Must stay connected

As I type this on my new iPad with tho 3G technology, I'm sitting on a white rock in front of my camp. The water is gently lapping the shore while the twilight sets in in this longest day of the year for the northern hemisphere. I got out of school today and headed for my camp for a much needed brief respite. For years the only tv we had was a black and white one with barely enough reception for one channel.

Now, as I sit here, the satellite tv is on inside the camp and I am receiving Internet through a satellite miles above my location. This has all occurred within in the last 25 years. Technology makes our lives easier, keeps us connected to one another and is necessary for many aspects of life today. However, it sometimes separates us as well. For example, my kids are watching tv while I am typing this.

So, right now. I am going to press post, go inside, tun off the tv and bring my kids out to sit with me around the fire, which incidentally was one of if not the first method of modern technology we will talk aboutnour day and tell "when mama was young" stories. This very action will serve to connect em with my kids more than any technological advance of the 21st century and that's okay with me

Check in time

I'm going to post a really quick check in on my weight loss journey.  I haven't had much time to post on the blog just because the end of the school year has been super busy for me.

Okay, are you ready for my results.....




As of this morning, my weight was   168.  


That's a loss of 4 lbs!!!!  I've been able to walk the last few nights as my aunt has been staying with me and has the watched the boys so I could exercise.  I'm sooooooo excited!!!!!  6 more lbs until I reach my first mini goal of 162.  

Exercise! Need I say more??

I actually did it!!!!  I got up at 5:45 a.m. and did the elliptical for 1/2 hour and it wasn't all that horrible.  I was going to go for a walk with the boys tonight before church, but Danny fell sound asleep and I cannot get him to wake up.  Ugh!!!

I did pretty well in the eating category today.  I had  3 egg bites for breakfast.  Cottage cheese for lunch and then half of a summer roll for dinner.  Snacked on a cup or so of roasted garbanzos.

I did step on the scale this morning and I'm already down 3 pounds.  I'm sure it's water weight, but hey, it's a loss and not a gain.

 Since we're not going to go to church tonight because I can't wake Danny up, I guess I'm going to go to bed early tonight.  I might watch the Bruins get the Stanley Cup, first, however.

Something Different -- A video blog today.

So, today was day one of my weight loss journey.  I made a video on my progress today.  I'm not going to do this everyday, but I did want to capture my thoughts today.

Gulp!! Publicly gonna do this...

Okay, I'm going to do this publicly.  As many of you know,  last year I lost about 100 lbs last year.  I have slowly watched my weight creep up a few pounds and I'm bound and determined not to let that happen, so I'm going PUBLIC. I'm going to try to lose about 25 lbs between now and September 1st.  Thats about 2 - 3 lbs a a week, a healthy rate of loss.

I know that if I don't have accountability, it won't happen, so I am going to do this publicly.

My Current weight is (GULP!!!)  172

I will post pics tomorrow.

I ate horribly today and did no exercise.

Tomorrow is a new day.

He's 5!!!!!

Today, my baby is officially 5.  I'm not going to write a lot today, but I am going to share some pics from his party this weekend.  It was absolutely amazing!!  We are so blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends in our lives.  Here are some pictures from our incredible day.

Danny's cake was made by Pam of Pamela Daye's Custom Cakes.  It not only looked incredible, but it was moist and delicious as well!!

Danny's face when he saw his cake!!!  He LOVED it!!!

Playing his guitar.  Rock on Danny!!

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends!!

His favorite gift...  His drum set!!

His other favorite gift...  His dad bought tickets to see the Monster Truck Jam that night!  What a busy, but fun day!!!

I have to mention that I would be remiss if I didn't mention two very, very special people in this post, Danny's birthparents.  Last night as I was putting Danny to bed, I mentioned to him that we were going to go out to dinner to celebrate his real birthday tonight (Monday night) with Daddy.  Danny asked if his "Birthday mom" could come too.  That's what he calls T, his birthmother.  I explained to him that we had never met her or his birthfather, L, but we should pray for them and thank God for them.  Without them, I wouldn't have my precious boy.  T and L, if you ever find this blog and read it, please know that we pray for you most every day.  We love you even though we've never met you.  Thank you so much for choosing life for Danny and for your sacrificial love for him.  We talk about you frequently and he will always know how much you love him.  Danny himself is the most amazing gift you could have given the world.  Happy birthday!!

Punk Cat

We have the best cat in the world named Bear.  He came into our lives as a kitten last summer and really helped Joey get through some difficult times.  Well Bear is no longer a kitten.  He is a full-fledged punk teenager who has made an enemy of another punk cat in the neighborhood who coincidentally could be his identical twin.

In late winter, I noticed an abscess on Bear's paw.  We brought him to the vet and sure enough, he had been in a fight.  They cleaned the abscess, cut off Bear's male parts and he healed. I thought since Bear was now an "it" instead of a fully endowed male, he might fight less.  I was wrong.

About a month later, Bear came in with a HUGE abscess on his right haunch.  Back to the vet we went and this time he had to have major surgery to clean it out, a 4 inch scar and about 20 stitches.  After about 3 weeks, he was mostly healed up.  We had been very careful about keeping him in, but one night, he escaped.  I didn't even know he was out and at about 12:30 a.m. I heard a low guttural cat moan.  Sure enough, Bear and his arch nemesis were at it again.    When I finally did catch up with him, his almost heal scar had been entirely torn open and was deep.  I cried and cried and was seriously about ready to but a "for sale" sign on him.  If he hadn't been such a help to Joey when he was going through tough times last summer, the cat would have gone to a different house.

So now you've had the background info on Bear, let's move this story ahead to last night.  Bear was inside sleeping on my bed at 11 p.m. when I fell asleep.  At about 4:30 a.m., I hear that low guttural cat fight moan.  In my half asleep state of existence, I jumped out of bed ready to go outside to break up yet another cat fight only to realize that when I went to sleep, Bear was inside.  I have a sliding glass door from my bedroom out to a deck.  Bear was on the inside of the sliding glass door moaning at the other cat who was on the outside of the door moaning and hissing back.  I jumped up and hit the glass on the inside of the door hoping to scare the enemy cat.  The enemy cat wasn't scared in the least, backed up about three feet and proceeded to jump up onto a bench outside my bedroom door and curl up with his paws underneath his belly as if if to say, "I think I'll stay righ here."

I didn't want to run outside like a madwoman in my PJ's at 4:30 a.m. to scare him, but I had to do something since Bear was still on the inside of the door moaning and hissing, so I sent out my 16 year old blind and deaf Sheltie named Buddy to finish off the cat.  Buddy took one step out the door and then looked back at me like, "Now what do you want me to do?"  At that point I realized since he's blind and deaf that he didn't even see or hear the other cat, so I stomped my feet trying to scare the cat into moving.  The enemy cat let out one hiss and clawed at Buddy who promptly ran back inside and hid under my legs.  Yeah, that worked well.

I was beyond frustrated at that point.  I went out into the kitchen to find something to scare this cat away with.  In the meantime, Bear was getting worked up into a frenzy in my bedroom trying to show off his bravado.  The only thing I could find was Joey's Supersoaker, so I filled it with water and from the kitchen door, I blasted the cat.  Bear let out one final scream and then walked away from my door.

The arch nemesis cat still was hanging around my deck this morning.  If this keeps up, I may have to find a more powerful weapon.  Anyone have any ideas??

I fought the lawn and I won, I fought the lawn and I won.

Last year, I had so many battles being a single mom with a nice new home with a beautiful backyard and trying to maintain the lawn.  I love to garden and I love having a beautiful place to find some peace and quiet, but just like when my house gets messy, I get stressed, when my lawn gets too long or my garden fills with weeds, it also causes me stress.

Do you remember all of the battles I had last year with the yard.  We had bees in the garden and I ran over a frog named Gilbert with my lawnmower.  Needless to say, I was not looking forward to my lawn care adventures this year.

About 2 weeks ago, my lawn was knee high because we had so much rain and I didn't have a lawnmower that worked.  One of the boys from my school lives nearby so I offered to pay him $20 to mow my lawn.  Yeah, it was a lot to pay, but I knew it would be really hard work since the grass was so long.  He came over and it took him well over an hour to mow the lawn and it was HARD work, so I happily paid him the money.

The next day, another neighbor boy showed up and offered to mow my lawn.  I wisely asked him how much he would charge and he said $7.  I told him that he had a deal.  Well, a week went by and he didn't mow my lawn.  A week and a half and again, I had a field growing in my backyard.  I heard from a fellow teacher that this young man found out I had paid his friend $20 and said that there was no way he was going to do my lawn for $20.  Later, when I saw him, I told him that it was fine that he wasn't going to do my lawn,but he should at least have the courtesy to let me know.

After that little confrontation, I was DONE.  I put the boys in the car and said, "We're going to Home Depot."  45 minutes later and one very nice young sales associate who answered this single woman's ridiculous questions, we purchased a Toro Self-Propelled Lawn Mower.

We got it loaded in the car and home.  Danny assisted as I put the lawn mower together and got it started.  One of my next door neighbors, an older gentleman, came over and helped me start it.  I attempted to mow my lawn and about half way through the back yard, the lawnmower began to smoke like crazy!!  I thought I was going to cry.  Danny, without me knowing, ran next door to tell the neighbors that the lawnmower was on fire.  When I finally had a chance to examine the machine, I realized that the cover on the oil tank was not screwed in all of the way.  Oil had spilled out and onto the engine.  So, I replaced the cap, checked the oil and started to mow again.  Of course, the spilled oil burning off of the engine filled our neighborhood with smoke.  Pretty soon, the neighbor's wife was over checking on me to make sure I knew what I was doing.

I ended up finishing my lawn and later weeding and mulching my gardens.  My backyard looks AMAZING now.  I may be pathetic when it comes to lawn care, but I also am determined.  Even though it took me a while to figured it out, I DID it!!!

I fought the lawn and I WON!!!!!