Black Friday

This morning I arose at the early (even for me) hour of 4:30 and headed off into the night to get a bargain on a Christmas gift.

Normally I shun this ritual - only once before have I partaken, and that was only to see what all the hubbub was about. I was completely unimpressed and have not ventured out again.

But this was a really good deal, and my husband said, "You'll do it, right?" So there I was at Walmart standing in a line with a MILLION other people. When I pulled into the parking lot, my stomach began churning when I saw that it was completely full. As I walked in to the store, I learned that some people had been there since midnight. Apparently my noble effort of arising at 4:30 am was child's play compared to these hard core shoppers.

At 5am, they began distributing the item I desired and at 5:04, I was faced with the ugly reality that I was the very first person NOT to get this item as they were all gone (supplies limited, you know?).

I stared in disbelief for a moment and then returned to my car. The radio announcer suggested some online shopping rather than facing the Black Friday crowds.

What a stellar idea.

On Salad...and other things

"Mom, you haven't posted since Halloween," said my daughter Kellie. "Yes, I did - I posted this month, see?" "But it was about Halloween, and now it's Thanksgiving, you need to post." "Okay, I'll do it." But it's hard to write a post when you don't know what to write about. Yesterday, it hit me. Post about salad. Yes, salad.

You see, I had a salad yesterday for lunch. A salad I made myself with my own hands. And even I was struck by the irony of the moment because for at least half of my life, I hated salad and refused to eat it.

I think it all began when I was a young girl and my job every night for dinner was to make the salad (and grate the cheese, but that is another story). I detested making the salad, number one reason: I knew I wasn't going to eat it. Why should I always have to make the one thing in the meal that I wasn't going to consume? But my mom persisted and the salad I did make.

As I entered my teens, and all my friends were eating salad because it was healthy and helped you be thin, I smugly consumed my powdered, jelly-filled donuts. Did I mention that I really hated salad?

As an adult, I flirted off and on with the salad consumption. All my friends would talk about this or that delicious salad they had made or bought at Wendy's and I thought, "Maybe this will be the salad I will like," so I'd try it. Inevitably, I would be disappointed. Salad just does not taste like donuts. But I was also having babies and worrying more about my health and I knew I needed to improve my veggie intake, so I'd force some bites down and pat myself on the back for the effort.

Oh, there are some "salads" I enjoy, but can you really call the salad at Cafe Rio a salad? Come on - it's mostly tortilla, rice, beans, meat, & cheese with a big hunk of lettuce stacked on top. I don't think that counts - but it is tasty and I have used it as a salad when necessary to appease my conscience.

This fall, I got serious about the lose weight/be healthy thing and went on the HCG diet. One of the great things (besides the weight loss) is that it cleanses the palette. This is a fancy way of saying that I was completely sugar overloaded and so natural food just didn't taste good to me. After two months of no sugar, I was pleased to find that fruits really were sweet...and yummy. And I also learned that I felt a lot better if I ate some veggies every day; hence, the salad for lunch. I still have to force myself to eat it (and a little cheese and egg on it help a lot), but I'm actually choosing on my own to make and eat salad.

And that is my post about salad...and other things.

If you want to know about the HCG diet, I highly recommend my dietician sister-in-law Becky who helped my hubby and me lose a total of 45 lbs. in two months. We look and feel fabulous! And we eat salad.

You go, girl

Right in the middle of cleaning my house today, I was suddenly struck with a longing for my Katie. She's only been off to school for a few hours, but I missed her.

She is my baby, but not really, because being the youngest, she is constantly striving to catch up to where the others are at. Only occasionally will she climb into my arms and let me snuggle her.

Katie is full of little "Katie-isms" that keep my chuckling. I do love to laugh, especially with my kids. Yesterday, we went to the dollar store to get a gift for a party and Katie used her tooth fairy money to buy a small tub of Noisy Putty. When we got in the car, she gave it a good squeeze and it let out a sound just like a fart. She laughed her head off.

In church, she was mad at Jenna for something and they were writing back and forth to each other about it. Jenna made a point which Katie had to concede to and she wrote "well (sigh)"...yes, she wrote the sigh in.

For Halloween, she wanted to be something scary. Originally, it was a vampire witch. I was hoping for a fairy. Then she moved to a chocolate chip cookie. Couldn't figure that one out. We settled on Astrid from How To Train Your Dragon, which ended up being perfect. She is spunky and sassy and gets to be tough and girlie at the same time. Her favorite parts of her costume: the double-bladed axe and the headband.

That's my girl.