The somewhat spiffy slowly shrinking woman

I have been on my "eating plan" for two and a half weeks, now. I haven't weighed myself yet, so I don't know how much weight, if any I've lost. What I do know, however, is that I own a fabulous broen summer top, a top that I bought at a sale for plus-sized woman, that didn't quite fit right. I am wearing the shirt now, and am looking fabulous! WOOT. I am wearing smaller jeans, belting things, and just feeling better! YAY ME!!!

excitement

Today, when I went out to bring the garbage can to the curb, I almost tripped over a box that was stratigically placed right inside my fron porch door. I was rahter upset, because, honestly, who in their right mind would place a box right inside the front door! Why, the UPS man, of course! Hermes summer activity book arived today! YAY!!! I've looked through it, and my innitial thoughts on the book were correct. Unless I ration the pages and science activities to him, he will have it completed in near record time. It is a good refresher of what he learned in Kindergarten, and more importantly, it will hemmer home some english reading and writing skills. I figure we will start in on Monday. Monday we will also start at the Better Chinese website, so he will have daily review of his Mandarin...cannot send him back to school rusty now, can we?

We will be waiting until Monday to start, because we have much activity and excitement in the house right now. On friday, Hermes leaves for a two night camping trip with the FIL. Getting ready to go camping is taking much time and energy. We must pack just the right clothing for any possible weather conditions, swim trunks, fishing clothes-and how those differ from jeans and a t-shirt is beyond me. Light weight pyjammies, heavier weight pajammers-just in case it's cool out, you know. And yes, Hermes does differentiate between pyjammies and pajammers-I have no clue the difference, again.

Depending on the weather, and since Hermes is doing something fun, the MIL, myself, Hubby, and our friend NavyBoy might take our combined kids to Como or the Children's Museum. Frankly, I would be content to just sit around the house and watch the Toddler Death Match Royale, but, no...if one is doing something fun, they all must do something fun...damn fairness.
Possibly, a trip to the drive-in might happen. With Hermes gone, it will leave us with just the younger kids...the kids who don't need to use the potty every fifteen minutes if the movie gets a little scary, the kids who wil be asleep shortly after the movie starts, if not before. Devious, quite possibly, the only way I get to see movies, affordably, without rangling child-care? Most definitely.

Behold, information from the Palace of Learning.

We recieved Hermes report card late last week. No surprises there, he's smart. I am hoping we will be sent out a copy of his test results, but i won't frest it if they don't. He is doing well enough that they felt the need to tell us he is doing very well.
In the mail today, we recieved a CD of all the songs he learned in kindergarten, so he can review them over the summer. They also let s know that they set up a "homeowrk" account with "Better Chinese Books"-one of the best litteral translations of a company name...EVAH! This will allow us to access the 32 'first words' books, online, that he did over the school year. It will also allow us access to the "beginner story library". I am really excited about this. The program has chinese stories, read in Mandarin, with the words in the caligraphy characters, as well as english, so I can actually know what is going on.
They also suggested that we get the "Summer Bridges Activities" workbook. It is designed to give schoolkids something to do over summerbreak, to remind them of what they already learned, and introduce them to concepts they will be learning. Any student who completes all of their summer "homework" will be given a little award and recognition at the fall assembly. The k-1 bridge book is 150 pages, so if I'm lucky and smart about how I give him the work, I might maybe get a full months worht of work out of him. If I give it to him all at once, it'll be done in no time. I am rather pleased that the book is in english, as it's geared towards any student, not just those in a chinese immersion school, and there appear to be workbooks from the preschool level on up.

I would just like to take a moment to state that I ordered the book today from Amazon.com
How did I do that, you may ask?
I went to www.jazzpolice.com and clicked on their link to Amazon. Why did I do it that way, you may ask? Because when anyone clicks to Amazon or itunes through Jazzpolice, CoolJazzDad'a business makes a wee, tiny bit more money, and I'm all for that!

I should have Hermes workbook mud-next week. I figure I'll wat till July 1 to start on anything, being that's when we'll have access to the Better Chinese Books site, as well.
Thankfully, I now have a plan on what to do with Hermes, other than tie him to the tree in the backyard.

whole-wheat cinnamon rolls

so, yeah.
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls, though tasty, just are not a fitting substiture for 'standard' cinnamon rolls. Then again, I wouldprobably like them more if I could frost them, but that would ad an entire net carb to the works...this sucks.

subjectivity

Serving sizes must have been figured out by the densest person on earth!
They are entirely subjective. A serving of small, easy to measure croutons? 2 tablespoons. A serving of large, hard to measure croutons? 2tablespoons.
Rice, pasta, and the like is roughly 1/3 of a cup. A serving of popcorn is 3 cups popped. Everyone keeps telling me, rather cheerilly, that 3 cups of popcorn is a lot...no...it isn't.
A serving of salad greens/babyspinach/and the like is TADAAA 3cups. People keep trying to tell me that even though 3 cups of popcorn is a lot, that three cups of greens isn't a lot. WRONG!!! Three cups of baby spring lattuces and baby spinach is a shite-ton of food!!!

borderline

Last thursday, that would be eight days ago, I went in for the first "yearly" physical I have had in quite sometime. Having multiple kids in a relatively short timeframe can really mess up your timeframes, especially with all the tests that are run before, during, and after a pregnancy.
My Dr pulled a rediculous amount of blood, to run a rediculous number of labs. She knew I was concerned about three things in particular, my weight, diabetes, and thyroid issues. We also scheduled an appointment with the clinics dietician. My results were not in when I saw the dietician on wed, but she put me on the same plan as she would is I were diabetic, overweight, had a thyroid issue, or was just trying to be preventative.
I am now in the land of counting carbs and fat, and measuring my food. I really had no concept of portion size-period, I need to eat ergularly, and I need to journal my food. I am not to be weighed any more than once every other week, which is fine, since I don't own a scale. I figure one weighing a month will be at the clinic, for the other one, I will go to the in-laws an use their awesomely accurate digital scale. My first goal is 7 percent of my body weight. That will drastically reduce anyones chances of becoming diabetic, or pre-diabetic.

I am sooo glad that this was my goal, and that this was my diet, being my test results came back yesterday. A fasting blood glucose between 110 and 125 is prediabetic, anything over 125 is diabetic. I was at a 109. Yep one-oh-nine. I am right on the borderline for pre-diabetes. As long as I follow my eating plan, excersize, and lose weight-I should be okay. We seem to have cought me just at the edge of the precipice. I am sooooo totally motivated right now, and being my co-pay is only 20 per visit, and I see her once a month, my dietician is ultimately cheaper that WW or any other programs.
On the plus side, my choloesterol is awesome, my thyroid hormone is lower-normal, but good, and I posess a ludicrous number of platelets...I am the QUEEN of clotting!!!

2 days till utter and total chaos.

If anyone has any ideas of things I can do with multiple children, aged 6 and under, over the course of two and a half months, please, let me know. Hermes' last day of school is tuesday, and I am at a loss for how to keep everyone occupied. Tv, computer, naptime and running in the yard only go so far. HEEEELLLLPPPP!

Momma pride!

Hermes' school director let me know this morning that he scored "Rediculously high" on the reading test they gave him yesterday. I am very pleased. We have been reading to and with him from the hospital when he was born, and always tried to read books to him that he was interested in, but were above his intended reading level. Yay for Hubby and I doing something right!!