Erika

It’s beautiful Saturday morning, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, all is right with the world and then…..the phone rings.

It was my friend and wife of Jarod’s Boy Scout troop leader wanting to know if I wanted all of us to ride together for the food drive this morning.

That would be the food drive Ethan and I completely forgot about.

He wasn’t even home, he had gone to the DMV to get his new picture taken, and I was barely awake. We had 35 minutes until Jarod had to be there.

So I shove Jarod into the shower and tell him to hurry up as I am frantically trying to get his uniform ready. He takes a shower in record time, gets dressed, we are going to make it…. Ethan’s on his way back,  and then Jarod yells, ” Mom, there’s something wrong with my hair. “

Not only did Jarod wash his hair with my deep treating conditioner, but he didn’t get it all rinsed out. The boy looked like he hadn’t bathed in a month. Half a bottle of shampoo and 15 min later, I was able to scrub the conditioner (and most of his scalp) out of his hair.

So with not a minute to spare, my friend and her 4 children arrive. As my guys are walking out the door, Jarod stops and askes if I can make a special, ‘ We did a good deed ‘ breakfast, and would I make those home made Circus waffles. ( I have a really cool waffle iron ) Begrudgingly I agree, remember today is jucuzzi suite day.

So Jarod and Logan go bouncing out of the door, ahead of Ethan and  Jarod announces to my friend and her 4 children…..

” My Mom’s making all of us a special breakfast with waffles and bacon, and eggs, and toast, and juice when we get back! AND YOU’RE ALL INVITED! “

The children said  “Yeah!”  and my friend said that they were running late this morning too, so the kids didn’t really have a good breakfast, and that it would be wonderful…..if I was sure. Of course her husband will be joining us too. Hence the title of this blog, Breakfast for 10!

Ethan just gave me that, ‘ here we go again ‘ look and laughed. Of course he laughed, because he has no idea what the plans are for today. He has no idea that I still have to pack for the both of us, hit the liquor store for a bottle of champagne, and find a way to get the car packed up without him seeing me.

All he knows is that we have to go to the grocery store and then take the kids for a haircut at 3pm. The kids are getting their hair cut, but my mother is meeting us at the mall to take them, and then we are off to the hotel, which is right across the highway from the mall.

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

So as we speak I have 2 lbs of bacon frying, 15 gallons of waffle batter chilling, and a dozen eggs ready to scramble. All I really wanted to do this morning was shave my legs ( for obvious reasons ), and somehow my house has turned into the local IHOP.

I must go and set the table, plus a card table, as my guests will be back here in about a half an hour.

Be well buddies, and have a great weekend.

As you all know I have been gaining and losing the same 12-15lbs due to my battle over quitting smoking. Which by the way is going great, no smoking here.

It’s amazing the difference a couple of weeks without smoking makes. My blood pressure is down to 115/75 and my resting heart rate is down to about 65. I feel so much better and the kids are very proud of me…we’ll work on Ethan later.

Anyway, I re-started my low carb life, and I am happy to report that I have lost 5 lbs this week! I have 8 lbs more to lose to put me back to where I was pre-non-smoking.

This weekend is Ethan’s birthday. We are having a big BBQ on Sunday, that’s what he knows about. What he doesn’t know is that I reserved a jucuzzi suite at a local hotel, for Saturday. My friends’ band is playing in the lounge, and Ethan’s Favorite Mexican place is right up the road.

So today will be filled with getting the house pulled together for company on Sunday, as well as putting together his new gas grill. Wish me luck….hopefully I won’t blow up the garage.

Have a great Friday guys!

Well Buddies, I took a very pro-active stand tonight as far as my intended commitment for weight loss.

Today was the day that I pulled out all of the warm weather clothing and packed away most of the winter wear. In my flurry of sorting between outgrown yet in good shape for donation vs. outgrown, stained, and threadbare I had an ephinany.

I looked at the majority of my 20+ something sized clothing and decided that I would not be needing them next year. So I packed everything up, with the exception of some of some of my favorite suits that were too expensive to not have tailored, and gave them to our local charity. 

I saw it as a true commitment to being a hell of a lot smaller by fall. It could also serve as a good incentive, as should I not acheive my goals, the penalty could very well be a serious case of frost bite.

I look at it like this, either way I am going to have to buy new clothes. Hopefully my shopping spree will be fueled by the need for much smaller sizes or by the fact that I have to replace all of my ‘fat’ clothes. Should it be the latter, I will be very, very pissed off.

Either way there will be some very happy, be they hefty shoppers, as they find themselves looking through a ton of suede suits and cashmere sweaters.

Be well Buddies!

I live in a house with three men who can eat anything they want.

So why is it that they continuously walk past the chips, ice cream, and every other carb laden food in the house and go straight for my stuff?!?!? They do this every damn time I start low carbing it.

I made myself some carb free chicken salad yesterday…..GONE!

I made a huge bowl of salad and put it in the fridge….ALMOST GONE!

They even passed over a freezer filled with Dilly Bars and Ice Cream Sandwiches from the Dairy Queen, and ate my sugar free Jello and frozen Cool Whip!

( This would be the whining and complaining I warned you about )

So last night I got out a roll of masking tape and a Sharpie and informed my 3 eating machines that if they see the word Mom written on something they are not to eat it. $10 says they do it anyway. 

So I am now in day two of carb withdrawl, it’s going to get worse before it gets better…day four is the worst. Someone may get hurt.

I decided that I need a project that will carry me through the next two months. I love my home for the most part, but I hate my bedroom and the bathroom.

The bathroom is pink, I hate pink. I was forced to go with pinkish shades because the tub is pink. I hate the bedroom because it is hunter green. Normally I like green, but it’s so freaking green. It’s the one room I let Ethan decorate, and well… he sucks at it.

So it’s time for a room make over. This Sunday I am going to start re-tiling the bathroom. That should keep me busy for a while, then on to the bedroom.

Any non pink suggestions would be welcomed.

I have given up on the calorie counting / low fat thing. It just isn’t working for me. I am an all or nothing kind of gal, and having that many choices is too hard. So as of today I am back on the the low carb trail. I have to admit that I am not looking forward to the sugar withdrawl… my plan is to whine and complain my way through the next few days.

My new goal is to lose 30 lbs by mid June… Jarod’s school picnic. I know that if I really buckle down, it’s do-able. I found a new 30 min workout in the latest Oprah magazine that was created by Dr. Oz. You are supposed to do it 3 days a week plus 30 minutes of walking daily. I did the workout this morning and will get my walk in this afternoon when I go up town to get a copy of Happy Feet for the kids.

This is traditionally a very rough time for me diet wise. I am always so busy from October until now with all of the holidays, birthdays, family gatherings, ect…that when spring hits I tend to not know what to do with myself. So I figure that this time around I will make myself my project. I’m just not quite sure how to do that.

I apologise for not being very present here over the last month or so. Between life and computer issues, I feel like I haven’t been a very good Buddy. Provided this stupid machine continues working, I promise to do better.

Hello all, sorry I’ve been gone all week, the damned DSL still isn’t working right.

Jarod went nuts over his suprize pizza party at school. I had them send a little four cut just for Jarod, with a big J in pepperoni. He said his class was very impressed. He said he told them that if they thought that was something, just wait until the real party. 

Well… the party was insane, but great fun. We had 2 more RSVP’s the morning of the party, we ended up with around 35 kids, and 30 something adults. People started arriving at 1:30pm and the last guest left at midnight, very long….very fun day.

We did face painting, balloon animals, pinatas, scavanger hunts, trivia contests, a couple of crafts, and then the pictures of the kids posed as action figures. The Star Wars lollilops were a huge hit, as were the personalized candy bars.

3 of the mothers asked me if I would help plan their kid’s next party. The best part however was Jarod coming up to me about once an hour to thank me and to give me a hug and kiss, in front of his friends. He told me his friends said I was the coolest Mom ever!

He got everything he wanted, and more. Including really good seats to see Taylor Hicks next week. Logan cleaned up too, Jarod insists that he get  “Thank you for being a good little brother all year” presents.

You would not believe the amount of food we went through, you would think some of these people never saw a buffet before.

My house is totally trashed, so I will be digging out and de-decorating all week. Thankfully, we are coming to the end of the party season. Next week is Ethan’s birthday, he wants a BBQ, after that we are clear until August.

I’m off to read some blogs, and clean my filthy house.

Good morning all from party central. I did my final shopping for prizes and activities for the party lastnight, and came home feeling vindicated that everything was taken care of. Then I check the machine and find out that two more kids are coming, One is a classmate of Jarod’s and the other is his older brother. That’s the second family that has asked to bring siblings.

So as we were driving to the store, we turned a corner at the end of our block and came apon 6 teenage boys and 2 girls playing hockey in the street. No big deal, they moved aside and we slowly drove through. The windows were down because it was so nice, and Logan was waving at the kids as we drove past. Everything was cool until I heard one of the little punks yelled, ” What the f*** is that little asshole and that fat bitch looking at? “

Buddies I lost it, I slammed on the brakes, threw it in reverse,  backed into a parking space, and jumped out of the car. You should have seen the look of panic on their faces as I got out yelling, ” Exactly who the f*** do you think you are talking to? “ 

They all just stood there like deer caught in headlights, so I told the kid that he had exactly 3 seconds to apologize before he would need to have that hockey stick surgically removed. Then one of the other boys yelled at him saying that I was one of the coolest ladies in the neighborhood, and told me that he wasn’t from around here.

He said he was sorry and explained that where he lives his neighbors are all jerks…like that made it ok. As we drove off, my guys were laughing their heads off, and Jarod said “They should have known better than to mess with you Mom! “

After shopping I took the kids and one of their friends to dinner at Eat ‘n Park. They all promised to be perfect gentlemen, and they really delivered on their word. An older couple that was sitting behind up stopped as they were leaving to compliment the boys on their table manners and behavior.

The woman said that it was so refreshing to hear 3 young men saying please and thank you to the waitress and being so mindful of the other people in the dining room. I was very proud of them. 

Today will be filled with power cleaning, and multiple threats to the children about keeping the house in order, so all I will have to do is give it a quick once over Saturday morning.

So I’m off to read some blogs, start the clean-a-thon, and make what I hope will be the last trip to the store.  

That is my latest addition to my collection of signs covering my klitchen walls. Speaking of my kitchen, I am happy to say that the chocolate mess is gone. I am finally done with the lollipops.

Actually I thought I was hallucinating, when I was counting them yesterday. Somehow I was 4 short, I really thought that I was losing my mind until Logan rounded the corner with a green chocolate ring around his mouth. That little booger got into my containers and was pilfering my stockpile.

I am beyond tired, but I have managed to get myself back on schedule for Saturday. I even fit in about 237 loads of laundry today. I really had no choice, we were down to old prom dresses and pajamas.

So I am off to bed Buddies, have a great night, and I will leave you with this thought.

If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it will always be yours.

If it doesn’t come back it was never yours to begin with.

But, if it just sits in your livingroom, messes up your stuff, eats your food, uses your telephone, takes your money, and doesn’t appear to realize that you have set it free…..

You either married it or gave birth to it.

I never thought that I would ever utter those words, but it is true…I am sick to death of chocolate. Not sick of eating it, just making it. I am up to my ass in Star Wars chocolate lollipops, you name the character, and I have a rediculously intricate lollipop mold of it.

 So far I have made about 110, I have about 40 more to go. There is not a flat surface in my kitchen that isn’t splattered with harded, previously melted chocolate. From Yoda green to Vadar black, it is a mess.

My computer is still possessed, and I am completely over it.  Forgive me if you don’t hear much from me over the next week. Ethan assures me it will be back to normal soon.

Today was Thomas the Tank Engine Live. Logan was beside himself he was so excited. He got to shake Sir ToppumHat’s and Mr Conductor’s hand. Actually Mr. Conductor personally punched Logan’s ticket, he was almost in tears he was so happy. With all the fuss over Jarod’s upcoming birthday, he needed a special day just for him. He looked so cute, he wore his Thomas costume.

The show was in downtown Pittsburgh, about 4 hours after the St Patty’s Parade. Other than dodging the shamrock covered drunks, it was a great time.

 I have to brag a bit…. once we got out of the car Jarod pulled out six $1 bills. He told me that he brought them to give to the homeless people that he always sees when we go into the city. I told him that I would have to be the one who actually hands the money to someone…just to be safe. He said that he didn’t care as long as they got it. What a good kid! 

The RSVPs from Jarod’s class keep rolling in….should I be concerned that all of the phone calls so far have come from little girls?

He gets to have take a treat into school on Friday for his birthday, and I have arranged with his teacher to have pizza, drinks, and a cake delivered. It will be a fun end to a hard week, this is the one when they do their standardized testing.

So that’s what is happening here, I’m exhausted so it’s off to bed. Hopefully my piece of crap computer will allow me to check in tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

Hello Buddies, I’m still here, just experiencing computer issues. Somehow in all of the craziness of party preperation I have managed to lose another 2 lbs. It’s kind of suprising considering I’ve just been grabbing whatever is handy, but I quess that climbing up and down a ladder all day balanced it out.

The decorations are almost complete, and coming along very nicely. Jarod is so excited, he got his first RSVP from his class. We’re expecting 20 kids so far, 1 classmate and 19 family and friends. Once the rest of his classmates start calling, I think we will hit around 35 kids. Jarod has developed quite the reputation at school for having some killer parties, so usually almost the entire class attends.

Well I’m off to climb the ladder yet again, but first I want to take a break and read some blogs.