Food for thought, or action...

(click on the image to enlarge)

I came across this image today filled with all these different quotes...or sayings...or suggestions. Whatever you call them, I thought they were neat.

I find myself kind of running away from myself when I read the one about setting goals for 1, 5, and 10 years. I guess because I still don't know what I want to do "when I grow up." Or maybe I'm just being too hard on myself. I'm still successful and happy without having a "dream job." I have the most amazing husband and two gorgeous kids - all of whom are smart. I'm still in the push yourself to be the best mode...but besides being a mom and wife, I don't know where I want to be. Guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I keep feeling like it's coming up soon though, and that has me anxious. I should take my own advice, huh? Hand it all over to God. He's big enough to handle it, plus He does a million times better at it than I do, fo sho.

Happy Ending to a CRAPTASTIC Day

Today was just one of those days where I figuratively woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I'm a SAHM, and so my job is my kids, and today, I was tired of my job. What was I thinking wanting kids?? (I absolutely love my children and wouldn't trade them for world - just to be clear.)

I just wanted to sleep late and I wanted to sit down for 5 seconds to check my email without my daughter needing to be held and I wanted my son to actually go sit on the potty when he needs to go #2. (Potty training is the worse by the way that have not had the privilege of doing such.) I mean, he goes on the potty every time he goes #1, so what's the deal? I've tried all the tricks in the book, every suggestion given by "experts" and parents that have been there. I just have a stubborn boy that will do it when he's good and ready. But in the mean time, I'm stuck cleaning up dirty underwear, which is way worse than dirty diapers.

I don't remember my son being as clingy as my daughter is. She needs like, constant attention. My husband and I joked tonight that she would wake up as soon as we sat down to watch a Netflix, but if we just sat on the couch doing nothing, she'd nap all night. I entered my food eaten for the day and my husband channel surfed (which doesn't take long with 5 channels.) As soon as we popped the movie in and was about to sit on the couch, she woke up. All we could do is laugh. How does she do that??

So, it wasn't just one thing in particular. I had a short fuse today (lack of a good night's sleep) and wasn't equipped with dealing with whineyness (due to lack of a good night's sleep) For the most part, both kids sleep through the night, but every once in a while one will wake up for something. Yay me, I'm the light sleeper, and my husband could sleep through an earthquake. Which actually, he has done when he lived in Japan....but I digress. Tonight, if any child should wake, I will make him go attend to said child. (he's actually very good about helping, I just have to wake him up!)

But kids will be kids, and they're not trying to aggravate me, they're just vying for my attention. I was sooooooooo relieved when my husband came home from work. The kids are uber excited to see him, and he's more than willing to play like a big kid with them. He entertains them, and I set off to cook supper. While I'm cooking, I hear a truck pull up. It's the UPS man with a delivery.

I said, I don't remember ordering anything. My husband met the UPS man at the front door to accept the package. As soon as I saw the box, I knew what had been ordered. And no, I didn't order anything! My sweet husband bought me flowers for Valentine's Day. And you may think, big deal, flowers. But it was! We don't typically do much for Valentine's and he's crap at keeping secrets. For heaven's sake, we open Christmas presents a week or two early because he can't stand not to tell me what he got, he's so excited. So, the fact that he ordered this daaaays ago, and didn't even hint that he got me something, was remarkable. I was totally surprised. And he got some of my favorites. Stargazer lillies (had them at my wedding) and irises. I had just gotten some purple tulips to brighten up the kitchen the other day, and so they look perfect with them.


He was so glad that the flowers were delivered today since I had been having a bad day. He is truly a blessing to me, and makes my life easier and happy any way he can.

On a side note, I thought I had totally blown my calories today, but when I entered it all in, I still had 200 left over. Woo!

Oh, and one more thing. I'm training - ha, training - um, I'm *trying* to get ready for a 5K coming up in June, and I made it a mile yesterday without stopping. It took me 12 1/2 minutes. I'll have 2 more tacked on in no time!

Twenty Ten

I'm hoping twenty ten will catch on instead of us still saying two thousand and ten. I know it probably won't happen, because for the last 10 years, we've been saying, two thousand, and we all get set in our ways.

We're into day 4 of the new decade. I've been committed to my healthier lifestyle for about 2 months now. The weight is steadily coming off. As of today, I have lost a total of 17.5 lbs. One of my daily challenges is to get some sort of cardio in everyday. Ideal time is when the kids are taking their nap, but we've all gotten out of our routine, so nap time is either not at the same time for both of them or non-existent. Now that my husband went back to work today after a nice, long Christmas break, we should be able to get back into a routine.

Even though my new Wii game says that I'm fat, I still like to play it. I recently upgraded it to the Wii Fit Plus, and it is so much better than the first version. David has even gotten into it, and customized his own 30 minute workouts. I'm so glad he's on board, too. Isn't it so much easier when you have a pal?

I've also noticed that I've gotten used to eating smaller portions. I've really tried to slow my eating down so I can feel when I'm getting full. I'm trying to get better at reading labels. Yeah, it has this many grams of _____ - but is that good or bad?? So, I read some articles on SparkPeople and I've boned up on protein first. Soon, I will know what a food holds for my body than just the amount of calories in it.

So, here's to 2010 (TwentyTen) and my ultimate goals!!

A Good Snack Gone Bad

So, if you don't think having kids is an adventure, maybe we should review the meaning of "adventure." Dictionary.com's first meaning for adventure is:

ad⋅ven⋅ture ædˈvɛntʃər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ad-ven-cher] noun 1. an exciting or very unusual experience

Well, I'm gonna go with the latter part of the meaning - a very unusual experience. Never would I have imagined that I'd be cleaning graham crackers up in my bathroom. The bathroom isn't where you eat - so why on earth would they be in there?! Well, if you have kids, anything is possible. Really.

Carter had to go to the bathroom. He announces and then runs to the bathroom. He is still learning, so I still have to help him get his pants off and on. I discover that he has only one pair of clean underwear so I help him with his pants and tell him to wash his hands. I go to gather the laundry while he is washing his hands. When I get back, I hear the water still running. I go in there to investigate, and he has graham crackers all in the sink, on his step stool, on the floor, on the bath mat, and on the tub. How on earth did he do that? And why did he bring his snack in there? To make matters worse, Katie has followed him in there and is smearing the graham cracker mess all over the floor. It is all over her and the bathroom. How is it that the one that started the mess - Carter - is still clean, but the innocent bystanders get grahamed?

I asked him "What are you doing?!" To which he replies, "I dunno." I tell him, "You're making a mess, that's what!" He just grins back at me. That adorable, mischievous smile.

So, this isn't exactly the adventure I imagined, but it's still an adventure, and I'm on it with my kids and husband.

Salmon with Citrus Vinegar Glaze

I had no idea what to make for supper tonight, as usual. So I started looking up recipes, but nothing jumped out at me. So then I started rummaging in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. I found the salmon fillets I had bought, but they were frozen...surely that would take way too long to thaw out?? I asked David if he was hungry now or if he could wait. Luckily, he said he wasn't hungry, yet, so that gave me some time to prepare. I put the fillets in a plastic bag and put the bag in a bowl of warm water with just barely a drizzle of water coming out of the tap to kept the convection going in the bowl. (This helps defrost faster.) I didn't know it would be that fast...they were defrosted in no time.
While the salmon was defrosting, I started thinking of what would be good with it. I had some tomatoes that needed to be used before they went bad, and so I decided on Mozzarella Stuffed Tomatoes and roasted asparagus.
Of course, since I decided on the stuffed tomatoes, I didn't have any prepared bread crumbs, but that was not to deter me! I found some hotdog buns in the pantry and toasted them in the oven. After browning them a bit, I put them in the food processor to make bread crumbs. It turned out great.
I had the salmon defrosted, and the side dishes working, so now I needed to decide which salmon recipe to use. I have several cookbooks, and most of them have their version of salmon. I found one I hadn't tried before in Rachael Ray's 30 Minutes Meals 2 cookbook. The glaze was so awesome on the fish. It even tasted good with the tomatoes and asparagus!
I thought the meal looked so pretty plated with lots of colors. If you care to try any of the recipes, just let me know!

Salmon with Citrus Vinegar Glaze with Lemon Wedge,
Roasted Asparagus, Mozzarella Stuffed Tomatoes
Picture by Susan Campbell - Nov 2009

I have a new resolve

Hi everyone. I've been around...just staying busy - changing my life. I have a new resolve to be healthy and sexy and fit and confident. I began last week on this journey, and so far, so good. I've been exercising every day and tracking my food intake on SparkPeople.com. I love this website. It is such a motivation and wealth of knowledge.

The hardest part I've had in the past is staying motivated. I've found that motivation comes in many forms. All sorts of people - strangers, friends, family, fellow sparkers. All sorts of words - spoken or written. All sorts of pictures - pictures of what I used to look like, what I look like now, pictures of people that I want to look like and the most motivating are the before and after pictures of people who have had success.

So far I have had success, and I hope - no, I'm determined to show you in a few months my full results.

A Dream's Perspective

I watched as she came out to her car and was putting stuff in the trunk. She looked happy, like she was having a good time. She was wearing a flowing skirt that hit right below her knees...it could've been a dress...I couldn't really see, and she had a blue wrap around her. It was in the crooks of her arms as she carried the stuff out to her car. She was leaving a fancy event; probably a wedding, but I can't be sure because I never went in. After she got the stuff in her car, she slid the shawl around the tops of her arms and shivered. It had suddenly gotten crisp today. Just yesterday was warm enough to wear shorts, but today warranted a sweater.

She wasn't paying attention to what she was doing; she was in a hurry to get back inside. I could hear the bass of the music thumping and the dull roar of people having conversations over the music. I guess she didn't want to miss any of the party going on or maybe she was hurrying to get warm again. In her haste, she hit the wrong button on her key fob, probably the unlock button again, because the car was still unlocked.

I know that it was still unlocked, because I saw him open the door. He seemed to come out of the shadows. It was as if he was watching for her to leave, because as soon as she walked into the big double doors of the banquet hall, he strode right up to the car as if he owned it. He started putting things in his bag. He took what looked like a camera case out of the trunk, along with a small purse she must have left there instead of carrying it around with her. He rifled around in the glove compartment, but must not have found anything of interest in there. He moved onto taking every CD she had. He didn't even shut the doors when he left.

My feet were frozen. I couldn't move. I couldn't yell. I felt awful for the girl, and there wasn't a thing I could do but watch. I was trapped by some unseen force. Anguish washed over me when the girl came out from the party. Her eyes were wide with shock. She ran over to her car to see the damage done. She looked in the trunk and then let our a scream - more like a growl that he took her purse with her brand new phone. She couldn't even call the cops herself. She sank down into a heap and started sobbing. People came filing out of the banquet hall and a few stopped to stare while a couple ran to her side to console her.

I felt like I was crying, like I was the one who was mad at whoever had done this, and at myself for not being more careful. I felt the comforting hands on my shoulders, and when the girl stood up, I too stood up seeing things at a different perspective now...

Realization sunk in that it was me the whole time, that I was the girl. I had been on the outside looking in at what happened to me...like you do with a dream.