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So after the crappy day I had, I wanted to go out to dinner. We headed to our neighborhood Applebee’s, which conveniently has $0.99 kids’ meals on Wednesday. I ordered a giant red apple sangria to help drown my sorrows, then played a game of Tic-Tac-Toe with Noah-which he won. Andy had to rub that in later. I told him to go ahead and kick me while I’m down!
We sat waiting for our meals, and the boys were surprisingly well-behaved. They were coloring for the most part. They kept asking about our food, and about the third or fourth time they asked, I started wondering as well. Finally, the manager came to apologize to us for how long it was taking to get our food. Apparently our order “got lost in the kitchen” and they had to re-cook everything. But they would like to give us our meals for free tonight. Okay! Starting to get up to dust myself off a bit.
I then got a message from my mom, who had been headed to Pompano Joe’s in Destin, one of my favorite restaurants. Well, it was a long wait so they ended up at a restaurant near their condo, and my dad was drinking Yuengling beer, a favorite of Andy’s and mine since our trip to the Florida Keys almost 3 years ago. Kicking me back down!
Noah and I headed to the grocery store to pick up some ice cream (his newly found love) then drove home. We sang “silly songs” (kids’ songs) in the car which is fun. Noah is cute to listen to. We came home, ate our ice cream, then sat down to play Crazy 8’s as a family. We all got beat by a 3-year-old. Yup, Caden beat us all tonight. He was so excited, though. He did a victory dance for us. He’s actually really funny to watch dance.
So there are still some highs and lows today. I’m constantly entertained by my boys. They help me remember the little things. But I’m also trying to look at the big picture. But to me, the big picture includes getting my kids out of our resident school district and into one of the surrounding school districts, whether through open enrollment or moving. We’ll see what the future brings.
Alternate post title: “Saj and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day”
Let me preface this by saying that there were some definite highlights to today, but they’re being overshadowed by the lowlights. Let’s start with the positive:
* It’s sunny and in the low 50’s-a lovely spring day in southeastern Wisconsin
* My dear, dear friend (who’s been my friend for about 28 years!!!) Sandy came over with her adorable 5 1/2 month old daughter Kelly to hang out for a bit this morning
* I slept until 6:30-a treat for a weekday
Now onto the negatives:
* I slept until 6:30. I intentionally did this, but I’m so used to working out in the morning, it was a struggle to force myself to Shred this afternoon. Also, Andy slept a little later than normal, so my morning schedule was thrown off a little.
* I was up late last night wrestling with egg-shaped Jello Jigglers, and I had to make sure the second batch was ready this morning for Noah’s preschool Easter party. Long story. I don’t really want to get into it, but it includes a messed-up batch because I didn’t read the directions correctly, a silicone pan, and having to slide a knife along the rim of 24 molds to get the damn Jigglers out of the silicone pan.
* I was yelling at the boys at 7:06 (according to Noah-ugh that kid reading!) this morning-they’d been up for about 8 minutes.
* Caden was inconsolable at the playground at Noah’s school this afternoon, having been upset because another kid pushed him off the rock. He cried for about 5 minutes after we got into the car.
* Caden’s bed was covered in dried pee, after leaking out of his pull-up overnight. It would have been okay if it was just the sheets and even the mattress pad, but it made it through to the mattress itself. And I discovered this just as I was ready to tuck him in for his nap.
* I started my Shred workout this afternoon, while the boys are supposed to be in bed, their own beds, and I had a hard time really engaging (not to mention how I’m still sore from the last two days!). And then I hear Noah crying because Caden kicked him in the stomach. Was Noah in Caden’s bed? No, according to Noah. Then Noah says Caden also hit him. Was Noah in Caden’s bed? No, according to Noah. How did Caden reach across the room to kick and hit Noah? Well, says Noah, I was over by Caden helping him find his bus. Seriously??? You don’t need your stupid cars while you’re sleeping, because, you’re sleeping!
* My parents are in Florida, at my beach. The only good thing is that it’s only about 65 degrees there-yes warmer than here but not as warm as it could be!
* And here’s the icing on the cake. The super-duper-uper-schumper crappy thing that happened today: Noah didn’t get into the other school district either. He’s 10th on the waiting list of 13. Not much of a chance to get in there. So now he goes to our resident school district for kindergarten, while I remain neurotic about open enrollment for next year. Or we move. I think moving is a long shot since we’re closing on our refinancing at the end of the week. Can we get out of that and just go buy another house with these low mortgage rates…? Never mind.
Okay, enough of my bitching. Onto the (purportedly) main purpose of this post.
I guess I could include this in the list of positives above.
This week: 123.2
Last week: 124.4
First week: 124.0
Net change: -0.8!
I suppose I’m pretty happy about this. But it’s being overshadowed right now. But, yay me!
I really need to get back out running. I just signed Andy and myself up for the Crazylegs Classic. It’s taking place on Saturday April 25, and it’s an 8k, which is about 5 miles. And we’re running it with two other friends. I’m really excited to do it, but I’m a little nervous about my endurance. I’ll keep you all posted.
I’ll leave you all today with some pictures from today:
The damn Jello eggs!
Some really pretty crocuses in my front yard
Caden fell asleep right in the middle of lunch. You may notice where his hands are… Yes, my 3-year-old likes to “pleasure” himself. Apparently it’s soothing and relaxing for him!
This morning, I started Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred. It’s 20 minutes of circuit training every day for 30 days. They claim you can lose 20 pounds! I don’t necessarily need to lose 20 pounds, but I’d love to firm up some areas on my body!
Well, I’m figuring I’m going to have a hard time lifting my arms up tomorrow morning. I’m actually already starting to feel sore. It started with a squat/press combo. I was using 5 pound weights. I couldn’t do the whole exercise! I’m not used to being challenged like that! I’m realizing I haven’t been challenging myself enough. Well, Jillian is doing that for me!
There are jumping jacks, which are a little retro for me, but kind of fun. The girls in the back are fit, but not annoyingly so. And Jillian was fairly pleasant. I’m sure if I were to join the Biggest Loser I’d be the first to cry on campus! But on the DVD, she’s nice to listen to. And it’s only 20 minutes (22 with the warm-up and cool-down) so it’s definitely doable. I like the change of pace.
I’m supposed to take “before” pictures. I’ll try to get to that in the next couple of days. But I’m sure as hell not going to put them on my blog! Kudos to all of those who do, but I just can’t do it. I’m self-conscious in a fitted t-shirt! I’m not about to advertise what’s under my clothes! Maybe at the end, if I suddenly have a flat stomach (right!) and non-jiggly thighs (I’ll keep dreaming!) I’ll show some before pictures. We’ll see.
And I’m thrilled my SIL, Catheroo, is shredding too! It’s nice to have a partner in crime!
I’ll keep you all posted on my soreness progress!
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Speaking of Catheroo, I came home from work today, checked my mail, and was thrilled to find a package in my mailbox. At first glance, it looked like my own handwriting! I had to look at it for a while, wondering if I had sent something to someone that got sent back to me, or if I had filled out an envelope at some time that would be mailed back with some test results or something. And then I saw it was from San Jose. I was still a little confused. I then realized it was a book, and I thought Catheroo sent me a book from her hugely long list of books she’s been madly reading lately. Cool!
I got inside, barely got the kids out of the car before I was tearing open the package. There was a note on the front saying they didn’t want the package to get damaged by wet snow (which was predicted but thankfully didn’t arrive), but my brother went a little overboard with the plastic wrap. About 5 yards of plastic wrap later, I saw what it was.
I love reading Dooce’s blog. I was so jealous when Catheroo got to meet her at a book signing last week. Little did I know my wonderful SIL was getting me an inscribed copy of Heather’s book! AWESOME!
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Okay, one last thing. I made a chicken salad tonight that is sooooo delish! I had it a couple of weeks ago at a friend’s house during a playdate. Instead of subjecting us adults to mac and cheese, Angie made this salad and I immediately fell in love with it. Even better is the fact that my kids ate it! Here’s the recipe:
Chicken, Rice, and Black Bean Salad
1 c. brown rice, cooked according to directions
1 cooked chicken (~2.5 pounds) shredded (~4 cups)
1 can (15.5 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
6 plum tomatoes, sliced (I used 4 and I diced them)
4 scallions, thinly sliced (I used 3)
1 jalapeno chili, minced (I used about half and it wasn’t very spicy at all-just good flavor)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 T olive oil
1/2 t ground cumin
salt & pepper
Just mix it all together and serve.
We had tortilla chips with the salad which was tasty to use to scoop it up. I also served some quacamole, and Noah learned he likes guac! He is my son!
The other fun thing for me was dissecting the rotisserie chicken I used. I’ve never carved a turkey (always my dad’s job) or used a rotisserie chicken before (totally going to do that more!) so I’ve never had the fun of checking out the anatomy of fowl. Okay, before your mind goes there, what I’m talking about is how, when I pulled the legs off the chicken, I found the femoral head (hip joint) of the chicken’s leg! We have those! And when I pulled the drumstick off completely, I found a knee joint very similar to a human! I was really enjoying myself! Cheap (and lame) PT thrills!
I’m really looking forward to lunch tomorrow at work!
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I lied-I have one more “last thing.” My dear friend Jamie had her baby tonight!!! Owen Christopher was born at 9:20 tonight, weighing in at a whopping 7 lbs, 10 oz and 21 inches long! Jamie was due 4 days ago, so she was anxious to meet him!
He joins big sisters Ella and Abby. I’m so thrilled Owen has arrived! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Well, spring officially started almost two weeks ago. We had a couple of nice days. These started showing up:
They were so happy to see the light!
And then last weekend, we got this:
And then it looked like this:
And this:
Luckily, the snow has mostly melted. There are still some snowy chunks laying around. But the snow isn’t blanketing my crocuses, daffodils, and tulips. And the temperature got up to this:
But the temp only got up there after a very cold, windy morning. The temp in the morning was only 38 (I don’t like to think about wind chills in April!) and it was quite chilly. So the temp change was welcome. And totally normal for Wisconsin at this time of year.
So when will it be truly spring? It’s a crap shoot around here! But it can’t come soon enough.
Well, it’s Wednesday again, and the Sisterhood is asking us to fess up. I’m torn about my weigh-in. See, when I weighed myself last Wednesday, it was after a big lunch of pancakes, and I was fully clothed. I normally weigh myself in the morning, either before or after my shower, with as little clothing on as possible. Last week Wednesday, I was at 128.0. But then I weighed myself on Thursday morning at my “normal time.” It was 124. I’m going to go with my Thursday weigh-in.
Last week: 124
This week: 124.4
Net change: +0.4
Oh well. I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I haven’t been eating the greatest. Last night, I caved and got a dish of cookie dough custard from Culver’s. Mind you, it was just a single scoop, and Noah ate a fair amount of it (a miracle in itself since he supposedly doesn’t like ice cream!), but it followed my chicken sandwich (which isn’t so bad, but at Culver’s, they butter up the bun and I didn’t realize that), side salad (not bad!), and handful of french fries (not good!).
On top of that, I worked for the past 4 days in a row. Not a big deal to many of you, but for someone who normally works just 2 days a week, it’s a lot! And it doesn’t leave me much time for workouts. I’m on my feet all day at work, so I think that counts for something, but my heart rate isn’t getting elevated terribly much. Of course, I did have to help transfer the same patient two days in a row, and I totally broke a sweat doing it, seeing as I was pretty much holding him up the whole time. That counts for strength training, no?
But thank goodness for the crazy hula hoop challenge on my Wii Fit. It’s pretty tough! Today I got 3347 spins in 10 minutes. I took a break after that! I’ll try again later.
So I’m going to work on fitting in my workouts and eating a little better, especially watching my dessert intake. And I think I’ll take a break from making guacamole for a little while, too!
That is, I want to have “Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred” workout DVD, and the ladies (and gentleman) over at the Sisterhood are giving away seven DVDs this week. They’re starting a 30 day shred challenge on Monday, and they want us to play! I want to challenge myself a bit, so I’m in. If I don’t win, I’ll be heading out to find it in my town so I can start up on Monday. Anyone else interested?
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Along the same line, They’re also having a mini-challenge using the Super Hula Hoop on the Wii Fit, and I did it for 10 minutes, twice. Yup, 20 minutes of hula hooping (word?) tonight. Very challenging, and a total workout! I highly recommend it. I think I may be in love with my Wii Fit again! I guess it just takes my competitive spirit to get me started again.
Lately, Noah has been playing Crazy Eights with Andy pretty much every day. It started with Uno at Andy’s parents’ house, but since we don’t have Uno cards (until Easter, wink, wink), Andy and Noah play Crazy Eights. It’s quite fun, and Noah’s gotten pretty good at it.
The other night, Caden wanted to play, so Andy let Caden sit on his lap, and try to match suits and put the cards down on the pile. Tonight, Caden wanted his own cards.
Besides being a little distracted by “Dancing With the Stars” (hey, I don’t have any girls around here, so it’s nice for them to be interested in some “girly” stuff!) he did pretty well.
 
I’m imagining piles of poker chips in the middle of this circle in the future!
World Series of Poker, watch out!
I’m lazy again today, after waking up to snow and working another 5 hours and keeping up with the boys and some housework. So I’m using my 7 Days assignment as my post for today. Again, it has to be a “self-portrait” and today, it was supposed to incorporate “yellow”, however you may interpret that. I had a chance to take this picture before I left for work this morning, before the craziness of two boys waiting for breakfast!
After the snow this morning, I was glad to have this bunch of daffodils on my kitchen table to cheer me up a bit!
My sister-in-law, Catheroo, has participated in a photography group on Flickr called “7 Days” in the past, and I’ve been wanting to do it too. I’m so proud of myself for remembering to check on the group before this round started!
The idea behind it is to take a self-portrait every day for seven days. “Self-portrait” is a very loose definition, as you can see by my picture for today:
I keep describing this picture as me watching “Happy Feet” with my unhappy feet after a long day at work.
We’ll see what I come up with for the rest of the week!
I’m sitting here on the sofa, falling asleep as I make my way through Google Reader, catching up with the multitude of blogs I’ve started reading. I just don’t have very exciting things to say today.
This morning, we headed over to Noah’s school friend, Nathan’s, house. It was Nathan’s little sister’s 3rd birthday. Teagan is Caden’s buddy. We stayed for about 4 hours, with a lot of time to play, inside and out. We had a yummy lunch-their mom, Angie, made a delish southwestern chicken salad and I brought over guacamole. YUM!!! The kids had a great time together, with the occasional disagreement, but what do you expect from two 5-year-olds and two 3-year-olds?
This afternoon, Noah and I did some battle playing Tanks on the Wii. We all played soccer and baseball outside for a little while. We had leftovers for dinner, then played some heated games of Crazy 8’s and Go Fish. What more could we pack into today.
So, I’m ready for bed. I have to work in the morning. I’m anticipating a very busy weekend at the hospital. One of our orthopedic surgeons performed joint replacements on 8 or 9 people yesterday, and I’m in charge of their rehab for the weekend. I have a PT assistant helping tomorrow, but Sunday I’m on my own. It should make the day go by quickly. We’ll see how much energy I have to blog tomorrow…
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