woke up to oatmeal—crockpot cooked steel cut oats

We ate well this week.

Sunday Shopping
Prep—slow cook chicken, bean soup, move other chicken to fridge, process veggies and dip

Mon
breakfast—smoothie banana/strawberry/yogurt etc
snack—fruit tray
lunch—chicken black bean burrito, apple slices
dinner—bean soup, green beans

Tues
breakfast—oatmeal with raisins (small cup) with small protein shake
snack—veggies and dip
lunch—bean soup leftovers
Dinner—fried chicken-forman grill
Salad

Wed
breakfast—coaches oat pancakes with fried egg whites, kiwi
snack—v8
lunch—leftover chicken with salad
dinner—chicken black bean burritos

Thurs
breakfast—omelettes denver (whites w/no cheese for g)
snack—fruit tray
lunch—apples/bananas sandwiches
dinner—crusted sea bass

Fri
breakfast—smoothies
snack—veggies and dip
lunch—salad tray, sea bass leftovers
dinner—muffin pizza

Sat

Sun
prep—barbecue chicken slowcooker, marinade pork chops,

Sooo

how are we all doing, sharps, rudd wannabes, porters, deans? I mentioned resurrecting this old corpse of a blog in the celebration (or mourning) of a new routine, a new life, where we begin to feel better, quit all of the dumb self-destructiveness, and hold cyberhands through the trials and tribulations of working out, eating right, blah de blah de blah.

Blah de blah, for me, means not only no nicotine via the umpteen high tech vehicles for which I have till now been so open-minded, but my biggest monkey, coffee. Some might think it's ridiculous that I would quit something so benign and incredibly difficult to quit, like caffeine. I've begun to think it's ridiculous that my emotional well-being peak its head from beneath the covers at mug #3.

Now nicotine was not really a problem quitting at all, in spite of: Snus (basically a mint with a pleasant buzz), digital smokes (nothing but water vapor and nicotine...undoubtedly healthier than cigarettes), chew, cigarettes, pipes, and cigars. As much as I absolutely love it, I held in the back of my mind that when I'm ready to quit, I can. In comparison to caffeine, it was a breeze.

Coffee hurts physically, and emotionally. I feel like I'm really being hard on myself, depriving myself of something so wonderful and aromatic. There's a sadness to it, like sending away a dog you've befriended, because your parents said no. I think that's the drugs talking.

Come to think of it, I think I feel the same way about sweets (donuts and ice cream in particular).

For now, most of my urges are under control. I had a lapse last night (it was late), and scarfed 3 home made jalopeno poppers. Other than that, I've been holding my own, eating incredibly healthy, setting up meals a week in advance, cooking, and sticking to that routine that we wrote up last week.

may not be real, but funny nonetheless

Wasted weekend

Do you ever have those weeks when you just can't wait for Friday to come and then suddenly it is Sunday and you can't remember one fun thing you did in the past 2 days? Now I am faced with returning to work and the 100 different things that I have to do within the next month to keep people happy. Lets see, what did I do this weekend. I cleaned the house about 5 times, took down the Christmas lights, cleaned the garage, moved a bunch of baby supplies up to the outdoor storage room for safe keeping (protection from cats), I worked a half day on Saturday and I made 7 meals, two baths, 5 clothes changes, 12 diaper changes and took away 103 items from grubby little baby hands. The things I remember the babies grabbing: 3 different remotes, xbox controllers,butter knife, full glass of water, a dirty glove, paper and a freshly sharpened pencil, a quarter and barette that were removed from a mouth, the baby monitor (Samia said we were infringing on her personal space) and a big splinter of wood. Then there was the babies climbing on the top of the chair, the table, the speaker and the dog, all of which are not exactly safe. Of course I could go on and on.

So Greyson and I are supposed to go to the beach this next weekend with friends. It is a makeup trip for the one we missed due to snow. That is all the news fit to print.
-Mel

The fits are starting

So tonight I brought in the Costco pack of toliet paper. Samia cried and cried because she couldn't get the rolls out of the plastic packaging. That was my cue to put her to bed.
-Mel

I was talking to someone about samia's expressions

hey everyone

Hey all, I hope I'm doing this right..
anyways I'm glad that i finally get to be apart of this blog.. So yes I'm expecting.. 7 weeks today. Due Aug 27Th. This morning sickness sucks. I cant wait for this part to be over. anyways so I'm working at rite aid. James works for Wells Fargo. any who I don't have much to say so if anyone wants to talk to me, ask some questions or something. I got to get to bed. I have to get up early in the morning to go to the women's pregnancy resource center.
ttly.
Love Anita

P90X lean

Tim, how are we doing on the workout? I finished day 2. Feels like I'm starting from scratch, especially since I'm fighting a bit of a bug.

Larry, you still working out?

5 long seconds of oh sh#!@!#$

First, I wanna say thank you all for letting us borrow your children. It was a week of high-energy hilarity for us. Although we find it exhausting, it's also refreshing after a bout of cabin fever. We'll be glad to take them again. in a while.

Last night, I almost went into a lake or ditch depending, with the car. I was cruising along about 40-45 mph in the snow and freezing rain, and I hit a rut or something. The car started sliding sideways and then correcting to slide the other direction. Finally got it under control after some long seconds.

Thanks Brian for helping us with the recycling, which was a disaster for some months in our garage. Although, it was not quite how Mel and I intended to get it done.

The girls are starting to put the correct pieces into the puzzle.

I guess that's it. They're waiting for me, calling me by my title.

G

Happy New Year

So did you all make it until midnight? Greyson and I made it until about 11:45 and then fell asleep. Today we took down all the Christmas decorations. We had a huge mess from the garland so I had to vaccuum about 3 times. And then I thought about how the Porter kids were going to stay with us tonight and now I am worried about Tuckers asthma and allergy to Christmas trees. Hopefully with the triple vaccuum and the hour of all doors open, airing out the house, he won't have isssues. At least the exercise room is safe territory.

The babies are getting really loud and demanding lately. Samia has this play bottle and sippy cup that is meant to go with her baby doll. But she is obsessed with them; making me fill them up repeatedly. And if you don't fill them up as soon as they get empty from her drinking out of them she yells "more, more!" at you. Greyson has put them out of reach for the moment. Samia is also pulling out the kitchen chairs to climb up on the table. So that surface must now be constantly clear of things we don't want her to have.

Well the Deans should be here any minute for a visit (Brian is bringing ribs), so I better get going.

And by the way, I have sent Anita an invitation to the blog so hopefully she will post some updates for everyone to read.

Happy New Year- Mel

Even snowier snow

Today, I tried to get out with the protege, and couldn't make it with a running start. In fact the chains, the good kind, snapped a link and broke from the left wheel. I tried to put them back on, and the neighbors attempted to tow me up the hill with 4 wheel-drive. No go, and the chains on the right were thrown in the process. We are officially stuck. So. Here are some more pics:








clapping and yelling "MORE!!!!"





















Such a hard worker.





















Somebody's ready.

When the snow plow gets stuck.....

So we parked at the top of our hill at the mailbaoxes like we do every year so that we can avoid the steep hill where we always get stuck in the snow. Well this year the snow plow got stuck up top trying to get around our cars. So he called the County and they are threatening to tow our cars if we don't move them from there "illegal" spot. I don't mind moving the car at all to help get the snow plow unstuck, but he didn't have to sick the authorities on us.

We have at least 3 feet and counting. I shoveled walkways to the wood, the garage, the exercise room, all doors and down to the driveway. All this in preperation for our company that will probably not come.

I was supposed to work today and tomorrow but I just didn't feel it. So I took the day off. I just need to put in 3 days of work over the next 2 week. I will probably put it off until the last minute.

Well Greyson and I are sure happy for our elk and half a pig in our freezer. We have been having some very tasty bacon sandwhiches the last couple days. We are looking forward to a Christmas ham but don't know if we will have anyone to share it with.

-Mel

snowy snowy snow

This was 2 days ago














Our Front porch hand rail.














Our Driveway lights




















Our bedroom balcony




















guess the make and model and win at least 2 cats.

Did I ask for snow?

Well down it comes. We are at about a foot and counting. Tomorrow we are supposed to get up to another foot of snow. Greyson bummed a ride with our neighbor down the hill to the little store to pick up some milk. We really are running low on food but it may be awhile before we venture out that far. I plan on hitting the slopes tomorrow. By that I mean the hill leading down from the mailboxes where I can get in a couple sledding runs with the neighbor kids. The Dean's are also going to visit tomorrow and I hear mention of pork??

I hope everyone is staying warm. Greyson is complaining that our wood stove is a bit too efficient.

Time for bed.
-Mel

Finally some real snow

After all these forecasts of cold weather and a foot of snow I was upset to just have an inch of slush on the ground. But today we finally had some real snow fall and it actually is sticking. There is only 3 or 4 inches but it was enough to get out with the girls and build a snowman and do a little sledding (I pulled). I hope all of you are enjoying your snow as well. I will post some pictures on the baby blog this evening if possible.
-Mel

Snow??

Of course I am excited about the possibility of snow. I have always loved snow and to this day get excited about the chance to run around outside in the white stuff. And now I have babies to take out with me. We were supposed to go down to the beach this weekend but called it off for fear of not being able to get back up our hill when we returned. It is not so bad getting snowed into our house, but getting snowed out of the house is another issue.

I went and stocked up on a few esentials since snow and freezing temperatures usually means power outages. I am going to run the bath tonight so that we have water for flushing the toliets if it comes to that. You would think that being 5 miles from Bonneville dam would mean that we wouldn't have eletrical problems, but on the contrary we seem to lose power at the drop of the hat.

I wrapped the few presents that we are doing this year; all going to the girls. Everyone says they will like the wrapping paper more then the presents and you are probably right. But we didn't get them a single thing last Christmas so it was time to get them something. I am still not sure what people (family ) are doing this Christmas, but I hope to see as many of them as possible. Greyson promised me a Christmas ham.

Happy Holidays,
Melanie

PS. Mom and Dad... I got my snow tires on.

The full effect

We have started having the "full effect" each night with the babies. In case you don't remember this includes turning on all of the Christmas lights, turning off all other lights and playing Christmas music. We each grab a girl and dance. Samia will go solo with her squat dance technique; it is quite intersting.

Out of a half dozen strands of lights we bought, only one of them actually worked correctly. The others had broken bulbs or didn't blink right. I am very happy with the end effect however.

I have a ton to do at work this week and am trying to cram it in for an early leave on Friday. We are going to the coast with some friends. They have a little girl the same age as Piper and Samia so it works out well.

-Mel

Busy these days

Tired out

Greyson wore me out today with Christmas light shoping and decorating. We only got part of the lights up and plan on finishing the inside tomorrow. We found some pretty real garland at Costco that we are going to put along the stair banister. The babies love the tree but it is outside of their reach on the other side of the baby gate. Time for a movie and then bed.
-Mel

Day two: not much better

I tell you that Greyson is the cause of my weakness. Today he brings me two little girls to watch over my lunch break. We were supposed to go to the playground while Greyson had a meeting with a client. But then he causually mentions that the girls haven't eaten lunch but he brought a bag of raisins and a granola bar. And then the girls looked at me with that "I'm starving look" and before I knew it the three of us where out for a girls lunch. I did enjoy my time with them and go out the door for under $15. To ammend I came home and cooked dinner and then made a pasta salad to take to work tomorrow. So far I am down ~ $45. I will do better. At least my caffine/alcohol/sugary drink abstaining is doing well.

I am in Vancouver working for the rest of the week and that extra drive always wears me out. At least the gas is cheap enough that my reimbursed mileage might make me a few dollars again.

I officially passed two tests I had to take to get my graduate certificate in GIS from PSU. It was a big pain in my neck but it is finally finished.

As you can see I am trying to get a small post in whenever I can. Hope you join me.
-Mel