Pretty new cup

Look at the pretty new cup I got. It's got a silicone lid. It's perfect for a small cup of coffee. Yes, you read that right; I'm drinking coffee, again*. My new quest is to figure out how to make coffee my B*TCH rather than being her B*TCH. I'm not planning on drinking coffee every day, but who knows. I'm happier and more productive when I have a little coffee. It's got some wonderful anti-oxidant properties. It may have negative side-effects, too, but right now I'm just going to enjoy the extra work I get done. I think there are far worse vices in life than a little coffee.

Aren't these cute, too? And these?


*The coffee drinking started because of the coffee maker where I work out. A free, fresh made 1/2 coffee and 1/2 decaf cup after a 1-2 pm Zumba class keeps me going with a smile on my face. I'm already looking forward to today's cup!

That workout I keep talking about...

The Dailey Method video, go see what it's all about. It gets a little cheesy with the testimonial, but the rest of the video is pretty good. There's also this video showing some more exercises.

I really do love the way my back and knee feel after doing a Dailey class. I really don't enjoy doing the class, but it does make me feel super--my knees don't hurt at all for a few days after the class. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I don't mind doing the class, but before I leave my house, I don't have any desire to go; I have to MAKE myself. However, once I've gotten to the studio and the class is started, it's not too bad.

free books

I just downloaded 26 free books for my Kindle (on the iPad). Cool! Also, at least some of the books I've gotten on my Kindle are available to loan out to others. MWH and I are trying this.

[Wait 4 minutes]

It seems easy. I have to fill out a little form, then he gets an email, then he clicks a link and tells Amazon where to download the book.

Update... I got 26 books for free, 1 book for 26.32 and 1 book for 3.99. Average price per book, not bad! And the best thing, they aren't cluttering up my room or book shelves.

without a definite direction, but good

This blog is very much a reflection of my life; it has no one clear purpose because I have too many interests and do too many things, however, it's all good. I am mostly happy, except when I get myself too busy, but we know this. Moving on.

The purpose of today's post is to share a couple of favorite books. These are kid books. The first is Hoodwinked. We got it as a birthday present when Nat was 4. We LOVE IT. I still love it. I need to make sure to give it as a gift someday.

The other book is Love and Kisses. I found this one at Costco when oNe was a baby. I have decided it will become an often given new baby present.

I found these books because I'm doing a little cleaning out of old stuff, today. I cleared out some books off one of the girls' book shelves. I only removed the books I knew they wouldn't miss, but I still got a good amount. Note to self, make sure to "skim" off the book shelves once or twice a year. I also pulled the "definite winter clothes" from their closet and stuck the ones that will fit someone next winter into a box. I put the ones that won't into a bag. I have another 4-5 bags to give to Goodwill (or equivalent). I just did this about 2 months ago. I haven't even done a concerted effort to clear things. We just have way too much stuff.

Next up for the weekend. Washing the winter coats and putting them away and going through the girls' PJ drawers. Three-a's drawer is overflowing. And now back to my random life.

Ideas...

I wish I had more time to browse the web and find interesting, healthy recipes.

Today I found this one for socca and read more about it here. I'm intrigued by the savory pancake. I don't have garbanzo bean flour in my pantry so I'll have to try it when I get some.

Wishes

Dear Kashi,

Thank you for keeping the high fructose corn syrup out of your products. I would be ever so grateful if you could please make an organic, no sugar version of this cereal.

Thank you,

JK

Summer goals....

To get the girls to like salads. oNe does, Three-a probably will, but twoK doesn't. Are we surprised? Remember, twoK calls vegetables, vengetables. My plan for the summer is to get them to like Romaine lettuce. It's pretty nutritious. MWH called it a "gateway green". Heh.

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Yesterday, I was talking with my supervisor and dear, wonderful friend, PS, and we were discussing how little work we both have for the summer. We were both kind of excited about getting a bit of a break. I was almost giddy. I was trying not to get too excited because I knew that if I did, we'd get a new project.

Yup. This morning, I got an email that suggests one of the projects we're both on will come through and we'll both be BUSY. Sigh. Now, I'm sitting here feeling a little bitter. I will learn a ton from this project, and I know I will work on it, but I will be busier than I want to be. I just want a little downtime. I will still have 3 projects, now. I would like to only have 2. Okay, bright side, 3 is better than the 9 projects I had a few years back. Or even the 5 I had at the beginning of the year. Wah, though, I still want a break.

We've talked about PS potentially taking some of my time from this project, or that we can find someone else to help. I hope she can. She found out another project won't need her over the summer. I know we could find someone else to work with us, but it always gets more complicated when there are more people involved. (MF would be fun if she makes sense, and I still really don't want to work with ES--he called in sick to meeting today. I think he's a little passive aggressive.)

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Today, the girls have the day off from school. I have a little more work to do this morning and then we have to clean before the cleaners come. The good news is I have them to help. Usually I have to do it all myself. After we get the house cleaned we'll either go to the library, park, or have lunch with MWH (or all 3).

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Zumba! The place where I work is getting a Zumba class! Woo! I've been talking with the person who is hiring for the class and last night, I took a class from the woman who they want to hire to teach it. I liked her! It wasn't a terribly difficult workout, but her choreography was fun and you can always amp it up. She was more fun than other folks I've taken. She also seemed really nice. I started having daydreams about apprenticing with her and then being able to substitute teach for her where I work when she has to be gone.

random updates

Grief... Yesterday, we picked up the ashes of twoK's kitty. She was happy to get them. While we were there, I was talking with the vet tech about someday getting another kitty. twoK was thrilled to hear that she would indeed get another kitty, again. She hadn't asked about getting another kitty and I hadn't brought it up because she seemed so upset. I think she was partly worried that she had lost her chance for ever having a kitty when C-cat died. She was very happy to hear, someday, we'd get another kitty. Maybe around Christmas. We will see.

I am a bad scientist. My eyes are less dry. I added flax oil back to my diet AND I started doing restasis differently at the same time. My eyes feel better. I'm thrilled my eyes feel better, but I don't know why.

oNe has decided she's going to be a lacto-ovo vegetarian for moral reasons. twoK has been one for a while. She never liked meat. I explained to twoK that being vegetarian means actually eating vegetables occasionally. Heh. Three-a says as soon as she finishes the meatballs in the freezer that she'll be a lacto-ovo vegetarian. Social network effects are real. (Read more about social network effects.)

I am not adding any new things at work right now. Really! I will hope that I can find enough work to keep my benefits, but if I don't, I will give them up and go to "hourly." I will teach at OLU this fall. I am super excited! I can't wait to put together my course syllabus!

And in other twitter-type news...

Happy towel day! http://www.towelday.org/ Read about it here!
& It's National Tap Dance Day!

Going to go read a Zlife magazine, now. (That's the official magazine of Zumba, if you didn't know.)

I forgot

I forgot to put my dance class (tap) down on the list of workouts I do each week. It's added. I love my tap class!

less is more, but more sometimes more needs to be MORE

I have mentioned my knee and its pains, before. Almost 2 years later, and lots of strength building, it's doing a great deal better. I have days when I don't think about my knee at all. I count this as a "perfect" knee. I do have a pain in the top of my leg... See picture for where the oval is, and one of the muscles up there is sore. I work this area a lot, and it's better, but when it gets "hurt" again, my knee hurts worse.


What I've learned about my legs in the last few months is that I need to roll my IT bands less, rather than more. They get tighter and tighter when I roll them everyday. When I only roll on Zumba days, or days when they are unbearably tight, they seem to do better. On the more side of things, I need to do exercises that strengthen my thighs a lot. Strength building exercises are very important for those of us, ahem, not in our twenties anymore.


My current workouts (note this is an ideal week and the ones with asterisks always happen, the others happen most of the time):

*Monday: Pilates Reformer working all major body parts in an hour; Tap class (1 hour)
*Tuesday: Zumba (CRAZY, Intense Cardio)
*Wednesday: Pilates Reformer focusing on core only
Thursday: Dailey Method (crazy, great isometric workout and stretching)
Friday: Zumba (A good class, but not as crazy and fun as Tuesday's class)
Saturday: A fast walk, 30-40 minutes, but only sometimes--probably once a month and/or Dailey Method
*Sunday: Nothing or a Dailey Class depending on what happened Saturday. (I like to do one Dailey class on the weekend)

I need to work in time to do weight machines. I need to make sure I get two Zumba classes in each week. In the fall, I'm hoping to do a strength building class on Fridays, but the problem is there's the Zumba class BEFORE the strength building class. I don't think I can do both, but we'll see.

Dailey is good and gives me a whole body strength building class. It's not weights, it's more similar to yoga or pilates in how it builds muscles. I really like it. It makes my back and knee feel better. My knee has felt significantly better since I started Dailey. Do you have any aches and pains? What makes you feel good? I haven't taken ibuprofen for an ache or pain in about 1.5 years. I count this as an exercise success!

Okay, and now off to my favorite Zumba class!!!!!!!!

Potential adventures

I have lots I could write about work, but it would all be complaining. I'll save it for another time. I know you'll be waiting anxiously.

In the mean time, I thought I'd write about summer! I am planning to save Fridays to hang with the girls this summer. I think, because of their camps, it will actually only be 4 Fridays, but that's better than nothing! I want to have "adventures" planned so when Friday arrives we will KNOW what we are doing rather than wasting time trying to figure something out. Here's what I've come up with thus far.

Explore place by freeway (the 2 one) and A____ exit for hike.
Farmers market
Swim at PS's pool
Head to GG amusement park (this is better if MWH can go with)
Head to the beach (again better with an MWH)
Hang with L, B, and G.
Picnic at the "cool new park"
Go to the library
Play in the library fountains

Yay! What are your favorite summer adventures?

Nope, no kale in them there smoothies...

Tonight, I made fruit smoothies for the girls. You know the kind, the kind where I usually add kale to make them more nutritious. As a change, tonight, I put in spinach.

As they were drinking them, twoK asked me point blank if there was kale in the smoothies. Thank goodness I used spinach! I could HONESTLY say that there was NO kale in them. Fortunately, she did not ask me if there was spinach in them.

Heh! And whew! That was close.

On another note, did I tell you that twoK calls vegetables, vengetables? It cracks me up. She doesn't know how appropriate this is. I never correct her.

The birds and the bees...

This morning, I was sitting with Three-a, age 5.5, and she was working on some homework for kindergarten. She LOVES homework. But that's not what I'm going to discuss. While she was working on her homework she asked, "When you're kissing a boy does the boy part go into the girl part?" After a couple of seconds of me thinking fast and furiously, I stalled and asked, "What do you mean, exactly?" She reiterated, "When you're kissing a boy does the boy part go into the girl part..." and then added, "To make a baby."

Ai-yi-yi... she's 5.5.

Okay, I don't lie to the girls ... only lying by omission by making smoothies with Kale... Anyway, I took a deep breath and said, "Yes, the boy part goes into the girl to make a baby. You know about silkworms." She then clarified, "Yes, but for HUMANS, does the boy part go into the girl part for HUMANS to make a baby?" (She added the emphasis since I was being a little dumb.) I replied, "Yes, sweetie, the boy part goes into the girl for humans to make a baby. Did someone tell you about this?" She said, "No, I was just thinking about it and wondering." (Heaven help me, she's 5.5.) I said, "Oh, okay."

After coloring a bit more she said, "And then the boy goes "BLEH" in the girl, just like a mama bird feeding her baby." I said, "You mean like silkworms?" (They've seen stuff coming out of excited male silkworms.) She said, "Yea." I said, "Yea, something like that."

Oh my... I'm not sure if she thinks the "bleh" comes out of the Dad's mouth or where, but I didn't feel like asking, this morning. I was still drinking my tea; I needed more sustenance to deal with this. So, we may have a misconception going here, but we'll fix it at some point. Anyway, I am impressed with her inductive reasoning skills, to determine how human babies might be made from one data point of silkworms, but I wasn't expecting this from her. Not yet.

I am thrilled that they girls will ask me anything, but it still catches me off-guard when they do. It's all good, though. It keeps me on my toes!

Really?????

Three-a has a cold--another frickin' cold. What do I need to do to get all 3 healthy at the same time? 2 weeks ago, twoK had a nasty cold/cough. Each time one of them brings something home, I think to myself, this must be the last set of germs out there that we haven't had, yet. SIGH. Please, let this be the last cold for a while. PLEASE???!

Apples! Yum!

These are my new favorite; they are dried organic fuji apples with cinnamon on them. Just cinnamon--they have NOTHING else on them, no oil, no crap, no nothing.

I love them. It's hard not to eat a whole bag at a time. You can order them at Amazon.

Note, this post is NOT a paid endorsement, it's just a tip about yummy and healthy snack food. (I wish someone would pay me to make recommendations, okay, actually not... I couldn't make recommendations unless I really truly loved the product. Note, I would recommend any and all Apple products. Love those products! Heh!)

Summer planning aka my rambling...

Today I started to figure out what the girls are going to do the 9.5 weeks of summer. I hate doing this*. I think we will have 3.5 weeks of nanny help, 2 weeks of horseback riding camp, 1-2 weeks of baking camp, and 1-2 weeks of gymnastics camp. If I only do 1 week of baking and 1 week of gymnastics, then I need 2 more weeks of something else. I really hope we can get 3.5 weeks of part time nanny; I should know tomorrow. A part time nanny is cheaper than anything else in the summer and gives the girls some down time and me enough time to work.

I don't think the girls NEED to go to camp each week. Part of it is, it takes extra work to get them up and out the door to camp in the morning. Camps start earlier than I would like, end earlier than I'd like, are more expensive than I'd like, and they aren't as close and convenient as school.

As far as the activities go, I am thrilled the girls can do horseback riding camp. How much fun will they have? I went for a week for a couple of summers when I was young and it was the best. Oh, I need to look at art camps and see about those as another potential option.

One thing, we're in the "sweet spot" where all 3 can go to the same camps! Next year, I'm not sure it will be quite as easy, but for gymnastics and horse camp (assuming they want to go back), it should still work. Heaven help me, I'm not driving to 2 different camps in the morning. They must go to the same camp.



*I offered MWH the opportunity to do the planning for the girls' summer. He turned me down. I don't know why. All things considered, I'd rather do this planning than taxes--that's MWH's job.

The whole family was crying

On Monday, twoK's sweet little kitty took a turn for the worse. It was time. MWH and I could have just taken him to the vet and he could have "died" while we were there, but telling the girls that story just didn't seem right. I didn't know how we were going to tell them, but I wanted to be honest with them about the situation.

MWH and I took twoK down to see the little C-cat. I asked twoK if she thought he was getting better, and she said, "Oh, yes!" I had to gently explain all the things that showed me he wasn't getting better, that, in fact, he was getting worse. We all cried. She didn't want him to die. I kept explaining how none of us wanted him to die. I also let her know that we needed to take him to the vet because he was going to die and that if we took him he wouldn't have as much pain. We all cried some more and talked about how this could be a possibility. twoK did NOT want to "kill" her cat. (Her words.) After about 20 minutes of talking with twoK, we brought oNe in and explained everything again. We all cried again.

We brought Three-a in, and she didn't really get it, but she cued off her sisters' pain and anger and started to throw a fit and cry. It was at this point that the whole family was in the room with C-cat and crying. We calmed Three-a down and got her out of there because she wasn't helping the situation and she wasn't working through it.

twoK decided she'd go to the vet with us. She wanted to make sure we were making the right decision and she wanted to talk to the vet. I agreed she could come. oNe wanted to come, too, but I didn't think oNe would be helpful so I didn't let her come. While we were gone, oNe started making a memorial poster of C-cat for twoK. It kept oNe busy and helped her.

twoK went to the vet and we talked to the vet. twoK was very sad, but she heard from the vet how sick C-cat was. When the vet came in, she pulled his ear back. On the part that doesn't have fur, you could see that the skin was white-yellow. Poor guy was severely anemic and in liver failure. I knew that was possible, and I had seen his gums go paler, but seeing the color of his ear made us know for sure it was the right time--not too soon. He was barely eating, not really able to jump, and had partially lost control of his bowels. It was time. He wasn't really "being a cat" any more. He was trying to be a cat, but his body was failing him.

We (twoK, MWH and I) spent a few minutes with him and then twoK decided she wanted to go out of the room. I asked if she wanted me or her Daddy to go with her. She wanted me. We went to the car and she wanted me to tell stories of my pets when I was little. I obliged. She cried a little when she asked if we'd get another kitty as she was worried that this would happen again. I explained how uncommon this disease is and how we'd try to get a kitty who was even lower risk for this (over age 3). She said she didn't know if she wanted another kitty. I said it was fine to not make a decision for a while and to just think about C-cat. She kept asking what she was going to do without C-cat. It was very hard.

Explaining euthanasia to the girls was very hard, but it was the right thing to do. I didn't want to lie to them. I haven't lied to them in the past on other hard stuff and I don't want to start now. One nice thing, twoK told me, "I liked it when the whole family was down in the room crying." It validated her feelings and honored C-cat. We all loved the C-cat. He was so lovely. You can see pictures of him on "the other blog."

Best prescription ever

A while back (4/12-4/26), oNe had a really bad cough. It was so bad that she got a subconjunctival hemorrhage. The hemorrhage had mostly healed, and I figured she was fine, but the cough had been lingering and she was complaining. I took her to the doctor to get checked. She was fine (no pneumonia or bronchitis!). The doctor prescribed, this, though. Honey is supposed to be great for coughs; it is supposed to be as good as cough medicine. Nature is an awesome pharmacist.

Things I love

Trying to be more positive around here...

1. The fam (MWH and 3 NOISY little girls)
2. Reading on the iPad
3. Food that goes well with salsa
4. Sleep

I'm really tired today. I had to get up early (on a Saturday) for something for work. It was fun, and it went well, but it is still tiring to work really hard all week and then get up on a Saturday morning, early. (This week was really stressful getting ready for that event, so it's REALLY nice to have it over.) (I'm not sure this last bit counts as positive, but it helps explain the BLEH factor.)

the little kitty...

is back home. He came home on Thursday night. He's not eating (much) and his poor belly is getting bigger. I don't think he has much more time. Poor guy. The girls are in denial, though. Three-a might be the only one who isn't as she noticed how big his belly was, last night. Since he's been home, I've noticed he has a little bit of labored breathing. His respiration rate is pretty high, too.

Last night (F) was worse than tonight... He's eaten more today than yesterday. He's on a downward spiral, but right now, it's not too bad. Ask me again in 12 hours.

SIGH.

More details, he is in the guest room and the girls are taking turns sleeping in there with him. oNe took the first night, Three-a did last night. twoK doesn't want to sleep in the guest room because she's too scared to not sleep in her own bed. She's also taking the illness pretty hard. It is hard. And it sucks more because she's only (almost) 7.

More on the oNe

Last night, she told me.... I've almost known you for 10 years.... I have known you for 10 years if you count when I was in your belly.


(Did she read my blog to know this???)

10 Years!

I failed to note that May 1 was the date, 10 years ago, when we learned we were going to get a oNe!

10 years, wow! I guess that means she's going to be 10 on her next birthday. How did that happen? The other day, she noted me, "I'm going to get a tens digit in my age, soon."

Stalling....

It's very sad around here. twoK's kitty is very sick. I keep hoping that he'll get better, but if it's FIP, he won't. It's so unfair. On Wednesday, we called the rescue organization where we got him. They were very nice, comforting, and helpful. We got back in touch with the woman who was his foster mom. She came to visit and through a series of conversations she and I decided she'd take him with her back to her place so she could spend some time with him. She really loves him, too.

Neither she nor I want to believe he has FIP. I think it's good that she has him so she can see for herself how sick he is. Over the last few days, I've started to accept it as I've watched him get sicker. His poor little tummy is swelling with accumulating fluid. With "wet" FIP, they estimate a week to a month. It's been almost a week. It's such a horrible disease.

I'm also glad that she has him because she will be home with him during the week. We have a busy week, the girls have school and I have to work. He'd have had to be by himself quite a bit. I would have felt guilty. Sigh. It was hard, even earlier this weekend. It was hard because twoK wasn't spending much time with him. She wants to play with him. He doesn't want to play. She doesn't understand it. She wants him to sleep with her, but her room is so far from his litter box and I'm afraid our other kitty would attack him.

On Friday night, I had him sleep in his room, by himself. He was lonely. Sigh. Last night, I let him sleep with MWH and me. I didn't want to feel guilty for making him lonely. He purred and snuggled, but he was very restless. I got very little sleep. It was kind of like sleeping with a new baby. He was up and down, wanting food, needing to go to the bathroom, and trying to get comfortable. Poor guy. Tonight, he's with his foster mom. He'll have someone to snuggle with him.

twoK wants him back and was very sad that we let him go over there. She wants her kitty back. I want HER kitty back, too, but I don't know whether we'll bring him home or what will happen. I don't know if sending him over there was the right decision, or not. It feels like I'm just "stalling," but right now, I'm not ready to make a decision about him. He still is "being a cat" and I'm not ready to end that for him.

There's so much I don't know right now. I don't know if he would have gotten sick if we hadn't have adopted him. I'm guessing he was sick when we got him, but we'll never know for sure. I'm so sad. I feel like it's my fault. Everything I read says this is a common reaction and that most likely the cat has been sick for MONTHS already, long before you and s/he met--regardless, it just sucks and I feel guilty.

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On another note, oNe has decided she does want to be a vet to help find a cure for this disease.