The karate studio where I work has kickboxing class for adults twice a week and, as an employee, I can go for free. I have been thinking about going for quite some time, since I keep getting bigger and bigger, but I haven’t done it. I was afraid to go. Afraid of the unknown, afraid of what the other people in the class would think of me, afraid that I would not be able to keep up, afraid that any exercise whatsoever would make me barf in public, afraid of not having any appropriate clothes that fit me to wear…you name it, I tortured myself with it and just sat at home.
Thankfully, a friend and co-worker of mine started going to the class with her husband last month. I kept saying that I would show up at class one night since I actually knew someone there, but I never did. Finally, last week, I got up the nerve to tell my friend that I needed her to drag me to that class. And, being the great friend that she is, she complied. She was willing to be the “bad guy” for me b/c she understood that I needed that to get over the initial hurdle.
Last night was the class that she was going to drag me to. And of course, all day long, I did not feel well. I wanted to tell her that I could not go b/c I was not feeling well, but I had a “coming to Jesus” talk with myself. I am so good at having those talks with other people, you know? I can fix everybody’s problems but my own! Anywho, I had that talk with myself and realized that every single time I decided I was going to start an exercise routine that day, I ended up not feeling well. I mysteriously got my period, or I had an upset stomach and had to stay near the bathroom or I ate nothing but beans and broccoli the 24 hours before and could not be around others for gaseous reasons, etc. It was always SOMETHING. But I was NOT going to allow myself to make another excuse. I was GOING to this class, even if I barfed or farted all over the place!
And you know what? I had a great time! I am SO GLAD they drove over to my house and took me to the class. I am proud of myself for exercising and everyone can use a little extra pride in themselves, don’t you think? I did not have gloves and the bin of extra gloves was empty from other attendees in the class. Pshaw, I thought. I’m not going to need gloves on the 1st class anyway. I am so out of shape, I could not hit that bag with any amount of strength requiring gloves anyway, right?
We started out doing a “warm-up”. MY idea of warming up is long stretches, walking in place, stepping side-to-side, maybe some lunges… The teacher’s idea of warming-up was jumping jacks. OK, I told myself, you can do this. How many could we do in a warm-up? 25? He did not count; he timed. As many as you could do in 1 minute increments, and there was more than one, 1 minute increment, people! My boobs were jumping, my backfat was jumping, but, worst of all, my incontinence-due-to-vaginal-birth was saying, “What the HELL are you doing? I’m about to make a mess up in here! You know the deal – no trampolines, no bed jumping and NO jumping jacks.” I don’t know how I hung on, but I jumped jacks while kegelling the heck out of my insides. I actually made it to 100 jumping jacks before I had to run off into the bathroom. Once again, proud of me! Never thought I could do 1 jumping jack, let alone 100. I want my 8th Grade Presidential Fitness Award renewed. ;o)
My friend and I shared a bag for our punches and kicks. After a few rounds of jabs, hooks and uppercuts, I had bleeding knuckles on both hands. I was HOOKED! The sight and smell of blood was like adrenaline to me, for some reason. I felt so badass, so capable! At one point, we were to take turns punching and kicking the bags with our partners, and the one who was not hitting the bag was to yell encouragement at the one hitting the bag. She and I were cracking up over this. She yelled at me once, “Come on! Take your frustration out on that bag! I know you’re picturing your husband!” I immediately thought, I’m not frustrated at him for anything. Then something hit me and I became a driven women. I ATTACKED that bag! I yelled to my partner, “I’m fighting off the hubs to keep him from changing the temperature on the thermostat at home!” We had a good laugh over that one.
That was all I really needed – to get over the 1st hurdle of just going. Even at my age, it’s hard to reach out and ask for help. But I’m so glad I did!
Living on a prayer with love, laughter, faith and food.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Blogging Neglect
I have been so bad about blogging. I used to keep a blog regularly – several times a week; sometimes several times a day if I had a lot on my mind. But for the past 2 years, I have Facebook’d instead. I probably have the longest FB statuses of any of my friends, b/c I am trying to put a blog post in that limited character space. But I really am a blogger at heart. Even though I don’t practice Catholicism anymore, I think I should give up FB for Lent this year. Maybe that would get me in the habit of blogging again. Although, I would still want to get on FB and check out what everyone ELSE had to say, even if I chose not to say anything. The main reason I wanted to blog is that my “mommy brain” has continued for the past 8+ years and I need to record the cute/funny/precious things my son says and does before I forget them. And so I can blackmail him with them later in his life. ;o)
If I think about it, I can’t solely blame FB for my lack of blogging. There are 2 other reasons. The 1st one is that I used to have a private blog. My blog was only accessible to a select group of friends whom I trusted and knew I could vent to and talk to about anything and anyone. Something happened to cause me to cut access to all the viewers of my private blog. I will not go into the reason here b/c this blog is now public and readable by anyone, including the one who caused me to cut access to the private blog. But once I no longer had an “audience”, I lost interest in blogging. Isn’t that weird or, conceited? Without someone to entertain, I lost all interest in jotting my thoughts, experiences and stories down. I thought it was quite the insight into how I tick…or maybe a better way to say it is how I felt validated…
The 2nd reason for my lack of blogging…I…am ashamed to say I cannot remember! DAMN! See what I mean about mommy brain continuing FAR BEYOND the norm?! I, honestly, think it is the Alzheimer’s that runs in my family. The hubs does not like me to say that b/c I can imagine how hard it would be for him to think about me going through that. But I really think it is. When I was a young child, I watched my grandfather go through it, rather quickly, while my mom assisted in his care. My mom is now taking care of one of her older sisters going through it. For over 20 years, I feared the day that I would discover my mom had it. The hubs can tell you he’s known of this fear since he met me. Now I realize that, no matter how hard that would be for me to handle, I could do it and I would do it. Just like Malynn took care of Shelby in the hospital in Steel Magnolias. (BTW, I believe Steel Magnolias is to women what The Godfather is to men.) What scares me more now, is my husband and child having to endure ME going through it.
Wow! I finally decide to start blogging again and it is such a downer! I will mos def lose whatever readers I may have had! Well, at least if no one reads this, it will kinda be like a private blog and I can talk about anything and anyone again… ;o)
You know what?! I think I have actually been talking about the 2nd reason I stopped blogging – I can’t remember anything I want to say when I actually have the time to sit down and blog. Phew! Maybe this homeschooling thing has been able to exercise my brain enough to remember more. :o)
If I think about it, I can’t solely blame FB for my lack of blogging. There are 2 other reasons. The 1st one is that I used to have a private blog. My blog was only accessible to a select group of friends whom I trusted and knew I could vent to and talk to about anything and anyone. Something happened to cause me to cut access to all the viewers of my private blog. I will not go into the reason here b/c this blog is now public and readable by anyone, including the one who caused me to cut access to the private blog. But once I no longer had an “audience”, I lost interest in blogging. Isn’t that weird or, conceited? Without someone to entertain, I lost all interest in jotting my thoughts, experiences and stories down. I thought it was quite the insight into how I tick…or maybe a better way to say it is how I felt validated…
The 2nd reason for my lack of blogging…I…am ashamed to say I cannot remember! DAMN! See what I mean about mommy brain continuing FAR BEYOND the norm?! I, honestly, think it is the Alzheimer’s that runs in my family. The hubs does not like me to say that b/c I can imagine how hard it would be for him to think about me going through that. But I really think it is. When I was a young child, I watched my grandfather go through it, rather quickly, while my mom assisted in his care. My mom is now taking care of one of her older sisters going through it. For over 20 years, I feared the day that I would discover my mom had it. The hubs can tell you he’s known of this fear since he met me. Now I realize that, no matter how hard that would be for me to handle, I could do it and I would do it. Just like Malynn took care of Shelby in the hospital in Steel Magnolias. (BTW, I believe Steel Magnolias is to women what The Godfather is to men.) What scares me more now, is my husband and child having to endure ME going through it.
Wow! I finally decide to start blogging again and it is such a downer! I will mos def lose whatever readers I may have had! Well, at least if no one reads this, it will kinda be like a private blog and I can talk about anything and anyone again… ;o)
You know what?! I think I have actually been talking about the 2nd reason I stopped blogging – I can’t remember anything I want to say when I actually have the time to sit down and blog. Phew! Maybe this homeschooling thing has been able to exercise my brain enough to remember more. :o)
Friday, September 24, 2010
My Sweet B
I have really enjoyed having my sweet B back since he left public school. His moods are more even and although he will always be an emotional child (b/c he's mine) he now cries instead of having full on tantrums. Giving him predictable structure while honoring his personality and learning style has really caused him to relax, blossom and he's really controlling himself. Makes for a happy family! I want to share 3 cute things that B said while we ran errands today.
I was standing next to the car pumping gas.
B: How come you use the regular instead of the supreme?
Me: The supreme is more expensive and my car only needs the regular. Besides, I'm not a "supreme" girl; I'm just a "regular" girl.
B (in a pouty voice while looking down): I'm a "supreme" boy.
Me (grudgingly): I know. Just like your daddy.
We were on on way to the bank and a song I did not recognize came on the radio.
B: Oh! Turn it up! I love this song!
Me: When have you ever heard this song?!
B: Long time ago, baby. Me and this song? We go way back.
We stepped up to the teller at the bank, and before I could say anything, B takes something out of his pocket and slides it across the counter to the teller.
B: Excuse me? How much is this shiny, smooth shell worth? Can you take it so Mama doesn't have to use her money?
I was speechless. The teller, who had a baby earlier this year, got all teary-eyed and I could tell he just melted her heart as well as mine.
Teller: What a wonderful son you have there! That is the sweetest thing I have ever heard!
I had to agree. *sniff, sniff*
I was standing next to the car pumping gas.
B: How come you use the regular instead of the supreme?
Me: The supreme is more expensive and my car only needs the regular. Besides, I'm not a "supreme" girl; I'm just a "regular" girl.
B (in a pouty voice while looking down): I'm a "supreme" boy.
Me (grudgingly): I know. Just like your daddy.
We were on on way to the bank and a song I did not recognize came on the radio.
B: Oh! Turn it up! I love this song!
Me: When have you ever heard this song?!
B: Long time ago, baby. Me and this song? We go way back.
We stepped up to the teller at the bank, and before I could say anything, B takes something out of his pocket and slides it across the counter to the teller.
B: Excuse me? How much is this shiny, smooth shell worth? Can you take it so Mama doesn't have to use her money?
I was speechless. The teller, who had a baby earlier this year, got all teary-eyed and I could tell he just melted her heart as well as mine.
Teller: What a wonderful son you have there! That is the sweetest thing I have ever heard!
I had to agree. *sniff, sniff*
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
First Official Day of Homeschool
I am pleased with how today went! This is going to be a learning experience for both of us and it will take some time to get into any kind of habit or set lessons. But I am OK with that. We may never get into set lessons. I decided months ago that there really isn't a wrong or right way to do this; the main goal is to find my son's way of doing this.
We both learned new things today, so that in and of itself is a successful day. Do you know what the largest desert is in the world? We were both surprised to learn it is Antarctica. When I went to school, I was taught the Sahara was the largest desert. But a desert is defined by lack of rainfall, and sparse to no vegetation and can be hot OR COLD. We're starting with a geography unit study. Today we worked on some natural landmarks, like rivers and deserts. Ben located some on a world map and compared river lengths and deserts sizes to determine their orders from largest to smallest. I worked math problems in where I could - the Gobi dessert is 1/2 the size of the Arabian dessert (500k sq mi compared to 1M sq mi). He did a word find of related terms and I created a spelling list. Since "desert" was on the spelling list, I also added "dessert". I know early in school it was hard for me to remember which was which until a great teacher told us a trick to remembering it, so I passed it on.
I learned that we need to set aside more time for learning if I continue to let him set the pace. And with the amount of time he likes to take, we won't be covering every subject everyday. When he would stare at the map for a few minutes, I did not push him to move on to a question; I let him take in the map. When he saw the shape of a whale in the Sahara, I let him draw a face and water spout on it. I bet that will be a good reference to remember the Sahara - it's shaped like a whale!
He's always amazed me with word finds. He'll stare at one for minutes, and when he's done, he'll circle 3 or 4 words at once. I am keeping a journal and made notes for myself as we went along so I did not forget anything. Once he saw that, he put his pencil down and wanted a pen just like me. ERRR! I want him to use a pencil so he can erase and fix things. But I let him have the pen. Maybe he will work harder to make fewer mistakes.
When I saw he was fading, we took a break to dance and sing some Bon Jovi. My son's current favorite song is "Livin' on a Prayer". He has excellent taste in music, just like is Mama. :o)
Before heading out to run an errand and then off to my work for the afternoon he said to me, "I really liked this homeschool thing today, Mama. I'm gonna like this year." I said, "This is only day one. It's going to get harder and most days we'll be schooling more time than we did today. But we'll work together to make it fun." He says he's up for it.
We both learned new things today, so that in and of itself is a successful day. Do you know what the largest desert is in the world? We were both surprised to learn it is Antarctica. When I went to school, I was taught the Sahara was the largest desert. But a desert is defined by lack of rainfall, and sparse to no vegetation and can be hot OR COLD. We're starting with a geography unit study. Today we worked on some natural landmarks, like rivers and deserts. Ben located some on a world map and compared river lengths and deserts sizes to determine their orders from largest to smallest. I worked math problems in where I could - the Gobi dessert is 1/2 the size of the Arabian dessert (500k sq mi compared to 1M sq mi). He did a word find of related terms and I created a spelling list. Since "desert" was on the spelling list, I also added "dessert". I know early in school it was hard for me to remember which was which until a great teacher told us a trick to remembering it, so I passed it on.
I learned that we need to set aside more time for learning if I continue to let him set the pace. And with the amount of time he likes to take, we won't be covering every subject everyday. When he would stare at the map for a few minutes, I did not push him to move on to a question; I let him take in the map. When he saw the shape of a whale in the Sahara, I let him draw a face and water spout on it. I bet that will be a good reference to remember the Sahara - it's shaped like a whale!
He's always amazed me with word finds. He'll stare at one for minutes, and when he's done, he'll circle 3 or 4 words at once. I am keeping a journal and made notes for myself as we went along so I did not forget anything. Once he saw that, he put his pencil down and wanted a pen just like me. ERRR! I want him to use a pencil so he can erase and fix things. But I let him have the pen. Maybe he will work harder to make fewer mistakes.
When I saw he was fading, we took a break to dance and sing some Bon Jovi. My son's current favorite song is "Livin' on a Prayer". He has excellent taste in music, just like is Mama. :o)
Before heading out to run an errand and then off to my work for the afternoon he said to me, "I really liked this homeschool thing today, Mama. I'm gonna like this year." I said, "This is only day one. It's going to get harder and most days we'll be schooling more time than we did today. But we'll work together to make it fun." He says he's up for it.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Unit Studies
There are so many different ways to teach and not all of them work for every child. I am not going to "pick" one style of homeschooling; I will be dabbling in all of them to see how B and I like them. The hubs and I continue to take advantage of learning opportunities in everyday life just like all parents do. Because, regardless of whether your child goes to an institution for learning or stays home, every parent's job description includes "teacher". But we pay attention more, now, and stop what we are doing to explore further into something B is interested in or to answer his questions. It is so wonderful to teach him something and them see him go on to share the knowledge he has learned with others later. It lets us know it is sticking with him!
Even though learning will happen all on its own throughout the day, B needs learning directed by me, as well. Last month, I started out with subject specific teaching. I alternated Math and Language Arts every other day and we did Science everyday. Not a lot, just enough to keep him in the habit of working and so he does not lose everything he learned from 1st grade. Although he did not fight me on doing work, it was boring for him and me. Plus it was just like work at his elementary school. So I stopped that and starting thinking about the style of HSing that attracted me the most - unit studies.
With unit studies, you pick a subject your child is interested in - baseball, princesses, dinosaurs, LEGOs, baking, whatever - and learn about it. While learning about the subject, you find the math, reading, writing, science and social studies within it. Math is in the measuring of ingredients and doubling or halving a recipe, comparing the sizes of dinosaurs or using multiplication to find out how many LEGO bricks are in a structure your child built. You and your child will read books from the library and research found on the internet. Writing will happen when your child journals about all the things he is doing and learning or penpaling with an expert in the field or another child with the same interests. Think of all the new spelling words you will come across while learning about your subject? The beauty of unit studies is that you don't pick a "school" subject and try to make it interesting, you take something your child finds interesting and turn that into learning.
As part of supply gathering, I bought some great maps at Costco for $7/each. They are over 3' x 4' and laminated. I have one of the US and one of the World hanging in the upstairs hallway. I bought one of the Solar System, too, but returned it. It was covered so much in these cartoon characters and descriptions of who they are, that you couldn't see the Solar System, itself! The US map includes pictures of all state flags and the World map includes pictures of all the country flags. I've learned from years of being B's mom that my suggestion of or push towards something is turnoff #1 to him. So I put up the maps and didn't say a word. I noticed B was disappearing for 10 - 20 minutes a couple of times a day and I would find him in the upstairs hallway. I didn't mention the maps; just told him I was curious where he was. Then I woke up one morning to find a yellow thumb tack in each of the 2 maps exactly where we live. :o) When I came downstairs he said, "Did you see the tacks in the maps, Mama?" "Yes. Why are they there?" "It's where we live, of course! Didn't you KNOW that," he asked. Last weekend we were driving to a reunion with my elementary school peeps and B called out from the back seat, "That building is flying the Texas flag. And if you take off the star, it would be the Checky flag." I look over my shoulder and we were passing a Texas Roadhouse restaurant, in fact flying the Texas flag. When we got home, he showed me the other flag he was referring to, the Czech Republic flag, and I could see the similarity without the star. He not only made us proud, he made us confident in our decision to HS him. He let us know, he IS learning, he IS going to be OK. So, maps has turned out to be our 1st unit study.
I got something off Freecycle last week and made him hold my phone and use the GPS and tell me where to go. A workbook I bought last month to look through for ideas actually has a whole section on maps. We are visiting New England soon and I've shown him on the map where it is and all the states we'll go through to get there. I am going to have my dad go over the route on the map with B and then have him be in charge of navigating. Outside of maps, there is so much history to see and learn about in New England! We are currently reading a fictional book about an 8 yr old boy, two 14 yr olds, and a freed slave who happened to be on the Dartmouth during the Boston Tea Party and are trying to escape the city to Philadelphia w/o being caught by the Red Coats. He is really interested. And that will make him interested in Boston sites more than just showing up at the city, pointing them out and trying to get him to listen to a tour guide explain why a place is famous. I am currently looking for free, printable coloring pages online for New England. If you find any good ones, leave me a comment with a link, please. Thanks!
Even though learning will happen all on its own throughout the day, B needs learning directed by me, as well. Last month, I started out with subject specific teaching. I alternated Math and Language Arts every other day and we did Science everyday. Not a lot, just enough to keep him in the habit of working and so he does not lose everything he learned from 1st grade. Although he did not fight me on doing work, it was boring for him and me. Plus it was just like work at his elementary school. So I stopped that and starting thinking about the style of HSing that attracted me the most - unit studies.
With unit studies, you pick a subject your child is interested in - baseball, princesses, dinosaurs, LEGOs, baking, whatever - and learn about it. While learning about the subject, you find the math, reading, writing, science and social studies within it. Math is in the measuring of ingredients and doubling or halving a recipe, comparing the sizes of dinosaurs or using multiplication to find out how many LEGO bricks are in a structure your child built. You and your child will read books from the library and research found on the internet. Writing will happen when your child journals about all the things he is doing and learning or penpaling with an expert in the field or another child with the same interests. Think of all the new spelling words you will come across while learning about your subject? The beauty of unit studies is that you don't pick a "school" subject and try to make it interesting, you take something your child finds interesting and turn that into learning.
As part of supply gathering, I bought some great maps at Costco for $7/each. They are over 3' x 4' and laminated. I have one of the US and one of the World hanging in the upstairs hallway. I bought one of the Solar System, too, but returned it. It was covered so much in these cartoon characters and descriptions of who they are, that you couldn't see the Solar System, itself! The US map includes pictures of all state flags and the World map includes pictures of all the country flags. I've learned from years of being B's mom that my suggestion of or push towards something is turnoff #1 to him. So I put up the maps and didn't say a word. I noticed B was disappearing for 10 - 20 minutes a couple of times a day and I would find him in the upstairs hallway. I didn't mention the maps; just told him I was curious where he was. Then I woke up one morning to find a yellow thumb tack in each of the 2 maps exactly where we live. :o) When I came downstairs he said, "Did you see the tacks in the maps, Mama?" "Yes. Why are they there?" "It's where we live, of course! Didn't you KNOW that," he asked. Last weekend we were driving to a reunion with my elementary school peeps and B called out from the back seat, "That building is flying the Texas flag. And if you take off the star, it would be the Checky flag." I look over my shoulder and we were passing a Texas Roadhouse restaurant, in fact flying the Texas flag. When we got home, he showed me the other flag he was referring to, the Czech Republic flag, and I could see the similarity without the star. He not only made us proud, he made us confident in our decision to HS him. He let us know, he IS learning, he IS going to be OK. So, maps has turned out to be our 1st unit study.
I got something off Freecycle last week and made him hold my phone and use the GPS and tell me where to go. A workbook I bought last month to look through for ideas actually has a whole section on maps. We are visiting New England soon and I've shown him on the map where it is and all the states we'll go through to get there. I am going to have my dad go over the route on the map with B and then have him be in charge of navigating. Outside of maps, there is so much history to see and learn about in New England! We are currently reading a fictional book about an 8 yr old boy, two 14 yr olds, and a freed slave who happened to be on the Dartmouth during the Boston Tea Party and are trying to escape the city to Philadelphia w/o being caught by the Red Coats. He is really interested. And that will make him interested in Boston sites more than just showing up at the city, pointing them out and trying to get him to listen to a tour guide explain why a place is famous. I am currently looking for free, printable coloring pages online for New England. If you find any good ones, leave me a comment with a link, please. Thanks!
Monday, July 12, 2010
King Pinz
The hubs surprised B and me by taking us to King Pinz in Leesburg Friday night. Wow. Not like any "bowling alley" I've ever been in. They were right in their description of an upscale lounge-like atmosphere. They take reservations! And you better make them if you want to bowl on a weekend. We were told they were all full up when we got there but she took our name just in case and we went to the bar to order dinner.
The bartendress who served us in our modern and roomy booth was very personable and attentive and was able to recommend good items on the menu. Her Cosmos were kick ass! I had 2 and 1/4 of them and had to lean on the hubs to walk to the car. After insisting to the hubs that I had to update my FB status, I went straight to bed. Since the economy took a turn for the worse, we have noticed lighter and lighter pours in drinks. Have any of you? Well, not at this place last Friday night.
While waiting for our food to cook, we walked around. They have arcade games to play but they don't take money. You put money on a card at a machine, similar to fare cards for the Metro. Each game is activated by swiping your card. You earn points for each game you play and your points total is kept on your card. When you leave, you can go to the prize counter to check your balance and either cash the points in on prizes or save them for another time. Just like the tickets at Chuck E. Cheese.
Anywho, we were almost done with our dinner when the hostess came over to us and said they had a cancellation and we could take our food and beverages up to a lane. They only have 12 lanes, another good reason to make reservations. I had never put my feet in new bowling shoes before! :o) Each lane has a couch facing a coffee table you share with a lane on one side of you and the waitress up there was also friendly and attentive. In the alley floor, there is a dotted line down the center of each lane and a squiggly lined pattern throughout the floor that lights up from the black lights in the ceiling. 3 jumbo tron TV screens span the alley wall over the pins and the music they played was great.
The lane we bowled in happened to be part of the "VIP Suite" that you can rent for private parties for a minimum of $500. They have curtains to close off the suite (lanes 9 - 12) during those private parties. There were 2 kids' birthday parties going when we 1st arrived, but neither were in the VIP Suite. They were done by the time we bowled.
It was a very fun night for all of us, but the cost of the whole evening (drinks, games, dinner, bowling) would make it a special occasion thing only for us.
The bartendress who served us in our modern and roomy booth was very personable and attentive and was able to recommend good items on the menu. Her Cosmos were kick ass! I had 2 and 1/4 of them and had to lean on the hubs to walk to the car. After insisting to the hubs that I had to update my FB status, I went straight to bed. Since the economy took a turn for the worse, we have noticed lighter and lighter pours in drinks. Have any of you? Well, not at this place last Friday night.
While waiting for our food to cook, we walked around. They have arcade games to play but they don't take money. You put money on a card at a machine, similar to fare cards for the Metro. Each game is activated by swiping your card. You earn points for each game you play and your points total is kept on your card. When you leave, you can go to the prize counter to check your balance and either cash the points in on prizes or save them for another time. Just like the tickets at Chuck E. Cheese.
Anywho, we were almost done with our dinner when the hostess came over to us and said they had a cancellation and we could take our food and beverages up to a lane. They only have 12 lanes, another good reason to make reservations. I had never put my feet in new bowling shoes before! :o) Each lane has a couch facing a coffee table you share with a lane on one side of you and the waitress up there was also friendly and attentive. In the alley floor, there is a dotted line down the center of each lane and a squiggly lined pattern throughout the floor that lights up from the black lights in the ceiling. 3 jumbo tron TV screens span the alley wall over the pins and the music they played was great.
The lane we bowled in happened to be part of the "VIP Suite" that you can rent for private parties for a minimum of $500. They have curtains to close off the suite (lanes 9 - 12) during those private parties. There were 2 kids' birthday parties going when we 1st arrived, but neither were in the VIP Suite. They were done by the time we bowled.
It was a very fun night for all of us, but the cost of the whole evening (drinks, games, dinner, bowling) would make it a special occasion thing only for us.
Allergies
Over the last couple of months, we have been trying to identify some intolerances in this house to make all of us look and feel better. The hubs has had success removing a couple of things from his diet. By removing olive oil and gluten containing skin care and makeup products, I have eliminated most of my dietary and skin allergic reactions. No more welts and my cheekbones have reappeared - yeah! I did not realize I had facial swelling until it went down; I thought I had just gained weight in my face. Hello again, cheekbones. I missed you!
We brought almonds into the house last month. B is not allergic to tree nuts anymore, just peanuts. However, most tree nuts are processed in the same plants as peanuts so he could not eat them due to cross-contamination. Blue Diamond does not process peanuts nor share processing equipment with peanuts. It is so nice to be able to eat nuts! We have offered them to B and he knows they are there whenever he is ready, but he won't eat them; he says he is afraid. I don't buy it.
To further eliminate dietary issues that B and I have had for years, we are trying to go gluten-free. There is no celiac disease, thank goodness, so it is not a life or death issue. I can't believe how good I feel on the days when I don't eat any gluten and how fast gluten effects me if I do eat it. B is having to adjust to his body functioning differently without gluten, but he is doing well with that. However, he is starting to push back as we are cutting out more and more gluten containing foods. His response to the hubs and I telling him something has gluten in it is, "I don't care!" *sigh* Work in progress...
Different topic...I have to vent about something that bothered me during the end of the school year but I never got around to blogging about it then. I wish the cafeteria workers would not let your child buy snacks when there is no money in the lunch account. The balance is $0 for a reason - I don't want my son buying snacks and ice cream! I can understand if a child does not have a packed lunch and needs to buy and there is no money b/c the parent forgot. But when the acct is at a $0 balance and a child goes through the line to buy chips or ice cream, they need to be told "No" instead going overdrawn on the account and sending a message home that the account needs to be brought into the positive. ERRR! It takes a village people! 7 year olds are selfish by nature and no matter how many times I tell him he is not to buy anything w/o previous permission from the hubs or me, he's going to go for it sometimes. I feel better now that that is out.
We brought almonds into the house last month. B is not allergic to tree nuts anymore, just peanuts. However, most tree nuts are processed in the same plants as peanuts so he could not eat them due to cross-contamination. Blue Diamond does not process peanuts nor share processing equipment with peanuts. It is so nice to be able to eat nuts! We have offered them to B and he knows they are there whenever he is ready, but he won't eat them; he says he is afraid. I don't buy it.
To further eliminate dietary issues that B and I have had for years, we are trying to go gluten-free. There is no celiac disease, thank goodness, so it is not a life or death issue. I can't believe how good I feel on the days when I don't eat any gluten and how fast gluten effects me if I do eat it. B is having to adjust to his body functioning differently without gluten, but he is doing well with that. However, he is starting to push back as we are cutting out more and more gluten containing foods. His response to the hubs and I telling him something has gluten in it is, "I don't care!" *sigh* Work in progress...
Different topic...I have to vent about something that bothered me during the end of the school year but I never got around to blogging about it then. I wish the cafeteria workers would not let your child buy snacks when there is no money in the lunch account. The balance is $0 for a reason - I don't want my son buying snacks and ice cream! I can understand if a child does not have a packed lunch and needs to buy and there is no money b/c the parent forgot. But when the acct is at a $0 balance and a child goes through the line to buy chips or ice cream, they need to be told "No" instead going overdrawn on the account and sending a message home that the account needs to be brought into the positive. ERRR! It takes a village people! 7 year olds are selfish by nature and no matter how many times I tell him he is not to buy anything w/o previous permission from the hubs or me, he's going to go for it sometimes. I feel better now that that is out.
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