The Gray Race and some other stuff
For the past few months I’ve been bemoaning the fact that my library, or none of the libraries it trades with, has Bad Religion’s album The Gray Race. I even told Joe today, “that’s it, I’m just going to order it from Amazon.com” and then a little later it occurred to me that I made a copy of it before I moved out when my ex and I broke up eight years ago. Can you say duh? I got home from work, ripped the copy, and added it to my iPod. Now I can enjoy the best Bad Religion album ever at work tomorrow.
I’ve been using the Wii Fit almost daily for two weeks now and I like it. I only get about 15 minutes of exercise during each use, but I’m also using the elliptical machine for 20 minutes while watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother, so for now that’s enough. I enjoy teasing Joe because when it measures him, this cute voice says, “that’s overweight”. It’s funny because he’s really not overweight as far as I’m concerned. But I guess he’s just over the normal BMI for his weight and height. I’m in the normal range but I definitely have some excess pudge to tone. We had the kids weigh themselves too and let’s just say the Wii was not kind. Unfortunately that’s typical for kids today and it’s rather sad.
We’re trying to be better role models when the kids are here with us, as small of a percentage of their time that may be. Saturday after we went garage sale hunting, we went to the park and the boys played catch while I helped the girl practice tennis. She wants to try out at school but I don’t think they are going to take her unless she takes real lessons. Most of the time she just stood there expecting the ball to come to her. Granted, I was aiming for her to allow her to practice returning the ball, but I explained to her she needs to run for the ball and move back if it’s too high or forward if it’s coming short. She was doing better by the time we were done but she has a long way to go. I do give Joe’s kids credit - they are way more into extra-curricular activities than I ever was at their age. The only problem is they are bit over-confident in their abilities and don’t necessarily want to put in the work it requires to follow through with whatever activity they are interested in. So that’s something they need to work on.
Tonight I tried a new recipe - Chicken Parm Meatball Subs. They came out much better than I was expecting! I was too hungry to photograph the evidence so you’ll just have to trust me. I burned the first two rolls under the broiler so I’ll need to pick up more so we can finish the leftovers tomorrow.
Speaking of leftovers, yesterday we took the kids to Boston Market for lunch to celebrate Joe’s birthday before taking the kids home. Can you believe it cost $28 for the four of us to eat, and that was with a $5 coupon? At least the food is pretty healthy, even more so since the kids had to get one veggie from their two sides. The boy wanted mac & cheese and mashed potatoes so he wasn’t too happy about that but he got over it. The plan was for us to go to Pepe’s for dinner after dropping them off since it’s right by their house, but their mom called about an hour before we were going to leave to say she was in the area and could pick them up. So we ended up at Red Lobster instead. It’s been a long time since we’ve eaten there and I only ate half my dinner and took the other half for lunch today. Plus I had grilled chicken instead of deep fried shrimp.
I started writing this post earlier but a big storm rolled in so we shut down our computers and played on our DS for awhile. We’ve gotten two new games recently - Left Brain, Right Brain and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? The Left Brian Right Brain one is more like Left Hand Right Hand since that’s all it seems to be testing. My left arm actually hurts from using that hand way more often than I normally do.
Going to go weigh myself on the Wii Fit and then read before bed. I’ve been good getting to sleep by 10 pm every night and getting a solid seven hours of sleep. That with my daily dose of Vitamin D, more exercise, and eating better has made my stress levels quite low. Nothing seems to get me really fired up lately which is nice.
No commentsSapphire
Sunday we went to the mall so I could look for a bathing suit. Yes, I know it’s late in the season. In fact, it’s too late, as I could not find anything. Joe liked the bikini I tried on but I felt like I was falling out all over. Not a good feeling, actually, so I nixed that.
One of the things we did accomplish was getting my rings cleaned, as we’re required to do so every six months by the jeweler in order to qualify for the warranty.
While the lady was cleaning my rings we walked around looking at all the pretty sparkly things. One necklace in particular caught my eye. Just for the hell of it I asked the woman how much it was and she pulled it out so I could try it on. She also told me she’d knock $30 off the price and re-size the chain for free. Feel free to laugh at my naivete, because I asked her what the stones were. “Sapphires”, she replied. My not-usually-spontaneous-when-spending-money husband told me I should get it, so once I got over thinking he was joking, I did. Ironic that my hubby buys me jewelry when it’s his birthday this weekend. He’s way too good to me.
I’m pretty psyched to have a necklace with real gemstones in it. The event required a trip to New York & Company this evening, after picking up my re-sized necklace. I needed something blue to match and found a super soft sweater that I got 20% off as I had just gotten a coupon in the mail today. Talk about impeccable timing! In addition, I got two tops that were seriously discounted; one was only $5.99 when it was marked $26.50. To think I almost put it back on the rack!
1 commentButterflies and the Great Outdoors
We’ve been waiting for a weekend with nice weather and it finally arrived, so we visited Peck Farm Park in Geneva, Illinois. They have an awesome outdoor butterfly house which is open during the Summer.
Since we got there right when it opened, we had the whole place to ourselves. There were butterflies all over the place and we got lots of great photos. It was much more enjoyable than fighting the crowds at Brookfield Zoo.
In addition to butterflies, the park has gardens full of beautiful flowers. I predict we’ll be visiting this place again.
After we ran out of things to photograph, we drove to Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles and had a picnic lunch by the Fox River, then walked around for a bit. In all, a nice relaxing morning and early afternoon.
Peck Farm Park photos @ Flickr
3 commentsStories of The Cure
Awhile back one of the Cure fan sites I visit was asking for submissions from fans on how they got into The Cure. I submitted mine and quickly forgot about it.
Today the fan site linked to a blog where everyone’s stories have been posted. It’s called Secrets - The Cure Fan Special. Here’s my story, but be sure to check them all out!
2 commentsI’m 32 years old and I’ve been into The Cure since I was 15. I remember the very first time I ever heard a Cure song - My high school boyfriend and I were at the local Wendy’s and he asked me to listen to Just Like Heaven. I recall not being entirely thrilled with it, but he insisted I borrow Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. I agreed to give it a chance and took it home. It quickly grew on me and in no time I was completely obsessed with this brilliant band. My boyfriend made a few copies of his cassettes while I slowly built my own collection by asking all my relatives to buy me nothing but Cure albums for Christmas and my birthday.
I still remember the thrill of getting a new-to-me album and the shivers I’d get from a particularly engaging song (such as Mixed Up’s version of A Forest). I currently own all their albums (on cd now, of course), as well as some bootlegs and collectible vinyl, and I’ve seen them four times in concert so far (once at Wembley Arena in England which was a dream come true). Even after all these years they are my #1 favorite band and I can’t foresee that ever changing. That being said, I’m not a blind fan - I feel some of their albums are weak (Wild Mood Swings) while others are quite solid (Faith). I will always have a soft spot for their earlier work, although I’m really looking forward to their new album as well as seeing them live next month in Chicago.
(From: Nicole, USA)
All biked out
The weather cleared up in the afternoon so I got the bright idea to take our bikes out. We biked from our house to the park (1.5 miles each way) and rode around the park’s bike path (another 1.5 miles). A lot of terrain was up-hill so I’d say we got a good workout. I’m pooped and am going upstairs to read before bed.
No comments