Vacation

The Webster definition of Vacation is:

A scheduled period during which activity is suspended

Webster has never been on vacation with my family.

Despite a rocky first day, our 5 days at Lake Norris, TN were really nice. We had the added joy of Daughter's bestie (who is moving soon. can't think about it or I will cry. again) with us and the boys loved to torture them endlessly.

I learned a few things on this trip that I want to share, to help you have a successful "vacation" this summer.

1. Less really is more when it comes to all things vacation. Pack your bag and then take half out. Pack your lake toys and then toss them all bcz the best time the kids had was the afternoon, into evening, when they did jumping off the dock contests. No floaties needed.

2. Go with people you can stand in close quarters. I was lucky to go with my folks and my brother and his wife and son. I don't think too much about this combination, but over drinks one night, my dad pointed out how lucky we are that our family gets along. Too many people we know are estranged from their family. I can't imagine not liking my family, they have gotten me thru so much.

3. Meal planning is key. Talk with the people you are traveling with and make sure the main meals are covered. Oh, and bring a griddle. Made lots of grilled cheese on it for lunch!!

4. Take lots of pictures and be sure to have them printed. I plan on doing an album for Daughter and her friend for her when she moves. Though her brother's bugged them endlessly, they will never forget how fun it was to push them off the dock.

This summer is going too fast, as usual, but I am happy we had a good vacation. Sets the tone for the summer. Hoping the rain lets up soon so we can go to the pool more. Ok, I don't really wish this, but if I can get to the library and get a good book, I may look forward to it more.

Lots of new things coming my way and I am excited to share them with you. I am back to eating a lot less processed food and actually scheduling my workouts on my calendar. Have lost 5 lbs in 5 days since I have been home from TN. 

Tomorrow is Middle child's championship baseball game. Please note, they were in 11th place out of 13 teams, so this is a BIG DEAL!! I am really excited for him. Rec league has been good for him. I work Sunday morning at the Assisted Living Facility and I am really looking forward to it. I miss them and can't wait to see them again. I am fortunate to be able to work when they need me.

I hope Summer is treating you all well. This can be a tough time of year with boredom  and the kids driving us nuts. I find myself in time out a lot. Seems to work.

One last shot of vacation, love everyone in this pic. Dad took it but I love him, too!!

Texting/Facetime and your kids

I was trying to think of a witty way to bring this up, but honestly, there isn't really anything funny about it and I am just going to put it out there:

If you have kids that text or use Facetime, please let them know you will be checking their texts and restricting Facetime.

We have always checked Daughters texts and made sure we know all her contacts. So far so good, have not had a problem yet.

My concern stems from texts that my Middle child is getting from girls and stories from friends about texts and/or Facetime incidents.

It's not even the content so much that concerns me, it is 1)the time he receives these texts and 2) how if he doesn't respond immediately, these girls get pissed.

It had gotten so bad that I sent an "all recipients" text to his address book clearly spelling out his rules with the cell phone. 

Want to know them? Here they are: 

His phone is turned off and handed to me at 10pm.

We check each and every text he sends and receives.

He cannot access links to anything, so don't even bother.

If I find anything inappropriate, the senders parents WILL be notified .

I don't think this is excessive and of course some of his lady friend recipients had some choice names for me but you know what? I don't give a crap. There is NO reason 11 year old girls need to be texting my son after midnight, then demanding to know why he isn't responding.

I wish these girls would realize that their daily happiness is not dependent on some boy, their worth is not based on how quickly a boy texts them back, and that they don't have to be so damn demanding to get a boy's attention.

Girls, that turns the boys off. 

I never would have thought having boys would be harder than having a girl, but man oh man, this is way harder than I would have thought.

The morale of my rant is this: Parents, please set clear rules on the phones/itouches and make sure you follow thru. They may be annoyed but we are the rule makers here, not them.

Cat

Garage Sales and a Successful Sunday

Hi friends! I hope you are all doing well and are finally enjoying some nice weather. Boy it seemed like winter was 6 months long. Glad to see the sun and have some warm temps.

Husband left early Sat morning (when I say early I mean like almost in the middle of the night!) for a business trip which leaves me with my angels for 6 whole days. Just me and the kids. The kids and me.

This causes me great stress. If you can't tell.

It's not being with the kids that stresses me out, it is trying to be in three different places with the kids that is causing some anxiety.

But I am happy to report that we had a great weekend with some very successful events.

After I dropped Middle child at his baseball game Sat morning at 8am (too early and too rainy for me!!), I hit a 

of a friend I have not seen in almost a year. We had a great time catching up and as I was getting in my car, I spied one of these for sale

It literally almost looks exactly like this. It is a circa 1980 digital keyboard with all kinds (I mean hundreds) of pre-programmed music and sounds and it reminded me of the organ my folks had growing up. I asked her how much it was and loaded it into my van.

Best. Purchase. Ever.

Daughter labeled all the keys and spent the afternoon teaching herself how to play some song (you can do this via internet if you didn't all ready know this). Middle and Youngest spent the afternoon today playing on it and that is the most time they  have spent in the same room without getting in trouble! I took it off the stand so they can plug it in anywhere and play. Love it and hope to teach myself how to play something.

Hey dad, do you still have those organ song books?? I would take them if you still do.

Since Husband is out of town, I feel like I have free reign on what I do and what the kids do. He is not a tyrant in any sense of the word but we have very different views of what we like to do on the weekends. And he would DIE if he knew the A/C is NOT ON and it is over 80 in here. But no one is complaining and I love it. I will turn it on tomorrow since it will be close to 90, but man it is nice having the windows open all the time.

Daughter had her best friend over last night and we made sushi rolls and spring rolls. So much fun and they were pretty good. If you do this at home, you do NOT need to get a bamboo mat to roll them, we used wax paper and they were fine.

And today I took the kids downtown to

This may not have been a great idea but I wanted to get them out of the house, made them turn off all electronics and just take in the city. The parking lot for the market is really small and Daughter was quick to point out that the parking lot was not made for mini vans bcz you are not supposed to take your kids there!! It is a bustling market with fish, cheese, meat, flowers, tea, pizza vendors. I loved it (been over two decades since I have been) and we managed to eat our way thru the market. Soft pretzels, mine was jalapeno and cheddar, yum! Kids had regular pretzels, ice cream, and youngest had a slice of pizza that was HUGE and he proclaimed as the best pizza ever. I tried to explain to them that this is how people used to and still do in other cultures buy their food. Busy markets with elbows flying and crying babies. Great fun.

The best part came as we were leaving and they all thanked me for taking them and that it was fun.

Who are these kids??

I went for a walk Sat that turned into a tun. Felt good till this morning, my feet were in pain! But with not working Sat's anymore, I want to get back into walking and running. Especially over the summer.

Hope you are winding down the school year the best you can and are gearing up for some summer fun. Thanks for reading and have a great day!!
Cat

Update Follow up

Hey friends!

How is everyone? Anyone else FINALLY enjoying a nice spring day like we are here in Central OH???

The sunshine has greatly improved my otherwise crappy mood.

So here is an update on what's been going on since last update in March:

Daughter went thru a couple weeks of Physical Therapy, did not fix the back pain. Did a MRI, did not reveal any fractures. She is now on a prescribed anti-inflammatory to help with the pain. If this works, we will go the rheumatoid route to see what is causing the inflammation. To say this is frustrating, scary and overwhelming for all of us, is a gross understatement. It is scary when the Doc (who totally reminds me of the doc Chris Parnell plays on SNL and 30 Rock.) tells you that at least the MRI didn't reveal a tumor or cancer.

No word on Youngest's Autism diagnosis. Seems his Psychologist works at her own pace.

Middle child's behavior is still frustrating the heck out of me. I know I have to accept who he is but who he is  is frustrating!!! I love him and I worry about him and though I really want to tell him to MAN UP most of the time, I just try to keep my mouth shut. We have standardize testing here this coming week and he is so anxious about it, so I am trying to reign in my angry mommy vibe. We have been loosing the grip on where he can ride his bike with his friends and we let them ride over to Dollar General today (for those who know where we are, it was a big deal for us to let him go past Tinapple park!!). He did fine and came home in one piece.

On the food front:

Out of desperation for new recipes, I paid $6 to join www.allrecipes.com menu planning option for 6 months. You can get all kinds of great recipes on this site, but becoming a high level member, you get the menu planning. You put recipes you like in your recipe box and then you can drag them to the day you want to make them and it also puts them in a printable shopping list. You can browse recipes but hundreds of categories (slow cooker, diabetic, low fat) (you can do this with the regular site as well) and then add them to your menu. So far I have made:
*7 layer meatless tortilla pie: in the oven now, will let you know the consensus

*Slow cooker pepper steak: really good

*Zesty Tilapia with mushrooms: really good

*Christmas brunch casserole: outstanding!!

*Easy Olive Martini chicken: good but a little salty

The best part of all of this is that the kids have eaten it ALL. Totally worth the money if I am only making one meal.

I also checked out a FANTASTIC cookbook from David Rocco called "Made in Italy". The next weeks meals will be all out of this book. It is Italian cooking and it's simplest and most delicious. I thank my friend for turning me onto it. I plan on buying several copies and giving it to friends. It is beautiful and wonderful, all in book form!!

After quite a bit of soul searching, discussions with the family, and sleep-less nights, I have decided to take a hiatus from my Sat morning job. I love the job, love the money but a couple things have helped me reach this decision:

When I signed Middle up for baseball, games were supposed to be on Sunday's, but they are on Sat mornings. Though I do not plan on staying thru all the games, I want the option to do so.

But here was the big kicker:

Locally, a mom was at the end stage of her cancer and she wanted to see her son graduate High School before she passed. The community rallied around them, had a graduation for her son early and even had his baseball Senior night early so she could go. The opposing team all brought her flowers (if you aren't crying yet, you are a robot). She passed away the week after he graduated.

Time with our young kids is short. I will not miss a ball game or anything else to make a couple bucks. I am taking some time off with the option to work some hours over the summer if I want. I am blessed to have a Boss who understand me. My last day is May 11. It was heartbreaking to have Youngest ask me every Sunday morning if I was going to work.

Husband is traveling more with work and though he says he doesn't like it, I think he likes getting away for a bit. I know I would!!

I think that is everything. My High School job is going well. Spent 20 hours this week in Food Safety training and learned all kinds of gross stuff I didn't know. Hoping I passed the test, should know in a couple days.

Think Spring, friends!!

Cat

My life: an update

Hi Friends!

Sorry it has been soo long since I blogged last. I know you are all sitting, waiting anxiously to hear the blather I have to spew.

Wait no longer! I am ready to spew.

Ewwww.....

The last 7 days have been brutal. Just down right mean and brutal. But despite how crappy things have been, I have been wearing this face all week 

I am reluctant to let the people I work with know what it is going on in my personal life. It is a weird thing I have that comes with working with mostly women. I have two people who I really trust and confide in at work, the rest just think I must be on drugs because I am so happy all the time.

And I still won't friend my Boss on Facebook.

I feel like I am in a good place at the Assisted Living Facility. I am hitting my stride and getting a better grasp on the timing. And no one yelled at me last week. Bonus.

I have really felt like this all week

What is ironic about this picture is she is leaning against her microwave. Our handle ripped right off the microwave last week, thus starting the landslide of crap. Do you know how often I use that radiation machine?? A lot more than I realized. Hence why the handle is now duct taped to the door.

Add that to the list of things to buy.

When we hit the lottery.

Kids update

Youngest went for Autism testing last Friday and Monday, two hours each time. To say he hasn't been the same since, is a gross understatement. His Psychologist had him do really difficult things but couldn't offer help as that was part of the testing. Nothing like hearing your child sob and moan your name thru three sets of doors knowing this was for his own good.

Really. Nothing like it.

I believe Middle child may be close to puberty. He will be 11 Monday (Had a small meltdown at Giant Eagle the other night when he was with me. A dad was pushing his 18 month old in the cart and they were so cute and all I could think about was how I used to take Middle to Meijer at 5am and push him around just for something to do. Eleven. I don't know how we got here.) and has been an emotional mess (this isn't new, just a little more severe). I have been in contact with my friend/his teacher and she assures me all is ok at school.

Daughter is getting Physical Therapy for her back pain and is out of Track season. And I am still waiting for her to get her driving permit. It is time for her to drive!!

I am losing my mind.

Husband is tired of me losing my mind.

But he continues to love me. Thank heavens.

Health and Wellness

You know I like a good diet study. Well, a gal I work with is doing a study where she gets an appetite suppressant or placebo and has to track her food and exercise and turn it into the study every week. She has lost 19lbs in two months and has cut her medical meds in half. This has inspired me to get back to logging my food but I am doing it in a journal first and then will add it to sparkpeople. I like the actual act of writing what I ate, makes me think twice about eating it if I have to write it down (side note, last week, I ate whatever the heck I wanted and didn't gain any weight. Felt pretty icky though from all the bread). I am going to do this for awhile and see how it shakes out.

Final note  

To put in the "Life is Short" file: A woman I work with is 32 school days from retiring from the district I work in. She started as a two hour lunch help and over the decades moved to the Secretary to the Superintendent. She is currently in the ICU for beginning stage Kidney Failure, has contracted E Coli while in the hospital and is not expected to be OK anytime soon.

32 days until freedom and not working.

ICU.

Enjoy every darn day, even the crappier than usual ones. 

Be well, Friends!!

Cat

Academy Awards, Sports Illustrated and other qwips

I don't watch the Academy Awards. My life, for the last umpteem years has revolved around Pixar. If they are not in it, I am not watching. Even if they are in it, I am not watching. It's an awful long time to spend celebrating other people's success. And if they aren't dressed in Hane's t-shirts and Yoga pants, the fashion aspect is not for me.

Ok, people, help me out here: I have passed the SI Swimsuit edition many times in the last couple weeks. Is the model pregnant? I love the fact that she isn't stick thin but I can't tell if she is pregnant or not. The belly and the boobs scream "I have a baby in here!!!" but I have not picked up an issue to read anything about the young lady. And why does she have a bikini bottom on and a parka? Again, fashion ain't my thing. And I don't know why I care if she is pregnant or not. I guess it would be cool if she was, maybe SI is trying to be progressive?

Speaking of: I have been surrounded by pregnant women lately. This is new and fun since it has been awhile since most of my posse has cranked out any youngin's. A friend at work is almost due. It is fun to talk about what she thinks labor will be like as I have no idea since I had all c-sections. Fun to think she will be off the rest of the school year. Maybe she needs a nanny...or a cook....

When I went in for my interview at the ALF (Assisted Living Facility) I met the Marketing Director who happens to live right across the road from me. Our meeting was so brief that I didn't remember her name at all. She was in this past Saturday showing some families the facility and we started talking. She is also expecting, talked about cravings, birthing methods and birth control. And that we have the same last name. In the matter of about 34 seconds, we were instant friends. Amazing how open people can be when they feel comfortable. That's a big deal to me: for people to be comfortable with me that they will talk about anything. I consider that a personal victory.

My boss is mad that I won't friend her on Facebook. She has not so subtly brought it up A LOT in the last week. Call me old fashioned but I do not think my boss needs to be my friend on FB. I won't friend my co-workers either. We see each other every day and show each other our Iphone pics. I don't feel the need to be FB friends with them, too. We all text each other endlessly, for me, that is enough.

I cannot run anymore. My right knee will have none of it and I am not willing to risk having surgery for something that I never enjoyed doing anyway. I will continue to walk and do weights and workout dvds, but my running days are over. I am so envious of my friends who look forward to it, I hated it. I never lost weight doing it and it is getting me back two fold with knee pain now.

I am this close (imagine me making the inch sign with my fingers) to trying Sensa. But then I question my ability to shake stuff on my food at every meal and if it really works. And then I go back to thinking that if I can continue to maintain my current weight, I will be happy. I am not willing to cut anything else out and I know I need to do more aerobic activity (even though I nail about 12-13000 steps a day. most of it is not heart pounding). I don't feel like I have gotten into a groove since I started my new HS position.

I am lacking a groove.

I think I am grooveless.

Is this worthy of calling a doctor??

There is a good chance you will not see me in a bikini this year. Or any year. Sorry, I know you are crushed.

I hope everyone is doing well. I know illness and other issues have been plaguing close friends lately and I wish the best for all of you. I have been fortunate to make some really good friends lately. Not sure if they will be long term but they are friends right now.

And that's good enough for me.

Cat

Three weeks of changes

Hi friends!
This won't be a weigh in blog for several reasons: Went out two night's ago to celebrate Husband's birthday. There may have been all kinds of yummy food and drinks involved and it didn't seem fair to me to weigh in this morning.

And in general, I have been doing a lot more of this

Than I have of this

I will say that I am still within my normal weight range thanks to being on my feet 6 days a week. Though, this presents another problem for me: I am hitting and exceeding my 10,000 step goal every day (with the exception of Sunday's, but I am going over a good 2-3000 a day, so it makes up for being a bum on Sunday). I feel like I don't need/want to work out during the week. But if I want to lose another 5-7 lbs, I am going to have to.

But I am tired.

And my knees hurt.

And I am tired.

I have been doing some strength training but it has been minimal at best. But at least I am doing it. Right?

I had my first breakfast and lunch service alone this past Saturday. I nailed breakfast but lunch I completely underestimated! I had to griddle fry 50 chicken breasts and then get them in the oven. It took me a lot longer than I thought to flour them all before the griddle! My first batch was soggy, so we served those last. Batch two and three were ok. Not stellar, but ok.

I got a text this morning from my Boss, LunchLadySteve, and he told me that Residents were very complimentary about my meals and so were the staff. I am sure there were complaints as I got one before I left, but it was nice to know most of them liked my work.

Husband asked me early Sat morning why I am working this job: my first response was money. It will be nice to get ahead and do some updates on the house and not worry about sports fees, etc etc. But once I get to work, my answer is: Because I love to cook and make people happy thru food. Sure, when my alarm goes off at 5am on Saturday's, that is NOT my first thought, but when I am in that kitchen alone, doing my thing, THAT is the reason I do it. 6 days a week I get to do what I love and get paid for it. I am a lucky girl.

It has been a big change for all of us to get used to me not being around as much, but they are all doing well. Husband will be out of town for a couple days so I am curious to see how I pull it all together. Hard to be in 5 different places at one time but I am going to try.

I have joined an online weight management program with Aetna thru Husband's work. It is a free service and I think I need some extra support at this point. Plus we earn money towards our account. I am hopeful they have some good ideas to get me back on track with working out. It's can't hurt, right?

Hope you are all doing well and everyone is staying relatively healthy! 

Good health to you all!

Cat