For the Girls

I’m talking about those 2 Girls.  The ones just about everyone appreciates.  The ones the guys look at.

Yep.  THOSE Girls! 

Ladies, I hope you made your appointments, if you were due for them.  I did.  Gentlemen, I hope you reminded the women in your life to do the same. 

I survived the entire month with a blog full of PINK.  (I don’t really like pink.)  It was a small thing to do, in honor of so many who are living with breast cancer and those who  have battled and survived breast cancer — and in remembrance of those who fought the hard fight and are now cherished memories in their loved ones hearts.

Happy Halloween

I didn’t realize how blurry this picture was until I loaded it here.

from another place & time…

frighteningly cute!

Clockwise from top left:  Dracula’s good twin, a ghost who refuses to cover his head, a little soldier who got a little cold, and Darth Sidious (before Mace Windu aged his evil face).  Sorry, but this mom doesn’t rock in the costume department.

photo of spider taken at the
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Washington, D.C.

I found this one on my wall a few years ago

Here it is, up close and personal

You can always click on these and make them even bigger!  Go ahead, you know you want to! 😉

My almost-twin

family resemblance?

He’s a good dad, the husband of an awesome wife, and a loyal son. He’s the quintessential people-person who will remember your name along with something you once shared that is important to you. He’s a rabid sports fan. He’s the reason I knew the names of the entire first string (and most of the 2nd, too) of the 1978 University of Washington football team. He is a hard worker and more than earns his pay. He’s always willing to give a helping hand. One of the reasons I enjoy visiting his family is due to the joyful exuberance in their home.

The plentiful beer is nice, too. 🙂

Happy 44th Birthday, Bro!

Why I DON’T approve of that message

Tonight, while some Americans tuned in to their televisions, the boys & I were having a long, late supper instead. The long, late suppers aren’t unusual, but some of the subject matter was different. Usually, I am struggling to keep the conversation on topics that don’t directly connect with video games, and it has been seen by me as a losing battle. But tonight? We were talking politics and government,in between mommy verbal smackdowns of “your spaghetti is not fingerfood” and “stop interrupting – that’s rude.” Yep, we talked about how originally the man with the most votes got to be president and the man who came in 2nd got to be vice president. The kids could see the problems that might cause (and the oldest agreed that was why Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were not on a united ticket). We talked about who would step up to assume The Post if ever needed (VP, then Speaker of the House). Even the 9yo knew why the Pres. & VP don’t ride together in the same airplane, ever. I promised to explain the voting materials to them when I pull out my ballot and VOTE on Friday, in the privacy of my own home. (My county is mail-in only, and I’m one of those annoying voters who has long been undecided.)

There’s nothing quite like a lesson in American Government around the dinner table.

It would have ended right there, kept in the privacy of my own home, the way I normally keep my political opinions. But then I read Farmer*sWife’s blog post. She said some things that resonated with me, so much so that I nearly hijacked her comment section. Since I’m fond of FW, I left a short comment and told her I’d be over here with my long-winded reply.

I’m not a big TV watcher, so tonight’s big blanket advertisement did not take away from my mommy down-time. I was still sitting around the dinner table amidst rising levels of testosterone and plates smeared with spaghetti sauce. BUT I cannot understand WHY the Obama camp made the choice to run a 30-minute “infomercial” and I saw no reason to watch it. Even late night hosts were poking at it yesterday, before it ever ran! I am wondering, WHY squander that money and irritate folks, just to make them 1) MAD at you, and 2) QUESTION your ability to be fiscally responsible!?!?

I’m Kcinnova and this is my soapbox.

Now I’m going to go back to my life as a private citizen and tuck my children into bed.

Happy Windsday!

I am feeling rather punchy today, making silly jokes and running on caffeine and adrenaline. Blame it on the lack of sleep: SuperDad is TDY (I never sleep well in his absence) and I just couldn’t get warm last night with the cold winds a-blowin’. I’m sure I dozed some, but by 4 a.m., I gave in and got up to make a pot of coffee. Leftover shepherds pie (protein & veggies) was my breakfast at 5am, and then I made cinnamon swirl muffins for the boys’ breakfast. It was a good start to a busy day, and I accomplished quite a bit:

• a hot, homemade breakfast for everyone
• a good workout at the gym
• filled the crockpot with soup for the teacher luncheon and delivered it
• squeezed in a Costco trip for our diminishing perishables supply
• off to church for the newsletter folding/mailing “party”
• back to the school to pick up my crockpot and ladle (7 people asked for the recipe!!)
• home to brown the burger for tonight’s spaghetti sauce and check e-mail while waiting for SnakeMaster’s bus to arrive
• debrief SM’s day, freeze outside with him to take photos (sorry, the baby raccoon was moving too fast for a decent picture)
  

  homemade tipi

• quick check of blogs and upload this before I…
• make supper and then pick up MusicMan from marching band rehearsal
• sometime in there, antique a handful of papers and “leather” some brown paper bags for SM’s “Daniel Boone” journal
• Also? a few loads of laundry

Our possible snow flurries never occurred. 😦
However, the cold temps have brought on great color, even if the winds are blowing the leaves away. Here is the view from the end of my driveway, looking across the road:

Two weeks ago, this pumpkin decoration was sitting in a pot of lush green…

Now all of that lush green is turning orange:

This ground cover lines our walkway to the front door

view from the front porch

Now let’s turn around and look to the west, down the street toward the Blue Ridge Mountains:

tall trees to the left are in our yard

But I’m now freezing in this cold wind, so let’s go inside!

WWC #58: Now and Then

THEN:

Engagement photo, May 1987

Yes, we were young – he was 23 and I was 21. *sigh*

Less than 4 years later, we had our first child:

SuperDad with MusicMan, April 1991

____________________________________________________________________

This one is on my computer desk; it makes me smile every time I see it:

4 brothers, summer 2000

I didn’t notice the mac’n’cheese on H-J’s face until the photograph was developed. Oops!

NOW:

Much older, but still in love

17-1/2 years later, MusicMan is taller than his father

Perhaps that picture is not quite fair: MM had shoes on, ready to go to Homecoming last Saturday, and SuperDad was shoeless for an evening of college football. But MusicMan is taller!

__________________________________________________________

Eight years later (summer 2008), Same green sofa, much bigger boys…

MusicMan, SnakeMaster, EB, and H-J

all of us together, August 2008

The Weekly Words Challenge is a photo meme, brought to you each Tuesday by this blog and the terrific Tink!

$aving dollar$

Who likes to save money?  I do, I do!!  So do a lot of folks I know.  Farmer*sWife and the good man Harry over at prohomemaker.com get all excited about this, too.   Be sure to visit Harry for all sorts of wonderful money-saving ideas! 

Check out this website:  http://www.progressotastechallenge.com/ for $3 in free coupons.  It’s the perfect time of year for a bowl of soup.*  In fact, I made tomato soup (made with several cans of V8 Juice instead of water — extra flavor & nutrition!) and grilled cheese sandwiches for supper tonight.   The kids ate 3 grilled cheese sammies to dip into their brimming bowls,  but I tanked up on just the delicious soup.  YUM. 

*EB likes to take a can of soup in his lunch.  Yes, he eats it right from the can.  What can I say?  He’s 16.

Back in the Game

Happy Wednesday!  It’s Wednesday, don’cha know?  What?  What’s this about Friday??
Okay, so it’s Wednesday on a Friday.  Mrs. G. will understand.
I’ve spent a few weeks mulling over the situation, and this week it all came to a head: either get serious with the diet and exercise, or give up. It was beginning to look like giving up. Because seriously? I’m not running a 5K in the next 3 years anytime soon. I think my feet and knees are twice as old as the rest of me and they can barely take care of themselves, let alone the extra weight I ask them to bear. 

This morning I went to the gym for the first time in weeks.  I ended up doing a lot of stretching – the muscles were pretty tight – and of course I worked out some, too.  I’m sure it made zero difference to my belly or backside.  I came home, ate a bowl of healthy oatmeal and sipped some green tea.  Then I burst into tears confessed to my dh how very frustrated I am about my weight.  Frankly, as petrified as I am of much as I don’t like surgery, I’m about ready to beg for it. 

Luckily, SuperDad is also a super husband.  He let me cry it out vent and come to a decision on my own:  TODAY – NOW – I am starting a new eating plan.  I don’t say diet.  Diet is just ‘die’ with a ‘t’ on the end.  Diet also connotates something that has a beginning and an end.  Thus, I have begun a new eating plan. 
I’ll be the first to admit I am not easy to work with when it comes to food.  I resist anything difficult and I often resist anything new (unless it has to do with chocolate).  Weight Watchers?  UGH!!  All that adding up of points or writing things down, not to mention having to weigh-in at a meeting.  The best luck -call it success if you want- that I have had was when I followed Atkins.  This was back in the spring/summer of 2003 when I actually lost 32 pounds without feeling too deprived (now there’s a minor miracle).  I also learned I am a total sugar addict.  There’s the rub:  I am an addict.  I started having a bit of sugar here, a bit of sugar there.  A slice of bread.  A piece of cake.  Pretty soon I was back to mainlining the stuff.  Sweet! 

I was so much more energetic when I wasn’t consuming sugar (once I got through the withdrawal headaches).  Lately, I’ve been falling asleep every afternoon… although that could also be related to lack of sleep… sleep… Zzzzzz….

Anyhoo, I’m not going to be counting calories.  I’m not going to be writing down every nibble of food or drink that passes my lips.  I am going to be eating plenty of vegetables, drinking lots of water, consuming proteins, and limiting my “breads and grains” to old fashioned oatmeal.  I know it’s going to be tough.My German heritage makes me a sucker for bread, potatoes, and beer.    Ich liebe die Kartoffeln.   But something’s gotta give, and I really need want it to be the fat that gives up and goes away.

doing Depp

Before he was SnakeMaster, he did a 30-second gig as Johnny Depp:

This is for Mrs. G.

WWC #57: Plain and Adorned

plain

Adorned

My brain had plenty of ideas, but they never transfered over to the camera, so you are left with this. Oh, well. At least it is quick and relatively painless! I hope to do better next week.

The Weekly Words Challenge is brought to you (and “Me” and “Them” lol) by Tink, the soon-to-be blushing bride! (And a very beautiful one she shall be!) Join the fun next week when our words will be THEN and NOW.