Another One Bites the Dust

Have you ever sort of gotten into a t.v. show? How about a small t.v. show on a smallish network, that no one really watched? I've been watching one for seven years now. Seven! Doesn't sound like a lot. Until I think of the fact that when I started watching it, I was paying $80 a month to live in a friend's trailer, in a trailer park. And that we usually watched while drinking fruity (and cheap) malted beverages out of fancy glasses with twisty straws. Or that I didn't even know my hubby when I started watching this show. Yeah, we've been through a lot, the Gilmore Girls and me.

Have you ever liked a t.v. show so much you felt a little weird about it? A little attached to the characters like they're your friends or maybe neighbors? Like somehow you just have coffee with them once a week, even if they are always two-dimensional? How about when they finally announce the series finales, the WEEK BEFORE it airs, and you get sad? And then while you watch said finale, and everything falls into place, your eyes fill with tears. Yup. That's me. I'm kind of a dork. Then once my eyes were good and welled up with tears, they just spilled right on over...and I let 'em. There's this mother-daughter thing with this show. It's always touched me. And the picturesque setting. The lovely way the townspeople all know each other and say hello in passing as they go about their days. It was all surreal and so lovely. Of course, there was the whole East coast thing. I love the idea of the East coast, even if I will always live in the Midwest. And Yale. That was great too.

There was this point, over the years of watching it, when I began to relate more to the mother than the daughter. Oh, I'd say right around the time I started bearing children? I used to relate to Rory and all of her school days woes. Then I had Brenna, and the mother-daughter thing hit me. That's when I really got into this show. I really enjoyed the mother-daughter banter, the bond they shared, how close they were. When I became a mom, I could relate to the lead character on the show. She's a mom too.

I'll miss this show. And the dreamy Luke. And Rory, who I always thought reminded me of a good friend I went to school with (No really, not an analogy here, my friend Kelly looks a little like that actress). It was a great show, and I will miss it. Even if I'm the only one.

Now I think I'll start my own little savings plan for buying the entire series, just to irk the hubby. For I do believe he is celebrating this finale tonight and is quite smug. Rude, really.

Grains of Gratitude

We got home from my parents' yesterday evening. I was sort of useless for the rest of the evening, aside from watching the kids play in the sprinkler, washing out the kiddie pool, drawing with sidewalk chalk, putting two little ones through the bath and getting them to bed, and then a little laundry and a Sunday night TV show. Our house sort of smells like a locker room, it has been so humid lately. I try to get all trash taken out and keep the laundry up, but nothing seems to help keep that smell at bay for too long. I can't imagine what it will be like when I have teenagers!

But that is not what I'm grateful for. I guess that was to explain why I didn't get my grains up last night. Here are the things I am grateful for in the past week:

• My mom and hubby's mom. We both lucked out in that category and ended up with caring, nurturing moms. Moms who don't let ya down. Moms who you want to talk to on a bad day. I hope I will be that kind of mom to my kids some day.
• A nice trip back to my hometown. My parents live in the country and have so much for the kids to do outside. They enjoyed the swings, sprinkler, sand box, outdoor play kitchen, and acres of green grass. I was grateful for the sunshine that allowed us to be outside playing.
• A safe trip home. It's always nice to be back in your own bed.
• A day to look forward to. Hubby and the kids gave me a certificate for a back massage, which I plan to use the day after school's out. A little incentive for surviving the next 3 weeks!

Friday Reflections

It was a day. Today was this horrible barrage of mishaps. We were short-staffed. I felt short-tempered. Luckily, it is over. I am amazed at how spring goes in a high school, at how the kids' behavior is. It is incredible how they seem to have forgotten every social skill I've taught them all year. So we do review sessions and we practice and we role play. And then they get out in the halls and they are crazy. I can attribute it to only one thing. HORMONES. The boys are coming out of the their skin. The girls are discovering their powers and using them to the fullest. The pent up frustrations come out in tantrums and work avoidance and extended versions of head locks and noogies. And I'm just a referee. A bitchy old referee. Is this what I really signed on for?


Then there's my own kids. Mason is a heap of emotions and cries puddles every evening. He's so tired from playing with all of those kids all day, he just crashes. And my little Brenna, all sweaty and whiny and weepy. She's also a little ball of emotion. She's informed me that Baylen, a sweet little blond boy at preschool, has asked her to marry him and she has agreed. The way she says boyfriend, I need to get it on tape. It's so funny. Boo-ey-frennd. That's what she calls him. She's so young to start that business.


They've been learning about farms at preschool and took a field trip. I wasn't able to go, but this is the report I got in the afternoon: There was a piggy. A black one. And it scratched its bottom with its back foot. And the farmer? He said the piggy got too big to live in the house so some people just left it right on the road! So the farmer brought it to live here. So it lives at the farm.





A two hour field trip to the farm and that's what she got out of it. Her stories honestly do crack me up. There's so much inflection behind it, she really puts some thought into every word. Too cute. I wish I could bottle this time up and save it for later. This time when her mind is so open and she wants to know so much. Then when she's 13, and hates us all, I'd like to let some out to remember this time. This perfect, crazy time.

30 by 30

Can I do it? It's my "new" goal (I've been on a up-and-down weight roller coaster since the day I turned 18). I'm going to lose 30 lbs by my 30th b-day. That's in October. I have 21 weeks. That means staying on task for 21 weeks. My top so far for staying on task for ANYTHING is about 2 1/2 weeks. But it's happening now. 30 by 30.

That means when I'm turning 30 I will fit comfortably into my size 12's (instead of the 16's I am comfortably in right now). I'll have a whole new wardrobe that's just waiting for me in my basement. And I'll be able to buy some fun new clothes too.

I can do it! This is it. I weigh in tomorrow morning and it is on! Be watching - I may just get brave and post a "before" photo (fully clothed with proper lighting and angles of course). Think lifestyle change over crash diet. Think overcoming bad habits over starving myself. Think good health over wishing for a size zero. Think trying to burn off the baby weight.

30 by 30 is my new second blog. As opposed to the other diet/exercise journals that I always start and never continue past that 2 1/2 week mark. For those with an interest in a maniacal ride with one young mom who needs to shed some lbs. And struggles to do so. It's going to be here. All are welcome to play along.

Wish me luck! Any helpful tips/advice are WELCOME in comments here.

Grains of Gratitude

Top of my list this week: my kitchen counter redo. How fun to have an update to a part of our house that was so run down. Now we're talking really boring updates like furnace/air cond/water heater. BO-RING!

I'm also so thankful for my parents, who were so supportive as I reached the breaking point this week. They came to the rescue, two-hour drive and all, and took some time to comfort me. I'm so grateful to have parents whose visits are a comfort to me, rather than the alternative.

Grateful for spring. Grateful for rain. Grateful for the approaching end of the school year.

I love May!

a little redo, a little renewed

What I love about home makeover is that it makes you feel a little new too, ya know? Swistle did this great series about digging out, which got me hooked on her blog. Before and after pictures rock! I love when bloggers post pics of projects they're working on because it shows a little glimpse into their lives, into their homes. Voyeuristic? Perhaps, but fun nonetheless.


One reason that we bought our house here is that it didn't need a ton of work. Our first home needed a lot of work. This house was okay. SO SO. But the tax money came and we decided that our sad, sad sink had to go. So if you're doing the sink, you've got to do the faucet, if you're doing the faucet, why not the counter tops? We ordered these "solid surface" counter tops, LG Volcanics, Hi Mac something or other. I'm very technically involved, as you can tell. I liked the color and I loved the integrated sink. So here's the before:


or I should really say during. This was when the old Formica stuff was pulled out. There's a piece sitting on top of my stove. Cream, flat, boring.


The sink was gross, as was the faucet. It was time for something new.







So, good-bye sink. Good-bye Formica. Good-bye nasty, crusty faucet.

Hello Beautiful!

It's fun to be so vain. And to get something shiny and new. Hard to do it justice in a photo. My kitchen is TINY, so angles are tricky. But you get the picture. Not quite the gourmet kitchen off of the LG web site, but it's mine and it's new. And I feel a little renewed. Ya know?

already better...

So today I'm feeling so much better. Thanks for the nice comments.

My parents came down yesterday for an unexpected visit and it was exactly what I needed. They stayed on for dinner, we ordered some delicious take-out, and really enjoyed a nice visit. It recharged my batteries like nothing else could have.

Today I'm home with my kids. They both are having "issues" in the restroom area, I'll spare the details. They both feel fine, are acting normal, just aren't "regular". Yuck.

The nice part about it is that we get a nice day at home with no plans. The best kind of day! My father-in-law is coming to rip out counter tops because tomorrow I am getting new ones! I am so excited.
This is what the counter top that we ordered would look like in a gourmet kitchen, if we upgraded the edging. But you get the picture, at least about the color. Have I mentioned I'm excited! They're getting put in TOMORROW! I'll put a real picture in of our non-gourmet/80's kitchen version then.