I finally did it.  I got another tattoo.  I'd been thinking about it for a long time, and, since my husband wouldn't go with me (he says it's boring), I went with some friends during a girl's night out.  Three of four of us got tattooed, and I'm really happy with it.  And it is true when they say it's addictive, so maybe there will be more in my future.  So far it's been 6 or 7 years in between each one I've gotten, so it could be a long way off.

I love tattoos (that are done well), and I always have.  I love to know the reasons why people get them, and I just like to look at them.  There are some really amazing pieces of art out there on people's body.  I read something once (by Kat Von D, I think) where she said that tattoos are really one of the least permanent pieces of art because they are gone once the person dies, and I never really thought of it that way before.  But, it's true if you think about it.

Anyway, my Mom thinks I'm crazy (she dropped an F-bomb when I showed her my first tattoo many years ago!!), my sister-in-law was envious (and wants me to go with her to get one sometime), and my husband (to my surprise) actually said he liked it.  He's not a huge tattoo fan, but I think it's mostly that he just doesn't like them for himself. 

This was a little out on a limb for me because it's in a fairly visible place, and I do worry about what people think even though I shouldn't.  It's not like I got the F-word tattooed on my knuckles (one of the artists at the shop had that).  Anyway, here it is the night I got it:

We went to the beach today, and as I was sitting in the surf with the baby, I overheard a young Mom yelling at her son.  The little boy couldn't have been more than 5 years old, and Mom comes over, looking irritated, and was holding her top up as she was clearly working on getting no tan lines on her shoulders.  She then yells at the kid:

"Quit acting retarded before I slap the shit out of you!"

It was pretty loud, and I'm not sure exactly what she was upset about.  Although he was pretty close to us, I hadn't been watching the boy (who was playing with a younger boy). However, it didn't seem like they were doing anything really crazy.  Maybe she should have considered sitting closer to the water or playing with him instead of tanning almost topless.

She later was calling to him, and (Big Surprise!) he was ignoring her.  He wouldn't listen, so she just walked back to her chair.  The ocean is pretty dangerous, and it seems that if you're kid isn't listening, the answer is not to just walk back to the chair.  She did come back a little later with a friend to move the boys closer to them, but she seemed prett

It was sad to me that she was yelling like that at him in public because then what does she say to him at home?  I know I'm being totally judgemental, but I think you bring on the judgement of others when you verbally abuse your kid in public. 

So I decided to try and hang this smaller bird feeder next to the other one in hopes that the crows were too heavy for it. Well, it was filled with a huge wasp nest, and thankfully when the wasp fled as I was trying to take it down it flew the other way otherwise I'd be posting pictures of my stings.

The crows, wasps and fire ants are really making it difficult for me to have my happy, peaceful, family backyard retreat, but I refuse to give up. I have a vision, damnit, and I will make it happen!!

The crows are seriously taking over.  I obviously need to get a smaller bird feeder that can't hold their weight.  In the mean time, I occasionally run outside and scare them away, but that is only temporary.  They are very sophisticated, and usually have one bird on lookout while the others are eating away.  Here are they enjoying all my bird food.  Thankfully it's home made and cheap. 

And here is their friend on lookout in a tree.  He started sqwaking very loud when I walked outside. 

And all I really want is to watch my other little bird friends like this little guy while I'm cooking and doing dishes.  Is it really too much to ask?  I guess so.  The battle continues, but I promise I will win against these crows . . .

Almost 2 years ago I did a round of P90x with some fellow teachers, and I loved it.  P90X is a very challenging workout, and I really enjoyed it.  Part of what was great about my experience was doing it every day with friends because we motivated each other.  It's really hard to slack off when there are 6 or 7 other people working out with you.  And, since we did it after school in the gym, we had all the necessary equipment - lots of space, large varieties of weights, pull-up bars, chairs, etc.  The excercises were good, I was constantly sore, and I was getting measurably stronger.

I tried to do P90X at home by myself, and I found it really hard to stay motivated.  Maybe because I'd already done it with friends, but a few other things came into play.  First, the workouts are a minimum of 1 hour.  The yoga routine is 90 minutes, so it is a very large daily commitment.  As a Mom, it's hard for me to find that amount of time each day because I also need a few minutes to cool down (literally cool my body temperature) plus time to shower and get ready.  And, I can't rely on myself to commit to that every day after the kids go to bed - there's too much other stuff to do (dishes, laundry, cleaning, relaxing) during that time.  The other problem is equipment.  P90X uses a larger range of weights plus pull-up bars.  I know you can buy the kind that fit in doorways, but our doorways are extra tall (about 9ft), and so I would actually need a ladder to reach the bar. 

If you have the time to commit to P90X, I highly recommend it.  I loved it, and the workouts really get all the muscle groups, plus cardio and yoga.  I really enjoy the yoga DVD, and still do it occasionally if I have the time. 

You've read all the reasons why I like JMBR, but I will just add that there are several excercises she does that are also in P90X.  So, I would say the routines are of similar difficulty and intensity, but Jillian takes less time to do it.  She even mentions in one video that  she doesn't have an hour a day to work out, so she packs it in to 30 minutes.  I have not seen any of her other videos, but it seems that this workout is a little P90X inspired, unless these types of workouts are just the general trend right now. 

So, both are challenging and make you work hard.  If you have time to do P90X, go for it!  I've known some people to lose weight and really buff up on the program.  But, if you are strapped for time, yet still want a pretty intense workout, go for Jillian MIchaels.  I do wish she put a challenging yoga workout in there as that always felt very beneficial in P90X, but maybe she has one on the market already.  Whatever you choose, make sure it's fun for you! 

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One of the biggest things I hate about Texas is fire ants. They are evil and the bites are painful. My daughter was bit on her arm yesterday while sitting in the grass, even though there wasn't a visible nest nearby. Untreated, the bites look like this photo. I have found you can prevent the pimple like appearance if you pour straight bleach on the bites immediately and then rinse the bleach off ( bleach isn't harmful unless it gets into soft tissue). That obviously didn't happen yesterday.

If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where you can enjoy things like being outside and sitting in the grass, be thankful! Fire ants are just awful and totally impossible to get rid of.

I continued in May with Jillian Michaels Body Revolution, but due to my 2 out of town trips, my workouts 5 and 6 took 3 weeks instead of 2.  I missed a few due to being out of town, so I just did each a couple extra times instead of moving forward.

I started workouts 7 and 8 in June, and they are TOUGH, and I really feel it after each session!  I missed the second half of last week, which ends up being one day of each workout.  I hope to make that up this week.  I continue to jog rather than doing her cardio workouts for a couple of workouts.  First, I much prefer to be outside if I can, and surprisingly it has been decent enough in the evenings that I can still jog outside.  And, it's really hard for me to do cardio indoors - it's just so boring for me, even though the workouts she has designed aren't boring because they are all 30 or 60 second sets.  But, I'm an outside girl, so anytime I can be outside I will do that instead.  Also, some of the moves have been hurting my left knee.

I continue to really enjoy these workouts, and would definitely recommend them.  They are extremely challenging, and while I can pretty much do all of the excercises (even if poorly), there is a great deal of room for me to improve and get better.  I've discovered that my arms are just not very strong, and many of the excercises focus on upper body.  So, while it is really challenging to me, it's good.  The only problem I have is listening to the same banter on each video.  Even though the videos are designed to be done only twice a week for two weeks (before moving on to the next ones), I get irritated listening to the same conversations between Jillian and her workout friends.  But, it's not THAT bad.  Jillian does have some great motivational things to say, and I just try to stay focused on why I"m doing it. 

We are heading out of town in less than two weeks and we'll be gone for probably 6 weeks.  We'll be visiting so many different places that I don't think it will be feasible to bring all my weights and videos with me, but I always get as much excercise when on vacation as possible.  We visit family in different places, so I have some favorite jogging spots in each place.  I'll continue the workouts until we leave, and I'll probably start the whole thing over again when I return since there won't be any travel interruptions once school starts. 

The crows discovered my bird feeder and have now taken over.  They love to sit and eat, and they even have a system where one bird sits on top and throws stuff down to his friends on the ground.  They are smart, and obviousy communicate with each other through obnoxiously loud sqwaking, especially when I come outside to try to take a picture.  All I really want is for my little bird friends like the blue jays, cardinals, woodpeckers and others to sit prettily on the birdfeeder while I drink my morning coffee.  Is that really too much to ask?  Apparently. 

I really wish I bought the bb gun I was going to buy when we had the raccoon problem because I have no problem shooting annoying birds.  I learned to shoot a gun at an early age since we visited my Grandparents on their farm every summer.  There were lots of annoying birds that ate the crops, so, we shot them.  Once, my brother shot 99 of the pesky little buggers while we were there.  He wanted to get an even 100, so as we packed up the car with our suitcases he desperately tried to find just one, but there were none to be flying around.  Anyway, I would shoot the crows if I could.  They are annoying, and maybe if I got 1 or 2 of their friends they would get the message. 

But, do not worry, my animal loving friends.  I do not have a gun of any kind, so I will have to be happy with running out every once an a while and trying to scare them.  It will not work and I will continue to have to fill my bird feeder more often than necessary (those damn crows eat A LOT!).  But, it just adds to our little adventure in the semi-wild kingdom. 

I just picked these beautiful tomatoes! There are few things in this world that I love more than homegrown tomatoes, and I'm lucky my kids love them as well. I have trained them well - the first thing my son asked for when he saw all of these was tomatoes and cheese (caprese)! Oh my heart is happy :-)

The Texas gulf coast summer has arrived with all of it's breath-taking (and not in a good way) heat, humidity, and mosquito infestations.  The last couple weeks before school was out, the weather charmed us with southern-california-like temperatures and pleasantness, but alas, it showed its true self on the very last day of school.  I walked with my son and his class to the park while the mosquitos bounced around our ankles and all the moms were dripping while doing nothing more than sitting on a bench.  Imagine how pleasant the smell must have been as the entire kindergarten moseyed back to school after having run around for an entire hour.

Anyway, I look forward to summer because there are no schedules, no need to turn on an alarm, and the possibility of amazing adventure hangs in the air.  But, I think even all that possibility gets tired of the thick summer air and melts along with the make-up on my face.  And my main goal becomes to stay cool and keep the kids from destroying the inside of the house because going outside runs the risk of getting heat stroke or dehydration.  That is no easy feat.

I've signed them up for about 3 weeks of camps (except 1 week for my son only) leaving lots of time we need to fill.  I could do lots of stuff with the older 2, but the baby throws all plans for a loop.  She definitely still needs a nap, and she's just not old enough for fun summer stuff like movies and pools.  Going to a pool with all 3 is totally out of the question - none know how to swim well enough to trust them.  Managing 3 by myself at a pool would land me in the hospital due to cardiac arrest.  And, I would have left the baby in daycare for the summer if I wanted to get a babysitter all the time.  Lastly, the half day camps make it difficult to squeeze anything else in for the day, but in reality it's too hot for some of the stuff I'd like to do like visit the zoo.  

 We are having some remodeling done on a fireplace that was a fire hazard at one point, so they were hammering and sawing all day yesterday leaving me to flee with the baby during her nap time (no nap for baby = bad choice) while the kids were at camp.  We went to michaels to try to buy some crafty stuff for the kids to do since despite having 4 million toys each, there is NOTHING to do in the house.  Ever.  And, if it were up to them they would play x-box or watch tv all day long, and I really don't want to have to feel guilty later in life when they have creativity or thinking problems because their brains turned to mush while sitting on the couch. 

Three and a half more weeks and we get to go on vacation, which I'm really looking forward to.  The kids will get to see their cousins, all 4 grandparents, both great-grandmothers, and some new friends.  But, until then, we continue to trudge through June with lots of popsicles, camp and art projects.