Mom! I'm hungry!

I just realized, on a normal weekday I make 10 meals. 10 meals a day! Holy, cow. If on the weekend Larry makes breakfast and we eat out twice I make 58 meals a week. No wonder I like to eat out.

Granted some of the meals are combined. Like Larry and I eat the same dinner every night. But most of those meals are totally separate meals. Connor and Maddy rarely eat the same thing for breakfast, and I almost never eat the same thing as the kids. So that is 3 separate breakfasts. I have to pack Maddy's lunch so that is a whole separate meal. And then Connor and I never eat the same thing for lunch. So three separate lunches.

And dinner. Don't even get me started on dinner. It starts with Connor yelling from the bottom of the stairs "Maddy! Dinner time is ready!" Someone always has something special despite the fact that I have flat out refused to cook two dinners. Believe me hang around here long enough and you will hear me loudly proclaim "I'm not cooking two dinners, you will eat what I serve!" And yet, when I sit down at the table to eat the four plates rarely all have the same food on them. I don't know how they do it... those little buggers. It's like I love them or something.

Getting dinner from the stove to the table is like a fricken circus act. Me and Larry dancing around twirling plates on long sticks and juggling flaming serving spoons. I've been known to throw a gallon of milk like a boomerang. It flies around the kitchen, fills little cups and then lands back on the counter, all while balancing a stack of hot chicken nuggets on my nose. It's amazing that we ever eat a fairly hot meal at roughly the same time.

So, what did you get for Christmas?

You know how when someone asks you what you got for Christmas you can't think of a thing. And then you're like "Well, I don't know what all the fuss is about... I barely got anything." Well... make a list. Cause dang... I can't believe all the stuff I got when I list it out like this. I'm going to do this every year from now on.

Here we go, in no particular order...
String of pearls
Heart shaped sterling silver necklace with diamonds
GPS for the van
Warren Buffett's biography
Pajamas
Underwear
Flip Flops
Apron
6 other books
A huge cook book
An organizer pack (calendar, notepad, to do list, ect)
Wall calendar
Iced Tea maker
A beautiful scrap book recipe book of handed down recipes from my husband's side of the family.
Desperate Housewives; season 4
Home fragrance reed diffuser (pretty things to make the house smell good)

I think that's everything not counting food (but I still feel like I forgot something so if your gift is not listed please don't feel bad... it doesn't have anything to do with my gratitude. My head is spinning and even after 3 trips around the house I was still finding things.) My kitchen is also filled with food. Sweets of every kind. I get a bit fatter every time I turn on the kitchen light.

A toe injury

I busted my toe on the coffee table. So typical I know. But it really hurts. Like, for serious... as Maddy would say.

You know that scene in Dumb and Dumber when they pick up the hitchhiker but it's really the mob guy who is trying to kill them? And Jim Carey says "Wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?" and then screams into his ear. Remember that? Well that is what Connor was doing to me. Just yelling in my ear for whatever two year old reason he had concocted.

Finally I had had enough and jumped up off the couch to go bring him into time out. And on the way... SLAM! Pinky toe meet coffee table leg. Honestly, at the time it barely registered. That's how annoyed I was with the screaming. It wasn't until like a half hour later that I realized... "Dang. My toe hurts!" It hurt. The two toes next to it hurt. Up the outside of my shin almost up to my knee hurt.

So I was limped around the grocery store. I limped around the house. I limped back and forth from my bed to Connor's room about 30 times last night. (What was up with that? I don't know)

When I woke up this morning it didn't hurt. So I tried to make a fist with my toes... you know, to try it out. Oh yeah, there it is. Didn't want to relish in the non pain for very long? Couldn't lay there for a minute and enjoy the pain free foot? No, have to test it out. See if it still hurts. Yeah, it does. But not as much... so we are on the road to recovery. Although I still feel like I have an uncooked lima bean in my shoe.

And speaking of an uncooked lima beans. I had to go to the post office today. Every year I try so hard to mail my stuff early so that I don't have to brave the holiday post office crowds, and every year I end up there just days before Christmas. I listed my old text books online the day before yesterday. Not thinking that they would sell in a mere 12 hours. Who knew?

So lets peek in the post office window shall we? See the two year old standing at the trash can pushing the little the swinging flap? That's Connor. Oh and the swinging door on the trash squeaks. Can you hear it? Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. "Oh my God Connor! Please stop that!" See the 7 year old girl flitting around and chatting it up with the 85 year old lady? That's Maddy. And see the overtired half crazy lady standing in the 50 minute line with a Calculus text book, a Mathlab.com access code, a set of keys, a purse, a helicopter coat, and an uncooked lima bean in her shoe? That's me.

A boy named Shane

I was literally sitting here looking at a blank screen trying to think of something to write about when there was a knock at the door. I opened it and an idea came in, took off its shoes, and ran upstairs.

I swear to God.

This story begins on last Friday morning at the bus stop. There was a new mom. She was there talking to another mom when I walked up. The "old" (haha) mom introduced us and said the new mom was new in the neighborhood and was looking for someone to watch her son in the morning before school and get him on the bus. I volunteered.

His name is Shane. He's in first grade... just like Maddy, and super cute... just like Maddy. He will get here at 6:45 which isn't unreasonable, and will come fed. It's only an hour a day and the extra money will certainly help out.

It's not totally out of the blue. It was actually something I was thinking about doing before this school year started. I figured there must be moms who work that need someone to watch their kid in the morning. I had talked myself out of it thinking that the money wouldn't be worth the effort. but then it just falls into my lap. I mean, she did all but knock on my door and offer me the job. How often does something like that happen? It just seemed like it was meant to be.

So fast forward to right now. I'm sitting here staring at a blank screen and there is a knock at the door. I open it and Shane is standing there. I peek my head out the door looking for his mom and he is in, shoes off, and heading upstairs before I can comprehend what is going on. No mom by the way. He was like a breeze. Open the door and a crack and whooshes right in.

A little investigation and apparently his grandma is watching him and she said it was ok if he came over. Apparently it doesn't matter if it's ok with me or not. lol. I suppose as Maddy gets older I have to be more and more prepared for stuff like this.

Roni, Mac, and The Cheese

Roni, Mac, and The Cheese. Doesn't that sound like a band? The Cheese would be the lead singer of course. He would get all the attention even though Roni writes all the songs and Mac is the brains of the operation. But The Cheese is a big attention hog and never gives Roni and Mac their due credit. Finally, after years of tension, Roni and Mac decide to leave the group and start their own band. But it never really takes off and The Cheese goes on to have a big solo career. Finally after a decade or two when their fans are all middle aged, Roni and Mac realize that The Cheese is their only hope at fame. So they do a reunion tour before fading out of public conciousness forever.

Oh, wait... No. It's actually Connor's favorite dinner. Macaroni and Cheese. That works out better. And it's still true, that Cheese is the star of the show, even though Macaroni is the substance of the whole meal. It's a shame!

4 days til Christmas! Maddy is home from school until well into January. I don't know what that school is thinking. Don't they know they are the key to my sanity? Seriously. Especailly for the next few days while the tree is bursting with presents and Santa is packing up his sleigh. How am I supposed to keep that contained. Actually... that might explain why they don't want them at school right now.

Shameless brag

Warning: Shameless brags ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you.

So I got my grades for this semester. I honestly don't know how it happened because I felt like I spent the entire semester playing catch up but I got a 95 in Math and a 98 in Accounting. A 98 in Accounting! The best in the class. Seriously. I was shocked! He sent out an Excel spreadsheet with everyone's grade, but had replaced the names with student ID. Which is dumb because he left it in Alphabetical order, so I still know what everyone else got. I had no idea what my student ID was. So I just kinda guessed where I was alphabetically and right there was a grade of 93. Which seemed right, so that was that. Then I went to go register for next semester and happened upon my student ID. So I went back and looked at the spreadsheet and I was actually down one spot from where I thought and turns out I actually got a 98.

Ok, and my second brag is that I was actually able to pay my tuition from side hustles I've been working on through out this semester. I was so pleased with myself. I paid for my own school... like a real live grown-up.

Don't know what a side hustle is? It's extra things you do in your spare time, out side of your regular job. For example, my neighbor has a full time job as a website person of some sort. In his spare time he buys old cars, fixes them up, and sells them for a profit. That's his side hustle.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday!

Our weekend was quiet and nice. All cloudy and chilly. We did a little Christmas shopping, wrapped presents, and watched the Polar Express about a dozen times, ok three times. Larry made chili which was delish. And such a perfect weekend for it since we got to wear pants and sweaters. We could almost pretend it was winter... you know, if we didn't look outside.

Oh, by the way... Maddy's pink eye was allergies. I took her to Urgent Care and they gave her some allergy eye drops that pretty much cleared it right up. It started looking better right away.

I'm taking my last final of the semester tomorrow. Then Christmas goes from being a side project to the main attraction, with Disneyland on deck, and Connor's birthday waiting in the wings. Phew... anyone got any money I can borrow? No...seriously.

First Grade Musical

Maddy had her first grade musical last night. It was really cute. If I get on the ball I'll upload the video. They did T'was the night before Christmas. A few kids would do the lines of the poem and then the group would sing a little song. They all wore their pajamas... adorable.

Maddy had a line, which was cool. She was really excited about that. Her line was "Then out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter."

But she said it like this...

"Then out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from.... my... bed....to.... seeeeeeee.... whaaaaat.... waaaaaaas... the..... maaaaaattttttteeeeeerrrrrr."

And everyone giggled. Which it was cute, the way she drew out her line to get a few extra seconds on stage. But she was kinda hurt that people laughed. I tried to explain that they thought she was cute, that is why they giggled. Because they were happy. I don't think she cared all that much though.

*******************************************

Honest to God, I was writing the above when the phone rang. It was Maddy's school. She was at the nurse with pink eye. So she is now sitting on the floor with a book on her head and singing I'm a little tea pot. Yes, she's 7. I don't know....

Time Warp

I went through a little time warp this morning.

The alarm went off and I laid there for a bit. Then I looked at the clock and it was 7:02. Connor was awake and calling me. "Mommy! My blanket!" Yes, his blanket was wrinkled. It's a terrible thing around here. I had to get up twice in the night to smooth it out. But that's neither here nor there. I laid there for another minute, then got up. I weighed myself, got dressed, started digging through my sock drawer for two matching socks. I will admit this took way longer than it should have. Finally I realized the laundry was all sorted over on the love seat so I went over there, sat down to put my socks on and glanced at the clock.

7:44!

I literally blinked hard, rubbed my eyes, and then looked again.

7:44

In a panic I checked another clock.

7:44

Oh crap! Maddy was standing at the bottom of the stairs fully dressed. I said "Its way late!" "Yeah, I know, the first bus (middle school) came a long time ago." She replied. "Well it's time to get your shoes on." Then I notice her hair. Grrr... It needed to be straightened. I told her she can either wear it in a pony tail or I will have to drive her to school. I said this like it's any kind of choice. She asks me every day to drive her to school, so I wasn't surprised by the answer. "You can drive me I guess."

But I made it! I couldn't believe it. I straightened her hair, got Connor dressed, and made it to the bus stop before the bus came. Awww.. yeah. I rock! Who's the mom?

Another new theme

Ok, so apparently my old tree theme isn't going to fix itself. While this one isn't perfect, it's better than being told to "Upgrade to Pro" over and over.

I know the date says "undefined undefined". So I'll keep looking for another theme. But in the mean time you will just have to deal.

Anyways... enjoy the pretty colors.

Edited to add: never mind the date thing... I fixed it. Cause I rock!

Caroling

Maddy is currently out on the front porch singing Christmas carols at full volume. This is an annual tradition for her, it's the third year in a row. But she doesn't sing normal Christmas carols like Deck the Halls or Santa is coming to town. Oh no, how boring would that be? She is making up the songs as she goes.

Boom boom boom
Boom boom boom
Oh no my hand is green,
my hand is orange,
my hand is red.

When you have a bunch of colors they can be red or blue or green or skin color or oooorrrraaaange.

All the colors

Can be christmas
But don't forget the lucky ones...
Green and red
Green and red
Green and red
Are cookie colors
No matter what!

They are christmas colors
Green and reeeeeeeeeeeed!

When you have Christmas
When you have Christmas

Isn't that wonderful! Don't you wish you were our neighbor?

A couple of smarties

Maddy's teacher sent home a print out of her grades. Not an official report card, but an actual list of each assignment and its grade. She is doing so well! I'm so proud of her.

Reading: 97.1%
Math: 95.6%
Writing: 92.1%

Writing includes spelling tests, which are her weak spot. Not a huge weak spot, but she rarely gets a 100%. Obviously reading she does great in, she loves to read.

And then Connor and I had this conversation at dinner the other night...

Connor: I want super powers
Me: Me too! What super power do you want?
C: I want to fly up!
M: Oh, to fly. Good one!
(pause)
C: Oh, I know! A balloon!
M: You could fly up with a balloon? That's a good idea.
C: Yeah, an orange one!

Edited to add: You know... I'm going to include myself in this post. Cause it's my blog and no one can tell me I can't! I also have straight A's. I had a Math test last night. I can always tell how well I did by how many people finish before me. And I was the first one done. Which means that I got an A. And the last test, I got a 100%. Yeah, that's right baby. 100%! I doubt I'm going to pull that off again... but maybe! I was the first one done after all.

But no one's there

Connor freaks me out sometimes.

First off, his bedroom is super insulated from the rest of the house. One wall is an exterior wall, one has a bathroom on the other side, and the other two walls have closets on the other side. Not one wall butts up against living space. Add the fact that I turn on a loud fan for white noise and his room quiet. Like super quiet. I can't here anything when I'm in there. It is a different world in there.

Anyways, sometimes when I'm putting him to bed, or getting him up he will keep looking out the door. Which gives me the creeps. He will look up at the door like someone just walked in, or is standing there. You know? Sometime he will ask "What's that?" While looking over there. That gives me the heebies. Cause it's nothing. It totally makes me feel like I'm being watched. I can't sit with my back to door after that.

Once in a while he will not quit with it and make me (or Larry) take him out into the hall so that he can see that no one is out there. Once when Larry was putting him to bed he kept insisting that Maddy was in her room. Which she wasn't. So finally Larry took him in there to prove it. They were standing there in her empty room and Connor points to the wall and says "oh, there it is!". There was a moth on the wall. A moth! That is what he heard coming from her room. A MOTH! In the other room. He heard it.

Then the other night he woke up and kept saying "my foot. my foot". So I go in there and he is just laying on his back with his foot in the air.
"What's wrong Bub?" I ask.
He points behind me and says "He's going to watch."
"Who is going to watch?"
"He is going to watch." Still pointing behind me.
"Who is?"
"He's going to watch it go round and round."
"Go to sleep."

I was kinda freaked out. Who was watching him? lol

Oh Christmas Tree

So we got a new Christmas tree this year. Last year I was trying to move a fully lit and decorated tree back towards the wall a few inches and heard a crack. It was never quite the same after that. lol.

We got a pretty nice one. I figured we would have it for quite a few years, so might as well get something we really like. It's prelit and everything. We usually do colored lights, but it was $75 more for colored lights... so we just got white. Which I do like, but dang... it's bright. That is one thing that you can't judge in the store. Brightness. I was under the impression that more lights are better. And under the harsh lights of the store it doesn't seem to matter. In fact, the trees with a smaller amount of lights seem dim. But when you get it home under normal lighting... wow. It's daytime all the time.

I wanted a prelit tree for two reasons. Not having to string it is one reason of course. The other is that I no longer have to spend two weeks rearranging the lights trying to fill gaps. I'm obsessive about it. I hate to have uneven lighting on my tree. It even bothers me if there are a grouping of one color, but I have to let that slide cause that is bordering on nuts. I can't very well restring the whole tree because there are 4 red lights right next to each other and it's catching my eye. In fact, that might be how I broke the tree last year. Trying to turn an unsightly lighting situation towards the wall.

Anyways, all these white lights have caused us to think twice about our ornaments. The only ones you can really see are the red bulbs. And they look so pretty against the white lights and green tree. So next year we are only going to put up red bulbs and the ornaments that are important to us. Yeah, a theme. I'm going to have a themed tree. Something I swore I would never do. But hey, I think red bulbs is fairly acceptable as far as themes go.

Catch up

Hello! Gosh this week has been crazy. I know I haven't written... with the craziness it's hard to have a moment to sit back and put it all into perspective. Thanksgiving for example, there was stress and confusion about when the turkey was going to be done, but in the end it worked out perfect. So was it good? Or was it stressful? I guess it was both.

I also have two tests to study for, as well as a final and a group project. So the moments that weren't spent cooking have been spent studying and writing papers.

And I've started Christmas shopping! Believe it or not, the person I'm having the most trouble shopping for is Connor. It's not a lack of choices, quite the opposite. I can walk down any aisle in any store and find 50 things I think he would like. The problem is spending the money in the wisest way. I don't want to just walk into a store and drop a couple of hundred bucks on any old random thing.

Notice today is Saturday and I'm not doing an operation skinny update? Because I was seriously lacking in tracking everything. I took a few days off there. So I'm starting again today. I did work out everyday, but I just didn't keep track of anything.

Ok, so I think we are all caught up.

Yay for Thanksgiving!

Well, I just finished my grocery shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Which happens to be my absolute favorite dinner of the whole entire year. Yay for Thanksgiving!

When I was a kid I would spend Thanksgiving with my dad. And since I only saw him two or three times a year, it was pretty exciting. We rarely even stayed in the country. Which is strange when you think about. It is Thanksgiving after all. Why are we going to Mexico, exactly? But we did. We traveled. Always someplace luxurious and fancy. Which was fun. We would have Thanksgiving dinner prepared by french chefs. Which is odd. I remember one year we were served "vegetable pie" for dessert. It was their take on pumpkin pie. I can just picture them in the kitchen trying to figure out this strange American dessert.

"I remember something about a pie made from some kind of vegetable."
"Well, which vegetable?"
"I don't know... just use them all."

Around the time that tradition ended my dad opened a bed and breakfast up in the mountains. So quaint and beautiful. He would host huge Thanksgivings. He had the space for it. I would go spend the weekend up there and people would come from all over. The place would be filled with folks. The views were amazing, the air crisp and clean. It was sweaters, turkey, family and friends. It was hot chocolate and porch swings with mountain views. Pictures and smiles and squabbles over whose recipe to use. Kids running around and a dog that could play a killer game of fetch. A thanksgiving straight out of the movies.

Then, after Maddy was born, my roommate invited me over to her parents house for Thanksgiving. And while I was there I met her brother, Larry. My husband to be. The love of my life. Not to many people can say they met their spouse on Thanksgiving day. We ate, played board games, hung out on the porch and laughed. Then we all went to Larry's house and watched movies until it was much to late for me. We had fun. And I had no idea that we would spend the rest of our Thanksgivings together.

Operation Skinny: Week 11

Hello hello. Eleven weeks and counting. I'm frustrated with my weight loss. I've only lost 5 pounds in 11 weeks. And it's not from lack of trying. I know that I've gained a lot of muscle from working out, but still, it would be nice to see my hard work reflected on the scale.

But hey, I'll take what I can get... and I'm not about to stop doing it so I suppose it doesn't matter in the end. What I should be doing is trying to go down a size in my pants. I think that is my new goal. But you can't measure that in small increments like you can with pounds.

I lost .2 pounds this week. Which just offsets the .2 pounds I gained the week before.

I ate an average of 1,565. Which surprised the heck out of me because I felt like I kinda threw caution to the wind there. I even ate french fries from Wendy's.

I walked 20.5 miles.

Totals:
Weight loss: 5.4 pounds
Distance Traveled: 221 miles. Click here to see how far I've walked.

Ducks

We went to the park again today. The one I was telling you about with the tiny train. It was pretty fun. We rode the train again and then walked over to the lake and ate lunch and watched the ducks. Connor liked them, but not as much as I thought he would. He was more interested in "climbing the mountain". Which just means walking to the top of the little hill we were sitting on. Which put him directly behind me so I had to turn completely around and stare right into the sun to see him. And he was just far enough away to be able to pretend he couldn't hear me. We had this conversation about 50 times.

"Mommy look! I'm on top of the mountain."
"Yes I see you, now please come back." squint squint squint
"I'm on top of the mountain!"
"I know, come eat your sandwich." squint squint squint
"I'm on top of the mountain!"
"Connor! Come here!" And he would come so I could coerce another bite of peanut butter and jelly into him.

Doesn't that sound lovely?

The funny part was that he thought the ducks were farting.

"Mommy, the ducks are farting."
"hahaha... no honey, they are quacking."
"oh, quacking... right."

Then we fed them a piece of Connor's sandwich which was fun. He liked that. He keeps telling me that "they ducks ate Connor's lunch". Yes they did sweetie, yes they did.

A Saturday that dreams are made of

Connor had a fantastic weekend. I'm just now getting a chance to tell you about it but, seriously, it was a little boy's dream.

Trash is picked up at our house on Wednesday mornings. Recycling is picked up on Saturday mornings. Every single Wednesday and Saturday we are standing dutifully on our front porch waiting. Actually, that's a total lie. On Wednesday I bounce off the couch and go running for the door because I just heard the trash truck and we rush out on to the porch just in time to see him empty our trash. And on Saturday... well, I don't know cause I sleep in.

But I got reports that this past Saturday the trash man actually stopped, got out, and let Connor sit in his seat and turn the wheel! How cool! I wish I had pics. But he has talked about it quite a bit since then. "Sit in the chair... and the wheel!" I'm kinda nervous about tomorrow since I highly doubt he will get that chance again. I'm pretty sure he thinks this is a regular thing.

Then later that day we went to this park near the house that has a train you can ride. It's small but it's a real train. It takes you around the park and Connor LOVED it. Oh, riding the train. A dream come true. It's pretty cheap and we have tickets left over so I'm going to take him again on Friday. They also have a small Merry-go-Round and another little ride. Have I mentioned it's small? Cause the whole place was tiny.

So yeah, he got to ride a train and sit in the garbage truck. Both in one day!

At the carwash

Connor and I took the van to the car wash the other day. Oh my gosh it was so gross. The windshield was so dirty it had the "dirt M" across the top, where the wipers can't reach, as if the bird poop streak down the door wasn't enough. I realized I've been silently waiting for Larry wash it. It was at that moment I decided I am, in fact, old enough to take the car to the car wash all by myself. :) Wearing a wedding ring does not take away basic life skills like washing a car or taking out the trash. Although that would be kinda nice... "Sorry honey. Married. You are going to have to carry in the case of bottled water yourself. Oh, and the light bulb in the closet is burned out. I'd change it myself, but you know..."

Anyways... the car wash. First they wrote on the window with a wax pencil, which Connor found hilarious. Then we went inside to pay and watch the cars get washed through the huge plate glass windows. Connor went and climbed up into the "big chair" while I paid. The cashier stapled a paper to my receipt and said "This is your claim check, you will need to pick up your car." Ok, that's fine.

I join Connor and we watch car after car go through the car wash. He was loving it. Wash the tires, wash the windows, spin so fast. Every once in a while a rouge bubble would spin off the brushes and hit the window... which was fantastic. While we are sitting there I realize I don't have any cash to tip the guys at the end. There is an ATM but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay a $3.00 ATM fee so that I can give a guy a $2.00 tip. So I get the bright idea to buy a soda, maybe I can get cash back at the register. So I got a Diet Dr. Pepper from the fountain. But I didn't have the option to get cash back, and the drink was gross, so that did nothing but waste $.94.

I was really stressing about not having a tip. I felt bad. I spent the next 15 minutes worrying about that moment when the guy smiles expectantly and I just say "Thanks!" and hop in my car. UG. We go outside and wait for them to finish up the van. I stand there sipping my disgusting soda telling myself that I did try to get some cash, so I'm not a horrible person. And besides, I'm sure not everyone tips. Tips are for something extra, they shouldn't be expected. How dare they expect me to tip! Make me feel guilty. I paid good money for this car wash, and then they expect me to pay another $2.00 to this guy just for doing is job! I'm doing a public service by not tipping!

And then the car is ready. Oh gosh. Smiling man standing at the front of my car. Avoid eye contact! I focus on Connor. In my haste to get out of there I walked around the wrong side of the car, so then I had to go back and put Connor in his seat. The guy followed me all the way around the car. He stood there while I snapped Connor in his seat. UG. So when I was done I said "I'm sorry I don't have any cash. I'll have to get you double next time."

"That's fine. I just need your claim check."
"oh, yeah. hehe." Ah, the claim check. Yes, I remember now. I'm an idiot.

Operation Skinny: Week 10

I gained .2 pounds this week. Even though I ate an average of 1,394 calories per day this week.

I traveled 20.5 miles this week. Which means that I've walked just over 200 miles. It also means that I just walked though the Petrified Forest National Park. Here's my map.

From Wiki:
Petrified wood (from the Greek root "petro" meaning "rock" or "stone", literally "wood turned into stone") is a type of fossil: it consists of fossil wood where all the organic materials have been replaced with minerals (most often a silicate, such as quartz), while retaining the original structure of the wood. The petrifaction process occurs underground, when wood becomes buried under sediment and is initially preserved due to a lack of oxygen. Mineral-rich water flowing through the sediment deposits minerals in the plant's cells and as the plant's lignin and cellulose decay away, a stone mould forms in its place. It probably takes less than 100 years for wood to petrify.

The park is the largest concentration of petrified wood in the country; possibly in the world. Apparently, there was a forest with a large river in these parts. Which is hard to imagine when you are walking through the desert. The minerals in the water were perfect for petrifying wood. Some researchers offer a “log jam” theory accounting for the concentration.

Petrified wood is very hard. Only topaz, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds are harder.

Totals:
Distance Traveled: 200.5 miles
Weight loss: 5.2 pounds

A fresh face

As you can see... I spruced up the blog a bit. Did you know that my blog turned one the other day? Well... a few weeks ago now. As a present to my blog I gave it a brand spankin' new template! This is the view I wish I had from my front porch. :)

So I hope you like it. I was getting very tired of the gray and boring theme I had been wearing for the past year or so. Total blah.

The things they say

Maddy is grounded... and home from school today. The stars have aligned to drive me completely and totally insane.

Since she isn't allowed to do much of anything I had her go take a nap when I put Connor down today. I really didn't want her hanging on me the whole time Connor was asleep. Anyways, I tell her that it's nap time and, after some arguing, she goes rushing up the stairs in a little fit.

"What's wrong Maddy?" Connor said.
"Oh, nothing she's just being a..." I said, thinking I probably shouldn't finish that sentence.
"Butthead." he said finishing my thought. lmao. Oh, he knows me so well.

Operation Skinny: Week 9

Hey guys. Good news! I lost 1.2 pounds this week... which means that I have met goal number one! Wohoo... I am no longer over my max allowable weight. It also means that I lost weight two weeks in a row. So I broke that streak. Hopefully we can go for 3 weeks in a row. Now I'm going to start working on the next 5 pounds.

I ate an average of 1,469 calories. The calorie thing is getting easier. The first week with the elliptical machine was tough. Sometimes I get really hungry and I do have to make better choices. Since I'm burning more calories it's harder to keep the average down.

I traveled 27.5 miles. Which is a record for me. I have finally made it to the I-40 which was my first walking goal. Wohoo. Two goals met in one week. My next goal is to make it to the state line. Here is my walking map.

So here are my totals:

Weight loss: 5.4 pounds (goal #1 met; .4 pounds into goal #2)
Distance Traveled: 180 miles

When a car alarm goes off at midnight.

Honk. Honk. Honk. Honk.

Wake up from very nice dream and think: WTF is that noise? Oh, it's a car alarm. That's too bad for that person.

Honk. Honk. Honk. Honk.

I'm sure they will get it in a second.

Honk. Honk. Honk. Honk.

This is taking a really long time. I'm sure it will just be another moment.

Honk. Honk. Honk. Honk.

Ok. That's it! Who is the idiot who doesn't know their car alarm is going off? I Jump out of bed and close the bedroom window. Then peek out the blinds... discover there isn't a car in the backyard with the alarm going off, no matter how much it sounds like it. So I march down stairs to look out the front window.

Honk. Honk. Honk. Honk.

As I hit the bottom of the stairs I realize the car is really really close to the house. OMG it's the van! It's me! I'm the idiot who doesn't know their car alarm is going off! I reach the window and peek out. Phew, no not me. But there is a car parked right in front of my house with all it's lights flashing. GRRR...

Honk. Honk. Honk. Honk.

It's my horrible neighbors. Luckily, shortly after I realized this it stopped. I wouldn't have missed this opportunity to call the cops on them... again.

Another kitchen fire?

Yesterday Maddy and I were cooking dinner. We were making Maddy's Pasta Surprise. She was standing on her step stool casually, yet obsessively, stirring the pasta and telling me about a funny story they read at school. I turned on the burner under the skillet to got ready to fry the bacon. A few wisps of white smoke came up from under the burner. Always happens as the drippings from last night's dinner burn to a crisp. But this time they didn't stop. A few wisps turned into a several wisps. Then they turned into streams. Since I am terrified of the smoke detector I turned on the fan above the stove. Then the streams turned into sheets. Just sheets of smoke coming from under the pan. I turned off the burner and noticed orange light coming from under the skillet.

"Larry!" I call.
"Yeah?" He called back without getting off the couch.
"Come here!" I say while waving my hands in a panic. As he comes around the corner he sees the light under the pan. He rushes over, picks up the skillet, leans over, and literally blows the fire out. Apparently it wasn't quite the fire I was expecting under there. I don't know what was in the little drip pan but it put up a fight. Anyways, we opened the windows to let the smoke out. Made a few nervous jokes and went back to our lives.

When everything calmed down I realize Maddy is still telling her story. She never even broke stride. She was still standing there on her stool, spoon in pot, telling me about this book they read. I stopped her and said "Sweetie, when there is a fire, most people stop telling their story." She paused just long enough to give me a blank look and then continued on, totally clueless.

No pacifiers: day 3

I mentioned the other day that we were going to take the pacifier away. Well we did it on Halloween night.

Connor collected all his pacifiers and put them in a box. Then we attached a balloon to the box and put it in the backyard. While we were trick or treating the Pacifier Fairy took the pacifiers to give to the new babies and left Connor a new helicopter. When we got back from trick or treating it was there waiting for us.

That worked soooo well. He knew the pacifiers were absolutely, totally gone. Which is what we needed. No one can cave at that point. Yes, we know the pacifiers are in a graham cracker box in the garage, but he doesn't. And we went through so much trouble making all the magic that it's going to take more than a pitiful cry to give up the jig.

The first night he was wiped out from trick or treating that I think it helped him fall asleep without the pacifier. He cried at first for a minute or two and then was quiet. Then about 20 minutes later he cried again and I went in there. He didn't ask for the pacifier but he did tell me about how he has a helicopter and the babies have the pacifiers. So he was clearly thinking about them and trying to convince himself that everything we said was true. I told him "You can do it. You can fall asleep without your "fire". You are a big boy now." And he said "ok." When I left he cried again for another minute or two and then that was it. He slept all night without a peep.

The next day went great, no issues at all. But he was still mentioning them. On the way up the stairs we always talk about how cozy his bed is and name all his bears and pillow and blanket. Kind of try to get him thinking good thoughts about bed as we head up there. So the last few days he's been saying "Going to lay down with C.B., and Cowboy, and Rocky, and pillow, and blanket, and no pacifiers"

Then yesterday was the day I've been expecting. No nap. Two hours of crying and he never did fall asleep. Which sucks. It's supposed to be quiet time around here. Time to get all that stuff done that you can't do while he is awake. But instead we just sat looking at each other while he screamed for two hours. Hopefully that's it. The night went fine, he was very very tired and pretty much passed right out.

I'm putting him down for a nap in about 20 minutes and I hope it goes well. I have stuff to do!

Trick or Treat

Trick or treating was a blast! Connor did sooooooo well. He was such a trooper. I thought we would hit a few houses, maybe 10 or less, and he would want to go home. And I certainly never thought he would keep on his eye patch, or "piratch" as he calls it, or his hat. But he did, the whole time. I could tell the piratch was bothering him cause he kept scratching at it and I could see the skin under it was red and irriated but he didn't want to take it off. He would march up to every house, knock a big knock, say trick or treat before anyone even opened the door, and then hold out his pumpkin for the candy. As soon has he had his booty he would turn and head to the next house.

If somone held out the bucket and said "Go ahead, take as much as you want." he would take one little piece and place it carefully in his pumpkin. It was so cute.

We were out there for well over an hour. His candy collecting pumpkin was stuffed full. It was too heavy for him to carry by the end. But he still wanted to keep going. We would ask, "Are you ready to go home?" and he would say "One more candy!" We played that game for about 15 houses. He never did quit. We had to make an executive decision and our little pirate got a piggy back ride home.

At one house this older lady gave him his candy and said "He brings back such memories." And I had to hold back tears for the next 20 houses. These are my memories. Seriously, I had so much fun trick or treating with him. I will remember it forever.

Operation Skinny: Week 8

Hello hello! I did much better this week on my calories. I ate an average of 1,555 which is pretty good, considering we have Halloween candy in the house. I really struggled to keep it down. So I guess this was the challenge I was looking for a few weeks ago when I thought about trying to lower my average.

I started doing a new program on the elliptical machine which burns 400 calories in 30 minutes. It also counts for 4 miles of running. It's hard and I only did it twice last week, but I like it. So considering that I walked 23.5 miles this week. Here is my walking progress so far.

***Drum roll please***

I lost 2.2 pounds. yay! Which is almost everything I gained last week. I've been keeping track of everything on a spreadsheet and have noticed a pattern here. I only lose weight every other week. So I guess I have to be happy with just a general downward trend. But here's to hoping I reach goal number one next week.

Totals:
Weight loss: 4.2 lbs (.8 pounds away from goal #1)
Distance Traveled: 155.5 miles

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!! Yay! I can't wait to see Connor in his costume. I'm sure I've mentioned this a dozen times but he's going to be a pirate.

The big news around here is that Connor is going to give up his pacifier tonight. I've explained the whole thing to him. That he is going to put his "fire" in box outside and the Pacifier Fairy is going to come and take them for the new babies. She is also going to leave a present for him because he is such a big boy now! I explain all this and Connor looks excited about it so I asked, "Doesn't that sound like a good idea?" He gets a serious look, thinks for a moment, and then says "No." lol. So I really talked up the present. He got excited about that. He said "Connor get a blue present! Open it with my fingers." So Larry is going to pick up some blue wrapping paper so that he can get the blue present he wants. The fairy will be coming while he is trick or treating so that he knows for sure that his "fires" are gone at bedtime.

So my house will be filled with screams tonight. Which is fitting, being Halloween and all.

Speaking of Halloween, do you feel like it's being ruined by the media? I get so sick of hearing about how dangerous trick or treating is. Gosh. Do you know no child has ever been poisioned by a stranger in their Halloween candy? Never happend! But yet every single Halloween hundrends of thousands of parents pick through bags of candy looking for the razor blade in the apple or arsnic on the snickers. Sad. Last night on the news they did a whole story about how X number of sex offenders don't live at the address they have listed on the registry and how there could be a sex offender in the neighborhood... so watch out! UG It makes me sick. If there is a sex offender in my neighborhood, I'm in no more danger on Halloween than any other day of the year. In fact, I'm probably safer. With dozens of people on the streets and people ringing the bell every 3 minutes. That would be the worst time to attack someone. I'm just sayin'.

Getting ready for Halloween

I picked up some Halloween candy today. It's funny the decision making process that goes into picking out candy to give away. I walked up and down aisles of bagged miniature candy. Was I looking at price? Not really. Was I trying to be the "cool" house on the street? Not at all. I was looking for the candy that is both good, yet resistible. I know I'm going to have this candy laying around my house for at least a week, maybe more. So my first order for this candy was to be good enough that it will get eaten, but gross enough that it won't be me who does the eating.

So what kind of candy fits in this "sweet spot"? Kit Kat bars. Just enough chocolate to tempt others, but not enough to tempt me. Yes, a perfect fit.

Connor is all ready for trick or treating. We've been practicing. He's sooo cute. I think I've mentioned this but he's going to be a pirate. Anything will be better than last year when he had a 104 fever and we ended up in Urgent Care.

Tagged

I got tagged like two weeks ago by Kerri over at Life at number 14. (hi!) But I was at the Grand Canyon when I saw it and couldn't do it right then... and then well... I kinda forgot til just now.

So the rules of this tag are to list 7 weird facts about yourself. And then tag 7 other people. I'm not going to tag anyone because I don't really have any blogging friends. I'm alone out here in the blogsphere. (HELLO!, Hello!, hello, hello.) <---- that is supposed to be echoing in case you didn't get it.

Anyways... here we go.

1. I never thought I would stay home with my kids... but I do.
2. I never thought I would own a minivan... but I do.
3. I never thought I would cook... but I do.
4. I never thought I would have the world's greatest marriage... but I do.
5. I never thought I would attend college at age 31... but I do.
6. I never thought I would wake up every morning before 10... but I do.
7. I never thought I would appreciate being able to take a shower in peace... but I do.

Operation Skinny: Week 7

Hi, it's been another week. Time flies. My big news is that we got an elliptical machine this week. Yay! I love it. I've worked out on it every day. I've been burning 250 calories in 20 minutes. And it's just the right amount hard. It has preprogrammed courses and the first day I did one that I thought looked like the easiest one. haha. No. It pretty much killed me. I felt like my lungs were going to shrivel up and come out of my chest. But now I'm doing one that is just right. I'll work myself up to that other one.

The new work out has caused some problems with my goals however. First off I've gained 2.8 pounds. Which is frustrating! I expected no loss, or even a little gain since I've been working out harder. But 2.8 pounds! yikes. I also had a really bad week eating wise. I averaged 1,699 calories. Which I know didn't help the weight gain, but I was starving. It's easily the hungriest I've been since I started Operation Skinny. I'm assuming it has something to do with the extra calories I've been burning. I will do my best to work on that next week.

And one more problem. The distance I go on the elliptical machine is only like .7 miles. Which isn't really fair considering all the effort I'm putting in. And I would never get to Boston only walking .7 miles. So, I'm going to cheat a little. Here's the thing... if I were to run 8 miles an hour for 20 minutes then I would burn 250 calories. Just like on the elliptical. And if I were to do that I would go about 2.7 miles. I've just been calling it 2.5 miles. Anyways, so that's what I've been recording as my distance. Because .7 miles just isn't fair.

So here is my progress so far.

Weight loss: 2 pounds
Distance travelled: 132 miles

And another big rock!

Ok, things are starting to get back to normal around here. Boy, getting back on track after being gone is tough. It takes longer to prepare for and recoup from a trip than the trip itself.

I had mentioned that I got pretty much no sleep while we were there. The motel was pretty old and not noise resistant at all. And since we put Connor to bed at 7:30 we have to lay there in the dark from that point on. So we just laid there and listened to car doors slam, people laughing, car alarms being set, room doors slamming, muffled and not so muffled voices of people walking by. But the worst was that the ceiling squeaked when the people above us walked. Which I don't know what the heck they were doing up there, but they walked about 100 miles around that tiny motel room. Dang! I was like, just lay down and watch TV or something already! Seriously, how many trips to the bathroom do you need to make?

But the Canyon was great. So beautiful! And the weather couldn't have been better. Just gorgeous. Connor thought it was the Grand Candy, so he was a tad disappointed at first. "What, no candy?" But big rocks to climb around on is almost as good. So he got over it pretty quick. He kept saying "And another big rock!" "Look Daddy! Another big rock!" It was pretty cute. He was very impressed with the whole thing.

I had my heart in my throat pretty much the whole time we were at the rim though. The fences they have are not sufficient in any way. Scared the crap out of me. Besides being so short they are more of a tripping hazard than protection they also have large Connor sized holes under them where rock has worn away since the fence was installed. So I had more than one brain attack where I watched my child falling down a cliff. It's like when you're watching a movie and it changes into some horrible scene and you think "Oh my God! I can't believe that happened!" and then it flashes back to normal and the main character shakes their head and comes back to reality and you realize it was all their imagination. It was like that. I would shake brain back to life and my kids were not tumbling down the rocks, but instead standing there sweetly with gaping mouths and I would take their hands and say "Come on, lets go sit on that bench over there."

Oh and the helicopter tour. How fun was that? It is all Connor has been talking about. He wakes up from every sleep telling me he went on another helicopter ride. And every time we get into the car he asks "Helicopter Grand Canyon?" He tells me all about how we were high over the trees and we wore headphones and listened to music and had a microphone. It was awesome. I think he is going to grow up to be a helicopter pilot.

On the helicopter tour they take you over the forest for about 10 minutes. Just as your brain starts to comprehend that you are flying in a helicopter and your blood pressure begins to return to normal you see the edge of the forest. It gets closer and closer and closer and looks like the end of the earth. All you can see is trees for miles and then nothing. A clean line where life ends. And you are barreling towards it at 100 miles an hour. As you come up on it you draw in all your breath and press yourself into your seat like you are just going to become part of the helicopter. And just when your heart is about to explode the ground falls away and you are hanging unnaturally over the most beautiful scene you've ever laid eyes on.

I've tried to describe the Grand Canyon but really it's indescribable. You will just have to see it for yourself.

Operation Skinny: Week 6

Hello hello! Well, I got 100 hours of sleep last night so I am functioning now.

I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that this past week was going to be a bad one, diet wise. First off Larry was home on vacation which really throws the routines out of whack. We were off doing things and eating out and not paying attention to calories. Maddy's birthday party was last Saturday which meant we had cake in the house. Then we went to the Grand Canyon so eating out was the only option there.

But despite all that I was able to pull it off and eat an average of 1,523 calories per day. Which totally surprised me and makes me think maybe I should try to lower my average. I go back and forth on it. I don't know. I'll think about it for a while. The walking thing is becoming just a normal part of life, so I do have the head space to work on a new challenge, but I also don't want to push this whole thing since it is working. You know, if it ain't broke don't fix it kinda thing.

Since I was gone for three days I only walked 15 miles last week. Here is my progress so far.

All that to tell you that I lost 2.2 pounds. Wohoo!!! That is so awesome. :)

Totals:
Weight loss: 4.8 pounds. (UG! .2 pounds to goal #1)
Walking: 115 miles

Back from the Grand Canyon

I just wanted to say Hi and let everyone know we are home from the Grand Canyon. I'll probably write something official in a few days about it but right now I am way to tired to think straight.

We had a really good time except for the fact that we barely got any sleep. Who knew that 2 kids in a 50 year old Motel room would mean that rest would be hard to come by? Weird.

Anyways, we're home, the kids were awesome, and no one fell into the canyon. I'd say it was a success.

Another Embarrassing Moment

I went to Target today and embarrassed myself. I seem to have a real knack for it. Remember this.

Well, I turn to go down one of the aisles and this lady had her cart right in the middle so I couldn't get past. She was intently looking at some markers or something and wasn't paying attention. I stood there for a second but she didn't notice me and I didn't feel like saying anything so I was just going to back up and go around. But when I went to back up Maddy had her foot right behind the wheel so the cart wouldn't move. So I said "Would you move!" all harshly. The marker looking lady was all "Oh I'm sorry." and moves her cart over.

OMG! I wanted to die.

"I'm sorry, I was talking to her." I offered sheepishly and scurried away.

So next time you see me at the store you better get the heck out of my way. Who knows what I'll do next!

Dream a little dream

Don't you wonder what your kids dream about? I do. What goes on in their little subconscious brains? Well I got a peek the other day.

Connor woke up from nap talking about climbing the banana tree outside. Climbing up and eating a banana from the banana tree. You know, the one right outside. The banana tree out side his bedroom window. You know which one right? He just climbed right up there and ate a banana.

He was just adamant about it. He didn't believe us that there wasn't a banana tree outside. We had to go to the window and look. "See honey, no banana tree." He was all confused. It was pretty funny.

He had a banana for lunch right before nap. It's the first time we've had bananas in the house for quite awhile. I guess they really made an impression.

Maddy's party

Imagine a picnic table, decorated with twisted streamers looping around and balloons bouncing joyfully at the end of brightly colored ribbons. Parents chat pleasantly as the children run back and forth from the park to grab bites of pizza. They laugh and chase each other. Presents are opened. Then everyone gathers around 7 lit candles on a carefully decorated birthday cake. “Happy birthday to yoooooou.”

Wouldn’t that have been nice?

To say Maddy’s party was a success would be overstating it. I wouldn’t say it was a total disaster, Maddy thought it was great, but it certainly wasn’t what I had in mind. First off, we had 25 mile an hour winds. So instead of balloons bobbing sweetly, they were whipping around violently. Jostling for position with each other and tangling themselves around anything that was unfortunate enough to get in their way. It was so windy the chips were blowing out of the bowl! I couldn’t hang up streamers in the traditional way so I just had them taped flatly to the beams of the gazebo. All you could hear was wind whipping past your ears so we could barely even speak to each other. "I'm sorry. What did you say?!" Eating was a challenge because you couldn't put anything down without a heavy weight. So you had to hold your plate down on the table with one hand, and you couldn't put your fork down or it would blow away. My body was sore after 3 hours of leaning into the wind.

And I was slightly over prepared since only one person showed up, out of the 7 invites that went out. I made 6 goodie bags. I had a huge cake, 4 pizzas, 30 drinks, and two bowls of chips. All for one friend. Sigh.

We couldn’t even light Maddy’s candles because it was so windy. We just pretended. She had to blow out unlit candles! So pathetic.

Operation Skinny: Week 5

Ok, guys… this is so cool! Google has a site where you can put in your walking path and they tell you how many miles it is and how many calories you burn and what not. You can create a path and save it and keep adding to it as you go. So what I’m going to do is walk from my house to Leominster MA (my home town for those that don’t know me). I will update my walking every week, which might be kinda boring to see me go 20 miles further every week, but I’ll mention it when I cross a state line or some other milestone and you can check it out. I’m currently walking along the Bee Line highway and I just passed Payson AZ. I’m out in the middle of the desert, which is beautiful in it’s own way. As you can see in the picture.

Here's my map.

The Bee Line Highway even won an award for Excellence in Highway Design from the FHWA and they had this to say…

This highway traverses the environmentally sensitive Tonto National Forest, home to various cacti, hawks and other birds, bats, rattlesnakes, beetles, and desert tortoises. Working closely with the US Forest Service to preserve vegetation and animal life during the project, the designer managed a major cactus relocation program that included saguaro, barrel, and prickly pear varieties. Other aesthetic measures included sculpting rock faces with explosives and then staining them to blend with existing rock.

I ate an average of 1,486 calories this week and walked 21 miles. No weight change at all.

Totals:
Weight loss: 2.6 pounds
Walking: 100 miles!

Maddy's letter to Santa

Maddy has taken to spending long periods playing in her room alone. Which is cool. Yesterday she came down and told me she had been talking to Santa. I pulled out a metal notepad and imaginary pen, got ready to find out how much Christmas was going to cost me, and said "Oh yeah? What did you say?"

"I told him he should be nicer."

Ah yes. That's my girl right there. Telling Santa to be nicer. Only Maddy could look at Santa with critical eye.

Dear Santa,

In anticipation of the upcoming Christmas season I've been reviewing your past performance. Last year I asked for a pink flying Pterodactyl and it was not received. I know the Christmas tree was over flowing with gifts, but I asked for a present that does not exist in this entire world and you disappointed me. Your lack of caring is inexcusable and I hope it is not repeated again. Please see to it that I receive the rocking horse that has been on my Christmas List for the past two years. I believe this should be within the scope of your abilities.

Also, you should really work on your attitude. I saw you whipping Dasher as you flew out of sight and I felt that was entirely unnecessary. Please refrain from beating your reindeer in front of the children you claim to care about. I know are under tight time constraints but if you can't control your frustrations please find another mode of transportation. May I suggest a hot air balloon as an alternative.

Lastly, I feel coal as a gift to be a bit harsh. It's hard being a child these days, with all our computers and video games. We often don't get the exercise needed to use up all of our energy. This makes us restless and causes us to act out. Please have some more understanding of our situation and refrain from giving coal. While it's true that I've never heard of a child actually receiving coal in their stocking, the idea of it is just down right disturbing.

Thank you,
Madison.

I tried to avoid it... but to the dr we go.

The nurse called again today. Maddy went to the nurse to get a breathing treatment. (Good thing I signed their paperwork!) Anyways, today was the last dose of the steroid medicine they gave her on Friday. While she is better, she clearly isn't 100%. I can hear her "heezing" if I put my hear to her chest.

I called her lung dr and made her an appointment for Thursday. I really want to get her in to see someone before we head out to the Grand Canyon next week. On the Grand Canyon's website it says specifically that people with lung problems or heart conditions (I think it was) tend to have more problems up there if they aren't used to the altitude. Which we're not.

I hate drs. Her lung dr. has three offices he practices at. One close, one far, and one farther. You can guess how often he is at the close office. Umm... hardly ever. This month he is there on the 9th, and the 29th. That's it. So I took the 9th. What choice did I really have? I am grateful that I don't have to drive across the whole damn valley, though. You would think that the million people on this side of the valley might need a Pediatric Plumologist more that twice a month though. I'm just sayin'.

So she missed school on Friday because she was "heezing", and now I'm going to have to pick her up early to take her to her appointment on Thursday. Because I guess the Pediatric part of the job description doesn't mean that you have after school appointments. But I've ranted about that before.

The truck needs batteries

The battery in the truck is dead. Which is extremely upsetting to Connor. Since we don't drive it very much the battery tends to die down and it usually needs a jump when we do decide to drive it. Which is fine, the van is parked right there in the drive way pretty much waiting to do it's jumping duty. Just raise the garage door, hook up the cables, and go.

But it's deader than that... it's dead dead. We took the truck to Costco and it wouldn't start when we tried to leave. So we had someone help us jump it. Not a huge deal. But Connor was traumatized by the whole thing. For the rest of the day it was practically the only thing he talked about. It was getting comical.

"Truck needs batteries!"
"Yes, it does. The truck needs new batteries."
"Daddy fix truck."
"Yeah, it's fine honey."
"Little fire." Which this one took me a few times to understand what he meant. Little fire? But the alarm went off while Larry was trying to jump it at Costco. For some reason the alarm sets its self when the battery dies. Or maybe it was set already and the battery not having any juice made it go off at a weird time... but it does go off at random times when we try to jump it. Anyways, that's what he was trying to say. That the alarm went off for like a second, like a fire truck... but short.
"Yeah, it sounded like a fire truck."
"uh huh... truck needs batteries."
And repeat.

We had that conversation 7,937 times yesterday. Over and over and over. Poor little guy. I was like "Oh my gosh Connor! Yes the truck needs batteries... give it a rest!"

Operation Skinny: Week 4

Before we start on Operation Skinny I just wanted to let you know what happened with Maddy. The drs. office called in a prescription for a steroid medicine for her. I do remember they did that last time she had a bad asthma attack. Which was also in October, so there must be something in the air this time of year that causes her to not be able to breathe.

Ok, so moving on....

I ate an average of 1,491 calories. Which I was shocked to find out. I thought I did so bad. I started out the week just terrible. I had two days over 1,900, but I guess I did great towards the end of the week, cause I was able to pull it off.

I walked the full 21 miles that is my goal. I know I'm not supposed to say this but my butt is getting firm. lol. You know, under the layer of fat, of course. I was leaning up against something the other day with my hands behind me, between my butt and the object and I was all "wow, check out my butt!" Go ahead, feel it... no, really... go ahead... firm right?

And finally, I have some actual weight loss to report. I lost 1.8 pounds. Yay. Which brings my total to...

Weight loss: 2.6 pounds (halfway to goal #1)
Walking: 79 miles

A day of asthma

Maddy woke up with an asthma attack this morning. I gave her a breathing treatment before school. I thought about keeping her home but went ahead and sent her hoping everything would be ok. I thought about sending her inhaler with her, but decided to send the tubing and a tube of albuterol with her instead. I know they have a nebulizer at school and it does seem more effective.

So off she goes....

I get a call about an hour later from the office saying "You can't send medication to school." First off, F.U. if I think my daughter is going to need her rescue inhaler I'm going to send it. Period. Secondly, I distinctly remember last year the nurse telling me I could send her inhaler with her. And third, she wasn't having an asthma attack right then so who cares? No one needs to do anything.

Anyways, so they call and say...

"You can't send medication to school"
"ok." I replied. Apparently this wasn't the response she was looking for because she then felt she needed to continue to chastise me for sending asthma medication to school with my asthmatic daughter. I don't know what she wanted me to say... I said ok. What else am I supposed to do? I'm not going to apologize. I can tell she wants something else from me so I explained that I had to give her a treatment this morning and I thought she might need it.
"Well we can't give it to her unless you sign a paper."
"ok" I say again. But real nice! So my daughter could be having an asthma attack and they have everything they need to help her and they won't. Super!
"Is she having an asthma attack?" I asked. They said no, and I said, "so I don't see what the big deal is then". To which she replied...
"I'll have the nurse call you when she gets in." Why? Is she going to tell me something different, something that this lady isn't telling me? No. "Is that ok?" She asks.
"I guess."
"Ok, bye" Click.

Then about 30 minutes later I get another call, I assume it's the nurse... nope.

"Hi this is so and so from such and such school. Your daughter is having trouble breathing." DUR!
"Well, I sent some medicine with her. Will you please give it to her?"
"I can't."
"So she is sitting there suffering and you have the tools to help her and you won't?"
"I can't for legal reasons."
"Even though I'm on the phone asking you to give her medication?"
"No, sorry"
"You understand how upsetting this is, that my daughter needs medical attention and you are refusing to help her."
"Well she isn't doing that bad. If she was in danger we would call 911"
"I'm on my way." Click.

I get there and sign their papers and bring Maddy home with me. I gave her another treatment. About an hour and half later she was having trouble again. So I called the nurse hotline that my health insurance has. I like them a lot. She talked to Maddy on the phone and could hear her wheezing and of course could hear her coughing so she said to call her plumologist and see if he could get her in today. She said he might suggest the ER. Gulp! She said if I can't get ahold of him to take her to Urgent Care at least. She really sounded like she wanted me to take her to the ER.

So I called and left a message for the dr. If he doesn't call back before Connor wakes up from his nap then I'm just going to take her down to Urgent Care, assuming she isn't better.

I'll let you know how it goes...

Birthday plans

Maddy is having a "school friends party" this year for her birthday. It's her first, which means it's also my first. I've ducked the responsibility of throwing a "real" birthday party for almost 7 years. I had a good run.

I heard somewhere from some celebrity (which proves that it's sage advice) that the appropriate number of kids to have at a child's birthday party is the age they are turning, plus one. Therefore I allowed her to invite 8 friends. It seemed like a reasonable number at the time. Plus the invites come in packages of 8, which is a clue to the uninformed that 8 is the preferred number of guests. Never mind the fact that if there is only one host that leaves you with an odd number of people. Which makes seating an issue, but that doesn't really apply here. Considering we will be serving pizza from a picnic table that is sitting in wood chips. But moving on...

I didn't consider that 8 kids also means up to 16 parents, plus the possibility of siblings. Yikes. We are talking a major party here. If on average every kid has one sibling we could have 32 guests. But that is assuming everyone comes, which I highly doubt will happen. Right?

Power Rangers is the theme. So girly, I know. But hey, it's what she wanted, who am I to judge? It will be nice to break away from the pink and flowers for a bit. We went to a birthday party this weekend for a little girl in the neighborhood and everything was so perfectly themed. Strawberry Shortcake. We even ate actual strawberry shortcake, on Strawberry Shortcake plates, with Strawberry Shortcake forks. The kids played pin the strawberry on the cake and whacked a strawberry pinata. Maddy came home with a Strawberry Shortcake tatoo on her arm, and a strawberry shaped goodie bag. There were even home made chocolates in the shape of strawberries. The mom talked about how hard it was to find the pinata and how she had to order the forks online. She planned. She researched. She created.

Me? I was planning on swinging by Party City on the way to the park that morning and picking up whatever they happen to have. Is that bad?

Operation Skinny: Week 3

Another week is gone. Wow… They are just flying by right now.

So I ate an average of 1,578 calories per day. It’s the most I’ve eaten since starting Operation Skinny, but I’m ok with it considering I ate less than expected last week. I was pretty hungry early in the week.

I walked 21.5 miles. Wohoo! That’s awesome. I’m thrilled with that number. I think that is my max. 3 miles a day. Apparently one day I walked 3.5, but I really think 3 per day is going to be it for a while.

Here's the bummer. I gained .4 pounds again. Sigh. I know I didn't get fatter... look at those numbers! So I can only assume it's muscle. Hopefully that stops soon since I won't be walking any extra, just sticking to the 21 miles a week.

Totals:
Net weight loss: .8 pounds
Walked: 58 miles

Lost vacations

I am having the worst luck with vacation planning this semester. First off we decided on a week for our Disneyland vacation in December but it turns out I have a group project that week in one of my classes.

Let me take a moment here to explain my feelings about group projects. I hate them. I despise them. I loathe them. You see, I have a small control freak that lives deep within my heart and she goes whirring around at the mere mention of a group project. What's the point? To teach me how to work in a group? You just teach me Accounting... I'll work on my social skills by myself, thank you very much.

So take the fact that I have to rearrange my vacation and add in my hatred for group projects and the whole thing just turns my stomach. Bleck.

Unfortunately that was not the end of it. I also planned a trip to the Grand Canyon during Maddy's fall break. We have hotel rooms and everything. Then last night I realize that I have a Math test on the day we were planning on leaving. GRRR... So tonight I have to go beg for the chance to maybe take the test early. We'll see. But I'm not feeling good about the whole situation, I'm telling you that.

The boy in the tree

There is a boy at the bus stop that always sits off by himself. He kinda dorky, in a black socks with crocs kinda way. (Seriously, he really did wear that.) He never talks to any of the other kids that I can see. But you can also tell that it's not about shyness. This kid seems angry. It isn't just a "I wish someone would talk to me." kind of standing apart. It's more a "I know I'm not welcome over with the other kids and I don't care because I hate them all anyways." kind of separation. Does that make sense?

Anyways, he started climbing a tree at the bus stop and hanging out up there. I didn't like it. I know, boy in tree, what is the problem? But this tree isn't very big. The trunk is only about 6 inches in diameter and the branches really aren't big enough to support a boy. Besides, he doesn't just go up there and sit quietly. He breaks off every single branch he can. I really didn't like him being in the tree but hey, it's not my tree, it's not my kid, it's not my business. But when I was standing there watching branches come down and couldn't keep my mouth shut. I went over and said, "Please stop taking the tree apart. There's no reason for that!" And he stopped. The next day he didn't climb the tree and I thought we were past it. Pretty relieved actually. So then today I went outside and he was up there again. I tried to ignore it. But then I saw the branches down at the bottom. Big branches. So I go over there.

"Please come out of the tree."
"Why?"
"Because you are killing the tree by doing that."
"I'm pruning it."
"No, you're killing it."
"So what?"
"Get down, please."
no response.
"Get down."
no response.
"Get down!"
He comes down one branch. Now the other kids are starting to mill around and see all the broken branches and are actually upset about it.
"Get! Down!" I said firmly.
And he finally does.

Then the bus came and all the kids were still talking about how terrible it is to take a tree apart like that. I actually felt kinda bad. I know this kid already isn't liked and then they are kinda going after him for this. They weren't being mean about it. Just talking amongst themselves saying things like "Who would try to kill a tree?" "Why would someone do that?" But he definitely heard them.

Hopefully we are past it. Hopefully tomorrow when I go outside that tree is boyless.

But I really want to know this boy's story. Something is up. Someone is being mean to him somewhere, probably at home. Which sucks. That's one of the reasons I let the tree thing go for as long as I could possibly stand it. That, and the fact that I knew it wasn't going to be a simple "please stop doing that." kind of thing. There was going to be arguments, disrespect, speaking to parents.

Maybe I'll talk to him tomorrow. If he is sitting by himself I'll go say hi. I'll ask him what his story is, and he will openly tell me everything that is bothering him. And then I will offer some words of wisdom that turn his life around. Yeah, that's how it will go, just like that.

3's make me happy. A mid-term progress report.

We got Maddy's mid term progress report during the week and I'm happy to report she is doing wonderfully. They still don't grade with letter grades. It's a 1,2, 3 thing. 3 being best. So of course she is getting all 3's. :) In fact, out of 20 or 30 assignments she got a 100% on all but 2 of them. She spelled her name wrong on the name writing test. Which I call shenanigans on because they made her write Madison when she has never practiced that before. She has always written Maddy, I've never taught her how to spell Madison. I've honestly never even considered it. No one ever calls her that. Anyways, she spelled it Madisno. Which I teased her about for the rest of the night. Calling her Madisno. Don't worry.... she thought it was funny. As did I.

The only other thing she didn't get a 100% on was her spelling test. Remember how I said they give you 5 words to practice and then the spelling test is 10 words? Well she did perfectly fine on all that, even the mystery words. Apparently they work on the mystery words during class. I didn't know that. But then they had to write sentences too. She missed one of the words in the sentences. She didn't spell it wrong... she just forgot it. I think the sentence was something like "Ben had a big quiz." and Maddy wrote "Ben had a quiz." Ok, a point off.... I can live with that.

I don't want to leave this post talking mostly about the two tiny things that Maddy got points off for in school.... so I would like to remind you again that she got 100% on about 25 other assignments. I couldn't be more proud of her. She's doing better in school than I am! :)

Operation Skinny: Week 2

Alrighty, week 2 is finished. I would say it was another big success. I ate an average of 1,374 calories per day, which is less than last week. I was still aiming for 1,500 so it is actually a little lower than I was expecting. I didn’t go hungry though. I don’t know what the deal is with that. I’ve been super busy, maybe I was just distracted.

I walked a total of 18 miles. Pretty good. Up from last week. So I’m excited about that. I think I might be able to squeeze another mile a day in but that is going to be the most I think I can do. Going twice a day actually makes it easier. For one thing, each shift only takes half the time so it’s easier to motivate. You also get less tired, since you aren’t walking as far all at once. But more than anything when I’m feeling lazy in the morning I make myself go because I don’t want to have to walk twice as far at night. And then at night I don’t want to ruin the good start I have going from the morning. AND the best news ever… I have two friends that are walking with me in the morning. Which is awesome. It makes the morning walk go so fast.

Ok, ok, but this wasn’t all for nothing. I lost 1.6 pounds. Wohoo! We’re on our way!

Grand Totals:
Lost: 1.2 pounds
Walked: 36.5 miles

Where does the day go?

Here is what I did yesterday

7:00 Woke up, threw something on, made bed, woke up Maddy, got Connor out of bed
7:15 Fought with Connor about getting dressed and went downstairs. Made kids breakfast and Maddy's lunch for school.
7:45 Went out to bus stop
8:00 Waved good bye to bus, went for walk.
8:30 Computer time!
9:30 Shower, get dressed.
10:00 Cleaned all the floors, dusted, picked up
10:45 Went out to lunch
12:00 Put Connor down for a nap, hung out with Larry (he stayed home from work)
1:00 Started school work
2:00 Got Connor up, finished school work
3:30 Maddy got home.
4:00 Started cooking dinner
5:00 Ate dinner
5:30 Cleaned up dinner
5:50 Took kids to the park
6:30 Baths
7:30 Put kids to bed
8:15 Another walk
9:00 Bed for me

Phew... And I'll do it all again, and again, and again.

Pumpkin painting

We painted pumpkins yesterday. I know it's not exactly Halloween time yet, but it's pretty close and I want to do it every year and I always put it off til I just don't care anymore. So this year, I just did it. I'm a rebel like that.

Connor was hilarious. Apparently he's never painted before. I didn't realize that. We all sat down at the kitchen table and I put a pumpkin on a paper plate in front of everyone. Connor thought we were going to eat them. He kept saying "Don't want pumpkin, Momma" "Momma. Don't want pumpkin!" lol. So we talk him into putting some paint on it. He put a big glob of yellow paint on his pumpkin and then leaned forward and licked it. lol. Totally gross. He didn't like that very much. But it finally convinced him that it's not for eating. Once we were over that hurdle everything went pretty well. After it was all done Maddy said, "I should have just painted it orange." LOL... that would have been pretty funny.

I made the kids take off their shirts cause I figured they would both be covered in paint. The kids came out clean as a whistle, but me and Larry both got paint on our shirts. Go figure. Topless painting around here from now on. It's a family rule. lol.

Oh! and Maddy has her first test today. A spelling test. They do it weird. The test is on 10 words but they only give them five to study. So five of the words are words they've never seen before. It's supposed to see if they picked up on the pattern and can figure out how to spell the others. Ok, I can see that I guess. I thought the words would be like "cat" "bat" "sat" and then the mystery words would be like "mat" or something, you know an obvious pattern. No. The spelling words they sent home were "the" "a" "of" "to" and "and". Ummm... where's the pattern in that? Seriously? So I'm curious to see how that is going to work out. Here's my secret hope: That this new program fails horribly and they go back to the old fashioned way of actually letting the kids study their spelling words. But I guess I'm just "old school". Literally.

Layin' at the pool

I have to walk by the pool during my twice daily walks. Torturous I'm tellin' ya. When you are all hot and sweaty, lounging in that cool water is seems soo nice. But I was walking by there yesterday and there was this guy laying out with a big full size bag of chips next to him. That might not seem like a big deal, but think about it. You have to have pretty much no body issues to do that. Not only to wear a bathing suit in public, but also to sit there looking at your half naked self in the full sunlight and still polish off that bag of Lays. That takes some guts. (or lack there of!) I'm just sayin', I don't think I could do it.

Operation Skinny: Week 1

Ok as promised, here is my first update on my weight loss.

I ate an average of 1,501 calories per day and walked a total of 16.5 miles. I would say that is a roaring success. I was aiming for 1,500 calories so, obviously, I am very pleased with the actual number. I didn't have a goal for the walking, but I am very happy with 16.5. If I were to set a goal I would have probably set it at 4 miles 4 times a week. So yay!!

The bad news: I gained .4 lbs. I know my legs and hips and stuff are stronger from walking. And my obsessively critical eye can tell I have lost fat. So I'm confident it's muscle gain. I kinda cheated and weighted myself during the week and at about Wed. I had gained a full pound. So hopefully next week will show some weight loss.

Totals:
Weight loss: Up .4 lbs
Distance walked: 18.5 miles (I had walked 2 miles last week.)

I've never done an exercise based diet before. I like it very much. When you realize how hard it is to burn those calories we eat it makes you really not want to over eat. With a food based diet a difference of 100 calories doesn't really seem like a big deal. But when you know it means 30 minutes of walking around the block, it makes you think twice. Also, it's nice to attempt to meet my goals by doing something, rather than by not doing something. Much more motivating!

Neighborhood drama

First off we have some awful neighbor's in our cul-de-sac. We used to have very nice neighbors in that house. A mom and dad, I can't even remember how many kids they had. Just bunches. They were always outside riding bikes, playing catch, what have you. And then the dad got transferred and they sold the house and moved away. I miss them!

The guy who bought the house has two teenagers. A boy and a girl. He used to be around. We would see him every once in a while getting the mail. But his car was around every day. Then he started bringing this hoe-bag girlfriend around. Seriously she was almost twice my age and dressed like she was half my age. Then they both disappeared and left these two teenagers alone in this big ole' house. ALONE. I've only seen their dad like once in the past year. And that was when they broke two windows in the house and he was there with the repair guy getting them fixed. The windows weren't next to each other either. One upstairs and one down stairs. What the heck happened??

So you can imagine what two teenagers do when they are living free and unsupervised. Parties every single night of the week. Idiot drivers all hours of the day and night tearing past our house, almost hitting our cars and kids. Everyone hates them. Whenever there is any kind of conversations among the neighbors it always turns to this house and our collective hatred. "Did you hear the party last night?" "No but they drove in our grass and their dog pooped on our porch." Like that...

Anyways, they have a pit bull and he was loose this morning when Larry went to go to work. The dog charged at him several times as he was trying to get to the car, and was barking and growling and just generally being aggressive. Then my brother in law showed up (they car pool) and the dog charged at him. So they make it to the car and were just going to leave but then Larry decided to call the cops because the bus stop is right in front of our house and he didn't want a bunch of elementary school kids sitting out there with an aggressive pit bull. So he called and he said within two minutes a cop showed up. So the cop goes to get out of the car and the pit bull charged at him before he could even get fully out of the car. So the cop tazered the dog but didn't get him fully. So the dog is freaking out now. Trying to jump the fence to get back into the back yard and trying to attack the cop. So he tazered him again and got him good this time. Just then another cop car comes flying around the corner. Larry said he was going like 40 miles an hour. It comes skidding to a stop and two cops jump out. The dog was behind the car so the new cops couldn't see anything but the cop standing there with his tazer, but they couldn't see what he was tazing. So they get out of their car, guns drawn, and come around the front of the car. When they see it's a dog one of them goes and gets one of those collar things on a stick they use. They put that thing around the dog's neck and put it in the back of one of the cop cars.

CRAZY!!

The cops knocked at the "bad" house but no one would come to the door. The cops came and talked to Larry and he was telling them about how much trouble this house is, and another neighbor came over and was chiming in. We've called the cops on them twice now and other neighbor's I know have called too. I know of at least 6 times. I'm assuming there must be others. I obviously don't talk to every single one of our neighbors. I just wish they would move away.... or grow up!

Riddle me this.

I have a riddle for you.....





What gets dirtier the more you clean it?





Think about it. I'll wait.



Ready....



Your lunch!

Connor dusted my lunch for me with the feather duster. Wasn't that nice of him! Such a sweetie. I guess he didn't want me eating any dust bunnies, so he thought he would wipe my sandwich with the dustiest thing in the whole house.

Fat no more

Ok, ya'll.... I'm going to lose some weight and you guys are going to keep me accountable. Got it?

I have 5 pounds that are my current enemy and that is what I'm focusing on first. I'm 5 pounds heavier than the maximum I allow myself to be. If I swing that, I'll go for another 5 which is my comfort zone. I can maintain that farily easily. If that goes well, I'll go for another 5 which is the skinniest I can be without being hungry or getting off the couch. If I'm still motivated at that point I will go for the rest... but that's pretty far away, so let's not go there. First I have to work on the unacceptable 5.

Here's the plan. Every Saturday (maybe Sunday if I forget or don't get a chance) I'm going to post my average daily caloric intake for the week and how far I walked in total, and my weight change. For example, I might say.... This week I ate an average of 1593 calories, walked 10 miles, and lost 1.2 pounds. I might even give a running total for the miles walked and pounds lost. That would be cool. I'm sure I'll also give some commentary on how the week went, troubles, successes, frustrations, milestones... what have you. I was going to do it daily but how boring would that be? Once a week should be good.

Wish me luck!!

Such a boy

Connor has lost the ability to carry things. Instead he pushes a dump truck everywhere he goes and in the bed of the truck is whatever needs transporting at that time. I felt some hard plastic hit my leg just above my ankle, look down and there is his dump truck with his cup inside. "More milk, please!" he says. I refill his cup and hand it to him. He puts it in his truck and off he goes again. The truck used to make a clicking sound as it went. It was supposed to be the motor I guess. But that part has mercifully worn out.

I got him some new shoes today. Size 9 1/2. Apparently he has inherited his father's feet. Whenever I buy him shoes I'm just amazed at how big they are. And then in a few months they look so small, as I buy the next size and again marvel at how big they are.

I've always heard that buying clothes for boys is less fun. And it's true. The girls shoes are so cute. For boys you have black, brown, or a character. That's it. Nothing cute. I went to 5 stores and there wasn't anything I was just fawning over. Btw, I got black.

Your tween is showing

Hello hello! Ummm nothing really new to report. Pretty much status quo around here. I'm catching up on my school work so I may actually have a moment here soon. If I play my cards right I should have this whole weekend with no homework hanging over my head. I was going to say that that will be extra nice since we don't have Maddy this weekend... so it should make for a very relaxing weekend. But that boat has so sailed. It just doesn't matter anymore. Every weekend is chaos. Getting rid of a kid doesn't calm that beast when you have a potty training two year old in your bathroom. He has learned that "I have to go pee potty." are the most powerful words a toddler can utter.

So my soon-to-be-tween is starting to show. She's been just going right up to her room after school and not coming down til dinner. Uh oh. That's how it starts isn't it? I can't say I haven't been using this to my advantage. On those, very rare of course, occasions where she is just beyond herself with annoyance at her little brother, I might find some random thing lying around that needs to be brought up stairs right this very instant. "Sweetie? Could you bring this to your room, please?" Knowing full well that the draw of her Nintendo DS or endless supply of art supplies will be too hard to resist.