Afternoon at the Beach -- Pacific Northwest Style

I put this on my Facebook page, but I'll stick it here, too. The kids and I spent a fun few hours at Richmond Beach today, just poking around and soaking up the sun. It's such a gorgeous place, even though the water is ice cold and the beach is all rocks and driftwood. Oh, and there were jellyfish right up by the shore today! Here's a few pictures.

"Two Roads Diverged in a Wood..."

I've talked a little here and there about how I've been struggling with my diet lately. My ticker hasn't moved in quite a while, I took off my "public" (In the sense that it's here on my blog; not in the sense that tons of people are studying it.) food journal, I've alluded to having a hard time. Tonight, though, I feel like talking about it a little more.

I'm in a weird place, because I've actually lost most of the weight I need to lose and I look fine. Maybe even...dare I say...good? In any case, I've been in the healthy weight range for quite a long time now. You'd think that would motivate me to press on and conquer that last little bit, but weirdly it did the opposite. It made me lazy. Plus there were a couple other factors: Summer started, changing my schedule during the day quite a bit. I had more free time to get bored and eat. Also, I went through a phase of really needing something different to happen with my work schedule in the evenings. The hours and amount of physical labor were getting to me. (Mike helped me rearrange things and now it's a lot better.) Then there was a horrible PMS cycle in there. Anyway, lots of stuff, but really it boils down to me just not doing what I need to do.

What I'm saying is in a way I'm at a fork in the road. On the one hand, I could realistically quit now. I'm fine as far as my weight and it's not like I'm gaining. I'm hanging on to the loss without much effort. On the other, I don't feel finished. I want to go a little farther and meet my goal. I like that whole "road less traveled by" thing. And it wouldn't take that much more effort. It's just a matter of doing it.

So. Here's what I'm going to do: I'm putting my food journal back up. Whether or not anyone ever looks at it is almost beside the point. It helps me. It makes me feel accountable and consequently I make better choices. Secondly, I'm making a promise to myself right now that I will finish this journey by the end of July. I'll get down to where I want to be...I'll move that darn ticker!!!...and I'll start maintaining. You guys are my witness.

Sue

Not Me Monday

Yeah, it's not Monday. Whatever.

1. The weight loss ticker on my blog has not loitered in the exact same spot for weeks on end now.

2. My 14yo son doesn't have a friend who, whenever he comes over, makes the whole house smell like teen spirit and forces me to have to light candles.

3. Yesterday Drew and Baylee did not get into a fight about whether God is a person, and Drew did not end it by yelling, "He's a freaking spirit in the trinity!"

4. And finally, when Mike went to the Capitol Hill district of Seattle the other day for work stuff, he did not park his car in a parking lot on a little embankment overlooking a side street. And when he got out of the car to pay to park there, a woman and man did not slam out of their house not fifty feet away, fighting and screaming. And most importantly of all, the woman never dreamed of lifting up her shirt, flashing the man, and yelling for him to take one last look at "what he'd never see again" as he drove away in such a hurry he forgot to close the sliding door of his minivan.

Whew! I'm glad none of that actually happened, because that's so not the way we roll around here.

Sue

("Not Me Monday" is a great idea from the mind of MckMama on her blog, my charming kids.)

A Few Quick Pics

Zach's computer was finally delivered and he's so excited about it! He's been messing with it nonstop. This is going to be great for him for a lot of reasons, one of which is homeschooling. As he gets older, more and more of his work is delivered to him via computer, whether that means online information or video classes. Thank you so much, Patty!!!

Isn't he a handsome 14 year old?!

These are my flowers as of yesterday. Look how beautiful they are now that the lilies have opened!

Mike took this picture of me as I was running around getting errands done this weekend. You can see my new summer haircut. I love it!

The view outside the window right in front of my computer. Isn't it lovely?

Sue

Our Anniversary

Today Mike and I celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary and I can honestly say I'm more in love with him now than ever. Looking back to when we were in college...I think he was 19 and I was 20 when we started dating...there's no way we knew what we were really getting ourselves into. Even two years later when he proposed and I accepted, we had no idea. God protected both of us by having a hand in this even when we were young and dumb. I'm so blessed. Mike is the love of my life and my best friend.

And he had flowers delivered to the house today!

Sue

A Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today...June 15, 2009

Outside my window...bumblebees are gathering nectar from the rhododendron.

I am thinking...about how glad I am that my friend Trish just called me from MI. We've known each other since college, got married around the same time, raised kids together, and acted together in church VBS skits. I miss her a lot.

From the learning rooms...nada! It's summer and we're happily killing off brain cells.

I am thankful for...my job, even though it's hard sometimes to get my butt out there and do it. The extra income has been such a blessing.

From the kitchen... tonight's a busy night with Drew's guitar lesson, a WW meeting for me, and my job, so we'll have a simple supper. Deli pizza for the fam, an Amy's frozen dinner for me, some green beans, and cantaloupe.

I am wearing... jean shorts and the same shirt I was wearing last time I did one of these, even though I don't wear it very often.

I am reading...through a box of books sent to me by a friend.

I am hoping... to get my diet back under control this week. Hoping isn't the right word, though. Planning is more like it. I called my sister last night and got the inspiration I needed to get back on track. We made a pact together to both go to our meetings tonight, even though we'd both rather skip, and to plan our day's food the night before. That way all we have to do is stick to what's already been decided.

I am creating...nothing right now, but soon I'll be creating all new bedrooms for 4 out of the 5 of us. It'll be interesting.

Around the house...it's a messy Monday, but in a minute I'll get up and get it all clean again.

One of my favorite things...right now is Wii Fit! I know I'm exercising because I'm sore and it makes me sweat, but it's fun! It feels like play.

A few plans for the rest of the week...Drew has his second guitar lesson this evening (He's practiced so much this week and all without being asked. Hopefully that'll continue.), I have a WW meeting, Tuesday is the clinic, Wednesday Zach has youth group if he wants, Thursday Zach has a check-up at the doctor's office, Friday is Mike and my anniversary (Sixteen years!), and Saturday we have a graduation open house to go to.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Baylee got a summer haircut.

To read the Daybooks of others, join Peggy at her website here.

Sue

Happy 14th Birthday, Zach!

The kids say it's Zach's "golden birthday," because it's on the 14th and he turned 14. He wanted a celebration with family, a spaghetti dinner, a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, and vanilla ice cream. He's an easy kid to please.

As far as presents, what he really wanted more than anything was his own bedroom, so Mike and I thought it over and decided to give up our room for him. He'll move up there, Drew will move into the landing at the top of the stairs (where we've had our schoolroom), and Mike and I will move into what was the boys' room. It'll be a bit of a process, because we want to paint the room we're moving into, but I think it'll good all the way around. Oh, and his other big present is a laptop computer from his grandma. He's a lucky guy this year!

Sue

Wii Are Loving This!

We got a Wii last night, which came with Wii Sports (bowling, baseball, tennis, golf, and boxing), and we bought a Wii Fit for me. The funny thing is we're all loving the Wii Fit! It's fun for everyone down to Baylee. I did it for 30 minutes today and was actually sweating at the end. I do have to say that I kick butt on hula hooping.

Here are Drew and Baylee doing the tree pose in the yoga section. Drew's a natural!

Yay! That's 3 Down, None to Go.

For a long time I thought Baylee might be the one kid I couldn't teach to swim. I couldn't even really start teaching her, because the kid refused to get her face wet. Every time we went to the beach I had to remember her life jacket. Every time we were near a pool I worried about her falling into the deep end. The idea of her going to camp was scary. Then one day, out of the blue, I noticed she didn't seem to mind having her head under the water. Actually, it was when she and I were taking a break from the rides at the Great Wolf Lodge by sitting in one of their hot tubs. So, anyway, I noticed this, and I sort of casually, without high hopes, mentioned to her what to do to turn that into swimming. She started swimming in that hot tub.

For the last couple months I've been taking the kids to the community pool every Friday night, and Baylee has taken off. She can now swim the entire width of the pool! I got a couple videos of her, but I accidentally erased the better one, so here's a short, not-so-great one. lol

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sue

Okay, Mini Break Down Over

Hey, you know what's funny about emotional break downs? You don't usually recognize you're having one until you're on your way out of it. Or at least I didn't this time. I've been sort of losing it for a couple weeks now. I don't want to go into the reason why, because....eh. For one thing it's not that blog worthy. It basically boils down to being over-extended. And for another I just have a hard time sharing real struggles here. I appreciate and respect people who lay all their issues out there for everyone to read, and I can understand how that might be cathartic in its own way, but I just can't. When something truly matters to me, my reaction is almost always to internalize it. It's my good Dutch upbringing, I think. The only reason I'm talking about it now is because I talked about it yesterday. I feel like I need to follow that up. Anyway, today both Mike and my best girlfriend, Melissa, separately helped me see some stuff, there were tears involved (on my part), and now I'm feeling a lot better. Whew.

Two things: One, isn't it interesting how before I really even acknowledged I was having a problem, my diet showed it? It's not a good thing to have my eating so closely connected to my emotions, but there you go. It's something to realize and work on. And two, I thank God for giving me people in my life who love me and in whom I have an emotionally safe place to be me. That's priceless.

Sue

"I'm a Celebrity. Get Me Out of Here!"

Have you seen this show? I don't watch it when it's actually on TV each evening, but I've been catching it on Hulu. I have to say I've found it both thoroughly entertaining and completely horrifying at the same time. As a Christian, the "Jesus show" Heidi and Spencer put on is so embarrassing. And then there's the diva behavior from a few of the celebrities. Wow.

So this morning I was feeling sorry for myself. I was thinking about how much cleaning I do in my life now between taking care of my own home and then cleaning those buildings at night. I was thinking about how I'm really sick of Weight Watchers to the point where I've let a week go by and I haven't had one good day. I've barely even tried. Consequently I've gained 4 pounds. I can and will get it back off again, but ugh. The scary thing is that when I did WW six years ago, this exact thing happened: I was in the program for several months, lost the weight, became a lifetime member, then June came and I fell off the wagon hard. Only that time it was permanent. Besides the WW and the cleaning, I was thinking that I'm tired of all the different social events that have to be attended all the time. I'm a hermit at heart. I want to be left to my own devices. Also, as long as I'm complaining, I'm tired of kids. They're always around, always needing.

So I was vacuuming my house and realizing I'm going to have to mop, too, because someone spilled I Can't Believe It's Not Butter all over the kitchen floor and it's a disgusting, slippery mess, and I was feeling pretty close to tears, when it hit me that in a lot of ways I'm acting like Heidi and Spencer. I think the world owes me something. After all, I'm a stay-at-home mom, I work hard, blah blah blah. Poor me. I like the extra money from my evening job, but I don't like the actual day-to-day grind of it. Waa, waa. Who does? I like fitting into these cute little clothes, but I don't actually like telling myself "no" to gluttony. I love being a mom, but I don't always like what that means and the amount of patience it requires. I want my cake and I want to eat it, too. Literally.

I need to get over myself.

Sue

Doing What He Loves

Not Me Monday

I was browsing the web this morning and I found something so funny. It's called "Not Me Monday" and it was started by MckMama over on her blog, my charming kids. Here's what she says about it:

My blog carnival, Not Me! Monday, has given me something fun to look forward to on the first day of each week...sharing my imperfections while pretending I actually am perfect...and checking out all of your blogs as you do the same. Because, seriously, none of us are perfect, so we may as well revel in our imperfections while amongst good company!

I knew I had to take part.

1. I'd never post this on a day other than Monday. I mean, geez. That would be totally breaking the rules!

2. I'd NEVER let Baylee do a science experiment on sound by filling some of Daddy's empty beer bottles with different levels of water and then blowing into them. Especially since the science curriculum she's using is an extremely conservative Christian one. Oh, and then I'd absolutely never take a picture of her, thinking it was hilarious.

3. I wouldn't be caught dead telling one of my kids to just wash the huge booger on their face off in the community pool.

4. When I was cleaning a bedroom, I never found a dried out gummy worm in a child's underwear drawer or underwear in their toybox.

5. No, my 13 year old doesn't drink coffee. What do you take me for?

6. And last but not least, we do not, under any circumstances, live in a neighborhood where the people a couple houses down have a yard that's two feet high and completely filled with dandelions. Furthermore, I never snuck down the street to take a picture and made Baylee come with me so it would look like I was actually taking a picture of her. Because I wouldn't do that.

Join in! Tell all the things you'd never do!

Sue

A Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today...June 3, 2009

Outside my window...it's incredibly beautiful outside, with amazing weather in the 80s for days on end. It's sunny with a gentle breeze and no humidity. I know June will most likely be dreary and rainy, so I'm enjoying this while it lasts. (Yes, I'm Eeyore.)

I am thinking...about how much I wish this week was over. I got all the kids' standardized tests in the mail (CAT-5 Complete Battery, for those of you who might be interested.) and so I decided on the spur-of-the-moment on Monday morning to go ahead and administer them and then be done for the school year. Ugh, though. It's not hard, it's just very, very time consuming to do this with 3 kids. And then there's the occasional meltdown. Baylee had one over subtraction yesterday; Zach had one over the "Study Skills" section this morning. The hard thing is I can't help them, except to encourage them to read the instructions again and think about what's being asked. Oh well. Soon it will be over.

I am thankful for...our local Goodwill. I swear that place is a gold mine of really nice clothes!

From the learning rooms...like I said, the testing. Then blessed freedom!

From the kitchen...it's lunchtime. Baylee and Drew made themselves melted cheese tortilla wraps, Zach hasn't eaten yet. Tonight for supper I think grilled chicken is on the agenda.

I am wearing...jean shorts and a red Ralph Lauren t-shirt with an American flag on it. (I told you Goodwill is awesome!)

I am creating...drawers of summer clothes for the kids. We're doing the switch over, putting away the winter stuff and getting out the shorts and t-shirts. Also, Mike's been working outside, creating a nice front yard with bark and flowers.

I am going...to be trained in a new building for my job tonight. It's to replace the dentist office that I was doing. I'll have the same number of hours, but a little bit easier evening schedule.

I am reading...I'm still reading Goodbye Ms. Chips, and enjoying it.

I am hoping...and praying that my dad finds a job soon. He lost his job due to the economy in Michigan.

I am hearing...Full House on the TV in the living room.

Around the house...It's neat and pretty quiet.

One of my favorite things...seeing how much Mike is loving bike riding. It's cool to watch him really get into a hobby like that.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Kid exchange this afternoon, youth group tonight if Zach wants to go (We let him choose after the other kids are finished with Awana for the year.), Drew and Baylee have physicals tomorrow morning, and we're going swimming as usual on Friday evening. Also, Drew starts guitar lessons on Monday!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

To read the Daybooks of others, join Peggy at her site here.

Sue