Disgust and Delight

Disgust
This morning Lidia came to me and told me that one of the hamsters was perhaps dead because it's body was partly missing, only rear end left. I was confused. Then as the kids explained more it seemed that the other hamster had eaten it except for the rear end and feet. GROSS! I didn't want to look. I went to the cage and they pointed it out to me and sure enough there was the rear end with little curled up feet and the other side all chewed up and disgusting. I had never heard of hamster cannibalism. Apparently it's not so uncommon. I googled it. Too bad I didn't think to google that before we got them. We may have just gotten one, or none. This totally grosses me out, even more than when our fish ate each other. Like a murder has occurred in my home. I am tempted to let the other one out in the back yard and let Duke have at it. I don't like that hamster anymore. I thought they were just playing when they fought, guess not. Must have been a death match last night. I better watch out for Bubbles, maybe Peeps will get a crazy idea.

Delight

Well, I hope it turns out to be a delight. I am buying Cory a used BMW. I found a good deal on one and it seems like the guy has really babied this car. Cory has always wanted one but we would never spend that kind of money on a car. Turns out that a used BMW costs about the same as a used Honda, or less. Except the BMW is a lot nicer and is fun to drive. I suppose people can be turned away by pricey maintenance but we do it ourselves and save that way. Cory enjoys tinkering on his car. I should have it by the end of the week. Now somebody needs to buy the beetle. Hope it sells. I'm asking 7999. Blue book is 8300 private party. Carmax will buy it for 5300. Such a rip off. They give you less than trade in, what they say they could buy it at auction for. I'm paying 13200 for the 2005 BMW 330 xi. Avery liked the "fast white car". He went with me to test drive it. The guy said Avery was the first kid to ever get in that car. I test drove a couple that were pretty much the same except for miles or a year older. This one has 77k miles on it and has all wheel drive and is a fair price, actually 1k under blue book. He is anxious to get a new one. The 330 does take off fast and very tight steering. It definitely feels different than driving our other cars. I looked at a lot of cars while I was waiting at carmax too. I was surprised at how much they were and how used they looked inside with everything all scratched up and seats looked squished down. Avery did enjoy getting in and out of a lot of cars though. Driving the beetle yesterday made him miss Cory though. He started whining that he wanted to go to Hong Kong and be with dad. Cory looked with me and made the decision with me even though he is not here. He just didn't get to do the test drive. One thing I find strange is that all of the cars that I looked at get 30 or 31 mpg hwy, even the 4 cylinder. That doesn't make sense to me. The straight 6 in the BMW gets the same mileage as the 4 in the Civic. Surely these engineers can do better with out going hybrid.

Good Morning Hail

We were driving towards a huge dark ominous looking cloud on the way to school this morning. The kids got out and headed inside and as soon as they were inside the hail started pouring down. I just sat in the car and enjoyed watching it come down and all the people running  to get in and out of the hail. It just lasted a few minutes, now it's east of us.

Aiden is making a puppet at school and reminded me that he wanted to take some fabric to school right as we are heading out the door. Luckily I was able to grab some fast but I told him next time he needs to get it the night before.

Yesterday Avery touched my chin and asked me if I was growing a beard. Darn pricklies. They started when I started having boys. I pluck a couple every day. Guess I didn't yesterday. lol

Tristan told me after church that his teacher gave him some all natural whoppers. I told them not to eat anything unless it's all natural. I gave him a snack to take to church but he ate it before class. Little stinker.

Lidia said meatballs don't have meat in them. I told her that what she had recently were soyballs.

I obviously have some things to teach my kids. lol

Yesterday morning when I woke up Aiden was sitting there in bed with me and said that he was waiting for me to wake up because he didn't want me to wake up and think that he had deserted me. I laughed and told him that it was fine for him to get up and go when he wakes up. It won't hurt my feelings.

The other day the boys wanted to draw mustaches on their face and asked if it was OK if they did it with a washable marker. I said it was fine. So they played all day with black mustaches and a red scar on their faces. I don't know why but they keep saying how they can't wait to grow a mustache when they get older. When we left the house to go somewhere I made them wash it off. Well I think Avery refused so he had one out in public. Tristan decided to draw on Avery again I guess but this time did not get a washable marker. Avery has a few blue dots on his face and neck that will not wash off.

We got a new bishopric at church yesterday. Our new bishop is Warren, our neighbor and Cory's friend that he runs with sometimes. He is also our family history class teacher.

2 down 8.5 to go

Wow, sounds kind of scary when I say it like that. I had not counted how many weeks Cory will be in HK. Well, we are doing OK here, better when I get enough sleep. I can sleep but sometimes choose to do other things and end up awake late but once I actually try to sleep, I can. One of the kids usually sleeps with me.

Today we saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2. It was good, better than the first. The kids played in the park after and Ginger and I sat in the car and chatted and watched them. It's chilly out. We have had rain and snow lately.

We are trying to sell Cory's beetle. Someone came to test drive it today. We'll see. No rush. I am not convinced on the Honda Civic NGV. It makes me nervous to have a vehicle that only runs on natural gas. Bi fuel would make me feel better. If we were looking for a car a civic is not one we would normally want and it's hard to pay so much for a car if you don't love it. If we sell the beetle we will consider all our options. We definitely want something that seats 5 or 6.

I am teaching primary now. I teach Avery's age but the other class. I am asking them to put him in my class though. Not only is he given treats that I don't want him to eat in the other class but the teachers are very laid back and let him sit in the floor and color and play with things in their bag during sharing time and singing time instead of sitting in his chair and paying attention. They are very nice ladies and I can not make them be more strict, I would rather just do  it myself. He is good when I volunteer in his class at school so I think he will be good for me at church. We'll see. Tristan would be rotten if I were his teacher. He was when I was with him in scouts. I bought some all natural treats for them to take to church and keep in their scripture bag and if the teacher gives the other kids a treat they just say they have their own and eat theirs.

Cory is doing well in HK. He works longer days there so he will have over a week of comp time to take off when he gets back. He can take off and hang out with me and we can build a fort for the kids in the back yard and go on bike rides. He is kind of bored when not at work. He got his temple recommend in the mail yesterday so he can go to the temple every Saturday from now on if he wants. Last night he had dinner with an old missionary friend who was also there on business. They had dinner with several local Chinese members. We skype twice a day, longer in my afternoons and weekends. I don't have much time in the mornings on school days. I carry the ipad around the house with me and talk to him while I'm doing my regular boring stuff. A virtual husband is better than nothing.

This week I will be busy finishing up sewing for the school play and cleaning and packing to get ready to go on our trip. I will be fine as long as Avery doesn't run off and get lost from me at the airport or anywhere. After this cool wet weather we have been having I am looking forward to some warmth down south.

I watched the North and South miniseries on netflix recently. I had forgotten how sexual it is. It's like a soap opera. Seems like every thing I watch lately from when I was a kid is pretty trashy. What was I raised watching? I will not let my kids see that stuff. Tristan wanted to watch Jaws. I read online about the content in it and told him no way. I also watched BBC's Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights recently. Those Bronte sisters were kind of whacko or twisted or something. I prefer Jane Austin's stories.

The economy seems to be getting worse to me, not better. The price of food and fuel keep going up and lots of houses are for sale or rent in our area. I have not heard of anymore people losing their jobs so that is good.

I am going to get certified to be a substitute teacher this summer. I don't want a regular job but something once or twice a week that I can do if I want would be nice. I think I would rather sub in high school though. We'll see. If I do it and hate it, nothing lost. Guess I'm getting to be middle aged.

ski videos

Will it work?

Yes!

Maybe I should have switched to Comcast a while back. 

Qwest never gave us the speeds we were paying for.

Aiden loved getting a snow packed face.

It's Spring

Well this weather doesn't make it feel like spring. It's cool and rainy and cloudy, not fun. I always feel cold when it's overcast. It's supposedly going to be like this all week. I hope not.

I have survived this week. Perhaps the first week is the hardest, well and the last. Cory is getting settled. A few people at church recognized him from last year. I have not been getting enough sleep. I think Cory being gone and the time change made it hard on me. I have kind of been a bit like a zombie. I did catch up some today. Tomorrow the kids do not have school so maybe I'll sleep in a bit. I am not happy with the time change right now. It should be better later as the days get longer. My kids had been getting up early the past couple of weeks and getting ready for school all on their own. It was great. Now they are having a hard time getting up as am I because it's still dark at 7 am. Lidia and Aiden have been helpful with the younger two. Today Lidia helped the younger boys get dressed for church and get breakfast. Their clothes didn't exactly match but they were neat and clean so that's good enough.

Lidia likes using the ipod touch at church for scriptures and such. Tristan wanted to take the other one. I told him no because I thought he would play games on it and I was afraid he would lose it. However, once we got home I discovered that he did take it anyway. Stinker. The battery was dead. I just charged it last night. I am hoping that he was playing games on it this morning before church because it shouldn't go that quickly especially if he was just looking at the scriptures on it.

I love my ipad because it's actually large enough to see everything. I didn't use my ipod for the internet much because it was a pain to see everything so small and scroll around. I think the ipad is the perfect size. I used it to teach my lesson in primary today. I have the LDS scriptures that I bought on itunes which includes everything church related you could need. It's the version you have to buy. The free one from the church stinks. I tried it. They need to work on it a lot. I also bought primary song sing a longs. It's cute. It shows a few pictures for the background and then the words with the bouncing ball go across the screen like other sing a longs as the song plays. The kids really like it. The primary counselor tried to give me a manual today and I said that I didn't need it and preferred not to carry around a huge binder. My co teacher wants an ipad too. She had me show it to her husband after church. She is also a school teacher and would like her class to be able to use ipads. She says some schools are buying them.

My boys love to play Angry Birds. I had never heard of these apps until I started reading about popular apps. I like it too as well as Cut the Rope and Chop Chop Ninja. Lidia and I also like these games called Stack the States and Stack the Countries. There are a lot of educational apps that I have downloaded. I have not let the boys play the race car game yet but Micah likes it. I have been video chatting with Cory on Skype. His wireless connection is too slow for him to use his ipod touch so he uses the laptop, bummer. I chat with him with the ipad though and so I can take it around the house with me and just set it on the counter or wherever and he is virtually a part of what's going on here in the afternoons.

Cory and I realized right as he was leaving that we never got the stake part of our temple recommends done in December. Oops! Maybe we shouldn't have that coming up that time of the year. So he mailed me his rec. from MD and yesterday the Stake Pres. came over and did his interview via Skype video chat. I will mail it to him tomorrow and once he gets it he can work on all those family names he took with him to work on while there. The Stake Pres. said it was a first for him. He had called the temple office to get their approval. Cory said he was sorry to put him in this position but Pres. Spackmann said it makes good JM, journal material. Guess I better go get mine taken care of too.

So I am pretty annoyed with gas prices. I am always annoyed at how helpless I feel about it because I have to have it and I don't like supporting OPEC and their ways or the rotten dictators in the middle east. I want to do whatever I can to not depend on other nations for energy. I want to buy a Honda Civic GX NGV. Natural Gas is abundant and renewable and clean. Here in Utah we have access to it and the government promotes its use as well. Cory needs a 5 passenger car. Next year Avery will be in school all day and Cory will not be able to pick them all up from school for me in his 4 passenger Beetle. His Beetle gets good mileage but diesel is expensive and biodiesel is not available anymore and it was even more expensive and it's less emissions but like ethanol it's a waste of crops really. Natural gas and hydrogen should be the future of cars. Electric is OK but not as "green" since that electricity in your home is coming from coal, nuclear etc. and the batteries are a big issue. You can convert some cars to natural gas but not ones that we own and if you do that it's expensive and takes up your whole trunk. I don't want to put a lot of money into our cars that are getting old. I feel like we could sell Cory's car and get a decent bit for it but maybe not if we wait much longer. So a BMW is not practical nor do they run on natural gas so instead we will invest in a less impressive looking Civic. Well, that's my say. We will see if I can convince Cory. He agrees with the thought but it just comes down to dollars and cents to him. We have to have the cash to pay for it. Let's see how cheap he can eat in HK. hee hee

I do not like how the media is blowing this nuclear reactor issue way out of proportion and make it sound like we shouldn't have any nuclear plants. Whatever. Of all the industries out there nuclear is actually regulated well. They are super careful and make improvements constantly. My brother in law works at the nuclear plant back home and I remember visiting there as a kid. It is a smooth running operation. It is always taken very seriously. There are many deaths associated with other industries and no one says a thing. All this needless hype just scares the ignorant. People are leaving Japan as a precaution, not because they are scared. Many Americans are leaving because they don't want to be using up the Japanese peoples' limited resources. On base in Misawa where my friend used to live they are rationing everything and school has been closed because it uses too much power. The kids start school again next week. The Japanese need our prayers. It does seem that things are improving. These things take time.

Our friend Jeff is still in Cairo while his family is here in the states. He witnessed proud masses of people out voting this week and holding up their red stained fingertips to show how proud they were to vote in a free election. He says that in the past they were usually turned away and told that their vote had already been cast. I hope it really does work out well for the Egyptians. We are very blessed to have the freedoms we enjoy.

I have been hesitant to tell the kids' teachers about our diet limitations. I don't want to seem like a pain but it bugs me when they give them treats every Sunday. I can't put a stop to it so I think I will go buy some all natural treats this week and give a bag to each of their teachers with a note explaining our choices and for them to give my kids something out of my bag instead of theirs.

I cut Lidia's hair

Well it's a bit messy this afternoon but you get the idea. I just layered and thinned it. The longer part is actually thinner than what I meant but oh well. She has a lot less hair so it's easier to brush, straighten, wash, etc.

ipad 2 has arrived!

Woo hoo!

My new ipad came via Fedex today. I was out walking when I saw the truck turn into my culdesac so I ran for it because you have to sign for it. As I made it to the front yard he was almost to the door and he said,"You don't want your ipad do ya?" and I said,"Yes! You're early. You usually come after lunch." He laughed at me. I'm sure he could see the excitement on my face. I have been downloading apps and syncing it. This cover is pretty cool too. Now I get to play with it!

Cory is in HK

Cory had a better flight with Delta this time than United last year. He said he only slept for four or five hours though. I think he watched a lot of movies and they feed you a lot. His hotel is nicer this time too. Well it's bigger and has a kitchenette, something we really could have used when we were all there last year. For two weeks he is in a one bedroom suite and then he will move to the less expensive studio apartment. This hotel is just across the street from where we were before so he knows the area and it has a shuttle that takes you to four different places including the MTR so that's nice, will save him some taxi fare. He was very tired when I spoke to him this morning. He now has the weekend to get over his jet lag. We have been video chatting via skype and facetime. The hotel only has wireless in the lobby, so lame, so he has his laptop set up in his room. There is free wireless provided by the local government during business hours or something but it seems pretty slow. He says the weather is nice, warm but not hot.

One Day At A Time

That's how I'm doing this, day by day. Ok so far, although I did yell at Tristan yesterday. Boy that kid frustrates me with his excuses and fibbing and many distractions to get out of doing his school work. I also lectured Aiden in a not so nice way after his teacher emailed me to say that Aiden didn't finish his Math test yesterday, after about 10 questions he started yawning and stretching and then just sat there working as little as possible until the time was up. This is the algebra readiness test which they use to determine if you will be in pre algebra next year or regular 7th grade math. Aiden is very bright but hates testing so if he is bored in general math next year it's his own fault. I am realizing that I don't think Aiden is ADD as much as he seems to have anxiety about everything. If he wants to do something at home he can get his work done very quickly so that he can go play. Except longer assignments can be a problem because he just sits there dreading it instead of getting busy. He used to be that way about cleaning too but got over it when he realized he could get it done quickly. So we are going to work on that. He is taking practice tests online several times a week until he gets used to these long tests. I also explained to him that more problems is better because they are worth less points each. So obviously school work makes things frustrating sometimes but other than that the kids are pretty good.

I have not pursued testing for Aiden or Avery any further. It's hard to explain but I really pray and contemplate these things a lot and do what my instincts feel good about and I just have not felt good about it. Especially after taking them to my doctor for the referral. I felt like it was a joke, bunch of nonsense. He admitted to not really being qualified to make such a diagnosis and just told me to take them to the psych ward at the hospital. I need to research different places and what they do before letting them near my kids. Like I have stated above, I think if Aiden needs anything it's just a lot of counseling about how he can be successful and to have a better attitude and speak up when he has questions and not stress so much. A lot of that has to do with maturity too. Aiden always does poorly the first half of the year and better the second. The change every year is hard on him. I think I just need to fully explain this and get his teachers to give him very explicit instructions and help him feel relaxed sooner. Avery is doing well in school. He may seem a bit odd sometimes but he is a very sweet boy and loves school, even the work. I think he will be fine, just may need to be taught some social cues. He is already doing better. Sometimes I feel teachers have unrealistic expectations. All kids are not supposed to be exactly the same despite the education systems efforts to streamline everyone. Also, I feel very good about the changes we are making in our diets so I want to wait for a bit and then think about it again and if I do decide to get a diagnosis it will be through a group that specializes in this, not the psych ward.

Turns out the kids are out of school Monday so we have a three day weekend. Hmm, what will we do? Clean? Schoolwork? Nothing? Oh the kids are getting their teeth cleaned Monday, that's fun. We could go to the movies or something but everything that comes out lately stinks. If the weather is nice we could start planting our garden. Lidia has to prepare her oral presentation on John Williams. The kids love all of his music. She is supposed to dress up like him? I guess she will just wear Aiden's suit?

Cory is on the plane on his way to Hong Kong right now. He has been in MD the last few days. He went and visited his cousin, Zane, last night. I miss him already. Sure am glad I at least get to talk to him everyday. By the way, facetime is way better than skype.

I just got back from the mall. Avery wandered off and I couldn't find him. I asked the store clerk if she saw where he went but she didn't so she called mall security and they said they had him. Avery had wandered out of the store and down the mall and then a lady found him and turned him into security. Thank goodness for the nice lady! The two security guards brought him back to the store to me. Avery was visibly upset and did not let go of me the rest of the time we were at the mall. I am so glad the security guards had him or I may have freaked out. I hope Avery remembers this and has learned a lesson.

Lidia has skinny feet. I have tried a few pairs of really cute spring sandals and they are all way to big, like too tall, her feet float around, straps way above her foot. I guess she can only wear simple adjustable strap kind until her feet grow. I should have known, I have to add insoles to all of her other shoes.

Boo on this rain. I want to ride my bike. I exchanged my bike gloves for medium today. The small was too tight on my thumbs. I got a cheap bluetooth earpiece so I can still answer my phone while riding in case the kids or school calls. Youtube is so useful. Cory and I wanted to be certain that our bikes were the right size fro us so we learned how to check via videos on youtube and they are the right size. Good to know. We also used that info to adjust all the kids' bikes. Avery goes very slow, so cautious, will not ride on any decline. At least he is trying. Last year he wouldn't touch it.

Busy Busy

We are enjoying the warmer days and Cory is busy trying to get some things done before he leaves Monday. I am trying not to freak out and instead look at it as the sooner he leaves the sooner he'll be back. We are also looking forward to our trip to AL and FL so that helps and I need to get busy and make the Willy Wonka costume for the school play. We stay busy when dad is away. Tristan and Avery are going to play baseball. Cory will get back just in time to see a week or two of them playing ball and the last couple weeks of school in which they have a lot of performances.

Cory has been doing a lot of yard work and I am sure I will have to take care of some while he is away. He will have to tell me what to do over skype or facetime because I am clueless about growing anything. He got his new bike. It's basically the men's version of the one I got, it's all charcoal colored. We will go for a ride Saturday morning hopefully. Maybe a shorter one today. We've got to break in our bums.

I survived, and actually enjoyed, judging the science fair all week. There were some pretty interesting ones. One girl did hers on why people hate the science fair. It was cute. I had one mom come in after we were done today and in a nice way she was kind of complaining that her daughter got a 75 even though she worked really hard. I asked her who her daughter was and I remembered it was me that judged her. I told her that her daughter just copied an experiment out of a book and did not have a hypothesis or conclusion or even understand the science behind the reaction. So in a very nice way I explained to her the scientific method and how her daughter could improve next year. I suppose I could have not said anything and pretended I didn't know who judged her but I wanted to help her do better next time. Luckily she was not offended at all and now knows what should be included in a project.

I ordered my ipad 2! Cory is gonna get a new ipod touch and give his old one to the kids. Now we will be able to use Facetime or Skype between the two devices. He will have the laptop too so we could skype with it but I like the idea of being able to walk around the house and still talk to him and show him video. Like I can take the ipad outside with me and show him the garden or the kids playing or whatnot and he can show me things too and if he's in an airport or restaurant with wifi he can still video chat with me. All this technology is so cool. It's amazing to think back to when I was a young kid compared to now. It's really changing the whole world having all the information and communication so easily available. What's it gonna be like when my kids are grown?

Cory's car was acting strange but luckily we found it was just a loose cable on the battery and not a major electrical problem. It's nice when problems end up smaller than they seemed at first instead of worse. We've also had to do some minor repairs on the disposal and dishwasher recently. I need to replace my doorbell or put an out of order sign on it. People ring it and then walk away and I never knew they were there.

Science Fair

Lidia wanted to find out which seeds the birds like the best. They never want to eat the fresh food we give them and they don't really like the pellets in the bird mix either. They like seeds. Lidia separated the seeds that come in the bird food we buy and they 100% like millet and won't eat anything else until the millet is gone. It turns out that millet is the fattiest seed and some say online that it is supposed to be a treat only. So the next thing I wonder is why is it in the food mix? Maybe we need to buy different food.

Aiden said he wanted to invent something. So we thought about what he might need invented. With the way we have his bed positioned in his room it takes up the least amount of space but it prevents him from having his nightstand by his bed because it would black an air vent and block the drawers under his bed from opening. So we invented the bed butler! It's basically a nightstand that is above his bed instead of next to it and goes up and down using a pulley. He had fun building it. He especially liked melting the ends of the nylon rope. Boys just love tools, weapons and fire. We may make a commercial video to go with it tonight.

I am very grateful to Cory for helping the kids get these projects done.

Valentine Dress

It's nice when you get what you pay for

I like this blender because it is powerful and works fast and gets everything nice and smooth. I don't have to stop and push down the food or anything. It's also has a large pitcher and is so easy to clean.

This bike is so light weight (carbon, less than 18 lbs) and easy to maneuver and a smooth fast ride. And it's my size! I had not realized until now that just about every bike I have ever been on has been too big for me. These are designed specifically for women also.

I do not love to pay a lot of money for things. With some items, like clothes and shoes, you can often get good stuff on sale for a lot less. Other things don't go on sale so much. My camera was expensive but it works great and I love it. My blender was expensive but I love it too. 13 years ago I paid a lot for a higher end sewing machine and was amazed at how much better it was. Now I have an expensive bike and can not believe how much better it is to ride. I guess that sometimes you really do get what you pay for. Cory's going to get a new bike too. They are bringing one up from the Sandy store for him to try out Thursday. The only thing I've got to get used to is the seat. I've got to figure out which way to sit on it is the most comfortable. Maybe I will need those padded bike shorts Cory made me get after all. Oh and I got a new helmet. I couldn't believe how great the ones they had fit. My old WalMart one is not comfortable and feels strange. My new one fits like a glove. I also got gloves and shorts and a shirt but they are more for warmer weather. Goodbye tax return...

If you wanna try a green smoothie...

So far my kids like this one best.
Blend 2cups baby spinach with 1cup OJ or mango nectar
then add 1can pineapple chunks, juice and all, and blend
then add 1banana and blend
add some ice and blend if you want it colder

of course if you have a super blender, like me, throw it all in at once and blend till smooth;)

I actually fill my whole blender with spinach and then blend it with about double the amount of fruit and juice above because there are 6 of us but I still only use 1banana, they are a strong flavor. I bought some kale to throw in with my spinach too. Avery still acts grumpy when I give him a green smoothie to drink. I think it's because it is green. Once I convince him that he likes it and get him to try it he is licking it down to the last drop. Silly boy.

so...

It's hard to think of a title sometimes.

I forgot to say earlier that Lidia enjoyed the school Valentine's dance and actually danced with a boy. These Jr High dances during school hours are funny and nobody asks anyone else to dance and just a few groups of friends will fast dance together. The teachers were bribing the kids with bonus points so this one boy decided he would ask as many girls as he could. So Lidia danced with him and she was very funny and giddy about it. She said things like,"I can't believe I did that, I've never done that before." "That's so cool, um yeah" "um...yeah" is a big thing with her. She kept talking about it all day. She asked a different boy to dance but she said he was too shy or didn't want to. Oh well. Her feelings were not hurt. She can be brave when she wants to. She was cute in her new dress too. I should have taken a picture but I was busy getting everyone off to school and forgot. I'll have to have her wear it Sunday and take a picture then.

Our changes in eating have not been hard. I was too worried about it before. It actually simplifies some things when you don't eat meat or dairy. No waiting to cook the flesh. More boxes of soy milk in the pantry when you run out. I was really stressed about it before but I have not even cooked much out of my new cookbooks because we've just had regular things minus the animal part like pasta and veggies or black bean burgers or mexican salads and burritos etc. Hmm tamales and corn sound good too. Last night we had pesto pasta with sautéed mushrooms and snap peas and carrots. Can I just say that Famous Dave's Rib Rub is good and especially on the mushrooms, mmm. I have been having yummy whole wheat roll sandwiches with hummus, baby cucumber and baby spinach on them. mmm We have a smoothie just about everyday. I fill up my Blendtec with spinach and kale and a cup of juice and blend and then add a cup or more of frozen or fresh fruit and sometimes a banana and it is yummy no matter which fruits or juices you use. Sometimes I add a little water or more juice to thin it. My kids don't like raspberries much because of the seeds. The blender breaks them into really tiny pieces but it still changes the texture. I also add a couple of tablespoons of ground flaxseed sometimes. You really can't go wrong with any combination. It's a good way to get your daily greens. I don't know about you but we don't eat salad every day but leafy greens are the most nutrient dense foods so it's good to try and eat them daily. I still make treats about once a week or so. Can't give up sugar. That might kill me. I'll just keep it under control. I can give up soda! Have not had any in over a week. I thought that I might allow myself to have a little once a month or so but I think that will just make me want more. I need to just banish it from my life.

When it was so nice out the other day it gave me spring fever and I wanted to go for a long bike ride but my bike is cute and fine for around the neighborhood with the kids but not much else. I want a real bike. One that will go fast. Cory and I may look into getting road bikes when he gets back from HK. We'll see. We have nice paths nearby and the causeway and Antelope Island so we could easily do some nice long rides. I never got to where I enjoyed running and Cory doesn't enjoy it anymore but I think we would both enjoy biking together. We should rent bikes and try it out. It's a pricey investment to get nice bikes and the proper attire and gear. And you know I will not do it unless I look the part. Helps me get into it. lol

One thing I will be getting soon though is the ipad2. I've been waiting for it. I knew they would come out with a better one soon so I waited. I have to have one with the cameras so I can video chat with Cory. Woo hoo! Thanks Apple! Your release is just in time for my trip in April. Cory will have the laptop so I needed something to take with me. Really the ipad does everything and more that I use my laptop for. I have an ipod touch but it's too small to use for the internet all of the time and it doesn't video chat. I'm excited for March 11! Well I'll order online because I don't want to drive to SLC and face the crowd and I want my name engraved on the back. Garage Band for the ipad looks so cool. Go watch the ipad2 videos if you haven't yet.

Gotta help Lidia and Aiden get their science fair boards done. They are due Monday. I really do not like science fair. It was voluntary when I was a kid and I did not do it. Boring. The project might be fun but all the writing about it stinks. I am not a fan of demonstrating and explaining the obvious. Even more boring is that I volunteered to help judge all of the projects. They kept asking so I caved. Help me get through the torture every morning next week. ;)