Laughter!

Ok, so I just had a great night.  I laughed and laughed.  I scheduled the viewing party of "The Bachelor: London" for my house tonight.  I also scheduled a friend from baseball to come and share her new passion, Scentsy candles, er warmers...whatever you call them, they smell good.  So, most everyone calls and bails on me at the last minute.  Not cool...but, the house smelled great and then my friend Allison showed up.  We watched the show, laughed at the foolishness and she just left at 1:00am because we just kept laughing. I think we got high on the all the pretty smells, and the ones that were face scrunching bad.  It took some time to get the kids to bed, but all in all, it went pretty well.  I will be really tired in the morning, but sometimes you just need to laugh.  

By the way, yesterday was a funny day.  We went to Arlington to be there for my sister Lindsey on the day that she and her husband Mike blessed their new baby girl.  It was all very sweet and went surprisingly well...meaning, we were all on time, well Kristen snuck in while they were singing, but the majority of us were there early and seated.  The strange thing was that we met in a building in Arlington that we went to when I was 16 years old across from a house that we once lived in.  Those days are long gone but it all came back as I watched some old faces come in and shook hands with old friends.  I was even reminded of a boy I once though I might marry.  He married someone else, and so did I obviously, twice if you want to get technical, but the memory of that boy and those first feelings are still so sweet to me.  I can't help it.  It was all a little surreal.

Amber has started a blog!!!  Find her link over there on the side and check in on her from time to time.  It looks like it will be a good one.  Her oldest daughter is turning 8 this week so I bet she is feeling particularly sentimental.  :)  Party at Amber's this Friday!!!  I need to go help her, by the way.  Amber, if you are reading this, I can help!  Whatever you ask, well, you know what I mean.  And Kristen is gathering recipes on a new blog that she created, so stop in over there and share a favorite recipe.  We love trying new things.  Allrecipes.com and I are close friends.  

It's really late and I still need a shower so I must go.  Thanks for continuing to check in even when you are starting to get a little bored.  (And Cammie, what is up with being blocked from your blog?  Do I not mean anything to you anymore?  I am crying now.  Nice going!  I still want to work out with you even if you don't want to share your life with me.  Poor me, right?  I am sure that it was just an oversight.)

Have a great night all!

A little update

It's been awhile.  You can generally surmise that Larry is in town when you don't see a post from me for a few days.  He is a busy, busy bee.  Which keeps me very busy as well.  We have now organized the playroom closet, which was not as bad as the garage, but pretty close.  We are now working on the master bathroom.  Suffice to say, it's a big job.  In the midst of that, Kimball is sick again.  I think he has food poisoning though.  I can't be quite sure, but that's what it looks like.  

I am happy to report that I have been at the gym consistently this week.  A small hooray will suffice as it is only Wednesday.  Much damage has been done from Thursday through Saturday every time I have attempted to get myself healthy...and I do mean every time.  You know the deal, you eat well, drink lots of water, work out at least a little...you start to feel better and find that your clothes are even fitting a bit better, and then you relax a little and have a little bit of a Coke and maybe a chocolate covered pretzel or five.  I'm just saying, it's easy to get back in the cycle.  SO, I am trying to focus on the goal which is long term health and strength.  I still want to look drop dead sexy, but that is more of a long term benefit than short term goal.  I have found that reaching for that makes me discouraged.  So, I celebrate the little things.  

Well, I have more work to do, plant flowers, clean up my office, work on the bathroom...you know, little things.  :)

More motivation

Good morning all!!!  It is another cloudy rainy day and I am loving it.  Larry comes home today, which means that I am finishing up some cleaning and laundry.  It took me a long, long time to figure out that he equates love and appreciation to a clean home.  Some men like a home cooked meal, some are more physical, some like gifts and praise...Larry likes to see empty laundry baskets and clean floors...oh and paper towels on the paper towel holder and toilet paper in the bathrooms.  I used to get crazy upset about his obsession because I thought that he didn't appreciate the other things I do, but the truth is that it is how he is wired.  So, the kids and I make sure to do the best we can so that he never thinks that we don't appreciate how hard he works when he is gone.

Also, I found some more motivation this morning.  First, it was on the scale.  Since Sunday I have been working on eating a healthy diet of vegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains and minimal animal protein, not quite vegan, but much closer than 

I have ever even considered.  I feel so much better!  I have been to the gym twice for walking.  I have slurped down lots of water.  I have even taken my vitamins.  I am pleased to share that I am down three pounds.  That is progress.  I received a catalog in the mail yesterday for this athleticwear company and the pictures of the amazing bodies were sheer motivation.   How can you not be motivated by this:

By the way, you should say hi when you stop by.  I feel as if I am just talking to myself when no one responds.  :)  I did start my little memory lane blog if you want to check it out.  Look over there to the left under "Musings".  It's just a start but it should be fun...for me anyway.

Have a wonderful day!

New day for fun

So, it has been brought to my attention by a number of you that I should consider therapy for the number of days that I have reported being grouchy.  Instead of therapy I believe that I will go with a sort of reverse psychology thing on myself and talk about positive things instead of grouchy things which will hopefully prompt better moods.  Make sense?  I am afraid that either I have given you the wrong idea about how often I am grouchy, or I am in denial.  The funny thing about me, or not so funny depending on which end of it you find yourself, is that I am happy and calm and focused most of the time and then I just reach my max and I am done.  When I am done, I am really done and though I try to pretend otherwise sometimes, often for the sake of unsuspecting children and guests, I just have my limits.  I have come to know that about myself over the years so I am better prepared to walk away when I know that it's just me being sensitive.  So, with all of that said, let's be "happy Heather" today, shall we?  (That's all of my personalities talking to each other.)

Larry comes home tomorrow!!!  He is particularly tired on this trip and really looking forward to a break.  You know that a break for him means work for us because he is a project guy.  On his last "break" we completely gutted, cleaned and organized the garage.  He wants to tackle the playroom.  He will want to work in the yard.  He will aim for finishing our bathroom.  I can't complain I know.  I am very blessed to have such a hard worker in our family.  I do hope that he will catch up on some sleep first though.  He has earned it.

I don't have much to share this morning.  Oh, except that I think I might start another blog for memories.  It would really be something for me to work on journaling things I should have journaled as they happened but don't want to forget.  It may be boring stuff for the rest of you so skip it if you aren't into memory lane.  But, at some point you may get to see some of the stuff that made this little life of mine.  

OH!  Did you see "The Biggest Loser" finale?  They all looked so good!!!! 

Check it out!!!

The Biggest Loser 5: TV Show, Series - Weight Loss, Fitness, Diet, Video Clips, Episodes & Photos – NBC Official Site

MOTIVATION!

Not grouchy today :)

Good morning all!!!  I have discovered that this has quickly become one my favorite times of the day.  The children have just left for school.  The baby is sleeping.  The house is still a little dark and extremely quiet.  I can hear the sound of the train every now and then as it passes on its way to wherever trains go.  There it is now.  It is a sound that I absolutely love, even at all hours  of the night.  One of the things I have come to appreciate about that sound is that when Miss Kierstin hears it she comes running to me saying "choo choo", half excited and half scared.  She wraps her arms around me with wide eyes until the mystery sound has passed.  This is the hour of the day when I sit at my computer and catch up on your stories, surf the web a bit, check my calendar for the day, and generally avoid the dishes and laundry anxiously waiting for me in the other room.  

I got out of my funk yesterday, though it did take some doing.  The gym was a big help.  I only walked on the treadmill for about an hour, but it was good.  Looking around at the variety of body shapes I found myself reassured and motivated at the same time.  While I do envy the amazing bodies that seem to have no trouble getting themselves to the gym, with hair and makeup done by the way, it is the run down slightly overweight, barely out of bed and a little irritated to be there body that makes me believe.  I am one of those.  In spirit, I think I am the prior, but the scale and the clothes don't lie.  Sometimes I laugh at this whole enterprise of gyms and pills and potions to make us thin and strong.  I am amazed at what a job it is and how many of us jump right into the pool of masochism with all of the other men and women and children who choose to inflict this self-imposed exile from their busy daily routines to a one or two hour muscle bending sweatfest.  I suppose that sounds a little bitter.  I am not really.  I mean, a little but I come around when it starts becoming fun.  And it does.  It just takes me a few weeks and then I actually enjoy it.  The next time you are at the gym, look around at the faces of those who are actually enjoying it and remind yourself that it does come for you too...if you just keep working on it.

In other news, I can't find my charger for my camera at the moment and that is why you have not seen any new pictures yet.  I will do my best to find it today.  I hope that you all have wonderful, successful, happy days filled with accomplishment and compliments.

Escape needed :)

This is where I need to be today. 

I am grouchy.  I don't want to be.  I want to be sweet and chipper and productive, but today I am less than myself.  I can't quite pinpoint an exact reason why, but I could guess.  I have had a raging headache for a few days now.  I think it comes from an infection that I seem to be fighting.  I haven't gotten great sleep, but that is nothing new.  I just came in from dropping the kids off for school and I walked in to find a rather guilty dog.  He had gotten anything and everything off of the kitchen counter that even resembled something to eat.  He ate the remaining cat food, the remnants of things I warmed up for the kids for lunch and the rest of the turkey I had used to make Kaden a sandwich.  Now, I know that I should have put the turkey in the fridge but I fear that we are only days away from the dog being able to open up the fridge and make himself a sandwich to sit down at the table and eat like a person.  He is good on most days, but he is showing that he is much smarter than the rest of us and I think I have come to a new understanding that I don't much like it when those around me are smarter than I am.  :)

In other news, I am going to make myself go to the gym today.  Allison called last night and said that it was time.  Another smart person.  Maybe that will help work out some of the grouch in me today.  I have nothing in particular to be grouchy about, by the way.  It's just a general state of annoyance.  I don't like it.  Of course, neither do the munchkins.   

Here's to having a better, more productive, un-grouchy, healthy week.  Share with us what you do to get out of your funk.  I know that there are enough of you that must have bad days from time to time.  What gets you out of it?  For me, the beach!!!  I would love to get back there and just breathe the ocean air.  (that or a really good coca-cola, perfectly chilled...can you tell what my weakness is?)

Sufferin' Succotash

Seriously!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I submitted myself to McDonald's torture for dinner this evening because Miss Kyra was so lonely and so sad that she was the only one with nothing to do tonight with Kimball on his field trip and Kaden at a party.  She said that this was the worst day of her life.  (I have no idea where she gets her dramatic tendencies)  So, I go thinking that I have been pretty healthy today with my excess amount of salad and sugar snap peas.  I even took vitamins.  I am here to tell you that a mistake was made as soon as I said yes to Kyra.  Big Mistake.  Huge.  (10 points if you can name that movie.)

#2 with no pickles and a coke.  Any guesses?  700, 800, 900 calories?  Can you guess?  Well, hang on tight kids...

2 cheeseburgers = 600 calories

1 medium fry = 380 calories

1 small coke = 150 calories

A grand total of 1130 calories and 44 grams of fat, 5 of which would be TRANSFAT!!

Now, I ask you, are there enough salads in the world to make that make sense?  This is a clear indicator about my resistance to losing weight.  And I thought that Kimball was going through a lot.  :)  Someone should close these fat ridden, calorie infested, addicting fake food selling businesses before they kill us all.  (Oh, now I know where she gets her dramatic tendencies.)

Oh, by the way the fries were hot and wonderful!  The coke was just the right carbonation/ syrup mixture and they got the cheeseburgers just right.  I can absolutely say that I am a bona fide addict to junk food.  Yuck!  Someone must save me from myself before I gain 100 pounds...no, before I gain another 10 pounds.  You will have to commit me to an insane asylum if that happens.  This whole weight thing makes me grouchy.  

I know I owe you some pictures, and I will post more soon.  I promise.

I have had quite a week so far. Holy Cow!

Brace yourselves.  I am still a little shaky on these things but let me introduce you to some of the things I am juggling this week with the kids.  Now, I don't mean the usual baseball practice and such.  It would even be nice if it was a simple argument over toys or something like that.  Oh no, no such luck.  In this one week, seven days mind you, we have dealt with bullying, bad grades, gossip, huffing, sex, and lighting things on fire when no one is looking.   And that was all on one child.  5th grade is kicking my butt, to put it mildly.  

Now, before you all overreact, let me explain.  Let's start at the top.  I was told of a familiar 5th grade boy being involved in huffing over the weekend.  The story goes that the mom walked in on two 5th grade boys with music on in her garage at 12:30 in the morning, with carpet cleaner, gasoline, spray paint and tennis balls cut in half with the purpose of getting high.  Now, no one knows yet if this was the first time such a thing has occurred, but it certainly scared this mom, and me.  Now, in this discovery, I shared a story with this mom about seeing her son with his mouth on a gasoline can, which seemed suspicious, but in my naive and altogether clueless state, I actually thought it was either empty or filled with water.  Silly me.  Well, this ended up becoming a bit of bullying with my son at school the next day because of the trouble that this boy found himself in, make sense?  He wanted someone to blame so it got back to Kimball that it was my fault,  Kimball came home very upset that day, let me rephrase, hormonally upset that day because he had that incident, slipping grades, and the kids picked on him for getting his hair cut.  This is a fine time to state that I dislike most children.  I dislike the idea that these little monsters can be so mean and get away with it.  

Moving on, I was then informed that one of Kimball's friends wants to have sex...he is 11 years old.  He has not even kissed a girl and he is talking about sex.  SO, Kimball and I got to have a little heart to heart about the importance of waiting and what can happen.  Are you tired yet, because I think I have sprouted some grey hairs with all of this.  

For the final hoorah, Kimball nonchalantly says "did you know that Axe body spray is flammable?"  Of course I know that, it says it on the can.  Duh.  I must not have responded as he had hoped because he asked me again and then followed up with, "because John and Jake showed me today".  These idiot boys chose to take a can of deodorant and a lighter, spray it and light in on fire, with my son watching.  I was furious.  I have already gotten myself in trouble for going to other kids parents about such issues, so I am aware of the fact that I am not allowed to step in with the parenting of other people's children, but this was my son standing there.  I call Larry for backup as he is in Orlando, and he sort of chuckles a little and says, "that's a boy thing Heather.  Leave it alone."  WHAT!!!  This made me more angry than warranted and he attempts to talk me down.  He assures me that it is a stupid thing to do and that Kimball has to be taught to walk away, but that in no way can I tell the parents of these boys about it because it will get Kimball in more trouble with the kids at school.  I feel as if my head might explode with all of this new, grown up, oversexed, over-stimulated, pre-teen nonsense.  How in the world will we make it through middle school???

In other news, I learned how to make the most wonderful Thai food at a cooking class today with some amazing women.  It was great fun and most delicious.  

Big News

Kimball made the Briarhill drum line!!!!!  He auditioned about three weeks ago and we just found out.  Woohoo!!!  

Update

Kyra had her big try out today.  I don't know what the results are yet, but she said that she had a great time and that she would NEVER quit.  Many of you have found the humor in this new adventure of ours, so the word never should give you a great laugh.  I am admittedly a little tickled that she had decided to pursue this at all.  This is the little girl who told me just this week that she was not into that whole "fashion thing" like the other girls.  I was not sure what to make of that so I pressed.  She says, "you know, like Sweet and Sassy and Libby Lu, that sort of thing just isn't my thing".  Now, I am thrilled with that because such places make my head spin a bit but cheerleading isn't much higher on the list of things I most dislike participating in.  Of course I will be all smiles and hugs for the princess and be so proud of her for even going out there and mucking it up with the other little twinkies her size.  But still.

Speaking of trying new things, I am considering some kind of controlled experiment.  There is a long list of things I would like to do with myself and some of them are included on that pile of forgotten but impressive dreams.  I was thinking about this a bit today and I want to see how many of them I can incorporate into my life.  We have to remember that my days begin and end with children and mom stuff, but the question has to be asked, Can Heather do both?  (I know it's a little Sex and the City right now, but go with it.)  Let's start with a list of must do's:

Kids require food, clothing, love and discipline all the time.  That translates to most of my day.  Breakfast and lunch are handled before they go to school.  The morning takes about an hour to get the big kids off to school, leaving Kierstin here.  SO, with Kierstin here I can get plenty of things done, but that doesn't include going to do certain things like piano lessons and things like that.  Fortunately I have a great woman who takes care of her on such occasions.  So, kids get home at 3:30 and from then on, it's all kids.  Tuesdays we have Scouts and Activity Days at church.  Wednesdays we have tumbling and piano.  Thursdays we have baseball and soccer practices.  Fridays are variable as we could have games and Saturdays are saturated with soccer, baseball and tumbling.  So, let's just assume that we are adding two more practices for Kyra for cheer and that means that five of seven afternoons are stacked.  Sundays and Mondays I keep free for church and family and relative quiet before the storm.  The kids are in bed generally by 9 pm.  And we are up again at 6:30 the next day.

 Now, here is a list of things I would like to do myself in the day.  Brace yourself:

Exercise, piano practice, vocal practice, acting lessons, clean house, read, study for school, tan when necessary (and it is necessary about now) and volunteer at the school.  Is it possible to do all of that every week and accomplish something other than a nervous breakdown?  I think I am ready to find out.  I have secured a piano teacher who I quite like and the first lesson went well. I will see her every Thursday morning.  I have a friend that I like to work out with and a trainer that we see, when we go, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  That leaves Tuesday mornings for voice lessons, once I find a coach.  I have had no luck finding an acting coach but will keep looking.  Where that will fit is suspect.  I don't know if I have the tenacity for this much improvement, but I am considering giving it a good effort.  I will see if I can round out the "team" of coaches and set up a schedule and if you see me on the evening news as another mother who is losing her mind, you have been forewarned.  Otherwise, let's see what Heather can do.  :)  

Um...reality check anyone?

Ok, so this was a busy day.  Yes, more busy than normal. It has been fairly nonstop all day.  I did fall asleep this morning after the kids left for school, missing my workout.  You can't blame me though as it was raining outside and still dark in my room and Larry left to work a show in Dallas and, well, it was wonderful...even Kierstin slept.  So, moving on, I met with Holly about Activity Days and I think we got a great head start.  Now, I also indulged in a massage today and she informed me that my back is really crooked.  If you know the story about my back surgery you will find the humor in that as I did.  Anyway, so the flood gates open once the kids get home from school and we have Kimball at a service project, Kaden at piano and Kyra headed to tumbling, meanwhile Kierstin in ready for war and really grouchy.  SO, I take Kyra to tumbling only to be met with lots of little girls her age there ready to work on their routine for the CHEERLEADING TRYOUTS!!!  Ok, normally I would not panic over such a thing because Kyra could care less about cheerleading.  I thought it was a dirty word to her before this very moment when she looks at me and says, "Mom, I forgot to tell you but I am trying out for cheer."  Back the car up a bit and say that to me again, I think to myself.  She was serious.  I say, "ok, what the heck" and she proceeds to join the other prancing little girls.  Have I mentioned that Kierstin is off the charts?  SHE IS!  So, I take all of the necessary paperwork to the car along with my unhappy baby to start filling things out.  Does anyone know how much it costs to be a cheerleader?  HOLY COW!  Needless to say, I am thinking Kyra has lost her mind and she will return to me from this little class with her head back on straight and ready to stick to tumbling or ballet.  What do you think she said?  She loved it and wants to keep going.  Uh huh.  My little daughter wants to try out for cheerleading.  Now, I have no problem with cheerleaders, in fact I wanted to be one when I was in junior high.  But I never thought that I would be a mom on the sidelines watching this little girl in that little outfit.  I am hopefully getting ahead of myself and this will all just fade away into the list of things we attempt and think better of.  OR, she will love it and I have just walked into a role I never thought I would play...Kristen would love it, but me?  HELP!