i'm offline

Just wanted to let everyone know that my home computer has apparently been infected by a virus, and is out of commission for the time being. :( My Internet access will be spotty until we get it fixed. So, if you need/want to reach me, call! Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving...

'twas the day before thanksgiving...

We'll be leaving later today to go to Springfield for Thanksgiving, and I'm really looking forward to being with my family and stuffing my face. :) I can almost taste my sister's sausage stuffing and my awesome pretzel-topped sweet potatoes!

I want to take this opportunity to say how thankful I am for my friends, including the ones who read this blog. You guys know who you are, and you know I love you! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of warmth, family, and yumminess...

new photo album!

I have just created a new photo album on Facebook, with 25 photos from August-October, including Halloween! Here are a few of the photos to pique your curiosity. To see the entire album, even if you don't have a Facebook account, simply click here...

back from springfield

It's late (for me, anyway), and I need to shower and get to bed, but I wanted to get on here and give you the weekend in a nutshell:

We had a lovely time on Friday evening, just hanging out at Dad's house. My brother and one of his girls came over, as did Tim. We had pizza and good convo, and just relaxed. Saturday was a gorgeous, sunny day for Tim's company picnic at a beautiful Springfield park. We went and had a great time! One of his coworkers is a talented amateur photographer and was taking portraits, with all the proceeds going to United Way. She took some amazing pics of Tim, Nick, and me. I can't wait to get my CD! I'll be sure to share. The best part of the picnic was when Nick won in his age group in the kids' costume contest! He was wearing a really cute train conductor costume, and he really was the cutest kid in his age group (and the only boy!). He got a great felt bat basket full of candy and trinkets. He was so proud and excited, and so were we! After the picnic, we ran around and did a little shopping. I got a new yoga mat, and also pre-purchased tires for one of our cars, which we'll have installed next weekend. We then returned to Dad's house to relax for a bit before we all headed out to a Chinese buffet for dinner. (Do you see how horribly I eat in Springfield?) Saturday night, it was early to bed for me, as I had to get up early today to sing at church. That went really well, and I thought I looked pretty spiffy in my dress and knee-high high-heeled boots. I swear I will share pics of all this stuff when I get a chance! Tim came to the early service and recorded me, and we then snuck out to Panera for a pastry and visit. After the second service, I returned to Dad's house, where we got mostly packed up and ready to leave. Then, I headed back to church to sing at the installation service for the new minister, after which we came home to St. Robert. We got back at 6:30 this evening. Whew! It was a whirlwind weekend, and it's good to be home...

pretzel-topped sweet potatoes

This is BEYOND amazing! If you like sweet potato dishes, you MUST, MUST, MUST make this and let me know what you think. Frankly, I don't even know how I'm typing this post, because when I ate the sweet potatoes, I DIED!!! :) It's all about the crispety-crunchety topping with its complex mix of salty-crunchy pretzels, tart-sweet cranberries, and nutty pecans. Shut UP!!! OK - enough hyperbole. On to the actual recipe:

Pretzel-Topped Sweet Potatoes

2 cups coarsely crushed pretzels
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup cranberries
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup butter, divided and melted
2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
2 1/2 - 3 lbs. canned sweet potatoes, drained
1 5-oz. can evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, combine crushed pretzels, chopped pecans, cranberries, brown sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Set aside.

In another large bowl, beat sweet potatoes until smooth. Add evaporated milk, sugar, vanilla, and rest of melted butter and cinnamon. Beat well.

Spoon potato mixture into a 9 x 13" pan sprayed with Pam, and top with pretzel mixture. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 mins. or until nicely browned and bubbly. Eat and DIE!!!

apparently, it IS whether you win or lose!

Today on the way home from school, Nick informed me that his class had won a contest and thereby would get a pizza and ice cream party (Don't even get me started on the fact that apparently, school is all about seeing how much crap they can feed the children!). This contest was a "drink drive", in which parents were asked to donate bottled water or juice boxes or pouches. Ironically, our family had nothing to do with his class winning, as I refused to donate those things, since I don't believe in using them. Anywho, after announcing that his class had won, Nick shouted (with maniacal glee) "Victory is mine!" :)

a day out with thomas

Yesterday, we sprang a great surprise on Nick! We piled into the car and drove the 2 hours to Granite City, IL, just over the McKinley Bridge from St. Louis, to spend "A Day Out with Thomas." We wouldn't tell him where we were going - just that it was a surprise and it would take a while to get there. As usual, he was great in the car, and even napped a little (The kid sawed some logs in that car seat!). We stopped at a Cracker Barrel just this side of St. Louis for lunch, and this was really where his fabulous day began, because he got to have his favorite - a pancake with a little baby bottle of syrup! :) The child loves those baby bottles of syrup. After lunch, we only had about 20-some more miles to go before we got to the event, and honestly, we couldn't have planned our arrival better: Just as we pulled into our parking spot, the real train, pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine, went chugging by in front of us, Thomas' whistle tooting merrily. When Nick saw this, he literally jumped up out of his booster seat and SCREAMED with joy and delight! He was absolutely beside himself, and covered us with kisses as he thanked us for his surprise.

Unfortunately, it was a bit too cold and windy for our taste, but we had a blast nonetheless. At the Imagination Station, Nick got to color and play at a Thomas table, and he got a cool tattoo of Thomas on his cheek. We also checked out a huge Thomas built with Legos, and Nick sat on and played around that for quite some time. There was a little music area where they had railway tunes playing, and a woman was handing out egg shakers and bells and helping the kids get down with their bad selves. :) There was also a big inflatable slide, and Nick had a great time on that! He got to meet Sir Topham Hatt, and also had his picture taken with the train conductor, who looked uncannily like Capt. Kangaroo. The prices in the gift shop were horrific, especially for a cheap-o like me, but we did concede to let Nick get two wooden toys - a special edition "Day Out with Thomas 2009" passenger car and Sir Topham Hatt's car. Of course, those two small wooden toys ran us $30!

Nick got to ride on a little tractor-pulled train, but the main attraction was, of course, the 25-minute ride on a real train, pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine himself! The passenger cars were double-decker ones, which was pretty cool, and of course, it was imperative to Nick that we sit on the top level. Even though the scenery was anything but scenic, that train ride was by far the highlight of the day for Nick, and for me, as well, because he actually sat on my lap and snuggled with me! He never sits on my lap anymore, so I really cherished that, and soaked it up! I think Brian enjoyed the train ride a lot, too - partly because it got us out of the wind and chill for awhile.

It was a wonderful time altogether, and we were so glad we did it, even though we basically drove 4 hours round-trip to be there for about two hours. On the way home, we stopped at Panera in Rolla for dinner (Yay! I love Panera, and don't get to eat there often enough.), and as the capper to his day, we let Nick pick out a huge chocolate cookie to take home. Later at home, he enjoyed it with a glass of milk. And he slept like a log last night!

Here are a few pictures from our wonderful day:


Nick and Mommy on the train

Nick and Daddy on the train

Nick with the train conductor (See? Totally Capt. Kangaroo!)

Nick with the rather jowly Sir Topham Hatt

kindergarten pumpkin patch trip

Here are some photos from the Partridge Elementary Kindergarten class' recent trip to a pumpkin patch:


Nick and Mommy on the hayride


Nick with his best school-chum, Benjamin (or as Nick calls him - Benjer-man). Check it out - his smile is so big that he's got the double-dimple goin'! That doesn't happen very often.

He picked a great pumpkin!

Photo op! Photo op!

look what we made!

Last night, I got out Nick's Mr. Potato Head parts, and we made pumpkin-heads! I think they turned out really cute.

what a wonderful week!

This has been my week, apparently, when it comes to getting random compliments from strangers! Today at the commissary, a woman complimented my hair color (thinking it was dyed) - she went on about how it was the perfect shade of red, etc. When I told her it was actually my natural color, she gushed even more. Made my day! It was also a reminder to me that when I think something nice about someone, I need to open my mouth and say it! So often, we fail to do that. What a nicer place the world would be if we vocalized every nice thought we had about others....

i'm STILL smiling!

So, today, I went to donate blood at the Red Cross Bloodmobile at Walmart. As I approached the mobile, an RC guy greeted me, saying "Hello, young lady." Well, that just about made my day, as I don't get called that much anymore. A bit later, when I was sitting there doing the donation, the song "Don't Stop Believin'" was playing on the radio. I was singing along softly, and a young man (maybe late teens?) who was also donating asked me what the title of the song was. I told him, and then turned to the RC worker next to me and said "He's not even old enough to know that song!" We shared a chuckle about our "advanced age", and I said "Well, I'm just thrilled that the guy outside called me "young lady", as I don't hear that much anymore." The young man then piped up and said, in a very respectful, non-creepy way, "Well, you're very beautiful." Well, blow me down! It was completely random and unexpected, and totally made my day!!

nick's kindergarten picture

Here is Nick's school picture, taken in September 2009, at age 5 1/2. Look how grown up he is!

another way in which Nick is atypical

So, my child loves going to the dentist. He basically gets this attitude from me, because my parents took me to the dentist twice a year throughout all my childhood, and this habit continued into adulthood. I've never been afraid of the dentist, as so many people are, and I've really never had a bad experience there. This might be tied to the fact that I've never had a cavity, and therefore never had to endure scary drilling. Even so, though, I tend to be very practical about such matters, and I'm not bothered by them. So, anyway, my son thinks the dentist is the cat's pajamas. What may surprise you, though, is the DEGREE to which he enjoys the dentist. Here's what he said to me yesterday, when I told him that he would be going to the dentist after school: (screaming with glee) "Mom!!! This is the best day of my LIFE!!!" :)

tattoo #2!!!

I got my second tattoo today - Nick's initials and birth date, with a blue star, on the inside of my left forearm. I love it! Dave at Show Me Skin Art was my artist, and he was awesome! I highly recommend him and anyone else who works there. Tim came with me (he was visiting for the day) and ended up getting his very first tattoo - a red and black nautical star on his upper left arm. We had a great time!

my sweet, sensitive boy

Today, Nick and I drove by an accident on the highway. It looked very bad, and a helicopter was taking someone away from the scene. Nick was full of questions, and I explained to him that the person in the helicopter must have been hurt very badly. He looked at me forlornly and then buried his face in his hands and sobbed, for quite some time, for that poor injured person!

check out my latest photo album!

Everyone,

Click right here to view my latest photo album on Facebook, including pics from Nick's first day of Kindergarten! You don't have to be "on" Facebook to view the album. Enjoy!

Here are two of the 16 photos, to whet your appetite :):

nick is in kindergarten!

I know, I know....you thought I would never post again! And I'll admit, I had gotten rather lax about the ol' blog. But if anything is momentous enough to warrant a blog post, it's my baby's first day of Kindergarten! Yep - that's where he is right now, and where he'll be until 3:30 (!) this afternoon.

I'm really excited for him. His teacher, Mrs. Kelm, is awesome! She's just so patient and kind, and is spoken of very highly by other parents. And his classroom is great! It's very big and welcoming, and is full of neat stuff for the kids. There's even a Smartboard! And there are bathrooms right there in the room, which I think is awesome for the little ones. No scary solo trips down the hallway. The K kids get two recess periods each day (wonderful for Nick) and a short rest period, and they get to do P.E., art, music, computers, etc. One thing that kind of annoys me is that they only get 25 minutes for lunch, and his class eats at 10:45. He'll be starving by the time he gets home! But, there's nothing I can do about it, so I'm trying not to worry about it.

I took some good pics this morning, which I'll share one of these days soon. That's on my to-do list, along with cleaning my house and a million other things. He is wearing a cool new shirt that his Uncle Tim sent him, and new sneakers, too, and has a shiny new backpack and lunch bag. Who doesn't love back-to-school? :) I packed him a healthy lunch this morning, and off we went. When we got there, he sat right down at his table and started working on a worksheet that Mrs. Kelm had put out. He seemed right at home! I think his preschool program last year really put him in good stead to excel in Kindergarten. After leaving him to his work, I stopped by the teachers' lounge to partake of the "Boo Hoo Breakfast" that the PTO provided for K parents. A really nice touch, I thought! There was lots of yummy fresh fruit and various bread products. I lingered a bit longer than I had planned to, eating and chatting with other moms. I was also stalling on going home - not because I didn't want to go home to an empty house, but just because I didn't want to go home and have to get things done! :) And I'm still not getting anything useful done, unless you think this blog post is useful, which I guess it is, in a way.

On a side note, I just want to say that I had a blast buying school supplies for the first time. We had to get a trillion glue sticks, liquid glue, crayons, erasers, scissors, markers, watercolors, paper, Kleenex, a nap mat, etc. It was such fun! And I can't believe how cheap stuff was - 25 cents for a box of 24 crayons or a 2-pack of glue sticks! It was heaven for this cheap mom. :) We were able to drop off all of Nick's supplies yesterday evening, when the school had its "Meet the Teacher" event. We went and took all the supplies to Nick's classroom, and then headed to the cafeteria for an oh-so-healthy meal of a hot dog, chips, cookies, and lemonade. Hey, free food! Beggars can't be choosers, I guess. I've gotten two free meals at Nick's school in the space of 16 hours, so I can't complain. :)

His school is just great - it's small, which I like, and Nick already knows all the staff from his time there in preschool. Seriously! He knows the principal, counselor, librarian, custodians, etc., all by name. The kid's amazing. He totally knows his way around, and is very comfortable there. I just have a really good feeling about this school year, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun! I plan to go to PTO meetings and try to get involved in stuff, and I hope to be able to help his teacher, too. I'd really like to put together a contact roster for the parents of Nick's class, so that we can all get in touch with each other and share info. I'll see what Mrs. Kelm thinks of that idea.

Am I sad? Well, I am finding that I am a bit melancholy. It's funny - during the summer, I had pretty much convinced myself that this wouldn't be that much of a big deal, since he already went to that exact school last year, four days a week, for preschool. The thing is, I don't think that it really hit me, until just recently, what a big difference there is between 3 hours, 4 days a week and 7 hours, 5 days a week! Even as I sit here typing, I can't believe that it's still almost 5 more hours before he'll be done! I'm afraid it's going to be quite an adjustment for him, too, as he had still been taking a daily nap all summer. Now, that's out the window, and I'm afraid the poor little guy will be quite tired for a while, until his body adjusts. I think the biggest adjustment for me is going to be in making sure I use my time wisely. You know how sometimes having MORE free time makes you use it LESS efficiently? I'm afraid that I might fall victim to that, at least for awhile. With the whole day yawning ahead of me, I fear that my tendency will be to slack off instead of really getting stuff done. But, I'm going to make lists and try to stick to them. Next week, I'm planning to actually dust my house! Wow!

I think that more than sadness, I'm feeling guilt for not spending enough quality time with Nick when I had the chance. I'm one of those people who has a really hard time just being with her child, down on the floor, playing. I always feel like I should be getting something done. So, I might be near Nick and technically with him, but I'm not really with him, ya know? And now that he's gone 35 hours a week, I really feel terrible as it hits me what an idiot I've been not to spend more quality time with him. But, I'm actually hoping that Kindergarten will be my salvation, and will improve my relationship with my son. Sounds counter intuitive, but I think that even as the quantity of potential time together decreases, the quality of the time we do spend together can increase. Since I have 7 hours a day, 5 days a week to get stuff done, I should be able to get all my domestic chores taken care of when Nick is in school, so that after school and during the weekends, I can really just relax and be with him, with no distractions. Now, I know that it won't be quite so cut-and-dried, and it's hard to buck those ingrained tendencies, but I'm going to do my damnedest. I know that it will pay off for both of us if I can buckle down during the day and then let it all go when we're together, so I'm going to really try my hardest to make that happen. I don't want the limited time I have with Nick now to pass me by with nothing to show for it. So, that's my big goal for the school year - to use my alone time wisely so that I can get the most out of my Nick-time. Wish me luck! And wish Nick luck as he embarks on the first day of the first year of school!

it's nice to see results!

As most of you know, the science of weight-loss is anything but scientific, and often our efforts are met with inexplicable stasis or, even worse, weight GAIN. Well, I'm happy to report that my efforts over the past couple of weeks have actually worked, and I am once again down to my "happy weight," having lost 4.5 lbs. over the past two weeks. I put myself on a 1500-calorie diet and wrote down my calories, and stepped up my workouts a bit, and it did the trick! I think I'll stick with the 1500 calories for another couple of weeks and see if I can drop another pound or two, and then I'll take it back up to 1800 or so to maintain. It's nice when X + Y really DOES = Z!

update

So, just by mentioning my lack of babysitter in a status update on Facebook, I got one! What a happy surprise in the middle of a poopy day. :) Thanks to Brandy and Brianna...

aaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh!

So, I had a very frustrating morning with Nick. See, he's sort of a pansy when it comes to getting in the pool, getting his face wet, etc. He's rather afraid of it all, more than other kids his age. It's probably our fault, because whereas neither of us are afraid of the water, we are both non-poolish people - we can go the whole summer without getting in a swimming pool, and that's just fine with us! So, we've probably done Nick a disservice by simply not exposing him enough.

So, we did the Level I lessons last summer - this was just a 5-day thing, 45 mins. each day. He didn't do very well, so we repeated them earlier this summer. Brian took him to those lessons, and said that Nick did OK. So, we decided to go ahead with Level II lessons - this session lasts 10 days for 45 mins. each day, and therefore costs twice as much as Level I. Today was the first lesson, and it didn't go well AT ALL.

[Before I get to the story of the aborted swimming lesson, I have to tell you about the embarrassing/hilarious thing that happened at the pool. We got there and walked out next to the pool. Nick had on sandals and swim trunks. I took off his sandals, and then turned my back and walked over to a chaise lounge to put our stuff down. When I turned around, Nick was standing behind me, COMPLETELY NAKED! Mind you, there were quite a few people there, and they all witnessed this. When I realized he was naked, I was just incredulous, and exclaimed rather too loudly "What happened to your trunks??!!" He said he didn't know. I asked a couple of people nearby if they saw what had happened, and they said they hadn't. His trunks were lying several feet away. He swears he didn't take them off, so I don't know if they just fell off or what! (This is a distinct possibility, as they had been riding rather low on his hips.) It's still a mystery. A lifeguard saw the trunks and brought them over, and I got them back on Nick as fast as I could.]

OK - back to the lesson from Hell. It's time for the lesson to start, and the teacher has all the kids get into the 3-ft. end of the pool and line up against the wall. Nick is the last one in, and it takes FOREVER. He doesn't want to get in, and he totally holds up the lesson for probably 5 minutes. He's the ONLY kid with a problem. Then, when the lesson finally starts, Nick is the ONLY kid who won't do what the teacher is asking - putting their heads under the water, an assisted front float, etc. He just refuses. Then, after about 10 minutes, he gets out of the pool and refuses to get back in, so we leave. I was so angry, which I know is irrational, but I couldn't help it. We had gone straight from the gym to the pool, so I had spent time last night thinking of everything we needed and getting all packed up, and then I lugged all this stuff to the gym. Then, at the gym, I spent all this time getting us into our swim gear and getting us all coated in sunscreen (which I hate!). Then, I drove us on post to the pool where the lesson was supposed to be, only to find a sign telling me to go to a different pool. So, back into the car we got and drove to the other pool (thereby wasting even more gas) and waited around for the lesson to start, all for NOTHING! When we got into the car to leave the lesson, I just ripped into Nick, putting him on a total guilt trip. I know, I know - it's awful! I know that! I was just overcome by my frustration, and it was not a proud moment. He was pretty upset, but still says that he wants to quit and not go back again. I'm going to let him quit, because frankly, I don't want to waste another morning like that. I don't know if we can get our money back, so there's $30 down the drain. Grrr. I'm feeling calmer about it now, but I feel pretty guilty for the way I handled it. I just don't understand why he's the ONLY kid who can't deal with it and who can't just get in the water and do what the teacher asks. Why does he have to be so afraid? I'm ashamed to even admit this, but I was kind of embarrassed that the other parents were seeing my child be the only child to refuse to cooperate and to quit the lesson. It was just very frustrating.

Then, when we got home, I found out that the two people I had asked about babysitting for me this coming Saturday can't do it, so I'm back at square one with no babysitter. (There's a membership drive "event" at my gym that I need to go to, and Brian has a gig at the same time.) I hope I can find someone, but at this point, I'm not banking on it. And ya know how when you're already having a bad day, the tiniest, most inconsequential thing can just be the icing on the cake and totally piss you off, even though it completely doesn't matter? See, Nick had this toy bin with suction cups in the tub, but it kept falling down. So, yesterday at Walmart, I got a different one that had more suction cups and seemed like it had a much better chance of staying up. Well, when we got home today and right after I found out that I didn't have a babysitter, I discovered that the new bin had fallen already! That just about put me over the edge. Ridiculous, I know, but I have a feeling that you guys will understand.

So, today has not been great so far. But, I'm calmer about the swimming, and I know that none of it really matters in the greater scheme of things. In fact, just writing this blog post has helped to put it all into perspective. Hope you enjoyed my asinine ranting! :)