Testing

Blogging from my phone.  IT'S CAPITALIZNG EVERYTHING WITHOUT PERMISSION.  Sorry for yelling. Have to figure this out. Blerg.

Red Letter Day

• Miriam has a field trip to the zoo.  Fun, fun, fun!  I packed her lunch with a little I-love-you-have-tons-of-fun note.
• Samuel has been learning Easy Talk in speech.  It's a method to help him get past stuttering in his daily speech.  I've been encouraging him to use it throughout the day but he's been resistant because he's self-conscious about talking more slowly.  This morning he got really frustrated but stopped, took a breath and switched to Easy Talk and got through it!  I am so proud!!
• The kids have a school skating party tonight.  There are several of them through the year and they always beg to go.  This is the last one so I agreed to take them.  I'm not looking forward to it, but they are.  Immensely.
• I have lost 20 pounds!
• I get to eat 1900 calories today and we are hitting the Wendy's drive-thru before the skating party.
• My phone rocks.  (I started a post about this and then abandoned it but I will finish it some day.)

Default Hiatus

I hate how I get out of the writing habit and it's so easy to just keep coasting without writing.  This might sound silly but I feel like my brain gets clogged.  I think about a lot of things that I want to write but I never get around to it so all the thoughts hang out in my gray matter.  It gets kind of dusty up there like that.

I hope to do some spring cleaning this weekend.

I Hate the First Week After Breaks

I really do.  When the kids are with the ex-husband in Albuquerque they eat all manner of crappy food, stay up way past anyone's decent bed time and are generally spoiled rotten by movies, video games, candy, amusement parks and no responsibilities.  Then they have to come back here where I *gasp* make them eat healthful meals, go to bed at an appropriate time, do chores and I can't spend money on every entertainment their little hearts desire.  It sucks for all of us.

So last week I was in a funk.  It's tough enough to write about the mundane things during times like that, never mind the extraordinary ones.  But we made it through the week.  Literally one week of nagging, hounding, whining (both theirs and mine) and crying.  Sunday was a great day and Sunday marked one week of the kids being back here with me.

Today was fabulous.  Well, except for the minor frustrations this morning with Samuel's toothbrush.  And his jacket.  And his shoes.  But that's kind of normal.  We had a delicious, balanced meal and each kid was only reminded once to eat the veggies.  I did not only a load of laundry, but also unloaded the dishwasher from yesterday, reloaded it after dinner and ran it!  The kids had minimal homework that was done quickly and they even had time for some tv and a half hour of computer games.  Everyone went to bed (almost) on time.

:contented sigh:

I hate Week One after school breaks.  Week Two is okay.

Think the Potatoes Might be Old?

The Number, Part 8

So I wrote the other day that The Number was down by 16.  And today it's officially down by 17.  Woot!  Three more will be a major milestone.  I loved being able to say that I had lost 15 pounds.  Saying that I've lost 20 pound will be that much more awesome.  Also, the first 15 pounds were just what I had gained from July to December of last year.  I need to get past that point.  It's as much a mental thing as a physical thing now.

Also, I'm back to strict calorie counting.  I proved to myself that I wasn't ready to quit counting.  I stopped counting for roughly 3 weeks and reverted back to bad habits.  Not as bad as before, but still bad.  I didn't gain any weight but I maintained steadily and now is not the time to be maintaining.  I hope to be maintaining this summer.

I didn't win the online Biggest Loser Challenge.  I came in third, I think.  And now I'm part of another Biggest Loser Challenge at work.  I don't know if I'll win that one either but I'll do my best.  Besides, the point isn't winning anyway -- the point is being fit and fabulous and loving it.

I joined a challenge with my online fitness friends to do push ups in the month of April.  On April 1 we did one push up, on April 2 we did 2 push ups and so on.  I decided to add crunches to my part of the challenge, too.  I'm hoping to see some serious definition by the time summer rolls around.

My official goal is to lose 19 more pounds.  That would put me at a weight that I haven't seen since the awful Summer of Divorce when I lived on Dr. Pepper for fear of vomiting all other sustenance from the hellacious anxiety and stress.  I know 19 plus 17 sounds like a lot, and it is.  And I might not actually get there. (But if I do, it'll be a much healthier weight than the Summer of Divorce because I will get there by healthy eating and healthy activity.)  Those are just numbers.  I can imagine what I will look like and feel like at that weight but if I get to a point before there that I feel fabulous and healthy I'll stop.  I'm not as concerned about the numbers as I am about my feelings toward myself and my energy and overall health.

So there you have it -- a Number update.

Awesomeness

This week on my online home there was a thread titled "Things that are awesome" and it made me really happy.  People posted the good things that have happened to them this week or things that make them happy all the time or things that are, for lack of a better word, awesome.  I liked the idea.  So, without further explanation, things that are Awesome or Phenomenal or Tremendous or Excellent or whatever other superlative you'd like to tag them with:

1. my adorable kids
2. the fact that my kids are maturing and might, one day too soon, object to being called 'adorable'
3. Paul
4. my clean house
5. the organic, grass-fed, free range, used-to-be happy beef that's now in my freezer
6. movies
7. music
8. friends
9. family
10. game night
11. excellent food
12. decreasing The Number by 16 (Woo-hoo!)
13. feeling like I'm exactly where I belong
14. exploring school/becoming an RN options
15. me (Yeah, I said it.)

Spoon

Spoon. Oh, yes.  I really like Spoon.

Let's see, where do I start? Oh, how about with the transportation? I planned out my trip so that I would arrive via train and bus just before 8, when the openers started. But I went to dinner first with friends, lost track of time and missed the train. So I took a later one and missed the bus. No problem, I'll just catch a later bus, right? Wrong. The next bus wasn't for another hour. So I walked. It actually wasn't too bad, though. It was just over a mile. I ate way too much at dinner and the walk was a good way to burn some calories.

Anyway, when I got there everyone else was already inside so Jennifer came out to meet me with my ticket and we got in without any problems and found our crew some where near the front.  The openers, as Caleb said, "Aren't bad.  I just don't like them.  Plus, that dude with the guitar is going to break.  Like a twig."  His description of the guitarist was right on -- he was really, really skinny.  And not very smart.  He tried to make a reference to Layne Staley but instead said 'Layne Stanley.'  People didn't like his talking and not singing so he started to get some heckling.  Someone flipped him off and he said, "Hey, why would you do that?  You know, there was this lady named Emily Post who wrote some books -- you should f@ck!n' read 'em."  That was kind of funny.

Somewhere during this I noticed puffs of smoke rising periodically from the crowd.  Now it was pretty smokey in there because of the fog machines and stuff but there's no smoking allowed.  However, it was quickly evident that this was not cigarette smoke.  But you know, Colorado does allow people to smoke medical marijuana with a prescription, so who knows?  Maybe our fellow concert-goers had chemo treatments earlier in the day or were suffering from cataracts.  You never know.

I think it was right about this time that I started to smell something really foul and no, I'm not talking about the pot.  It was really, really disgusting.  Like stockyard disgusting.  Jennifer smelled it, too and we decided that the girl in front of us had farted.  It was so gross.  I don't think I've ever smelled something that nasty from a person.

Standing so close to that many people is weird sometimes.  I mean, in addition to the pot and the farts.  The girl in front of me was really drunk and kept swaying and stepping backwards into my personal space, which is already tiny in a setting like this.  Her hair was getting in my drink.  Caleb offered to trade places with me and then he stood right next to her and didn't move when she backed up.  Finally she realized what she was doing and went away.  It took her a really long time to notice, though.

And then some where around here, I got hit in the back of the head by some guy's elbow.  I turned around to see what happened and there was a guy behind me with his arms flailing around.  At first I couldn't tell what happened.  It looked like either a seizure or body-surfing gone bad.  As it turns out, it was neither.  Two guys got into it over personal space and one started throwing punches.  Caleb picked up the aggressor and threw him off the other guy.  So he left.  The guy who got punched was bleeding and lost his glasses.  That sucked.

Just before the show ended I noticed this guy who wandered into my line of site.  I took a photo because the quote on his shirt is so cool.  It says, "Only when the last river has been poisoned, the last tree has been cut down and the last fish has been killed will man realize that he cannot eat money."  I just love that.  I wish more people thought like that.

And here is my very, very dark photo of the Capitol.  I have a thing for the Capitol.  I don't know why.  I just like it.

Playing Catch Up

The kids have been gone for almost two weeks so I've had a lot of free time.  That free time has been spent with Paul and other cool people, working and doing fun stuff.  I haven't had a lot of time for writing.  I miss it so I thought I'd get back into the groove with a brief summary of what I've been up to.

Paul and I didn't make it to the Western Slope for the spring wine festival.  A big snow storm moved over the mountains and we decided it was too risky to drive I-70, especially when it's already been shut down to one lane by a rock slide.  Fortunately, the B&B owners let us reschedule our weekend to July 4th if we added another night to our stay.  There's another wine and blues festival that weekend so that will be fun.

Since we were in town that weekend we instead got to go out with Jenn, Caleb, some of Caleb's family and some friends.  We ate at Jonesy's Eatbar and then went next door to hear Reckless Red.  It was a fun night.  That weekend we also went to see a couple of movies: Alice in Wonderland and Crazy Heart.  Alice in Wonderland was predictably good if you like the combo of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.  And I do.  Crazy Heart was really, really good.  Jeff Bridges truly deserved his Oscar this year.  Fabulous movie.

On Tuesday night that week Paul had free vouchers for Comedy Works.  It was new talent night so the comics were hit or miss.  There were half a dozen that we really enjoyed.  Afterward we spent some time walking around downtown and people watching.  We discovered that there's actually not much going on after 10 pm on a Tuesday night.  Ha!

Last weekend we spent Sunday with friends of a friend from my office.  They play Egg Wars for Easter.  I picked weak eggs and lost badly.  But there was tons of delicious food and good conversation.  I like this making new friends thing.

Last night I had dinner with some work friends and then met Jenn, Caleb and friends downtown for Spoon.  Needless to say, we had a great time.  We always do.  More about that later.

This Friday night I'm hosting ladies' game night at my place.  I don't know how much game playing we'll get done, but there will be delicious food, some drinks and laughter.  It's going to be great.

I'm making some more progress on settling into the new place.  I have some artwork up on the wall above my bed.  I also have some new artwork up in the dining room and living room.  And I'm working on an idea for the hallway.  I'll post some more pictures when I'm all finished.  I'm making Samuel a duvet for his bed, too.  I've made bedding for the other two kids in the past but he was so little then that he couldn't really voice an opinion.  The poor kid has been using Miriam's hand-me-down, flowered, pink-and-purple comforter for quite some time.  He says he wants his cover to be half yellow and half orange and he's going to get exactly that.

I've talked to the kids several times.  They're having a blast and being spoiled at least 1/2 rotten in ABQ.  They come back this coming Sunday and I'm really excited to hug them and squeeze them again.  They're such great kids and I miss them.

Samuel turned 7 last week.  For some reason, his 7th birthday is difficult for me to wrap my head around.  He just seems so grown up now.  For so long, he's been  The Baby.  And I suppose in some ways, he always will be; he is the youngest, after all.  But 7 years old is so much not a baby.  I'm not sad about him getting older -- I'm not That Mom.  It's just weird to think about my youngest being so big.  Samuel does tell me that he'll always be my baby, though.  If I could insert a pink, puffy heart here, I would.

So I don't know about this being brief but it's a summary, at least.  It's good to be back.

Heard a New One Today

Acne's foot.  As in --

What's that cream? That one that you use? For the rashes?  On the feet? For acne's foot?

Irony

Those are wind turbines. On the back of a Hummer.

So We Got Our Snow Day

Two years in a row we get our first snow day of the season in March.  To be fair, if school had been in session in October we'd have had at least one snow day then but it was Fall Break and the kids were already out.  But seriously, blizzards in October and March?!  Colorado is weird with its weather blending Rocky Mountains.

Today is going to be fun.  Miriam and I made biscuits from scratch for breakfast.  We also scrambled some eggs and added cheese and turkey bacon to make our own breakfast sandwiches.  Yum!  Lunch will be leftover pasta and veggie bake from last night.  And for dinner tonight -- it's Taco Extravaganza!  I'm going to make more salsa, simmer chicken and good stuff in the crock pot and top everything with tomato, avocado, lettuce and cheese.

The Number is screaming at me right now but I'm telling it to chill out.  I had one biscuit (153 calories, because I was curious) with one slice of bacon and tiny servings of cheese and eggs.  And it filled me up so much that I won't need any snacks this morning.  Plus I might have a salad at lunch instead of the pasta stuff.  Tacos will be okay -- they're chicken, the tortillas are multi-grain, there is no sour cream and I'm not venturing out to get any, I'll have a reasonable amount of cheese and some black beans.  It'll be great.  So, chill out Number voices.  I've got it under control here.

The kids have decided to spend all day in their pajamas, which is fine by me.  The boys are watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Miriam is going through her school memory box.  She keeps bringing me cute pictures and stuff she did in pre-school and kindergarten.  She's amazed by some of the things she's done.  I heard talk of some sort of treasure hunt game that the kids invented last night.  I think they're going to continue that today.  I'm not sure what it entails but they love it.  Later we'll put on snow pants and go outside to dig the car out and throw snow at each other.  If you're lucky I'll get some snowy photos.  I'm going to get ahead on laundry, pack my bag for this weekend and maybe paint my nails.  OPI is calling to me.

I heart snow days.

Overheard

Do not go in there!  Someone just cut massive amounts of cheese!

Random Rambling

1. I cut my finger on a piece of chicken. Yes, I said chicken, not chicken bone.
2. It's snowing.  Hard. I really want a snow day.  Hard.
3. Paul and I are going to the Spring Wine Festival in Palisade this weekend.  We're staying at the cutest little bed and breakfast I've ever seen.  I'm excited.  I just hope we don't have to make small talk with the owners.
4. I'm on my second full week of no calorie counting. Last week I was lazy and ate mostly what I wanted.  I gained 3 lbs back. This week I'm being stricter and hoping to see a loss on Monday.  If there's still not a loss I'll go back to the counting.
5. I took the kids to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  It's way cute.
6. Häagen-Dazs 5 ingredient coffee ice cream might be the best thing I have ever tasted.
7. Google 'shark with people teeth.' Just do it.  I promise you won't regret it.
8. I saw a bumper sticker today that said, "Die hard fan of having a roof over my head."  I giggled for several blocks. 
9. I've discovered a phenomenal recipe for salsa. It's so good and so easy, you'll cry.
10. I have decided I like cilantro in small doses.
11. When I re-formatted my blog I lost the instant edit link in the layout and I'm very frustrated that I can't find it.

Google Voice Message 4

Hello to see of. Later is. Hey Leanne, Noon, and, but I'm writing. Hey. Jessie here. Lou Hey Bro, bye hello. I don't know, Hello Hi saying that he's you can, alright, it's, Hi, Hello yeah, Hi Yeah who. Hello something. Okay bye. Hey. Okay bye. Say hello i yeah 4, Hello, Yes, hello it. Yeah, but hey, believe it. We are going on. Hello bye bye electricity by do it. Yeah x Hey C, but yeah.

This was another pocket dial, from the ex-husband this time. He was in church. Singing. In Spanish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bye. Yeah.

Google Voice Message 3

Okay Hello Larry, If he wants me. He doesn't know that you have a Yahoo.

You know what this message really was? Someone butt dialing and not knowing it. They didn't say a single word. It was just a bunch of static and fabric moving against the phone. Yeah, not kidding in the least. I really could not make this up if I tried.

PSA 3

If your cuticles require the application of super glue before going to bed, be sure the glue is dry before removing your contact lenses.  If the glue is still wet you may get a blob of it on the edge of your contact lens requiring you to open your last spare lens the following morning.

New Apartment

This is our living room upon entering the front door. That fireplace? So weird. I assumed we'd have a gas fireplace because that is mostly what people have around here, especially in apartments. But no. It's electric. Weird, huh? You flip a little switch and it lights up and blows out heat but there are no actual flames.

Another view of the living room. I'm desperate for summer so I can get some plants (even if they're fake! Ssshhh!) and put up my little patio lights and sit outside with the warm air and some wine and some music ... aahhhh. I love summer in Colorado.

The front door.  Not much to say about that.  Behind that built-in bookshelf is the kitchen, for a reference point.

This is the view from the front door and built-in bookshelf.  Miriam loves her Wizard 101 account.  I'm not entirely sure how that works.  She has fire wizards and earth wizards and she banishes evil spirits or something.  I think.

The dining area as seen from the computer desk.  My tablecloth is wrinkly.  Don't look directly at it, please.

The kitchen.  Yes, that is a beach towel rolled up and stuck at the bottom of the laundry door.  That little closet has an outside wall and no heating vent.  It's flipping cold in there and the towel makes a huge difference in the temperature of the kitchen floor in the mornings.  Please excuse the clutter all over the fridge.  It holds our life, basically.

This is our mondo boring hallway.  It's between the fireplace and the computer desk.  I need to figure out what I can put here to make it less boring and still uncluttered.  I'm still thinking about that.  Suggestions are welcome.  To the right is the world's tiniest closet.  It holds approximately 2 1/2 coats and maybe a pair of gloves. Past that is the door to Miriam's room and then the door to the boys' room, which you cannot see from this vantage point.  The door you can see is the kids' bathroom and my bedroom is to the left.

My girl's room.  She loves it, in case you were wondering.  Any where the boys aren't is a good place, in her opinion.

Her stuff.  That wall needs something.  Their dad is sending a disc of photos from his last visit up here.  I plan to print several and make a collage for her to hang on this wall, above the shelves.  That will take a bit.  I forgot to take a picture of the wall to the right.  It's just her closet.

Boy room.  I'm not sure I like their beds turned this way.  There are about 3 feet on the other side of the beds.  It does make changing sheets on bunkbeds much, much easier but it chops up their floor space.  So far, they like it because they can hide from each other on either side of the bed and shoot Nerf guns.  The jury is still out on that one.

A wall with more toys than they really need.

Another wall with lots of toys.  That collage is from a weekend trip with their dad about 4 years ago.  The Chinese lanterns are in kind of an odd place.  Still not sure about those, either.

Kids' bathroom.  The framed painting above the toilet was created by Samuel in art class.  It has red fish stenciled on it, some green seaweed and gold pebbles.  It matches their bathroom perfectly and he's so proud to have it there.

My room.  I'm most displeased with my room.  Next to the hallway, it's the most boring part of our place.  And I kind of think that makes it worse because hallways kind of get a pass when it comes to boringness.  I almost didn't post pictures of it because it's so boring.  But I figured some reference would be good because if anybody has ideas, I'd love to hear them.  Also, when I spruce it up, I'll post After shots.  By the way, those are boy legs.  They are watching Star Wars.  And while we're talking about it -- television in my room?  Not so sure about that.  There are pros and cons.  I have yet to decide which carries more weight.

The Most Boring Wall ever.  Don't you feel special to be experiencing this?  I have matching lampshades but I haven't expended the energy to change out the brown one to another red one.  I'm in more of a blue phase these days.  I really love my bedding.  It's brown and accented with kind of a dusky blue so I want to move in that direction.

My bathroom.  I really love my bathroom.  The closet is to the left and it's pretty awesome.  I have tons of space in there.

So there you have it.  Our new place.  I like it so much better than the old place for a lot of reasons.  Its only drawback is being on the third floor and even that really isn't that much of a drawback.

I Forgot All About These

Back in the summer when I visited the kids in Albuquerque we walked from our hotel to the zoo. We passed a park that had been renovated by the people in the neighborhood. There were a couple of huge concrete pillars tiled with wishes and memories written by the people who live in the neighborhood.  They made me smile so I took some photos. And then I forgot about them until tonight when I came across them while browsing other photos.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire ... and all that Jazz

T tagged me (again) and I was lazy and forgetful and didn't do anything about it.  I just remembered this afternoon that I was supposed to do this when I saw the entry that someone else made when T tagged her.  Ha!  How's that for the opposite of lying?  It's the absolute truth.  No kidding.  Whatever.

So here's the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
 Thanks evah so much, m'lady!
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
Done!
3. Link to the person who nominated you
Um. Can't.  T is like that.  Deal with it, folks!
4. Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one truth.
Easy, right?  Uh, nope.  I'm kinda skeered to do this, actually.
5. Nominate seven "Creative Writers" who might also have fun telling outrageous lies.
Don't know that many.  In fact, considering that I have, like, 2 blogging friends and both of them have already done this, I probably won't tag anyone.  Go ahead and make me.  See if I care.
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
See el numero cinco.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you tagged them.
Otra vez, mira al numero cinco.

Alrighty then, now that the technical info is done with, let's move on to the lying part. I'm so bad at this. First of all, I hate lying; I'm not good at it. Second of all, I'm not that creative. So don't laugh hysterically when I say something lame like, "I have seriously disgusting toe jam." Promise? Pinky promise? Kthxbai. (Btw, that toe jam thing -- totally a lie! I swear.)

Just kidding. I'm not going any where -- I still have to lie to you guys 6 times. Blerg. Here we go, for reals this time.

1. I scrub the bathtubs in our house every time someone showers.
2. I spent 11 months in juvenile detention when I was 15.
3. I wish I'd never left Texas.
4. I think online dating is stupid.
5. I lurves me some haggis.
6. I want to have another baby, eventually.
7. I have moved 25 times.  So far.

There you have it.  Six untruths and one truth.  It's up to you to decide which is which.  Well, not really.  Your choices one way or the other don't change the truth. Or something like that.  I'm sleepy and going to bed.  See ya!

The Number, Part 7

Oof.  I'm unmotivated and here's why:

1. I'm not going to win the Biggest Loser Challenge amongst my online friends.  There's a chick there, P, who is incredibly disciplined.  Plus, she is just better at this than I am.
2. I'm not so sure I want to run the 10K in May.  There's a registration fee involved and I'm kinda thinking that maybe it's not worth it.  I mean, why should I pay someone else to let me run 10K?  Maybe I'll do some shorter (free) 3Ks and 5Ks
3. I'm tired of counting calories.  I stopped counting last weekend because I figured I'd learned how to eat well enough that I could.  But then I gained over the weekend.  :sigh:  I still want to lose at least as much weight as I've already lost so I need to keep up the counting.  But I'm tired.
4. I want french fries.

But I have to keep going.  I deserve this.  I deserve to feel good about myself, to be fit, to be confident, to wear the clothes I love.  And I know I can do this.  It's never been a matter of can. It's a matter of discipline.  And right now I'm feeling rather undisciplined.  I need to snap out of the funk.

Dinner Conversation

Tonight we talked about segregation.  Last night we talked about The Birds and The Bees.  I don't know how this stuff happens -- it just does.  And since I'm not one to pass up Teachable Moments and Life Lessons (I hate those phrases but what else do you call them?) I go with it.  Anyway, tonight it was segregation and Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. and unfairness and anger and sadness.

Samuel was especially moved -- I don't know what's with him today, he's very in tune with his sympathetic side this evening.  He realized during the course of this conversation that life 40 years ago was extremely different from today.  His eyes welled up with tears and he said, "If my best friend Evan and I lived back then we couldn't be friends and play together!  He has brown skin!  That would make me so sad!"

I was so touched.  The innocence and the naivete ... Little do my children know that 40 years ago they very likely wouldn't have been born.  If they had they'd be living a very different life than the one they have.  We all would.  I am so grateful for progress and fairness and for those that fought so hard for all that we have today.  And I am so happy that my children are learning fairness and equality now; it's instinctual.

el-oh-el (& How Sweet is My Boy?)

Be sure to check out bored, unhelpful dog in the background around 0:20.  And please, I beg you, laugh so hard you snort; it would make me feel better about myself.



When we finished this, Samuel wasn't hysterical like Solomon, Miriam and myself.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, "If that was my puppy that couldn't turn over again, I'd help him."  And then about 5 minutes later after the other 3 of us watched it twice more and laughed ourselves silly, Samuel said, "If that was my poor puppy, I wouldn't make a video of him like that."  How sweet and sensitive is that?

Because Miriam Can't Be Left Out

Me: Miriam, what would you like to talk about today?
Miriam:  Presleigh.
Me: Who is Presleigh?
Miriam: My best friend.  She's my bestest bestest bestest friend in the whole world.
Me:  Wow, that's a lot of 'bestests.'  Why is she your best friend?
Miriam: Because we were friends since second grade and um, she's nice to me.
Me: What kind of things do you have in common?
Miriam: We're both girls and we both like to read and that's it.
Me: That's it?  That's all you have to say about your bestest bestest bestest friend in  the whole world?
Miriam: No, that's just all that we have in common.
Me: I see.  Is there anything else you want to say about Presleigh?
Miriam: Um, she's in my math class and my reading class and we're in the highest reading class for our grade.
Me: What kinds of things do you and Presleigh talk about or play on the playground?
Miriam:  Um, we play on the slides and the bridge and the monkey bars and we play with Anneya, Diddy, Lily, Krystal, Jackson, Tysen, Madison, Cindy, Caitlin, Anna, Tony, Jasmine, Kobe and that's it.
Me: Are Jackson, Tysen, Kobe and Tony any of your boyfriends?
Miriam: NO!!!!!!
Me:  Oh.  Do you have a crush on anyone at school?
Miriam: NO!!!!!!
Me: How about your friends?
Miriam: Yes! Diddy likes Jackson, Lily likes Jackson, Jasmine likes Kobe and that's it.
Me: So you don't like anyone?
Miriam:  No.
Me: Is there anything else you want to say?
Miriam:  No, I think that's it.  Bye, peeps!

Chess Tournament Again

I'm pretty sure I blogged about Solomon's chess tournament last year.  I know I at least mentioned it in passing.  Well it's that time of year again.  The tournament is sponsored by the public school district and something called the Interscholastic League so I'm spending the day in a high school cafeteria, waiting around on standings and pairings and playing practice rounds with Solomon in between actual rounds.  There's a lot of sitting around and doing nothing.  So Solomon and I are going to conduct an interview.

Me: So how did your first round go?
Solomon: My first round was very short. I really didn't even get close to beating my opponent. I learned about a move called en passant. It happens when two pawns are right next to each other. One pawn can move forward diagonally and take the opponent's pawn. This can only happen if your pawn has not attacked another piece yet in the game.
Me: Wow, so even if you don't win a game you can still learn something to help you in a future game, right?
Solomon: Yes.
Me: What about your second round?
Solomon: This one was very close.  I almost won with only my king and five pawns.  My king was in check every 3 moves but each time I found a way out of it.
Me: So what ended up trapping you?
Solomon: One of my opponent's pawns was at my king's side and she replaced it with a queen. I moved away and then one of her rooks moved in until the rook pushed my king into a trap with the queen.  Then I looked at my options and realized there was no way out.
Me: What is your strategy for the third round?
Solomon: Well, I guess I will start off with a knight because they're confusing.  And then whatever their move is, I'll bring out my second knight.  Then I shall take all the pieces I can.  Actually, I'm just imagining this.
Me: Okay, then.  We'll take a short break now to regroup and prepare for the third round.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Me: When we last reported here you were about to enter the third round. How about telling our readers what happened during that round?
Solomon:  Yeah.  Third round.  Isn't that the one I won?  Yes, yes, it is.  Fortunately and unfortunately, I won and it was the only time I won.
Me: But winning the third round was fun, right?
Solomon: Sorta. Yeah.  Who doesn't like winning?
Me: What about the fourth round?
Solomon: I lost.
Me: Do you want to say anything else about the fourth round?
Solomon: Um ... I was one of the last in there.  But I still lost.
Me: Bummer.  How about the fifth round?
Solomon: I was black on the very last game.  We were set up with a clock.  The white cheated because they kept pressing the clock so it would go on my turn when it was his turn, wasting my time.  Literally.
Me: Did you talk to a judge about that?
Solomon: No.
Me: Why?
Solomon: Because the judge had just told me to keep going when they set up the clock.  It was extremely close until he took my bishop because all he had was his king and queen.  And both of them can go in any direction so I couldn't attack or he would attack me back.
Me: That sounds like a really tough game.  What did you learn during this chess tournament?
Solomon: If someone's cheating, go ahead and tell the judge about it.

Tournament Miscellaneous

Chess tournament today for Solomon.  I'll be posting an interview with Solomon tomorrow.  Until then, random observations from today ...

The high school guest network blocks Facebook.  I don't like that.  I need to know what everyone in my life, no matter how insignificant they are, is up to today.  Rightthisminute. Just kidding.  Well, about the needing to know what everyone is up to.  Not kidding about being bugged that Facebook is blocked.

I saw a kid crying about how he was coerced into conceding.  There was a misunderstanding and when a judge talked to the two kids, the other one talked over him and he couldn't explain himself.  Of course, I only heard one side but I feel bad for the side I heard.  I think it was his third loss in a row.

My laptop is freakishly hot today.  I don't know why.

My iPod is my lifeline in situations like this.  It keeps me from appearing to be rudely disinterested in the people around me and instead makes me look politely disinterested in the people around me.  It also gives me a legitimate way to stop further conversation between myself and the guy at the next table.  I don't enjoy making small talk with total strangers and I especially don't like it when there's the potential for All Day Long Small Talk.  No, thank you.

I'm sitting at just the right angle to fully highlight all the smudges, fingerprints and other various detritus that has accumulated on my laptop since the last time I cleaned.  I have nothing with which to clean my laptop and it's bugging me.

I really hope Solomon does at least as well as he did last year.  He won 2 and lost 3 last year.  So far, he's lost 2, is on his third and has 2 more after that.  I'd love it if he won 3 this year so that he feels more accomplished.

This morning when I dropped off Samuel and Miriam with Jenn and Caleb (so they don't also have to spend all day in this boring cafeteria), Caleb said to Solomon that he should sit down across from his opponents and say very calmly, "I'm going to crush you."  Solomon laughed and practiced it on the car ride here.  When we got around other people I told him he had to stop saying that because someone might hear him.  So then he started smiling hugely and muttering softly, "I'm going to crush you, smash you and annihilate you."  This kid cracks me up.

The environment here is nice.  All the parents seem really invested in their kids.  I've not heard one harsh word today.  Everyone is polite.  A few kids have pouted or cried about losing a game here and there but they've all been met with calm, rational parents that talked it over with them and then everyone moved on.  I tend to think smart, cerebral occupations like chess might bring out the best in people.  Or maybe chess brings smart, rational people out of the woodwork.

Again, I'm completely impressed with my boy's attitude.  He's confident without being cocky and positive without being unrealistic.  He's gracious when he wins and when he loses.  He's such a great kid and I love sharing this with him.

By this point, Solomon has lost 3 games and won 1.  He's currently on his last one and it should be done any minute now.  They started this round a long time ago.  I'm unbelievably nervous.

Happy Coincidences

I forgot to write about this when it happened two weeks ago.  I was home from work and Paul had jury duty.  When he got out of the courthouse we met for lunch at Bombay Bowl.  As we got our food and found a place to sit, Paul said, "Hey!  There's Blake!"  Blake is one of our friends, whom we met because he works with Caleb.  I looked and not only was Blake there, but also three other friends.  We got tables near each other and chatted a bit while we ate.  And then Caleb showed up.  At that point it had been a couple of weeks since I'd seen Jennifer or Caleb so it was nice to catch up unexpectedly like that.

It makes me really happy when these kinds of things happen.  My sense of contentment and community are reinforced by running into people I like when I least expect it.

The Number, Part 6

The Number is down by 15. I love that sentence. FIFTEEN POUNDS! :happy dance:

Some observations regarding The Number:

1. I found another pair of jeans that fit.
2. My belt has to be cinched another hole smaller.
3. I finally worked up the courage to dig through all the clothes that haven't fit me in a long time.  I divided them into piles: one is stuff I should be able to wear in another month to 6 weeks and the other is stuff I should be able to wear this summer.
4. When I hit the 15 pound mark, my motivation kind of tapered off for a bit and it scared me because I have a long way to go. I need to lose at least another 15 and would be happier with 20. My motivation is back now because of the cute and fun summer clothes pile.
   
5. I can't keep my cell phone in the back pocket of my jeans any more.  It pokes my bones and hurts. That didn't used to happen.
6. It's becoming much easier to look at junk food as Treat Food rather than Regular Food.
7. I hit a plateau a couple of weeks ago. A friend directed me to a site that instructed me to cycle calorie intake daily and trick my metabolism into working more efficiently.  I was skeptical but the proof is on my butt now, or not on my butt, as the case may be.

So that's how The Number looks these days -- pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

Voice of Reason

Last weekend in the middle of the move, Paul got us sushi and other yummy stuff from Tokyo Joe's.  I heart Tokyo Joe's. And Garbanzo. And Bombay Bowl. And Qdoba.  But that's another story entirely.  Back to Tokyo Joe's.  They had these gigantolicious cookies by the register just so kids can beg their parents for them and eat half their body weight in sugar and chocolate and other deliciousness.  Also so adults like Paul and myself can look at them and drool at the stuff we can't eat while we're establishing better eating habits.  So Paul got 2 of them, thinking that his son and my 3 kids could split them up; he and I were not part of the splitting up plan.  Good thinking, right?

Well, when we got back with all the food, all 4 kids were dying for a hunk of the chocolate chip one which left the poor, unloved oatmeal raisin one with no takers.  So Paul caved and ate the oatmeal raisin cookie for breakfast on Sunday.  Ha!  Suckah!  I held fast and had oatmeal and an apple.

Before he busted into the cookie though, Paul showed me the label.  It looks something like this.  Actually, it looks exactly like this.  Duh.  And they're not kidding when they say, "BIG. HUGE. LARGE. YUMMY."  This thing is almost the size of my face.  I'm taking Paul's word for it that it was yummy.

And here is what's printed in small type at the bottom:

Disclaimer: THIS IS A BIG-ASS COOKIE ... It contains sugar & lots of it.  Not intended for daily use.  We highly recommend that you share it, possibly with your training partner on the way to the gym. It's a Reward ... Savor it!

Above that is a list of ingredients in the cookie. Guess what? They're all actual pantry items you could purchase at any grocery store. There are no weird, lab-developed chemicals that actually should not be consumed by humans, no food dyes, nothing strange. Just real, whole ingredients. Amazing.

This is why I heart Tokyo Joe's and other fast food places like them. They prepare actual, real, fresh food. No modified food starches, no plasticized fries or rubbery cheese. Food that would actually rot if left out for a while.  And they are very clear about what is a treat and what is actually good for you. That, my friends, is a very good thing.  I hope Tokyo Joe's and places like them can help change how people look at fast food.  I know we'll never be rid of McDonald's and Burger King (and truthfully, I don't really want to be -- sometimes a double cheeseburger and fries can really hit the spot) but I'd like to see them become much less prevalent.

We Did It!

The move is finished.  It took most of yesterday and I am exhausted.  Everything hurts.  Today I am unpacking and organizing and settling in.  Yesterday was not fun but I like today.  It's fun to figure out where everything fits and when all of that is done, I get to put things on the walls and prettify the place.  Yay!

Also, a million thanks to everyone who helped.  I truly could not have done this without you -- no way, no how.  Thank you to Jennifer and Caleb, Kim and Blake (and your kick ass trailer!), Paul, Lance (who was too sick to work but not too sick to help me move furniture. :winkwink: ), Lisa and Megan and Lisa's brothers (I'm sorry, I don't remember your names. Please forgive me).  You guys make a girl grateful that she has such awesome family and friends.  Truly.

Coming soon to a blog post near you -- photos of the new place!  Fun!

Duh

 We saw a commercial for Pepperidge Farm cookies this morning.  The voice over intoned, "Why do cookies in ruffled paper cups taste so good?" and "What makes cookies covered in chocolate so delicious?" and other delicious, dramatic nonsense.  Images of creamy, melted chocolate and crisp, airy, buttery cookies floated across the screen.
 
Miriam and I were sitting on the couch, brushing her hair and trying to fashion some sort of pony tail.  The last line of the commercial said, "What makes these cookies so perfect?"  Miriam turned to look at me and said, with all the drama an 8-year-old girl can muster, "Well, it's because they are made with chocolate!" And rolled her eyes.  And waved her arms violently.

How can you disagree with that?

Moving Day!

It's finally here!  I don't want to go into all the back story because it makes me really angry every time I think about it, but moving day almost wasn't going to happen.  But it's all good now and I'm so excited!  I'm sick of living with walls of boxes around me, sick of my boring walls, sick of worrying about what might go wrong, sick of my rude neighbors and so, so, so ready for more space.

The utility companies have been informed of my move and are switching my accounts to the new place either today or tomorrow.  My friends and family are coming tomorrow morning to help me with the bulk of the moving.  I'm hoping to go to the leasing office today and get keys for the new place.  I've been told the apartment is ready so there really isn't any reason I can't have them today.  The kids and I are going to take the vacuum, dusting cloths and other cleaning supplies to clean it to my standards.  If we're feeling ambitious we'll even move some of our boxes and get them unpacked.

It's really happening!

I Don't Know Which is Worse

A cup of warm pee, or a cup of cold pee.  I hate picking up a cup of fresh-from-the-body pee because I have this weird aversion to knowing that the pee is warm because it was just in someone's body.  Ew.  It's like hating the feeling of a chair that someone else recently vacated.  But I also hate picking up a cup of pee that's been sitting in the lab for an hour and is now cold.  It's cold because it's old pee that is now probably swimming with bacteria.  Gross.

Parent Teacher Conferences, Again

I met with each of the kids' teachers.  They're all doing fantastically.  I already knew that, but it's nice to have their teachers say so, you know?  I am so proud of them and all of their hard work.  I told each of the kids that their hard work is what makes me happiest.  Getting As is nice and all, but what I really want is to know that they're all doing their best and giving it their all.

Everyone is 'proficient' in all the core subjects -- meaning that they are performing at grade level -- except for one.  Solomon has almost caught up in reading.  That's been the subject he has struggled with immensely since first grade.  Fortunately, between his perseverance and his teachers' patience, he's doing much better.  He has made huge strides in fluency and comprehension just since this year began so I have a great feeling about how things will look when we meet again in a couple of months.

On the behavior front, things are good also.  Fortunately, that hasn't been a problem with my kids.  I feel very lucky -- at least, when they're at school.  Ha!  Home is another issue entirely, but it usually is, right?

So that's how things are at school.  My kids are brilliant.

/shameless bragging

More School Artwork

 

Samuel made this in art class with clay and he painted it himself.

  

It's a Ninja Wild Thing.

 

It even has a tail.

Google Voice Message 2

This is Matt Eaton press one. Yeah, this is calling from you. Yeah, this message is 4. Jessica Xxxxx. Yeah, Jessica Xxxxx. You, yeah You, yeah, Hi. This is an important message from Midland Independent School District. Due to current weather conditions are friends, I've traveled all of my S T campuses will be closed today's Tuesday 3rd with 23rd 2002. Yelling early morning will be valuation, Midland. I guess the administration transportation officials and local law enforcement of green has current weather conditions are touch with will not improve over the next several hours. Therefore, all of my few campuses will be close to the 8th and all extracurricular event are canceled until further notice. Yeah if you have further questions, please log on to our website at W. W. W, Dot Net, and, I, S, T, dot net for more information. Yeah if you had an questions. I've got this message, please contact the school at 413 came in 6 and 9 1 me around around around there are no more messages. Goodbye your messages will not be repeated.

I have a daily alarm on my phone set for 5:30 am.  This morning I got a phone call before the alarm went off but in my sleepy stupor I thought it was the alarm so I hit snooze, which also happens to be the button that rejects a call.  When the alarm went off I saw that I had missed a call from the superintendent of the district where I used to work and the kids went to school.  I fell asleep, had a weird dream about the people I used to work with and woke up when the alarm went off again.

Then I got curious about why anyone from the superintendent's office would be calling me, especially at 5:00 am my time and 6:00 am their time.  No one from human resources has any reason to call me and if they did, they wouldn't do it that early, right?  So I checked my voicemail.  There was a message stating that due to bad weather conditions, school and all extracurricular activities have been canceled today.  It was perfectly understandable.  But then I got the transcript from Google Voice and I almost ROFLed.  Seriously.

A couple of things to point out regarding this message:

• No where in the audio of the message did the call reference Matt Eaton.  As far as I know that isn't a real person having anything to do with MISD.  So I left it.
• Somehow the transcription got my last name right so I censored that.  Those of you who know my last name can just imagine it's there.  Those of you who don't know my last name ... well, to my knowledge no one reading this blog doesn't know my last name.  But I'm still not leaving it there.  Duh.
• The bolded portion that reads, 'Your message will not be repeated," is especially entertaining to me because the message was repeated.
• With the exception of one call from the kids' school asking if we wanted to keep our enrollment slots for the coming school year, I haven't gotten a call from a school official in the last 2 years.  I have no idea which database they're getting my number from but if it means I get funny messages like this, I'm never changing my number.

I Love T-Shirts

You know that, right? Well, I especially love funny t-shirts. I came across this contest online for the best Princess Bride t-shirt. And since that's one of my favorite movies ever I loved most of these shirts. If you're not a Princess Bride afficionado, feel free to go right on past this post because you probably won't find it funny.

 

  

  

 

Weird Apple