happenings on my bad weather day

It’s been a good day. I’ve been rather lazy, but loving every minute of it. I changed from pj’s to sweats in the afternoon. Yesterday was my neighbor’s memorial service. It was tough. Both his daughters talked and his granddaughter had written a letter to her papa that her aunt read with her holding the letter---that was the saddest part. I had the hardest time writing his daughters a little note because my mind and heart were being flooded with memories. Simple little things like talking over the fence to each other about our kids, his grandkids, and our dogs. I remember once we called him from Sweetwater and asked him to go check to make sure we had turned off the water to the pool. I remember how much he loved his doggies. One dog had died of cancer and when he had found out she was sick, he came over and talked to me about it and he had gotten tears in his eyes talking about it.

When we got home, I was pretty tired and fell asleep watching What Happens in Vegas. Sometime after 9:00, I found out we weren’t having school. I had mixed feelings about it. I know, I know, that is crazy, but all I was thinking was missing a day off later when we have to use one of our bad weather days. I had hoped for just a 2 hour delay, but I’ve enjoyed my day. The ice didn’t melt in time for us to have a late start anyway. Hubby was here until after lunch.

My baby girl graduates in 3 months and 18 days!!! That is hard to believe. Now I must come to the realization that holidays will be totally different because she could be working on some holidays and j and k will be alternating Christmas and Thanksgiving at our house and k’s parents’ house. Hopefully, the kids can get on the same schedule for the holidays. I tend to worry early and over analyze certain situations---like Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year J & K & S will hopefully be here for Thanksgiving. I naturally would prefer Christmas, but J & K were here this past Christmas. Sooooo it’s K’s parents turn. I’m already thinking, “No one will be here on Christmas Day” My baby girl will be working. Hopefully, our friend B will still come over or else I shall be in utter despair. I’m thinking a few days after Dec. 25th, hubby, daughter, and I will drive to J & K’s house and we will celebrate Christmas then. It just makes me sad to think of family traditions changing and my kids getting even older and starting traditions of their own. So in December Hubby, don’t let me get too sad and if I get too touchy, grouchy, or unbelievably hard to live with, just wrap your arms around me and tell me you love me and that everything will be fine. To my friends--early warning---I’m anticipating sadness.

I’ve done better at the last couple of movies I’ve been to. The 1st movie with no flowing tears was Bridewars, and then Last Chance Harvey. They were both enjoyable and I would recommend them. Hubby did not see Bridewars--it was a girls’ outing.

A very sad movie I did see though was Slumdog Millioniare. This movie is nominated for several academy awards, rightfully so, I might add. It’s set in India and is about 2 orphan brothers. This movie is hard to watch, but has a story that needs to be told.

Each day I check Kelly's blog. Harper has been making progress every day, but today was a very special day for them. They got to hold her and feed her for the first time. It was so touching.

CANCER=pain, suffering, & sadness

i was thinking alot this week about my next door neighbor, but a thought doesn't help anyone unless it becomes an action. i hadn't seen or talked to him since Christmas Eve. i didn't want to just pop in and i didn't know whether to call or send a card and i hadn't done either. He was diagnosed with cancer last April and had been undergoing chemotherapy. He was still optimistic, and hoping to beat it, but he was weak from his last round of chemo. i had a bad feeling when i drove up this afternoon after school and there were a couple of cars in his driveway. i was walking to the mailbox when his daughter called my name and i knew he had passed away. i immediately teared up and we both tried to talk through our tears. CANCER I HATE YOU!! I know advances have been made in your treatment, but why can't we find a cure--an END to you. You have taken the lives of too many people that I cared about.

Exercise

NOTE TO SELF:
You must earn your laptop and blogging time. I know you love it and it’s so easy to sit and become one with it, but remember putting it out there. You MUST exercise. Now I know last night was a little different because of all the inauguration coverage, but NO MORE excuses. If you exercise for at least 30 minutes, you can play on your laptop. When you come home from school, you may have 5 minutes on the computer and that’s it until you finish your exercise. I know I’m mean, but listen to me!!!

Cooking and Dancing (not at the same time)

Two of my favorite websites for cooking are allrecipes and food network. On both of these sites you can create your own recipe box and save their recipes and add your own personal/family recipes. If you have ever had your computer crash and lost recipes that you had been collecting, you will appreciate the greatness of making a recipe box on these websites. You could even create a family recipe box by sharing your log in info and password.

I love watching cooking shows. That's where I found garlic hasselback potatoes with herbed sour cream. They are very easy to make and yummy(minus the parsley in the sour cream but add cilantro).



I want to try these two recipes I saw Paula Deen make: apple fried pies

and strawberry gelatin cheesecake I made this on Sunday, Jan. 25--not so great--will not make again.


I will hold off making the fried pies for a while cause they aren't exactly low calorie.

Tonight hubby and I are watching inauguration coverage and we saw President Obama and Michelle dancing for the lst time at the Neighborhood Ball and I think my hubby slow danced better at our son's wedding than he did. Too bad our bodies don't compare to theirs though. I don't think my body ever looked like Michelle's---now if you put me on the ancient torture machine--the rack--for a couple of months and then rolled over me a few times with a steam roller that might help. Great song though and I loved Michelle's dress. It is very evident he loves his wife. We watched him dance at a couple more balls and my hubby said, "I wonder if he has to dance at all the balls, he'll probably be gripey." :)

I wonder if I will remember I was blogging on this history making day while watching it all. Hubby, do you remember we saw Stevie Wonder in concert and were sitting on the 2nd row? (not a totally random comment--Stevie did perform several songs at the ball!!!) It was greatness. Oh, I bet you don't exactly remember that, but do remember that I made you leave after the 1st or 2nd encore and Stevie ended up singing quite a few more songs. I'm thinking we had to get home to the kids....

Biden just said the reason he's talking so much is because he sure can't dance. Then he goes on to say he may not can dance, but he sure does like holding her. OH!! He has captured my heart with that loving comment. MEN SHOULD NOT BE SO NEGATIVE ABOUT DANCING. DON'T THEY KNOW IT'S NOT WHETHER THEY CAN DANCE OR NOT. IT'S ALL ABOUT THEM BEING WILLING TO DO SOMETHING THEIR WOMAN ENJOYS & BE CLOSE TO HER IN PUBLIC WHILE LISTENING TO GREAT SONGS THAT MAKE WONDERFUL MEMORIES.
Hey Hubby-If you're reading this, do you remember how much fun you had dancing at the wedding? You ENJOYED yourself. It was a wonderful evening. Can't we do it again? I think you dance better than the President!!!

***Baby Harper is doing better, but continues to need your prayers.

Reasons to blog...

I can't remember the exact reason I started this blogging business. Now I guess you could say I have a blogging addiction. I'm connected to people I know and people I don't know personally, but wish I did. Some bloggers are so creative, some have wonderful photography skills, many are new moms, some are grandmoms, and some give me tips on how to save money, but regardless of who they are, I feel a certain connection to them. It's wonderful to have friends/acquaintances that you just met through blogging, but feel like you have known a lifetime. Today I ask you to pray for a new blogging friend, Kelly and her new baby, Harper.

As for me and my blogging, it's just a place for me to write down my thoughts--whether they be happy, sad, or even ridiculous. Maybe I write for my grown-up kids and my hubby so they can know what their crazy mom/wifey, who happens to love them immeasurably, is thinking and doing and maybe I can write more about my mom and their nana so they don't forget her and they can remember her before Alzheimer's took her away from us. Now I must go, cause those crazy crocodile tears are rolling once again...

An Amazing and Inspiring Man

My principal sent our staff a link to this video today and asked us to take about 5 minutes and watch it. This is about Nick Vujicic and he's 25 years old. He was born without arms or legs and given no medical reason for this condition. I did my best to download the video here, but something is wrong with the code so just click on his name and you can see it.


I must say I felt some guilt after watching this; after all I am guilty of complaining. My level of complaining varies depending on what's going on with me, my family, job, etc. My poor hubby probably suffers the blunt of this and that's not fair to him. When my kids were younger and at home they got to share in the wrath of mom. I know I do need to vent and let off steam from time to time, but I don't need to take out my frustration on others. Does complaining accomplish anything or does it bring me more unhappiness, dissatisfaction, and self pity? I'm thinking I don't really need any more of those......

Weekend Wrap-up

It’s been a good weekend although there were a few moments that almost got me really depressed. First, I went to the movie, Gran Torino, and Clint Eastwood was an amazingly good ole codger. The movie was good, but it was filled with offensive racial slurs, but I guess that's what this movie is about. Clint played Walt Kowalski, an angry Korean War vet. This movie evolves around his personal struggles and the struggles of his Hmong neighbors. It has its flaws, but overall I would say it’s worth seeing. Kleenex warning though which happens to be like the 4th movie in a row where I cried. The first was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2nd Revolutionary Road (which I don’t recommend at all--it's a real downer!!), and 3rd Marley and Me. Biggest tears were at Marley and Me (which included some sobbing) and then Gran Torino.

My sweet baby girl, who is 4 months away from nursing school graduation, had an extremely tough day at work yesterday. One of the pediatric patients on her floor passed away. I can’t imagine being as strong as she is going to be in her job considering that while typing this I’m getting tears in my eyes. She will be an excellent nurse though and I’m crossing my fingers that she gets a job at Children’s Medical Center or Cook’s Children’s Hospital.

I’ve been eating better this week and I am feeling better. I’ve been loving the taste and texture of all the crunchy vegetables I’ve been eating. The food stand-outs for this week would be my newly discovered love for couscous (with lots of crunchy carrots, broccoli, red peppers, and a little finely chopped onion, lime juice and seasonings), whole grain tortilla roll-ups with cream cheese spread and finely chopped fresh vegetables, and spinach artichoke dip. I also had my 1st attempt at cooking with tofu. I did a stir-fry and it was pretty good. I liked that it was spicy and the veggies were crunchy. Hubby liked it and I really appreciate his support of my vegetarian lifestyle. I did make his favorite meatballs today in the crock pot. They are so easy to make.

Yummy Juicy Meatballs
1 bag of meatballs from Costco
1 32 oz jar grape jelly
2 jars of Heinz chili sauce

Combine grape jelly with 1 bottle of the chili sauce and warm in microwave to semi melt the jelly. Fill crock pot with meatballs and pour jelly mixture and other jar of chili sauce. Stir and cook on high for 3 hours and then reduce heat to low and cook for 4 more hours. It’s actually ready before then, but it gets better when it cooks all day. The big bag of meatballs doesn’t all fit in my crock pot so I keep some in the freezer. If you want them to cook faster, thaw the day before in your refrigerator. The meatballs are a family favorite especially at Christmas. They make the best sauce that it wonderful to dip bread into. Mmmmm! Almost makes me rethink being a vegetarian.

I'm putting it out there

Losing weight
Well, I'm trying to make myself accountable by recording this where other people see it. I have the fear of failure and risk the humiliation I may suffer, but I've got to do this in hopes it will make a difference. I'm overweight and really should lose weight to be in better health. As many of you know my mom had Alzheimer's and one of the ways to prevent it by keeping your mind and body active. At least I have part of it down. My mind is kept pretty active between my teaching math at school and playing my Nintendo DS with Big Brain Academy, Brain Age 1 and 2, and Crosswords. I completed the DS mind game--Professor Layton and the Curious Village. They are all pretty fun games and they keep up with my progress whether it be improvement or regression. I have a Wii Fit that I really like and I must admit I started out really strong and was doing it a couple of times a day, but then vacation came and I got off schedule. It has been hit or miss since then. Now when I get on it, it may say it has been over two weeks since your last test. I can skip that and sometimes I do, but then I'm not being accountable for my actions. It's so nice when it says you've lost 2 pounds, but then the next time it might say you've gained 3 pounds. So I'm up a pound from before. BLAH!! So today I resolve to eat better and not binge on sweets. Let me just say I love sweets. On the first day back to school, someone had placed some candy in the lounge and one of the treats was Godiva chocolate covered pretzels. Let's just say they were pretty good and I had a couple------------a couple of times. I have this issue with willpower when it comes to sweets and I can't eat them in moderation. I'm working on this and I guess I'm either going to have to stop eating them altogether or give myself a specific portion and stick to it. Any advice? Comments? Tips?