loose ends

 

Charley waiting patiently at post office

1. Yeah!! My passport is being processed finally!  John found a website to get my birth certificate from South Dakota and I finally went to the post office last week.  Fairly painless except for the $135 fee.  Ouch.  I'd rather buy something for the house for that price.  Not an ugly picture.  The only mistake I made was that I thought I had to bring 2 color photos of my own with me.  The directions just said "two recent color photographs"  hmm so I found a couple of me that weren't two fugly and had them print over at Walgreens in the wallet size.  I was so proud of myself for thinking they needed to be small.  So after going to walgreens to pick up ugly pictures of myself, Charley and I headed over to the post office and waited in line.  When it was our turn I handed over proudly my birth certificate, filled out paperwork, and photos.  Uh oh, wrong photos.  They have to be special passport photos.  So I loaded Charley back up and ran across the street to Meijers.  The girl takes my photo and tells me I can't smile and that my ears have to be showing.  What?  Why would my ears have to be showing?  But I pulled back my hair as much as I could and hoped that my chubby chipmunk cheeks wouldn't block my ears.  You could see a sliver of them in the finished photo.  Oh well, I thought hope that is enough ear for them.   So got back to post office and unloaded Charley to wait in line again.  Everything was golden, except when I asked about my ears he laughed and said he never heard of that.  Oh well, I will have ears in my passport photo but at least I should definitely have it by December.  Can you hear my huge sigh of relief?

 


2.  My sweet puppy has a new home :(  I wanted to keep her so badly, but a good friend of mine who is a dog groomer knew of a girl who was looking for a puppy.  It is a good match and my sweet puppy left last weekend for her new forever home.  I have to keep telling myself to think with my head and not heart.  We already have 2 dogs that are at times (a lot) a handful.  If we kept her it would just really add to our stress level.  We sure don't need that.  Ultimately it is the best thing for puppy, she gets to be spoiled in her new home and the best thing for the 2 dogs we already have.  Still sad though :(


3. Weight loss is unmentionable right now.  Nonexistent.  Hasn't happened.  I decided yesterday though to start a food diary and to really keep track of the calories I consume.  The weird thing was that writing things down and counting the calories made me want to eat more.  I am like a rebellious teenager when I try to take control of my eating.  There is this naughty part of me that just doesn't want to be controlled.  I don't know what would be better?  Like should I just make sure to exercise at least 5 days a week and just eat healthier and try not to obsess about it SO much.  I feel like the obsessing about every calorie and every pound I am not losing is just sabotaging me.  It sounds so easy but for some reason I just can't.  I haven't even been to the gym since the whole "runner's knee" thing.  My knees feel fine now, so there is no reason now to avoid the gym.


4. I can't think of anything else to tie up right now.  I am trying to spend more time reading because a.) I love reading and b.) I could really give up some of my computer and television time.   So I will tell you what I am reading right now and maybe it will spur me on to read faster so I can tell you if I liked it and then tell you about my next book.  Right now I am reading Orange is the New Black.  About a girl who was arrested on some minor drug charges and has to do time in a federal prison.  It is pretty good so far.  I am  reading it on my e-reader and for some reason it is taking me a lot longer than it would if it were a book I cold hold in my hands and turn actual pages.


That's it for now, Happy Halloween!  I will hopefully have some good pictures and stories to post from tonight.

 

 

Monday blues

Our week has started out kind of rough.  Normally we can get until at least Wednesday morning before the meltdowns start.  I don't know what it is but this kid HATES school.  As soon as you wake him up he starts yelling "no school today, it's Friday!" (he doesn't have school on Fridays)  It is heartbreaking to see his panic and extremely tiresome and frustrating.  He can't or won't articulate to me why he hates it so much.  It has been getting worse and it is only October :(  We had a home visit last Friday and his teacher said that he starts out the week pretty good but by Wednesday or Thursday he is kind of zoning out and having to get cued as to what to do more.  Ahhh so frustrating because we want him to do well and get the most out of this year.  I feel like this is our make or break it year as far can we get him in with the regular kids?  He is with them for most of the day right now but I am not sure how that is going yet.  Our meeting on Friday was with the Early Childhood teacher (special ed) and we don't meet with the regular kindergarten teacher until November 4th.  The testing that they have been doing so far this year shows him still way behind on his fine motor skills.  He's a little behind on the following directions part too.  My goal now is to make sure we work on something at home a few times a day.  Some days I think I get into lazy mode and just go about our normal routine without making sure he gets a little extra from me.  I have to remember that Jack is different and everything is going to take a little more from all of us.  I can't just auto pilot parent with him.  Obviously, he is struggling, I am sure that is why he doesn't want to go.  Jack has never liked being out of his comfort zone.  Me either for that matter.

Fall slides in

John and I had a money and budget talk this morning and tried to figure out just how many extra hours a week that I should be picking up at work to make all our ends meet.  Ahhhhh, it was not a fun talk.  No fun feelings afterwards either.   So since the day was a perfect fall day we decided to head out to Robinettes and get some hot apple cider and warm donuts.  They have the best.  They don't have their own pumpkin patch there so we left without pumpkins for today.  There is a local pumpkin patch that I will take the boys to next weekend.  I want them to have the experience of picking and choosing their own pumpkin.  Not just pointing at an odd shaped one in a box.  Jack was a little mad that we weren't leaving with any pumpkins.  I believe his exact words were "I'm going home with nothing!"  Oh poor baby.

Jack checking out the lay of the land

 

 

 

 

 

The ugly pumpkins are only $40 and we can talk about the unhappy looking kids

 

 Where are those donuts and cider you promised me.

There we go :)

 

Even he likes them

Hide your donuts from the big people

 

Uh-oh looks like a Speed sequel

 This driver looks a little devious

 poser

The end, off to grocery shop with 2 tired kids :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

Who gets runner's knee after running twice and working out only 3 times?  Me, Yeah me.  Great

My knees have been bugging me for over a week.  And by bugging me, I mean killing me.  Two weeks ago I worked out at the Y three times in one week. Woo hoo.  I did the elliptical which I feel like I can do forever and it burns a lot of calories, which is what I am looking for since I have about 45lbs I want to lose like yesterday.  Two of the days after I did my time on the elliptical I went over to the treadmill and alternated running and walking.  My knees started hurting pretty much right away but I just assumed I overdid it.  So, I stayed away from the Y all last week and took it easy on my knees.  Practically overdosing on ibuprofen all week. 

I saw my doctor yesterday and she diagnosed me with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome.........or runner's knee.  Come on, I barely even worked out yet.  We have a wedding in December to go to and I don't want to be the big girl on the beach.  My doctor said to stay off the elliptical for awhile and walk on the treadmill not run until it gets better.  She also suggested taking a pilates class so I am going to check into some classes at the Y.  I have always wanted to try a class but I am not very coordinated and I have a thing about being in a class full of fit women who already know what they are doing.  I know, grow up already and get some confidence, right?  Well, maybe these knees will push me into going.  I really want to lose weight and everyone says that yoga and pilates really work your core so I think I will give it a shot.


Last night I went out with some girls from work.  We met for a movie and then we went out for drinks and played some pool.  It was so much fun but I probably should have stopped after the movie.  I just wanted to have a couple of drinks but once I started it didn't seem like I could stop.  This is probably a problem I will have to visit at some other time but I don't think I am going to go there now.  It was a fun night...........I have just been paying for it all day today.  John left early today to go hang out at his uncles and watch the U of M vs.MI State game.  Mackenzie was gone today so it was just me and the boys.  It was really a nice day.  They played outside forever and then took a long bath and then I let them watch Sesame Street on my bed.  That worked out fine until wrestle mania started.  They get so rough with each other.  Boys   John is staying over at his uncles for the night so the best part of they day?   I have the bed to myself again.  Nothing against my husband but sometimes just being able to have the whole bed to spread my books and computer on and to be able to watch as much cheesy tv in bed until I fall asleep is just priceless.

Before the wrestling or maybe during a break?

 Charley smothering Jack

funky funk

Do you remember her from a few weeks ago?  Isn't she too cute?  She is a spunky 6 weeks old right now.  I am so in love with this little puppy.....which is not good because we already have 2 dogs.  An ex-boyfriend of one of my sisters wants her.  He has come over to see her a few times but now I don't know if I can part with her.  Common sense tells me I do NOT want 3 dogs.  The sucky thing is that I usually go with my stupid heart on such matters.  I kind of feel like Tyler and Caitlyn on Teen Mom.  I know what is best for baby but it is going to be so hard for me.



It has been a busy week here at the Larkin's.  John's friend Brad from high school is getting married in December and we had their couple's shower on Saturday.  It was interesting..............for the most part everyone sat upstairs in a living room watching college football.  Since I am really not a fan of college football I felt kind of lost.  I kept wandering around the house hoping to find someone else that just wanted to have a drink and maybe a smoke (Mad Men style) but there were no takers until just about the time I had planned on leaving.  We had a babysitter at our house and it was the first time anyone outside of Mackenzie or John's mom had watched the boys.  It was also the first time we paid someone hourly to watch the boys and since she had arrived at our house at 3:30 we were getting up there in numbers by the time the party started getting fun.  I left John at the party and got home to a very quiet house.  So so so nice.  I got on my jammies and went to bed in our king sized bed all by myself.  Well, with 3 little dogs.  The boys must have had fun with Becca because I woke up to "bayee seeeeter,  bayee seeeeeter, where are yew?"  When I went in to get Charley he said "no, not yew mommy."  I guess we will have to get a babysitter more often.

Speaking of John's friend who is getting married..............well, the wedding is in Mexico and we are going.  Instead of paying for a big ole wedding they are going to pay for a few of their close friends to go along with.  I have never been out of the country though so I am just now in the process of trying to get my passport.  Of course now I can't find my birth certificate anywhere and you kind of need that for the whole proof of U.S. citizenship and everything.  AAAAHHH  I have been trying to call the records office in South Dakota and as of today still haven't gotten a live person.   I have to work all day tomorrow so Friday is going to be the big birth certificate search here while having a phone glued to my ear to try and obtain another one in case I can't find the one I know I just saw a few months ago when I had no reason to need it.  Wish me luck.