Day one--a good day

Yesterday, I decided that I needed to get back on track with my health. I had been feeling crappy, I had been eating crappy, I hadn't been exercising. I was feeling bad emotionally and physically. I was cranky with my family. And the scale was starting to go back up.
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So today is day one of taking care of me again. I already feel better. Right after dropping the kids off at school, I took all of the Girl Scout cookies and put them in shopping bags and put them out in the trailer. When people want a cookie, they are more than welcome to get one--but they may only get as many as they want right then; they may NOT bring a whole box in the house. I know that will keep me from eating them. I'm basically lazy and if I have to go outside to get the cookies, I'll give it a second thought and skip them.
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I also got out a notebook to record my food intake and exercise in. I'm not counting calories, but I know that if I make myself write what I'm eating down, I'll think twice about putting crap in my mouth. I also know what appropriate portions are and am more likely to stick with them when I am writing things down.
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I did some research and found a running program (I dream about being a runner and actually enjoying it) and implemented it--day one down, only 7 weeks and 6 days left to be up to running 2 miles. Day one wasn't that hard, so if I stick to the program and don't try to move forward too fast, maybe I can do it. Day one was run 1 minute, walk 2 minutes, repeat 10 times.
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Funny story about exercising, though. The pup figured out that if she dropped her ball on the front of the treadmill, the belt would take it and shoot it off the back of the treadmill and she could go get it. The only problem was that sometimes, the ball would bounce back under the treadmill and the belt would take it up to the front of the machine where she couldn't reach it. I had to stop twice to fetch her ball from under the treadmill.
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Daughter and I had a confrontation last night. She has had an attitude about karate for the last few months. She doesn't want to do it. I have told her that I think self-defense is important and I want her to continue for now (she's a brown belt--why wouldn't she want to keep going long enough to get to black?) Her teacher has noticed her attitude and suggested she "take a break". That made me mad; she kept saying that he said it, not her. I pointed out that he only said it because her attitude in class is so poor that he needs her out of there. And I pointed out her messing around and distracting the other students. (She does that in her music lessons, too.) So after a lot of tears and me being a hard-ass. I think she is to the point that she will shape up. If she doesn't shape up, she's going to lose the fun stuff like Girl Scouts (all her troop seems to be is a craft, cookie, and play group--I can't see that she's learning any life skills).
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So, we'll see how that goes.
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Tomorrow is my birthday. 41! Old, huh? I found a Chickpea Blondie recipe from "have cake will travel"'s blog that I'm going to make. It will be better than the chocolate cake that we've had ad nauseum since last August. I already got my dehydrator and my Titan Peeler from my family. Mom wanted to split the cost of a Magic Bullet with Ron and they'd go in together to get me that. I want it, but we've spent enough money on me. If Mom wants to get me the Magic Bullet (I hinted it to her), fine. If not, then no biggie.
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Well, I had better get back to work.
Ciao for now.

My Birthday Present

First of all, sorry I haven't blogged for a while. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, I was busy. Thursday, I was busy playing. I got my birthday present from the Fed-Ex man. (Actually from my family, but Fed-Ex delivered it.) It is a GooD4U 6 tray dehydrator--ain't she purty? As soon as I had a break from working, I called hubby and asked if he minded if I got out my present and played. He didn't mind. So Thursday, I made dehydrator bread, banana chips, and dried parsley. FYI-Banana chips take a lot longer than I would have ever thought. They weren't ready until Friday. Right now I have carrot crackers going.

I got online and got Kristen Suzzane's dehydrator cookbook--I'm going to make some fruit leather after I get done here.

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hubby and son are up skiing today. Well, son is skiing; hubby is probably drinking coffee in the lodge. Daughter and I are taking it easy. We are still our my jammies as a matter of fact.

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Well, that's it for the time being.

Ciao for now.

A quick wrap-up

We woke up to snow again today. I am so ready for spring. It is still snowing, but it is a heavy, wet snow. Plus it's 34 degrees out so there is no more accumulation. The level on the ground is staying steady where it's at. OK, I think I will work backwards from today. It's easier for my brain. Yesterday, the kids had a dentist appointment plus they were off school so we visited with friends before their appointment. It was a good day. We don't get to see them often and I miss having coffee and visiting while the kids play--we started that when our boys were babies and they lived a lot closer. The real bummer is that son woke up sick today with a bad cold. I really hope he didn't infect them. I will feel so bad if he did.
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Sunday, we didn't really do anything other than grocery shopping. Boring.
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Saturday--Valentine's day and daughter's birthday party.
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I didn't have time to go shopping for a valentine for the kids so I made them "gift certificates" on the computer--good for a book, a CD, or a toy--both kids got a Lego set from Target. Then hubby took daughter to a girl scouts thing at Lowe's while son and I cleaned the house and I made and decorated the cake. The cake and stuff is below.

Then we had a quick lunch and it was party time. I am an extreme introvert. I hate having too many people in the personal sanctuary of my home and still I let daughter invite lots of girls. WHAT WAS I THINKING? We had 8 girls in addition to her and all I can say is "ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!" I was so glad when they all went home. (It probably wasn't as bad as I feel like it was, it's just that I don't deal well with things like that.)
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We did a game, presents, cake & ice cream, a pinata (did it inside because we had an impromptu blizzard), and I put in a girl movie. They still destroyed daughter's room (not that it was far from destruction in the first place, mind you).
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One girl's mom called asking if we had found her i-pod. What was a 9-year old girl doing bringing an i-pod to a birthday party in the first place? I certainly wasn't going to babysit it--I didn't even know she had it. Another girl didn't want to stay with the others and I was constantly having to herd her out of where she didn't belong. Another girl decided she would stay longer and called her mom to tell her that she would call when the movie was over--she was the last to leave and only then because I told her to call her mom. And all of the little girls were loud and rowdy--I guess that's just how little girls are when they get together.
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Son was an angel; he helped me clean the house and get ready and he put up with all the little girls. He told me that he decided he did like the movie he got sis for her birthday after all because it was the only thing that finally settled the girls down. He also ended up being in charge of the pup.
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Then we went out to Prasai--an excellent Thai restaurant--for our valentine dinner.
Friday--the daddy/daughter dance. Above is the picture they had taken there. I think they had fun.
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Well, I need to go.
Ciao for now.

She's dreaming of a White Birthday....

Daughter got her wish. She has been saying that she wanted a white birthday since Christmas. She got her wish--we woke up to 2 inches of snow this morning. Right now, it's starting to melt off so I'm not sure how much will be left when she gets out of school.

The picture above is over exposed, but that's her in her birthday dress--a Hanna Andersson. Below is a full view.

Notice the snow boots. Don't they just add that extra special "something" to the ensemble?

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Here in about 20 minutes, I'm leaving to take the muffins over to her class, and then after school, Grandma and Grandpa are coming over so she can open presents. Then we'll take her our for her birthday dinner. Then we'll drop son off at scouts.

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She chose Carino's Italian Grill for dinner. I like eating there--it's pretty easy to eat vegan.

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We are having her open her presents from us today for 2 reasons. First, it is her actual birthday and second, I'm afraid that there will be so many little girls here on Saturday that she won't notice our presents as much. (Not to mention the fact that maybe there will be less handling of the presents by others if she doesn't open them at the official party.)

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Well, I know this was quick, but I'm off.

Ciao for now.

I'm making muffins tonight

Daughter wants muffins for her school birthday treats tomorrow so we're making muffing tonight! The really cool thing is that her favorite type of muffins are "The Best Pumpkin Muffins" from Vegan with a Vengeance. Maybe not the healthiest of my vegan recipes, but it's a step in the right direction.
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And speaking of that, the cake she wants for her party on Saturday is the "Devil's Food Cake" from vegcooking.com with the icing from the "Chocolate Devastation Cake" recipe--same website. That cake is my family's favorite. Hubby had it for his B-day, son had it for his B-day, we had it for Superbowl, and now daughter wants if for her B-day. My B-day is in 3 weeks, I'm going to have to find a different recipe for my cake (just to be different).
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Yesterday's food:
coffee and banana oatmeal for breakfast
Miso soup and spinach salad and asparagus for lunch
apple and a piece of toast w/ very light pb&J for snack
broccoli and tofu/sweet potato scramble for dinner
2/3 of a serving of banana oatmeal for snack
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Today's food so far:
coffee and the rest of the banana oatmeal for breakfast
green tea/soy milk latte for snack (home-made, not bought)
zuke/red bell pepper salad and Almond Butter & Jelly on Ezekiel for lunch
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I'm going to make a green smoothie w/ apple, spinach, and almonds for a snack and I haven't figured out what for dinner--maybe ww pasta with stir fried zuke, pepper, onion, garlic, capers, and artichoke hearts over it. That's always good.
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I talked to daughter's teacher today--daughter wasn't tested for GT and she was bummed so I just wanted to ask about it. Apparently daughter made the first cut but then wasn't selected to be tested. I then e-mailed the GT teacher to find out the details. I think daughter needs to be challenged-she's in third grade and reads 3+ grade levels above that, she started doing multiplication on her own in first grade, she plays 3 instruments, she used to bug her brother by looking over his shoulder and answering his homework problems before he did (he's 3 years older than her). She does let her social life and her emotions get in the way at school sometimes, but I do know that she needs to be challenged and that she is bright. I hope I hear back from the GT teacher soon. (Son was passed over for GT when he was first tested, too. The reason he was passed over, though, was because of his Aspergers--he couldn't do the testing in the time they wanted him too. His teacher and I were both upset--she had had him working on advanced stuff for several month's prior to the testing just to keep him from getting bored.)
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Oh listen to me! I sound like a mom who thinks her kids are all that and bag of chips. No really, I'm not like that; I just know my kids. We were at the school orientation and talking with son's teacher this year and one of the other mothers butted in and started talking about her boy and how smart he was and all the extra stuff they did for him at his last school, and how he was so smart that he didn't even need to listen to the teacher, and on and on. Hubby and I rolled our eyes at each other and later I told him that if I ever got like that, he should slap me upside the head.
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No, I think my kids' work and their personalities need to speak for themselves. I have told them a million times that if they work really hard and get a C, then I am even more proud of that C than I am of the A that they didn't have to do anything to get.
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Well, I ought to get going and get something else done. Work is finally settling down, but there is still stuff to do. Then it'll be time to go get kiddos from school.
Ciao for now.