July 4, 2008

God Bless America, Land that I Love

Dawson, Fourth of July, 2005. Look at that crabby face.

I love looking back at old photos now and again. And I was trying to find some pictures of fireworks from Independence Days gone by. Then I saw this photo of Dawson at 10 months old and I cracked up with laughter.

We were at the Fourth of July Parade downtown and my little Doodlebug was not looking very amused. Not only was I taken aback by how quickly time passes, but I marveled at how fast my little boy has grown up.

Today we’re headed to the same parade on Main Street, and hopefully all the kids will have smiles on their faces and patriotism in their hearts.

It’s Independence Day. Let Freedom Ring! I know our country is a little screwed up right now, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. God Bless America!

March 23, 2008

The Easter Bunny Is Very, Very Late

Since Dawson was a baby I’ve The Easter Bunny has always prepared an Easter basket for him, filled with little chocolate eggs, a hollow chocolate bunny, jelly beans and a small toy or two.

In past years, he’s been too young to understand what’s going on, and this year he finally understands that The Bunny hides a basket of candy somewhere in this house and he is supposed to find it.

However, this year I failed The Bunny sort of forgot. In fact she was so busy it didn’t even cross her mind until THIS MORNING that she forgot to fill a basket.

Dawson is oblivious to the fact that The Easter Bunny makes mistakes and he is so distraught that I told him The Bunny is just running late, and that to make up for her erroneous ways, she is sending him something super cool, scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, when the Easter UPS Man gets his bunny-butt hoppin’ (the Easter Bunny ordered the super cool thing on Monday as a surprise, but didn’t think to use express shipping to get the item here by Friday. What a dumb bunny!).

In the meantime, we’re coloring Easter eggs because that damn bunny forgot all about that, too. She’s definitely not getting the Bunny of the Year award now!

Happy Easter, everyone!

January 2, 2008

New Year, New Plan

I love the symbolism of the New Year, focusing on new beginnings and starting fresh with new goals. In years past, I’ve always set the same intentions to lose weight, eat a balanced diet, work out at the gym on regular basis and spend time doing the things I love. But every year, my resolutions are fuzzy memories by the end of February.

As a wife, mother and working woman, I find it difficult to take care of myself because I’m always taking care of others. I’m constantly running through my mental list of things to do, and by the end of the day I’m too exhausted to make a healthy meal so I grab a handful of chips and a slice of left-over pizza instead. Exercise simmers on the back burner until the laundry is done, the scattered toys are put away and the child is sleeping. By the time I finally go to bed, I lie awake and worry about the million things that must be done the next day.

But this year will be different. I’ve declared 2008 “The Year of Dana”. No longer will I put my needs behind those of my husband and son. Yesterday I rejoined Weight Watchers (for the fifth time), tomorrow I meet with a representative at the YMCA to talk about getting a membership, and I’ve started blogging about my progress. (I’m not quite ready to reveal the URL, but once I get into the swing of it all, I’ll share the new blog with you.)

The first step to better health was to clean out all the kitchen cabinets and get rid of all the junk food. Then I went grocery shopping. I stocked up on fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and poultry, whole grain breads and pasta, and low-fat dairy products. My husband was sad to see nothing fatty in the grocery bags. You know, like delicious, cheesey, garlic bread. Oh, how I will miss thee! (Okay, so I was sad that I had to give that up for awhile.) I can’t believe how expensive it is to eat healthy foods. The grocery bill was at least forty dollars more expensive than usual — it’s probably because of the ten organic oranges I bought at $1 a piece.

Tonight, I made Chicken-Teriyaki with Broccoli, a Weight Watchers recipe, and it was delicious. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

* 1 sprays cooking spray
* 2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
* 1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
* 4 medium scallion(s), chopped (green and white parts)
* 1/2 cup fat-free chicken broth
* 2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
* 2 cup cooked brown rice, regular or instant, kept hot
* 4 cup broccoli, fresh, florets, steamed*

Instructions

* Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add garlic and cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Add chicken and cook until golden brown on all sides, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

* Add scallions and cook until soft, stirring, about 2 minutes. Add broth and teriyaki sauce; simmer until chicken is cooked through and sauce reduces slightly, about 5 minutes.

* Spoon 1/2 cup of cooked rice into each of 4 shallow bowls; spoon about 1 cup of chicken mixture and 1/2 cup of broccoli over each serving.

Notes

* *To steam broccoli, place florets in a microwave-safe dish, add about 1/2 inch of water and cover dish. Microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes, until tender-crisp. Or to steam in a saucepan, set broccoli in a steamer basket or colander over simmering water, cover and steam 4 to 5 minutes, until tender-crisp.

Right now, I’m blogging while sitting on the sofa (YAY! WIRELESS!!) and watching Basic Instinct. I’ve seen this movie a thousand times before, but nothing else is on television. I’m going through withdrawals from my regularly scheduled programming. I miss Private Practice…and Grey’s Anatomy. Isn’t the writer’s strike over, yet?

I’m thinking about going to bed early tonight. I read an article that lack of sleep can lead to weight gain and obesity. If this is true, it totally explains why my ass is so big.

Let’s make a toast to the New Year. I’m raising my glass (of water) to health, happiness and prosperity in 2008!

Happy New Year!

December 30, 2007

Blah, Blah, Blog

That’s how I feel today. Before Christmas, I had a million ideas for blog posts. Now that I’ve been off from work (and have a little more time to blog), I can’t seem to remember what they were. Stupidly, I forgot to write down my ideas.

With the New Year speeding its way into my life, I’ve tried to think of a few resolutions. But, I know that I never stick to them. Resolutions only work for about three weeks – a month if I’m lucky – and then I go back to my old ways.

I always vow to go to the gym, eat healthier, exercise more, and spend more time with family, worry less about work, blog more, etcetera, and etcetera.

What I really need is to make a resolution to stick to my resolutions. Is that possible?

Every day that I’ve been home with Dawson has been a non-stop SpongeBob SquarePants marathon. I am so sick of the square sponge, and I actually like that show. I didn’t really care for it in the beginning, but Doug has helped me to see the error of my ways. It’s actually quite funny.

Recently, we started watching Barnyard, and I’ve been cracking up at these funny cartoon cows, and other farm animals on the show. Dawson likes it, too. It’s really cute.

It snowed like crazy on Friday morning, and Friday afternoon. When Doug got home from work, I made him bundle Dawson up in his winter gear to take him outside. The child had so much energy to burn. I figured if he helped Daddy shovel, he would tire quickly and I could get some time to myself.

After a little while I went outside, too. I took some pictures of the little man shoveling snow with his Daddy. He was more or less blowing snow around and not helping much at all, but it sure was cute to see him try.

The potty training is kind of lagging. I’m trying not to push Dawson too much, so we’re just going with the flow. Literally. I’ll update his progress in another post. I’m tired of all the potty talk.

Tomorrow, we’re having wireless internet installed so that I can use my laptop at home. Right now, we’ve got Charter high-speed on the PC, but then only one of us can use the internet. This is such a burden, so I called the company and I was amazed that I could add wireless to our existing account for an additional $4 a month. Had I known that, I would have done this a long time ago. I thought it would be very expensive to add this feature.

My parents are having a New Year’s Eve party tomorrow night. Our family friends will be there, and I told my husband that I want to drink and he can be the designated driver. Otherwise we’re staying overnight at my parents house. He’s not too keen on that idea, but I think it’s time I got to have some fun, too.

So, other than hanging out at home and following the almost-potty-trained little boy around, nothing very exciting is happening. It’s actually kind of nice not to have to worry about going places and doing things. I’m trying to enjoy this time while I can. Soon enough, I’ll be back at work, wishing I had more time off.

Happy Early New Year, everyone!