Thursday, January 10, 2013

My Life as a Book

Our Writing Into the Day prompt today was to "Write the back cover of the story of your life". Here goes:

Modeled after Wonder
Penny Lou Moore was born to a 16 year old girl who immediately put her up for adoption. As Penny grew up, she learned that as much as she loved her mom and dad and baby brother, she was more than ready to be on her own - and stay that way. She’s about to send her own kids off to college and is beginning to realize how hard that can be. The thing is, Penny just wants what's best for her kids, but that means letting go. How can she can she show her kids that leaving the house doesn’t mean leaving home?







Modeled after The Hunger Games
In the rural landscape of Clare County lies the village of Farwell, including a small school district fed by the surrounding sparsely populated area. Farwell Middle School is welcoming and supportive and keeps the teachers and students safe and successful by demanding the best from every person in the building. 

Middle-aged Penny Lou Lew entered teaching hesitantly when she completed college fourteen years ago. But Penny had faced challenges before - and middle school, for her, turned out to be second nature. Without really meaning to, she falls in love with the job and the kids. But if she is to make a real difference, she will have to push both herself and her students to achieve what many deem impossible.

food for today -



  • Breakfast
    • 2 mini-bagels with hummus and cream cheese
    • cran/water combo
  • Snack
    • apple
  • Lunch
    • chef salad
    • chocolate milk
    • apple
  • Snack
    • broccoli and cauliflower
    • 5ish tortilla chips
  • Supper
    • hot dog w/ baked beans, onions, cheddar
    • tater tots
    • cran/water combo
  • Snack
    • chai tea

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Hmmm - maybe I was a bit ambitious?

Okay - it seems that my life is too busy, or at least that journaling and walking Jasper are not high enough priorities, to keep to the exact letter of my resolutions. Every day blogging has proven to be an impossibility if I would like to get a reasonable amount of sleep, and since I didn't get home Monday or Tuesday night until after 8:00 I also didn't walk the boy.

However, I have been food-journaling in my head, and have been doing pretty well with eating decently. I really have motivation now - we're having a weight-loss thingy at work and so I got on a scale today for the first time in some time, and discovered that I weigh nearly 20 pounds more today than I did on October 30, 2001 (which was, incidentally, Carlos's day of birth). That was a bit breath-losing.

So, still no raiding the Butterfinger drawer, and I've been snacking on fresh veggies in the afternoon. I'm sure the weight will pour off any day now:)

One thing I for sure notice is that I'm absolutely not drinking enough (except for beer days:). I need to chug more water.

food for today:

  • Breakfast 
    • Whole-wheat mini-bagel with cream cheese and hummus
    • hot tea
  • Lunch (surprise!)
    • chef salad w/black beans
    • chocolate milk
  • Snack
    • broccoli
  • Supper
    • Homemade chicken noodle
    • 1/2 100% Cranberry = 1/2 water

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Resolutions - schmesolutions

Okay - I don't really mean that - I've made great resolutions, and I expect to at least strive towards them, but change is HARD! And making excuses is EASY!

For instance, I totally have no excuse to not walk Jasper EVERYDAY. The truth is, he loves his walks; I love his walks. The problem is, I just haven't made it enough of a priority to actually do it most days.  Okay - to hit the three-days-a-week goal, I still have three days to get in two walks, so it is certainly possible, and I will try very much to hit it, but . . . Well, let's be realistic, right?

The writing I'm doing a fairly good job on - even if my "novel" hasn't gotten any longer, I have been writing here pretty much every day - which does, in fact, count. And I expect to keep this up - really.

So - here goes the rest -


food for today -

  • Breakfast




    • egg salad (two eggs)
    • 10ish Triscuits (Triscuits always make me think of Sandy Duncan who always makes me think of Michelle Marckwardt - I'm not sure what the connection is there, but it's a strong one:)(And after Googling it, it appears that Sandy hawked Wheat Thins, not Triscuits - my childhood is full of these kind of mix-ups!)
    • Hot tea
  • Lunch 
    • oops - forgot to eat this meal!
  • Snack 
    • A bunch of delicious fresh tortilla chips left at home by Eric before he went back to college
  • Supper
    • New York Strip Steak - RARE!
    • Cottage Cheese
  • "Snack"
    • A bottle of Chardonnay (YIKES! At least it was the cheap stuff!)
spending for today
  • About $17 dollars on groceries (including steak and cottage cheese:)

Well, Poop

Didn't have time to write yesterday - so:

food for yesterday:

  • Breakfast
    • two pieces peanut butter and jelly on whole grain sourdough toast
    • glass of skim milk
    • hot tea
  • Lunch (this will be a big surprise:)
    • chef salad (with chicken this time:)
    • fruit salad (yummy yummy)
    • chocolate milk
  • Snack
    • LOTS of baby carrots
    • apple
  • Supper
    • taco salad
  • "Snack"
spending for yesterday:
  • $1 for the Tooth Fairy
  • $18 for the pints of Coal Stoker's and 2 Trainwrecks for John + tip for the lovely bartender
  • $100 for a keg of Cow Catcher Red Ale to feed our well-loved kegerator

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Just a Quick Check-in

It seems Carlos has inherited his Momma's teeth. He lost yet another one today - that makes four in the last two weeks or so. We thought he'd have to make a trip to the oral surgeon, as he had four adult teeth shoving over, but not out, the babies. But, with a little wiggle-help from Momma, a day at the doctor has been avoided. His poor sissy was never quite so lucky; only one of her teeth came out of its own volition, the rest had to be yanked out by the dentist with the exception of her two front teeth - one was knocked out by a basket-ball, and the other by a friend's head:)

What do you do with the baby teeth? I have a case of them from the kids; it seems wrong to throw them away, but it seems creepy to keep them. My dentist says she framed those of her son, but that seems a step up the creepy-staircase from throwing them in the junk drawer. Maybe we'll watch them dissolve in a cup of Coke one day?:)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Another pretty good day of resolution keeping.  Still staying away from the candy stash, but I need to bring in a good snack, because I am HUNGRY late morning and late afternoon. Hmmm - maybe some baby carrots or something?

food for today:

  • Breakfast
    • two small pieces of peanut-butter-and-jelly whole-grain sourdough toast
    • glass of skim milk
    • hot tea
  • Lunch (and I didn't copy and paste from yesterday!:)
    • Chef salad with black beans
    • fruit salad (yummy yummy)
    • apple
    • chocolate milk
  • Supper (at Wendy's - Carlos's treat:)
    • Jr. Cheeseburger deluxe
    • 1/2ish large fry
    • small Frostie
    • ice water
    • one spicy chicken nugget
  • Snack
    • chai tea
spending for today:
  • $0 - though I still owe the kid $2 - that'll get paid tomorrow!:)

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

No Stinkin' Butterfingers for Me!

Gaarrr! At school today I was tummy-growling hungry both before lunch and at the end of the day. I happen to have a file-drawer full of bite-sized Butterfingers (and an assortment of other sugary treats, but the Butterfingers are what really matter) that I would normally dig into, but since I knew I'd be reporting back to YOU tonight, I kept that darn drawer closed tight. I have mixed feelings about this - just writing about them makes me want one NOW (though they're at school and I'm at home), but I'm pretty impressed with myself that I resisted the crispy-peanut-buttery temptation.

Mmmmm-mmm.

Success number two for the day: after supper, the kids and I took J-dog for a walk! Well, the kids rode their scooters, which was quite an adventure in the 2-inches of snow we have on the ground, but the effect was the same for Jasper and me. The walk was a fairly short one - only about 1/2 mile - but it was cold out, and if any of you have walked with Carlos, especially when his meds are nearing the end of their day, you'd know this was a fair accomplishment.

food for today:

  • Breakfast
    • bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats
    • glass of super pulpy Orange Juice (I want to chew my juice!)
    • Hot Tea
  • Lunch - I work lunch at school, and part of that gig is FREE lunch every day - and school lunch is SO much better than in the olden days:)
    • Chef Salad 
    • fruit salad (Yummy Yummy)
    • apple
    • chocolate milk
    • Hot Tea
  • Snack (while fixing supper - I was just SO hungry!)
    • 7ish Triscuits with hummus
  • Supper
    • spaghetti with red sauce and kidney beans - this is leftover from my veggie days - the kids love it this way, and it's pretty healthy and tasty. I used to sneak spinach in the sauce too, but Ally's rebelled against that!
    • glass of milk
  • Snack
    • couple handfuls popcorn
    • decaf chai tea
spending for today:
$0!!! (though I do owe a kid $2 for eggs:)

Off to write that novel now!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year

So, I've made various resolutions for various New Years with various levels of success.  A few years ago, I made four resolutions and made a point to journal about them every night - that was, by far, the most successful resolution year to date.

This year, I have decided to again journal every night - but instead of keeping the progress to the privacy of my own pen and paper, I'm sharing with the world (or at least that very small corner of the world that reads my blog:). My hopes are that by sharing my goals and steps towards them with my adoring public, I'll be more accountable to them. So please, if you notice me skipping a blogging day, feel free to share your disappointment with me.

The resolutions:



  • Write for a least a half hour every night. This is a two-birds one-stone goal - I need to get back in the habit of writing if I'm ever going to grow up to be a famous novelist, plus I need to journal, So - yay me:)


  • Keep a food journal. Most of my life, I've had a fairly easy time with my weight. I never really had to watch what I was eating, never much gained weight. Then forty hit, and with it came 25 pounds. I know how to eat healthily, I just typically don't - fessing up to the world about the too many Butterfinger bites I gorged on should help that to happen less often.


  • Erase debt. Years of bad financial decisions are still hanging around, and though I've stopped building additional debt, I still have more than a bit to lose. I intend to cut debt by at least $500 per month by paying more and spending less - we've already taken a great step by limiting our eating-out expenses - I'll be searching for other ways to cut all year.




    1. Walk Jasper at least three times a week. The food journal will be important towards getting healthier, but I need to get some exercise back into my life, and so does my pup. I don't think I'll ever get back to the seven morning a week workout of my late thirty's, and frankly I don't think I want to, but three walks a week seems manageable.


    2. food for today:
      • Breakfast
        • Bowl of Team Cheerios 
        • Glass of skim milk
        • 10ish Triscuits with Port Wine Cheese ball spread on them
        • Hot Tea
      • Lunch
        • Qdoba - 
          • small bowl Mexican Gumbo w/ black and pinto beans
          • small black bean quesadilla
          • water
      • Supper - 
        • Steak and shrimp
        • two Fat Tire beers
      spending for today:
      • groceries (Beer, celery, toothpaste) - $35
      • Qdoba (Ellen and I were shopping:) - $15