New! GIANT Latte Bar PONTS® value 1
Enjoy the decadent taste of this smooth, creamy coffee ice cream bar every time you eat one. Enjoy it even more knowing that the GIANT Latté Bar has only 90 calories, 1 gram of fat and 4 grams of fiber.

Look what I found this weekend at the grocery store!

They are oh, so delicious.

And only one point. I'm not really counting right now - but I really should be. No feeling guilty eating one of these.

And these could bring me motivation to get back on the counting.

All I need is a personal trainer, chef, motivator, instigator, mentor, encourager... I wonder how much a person like that would cost me?

Not to mention a warm spring day to start the motivation.

Labels: thoughts

This morning as I sit at my desk at work (yes I am at work - let's not tell anybody), I'm thinking about how much has gone on this week, and how much I have not been around lately to talk about all the many things that have been going on..

• Let me just start off by saying my son had his first bowl of cereal, sitting on a barstool that fits under our new counter, with real flatware and a real plastic bowl. The paper plates, plastic cups and flatware are put away. Our kitchen is back in working order.

• Well... let's just say the faucets and dishwasher run, and the oven and cooktop works. The household chef in the kitchen... well, she still has issues...

Perry's baseball team won their game last night 11-4 and they now advance to the Championship Game on Saturday evening. They have to beat the team on Saturday, and then turn around and beat them again on Sunday to be the winners of the Legacy Park tournament. If they lose on Saturday, then we are the second place winners. Either way, our team is made up of a bunch of winning 8 year olds. I have never been prouder of the team, and of Perry. He hit his first triple last night - a huge bomb over the left-fielder's head. Phil missed the game because of traveling for work, but thanks to the miracle of cell phones, it felt like he was there. He called after every inning and cheered him on from Chicago. This team has played their heart out this season and we are excited for them to reach the big games. I'll try and post pictures of the big game after this weekend is over.

• I have lots of major cleaning to do now that my house is back in working order. Every single inch of my home needs a housekeeper's magic touch... and that housekeeper would be moi. I plan on getting in back into shape starting tomorrow morning... or maybe afternoon. Who really knows... but my plan will be to have it lookin' good before I go back to work on Monday.
  

There is a new Starbuck's in town, and being the gal with the major addictive habit, I decided to pay it a visit this morning. It is lovely, clean, delightful, and beautiful. A new Starbuck's always makes me very happy... even if it is in a shadier part of town.

Happy Thursday -

Labels: thoughts

Remember in my last post where I talked about Perry writing a beautiful, handwritten note to his teacher that said...

"Mrs. Kennedy, you are the best teacher because we did math races on the chalkboard and they were so much fun. I also had fun having breakfast together. I know I'm going to be a 3rd grader, but I will always remember my 2nd grade year with you. "

So, today I walked out to get the mail and there was a small envelope tucked inside the bills and magazines, and I got very excited. I heart handwritten notes of all kinds so I always tear it open with anticipation to see who wrote to me, and what beautiful sentiments they had to say.

Imagine my surprise when I read this...

This is from a recent college graduate, folks. With a degree in business. From a large university here in Missouri.

That's all I get? Thank you for the card and gift?

And the weird thing was that we didn't even get him a gift. We gave him money. Not a lot of cash, but enough to buy about seven or eight latte's from my favorite obsession, or a couple of cases of beer for all the graduation parties he was most likely attending.

I know I'm mounting my high horse here, but please... I want more! Did you receive so many gifts and wads of money that you just couldn't keep them all straight so you sat down quickly to take care of the obligatory thank you notes so your parents didn't nag you anymore to get them done?

Did you forget you weren't texting or IM'ng, but writing an actual note?

And you just have to think his grandparents were waiting at the mailbox every day for their thank you note. I hope they received more heartfelt sentiments than we did.

Is the art of writing a descriptive, handwritten thank you note dead?

Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now, but I would still be interested in reading what you all have to say about this lost art. Leave me a comment and let me know if you think I'm being too hard on this young man, or do you think perhaps I should cut him some slack.

Labels: thoughts

Today is Perry's last day of 2nd grade. It seems like just yesterday he started kindergarten. I know that sounds so cliché, but it's true.

Today he made a card for his teacher, Mrs. Kennedy. I'd like to quote what he wrote to her...

"Mrs. Kennedy, you are the best teacher because we did math races on the chalkboard and they were so much fun. I also had fun having breakfast together. I know I'm going to be a 3rd grader, but I will always remember my 2nd grade year with you. "

It just fascinates me how he has learned to put his thoughts into words and then write them down. Thanks to a wonderful and caring teacher, he has learned an incredible amount of knowledge this year. I'm amazed daily by his "smartness."

He definitely takes after me his father.

I know that minute he walks out of his school today he will say "well, I'm a third grader."

And there will be the biggest grin on his face.

And tears in my eyes.

He's just growing up way too fast.

Happy Summer Perry!

Labels: thoughts

This weekend I went to a scrapbook mega-crop on a whim. A friend of mine told me her husband was sending her away to the crop and was there any way that I could come also. The crop was sold out, but at the last minute, I was told that they could fit me in, place me next to my friend, and crop to my heart's desire. And that is exactly what I did. We cropped together on Friday night from 4pm to midnight, and then again from noon to 5pm on Sunday. On Saturday, I cropped in the morning, while she cropped in the afternoon and evening, but I felt like it was such a productive and therapeutic weekend. It turns out that we have so very much in common, as well as the 8 year old boys who are the lights (and scrapbook pages) of our life.

This weekend's crop had the best free gift evah!

This is what we all happily toted home. You too, my friends, can order one here.


This is what Phil and Perry did while I was away on Saturday morning... talking football strategy with Coach Herm.

Notice the sharpie in Perry's hand? Like father, like son...





I got to hold the cutest little baby born in the past month this weekend. Isn't my niece Ainsley just beautiful?


My Starbucks was not serving coffee this morning. There was a boil order in the city where they are located and they could not run water through the coffee machine. Can you imagine how many sleepy-eyed, caffeine withdrawn people were completely bummed as they were walking out their door this morning. Believe me, I can. I was one of them. It was not good.

Sitting at Sonic today, my co-worker and good friend Janna exclaimed that I was SO resistant to change. Only because I did not order vanilla flavoring in my diet coke. "You have ordered diet coke plain every day for lunch for the past six years I've worked with you. Put some vanilla in your diet coke for goodness sake, and live a little why don't you." Well, my gosh golly Janna. How do you really feel?

One other thought from today... I read a book review in my fave pop-culture magazine that is delivered to my mailbox every Friday and it just really hit home with me, especially as I return to Weight Watchers tomorrow night after a 3-month hiatus. From the book Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata, the author makes a thought-provoking statement that...

Sometimes diets never work. For 2,000 years people have been told, "Eat less, exercise more. If that were enough we wouldn't have a single fat person in the world. But studies have shown there is a range of weights people can have, and as you get too low beyond what your body wants to be, your metabolism slows and the weight comes back. After initial weight loss, they hit a plateau and start backsliding - results that wouldn't surprise the many obesity researchers who believe body weight is inherited, much like height.

And then one scientist told Kolata... Lean people think they are
morally superior... but they're really just winners of the genetic
lottery.

Oh, how I wish I could be the winner of that lottery.

Which lottery would you rather win? The money lottery or the genetic lottery?

Do you feel as if thin people think they are morally superior.... hmmm....?

Thoughts for a Tuesday...

Labels: thoughts