Starting over

I just noticed the date of my last blog entry. March 2009. Sh1t! A lot has happened since then.
Like everyone else, I jumped ship and went over to FB. Since then, I've given up on FB (except for a daily visit to comment and view people's photos and play Chug IT with my friend that won't quit! LOL). It was not feeling very personal to me and I had stopped checking in with my real friends - writing emails to really get to the heart of my good friends, or calling to see how they were doing. Not that blogging really goes there either. And frankly, no one is probably reading this blog anymore as they've all gone over to FB too. No worries though. I will write for myself. :)

It's been a busy year! We sold our house in May, moved to CA, moved again in CA, settled in, traveled to Ireland, put an offer on a house here that we are waiting to hear back on. It's a short sale so we are waiting a loooonnnnnng time but that's okay because our lease isn't up until June. Still, I look forward to a little more space and hopefully making a few more friends in our neighborhood.

It's been a great move for us, to be closer to my parents who are only 40 minutes away. We see them almost weekly, either us there or them out here now that the weather has gotten cooler. They won't come out in the summer, which is okay because we are usually going to the beach which is closer to them! Can you believe that? To the beach?! We were there on Thanksgiving - Emer was digging in the sand, it was lovely. I'm constantly feeling blessed by the lovely weather down here...

Well, til the last 4 days. We've been in a drenching downpour that seems to be lasting 40 days and 40 nights. As bad as anything I've seen in Seattle, probably worse. Again, so blessed to not have to go out to work in it... Yay! That's all for now. Hears hoping I have more interesting things to say in the future!

A week like no other.

This photo is probably too small but I'm not downloading to my laptop anymore so i have to take what i can get. E smiling with her daddy. I love this photo! I think it may be the first time she picked out a dress to wear. That is not my kid!

So, we are going on the end of week one on our own. Two girls and a dog. It's been interesting to say the least. Mostly I've noticed that it's hard on your own. Not impossible, just harder. M is usually the one who gets up when the little Miss cries in the night. Or we both lay there hoping the other will get her and she falls back to sleep in the meanwhile. But now, since I am the only one and usually woken from a very sound sleep, I get up to get her out of sheer confusion! For a couple nights, she's woken up very early and asked for "cheese". I try to tell her it's not time to get up yet but that doesn't seem to fly. I don't know why! LOL Needless to say, I've been tired most of the time. I guess it's because I haven't worked out either. I really need to get back into that.

So M left last Friday morning and E and I had plans Friday and Saturday night. Our Sunday morning play date was canceled due to weather so Sunday was a very long day inside. Don't ask me why I didn't just pack her up in the car and drive to the mall so she could run around. It didn't even cross my mind that I could "go" somewhere. LOL Monday night we went to a play date/dinner with friends, Tuesday had a St Patrick's Day party with moms/kids, Wednesday two friends came over for leftovers... whew! Yesterday we stayed home and rested. Tonight again, same plan. I think I may have overbooked early in the week. :) This weekend I'll have help from a visiting friend and then M is home on Tuesday night. It should go smoothly. Now that I've said that, though, I guess I've opened myself up for all sorts of mayhem.

I've noticed a couple of interesting things lately, and I have to figure out how to handle them. Since E is an only child and probably will be, and as well she goes to daycare, she's never learned how to "fight" for toys. At home, she doesn't have to share usually. At daycare, all she gets to do is share. When we go out to other kids houses', I've noticed that she looks at me or comes to get me whenever another kid takes what she was playing with. My guess is that she expects me to handle things like the daycare teachers, who probably push sharing and/or give the toy back to the kid that was playing with it. Whatever that is. I usually tell her that things are a little different when we are at people's house, she can either wait for the item to be available again or she can push the kid when he tries to take the toy. I don't care. I don't want her to be a bully but I don't want her to not do anything (or expect me to do something). I guess it's a new situation that we need to work out. I want to support her without her thinking that I need to 'save' her. Sometimes we don't get what we want but sometimes we have to fight too. It's hard to know how to handle it. At least, it is for me. Maybe with a few more evenings like that, she might get it...

The opposite of that is that when the kids are at our house, she is a REALLY good sharer. I've never seen her take a toy away from another kid who is visiting our house. Maybe it's not a good sharer but too timid to do something, I don't know. I don't want to put her in a box. I just know that she seems pretty open when kids play with her stuff. Along with that, we had about 6 kids over on Tuesday night with ages ranging from 18 months - 5 yrs old. All of them were downstairs playing and E was upstairs with the moms, playing by herself. She would go to the stairs every now and then and check out what they were doing but then would come right back up and keep playing. She had no interest. Although the next morning, she did ask me where the kids went.

In many ways, I am seeing her like me. She likes the company of few. A lot of people seem to turn her off unless it's a lot of familiar people. I suppose being in daycare all day would make you want to be alone when you got home. I know it would if I were in a daycare all day!

Ok, as long as I am babbling on about E, I thought I'd share one last thing because I find it funny. Maybe you'd have to hear her to think it's as funny as I do. She had one little friend, I think it's a stuffed lamb or something, but we call him Ted (all the bears are Ted too). This little Ted gets in trouble ALL the time and has to go to time outs. Then after the time out, she turns to him, picks him up and holds him to her and says "Oh, honey, it's alright" only it sounds more like "Oh hohney, it's alright" and I am convinced it's one of the daycare workers that talks like that. The way she says that is not like we talk. I'll have to try and record it in a video. (Ted is constantly getting in trouble for biting, I don't know why. ;))

Anyhow, now that I have sufficiently bored you, I'm going to sign off and take a nap.

Takin' it day by day

So after my whiny post last week, I got my butt off the couch and started making some plans. I mean, you can't meet anyone if you aren't getting out and if I can conveniently use my child as an excuse to get together with other mothers then so be it. We actually had 2 play dates, one ice cream event and also a Mother's Night out with the mom's group I joined. Who knew there were nice people out there? I didn't (well, I had an idea but, boy in our neighborhood, they are hard to find). It's helps to have a little social interaction - just enough to make me happy and still talk to people about things I have no clue about. Did you know that toddlers have to be potty trained? Yes, it's true. Here I thought one day they just figured it out. I know I did. ;) How do you potty train a toddler? Yes, I'm learning how. TG for our daycare admin because I certainly wouldn't know anything. LOL

Anyhow, I'm feeling better. M is probably stressed more than ever. He's planning for a trip home for a nice break with friends and family but since we are putting our house up for sale in April (hopefully) he also has a lot of little jobs that have been waiting for his attention. Our downstairs bathroom, now finished. All the little odds and ends, completed. Gosh, it feels good and I didn't even do it. It just took a deadline and a lot of pressure for him but he's marching through it. He leaves in 2 weeks - we have a lot to do before then.

The past weekend I got to feel like how it feels for people who shake/abuse/abandon their children (I'm sure some search is going to come up and CPS will be on my doorstep in a moment). I would never do that physical damage but I can clearly see how someone could be at the end of their rope, desperate for some kind of divine intervention but not receiving it. I don't know what happened... sometimes we just have bad days... my patience was thin... her need to test it was great, I guess. Specifically at one point we were in the car, M driving and E was calling "Mama" from the backseat. I usually answer her, thinking more is coming, and it does not. I say "yes" she says "mama" again. After the 20th time, I stop answering (no one said I was quick). Then she moves on to asking for a cracker. "well honey, I don't have any crackers in the car today". She asks again, I answer again. Her whiny voice asks again and I don't know how many times this is but I told you I didn't have an f-ing cracker stop f-ing asking me for one! Of course, I didn't put it like this but my raised voice and my stink eye implied this. She was quiet for about a millisecond and then "cracker" was heard from the back seat. Needless to say, it moved downhill from there and once home, eventually earned her some "time alone" in her bedroom. Sometimes... Sometimes, I don't think I'm cut out for this.

And then, the cutest smile, the cheesiest grin, the hug. Sucker for punishment, I am. How do people cope with more than one?

Feeling a little boring...

I haven't written much lately because... well, frankly... I'm feeling a little boring. My weight loss isn't going the direction I'd like it and I'm cold. Bah!

It has been the most beautiful winter (barring that awful snow and minor snow episodes since) with sunshine and/or no rain. I can live like this. I still want warm sun on a daily basis but it could be much, much worse.

Things to babble about this month. I had a minor meltdown a few weeks back. Anyone who knows me, knows I need time alone. Well, I also need time with people. People other than my husband and child and people who actually 'get' me and well, that I consider a close friend. I don't have that in Seattle. It's hard enough to have that and try to have a life with your family. It means cutting precious time out of the couple hours that you have with your daughter on a weekend evening, or working out some way to meet on a weekend where you aren't making your husband (who never goes out or takes time for himself with friends) watch your child in an unfair imbalance of parental duties. It means getting over guilt for being away from your kid during the only hours she's home. It means getting over guilt of wishing they would both go out for a few hours and let me hang out in the house alone with my thoughts on a non-working day. Anyhow, I'm still struggling with that guilt and hopefully that part of it will work itself out in due time. But all of those things would be less of an issue if I had at least one close friend in the same or very similar situation in life - small toddler, working mom - who didn't have a hundred other commitments (family members and a whole host of friends they met in college who fit the same situation in life they have) where they actually might welcome my friendship. LOL I'm a quirk of nature at best... I don't like shopping, prefer to take a walk or sit and have a glass of wine. I would get a pedicure but not into manicures, I'd love a work out partner but I'd just go out to lunch if that is all that was available. I would bring my kid sometimes and our kids would play so we could have a chat, rather going through the whole getting-to-know you bullshit. God, I'm tired of "getting-to-know-you", I just want my friends. Funny, just typing this, I am getting sad again. I don't cry often, almost never these days, but the day that this originally came up for me, I could not stop. Now it's bringing tears to my eyes again. Obviously I have hit that nerve. All the other days I push it back and when I think about it, all these feelings come up again. Sigh..

We drive around from place to place looking for a new home, every weekend we do this. We want good schools, bigger house (not too big), new would be nice but not necessary, garden bigger than a postage stamp, people in our socio-economic/small child period of life. I am starting to realize that this.is.impossible. We can't afford it. We can't find it. West Seattle is not it. People are so hard to KNOW here. All those people who say they find Seattle friendly and have met great friends must not require much out of their friends. I am actually calling "friends" of people I see once every 4 months just so I can say I have some friends these days. LOL I actually suggested to M that we move back to Ireland. At the very least, we'd have his family nearby (even a 4 hour drive is nearby to me) and a few friends in our situation. One of my best friends lives there now and is trying to get pregnant. It would be perfect or maybe not but I am desperate. I am sad. Crazy, I know. And now you all know too. :)

Ok, just so this isn't a huge downer, I have a few E stories. This weekend we went for a lovely walk around a lake. At the end of it, I was trying to get E to the car and she was having none of it. She was playing ring-around-the-rosie with a tree since her mother wouldn't do it. I must've been 40 -50 feet away from her, just watching her. I think I was thinking it was the farthest I've ever been from her and she did not come to me (I noticed people looking at her and I thought they must be wondering 'where is her mother?' but I could be wrong) and in fact, she walked towards some other people who were playing frisbee. After about 10 minutes, she looked at me like she finally saw me - WAY OVER THERE - and came trotting over to me. It was that moment I could see my future. I wish I could say that I am completely present for every moment she is with me and that I know our time is short in this world, in this time of our relationship, but I'm not. Sometimes I need to stare blindly off into space or I ask her to read to herself because I have a headache. But at that moment, I realized that I should try harder to be present because it's going to be gone tomorrow. Wait, did I say this wasn't going to be downer? Suddenly it took a turn! lol

You know, I have normal photos of my child but I like the ones with her cheesy grin, I find it hilarious because she can be hilarious. She had just gotten this new haircut and if you ever want to feel like a shit, take your small child to get her haircut. She cried before we even got in the chair. It didn't help that when we got in the chair, the girl sprayed her hair with water like right.in.her.face! Beeeyotch! Are you trying to make it worse? Anyhow, I guess that's why they call it Budg3t Cuts. You don't get the customer service like the other place. On the plus side, it was open on Monday and we had a day off. Fortunately, we ended on a good note. E seemed to like her haircut (even though she looks like Buster Brown) and she got a piece of chocolate from the nice torturer.. I mean stylist lady.

a new era

It's funny but even the cynic that I can sometimes be (thanks in part to a cynical hubby) is filled with hope over our new president. He may end up sucking like the last one but at least his speaking skills will not become fodder for The Daily Show. We won't have to endure any more smirks that make us think that he doesn't really believe what he's saying so why should we? Anyhow, it's over, so I don't think I'll dwell it. We watched the inauguration on Tuesday like a lot of other people and we prepared E for the big day. Of course, since then, anyone who's on the TV is called Obama. So maybe she doesn't really know who he is specifically. ;)

Along with the new administration, I'm back on the WW bandwagon. A little less intensely than the last time but still in hopes to keep things in check. I gained 3.5 pounds over the holiday and I'm sure that not working out has shifted things in the downward direction a bit. This week I was back down 4 pounds, just for keeping track of what I was eating. I'm sure we all know where this will go next week! Rather than 5 days a week at the gym, I'm working on a more relaxing schedule... more walks in the evening with the whole family (we go whenever it's not raining) and this week I've even incorporated a few workouts at the gym. My goal is to drag my butt out of my warm toasty bed into the cold dark air of the house and make it to the gym only 2 mornings a week! That's not bad. However, that's been my goal since I returned from CA and I haven't been there once yet. It does not help that I put a blanket over the window and it's even darker in the morning than it was!

Ever since we returned from vaca, I can't get the kid to sleep in a bed for love nor money. For the last week, the poor thing has been sleeping on the floor, on her sleeping bag, behind her closed door (which we had to close otherwise she would get out of bed for an hour each night after we said goodnight), her little face peeking under the crack in the door. I wish I could get a photo but I can't. I feel, and I'm sure M will agree, like horrible parents but we have tried all angles. At the end of the day, we are the parents and we set the boundaries. We need to suffer the crying of our child so that she will sleep better (she actually sleeps really well on the floor and wakes up happy) and so we will. I can't wait to see how it is when we go and return from Ireland next year.

Well, I know I'm cutting this off but if I don't post it now, I'll forget until it's 2011... Talk with you cats later. :)

Quiet times

It's been a whirlwind of a month and if you are on Facebook, you already know all this. Plus if you watch the news, you probably know that we had the worst snowstorm in a few years right before Christmas. We loved seeing the snow fall the first day, we walked every day we could and we even went sledding down our hill. I guess that was the only advantage to living on a hill in a bad snowstorm... sledding was good and very close to home. Our deck had about a foot and a half of snow. The girl was home every.day. And I found out the disadvantage of working from home! You don't get to take snow days! What! Just because I don't drive to work doesn't mean I shouldn't get to enjoy a bit of fun like everyone else.... But no, I had to work and E was home the whole time. It was challenging to say the least. It certainly makes me appreciate stay-at-home moms even more than they can spend the whole day with their kids. Every day. Anyhow, this photo was taken when M went to the store with E in the sled and on his way back, she dozed off. It was too cute so we sent it to our local area blog and she made the front page briefly before she was kicked off by yet more snow coverage.

So, the week leading up to Christmas was very uneventful in our lives, just slow torture where you could not really get out of the house and/or your child did not want to walk in the snow so you either had to carry her everywhere or stay inside. We thought briefly that we would not be able to fly to So Cal for Christmas but at the last moment, we got a break and our neighbor agreed to drive us. I only have two photos of the girl from Christmas, that were taken on a Fl1p video camera... forgive me the crappy shot.

Oh, and to add to that great list of December 2008 items, I've probably gained back 10 pounds! WAH!

ElfYourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards


I think this is about the funnest thing to do that is legal. Go to the website, upload a few photos and pick your dance. It's hilarious.

Trick-or-treat and birthday wishes

Last week was a busy one. Halloween popped up, seemingly out of nowhere in my book, and even faster, E's second birthday.

As her parents, M and I were actually somewhat organized, probably because we didn't arrange a party for her. Parties for two year olds? Well, family comes to mind as the crowd that you invite to a 2 yr old's gig and since we don't have any here, we decided to stick with the 3 of us. Worked better for me, as I am not the world's greatest organizer. I have visions of botched birthday parties and missing bits of Halloween costumes and unpurchased birthday gifts for those little girl birthday's she will undoubtedly go to.... Eek!

Anyhow, Halloween went without a hitch. It was still dark when we put on her costume and the "hood" lasted about 10 minutes before it came off. We had to put it back on and bribe the child finally so we could get a few photos. You'll see the form of bribery in the photos no doubt. Here's the lot of them, there are quite a few, be forewarned!

Trick-or-treating did not take long to explain. The neighborhood near our daycare had a sponsored events - all the businesses handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters from 3-6pm. Although it had rained cats and dogs all day, somehow when it was time to pick up E, the clouds parted and the sun shone down on the lot of us. It was a nice evening! We walked around with all the other kids and got candy from people waiting to give us candy. I did try to teach good manners - say "Thank you" although it's more like "Tn do" so no one really knew it was thank you but us. At least she said it a few times! One time she actually got to select her own candy (rather than the person handing it to her) and there was definitely some thought process going on behind the piece she chose because she moved a few pieces around to get the one she wanted!
As a parent, I love to see that stuff. It just lets you know they are becoming their own little person! After about an hour of walking, well, me carrying, we went to see a friend who wanted to see E's costume and she got a lot more candy. Finally we stopped at another friend's house and helped them hand out candy. It was a good night! She definitely enjoyed the night, I think.

The next day we woke early, unfortunately, but it was E's birthday and there were presents to open! She got some cute gifts from abroad and then our gift, which was a trike. More photos here. We also went to IHOP and got the smiley face pancake with ice cream for dessert (yes, at 10am!). We opened another present and got a couple balloons from IHOP and spent the rest of the day recovering from the onslaught of sugar in the morning. I think she liked it her day!

Sunday was another lovely birthday celebration with our friends that we handed out candy with and Monday she had a little birthday party at daycare replete with ice cream and a crown. Needless to say, we are still coming OFF that 4 day sugar binge!! But it's all good.

She is definitely TWO now. It seems the switch has switched. ;) More about that later.

TGIF

You would think from that title that this post is going to be something about Friday but that would imply that I plan out what I'm going to say. I don't. I have such a hard time coming up with titles, that just seemed like the easiest thing to say! (It's now Tuesday and I'm still working on this post!)

Last week(now two weeks ago) was a lovely one. My parents were visiting and spending quality time with their granddaughter. It was nice to see. E is talking a lot now and repeating words (note to self: watch the F-word) so we got her to practice "Nana" (easier than grandma) and "Granddad" and my parents loved it. She was only shy with them for a few minutes and pretty soon was all over my dad. E has a thing for men. She does. My pop-psychology brain says it's because she's around women all day at school. Anyhow, she goes after all the dads. Flirts, etc. Anyhow, that was great - we told her to practice saying "Granddad, $10?" but she wouldn't bite. Maybe at Christmas!

I'm still going on WW. You may have noticed that I've stopped writing about my losses. That's because I'm stuck around the 158lb mark. I really need to start tracking my food again, with guests visiting and a couple of "date" nights, I wasn't keeping great track which means I was probably going way over. Now, 5 days after I originally started posting this, I'm way off track. Tack on a cold and no workouts, eating comfort food and trying to feel better and I'm sure I've gone overboard. It's amazing how it only takes a few days to start feeling like a slug and actually enjoying sleeping in. I really have to keep up with the workouts and running to keep my weight down. Something about this time of year though - getting ready to cover up and be cold all year just tends to make me want to put on a layer... of fat. ;)

I am totally bummed because I had to miss seeing G when she was in town last weekend. I swear if I wasn't such a happy person these days, I'd think the world was conspiring against me that I didn't get to meet G, Ang and RG at The Melting Pot for dinner. I love fondue and I love those ladies and its just the pits that I got a cold. Seems we've all got it. First E, then me and now M. I want to get healthy fast, if nothing so that I can play with girl. It's so hard to do anything with a sinus headache! Hopefully one more day of recovery and I can get back to the gym too.

Not much going on here lately. Getting ready (which means at least we are aware of it) for E's birthday on Saturday. No parties because it doesn't really make sense for a 2 yr old to have a party, although there will be plenty of gatherings no doubt and we'll make her feel like a princess on her day... now if I can just get her to say "Two" when I ask how old she'll be on her birthday. I'm sure that will arrive sooner than I think.

Bye for now.

Results.. for now

I had an incredibly hard time finding very many "before" photos that would show exactly what I needed to show. I covered up well so it just looks like I'm frumpy rather than fat. And frankly, the "after" photos don't really make me look all that trim in my opinion but maybe I'm being hard on myself... Fact of the matter is that I will never be a size 6. Ever. As M likes to say, 'get a ladder and get over it!'

First before photo is Christmas Eve 2007 and really shows off my post-baby belly (way post baby, she was a year old here). Second photo, sometime before that, just me looking frumpy. Too show off, because I don't get to brag too often and most people don't see my stomach anyway, I'm putting up two "after"shots. Me in my way-too-expensive 7 jeans and my ever flattening tummy. I'm pretty proud of it, I must say. ;)

Before:

Look at that tummy, how unflattering!




After:







BTW, I am still on WW, I just haven't gotten below 158. It's been up and down for 2 months now. My MO with weight loss is the same. Lose it and get comfy and eat again. It just can't be done. ;)

No surprise really...

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

NBPC - The Daydreamer

Nature, Background, Big Picture, and Color

You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the colors around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You are a down-to-earth person who enjoys going with the flow.

Isn't that a gorgeous photo?

BTW, I had M do this as well and after grumbling about how absolutely stupid it was, he did. He got almost the total opposite of what I did. I laughed when he told me he was "The Humanitarian".... yeah, right. ;)

Too lazy to write?

There's kind of a lot going on these days and although it is exciting for me, I don't know how exciting it will be for you.

Biggest news, I suppose, is appearing in the post below. Cute as a button, we got ourselves a new family member. Cara is our new dog, almost 2 yr old black Lab that is as sweet as pie and fairly well-trained even. We had been looking but no decisions had been made - since M had his heart set on a white golden retriever like he used to have. Finally one day, M decided we could stop by a shelter on our way home from camping. We came close to a golden retriever but it had a few more problems than we were ready to deal with. Then we went to a lottery for 2 puppies available in a town nearby. We were one of two people who put our names in for one puppy and still didn't get it! Obviously, it wasn't meant to be. So we had put off thinking about it for a couple days until M (who was also looking for a used SUV) found the vehicle he was looking for on cra1gsl1st and we decided to head down to P0rtland to have a look. We stopped at the 0reg0n Human3 Soc13ty and found Cara. Oh, we bought the truck too. M had to go back during the week to pick up the dog. So she's almost been with us a week and she's great! E keeps calling her "Bella" which is the name of our friend's dog (who is also a black Lab). She doesn't realize (I don't think) that's it's a different dog. I keep saying "it's Cara" but she keeps saying "Bella, bella, bella" all the freakin' time! There's no hope and I'm thinking we might have to change the dog's name to Bella. LOL

A week ago I had my first ever mammogram. It took about 5 minutes, which basically means it took me longer to drive over to the clinic than to be seen by the tech doing it. I'd heard all sorts of stories about what it feels like and yes, as a matter of fact, it does feel like placing your boob between to steel plates and pressing them together. Fortunately for us mostly boob-less population, it wasn't too bad. I will find out the results in a week or so.

That same day I had scheduled my flight - the instruction that M got me for a birthday present. He drove me over to the local airport (not the international but a littler one that we can see from the freeway when we drive that way) and I met up with my instructor. Do you remember ever having a dream, something you've always wanted to do but as the years pass and it sits on the back burner, it truly didn't seem like something you always wanted to do? Like you've forgotten how much you wanted to do it? That's what flying is like. I always wanted to fly a plane. It seemed so out of reach, cost wise, I don't know I just never thought of doing it for myself.... Anyhow, I was reminded of it when we were taking off from that little airport in the 4-seater DA40 plane. The talk from the tower was Japanese, I hadn't a clue who or what they were talking to but I tried. I concentrated but it was definitely not to be. Fortunately, my instructor knew and we took off to the north and flew over Seattle on the gorgeous sunny day that it was. It was a perfect day. As we turned to the east, I could see my 'hood to my left, ferries down below, and the Pug3t S0und out in the distance, I don't know if I'd even seen it look so beautiful. When he actually let me "take the wheel" and I turned and dipped the plane a bit, oh my god, what a rush! A bit like driving for the first time, where you know you are behind the wheel of a powerful vehicle but you still have to find out what it can do. Scary and exhilarating all at once! The flight was only an hour but definitely the best way to see our city on a beautiful day. Who knows if I will take lessons - just not ready to give up that much time with E right now? But it's definitely on my mind and maybe in my future! :) Oh, did I mention that he let me land the plane as well?! Eep!

Our new addition

Don't have time to say much but meet Cara!

Happy Labor Day!

I haven't written lately. I've been busy. Working even. ;) I'm a big procrastinator when it comes to work projects - not enough daily satisfaction to sit well with me. I've had a looming project, I've slowly been working on and I've now moved into the most challenging part - coordinating cable broadband installation in an area where we have limited support but really need it. The cable company will only bring the cable to the offices and at that point, we have to network our office computers. Having the office employees do this would be next to impossible, having me travel down there to do it would be painful.... So, I'm working on coordination... I've got the contracts signed and am now waiting for the installations to take place. It's been keeping me busy.

This weekend has been a challenge. I have the munchies, a sick husband and a child that also wasn't feeling great/napping for the last few days. I've let myself eat a bit even though I went to yoga today and only burned 100 calories! Why does the class feel so hard yet you don't burn anything?! It was relaxing and I needed that too. I'm up to 30 minutes of running in my 5k training - the run is at the end of September and I'm fairly sure I will be ready. After that, I think I will set my sights on a 10k (it's been a few years since I've run one). I don't know if I can train for a 10k on the treadmill so I may have to move it outdoors - which at 5:30am is not going to be easy. Brr!

I've had a challenging weekend with the girl. I think I've mentioned before that I find it hard when she's sick. She's more demanding and needy of me. Yes, I know she is my child. But that doesn't mean I have to handle it gracefully each time she needs me more than normal... I'm only human! :) Anyhow, because she wasn't feeling well, she hasn't been eating much - it's normal, I've seen this before. She is going through a phase where she wants to open the fridge, pull herself up on the bottom step and stand there indefinitely, then ask for something that eventually she eats two bites of and hands back to me. Usually she eats like there is no tomorrow. Anyhow, getting used to the change always takes me awhile and then once I get used to her eating little bites, she's usually fine and eating again.... I know, my problem, not hers. :) I also know she's not well because I could not put her down for a nap yesterday -she cried or talked for over an hour- before we decided to go and look at an open house. She had a lot of energy, running around and having fun in the empty houses, only to fall asleep for almost 2 hours after we got back in the car. She was zonked. And still went to bed last night... I think she is getting a tooth (or two or four) - not sure. I was hoping to her move into her big girl bed this past weekend but with being sick.... well, it just doesn't seem like the right time. We have to kind of hurry though - the crib belongs to a friend whose brother is having a baby either in late Sept or October, I can't remember which.

I'm still managing to lose a bit of weight even though I haven't been right on plan (in fact, I've recently exceeded my alloted food points for the week the past 3 or 4 weeks) but with working out, I manage to stay even. I really have to be organized and sometimes that can be hard... now that the fruit season is starting to fade too - the blueberries taste a bit crappier and the strawberries get furry a lot faster than they were.... fortunately, I've been okay with vegetables and keeping my meals smaller. I made a mean green curry chicken dish - a recipe that I got from ww - although it needed a bit of red chili paste to make it the way I like it - spicy. Still the flavor wasn't bad!

We have one last summer camping trip next weekend, provided that this sh1tty weather we've been having improves a bit. We are going to Deception Pass State Park again - we were there a few weeks ago and had a lovely weekend and pretty nice weather. E truly seems to love camping and we finally have our bikes working and were able to take advantage of them around the campsite. I honestly can't wait until E is old enough to ride her own bike and play with the other kids in the campground... I wish I could say that it would be nice for her to have a sibling to play with but we all know that ain't going to happen. But, suffice it to say that I contemplate it a lot more than I have in the past two years. We better hurry and get a dog, is all I can say!

I'll leave you with a few memories of our last trip...

Building a fire with dad:


Practicing our "Cheese" for photos:


A shot with Deception Pass bridge in the background:

Two posts in one week!

We need help. As you may remember, we had given up hope on remodeling our current house and had instead been looking for a new-to-us house in a more 'family friendly' neighborhood. Recently, a few events occurred - SUMMER, for one - that have caused us to reconsider. lol Also, we had a Bl0ck Party and met a group of our neighbors and realized that there are a lot more kids in this 'hood than we ever would have guessed. SO, we've gone back to talking about popping the top. The dilemma being cost vs. satisfaction given. I am attaching a series of photos - a before and after if you will - and we want you to judge for yourself. The first shot is a view from our current deck level. The second shot will be a view from a ladder at roof level. Not quite as high it would be (since I wasn't actually standing on the roof) but fairly close.

Looking northwest, from deck:

Looking northwest, from roof:

Looking west, from deck:

Looking west, from roof:

Looking southwest, from deck:

Looking southwest, from roof:

Looking further south, from deck:

Looking further south, from roof:

My personal opinion is that there isn't enough "going on" in the water (it IS a weekday, however) to make the view more interesting. Yes, there's more view but it is just more water and mountains. I actually think our view is pretty spectacular as it is. Too bad the house is the size of a shoe box!

The end of a great visit...

I would love to show photos of our guests but as I haven't asked them about it, I couldn't upload any photos with their girls. As you can see, I had to cut someone out of the photo... this is our friend that E is going around calling "Daddy". Let's just say it's getting confusing around the house. Our friends have two daughters - K, 7 and A, 4 1/2 - and E has had the best time with them. Particularly A. They are as close to friends as I've seen E be with anyone, she adores them. Because K and A call their parents, "mommy" and "daddy", E apparently thinks that that is their names and she calls them "mommy" and "daddy" (as well as M and I, she isn't confused about it, just knows that that is their names!). It's hilarious. She loves her other parents to bits and often at the exclusion of M and I. :)) It doesn't bother me though, it's nice to have an extra set of hands. Anyhow, this photo of E and her other daddy was taken because she saw her friend A having HER photo taken and wanted to get in on it.

Yesterday we drove over to my friend's house, she was having a dinner for our guests last night. A sat next to E in the car and although I couldn't see what was going on, they were literally giggling about something for the whole 5 minute ride. Of course, the next minute A wants to hug E and E makes this screeching noise and looks at me like "Save me!". But there were plenty of hugs, E definitely has figured out the hug. It is sooooooo cute. She's really going to miss these girls.

On the plus side, they have been good company for E and she probably does more than she would because she's hanging out with older kids and trying to "keep up" as well they have been like babysitters because we can enjoy a moment of peace while the kids are on the back deck playing with bubbles or something. I don't have to be the play person. On the downside, they probably aren't the best behaved kids (although to be honest and fair to them, I don't know ANY kids their age nor have I spent the amount of time with their age kids like I have these two so they could ALL be like this) and the little one eats Nutella sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Don't get me wrong, I like the stuff but if this is all E wanted to eat, I'd struggle. I've had some issues with her wanting string cheese for the last couple days - like she goes to the fridge, opens it and points to the place the cheese is - but really, it's cheese so at least there's a protein and dairy mixed in with her saturated fat and cholesterol. :)

I don't know if you can see in the photo but E looks like she has a little eyeshadow on her right eye... she got a bug bite (maybe a spider?) while we were camping and it swelled up and looked like she got in a bar brawl or something. It's only now 9 days later starting to fade. It didn't seem to bother her at all though, but it sure bothered everyone else. I got lots of comments on it at the daycare... sigh... you try putting bug repellant (or sunscreen) on the face of a squirmy 21 month old!

So, anyhow, it's been a really, really nice 3 weeks. I actually love when people I don't know so well stay with us because I've really gotten to know them... I've gone out for a glass of wine and a pedicure with S and she and I had a nice chat. We've sat in the hot tub together, the four of us, and drank copious amounts of wine/beer (yes, my weight loss program has taken a hit this month!). I feel like I know them, that I've made friends which I haven't done in a long, long time. Yes, I'm ready for them to go, because frankly our house is too small to keep 7 people for too long. But if they wanted to live next door, I would be completely happy with that. :)

Right ON!

Weigh in last night brought me back down to 158.6. Unfortunately that, along with turning 40 took my points per day down, which is always a bit depressing. However, I've eaten crazily the past 2 weeks so I can't complain. I just need to settle down again. :)

Still working out though and I'm up to running 20 minutes without an walking breaks. Damn it's hard. The days of running 10k's are long ago... But I'll be ready for my 5k in late September!! That's all for now.

Wk 1 - 180
Wk 2 - 176.4
Wk 3 - 171.4
Wk 4 - 168.2
Wk 5 - 164.6
Wk 6 - 162.8
Wk 7 - 166.8 (I know exactly what this was)
Wk 8 - 163 (which shows here)
Wk 9 - 159.6
Wk 10 - 162
Wk 11 - 158.6

Checking in...

Hi all

It's been awhile since I've written, it's been a busy two weeks and last week I was in a fog of hangovers (hey, when you haven't been drinking at all, two glasses of wine CAN produce a hangover!) from my wonderful 40th birthday.

Let me start by saying that WW got put on the back burner last week. I mean, the minute I hit 159, I decided that I could relax a bit and I've gone back the other way! Our guests are only here for one more week so I will be able to "dry out" again after they go. In the meantime, I'm completely enjoying having friends here and chats in the evening, etc.

Let's see, where did I leave off? Did I mention that I weighed at 159 the week before my birthday? Then I proceeded to eat pizza Wednesday night (after my meeting), had a dept dinner at Trader V1cs in Palo Alto where I had a lovely prawn curry (which apparently is high in po1nts) and by two days in I was already over my extra points for the week. Oops! Our guests arrived on Friday, there was more pizza and beer, then the weekend (wine, beer, steak), then my birthday (actually not too bad, too busy talking with guests to eat and drink too much) aside from the birthday cake. Then just downhill from there until this weekend we were camping and drinking a lot of wine and eating Pringles and s'mores for breakfast and.... well, you can see where this is going. LOL

On the plus side, I worked out every day but the day after my birthday and only gained 3 pounds at my last weeks weigh in (could easily have been water weight!). I also, for some strange reason, booked a hydrostatic fat test on the day after my birthday. It was really cool. I'd been wanting to do it forever. You basically lay down on a scale that's in water and blow all the air out of your system and they measure your body fat. It's the most accurate way to measure body fat. Anyhow, it's probably good that I waited until I was 40 to do it because if I'd gone the day before, I wouldn't have been healthy for the 'guidelines' - lol - but on Wednesday I was healthy! 20% body fat, not bad. I was surprised. I guess I have a lot of lean muscle mass under all my blubber. :) I talked with the guy about WW and he said that it is a good program but rather generic - basically for people like me who burn more calories at rest since my lean mass is higher, I am probably not getting enough calories (which may be why I lost weight so quickly?) but that for most people it's really good. He gave me some things I could try to get my body fat down more but I really need to get back on plan before I start doing that! Anyway, I was pretty happy with that. I think 30% body fat would have ruined my day! lol

Let's see... what else? OH! The coolest birthday gift ever. I get one hour of instruction in this with M along for the ride (if he dares...). I cannot wait!!! The weather was crummy on my b-day, of course, and although I did go for the 90 minute massage I also got, we didn't schedule the other. Waiting for a nice day (which actually would've been any day but my birthday!). I had a lovely day with M (my boss gives her dept the day off to celebrate our birthdays which is FANTASTIC) and then we got the house ready for guests. We had an eclectic group but it was great fun. There were some balloons around the house and all the adults (about 15 total) were sitting around when one went into the air. We were batting it around the room and having a laugh. Then someone went and got two more and threw them in the mix and it was hilarious, trying to keep the 3 up in the air - something so incredibly simple and goofy and we laughed about it for 15 minutes, it was good fun. There was diving involved at the end and some close saves and just laughter. I wish I could say I got some video of E dancing (her new dance move involves jumping and slapping her knees) because she was absolutely hilarious but I didn't. She is having a great time with our friends two little girls though and it's great to see her interacting with the big kids.

I better get back to work! I'll let you know what happens next WI on Wednesday! bTW Joe, thanks for the birthday wishes... :)

Count down to visitors....

Hi all,

I'm back with no photos at all this week. Last week was a tough one. I don't know what was going on with E but she was sick for the majority of the weekend and well into the week. I looked it up in my toddler guidebook and it was most likely a NSV (non-specific virus) because she had a low grade fever and also got a rash on Wednesday. She was super clingy for ME and it was verrrrry difficult to have her around while I was working. On Thursday I left to go to our office in Bellevue because she was just too hard to be around AND get work done. I think out of that week, she was in daycare one day and they sent her home two other days. She was unconsolable for them but happy as clam when she got home. Go figure. We started to think maybe something had happened at the daycare but after a full week, she had a good day yesterday at school so I'm guessing all is better. Poor thing. It's hard when they can't tell you what's wrong.

She's got all sorts of words these days - "wots dat?" being the funniest because it's said exactly as I've just spelled it. She's taken to calling M "daddy" now instead of "mama" (that's a relief) and calling me "mommy" which is cute. She says our titles ALOT. She calls herself, I think, meemer which I mistake for mommy but I have deduced that she just hasn't been able to clarify her name yet. It constantly amazes me. We read an incessant amount of "book"s and "choo" (shoe) is another one or and if her diaper is wet or worse, she points at it and says "gicky" which is hilarious because there's no guessing if she needs her diaper changed because, well, she tells you! I guess this isn't too exciting to anyone but me.

WW is still working for me. I broke the 160 lb mark last week and I was shocked. I lost my 10% which is the original goal they give you. I don't know what to do now so I just continued on the losing points values. I'm still doing the sculpte class 3 times a week (although I should really mixed it up) and running/other cardio for an hour the other 2 days. If I'm lucky, I get a weekend workout in but usually not. The sculpte class is really toning my arms, shoulders and legs/butt but does not do a thing for my chest and back. I just don't have the days to fit in more weight training so I'm letting that go for now. I have signed up to have a hydrostatic fat testing on the 30th. I've always wanted to know what my body fat is and this should be interesting. Hopefully it won't make me cry. ;)

Besides that, next week is the big Four-OH. I never thought I would get to this age and needless to say, M doesn't let me live it down about living with an "older woman".. doesn't he realize some day he will be 40 as well. And I will always be older than him. We have some friends coming in to town on Friday night and we'll invite a few other friends for drinks/appetizers/cake (oh yeah, I'm having cake!) that night. Other than that, I'll usher it in quietly, I hope.

Wk 1 - 180
Wk 2 - 176.4
Wk 3 - 171.4
Wk 4 - 168.2
Wk 5 - 164.6
Wk 6 - 162.8
Wk 7 - 166.8 (I know exactly what this was)
Wk 8 - 163 (which shows here)
Wk 9 - 159.6

Back, briefly

I don't know why I haven't posted lately. I only have one photos from our recent camping trip over the 4th of July. You know how sometimes you have those trips where you want to go home when you just got there? Yep, we had that trip. The drive up was nice. We stopped to see some friends with a cabin and that's where we had the photo taken. We picked up a couple fresh, already cooked crab from my friend and took off within the hour. We arrived at the campsite, it wasn't the best place I've ever booked (site that is, the park itself was beautiful) but somehow we managed to get the tent up with no problem. We have this 'pavilion' for lack of a better word that has 4 posts and a top that goes over our table, keeps the bugs out in the evenings etc. We struggled getting that up for some reason, everyone was cranky. E kept falling off the bench seat of the picnic table, or screaming for food even though for once, I had food ready for her. There were mosquitos and we forgot a few things and the start did not look good.

Other bad signs:
- Sat morning, E was playing with bubbles and fell backwards into the firepit. Needless to say, there was no fire (thank god!) in it, not even a smidgen because it had rained on us the night before! Crying ensued.
- All night (felt like it) fireworks - M80s or bottle rockets or whatever they were called. E managed to sleep through it though.
- Rain. Period.
- Touristy resort nearby. You can imagine.
- Managed to plan my WW menu but didn't bring enough stuff for M and E! lol

Sigh. Maybe not so bad in the grand scheme of things but I would've gone home in a minute if M wanted to. LOL

We are going again this weekend!

Last weekend dawned hopeful as we headed out to our local street fair. Although she didn't spend much time in the sun, E became kind of sick on Sat night - hot, listless, didn't want to eat - and it continued on until yesterday. She seems better now but I don't know what it was. Not bad enough to warrant a visit to the dr but definitely not herself. She's been very clingy and emotional lately too which is wearing on our nerves. Maybe as a parent, we aren't supposed to actually SAY that but there it is, I've said it. I've been challenged. Today seemed better as she headed off to daycare.

Needless to say, not much more going on. I'll post weight loss stats (or non-weight loss stats as the case may be) - I'm happy with how things are going so that's all that matters. I wish I had a before and after shot at this point but I'm not sure you can see any difference, but I can!

Wk 1 - 180
Wk 2 - 176.4
Wk 3 - 171.4
Wk 4 - 168.2
Wk 5 - 164.6
Wk 6 - 162.8
Wk 7 - 166.8 (I know exactly what this was)
Wk 8 - 163 (which shows here)