Fall Campout at Wolf Creek

my camping list of Essentials

1 Tent
1 bedroll / person
1 sleeping bag / person
1 pillow / person
1 propane stove
1 pan
2 bottles of propane
1 mess kit / person (plate, bowl, cup, fork, spoon, knife)
1 wienie / marshmallow stick / person
1 camp chair / person
1 teddy bear / person (we have issues in our family)
wash pan / towel /
napkins
toilet paper

for food, we are packing light but essentials:
Breakfast:
Bisquick premeasured mix in a bottle, just add water, spatula
Lunch:
Peanut Butter * Jelly * Bread
PM Snack:
cliff bar
Dinner:
wieners & buns and individual condiments (McDonalds)
water
Desert:
Marshmallows * Graham Crackers * Chocolate

Just Say No?

I went over the bills from my insurance this year, stinkers.

if I go to an established in network provider, they have not been charging me the deductible, if I go to someone (like current surgeon for well visits) they have a $600 deductible (advertised: $300 deductible if in network) since I went once at my 12 month post op visit and all we did was talk about the blah blah blah that I already know. I figure that I will save the $300 office visit,,,

I AM SERIOUS, St Laurent charged me $300 for the office visit. there was NOTHING WRONG with me.

I am just going to get my lab work done at my Rheumatoid Specialist and read my own results. what a pile of hooey. I just called today and canceled, they seemed surprised that I didn't want to fork out another $300 for a visit. tthhbb

use the money on something practical like visitation to see darling daughter #3. seriously, my plane ticket into a Podunk regional airport (notorious for being over inflated) was cheaper than the office visit.

as for the weight, it has bounced up and down, currently it is at 146, which is right in my comfort zone, 1 lb less would be hysterically nice, but not a goal. I have been munching on carrots and apples to get it back down from 152 of last week. No goofing off in this house. I worked too hard to get here.

Totally Venting.. refraining from all caps

I have no idea how other people move. some may hire someone, I do not know. personally I take advantage of the opportunity to de-clutter, and clean. to get rid of junk and start fresh. I get my boxes months in advance. I pack at leasure and I make sure that every thing is boxed, sealed, labeled.

when moving day comes, I hire a truck, and 4 loaders. they come and it takes about 4 hours to load everything and then I pay them and leave. when I arrived at my hesitation, I hire 4 unloaders, and it takes about 2 hours to put everything in the house and I am done. I get the loaders from where-ever I am renting the truck, and they usually deliver or return the truck for me. it is extremely convenient and they usually work for beer money. Where ever you find rental trucks, you will find "good ol boys" willing to help a girl out.

however, my daughter. oh gracious. my daughter. still has not finished packing and the truck has come and gone. she has had three months to prepare. she has had months to get ready. she has put off everything until the last second. she still has not packed up her ever loving bed and dresser.

Friday night before the truck arives, she should be packing, she wants me to watch her baby and someone eles baby while she goes out to a movie. I have been watching her baby every day for the last week, sometimes over night for well over 18 hours. I say no. she thinks I am being rude. I think that she is insane for going out to a movie when she is supposed to be PACKING!

I tried to help this week, but she just dwaddles. they were supposed to be out of the house on the 1st and use this week to clean. I hired a truck on the 6th, brought it with me, and she was packing boxes and I was packing boxes and we did not utilize all the head space. we got 'most' of the furniture in, all of the 'heavy stuff' but it should have been a one shot deal. load it to the top, haul it over in one shot and be done with it. now there will be several trips with the truck to get everything moved over. what a PITA.

but at least I do not feel obligated to help out other than getting the damn truck unloaded and back to the store.

now for the truck... she swore it was broke down, that the ignition wire was loose. well I picked her up and drove her to work, picked her up and drove her to lunch, and drove her home from work for a week because I am a door mat. Talked to Jason, figured out that it was just out of gas. filled the tank up and now it runs fine. what a PITA.

the truck is fully loaded, ready to be unloaded, but she couldn't do that last night, she had made plans to go to the bar and that takes precedence! nope, I can pay $20 for another day rental, just so long as she can go to the bar with her friends. since the dolly HAD to be returned by morning, I started to unload the dryer and the refrigerator that MUST have a dolly and she threw the worse kind of fit. she is so inconsiderate that I can not image getting through the next 4 months without killing each other. it will be horrible at best.

she can not pack, she can not maintenance a truck. she is rude and obnoxious. where did I go wrong?

phone rings.

Jason got mugged last night, he was held at gun point and they stole his wallet with $26 and both kid's ID, and social security card and military id card. and lighter. good lord. they had no freaking business being out last night, they SHOULD have been PACKING!!!

now today we are supposed to have a leisurely goodbye brunch and photo shoot, but I doubt that will happen, I feel like I am in the car with Ray Charles driving.

back on the scales

okay, I do not know why the up and downs are creating ups and downs, but fine. back down to 148. augh. why couldnt I just hover around 145 instead of 150? blech. maybe it is the muffins? maybe it is the chocolates? maybe it is the open bag of potato chips on my desk. heehee probably.

got krys's storage signed yesterday, she can now start filling it up and getting out of her house. I am seriously considering moving my entertainment center out of her room, there is just no room in there. she needs to move in the crib and a queen size bed and dressers. augh.

breakfast, I really tried, I hard boiled 4 eggs, but they are still in the pan. I made some tea and drank most of it, so I am hydrating. AF seems to be leaving, yahoo!

oh check this out... crap.. it has already slipped my mind. what is up with that? I swear, one minute I have a thought, the next it is gone. poof. there is a little twinge behind my right eye, must be a brain cramp. heehee

okay, so the house is not going to clean itself. I am getting caught up on my tv shows. but ultimately, I am just procrastinating about getting my fall promotion out too all my customers. bad bad bad kitty kat.

just one more thing

so I get my tail out of bed, got a shower, picked up a bag of diapers at the store, get my boys off to school, get krys off to work, and got over and "teach the teacher" about digital photography.

pick Krys up for lunch, get lunch for Jason, Krys, and me from subway, pack up 1/4 of Jordan's room, load it in the car, strap Jordan in, drop Krys off at work, sign the lease on the 10x20 storage unit.

Drive home, unload the car, feed Jordan, rock him to sleep, print out two invoices, clean off my voice mail, make notes, call back my customers, and eat 1/4 of a chocolate chip cookie. I did clean the floor off in Jordan's Cubbie Hole, made him a grape juice bottle but he totally does not want it. need to make him a MILK bottle. fine.

Krys needs to get her tail in gear on her packing, oh and did I mention, that she is 14 days LATE? oh crap! Jason leaves tonight to go 'DOWN TOWN' for his MOMENT OF TRUTH in his enlistment process. His FAREWELL luncheon is here Sunday, and he DEPLOYS Monday Night.

Now the boys are home from school, Jordan is up from his nap, I still have not made a dent in the office that is quite possibly the results of a Cat 5 Hurricane or at the very least a F5 Tornado that has hit. WHAT A MESS!

DOWN ON THE FARM

my little cubbies... we had 8 of the 10 show up. they are very wiggly, but super cute.

Kole, Nathan, Magnus, Caleb, Liam, Seth, & Noah.

we worked on our Bobcat achievement, the pledge, the salute, the handshake, the motto, the sign. we had a bean / paper towel / zip lock baggie / water activity, hope to get some sprouts.
we did a word search. and we had oreos and milk for snack. Yumm.

same ol same ol

just 5 lbs... I loose it, it finds me, I loose it, it finds me. same 5 lbs over and over and over each month. driving me insane. today AF is here and so is that same *$&!*$&!*$&!*$&! 5lbs.

last night went to a nice concert, www.visionsofatlantis.com opened and I really liked them, http://www.epica.nl/ were okay, but too much growling.

a couple of weeks ago, we went to see/hear http://www.leaveseyes.com/ and they were really good, but completely were blown away by http://www.kamelot.com

now I am checking out a couple of new recommendations, http://www.sonataarctica.info as well as http://www.mortenveland.com/sirenia/ and http://www.tristania.com/, each have at least two songs on their latest cd's that I like. so I am sure that they will grow on me.

as for food. breakfast, I had a muffin, lunch, a bowl of chicken noodle soup, after noon snack a bunch of Kettle Chips, and dinner was single corn hard shell taco with beef.

boring but no getting sick.

emailed my little cubbies a reminder that we have cubscouts today.

Happy Birthday to Erik

he had 10 guests yesterday for his party.
Nick, Luke, Allie
Ruggie, Anna, Angelica
Brandon & Hannah

we decorated brown sack lunch bags for taking home 'gifts & prizes' with markers, stencils and paper punches. the 'prizes' were fruit snacks from Ausome Fruit Candies, pencils, hot wheel cars, hair accessories.

we played a game where you pass a wrapped present around a circle while singing happy birthday, when you stop singing, you unwrap the present, inside is another wrapped present. and you start over until you get to the last present and that person gets the prize, we went around 5 times.

he blew out the candles on a chocolate cake with spider man on it.

one of his gifts was silly string, and they had a blast with that in the back yard.

the last game we played, erik was blind folded and had to guess who was the poor kitty that was meowing, he guess all the guys easily, but it came down to the last three girls that he couldnt tell apart.


he set up a target in his room with the white board and used markers to make a bullseye to target practice with his foam dart gun.

he got some kewl car toys, a shadow the hedgehog game for his gamecube, and the highlight was the Ninetendo DS Lite with games (Brainage II, Harry Potter Order of Phoenix, Hannah Montana, Dogz, Pokémon Diamond Version, Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon - Blue Rescue Team, SimCity, from both grandparents and some Osbourne books.

Perfect Breakfast

multi-grain wasa crisp bread
stripe of miracle whip
1 perfect scrambled organic egg (one curd, truly an art form)
and smoked salmon

YUMMY and holy cow, protein up the waazzoo!

last night was supposed to be a pleasant family dinner out.

I started with the salad and did fine, at a whole plate of it and should have stopped when I was ahead. but no. not me. I am more of a special needs child and just can not learn from my mistakes. my middle name is 'tard. I went back for seconds. that is right. idiot alert. I had a small ladle of clam chowder. (yep, lactose intolerant, but I am an idiot) and I had small scoop of tapioca pudding, now we are pushing the envelop for carb-fest, and I had a dollop of vanilla soft serve on top of the chocolate brownie, in my defense, I did not have more than two teaspoons of that stuff. but with the pasta from the salad, the pudding, the soup, I went into carb-toxic-shock and felt like fainting. this was on top of being just physically EXHAUSTED from watching Jordan all week, while he and I were both sick with head colds.

I went home and died. then Krys called and wanted me to watch Jordan while she went to the bar, she had already scheduled Joan the other grandma to watch Jordan while she goes out Saturday night and me to watch Jordan while she goes out Sunday night. I flipped out and lost it. I have been watching his whiney butt all week, and I really didn't want to see or hear from him for 24 hours, just so sick of the whine. she really got mad at me for snapping her head off and hung up. I went to sleep.

diet honeymoon ends.. return to reality

my honey moon is over and now I am back to where I was as far as nibbles and it could go up hill in a heart beat, already I noticed that my clothes are fitting more tightly, but I flat refuse to go back. each day I resolve to stick to the basics and hope for the best.

yesterday was a HORRIBLE stricture day.

today was interesting

breakfast:
cream of wheat
24 oz tea

lunch: (sample tables at grocery store)
micro slice of pizza
2 cheery tidbits
6 oz tea

dinner:
1 hardshell chicken taco with cheese, sour cream, and mushrooms
16 oz propel

tv dessert:
28 oz tea
3 chocolate / caramel covered peanut clusters

overall weight, up to 150.5 lbs which is still only .5 lbs over goal weight, which can easily be dismissed as not a danger to have a fluctuation, or accepted as part of the extra skin hanging around. but it is still a danger signal that the chocolate has to go, and the veggies need to come back. so the 'majic' wand waving is over, now it is all about self control, good choices, and while I still only consume SMALL portions, never get in more than ONE slice of pizza or ONE taco, I can still gain weight. and that is taking some getting used to. my body is just not psyched out anymore and insists on holding on to any empty calories.

The shameless hussy!

letter to the school

Letter FROM the school:

Erik continued minor misbehavior.

Erik left the cafeteria during lunch and did not return to the class until more than 10 minutes after we returned to class. he did not return even when I sent another child to get him.

Erik will miss recess today, Monday and Tuesday and will write restroom rules.

My Letter TO the school:

I am constantly amazed at how ignorant some people are about health. I find it completely barbaric that anyone would find it acceptable to restrict a child to a set schedule for bodily functions. I find it completely brutal to discover that someone would punish my child for taking too long in the lavatory performing defecation.

Let me assure you that I will not under any circumstance condone or allow that type of behavior to continue to endanger the health and well being of any of my children. Your policies are beyond unconscionable.

Erik, and his brother Magnus, have been steadily working to heal the damage that was inflicted upon them during the 2006-2007 school year. Constantly holding bowel movements created such a health hazard to them, that they are now on a continuous regime of pharmaceuticals to aid them in the most basic of bodily functions.

I can not begin to relate to you what terror it elicits for a parent when your child has difficulty moving their bowels. Comforting them at home with tears streaming down their cheeks, as the toilet bowl fills up with bright red blood. When they return home from attending a public institution with dark crusts of blood on their bottom, and bloody streaks in their underwear from such excruciatingly painful bowel movements.

While my children are now currently under a doctors care, and have been for over 12 months to correct the damage that was inflicted upon them last year, I can not believe that any sane human being would write them up for “CONTINUED MINOR MISBEHAVIOR” for taking extended periods of time to endure such torture.

Erik had to drink dose after dose of Krysalose for months earlier this spring, Now he will be trying Polyethylene Glycol daily to assist him in having a bowel movement. It still takes a very long time for him to pass a stool. To restrict him to a time table is completely reprehensible, if he has to push for 30 minutes, he better be allowed to continue in the restroom without being harassed and harangued.

I have discussed this with his father and his pediatrician. We are all in concurrence.

It is beyond our comprehension that any civilized adult would punish a child for 'taking too long' to have a proper bowel movement. Natural body functions may not coincide with the 'classroom schedule', but they will take presidence. That is something that is not open for discussion, debate, or negotiation.

Whomever policy it is to rush a child back to the classroom before they can complete the task, needs to re-evaluate their priorities, as this policy has already created serious health issues such as internal hemorrhoids, anal fissures and possible colon polyps in my children. Do not think for a single moment that I will allow anyone to jeopardize their health for single second.

If at any time the staff at this school has a problem with either of my children taking too long in the lavatory, you are instructed to call me, so that I can take time off, drive over there, and ensure that they continue making progress to undo the destruction that has already been done. That way the staff can go back to doing whatever the flip they think is so freaking important, and I can protect my children in the state mandated public education facility.

And as for my response to the Office Referral:

NO you may not punish and publicly humiliate him for taking too long in the lavatory. And You definitely will NOT make him write restroom rules unless it is to rewrite the current one that I find to be deplorable at best and infinitely intolerable.

SCHOOL's RESPONSE:

to get so righteously indignant as to say to my face that I was the most .. goodness.. there are just no words to describe the 2 hours of abuse that I received in the office from that principal.

first I OFFENDED HER DELICATE SENSIBILITIES by describing what happens when my sons have difficulty with a bowel movement and that I was way to graphic to share that with a teacher or an administrator. that should be private and that I was harming the children by telling someone other than the family doctor about it. so I am SHARING TOO MUCH INFORMATION.

I did not DOCUMENT enough of the pre-existing condition by SHARING what medications the boys were on LAST YEAR, and EVEN THOUGH I did send a two paged typed document regarding MAGNUS condition this year, and had only shared his struggles last year VERBALLY, I WAS not DOCUMENTING on the MEDICAL CARD a REFERENCE to the TWO PAGED Document.

HEADMISTRESS was so condescending and rude with her innuendos that she was dumbfounded that I could have a so little tact and while she recognized that I was angry and upset, she totally felt that her administration was not to blame. after all they didn't KNOW that the boys had problems with constipation and it was not THEIR fault that I had not effectively COMMUNICATED that to all the principals.

in the same breath, she did pointedly say: I was not to contact anyone but her about an issue, that I was not to share medical information with a teacher. (who the bloody hell is going to tell the teacher if I do not?) the Nurse? I told her verbally about Magnus, mailed her a letter, and the Music and PE teachers STILL made him wait to use the toilet when he had to defecate.)

the administrator just keep badgering for hours, and I am not kidding, HOURS, I arrived at 9:30 am and left at 12:15 pm, regarding how intensive I was to share the boys medical problems. that I should be ashamed to have done so. and that I should keep medical problems PRIVATE. and that I should explore my options to home school the boys since I disliked their policies so much.

She was totally belligerent when she stated that all the kids can use the lavatory when every thy want, and then added, well except the pre-K and that K and the First and Second graders, they all go together as a group to the lavatory, and completely cut me off when I tried to say, THAT is the POINT, I have a first and second grader and waiting until the whole class goes, is CAUSING THE PROBLEM.

She was beyond furious that I wouldnt call her administration first to talk about the office referral, when I pointed out that the referral was written documentation and proof enough of the school's position. it stated that this had happened before, that Erik had been in the bathroom for long periods of time and no one had notified me, and that if it was boys playing, she should have stated that on the referral. and she could have easily and happily strangled me for CC'ing the school district superintendent.

oh and check this out, she said that in her 60 years as a mother and a grand mother and her 37 years as a teacher and educator she has never in her life been so shocked by a parent who would have shared such private information and would communicated things that should remain private. I resisted the temptation to say "that she really needed to get out more". I did however tell her I do not believe that problems are solved by hiding them. I refuse to sweep something under the rug. If my two boys have had a problem with constipation from holding it until it is convenient to take the whole class to the lavatory, how many other children have?

She wanted me to fill out a medically fragile form, to facilitate SOMETHING. I wonder if it is just to say cover her butt that way she doesn't have to make a policy change that would benefit all children? Instead to treat my children as an exception rather than address rule that is causing the problem?

she was extremely beligerent when she viciously went on that there were other children in the school that were much more medically needy with issues like asthma and diabetes. and that I should be ashamed of myself for causing so much fuss. that some children have to take enzymes with every meal. HELLO. that must be Benjamin Nichols, yes, I know Butters, I have given him the enzymes when I babysat him. OH, well, you could have knocked her over with a feather.

I swear, the condescension used to annoy me, but the verbal sparing was quite something coming from someone of her 'age' if not maturity was surprising. I could clearly see some of her manipulation, she wanted me to get angry enough that I threaten to pull my children out of the school, and I totally could see through it, then she would not have to deal with me. I surprised myself by not falling for the ruse. usually I would be so angry, I would get sucked into the drama, an could have made the threat, but it was as if I was having an out of body experience. I could see her machinations and just laugh at them, they were so manipulative and I was for the moment at least impervious. that is a good milestone for me. not to get sucked into the drama.

now I have to write up something for Erik as well as magnus, get documentation from the pediatrician and create a paper trail. oh and get this......

SHE HAS MADE A FILE with all my letters, and she is KEEPING all my LETTERS in that FILE. and she is going to KEEP THAT FILE. oh bloody hell!! someone needs to get a flipping life.

As for the boys, she is going to insist that they use the nurses lavatory and have a nurse supervise thier bowel movements so that they are not PLAYING in the restroom. HELLO that was the WHOLE FLIPPING OBJECTIVE was to facilitate that they can go when they want to go, and take as long as they need to get it out, and not have teachers and other students pestering them while they GO!!! she acted like it was a consequence instead of a reasonable solution to problem.

SWEET MOTHER OF GAWD!

Oh baby!

first off, that cold that baby Jordan had last week, didn't think much of it? well now Sverre and I both have it and it SUCKS! I took two three hour naps today in between decluttering and I am still wiped out. Alka seltzer plus last night before bed and cough drops with 10 g methyl today.

but I am perseverring and nearly ready for photo-op of the progress. my office is 90% moved over, my room is TRASHED though with my personal photo project and a butt load of frames that I need to garage sale since we do not do 8x10's around the house anymore.

I still have to order two orders of prints, but since they will not hit production before 11 am tomorrow, I will let them 'sit' for now.

now back to work to get the rest of my office moved over, the boys room cleaned out and then the 'next part' of the project which is organizing my mini projects in my office so that I can actually TACKLE them this month.

PROGRESS

I got up an hour early this morning, before my cub scouts den leader training, and started moving things from one room to the next, made some progress.

I toddled off to training and while I was overwhelmed during the first 'overview' session, I was completely calmed down and more prepared after the after noon tiger specific session. I am pretty sure I know what to do to get through the first couple of months now, which is a good thing.

It is really important to motivate the boys to complete this to teach them self respect and self discipline and self confidence. I just hope that I am able to absorb all that I can to enable them to be all they can be. I got several compliments about my photography and that gave me a boost of self esteem and self confidence. very nice.

got back home and really dug in on the project. I have created the worse level of mess right now, it is beyond belief

BUT

just like in clean sweep, I have my piles, and I have actually sorted my piles by theme so that I can keep, and garage sale or donate. I have set up an organized area in the garage for the garage sale, and it will be a DOOZIE once I get everything down there. so far I have not effectively eliminated any furniture which is not accomplishing my goal. One hurdle at a time I guess. get everything at least in the right geographical location.

DE CLUTTER ING

almost had a full scale nuclear meltdown... and as you all know

'one nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day'

I had no idea which end of the elephant to start on, so I started on the tail, and the trunk, and the right front foot all at the same time, and kinda got lost. had to take a pause, talk to sverre who is by and large more of a difficult one than a helpful one. his solution is usually wait until it resolves it self, mine is gut and redo and repeat as needed.

so for the update/progress. of all the spaces to sacrifice, the garage/studio is the sacrificial lamb. sucks, but that is the way it is.

now I have packed up all my props and stacked them as compactly as possible and set aside the fall set for now in an easily accessible area. and swept and cleaned out the near wall to stack the shelves that currently reside in the hobbyroom/closet off the office and utilize them for the garage sale / craigs list / ebay stuff. that way, I get them down, and near the door for ultimate delivery are as close to it as possible, and thus less trips through the house. DOWNSIZE a bit at a time now will be less painful than all at once in the spring.

I gutted the master suite closet and vacuumed it out, took some pictures to put on the 'house for sale' site. and now I have no freaking idea what to store in there. ideally, nothing. but realistically something. which is a major part of my DELIMA, what stays and what goes. ultimately, at least 50% has to go, or we will never get all this into 1/2 the square footage that we have now. but if I keep using the current space for storage, I will never downsize effectively while it is practical, and when moving day comes, we will just throw it on the truck as we have for the past 22 years. so I am resolved. we must clean and close off the spaces until we no longer occupy 50% of the house. with ANYTHING including storage.

GOOD PLAN.. now for execution.

I have cleaned out 80% of the nursery in anticipation of removing my core office to that space and relinquishing this space to Krys/Jordan leaving the entertainment center here. that is painful! but I can still watch my shows on this computer via the network and the downstairs Beyond TV link.

so I have 2 rooms down, and 6 to go. this is gonna suck to high heaven!

Motivation

I want it. I do not have it. but I would like to order some from amazon.com if I could. I have no problems getting out of bed, cleaning the kitchen, making coffee and cream of wheat. I can check my email. but then when it comes to cleaning the office. blech. when it comes to re-organizing the boys closet. oh good lord. and when it comes to moving my office over to the nursery so that krys can relocate in here. well, maybe tomorrow or next week. I just do not know where to start, it is sooo overwhelming.

Lego's

Erik loves his legos, they are a constant fascination for him. what I love is that he can think out side of the box and create ships on his own that are pretty fantastic.

Madison, Wisconsin??

putting Krys's house into storage, we found one in the neighborhood for $55 a month for the first 6 months, and then it bumps up to $75 a month after that. Sverre has graciously agreed to pay the first 6 months so that she doesn't have to throw stuff away and we do not have to trip over it. (he is really a nice guy)

it is a 10x25 so that should be large enough, just had a thought, it was supposed to be large enough to store the vw bug and her household stuff, but she said that they were going to tow the bug over and leave it at the parents house, wonder if they think they are going to squeeze dixie ('85 Silverado) into the storage. it will so totally not fit

oh good lord.

anyways..

I have raised enough concerns that Sverre is seriously looking at finding a job in Madison Wisconsin instead of Bergen Norway, which I think would be a better choice financially. yes we still have $8000 in medical insurance expenses a year but we can ease into the 'real' house market, since the hHouston one is beyond unrealistic with $90K houses vs $200K McMansions anywhere else. (although I seriously do want to McMansion, but what is a girl to do? he thinks that he will go postal and have a fork sticking out of his managers throat if he has to stay here one more year.

we had a 'clearing of the air' and I expressed myself at the TOP OF MY LUNGS and with such violent undertones that gave him the heads up that he and I need to have a 'come to jesus' and we did.

current status:
we are considering all our options, including some serious ones in Madison, Wisconsin. which honestly I am exceedingly excited about but as with the previous issues, he was excited about san fransisco, and that didnt happen, he was excited about portland and that didnt happen, he was excited about boise, and that didnt happen, he was excited about missoula, and that didnt happen, he was excited about bergen and that is just not a good choice. we shall see.

I am now the official tiger den mother for my little cubbie. what in the world happened last night? the boys were so noisy, they had a cup of coffee in their hands, and a cookie on a napkin, I thought they asked if I wanted one, and I say, YES PLEASE.. what was I thinking of?

I was supposed to have Jordan from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, his momma slept in and missed work. the boys have boy scouts tonight from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

den momma

me? oh you have got to be kidding!

okay, Erik is a wolf cub scout and Magnus is a tiger cub scout and I am his den's (8 little guys) momma.

this ought to be really interesting.

http://www.polarisbsa.org

Wanna buy some popcorn?

kat

Ten words women use...

1.) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2.) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3.) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4.) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

5.) Loud Sigh: This is actual ly a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6.) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7.) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome.

8.) Whatever: Is a women's way of saying F@!K YOU!

9.) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking "What'swrong?" For the woman's response refer to # 3.

10) Anyways: This means that anything you are talking about does not matter to her. Her story will quickly follow this statement.

Send this to the men you know, to warn them about arguments they can avoid if they remember the terminology.

Send this to all the women you know to give them a good laugh

Precisely On Target

I set my goal 15 months ago, and I have achieved it. I have maintained and followed the steps and adhered to the plan. I think that it was easier that I expected, harder than I imagined, tougher than most would have been able to endure and more rewarding than I thought possible.
My husband chides me frequently that I am not 'following' the plan religiously, he is worried that a 7 lb fluctuation is a return to the beginning. My family at this juncture and for quite some time do not want to talk about me anymore. My 15 seconds of fame is over and I am now not 'newsworthy'. 'Lets talk about something else' is the phrase when I point out my accomplishments. It is as if, "yes, we applauded you when you hit your goal. yes we applauded you went you bought your clothes, yes, it has been over a year and you are still the new you" now we want to talk about something else. ANYTHING else. iIt can still be about me. but SOMETHING else.

I can not say that I have a lot of motivation lately, I am definitely in the middle of a mood swing. could be hormonal, could be metabolic, could be nutritional, could be a bazillion things. I am not as good about my vitamins as I was in the beginning, I am getting a lot of food, and I guess I feel that should be enough. I take 2 vits nearly every day. I am really bad about the fluids. A couple of days ago, I noticed that I was getting in a 32 oz cup of coffee in the morning and that was it for the day, not a good choice. I went back to the tea, sucked down 64 oz and then was up all freaking night, whoa Nelly, with a 7 month old all day, that sleep deprivation was not pleasant. but I got through the day and ended up going to bed about 10 pm. now here it is 6:30 am and I have been up for over an hour. already had my two eggs, scrambled with cheese, salsa and sour cream. I am really pushing the envelop with them I can feel them overflowing into the esophagus which is not a good thing. so I still have about a 3 oz pouch because they were really only about 1/2 a cup in volume and so I didn't think that I would have a problem getting them down. As far as sleep, I am going to bed when I am tired, getting up when wake up naturally, some nights that is only about 6 - 7 hours others it is 8 or so.

I went to the school's boy scout night and it looks like the boys want to be involved. that is on top of chess club. we wanted to get them into swimming lessons, but for some reason, I am just totally not motivated to get them to the actual lessons, I am so bad. how can my kids be 6 and 8 and not able to swim? you would think with my HISTORY that I would be better about it. But then again, hell, they have a dad and he is not doing anything either.

I did go to the school's volunteer tea. each year I sucker myself back into getting involved. spreading myself too thin I am sure. Art Appreciation with Pamela Macpherson, Chess and Scouting with Jeannie Schmidt, Box tops and Scouting with Jenna Majka, Computer Club, Bicycle Safety, and Mother Reader with Maureen Menzer just for shits and giggles.