Diets stink, Wii works and not much happened today!

Good evening...!! ( to be said in odd Wii chap voice whilst wobbling your head slightly and not quite syncing your lips...!! ) LOL!! ;D So.. remember I mentioned, weeks and weeks ago ( ok, probably only a couple of days ago, but it SEEMS like weeks ago ) that I am going to go on the Shredded Diet with Lisa as I am not signing up for the boot camp??? Yeah. Well I'm such a good friend! Rex assured me that "Men wouldn't do that!" He's probably right, but it's nice to have some moral support when you are trying to give up eating everything you love. I don't need to lose a lot of weight, 5 lbs would be nice, but this diet is really about portion control ( which I don't do well apparently! ) eating healthy food regularly, and skipping the candy, chocolate, pasta, breads... you know, anything you really FEEL like eating. It's a challenge, folks! :D On the plus side I am eating a LOT more vegetables which can only be good for me AND I am hoping to break my sugar cravings... or at least knock them about a bit!?!?! :D

Anyhoo... I also said I was going to try and work out every day this month ... and....I have so far!! ( I've just checked my planner and about died when I realised it's only the 6th !! !LOL!! Ah well..!!! 6 days down eh?!!? :D ) I really have to exercise as Lisa is doing this kick ass boot camp and she will slaughter me when we get out (finally) on the bike trails!! Her endurance is going to be phenomenal and mine...??? meh....!! ;D SO anyway, I'm growing closer to my Wii guy. He's starting to know my foibles and scolds me should I accidentally put my foot down or if my legs shake too much. He knows I don't go to bed early enough and he guilt trips me about my stomach muscles. Man, that thing is good! ;D

Other than wondering when and what I could eat next, knitting a whopping TWO rows on my dishcloth, tidying the house a little bit, but not nearly enough, NOT doing ANY work ( !! ) and watching the kiddies play out in the snow, not much happened today! It was a quiet slow sort of day. The snow is starting to melt and so is wet and drippy everywhere. I love the snow and I love the sun, it's the in between stuff I can't stand!

Well it's awful quiet upstairs so I'm going to guess that Rex has fallen asleep whilst putting Jack to bed! It's easily done!! I'm going to go wake him up and maybe knit another row!!! WOW!! The lives of the rich and famous eh?!! :D

A reasonable day, a cat on the lap and a bird in the hand.

Well! Today was better! ;D **breathes sigh of relief!** It wasn't PERFECT by any means, in fact my Facebook status today read "It's like the Lord Of The Flies over here..." meaning as I was working and basically leaving the children to their own devices ( which to me means they read quietly and absorb historical facts, humorous trivia or various math theorems ) they were busy finding ways to drive each other crazy and then simultaneously beat on each other whilst screaming "MOMMMMMM" at the top of their lungs. Lovely. This time however I dealt with it a little better than yesterday... I shut myself under the stairs. I didn't. Not really. I wish I had, but no, I tried to reason with them and then sent them to their rooms. Happily the day passed fairly quickly, I was able to chat on the phone to friends and once Daddy came home the switches flicked and the children became little darlings once again. USUALLY they go batshit when Daddy gets home but their wires must have become crossed!!! Ah well!! I think we could all use some sunshine soon!! Poor kiddoes. I can't keep working like this, it's really not fair on them. When I pay them any attention whatsoever they really become good children. This weekend I'm determined to try an experiment to find DNA and also to work on probability from Risa's blog. That will make me feel a little better anyway!

So not only do I have the children who need my attention, I'm obviously failing my pets too.... !! 'D Herman sees me sitting at the computer and knows I'll be there for hours. He never seems to want to sit on me when I'm on the couch as he knows I'll be up and down all night, but at the computer, why his luck is in! ;D

Here are some photos of my lap and it's occupant! ; D









whilst looking out the window at the fresh snow (!!!) this afternoon Jessie suddenly gasped and sounded horrified. A bird!! A bird in the snow!!... only this poor bird looked like it had taken a crash landing and was beak first in the snow with it drifting up over it's back. It's wings were out akimbo and it looked like it might be trying to make snow angels... Dead, I thought. Yup. A Goner. Nevertheless I thought it might be interesting viewing for the children as it was a Downy Woodpecker and we don't get to see them up close very often so I donned boots and gloves and headed outdoors. I went out to gently scoop him up... and he was alive! I held him gently and stroked his back talking calmly to him and he sat happily in my hand. The children watched out the window and Jessie took a couple of pictures...







After a while I took him over to our spruce tree and he flew up into the shelter of the branches. It was a very special treat! We got some more suet this evening and will put it up tomorrow and see if he comes back to say howdy! ;D

A rough start, some friends stop by and The Mentalist whilst knitting.

Today Jack gave me fits! First thing.... ok... I should rephrase that.... rather early in the....ok... about 9ish this morning he decided to just be a royal pain in the ass and start beating on his sister for no good reason that I could see. I suppose there shouldn't EVER be a good reason to beat on your sister, but in small children sometimes the lines are a bit more blurry...!! Anyhoo... he was a pill and I handled it.. poorly. Yes yes... I did not do my best, I did not stop and think, I did not pull out any tools, recite any rhymes, use a sing song voice, distract, placate... nothing. I yelled. And when that didn't work I threatened and when THAT didn't work I smacked his butt. *** hangs head for shame and sighs *** This is where I have come, folks. The one parenting "tool" I abhor. The one thing I swore I wouldn't do to my children.... and what does it take? I could try and explain myself, come up with a dozen reasons why I was at my wits end and I'd tried everything else... but excuses excuses... I still did it. Ugh. I will say I didn't lay into him, I didn't whack him ... but still. I went upstairs with him, talked to him, got him dressed and explained that he should stay and play in his room until he felt ready to be a nicer boy and until he was ready to apologise and make friends with Jessie. He did come down after about 15 minutes and was in a much friendlier mood, even going so far as to offer Jessie his new "swissyfying glass" "to look closer at things...." !!! For the rest of the day he was his normal nice kid self. I don't know what demon had possessed him this morning, I really don't. Anyway. Let's draw a line under THAT mess and move on. Please.
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Thanks!

So, the rest of the day improved rapidly when our friends Mary, Charlotte and Will came over to play! I wasn't sure whether they would be coming today as the weather was set to turn foul and I couldn't get to my computer since Jack was on it so missed their message letting me know they were on their way. So, naturally, not knowing for sure if anyone was coming over I did the sensible thing.... nothing at all. I did NOT clean my kitchen, tidy the table, vacuum the floors or run the laundry.... uh huh.. "just in case" is clearly not the way I am programmed!!! Happily Mary pretended she didn't notice the mess and we sat drinking tea, knitting and watching the feather sized snow flakes tumble from the sky. Jessie was thrilled that the kids came to play and her overall demeanor changed noticeably. She needs to see more of them, they are good for her soul! ;D

Rex ran something of a rescue mission after work, helping out a friend who had got himself ( and his 3 year old daughter ) stuck in a ditch thanks to the treacherous roads. They came to our house until his gorgeous wife could come and pick them up. Once they had set off back home we had a quick dinner, got the kiddoes into bed and hubster and I sat and watched The Mentalist. I really enjoy that show! I'm working on my second dishcloth which is coming along nicely and is going to be pretty fancy I think... provided the instructions don't send me cross eyed before I'm finished!! I'll post pictures when I'm done, but hey, don't hold your breath.....!! "}

Night all! ; D

Homemade muffins, a stuntman in the making and a new dishcloth to boot!

One thing I don't enjoy so much is starting the day watching my 7 year old son ride his bicycle head first down the stairs. Yep. NOT fun.... (He's fine, just broke his glasses which we managed to fix!!!) however things I DO enjoy include having a little girl who is big enough to make Vegan Chocolate Muffins ALL BY HERSELF!! Not a BIT of help from me!!! YEAHY!!! Oh man I'm so happy about that!! ;D












And they were SOOOOO good!!! Especially gooey and warm out the oven when the chocolate chips were just melty and delicious!!! YUM!!!

And look! I had time to finish a project today!! Behold!!! Dishcloth Number One...!! ;D




The trouble is, I'm not going to want to use it..... I won't want it to get dirty....!!! ;D

We went to visit Lisa this evening and she told me all about the Boot Camp she is going to... Sounds a bit like hell to me, but I told her she had my full support!! I'm going to try and do the required diet along with her but I'm going to exercise on the Wii for a month and we'll see who has the best results...!! I'm thinking SHE will, but I will still be able to walk down the stairs when I'm finished!! ;P

I haven't done my required exercise yet today so ...off I go....!! ;D

Workman's comp! ;D

Yesterday...yes, folks, this is what I should have written yesterday but I couldn't keep my eyes open.....!! Anyway...!! Yesterday hubby came home with a pretty nice entertainment center which had been destined for the trash. He'd had to disassemble it to get it home and he and Jack spent an hour or so putting it back together last night! I love to see the children helping out and Jack really enjoys doing it. He's always asking "Me help you??!!" even when it's horribly inconvenient and it would be MUCH faster to simply do it yourself.... but how can you resist such a sweet request! A person DOES have to be in the right mood to allow small children to help ... it can be a job in and of itself! Anyway, Jack got to help build. He was so excited and what Daddy gave him the hammer and let him pull out and later hammer in nails! Well!! Pleased as punch he was! He kept working really hard to get the nails in just right and you'd hear him say under his breath "I LOVE helping..." !!! What a star!





















Of course today he's been something of a ratbag, mostly due to my working again and leaving him to his own devices throughout the day. I can't believe how much I miss "Just" homeschooling, housekeeping and parenting. I really enjoy days where I feel we have done some good Book Larnin' !! ... Is it just me or does everyone wish for more hours in the day!!!!?? Actually,6 more hours overnight would be WONDERFUL for me. Maybe I'll start a petition!! Can I count on your support??!!;D

Manic Monday! :D

Actually today wasn't too bad at all. It seems like nothing very much got done despite it being a seemingly busy day. Jack did tell me he didn't like to be "Ayown" when he was playing in his room which I thought was very sweet! Jessie spent some time on more logic puzzles, reading in her room or playing with Jack and I spent a lot of time working. (Not enough though, clearly, as here I sit, working, at one o'clock in the morning.) I'm literally falling asleep though so I will go to bed now and get up early to finish my work. I'll also write a little more on this blog post and add some lovely pictures of Jack helping Daddy build!! SWEET!! Until then folks, it's goodnight from me, and it's goodnight from him! ; D

Slooooow Sunday....!

Apart from starting the day baking delicious Fruity Fruit Bars ( Blueberry ) from my La Dolce Vegan cookbook the morning started out kind of slowly! We then went to the hospital to visit Rex's mum who is there with suspected Gall Bladder complications ( which seem to have been sorted out, fingers crossed! ) Whilst we waited ( and waited ) for Daddy to talk to the doctor the children and I hung out in the waiting area. Jessie had fortunately brought along a purse with two books in .... Twilight was one and A Wrinkle in Time was the other. We'd not managed to get much read last night as Jack was being antsy, so we used our waiting time to catch up on the story! Once we'd seen Grandma we went for some Tacos then drove around and ran some errands. I used that time to work on my knitting.... making a dishcloth!! I am planning on making several so I can practice various stitches! Once home it was already time to make dinner ( Florentine Style Manicotti..! ) It wasn't bad but needed something I think ( PROBABLY CHEESE!! ;D ) We all sat and watched The Hardy Boys on the Retro TV channel and I knitted some more! Then it was bed time, cuddle time, sit on the bed and chat with Jessie time ( and there's never enough time for that...) and now, here I am ready to watch a movie with hubby. ( for "watch a movie" read "no doubt fall asleep in front of a movie"...!! Ah well... I'm sure a little CHOCOLATE will help.... Vegan, of course..! ;D