My Boo Is Still Sick

We took my son to the doctor this morning because he still had a high temperature. She said he's got a virus. By this afternoon, my son had a fever of 106. I was terrified and called 911. I gave him some Tylenol since I had already given him Motrin, and I put him into a lukewarm bath. It seemed to take a long time for the EMT's to get here...maybe 15 or 20 minutes. By the time they got here, my son was walking around with his drum on his head like a helmet. His temperature was still 103, but at least the crisis was over. I felt pretty silly, but I would have done the same thing again. 106 is a scary number.
So, there won't be much of a post today, and probably not tomorrow either because I'm tired. But, it seems like most people prefer not to read posts every day anyway because it's too much to keep up with. So, that makes me feel better.
Also, that's why nobody has gotten Entrecards from me...I'm busy doing more important stuff. :)

The Reality of Life with Children...

My son woke up from his nap with a 103 fever. So, dinner wasn’t quite what I planned because I needed to take care of my poor, sick Boo. I got the meats and artichokes made, but I completely forgot about the potatoes, and I got interrupted while making the Bearnaise sauce, so that never made it to the table. You can’t be interrupted while making that sauce. It’s completely unforgiving, and if ignored for so much as a second, it becomes inedible. We did have the wine, which was wonderful, but we fell asleep before we ever made it to dessert. LOL Well, my wonderful husband appreciated the effort and didn’t mind that the meal wasn’t what I planned it to be, and that is one of the many reasons why he is wonderful. :)

Tuesday Weigh-In on Monday and Happy Birthday Hubby!

It's Monday, I know, I know. But I have a dentist appointment tomorrow when I would normally have my Weight Watchers meeting, so I went to a meeting today with my usual leader, who I just love.
I'm terrified of going to the dentist, which is why I always go, because I hope nothing too bad can happen within a six month time span...except during pregnancy, which does terrible things to teeth. I'm using my Uncle's dentist, and I hope that he will be able to numb me up to do anything that needs to be done. I have funky nerves, and not every dentist is able to numb me...hence my fear of the dentist...it's really a fear of pain.
Anyway, FINALLY, I have good news. Because I stuck with it, and forged through the tough times, I have made it through to the other side. This week I lost four pounds. That's a total of 32 pounds. Yesterday, when I was doing the laundry, I was able to run up the four flights of stairs from the basement to our third floor apartment without getting out of breath. And, I'm sitting at the computer today wearing a sweater in a size I haven't worn since I was in college 16 years ago. It's been a good week.
Today is my husband's 40th birthday, and I have all my points all worked out for dinner tonight...how much everything needs to weigh or be measured out as, so I don't have to waste time looking everything up at dinner. I was thinking of going out to dinner, but I have all the control if I cook at home, and can make and measure everything according to what I can eat. Anyway, I'm a pretty good cook, and don't mind eating the food I cook. :) Excellent food in small serving sizes is a good thing. Julia Child always said everything in moderation, and opined that satisfying meals of nutritious food would cut down on craving and snacking.
We're having steamed artichokes as an appetizer, with a dipping sauce of extra virgin olive oil, roasted garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano. Dinner will consist of lobster tails (I just can't kill them myself) and fillet Mignon with Bearnaise sauce (from scratch...powdered sauce mix won't do for my husband's birthday) and fresh herb roasted fingerling potatoes and Pinot Noir. I have edible flowers and fresh herbs to use as garnishes.
Instead of cake for dessert, we're having Grana Padano cheese and comice pears drizzled with honey served with Sauvignon Blanc. Yes, you can have this meal on Weight Watchers, and it would be 33 points...almost all 35 bonus points (and I just happen to have 31 bonus points left for the week ending today, so I only have to use 2 points from my day...but I do have to pay close attention to the portions and weigh and measure everything), but doesn't it sound worth it????? Cheers!

My Long Awaited Yaktrax Review (BUY SOME NOW!!!!!)

Well, if you can't tell from the title of my post, I LOVE my Yaktrax. LOVE. I can NOT believe how awesome they work. I've been waiting and waiting for ice so that I could try them out, and yesterday we got a mix of snow and rain that froze. I had to go food shopping last night, and my husband was staying home with my son, but I was taking the baby along. I walked outside with my daughter in her infant car seat, and as soon as I stepped into the street, my foot slid. Normally, I would walk back inside and not go back out, no matter what I had to do, because I am so afraid of falling on the ice, especially in the street, in the dark, with a baby. However, this time, I walked back inside, and got my Yaktrax. They take a little tiny bit of practice to put on, but WHOA, they are incredible. I honestly felt like I was walking on dry pavement, and thought maybe I was hallucinating the ice. So I bent down and felt the ground with my hand. Sure enough, it was a sheet of ice. I confidently walked around my car as I scraped off the ice (after using all my strength to open the doors, which were frozen shut...which is normally very difficult because of course there's no traction on the ice...not this time!).

I'M NO LONGER TRAPPED IN MY HOME WHEN THERE IS ICE OUTSIDE!

I kept them in my pocket in a plastic bag, so when I got to the supermarket (there was a big patch of ice right next to my door), I put them on, walked across the parking lot, took them off and put them back in the bag in my pocket (they are not recommended for indoor use), shopped, and then put them back on to go back out. They fold up small enough so that you CAN keep them in your pocket...how cool is that? They were very comfortable to walk in, and I had no trouble at all driving with them on.

There is a warning on the box saying that they won't prevent all injuries, and I suppose that if you're trying to pole vault on the ice, play tackle football, or climbing up or down a 45 degree slope, you MIGHT slip. However, just walking, I could not make myself slip. I tried. I would imagine you can even go jogging with these on, although I'm not going to tempt fate.

So, if it's icy outside and you want to go geocaching, want to walk to your ice fishing hut on the lake by your Adirondack property, if you want to go hiking or walking, if you're pregnant, injured, or elderly, or are just plain terrified of walking on ice like me, if you have a dog or a toddler who pulls you along as you walk, or live anywhere where there might be ice (like a hockey rink), do yourself a favor, and get yourself some Yaktrax. I've tried other types of rubber strap on ice walkers, but they pale in comparison to Yaktrax. Yaktrax are very reasonably priced at $14 to $20, depending on where you buy them (although I got mine for free...thanks Carolyn!), and you'd better believe I'm going to get my husband a pair. He used mine last night to take out the garbage, in fact, and he was really impressed too. What a great alternative to ice hiking boots!!! The only thing that would be better is if they came in sizes for children. They need traction too!

Since I only opened my box yesterday, I had no idea that Carolyn had placed a bunch of other goodies in the box for me! What a great surprise!!! She put a sample of every product Yaktrax makes, including a pair of socks that help your feet not slide around in your sneakers when you're exercising, a pair of shock absorbing shoe inserts, and a pair of shock absorbing shoe inserts that are CUSTOM FIT... how cool is this...you put them in the microwave for a few seconds, then you put them in your shoe, put your foot in, and viola! It forms around your foot into a custom fit. I can't wait to try these out, and I'll write a review about them too! I have to get new sneakers that are worthy of all these wonderful products!

To read more about Yaktrax: http://www.yaktrax.com/

To order Yaktrax: http://www.amazon.com/Yak-Trax-Walker-Traction-Device/dp/B001GXI9SK/ref=pd_sbs_a_5

Goodbye, Shea Stadium

Citi Field from the NY Mets website

Pictures of Citi Field I took yesterday while we were driving by (I wasn't driving, of course. :) )

Yesterday we went to the New York Hall of Science in Flushing, NY. I'll write more about that in another post. On the way there, we passed Citi Field, next to where Shea Stadium used to stand. It was very sad. It's a huge, beautiful stadium, much larger than Shea, but it sits 15,333 fewer people. I wonder if we'll even be able to afford to take our kids to a ballgame anymore since the entire stadium is all upscale from having more luxury boxes to serving upscale luxury food. I really don't need to eat sushi at a ballgame. The whole idea of a family outing seems to be lost. I hate that the stadium is named for a bank and not a person, and money dictates everything these days (if you want to buy stock for Citibank, it's under two bucks a share).

I have forged many memories at Shea, having attended games with family and friends for years. I brought my son to his first baseball game at Shea. Our family used to have an annual get together at Shea. When I was in high school, I was in the marching band, and we played at Shea.

Goodbye, Shea Stadium. Thanks for all the great memories.

Macy's is Having a Fantastic Sale!

My daughter is getting Christened in two weeks, and I got my suit dry cleaned for the occasion. I figured I'd have it tailored for the Christening. I brought it to the tailors, and it would have cost $80 to have it tailored because it was so big. I remember when it was tight, and today I could just about have walked right out of the skirt. So, I figured I'd better go out looking for something new that fit! My husband, the kids, and I went to the mall, and I headed straight for Lane Bryant because they have nice plus sized clothes. My husband is always wonderful, but he's especially wonderful to shop with because he will give me an honest opinion of how clothes look on me. All the clothes I picked out that were down one size from what I usually buy were much too large. I went down another size, and another. They were still sort of big, and nothing looked quite right.
I thought maybe Macy's might have some good sales, because sometimes they do. I once bought a pair of pants there for 99 cents. Well, they just so happened to be having a clearance sale. Many things were 75% off (which is right where I was looking...and tomorrow is the REAL sale with things 50-85% off!!!!!). I looked around for the plus section, and of course, it was on a different floor because I guess they don't want the fat folks shopping in the same area as normal sized folks. I always resent that. So we all went up out of sight to the second floor, and I found some pretty nice things, but no skirts or dresses...they were only on the first floor. So, I figured I'd take a look at the regular sized clothing and try some stuff on JUST in case, and I promised I wouldn't get too upset if nothing fit. Well, everything fit, and looked nice...I chose the outfit that looked nicest, and I got a $100 outfit for $25 in size XL. Some people might think that's still big, and it is, but I haven't worn that size since college, which was about 16 years ago. I couldn't believe I was able to shop in the regular part of the store. I was so happy. So, even though the past two weeks I've been in a slump, I have still made it a long way, and DO have results to show!!!!! I'm so excited! Now I feel like I have even more incentive to keep going.
I CAN SHOP IN ANY STORE I WANT NOW. That is so amazing. Wow. What a great day!
And Carole is doing terrific too! Go give her some support at http://www.carolesthoughtfulspot.com/.
Woo hoo!!!!!

Random Thoughts

Horse Farm
Although I took this picture from the driveway of the farm, I can see this nice horse farm when I'm leaving my complex during the winter...it's a seasonal view. :) I love the different colored jackets on the horses. My son enjoyed looking at the horses too. I love living right across the street from a farm. Christmas Tree Shops
Isn't it a pretty store? I was so curious about what on Earth there must be in the Christmas Tree Shops that they are opening a month and a half after Christmas! Boy, did I have fun looking around. My husband had a different experience chasing my son around while he had fun looking at all the neat stuff. :) It's a variety store with all sorts of things for the garden, home decor, toys, and seasonal decorations. Everything is very inexpensive, so you don't feel too guilty shopping there. I bought a little goody bag full of stuff for my Mom, but I can't tell you what's in it because she reads this blog, and it would ruin the surprise! I'll let you know after the weekend. :)

Yaktrax

Oh, no snow on the ground. I got a pair of Yaktrax in the mail from the manufacturer to try them out and write a review, but since I got them, the weather has been pretty nice, and all the snow and ice have melted! I've never wanted snow and ice, but I'm so excited to try out my Yaktrax, that I want it now! We have had some snow lately, and even a hail squall today, but nothing is sticking. My son thought the hail bouncing around was just the funniesst thing he'd ever seen. How cute!

You can read about Yaktrax here: http://drmomsspot.blogspot.com/2009/02/yaktrax.html