Funkidoodle

Life is funky right now. I hate "the funk" stages of life. It's like one little thing sets off a ton of little things that just put you there and you wait till it lifts.
What put me here?
Everybody getting the flu real bad.
A torn up floor that got more torn up and is waiting for the new tiles to go down (topped with a husband who has NO motivation for projects at all).
Piles waiting for an upcoming garage sale...everywhere.
Painting that is 80% done since before Christmas.
Trees that are about to bud but still need to be badly pruned!
Coupons way behind and unorganized.
Laundry that has been piled since we got sick.
More carpet that has to be ripped up.
Job that was wearing me down but that I didn't want to have to quit, but that I did as of this week.
That DARN five lbs from the holidays that I can't seem to start shaking and how awful it makes my jeans feel!
....and regular life going on in the middle.

I don't know, I just hate funks. Usually it means me rolling up my sleeves and starting at some far corner of the funk to dig my way out. Usually it starts with days of running away and finding stupid errands to do so I don't have to face it. Well, I did that this week and made some dumb decisions. I thought I was going to re-do the bedding for Rick and I and found some great deals but got it all home and did not like it. So, it has to all be returned and I've waisted many hours running around to put something together I won't be using. That was the funk low point this week, the spot that I got really ticked off with myself.
I realize I'm lacking complete spiritual perspective on this whole thing and one and all are welcome to preach to me about this verse or that and how I should be seeing things but I may ignore you. Just being honest.
Because a FUNK is a FUNK and the reality is, you have to dig your way out. You can wine, stand there and "I DON'T WANNNA!" all day, but the reality is, it won't go away on it's own.

Okay, some gratitude to match my blog...... okay. I'm very thankful I did quit my job. It was two hours wearing me down. I would have to build up to it and wind down from it too much. Walking heavy babies for two hours to keep them quiet during nap time wore me out. I had nothing left for my kids when it was over. So, two hours was more than two hours of my life. I'm thankful that I have a clean slate to work with this week. I feel the job has tainted my housewife skills considerably. I look forward to getting back.

I look forward to seeing the funk lift. I know it will.

A New Look At Breakfast For Myself

My friend Laura, and Carrie at my church are inspiring me to eat different. I'm trying to make myself breakfasts like these. It really takes little time to throw some veggies in the pan and then cook an egg to throw on top. This morning I had some left over tomato basil from a get together last week. I threw that in with sliced garlic, red onion, 1/2 potato, and green pepper. Yummy!

I'm also eating my tuna salad w/ celery now instead of crackers. I'm actually enjoying it. Celery is my best friend right now. I grab it if I want a crunch in the evening. Celery takes more calories to burn that it gives you. I may buy stock. :)

Meet Sasha

Don't know much about her yet, but she looks like she intends to tell us. She seems to be a Russian variety of hamster so she got a good girlie Russian name.

I'm Growing Down and Taking on The Name Mrs.Dolittle

We've adopted a hamster (my camera battery is charging, but she looks like the above). I was going to say that we were fostering it but, nope, we've adopted it. A friend's dog discovered it in her yard. It had probably got out or may have been abandoned. As cute as she is, and as fast as she is, I'm going for the got out version of the story. This friend mentioned needing a home on her facebook a while ago but I did not consider it at all. We had been researching pets before we got the guinea pigs and rats and hamsters were on the low end of preference due to their biting habits, nocturnal behavior, and all around unsocial behavior. Still, as I thought about it, it was needing a home and I had a cage, bedding, food, an extra water bottle, a wheel, a hide out, and three kids crazy now about rodents. So, I said I would take the fur ball in. After all, what was one more!?

Okay, so she is cute (pictures coming soon). She is very cute. She was so scared yesterday that she did this little growl at us. She needed time. Then, we left for a few hours and came home to find her up and anxious to see us. She let the kids hold her, although she does not stay still like the guinea pigs or rats. She was very sweet. This morning she has bitten the kids a few times but, honestly, I can't blame her. If you can't verbally say "I don't know you and I've had enough for now", then teeth will work.

In the last 24hours we have had quite a few people hear about all the rodents we now have. Those who didn't know what our Christmas brought us, usually are appalled and try to be nice and sociable by keeping their opinions to themselves, especially regarding the rats. It makes me wonder what has changed in me? Why am I so okay with this? Why am I loving it? Have I turned into a weirdo?

The fact is, I actually also want a bird right now, for me, in the living room. I'm LOVING the nature around me. I love that the kids get home and want to go get a fluffy critter to say hello to. I love that they all are so ecstatic about the ends of our veggies and we get the joy of watching their little mouths as they eat. I'm loving it all. I've wanted a bird for a year or so after shocking myself by discovering that I love bird watching. I use to think it was the dumbest thing adults did, but now it calms me.

I feel like I've grown down. Yes, I meant it, I've grown down. I've returned to that excitement in childhood that longs for nature to be part of my life. I was reminded of this yesterday when we had the hamster at church because we had to pick it up between services, and all the little ones were flocking to us. There is something in us that loves that. As a child, pets were highly discouraged for me and I lived more like a grown up then. Now I'm happy to grow down.

I don't have the energy for large pets, nor the money or room but a having all we can of maintainable small beings is really adding to our happiness as a family. I don't know how, it's just magical. It makes us lighten up, have some laughs, and feel like we are meeting a need for one of God's creatures.

Yes, my kids still want dogs, kittens, bunnies, and probably more and I do have many things I have to say no to but it's been a delight to do what we can. It must be the delight of the garden and walking with the animals that is still in us all.

I don't mind growing down.

Monarch Field Trip- Beautiful Pictures

Yesterday was Caedmon's 2nd grade big field trip to the Monarch grove in PB. It was a gorgeous sunny day and Victoria and I drove down to go with him. I let her skip school to go with us for the day.

I felt so blessed again to be given such a wonderful camera. What a blessing this camera has been for us in so many ways. It's allowed me to start blogging more, to video the kids, for them to make videos (up and coming craziness soon), and it captures so well from far away even. It's been great. I'm very grateful to the giver, we all are.

A solitary beauty hidden in the leaves and basking in the sun.
A wonderful presentation was made to the children of the body structure and life cycle of the Monarch.
My little man and his beloved, well worn crocks.


Helping show life cycle pictures.

He caught mama taking a picture I guess.
Cal Poly gal working on the tagging research project to identify the Monarchs. She explained how they tag them with little stickers. She passed them around so they could see but hopefully not tag themselves.
He towers even over the tallest 2nd graders still.
When you are actually standing there looking up their is constant movement and fluttering in the branches above. I just loved the sun coming through. This really is a bit of an outdoor sanctuary.
This was WAY far away from me in the tree tops, and the camera still got it beautifully.

You have to be careful where you step as they are mating on the ground at your feet.



Again, AMAZING zoom power for a little camera. This is zoomed in to the branches pictured above.


Riding the waves of the wind together.

I took a few videos as well but this one was short and I loved that they all rode the wave of wind in perfect unison. It's simple but fabulous.

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That Darn Christmas Five!

I do have a goal of loosing 20 lbs this year. Now, I have a Christmas 5 so it's actually 25. I think a lot of that is toxins from bad food choices though and should fall off fast.....right?

So, I asked myself what would be doable and what would be motivating. I decided to make a take a few practical steps.

1. Until I loose 10 I'm cutting breads and sugars. I really need to get my blood sugar healthier. I'm not diabetic but I know that sugar is what makes me gain weight, and throw my hormones off. Some practical ways I'm implementing this is to make something other than the bread in the menu. For instance, tonight the family is having cheese stuffed tortellini pesto and salad. I'm baking a big spaghetti squash to use some for tonight in place of the tortellini (very hard to not eat that yummy stuff!) and saving some for Friday when they have Spaghetti and meatballs and I can have mine on the squash. I'm opening a can of garbanzo beans to add to my pesto/squash for some protein. This afternoon the after school snack was bagels and cream cheese. I put the cream cheese on celery. I had two stalks. I'm not going to worry about fat or calories, just sugars.
2. I'm drinking one cup of green tea at least a day. This is a good pick me up afternoon drink instead of a second cup of coffee. Coffee is not good for blood sugar levels. Green tea will help me detox as well and as I get older my body is loosing it's sharp detox skills. I don't like the taste of green tea so I'm adding stevia and a squeezed lemon wedge. It makes it much better.
3. I'm training for a 5k. The 5k is on Feb 15th and that is half way through the training but I figure it's still a good motivator. I'm using this podcast right now to train. It tells you when to run and when to walk and it has a different set each week for nine weeks. I'm hoping to find another with less repetitious music (references appreciated).
4. I'm going back to purposefully eating about 10 raw Brazil nuts a day. They help balance hormones and burn fat.
5. I'm planning my life more. I'm literally starting to map out everything on the calendar this year. I'm planning family hikes ahead of time, meetings with the family, dates, talks with my husband, coupon plans, exercise etc. I've really realized that if I don't plan a time for something it probably is not going to happen. That being said, I have to say, when the kids were younger this was harder to do well.

I'm adding a weight loss meter to my sidebar to track how this goes. If you read in reader, you will have to click onto the blog to see progress.