Time to write again!

I think it's time to sit down, reflect on the day and enjoy the pleasure of writing again. It's been tooo long... I didn't know my password, that's how long it had been.

At home today. Full belly after a lunch of sandwiches & chips.

A pile of legos and some building ideas from FamilyFun.models from the Family Fun Magazine. Ahhh, summer days.

It's Get Fit Time!

Monday Feb. 1 I dunked myself in a tank of water and learned my exact Body Fat Percentage, Total Weight, Lean Mass and my Fat Mass. The results are hard to swallow, even while gobbling down a candy bar! When something is on paper, it becomes very real and my results were real, real, real, real.

Every year Stroller Strides puts on a Get Fit Challenge. This year I've again entered. I've got some goals, like this time around I'd like to loose weight instead of gain weight! I believe the one thing I need to do in order to do better then last time, or win, is to not let all this stuff, the contest, the dunk, the new food, the increased exercise, freak me out mentally. Heck the dunk is awful, you have to blow out all the air in your lungs, while submerged in water, while keeping your entire body underwater AND then hold your breath for 3 seconds - really?!?! That was mental torture for me. I did not sleep the night before. BUT, I made it through, I did it, I blew little bubbles and let the air out of my lungs slowly and focused on the sound of the bubbles and then relaxed and waited patiently for the tiny tap on my shoulder to let me know I could come up and breath air again.

I've got some, well ok a lot, of food issues, but I know this and as I've heard from G.I. Joe - know'ing's have the battle. I'm a member of Weight Watchers, work out with Stroller Strides and sometimes go to a gym... but still I struggle.

This time around I'm hoping for new results, positive results, to loose weight & body fat. Honestly, I'm hoping to beat my friend and win the prize money, but we'll talk about that another time.

My instructor is supporting the contestants, as it is contest mind you, by sending emails that include supportive sayings and other emails with food suggestions. One of the emails included a meal plan list of 1200, 1400 and 1600 calories. I've never counted calories, just points, that's how it's done in WW. Calories alone confuse me - I'm good with Calories, Fat and Fiber and a little slider to help figure out the points. But ware there foods that are too high in calories you shouldn't eat? Are there good calories like good fats? What I'm discovering is that sometimes points aren't enough, you need the calories along with the sugar content, the protein content, the vitamin and mineral information, you need the whole picture, to make an educated decision. Ha! Just like in life! Go figure?!

In regards to the meal menus I choose the 1600 calorie option, let's be real here.

Breakfast is easy, toast, peanut butter, fruit even some milk, kinda what I was eating. Lunch and Dinner seem to have excellent options, though I'm still working on getting those, baby steps. Orange Chicken wasn't on the list for dinner, though chicken was along with bread, but that's what was in the fridge so that's what I had for dinner Monday night. The brown rice & veggies were on the list so I had extra of those.

This week my ah-ha moment with calories and the menu has been that there is an option for an evening snack. I'm a late night eater, the boys are asleep the house is quiet, the tv is on showing commercial after commercial of food (yes, I watch live tv, try not to judge!) so I want to eat! Nothing healthy of course, chips and chocolate. This 1600 meal plan includes evening snack ideas!! Monday night, I had string cheese and 3 saltines. YUMMY! Yes, it's just a little, yes it's saltines, but hot-damn if it was the best string cheese and saltines I'd ever had!! The red wine might have helped, but that's not on the 1600 calorie meal plan as an option, so I'm not going to advertise that choice ;)

I'm off and running, the Get Fit Challenge is on my mind and so far not consuming me to the point where I feel like I need to slip in a candy bar- even though there are 60 candy options at my house due to T-Ball making us sell candy. I'm making wise choices that I hope will turn in to habits so I can kick these extra pounds I'm carrying around.

Busy Bee

For the first time since my son became active in sports (mind you he's 5 and has been playing since he was 3 - yes only 2 years!), I questioned whether or not I'd become one of those families you read about in magazines, ya know the one's where the kids are in all these activities, piano, painting, swimming and the professional opinion of the Dr. Somethingrother, says the parents are doing it wrong, that their kid is TOO active.

This morning I headed to urgent care to confirm I only had a cold and not bronchitis or some other yuckiness going around. (This appointment was not on the calendar!) Meanwhile, my husband and the boys headed to Sears to buy replacement parts for the garage door that broke as I tried to open it - their original morning plan included pancakes & Xbox.

My appointment complete, codeine laced cough syrup in hand, I raced across town to join my husband and sons at the Meet & Greet for Basketball, my oldest wanted to play again. We shook hands with the other parents, exchanged phone numbers, checked out the competition and 30 minutes later left with a white t-shirt - seriously, a white shirt people- announcing my son will be a Clipper this season.

Next was the gotta-go-now trip to Target to purchase snack stuff for the soccer game, yep our 2nd turn at snack. I then rushed home with my Gatorade and granola bars. I cut oranges (purchased at Costco earlier in the week, I did remember we had snack.) and stuffed goody-bags. I then headed to the soccer field to put in my 1.5 hrs of volunteer time at the check- in table.

It was now game time. I was very ready to attend a game, to sit down, do some cheering, and watch my oldest son run his little legs off. But today I didn't attend the game, I sat in the car w/my younger son who wouldn't stay off the field and sit down and watch because he didn't take a nap because my husband was at home trying to fix the garage door, and didn't think a nap was necessary as he had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the Meet & Greet. Whew! Yep, I think I might agree with Dr. Somethingrother that 2 sports at 1 time are too many!

I don't think my son is overwhelmed or stressed out, he is blissfully unaware of the behind the scenes activities. Me on the other hand, yikes I'm gonna go check the overwhelmed & stressed out box on the form! I don't mind the actual playing of the sports and I can drive to practice once a week, that's easily accomplished. It's the "helping" that seem to overwhelm me - yes, just me, not my husband :)

I'm a big fan of "if everyone does a little, no one does a lot". (I stole that saying from my Pastor at Promise Lutheran - shout out!!) After my day today, it helped me see that I should appreciate that I only volunteered for 1.5 hrs today and only today. Thank you to other parents who picked up the other 1.5 hrs each and every other Saturday!

I'm going to continue sports and keep my son active, he was the one who requested the BB mind you. And I'll bring snack on our assigned snack day and I'll work at the booth when I'm needed.... but tonight, I'm a just a bit exhausted from my part in it all. The dishes can wait, my adult beverage will be a double, and tomorrow, being Sunday, will be a day of rest.

Ring, Ring, It's the Room Parent Calling!

I was recently handed the duties of Room Parent for my sons Kindergarten class, guess no one else volunteered so I was handed the duties in October, school started in August.

I had a million questions about how to go about being a Room Parent (notice it now has a gender neutral term, it's no longer Room Mom) so I called up my wise mother, she was a K teacher for 20+ years so she had to know what I should do, never mind the fact that listed at the bottom of the instruction page was the Room Parent Coordinators name, phone number, and email address. I turned to my mom for guidance.

I received the paperwork Monday, Oct. 19 and began to read things over. Job #1 - By Friday, Oct 23 have 3 parents donate cupcakes/brownies for the Harvest Festival. YIKES! I felt silly calling people I'd never met, they hadn't even been notified there was a Room Parent (My mom said that her Room Parents sent out a letter introducing themselves to the class.). I dialed away, starting from the bottom of the list for luck. I got 2 volunteers and only made 3 calls! The 3rd call was to a number that was disconnected - guess that parent REALLY doesn't want to be bothered!! I was feeling good.

Jobs #2, #3 #4. A Room Parent must organize the parties, take pictures of the class throughout the year for the Year Book, and do whatever he/she can to make the teachers job easier. That sounds so simple on the surface but then I began to wonder.... How do I get in touch with the parents who simply wrote "cupcakes" or "anything" on the sign up form (I was given the sign up form that the teacher put out on Back To School Night in Sept along with the list of my duties.) but didn't list their name? How do I get pictures taken throughout the year when I'm only in the class for 3 hrs each Thursday? I already missed the opportunity to take pictures of the bus evacuation drill, the earthquake drill, the jumping/skipping/hopping test. Geesh!

I'm going to put all those questions on hold and focus on the BIG question, how to "make the teachers job easier". REALLY!? Asking how I can help in such an open-ended way is like, well, asking a teacher what you can do help make her job easier! Will the teacher ask me to pick up her dry cleaning? Maybe she'll be nice and simply ask me to sharpen pencils. The possibilities are endless and a bit frightening!!

I will be back in the classroom on Thursday... So I've got some time to build up the courage to ask the how can I help question. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm thinking positive, I mean I did get 2 parents to donate baked goods! I'm a natural.

Dinner is Served!

I stumbled across these sushi plates recently in the garage, still in their original box. After unpacking the two plates & two soy sauce bowls, I wasn't exactly sure how I would use them in my 'no I wont eat sushi' house.

My first attempt to find a good use for the unique square plates was to put apple slices on them. (Thank you Pampered Chef for your apple cutter!!!!) The slices fit very nicely on the plate and made things look a bit more exciting, I was very pleased with myself.

Lately I've noticed that I serve the same things, ya know kid food that packs some nutritional punch but mostly goes down without protest, and on busy nights after soccer practice, when dinner should have been served 10 minutes ago, it's what I'm looking for. Sadly the meal sometimes even gets put on paper plates, which adds nothing to the look of the meal but does help with clean up! So the other night, when all the dishes were dirty and the paper plate supply had been depleted, I placed the meal on my exotic my square plates. The boys thought they were great, even asked to put ketchup in the soy sauce bowls. I had discovered the hidden potential of Sushi plates!!

Some day the boys might have a palette for Sushi, but for right now, I'm going to continue to use these wonderfully exotic plates to take some of the ho-hum doldrums out of cooking mac-n-cheese and hot dogs yet again.

Cheers to you also finding a unique plate to spice up your evening meal!

Look who friended me on Facebook!

I was thrilled when I got a friend request from my mom. Wohoo, she's made it on Facebook. She's finally figured out how to use her computer for more then just playing solitaire. She can now see the pictures of her grandson the same day, not weeks later when I email them to her. She can also see my status updates, things like, "gonna get an adult beverage and super size it".

I began to wonder why my mom had finally taken the plunge. Was it the great pictures I'd been posting? Was it the need to see some of my high school friends kids, families, etc.? Did she wonder how much I'd been drinking at night? No, the answer I discovered was, she'd been scooped on a story!

Recently my two year old son experienced his first ambulance ride. He's fine now!! He drank Band-Aid brand antibacterial wash which contains lotacaine - can be poisonous when drunk. I didn't know how much he had drank so the nice and extremely calm woman I spoke to at Poison Control, due to the instructions on the bottle indicating if swallowed please call poison control, said my son needed to be transported by ambulance, not by me in our car, to the hospital in case he suffered a seizure or any breathing problems which are the results of drinking latocaine. So, hence the ride to the hospital in the ambulance while I, worried and scared mom and big brother, followed behind in the family car.

There was a phone call to 911, fire trucks came to the house, the ambulance came, even the police stopped by to check on things. There was a call to my husband at work, calls to my husband informing him of our room #, a call to my mom, more phone calls to family members, calls from poison control, lots of calls! My family spent 2.5 hrs at the hospital so my son could be monitored. This was all very exciting and not tragic due to the fact that my son was FINE, totally and completely FINE. During the monitoring period at the hospital my husband used his timely wisely and updated our FB pages with a picture of our son in his hospital bed with the caption "winner of the prize of first of our children to ride in an ambulance." So it was out there, posted on FB for all of our "friends" to read.

Here's where this is all leading.... My mom stopped by her old job Monday morning after the ride in the ambulance event on Sunday. She is still very friendly with ALL the people at her old job since she retired a few years ago. My mom was so anxious to relay the exciting - only because he's fine mind you - story of her grandson's weekend activities. My mom slowly started her story, as only Grandmas can do. But, when the Secretary cut her off mid sentence with the words, "I know" my mom was shaken to her core.(I can only visualize this, I wasn't there.) She already knew the story! What?!?!? How could she know her daughter had to call 911? How could this person know about her Grandson's weekend ride in an ambulance? How was this possible?! Well, the Secretary and I are friends on Facebook.

I believe this is the single event that flung my mom into action to get herself a profile and get her status updates flowing. Now, like I said I'll take the good with the bad and so far it's all good as my mom is very computer illiterate. She hasn't posted a status update or a picture, she's just lurked in on my pictures & updates.

My mom joining and friending me on FB got me thinking... What was the catalyst that made us - meaning me and all the billions of people now on FB - to set up our Facebook Profile? Was it the constant, "yeah, I saw that on his/her FB page." thrown in our face, as what happened with my mom. Was it the, "have you seen ____ went on vacation to____ ?!" Or was it, "What, you aren't on FB?!" Everyone has a breaking point and FB knows it + loves it!

Here's another thought... What will be the breaking point for EXITING Facebook? Will there ever be that point? I don't think MySpace saw FB coming. Is Twitter next for us? Maybe we will all be tweeting soon and FB will be old boring, slow news, kinda like texting kicked emails to the slow lane. I think I'm ready for the next "it" thing, but first, let me update my FB page with my blog post.

Working on #2, #9, #13

Research! Time to head to the library, bust out the dictionary, go old-school and get out an encyclopedia. Well, really I just grabbed my mac book pro and googled "how to write a blog".

A million different results came up. Here are the ones that caught my eye.

"Get about a months worth of material together" from mintblogger.com. I did type out a list of 13 items to blog about, so I guess I did that and didn't even know it! I'm not sure a months worth of items is necessary. What works for me, a piece of paper and a pen. When something comes to mind, write it down. Keep the list handy when you sit down to write, that seems easy-peasy to me.

wikihow.com has "how to write a famous bog: 8 steps". There's a list there, their aren't numbered or anything, but its a list non-the less. The question of lists as a good thing seems to be answered, most every How To blog site had a list. Some use paragraphs, some actual numbers. Guess it's open for interpretation.

Problogger.com has a list of 10 items to get you started, this one numbered 1-10. This site promotes being "creative". Here's a quote, "I emphasize ‘create’ because I think too often as bloggers we ‘PUNCH’ out content as though we’re in a race or under some kind of deadline." That phrase seemed like excellent advice. I'm going to use it as a mini-mantra as I go forward. I have no deadlines except the ones I impose on myself. So I'm going to take the time, do the work, make it worth it for me & my reader(s).

The final How to Step that was put out as a tip, not even listed in the Lists on wikihow.com, in order to get the word out about your blog, you should be reading other blogs and posting comments. Don't just post one word comments that bloggers might view as spam, but a real thought out observation. Basically I'm guessing I can't click the LIKE button on their blog like I can on Facebook. So if I'm going to be successful, I need to start searching for some blogs to read. I have a few I follow, but really I lurk. Here's what I'm hearing, Lurking days are over missy!!