Sounding off

Most of my life I have stayed out of politics or just went along with whatever my husband thought because I honestly don't care that much. I think it's all crooked and dishonest and there are no real "good" candidates. Our country is a mess financially and truthfully there's not a lot I, personally, can do about it. Some of you may be busting a gut right now and that's ok, I understand. Still, it's my opinion. I'm sure I'm even probably on the liberal side regarding how much the govt gets involved when they shouldn't. I have to admit, I love the no smoking ban. Works well for me. Most things don't even affect me so, whatever. Lately, however, I have been feeling a little more annoyed at the different things that are trying to be regulated. I think there's a place for all sorts of "activist" groups and "concerned citizens", but to actually make laws seems a little crazy. So here I go.

A law about Happy Meals?? Really? That's why the govt doesn't have enough money to cover the necessities is because money is being wasted on regulating Kids Meals? I'm dumbfounded. I do think we need to be concerned about how our kids eat. I think making apples and milk available is fantastic, my kids even choose them occasionally. BUT, to tell a child that if they choose french fries today, no toy for you! (best soup nazi impression) What if I take my kid to McDonald's once a month and that's the only crap they are ever allowed to eat? No toy? That's about the only reason we go there, prize inside! They don't care what they eat and half the time they don't eat what's in there no matter what it is. We need a law about this? What if my kid is allergic to apples? I think our country is seriously addicted to fatty fast food. Not debating that at all. We are fatter than ever. Maybe we should be putting self-shut off buttons on our Wii's and iPods and Gameboys. I mean if we are really worried about this, shouldn't we cover all the areas? It sounds like maybe fries just need an age restriction, like alcohol. Maybe if the parent chooses fries for their child, the worker should then shout at the parent "no food for you!" I'm just thinking there are lots of ways we can start punishing people for eating poorly. So, birthday cake? Nope, all the presents go back. We wouldn't want them thinking that a delicious cake is linked to gifts.

*Sigh* Where's my 20 acres out in the middle of nowhere where I can wash my laundry on a rock and draw my water from a well and avoid all the craziness we call "life"?

Bo is 5!

My little sweet Baby Bo, Hunka Hunka Burrito, Hubba Bubba, Bubzy Wubzy turned five today. I can't believe he is that big! We started the day by giving him the presents from us and giving him lots of "happy birthdays". He had preschool and after that, we went to McDonald's for a Happy Meal. After naps (which he didn't take), we started getting ready for his party tonight. He requested homemade pizza and M&M cookies for dessert. Grandma Green and Daddy made it just in time for dinner. After dinner, we all lined up for the traditional birthday spankings. Since he had already opened his gifts from us, he only had what my mom had gotten him, which was $20. That's a funny story because earlier in the week, he asked her what she was giving him or how much money. So after she told him $20, he kept asking me when she would be bringing that money over. He had already gotten money from one of his other grandparents and we had even gone shopping, so he knew the joy of spending it at this point. Instead of just giving him the money, she wrapped the two 10's separately. He like that! After, we sang and blew out candles and ate my barely cooked cookie "cake". It was still good....so I hear. Since we were done by 7 or so, Mom and I took him to Toys R Us to spend the rest of his money (he had gotten more in the mail today from his other grandparents). He was very cute and reasonable about if things were worth it or not. He got more Bakugan and a Diego helicopter. He also got a little squishy toy for Katy. I think he had a super birthday! We love him so much!!

Birthday kisses!

more Spanish

Does anyone remember when Bo said the ducks talk in Spanish? Well for some reason, my kids think everything they don't understand must be Spanish. Katy has a terrible lisp. Not just a lisp, tongue full out kind of lisp. I decided to try to work with her on it so I was showing her how to keep her tongue in. Then I showed her how she does it with her tongue out. Then she looked at me, tipped her head to the side and said "I just do this *clucks her tongue" but in Spanish". OOOOkkkaaayyyy.

Today I tried running. I know I said I wasn't going to but do you also remember how I said I'm inpatient? Well, it hurt. I only ran for about 2 minutes before I started to really feel it and now it's been bothering me all day. Sucks. I just walked fast at an incline instead. It's hard to work out when doing the hcg, no carbs for energy. Anyway, it felt good to do something. Have I mentioned my new love for Under Armour? I have had one pair of compression shorts that I wear under my other shorts when I work out, but I hadn't worn them in a while. I put them on and it was divine! I would never pay for most Under Armour stuff, very expensive, but the shorts are so worth it. It's like a silky second skin. Ahhhh!

Today is Bo's birthday. I will post about that tomorrow when I have pictures. We are doing a little party for him tonight. What I will post about now is.....it's really hard to make chocolate chip/m&m cookies and not have even one little chunk of dough! Not to mention the cheesey, saucy pizza I'm about to go make. Dieting sucks. Being thin, however...doesn't!

Antsy

Do you ever just have times that you feel like you want to explode? I mean like your insides are about to burst through your skin, but you aren't sure why? That's me for the last few weeks. It doesn't even matter which emotion, all of them, on extreme mode. If I'm happy, I'm so happy I cry. If I'm irritated, it's so much so that I feel like I'm on fire. Sometimes even boredom goes to extreme where I feel like I need to burst if I don't do something. Totally weird. I'm trying to stay mellow about all of it, but it's just a weird feeling.

Right now I'm itchy to run. No big deal, right? Well about 10 days ago I was running and pulled something in my hip. It's still painful to move it like running. Lots of other things don't hurt it, I rode the bike yesterday, but running does. I just want it better. The temptation to just try it anyway is so great. I know it will only delay it, but it's killing me!

I could make quite a long list of things I'm just too antsy to wait for. I've never been a patient person, but right now.....I'm really bad! During my traffic school, she was pointing out that sitting and waiting for a red light is usually less than a minute and how relevant is one minute in our daily routines. I wanted to shout at her "Do you know how painful it is to sit there doing nothing for the whole minute when you could be another mile down the road???" See, I'm out of control. What to do, What to do? I'm thinking massage.

There May Be Hope

Today, the clouds parted a little and hope is on the horizon for the successful completion of High School for a kid who we thought it might not be possible. For years we have struggled to get him to pass his classes. Though most of his struggles are not entirely his fault, his effort leaves a little to be desired. I have counseled with many teachers and principals. I have started many batteries of test that never got completed for one reason or another. Usually because they talk me out of it. I have argued and pleaded and tried to take things into my own hands to help him to succeed. Up till now, we have barely kept him afloat. It's the time of year to get him registered for high school and all my doubts and fears come flooding back. How in the world is he going to survive?

I went in to talk with the counselor at the school and she was really helpful and sympathetic. She gave me a short list of things I can do to hopefully get him into resource classes or at least get a little extra help. It turns out I was talking to the wrong counselor (they go by alphabet) but she talked to the right one and got a little flag put on his file so she can try to make sure he doesn't fall through the cracks. While I was getting into my car after the meeting, both counselors came rushing out to the parking lot to flag me down. She mentioned that I should go make sure he is tested immediately for an IEP because even if he doesn't qualify, if he is borderline, they can do stuff for him. I have started this process twice and both times was talked out of it by his teachers. So I went ahead and got the ball rolling again and today, just one day later, the resource teacher at his school called me and got things set up to test him immediately! I sign the permission this afternoon. By the end of the year (which is in 4 weeks) we will know what they can do to help him next year. I'm SO excited. If it turns out that he doesn't qualify and really should be doing fine, even better...now I can bust his butt to get the work done and not feel like I'm being too hard on him. Either way, it will be such a blessing to have that done.

One More Down

This weekend I spent the day at traffic school. I'm officially done "dealing" with all my stupid tickets. I was going to fight my other one, but decided I have too much to do to keep stressing about this. I won't even go into how awful the eight hour class was. Seriously, I'm lumped in with all the DUI offenders. That's down right offensive if you ask me! Not to mention they all think they are justified and totally wronged in the process. Anyway....just glad to have it over.

Chelsey spent the last 4 days in Boston on a choir trip. She had a great time and was quite surprised to see how expensive it was to eat out all the time. She texted me a few times each day to let me know what she was up to, which I loved. The other kids (12 and over) went to the open house of the Gila Valley temple on Saturday. They all had a great time and were very in awe of the temple. I'm glad they got to have that experience.

Only a few weeks left of ball, for that I'm grateful. Bo hates going: "it's too much running!". Brooklyn loves it and her team has greatly improved, but it's still several times a week. Only about a month left of school so that light is shining brightly for me. We finally were able to put a full team together for the Red Rock Relay in September. It's basically the same as the Ragnar, but up in Utah. I'm very excited about that. I'm doing the HCG for one more week and then will start my training again. It's hard to work out on the diet because you eat no carbs so not a lot of fuel for that much exertion. I'm looking forward to running again.

I've been reading way too much lately. My house has been very neglected and my laundry is a little piled up. Every day I tell myself "chores first" but then I do a few and then go read. That's one reason I never wanted to take up reading. Now I have conflict! I really have enjoyed the Work and the Glory series though. It's been a good thing.

Bo's birthday is in a few days. I'm not sure what we are doing yet, but I should figure it out pretty soon. I didn't blog at all about Stephen's birthday last week. He hasn't had a party yet and the next few weekends are busy so it was very uneventful. Not much to blog about! I think he wants to have an airsoft war party so that will be nice and inexpensive, yet fun for them. Now what to do for Bo? Probably something revolving around Bakugan.

We are supposed to go camping this weekend, but I can think of a thousand reasons to not. My kids are really excited about it, but I'm just not. I'll probably succumb, but I haven't decided yet. I'm sure if I just committed to it and went, I would have a grand time. So much work. So now you know why I haven't blogged in awhile, not much too exciting going on!

Born to be Free

This is becoming the way of it for Miss Katy. My apologies to the neighbors.