At The Biltmore

Marital Discord

"So when you shave what are you doing?" Mr F asks accusatorially

"What do you mean?... I'm switching the blades... that is your blade on the windowsill." Mrs F responds

Then thinking she gets where he's going with this she adds "You are shaving your beard, I am shaving what few hairs remain in my armpits... I do not think I am the one who is dulling the blade."

Mr F smiles sheepishly and replies simply "Oh... I guess not."

Or Maybe God Is Talking To Kid...

As I walk into the room Kid announces "We're like... 'hey, I'm ancient'."
Revealing, yet again, her bizarre mix of teen slang and religious/mythological obsessions.

"You're ancient?" I repeat not sure where Kid was going to take the discussion.

To which Kid quickly adds "Yeah that's what Israelites do... and we're Israelites in this game."

Oh I should have guessed....

Coincidence or Voice of God... You Decide

Honored

This past week two different bloggy friends, Supermom & Preppy Mama, bestowed a blog award upon me. I really, really, appreciate it ladies. Unfortunately I'm a loser and decided long ago that I *can't* pass these things on. I don't know what to say other than I'm CRAZY and I stress an inordinate amount about who to pass these on to and whose imaginary feelings might get hurt in the process (I said crazy).

But I do want to take this time to thank every single one of you out there in the internets. This has been a very difficult couple of weeks... okay months... and having your friendship and support, which is very real to me, has made an immeasurable difference. Whether you comment or not please know that I do appreciate your stopping by and sharing in my life.

Now if you haven't already done so go forth and get to know Supermom (hey she's from Asheville) and Preppy Mama (hey she's way more creative than I am).

More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About The Amish

Eventually You Will Rest...

And when you do I will kill you.

The Dark Side

Well I did it. I crossed over.

First things first... Walmart had the biggest shopping carts I had ever seen! I had no problem fitting my huge purse, Kid, and all the stuff I could ever want to buy in there. Clever Walmart very clever... but I'm not falling for it!


Overall I will say that aesthetically Walmart has nothing on Target. It's akin to Meijer or Kmart. This SuperCenter had almost no organic foods so I wasn't able to do a price comparison there... but I can say that the prices on a whole are very similar to Target's. You are not saving more by shopping there. While somethings were a bit cheaper others (like $3 more for diapers!) were a bit more expensive.

One thing I found to be hilarious was the staging of this nightstand in the furniture department. What's wrong with this picture?

I don't think I've ever even seen an ashtray at Target... much less one used in an alluring bedside tablescape!

Kid Cooks

"Magical Peanut Butter Cookies"
adapted from Paula Dean

1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 beaten egg
1/2 t vanilla

Mix peanut butter & sugar together with wooden spoon.
Add egg & vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough by hand and place on a cookie sheet.
Dip fork in flour or sugar and press tops.
Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.
Cool on sheets and sprinkle tops with sugar.

Make 9 cookies at 140 calories each.

Sneaky Chef

This Week The Plan

Okay so last week went straight in the crapper. I did not do a weekly plan and I ended up totally sabotaging myself and gaining back the 2 pounds I had lost the week before! How many times do I need to go through this before I just suck it up and get back on board? The truth is I just HATE having to do one more thing. And I hate that I can't succeed without it. And I hate being told what to do... even by myself... and I just resist doing it.... even though I know I'm hurting myself in the process.

This week will be different... right?! Yes. I'm serious now. I'm pissed at myself and I'm going to channel it back into my weight loss efforts. Plus I finally got my treadmill hooked up last night and was already able to get a workout in. Now to break the peanut butter cookie habit I've picked up the last few weeks...


Menu:

Monday - Pasta (back to the GI portion control!), turkey meatballs, sauteed squash & peppers

Tuesday - Cornflake Crusted Tilapia, garlic & sherry steamed carrots

Wednesday - Brown Sugar & Ginger Salmon, spring rolls, veggie stirfry

Thursday - pork tenderloin, green beans & rice

Friday - pancake night

Saturday - pizza

Sunday - Tomato & Basil Quiche, salad


Diet & Exercise:
Still calorie counting on the food diary blog. Now that I've got the treadmill I'm going for 6 - 30 minute hill interval walks. I haven't worked out in nearly 3 months so I'm starting with 30 minutes and hopefully by next week I'll get that back up to 60 minutes.

So Here's What's Going On...

Moving is stressful. More stressful than I had remembered. Made all the worse by the fact that I have no local support system. Yes I know in time that will change... but that is "in time" as in not any help to me NOW when I am in fact in need of support.
Add to all that that the house is chaotic and in various states of unpacked/packed/and just plain filthy since who's going to bother cleaning a toilet when you haven't even found a place to store your toilet paper?!

On top of all that is the fact that Mr F's job is a bit more time consuming than I had thought it would be. At his old job he would actually call me... to chat no less... he was a constant presence on the blog. In many ways our marriage was better than ever lately because he was able to stay up to date on all my homebound on goings. Now he's got a glass office... and... um... he can't exactly hang out on the wife's blog all day. Fine I get that. I do. The problem with all this is that we went from best friends to mere acquaintances practically over night... and during the time when I need a friend most. He's the only person I know and he doesn't have time to talk to me. See? Well Mr F didn't... and that's creating some extra tension on the home front ;) He wasn't really getting that while he got a new job with fun people and locations to scout... I lost my whole social network... and with his busier hours I felt like he wasn't being my friend anymore either.

I realize a lot of families live a life like this. One where one parent comes home in time to tuck their kids in bed and then works some more. I get that not everyone has time to "chat" at work... but this is like a 180 out of nowhere for us. And I was feeling very isolated before Mr F decided to go all antisocial on me. It's made me really regret moving here and I'm not sure the job is worth the loss of family time. I'm not sure Mr F would have thought so either if he'd had time to process everything before we just up and came down here. I'm regretting enrolling Kid in the private school and wishing I'd invested the same amount in a camper so I could travel with the kids instead of being stuck here... alone.

Things will change. I know. But that isn't immediate. It takes a long time to establish roots somewhere. I've been out exploring and doing the things "you're supposed to do" around here... and it's something to do... but it isn't fulfilling. I'm still alone. I still have no one to talk to. I might as well be in a foreign land where I don't speak the language. And I'm not just saying that... I really feel out of my element here. It is the weirdest feeling.

Breaking The Cycle

So this week has been bad on a number of fronts.
Most of them I can't control... but the diet and exercise I can. I'm getting back on board. I'm going to focus on that as the place in my life that I can see improvements. By next week I can feel better about something. I can be proud of myself again.

When Things Get Tough...

I want to go to Disney.

Full On Breakdown

The Fury Returns

Okay here is the deal Canine has been shitting all over the damn house this week. Today is the third day I've come home to his soft serve explosions. I spent at least half an hour yesterday trying to get it out of our shag type rug (that used to be in the basement... for fear of this very thing).

When we moved I had gotten him on some new food that was especially firming. Things were going great and he hadn't had any accidents. Then I went out of town and Mr F replaced the food with something "better". Now we've got soft serving coming out the ying yang and Mr F claims it is not the food. Well what else would it be jack ass?! (and of course I say that lovingly... no, no, I don't... remember I am cleaning this shit up) Mr F seems to have conveniently forgotten that it takes a couple of weeks for dogs to switch over to a new food.

Anyway after taking the kids out and coming home AT naptime, hungry, etc and then opening the door to Canine's pooptacular soft serve emporium I was PISSED. I needed to get these kids food ASAP but of course that had to wait while I picked poop out of the rugs. As if it couldn't get any worse Kid calls me to the kitchen and points to the floor... where I see my favorite butter dish smashed to pieces with a huge glob of soften butter all over the floor. That goddamn asshole! It was all I could do not to go corporal punishment style on his ass! Seriously I was shaking with fury.

Now when I called Mr F for a little compassion and commiseration he answered with his usual put upon tone that he has taken to with his new job. Which if you're assuming I call him multiple times a day to whine about my life... you are wrong!!!... I usually call one time to find out when he's coming home (believe it). There is no call for his rudeness. Especially when I have given up everything I had worked 7 years to create in Ann Arbor so he can have this freaking job. It is totally disrespectful and pisses me off even more than the shit factory.

The Best Thing About Reading Cheesy Amish Romance Novels...

Is that you dream about the Amish.

Inquiring Minds Want To Know...

What exactly do Baptists believe?
I'm pretty sure I can say this without offending anyone (right?)... there are a LOT of Baptist churches down here. I mean A LOT. There are literally 5 in a row down the street from us. Five in a row... not kind of near each other... literally next door to each other. What is the deal? Obviously I realize it is a Christian denomination. In Michigan there were a couple Baptist churches in Ann Arbor but not more than any other denomination. I looked up the churches in Asheville... and I'm not exaggerating... there are 53 Baptist churches in Asheville (there are 6 Episcopalian in case you were wondering ;). Fifty-freaking-three! I just don't understand how that can be necessary... or possible.
Seeing as two of our "elderly" neighbors have invited us to attend the one around the block (and I'm totally going to go... you know how I feel about religion!) I'm curious to know what I should expect.

Sorry

Baby fell off a rock wall straight onto her face. I'm pretty sure she's fine and mostly just bruised & scraped up.
But she's in need of attention....

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

"Why are there two lunch bags?" Kid asked

"I'm not sure if you can have the Hello Kitty one it might be poisonous, I need to check." I replied

Kid asks "Why would someone put something poisonous in a lunch bag?"

And I reply "I don't know honey, I don't know" shaking my head.

"Who are they some freaking assholes that don't like kids?" Kid retorts

Something like that....