I just finished week 6 of Weight Watchers and weighed in to see that I hit a milestone.
I was down 4 pounds this week and that takes my total weight loss to 21 pounds!
I have certainly had opportunities to jump off the wagon since I started. It really hasn’t been difficult to make healthy choices. Tonight at work, they brought in all kinds of treats to celebrate a co-worker’s birthday. There was cheese, banana bread, cobbler, and more. I was content to grab some cantaloupe, watermelon, and pineapple to snack on.
21 pounds may not seems like much, but it really is! This week, Andrew turned 9 months old and he weighs 21 pounds! It’s crazy to think about it that way. That’s a pretty substantial amount of weight. The road to my goal is a long one, but I’m going to do what I have to do to be healthy for myself and my family.
I will continue to celebrate each little milestone on my way to the goal. I am so lucky to have the support of my wife and friends as I do this again. I appreciate those who have reached out to support this journey. I will keep pressing toward the mark …
There is never a dull moment at our house! It was a weekend full of some really memorable moments.
Saturday was a laid back kind of day. After dinner, I took the kids for a walk around the neighborhood. It was a bit warm and I was sweating pretty good afterwards. I knew that if I was hot, the kids were probably hot, so I grabbed the hose and let them play with their water table.
Normally, I’d put them in their bathing suits, but I just let them get wet. They had so much fun. The only bad thing is that at that hour of the day, the sun is blocked by the trees, so they were in the shade. Combine that with the fact that the hose water is ice cold, and it didn’t take long before they were shivering!
We have hardwood floors in the house, so I had to mop up the puddles after I stripped them down. By the time it was bed time, they were both pretty tuckered out.
One of the most “exciting” moments of the weekend was provided by Andrew. Ever since he started walking, Sam and I are always chasing him. He get’s into everything. He is so fast, too. You take something away, turn your back, and when you see him 2 seconds later, he has something else he isn’t supposed to have.
We actually started calling him Bamm Bamm because he is forever banging stuff. He’s our little strong man. It’s hilarious to hear Ella yell, “Here comes Bamm Bamm” when ever he walks into the room.
Walking and exploring comes with bumps and bruises. When he was wearing his helmet, it took most of the bumps. Now that he is walking and helmetless, the potential to get hurt is much greater. Case in point (and the “exciting” moment I mentioned a bit ago), He was in our bedroom as Sam was getting ready for work. We’re not sure exactly what he tripped on, but he fell against the bed.
He hit so close to his eye and actually got a nice scrape which was bleeding. We couldn’t really tell how bad he cut was, but it led to a trip to the Urgent Care/ER. I swear, we have been there more times with him in 8 months than with Ella in her lifetime! Thank goodness the cut didn’t reach his eyeball.
The picture doesn’t do it justice. It looked much worse when I left the house to go. By the time we actually saw the doctor, I felt stupid being there. It started to look much better and he was acting normal.
Monday, Andrew turned 9 months old. I don’t remember picture taking being as difficult with Ella. Sure when she was like 11 months, she wanted to movie around a lot, but we always got more than one or two good pictures. I feel like we are lucky to get 1 good picture of him when we try to pose him.
We had taken about 7 pictures of him in his crib with the sign, and later I tried to get a few of him sitting on a living room chair. I had more luck here.
You probably remember my story about the stroller’s front wheel coming off our double stroller a week or so ago. Sam has been on the hunt for this wagon/stroller and decided to just get it. Let me tell you, I absolutely love it. It is so easy to push and it handles all terrains pretty well.
There is an ice cream place by us that does the coolest thing. Every day, a new name gets put up on the board out front. If you have that name, you get a free ice cream cone. Sam and I both follow their Facebook page, and she actually saw it first – Ella’s name was up there on Monday!
After our walk, I took her, Andrew and Dimitri out so she could get her free ice cream. She told me that she wanted chocolate, and I told her that I would make sure she got some! Upon arriving, we did what all the other Ella’s did – got her picture in front of the sign!
The funniest thing was that there were probably 3-4 other parents sitting outside calling their own “Ella’s” for various reasons. Every time she heard her name, she’d look at whoever called it. I had to keep telling her “she wants HER Ella, baby, not you.” When I called her name, another mom had to tell HER Ella the same thing.
Of course, Andrew loved every bit of his vanilla ice cream. I think I wound up wearing a little less than he ate,
I treasure each moment with my kids. I am so grateful to be their dad.
This is sad. The recent American Reading Habits Survey showed that over 50% of adults had not finished a book (printed or digital – no audiobooks) in the past year. The data also show that a quarter of the same adults have not read a full book in 1 or 2 years, while 11% more have not read a book in 3-5 years. The saddest find is that a tenth of adults have not read a full book in the last 10 years.
I would have thought MORE people would be reading, due to the pandemic. Apparently, that isn’t the case. For me, it is finding the time to read. Audio books are great for me because I am in the car so much. However, there is something about holding a book in my hand and turning the pages that I enjoy.
I always have a book in my work bag. I don’t always get the time to sit down with it, but there are those rare occasions where I can.
A friend recently recommended a new book they had finished and thought I might enjoy it. I believe that the book is the author’s first. It is called The Measure by Nikki Erlick.
I am about 100 pages in and so far I am enjoying it. The premise is intriguing and I’m interested to see where it goes. Here is the summary from Goodreads:
Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.
It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out.
But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.
From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?
As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?
The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.
I hope to get some extra time this weekend to sit with it and maybe finish it. Maybe I will write a review when I am done.
After this book, I have another on the “to read” stack that I can’t wait to dive into:
The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer is the sequel to his book The Escape Artist (which I really enjoyed).
I hope that you are not one of those who didn’t read last year. The real world is a crazy place and sometimes we all need a good book to escape into. Any suggestions? I’m always open to hear them. How about YOU review a good book for me? I’d be happy to feature it here on my blog.
I stumbled across something recently that I immediately connected with. I jotted down a bunch of the things mentioned in the article, but can’t recall where I saw it. It may have been on Facebook or Reddit. At any rate, I thought this was something that might jar your memory, too!
Instant Win Bottle Caps
I used to drink a lot of pop. Back in the days before plastic bottles were a thing you used to have a bottle opener on your key ring so you could open them up. Pepsi, Coke, Faygo, and just about every other soda company would run contests. You would open your drink and immediately look under the cap to see if you won something. Sometimes it was a gaming system or a bike or cash prize. Most of the time it was a free pop.
Pepsi ran some “cap” contest where you had to spell “Pepsi Spirit” to win cash. Trying to find an “R” was a challenge!!
Today, any kind of “cap” contest involves a code that you have to enter to see if you win. Who has time for that?!
News only being on at 6 and 11
In my opinion, there isn’t enough news to warrant having it on as much as it is. Where I live, there is news at 4am, 5am, 6am, 7am, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm (usually National News), 10pm and 11pm. Then the 11pm newscast is repeated at some point during the overnight.
Recently, a news crew was at the local children’s museum where Sam had taken Ella and AJ. They asked if they could shoot some footage of her playing. Sam agreed, but had to decline doing any on camera stuff because she was chasing the kids around and it was close to lunchtime. At any rate, that night we watched the 4pm, 5pm, and 6pm news hoping to see the story. It never aired that night.
In watching those three news casts it was the same stories and same news clips over and over again. It was a rehash of the hour before with very little new information. Why do they feel we need so much news? It is SO depressing. There are very few “feel good” stories on there.
I miss the days where there was a 6pm and 11pm newscast.
Buying New Music
This is going to show my age. There was a time when you bought new music that you had to hope it was good. All you knew was the single that was released to radio. In many cases, you would go to the record store and pick up the 45 of that song and then pick up the album when it came out a few weeks later.
There was no way to preview songs on an album prior to buying them. Today, you can hear clips of every cut and decide whether you want to buy it. Not true for me and my generation.
I’m not saying that there were not albums that were good from beginning to end – there were! However, there were plenty of times where you bought the album and were disappointed that the only good song was the one they were playing on the radio!
Another downside to albums was that you’d have favorite songs that were never released to radio stations. That always bugged me. As a former radio guy, I completely understand how and why songs get on the radio now, but had no clue back then.
Phones – Corded
In reality, I could probably do an entire blog on phones, but I won’t.
Today, we carry our phones around in our pockets and we are accessible any time. But back in the day, phones were screwed to the wall of the kitchen or planted on a table near a couch. And they were plugged into the wall – very immobile.
I saw phones go from the dial phone (like above) to the push button:
Eventually, they went cordless and you could walk around with them from room to room.
I used to remember patterns for friends phone numbers. Looking at the phone above, I can still see the pattern for my best friends number. I remember spending hours on the phone with friends growing up.
The thing about phones that was in the initial article was the fact that as a kid, whenever you called your friends at home, you would often have to talk to their parents before they came to the phone. Sometimes this was awkward. If I was calling a female friend, I was almost always intimidated if their dad answered the phone. I can remember one time hearing, “That Keith boy is on the phone for you…”
Being accessible
This kind of goes along with the above sub-topic.
Today, with the cell phone technology, we can be reached by phone, text, e-mail or on social media. I truly miss not being accessible to work outside of work hours.
I have mentioned this before, and I know I am not alone. I have three or four apps on my phone exclusive to work. Why? “So we can communicate with you, if necessary.”
My home life should be my home life. I don’t want to be reading work emails at home when I am not working. If it is truly important, like you need me to cover a different site or something like that – call me, or better yet, text me. Otherwise, work can wait till I get there.
I have my work email on my phone. I don’t look at it when I am not there. I shouldn’t have to. If a meeting is cancelled – text me so I don’t come in. If there is something that I need to know beforehand that cannot wait – text me. My time away from work should be just that – away from work.
It is another installment of my “Friday Photo Flashback.” This came about when a writing prompt suggested going through photos and finding one that stands out or brings about some sort of memory.
The one I have chosen to look at today is one that just stands out to me as “neat.”
The handsome young chap in the above picture is yours truly. I really love this picture of me. I have absolutely no idea why I am wearing this sailor suit. I don’t know who bought it for me. I don’t know if this was taken on Halloween. I just don’t know much about this picture. There may or may not be another picture of me in this same outfit at my dad’s college graduation. I may be mistaken.
This is where I open things up to my relatives, who may be able to help me. They can correct me if I am wrong.
From what I can tell, this is my Aunt Lois’s house. I could be wrong. It just seems to have the same layout that I remember. The last time I was at her house I was probably 11 or 12, so my memory could be very wrong.
If I had to guess, I am somewhere between 2 and 4 years old here. I am always in awe of the furniture in these old pictures. To my left in the photo is a coffee table (I think that’s what they referred to them as). I’m going to guess that those are fake flowers in a pot. That looks like a lace doily underneath it. For some reason or another, doilies were quite the thing in the 70’s. It seemed like they were under lamps, flower pots, and anything that sat on a table or end table.
The round table behind me in the photo looks like a table on top of a table. I can’t really tell, but it looks like there is an area to store things like maybe the Family Bible between the two round table tops.
The lamp on the top (with a doily under it) looks familiar. I wish I could see the lamp shade, not that it would make that big of a difference. I wonder if this lamp wound up in my Aunt and Uncle’s place in Caseville. I can’t really understand why it looks so familiar.
It seemed like every relative of mine had some sort of rocking chair in their house. This one here sort of reminds me of my great grandma’s rocking chair. That, in itself, makes me wonder if this was taken at her house. I just don’t know. I suppose there is the possibility that this was taken at my grandma’s house, but I really doubt it.
The last thing I notice is the folding chair. Folding chairs were often brought up from a basement or from out of a hall closet for when there was some sort of family get together. I really don’t recall having big get togethers at my aunt’s house, but maybe there was. The presence of the folding chair suggests to me that this had to be taken on some sort of holiday. That might also explain the sailor suit.
I’m anxious to see what I learn from a few of my relatives regarding this photo.
One thing is for sure – this photo is probably the only time I’ve been in a military uniform!
We are Potty Training Ella at our house. One of the things we do as she is sitting on the potty is read her books. We’ve had this book for some time, I believe Aunt Margaret gave it to her, and I have read it numerous times. For whatever reason, it really hit me as something much deeper today.
It is one of those stories that when you look at it in a deeper sense, you realize just how much the world needs to hear it. I am not trying to infringe on copywrite laws here. I did NOT write this book. I give full credit to the amazing author – Shane DeRolf. Take a moment and read along. Look deeper. There is a lesson here that is so desperately needed today.
The Crayon Box That Talked – By Shane DeRolf
While walking into a toy store
the day before today
I overheard a crayon box
with many things to say
“I don’t like Red!” said Yellow
and Green said “Nor do I”
“And no one here likes Orange
but no one knows just why”
“We are a box of crayons
that doesn’t get along
Said Blue to all the others
“Something here is wrong”
Well, I bought that box of crayons
and took it home with me
And laid out all the colors
so the crayons all could see
They watched me as I colored
with Red and Blue and Green
And Black and White and Orange
and every color in between
They watched as Green became the grass
and Blue became the sky
The Yellow sun was shining bright
on White clouds drifting by
Colors changing as they touched
becoming something new
They watched me as I colored –
they watched me till I was through
And when I finally finished
I began to walk away
And as I did the crayon box
had something more to say
“I do like Red!” said Yellow
and Green said, “so do I”
And Blue you were terrific!
So high up in the sky
“We are a box of crayons
each one of us unique
But when we get together
the picture is more complete”
“Each one of us” is “unique!”
Mr. Rogers used to say, “You are a very special person. There is only one like you in the whole world. There’s never been anyone exactly like you before, and there will never be again. Only you. And people can like you exactly as you are.”
Take that a step further and realize that even though each of us is different and unique – we can do amazing things “when we get together.”
Over the past 5 weeks, I’ve been on a journey to once again drop some weight. I began that journey on May 31st.
This past Tuesday marked my 5 week weigh-in. I was happy to see a 3 pound weight loss which brings my total weight loss to 17 pounds. Slow and steady I stay focused and will keep pressing toward the mark.
It is my hope to once again be under 200 pounds. It has been a long time since I was there, but I know I can do it. My wife is extremely supportive and I have a couple co-workers who are also doing it, so we can support each other, too.
Both Sam and I were off on the 5th, so we decided to enjoy the nice day and we went out to the local pizza place. They have a patio and we ate outside.
Both of us got salads, and we got a pizza for the kids. It was a little past their normal dinner time, so we ordered an appetizer. They have this garlic cheese bread there and we figured we could get the kids started on that.
I have never had it before and it looked delicious. I had some extra points to play with, so I had a piece. The “bread loving Italian” in me kicked in quick. I savored every bite. It was SO good. I will do a few extra walks this week to hopefully work off that bread.
My family and I had a nice weekend celebrating America’s birthday.
My wife had to work Sunday night, so she came home and slept for part of the day before getting up to get ready for the festivities. As I have mentioned in the past, our city puts on a nice little fireworks show that we can watch right from our back yard. Because of this, the Fourth has kind of been “our” holiday.
Most of Sam’s family had planned to be up north at her dad’s cottage for the holiday. Her mom was going to be home with her sister and asked if it would be ok to come over. We had no plans, so we were more than happy to have them come over. It wasn’t long before the rest of her family decided that they were going to come over, too!
After Sam got up and we all got ready, we posed for our annual “Family Fourth of July selfie. I’m sure that we did this long before Ella was born, but they have meant more with her in them. I went back and found the pictures from the years before and put them back to back to back. This year, we forgot to look at the year’s prior so we could all be standing the same way, but we got every in it and looking at the camera. Here is July 4th – 2020, 2021 and 2022 (with the addition of Andrew):
Sam had looked back at her Facebook memories and there was a very cute picture of Ella walking down the sidewalk with a flag in her hand. We tried to recreate it with her this year, and then had AJ try it, too.
She had on the cutest outfit! Her shorts are an American flag!
I love the way Andrew looks here! He was waving the flag as I took the picture.
Sam’s folks brought hot dogs and we cooked them up on the grill. There was fresh pineapple, watermelon, and homemade cookies. Best of all, there was family. My nieces and nephew were over and Ella and Andrew had a blast playing with them. Aunt Emily brought glow necklaces, glow bracelets, and glow sticks so each kid was lit up pretty good.
I fogged the back yard with some spray I had never used before. It was made by Coleman and it is meant for camp grounds. It was great, because I made it through the night without a mosquito bite. I wish it would have repelled the flying beetles that seemed to be all over the place, though.
Around 10, we all gathered up our chairs and went out to the back of the yard to watch the fireworks show. Our town put on about a 30 minute show, which lit up the sky! At first, Ella was loving it. “Wow! Fireworks! Amazing!” she yelled. But after about 10 minutes, she was ready to go in the house. Andrew was ready to be done, too. Sam went inside with them, and the nieces and nephew.
I was actually standing in a bad spot when I took these pictures. You can see the tree in the left of the shot. If you get closer to the end of our back yard, you get a pretty clear view of the entire show.
The hardest part of the night is when the show is over and folks are trying to leave. Our street is full of cars leaving from the show. Eventually, all the family left and Sam and I were able to get the kids down to sleep. It was almost midnight and they were still up!! I don’t think they’ve ever stayed up that late before.
All in all a very nice Fourth with the family. I hope you and yours had a great holiday as well.
As a guy who has worked in sleep for the last 9 years, you would think I’d know more about dreams and why we dream them. Truth is, I have no clue. Furthermore, many sleep professionals and scientists are eluded by this topic.
I woke up from a dream last night and chuckled. Probably because I knew if was after midnight and officially the Fourth of July. It seemed like the appropriate dream and the bonus was a visit from an old friend.
Having dreams about Band Class is common for me. One of my recurring dreams is showing up unprepared, without my music, or without my instrument.
In last night’s dream, it is my Senior year of high school. I know that because of something I say in the dream. I am in the band room library sorting music. When I was in school, I was a Band Librarian for a couple years. My job was to get music from the files and make sure every player had a copy of it. I guess that is the first oddity, as I was the Band President my Senior year.
As I am sorting music, my friend and high school band director, Tom Shaner, comes around the corner and into the room. There he was, smiling and joking and calling me by my high school nickname. You may recall that he passed away in 2020. Here is a link to the tribute blog I wrote about him:
The second oddity of the dream was that we were chatting about things in my current life. He was asking about my kids, my wife, and my job. This was only odd because in my dream, I’m still in school. These would be things we talked about often over the years.
Then the subject turned to our concert. He spoke of it being one saluting America and being patriotic. He then pulled out Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. In the dream I am disappointed, because it was a song we had played before.
I mentioned to him that we had recently played it to which he replied, “How can we do a patriotic concert without it?” Point taken. The bell rings and that’s the dream.
As odd as it was to be talking about things in my current life, I was glad to have had this exchange with him. I think of him often and miss our talks.
Followers of my blog know that I’ve been participating in a TV Show Draft, which just wrapped up. It’s like a Fantasy Football Draft, in that there are a predetermined number of rounds. Each participant waits their turn and announces their pick – and writes about it.
The blog started at Hanspostcard’s site, and it was picked up by Max over at the Power Pop blog when Hans had to take a break. Max and I actually spoke when Hans had to take his break. There were emails between the participants discussing whether or not the draft should continue.
Max stepped up and announced that he would be willing to host the draft on his site so it could continue. For that, I need to extend a thank you to him. It would up being a very entertaining draft that introduced me to shows I had never heard of, shows that I wasn’t sure about watching, and old favorites.
I also extend a thank you to all of the bloggers who posted their draft picks. There was quite a variety throughout the draft. More on that in a minute.
I’m happy I got to write on the shows I did. I also enjoyed seeing other people’s take on some I was familiar with. I look forward to checking out some of the news ones that peaked my interest.
Because there were so many other great shows chosen, and because Max put them all in one place, I wanted to share the link so YOU can read them, too.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 