Weird Weather

Last weekend we were in the triple digits temperature wise. Today...it's 48 degrees and pouring rain. Ughh! I wouldn't mind so much except we have a team pizza party today which we planned to have at the park and this is Memorial Day weekend, a weekend meant for outside activities. Well, at least it gives me another excuse not to clean out my car.

I started writing again today. Nothing like Joely but I got a couple of pages this morning. As I've said, I'm writing on a new laptop which, of course, comes with the trial version of Word 07. I like it...alot. I do have Office 03 which I can take off my old laptop and re-install on my new one, but dang, I like the newer version. I've got 16 more uses so I may have to hustle my butt down to Costco and get the new version of Office. Anyway, I did get some writing done. Luckily, I'm finally in a scene with action and drama and a good looking guy. I'm hoping this weekend will get me some writing time. Not that anyone is going to give me time to write on a silver platter. It is something I have to grab. I wish I had more desire to grab it. I admire those writers who put their writing first. I just don't have that in me like I used to. Maybe it comes from my brief sojourn in having book shopped that took some of the punch out of me. I'm not sure. Or maybe its me. There are so many other things I like to do besides writing. I think I just need to find a balance. There is plenty of room in my life to do what I'd like without denying myself the things I want.

How do you find balance or have you?

I Pity the Fool....

Who doesn't wish Mr. T a happy birthday!!!


Actually, it is the one thing Mr. T and I have in common. I'm sure he has a bigger party than I do. No big plans for me. I'm 41, not a real exciting number. I did get a new cell phone yesterday. I got the LG enV2 and in the day I've had it, I love it. Tonight hubby and I are going out to dinner just the two of us. To have a meal sans children is a gift unto itself. I did buy myself another present. I got the Wii Fit. I pre-ordered it a couple of weeks ago and it is supposed to be delivered today. Can't wait to use it.

So I got what I wanted for my birthday. What should I get for Mr. T? Any ideas?

Blazing

Our weekend was ghastly. Very, very hot. And while I don't mind the heat, I do mind it in May. I expect this kind of stuff in July and August, but not this early. The mercury hit triple digits in my area and I, in my stubborness, refused to turn on the a/c during the day. Actually, my downstairs never went above 77 which I can live with. The upstairs is another story, when I went up there Saturday night, it was 90. During the day, I don't care since I don't go up there and the kids usually hang around downstairs anyway, but at night I caved and turned the a/c on. And just as we acclimate to the scorching temps, they are going to drop back down into the 70's later this week. I think I hate that most of all.

Summertime anxiety is starting to set in. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the kids. I always start with a plan and then it falls apart. Unfortunately, kids are so unpredictable and they are the perfect, shining beings you hope for. I have these fantasies of my kids eagerly participating in educational activities or fun crafts, killing a couple of hours and then it is time for lunch. After eating a nutritious meal prepared by their loving mother, they immerse themselves in outside play for another couple of hours then come in and tidy up their rooms and the toy room, leaving us with an evening for television or video games. The truth of it is that my two girls have the attention spans of gnats and any activity they indulge in loses their interest within 20 minutes. They are clever enough to make their own lunches, ignoring whatever I've suggested. It gets too hot to be outside in the afternoon and they spend the afternoon entertaining themselves by whining or fighting. And cleaning up their rooms and toy room? World War III, everytime. They do spend the evening watching television while I collapse on the couch and drink too much. I don't know what the secret is. I scrounge for fun ideas and try to make things fun for them, but the summer ends up being very disappointing. At least for me. It doesn't seem to bother them a whole lot.

What are you doing with your kids? Does it end up being an enriching, fun time like they show in the parenting magazines or does it end up being a screamfest with you on your knees praying to survive until school starts?

New Laptop

I got a new laptop for Mother's Day. I've been trying to milk mine for awhile, determined to get another year out of it, but I had to admit defeat. Last week the cd-rom drive died. I have an external dvd recorder that I plugged in and it worked fine. But that just solved one problem. I was all set to buy a Dell from Costco but Best Buy has a nice Toshiba on sale. It has 4G of RAM and a decent video card. Alas, I haven't had much time to play with it. And boy oh boy was I cursing myself as I was moving stuff from the old machine to the new. No organization whatsoever. And there was so much junk on my machine that I had no interest in moving but it has been a pain to sort through it. I'm about done.

I also got a really cool watch from Costco. It is a Timex Ironman that controls your iPod. Isn't that cool? Perfect for working out. Now if I'd only get my body to the gym.

This computer has made reading feeds much easier so that solves my problem with having a non-functioning blogroll sidebar. On the other hand, I can't get my feed to work on my own blog. There is definitely an issue I can't resolve and I'm not familiar enough with feeds to do too much. Bear with me, I'm sure I'll get it figured out someday.

Constant Motion

I've been sick for the last couple of weeks. Just a cold, but one that lingers. The constant motion my life has been running at hasn't helped I'm sure. But base ball is coming to a close and Cotillion has ended. My kids get out of school sometime in June (I can't remember when) and Brownies ends with it. But for now, I'm rarely home and when I am home, I just want to flop on the couch.

Not a good combo for a cold but a great one for weight loss. I lost over 10lbs. in four weeks. I'm thrilled to say the least.

My Blogroll sidebar broke. I'm not sure what is the problem but I can't access it anymore from my browser. That and it has lost a couple of links. It has made bloghopping difficult. I'm a creature of routine and it has totally messed me up. How do you bloghop? Do you have a program you use? I'm thinking of going back to bloglines (is that what it's called?)

There is Less of Me

I bit the bullet and finally admitted to myself I was never going to succeed on my own. Oh, I know what's good for me, I know what foods are going to help and hinder weight loss, but putting that knowledge into action has eluded me. So I signed up for Weight Watchers.

I've done this before. In fact, I've done it three times before. And I've succeeded as long as I followed the program. But as soon as I slacked off, the weight came back. So why should this time be successful? Obviously my initial interest in losing weight is for San Francisco this summer. Nothing like a big event to get one motivated. And while I won't be at goal, I should still lose enough to justify new clothes. My health is a concern. Although I don't have blood pressure problems, my cholesterol is high. As I get older, I notice my joints are aging, all the extra weight can't be helping. Being a mom makes me aware of what my children see. I don't want them to hear me preach about eating right and yet ignore that advice myself.

I don't go in for fad diets. I lived with a mother who did that and it did nothing but make her miserable. They never succeeded. She has been doing weight watchers off and on for years and while she hasn't been losing weight for awhile, she hasn't gained either.

Some days are tougher than others. I have to train myself to like vegetables. And drink water. Alcoholic beverages are loaded with empty calories, so I have said goodbye to my regular glass of wine. Which is not to say I've dropped those things entirely.

Its all about choices. What is the better choice at the moment? If I really want the glass of wine, that's fine, but I need to make a choice somewhere else in the day. It works out okay. I miss french fries. I REALLY miss Starbucks. My drink of choice is 3 points, and that's the non-fat version. But I'm working on a new mindset, trying to downplay the importance of those things, replacing them in my priority list with other things like uh, writing.

I'm at the point now where I really need to kick in with the exercise. I'm resistant. Its not the exercise, its the time it takes from my schedule. But if I really want to succeed I will make the concessions.

Is anyone else a Weight Watchers veteran? Maybe we should have our own RWA chapter.

New Toy

Looks like I'll be going to San Francisco in style this summer. This is hubby's new toy. It is a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, quite a mouthful but a phrase I've been living with for over two years.

My husband is a car guy. The man bleeds Ford blue. I remember the first time I saw his original mustang (a 1988 LX 5.0) I was taken aback by how clean it was. You could eat lunch off the motor. The timing of his wedding proposal to me was linked to the fact he couldn't get a certain car part, so he bought an engagement ring instead. He subscribes to at least 5 "different" car magazines. I put that in quotes because they all look the same to me. He assures me they are unique. Yeah, right.

He's been looking and waiting for this particular car for awhile. When the Shelbys were originally released, the dealers were able to get $25K over sticker. DH will not spend a penny over sticker on any car, it's part of his moral code, like not committing murder or not putting ketchup on a hot dog. So he has had to bide his time.

Finally he found a dealer who would sell it to him at sticker. He flew up to Sacramento Tuesday and drove it home. It was like Christmas morning around here yesterday. I've gotten to drive it once. It was fun but it is wicked fast (not our fastest car, however) and it's 6 speed stick shift. I don't like driving stick.

Anyway, that's our new toy and hubby's drooling obsession can end. Except there is that new Bullitt Mustang.....