Why must the world parent for you?

I ran across a news story this morning that really bothered me.

Schools in Idaho banned The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian from being taught in the classroom.  So an industrious 10th grader amassed 700 copies, that he gave away for free.   Some parents called the police.

Called the police like the kid was giving away drugs in the park, and not books.

Why all this trouble?  Because there's mention of masturbation and some anti-Christian content.  It's on the list of frequently challenged books.

I look at the list every year and it makes me sigh.  These are books that have been pulled from libraries and schools.  (Ok.. I'll give them 50 Shades....)  Many of these books have wonderful empowering messages, but are banned because the parents don't want their children reading it.

What ever happened to simply telling your child that you don't want them reading it?  Or telling your child that you want to read it first?  Or that you read it together and discuss it?

Why do people jump right from them not liking it to wanting to make sure that no one can read, watch or see it?    What about the parents that think that their children are mature enough to handle these books shows and movies?  Why do the majority have to go without because a minority want the world to parent for them?

Love it or Hate it

Loving it:

1.) My carpet cleaner

We have a puppy.  She likes to pee on the floor while we are asleep.  I love this thing.  I put the brush over the pee spot, and it does the work for me!

2.)  It's Friday!!!  And tomorrow is Saturday!!  We're headed off to Busch Gardens tomorrow

3.) I'm getting new glasses!

I'm going with blue this time instead of pink!

Hating it:

1.) People who let their UNSUPERVISED pets off leash in the parking lot.

Seriously.  We almost killed a chihuahua that was running around.  I went out to see if I could coax the dog close... and it actually pushed open the door to a townhouse with it's nose and went inside.  WTH??

This is an ongoing problem.  I have Misty on a leash, and these leashless dogs run over to bother her!

2.) It's the end of the school year, which means we've hit the "heartbreak hill" portion of our year.  And hearing the students getting drunk outside doesn't help.  Unfortunately this all make me panic attack-y.  And tired.  I'm just so tired!

Maybe I need a hug.

3.) No motivation.  Seriously, today was the first time that I've gone running all week.  All I want to do is eat and watch cartoons.  Hopefully after commencement life will get better.

I've hit a wall!

Well, not a wall.  A plateau.
And it's been going on for a while.  Last night, while laying in bed, I decided to take some action.

I've been doing Weight Watchers for a while now, and while it works to an extent.... I've been yo-yoing for a few months.

So I'm going to make this work for me!

1.)  I'm going to track better.  I KNOW that by using the online tracker:

And the tracking app on my phone:

I will cheat less.  Looking up the food, or scanning it in will keep me from cheating and undervaluing food.

Next?

2.) Weigh and Measure

Part of the plan of portion control and accurate tracking involve a scale and other measurement devices.  I KNOW I underestimate what I'm eating.

I just wish I had bought these when I had the chance.



Wish me luck!

What a crazy morning

I don't know what got into the pets this morning.  The cat was zooming all over the house.  Misty discovered that the plastic wrap was gone from the windows, and that she could now move things aside and look out.

She spent the morning looking out that window, and barking at EVERYTHING.  Like the cat jumping off a table.  And me getting ice out of an ice cube tray.  Everything!

So after getting her into the cage, I left to get gas.  Because with no gas, there'd be no getting to work.

And then things got interesting.

You see, I drive a Nissan.  And it has one of these keys:

All I have to do is have the key in the car for the car to run.  I drive to the gas station.  Get gas.

Then the car wouldn't start.  The key light was flashing, indicating that the key wasn't in the car.  Well, yes it was.

The battery in my key must be dead.

So I sat there, in front of the pump having a small panic attack.  What am I going to do.  Then I realized that I could pop a metal key out of the smart key, and that it could be inserted.

Thank God!  And off to work I went.

Needless to say, I'll be buying batteries on my way home.

Unexpected Spring Cleaning

Saturday morning, I was woken up by the puppy. She was upset that the Spousal Equivalent was up and to work and that I was still in bed. So at 6:30, I was up and moving. I ate breakfast, drank some coffee.....

Then I saw a bug.

It was 7:20am. And so commenced:

In the space of a few hours I:

• swept the entire downstairs
• mopped the entire downstairs
• vacuum the living room rug
• took out 5 bags of trash
• did 4 loads of laundry
• put said laundry away
• emptied the dishwasher
• filled it again, and washed said dishes
• cleaned off various tables in the living room
• put boxes away in the storage room

With all of that, I managed to watch most of season 1 of Mr. Selfridge before the SE got home from work.

Today was outdoor work. With some help, the front yard is now weeded.

All we need to do is clean up the back yard. (and maybe get a grill... and some patio furniture....)

I'm so damn proud of myself that I want to have company! To show up off my clean house!

Body image, at any size

We all fall pray to it.  Issues with body image and the like.


I'm a prime offender.

I don't like the way I look in a bathing suit.  Why?  I've gained almost 50 pounds since college.

I've had other tell me that I look wonderful.  Which is sweet of them.  I love hearing it from them.  And at times I need to hear it. Yes, parts of me look wonderful.  And I do need to love myself as I am.

But I also need to lose weight.

Do I want to look better in a bathing suit?  Heck yes.  Do I want to fit into some older clothes again?  Absolutely.

Some people are bigger and healthy.  Some people are skinny and unhealthy.

This guy kinda looks like my dad

I'm not healthy.  I have a strong family history of diabetes.  I have breast and colon cancer in my family.  I used to dance.  3 classes a week at almost 2 hours a class.  I have high blood pressure already, and my cholesterol is on the high side.  There's heart disease in my family.  As well as strokes.

A lot of things in that list are preventable!  So why wouldn't I?

That's why I'm doing Weight Watchers (which I need to get more serious about).  This is why I run.

Will this week ever be over??

Ever have one of those weeks?  One of those weeks where if the pattern keeps up, by Friday lunch will consist of chocolate and wine?

We're having one of those weeks.

• Not once, but twice this week I've fallen prey to "I dress in the dark."  Tuesday it was 2 clashing shades of brown.  Today it's wearing a navy sweater instead of the black one I thought I had on.
• Work seems to have an escalating issue of craptastic things, mainly things out of our control causing issues with paperwork and the like.
• There's an angry wasp in my office.
• I made SPECTACULARLY bad food choices yesterday.  When will I learn that if I have the munchies, then I should just drink water.  (It's usually boredom, or me being unsettled, not hunger)
• I have 4 doctor's appointments in the next week and a half

But there are some positives:

• A local historic hotel is liquidating everything.  I REALLY want to get there this weekend and see what's there.
• I bought myself a new necklace.  I have a 5K charm for when I run that race in May.  I hope to add other charms for the other distances I run.
• Tomorrow is Friday!

Did you leave anything at the store?

Ever have one of those weekends, where you make your way home, sure that you bought out the entire store?

We had one of those yesterday.

Heck, we had one of those all weekend!

It started on Friday.  The Spousal Equivalent took the car on Friday night to run errands.  So I added an errand to his list.  Buy me gardening tools and a rake.

He did.  Saturday afternoon as started on the leaves in the back.  4 garbage bags on leaves down.  Probably another 8 to go.

Sunday, I started in on the weeding.  After a half hour, I was frustrated.

Can you tell that I'm over the green growing things?

After my time trying to be Ms. Green Thumb, the SE and I ran out to to our weekly shopping.  But we made the mistake of going to the Kmart by us that's closing.  I cleaned the shelves out of the Weight Watchers Chocolate.   Well, the three boxes that they had.  Got them at $3, which is 40% off from what I can tell.  I also got Aveeno Active Naturals Positively Radiant Intensive Night Cream for $8 (normally almost $15) And Aveeno Smart Essentials Moisturizer for the same price.  On those two I saved about 50%.

After all of that, grocery shopping and a trip to PetSmart for food, the back seat was full and I wondered what we didn't buy!!

Now I just need to stop buying things and finish unpacking the darn house!

Dauntless Cake

So, I made Dauntless Cake.  I started with this recipe from Epic Reads:

I subbed light sour cream for the mayo, and used a combo of chocolate frosting an Coconut Pecan frosting.  I also used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder in the cake.  Yum!

The result:

Verdict:  Delicious!

April Goals

I took a day off of major posting yesterday.  It was April Fool's day.  I hate April fools day.

Anyways, it's sunny and warm and it looks like Spring is finally here!   In honor of that, I've set some goals for myself for the month.

Physical Goals:

• Run 3 days of the week
• other forms of exercise for 3 days (Hulu is good for this!)

House Goals

• Unpack the boxes, or sort and box items for storage
• keep up with daily chores
• make sure clean laundry gets put away
• gardening in the front and back yards.  (I never thought I'd say that.)

Personal Goals

• Wash my makeup off at the end of the day
• go out and be social with people
• put money into a savings account monthly
• Stop beating myself up for not being able to achieve goals (the Roller Derby thing.  Basically, it's largely out of my time and money range.  It's beyond my control and that's ok)
• Sign up (and run) more races.  (An achievable goal!)
• Get over my "fear of missing out"

In other news, there is an end in sight!  The end of the chicken tenders, that is.

After open house, we went home with 2 gallon bags of chicken tenders.

And I've had some creative ways to use them:

• cut up with rice and stir fry veggies
• cut up in a salad
• cup up and made into chicken parm sandwiches.  
• warmed up with BBQ sauce and cheese.

After this, no more chicken tenders for a while.

Now.. what to do with 4 bags of Kaiser rolls.....?