Thanksgiving Morning

Happy Thanksgiving! We spent the morning (about 1 hour) in the arcade. I spent a huge amount of money supplying tokens to 2 very ravenously hungry game players. They weren't hungry for food but they were hungry for tokens. I liked playing Deal or No Deal. I realize that it is all guessing and luck but there is something about being able to stand on a lit up floor panel and punch numbers that correspond to suitcases that thrills me to no end. My best game (and I played many), was when I "won" 85 tickets. The highest amount of tickets you could win was 200 so I really felt like I had gotten my 4 tokens worth out of that game.

And now friends, in case you are wondering, here is what my $50 worth of tokens bought:

Off to the waterpark this afternoon. I'll take some pictures. Not of me, or course, but of other fat people wondering around the park! How absolutely mean.

Heidi

I am baking without an oven!

We arrived at Great Wolf Lodge about 3 p.m. this afternoon. We have been looking forward to this vacation since September. Last night Stan came down with the flu. He tried so hard to sleep it off this morning and be ready to go but truthfully the thought of riding in a car for 3.5 hours and then having his body wrenched in different directions as he hurdled down the waterslides was just too much for him to even think about.

Great Wolf has a policy that they take your first night's fee off your credit card on the day that you reserve the room. I didn't want to leave my better half at home but if we didn't go, we would be out close to $200.00. Money eventually won and the kids and I piled into the car for a "new" kind of Thanksgiving.

This is our second year at the Lodge. (That's what we "cool" people call this place). It is always fun. The water park is huge. You can choose a simple trek on an innertube around Lazy River, or you can walk over to McKenzie's Fort and climb your way up through a maze of ropes, tubes, and contraptions until you make it to a 48 foot high waterslide that is super fast. Or you can travel over to a pool and shoot some hoops. Or you can climb up 5 flights of stairs and ride an innertube down the most gigantic water slide thingy you have ever seen! Or you can sit in a jacuzzi until your skin shrivels up like a prune. The choices are marvelous.

Thanksgiving Dinner is to die for. It is full of salads, meats, traditional thanksgiving fare, and the all important CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. They have mini rice crispy treats to dip! How fun is that! The rooms are very spacious and the amenities are foofty. Everything comes in Extra Large size. Take the shampoo for instance. A full 6 ounces in a cool bottle! And it smells like vanilla. And the soap smells like vanilla too. I am sitting here smelling my hair and body as I type and I feel like I am baking cookies. It is a lovely feeling.

The kids are freshly bathed. I can't wait to see which cookie I get to sleep with tonight! Happy Thanksgiving Eve.

Heidi

Sam I Am. Part 2

Do you remember this day a few months back? Today, I hit the taste testing Bonanza at Sam's Club. I was going in for a beef roast and blackberries. I came out very full and I hadn't eaten the roast or the blackberries!

When I walked in the door, I showed my card, flashed the card checker an encouraging smile and ran smack into a table that was filled with sweet samples including cheesecake, pumpkin pie, chocolate chiffon cake and a puff pastry of some sort. I passed the table trying not to be tempted. They put all that stuff on one plate! It looked extremely good.

I rounded the first corner and BAM....I saw another table with shrimp and cocktail sauce. I took one of those because they are low fat, low calorie, and they were gigantic in size. They barely fit intp one of those little tester cups.

I made it halfway to the back of the store where the meat was and once again I was greeted with another sample. This time it was chicken spinach sausage. Those little samples were very good.

I finally reached the meat and low and behold, I found myself standing in a small line for the next gift. I figured that since there were 3-4 people ahead of me that the sample must be really special. Well, move over small tester cups; hello little plates! On my plate was a beef wellington puff pastry, a spinach quiche, and a bacon wrapped piece of filet mignon. Oh, and a cup of sparkling white grape juice to slosh it all down.

I finally arrived at the beef roast section and found a good selection of cuts. Everyone seemed to be flocking to another portion of the meat section close to the turkeys. I wondered what was over there? I pressed on towards the Blackberries.

Standing in my way of making anymore progress was the seafood lady. She was handing out samples of lobster stuffed ravioli. She didn't need to twist my arm much, Lobster can really get to me in a good way. I don't mean to be rude, but Sam's needs to invest in bigger testing cups and spoons. This ravioli was so big (about the size of half a note card) that the lady had to shove it into the cup and it just flopped all over the sides. Can we say "fat girl's heaven on earth?"

I finally reached the blackberries. It was a good moment in my life. The visit had already been filled with lovely samples, what more (besides fruit) did I need? I started my escape to the checkout lines. There was a sample line in front of me a mile long. I wasn't going to stand in this line. I did see a plate from that line though....it had a bacon wrapped scallop, cheese cake, chocolate lava cake, green bean casserole, and something very big and delicious looking. I think it was a crab cake. I was still full. So I kept walking.

When I reached the checkout line, I was surprised to be able to walk right up and check out. It had been a really awesome day at Sam's Club.

Later peeps,
Heidi

Word Smittin

Nathan's Language Arts teacher is very creative. My son is not one that especially likes to creatively write. This year, though, he loves his teacher and has started to love writing! A few weeks back Mrs. H baked a cake and brought it in to English class to celebrate a "Going Away" party. The students were a bit confused at first because they had no members that were leaving or moving away. During this party, the class said goodbye to the following words: got, getting, get, and a lot.

I have noticed that new words are replacing these "vacationing" words now in Nate's everyday speaking. Here are some things I have actually heard from him in the last week!

1. I would like to go to Meijer and obtain a plethora of food to eat.
2. I am in possession of my favorite cereal.
3. I have a myriad of games to try online tonight.
4. I have a super abundance of homework to complete since I was sick.
5. There is a vast array of things I'd like to play with tonight including my Legos.

He also used "gaggle" and "cornucopia" but those sentences were too bizarre to remember!
I hope this continues. It is fun to watch him think before he speaks!

Happy Friday.
Heidi

Just a quick tidbit

On my way out the door tonight, I told both children that I expected them to empty the garbage from all the rooms in the entire house. When I arrived 3 hours laters, the job hadn't been done. They said they "forgot".

I turned the TV off that they were watching and told them to immediately go and do the job. It had gotten to be quite late so I said, "and since you didn't do what I asked you to do when you were asked, I am going to have to punish you." I proceeded to tell them that they were to go upstairs and get into bed with absolutely no silent reading tonight.

Madison put up a huge fuss and said, "Mom, this is the meanest punishment you have ever given to us. I can't believe that you don't think this is child cruelty".

I laughed silently and left her room. I love my kids!

Blessings,
Heidi

My Ladies Choir

I don't know if I have mentioned this too much but I direct a community ladies group once a week comprising of 63 ladies who love to sing! They gather at a local school in order to sing, fellowship, and learn a little music along the way.

I really love the job. It is a chance to share my love of teaching vocal music in a non school environment. I don't take attendance, I don't have to listen to the morning announcements, and I don't have to be my own piano player! It is an absolutely fabulous experience.

As I get to know these ladies better, I have started to share a few personal stories with them. I opened up to them last night and started the rehearsal by apologizing for my somewhat abrupt and irritated mood because it was the "first day of cutting down my food intake". I was really surprised at how quiet things got when I shared. At the end of my "diet speech", a rather large woman said in a very serious voice, "Heidi, I don't want you to feel bad about being on a diet....I am currently on three of them." The group was still very quiet and looked at her in shock and amazement. She then said, "One diet wasn't enough food so I upped it to three".

It was REALLY funny and did that group ever roar!

Blessings for a fat free healthy week!
Heidi

Coming Back Home

I was sitting in church this morning and realized that I needed to keep my promise and write in my blog. So here it goes!

Yesterday the children and I raked leaves while the snow fell at 8 a.m. I am sure that there were people peeking out their windows wondering if I was mentally stable or not. I mean really! 8a.m. on a cold, wet dreary Saturday morning? They would have seen 3 very mismatchedly dressed people wondering around pointing and figuring out the game plan. Finally after much talking and hearing everyone's opinion on "the proper way to clear the yard" we came to a conclusion. I fired up the blower, the kids wielded the rakes and we got to work. About 1 hour later the leaves were very wet and heavy but we had finally finished. We were all cold, cranky, tired, and hungry for breakfast!

I don't ask the children to do much around the house. I should. But yesterday Madison said something that truly was astounding to hear from a 9 year old's mouth. She said, "Mom, I really hated raking the leaves. It was hard work and incredibly boring. But do you know what? I really liked working all together as a family like that to get a job done. It was awesome. We should do more of these kinds of projects." And she walked away.

Wow. I needed to hear that. And especially from her.

Oh, she lost another tooth later in the day yesterday. That means the children have lost a total of 3 teeth since Halloween. I am now officially broke. Or the tooth fairy is. We are very closely related you know!

Make it a great day!

Heidi

A blog vacation.

I need a little rest from my blog because posting once a week is just wearing me out! Actually, I have been very absorbed in work and family and haven't felt particularly inspired to share out!

I will be back next Sunday, so set a reminder on your calendar and don't forget to come back for a visit.

Thanks!
Heidi