Spring Break

And so begins the yearly ritual of Spring Break.  Who is it a break for, exactly?  Must be for the teachers, because surely people don't care of children get a break.  Parents don't get a break, do they?  Why is it that whenever there is some kind of break for the children, there is always candy involved?  Harvest break, Christmas break, Spring break...  So our children get all hopped up on sugar and chocolate and drive us nuts for a long weekend.  Then they get off of their schedules and when it is time for them to go back to school it is like you are pulling teeth.  So I am ready for my break from Spring Break and Spring Break hasn't even begun.  Well, it has, I guess.  The kids are out of school.  And why is it that the weather has been gorgeous the past couple of weeks and now that it is Spring Break and I just want to send the kids outside all day it gets cold and wet?  I just walked outside to throw away the trash and had to put on a jacket!!!  Freezing!!!  And it has been so nice to have weather in the 50's.   So I am going to take the kids to see the puppies tomorrow.  Just to cuddle and play with to kill time.  And we may go to the dollar movie which is really $2.  And maybe get some bowling in at some point over the break.  Or maybe they will miraculously find some way to occupy themselves!!!  Yeah, right.

New Jeans!

Okay, so not new jeans, but they feel new.  I have not worn them since I was staying in Ogden with Justin's family, 2 years ago.  So even though I have only lost 17 lbs, I must be losing inches.  Right?  My hard work is paying off.  I have an extremely long way to go, but I feel good that I am seeing results physically if not from the scale.  I tried these jeans on right before Christmas and I could not even get them up passed my thighs!!!  So, yes!!!  I am getting results.  Slowly, but surely.  I know, I need to get a tape measure.  I used to have one, I just can't find it.  So, next time I get to WalMart, I will try and find one.  Yea me!

Betsy Lou

Lorelai and I went to see our little Betsy Lou today.  Isn't she so cute?  She was playing with one of the older dogs.  She is so playful.  She is the smallest of the litter.  There are 3.  She is also the only girl.  They still have one boy that has not been claimed.  He is just gorgeous.  So if anyone is interested, let me know.

The results

So I went back to get my hair fixed and I am very happy with it.  it does not show up as much in a photo, but my hair looks less silver and more golden.  They put a different color toner on it and I am very pleased.  It is not exactly how I want it to look... but it is much better so I can live with it for a couple of months.  I have learned my lesson, that I do a much better job of it myself.

Disaster hair!!!

So, I got my hair highlighted on Saturday and I am not happy with it.  I wore it curly today so that takes the edge off of it.  But I still pretty much hate it.  It is not golden blond.  It looks like I have gray hair streaked with my natural mousy dark blond color.  I am going to have to go in and have it fixed or fix it myself... which I am too frightened to do.  For now, I may just wear a bag over my head.  To confirm my suspicions about my awful hair, my husband does not like it and not one person said one thing to me about it at church yesterday.  When people say nothing, that means it does not look good.  So... here is hoping I can fix it!

Bajio Pork recipe

Ingredients:
Pork
3 lbs of pork roast cut into baseball sized pieces
2 quarts of water
4 cups sliced white onions
¼ cup of salt
1 cup of sugar
Boil pork until tender (approximately 2 hours on a medium simmer)
Marinade
Simmer together the following ingredients for 1 hour
4 cups enchilada sauce
1 cup dark sugar
2 cups soda water
1 pkg taco seasoning of choice
Cook pork until tender.
Drain pork and shred with a fork, keeping the pork in the original cooking pot.
Pour hot marinade over shredded pork.
Keep warm.

This is the recipe that I made for dinner yesterday and some people on Facebook were wanting the recipe.  It was wonderful.  I served it with sweet rice, corn and on a bed of lettuce with a tortilla.

Set back

I had a huge set back this week.  I exercised one day.  I have been sooo sleepy!  I tried to do it on Wed because I thought that maybe exercising would get me out of the funk and give me energy.  That day was even worse!!!  I could hardly keep my eyes open all day long.  Then the same thing on Thurs.  But Justin was gone overnight on Thurs and I did not sleep all night.  Oh, I got in a few winks, but I remember looking at the clock all night long and only about half an hour had passed each time. 

So, it was quite a set-back.  Because not exercising gave me no incentive to eat right.  I am positive I gained about 5 lbs back this week.  I am thinking I don't want to weigh in on Mon.  I am not going to because it will just be discouraging.  But this is not a sprint, it is a marathon.  I will just start over and hope that whatever gains I had this week will be undone with my amazing efforts next week.  Right?
  
I will not whine and cry and make excuses.  I will move on.  It was one week.  One set-back.  There are bound to be a lot of them along my road, so I am going to just suck it up and move along.  It will be okay.  I will be okay.  (Have I convinced myself yet?)

Great TV SHOW!!!

Faces of America is this amazing series on PBS that Justin and I just watched.  It is about genealogy.  Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  has done extensive research about 12 people and their histories.  These people are well-known celebrities.  There is Meryl Streep, Mike Nichols, Eva Longoria, YoYo Ma, and others.  This was so interesting and gripping, that it really made me want to get going on my genealogy.  I really would like to know where to start.  I don't want to do what my family has already done.  But I do need to get on it.  It is a perfect Sunday afternoon activity, so I guess I will get started tomorrow!  This series was just wonderful.  I am not sure if they will re-air it, but I really recommend you checking it out!  A total must-see!!!  And if you like, they have the first 3 episodes available on-line!

Our favorite book

This book is my kids' favorite right now.  It is hilarious and tells a great story.  Of course, I do all of the funny voices...  but you can't help but do the voices when you are reading this book.  We took it out from the library and I had to go online and order it after the kids made me read it to them 7 nights in a row.

Betsy Lou

So, right now I am waiting for little Betsy Lou to be old enough for me to take home.  I have not seen her yet, but my mom has.  Justin is still against it, but I think he knows it is gonna happen.   I know, the majority of my friends do not approve of my desired acquisition of a dog.  But I am a dog person.  I haven't had one since I left home for college almost 20 years ago.  I am excited to have one and excited for my kids to have the experience of having that additional member of the family.  I have never had a small dog before, so it will be new.  But I am so excited!  She is so cute, or so I have heard.  And I have been doing lots of research about training her and how to take care of her.  I think I am pretty prepared!  But she will not be coming until April. (sigh)  I have almost a whole 2 months before I can bring her home.  But that is okay.  It just gives me more time to prepare.  I have also found out that I will NOT be teaching this summer!!!  Yea!!!  So, that will give me lots more time to concentrate on having fun with the kids and training my new puppy!  I was really concerned about teaching this summer, since it has been so time consuming this winter.  I was looking forward to the extra cash...  but I am totally fine about that!  I may be teaching in the fall, but that will be fine with the kids back in school.  It was a concern to me when I was going to do grading and prep work for my class with the kids all home all day.  It is hard enough with just Lorelai climbing all over me.  So, now we will be able to do some fun stuff and we will have our new little addition right before school lets out!  Betsy Lou is a Shih Tzu who was born 2 weeks ago.  She has a brother, Scout, who will be going home with my mom and dad!  She has one other brother too.  I am not sure if he has been claimed yet.  My mom and dad have seen Betsy and her family, but I have not yet.  But I can wait!  But it is very exciting.  I have not told the kids.  I am not going to tell the kids.  They will find out the day we bring her home.  If I tell them before then, I will never hear the end of it!  So, that is my latest obsession.  Little Betsy Lou.  I cannot wait for her to come home to the Bates family!!!