Monday, August 29, 2011

Brock: In a Million Words or Less


So. Child number one.
Brock.
He was at his baby shower. Like he was born two days before it. He was 4 weeks early. And the longest pregnancy I had.

Brock didn't talk until he was about 3 and a half. Now he tells us that was because he was too busy listening. ha.ha.

He was never "Mr. Social". He was more 'Mr. Awkward'. He preferred to hang out with the adults in Elementary school, instead of the kids. Maybe that paid off since his is one of the brain-i-est kids I know.

He loves science, biology, and all kinds of stuff that my brain doesn't understand. Go ahead and ask him about atoms! HE. loves. Atoms. Biology. Stuff.

Technology is not exactly his thing. Brock has now realized it helps if maybe he CHECKS his email from time to time. Instead of avoiding it 'cause it has too much spam' in it.

He does love his ipod and PS3, mainly Netflix reruns of anything science. Currently he LOVES a show called firefly and is making his way through the Stargate series.

Brock has also informed me that if he would decide to sell his kidney, he would get all the money for it. (??) When I said some people even sell their kids (of course with a smile) he said, "oh, they would send me back. I would annoy them til they bring me back." He must love us. Awe...

He too could care less about his phone. Must be in the genes.

He goes to a local gaming store every Friday night to play Dungeons and Dragons. He will search the house high and low to find change to buy a soda at game night. We have been trying to tell him that MINIMUM wage is WAY over $1 per hour, so maybe he would like to get. a. job. (hint. hint)

Brock wants to be a pharmacist. Reece wants to be a doctor (currently) he said to Brock "Hey, it would be just like it is now! I tell you what to do."

It's a good thing Brock doesn't anger easily.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

THREE. Count 'em, THREE workouts this week!! Woo Hoo!

Ok, Grandma Z, I will write about the other two kiddos soon, but for now...
Tonight I hit the gym. The last time I went for a 'long' er run, I actually made pretty good time. I was pleasantly surprised when I logged 3.51 miles in 36 minutes, which made it a 10.12 minute mile pace! Woo Hoo! Including the hills, I will take it!

I have been breaking it up by running 1 mile or 11 laps on the air conditioned track, then 10 pushups, 10 squats, and lunges across the cardio theater. I. LOVE. THE. CARDIO. THEATER. What a great concept. Put insecure people in a dark room to workout! No worry about who is looking at you! (especially with some pretty sad push ups!)

I actually managed TWO workouts so far this week and are planning a Saturday morning run with a friend and the hubby, so I am happily thinking I MIGHT actually get all three workouts in this week!! No 'real' mileage. Just four miles and a bunch of reps. But if it can help with the speed, SWEET!! Not that I am competitive, but the hubby is a natural runner and I might have to try and keep up with HIM soon!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

In a Million Words or Less

So, This year Reece's homeroom teacher asked us to tell them, in a million words or less about our kids. So, I thought I would share with you, Enjoy!

Reece. What can I say about Reece.
He is the second of three boys. Brock is the older brother and is in 11Th grade . Zeb is the youngest and in 3rd grade.

We moved here from Wisconsin last year. The move was especially difficult on Reece. We had moved in 2005 and he had just gotten good friends at the old school. Even though he can be quiet funny he doesn’t show it right away. It takes him a while to show his true personality and hides it in a tough quiet exterior.

Once you get to know him he can talk. A lot. Not always as much as his brother Brock, but he still can talk. Once he talked over 60 minutes straight telling us how his day at school was! Hardly, letting anyone get a word in edgewise! But he was a joy to listen to, since he is a great story teller!

He likes to read. Especially fat books with lots of words. He did not get that from his father or me for sure! He likes to play on the computer, PS3 and watch Netflix, mainly old TV shows. Sometimes he will play the Wii. He loves his ipod. He lost it for about 4 months this year. From Good Friday until mid July. It was in a couch. He likes to create movies with photos of legos with his ipod. Pretty cool stuff. Ask him to show you!

He plays the cello, and has a really cool EXTRA one from falling on it last year. It is a very expensive accessory in his room now. He likes rock/pop music. Reece can not stand country, which is brother loves. We did have XM radio for a while this year and all the kids enjoyed the Comedy station.

Reece’s favorite color is army green and is the color of his room. He loves ice cream and has recently begun to bake a few things at home. Mainly chocolate chip cookies, which are a huge hit and go quickly with the boys!

Reece is left handed. Grandpa Z. is also left handed and tell us all the time he is the ONLY one in his right mind. Reece writes left handed, but does most other things right handed. He can be a bit competitive. He is good a many things he does, of course I have to say that right? He is my most responsible kid. He also likes to threaten his brothers ‘by telling Mom’ if they don’t do something he wants them to. He is also my rule enforcer. : )

He has a cell phone but never uses it. No need to worry about him texting! In fact, we are lucky if he knows where it is when we try to call him. We never know if it is even charged. So why do we have it? Um, good question.

We found a cat abandoned in our garden prior to the move we call her Willow. She LOVES Reece. Besides me, Reece is the only one she will cuddle up to. Reece used to help feed her with a bottle when we were raising her and I think she knows how he took care of her. She is extremely protective of us. We call her our Guard Cat.
All-in-all, he is joy to have in our family and I look forward to many years of learning from him.
We are blessed beyond belief... good luck with the new year!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Monday Mash UP: Life, the quick edition.

  • Last week an 8 year old crashed on his bike and broke both of his wrists. Then an ICE CREAM truck, came up and STOLE the bike and drove off!
  • Also, last week Reece made chocolate chip cookies but mis-read the TBSP and TSP on the directions and put WAY too much baking soda and salt in the cookies. This week he did much better, but he almost forgot to add the best part, the chips!
  • Brock is 'thinking' about asking a girl out to 'home coming'. He said she is really nice, so if she turns him down at least she will do it really nice!! : ) If she would happen to say yes, Dad would need to drive them 'cause he told me 'I am not cool enough'. Dude, really? Come on!!! (ha.ha)
  • Zeb asked me to help him with hismath homework. It said to have a family member tell you a FOUR DIGIT NUMBER and he was supposed to write down the number. I said "one thousand, two hundred and fifteen". He wrote down 1000. (???)
  • Tonight an officer tried to shoot a dog that was attacking another officer and ended up shooting the dog once but also the officer in the leg too! Ouch!!
  • I managed a 3.5 mile run on Friday and actually kept a 10:12 pace. Which never happens. Not with these hills. I was pretty happy. (I would like to thank the girl in the black tank top and green shorts that helped pace me for mile 2)

  • After helping the homeless we took a drive to a state park in Indiana called Hardy Lake. It is our favorite so far!! (second fave is still Clifty Falls) While we walked the trails we stumbled upon a talk on Owls! He had 4 owls. A screech owl, Barn Owl (which are endagered), a Barred Owl and a Great Horned Owl. Fancinating talk!! Also LOVED the beach at the park!!! VERY clean!! I don't think I have ever seen such a clean lake! We are looking forward to camping there at some point. They told us they have two families of eagles over the lake. Pretty good fishing too! We saw lots of poles in the water.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Success!

Looks like the first day of school was a success.

Brock managed to get some key classes that he wanted that fall in line on the road to becoming a pharmacist. He will be taking Latin, Anatomy, Psychology, geometry, English and History this year. He left it up in the air all summer since we apparently missed the 'enrollment' during the spring for this current year. I am a bit concerned about his anatomy class. I hope he heard wrong but he said they will be dissecting rats, pigs and CATS?? Really? Cats? I hope he heard that wrong. : (

Reece was happy that he got one of his favorite teachers again this year. (Apparently the teacher also passed the 7th grade... ha.ha) I can see why he likes him so much, take a look at some of his 'Tremendous 21' rules...
#4: If you are asked a question in conversation, you should ask a question in return..
#7: Always say THANK YOU when I give you something. (yes, that includes test's and detention)
#8: When grading other students papers, the only marks you are allowed to make on others' papers are an 'X' and the number they got incorrect.
#10: Never ask me for a reward
#13: When I assign homework there is to be no moaning or complaining. This will result in a doubled assignment.
#16: If you have a question you can email me. Use the following message for your email.
"Hi Mr.S...., this is ------------. I need help with the -------------homework. You can email me back until ---:00. Thank you."
There is no need to leave this message fourteen times.
Zeb sadly is not in love with his teacher. It will be a rough year I am afraid. Not sure if the teacher was reading his report from last year, but at Open house I did not get a 'warm and fuzzy' feeling from his teacher. I thought she was just having an off night, but maybe not. That is ok, this may be what he needs. He likes to 'pretend' he is weak and too little to do things.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Saved by the Bell

First day of school tomorrow and apparently I have much competition for the prestigious Slacker Mom of the year award, since the website with the bus information for my older two kiddos has 'connection' problems. I keep trying with no success. *sigh* Oh, well we are going to assume that they should do the same as last year. I know the youngest one's exactly the same, so that is how we are going to pretend the older two's work too!

Tonight I managed about 3.5 miles at the gym. I did pushups and squats between each mile and the last half mile was done once I got home. It was just to nice out to NOT do it! Beautiful night!! My goal was 5, but that flew out the window for some reason my breathing is not quiet right. Could be the 10 extra pounds that I have to haul around since we moved here... but I digress..

I. am. amazed. I can not tell you the last time I read a book from cover to cover so fast in my LIFE. And I am NOT joking! Over 230 pages in 3 days. For me? a BIG deal!! It was the true story of Denver Moore and Ron Hall. I started it Sunday night, cried for about 10 chapters last night and then more crying over my lunch hour at work today! Awesome book! Great story. Maybe that is what drives me to help the homeless. They have not yet many of them are so grateful for the little we can give them! Truly! One guy on Saturday only wanted a $1.29. Yes. 129 pennies. Ok. granted it was to buy him a 40 oz. beer called Earthquake that has 12% alcohol, but still. Only wanted some change. He had much promise that guy. Young too. Smart, but had anxiety problems.

Last Thursday night to Friday my 13 year old stayed up all night to 'get used to school' so he could sleep well the next night and start getting up early. I kindly suggested his plan may have a slight flaw and maybe he should try something next to his head in bed called an ALARM CLOCK. I explained how it was SUPPOSED TO WORK, since his body rejected that theory last year and NEVER woke up to it. We shall see how this will work tomorrow!

My oldest needs reminders to CHECK his email. Especially since applying online for jobs they may contact him that way. He says his account has too much spam. I better save that one for another post! (breathe)

Ok kids! Time to hit the shower!



Friday, August 12, 2011

Help Bring Back Dark Cherry Mocha!!!

I contacted Starbucks to find out what ever happened to my precious Mocha.

During our move last year, that was my sunshine in the morning. Ahhh.
That.
sweet.
creamy.
delightful.
Dark Cherry Mocha.
Yum.

Ahhhh....






*slap,slap*

Ok.

So, I know I am not alone here. A lot of people out there really miss it too. Don't believe me just google the name and see all the comments of people missing the Mocha. I want to know what happened to it! So I contacted Starbucks via their website and this is what the note said:

Dear Starbucks,
Please return my favorite drink. *snif,sniff*
Dark Cherry Mocha.
I miss it. A lot.
Please?
Why did it go away~
Thanks!

Now anyone reading this is REQUIRED by me to contact them HERE AND TELL THEM TO BRING IT BACK NOW!!

Ok, feeling better now... carry on!
: )

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Back to endurance!

Clearly, I have strayed from my 'endurance' posts. It is so nice to just hang out in the garden...and sit. Just hang out...but it doesn't help the calorie burn. Thus, I will try to describe my current status.

By the numbers....
Two. The number of workouts I have managed per week for the past month. Sad.
Three. The maximum number of miles I have run in the past month. Again, Sad.
40. The maximum number of pushups I have done in one day.
628. The number of calories I was OVER on my calories yesterday. I recently began counting my calories...oh, how I missed knowing how bad I am on my calories. What a great guilt it is to KNOW that hand full of walnuts and dark chocolate is more than I need.
90. The average temp around here, which makes outdoor fitness fun, non-existent.
186. The number of calories I was over today. Thanks to the elipitical, treadmill, squats and pushups.
2.2. The number of pounds down since my last weigh in 5 days ago.
2. The average number of refills on my WW 32 oz mug full of water.
5. The number of bucks to have my crazy Boot Camp instructor beat me up each week. Since he left the UA, I haven't see him, I do miss him but I may be starting to lead my own boot camp at our church. GLUP!
938. The number of times I told my self I am not 'fit enough' to teach boot camp.

Needless to say, thanks to some stress in my life I am not feeling extra motivated...I am determined to change things up!!
Now this is my ideal numbers....
3. Number of times I want to workout each week.
5. Number of miles I want to start running at least one time a week.
40. Number of push ups I would like to do each time I work up.
1380. Max number of calories to eat each day.
8. Number of hours I would love to sleep each night.



Friday, August 05, 2011

Curved corn?

So, now our fallen corn has curved up toward the sky! Who knew?

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Birds and the Breeze!

With our garden we have many critters, from Deer, bunnies, wood chucks, humingbirds and butterflies!
Brock came out to join me as I was sitting out by our garden. One of my favorite places to just hang out and AMAZINGLY while he was talking my ear off about his college future, we saw a hummingbird try to come up to our corn stalks! Of course this was just before the storm came thru Wednesday morning and pushed over many of them.Funny thing is, now those stalks of corn are now growing upward. They are resembling a letter C. Kinda funny!

The rest of these pictures were taken from a collection of common KY butterflies.


The Monarch, very common... but check this out...

Viceroy, The 'poisonious' Kentucky State butterfly! I will have to pay more attention to these.

Orange Sulfur, one of these landed on our flowers of the cucumer plants we have, so neat to watch it suck out pollen.
Black swallowtail, This was one of my favorite ones. So pretty!

Monday, August 01, 2011

Things That Make Me Happy!

1. Texas Chili in the cafe at work!! Yum! Apples, blue cheese and dried cranberries... ok, sheesh, I should just say ALL FOOD!

2. Our Garden. We are hoping to grow herbs next year in our garden. Right now, our watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumbers and corn are doing well. Our Squash is ok too, but we planted that a bit late in the season. Our Zucchini and pumpkins probably won't be makin' it this year due to the animals we have been feeding. We sprayed some chemical that keeps the deer and bunnies away (it really worked!) but it doesn't keep woodchucks away. My hubby believes that a .22 would do the trick.

3. Baby Deer. Just saw two last night in a nearby neighborhood. No Mom in sight, hope she was close by. I don't know how they survive with all the heat we have had recently. almost 2 weeks straight of temps over 90!

4. Music. Nothin' like letting your mind wander in a tune. My personal favorites are Adele and Francessca Battistelli, currently.

5. Coffee and Books. I love to cuddle in a chair and sip some Java while I enlighten my mind with some knowledge. Currently I am reading Radical by David Platt and still working my way thru the Bible (been on the Bible for two years now, still working through it!)

6. A good whine. As in, I don't wanna workout today! But in the end... oh, it feels sooooo good! On a side note.. I may have just become a boot camp instructor at our church on Saturdays. YIKES!!~ More as this develops.

7. Fluffy cat. Specifically ours. She is an independent gal, but when she is hungry, she is the NICEST girl you ever met! I like her to go hungry about once a day. : )

8. Hikes. This past weekend we didn't get our 'state park' hike in that we wanted but we 'hiked' in downtown Cincy and helped give water and lunches to the folks at the drop in shelter. Met some interesting people. We are hoping to do that more often! (didn't bring the kiddo's on that a wee bit too scary)

9. My family. <3 I have some pretty terrific family and am so very grateful they are in my life. I know I can be an idiot and a goof ball and no matter what they will always be there for me.
: ) Love you guys!!! (and gals)

10. My Salvation. As messed up as I am and still do, knowing I am a child of God and will always have his forgiveness makes me especially happy.