School is coming, school is coming!

I've been off work now for three weeks.  I'm getting some great sleep, I'm getting my house organized and I'm doing a lot of cooking and reading.  It occurred to me Monday morning that I should probably create some kind of schedule for myself and the kids each day - or maybe get up before 8 am.  School is coming and we are all going to have to get up at 7 am soon and get out the door by 8:15 am.  It's going to be a shock to their little minds, and mine.  We have all of our school supplies and we are counting down the 14 days until school starts.  Since I was feeling motivated and all scheduley on Monday, I got up at 7:45, did some research on the internet, got the girls to clean their rooms and did a few loads of laundry.  The one thing we do every evening is go outside from 6:30-8pm and play with the kids on the block.  They ride bikes, go to the playground and play hide and seek while the other moms and I hang out and chat about our To Do lists. 

 Things still left on our summer fun list include - a second visit to Cedar Park Resort, a visit to Ontario Place, a bike ride at a local conservation area and camping overnight - just me and the girls - at a nearby Provincial Park.  There are a few other things I'd like to do with the girls this year - but I think I'll wait until cabin fever sets in around February to visit Science Centre, Casa Loma and the Royal Ontario Museum. 

We've already had a great summer but it feels like it will all be over before we know it.  Maybe getting up earlier won't be so bad - it will mean some extra time to myself and a longer day of fun.  What is your summer looking like?

Things that I looked up on the internet this week:

What came first?

What is Missy Elliott saying backwards in her song Work It?  I’ve always wondered and when the song got stuck in my head the other morning I decided to look it up.  She is saying “I put my thing down flip

it and reverse it” backwards.  Whew, another of life’s mysteries solved!

How do you make peanut butter cookies with natural peanut butter?  I know it’s easy with regular peanut butter – add an egg and more sugar! – but I wanted to see how much more sugar I needed to add with natural peanut butter.  Turns out after checking with a few of my favorite sites, you still use the same ratio of sugar to peanut butter (1 c PB, 1 c sugar).  Using the natural peanut butter saves you the extra sugar (and whatever else) that is actually in the peanut butter but that’s all.

What is a uvula for?  My eight year old asks the most interesting questions these days.  Do you know what a uvula is for?

What came first, the chicken or the egg?  Hah!  A common back and forth in my house these days with my oldest, after puzzling about it for a while we looked it up.  My interpretation of the answer on Wikipedia - the egg.  

Picky Eater

My 8 year old daughter, Maddy is a picky eater.  I blame myself.  I fed her jarred food (blech!) and for years I asked her what she wanted to eat and gave her options instead of just giving her what we were having.  My daughter Tee is a great eater, she'll try anything and eats everything we put in front of her.  I started her on natural foods that I made myself with a lot of variety.  This is one of the great things about having two children, that you learn from the first and try not to make the same mistakes with the second.  But I digress.  Maddy rarely branches out and tries new things and would eat hamburgers everyday if I let her.  She likes to eat cereal, vanilla yogert, plain pasta, toast, rice, chicken and some veggies.  So the other day I gave her a hamburger for lunch on a bun I bought at a bakery.  It looked a little different than the buns we usually buy but it was still white bread (not those dreadful wheat buns that Maddy doesn't like).  But when I came back with Maddy's cup of milk, this is what I found.  She had taken her dislike of crust to a whole new level - and peeled her hamburger bun.  Sigh.  Before and after. 

Who me? I've been working.

For 20 years I've been an employee, save two maternity leaves where my boss was a squalling baby.  And now I'm unemployed.  I had a great sent off from my job and am genuinely happy that I'm at home with my kids.  So now what?   I'm going to have a great summer and start writing my business plan.  I'm in no rush to get back to work but I am thinking about what I'm going to do when the kids go back to school.  I will be blogging and waiting.  And that's all I can do.  For now, I'm enjoying two weeks off with my husband and kids and not thinking too much about the future.  And it's nice, and I'm happy. :)

Losing weight is hard

I'm turning 37 this year.  My body is changing and shifting.  My elbows ache and cramp.  I try not to have a full bladder, ever, just in case I sneeze and  my feet ache when I get up in the morning.  My metabolism has slowed down quite a bit in my 30's.  Yes, its incredibly sexy to be 36.  I can't eat what I want either which is the most painful for me.  I love me a good poutine or whopper, a chicken nugget or three and cheese, wonderful cheese. Suddenly "everything in moderation" doesn't apply.  I am watching carbs, sodium, sugar, fibre and fat content. I thought I would lose this weight like I did in my 20's but I was wrong.  These are the things I have cut from my diet:
Raw sugar
Peanut butter
Processed foods - except pasta, salami and trisket...and including cake, macaroni and cheese, frozen burgers and chicken nuggets
Chips
Bread 
Baked goods 
Cheese - except for skinny cow and the occasional slice of pizza 
Roti - Omg I love roti but recently found out the sodium and calorie content is more than a big mac!
Fast food - including French fries
Eating between 7-9 pm

Basically I'm eating a lot if salad, tuna, veggies, fruit, meat, home made soups, whole grains and high fibre granola bars.  I'm not restricting myself completely though.  I will occasionally (meaning once a week maybe) I'll have some French fries, cake or veggie dip so that I don't feel deprived. 

What about you?  Have you found found that you've had to change your diet over the years?  What do you cut out when you are trying to lose a few pounds?

Weigh loss update

I'm happy to report that I'm down 3.5 inches and 4.5 pounds :)

Tag Team

Today was a tag team day today.  Do you ever tag team with your spouse?  The tag team reference is from wrestling where one wrestler would tag out of a fight so that he/she could get a rest while the other one fought the battle.  Yes, I watched wrestling, lol.  I like this term because parenting can be like that.  With family day being a holiday Monday this year in Ontario today was our Monday.  My husband was off work today which made things so much easier.  He got up with me and the kids and while I made French toast (tag) he got them dressed.  Then he drove me to work (tag) and took my seven year old to her appointment.  He picked me up from work and brought me home to a mostly completed dinner .  I made broccoli and cheese sauce while (tag) he relaxed and after dinner (tag) he took my oldest to brownies and got gas for my car while I (tag) made banana bread with my youngest.  Then the little one had a bath given by me and (tag) he put her pjs on.  Then it was time to pick up our brownie so I went and now (tag) he's giving her a bath.  The little one is having her banana bread and after her bath so will the big one.  Soon it will be bedtime which we alternate and it's his turn.  Teeth brushing, stories and back rubs from daddy tonight.  Having a partner who helps makes all these tasks so much easier and it occurred to me that these everyday tasks would be much harder if I had to do them all myself, especially when they were babies.  Imagine not having a break from a baby unless family or friends came over...GAH.  But tonight is a good night so I'm enjoying it because there are nights when it's not so easy and when my spouse isn't so helpful.  There are still lunches to be made and clothes to be put out for the next day but I don't mind because tonight it's been a good tag team night.  Thank you honey.