Monday!

For the first day of Matt's week off, we lounged until noon and then headed to the Space and Rocket Center for a couple of hours.  We have passes good through the end of January, so it was nice to get to use them!  The kids and Matt did the rock climbing wall, we all rode the simulator, we wandered around the new building before heading off to eat a late lunch.

The pic they take as you walk in, I did not take this one!

The Space and Rocket Center has become depressing since now there are no space programs running.  It's been outdated for a while, we go mainly for the 'ride' aspect than to learn anything, I guess if you had a die-hard space nut or enrolled in one of the programs, it still has merit, but as a museum, it's over-priced and there's not much turnover in exhibits.  The kids played today in the same mock-up my brother and I used to flip switches on when I was 6.

After eating, we headed to the library and then made a stop at the Far East Market where I found steamed buns!  Spinach and green onion, I am thrilled.  : )  We all picked out a new unknown flavored drink.  Mine is green grass jelly, who knows...it could be yummy! 


The library was a HUGE score.  First of all, I have been reading travel books like I am trying to find a cure for a disease I have been diagnosed with.  It's not casual flipping, I have been sucking up info and sitting up in bed until my legs go numb from lack of circulation from everything I have piled on my lap.  I have hauled out my atlas so many times, it's starting to feel like denim, the pages have gotten so soft from me running my finger along one route or another over and over, comparing the drive with the things I am reading about.  I have about 7 different routes, I guess we will have to go out and back at least four times over the next several years in order to quiet my mind.  This is likely the only time Jake will go with us, so I am trying to make it more about what will spark his brain.

Beyond MORE travel books (Great Plains, Arizona and the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain States and the 2012 guide to Disney World, which is currently being shared 3 ways with the kids running in and out to show me photos.  We all have the travel bug, they just have a single destination in mind...) I picked up a book about re-using old books to make new things, called Re-Bound and one on upcycling which can only help my sad collection of things and one called YOU CAN DO IT!  Which promises to inspire me to follow my dreams.  And show me how.

We are back home now, there was a $50 Lowe's gift card on the van windshield when we left today.  THAT came in handy, we are going to work on the trim this coming weekend, that's almost enough to cover the rest of the wood we need!  We already bought a big box of nails and borrowed another long ladder, so this shiny new fascia board dream of mine really COULD come true!  : )  No book needed!

Tomorrow is National Fruitcake Day.  I am thinking we will skip that this year...instead, we are going on a scouting mission!   I hope to report later about our awesome discovery, I CAN DO IT!  (lol)  That book is amazing, I have only read the front cover!

Holiday Weekend

I have a hard time with holidays.  I don't like that someone decided 'here is how you should spend your money'.  Candy for Valentine's, baskets at Easter, flowers for Mother's Day, ties for Father's Day, fireworks and BBQ for July 4th, anniversaries come with a list of what to buy for each year: tin, paper, bronze, sugar, wood, crystal, clocks, silver, gold...

Then there's Christmas. It's practically a hemorrhage of money.  Decorations, food, travel, gifts and gifts and gifts and gifts.  It's no good unless everyone gets the exact same amount and more than last year and equal values and more than they need.  Dig in and SPEND, it's CHRISTMAS!

If Jesus is the reason for the season, I'd be pretty pissed if I were him and got nailed up for a cause and everyone decide celebrate my life and death with debt and excess and a passing thought with a token phrase.

Jesus was born and died in the spring.  You know who was born on Christmas Day?  Issac Newton.

It's not that I am against spending money on food or people I love, I just don't like the herd mentality of an arbitrarily assigned day. Or the insane amounts people are willing to spend on "things", having to miss out on experiences the rest of the year.  Their kids have so much stuff they have to kick a path to the bed, yet have never seen snow in the mountains or a manatee at the beach or put their feet in a hot springs or any number of other amazing things out there waiting.  The debt-based consumerism of our country saddens me, I can't celebrate that.

Matt has the whole week off, so we started out Saturday with a long walk and picked up a few groceries for the weekend.  I had been hoping a couple things would arrive in the mail, but nothing came.  Speaking of things in the mail and rampant consumerism, we got gift cards for Macaroni Grill last week.  From...unknown sources!  We were planning a trip to the art museum this week anyway, so, yay!

Saturday night, we opened our stockings, which had everyone's personal variety of favorite candy and a small goodie or two.  Ben's had a couple Lego minifigs, Chandler made an owl for me and Matt got me a little pig.  Jake had a disguise kit and a new Papo figurine, I found a set of colored pencils made from twigs for Chandler.  Matt got his beloved tea candy and Black Jack gum.  We sat around munching on Japanese gummy candy and watched Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas.  It was fabulous, I loved it as a child, but it was still amazing as an adult, puppets in a boat on water!  Birds that flew, puppets driving cars...it is a 35 year old movie!  Jim Henson was an astounding man.

This was/is my latest project, to walk 3.66 miles a day until I reach 550 miles, which will take around 5 months.  I have managed to get in not quite 3 weeks.  LOL  I still have a while to go!  550 miles is the stretch of the Appalachian Trail the kids and I would like to hike.  I wanted some idea of how much walking it would take. 7.8 days of solid walking at 3.3 MPH!

We have been trying out new stuff, above is mini spring rolls, mochi and pomegranate seeds.  Well, I eat pomegranate a few times a week, the rest is new.

Udon soup, so yummy!
I make it with chicken stock, eggs, onion and then add the noodles.

Yesterday we made 15 bean soup, it was an 10 serving recipe and it lasted one meal.  Eep!  Glad beans are good for us...

Matt has been into blogging about our recent fascination with the Far East Market in Huntsville, but we really have been having fun trying out new things.  Green bean noodles were a mixed hit, we have sweet potato noodles to try next!  The best part is that everything is about 1/3 of what we have been paying at Kroger!  Yay!  And no corn syrup.

Week-end

Another week whisked by, it's amazing to me sometimes how quickly a series of days can pass.  One more whoosh and it will be another year!

This week went well, on Monday, I went in and had lunch with Matt, then went to have the van looked at by someone who can fix the actuator motor in the AC, which I will need before long!   After that, I went to walk the labyrinth, which I really enjoyed.  It's the first time I went alone.  I need to do more stuff like that by myself....

After work, we met back up and walked the Greenway as part of a fitness event for our insurance.  It IS super annoying to have to have a points system in place, but it's all things we SHOULD be doing anyway.  Keeping a closer eye on nutrition and exercise, being aware of our cholesterol and blood sugar levels...

On Tuesday, everyone came over for lunch and Dirty Santa.  I was worried it was going to just be semi-polite Santa, but there was some action before the end.  Poor Cody, before his number, everyone picked a present and there were only a couple of swipes.  He was dying to go and I was just ahead of him.  I stole a present, that person stole one, who stole one and the last person picked, so he had to wait through 4 moves!  Zachary got a couple bags of candy, which he tucked out of sight behind his back, eyes twinkling with visions of sugar rushes, no doubt.  Then a Nerf gun emerged and he SLAMMED that candy in front of himself and started advertising heavily.  There were some scratch-off lottery tickets that enthralled the younger boys.  The older boys just wanted some meat sticks!

On Wednesday, we had lunch at Karen's, finally.  We have been trying for at least 5 weeks.
It was a great visit, lots of chatting and the kids played and played and played.  I did not even think about doing a group pic!  Oops!

Red Rover!

Back home on Thursday, we watched the sky get brighter and brighter instead of the actual sunrise.   Then, we experienced a Solstice Miracle in the form of Crabby Kat snuggling with Muta!  Well, snuggle may be too much...more like shared butt warmth.  : )

Today, Matt is home early, with pizza!  He is off until the 3rd!

Great weekend!

Had a lovely weekend, Saturday Matt and I spent the day in Huntsville, went hiking at Wade Mountain and picked up groceries.  I played around with some filters with the few shots I took, the one of the double trail is with a Brownie lens filter, the one below is done with a plastic camera, like a toy camera lens.

Even the woods are decorated for the holidays.

Brownie!

Love is all around.

Today is my off day, I don't exercise on Sunday and I eat without much concern about calories.  Last week I was BACK up to a dreaded weight despite my efforts at exercise and eating better.  So, I put away the scale and made a deal with myself to increase my exercise to burn at least 600 calories a day and to try to get at least 1500 calories every day from good foods. 

I hauled out the scale this morning and I am down 5 pounds!  Yay!  That was such a mental boost!  I know it won't be 5 pounds every week, but seeing a big drop made me feel like I am on the right track.  I put the scale away until next Sunday morning.  That daily reckoning was making me a little nuts!

This afternoon, Matt and Jake got up on the roof and re-sealed the chimney, it leaked the last 2 times it rained.  Then they put new fascia boards up sort of willy-nilly because it was getting dark and they opted to put them up where they could without having to stop and cut them to fit.  So there are 2 on the front and one on the side.  hahaha!  It's a start, though.  I am not complaining!  We found out today we have to replace trim on the whole front of the house, that will suck, the boards are 16 feet long, go up 2 stories, have notches every so often to fit over the support beams and have to hold up the edge of the roof.  I am hoping for the week after Christmas to have nothing but mild, sunny and warm days!  We have so much to get done!  I am just glad it's the fascia boards and not the house structure that's falling apart.  I would have no idea where to begin replacing beams and such. 

I am looking forward to this week!  Tomorrow we have a fitness thing for our insurance, I get to walk 3 miles with the fitness chick from Matt's job.  THAT sounds like fun.  Tuesday is our holiday get-together with the Roamies, Wednesday is more fun with friends (and a library visit) and then Friday is Matt's last day at work until next year!