Vacation Photos

Two months, really?  Been gone for two months and didn't even realize how much time passed by since I've sat at my computer and wrote anything.  I've felt no guilt about it either. 

Life happened. 

One thing leads to another and life around me is so much happier when my attention is not fully focused on a computer screen.  I'm good with that.  And to be frankly honest, I'm only writing because I have super fabulous vacation photos to share with my readers! 

We snuck off during school days to head down to Disney World and hang out in the glorious Florida sunshine.  Ohio weather this past winter has let us all down.  The up and down of 70 - 40 degree weather is more than anyone can bear and it's really hard not to complain about it.  I am a positive person and as long as the sun is shining, I feel like I can accomplish anything.  Even when I want to throw that positive attitude out the window because our weather is going to drop yet again tomorrow, I thank my lucky stars we don't live in Minnesota (so sorry Minnesotians!) because they just got more snow.  Us Ohioans have NOOOOO room to moan and complain about our weather now.

Anyway, it was a wonderful break from this stupid weather and I am the first in my circle of peeps to get a tan!  I no longer look pale and haggard.  Ahhh!!!

This is where we stayed. Holiday Inn Club Vacations.   First floor, just outside the pool area.

A small part of the lazy river.

Some dork put the wrong soap in the dishwasher on day one. 

 

Names need not be mentioned...

  

My favorite Disney character!

This sweet little darling stole the show with every character we met.

 It was still undecided who was the better golfer.... we may never know!

 

I went crazy over all the flowers!  I think I took over 200 pictures of flowers alone.  Here are just a few...

It had been 31 years since my parents were at Epcot. 

 

 Then we headed over to Venice Beach.  Feels like home every time we're there!

 

 

Venice is known for shark teeth. We collected over 30 shark teeth. Marcella got the biggest shark's tooth we could afford.

 

We had learned that Caspersen Beach was the best place to find all the shark teeth.  Could've fooled us.  We only found three on this beach that day.

Caspersen Beach was beautiful, though.  All those rocks were once reefs and old coral.  Most of the rocks had shells embedded in them.

 

 

 Then we visited Siesta Key, the number one beach in America.  The sand was so powdery soft, it wasn't even hot to walk on.  Not much for shell hunting but the water was warm and easy to swim in.

And now for the sunset pictures.  I never go to the beach without taking pictures of the sunrise or sunset.  This time, I had a really nice camera with lots of new settings to play around with.  My mom and I took over 200 pictures of the sunset together.

 

 

This was my attempt at making a panoramic view of the sunset.  My camera doesn't have a setting for that so I had to take a series of shots and then stitch them together in Photoshop.  It was actually pretty easy, the hardest part was holding the camera steady so all the pictures came out the same.  It's not the final draft.  I ran out of time to perfect it, but you get the idea.

 

 

 Apparently Blogger has changed some kind of formatting with adding pictures and my picture display is less than to be desired.  At least the pictures are here....  whatever.  It's late.  So much for getting to bed early tonight!
 

The Dreaded Blank Screen

When I get overwhelmed with life, I have plenty to say but no motivation to write about it.  Some of it relates to the fact that I am a strong believer in keeping most of my life private and not for the world to read about every detail of my life.  Today, it's mostly the fact that my kids won't leave me alone long enough to do anything without interrupting a million times a minute.  So why bother?  I haven't purposely made phone calls to friends and family to catch up on "chit chat" (as my kids call it) because they won't let me finish a sentence without interrupting me or the person I'm talking to.  With that being said, I am downright overwhelmed about life in general.

Too much on my plate

This is THE worst time to ask me for favors or to volunteer for anything.  As I put it to my pastor the other day, "you know how you take a nibble and then you realize you've bitten off more than you can chew?  Well, that's me."  I started teaching Sunday school at church, which in turn automatically volunteered me to help coordinate our Vacation Bible School this summer, I'm involved in our discipleship meetings which has a very broad spectrum of all the activities we are and will be involved in.  My specific obligation to that group is to create a brochure or a flier with images and what we're all about.  

It's Girl Scout cookie time and my garage is filled with over 150 cases of cookie boxes.  My youngest daughter has the flu so I can't deliver any of those cookies for a couple days. Not only do we need to deliver a gazillion cookies but I'm the coordinator for the whole thing = extra community service projects and cookie booths.

I'm starting to panic over being the photographer for my nephew's wedding reception, in which I don't have time to panic.

I took the dog to the vet yesterday.  He has panosteitis, which is a bone disease.  Thank God it's something he'll grow out of.  Basically it's like growing pains for dogs but it's in the bones.  He's on pain meds and he's going to be fine.  It will come and go and he'll grow out of it within the next six months until he's fully grown.  This is a picture of him doing "Doggie Yoga".  He does this a lot to stretch his legs from laying around so much.  It's hard not to laugh at him while he's doing this.

....and I got hit with a hard virus on my computer and again it's taken me several days to pinpoint that stupid thing and getting rid of it.  I think it's gone... I hope it's gone.  I've gone as far as paying for a virus program because I'm sick of viruses taking up my precious time.

So, with a blank screen staring at me at the beginning of this post, I sure had a lot to say.  If you're still with me, I want to make very clear that the amount of stuff that I have on my plate, I actually LOVE doing!  Before I would dread having to go to these activities or preparing for any of them, but not this time.  I'm super excited to see the kids every Sunday morning, I'm super excited to stand outside in the cold selling more cookies and I'm super excited for the opportunities to take photographs for something (someone) real.  My plate may be full but I'm tackling each and every one of them with a happy heart.  If only my kids could jump on that happy wagon with me while I'm dragging them to everything we (they) are involved in.  I thank God that I have the energy to do all this and the motivation as well.

Latest Gluten Free attempt:

I treated myself to gluten free pizza crust.  When the instructions say to make the pizza at least 14", make the darn thing 14"!  I had a 12" pizza pan and thought, "nah, a bit of a thicker crust will be fine..."  Umm.... BAD IDEA!  It took forever to bake and it was STILL gummy in the center and outer crust.  Although I could taste the potential it would've had, I won't give up on it.  I'll just take the directions a little more serious next time.

Garrulous Gibberish 2/13/13

Two weeks since I've written....  Time is flying by for me.  I've learned that not only are my kids happier the less time I spend on the computer, the happier I am as well.  When I try to steal a moment away to myself to write, someone comes up to me and asks me to do something or to resolve a fight.  I often wonder why I can't focus on one thing at a time, probably because my brain is already focusing on too many things at once, I can't possibly add one more thing.  "No!  I'm doing something right now... you'll have to wait...."  Yes, I say that way too much these days.

So my update on my gluten free "diet" thing:  I've lost 6 pounds and my jeans are getting big on me.  I've done happy dances in restaurant bathrooms because I was so happy I didn't touch the bread, passed up dessert and left the table not feeling like a balloon expanded in my stomach.  I have energy in the afternoons and I danced in the dining room with my daughter and granddaughter today to a Hannah Montana song.  I THINK I accidentally ate a meal at a restaurant one night that must have contained wheat because before we got home, I thought I was going to die with the most horrendous stomach cramps.  Needless to say, my plan to try something with wheat in it after a month of going wheat free is down the drain.  I'm too scared because I think I'd rather die than to eat wheat.

We went ice skating with my daughter's Girl Scout troop last weekend.  We had so much fun that we want to go back again.  As I was still hanging onto the wall to get used to my balance, Marcella was already around the rink three times.  How in the world....?!?!  Ellen took a little longer to learn her balance but she caught on pretty quickly.  After a couple of hours, all three of us were in the center rink spinning and turning.

Marcella was invited to a birthday party at a trampoline place last week.  I didn't want to take our nice camera in case there were a lot of people there.  When we got there, it was a private party and there weren't as many people there as I thought there would.  I kicked myself every minute of all the fantastic photos I could've taken.  So I relied on my stupid dinky cell phone camera, but at least I got a couple pictures to share with you.  I did however get on the trampolines and got some great exercise.

It is officially cookie season for Girl Scouts and I'm the Cookie Mom.  Needless to say, that's one of my many reasons why I don't get on the computer these days.  I love being the Cookie Mom.  Yeah, I'm crazy but I do like being busy and being in charge of something adult-like.  I've added a lot more activities on the girls this year so they can earn more patches and pins so that's added to my schedule as well.  There is a contest for the scouts that if they sell 24 more boxes (or more) between now and March 1, they can get their name into a drawing to win the Build-a-Bear Thin Mint bear.  I would love for Marcella to win that bear... then again, it might be a lot less work if we just go to the store and get it for her.  So, if anyone out there who hasn't ordered cookies yet, or think you may not have ordered enough cookies, shoot me an email!

That's it for my garrulous gibberish for today.  I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!

I "Get" It - I Totally "Get" It

My girls are at my sister's house for a slumber birthday party.  My hubby is working.  That means.... the house is all to myself!  It's quiet here and I've got so much to do, but of course I'm wasting time.  My best time to write is at night when I'm most sentimental, tired, and can process the whole day as I'm winding down.  So I wanted to write my thoughts about my evening before tomorrow begins and a whole new set of thoughts kick in.

On my way home tonight, I got to visit my hubby at the fire station, which is something I don't get to do too often anymore.  Since he moves around to all the stations in the township, he just happened to be in the not-so-nice part of town when I called.  He reminded me of the directions to get there but instructed me to stay in the car and call him so he could come out and walk me into the station.  This isn't uncommon as most of the time I don't know the code to get in the station so he has to come out and get me anyway.  But this station is different.  This is the kind of area you don't want to get out of the car anyway when you're passing through.  As I was leaving the station to go home, I noticed a list of addresses on the white board that contains messages, announcements and fire-related stuff.  There was a list of addresses with notes.  I wish I had thought to take a picture of the list but I figured it wouldn't have been allowed since they were actual addresses.  The notes after the addresses were like the following:

• No floor boards
• Stuff stacked to the ceiling on second floor
• Used syringes all over the floor
• 15 kids living there
• 10+ pit bulls
• Hoarder - 10 cats, 6 dogs and 1 goat, all dead
• Active TB
• Abandoned
• Gangland - wait for police

DetroitDecadence.wordpress.com - Makkin

These are notes for the firemen so if a fire is called for that residence, the firemen are warned of what kind of setting they will be arriving at.  The list I saw was not complete as there were way too many to list on the white board.  I couldn't help but giggle at the list, mostly at how they put the notes on the board but also a giggle of "how can anyone live like that?".  Once I was safely in my car and my hubby was in his truck and off to his rounds, I continued home and that's when all the mixed feelings flooded my brain.

• How can people live like that?
• They don't know any better, that was the way they were raised.
• They don't care about anything but that moment's moment.
• 15 kids in one small house??????  one house???  That probably didn't include all the other relatives, too.
• Sickening.

http://blogs.citypages.com - Adam Craven

Then I became angry.  Those are the types of houses my loving husband has to enter when there's a fire or a medical emergency.  My husband and the men he works with not only put their lives in danger to fight a fire, but also in other dangers such as entering a house with used syringes laying all over the floor, or active TB in the environment of the house.  This is why I have created my "perfect little bubble", the best way I know how to protect my family.  I will raise my children with manners, respect and a good education so stuff like that would not happen to my precious children.

I get it now.  I totally get why my husband comes home and gets perturbed when the house is a mess.  When there's fingerprints all over the glass door or when the girls (accidentally) write on their bedroom wall or dresser.  I totally get when my husband wants to rush off to the store and buy new clothes for the girls when one pair of their jeans gets a hole, why he gets into a cleaning frenzy when there's crumbs on the kitchen counter.  These people that my husband has to deal with while he's at work is why he works as hard as he does so that his family would never be put in a situation like that list above.

Now, will the house occasionally be a mess when my hubby gets home from work?  Sure!  Will our feet occasionally stick to the floor when I haven't gotten around to mopping it for over a week?  Sure!  Will there still be mold in the toilet because I haven't gotten around to scrubbing it out yet?  Absolutely!  But I totally and utterly get why my husband has developed an OCD on cleanliness.  I "get" it - I totally "get" it.


Dedicated to my wonderful husband, Jeff.  I love you so much!

Garrulous Gibberish

I'm skipping out on Wordless Wednesday this week only because I haven't touched my camera in over a week.  I wanted to take the Picture a Day challenge from someone's blog... I'm sorry I don't even remember who that was.  That challenge is still on my to-do list and I'm sure there are plenty of good photos on my camera that I could use but I feel like I'm in such a slump because I'm tired of taking pictures indoors.  I've got Spring Fever and I always get it bad this time of year.  As I hear the rain dump down by buckets outside,  it's a constant reminder that again I won't be able to get out and walk the dog... at least for now.

I have so many things on my mind that I need to get them written down before I forget.  My Notes app on my phone is full of ideas to write about but yet life happens everyday and there's never enough time to sit at my favorite spot in front of my computer and write.  That's okay.... for now.

Update

I have officially completed 14 days of gluten free.  Very successful, I might add!  Two weeks flew by and so far my only struggle is when my kids ask for chicken nuggets for lunch.  I'm not even that crazy about chicken nuggets but as they leave one or two on their plates, it was such a habit for me to eat them so they don't go to waste.  Tsk tsk!  Such a bad habit to break as a parent!  I'm learning that my calorie intake everyday was so high because I eat after the kids, I snack while I cook and 3:00 is my worst time of the day when the kids get home and ask for a treat.  That was when I was the most tired, most unmotivated and most craving sugar.  Damn you, Oreos!   Writing down everything I eat has helped tremendously and I've cut my calorie intake by half, easily.  I'm still only down three pounds but at least my jeans still fit me better. I've passed up bread, alcohol and my favorite appetizer at two restaurants this week.  I will confess that I did a happy dance in the bathroom one of those nights.

Sugar Challenge

To make a long story short, I put my kids on a No Sugar Challenge for five days.  Such torture!  Their incentive was going to Galaxy Golf to play right after school.  They were very excited and made it through the first two days with little encouragement needed.  The third day was harder because they asked daddy for a fruit roll up while I was walking the dog and blew their efforts out of the water.  Yes, Daddy sabotaged their challenge but the kids were equally to be blamed for even asking in the first place.  They are kids, afterall and I can't fault them for that.  But I will say that those three days were wonderful!  Ellen wasn't whining over everything and the meltdowns around dinnertime were gone.... until she had that fruit roll up.  That night she had a meltdown and the kids have been fighting ever since.  Needless to say, we didn't go to Galaxy Golf.

A New Chapter?

Since I made the link to my new Marcellen Photography link, I have, all of a sudden, two events scheduled to take pictures at.  My nephew-in-law and his wife are having a wedding reception this March and my sister and her husband are renewing their wedding vows in May and they both have asked me to take pictures.  I have zero experience and no proper equipment (besides the camera) and I have no clue about what I'm doing!  They know that and that's why they've asked me.  I have to start somewhere and I'm so thankful that both of these events are informal and small, and so thankful they asked me!  I'm so excited... but with a little (okay, a lot) of panic mixed in!

This is a lot to read so I will sign off with a little conversation that my sweet little 5-year-old Ellen and I had in the car yesterday:

www.flickr.com/ Stephen Neven

The sky was turning gray and looking like it's going to rain...

Ellen:  Is it going to thunder?
Me:  No, we don't get thunder in the winter.  Just rain.
Ellen:  What if it does thunder?
Me:  Then we'll get a lot of rain.
Ellen:  What if we die?
Me:  Then we get to go to Heaven.
Ellen:  (very excitedly) ... and we'll get to see Koda! (our last dog who passed away)
Me:  Yeah!  Wouldn't be so bad, huh?
Ellen:  When will I die?
Me:  Not for a very very very very very very long long long long long long time, when you're old and your hair is gray and you're all wrinkly.
Ellen:  Like you?

Oh, God love her!

Second conversation, just a minute later:

We were pulling into her school parking lot and as we rounded the corner, she pointed to a window in the far side of her school and said, "That's Ms. Williams' classroom."

"Yeah?  All the way down there?" I said.

"Yeah.  She's so romantic!"

Oh the stuff these kids pick up from their Disney movies!!!

Have a blessed day!

Going Gluten Free Day 7

You know, I thought I'd have a meltdown by now with so many things I can't eat.  Most of the food in my house has some form of wheat, but when I stood back and really thought about healthy food vs. junk food, I had a lot more food in my house I CAN eat.  Just like Shauna said over at Gluten Free Girl, after a while, it gets easier and then you'll get to the point where you WON'T want those old foods you used to crave.  You won't have to think so hard.  I think that's the best advice I could've gotten from the very start and encouraging.

So it's been 7 whole days since I've gone gluten free.  I have yet to have a meltdown and I have yet to be disappointed that my family is eating something I want but can't have.  Now, I'm sure that day will come and it's going to be hard.  I'm not kidding myself here, but I love to cook and bake so I'm confident that I will find some kind of recipe of the like to satisfy me.

I had made beef vegetable soup the other day.  When I went to grab my (organic) beef broth, I noticed it had wheat in it.  Yeah!  Beef broth has wheat.  I was not happy as I had extra kids in my house and my husband just got home from work and was tired, and I wanted to run to the store to buy gluten free beef broth.  Needless to say, I didn't get my soup for lunch that day but it was worth the wait for the next day's lunch.  While I was at the store, I found quinoa which is like rice but has no wheat or barley in it.  Oh I found my new-found food love!  That stuff is so good and it goes great by itself with a little bit of butter, and it also was great added in my soup.  It's a very versatile item but oh-so-expensive!!!

Ok, so they look more like cookies.  But I will say,
they are HORRIBLE the next day, even
warmed up in the microwave.  

Last night as I was eating the last of the soup, I made gluten free biscuits.  I was surprised how good they tasted.  They weren't fluffy and flaky but the taste was there and Marcella ate half of the batch.  You can get the recipe here if you're interested.  Baking gluten free, dairy free, soy free, etc is very difficult to do, I think because I don't have a clue of what I'm doing!  I know how to knead yeast dough to make a light and fluffy texture but working with wheat-free flour is a bit different.  I'm staying positive about all this because I'm taking it like a learning project.  A challenge.

How am I feeling?  Still down 3 pounds, but it's only been a week.  My jeans fit me better and I stopped craving sweets in the afternoons.  I'm not crashing on the couch as soon as I sit down and I've had a lot more patience for my kids in the evenings.  Is it a wheat thing? Probably more of a sugar thing.  My skin is healing, which is a wheat thing and I seem to be sleeping better, too.  I've had one craving so far:  chicken nuggets.  My kids eat those almost everyday and the brand that we have are my favorite.  I know they're good so it's hard for me to not take that last nugget off their plate when they're done eating.  Drinking lots of water helps and getting as much sleep as possible...which most times is almost impossible in this house!

Is there anyone out there with a diet challenge?  It's always nice to have a partner on a journey to help support each other.  Please leave a comment or contact me through email Jillzy @ columbus . rr . com 

I'd love to hear your story!