hey batter, batter

Notice the little bat boy on the right. He wants to be a part of the team, but is still a little shy. In a few more weeks he will be right in the middle of the picture, I'm sure. The team got 2nd place in their tournament last weekend and are playing in another one this weekend in Mattoon. I managed to squeek in a trip to the scrapbook store and I got some really pretty paper. I have no idea how I will use it, but it was too pretty to resist!

I go on and on and on.........

The reason I haven't put pictures out here for a while is because I am frustrated with my camera which makes me not want to take pictures. That's bad. Even a bad quality picture is better than no picture.

The boys and I went to Pizza Hut tonight to use up some of Parker's free pizza coupons (read 6 books in a month and get a free personal pan pizza--easy peasy). A family walked in and the kids were just a mess. One of the little girls was about Parker's age and she had her shirt on backwards. One girl had on what looked like a men's shirt. There were 5 kids and they were with their grandparents. Anyway, I am somtimes a little lax where Jack's clothes and hair are concerned because I get sick of fighting with him. No more. Those kids looked like they found their clothes in the street and combed their hair with a rake. And they acted about as bad as they looked. (Don't leave me a nasty message--even if their family struggles with money, you can put your shirt on the right way and comb your hair.)

I have been hit with seasonal allergies. Itchy eyes, dry cough and constant sneezing. A lovely image I present.

Parker came home at noon on Tuesday with a fever. Stayed home Wednesday. I sent him back on Thursday and he came home with a fever at 11:30. Stayed home today. I think he is on the road to recovery now. Very strange little bug. The only nice part was that I got to spend a little extra time with one of my favorite people in the world! Even Jack took mercy on Parker and didn't aggravate him quite as much as usual.

Weigh in Wednesday wasn't so pleasant. My Krispy Kreme's cost me a pound. However, I was fully prepared for a gain and just thankful that it wasn't more. Luckily, that pound and a few more have dropped off and, according to my scale, I have now lost 11 pounds. I am 5 pounds away from my birthday goal which is in 3 weeks. I AM going to reach that goal! Unless Krispy Kreme get's in my way.


I am selling my cutie flowers now so if you, or anyone you know would be interested, just let me know. I will be selling them at a craft show next week which has me very nervous. It's kind of like being judged. Will anyone like them? Will anyone buy them? What if they do? Can I make enough? Am I charging enough? Too much? Will they fall apart when people get them home? Do I worry too much????? Anyway, they are $15.00 for a bouquet of 15 flowers. Teacher bouquets with pictures are $25.00 (because there are more flowers and I have to make a copy of the class picture to cut out their little heads.) I have to make many, many flowers this week so I have enough to put bouquets together quickly! My flowers will be with my friend Angie's booth at the Maroa Craft Fair next weekend. Angie and her friend Jody sell hair bows and various cutie stuff. Their hair bows are ADORABLE and very high quality so if you are in the market for that kind of thing, they are the people to see.

We went to East Peoria last weekend and we were lucky enough to be able to meet my friend Maureen, her baby Tommy and her husband Kurt for lunch. It was awesome to see her. That little Tommy is sooooo cute (and scared to death of me!) Jack screamed for a while then fell asleep in the booth which was probably a blessing. However, carrying him in and out was a pain. He weighs 40 pounds now and that is pretty darn heavy--especially when it's trying to kick you! Little brat. ;-)

More baseball tomorrow if it isn't raining. This tournament is in Mattoon which just happens to be the home of one of my favorite scrapbook stores--Daisy Lane. Can't wait. They also have a Wendy's! I LOVE Wendy's Spicy Chicken sandwich--and when I wipe off all the mayo, it isn't actually that terrible on WW points. They have a Sonic too and pretty much everything that I enjoy there is very bad on WW points--onion rings, milkshakes, freezes, etc.

Have a great weekend!

A parable

My friend Dawn sent this e-mail to me so I thought I would share. I want to be like Susie!

WET PANTS

Come with me to a third grade classroom..... There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives.

The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, 'Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat.'

He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's lap.

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, 'Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!'

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else - Susie.

She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You've done enough, you klutz!'

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, 'You did that on purpose, didn't you?' Susie whispers back, 'I wet my pants once too.'

May God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good...

Remember.....Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Each and everyone one of us is going through tough times right now, but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that only He can. Keep the faith.

A find!

Well, I wasn't disappointed at WW. I lost another 2.2 which brings me to 9.6 total. You would think that would be really noticeable, wouldn't you? It's not. Maybe on someone who was much lighter than me to begin with. On me, it's like emptying the ocean with a teaspoon. Don't get me wrong, though. I am THRILLED. This weekend will be a challenge because we are going to an overnight baseball tournament. It's hard to stay on track in situations like that. I am bringing lots of healthy alternatives for me though so I'm hoping I won't do too bad.

Parker and my dad had the thrill of a lifetime (well, if your life is only 6 1/2 years long anyway) last night. They went on a hike in the woods behind our house and found a deer skeleton! Minus the skull which my dad thinks was probably washed away by he massive amounts of rain we've received. They gathered up what they could and brought it home. Parker was so excited. It doesn't get much better than that for a little boy. They are back out hiking as I write in hopes of finding more treasure.

I was at TJ Maxx today and I picked up a cute purse. I was carrying it and then I saw that a woman who looked to about about 75 had picked it up too. I put the purse back. She might have been buying it for her grandaughter, but I couldn't take any chances. What does that say about my taste!? Maybe that lady just had really good taste. Although, the plastic rain cap she was wearing said otherwise. I'm just kidding.

Parker is allergic to his baseball cap. I guess it's better than being allergic to peanut butter or milk. We will make it work for him though. His forehead and nose broke out in a million little bumps when he wore it to practice the other day. Both of my kids are allergic to band-aids. The adhesive usually leaves a worse mark than whatever the band-aid was placed over in the first place.

I miss the cafeteria at ISU. All you had to do was walk in and have your choice of a wide variety of yummy food. And ice-cold milk to drink. Life was so much easier then. I've always thought that nothing really prepares you for the everyday, mundane, necessities and responsibilities of life. Paying a mortgage and car payments, insurance, medical bills, children, home maintenance costs, etc. don't seem like a big deal until you are in the middle of it. Add a couple of kids into the mix and it can be quite challenging. College is easy by comparison.

The explorers are back so I'm going to go see what they found today. Hopefully not another dead animal carcass.

Uh oh

Tomorrow is WW. I'm expecting disappointment. Not because I've been "bad" but if the scale at home is any indication (and it is) then, I'm either going to gain or have a minimal loss. Oh well. Keep moving forward.
Busy day--more later.

Rambling about Weight Watchers

Wednesday weigh-in at Weight Watchers was successful. I wasn't going to share details, but in the hopes of inspiring someone to try Weight Watchers I will. No way am I going to tell you my weight, but I have lost 7.4 pounds in 3 weeks. In the overall scheme of things, that isn't a whole lot but it is amazing how much difference it makes in your clothes. I haven't dropped a size or anything, but what I have is much more comfortable. And I don't have that gross squish coming out of the back of my bra and I've pretty much lost my muffin-top. When I'm standing anyway. When I'm sitting it is HUGE! I don't expect that I will always have good weeks, but I have to stay the course. Keep moving forward. Never give up. You know all the cliches. And it is hard. I hate that I can't eat some of the things I love--like Krispy Kreme doughnuts or brownies or Edy's Loaded Butterfinger ice cream. Actually, I could have them in small amounts but where is the joy in that? Whenever I am tempted, I ask myself if the 30 seconds of pleasure I am going to get from eating that piece of junk is worth it. Worth feeling fat. Worth feeling ugly. Worth being uncomfortable. Usually it isn't. Sometimes I give in to temptation just because I don't ever want to feel like I'm on a diet. This is something I need to do for the rest of my life so it has to really work for me and never again eating a piece of Cindy Beck's birthday cake would never work for me. Obviously I am no expert at Weight Watchers but these are few of things that have become apparent to me:
1. Write down everything you eat. It makes a HUGE difference when you see it in print.
2. Buy weight watchers products. Yes they are more expensive but they are so worth it. They taste good and they've already done the work for you. They are still way cheaper than a Value Meal at McDonald's.
3. Excercise.
4. Go to meetings even if you think the stuff they are talking about doesn't really apply to you and you get terribly annoyed at the ridiculous stuff people talk about.
5. There is no logic to how much weight you will lose in a week. I lost 3 pounds my first week which included our trip to Chicago (Rainforest Cafe, Burger King, Papa John's and IHOP) and Easter (where I sampled one of every kind of dessert and ate lots of sweet potatoes that are prepared with a bucket of sugar and butter) My second week, I lost 1.6 pounds and I religously followed the plan. I was very frustrated. This week, I lost 2.8. Hmmmmmm. I'm betting that next week will be low again.
6. You need something to motivate you. For me, it's my reunion. I would love to say it's because I want to be healthy, but that is just a fringe benefit. It also occured to me that to all the new people I have met in the past few years, I am an overweight person. They have never known me at an acceptable weight. And that is unacceptable.
7. Weight Watchers offers all sorts of solutions and tips but when it comes right down to it, will power is what it takes to be successful. Right now, I have it because I see those numbers dropping. However, I know it won't always be easy. Will power is HARD!
8. Oh yes, I have to admit that I am able to avoid many temptations because I am a stay-at-home mom. I am never anywhere where someone has brought in a box of doughnuts or some yummy dip to try. That would make this much harder.
And just so you know, I still have 29 pounds to lose to be where I think I could maintain. I would need to lose 36 more pounds to be where I was 10 years ago. Not going to happen! Unless I cut off a leg. Or sew my mouth shut.
Registration is FREE at Weight Watchers right now. I paid $20.00.

Dental success!

It is said that a blog post without a picture isn't much of a post, but I just don't have anything new to share lately. I get into these phases where I forget to use my camera. I will regret that later.

Parker's dental appt. was completely without drama. He did great and didn't have any cavaties. He also lost one of his front teeth yesterday at school. There is something about a gap-toothed kid that makes them look ornery. He was thrilled that he lost it at school.

It's Wednesday weigh-in at Weight Watchers. (Say that 5 times fast.) We shall see if I'm still a believer.

Gotta run some errands today. Jack makes that a much bigger deal than it should be.

I love kindergarten

I am oh so sad that kindergarten is almost over. It is such a fun grade. They learn so much and while they move at a rapid pace and do a lot of work, it is still a pretty relaxed atmosphere. I have heard that 1st grade is very different. They have to start preparing for ISAT's in 3rd grade so it's time to get down to business. School has changed so much since I was a kid. The whole world revolves around those ISAT's. They are taught how to perform on that one test. Weird, I think. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty melancholy as this school year comes to an end.

My dad gave Jack a hug yesterday and Jack said, "Your spikes hurt me." That would be my dad's beard.

We went to the Mt. Zion Foundation for Quality Education Fundraiser on Friday night. We always feel a little out of place because of the jaw-dropping amounts of money being donated. We paid $40.00 for something in the silent auction. That was probably by far and away the cheapest purchase of the evening. Travis had a 1 in 4 chance of winning a diamond. I said that if he won it, we would sell it and get new windows for our house. I was totally serious. Unfortunately, he didn't get it and the guy who did donated it right back to be auctioned off. We would have kept it.

Parker has a dentist appointment today which could be a battle. He is very unpredictable but if the past 2 visits are any indication, it could be ugly. I think he is way too old to be pulling this crap.

We have a wedding to attend over Memorial Day weekend. It is my personal opinion that scheduling your wedding on a major weekend sucks. I realize that it probably works better for some folks, but I'm not one of them.

I'm still a believer in Weight Watchers but I have to admit that the whole thing is a little tiresome sometimes. I get tired of thinking about everything I put in my mouth. However, it's hard to argue with results and I am seeing results--be they ever so small. Of course, when you are starting out where I am, it's going to be a while before it shows! At least I'm being proactive.

Nothing much here.....

I made a scrapbook page using some paper that I've been hanging on to for a few years. Perfect for these photos!
We are planning our 20th reunion and my friend Sherri ran into one of our classmates. This gal was holding an infant carrier and Sherri says, "Oh, did you have another baby?" Her reply, "Hell no. This is my grandbaby." YIPES! We are old enough to have grandchildren!? I guess I was aware of that, but to hear it is not comforting. Especially since my oldest child is 6. In no way, shape or form do I feel like I could be the parent of a 20 year old and have a grandchild. That's crazy. And yes, I got a late start. And I'm glad. Most of the time.