Santa Claus

So my worldly 9 year seemed bound and determined to prove that Santa Clause was not the person who put additional gifts under the tree. He talked about setting up the video camera to survey the tree. He discussed his plans at length with Uncle Bill, Aunt Email, Grandma and Grandpa and whoever else was around Tuesday evening.

Well, this year I did not reserve any of the gifts to wrap in the separate “Santa Claus Paper”. All gifts were wrapped in the each person’s designated paper and on Christmas Eve I moved the pile from my bedroom to under the tree.

The we went to 5 PM Mass at my Brother and SIL’s Church, went back to their house for dinner and gifts. We arrived home about 10:30 where Mr. Morning person (just like his Mom) declared he was going to bed.

Christmas morning he was the first one downstairs (I was in the shower when he got up). He tells me “there are no more gifts there.”

“Nope, there are not. But why don’t you go get your gifts and put them under the tree.”
And he did. “Hey, look at that, You are Santa Claus."

“No I am not”

“Sure you are, anyone who gives gifts at Christmas is Santa Claus. We all give gifts to in Memory of St. Nicholas, a generous man who left gifts.”

Now I’m not sure he bought all this. But I sure hope it sinks in. I want him to think of Santa Claus as the embodiment of giving. My Parents used to tell me “Santa is the Spirit of Christmas.

The picture is of him sitting on Santa’s lap Christmas night.

Included in my Chrsitmas card to Out-of Town-ers

scrapbook pages - digital

I swear they have cameras in my house...

Tidbits

• Yesterday my 9YO Drama King lamented how mis-treated he has been throughout his life ?! - Serious discussions ensued. He did concede that he was lucky that he had a friend next door, both parents married and living together, plenty of food to eat, clothes to wear, Cable TV to watch, video games and internet.
• The 13YO is going to have a rude surprise when he comes home and finds that he cannot get ont he computer. I password protected it. He's been finding other things to do rather than his homework.
• Both boys have Christmas programs (it is a Parochial school, so it is a Christmas program) LOL). The 9 YO had the school where every kids from K-5th participate. The 13 YO has a band concert. I told Hubby we'd flip a coin, but he decided to let the 9 YO choose who he wanted to go to his program. He Chose Dad. Yeesssss! I get to go to the Advanced band concert.

Nightmare Morning

Tuesday morning was the morning I live in fear of. The 13 Yo got up late, argued with his 9 YO brother and did not pay attention to the clock. He went abotu his morning preparations leisurely. He was not concerned that he did not have all of his stuff together. Even when we went outside to wait for the bus, he had to go back inside and find something. The bus came around the corner he flies out of the house and down the driveway forgetting stuff sitting int he garager for him to take.

My take on things is that he should come downstairs int he moring, dressed, pack his backpack, put on his shoes, gather his stuff by the door and then make his breakfast. I keep portable foods and he can take his breakfast with him. The bus drive may not be too happy, but he would have time to eat between the time he arrives ont he school grounds and when class starts. But his focus is on getting food into his belly.

I hate the yelling that goes on in my house. I want him to do things one way and he wants to do them another. I guess that's like with a teenager. Now if only he were an organized teenage.

16 years together

Three Cheers for carpools

So the 13Yo ended up deciding to stick with wrestling this winter. He talked about giving it up. We told him he could if he came up with a differet activity to fill the void. I don't think he took much effort into looking at indoor soccer and came back to wrestling by default.

He has been wreatling since first grade. So this is his 8th year. Moving last year had us at a new program that was much more intense than the old program. He has 3 other boys close to his weight class. He just does not have the killer instinct and last year, when the referee blew the whistle, he got a "deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. He will bein his first tournament of the season on Saturday. It is an alternate tournament - the B team if you will.

My big thing is that with the move, we are in a bigger city. At the old house, the High school where he practiced was 4 miles from the house. It was an easy 10 minutes if you were stopped by all the traffic lights. In the new city, the Parochial high school is 13 miles away. At 3 night a week of practice, that a lot of driving. Very much like the football season we jsut finished up. So when the roster was sent out, I sent an email to a parent who lives not to far asking about a carpool. It took a few days but she got back to me and said we were welcome to join the carpool that 4 boys were already are part of. We will only have to drive once every other week. This really helps keep me sane on nights like last night where Hubby is out of town and the 9YO had to be at practice at 6:00 several miles from the 13Yo practice location.

With this carpool, we all meet up at the house closest to the freeway. The boys call or text when they leave the school after practice and we pick them back up at the same house. This is much less driving and gives me about 3 hours between drop off and pick up. That means I can eat at home and not be finding a Kroger that has the fancy new sushi counter and getting a Californial roll for my dinner.

A Day without the ADHD Meds

I promised my 13YO's new psychiatrist that we'd try a medication vacation. She's the first Doctor who has though this was necessary. I got the impression that she was worried about his small size and weight. (The 9 YO wears the same sized shirts. His leg are not as long).

I was expecting (and dreading) him
to be mouthy and obnoxious. But this was not the case. I believe that they boy tried really hard to contain himself. He was definitely restless. At one point I made him drop to the floor and do 10 push-ups. 9I also did 10). About 20 minues later, we both did some situps.

We had to remind him multiple times to eat breakfast, get dressed, brush his teeth and put in his contacts. Actually, as a new contact lense wearer who has had difficulty getting his lenses in, He seemed to not have trouble.

More than once he'd be in the bathroom just singing or chanting "peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly." We went to the tree farm and cut down our Christmas tree. He was loud and dacing around, but pleasant. Dad would not let him carry to bow saw, but the boys carried the tree back. At one point I was worried we'd have to haul them both and the tree out of the pond. They wanted to trow sticks and try to break the partial sheet of ice.

After the farm we went to the little town and had lunch. Walking on the sidewalk, he wanted to stomp. This drove his dad nuts. On the way back he stomped a bit and then I told him "take Baby steps now", then "skip".

In the evening we had company. My brother, SIL and their 4 kids came over for dinner. His twin cousins are his age and he usually enjoys spending time with them. But he withdrew. I think he felt like he needed to stay away from everybody. While it was a shame he missed out on visiting his cousins, he was quite aware of his state of mind. This seems like the first time he has been aware of him own actions and state of mind.

In the evening he did complain about his stomach hurting. He did graze all day. We stopped for lunch and he only ate half of his sandwhich. As I expected, he ate the rest about 2 hours later. While preparing for dinner, he scraped a carrot and ate it (while repeating "What's up doc?" about 5 times.

Dad could nto tolerate the extra noise he generated. Dad thinks he can control himself more. I am happy that he was quite aware of his state of mind and his actions. I'd not really like ot repeat the experiment again. If the psychiatrist wants to do it just to assist him in piling on the caliries, I sure hope she gets his records from other doctors and sees that he has been growing and putting in weight in an upward curve.

Cleaning my 13 YO ADHD-ers room

Boy, I should have had my camera. I have been trying to be specific with him. My instructions are:

1. Clothes in the dirty clothes hamper or put away in a drawer or the closet.
2. Trash in the trash can
3. Books on the bookcase

The clothes issue wasn't too bad. Go figure, he used to leave a pile of clothing on the right side of his dresser, on the open floor between his dresser and his bookcase. The hamper sat on the left side of the dresser. So it took a year of living here for me to get the bright idea to tell him to put his hamper on the other side of his dresser and instead of tossing the clothes on the floor, toss them in the hamper. It's not perfect, but it does work better.

Book were all over his night stand and under his bed. I moved a bunch of books (kids series such as Jedi Apprentice and Secrets of Droon) into the 9 yo's bedroom since the 13 yo reguarly denies addmittance to his brother to look for a good book to read. I have bought duplicate books int eh past. While I was cleaning under the bed, I found the 9 YO's missing library book. The 9YO asked for permission to look for it in his borhter's room, the 13 Yo denied permission and I believed there would be no reasont he book was up there. Sigh! Won't happen again.

The boy left trash everywhere. Tissues, papers and the candy wrappers. He is not supposed to have food in his room. Under the bed and in particulary, inside the drawer of his nightstand. Ick! I can tolerate a lot of his mess. Not the food wrappers. Then he had left several pieces of chewed gun inside a pencil holder sitting on his dresser. The holder went in the trash.

And oh, the pens and pencils (and marker, highlighters, and even a box of crayons.) He has always been a "collector" of orphaned pens and pencils 9at leat I am tellingmyself they were orphaned). He does not typically do his homework in his room. There is a table in the unused and sparsely furnished living room where he dumps his stuff and sometimes does his homework if he's been banned from the computer desk. So I collected all the writing instrucments and put them in a tim labled "writing instruments" on our bookcase.

I ended up filling up a tall kitchen garbage bag of "stuff" from his room. This incleuded the above wrappers and pencil holder. Also finding their way there were paperclips, rubberbands and some small fast food restaurant toys. I saved some hot wheel cars and dice and removed them from the room. I must have put about 5 small rubber bouncy balls in that bag.

Next up is his closet. I need to recover from the rest of the room before I tackle that closet.

New ADHD Doctor

Yes, we had to find another Mental health provider.

Maybe I'd better state that this is for my 13 YO son. He was diagnosed as ADHD at the tender age of 4. It was not a big surprise, but I did ask the Psychologist if she was sure and what were the specific behaviors that led her to the conclusion. (I was on Ritalin as a child and I have a brother who struggles with ADHD).

We say Dr. B for this condition for 7 or 8 years until Dr. B decided to teach full time and not do see private practice patients. Then we went to Dr. H. Old wonderful Dr. H is a pediatric neurologist who treated both me and my brother. I was amazed he was still in practice. Then after about o year and a half of taking my son to the doctor my Mom described as "The most woderful man int he world" in my baby book, we moved.

So we got a recommendation to the Mental Health facility associated with the new city's Children's hospital. We visited wiht the Nurse Practioner twice, but my insurance would not cover visits to her. Since the Children's Hospital Metal Health department was so busy and my son is 13, they sent us to a new Mental Health center on the North side of town near where we live.

Dr. F is young and enthusiastic. She is going over everything with a fine tooth comb. This is good and I know it's good, but I do find myself wanting to sigh heavily at some of her suggestions and concerns and tell her "we've tried that." LOL!

She is concerned because he's in the 25th percentile of weight for his age. She wants me to switch to Whole Milk and give him high calorie foods. Let me tell you, there is not a lack of high calorie foods in my house. I keep cheese, pepperoni bites and other quick snacks just for him. He's always been in the 25th percentile and his progress is good. (He was wrestling at 86 lbs last year and this year he's weighing in at 92 lbs.)

Becasue of his size, she'd like us to try giving his a medication "vacation". This scares me. Then child is quite impulsive. He also gets a mean and nasty mouth on him. But mostly he has a tendancy to wind himself up so high during the day, that he had no idea how to bring himself down in the evening. We are going to try it the Friday after Thanksgiving. I certainly will no thave him do it on a day when he's home alone. But who knows, maybe it will not be the trying day I imagine it to be.

High School choices.

We had the intention, even before we had children to give the a parochial school education. DS13 is in 8th grade. The Archdiocese we live in recentally did away with the feeder school system for high school becasue of the proliferation of private vs parochial schools, the intenness of Athletics and the accusations of some schools being able to recruit and others not. There are 16 Parochial and Private High Schools in the "Greater Metropolitan area." Ok, 6 are Women only, so that leaves 10. We have narrowed it down to 2 that our public school district will bus too, a co-de and one all Male.

There are only 3 good reasons to go to the one school,

1. It's a lot cheaper
2. My moderately athletic son could make the teams - especially Wrestling
3. Girls go there.

When we move in July 07, to choose what area we moved to, I first tried to think "where do I want the boys to go to High School and I chose "M". So once we did move, we signed the 13 Yo up to wreatling with the club at "M". So we did a good sales job. It's a really great school. They have a house system (yes, like Harry Potter) to keep the boys from getting lost. They are in their 10th year of supplying laptops to all students and 50% of the texts are electronic. (Hello $3000 difference in yearly tuition). There is a real family feel. He's excited to go there. Right now the plans are for him to be a member of the marching band in the fall, wrestle in the Winter and try out for the baseball team in the spring.

But this has been an interesting journey. Since the poor kid probably won't do much College searching - one of my benefits is Tuition Remission at the University I work for, he gets to do it now.

My DVR...

Goodbye old friend, you have been a part of our lives for about 2 ½ years. But it is time for you to go. Its not you, it is us. We need to stand on our own feet.

You have been loyal, recording all the show we ask of you, very often two at a time. You have saved those shows for us to watch at other times. However, getting rid of you will save at least $25 per month and that’s not including the extra we pay for the digital tier.
Why do we need to free up the money? Well, the public story is that next year our oldest son wants to attend a parochial high school. The tuition is triple what we are currently paying for the Primary school tuition.

It took some effort on my part to convince the Mister. He loves to record shows. But he discovered that he can stream them online. He made the decision to cut it out about a week ago. He needed to watch all the shows that had already been recorded. But yesterday he spent time watching a new show on the CBS website. He declared “I don’t need the DVR.”

The 9 YO was taking it hard last night. He wanted to know how he could watch Star Wars Clone wars and total Drama Island. Apparently Nick and Cartoon network don’t have streaming episode. These shows are on after his bedtime.

So Long dear DVR, we will miss you.

Update: I just went to CartoonNetwork.com. They have 2 versions of full episodes online. Now do I show the 9 YO?

Contact lenses

I got the 13 YO Contact lenses. We picked them up on Thursday. He put them in after school on Friday, He wore them for 6 hours on Sat and is planning on 8-9 today.

We left him at the Church Spaghetti Dinner. He is volunteering. We ate our dinner befreo his shift started. Several of his classmates were there and commented. We came across a girl who we have seen at Football games. She always calls out to him. She came by and told him he looked cool.

Thinking about Christmas

I've bought some things: I've finished my brother. I've gotten a pair of gloves for one of the boys.

I am now thinking about my niece. Last night I was wondering around Hobby Lobby, thinking of giving her a frame with a picture of her and I and my Mom taken at the beach this summer. Then I came across some frames that looked like a scrapbook page. Even better, I can create a scrapbook page with the picture and then put the page in a frame. I like the idea of an 8x8 page.

Speaking of scrapbooking, I have only scrapped up until mid-2004. The rest of the pcitures are sitting on digital media somewhere. I must have 4 CDs saying they have pictures form 2003, 2004 & 2005. I guess I did not take many pcutures druing that time frame.
I also discovered that I did an 81/2x11 book on my older son. I need to check where it ends. I suspect it's about 2003.

I can't decide if I want to do some digital pages or not. I was able to get a copy of Photoshop Elements for a discounted price through work. I tried yesterday to create a new blog banner but was unable to complete it. I need to try again.

Monday Randomness

Last Monday was my birthday. I got a pretty purple iPod from Hubby.

Our Weather is still pretty summer-like. They are talking frost toward the end of the week though.

It looks like the busy-ness of the 13 YO is helping him do a good job of keeping on top of his homework. Like his Dad, he is a procrastinator. Football does not leave him much time to procrastinate. Hopefully Wrestling will do the same.

Speaking of the 13 YO, 7th and 8th graders were invited to play with the High School band Friday night. He got to ride the bus to the stadium. I did not stay up to see him when he got home. But the next morning he said he had a great time, he broke his drum sticks and got a stick shoved up his nose. (Boys!) He told Dad he thinks Marching Band might just be his Fall sport. Cool!

My 9 YO thinks he's invincable. He is getting tired of going to his brother's football practices and games. He keeps asking if he can stay home. Friday afternoon he wanted to stay at home while Dad picked up the 13 yo from his after school study session (Studying for the Catholic High School entrace exam). Dad had to drop the 13 yo off at the High School for the big game. The problem was I was riding the bus home from work. If something came up, the 9 Yo was on his own. A few weeks ago he stayed at home by himself while Dad went to pick up big brother practice. The run was that I was 10 minutes up the street at dinner with some friends.

Why?

Do smoke and carbon Monoxide detectors always give their low battery alerts in the dead of the night?

It took us 10-15 minutes to find the detector that was beeping last night. It would beep and then it emitted a voice message "low battery warning". At first I thought it was my pager. Nope, I followed it upstairs. I turned on a light in our bedroom. That made Hubby get up are help find it. He was able to follow their noice to DS9's room where he dounf the detector (I did not realize there was one there.)

Mr. Coach..

That's my Hubby in the glasses, deciding on a play for flag football. What's funny is that as a kid, he played one year of T-ball where he was picking dandilions in right field. In High school he was a memberof the tennis team. When He married me and I dragged him back to my hometown, he started playing softball. Our oldest son was signed up for YMCA Soccer and Baseball at about 4 years old. He watched and learning. He helped out the coaches as an assistant. I thin his first foray into head coaching was as a co-head coach for the oldest son's 4th grade intramural basketball team.

When our younger son, now 9 turned 4, he played soccer at the Y. Dad decided to sign up to coach. Then Dad signed up to coach t-ball. Then he started helping out with the Wrestling team. Parents frequently came up to me and expressed how much they like him as a coach. His Mom often sat beside me and beamed. Once he was asked by another coach what weight he wrestled in High school. That coach was amazed when he learned Hubby had only learned wrestling when our oldest so started the sport in the first grade. By Son's 6th year, guess who was the head coach. And he loves it!

Action picture of the 9 yo in his first Flag football game.

Be careful what you wish for..

I'd love to elaborate, but I am also not willing to spill my guts right now. There is a tropical storm brewing at work. My employment is not in danger, but my current position is being brought into question. My ego is taking a pounding. However, there could be a good side to this.

So is a hurricane going to develop out of this or will the storm break up. Like the weather, it's hard to tell. There can sometimes be some blustering, however, this same question has been brought up before.

There could be some advantages. A lot of what I do, I would still do. There is a public relations aspect to my job that needs work. Do I still have the competitive spirit and drive to attain the skills, knowlege and abilities? I don't know. Now that I am not the main breadwinner in the family anymore, do I want to fade in the background more?

Sometimes the Almighty Father answers prayers in a way you don't expect. But then again I did not think my occasional fantasies of a less intense career were prayers.

A Post about nothing

Oh how I wish I was full of witty posts that has people rolling in front of their monitors. I'd love to be another BooMama or a Mrs Dryer, But I just don't have it in me. Heck. Shalee is a Mom who works outside the home and she posts more regularly that I do.

I stead I give you pictures of my wind-ravaged home and my boys in their sports. But maybe because my life is pretty confined these days. I sleep, work and drive. I take time out to eat and use the bathroom. Take yesterday, I got up, showered and dresses, referred arguments between Whiney (the 9 YO) and Meanie (the ADHD 13 Yo who's meds had not kicked in yet). The 9 YO has been making things with Legos, He had a cars that was made out of DS13s Legos. the 13 YO demanded him Legos back. Yelling ensued until the bus pulled up. I did spedn 30 minutes on the home computer until it was time to pick up my carpool friend. I did have to stop and get gas. Then we came to work. Then we came home. Just as I am 3 minutes from Carpool friends house, Hubby calls me. he got out of work late. Was I closer to school to pick up the 9 Yo from after school care? Yes. So I go back and pick up the ( YO. In the meantime I call DS13 to tell him to eat before football practice and to be ready because i would probably have enough time to pull into the driveway, jettison DS9 to Dad's care and have DS13 climb in to take to football practice. (Lets do a time check: leave work at 3:45, pick up DS9 about 4:35, pull into the driveway about 5:08).

I drop off DS13, and go find the Kroger. I went to the second closest one because of traffic. I got a package of California rolls - Yum, Dinner) and juice boxes to send in for Ds9's class. I stop at Trader Joe's looking for Flax seed supplements. Then I decide to go to Whole Foods - it's another 2 exits up the expressway (yes a lot of my driving is my own fault..) I find Arnica Gel

I sit waiting for football practice to end for about 30 minutes. It's awful dark, but I guess the two little street lights are enough to do pushups and situps to. DS13 is hungry. Ok, it's 8:15, we've got a 15 minute ride home with a boy who procrastinates on his shower, getting something to eat at home would prolong my agony by 20 minutes at least. So it is a stop at McDonalds. Bu=oy are they busy. So I hand the boy some money. He goes in with $8 and comes back out with $5. Hey, not bad. We drive home. Ah, I can now kick off my shoes and change out of my work clothes.

So am I crazy to be starting a very expensive workout program? I am working with a personal trainer. Hubby is behind me. I have not been able to exercise for about 2 years. I have developed chronic tendonitis in my ankle due to my extremely flat feet. Working with the Podiatrist, I have a rigid brace that I am supposed to wear most of the time. Surgery is the next step. I don't like the idea of surgery so I want to work with a personal trainer to find workouts that won't aggravate my ankle. My goals for exercising are:

1. Stress relief
2. Stave off Diabetes for another 20 years
3. Of course it would be nice to drop some weight. (Goal is about 65 lbs)

So to find the time, I and going to work out at 5 AM Tues and Thurs and 7 AM Saturdays. Wish me luck...

Wind Damage to our roof

This is what the Ohio Hurricane did to our roof.

Third day of school closings

So since the big Ohio Hurricane school is closed for the third day in a row. The local media is billing this as the "Great Blackout".

Anyways, both my boys said yesterday that they were ready to go back to school. They are bored being home watching TV and playing video games. They miss their friends and the structure that the school day brings.

But they have another day to "build Character" and "strenghten their resourcefulness muscles".

A hurricane In Ohio?

So somewhere over Cincinnati, the remenants of hurricane Ike collided with a Cold Front. As a Result, N KY, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus got sustained winds of 40 MPH (I heard this is Tropical storm definition) and gusts of up to 80 MPH. 90% of Duke Power customers were affected. Of course they had sent many crews down to Houston. They have recalled them.

I feel really lucky. I was outdoors for a good portion of this. Why? I was working the concession stand at the Football game before my Son's. Our power was out once we got home. We were lucky that it came back up about 8:20 PM. Down the street, the traffic lights and the Gas stations are still out of power.

So at this point, my boys are off school again tomorrow. The newspaper said that school officials for thebig public school are not only considering the power out, but even if they had power back, the food they have is spoiled. they need to restock. How can they feed intercity kids, a portion who eat breakfast and lunch at school, until they get new shipments.

Gas is also getting scarce. Some of the Gas depots int he area are without power so they cannot pump gas into the tankers. I admit being a bit cavalier abotu emergency preparations. Most emergencies around here affect small area, like tornados. You can drive 10 miles or so and finds an area with power and such. Floods are usually confined to the area close to the rivers. A Blizzard would be the biggest disaster would would get.

So I need to do a better job of keeping batteries around, maybe several days of canned food, etc...

The Politics test -

Link to the test: http://www.okcupid.com/politics

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (63% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Smells Like Pre-teen spirit?

So I wrote about my 13 Yo not being consistent about using deodorant. Yesterday I picked up the 8 YO from his afterschool program. He tells me "Mom, I need deodorant. The hair on my arms is getting long."

As I chocked back (1) laughter and (2) "You're too young". I decided I would take advantage of his enthusiasm. If he wants to use Deordorant, I should nto stop him. Then he will be in the habit by the time "big boy stink" strikes. And 'Oh boy, there/s a Walgrrens right there.

He picked out Old Spice "Mountain Rush".

Strawberry Jam anyone?

A couple of Weeks ago, the Man I pledged to stick to for better or Worse, called me. We are out of Strawberry Jam. I looked in the corner cupboard and there aren't anymore jars on the shelf.

Oh no! I did not get around to making a batch. I figured I still had plenty. So the local Mega -mart had an end of season sale on Strawberries. I stopped Friday night. They had been well-picked over, but my family deserves homemade strawberry jam. (I find it quite easy to make). I had to buy twice as much as I usually do because of all the unseable peices. I get home and start to pull out my empty jars. Hey, what's this? At the bottom of the cupboard are 7, yes Seven! jars of strawberry jam.

The Man is out on the lawn tractor, moving the weeds. I go out, Hold up the jar, then I tuck it under my arm and hold up 7 fingers. Then I turn around and walk back intot he house.

Yeah, he's right, it won't go to waste. But still, out of season strawberries. The Man cannot find things right in front of his face. I don't get it. After 15 years, I know he has a problem finding stuff.

Any my son wonders why last night, when he tells me he can't find his School Unifoprm Shirt, the I start diggind in his drawers. Yes, we found all 5.

I don't even eat strawberry jam.

Smells like Teen Spirit

Ah, yeah. So Thursday the 13 Yo had Golf practice from 2-4:30. Meet the teacher night 4:15 - 5:45 and Football at 5:30. Meet the teacher became a victim. Fortunately, there are no new Junior High teachers this year.

I took off half a day form work to make this happen. I pick him up after Golf and he raised his arms. Oh my, Big boy stink. I knew after football was going ot be bad. I toyed with picking him up a new shirt and a stick of deodarant, but did not follow through.

So I quizzed him (while the AC was blasting to keep the air moving).
M: Did you use deodorant?
B:You mean before golf? no.
M: Did you put some on when you got dressed this morning?
b: No
M: (quite exasperated) Did you at least put some pn after you took a shower last night?
B: No

So how do you convince a boy that deodarant needs to be a crucial part of him morning routine?

Football update

Last night I heard that the Defensive line got soame focused attention. A coach who has had conflicts lately was back. He organized the defense so that there was an orderly substitution of players and they all got equal time. Previously these 7th and 8th graders were left to their own initiative to sub in and out. This coach also got them fied up by offering Double cheeseburgers to anyone who sacked the QB. Hubby said these little guys were getting through and the offensive line took notice and stepped up their game. He said our 13 Yo got knocked down hard.

However, the 13 Yo came home pumped up. So that is good.

I am still miffed that he is doing 2 sports in one season. It stresses me out thinking about it. He'd better keep up with his homework. That will be a challenge.

Football

Today was the season "Preview". They played for 20 minutes, rested for 20 minutes an dplayed another 20 Minutes. My 13 YO got in for three plays. Hubby got it on Video and I took stills. It was the second play before I set the camera to sports mode and just held the shutter button down.

We've been playingwith his meds. My Dad said he thought the meds made the 13 YO sluggish. This was his observation when the 13 Yo spent a week with his Grandparents. My ADHD brother commented that he did not get into sports until HS when he stopped taking meds. Last Wednesday I had him remove his Daytrana patch at 4 PM. So by 6 Pm he was ready to be aggressive. He did not removed it Thursday and he decided he could tell a difference. Saturday morings practice he attended unmedicated. When I got here he was walking in circles and looking up in the sky. He also took a bathroom break shortly after I got there.

This moring I decided to cut a third of the patch off before applying it. My 13 YO was mouthy (more so than usual) but he was tolerable. We'll see if he has any difficulties getting to sleep tonight.

Helping a 13 YO ADHD-er find motivation

So Am I a bad Mom because I decided to use a modified format of a performance Improvement plan with my 13 YO?

Background: Football – Hubby observed him last night in warm up drills, getting out of line and working his way back to the end of the line to avoid hitting drills. Then, in the end of session sprints, He’s the first off the line, but the last one to finish and his body language is saying he is exhausted. (Hands on head, breathing deep) But we watched him spend the past 20 minutes standing watching the plays being run. No reason for the exhaustion. He’s not a whipped puppy when he gets into the car.

Last week we had a discussion about how his lack of effort is frustrating us and making us feel like we are wasting our time, coaches times, etc. Coaches are not going to spend the time with a kid who’s not willing to expend a lot of effort. I’m not willing to give up my free time driving him the 24 miles round trip to practice.

Part of what I sent him:

Here’s what we are asking for:
1. Give the drills your all. Stay in line, hit hard.
2. Dig deep for the energy to run. Start really conditioning yourself. Don’t just think about it.
3. Stop hanging around the end of the line in drills.

The other kids who are beating you in the sprints have been in on a lot more plays. You are more rested than they are.

If we don’t see this in the next week, we will no longer drive you to practice. If we are going to take the time to leave work early and utilize our free time, then you need to show us you appreciate it and really want to play football.

Your actions are telling me “I don’t really want to play football, I just want to be able to say I am part of the team.” That’s not good enough for me.

Think long and hard.
What are your goals?
What are you willing to do to achieve those goals?

We will put as much effort into helping you achieve your goals as you do. Right now with football, we are putting in more effort than you are.

Love, Mom.

Aaagh! I don't know if this will work. But he often says he does not know what the expectations are. So I put them in writing.

Update: We are going to have him tkae off his patch at 4:00 so his Meds wear off by the time Football practice begins. Let's see if that has any effect

teendom

-        Heavy sighs

-        Huffing and puffing

-        Smart alec comments

All good indicators that I have a teen ager in my house. 

He’s really enjoying football. Thursday they had a scrimmage. He was on Defense B. He lined up across form the center. (I was later informed that this is the nose guard. My cousin played center, so I know the real name and no longer call it “the guy who hikes the ball.”). But he’s one of the smallest guys in on the team. This Mom got a bit worried. He also got in on a few plays at Split end.  He stayed late at Saturday’s practice for extra receiver practice.

Then yesterday he and Dad went and played Golf. They got pair up with two other guys who told B he should stick with Golf, that he has a great drive.

Thursday he has a pool party with his classmates Noon until 4 PM. Then golf practice at the driving range 4-6 and Football practice 6-8.

 

Gratuitious Vacation Pictures

The Beach, Go Cart racing, Fishing, Relaxing, Driving Grandpa's boat.

Public Transportation

Gas prices are outrageous. I don't want to pay them, so I have been taking the bus. So have a lot of the people in my area. Some days there are people standing the 30 minutes from the park and ride to dowtown.

I have to catch another bus downtown to go uptown to the University. Luckily there is an assortment of busses I can take. the one I usually catch is interesting. Full of interesting people. Fortunately, at 7:15 am, most are hard-working people going to or coming from work. Sometimes I feel like an imposter. But then again why should'nt I conserve my money to.

I have figured out that it takes me 2.2 gallons of gas to make the round trip to and from work. When gas is $3.95 a gallon, that is over $8 a day that I am saving. Oh yeah, bus fare costs me nothing with my University ID due to a deal between the University and the bus company.

I do hope I can continue to leave my car sit for at least 2 days a week once my boys start back to school. I think we will also not push the boys to sign up for wrestling this year unless they ask. The 13 miles to practice 4 days a week will really cost us in gas.

Water Skiing

And He's up! We spent the Independence Holiday at Grandma and Grandpa's lakehouse. His comfort level has really increased.I think it helps that he watched Dad ski and make a face plant in the water.

What Happens when

You leave park your bike behind Mom's car.

Dad decides you need a new bike.

Awkward age

So I am a Mom who works outside the home. My 13 Yo is too big for daycare. He can take care of himself and doesn't mind staying home. Last year he had a friend up the street who's Uncle was staying with him, rehabilitating from surgery. The boys played together. They figured out that they could ride their bike 2 miles to the Outdoor Mall and many catch a movie or just a cookie. The Uncle knew where they were and was a bit of an anchor for them. They played outside a lot.





Then we moved. We have not met any boys close to his age in the neighborhood. It was stinkin' hot last August, so he stayed inside. In front f the TV, Computer or XBox. He got mopey. We started to worry. I tried to encourage him to ride his bike to the library or even McDonald's. But he would not. He was estatic when school started again.





So this year, I tired to sign him up for baseball camp for a week, and the sesion got cancelled. So then I saw an blurb about band camp at the high school in our church bulletin. I twisted his are to agree to go. But it is 9 am - Noon for 4 days. So 3 of those days, he is coming with me to work. Then at 8:30 I drop him off and pick him up at Noon. Then he spends the rest of the day hanging out in my office. This was him yesterday.

He's got the portable DVD player on his lap and he is text messaging a friend. Maybe tomorrow I'll see if I can arrange for a simple laptop with a browser for his to play some games on.

Today he spent time with Dad at Dad's office.

My Life this week

Work and Baseball. The 13 Yo team won thier first game almost 2 weeks ago. Then they won another, and another. This week was the county tournament. We made it to the semi-finals. We did lose, but there was not a "Bad New Bears Inning" , Thier bats stayed hot even if they hit them right where the other team was standing (Sometimes contact with the ball is worth cheering for) and the pitching stayed good.

Summer activites

School's out. It's been out for a bit over a week. The boys pooled their money and Dad chipped in and they got The Lego Indiana Jones game for the Wii. The have completed all levels. They have been putside a bit. Grandma and Grandpa are currently visiting and Friday morning Grandma made them read for a few hours.

Next week the 8 YO will begin Daycamp at a local daycare. He's not excited about it, especially since his brother will be at home with few restrictions on computer and TV time.

They were supposed to both do baseball camp this week, but it was cancelled. I did discover band camp at the Parochial HS DS13 will most likely attend. I had to twist his arm a bit. He was not oevrly enthusiastic about it. But at least it will introduce him to the band director there. And it will get him out of the house and some social interaction. It would be great if he could make Friends with people who live close to us.

He will most likely do Football camp instead of wrestling camp in July. They are the same week. He's not too hot on Wrestling right now. (One reason I want him to meet the band directors) However, He is planning on playing football for the very first time as an 8th grader. Maybe the week before football camp he can go to North Carolina with Grandma and Grandpa. He won't be able to go in August due to Football practices (6 days a week - ugh!). a few months after Football sign-ups, we got notice that there will be a golf team at the school this year. So he's signed up for it. I am confident that if there is a conflict with Golf and Football that Golf will win out.

Baseball is still on-going. We have some rainouts to make up. DS 13's team has played 11 games and won 2 of them. Both wins were against the same team. It feels like the coaches have given up. These boys often mis basic plays. They always seems to have a "bad news bears" inning. We know the mercy rule all too well.

DS8's team has yet to win a game. But they are still hainvg fun unlike DS13's team. Tuens out our son can throw a decent pitch for an 8 yo. The first three innings they use a pitching machine (or coach pitch when someone stole some generators for the pitching machine) and three iniings of kid pitch.

It has been a bit of a long baseball season.

Live Blogging

Hi Everyone, It's almost 10 PM and I'm still up. We've got severe storms coming through the area. The sirens have stopped, but we are still camped out in the basement. Never fear, I am on the laptop and it;s bettery. My power and cable are obviously still up and running. They are talking about 2 inches of rain per hour.

The 8 YO s in the corner, asleep in his bean bag chair. the 13 yo, Hubby and I are glued to the TV reports. I did grab an shorts, shirts and socks for the boys nad I. Hubby has not changed into his PJ's yet. LOL. But it's looking like we can relax a bit. But the TV just showed a line of storms going back West. It could be a bumpy night.

Who's toy is it?

Dad's? Or the Boy's

I'm here - New Lawn Mower

Hi all three of my readers... LOL! I feel like that's conceited of me.

I have a post in the back of my mind about the new riding lawn mower we got this week, but I have not taken a picture. It is kind of blowing my mind that Hubby and the boys are sooo excited by it. When I was in Third grade, we moved to this house that was on about 3/4 of an acre. The yard was naturally divided up into 4 sections: The front, the back, the back-back and the pool. The back yard was divided by a set of hedges that had a large opening leading to the large in-ground pool. But there was a whole othr yard behind and around the pool.

We usually had 2 working riding lawn mowers. It seemed like we were cutting grass all the time. Hubby loves to cut his grass. I was only allowed to cut the front when he physically could not walk. He has always had a small lawn and could make it look "perfect". I'd mow one way and then turn and mow a different way when I got bored. The last of pretty rows drove him nuts.

So the new riding lawn mower arrived Thursday evening. He stayed home for the 13 YO's baseball game to mow because the grass was rather high. Last night he was golfing. I looked out my kitchen wndows and noticed that there were rows in the gras, side-by-side. I was expecting a circle. He did make a comment that he did not cut it in the most efficient manner. The 13 YO and I had a good laugh imagining him cutting perfect rows with the tractor.

8 YO's Thank You notes

Dad, Mom and the First Communicant

Congratualtions to my 8 YO. We are proud!

They know...

Eithr my appliances are sentient or Mr. Murphy of Muprhy's law fame is paying us a visit. My Oven is on the fritz. Mr. Heating and Air (and thus expert in gas pilot lights and all, took it apart and diagnosed a worn out ingnighter coil. And of course, it's not anything the local Sears harware and Appliance store stocks. While he was looking for the part he looked at new Gas ranges. We had a discussion before he left of repair or replace. I said repair and he wanted to know if I was sure. It would sure be nice to have a 5-burner model with a griddle.

When he left he was thankful. Turns out new ranges with the features we'd like to have start at 50 -100% more than what he though they did. So the ignighter coil is being replaced.

So why Murphy's law? DS8 Makes his First Communion at Saturday night Mass. We are having a party with Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and GodParents. Fortunately I think I can make everthing I planned on the stovetop...except the cake. I guess I'll be ordering one from the bakery.

Old Hat

So Yesterday I attended my 13 YO ADHD-er's IEP meeting for next school year. This was the first one I have experienced this school year. I got to finally meet, in person, the school psychologist who has been working with the 8 YO on his social skills. From the feedback provided by the Jr. High teachers, the 13 Yo is also struggling socially. But anyways, it was interesting. They decided that "yes, he still qualifies for services". There has not been a big imrpovement in his organizational skills and I think he's regressed a bit since last year. I suppose that's not a huge surprise considering he changed schools.

I talked about our busy schedule and how every October we see a deterioration in behavior form him and we have concluded that it coinsides with the time between sprts. There has typically been a 5 to 6 week gas between sports at the time of the year. Also, the days are getting shorter and it's harder to give him enough exercise to burn off some excess energy. I think the group found it interesting to hear me say that.

I have to say that I disagree with the Math teacher's assessment that he is a B-C student. I think he's lazy. But then I did not see eye to eye with her in the Fall when she complained that he reads a book in Math class and then in the next breath tells us he's already had the material. Can somebody please turn on the lightbulb? However, when I talk to her last week about an incident, she was kind a reassuring that he just needed a little maturity. I appreciated that.

I had to giggle, the Social studies teacher found that he "was surprisingly prepared for class in spite of how unorganized he appears."

So what's a Mom to do? We have tried many methods of organizing and tracking of assignments. I feel like we have given him the tools now he needs to work with the tools. He's not willing to do that to a large degree yet. He has not found the motivation yet. I tried to provide inspiration by offering him money for grades. But that was not as successful as I hoped.

It took my brother until he was 25 to get his act together. Can I survive 12 more years? I guess my Mother survived.

Menu Plan Monday

- So Org Junkie's Mr. Linky is huge, So I feel it might be pointless to post my link. However, Planning my meals is helpful.

Mon - Pork Chops, green beans, Buttered noodles
Tues -
Wed - I am going to make Mac and chees and brown some hamberger in it and make a casserole.
Thurs - Just me and DS8 - We'll dig for leftovers
Fri - Homemade Pizza
Sat - DS8's First Communion Party - Roast beef and or roasted Turkey Breast Sandwiches, Cheesey potatoes, raw veggie platter, fruit salad, deviled eggs, Layer salad.

Am I available to....?

No, Not really. Those open Monday nights will be "Save Mom's sanity" nights. And Of course, the one night we are double-booked? Hubby has an out-of-town business trip planned.

An ADHD Morning

 

Monday Morning was a great example of an ADHD morning. My now 13 YO was in rare form. He must have stayed up late reading or playing Gameboy.  I woke him up at 6 AM and put his patch on. At 6:10 and at 6:15 I called up to him to get moving. He finally shows his face, dressed (I doubt that his teeth were brushed in spite of the fact that he put a sticky note on the mirror in his bathroom that says “brush teeth”).

 

He was loud and obnoxious.  Singing and other random noises were coming from him. Of course this upsets the 8 YO who repeatedly asks him to “Quit it!” Ah, that’s only fuel for the fire. I encourage him through eating his breakfast and packing his bag. I reminded him 3 times to get his gym clothes. He argues with his brother over the size of their brownies for snack time. He’s angry that he loses and puts his face up to his brother’s and scowls. Sometimes he takes a swing at his brother stopping (usually) just before hitting him.  So I have two upset boys.  

Time to go outside and wait for the bus. Oh, he has to run back upstairs to his bedroom for something. But it sure wasn’t his gym clothes. So back up he must go.

 

By this time. The 8 YO collected his brains and went outside to avoid the line of fire. I finally get the 13 YO out there and of course he is still singing very loudly and the 8 YO keeps telling him to “Quit it!” I want to apologist to my neighbors. It’s 6:45 AM. The bus comes and I breathe a sigh of relief, they are somebody else’s problem for now. How awful is that?

 

Apparently a day a couple of weeks ago, they did not stop the bickering when they got on the bus and both got written up.  

Catching up

Hey, I'm still alive. Things are getting busy at work and at home. We got two major project at work to undertake at the same time.

Home is pretty busy too, but I don't feel as overwhelmed with baseball and soccer as I did with Wrestling. I think part of it is due to the fact that it is now sunny in the evenings. The soccer and baseball fields are also closer to home. Practices are a bit shorter too.

I now have a teenager in the house. But he's not doing to well on follwing through with his responsibilities. We are working on this.

This weekend I went out and found an outfit for the youer son's First Communion. I walked into Coldwater Creek and told a lady what I was looking for and she pulled lots of stuff for me to try on. It made a huge difference in my attitude. I think the money was well spent. I got a jacket, a Tank, a pair of pants and a no-iron blouse. I wore the blouse yesterday and at some point must have sat on a ball point pen. It looked like someone scribbled all over a portion of it. Thankfully rubbing alcohol took it out. I have a big bottle sitting in my laundry area.

So anyways, until next time

It's Spring!

Hi Everyone,
I have not been blogging much lately. Spring soccer started. (I should post a picutre or two of Saturday's game in the swamp. The 8-10 YO boys had a great time). Baseball practices occur twice a week for each boy also. Meanwhile, Dad installed a new garage door opener. I have been wondering around the yard trying to determine what I might want to plant.

Work is getting busy. I have two big migration projects to complete this summer. From now until June I have a carpool arrangement for 2 days a week.

I'm sure I'll post about the boy who will become a teenager on Saturday. He has invited a few friends to join him at Dave and buster's Friday night.

Spring Break

Yikes! It's been a while since I posted. Last week the boys and I were in North Carolina. We had a great time taking boat rides and hanging out. Once my Mom pointed out some Mistletoe growing in a tree, I hunted Mistletoe (see the first picture) . The 8 YO learned the difference between inboard engines, outboards and inboard-outboards. He spent time identifying the engine type of each boat as we padded by the docks.

We saw the eagales nest we saw last fall, but no sign of the Eagle himself.

The second picture is the boys int he row boat.

Anybody know how to build an Ark?

It's raining a lot here in SW Ohio. We got a foot of snow last weekend that all melted. The rivers are overrunning their banks. My kids started their Spring break tow days early today due to flooding in the school that was still rising.

Well, a good thing the kids were home. They were able to discover that the sump pump was not working and call Dad who had it replaced before more than an inch of water gathered. I think most of the stuff I really cared about was up on my lovely shelves or in plastic bins. We need to do another purge anyways.

I guess they have all the water pumped out or gotten by the shop vac. Now they are moving and checking things. Did I relate how Hubby threw out his back 10 days ago shoveling the foot of snow? He can't lift much. I guess the 12 Yo is being a huge help. Hubby mentioned taking the boys out for lunch.

Meanwhile, I am dealing with another piece of drama here at work wile in a class. The class is down the hall from my office. That' more of a curse than a blessing.

Did I mention that I am having not jsut one party at my house on Easter, but two?

I live for this kind of drama. LOL! I have jsut recenly admitted this to myself.

Too many Apples

My 12 YO woke up yesterday morning complaing that his head hurt. He was congested so I gave him some regular Tylenol and a Sudafed. I too him to school about 10:00 AM.

Later that afternoon he told me "I've never had a headache before."
me: "What did it feel like" (Trying to determin if the poor boy has Mom and Dad's allergies)
12 YO: "It was like there were two apples in my head and someone was trying to stuff and third on in and it did not fit."

I stocked up on Claritin and Sudafed.

Ohio Snow pictures & Menu Plan Monday

Back deck about 9 AM Saturday Morning.

The mailbox after shoveling the driveway. Hubby threw out his back after getting about 1/4 of the drive done. The 12 Yo was "helping". I went out and with some help of the 12 YO got one lane cleared. The 12 YO finished the remaining 3/4 of the other side.

Menu Plan for the week:

Mon - Meantloaf in the fridge ready to be put in the oven.

Tuesday - Chicken tortilla casserole.

Wed - Pork chops, stuffing and gravy.

Thurs - Just me and DS8. We will scrounge.

Fri - Fish Fry at Church. \

Holy Cow, I forgot to put a link to Org Junkies Menu Plan monday post and Mr. Linky. Lot os bloggeres create their meal plans.

Repost: My Christmas dish collection Christmas preparations

This Morning, Shannon of "WFMW" fame posted about her dishes and invited readers to post theirs. I took pictures Christmas 2006 when I switched out my Christmas Dishes.

I too have a thing for seasonal dishes. I have a set of 4 Melamime dishes for Halloween, Valentines day, Spring/Easter and Summer. I also have my MIL's set of China with something close to 16 sets packed away in one of hte Rubbermaid dish chests they sold several years ago when Christmas dish sets became very popular.

So I made the big dish switch. Several years ago I decided the I liked having Christmas plates. Well,actually we got a service for 4 as a Wedding gift.













But then I acquired a set of melamine plates that were on sale the year I was to have Christmas at my house.








Then a year later I got some other dishes. Then a few days before Christmas they were selling for 50% off. So I got a whole set. Some Santa and some snowmen.

Good News, Bad News

I guess I am setting a good example of citizenship for my sons. They are aware of the election, they know who's running and they have some ideas as to what the various presidential candidates are promising.

Bad News is that they want to know who I support and why. My Dad was always a private man who did not talk much about his political leanings. Although Mom claims they cancel out each others voted every year.

But last night the 12YO and I I had a talk about the platforms of each candidate. I talked about what issues were at the top of my list and which cnadidate I liked for that issue. We also did some hypethical discussion about how "If issue Y were very important to me, Candidate Z would be getting my vote."

At least I know they are interested. They should understand the ramifications. They have a relative, whom I love dearly, but who has no interest in political matters and barely looks at current events if only to see the weather, who votes for a certain party becasue of her father's influence. This relative has been heard to rant about some government actions she did not agree with. She has no idea that the votes she casts are for the people who are making laws that she does not agree with.

Proud to be an Ohioan

Daylight Savings Time

Today, Feb 28th. The sunrise wasa at 7:11 am . this means that at 6:45 when my kids are waiting for the bus, the sky is starting to lighten up, and it's not pitch dark. Next week I will be able to send them out to wait for the bus and I will be able to see them clearly while they are waiting. More importantly, other drivers will be able to see them.

However, a week from Saturday,. Daylight savings will apply and we will "spring" our clocks forward one hour. It will be another 4 weeks until it is the same brightness at 6:45 as it was today.

I have not decided if it will be comforting that won't occur until after 7 PM.

Snow Days

My boys went to school a whole 2 days last week. They were off on Monday for President's day. Then the 12 Yo was sick the preceding Thursday and Friday. He did have all parts of his research project ready to turn in Monday. (It was due Friday). Sunday he finished his bibliography. The yesterday he had a missing assignment. He admitting it to Dad when Dad asked. Then Dad looked at his planner. He has stamps for 3 missing assignments over the past 3 weeks. Sigh! If he had only had the one yesterday we would have been ok because of his absentes, we would ahve told him to do better next time. However since there was a Math assignment before the sickiesa nd snows, a Social Studies assignment from last week and a Religion packet ("I did not hear the due date", "It is your responsibility to find out.")

Thus a loss of privledges has been levied...

Sigh An email from the 8yo's teacher just came across. He had 2 slight meltdown yesterday. As usual, he did not tell us about them.

My Son and Liquid Zithromax

So my 12 YO last week was a bit sick. He has a nasty cough and a low grade fever. So he stayed home form school Thursday and Friday. Friday Dad took him to the doctor where he was given a prescription for liquid Zithromax. This stuff is bright red and cherry-flavored.

So here is this boy who was dragging becasu fo cold that morphed into a sinus infection, but starting Saturday, he was off the carts with ADHD hyper energy. I swear he tap daced around the house for 4 days. His mouth was going a mile-a-minute. He was pushing all of his brother's buttons. You would ahve though we had forgotten to put his Daytrana patch on.

His Dad said he thought it was the lack of wrestling practice and the outlet for nervous energy it provides. I voted for something in the Zithromax. Yesterday was his last dose. This morning I noticed a big difference. The 12 YO noticed a difference. He does not usually notice those sorts of things.

Dinner date

Saturday Hubby and I went to dinner to celebrate a late Valentines. Now that our oldest son is old enough to be in charge at home, we have decided to make a monthly dinner date. I have this list of non-chain restaurants in the area that I want to try. We went to a neighborhood steak and seafood restaurant. It was wonderful.

We did not have reservations, but we got there early enough for them to give us a table in the lounge. It was really fun. There was jazzy music playing, we talked with the bartender and our waitress. We talked to both of the owners. The food was cooked wonderfully. While I was not extremely fond of my dish, it was the flavor of the dish itself. I am more than willing to go back again. Hubby absolutely loved the atmosphere. Now I need to convince him that there are more great restaurants to try.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Ground beef thawing - Hamburgers, baked beans, carrot sticks

Tuesday - Wrestling banquet. We need to take a 2 ltr of soda

Wednesday - Stuffed chicken breasts. A MArket day product. We have Broccoli and cheese or Cordon Blu.

Thursday - Not sure. May stop and pick up pork chops. Or I could do Chicken and rice.

Friday - Fish fry at Church.

Did I mention that we are finished with wrestling? The 12 YO was home sick Thursday and Friday and chose not the wrestling in the districts. Thus he is not eligible for the traveling team. With moving, It has not been the best year for him. He is ready to go on to baseball. I still think wrestling is his best chance for a varsity sport in HS. He will go to 2 wrestling camps this summer.

For more great menus, check out Laura's blog.

Happy Valentines Day!

Hi All,

We exchanged some Valentines yesterday as Thursdays are usually a busy day for us. Hubby brought me home a nice boquet of mixed flowers. They look beautiful in the center of the kitchen table. He picked up a Whitman's sampler box for each boy. I picked up a box of Chocolate covered Cherries for Hubby. (Glad I got them).

Yesterday my 12 yo was sounding quite froggy and was speed-eating rootbeer-flavored cough drops. Poor kid coughed all night. So this morning we decided to give his teachers and classmates a nive Valentines by NOT sending him and his cold germs to school. That means he won't be staying after school for band practice nor will he go to wrestling practice tonight. Thus our normally busy night is quite free.

However, I did not make plans for dinner tonight. It is usually just the 8 YO and I as Hubby swings by and picks up food for himself and the 12 yo between band and wrestling.

This also means I do not ahve to leave work early to be home when the 8 yo gets off the bus. I can make up the hour I missed yesterday when they boys had a 2 hour delayed start for school.

Snow day

My boys finally go their snow day yesterday. We left them at home. The 12 Yo is of age to "babysit" and the 8 yo is very responsible. They do well together in such situations. Of course they were the recipients of phone calls from Mom and Dad reminding them to eat breakfast, get dressed, eat lunch, etc.

But of course, the 12 yo did not work on his writing project. Sigh, I'm going to nag him to death on this project.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Turkey Meatloaf

Tuesday - Turkey - Noodle Casserole from the Freezer since Mom has to work late and the 12 yo has wrestling practice at 6:00.

Wednesday - Chicken Stir fry - Requested by Hubby. He bought some vegetarian egg rolls.

Thursday - Just the 8 yo and I. I'll dig something up

Friday - Fish Fry at Church or scallops/cheese stickes from the freezer.

For More great menu ideas, check out Laura's blog.

Ash Wednesday

As a practicing Catholic, Ash Wednesday is an important day. It is a day of Fast and abstenance. We abstain from meat and we are called to fast. My parents - practicing Catholics themselves, had us eat three meals, no snacking in between. Funny, I'm in my early 40's and just recently have I really looked at the blurb in the church Bulletin about what it means to fast per the Church. We are supposed to have 2 snacks and one full meal. The tow snacks are not supposed to equal the amount of the full meal.



I don't fast well. The last 5 to 7 years I find that when I go for more than 5 hours without eating that I get a headache and my emotions start to go out of wack. I start to worry about stupid things. I get agitated and I start snapping at people. I don't like this.



So this morning I decided I was going to try. My stomach was protesting, so I decided to eat 2 South Beach Cereal bars. Not bad. I also had a cup of coffee with some milk. This is about 7:30-8:00. About 11:45 I started to get a headache. My stomach is starting to whine also. So I drank the 6 oz can of V-8 I packed. Then I warmed the piece of Brie I brought and ate it with some crackers. Then I decided to get a small salad from the cafe here in my building.

Ok, So now it's Thursday morning. I still have a headache, must be sinus. But I went home, Had dinner - Some Onion rings, hush puppies and crab cakes. So I am pretty pleased that I managed well.

Menu Plan Monday - What happened?

I have not given up on planning my menus weekly. I get a vague idea before I do the grocery shopping. It's jus tthat there are so many poster on Laura's blog for Menu Plan Monday. I'm finding it better for my family if I write my menu on a piece of paper and slap it ont he fridge. My 8 yo is always very interested in his meals. Of course he makes an ugly face at half of my plans. Unless it included hot dogs, mac and cheese or spaghetti.

So Hubby is out of town this week. He' be back Thursday evening. I did - even though it's the end of the season, find someone to carpool to wrestling with. Last night the other Mom did the drop off and pcik-up. Tongiht it is my turn. I suggested this way becasue the 8 yo goes on Tuesdays. When Hubby is home, he goes and coaches. Of course The 8 yo could have his last meet thins Sunday.

But I am rather free with my menus when Hubby is not home. Last ngiht it was hot dogs for the boys and mac and cheese. Tonight will most likely be leftovers of mac and cheese.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. As a good Catholic, I try to fast, but I am scared to death of my blood sugar dropping. So I will try to be careful. I think I will make Mozzarella cheese sticks for dinner. I will cook up a little bit of shrimp or scallops for myself.

Not bad for a wrestler

My 12 YO son is a wrestler. We put him on a wrestling team when he was in First Grade becasue we felt he needed an outlet for his energy during the Winter. Wrestling is a great sport for an ADHDer becasue it is fast paced, energy intensive and requires a short period of focus. (Matches are rarely longer than 6 minutes).

When he was in 3rd anf 4th grade, he also played basketball. That school is a feeder to a High school known for excellence in Basketball. And that school was right across the parking lot. But this basketball league was Friday nights only. Practices and games were Friday nights. Great! Wreslting was not Friday nights. So he played. And discovered that he wa a better wrestler than a basketball player.

So imagine my surprise when he comes home with a flyer about a free-throw contest sponsordd by our parishes Knights of Columbus Council. "I can throw free-throws Mom!" So Of course, I took him. (He's having a rough year in wrestling). Last night we got a call that his 9 out of 15 shots was the record for his age group. So Tomorrow night I need to take him to another Church in town for another round of free-throws.

Oh, and he wrestled on Sunday and took second place. He got beat by the teammate who keeps beating him out for a position to go to dual meets.

I Must be crazy

Ok, So we are in the depths of Wrestling season. The 12 Yo is into it. While he keeps getting beat in wrestle-offs to be the A wreatler for the tournaments, he's still putting forth his best effort. He practices 3 days a week. Four if Dad makes him go to Friday night practice with the grade school kids. The District Tournement is in four weeks. So we'll be through, right? Nope. There will be a team to go to open tournaments. The boy wants to participate.

But I met another Mom last night and we decided we live close enough to carpool. Oh joy! Of course the boy still does not get home until 8:30. Yes, he is 12, but he boards the school bus at 6:45, which backs up to mean we roll him out of bed at 6:00 AM. I worry about making sure he has the opportunity to get enough sleep. He is starting to sleep in on the weekends, just like a teenager. He also stay up lat some nights reading.

So here is why I am crazy, I am going to sign him up for a boating safety class. It is Wednesday nights, 7 - 9 PM for 8 weeks. I have been wanting to get him into some sort of water/boating safety class. My Parents have a house on a lake with 3 boats. My Dad got a little row boat with an electric motor that he can take out himself. My son will probably spend upwards of a month there this year.

This class is conducted by the Coast Guard Auxilliary. The cost is $25. I'd be willing to pay three times that amount for such a class. So we are going to go, get the class materials. If it proves to be too much after a couple of weeks, I have no issues with pulling him out. I talked to the instructor last night asking if it would be appropriate for a 12 YO (Almost 13 he reminded me). The isntrcutor said if another family member wanted to come too, the cost would be $5 as long as they shared the materials. We also discussed retaking the class if it's over the head of the 12 YO. He said, as long as we still had the materials, the cost would most likely be $5.

Dieting stories

So my husband has decided he wants to lose about 20 lbs. Being the man he is, he gets intrigues by an infomercial, PX90 where all of the models in the commercial are ripped. He ordered the program in November. It was January before he started in on it. This is providing me some great entertainment, unfortunately it is a bit at his expense. See, I have bad genes that predispose me to obesity and then throw in misbehaved hormones, and I have been on many diets. I’ve read many books.

So in January he starts this program. He decided that he is going to shoot for the highest calorie expenditure on the chart, even though he has a desk job. So I look at it, the Plan is a low carb, high protein, makes sense since the workout program expects an hour to an hour and a half workout per day. I can work with this. I do better limiting my carbs, I do have a bit of an insulin resistance issue. So I start to make appropriate meals. I can venture away from the limited meal plan in his book. He is having trouble dealing with the one serving of carb per day. (Hey, here’s my chance to start shifting the family towards whole grain/high protein pasta.)

Now Hubby is finding that life is getting in the way of his 60 to 90 minute workouts per day. Life being 9 hour workdays, 40 minute commute and getting the boys to wrestling practice 4 evenings a week. But he’s not doing badly. He’s sticking too it longer than he’s stuck to similar things before. He’s learning to appreciate turkey bacon.

Hubby also realized how helpful it is that I am buying groceries and cooking meals and even bringing him snacks to a wrestling meet that fit with the plan. He even apologized to me for the times when I was seriously watching what I ate and he brought home his own treats. He now understands why I asked him to keep them out of the house or to at least hide them.

Last night he told me he though he had hit a plateau. He lost 10 pounds the first week and the scale is now moving very slowly. He asked if I had any hints or tips. So we discussed how all diets give you immediate gratification with a large loss of water the first week and that a healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week.

So our meals are consisting of pork loin, top sirloin, chicken and turkey. Our boys are missing the casseroles. But we are eating more rice. Hubby is learning the necessity of planning his eating. He has always operated on a “I’m hungry, what can I put in my mouth right now” mode. I have been trying to explain that “Hey you are going somewhere and will be there for a long time, you will get hungry. The Concession stand costs a lot of money. Plan ahead. At least pack some drinks and snacks so you can enjoy the hot dog or pizza without feeling like your wallet got stolen.” After fifteen years, it may be starting to sink in.