February is Funauary!!

I think January is one of the worst months of the year: it is long, it is cold, and it is dark. We lucked out this year, though, with mild temps and very little snow. So really, I can't complain too much.

But it always gives me great joy to flip the calendar to February. And here's why: My Parent's anniversary is in Feb, Husband's birthday is in Feb, it is a short month (with the exception of this year, Leap Year. I still don't understand the physics of how we can add an extra day onto a month every 4 years and not totally screw things up), and last but not least, it is Valentine's Day.

I know there are people out there that scoff at Valentine's Day but I really like the day. We don't go hog wild over it, but I make sure to go out of my way to let those that I love know how much I really love them.

I usually make a super special meal for everyone and Husband brings me either flowers or balloons (I get him the chocolate since he is a bigger fan of it than me!). Of course I wouldn't mind if he brought me one of these

But that gets filed under "When I win the lottery" on Pinterest.

There is also a movement in February to not eat out. My family started this a couple years ago as a way to cut down on fast food and save some money. It is now very popular among my fitness people that I follow. We don't order in much anymore but I think we will do the Feb no fast food challenge again this year. I am going to let the kids pick their reward and maybe that will keep them motivated for the month. It will be harder on Husband than anyone as he likes his Tim Horton's coffee and iced coffee. Maybe I can let him still have those and just not tell the kids??

Weight Warriors

How's it going? I weigh in tomorrow and am hoping for a good number. I have another chicken in the crockpot today for dinner and I will be honest: I am getting tired of chicken (see? The taste buds do get tired of the same stuff!). I am going to skip the chicken next week and get some pork and some tilapia. We need more fish in our diet and it's on sale. Win win. I also try to have a meat free meal once a week but am getting tired of pasta. Any thoughts? Any recipes on Pinterest you want to share? Speaking of recipes: Husband wants a chocolate peanut butter cake for his birthday. Any ideas how to pull that off? I don't bake well so I could use some help. 

Keep increasing your fitness level and watching your portions. It is a beautiful day here and I plan to get outside with the kids this afternoon. I spend way too much time inside and really need to work on getting out more.

Have a great Tuesday everyone and enjoy the last day in January!!

Cat

The Wood pile

We had a 1/2 cord of this delivered today. When the nice young man dumped it on my driveway, I thought "That doesn't look like 1/2 a cord" but started to stack some in the garage. Once I had a nice little pile to dry out in the garage, I got out our trusty wagon (we keep this wagon for wood hauling purposes only, though sometimes Youngest likes to careen down the driveway in it. With helmet on, thank goodness) and started the arduous task of loading the wagon, taking the wood out back, and stacking it on the deck.

48 minutes later, drenched in sweat with legs that ached, I changed my thoughts to "This indeed was a 1/2 cord of wood!" and counted it as my workout for the day. It is all neatly stacked (well, not as neat as that picture) and ready to be burned. Which made me just think: why bother to make it look all nice when we are just  going to burn it???? Maybe next year I will leave it in a heap on the deck.

Last night, my group of gal pals went to our friend's house for some Mexican food (home made) and some

We had a wonderful time as we always do and after the week I had with Youngest, I was glad to hear that I am not alone with parenting issues. I don't like that anyone else has to go thru what I go thru, but it is really a relief to know I am not alone in the crap. And maybe one of us will find something that works and we can fix our kids once and for all! So just a shout out to Mighty Mouth (she dubbed herself this over a decade ago!), Pageant Patty (it was that or Eight Ball Betty), Blondie (though I know you are secretly afraid of the internet, so you won't actually see this) and Doc: You are a wonderful group of women and I am thankful to have you. And your yummy food...and drinks...

For my Weight Warriors: Clearly I enjoyed some drinks and really, really good Mexican food last night! I got a great walk in Sunday with Husband and the wood stacking today has my legs screaming at me. Feb is only two days away so let's hunker down and get this done. I want us all to hit our goals by the end of the month!! I know a lot of you forget what your password is on here, so you can send me your updates to my FB page.

Let's have a great week everyone!!

Adios,
Cat

Day off

At 5:58am this morning, I sneezed for what seemed like two straight minutes. This was a full hour and 20 minutes before my alarm was going off. My day off was not getting off to a good start. Once you sneeze yourself awake, there's no getting back to bed.

I pretty much felt like this (this is not any of my dogs). But I laid in bed until about 6:30 then got up and fired up the waffle maker. This morning was blueberry and choco chip (not mixed) waffles. I discovered yesterday that I like blueberries. Who knew?? Middle child had some, too, and said "They taste like grapes". I like them right out of the container, but the kids like them in the waffles. I am happy that I can add another fruit to my very short list of fruits I like.

I promptly went back to bed after the kids got on the bus and slept for a solid 2 hours. I woke up feeling better in spirit, but still fighting this cold. But I hopped on the treadmill and got a great 40 minute walk/run in. I think sometimes all it takes it some sweat to make you feel better. At least for me anyway.

I hit Meijer and shopped at some other places, home in time to unload all the groceries, then head up to pick up Daughter. I hit the library on the way, too. I love the library. It truly makes my soul happy. The kids screaming in the kids section did NOT make my soul happy, but I have been there, so I just smiled at the mom. Nothing like a kid screaming their head off because you won't check out the Dora Halloween dvd. Seriously, just check it out!! 

I made taco chili in the crockpot and it was really good. We will be eating it for the next couple days in tortillas and on salads, but that's ok. I love leftovers. 

As mom's, we don't really ever get a real day off. I didn't have to work but I still had to do things related to my family. The one thing I refused to do today was LAUNDRY. It was staring at me the whole time on the treadmill, but I refused to give in, "You can wait until tomorrow!" I shouted at the forever growing pile!

Busy day tomorrow so early to bed for everyone tonight. That's my hope anyway. I hope you have a great weekend!

Weight Warriors: I weighed in this morning and had a 2 lb loss, down to 147. I have been making sure to get enough fat in my diet and it really is helping me stay full longer. Seems my fat phobia WAS the issue. I have noticed, too, that my kids don't eat a lot of stuff with high fat content. Maybe if they ate more fat, they wouldn't eat every three minutes!  Do your best this weekend and have fun with your families.

Thanks for reading!

Cat

Grey Day

This is not an upbeat blog. If you are in a good mood and don't want it killed, close this blog now. 

It has been raining what seems like non-stop for 24 hours now. Our backyard is half pond so of course the dogs want to go out endlessly to check it out. Lots of wet, stinky fur. Cat people, I envy you.

Husband was soo excited to go to Habitat for Humanity this morning but was worried about the weather. I called their weather hotline at 7:15am and there were no updates, so he got all ready, I packed him a killer lunch, and off he went. He didn't get around the corner before they called to say today was cancelled because they were going to put in doors and windows and the caulk does not set in the rain. He came home looking like a wet dog himself. He had take the day off to do this so he stayed home today and got some stuff done around the house, moping the entire time. Poor guy, I feel really bad for him.

I woke up feeling worse from my cold. Between that and the raging hormones, I did not want to do anything today! I muddled thru work, the grocery, and the library and came home to collapse. Only to wake up in a worse mood. I hate that.

Youngest child had a major melt down after school. He has had a good couple days AT school and I think he must save up all the crap for us because tonight he was a BIG hot mess. Just when I think I cannot cry another tear over that boy, he tops himself. Tonight was one of those nights that I thought " I honestly don't know if I can do this another day". Then Daughter or Middle child come in and say or do something goofy and I realize it could be worse. Thank god for goofy.

I am off Friday and could not be happier. I plan on doing whatever I want (which includes grocery and bday gift shopping) and getting a good workout in. My Sat will be spent driving Daughter to her writing competition (imagine how fun it will be to get her up at 6:30 on a Sat morning!). I will miss Middle child's basketball game because I will be picking her up, coming home to change, and going into work from several hours. Sadly the best part of Sat will be me working a couple hours. I worked this event last year and it was easy money. Hoping for the same this time. Sunday will be a lot of laying around and going to my gal pal's house for a nice dinner and drinks. That will be the best part of my Sunday!!

On an entirely separate note, all the inspirational posts about storms coming in and dancing in the rain: to this I say, bullshit. NO ONE goes out to dance in the rain! Seriously, do you know anyone that looks outside and says 'Wow, I should get all my rubber gear on and go dance in the rain because it is so pretty?" No, you don't know ANYONE that would do that. In the summer, we will go out and play in the puddles AFTER the rain but not while the life ending lightening is going on. Get real: unless you are stranded in a desert, no one dances in the rain.

I warned you I was a buzz kill today.

Thanks to my friends and family that leave comments on my blog. I appreciate the time you take to give me your thoughts.

Weight Warriors: There is nothing I could say today that would motivate any of us!! Try to get some good exercise in tomorrow so you start your weekend off right. I try to really get a lot of minutes in on the weekend so I don't feel bad if I only have a half hour to workout during the weekdays. Also, since upping my fat intake, I am much more full. Or it could be that I don't feel good and nothing sounds good. Hard to tell, but I am feeling fuller.

I hope you all have a great Friday. I will snap out of this mood, I always do. Thanks for hanging in there with me!!

Cat

Neither here nor there

This blog doesn't really have a clear direction today. I am feeling a little scatterbrained and feeling a cold coming on. So just some randomness:

1. If I stop a line of cars on our VERY busy single lane road in our town so you can safely make a left onto said road from Hooters, YOU DAMN WELL BETTER GIVE ME THE COURTESY WAVE. Honestly, there is nothing more that irritates me than the lack of the courtesy wave. If I save your life from getting squashed by a Semi on the highway by letting you in, even though you waited until the last second to merge, WAVE AT ME! Why is this so hard for people to grasp? And another thing Central Ohio drivers: if it is raining, it is LAW to have your headlights on and it is AGAINST the law to text while driving. I have seen you do it and am going to start writing plate numbers and sending them to the cops!! Ok, not really but come on, put the phone down for the 20 minutes you are in the car.

2. If you are a mom/aunt/grandmother and there is a cute little girl holding your hand while wearing the cutest light up snow boots, I will stop the little girl to tell her how much I looovvveeee her boots. I am not trying to abduct her, or you, for that matter. People feel good when they are complimented. Get over yourselves.

3. I think it is funny when people in a service industry are startled when you call them by their name. I have had grocery people ask me if they should know me from somewhere. My reply "We don't know each other but you have a name tag on, so I am calling you by your name". That's the point of the name tag, right? So I don't call you Cashier Girl or Bagger Boy, I call you by your name. I am fairly sure there is a "Beware of this woman" poster up in all the local stores with my picture under it. Sorry, you have a name tag on, I am calling you that name.

4. Also beware that if you are in a public place, like a grocery store and are talking on your phone anywhere in the vicinity of me and you start laughing, I WILL ask you what you are laughing at. Obviously you feel everyone should be in on the joke since you are talking and laughing in a public place, right? Oh, it's intrusive of me to ask since it is a "private" conversation? Not private in my book, sister. You clearly want everyone in the produce isle to know what is going on in your life, if you don't, wait till you get home!

5. Why don't my dogs come to greet me at the door like they do everyone else in this house?? I came home today and Teddy rolled over on the couch and Molly didn't bother to get out of her nest in our room. But Middle child comes home and they are on him like he's raw meat. Teddy is licking his face and Molly is dancing around with great joy. They look at me and yawn. And I am the one that feeds them and loves them more than the rest of this group. Ahh the injustice......

Now to the Weight Warriors portion. How we doing girls? My one friend has lost 4 lbs and is doing great. Another one of the gals is going thru some health issues right now so she gets a pass. I put on a pound and am not too surprised. I consulted my FB friend Rachel Mac (find her on Fb, her story is amazing) about why I am so hungry from 4pm thru dinner time. We talked about what I eat and I am not consuming enough calories or fat. I told her I have a Fat Phobia: when I log my food for the day I aim to be way under my fat gram allowance (28-60 grams a day). She said this is why I am soo hungry by 4pm. Fat (and she means good fat, not Big Mac fat) takes longer to digest so it keeps you full longer. By pairing good fat (cheese, avocado's, olive oil, etc) and protein, it should keep me fuller longer. So I had a BIG breakfast (over 500 calories) and a good sized lunch. I am at 45 grams of fat for the day and dinner consists of the chicken I have in the crockpot and some steamed broccoli. It is after 4pm now and I am not starving. I also have enough energy to do a workout after Youngest gets off the bus. Perhaps my Fat Phobia has been my downfall all this time.

My goal is to be down to 147 by Sat (I was 149 this morning. UGH) and then 145 by next Wednesday.

Have a good night and stay out of the sleet and rain.

Cat

Non Profit ADD

My family seems to have a touch of ADD when it comes to charities we actively support. For several years, Daughter and I would volunteer at our local Humane Society on the weekends and I even did some work in their  Marketing department when I was out of a job (This is a great way to gain experience if you are in between jobs or looking for a new career. Find a company that interests you and contact them about volunteering or interning.). But then sports and Taiko drumming took over our lives and The Humane Society fell to the way side.

Then we moved on to actively supporting, and Husband volunteering at the Mid Ohio Food Bank. We still contribute when the kids have food drives at their schools, but we could do more (making myself a note to pick up some extra groceries this week). You know how I feel about food and I cannot stand the thought of anyone not having access to a decent meal.

Now we are gung ho with Habitat for Humanity. Husband has joined what they call the Winter Warriors. They don't get a lot of volunteers during the colder months so they are really on a push for help. Husband is taking Thursday off to help build a home. He is really excited, so that gets me into it, too! They are opening a ReStore on the West side of town and once Basketball is over, I want to volunteer to work in the store on Saturday's. See www.habitat.org for more info. If you like home improvement or want to gain some experience, this is a great organization to join.

Middle child asked what Habitat does and we explained that it is like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (am I the only person who cannot get thru that show without bawling??). He wanted to know if Husband gets to yell "Move that bus!" at the end of the day Thursday. Uhh...no.

How are my Weight Warriors doing today? My calves are still sore from my Wii run the other day but I have weights to do today and may do the Wii hula hoop game again. I read some interesting articles about eating foods you love over and over again. Eventually, your taste buds don't get "excited" from foods you eat routinely and you will end up eating less of that food. I can tell you from personal experience, this is true. I am a pouch potato junkie. I used to snear at potatoes in a pouch (aka potato flakes) but once I ate them and realized I could have mashed potato goodness in 4 minutes, I would buy the pouches by the truck full. But I have noticed that now when I make them, I can have two bites, sometimes three, and be bored with them. My taste buds are no longer doing the Happy Potato Dance. Example number two: my boys love pepperoni pizza like nobody's business. But lately, they too have tired of it and are asking me to make different stuff for dinner. Interesting, eh? So keep eating that chocolate, your taste buds will tire of it eventually!!

Middle child came home sick today. No fever but a terrible tummy ache. His Principal intercepted me on the way to get him telling me that they had State math and reading assessments today and she wondered if he was anxious about them. I asked him in the car about it and he said he was not nervous about them and I reassured him that they are just a bench mark and not a grade. Then he asked me that since tomorrow is late start for them, would they still have the assessments tomorrow? Hmmm....maybe the tummy ache is a little related to those darn tests.

Have a great afternoon everyone! Thanks for reading.

Cat

Another installation of "People I would like to thank"

In this installment of People I would like to thank, the honoree this time is none other than:

Al Gore!! Thank you soo much for inventing Global Warming. I cannot tell you how nice it was to put on my light coat this morning and head to work in 50 degree weather at the end of January. I even opened my sun roof on the way home. I believe all those products you (and me, and all the 80's hair bands) put on your hair over the years helped to make that Ozone hole just a little bigger and for that, I send you all my gratitude. 

He did invent Global Warming, right? And the internet, yes? I wonder if he was able to speed along the Global Warming by use of the internet?? You can do all kinds of whacky stuff with the internet you know...

How did my Weight Warriors do this weekend? I hope you did more of "do what I say" than "do what I do!" I ate pretty well most of the weekend with a slip here and there. But I had a killer workout yesterday. If you have a Wii Fit, you should try this. I did the Free Run: you can chose 10, 20, 30 minutes and it is running in place. Now if you are like me, you would think "Running in place is a cinch! I will go whole hog and do 30 minutes!" What is nice about the Free Run is you can put regular tv on and your Wii remote tells how how far you have gone and how many minutes left. I did the 30 minutes followed by a couple rounds with the hula hoop game. It was a sweaty workout but I didn't think it was that effective.

Until I tried to get out of bed this morning. My legs were screaming at me!! My calves were so sore it was hard getting down the stairs! When I finished the program, it had told me I went 5 miles in the 30 minutes. I took that reading with a huge grain of salt but that also explains why my legs hurt so much this morning.

I got an ok workout in today. I think I was doomed though. Between my legs hurting so much and realizing about 15 minutes into it that my elliptical display has died (I tried 5 different sets of batteries), I was pretty much done for the day.

This week, I want to really focus on portion size and getting effective workouts in. What are your goals this week??

I hope you all had a great start to your week. I am off Friday and cannot wait to do whatever I want. I am sure it will involve grocery shopping but I need to figure out some fun things to do, too.

Cat

Disappointment and Egg Rolls

As I mentioned yesterday, my Daughter had a really bad day. I will elaborate because there are actually funny moments to this story.

Daughter is in a competitive writing club for her school (ok, this is so geekish on so many levels but I love that she is in it). There are 8 kids on the "team" and the big drama yesterday was that her writing "coach" picked the other 7 kids to go to Regional's and Daughter as the alternate. Daughter asked why she wasn't picked as one of the finalists and her "coach" told her that her writing is not as strong as the other's, that she writes more details than creative ideas, and her work is not as good as the other team members.

Silence from me when she tells me this. She is sobbing hysterically and it hits me that this is the FIRST time ever she has been told her work was not as good as other's. She is a straight A student, has been her entire life. And suddenly the Golden Child is not so Golden, more Bronze.

I am still silent as I honestly don't know what to say to her (Husband picked her up from school and had the 20 minutes of sobbing on the way home. He told her "You will be disappointed a lot in your life, get used to it!!" But when he got home, he had that crazed look in his eyes and told me we must kill writing coach. Okay.....?)

So I sat in silence and let her continue on with her rant. Here comes the funny part: She told me "The other kids wrote about their parent's dying and some kids wrote about their parent's battling cancer and how sick they were. Who wants to read that??" I had to bite my cheek to not laugh.

Her biggest complaint is this: as alternate, she has to go to the competition and basically do NOTHING the entire day (of course this is a weekend she is here, so it is our entire day, too). She gets to write in the first 40 minute competition but her work won't even be read. My idea: Write about how STUPID BEING AN ALTERNATE IS. Petty? Yes, you have met me, right? She loved the idea and I hope she bangs out one hell of an essay. Her Father is an excellent writer and I am an okay writer, I know she can do it. I also told her there will be all kinds of alternates from other schools and I bet she will meet some nice kids. Maybe some boyzzzz..

Today I made egg rolls from scratch. I was going to include a picture but we ate them so fast I didn't have time to get my camera. The recipe was easy, all things bought from Meijer: egg roll wrappers (they are actually pasta so you can make ravioli or lasagna with them!!! They are like $1.50 for 100!!), coleslaw cabbage mix, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, and cooked chicken. I mixed a little Teriyaki sauce mix into them and some fresh ginger but it wasn't enough. They were crispy but bland. But we ate all of them so not so bad. Will make them again. I love cabbage and all those crunchy things and could eat them for every meal.

Weight Warriors
Don't let the weekend be an excuse from eating well and exercising. I like to get a lot of work out time in on the weekends so I don't feel so bad if I slack on a day or two during the week. I hit my 200 cardio minutes this week, plus some, and am going to knock the hell out of the weights tomorrow. I just read an article about how lifting heavier weights can benefit you in losing weight and toning.

This is also a great time to throw a whole bunch of stuff in the crockpot and eat it all week. Buy one of those $5.99 bags of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and throw it in the crockpot. You can make chicken salad, chinese chicken salad, stuffed shells, chicken tacos, etc. Having cooked chicken in the fridge cuts WAY down on prep time.

I hope you all have a good weekend. I am exhausted and need some good sleep. Eat and live well this weekend.

Cat

Variety Hour

It has been a very exasperating and frustrating day, most of which has happened in the last two hours. Daughter's dad couldn't pick her up at my house because his car wouldn't start. Daughter wanted to be at a school basketball game by 6:30pm, Husband needed to be at a Wake between 6-8pm, Middle child is at friend's house and I can't go anywhere until he comes home. Husband, like the Hero he is, volunteers to take Daughter up to her friend's house so they can ride to the game together, then he will head the hour and a half south for the Wake. Oh, did I mention it is lightly snowing here, so traffic is at a standstill. Oh, and I did I also mention that Daughter left a school folder here and I will have to run it up the her school before I go to work tomorrow???? She only lives about 20 minutes from here but it is in the complete opposite direction that I need to go. Plus, Daughter had a really bad day and spent most of the afternoon crying about it. Of course Husband is going to be the Hero, no one can stand to see her cry, especially him.

So in my many travels today (had to go to a Mammogram appt. 20 minutes from here, then another 15 minutes from there to pick up my W2 from the caterer, then 30 minutes to work) I saw a couple things that scared me. 1) An empty stroller and an adult shoe on the side of the highway. I actually slowed down to make sure there wasn't a car in the ditch. Nope, nothing to go with the stroller and the shoe. 2) A teenager driving what I assume was his toddler in a car without the toddler in a car seat. She was happily bouncing around the back seat. Ugh. 3) Getting a call from Youngest child's school Psychologist. My initial reaction was that he had taken his class hostage and was berating them with his jokes. Luckily it was just a call to warn me about the packet coming home I need to fill out.

Side note: When you have a child with any kind of disability, the amount of paperwork you fill out is infinite. I completely understand the need for the paperwork but when they ask questions like "When did child take first steps", jeez, he's 8. I am supposed to remember that?? And I also like how they ask yes or no questions that are totally NOT black and white "Did you child develop normally"....well, YES to some things and obviously NO to others or I wouldn't be doing all this paperwork!

But here were some of my favorite questions:
You were suppose to answer  'not true at all", thru  'very much true ' with a couple stops in between.

*Uses a weapon (a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun). The thought of Youngest wielding a broken bottle made me laugh out loud. But yes, he uses pillows as a weapon, does that count??

*Avoids or dislikes things that take a lot of effort and are not fun.  Helloooo...don't most people do that on a daily basis?? Can I say TAXES???

*Steals secretly (shoplifting or forgery). Forgery? Really?? Better count my checks.

*Behaves like an angel. Come on, you can do better than that!

*Steals while confronting a person (mugging, purse snatching, armed robbery). Sigh.

*Is perfect in every way. Uhh...yes and no.....

I understand that unfortunately those questions are pertinent to kids out there and I feel for the parents that have to circle "Very much true". Though you will chuckle to know that I did grade him a "sometimes true" on the breaking into the neighbors house question. Youngest thinks that knocking is just the warning before he enters your house, whether you want him there or not. I know he has walked right into two of my neighbors houses, though I am not sure if they know it!! So neighbors, lock your doors.

Things that made me laugh today; my conversation with my co-worker about how Elton John's husband creeps me out, the Wheel of Injustice that is on our local news (it is literally a wheel of criminals they spin and then do a story on what ever one it lands on. But we do the big Monster Truck voices...WHHHEEEELLLL OOOOFFFFFFF INNNNJUUUUSSSTTIICE!!!!). The woman at Aldi with her triplet 5 year old's that were hysterically funny (because they weren't mine and I was shopping alone) and she just couldn't see the humor in their antics. I know how she felt so I kept laughing telling her how cute they were. She was ready to punch me as we were checking out. Ahh...good times.

This section of my blog is dedicated to my friends that I am calling the Weight Warriors! I have a group of a couple women, though men you can join us, too, that want to lose some weight and improve our fitness in the next 6 weeks. I was going to do a separate blog for them but decided to just keep it to all one blog. You are not required to post your weight, though you know I will. Posting it keeps me accountable. But you can share your fitness goals or any tips you have.

Here's where I am at: weighed in at 147.5 this morning, goal of 142 by Feb 29. At least 200 exercise minutes a week and weights 2-3 times a week. Log as much of my food as I can and stay away from fast food or fried food. This is hard for me at work sometimes: today we had tater tots. Come on, tater tots on a cold blustery day? One or two may have made their way into my mouth.. I also didn't do weights today because of all the stress and stuff going on, though I plan to pick them up for a quick workout when Youngest goes to bed. A little bit of exercise is better than no exercise.

As you can see, I had a heck of a day and am in for more tomorrow. I hope you guys had a great day and my thoughts are with my brother in law and his family.

Have a great night! Thanks for reading!!

Cat

For the Men in My Life

(** The beginning of this blog is a little downer, and please note that any attempt at humor is because I do not do well with funerals and the like)

My brother in law called us the other day to let us know that his wife's father had passed. Sis in Law's mother had passed when Sis In Law was only 15 ( I did not know this. Clearly my interrogation skills are not up to par!) so the passing of her Father was really hard to take. She was an only child, too. Whammy, Whammy, Whammy. We had spent time with her dad and he was always entertaining and outgoing. It is a loss for who knew him.

In the process of this conversation, my brother in law commented that I only thank and appreciate the women that read my blog and that surely he was not the only man to read my blog.

And then he told me I was really funny. This is second to telling me I am  a good cook, so this blog goes out to the men in my life. Especially my brother in law.

I believe it is important to have strong men in your life. Physically strong is a plus, but we all need men who are spiritually, emotionally, and passionately strong.

I am very lucky to have a firm foundation with the men in my family, the man that I married, the man who is my brother in law, my sons and my nephews from my husband's side of the family and mine, and the friends that I have had since the way back days.

I know that if called upon in a crisis, every man would do what they could to help me or my family.

I will keep you in mind as I write these blogs and not make them too female gross. Though I have a mammogram appt in the morning and will probably make some boob jokes, but I will put a disclaimer in front of the blog. But who are we kidding? You like to talk about boobs as much as we do. :)

For all my men friends, I love you and appreciate each and every one of you. Keep on reading!

Cat

Where have you been my whole life??

I am in love. I can't remember the last time I felt this way. Maybe it was when I married Husband, maybe when the kids were born, but this love, this is a different kind of love. The kind of love you wait for your entire life and proclaim to the world "Where have you been??".


I am in love with.......

Yes!!! My $10 used waffle maker Husband got me over the weekend to make gluten free waffles for Youngest has become my new best friend! I don't know how a foodie like me went so long without a waffle maker. Do you have one? If you don't, you must go get one now. I'll wait....

I am not a waffle eater. I cringe when I toast the frozen ones in the toaster for the kids. They can't possibly taste good. But let me tell you, there is NOTHING like a hot waffle right off the iron to wake up your taste buds in the morning, or anytime for that matter. I have been mixing GF free mix with regular mix and we have done blueberry ones and after school today, I made a HUGE batch of chocolate chip waffles. I even ate one, that's how good they are!

I am hoping to find some good savory waffle ideas. Something along the line of bacon/sausage and cheese. Ohh..how much fun would those be to make?? And maybe something herbed...

Anyway, thought I would introduce you all to Wilma the Waffle Maka (yes that's right May-ka, not maker). I love her and hope to be with her a long time.

Have a great night everyone!!

Cat

Turkey Taco Meatloaf

Ever have one of those days where you eat everything in sight? Welp, today was one of those days for me. We finished getting the wallpaper down and though that was a good workout, it was not enough to account for me being ravenous all day. Whatever, it happens, I will get back on track tomorrow.

But I wanted to share this recipe from Lisa Lillien's cookboook "Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt Free Eating in the Real World", it is Turkey Taco Meatloaf (Please note that I actually used ground chicken because that's what I had in my freezer). This was really good, so good that Husband ate 3/4 of the pan, I had the other 1/4 but easily would have wrestled him for the rest of it.

1 lb extra lean ground turkey

2 slices fat free cheddar cheese ( I used reduced fat)

1/2 cup shredded fat free cheddar cheese (I used two more slices of reduced fat cheddar)

1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 packet of taco seasoning, dry

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Cook peppers and onions for 3 minutes over medium heat in a pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine the onions and peppers with turkey, corn and seasoning mix. Spread half of the mixture evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan (9x5) sprayed with non-stick spray.
Layer the two slices of cheese over mixture (try to keep away from the pan's edges). Evenly top with remaining turkey mixture.
Pour the salsa on top of the loaf. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
Top loaf with shredded cheese. Return loaf to the oven for another 15 minutes.

The recipe says it feeds six but that must be six tiny people! I think next time I would double the recipe and make two loaves.

I am in the process of looking up some good low fat Mexican soups to make next week. If you have any you would like to share, let me know. 

Back to work and school for everyone tomorrow. I hope you all had a nice long weekend.

Thanks for reading!

Cat

My Miraculous weekend

I don't throw the word "miracle" around a lot. I think it is a pretty heavy word that should be reserved for baby making and life saving procedures. But this weekend, I have a couple "miraculous" moments of my own. And I would like to share.

*Please note two things: I had a crappy week with Youngest. He did fine at school and reserved all the crap for me. Secondly, I was not looking forward to a three day weekend. Three days of trying to get impossible wall paper down and having all the kids fighting. This is not a long weekend, it is a loooong weekend.

But then the following happened that restored my hope in my family:

*Interim reports came home this week. Daughter of course is still an Academic Amazon and getting all A's, even in her courses that count as high school credit. But it was the boy's interim's that floored me: Neither one of them require a conference. I'm sorry, what??? Middle child is above level in reading, kicking butt in math and is an all around good student. Youngest, though his behavior continues to hinder him, is academically doing just fine (Yes, I did email the teacher to make sure she didn't send home the wrong report. She didn't). This is the first time EVER I have not had to talk to the teachers about how my boys are performing. Miracle numero uno.

*Middle child's basketball team suffered their first loss. They were up in the first quarter but trailed from that point on. This in it's own is not miraculous, how my Middle son played and acted, was. His good friend that he has been in school with since kindergarten, was on the other team. One of Middle child's team mates knocked him down, hard. Middle child took the time to go over and pull his friend up. Daughter and I almost cried. Watching him doing that was not like watching my little boy. It was like watching a man. He didn't play the last quarter and I was curious to see his reaction when they lost. He had the whole quarter to watch his team lose but I was really surprised at his reaction at the post game meeting (this is other wise known as snack time). Two of his teammates were crying and his coach said "I don't know what to say, we have never lost". Middle child shrugged his shoulders, looked at me and said, "We are still 4-1". HE is the kid I thought would be bawling but he took it in such stride. Miracle numero dos.

*When Daughter is at our house we like to capitalize on her babysitting experience and have her watch the boys so we can get the heck out of Dodge for a couple hours. She watched them for us Saturday night and we went to a local establishment to relax and watch the football games. I was a little annoyed that there would be a singer/guitarist playing while we watched the games but he turned out to be really good. And since the Pats game was such a downer, it was nice to have some good music to listen to. We only stayed out about two hours but it was just enough for Husband and I to have some good laughs, relax, and be in a better state of mind for the rest of the weekend. I highly suggest getting out when you can, it does wonders for your psyche. Miracle numero tres.

*Saved the best for last. (And for all of you that read this and have kids that get along without fight after fight, I loathe you. Stop reading my blog, now.)  Daughter brought over her Super Mario Brother's game for the Wii. All three of them spent most of Saturday in the basement playing together. There was no fighting, there was no yelling, the only thing we heard was them laughing and having fun together. These occasions are so few and far between but when they do happen, it is truly miraculous.

There are so many miracles out there that trump my miracles, but I am so thankful for the ones I do witness. They may be small, but they are mighty!!

Have a great rest of your weekend!!

Cat

P.S: Go 49'ers!!

House Pretty project

Hey guess what? I still have NOT painted the white trim downstairs! But we are starting a new project upstairs: what used to be Youngest's room is now a play room. It is pretty small and has a heart border going around the top and one wall has striped/heart wallpaper that coordinates with the border. We are debating about splitting the boys up (they currently share a room the size of our master) because Youngest is STILL having sleeping issues.

Here is the problem: I want to put Youngest back into his old room but it is at the front of the house. And it is loud when the older kids (his siblings) are out playing until 10pm and it gets really light, really early in there.

I also do not want to make Middle child move out of his big room. I feel like he gets screwed out of a lot of things because of Youngest and the last thing I want to do is take away the big room that was his first.

So I find myself in Dilemmaland.

I would like to put a comfy chair up there and a desk and make it a study/reading room. That option is still open.

But first and foremost, we have to get the border and wallpaper off. The people that lived here before us, I kid you not, SUPERGLUED this stuff to the walls. When I did the kitchen, it seemed a breeze until I realized that I was just pulling the facing off and still had to get the backing off. I was ready to set the walls on fire if it meant it would go faster. The upstairs looks like the same gig. Thankfully,  it is just one small wall of paper and the whole room of border. I think we will paint it a pretty neutral color and it has a great closet since it is over the steps. It's the kind of closet, when I was a kid, you would make a fort in. I don't think my kids know what a fort is. That's sad.

Husband is off tomorrow and we are all off Monday so I am hoping we can get this project done this weekend.  We need to clear out all the pirate, dragon and potato head stuff that is in there and then we will be ready to go. Wish us luck!

On a food note, I made a gluten free chocolate cake tonight that everyone loved. I plan on scouting out more gluten free stuff this weekend. Youngest loved the uber expensive waffles I got for him. I think I need to buy a waffle maker and buy the mix. It would have to be cheaper, right??

Have a great night. If you are in the Midwest, get ready for winter! We really can't complain as it is mid January and today was the most wintery it has been yet. That is ok with me though. I like me some mild winter temps and lots of sun.

All the best,
Cat

He'll be performing all week..

Youngest: Mom, you are so hot, you are too spicy!!

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, he will be performing all week!!

Cat

Update on Nutrition and Well Being

Hey gang!

I promised an update on my Paleo eating and other things so here it is. I am really tired and it has been a stressful couple days so I will keep this to the bare bones so you don't have to hear me whine.

*Paleo eating: I like it. I like having a protein and veg for meals but it does get boring. I know the hard core Paleo people get into different herbs and spices but I find I just don't have the energy to put that much into it. Plus, I am the only one eating it so why bother with something elaborate?  I would say I eat Paleo 85% of the time and the other 15% is made up of cheese or bottled dressings or soups. It's what works for me and that's what's important.

*I was deep into recording everything I ate in a journal and on line but there has been so much stress lately that I decided on Saturday to stop recording my meals and focus on exercising. That is what brings the most stress relief and I know how to eat well without having to write it down, so that has been my plan since Saturday. I weigh in tomorrow and am curious to see what the scale says.

*I have been killing it on the elliptical and our faux bowflex machine. My Dad was nice enough to haul this thing up from NC a couple years ago, and for awhile I used it a lot,  but I strayed. I am back to it and am hoping to see a jump in muscle strength. And I still use my beloved new weights.

*My Youngest has been testing every ounce of everything I have the last couple days. I have decided, though I have no medical backup, to replace some of the things he eats often with gluten free items. I have read a lot of blogs and articles and I think it is worth a try to see if it makes a difference in how he feels and behaves. It is certainly NOT going to hurt him and at this point, I am desperate to do anything I can to improve his behavior.

*I am not to happy with Husband's lack of on-boardness with the eating well and exercising. I can't make him stop eating crap, though I do everything I can to make three healthy meals a day but who the heck knows what he is eating when he is not here. I find do-nut containers and sundae containers in my trash. I know they are his, so I don't bother to ask. I am afraid it is going to take some catastrophic illness to turn his ways around. I don't want his health to get to that point but there is only so much I can do.

I am facing most of these battles alone, at least in the house. Thankfully, I have great friends and family that know where I am trying to get and are helping and encouraging me on that path. I will let you know what the scale says tomorrow. Saturday it was 148 and my jeans still fit ok today, so I think I will be ok. Here's to hoping!!

Have a great night and thanks for reading. And thanks for all of my new followers. I love that I have known some of you since I was 15!!

Thanks again,

Cat

Ruling with a Marshmallow Fist!

Yes, I know the saying is " Ruling with an Iron Fist", but that is not my style (and that pic is not any of my kids). I believe I can be productive in my family by ruling with a "marshmallow fist". And who doesn't like a marshmallow??

I had a crappy weekend of me being the only one to do things around here, Youngest being off his rocker over just about everything, and me just generally being unsatisfied with my parenting and the lives we are leading in this house. I have never looked forward to a Monday as much as this one!

And that's when I realized, it has to CHANGE. It is not too late to change the crappy behaviors, it is not too late to ask that EVERYONE in this house chips in, it is not too late to ask people that live under this roof for HELP.

There's a new Sheriff in town and her name is Sheriff Marshmallow!! Husband and Middle child did dishes after dinner (because I agreed to make both pancakes and biscuits for dinner). This has NEVER happened and Middle child is 9. Why have I waited this long to show the kids the joys of doing dishes?? My new philosophy with Youngest is: I will not help you until you try to help yourself. When I told him that, he about had the biggest breakdown of them all. I am NOT the only person that can do things around here and I am FINALLY going to start using these people to my advantage. Daughter always helps, with some grumbling, but rightfully so as I never ask her brother's for help. That is all changing now.

I don't care who I tick off and who has a problem with it, I am DONE being the only one to keep this household  working. These kids have got to learn to do things on their own. As does Husband.

Remind me of this when I go back to doing everything for them.

Have a great Monday!!

Cat

You are invited to My Pity Party!

Where: Right here!

When: Right Now!

I will be serving up heaping helpings of me whining about: not being able to lose the last 6 lbs, why can't Youngest stop behaving poorly, why am I the only person in the house that knows how to 1) do laundry 2) do dishes, will we ever see Middle child again, where are the missing socks.

And when those helpings run out, I will be serving up a smorgasbord of : why are prices going up on everything but our paychecks are getting smaller, who the hell is going to run for President, how can these dogs and kids eat so much but hardly gain any weight, why can't I figure out how to Pin things on Pinterest??

Violins will be playing throughout the party.

So join me, won't you? It is sure to be a heck of a party. It has all ready been going on since last night and it is sure to last another couple days!

Your humble hostess with the mostess,

Cat

The Email I have been dreading.

I knew it was coming. You can't stop the inevitable. It had to come sooner than later. But even knowing all this, I wasn't prepared for my reaction when I received the email inviting me to:

High School Orientation!!

My internal conversation went like this:
(words in italic mean I am making the word longer in my conversation)
Well, that's weird.
I don't have any kids old enough to go to high school.
Last time I checked, Daughter was 4 and the boys were babies.
They must have emailed the invite to the wrong person.
I'll just delete it......

Then the fog lifted and the reality hit me: Daughter will be a freshman in high school in 7 months. This rocks my world on soo many levels.

1. She will be driving soon, riding with friends that drive, having dates with boys that drive. I am not too old to remember what the "dates with boys that drive" were like. I need to buy a pistol, pronto.

2. I am not worried about her academically. She is an Academic Amazon and I actually think high school may be easier for her than middle school. I have never seen so much homework in my lifetime. I am worried about all the other stuff:
     a. Parties while parents are out of town
     b. Dances and dating
     c. College visits
       1. This REALLY freaks me out because once she is in college, it is ME, all alone with all these boys. I have no female refuge to seek with her anymore. This will break my heart. I have decided I am going to college with her. End of story.
      d. Watching her get her heart broken. I remember high school as being nothing but a string of heartbreaks. Looking back now I can recognize that they weren't really heartbreaks, but she won't know that until she is older. I don't like to see her sad.

Now, I know my friends with kids in high school or even in college are chuckling right now, but you KNOW you felt the same way! I know it will be ok and that she will be ok, it is just surreal to think of Daughter in high school. My 3 years at St.Charles were the best three years, only to be followed up by 4 1/4 of great years at OU. I want her to love high school as much as I did but I want her to be far more careful. That is probably an unreasonable request but we did some really STUPID things in high school. We are lucky to live to tell about it. Though I won't tell about it. I will let our stupidity be our secret.

On a much lighter and more grateful note, I am up to 9 official followers now and a couple more unofficial followers. I am so grateful that you all take the time to hear the blather I disperse. I got the nicest email from one of Youngest former Intervention teachers and it brought me to tears. As mom's, we generally lose ourselves to our kids lives but to hear someone tell me that they like what I  have to say, brings me to tears. Reminds me that there is a Me inside of Mommee (no, I don't usually spell Mommee that way but I was making a point).

Thank you all for making this worthwhile for me. It really means a lot. Have a great weekend. We have basketball tomorrow and that is about it. Other than the umpteen loads of laundry and the never ending aerobics I should be doing. I will update next week how I am doing with Paleo eating...since I haven't mentioned in it awhile, I bet you can guess how I am doing!!!

Thank you all, again, for being such good blog friends. If you would ever like to write something for my blog, let me know and I can include it. You are a bunch of very smart women and I know we can all learn a lot from each other. If there is anything you want to share, let me know!!

Cat

How my day started...

It is not unusual to hear the ker plunk ker plunk (he is not a pitter patter kind of kid) of Youngest coming into our room at any given time in the middle of the night. We still routinely put him back to bed at least once a night (this explains all the napping I need) but he is getting better the older he gets. This morning was a different story...

I heard him come tumbling down the hall, looked at the clock: 6am. Ok, this is ok (I get up at 6:40). But as he is getting closer to our bed, I can feel the HEAT radiating off him. Oh crap, he's sick. He was back at school for ONE freaking day and the kid is like a comet, heading right towards me! He falls on me and asks if he can get into bed, I say sure and promptly get the ear thermometer. At 6am this is a really fun chore. I find it, take his temp: 103. When he gets a high fever like that, he tremors a lot, which is really scary. He whimpers, too.

Have I mentioned this is my FIRST day back to work in over two weeks?

I wake husband up and ask if he can stay home/come home to be with Youngest while I go to work (I am part of a Union and I think if you call in sick after a long holiday you lose pay or some crap). He assures me it is not an issue, he will stay home with Sicky. I question Sicky as to if he thinks he is going to puke in my bed and he says no, he is just really hot. I give him some Ibuprofen and he goes back to bed in my bed.

I make all the required calls to school and bus and to his dentist because he has an appt Friday morning and I don't think she wants a sick kid there.

I am soo thankful that I have a Husband that can stay home when need be. I need to do my share, too, and call in when needed, but it sure is nice to share that burden. Sooo thankful.

This was the scene as I left this morning:

Sick boy on the right, lazy ass dog on the left! Do you see that they BOTH have pillows? What the heck is going on in our house?? I blame my mother.

On a brighter note, yesterday I had a great breakfast with one of my favorite women and we went shopping (ok, my dislike of shopping is so well known that my friend's husbands know how much I loathe it!!). And I found this little beauty:

It is a Tiffany Blue colander!! Why did I need it? Uhh....well.....I rationalized this purchase by telling myself that our current fruit bowl is too small and the kids would eat more fruit if I had a bigger bowl . "But it's NOT a bowl, it is a spaghetti strainer" the nay sayers tell me. I tell them in normal houses it is a colander but in our house, it is a fruit bowl. Like it or get out of my kitchen!

Honestly, is the closest I will ever get to owning anything Tiffany Blue. And I am proud to say my kids are eating a lot more fruit since I have been keeping the bowls filled. I have also been making a HUGE effort to put out cut up carrots, celery, and green peppers for the kids when they get home from school. Cutting down on how many crunchy salty snacks I buy has been driving them to the crunchy things that are good for them.

Small victories. I'm winning!!

Have a great weekend friends!!

Cat

Things I know for sure

I dedicate this blog to my Husband. Back in 2004, my Husband was going to school, the Father to two small boys and step dad to a 7 year old, still active in the Guard and worked 2nd or 3rd shift. He had to write a paper for one of his classes called "Things I know for sure". He was cleaning out the basement today (when I say "cleaning" I mean moving stuff from one box to another. But I applaud his effort) and found his paper. I was almost in tears reading it (all full of family and Country love) and decided to write my own.

*When Nick Jr. says watching them all day is like "pre-school on tv", it really isn't. My kids could have been ready for pre-school by watching a cardboard box.

*When Big Dog eats all the peaches and peach pits off our tree, he WILL pee all over our carpet.

*Hiding behind a corner or door and yelling "boo!" scares and delights the kids, no matter their age.

*I should have never fed my kids a diet different from mine when they were young. They could have eaten everything we did and had more variety in their diet. Minus the Chardonnay.

*Your parents are your parents and you should respect them, no matter what. Until they bring you too many couch pillows, THEN you can get vocal.

*Your child will step in the dog shit on the way to school with his/her new sneakers on.

*When on family trips, one of the boys will ALWAYS have to use the pee can: just to gross out his sister.

*If friends tell you you look: too small/too big//too tired//too energetic, they aren't being critical. They are worried about you but don't know how to just directly say it.

* Co-workers will sneak up on you/plant things/email things just to scare the crap out of you. Retaliate.

*You will find allies in unexpected places.

* When your parents are in town and offer to buy you a new flat screen tv: do NOT look at Husband who responds "Honey, we don't really NEED a new tv". Then have to move the 700 lb tv we bought off my brother to the basement because that one died!

*Having and raising kids is really hard. I don't care how many books there are on it but parenting sucks the big WAZOO sometimes. Throw in a kid or two with issues and it heads south even faster. Persevere.

*Your spouse or good friend can help you thru any of life's crap. You know who is watching your back, use them. That's why they are there and they know it.

*I know TOO much about Wii and Xbox Avatars. Where are the Barbies and the Unicorns??

*Love your siblings. I don't do this enough, though I love my Bro. He has been there for me all along.

*People you are wary of, stay wary of. There is a reason your gut is telling you to beware.

*You will never be what you want to be until you try.

*Time spent with friends is always time well spent.

Have a great Wednesday!!

Cat

Ahhh...

Hear that? That is the sound of a quiet household. Peace has been restored as the kids headed back to school today. Remember the Staples commercial that they would play at the end of every summer? The dad is going up and down the isles on his cart throwing in school supplies, music is playing "It's the most wonderful time of the year" and the kids are trudging behind him? THAT'S what my morning looked like!! I all but skipped down the stairs this morning to get them ready to get out of the house.

I love my kids but when they get bored, watch out. Middle child steals Daughters phone, youngest chases them all around, dogs start barking, Middle child decides to pummel youngest and this is when I start yelling when I see Youngest with a split lip/bruise on his head/arm hanging limply to his side. You get the picture.

So it was with great satisfaction to see them get out of the house.

I got a good workout in with my new babies: my 12 lb weights, ran some errands, and am trying to come up with a menu for next week that will be new and exciting but that everyone will still eat.

I am on Pinterest now and I am having trouble getting a handle on how to navigate it. I am sure I just need more time on it and I love to see what my friends follow and are interested in. I saw lots of cute ideas for Valentines Day. And though I am not as crafty as I once was, I may try some of the things to surprise the kids.

Speaking of crafty, if you get a chance to spend some time on my friend from high schools blog, please do. She is UBER crafty and loves to re-purpose items. She and another high school friend also now sell their craftiness and I will include a link to their blog as well.

Kids will be home soon but I am in a much more calm frame of mind than I was this time yesterday. Looking forward to some more Bowl games tonight (side note..is it possible there are TOO many Bowl games? I don't remember having so many of them that they have to stretch it out over 9 days!!!) and The Biggest Loser starts again tonight. This is always such a good source of motivation to me.

I hope all your kids are back to school and that you got a breather today. I have one more day off and then back to work for me.

Here are the links to my friend's blogs: www.sweetgirlexpressions.blogspot.com and www.sweetgirlcrafting.blogspot.com

I also follow www.thepioneerwoman.com because I want to be her. Desperately.

Have a great rest of your day!!

Cat

Irrelevant

I was going to make this a big, bitchy blog about how I am banning Irrelevant women in tv shows from my house: Kardashian's, Jersey Shore, Basketball Wives, Football Wives, Hockey Wives, Gang Thug Wives, Wives of Wives from Cali, Men of Wives with lots of cats....you get the idea.

But I decided not to. I will not spend one IOTA of a minute on any of these women this year. They are trash, and beyond being only scantly entertaining, they are contributing NOTHING to this planet. But I suppose if they were contributing something, no one would watch.

I have a HUGE problem with that. How are our kids supposed to grow up with morals and integrity when all the media (which is every where, beyond belief) talks about is: out of marriage babies (please note, I know this happens and I am not totally against it, as long as you are over 21), 71 day marriages, sports people that do harm to other people. As a country, we are NOT setting a very good example of how our children should behave. And I am afraid, as parents watching this crap, we are not setting a good example either. Guilty.

I consider myself a fairly liberal person (though that rant does not seem so), but I am truly appalled at the crap they are calling "reality tv". How many times do I have to explain to my kids that calling your daddy while he is in the slammer is NOT MOST people's reality????

Here is what reality is in my world: Housewives with Autistic kids, Dad's/Mom's that leave to fight for our Country, Parent's of children that die of cancer before they are 2, Friends in Foreclosure, Small Business that don't make it, Bitches that can't afford bills....

Are they fun shows to watch? Nope. Do I think we could learn something from each other? 100%.
Please stop watching the crap on tv. As Women, we are soo much better than these complete and total idiots. If I ever meet Ryan Seacrest, who perpetuates all of these women (in my opinion to take the focus off he is as gay as Elton) into these stupid situations, I promise that I will give him a piece of my mind. And a right hook.

This, on the other hand, is TOTALLY relevant:

Husband had Youngest lay down on our big tablet of paper. Husband outlined him and told him to fill in the rest. Should I be worried about the 7 eyes on his head? Probably. But what made me laugh the most was the BIG EYE in his stomach!! I have no doubt he has a big eye in his tummy scoping out the next meal.

Moments like this are relevant. Turn off the tv and make them with your kids. The other idiot women out there are too busy being....well...irrelevant.

Cat

Happy New You!!

Hi gang!!

I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve, were able to sleep in and are off to a great start of the New Year. Last night was the first New Year's Eve that we all stayed up and celebrated together. Usually Youngest would be asleep but we let him stay up and it was fun for all of us to count down the New Year together. We also has a Wii Bowling Tourney: boys vs. girls and I am PROUD to say Daughter and I crushed them. I am a much better virtual bowler than a real bowler.

It is crazy warm here today and I am thankful for that. Though I am not crazy about the huge wind gusts we keep getting, I will take that over snow any day of the week. Don't get me wrong, I like snow, but usually we have had some on the ground for about a month now. That gets old quick. And last year our porch roof collapsed under the weight of the snow. That was not fun. So bring on the warm temps and wind gusts, I am ready for you!

I don't know how many of you make Resolutions, but no matter if you do or not, I think there are a couple things we can all "resolve" to do more of or better: Be more patient with our kids, take more time for ourselves, and do more for our community. If you devote time to these things every day, you will live a much better life.

Happy New Year friends!!

Cat