Just A Quick Question

Exactly what size dropping do you think a rat would leave?

The Eagle Has Landed

Well we made it... after getting off to a somewhat rocky start... Kid woke us up a half hour earlier than necessary by wetting her bed (awesome!). It wasn't all bad because it did ensure we were UP in time. After squeezing the urine out of Kid's foam mattress I showered, made my coffee, and packed the kids' breakfast. Then we loaded up in our pre-warmed van (it was in the teens in Asheville... believe it!). We got to the airport in no time and zipped through security (I do have it down to a science which is actually much easier without Mr F in tow... sorry Mr F but it's true)... which is saying something considering all the shoes, coats, and medications, not to mention the computer and the stroller. Kid was actually super helpful and didn't complain when I asked her to take off and put on Baby's shoes. Baby did pretty well during the flight although I will say thank God the flight is under 2 hours... and that my computer plays DVDs. I'm also thankful we are all small enough that we can actually sit three in a row in two seats.

Here's our day (so far) in pictures...

One of the side benefits of flying out of a small regional airport:

A nice little play area... completely germ free since we were the only kids to have come through this morning!

Thanks to modern technology this is how the kids looked during most of the flight:

Remind me to get a second set of earphones so that they don't have to share a set of earbuds (which surprisingly fit in both of their ears... even Baby's tiny elfen ones).

Here are our accommodations:

Unfortunately what you can't tell from the photo is how *squishy* (read: unsupportive) the 50 year old mattresses are. Somehow I fear I won't exactly be making up for my lack of sleep while we're here...

Baby took instantly to a random old phone, scary fake Cabbage Patch Kid, and a cane:


The kids enjoy a weird hodge podge, decidedly unorganic, lunch on the best "Baby proof-est" dining arrangement I could come up with:


Kid captains the old-school inch worm:
Go Fisher Price! This little guy has made it through all the grandchildren and 5 great grands (so far)!


***************************
Don't forget to add your name to the Furious Compacting Christmas Giveaway. I'll be recording a *live* drawing on Wednesday!

Am I Seeing Things?!?!!

A Mrs F Giveaway?!! Could it be? That's Unprecedented!

Believe it. I've decided to send out one of our family's Compacting Christmas gift boxes, each week for the first three weeks of December, to a few of my readers. That was a mighty long sentence... did it make any sense?

Here's the deal:
Anyone who is interested in getting one of our fabulous gift boxes filled with holiday cheer needs to let me know in the comments. I'm going to leave it running until next week when I'll have the kids draw the names out of a hat (or more likely a bowl). I'll then post the three winners. I want these to go to whoever wants them. You don't have to be a regular commentor (attention lurkers) just a regular reader.

If a little bit of Furious cheer would brighten your holiday then this is for you!


P.S. I guess I should make it clear that absolutely every reader is eligible (except you Mom... oh and you Mr F). It doesn't matter if I know you or even if I know you know you. ;)

P.P.S. If you don't have a Google account but still want in just shoot me an email and I'll put you in the drawing (sorry I didn't think of that earlier). mrsfurious at hotmail dot com

Time To Go Organic

If this isn't enough to convince you to go organic I don't know if anything will.

You know I feel pretty strongly about feeding my family as much organically grown and produced food as possible. I've talked about it before. But even I didn't realize how pervasive these poisonous by products were or that they were allowed to be in our food. I know many of you were outraged by the tainted Chinese products that hit our shelves (pet food & Thomas trains to name a few) but did you know we (America that is) are producing this same stuff or that it is being put in our food as fertilizer, filler, and feed? I certainly didn't.

We as a people have gotten to be pretty entitled folk. We want to have everything we want at the cheapest possible prices every day of the year. That is not how things naturally work though. And in order to give it to us quality cuts are being taken to make that happen. Fillers are added to food to keep weight up while reducing costly ingredients (if you don't recognize all the ingredients in your food PLEASE don't buy it). Huge "factory" farms are replacing smaller operations and they are pumping their animals full of poor quality feed (and fucking melamine) as well as antibiotics and growth hormone to give you the cheapest animal products. But you are paying a price... it just isn't in your wallet.

I sincerely hope that you all will really think about what you are buying. And if you think the cost of organic foods is too high I hope you really make an effort to examine that decision. I have price checked organic foods in every conceivable location and I can assure you that the prices at Walmart are jacked up (often being 2x the price) compared to the organic prices at a store that carries more "health" foods like Whole Foods or Earth Fare... and considerably more than you'd pay at a farmer's market.
This past month I managed to pay $500 for the whole month for a family of 4 (including all lunches). It might not be as expensive as you think. You will have to make changes and you will have to give up your favorite brands (and that is tough at first I know) but it can be done. And because there are less brands to choose from you might find you SAVE money because you buy less prepackaged items.

If you think I'm just too *organic crazy* I'll remind you that just 7 years ago I was washing down my Lucky Charms with some Cherry Coke. If the Furiouses can change anyone can. If you want brand recommendations I'd be happy to steer you in the right direction. Eating organic foods does NOT mean you have to go all *sprouted wheat style* I assure you.

Up until now I have bought what I could but I've also bought conventional products if I couldn't find the exact replacement. After reading the NY Times article that's coming to an abrupt stop. We're not crazy and we'll still eat out upon occasion but I feel it is important to do what I can to reduce our exposure as much as possible. And I can tell you I'm really happy the pizza place up the block is organic!

I also want to remind everyone that changing what you eat, and how much you pay for it, isn't the radical change. What has happened to our food supply in our lifetime has been a radical change. Paying more for high quality food is what Americans used to do... back when farmers could actually support their families. Think about it.

And if you have gone about doing your research and found the FDA says that melamine is not allowed in food products... read that VERY closely. The truth is the US imports much of our packaged food ingredients from China. While a US food plant is not allowed to add melamine to it's finished product as filler... factories in China are adding it to ingredients (wheat gluten & milk recent examples... and some of that tainted milk did make it's way into US products).
****************************************
If you are motivated at all to make a change for your kids' sakes than you might be interested to read this.

Maybe She's Born With It, Maybe It's Maybelline

I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm sure you can pick up on it by now (If not then I'm must be much funnier than even I give myself credit for... and that is saying something).
It's not just the exhaustion which has reached all new super human levels. I feel like I'm walking around in a cloud. A dark rolling storm cloud.
It's dampening in the way that... er... depression is.
I haven't felt like this since I was pregnant. And no I'm not. It isn't humanly possible on several fronts... not just the sterilization.


To Be Continued....

This Week The Plan

Am I the only one suddenly freaking out about the holidays?! It's like Halloween ended and one day later it's Christmas. For all my planning I already feel overwhelmed and like I'm falling behind. We're off to Michigan for nine days starting this weekend. The kids and I that is. Mr F arrives for Thanksgiving. That means I'll be traveling solo style with the two kids on a regional jet. You may recall that means boarding outside up the little steep steps... with 2 kids... and carry ons... while they scream because they're afraid of the engine sounds. It's fun and I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to cramming the 3 of us into 2 seats... that's always fun. I think this trip I'm going to follow the suggestion I read somewhere and bring $5 Starbucks gift cards along to hand out to the people in front of us... if (and by if I mean when) the kids kick their seats non stop... which of course they will. If I don't need them I can tuck them into some of those gift boxes I'll be sending out... in... 2 freaking weeks!!!


Okay back on topic...
(don't expect too much from me since we're out of here in 4 days)

Menu:

Monday - hodge podge of leftovers

Tuesday - Pork Tenderloin, pan fried potatoes (in a smidge of oil), steamed broccoli

Wednesday - Tomato & Meatball Soup, salad

Thursday - Shrimp Faux Lo mein (this is essentially linguine noodles tossed with sauteed shrimp & frozen veggie stirfry mix & whatever stirfry sauce you have on hand)

Friday - Pizza night, carrot sticks

Saturday - the NEXT Sunday - we're out of here! Don't worry I'll have computer access ;)


Errands:

Monday - Kid had off

Tuesday - grocery shopping, Target (completely forgot half the things on my list), laundry

Wednesday - locate winter outerwear for trip, luggage & carseat bag (yep totally crazy that we don't need that shit here)

Thursday - Clean bathrooms, get all medications ready for trip

Friday - pack & stress


Kid's lunches:

Tuesday - smoked salmon, kiwi, gogurt, milk, leftover turkey, broccoli & brown rice casserole

Wednesday - smoked salmon, banana, gogurt, milk, spelt pizza (from school), nuts

Thursday - smoked salmon, banana, gogurt, milk, leftover T& M soup

Friday - smoked salmon, banana, gogurt, milk, leftover lomein


Diet & Exercise:

1. 45-60 min of cardio Monday - Thursday
2. I just ate 3 muffins... so... I'm going to try and stop doing stuff like that
3. Tuesday - Friday I'm going to stick under 1600 calories (believe me I have some stuff to make up for... more than the muffins)

Warning!... If You're Married This May Sound Familiar

Checking In

I don't know what to tell you... I'm tired and just all in all uninteresting today.



Things I did today:

1. Spent an hour searching for a check to deposit only to find out that Mr F had taken off my desk this morning. Thanks for that Mr F... and when I say "thanks" I'm being facetious... because the 5 minutes you saved me at the bank was not worth the hour I spent at my desk.


2. Took the kids to Fun Depot. They had fun. I ordered pizza... it's the greasy crust kind... I had 2 pieces and then had all of their crusts (oops).


3. Made a Christmas tree pillow pattern and then (patiently) helped the inpatient one *sew* it on the machine. She lost interest in the project pretty much as soon as I had finally gotten everything ready. I forced her to finish it anyway. Baby thought the pins were miniature lollipops (ruhroh).

Rude Awakenings

This morning when Baby got up

she crawled up next to me 

and

SMACK

hauled off and hit me

right in the face

Two Of These Things Are Not Like The Others

Not To Intimidate You Or Anything...

Up next: A jumper out of this for Baby with matching rick rack trim.



Not to be out done... Kid used the sewing machine (with help) for the first time!

Not To Toot My Own Horn Or Anything.... But... Toot Toot

So this was my creative project of the day...




It only took me a couple hours (and probably could have been much faster if I hadn't been interrupted... multiple times... but whatever). I found the pattern HERE. I used a scrap 1/2 yard of funky Roy Rogers fabric I was compelled to buy several years ago and a scrap ribbon. I didn't actually measure anything. It was really, really, simple. And I feel quite accomplished and proud of myself.

Mrs F's Mental Health Tips

One Year Ago

I found these pictures on my computer last night while I tried to upload ALL the pictures I have of them together (for a "Sister" album I've decided to make using my free Snapfish album).
I love this series of shots because it perfectly captures the way they are with each other EVERY day. They have this much fun, laugh this hard, and want to be physically with each other every single day. In this giant lottery of life and personalities....I am so happy that they got each other.

What The ....

You know what I find so freaking frustrating about maintenance? That there is just NO correlation between a good week scale wise and a good week action wise. I mean seriously. I think this is a major part of what has made it so hard for me to toe the line the last few months.

I'll be 100% on board with my plan.. workout a ton... eat in range... and there will be no loss. Or a loss followed by a gain. Or a gain. Then I'll get mad and frustrated and I won't stick to my plan the following week or two and that's when I lose weight.

The past 2 weeks have been horrible. I've hardly worked out. Last week I made the dreaded White Trash again... and... ate it all. This week I was too tired (and that's legit) to workout... and I made chocolate covered chex mix... and... ate it all... and my weight is DOWN. What the fuck?!!

You'd think I'd be excited about the loss... or about the fact that I'm finally back in my maintenance range... or that after 3 months my body fat has finally budged a teeny tiny 1.5 % down. But I'm not as super happy about it as I might have once been. Because I've found maintaining weight loss to be a very VERY slippery slope with very little consistency on both my part and my body's. It was much easier when I was losing weight... and there was a more consistent and direct reward (or punishment) for commitment.

When you work hard and get the result you are looking forward to it helps motivated you to stick with your program the next week. Instead I find I start every week back in the same spot of *trying* to motivate myself to give it another try. It's tiring and maddening at times. I've felt like I've completely lost touch with my body ... which has been hard. During weight loss I finally felt that I'd figured my body out and I was getting maximized results for that understanding.

Now I'm grappling to find that delicate balance again... and I keep missing the mark. Sure I'm down this week, but my intake and exercise level was seriously sub-par and I'm sure I'll see the gain next week. And that is frustrating and kind of knocks the wind from sails.

Good Luck With That

"I think I've finally found my talent for the Oprah Show!" Kid announces confidently.

"What? Doing tricks on the slide?" Mrs F asks somewhat incredulously.

"Yep!" Kid confirms.

This Is SERIOUSLY The Best I Can Do At The Moment

I've been thinking about my Compacting Christmas and what all I can stuff in my gift boxes in a big way.
In that vein I've spent a fair amount of time trolling for handmade craft/gift ideas to stuff into them. And let me tell you I've found the holiday craft site of my dreams (thank you Marie!!). If you are remotely crafty (and I mean that as in funky cool crafts sort of way) you NEED to check out this fantastic craft blog. Scroll through the November archives for endless holiday craft ideas and tutorials. I've basically been living here. I've found so many amazing holiday craft ideas... if only I had time (and two free hands) to make some of them.

********NOTE*********
Baby is out of her mind and getting a chance to sit down and type is very difficult. But I will try. I might have to leave off in the midst and return later.... just a little fyi.
*************************

You may recall that instead of spending 50ish bucks per person on my list (not counting Mr F or the kids) I've decided to send out gift boxes (using the USPS flat rate boxes... which are free and they will drop at your door and cost about $9 to ship out) filled with homemade treats, ornaments painted by the kiddos, and pictures. My plan is to divide my list into 3 groups and start sending out the first group the first week in December, followed by the 2nd group the 2nd week...and so on. This breaks up the stress of getting things out and makes the baking and crafting more enjoyable. There are a couple of side benefits of this shipping schedule... we'll be making our Christmas cookies all through the season instead of in a rush the week before Christmas.... some we'll send and some we'll eat ourselves. And we're allowing the recipients to start enjoying the season earlier too. I'm also thinking that this will put a much bigger emphasis on giving rather than getting for the kids. We'll be giving for 3 solid weeks before they get to open anything. In the past I've done all the shopping and wrapping and the *giving* part of Christmas was probably not even noticed by the kids.

So right now I'm still brainstorming what we can fit into the box to ramp up it's enjoyment value without upping the cost much.
Here are my plans:
2 kinds of cookies
caramel popcorn
painted ornaments
pictures of kids (some framed)
small toys for little kids on the list (under $5)
Christmas music CD (copied or a mix... new idea!)
I might try and make something like THIS for some people

I'm still working on ideas... send yours along!

Also my Compacting Christmas idea for Mr F and I is to make wish lists ($200-300 each). Then the week after Christmas we will buy the things on the list (when they are on sale) and whatever is saved... will be saved. We'll exchange stocking on Christmas.





History buff alert (hello Katieo) Black Blizzard was fascinating and I'm headed off to the library to get THIS.

You Can Thank Me Later

HERE is a link to get a FREE 8 x 11 custom cover photo book from Snapfish.

Okay some people are having trouble getting the link to work. Go HERE and follow the link on Oprah's site (it's in the paragraph below the main picture) back to Snapfish.

Me And My Shadow

Yep One More Video

While you're here... lay down your Biggest Loser impressions! I was on the edge of my seat last night. I was also flipping that bitch Vicky the bird during her weigh in. I've never hated anyone on TV the way I hate her. Next week is going to be insane.