I'd like to thank my mother

And all the little people. Not really, I'd just like to thank my mother. Apparently she had some genetic mutation that the rest of the family doesn't have and passed it on to me. What kind of mutation, you ask? Well, let me tell you. Last Saturday night, we were having a family party for my great aunt's and uncle's 60th anniversary, and most of us women were standing around yapping and the talk turned to my youngest aunt and her plans to have a hysterectomy. And I find out my 35 yr old cousin is planning a hysterectomy, and her 11 yr old niece has periods that leave her anemic, and my 17 yr old cousin has horrible periods. And around the circle it went with every woman in the family talking about the horrible cramps and floods of blood and what not. Even the women who married into the family.

Everyone except my mother and I. No cramps, no days of soaking a super tampon every hour, no counting down the days until we can get our uterus cut out.

I have had problems with my periods, but for me it is a weight issue. If I stay under a certain weight, I never have problems. So, I can't put myself in the same category with the rest of them that every period is filled with misery.

So, thank you, Mother, for what ever happened to make us different.

Not much baby girl stuff left

OK, I know what you are thinking, my "baby" girls are going to be 6 in 2 weeks. Time for the baby stuff to be long gone. It's not like I've been holding onto it. I've put stuff in consignment sales and given it away over the years. But, I have another friend due any day now with a baby girl, and I was looking for stuff to give her. I was shocked to discover that I have almost no 0-3 month girl stuff. I'm not sure I found anything. I still had quite a bit of summer 3-6 month stuff, but her baby will need winter/fall stuff then. And I seem to have cleared out all the winter/fall 3-6 month stuff.
There is one box I can't reach that doesn't seem to be labeled, so I'll have the man check it when he gets home. But, I think that maybe my babies are growing up and I don't have many of their baby things left. I've saved the special things, but still, it makes me a little triste.

I do still have a bunch of baby boy stuff left, though.

A funny that really I shouldn't laugh at

You know how it is, your kid does something that is either inappropriate or fell or something, and you can't help but laugh, even though you shouldn't. Well, this one is a falling kid story.

We went swimming yesterday evening and then had supper at Logan's. Sam snarfed his mac and cheese and then pretty much just fell over asleep in his seat. No nap + lots of swimming = really tired kid. So, he was snoozing away when a waiter dropped a stack of plates. It was so loud that even I jumped. Sam startled half away, tried to roll over and fell off the bench and under the table. Splat! And then, the manwhore and I couldn't reach him. Poor kid had to sit up so manwhore could get a hold of him. B finally got Sam picked up and snuggled on his shoulder and of course Sam was crying, cause wouldn't you cry if rolled over and landed on a hardwood floor in your sleep? But, he just conked right back out.

And manwhore and I was laughing at the poor kid.

He slept most of the night, too. He woke up once and crawled in with us and then I had the manwhore put him back to bed. Sam didn't make another peep until about 6:30 this morning.

Proud mommy brag coming up

Two of them, actually.

We are regular swimmers at the Y and last week one of the lifeguards stopped us as we were getting ready to leave. He asked how old the girls are and then wanted to know where they learned to swim so well. He was really surprised when I said they were going to be 6 in a few weeks and commented that he has seen them using some of the same swimming strokes he does (breaststroke and such). I told him they'd had lessons for the basics and the rest was just regular visits to the pool over the last few years.

We were swimming again yesterday and I asked El when she was going to go down the big water slides. Keep in mind that these slides are probably 15 ft tall and spill into 5ft deep water. But, she asked if she was old enough, so we asked the lifeguard. It was the same one that had complimented them on their swimming ability, so he told her she could go ahead. And El spent the next hour going down the slides. I was so proud of her!

Em wanted to try, too, but she got about half way up and decided it was too high. Maybe next week.

Things that make me odd

Or a little bit strange anyway, at least amongst my friends and family.

1. I recycle, like everything I can. Tons of plastic, glass, grocery sacks.

2. I use cloth bags for shopping (when I don't go off and forget them) to cut down on the plastic bags I use.

3. I wash ziploc bags and reuse them.

4. I don't use paper towels or paper plates (making that even more odd, I haven't yet given up paper napkins and I used disposable diapers with my kids.)

5. I make my own laundry detergent.

6. We eat almost no processed food, and what little we do eat is as minimally processed as possible. If I can't pronounce the ingredients, we don't eat it. We avoid things with artificial colors, too.

7. I pick up litter when I see it, and so do my kids.

8. We're planning to change out the lightbulbs to CFLs, but we haven't had a bulb to burn out in forever.

I'm sure there are other things, but I won't mention them here. I am quiet comfortable with my oddities and like myself because of them. I think they make me who I am and possibly even a bit more interesting.

Buying local produce

We went to the Farmers' Market Sat to see if we could stock up on local produce for the week. We did, but I was actually a little surprised at how little is in season in middle TN right now. Clearly, I have not gardened. There were tons of cantaloupe, watermelons, blackberries and blueberries, tomatoes in more varieties than I knew existed, squash and zucchini, eggplant, greens, cucumbers and green beans. And not many of the booths had green beans. And many of the farmers had peaches from the Carolinas.

Sounds yummy, right? I think so, too. Only no one in my family but me eats squash, eggplant or greens and the kids don't like green beans. They don't like blackberries or blueberries, either.

I was surprised at the lack of other melon varieties, too, but I suppose those are the best sellers. I know that broccoli and lettuces are cool weather crops, brussle sprouts, too. But I was expecting to see lima beans and butter beans, etc

We did stock up on fruit and some squash. And prices were a little cheaper than the grocery store, so we'll try to make it as weekly a trip if we can to try and save a little money. Besides, the peaches and tomatoes we've eaten already have been to die for. Yum, yum!

Rambling thoughts on America's fat crisis

Having a child that to my shock falls in the category of overweight, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. So some random thoughts.

Thought 1:
Statistics say that 30% of American kids are overweight or obese. We were at the splash pad yesterday and I thought about that number. "Nah," says me, "There aren't that many fat kids here." So, I counted all the kids, no easy task when they are all running and screaming. There were about 20 kids there. Then I counted the ones that, based on my observation of my own fat child, appeared to be overweight. 6 kids. Well hell, that is 30% of the kids overweight. And three of those kids were clearly in the obese category, including one little girl who was about 8 or 10 who had such a belly on her that she looked pregnant. Eek. So, even in my mostly middle class community, there is a weight problem among kids, at least according to my unscientific survey.

Thought 2:
I was talking to my neighbor, who is a nurse, about the fact that Sam is overweight, according t his doctor. She was completely incredulous, and said "If that child is overweight, than we are all obese."
I looked at her a bit funny but didn't say anything. I mean, she isn't blind. I am 5'2, and weigh 200 lbs. That puts me so far over the line into obese it isn't even funny.
She is taller than I, but probably weighs pretty close to what I do. I betcha she is obese, too, and doesn't realize it. The manwhore, who was standing there, is also obese, and I betcha that her husband is, too. Two of her kids are at least overweight, and might be obese.
Are we so immune to fat that even a nurse with 20 yrs experience doesn't recognize overweight and obese when she sees it?

I suppose she thinks of obese people as weighing 300+ lbs or something, but the truth is, I would have to drop down to 160 just to get my fat ass in the overweight category. 135 is what it would take to get me to healthy.
At least I am aware of this fact and working on it, although it is slow going. If she doesn't recognize her own weight problem and that of her kids, and she is a medical professional, then how is the average person supposed to recognize their family's problems?

We are addressing our fat problem by cutting out sugar as much as we can, so we shall see where it gets us.

Underwear optional

Apparently, this in an underwear option establishment, at least for the boy. I swear, everytime I turn around, I'm seeing his buns. I assume it is because he is going to the bathroom (but who pees that much?).

You see, or perhaps you don't, he has to strip completely from the waist down to do his business. I haven't figured out how to teach him to pee standing up, yet, so he sits for everything. To keep from spraying the floor, he's decided he has to strip. Then, he doesn't put his undies back on. So, I get an eyeful of 3 yr old butt.

Happy Birthday, America! Now shut the fuck up!

God, I am turning into such a grumpy old lady. But damn, we are a tired family. I'm fucking exhausted from the 4 days of painting and wallpaper stripping. I just finished up the last of the trim work about 30 mins ago. The kids are all tired, the manwhore is exhausted as well. And it is 11pm on the 4th of July.

Which means that people have setting off fireworks in my neighborhood for 3 solid hours now. It was nice for the first hour because we had a really nice show. But now, my kids are trying to go to sleep, I want to go to bed, so enough already. We're free. Yay! Huzzah! We've celebrated. Now put a sock in it. The city ordinance says this shit is supposed to be over with at 10pm, so SHUT UP!

Pray for me, Forrest

I'm about to start stripping the ugly ass, rose covered wallpaper out of my dining room. Keep your fingers crossed that it comes down easily.

I hate wallpaper.