I had intended to be better at keeping up with our daily happenings. Somehow the days just fly by and I never quite get to it! Let's see if I can update you all on the goings on and my thoughts of the past 2 weeks....
Still no Rusty. I'm so sad to lose him. If he died, I hope it was quick. If he lost his collar and someone else found him/took him into their home then I hope they get him to a vet for his flea allergies and all the complications from that. Poor little bugger. This morning for the first time I saw a squirrel in our back yard that had a short tail--just like Rusty's. He was running around with another squirrel that had a normal length tail. Weird.
O is home from school today. He has been struggling with a bad cough for the past several days. He started in as soon as he got up this morning. That combined with the time change prompted me to keep him home for a couch day. I keep having him drink tons of water and he is peeing like crazy! I just want to get that bug out of him! I just wish I could do more with my Oriental Medicine training. I recognize that he really coughs hard certain times of the day and not so much during other times. I can't wait until I can do more. M loves having him home. They are watching Noggin together and laughing.
Last Friday O had to go to the school nurse twice within an hour! We get a copy of the report whenever he sees the school nurse so we can follow up if need be. The first incident had him getting ice and bactine for an abrasion on his shin. He has quite the bump and bruise and I'm still not clear what happened. The second incident roughly 30 mins later had him there for getting poked in the eye by one of his classmates. He is fine on both counts and the little girl who accidentally poked him in they eye wrote him a note of apology. He also had a negative report for the very first time from his teacher on Thursday. She wrote that he did not do his best work that day. He said that his group was messing around and one boy was sent to the office to do his work. O was sent out to the hallway to do his work and there may have been one more person involved but I don't remember. He told me about it the second he got off of the bus. "I got in trouble today" he said. I was grateful that he fessed up before I read about it in his folder. He also volunteered the information to his dad when he got home. I'm going to have him write a note of apology to his teacher.
O's schedule has also been busy since he began baseball practice a few weeks ago. They are practicing twice a week. The whole team is doing well and many of them are the same kids he has played with for 3 years now. It is so much fun to watch how each of them develop their skills. Plus many of them have younger siblings so it has been fun to watch them grow up too! He has also managed at least one play date a week for the past several weeks. He so loves to hang out with his friends just like his mom loves hanging out with her friends!
Grandma and Grandpa will be arriving this Thursday for a spring break visit. We are all very excited to have them here! We have a list of things to do but nothing set in stone yet. We aren't planning any trips out of the area or anything like that. We always have a fun time when they are here and I'm sure this visit will be no different. They will be here just short of 2 weeks (approx. 12 days) as we wanted them to see O at baseball practice and possible one game (we still haven't gotten a schedule but the pre-season games are scheduled for the 21st) plus M wanted them to come to her dance class. She is excited that they will get to come watch her dance. Both baseball and dance class are on hiatus during spring break so we are lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa come before and leave after so they can see a couple of the kids' activities.
C and I worked all afternoon yesterday on the yard. He weeded and pruned while I cut back/pruned all of our crepe murdles. Those trees just get out of control if you don't stay on top of them. We hadn't cut them back since we moved in over 2 1/2 years ago so they really needed it. We have flowers booming and buds on the trees--spring has sprung here in Houston!
I've had a crazy couple of weeks. First off I decided to do the
Master Cleanse that I did last fall. Unfortunately I planned it around midterms thinking it would help to not have to worry about food. Plus I tend to stress eat anyway. But, I didn't think to plan it around my cycle. Last time I waited until about a week after my cycle. This time I started the cleanse about 3 days before my cycle. It didn't work out as well! When your body is already purging it isn't good to add to that! I made it almost to the end of my 6th day (out of 10 intended days) and I couldn't do it any more! I still lost 6 pounds and felt more clear headed but the rest of my body wasn't near as happy. I'll for sure remember that small detail for next time: schedule around my cycle!!
I signed up for Facebook after the holidays because I wanted to see what all of the buzz was about. I cannot believe the number of people I've reconnected with that I knew 20+ years ago! It is kind of strange to see how these folks turned out and to keep up with them now. I tend to only think of them where they were and who they were all of those years ago. Heck, sometimes in my mind I am still the person I was 20+ years ago! It has helped me put a few things in perspective and see how far I've come. It has cause me to be more introspective and think about what my plans were back then, how many of those goals have I achieved, what was important to me then? I think it has been helpful for my own personal growth in a weird way. I don't feel like I am addicted to it as some people have proclaimed about it themselves. If I wasn't so busy I'd find time to do more on it. But right now I'm just enjoying the glimpses I get into the lives of those old friends.
I've also read more about the FlyLady. My sister, TV, told me about her a few years ago and I just never got into it. Basically she helps you get motivated to get organized and clean without feeling overwhelmed. I've started implementing her strategies into my life and have had some success. I tend to be an "all or nothing" person with many aspects of my life. If I'm going to plan an exercise program I plan cardio for 45 mins a day and strength training 3-4 days a week. When I realize that I can't make that change so abruptly and I can't keep up with that then I just give up. If I plan to clean the house then I have to clean everything top to bottom. If I run out of steam then I have parts of the house I didn't get to that seem to mock me which depresses me. You see where I'm going with this I'm sure. The FlyLady advocates BABYSTEPS. She stresses that you won't be successful if you try to do it all at once. I know I've heard it before and it makes sense but somehow this is the first time I've actually tried it. So, on her advice, I've slowly tried to make changes in my habits, I've broken down daily/weekly cleaning and maintenance to make it more realistic to keep up with it AND to get control of it. She also goes beyond the housework aspect of it and has it spill over into every aspect of your life. So, I've done better for the past few weeks. I've been so much better at not beating up on myself when I don't get something done. Plus I've learned to appreciate it when even the smallest task gets completed. As with everything in life: Everything in moderation. I need to learn that lesson over and over again!
So, I got a bit too cocky about my Histology class. I did well on the first quiz and all the lectures seemed to review so much of what I learned last semester in Physiology. As a result, I barely studied for the midterm. I got a D. Oops. At least it is the midterm and I have another quiz and the final to pull out of it. I'm not worried--maybe I should be?! But, as I mentioned above with the FlyLady, I am taking babysteps to improve my study habits and focus on school work. I'll keep you posted.
I suppose that is just about everything in a nutshell. Thanks for listening. I'll try really hard to update more frequently so I don't forget anything and also so the posts aren't so long! You should be able to read them in one sitting for crying out loud!! HA!
Nice party trick for a nearly 7 year old. When he gets the giggles and laughs with his mouth wide open it is even more obvious.
Top right front tooth lost last night while eating pizza for dinner. Bottom left 2nd from front tooth lost this morning (not pictured) while eating his waffle. The tooth fairy is going to go broke at this rate!
I got a voicemail this morning. A lady named Kristie called to say that she thinks she found our cat, Rusty, in her garage so please give her a call. I call back as soon as I get the message. I get her voicemail. I leave a message saying that Rusty has been gone for 2 1/2 weeks. We are anxious to see him and see what kind of shape he is in. I didn't out and out ask her, "Is he dead?" She calls back and we finally connect up. It seems that they have seen him around their house lately. They live in our neighborhood at the end of one of the cul-de-sacs near the soccer fields. She has outdoor cats as do several of her neighbors and they all leave food outside. They store stuff in their detached garage and some kids got into it a few weeks ago and stole some stuff. So, when they left on a trip for spring break last Tuesday (3/17), they made sure their cats were outside and locked up the garage. They heard Rusty meowing from inside of the garage this morning when they walked by the door.
