Thank Heaven For Little Boys

James and I had a very serious talk at the breakfast table this morning. At least it was as serious as a talk with a toddler can be. Lately I have been starting to let him eat snacks at the table with the big guys. He thinks he is the bee's knees when he gets to sit in a chair and eat food at the table. This morning however he began to sweep all of his cereal onto our newly vacuumed floor. So I very nicely told him that if he wanted to eat breakfast at the table with me instead of in his highchair he had to leave his food on the table, otherwise I would put him back in his highchair. Oddly enough he was actually listening to me during all of this and when I was finished he very slowly got down, picked up all the cereal on the floor and put it back on the table. YEA!!!!! I must have done something right.
James is now at the age where he likes to imitate EVERYTHING he sees us doing. It's kind of a telling moment to see how a little child perceives you. He very expressively plays the piano and sings like he sees Daddy do, and he opens my books and stares at them and then finds kleenex and blows his nose. Anyone who has lived with me knows how accurate that impression is.

Just to continue Jay's post of So Long TV...

The cable on our TV is officially disconnected now. So long Scrubs, Reno 911, and VH1 top 100 videos, hello worthwhile activities and quality family time. Or so you think. But we still get the Discovery Channel, so now I can let my mind quietly stagnate to the tune of 'educational' television.
Today I learned how buses are made. This could be useful information to me since gas is like a trillion dollars a gallon and I will probably soon be riding a bus to work. Buses actually have wood paneling in the sides that are covered with fiber glass, and there are air compression tanks in the ceiling. I didn't know there was anything in the ceiling except more fiber glass. When I think of buses, the movie Speed comes to mind. So here is a snapshot of the thoughts in my head whilst watching this show
"air compression tanks in the ceiling eh? So now if I am riding a bus, and suddenly a mad bomber gets on a cell phone and says 'Hey I hid bombs in the air compression tanks, and no one knows where that is, hahaha you are all gonna die' I can say 'oh yes, they are in the ceiling' and save the day, hooray for me"
Useful information I tell ya. Thank God for the Discovery Channel, without it I might actually clean my kitchen.

I recently read two blogs about the fun of getting up early in the morning and taking bike rides or runs, or just being alive first thing in the morning when all is quiet. It made me wonder what happened to me. I used to be an early riser. This was many many years ago when I was a child, but I would easily wake up at 6:30 even on weekends just to be outside and listen to the birds. Sometimes I would take walks early in the morning with my dad. Fast forward to four years of a combination early morning seminary and newspaper route, and I don't think I have voluntarily been out of bed before 8 am since. Sure I have had early morning jobs where I had to be at work by 5:30 am or some other unholy hour, and in those cases I got up and made it to work on time. But other than that nothing.
Mostly this is fine, because I discovered that just as your parents say nothing good ever happens after midnight, nothing good ever happens before 10 am. No stores are open, no one is awake to talk to, and I sure as hell am not getting up early just to clean the house. However lately I am finding out that mornings before work may be about the only real time I have to go running.
So for the past week or so I have been attempting to get out of bed at 6:30 to go for a quick jog. Here is what happens: I wake up, (sort of) I realize what time it is and think I could get out of bed and go running, OR I could lay here where it is warm and cozy and sleep for a little longer. At 6:30 am sleep always wins. I am not the most rational person when I am half-asleep (Jay and anyone who has shared a room with me can attest to this) and I just can't think why I should get out of bed. My body is very cranky first thing in the morning and even the thought of physical exertion makes it feel ill. But the truth is if I just got up, dressed and had a small bite to eat I would feel fine, but try convincing me of that when I am cozy under my covers.
I REALLY do want to get a schedule of running/biking in- I still want to run a 5k in September, and mostly I just want to lose some weight. Evenings just don't work on a regular basis. I have also heard that getting exercise first thing in the morning boosts your metabolism for the rest of the day.
So how does everyone else manage to get up first thing in the morning just to get exercise? I think I have a real mental block about getting up early, I have a feeling that if I could just do it for a couple of weeks I would see that I do enjoy it and would continue. Any suggestions from all you early birds out there would be appreciated.

What I am up to lately

Apparently the pictures I was going to upload are still on the camera, and as the camera is who knows where, you will have to make do with my thoughts instead. I started my new job as a T-Mobile employee last week. I am in training for 4 weeks before they actually trust me to answer phones. I feel like I am in high school again, only this time I am a good 6 or 7 years older than everyone present. I am feeling rather bitter about the whole thing simply because this is the end result of thousands of dollars on a college education- in horticulture no less. Oh well, T-Mobile has some pretty killer benefits including incredibly cheap healthcare with vision and dental included, a daycare stipend and a kickass phone plan.
In case anybody is wondering, I haven't been running in at least a month, I made cream cheese walnut cookies last night that are 200 calories apiece (thank you Martha Stewart), and have been eating an ice cream bar a day. Damn, I am on a roll...

Wow this photo thing is harder than I thought...

What A Slacker I Am

I have gotten several nudges lately about not blogging. My argument is lack of inspiration and time (this is a pretty hard case to make though when one has been unemployed). But since I do feel like I have fallen of the blog-wagon (hahaha) here are some cute pics we took lately of James our future musician. I keep trying to take pictures of him as toga boy, but they are turning out blurry. In an effort to retain his modesty in front of his mommy, he now clutches his towel around his waist after bathtime and goes toddling through the house looking like a little Roman senator.

I tried the great experiment of counting calories this weekend. I have tried this experiment in years past but usually quit after a couple of days. (Yes I do lack follow-through.) Taking a cue from my dad, this time I tried to use an excel spreadsheet. I was resolved to count calories, then do the calories from fat/protein/carbs ratio. I spent copious amounts of time yesterday figuring out exactly what I had eaten, more time looking up the calorie count and even more time trying to get all my functions on excel to work correctly. After all this work, I tried computing my info only to realize that I had not done my work correctly and my ratios were completely wrong. Needless to say I quit in disgust. I told Jay who was looking on with some amusement that this was the reason I could never be a numbers cruncher.
So calorie counting is just not going to work. I have too many other things to do like cooking healthy food and getting exercise and I can't afford to have somebody else do the meal-planning and calorie counting for me. Overall I think the biggest lesson I learned from all this was to stay away from the butter.