Tagged!

TeacherBee tagged me for a meme. I agree with her description of the guilty pleasure in being tagged, because I, too, harbor a deep-seated, secret love of talking about myself.

Here are THE RULES:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Uno: I actually majored in Spanish. By the time I figured out that I was really passionate about teaching science instead, I only needed six hours or something to finish my Spanish major. I added about a year to my collegiate experiences in order to get a biology minor. (Dad was thrilled to get that call.)

Dos: My feet are my temperature gauge. If they're hot, I'm hot. If they're cold, it's impossible for me to warm up.

Tres: I live a very sheltered life. All of my activities are with my Christian school or through church, and I LOVE my bubble.

Cuatro: I can make it from my bed to the toilet and back in the middle of the night without ever opening my eyes.

Cinco: I think I make my bed about three times a year. It doesn't help that there are people (yes, people) in it when I leave for work, but I don't know that it will change when we are all awake before I leave for work.

And the next awards go to...

Barb

Lady M

Tink (my sister!)

Deanna (my sister-in-law!)

Antique Mommy

Read More...

Summary only...

Jet's Dictionary, part two

He's really not a toddler anymore, but he still says some really cute things.


Cherry lime-uh-lade: noun a beverage consisting of lime juice, a sweetener, plain or carbonated water, and maraschino cherries; usually obtained from Sonic, but can now be made at home (ex: "Mommy, my throat hurts. Can I have a cherry lime-uh-lade?")

Lasterday: noun the day preceding this day, or anytime a few days in the recent past (ex: "Lasterday we went to Thanksgiving in Oklahoma!")

Squirter-gun: noun a toy gun that shoots a stream of liquid (ex: "Mommy, fill up my squirter gun so I can squirt it!")

Glubs: noun a fitted covering for the hand with a separate sheath for each finger and the thumb (ex: "MOMMY! I can't get my fingers in my glubs!")

DVD clayer: noun a machine used to translate digital images from a disc to a viewable screen (ex: "I wanna watch a movie on my DVD clayer!")

Extercisers: noun a heavy object (in this case, two pounds), such as a dumbbell, lifted for exercise (ex: "Look, Mommy! I'm pushing these extercisers over my head!")

Extercise: noun bodily exertion, esp. for the sake of training or improvement of health (ex: "I wanna extercise wif dose extercisers, too, Mommy!")

Mikerwave: noun an electrically operated oven using high-frequency electromagnetic waves that penetrate food, usually sausage biscuits, causing its molecules to vibrate and generating heat within the food to cook it in a very short time (ex: "I wanna push da but-tons on da mikerwave!")

Fiderajer: noun a box in which food, drink, etc., are kept cool by means of ice or mechanical refrigeration (ex: "Da cheese is in da fiderajer!")

Tri-nangle: noun a closed plane figure having three sides and three angles (ex: "I wanna piece of dat tri-nangle cheese!")

Read More...

Summary only...

Small successes

(I know I said I wouldn't turn this into a "weight loss blog", but I really feel the need to get this written down so that I can refer to it later.... I'm hoping it will be something that will inspire me the next time I have a rough day.)

My Weight Watchers meeting went well this evening. It was about putting together an action plan to achieve a goal. It was also about recognizing certain things, like the fact that the past cannot be changed. I can't change the choices I've made that got me where I am today. I can't even really predict the future. I CAN, however, make a good choice right now.

Furious at a weight gain of 4.4 pounds that showed up on the scale, I came home and hopped on the stationary bike. I did 20 minutes, and for the last 10 minutes, I lifted my weights for my arms. I was suprised that I was coordinated enough to do both at the same time, but it kept me from the continual "Am I done yet???" question. I had to concentrate on counting my reps on my arms!

I really do think that part of the weight "gain" was the fact that I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt tonight. I usually wear lightweight jogging pants and a t-shirt, but all of my jogging pants were either in the washer or in the process of being dried. The nice lady who wrote down my weight advised me that jeans really do weigh about two pounds. *sigh*

So, my small successes today are: riding the bike, lifting the weights, NOT eating the chocolate cupcake that was placed squarely in front of me at lunch today, and not beating myself up too badly about what the scale read. I also didn't just say "to heck with it". I didn't come home and comfort myself with food. Instead, I used my irritation to drive me further toward my goal. That's what I really want to remember about tonight.

Read More...

Summary only...

Back to the grind (almost)

Jet started back to school today. I don't go back until tomorrow, so I got him up and took him this morning. Normally, I'm out of the house by 6:00 a.m., so Knight does everything with and for Jet in the mornings. I try to remember to lay out clothes and whatever else Jet might need for the day, but sometimes I forget.

Getting back into the routine is hard for most people, but seemed especially hard for him. It doesn't help that, at three years old, one cannot be reasoned with.

Jet is generally a morning person (or so I'm told), but it just wasn't working for him today. Reminders that he had been asking every single day of the break if that day was the day he was going back to school didn't work. (Part of my mommy heart was hurt that he wasn't totally excited to be home with me, but mostly I was so glad that he loves his school so much.) Reminding him that he had new shoes to wear to school to show his friends didn't help. Coaxing, cajoling, pleading, disciplining, and pretty much everything else short of bodily picking up the child and shoe-horning him into the car didn't work either. (I'm trying to stop the picking-him-up thing, since he's actually big enough to hurt me if he decides to flail appendages.)

Somehow we made it to the car, and got both of us buckled. It was cold this morning; the thermometer in my car read 20 (that's twenty - and can we please remember that I am a Texan through and through?) degrees. Naturally, upon turning the still new key, my car said to me, "No thanks. It's cold, and I'd prefer to stay here. You can walk today."

*sigh*

Knight came out and poked at some things under the hood, poured warm water on the starter, waved his magic wand, and sacrificed a chicken to the god of good car engine karma. The car started, but then shuddered and died. We tried a bit more, but to no avail.

The main problem in all of this is that we have a one-lane driveway, and had parked my car behind Knight's upon returning from the New Year's festivities yesterday. Otherwise, I would have hopped in his car long enough to take Jet. Knight finally decided that he would push my car out of the way so I could take his. Jet and I went back into the house to warm up a bit, and then headed out the back door to get in Knight's car. Just as I came off the deck, I heard my car vrrooom to life for Knight.

Nice.

I finally got Jet to his school, whereupon he clung to the backside of my coat and buried his face in my rear. His teacher picked him up and began talking to him about what they would be doing that day, and he brightened considerably. (I think I want to put her in my pocket and bring her home. I think she's about 19, but has an obvious gift for working with little ones.) I even got a half-hearted "'Bye, Mommy" as I walked out the door.

My other main goal today is to go through the mountain of toys in Jet's room. Some will be donated, and the rest will be organized in some fashion or another. Proactively, I bought storage containers that fit under his new big-boy bed. I'm hoping most of the toys will fit in there. Hey, I did say "hoping". Wish me luck!

Read More...

Summary only...

What is this "resolution" of which you speak?

I'm still on Weight Watchers, and am down a total of 16.4 pounds since August. That includes a few slip-ups (namely, the hedonistic Thanksgiving Week that shall no longer be mentioned), as well as some half-hearted attempts at exercising.

I don't really believe in New Year's Resolutions. However, my sister's boyfriend, Dr. Soon-To-Be, FINALLY popped the question a few weeks ago. Yay!!! We're really excited for them. He's a wonderful, Christian young man who has an amazing talent for putting up with Beezneez's antics. They're a fantastic couple, and I pray for a very fulfilling marriage for them.

Back to the point... I have until May 17th to do my very best to look good in this bridesmaid's dress (the chocolate brown one on the right). I think it's a gorgeous choice, and not at all the taffeta nightmare that it could have been. I also have a complete and total understanding that I will never look like that heroin-addicted waif that has been so artfully airbrushed into that impossible shape.

Therefore, my goal is very simple -- I will do my dead-level best to lose forty pounds over the next five months. We brought home an exercise bike from my grandparents' place after Thanksgiving, and one of the steps to my goal is to ride it for twenty minutes, three times a week, for the next two weeks. I'll step it up a little after that. I've also purchased two-pound hand weights because, in case you missed it, that dress is sleeveless. Beezneez has graciously offered to choose some wraps for us to wear, so my arms won't be completely exposed. I've already started with the arm workouts. I missed today, though. Oops.

I don't plan to turn this into a weight-loss blog, but it is something that is important to me. I'm feeling good from my one-pound weight loss over the week of Christmas (can you believe THAT?!? Luck, I tell you.).

All of that to say that I don't really have a New Year's Resolution, except to keep doing what I've been doing, and do it a little better.

Read More...

Summary only...

I'm a big girl now!

I just fixed my "Read More" thingy (and found out that it's called a "peekaboo") ALL BY MYSELF.

I'm feeling pretty special about it, too... but I also know that pride goeth before smacking one's HUGE HEAD on the doorframe, so I'll keep the bragging to a minimum. :)

Edited to add: Somehow I broke it again, and Knight fixed it again, and maybe, just maybe, I'll not break it again. (We can hope, anyway.)

Read More...

Summary only...

Happy New Year!

Last night was soooooo fun! It was exactly like the last three or five New Year's Eves that Knight and I have spent together. My last thought was something like this: I looked at the clock and thought, "If I could just stay awake for another hour and a half, we could ring in the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...."

Yes, the Knight and Damsel family KNOWS how to par-tay. The sad part is that a horrible headache drove me from the bed at 7:30 this morning, and refused to leave me alone until about 11:00. Yay for cedar fever and allergies! I was pretty frustrated by the whole thing because I really did feel hungover, but didn't have even a single sip of alcohol the night before. I felt like I was doing the time without doing the crime.... er... not that I actually KNOW what a hangover feels like (hi, Dad!).

We spent the day with Knight's sister and family in South Austin today. Knight and I actually had something of a mini-date! Yes, it's true! They volunteered to watch Jet while we went to a matinee of the second National Treasure movie. I can't really remember the last movie we went to see in the theater together. It must have been last summer, though, because I remember Knight getting several free tickets for doing some electrical work in the new theater in town. I just can't STAND paying $8 or $10 or whatever to sit and watch a movie that I can't even PAUSE when I need to go potty. Sheesh. At any rate, Knight and I enjoyed the movie. It WAS nice to not have to pause it to answer eleventy thousand questions from a three-year-old. :)

Happy New Year, ya'll!

Oh, one other little piece of advice that I've stumbled on in the last day or two... never, EVER try to read the same book that your spouse is reading. It will only end in tears. One of you will inevitably want to read it before going to sleep at night and then will look around to discover that the OTHER one is already reading it. Just sayin'.

Read More...

Summary only...