Jazz

I said the other day that I haven't gone on a diet. I haven't. But I starting doing Jazzercise.

If you were laughing, you can stop now. It is so fun and such a great workout, and despite my horrible eating habits I'm losing weight.

The music is good. It's not sweatin' to the oldies. Each instructor has their own style, for example one of our instructors plays a lot of pop rock/dance, the next plays dance and a little country.

The moves all have lower impact variations. This was key for my first month. Now that I've built some muscle strenght I'm doing the regular versions. But they're there if you are getting back in shape or a little sore one day.

It's a solid hour work out, offered 6 days per week. I only make it to 3 or 4, but if you want to sweat, and do lifting and abs, 6 days a week, it's available. Only at certain times though, which is a drawback. But it doesn't give me any opportunity to procrastinate - it's either go or don't.

I've been going about 6 weeks now and I still really like it. We'll talk again in 4 months when my membership runs out and I have to re-sign up. But for now I'm really loving it!

And now we wait

I haven't posted much lately - I have had a series of phone interviews and I scored a face-to-face interview and I've been driving myself crazy with nerves. The face-to-face was today and I think it went really well. I'm not really expecting to hear anything until after Thanksgiving, so now I just wait and enjoy my time with Deuce. Hopefully I won't be a SAHM very much longer. Hopefully?

The check is in the mail

When I belonged to Weight Watchers, there were always women at meetings saying they wanted to be at their high school weight in time for their reunions. I cheered for them - who wouldn't want to strut into that gynasium/party house looking hot, drawing whispers from the worn out soccer moms and sidelong glances from ex-boyfriends?

Um, me apparently.

My reunion is next Friday and I haven't mailed the check and I most certainly have not gone on a diet. I'm a LOT heavier than I was in high school. I mean, I'm recognizable, but if someone hadn't seen me in 10 years it might be a shock. If they care, and I don't particularly.

I mean, I want to lose weight for some other very good reasons - keep up with Deuce, be healthy, look good naked, you know, the usual. But impressing my old classmates just isn't one of those reasons for me.

Maybe if I was more interested in the reunion I would have had my jaw wired shut and lost a lot of weight so that I could show what a jerk he was for not asking me to the prom, or that she should have invited my to her grad party.

Maybe.

But I didn't ship myself off to fat camp and here's why. My life is great. Not perfect, but great.
High school wasn't the glory days for me - these are. I'm happier now than I ever was. I don't think it will be particularly vindicating to share that with a bunch of people I used to know.

There are two things that make me want to go, though. One is sheer curiousity. What did 10 years do for a bunch of people who shared every day for 13 years of their lives? The other is the acquaintances - those people on the periphery of my circle of friends. I honestly only have 2 friends here right now and it wouldn't hurt to know a few more people.

I have been back and forth on this so much that it's pathetic. Do I really think it will be fun? Should I be spending $72 right now on something I'm not wild about? I'll have Bob with me, and I'm sure he'll get our money out of the open bar, so... I'm off to address an envelope.

This better be good.

Now with pictures!

I updated "Eaten Alive by the Alphabet" to include pictures. Seems all my PC needed was a good night's sleep (turned off) and the camera and printer seem to be happy again.

The funny thing about my temper

I've noticed a funny thing about my temper today. I raised my voice at Deuce (for hitting my glasses which he knows not to do), dumped him off in his father's lap and, frustrated, flounced down the stairs to the office. In the basically 4 days I was alone with Deuce I didn't even start to lose my temper. I wonder if I am quicker to get frustrated when there is an option - giving him to his father - and more apt to keep my cool if I am the only parent and therefore don't have the luxury of someone else to play with/feed/comfort/disipline him.

This seems counterintuitive. You would think that I would have a shorter fuse when all the responsibility is on me. I don't really get it, but I'm glad that it's that way. Oh and I'm so glad DeuceDad is back from camp...

Eaten alive by the alphabet

Can I just start off with a big "argh"? I took some pictures to accompany
this post, and my camera just stubbornly says "one moment" when trying to
connect to my PC. That means I can't download any pictures.
Argh! Please do me the favor of imagining photos in your mind. Thank
you.

Deuce's alphabet scrapbook is off to a challenged start. The instructions that came with the cover set suggest doing one page per letter with one photo and journalling. I would envision the final product being titled "The ABCs of Deuce" or similar. I decided to do two pages per letter with lots of things that start with each letter so that we could read the book together now.

I started off just making the "A" page. (It is missing airplane, btw). Fun, kind of time consuming.



I thought I could streamline the process by die-cutting all the letters, making all the page backgrounds, and then adding the embellishments as I found/made them. This went well.



I was thinking to myself that I should have used a lighter background and dark letters to make the letters easier to read. But, I decided it would have to do because I didn't want to scrape all the letters off and risk ruining the pages. Until I remembered I wanted two pages per letter... So off the letters came. I added a white page in between each colored page and mounted the letters on the white page.




This whole process has been 3 naptimes (less laundry and blog-reading time). But the tedious part is done and now on to die cutting animals!

Happy Present Day!

Guess what came in the mail? My first issue of Interweave Crochet!! Thank you Carly!

I'm so excited to start some of the great looking projects in there. I think this is in my future...

Tackled: Clutter and Over the Scrapbooking Hurdle

My tackles so far this week are minor as far as actual housework goes, but huge mentally. First was the kitchen. See how my counter tops are free and clear of clutter?

That's because it's all over here.

Poof! Gone! And all in it's proper places! This is a constant problem for me. I just toss things in the room they belong in (if that) and move on. Definitely a habit I have to break while at home.

Next, and more in the "mental tackle" category, is I started Deuce's ABC book! First, I didn't have a place to work. My future craft room is what it is. The future craft room. So this is a card table with the start of this really cute book from Creative Memories (product seems to have been discontinued, sorry). Can't wait to share when it's all done.

It was worth the back pain

I have a muscle problem in my back that gets worse when sleeping on unsupportive mattresses and riding in the car for extended periods of time. Guess what I did this weekend? And my back feels...? Exactly.

It was a really nice weekend, though, and worth the aftermath to my back. While I had no internet, there is just enough cell signal there seems to be improving so I wasn't totally out of the loop. Saw family, friends, and didn't go to the scrapbooking store. I know that's a total reversal from Friday! That was my last chance - she's closing - but I'm okay with it because I saw my BFFs and their children (and 2 pregnant bellies!) so it was really great. Oh and MIL fed us until I couldn't walk. She makes this dish she calls Steak Pizzaiola that is so delicious. She uses beef and makes the sauce separately. I thought pizzaiola had bell peppers in it, but whatever, this is so good it could be called Mystery Surprise and I would still love it. I make it with venison, so here is my crockpot version.

Venison Pizzaiola

4 lbs venison roast, steaks or stew meat, or any tough cut of beef
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 28 oz cans tomatoes (any style i.e. diced or crushed)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 C breadcrumbs
1/2 C grated parmesan reggiano cheese

Combine meat, garlic, tomatoes and spices in the crockpot and cook on Low 8 hours. Transfer to a 9x13" baking dish. If a roast was used, cut the meat into serving size portions. Sprinkle the cheese and breadcrumbs over the casserole. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve over mashed potatoes or pasta, or with crusty bread.

My two front teeth

I got my first request for Christmas ideas today! This gets less fun every year as I try to think of ideas that don't require a savings plan. I really have my eye on cork flooring for the craft room and hall of the family room. Not a great gift idea. I love kitchen stuff, but don't have space for everything I have. I hate asking for clothes because I hate making returns. What else is there?

So far I have a robe, a subscription to Simple Scrapbooks magazine, a garbage disposal and a garage door opener. I rock.

So what do you want for Christmas?

Goin' Back, or, I may have a scrapbooking problem

Not quite sure how to title today's post. Let's begin with the facts.

1. I will be spending the weekend at my in-laws
2. My in-laws live 20 miles from the town we just moved away from
3. I have not seen my friends from upstate since I moved
4. There is a fabulous scrapbooking store in in-laws' town
5. I have no job

What do all these things have to do with each other? Well, I'm really excited to see my friends, 2 of whom are pregnant and I'm just dying to hear everything. The thing is, all these friends live another 20 miles minimum from our old house. So that's going to be an hour in the car to see people, give or take. Deuce is just not going to put up with all that driving and being told not to break other people's belonging. So I have to talk to MIL to see if she will babysit before I make any plans. Which will most likely mean everyone will be busy.

Where does that leave me? Well... if I don't have any social plans... I'll have plenty of time for Crop Paper Scissors (no web site sorry)! Which means I will spend money I don't necessarily have on things I don't necessarily need instead of seeing people who have been friends for years. It's a matter of practicality. I mean, MIL certainly will be able to babysit for 30 minutes while I step out, but all day might be pushing it.

Um, so does that mean I'm picking shopping over my friends? Not at all. I just hate to roll into someone's house, dump off my kid and skeedaddle. Likewise I hate to come over to a friend's house, screaming banshee in tow and demand goldfish crackers.

If for whatever reason I end up at Crop Paper Scissors I'm not going to feel guilty. Not for a minute. And I will buy fabulous products. And they'll understand because they're my friends.

Tackled - Yard work!

I finally put my nose to the grindstone and did yard work. I raked a mountain of leaves (that' just what was in the front yard by the way)...

And planted 100 bulbs (and 2 mums) in the front bed so I'll have some flowers in the spring!

So here's where I do a little environmentally-friendly encouragement. To all out there in temperate climates with lots of deciduous trees in their yards - please, please for the love of all things holy, please quit with the leave blowers! Think about what you're really doing - burning up fossil fuels in an inefficient stinking two-stroke engine and creating so much noise pollution that the operator wears ear muffs. None of the innocent children trying to play outside have ear muffs on by the way. Please use your arms, grab a rake, brake a sweat if necessary and leave the power tools in the garage.

And then it was Monday

Despite some serious fussing this weekend, we did have a nice time. I did some major tackling which I'll share tomorrow and spent time with my mom and my best friend. Deuce and I enjoyed the sunshine. It was really nice.

So how did last week's master plan work out? Not too bad.

• cooking all meals (except 1 planned dinner out) - check!
• finding activities to take Deuce to - check!
• apply to > 10 jobs (I hope) - applied to 5
• finding a mom's group - nope
• one huge tackle and one minor tackle - check! I'll share tomorrow
• getting into a schedule - eh...

There's room for improvement. So here's this week's plan:

• cook all meals (ate pizza last night)
• 2 activities with Deuce (story hour + play date)
• review 1/2 of the companies on this awesome list I found and sent resumes to the promising ones
• one big tackle, one small tackle
• add "get all dishes done" and "do house cleaning" to that schedule

Here goes!

Boy Am I Glad DeuceDad's Home from Hunting Camp