Mid Winter Muck Out

When I am heading back to school ( work) after a break, I like to look back at what I did so that I feel like I accomplished something. Breaks are not really vacations. Someone asked me recently how vacation was going. Vacation from what? While on break, I try to get all errands run and things in my life current and straightened out so I can go back to work full time.
So,what did we do this week? No crickets chirping here this time, here is the skinny:

Monday: free bowling at the local lanes, and a doc appt for Anna

Tuesday: Mid Winter Muck Out. Yes, caps here, it's practically an event. Mid Winter Much Out is when you go through closets, get rid of things that don't fit, shoes that are blown out, and then you go into the attic, get the next size up bins and tack stock so that on April break, you can do the Spring Sweep. That is when you move out heavy sweaters and move in the lighter clothes. Got to be ready for that event ( and don't confuse these with the Fall Fling when you gear up for re-entry to school). I spent an enrire morning on this, and feel good that it's done.

Wednesday- Shopping in Albany, lunch with Sandi and Aunt Lila

Thursday-catch up day, actually did housework and laundry

Friday-Snow tubing and car repair day. Was supposed to be an inspection, but something happened and many service lights came on, turns out I had a broken axel, and now I have a passed inspection and new axel ( minus 400.00 in the bank)

Saturday-Fire and Ice in Inlet. Skated, sledded, and ate at the Screaming Eagle. Didn't want to leave my beloved ADKs.

Sunday-Cleaned house, put away laundry, and shoveled newest foot of snow off the roof to get ready for the next foot of snow due tonight into tomorrow.


Maybe, just maybe we will get a delay......or dare I dream snow day????

This is Why

I often marvel at the amount of overweight people in the US. Myself included. According to the chart, I am 26 lbs overweight. I agree, by the way, because the weight that I am always trying to get down to is 20 lbs from where I am. I am a size 12, and I am forever trying to get to a size 10 ( haven't seen 10 since 2004/2005 before I got pregnant with Ava) I start the year off on weight watchers, every stinking year. I lose my fall and holiday weight. I typically lose 10 lbs before summer. Summer hits and I don't have to do WW because I am swimming, biking, hiking, walking the dog, and generally getting the exercise I need. I feel good, and look OK, but never quite where I want to be. Fall hits, I lose time, sit at my desk all day in school, and put that 10 lbs back on. So here I am again, on WW. I really need to break the cycle, but restaurants and companies are not making it easy. Take for instance Friendly's. We ate at one yesterday in the Albany area. I SHOULD have looked online before we went, but I wasn't quite sure where we would end up eating. I TRIED to make a good decision and eat decent. I got home, looked up what I had ( a wrap, of all things, hold the fries, I had coleslaw that I nibbled on), and man did I make a BAD decision. The wrap, without the fries it would have come with, was 29 WW points. Thats 1090 calories and 80 grams of fat. I should have spooned crisco out of the can and eaten it and I likely would have fared better. I blew it! ( Good thing Sandi and her mom shared the salad, it was also over 1000 cal and almost 60 grams of fat). How? Why? I recently made the same astonshing discoveries when I looked at Red Lobster's menu. Thankfully I had a plan when I ate there ( and skipped those desserts.......80 grams of fat, that is like a 2 day supply).
Today, Miranda made a no bake Jello dessert mix. She opted to put them into cup cake papers, instead of the pie dish. We got what we thought were 12 servings, and they were not skimpy, they filled the cup cake papers. According to the package, a serving is 2 of the cup cake papers filled with the dessert, for a total of 380 calories 17 grams of fat. Are you freaking kidding me? We each had 1, for about 190 cal and 8.5 grams of fat. ( that 4 WW points, instead of 8). How did serving sizes get so large? What the HELL is Jello thinking? Are they trying to clog my arteries and kill me early? It no wonder when I go the mall and people watch so many people are heavy. You have to take notice, check things out, read labels. It would be NICE if companies and restaurants would help out and get a little healthier for people, but in the meantime, I am taking things into my own hands.
On the bright side of things, my heaviest weight I have only seen once, 2 sizes larger then where I am now, and I have NOT been that size since the new millenium, 1999. I only own size 12's as my fat wardrobe, and when things get tight, off to WW I go. I would like to get rid of the 12's so when the 10's get tight, off to WW I go.

A February Break

I really envy those of you going South. I am sick of winter this year. I haven't felt this way towards winter in years. Enough already. PErhaps it's just everything else going on in my life, and my lack of time to play outside in the snow this year?
Anyhoo, a long deserved break is here! Hurray! School was crazy this past 2 weeks. Kids doing stupid things, parents and teachers overreacting, and not enough of me to go around. We all just needed to clear out and start fresh next week. It's always this way in Feb. Cabin fever I guess, that, and mid year grades will do it.
This week, south is not in the cards, but east is! Free bowling today at ADK Lanes ( thank you community ed), tomorrow I have to do some things for my parents, east to Albany Wednesday, and the rest of the week is unplanned. We need to sled or ice skate, scrap book, and maybe just a day to watch movies all day. It's not plam trees and beach parties, but it will be just the thing!
A nice start to my week too, I didn't cook for 3 nights! Friday we went to my parents to do some thigns and picked up dinner, Saturday was date night ( Red Lobster.....yum-o), and last night Brian made pizza, all I had to do was cook sausage and shred cheese. That was easy. Tonight? corned beef in the crock pot and salt potatoes. Just as easy.

I'm off to get ready to bowl with the girls.

The 840

The new road, the connector, the 840, whatever you want to call it, it makes my life much easier. A few years back, the Utica area finally got a connecting highway, quite like the 690 around the Schenectady area. Get on, go fast, shoot out in another area of the city. Yesterday, after I got home from an intervention at my parents house ( a whole different post......later), I had to grab lunch, all 3 kids, drop Miranda off in CLark Mills for dance, hop on the 840, shoot off to Vally Gym in NH for a birthday party, drop that kid off, back on the 840 to retrieve daughter number one, we then had to hit a store for some errands, back on the 840, pick up middle daughter from party, and over to Washington Mills for gas, car wash, and dinner pick up at Piggy Pats ( what? You think I am cooking after the week I have had......whole different post. Week from Hell. God Bless Piggy's! Long live the Pig). I finally arrived at home at 5:30. I was just thinking how funny it is that my car is a "Cross Country" Wagon. That pretty much describes most of my weekends.

I do thank the 840, without which I would have gone crazy yesterday.

Snow Night and Day and Afternoon?

Well, I think we are going to get between 8-12 inches of snow in my Northern town tonight and all day tomorrow. Should be a school cancelling event. Not that I want it this week, it's Regents week, our kids are in the middle of English Regents ( a 2 day event, it gets thrown out if there's a snow day, can't retake till June). Tonight, we'll head to the village library, because if we are home tomorrow and can't go anywhere, you better have a fresh stack of new books for yourself and kiddos. Our tradition on snow days is egg salad, stop drop and read, and an afternoon movie date complete with popcorn. Sometimes we scrap book too, and I know I have laundry I could do ( I do laundry 5 times a week). The last snow day we had, we made snowflakes in honor of Snowflake Bently's work and story, painted them with shiny white paint and strung them on yarn for a winter banner. There's no telling what fun we could get into tomorrow. So, here's to snow.

Self Sufficient

I was thinking today all the things my husband and I do that I am sure other pay people to do. We installed the new furnace ( ok, he installed it). We go pick up load of the corn for it instead of having pellets delievered. We fixed the dishwasher this morning armed with a useless users guide ( it said if there was a clog to call a plumber). We took it apart and snaked it out, ran some main line cleaner in it and voila! Fixed. We do all our snow removal and roof raking (I just came in from cleaning snow off all the roofs. This old victorian has lots of porches that are lovely in the summer, but in the winter, hold lots of snow on them). We fixed the fridge last year. I googled the make and found out it had a desgin flaw, too many sealed drawere, no air flow, the bottom half froze things. Pulled out on drawer, put in a suction cupped temp guide to moitor, and again, voila! Fixed for the cost of the temp guage.
A couple of weeks ago I was chaperoning a basketball game at school. Some guy had a dead battery and had asked countless people if they had jumper cables. Nobody had them.......except me. I went out in the cold, got the cables, pulled up next to the guy and as his kid help up his cell phone for light, we jumped his car. Came back in and everyone was astonished that I could help. Hello.....isn't anyone self sufficient anymore? I asked what everyone did for dead batterys.....they all said they had AAA. Well, so do I for roadside rescue, but for batterys and tires, I can fix those. My VP said " oh that's right, you grew up on a farm." I would have expected the guys to have jumper cables. I mean, we live in the north country. It's pretty country out here.
I am glad I am self sufficient and that I have some basic skills. The guy whom I helped jump his car, his son goes to my school. I think he thought I was some kind of super hero for being armed and knowing how to use them. I am going to pass my skills on to my daughters. Miranda already likes to help in the kitchen and they love to help Brian on projects. I want them familiar with power tools, car maintenance, and just be able to help themselves.

Groovin'

Having fun in 2009 means keeping current on my tunes and being able to groove to my MP3 player. Charged her up tonight, grabbed the dog, and despite the fact that the mercury said 10 degrees, headed out into the northern NY night. The moon was a half cresent, many homes still a glow with their christmas lights, the air brisk. Daisy was excited to be out in the snow, plowing through with her nose and whiskers. I was excited to finally have time to myself, to smell the air, walk in the crispness, and listen to my music. No matter what the day delievered, an evening outing such as this puts me in a good mood.
When I got home, I decided my tunes were stale, so I headed out to my friend JP's site to see ( hear) what was new, followed a link to some DJ's site, and had to have what he was offering! OH baby, it was love. LOVE. Why is it gay men have the best taste in music? Please don't think I am stereotyping, it just so happens that the men I know that are gay listen to really great tunes, and the straight men I know are stuck in 80's rock, or country. I got a mix of the new Beyonce song that I love. Made me very happy. I really need to go to bed, as I head back to work tomorrow, but I can't stop listening to this mix. " If you liked it you should have put a ring on it, oh oh oh........"

2009 Should be Fine

Thank god it's a new year. I am so done with the last one. 2008 had it's ups and downs, but overall was not our best. Between Celiac Disease diag, the price of gas driving up the cost of everything,and aging parents, 2008 was kind of stressful. 2009, I am sure wil have it's fair share of stress, as my parents have decided to move from their current home into a smaller place near hear so we can help them out ( driving, cleaning, etc....). It's the right things to do, don't get me wrong, but it will entail painting and cleaning up their current home to sell, and then the actual finding of a new place and moving. So there's that in 2009, 2009 will also bring 20 year school reunions for both Brian and myself, a wedding ( Traci and Mark), and a community musical that Miranda and I are going to try out for.
I'll take the good with the bad, and have decided to schedule in some fun for 2009 to help even things out. My resolution this year is simply to have more fun! No specifics, no rules, just play more, laugh more, get into more trouble. To start things off, we are going bowling today. We wanted to play in the snow, but it's far too cold today to take the girls out to tube or sled ( currently -5 here, not including wind chill). Tomorow the girls and I are taking a ride to Syracuse to get Anna's birthday present, that should be fun, and I am going to plan a ski night at Woods Valley for Brian and I this month ( I love night skiing, love it love it love it........). We'll get a sitter and go, just the two of us. We'll close the mountain! ( ok, it's really a big hill to me, but just the same......)

Whatever your resolution is, it should include some fun. Life's short, embrace the day, celebrate the new year, it should be just fine.