Busy Bee

That's me. I've just been trying to learn how to get stuff done while babysitting an infant. It's been quite a challenge. But, I'm getting the hang of it. Last weekend we took a mini vaca and took a camping trip. The campground was really nice; a private church campground. They had all their activities for free and the camping was 2 nites for the price of one. The activities included horse/carriage rides, zip line, rock wall, boating, and fishing. The activity I chose was, "sitting around the campfire." Wonderful. The best thing was that the campground had "full hook up." For you non campers, that means that you hook a hose directly to a water spicket and a potty hose directly to a sewer. Unlimited water!! Really roughing it, LOL. The first warm weekend - so enjoyable.

The next task is getting ready for Nicole's graduation party in three weeks. Yikes! Spent $100 on flowers the other day, so I must get busy planting. Yesterday we began the task of cleaning out the garage. It's all slowly coming together.

Gone Camping

Gone Camping for the weekend. Bye Bye!

Stressed Out!

That's me.
I am.
Stressed out.

Garage Sales and Grand Babies

That's what I've been up to for about the last 10 days. Last weekend the G.s. was Fri. - Sun. Since all the stuff is in the garage anyway, AND there is lots more in the storage unit, we decided to have it again on this Thur. and Friday. Altogether, we took in over $800. AND, most of that is other people's stuff. Of course there was quite the array of interesting people. People that buy the weirdest junk. Like one lady that bought a dirty, greasy 2 qt pot. yuck. One older lady was here for an hour. She walked around and around picking up almost everything and asking, "what's this?" or "how much is this?" Her patient husband would traipse around after her and carry everything she picked out. He paid each time she would finish, but added more. I think maybe she had a little dementia. He was so sweet to her! When not garage saling, I was attending to one or the other of the boys. RJ is getting so big, he is so full of smiles for everyone.
Today (Mother's Day), Katie took us out to Old Country Buffet and Sarah's mom & dad joined us. We stuffed ourselves then went home and took a nap. (Had Peyton 3 a.m. feedings for the last 2 nights.) Later, we weeded out the herb/perennial garden and planted a basil plant. Also, re potted some Gerber daisies in cool giant coffee cup that I received last year from Syd the Kid. Took the bay tree outside. Keeping the stevia plant that I bought at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market inside based on advice from my green thumbed sistopher.

Easter is Over, and So Is April

It's hard to believe that April is almost over. It can leave and take it's winter weather and showers too. Looking forward to finally Spring, right? It's going to be busy. Nicole will go back to work in a few weeks. And then on Mondays and Wednesdays Sarah and I will be coaching a girls youth softball team. Syd the Kid is going to give it a try.
Had 12 for dinner on Sunday. I cooked a spiral ham, cheesy potatoes, southern style green beans, and made a jello salad. Others brought rolls, pickle/olive tray, coleslaw and an ice-cream cake. The ham was a Kroger brand; but very tasty!
Peyton will be 3 weeks old on Thursday. He's doing pretty good. He definitely feels a little heavier. I weighed him on the scale and he weighed in around 8.6 pounds. The Doc ordered a script of Zantac for him. He still spits up on and off. He's a good baby. He usually only gets up once in the night time.

Whew! And Then Some

Had RJ from Fri. afternoon til Sunday. I can't imagine people who have multiple babies. Crazy. We had to have stations. Feed/burp station #1. Change station #2. Swing station #3. Crib station #4. Jumper station #5 (only for RJ of course) Repeat every 30 minutes. So we just watched movies all day on Saturday. Then Sunday we went with the girls to the mall; they wanted to take the babies to see the Easter Bunny. Man, inflation. The least you can spend is $20 for 2 5 x 7's. So they each got one and split the cost. Then Sarah and I were off for a little escape time. We went to Lansing to go to "Five Guy's Hamburgers." We had gone to one of those in Ft. Myers in Feb. They are pretty awesome hamburgers and fries. (don't get more than a small) We like the Cajun fries. The fill up a cup place them in a brown paper bag & then dump a whole bunch more in the bag. Then we drove around MSU campus. Then we took the loooooooong way home. Driving very slowly of course. It was a much needed break...

Mimi's Boys

Got both boys tonight. RJ is like a giant compared to Peyton! LOL He is such a good boy. Peyton is snoozin away and RJ is playing with his sippy bottle. Fun times!

I Don't Like ...

Snow past Spring. What else I don't like:

• leftovers


• smelly lotions and perfumes


• scratches in my glasses


• incompetence


• cloudy days


• headaches


• bellyaches


• and waking up and not falling back asleep!

Welcome PRT

Welcome to the world Peyton Russell Terry. He was born on April 7, 2011. His mom had quite an easy time. 8.1 lbs., 20 inches long. Quite an amazing process to watch. The doc turned him upside down and he let out a wail. He's a sweetie. He: sleeps alot & poops alot. LOL This is short for now because I have many things to do to get my house back in order!

Fine, I'll Write Another Post

It's been pretty crazy busy around here. Getting ready for the new arrival and all. Plus the play last weekend. We had rehearsals all last week, dress rehearsal on Friday and even an extra rehearsal on Saturday afternoon because the dress rehearsal on Fri. went so poorly. We finally got our act (no pun intended) together. It was actually quite a funny play and there was lots of laughing and compliments. The best part: chicken dinner each night! I had an An upper gastrointestinal (GI) scope or endoscopy (esophago-gastroduodenoscopy a.k.a. EGD) yesterday. Then I went home and slept all day. Doc said everything looked okay. Did a biopsy to check for something called Barrett's disease. Check back later...

Magical Ice Kingdom

Last night on my way to play practice I was overwhelemed with the beauty of the ice on all the trees and bushes. The sun was not yet set so it created a kind of sparkly magical Ice Kingdom effect. I called Sarah and asked her to take a few photos. Alas, I finally had a subject for my next blog. I only hope all that heavy ice doesn't wreck havoc on the trees.

Last night's dish:

Thai Shrimp & veggies over pasta

Really awesome and healthy.

Soak the shrimp in the Thai Curry paste (2 - 8 hours)

put oil in the pan - heat up 2 minced garlic

add veggies: - I used mushrooms, onions, broccoli, cut up tomatoes

after veggies cooked add: 3/4 cup white wine, lime zest and 1/2 lime juice

add shrimp - cook another 4 minutes or so

top with more lime juice and cilantro

serve over whole wheat spaghetti

80/20 Rule

Embrace the 80/20 Rule ~ From Biggest Loser
Why perfectionism can stop you in your tracks

It's a struggle our Biggest Loser Club weight loss coaches help our members grapple with every day. As Greg Hottinger, RD, and nutrition expert told a BLC member recently, perfectionism is not the road to long-term weight loss success. He urges members to strive for meeting their plan's goals 80% of the time, and to give themselves a little slack 20% of the time. If they follow that principle, over time the weight will come off.

On a more personal note, I was so happy to see the sun and feel it's warmth today. I even went for a walk. It was quite a gang. Sarah, Katie, RJ in the stroller, Bailey and I all took a walk. Very nice. I had a nice Dr. visit today. I am on a new injectable diabetes med. My sugars are heading in the right direction; down. We have RJ until tomorrow night, that should be fun.

Snirt

Everywhere you go: snirt. What is it? Dirty snow. Yuck. Everything is so drab waiting for the color of spring to arrive. Six more days until the 1st day of spring. But, that doesn't always mean much does it? Sometimes we get a bad snow storm even in April. It does mean we're closer to warm weather tho. We may even reach the mid to upper 50's this week. No bad at all. Why even down in Florida where my sistopher has been nesting (I mean resting) they had days of 58 or 59. I'm ready to get rid of the "comfort" foods of winter time when cooking too. Perhaps even drag out the grill soon. So, here's to warmer, brighter, sunny days!

Potent Quotable - Why Not?

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Top Ten

Top Ten....... (But not in any particular order - that would be a job)

MOVIES

• Shawshank


• Princess Bride


• Gone With the Wind


• Dolores Clayborn


• Corinna, Corinna

BOOKS

• Gone With the Wind


• The (whole) Mitford Series


• Dr. Seus ABC


• Johnny Tremain


• The Bible

MUSICIANS

• Amy Grant


• Michael W. Smith


• James Taylor


• Melissa Ethridge


• Phil Collins

PLACES TO VISIT

• Florida - anywhere!


• Boston, Ma


• Charleston, Sc


• San Francisco, Ca


• Maine

Fav Foods

• Spaghetti


• Pizza


• Biscuits & Gravy


• Melba Toast - ha not really just seeing if you're paying attention


• A good burger & fries


• Turkey & stuffing

Thing I Like to Do

Play guitar, sing/listen to music, garden, read, eat, travel

Place I'd Like to Visit - One day

Seattle, Wa: The Keys in Fl: Alaska: Australia: Ireland

Left Over "Leftovers"

Today for lunch I digested a bowl of soup that was leftover from last night. But you see last night's soup was really a product of leftovers from 3 different meals. Ah haa! Leftover lentils, leftover ham chunks, and some chicken stock I made from a previous broiled chicken dinner. The product? Ham and lentil soup. It's pretty tasty I might add. Oh and I had the leftover bbq chicken and chipolte ranch sauce and made a wrap. Talk about being thrifty why don't ya? I should have been on that new TV show; the next restaurant or what ever it's called.

Did You Know I Love ~

campfires ~ especially the smell

The smell and sound of the ocean

playing games: board, card, computer, tv

spring rain - the smell, the sound

creme brulee'

spring flowers on a mountain side

collecting lighthouses

visiting lighthouses

singing, or listening to music

sitting in a comfy chair reading a good book

warm, crackly fireplaces

fall: leaves, trees, weather

sitting by a lazy stream

These are a few of my favorite things....

Ughh!

That's how I feel right now. Dealing with insurance companies, lawyers, corporate talking heads, etc... Sometimes doing business or owning a business is soooo frustrating. sigh... Other than that, life is clipping along. It's already March, good grief. (Charlie Brown) I spent the last week on the couch with a baaaad cold. My head really hurt, then the sniffing, coughing, etc. It's on the mend now, yea! I didn't even go to play practice. I'll be going back this week. Had some bad weather, in the past couple of days. Nicole slid her car into the ditch on Maple Rd. Saturday night. Thank you Lord she (and Peyton) are fine! Just waiting for a little warm up, soon!

Sneeze-drip-wipe-cough-drip

The bane of my existence this week. A cold! What? All because I told the med. assist at the Dr. office a few weeks ago that I haven't had a cold in about 2 years. Big mouth. ugh. I tried to do a few things yesterday and now I'm worse today. whoops! I had to direct the making of eggplant parm. from my bed. My sous chef did a great job tho - it was really good.
Thank you Renee for stopping to get me some cough drops today on her day off! I don't know where the week has gone. Tomorrow is already Friday. Oh, wait I've been on the couch for most of the week. The whole durn cold started on Monday. Today I began the incessant ordeal of coughing. Cough - ouch - cough - pee a little - cough - drip - wipe (the nose that is. ). I know, you get it. My sister told me to drink some green tea with lemon and honey. I did. It seemed to work pretty good. The problem is I have to be drinking the tea or sucking a cough drop or I start all over. Hopefully tonight I will get a little whiskey to slip in the tea and help with the sleeping.... zzz. Drink up!

Mid-Winter Blues

or is it Blah's. Whichever, I wish it would go away. Tired of the snow and cold. And all the up and down temperatures are giving me a daily headache. Yesterday, was a major couch potato day. I think I watched TV for 12 hours. Didn't want to move. So I didn't really. Weather man said we got another 4 inches. Well, at least February is almost over!