MNO and a tree pulling party

Last night I had a mom's night out with my friends at Aunt J's house. We ate, drank, talked, laughed and danced. It's always great to be with the girls. ")
Today we took a good and much needed nap. And then we got up and went to a friends house for a tree pulling party. They made a brisket and we all brought different sides. It was a great day hanging out. The kids love it out there, plenty of space to run wide open in. There even was an adult/children game of kickball. The kids won out of the older ones. ")
We got home very late and tomorrow I'm hoping for a low key day. We'll see.
We are in the planning stage of a pop up camper trip in the near future.

Blood work results

I got great news from the dr today.
About a month ago I went in to see the dr because of high blood pressure and some swelling in my lower legs. During the check up she suggested an Echo Stress test on my heart since the EKG came out abnormal. I did I found out that my heart is in good condition (thank you) but my lipid panel was very bad. It seems that I have struggled with my Triglycerides for about the past 5 years or so being very high. They have gotten up to over 560 before! I've tried to cut the fat in my diet but it's never really helped to knock down the number too much. With my blood pressure going up, my weight going up, Cholesterol going up my next stop was my glucose. Welcome to Drug City, it's where I'll be living until my time is up on this side. Nope. I'm not going there without a fight. My doctor suggested pills for all the problems. I suggested a change in diet. After searching the web for my problem I decided to do the "low carb" diet. Two weeks ago my Triglycerides were 750, I had not fasted and ate a chicken salad from Chick Fil A a few hours before going. But that still is mighty high. And the one before it a month ago was 460 and that was fasted! Well the good news is that after just two weeks my Triglycerides are an amazing 134! My HDL (good cholesterol) has risen and I finally got a reading for my LDL (bad cholesterol) which because of the high Triglycerides I've not been able to do for a very long time. And I've lost 4 lbs in 2 weeks as well! A grand total of 12 lbs in a month and a half! Yahoooooooo! The thing that bugs me is that it's been me that has taken the time and effort in seeking an alternative to taking the drugs, not my doctor. Though our conversation she was very excided about my improvement she still suggested a pill for my high LDL! Please lady give me some time here it's only been two weeks since I changed my diet! She told me that if I chose not to take any drugs that I need to come back in two months for a recheck on my levels.
I can't even put into words how much better I feel. I have more energy than I have in years. I have no cravings, no acid ingestion like I did before the diet change, my mind is no longer foggy and my breath even smells better when I wake up! Strange. All from changing the stuff I eat. What I did was totally elminate sugar and starch (pasta, rice, white bread, corn and potatoes) and eat anything else I wanted. It was hard for about 3 days at first but after that I was fine. Being half Japanese letting go of rice is kind of hard for me since I ate it with EVERYTHING. But instead of rice, pasta and bread I now use veggies as a filler and it works. If I do eat bread it's not much and whole grain wheat. I still go to Wendy's. Now I get a burger and chili instead of fries and remove one bun. If I need more I'll get more, no limit just carb limits. A year ago I would have not agree with this diet. It seemed unhealthy to me since grains are pushed so much in our country. But that is what keeps us so fat. Our bodies are never allowed to burn any fat it just keeps storing it by our consumsion of carbs and sugars. Too my surprise I eat better now than I ever have, alot more veggies to fill in the carb void. All in all I'm please and really hope to continue this way of eating for the rest of my life. To be continued.......

Daddy's sick "(

Well over the three day Memorial weekend, Monday Daddy was not feeling too good. He complained of being very weak and having a really bad sore throat. Hummmmm? I was praying it was allergies since he didn't have a fever. But....... He came home Tuesday from work with a fever and runny nose, sore throat and sneezing. I'm pretty sure it's a head cold. Poor Daddy. He is home today, locked away in the master bedroom until he proves healthy again. I'm putting on a mask and throwing drugs and food at him every so often. I sure don't want it to make the rounds over here! We are all on Elderberry for the time being. It sure did help us through the flu season this year. It was the first time none of us got the flu! Get better Daddy. We all miss you.

A question for T-Bone

When I asked T-Bone what he was going to be when he grew up he answered " A boy mommy")

Hummm, wonder what it would be like if I was in there too?

Mothers Day

Well my day begun with breakfast (complete with a flower) in bed then a nap shortly after without ever leaving the bedroom. What can I say but NICE. Being a mom does have it's perks, today is one of them. Yes, it's selfish to love to be bathed in attention and have everything done for you. So what? It is my day right?
I think we will be going to one of my newest favorite Chinese buffets in Irving later. Maybe do at Lunner (between lunch and dinner time) and try and avoid the crowd. Yum, I think I could put a dent into their Japanese chicken. ")

Bubby's last day of Kindergarten!

Well today marks a milestone in our life. We have completed Kindergarten today!
It feels awesome to have walked into my son's education this year. I was SO nervous when I began and thought "how in the world can I do this?" and "I'm not qualified to do this at all". I give a great big THANK YOU to my friend and support Aunt J for helping me to remain calm when I was clueless and scattered brained. It gives me great comfort knowing that someone I can talk to has walked where I am headed.
I've learned to that being a teacher is the same as being a mom. I've taught Bubby since he came home with us (eating, drinking, sleeping,talking,walking, using the potty) and home schooling is just an extention of that role.
Bubby has done great and has learned TONS this year. I am amazed by the things a four year old can comprehend and retain, honest. I can remember skipping towards the end of the curriculum during the school year and think that there was no way he was going to be able to get the skills needed to finish, but he did.
This is what he learned this year:
Reading - Letter names, letter sounds (consonants and short vowels),sound blending and handwriting. He was reading short vowel words towards the end of the year and reading short stories. With each weekly letter a subject was taught from apples to a zebra. We learned with some of God's scripture his promises and his creation of our earth and ourselves in his image.We also got to see our butterfly larvae turn into flying butterflies and sent a few free in the back yard. We kept two of them since one was born without an bulb on the end of his antenna and was not able to fly and of course he needed a friend to keep him company in the butterfly house. ") We also had an ant farm in the classroom with us until Bubby felt bad for them and wanted to set them free in the front yard.
He also completed his primer Math U See program. In it we covered what seemed to be alot for his age but he walked right through it again to my amazement. I suppose I kept comparing it to the things that I knew when he was my age and that's why it freaked me out so much what children his age can really take in! Alot. This is what we covered in Math:
Number Recognition and Counting from 0-9, 9-20
Writing Numerals
Geometric Shapes: Rectangles, Circles, Triangles and Squares
Place Value: Units, Tens and Hundreds
Addition: Introduction and Symbolism
Addition: +1, Addition: 2+2 and 3+3, 4+4, 5+5, by 10's, by 100's, Horizontal and Vertical
Skip Counting by 2,5 and 10's
Solving for the unknown
Tally marks
Skip count to find a area
Telling time by minutes and hour
Subtraction, subtraction by -1

Yes it was so much that I cheated and used cut and paste. ")
Whew. Anyway he was so excited about finishing school tomorrow that he said he wanted to do all of his work today and be done with it. He was squirming on the edge of his seat as we got closer to the last problem. When he as done he told who ever he could that he was done. His brother, Kuba cat, Noki kitty and Marty! Tim and I wasn't sure what we wanted to do special for him for rapping up Kindergarten but we figured out something. We are surprising him with his first guitar and amp. He's been wanting one for quite a while now and has all the moves practiced out with a blow up one that he got from a birthday party a few years back. And of course he plays one of Daddy's when he's got the chance. It a mini Strat to be more fitting for his age with a matching small amp to play through. What better joy can a Daddy have giving his son his first guitar? I'm so happy for them both.
Congrats son for completing this year, you did awesome! ")

Along the same lines I will be attending a home school convection this Saturday in Arlington to gather up next years curriculum. Fitting huh? Finish and start again :)