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.

A little of this and that

-The other day Jack wanted a banana but the two we had were very brown so I told him we needed to throw them away because they had gone bad. In the calmest voice, he said, "You need to buy Debbie Myers Green Bags." After I picked myself up off the ground from laughing so hard, he said, "Seriously. They're on sale." I love it! Maybe he watched too much t.v..................although, he had learned many things from the likes of Dora, Diego, Between the Lions, etc. I also HIGHLY recommend these DVD's
-I am going on the record and saying that Weight Watchers works. And that's all I'm saying for now.
-Parker colored for hours last night. I could barely contain my excitement. I've been looking for a reason for years to buy one of those giant sets of 120 crayons and now I have it. He even went outside to see exactly what color our house was. Needless to say, a box of 24 crayons does not include the grayish/tannish/greenish color of our siding. But I bet that 120 box does!
-Travis is in Tunica on a golf trip so I have freedom from cooking and laundry.
-I worked in Parker's classroom yesterday. I just love it. I know I've said it before, but I just feel like the opportunity to be there is such a blessing. I try to treasure each moment because, of course, as they go up in grades, they need less help in the classroom.

Easter

The Easter Bunny left baskets for the boys. Then they hunted eggs at our house. Then we went to my grandma's and they hunted there. Brrrrrr.......... It would be so much more fun if it wasn't freezing!

Spring Break Surprise

We pulled off the big surprise. We went to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg to go the the Lego Store which actually wasn't very impressive. Not a single Indiana Jones Lego in the whole place. Then we browsed Build-A-Bear and Disney and ate at the Rainforest Cafe which was definitely the highlight of the mall experience. They LOVED it. It was pretty cool in an overpriced, cheesy, touristy kind of way. They just didn't want to leave and asked to go back the next day. When we left Mt. Zion, it was 55 degrees and sunny. When we got to Chicago, it was 30 degrees and a blizzard. They ended up getting 5 inches where we were which is plenty to make things messy and crazy.
Then we went to the Holiday Inn in Elmhurst which has an indoor waterpark. Parker and Jack are not into water slides and getting splashed at all but they could ride the "lazy river" all day. They love it. (I do too.) So despite the fact that we had to wait in line for 45 minutes to check in and that we only had 1 towel in our room and although we asked multiple times, never received any more towels and they don't get the newspaper on weekends--we had a great time. And they took $100.00 off our bill for our inconvenience. I've never been so glad that Travis is a complainer! So, we had a fun time and I think we may have to make an annual event of it but maybe someplace different and we know to bring our own towels.

Deals

I love, love, love a good deal and today I got a really good one at Walmart. Walmart will put stuff on clearance in odd spots and if you happen to time it right, you can get some great stuff SUPER cheap. Today, I had perfect timing and picked up 3 long sleeve t-shirts and 2 fleece pullovers for $1 each. The shirts had cuffs so they will be Jack's next year and each get one of the pullovers. Best of all, I didn't just buy them because they were cheap--I liked them! Even better. Not that either of them need any shirts, but you can't pass a deal like that up. Speaking of deals, Tracy bought Parker 3 long-sleeved, cuffless shirts from Gymboree for a total of $12.93 cents. That's with tax! If you spend enough time at the mall, the deals come to you! Well, they come to Tracy anyway.

Bunnies and Chicks

The kindergarten had a "Bunny Bag" hunt today. All 100 kindergartens had matching bunny bags and they had to go find the one with their name on it. They couldn't tell anyone where their bag was and they could only touch their own. It was so cute and fun for them. I'm so glad to be a part of stuff like this and we had the most beautiful spring day for it. The second picture is Parker and his teacher, Mrs. Fitzgerald. Report cards came home today. Super job by Parker! (Of course it's kindergarten so there are no grades---just Yes, No, or Improving)


After school my dad got the great idea to take the boys to Rural King to see the chicks. So cute! Surprisingly, they both quickly agreed to hold one for the photo op. Usually they shy away from stuff like that. A nice sales associate saw us and came over and offered to let them hold one. And, by the way, it is against the law to sell individual chicks. You have to buy at least 25. And no, we didn't buy 25.




We have a surprise in store for Parker and Jack tomorrow so I will post pictures when we get back on Saturday. I'm hoping they enjoy it as much as we think they will!
I forgot to mention that Jack chose his clothes today. Enough said.

Do you remember?

I found a big bag of letters and cards at my parents house from 20 years ago. Most of them are letters that were written to me by my family and friends while I was at ISU. FUNNY, funny stuff. So, if you wrote to me 20 years ago and would like to know what was on your mind, let me know and I will give you the scoop. (Carmin, Heather, Michelle, Maureen and Tracy--I'm talkin' to you!) Actually, you may not want to remember some of the stuff! I know I don't!

Gas

My sister e-mailed this to me. It's interesting and easily done. I'm willing to try anything.

THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CANGET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON. This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of hisengineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gasprices, which will continue to rise this summer, take time to read thisplease. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE thanthe 'don't buy gas on a certain day' campaign that was going around lastApril or May! It's worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by this summer and itmight go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. The oil companies justlaughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to 'hurt' ourselves byrefusing to buy gas . It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT,whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work.Please read on and join with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $2.00 is super cheap.Me too! It is currently $2.98 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to thinkthat the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to takeaggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace ..... notsellers.With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to takeaction.The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hitsomeone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do thatWITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force aprice war. Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline fromthe two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices.If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobilgas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out on me at thispoint ..... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millionsof people!! I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least tenmore (30 x 10 = 300) ..... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x10 = 3,000) ..... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth groupof people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then30 million people will have been contacted!If it goes one level further, you guessed it ..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION

Crime and Punishment and other stuff

- I read a blog the other day where the writer was saying that her 7 year old son had been getting into trouble at school (sent to the principal's office) so she took away his favorite Spiderwick Chronicals books and he had to earn them back by not being bad at school. Seems like a logical plan to me. BUT, a bunch of people commented about this issue and I can't believe what some of them said. First of all, most people thought she was doing the right thing. Several thought she shouldn't take away books since reading is a good thing. I commented, "Take away his favorite books. He will still read other books but he will really miss the ones he loves which is the whole point of punishment." However, and this is what get's me, a bunch of people said that it is probably the teacher's fault. That maybe this kid is bored. Maybe the teacher has spring fever. Maybe he needs to be challenged more. Maybe the teacher just doesn't like him. Maybe he needs a different discipline plan where he get's more chances at good behavior. Excuse me while I go throw up. MAYBE he's just breaking the rules and needs to be punished! Now, I am lucky because I have two kids who don't get into trouble at school. (Parker has had his bus moved 2 times this year for talking and to the best of my knowledge, Jack saves all his bad for home.) Boredom does not authorize you to misbehave. I know Parker is bored, but he doesn't start misbehaving--he doodles. Now, I know that every kid is different but making excuses for bad behavior is one of the biggest reasons for bad behavior. I hate it when people blame the teacher when a kid is breaking rules. Feel free to remind me that I ranted about this when one of my kids starts misbehaving at school and it's all the fault of their mean teacher.

We saw Horton Hears A Who last night and we all loved it. It has such a good message. I could see that Parker totally understood that the movie was about more than an elephant and the Who's. Cool. He's getting so grown up. I heard Jack describing the movie to my mom. It went something like this, "Horton was an elephant and he found a little thing that people were on and there was a mouse--super fast and he was blue. He was the funniest mouse. And the people said "HELP!" And Katie said "poop" and she flied. And there was a mean kangaroo. I don't know what that yellow thing was. I think it was a planet. There was a duck who flies and telled on the kangaroo. And there was a little guy at the end who was singing but he didn't talk." That pretty much sums it up.

We have a surprise trip to Chicago planned for this weekend to go the Lego store and an indoor waterpark so you know we will all get the flu on Friday morning.

Jack told me all about Jesus in the garden and how his friends fell asleep while he prayed to God. I would like to say that he learned that from me, but it's from preschool. He has also learned the same color songs that Parker learned in kindergarten. He's going to love walking into kindergarten in another year already knowing a lot of the stuff. He is way ahead of where Parker was at this stage. I always find it interesting that Parker just wasn't into the school thing until kindergarten. It's like a few weeks before kindergarten started a little light went on that said "GO!" and he hasn't looked back since.

Parker's school had an art fair last week. Parker made a visor for me that said, "MOM #1" I have a witness that it was all his idea. He is such a sweet boy. I wonder how long it will last!?

Last week Jack washed his Leapster. I mean soaked it. I took it apart and dried it but it still didn't work. After about 24 hours it magically began working again. Thank goodness. That thing is his best friend during the day.

I've been making lots of paper flowers because I am hoping to sell them. I think they are so fun to look at. Just a little spot of sunshine perfect for a desk or counter.

Hmmmmmm.......

When someone leaves a comment on this blog, I get an e-mail alert. The last message was strange. It was from Brazil asking me (or anyone else) to go the their blog which is about laptops. Kind of weirds me out so I'm signing off until I decide what I want to do.

a few pages

I scrapped these pages while our computer was down. I need to print some new pictures so i can start up again. I'm in creative overdrive right now. It must be the spring air.

Nothing

I'm being a bad blogger. Just nothing much going on so nothing much to write about. Although I will say that I read quite a few blogs and their authors are from all over the U.S. and one thing seemed funny to me recently. Practically every person said something like, "Typical (insert the name of their state here) weather. One day it's 70 degrees and sunny and the next day it's snowing and it's 29 degrees! You know what they say about (insert the name of their state here) 'if you don't like the weather, wait a minute." Does any place in our country have truly consistent weather anymore? I think it's safe to say that mother nature likes to keep us all on our toes. It keeps things interesting.