Prom Night

We've chaperoned prom together every year since we've been married. Including the ones I attended as a student, this makes 8 proms for me.

This year's dance took place on a boat cruising around Elliot Bay. It started at Sunset, and the view couldn't be beat.

Well, the view of Stinky in a Tuxedo might beat it.

Priceless. WBH looked really hard for a mini orange tuxedo for Stinky, but nothing turned up. We may have to add a top hat and cane to the collection the next time this tux is rotated in.


Dancing in the disco lights was alternatingly exhilirating and terrifying. At one point he attempted a break dancing back spin, which turned into more of a butt-spin. A circle of students formed around him, clapping and cheering him on.



Things wrapped up on the quiet upperdeck, where the waves rocked him to sleep. We're starting a new trend: pajamas at the end of prom. Just watch, it's going to be huge. We think next year will be Stinky's last until he attends his own. It will be at the Seattle Aquarium, and we think that's a good way to end it.

Oh, as a final note, can we discuss how Sting's hot-for-teacher song "Don't Stand So Close to Me" is really not an appropriate choice of music for prom?

Thin Thursday on Friday

Down 2.4, twice what I gained last week. If you're curious about the crazy up-and-down that has been my weight loss progression, I have lost 7.6 pounds in 10 weeks. I can now comfortably button my jeans straight from the laundry, and I fit adorably into my bridesmaid's dress for my brother's wedding. I am wearing it to chaperone prom in this weekend, so not a moment too soon!

I wish it was more, but I'm proud that I'm continuing to lose. I tracked like crazy last week, and asked WBH to keep me accountable. So, I'm continuing the tracking trend. I have 3 practices to make next week, and I'm hoping to get in some family walks as well.

Confession: I hit my tailbone last night at practice, and it required a dose of strawberry milkshake to feel better. I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen and move forward today.

Upcoming challenges: Prom! It's on a boat this year, and I'm a little nervous about the food they'll have- usually a lot of desserts, but hopefully we'll get a fruit tray in there :) Earlier in the day, there's a church potluck too, so I'll be working on hitting those 0 and 1 point veggies before we go.

I also had about 5 inches taken off of my hair. Maybe that will help the scale next week?

Stars aligned

The stars have aligned today, I think.

This is my 150th post.

The stairs are clear for probably the first time since we've lived in this house.

I finally cleared out the baskets of things needing to be sorted.

And the offer we made on a home was accepted.

(The picture above is the house we have lived in for a little over a year and a half. The new house is 3 blocks east.)

My Sweet Knight

Stinky has taken to calling me princess. He's been playing pretend a lot in the last few months,( primarily from Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies ) but lately, I have been his princess. He likes to be the prince to my sleeping beauty (only willing to kiss my hand, though.) There are worse things to be called.

oops

I realized that the statement I made to say thanks for the prayers came across slightly snarky. I'm sorry for that- we really do appreciate them! I was in a bit of a funk, and I think it definitely eeked out there.

We've got another home we're looking at, in the meantime. More prayers for wisdom, and a clear way if it's the right thing, would definitely be appreciated!

Thin Thursday: A little bleh.

Up 1.2. I didn't track, but I went running and gave my all at practice. It's disappointing, but it's clear that I need to be making more of an effort than I have been. Like they say at weight watchers, only track on days when you want to lose weight. I need to remember I'm not doing this for vanity. Working hard at weight watchers is something I can do to help us conceive without medical assistance this fall. I need to remember that's why I'm doing this. The jeans that fit straight from the dryer are just a bonus.

So, I've written down everything so far today. I'm going to keep up with the running on non-practice days. I'm ot going to have any liquid calories this week (because they kicked my tail last week!). I'm going to do this, I'll get back on track, and it will be great. Today is just crappy.

Oh, and thank you very much for your prayers- we got the news this morning that they went with another offer. It's discouraging, but we are glad to know and we will keep moving forward. I just sent our wonderful realtor a list of 10 houses, and we'll be looking again tonight.

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.

calling for reinforcements.

I wasn't going to share this here, but I'm not sure why. Something about jinxing it, and how I can never keep a secret, but maybe this once I could. We put in an offer on a house last week, and we're hoping to hear by today. Really, we were hoping to hear by Friday, but the seller is taking their sweet time. I'm going a little crazy. We really like that little house, and we really want it. So I'm asking for prayers and positive thoughts today. We could really use them.

Would you like to know how crazy this has made me? So crazy that I've started running. Yes, me, running, by choice, and not because I'm being chased by guinea pigs or offered mushrooms. It feels good, but I'll write more about that tomorrow.

I Made it Monday: Horton Dinner Party

Our Horton party came off pretty well. Stinky was happy to eat "Vlad Vladikoff" and the broccoli clovers.


We had monkey bread, and some elephant ears were attempted, but failed kind of miserably.

The evening was topped off with chocolate pudding with bananas and peanuts (kudos for te suggestion, Jeremy!), and it all came together pretty well.

I may look into more books that we could do into dinner parties later on.

Inspiration:

"Yes, my beloved brothers and sisters, life is good if we live in such a way to make it so. Believing, desiring, deciding, and choosing correctly are the simple actions that define an increase in happiness and an increase in the inner assurance that transcends this life."

-Benjamin De Hoyos

Thin Thursday: Yee-Haw!

Yee-haw is what I felt like saying when the teensy woman at weight watchers weighed me in today. I was down 3.6! For the record, that's more than I gained back last week. Back on track, baby.

I don't know what worked, because I didn't track well. I did get one of those little points clickers, which allowed for some tracking even if I didn't write much down. That was helpful, and I'm going to be sure to take that with me when writing isn't an option. I really liked it.

So, I need to get to planning and tracking this week, but I'm proud of that progress and really happy with today's news. I needed that. Back to work now.

On the fifteenth of May, in the Jungle of Nool

Friday, I am planning Horton Hears a Who-themed dinner party for our little family. These are some ideas, so far:

Wickersham Brothers Monkey Bread

Clover Rolls

Elephant Ears?

Clovers (cauliflower with pink food coloring)

I've considered baking a chicken and claiming it's Vlad Vladikoff.... Or pita pockets (kangaroo pouch sandwiches?).

Any other suggestions on the food? It's a lot of bread right now. I googled elephant and kangaroo recipes. That led to some interesting and multi-cultural recipes, however 'cut the elephant into bite-size pieces' doesn't seem quite appropriate.

We Made it Monday: Container Garden

Last year, we were able to plant a small garden in the backyard. It was an experiment which yeilded more tomatoes than we'd ever eat, a few squash and strawberries, and some experience. With the planned move this year, we decided to go the container garden route.


At the farmer's market a few weekends back, we picked up some starts: strawberries, a salad mix and mustard greens for the lizards. I've also got some greens and squash started, as well as some herbs for kitchen pots.

Stinky decided to lend a hand, mostly wanting to stick the spade into each pot, most of all when we'd finished planting in it.

The garden is now in place along the side of our porch- a kitchen container with a tomato plant and lots of lettuces, lizard (mustard) greens, and lots, and lots of strawberries. The porch is too narrow for anything like a bench or chairs, but the side gets sun all day long, and it should pick up some rain here, too.

Mother's Day Inspiration

“I have learned to place a high estimate upon the love of mother. I have often said, and will repeat it, that the love of a true mother comes nearer being like the love of God than any other kind of love."

Joseph F. Smith

To my mother, who taught me to mother, and whose encouraging words run through my memory daily. Thank you for everything you have given me.

To my mother-in-law, who raised an incredible man. Thank you- he makes my life beautiful.

To my grandmothers, whose strength and determination I hope I've inherited, thank you.

Happy Mother's Day.

Thin Thursday: Long overdue

It's long overdue in so many ways.

With the jaw/tooth drama (I really just needed a root canal and NO muscle relaxants and could have been on skates the next day. Awesome.), stress from applying for a home loan (more later), and being really bummed about not being able to skate in tomorrow's bout, it's been a bad couple of weeks. I know that I can rise above drama, stress, and drug-induced nonsensical rages. The truth is, I really didn't want to. I wanted to eat what I wanted to eat, and that's that. And I gained 3.1 pounds, which is more than half of what I've lost. Lesson learned, and I'm ready to be back on the wagon.

The challenge is that we were approved for a home loan. Wonderful news, yes, but I'm sure that there will be much stress eating to rise above in the coming months.

This coming week's goals:

• track it. all of it!
• skate: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday. A lot, I know. but I missed all of last week, and we have an away bout on the 16th.
• extra exercise, even just walking, on the off skate days. I'd like to lose most of that weight this week.
• work on finding a successful alternative to stress eating (walking, cleaning, crazy dancing? something productive?)

When stressed, what do you do other than eat?

can't help lovin' that man of mine

(first drive-in night of the season: I love how this looks like a fangirl and her favorite celebrity on a cellphone cam. I'm his biggest fan.)

I've been out of sorts today- I had an awful dream last night that WBH and I were not together anymore. It completely broke my heart. Just before I woke up, I slammed on the brakes of the minivan (why did I have a minivan?), turned around and drove to where he was staying. He was at his car, ready to come find me. We embraced, and I woke up. The sun was shining and he was in bed next to me, snoring softly.

Inspiration: Create

"You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside. If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it."

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

This is your brain on drugs

I'm sorry for the lack of content this week. As I mentioned in the last post, I'm on a mixture of pain meds and muscle relaxants, which apparently turns me into a good approximation of an angry drunk. Most of my thoughts this week are centered around making a hit list of backyard creatures and neighbors. (I fail to see how one can be sweet and chatty with Stinky, yet not think "Oh, maybe Stinky shouldn't hear songs dropping the N-word, or the F-bomb, and the phrase 'it weren't rape.' Maybe I should not share this music with neighborhood children." Just like you shouldn't share the cigarette smoke, trashy!)

At one point, my rage was deterred from neighbors to the squirrels. We get bluebirds in our backyard, and I really love them. They're not very common in our area, and during a hard time last year, they started showing up in the backyard. When this fat, stupid, lazy squirrel starts taking over the feeder, the bluebirds are nowhere to be found. At the height of a medicinally-induced stupor, I saw that he had the nerve to bring a date, another fatty little fuzzball, to my birdfeeder, recently restocked with seed that should have attracted the bluebirds. Enough was enough, my less than logical mind reasoned.

Out I went, spouting off a few profanities at the fluffy rats, and kicked the dog's soccer ball at them. They scurried away, into the neighbor's yard. I turned around, and saw WBH barely suppressing his laughter. With just enough reason to be a little embarassed, I sputtered "Next time, we're getting the spinner!" (Seriously, go check the link. It's not just the meds that make it funny.)

Wahoo! It's almost valium time!