What Train? Where?

I'm fairly certain that I had a topic earlier today, or at the very least, something this week. As I sit here, I'm drawing a complete blank.  Zip, zilch, zero, nada, nothing. Seriously? I can't come up with anything worth discussing? Guess not. Like most of my posts, this one will disolve into randomness.

Today is The Boy's last day of second grade. I'm interested to see his report card. I'm hoping for a bit of improvement, since he had a medication adjustment since the last quarter. Mostly I would be happy if the marks stayed the same and not went down. Either way, I'll know today. Third grade seems a little daunting. I always am a little worried starting a new year with a new teacher. I always feel as though we are starting over. No need to worry too much right now, we've got the summer to breathe a little. Going to try to keep up with reading this summer, at least 20 min, five days a week. I also found an on line math program that might help him stay in the learning loop over the summer. Combat some of the summer regression.

Ordered some jamberry nail wraps earlier this week. They haven't arrived yet, but looking forward to trying them out soon. Really hoping they are as awesome as they sound. I like to have painted nails, but traditional polish chips within a day or so, which is annoying. Gel manicures are great, but so pricey, and especially with the kids out of school, I don't have time to get my nails done every two weeks. This will be something I can do at home and is at least a quarter of the price. More expensive than polish, but if it stays on and there's no chipping, it will be worth it.

The Small One is almost done with class, so end of random post for the day. Might be a bit sporadic for a while, but that's no different than normal. I will try very hard to pick back up regularly once September comes around.

Procrastination at it's Best

Summer is nearly upon us. We have been enjoying some wonderful sunshine this last week. Today's cloudy, but the weekend is supposed to be nice again. Perfect for a BBQ with friends. As per usual our weekends are filling up fast. It's always a challenge to fit everything in and deciding which events to say no to because you can't be everywhere. We'll be off to legoland in a month. Spending a week in California, sharing a house with close friends. This will be the small one's first trip on a plane. They are both just a little excited about the whole thing.
The boy is down to his last week of school and typically at this point I have a schedule of events planned out for the summer. I like to have a plan, otherwise we end up wasting the whole summer and not really accomplishing anything. I enjoy a good stay home, watch tv day as much as the next person, but that wouldn't be a very great summer in my opinion. However I haven't made much progress on The Schedule. I've looked into a few events and I have a ton of craft ideas pinned on Pinterest, but other than printing out calender pages, not much has been officially added to The Schedule. I have a week left and really all I have to fill in is the first week of break, but I'd rather have a general idea of the whole summer. Sort of big picture sort of deal. I'm sure I'll get to it, but being a busy procrastinator isn't helping matters.
Sorry for the short post, but I think I've exhausted my thoughts on this subject. Which leads me to another predicament. My life is generally ordinary and I'm often at a lack for things to write about. I don't always have time to write when a subject is emotially at its peak and once the high emotion is over, I no longer feel passionate enough to write about the topic. I have a tendency not to dwell on stuff. Which is good for my life, but not so good from a writting standpoint.

Ahoy Maties!

Construction of the pirate ship is compete. I was hoping to include a few photos, but as you know, I'm away from the computer and also technologically challenged which means I can't figure out how to load the current photos from my phone to the site that the blog takes the photos from. Just imagine how confused I must be. I'll make a follow up post after the parade. This project was definitely harder than I thought, but it's over now and I hope to never have to make my wagon into a ship again. The boys are excited for the parade and I think I've convinced the small one to wear the pirate costume, which really helps to complete the boat.

Turns out I'm over the boat so time for a new topic. I've lost almost 25 pounds. That's three pounds over my second goal and 8 over my initial goal. While this seems like a significant amount and it is, only recently have people I know been mentioning it. Mostly folks I don't see regularly. I have mixed feelings about the comments on how great I look. It feels good that people are noticing, I've  had to work to reach this weight and it's nice for others to recognize my accomplishment even though I didn't do it for anyone's approval but my own. On the other hand it makes me feel like I must have been really over weight before.  While I wouldn't want any one to say that I was looking rather plump or that maybe I should cut back on my calorie intake, I don't know how I would have wanted someone to approch the subject. This I guess is one of the issue with weight. Losing weight isn't just a physical thing, it's emotional too. You shouldn't say to someone that you feel like they might be letting themselves go a bit. Perhaps they are happier this way. Why should they have to uphold what you find attractive if they are pleased with themselves and healthy? Also, you don't know that persons's struggle. Not being over weight isn't always a matter of just eating less. It not a thing that is just done because a person wants to. I am greatful for the compliments. I'm more disappointed in myself that I let myself become complacent to a little bit of weight gain, that turned into more than a little. I will try to enjoy the positve feedback and not dwell on the past or how I may have looked. That part is over and it's time to move on. Of course that is always easier said than done.

A Harrowing Experience

Okay, so probably not really, but bear with me for a bit. While taking the small one to gymnastics class this morning I noticed a baby crow just sitting in the middle of the road. My first thought was I have to save him. He's going to get run over and then I'll be really upset to see squished baby crow on our way back home. However I should mention that I'm mildly terrified of birds. Really I  have no idea why, and I realize how irrational it is, but I'm terrified none the less. I turn the car around and then stop in the middle of the road a few feet from the crow, put my hazards on and get out of the car. It should also be noted that all of the roads around where we live have a speed limit of  25, it's not a super busy road and traffic goes realativly slow. As I approch the crow there are two crows in the trees above me that start sqwaking at me and swoop down at me. Yikes! I'm mildly concerned that they are going to attack me and peck the back of my head, but I can't leave the baby in the road. Luckily a man going the opposite direction also stopped. He was not as concerned about the swooping crows, and he just walked over, picked up the baby and deposited him in the brush on the side of the road. I thanked him and quickly got back in my car. I'd like to think that I could have overcome my fear and moved the bird to safety, but I was spared. Today that random man was a baby bird's savior as well as my personal hero. I don't know that he would have stopped on his own, but it was very kind of him to help even though I'm sure he thought I was a crazy lady. Always remember, it doesn't cost anything to be kind, and you never know whose day you might save by doing so.

Randomness

As this weeks title suggests, this will likely be a stream of consciousness. I have a lot going on presently but can't really see making a whole post out of just one. I'm just going to dive in and see how this goes. 

Where we live there is an annual maritime parade. As you may have guessed, the area is around a body of water, a harbor to be more specific. Both boys' schools participate in the parade so we walk as part of the parade. This will be our second year participating. The theme for the small one's school is pirates and pixies. I had the brilliant idea of transforming our wagon into a pirate ship. Sounds cool, however now that I'm in the beginning of construction it's not quite as easy as I may have thought. Hoping that as I go along and add detail that it will end up being as cool as I pictured it in my head. 

Over the holiday weekend there is an event called street scramble in our area. This is our third year participating. The boy seems to enjoy it, so we keep going. In case you don't know what this is, it's sort of like a scavenger hunt. You are provided with a map with checkpoints on it and a multiple choice question to be answered at each location. Each right answer is worth a certain amount of points and wrong answered deduct 10 points. Plus, you can either do the 90 min or 3 hour finish. It's the same course, you just choose how long you want to participate. You lose points for coming in after the finish time. There was supposed to be a 60% chance of rain, however as of this morning it's only 10%, which basically means it most likely won't rain on us, so bonus. 

Also on Saturday I will be joining three friends as we get friendship tattoos. We will all have a different card suit, I chose the spade. It will be small, on my inner heel. Haven't decided which foot, but leaning toward the right for some reason. Thankfully it will be after all the walking, as I will likely have to wear flip flops for a few days. 

On Sunday we are having friends over for dinner. It's what has been coined as The M Family Dinner, since all our last names start with 'm'. The house will need to be cleaned. It's a constant toy disaster in the living room, as well as the playroom. Dinner will be easy, hamburgers and hotdogs, but I still need to come up with dessert. I've been scouring pinterest for days and haven't come across anything that wows me. 

I will leave off on a high note for me. As of this morning I've reached my goal weight and as suspected I think I still have a few to go. Like 5 more most likely. I do feel like I look better over all and am happy with the results so far, but a few less pounds will give me a little more wiggle room for when I decide to indulge on occasion. 

Hope you all enjoy your weekend and get some time in to rest before getting back to the daily grind. 

You Go Glen Coco!

Totally rockin the maxi skirt today. Although, at my generously stated driver's license 5'1" height, not sure how much I'm really rockin it. The jury is still out on wether or not the skirt makes me look taller or just accentuates the fact that I'm short. And by jury I mean just me. Husband is a big fan of the skirt. I do look nice and lean and overall the look seems flattering, but I'm no fashion expert so who knows. Supposed to be 75 today, which for us western Washington folks, that's darn near our heat threshold. It is nice to see the sun though.

I'm slowly approaching my goal weight, about 2 pounds away. Which has me wondering if my goal was low enough. I look much slimmer than I was, I've lost about 20 pounds, I've had to replace a lot of my clothes, so I know I'm smaller and its visible. I posted about this same qualm a few weeks back. I feel like I need to keep trying to lose more. Eventually if I'm doing the weight loss thing right, I should reach an appropriate weight and not be too thin. But honestly, what is my ideal weight? Will I always question if I've lost enough? I certainly hope not. There should be a point where, if not completely pleased with how I look, I'm at least satisfied that I've done all I could and be happy with where I'm at. This seems logical, but while I can talk a good game I'm not always the best at putting logical thinking into action.

This also brings up another question. With summer approaching I will likely need a new swim suit. Have I reached the age at 37 where it is no longer appropriate for me to wear a bikini? I mean if I were to reach a place where I feel confident about my body and could really rock the bikini, will I just look like I am pathetically trying to cling to my now non-existant youth? This, and what to fix for dinner are the types of questions that plague me daily. Hope you enjoyed this weeks glimpse into my constantantly worried mind. I must have a problem to perseverate on, even if it's only an act of my bored mind. Now go rock your own day.

What Are We Havin' a Dinner For Night?

Just in case you're having trouble with that sentence, this is the nightly question from the 3 1/2 year old, as I stand over the stove preparing dinner. He wants to know what I'm fixing. That boy loves to eat, as long as it's something he likes, which is usually anything Mexican. I crave variety in my meals and often test out new recipes that I find on Pinterest. My children are usually less than thrilled with my adventures in cooking. That makes me sound like a disaster in the kitchen, however that's not the case. While some recipes end up being duds most of them are good, at least husband and I think so. However I feel as though my children think I'm trying to poison them with each new recipe. My children seem to have a serious flavor aversion. Each bite is tourturous, often causing gaging by the small one, if he finds it particularly unpalatable. I'm so tired of trying to convince them to eat food, fighting the constant battle. For the most part I don't feel like I'm trying to go far beyond their comfort zone. Sticking with variations on what they already eat. Sometimes I understand their hesitance to eat a new food. It's apparently a survival instinct of some sort, protecting them from being poisoned from unsafe new foods. An instinct that is not really necessary anymore, so not sure why it hasn't fallen out yet. Other times the aversion is just infuriating. It's chicken for god's sake! Just eat it! My favorite being, you had thirds the last time I made this dish and yet now I can't get you to eat more than a bite. 

My children have interesting tastes. The small one preferes anything Mexican, as previously stated. While the boy likes curries. Neither will eat a grilled cheese, or any kind of sandwich including PB&J. The small one will eat Kraft mac and cheese on occasion, and they both love broccoli and carrots. So it could be worse. However I get bored with cooking the same things over and over. I need to mix it up every once in a while. I'd like to say to them,' unless you've got something better, you'll eat this', and have that be the end of it. Sadly that's not the way my life goes. I will continue to attempt to widen their eating horizons and maybe one day they'll realize that trying new foods isn't so bad. Just wish that day was today.