Ramblings of a SAHM

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Week 1 of The Summer of Weight Loss

141.4

Weee! Slow and steady wins the race, right? This is going to be the toughest part for me. I like things to happen quickly and proper weight loss is soooo sloooow. I'll deal, it's for my health and all.

In other news the house is mostly clean (darn walls still need washing). Greg popped in from the hours of 2:30am to 7am for sleep and a shower before driving off to a demo a few hours away. He was suppose to be home at 10-ish last night but severe thunderstorms over the East Coast messed up all the airports and flight schedules. Darn weather...

The babysitter is coming tomorrow instead of today due to her band practice. So today's plan includes watching the kids play in the sprinkler, paying bills, and sewing. Oh and some laundry. I never promised my life was exciting. hehe

Katie at 10:12 AM

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Found at PractiGal:

It's quick and painless, go help some computer geeks out! Although Marie's suggestion of putting off the to-do list works as well. hehe

Katie at 6:43 PM

Don't you hate those days when responsibility trumps creativity? I had a very good afternoon scrapbooking yesterday, I was in The Zone again. And I promised my brother-in-law I'd sew his coat to a fitting stage by the weekend. It's a really cool tuxedo type jacket with tails, I'll post a picture sometime. I'm excited to work on it but...

The house is a wreck. How it can go from really clean and tidy to destroyed and messy in just a few days (or hours) is beyond me. Might have something to do with these 5 kids running around like crazed escaped zoo animals. I haven't been keeping up with Fly Lady's "a little bit every day" method recently either. I go back and forth on doing one big clean every few days or a little bit of cleaning every day. Sometimes it's just nice not to clean every day when you know you're just going to be doing it again the next day. All "Sisyphus and his rock"-like. Blech...

So the plan of attack today: strip the beds, wash all the bedding, clean the bedrooms. Then onto the kitchen, washing tablecloth and chair covers, scrubbing baseboards, moving everything off the counters to give them a good disinfecting scrub, sweep & mop. Next the bathrooms, more scrubbing, changing towels etc. Straighten up the dining room (it's not actually used for dining, just coloring and kids' crafts). Finally the kids will get involved with the family and toy rooms, I'll make them put away their toys while I dust and vacuum. Last on my list is the front room ("parlor" or formal living room) aka my scrapbook room. At some point I need to clean the guinea pig cage too.

And in the end, I'll have a clean house for .45 nanoseconds. Ahhhh...

Katie at 9:51 AM

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Doh, I did it again. It's Tuesday, the babysitter is here from 12-4 this afternoon and I have nothing planned. The problem is that I have lots of appointments that I need to do (dentist for a crown, hair cut, eye doctor for contacts, etc) but obviously at 8:30am on Tuesday I'm not going to have much luck getting in anywhere. Piss poor planning, I know. The kids and I did a bit of grocery shopping yesterday so that's not necessary today. I actually have a lot of stuff to do around the house but I doubt the Little 2 would leave me alone even if there were a circus, amusement park, and candy store in the family room. I think I'll find an air conditioned room somewhere and just sit.

Quote of the Day: "When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if I'm leaving." -Steven Wright

Katie at 8:28 AM

Monday, June 27, 2005

I'm not particularly enjoying this therapy crap. One of the biggest issues seems to be that I don't express emotion very well ("no drama!" is my motto) and that I tend to clam up with my feelings are hurt or I'm angry. I just absorb the pain, push it away in my mind, and move on. What's the point of making a big deal about everything? No drama!

The therapist wants me to express these emotions and hurts. So I tried. And I swear it makes everything worse. No matter if the "I feel ... when you..." statements are used, the unhappiness with the other person is still pointed out and they become upset. This is stupid, why can't I just go back to pretending everything is okay until I believe it and not hurt other people in the process. So I'm annoyed for a little bit, it's better for me to deal with it alone than express my annoyance and therefore upset everyone. And then I have to deal with the upset people afterwards and it's my fault they are upset which makes me feel even crappier and wishing I had just kept my mouth shut. I think I'm more frustrated trying to explain my emotions/thoughts than I was when I just kept everything to myself.

So I'm very, very sorry to everyone that I've explained myself badly to recently. I'm trying but I feel I'm doing a miserable job and making everything worse instead of better. I'm sorry.

Katie at 11:37 AM

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Going out of town today and tomorrow for a relative's high school graduation party. Mr. and Mrs. Smith was great but then again, I'd watch Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie give the Wall Street report on a Sunday. Ben at Hey You did a good job reviewing it here. Mini-van fu... I'm still laughing. hehe Have a lovely weekend all!

Katie at 10:56 AM

Friday, June 24, 2005

Quickie

Kyle's soccer practice in half an hour, no food in the house, two puking girls, and Greg and I are suppose to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith tonight. Hmm...

UPDATE: Kyle refused to play soccer so we left in a screaming fit (mostly him, ha!) after 10 minutes. And then the grocery store refused my debit card so I had to scrounge together cash from the van. There's more than enough money in the checking account so now I have to deal with the bank to figure out why my card was declined. Ally seems to have recovered but Emily still looks green. And if I don't get out of the house tonight, I may kill someone. Grrrr...

Katie at 12:08 PM

Thursday, June 23, 2005

It seems like every few months or so I have one of those "I need to lose weight" type ideas. (See Sept 2004 and Feb 2004) The evil, evil scale... This morning it read 143.0 Um... *sigh* (I'm 5'3" by the way).

It's not just the number on the scale. I feel "wide." I can't really explain it better than that. What sucks is that I made it through 4 pregnancies and easily lost all the weight and was in reasonable shape afterwards each time. To gain about 15 pounds and begin losing my so-so figure 2 years later is very depressing.

I have crappy eating habits, I know that. Mountain Dew, pizza, McDonalds, frozen pre-made food, etc. Which is weird cause I always make the kids eat well, all the fruit in the house is consumed by them and I rarely dish their veggies on to my plate too at mealtimes. Step #1: eat a better variety of healthy foods, eat like the kids.

Step #2: stop drinking Mountain Dew. Happily I can say this one is pretty much done. While in Maryland, I only drank one mini 8oz bottle a day and since we've been home I haven't bought any. The caffeine withdraw either hasn't hit yet or I weaned myself successfully.

Step #3: drink more water. Again so far going pretty well. I'm filling up a bottle of water over and over and keeping it handy though the day. Yesterday, I drank about 48oz. So far today 24oz. I think being hydrated is helping keep a caffeine withdraw headache away and also helping me get rid of that bloated "wide" feeling.

Step #4: exercise. Off and on I do exercise shows and tapes. I plan to try to do those a bit more regular and also try to find a way to work more exercise into my lifestyle. I don't own a bike or any exercise equipment and while I used to enjoy running outdoors, that's not exactly something I can do with 5 kids (maybe I could take laps around the chain link fence?). Will definitely take more walks with the kids and I'm thinking about starting some from of martial arts.

Step #5: be accountable. This is where you all come in. I'll post my weight once a week. The goal: 15 pounds in 10 weeks. On Sept 1st, I want the scale to read 128. Sure there's more to life than that number. I know I need to eat better, drink more water, & exercise and working towards a number is the way to go for me. And then maintain that weight, obviously the hardest part for me since I've steadily gained over the last year and a half. Wish me luck! *laughs*

Katie at 1:28 PM

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Okay I'll try to make this brief.

Maryland is nice. Heavily wooded but nice. Way too many trees blocking all the shopping centers and there's no "signage" so I can't tell the difference between an office complex and shopping plaza unless I pull into the parking lot beyond the trees. Sorry to all you Marylanders who had to deal with a crazy black 12 passenger van trying to shop last week.

The Drive: 7 1/2 hours. One way. Actually it wasn't that bad. And no, I'm not completely crazy. I like to drive. On interstate preferably. I70 almost the entire way, loving it! The dvd player screen in the van is broken even though the Best Buy guy checked it last week (of course it didn't act up for him!). But I had plenty of CD's and we now have all the McDonald's Happy Meal Toys for Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Which...

Sucks. The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Don't see it unless you absolutely have to (like forced at gunpoint). I've heard it was written by a kid (the director's maybe?) and it shows as the plot is dreadful. I'm not a big fan of 3D and I took my glasses off halfway. And how many times can they come up with dumb reasons to make the characters "spit" things out over the audience? Blech.

Like I said, DC was nice. Only saw half a dozen homeless guys and one little tiny protest sign at the White House (something about bombs, I've forgotten). And tons of Asians with cameras. They crack me up. Anyways a picture (not of the Asians, my kids):

On Monday as promised I found a beach. A terrible cruddy little itty bitty one (Autumn's right about Maryland beaches) but it had sand and water so the kids were happy. And we drove over a drawbridge (didn't have to stop for it to go up though) and this monster of a bridge which made me a bit queasy going over it. Some pictures (click to biggie-fy):

So another 7 1/2 hours and we are all back home. The twins had a fabulous time with Grandma and are tanned and look older (5 days and I swear they aged a year!). I'm half unpacked, I washed all the clothes before coming home and cleaned the house like a madwoman last Wednesday so there's not much to do here but relax. Why does it always seem like you need a vacation right after taking a vacation? Tomorrow I'll get back into the swing of things.

Quote of the Day: "Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you." -John De Paola

Katie at 3:19 PM

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

HOME!

Woohoo!

Katie at 4:19 PM

Monday, June 20, 2005

We spent yesterday afternoon in downtown Washington DC, Zach really wanted to see the White House. (Nope, didn't see the President, just one heavily guarded squirrel). We also walked around the Mall, seeing the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Washington Monument, and the new WWII Memorial (we saw the Vietnam Wall from a distance). Greg and I had seen all of the above on our 2001 trip except the WWII Memorial. It's really amazing, very well done. We'll probably do all this again soon for the twins (having a grand time in Florida with Grandma by the way) and see all the museums then.

Today we're going to find a beach, come hell or high water. And then later a quick trip to the grocery store, a few loads of laundry, and I'll be packing for our return trip home tomorrow morning. Greg will fly back on Thursday. It's nice out here but I'll be glad to be home. Who knew I'd miss corn fields?

Katie at 9:46 AM

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there! Here's our gift for Greg, a shadow box with a 12"x12" scrapbook page of him and the kids (pictures from the last year). My special thanks to Greg for being the dad of the 5 most important people in my life. :)

To my own dad, thanks for all the Clue games after school, geometry tutoring, advice with random home improvement projects, for always being a kid at heart, and so much more. I love you.

Katie at 7:43 AM

Friday, June 17, 2005

Anybody miss me?

Well it seems that Greg invited me out so I could set up every freaking thing in his apartment (just kidding! sort of...). Including the internet connection. Which I obviously now have but another few hours without it and I was going to steal a wifi/blue tooth laptop and hide out in Starbucks. I don't know which is worse, my Mountain Dew or internet addiction. But I have both now so everything will be okay. hehe

I will write more later, right now I need to do laundry and vacuum. Hmm, sounds just like home. *rolls eyes*

Katie at 3:41 PM

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

This yard work stuff is for the birds! It's probably just because I'm trying to do an Extreme Makeover on the flower beds in three days by myself. But on a cheerier note, we're all skipping town. Tomorrow the twins are flying with Greg's mom down to Florida for a week and the rest of us are driving out to Greg's new apartment. Since this is a last minute schedule change, I need to cancel Thursday's babysitter, reschedule dentist and therapist appointments, find a dog/guinea pig/house sitter, put the house in order, laundry, and oh yeah pack for 6 people going all over the country. (I'm thinking clothes straight from the dryer to the suitcase will work well...)

Where are those lazy dog days of summer when I need them?

Katie at 10:24 AM

Monday, June 13, 2005

So finally we have some extra money and I have the time to fix up the backyard flower beds. There is nothing back there except mulch (they are nicknamed "the mulch gardens" for a good reason). Of course there's that whole issue of us moving by the end of the year which adds an interesting dimension of we want everything to look great but I hate to sink a lot of money into plants that I love (you should have seen the gorgeous $40 blue hydrangea bush at the nursery) if we aren't going to be here much longer.

On a whim, I rented a tiller from Home Depot yesterday. Mostly because I knew I would need help getting it in and out of the van at home and Greg "moved" to Maryland today (*sobs*). The weather yesterday? Rain... And we have lovely clay soil here. My arms and back still hurt. But an hour with the tiller was much better trying to hand turn all that heavy wet clay soil by myself (days and days of work, I'm sure).

Since I was on a gardening roll when I returned the tiller I bought wooden edging material for "the-soon-to-not-only-be-mulch-gardens." And then I bought bushes at the nursery (because Home Depot's looked really sad). Course I got the wrong bushes and ran out of edging material but I fixed all those problems this morning. Again, in the rain...

The plan is to use the bushes I bought along the back of the house and then plant annuals from seed (wish me luck on keeping Ranger out of the dirt) and split some perennials from the front yard to fill in (hostas and small yellow "Stella D'Oro" lilies). If the seeds fail, I suppose I'll buy bedding plants (which just seem like such a ripoff for the price). And in the end, we'll have a lovely landscaped backyard! (I hope...)

Quote of the Day: "Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it." -Author Unknown

Katie at 1:24 PM

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Dang it, I was sick again. Mind pounding headache and painful sore throat. So I lost two days of general housework and I'm terribly behind on the laundry. *sighs* Guess you know what I'll be doing today. *hums "this is the way we wash our clothes"*

Katie at 8:41 AM

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Tagged by Mindy:

Five Things
Rules: List 5 things you enjoy, even when no one is around and you want to go out and play. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level? Make a list, post it to your journal... and then tag 5 friends and ask them to post it to theirs.

1. Reading. Lately it's been blogs, scrapbook magazines, cookbooks, and the Harry Potter series. Today I'm adding gardening books into the mix.
2. Looking at the stars. The funny thing is that I so rarely do this. The kids go to bed a little before sundown and therefore I usually stay in the house in case someone wakes up.
3. Bubble baths. Mmmmm...
4. Laying in bed talking to Greg. Ahem, I said talking. Although the other works well too.
5. Driving. I love to drive. Especially on a sunny warm day on a wide open stretch of road.

Uh, five more people... Okay if you haven't done this MeMe yet, considered yourself tagged. :)

Katie at 10:43 AM

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

So today was my first Tuesday of my Tues/Thurs noon to 4pm babysitting times. And I had a 1pm therapy appointment. So the main topic of today's session was the fact that I hopped in the van at noon and had no idea what to do with myself until 1pm (and also 2 to 4pm afterwards).

It's odd how therapy has made me more confused than ever. I guess before I might not have known exactly who I was before this started but I didn't really think too deeply about it back then. I did what I needed to do, all the mommy stuff and the housewifey stuff and the occasional craft project. As the therapist pointed out, I always do stuff for others, usually how others want it, and rarely take the time to do anything for myself the way I want. Which I guess is bad or something...

She also thinks I need more friends. I'll admit I have no friends in the local community. Sure I have aquaintenances in the area but no one to call and hang out with from noon to 4pm on Tuesday or Thursday. She wasn't terribly impressed with my online friends (sorry guys), mumbling something about my attachment to my computer. She's an older lady, she doesn't even have a computer in her office so I think she may be missing the point there. Anyway so she said I should make some local friends. Uh...

It's not that I don't like people. It's just that I suck at making friends. Seriously. I've never been Miss Social Girl by any means. It's too long of a topic to go into today but I think I'll bring it up at my next therapy session. Plus there's that little thing about how I don't know who I am at the moment and now I'm expected to go make new friends while there's this lack of knowledge of who I am? I'm not sure I follow the logic there. And don't forget the whole issue of us moving in the near future...

*sigh* Confused I am.

Katie at 4:57 PM

Monday, June 06, 2005

Today wasn't half bad! (I'm as surprised as you are. hehe) We had a lazy morning getting out of bed and eating breakfast. Lunch time rolled around and afterwards we finally got dressed. And then to the grocery store!

Yeah okay, I'm seriously not off my rocker, we all went to the grocery store. But see, I had a secret weapon. I promised them we'd buy a sprinkler if they behaved. Bribery makes the world go round, you know. And bonus, if they were really good, they could play with it after we got home. There was one who asked for candy at the check out lane but other than that, angels! *beams proudly* I'm trying to figure out what next week's bribe will be... hehe

Anyway so after the successful trip to the grocery store, I quickly put away the fridge/freezer items and pulled out the swimsuits and sunscreen. Note to self: do not apply sunscreen while standing on Pergo, it makes the floor very slippery. 2 hours, 200 gallons of water (ha!), and 2 rounds of popsicles later, I was halfway through Harry Potter Book 4 and the kids were ready to go inside for a bit. I think I sprained my arm patting myself on the back for starting off their summer vacation in a very summer vacation-ie kind of way.

Next up is dinner (butterscotch pudding for dessert), more lazing around the house (I'm thinking about breaking out the Sizzix die cutter and doll & clothes dies) and then baths before an 8:30 bedtime. See I haven't turned to complete mush, I'm still enforcing a bedtime for my own sanity. And if all the cheerfulness bothers you, just wait a bit, I'm sure I'll be pulling out my hair and lamenting over the twins bickering over Barbie clothes and Zach & Kyle arguing over TV channels and Kelly painting herself blue soon enough. Until then I'll be basking in happy "it's summertime!" glows from the kids.

Katie at 5:49 PM

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Have a killer headache... Or maybe hangover... As a few of you know, the "dinner" with Greg's mom last night was actually a surprise 50th birthday party with lots of relatives, her co-workers and friends (she thought the guest list was 9, it was actually more like 40). We had a fabulous time and she doesn't look a day older than 40 (and is often mistaken as the mom of my kids, hehe).

So anyway I'm being very lazy today. I made brunch for everyone and then finished the 3rd Harry Potter book in preparation for the 6th coming out in July. I think we're going to grill out tonight and weee, no school stuff to prepare for tomorrow!

Speaking of tomorrow... No school... Greg flies to the office for the week... *laughs nervously* His work has set him up in an apartment in Maryland. It feels a bit weird but it's better for him than staying in a hotel. We've already made plans for the kids and I to drive out this month and then again at the end of July for a week each time.

But the kids and I have lots of good plans for the summer to keep us busy. I have a few sewing projects and need to plant the backyard gardens (oh and that pesky task of getting the house ready for the market in the fall). The kids have the library's summer reading program, baseball for Zach, and soccer for the twins & Kyle. As a family, we've planned a camping trip with a visit to a cave, a day at an amusement park, and lots of family cook-outs. The twins are making a special trip with Greg's mom down to Florida to see their great-grandparents (the same ones who had their 50th wedding anniversary party last August).

And that's it so far, I'm sure we'll cram more fun stuff into our schedule before August 23rd (the first day back to school). Only 78 days to go, but who's counting? *winks*

Katie at 3:19 PM

Friday, June 03, 2005

Last Day of School!

(Zach, Emily, Ally)

It seems like they just started the school year... Okay so it really doesn't, it's been a long 10 months. It's going to be nice not driving to the school 3 times a day. I'm really too sick to write anything more in depth than that at the moment (and yes, I hired the teenage babysitter for 4 hours a day, 2 days a week). So here's the posts on their first days of school back in August:

Zach's First Day of 1st Grade
Emily and Ally's First Day of Kindergarten

Have a great weekend if I don't drag my sorry snotty self off the sofa again!

Katie at 9:08 AM

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Darn it, I'm sick. Sore throat, losing my voice, cough, headache, low grade fever, typical head cold stuff. Thankfully most of the nutty end of the school year stuff is over. Zach had his field trip yesterday, the kids all have picnics at school today, and I already bought all the teacher's thank you gifts for tomorrow (last day). Greg and I are going out to dinner Saturday night for his mom's 50th birthday but that's about it. So I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend and summer vacation. Ha! (Anyone really think 5 kids at home is relaxing?)

Katie at 8:51 AM

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Cincinnati Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates
Great American Ball Park
Friday May 27 2005 7:10pm

First the view:

Yep, we had nosebleed seats:

But new stadium is really cool:

The kids enjoyed peanuts, hot dogs, nachos, and cotton candy:

And they won!

Katie at 3:14 PM

The website is up! (mostly...) Let me know if any links are broken. Thanks! (Will be back later with the Reds game pictures.)

Katie at 10:07 AM

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