First Day of Summer

Well here it is at least. Today is the first day that AJ will be out of school for the summer. According to her we have exactly 104 days of summer vacation. This isn't a number she choose because she counted, or someone told her. No it is because that is the number of days that the Phineus and Ferb song uses, so it must be true. If you haven't had the pleasure of watching Phineus and Ferb, here is the song for you.

I am excited for summer vacation this year because I have a lot of fun things planned for the girls including many inside activities. Wait, what's that, inside activities? Yes, you heard right. In case you didn't know we live in a desert. A so hot it will burn your toes through your sneakers if you step on the asphalt kind of desert. In less than a month we will be experiencing temperatures well about 110 and possibly above 120. So summer isn't the time for a lot of outdoor activities. We will however be making full use of any water we have available, for backyard sprinkler running, splash-pad playing and of course swimming. We are stocked up on sun screen and swimsuits.

So as we get ready I have been eagerly perusing the Internet for fun activities for kids to do indoors. I have also been talking with a neighbor that sells Usborne books and I have found a million things that I want to order from her. Ok, well maybe not a million but certainly a thousand. They have these amazing science sets that help you to teach basics science to young children which is great. They also have all sorts of how to books, and history books. My biggest problem will be choosing just a few.

I will be sharing all of my finds and fun with you, and my oopses too.  I hope that you see something that inspires you, even if you don't have kids, to make the most of summer. No matter ho many days it actually is.

~DD

Feeling a bit put out.

Today was apparently not my day. I really hurt myself tonight and I am hoping that it isn't a horrible injury and I won't be out of comission for too long.

I was getting changed for Zumba tonight and as I bent over my right knee cap rolled off to the side and popped out of place. This caused my leg to bed a little bit backwards and a little bit sideways to try and compensate. I will admit I was not a big girl about it I fell down and started screaming for DH to come and rescue me. He came in and it took a while to communicate what was wrong through the pain. Once he understood he popped the knee cap back where it needed to be.

Needless to say I did not go to Zumba tonight. I have been set up in bed first with ice and now with one of the cool water circulation machines. It doesn't hurt too badly anymore but I haven't tried moving. So I am layed up for at least the rest of the night.  I don't do layed up well. So I'm watching the History Channel and trying not to ask DH to go to the store for candy.

~DD

Tasty Thursday

Ahhhhh. Food. My love, my nutrition, my addiction. It is so funny that even though I love healthy food I cannot seem to break my addiction to junk. When I look at a bag of chips verses a plate of veggies I am more attracted to the veggies, I want the veggies, I know that they taste better and that I should be eating them. This isn't the problem. The problem is that I know all of that and then I reach for the chips. Smart huh? Yeah I know, not so much at all. It's sad really. I work so hard to break this habit, and I work so hard at being healthy and then I sabotage myself by eating junk food that I don't even like.

I don't have a recipe to share with you this week. I have been eating horribly the last few days. I don't want to share any of the recipes that I have used because they are so bad for you. It's sad really. I think I already said that, but it's true. It is sad because it is something that I know how to change and have to power to change and yet I still don't change it.

So where do I go from here? I WILL start to make better choices. I will choose to eat the food that is healthy for me. I will choose to eat the food that is more appealing to me. I will choose to stop finding ways to add junk into my diet. I feel better both physically and emotionally when I eat right, so now I just need to do it.

Wish me luck.

~DD

And here it is again... Hodgepodge Wednesday

I always start the week off with good intentions and then poof, it's already wednesday again and I have neglected my blogging. Oh well, I guess it's better than neglecting my children.



1. Do you and your family enjoy camping? What do you enjoy most/like the least when it comes to family camping? When was the last time you camped? That's an interesting question for my family. I enjoy camping and my husband used to enjoy camping and we also used to go camping together. However my husband has desided that since he camps for 8 months every 10 (his deployment schedule) at a minimum he really wants to sleep in a bed and have running water when he is home. So my girls have never been camping.

The last time we went camping was on a trip to Wales for horseback riding. My husband was volun'told' to drive a large British Van full of gossiping women on this trip and that I could come along if I had to, Happy Anniversary, it was all the more ironic because I am deathly allergic to horses. But all in all it was an amazing trip and despite the incessant gossiping and cackling, and having to take tons of meds and avoid the horses, oh and the hairpin curves on one lane hedgerowed roads it was amazing. We both loved it.
2. Did you attend a summer camp when you were a kid? Is that a happy or not so happy memory? I attended church camps and those are happy memories.

3. Over the course of your life, what have you probably spent more time pondering than anything else? Now I will have Pinky and the Brain stuck in my head for the rest of the day. "Pinky are you pondering what I am pondering?"

As for the question. I don't know I never thought of it. Hmmmm.

4. Which of the seven natural wonders of the world would you most like to see? There are many lists of 'wonders' but this is the standard natural wonder list-Mount Everest, The Great Barrier Reef, The Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, The Harbor of Rio de Janerio, Paricutan Volcano and The Northern Lights. Well since I grew up very close to the Grand Canyon and have been there too many times to count I don't think that I will exclude that one, although I love it there and will go back many times. I think that my choice for first place to visit would be a tie between the Great Barrier Reef and The Northern Lights. However before I head down under I would want to be SCUBA certified. So right this second I would go and see the Northern Lights.

5. What was your first real job? Babysitting. And I hate it when people tell me that this isn't a real job. I have done umpteen different jobs in my life and babysitting was the hardest. The first job I had to put in an application for, turn in pay cards and pay taxes on was also babysitting. I worked in a church nursery for 7 years, for many of those I worked there 6 days a week. I have also nannied, that's a job.

6. Lemonade or Sweet tea...which do you prefer on a hot summer day? Neither. I am NOT a fan of sweet tea although that fact constantly irks my very southern husband who likes his tea to taste like syrup. I prefer an herbal iced tea or a mint iced tea with no sweetener involved at all.

7. What is something that always brings a smile to your face? There are a lot of things that make me smile, but I would say the number one thing that I can always count on to warm my heart is my children. My girls amaze me and fill me with happiness and love. (most of the time, sometimes they make me want to run down the street and scream... aaaaahhhhhhh..)
8. Insert your own random thought here. My children are dressing me today, why oh why did I agree to this. So if you see me and I am wearing a formal dress and spike heels... that's why.