Taste testing

I'm in work up to my eyeballs. We're heading out for the weekend straight from work (which I'm ditching early). Somehow I have to get my Blockbuster Star Wars marathon movies and the library books and movies returned to their respective locations while buying a couple of birthday gifts and finish packing before we are promptly ready to leave by 3:30. But in spite of it all, I still had time to conduct a very un-scientific taste-test.

McDonalds latte vs Starbucks latte

I've been exhausted. The allergy counts are high. So even though I've been taking medicine and getting sleep, I feel like I've been run over. So coffee in the morning is more heaven sent than usual. Yesterday I went through the Starbucks drive through for a grande non-fat latte. Heaven. Today, I went through the McDonalds drive through for a medium non-flavored latte. And I've got to say, despite my un-love for Starbucks, the Starbucks version comes out light years ahead of McDonalds. The McDonalds version just tasted burned. Bleh. I can't get the taste out of my mouth. Maybe I need to chase it with another cup of coffee. Except that would be work coffee, which is really bad. Sigh... maybe I should just get better allergy medicine.

Beautiful things

I'm always on the lookout for beautiful things. But the last couple of days I've felt like I've noticed so many. A bird feather sticking out of the ground, a most incredibly and amazing sunrise, great work results, beautiful flowers, C-man giggles when I wiped his chocolate mouth, and so much more. I love when I'm feeling good and notice the good in everything else too. ETA: Add one more to the list: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Wql5vyNf4

Wordless Wednesday - Harbor Seals

Because I'm thinking about T-bone today...

Adjustment

I need an adjustment. Both an attitude adjustment and a physical adjustment. This weather is wreaking havoc on my body. So I know that the physical part will pass. To speed it along, I've got a chiropractic appointment over lunch. Not that it will help my hands that feel like they're sprained, but every bit helps. The attitude adjustment is another thing. I'm losing motivation. While the new job has helped me because things are different and new, I'm struggling with the same old stuff. You know, the working out, the trying to keep sugar out of my diet, the trying to be positive about things in my life that I don't see so positively, that I'm needing some serious help with. So I'm trying to make some conscious steps. I've started making the family go back to church regularly. We'd turned into one of those not-so-regular families lately. And while I have been reading loads of stuff about how innacurate the translations from Old Hebrew to Greek to Latin to English were, the sense of grounding and community I get out of going is helpful. Plus, C-man's going to go to school there in a month, so I figured it would be best if we we were actually a part of it. I'm also trying to do a lot of self-talk. You know, the "don't get mad about that, because it's so insignificant, you won't even remember it tomorrow" kind of talk. It's helped a bit. I'm still a work in progress. On the physical motivation, I've lost it. I'm dreading working out, even though I know how much better I feel when I do it. The candy bowls are tempting even though I know sugar does more than just make me jittery. So I continue to plod through, but when my body hurts to start with, the being godo to my body thing becomes that much harder. One thing at a time, I guess.

Will someone come get their bowling ball off my head?

Seriously, this low pressure system is killing me. I mean seriously killing me. My eyelids feel like they're 1o pounds each. And of course, I went and ate 3 brownies today because when I'm feeling bad, I snorkle down super sugary food. Which then cycles around to making me feel worse, because sugar exacerbates this whole nonsense. You'd think I'd be smarter than that, but never am. ******************** And a big "Happy Birthday" to T-cube. Even if it is under crappy circumstances.

One more reason I love summer

A great start to a beautiful day

We dropped Harry off at the groomer. His groomer happens to be two blocks from my all-time favorite Milwaukee restaurant. At night they have the best beer and french fries, so we tried it for breakfast. What could be better than playing I Spy on a great outdoor patio on a fabulous Saturday morning?Having the eggs show up perfectly poached and the coffee strong, that's how. Deee-licious.What's even better? Well, according to C-man, it's following it up with going to the farmers market to get a churro... ...and play on the playground. This afternoon is a birthday party at one of those inflatable toy places where you all you do is jump for 2 straight hours. In other words, 4-year old heaven.

Final results

I didn't know my final results from the SLAM BAM until now. So this is what I ended up with. Still not a supermodel, but it's some pretty positive changes, nonetheless: As I worked through this whole, while not at all unexpected still kind of disheartening, not-winning thing, one thing keeps sticking out. Thursday night, one of the judges grabbed me at the bar to congratulate me. And then she started to cry. And then her husband started to cry. And then she started to tell me her own story and I started to cry too. Because she started to tell that she has been having unexplained swelling and pain. And she's tired and depressed all the time. And that no doctor has been able to pinpoint her problem. But when she read my final essay, everything started to click into place for her. The things I was writing about, she was feeling too. So she did some research, and now has an appointment with a rheumatologist. So I don't have a clue if this woman actually has psoriatic arthritis. But she's going to find out. All because of my essay. I've never talked a ton about having arthritis. It's kind of like having a blog. I don't deny it, and I like when people know, because it answers questions without me having to dance around them, but it's never something I've jumped up and down and shouted out to people. Because it means there's something wrong with me, you know? (The arthritis, not the blog) But last night, while crying in a bar with a woman and her husband who had those pained eyes that looked so much like my own husband's when I'm in pain, I really realized that embarrassment and shame is the wrong feeling. Because those feelings allowed me to also sit in my own self-pity. And I'm over that. So while I still don't see myself shouting about it from the rooftops, I think it's time to put the shame away and be more open about my health and what it means for me. Because I am one in five Americans. And that's too damn crappy to be quiet about any longer.

I won... nothing

It was so nice to have closure to this whole SLAM BAM fitness competition thing. I didn't win anything. Which is kind of a bummer. It would have been nice to have some validation for all the hard work. Then again, I'm back in a bikini, so after my "bummed" feelings go away later today (hopefully, at the same time as this pounding headache and cat-crawled-in-my-mouth-and-died feeling) I'll be satisfied again. But you know it's a good night when the self portraits start happening... P.S. Can I possibly GET any whiter?

2 year window

Conversation at last night's dinner, which details fully why I'm a complete pain in the ass to live with... I just flat-out forget to share most of the day-to-day stuff. Me: "C-man got invited to ANOTHER birthday party. This one is a baseball themed one being held at the park down the street. C-man should love it." Beerman: "Cool. Now that they've added more accessible pathways, that park is looking nice." Me: "Those pathways are just to be pretty, so they can place the bricks with peoples names on them that they sold. They were going to put them on the corner, but with the ongoing road construction they can't, so they're putting them in the park instead." Me: "We have a family brick, by the way." Beerman: "Really? When did we get that? You had to have bought that at least a year ago!" Me: "Well, two, actually." Beerman: "Wow. It's good to know I have a two year window of opportunity to tell you things."

An end of an era t-ball season

A giant hit

Wrestling for Fielding the ball

Ending the season undefeated

Celebrating with his very first trophy (and currently most prized possession)...

...and pizza and a sno-cone

As we left, he declared, "I loved being on the Red Lightning."

4 year old photos finally taken...

Go to the beach, and guess what the first thing he did was...

I wish this were in color, because the whole essence of it is just so very C-man. I love this, except you can see the eye sty he had/has. I can always get it brushed out, I guess. The kid does love his trees... Standing EXACTLY like his dad does... Not a huge smile that is typical of him, but the colors are so great here.

Daycamps and uniforms and backpacks... oh sigh...

So C-man's current school closes for cleaning this month. For a week. And their school starts the following week. Since he's switching schools in the fall, C-man's school doesn't start until the week AFTER. So there I was. Panicked about two weeks of what the hell are we going to do, since I'm saving all my remaining vacation for our Oktoberfest trip in September. Luckily, I can get him into the Y-day camp program by our house. Whew. Today I got an email from Lands End promoting it's uniform sale. So, I clicked on it and then hit purchase on a bunch of, gulp, "uniforms". (Brewers logo is no part of the school uniform. I don't know how we're going to break it to him.) Now I have to go buy the whole list of supplies he has to have for school. Granted, I still have a month in which to do it, but I think it's more the coming to terms with this. Because I guess it really is happening. C-man is officially going to school on September 1st. In a uniform.

Gettin' it done

Groceries, toilets, dog park, laundry, butterfly garden...

Final game - ends in a tie

Pre-game strawberry churro at the farmers market. A big grand slam hit. Apparently he's developed his own spin on the Ryan Braun airplane. And he's even learned how to field pretty well. All in all, a pretty good season as a Twin.

***********************

PS - You know it's been a good day when your parents go to get you for dinner, and this is how they find you...

Lions, Penguins and Sponge Bob Oh My!

We started with the big cats. Mrs. Cheetah kept pacing in front of us like C-man was her food. The lion roared for us a lot. That was fun.

Then we met Rayna. And waved and said hi to her a lot.

Then he pretended he was Rayna. Then he had a Sponge Bob popscicle. WAY cooler than a Mickey Mouse ice cream. Until it fell on the ground while he was running away from me. Then it caused a lot of tears.

Then he wanted to go to see the fish. That lasted for about 5 seconds when his fish phobia kicked in, he screamed at the top of his lungs, and raced out of that building so fast I wasn't able to catch it on film. If I had, it would be a giant orange streak. Can someone explain to me how someone gets phobic of fish? To the point of not being able to even eat next to the fish tank at home. Despite nightly putting his arm, elbow deep in said fish tank to get the angel fish to nibble him? When he sits near them, he freaks out. Sigh...

And the best part of the zoo? Getting a $5 penguin on the way out. I figured I had to beat Grandma and Grandpa at something, so it might as well be a cheap stuffed animal. He named him Raji. When I asked why the penguin was Indian, he asked me what a better name would be. Since I couldn't think of any Antartican names, Raji seemed just fine.

************

The weekly CSA basket contained: peas, globe zucchnini, raddichio, a ton of spinach, dill, mixed greens, pole beans, spring onions, turnips and kohlarabi.

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how 'bout you, you, you...

Tonight is Kids Night at the zoo for members. I'll give you 1 guess where we'll be from 5:15 - 8:30 tonight? Wait, I'll give you a hint... it rhymes with shmenguins. Ahhh, guano. And I guarantee we'll be eating Mickey Mouse ice creams (ears first, of course). I can't wait. ******************* And a giant happy birthday to Middle Sis. You don't look a day over 39. :-) (The package tracker says your goods left Oak Creek this morning, so they should get there today!)

Yet another t-ball recap

For once, he's not in the pile of kids fighting over the ball.

One of his three big hits of the night. No more tee!How you get back to base when you think it's the last batter and start running like crazy, but then they find the actual last batter is really over on the playground playing and still needs to hit.

Finally, he gets to run home. Notice the batting glove he now insists on wearing.

Another hard fought battle is celebrated.

Head spinning. Need to get to t-ball.

And that's all I've got today.

Bikini-worthy

It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend. And we spent a few hours of each day lounging on the beach, playing "pirate" with C-man. And I wore a bikini. The reason this is a big deal is because while I'm not delusional enough to think I was the hottest babe out there, it'd been my goal with all this working out and eating right to get back into a two-piece this summer. And not one of those lame mommy tankini things either. A genuine bikini. So Saturday afternoon, I took a deep breath, and put it on. I didn't see anyone pointing any fingers or laughing, so I figured other than my pasty white skin, it wasn't entirely disturbing. And then I let out a big exhale. I did it. Goal #1 accomplished. Now it's time to firm up these arms that continue to wave even after I've stopped!

Blasphemous thought #112 while sitting in church

You know what would make this a whole lot better? Let's hand out pancakes instead of the dry eucharist. We can make those unlevened...

And then a trip to the beach