Here is today’s pic. I know I have missed a couple days and I apologize. Being sick has thrown me all out of sorts.
Anyway, my friend Lesley brought over some fresh, locally grown produce last week and these kiwis were amazing! So sweet and juicy.
Photos for the last couple days. Still working on today’s. Struggling with a sinus infection so bear with me.
So, my mom let me borrow these slippers and then let me have them when I visited MN over New Years. They have treated me well, especially right now when I am feeling a little under the weather.
Joe and I are having Italian sausage with sautéed peppers and zucchini for dinner. Yum!
I call this one “Dinner Time”. Often I feel like a short order cook when it comes to mealtime. Right now it is because Joe, and sometimes I, are eating low carb, so I have to either tweak the meal or make something totally different, and then what always happens is one of the kids won’t eat what I made, so, sometimes I just make things that we will all like, for sure. Tonight it was ribs and broccoli for Joe and I, quesadilla for Nico, and bean, cheese, and rice burritos for the older boys. You do what you gotta do.
Sorry this one comes a day late. I guess I had a great birthday and didn’t have time for taking pics or posting blogs. Anyway, this photo is from our dinner in OB with friends. I think it really shows a more serious, thoughtful side of Joe.
Today the big boys got helmets for baseball/t-ball and Nico got a new helmet for riding his bike and scooter. He has been wearing it all day.
Homework time, that is what I call this one. The big boys do homework together everyday at around 3:30. Sometimes they do it without complaining, but mostly there is a lot of whining and statements like “I hate math!” or “homework is dumb.” So, don’t let the smiles fool you.
I know I said I am not a shoe girl, but I love these! They are the only truly girly shoes I own, they are excruciating to wear, are way too high, but I love them!
I know I forgot to post the last few days. Does having a sick kid relieve me of my duties? well, I still have pics. here are my pics for the last few days!
I always loved (and still do) having breakfast for dinner and it seems that my kids have the same fondness for eating pancakes when it’s dark outside!
Breakfast for dinner
One of the gifts I got Joe this year for his birthday, or Christmas I can’t remember, was the complete 5 seasons of a little show we love called “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. It is one of those shows you can watch over and over and never get tired.
I am currently organizing and cleaning things out of closets for an upcoming garage sale. In the midst of all of this I happened upon several of my old pairs of running shoes. I thought a photo would be fun. I couldn’t pick just one, so I made a collage.
So, again, here I am online, but since one of the things I want to spend more time doing this year is taking photos, this is allowed. As I mentioned I am going to try and hopefully succeed in taking a photo each day for the rest of the year. I got my new lens, which was my Christmas and birthday present, and am having as blast playing with it. Here is today’s pic. There are actually two, I call them “playtime”.
Enjoy!
Things don’t always go as planned. I am sure most of you can attest to this. I think in reality it is that we set out with certain objectives and realize that perhaps those objectives aren’t going to work out exactly as we had hoped or planned.
Such is the case with my attempt at limiting my use of my computer and mostly the internet. So, I am still going ok as far as facebook and email go, but I realized that one thing I really want to get back into is writing, and since I do most of that on the computer, well, here I am. I figured a blog once in a while won’t hurt anyone and will give me a chance to share how my new years resolution is going. Kind of backwards, I know, to share how my technology ban is going via the very technology I am banning, but hey, I never said this experiment was fool proof. I will say that in the last 24 and some odd hours I have experienced quite a lot. The first being huge frustration with my cell phone. It won’t allow me to take the facebook app off, or at least it isn’t making it easy to do, so in an attempt to at least limit the amount of posts I see I have somehow managed to not be able to do anything at all! It is as if by trying to ban facebook my phone has now banned me as a user! Oh well, perhaps it is for the better. I am pretty sure I can still make and receive calls, so that is that. In a round about way I made my resolution easier to achieve, at least where my phone is concerned.
On the upside, I did more laundry yesterday than anyone has ever done ever in the history of the world. Well, at least that is how it felt. But it also felt good to have the hampers empty and closets and drawers full. I also organized some of my crafty stuff, which has been bugging me for ages, and made some headway on a pile of stuff for the garage sale we are having soon. So, I got some stuff done to say the least.
I have also realized that there are certain areas of my life that require me to be online, or at least available online, like being the room mother for Anthony’s class and having an online store, etc etc. So, I guess my limitations should have been clarified as including social and recreational internet use, as opposed to business or school related.
I have noticed how loud my computer is as well. It is almost as if it is trying to get my attention or something, by humming and turning the fan on. Well, it ain’t going to work. I don’t care if it starts singing songs to me, I am only going to use it when I have to, and right now, writing this blog, is a time when I have to. I just have so many thoughts floating around in my head that it is hard to make sense of it all. I am also waiting for a package, the package that is going to help me with my goal of taking a photo everyday for the remainder of the year, so I am desperately trying to kill time.
Well, I guess I have reached my time limit. Oh, didn’t I mention that while I am on the computer I have set the timer? 20 mins for blogging and emails, 10 mins for facebook. And facebook, for now, will be once a week. I figured if it works for the kids it should work for me as well. Speaking of kids, they are asking for me to come play Wii, and I am more than happy to oblige. And no, the Wii doesn’t count, especially when it gets me some fun time with my kids.
I vaguely remember posting this time last year that I was going to write a blog post each week, among other things. I am well aware how that turned out. I did run a race, a few actually, and now officially have the running bug. I wish my enthusiasm for running could translate into blogging, and cleaning, and grocery shopping, and laundry, etc etc.
However, as this new year starts I do want to do my best to be my best. I feel like there are so many things I could and should be doing but just don’t find the time. It is partly due to being a mom to three boys, but I use that excuse too often. It is mostly because I find myself sitting right here, in front of my computer, far too often. So, this year one of my resolutions will actually be the opposite of what I posted last year. I am going to try really hard to spend less time online. Now, that means my means of communication will have to change for many of you, so be prepared for snail mail and phone calls as opposed to texts and emails and facebook posts. I will still do the latter on occasion, but I am hoping that by cutting down on computer time a lot of the other things I want and like to do will actually get done!
One thing I really want to do, for fun, is take a photo everyday and that I will post online, but I want to take time each day to examine and explore the world around me. I do this a lot when I run and sometimes wish it wasn’t so awkward to carry my huge camera with me when I do a long run. It seems that the online world has replaced the actual world in a lot of ways and I want to try and change that, at least for me personally. I know I will miss keeping up with many of you on facebook, and I will check in once in a while, but part of my reason for doing this is to teach myself the value of patience. We are so used to instant gratification, instant communication, instant everything that we have forgotten the excitement that surrounds waiting for a letter in the mail, or waiting for film to get developed! I don’t want my kids to get everything immediately but in order to teach them patience I must have some myself.
This past week I spent some wonderful time with my mom and dad and brother at my parents’ home. It was the first time just the four of us had been together in 17 years! It was a wonderful time of talking and laughing and visiting with friends and family. And the one thing I didn’t miss was my computer. I got some posts on facebook saying I must be having fun since I haven’t been online very much. That struck a chord. I was having fun! I guess I didn’t need my computer as much as I thought.
So I guess this year is going to be one of patience building and less technology for me. I remember my freshman year of college when I just discovered email, practically none of my friends, aside from those at the same college, had email, and I could only check it once in a while as there was usually a wait in the computer lab and it also took a heck of a long time to log into email so it wasn’t very time effective. But I do remember the anticipation of going to the lab to get my email once a week or whatever it was. I liken it to how people must have felt when they had to go into town to pick up their mail or packages. It was an event, it was exciting, and it often occurred with one or two friends doing the same thing so it also, as weird as it seems, was a social event in a way. Now with email and facebook on cell phones I feel like I see the top of people’s heads, looking at their phones, more than I ever see their faces. Even when we are out and about we are still stuck in our own little online worlds. It is starting to really bug me. And I am by no means innocent, far from it. That is why, once again, I am putting this out there, making it public, so when you see me on facebook or get several texts from me in a day you can say, remember your new years blog post?! It isn’t going to be easy, but I do think it will be rewarding. I hope it will mean more quality time with my kids and husband, more effective house keeping, and just more enjoyment of actual life, rather than simply enjoying my online life.
So, for a while, this will be goodbye. And keep your eyes and ears open. You just might be a phone call or letter from me. Happy 2011 everyone, blessings on you all!
