summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

a little bit of happy....

In an otherwise drudgery filled week. Just kidding. I can't complain, although that doesn't stop me from finding myself complaining about the stupidest little things....but anyway. I am happy today because we are indeed going away to Gettysburg this weekend! And, the weather...yum! Sunny and fifty-ish on Saturday! Now, I realize that isn't tropical paradise weather, but still. It isn't 25 and snowing. And we will be out walking, exploring battlefields and cemeteries. And, the really fun part is this: I scored a good deal on our hotel stay! I took a chance on one of those Find Out Where You Stay After You Pay rooms, and YES! It is an excellent hotel, normally about $120 a night, for only fifty bucks! Indoor pool and hot tub, ect., ect.

I have decided to do two exercise things per day. Pick any two each day. Either swimming and walking, or walking and working out with weights, or swimming and weights. Because something has to change here to get the scale going down. I also had a good day yesterday, eating-wise. For one thing, Sonja K. and I filled the Easter baskets. Fourteen of them. One for Emily and Abigail to share, even though they are 28 and 26...then one for Mirielle, Joseph, Aaron, Mali, Samuel, Margaret, Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne, Sonja, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, and Camille. Reeses' Peanut Butter Pumpkins and Christmas Hershey Kisses, plus Valentine's Hershey Kisses...plus Cadbury eggs and Hershey chocolate coated eggs, and Hershey bunnies, Reeses' peanut butter eggs, malted Robin's eggs, and chocolate rabbits. I didn't put any jelly beans in because they would make the chocolate taste fruity. I think I will just put them in a bowl...and the marshmallow Peeps are still in their packages so they don't get stale. Anyway, we put each basket in a plastic grocery bag and tied it up, so they can't peek. They didn't all fit in my room, so Joe and Aaron have their baskets in their rooms....I KNOW that Aaron is nibbling, but heck, he is 20 years old, too old for surprises anyway. Anyway, we filled the baskets. Do you have any idea how many times I wanted to put one of those little chocolate eggs into my mouth? Do you know how many lies I told myself? But I resisted. I said NO. Over and over again. When we were all finished, baskets bagged and packaging thrown away, I lifted my hands into the air and said, "YES!!! I didn't eat any!" I am serious. This is difficult stuff here for this mama!

So I got through the Giant Easter Candy Temptation. Then after dinner, which was chicken (big surprise there, eh?), mixed veggies, and sliced roasted potatoes with oil and pepper, the kids had some dessert. It was one of those $2.99 football ice cream cakes I had gotten from Aldi last week (Laura Ingalls Wilder once said that the rich get their ice in the summer and the poor get theirs in the winter...so I said, "The rich get their ice in the summer and the poor get their football ice cream cakes during basketball season). Anyway, I did take one lick off the knife as I put it in the sink, but that's it. I endured the evening when the older kids came in from the youth meeting, starving. I endured the smell of cinnamon bagels, and the crunching of pretzels. I had a cup of tea instead. As I got ready for bed, I gave myself a pat on the back, and I thought of Julie's message that said, "I dieted all morning, am I skinny yet?" But...I got through one day of clean eating. No chocolate chips. No yogurt covered raisins. No sugary barbecue sauce on my chicken.

Enough about food. Yesterday I took Suri for a walk and ended up chatting with an elderly neighbor who has been sick. He has leukemia. And had stents put in this winter because his heart has "been acting up", according to him. "And", he said, "my lungs have been giving me trouble. This chemo makes me sick, and I am just waiting to feel better." um. I am not a doctor, but when a man is in his seventies, and...oh dang, he isn't going to feel any better...is he? He looked...and I don't mean to be mean here, because I am so sad for him...but he looked like he belonged on, "The Walking Dead." Pale, purple lips. He looked like my own father did when he was really really sick, and we were so foolishly hopeful. If only we had known what a short time he actually had. We are so closed-mouthed about death in our society. Instead of wondering when he is going to start feeling better, perhaps he should be making peace with meeting his maker. Oh, but that's too harsh, even for my own ears, as I type it. We are afraid of death. But it is as certain as taxes, it will happen. It is the elephant in the room, though, isn't it?

Enough of my nonsense now. I shall go to the store today and buy him some nice spring flowers.

2 comments:

Kathyb1960 said...

I have done Priceline many times, and have paid very little for some FANTASTIC rooms!

In St Louis, I stayed in a beautiful hotel across from where they were building the new Busch Stadium (this was abt Feb 2006), and had a room on the 18th floor. When I opened the drapes, there was the Arch! I paid abt $48 for a room that was over $200! WOO WOO!

You can see the hotel if you ever see a STL Cards game, and they show a camera shot from home plate out towards left field. Beautiful old area!

Layne said...

Hi did you edit this post about the elderly neighbor? I came back to read it again because I have been thinking about it, and I am pretty sure it's changed.