Lessons in Parenting #357

Per the nurse at the Poison Control Hotline, the only hazzard posed to your child by Play-doh that has been ingested is the possibility that it will get stuck in the throat/esophagus/food pipe when going down. If you find that your child perhaps has eaten some, give them something to drink. If it goes down okay with no problems swallowing, they're okay, and the Play-doh will eventually work its way out... naturally... you know what I mean.

I consider it a minor victory that the boy is 4 1/2 years old and I've only talked to the Poison Control center once...

Yes, folks, I am still here. Like others of you out there (and you know who you are), I supposed I've just been in a little bit of a funk lately. But nothing to be concerned about. I've got a lot of thoughts tumbling around in my head right now, that I'm trying to sort out into one... or two... or more... meaningful posts.

Soon...

On a happier note...

Here's some pretty stuff to look at... we took a jaunt to the local arboretum this weekend. Their butterfly house is open for the season, and I snapped these lovely (I think!) pics...

Sometimes, enough is enough...

I'm sure you were hoping for stories of the weird-in-laws-picnic when you stopped by, but more on that later.

Pax Romano has posted some stunning photos of a stunning exhibit on the personal cost of the Iraq war here that I feel you must check out. Normally I try to keep things quite light and airy here, but images such as these... and talking this weekend to the father of a good friend from high school, whose son (my friend's younger brother) is on his third tour over there, watching this man who served in Vietnam (so he knows how bad it gets) cry as he tells me about the latest he's heard from his son... these things make me pause.

There is nothing anyone can or will ever say that will make me support what the pathetic waste of space that currently occupies the Oval Office has done; HALLELUJAH that we only have to continue to endure him for a short time. We impeached Bill Clinton for getting a blow job while on the job. A good decision on his part? No. Do I condone his behavior? Absolutely not, and here's why: 1) He's married (although a sham-marriage it may be, they're still legally bound) and 2) Right or wrong, I hold the leader of our country to a little bit higher standard, as I feel he (or she) should be an example for the people he's (or she's) leading. But a little slap and tickle seems tame to what's happened these last 7 1/2 years. Bush used the patriotism felt by so many after 9/11 to further his own agenda, plain and simple, and look where it's gotten us. This isn't a war on terrorism, this is a war to finish what his father started back in the 80's... and if you support it, shame on you.

Bring our boys home...

Have a safe and happy holiday. Don't lose any fingers or toes and don't put an eye out shooting off fireworks. And pray for our troops, that this madness will end soon and they'll com HOME.

Pollen is my enemy. I have been miserable all-week-long.

Yet I have continued to exercise. It hasn't been quite as vigorous as it normally is, but I've done it so I don't get out of the habit. I think I should get extra points for that, for whoever's keeping track.

Today we will go to the annual husband's-side-of-the-family 4th of July picnic. Even my father-in-law thinks these folks are weird, and it's his nieces that organize the whole thing.

Should be a good time!

I'm somewhat sad about the fact that I haven't had a good story about my in-laws for a while. Or about Right-Wing-Conservative-Girl, but I haven't spoken to her much lately (which isn't neccessarily a bad thing).

The exercising is still going well, although I was completely un-inspired by my treadmill yesterday, but pushed myself and did 30 minutes. Today I did my (now) usual 60 minutes, so I'm proud of that. I've been listening a lot to Lenny Kravits during the recent workouts. No idea where this came from, but for your listening pleasure:



We had dinner with the in-laws tonight, and they seemed a little taken aback when I said I was skipping dessert. The husband skipped dessert, also (after being told by his dad {my father-in-law} one day last week that he was really getting fat and needed to start losing weight). It was amusing to see the looks on their faces at that.

Pay it Forward...

A friend who posts on Xanga (and who comments here as Just Me - I'd link her here but she's had stalker issues and prefers to keep things private) posted this challenge on her blog. I agreed to participate, so I'm posting it here -

The principle (if you’ve never heard of PIF) : Here are the rules: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange, and who make the same pledge on their own blogs. I have an idea of what the gift will be, and you'll receive it within a month. You have to be willing to send me your mailing address to participate - if you're game, leave a comment and send me an e-mail with your address!

I ate a candy bar today, and I'm trying not to kick myself in the ass too much about it... slightly impossible, though, as I'm saddled with the guilt of a good Catholic (even though I'm Presbyterian).

I blame it on my boss.

She returned to work Monday from a 10 day trip to Ireland (she sucks). She brought back a gift each for my co-worker and I, a hand-made chocolate bar from some fabulous chocolatier in Dublin - what the hell?!? It lasted a day and a half on my desk before the 'I'll only have a small piece...' crap started... 5 minutes later, it was gone.

I just finished an hour on the treadmill to (try to) make up for it.

I remain cautiously optimistic that I can do this on my own, without having the bypass surgery. I was just reading some inspirational stories yesterday of women my age, older, and younger who have lost the same amount of or more weight than I need to lose, and did it on their own. If they can do it, I can too. I've decided that the only proper way to do this is to give myself some good incentive... after all, when you've got (clears throat to cover up actual number) pounds to lose, you need something really good to look forward to at the end...

I've spent quite a bit of time the last few days here, perusing their offerings, and think I've finally landed on this, if I can take off this - okay, I'll say it - 200 lbs on my own. If achieved, and provided they still offer it, I'll order this to be worn on the middle finger of my right hand - won't that be fabulous?

Yes, it's a decent chunk of change... but I'm worth it.

For Lori

Ah, memories...

And while searching for a picture of the Stay-Puft marshmallow man, I ran across this:

... which is just f-ing scary...

Cool foto editing

I wish I could take credit for manipulating the photo below. I found online a tutorial that walks through the steps to do something similar with Adobe Photoshop Elements, but I got to step two and decided it was too involved and I didn't have time. I'm all about instant gratification, you know.





So after some hunting, I found Foto Flexer. I have most of my pictures uploaded to Flickr (as evidenced by the photostream to the right), and Foto Flexer can connect right to your Flickr account. A few clicks of the mouse, and I was able to turn this

into the pop-art masterpiece you see below. I e-mailed the new image to myself to download into my picture files, and there you have it.

Of note: Foto Flexer does give the option to upload pictures right from your computer, without connecting to a Flickr, et al, account, but I was not able to get this to work.

Happy foto editing - be sure to post your results!

The job interview went very well, and, in fact, he has another one this coming Tuesday.



I become more and more obsessed with my digital camera and the endless editing possibilites that come with photo editing programs each day...



Hope you all are having a great Sunday!

The husband has a job interview in exactly 54 minutes (which would be 2:00 pm, EST). One of his professors has been passing on job postings to his class these last few weeks (classes don't end for another two weeks, actually).

This is his first job interview in almost 12 years.

I think I might throw up...

How freaked out should I be that the boy has started referring to himself in the third person? Say, on a scale of 1 - 10?

Memorial Day

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Well THIS was certainly unexpected...

After much, much, much thought and consideration, after much talking to my doctor and talking to a surgeon, and looking at things on the internet, and all of that...

I have made the final decision to have the gastric bypass surgery.

I know, I know... it's a scary prospect, and their are risks involved, and practically everyone has a friend who has a relative that had the surgery and ended up dying for one reason or another. I appreciate the concern, but quite frankly I take a bigger risk driving on I-75 southboung through downtown Dayton every morning on my way to work than I do with having this surgery.

Believe me, this is not a decision I have made lightly. I'm sure many of you recall what I have now come to think of as my fat manifesto that I posted here in December '06. I truly never thought I would ever consider something like this... but I have to face reality. I am 38 years old, and I have 180 - 200 lbs to lose (I can't believe I just typed that number here...). I have tried it 'on my own', and obviously haven't gotten very far.

I also can't ignore it when I read things like this and this. I would qualify for the LapBand procedure, but for people with type II diabetes, the positive results are much greater with the gastric bypass than with the LapBand.

So there you have it. I'm sure there will be more posting to come on this, and I walk through the steps to meet the qualifications so that my insurance will cover this. Oh what a fun ride this will be...

Saturday at the farm

We smelled like a barn when we got home, but we sure had a great time...

Okay, I'm over it now.

 

Mostly.

 

Maybe not.