Best intentions

Well, I had planned to tell you guys today about some lemon bars I made over the weekend.  But, as always seems to happen, suddenly it’s 9:55 on Sunday night and I’ve barely had a minute to spare and it’s time for bed.

I would say check back tomorrow, but the McHusband and I are going to a concert tonight (I know, who do we think we are, college students?!) so there will be no blogging.  Actually, us going almost didn’t happen.  I can’t believe how busy all our babysitters and their friends are on a Monday night.  But we lucked out and finally found someone who didn’t already have plans.

I am looking forward to the short week, although Good Friday will be off to a busy start with us taking family photos in a nearby park so long as the weather cooperates.  But then the McHusband is going into the office and Connor will spend at least part of the day at daycare.  I am very much looking forward to some chill time.

Hope the rest of you had good weekends!  I hope to be back here on Wednesday with those lemon bars.

Sick. Sick. And tired.

Tuesday morning, Connor woke up having thrown up.  I didn’t hear him complain about it so I don’t know if it happened shortly before he woke up for the day or in the middle of the night.  All I know is, it was a mess.  Meatballs in red sauce, blueberries, peas…  YUCK!

Into the bath he went, into the washer went the bedding, and off to daycare and work we went.  Connor didn’t have a fever and while his appetite wasn’t what it usually was, he seemed generally fine.

He still hasn’t been eating normally, but he has been acting fine so I’m hopeful a few more days past the puking’ll set him straight.

That was Tuesday morning.  Well, Wednesday night/Thursday morning from 1:00 to 6:00 or so, the McHusband was up and sick to his stomach.  He didn’t go to work yesterday.  Ashley, the sitter, said that one little girl went home sick on Wednesday and another didn’t show up on Thursday because SHE was sick.

I really hope Connor wasn’t Patient Zero.  I honestly thought he was sick because the food was too rich for him.  We checked him for a fever and since he was acting more or less normal, we sent him to daycare.

I haven’t been sick (yet), but I have been tired this week.  Staying up for almost 24 hours on Saturday has been hard to recover from.  The party was worth it, but I’m glad St. Patrick’s Day is only once a year.

TGIF!

Thursday randomness

This was in the paper today.  I can relate to the extremes.  Lucky for him, I don’t make the McHusband suffer the consequences for my tumbles off the healthy-eating wagon.

Did you guys know that big cats like boxes, too?

And finally, a throwback Thursday picture for you guys.  (I think it’s my first.)

This was after the McHusband graduated from NCSU in December 2003.  He looks so young and I look…the same.  Is that a good thing, or am I totally disillusioned about how much I’ve aged in 10+ years?  Hmm, don’t answer that.

I don’t think I’ll talk to you tomorrow as my evening will be packed with Connor care (the McHusband is out of town for work til later), some house stuff, and a trip to Wally World for groceries for the party. 

I hope you guys have wonderful weekends!  I know at least a few of you will be spending your Saturday night with us.  Can’t wait!

Lately

Sorry for the radio silence yesterday.  I didn’t sit down from the time we got home from the park at 5:15 til…well, never.  We went to bed around 10:30 and that was my first moment to relax what with Connor and some chores and dinner and preparing a couple of lunches for Connor.

I had some bagels from my office and I wanted to make an official outing of feeding them to the geese at the park. Unfortunately, the geese must’ve been feeling crowded by the gazillion people at the park and sought quieter ground (water?) for the day.  So we just walked around and swung a little when a swing freed up. 

Flashback photo to last weekend in the swing in the backyard.

Know who else enjoyed the sunshine this weekend?  All the animals.  I think vitamin D should be called the peacekeeping vitamin.

You have to look closely to find Emma.  She’s in the shadow of the grill behind the litterbox top.

Please overlook the litterboxes; I was airing them out.  The boxes moved outside with the cats when they transitioned to backyard kitties but now the boxes are little houses with heated beds in them.  And don’t worry, we bring the cats in when it’s gets really cold or stays cold for days at a time.

I went for a run last night IN A TANK TOP!  It was so nice to be running when it was light and not dressed for temps close to the freezing mark.

My run was a pretty good one, but I’m a little worried about my right hip and IT band, which has been a problem before.  As I’m writing this Monday night, I don’t know how it’s feeling today but keep your fingers crossed that I’m mostly limp free.

My shirt says “I like to run because I really really really really really like food.”  Hey, if the shirt fits…

Oh!  Guess what we aren’t doing any more?  Bottles!  Connor was down to 2 a day (before his morning nap and before bed) at his first birthday so I started giving him smaller bottles (from 6 oz to 4 to 2 and finally to 1).  On Sunday, I put him down for his morning nap without a bottle and he had no problems.  I figured I’d try it again at bedtime and he was fine.  We read a book a few times through instead and he went into his crib without any problems.  Can I tell you how happy I am to be able to clear those bottles out of the cabinet?

Finally, I bought some supplies for general baking as well as for our upcoming St. Patrick’s Day party (that’s right, it’s back!).  If the McHusband doesn’t eat them all first, I will be incorporating Lucky Charms marshmallows into a treat.  Did you guys know you can buy JUST the marshmallows?  A five-year-old’s (and, let’s be honest, this thirty-five-year-old’s) dream come true for just $4!

Are you wearing your green today?  If not, watch out!  You don’t want to get pinched.  (Or maybe you do!)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

More please!

We have practiced some sign language with Connor, mostly “eat,” “all done,” and now “milk.”  One we hadn’t done, much if at all, was “more.”  But Ashley knew we were doing sign language so she worked with Connor, too.  She said most of the time when she signed “more” for him, he just got impatient or screamed.  Well, turns out he just needed the right motivation: ice cream!

Ice cream makes me happy, too.

We appreciate Ashley keeping up with the sign language, and we will definitely be practice more “more” at home.

TGIF, amIright?  We’ll be busy this weekend, but I hope we’ll get to enjoy some nice weather on Sunday.  I’ve got a debilitating case of spring fever right now and the only cure is spending time enjoying beautiful weather.

Morgan

Our week got off to a rough start.  We had to put Morgan to sleep Monday morning.

She was almost 11 years old and for a Great Dane to not only live that long but live that long without any major health issues?  Props to her owners for keeping her in such great shape.

We had her smaller size on our side.  My dainty Dane rarely weighed more than 105 pounds, which helped her joints.  We treated her for pneumonia in the past 6 months and she had one other major illness in her lifetime but otherwise, she was as healthy as a you-know-what.

We adopted Morgan from the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League.  She was four months old at the time and was one of three sisters given to the Rescue by a breeder who had saturated her market with Great Dane puppies.  The volunteer who took the puppies in said her husband only agreed to fostering three puppies if he got to name them.  The foster mom thought that was a fair deal and that’s how she ended up with Sky (as in the vodka), Harp (the beer), and Morgan (after my favorite: The Captain!).  It was fate, I guess.

Morgan wasn’t the most exciting dog, but that’s what we wanted: a gentle giant who liked walks but who wasn’t exploding with energy.  She was more like a cat in her needs for human interaction as she was perfectly happy to just lay on her bed, preferably in the sun, for the better part of the day.  Even from the beginning, she wasn’t overly needy; she definitely wasn’t a Velcro dog like I’ve heard so many Danes can be.  However, she did have “the lean” down to an art.   For those of you who haven’t met a Dane, they like to lean against your legs and be petted.  You have to be ready for this move because even a smaller dog like Morgan can knock you over if you aren’t prepared to accept their weight.

Morgan also had a habit of going between people’s legs.  She may not have been the tallest Dane around, but she took quite a few people by surprise with her trick.  Right, Mom?

Morgan was spoiled in that she always had to have a bed to lay on.  If the sun was just right and I wasn’t moving her bed to where she wanted it, she’d sigh, give me a dirty look, and lay on the floor, but she preferred to always have a bed between her and the ground.  When she laid down with her legs tucked up against her body, she looked like a much smaller dog and, well, I guess she was as you can see by how she squeezed her Great Dane body into a bed for a Boston Terrier.

Besides being my dainty Dane, I also called Morgan my Dane-a-roo.  Back in her younger days, she would get excited and jump up.  She wouldn’t jump on anyone.  She literally just jumped straight up into the air.  Silly puppy.

I know she’s now enjoying laying on a fluffy bed in a warm sunny spot as often as she likes.  The icing on the cake is not having to walk on any gumballs.  Those things used to get stuck between the pads of her paws, and she’d have to limp up to the back door so we could get them out for her.

Goodbye, old girl.  Give Tucker a hug from us.

It’s Monday

Just a popping in to say a quick hello on this Monday morning.  I didn’t want to leave you totally hanging when you checked to see if anything interesting was going on in my little corner of the internet.

Connor wishes you a fabulous fun day Monday!

Exercise over blogging

I haven’t been a very good blogger this week, have I?  But I promise, I have a good excuse.  I was busy exercising!  After almost two weeks mostly off thanks to the winter weather and other life circumstances, it was so nice to sweat again.  And exercise cuts into my free time in the evenings so blogging moved to the back burner.

I ran in my neighborhood Monday night.  32 minutes and 32 seconds and it wasn’t just fine, it was actually enjoyable.  Temperatures were mild (for winter) and I got started before it was full-on dark.  Sure, that little bit of light only last for about 5 minutes, but I’ll take it ahead of this weekend’s time change.

I was motivated on Tuesday to do an in-home workout.  Dolvett Quince from The Biggest Loser suggested this quickie: warm up, then do four rounds of 15 squats, 5 burpees, and 5 push-ups.  I did 25 jumping jacks in between each round and when I was done, I did a plank-for-the-whole-body circuit from my newest Women’s Health magazine. 

Best workout ever?  No.  But it was better than nothing!

Then I had boot camp Wednesday night and it was a doozy!  Some of the circuits used weights but for the most part, it was a workout that anyone could do at home.  I plan to do just that sometimes when I can’t make it to the Y.  My heart rate monitor (over there on Instagram) doesn’t lie – over 600 calories burned during boot camp.

And the cherry on top?  I also took Monte on a 25-minute walk that night because he needed it after being cooped up so much in general and crated  while we were at work on Wednesday.

To round out the week, I went to the muscle conditioning class at the Y last night.  That class can be hit or miss but last night was a hit.  Or maybe it’s just because I was sore from the previous night’s workout.  Either way, it was what I needed.  Then I headed home to do a little cleaning up including some mopping ahead of Kevin’s visit this weekend.  Very little couch time for me the past couple of nights and that’s okay.

I get tonight off (although there may still be a walk with Monte), then it’s back to the Y Saturday morning.  Hope my track record looks similar next week.

TGIF!

Shoppin’

Connor goes to Walmart with me most of the time when I make my weekly grocery runs.  Knock on wood, we have never had a meltdown and he’s rarely unhappy at all while we wander the aisles, toss stuff in the cart, and check things off the list.

We play a little game to make our shopping more interesting.  I take something off the shelf and throw it to Connor.  If he catches it, it goes into the cart and home with us.  If he misses, we put it in someone else’s cart when they aren’t looking.

I wonder if that woman was happy to find those  floss sticks when she got home…  Who knows, maybe they were something she never knew she needed.

We have Connor’s 12-month check-up this afternoon and while I’m looking forward to seeing what his measurements are, I’m dreading those shots.  I know Connor’ll get over them quickly, but man does it hurt when that needle goes in. 

Connor doesn’t like it either.

Keep your fingers crossed for my little guy today.  Yeah, we might hit Walmart after his appointment, and I’m really hoping his skills are up to par because mama needs some eggs.