bus because he was upset. But if they hadn’t gotten him upset by messing with his afterschool routine then there would not have been a problem.

Then on Thursday DJ was being a boy – ie he and his 2 friends (and I do stress that number because that is all that he has) were playing around in the hallway. DJ and one of his friends were pushing each other into the lockers; they were laughing and cutting up. Then one of his friends was bending over and the other friends came up and kneeled down behind him and DJ pushed the boy over the other. It is called table topping. The two friends laughed and NO ONE was hurt. They were just playing around. They tried to get the boys to right a statement against DJ and they refused to do so. But DJ got written up and his punishment is in school suspension on none other but the day that he was supposed to go to the field trip! (And before you all ask – the other boys did not get in trouble at all) When I got the phone call I got so mad when I told the dean of students that I know what they were doing – they were working DJ up to the point of taking away the field trip. He told me that they have issues with unstructured time and that a field trip is nothing but unstructured time so they do have a problem with taking DJ. I told him that his Para should go with him them and that I want that to happen but he said that it couldn’t. So basically I got frustrated and said that they had upset me and that I no longer could speak to him, he needed to call my husband.

So while I was telling my husband what had happened at the school gathered everyone in a room. They had the dean of students, DJ’s counselor at school, his para, his principal, vice principal, the school psychologist, and the team counselor all in this room (can you say ganging up on us). Bill put them in their place and they told him they would call him back. Basically, I know they went back through our IEP and called the school district legal dept. They called us back and they basically said that because we signed the IEP stating that the school could discipline him for inappropriate behavior then they are going to give him the in school suspension and there pretty much isn’t much we can do about it.

So we take DJ to this other program that we want to get him into and he interviews with a teacher. Billy and I go in and talk with the program director and she told us that his current school told them DJ could not attend the program because he HAD to have the para and the program can not accommodate that part of DJ’s IEP. We told the director that the ONLY time that the para is around is to help get DJ organized at the end of the day. We told her about the getting in trouble with the “boo” and then him being a boy and rough housing with his friends getting him suspended. She was stunned. So needless to say we are battling a huge fight right now. And between school and DJ's school...I have no time for anything other than these things.

Ok...but we did go to the fraternity's initiation dinner on Saturday night. Here are some pictures.

A group of lovely ladies!

One of my best friends Nicole

My other best friend Kelli

Hubby and I before the dinner started.

My $1.99 ebay dress!!!

TO ME!!!

Not going to do much today. The fraternity is going to tour a snowboard manufacture so I am going to go with them to check it out. I need to back to the radio station to get my tennis shoes. I forgot them there yesterday and I really do need them! And then tomorrow night a bunch of us are going to an Irish Pub for some fun. So...Not a very exciting b-day. But I do have some very exciting news....

Yep...I won the radio contest!!!!  It was very close but I won with a total body weight percentage loss of 14.04%! Pete, the only male in the contest and the guy who pretty much didn't want to lose to a bunch of women, lost a total of 13.89% so it was close. I think what is so cool for me...is that for the first time since 2001 I am under 150 pounds! I am offically 149 pounds! WOW!!!!  I am 9 pounds away from my goal weight. And to prove a point to everyone that it isn't over with yet...I hit the gym again last night. I went and did an hour of cardio on the elliptical and then did about 20 minutes of crunches and leg lifts. So...I still have 9 pounds to go.

And what was really cool was that we got lifetime memberships to the gym that we used! WOW!!!!  That is HUGE!!! And to use a trainer (the ones we used during the contest) will only cost us $10 an hour! Man alive that is so cool!!!  So a bunch of ladies will be using them still because so many of us want to keep up this journey and they guys there at Spectrum will help us reach and maintain our goals! They have changed their website as well and now you all can keep track of us on their website. It is www.spectrumwellness.org. and if you go to the Biggest Winner's tab you can track all of our progress.

Here are some pictures and videos of yesterday. There are a few more that I will be adding later once I get them off the net.

My getting my prize ticket.

A really cool picture of me in my workout clothes (that are so big on me now) and then my cute outfit that actually fits!

A bunch of skinny people...and I do have to say that they look pretty dang good!!

Marissa and I waiting to hear the totals.

It was down to just Pete and I. And that is DJ behind me.

Here is our final video that we did yesterday. We came out in the place that we were. So Renee was in 9th place. and I was in 1st place.

Here is the video of them announcing me winning the contest.

So as soon as I find the news video and the other pictures that my friends took I will be posting them as well. Thanks again to you all for your support during this contest and my entire weight loss journey!!!  I love you all!

Edit

Here is the news story about the contest and a picture of my trainer and I.

Click Here to see the video.

This is my trainer Aaron (at least one of my trainers but the one that pushed me the hardest!)