Life Is Beautiful

If you pay attention, you can learn a little something each day. Normally, I operate in the mundane. Slow down while eating so you don't choke, hold the baby's feet so he doesn't Riverdance in his own poopy diaper, use electrical tape, not duct tape, to keep the school agers quiet. You know, common sense. But lately I have had my eyes opened to something pretty important. Pride, stupid pride (insert child gasping at the use of the "s" word). The most difficult lessons I have been taught in recent years all have to do with pride. The word is like a nasty taste in my mouth. I just want to spit it out. Such has been the lesson of late. Nursing Cameron came to a point around about a month or so ago, where I was continuing on just for pride. He's had four front teeth for months now, and the kid could probably - quite successfully - drink a triple thick milk shake with a coffee stir stick. About the same time, I realized that he didn't like pureed f...

Not a snow blizzard, a DQ blizzard. I am learning that eating pounds of sugar wrapped in saturated fat will not, as it turns out, solve anything. Hmph. Just like liquor. Damn. Today was one of the worst days as a daycare provider yet. Normally, there is one kid that has "issues" (my own child, usually) because little kids are constantly growing and changing and well, that can hurt sometimes. But this day was special. Both of the 8mo old babies are teething. Acid diapers causing bleeding diaper rash. The Snot Faucet was on full bore so not a nap could be had. There were tears, there was screaming...and that was just me! Also, I seem to have hit some sort of hormonal flux due to the fact that the last time I nursed Cameron (for the last time) was about 2 days ago. Today I felt like the worst PMS ever. The phrase "I hate you, don't touch me or I'll tear your hand off" ran through my mind more than once. I wanted to climb up on top of the house and ...

I had the ER nurse take this shot before they stitched it up. Eww... Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

This last week has been even fuller than the last one! There has been much in the way of revelation. I figure nobody really wants to read a 4 page account of my life this week, so I'll hit the highlights in a few separate installments. --Your welcome-- I'll start at the beginning of the week. My house tried to kill me. I'm happy to still be alive and kicking despite it's attempt. Maybe we should have chose a different color when we painted. Hmm. On Tuesday we had freezing fog in the morning. Our older children were up and ready early and had a field trip with some fellow home schoolers to attend. Our neighbor also home schools her kids and is a tremendous help and resource for me. Our 11yo son went out the front door and came back in, telling me that he'd slipped and things were icy out there. Trying to prevent a serious fall, I went out on the front porch and grabbed the rock salt. Each foot stepped successfully down our concrete front steps, but on the s...

The last week has been to busy for blogging. I started cultivating a nice infection on Sunday and by Monday had full blown mastitis. I even had DH stay home from work to help me with the children. I was one sick puppy! My weightloss last week came out at -3.8lbs. Oooh, just shy of 4! I was pretty surprised to post a big loss again. That's almost 7lbs for January - only 3 to go for my 10lbs per month goal! I only got to exercise 1 day last week, but I counted every little itty bitty calorie. Sticking to 1800, still. It sounds like a lot compared to most of the ladies on the weight loss boards, but I guess I burn a lot. Whatever works! Back to the subject of my difficulty last week. This was the second HUGE pain and in this area in the last month. I suffered with some terrible scabbing a couple of weeks ago that made me want to *scream* every time I fed him. He has 4 teeth and nearly chews through a feeding. All things considered, I decided to try some formula in a bot...

I heard a quote today that really said what I have always wanted to say about BOREDOM but could never quite put into the right words. "Boredom is the desire for desires." -Leo Tolstoy A brilliant writer, Mr. Tolstoy got it right. If you're bored, it's because you are wasting time wishing for wishes. You can't even think of anything to do, so you do nothing. The phrase "I'm bored" bothers me from the youngest person's lips to the oldest. When a kid says it, it most likely mean "I don't want to do what I know I should do." But when an adult says it - it either means "I can't go do what I really want to do" or "I'm not brave enough to do anything else." Sad. I hear it a lot from Moms. I don't think they mead that they are bored though. Life is one thing after another. Sometimes it's the same thing. For weeks. Or months. Years, even. But who's folly is that? You're own I say. Li...

A frequent topic of discussion among people trying to shed pounds is "When/how do you weigh yourself?" If you are on a maintenance plan and happily sticking to an exercise and healthy eating plan, then weighing yourself once a month is best. But if you are working daily on calorie restriction and working an exercise plan to loose weight, once a month may not be enough. I had been weighing myself once a month, and ended up waiting till the last 2 weeks of the month to follow my eating plan. :-o Most weight loss programs recommend weighing once a week or less. Weighing at the same time of day is helpful as well. You will almost certainly weigh more at night than you do in the morning. Weighing right before you hop in the shower will give you the ol ' Birthday Suit weight. For a long time I was a once a week weigher . Monday morning before breakfast. That was me. But it seemed like I suffered from accountability issues in that amount of time as well. Either I wait ...

Had me one of those days where I just wanted to run away. I placated them with cartoons long about 4pm and just stood in the kitchen for a while. Made some coffee, chugged some black, and moved on. Getting back into the swing of things with school has been hard. For me. The kids are happy to have something to do on these sub-zero days, but it's extra work and I had just gotten used to not doing it. I love accomplishing something though, and getting done by 2pm gives me that feeling. Cameron is sleeping better than ever and that's a plus. However, the kids haven't been outside since Sunday when we went to Church and I'm ready to bash The Biggers heads together and tie up one of The Littles and throw her in a closet. **Of COURSE I wouldn't do that** I've been easily able to stick to my diet plan this week. I decided that I'm to busy to log food on the computer and have been keeping a running total on the white board. Works great - most foods have a...

You awake? Because I am. At 5:30 or so every day. Feed me. Hold me. What was that!? Your 'real' alarm. Yawwnn. I'm tired, put me back to bed, and get to work - those other kids will be here soon. Snooore.

I was so appalled with the price of bread today at the grocery store, that I just had to snap a picture. Wow. And this was at a warehouse super store where I have to forage and haul my own purchase. I want to feed my family well, but with $3/gallon and higher milk (which translates to uber -expensive cheese and yogurt) and $2/lb apples in my cart, I left the bread. I admit it, I grabbed the store brand psuedo -wheat bread. We'll slap some lean meat and lite mayo on it and figure two out of three ain't bad.