My son the charmer

My 3 yr old son may have his first celebrity crush - other than optimus prime and other other transformers and rescue bots. I was reading a magazine this morning and J-man saw a picture of Charlize Theron, the tall blond gorgeous actress. He looks at the picture and asys I like this girl. I saod. "You do?" And he says yes. Where does she live? I told him California. He says, "I want to go to Claifornia. But not now. It is time to go to school."

Where Would I Be?

Where would I be right now if I wasn't doing what I had to do but rather was doing what I chose to do?

Suck it up so you don't have to suck it in!

Normally when I go on vacation, I lose a pound or two, or stay the same. Somehow with all the craziness of Jack's broken arm and scooting between family gatherings, dinners, etc, we did very little walking so very little burning off the food. So to my surprise, or rather jaw dropping shock, when I got on the scale last Monday, January 9th, I weighed almost 8 lbs more than I thought I would.

The signs were there....pants a good bit tighter, my daughter asking me if I was having a baby while squishing on my squish, among others. Maybe it turned out to be a blessing as it shocked me enough to actually jump on that fitness/health kick that I have been trying over and over to get on. Well I should say stay on. Getting on was not hard, staying on was. But so far, I am really proud of how well I have done. I found a very good app called My Fitness Pal (www.myfitnesspal.com). I have set my calorie intake at 1200 calories. When I add in my daily running (yeah I have been good with this too!) it allows me to actually eat 1400 calories. I also went on www.pinterest.com and found some great motivation in photos of fit people as well as quotes to help push me. My favorite quote"

Suck it up so you don't have to suck it in!

I think the scale shocker as well as the almost 40 reality has helped me get going. My goal is not a number on the scale to be honest (although I am eyeing it), but rather to be fit, eat healthy, feel healthy, be healthy and love my body! I want my abs back and no more belly hanging over all my pants. I will wear a bikini this year and feel goood about it!

P.S. My running during lunch has also keep me from shopping at lunch time and buying things I don't need!

Pythons.....shiver....yuck!

I just watched a National Geographic show online about Burmese Pythons. I am so not a fan of snakes!! Thwe show opens with a 911 call in Florida from a family who's python got out of its cage (or whatever they housed it in) and it strangled their 2 yr old daughter. So horrified right now. My heart breaks for that child and her family. But why would you keep a monster like this in your house with a child.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com

These snakes are thriving in the US, Florida particularly. Yikes!! My kids may never go outside again. Okay not really but that is scary.

Halloween

Halloween is fast approaching and I am so exciited for this year. Both my kids are excited to wear costumes. My daughter picked out a pink pegasus pony. It will be the first time in 4 years that she hasn't worn her purple tutu and a t-shirt. My son is going as a fireman. He has a fireman raincoat and boots. Neither of my kids has ever liked the traditional costumes. I guess I should be grateful because we haven't spent much money on costumes until this year.

Since we live in Texas where it is still warm, we don't carve our pumpkins until a couple days before Halloween. Any sooner and they rot. So today I printed out some great stencil designs to let the kids pick from. I was pleasantly suprised last year at how easy it was with a $5 pumpkin cutter pack from Target. So much easier than the knife I used to try to use. I actually cut out a witch last year. This is really fun and exciting for me as I am not a creative type. Yeah for me!!

Here are some great designs that we found online.

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/halloween/mpatterns.htm

Pictures will follow after we cut them this weekend.

Words to Inspire

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=1651

For those of you like me who have not found their passion, their perfect job, heed Steve Jobs' words in this fantastic commencement speech he gave to Standford University in 2005. What an amazing and inspirational man. I love his message. I love his attitude. I love his words. I love his view on life. I wish I had heard this years ago. But as he says in this speech, you cannot connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect the dots looking back.

I know I have something great hiding inside to pursue but I can't quite seem to find it and unleash it....yet. But I do believe I will.

Thank you Steve Jobs and may you be free and happy. God bless and thank you!

Bathroom Renovation

It took 2 and 1/2 messy monts but our bathroom renovation is finally finished!!

Here are some before and afters.....

Week 1 Menu

Monday: Rice, chicken and edamame

Tuesday: Fish sticks, rice, baby carrots

Wednesday: Tacos and peas

Thursday: Spaghetti and corn

Friday: Ham, macaroni and cheese, baby carrots

Kids Health Kick Too

Time to get my kids eating healthier too. Start with small manageable steps.

1. Plan meals ahead. No catering to their whims that night.
2. No snacking when we get home from school. (If they do carrots and fruit only).
3. No treats/sweets or sodas during week.
4. Brush teeth every morning.
5. Bed time 8 pm.

Let's start wth this and see how it goes....

Gum Surgery

Had my final gum surgery and boy was it a doozy! If I had known they would attack both sides of the roof of my mouth I might not have done it. But to find the positive, hopefully I can use this as my kickstart my simlpify health kick. Losse 12 lbs., tone up, get in shape and be able to run 3 miles. Nothing too lofty. All attainable if I can just control my snack and mindless eating. I can do this!!

Need to find my inner super model self. Fierce, strong, will power galore, healthy, smart, sly, subtle, yet full of inner peace and happiness!

So over the heat

Working on our 87th day of triple digit heat. So tired of it. Ridiculous. Drought. Dry. Hot. Everything burned and dying. No relief in sight. Kids and I have no desire to go out to play in this heat. Can't wait until it actually cools off some so we can enjoy being outside and don't have to avoid the sun.

Settling In

So we are somewhat settling into a routine and E-babe is overal enjoying kindergarten. Last week we even had to be the first ones at school so she could hang her backpack on the very first hook. And we beat the teacher so that was fun too. J-man has to have his backpack too when we take E-babe.

Mornings aren't quite as relaxed as they used to be but at least we are finding a workable rhythm.

1st day of kindergarten

I think maybe I am one of the few people to really dread is day. For many reasons.
I love daycare and not having to worry about wha time I get the kids there.
Both kids are under the same roof all day.
One drop off. One pickup. (still have 1 pickup to be honest).
No lunch or snacks to make.
Can get them whenever I want. (not that I did a lot but the option we there).
Comfort and security of the same old routine.
Worries about kids teasing e-babe.
Her fear, stress and nervousness makes me a stressed mommy.
Just more chaos in my life with trying to get kids to bed early, up early and lunch made, etc.

I hate it!!!! She did great though. Was super excited (and no she has no idea of my feelings about it. I want her to be excited). She got scared and nervous once going into the room but she braved it out!

I picked up up today but from now on she willnget picked up by daycare and town back to the big kid room. I will be nrvous and it will take every bit of strength not to want to run over there or call to check on her.

I am not ready for this!!! I want my kids little still.

Friday Thoughts

I took my daughter to lunch today - just us. No boss worries, no chasing a 2 yr old around. Just a nice lunch. Very fun. Then we got ice cream and came back to my office. Trying to motivate to work a little more (lots to do) with it being a holiday weekend.

Also need to get home and clean. Our house is a messy disaster. Dust and dirt everywhere. No exaggeration unfortunately. One day we will have a maid and my life will be little bit easier. Right now I know a good part of my Saturday will involve cleaning. Yuck!

But we have a 3 day weekend so that is something appealing. Too bad Texas is in such a drought - no fireworks allowed. Not a horrible thing since E-babe is scared of the noise. J-man would probably not like the noise either. But he would like the fireworks exploding.

Can't wait for the neighborhood parade on the 4th. Always hot but fun!!

Almost Ready to Eat

My first canteloupe is almost ready to pick!! Hope I get it before the bugs.

Tomatoes

Look at my pretty yummy tomatoes. Somehow the imperfections don't seem so bad when they are your own home-grown, do they?!

Father's Day

So our Father's Day plans went a little off kilter. Or rather haywire! Woke up at 6 am to 80 degree temps in the house. AC broke. So kid went in and woke up Daddy. We got up, got dressed, and went to breakfast. I was hot, irritated and stressed and that was aggravated by the fact that no one was returning my calls despite having emergency hours for ac repair. Finally during breakfast of course they called. Exorbitant fees and charges for Sunday repair so we packed up and stayed in a hotel downtown. Kind of like a min vacation. Too bad over 100 degrees. Took kids to lunch, walked to see the fire trucks around the corner and then kids museum. E-bab and I swam in indoor pool when we got back while J-man and Daddy napped together.

Kids loved the hotel and J-man especially loved all the cars and trucks we saw. In the morning as we were crossing street to our car, we saw a fire truck that turned on its lights for the kids, a street rail car, a police car and a bus. What fun!!

AC is fixed now after 2 attempts and 2 different hotel rooms. Before that fridge broke. After that washing machine separated and leaked. Ouch, been an expensive time!

Blue Grocery

Love this exterior of this South Congress store!

Kids Museum

Cooling off in the Austin Children's Museum. Got a membership today too.

Tea Party