A new Record - and Not a Good One

Seems I have finally broken a record I worked hard not to beat. I am over 160 pounds now. I have no excuse. I was stressed, when stressed I pick sweets to eat and not good food. I know better. I have never found a quick weight loss program that works for me but I did see it work for a guy at work. Eating right, and exercise always takes the weight off. Usually I count calories as well. Lately, I have thrown it all out of the window. No longer. I need to get back on track. Vitamins, exercise, and good food. It won't be easy... but I'm going to give it a shot. I am not as brave as T1G and will not be showing my weight on the blog. Though I have heard over and over that is a good way to force yourself to focus and take it off. Not going to do it. Will let you know if I ever get below 150... but don't look for it anytime soon.

Five Questions

Mom Grind asked five questions of her readers. I thought they were pretty funny... I am answering them here for my sons to get a laugh out of it in the future...

1. Toothpaste - do you squeeze the tube from the bottom or from the top? bottom

2. Morning person or a night owl? Morning person - though the boys are making it a little rough.. 6am ok, 5:20am... not so ok.

3. Sweet tooth or not really? Sweet tooth. Chocolate and sugar mixed... yep... sweet!

4. Can you carry a tune? No. My mom, sisters, children... have asked me not to sing.

5. Do you have a favorite color? If you do, is it REALLY your favorite color or did you feel compelled to choose one because people ask this question so frequently? My favorite color changes with my mood.

Ok, go ahead, give it a try. Answer the questions. ;-)

A Particular Memory of Europe with Hubby

While we were not married at the time... my soon to be hubby came to visit me in Europe in the winter. We had a blast. Here is a picture of one of the castles we went to see... Nope, didn't write it on the back and I don't remember the name of it... anyone out there recognize it? I believe we were in Salzburg at the time, but not positive.



And while running around the city, a bus stopped and let a bunch of people off to do the tourist kind of thing... Hubby could not resist getting his picture by the bus:



I wonder how long before the kids get the humor of that picture?

And I had no idea that the gargoyles on some churches were actually rain spouts. Very cool:



As you can see, we had a fun time running around. I was there six months, my hubby joined me a couple of times. I'll have to see if I can find more pictures with info on them to put out here.

Memories of Moving

Nope, I'm not moving anytime soon. But I can guarantee that if I move again, I will pay for someone to move me. Whether it is moving pods or a moving company. I refuse to do what I have done in the past. I have used family and friends to move me. After about 3 of those kinds of moves, I have lost more stuff than I thought possible. It is NOT their fault, but my own. You would have thought after the first time, I would have caught on... nope. And I am an organized person. I label stuff... but when you have people who are moving you that are limited in time or are not the same kind of organizer you are... things disappear. I wouldn't be surprised if one year, all the stuff shows back up... maybe from the 10th dimension.

What about you? Have you moved lately? Would you use a mover or family and friends? Any funny stories? I always offered food and drink (usually pizza and beer) when someone helped to move me... what about you?

Remember When I Was In Europe?

No? Well that would be because it was many many years ago. I wrote a lot of emails to family and friends about my trip. I had even printed a bunch out... but they have gotten lost in all the moves I have made. I wish Bou or my mom still had them!

It was fun and exciting getting ready for the trip. How much money do I bring? How many suit cases? What about travel insurance? (Luckily my company and the health insurance I had covered all I needed... but I didn't know until I did some research). Where is my apartment? What will I get to go see? Is it true that the stores aren't open on Sundays?

Fantastic experience that I will never forget. But how to write about it for my kids? That is the question. The bike rides when it finished snowing. The castles where they had fingers in jars out for display. The beauty of the churches on the inside and out. The foods, the people. Hmmm... Where to start? Look for a story or two about my life in Europe to be showing up soon. I'm just trying to figure out which ones!

When Did Birthday Parties Get So Carried Away?

This last weekend, there were two birthday parties to attend. 11am to 1pm and 1pm to 3pm. The first was a wizard party. Hosted by a company called Oogles and Googles. Tater and Tot were both invited to this one. Here is a few pictures I took with my phone camera...



And Tater:



Now the next one was at a private house. This was a classmate in Tater's class. This is just one of the activities they had in their backyard:



Wow. For a child who turned 6 years old just before school started and is now in the first grade. Tater asked if we could do that at his next party. The answer was absolutely NO. Don't get me wrong, this was a great party for kids. And if you have the money for it, go for it. Wow. The parents were extremely nice and fun to be around. It took me a while to find them, as there were a ton of people at the party. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to be invited to another one with Tot in tow. He would have loved it as well.

After attending those parties, I remembered how excited I was that we got to go to a gym for Tater's party. No clean up, kids entertained, tired out, and good company in the parents. It was a little more than if I held it at home, but not that much more. Worth it for me not to have all the prep work and cleanup after wards. My party was nothing like those... And I really enjoyed both of them... I just wonder how I got so lucky???? And when did the kids parties get this carried away? Or is it just me?

Instead of a daily prompt...

I have been watching Tink, my sister, write using a daily prompt from her digital scrapbooking group. I kept thinking it was a cool idea. She is putting down stuff about her and her life for future reference to her children. Since I actually save my blog to CD every couple of months, so that my kids can have it when they get older... I have wanted to start doing more of the same. But I just couldn't get into the prompts. They are interesting and would force me to answer questions but I just didn't do it.

Then I found out about PayU2Blog.com from a couple of bloggers. I decided to give it a shot and I love it. It is an odd twist... I may not necessarily buy from any of the links I put into my posts, but it forces me to think about something to write to fit the need of the paid post. Hence, in the future I will be posting more stories. You'll still get pictures and opinions and a few other odds and ends as usual. Just an extra post or two. In twenty years, when my kids actually load up my old posts and look at them, those links will probably be gone. The stories will still be there and hopefully, they will enjoy them. Oh... I hope you enjoy them now!

Out of it...

here is some humor to keep you smiling until I get back up again... suppose to be done with surgery around 9am. Hubby has my cell phone... which means you won't reach me until he gets home with it!


http://www.funnieststuff.net/viewmovie.php?id=902

It's Only an Infection - Phew

Just a quick update. After the biopsy, the results came back that the large mass of redness, hotness and irritation is only an infection. Phew. Makes me feel much better. Now if that sucker would just go away!

For those who are wondering... I did a post HERE. Be careful if you don't like gross pictures.

Thank you everyone for your well wishes. It has been a long haul the last couple of weeks and it is not over yet. I have surgery tomorrow for... urinary incontinence. Add a prayer that all goes well and that I no longer have to wear adult diapers. This is ridiculous that I get my kids out of diapers and end up wearing them myself! Then again, it was caused by them mostly! ;-)

Upcoming more stories and pictures from the first week of school... probably next week. A little busy right now.

How Small Can You Get It?

I have decided that I am getting really really old. I remember when you thought that having 128K of memory was magnificent. You were on top of the world at how fast things ran for you. Now you can get flash memory in an itsy bitsy stick that contains 4Gig of memory. 4 Gigabytes. One Gigabyte is approximately 1000 Megabytes or 1,000,000 Kilobytes. 7800 times more memory in that little stick than what you find in the computers I used when I first got started. Scary thought huh? Wonder what my boys will think about this when they get older. They already think I'm older than dirt and lived with the dinosaurs.

This Is Really Gross

My life is always entertaining. Never a dull moment in this household. I have some pictures below the fold. Gross pictures of my wound. Go ahead and take a look if you have a strong stomach. Then tell me which part of the body you think that could possibly be. Go ahead, look. I'm waiting. Tick Tick Tick tick... ok, I'm bored. The answer is... my right breast! The first picture is from Saturday morning... I iced it like the doctor said on Friday and all was well. Then I lived my life with 2 kids and what you see in picture two is what it looks like on Sunday morning. Notice the butterfly band-aids. I was told they would come off in the shower. They haven't come off. I'm NOT peeling them off. Nope.

So why do I have this wound in my breast? Because I had a biopsy. Sigh. I have had an infection going on 5 weeks now. I ended up going to a specialist. He agreed it was not inflammation breast cancer. Yaa... the first doctor freaked me out saying that is what she thought it was. Ok, all mammograms and ultrasounds said it was not cancer. But it wouldn't go away. It got better... but it wouldn't go away. Sigh. Finally he said on Friday that I needed a biopsy. Which happen to hurt me. Most people only find the numbing part painful. Not me. It took 3 numbing shots and I still felt that sucker. Probably because he was sucking out infected breast pieces and not a solid mass. I don't know. Though my sister, ddpups, had a great idea. I should ask for a reduction next time. GRIN.

So let's review the last couple of weeks for my kids... that way when they are attending therapy for an inconsistent mom... they'll have the facts straight...

Mom has breast infection and finds out it is not cancer. Then Happy dog is taken in and finds out he does have cancer. Mom sent to specialist because antibiotics doesn't seem to be working. Happy dies. Back in March, Mom made an appointment to get the second half of her implant done on Monday, Aug 11. Now her mouth hurts. Friday, Aug 15th, the specialist decides it is better to just make sure and does a biopsy. Oh... I forgot... I'm having urinary incontinence injection surgery on Friday, Aug 22nd. This doctor puts you under so you don't move while she is doing the injections. Smart doctor. Poor planning on my part. Then again all of this is getting out of the way now.

And the other item happening this week is that I find the results out on Tuesday late afternoon.

Here are the pictures:

Thinking about my children

Lately there has been discussion in my house as to who's belly you came out of... Tot wants to tell everyone he came out of Mamaw's belly. I keep telling him NO WAY. I worked too hard to have the bugger and he came out of my belly.

In fact, it reminded me of trying to get pregnant with Tater. I had to go to a fertilization specialist. Like the majority of people I had problems with my hormones... progesterone included. In fact, lots of things happened. I had pills, shots, was probed, poked and so much more. I was lucky. Only one lose within the first ten months, and at the end of the tenth month I was pregnant with Tater.

We just had the yearly check up yesterday and I look at my two boys... Tater is 48 inches tall. He is in the 90th percentile for weight and height for his age of 6 years old... and he JUST turned six. Tot is 75th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. Yet the nurse and doctor said he was not fat, that he was solid. I can't believe all I went through with my boys and how lucky I am.

Then again, if you talked to Mamaw right now... she would say that my house is insane and that I am not a consistent parent... which is part of the reason why my house is insane. ;-) Too much has gone on the last 3 weeks. Including a lack of sleep. It is getting better. She is cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry and making my life Soooo much easier. I just wish she could stay longer. Ahhh... I'll take advantage of her while she is here. Hmmm... which means I need to get off my rear-end and find more stuff she can do for me!!! Later!

VW turns a year older

UPDATE: Totally forgot Pamibe turns older than dirt than me today... wish her a happy birthday if you haven't already!

Wow. Another year gone. Last year I did THIS POST with just a poem and a couple of links. The year before that I did THIS POST where some bloggers gave me 'gifts' and I linked to them. Yet, I loved this one the best... I did THIS POST back in 2005 and put out pictures of when I was a little girl...

How can I top that any of those? I can't! I can't link to everyone I read because it would take me all night. I have no more pictures to post... well maybe a few, but I'm too lazy. I could do a post of what happened this last year... uhhh... but I would just be repeating what I said in the posts I have written. So, I'll answer some questions that might interest my kids when they get older (stolen from meme's here and there):

1. What was your favorite time growing up?
Answer: I'm not grown up yet! I loved my childhood... my teenage years... my adult years. I love learning and growing... well... the growing fatter is not the best, but I am growing in other ways as well. It amazes me how my love grows for my family every day.

2. Which birthday do you remember the best?
Answer: There are a couple of them. The one in my teen years when Mamaw tied a ribbon around the cake to keep it from falling apart after she iced it. The other was when I turned 42. A friend surprised me with a cake that said on it "42, the answer to the universe". She said the cake decorator at the grocery store gave her the strangest look when she requested that be put on the cake!

Overall, I am a very lucky and blessed individual. I have a wonderful husband, two very good kids, my sisters and mom, and friends. They look after me, listen to me, laugh with me and cry with me. Luckily the crying doesn't happen very often. And the kids keep me laughing. I wonder some days what made me smile before children. Just last night I had to keep from laughing out loud at Tot. He and I were talking before he was going to sleep and I was nebulizing him. Suddenly, he got this very serious look on his face and the conversation went something like this:

Tot: Mom, look at my pe-nis.
Mom: Yes, now put it back in your underwear.
Tot: Mommmmm.... it's hard! ** said with very serious and upset voice **
Mom: Yes, and it has been in the past and it will go back to being soft again.
Tot: Mom... I'm worried.
Mom: Why?
Tot: What if it explodes?
Mom: ** tears coming out of eyes while trying not to laugh out loud ** It hasn't exploded so far, and I don't think it will happen. You will be ok. ** can't look at Tot for fear of him seeing my smile **
Tot: Are you sure?
Mom: Yes, you will be fine.
Tot: Ok, maybe when I'm older... **worried voice again**
Mom: Then we will deal with it when you are older. **man oh man, I wanted to laugh**

Now, how can you not enjoy life when you have two kids to keep you hopping (sometimes mad, sometimes crazy, but usually smiling). Yep, my kind of insanity. I hope another year is just as fun... though I could do without the bodily changes... I already had kidney stones, bifocals and other items to make me feel o.l.d... but then someone sent me this and I didn't feel quite so old anymore. I got a 23... how about you?


How Old is Your Brain?

This is interesting !!! See if your brain is as old as your body ~ or ~ (perish the thought) ~ OLDER !! Procedure of Flash Fabrica Game:
1. Touch 'start'
2. Wait for 3, 2, 1.
3. Memorize the number's position on the screen, then click the circle from the smallest number to the biggest number. (it will give you a 0 on the screen when you get them all correct).
4. At the end of game, computer will tell you how old your brain.

Good luck !!

Don't forget to let me know your brain's age. :-)
http://flashfabrica.com/f_learning/brain/brain.html

VW Bugs and Mental Floss

MaryBeth sent me a great link from Mental Floss... it was about how 30 years ago today, they stopped making vw bugs and 10 quick tidbits about vw bugs.

Number 9 was my favorite:

9. Beetle engines are often hacked into other things, including ski lifts, small airplanes, air compressors, water pump-powerers and motorcycles.

But there was a game mentioned that I remember as a kid... that was number 4:

4. Lots of kids play Slug Bug here in the Midwest. If you see a Bug somewhere, you immediately punched whoever is closest to you and say, “Slug Bug, no slugs back.” Apparently the game is called Punch Buggy everywhere else in the world.

Go enjoy learning more about my namesake. Gotta love those bugs!

Ben 10 Omnitrix cake - sorta

Oddybobo sent me an email about my 'cake'. I was having a hard time and took some MAJOR shortcuts. Which bit me in the rear-end... because I didn't add the dye slowly to the icing and was too tired to make more icing... why? Because it came out too dark of a green and I really needed it lighter... nope, didn't do it. Wonder what all the kids po.op looked like the next day? hahahaha...

Here is what I did:

Found a picture of an Omnitrix and made two 9" round cakes and iced them in white icing. Yep, it should have been grey... I'm telling you, I was really tired:



I used a plastic knife to carve the outline I wanted in the icing. Then started putting the green icing on first:



I was able to scrape enough white icing from the bowl to make a slightly lighter green for the where the alien shows through like in the watch and then I put green dots in for the 4 circles and proceeded to ice the black outlines. The black circles around the green dots were last. Oh... wait... the attempt to make Grey Matter (the alien) was last. No, it does not even look close. ;-)



It worked, it was edible and it was Ben 10. Yes, I did remember to remove the wax paper before taking it to the party. ;-) If I had been patient enough, I would have done it with the little stars for the green, made sure it was light enough and probably looked at the Ben 10 Alien Force Omnitrix to see make sure I had the right color scheme. Because depending on which Omnitrix you look at, the colors are different. Sometimes it has yellow on the sides instead of grey or some of the pictures even show black.

For decorating I bought Green plates, cups, table clothes and then Yellow plates, cups and table clothes. I bought 8 1/2 x 11 mailing label paper and printed Ben 10 aliens and Ben 10 on them, cut them out and decorated the cups and bags and whatever hit my fancy.

Ta da.

Five little piggies? Nope, just a meme

I was tagged by Bou with a... meme.

The rules:
1. Post the rules of the game at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?

My life was a blur back then... I was pregnant and Tater was 11 months old. My best guess is I was changing diapers, feeding and trying to get some rest.

What are five things on your to-do list for today?

1) Go to the Chiropractor
2) Get food from the grocery store
3) Pick up medicine at CVS
4) Work with the boys on Father's day gift.
5) Possible playdate to go swimming if it doesn't rain

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1) Chocolate
2) Tostitos
3) Carrots and ranch dressing
4) Apples with salt on them
5) Bananas

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

1) Invest in Retirement for hubby and myself
2) Put away college money for the boys
3) Pay off all our debts
4) Buy/Pay off cars, houses for my two siblings, my hubby's two siblings, and both sets of parents
5) Give to some charities that I like

What are five of your bad habits?

1) Not dressing nicely... shorts with holes in them and the like if it is comfortable
2) Eating when I'm not hungry (yep, that is why I'm overweight)
3) Making excuses for not exercising.
4) Doing stuff I like (working in the yard) rather than things that need to get done (laundry). Ohhh it gets done eventually... but I know better than putting it off...
5) Being to lax with my children because I hate punishing them...

What are five places where you have lived?

1) Munich, Germany
2) Arkansas
3) Illinois
4) Pensacola, Florida
5) Guam

What are five jobs you’ve had?

1) Horsebackriding instructor
2) RadioShack PC Repairman
3) Programmer
4) Network engineer
5) Mom

Wow.... who to tag???? Looks like most everyone has been tagged... and being I'm so late at getting this done... Well, I'll send some emails and see if I just missed reading the memes at their sites and if they haven't done it and want to... I'll add them to this post!!!

Here you go blogmom Bou... i got my homework done finally.

It's Not Fair!

Why??? Why??? When my children have the day off from school they get up at 5:45am? I can't get them to wake up at 6:10am on school days (though I do enjoy waking them up) and the one day we can sleep in without a worry... they wake up. ARGHHHHHHHHHH....

Then again, to watch boys dance to THIS VIDEO makes it fun.

Overload

I am overloaded today... hence, I'm just going to put some humor out here.

Why men shouldn't do advice columns:



Dear Walter:

I hope you can help me here. The other day I set off for work leaving my husband in the house watching the TV as usual. I hadn't gone more than a few hundred yards down the road when my engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt. I walked back home to get my husband's help.

When I got home I couldn't believe my eyes. He was parading in front of the wardrobe mirror dressed in my underwear and high-heel shoes, and he was wearing my make up.

I am 32, my husband is 34 and we have been married for twelve years. When I confronted him, he tried to make out that he had dressed in my lingerie because he couldn't find his own underwear. But when I asked him about the make up, he broke down and admitted that he'd been wearing my clothes for six months. I told him to stop or I would leave him.

He was let go fro m his job six months ago and he says he has been feeling increasingly depressed and worthless. I love him very much, but ever since I gave him the ultimatum he has become increasingly distant.

I don't feel I can get through to him anymore. Can you please help?

Sincerely,

Mrs. Sheila Usk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Dear Sheila:

A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the jubilee clips holding the vacuum pipes onto the inlet manifold. If none of these approaches solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the carburetor float chamber. I hope this helps.

Walter

Random Websites I Just Discovered

These have been around, it's just they are new to me. Hence I'm putting them out here so I can find them again!

Want to learn another language? Try THIS SITE of LiveMocha.

And want to learn about statistics on your city? Try ZipSkinny and see if you agree.

Oops, I forgot!

Seems I was a little distracted last night and forgot to write up the post on playdoh, dinosaurs and my boys. Very funny... even have pictures. Instead, I have put up a picture to make you smile. Tot in the box!