I'm currently reading A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin*.
This is a noteworthy fact for two reasons. First, I never read anything of this genre. Fantasy, Dragons...not my thing at all. Second, I know how it ends. HBO made a series out of the first book this past spring and we watched it. We loved it and Andy promptly read the series; there are five books currently, but I hear that there are more coming. He convinced me that while this isn't typically my style and I already knew the plot, that I'd enjoy it and I should give it a try.
He was right; I'm really liking it. This, however, leads me to my dilemma:
When I'm done with book one, what do I do? HBO is planning on a season two, based on the second book, due out after the first of the year. Do I go ahead and read the book, leaving nothing to surprise me on a show that I absolutely loved? Or do I wait, watch the show first, and then hope I enjoy the second book even though I'll know what's coming?
See?!?!? This is why I make it a habit never to read the book if I've seen the movie, or vice versa! I'm in such a pickle!
*I feel compelled to clarify that I purchased the book with the original cover on it, not the one shown with Boromir on it. It took great restraint, but I felt that it was the right thing to do.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
This is the End, Part 1
He did it...
...he made it...
...it was quite an accomplishment...
...he finished freshman football!
Having never played before, I don't think Matt really understood what he was getting himself into when he signed up last June. It rocked his world. This was bound to be an adjustment even without football - he was making the switch from home schooling to public school. Adding football just made his days insane.
He left at 7:30am each morning and he got home 7pm each evening. He ate quickly and then had at least several hours of homework. After a quick night's sleep, he woke up and started all over. Every single day. It was a gruelling schedule, even for someone who loves the sport. For someone like him, who isn't quite sure that football is the thing for him and being a kid who really needs down time, it has been a difficult few months.
But he made it.
He was a starting defensive end all season and he saw a few plays as the back-up fullback. He played so well, his coaches love him....I couldn't be more proud!
Thankfully, he didn't get any injuries that are too serious. He jacked up his thumb pretty bad in practice before the season started so that continues to bother him. The trainer has been taping it every day, all season long, to give it stability. Hopefully now it'll finally get a chance to heal. He's been fighting a sore shoulder and a sore quad; both should settle down now. Considering how bad football can get, I'm very thankful.
#43
2011 Del Norte High School
Freshman Football
Finished 7 and 3
Go Nighthawks!
He left at 7:30am each morning and he got home 7pm each evening. He ate quickly and then had at least several hours of homework. After a quick night's sleep, he woke up and started all over. Every single day. It was a gruelling schedule, even for someone who loves the sport. For someone like him, who isn't quite sure that football is the thing for him and being a kid who really needs down time, it has been a difficult few months.
But he made it.
He was a starting defensive end all season and he saw a few plays as the back-up fullback. He played so well, his coaches love him....I couldn't be more proud!
Thankfully, he didn't get any injuries that are too serious. He jacked up his thumb pretty bad in practice before the season started so that continues to bother him. The trainer has been taping it every day, all season long, to give it stability. Hopefully now it'll finally get a chance to heal. He's been fighting a sore shoulder and a sore quad; both should settle down now. Considering how bad football can get, I'm very thankful.
#43
2011 Del Norte High School
Freshman Football
Finished 7 and 3
Go Nighthawks!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Ten on Tuesday
Today, I bring you a list of the ten household items that I have the most difficulty keeping stocked. With two teenagers in the house, we go through certain items very quickly. It seems like I'm constantly at the store. Enjoy!
1. Gatorade. I buy it by the case.
2. White Socks. This is especially true during football season; no amount of bleach can get all of the dirt out.
3. Mouthwash. At least they care about oral hygiene.
4. Bath Soap. Again, at least they're clean. On any given day, our shower is used approximately six times. The bars of soap disappear rather fast.
5. Gum. Thankfully, a certain someone hooks the kids up with a giant box of gum every Christmas. They love it!
6. Laundry Detergent. We go through gallons and gallons...
7. Ziploc Bags. Lunches, snacks, flash cards..you name it and they put it in a Ziploc bag.
8. Camera Batteries. Granted, they're rechargeable, but I'm always needing to recharge them.
9. Toilet Paper. Thank goodness for Costco.
10. Milk. We average 1.5 gallons per week day, and we can get up to 2 gallons a day on the weekend if we're home a lot. My boys love milk.
(Side note: For those keeping count, I succeeded in my no dessert quest yesterday. One day down, six to go!)
1. Gatorade. I buy it by the case.
2. White Socks. This is especially true during football season; no amount of bleach can get all of the dirt out.
3. Mouthwash. At least they care about oral hygiene.
4. Bath Soap. Again, at least they're clean. On any given day, our shower is used approximately six times. The bars of soap disappear rather fast.
5. Gum. Thankfully, a certain someone hooks the kids up with a giant box of gum every Christmas. They love it!
6. Laundry Detergent. We go through gallons and gallons...
7. Ziploc Bags. Lunches, snacks, flash cards..you name it and they put it in a Ziploc bag.
8. Camera Batteries. Granted, they're rechargeable, but I'm always needing to recharge them.
9. Toilet Paper. Thank goodness for Costco.
10. Milk. We average 1.5 gallons per week day, and we can get up to 2 gallons a day on the weekend if we're home a lot. My boys love milk.
(Side note: For those keeping count, I succeeded in my no dessert quest yesterday. One day down, six to go!)
Monday, November 7, 2011
Got To Let It Go
(Did anyone catch the old-school Amy Grant reference in my title? That's about all the creativity I can muster on a Monday morning.)
This coming Saturday is a day that I've been both greatly looking forward to AND dreading. It's annual family photo day. I'm looking forward to it (rain, stay away!) because it always turns into a super fun evening with our photographer and her family, and she always does an amazing job! I dread it because, as you can see from the photo in a previous post, I'm not anywhere near my ideal weight. I've even toyed with the idea of only having pictures of the kids done this year.
Each year I tell myself that I'm going to lose weight and each year I don't. I could tell you that it's because I'm busy with all of my volunteer organizations or that my back hurts so exercising is hard...really I could list any number of excuses. However, that's all that they would be, excuses. I need to find a way to exercise more and eat less. Calories in must be less than calories expended. It's math that even I'm capable of doing.
Please don't misunderstand my intent in blogging this; this isn't a sneaky way of soliciting a bunch of people to say, "Oh, you look fine!" My reason for posting this is so that I have some accountability. It's fully within my power to start making some positive changes, and I think that by posting here, I just might be able to succeed. Maybe.
I spent some time last night thinking about exactly what I plan on doing. It's not realistic for me to declare myself to be on a diet and promise to start consuming only 1,200 calories a day. I need to set realistic goals. Therefore, I have decided that beginning today, for one week I won't be having any dessert-ish items. Now, you might think, "No dessert for a week? That's it?" However, that's kind of a big deal for me. We have TONS of crap in the house. As I sit here typing, I'm actually looking at a partial roll of Oreos that I brought upstairs a few nights ago. There are many candy pumpkins in the candy jar, there are more Oreos in the cabinet and there is a donut left from Peterson's sitting on the counter. I'm not kidding, there's stuff everywhere.
So, for one week, I'm not going to have any of it. Creating new habits will take a while, but I have to start somewhere. I'm not giving up all sugar; I need my vanilla lattes in the morning. But cookies/candies/cakes...I'm giving them up for a week.
Eek. We'll see how this goes. I might be really cranky in a day or so!
This coming Saturday is a day that I've been both greatly looking forward to AND dreading. It's annual family photo day. I'm looking forward to it (rain, stay away!) because it always turns into a super fun evening with our photographer and her family, and she always does an amazing job! I dread it because, as you can see from the photo in a previous post, I'm not anywhere near my ideal weight. I've even toyed with the idea of only having pictures of the kids done this year.
Each year I tell myself that I'm going to lose weight and each year I don't. I could tell you that it's because I'm busy with all of my volunteer organizations or that my back hurts so exercising is hard...really I could list any number of excuses. However, that's all that they would be, excuses. I need to find a way to exercise more and eat less. Calories in must be less than calories expended. It's math that even I'm capable of doing.
Please don't misunderstand my intent in blogging this; this isn't a sneaky way of soliciting a bunch of people to say, "Oh, you look fine!" My reason for posting this is so that I have some accountability. It's fully within my power to start making some positive changes, and I think that by posting here, I just might be able to succeed. Maybe.
I spent some time last night thinking about exactly what I plan on doing. It's not realistic for me to declare myself to be on a diet and promise to start consuming only 1,200 calories a day. I need to set realistic goals. Therefore, I have decided that beginning today, for one week I won't be having any dessert-ish items. Now, you might think, "No dessert for a week? That's it?" However, that's kind of a big deal for me. We have TONS of crap in the house. As I sit here typing, I'm actually looking at a partial roll of Oreos that I brought upstairs a few nights ago. There are many candy pumpkins in the candy jar, there are more Oreos in the cabinet and there is a donut left from Peterson's sitting on the counter. I'm not kidding, there's stuff everywhere.
So, for one week, I'm not going to have any of it. Creating new habits will take a while, but I have to start somewhere. I'm not giving up all sugar; I need my vanilla lattes in the morning. But cookies/candies/cakes...I'm giving them up for a week.
Eek. We'll see how this goes. I might be really cranky in a day or so!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Candy Eating 101
Today I would like to talk about what is, in my opinion, the proper way to eat Skittles.
Last night our family had occasion to consume multiple snack-sized packages of Skittles and I watched over and over as both of the boys, along with Andy, would tear open the back and throw all of them into their mouth at the same time. This is wrong. Very wrong. It's not a problem that is exclusive to the snack packs, either. I've witnessed my kids reach their hands into the candy dish full of Skittles and grab a whole handful and without care or thought, eat all of them at once. Shameful.
If you eat them all at the same time, all you get to taste is a sugary blob. Sure, you might be able to detect trace flavors of something once resembling fruit, but unless you have an extremely discerning palate, you can't make out each flavor. You are truly missing out.
On the other hand, if you separate the colors and eat them individually, you can taste and enjoy each of the fruity flavors! Strawberry, Orange, Lemon, Green (yes, I just call it Green), and Grape. Perfect. One can choose one's own preferred order, mine is O, G, L, P, S. What matters is that each flavor gets it's due. Each is a tiny, juicy work of art in it's own right.
Does it surprise you that I have an order for something like this? It shouldn't. Heck, I even feel that there is a proper way to eat layer cake...but that is another blog entirely.
I submit that Skittles should be separated by color,
and then each color should be eaten individually.
and then each color should be eaten individually.
Last night our family had occasion to consume multiple snack-sized packages of Skittles and I watched over and over as both of the boys, along with Andy, would tear open the back and throw all of them into their mouth at the same time. This is wrong. Very wrong. It's not a problem that is exclusive to the snack packs, either. I've witnessed my kids reach their hands into the candy dish full of Skittles and grab a whole handful and without care or thought, eat all of them at once. Shameful.
If you eat them all at the same time, all you get to taste is a sugary blob. Sure, you might be able to detect trace flavors of something once resembling fruit, but unless you have an extremely discerning palate, you can't make out each flavor. You are truly missing out.
On the other hand, if you separate the colors and eat them individually, you can taste and enjoy each of the fruity flavors! Strawberry, Orange, Lemon, Green (yes, I just call it Green), and Grape. Perfect. One can choose one's own preferred order, mine is O, G, L, P, S. What matters is that each flavor gets it's due. Each is a tiny, juicy work of art in it's own right.
Does it surprise you that I have an order for something like this? It shouldn't. Heck, I even feel that there is a proper way to eat layer cake...but that is another blog entirely.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Just Another Day At The Office
We've all done it; we've all been miserable in some way, shape or form for our kids. Yesterday it was my turn.John played (football) in Valley Center last night. Holy cow! It was awful! The temperature was in the mid 40's, and it poured when we got there so we were soaked to the bone. Thankfully, after a while the heavy rain stopped and it just showered off and on for the rest of the evening.
Andy snapped a picture of me during one of the breaks...I had four layers on and still couldn't get warm. It was hours before I could feel my toes. Seriously.
I've done many-a-thing for my kiddos; I'm sure you've done the same for yours. Games in bitterly cold weather, games in blistering heat, sitting up all night with a sick one, a midnight run to CVS to pick up supplies for that project that they forgot was due tomorrow...oh, and with the holidays coming, we're approaching another one - staying up late baking and cooking long after everyone else is in bed. It's all part of this crazy job called Motherhood.
And you know something? I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Friday, November 4, 2011
1998
Do you know what day it is?
It's Flashback Friday, of course!
I'm picking up where I left off last year, so today brings us to 1998.
It's Flashback Friday, of course!
I'm picking up where I left off last year, so today brings us to 1998.
Ha! This was fun. I left John watching TV while I went to take a shower. Somehow, he got his leg stuck in the sofa bed mechanism. I couldn't pull him out without pulling his leg off and Andy was in class at the time so I had to call 911. The nice firemen came, and as you can see, they had to lift up the couch and dislodge him from underneath. Lovely.
There was a 7-Eleven right down the street from our apartment.We bought a lot of Slurpees.
Story time with Grandma!
Apparently we went to Chevy's.
John got a guitar for his second birthday...
...guess who spent the whole time playing with it?
Such cuteness!
This isn't the greatest picture of anyone, but it's the last photo that I have of my grandparents with the boys.
Uncle Dave is probably pointing out which animals are conservatives and which ones are liberals.
Someone is one year old!
Goodbye, Granddad. We'll miss you forever.
Bate's Nut Farm. Or Nate's Butt Farm. Either way.
Trick or Treat!
This is one of my all-time favorites. About an hour after we arrived at Disneyland, Matt started running a fever. Since we'd just spent a ton of money to get in, we decided to see if he could tough it out. He was pretty miserable and we were about to call it quits when he found this leaf. He picked it up, put his head on my shoulder, and immediately went to sleep. While he was pretty sick, we made it through the day. He never let go of the leaf. He held it all day long, including all the way home. The next morning, he started antibiotics since both of his ears were infected. Poor kid.
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