And By the Way...

I sent "The Pencil Bully Affair" article about Caleb and the pencil bully back in England to another Christian publication today. We'll see how it's accepted.

Feeling a Bit Shaky

I worked out today with 2 DVDs I bought Monday. I was at the pharmacy in the grocery store and saw a display for $1.00 workout DVDs. I picked out 3 dance videos and 3 workout videos (nothing name brand, obviously, for $1) and was pleasantly surprised when they rang up for 50 cents with my store loyalty card. So I got 6 DVDs for 3 bucks.

Anyway, I did the lower body workout this morning and my legs are still feeling wobbly. It was 1-minute sets of different things like squats, lunges, crunches, etc. I think I need to go have a glass of milk and a banana. And I need to boil some eggs for breakfasts. I grabbed a dozen eggs at the store this afternoon on my shopping run, thinking we were almost out, only to discover when I got home that we have 14 eggs already. So I'll boil the older dozen to keep for a protein boost each morning.

This week I've had a first - I've actually recorded EVERYTHING that has gone in my mouth, and much to my chagrin, I'm over my weekly extra points by 1.5. I get 24 points each day and 35 extras to spread out during the week like I want. Wednesday killed me. Pizza Hut for lunch to use Caleb's Book It coupon (free personal pan pizza because he read over 400 minutes in January) then tacos for dinner at church. Yikes. This is even with the extra points I got back for walking my 3-mile loop that morning. I'm glad I did that much, at least.

So yesterday I had to hold myself very accountable for everything I ate. I managed to come in 1 point under. I used my 24 points plus 1 of the 2 I got for my pedometer steps. Since the weather is getting nicer, it's getting easier to walk. In fact, I think I'm going to sign off now, have that milk/banana snack and then go outside and do a bit of yard work before it gets chilly again.

:)

Killing Time

I'm sitting here in my quiet home (Steve's at work, kids are all healthy and at school) in my robe trying to pass 20 minutes. I have some hair gook (Burt's Bees avocado butter) marinating on my head right now and it needs to sit for 20 minutes before I shower.

I took an hour-long walk this morning and went 3 miles. That means I'm walking a 20-minute mile. In college I took a fitness and conditioning class and actually walked an 8 minute mile for one of the tests. I'm a bit off that pace now, I suppose.

Anyway, it ended up being 6300+ steps. That's 3 points. Go me! It was hard, though. I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but when I don't exercise for a few days (or weeks) I get what I call "the itchies." I *hate* the itchies. I think it's my body making new capillaries to get to my ample fat stores to burn energy, but I'm not positive. But I HATE that feeling. And this time it lasted longer than usual. Butt, thighs, calves, waist, rib cage...all had the itchies. At least it wasn't all at once. The itchies seem to travel. Yuck.

And with every step, I tell myself, "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips," or "no pain, no gain." Plus I keep thinking about all those contestants on the reality show "The Biggest Loser." I'm sure they deal with the itchies. Those people inspire me. I record that show every week and watch it. I don't care about who gets voted off, I just care about them losing weight.

In fact, it was this show back in the winter of 2006 after Julie was born that got me started on my journey. Moving to England was the perfect opportunity for me to change old habits and start new ones. So, thank you, Biggest Loser.

Uummm...killing time again...

I ran out of yarn for the sweater I'm knitting. It's usually not a big deal to run out of yarn because I can pop down to Wal-Mart or Hobby Lobby to get more, but this yarn has two strikes against it:
1 - it's discontinued
2 - it's from England
I already had to order 2 more balls of it back in September and I did what I thought was a relatively thorough search of eBay listings and shops in the UK. I finally found those 2 balls in Wales and thought they would finish out the sweater.

Sadly, no.

I e-mailed one of the shops from back in September who just had 1 ball and asked if they still had that 1 sad little ball. They said it was still waiting for me in Falkirk (a place in Scotland we actually visited) and I just needed to order it.

So I just paid 6 quid (slang for pounds) for this yarn, including shipping. Not bad, until you use the roughly 2-to-1 ratio for converting pounds to dollars...2 dollars to 1 pound. 12 bucks for a stinking ball of yarn. This better be one GREAT sweater when I'm done. I'm already sick of it - I've been working on it since August, 2006.

Signing off now. It's been almost 20 minutes and by the time I get a cuppa and get my contacts out for my shower, it will be time. My hair is sufficiently oily, it smells really nice (thanks to the rosemary and nettle extracts with the avocado butter and olive oil) and I'm ready to be clean.

Ta.

P.S. Happy to report that spell check is again working.

Hang on to your Hats...

Steve made a chocolate chip cookie pie this weekend. Homemade pie crust and everything. It was fabulous. After I ate a slice yesterday, I looked up the points value for the stupid thing.

Keep in mind I get 24 points a day.

One slice was 18 points. I didn't eat much yesterday after I had this sobering revelation. Yikes. In spite of that, I was still down this morning at 187.1 lbs.

I told Steve, "No more pies." We'll see if he cooperates.

I'm a Weenie When I'm Sick

My ears hurt now. And my throat still hurts. Tylenol takes the edge off, but I'm still uncomfortable. I might have to make an appointment to see a doctor tomorrow if I still feel icky in the morning.

I gargled salt water (not sure if it helped or not) and I had Steve put some herbal hippy-dippy drops in my ears. The drops helped a little, but now I have cotton wads in my ear canals imparing my hearing. Rather nice - I can't hear the TV in the other room.

I had my haircut today at Wink salon. Rose (or Rosalinda) did the 'do. She's from a Spanish-speaking country (didn't ask which one) and she's probably 60. She was dressed in a long black skirt, a long black sweater, a dark navy long-sleeved shirt under the sweater, dark leggings, and dark orthopedic/hippy-type shoes. Typical Santa Fe attire, in other words. Her hair was wavy and messy...not at all the chic style worn by Kat, my favorite stylist in the world who lives in England.

But Rose was great. She was critical of the lack of shape my previous 'do had (as was I) and was saying other things about shaping, cutting, and trimming that made me happy. She was methodical and gentle and did a great job. It's not as dramatic as I wanted, but I am happy with the cut. She didn't go as short in the back as I would have liked, but she told me that with my hairline, that was as short as she could go "without shaving." I'm ok with that reason.

I will be going back.

Time for dinner now. Steve has yelled at me that it's all ready.

I Feel Like Poo

Not that I know what poo feels like.

But I'm sick. My throat is swollen and sore and I have a killer headache. I suspect the headache is more from the lack of coffee (I ran out of my primo beans) than from being ill, but it's hard to tell. I also have body aches but I don't know if they're from working out so hard Friday or from being sick. Too many variables.

Everybody has today off. The lab is closed and the kids' schools are closed. I guess I'm the only one who doesn't officially have the day off. But I do, though, because I'm sick. Steve has already made pancakes for the girls and biscuits for everybody. I've just been sitting on the couch trying not to swallow.

Today I'm supposed to go to Santa Fe for my haircut. I'm seeing Rose, not Edward. The salon is in a shopping center that has a World Market store, so when I'm done with the hair cut I'm going to drag my sick rear end over there and see if they have Indian food. And coffee beans. Steve has told the kids that if they are nice today he will take them to a park. It's a pretty day, so I hope they hold up their end of the bargain. It will make me feel less guilty about going to Santa Fe if I know the 4 other Nolens are enjoying themselves here.

I've finished my 2nd assignment for my writing course. I need to proofread it today and print out a couple of copies to send in. Fiction scares me. Writing scares me. I'm having second thoughts about being a writer because it's so much work! But I'm going to power through this class and see how I feel when I come out on the other side.

Signing off now. I need a cuppa tea. Mom and Dad bought us some buckwheat honey because they read that it helps with coughs and sore throats. I had 2 cups of tea yesterday sweetened with it and it helped. Either that or the Tylenol I took when I had the tea. But either way I felt better.

Before I forget, Julie is sprinkling her conversations with more Spanish words. She now uses Spanish words to say thank you, help me, push, and you're welcome. She also has started saying bonjour. I'm thinking her intellictual gifting may lie with languages. What do you think?

Feeling Kinda Blah

Spellcheck still isn't working right and I don't feel like proofreading. Sorry.

I'm having one of those "blah" mornings. It's overcast outside and chilly inside. We ended up not giong to Clovis yesterday, so we're at home for the long weekend. On our way to Santa Fe yesterday morning for my haircut before going on to Clovis, Julie threw up. Not once, not even twice, but several times. It was lovely. We turned around, I called the salon and rescheduled, and we came home. She had a fever yesterday and didn't throw up any more, but she's not on her game, so to speak. She's still cranky and clingy. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that we didn't let her eat more than pretzels, toast, and Sprite. She might be a tiny bit hungry.

Anyway - we're here. I have ideas of actually being productive this weekend - cleaning kids' rooms, pruning trees - but I don't have any desire to follow through. I need to just power through my lack of desire and do something. I know it will make me feel good. Like last night - I don't have a membership to the YMCA any more, but I saw that they have Friday night happy hours from 5-9. Three bucks gets you in and you can use the facility. So I did. I did an exercise bike for 25 minutes and an elliptical machine for 35. Maybe I can start doing this on Friday nights. But this morning my butt muscles are sore. Oh well.

Did I mention that I got back my first assignment for my writing course? My instructor liked my piece and only had me delete 5 words! There were some comma-type corrections, but nothing more to the actual substance of the work. How cool is that? Now I'm working on the next assignment. It's supposed to be a fiction piece. Yikes. Fiction. That's tough. But I'm about 2/3 done with my first draft of it. I've done the beginning and the end but need to flush out the middle more. Maybe I should do that before I clean or prune. Get one success under my belt before I tackle the rest.

I don't really have much more to say - not that I've said anything earth-shattering to this point. I cleaned the furniture last night before bed. There were snot marks everywhere. The couches and chair look much better this morning snot-free. So I did something productive last night. Then I ate chocolate. Too much chocolate. As I was laying there on the floor (because the furniture was all damp with cleaner) I realized that before this lifestyle change I'm making, I wouldn't have thought twice about the chocolate as I was scarfing it down. I wouldn't have counted how many I ate and I certainly wouldn't have known how many calories or fat I was consuming. I would have felt guilt later and would have tried to cover up that guilt with more chocolate. But now, knowing all those things, I really didn't enjoy the chocolate as I was eating it. Funny. And I certainly won't eat more chocolate to try to cover up how un-fun eating the first chocolate was. Make sense?

Anyway, since I'm grasping at straws for things to write about, I'll sign off. I think I need to get our traditional Saturday morning breakfast of cinnamon rolls in the oven. We bought some that have pink frosting for V-day. Audrey picked them out. Big surprise, right? Audrey choosing food based solely on color.

New Salon

Well, I've been threatening it for a year now: finding a new salon. Ever since we got back from England, I've been floundering in the hair department, just scraping by on what I can get done here in Los Alamos. I've been thinking I'd try a place called Blue Monkey in Santa Fe, but I discovered back in early January that it's closed. Nuts.

So I grabbed the yellow pages for Santa Fe and found a place that has a website. For some reason, this was important to me. I can't really tell you why, but I just know I wanted to check the place out a bit before I showed up.

I found a place called Wink. Supposedly it's been named a "Best of the West" salon by the editors of Harper's Bazaar & Town and Country. We'll see. I have an appointment on Friday morning at 10 with Edward.

On a totally unrelated note, I'm trying out my new kitchen gadget as I type. We bought a remote meat thermometer. I don't think it's as "remote" as my brother's - he can put the temperature probe outside in the smoker and get the readings inside his kitchen. But mine has a probe that goes in the meat in the oven and the cord connects it to the readout that sits on the counter outside the oven. I'm making a pork loin roast.

I'll let you know how the 'do goes.

Unbelievable

I just spent the last twenty minutes trying to reattach my spacebar key. Julie yanked it off. It's back on now, but it doesn't feel the same - a bit too much resistance for my taste. Oh well. At least it's on.

This morning she didn't have a fever, but she's feeling a bit warm now. When I'm done here, I'm going to corral her and take her temp. She fusses a bit when it's temperature time, but not much because she gets her pacifier while I'm holding the thermometer in her little armpit.

The little stinker.

A Saga Finished

--disclaimer: spellcheck is still not working--

Wow.

I've just finished listening to all 7 Harry Potter books. It took 3-4 weeks. I'm not sure when I started. I feel just as I did when I finished reading book 7 last summer - as if there's a hole in my life because something is missing. Yikes! How do books do that? I think I feel this way because there are no more HP books coming. But what a saga it is.

This time as I listened, I was paying more attention to how the books were crafted. I'm so intimidated! J.K. Rowling is truly gifted. How can I become an author? Can I do this? Do I have it in me? (Truly rhetorical questions - no need for you to boost my ego.)

So now I'm shifting from books to talk radio on my MP3 player. It's Dave Ramsey time now...lots of sob stories and people wanting advice. Maybe I can use real life as inspiration for my next assignment for my writing course. I'm supposed to write a fiction piece now.

I'm at home with both girls this morning instead of being at Bible study. Jules has RSV (respiratory virus) but it's not serious enough to put her in the hospital, so it's just a "mild" case. She has a fever and an awful cough - the doctor said her fever would last about 4 days (we're on day 5, though) and that her cough would last 2 more weeks after the fever ends. She's not having problems sleeping yet, but she is very clingy and is always saying, "Mommy, hold you" to me (she wants to be held). I'm keeping her dosed up on Tylenol and ibuprofen to keep her fever down and I can tell when the meds begin to wear off. That's when she gets clingy and whiny again.

I should go now - somebody is screeching in the living room.

My Pattern

I realized this weekend that I have developed a most unhealthy pattern. Monday is the first day of my Weight Watchers week. I log my weight on this day, as well as start over on my points. (Aside: I get 27 points per day, plus 35 points to be used however I want during the week.)

I start strong on Monday. I do very well, usually hitting 27 points, but not going over. If I go over, I usually have exercise points to balance things outs. Tuesday is similar to Monday, except I go over my 27 points by 3 or 4. No big deal - that's what the extra 35 are for. Wednesday goes well until I get to church for dinner. I think, "How am I supposed to calculate points on something I didn't prepare?" I get small portions and try to remember to enter what I ate when I get home.

Thursday is when everything begins to fall apart. This is my busiest day of the week and more often than not, I go out to lunch. Again - how to calculate points values? By now, though, I don't bother remembering what I ate, instead vowing to just eat small portions. By Friday, forget about it. I don't bother writing anything down, nor do I bother with portions. Saturday is no better, but Sunday I tend to be a bit better. Or at least I feel guilty, whereas there was no guilt on Friday or Saturday.

So I find myself on Monday again, feeling disgusted with how I acted Friday, Saturday, and even yesterday. Will I break the cycle this week? Tune in next Monday to see.

Sorry I've Been A Slacker...

**Apologies in advance. Spellcheck isn't working.***

I know - I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry.

Highlights of the last couple of weeks:
1 - I am past the 190 neighborhood now. As of this morning, I was 188.9. I had to get a link removed from my watch band last week so that it wouldn't clunk around my wrist like it's been doing for a couple of months now.

2 - I'm almost done with our taxes. STUPID New Mexico. Steve fixed his W-4 at work so that they're not with-holding so much from his paychecks - this way we're not giving the government an interest-free loan and we're able to use our money when he earns it. Anyway, as of right now, (I'm waiting on one more document) we are getting $404 back from the feds, but we owe NM $890. No big deal. Except that they're making us pay a penalty since we owe more than $500. HOW WRONG IS THIS? Steve said, "Have you called someone in the NM government to see what's going on with this penalty?" What good would that do? We live in NEW MEXICO. I seriously doubt I'll get in touch with someone who can give me an intelligent answer. So now we have to pay quarterly estimates during 2008 so that we avoid the $58 penalty. The whole thing is stupid.

3 - I got back my first assignment from my writing course. I was pleased to read the complimentary letter from my teacher, and even more pleased to see the lack of editing comments on my submission. Go me!

4 - Caleb is officially reading on his own. It's awesome!

5 - Steve and I got our first official Friday morning with no kids today! All 3 were in school, so we went to the coffee shop for breakfast (he had hot cocoa) and then picked up a couple of bake-it-yourself pizzas from Papa Murphy's for dinner. I love having pizza on Friday nights. Something celebratory about it. I remember having Sonic brown bag specials on the occasional Friday night during my junior high and high school years. Strike those last 3 words. After I started working at Sonic during high school, I quit eating the food. But I won't turn it down these days - espcially the Super Sonic Breakfast Burritos with the jalapenos and tater tots. YUM!

6 - I cleaned off my desk. A monumental task.

7 - We cleaned Audrey's room. An even bigger task.

So I'll sign off now. I need to pull out the pattern for the dress for Audrey. It only goes up to a size 4, so I need to begin looking at needed alterations. I've been putting it off because altering patterns is a pain, but I need to finish the dress (as well as the dolls' dresses) so we can get our dining room table back. I'll turn on "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" while I work and end up tuning out half of it as I do calculations and measurements on on the pattern pieces, but at least it's noise of my choice - as opposed to the noise the kids impose upon me.

TTFN

Julie's Portraits

Julie "sat" for her official 2-year-old portrait today. She actually sat, stood, climbed, walked, pranced, twirled, and blew kisses. Our local photographer Don Taylor (who is GREAT) had a little white wrought iron table with 2 chairs set up for a tea party complete with a little white tea set and white tulips. We brought Julie's Pooh bear (the classic version, not the road-stripe-yellow version) and they had tea. The pics that we saw were so cute! Steve and I will go back on Wednesday to see all of them.

Christmas Outfits

The McCulloughs came over last night and we enjoyed a nice meal of Indian food together. They had Christmas gifts for the kids that we opened after dinner. The big kids desperately needed new clothes (they've both grown about 3 inches in the last 3 months) and the gifts were perfect!

Audrey's jacket is furry and she loves it. It took her about 12 hours to decide she loves it, but she now thinks it's wonderful. It has a hood, a crown zipper pull with a rhinestone, and it's the exact same color as her eyes. I told her it made her eyes sparkle - she stood in front of the mirror for quite a while admiring herself this morning. Caleb instantly loved his blue and green outfit, especially since it came with a t-shirt. He thinks sets are cool. So do I.

Julie got 2 Dora books. Perfect since she ADORES Dora. Plus she has more clothes than the other 2 kids put together

I've almost finished Julie's 2-year-old portrait dress. I just have 3 more steps to complete - hand stitching the straps to the waistband, doing buttonholes & buttons, and hemming it. I got the pattern in the mail yesterday for the Cabbage Patch Doll dresses I want to make to match Julie's almost-completed dress and Audrey's to-be-made dress. I have enough fabric, I might as well use it.

There are no more exciting things going on here. I'm re-listening to the Harry Potter books and am on book 4. "Goblet of Fire." The Quiddich World Cup game has just started. Interesting things you pick up. Like the fact that Rowling mentioned the Lovegoods in this book as living near the Weasleys and the Diggorys. I had not noticed that before. Interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing more of those little hints dropped here and there now that I know the whole story.

I'm going to scoot now and start working on a roast for dinner.

I'm Second Best

It's time to begin preparations for Julie's formal 2-year-old portrait. Usually I go to Sears for pictures, but the 2-year-old shot is important. My grandmother had all 6 of her kids sit for formal portraits (hand colored prints, very pretty), and out of that, her 24 grandkids had formal 2-year-old portraits, too (except for step-grandkids who came into the family post-2nd-birthday). Now the next generation, my kids' generation, her great-grandkids, are having their official 2-year-old portraits done, too. It's a cool tradition.

Anyway, most of the boys have worn the same outfit that my youngest uncle wore in his picture: black velveteen short romper-type suit with a pintucked white shirt. I had Caleb's portrait taken in that outfit and the photographer put him with some antique-looking toys for a really nice effect. To have consistency among the moods of all of my kids' portraits, I made Audrey a floral dress with a gingham pinafore for her picture. Her pictures look great next to Caleb's.

So now I'm working on Julie's dress. Audrey's was red, Julie's will be blue. Same pattern of dress and pinafore. Because I bought the fabric when I didn't have the pattern with me, I bought WAAAAAAY too much. Enough, in fact, for Julie's dress, a dress for Audrey, and matching dresses for their new Cabbage Patch Dolls they got for Christmas. I think I'll even have fabric left over after that. I went a tad overboard, but the fabric was $1.00/yard. Hard to go wrong with too much.

Anyway, Audrey came into the dining room yesterday where I have all my sewing stuff set up. She looked at me and said that it was cool that I could make almost anything. "Like dc, except he can make everything. You can make almost everything. So between the 2 of you, you can make everything."

How's that, dc? Your granddaughter thinks you can make anything!

P.S. Julie has pink eye. Good thing I filled Audrey's prescription from before Christmas. We did an in-home diagnoses (Steve is a doctor, after all) and put the gook in her eyes. She loves getting medicine, but wasn't so sure about this nastiness Mommy was putting in her eyes. But she fought less than Audrey.

Wanna Know What I Got in the Mail?

I got my mail on January 2 after being so rudely denied on December 31. Here is the breakdown of what all the fuss was about:

solicitations - 7
catalogs - 8
newsletters - 1
snack sample - 1 (a new Chex Mix - Chocolate Turtle...pretty good!)
magazines - 2
bills - 1
music club stuff - 1 (I haven't ordered anything from this music club in 6+ years yet they still send me garbage)
ads - 5
fundraiser letter - 1
interesting bit of nostalgia - 1 (a yellowed newspaper clipping of my mom as a young teenager after winning the 4-H food show)
Christmas cards - 5
requested information - 1 (writers' guidelines from a magazine)

That's what my little temper tantrum was all about. I loved every minute of sorting it out.

I do love my mail.

Using a Lifeline...Ask the Audience

I need to know the nutritional information for white almond bark. Just the stuff you get at the store to melt and make candy from. All I need are:

serving size
calories
fat
dietary fiber (if any)

I just ate 1 oz of the stuff (in candy form that somebody else made) and need to know what to enter on my weight watchers page.

Thanks very much!

My Gift To You For The New Year...

...a rant.

After traveling for 4 hours and 250 miles from Clovis, we arrived in White Rock at 4:32 p.m. Our goal was to get here, or more specifically to the post office, by 4:30 to pick up our mail after being gone for 10 days.

I love getting the mail. I usually meet the letter carrier at the mailbox. I hear the truck coming and I go out. I LOVE getting the mail! I don't know why, but it can't be a bad thing, right?

So I was REALLY looking forward to getting mail from the 7 non-holiday mail days. Yay! Seven days of mail!

After getting a bottle of Diet Pepsi at Santa Rosa and not stopping since then, my bladder was uncomfortably full. We passed 5 gas stations, but I decided that we were going to make it to the post office just on time, so I decided to fore go the potty stops. After all, it would be worth it when I had a stack of circulars, junk mail, Christmas cards, and other surprise gems in front of me waiting to be opened, read, or perused.

On the way from the Truck Route to White Rock (about a 2.5 - 3 mile stretch of state road with a 55 MPH speed limit), we got behind 2 slow pokes. I think we were going 45. So to add to the urgency of my bladder, I now have the urgency of the clock. 4:28. 4:29. We get to the stoplight at White Rock at 4:30. 4:31 we're turning on the street the post office is on. 4:32 Steve pulls up tot he curb and I hustle in. Well, I kind of waddle since my bladder is screaming now, but it's a quick waddle.

I get inside and see a patron and my favorite, very friendly post office lady. The door is locked to where they are. I patiently stand there as they do their transaction. I'm thinking when she comes to unlock the door to let him out I can ask if I can just pick up the mail. She looks up and says in a loud voice, "You're too late." 4:32. You're kidding me. "Can I just pick up my mail?" "No."

I waddle a bit slower back to the car and actually start to cry when I get in. I'm so mad! I thought the post office lady was my friend. That's what I get for thinking. As I'm fighting tears, I think, "Why am I so upset? It's just a pile of papers. Most of it is probably junk, anyway." So I get myself under control and manage to bolt out of the car as soon as Steve slows down to less than 5 MPH. I had to go. I think Steve didn't believe how badly how bad I had to go until I hopped out of the car while it was still moving.

So I'm pretty ticked off because of the post office fiasco and then I make the mistake of stepping on the scale.

HUGE, HUGE, HUGE mistake. It was ugly. After shedding my Levi's, it got a bit better, but it was still ugly. This morning it was a touch better but still unacceptable. 198.9. Man, was I ticked off. I started crying again. I stomped around the house for a while, then finally decided that I would give myself until the end of the current TV show ("Jeopardy" was on our TV) and then I would get over myself. After I made that decision I was fine. I didn't need the extra 15 minutes to get over myself. That was surprising.

So this morning I have 3 kids who are tearing into all the Christmas presents we didn't let them have at grandmothers' houses, a husband who is outside putting his new car stereo (birthday present that got here too late) in his truck, a cat who won't let me out of her sight, and my own coffee pot. Home sweet home.

I'm going to sign off now. I bought cinnamon rolls for breakfast (good trend for 2008, right?) and I need to get them in the oven.

She Never Ceases to Amaze

So Audrey was running in a circle in the TV room here at Steve's parents' house and I told her to stop. She started walking in a circle. I pulled her over to me, took both her hands in mine, looked her straight in the eyes and said, "Quit running in a circle. Quit walking in a circle."

I let go of her hands.

She immediately returned to walking clockwise around the room. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "Walking in another shape. A square." The implied So there, Mom! came through loud and clear.

How fabulous is she?

I finally told her to sit down.

I have a challenge to post to all my readers and friends. If you, like me, are either currently on a weight loss journey or will be starting a weight loss journey as of Tuesday, I invite you to join my "Marvelous Adventures 2008" e-mail group. To subscribe, e-mail 2008adventure-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and you will get instructions via e-mail about joining.

My expectations are that it will be just a place for us to encourage each other, cheer for each other, commiserate and celebrate. It will be a small group, since not that many people read my e-mail, and if you have friends you think might want to join, they're welcome. It will be like those message boards they have on WeightWatchers.com or eDiets.com or other weight loss sites, except we'll have an intimacy to our group that those don't have.

If you're interested in joining, weigh yourself first thing Tuesday morning. That will be your starting point. If you're doing something like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, eDiets, etc., keep doing those! This will just be your personal group of cheerleaders.

I'm excited. Is anyone else? If you're not excited, I *would* offer to thrown in a set of Ginsu 2000 knives if you join now, but I'm fresh out. Sorry.

I'm off to eat dinner.

Pink is my favorite color...

...Except when it is followed by the word "eye."

Audrey has pink eye. Again. She had it last November/December in England and Steve noticed that her right eye was a bit colorful and gunky this morning. He and his dad ("Poppy" to Audrey) took her to the ER this morning, since there is no urgent care facility here in Clovis.

They gave him enough ointment there in the ER to last her through the course of treatment, but I decided to fill the prescription for the medicated ointment anyway. We're traveling to south Texas tomorrow (a 10 hour trip from here) and then the day after that is, of course, Christmas. I decided to err on the side of caution in case one of the other kids (or me or Steve, for that matter) comes down with pink eye in the next 72 hours.

I'm going to sign off now and do some research for my next manuscript - a children's biography of Nathan Hale. I was uncertain about the angle I wanted to take for America's first spy (since he sucked at spying, got caught, and was executed within 12 hours), but I was reading a book yesterday about a potentially exciting naval escapade. I'm going to go with that.