Zoom

Time goes fast in my life. I don't set out to have a busy schedule and then boom...I am off and running with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Sometimes I feel like I am pretty balanced, and then realize that the laundry is going to take over our room if I don't put any away. Not sure how come time is so hard to grasp.

I have been spending a fair amount of time in the last couple of days getting things prepared for my Pampered Chef party this Friday. It looks like there will be about 20 people coming, from all different aspects of my life. I love having people over and introducing them to one another and watching different people connect.

Maria's Birthday

I have a fourteen year old daughter. How did that happen? I have a hard time believing that she is only 18 months from her permit, 2 years from her license, 4 years from being a legal adult....and the list goes on. I find parenting a balancing act. How to have the appropriate limits for the different ages and what freedoms to allow and when? There are no easy answers, because it is different for each child and certainly is always changing since they are always getting older.

I finished reading People of the Book today and it was a very well-written, compelling story. I did not know what to expect but I was very pleased that I found and read this book. It is neat to think of the history of items and what went into them being created and what they have lived through. I thought this book did a very elegant job of tracing the history of the creation of a book. I read certain books such as this one and am amazed at how a writer can craft words and ideas together to create such an enjoyable read.

Wedding!

Today was a first Ken and for our house....a wedding. I met Holly through playgroup last year and tonight she and Mark got married by Ken at our house tonight. Congratulations! I was going to post a picture but realized they are all on their camera...I just have the video.

We then went out to Indian food and celebrated with good food and conversation. I am so blessed to have people like this in my life.

James also went to his first storytime at the library. Miss Denise is the one who does the lapsit storytimes....just like when Maria and William were little ones. Nothing like a bit of deja vu.

Cardio Tennis

The third class at the health club. This time it was Cardio Tennis. Huff...puff...wow, what a workout. It was fun being outside and running around on the court...makes me want to get a program going with some kids. Of course I would need to remember some of the exercises that she had us do...but something I will let percolate in my mind.

I just organized all of my random recipes that I have printed off the internet, gotten from friends, or torn out of magazines. The amount of time I spent looking through the huge stack of random papers was getting frustrating, so I put them all in plastic sleeves and did a rough division...drinks, breakfast, breads, side dishes, main dishes, and desserts. I need to go back through and divide these categories into smaller chunks, but at least it is now manageable again. I realize how much more I have been cooking for my family recently. That makes me feel good.

I love spell check...it would be very embarrasing to see my posts without spell check being utilized! My older kids are in a spelling bee at the end of the week and William is quite the natural speller. I often ask him how to spell word when I am stuck. Amazing how everyone's mind is wired a bit differently.

Off to do some typical chores....I am pretty thankful that I can do them. I have the physical capabilty of doing them, I have a house that needs tidying, I have enough clothes that I can do laundry and let it stack up, I have a bed that needs to be made, I have new towels that need to be washed, I have books and schoolwork and paperwork that need to be put into their proper places, I have a shower I can take a long, hot shower and listen to the radio, I have knitting I want to do as long as the urge to read doesn't overtake me, I have sooooo much to be thankful for.

What's Your Word?

What's Your Word? I read about this on some different friend's blogs and took the quiz. My word is:

"You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations. And sometimes you feel like you don't have enough time to take it all in. You love learning. Whether you're in school or not, you're probably immersed in several subjects right now. When you're not learning, you're busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you've experienced."

Right now what am I in the middle of? Knitting a scarf for William, putting together a group camping trip for June, preparing for 3 of my 4 bookclubs that are meeting this weekend, thinking about what to do in my garden (anyone want to come and weed/prepare soil/prune/plant with me?), organizing a field trip on February 6 and I am sure there are other things too! But, I hear James waking up for his nap, so time to go to him and put these other things to the side.

Sympathy

I now have sympathy for Dan on the last season of Amazing Race. While I did not have $1,000,000 at stake, I certainly managed to have just as much trouble following simple directions with my arms and legs. Today was the second day of my free trial class at Diamond Hills Sports Club and today was the Kardio Kick class. While I enjoyed the class and it certainly got my heart pumping, my form and technique left a bit to be desired. I am glad that no one was filming me and putting it on You Tube.

Blast from the past

Playgroup was today...and it turned into a fieldtrip! We were sitting around talking and at the end three of us ended up loading up my van with car seats and headed out to IKEA with our little ones. Things are definitely more fun with friends. It reminded me of going places when Maria and William were little.

Earlier in the day, Ken had sent me an email with this Subject: "It's amazing what one can find on the internet" and there was a picture attached.

Lo and behold, a picture of me from about 20 years ago!

Discovery of Trail

Isn't it weird how you can live in a place for years and years and still discover new things? I have always had a hazy knowledge of a trail near our house, but it wasn't until yesterday that Ken, James and I went on it together. I then took James, Maria and William on it today.

James loves going for walks....he views it as his mobile naptime.

The path is about a 3 mile round trip walk and has four exercise stations along the way. We did some of them this time, but mostly fooled around. Here is William hanging out.

The trail goes right along a creek, so it is a totally different feel than walking in the neighborhood. Maria enjoyed going down near the creek.

So, if anyone wants to pop on over to my house and head out for a three mile walk, come on over! I am loving that I discovered this and want to go more often. And being the extrovert that I am, walking with others is a huge motivation for me.

Bookclubs

I like to read. A lot. I can't imagine life without books. Or the library. I am part of four bookclubs, which rarely meet at the same time. But this month three of them are on the same weekend. I typically try to read the book right before bookclub, but I now need to get a move on three books before next weekend. The first book is Jimmy by Robert Whitlow for Saturday, the next is The Human Comedy by William Saroyan for Sunday and the last is The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper for Monday. I love meeting with other people that enjoy books and I also get exposed to books I wouldn't have necessarily read on my own.

Here is an excerpt from The Human Comedy, page 17: "You must remember," she said, "always to give, of everything you have. You must give foolishly even. You must be extravagant. You must give to all who come into your life. Then nothing and no one shall have the power to cheat you of anything, for if you give to a thief, he cannot steal from you, and he himself is then no longer a thief. And the more you give, the more you will have to give."

This is challenging....made me stop and ponder what I give, what I give freely, and what I hold on to, let alone what I cling to.

Game Night!

Thursday night- Pizza and Game Night at the Balderrama's. Well, instead of pizza tonight, we went to the Texas Roadhouse in Tracy, one of our favorite recipes. Nothing like steak and ribs and loaded sweet potatoes! My husband sat next to James and he was a fantastic multi-tasker. He managed to feed James all kinds of different food from the table (bread, crackers, sweet potatoes...not sure if any french fries snuck in) while engaging in conversations and eating his own food. What an awesome guy! We then came home and played a few games of poker and one round of Hearts.

What else has been keeping us busy? Community Bible Study started up yesterday. How nice it was to be back together with friends and learning more about God's word. Playgroup was also yesterday and there was a great turnout. I am trying to walk to as many things as possible and it is great being able to have the time to do this.

And how could I forget the big event of today....today was the Geography Bee that Maria and William both participated in. Granted, we did all of no preparation for this, but it sure was neat to listen to the answers. Thirteen students participated and William made it to the second of three rounds and Maria ended up tying for third place. I was very impressed with both of them.

Mat Pilates

I did a mat Pilates class today at Diamond Hills Sports Club. Ouch! I found out I am not as limber as I once was. But what a beautiful club with great facilities. I am taking four free classes there this month and that has gotten Ken and I to start talking about possibly joining a health club again. So we will be looking at Diamond Hills along with Club One and In Shape. While the price per month is a definite factor, the bigger factor is which one would we actually use. That is the real trick to a health club....not getting a membership, but using the membership consistently!

I just finished reading Blood River today which is the true story of journalist Tim Butcher's recreating a Victorian gentleman's journey on the Congo River. This was an amazing book. The areas he travelled were more modern in the 50's than they are today...it is one of the few places on earth that the grandparents have lived more progressively than their grandchildren. This was also where The African Queen was filmed, so now I am watching this film. I am fascinated by how various books and videos come into my life. I sometimes go to the library and get books off the hold shelf, and I have no idea why I put them on hold, but they will be gems.

Had one of the freezer meals today- Playoff Burgers. Yummy. How nice that was to have sitting in the refrigerator, waiting to be cooked. It took away all the temptation of going out to dinner and it was so nice to sit down as a family at the table. James joined in, but he ate banana, sweet potato, oatmeal and apple sauce instead.

The End of the Soup

We had the Herinks over for dinner tonight and while the food was good, the conversation was even better. I love listening and participating in conversations that run the gamut from politics to religion to economics to Star Trek to families to homeschooling to computers to community to recipes to travels to gambling to books to .... you get the picture! A whole lot of talking over a wide range of topics.

Earlier in the day the soup kitchen was open. Holly came over and grabbed some of the Black Bean Salsa Chicken soup and we had a nice visit with her. Then the Herinks were served the two different soups. And at the end of dinner, Sonya came over and was able to take the rest of both of the soups. We are happy to see them go since we have been noshing on them for a few days and there still isn't room in the freezer. Plus, it is great to see things like this being able to be shared. I want to live my life more communally and sharing food either at our table or with other people to take home helps satisfy that desire. So...if you want to come on over and break bread with us, we would love to have you.

Lunch out with Auntabelle

Woo hoo! I got to see my sister Annabelle today! James sure loves hanging out with his Auntabelle.

We met her today at her friend Serafine's new home in Concord. We went out to lunch at Sorrento Italian Restaurant and it was fabulous. I had the Pasta Salvietto which was a fresh pasta roll with ricotta cheese, spinach, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce served with sauteed fresh vegetables and choice of soup or salad. My mouth is watering just remembering it.

I came home to a house cleared of all Christmas decorations and fairly picked up overall. BIG GRIN! My mantra needs to be declutter, declutter, declutter. New things keep coming into the house every day it seems...even the mail is a struggle for me.

Right now as I am blogging, James is snoozing and Ken and the older kids are playing Nintendo Monopoly which William got for Christmas. I would have been playing....but for Maria's monopoly wiping me almost all the way out and then William cleaning out the rest of my money. Sigh.

Free Food!

We were going to have some friends over for dinner, but due to a few members of the family being mildly sick, we decided to postpone our gathering. But, I have a huge pot of Turkey Soup and a huge crockpot (new for Christmas!) full of Black Bean and Salsa Chicken, which is a bit thicker than soup, but basically soup like. I was getting ready to freeze it when I realized there is no room in my freezer. So, I have some soups available for anyone that is interested! Drop me a line or give me a call and I can bag some of either kind or both for you.

Cooking galore!

I did it! I completed the cooking I set out to do today. Granted, I didn't move to the next thing on my list, which was to take down Christmas decorations. But, I felt pretty good about the cooking. Yesterday I made 4 meals and today I made 10 meals. Granted, most of these were just the main entree, not complete meals, but this will certainly make my life easier for this month. Now I just need to think about side dishes to go with meals, and I pretty much have the month loosely mapped out in terms of meals. And Thursday nights were easy....they are our family pizza and game night. Where did we go tonight? Straw Hat because we had a coupon and we played Rook for the first time.