April

The first week in April was spring break, but I had my class that Tuesday, so we hung out for a few days before heading down to Florida (near Daytona) to visit Dan's mom, Nancy.  The drive itself was pretty uneventful (about 12 hours driving, 14 if you include stops for meals and gas), and we had a great, relaxing--though short--stay.

The first thing I did when I arrived was to GO SHOPPING. Those of you that know me well, know that I would rather get a root canal, but I was in desperate need of clothes (especially a swim suit).  Having lost so much weight and inches, practically everything I own is falling off of me, and one of my favorite clothing stores, Bealls, is there in Palm Coast.  So I spent most of the day doing that while the kid's played in Nancy's pool.  I was jealous!

One of the days we were there we spent at the farmer's market right across from the beach.  John was pretty excited because he got to spend some of his allowance money on candy!  Another day, Nancy treated us to a delicious lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean.  We tried to spend some time on the beach afterwards, but it was so windy, we couldn't take it very long!  Still, Dan, Nancy, and Lyn were able to dip their toes in the water for a few minutes:

A few other guilty pleasures included renting the movie Hugo, which, despite the hub-bub and Oscar nod, we didn't think was that great, and night swimming in Nancy's pool (my favorite thing to do in the whole world!)--though it was too cold to stay in for long.

On Sunday, the kids and I went to church, and Nancy prepared a little Easter Egg hunt for the kids.  Of course, they're way too old for the Easter bunny, but it's still fun to search!  Nancy also took our annual Easter picture (I've had my picture taken every Easter since I was 2--it's fun to carry on the tradition!  :).  Here's a fun one from the batch:

Not long after returning to Virginia, John's 4th grade class went on a field trip to Gettysburg.  It was a lot of fun and very interesting.  However, John said the best part of the trip was the bus ride and lunch! Sigh...

Finally, also in April, I headed out to Oregon for my 30-year 8th grade reunion.  Yes, you read that right, 8th grade.  You may think it strange that I would travel far across the country to see these kids.  Many people told me they don't remember anyone from 8th grade!  You have to understand that I went to a very small school--there was only one class per grade level--and I went there from 1st to 8th grade. So I literally grew up with these people. Many, like me, had also been there since 1st grade.  It was so fun to see them (I wasn't prepared for how old we all were!) and catch up with them.  Here's our 8th grade photo (I'm in the back row, second from the left):

And here's a picture of us at the reunion:

On the right, by the way is our FIRST GRADE TEACHER.  (Oh, and the boy to her right in the middle row was not in our class--he was a year behind us.)  We went on a tour of the school (which they're tearing down, by the way, at the end of this school year), then headed over to a local bar and grille for some more socializing.  It was a ton of fun!

When I got back, I attended a Bullying Prevention Symposium sponsored by the Fairfax Partnership for Youth.  It was very interesting.  As you may remember, I'm writing a book on bullying--though I haven't added to it in awhile.  I was hoping to get people involved in the writing process to stir up a buzz, but I have decided that it would be better to just write the book and then begin market it afterward.  We'll see how much time I can devote to it at the pool this summer!  LOL

Well, that's it for April.  Looks like May is going to be a separate post.

Hope you are doing well!  :o)

February and March

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, since everything is being done for me today, it looks like I have a few minutes to catch you up on what's been going on around here.  So much for my resolution to write in this every week!  LOL  Well, three months isn't too much to catch up on.

In one sense, everything is the same--Dan's still going to work and building sets, I'm still on my raw adventure and teaching my success education class, Lyn is still taking ballet and active with the girls at church, John is still active in scouts and playing his video games (chess season ended in April), and both kids are doing well in school and taking piano.  And yet, in another sense, much is going on!  It's amazing how much we can pack in such a small amount of time!

Picking up where I left off in my last post, I am still going strong on my raw food adventure, though time is winding down, as June 9 will be my last day.  So far I have lost 53 pounds and more inches than I can count.  It's been a fun and interesting journey.  At the beginning, I didn't know how I would feel at the end--whether I would feel so great that I would never want to go back to cooked food, or whether I would be anxious to go back.  It turns out it is the latter.  I am ready to start eating again!  So many things I miss--not the least of which is eating dinner with my family.  It will be interesting to transition back, and I'll be curious to see what happens to my weight.  Of course, if I start gaining, I will know exactly what to do to take it off quickly and easily.

As to my hip, I stopped going to my doctor about my chronic hip problems.  We determined that the problem is loose ligaments, but we never could figure out why or what to do about it.  It seemed it was always this theory or that theory, with no definitive answer, and I just couldn't justify the hundreds of dollars a month (that was not paid for by insurance) to chase a problem that wasn't that bad.  So I've just decided to live with it for now, and add a few things into my routine that I have discovered really help.  I'm hoping to get back to riding my bike regularly--something I put off while we were investigating the problem.  I really miss it (especially now that the weather is so nice).

Lyn's fascination with Harry Potter has waned quite a bit.  She has read the whole series 3 times now and seen all the moves twice.  I've noticed that she has moved on to other reading material.  I, on the other hand, started reading the books during Spring Break and am enjoying them immensely.  It's fun to see how things were changed in the movies--some for the better.  It's also nice to learn some of the back story and explanations that were missed.

Now...moving forward...

At the end of February, John participated in a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament hosted by our local Blockbuster.  He almost won!  It was a very exciting battle, but he finally just barely lost to a kid who we think was about 17.  It was fun for him to play against someone besides Lyn.  He said, "I didn't know how good I am!"  Here's a picture of him playing.  I think this was the first round, in which he soundly beat a kid clearly much older than him.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Well, either I didn't have as much time as I thought I did, or I had too much to write on Sunday--or both!

Anyway, moving on to March...

This month, the kids both participated in Piano Festival--an annual event in which they get to play for outside judges and be critiqued on how well they are doing.  Both of them did really well and received "Superior" ratings--the highest mark available.  For Lyn, one of the judges wrote, "Hard to judge--so beautiful."  For John, one of the judges wrote, "You really play piano well.  I like your playing."  Yay! :)

Also in March, we spent some time at the local Byzantine Catholic church learning more about the kids' slavic heritage.  John, Lyn, Dan's sister Debbie, and I all made "pysanky"-- beautiful Ukrainian Easter Eggs.  Dan came and took a little video, which you can watch here:

Pysanky is made by applying wax to an egg with an instrument called a "kitska," dying the egg, and then heating the egg to melt and remove the wax.  You can see most of these stages in the video.  Here is a picture of our finished products.  John's is on the left (on its end so you can see the star), Lyn's is in the middle:

Also in March, Dan was thrilled to receive a Washington Area Theatre Community Honors (WATCH) award for Outstanding Achievement in Set Construction in a Play.  He won for his construction of Noises Off! at LTA.  Go Dan!

Finally, March was also the occasion of my gallbladder attack.  I was on my way with the kids to pick up some pirohi from the Ukrainian Church, when I started having a pain in my stomach.  At first I thought I was just hungry, but then it got worse and worse.  Eventually it got so bad that I thought I was going to pass out.  I literally thought I was dying--that some vital organ had burst inside me and I was bleeding internally.  Luckily, I was 2 blocks away from a hospital.  Luckily, too, they have valet parking!  I drove up, gave the keys to the guy, and fumbled to the front desk with the kids right behind me, not knowing what was going on.  I'm so glad they are old enough to pretty much take care of themselves!  Dan happened to be at a meeting at LTA--which was a good thing.  If he had been at work, it would have taken him much longer to get there.  He came, got the kids some dinner, and then took the kids to the neighbor's for the night.  I was in the emergency room for 11 hours and was finally released with a diagnosis of gallstones.  The ultrasound did not show any infection or inflammation, so they did not need to take out the gallbladder right then--whew!

Of course, all the doctors recommended I get it out anyway.  I say, no way!  No one's going to cut into me until they absolutely have to.  I'm told that once the attacks start they become more frequent and more painful, but I haven't had any problem since.  They told me to stay away from fried foods, but of course I haven't had anything friend in nearly a year!  LOL  So, we'll see.

Well, that wraps up March.  This post is getting a little long, so I think I'll start a fresh one to write about April and the beginning of May.  Hope you're doing well!  :)