The Big D, Desperate Measures, Larry Boy, Et Al.

Hello there. I feel like it it has been a while since I've had any quality writing time here on this ole blog. Honestly, the Big D and all that accompanies it seem to take up quite a bit of my mental energy these days. That and the usual distractions of life tend to keep me away more than I like. However, I'm in need of a good mental purge and that requires transporting a few of the things inside this cluttered brain OUT and...well...into your cluttered brain, I guess. Sorry about that. I have a feeling it may be a long and incoherent ride, so proceed with caution.

First off, I've done the unthinkable. Those of you who know me in real life may want to brace yourself for this announcement. I wouldn't want to be held responsible for anyone getting hurt...by say...falling off your chair in shock. It really is shocking. Are you ready?? For ONE WHOLE WEEK I have abstained from any and all carbonated beverages. Except for about two ounces of Root Beer that I consumed during a weak moment at the soda fountain on Friday. But I don't even like Root Beer that much so I don't think it counts. Can you believe it? I can't, I honestly can't. It was an experiment of sorts to see how it would effect my weight loss efforts. Honestly, I'm not sure it is something I can make stick forever, and I'm pretty sure I will be having a small carbonated beverage (by the name of Coca-Cola) shortly after my weigh in on Monday, but it is good to know that I can do it and I probably will do it (abstain) a lot more in the future. But definitely not when eating pizza or popcorn. Because that is just sick and wrong.

Self control is HARD, people.

And healthy food is kinda boring.

And did I tell you I started running? I think I may have mentioned something about that in the bad attitude post. By the way, my attitude seems to be doing a little better. Anyway, back to the running. In an effort to revive my dying metabolism I have resorted to some desperate measures. Eliminating carbonated beverages definitely fits into that category. As does running. However, the running I'm actually starting to like. Oops, sorry I didn't warn you guys about that one...I'll wait while you pick yourselves up off the floor. I can't believe I really said that out loud. Yikes. I've been attempting to gradually work up to running a straight 30 minutes. This past week I got up to 4 minutes running/2 minutes walking alternating for 30 minutes. That may not be impressive to many of you, but for me that is HUGE.

You may have gathered from Nana's Birthday post that William has a slight fondness for Larry Boy these days. I can't even begin to tell you the depth of his love for Larry Boy and how cute I think it is and how I want to buy everything Larry Boy and give it to him just to see his face light up. I haven't actually done that, because 1) I try not to give my kids everything they want and 2) Larry Boy things are hard to find. I did find some printable coloring pages online and can I tell you that he has spent HOURS coloring them since then. I am not exaggerating. And the care with which he colors them? Melts my heart. It's as if he's had a coloring transformation. He has never been big on coloring. If he colored at all, he would use one color, scribble a little bit and be done. This is how he colored the Larry Boy page.


Multiple colors. In the lines. A coloring transformation, I tell you!

Hmmm. Let's see. What is there left in my brain to bore you with? Oh, yeah...piano lessons. Richie has recently started taking piano lessons. This brings great joy to my heart. Or it did until I realized it was going to take quite a bit of supervision (ie. effort) on my part as well. Oops, that was a bit too honest wasn't it? Actually, I really am happy about it, but I'm also sure there will be a special reward in heaven for Moms who patiently endure their child's piano practice. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

I'm about to wrap this up. Really. I must tell you that I was able to meet a sweet blog friend in person this past week. I attended a baby shower in her honor. She just adopted a gorgeous baby boy. It was wonderful to meet her and I only wish we could have spent more time getting to know each other. I didn't get any pictures. It seemed just a bit awkward to interrupt her shower for a bloggy photo shoot. However, you can hop over to say "hello" and see her precious new addition here. Congratulations, Kara!

Lastly, I feel like I should address the rather glaring addition to my blog. Over there to the right. Honestly, I'm not sure what to say about it except that I've heard good things about BlogHer ads, feel like they advertise tastefully, and I thought..if I can make a little extra money by simply doing something I already do...why not? Hope you all don't mind!

That is all for now. Thanks for your rapt attention...or distracted skimming...whichever one applies.