Phantom

What a week! OMG! it is only Tuesday. What am I saying? Yesterday I took Jo to her doc who referred her to my doc. She is fine and will be fine. It is just hormonal and a normal thing. Most times cysts don't rupture. To be sure that all is normal I am bringing her back to my doctor at the end of May for an ultrasound. She saw my doctor this morning and this are normal. She might actually develop later than what I expected.  Joelle doesn't have a whole lot of body fat. She is not small by any means- but her body mass is muscle not fat and the doctor said girls with less body fat and more muscle mass develop later. I asked her pediatrician about her weight and such and also my doctor- both assured me that Joelle is no where near overweight.  I will keep being the mom and pushing healthy choices as well as exercise. I don't see how the kid could get more exercise. She has two hours of some kind of practice Mon- Thur and usually games on the weekends.  I have been working out still. Not exactly all that jazzed about the weight loss- still 4 lbs. However my pants are a bit looser. I had a game last night and my team is horrible. We have new players and they are different. Some of us have been playing for a number of years and know a bit about positioning and the like. A few of our new players don't like to be told when they are out of position and defensively they follow the ball rather than cover their player. So with open players all over and our new players who are very slow. I must be one of the thinnest people on my team and also pretty fast.  Last night we got killed 0-10. It was so frustrating. I am pretty quiet with the newer players but another gal on my team was just going a bit nuts last night.  She was frustrated with the midfielder who did not play mid. With five players on the field and only two that run to positions and carry the ball up the field it was horrid. We have plenty of players and those of us who have played awhile usually play about 4-5 min and sub out- our new players don't sub much and then they are slow and how do you tell a grow woman to sub? Hopefully with playing more together we will gel. I got hurt last night. Somehow either by twisting it or hitting something my knee is screwed up. It is along the outside of my knee where the tendon attaches to my kneecap. Big bruise and swelling- I am icing it right  now.  It may sound crazy but I did go to the gym tonight- I was hoping to loosen it up and I think it did help.  The leg curl  machine just about killed me though. I have to go easy on those exercises.

I got an email today about Phantom of the Opera coming to Portland. Tickets go on sale May 9th.   Joelle has really wanted to see it for years. I was able to access a pre-sale and got our tickets. I was even able to use AmEx rewards to get the tickets!  We are going in August.  Our friends might go with us.  Along with other plans I need to get looking into what dates we are planning on going to see Megan. We are looking at July. Next month we have to go to Medford for a soccer tournament. Lots of stuff going on. Anyway it is now after 10 and I am tired. I was up late last night as my game started at 10 and the had to have Joelle at the doctors at 7:45 am.I also couldn't sleep as I was worrying about Jo and her appointment. 

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Scroll down on blog to stop regular blog music before viewing video.

Joelle's big adventure

Today started like most other Saturdays. The battle to get Jo up and moving and at the track by 8 am. She did OK at her meet, but not like we thought she could do. Joelle didn't seem to be working to her potential. She has seemed a bit sluggish lately- tired, grumpy and the like. I was chalking it up to hormones or perhaps an upcoming growth spurt. On the way home from track she said she had to go to the bathroom and as soon as we got home I was expecting her to run into the house and go. Well she could barely get out of the car. She had pain in her lower left side.  she got into  house and into the bathroom and then needed me to help her stand up. She laid on the couch and squeezed my hand every time she had a pain. We didn't know if she was dehydrated, gassy or what.  It was high drama. We called the advice nurse and took her into the ER. She had a small amount of blood in her urine. Based on the area of her pain they thought she might have had a kidney stone. She went in for a CT scan. The scan revealed that her right ovary was enlarged and she had fluid in her pelvis.  The current thinking is that she had an ovarian cyst that ruptured on her left side.  There were no other abnormalities in her scan.  She hasn't had too many signs of puberty just yet so this was a bit of a surprise. We are going to get her in to see her regular doctor and have an ultrasound done. This should happen on Monday- the doc appointment. I am not sure about the ultrasound. The ER doc said that they would send all her test results to her pediatrician. I will keep you all updated. 

Harpocrite

I know I have said before on here that I can't stand Oprah.  Let me say it again I can't stand Oprah. Not only does this woman think she knows which books are best to read and which candidate to vote for, now she is preaching save the planet. Seriously Oprah hosted an 'Earth Day event' this week! Oh please I imagine she composts on her 47 million dollar jet when she flies it from LA to Chicago. It's the Audacity of Hype striking again. Actions speak volumes. I can only assume her candidate has the same 'values'.  I wish all the closet Oprah haters would come out!

Geri,Tom and Mary with Tom's b-day cake!

Here I go....

OK well I guess it has been since last Tuesday. What can I say? First I have been pretty busy, second my life is pretty damn mundane and I didn't realize that my boring trivialities were entertaining or interesting in any way. I think the last time I really blogged I was excited that my vacuum really sucked. Hmm not exactly earth shattering news there. I still am happy with the way it is working though!So I have gone to the gym almost everyday. I skipped it on Friday as we went to the Pilots game- I will write about that shortly. I am doing better on the machines. I have upped my time on the eliptical machine to 40 min and I have been able to increase the resistance and the number of calories burned. I use the weight loss course which is basically big intervals. I have noticed that now I can go a bit longer before I start looking at the time and counting how many minutes I have left. When I first went back to weight training I was a bit disappointed that I had to reduce the amount of weight I could do on the abdominal machine by 20 pounds! It just was too hard for me. I have gotten it up to 50 now which is still down from where I was but at least it is better. I am not planning on going to the gym tonight as I have a soccer game. I might go after the game though if I think I need more of a workout. Hopefully I will leave it all on the field. I have just been subbing for my team, so it is not like I am planning a ton of time. I think they are happy to have me back as I am willing to play mid. I don't know if Michael told you anything about my soccer team, but I think I am one of the better players (of course I think that). Anyway no one on the team is especially fast.  Right now I am going to stop here and save this draft as I have to get ready for my game- which of course means I am sick to my stomach. I will pick it up later....

And now I am home from my game and no I did not go to the gym. I did leave it all on the field. We had  seven players, six are on the field at one time so you can guess that I played a lot.

 We ended up in a 2-2 tie. I managed to score a goal.  It felt so good, it was my first goal since coming back to play. I had a great time and was running all over the place. I felt like I played better than I had in a really long time. I think doing all the cardio at the gym helped a lot.

Back to where I was saying I had not blogged in awhile. I guess going to the gym and managing to keep everything running in the house is quite a bit. I have also been really trying to get a lot of things done at school. I am pushing the class pretty hard as we have a lot to cover and it is almost May! 

Friday night we went to see the UP women's soccer

 team play against the U-23 national team. It was a royal stomping. I couldn't help but cheer for the national team. They have some dynamite players number 13 was super fast and number 5 was just plain huge. She scored from about 25 yards out.  It was just amazing as UP has one of the better women's programs. The national team is actually coached by the UP men's team coach so there is a bit of a rivalry. 

Joelle left early in the morning on Saturday for sledding retreat with her soccer team. She had an absolute blast. As you can see she was completely exhausted on Sunday.

After dropping her off to go to the mountain I came home and tidied up a little- did laundry mainly. Then I went to the gym to get in my workout before we went to Ed and Geri's. We had to be at their place at 1:30 to follow them to Tom's bar for his 60th birthday. It was a lot of fun. We talked and danced and the like. It was good to see Tom. He looks really good- much better than he did at Christmas. I like his hair better short. Mary was also there. She is crazy, but a ton of fun. She was my dance partner. Mary, Tom and I danced to Amy Winehouse's Rehab. it took about an hour to get over to Tom's. 

Once we got home Mitch and I watch the movie Before the Devil Knows Your Dead. I can't give an opinion on this film as I promptly fell asleep. Mitch said it was awful. Sunday morning I got up earlyish as I wanted to get a lot done before picking Jo up at 2:00.  I washed the sheets and then I went to the new Winco by our house and saved a bunch of money by shopping there. I was pretty proud of myself as I checked the Sunday paper for coupons before I went and I even remembered to bring those bags I bought. They hold a ton and fold up pretty small.  So I came home and put the sheets in the dryer and unloaded the groceries and picked up a few things and then made the bed. Then I headed to the gym for my workout. I was there about an hour and a half before I had to leave to get Joelle.  She was so excited and told me all about her trip. Then she fell asleep. I ended up doing the catbox as I wanted to clean the floor in the laundry room and such. I made a casserole for dinner and then Mitch got home- he was home about 4:30 but then went to the gym. We ate at about 6:30. I woke Joelle up and she ate and watched dateline with us- it was the show Jackie was talking about with the bed bugs! I also threw together taco soup for the crock pot as Monday night is busy with track for Jo and my soccer. At about 8:30 I thought about blogging, but since I had not showered at the gym and had been pretty busy I decided to take a hot bath instead. Then I watched Desperate Housewives in bed and viola it was Monday! We're in a busy week as Jo has track Mon, Wed and soccer Tues, Thurs.  I have to make her a dental appointment with a pediatric dentist. She has a cavity and went on Fri to get it filled, but she ended up crying and now our normal dentist won't do it and said they would recommend a pediatric dentist.  Great. Oh well I remember crying at the dentist once too. 

I will try....

Sorry it has been so long. I am actually at school on lunch right now. I know I need to post so hopefully tonight after soccer. I have photos to post and everything- but I have been super busy. I have lost a total of four lbs now.  If I can do two a week I should be able to be close to 20 in June. I will post I promise. Lots to say and too busy to say it now. 

Another Day

This morning I got on the scale and imagine my surprise when I weighed two lbs less than yesterday. I don't think I actually lost two pounds in a day, but it did make me feel good. 

Work was about the same today. My allergies are still bugging me and I sound pretty bad- scratchy throat. Today during prayer the first boy prayed for me- cause I sound bad and they do not want me to miss school! LOL It was a good day. My class is doing well and today they had PE in the classroom. This happens on days when the gym is used for something- like a luncheon or funeral reception.  The PE teacher was teaching them to juggle with scarves. I gotta say it is a pretty creative way to use the space when he doesn't have the gym and the weather is too cold to go outside.  I got part of my rain forest stuff up- one board and started on the layered board. I will take photos when it is done. We had a staff meeting after school and Joelle did her homework- learning about the process of photosynthesis.  We had hamburgers for dinner- Mitch cooked them on the grill and I tried to make potato chips in the fryer. It turned out ok, but I don't think I will do that again. I think instead I will try to roast potatoes in the over or something.  After dinner we talked about who was going to the gym when. Mitch is a bit stuffed up too and we had both exercised yesterday- me at soccer and him at the gym so we took the night off. We took Joelle over to Sports Authority to get her something to wear this weekend.  She is go to a lodge with her soccer team and they will be sledding. She didn't really have any weather gear and she thought she could just wear her under armor with sweats- just sounds like a sopping wet mess doesn't it? Plus I didn't want her to ruin her under armor.  Her boots are basically like Uggs and that is not water proof. The last thing we need is her sick again. So she now has a nice coat, pants, mittens a hat and boots. The pants are a women's medium and should fit her for a couple years and the coat we got- I did not realize until we got it home is actually a women's large.  The whole thing fits her pretty good, and should fit next year too.  Jackie you can tell Michael it is all Sims, some kind of snowboard gear.  The boots are just basic snow boots- nothing fancy- none of it is fancy and it was all on sale as one would expect to see in April.  Anyway I am glad we got it taken care of as it was one of those things I was concerned about.  Something on my list to take care of.  

Now I am relaxed. Tomorrow Joelle  has track again and we have already gotten our bags together so she can go from school and I can go to the gym. I have a conference tomorrow and she has art class- then we will both go to work out. :) Hope all is well with everyone! Love ya all....

Diet update

So today it has been a week and according to my scale I have lost that three pounds. I know it isn't much but it keeps me motivated and hopeful. I ended up going to the gym last night and worked out for quite a while- 40 min cardio and then my circuit. I had a good day today despite the rainy and the funky smell. When I got to school this morning my room reeked like some rodent crawled into the heater and died. This has happened before. They get in the heater and crawl die or get cooked when the heat comes on and of course it pumps the smell out into the room. So after hunting around I believe the source was actually the garbage can. It had been dumped and had a new liner under it, but the cleaning guy doesn't ever clean it out under the liner- so if there is spilled milk or whatever there it sits. I put the can outside and hopefully it gets cleaned tonight. I have to draw a line somewhere. Teaching is a bizarre profession. I was thinking about Megan and the whole teachers dress frumpy thing.  When you have kids hugging you (wiping there nose across your waist), barfing on your shoes and then doing special art projects you try to not dress too nice. I have days when I can dress better than others, but most of my stuff I don't want to ruin. Plus the whole lack of pay thing.

A husband of one of my co-workers is very sick. He has cancer and it has spread throughout his body. The prognosis is not very good. I do not know many of the details. I am hoping it will get better, but it is doubtful.

I played in my game again tonight. We lost 1-6. Pretty darn awful. Oh well it will get better. We have a lot of new players and I haven't played in months. Last week running midfield made my lungs burn like they did when I started playing. It was a little better tonight. I hope I am not sore tomorrow.

I haven't read much in my book lately. I have been reading my latest Time magazine. It sure is depressing- the shape the country is in- economy and the war. I am thankful that Mitch and I have jobs and that so far we are OK. Just cutting back on eating out and trying to be more aware of our spending.

Healthwise I feel really good. It is bizarre. I have a bunch more energy and my moods are better. I seem much happier and I can laugh at a lot more- like the funky smell. Sure it bugged me, but what the heck. I was just happy it wasn't a dead mouse. I think the hysterectomy was the best thing I have done in awhile. I sleep better and I feel really good.  I only had one week a month that I felt good before, but now I feel that way all the time. I can't believe my energy level. I am caught up on everything. I still have things I need to do, but not piles and everything is manageable. I got my vacuum back today and wow. having it repaired made a huge difference. It really sucks now. I almost took a picture on the tracks in the carpet to post. Amazing. Gosh my life is dull- here I am excited about my vacuum..... Yikes!

For Megan

Not much going on today. I read megan's bog and think it is great that she is taking so many photos and going to paint- wow. Mitch's dad took it up awhile ago. Just wondering if Megan has ever seen this guy. If not you should check him out. If for nothing else but the pop culture reference. They even have t-shirts of him now.... Fluffy white clouds and happy little trees! 

The Beatles

As you all know many years ago I became a huge Beatle fan. I started collecting albums and anything Beatle I could get my hands on.  I thought I had a pretty rare album in my possession, but as it turned out it is a counterfeit. Not that it matters as I will never part with my collection. I guess Joelle will do that someday.  Turns out one of my other albums which I thought was the second most valuable in my collection is now the most valuable. I happen to own a rare copy of Hard Day's Night. Mine is in mint condition, but I believe it was one of the ones in just a white jacket. Nonetheless only 500 were pressed. Which makes it more rare than the one I thought I had.  I should get it appraised somewhere.

Today was awful. Ok not awful but icky. I had a slight sore throat last night and attributed it to allergies. I woke up with a headache sore throat and stuffed head. You know the congestion that when you are sleeping and turn your head one nostril plugs as it all moves over.  Eventually it gets hard to breath. So that is how I woke up.  I have taken a bunch of different stuff for my head and nothing seems to work- claritin, allegra, tylenol cold- nothing helps much. I gargled with warm salt water and it helped a little.  I hope I am not getting sick. I certainly do not want to miss another day of school.  If I do not feel better on Monday I am going to call my doctor and see about getting an RX of some sort. 

Joelle did pretty well at track.  Mitch and I thought she ran the 100 incredibly slow. out of eight runners she finished 7th. Turns out when she took off her heel slipped out of her shoe.  She did much better on the 200 and her long jump was pretty good too. Can't expect her to go out there and win the races when she has only need to practice twice and everyone else has been going for a month- she was quite sick for two weeks, then the weather was bad and I wanted her to be 100% better so she did not go that week and then of course spring break. 

Speaking of all this I am a little upset about the piano situation. Joelle has piano lessons on Thursday before school. Well as it happens she missed one lesson due to outdoor school, another because of conferences, a third week for spring break and  the two weeks she was sick.  So I told Joelle to ask her teacher if she could make up the two (conference week and outdoor school) well she can't.  This blows my mind as we pay a monthly fee and the two she missed were beyond our control and when she was healthy.  I think this is the last year we will be doing this. Seems we could schedule something, or get a cut rate.  Joelle doesn't seem real thrilled with piano lessons anyway. 

Tonight we went to Joby and Arlys's for dinner. They had a feast for us. Salmon, trip tip, salads and bread. For dessert there was pie! Joby has put in a waterfall in the backyard and their place is beautiful. Mom remember the dirt mound he had in the back? It is now a waterfall pond with fish. It was good to see them as it had been a long time- Joelle and Mitch have been sick and everything.  I didn't feel too great, but it was so good to see them and I had been looking forward to it yesterday. We walked through a couple of houses that are being built near their place.  

 

Well it is late and now I am tired and wondering if I will be able to sleep at all with my nose all plugged up. The Memory Keeper's Daugther is on right now too.

Friday!

It is Friday!! Wooo hoo! 

Yesterday was pretty busy. Joelle was being pokey about getting ready for school, so I told her to hurry it up and maybe she could call and see if Hailey wanted to come over after school. She sure moved fast after that. It was brilliant. Hailey's family are also members at Green Meadows, so Joelle and Hailey went swimming, while I worked out! I might make this a regular deal.  Then it was typical Thursday night- dinner, survivor, csi and bed. Mitch went and worked out last night too so I think I am motivating him to do it too. 

I am blogging from school as I don't think I will be able to do it later tonight. Joelle has Coerver tonight in Camas.  We drive out there with her and go to dinner while she does her training. Tomorrow morning she has a track meet at Columbia River High School.  I am going to try to head to the gym in the afternoon. Mitch picked Joelle up from school today- he does that every Friday so I can lesson plan and prep for next week in peace.  He had on some new tennis shoes when he came to get her. He was off today and did four loads of laundry, took the vacuum in for repair, bought his new shoes and went to the gym.  Not much really going on here.

On the diet front the scale was one pound lighter than it was on Monday. Hopefully it will be another pound lighter on Monday! 

Ok I better get moving as I want to get home early tonight.  My class is on the front of the school website!  It is pretty cool. You can see the classroom stuff from there too. 

I read Megan's blog tonight. What a great writer she is. 

Not a whole lot going on here. Jo had art class and track tonight and then homework. I had a conference, went to the dollar store and walked around the track. My legs are sore today more than they were yesterday. I am planning on getting to the gym tomorrow night again. Not much news on the diet front, but I have gotten a bit more exercise this week. I feel so much better healthwise. I can't what a difference the hysterectomy made. i just have more energy and feel better. WOW.

We watched the movie There Will be Blood tonight. I am still thinking about my opinion on this movie. It is certainly interesting and thought-provoking. I wouldn't call it entertaining though. 

I have really been thinking lately about how much I dislike Oprah. I just think it is disgusting the way some people follow her~ Like she is some sort of wise guru. Truly I really do not care about what books she reads or who she is supporting for president. I don't think she had done very much for our culture. (Dr. Phil, Rachel Ray) It seems to me that she has an awfully high opinion of herself. I guess I just do not like that she has become such an industry. I mean she was great in The Color Purple.  She is just everywhere. There was a time when she was not much better than Jerry Springer and I miss Donahue. He was on fox news the other night. She is right up there with Paris Hilton in my book- a shameless self-promoter. 

In case you guys have read the book I just thought I would share that the movie based on The Memory Keeper's Daughter is on Sunday night. 

A Thousand Splendid Bookclubs

I had book club tonight. (sigh of relief) I totally love my bookclub and the women in it. I have been in my bookclub for about three or four years. It took me awhile to get over myself.  So tonight the volvo, bwm and mercedes pulled up in front of my house. I think I have the smallest house of all the members of my bookclub. It took me awhile to realize that it didn't matter so much. That what did matter was that the women in book club like me for who I am not what I have. Reality is we are pretty well off- I guess if making over 100k is well off we are.  I would rather have a great life and an Ok house than an Ok life and a great house. I never want to have a mortgage over my head- I would rather be able to do what I want when I want. Book club went well although everyone did get a laugh at my neighbors- seriously seven cars, chain smoking, karaoke, nudists. I couldn't make this shit up. But you know I do like my neighbors in spite of it all. Everyone also got a laugh when I had to go into my office room to get a couple of books we talked about. Les Mis and Divine Comedy.  They thought it was funny that I have the 'brain candy' in the living room and keep the 'real books' hidden. I think they find it interesting that when we talk classics I have read a great deal of them. Not that that is anything special.I just find them interesting so yes I have read some fairly heavy duty books and not as required reading. I just do not want to appear to be a pretentious arrogant snob- so I don't keep them on display.  I think most people who display them haven't read them anyway and just do it for appearances.  So as we talked I found out that Teresa has always wanted to read Anna Karenina and Julia wants to read Les Mis.  Quite honestly I could read Les Mis every summer for the rest of my life- I know it is a beautiful story- but the writing is what gets me. I know I have read sections of it to mom and it is completely amazing- such a spiritual experience, an amazing story of sin and redemption- forgiveness on the spiritual level but the inhumanity of man and such a social commentary. Victor Hugo was probably one of the greatest writers ever. Anna~ well that is one I could easily read over, but it is one of those books that you need a flow chart to read- not as bad as War and Peace but it is up there- Tolstoy- yikes, Give me Dostovesky, Nabikov or Pasternak anyday.  Those damn Russian authors. I know Jackie took Russian history so I imagine she would like them better than I. Mom have you read Zhivago yet? So much better than the movie!  I think books are much better. Long and short of it is book club went well and I believe I am hosting again in September and we are going to read Les Mis.  We take July and August off so everyone should be ok with tackling it (over 1400 pages). Maybe next summer we'll do Anna, although I want to really get into Dante. Overall everyone liked the book Respectable Trade- Julia especially and we connect well - she also loves Forever Amber and Gone with the Wind. Next month is at Corlene's and we are reading A Thousand Splendid Suns.  So I can keep reading Long Way Gone- as I have already read the next book. I truly love books.  I want to read 19 Minutes now.

  The Riches are on again- this show is absolutely great. Tomorrow I have another big day - school and then Jo has track, I have a conference after school with a parent. When I first started teaching it seemed so hard. Now it is almost too easy. I know I should do more and I am working harder with my class. They can all now read at least at mid third grade and we are starting multiplication. It is so great to see how much they develop in a year. I love that. We have some positions open next year and I actually asked about switching to kindergarten.  I can't though. They won't let me cause eight families requested to have me for second grade and some have been lobbying since they were in kindergarten so we can't rock the boat too much.  I want to get back into wsu and finish up my admin. I think OLL will need a vice principal in the next few years and I am already on the leadership committee and I have been asked to help interview new teachers for next year.  I think it was good for me to be away from school- now I appreciate it so much more and I think they appreciate me too.  At least I felt like I was missed.  Anyway I am hoping to make it to the gym tomorrow after Jo has track. Mitch is fully recovered from his 24 hour flu. Tomorrow night we are just having food I have already fixed so it will be an easy night for me. I usually do laundry on Wed, but I don't have too much to do- the house is clean.  My legs have been a little sore but not nearly as bad as I expected them to be after soccer. :)  So I am heading to bed- tonight I will remember to take my hormones! Last night I forgot and I took them this morning- I had a couple of hot flashes today. It was my first and hopefully last time forgetting them! 

Love you all xxxxoooo!!!!!

One of those days....

Today was one of those days. You know when you wake up late and then everything else sorta goes downhill. Spilling oatmeal, dropping your watch in the sink that type of thing. Luckily we managed to get out the door in time to get to school on time.  Always nice to walk in after a week off to discover the garbages haven't been dumped and the floor hadn't been swept. (ug) 

Once the kids got there it went very good. It is so nice to be back and feel so loved. The funny thing is my boys seemed to miss me more than the girls. The boys are actually huggy. So it was a fun day at school. I am trying to talk Jo into teaching me the Solja Boy dance to teach my class. :) 

After school we went to speech and then home (3:00). Joelle got all her homework done while I ran around cleaning and throwing in laundry. I started cooking dinner for tomorrow night. I put together a tuna casserole to put in the oven. Then I took Joelle to track and Mitch called (5:00). He is sick again.  So he wouldn't be eating dinner- which was going to be left overs. I guess we can do that Tues. and my casserole on Wed.  On the way to track all Joelle wanted was a bagel sandwich so that is what we had for dinner. I went home and made two, ate mine and changed into my soccer gear, made a grocery list and went back to pick Joelle up at track(6:30) and then head to my 6:40 soccer game. Oh my! It was so fun to play and I can say I am 100% better. Not at playing, but health wise. I didn't play the whole game, but don't think I did all that bad.  After my game we ran to Blockbuster to return movies and to Albertsons where I bought the stuff I needed for book club.  I bought everything I needed and came home to make some of it. I made the crab ring and artichoke dip. I am also going to have some veggies and dip and wine. I checked my email and there will be seven of us for book club!  I haven't heard from everyone yet, but looks like seven of us.  That is a pretty good turn out. I should be home by about 4:00 so I can get the house cleaned up and everything ready in plenty of time.  I cleaned pretty good this weekend so I think it will be pretty easy tomorrow. Mitch and I talked about him being sick and I asked if he ate something. Well I think that is what happened.  He had chicken noodle soup- but he hadn't refrigerated it. So duh.  

I am on the couch now watching The Riches. I love that show. I set it on the DVR and I am getting a bit tired so I think I will wrap it up soon.  I started my new book last night and it is really good. I am working on my diet and have started writing down everything I eat. I think I might have Jo and Mitch do it too. I want to lose 7-8 lbs in April and the same in May and hopefully a couple more before the reunion. I would love to drop 20, but want to be realistic. I hope I can do about 2 lbs a week. It is 11 weeks away so wish me luck.  Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Procrastination Pays Off

Today was rather busy for me. I had many things I wanted to cram in. For starters I called Mom and spent some time with her on the phone setting up music on her blog. It looks good Mom. Joelle and I headed to the mall so I could get make-up. I had been to the mall a few times and knew I needed to get some, but hadn't. So today I went to the Clinique counter at Macys and they were having a bonus!  Yippee! I usually try to wait to buy it when it is bonus time but had no idea it was. The bonus was great- bag, compact with blush and duo eyeshadow, moisturizer, mascara, and two lipsticks! All in shades I actually like.  Next we went to Audrey's Treasures so Joelle could get the Webkinz snake. After that we headed to Costco where I bought more of those yummy blueberries, and found dried mango there too! Thanks Megan for turning me on to that. Last stop was Safeway. I bought one of their bags- it was buy one get one. So now I have two black tote bags to use instead of grocery bags. They hold about three times the amount of a plastic bag and I have too many plastic bags as it is. Small thing to do to help the environment. For dinner we had swiss steak with red gravy with a side of steamed asparagus.  After dinner we played Uno. Joelle won most of the games- again. She did last night too. Since she won she gets to sleep with me. Mitch and Joelle decided the winner got that, they also told me it was because the bed is the best- nat cause they actually want to sleep with me. LOL After Uno I went to the gym! I had not done that since before hyster. It felt so good. I didn't do too much- just 35 min on eliptical. No weights, but I will do that this week. I have to reset the machines. My account was deactivated since I had not been in.  Now I need to get in there at least three times a week. I am thinking of going to soccer tomorrow night. I can go and see if the team needs a sub. I am hoping to work my way back up to that soon.  After the gym I came home and did the ironing while watching John Adams on HBO- it is a very good series. Now I am blogging.  Tomorrow we have school, Joelle has speech and then track. The speech is so frustrating.  She does great there, but still has "r" trouble at home. I correct her and make her practice. Again though it is hard, where is the line between correcting and being helpful and nagging? This whole being a mom thing is hard. Life is really all about balance and when one thing is off everything slides. Like riding a bike on a tightrope and holding a balancing stick or something.  I have to figure out what I am doing about book club.  I was thinking of serving the crab ring thing. What do you think? Ok time to go lay in bed and let my thoughts think of all the things I have to do tomorrow!  BTW everything underlined is a link to a webpage.

Blogging to motivate

So today is Saturday and I decided if I was going to blog then I had better have something to write which means I better do something. I did not go to the gym. But I did do some housework. I  Started out making blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Seems I am the only one who likes pancakes in our house, but everyone else will eat them if there is no other choice. We bought some fancy real maple syrup at Trader Joe's .  I liked it, Mitch not so much. Jo had the old standby of Mrs. Butterworths. You can make blueberry pancakes using the dried blueberries from costco. Next I decided to clean. Brewie's bed was cleaned as were the carpets in the house and walls in the bathroom.  Feels so good getting that stuff done. It didn't look all that bad, but needed to be done. 

I also had to wash Joelle's shoes. We had trekked out in the woods on Thursday.It was very mucky and our shoes sunk deep in the marshy goop. Mitch slipped. Joelle and I did OK but she was being a bit more adventurous than I. Why you may ask were we trekking in the woods? Dustin.  He has taken up hunting and bought a motion sensing camera which he mounted to a tree. He hasn't actually killed anything yet so I guess it is OK. He invited Mitch out to take a look at the camera to check what it had shot on film. There was also a really cool beaver dam nearby. Dustin emailed me a photo his camera took. As we walked around we definitely saw signs of elk. Jo had a great time.

Today while I was cleaning Mitch made chicken noodle soup and cut his hair.  He did his hair first. He knows this drives me nuts. Jo and I call him hedgie as he looks like a hedgehog the way he cuts it. After going to the zoo Joelle thinks he looks like a meerkat.  Anyway after he did this I cleaned the bathroom. I was less than happy. There were tiny hairs all over. 

I know  he tried to clean, but it was bad. I decided it was time to have a talk. I explained to him that I take Brewster to the dog groomer because it is not that expensive and I would rather do that than clean the tub after. Since his hair cut would cost about the same as the dog groomers I hope he got my point. Once I was done I took a nice hot relaxing shower. Oh did I mention tiny little hairs on the bar of soap in the shower? Ew. 

Now we have eaten dinner, I have baked chocolate chip cookies and I believe we are going to play board games as Joelle thinks it is what you do when you are bored. We might get the wii out and do carnival games, but the final four are on and Mitch seems a little into it.

I tried to call Mom today but her line was busy. I am guessing it was Jeleen and their weekend chat. Mitch is off for a week in July and there are campgrounds up where Megan is so I was thinking maybe you and Dad would want to go with us. We could use our tent and you guys could use your camper.

I hope everyone enjoys the music on this thing- took me a long time to select my songs- just so darn many to choose from. I have book club at my house this week and we read the book Respectable Trade. It was period book by Philippa Gregory. I really like her books. My next book to read is called A Long Way Gone and is a memoir. I am really looking forward to reading it. I will let you guys know if I like it. 

                                                                                                                                                                                

First Blog

I am not much of a blogger. I am also not much of a writer, but if Jackie, Megan and Mom can do it so can I. So here it goes.

Today is the last Friday of my spring break. It is not the greatest day. The weather is gross. I should be used to that. I woke up with an awful headache. It seems to be alright now. I have been doing some laundry- bedding and watched a movie with Joelle and Mitch. It's raining and grey and cold- in the low 50s. I have felt rather low energy lately and don't think it is just the weather. I want to plant my flowers and get all that kind of thing done, but it is still dropping down to the 30's at night. The house is pretty clean but could use a deep scrubbing- walls and the like. I need to work on the slideshow for the 50th and of course there is the need to workout. It sort of all piles on. I know if I were to start working out I would have the energy to get everything else done but at the moment my motivation is low.  So tomorrow is the day I will start in on it. Afterall tomorrow is another day- that is my favorite movie. So on to something else.

It was so great to see Jackie and Megan. Hard to believe that Megan is an adult- especially when she looks so young. Jackie and Megan sure are close- amazingly. Megan is so much like Jackie- teaching Joelle a dance in our living room the way Jackson used to try to teach me.  It was fun getting to shop with them. I hope that as Joelle grows that we have a relationship similar to theirs. Joelle is at an interesting age- not a teen, not a child. Sometimes it is hard for me to relate to her. It is also tough being the mean one- you know do your homework, do your chores and all that. It is nice to be able to have fun with her but seems we don't have that much time and that we are always busy. Today with my lack of motivation to do anything maybe it would be a good time to bake cookies or something with Joelle.  On Monday we go back to everything and I am so looking forward to it. I know it sounds nuts but I am a little stir crazy. The surgery and then Mitch and Joelle being sick and finally getting back to work. I think I get more done when I am working. I think it is because everything is so scheduled that I have to be motivated. That and the weather doesn't bug me as much. Ok off to bake cookies or something- mother daughter bonding.