Our Neighborhood

I love our neighborhood. I live in a town where the West side is much more prosperous than the East side. However, that's not to say the East Side is poor. Sure, there are poor people here, but it's a mix of incomes. We joke that we live in Tha Hood. And sure, in comparison to the other side of the city, it might seem like that.

The fact is that it's older. I think it has a lot of character. Our old downtown area is very interesting to me. Even the suburbs here are cool, in my ever so humble opinion. The crime is higher here than there, but it's okay. We're still pretty low on the crime scale when compared to many other places. I like that my kids go to schools where they are not the obvious majority. I look at Allison's group of friends, and it's such a rainbow, and that's so cool. I grew up in a few areas. In middle school (which was 5th and 6th grade where I was), I was a very clear minority. I don't think I really noticed, other than sometimes the white folks seemed to be looked down upon. I didn't like it that much. Then we moved to a small town near my grandma. It's a great little town, but the Jr. High and HS I attended clearly had a white majority. There were maybe 15% African American students, less Hispanic, and only a smattering of Asian and Middle Eastern kids. There was a lot of racial strife during HS, mostly by some kids claiming to be part of the KKK. I seriously doubt they actually had ties, but the hate was there, nonetheless.

Anyway, my little city is not perfect, but I don't seem to see a ton of racial divide. I like that. I like the mix of economies here. It's not the bohemian downtown life I envisioned, but we have kids. I had to make sure that we had a safe place for our kids to go to school and grow up. We have plenty of time to live that bohemian life when we're empty nesters. This is worth it. And I like it.

I like looking at the old houses and our community, and one thing we do right is that we have great parks and walking trails. I got a chance to really look around yesterday as I was walking.

Anyway, Just some obervances, and me realizing that I really like where we're at.

Social Time FAIL

Last week, Ezra and I went to a Monday morning playdate held by various moms at our church. It's held at a different mom's house each week. Kids get to play, and moms get to talk to other grown ups. WIN!

I was looking forward to it this morning, however Ezra's immune system had other ideas. Thankfully, it's nothing serious. As a matter of fact, it was mild enough for me to consider going. He just coughed a few times this morning. Then I noticed that he was all sorts of snotty, he was coughing more, and he had an ever so slight fever. Debate over. We're chillin' at home.

I'm happy and irritated at how many times he has asked to go outside to play, but I had to be the mean mom and tell him he had to stay in. I think he's over it now that he's playing Lego Indiana Jones.

Oh, one more bit of news (if you can call it that). I'm now journaling my weight loss efforts on a separate blog - The Amazing Shrinking Jennifer. Also that I might write a tidbit here and there on my husband's blog - Rebel Dragon's Lair.

Weigh In - 06 April 10

Ugh. Okay, I sucked with eating for about a day and a half this week. I'd love to blame it on my MIL and the Coconut Merengue Pie she made (from scratch, of course) and the Chocolate birthday cake with the only Buttercream Icing on earth that I like, but I can't. Nobody shoved anything in my mouth.

So, there's that.

Add to that, I was having "tummy issues" (that's as much as I'll elaborate) and was super bloated from it.

Either way, I was up .6 pounds. I really shouldn't get so upset about a measly half pound, but I was. I was ready to fast for a week. I didn't. What in the world are you thinking? Me go without food!?!?! I *heart* food.

The good news is that I've done well since then, and I've made sure to be more active. See, I struggle with exercise. I like the feeling I get, but it's the motivation to start. I'm a lazy bum. I'll admit it. I finally got the motivation to go for a walk/jog yesterday, and Ezra and I headed to the park. This time, we drove, because he wanted to ride his bike. Otherwise, we would've walked (with him in the stroller). I get nervous with him on a bike having to cross a street. We got there, and things started out well until Ezra wanted to play on the playground. I have to admit to being a bit of a helecopter mom with him. I never was before, but he's just an adventurous little soul, and is only recently recognizing real boundaries (not walking into the parking lot from the playground). We agreed to go down a trail after he played, but the weather had other ideas. Stupid rain and thunder.

We will try, try again, today...

Between the Lions

Has anyone ever watched this show? It's not as big as Dora or Diego, but I love it. It's been around for quite a while (well, in kid show years)... I think it's been airing since the late 90s. to be honest, I'm not sure it's still running (new shows, anyway), though I know some PBS stations still carry it.

I have watched more Between the Lions this week (we checked out all of Season 1 from the library) than I ever care to, but I'm still not terribly tired of it. It doesn't seem to talk down to kids, and it even has some small bits of humor for the parents. I will admit that I giggle every time I see Dr. Ruth Westheimer on the show as Dr. Ruth Wordheimer. They also have some adult giggleworthy spots titled "Gawain's World" and "Chicken Jane", which are obvious parodies. Still great.

My husband, however, seems to find way more adult humor in it than I do (the perv! *snicker*), and says it would be even funnier if he were to take up some good drugs. omg. Gotta love him.

Randomness...

Today has been a rough day. Ezra has taught me more patience than the rest of my life experiences, combined. This is a good thing, right?

I've also made things rough on myself. I pigged out the past couple of days. Ah well, water under the bridge now. I'm making it up to myself today.

Oh, but I did find a new site. http://www.payperpost.com. Looks like a great deal. Basically, it's a site that pays you for your posts (DUH!), and you have advertisements on your blog. I'm willing to deal with those if you are. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I didn't give much personal information over (email and blog addresses). They have to make sure this is, indeed, my blog. I have to post this phrase somewhere in my post, "a compass was there to get you thinking". I tried to work it in this post without outing the reason, but I'm just not that creative.

Weigh In - 30 March 2010

Whoops! I almost forgot to post here! The good news is that I lost. The other news (not bad) is that I wish I'd lost more. Don't we all? But the total was 1.4 down last week, making 4 pounds in two weeks.

I have to say that the one great thing about WW is that I have really learned to be patient, and that patience pays off. Not that I couldn't do this without them, but the once a week, disciplined weigh ins really help. Whenever I'd make a go of it by myself, I'd weigh myself every day, and if I saw a slight gain or a stall (because if you stay the same weight for more than a day, it's a stall, right? omg.), I'd fall off track.

Granted, this time around, I seem to be losing a little slower than last time, but it's still not bad. If I lost a pound a week, that puts me at 52 pounds down in a year. Slow? Yes, it is. However, I'd have to say, at the end of the year, I'd still feel much better than at the beginning.