Lessons Learned

I cannot eat strawberry shortcake if I leave my medication at home
I will have to work hard to lose weight
The road to being healthy is long...and boring
Old habits creep up on you with no warning
Sometimes people put you under the microscope because of the color of your skin
The above sucks
Staying true to yourself can be very difficult at times

Spring Soccer '09

I've been meaning to get this posted for a while...how time flies when things are busy! Anyway, both of my boys played soccer this year. Thank goodness that toward the end of the season Husband got a promotion and started working days. I had been running around like a chicken with my head cut off between the two boys. Once Husband switched to a day position he was able to help out with the running.

Teenager's team had a so-so season. They won some, they lost some, end of season. Bear's team went the entire season without a single win until the last two games. They blew the last two teams out of the water. The score for the second win was 7-0. Both boys had a lot of fun...next season (fall) Princess will be playing. That should be interesting!

Defending My Hobby

Some people are foodies. Some people do arts and crafts. Over the years I've tried many different hobbies. I've painted ceramics, I took a sewing class with my sister, spent time scrapbooking and I've even tried making jewelry. I enjoyed all of the hobbies I've tried and still do some of them ocassionally. None of the hobbies I've encountered have spoken to me like nail polish. Yes, nail polish. I currently have around 65 bottles (I'm waiting on my latest Zoya haul that will take my total to 71) and I'm never without polished nails. Husband thinks I'm completely insane and have spent way too much money on my collection. BUT! I can justify it...maintaining acryllic nails over the course of a year can cost over $600 a year. And let's not forget the cost of having a broken nail fixed and color changes. I think I've probably spent $150 on polish. No, I don't buy Dollar Store polish either. My favorite brands and China Glaze, Nfu-Oh and Zoya. I order from sites like Transdesign and 8ty8beauty (this is the only site I've found to offer Nfu-Oh). So, I'm getting awesome quality polish at incredible prices. No, I'm not trying to sell anyone on anthing, I'm just saying that not every person is a crafter or a foodie. I'm a nail polish junkie...and just for clarification...my nails are 'real', no acryllic on these babies. Excuse the picture quality...but this is Zoya Midori...it reminds me of a green apple but with a golden shimmer...

Celebrate good times!!

Since November of 2006 my husband has been working nights. I know when I say ‘working nights’ you might be inclined to think that I mean he goes to work at 8 or 9pm. Yeah, not so much. Not for us at least. His normal routine would be to put Princess on the bus at 12:30pm and head to work, and then he’d be gone sometimes until 3am. So, for the last two and a half years I’ve been doing 99% of all the running, doctor appointments and field trips with the kids. Well, all that’s about to change. Yesterday when Husband got to work he was asked to join a conference call with his immediate supervisor and the head honcho…they offered him a new position…a promotion of sorts. As of today I get my husband back. He started at his new position this morning…he’ll be working from 9:00am to 5:00pm. He’s been wanting a change, professionally that is. This literally fell into his lap so he eagerly accepted. I’m sure that we’ll in for a major adjustment period but I think it’ll be well worth it to have some real family time again!!!

Every woman should read this...

It could have been as long as 5 years ago that I had a benign mass removed from my breast. After recovering I was told that I needed to have a mammogram every 6 months until I turned 35, then I could have them yearly. Since then I've probably been three times. Yes, I know...I need to go have one done. Anyway, I stumbled across this blog entry yesterday and couldn't resist passing it on. Every woman should read it...

The Origins of Swine Flu...

MEF is a good influence...

Wow…how time flies. Apologies for not posting in so long, I really haven’t had anything to say.
Lately I’ve been trying to go green. The first time I went to visit MEF we went to grab some groceries. She was using reusable shopping bags…and what do you think I did when I got back? You got it. I went out and bought some. Now I have tons of them…big ones, small ones, insulated ones…I even have Ohio State reusable shopping bags. I’ve gotten pretty good about using them…I hate when I bring home plastic shopping bags even if it’s just a couple. I don’t see me being able to phase plastic shopping bags out 100%...let’s face it. That raw chicken is not going into one of my reusable bags unless it’s in a plastic bag first. But to redeem my evil ways I always take them back to the store for recycling. And by all means, if you can tell me a way not to get gross chicken juice all over my bags that does not include using a plastic bag…PLEASE share. I hate those plastic bags.
This past March (I think it was March…) I went to see MEF again…guess what kind of habits I picked up from her THIS time? Thanks to MEF, I can no longer bring myself to part with a glass jar/bottle that I can repurpose. Seriously, I use a glass jar that originally had artichoke hearts in it to hold kosher salt. I’m saving spaghetti jars to use for canning…and if it’s a cool looking bottle, you might as well give it up. I’m keeping it. I have a really cool bottle in the fridge, its current purpose? Salad dressing. It’s next purpose? Well, I don’t know yet. But I do know that I’m keeping it. Oh, and thanks to MEF, we’re also recycling. I know, I should have been doing that all along, but I haven’t been. My kids are excited about doing their part…Husband…maybe not so much. Oh well, I’m sure he’ll get over it. =]

13

Thirteen. I love the number thirteen. What’s so special about the number thirteen? Well…it’s the number of pounds that I have managed to lose so far by just changing the way I eat. I’m not going to say, “I changed my diet”…I hate the word “diet”. Diets are things people try and fail at repeatedly. “Diets” are what you do when you deprive yourself of the foods you love or crave. That’s been my experience anyway. I’ve been on the weight rollercoaster most of my life. Up and down…up 10 pounds, down 4. This time it’s different. Currently I eat everything I want. I refuse to deprive myself of the foods I love. That is a recipe for failure as far as I’m concerned. At first I was motivated by the fact that I’m on medication to lower my blood sugar levels. Now I’m motivated by the fact that I’m losing weight. THIRTEEN POUNDS! Yesterday my friend said, “Syl, you know I love you…but never wear that shirt again…it’s too big for you”. It took a moment to sink it…”it’s too big for you”…I’m not sure I’ve ever been told those words before. I know that I have a long way to go…its taken almost 5 months to lose 13 pounds, and at this rate it’s going to take a long time to lose the rest of the weight, but I don’t feel myself slipping back into old habits. No, I’m not exercising other than walking…but now that the weather is nicer, I see myself out playing with the kids more often. I’m just really excited about my progress; I’m losing weight and getting a better handle on controlling my blood sugar. I might be on blood sugar medication for the rest of my life (genetics suck)…but at least I’ll be at a healthy weight.

MEF and Me

I finally made it out to see MEF. I thought it had only been around 6 months since I’d seen her last…come to find out I was way off! We figured it had been almost a year since my last visit. This, of course, is unacceptable.

The drive out to No-man’s-land, Illinois went much better than I had anticipated. I left at 12:31 pm and got to Illinois at, oh heck…what time was it...I can’t remember exactly what time it was, but it was a lot earlier than I thought it was going to be. Of course somehow MEF and I both managed to misunderstand arrival & departure times because of different time zones. J Hopefully next time around we’ll be able to figure it out. **Seriously, can you believe that anyone let us ‘raise’ a baby when we were 19? We can’t figure out time zones…**

And what do you think happened that evening??? Yep, you guessed it, they dragged me, yes dragged me kicking and screaming no less, to the local waterin’ hole. And do you know what (not who) was in that bar?? A dog. A big black dog lying on the floor as his master’s feet. When you walk into a bar and see a huge dog on the floor it is safe to assume that you’ve officially reached “the country”.

We stayed at the bar for a few hours and then headed back to the house. On Saturday morning Beth and I went to Alton to do some shopping. We had lunch at a bar called Fast Eddie’s. This place was just cool, the outside ‘smoking area’ was impressive with its full bar and radiant heaters (of course we didn’t need the heaters because it was so darn nice outside). This bar has quite possibly the smallest menu I’ve ever seen. Beth and I decided on the $.29 (each) jumbo peel and eat shrimp. We started with 30 shrimp…and then went back for another 30! In hindsight we would have been fine with just ordering 20 shrimp for our second go-round (but really, who could resist them…they were SO good!).

We spent most of the afternoon just lounging around watching Burn Notice on DVD. Which of course, was incredibly fantastic for me, it’s not often that I get to relax without my offspring disturbing me. We, okay Beth, cooked some while I was there. Not much though. We were too busy being sloths on her couch. J

On Sunday we managed to get a little accomplished; Beth finished a beautiful necklace that she had been working on and I managed to string a lanyard for my work id badge. After inclement weather rolled through I packed up my car and begrudgingly headed back to Indianapolis…you know; I’m a very lucky person to have someone like Beth as my best friend. There have been times over the past twenty plus years that I’ve managed to fall off the face of the Earth and lost touch with her, but she’s never given up on me or our friendship. Even though we live 200 miles apart, I’d venture to say that our souls are connected at the hip.

100%

I know I'm a mom. I'm not a SAHM, but I am a mom with a full time job, 3 children and a husband that works nights. So, as you can guess most of the parenting responsibilities fall to me. And that's fine. I get it. Being a mother is a thankless job...but does it have to be? Yesterday morning I was ready to run out the door to go to work when I remembered that all three kids needed lunch money. Since neither Husband nor I carry cash that meant checks had to be written. I am instantly annoyed...but I write the checks. As I'm writing the checks Teenager grumpily comes out of his room in nothing but his boxers (seriously dude, put some pants on) and turns the television down. Yep, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I start in on him about how we (the little ones and I) have to listen to him playing FIFA 09 in his room with that not so mainstream music cd that GirlFriend made for you every single God forsaken day of the week so get your hands off MY television. This of course wakes Husband...who really should know after 11 years of marriage to just keep quiet and let me rant for a minute. I'm not even sure what he said but off I went on him with a "Here is your daughter's lunch money now do something with it because I'm going to work". Why didn't he just say "Ok, I'll take care of it"? Why did he say, "Why didn't you write the checks last night". Why didn't I write the checks last night??? What in the name of all things holy was he trying to do??? Make my head explode??? I spun around and said, possibly even shouted (at this point I have no idea), "Last night when? When I was making dinner? Or running Teenager to GirlFriend's house while I was making dinner because you were too busy watching a movie to be bothered? I know, how about writing the checks while I was cleaning the kitchen or doing laundry so YOU would have clean clothes to wear to work..." I stomped back to my bedroom to get my bag that I use for work shouting at the family as I went, "It's 100% me, 100% of the time with ZERO gratitude from all of you!!!" I made it to the door before I realized that I hadn't said goodbye to anyone so I turned around and gave the kids the "I'm still angry but I love you and I don't want to to walk out the door without saying goodbye" kisses and said "I love you, have a good day". Same for the Husband...then I slammed the door behind me and drove mach 3 all the way to work. You know those women that you hear about sometimes in the news? The storyline reads "Mother of 3 leaves husband and kids to start new life"...yeah, I used to wonder how in the hell a woman who has a husband and children can just walk away from it all. I used to think they were crazy...and maybe some are. But I bet that some of them are just like me...frstrated with being taken for granted, frustrated with the "it's mom's job" expectations. To all you husbands out there...say "thank you" once in a while. Tell your wife that you think she's still beautiful and offer to help out from time to time. And for you kids out there...clean your damn room without a temper tantrum.