Cherry Tomatoes Are NOT Reese’s Cup Ice Cream

Neither are cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, or anything else that went in my salad at lunch today.

I’m back to the calorie counting. I took off while we were traveling. Now I need that dial on the scale to start going down instead of up and for my shorts to start getting loose again instead of tight. Ugh.

Frustrated with myself because I could have been so close to my healthy weight goal if I’d stuck with it this whole year. Still, I’m not beating myself up too badly because I’m still at about a 27 lb. loss for the year. Just gotta get back on.

So, I started counting yesterday, with a short workout to get back into the exercise portion as well.

But none of those aforementioned veggies taste quite like the Reese’s Cup Ice Cream that I’m craving. But the veggies will get me to the smaller clothes, whereas the ice cream will only get me into dresses that have the approximate shape of a Blizzard cup.

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Cherry Tomatoes Are NOT Reese’s Cup Ice Cream

Neither are cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, or anything else that went in my salad at lunch today.

I’m back to the calorie counting. I took off while we were traveling. Now I need that dial on the scale to start going down instead of up and for my shorts to start getting loose again instead of tight. Ugh.

Frustrated with myself because I could have been so close to my healthy weight goal if I’d stuck with it this whole year. Still, I’m not beating myself up too badly because I’m still at about a 27 lb. loss for the year. Just gotta get back on.

So, I started counting yesterday, with a short workout to get back into the exercise portion as well.

But none of those aforementioned veggies taste quite like the Reese’s Cup Ice Cream that I’m craving. But the veggies will get me to the smaller clothes, whereas the ice cream will only get me into dresses that have the approximate shape of a Blizzard cup.

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We made it!

We’ve gotten through our first day of homeschooling. One down, a bazillion to go! (It worries you that I’m teaching her with words like “bazillion” in my vocabulary, doesn’t it?)

It actually went quite well. Other than calling the elderly neighbors because their dog was running down the street, and the boys taking turns screaming for my attention, and Samantha whining because she was bored with the first few workbook pages, there weren’t too many distractions to our day. 😉

But, seriously, we had a good time overall. I think our favorite subject together will be Language Arts. Loved reading the stories and poems and discussing them together. We haven’t had a History lesson yet, though. That could be fun.

I’ll keep you updated on our progress. But, seriously, if there are some other homeschoolers out there with younger kids in the house, I could use some ideas on how to keep them entertained and out of the school stuff! Thanks. 😀

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Survivin’…

Home from our trip Tuesday afternoon. Find out that the oldest’s tap dance classes start that night. Get her to class. Take the kids to a party I almost missed Friday. Help throw a baby shower Saturday. Host a cookout/party for our baby’s dedication today.

So far, my head is still above water.

Tomorrow, start homeschooling my oldest, while I figure out what to do with the one and two year old. Any suggestions?

Will let you know if I need to borrow some nose plugs tomorrow night.

The cool thing? We are busy right now, but with all GOOD stuff! I love that. Fill my life with good stuff, and we’ll figure out how to handle it. Thanks be to God.

And you know what? I have awesome family and friends who have kept me from drowning. I could almost cry when I think of how much they’ve loved me in very practical ways this week. But I don’t have time to cry, so I’ll save too much of that thinking for another day. Gotta catch up on some sleep so my daughter likes her new teacher tomorrow. 😀

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Survivin’…

Home from our trip Tuesday afternoon. Find out that the oldest’s tap dance classes start that night. Get her to class. Take the kids to a party I almost missed Friday. Help throw a baby shower Saturday. Host a cookout/party for our baby’s dedication today.

So far, my head is still above water.

Tomorrow, start homeschooling my oldest, while I figure out what to do with the one and two year old. Any suggestions?

Will let you know if I need to borrow some nose plugs tomorrow night.

The cool thing? We are busy right now, but with all GOOD stuff! I love that. Fill my life with good stuff, and we’ll figure out how to handle it. Thanks be to God.

And you know what? I have awesome family and friends who have kept me from drowning. I could almost cry when I think of how much they’ve loved me in very practical ways this week. But I don’t have time to cry, so I’ll save too much of that thinking for another day. Gotta catch up on some sleep so my daughter likes her new teacher tomorrow. 😀

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Grandma cracks me up…

Part of our recent trip included a few days to visit my Grandma in Pittsburgh. We only really got to spend about a day there, and I’m looking forward to another trip back to see her!

But she really does crack me up. She knows kids and she’s honest about them. She has 12 grandkids, and 5.5 great-grandkids. She’s worked as a Foster Grandparent for over 20 years. Kids don’t pull one over on her, not even mine.

We arrived at her house, and went out into her backyard to see her garden. Her backyard has a slight hill, and my two-year-old decided to go jumping down it. And as he was jumping down it, he started saying, “We jump, jump, jump down da hill and den we STOMP on da fwowers at da bottom!” And then he did it.

“No, Jake! We don’t stomp on great-grandma’s flowers! You tell her you’re sorry for stomping on her flowers.”

Sulking (actually, half-sulking and half-smiling, the little booger), with his head down, “I sorry great-grandma for stompin’ on your fwowers.”

She looks down at him and, laughingly, says, “No you’re not! Your just gonna turn around and do it right again, anyway.” Does she know kids, or what?

Actually, he didn’t do it again. But that’s only because we took him right into the house. 😀

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Home again, home again…

jiggity jig, the cow’s in the meadow, the sheep’s in the pig.

Is that how that goes? It’s always how Bald Man sings it, but I’m not sure I believe it.

Anyway, we’re back. We all survived, and had a great time visiting family and good friends. Also good, but hard, to see dad’s grave. I’ll share more about that later.

As it is, I’m coming back to help throw a baby shower in a few days, followed by a cookout the next day, then starting Samantha’s homeschooling on Monday, getting SOME writing done on my other blogs, and the list goes on….

I’ll be back soon. 🙂

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It’s time…

My dad died two years and 4 months ago. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. It was a beautiful ceremony. A sunny, chilly day. I returned the day after to say good-bye again. I sat in the newly spilled dirt talking to my dad. Telling him that his site had a view of the Washington Monument, and faced directly into the repaired wall of the Pentagon. The repair that had to be made because someone flew a plane into it. I talked to him. I cried. I took a bit of the dirt and I left.

I haven’t been back since. Others have. Others have seen his headstone, have seen his site covered in beautiful, fresh green grass. Others have visited. I haven’t yet.

It’s time to go back. I haven’t tried to stay away, it’s just a significant road trip to get there. I couldn’t let another year go by without visiting. I need to go. I need to see his stone. I need to lay flowers. I need to be there to remind my daughter of the Papa she played with as a baby. I need to tell my little boy about the Papa he used to nap with when he was just an infant. I need to introduce my baby to the memory of my Daddy.

It’s time.

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It’s time…

My dad died two years and 4 months ago. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. It was a beautiful ceremony. A sunny, chilly day. I returned the day after to say good-bye again. I sat in the newly spilled dirt talking to my dad. Telling him that his site had a view of the Washington Monument, and faced directly into the repaired wall of the Pentagon. The repair that had to be made because someone flew a plane into it. I talked to him. I cried. I took a bit of the dirt and I left.

I haven’t been back since. Others have. Others have seen his headstone, have seen his site covered in beautiful, fresh green grass. Others have visited. I haven’t yet.

It’s time to go back. I haven’t tried to stay away, it’s just a significant road trip to get there. I couldn’t let another year go by without visiting. I need to go. I need to see his stone. I need to lay flowers. I need to be there to remind my daughter of the Papa she played with as a baby. I need to tell my little boy about the Papa he used to nap with when he was just an infant. I need to introduce my baby to the memory of my Daddy.

It’s time.

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I can stop worrying now…

A couple of weeks ago, I was asking why all of my friends are white.

Well, I apparently no longer need to worry about whether or not I’m properly living up to my responsibility in making sure that my children are exposed to all kinds of people.

On a recent episode of Last Comic Standing, comedian Paul Rodriguez defined America’s wide array of cultures this way: You have a Mexican woman married to an Irish man driving a Japanese car going to an Italian restaurant drinking a German beer and later are arrested by a Black cop.

That’s basically my life! A Hispanic woman married to a man of Irish descent driving a Japanese car going to an Italian restaurant, probably ordering an Irish or English beer. Sounds like we’ve got most of the cultural bases covered. No arrests to date, but we’ll keep you posted.

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