dkiesser's Friends

Or so exclaimed my 3 year old when they went outside late last night (after bedtime!!!) to play in the several inches of snow that had fallen.

No playing in the snow today even though school is out - it is far too cold.  A high of 13 F would freeze little fingers before anyone knew it, even with mittens and ski pants.  Tonight is a low of 0 F.  My mom wouldn't let us play in the snow until it was above freezing - I think that is silly.  But we've got a stiff wind too.  It howled like a beast trying to get in all last night.

I'm in a bit less pain today, and things are moving in the sinuses, so I should feel much better tomorrow.  Now, if I could just figure out how to get the girls' presents wrapped!  I can't even wrap #1's presents when she is at school, because #2 is a big blabber-mouth!

We got six large jars of pickled okra for Mr. Rux's brother's family when they come.  They can't find large, cheap jars, just the expensive tiny ones, where they live, so I said I'd look, and when I found them at Sam's, we bought 6 (they eat one large jar in a couple of days!).  I wrapped them and put them under the tree as a joke (do you know how hard it is to wrap a case of large jars???).  We will get a collection of locally made stuff to make a gift basket for their "real" present, and of course, gifts for their kids.

Mr Rux has another brother, who lives close to his parents in Oklahoma, but we very rarely hear from him, and he keeps changing his phone number.  We used to try to visit when we were in town, but they acted like it was a bit of a hassle.

His other brother died from complications of diabetes when I was pregnant with #1.  So really, this brother that is visiting is his only family.  And we are working at staying close even though we live 10 hours apart.  HE is the one we will leave the kids with if something happens to us.

And on that note...today I think I am going to get some of the toy boxes in the garage cleared out, along with a load of dishes and load of laundry. Woo hoo!

I feel like my body is driving into on-coming traffic right now and I can't stop it.  I am now officially up 3 pounds from last week.  Oh, I can pretend I don't know why it's happening but I know why, I just don't want to admit to it. 

1. I am not sticking to my meal plan at all - the holiday cookies, candy, and other delicious winter comfort foods is killing my weight loss motivation

2. I am not drinking enough water, well really no water at all

3. I am not exercising at all right now

4. I have NO desire to do any of the above

I just can't seem to get back on the healthy path right now.  I am hoping that today is the day that kicks my butt back into weight loss mode.  I am stuck at work all day and can't leave for lunch and my night will be just as busy so I am hoping that being forced to stick to my meal plan today will give me the jump start to get back on track and the fact that I am now up to 179.2!  I so want to hit 171.8 by December 31, 2009.  That is my 50 pound goal target date.

Yep.  Got to the doctor - she looks at my ears, says they are a bit red, then feels my throat and says "wow, your lymph nodes are really swollen."  No foolin'.  I could tell you that when I try to swallow.  So she suspects a sinus infection, gave me some antibiotics, and says to come back if I don't start feeling better. 

Sometimes, I feel like I could diagnose myself.  Just give me a prescription pad.

The good news - I spent about 10 minutes total in the clinic.  And hubby kept the kid.

but school is not cancelled.  Wasn't it yesterday when I said I liked how they took care of the streets here?  I change my mind.  I don't want to get out.

My glands in my throat and neck are still hurting - felt awful last night.  So I'm gonna call the doc and make an appointment today.  Probably just have an infection somewhere that needs a little help.  Hate schlepping #2 to the doctor with me, but even though hubby is home, he is supposed to be working, not catering to a 3 year old's demands.

I did awful diet-wise yesterday.  Today I shall do better.

Caution - this is just a rant.  If this were a real emergency you would be instructed to take cover immediately...

AHHHHHH!  I wanted to maintain or loose this month but I am going the wrong way!    I am up again this morning.  I am up 3 pounds from my lowest weight (175.4) two weeks ago and I am a little bit bummed.  I am still thinking that it is PMS but I am consistently going up each morning and have been for the past two weeks.  I am going to stick to my plan like glue for the next few days and see what happens.   I am going to try to NOT get too stressed about it but the scales has a lot of power.

It is just a typical Monday.  I woke up this morning to snow and the bus was late picking up A and it took me for ever to get to work this morning so I ended up being late but, I still beat the boss in so I guess I was OK. 

Anyway, I have gotten a lot accomplished today but not a whole lot of "official" office work done.  It is just one of those days.  I got the office Christmas card  done and ready to be mailed and while I was doing that I finished up my family Christmas letter and got it ready to mail too and while I was at it I did the classroom letter for M's winter party next week.  I have so much to do for work since the year end is coming but I was in the Christmas mood with all this snow I just didn't feel like doing the boring work stuff.  I will do it tomorrow, I promise.   

A and I got all the lights out yesterday on the bushes and it looks so nice.  We have never done very many before but this year I just said "why not?" and just did it.  It looks great and the kids and I are really enjoying them.  S not so much but it's typical - he's more worried about the light bill that's coming at the end of the month.  Surely it can't add that much to the light bill and I am not going to worry about it. 

I have also been "talking" to some one here that are feeling the same as I am this month.  I think most of them have decided to just maintain this month and not try to beat themselves up over not loosing a bunch in the month of December.  I would like to loose another 5-6 pounds but I am not going to stress too much about it.  I will be happy to just get back to 175 where I was the day after Thanksgiving and maintain that this month. 

M is in the Christmas play on Thursday night, N is singing and A is playing in the HS band concert too.  Thursday is going to be a crazy night and I hope the weather doesn't get too bad that night.  I can't wait to see them.  M is Santa in play and he is going to be so cute in his Santa suit.  He is so excited.  N is singing with the 2nd graders and doesn't want to be there at all (this should be interesting) and A has a solo in the concert again on her bass clarinet and I hope we get to her performance in time.  The boys program is at 6:30 and her concert starts at 7:00 but there are 2 other bands performing first and each of them have 3-4 songs to play first.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.

We got a dusting of snow over ice last night.  Not enough to cancel school.  Makes me really appreciate living in Kansas City instead of Oklahoma City - here they actually do go out for little things like this and clear the roads.  Oklahoma City - they really just did not keep the equipment necessary on hand, because it happened only a time or two a year.  So everyone would get "snow days".

The sides of my neck are still sore, and the glands in my throat.  One of my ears popped last night, and it didn't bring any relief, so I guess I might not have ear problems after all.  I don't feel nearly as worn out, though, so I think I'm going to hold off on seeing the doctor.

Amazon.com has a few free Christms MP3s until Christmas, for anyone that is interested.  Some of them are pretty good.

I'm considering buying #1 a Wii game for her birthday.  There's a lot of games out there for the younger crowd, like Dora and Diego games, some animal games, etc.  I went to Amazon and scoped things out.  I may go to a used game store and see what they have (they usually have a guarantee that it will play).  Or maybe I'll give her a coupon to go pick one out on her own - of course, this requires that she actually want to get dressed an go on a weekend, which she has been VERY reluctant to do.  I'm waiting to do her birthday shopping until I hear what she is disappointed that she didn't get for Christmas.

It will be fun that she will have her cousins here for her birthday.  Need to think of something "celebratory" to do for it.  Also need to go ahead and send out invitations for her party.  I think we will go ahead and have it here - everything else that I found would be a good handful of money, and I just don't want to spend it.   I just need to not worry too much about what other people think - what REALLY matters is that #1 has a great time.  And that includes mommy not getting stressed over the party! 

If other mothers think poorly of my house, well, at least I won't be seeing THEM again.  I'm hoping after the party #1's "Bestest friend" will invite her to do something.  The note and resulting phone call with friend's mom has not resulted in them getting together, and I'm a bit sad by that, as well as wondering if I seemed really wierd.  Is it strange to send a note to a parent saying that your children want to get together without actually having a plan as to how or when?  I didn't have her mom's phone number at the time, so I just wanted to get a plan into the works - which did not happen.  The mom was just like "well, we'll do something sometime" without really sounding like she wanted to.

I'm a bit jealous of this friend anyway.  I used to get "I Love Mom" notes.  I used to get little wrapped nothings.  Now they are saved for this friend.  *sighs*  #1 wrapped up a broken headband to give her friend.  We tried to emphasize that she needed to ask before she tried to give stuff away.

OK - what I want to get done today is get the laundry I did over the weekend put up, and to get the kitchen cleaned up so I can wipe down the counters and table, and mop the floor.  I need a place to put my potatos, onions, and bread (we buy several loaves at a time) so that they aren't crowding my countertop. 

And hubby went on a wine buying spree, so I have six bottles sitting on my counter and two in the fridge, along with a bottle of Bailey's (which I did not like).  The vodka is on top of the cabinets laying down, where you can just see the side of it.  On a good note, I found that I like the St. James cherry wine, as well as red wine mulled with spices.  33 years old, and discovering alchohol for the first time.

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Yup.  I've got it.  The girls have it.  Ear pain all the way around.  The entire right side of my head, face, and neck hurt, and my tinnitis is louder than usual.  No fevers, though, and the girls seem pretty ok today.  I will probably will make a trip to the doctor tomorrow, and if the girls have problems tonight they probably will too.

#2 spent practically the whole night with Daddy, while I slept (for the most part) complaining about her ear.  Finally, she fell asleep, only to wet the bed.  And of course, it all ran over onto his side!

So, no one feels good, and Daddy is very grumpy because he really didn't sleep last night.

Hubby said that, because his Dad is on Coumadin, and changing the intake of vitamin K affects the way the drug works, we probably should just let them cook for themselves.  I'd wanted to give them a bit of a change of cooking, a bit of a break, but he's probably right.  So, I'll settle for getting them Snuggies and maybe a bit of something extra.

I ordered my parents a couple of piano CD's (David Lanz and Michael Jones), and then Sledgehammer Season One for my Dad (he REALLY liked that show).  Via Amazon, so I don't have to worry about it.  So, my Christmas shopping is pretty much done. 

I bought the girls' presents Friday night - now I just need to find time to wrap them!  I think I did pretty well balancing price and quantity.  They don't need a lot, so I only got them a few things.  Hope they enjoy the Wii, because Santa really isn't bringing them anything from their list except a couple of stocking stuffers.  I did buy things from their list to be from us.  Ah, the silly worryings of a parent!

Mom sent us a package of double walled tumblers.  I don't know why she thought we needed them, but we have 4 medium ones and 2 little ones that she sent the girls.  They don't stack.  It just seems weird.  Maybe she thought we'd like them instead of our Quiktrip collection, but the Quiktrip cups stack really well, AND we get discount refills (which we are using less and less often).  I don't know.  Mom likes to shop and then she gives us her "surplus".

I'm responsible for the goody bags for #1's school Christmas party.  So, going to do some shopping for that.  I want to minimize the candy, especially since there are peanut allergies.  I wish I could go to the party - but they don't allow younger siblings.  Mr. Rux is taking off the next day, and then a week so he can visit with his brother, so I don't think he can take that afternoon off.  *sighs*  So much for being actively involved in the classroom.

OK.  I'm off to go take some tylenol and wash the pee-pee sheets.

I'm still going strong on this goal!  It's getting to be such a habit that I have to keep a post-it with tick marks at my desk reminding me of how many flights I've done that day, otherwise one day blurs into the last and I can't remember.

I believe I've met or exceeded my 15 flights every day this week.  Yay me!

PLUS, since last week I have not just been doing the steady walk up the stairs, but I'm actually trying to make it more of a bouncy jog!  I can't always manage that for the first two flights in the morning when I'm carrying all my stuff, but that time too will come!

I know I'm pretty much at my limit for the number of flights I can do, since there's only so much time in the day and I'm supposed to be working.  I'm doing my best to make sure every break counts though and trying to get four flights in each time.

I'll be pleased if I can continue to see improvement in the ease of actually getting up the stairs though.  When I started this, there is no way I could have taken the stairs at anything more than a slow and steady pace.  That I can now rush up the stairs and not keel over is a huge accomplishment, I think.

Tonight - put up Christmas tree

Saturday and Sunday -

• Grocery shopping
• Take #1 Christmas shopping for sister and Daddy
• Go shopping myself for kids and Mr. Rux (and a new bra or two, as the "old" ones are stretched out)
• Cook for Mr. Rux's parents.  His dad is on Coumadin, so a low vitamin K diet, and since his mom is severely impaired most of the time, his dad usually cooks.  I don't think they get much variety - his dad is a bit confused about the coumadin diet, and they've never eaten incredibly well.  Planning Spaghetti Bake, Tortilla Chicken Soup, Banana Nut bread, and maybe some No Bake Cookies.  Will discuss including recipes for him with Mr. Rux.  We have some plastic take-out containers that are microwave safe, so I'll probably put things in those, so it isn't a whole lot of food at one time, and they can pull it out of the freezer and eat it.

It really seems like a full weekend, even if there are only four things.  But possible.  Makes me feel good to be able to cross things off my list.