Adventures In Critterland

Okay... Some of you may know that I'm a sucker for a stray. Do you think I'd deliberately go out and get three dogs and seven cats?

This morning, I stumbled into the kitchen to get coffee only to realize I hadn't set the pot up last night. (Whoever invented coffee pots with timers is a saint in my book.) The reason I didn't set up the coffee was simple. I was out of water. No, I didn't forget to pay my bill. I refuse to consume the tap water where I live. I prefer my water clear; not brown. I drink, cook and make coffee only with bottled water.

So anyway, the water was in the car. I'd forgotten to bring it in yesterday. It's dark out--5:30 AM--and my neighbors are not early risers. Instead of actually putting on something decent, I wander out to the car in my nightgown. Not that I wear sexy bedclothes but if I bend over in that particular gown, we'd have a full moon early!

As I'm getting water out of the car, I hear a weird sound coming from down the driveway. I see Tom Tom, my yellow cat, and he's either chewing something or he's injured his mouth. It's dark, remember? I snuck up on him, grabbed him and took him near the carport light. Since I didn't have my reading glasses on, I couldn't make out what was wrong! I wasn't taking him in the house and I definitely wasn't touching the bloody mass around his mouth without a napkin or paper towel.

I put him down and ran in the house. Mistake. You know the old saying, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"? Tom Tom is a firm believer in it... He wasn't letting me near him.

So picture this, if you will... An overweight middle aged woman in flip flops and a too short night shirt running around in the pre-dawn darkness with a flashlight and a handful of napkins, yelling at a stubborn pain in the ass cat. After the chase led through the yard half a dozen times and around the car until I was dizzy, I went back in the house and got the big ammunition. That's right, ladies and gents, a can of cat food.

One pop of the top and the little shit in question bounded into the house, plopped the bloodied remains of what I can only assume was a mouse in the middle of the floor and pounced on the canned cat food.

You see, Tom Tom is also known as Toothless Tom. It would have taken days for him to gnaw that mouse down to something he could swallow. The cat food is much easier to eat.

Now why I didn't think of that twenty minutes earlier... Well, I blame it on a lack of coffee.

Tonight, the coffee pot will be set up on the timer.

Back to School Writing Contest

My friend sent me an email about a new contest at Super Fundraiser. Unluckily, I never got the chance to submit an entry so I'll just cast off my vote.

I'm voting for:

The Seven Wonders of the World by Rachelle -- very chicken-soup-esque but has good content
3 ways to teach kids about home ownership by Phil -- I never really thought about teaching my kids about home ownership but hey, it might work!



I didn't vote for these because:

Back to School and Beat those Bullies by Nigel -- no source/authority quoted and no interview conducted to prove the claims

Back to School Means Fundraising Begins by Christina - I disagree with some of the tips listed.

Assistance Dogs Go Back to School from Diane Shotwell & Raven - typo errors (Parkinson’s decease) and the writing, in my opinion, lacks something.

Inside the PTO Secret Society by Angela - nice but too short

Five Reasons Why I Loved Junior High by Jess - Not really informative for the reader. It's more like a short personal account of one's highschool life. It would have been fun to read if it talked about "what makes her H.S. different" with a dash of humor or "the crazy things she did during highschool"

Going Back to High School by Veronica - I think everyone can pick up some from her list but I think the other articles are more interesting


“This post is a vote for the best blog entries to the Super Fundraiser Back to School writing contest.”

Word of Honor by Terri Blackstock

Word of Honor by Terri Blackstock

This another well-crafted book in the Newpointe 911 series. It was a bit different as you KNOW who the perp is from the very beginning of the book. This doesn't destroy the suspense of plot line of the book.

I'm convinced that Terri must have done the Precept Upon Precept course on Covenant because so much of this book mirrors that course content. Terrie shares some excellent thoughts on covenant and what it means to be in covenant with both God and others.

I really enjoy reading her short afterwords, as well. This one talked about an author's desire for readers and the realization that many Christians are getting their doctrine from novels. Good stuff. I copied it for Jamin to read.

Tips from a Dietitian

I thought I'd write this out so I don't forget. LOL Feel free not to read it. LOL

We had a good visit. She is incredibly encouraging. She gave me three cookbooks (Your Plan to Eating More - fruits and veggies; Naturally Nutritious; and The Good Carb Cookbook), a new exchange book, a plan, and loaned me a Leslie Sansone Walk at Home DVD.

She looked over my food journal and noted that there were two days last week when I didn't make 1200 calories - oops. She said that she isn't worried about analyzing each bite of food I put into my mouth. She said that these general diets are good for the "general" public...but each of us are unique. She noted that I was doing great before. I felt that I needed SOMETHING because I gained 8 lbs...but I gained another 8 on this plan. ::snort:: Then we thought over what had happened this spring/summer that led me to believe that 1200 wasn't working any longer. I got pregnant, miscarried, stopped eating 6 small meals and went to one big meal, traveled for 6 weeks and then woke up and said, "I've gained 8 lbs" and joined a plan that had me eat MORE and made me feel lousy....and I kept gaining..... So really I need to get back on my original plan and stick with it for at least a month before I decide if it is working or not.

She envisions nothing but continued weight gain if I try to keep following the plan. We looked through the charts and she was surprised to see it in black and white. I told her there are studies that explain the reasoning in the back and they'd mean something to HER, so I'll loan her the book. I'd like her to really look over the whole "raise the metabolism" thing and discuss it with me later.

*I* really struggle with eating 1200 calories. I'm full! We discussed how I FEEL since I've been trying to eat 1600 calories a day. She asked if I was hungry on 1200 calories and then laughed and said, "well you are NEVER hungry" and then we discussed that really I don't need more calories and, therefore, I shouldn't feel like I have to force eat or be in some sort of danger.

My Eating plan is basically: 12-1400 calories a day, 10 - 12 produce servings a day, 24-42 grams of protein (YES! much more doable than 90-120), and 20 - 35 grams of fiber. She isn't worried about carbs or fat (as I eat so much produce and really am NOT near the fat limits and my carbs are ALL (except for the nightly dark chocolate) complex carbs). I don't have to count protein. I'll check once in a while and be sure I'm hitting the range. She agreed that there IS nutritional value in produce, including protein. ::snort:: She did suggest that I need more calcium (or some to be exact) and that getting 3 good, low-fat, calcium sources a day would also insure the protein I need.

Vitamins: She said that multi vitamins are OK but that it's best to get your vitamins from your FOOD. She said that there is research that no matter how "healthy" the vitamin you buy your body really doesn't know what to do with the concentrated amount of vitamin.....but in FOOD it is packaged perfectly for your body to utilize. We discussed how God did that. AND I was relieved to not feel guilty about the vitamins I bought 3 weeks ago that I HATE. She said my food journal shows that I'm getting plenty of nutrients from my diet.

Exercise: Yes, they USED to say 3x a week was good. NOW, according to the base's exercise physiologist this is what you need:

~ typical youth/younger adult with no weight to lose needs 30 minutes of cardio most days of the week.

~Weight to lose or middle age (that's me evidently LOL) 45 minutes of cardio most days of the week

~If you've EVER been obese or are obese currently they say you need 60 - 90 minutes of cardio most days of the week.... (I'm assuming pregnancy weights are excluded from this LOL).

Of course, ANY, amount is better than NO amount. LOL

Gary likes circuit training because it IS 30 min of cardio and strength 3x a week....but it isn't enough, according to him and others like him, to even maintain fitness by itself. I should NOT have gone from 45 min of cardio 5 - 6 days a week, to 3 Curves workouts a week. I know that's what I was told - but it obviously isn't working. LOL There is also some question as to weather I am even working hard enough to NEED a day off between circuit training as the machines are hydraulic and not free weights and believe me I'm not ripping muscle. This discussion gave me new resolve to be sure the kids are doing the 30 min NOW because that "ever been obese" thing is huge in the sense of if we can avert it now they won't have to struggle with this when they are 50. LOL

Raising a Metabolism: The goal is to have a metabolism that is functioning. The goal is NOT to eat 2500 calories a day. In other words, the impression I have gotten from MY Curves is that you know your metabolism is functioning at a certain level when you can eat that many calories and not gain...The ultimate goal is phase 3 where you eat 2000 - 2500 28 days a month and diet 2 days a month. I'm not sure why Curves has that much food as a goal, but Debbie says that if I'm feeling good, and my body is stable at 1200 calories then there is no reason to "eat more to raise your metabolism". If your metabolism is functioning at 1600 cal that is what you need. If it functions well at 1200 or 2000 - THAT is what you need. BUT the goal isn't to continually raise the level of calories you eat. She said that when I do plateau that the key is to intensify my workout. I'm sure we'll talk about that more later because at this point (after 4 weeks of the plan I've been on) I have 21 lbs to lose! ::snort:: I'm not at the "let's maintain" stage.

Basically - your body likes a consistent diet (calories, produce etc) but a variety of exercise.

All in all a good talk. I agreed to come back and visit. I would like to make the monthly cooking class they are doing, it just is very difficult with the produce co-op...but maybe I will anyway. Once again, she told me I'm doing things RIGHT and shouldn't be worrying about adding this or that or whatever.....

This is ONE appointment I had today. I'm far too tired to write about anything else.

School Shopping

I suppose if we were in public school we'd spend money each fall for a few new school clothes. Last year I bought the kids homeschool t-shirts. Arielle and Nolan have worn theirs out. They asked for new ones. It seemed like a reasonable request. The older boys have outgrown homeschool t-shirts. Mike said he has enough t-shirts. I ordered these for us from Great Homeschool T- Shirts . I only wish I'd remembered to order one for Stacia. We've been very happy with the quality of these shirts and the customer service of the company. They also make tote bags and bumper stickers. All the shirts are really cute. I love the saying on Nolan's: Warning, Unsocialized Homeschooler - interact or communicate at your own risk.

My Kids Love Each Other

A few days ago, Julia made a speech for her class. She wanted to become class representative. She had me type her speech, which included a sentence like, "And I would like to thank my brother who is always there for me."

Aidan had lost his bid for treasurer the week before. Julia had such empathy for him that she made sure she blessed him in her speech. It's a wonderful indication that my kids are crazy about each other.

How did we do that? I'm really not sure! But I'm entirely thankful. Some things to consider:

* We went halfway across the world as a family and encountered a mountainful of stress together. That bonded us like nothing else could.
* We would not allow our kids to desecrate each other with words. We tried to model grace and acceptance. (Not to say we don't have arguments, we do, but we try to work things out without character assassination).
* Our children are not overbooked with activity, so they have lots of time to spend together.
* We have time together as a family.
* We spend Sundays at home relaxing.

These are factors that contribute to our kids liking and loving each other. Even so, I give Jesus the rightful credit for infusing our home with His grace. Oh that we could all be like Julia to the loved ones in our lives.

Think You Know..?

Hey everyone..!
Hope ya’ll feeling good. You know, I wake up this morning, feeling sorta “blog-ish”, but as I prepare to write, everything that came to my mind, just seems, irrelevant, vague and less interesting!

But as I seat, on my chair, think of what to post, it occurs to me, that I don’t know, how much for sure people know me.
Ask my family, you’ll get nothing but great accolades. My friends, well, she’s “cool”. My ex-boyfriends they’ll list my faults. My boyfriend, he’ll say I’m the best thing that has ever happened, ever!

I come across people’s profiles, and they’ll always try to sound as nice and as simple as possible. But I ask, how much do we truly know ourselves? I doubt if that can be absolutely answered. I believe we know ourselves, as much as ourselves has shown us. We can never know what or how we might react, if we’re in a plane that is about to crash, unless we’ve been in one. And even if we have, it’ll be slightly different from our first time, courtesy of experience.

So I ask. How much can we know, before we can say we know ourselves? For me, I search daily, I even make same mistakes deliberately, just to see how much of myself I can learn. And as life goes by, I hope and pray, that I’ll be a better man today, than yesterday.

Daily, I learn, who I am.
Daily, I strive to be better.
How? ..Through a reason, better than reality..