A Commercial I Hate

We have Xfinity, which means quite a few shows are stored in the TV for us to watch if and when we want.  (I know that's totally not the right way to say it, but whatever.  You get what I mean.)  The only problem is that when you watch one of those shows you have to suffer through the same couple commercials over and over and over, and quite often fast forwarding is disabled.  One of the commercials that often plays is an advertisement for FedEx.  I HATE it.  Honestly, from the first time I saw it I was annoyed, and it's only gotten worse with more viewings.

In the commercial a mom is planning a birthday party for her son, who's turning thirteen and happens to be off at a soccer tournament.  She buys balloons and food and decorations, and then she buys a guitar online and instructs FedEx to deliver it to their house in time for the big day.  Well, the tournament goes longer than planned because of rain, so you'd think the party would have to be postponed, but nope.  The mom, in a I-would-bend-over-backwards-for-my-child-and-I'm-kind-of-a-jerk-about-it-too voice, says, "Birthdays are on birthdays!"  And so she reroutes the guitar so that FedEx shows up at the tournament, she puts all the balloons and stuff in the car, and she brings the party to her kid on the soccer field sidelines.

Now I ask you:  Is that not the worst commercial ever?  It's everything that's wrong with parents these days in a nutshell.  Would it have killed that kid to be given the guitar the next day, even though it wasn't his official birthday?  Heck, he could've even had that party a week later...or never!  How's he ever going to learn that sometimes things don't go exactly as planned?  How's he going to learn to be gracious and patient?  It's just stupid.

On the bright side, apparently FedEx allows you to reroute.

Monday

Happy Memorial Day!

It feels good to be home, just hanging out as a family today.  Mike and Zach have been doing yard work outside, Baylee and I went to the grocery store to replenish our empty cupboards and refrigerator, and pretty soon I'm going to clean the house.  (Drew went to Seattle University to visit friends.  He'll be back this afternoon.)  I like days where lots gets accomplished.

Last night Rachel was here for a sleepover.  The girls ate a bunch of junk food and watched reality TV.

Oh, and I finally got some picture frames, so that I could get Drew's senior pictures put up in the house.  You know how as a parent you're supposed to have your kids' pictures taken yearly, and then you hang them on the wall or whatever?  Well, it's really weird that two out of the my three kids have senior pictures up on the wall now, and that means the current-picture-of-my-growing-child thing is over for them.  They're at the last stop on the train, so to speak.

On the piano...

In the hallway...

Weekend

All five of us went to Leavenworth and spent the weekend with our friends the Jameses.  It was a lot of fun!

• We left on Friday, but Zach had to work, so he came later in the evening on his motorcycle.  He drove it 1) over the mountains 2) at night 3) in a rain storm.  Yes, it's very good I didn't know about the rain until after he arrived, soaking wet.  I was already worried enough as it was.
• We all saw the James' new house for the first time.  They built it over a lot of last year and moved into it in January of this year.  It's beautiful!
• On Saturday afternoon we went into town, because, you know, it's Leavenworth.  We got bratwursts.

•  We had a campfire and s'mores on Saturday evening.

• Some of the kids had an impromptu sing-along, which I wish I would've gotten on video, but I didn't.  Drew played the guitar and Bonnie, Baylee, and Bryce sang.  The song was "All-Star" by Smashmouth. 
• Zach got a tick.  It was buried in his arm really deeply, and Todd got it out by heating it up with hot tweezers until it started to back out of the hole it was in, and then by grabbing it and pulling.  It was disgusting.
• We went to their church (Todd's the pastor) and had a nice Sunday morning over there.
• Most of all, we spent the weekend hanging out, catching up, eating, and laughing.  It was great.

Thursday

I've been talking about school a ton lately, but that's because Baylee is in the home stretch and it's exciting!  You know how sometimes things seem to wind down sort of gently?  Well, this year isn't like that.  It seems like all her subjects are throwing all kinds of stuff at her at the very end.  For instance, she's had to write three essays over the last two days.  She's getting it all done, though.  I'm proud of her.

Zach's finger is still gross and throbbing, but he'll be okay.  I mentioned that part of it was detached and jammed down into the skin during the accident, so the doctor removed that.  I think the rest of the nail will eventually fall off on its own.  Anyway, I haven't seen the wound at all.  I don't want to.

Gross News of the Day

Today at the bike shop Zach was running one of the machines, and he got his finger too close to some sort of mechanism and it got...not sucked in exactly...but kinda caught.  He pulled his finger out of there, but not before the machine put a big gash in the nail bed and destroyed the nail.  He had to go to Urgent Care to have a piece of the nail that got jammed down into the skin removed, and then to have the gash closed with glue and the whole thing wrapped in a bandage.

On the bright side, this is the first time one of my kids had an emergency that I didn't have to be involved in.  Zach took care of the whole thing, driving himself to the doctor, filling out the paperwork, etc.  I did help a little, though.  I said things like, "Man, you're lucky you didn't lose your finger!  You need to be careful from now on!  Poor guy!  You should elevate that."

So how was your day?  lol

Blah

Man, I'm struggling with this cold.  It's become a sinus pressure/cough/weird-underwater-feeling-in-my-ears kind of thing.  And I get tired easily.  This morning I got up at my usual time, sat at the table and felt like death for a few minutes, then decided to call off school and go back to bed.  (Baylee was very happy.)  We'll make up for it by working on Memorial Day, I guess.  :/

Weekend

Man, I feel like the weekend should be over, and it just started.

• First of all, I have a cold...the kind where all my head orifices are leaking.  Well, okay, just my nose and eyes.  And I have a sore throat.  And a fever.  So yeah. 
• Second, Baylee went paintballing for the first time yesterday evening, and she had a horrible time.  I tried to tell her.  I was like, "Honey, from what I've heard it really hurts when you get hit.  Like, you bruise.  Even big, teenage guys think it's painful."  She had to learn the hard way, though, and now she's got raised, red, circular welts all over her body.
• Third, Morrow had a gig about twenty miles away last night.  They got to be the last band who played, which is the prime spot, because you get the most time.  And they did well!  Drew said that one of the teachers from the SoR came to see them, and afterwards he told Drew he was blown away.  So that's nice!  The bad part was that the Metro bus blew right by Drew when he was standing at the bus stop at midnight with his guitar slung over his back, trying to get home.  He ended up sending me some desperate texts to the effect of, "Help!  I'm stranded!" I happened to be on my way to pick Baylee up at the time*, so I quickly got her, and then the two of us went to rescue him.  From there we went to McDonald's at about 1am, because it was necessary to our well-being.  (PS:  When he first got in the car, Drew said, "That's it!  I'm getting my license!"  lol  He hasn't made that a priority at all, partly because he's busy, and partly because he's been able to get all over the place using buses.  He's obviously becoming more and more sick of it, though.)

Hopefully the rest of the weekend is quiet.  I need it.


*Normally she's not out that late, but this was a special occasion.  A big group of friends was invited to someone's house for pizza, then they all went paintballing.  Their time slot was 8-10pm, but the place was about an hour away.  By the time they were all back at the original kid's house, it was about midnight.

School Stuff

Baylee is gonna finish French 2 tomorrow!!!  So here's the timeline to freedom:

• Already Finished:  World Geography
• Will be Finished Tomorrow:  French 2
• Will be Finished by Next Friday:  English 1, Biology, and Bible
• Will be Finished by June 10:  Algebra 1 and Baylee's 9th grade standardized testing
• Will Never be Finished and Will Probably Only Get Worse Busier:  Music

Even though it's a bummer that we won't be officially done until June 10, that's still miles ahead of the Seattle public schools.  Those are running until June 24.  For real.

School

I talked to the advisor over at South Ridge today about Baylee's classes for next school year.  I always have to do that, just to make sure I have their permission for everything.  Usually they're very flexible, but this time the advisor put the kibosh on my plans.  Here's what I was planning:

English 2 (through South Ridge)
Geometry (through South Ridge)
Physical Science (through South Ridge)
World History (not through SR)
Old Testament Survey (not through SR)
French 3 (not through SR)
Music (not through SR)

Can you look at that and guess what her problem with it was?  lol  Yeah, not enough classes from the actual school.  She told me that students have to be enrolled in at least 4 classes from them, so I decided that Baylee will do South Ridge's World History course, and that solved it.

(In case you're wondering, she'll still get credit for the non-South Ridge stuff.  They just handle the paperwork for it differently...there's a lot more of it.)

It feels a little weird to be this on top of things!  I usually don't have that conversation with the school until July or so.  Normally I'm too burned out to even think about it until then.  This year has been different, though.  I'm ready to be finished, but I'm not a burned-out husk yet.  All the credit for that goes to the fact that I now only have one student, and she's motivated.

Tuesday

Today I was addressing graduation announcement envelopes, and it brought to mind a lesson I learned way back when Mike and I were sending out our wedding invitations.  It's this:  Don't send them in batches.  Do send them all at once.  Do you know why?  It's because people compare notes, and if one person got one and another didn't yet, then the one who didn't sometimes assumes that she's not getting one at all, and her feelings get hurt.

I learned that the hard way.  Way back when we were engaged, Mike and I were at my parents' house taking care of a bunch of wedding invitations one weekend, only we didn't quite get to them all.  I think we figured we'd do the rest the next weekend or something.  Well, about three days after that first bunch went out my grandma's phone started ringing.  My old, Dutch great-aunts were mad as hornets, because they figured they hadn't been invited.  My poor grandma had to reassure them that of course they were invited, and that their invitations were coming very soon.  So you see?  If you send things like that all at once, you save yourself the drama.

Separate but sort of related memory:  One of those aunts was named Aunt Gert, and she was married to a man named Uncle Jerry.  He was the nicest guy.  He was tall and had snowy white hair, and he taught me how to tie my shoes when nobody else could.  He also had a trick he would do where he would lift a kid up "by the ears."  He wasn't actually lifting them by the ears, of course.  I think he would grab a kid's ears, but support their head and shoulders with his forearms as he lifted them off the ground.  He could also make quarters appear out of thin air.  He was everything a great-uncle should be.

Monday

Baylee and I were gearing up for another really productive school week, but last night, in the middle of the night, she came into my room and said her throat hurt so badly that she could barely swallow.  That means a day of Ibuprofen and rest for her, and a day of deep cleaning the house for me.  (It needs it, and I have time now.)  I'm a little bummed, to be honest, because we're coming up on the end of some of her school subjects, and now that'll be put off at least another day.  The plan was for her to completely finish both French and Biology this week.  Oh well.

Drew went to the college today to ask his advisor how he should spend the next month before his summer class starts.*  I think he wants to try to take the Compass test somewhere in that time frame.  The Compass test is a placement test many colleges require upon entrance, that lets the school know where to start a student in math and language arts classes.  I'm not sure what the advisor advised him, as he's not home yet.

That's about all I have today.  It's kinda blah, both inside and out around here.

*By that I mean that pre-college class everyone in his program is required to take.  He's signed up to do it starting near the end of June.  It's an 8-week course that meets Monday through Friday for 4 hours a day.

Scary

We had something scary happen today.  Drew was in the Capitol Hill part of Seattle, coming home from Seattle University, where he was visiting a friend.  He was walking down the sidewalk with headphones on, on his way to the bus stop, when a homeless man asked him if he had a cigarette.  Drew didn't hear him because of the headphones, so he kept walking.  Suddenly the homeless guy came up behind him and punched him in the spot where your neck and shoulder meet.  Drew spun around, not knowing what in the world was happening.  The homeless guy said, "You better answer me when I'm talking to you!  I asked you if you have a cigarette!"

Drew was like, "I had headphones on!  I didn't even hear you!  And I don't have a cigarette!"  Then he got out of there quickly.

Anyway, he's okay.  He said it was more shocking than painful...although it was pretty painful.  Mike and I were both upset about it, probably more so than Drew.  I gave him another talk (I give this talk to both him and Baylee on a regular basis) about not having your music on so loud that you aren't aware of what's going on around you.  Maybe now he'll take that to heart. 

Friday

Today FB reminded me of this picture, which I posted exactly 6 years ago.  Baylee was 8 years old.

She's grown up a lot since then!  Here's a picture of her that was taken just yesterday.

It's weird that we've been living in this house and in this neighborhood long enough for there to be that much change, isn't it?  In some ways it seems like we just got here.

Remember when Zach failed his motorcycle driving test?  Well, the way he handled that was to go out and buy his own motorcycle, and then practice with it.  He was able to do that because he had passed the written test, which meant he had a learner's permit.  He could ride for 90 days as long as 1) he had no passengers and 2) it was daytime.  He took full advantage of that.  He rode his bike everywhere he could for the last couple months, even taking it on a couple longer road trips to and around Camano Island.  Finally today he went back to Evergreen Motorcycle Training and retook the driving test, and he passed it, no problem.  So now he's official!   

Thursday

Drew took and passed the history section today, so that means he's officially done with the GED part of this whole program he's going through!  It was a great experience.  It was optional.  He could've skipped over it and gone right into the  pre-college class, then started actual college.  I'm so glad he didn't skip it, though.  It turned out to be excellent for him.

Here's something I never mentioned:  The last couple years of teaching Drew at home were rough.  The problem was that I lost his interest.  I lost the ability to motivate him.  He went from being a quick, happy student to being someone who was vaguely unhappy and not working up to his full potential.  He was still a nice kid, but he was apathetic.  He was just putting in the time.

That all set the stage, so that when we discovered the program at Shoreline Community College, we were ready and willing to drop everything and get him into it.  Right off the bat, from day one, his attitude did a 180-degree turn-around.   It was like a light switch was flipped on.  He went back to being happy, motivated, bright, and quick.  Those people running things over there were able to do what I couldn't anymore, which was bring out the best in him.   Honestly, it was amazing for me to watch. 

So, like I said, I'm happy.  Getting a GED was never in my plans for him, but it worked out perfectly.  And bonus:  In the three and a half months it took him, he got a review of all of high school.  That's valuable!  It means everything will be fresh when he starts college.

Another bonus:  Once he's finished with everything he'll walk away with a transferable Associate degree (which means he can go on to get his Bachelor somewhere else) and a high school diploma.  It'll be like a retroactive diploma.

Maybe you're wondering if, since he struggled with homeschooling the last couple years, I feel like I failed.  The answer is, no, not really, but I wish I would've lifted my head up from the trenches sooner and realized how badly he needed something different.  I guess that would be my biggest piece of advice for other homeschoolers:  Don't think that homeschooling is the be-all, end-all answer forever.  It might not be, and that's okay.

In totally other news, today Baylee was talking about someone on TV who had a split personality, and she said, "He had one of those Lewis and Clark situations going on."

I was like, "Uhh...I think you mean Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

"Oh, yeah!"

Sigh.  Now maybe you're really wondering if I feel like a homeschool failure.  LOL

Wednesday

Today Drew happened to get home from school right as Baylee and I were talking through her Biology lesson.  Specifically, we were discussing human reproduction.  Drew wandered over, sat down at the dining room table with us, and said, "You know, it's pretty amazing if you think about it.  Everyone on earth started out as one sperm out of millions, and that one sperm made it to the egg first."

I pondered that for a second, then said, "That means that everyone in the world is a winner!"

"They were at least once anyway," Drew replied.  "Some people peaked at conception."

Homeschoolers

Homeschool moms, as a whole, sometimes drive me crazy.  They can be very rigid in their thinking, and they like to play the devil's advocate even when they don't have a leg to stand on.  This morning I got into conversation on a private Facebook group for homeschoolers who use the same Christian curriculum.

It started because I said, "One thing that I really wish the publisher would update in 9th grade English is the section on using the library.  The curriculum spends a lot of time explaining the card catalog and having the student make different kinds of cards...subject, title, and author...and what use is that nowadays? Card catalogs are obsolete."

Now doesn't that seem like a very solid point-of-view that can't be argued with?  Well, it wasn't.  I mean, a lot of people agreed, but a few jumped all over me for apparently discounting the value of the Dewey decimal system.  They said things like, "It's still important to know the DDS because that's still how books are put on the shelves. We can use computers all day long, but at the end of the day if you don't know what that computer is telling you, then you still can't find the book."

So I replied, "Yeah, but that's separate from what I'm talking about. The course teaches about the Dewey decimal system before it talks about card catalogs, and I had no problem with that part. It is important."

Again somebody challenged me, so again I responded with, "There's no way on earth that teaching about card catalogs is something we should still be doing. It just isn't. It simply doesn't work that way anymore. The curriculum should discuss the Dewey decimal system, and then use that to explain how computers in libraries generally work.  I'm not trying to argue with you. It's just that technology has moved far past what is being taught in this instance."

Then someone pulled out the big guns on me.  "I find your post so sad.  [frowny face]  If computers ever stopped working, most people would be so clueless."

Really???  We're going there now?  I said, "A card catalog and a computer are essentially the same thing in this case: a way to organize information. I don't think it's a bad thing to trade in one organizational method for another, and I'll take my chances that a doomsday with no access to technology isn't on the horizon."

Finally, that same woman played the Jesus card.  "I guess that's what it boils down to," she said.  "I'm more about, 'Jesus is gonna shake this world up and we better be ready to be self-sustainable.'"

"Well, in that case," I answered, "we'll probably have other things to worry about than whether or not our kids have a good understanding of the Dewey decimal system."

Sigh.  In summary, my innocent post about card catalogs turned into someone else's plug for doomsday prepping.  #OnlyOnAHomeschoolForum

Tuesday

A text conversation between Mike and me yesterday...

Mike:  You ok?

Me:  Eh.

Mike:  What would make it better?

Me:  I don't know.  I'm fine.

Mike:  That's code for "I'm fighting off the grumpies."

Me:  Not fighting off.  Just allowing it to happen and not trying to self-medicate with food.  Not that I'm against that.  lol  It's just that I don't want to go backwards on the scale.

------------------------------------

I wasn't going to talk about my diet until I had something amazing to share with you guys, like, "I lost twenty-five pounds!" but the diet is becoming a big part of my life, and it feels weird to not say anything for that long, so I guess I'll be my usual gabby self about it.  (Wow, that was a super long sentence!) 

Even though I "started" Slimfast in April, I screwed around with it so much and had so many false starts that I basically didn't get anywhere.  Then on May first I decided enough was enough, and I started for real.  That means this is day 10 for me with NO CHEATING!!!  You can't imagine how much of a victory that is!  And every day that I do this, it gets easier to continue.  I'm building up my perseverance.

The pounds are coming off!  Last week (week one) I lost 7.2.  I know it won't be that much every week, of course, but it was nice just that once.

Should I put a weight-loss ticker on here?  I'm tempted to, but that would announce just how much I have to lose.  Hmm.

On a completely different note, I took this picture of the cat sleeping in a basket.

Mother's Day

Yesterday was a nice Mother's Day.  This is probably weird, but what I wanted more than anything was to be left alone.  LOL  For real, though.  I just wanted to spend the day puttering around by myself.  And I did!  Mike and Zach went to the peninsula to spend the day with Patty, visiting and having dinner with her at Anthony's in Bremerton; Drew was recording with Morrow at the college; and Baylee babysat for several hours.  It was great to have total quiet.

My family did get me some nice gifts, though.  Mike gave me these beautiful roses...

...and Zach gave me two fancy chocolate bars and a card that he wrote some really nice words in.  I loved it all.

Pics

Yesterday all these pictures were on social media and my kids were tagged in them, which means I got to see them, too.

The guy Drew's with is a friend of his named Orion, like the constellation, and he's a student at Seattle University.  Is it me or is it really creepy that they're being photobombed by Darth Vader?

Remember how I told you that Baylee is in a group of friends that's becoming pretty inseparable?  This is them.  From left to right:  Lucas, Max, Baylee, and Mira

And here's another picture.  They all made it into house band, so they'll get to hang out together even more than they do now.  Max plays bass, Lucas plays guitar, Baylee plays drums, and Mira sings.

School Stuff

It's a good thing Baylee finished learning about sentence diagramming in English for the year, because she was totally sick of it.  Yesterday, which was her last day with it, she was doing sentences like this.  (I found this on the internet.  She didn't do this exact one, but ones much like it or a little harder.)

Her attitude by the end of about six of them was so bad that I ended up saying, "Okay, that's strike one.  It should be strike fifteen."  Sigh.  I suppose I can understand that diagramming isn't for everyone, but, honestly, what's not to enjoy???  It's fun!

Speaking of school, Drew passed the math part of the GED yesterday!  That was the "big guns" of it all, the part people have to study the hardest for.  It's an hour and a half long and it covers algebra 1, algebra 2, and geometry.  I'm glad he's done with it.  Now he's just got one part to go:  history.  

Friday

I mentioned the other day that Drew is taking a class at the school right now on how to get a job.  The final project in the course was for each of the students to take everything they learned and go out and interview somewhere.  Drew chose Starbucks, he had his interview yesterday morning, and he actually got the job.  Is it me or is that crazy and kind of wonderful?  I mean, he took a class and got a real job out of it!

I received the disk with all the pictures on it from the photographer, so I was able to make graduation announcements.  Here's what they look like:

And Baylee took this cute picture of the cat.

Thursday

As part of every chapter of English, Baylee has a separate, pull-out section called a "wisdom booklet."  It teaches some pretty good stuff, especially for teenagers.  This chapter's booklet is titled "What is Wisdom and How Can It Help Me Succeed?"  As always she had to do some reading, answer some questions, and do a writing assignment, which brings me to my point.

Yesterday Baylee did that writing assignment.  It was to write a poem on compassion, wisdom, or character.  She mildly complained about it (and, between you and me, I don't blame her.  Who can churn out poetry at the drop of a hat?), but I reminded her that it didn't have to be long, and it didn't even have to rhyme.  Then I got in the shower and left her to it.  This is what was waiting for me on the table when I came back out:

Having compassion is always being kind

And treating people like you have a legal bind.

Being there for them through thick and thin,

That certainly will never be a sin.

LOL  Oh dear.  I think it's safe to say she's probably not going to be the next Maya Angelou, but I sure love her anyway.

Yesterday evening Gibbs darted out the door when someone opened it.  He does that once in awhile, but usually he doesn't go more than 100 feet or so away from the house, so at first we weren't worried.  Then we realized he actually ran away this time.  He was gone.  Mike got in the car and drove all through the neighborhood, then he walked it so he could check out some of the wooded areas, then he drove it again.  Gibbs was nowhere to be found.  Finally, after...an hour?  Maybe more?...Gibbs came sauntering home on his own.  That's when Mike admitted that he had been afraid Gibbs was gone for good.  He said he thought Gibby might be too stupid to find his way back.  My response was, "Nah, I never thought that.  Dogs always find their way back!  It's in every dog movie!  Haven't you ever seen Homeward Bound???" 

Speaking of Mike, he's been talking in his sleep a lot lately.  In fact, pretty much every time I get into bed and he's already there, he'll sleep talk to me.  It's always work-related.  I've learned to just go with it, because it's easier that way.  Last night we had this conversation:

Him:  What's going on?
Me:  I'm just getting into bed.
Him:  What did you order?
Me:  Nothing.
Him:  No assemblies or details?
Me:  Nope.

After that he stopped.  I'm not sure if it's because he thought I was doing my job and didn't need to be managed, or if he thought I was a lost cause. 

Wednesday

The worst algebra test ever was taken by Baylee today.  This is just half of one page (out of three):

Yesterday I glanced at the Christmas cactus that I've owned for years...the one that's NEVER bloomed...and I saw one, single, tiny bud!!!  I feel like a proud parent!

Last night at 1am I heard something, so I got up to investigate.  It was Drew, doing homework that he forgot all about until that moment.  Besides finishing up his GED, he's taking a course over at the school right now on getting a job.  They're teaching those interested (which is Drew and one other guy) how to fill out applications, they've walked them through making a resume, they've gone over how to interview, and finally they're making them go out in the real world and use their new knowledge to try to land some employment.  Anyway, they had a lot of homework last night.

Honestly, I'm a little concerned about him having a job and going to college (in the fall, that is, when he actually starts), but Mike thinks that's ridiculous.  He wants Drew working and going to school at the same time, and I get that.  Of course, that's how it should be.  It's just that the overprotective mom part of me is worried that he won't balance it.  Silly, I know.  I have to let him be an adult.

This and That

This morning while I was lying in bed I thought, "Huh.  I don't feel that great.  Nahhh.  It's my imagination."  Then I got up and...yup.  I've got a cold.  Blah.

I know I've posted a few of these pictures lately, but that's because every time I see one of them I always think they're kind of cool.  Drew's love of skateboarding comes in waves.  He'll do it for a few weeks or months, and then not do it at all for years.  He's been into it again recently.

When I saw this picture I asked him what the heck he had on his head.  He said it was an old golf visor that he found on the ground.  Sigh.  Do you ever get the feeling that one of your children was switched at birth?

Lately I've been into reading cheap Kindle dieting memoirs.  I'm talking about the $2.99 ones.  They're written by every day folks, who may or may not have any actual writing skills, about their weight loss journeys.  I like them.  They motivate me.

Yesterday I read one, though, about a woman who did an all-liquid diet for something like 6 months.  It wasn't really a fad thing; she was medically supervised.  She lost a ton of weight and I was rooting for her, and then at the very end of the story she went off the diet and gained it all back. #worstbookever

Zach had an orthodontist appointment this morning, and he found out he's officially finished!  They don't have to check up on his teeth anymore.  Woo hoo!

Pets

Facebook reminded me today of that time four years ago that Baylee bought a hamster, brought it home, named it Temperance, and the very next morning it had babies.   Good times.  (Not really.)

Aside from all those babies (which we immediately took back to Pet Smart), it's weird how many hamsters we had over the years.  Nobody could accuse us being quitters, that's for sure.  Our cat probably saw them as his own personal gifts.  To him the hamsters in cages were like puzzles with special treats inside.

Now we're down to just two old pets:  Gibbs and Cooper.  Speaking of Gibbs, he's cone-free!  The vet finally put him on a steroid medicine, and that's what did the trick.  Mike took this cute picture of him the other day.

Sunday

One of the things I do to keep myself on track with my diet is I have set times for snacks and meals.  They're not set in stone or anything, but they give me some structure.  Anyway, that said, this is what happened to me today...

1:00pm:  I looked at the clock in the dining room and thought to myself, "Huh.  Ten minutes before one o'clock.  Not quite time for a snack yet."

1:30pm:  I walked through the dining room again and glanced at the clock.  "Huh.  Ten minutes to one.  Not quite snack time."

2:00pm:  Dining room.  Clock.  "Ten to one.  Not snack time."

2:30pm:  Same.

3:00pm:  Same.

3:30pm:  "Wait a second here..."

Yup.  It took me that long and that many identical mental conversations before it occurred to me that the clock had stopped.  I'm special.