Just a few words...

As I head off to Paris, I will leave you with this cool design created at www.wordle.net! I may try and blog from the City of Lights!

Overheard...

So early this morning I climbed into bed with my girls to get some extra snuggle time before I leave for my trip tomorrow. After a while we were all talking and the girls made some of the funniest comments.

• K was telling B she would love going to her camp next summer. "They don't serve you food so you get to bring all your own stuff!" - seriously, that was her number one selling point!

• K was telling B about all the games they have at camp. My mind wandered and I hear B say "Well, what happens if a black guy comes up behind you?" and K says "Watch out cuz he will jump you!" I am like "WHAT???!!!" They were talking about checkers. Both girls always pick red.

I love how kids talk.

Crafty Weekend

Over the weekend, I worked on a few crafts projects I've had stewing in my head.

First, shrinky dinks. Do you remember these from your childhood? I used to love them, my husband had never done them before. Anyway, I recently read a blog that showed that any #6 recycleble plastic is shrinky dink plastic. This is the plastic containers you get from salad bars and stuff like that. I wanted to make the girls a special something to think of me while I am in Paris. So I used shriky dink paper to make some charms like these:

Aren't they cute? Just cut out the plastic, color on it with sharpies, punch a hole, cook for 1 minute, and wala! I plan to put them on a necklace or bracelet for the girls. I am also doing an Eiffel tower charm.

I also want to make the girls personalized Disney autograph books for our trip in November. I know it is early, but I was too excited to work on these. I really wanted ones where they could get autographs on one page, and have room to attach a picture to the opposing page. Here are a few pages I have started.

So that's what I have been working on, how about you?

It's called PINK eye, People!

So my lovely daycare sent Big Man home with "pink eye" yesterday. And he couldn't come back without a doctor's note. I was sure he didn't have pink eye and when we saw him - with bright white (albeit gunky) eyes - I knew he didn't have pink eye. You see, they call it "pink eye" because when you have it there is discharge and your eyes are PINK. His were not at all.

Instead, like his sister before him, Big Man's nasal passages and tear ducts are closely related. So along with a runny nose, he sometimes gets runny gross eyes. His sister did it too. What he does have is a cold. And, as it turns out after a dr's visit, a double ear infection. Poor thing. He has been in a great mood - so hard to believe. And, ANNOYING considering the poor guy has ear tubes. This would be his third bout with ear infections since getting the tubes in October. My poor Big Man.

But -- ear infections are NOT contagious you crazy day care people!

We are keeping him home today while the antibiotics take hold and he is on the mend. But seriously, they are starting to make me crazy. I am all in favor of not spreading disease, but its driving me up a wall.

Rant mode = over

Berries Berries Everywhere

On Saturday I took the girls berry picking. We went to the same farm we did strawberry picking last month. It wasn't too hot a day, so it was really fun. First, all three of us picked blueberries. Oh my goodness they were so good. Not as big as the berries we picked last year, but oh so yummy. Then B and I went and picked blackberries (K rested in the shade under a tree). These blackberries were so sweet and SOOOO big! Like Silver Dollar big. Delicious! B and I also tried raspberries. But it is very early in the season for raspberries, and they were difficult to find ripe and there were lots of thorns, so we probably picked about 20. Lastly, K and I went to the flower garden and picked flowers. We got a huge bunch that we put in 3 vases when we got home.

On Sunday the girls and I made pies. We made blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry (from the frozen stash we picked last month) pie. We made one large pie, and three small pies. YUM YUM YUM. On my diet, I only had one bite- but tonight I get to have a piece! The girls wouldn't eat them (an entirely other post altogether), but they smelled and looked awesome! I love berry pies because you don't have to do anything to them. Just add a little cornstarch, sugar, and lemon juice - and pour them in the crust. They have all the flavor themselves. Can't wait for my piece tonight!!

Workin' It

So for the last 3 weeks I have been on this crazy diet. It is called Cracking the Fat Loss Code. It is a plan that is supposed to train your body to use your fat loss stores for energy and not just what you are eating. For the first week you have to totally carb/sugar deplete. It is not easy, but its just a week, so bearable. After that, you rotate carb up and down days. In three weeks I have lost about 15 lbs. Not bad. Not sure about the science of the diet - but these days I need the discipline. I am a carb-lover (pasta/bread/etc)..so this isn't easy for me. But it is working - maybe not from the science, but just cutting out a LOT of calories/fat.

I have also been upping my exercise. I am trying to do 5-days a week now. During the deplete week I tried to run. It wasn't even funny. I made it a mile, and then hit a brick wall. I felt like I was having a heart attack. I walked for a block, and tried to start running again - no dice. It was awful. So instead I stuck with a new 25-minute workout tape that is KILLER. It is called the 30-day shred, and is done by Jillian, the trainer on Biggest Loser. I have been doing this 3x a week for 3 weeks, and man it really kills you. I highly recommend. I am on level one (of three levels)...I don't expect to move to Level 2 for at least a year!!! I am also back to running (now that I have some level of carbs/sugar), and had a great run yesterday. I also signed up for my 3rd 5K for the end of this September. REALLY want to break 40 minutes.

Of course, on Friday I leave for Paris. I don't have any planned exercise - but expect a LOT of walking. Also expect a lot of bad eating- cheese, wine, pastries, chocolate. But at least I feel like I am in a mode now that I will be able to get back into it when I return.

Any good dieting/fitness tips!

Vacation Planning

So I am in process of planning two big vacations. What I cannot do without is a notebook. I have three dedicated notebooks for my trips - where I write down, and tape in, anything to do with the trip.

1) My trip to Paris. This is next week and I cannot wait. I am going with 6 of my girlfriends. Of the 7 of us, 4 turn 40 this year - so we are celebrating. A whole week in an apartment in the City of Lights - without kids or husbands. I am sooo excited. For this trip I have all information in a pretty travel journal with tabs. I have sections for shopping, eating, sightseeing, logistics and other. I have either written down information or cut and pasted information in. I plan to bring this with me on my trip.

2) DisneyWorld. We are taking our girls on a trip to Disney in November. I have been planning this from last February. I have a simple spiral notebook that I have used to write tips I have heard/seen, all of our advanced dining reservation confirmation codes, etc. I have even started to paste in maps and such.

These notebooks are the way I stay organized, and have all the information I need in one place. That is what works for me! For more tips visit rocks in my dryer!