Preschool Week Two

Preschool week two turned out to be a little harder and less preschool-y than the first.

On Monday, I nearly made myself sick with eggs. I had Audrey try scrambled, fried and hard boiled eggs. She liked the first two, but really wasn't amused about the hard boiled. I ended up eating all the leftovers.

Anyone who knows at least a little of my history is aware that eggs are my kryptonite... and I don't mean that in the way that most people do: that it is my weakness and I will eat it until I explode. No, Superman avoided kryptonite because it turned him into a weak, pitiful creature that couldn't accomplish anything. He didn't eat it or go on long walks with it... or watch movies about it until 3 a.m. That's me and eggs. They make me sick. I can usually eat one or two fried eggs a week... and only after I work out... and only because I read somewhere that eating protein will help me lose weight... (and because I get to eat bacon right after.)

(This, of course, does not imply that I am super in any way until I eat eggs... Or does it?)

Before Audrey tried the hard boiled egg, I showed her that a hard boiled egg will sink in tap water. I started to spoon large amounts of salt into the cup of water with the egg. She was thrilled when she found that the egg was starting to float. (So was I... I was secretly worried that it wouldn't work.) Ben and Gabe were impressed too. Success! To Audrey: Science = Good! Eating the hard boiled egg after = yuck!

We read a book called Chickens aren't the Only Ones. It talks about all the different kinds of animals that lay eggs. The pictures were colorful and engaging. Overall, a cute book that Audrey actually liked looking at.

Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras.
I had a lot of fun stuff planned for this day. This was yet another day that didn't quite turn out the way I planned.
To celebrate Shrove Tuesday, I made pancakes from scratch. Audrey and Henry both ate with serious gusto. Even I ate a few.

Audrey was really tired by the time we were done with lunch and ended up taking a nap. So the Mardi Gras mask craft project is heading for the storage bin where it will (hopefully) be remembered and taken out next year. We ended the day right, though, and had my mother's fabulous Jambalaya for dinner! YUM!


We skipped over Wednesday altogether. Both the kids were sick and had naps in the afternoon. My scheduled playdate with my dear sister and her kids was cancelled because they were all sick too. Overall, a quiet day.

Audrey missed her preschool group on Thursday due to sickness. She was getting better but I didn't want to risk getting the other kids sick. She was well enough to not need a nap in the afternoon and so we looked at my faerie book which details all the different types of faeries and I gave her a cute fairy coloring page which she quickly shunned in favor of her afternoon educational programming.


We went up to Salt Lake on Friday and let the kids run around and play at Discovery Gateway which is a hands-on children's museum. This is the second time we've gone and I DO have pictures which I will post as soon as I stop being lazy. The kids love going and get to expend a ton of energy. Audrey usually talks about going back for several days after. We usually have to threaten her with never going again if she doesn't stop asking to go every fifteen minutes. Audrey calls the place "Bees" because they have bee and beehive decorations everywhere.


On Saturday, we went to the park and fed the ducks. It was a beautiful day and the kids didn't even need their jackets. I suppose that is where I became naive and imagined that the rest of the spring would be exactly like that.

The snow today is laughing at me. I can just tell.

How would you like your baked potato?

With or without a little piece of Idaho?


Today is the second day of my new calorie counting die with a t. It might actually be considered a life-change but that might be too optimistic. I started the day off well: A banana-peach smoothie for breakfast which totaled a whopping 275 calories. Yay me! No wonder I was starving by the time Ben came home from school at 11:15.

One of the first things he asked me was, "So, when's your cheat day?"

"Uh... since I only just started this yesterday, I haven't really given much thought to a cheat day."

"Oh," short pause, "So, where do you want to go for lunch? Barty's Lard Cafeteria or Golden Corral?"

"Are those my only choices?"

"Well, I was going to mention The Cellulite Cafe but they're a little pricey."

Indeed.

So, off to Golden Corral it was. The awesome thing about GC is that we can get plates of sample style food for the kids and we don't care if they don't eat every little thing. Plus, they're free until they're 4! Woohoo, free food!!

Henry had a food orgy. By the time he was done, there was food all over the floor, his lap, inside the plastic bib pocket, all over his face and in his hair. He had his first try of juice as well, which REALLY excited him and so happened his first ever juice-stache.

Audrey enjoyed herself too. She was a bit pickier than Henry, but since she was free, I couldn't make myself care too much. She loved the juice too.



I blew my calorie counting efforts completely. My British blood called out to me and most of my meal consisted of fish and chips. I can argue with myself that fish is really good for me and I don't get it as often as I should, but I really can't justify the batter dipped and deep fried qualities. Sitting here, I just realized that I didn't even get myself any fruit. Shame on me. My thighs will be bubbling all night long. By my figuring, the only thing that would bring me back down to my calorie allotment for the day would be about 4 pounds of celery.

After the kids and I had our plates in front of us and were happily filling our tums, Ben wandered out to forage for himself. He came back with a pile of french fries and the fixings for a super loaded baked potato.

"Filling your starch quota for the century?"

"Yep."

Ben peeled the foil off his baked potato and I noted distractedly that he brushed a little dirt off the tuber. Not too unusual unfortunately. I can't tell you how many times I have been disappointed by the quality of potato washing at restaurants. The skin, honestly, is my favorite part of the potato. Load it up with butter and it's a heart stopping, juicy, satisfying pile of cholesterol. It always saddens me when I have to leave the skin because I just can't work up the nerve to eat a little dirt.
The next time I looked up, there was a little mound of Idaho on his plate. Ew.

"Erm. I wouldn't eat that potato if I were you."

"I wasn't planning on it. Do you think I should ask for a manager?"

"Oh yeah. The whole batch could be like that."

A few minutes later, we had a manager who asked us politely what he could do for us.

Ben smiled ruefully, "I really wanted a baked potato today," and showed the manager his plate with the unappetizing, grey mound resting on it.

Since he was standing at my left shoulder, I didn't see his face, but I can imagine his smile turning to horror at the sight.

"That's just disgusting. I'm SO sorry!"

He went on to say that he loved to eat the potato skin himself and was horrified that one of their potatoes looked like that. He took Ben's potato with the promise that he'd be back shortly, warning as well that the whole batch would be tossed so it obviously wouldn't be replaced with a new one.

When he came back he notified us that the person who prepped the potatoes that day was getting a serious talking to and that it would never happen again. He apologized again, asked for our receipt and left again.

Ben opted for a nice, big, healthy-ish salad, which he was kind of bummed about. But, since his meal, and mine ended up being free, we didn't complain much. Woohoo! Free food!

Motivation

I have never enjoyed exercising and, for a large chunk of my life, I didn't need to. I was active in many other ways and so I didn't need to exercise. When I got married, I was a slightly ribby, but toned 125 pound thing that squeezed into a dress with a corset-like top. It's no wonder women back in the corset days fainted on a regular basis. Shortly after I got married, however, I found that reality was slapping me in the face... or thighs, belly and chin as the case may be. I will always blame this on my job, the temptation to eat out all the time and pure unadulterated joy. I was in love, and so were my fat cells.

I have tried on and off to exercise, nothing lasting any more than a few weeks at a stretch. I have tried on and off to eat better. I must say that this was easier to do... when you have no money, you don't eat out. My weight has bounced around a bit, depending on how active my job was or how well I was eating.

Then I had Audrey. She was a lovely (nearly) eight pound baby and yet, somehow, I had gained 50 pounds. I buckled down shortly after she was born and started exercising every morning. This lasted perhaps three months. I lost a little bit of weight but I never got down to my pre-pregnancy weight which was quite a bit higher than my pre-marriage weight. Just over a year later, I was finally getting my energy back and feeling ready to add fun activities into my days with Audrey. Trips to the zoo happened multiple times a week and playing with my little girl wasn't completely exhausting. Within months I was pregnant again... that stopped nearly all attempts at reasonable exertion.

So, here I am, nine months after Henry and finding myself a few pounds heavier than my post-Audrey, pre-Henry weight... If I keep having kids, I'll slowly die in an avalanche of cellulite. Anyway....

I have continued to exercise on and off the past nine months, but nothing consistent. I'm one of those people who needs a routine to stick to, or I'll forget or lose interest. So, here's my brilliant idea:

I've set up a little reward jar for myself. Ben and I made these cute little origami stars tonight.

Every time I exercise, I put a little star in my jar. Any time I want to reward myself for being good, I take two out, so I will need to consistently fill my jar in order to keep rewarding myself. Ben will be keeping me honest, ensuring that I don't "sneak" rewards. Once I get into a routine, I may not need the reward jar anymore since, as they say, the action reaps it's own rewards. I'll let you know when I hit my target weight. 36 pounds to go!

What have you done to shed the body clutter???