High School never ends

So I was listening to the radio during lunch and the song "High School Never Ends" by the group Bowling for Soup came on the radio. For those with teenagers this might be a familiar group and or song. Anyway the song is about the fact we spend four years suffering through High School with the promise that this too will pass and once we graduate then the real world will be soooo much better. Yeah Right!!!! Listen to the song and it will ring very true with 99.9% of us. The song goes on to say pretty much that everywhere you look people are acting just like they did in high school. "The whole damn world is just as obsessed with who's the best dressed and who's having sex..." Think about it, how many TV programs are devoted to style, fashion and looks?? Do I even need to proceed to the tabloid news shows and magazines??? Even reality TV ( what an oxymoron) is loaded with those special water cooler moments designed to get us gossiping and wondering what next. Now I'm not totally against the high school years, they were pretty fun times and I do have a lot of great memories. I like the song because it reminds me that as people we get stuck in a role and if we are not careful we end up playing that character for the rest of our life. When you look around do you see the class clown, jock, bully or band geek or do you see your coworker, your kid's coach, your boss, and that lady you buy the coffee from and says hi to you every morning? I'd like to say that I have moved on and I don't dwell on those things but that would be pushing the truth a little bit. No, I'm not the band geek anymore..I stopped playing flute when I graduated college and never in a million years would I have pictured myself as a housewife and stay at home mother. I'm sure if you asked any of my friends back in 1990 when we were ready to conquer the world what they would be like in 20 years they would give answers that were completely different then if you asked them that question now. Oh and for those of you readers who are over the age of 30, please listen to the song "Different World" by Bucky Coventon. I promise that those lyrics will tug at your heartstrings and bring back those fond memories of growing up along with the fervent wish that today's children could be so lucky.

Thank you for being my friend

I've been meaning to write this post for a few days now but I always seem to have more pressing things to do or the loving husband is on the computer when I have a few moments to myself to actually think and write at the same time (shocking I know). My title actually refers to the --according to all the media outlets-- huge increase in the use of Facebook by people over the age of 25. I'll admit that I'm not the most 21st Century technology person. Yes, I have an iPod (shuffle)but it is only about a year old. I have Internet access and know how to e-mail and blog but that is about as daring as I get. I can use a digital camera but if it wasn't for the loving husband putting the software on the computer then I'd be paying Walgreen's every time I wanted pictures from the camera. As for the cell phone stuff...I can make and receive calls but I have never in my life sent a text message and truthfully I have no idea how to even send one. I'm still trying to figure out why people want to watch TV shows, music videos, or movies on their phones. Isn't a phone something you use to talk to people??? Don't even get me started on the whole Twitter thing--I have much better things to do with my life then spend it typing inane trivial details of my daily actions. Tweet Tweet--I finally went pee and this time the kids didn't bother me the whole 5 minutes I was in there. Anyway, back to the Facebook thing. I was a little leery about using sites like Facebook or MySpace since it is putting information out into the big wide open where anyone and everyone could see it. Of course my overactive imagination conjured up images of creepy criminals hacking into my account and stalking me or draining my bank accounts and living in some exotic country. The fact that tons of stories exist about people posting photos or comments that eventually come back to bite them in the butt also didn't help either. However, after getting an invitation from a friend I decided to live on the edge and said "what the heck" and got an account. I will say those first few days were pretty exciting. I signed up and within a few hours I had friends. I would log on to check the e-mail and there would be a message from Facebook letting me know that I had another friend request or one of my friends had posted a comment on my wall. I decided to keep the e-mail notify option since I check e-mail at least twice a day (except weekends and holidays). As I spent more time on my Facebook page I realized why people were signing up. It was kinda fun. I could log on and in a strange way peek into the lives of people that I normally would not have daily contact with. There are some people on my friend list that I have not seen in years and there are others I see on a regular basis. Reading wall comments and other goofy things gives me a more complete picture of the person. I really like the quick bits of info about how a day went or a shout out, rant, or vent. As the weeks went by more people found me and I had more friend requests. I'm not one of those people who friends tons of individuals so I can have an impressive friends list. I'm the person who adds people I really know as a friend. I want to be able to connect with someone on more than a superficial level. I like to read the comments on the Wall and see the tests and other strange applications that others are using. However, on that note...I'm a mother of three young children who keep me very very busy and I don't have as much time to spend online as I'd like. I average about 10-15 minutes per time when I do go online to check the e-mail and read CNN and blogs. Many times I have at least one child on my lap or nearby "helping" or I've been discovered and the whole herd is now camped out into the computer room demanding my undivided attention. Or lunch or snack depending on the time of day. It is hard enough trying to get a blog post done. Those usually take about an hour or so not counting the 30 or so interruptions that occur between start and finish. Facebook can be a real time stealer. I find that I don't really have the time to do all the fun quizzes or tests or tags that are sent my way. Ditto for the myriad of requests for plants, animals, pokes, and other items that I had no idea even existed. I really do appreciate those things being sent my way but please don't take it personally(or throw things at me) if I accept without sending back or ignore the request. Now if you'll excuse me, all is quiet and I want to get a few hours of sleep. If I'm lucky, I won't have to share the bed with Andrew, get Carolyn a drink or have Matthew whisper "I peed the bed" at 4:30 in the morning.

Lost

Well Saturday started as a usual day, get up go to my Weight Watchers meeting-I lost less than a pound-go home get the rest of the family and head out to work out....etc. This Saturday we had a different instructor who usually teaches a different class so instead of a cardio box class we had no limits class. Let's just say that it is very similar except there is a lot more running involved and no bag work. Maybe I should have eaten more for breakfast...I was dying by the end. After a wonderful lunch at Royal Fork (OK, at that point I would have eaten roadkill I was so hungry) we split up and went our separate ways. Hubby wanted to check out the gun show in town and was planning on taking Matthew and Carolyn with him and Andrew and I would go home for naps. I put the bug in hubby's ear that maybe he should take the kids to the St. Patrick's parade downtown later that afternoon and he asked me if I would get the kitchen floor cleaned and I being in a good mood (and full) offered to mop the floor too. I got sleeping beauty home and put him down for nap and then procrastinated a little before starting my cleaning. I got the floor swept and mopped and then loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up the counter tops a bit. I also thought I'd clean up the high chair so I could sell it back to the second hand store. Andrew had not used it in months and it was just taking up space. That required a little more work as I wanted this thing to look as new as possible so I really went to town with the cleaning and I took off the plastic cover and instead of throwing it in the wash I decided to soak it and hand wash it on the off chance that my washing machine would be too harsh and crack the vinyl. I did quite a bit of my cleaning outdoors but when it came time to hose everything off I took the high chair into the bathroom and used the shower head to really get the dirt out of the cracks and crevices. Hubby and the kids came home and we ate an early supper. A little while later I was sitting at the kitchen table and happened to look down at my hand. Something did not look right and I looked again. I don't really have words to describe what it was I felt when I realized that the diamond had somehow fallen out of my wedding set. I immediately ran outside to the loving husband and told him what happened and he dropped everything to help out. I had done quite a bit of cleaning and much of my time was spent at the kitchen sink. Hubby took apart and washed out the garbage disposer but no luck. I looked in places I had been like the back deck and the bathroom and even dug the lint out from under the lint trap to see if maybe I had lost the stone when I was changing loads of laundry. I had a moment of false hope when I found a small clear rock while dumping the van's floor mats out into the driveway. Unfortunately, it was just a large piece of rock salt. Sadly, no amount of searching turned up my diamond. Now it may seem kind of silly to feel so upset about a piece of jewelry but this is probably my most valuable non-living possession. When the loving husband was in college he worked at Kay Jewelers and that is where he got the ring. At the time he was pretty broke and spent almost all he had to get me such a nice set with an exceptional diamond in it. I have always appreciated that he cared so much for me that he would do that. The ring was a treasured item and I wore it proudly with love. Later that night as I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep I started to wonder what it was about actually wearing a ring that made a marriage. I know that there are tons of married women who don't wear a ring and they are still married. Why was I feeling so unmarried without my complete wedding set? It is not the ring but the commitment behind the ring that matters but there still was a feeling of loss, like I had let the loving husband down or something. My finger felt bare and cold so I got out a ring that the loving husband had given me for one of our dating anniversaries and put that on. It is a Black Hills Gold band with three tiny diamonds in it. I guess it could pass as a wedding band so at least I look the part. Maybe it is just the selfish part of me that wants the world to know that yes, I am married, especially when I'm with the kids. I had similar worries when I was pregnant with Matthew. I didn't want people to think I was a single mother to be. Well I contacted our insurance company yesterday and the ring is covered against loss so we might be able to get some replacement money for it. Of course diamonds are still expensive to replace so I'll be wearing my Black Hills Gold ring for awhile. I've asked hubby to not get me a Mother's Day or Birthday gift so I can get a new diamond for my anniversary gift in August. Maybe this is God's way of teaching me patience and humbleness. I'm just grateful that I only lost a stone and not a family member--I can replace a diamond

Sweetless Wednesdays

Well it's Wednesday and I'm totally craving something sweet. I would kill for a piece of gum at this point. A few posts back I mentioned that for Lent I gave up eating anything sweet on Wednesdays. I decided to define "sweet" as both naturally and artificially. I do concede the sugar in things like milk or foods that have 2 or 3 grams like some cereal and sauces but have decided that fruit is a no no. I was having a conversation this morning with Andrew's speech therapist who gave up eating sweets for Lent on the difference between what I'm giving up and what he is giving up. He doesn't see a problem with naturally sweet like fruit or honey. I will admit that the natural sweet did tangle me up a bit at first but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to commit to no sweet anything. This is not to be bragging or anything, I could have easily have said no to donuts, pastry's, and various forms of candy along with my Coke and that would have been a worthy and notable thing but I would not have been challenged to really step out of my comfort zone. That along with the fact I'm already making an effort to limit those things in my daily diet as I pursue my weight loss goal. I knew deep in my heart that I could not go completely cold turkey on everything sweet and I did not want to set myself up for failure so I challenged myself to one day or five total in the Lenten Season. This is a much harder task than I thought it would be. I have a sweet tooth and it is almost second nature for me to seek out that which satisfies it. I know I have 6 days where I can eat whatever my little heart desires and I have one day where I really have to dig deep and focus on what I'm eating or not eating. I have caught myself several times absentmindedly putting food up to my mouth only to stop myself at the last moment when I realize what it is I'm doing. With Weight Watchers, I control what I eat and how much of it I eat so it is up to me to hold myself accountable. There are days when I'm really good at doing this and there are days when life interrupts and I go over points. I have also chosen at times to deliberately eat things that will put me over for the day but that is my choice and I can live with it. I know that if I do this too many times then I will not lose the weight I want to and if I really go overboard then I'll start gaining back what I've lost. If I have a "screw it" moment then it's me that I disappoint and no one else. Committing to my Lenten promise is so much different. I made a promise with God and if I have a "screw it " moment then I'm not just disappointing myself, I'm disappointing Him. I want to be able to look back and say with pride that "yes, I did it" and know He is pleased with me. When I do have my moments of weakness when my brain is in sugar mode then I remind myself what He gave up for Lent. Putting it that way makes my sweetless Wednesdays much more meaningful and accomplishable.

It's one of those days....

This is what happened when I forget to lock my baking supplies drawer. I was only downstairs for a few minutes. Carolyn and Andrew were having sooo much fun. If you are wondering what they are playing in, it is about a pound and a half of powdered sugar. Thanks to Matthew who not only did not join in but tried his hardest to help me clean things up.

Oh that's why I felt so full..oops

I have documented my journey into weight loss many times on my blog and I had to share this story. For those who know me, this is pure Cindy.

On Sunday we had the annual birthday get together with Jim's family. There are 4 nieces and nephews (Matthew included) along with my brother-in-law who have February birthdays so we do one "party" to celebrate. Due to schedules the date was March 1 but that's OK. We usually do a potluck style and everyone is in charge of bringing a dish. We were in charge of desserts. The nice thing about doing the Weight Watchers plan is that it is very flexible and accommodating to real life situations like family get togethers. Knowing that we were going to be eating hot dogs, chili, potato soup and chips along with cake and ice cream made me decide that Sunday would be a perfect day to skip the point counting. This is an event that only comes up a few times a year and I didn't want to offend anyone by not eating the food because I was on a "diet". I also planned on making my homade carrot cake and darn it I wanted to eat at least a piece. Carrot cake is worth 16 points per piece and I have a total of 21 points to use. I lost a point when I hit my 10 pound mark. Rather than stressing about all the points I would use I figured that if I eat sensible and not go overboard I'd be just fine. Hubby has been working on his chocolate lava cake and has it nearly perfected so he decided to make some up to take along. It was also on the please please bring list according to various family members. I do like the cake but it is sooo rich that I can only eat a little bit of it. I think I did a total to two or three bites and Carolyn and Matthew and Andrew had the rest. The carrot cake was oh so wonderful and we managed to give away any leftovers before leaving. I actually saved room for that, and it was so worth it. Now I need to find a lemon cake recipe for the June birthday celebration. Anyway back to the lava cake. The recipe calls for 3 eggs and 3 egg whites. I had forgotten that hubby doubled the recipe and took 12 cakes instead of 6. The leftover egg whites were in a bowl in the fridge. I decided as I was doing lunch for the kids and figuring out which leftovers to use for supper that I'd make myself an egg white omelet and use up the egg whites. Counting points is really a game of numbers and sometimes a food will have more than one point value depending on how much of it is used or if it has been cooked. Eggs are 2 points apiece but 3 egg whites are only 1 point. I happily dumped my egg whites in a bowl, added some low-fat cheese and low fat ham and made up a terrific looking lunch. I noticed that the bowl that the egg whites were in seemed small so I had gotten out a bigger one. (clue #1) I thought that 3 minutes would be enough time in the microwave but after the timer beeped the eggs were still a little runny (clue #2) so I gave them another minute and them dumped them on a plate. I did use a smaller plate but I was surprised at how much omelet there was (clue #3) I happily ate all of my lunch thinking that wow I've got to do the egg white thing more often, this is a really filling lunch. It was so filling that I didn't really need a snack that afternoon although I did eat some avocado with Carolyn who really wanted to try some. When supper time came around I really was not that hungry and ate very little. Later that night as we were driving home from Tae Kwan Do class hubby and I were talking about meals for the week. I mentioned that I had used up the egg whites in the fridge and also told him how 3 egg whites cost less point wise than one egg. It was then that the loving husband reminded me that there were not 3 egg whites in the bowl as I had thought but 6 of them because he had doubled the recipe. Yep, I ate a 6 egg white omelet. I guess that's why I needed a bigger bowl to cook them in and they took so much longer than usual to cook. My big "duh" should have been when I saw how much food was on the plate. Totally clueless here. I think the brain decided to fly south for the winter. Well I went back today and corrected my mistake and gave myself another point for the extra 3 egg whites. I will say that eating that much protein really does help curb the appetite for a very long time. Hubby got a great laugh too.

Kindergarten screening take 2

Well there I was this morning sitting on a very uncomfortable chair while Carolyn participated in Kindergarten screening. It seems like only last year I was doing the same thing with Matthew--oh wait, it was a year ago. Yes, it was that time of the year again. The district had the annual Kindergarten screen and today was the day I had signed Carolyn up. The loving husband agreed to stay home and watch Andrew so I didn't have to spend all my time and energy running after him. I'm sure if the loving hubs knew that all I had to do was sit in a folding chair and wait for an hour then he might have decided not to skip his morning meetings to help out. For those who have not gone through it the process is pretty simple. The school has several different stations set up and the child goes through and attempts a certain task. Parents wait outside of the area away from their child. It is amazing how much things have changed since I was in Kindergarten. My memories are of showing up and meeting the teacher and then a few days later starting school. There was no "pre-test" or screen as they call it. Carolyn had to demonstrate skills in counting, saying (not singing) the alphabet, rhyming, tracing/copying a symbol or letter, write her name, recreating a stack of blocks that had been knocked down, cutting paper, and a bunch of other stuff that I have forgotten. She scored a 69 out of 100 possible. There were several areas in which Carolyn struggled and did not do well at all such as cutting and anything to do with holding a pencil and writing. The stations that she had to know colors, shapes, or position words (under, next to..) she rocked on. She missed two letters on the alphabet but I think that her "m" and "n" probably sounded the same and when she was counting she messed up on numbers 9-12. I also think it was probably due to enunciation since she can count pretty well up to 20. After Carolyn got done with her screen I met briefly with someone from the school to discuss the results. Due to her score and age Carolyn would be eligible for the Jr. Kindergarten program. For those who are going what??? the Jr. Kindergarten is very similar to a regular Kindergarten but the course work is not so intense and emphasis is placed more on social skills and maturity than academics. Most of the kids are on the young side of 5 and would benefit from an extra year of classwork. This is also for those students who would struggle with some of the required academic skills or maybe just aren't quite ready for the demands of Kindergarten. Kids who go the Jr. K route then proceed to Kindergarten the next year. In Carolyn's case she turns 5 in June so she would be a very young 5 at the start of the school year. She also struggles with her social skills and at times does not act her age. She also receives OT, PT, Speech and ABA therapy so she would get an extra year of these services being provided without having to be pulled out of class. Matthew also receives these services through the school so they bus him twice a week in the afternoon for the speech and PT. I take him and Carolyn for the ABA and Matthew misses one recess to do OT. I don't know if Carolyn will be a morning student or and afternoon student. I'll find that out later this year. Either way there will be some part of the day when I only have one kid at home--yeah!!! Sitting there in the chair and looking at all the other parents and children was a strange experience. I have done this before so it was not as if I didn't know what to expect but there is something about having a child start school that really ages a person. I go from mom of a pre-schooler to mom of a kindergartner--totally different. Next year I move up to the mom of a grade schooler level. I guess I'm glad Andrew is still too little for school. I can still call him toddler for a few more months. Time marches on and our children grow up. Wouldn't it be nice if they all stayed little and the biggest worry was whether or not they could pass the using scissors part of a Kindergarten screen?