We interuppt this vacation...

to bring you a picture of our vacation...

Hannah, Liz and Rob with Lake Harmony in the background. We were waiting for the Turtle Races to start where I won TWO BUCKS!! I'm a WINNER!!

:)

Outta here!

I'm just about ready to close up the computer and head up to the Poconos where I will spend the week hanging with family, yelling at Hannah and Lizzie, trying not to eat too much and swimming ... you know, pretty much what I do EVERY day, just in the mountains.
Here's a little reminder of what we did last year ... expect more of the same (focus on FUN) this year, too.
I won't have much internet access (seven days without Internet ... not sure if I can do that!) but they finally put a Dunkin' Donuts in up there, so I'm good on that front...
See you all in a week unless I find a WiFi hotspot or borrow my sister's aircard to stave off withdrawal pangs...

See you in a week!!

Random Thinking

We've got less than a month left of summer, so I figured I should write a little bit about some of the things we've done, that haven't warranted an entire blog post.
First, that's me in the picture below. Or I should say that's me MINUS 25 lbs. Yay!! I'm holding my 25 lb medal which it took me (nearly) forever to get. But you know slow and steady wins the race and I am now the official poster child for that slogan. Yes, yes, I KNOW I'm not done with the race yet, but things sure feel better 25 lbs down. Lizzie took this picture and she's already cutting people's heads off, just like Grandma Connie:

Oh and while I'm talking about myself, I also got my hair cut, which you can see better in this photo. I think it was around 9 or 10 inches. I learned a couple of things during this process. First and foremost, do NOT go to a stylist who has just graduated from beauty school if you have a babysitter at home and a long grocery list still to fulfill. It took this woman nearly 90 minutes to do my hair. That's 10 minutes per inch she cut off. I finally had to tell her it was DONE. The good news is that it's not a bad cut. And, for some reason doesn't look as grey as it did last week. I'm still picking a color for my hair ... leaning towards some sort of brown, as opposed to my usual red. And second, I learned that I really CAN'T blowdry my own hair.

Hannah and Lizzie are both swimming pretty well. They haven't had lessons or anything, but we spend just about every day at the pool so they're learning to swim by just being in the water. They both say they can only swim in the LOW end, though. They cannot swim in the DEEP end because they haven't learned that yet. The water is over their head in the low end, but that doesn't matter to this logic. We went to the pool store the other day and picked up some toys (on sale) including this guy (actually Hannah and Liz say it's a girl) which they ride around the pool. They both want to bring the dolphins to the Poconos (they sleep with them in their rooms, covered by blankets -- yes, I am an overindulgent mommy) but I told them that dolphins aren't allowed in the Poconos because of the bears and they agreed they should stay home.

And speaking of the Poconos, Hannah's ready to go NOW. She's got her piggies from Piggys and she can't wait to see Tommy and Brenna and all the old people there.
We've also been to some local bounce places, had a bunch of playdates, taking lots of drives out to Lancaster to play in different playgrounds, and been practicing both reading and vocabulary. I know we need to add math to the mix, but seriously I just HATE math, even the kindergarten kind. But if YOU like math and you happen to see them, feel free to ask them what 1 plus 1 is, or what a particular shape is. They may or may not know, but they will be happy to guess.

However if you ask them the meaning of humongous or scrumptious, THAT they can tell you. Oh, and they can also tell you the major characters in General Hospital. :)

And here's just a random shot from my front yard:

Grandma Jo will love this post

We're going to be visiting Grandma Jo in a week or so, which necessitated a trip to the hair salon. I usually cut the girls' hair (which is why it's always long!) but once a year we like to allow the professionals to do their thing. This was the first time that the girls had the whole salon treatment with hair washing, cut and blowdry. To say they loved it would be an understatement. Here's Hannah's new do ... she wanted it to be really short, but I convinced her that she needed to be able to put it into a ponytail for dance. She was thrilled with the result and told me that she plans to look at herself in the mirror all day long:

Here's Little Bit's haircut. True to Lizzie form she really didn't want her hair cut, just that it would look the same ... only different. So we had a good four or five inches trimmed and had it shaped and as soon as we got home she told me that NOW she wants it shorter. But that's Lizzie for you. She also asked the stylist is "some persons necks hurt when they are getting their hair washed."

She looks different enough though to cause her to explain to me that I had better tell Daddy about the haircuts or else he would come home and say, "Where are my girls? Did you sell them and get these girls instead?" She cracks me up:

Here they are testing out the new hair by dancing around. Lizzie's hair really is getting very blonde in the summer.

I just liked the way Hannah's hair looked in this picture ... her hair is very thick and very straight and I think the shorter cut really suits her. She said that from now on she will ONLY let the stylists at the Hair Cuttery cut her hair.

Here they are together. Gorgeous, don't you think?
Oh, and speaking cutting, it looks like I'll be having my gall bladder removed. I was in the Emergency Room Friday evening and it appears as if my gall bladder and I need to part ways as soon as possible. My first question, of course, was HOW MUCH DOES A GALL BLADDER WEIGH? I'm hoping that mine weighs about 15 lbs., but I kind of doubt it.

I meet with a surgeon at the end of August for a scheduled surgery sometime in September. Unless of course I have another attack in which case it may come out sooner. But it just wouldn't be a vacation in the Poconos if someone didn't need to be rushed to the ER, would it, (Mom!!??) :)

Seriously, I feel fine now, so no worries, okay?

Simple Woman's Daybook

For July 27

Outside my window... Summer has finally arrived. It's hot and a little more humid than I would like (although I would like NO humidity) but it looks like clouds are gathering for an afternoon thunderstorm.

I am thinking... I can't believe that summer is half over and the girls start back to school in six weeks. We've had a great summer thus far and expect that will continue through August.

I am thankful ... for those who continue to support and encourage me at Weight Watchers. The weight loss is slow, but fairly steady.

From the kitchen... I'm getting ready to fix lunch for the three of us. Hannah and Lizzie will probably have crackers and cheese and yogurt smoothies and I'll have whole wheat noodles with some feta cheese and raisins (might sound gross, but it's really good with some homemade Greek dressed drizzled throughout).

I am wearing... grey shirt, grey shorts, hair in a pony tail.

I am creating... not much these days. I finished the story on David Cook (American Idol 7 winner) on Friday and a story on the Reading Fair this morning. Last week I attended my card making class and created 10 cards ... REALLY enjoy that class.

I am going ... to make lunch for the kids and myself and then get everyone ready for the pool this afternoon.

I am reading... Dead as a Doornail, one of the Sookie Stackhouse vampire mysteries. The HBO series TrueBlood is based on this series and while I don't have HBO, I am enjoying the books. They are light enough so that I can read while the girls swim or play in the park where my attention is usually pretty scattered. They aren't gory either, which is something I don't really like about vampire books anyway. Charlaine Harris' vampires are very nice.

I am hoping... to get some personal writing done this week or over the weekend. The only bad thing about a busy and fun summer is that I don't have the time to write during the day and I'm too tired in the evenings!

I am praying ... again for baby Stellan who is back in the hospital with his heart issues. Praying that a solution can be found quickly!

I am hearing... spongebob squarepants (I let the girls watch it while they are eating lunch, which they now are, since I took a break from this blog entry to make them lunch).

Around the house... things are still looking pretty good from our major cleanup two weeks ago. You can tell that two little girls live here though, as there are crayons and jump ropes on the family room floor.

One of my favorite things... is celebrating with friends, which I got to do this weekend at Amy's 40th birthday party. Great time, great food (except the veggie hot dogs which Lizzie said did not taste anything like her ballpark franks!) and great company!

A few plans for the week ahead... not too busy this week, which is good because we have been VERY busy. There's a dentist appointment for the girls on Wednesday (no cavities please!) and I've got two interviews to do. Aunt B will probably come spend the afternoon with the girls, too, which is always exciting for them. Right now the weekend looks quiet, but that's very likely to change as the week progresses.

Here is picture thought I am sharing... A bumblebee just doing his job!

For other daybooks see, http://www.thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

40 years ago...

40 years ago on the evening of July 20, I was a 10 year old kid at Camp Ludington in Holmes, NY. That night, before we went to bed we were told to sleep in our clothes and tie a sock to the end of the cot frame, if we wanted to see history being made and we'd be awakened for the big event.

I, of course, put the sock on the end of my cot and was awakened at around 10 p.m. (we campers went to bed very early I guess because I was roused from a very sound sleep and several of my bunk mates were refusing to go) and we shuffled in our PJs to the Mess Hall where all the other awakened campers were sitting at the long tables watching an old black and white television.

So while we sat there awaiting Neil Armstrong's step into history they interuppted the show with the announcement that a baby girl had been born in Ireland.

Her parents named her Ann.

Here's what she looks like today: Okay, so maybe they didn't break in with that news. Instead it was wall-to-wall coverage of this, the Lunar Landing, the first man ever to walk on the moon. Big deal, right?:Here's Armstrong today ... I personally think the past 40 years has been kinder to Ann, don't you?AND that little girl grew up to come to America, marry my brother, become an American citizen and my friend. :)

Happy Birthday Ann! I hope you're having a grand time celebrating the Lunar Landing and, oh, yeah, the big 4-0!!

xoxoxo

The Cooking Show

This is just a little taste of what it's like around here!