Not much makes me happier than feeling independent with a brain full of chemicals induced by exercise

It appears that I went for a bike ride today. But that's not Kevin in the trailer.
 
It's groceries! And more of them than I thought I would be able to get home from the store.
 
 
I admit to limiting myself to 1 gallon of milk instead of my usual 2 and only 2 boxes of Coke instead of anywhere up to 6 that I would usually get when at the store with a car but I still think that I got quite a bit of stuff into the trailer and to our house by only my own muscle power.
 
And doesn't it figure that the way to the grocery store is all downhill while the ride home is all uphill.

Andy's is not pink with flowers on it

 

While Andy didn't want a blue kayak, we are "function over form" people (and he didn't want to wait 9 weeks to order the orange or army green version.)

We've been out twice in our kayaks and it's been a good time. Andy tried sitting in the back seat with Kevin in the front but the front portion of the boat was out of the water. The boat stays flat when Andy rides in the front/middle with Kevin in the back so I think he'll stick with that from now on. Now he's on the hunt for an appropriate fishing rod holder that mounts effectively to his kayak. I suspect that once he finds that, I'll never see him again except for those rare occasions when he feels the need for a shower with real soap.

Sewing With Dianne

Hello and welcome to today's show. On this exciting episode, Dianne will display how NOT to sew a simple pair of shorts for her son.



What could be easier than sewing a pair of 4-panel shorts with an elastic waistband? A no-sew fleece scarf, perhaps? Not much, that's for sure! But stay tuned as we learn the many disasters lurking within the pattern, fabric and bobbin just waiting for their chance to spring loose!

At this time the producers of this program would like to state a warning that viewers with weak hearts may be susceptible to holy outbursts ("Oh my Goodness!", "My Word!" and such) when viewing these graphic images.

Behold Exhibit A. The ungathered gathering of the elastic waistband. In Dianne's defense, it was her first time ever sewing an elastic waistband. But still.


Exhibit B. This is a prime example of how not to sew a hem. Nowhere in the instructions does the pattern call for pleats and yet Dianne creatively added approximately 5 (one of them might be a wayward dart) to the hem of this garment.


Exhibit C. It's hard to see what's going on here what with all of the wrinkles at the top of the shorts, but look lower, near the hem. The arc above the hem was a simple mistake of catching the fabric from underneath when finishing off the inside edge with a zig-zag stitch. Proper patience and perseverance were displayed during the ripping out of the seam but people! The twill! It does not forgive!


Thanks for joining us for today's episode of "Sewing With Dianne." Tune in next time when will be heard such comments as, "How do you make a button hole there?" and "You want me to do *what* with the crotch seam?" Don't miss the fun!

It's pink with flowers on it

Andy and I tried to give each other kayaks for Christmas. Unfortunately, not many stores have much of a selection of kayaks during the winter so we ended up waiting until there were more available to test at least by sitting in before making our decision of what to buy.

Today I got my kayak! The model I chose is women-specific, which is not what I planned, but it worked out for various reasons. I had my choice between turquoise blue, lime green and hot pink. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the hot pink so that's what I went with. Look at it!



When we got it home I wanted to practice taking it off the car rack all by myself. I had a moment of concern here, but it turned out well.
 
Kevin was very helpful as I tried to regain my balance.
 
Kevin knows how to max and relax.
 
Andy was going to get a tandem so he could take Kevin along but I think we can see here that it'll be just as easy (and cheaper) to strap Kevin to the bow of my boat.
 

Party Politics

Kevin's birthday is in 2 weeks so we've been planning his birthday party. It'll be at our house and the rain plans include games and activities inside, so I put a limit on the number of kids invited.

I told Kevin he could invite 5 friends from his class and asked who he'd like to invite. He immediately named 2 kids and then stumbled on the others because although he's friends with everyone in his class, he couldn't remember which ones like soccer. And having a soccer party means inviting people who would enjoy it, of course. (how nice of him)

At dinner tonight, I gave him his last chance to pick the school friends he wants to invite. Over the past week he's given me about 10 names by naming different kids each time I ask who he wants to invite. Today he came up with another new one, "EB."

"Why did you decide to invite EB? You've never mentioned her before."

"I know, but today she asked me if I'm inviting her to my party and when I said 'no,' she gave me a mad face."

Andy and I looked across the table at each other. "Well, I guess that's as good a reason as any to invite her!"

Overheard

Sitting in church yesterday before the service started, I heard a guy behind me say, "This church has too many metaphors."

Unexpected lessons from the Positive Coaching Alliance

Last night I attended a parenting seminar put on by the Positive Coaching Alliance. The goal was to teach parents how to help their kids learn life lessons through sports. It was very worthwhile and if you enjoy sports or have kids in sports, I recommend checking out their website for more information.

At the seminar, I saw an acquaintance who really confused me. I know this man through a friend and for the sake of this post I'll call him "Roger." I've seen Roger be a bit of a bully, I've seen him come down really hard on his kids for making mistakes, I've seen him be helpful to his friends and neighbors less than I thought was possible, I've seen him not reign in his kid when he was being unfair to a group of younger kids.... So, to put it simply, I've never liked this guy. And when I saw him at the Positive Coaching Alliance seminar, I admit I thought the heavens were about to crack open and deliver Jesus to me Revelation-style because nothing could be more disparate than Roger and being a good parent regarding sports.

After sitting down I thought, "Let's see the sparks fly when this guy hears that he should not put his kid down for making a mistake and that although winning is important, it's not everything." Pass the popcorn!

Much to my surprise, Roger and I had a nice discussion about being a good coach and a good parent in the ways that I know to be good. Then he was perfectly content, nay, supportive, of the goals of the Positive Coaching Alliance and I found out he had recently attended the PCA's coaches' seminar.

Wha?

If I only knew Roger from last evening and never before, I would think he was a totally different person. Seriously, 180 degrees from the guy I've known him to be to this point. Now I have to work on putting those two images together into one person.

Man, I hate it when God makes me start seeing the good in someone I've enjoyed disliking for so long.

Low-tech funnies

I know this isn't iPhoto, but it's just as funny! What do you think people did for laughs before Macs?

 
 

The third time was not a charm

When I took the laundry downstairs today, I noticed a black piece of paper or plastic under the left side of the extra freezer. I was too lazy to do anything about it at that point so I waited until later in the morning (15 minutes before I was due to leave for a game of ultimate) to finally try to fish it out. I stepped on the edge of it with my shoe and dragged it out. Only, it didn't slide out. Rather, my shoe became both slick and sticky at the same time as I pulled it back and saw that the black thing was actually a dark red puddle - of blood.

I opened the freezer door and was not chilled by the cold air inside but was overwhelmed, instead, by the odor of rotting food. And lots of it.

This is the third time we've lost a "batch" of food. Once it was from Hurricane Isabel when our power was out for 5 days so we had to get rid of everything in the fridge and freezer. Then we had an older, extra freezer go belly up on us while we were out of town for a long weekend. Then today, I found our fairly new freezer with scads of food inside - much more than usual so, good timing - and an error code blinking on the thermostat control.

Each time this happens, I think to myself, "Self - maybe this means you're not supposed to horde so much food. Maybe you should just buy food one week at a time." Then the sale papers come and I see that salmon is $4.99/lb and ground beef is $2/lb or a friend offers us a full deer worth of meat if we just pay the butcher bill or Kevin's school has a fund raiser selling frozen foods and then I go crazy thinking what a great deal! I should definitely do this because hey! I have an extra freezer!

The Lord is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Happy Easter to All!

Musical tastes of my 62-year old parents

Last week I compiled a music CD for my parents to use when they exercise. I wanted only to include music they don't already have but things that I deem "exercise-worthy" - if it keeps me on the treadmill for 5 more minutes, then it's good.

I was wary that they wouldn't like the Gipsy Kings and Offspring songs but was pretty sure they'd like Metallica and Linkin Park.

After my mom listened to it the first time, I asked if she liked some/most/all of the songs. Her response was, "'Crazy Train' has always been one of my favorites! Do you have an Ozzy Osbourne CD?"

Yes, Mom, we have a couple of them and you are welcome to borrow them. I'm sorry, but we don't have any AC/DC that you don't already have. (Yes, I'm being serious.)

I'm not giving you one of those

Tonight I said to Kevin, "Tomorrow I need to make time to give you a b-a-t-h." He's heard me spell "bath" many times but apparently his head wasn't on straight tonight because he asked what that was. I suggested he try to sound it out and he thought for a few seconds and then said, loudly and proudly, "BITCH!"

February 14th

Too many people never get a chance to see
Love in their life.
I am blessed to live in it through the respect that you have for me and others.

Too many people never get a chance to see
Joy in their life.
I am blessed to see it in the crinkles around your eyes.

Too many people never get a chance to see
Peace in their life.
I am blessed to be hugged by it when your arms are around me.

Too many people never get a chance to see
Patience in their life.
I am blessed to bask in it through your quiet waiting while those around you spin for answers.

Too many people never get a chance to see
Kindness in their life.
I am blessed to feel it in the gentle touch of your powerful hands.

Too many people never get a chance to see
Goodness in their life.
I am blessed to swim in it when your eyes fill with tears of compassion.

Too many people never get a chance to see
Faithfulness in their life.
I am blessed to stand proud next to your integrity to others and their needs.

Too many people never get a chance to see
Meekness in their life.
I am blessed by your humility to let others "go first."

Too many people never get a chance to see
Self-control in their life.
I am blessed to experience your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness and meekness when it's so easy to be the opposite.

I could not ask for a more amazing husband to share my life with.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Science Fair

 
Kevin proudly displaying his project, "Two Filters Are Better Than One."

 
Here Kevin is explaining his project to a friend.

 

This is Kevin's friend explaining his project to Kevin.

Seeing that, and Kevin's interest in all of the other projects, made it worth my effort.

We've had some ice

 

While our winter has been short on snow, we've had some ice storms. We missed the last one because we were experiencing snow northern New Jersey style. Let me tell you, those New Jerseyans sure know how to clear their roads efficiently. I'm not being sarcastic, like I would be if I said, "Those Marylanders sure know how to clear their roads efficiently." Not that I complain about MD road crews because I think they do ok, but now that I've seen New Jersey, I'm impressed. MD doesn't get enough snow to warrant spending the money it costs to do such a good job BUT... other states (*cough* Pennsylvania *cough*) do. Anyway....

This picture is from the ice event two weeks ago.

Let It Snow, Kevin

 

We went to northern New Jersey late last week for my uncle's funeral services and we stayed an extra day because of the weather. When I was at the front desk asking to have our room another night, the staff let Kevin put his name on the sign board at the front entrance. It was still there when we left the next day.

Science Fair Project results

 

Andy and I had as much fun with Kevin's science experiment as he did - perhaps more. We planned to just test what happens when dirty water is poured through sand. Then Andy and I kept deciding to try new and better filters! It'll turn out to be a good project, I think.

Nightly ritual

Kevin has a battery-powered spinning toothbrush that makes funny sounds when he holds it in his mouth and closes and opens his lips around it. The first time he did it, it reminded me of Peter Frampton using a talk box in the song Do You Feel Like We Do so I said, "Ok, Peter Frampton, now brush your teeth." No matter that Kevin had no idea who or what I was referring to, I now must say, "Ok, Peter Frampton" every night when he brushes his teeth or else he'll continue making the sound indefinitely.

No better compliments from a 5-yr old

1) "Mami, you're the bestest infinity mom I ever had."

2) "I love you to the moon, all around the planets and back, 100 infinity times."

3) "I love you as much as I can say."

Cutest soccer player ever