November, So Far

Brittney turned 17 last week.  Last week?  Maybe a few weeks ago.  I'm a slow blogger.  I'm having a hard time with her being that old.  Sixteen was OK. Seventeen, not OK.  She had a birthday party with friends, and then we had presents and her requested dinner and donuts on her actual birthday.  

I'm cranky today.  I'm sick, but still well enough to function.  No one will feel sorry for me or just leave me alone for a while.  Lexi wants to work on a "family project" we are supposed to do for school on Monday.  The only problem is, I never got any information on what the family project is supposed to be.  The newsletter I got yesterday says to bring their family projects back to class on Monday so they can talk about traditions at their kindergarten feast.  So I gather it's about traditions.  But what is it supposed to be????  The kids volunteered in class to bring something to the feast, and I know Lexi volunteered to bring silverware, but I have no idea how much because she says it's for two classes, and I have no idea if they need everything or just forks.  She just drew a squiggly purple line on her paper and said, "Mom.  Can't you see I'm very good at drawing horses?"  "Yes, yes I can."  I need a shower, a good book, and a drink with a lot of rum in it.  For medicinal purposes.  My own version of Nyquil.  Except it's daytime. 

I've been counting calories for a few weeks now, and I've actually stuck to it, amazingly enough.  I've lost a few pounds, which is great.  But I'm getting to that point where it's getting old and getting easy to stop being motivated.  I've probably lost all I'm going to without making some adjustments.  So is it worth it to do all this, to give up things I want to eat, just to weigh 5 lbs less?  To look 6.5 months pregnant instead of 7?  My clothes don't even fit differently.  It's more healthy to eat like I am now, and at least I won't be slowly gaining weight over the months and years like I have been.  But it's so hard to be hungry and know that I'm doing it to maintain a weight that still isn't where I want it to be.  Oh well. 

I'm still feeling a little battered and bruised inside after the election.  Still feeling a little sensitive about all the times I was called "idiot," "retarded," "uninformed," "ignorant," "stupid," and many other things because I didn't agree with others' ideas.  Not directly of course, but it was all out there to read on facebook, personal blogs, newspaper comment boards, etc.   I'm kind of pissed off at people.  They wave the flag of patriotism, but then when they don't like what's happening, they say, "F you America, we'll become our own country."  That's not patriotism.  I love this country, and I love it no matter who is president.  We're not on the right path right now.  So let's work together to get there.  Together.  I got a little tear in my eye yesterday, standing in the auditorium at the high school where I work as the ROTC colorguard presented the flags, and the whole auditorium full of high school kids was on it's feet, hands over hearts, and silent.  These kids are never silent.  But when the flag is in front of them, they are.  And two of our students, a brother and sister, sang the National Anthem.  It was just a beautiful moment.  Patriotism.  Love for my country, no matter if I get my way or not.  And as a Democrat in Utah, I very rarely do. 

On a funny note, some of my students were asking about the secession petitions, and one of my girls said, "My brother and I were talking about this last night.  We decided that it would be cool if Texas secedes.  Then we'll wait like a year and invade them and take them over."  Ha!  It just made me laugh.  Then we were joking around about how if Kentucky secedes they'll be surrounded on all sides by our country, so they'll have to secure the borders against us illegally coming into their country for BBQ. 

Sean and Josh got up early and went "rabbit hunting" this morning, which really means "hike around in a field and look for rabbits but end up shooting tin cans."  I still made them promise not to shoot any rabbits, though.

Josh goes through phases where he's really "into" something.  The last one was making things out of duct tape.   Flowers and wallets, mostly.  Right now it's making weapons out of paper.  He has a stockpile of all different kinds of guns and knives made out of paper.  He finds tutorials on YouTube and spends hours making this stuff. 

I'm unreasonable amounts of excited about Thanksgiving.  I want pie!!  I want to bake this week, but I don't want to eat, so that will be challenging.  I work Monday, and then I have the rest of the week off, and I'm so looking forward to it.  Lexi has an appointment at the Diabetes Clinic on Tuesday, and it takes about three hours all told, right in the middle of the work day, and we need to have time to eat lunch afterward, so I just usually end up taking it off.  Her numbers are not going to be looking good this time.  I was talking to a friend of mine with a diabetic kid about how it feels like the numbers are a judgement on us.  Blah.  We'll see what they say on Tuesday. 

Lexi's finished horse is purple with blue peace signs on its tummy and a rainbow tail.  And she's all, "See, told you I was good at it."  Yes you are, my dear. 

Halloween

The kids had fun trick-or-treating.  Sean had to work, so Brittney and Roland handed out candy for me while I took the kids out.  We went pretty far down the neighborhood this year, so on the way back the kids were exhausted.  Lexi wanted to hit the houses on the other side of the street as we made our way home, and Josh was too tired to walk up to the doors, so he just sat on the sidewalk and waited for us.  Poor guy.

Brittney had a birthday party with a few of her friends last night.  They seemed to have a good time.  She has a cute group of friends.  She made a 6 layer rainbow cake with chocolate frosting and Batman on the top.     



Homecoming Pictures

How did I miss putting Homecoming pictures on the blog?  Thanks for the request, Heather.  I will always take your requests.   Brittney's dress was so pretty.  I love it.  I don't have any pics of her with her date.