It reminds me....

The cheezypoofs kittens reminded me of something I haven't thought about in a really long time. When my children were young, really young, like 3-5, or somewhere around that age and their great grandmother, Lila was still living, her house was just across the yard, literally. And sometimes, if I turned my back for just a split second, the kids would disappear and go to Shama's house. They always called her "Shama" (and they also called MY mother that, too).

Shama always kept oreo cookies in a jar on the kitchen counter. And she would give the kids milk in these really elaborate stemmed juice glasses. It made milk seem like so much more fun to have it in fancy glasses. They would eat oreos dipped in milk at any time of the day they could manage to slip away from me. 8am? Cookies and milk sounded just fine. Half an hour before dinner? Why not.....I used to get so exasperated. Shama was a strong-willed woman who felt like she had earned the right, as a great grandmother, to give her great grandchildren cookies and milk any time they wanted it. It didn't do any good on my part to ask her not to give them treats right before meals. Or right after I got them dressed up for an occasion. Or before breakfast.....The oreos and milk rule was "Ask and ye shall receive".

And so I tried to rely on my children to NOT ask for treats at all hours of the day and night. I begged, I pleaded, I tried to be firm but that didn't do a whole lot of good either. They would sneak away to Shama's at every opportunity and then I would find them with black oreo smudges all in the corner's of their little mouths, and cookie crumbs stuck in between their chubby little baby hands.

"Did you eat Oreos at Shama's house again?", I asked them.

"No, Mama.", they would say. "We went to SEE her, but we didn't eat any cookies...."

Uh-huh. Right......

Anyway, my children survived, even if they did eat their weight in cookies during those early childhood years. So alls well, that ends well. I hope every Mom has a wonderful day this Mother's Day. If you get a chance, go sneak some oreos and milk.
Its irresistible!

Sunny Saturday

We are having to spend the day catching up on some yard work. It has rained for so long, that we haven't had a chance before now. At least its sunny today, so that helps with the motivation. I hope all of you mother's out there have a wonderful Mothers' Day. Especially Barb!! I am jealous that you are all there in Danville picking strawberries and having fun while I help Bruce mow the lawn and shovel goat poo....LOL! Oh well...some things just HAVE to be done, no matter how un-fun they might be.




The above picture is from the site: icanhascheezburger. Hannia has gotten me addicted to it. They update with adorable/cute/funny kitty pics every single day. If you ever just need a good laugh, thats a good place to go.
love to all......

Chocolate!!!

When Erica came home last weekend, she brought me a box of the best chocolates EVER!
There is an excellent chocolate shop in Charlottesville called Gearhart's. The chocolatier (Tim Gearhart) is amazing. He made the top 20 Artisan Chocolatiers list in Chocolatier's Magazine (I might need a subscription to that). I think I love him. Every flavor of candy in that box was delicious. But if I had to pick a favorite (or 2), it would HAVE to be the Raspberry Zin: homemade raspberry-zinfandel conserves dipped in dark chocolate.
And the Mint Julip: fresh mint spiked with bourbon and dipped in milk chocolate.

I can't tell you how delicious those were. Anyway, it was an early Mother's Day gift, and I can honestly say that we ALL enjoyed the heck out of that. I have bookmarked the site, because I discovered you can order these candies online. OMG, I might be in trouble y'all!!!!!!

Anyway, thank you for the excellent present my beloved daughter. And if anybody reading this wants to experience some of the best chocolate in the world, try the link, or stop by the shop if you are ever in Charlottesville. You will not regret it.

Let's see.....

Bruce and I both had our annual eye check up this week. We both got good reports which makes me feel relieved especially since Bruce had noticed some double-vision, or halo-effects when driving at night recently. The doc said it was just a slower focusing action due to....well....dare I say it?....age. Ahem. Ok then. But it wasn't cataracts, so thats good news. As for me, I have been using a pair of reading glasses off and on lately. I don't seem to need them all of the time, but sometimes it helps. I was a little worried that the doc would try to talk me into glasses (again), especially since I might need bi-focals. But much to my relief, they now make bi-focal contacts, so I was really happy. I have glasses. I wear them mainly just a little bit around the house if I have my contacts out for whatever reason. Like when I first get up in the mornings. But I have worn contacts forever now, and I am so used to NOT having glasses on my face that it would have bothered me, I think.
Especially when working out, or swimming. But everything is fine. I have on a trial pair of the bi-focal contacts now to test them out and see if it will work for me. So far it seems to be okay. Comfortable, even. Maybe I can avoid the dreaded glasses for at least another year.......


Check out these strange glasses by 4Occhi. Wear them one way and you have standard glasses. Flip them over and they become sunglasses. Its a cool idea, but I can't help but think you would get a whole lot of unwanted attention if you wore these in public.

Update

Hannia made it for the full hour of Body Combat, and I am very proud of her. Bruce, Erica and Stephen made through the whole class, too, but then again, I never doubted that they would. Can you say competitive??? As for me? Well, I made it for 45 minutes. And while that might not seem incredibly impressive, its 3 times longer than last time. I maybe could've made it for the whole class because right after I left was when the routine got a little easier for a cool down. I didn't know that, nor did I care, because I was far too concerned about the ominous pounding in my chest and the fact that I was so winded that I couldn't even breathe. Reason went out the window...but maybe next time I will stay for the full hour. Stephen says that there WILL be a next time. I still don't love it though. There is something about all that punching and upper-cutting and faux-fighting that is just too violent for me. Whatever. I still improved 3 times better than last time, so its all good!

I think I'm scared......

Yesterday morning, Erica wanted to run (I can honestly say I never WANT to run. IF I run, it means something is dreadfully wrong, like I just accidentally walked up on a snake or I see one of those Zombie signs like on my sidebar or something....), so Hannia and I decided to go to Body Flow class (yoga) while Erica did her thing on the treadmill. And yes, I realize that might have been a grammatically incorrect run-on sentence, but it is what it is. So we all walk in to the gym and see this sign that says Body Flow is cancelled for the morning and they are having pilates instead. I was fine with that because I have been seriously wanting to try a pilates class, but with Body Flow, Body Pump, and the Ab/core classes we are doing, I never seem to be able to fit it in. Anyway, I enjoyed it. It was harder than the Flow/yoga class somewhat. Hell, the "Plea Squats" were even harder than the squats we do with weighted barbells in Pump. But it was some nice stretching in between the agony, and I think I am going to figure out a way to fit at least one of those classes in every week. Maybe I will drop the Ab/core class, because I honestly think we got in more ab work in pilates than in that ab class.....

But today? Say a little prayer for me, ok? Erica is insisting that ALL of us (meaning me, Bruce, Stephen AND Hannia) are going to attend the Body Combat Class this afternoon. The class that almost killed me. The one that caused me to walk out in shame after only 15 minutes!!! Oh my Lord, I think I am scared. But I am going to do it...for Erica....because I love her. I may not make it through the entire class, but I am committed and determined to make it longer than my first time.
If I make it a full 20 minutes this time, I will consider it a victory. Then I might decide to keep on trying until I can get through the entire thing....maybe? We will see how today goes first. Forget saying a "little" prayer. I need everyone to get down and their hands and knees and pray as hard as you possibly can...LOL.