By the way...

Since I am on the subject of weight loss, I just thought you all might want to see how much I have lost. I have lost one of these. Seriously. Give me a standing ovation.

40 lbs and still making progress! Yipee.

Do you ever wonder...

Do you ever wonder why some products or companies come up with the most obvious warnings.

Here is the one I saw tonight.

Frozen product may stick to lips or tongue. Let warm slightly before eating.

Now that is what I want in an icecream bar that I have been saving all day as my treat. One that I have to let warm before I can eat it. Yum.

First of all, who sued this company because their tongue stuck to the ice cream bar? Secondly, the folks that need these kind of warnings obviously did not grow up in a cold area or ever have the adventure of having their tongue froze to the pole of the playground swingset. Now that is real tongue sticking there.

I guess I would have to think that maybe the makers of swingsets and slides, flag poles and bridges, etc. should now put warning stickers that state, "Tongue or lips may stick to flat surfaces if it is so cold outside that you can see your breath," because some youngster might spend most of recess stuck.

For some reason though, I don't think that the average child eats Weight Watchers ice cream bars. So, that would mean this warning is for a full grown adult who contributes to our society in some way, shape, or form.

Come on, people. Do you really need a warning that tells you that your tongue may for a split second stick to your icecream bar? Aren't there bigger things to worry about in the world?

Sky Diving Great Grandma

Yes, that is right. My mother-in-law who is a great grandma went skydiving. How impressive is that?

Applause, applause....

When my kids are grown...when....maybe I will do this. My friend Krista and I joked about doing this if we didn't get married. That was ten years ago. We were crazy. We are married now, have good husbands to keep us sane and make us insane, have little ones, etc., but maybe we will still do this when we are great grandmas.

Thanks for the inspiration, Arlene.

OLD POSTS

I went through all my drafts today to organize something that felt manageable. :-) There was way too much laundry to put away. So, here they are, more random thoughts from me....

Things you should never say in public...

There are some things you probably should never say to your wife in public. Today Evan and I were at the grocery store and this man actually looked at his wife and said, "You have more whiskers then I do." She was older and struggling to get a donut in a bag. I honestly wanted to say, "She obviously has more b_lls then you do also, or you wouldn't feel the need to humiliate her in public." But I didn't. I just smiled at her and ignored him. The thing that always amazes me about people that feel the need to put the people they are suppose to love the most down is how "not put together" they are. Why is that? I was thinking how sweet it would have been if he would have been taking care of her instead. Helping her put the donut in the bag, and then when they got home actually asked his wife if he could help her out with that. Wouldn't that have done her good? I doubt that after all these years she is use to that type of thing. I am sure she still felt humiliated. I don't think you ever get use to it. Respect...what a concept.

Foreign Movies

I like foreign movies. They make me feel rebellious. I don't watch them anymore because Steve hates them, mostly because of the subtitles. But, if he left town to go camping with his buddies, I would rent one like I use to do when I was single. I'd be the lady in dark sunglasses standing in the Foreign Movie Section late at night being rebellious. Then I would buy red wine and watch my foreign movie. It would be divine.

The Smell of a Homecooked Meal

Here is another older post I never posted...So, I guess that means it wasn't a post until today. I haven't burned a meal for a week....progress.

Ah, there is nothing like the smell of a home-cooked meal until, wait, what is that smell? Could that be scorched rice or boiled-dry pasta? I am a pretty good cook, but about three months ago I started being distracted while I am cooking. I think I can check the laundry, check my email, or do a report, all of which take much longer than it takes to burn an entire meal. I have burned 4 meals lately. Part of it is I am the kind of person who has only two options in life. I am a black and white person, an on or off person, a full speed or stopped person, a fast or slow person, a clean or messy person. Not much gray in my life most of the time.

So, for some reason I have been whipping the temp up to high on the stove and leaving the room. My family is starting to expect the smoke detectors to go off and have the faint taste of scorched food on their tongues. My pans are paying the price. I have come to learn that people need breaks from the stuff that takes up their time. The computer takes up mine, so I make a vow not to do anything on my computer pertaining to school or personal while I am cooking. Maybe I can become a focused person again. My family would like that, although there are times when I wonder if anyone even notices. The ones who eat eat everything, and the ones who don't eat don't taste it. So, maybe it isn't a big deal....until the house burns down.

Cultural Experiences

This is something I wrote months ago. I don't know why I didn't post it, but when I read it today, I liked it, so I am going to post it.


Yesterday I went to a very culturally-rich Chinese restaurant and a tattoo shop. The reason why is not relevant, really. No, I did not get a tattoo, and I did not get food poisoning.

Before I went to the tattoo shop, I imagined a dark dingy room with the smell of incense and cigarettes wafting into my asthma tortured lungs, heavily tattooed men with no morals, and the threat of hepatitis looming the second you walked through the door. I know that is very judgmental. I'm sorry. It really wasn't like that, much to my surprise. It was clean, even the bathroom. Yes, the men had tattoos, but not much more than the average person these days. They used clean equipment, it was well lite, with no incense or cigarette smoke.

Despite the atmosphere being nothing like I imagined, I did want to run. Really fast. I was way out of my comfort zone...way out. But, I didn't run. I made it, and I fulfilled my word. That is a good thing.

You know you should shave your legs when...

I am homeschooling Ian. It is going well. Really well. I feel like he is really learning stuff, doing things his thinking-for-himself way, coloring thoroughly, taking his articulated time. Evan likes to sit on my lap and squirm and ask me questions and squirm and try to grab the scissors and try to color on something he shouldn't. Today he was squirming on my lap. He must have tried to catch himself or something and grabbed my leg. All of a sudden in a most expressive excited voice, he stated, "Mommy!!!! You are turning into a daddy."

I shaved my legs in the sink a few minutes later...


The other big event of the day happened while I was at Amanda's school exchanging something I bought at the book fair last night. Amazing how some things just seem to work out, but as I was standing in the library, my phone rang. It was the number for the school district. It was the nurse from her school. Amanda had been playing ball at recess. Someone threw a ball, and it hit her in the side of the head. Ouch? Yes, that would hurt and maybe stun, but the real shock came when the other side of her head slammed into the brick wall she was standing next to. Needless to say, she needed her mommy, and I WAS THERE! Yipee. Something made easier in the day. She came home and rested and seems to be on the mend. She will be playing soccer tomorrow, so I think she will be fine. When she was getting in the car, Ian was so excited because he and his sister had hit their heads hard in the same day. He has a nice knot also from standing in a box and tipping over, hitting his head on the handle of the cabinet. Blood and everything. And this day was pretty normal....

Ian Soccer 2008

Ian's first soccer game of 2008. He just keeps on smilin'. He loves it.