Why people shouldn't say to me..."Maybe you should write a reflection paper about THAT??"

Colleen Jordan
Reese’s Reflection
4/14/2010

Since the 1920’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have long been a favorite treat of America’s everywhere. It all started as a simple mistake when someone dropped their chocolate bar into a jar of peanut butter… realized that chocolate and peanut butter were a perfect combination… and the United State’s candy market was forever changed! Today you can find Reese’s in its original form of a simple round piece of chocolate filled with peanut butter, two in a package, each in its own special brown paper cup. But it doesn’t end there! Today you can find Reese’s in LOTS of different forms all the way from Reese’s cereal to white chocolate covered Reese’s. All have their merits, but I firmly believe while that some fall short of the originals in the area of ratio of chocolate to peanut butter, others soar above and beyond, sending me into an almost orgasmic stupor of chocolate peanut butter joy.

I will start with the miniatures. Who doesn’t like mini? Even the WORD “mini” is adorable. The mini Reeses’s have a shiny gold wrapper… and still wear that special brown paper wrapper, in mini form of course. Another bonus about miniature Reese’s is that there are 5 of those little delights per serving. So you can eat more than one and not feel like a pig. If you are a “weight watcher,” each little Reese’s is only 1 point, easily fitting into anyone’s daily points range. Clearly the mini’s have many positive attributes… but we can’t all be perfect, and mini’s are no exception. While they shine in all those areas that I mentioned above… the ratio of peanut butter to chocolate is ALL WRONG. In order to keep that
trademarked Reese’s shape, they have to have a much higher ratio of chocolate to peanut butter as compared to the originals. This makes them far too chocolately… and leaves you wanting to raid the cabinets for a spoonful of peanut butter to offset all that chocolate. Not good. Especially not good for a “weight watcher” because one tablespoon of peanut butter is 5 whole points!

Let’s now compare the original round Reese’s to my personal favorite. The Reese’s Egg and the Reese’s Pumpkin (They are pretty much the same thing, just available at different seasons). Sweet Lord-of-Goodness. The Reese’s eggs and pumpkins far surpass the original shape with their perfect ratio of peanut butter to chocolate. Rather than fighting with each other over who will be the star of the show, they work together in harmony creating a symphony in your mouth. There is no other way to describe it. The only downside to these delicious delights is that you can only get them at Easter and Halloween. The rest of the year you must eat the other forms while silently yearning that it was spring… or fall. But then as winter is ending, you walk into your local convenience store, and shining like a beacon you see that yellow box of Reese’s Eggs and you KNOW that SPRING HAS ARRIVED! And all is good.

The weekend

If we pretend that I stayed on the WW plan all weekend and didn't eat a bazillion points worth of food... and that I didn't just grate the skin off my middle finger with the cheese grater, it's been a great weekend! Saturday we celebrated Sean's birthday. We also went to tumbling and Sean had a friend over to play, for the first time EVER. It went great and there will be lots more of that now that we have the first one under our belt.

This morning I had to go and take some photos for work of people volunteering for our EAAZ Fix program that helps people with small home repairs in order to help them stay in their homes longer. After that I took Sean to the skate park for a couple hours. He is getting so much better every time we go. I am glad he is into something that's fun to watch and not something like.... fencing... or chess. ;-)

Strategies I coulda woulda shoulda used this weekend....

• Made Sean cupcakes that I didn't like... like yellow funfetti.  Then I would not have eaten spice cake batter and 2 cupcakes.
• Eaten breakfast before heading out this morning.  Then I wouldn't have grabbed a bag of Salt n Vinegar chips at Irving to munch while watching Sean skate.
• Not made that second batch of chex mix when we blew through the first one at Sean's party.

Over the hump? Maybe

Things are going scary-good with Weight Watchers. It's almost to freakin' easy. I am still thinking that maybe as a result of some drama in my life, I worked through some emotional baggage that I have been carrying around that I won't be discussing here. (Geesh, I do have a filter...Who knew!!??) Loves me a little drama!!

I know that I need to add exercise into the mix soon... the issue for me to get past is finding the time. No.. I am not so busy that I actually don't have time to exercise.... that is the most bullshit excuse that I hear anyone use. I seriously want to punch people in the face when they say "I don't really have time to ---whatever---." Pet Peeve. Big One. Nobody is literally running around from morning til dawn and NEVER has any down time where they read, watch tv, facebook.... whatever. And if there is anyone out there like that.... then you are an idiot when it comes to time management and you have larger issues that need addressing.  So yeah, I need to make the choice to use some of my time exercising.  I REALLY want a bike.  I want that bike up there.  I want it bad.  And it will be mine. Oh yes.... it WILL be mine!

Sk8 Park

Today was Sean's 2nd time getting out on his board. He is still pretty timid, but I'm sure he'll be bruising and braking himself up in no time ;-) He REALLY loves it and I love going to watch all the kids... and photographing them is a blast! I LOVE me some action shots!!

While the language at the skate park is not exactly the best.... the kids are all pretty nice and very willing to help out the little budding shredders. Wait... I think shredders are surfers... LOL.... whatevs, you get the point.

Diet in my brain.

Yeah YEAH Yeah... it's not a "diet" ....it's a LIFESTYLE CHANGE. BULLSHIT! I am counting points/calories. Diet. I am keeping track of every morsel that enters my mouth. Diet. I am overly emotional and easily pissed off. Diet.

So yeah.  It was a bad diet day.  I knew it would be a rough day (school days always are, I have to drive RIGHT BY McDs AND DQ on the way to class, AND I have 1.5 hours to kill every school day before class) and planned well to prevent myself from cheating.  What I didn't plan ahead for was the fact that my dealing with food issues, which are ultimately related to every issue that I have, were bound to come out sideways.  So basically I am one big, raw nerve, and it sucks.  I guess this is the stuff that I have to learn to deal with if I ever want to be "normal."

So yeah... today I acted a little nutty.  And I wanted to eat many treats.  I even looked up how many points a small DQ cone w/rainbow sprinkles has (5). I easily could have fit it into my daily points, I instead stopped at Walgreens and got a 0 calorie Vitamin water because I knew I wanted one last piece of my ice cream b'day cake after class.  Also because I knew that I didn't want it because my stomach was hungry. I wanted it because for that 5 minutes of licking the yummy sprinkles off that smooth, cold, sweet vanilla soft serve, and then crunching on that cone full of aforementioned sweet, cold deliciousness, everything would be right in the world, for 5 minutes.  Not worth it.

Ended the day with 2 points to spare though.  So I'll consider myself VICTORIOUS!!

Official day 1-Weight Watchers

Yeah Yeah... so I officially re-joined on Thursday, but today was my REAL starting day. I am ON like Donkey Kong!! I am trying to really pay attention to my thoughts this time around and when and WHY I want to be an oinker.

Today I had very few oink feelings. I think it helps that John at work totally doubts my resolve and has started a chart counting down to my failure. I'll show that fucker.

My only moment where I got a little food thought obsessed was when I was leaving work. When quitting time starts to loom, for some reason I immediately go straight to, "Hmmmm.... what can I eat when I get home? Should I stop and get something yummy? Maybe I should start the WW tomorrow and stop and buy some cheez its... sour patch kids.... and HEY.... I still have ICE CREAM CAKE at home....." That is the crap I need to get past. FYI... I DID have a piece of ice cream cake, but I am still well within today's points!!

Updates N Stuff

Jessi update... all tests came back normal.  Which leaves us, well... nowhere.  The doc said that the celiac test is not very reliable, so it doesn't mean she doesn't have it. (SO what was the freakin' point of the test, HUH!!?) The doc prescribed a drug to try that we will not be trying for multiple reasons.  Bottom line, Jessi feels better when she does not eat gluten.  So it's up to Jessi to try and stay away from it, no matter what her "diagnosis" is.

Sean update... he says he wants to play Little League again.  We are trying to remind him that he HATED it and quit.  He swears he wants to do it and agreed that he won't quit.   Updates to follow.

Rick update... Well... check his blog for that!


Colleen update...  I re-joined Weight Watchers.  Again.  I haven't done much a past month or so to work on weight loss, and I need to jump back into it.  I have been able to keep off everything I have lost, so if I would just keep freakin' losing, then I would be winna winna chicken dinna!!  I am taking 2 classes this semester, one I love, one I HATE.  I just registered for next semester and both of my classes I am taking with NICOLE!!  LOVES IT!!!  After that I only need one more class before I student teach, but I have to take 2 classes to be considered part-time, so I will have to take an extra class.  After that I have to do student teaching, which is terrifying because I will have to quit my job to do it.  What if there are no teaching jobs available when I finish?  What if I don't like teaching and I have left a job that I DO like?  How will I leave that job and all the people that I love seeing every day?  :-(  WHAT WAS I THINKING!!??? 

....wow... went a little mental there.  Welcome to my world.

Happy Birthday to ME!!

I am in LOOOOOVE with my birthday present from my hubby!! As most of you know... I am a tad obsessed with music. I must have it going pretty much non-stop to be a happy girl. I have music for every mood and every whim. I have work music and car music, cleaning music and dancin' music!

What I DIDN'T have was a good source of music in my bedroom!! And I missed it every morning while I was getting ready! A LOT! I looked at Bose speakers to just plug my mp3/phone into, but sometimes I like the radio in the morning. One of my friends has a GREAT little Cambridge Soundworks system that has great sound. Our computer speakers/subwoofer are also Cambrige and we have had them for around 10 years and the sound is STILL amazing!! So I checked out what they had for shelf systems and found a perfect system that I can plug my mp3 player in for my tunes, or listen to the radio, AND it's a fancy schmancy alarm clock to boot. (Not that I have ever needed or used an alarm clock but that is a blog for another day!)

Springtime.... maybe

Our yard is awash with brown grass, mud, and dog shit.  YAY!  Spring has arrived!!  The "big debate" everyone seems to be having these days is... "Do you think there will be one more big storm???"  I was voting yes, but when I heard the birds singing while I got ready today, I have changed my vote.  This has been a VERY weird winter.  I think we paid our snow plow guy about 1/4 of what we paid him last year and the kids were able to go sledding ONCE.  ONCE.  I said... ONCE!  We are in Maine... snow gear is written into all of our budgets because it's a GIVEN that there will be lots of snow play.  Maybe when this climate change is over Maine will be the new Florida... that would be FANTASTIC!! 

The bottom of her stomach.

  One thing that we learned on our vacation (other than those mentioned previously about tiny swimsuits on fat people) is that it's time to get down to the business of trying to figure out what Jessi's freakin' problem is ;-)  Jessi has always had stomach issues, a nervous stomach, whatever...  We even had her tested when she was 5 or so for acid reflux or other stomach ailment.  Tests were all negative and the doctor just said that she must just have a nervous stomach.  So we have always just lived with Jessi complaining about an upset stomach... or not complaining about it and just living with it.

When we were on vacation her stomach issues where in our face all the time.  Since we were with her 24/7, we could see that it's not just a 'nervous' thing or an emotional thing, she really does often not feel well after eating.  I believe she also was seasick, but it was even before we stepped onto the boat that we were seeing her not feeling well.

Since the cruise, she has been watching what she eats and how she feels afterwards.  Omelette with cheese and bacon for breakfast... felt great til lunch when she had wheat thins, cheese, and an apple.  All week long she has felt great after eating meals and snacks with only meats, cheeses, fruits and veggies.  She felt yucky after quesadillas, having a cookie, or a bowl of cereal.  She is pretty bummed about the whole thing and isn't really eating much at all.

SO... March 19th we will be seeing the doctor to try to get to the bottom of it.  My gut and my research has me leaning towards Celiac disease, which will suck for her, but it will be good to know exactly what makes her feel like crud.  In the meantime I am having her keep a food journal with how she feels afterwards, hopefully that will help the doctor to come up with a diagnosis in less than 648 visits ;-)

Our cruise slideshow... with captions of course.

the "Where's Ricky" ones are mixed in too... so you get to enjoy those again as well ;-)  If you missed that segment over on FB... take a stroll on over to flickr to get those captions ;)

Glad we brought the mini laptop... great boredom buster!!

Grand Cayman (yesterday)

Well the Carnival Excursion process left much to be desired.  We were told to meet in the Paris lounge at nine,… there was like nobody there.  Then a carnival guy came and told us to go down to level 3, well…. The general line for people not going on excursions started at level 3 and went all the way up the stairs to level 6 or 7,  So we got in line but that felt wrong because we knew we were supposed to leave.  So I went to guest services and they said we were supposed to bypass the line and just go down.  Would have been nice to know that.  We finally got into the boat to the island were a guy was holding up a sign for our “Turtles Deluxe” excursion.  He introduced himself and told us he’d be our guide for the day.  He then drove us about 15 yards up the road to a bus, told us to get on it, and we never saw him again.

The bus took us to the turtle place, where apparently we were just supposed to join in on a general tour group for a little info about turtles, then that guy pretty much said ‘check ya later, don’t miss your bus.” So again we were lost on what we were supposed to do.  We just went with it and had a great time checking out the aviary and snorkeling.  Lunch came with the tour and incuded cheeseburgers only, unless you wanted to pay more and I was done “paying more” for the moment.  So we all enjoyed cheeseburgers.

We took the bus back to the port and waited in the half-mile long line to get back to the bus.

I enjoyed the turtle farm, Sean LOVED it.  Jessi is a teenager, so I know she liked it, but you’ll never hear her say it.  Rick… well I guess you’d have to ask him. What I am not sure about is if I liked the turtle farm enough to cancel out the coming and going shenanigans.  I do know that probably like the cruise, this was a once-in-a-lifetime-glad-I-did-it-but-once-was-enough-kind-of-thing.

Just because CAN... doesn't mean you SHOULD

Just because you can buy a bikini in your size… doesn’t mean you should wear one.

Just because you can start drinking at 6am… doesn’t mean you should.

Just because you can eat 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 3 dinners and a midnight snack… doesn’t mean you should.

I could go on.  ;-)

We are have a great time.  Today is Grand Cayman day and I am up before everyone else, so figured I’d type a bit.

Tampa was nice.  OK… I wouldn’t say NICE, it’s actually pretty tacky and kinda Ghetto.  But we had a great time there.  Loves me some Waffle House and Cheesecake Factory.  The spicy thai noodles in peanut sauce at the Cheesecake Factory will be my new unrequited love since there is not one anywhere near us.

The cruise so far has been great.  I am having a BLAST, but I have to say that I am not completely sold on it.  Thinkin’ it’s maybe a “gotta do it once in your life” thing. There is a couple at our dinner table that is already on their 2nd cruise this year and all I could think was “WHY???”  There are SO MANY other things to see and do in the world!!

I LOVE that I am not seasick at all.  I was worried about that.  I also love Rum.  A lot.  All day long.  That is all.

"Ummm.... Mommy....

When we go snorkeling....  do we have to jump off the edge of the cruise ship all the way down? Or is there a ramp or something?"

It's gonna be a great week!!  :-)

Not even 7am... on a Sunday!

But I am up! All night long I kept having dreams about the cruise and then I would wake up all excited and thoughts racing.

One of the dreams was not a good one... I dreamed the cruise left from Iraq and I missed the boat but everyone else was on it. So some lady offered me to stay at her place, but at her entrance there were all kinds of huge hairy spiders. Then, these other weird bugs like leeches got on me and I started freaking out... so they brought me to the town square to judge me.... then I woke up. I think that dream was related to my seeing 'Dear John' last night. When he was in Iraq, all I could think about was that picture that floats around the internet of that giant spider.  All the dreams was also because I had too much caffeine yesterday.  I hate when I do that, I know better!



Anyhoo... lots to get done today! It's Rick's last day off before we leave and I want the house to be in great shape for our fantastic house/dog sitter!!

And as the cheering season ends....

...so does the drama. Wait.... who am I kidding!? I am the mother of a 14-year-old girl there IS no end to drama!!


I will say though...  I am SO glad that Jessi has such a great head on her shoulders that she (for the most part) managed to stay out of the cat-fighting  that went on this year between the girls... and sometimes even the moms.  It was freakin' shenanigans.  I don't even know how many times I thought to myself, "Is this really happening right now?"  or  "Oh NO SHE DIDN'T!!??"  or "Am I REALLY allowing myself to get drawn in to a full-on battle about CHEER CURLS!?" 


I really hope that if they are all together cheering for the next 4 years, they learn how to work together because you can't win when you are not really a team. 


So cheering is pretty much done... and the little miss is already on to some real drama...  auditions for the school play on Wednesday.

Challenges

We all have them, I know.  Here are some of mine right now....

-Change.  It's a biggie for me.  New Year, new semester, new classes, changes at work.   Especially work.   I have always kept work at arms length.  I think a big part of it is that I go so invested in my job at Acadia.... then got fired... and was absolutely devastated. So the logical defense to that is to not get too invested in my job.... which has never been a problem until recently.  Lately, that place seems to be sucking me in... making me interested... making me actually care about what I am doing.  I pretty much hate that. 

-The cruise.  I know it's going to be fun and exciting, but it's also a bit of a stressor.  I have never been on a cruise... it's a lot of money.... there are a lot of preparations...what if I get sea sick?.... what if I hate it?.... what if RICK hates it?  The dogs were also a worry, but we were fortunate enough to have a good friend agree to house sit while we are gone and I am SO GRATEFUL!!  If you have followed my life for any length of time (or are able to use google and find the old blog/ newsgroup entries ;-)  ), you know that past vacations with Rick and I have not exactly been peachy.  My man rocks my world... my LOCAL world.  Once we are out of Maine... often the only rock that is involved is the one I want to hit him with.  He is exctied though and swears that it's going to be a blast, so I am trying very hard to put my rose-colored blinders on and pretend right along with him.

-People.  People are always a challenge.  Some people are much more challenging to deal with than others and I am trying to figure out if that means that I am supposed to change who _I_ am to accommodate to them or if I "am what I am" to quote a little Popeye.

-Animals.  There are too damn many of them.  In the world causing me to crash into them on dark roads at night, and in my house causing it to perpetually smell like dog and then there is the HAIR issue.  I love Sampson and am glad he is enjoying his life here... but DAMN.... remember when we got him more than a year and a half ago and expected him to not even live 6 months??  At this rate we will be adding him to our wills!! 

I guess that's enough whining for the night.  The girls (ALWAYS PLURAL even though biologically it should be single) are home from the school dance and it's about to get nutty around here.

Mrs

Welcome to 2010

Ok it's a little late for a New Year's Blog, but I don't care.  I went and checked last years blog to see what my goals were and see how I did.   I did pretty well!

----20 pounds more gone... check.  That's a total of 40 since October 2008.  So it's a road road of progress, but at least it's a road going in the right direction.  I would like it to be faster, but at the same time, I like that I am plugging slowly away at it. and learning to maintain my loss WHILE I lose.  Same goal for 2010... another 20 pounds at least.... but I really am planning on more.----

Adult ed class... Well... I think I can check off that one too since I am now going back to school to get my teaching certification.  For 2010, I'll keep working on that.  The beginning of 2011 will be when I am supposed to start student teaching.  Not sure what I plan to do about that one yet. I am liking my job at the agency a lot more since the change in management in my department.

Volunteer somewhere.... not-so-much.  I am going back to school!  I don't have time for that shizz.  In it;s place though, I am making a bigger effort to do stuff with the kids. (I think it's partly because I have a little 'mommy guilt' for taking classes 2 days a week and basically only seeing them to tuck them in on the days I have class.)  Lots of trips to the Y for tumbling, exercise, skateboarding...... you name it.  I love that we took the plunge and got a membership.  If I do start volunteering anytime soon, I think it would be there.


Other goals....
-clean out the basement, put in stairs and fix the drainage issue!!!
-get a better hold of our finances... we are too loosey goosey in that department!!

Yikes!! NO blog since December 5th!!

I guess December was either a busy month, or a boring month with nothing to blog about. Thinkin' it was the former.

I finished up my first semester of teacher cert classes and am very much enjoying my winter break. Jan 18th I start back up again. Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester. I am taking "Methods in Reading" (which I heard was brutal with a scatterbrained teacher and a lot of work), and "Classroom Management" (which I heard was a piece of cake). Can't say I am looking forward to any of it. Taking classes, working full-time, having a kid in sports, and still trying to keep the house in order and keep up a fitness regimen is not easy-peasy lemon squeezy.

The holidays were great! Mom came for a very nice visit. It was short and left us wanting more, which was very nice. We had a blast every evening and I think Christmas Eve Margarita's will have to be a new tradition!

The kids got a Flip Video camera from Santa and the whole family is having fun with that.



I think that's enough for now... maybe a New Year's Blog later or sometime this week.

Mario Kart calls!!!!!