Technically this Bite was supposed to be about organizing kids’ artwork, but as I’m terribly unsentimental and save only the best of the best, we don’t have a lot of that around our house.  What we do have, however, is piles of school progress reports and projects and other miscellanea that I needed to organize, so I substituted.  {This is MY life I’m organizing, so I can do that.}

Let me tell you – I’m glad I’m doing this NOW and not a couple years in the future.  Brenna is in second grade, which is her fifth year of school, and these papers collect and collect and collect and then work their way into different parts of the house until they’re everywhere.  I wish I’d started this project when she began preschool, because I’ve already lost everything from her first year of preschool. {It’s likely somewhere in this house but I haven’t the slightest idea where.}  Fortunately I had saved all her second year preschool papers and kindergarten files from Okinawa in a binder, and because I homeschooled her last year and hadn’t actually wrapped up those ends they were all accessible.

This was a sneak project; I hadn’t planned to tackle it until after they’d finished this school year, but when I was at Costco this week I saw these bins sold in a pack of two for $14.  They’re the perfect size, are made of sturdy lightweight plastic to withstand future moves, and came with lids, so I grabbed them immediately.  Because I already had a bunch of empty file folders and manila inserts left over from when I transitioned from a paper filing system to storing most everything electronically, my only expense was these file boxes.

My inspiration for organizing their school files in this manner came from this post, which I’d pinned to my “Organizational Compulsion Disorder” board on Pinterest.  The link she has to the printable labels wasn’t working so I just wrote the same info on some index cards I already had and taped them to the front of the file folders.  I then printed out their first-day-of-school photos and put those on there as well, because theyweresocuteIcan’tstandit it’s a fun way to remember what they looked like at the beginning of each year.

I used the manila folders to separate artwork from progress reports and certificates and such.  And because I had been struggling with how to showcase our work from first grade, I ended up taking the first and last assignments she completed in each subject, to show how much she’d progressed.  The rest (about 5 lbs.’ worth) went into the recycling bin, and I’m not the least bit sad to see it go.  Not that it wasn’t a great experience, but we’re past that now and I am at peace with leaving it behind.

My biggest problem now will be finding somewhere to store these boxes, as they’re fairly large and space is at a premium around here.  For now they’re sitting on the floor of the office, but I’ll be finding a new home for them soon.

My goal with this is to put all school papers I think I may need to keep in their folders throughout the year, then go through and sort them out after the year has ended.  I’m happy to have started and completed this project, though, and feel incredibly accomplished for having done something so relatively easy.

About my 52 Bites Project

Follow My Progress

Disclaimer: Affiliate links in this post will allow me to earn a small percentage from Simple Mom if you buy the book.

I assumed it was a stomach virus – because, ’tis the season – and so I simply kept her home and quiet and as comfortable as possible to let it run its course.  But when day six came with still with no relief, I took her to the pediatrician.  My synopsis:

She has been vomiting with diarrhea* off and on for a week.  She’ll vomit one day and not again for two days, but will have loose stools on the in-between days.  Her stomach hurts constantly; she hasn’t eaten much but we’ve kept her hydrated with water.  No fever at all.

The diagnosis by the most socially awkward doctor I’ve ever met**: a stomach virus.  Treatment: it’ll run its course, and to send her to school when she feels better.

{*No, I still can’t spell this word without spell check.  But I haven’t bothered learning yet.}

{**The trade-off for having full-coverage health insurance is the inability to pick what doctors we see, especially in same-day appointment situations.  This is our second experience with this doctor and while he seems to be a fine diagnostician and was certainly thorough in his examination, he lacks either social skills or a personality.  Likely both.  However, I will not complain because my full-coverage health insurance meant our identical diagnoses came with no co-pay or out-of-pocket costs or deductibles to be met.  This is a more than fair trade-off.}

There have been days when she felt fine all day long, until all of a sudden she didn’t.  (Sunday was one of those days, and I’ll put up a post about that day’s adventure when I get around to uploading the pictures I took.)  For the most part her stomach aches constantly but she’s not in actual pain.  She misses school desperately and wants to return.  I want that for her too.

This morning I drew her a warm bath with epsom salts and essential oils: eucalyptus, lavender, sweet orange.  She played with her Barbies and her My Little Ponys for awhile, soaking it in, and then washing her hair.

And then I cut it.  I cut her hair.

I’ve had bad experiences with this before, as you’ll recall. (I can’t find a link to the post, but trust me when I tell you I was wise not to go into hairdressing for a career.)

But today I prepared myself.  It was just a trim, after all; I couldn’t mess that up TOO badly.

She’s been growing her hair out for two years now.  I’ve gotten it trimmed for her every six months or so, just to keep it healthy, but we’ve had an agreement: she can grow her hair as long as she wants as long as she takes care of it.  This means she must wash and condition it herself, she’s in charge of brushing it out each day (before school and before bed), and if it ever gets to the point where she and I argue about it, I’ll get it cut chin-length.

I have very strong feelings about hair.  One: it’s hers, and she should be allowed to do with it what she wants, which is why most days she wears it pulled back in a ponytail.  Two: I will not allow us to become embattled over this, because my own mother and I fought endlessly over mine, and I vowed not to do the same.  But I also won’t compromise her health (or her most basic appearance) over hair.

This system has worked very well for us, and her hair has continued creeping farther and farther down her back.  After this morning’s shower it looked like this:

I’ve been telling her for awhile now that she needs a trim, just to cut off the dead ends and allow her hair to be healthy.  This morning I decided I could do that myself.

I’m not a regular user of YouTube but I’ve heard you can find tutorials for pretty much anything on there.  After looking through more than a few videos these are the three that I queued up, watched multiple times, and showed on my phone while I set myself to trimming her hair. (The first is for doing a basic trim on long hair.  The second is for adding in long layers.  The third is for cutting long, heavy, sideswept bangs, which I ended up not needing.  I recommend all three if you have any interest in these basic hair cutting techniques, and offer my own ineptitude as proof that if you’re working with 1) a willing, long-haired model, 2) a pair of sharp hair cutting scissors, a comb, and some hair clips, and 3) step by step videos showing you how, you can save yourself $15.)

In the end – and with a few of her tears shed because the sound of the scissors made her think I was chopping it all off – this is what it looks like:

It looks uneven on the sides in these pictures but I promise it’s just how her hair was sitting and the lighting.  I’ve checked and triple-checked to be sure the right is not significantly higher than the left.

I was really happy with the end results.  I only trimmed half an inch from the bottom, and the layers are still very long and will stay up in a pony tail.  I’d still love to give her long side bangs, down to her chin, but she’s not ready for that… yet.

I think this will be a good cut for her.  Her hair is naturally wavy when allowed to dry on its own, and I have a feeling she’ll be able to see more of that curl, which will (I hope) inspire her to wear her hair down more often.  If nothing else, I didn’t mess it up so badly that anyone will notice, and hopefully she’ll allow me to give it another try in a few months.

She’s not thrilled with it right now, but then again her stomach hurts and for a girl who hates having me touch her hair – ever – this was a bit of insult added to injury.  Perhaps when she feels better things will look up and I’ll be allowed to cut those bangs…

As with quite a few of the ‘Bites’ in this book, this was something I had planned to do before I purchased the book, and it just works out for me that I can use this as one of my tasks this year. (Score!)

Tony and I have different backgrounds when it comes to chores.  He grew up doing them every single week, whereas my involvement in such was less regulated and more sporadic.  I don’t know how allowance worked in his family, but for me it was much the same as the chores.  Sometimes I got an allowance, sometimes I didn’t; sometimes it was tied to chores I did, sometimes it was just given to me.

Up until this year Tony and I have not given The Critters an allowance.  They haven’t needed one, and I felt as though money that they receive from us should be earned through their efforts, not just doled out because they’re alive.  But I’ve been stumped: how do we determine what amount of give and take is required on either end in order to make this work?  After working through it in my head, I now think I have it figured out.

I’ve mentioned before that The Critters both received media tools for Christmas this past holiday, Brenna an iPod Touch and Anthony a Leapster.  I was very concerned that the addition of these toys to our non-limitations of TV-time (though we restrict content pretty heavily) would lead to our kids being plugged in all the time.  That’s not what I want for any of us.

Last fall I saw this post on Pinterest, and immediately had every intention of bringing this system into our house.  But as I thought more about this as well as the whole allowance/chore/responsibility conundrum a plan formulated.  And what we have now – what we’ve been actively working since the New Year – brings each of these components together in a system that we are ALL excited about.

I purchased a package of tongue depressors and these buckets from a crafting store.  I labeled each of the sticks with different things (as seen below) and designated the buckets as “To Be Used”, “Extra Chores To Be Done”, and “Used”.  The Critters move them between the pails as needed.

At the beginning of each week I give each of The Critters sixteen of these sticks in their individual “To Be Used” pails; each stick is worth either $0.50 or 30 ‘Media Minutes’. They do not have to do anything to earn them, and can choose to:

1.  Use all those sticks to watch TV and/or play on their consoles (8 hours, total)
2.  Save them all to trade in for money at the end of each week ($8, total)
3.  A combination of the two

(Note: Numbers one and two have never come to fruition, as I expected.)

To give them some added incentives to earn either more money or media minutes, however, I came up with ability-appropriate chores/tasks that they can do.  If they choose not to do any of these there is no penalty, as these are considered “extra” chores above and beyond what we expect of them on a daily basis. (Shown below).

And then there are what we call “Great Kid Bonus” sticks.  These are sticks that Tony and I can award any time we feel one of The Critters has gone above and beyond what we normally expect of them.  Last month Brenna earned a few for an outstanding report card (in every way possible), and another for picking up the shredded pieces of a toy that Cooper had left all over the carpet – without us asking her to do so.  This past week each Critter got one for sitting quietly in an office cubicle, mostly unsupervised, while Tony and I had an hour-long “let’s plan our Army future” meeting.

(Anthony did wake up one morning, meet me in the kitchen, and announce, “I slept in my own bed all night!  Can I get a bonus stick?”  He did not get a bonus stick, but he did get a big hug and lots of praise.  He also returned to my bed in the nights that followed.)

Is this system complicated?  A little bit, maybe more than it needs to be. Tony still finds it confusing. But the rest of us all understand how it works, and here’s why: I found their currency.  The Critters are both still young enough that money alone is not enough of an incentive, and they are both sufficiently invested in media (and have ready access to it) that this is something they want.

And this system? Is all about choice, which is something Tony and I have always been careful to give our kids.  They can choose to wear this long-sleeved shirt or that one (but not the tank top in 30 degree weather); they can choose to eat the dinner I’ve prepared or go hungry; they can choose to behave badly and lose something they desire, or act appropriately and be rewarded for it.  Allowing our children to make their own decisions has, I believe, cut down the number of struggles and tantrums we’d otherwise face, and it gives them a feeling of control in a world where they otherwise have very little.

With our ‘Media Minutes’ they are learning to budget: their time and their priorities.  They can choose to spend each of those sticks watching Phineas & Ferb reruns on the first day, but once they’re out, they’re out.  They can choose not to do any extra chores, but they know they’re losing out on the potential for the payout at the end of the week.  It’s all up to them.

So far, it’s working great.  Brenna now prepares her own school lunch each night before bed; she makes a sandwich, grabs the snacks she wants to eat, and fills up her water bottle, putting it all in her backpack.  This saves me five minutes each morning, and has taught her an amount of self-sufficiency, though on the rare days she chooses not to make her lunch (or forgets) I gladly do it for her.

Anthony (normally) gets himself dressed in the mornings with a gentle “We need to leave the house in an hour; what do you need to do to get ready?” reminder, and he generally chooses to immediately use that stick to watch a little TV before he goes to school or we head to the gym.   It’s worth it: I no longer badger him to put on his pants or socks instead of rolling around naked on his bedroom floor, and he gets to choose whatever clothes he wants to wear.  Someday, when getting himself dressed in the mornings is no longer an afterthought, we’ll find something else that’s motivational for him.  But at age four, this is what he needs.

We still have a few kinks to work out, but the system is still in its infancy; this is to be expected.  The second week it all fell apart because The Critters took turns being sick and I am much more lenient with TV time if it means my children are providing their bodies with the rest they need to heal.  We don’t charge them sticks for watching “Wheel Of Fortune” at dinnertime, or when we put on movies to watch together as a family.  And I’m not as careful about actually timing them when the TV goes on.  But we’ll get there.

And in the meantime, my children have become more responsible, more thoughtful.  More deliberate about the choices they’re making when they know it affects their (immediate) future.  And they’re not watching as much TV as they did last year.  I like it.

A note about chores: There are certain chores that The Critters are expected to do with minimal encouragement and as part of their contribution as members of our family.  These are not included in this system because I have no intention of paying my children for everything they do.

Examples of these types of chores include:

• Keeping their rooms clean or assisting in cleanup
• Picking up toys and personal items from around the house
• Setting the dinner table and clearing own plates when they’ve finished a meal
• Helping to empty dishwasher of easy-to-put-away items
• Collecting dirty laundry from our hampers, bringing it downstairs, and sorting into bins
• Putting away own clean and folded laundry
• Getting the mail from the mailbox

Doing any of these chores without being asked or prompted often results in being awarded a “Great Kid Bonus”, and it’s my hope to teach them to notice when their help is needed and offer it without being reminded, told, or nagged.  While Tony is always a willing participant in doing family chores around the house I normally have to ask or tell him exactly what needs to be accomplished; I want The Critters to grow up to see what needs to be done and be proactive about doing it.  However, I won’t complain much as Tony doesn’t need any convincing when it comes to splitting parenting duties, and that is – by far – more important to me than vacuuming or making the bed.

A note about allowance:  At the end of each week I often move four of their sticks into the “used” bucket, as I’m sure they’re not always reliable about moving sticks if they’re doing a TV marathon.  There have been a couple of weeks when Anthony has had zero sticks left to use for watching television or earning an allowance, but Brenna has always had leftovers.  A normal allowance for Brenna each week has been in the $4-7 range; for Anthony it’s usually $.50 to $2.

A year or so ago she was counting her money and discovered she had a large sum for a seven-year-old. I told her once she had saved $200 I’d open a savings account for her.  Last weekend, after collecting her allowance, she tallied up the total and discovered she had over that amount.  She wanted to put the entire $227 into a savings account but I encouraged her to let us make an initial $200 deposit and she could keep the remainder as spending money.  She since informed us that her savings account is for college. (I love her.)

Anthony does not have nearly as much money and as a four-year-old doesn’t really understand the concept of savings vs. spending.  But we’re pretty good about not buying random toys or treats for The Critters at stores, and when Anthony saw a fishing pole last month he set his sights on it.  Each week we help him count all his money, and he’s now pretty close to making his goal, though it’ll likely mean that he’ll have no money left.  He also wants to buy another game for his Leapster, but it’ll be awhile before he has $25.

Giving The Critters their own money has really helped to cut back on the “I want this; buy it for me NOW” gimmes.  We can walk through the toy aisles at stores and not cringe, as they both now understand that they are responsible for remembering to bring their money with them (Tony and I don’t extend credit) and using it for themselves.  We talk about budgeting and spending money wisely.  Most of this is still well above Anthony’s head but Brenna understands and makes very wise purchases.  She is as frugal with her money as I am with mine, and I hope we can teach Anthony to someday be the same way.

About my 52 Bites Project

Follow My Progress

Disclaimer: Affiliate links in this post will allow me to earn a small percentage from Simple Mom if you buy the book.

Brenna is much like Tony in  many ways, but being comfortable in the spotlight is not one of them.  She was nervous to perform in front of the families of all 100 students’, and didn’t know what to do with herself.  It didn’t help that because she’s among the smallest of her peers she was made to stand in the front row.

I don’t remember the names of anyone they spoke or sang about, but I did get some pictures taken.  If this is your thing, you can see them here, along with my snarky commentary.

If you’re wondering how to find my child in the sea of (what should have been) navy pants and white shirts, look for the girl in the ruby red slippers.

She’ll look for you, too.

She steels herself despite the antics of those around her:

She’ll sing:

And salute:

And dance with jazz hands:

And roll her eyes at her friend when made to perform what she considers to be a dorky move:

And sometimes, when she gets nervous she sticks her hands under her armpits, like this:

(fortunately she didn’t smell them afterward…)

And they’ll all take a bow when they’re finished:

In the end she’ll find you, and she’ll pose stiffly for a picture, turned out feet and all.

If you’re looking closely you’ll see the the toes of her shoes are worn and there are stains on her pants.  Yes, Tony and I both pointed these out to her before we left the house, and no, she didn’t care to do anything about it.  I’m just happy she was wearing the right colors.

I don’t see a career in the performing arts in her future, and that’s okay with me.  I’m pretty sure she’s okay with this, too.

We stopped attending her karate lessons shortly after that second test; that’s when I began training for Dragon Boat and she developed pneumonia and we were in the throes of preparing to PCS back to Colorado. (Unrelated note: I thought this post was one that I should have linked to in the last sentence, but it wasn’t.  But GOODNESS that was a stressful week!)

When we got settled here in Colorado I signed her up for gymnastics and eighteen months later she’s still going strong and enjoying that sport, with a bit of running thrown in for good measure.  But after the running season came to a close in October I received a flier from her school about an after school, at school, karate program.  I asked her if she was interested in starting back up, and next thing we knew she was back at it.

And once again I’m shocked at how much she loves karate.  I just… wouldn’t expect this of my girl, but she’s got this competitive edge that comes from her daddy’s side of the family in which she loves to pit herself against boys… and win.

A few notes that I’m struggling to make coherent:

• Although she could have gotten a new gi from this karate school we opted to have her wear hers from Okinawa, which is of a higher quality by far.  And which still fits two years after she stopped taking lessons there…
• She began back at white belt status in this class, which she wasn’t happy about.  But even with the eighteen-month gap in instruction something must have stuck with her, as much of the kata came back to her.
• I miss her Okinawan sensei.  Maybe it’s because this is an afterschool program and she only takes lessons once a week, or maybe it’s the laid-back personality of the sensei who runs the program (though not the one who teaches the class) but it seems unorganized.  Brenna loves it, though; when I mentioned taking her elsewhere she protested mightily. She enjoys learning and practicing with kids from her school, and I’ll admit – it’s nice to have one activity that I don’t need to bring her to.

Before Christmas one of her senseis talked about testing the kids for the next belt.  With the holiday break and then other holiday breaks and days off school the testing finally occurred two weeks ago.  It was nothing fancy; in fact most of the other parents weren’t even present to watch.  But I was able to watch my Brenna test, and here are the two pictures that turned out well:

The senseis took notes on each child as they performed the kata with and without instruction, and sent them home.  The following week they awarded the students with the belts they had achieved. Brenna earned a gold belt.

For your sake *ahem* I asked the sensei how the belts worked.  Here’s the breakdown for their school:

All students begin at white belt level.  The first official belt to be earned is gold, but because this is a once-a-week afterschool program the one hour is often not enough practice for many students to jump to the next highest belt between testings.  Therefore they judge each student and award those who haven’t learned enough kata to earn the gold belt a lesser color, which inspires them to continue working without giving them credit where it hasn’t been earned.  I like this system; somehow it doesn’t feel like the common practice of giving every kid a participation trophy even if they’ve sat on the sidelines at every game.

I wasn’t really paying close attention, but there were several belts of varying color and with various stripes awarded to the kids in this program, but my Brenna earned her full gold belt.  And I’m just as proud now as I was before.

Sensei informed me that once a week should probably be enough instruction for her to progress to the next belt, but if she wants to continue to progress next year we should consider bringing her to a second weekly class at their dojo.  She nodded enthusiastically, and we all know what that means.

I love that she loves karate.  I love that she loves being powerful, both mentally and physically.  I love that she’s learning self defense techniques that she can bring with her throughout life.  I hope she never has a need to use them outside the dojo, but knowing her could defend herself if needed makes me feel  better about my free range parenting leanings.

Mostly I love my Brenna Bear, who tries mightily at everything she does.

Last month a friend of mine and I decided we were going to make all our own hard lotion, and we maybe went a little overboard in buying silicone candy molds for this purpose.  We still haven’t made heart-shaped lotion or lip gloss… but The Critters and I did make rainbow crayons to give to their classmates for today’s holiday.

We woke on Saturday to snow.  Unexpected, softly falling, beautiful snow.

And because on this day Tony was off helping to spruce up a food bank and we had nothing else to do, I set The Critters to work peeling crayons I’d bought just for the occasion.

Would you believe they made it all the way through a 48-count box with only Pandora playing in the background to keep them going? I was surprised; peeling crayons is tedious business.

48 crayons equals a pretty hefty amount of paper wrappings, not all of which came off easily. We all had quite a bit of crayon under our fingernails.

So they peeled, and I chopped, and we all sprinkled. It was like cooking, except that I didn’t let them eat the finished results*.

And after 15 minutes of baking in a 250 degree oven, this:

looked like this:

And after a brief five-minute rest in the freezer, they looked like this:

A few pointers:

• Use good quality, non-toxic crayons.  It’s worth the extra cost. (This tip was passed on to me by others.)
• I bought a food-grade candy silicone mold, as seen here.  A 48-crayon box was the perfect size to spread among the 24 cavities in my mold.  It was sheer luck that it worked out for me so well.
• Be sure to place the mold on a cookie sheet before putting in the oven to keep it level.  Remove from oven carefully, lest you end up spilling melted crayon over the sides like I did.
• Getting the crayon off the mold is not easy.  I still have residue left on mine with no real understanding of how to remove it all.  Unless you’re a real whiz in the home ec department, I’d suggest reserving your molds for non-edible use only.
• Also, use a cutting board that you don’t mind ruining because mine is now for use with crayon-cutting only. Or break them up with your hands and save your cutting boards for food.
• *Although I wouldn’t think to put one of these crayons in my mouth, Anthony told me he thought they looked like brightly colored candies.  If giving them to young children, make sure they know these are not for consumption.  I made sure to point this out to his teacher, and she was grateful for the warning.

In the end this was a fun project for The Critters and me to do together.  They feel great giving something homemade (and age appropriate) to their friends, and I am relieved to know I’m not contributing to the dentist bills those kids’ parents will be dealing with after the sugar onslaught.

Whether this is your favorite holiday or not,
may your love for others shine through on this day, and always.

I’ll be honest; my files were already pretty well organized, and this Bite was a project I’d worked on, completed, and have been maintaining for the past four years.

During that time I downgraded us from hundreds of pounds of paper, a four drawer filing cabinet and a two-drawer cabinet to just the latter.  We retain paper copies of our tax returns, medical documents, and other important paperwork, and everything else gets scanned into our computer.

Last fall {and let me tell you it just took me half an hour to figure out when I did this; I thought it was last January} I bought an accordion file which I use to store all bills and paperwork that come my way for each calendar year.

I’d love to tell you that each month after paying the bills I dutifully scan and shred the paper bills, but I don’t.  It’s really more something I can only handle once a year, and as long as I maintain this system – which works really well – I’m keeping my head above water.

Over the past several weeks I’ve been devoting myself to scanning and filing (and shredding) all my papers and bills from 2011.  It took me a couple hours each day, but now they’re done and I can begin saving 2012′s in the same manner.

This past week, while working on all this I pulled together all our tax documents and realized I had everything I needed to file our taxes.  So I did, on Monday, and both our federal and state returns have since been accepted and we’re waiting on our refunds to be deposited.  Ironically I wrote an annoyed post on Monday morning that one company that owed us tax documents hadn’t yet sent them to us and that I’d discovered they didn’t have to until the 15th of this month… but then those documents were delivered to our mailbox that afternoon.  {I’m glad I still have the ability to not hit the ‘publish’ button.}

After doing all the financial documents I reached into my filing cabinet and pulled out our medical files.  While I retained all vaccination records and physical sheets (and actual medical records that we have instead of my doctor’s office) I went ahead and scanned – and then shredded – all statements of claims that had been paid by our insurance to non-military providers.  Then I went through everything else I had in there and shredded everything we no longer need.  My filing cabinet is MUCH lighter now.  It’s incredibly liberating to have everything so organized!

Switching to an electronic filing system was the best thing I’ve ever done for our paperwork, especially considering how frequently we move.  It’s made my life exponentially easier.

About my 52 Bites Project

Follow My Progress

Disclaimer: Affiliate links in this post will allow me to earn a small percentage from Simple Mom if you buy the book.

Tony and I are on the third (and final!) day of a shake cleanse.  I’ll post about it tomorrow.

I’ve been chipping away at this week’s Bite and have been more successful than I expected.  I’ll post about it tomorrow.

Brenna was in a concert with her fellow second-graders on Tuesday night, performing six songs about lesser-known-but-still-important historical African Americans.  Although she was one of a hundred, we learned she does NOT like to perform in front of crowds.  She gets this from me.

Yesterday I registered Anthony for next year’s pre-k program at his current preschool.  They have just the one class with fifteen students and because I got in line half an hour after registration began (and on the first day of registration because he’s currently attending this school) I was able to get him a spot in this four-afternoons-a-week program.  I’m really at peace with this decision, even despite the significant cost, though he’s upset with me.  He mentioned something about taking next year off of school altogether because he needs a break.  It’s very taxing, going to school for two-and-a-half hours three mornings a week, don’t you know.

We bought a Roku a couple weekends ago.  This was the end result of thinking that in order to still get a good rate for our internet we’d have to bundle it with satellite, but that thankfully turned out to be false.  While also looking at TV options for our camper one thing led to another and we decided to get this, which is a bit redundant considering we have a PS3 that streams our Netflix and Hulu for us.  BUT this enables us to watch our shows without also turning on the energy-sucking game console and surround sound systems, plus we have access to more channels… and Pandora.  We can also bring it with us to use in our camper, at campgrounds that provide WiFi. (Whether it’ll be fast enough to stream video is as yet unknown.)

The only downside to this is our remote has a strap on it, much like Wii controllers, and Anthony likes to carry it around the house with him, swinging it and banging it against every surface that’s within his range.  Thank goodness I can use an app from my phone to control the system if need be.

I discovered yesterday that the first six seasons of the CW show Supernatural is now streaming on Netflix.  Tony and I have both been wanting to watch this show as we each have friends who rave about it.  We crawled into bed at 7:30 last night and watched the first three episodes on his laptop, and now we’re hooked.  As we turned out the lights to go to sleep he hugged me and said, “Please don’t watch any episodes without me during the day.”  Done.

I recently realized I use far too many emoticons on Facebook.  I end nearly every sentence I write with a smiley and I need to find a way to wean myself of this habit.  I suppose it’s better than tacking an inappropriate LOL or LMAO onto every single status update, no matter the subject or how non-LOL it may be.

Our Bettas both died over the weekend.  At first I was patting myself on the back for having kept them alive for over eighteen months, but then I did a bit of research.  Turns out each one should have been living in its own five-gallon tank, rather than the half-gallon tanks we had, and that for the size container they were in I should have been replacing their water at least twice a week.  It seems my every-three-months average was far from adequate in helping them reach a potential six years of age.

No matter how much work it is I do like having at least one fish in the house, and we somehow have a surplus of pet funds at the moment.  I think I may take The Critters to get a single Betta and a larger tank with a bubbler and filter to try again (maybe two if I can find an affordable tank that has a divider to keep them separate*).

*The only biology class I took in college counted toward my psych minor and was Animal Behavior.  I did an experiment that showed me exactly what will happen if two males are put into the same tank; I won’t be repeating that experiment here at home. And I have no interest in getting a non-attractive female, sexist as that may sound.

I want to change my hair, but I have no clue what style might interest me.  All I know is I need a change from anything I’ve had over the past decade.  My hair is currently shoulder length and I’ve been wearing it straight.  I don’t use any product in it whatsoever and can’t wear it curly unless I use a ton of mousse or gel to keep it from frizzing.

I have never permanently dyed it and have no interest in highlights or lowlights that I have to maintain because getting a haircut is a twice-a-year occurrence for me (plus I really like my hair color and have just one grey hair that I pluck every four or five months when I notice that it’s grown in). Tony does not like short hair on women my age, so that’s out.  I’m thinking of continuing to let it grow out, but getting a trim to get rid of split ends with some long layers, and also maybe side swept bangs.  Any thoughts or suggestions?

Amazon.com Description: “Determined to find out what happened to her former deputy chief, Jack Fielding, murdered six months earlier, Kay Scarpetta travels to the Georgia Prison for Women, where an inmate has information not only on Fielding, but also on a string of grisly killings. The murder of an Atlanta family years ago, a young woman on death row, and the inexplicable deaths of homeless people as far away as California seem unrelated. But Scarpetta discovers connections that compel her to conclude that what she thought ended with Fielding’s death and an attempt on her own life is only the beginning of something far more destructive: a terrifying terrain of conspiracy and potential terrorism on an international scale. And she is the only one who can stop it.”

My Thoughts:

Let me start with what I liked about this book:

- Well written, as always.
- Told from the first person perspective, that of Kay Scarpetta, the protagonist around whom this nineteen-book series is written.

What I disliked: everything else.

Unless you are a long-time reader of the series you will not understand this book, as it relies heavily on its predecessors; Cornwell assumes you are familiar with all its characters and their back-stories.  No character development takes place whatsoever.  On that line of thinking, as much as I’ve liked Kay as a character throughout the books, my feeling was that in this book she was the only character, and a self-important, smug, and – to be honest – rather dull one at that.  All other characters that we’ve gotten to know and love (or hate) over the series’ progression were a blip on her radar and mentioned due to nececssity, rather than because the author took a genuine interest in them.

Nothing of import happened in the first half of the book, and I’d venture to say that 85% of its pages are sheer dialogue, both internal and with other characters.  I went into the reading hoping for the grisly murder scene and autopsy investigations that used to be the hallmark of this character’s life as a medical examiner.  There’s but two of the former and one of the latter in this book, and if this were consistent with the original content of the series I wouldn’t take issue with this.  It’s a far departure, though, and as one who has read every book (some of the earlier books many times over) it was nothing short of disappointing.

Each time I read I see that a new Scarpetta book has been published I get excited; with the past ten books, however, I’ve finished their pages feeling let down and wanting more.  Considering that at this point this makes up more than half of the books in the entire series, I think I’m ready to call Patricia Cornwell – and Kay Scarpetta – quits.

My Bottom Line, for what it’s worth:
Does it make my ‘Favorites’ list? No
Was reading this book worth my time? No
Would I read it again? No
On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it: 5.5

Like last week, this Bite was unintentional.  I was fully expecting to finish up the two tasks I had planned a couple weeks ago and then this crept up on me.  I’m not unhappy about this.

I’m really focused in regards to my self-care right now, particularly in the health and wellness arena, and even more particularly in regards to exercise and weight loss.  I’m achieving the former in ways that I haven’t touched since the summer of 2006, but the latter doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.  I’ve lost one pound since I actively started tracking myself, and that was in November.

This past week, though, I wanted to get serious.  And – in the vein of full disclosure – I’ll give you my stats:

I’m 5’5″, currently weigh 141 lbs, and wear size 8 pants with medium tops.  My BMI is at the upper end of the “normal” limits and when I had my bloodwork drawn this past fall it all came back as being 100% perfect, and in fact my LDL was below what’s considered the normal range, though my HDL was exactly where it needed to be.  I have no health problems whatsoever and do not consider myself to be overweight.  Just at a higher weight and size than where I can comfortably fit into my pre-children clothes.

I don’t want to be supermodel thin.  I just want to feel comfortable in my own skin again.

I already eat what I consider to be healthy food.  My downfall lies in not knowing how much of it to consume.  This is where the drinking more water has come in.

I’ve been tracking my calories this past week with My Fitness Pal.  There is nothing quite so tedious to me as keeping track of how much I eat, and I suspect if I were the type to eat a lot of prepared foods this wouldn’t be difficult.  I make at least 90% of our meals from scratch, though, which means I need to enter the quantities and ingredients into a meal calculator and then figure out how much I ate.  But on the upside, I now know how many calories foods contain (pasta has a lot!) and I consider EVERYTHING before I put it in my mouth.

And I’m paying attention to how much I’m drinking.

I’m down to just one cup of coffee first thing in the morning*.  The rest of the day I drink water, and lots more of it than I was before.  Now that I’m keeping track of what I’m eating, I’m also tracking water consumption.  I’ve been aiming for – and hitting – the standard eight cups a day, or 64 ounces when I’m not exercising.  I aim for that plus more on days when I’ve worked out.

*Except this morning, when I had a second cup in honor of our snow day and the two extra children I had keeping us company for a couple hours.

Our drinking glasses help more than I expected.  While stationed in Germany we collected a good number of beer glasses from various restaurants, but they were always for display.  They remained behind with 75% of our household goods when we were in Okinawa, but upon our return we decided to put them to use.  Each one has a different style and decorations, but the one thing they have in common is the half-liter marker.  It’s great to pour myself a glass full and know that I’m a quarter of the way to my goal each day.  Given that I drink a full glass with lunch and dinner, fitting in those other two glasses in between is not difficult.

So far I don’t notice a difference, other than the fact that I’m visiting the bathroom far more frequently.  I have been more tired this week, but I’ve also worked out pretty hard: I ran four miles on Saturday, five miles on Monday, did a two-hour workout on Tuesday (one hour of conditioning and an hour of step), and a 45-minute circuit training workout yesterday.

My skin did break out a bit more this week, though I can’t be sure if this is a flushing of toxins from the added hydration or just due to a hormone cycle.  I can say, though, that I had a cold last weekend that I made sure to keep watered.  The cold passed fairly quickly and though my nose was peeling and chapped from wiping it so much, it healed very quickly afterward.  I can’t if this was due to the water or my skincare regimen, but either way I’ll take it.

This is a Bite that is meant to be a continuous project.  I doubt that I’ll remember each and every day to drink a full 64 ounces, but I am comfortable in this place where the only beverages I consume are a modest amount of coffee and lots of water.  No soda.  No juice.  No milk.  (Okay, my smoothies too, but that’s a meal, not a beverage.  And the occasional glass of wine – an average of one every two months.)

About my 52 Bites Project

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