tgif

Well, no loss this week. I'm really not upset about it, which is kind of refreshing! This is probably because I'm just happy not to have gained after the shameful way I porked at MOPS yesterday. The evil Jeannie and Jutta brought such a delectable quiche and cake, respectively, that I was rendered utterly defenseless. :)

We had some hail here last night. Luckily, I got home from yoga about 10 minutes before it happened, and got my car safely into the garage. I love having a garage - they're so useful!

I had a nice time at playgroup this morning, talking to all of my peeps. I really don't know what I would do without my playgroups. They are sacred to me. And Nick rather likes them, as well. :)

Today, I'm getting stuff done in preparation for my weekend in Springfield. Yup - I'm going to Springfield this evening BY MYSELF! I'm very excited. I'm mainly going for my church gig on Sunday, but will also have some quality time with Tim, etc., and probably do some shopping and, of course, eating out. Brian has no gigs this weekend, so he offered to stay here with Nick so that I could be completely unfettered in Springfield. I think it's going to be pretty faboo - I can sleep in tomorrow!! That will be somewhat tempered by the fact that I have to get up at 5:45 on Sunday. :( Still, though, I can basically do whatever I want for two days, and I can't wait ! I'll sure miss my boys, though.

I'll be back on Sunday evening...

nick quote of the day

"I'm going to jump on the bed with my naked penis!"

oatmeal, a spark plug, underwear, and an area rug

I'll get to the meaning of the title in a moment. First, I want to introduce you to our new little pets, Thomas and Percy! Aren't they cute? We decided it was time for Nick to have a little something to take care of and love, and goldfish seemed the perfect way to start. I must confess that my past is littered with a shameful, stinky, glassy-eyed procession of dead fish, but I have high hopes this time. And, when all is said and done, if they die, we're only out 28 cents each! Macabre, but a simple fact of finance. :)

Nick was quite proud to pick these guys out, and I love their coloring. And I picked the glass "rocks", allowing me to teach Nick a lesson about complementary colors. It never fails to amaze me how many "teachable moments" occur in WalMart! Nick wants to take the fish in the bath with him tonight; I'm still trying to get him to understand that that would NOT be advisable. :)





Now, on to the meaning of my cryptic post title. See, it always amuses me to note the motley assortment of things that I buy during one trip to WalMart. I mean, only at a store like that could you buy the four things mentioned in the title! I was tickled by the array of items that landed on the checkout belt today. In addition to two goldfish and their accoutrements, we left with:

*various foodstuffs (including Boca Chik'n Patties - yummy!)

*light bulbs

*Good Nites

*hand weights

*self-tanner

*nail polish

*picture frames

*and a padded mailer

No underwear or spark plugs today! Maybe next time...

recent pics

Here are some recent pictures, for your viewing pleasure:

my best friend, Tim, and me before Nick's birthday party

at the party (Also, see my new profile pic on sidebar.)

Nick, showing off his new "hangin' with my peeps" shirt (I couldn't resist!)

modelling his Cars birthday party shirt and the birthday crown he got at preschool

Tim and Nick at the party - blurry, but Nick's face is priceless!

change of plans

Well, it looks like we won't be going to St. Louis for Easter today. Brian has had a cold for the past couple of days, and today, he really feels terrible. And I'd rather not make the trip without him, so that's that. I'm disappointed, but on the bright side, at least I won't suffer any caloric damage today. :)

I'll just have to find ways to fill the day, which shouldn't be too difficult. I have stuff to do around the house, in addition to exercising and a WalMart run. And I'm toying with the idea of taking Nick to his first theater movie: Horton Hears a Who. We shall see.

Happy Easter, everyone!

a few more nick-isms

Here are a few more things Nick has said lately, for your reading pleasure:

When we took him for his check-up, the very first thing he said when the doctor walked in was "I'm not going to let you touch my penis!"

Last night, we went out to eat, and I ordered coffee, saying "with cream, please." Nick said (loudly and in the presence of the waitress) "with butt cream?" (That's what we call diaper rash cream.)

The other day, we were driving along, and that Gwen Stefani song came on the radio - the one that goes "whoo hoo; yee hoo". Nick loves that song, and recognizes it the instant it starts playing. He said "Mommy! It's Gwen Stefani! I love her. She's my girlfriend, because she's my favorite singer. I wish I could skidoo (a Blue's Clues reference) into the radio and sing with her."

another friday

Well, I lost another pound this week. I'm happy about that, though I wish the scale could have just given me another 1/2-lb., so I could have been at the 40-lb. mark. Maybe next week! I went ahead and measured myself again this morning, and I have lost 1.75" from each arm, 4" from my bust, 5.5" from my waist, 6" from my hips, 3.5" from each thigh, and 1" from each calf, for a grand total of 28 inches! Not too shabby.

Since there was no playgroup today due to spring break, I decided to hit the Friday fitness class. It was a killer! I sweated buckets, but I enjoyed it a lot. I really like the instructor who taught today. After class, Nick and I went to visit our friends Rebecca and Cooper (and baby Jack!). It was a nice time - the boys played pretty nicely, and I got to hold the baby, so it was all good. And I always enjoy some nice, sarcastic conversation with Rebecca - she's a lot like me!

I'm glad the weekend is upon us. We're going to go out to dinner tonight, and tomorrow will be fairly low-key. Sunday, we'll be driving to St. Louis to join a passel of my relatives for Easter dinner. I'm not really looking forward to the 4-hr. (round trip) drive, but the event itself will be nice. It's good to see these relatives, and it doesn't happen very often.

Have a spectacular weekend!

pick-me-ups

I realize that this post might come off as rather braggy and self-indulgent, but it's my blog, and, well, I don't care! :) It's just that during the past few days, there have been several instances where I've received compliments about my body's abilities and appearance, and I feel like posting about them, because they've put me on cloud 9.

On Monday, on my way out of Springfield, I stopped at Drury University's (my alma mater) bookstore to try to find a Drury t-shirt. When I was at the cash register making my purchase, I was chatting with the clerk, and I mentioned that I had graduated 11 years ago. She exclaimed "Eleven years ago?! But you look so young!" I promptly decided that she's my new best friend. :)

Yesterday in kickboxing class, the instructor complimented me on my form during one of our combos, and today, the same instructor complimented my form on a weight-lifting move. Later in the class, I asked her for ideas for exercises to whittle my waist. See, I'm loving my thinner body, but one thing that I don't like is how my waist appears "thick" in relation to my hips - there just isn't much waist definition going on. Well, in response, she said "It's going to be tough for you to get that look because you have such slim hips." What??? I have slim hips? Shut up! That was news to me. At another point during the weight-lifting we were doing, the woman behind me told me that I have great shoulders. At this point, I was about to pass out from sheer bliss. I mean, what a bounty of kudos!

Today, I took Nick to his appointment with the nutritionist, who, by the way, declared that Nick is not at all fat and that he has the best 4-year-old diet she's ever seen. It was funny - she had been given his height and weight info, and when we walked in and she saw Nick, she looked surprised and said "That's not what I was expecting - what are you guys even doing here?" That made me very happy. Anywho, I was telling her that in my family, we tend to be very solid and to weigh more than we look like, and I told her that I weigh about 170 lbs. She was incredulous, and kept asking me if I was sure.

So, as you can see, I have had many reasons this week to be flattered and thrilled, and I'm a very happy girl right now. Frankly, I don't even care that much what my weigh-in brings tomorrow. I'm sorry if you want to vomit or slap me now, but rest assured that I'm done. :)

did you know...

...that Sun Chips now come in cinnamon???!!! I just bought a bag today, and I can't wait to try them out! I'm beside myself at the thought of sweet, cinnamony goodness. I mean, the savory flavors are so good that these must be simply faboo! And amazingly, they have very little sugar. I'll let you know what I think.

nick's check-up

On this day of biblical amounts of rain (Seriously! It's been raining ALL DAY.), we headed to the hospital for Nick's 4-year check-up. It went fine, though he was a bit "spirited." I think he was wired because he was supposed to be taking his nap while we were there. We were really surprised to learn that he's only grown a couple of inches in the past year, because we have been thinking that he's gotten so tall lately, and felt sure that the difference would be greater. I mean, all of his jeans from this winter are too short already! He actually went down on the height percentile chart, from the 75th to closer to the 50th. Hmmm. We also found out that according to his BMI, he's overweight. That is somewhat alarming to us, although the more I learn about BMI and the more people I meet who have overweight BMIs despite looking perfectly fine to me, the less seriously I take BMI. However, we were offered a consultation with the nutritionist, and I'm not one to turn down free advice. So, off we'll go on Thursday to see what she/he has to say about Nick, and about what we could be doing better with his nutrition. I'm interested to learn how many calories he should be taking in each day. I don't think he overeats, but then again, I really have no idea how much he should be eating. He really doesn't look overweight to us, but I certainly don't want him to develop a problem. I'll let you know how that appointment goes.

After the check-up, we headed to the lab for a lead test. We don't really have any reason to fear lead poisoning (other than the fact that all toys are apparently full of lead!), but again, it was offered, so we figured it was wise to take it. Nick was so brave - he squirmed when he realized that they were going to stick him with a needle, but he actually didn't cry! The same was not true several minutes later, when we headed to the immunization clinic for the FOUR vaccinations he needed - DTAP, IPV, MMR, and varicella. Nick knows this place all too well, and he was on to us long before any needles were whipped out. By the time the moment was at hand, he was quite frantic and tearful. But, as always, he recovered very quickly.

I brought my poor poked-five-times baby back home and gave him some Tylenol and a snack to ease his troubled mind. :) And given the fact that all of the water in the world seems to be falling right here, we're in for the rest of the day.

back home

The whirlwind birthday weekend is now over, and I'm sort of glad to be back home. It was a great weekend! It started with my haircut on Friday. Tracy and I enjoyed a great visit, with juicy conversation and a glass of wine - that's my kind of haircut! :) Later on Friday evening, Tim came over to visit, and we had some nice conversation and bonding.

Saturday morning was Nick's portrait session at JCPenney, and he did great! He was so cute and cooperative, and we couldn't believe how tall and grown-up he looked. I was forced to buy several sheets of various poses, because they were all so darn good! Drat. Luckily, I had a coupon and got a great deal - just a little over $3 per sheet, and no sitting fee.

After the portrait session, I did a little shopping in the mall, but really didn't spend much - just got two shirts and a small backpack for Nick and some hand wash at Bath & Body Works. Then, I met Tim for a quick lunch at our fave Japanese place, and it was time to get back to Dad's to prepare for the big bash. We got the party-room all decorated with Cars stuff, and Tim arrived with the fabulous Cars cake that he had ordered for the occasion. My Dad went for pizza, and the party got underway. There were a total of 17 people, and we had a blast! There was much eating of pizza and drinking of punch, and lots of laughter and cuteness on Nick's part. He got way too many gifts, but got some neat stuff. And he got more clothing than usual, which was kind of refreshing! He'll certainly need new clothes this summer, and everything he got should fit him well and is really cute.

The party wound down, and we got the birthday boy to bed, after which I retired as well, since I had to get up early on Sunday to go sing. The singing went fine, and I then returned to Dad's house to change and relax for awhile until it was time to go to Target with Tim and our friend Jennifer. I was very excited about the Target trip (who wouldn't be?), but unfortunately, I was pretty tired by then, and my stomach felt awful - I'm not going to go into the gory details here, but suffice it to say that I ate like crapola all weekend, and I think that my stomach just couldn't handle the abuse, since it's not used to that anymore. I only ended up buying a couple of small things, and was glad to be out of Target and back home. We decided to nix our planned trip to Sam's Club, since I just wasn't feeling up to it. I spent the rest of Sunday evening chilling out at Dad's, and Dad got us Chinese carryout - yum! By 9:30, my exhaustion had really caught up with me, and I was just dead tired. I actually went to bed at 9:45, and fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillow. I slept for 10 glorious hours! I don't get to do that very often anymore.

Today, we got up, got ready, and came home. On the way out of Springfield, I stopped at the bookstore of Drury University, my alma mater, to check out their apparel. I bought myself a really cute Drury t-shirt; I had been wanting a Drury garment for some time, so I'm pretty pleased about it! When fall comes, I might get Nick a Drury hoodie or something similar.

Today has been all about unpacking and processing all the birthday gifts, etc., and I've finally taken some time to relax and get online. Soon, the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars will be on, and we're planning to check that out - we're particularly interested in Marlee Matlin.

So, there you have it. Now, it's back to the regular weekly grind. Nick's checkup is tomorrow, but other than that, it's a pretty quiet week. We might go to St. Louis on Sunday to join some relatives at their Easter dinner - we still haven't decided.

headin' in the right direction

I'm thrilled to have lost two pounds this week! Maybe I'm done with the 170s for good now! I'm a little worried about this weekend, since I'll be eating out and having pizza and cake for Nick's birthday and not working out, but hopefully if I start hitting it hard again next week, I'll undo the damage. And I can't believe that if I lose just 1.5 more lbs., I'll be at the 40-lb. mark! Wow. I'll have to take measurements again at that point to see if I've lost more inches.

Went to playgroup this morning and had some lovely chatting with my peeps. It's a great social outlet! Now, Nick and I are back home, and I have to pack our stuff and get ready to leave for Springfield in a couple of hours. So, I'm over and out until next week. Have a great weekend, everybody!

i've been tagged!

First of all, I heart yoga! It just leaves me feeling so stretched out and relaxed. Happy sigh.

OK, my Patty-friend has tagged me to complete a personal quiz, so here are some facts about me that you may or may not give a hoot about:

10 years ago, I was.....
...living in Japan, having joined my new husband there about 4 months before. I was still getting used to my unfamiliar surroundings, but was soaking up the language and really enjoying exploring my new home. I don't remember if I had started my two jobs of teaching English as a second language and administrative assistant for the Girl Scouts yet, but I had those jobs while living in Japan. I also sang with the Army Band numerous times while living there.

7 things on my to-do list today:
*buy new black pants
*attend Nick's preschool birthday party
*laundry (when is that NOT on my list?)
*work out
*pay bills
*sing
*bathe Nick

my favorite snacks:
*cottage cheese
*Crum Creek Mills soy bites
*Edy's Slow-Churned ice cream
*Gnu Bars
*Skinny Cow mint ice cream sandwiches
*Dannon Light & Fit vanilla yogurt w/ frozen berries

If I suddenly became a billionaire, I would...
*buy a house in Springfield, MO
*go on a super-long European vacation
*go on an Alaskan cruise
*visit various places in the U.S., like San Fran, New England, New Orleans, etc.
*sock away money for Nick's college and our retirement
*help deserving family and friends
*donate to causes that resonate with me
*fund a voice scholarship at my college
*buy a brand-new car

3 bad habits of mine are...
*being a control-freak
*never emptying the lint trap (luckily, my husband takes care of this)
*being negative, though I have made great strides in this area, I think

Jobs I've had, in no particular order:
*worked at a CD store and Blockbuster Video
*took care of animals at a vet's office
*professional singer in various forms
*wrote obituaries for the Springfield (MO) News Leader
*admin. assistant for the Girl Scouts
*teacher of English as a second language
*medical assistant for a podiatrist
*teller/member services rep. at a credit union
*wife and mother

5 things most people don't know about me:
This is a hard one for me, because I tend to be pretty open. Therefore, most people that know me pretty well know everything that I care to share, and the stuff that I don't want anyone to know is nothing that I'm going to type here! I'm thinking...
*When they first meet me, most people don't know that I'm a classical soprano,
*or that my mom died over 10 years ago.
*I can yodel
*I can juggle, albeit not terribly well
*I'm really afraid of certain bugs
*bonus - I can't stand the sight of body hair on the floor or in the tub

OK - Jillies, you're it!

king for a day

Today, I took cupcakes to Nick's preschool, and they had a little birthday celebration for him. It was cute! He got to wear a green construction-paper crown with his name and the number "4" on it, and he also got to pick a couple of trinkets from the "birthday box." Miss Ulla took his picture, and he got a birthday certificate. When it was cupcake time, everyone sang the birthday song to him, and when it was over, Nick said "That's right!" :) I got some really cute video footage and pictures.

On an interesting side note, there is one girl in his class who hates chocolate. Seriously. Won't eat anything chocolate. I'm very concerned for her. :) This girl's a hoot - she's very "princessy". She went to the bathroom today while I was there, and when she was done, she stood in front of the mirror for several minutes fluffing her hair and preening. Made me happy to have a boy!

Get this: even when a parent brings birthday cupcakes, the teachers still have to serve the prepared snack for the day. Well, today's snack was a "volcano", consisting of a bowl of chocolate pudding with an ice cream cone standing up in the center. In the ice cream cone were whipped cream and red icing (the "lava"). I'm wondering if all of their snacks are this nutritionally hideous! So, these kids had a volcano PLUS a cupcake. All of the parents probably rode out the sugar high with much resentment. :) I'm ashamed to admit that in addition to the cupcake I had at preschool, I also downed a second one after we got home. :( Sweets are my major weakness! I hope this doesn't blow my weigh-in tomorrow...I'll just have to see.

After preschool, I had to drag Nick to Rolla (25 mins. up the interstate) on my quest for black pants that fit for my singing gig on Sunday. The ones I had were too big, and the WalMart here didn't have my size. So, off we went to the Rolla WalMart - luckily, they did have my size. I also picked up some new lounge pants and a cute summer shirt for Nick. And we had lunch at McDonald's, something we do far too often. My only consolation is the fact that Nick always eats a hamburger, apple slices, and milk, which is pretty darn healthy by McD's standards. No fries for him!

I am now preparing to pay bills and do laundry, among several other things that I need to get done in preparation for our trip to Springfield tomorrow. I'm going to take a break from all the TCB and go to yoga class tonight, because I really enjoy it and find it relaxing. And I deserve it!

I might do a short post tomorrow regarding my weigh-in, but then you won't be hearing from me again until Monday or Tuesday.

pearly whites/bronze glow

Nick and I had our dental checkups today, and we both passed with flying colors! Nick did great - it gets easier each time we take him. There was one funny moment: The hygienist was cleaning Nick's teeth, and explained to him that the suction thingy was like a little vacuum that would suck the spit and toothpaste out of his mouth. She finished the top teeth and said "OK, now I'm going to do the bottom!" Nick replied "No - don't vacuum my bottom!" :) Tee hee.

Had a kickass kickboxing class this morning. It killed me! I was drenched in sweat, and there were several moments when I thought I might die, but I loved it! I know - it's a little weird. Sometimes I wonder if I could be getting addicted to exercise, but I don't think it's an issue just yet. :) Jutta came with me, and I think she enjoyed it, too. Afterwards, Jutta and her son, Bryan, came over to our house, and the boys played outside, enjoying the beautiful 70-degree weather. They were joined on the swingset by Angela's (our neighbor) two boys, and the four kids had a high time.

Now, Nick is napping, and I'm getting caught up on such lovely things as laundry and online taking-care-of-business. Oh, one cool thing that's going on in my life right now is that I have been using that Jergens Natural Glow daily moisturizer (the one that causes a tan to develop after a few days of use), and I have to say that it's working! I have developed quite a nice bronze glow, and I'm a huge fan. It'll be nice to have some color for summertime.

That's all she wrote today.

???!!!

I'm stunned! I'm just stunned! "Stunned" is the only word I can think of to describe just how...stunned I am! (For those of you who don't know, this is a Blanche quote from the Golden Girls). Here's why:

Today, when I was picking Nick up from preschool, Brian surprised us by showing up - he had some free time and decided to drop by for the pick-up. Yay! As we were walking out together, one of the other moms turned to Nick and said "Is this Grandpa?" My jaw pretty much dropped. I mean, come on! Does my husband really look old enough to be Nick's grandpa? And if we spin this out to the next level, does this mean that she thought he looked old enough to be MY DAD??? He's only 9 years older than me, for Pete's sake!

Even more shocking to me is that Brian told me that this was about the third time that has happened to him. I just find the whole thing depressing. I swear that Brian doesn't look like he could be Nick's grandpa, but the fact that other people seem to think so is shocking and sobering. And I'm sure it doesn't thrill him too much, either.

He took it in stride, cheerfully saying "No, I'm his Dad!", and I could tell the woman was mortified. She tried (very lamely) to save herself, mumbling "Oh, I didn't mean to age you - it's just that some of the other kids have had Grandpas visiting lately." What?

Harrumph!

pure friendship

Went to a Pure Romance party at Angela's house last night. It was an intimate gathering - about 8 of us. To be honest, I wasn't that into it at first (sorry, Angela! - nothing personal). I just didn't feel like drinking, and I knew I would blow my diet with the party snacks. And, I had been to one of these parties not that long ago, so I already knew the whole product spiel and everything. But as the evening wore on, I ended up having a really good time! All the ladies there were nice and fun, and we shared lots of laughs and bawdy conversation. :) I ended up having a long, involved conversation with my friend Heather - we started talking about body issues, and somehow moved on to religion (don't ask me how that happened!), and I felt like I got to know Heather better; we even shared some cackles and snorts. :) I really like Heather, and I think that we could be good friends. Sadly, she's moving away this summer (same old story), so I'm pretty bummed about that.

It sort of sucked that when I got home, it was really an hour later than the clock said, due to the switch to Daylight Savings, but I was still in bed by 11:30, even on the new time. I didn't end up drinking much, though I was duly impressed by the staggering array of alcoholic products that Angela had stockpiled for the evening. And the snacks were rather yummy, too! Yes, I did blow my diet, but I'm back on track today, so it's really no big whoop. The upshot of it is that I ended up having a lovely time last night, and I'm glad I went to the party. Thanks, Angela!

oh, good lord

I just looked in the mirror and realized that I have been wearing two different earrings all day. Yeah. I'm such a dork. I can't believe I did that! I just grabbed what I thought were a matching pair and stuck them in my ears this morning, and I never looked in the mirror (until just now) closely enough to realize that they were different! Not wildly different, thank God, but different enough for anyone who looked to realize that they didn't match. All of my peeps probably noticed at playgroup this morning, but didn't say anything either because they didn't want to embarrass me or because they thought that I was misguidedly trying to revive an 80s fashion statement. :) I guess I should just be thankful that my zipper hasn't been down all day, as well!

tgif!

Well, I lost a pound this week, and frankly, I'm pretty impressed! During the 4 days that Tim was here, we ate out several times, and I consumed no fewer than 3 decadent chocolaty desserts. So, I felt sure that I would gain weight! I probably owe my salvation to the fact that I didn't slack off on working out. I'm really proud of myself that I kept up with it whilst he was here, because in the past, I would definitely not have had the willpower to do that. When Tim and I spend time together, we tend to adopt a "f**k it" attitude and just veg and eat whatever we want. So, though I didn't lose a lot of weight this week, I still consider it quite a victory. This whole eating better and working out thing must really be getting ingrained in my mind - it's almost becoming second nature. Yay!

I must say, though, that given the way my weight has been going up and down lately, I won't feel truly comfortable unless I lose more weight next week and become more firmly entrenched in the 160s. Right now, my footing in the 160s is tenuous at best, and I fear another swing back up into the 170s. I really want to avoid that, and to just keep my weight going down from here. I'm sick of the 170s! It's time to bid them a fond adieu for good, so wish me luck on that front.

Some of my friends have been pointing out to me that one reason for my slow-down in weight-loss lately could be that I've been building up muscle, which weighs more than fat. I'll have to admit that they could have a point. I mean, I can definitely tell that I'm a lot more muscular all over my body (I mean, I can just see the taut muscle bulging and rippling under my skin - ha!), so maybe there's something to that theory. It offers me small comfort, though, as I still want to see the actual number on the scale going down. I could handle it if I'd been losing inches, but I really haven't budged in that department, either, except a tiny bit in my waist.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed that I can get out of this holding pattern once and for all!

In other news, I found out today that yet another person I know is pregnant. There must be something in the water! It seems like lately, everyone is pregnant or has just had a baby. It gives me little pangs occasionally, but for the most part, I don't have a strong desire to have another. I think that most likely, we're done. Nick is such a huge personality that he's as good as two, anyway. :)

Brian's current Thursday night class has ended, and his next class will be on Wednesdays, so I can finally start going to yoga every Thursday evening (They don't offer childcare during the evening classes.). Yay! I'm really excited about that, as I really enjoy yoga. I just find it to be very centering and relaxing, in a way. And I just love the names of the poses, like Goddess, Cobra, Warrior, etc. I can do some better than others, but I hope to improve.

Speaking of improving, I really need to dust off my vocal cords and start rehearsing, because I have two gigs coming up in short order, and I really haven't sung since my last gig in December. Neither piece that I'm doing is terribly difficult, but I'm quite a perfectionist when it comes to my singing, and won't settle for anything less than perfectly polished. I'll be singing Mozart's "Laudate Dominum" and "I Know that my Redeemer Liveth" from Handel's Messiah. I've done them both a million times (well, maybe not that many), but as I said, it's been awhile. I'm really excited to sing again, because it's what I love to do more than almost anything. And, I'm always really well-received and appreciated at the church, which makes me feel good. And the money doesn't hurt, either! :)

Well, I've probably blathered on enough for today. Happy weekend, everyone!

spared!

Well, the snowstorm spared us! Yay! It would seem that it sort of split into two sections - one to the north of us and one to the south. Those areas, including Springfield, got lots of snow (8+ inches in Springfield!), but we got virtually nothing. So, Nick had preschool today, and I was able to go to my strength-training class.

Tim and I are enjoying our time together. We're not really doing anything stupendous, but are just hanging out and laughing a lot. Yesterday, we did some shopping in Rolla (I bought a bathing suit - Lord, help me), and today, he came with me to pick Nick up from preschool, after which we ran some errands locally. Now, we're just relaxing in the living room and watching Dr. Oz on Oprah. :)

Yesterday for lunch, I gave Nick fish sticks with ketchup and apples with peanut butter. He proceeded to dip every fish stick in peanut butter and every apple slice in ketchup, and he ate every bite. Furthermore, he said he loved it! Different strokes...

I'm excited, because tonight is Idol. And tomorrow is kickboxing class - my favorite! But I am bummed that Tim is leaving tomorrow. I'll miss him! I'll get to see him again in 1 1/2 weeks, though, when we go to Springfield for Nick's birthday weekend.

That's me.

old man winter needs to get the heck outta dodge!

Seriously - I don't know how much more I can take. We were teased and taunted by a high in the 70s (!!!) yesterday. I even went to Walmart and bought a skirt and some tank tops in a fit of springtime glee. And like most women, when I buy new clothes, I want to wear them immediately, if not sooner! But today, it's in the 30s, and we have more winter weather moving in as I type. We're going to get anywhere from 3-12" of snow by the time it ends tomorrow, apparently. Fantastic. I would tear my hair out, if I weren't having such a good hair day. :) At least my Timmy-friend is here to keep me company and provide comic relief. Thank goodness for that! But, Nick will probably miss his third day of preschool in as many weeks, and I will yet again have to miss my beloved fitness classes. Curses!