New Trend?

My Pioneer Club kids at church are currently earning a Tumbling activity badge. If I were a smart leader, this would be of no physical consequence to me. Instead I have been awake since 4am, very tired from lack of sleep resulting from neck pain and extremely grateful that I already had a scheduled chiropractor appointment for this morning. Note to self: Somersaults at age 36 are, perhaps, not a good idea.

While on the subject of bad ideas, let me state that one of my biggest annoyances are guys that walk around with their pants half down, with boxers showing. I am so tempted to yank them down when I see it and if my boys ever attempted this style, you can bet I would. I believe, however, that I have found a fashion trend which is even worse. On the way home from the Fryeburg Fair last week, we stopped for gas. While in the car, I glanced through the window and saw an employee who had his shirt tucked neatly into his pants as you might expect at a place of business. The unusual element of the uniform was the fact that his pants were belted not at the waist, but around the bottom of his butt. Apologizing for the poor quality, I have included a photo for you. Please tell me this is not a new style...........

3 Down

Last night Tell said goodbye to 3. The toddler era in the Gilbert household is quickly waning, taking with it both the frustrations and joys of these formative years. Nolan made Tell a chocolate chip cookie "pizza" early in the day. Nolan baked it from scratch, a birthday gift to his younger brother, complete with lit candles placed in the still warm treat. As is tradition, a birthday meant a day off from school so Atira and I ventured out to Red Dragon Toys and Play and Learn to track down the two gift requests from Tell: two more engines for his Thomas wooden train collection. After procuring Emily and Stanley and the rest of the ingredients for chili, we headed home to get the place 'party-ready'. For the third year in a row the requested cake was Thomas themed and brought by Mimi and Grandad. They were joined by the Aussie grandparents via webcam and the celebration was complete. Eight o'clock found a very content four year old, snuggled in his bed, wearing new Thomas flannel jammies. Life is good.

Finding the Silver Lining

Our plan for this weekend had been to meet up with part of the Seeley clan on Saturday to bike on the carriage trails of Acadia. The dark, rain-bearing clouds changed our plans, much to my disappointment. Instead, we took the opportunity of a plan-free weekend to complete phase 1 of the kitchen fix. Our inexpensive stock cupboards are nearly 25 years old and their wear is very evident. I sanded the bottom ones a couple weeks ago and yesterday they received their new garment of paint. Those that have older houses will understand that our one project inevitably turned into three as we set to work. We had two drawers that did not stay on track and a lazy susan that no longer spun completely around. New tracks installed by my handy man took care of the first problem and then he set to work on the lazy susan. After a few minutes the problem was discovered. Under the turning tray Jim discovered my now mangled mixer attachment that has been missing for months! You never know where items will turn up in this house. Now on to phase 2, the top cupboards......

Tracking the Tim Tam

My dear, fabulous, wonderful, Aussie friend, Chris Fawkes has just informed me that the biscuit {cookie} that I fell in love with during my stay in Oz is now making it's way to me!! (He is currently occupying the top notch on my friend list) A friend of his found some in a Pepperidge Farm outlet in PA so I checked out their website. The cookie is making it's way to our grocery store shelves!! I cannot tell you what a blow this is for my weight loss plan.

Happy Birthday

It was just a small celebration, accompanied by Jim's only request, ice cream cake. Family from both sides of the globe were represented in person and via webcam. Finding a gift for him is always difficult because he doesn't ever ask for anything and really doesn't care about getting presents. I hate to buy gifts just to have something to open at a party.
I opted to buy him an assortment of Australian candy bars that he normally can't purchase. There is a specialty store, Bridgham & Cook, across from Bean's in Freeport that sells English products, some of which are also available in Australia. They were very much appreciated by my exiled Aussie! Happy 41st Jim!

Breathless on Bradbury

Jim and I took our kids, plus a couple extra, to Bradbury Mountain State Park this afternoon. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to break in my $10 Bean's hiking boots that I picked up this summer in anticipation of the April Appalachian Trail Hike. Since the trail is a very quick climb, only .2 miles straight up to the summit, it's not an extremely useful tool for evaluating the comfort factor of the boot but I need to begin somewhere. I did notice that my right baby toe was sore after wearing them for a while, but I think this has more to do with the fact that I smash my toes religiously on various household items during the barefoot summer months. I'm sure I broke that particular one last month and it's still very tender. I also volunteered to carry the backpack with the water, snacks and my purse. It was only about 20 lbs. I'll be carrying a 40lb. one in April, so there again, not a great evaluation of my burden bearing capacity. What this short, unscientific, trail experiment did make clear is that despite my nearly daily date with the bike or elliptical, I need to make great strides in my cardio endurance before the AT Hike. (I hope Greg's not reading this or I'll never hear the end of it.) I was discouraged for about five minutes at the summit, while attempting to breathe again, but now I am only more determined to push myself a bit harder.

Double Time

Wanting to continue the healthy pattern begun by our evening workout, Jim and I stopped at Wal-mart on the way home to pick up some pizza and soda for supper. I was discussing how I had dialed back the weight on the arm machines, opting for faster reps instead. I've noticed my arms seem to be getting bigger again.....firmer, but definitely bigger. This of course is not what I want. The "Atlas" look is not my goal. While walking through the produce, this led to a discussion of my body type, which Jim described as hourglass. Although this is technically true, I mentioned that at the moment it's a stout hourglass. When Jim retorted with, "You are a 2-hour glass", I think they may have heard my outburst of laughter in the dairy section.