Life in pictures this past week

#1 Cream of Wheat -

When I was a kid my mother made Cream of Wheat almost every winter morning. It was not my favorite, but it was the chosen one's my brother's favorite.  Some time she mixed it up and added some Cocoa Wheat in and I really didn't care for that flavor.  But eat it we did.  We had it with a pat of butter in the middle and honey.  While it was hot and warmed you from top to toes it never had enough honey in it for me.  Back in those days you didn't whine and/or get more sugar.  My mother was so good at cooking it that she would dump the wheats into a pan the night before and leave on the stove so that all she had to do was add the milk.  It seemed like she stirred it twice and it was done and ready for us to eat.  While it wasn't my favorite it is one of those childhood memories that I wanted to pass down to my daughters. 

Madison likes Cream of Wheat, and Darcy likes it with tons of honey, but I am the worst cook of Cream of Wheat.  I tried buying the instant in a package, but it was awful, so I went back to the two minute kind and tried to master it.  I rarely offer it up as a breakfast option.  Now it is on my list of breakfast foods on my diet (which I keep starting over on) and when I read it my mouth began watering so I bought a box of it and fixed it.  The first time I made it I ate it plain with a dab of butter.

The second time I made it I added blueberries.  It was delicious and so filling with my toast and juice.  Of course, the bottom of the pan was scorched and it took a few hours of soaking to come clean, but I'm sure when I whip it up for Madison at six in the morning I will be better at it.

#2 Connie in rehab

I don't recognize my mother in rehab because she is so positive.  She has really embraced this chance to gain strength and has been quite quiet and gone with the flow, something she isn't always willing to do.  When I visited her for the first time she was on her way to occupational therapy with a nice, timid, serious girl who wanted her to do some therapy in the house setting.

There is always a "house" setting in rehab places that simulate a real house.  This one had a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen with a bar and small seating area.  This way the therapist can see how a patient will manage at home.  This young girl wanted Connie to stand up out of her wheelchair and take out plates and cups from the cabinet.  Once those were removed she had to stack cones into the cabinet in the place of the plates and cups and then take them back out again.  She did this without complaining, although she did comment that she didn't think the cones were good for anything with a hole in the bottom.

Next up was cooking.  The therapist asked Connie to make a grilled cheese sandwich, and I thought, "Oh, boy, here we go.  She will complain at this activity."  But I was wrong.  She pulled open drawers and cabinets and got out all the things she needed.  The only comment she made was that the skillet was too large for one little grilled cheese sandwich and that perhaps she would need to donate a smaller one to the facility.

She kept calm even when the stove didn't work and she had to be wheeled upstairs to another kitchen to finish the job, the skilled and buttered cheese bread in her lap.  Instead she cooked and cooked until the sandwich was done.  I got to eat it.  It was delicious.

#3 New keyboard

My wireless keyboard died on me a few weeks ago and my husband hooked me up a back-up that had to be plugged into my monitor.  It was small and the buttons very large, but I didn't complain.  I did mention that Amazon sold a Steelers keyboard, but I got this new one instead.

It is really nice and clean.  The buttons are so firm, yet seem to move so smoothly no matter how light I touch it.  It is a bit different then my old one so I have to learn the different locations for certain buttons, but I'm enjoying it even though it isn't the Steelers keyboard.

Tom:  "Put stickers on it."

So I did.

Little hidden gems

Yesterday I decided to tackle the cleaning of my closet.  I wanted to donate clothes I haven't worn (so I can replace them as the New York trip is coming soon...shhh...) and follow through on one of my new year's resolution in getting organized.  I started by pulling everything on my side of the closet out.  I put things everywhere there was space starting with my bed.  By the time I was finished I could barely get around my room, which is odd since my walk-in closet is small.

Little did I know that I would find little gems hidden in my closet!  The first one I found was on the top of my shelf in the corner.

I took the picture to show that while I am living in Florida I am still a Hoosier.  We come out of the womb with a basketball in our hands and I keep mine in the closet.  I thought it would make a fun photo for my photo of the day.  The basketball is a keepsake; one I won shooting the most free throws in my age group at a charity event put on by the University of Evansville basketball team.  The ball is signed by all of the players which is why it is in my closet.  Don't want anyone to mess with it and erase the signatures.

When I got a step ladder to climb up to dust these shelves I took the ball down and found this one behind it.

Gem #1

I'm wondering if this is a sign?  I haven't filled out my bracket yet, but after the Hoosier's last game I wasn't so sure I would have them even in my final four, but now?  I'm rethinking that.  I'm a big believer of signs.

Once I got everything out of the closet I cleaned the inside of it.  Then I tackled the baskets that sit on the shelves.  The first basket was full of old purses that I keep thinking I will reuse.  I tossed out the ones I hadn't used in a year and then thought perhaps I should make sure the pockets were all emptied.  I enjoy leaving money in old purses and pockets of jackets so that I can get that excited feeling when I find it.  No money this time, but the gems I found were WAY better.

Gem #2

In the pocket of a purse I'm actually keeping, but is too heavy for me to carry daily, I found a jewelers bag with earrings.  When I pulled it out and felt that something was inside I got so excited because I have been missing these earrings and they are my absolute favorite because I wear black almost daily.  I haven't worn earrings since these went missing and I lost one of my other favs.  They slipped right on and I'm wearing them today too.

Gem #3

Inside one of the purses was a wallet and inside the wallet was a Starbucks card with $10.47 on it and these little gems...Ice cream coupons for G.D. Ritzy!  My youngest was oh, so excited about these and keeps wondering when we are heading back to Evansville to use them.

After the purse basket I went through other baskets.  I found figurines that my friend's daughter had made years ago and that were in a curio I had that sits in my closet now because my husband has yet to hang it in my room.  I had to get out the glue gun to fix a few of them as they are made of dough and they don't do so well in our Florida heat.  I also repaired some doll furniture I had stored away since Darcy doesn't know how to care for delicate things and I took it away from her a few years ago.  (That will have to be another blog because it is a cool story.  The doll house not Darcy's disrespect of delicate things)  In another basket I found this:

Gem #4

Kelly gave this to me one year for Christmas.  I put it on my head and texted her the pic.  She is now insisting I wear it when we watch Survivor on Friday nights (we record it and save it til then).  I'm going to wear it as a top this week like the girls do on the show.

I went through the clothes and shoes and got rid of a huge lawn garbage bag full.  I put things back slowly and neatly and at the very end when I was sweating and tired I found a container of old photos and photo books.  In one envelope I found old school pictures that friends had mailed and given me over the years.  Since a few of them read my blog I just had to post them.

First is me.  The picture in the left hand corner has a story.  My mother took me to get my haircut before picture day.  When we got to the salon the man who cut her hair, and whose name graced the whole place, had been called away for some reason or another.  He put us with a lady who chopped the crap out of my hair.  I can remember my mother coming home and dragging me across the street to show her friend, the two of them pulling and whipping my hair and head around tsking and gasping in horror.  My mother was furious and called her man, the owner, ranting and raving about what had happened.  He agreed to see me the next day to fix it, which of course resulted in more chopping until I looked like what you see in the above photo.  I'm not smiling because I spent two days crying over the horror of it all.  And that outfit?  I had the same thing in another color.

These are my friends from Pennsylvania; Kim and Steph.  We lived next door to them and have remained friends since I was four years old.  Kim moved to Florida with me and put up with me as a roommate for several years.  You can't see in these photos, but there are so many pin holes in them from hanging them on my bulletin board over the years.  Eventually the older pictures were put into an album.  The album was before the acid tone free age so they didn't hold up and I took all the pictures out and put them in an envelope which apparently ended up in my closet.

From Pennsylvania to Indiana...this is my friend who lived across the street.  She had two brothers and I had the one and we had to join forces to stay sane against the three.  I think we held up pretty well and took them down a few notches every once in awhile.

This is Kelly who has been my buddy and savior since moving to Florida many years ago.  I put this picture on because I thought it hilarious odd that she had several pin holes in her nose, which is quite visible in this picture.  I tried and tried but could not remember her hanging on the bulletin board with a pin in her nose.  I blame my brother.

And speaking of him...how cute are these pictures?  I just had to post them.  I use to wonder what he ever saw in this woman, but now I wonder what she ever saw in him.  It certainly wasn't our family.  She is one of my best-est friends now and I don't envy her married to that crazy guy.

The best part of most of the pictures are the message written on the back of them.  That was back in the day when you autographed your school pictures and passed them out.  Michelle mentions guys that I have no memory of, Kim wrote only her name, Kelly did nothing (perhaps the reason for the nose holes?), and Steph wrote this on one of hers:  "Cara - Hon-babe - this is my senior picture.  Try not to lose it!  I love ya and we're Friends Forever! Love always, Steph"

Well worth the eight hours it took me to clean that closet.

I have my reasons

Darcy: "I need you to sign a permission slip. Here's a pen."

Me: "You have to sign it too it says."

Darcy: "I do? Okay."

Me: "Now put that somewhere where you will remember to take it tomorrow. And put my pen back where you got it."

Darcy: "I'm going to put it in my backpack because it is a good pen and you have another one in there."

Me "No! I stole those two pens for my kitchen! Put it back in there."

Darcy: "Well that's something I bet most kids don't hear from their mother's mouths."

An old entry draft I found in the archives

I am a dreamer.  I dream during the day, thinking of interesting tidbits that would be oh, so cool if they came true (what if the roadways were all water and we had to swim everywhere) or writing romance novels in my head.  I am a huge dreamer at night when I'm asleep.  I dream almost every night and can usually remember my dreams upon first waking up, but unless I retell them or write them down they disappear quickly.  I can dream, wake up and go to the bathroom, and then go right back to sleep and continue on in the same dream as if there had been a commercial break.  I've had dreams where I'm standing off to the side like the director of the dream, but then I'm also in the dream as a participant, and the director me is thinking how odd this is and is trying to rationalize how it could be while the actor me continues on in the dream.

Several years ago I had a dream where I was at a funeral at our family farm.  The person that had died was a young red headed man who I didn't know and no one would tell me how this man was related to me.  It was all very hush hush and eventually I discovered, by sneaking back after everyone else had gone, that this kid was my illegitimate brother and that I also had two illegitimate sisters who looked exactly like my eldest daughter.  In the dream the director me suddenly appears and says, "Okay, now that doesn't make any sense since your father has been dead for almost fourteen years and therefore could not have fathered someone that young."

But the dream actor me continues on in the dream and suddenly I'm at a church that we have wandered into while out walking. I am now with my friend Kelly and my girls.  I'm trying to whisper the whole funeral and illegitimate kids story to Kelly while keeping it quiet from my kids. The church is very crowded and we are sitting in a pew. Kelly and I are discussing the situation when a lady appears and hands me a program. I look up at her and ask her if John F. Kennedy is still scheduled to speak this morning.  She assures me that he is and waves her hand around the crowded church as if saying, "he certainly is speaking why else would everyone be here?" The directer me appears and wonders out loud to the actor me why I care about this since I'm a Republican. And the dream ended.

I kept meaning to take a class or read a book on dreams, but it wasn't until I had another interesting dream and experience that I took some time to research dreams on the Internet.  In the dream I had I was reading aloud to someone from a book about the Trix Rabbit, the tall, long eared guy from the cereal commercials.  I read on and on about his adventures and suddenly he comes upon the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny is very small, quite pink, and has long eyelashes that she keeps batting. I read aloud that the two rabbits have sex, and the book discusses the different positions these two rabbits go at it in.

When I woke up from this dream thinking, "WTF?" I got up and reported the dream to Madison. She thought I was joking because the night before she had listened to her audio book of Junie B. Jones and the story line was about a girl having a bunny party. In the story the party girl asks the kids in her class to guess who the special guest will be at her party. The kids all try to guess different bunnies, including the Trix Rabbit, and eventually the girl tells them they are all wrong and that her special guest will be the Easter Bunny.

Madison figured I must have been listening to this story with her, but I had gone to bed two hours prior to her going to bed and turning this story on. I had been sick and hadn't slept well the night before, and when I went to bed I fell asleep immediately. I never consciously heard the audio story, but we were impressed by the possibility that maybe my subconscious could have heard it. This then led me to the Internet.

I found a site called Dream Central and to seriously read through everything will take me a few days so for the purpose of this entry I decided to just go through the "Dream Dictionary" to see what these two dreams might mean.  I started with dream #1, but could not find anything relating to illegitimate siblings, funerals, Kennedys, or Republicans.  I did find the word "family"and "church".

Family, according to Dream Central's dictionary, represents good fortune if dreaming of a large family.  But if the family is unhappy or bickering it mean the opposite for the dreamer.  If the family is very sad expect some adverse reactions in your financial structure.

This is where I think delving further into the site might help because in my dream I could say that yes my family suddenly was larger what with the sibling additions I knew nothing about, but we were also sad since one of the members had died. We might have also been unhappy and certainly secretive, although not really bickering.  So I was suppose to have good fortune, but not financially and perhaps I wasn't going to have good fortune.  Very confusing there.  I moved on.

Church, according to Dream Central's dictionary, is a good luck omen especially if dreaming of the outside of the building which shows luck in love and marriage.  The inside means that you will have a few small problems that could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. 

The church entry reminded me to study the dream as a whole as other activities could "change the interpretation so that the church itself has no meaning other then that of location".  Since I only dreamed of the outside of the church the good luck omen was out the window.  So I might have a few small problem, but they could actually turn out to be blessings.

I moved on to the second dream but could not find anything on bunnies or sex.  Really?  Sex wasn't one of the words in the dream dictionary?  I found that a little hard to believe, but I did find rabbits. 

Rabbits, according to Dream Central's dictionary, foreshadows luck in business enterprises and/or means that events will take a favorable turn.  Dreaming of white rabbits foretells faithfulness of a lover and to see them at play show children will increase your joy.

Hmmm...interesting there, although my Easter Bunny was pink, not white. I was reading the story aloud to children, but guess since the color isn't right I can't go with increased joy.  I am still waiting for the business enterprise and the favorable turns.

Not sure that I learned anything on this site with the quick version.  I suppose I shall have to delve into the dream thing further.  I'll get back to everyone.

&^%* bleep, bleep, %#*&

I faithfully keep up with several blogs, some written by family and friends and some written by strangers.  My favorite blogger, one who writes like I wish I could and who says things I totally feel, is here.  Today I went on her site to catch up and read this fabulous entry.  It is an entry that I deal with regularly because I curse.

I grew up in a house that encouraged language.  Both of my parents cursed, not in each sentence, but when they felt the word fit what they were trying to convey.  My father was a marine and shit and dammit were just a part of his vocabulary.  My mother was an English teacher who used many words that I had no idea of the meaning (she sent me to the dictionary to find out), but when she injected a curse word into her rants we knew she meant business.  Neither of my parents used the "f" word, but I knew it.  I heard it.  I grew up, unconsciously, knowing that there were words that I could say and words that I shouldn't say, as all children do, but I was never sheltered from curse words at home nor punished if one such word came out of my own mouth due to frustration or what not.

In high school I took a Semantics class from a teacher that taught a "bad word" segment in the class.  He started the lesson off by having everyone in class give him the finger and say, "Fuck you" out loud.  (You could opt out of this lesson).  Some kids couldn't wait to say it.  Others had a hard time getting the words out for various reasons.  Those reasons were discussed in class and by the end of the week long lesson we understood that while these words' meanings weren't harmful (i.e. shit is just poop, bitch is a female dog, fuck is sex, etc.) the connotations might be to certain people.  He taught us that sitting in a restaurant with our friends saying, "fuck" in our conversation was fine when the tables around us were unoccupied, but that it wasn't when there was a table of senior citizens next to us.  I wrote in my paper (we always had to write a paper after the lessons) the story of my friend's babysitting kids who when they got mad would call her a "hockey puck" and then giggle and cover their mouths.  While "hockey puck" meant nothing or the literal meaning to my friend who cared less, it obviously meant something more, a code word, to the children who thought they were getting away with something naughty.  It reminded me of something my neighbor friend and I made up.  When we got really mad at our brothers we pursed our lips and made a squeaking noise at them.  To them it meant nothing, some silly gesture, but to us....hee hee it was a code for a naughty name we invented to call them without them understanding.

As I got older I heard more cursing.  I used it myself.  I like the words, think them appropriate when I use them, and I try to behave and remember the lesson I learned from my Semantics class.  When I had children I decided to share that same lesson with them when my daughter came home from school and told me a child had used the "s" word in school and had gotten in trouble.  Not knowing if her "s" word was my "s" word I asked what the word was and she didn't want to say because to her the connotation was something naughty whether she understood that or not.  Bottom line for her was the kid used it and got into trouble.  Turned out the word was "stupid" and for me that raised a lot of issues because I thought being afraid to use that word was, well, stupid.  So my daughters and I had a discussion about words.  I thought they should know that words themselves are not "bad", but that they are harmful when used in such a manner.  Calling a playmate stupid was harmful, but saying you felt stupid when you didn't get a joke or understand a math problem was okay.  We talked about curse words and the fact that some people absolutely abhor them, and that knowing your surroundings and the appropriate way to use those words was important.  Over the years, as they have grown older, we have often revisited the word conversation.

My daughter recently expressed annoyance at a male classmate who referred to others or the things they wore or did as "gay".  That word to my daughter is unacceptable used in that context.  Her uncles are homosexual, married to one another, and that is normal and fine and dandy with us.  When the boy at school told someone they were "gay" for wearing an outfit she thought that harmful and took offensive.  She told him so and he laughed at her and called her "gay".   Another classmate used a derogatory term for her African American classmate that also haunted my daughter and made her mad. We talked again about the use of words and their meanings.  When I read some of the comments on the entry that I had read in the above blog I ran across this video and applauded what she had to say.

My eldest daughter hears cursing every day at school.  She isn't shocked, sometimes she believes those words are called for, but she doesn't choose to use those words herself.  Both girls admonish me at times for my use of curse words, and a lot of times it opens a door for more language conversation such as the "gay" remarks above.  We spend our lives trying to protect our children.  We want them to be safe, but the reality is that life is dangerous.  I can't keep them from hearing offensive words any more than I can keep them from violence or crazy, road raged drivers.  They're living in a world where a lock down in school is something they practice preparing for like we did for tornadoes.  What I can do is teach them how to act, how to behave, and how to be kind to one another.  In the end that is what I think matters most.

Work in progress

I have not been blogging due to some unforeseen complications, but rest assured I will be back at it as soon as material and circumstances allow. First up was my wireless keyboard acting funky giving me capitol letters, missing letters, triple letters, etc. as I wrote. I replaced the batteries twice and finally gave up, requesting help from the computer master. First thing he said?

Tom: "You have to first replace the batteries. Try that first."

Do I know this man or what? His temporary solution was to give me an old keyboard from his computer parts stash in the garage. The day I got that the youngest daughter awoke with a fever and yucky "I feel like I'm going to throw up" stomach. After several hours of television, meds, and loving, maternal care she was resting comfortably on the couch. Then came the panic of not being able to reach the wheelchair grandma who lives thirty minutes from me by car. After an hour of phoning her, I left sick daughter at home, picked up eldest daughter from school, and drove to the condo where we had to dial 911 for grandma who had been asleep for the past 21 hours. She is resting in the hospital where they are running tests and declaring her healthy with no answer to why she is weak and shaky.

Fireman responder: "Can you tell me your name?"

Connie: "Oh, don't do that. Don't start asking me dumb questions. I know who I am. I know where I am. I know who the President is, but I won't say his name because I don't like him."

It was quite the scene in the little condo with three hefty fireman, Connie in the wheelchair, Madison and me, and the next door neighbor who had initially awakened her. By the time the two paramedics with the ambulance arrived we were all snickering at Connie's humor and the firemen were going back to the station with some entertaining stories.

Fireman responder: "Connie, why are you not looking at me?"

Connie: "Because I can't see you."

FR: "Are you blind Connie?"

Connie: "No, I'm not blind. See"

When everything gets back to normal I shall return to blogging. Sorry for the delay!

Happy Birthday to my baby bro

Didn't have anything else to blog so thought I'd dedicate this entry to my brother since it is his birthday.  Tee hee!

Baby years:

First day home 1968

First day home 1968

Swimming on land

Taking the leap

First birthday 1969

Early years:

Best buddy 1972

Lipstick fun

1973 Birthday

Teen years:

Aces Basketball Camp

Studying for school 1980's

Aces game night

Grown up years:

1996 maybe

White legs 2002

2003

2004

2008

2010

2013

Happy Birthday Rusty!

Two month 2013 resolution check

It is that time of the year when I weigh in on how well I'm doing on the New Year's resolutions that I made.  I score myself from 1 - 10 and tally up the scores, aiming for a perfect 50 points.  I've yet to ever get that 50, but I keep thinking that I will and that is what is important.

1. To get down to a certain weight (which will not be mentioned here for all to see) by eating healthy and exercising - I have done very well on this resolution for the first two month.  I started a diet and I am shedding pounds, although slower than I would have hoped.  I'm exercising and have lowered my total cholesterol.  I am eating healthy meals and snacks.  While I've not reached my goal weight I am on the right track so I'm scoring this perfectly.  Score: 10
2. To organize my schedule, my desk, my home, and finish the scanning/organizing of photos.  That means getting rid of stuff and boxing up and storing other stuff. - This is a hard one to explain, but it boils down to I need to be more organized each day to achieve everything by the end of the week.  I started out well with this one, but still haven't done enough to master it.  I am doing better then last year, but still have more to do. Score:  4
3. To work on my patience and try to not be so uptight.  To channel my inner Sharons, two people who I think handle life calmly -I feel I've done well with this one and so do my children, although I still have a ways to go.  Score:  7
4. To get into couponing to save money - I have clipped and organized my coupons, but still have trouble remembering to bring them with me.  I am much better, however, and have saved some cash.  Our grocery recently went digital and I'm signed up for that.  Score:  5
5. To contribute more articles to Yahoo and Google and try to earn some cash - Well, four out of five isn't too bad to start off with it.  I did earn a check for the ads on my blogs this past month so that earns me some score, but I haven't done any writing for Yahoo.  Score: 4

Total:  30 out of 50 points - This is probably the highest I have ever been this early in the year.  I just hope to keep trucking these next two months and get at least five points higher!  I just know I'll be a perfect score by the end of the year!  Fingers crossed.

Out of the mouths of my babes

Darcy:  "So...apparently (this is her new way of beginning conversations) the team we play tomorrow in basketball is off on a field trip and they will only have five people playing.  So we are going to play the first half like a regular game and the second half some of us will play for them like an expedition game."

Me:  "It isn't expedition.  That's another word.  You meant exhibition."

Darcy:  "Whatever the word is that's what's happening."

Me:  "Do you know what the word expedition means?"

Darcy:  "Uh, a trip?"

Me:  "Ok, good.  More like a discovery trip like Christopher Columbus."

Madison:  "A journey."

Me:  "Now what does the word exhibition mean?"

Darcy:  "It means that's what we're doing tomorrow in our basketball game."

Defined by a van?

When I was pregnant with Darcy we bought a 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager from an older couple whose son worked in the service department of the dealership where they bought the van.  They were a sweet couple giving us a nice price and documentation of work done on the van and giving Madison a stuffed animal.  The van was a year and a half old at the time so we still had the manufacturer warranty and we purchased another two years on top of that.  It has been the greatest vehicle hauling around kids and car seats over the last thirteen years.  Two years ago after some minor repairs Tom talked about replacing it.  I assumed he meant with another van, but he thought that silly and too big for our current needs.  I had a hard time with that.

The van represented in a way who I was as a stay-at-home-mother and not having that symbol left me searching for an identity.  I spent many days thinking of how soon my kids would be off discovering themselves and their new lives, leaving me behind tooling along in an oversized, empty vehicle.  Not liking that scenario one bit I chose to ignore the whole situation and instead urged Tom to fix the van.  "This is a great car," I argued.  "As long as it's running why spend big bucks on another one?"  The van, I reasoned, would keep my kids dependent on me and my job secure.

Last May the van began having issues, stalling on me when idling at lights.  We had some small repairs done, but while the problem would disappear for while it always reappeared.  Before Halloween it got worse stalling on me four times in one day.  We had two different repair places look at it with one wanting to make a huge air conditioning repair and the other repairing minor things and not finding a reason for the stalling.  The next stalling episode after the repairs the service guys kept it running on the block all day and found nothing.  I told them I wasn't imagining it nor was I crazy.  They told me they were sure I wasn't either, but they were clueless.  It got to the point that I was scared to turn left suddenly for fear the van would stall and I would get hit by oncoming traffic.  I certainly did not want my teenager behind the wheel of the van.  I was going to have to think about another car.

I am not a car person.  I don't know one car from another.  I'm a bit familiar with different types of vans and that's only because most of my friends drive them.  Tom wanted me to narrow down a list of vehicles I would be interested in so I turned to my friend the Internet.  For several days I read articles on family vehicles and searched Auto Trader sites.  I stuck mostly with SUV type vehicles thinking it would make the transition easier.  Kelly and I ran errands one weekend and we drove through parking lots looking at various vehicles.  When I saw something I liked I wrote it down.  Meanwhile my neighbor bought his wife a Kia Soul.  His friend had one and he had done all this research on it the last year.  Tom took one look and scoffed at it until he got into it and realized it had quite a lot of room.

I spent considerable time working the Internet on various car sites with the list of cars I had narrowed down.  I test drove a few of them.  The Soul was by far my favorite because not only did it have room, and drove well, but it ranked number one for a family car and for first time drivers.  I was hooked.  Tom, however, was not.  He decided what we should do was wait and in the meantime switch cars.  He would drive the van for two weeks and I would drive his Buick.

I agreed because I wanted him to experience the stalling and other issues and agree with me on the Soul.  I grudgingly transferred most of my belongings into the Buick and got use to lowering my long limbs to get into the Fred Flintstone car.  That was in November.  In the first two weeks the van never stalled, according to my husband.  It never did anything but work.  Those two weeks went into two more weeks and still the van continued running perfectly.  A little over a month into the switch the van acted up with all of us in the car.  "It must be you," my husband decided.  "What the hell are you doing to it?" my neighbor inquired.

Four months later I am still driving the Buick.  I have quit asking about the van.  The kids tell me when it acts up when they are in it.  Every once in a while I pat it and tell it I miss it.  I have managed in the smaller car hauling Madison and Darcy and transporting students to various activities.  I like the big trunk for my groceries and beach chair.  I like not filling it with gas as often.  I don't like not being in the garage, but I'm learning to live with that.  I realized the other day that now when I'm walking to and from the Buick in parking lots I'm checking out smaller cars instead of SUV's.   Perhaps I'm learning to define myself by something other than by the vehicle I drive.  Perhaps this is just one of those first steps I have to take into my new job as something other than a mother when the girls head out on their own.  Or perhaps I just need a new car to be happy.  It is a mystery for sure.

Randomness to start the week

1. It is pollen season in Florida, earlier than normal, and things here under the big oak tree are driving us batty.  One daughter has issues with the pollen so she is medicated and must come home from school, strip in the garage, and immediately get into the shower or else her eyes will swell and turn an evil red.  Our cars are constantly covered in a green film requiring a daily wash, which is soon going to be illegal if we don't get some rain.  We have to keep the dog out of our front yard otherwise he tracks in the pollen attached to the fur on the underside of his belly and daughter begins sneezing and rubbing her eyes, and we can't open any windows for the same reason.  Soon it will be time to rake all of this gross stuff, but for now it just hangs in giant clumps from our tree baiting us.
2. We heard back from the homeowner's association that our front yard has too many spots that are missing grass.  Supposedly 40 homeowners received letters out of 450 homes in our subdivision.  Tom called a sod company, failed to mention this to me, and when the guy came to measure and give us an estimate I stormed outside thinking the association had sent him.  Lucky for both of us he liked the Pittsburgh Steelers and started the conversation out that way.  I eventually figured it out without mouthing off.  His estimate for grass?  $1600.  We called a landscaper who said there is nothing wrong with our grass that it just needs some TLC and he is busy working on a landscaping plan and estimate.  I told my husband that he could fly my sis-in-law and niece down at spring break and she would do the landscaping for room and board, but he didn't seem to take to that idea.  I'm not sure he thought I was serious, but I was.  I've seen her yard.
3. Our weather here has been very wacky.  One day we have to turn on the heat and the next day the air conditioner.  I like having the cooler weather until spring break, but we have been hotter than normal this season with our highs in the upper 80's.  It is rare when my closet and drawers have both winter and summer clothes out at the same time.
4. Darcy has been selected as one of 26 delegates from her school to represent the state of Florida at the Model United Nations in New York City this spring.  She is busy working with her younger partner on their project in addition to all of her school work.  I shall be accompanying her to the Big Apple and we will spend an extra day there so that she will get to experience the city since all of her time before that will be taken up with the conference.  Oh, the things I do for my girls!
5. My diet requires eating soups and I've gotten quite good at making them.  So far I've made chicken noodle, lentil, and vegetable.  I've always thought a good business would be to have a soup kitchen cafe in the winter where people would drive up and purchase containers of soup to take home for dinner on cold nights.  Now that I'm getting so good at soup making I might have to delve into this thought further.
6. We are still receiving college information daily only now the same colleges are repeating by sending us the same material only in new packaging and form.  It would be fun to explore all of these places if only my daughter knew what she wanted to be when she grew up so that we could narrow down some of the searches.
7. Basketball season has started for my youngest and this weekend Tom and I took her and her teammate out to practice.  One of the drills required me at the free throw line shooting while the two girls rebounded and Tom played defense.  Unfortunately he explained the drill this way, "When your mother shoots and misses you guys get the rebound and either pass or shoot."  I only heard "when your mother misses" and my competitive spirit kicked in and I made ten in a row even when he left his position and guarded me.  He bowed down to me.
8. I haven't blogged much lately because I'm always on my Ipad and the app for Blogger on that isn't the best.  There are so many things I can't do that I just get annoyed and give up thinking I'll get to my computer eventually.  Then I don't get there.  I also think of topics and promptly forget them.  I'm going to designate a day where I sit and write for the week and clean my desk.  Hmm...
9. Speaking of the Ipad.  I have so many games going on it that it is hard to play them all.  My favorite is still Scramble with Friends, but now I'm addicted to Song Pop and back to Draw Something.  Last night while playing Song Pop one of the songs was a song that I heard on a what was suppose to be the last episode (it wasn't) of Magnum P.I. and I could never find the name or artist of the song (remember this was before Internet).  I spent hours rewinding my VCR and writing down the lyrics.  I still have them somewhere.  'Lo and behold there was the song on Song Pop and after the game I immediately downloaded it to my Itunes.  I love technology!
10. We don't have Spring Break plans or summer plans yet.  It is harder as the kids get older to plan these things, especially in advance.  We mostly hang here during Spring Break because the flights getting into Florida are atrocious as all the other spring breakers are heading our way.  Guess we will explore our own area and hit the beach.  As for summer?  Letting my sis-in-law plan that one.

Halfway mark on the diet

Some of my readers have been clamoring to know how the diet is going so I thought today I would give some of my pros and cons on the Shred diet as I enter the end of my third week. The diet is only a six week plan so I'm halfway there, but only in the diet as I haven't lost half of the twenty promised pounds. I've lost four pounds in two weeks and certainly don't anticipate a loss of six pounds by the halfway mark. But in Dr. Ian Smith's defense I haven't stuck totally to his plan. I have had more than a few lapses, missed my third meal on occasion, and on some days I flat out had to eat something different than the plan called for. For the most part, however, I've been a good girl. Here then are my  pros and cons of my experience on the Shred diet.

1. Food tastes better - After the first few days of dieting I began to notice that everything I ate tasted so delicious.  Foods I've made for dinner in the past had more flavor and just seemed so much more delicious.  I don't know if it is because I have more of an appreciation after all the smoothie drinking, but I'm certainly enjoying foods. PRO
2. New dishes - I am an eater who eats what she likes and rolls up her nose at the foods I dislike.  On this diet I have been forced to eat some of the foods I dislike, the main one being whole wheat bread.  First of all, I'm not much of a bread eater.  I eat it with sandwiches and I enjoy garlic bread, but I'm not one of those people who gobbles up rolls at restaurants.  Before I started the diet I discussed my issue with one of the bakers at our local grocery who handed me a loaf of 100% whole wheat, five grain bread.  She promised me I would love it and OMG I do.  I love it so much I jump up and down on the days I'm allowed to eat it.  I also have discovered I like brown rice and that I can actually eat sweet potatoes without puking. PRO
3. Tired of smoothies - This diet is the three "s"es because you can have snacks, soups, and smoothies.  I've never been much of a fruit smoothie person, but my husband has a maker and I discovered that I liked them just fine.  However, at the third week mark here where now I have them two or three or sometimes four times a day is starting to get old.  I've had to resort to some creativity and gone to the Internet to find other recipes then the ones in the book.  I also have found that I enjoy them fresh from the blender instead of a day later from the refrigerator and cleaning that maker is getting old too. CON
4. Hard when you cook for others - I'm a mom. I have kids who depend on me for meals that aren't prepared in a blender. I find the diet is easier for me during the week when the kids are busy with school and I'm busy working than it is on the weekends. On weekends we are all scattered in the wind, or we like to eat out, or the girls need something quick before babysitting. Those are also the days on the diet plan that don't allow as much substance as other days. Fridays are usually our pizza nights, something that isn't on the diet until the latter weeks, and it has proven to be my real downfall. The smell of it in the car causes me to jump into the box and devour multiple pieces. Then I go home and eat a small salad.  I would like it if my fourth meal of the day came with some recipes that would incorporate the rest of the family too. CON 
5. More energy - Eating something every three or four hours, actually more like every hour and a half with the snacks, has definitely changed my metabolism. I have more energy and my mid afternoon sleepiness has all but disappeared.  This is huge for me as I was sort of going crazy with how many naps I needed just to function. PRO
6. Easy when out and about - I should have read through the entire book first.  Instead I read as I went.  Now that I've taken the time to read through the lists of items that count as my snacks I realize how easy it is going to be from now on to pick up snacks while out on the road.  The meals, soups and smoothies, are easy as well when running around town as most places offer these items. PRO
7. Deciphering the book - What I mean here is that I find some parts of the book confusing.  In the beginning of each phase there are a list of things you are allowed to do and not do.  I am suppose to drink a glass of water before each meal and another during the meal, but then in the listing of each meal it says I am to have a drink, and it lists some examples, and then it says that it should be different then what I drank in the previous meals.  And water is listed as one of the choices.  Huh?  An added con is that it is really hard to drink that much liquid when the meal also consists of a smoothie.  I spend a lot of time in the bathroom. CON
8. Exercising - On each day I get a set amount of exercise time ranging from 30 to 45 minutes thus far.  It is all suppose to be cardio based and the author lists some examples, but for some people some of those options aren't going to be available or be allowed.  I have knee and back problems and jogging isn't something I do unless someone is chasing me.  I've seen Dr. Smith on some shows where he demonstrates easy five minute exercises you can do at home, but interesting enough these aren't listed in the book.  I figure any exercise is just as good. EVEN

But of course it is

At Darcy's school waiting for our parent/teacher conferences.

Me: "What does this key go to?"

Darcy: "That's the key to get into the boy's bathroom."

Me: "Where's the key to get into the girl's bathroom?"

Darcy: "Right there."