Happy Birthday Baby!

This past week, on Monday, little Josie evolved from our baby to our toddler.

I told the boys that once she turned two, she was no longer in the baby world but officially a toddler, so we couldn't call her baby anymore. Needless to say, Sunday night was sprinkled with as many hi baby! hi baby! hi baby's as we could fit in. (Of course we haven't officially ended all baby language but we are trying).

Saturday, we celebrated in a small but special way our little one turning 2 and her mama turning 39 plus 2.

So pensive but captures the times. She is difficult to get a picture smiling due to a streak of stubborness.

Brothers and cousins got to eat snow in a bowl with chocolate syrup.

So fun to watch!

BEST.GIFT.EVER.

Just like her mama does not like everyone looking at her! (or singing!)

 

Extra special because it was Grandpa's birthday the day of the party!

The yearly birthday glasses picture-hoping by 3 she'll cooperate with this!

The actual birthday. See the pensive look?

79 shots later I got a smile.

 

 

 

I cannot express how thankful we are that we got another shot at this. After all of the heartache and loss and loss of hope leading up to this little girl, I am so glad we did not give up. She gives us all so much joy and happiness and I feel so lucky we were blessed with her. 

 

Some nights I log on all fired up with some hot topic or opinion I'd like to discuss.

Other nights, the extent of my fiery topic is wanting to know what your favorite thing to do with a pound of ground beef is.

No. Seriously. I want to know, but I fear I will get no responses back. So please, surprise me! Even you reader unbeknownst to me! All the more fun, for as I make your beefy dinner I will say to myself, this yummy dinner is thanks to a mystery reader! It's all very exciting.

So, I will tell you tonight, this is my favorite recipe with a pound of ground beef. This recipe generally looks like a recipe I got out of Country magazine once, until it slipped in the crack between the stove and the counter and was lost forever. Why is that crack there? Is it only to devour recipes and hold crumbs and smudges of food that just can't make their way down to the final graveyard below? So, I reconstructed it from memory and it's basically now the only recipe I know by heart. Oh, biscuits and gravy too, but you will find that in my future post entitled, What's your favorite thing to do with a log of pork sausage?

Li'l Cheddar Meatloaves, which can be renamed if you feel too silly or Missisippian saying "Li'l"

1 egg beaten with fork
1/2 cup milk
1 lb ground beef
sprinkling of parsley
tsp of salt
1 c shredded cheddar
1/2 c oatmeal
small onion chopped finely

Mush it all together and form 8 "li'l" loaves in your greased 9x13 pan. Then, for the topping:

2/3 c ketchup
1 T mustard
1/2 c brown sugar

Mix and spoon over your "li'l" loaves. Then bake at 375 for an hour.

These are very yummy and my whole family likes them!

On another note, Josie got her first haircut this week:

Unlike her brothers, the whole affair went swimmingly and there were no tears. I do love her hair as it is, but it was always in her eyes and the back was a big rats nest which prompted strangers to say things like, "Oh, my daughter's hair always looks like that in the morning too!" to which I'd reply quizzically, "This is how her hair always looks!" All's well that ends well.

And finally, on the topic of strangers. Technically not entirely a stranger, but one of the other moms at indoor soccer, whom I rarely chat with, randomly turned around to me and said, "It looks like he isn't as good at goalie!" as Jack was trying out goalie for the first time during the game. I have to ask, what would prompt a mother to feel compelled to share that opinion with me? I would never dream of saying something like that to someone! Why do redheads need to be so damn fiery? Can you tell yet that fiery is the word of the day? Does the fire come from within and stream into their hair strands? Help me understand!

Enough for now. I need to go off and think of all the good retorts I SHOULD have said back instead of "Yeah, I don't know if this will really be his thing." Great defense Sherlock.

Finally someone who understands me

I have just finished a memoir entitled Candy and Me-A Girl's Tale of Life, Love and Sugar, by Hilary Liftin.









This book had me at candy. I devoured it in one sitting. Pun intended.

Like the author, I have had a love affair with candy from the day we met. I can't imagine a life without candy in it. It is an addiction as real as alcohol or other "drugs" yet it is not looked down upon. I imagine the cure to this addiction would be to give it up altogether as happens with other addicts trying to be clean, but I truly can't imagine ever doing that. It is a love hate relationship. I love it and I crave it but when I eat it, especially in quantities beyond what I should have eaten, the hate begins.

This was the first passage that really spoke to me personally, as I know exactly how she feels. She was discussing a birthday party she attended, and unsure of what sort of gift might be appropriate, she decided to gift an entire shoebox filled with all sorts of candy dumped in. She writes,

 "For everyone else this indulgence was a novelty that came and went, but I was acutely aware of where the box was in the room, how much candy remained, and how soon it would make its way back to me. I wouldn't stop eating until it was empty, and feared that someone would notice my single-mindedness. It was the first time I had an inkling that others were easily distracted from sweets by more central events, where for me, the distraction of sweets was the main event."

Finally. Someone who understands me.

And later, on willpower to do the right thing:

"Willpower is not black and white. I exercise willpower on every trip to the grocery store, but no checkout person watching my selections bump down the conveyor belt would believe it. What I hope for, one day, is to be free of the need for willpower. I didn't need willpower to avoid heroin. I had no natural desire for it. I didn't need willpower to avoid meat. I ate it when I wanted, in whatever quantity I desired. Willpower is a denial of desire. It can be partial ("I'm not having dessert today") or absolute ("I'm not having dessert ever") but it is always self-denial. I don't want to curb desire. I want either to indulge it or eradicate it."

This passage really speaks to me because every trip "out" is a test of willpower. If I go to a gas station or a grocery store, there are so many temptations that must be refused to get through the trip that it can feel overwhelming. The willpower required to not buy the wrong things and indulge those desires has to be very strong. If I am weak in any way, I will give in and buy a donut, or a candy bar, or a forbidden in the house no-no like Oreos. There are certain things that just can't come in this house, and those include Oreos, the only store bought cookie worth eating to me, Golden Grahams, and candy. Because if a bag of candy is bought, whatever package it comes in is the serving size. There is no saving for later. And judging on the amount of peanut butter I just ate for my dinner tonight and the stomach rumblings in response to that, I might just have to add peanut butter to that list. So as she states, when that conveyor belt pulls my selections toward the checker and it doesn't have any sweets lying on it, it is a big win for me, although the checker might not see the internal battles I fought to make those decisions.

Hilary seals the deal with me when she confesses that she loves the old-fashioned marshmallow egg. My friends, this rare gem is my favorite. You know, around Easter it used to pop up, though nowadays it's hard to find. A thick colorful candy coating on the outside, and inside, the dense marshmallow filling that is pure sugar grittiness? They used to come all loose in a bag but now they are usually individually wrapped and then put in a bag. My sister used to trade me hers for whatever she liked at the annual dump-your-basket-on-the-carpet-and-let's-see-what-we-each-got-and-need-to-trade event, which happened shortly after Easter or Halloween, and I gladly accepted the trade.

I can't say this was a self-help book in any way, as I strongly desired all sorts of different candies upon finishing the book, but it is an honest portrayal of a woman's struggle to find an acceptable place for candy to fit in her life, as well as a look back at her life and how different candies defined different times in  her life, much as a song takes you to a certain time or place when you hear it on the radio. Jolly rancher sticks (you know those long flat ones?) will always remind  me of my friend Anne and I riding to the Corner Market and buying small brown paper bags full of candy and coming home to eat it all at once on my swingset. Taffy sticks (you know those long flat ones in wax paper?) will always remind me of the town fair. Middle school=large chewy SweeTarts, and Fun Dips. Nerds in a box with a popout spout, one flavor on each side of the box. Big League Chew, and volcano rocks popping in your mouth. My dad buying us tubes of Necco Wafers. At Christmas, the storybook box with rolls of Life Savers inside. The candy cane of M&M's.The giant Hershey's Kiss. Then High School. How exciting Jelly Bellies were. Alison and I would go the mall just to select bags with all sorts of different flavors in them.  Boxes of Junior Mints always at the movies. Pixy Stix and Circus Peanuts.

And I could go on and on. What is proved to me, I guess, is that it's not all that crazy this love affair I have with candy. It defines your life, past and present, and helps you remember a lot of good memories all candy coated and sweet. And that's really not a bad thing, now is it?

Musing on the throne

As I sat using the restroom this morning, with the door wide open as is the custom in my home as I expect my visitors to arrive imminently as I have all but given up on bathroom privacy, I listened to the kids in the basement playing. Josie kept yelling IPOD! IPOD! and as I pondered that the word ipod registers in her first 100 words, I realized how different her upbringing already is than  her brother's was. When Jack arrived just 10 years ago, Rob had a beeper for me to contact him when I thought it was time to head to the hospital. A beeper. And now, Josie, at 1,  knows how to swipe through my photos on my iphone and play videos. It's amazing to realize the pace that technology is moving at and it amazes me just as much the people who are able to keep up with that pace.

I have mentioned before that I'm not all that interested in keeping up with all of it. There is some truth in the mere fact that it's easier not to learn it. It can be overwhelming to keep up with all of it. But moreso, it's my desire to not do it. To try to keep the pace slower and the interactions more solid and tangible. Look around at people in lines, or in restaurants. It's gotten to the place where people truly feel uncomfortable with silence and quiet space. If a person is idle, even for a moment, they appear fidgety and embarressed to not be typing away or looking at a screen like everyone else is, or maybe they feel like they are wasting time or being unproductive.

Which led me into my next thought... if quiet time, and mental silence, is going by the wayside, what is happening to society's relationship with God? If we can't sit and just drink a cup of coffee while looking out the window at the trees swaying and the birds flying and be amazed by creation. If we can't stand in line and just be still. If we can't just be. If we can't turn off the itunes and have nothing flowing into our ears. Where will contemplation and meditation go? When will be able to listen to God and just be in His presence?

While technology has brought huge gains to our medical fields and national safety, what are the equally powerful downsides and what does our future look like?

Something to think about as you drink your coffee today and look out the window.

A few more tidbits

I have a few more bits I collected from the Happiness Project that I wanted to pass along. I think they are interesting concepts.

*Try a week of extreme nice. Choose a person you would like to try this on, and try to do all you can to be extremely nice in all you say and do for them. This would be very interesting and I think would show you how much more you could do or say to show your love for them when you are being very deliberate about it.

*Fog happiness. This term means a feeling of happiness you get from something in your life, that when closely examined doesn't really seem to bring you any happiness at all, yet somehow it does. An example given was throwing a party-when you look at all it takes to actually get it together, it's hard to say for many that you loved doing it as you executed the details of making it happen, but overall when you look back at it, you say you were happy throwing that party. This term was also applied to parenting; when you look at the minutue of each thing you do to parent each day, you might not get happiness from many of those details of the parenting, yet when someone asks you what makes you happiest in your life, you say your children. Hence the term, fog happiness.

Food for thought.

In the same book vein, I just finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. (As always my book links take you to Amazon... initially because, why not? and now, because my husband works there so why not support the cause?)

I found this book really interesting once I got into it, and filled with surprises. Theirs is a caustic relationship, but that is what makes this read all the more fascinating. I recommend it!

Changes

At 18 months, Josie only had about 3 words that she used properly, in context. I really wasn't too concerned, as she has 4 people regularly waiting on her and kissing her cute little butt, but the doctor wanted her to see First Steps and have her evaluated for speech, which we did, and for about a month, Josie has been seeing a developmental therapist once a week. I have to think it has helped, because as of now, she has about 30 words. Either that, or it was just the same timing and it would have happened anyway. I am going to go with the idea that therapy has helped pull those words out and give us good strategies on how to do that.

Tonight, she gave me that 30th word for the list, punk. Around here, I use the word "punk" as a term of endearment, despite how it might come across. In storytelling, however, it is another thing, as in, I was waited on in the store by a young high school punk. But, for our purposes tonight, I was calling her a punk in the most loving way.

A few quick thoughts tonight

Hi there, nothing earth shattering to discuss tonight, just thought I would share a few more of the tidbits I best liked about the Happiness Project book.

*The One Minute Rule- don't postpone anything that can be done in one minute. (This would sure eliminate a lot of the clutter and "big clean up" sessions I have if I would stick with this idea)

*Act the way we want to feel. I shared this one with Jack, and we have tried it when we are feeling tired/lazy but want to feel energetic, by going outside and taking a bike ride, etc. and pretending like we are full of energy to try to get us there. I like this concept.

*Six seconds is the minimum hug time to promote bonding. Try it out.

and finally,

*People are 97% more likely to feel close to a family member who often expresses affection.

All sensible stuff, but we all need good reminders! Happy Thursday!

Luke-isms

I have tried to keep track of a few Luke comments over the last few months so I can record them for posterity.

*Running errands just he and I (love the conversation we have when it's just the two of us!) "There are some things that have never happened to this family-poor, lose your life, lost in the desert, or run out of gas."

*On our friends the Millers who recently moved to China: "If there was a big battle, like World War 3, would the Millers still cheer for America?"

*On being told that we were going to spend the night at Grandma and Pappy's: "YES! I just like to hear the birds cheeping in the morning!"

*And while we were visiting them, Pappy said to Luke, "You'd better eat your dinner, Grandma worked all day making this!" So Luke replied, "Pappy, didn't you give Grandma any lovin' today?"

*And tonight, after camping with friends from Iowa and developing a small boy crush on his friend Leo, he said, "I just keep saying to myself, DREAM ABOUT LEO! DREAM ABOUT LEO! before I go to bed! I mean, don't forget your math facts, but dream about Leo. I tell ALL my layers to do that."

OMG

This is what you are saying to yourself when you happen to log on and see I have a new post, right?

Ok, well, here's the truth. I enjoy blogging as long as I don't put any pressure on myself about the frequency. And I have several blog posts composed in my head most of the time. But my pitfall is the actual ACT of putting thought to paper. Or keyboard. Or whatever. It's not that I don't like to do it, it's just that at the end of the day after putting 3 kids to bed, cleaning up the kitchen/dishes, and catching up on laundry, I really mostly feel like pouring a cold beer into a mug and sitting down to a new episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians. Which is a cold hard truth that I am not afraid to admit to. It's not that I look up to them, strive to be like them, or even long for their lifestyle. It is just plain interesting to watch because I think they act like their true selves for the most part, and it's interesting to watch someone else's life.

So, I am back, with as little meaningful and worthwhile material as I had before, but at least I have a place to brain dump again and I guess that's kind of fun.

So let's kick it off with a Wal-Mart eyeshadow discussion. The title of this post is called, what would you do?

Several months ago, I was shopping at Wal-Mart for a few things, against my better judgement of course, but it's way closer and sometimes that's all it is. I walk out, unload my cart, and return my cart to the corral. As I do this, I notice a brand new eyeshadow in one of the other carts pushed into the corral. Hmm. What to do. I pick it up, and put it in my purse, soon to land in my bathroom drawer to remain unopened until I had this "conversation" with ya'll.

So here's some questions for you.
*Does this feel like stealing to you?
*Would it feel different if you had found it lying in the parking lot on the ground?
*Would you think twice if you found a dollar lying in the parking lot? Would you keep it, or return it to Wal-Mart in case someone came back for it?
*What are the chances that a person would go home, realize the eye shadow hadn't gotten home with them, and return to Wal Mart inquiring if someone had turned it in?
*If this was Target instead of Wal Mart, would I have gone back in to return it?

One of the underlying issues was that I felt the chances were slim to none that someone would come back in asking about the eye shadow. Therefore, Wal-Mart would just end up returning it to the shelf and reselling the item, making excess profit for themselves. Which they didn't deserve to, so is it any better or different if I just kept the item? So is it my animosity towards Wal-Mart that made me say they didn't deserve to make another profit on this same item and it might as well be me who kept it?

What do you think? Please chime in, even if you don't know me personally but read this, I just think it's an interesting and thought provoking conversation to have!

And welcome back! (I hope!)

love

I LOVE when little kids fill out these questionairres. This is definitely going into the "keep" pile. My favorite answer is #3.

Celebration Galore

What a busy week for the Millers!

Rob had a birthday, and Jack had a birthday which was shared with Mother's Day. Busy but fun!

Joan Jett baby

I'm so loving the hot weather so Josie can wear all of her cute sundresses!

I also came up with an idea for using those cute legwarmers that were handed down by my sister-in-law. I feel like once the air conditioning is on, a little sundress is a little too cold for a nap, so instead of having a whole wardrobe change, I just throw some legwarmers on her arms and legs.

 

I so love how she is channeling the Joan Jett look here.

Today

Grumpy baby.
Fighting brothers.
Tired mommy.
Baby opens door and falls down two steps onto garage floor. Skins her back.
Baby falls down again on driveway. First skinned knees. No blood. Phew.
Brothers still fighting.
Kill around 150 ants in laundry room. The tiny kind that you can barely see.
Mommy still tired.
Power goes out. For a few hours. For the second day in a row. Mommy resets all the clocks.
Mommy picks up a Papa Murphy's pizza. Mommy feels a moment of relief.
Full cup of milk spilled down cupboards and onto floor.
Baby falls for a 3rd time.
I am not even going to make that comparison though it's ripe. It's way too sacrilegious.
This time opening the screen door and down two concrete steps onto back patio.
Toilet clogs.
After mommy gets kids to bed, she must decide which to tackle first. The clogged toilet or the second round of ants. Chooses toilet so it's free and clear to dump all of the ants into with the moist toilet paper which is the kill vehicle of choice.
Mommy kills 221 ants. You might think that mommy likes to make up silly and preposterous numbers, and you might be right. But this time, mommy counts just to get an idea of what she's dealing with. And she kills all in sight and lands right at 200, but feeling that 200 sounds a little bit hard to believe, she waits around for another 21 to show up to make it seem more believable to her loyal reader. At last, the floor is clean so mommy can sit down and blog about her day. But then she looks over and sees the reinforcements have arrived.
She wonders if she will still have time to sit down with a glass of wine tonight.
She's not sure because the clock next to her is still blinking.

An open letter of disappointment

Dear American shopper,

I am disappointed in you.

I majored in marketing, with a minor in psychology. I am fascinated at the psychology used in marketing. So I've been following the JC Penney "social experiment" for some time now.

I totally get why they did what they did with the everyday low pricing "experiment". When you are in a constant sale frenzy, as JCP was, and Kohls still is, the associates spend nearly all of their time running around the store removing sale signs and putting up new sale signs. Store buyers, speaking from experience since I was one myself, spend tons of time planning sale timing and inputting the price changes into the computers. So, instead of time spent helping customers, the time is spent coming up with new and different sale pitches which are really just different ways to convince you, the customer, that you are getting a great deal. A bargain. A SALE.

So, JCP decided to do something new and novel. To ditch the relentless sale mongering and just offer the items at the price that they would eventually reach with all of that sale silliness, eliminating the need for constant signs up and down and direct mail pieces falling all over themselves to reach you in time to cash in on the next two day sale.

And, what did we do? We hated them. We stopped shopping there. Despite the fact that the merchandise was still the same, and the store looked so much cleaner and crisper, we decided that not getting a "deal" really pissed us off. Sales plummeted, the store hit the "most hated companies" list, and the CEO was ousted. And now, I see that JCP has issued an apology letter.

To apologize to us, the American consumer. And for what?

They are apologizing for trying to be straight with us and no longer dupe us with frivolous sales, and we are therefore smoothing our ruffled feathers back down and saying that we'll think about shopping there again with a sniff of our nose.

America, aren't we smarter than this? Why are we choosing to be fooled and be played by all of those sale games? Can't we just admit we know better than this? I feel for that CEO who thought that America was ready for this, and I picture him just truly miffed that it went up in flames like it did.

I'm sorry, guy. Better luck next time. We just aren't ready quite yet.

Sigh.

Hi

I compose blog posts in my head on a regular basis. I have about 4 backed up in the netherlands of my brain just waiting to be written. This was not one of those posts. But this is where I am right now.

I try hard not to throw myself woe is me pity parties too often. My life is awfully blessed, and I know it. But just give me my moment to whine here. Despite running solo every night due to Rob's hours (did I mention that?), I generally keep fairly cheerful and carry on, seeing as how that's my job. But not once, but now TWICE in the past week I have sunken into poor me so let me share. I know you are dying to hear it.

You know when you end up having to change your kid's entire bedding ensemble at night? And you usually are saying to yourself that poor sap I feel so sorry for him and you wash it all without a thought for yourself because you feel so bad for the poor sap for being sick? Well, that didn't really happen to me tonight. I just spent an hour doing that plus some, but it wasn't for someone getting sick. And that's really why it's so annoying.

Luke sailed right through the 2's, 3's, 4's, and 5's oblivious to the growing popularity of the nose picking trend. I puffed out my chest proudly as I watched other kids mine for gold during church services thinking, nope! Not my kid! My kids are NOT nose pickers! But then, Luke turned about 7.5, and suddenly picked (HA HA! Picked!) up the habit with such intensity you'd think it paid dividends.

So tonight, I put the kids to bed. I was so excited that I had the entire kitchen cleaned. The dishes were washed. I even picked up and vacuumed the family room. Vacuumed for gosh sakes. I was going to have some free time to do as I pleased tonight after putting the kids to bed,  come hell or high water.

I tucked everyone in by 8:30, and headed downstairs to fold a load or two before I embarked on said free time. About 2.37 minutes after laying his head to his pillow, Luke came down to inform me that he couldn't sleep.

Now, generally Luke is not the one to come down making excuses like this, so one time, in a weak moment, I introduced the "have a glass of warm milk like my mom used to make for me" concept. That was a BIG mistake as I soon had a line snaking out the door every night about 2.37 minutes after putting the kids to bed. I explained that it had been a big mistake, and that the warm milk ship had sailed. So, I sent him back to his bed saying to try longer.

About 5 minutes later, I was upstairs and heard Luke cruising around down here again with a whine, but I ignored it. I had free time in my sights. By the time I came back down, he was back upstairs, and in no time, both boys were standing in front of me, with Jack stating that we had a problem, and blood covering all of Luke's face and hands.

That's right. Plumbing for gold in the midnight hour had led to this. And he had cruised the house looking for me not once, but twice. TWICE people. With nothing but his hands to hold the blood back. I will pause for effect here so you can put it all together.

I then spent the next HOUR cleaning up the trails of blood throughout the house on the floors and carpets. And then the bed. Oh my word. Blood everywhere. He was luckily so freaked out by all of the blood everywhere that he swears he will NEVER pick his nose again. We'll see about that.

So when he came back down 20 minutes into Blood CleanUp 2013, asking for warm milk again? It's possible that I actually growled in my response. Nice mommy had left the building.

So. Here I am. This portion of my free time is dedicated to a long overdue blog post (this was just what you were waiting for, right? a Killian's Red, and a bowl of tortilla chips.

Goodnight.

Editor's Note: I was going to launch into the other time I felt incredibly sorry for myself in this past week, but then I realized I had written this long post about a nosebleed, and you were probably already done with me. So let me just sum it up by saying, it had to do with a painstakingly amazing salad that took a long time to make, and a small adorable creature who wasn't really willing to let me sit down and eat it after all of that labor. You can fill in the blanks but it included statements in my brain such as, "C'mon! I just want to sit down and eat my damn salad! Is that so much to ask?"

Results and boots

I've been a bit lax on posting my Jenny Craig/weight loss updates. I have gone from charging out of the gate to limping along, and it is for a lack of trying. So, that is much LESS discouraging than if I was working my tush off and not getting any results. It's not that I'm not trying at all, I am just not being nearly as disciplined as I was initially. Hence, the story of weight loss. Sigh.

So, I had a maintain week, then a .4 gain (SUCH a gift if you knew how many sweets I ate that week), followed by today's loss of -1.5, for a new cumulative total of -17.1.

Here's what I know. I'm sad that I am not still über motivated as I was initially, especially since I'm not even to my halfway mark quite yet (5 more pounds!). However I am excited to know that now that I have lost 7% of my body weight, I have reduced my risk of getting type 2 diabetes by 60%. I think that's huge. Because one of my biggest motivators for finally getting off of my steadily growing a$# was that I was so afraid I was heading towards some real health concerns, such as diabetes, due to my poor diet and growing waistline. I have also learned that there are significant differences in my hunger/cravings during different weeks of the "lady cycle". Namely, that around the middle of the month, I am hungrier and want more sugar, and it's much more difficult to do the right things, vs. two weeks later. Now that I have identified that, I can plan for these times more accordingly. {How I have never really identified this before after 15 years of program dieting is beyond me. Though I have mentioned not being as "in touch" with my body as I should be before.} Finally, solely from wearing the armband and seeing the numbers for my activity each day, I am much more aware of my movements and/or lack of throughout the day and am much more motivated just to get up and move around, regardless of what I am doing. I look at programmed exercise so much differently than I did before and realize, as long as you always moving and doing something, that counts just as much.

Soooooo, enough on that. Get a load of this. These boots had me at yee-haw.

 

I know you want to insert those tiny toes into your mouth and start consuming her now, but back off, she's already taken. Unless it's during one of those times where she screeches at the top octave humanly possible which she has started to do on the regular as of late. Then, I might let you just have a little nibble.

My take on salads

I just had this feeling today, that others are sitting there nervously tapping their toes and asking, but what does Rachel think about salads? What's her take on them? How does she deal with them? So here's my thoughts.

I'm supposed to eat a salad every day. So I have been, eating a salad, every day with lunch. Blah blah blah. Lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers if I'm organized. Fine, but nothing too exciting. And then.... da da da...............I discovered some new crunchy toppings that are making my salads the thing I most look forward to eating each day. Now, by discovered, I didn't invent these things people, zip up your jacket. I just started adding them and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the crunch it's added, not to mention all of the feel good endorphins zinging through my body as I hear the echoes of Dr. Oz touting the health benefits of said additions. So now, I still start with the lettuce--I have been buying a big one lb tub of Simple Truth Organic Baby Spring Mix-a medley of baby lettuces with frisee and radicchio, from Kroger for $4.99. What I love is that there's a lot of lettuce in there; it's really packed in tight, and lasts a long time, plus the pieces are all really small and with just a quick rip in half as I drop it in my bowl, it's ready to go. Or, you don't have to rip it, but I like to not have to deal with cutting anything or pieces hanging out of my mouth as I chew all salad dressingy and messy. Then, I add tomatoes, diced bell pepper, and cucumbers if I have them. The finishing touches come with adding a teaspoon of flax seed and chia seeds, as well as a tablespoon of sunflower seeds, and either dried roasted peas, or pumpkin seeds, or wasabi soy nuts. Add 1 1/2 tbs of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, and I am so happy. It is so good, crunchy and healthy tasting, I really do look forward to it.

If I'm feeling especially decadent, or I'm making this my whole meal, I will add 1/4-1/2 diced avacado, or some thin sesame sticks. If I'm particularly on the ball, I might have some hard boiled eggs to cut up on there as well. Ooh yummy.

Now go rediscover your salad!

Life as it stands

I tried to take a picture, but it just felt inadequate, so then I took a video, but it cut me off, so part of my learning process is to learn how long is ok to tape and then email to myself to add to the blog. Bear with me on that, but I just  had to laugh at this tonight. Laughing makes it all seem better. And, sitting down to blog instead of dealing with it, also makes me feel better. So I'll get to it right after I finish with my comment on the Kroger web site on how awful their store brand butterscotch chips are compared to the national brand. A girl must have her priorities straight.

 

The days are long, but the years are short.

Laugh

This one made me laugh out loud today:

Basement funnies

Two things have made me laugh in the basement in the last day or two. Today, I dusted off my old Kathy Smith step aerobics VHS tape (clue #1) and during the introduction, she mentions, "Step aerobics have become very popular in the '90's, and for good reason....."

So, that just makes me laugh. Because I got this tape in college after seeing my roommate Andrea do it, and I still have it. Because if you can just get past those leotards they wear which are thong in the back over spandex shorts (that is so distracting to me for some reason!) and the thick tall socks all scrunched down, it really still is a good workout.

Yesterday, we were doing Just Dance in the basement, and it's possible that my midriff might have gotten a little exposed in all of those vigorous dance moves. Luke said, "Mom, you know how we always say, Awwww, wook at that cute fat belly! Well, I'm not going to say that to you!".

Whew, we really dodged the bullet on that one. I'm so glad he didn't say that to me! Always the master of restraint, that Luke.

A few other tidbits

In the spirit of sharing interesting wisdom and tidbits I picked up from the book I just read and mentioned, The Happiness Project, here are a couple other things I jotted down. Some I've heard before, or just make sense, but it's worth reminding myself of. I think what made the book so relatable was the author herself. Although I love people like Dr. Phil, he pretty much already has it all figured out, so when he gives you advice, you might think it's good advice, but advice that he himself never really needs to follow because he's already all buttoned up in those areas. This author, however, is quick to point out her own personal flaws and tendencies, and share what she is working on and in some cases how difficult making the changes can be. I am very attracted to that honesty and ability to show the less than pleasant realities of yourself.

• One minute rule-never postpone anything that can be taken care of in one minute. This one so applies to me as I lay something down, or leave it on the counter, thinking I'll deal with it  later when I do my monster clean up. If I would just hang it up/put it on the shelf/in the sink/in the hamper now, it would save that big clean up later.

• Act the way you want to feel. I shared this one with the boys and they have really caught on to it. For example, for some reason, I usually feel tired on Sundays, and would love to take an afternoon nap. However, last Sunday, I asked the boys if they would like to do some Just Dance with me on the Wii, followed up by a bike ride. I explained that I was feeling tired, but that if I acted like I had a lot of energy, I would then feel more energetic.

• 6 seconds is the minimum hug time needed to promote bonding.

• People are 47% more likely to feel close to a family member who often expresses affection. This one might be sort of common sense but it's still a good reminder.

Empower

In the spirit of empowering myself, I am trying to figure out how to do a video on the blog. I see many people do it, but as I've mentioned in the past technology and me have a checkered past. Here we go:

Isn't a baby's belly laugh just about the best sound there is?

Friday night

We had a Groupon for a local roller skating rink, so on Friday we enlisted a babysitter for Josie and took the boys rollerskating.

Here is how I picture one of these type of nights going in my head:

Everyone excitedly enters the roller skating arena in anticipation of a fun new experience as a family. Appreciating the cost involved with getting a babysitter for Josie and food and rollerskating, everyone is respectful and thankful.
Although a bit wobbly on the feet at first, soon everyone catches on and it's not long before we are skating 4 abreast, hand in hand to Xanadu. I show off my long lost backward skating moves to the oohs and aahs of the crowd. Tired yet happy, we walk out of the roller rink arm in arm, remembering why we all love each other so much.

And here's how it goes:
After a long story by a friend about how his family never does anything fun like this, and the only fun he has is when he's at our house or Jack is at his house playing, the boys ask if friend can join us. Wanting to encourage new friendships, we say yes. So long to the family only night out with the boys.
Jack appears to be a baby gazelle just after exiting his mothers womb. He falls at least 756 times on his first spin around. Luke also cannot keep his feet under him. We each take one kid and try to make it around one full time. Although my skills are still good, supporting Jack when he goes down makes me go down too. Ooh the tailbone. However I will not give in to the frustration surrounding me. Jack is not on that same page. Down and down he goes, repeatedly on the same kneecap. Soon the crying starts, both from pain and frustration as friend starts to get the hang of it and leaves our pack. I hate this! and, I'm terrible at this! abound. Luke starts to get the hang of it too, and although he falls often he doesn't get discouraged and keeps trying. Rob makes a few gallant efforts around but is mostly supporting anyone who needs help. I finally give up on the helping and glide around like the superstar I am in my head, encouraged to at least get some exercise out of the night. I am still pretty good, but there are definitely no backward maneuvers, and truth be told, if someone wipes out unexpectedly in front of me, I am not sure what my strategy is. We eat incredibly overpriced and mediocre food, and the night ends up costing double what the Groupon promised it would. Sweaty and red faced, we walk out of the roller rink grabbing people's arms to come with us, remembering why nights don't always go how you think they will, but realizing, it was still fun. Just different than in my head.

The end.

Here's the results from Tuesday's JC meeting:
Lost: -3.0
Cumulative: -16 lbs.

Yee haw I have the halfway point in my headlights. Still not enough for anyone to really notice yet except maybe a little in my face.

Arriving at my halfway point is my first short term goal, followed by arriving at my "pre Josie" weight. I'm feeling really good about my progress. My first reward happens today; a massage that I got from Rob for Christmas. I told myself I could redeem it once I got into this new decade of weight so now I am here. Aaah I can't wait.

Speaking of progressing and reaching goals, I am reading a book called the Happiness Project right now by Gretchen Rubin:

Clearly you cannot really click to look inside when it's on my blog. I am just too lazy to find an image that doesn't say that. Thanks to Amazon for the image!

Anyhoo, this book was a slow starter for me. Initially, she discusses the research she undertook to get started on the book and the reasons why she wanted to do it, and I just wasn't sure I was going to get into it. However once she started digging into different arenas each month, I was hooked, and have found some profound truths that make sense to me, but I hadn't really looked at them in such stark terms. I found myself relating to her in so many different ways, I felt that we were kindred spirits. That is, until I read last night about her considering herself agnostic which I felt so bummed by. Anyway, here is the first snippet that I wanted to share as it's relevant to what I am talking about with goals and progess:

"A sense of growth is so important to happiness that it's often preferable to be progressing to the summit rather than to be at the summit. And this, I love:

"Best is good, better is best"

There are several other pieces like this that I will share with you in the days to come, but in the meantime, I am really enjoying this book and would recommend it to anyone comtemplating their life and happiness level. As she states at the beginning of the book, she wasn't depressed, she just thought that she could be happier. Wouldn't so many of us relate to that statement?

Things making me laugh today

This always cracks me up. Whenever I crouch down to Josie's level to look at her or talk to her, she turns around and then backs into my lap with the assumption that my lap is there and available. I always have to get myself into position before she crashes down with no lap to receive her. I think she needs a reverse beeping sound and it would be perfect.

And this:

 

Oh to have Luke's confidence!

Thoughts whilst in a Wal Mart

I really do not enjoy going to Wal Mart. I much prefer going to Target. However, it always seems that no matter where we live, the Wal Mart is much closer than the Target is, so if I only have about 6 things to get, it's really not worth driving to the Target. Hence, my trip to Wal Mart today.

• Why are the cashiers rarely friendly? As in, do not even respond when I say hi as they start to check me out? (Aren't they supposed to acknowledge you the customer?? Instead they often seem to be griping about their supervisor or their schedule to another nearby employee. Um, hi, did you notice there was a customer here? And then, hand me my receipt, and I say thank you, and they never once said thank you during the transaction? I mean, I know they personally are not pocketing the money you just spent there, but, still.
• I saw there was a new fragrance by Madonna, fittingly titled Truth or Dare, so I squirted about 3 sprays onto myself assuming it would be something decent. Holy SWEETNESS! Would you ever expect a fragrance by Madonna to be all sweet and flowers instead of sexy or edgy? I was so surprised, and I will continue to be every time I put on that coat which will now smell like Truth or Dare for the next two months or so. And, choosing Wal Mart as the outlet for it? Are we sure it was Madonna who steered this product?
• Is anyone else tired of seeing people in their flannel pajama pants and slippers shopping in stores? Is it really that much effort to change into something streetworthy? Personally I often go out in public wearing knit exercise type pants and tennis shoes. I am certainly not bringing my A game. But I still would not leave on my pajamas and slippers and walk out the door. It just seems a little lazy to me. Now in college, it was perfectly acceptable for me to go to my 8 a.m. class in my peach long john waffle weave bottoms and a long sweatshirt, but that was another time and another place. Right?

Wow, I just read that and it all seems like I'm a little grumpy. I really don't feel grumpy today. Just observant.

On another note, I virtually maintained at yesterday's weigh in: I lost -.3 lbs, for a total of -12.7. But I am perfectly ok with that since we went out of town for the weekend and historically that is quite difficult for me to stay on track. We met up with some old neighbors from Iowa and it was so nice to see them again and catch up. And, of course, the kids always love a good water park. And I have to tell you, although by no means did I feel that I looked good in my swimming suit, with just 12 lbs down, I felt SO much better than I did in November in the same situation, so that is enough to keep you motivated to keep working.