Three Things Thursday: L-O-V-E

Until Jerry and I got married, we celebrated May 19th as our anniversary--it was the day that we decided to "become exclusive" or "go steady" or whatever it was called back in 1999. I know today is only the 18th, but when thinking of three things to write about for Three Things Thursday, I thought I would write about three things that I love about Jerry.

I've done a post like this before--about 100 years ago!--but since it's on my mind, I figured it would be a fun topic to write about today. So, here we go... three things I love about Jerry. (Warning: This is SUPER mushy. I didn't intend that when I started writing, but it just came out.)

1. He's a SUPER fun dad to my kids.

He's the dad that all their friends wish their dads were like: goofy, spontaneous, up for anything, embarrassing (in a good way), funny, and easy to talk to. The kids went through a short phase when they were pre-teens where they were embarrassed that their dad acted like a big kid; but as teenagers, when their friends were always commenting on how cool their dad was, they understood ;)

From the day they were born, Jerry adored being a dad--changing diapers, getting up in the middle of the night, all the things that a lot of dads leave to mom--Jerry lived for it. He loved volunteering to chaperone field trips on his days off work; taking the kids to different events going on (even simple things like touring a fire station); and now that they're older, he goes to Eli's baseball games (yelling loud "embarrassing" things, like "THAT guy works out!"--referring to Eli's body build) and he has movie nights with Noah on his days off (they literally watch a movie in the middle of the night).

Jerry is SO proud of the kids and you can definitely hear it when he talks about them. When Jerry and I got married, we were so young--I never gave a moment's thought as to what he would be like as a dad if we had kids. But I couldn't have chosen anyone better to co-parent with!

2. He treats me like the most important person in the world. (And puts up with having a bipolar wife--which is no joke!)

I was SHOCKED and in total disbelief when I read a statistic that when one spouse is bipolar, the divorce rate is estimated at 90%. NINETY! I thought it had to be wrong, but I started reading more into it and that is an accurate statistic. Jerry and I have now been together for 24 years, and we are as solid as a couple can get. (At least I should hope so, for Jerry's sake--I warned him the tattoo was a bad idea!)

I would say we're lucky, but luck really doesn't have anything to do with it. Jerry is just VERY patient and understanding and accepting of me exactly as I am. I am the first to admit (truly!) that I am an *impossible* person to live with. I feel sorry for him! I don't know how (or why) he does it. I have a ton of quirks and I overthink everything and I'm super stubborn and my moods can shift from depressed to hypomanic ridiculously fast. Somehow, Jerry keeps up with me and he has learned what works and doesn't work when it comes to "putting up with" me.

3. He puts our family first.

When we found out I was pregnant with Noah, I had been working at Curves for Women. Both of our schedules were kind of all over the place, so we talked about what we should do. Pretty much immediately, we both said that we'd like me to be a stay-at-home mom. I don't think there is anything wrong with being a mom who works outside the home, but we wanted to make sure I (or Jerry) was available for any reason at any time--doctor's appointments, field trips, play dates, learning experiences, all of it.

To see if we could handle it financially, we started putting ALL of my paychecks into a savings account. We lived on Jerry's income alone while I was pregnant, and money was very tight, but it was possible to live on just his income. (And of course, we saved a fortune on childcare once Noah was born.) We were so young and had no idea what we were doing, but we made it work--and we raised two AMAZING kids.

Jerry has always taken his job seriously and he's a hard worker. His shifts are kind of crazy at times (he used to work a swing shift, and now he's on night shift--trying to get on a day shift). He works 12-hour shifts, which is a long day for anyone--but he still makes sure that he spends as much free time as possible with the kids and me. He's super grateful for all that I do and I feel the same for him.

I've gotten a lot of comments over the years about how it's unfair to Jerry that I stay at home while he works long hours. However, it's a choice that we made together and we both agree that it was (and is) the best option *for us*. I don't stay home and eat bonbons while watching soap operas all day (are those even a thing anymore?)--I spent the early years with the kids taking them to MOMS Club events, events at the library and preschool, volunteering at the school for things here and there, etc. As the kids got older, my role has evolved--but it hasn't gotten any less demanding. I have always loved being a stay-at-home mom and I love that Jerry makes it possible.

I don't think there was ever a cheesier family photo than this on the entire planet

This is a very mushy post, now that I read it! Normally, I am not a mushy person; but once in a while, I do like it to be known that I couldn't have chosen a better partner in life. We used to say that we fit together like Legos that have been melted together--not only do we just fit together like normal Legos, but we're both oddly misshapen and ONLY fit with each other, hahaha.

When I told Jerry I was writing this topic today, he joked, "But will you be able to come up with three things?" This was an easy one! Three reasons I love Jerry--out of a million :)  [end mushiness]

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 103

Sure enough, setting everything aside last night and sleeping it over, I felt a million times better today... and I was very productive! I think I just needed to refresh my brain and stop thinking about the issues I ran into. Today, I sanded, primed, and caulked the window and the bathroom door frame. I still have to paint them, but I want to wait until the caulk is completely dried, so I'll get that done tomorrow.

I was going to change clothes for my Wednesday Weigh-In mirror selfie, but I figured why bother? This is what I looked like all day today ;)  I'm kind of bummed because I accidentally got bleach on my Friends pajama shirt (the one I'm wearing) so it's become a "work shirt"--I have lots of clothes I've ruined with paint, caulk, wood glue, and even blood from when I've cut myself, haha.

As predicted, the scale was up today:

I was at 140.4, which is up from 138.0 last week. I'm not at all surprised, considering my eating habits were terrible this week. I *know* that I need to stay in a regular routine of eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner for weight loss/maintenance--depending what I have going on in my life, though, I tend to skip meals and then make up for it later on by eating way too much. It's not a conscious thing I do; it's just a poor way of handling stress/anxiety/feeling overwhelmed.

I've definitely had more free time this week since Eli is out for the baseball season due to his broken index finger). I feel really bad for him--he LOVES playing baseball and he's in his junior year of high school. Earlier this year, I'd suggested maybe he should join the golf team instead of baseball this spring because he can golf for free year-round (he loves to golf and it's crazy expensive!). I loved his reason for choosing baseball: he said that he can only play baseball for two more seasons, but he has the rest of his life to golf. A wise decision!

Anyway, with the extra time I've had, I've been hanging out with the kids, which has been fun. For the past few years, I felt like I hardly saw them. And this year, I've felt kind of panicked because they've grown so much and they aren't kids anymore :(  They really liked the photo albums I gave them for Mother's Day. They were very surprised that I made them and I think it made them a bit nostalgic.

Since it's been almost two years since I started doing my weekly weigh-ins, someone mentioned that it would be cool to see a graph of all the ups and downs--I'm interested to look at that as well! I haven't been inputing my weight into the Happy Scale app regularly, so I'll have to go back and do that this week--then next week, considering it will be two years, I'll show what two years of weigh-ins looked like.

I already know there were a LOT of ups and downs (mostly relatively small, but late fall of 2022 and winter was pretty bad--I'm still working on taking that weight gain back off). It's so hard to believe it's been two years already! But then again, it feels like forever ago when I stepped on the scale at 197.0 and nearly had a heart attack. It was such a huge wake-up call.

So, this week I'll work on putting together a post about the last couple of years. It would be cool to do a time-lapse video of all of the mirror selfies, too--each week, I don't really notice a difference from the week prior, but I'm sure seeing it all happen in fast motion would be kind of cool.

My goal for this week is just to get back to eating regular meals instead of the whatever/whenever eating. There is no reason not to, especially since I'm not going to baseball games in the evenings. Regardless of weight gain/loss, I always feel better when I eat regularly!

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D.I.(WH)Y AM I DOING THESE THINGS

Well, Jerry didn't write his usual post today--probably because I was being super bitchy all afternoon and then he had to go to work. I've been SO FRUSTRATED--and it was terrible of me to take it out on him or anyone else--but I wanted to have a temper tantrum like a two-year old today when I was trying to hang our bathroom door.

There have been "little things" here and there that I've noticed need fixing or tweaking--things that I either didn't do correctly back in 2018 when I was first learning to DIY the home makeover (such as the interior doors) or just stuff that needs touching up (like paint).

I didn't even write a post yesterday because I had the same sort of day; frustration beyond comprehension. I'd noticed that one of the windowsills was bubbled up a bit in the corner, indicating that it had gotten wet (likely a leak from underneath). I wanted to make sure it wasn't a big problem that could be getting into the drywall and window framing, so I pulled up the sill a little to take a peek.

Sure enough, there was some water damage to the sill. Nothing serious--the frame wasn't rotted or anything like that--so I decided to just put a new sill on it (which is actually very simple--I made one with wood I already had). That went fine, and I sealed around the whole window just to be safe.

Next, I decided to take a look at the dishwasher. It wasn't washing properly half the time and we were getting really frustrated with it--we hate it, but we don't want to spend the money on a new one until we absolutely have to.

I took the drains out and cleaned them well--they weren't bad, because we clean them pretty frequently. I wondered if the drain tube underneath was kinked or something, so I decided to pull the dishwasher out a few inches and take a look. There are a couple of metal tabs that hold the dishwasher in place (secured to the counter) and naturally, they broke when I was pulling it out.

And so began all afternoon of trying to fix what wasn't even broken to begin with. Somehow, I managed to fix the draining problem (the drain tube was coiled and not working well) but then I had to figure out how to secure the dishwasher back to the countertop. (I could have driven to Lowe's and bought new tabs, and I should have, but I was just pissed off and decided to try to find a different way.)

My dad happened to have some of the tabs I needed (I didn't think to ask, but Jerry did). So Jerry saved my mistake--if only I had asked hours prior, I wouldn't have spent all day in frustration.

Today, I removed the bathroom door ONLY TO CHANGE OUT THE HINGES. The hinges were 20 years old and getting rusted, so changing them out would be easy. Right? Ha!

I was wondering why it was so difficult getting them to line up. I finally got out my six-foot long level and put it against the door jamb. It was not at all plumb! The top and bottom of the jamb both measured 30-1/8 across, but the middle was much wider--probably by 3/4 of an inch--all on the left side.

The bathroom door has always been wonky, and now I know why. I had made new trim that I was going to hang after switching out the hinges, but then I had to decide--do I use the trim to hide the big problem or do I remove all the casing and shim the jamb in order for it to be plumb?

At first, I was just going to go with the cosmetic solution and worry about the rest later. But then I realized I literally couldn't get the new hinges to work with such a big problem with the jamb. So, I had no choice but to remove the casing from both sides of the door, pry the jamb out a bit so that I could use shims to straighten it out, and only THEN could I put new hinges on. (Followed by cutting new casing and painting--AHHHH. I haven't gotten that far yet, so that will be tomorrow's headache.)

I won't go into even more boring details about all of this, but my entire weekend was just frustrating due stupid DIY things. I wasn't *trying* to take on new projects--I either caused new problems or just discovered things that needed more work than I anticipated.

It reminds me of the book I've been reading, "When Panic Attacks" (the one suggested by my psychiatrist--I've not been reading very much, so it's slow going). There are a list of cognitive distortions that we may apply to situations, and I've been applying pretty much all of them to all situations lately, haha.

1. All-or-Nothing Thinking: ("I'm a total failure because I can't do ANYTHING right")

2. Overgeneralization: ("I ALWAYS screw up every project I work on")

3. Mental Filters: ("It doesn't matter that I made over the entire house; I screwed up this dishwasher when there wasn't even anything wrong with it.")

4. Discounting the Positive: ("The door is plumb now, but who cares? It should have been in the first place.")

5. Jumping to Conclusions/Fortune Telling: ("Now I'm just going to cause even more problems and Jerry is going to be super annoyed that I can't leave anything alone.")

6. Magnification: ("I really do suck at DIY'ing--this weekend is proof.")

7. Emotional Reasoning: ("Why do I even try doing these things? I'm terrible at them and I'm just not good at anything.")

8. "Should" Statements: ("If I don't fix this door, the house is going to start falling apart; I really should do this now.")

9. Labeling: ("I'm a failure.")

10. Personalization and Blame: ("I'm not good at fixing things, [even though I didn't cause the problems with the door or the dishwasher or the window] and I ruin the things I try to fix.")

While typing these out, I can clearly see that they are unreasonable; but in the moment, when I'm super frustrated and can't figure out a problem (or I cause new ones while trying to fix something else), I have a lot of these kinds of distortions.

The book, "When Panic Attacks" gives you exercises to do and write down. You have to have a specific situation in mind to do the exercise, and my anxiety is so generalized that I haven't been able to do it. I can't think of a specific situation. But after all of this stuff going on over the weekend, I think it's perfect to use for the exercise in the book.

Anyway, I'm done working on everything for today--I need to put it out of my mind and look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow. (I always tell my kids to do this when they are frustrated about something--I need to listen to my own advice sometimes!)

Even though this is "fortune telling", I already know that tomorrow's weigh-in isn't going to be good. My weekend was terrible and my eating was just as bad!

Noah is going to be home soon and I think we're going to watch a movie. I've been hanging out with him a lot lately, and it's been nice :) 

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Friday Night Photos #115

Somehow Friday feels like it has more meaning now that I'm not going to be posting on Saturdays and Sundays. It's not really going to change much--I still want to do my Friday Night Photos posts--but it feels different somehow.

I'd made plans to go to a city-wide garage sale this morning and I was *so* excited to go! The pandemic kind of ruined garage sale-ing for the last few years and I've missed going. The city-wide sales are the best because, depending on the street, you can just walk from one sale to the next. Saturday mornings are usually the best time to go because that is when most people have their sales; but this city-wide one started this morning.

I was bummed, then, when Eli's orthopedist appointment was at 8:15 this morning. The appointment was obviously more important, so I told my mom I wasn't going to be able to go to the garage sales. However, Jerry (bless his heart!) said he'd be glad to take Eli to his appointment this morning (Jerry got off work at 6:00 AM, so he usually sleeps right when he gets home). He said it would make him feel good to take Eli since I'm the one that usually does the appointments, and he really wanted me to go with my parents. I was so grateful!

Eli had his finger x-rayed again, and we were able to clearly see the break:

The orthopedist said that there is a chip that broke off (which you can see in the x-ray) and he taped Eli's index and middle finger together and he's hoping it will heal that way. He wants to see Eli again in two weeks for another x-ray. I'm crossing my fingers (haha) that it will be okay! But the doctor said no sports for four weeks--which is the rest of the baseball season. Eli's worried he's going to lose his position as catcher on the team for next year. I feel really bad for him--he still goes to the games to support his team, but he said it's hard watching someone else play his position.

Meanwhile, I found a few things at the garage sales that I was excited about! First, I got this set of armchairs. I really don't *need* chairs, but I couldn't help it--I love them! And they are extremely comfortable. I haven't decided where to put them yet, though. I'm going to have to move some things around.

The best part? I got both chairs and the ottoman for $40! We had them in the back of my dad's truck, and several people commented while we were out that they really liked them.

My mom actually wanted them too, so she said if I can't find a place for them, she'll buy them from me. I'm determined to find a spot, though! Estelle was on there in about two seconds flat, and she hasn't moved ever since.

At one sale, I was so excited when I was rifling through a huge container of clothes and I found several Lululemon items--the clothes were listed as $2 a piece, and for Lululemon, that was a steal! They were in great shape, and in my size, so I ended up with about 12 pieces. When I went to pay, however, the woman said, "Oh, those aren't $2--the Lululemon stuff is $10 a piece." I couldn't believe it! My mom had even double checked with her when I was digging through the box of clothes, and she'd said $2. So, I gave everything back and didn't buy any of it.

At another sale, I found a ton of Mr. Potato Head stuff. This may sound odd, but I wanted to get it for Riley. I don't have very many toys here for Luke and Riley to play with when they come over, but Riley LOVES playing with the Mrs. Potato Head set that I have (she doesn't have one herself). When I got home and started going through all of it, I noticed that there were some Star Wars pieces in there! Jerry hasn't seen them yet, but I know he's going to flip out when he does, haha.

I'm not sure if I should hold onto everything for when Riley comes to visit or if I should put it all in a box and mail it to her. It's always fun to get mail, but it would be nice to play it with her.

I also bought something completely random on a whim--I saw it and thought it would be fun for the family to play:

I had to ask Noah if it was even compatible with Jerry's X-box--I have no clue! And I'm sure Noah and Eli have never seen Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy in their lives, but they're going to learn ;)

I can't remember what I've posted this week or not--I'm sure I wrote about some of these things on my "Weekend Happenings" post. But anyway, we got together with Dave and Renee last weekend to play Euchre and it was so fun! It'd been a long time since we played with them. Dave and I were partners and we won both games. It was fun to catch up with Renee, too.

I think I've decided not to coach cross country this fall. My life doesn't seem to be getting any less overwhelming and I really don't want to commit to anything yet. Renee isn't sure if she wants to do it either, so we'll see what happens.

I needed to get out of the house yesterday--everyone was in such a negative mood and I just couldn't take it! So I ended up going to the library to write my blog post. I was hoping for peace and quiet, but it was kind of loud in there. And they had several windows open, so it was breezy and cold. Next time, maybe I'll just go out for a walk when I need some space!

I actually moved spots three times to try to find a quiet/non-breezy spot, but no such luck. I just ended up finishing my post and going back home.

However, a book that I requested had arrived! A reader suggested to me that I read 'Eat & Run' by Scott Jurek (a badass vegan ultrarunner) because she had found it really motivating to get out and run. I'm really in need of that motivation, so I requested the book at the library. I wish they had the Kindle version, but the hardcover was all they had. I've yet to start it--hopefully this weekend.

I finished a new bed for the cat wall/room. There was a hole in that top shelf and I didn't have anything underneath it. I'd been debating over what to do with it--what kind of bed or shelves or whatever to put there--and I finally decided to use the wooden posts from the really ugly cat tree I was so happy to get rid of. I used that fake fur I'd sewn together a while ago to create a bed. And then I hung the bed very close to the shelf above--the cats like to be in tiny spaces so that they feel like nobody can see them. Chick really likes it!

Yesterday, I was noticing how Duck's pupils were SO razor thin--and just how pretty he looked in general--so I took a picture of him.

Kroger recently had those bags of three tri-colored bell peppers on sale (usually they are about $6 and they were on sale for about $2) and they looked really good! I bought two bags and they sat in the fridge for a few days--I wasn't sure what to make with them. Finally, I cut them all up and stir-fried them with homemade fajita seasoning. Then I rehydrated some soy curls (with fajita seasoning in the water) and added those to the skillet.

We ate it over rice and it was SOOOO good! Jerry and I kept exclaiming it was "the best thing we ever ate" (we say that a lot--every time we try a new food we really like). The next time I can get peppers for a reasonable price again, I'm definitely going to make this again.

And finally, I noticed these flowers up on our bookshelf in the living room and I had no idea where they came from. When I got closer, I noticed that they weren't flowers--they were Legos! Noah got the kit (I think it was something he'd wanted for Christmas) and he finally put them together. I love how they look!

And that's all I've got. I'll be back to write on Monday! Have a great weekend. xo

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Three Things Thursday: [Chuckles]

Most of the time, when Jerry and I watch TV, we turn on the captions. When I was a kid, I always hated when adults would have the captions on--and now I'm one of those people. Anyway, we always laugh when we see the caption [chuckles] so it's kind of become a thing between us.

The only reason I named this [Chuckles] is because it gave me some laughs as I went through ideas of what to post here. I am working on a Mother's Day project for my kids (yes, I'm making them something for Mother's Day). I'm putting together a simple photo album of pictures of me with each of them (they will each have their own book, filled with pictures of the two of us).

Included in the book, I'm going to write out some fun stories about them from when they were younger. So, I thought for Three Things Thursday, I'd share three stories about each of the kids that made me chuckle.

(Now that I think of it, I could've sworn I did a post about this before--and after a search, I realize I did! I'm kind of bummed; but I'll choose stories that I didn't share before. In case you're interested, though, here is the link to that post: Kids Say The Darndest Things.

(I'm going to write these as I wrote them at the time--most of them were Facebook posts.)

Noah

1. As you may know, I've been working my ass off since August to give our home a makeover. I can't even describe the difference, and will post pictures when we do the finishing touches (hopefully next week). 

Anyway, I came across this list that Noah wrote when he was about seven years old. He was on an HGTV kick, and was constantly telling us how "dated" our kitchen was--he kept insisting on "granite countertops" and and "darker cupboards". These were the updates he wanted us to make:

paint rooms; new carpet; update kitchen; new toilet; new couch; new chairs; new doors; new bathroom floor; paint cupboards; new knobs on cupboards

2. [In 2013; Noah was nine years old at the time]

I was out driving with the kids this morning, when I saw a sign for a "Poker Run" and party. 

Noah: "Mama, do you know what a poker run is?"
Me: "No, but I'm curious if it's an actual RUN or if it's something to do with Poker."
Noah: "It's when a bunch of motorcyclists go from one bar to another, collecting a card from each bar; then at the last one, they have enough for a hand of poker, and they play."

Well, it's official--my kids are grown. Might as well retire!

3. [In 2008; Noah was four years old]

Noah is SUPER into anatomy. He even has a realistic skeleton and a torso with removable parts--you can ask him any of the bones or organs and he knows them well! Today, he tattled on Eli:

"Mama, I think Eli just broke my sternum AND my clavicle!"

Eli

1. [In 2009; Eli was three years old]

Today I told Eli that if he vacuumed his bedroom, I'd give him a sucker. Ten minutes later he told me he was done vacuuming, "but don't go see it". I said, "Well, when can I go see it?" His reply; "After you give me a sucker"

This was from years later; apparently I don't have many pics of him with a sucker!

2. [In 2011; Eli was five years old]

My kids were watching Gremlins, and one of the gremlins had 3 cigarettes in his mouth at once. Noah said, "Eli, look--that gremlin is smoking three cigarettes at one time!" And Eli responded, "You mean he's WASTING two cigarettes?!"  (For the record, neither Jerry or I smoke--I'm not sure why he responded that way! haha)

3. Eli asked me if I wanted to go for a walk today, so of course I said sure. The two of us were walking around the block, and I told him that if he could sing the entire alphabet to me, I would buy him a pack of Pokémon cards... and if he could identify all the letters of the alphabet, he could earn a whole tin of Pokémon cards. He didn't like this idea because it takes too long, so he said, "I'm just going to save up my money instead."

I know for a fact that he only has a couple of dollars, so I explained that he'll need to earn more money by doing his chores. Of course he didn't want to do chores either, so he had another solution.

"I'm just going to earn my money from Aunt Jeanie. I'll just have her do a scavenger hunt with all the money at the end for me."

This wasn't one of her scavenger hunts (she did many!) but rather a game that they had to play "hot potato" with a gift and had to try to open it before passing it on--while wearing gloves to make it harder. Basically, Aunt Jeanie=gifts ;)

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 102

This picture is just from the day of Noah's graduation--I felt like wearing a dress for the first time in God only knows how long--so I figured I'd take my weekly weigh-in selfie while I was dressed up :)

Like I mentioned yesterday, Eli chose to go to his baseball game rather than get an x-ray of his finger because his finger was feeling better and the swelling was going down. The doctor had sent in an order for an x-ray, but she said it was more for peace of mind; rather than continuing to worry about it, we could just get the x-ray if we wanted. He kept the splint on it and kept icing it.

Today, he wanted to go play in his game. I told him no way--as long as it was swollen and bruised, I didn't want him messing it up. He agreed to get the x-ray (thinking that if it was negative, he'd be able to play), so I took him to the hospital right after school. He was in and out of radiology in literally less than four minutes. And the results were already in his chart by the time we got home!

Well, it turns out he has a fracture after all. I feel like the worst mom ever for not taking him right away (even though he wouldn't have been able to see the orthopedist until Friday, regardless). Someone even commented on my blog that I shouldn't wait! (Thank you for your opinion, and I really wish I'd have taken your advice.)

So, Eli is likely out for the rest of the baseball season. I feel terrible for him--he's had a super rough year and baseball was like his therapy. I'm hoping that the orthopedist will tell us that he won't need surgery and that splinting it will be enough; even so, it'll take weeks, if not months, to heal.

Anyway, on to my weigh-in...

I was at 138.0 today, so I lost the little I'd gained last week. I'm actually kind of surprised because I haven't been eating very regularly again. Either I don't eat all day and then eat a lot at night (not purposely, but just when I have a lot going on during the day); or I eat frequent, random things throughout the day without real "meals".

I was feeling my best and I was regularly losing the weight when I was eating regularly--breakfast, lunch, dinner--so I want to get back to doing that this week. It's going to be a stressful week, considering Eli's appointment and whatever the treatment may be.

Well, I'm going to cut this short because I have a to-do list with about 18 million things on it that I have to get done soon. I'm trying not to get too overwhelmed (yet again) so I'm going to focus on one item at a time, starting with the easy stuff.

I don't mean for this to sound like a downer of a post. I just feel like crap about not taking Eli to get the x-ray sooner (among several other things). But right now--I need to clean out the fridge and freezer! Seeing a clean fridge always puts me in a better mood, as weird as that sounds ;)

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Deep Thoughts With Jerry #15

Even though I've decided to cut back on blogging, I'm still going to continue the "Deep Thoughts With Jerry" posts--he really loves writing them!

What is your favorite scent?

My favorite scent? I think of this in a couple of different ways. There's smell, which comes from something natural like newly cut grass or freshly ground coffee. Then there's scents like cologne or perfume. By far, my favorite SCENT is Love Spell from Victoria's Secret. Katie wears it sometimes and it takes me back to the beginning of our marriage and floods me with all sorts of great memories. It drives me crazy, but in a good way.

If you could learn one professional skill what would it be?

Ha! As I'm typing this I realize how bad I am at typing. Really bad. I'm using each of my pointer fingers and my right thumb for the space bar. Furthermore, it drives Katie crazy.

Katie took this picture of me right now while she oh so patiently waits for me to write this post. 

What did you name your first car?

I've had a couple of (old, very used) cars given to me, so I won't count those. The first car that I bought was a 1993 Ford Probe. I was young and naïve when I bought the car. When I went to the used car lot to look at it there were two black Probes, both 1994. One was a GT and the other was just the SE.

I bought the GT--or so I thought. The owner of the lot said that it would be a couple days to get it because he had to take it to the mechanic to replace the O2 sensor. He stated that the car wouldn't stay running when it was just idling and he was told that was the fix.

When the car was ready to be picked up I went to the dealership to pick it up and saw that it was the SE! The paperwork that I had stated that I bought the GT, but in the meantime, he'd sold that by mistake. I was left with the SE. Because they were the same price I agreed to take the SE and the paperwork was changed. I settled for what I didn't really want.

Furthermore, the issue with the idling wasn't fixed. The only way I could keep it running at stop lights was to throw it in neutral and keep my foot on the gas. I dealt with this for a couple of months until I went to Katie's one day and I noticed a high pitched hissing sound coming from under the hood. It was faint but it was there. I asked Katie's dad, who is an auto mechanic, for help locating the sound and we found that there was a vacuum leak and the repair would only be a couple of bucks and a couple hours' time.

When that was complete the idling problem was magically fixed and I seemingly had a normal car! After the work was done, Katie's dad stated that Probes were terrible cars to work on and always had problems. In fact, he'd warned me against buying the Probe before I actually bought it, but I wanted a "cool" car. So anyway, that's when I started calling it the 'Probelem'.

What was your least favorite food as a kid? Do you still hate it or love it now?

Vegetables. When I was a kid I hated vegetables. I hated the crunch of them and I hated the popping feeling you would get biting into peas or corn. When I met Katie I still felt that way. We went out to Red Lobster for dinner one time and she was talking up the caesar salad--she has never liked salad, but a caesar salad was the exception.

I was not a fan of salad, ever. I wanted to impress her so I just got it like it was no big deal. I LOVED IT! So good. The crunch didn't bother me at all and the flavor was excellent. That broke the seal on my veggie eating. I've been eating them ever since. There are some that I still just don't like but most of them I don't mind and there are a couple that are just great. Sautéed onions on anything is awesome! Peppers on pizzas or fajitas are the best! 

Lettuce? Check. Onions? Check. Pickles? Check. Potatoes? Check. All good.

Which decade or era do you like the most and why?

Easy--the 90's, no question. If you just consider music alone, it was the best and so evolutionary. The movies were also great. But, as an adult, I want the 90's back because it was before social media.

The time just before social media seemed so much more peaceful. You were allowed to have an opinion and belief without having to constantly defend it with arguments rather than constructive in-person conversations. You could be an individual and not be forced into a box and define it. People didn't get offended by every little thing.

When you voted politically, you kept it to yourself. It was America just before so many people became hateful and cold behind a keyboard. It was America before so many people felt like it was their right to judge everybody publicly. When people took care of each other and wasn't divided by the media or government. The 90's was the best because that was the last time America seemed "normal". 

What is one thing people don't know about me?

I am a hopeless romantic. I love the cheese and corniness of everything. I used to do really corny things for Katie--really cheesy stuff. The gifts were a little out of control. I've grown out of it for the most part, but I still like to do things now and then without going totally overboard. I don't know how or why, but the boys have seemingly picked up where I left off.

Katie has given them some sort of direction when it comes to stating that girls nowadays would probably prefer the cheese and corniness of something handmade or thoughtful as opposed to the expense of something meaningless just for the sake of spending money. She loves thoughtful notes or something as simple as when I make her tea in the morning.

Katie used to eat a Dove chocolate every night, so one time I wrote little notes and tied one to each chocolate and put them in a jar. You can notice that the sixth one down on the left just says "LOVE SPELL!" The ones that look blank are just turned over because Katie wanted to keep the picture PG.

Popcorn or M&Ms?

M&Ms for sure. I have to be in the mood for popcorn, and when I am I always regret it. I end up with the kernel skins between my teeth or in my gums. M&Ms are always delicious. There are so many flavors but my favorite is peanut butter. And if you freeze them they are the best. I love M&Ms so much that when we were dating Katie's nickname was M&M.

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Weekend Happenings

Gosh, not writing a blog post yesterday felt so odd! My day felt so much longer, and it was really nice. I took some time to go out in the garage and work on stuff that I'd been waiting for the time to do--tuning up my planer and jointer, working on a nightstand for Eli, and even making a cool cat bed. (Yes, my cats are totally spoiled.)

The weather was so nice and I spent literally all day out there--no rushing to get things done! I listened to some podcasts that I'd gotten far behind on. While I was out there, I kept finding honey bees inside the garage. I have no idea how or why they were there; I just carefully trapped each of them in a jar and brought them to my Asian pear tree (fingers crossed that I actually get fruit this year!). The tree that I planted in the fall is blossoming nicely, and the one in my front yard is now HUGE--I just haven't gotten fruit from it. I'm hoping that the two can cross pollinate now.

I tried to find the picture of when this was literally just a stick in the ground, but I can't find it. Anyway, it's huge now!

This is my new one:

We had Noah's graduation on Friday night, which I already posted pictures of. However, while we were waiting for the ceremony to start, I got a phone call from Eli. He was at his baseball games (a double header) and I felt really bad that none of us were there to watch him (Jerry, my parents, and Jerry's mom were at Noah's graduation).

Eli was really upset on the phone and said that he thought he broke the pointer finger on his right hand. Someone had hit a foul ball straight up, and as at came down, he used two hands to catch it. The ball jammed his finger hard--he wasn't able to play after that. I didn't want to leave Noah's ceremony, but I wanted to be there for Eli. Eli insisted that I stay, though, and he splinted his finger.

When I got home, I saw that it was pretty bad. I don't have a picture from Friday, but this is what it looked like this morning:

His left finger is there for comparison, obviously.

He's been icing it, wearing a splint, and taking ibuprofen. I sent the picture to his doctor who sent in an order for an x-ray if we want to get one. If it's not better by tomorrow, I'll take him for the x-ray. He really didn't want to go today because he wants to go to his game. He's not playing, but he wants to be there to support his team. He is SO disappointed that he can't play.

So, that was a bummer. I feel really bad for him--of all of this fingers, it had to be his right index! And we don't know how long it will be until he can play again.

On Saturday, Jerry and I went to Dave and Renee's house to catch up and to play Euchre. It's been a while since we got together, and it was fun! Dave and I were partners in Euchre and we won both games. I happened to get lucky by being dealt some really great hands through both games. The last time we played, I don't think I had a single good hand the whole time--Euchre isn't any fun when you get crappy cards.

Renee and I haven't yet talked about coaching cross country this fall. I really don't think I'm going to do it. I had a hard time enjoying it last year because I was SO overwhelmed with everything else I had going on and since I am still feeling very overwhelmed, I don't know if I want to take that on.

It's usually this time of year that we decide what we're going to do as far as coaching, because she sends home a flyer from school for kids to sign up. I may tell her that I can just help out once in a while--I won't be "officially" coaching, but I can go to a few practices and meets if I am feeling up to it.

Anyway, thank you for understanding about my decision to cut back on blogging! I feel less pressure to come up with content to write about. I may even go back to my former blogging pattern, which was to more or less just write about my day in general. That was when I was running frequently, though, so who knows...? Haha.

I still haven't been running, but I want to WANT to--if that makes sense. I'm hoping that the true desire will come soon, especially since it's going to start warming up a little outside. I was thinking of just starting with a mile at a time--there is no rule that says I have to run 3+ miles each time I go. For some reason, I've always had it in my head that my runs have to be 3+ miles to "count". I've also been considering doing the Galloway method (a walk-run ratio) because that would make me more inclined to want to do it.

Well, now I'm rambling. I'm going to try to finish up this cat bed tonight--if it works out, it'll look pretty cool!

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Breaking the Blogging Streak

On January 1, 2020, I made a New Year's resolution to blog every single day--whether it was a long, well-thought out post or just a few words or a picture. And I haven't missed a single day in 1,221 days. (Fun fact: If you google "how many days since xx/xx/xx" it will tell you in an instant.)

I started writing Runs for Cookies on April 3, 2011. Since then, I've written 3,511 posts! Can you even imagine that in book form?

My knee injury in 2012

My blog has evolved so much:

• from weight maintenance, to weight loss, to weight gain, and repeat x100
• documenting my skin removal surgery
• from running, to not running, to running, to not running
• from racing everything from 5Ks to three full marathons
• budgeting and paying off $14,000 of credit card debt
• learning all sorts of DIY things
• remodeling my house and garage
• seeing my kids grow from ages five and seven to seventeen and eighteen
• celebrating years seven through nineteen of my marriage (going on twenty in August)
• being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and writing about mental health
• traveling for pleasure or blog reasons
• meeting up with readers from all over the country
• making the most amazing friends through my blog
• sharing success stories from readers
• sharing all about Mark's cancer diagnosis and getting SO MUCH LOVE from my readers
• sharing my family's heritage recipes
• becoming vegan for ethical reasons and trying out new vegan recipes and "weird" ingredients
• forming Ragnar Relay teams with strangers
• being on The Dr. Oz Show, The Today Show, numerous podcasts, and even a feature-length film "From Fat to Finish Line".

Whew. That barely even touches the surface of the things I've written about.

Being filmed for From Fat to Finish Line

And now, Friends? I feel like I've said it all. I've been feeling so much stress and pressure to come up with things to write about on a daily basis and I just need a break. The number of readers I have is steadily declining--which is fine, because I write more for myself than for anyone else--so I feel like I've just become rather uninteresting (I'm not disagreeing!).

Writing one of my very first blog posts

Lately, I have had so many personal things on my mind that I can't write about and they are really affecting my mental health. The punches just keep coming and some days, I just need to not think about my blog at all. I need to focus on myself and my loved ones.

Recovering from my skin removal surgery--I wasn't allowed to sit up!

Anyway, I am not writing this to say good-bye--although it does kind of sound like it. Instead, I'm going to just cut back on the blogging and start taking the weekends off from writing. Over time, I may continue cutting back until I decide that the day comes when I am ready to quit altogether.

It's going to feel weird not writing a post on Saturdays and Sundays. If I have something I really want to write, then I will--but I haven't had much that I can write about lately.

When I was not at all happy about having to transfer things from my old computer to my new one.

So, I'm going to try out writing just Monday through Friday and see how it goes. I'm kind of sad to bread my writing streak, but I am doing what I think it best. Thank you for reading, and I'll be back on Monday! :)

My best friend and editor

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Friday Night Photos: Graduation!

This is going to be a little different than the usual Friday Night Photos. Noah graduated today! He got his high school diploma, and he's also earned 60 credit hours for college. Needless to say, we are SUPER proud of him. So I'll just share a few photos from this evening...

I wish he would show off his smile, but you know how much he loves posed photos ;)

This one made him smile for real:

Me, just being a mom--I wish I was as fun as Jerry! (I did, however, wear a dress and make-up for the first time in God only knows how long.)

And just for fun, I had to do a couple of comparison photos from his preschool graduation and now...

Noah has always been so good about doing his work without us having to push him to do it. And he's gotten all A's all through school! He had started the nursing program but changed his mind to auto tech. And then changed his mind again to cyber security--and that's his plan now. He's going to continue with that in the fall.

Can you believe he's 18 years old and graduated now?! I cannot. I'm so proud to be his mom <3

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