Today I got to walk by myself for once. Usually I go to Bisset Park, walk the big loop while pushing Colby in the stroller and when I'm done we take a break and cruise around the playground so that Colby can run around. Today Brandon took Colby to the playground and I walked the loop at Bisset Park with my iPod and myself. You may not think this is such a big deal, but when you spend your whole summer watching a toddler that requires a lot of attention, it's nice just to be able to walk the trail by yourself.

Today we also attempted to get a blood sample from Colby to check his phe levels. Unfortunately we poked him three times and barely got any blood out of him. I think I'm going to have to call Barbara on Monday to see what we're doing wrong. Before the summer started Brandon and I made a goal to get Brandon more involved in Colby's medical stuff, but I dislike trying to do blood samples with Brandon around. All he can think about when we do it is the first time they took blood from Colby in the hospital - apparently he cried A LOT when that happened - and Brandon was the only one there to comfort him and I think Brandon felt helpless to help his baby. Even though we do these blood tests for Colby's health, it's still hard for him to do it. He gets a grumpy look on his face and all of the sudden I can't do anything right. It's really hard to do it sometimes, but somehow we'll get through.

Weight level - down 16 pounds! Woo Hoo!!

Paint Project

Yesterday I decided to paint the kitchen. I decided that I would paint the walls that had cabinets on them (so above and below them). I decided to paint it yellow so that it would match our dishes and give the room some color other than white and blue. I wasn't fully thrilled last night, but with a good night's drying, it has dried to a slightly lighter shade of yellow and I'm very pleased. I'm not sure Brandon was pleased though when he got home and saw it. I think he was just grumpy from getting home late because all he asked was if I'd gotten a small can or a big can of paint. I don't know why I decided to paint. In my head I keep thinking that when I come home from school this year, I want to be able to enjoy my house and the way it looks and not say "ugh" when I walk in. And since we OWN our house, I want a pop of color on our walls because we can! Nothing too crazy, though, because I'm sure we're eventually going to sell it. I was thinking of going a little crazy in Colby's room, but now I think I'll just accessorize!! Not that he cares, but still...

My Poor Cell Phone!

Well, yesterday my cell phone died. Colby dropped it from a moving stroller and it broke into two pieces. Fortunately I had purchased a phone from a website that sells things confiscated by the police (propertyroom.com) and I had an extra cell phone sitting around. It probably belonged to some drug dealer or something, but now it belongs to me and is my new cell phone. Brandon also ended up getting a new phone since his keys were starting to stick and we were eligable to get a brand new one anyway. Needless to say, Colby will not be playing with our cell phones any time soon :-)

As far as my diet goes, I have to say that going to the beach didn't do anything to help it. I mean peach cobbler, fruit crisp, blue crabs and chocolate don't do a whole lot to help things, but I'm proud to say that I've now lost 14 pounds! That's right, your eyes are not deceiving you! By the time I go back to school I'll need a new wardrobe!

Will My House Ever Be in BH&G?

Okay, so one day I randomly started getting a subscription to Better Homes & Gardens. I love this magazine and I want my house to look like those in the magazines. I read the articles and look at all the pictures and then I look around at my messy house and feel deflated. I think I'll have to wait twenty years until my kids are older for me to even consider doing those things that are in the magazine. And my gardens will never look like those in the magazine, but I can still imagine!

Today I cooked the green beans - they were delicious. And I also cooked a pre-marinaded pork tenderloin from Walmart - it was excellent!! I would totally recommend this to anybody that is looking for something tasty to eat. I cooked the garlic and herb one for an hour and a half at 325.

Today I looked to see when I have to go back to school - August 24th for anybody that's curious. I feel pretty excited about this coming school year. I have some ideas floating in my head about how to make my class more interesting. The one I'm really excited about involves reading some classic/good short stories, determining why they are classic/good, and then having my students write their own short story. I'm also flirting with the idea of having my students start a blog so that we can do some journaling in class, but I'm not sure - the English computer lab is always taken up by teachers that don't even have a classroom in the English pod. We shall see on that. Plus I'm also thinking about painting my classroom and pale blue color, but I still have to ask for permission and all that jazz. At any rate, I'm looking forward to school. I hope I still feel the same way halfway into the new semester.

Beach & Veggies

Hey all! We just got back from the beach yesterday around 9p.m. We rented a house in Nags Head and it ended up perfect! You never know what you're going to get, but in this case we got a house that was a five minute walk to the beach. Plus Colby loved the beach! He wasn't scared at all of the waves, but he did get knocked over a few times. It's a good thing that my parents gave us a life jacket for him to wear just in case he fell. He liked playing with the sand also, but not as much as playing in the water. He was also very sociable. He went up to everyone and flashed his blue eyes and they were all in love.

We enjoyed the food to the max - I had crab cakes, I grilled tuna, another night we had blue crabs and on the Friday we came home I had fried oysters. On the Friday we left we decided to eat out for dinner instead of having leftovers. We didn't really know where we were going to stop, so by the time we ended up seeing something on the outer banks, we were already past it. So we ended up crossing the bridge to the mainland and by some fluke we saw a sign that said Coinjock Marina Restaurant. We decided to go and it was the best! It was a little marina on the intercostal waterway. We sat outside on their deck as the sun set next to a 75 foot yacht. I felt like we were living the high life :-)

So today Colby actually slept in until 9:00a.m., which is sort of funny because every day on our vacation he was up between 6 and 7a.m. EVERY DAY! But it was nice to sleep in even if it wasn't while we were on vacation. This evening I went to the garden and picked some veggies! I got some green beans and two green peppers. The tomatoes are still green, but when they turn red, we'll have a ton of them! Plus the squash and zuchinne actually bloomed, so I'm hopeful we'll have something there too. I apparently suck at growing onions...they all died. I'm thinking I didn't plant them deep enough. Oh well, there's always next year.

Sorry I've Been a Slacker!

Hey everyone! Sorry for not posting in a week! I needed to take a break from the computer for a little while and since I'm done with my class (yay!) I don't need to be on the internet as much.

So, I'm down 11 pounds so far on my diet. I kind of messed it up a little this past weekend. I went to visit Lindsey up in Northern Virginia and we ate out a lot - first at the Reston Festival (pita bread is not on the diet), then at Sweet Water (not too bad - got a salad), then we went to Red Robin on Sunday (not too bad here either - got a salad, but it had tortilla strips on it). I certainly wasn't as strict as I usually am, but oh well. I didn't gain weight at least! The Reston Festival was fun, I got Colby a jigsaw puzzle in the shape of a T-rex and I got two sundresses that I'm looking forward to busting out at the beach next week.

Visiting Lindsey was fun (Colby got to see a cat for the first time!), but I have determined that Northern Virginia is just not the place for me. I didn't realize how much I love the country until I rode around all those buildings and highways. It brings a whole new meaning to the term "concrete jungle". Plus, I want Colby to grow up in a place where he doesn't have to worry about being mowed down by a car fifteen feet from his house. Rural areas are dying out so I want Colby to experience them while he can. He can visit the city any time he wants, but once rural areas are gone, they're gone.

Well, my stomach is growling for lunch, but I'll post tomorrow! By the way, Daddy, if you're reading this, ask Mommy if I can get that family tree on Friday please. Thanks!