Tchuss

Goodbye, Internet. We're packing up the computer and disconnecting everything. I'll have lots of stories to tell in a month or so. Our last mass here and the sauna are good ones to start with. Bye.

15 luv

Pete Sampras and Venus Williams we are not. The last two days Schmitty and I have gone to the tennis courts to play our version of tennis. It's more of a game of chasey chasey but we try.

The midget wanders around the courts completely unafraid. I guess he's comfortable in the knowledge that in the unlikely event one of us hits the ball over the net we couldn't hit him if we tried.

mojito mojo

Schmitty's party went off without a hitch on Saturday. We'll just say we were glad when it was over but we played lots of games. We played pin Schmitty on the map, fill the cup with spoonfuls of water, yard darts, water balloon toss, and make your own sundae.

The funniest part was after the water balloon toss we had a full on water balloon fight. One of the girls accidentally hit Yago in the privateers with a balloon. I saw it happen and the delayed reaction on his face. He fell to the ground and all the kids ran over and started bombarding him with water balloons. He was soaked and helpless, it was hilarious. Another mom and I just stood doubled over we were laughing so hard.

Last night Yago made homemade peach mojitos. He peeled and chopped the peaches, picked the mint from our backyard and I squeezed the limes. We stuck it in a blender and it was delicious! We drank 10 servings between the two of us. We were a teensy bit hungover this morning. Certainly worth it though. Well for me anyway, maybe not for Yago who had to ride his bike to work this morning. He also didn't get to sleep in until 9:00.

Yesterday, we shipped Yago's car. This week the gov't will start picking up appliances on loan to us like a fridge, washer, dryer and microwave. It's really happening. I hate moving.

You know, I was thinking about Mickity's comment on the Omaha mansion. I'd like to point out that she owns THREE properties.

Yago's inspection is over and they're receiving their debrief this morning. I'm making chocolate mint bars to take to his flight. I know Mistress of Moomoo would love them, I think I'll make them for her for her birthday or something.

I'm really hoping the weather holds out tomorrow for Schmitty's party. If not I don't know what we'll do. Yago is sooo NOT stressed about it. He doesn't feel the need to entertain them. "They're kids. They'll play and have fun." Man.

treading water

Today is the last day of school, Schmitty has a half day. Yesterday was the last piano lesson, we're done with baseball, CCD, and den meetings. Whew. Two more days of swim lessons.

Swim lessons. I'm kind of mad at myself about those. I somehow mistakenly put Schmitty in the same class he had last year which means he's not learning anything new. He can't really swim, he can stick his face in the water and kick really hard but he doesn't go anywhere. He pops up to breath, touches the bottom of the pool and pushes off again. It's my own fault because I told his teacher when I enrolled him that he was afraid of the water again since he hadn't been in a pool since last August. She put him in the Level 1 class again so he's not being pushed. He's the biggest kid in the class and he's fine with that.

shopping companion

I finally realized what I'm reminded of when I shop with Ralphie. Walking through a store with him holding my hand is like walking with E.T. He clomps around unsteadily, leaning too far left then too far right, and it reminds me of when the kids took E.T. trick or treating.

finders keepers

Oh my gosh! I almost lost Ralph today while mowing the lawn. I was mowing the back and he was hanging out with me. The bag on the mower filled up so I went out front to toss the clippings in the composter and went back to mowing. At some point I realized Ralph wasn't outside anymore but I wasn't too concerned. I figured he had wandered back in to the living room. Then I saw that I'd left the front door open! I went running in the house yelling Ralphie and then out the front door to the street. I didn't see him anywhere! Thankfully he popped out from around the entertainment center. Whew. I don't think Yago would be too happy with me if I lost him.

a daunting (and confusing) task

I'm still sifting through school information. I had been using psk12.com to look up school performance but the data were from 2002. You have to pay $100 to see more current information. When I talked to the school district they told me where I could find school performace information on the dept of education website.

Holy cow. It's all free and current up to the 2006-2007 school year, it's much different than the 2002 stats I was looking at. According to the state website the school that was ranked 63/85 in Omaha scored better than all the Bellevue schools in 2007. It's still much poorer but their performance is way above other schools in the area. It could be a fluke; reading, math and writing scores all spiked last year to nearly 100% even though the free lunch eligibility is double what it is in Bellevue. How is that explained? I always thought more money = better education.

You know, it would be much easier if we just lived in a small town with only one school. Like Allegany.

sold

Darn it, they took our house off the Internet. That means no more playing the virtual tour over and over when I'm bored. I used to play it and get a warm fuzzy feeling, but now it's gone! No more daydreaming and admiring. (sigh) Those were good times realtor.com, I'll miss you.

a bitter-sweet evening

Let me preface by saying when I'm not cleansing, I'm REALLY not cleansing. I ate Burger King for lunch today and then decided to make brownies at 9:00 this evening.

I asked Schmitty if he would like to help me make brownies and his face lit up. He hussled over to the kitchen to see how he could be of assistance. While we were measuring and mixing, he said he loved cooking with me. I was a little surprised and told him I did too. He remarked that it had been a really long time since we'd done something together, just him and me, no dad or Ralph. (dad is still putting in long hours preparing for the inspection and Ralph was asleep)

While the brownies were in the oven we got to work on his farewell party invitations. I told him he could invite five people over. He asked where on the invititations were we going to list his interests so people would know what kind of present to buy him. I told him there weren't going to be any presents, it's not a birthday party, and his face fell. In a flippant manner, he said that he should be able to invite all his friends then because it could be the last time he sees them. I replied it probably would be the last time he saw them, that's why he got to invite five of his best friends over to say goodbye.

That's when the realization of what was happening hit him. It tugged at my heart looking at him. He didn't start crying, I could tell he was trying his hardest to choke back the tears. It was worse looking at him not crying. In the excitement of the new house and being near an aunt, uncle, grandparents and cousins he hadn't thought of what he was leaving behind.

He'll start third grade in his third school. I told him that was part of being a military family and he nodded in quiet acceptance. As difficult as this move may be I know the next one will be much harder for him.

batteries required

I took our camera to the pool today to take pictures of Schmitty and Ralph. Ralph is really cute playing in the kiddie pool, plus the pools in Germany and really neat. So I got my camera and went in for the closeup only to discover I left the battery on the kitchen counter. That stunk.

Yago and I wanted to go out to dinner tomorrow night but we can't find a babysitter. Schmitty told me about his friend's sister that lives in the neighborhood. He said she was a babysitter but turns out her mom won't let her sit kids under five. Schmitty suggested we take Ralphie with us...

a little dirty

The cleanse has been called off, I ate two whole wheat quesadillas for lunch. Yago called "fed up" with the diet and we decided we'd try to incorporate portions of the cleanse in to our daily lives but the whole thing was too restrictive.

Vegan is difficult but add to that no sugar or wheat and it's too much. I'm tofued out.

directoral debut

Yesterday, Ralphie and I went to Sammy's class to watch mini-movies each student had made. They were essentially Power Point slide shows with recorded narration. They were funny and cute. Sam actually looked a little embarrassed to be standing in front of everyone while his played. He usually blows me away with his ease standing in front of people but he was sheepish yesterday.

After the movies each child was given a cd containing work and projects he/she had worked on throughout the year. The parents were invited to follow the kids to the library and look at what was on the disks.

On the way to the library I heard a classmate behind us crying because his mother didn't come to see the movies. Sam's teacher tried to explain that something must have come up at work to prevent her from being able to attend. He cried that she was at home. Sam told me later that his mom just got home from a year in Iraq. I always think it's sad when I hear how many of his classmates have gone a year without a parent.

spoke too soon

Turns out having a little turd float by while swimming is grosser than stepping on a slug and then flinging slug guts on to your ankle.

the grossest thing

I was walking with Schmitty this morning and the most disgusting thing happened. While wearing flip flops and capris, I stepped on a slug and it was flung across my opposite ankle. All I felt was wet slime hit my ankle. When I looked down there was a thick string of brown slime on my leg. I had no idea where it had come from until I noticed the wet slimy smudge on the sidewalk. Ick!! I grabbed a couple of leaves and wiped it off but it was seriously disgusting.

I think Yago would score our gluten/dairy/sugar-free waffles a close second for the grossest thing.

three

We are entering day three of the cleanse. Oh boy. I have eaten probably a pound of cashews. Sunday we had grilled tofu triangles with rice and veggies for dinner, Ralphie LOVES tofu. Last night, we had an arugula and grape salad with sunflower seeds and a homemade vinaigrette. Tonight, I think it's a tofu ragout. I've eaten oatmeal with blueberries and soy milk every morning, it's pretty good. I only had one cup of coffee yesterday so I'm making progress there.

I've had to completely change my outlook on food. The cleanse does do that. You become more focused on what you can get out of your food and where it comes from instead of mindless snacking. Ralphie and Schmitty aren't cleansing, they're still eating milk and dairy. I can contemplate going vegetarian but vegan is hard, it complicates menu planning.

Yago and I have each dropped about 5 lbs in three days without trying. I was surprised because of all the nuts I've eaten but I weighed 131 this morning.

OH! And Yago bought a bike Sunday. He rode it to PT/work this morning. I feel a little bad for him because I don't know what he had for breakfast but he rode seven miles to the gym and then did squadron PT. For lunch all he has is leftover salad, he's going to be starving!

toe dipping

Yago and I are experimenting with "the cleanse." We haven't gone all out but for a week we're trying it with one exception. We started yesterday and we'll go until next Sunday.

The exception is coffee because I seriously drink about six cups of coffee a day. I get raging headaches if I don't have caffeine so I'll cut it back to a cup in the morning and if I get a headache a cup in the afternoon/evening. Hopefully by the end of the week I won't have any at all.

We've taken out meat, dairy, sugar and all forms of wheat. That leaves a pretty restricted diet. I bought gluten free flour thinking I could make homemade bread without the gluten but the recipes without gluten call for xantham gum so I don't know what's going to happen. The gluten gives the bread structure and holds it together and I have no idea where I could find xantham gum, certainly not at the commissary.

You would think I'd probably drop a ton of weight on this diet but I don't think that'll be the case. Almost everything I ate yesterday was pretty calorie dense. I ate a lot of dried fruit and cashews. It was mostly out of laziness, they we're easy choices because there wasn't any preparation involved. I'll try to be a little more motivated today.

We'll see how miserable I am after a week. Oh yeah, and no alcohol. Nothing makes you want a cocktail more than knowing you're not allowed to have one. What's up with that?

more of a tidying

I watched Oprah last week when she had Kathy Preston (sp?) on as a guest. They were talking about the "21 day cleanse" and I was interested but skeptical. She talks about giving up certain foods for 21 days to improve your spirituality and rid your body of toxins. I was interested in it for the novelty, challenge and health benefits. You're supposed to give up animals (meat and fish) and animal products (to include yogurt, butter, eggs, etc), caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and glutein.

First, I can't do it for 21 days. That's too long. Second, give up gluten? I don't think so. I can't give up bread and all things wheaty. Caffeine? I don't think I can do that either, I love coffee and we just bought the loveliest coffeemaker last year. It sits in the kitchen and looks at me all day long, beckoning me over for another steamy cup of heaven.

I am thinking about it and maybe soon I'll commit to a 14 day tidying instead of a 21 day cleanse. Maybe only 7 days to start...

wee wee wee all the way home

I think we got a house! Can you believe that? We bought a freakin' house from an ad on realtor.com. That's insane to me but I'm so excited! We're working out the details but it looks like it'll be a done deal by Friday! It's got the open floor plan I wanted so I could watch the kiddos and cook dinner, a big back yard, some (not all) hardwood floors, AND there's a park in the neighborhood! I'm so excited I could do a cartwheel. Oh, and it's got a lot of built in shelving which I really wanted for all our books.

I'll try to post a link but I don't know if it'll work.

The only teeny little problem or hesitation I have is my housekeeping and taste aren't as good as whoever presently lives there. I don't want to picture the house with my clutter or messiness. Maybe it'll make me a better housekeeper. If only housekeeping were fun. (sigh)

We got a house!! And I'd be remiss if I didn't thank my family for making it possible.

zum kotzen

Poor little Schmitty is sick. He started throwing up around 1:00 this morning and he's still sick. He's wretching in the bathroom and writhing on the couch. I know in I couple of days I'll have whatever he has and somewhere in there the baby will get it too.

He keeps apologizing to me and I keep telling him to stop. He said, "Well, I know I'm being a handful because I keep making all that noise on the couch." Poor guy. He's holding his belly and crying, he's not being a handful.