Yellow Wallpaper

The first week of February went surprisingly well. The weather has been cold and either snowy or rainy, which I actually like since it clears out the air and makes winter a little more normal. Last Saturday night I took S-Boogie to see the ballet Swan Lake on campus; I've never gone to a ballet other than The Nutcracker so it was an interesting, new experience. I really liked enjoyed the performance a lot, though S-Boogie was a bit tired by the end and wasn't sure if she had fun or not. Monday was P. Bibby's birthday--I feel like the last four years have flown by, despite the fact that life is so different from how I imagined it would be back then. We started celebrating on Sunday with a family party that evening. I also invited the kids' summertime nanny since she is one of P. Bibby's favorite people. The party went well and she got a lot of great presents that she's been playing with all week. My attempt at making homemade pizza for dinner was an unfortuna...

The other week I found a good deal on Special K cereal, and the kids like the berry flavor so I bought a bunch of boxes. Their new granola is pretty tasty too. I am discovering the disadvantage of Special K packaging with children who can read: "Mom, why does it say 'get swimsuit ready' on the cereal box?" "Um, well, some people want to get skinnier so their swimming suits fit better." "And it says that you can lose inches off your waist in weeks. Why would you want to do that?" "Some people want to get healthier, I guess." "Mom, I think your swimming suit looks just right! You don't have to worry about that." I'm grateful my children don't notice that I have a rather bulgy tummy sticking out of the top of my pants. I really do need to start exercising again because I feel uncomfortable and flabby, but I'm glad my kids are a little weirded out by the idea of dieting. They don't need to do that and I hope it ...

1. I went to the Trunk or Treat tonight and managed to not be too grinchy. It was cold and dark, but the kids had a great time. I even wore a Superman shirt. 2. Today was my last day of completing four-weeks of exercise. I found this fun little calendar online and I managed to follow it for four weeks (I think I missed one or two days, but I've still been pretty consistent). Exercise is not one of my strong points, so I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking to a program for that long. I don't think I lost any weight (I haven't checked), but I feel good. I've noticed that my ability to walk and my desire to do it have really grown over the last few weeks. What I actually want to do know is get my bike fixed up and buy a helmet, because I've remembered how much I like riding my bike and it seems a shame to miss out on the lovely trail right behind my house. Now if I can just improve my diet, I might actually lose a bit of weight with all this exercising I'm ...

I went to the gym today. The plan is to go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during my two hour break between classes (well, I don't have a second class on Friday, but I still have gym time). In the past I have tried working out, but I've never been consistent enough with it to really see any results, and my exercise programs usually end up fizzling out after a little while. But this time I'm not going to let it slide. Today, however I discovered a few important things: 1. Always bring a book. Riding the stationary bike is just torture without a book to hide the stupid little clock that tells you that, yes, it really has been only three minutes. 2. I really need to either bring something else to wear under my gym clothes or else stuff to shower with. Today I had neither, and as I was changing back into my clothes I realized that my underwear was really sweaty. So I just had to go to my next class hoping that no one would notice that I smelled like a locker room. Luckily my...