NaBloPoMo

Its NAtional BLOg POst MOnth, you know, NaBloPoMo. Which means I am supposed to blog everyday for the month of November. Its nice to get back into the writing groove, I have been so busy there never seems to be a moment to think enough to write anything I want, let alone anyone else would want to read.

It will be a quiet weekend (I hope) here at HQ. Gman is taking his car for new tires so I can drive it to meet up with Buildermama next week for our big race. I need to run 5 miles again so I know I am ready for the race next week. Sunday I am having a jewelry party so I suppose there is a little necessary cleaning and cooking involved for that. Mostly I'd like to stay in bed and watch football--no birthday parties, no sports, house in a relatively clean place (thank you Miss Betty!).

I'm heeeeeeeeeeeeere

It was a thankfully uneventful trip to the airport and flight. I must say I was more than a little surprised to be met at the airport by my cousin and his fiance AND my aunt and uncle. Why was a surprised, because the aunt and uncle are divorced rather acrimoniously and were holding hands. OMG, make up your mind people. Not that I don't want them getting along, I really like him a lot, but I hate the "who likes whom today" game.

We weathered the rehearsal dinner, which was really in the middle of the afternoon but after 5AM McDonald's it was really good. The families were introduced to everyone, it was a bit of a stretch for my very informal family but no one said anything embarrassing. Apparently my aunt did manage to fall leaving the dining room--she was wearing some bad-ass huge high heels. No one noticed (or at least no one will admit it). My cousin got up and gave a short speech thanking everyone for coming and for everything else--most of the room was in tears. He is 8 years younger than I am and I've been on the East Coast while he went to school in Denver and then lived in Houston so it was a little sureal to see him "all grown up."

It's 8:30 and I am going to sleep--please let me sleep.

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I am thankful to be here to celebrate this special event with my family.

The End of NaBloPoMo

Unfortunately with my blogger problems I didn't make every day but I came darned close. I couldn't let the last day of the month go by without posting and who knows what the day of travel holds in store as far as internet access. Its WAY before dawn and I am heading out the door. Happy NaBloPoMo to all and have a great weekend!

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I am so thankful for my girls resting peacefully in their beds. So are so precious.

Slogging Away

I have not been the most faithful disciple of my fitness routine between the holiday, trip home, and food poisoning I skipped a lot of work outs. Other than the turkey trot I've been more of a couch potato. Monday I went to the early morning cycling class, not so bad, good to feel the muscles work. I had the best of intentions to run yesterday but work got in the way. I made Gman a deal to meet at the gym this afternoon after work to deal with the treadmill devil.

I did it, I ran 24 minutes out of 30. It was hellish. I spent far too much time focused on how much longer I had to slog along before I could walk. I could still breathe and talk but I was so bored that I could barely stand it. My legs and feet complained every minute that I ran. But its done and other than the hip that hurts every time I stand up or walk down stairs, I feel good. It was a good reminder that I have to keep up the routine or it gets harder again.

They opened up the registration for the Iron Girl triathlon in Columbia next August. Now I am truly committed, I signed up, paid my money and now I need to get ready to swim, bike and run.

A triathlon sounds pretty daring doesn't it? Check out my review for Parent Bloggers Network over at Maven Says of a new book for girls (and boys) The Daring Book for Girls.

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I am thankful for the opportunity to take on this new fitness challenge and the people around me who support it.

Thankfulness Catch Up

I've been negligent in my being thankful the past two days so here goes...

Given the events of the last few weeks at work I am thankful to have a job with interesting people and work. I am thankful for the people who have helped me to grow so much in the past nine years.

I am thankful for the roof over my head, the clothes on my back and the ability to share some of what I have with others. I am chairing the United Way campaign at work and reading the literature and seeing what these organizations can do in a community is awe inspiring.

I've been ELFED!

Jenni over at Chaos Among Us asked me to help her kick off her project to get her ELF on so here we go.

WHAT TO DO....

• Pick 2-3 or more people to ELF. Simple as that - you can choose people at random or hold a contest on your blog to see who gets to be ELFED. You will need to contact them for thier address if you don't have it.


• Send your ELF BUDDIES a small gift - it doesn't have to be much...a small gift card, a cute handmade item, a small bag of Holiday cookies - just about anything goes - remember tis the season to GIVE...


• Ask them to Elf it Forward

If you would like to get your elf on, leave me a comment by Tuesday and I will have the girls randomly pick those to be elfed. Leave your e-mail address so I can get your mailing address

Jenni created some cute blog bling for the elfin' fun so check her out and get your blog badges for project elf.

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I am thankful to be home and sleeping in my own bed--even with my snoring, cover stealing, stinkin' up the bed husband.

Old Friends, New Babes

My best friend is pregnant. Its very exciting, I think she will make a great Mom. Her husband is a bit older than we are and already a grandfather so its taken some getting used to in her life. She shared with me this weekend that the neither of her closest friends in town are happy about the baby coming. I guess I'll have to be happy enough for all of them. To top it all off, she lost her Mom a little less than two years ago. Being pregnant was hard surrounded with people I could ask for advice and a mother that I talked to nearly every day. I'm trying to figure out how I can be there for her from a distance without being obnoxious.

Speaking of babies, my sister is 29 weeks pregnant. She has a c-section scheduled for 1/31. She's having a rough time adjusting to being very pregnant (at 30 weeks with her first she ended up in bed for the duration) and dealing with a crazy-busy 2.5 year old boy. Apparently she was nearly hysterical a couple of weeks ago trying to figure out how to do it all. My heart went out to her.

So, here's to new babies coming in the new year. I get to be or play Auntie to both. Here's to happy and healthy pregnancies and babies for both!


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I am thankful for my friendship with S, its lasted for over 30 years, distance and husbands for both of us. I will treasure it always.

Maven vs. the PC

My father's PC apparently has something against Mama Maven, blogger or both. I tried to post, I really did. It granted me a few precious moments on Thanksgiving Day but other than that it was a waiting game and finally total rejection!

It was an interesting trip home, we haven't been to Ohio on Thanksgiving in at least two years. There is so much traffic and we'll be going back in a month for Christmas so that past two years we've stayed in Maryland and had a more laid back version of the holiday with friends. This year it was 25-ish family members in my folks house (which is kind of like packing all those people in a VW bug to set a record--crowded, very crowded)! My mother, who is short on the positive feedback looked at me at some point and said, "I forgot how nice it is to have you home to help cook." From my mother that is high praise. She only does things by the recipe, I am more my father's cook and just throw things together, usually with good results. She gave me a recipe to make dressing and then got a bit huffy when I made fun of her--"come on, you've been doing it for 30 years, you need a recipe?" The meal went off without a hitch.

Last year my grandmother had Thanksgiving and then two days later (like a year ago today) she road in the Christmas parade and somewhere along the way had a stroke and passed out at the end. Those few moments changed her life. She drove herself to the parade to ride with the red-hat ladies, throw candy and wave. She lived alone, she was quite self sufficient and she and her sister took trips and hung out at the senior center. This year she is living in a nursing home, wheelchair bound, without the use of her left side, a bit confused and depressed. She looked much better than the last time I saw her when she arrived for dinner with just done hair and a lovely manicure. She carried on conversation and was a bit more herself. By the end of the day she looked tired and fragile--every time I see her it breaks my heart a little. I know I should be happy that for the most part she is with us mentally and able to get out and join us for the holiday. Its so hard to accept that those few minutes changed her life so dramatically though. My Dad and his brothers are facing the decision about selling her house, she has lived in that house for 57 years. Its tiny and holds a lifetime of family memories--packing those relatives into her house is more like putting us in a sardine can than a roomy bug, sitting around the big table in the living room, sharing a single bathroom, growing up from the kitchen to the big people table. There were moments where it was easier to say why her than to be thankful.

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I am thankful that Grandma is with us and that we still see glimmers of the "real" person.

Mall Talk

PDQ and I went to the mall this evening to pick out her special prize for being cooperative in the mornings. My special sticker method worked wonders and it was my turn to pay up. Of course she picked going to Libby Lu (or the School for Pole Dancers as Gman calls it). Its all I can do to stop from wincing in a store that is so sticky sweet and pink. PDQ picked out a fake pink headset to further her lip syncing career as a Hannah Montana wannabe. Then we proceeded through the mall with a stop at Sephora to Christmas shop for my sister. The ladies were enchanted with PDQ and her gushing over a fluffy white brush (that serves no purpose other than being pretty the sales woman confirmed). Then it was off to Macy's to see if I could find a dress to wear to my cousin's wedding in two weeks. As we approach Macy's this was the conversation:

PDQ: Macy's or is that Macy Penney's?
Me: Huh?
PDQ: Is this just Macy's or is it Macy Penney's?

As we walked through the store she stops in front of a dress, gives it the up and down, declares it too short and moves on. Then there is a series of "love it," "love it," "hate it." She hears me snickering and says, Mom I *am* a designer! Oh really, what do you design? Well, not really but sometimes I put stuff together and that is designing. After perusing the dresses and finding nothing appropriate she came shrieking that she wanted night goggles. I am sure the look on my face was priceless. She drug me over to the nightwear and showed me the coveted night goggles--actually silk sleep shades. Finally, after hearing her complain about her feet hurting I took her for shoes--wide shoes (for the record, those came from her father). She found the light up shoes of her dreams and I couldn't' resist buying her Keen's on clearance so hopefully we are set for shoes for the winter!

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I am thankful that PDQ is such a vibrant child who has an opinion of her own and generally lights up a room.

Crawling out of bed

Wow, I don't remember anything making me feel so awful in a really long time. Even when I had surgery it was the pain, not the feeling bad. I spent all day in bed, keeping warm, sipping Gatorade and eating a few crackers. I ventured as far as half a bagel and a little bit of soup but my digestive system wasn't real keen on that so back to crackers. I've decided it was the "executive box lunch" that might have done me in. Someone else said they got sick on Wednesday night and I didn't feel well most of the day on Thursday--just took awhile for it all to hit me.

Thankfully the Buckeyes took care of the Wolverines this afternoon or I might be hiding under the covers for a whole different reason! That is 6 times out of the last seven, it almost makes me feel a little bit sad for the people from the state up North...almost.

I am venturing out to stamp camp tonight, I really feel like I need to get up for a little bit. Its not exactly strenuous activity (although I worked up a sweat trying to find shoes in our dump of a closet). It may be a very early night.

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I am thankful for my husband who once again took on the Mr. Mom role today--buying birthday gifts, running PDQ to a birthday party and making the cookie deposit. I love you hon.

Is this week over yet?

Work really sucks. There is a serious funk hanging over the place. Lots of whispering and closed doors. Wondering who will be the next to go. Then there are the circling vultures already lobbying for offices and trying to figure out how to get ahead. I hope that after the holiday next weeks things will feel more like normal, although I expect I am going to have to adjust my definition of normal.

I went back to the gynecologist today for my post-op check up. All of my insides look good, however the lining of my uterus is out of sync, there is new gunk and old gunk in there and that is why predicting my cycles is like spinning the damn roulette wheel. My choices--an IUD or the pill. I appreciated the fact that he said he wouldn't be surprised if I told him I wanted rid of it! Neither of them are high on my list, I picked the pill for now partially based on the IUD insertion horror stories I've heard. I've got my friend Wendy the Good Witch (and herbal guru) checking the alternative path to more hormones. Why is being a woman so damn difficult.

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I am thankful tomorrow is Friday, the weekend is coming and I have time to spend with my family.

Serious Brain Exhaustion

This week has been emotionally exhausting. The shake up at work has left everyone feeling uneasy. Add on top of that 9 hours of meetings today with no real check-in with the world and I am utterly exhausted. The meeting was actually fun and challenging but draining. Then tonight our normal fun women's club meeting was a little tense because we are re-doing the bylaws and there were some contentious issues. Add to that the United Way auction that I have going on in my "spare" time at work and I am on overload.

I did get in 24 minutes of running this morning. I have to say that I hate the treadmill and every minute of it was torturous but I did it. I love the fact that my lungs weren't burning and I never felt like I was going to throw up but I really, truly didn't enjoy it. I have decided running outside is definitely my preference, I have an easier time finding my zone and ignoring the time going by. I feel sorry for my group today, I swear I was still sweating a good half hour into our morning session--nothing that like metabolism carry over!

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I am thankful for my loving husband who has taken on a lot of the kid shuffling this week without complaint. He is pretty good at anticipating my breaking point and stopping before I go over the edge.

Proud Mommy Moments

PDQ brought home her first report card of first grade today. Her teacher says she is a joy to have in class and that she is working hard--really, what more could a Mom want? She got almost all 1s for effort which means outstanding. Really, doing her best and being pleasant is what I generally want to teach her in life. Two weeks ago we got a note from the school psychologist asking for permission to have her participate in a special playgroup as a mentor to other kids who were a bit socially challenged. It helps to put the whole education thing in perspective--its not just about learning stuff, its about learning how to live your life.

As you may have read, one of the major laments in my life has been what the heck we should do with Boobah next year. She misses the school cutoff by just two days. I have talked through the situation with the pediatrician, a friend who teaches Kindergarten, PDQs teacher from last year and just about everyone else who would listen! All of them said follow your gut and said to concentrate more on whether they are socially ready than to worry too much about academics. The other morning when we walked through the front doors we were greeted by PDQs teacher as Boobah went whizzing by to get to the door first so she could open it (the marker of a good start to the day). She laughed and said "oh she is SO ready for Kindergarten." I think she's right, I just hope the powers that be agree. I do worry about pushing her too hard so I'm trying to play it cool.

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I am thankful (from yesterday) to have a job and new opportunities.

Today I am thankful to live in a place that has such rich educational opportunities for my kids, I hope we can take advantage of what we have been given.

Girly Day

Ah, I feel so refreshed! Its amazing how quickly I can fall asleep when there is no one in my bed snoring. Even when Gman's alarm clock went off at 6AM I went almost immediately back to sleep--not so much when he and the girls called at 8:21. Oddly, he was surprised that I was still in bed. Poor BuilderMama had a hellish time getting here yesterday but I'll let her tell that story. My only part in it was waiting for her at the train station with Boobah who of course had to go into the train station to pee. Then she proclaimed she had to go back to poop--of course then they were closed for cleaning and when I tried to take her in when they were done one might have thought I was going to beat her by the screaming and refusal to move. I don't know what was going on in her mind but she was not going anywhere near that bathroom. Thankfully BM showed up in fairly short order. Gman met her at the door with some Cabo Wabo and Esmerelda was here with pizza for us.

Today another one of our PIMs joined us and we headed to the mall for lunch at Nordstrom's, a trip to Sephora and then off for a pedicure. All of us got sucked into the Bare Essentuals that BM had been reading about in Beauty Confidential. We'll all be primed and ready to go with our new faces. In addition we all bought another beauty product or two. The whole time the conversation was something like my husband will never let me visit/have you come visit again! It was so much fun to have girl time at the mall without telling anyone to get out of the racks, slow down, hold hands, or stop whining.

We headed out of the mall and off to the spa. It was amazing, massaging chair, leg and foot massage. It was incredibly relaxing and so nice to share it with friends. I added a paraffin treatment. I swear my feet are the softest they've ever been. We all agreed it was incredibly relaxing. The whole afternoon was just amazing--the three of us met on a Working Moms internet group years ago but this was only the third or fourth time we've spent time together--you'd think we'd all known each other forever!

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Tonight I am thankful for a chance to relax--I SO needed to relax. Here's to friends to share it with as well.

Hit and Run

Its been a very long day. I accidentally ran a red light because I wasn't paying attention. I had to go home to get Boobah's lunch. Poor BuilderMama spent three times as long as intended on the train and PDQ, Gman and Boobah got a very, very late start to NY tonight. We had a fun pizza dinner with Esmerelda and her boys and watched a little TV but now its time for bed.

Tomorrow I'll PoMo...with pictures.

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I forgot to be thankful in public yesterday...

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who knew I needed a little down time and took the girls to visit his family this weekend. He's the bomb.

I'm thankful for my church family, those people who have always been there for us and have become our local family. It makes it so much easier with our real relatives so far away to know someone here has our back.

It's not cancer

Hearing those three little words from the doctor's assistant today was like having the weight of the world lifted from my shoulders. I swear I was holding my breath while I was on the phone waiting for my doctor to pull the results from the hospital's computer. I had been trying really hard not to dwell on the possibilities but it was like the big pink elephant in the room that everyone was ignoring. Words like biopsy and pathology being thrown around but no one uttering the "c" word. My doctor assured me he was confident it was nothing but wanted to be sure. I wanted to believe him but wondered how many times doctor's had uttered those words to someone else and it really was something. The rest of the conversation was something about out of sync lining--whatever that means. I was glad when she said he'd explain it next week because I really wasn't listening any more.

I go to bed tonight breathing a little easier and with a little perspective. The last three weeks of waiting and wondering are laid to rest--for now. The realization that we really never do know when our time will come and how it will come has been brought to the forefront for me. I'm going to try to make my life a little more about the present and think less about tomorrow and the day after. I also think about the people fighting cancer like Especially Heather and WhyMommy and lots of others who got the news no one wants and are fighting it so valiantly.

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Tonight I am thankful for my health and that of my family. I'll be saying a special prayer for those who aren't so lucky.

Field Trip Fun

I chaperoned a field trip today to The Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. We had two buses with 80-ish 3 & 4 year olds and 60-ish adults. When we walked in the door there was a sign welcoming 9 groups with 1100-ish people. I was incredibly thankful that I had only Boobah to keep track of given the massiveness of the place and the incredible number of kids between 3 & 13 running amok.

I had a wonderful time hanging out with Boobah. I realized just how little one on one time she and I get. She loved the Kids Room and the chance to crawl around in a 4 foot high space and pretend to be under the sea. Her very favorite thing was these chairs that you pulled yourself up on with a rope. We had to re-visit it four different times. I thought it was pretty cool when she got to lay on the bed of nails.

Of course, despite the fact I begged Gman for a camera for my birthday and he got it for me I can never remember to take it with me since I took it out of my purse. Gman has spoiled me by carrying his camera everywhere. So, unfortunately no pictures from me--Ms. Ruth did a fine job of documenting the day for all of us though so perhaps later!

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Today I am thankful for time to spend with my youngest. I need to remember to take more individual time for each of my girls.

Playing Domestic Diva--Tales from the Kitchen

After church yesterday I remembered that the local farm where I've been picking my own produce was closing for the season. After watching a bit of Mehmet Oz on Oprah last week and on Discovery Health yesterday I was feeling the need to eat more food in its natural or near natural state so that I wouldn't shrivel up any time soon.

I picked 19.7 pounds of apples, at 20 pounds you get a $.50/pound discount so I jogged back into the trees for a couple of apples to put me over the edge. I picked Stayman, Pink Lady and Suncrisp apples, who knew that I'd become an apple snob?! The Stayman (men?) make the best pies, the Pink Ladies and Suncrisp are both supposed to stay for months in the fridge. After hunting and gathering apples I headed home. On the way the light bulb went on over my head that Trader Joe's opened down the road from our house on what my friend calls "the monstrosity on the corner." A HUGE retail center including Costco, Best Buy and Lowe's on what used to be open space and farm land.

I picked up the much heralded Chili Lime Chicken Burgers which lived up to the hype as a tasty, nutritious burger alternative. After licking it and deciding she didn't like it Boobah revised her opinion, ate what was on her plate and asked for more! A culinary victory and at $3.69 for a package of 4 a relatively cheap and easy dinner option.

I turned the remainder of the last batch of apples into a quick applesauce to serve with dinner. PDQ declared it the best applesauce ever. Boobah declared "it has cinnamon in it, I don't like it!" How she knew about the cinnamon, I have no idea but to each her own. With the new apples I put together two pies--one for home and one to take to a friend who just had a baby as the perfect end to a fall dinner. I LOVE this apple pie recipe with my own adaptations. I put walnuts in the topping, put a bit of caramel sauce on the top of the apples and finish it off with the topping skipping the lattice top. For a really pretty pie to impress I will cut out dough with an apple shaped cookie cutter and put it over the topping. Anyway, no time for the cream and extras but this pie all by itself rocks!

Finally I whipped up a batch of Pumpkin Cranberry muffins from the latest Cooking Light. They are moist and delicious. A perfect fall breakfast and even reasonably good for you.

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Today I am back at my desk and thankful to have a job that is interesting, relatively flexible and lets me work with really good people.

Obnoxious Soccer Parents

PDQ plays in a soccer league for girls under 7. The focus is supposed to be on fun and learning the fundamentals of the game. There isn't "official" score keeping although we all know the final score. For most of the season we've all been very well behaved and cheered for both teams as they scored goals and made shots. Somewhere along the way yesterday that changed. A team that we had played before--and beat--got up on our girls 4-0. It was a little demoralizing. Then something changed, somebody lit a a fire under the coach's daughter and she scored four goals! It was really rather amazing. I've never seen the kid so antimated in my life. Once she'd scored one we were all egging her on--another, another! Two other girls scored goals along the way as well and we came out on top 6-4. Maybe it was the cold and screaming kept us all warm?

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Today I am thankful for the beautiful fall weather. Summer is finally over and its time to get ready for cooler weather ahead. Along those lines I am thankful we can provide our family with appropriate clothing for the cooler weather and sort through the too small stuff so that people who can't might have some.

Catching Up on Thanks

As usual I am just a little behind. Following the lead of Greeblemonkey, Bananas and Toddlers and Buildermama I joined the NaBloPoMo 30 Days of Thanks group started by Boogiemum. Its too easy sometimes to lose sight of all the things we are thankful for so here's to 30 days of rembering them.

1. I am thankful for my great friends, online and in real life who keep me sane. I've gotten so many supportive comments, e-mails and phone calls checking up on me the last few days and I really appreciate it.
2. I am thankful for the health of my kids. What a blessing to not have to worry about food allergies like so many of my friends.
3. Today I head back to the gym and get some running and cycling in. I am thankful for both and the desire to get off the couch, do them and take care of myself both physically and mentally.

Ah, that gets my mind back in the groove of being thankful instead of being upset. Yesterday, before I left the house to do all of my errands I looked up the hours of the places I needed to go on the internet before I left. They were all wrong so I spent a lot of time out driving around town that I could have spent relaxing. I got the cookie money deposited, Ann's cookies in the mail, picked up my antibiotic and bought some yarn to attempt an afghan for my nephew to be. It took waaaaaaaaaaay longer than I ever expected. I guess me being stuck on slomo didn't help either.