Pencil Thin

Where we used to live going to the library was a weekly event for my kids. Our new town has a much smaller library and VERY tough rules. They have actually had people thrown in jail for overdue library books and fines. I know this sound absurd but it is completely true. My husband had to bail one of the clients on his caseload out of jail for this very thing when he was working his old job. I was going to take my older son to the library to borrow our usual weekly allotment of videos, free audio books, and regular books but to my surprise the videos and audio books are not free! The library expects borrowers to pay to “borrow” these particular items. How is this considered borrowing? I might as well drive back to the town we moved from and get these items there since they are free and offer a better collection.

For the last several months I have justified not working out because my treadmill and exercise bike were in storage. Now that they are sitting in our finished basement I still can’t get myself motivated to start working out again. I really need to because it always makes me feel good. I just can’t seem to reconcile what my head knows and what my body wants to do which is sit. I kind of think my body is still getting over the stress of the last couple of years and adjusting to life sans chaos. What I need is a reunion or a fancy party to put on my social calender that requires me to feel like I need to look health and fit!

Tonight I went to activate a reward credit card we earned for booking a trip online. I never thought to look at the expiration date on the card and assume it was good for a few months. Well the card has already expired and we have only had it a month. I find this ridiculous! We would have had to use the card almost immediately after receiving it for it to be any good. I guess I should be glad it was only for a little bit of money and not a high limit credit card or I would really be disappointed in myself for not reading the small print better!

I know we have all heard about “internet” addiction but I think that is hogwash. This is not denial speaking either. Our world is so internet based it is hard not be on the computer many hours a day. I work online, my son goes to school online, we correspond with friends online and shop online. So many aspects of our lives require the net that it really seems more like a function of living to be online than an “addiction”. I suppose it all depends on what you are doing online.

Next week we are surprising my son with the gift of his life. This isn’t a trip to the Outer Banks or anything along those lines. I would love to get a vacation as a trip but 9 year old boys don’t think along those lines. Instead we are surprising him with something he has been told he won’t be able to have until he is 10. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when everyone shows up for his “10th” birthday party which is really is 9th and he receives the puppy he has been waiting for since he was 4 years old!

Since moving my allergies have been at their absolute worst ever. I have been taking both Benedryl and Zyrtec and still my tongue swells up. Last week I ordered two whole house air purifiers and am very much hoping these make a difference. I am so tired during the day from all the medicine it is becoming a problem. I have had allergy testing and know what the problem likely is but there isn’t much we can do about it. Ripping out the carpeting in the house with no guarantee of what we will find just isn’t an option right now.

For a while I wouldn’t tell anyone that I was taking diet pills but at this point I don’t care anymore. That is one of the nice things about starting fresh. When you move you can make changes to who you are or what people conceive you to be about. Maybe that is why I secretly like moving. You might think that odd but there are sometimes things about how you carry yourself that need adjusting. Often these adjustments are behaviors that go against who you are deep inside. One thing I found myself doing before we moved was molding myself to fit in certain groups. If this meant not saying I was using diet pills then so be it. If it meant pretending my kids don’t trick-or-treat I would that as well. I believe a certain amount of conformity is a good and necessary thing but if you loose yourself in the process and your ability to laugh then it isn’t and needs to be changed.

For the most part I care about what happens in our country. This election however has just gotten to be too much. With the country falling apart and both candidates saying whatever they think voters will want to hear I admit I just want it all to be over. Neither candidate seems to have a real plan and honest promises for turning our country around. People love the sound bites and all these promises but so few look deeper to see if these promises have any real chance of becoming a reality. Our nation needs stability and a government focused on making right what is so wrong not on playing political games.

There is something about the cold weather that makes me feel like I work for some sort of movers New York type business. That really doesn’t make a great deal of sense but by this time of night my brain starts working in phone book mode. What I mean to say is I feel like I have been moving furniture across the state of New York on my back. The only thing I can figure is causing it is the new work station my husband built in our kitchen. It really looks nice but it is just a bit too high for me to use comfortably. Don’t tell him! I love that he built and will just have to figure out a way to sit at it without straining my neck.

It is so cute how for children the first snow fall of the year invokes nothing but happy feelings. For adults this first snow is a mixed bag. For me snow initially makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. This is especially true when my 2 year old looked out the window today and said “snowy snowman”. His little face was so excited and I was amazed he remember what I call the outside when it is all snowy. We have our own silly language in my house. By the end of the day all the snow just has me thinking of how long winter really is around here.

Now that my son is in a virtual charter school I feel like I am chained to our computer. I felt like this before when I was working several telecommuting jobs but I feel it more than ever now. I am wondering if a mobile router might be a solution for our family? It is not something I know anything about but I like the idea of being able to go out and about and still be connected to the web rather than chained to my desk and our traditional router. If this is the way these new routers work there could be a purchase in my very near future! I am such a technology geek and I just can’t stand the idea of spending the next 8 months in the basement.

A friend of mine is just about to finish a detox diet. I really don’t know much about the diet but from what she tells me I don’t like the sound of it. For me it would be impossible to accomplish because I just can’t stomach vegetable juice. There is simply no way that I could spend a day let alone a week drinking vegetable juice. It seems to be working for her and her family but I wonder how it will turn out in the long run when they have to go back to eating other foods.

The last couple of mornings I seem to be operating in robot mode. For some reason I automatically make two big cups of coffee even though it is just me drinking it. I have one of those Senseo coffee makers which makes making two cups of coffee a bit of a process. I use refillable pods so you have to clean the filter pack each time you make a single cup of coffee. The coffee made from this maker just tastes so good I have convinced myself it is worth the hassle. The thing is you have to use expresso grind coffee in the filter pods. This sometimes makes a really strong cup of coffee depending on what type of coffee you are using. Today, I seem to have made really strong coffee and am sitting here with the jitters as a results. I am guessing I need to ease back just a bit on my coffee drinking or else invest in a blood pressure monitor! What I should do is go an burn off all this energy on the tread mill while I can.

Somehow I have managed to get a bit of a stomach virus. Usually my entire family gets these types of illnesses at the same time. Fortunately for them they have not. I seem to be on the upswing from whatever it is and am feeling better today. Getting sick does have benefits because I lost 3 pounds in the last 2 days. I wanted to loose some weight and at this point I guess this is the way it is going to happen. That is kind of sad I suppose?

My kids are already starting to think about the toys they want or hope to receive for Christmas. It is so funny because they have no concept of where presents come from or how much things cost. The nice thing is they are pretty low key in what makes them happy. I feel very fortunate not to have children who need the most expensive and popular things on the market. Ask my son what he wants and it is a pretty short list – Legos and books. That makes for one easy shopping trip for this mom.

So I am back on a kick to loose a few pounds. It isn’t that I have gained tons of weight but I just don’t want to feel crummy anymore . This summer was such a stressful time that I don’t think my body knows how to behave. I started taking Alli again because it worked really well for me last year when I used it. The thing about Alli is it makes you think about what you are putting in your mouth. If you eat a bunch of crap you pay for it point blank. That is pretty good incentive to keep your act together.

As a 30 something I have parents who are in their early 60’s. The thing is that my parents have been preparing for being old for countless years. As a child all I heard was talk about how things will be when they get old. It got to be something that went in one ear and out the other. Now that I am living near my folks I am seeing them on a much more frequent basis that ever before. What is killing me is that when I am alone with my dad he like to complain how my mother seems to be loosing her memory in his opinion. Then I spend some time with my mother and she is complaining how difficult it is to live with my dad because his memory is slipping. Personally, I think that they both are just looking for thing to get mad at the other one about.

In the past we have received two emails about young mother’s in our area fighting for their lives after giving birth. It is unimaginable to me to think of beginning to manage or cope with the situation from vantage point. The poor little babies are being shuttled from home to home. Father’s are worrying about raising children on their own. Parents are fearing saying goodbye to their daughters. If you are a praying person please say a prayer for these people and that the spirit of life with stir in an vicious manner in these women .

Our backyard is much bigger than at our old house which is going to be wonderful this winter. At our last home my kids hardly have room enough to walk in a circle let alone really play. This year we are going really play and I can’t wait. For some reason I am finding myself looking especially forward to winter. We are going to sled and build snow men. I just went out and bought both kids some snow pants and gloves. I myself and going to need a few things such as boots since I don’t really have any worthy of outdoor play. I would love some UGG Australia style boots but don’t know if I will find them around here. Maybe I will look online. Hopefully, I will find some soon because we already had our first inch of snow this morning.

Just this week I was having a conversation with a friend about the state of the world around us. It just feels like everyone is caught up in a negative state of emotion. Daily we are inundated with news of rising prices, economic downturn, and countless global crisis issues. This seems to have created a general state of anxiety in so many people and a desperate need for more joy. I believe that the greatest joys in life are simple and unexpected. I further believe that joy is contagious. Why not bring a little more joy into the world around you starting today with a simple act of kindness to those around you?

“Ghosting” is a fun Halloween tradition of doing something nice for your neighbors and friends. In the spirit of “paying it forward”, everyone needs more positive touches in their life. In our current world filled with constant negative news, Ghosting It Forward is an effort to spread some positive touches to neighbors locally or friends virtually. Whether it is an anonymous note of thanks to your neighbor, a bunch of flowers, a bar of chocolate, an inspirational book or movie, or just a smiley face, Ghosting It Forward will energize people who send and receive the positive touches.

To learn more about “Ghosting It Forward” visit CLICK HERE to find instructions and all you will need to get started “Ghosting It Forward”.

There is no need to go hungry while you are surfing the internet looking for auto insurance quotes or getting a jump on your Christmas shopping. Try this guilt free pumpkin smoothie recipe:

15oz can pure pumpkin (chilled)
12oz can fat free evaporated milk (chilled)
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1 sliced banana
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 dozen ice cubes
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Blend everything but the cinnamon in a blender until smooth; sprinkle with cinnamon. This recipe is courtesy of the Libby’s pumpkin website. They have tons of great recipes, lots of which can be altered to make them more healthy options. I am always on the lookout for new recipes to help with my pumpkin cravings. This one hits the spot early in the morning.

I’ve always struggled this time of year! From Oct. to Dec. is when my favorite flavors are out in full force. I LOVE pumpkin! Those Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights are the bomb! Oh and Eddy’s Pumpkin Ice Cream. Mmmmm….But of course good old pumkin pie is the best! Then the Egg Nog comes out! mmmm…I can taste it now. And all of the cute decorated cookies and cakes! I don’t even like cookies and cake that much, but they’re so darn well decorated I can’t help but pick one up now and then! Anyone else suffer from Pumpkin Crave Syndrome?

Our world today is just crazy. Every where you turn prices are skyrocketing. Not only do we have to worry about trimming the fat on our waistlines because of all our indulgences but now we need to trim the fat in our daily lives. I don’t have many vices aside from coffee and gum so I have been looking for ways to cut my bills in anyway I can. If this means rethinking our car insurance needs or switching to energy efficient light bulbs then I am game. What I really wonder about is how people who can’t pay their heating bills will trim the fat? It will be interesting to see how those who smoke heavily or drink a great deal choose to trim the fat in their lives. Will they put on an extra sweater or make a choice that will not only help them live a healthier life but be able to afford the real basics in life.

Whenever we stay at my mother-in-law’s house my skin become a mess. This also happens to my husband. We both look like puberty stricken teenagers after a week at her house. It makes us think the water is the problem. I can’t really think of anything else that would cause of to desperately need acne products the way staying with her does. There is a certain amount of stress that everyone experiences when they are away from home that could contribute to our skin disasters but I really think it is something in the water.