After the events of this weekend, I am beginning to feel like I live in a zoo!
It all started Friday night when my daughter spotted a young raccoon hanging out by the birdfeeder. We watched it meander across the front yard looking half drunk. About half an hour later we noticed it was at the edge of the pond that is in the alcove outside my kitchen bay window. The raccoon very carefully balanced itself on a rock and leaned over to get a drink out of the pond, when suddenly, it fell right in the pond, head first.
Saturday morning, we noticed this same raccoon hanging out on the back steps. It was not one bit afraid of us as it let me get really close for a picture opportunity. My husband decided that it shouldn’t really be near the house and started to lure this raccoon out to the woods. Have you ever heard a raccoon? Oh my! They make the funniest little noise and my husband perfected it pretty quickly. Here was husband walking towards the woods calling the raccoon like a scene out of the Pied Piper or “Are You My Mother?”
The raccoon headed toward my flower bed and decided to get comfy. We have a spare rabbit hutch and the goal was to get “Stripes Jr.” into the hutch. We decided to lure it towards the hutch with a peanut butter sandwich. It’s too bad these animals really are dangerous, because it is so darn cute. Here is my first ever YouTube video of Stripes Jr. eating peanut butter (and if you listen closely, you’ll hear my voice at the end).
We did end up luring it to the hutch and my husband got it into the hutch. The little guy has been hanging out in there for the last day and we will most likely release it way off in the woods away from the house. The girls are concerned if we take it to Animal Control that it will be no longer.
Later in the day we went into Petsmart for rabbit food and spent at least an hour checking out the cats and dogs brought over by the local shelters. Somewhere along the way, while I was checking out the Chow, my husband fell in love with a black lab named Raven. Now, we already have a Rhodesian Ridgeback, 2 cats, a rabbit, and a raccoon in captivity - do we need another animal? NO! We walked out of the store with rabbit food, and no additional pets. I was in the clear. Or so I thought.
This morning my husband headed off to run a few errands and somehow managed to end up back at Petsmart. He even took Raven for a walk. Talk about a sucker! He called from the store and let me know how much he liked this dog and I stuck to my guns. The kids found out about the second visit to the dog and all four of them (hubby & 3 kiddos) have been begging me to change my mind all afternoon.
Somehow I just got completely over-ridden and they called back the organization that has Raven. It looks like we will have another new addition to the zoo tomorrow!
Last week while speaking with a friend, the conversation turned to body image and weight - mine. See, back in the day, before I was married or had 3 kids, I was a pretty fit chick. As a kid I did lots of sports and as a young adult I ran 11 miles every Sunday morning, swam for an hour a few nights a week, rode my bike everywhere and ate pretty healthy. Thirteen years later, I still feel like that same person, but when I look in the mirror I see something different.
From the time I got married, I stopped putting myself and my activities first. Once I had fallen out of the exercise habit, it was one that was extremely hard to restart. There have been “spurts” throughout the years where I have tried to reestablish my habit, but somehow Motherhood has always intervened.
So, my friend has challenged me to come up with a list of 10 reasons why I must now put myself first. Since I know many of my readers are probably in a similar situation, I am sharing this list with all of you.
10. I have run out of excuses.
9. My kids are now old enough to join me on a walk - they can all ride bikes or scooters.
8. My very kind neighbor just gave us a brand new recumbent stationery bike that they salvaged from a house his wife was selling.
7. If I work out I will lose weight and inches which means a good excuse for new clothes - or I can wear some of my old favorites
6. I am ready to throw my perfectionist, all or nothing attitude out the window. Fifteen minutes is better than none - so if that is all I can do one day, then do it!
5. I sleep much better at night when I exercise
4. I will feel better about my body image
3. My heart will be very grateful
2. I have put the rest of my family’s needs first for the past 13 years - now it is my turn
1. Because if I don’t make fitness a priority, no one else will!
I know what to do, how to do it and all that good stuff - my biggest hurdle is making fitness a priority. How about you? What are your biggest obstacles to achieving your goals? Is it time to put yourself first?
On our way home from a birthday party my daughter was at, the conversation in the car turned to watermelon. I was telling my daughter that I had chopped up a whole watermelon and that we also had ice cream in the freezer. Her initial reaction was “watermelon on ice cream - eewww” and I tried to convince her of its goodness.
In trying to convince her I remember Sundays growing up. Each Sunday morning my Dad would get up and make waffles from scratch. Every Sunday. He did it so my Mom could sleep in a few extra minutes before getting up for church. Sometimes the waffles were tinted pink, blue, or green. Sometimes he mashed up bananas and sometimes they were just plain. But, we always had them. It became a tradition.
After breakfast we would go to church. In the summers after church we would have another tradition. My Mom would chop up whatever fresh fruit we had or open a jar of her homemade canned peaches and we would have fruit and ice cream for lunch. That was the entire meal. My Dad always said it was too hot for anything else, but we know now, it was just an excuse to get us all hooked on his favorite indulgence.
I have such clear memories of these traditions and love Sundays for it. As a matter of fact, I plan on making waffles for my kids this morning.
Were there any family traditions from your childhood that always bring back good memories? Have you started any with your own kids?Â
For 9 of the past 11 years I have been able to label myself as a Preschooler’s Mom. After this evening’s Preschool Graduation ceremony (yes, they have these - red caps and gowns and all), I will have officially completed another stage of motherhood.
I have successfully survived the infant stage, the toddler years, and the preschool program three times over.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved all of those stages as they occurred, but there is something very satisfying in crossing them off my Mommy list.
In the fall I will have all three kids in school, full day and I am really looking forward to a block of time longer than 2.5 hours, in which I can work, run errands, or do things just for me. And yes, I will miss having my cheerful little assistant around during the mornings, but I’ll adjust.
Many in the blogosphere are silent today in honor of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. However, I will not be.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to show any disrespect in any way. It’s just that our community, like many others, was deeply touched and affected by the tragic events that day. I sharedmy feelings publicly while I was still somewhat in shock. We wore maroon and orange for the remainder of the week. We lowered our flags to half mast. We also participated in a memorial that weekend.
I am ready to move on. Our community is stepping forward to begin the healing process, just like those at Tech.
The other reason I am not staying silent today is that my blog is not a platform for my political beliefs.
I am going to continue to move forward, keep talking, and share some more of myself with my readers today. I hope you understand.
Saturday morning, we noticed this same raccoon hanging out on the back steps. It was not one bit afraid of us as it let me get really close for a picture opportunity. My husband decided that it shouldn’t really be near the house and started to lure this raccoon out to the woods. Have you ever heard a raccoon? Oh my! They make the funniest little noise and my husband perfected it pretty quickly. Here was husband walking towards the woods calling the raccoon like a scene out of the Pied Piper or “Are You My Mother?”
Last week while speaking with a friend, the conversation turned to body image and weight - mine. See, back in the day, before I was married or had 3 kids, I was a pretty fit chick. As a kid I did lots of sports and as a young adult I ran 11 miles every Sunday morning, swam for an hour a few nights a week, rode my bike everywhere and ate pretty healthy. Thirteen years later, I still feel like that same person, but when I look in the mirror I see something different.
On our way home from a birthday party my daughter was at, the conversation in the car turned to watermelon. I was telling my daughter that I had chopped up a whole watermelon and that we also had ice cream in the freezer. Her initial reaction was “watermelon on ice cream - eewww” and I tried to convince her of its goodness.
For 9 of the past 11 years I have been able to label myself as a Preschooler’s Mom. After this evening’s Preschool Graduation ceremony (yes, they have these - red caps and gowns and all), I will have officially completed another stage of motherhood.
Many in the blogosphere are 
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