I'm participating in the Sugar-Free 10 day challenge, which starts on June 1. For more information see here:

http://www.runtothefinish.com/

I've mentioned before that I went sugar-free for Lent one year. The thing is, once you go sugar free it's hard to go back to eating sugar. It takes a month to rid your body of bad stuff (like sugar), so this 10-day challenge isn't really enough to fully detox you, but it's a start. Suprisingly, the craving go away once you stop eating it for awhile, and I can no longer eat sugar without getting sick. It stinks somtimes, but in the end, it's way healthier and better for me.

We are the desired home for strange animals. I swear- none of our pets are normal.

Exhibit A- a snail. (Pretend there's a picture. I swear we have one, I just can't find it).

Ok. So Mr. Snail was suicidal. It's dead now- no suprise there. It liked to climb out of the fish tank and make a run for it. We found him 3 feet out of the tank one morning. It must have taken the poor thing all night to get that far.

Exhibit B: Wendell (8 years)

Wendell, our black lab is possibly the most un-lablike dog out there. Seriously. He's a retriever, but hates to fetch or play ball. He's big and black so he appears mean, but he's scared of everyone. After we got him, at 10 weeks, it took him, literally, a month to have the courage to walk down the sidewalk and 3 houses to the mailbox. We had friends come over, whom he knew, when we weren't home and he ran and hid and barked at them from under the bed. He's also anti-social. He thinks if he's in the same room as you that's good enough. And until he was 4, he was scared of the water. He's a Labrador Retriever- a water breed. Sheesh.

Exhibit C: Morgan (11 months)

Morgan is our new puppy that we got about 2 months ago. He's a Golden, so he thinks everyone is his friend and wants to play with him. And he chews on his feet- we took him to the vet who said he either has OCD (very possible) or he has allergies. And he chases his tail. I always thought that was a myth- dogs chasing their tail. But not Morgan- he does it for 5-10 minutes at a time, then bites tail when he catches it, yelps, then starts all over again. But what makes him strange is that he loves to watch TV. I swear- he'll sit perfectly still and watch it with us when it's on. He went to the kennel last weekend when we were camping (we take Wendell camping with us) and they said he's the friendliest Golden they've had. So he's not even normal in those regards.

We went camping last weekend. This is the picture that greeted us:

And of course, when one of the kids woke up at midnight and wanted to use the bathroom, it's all I could think of as we made our way down the hill in the dark with only my flashlight to protect us.

We all had fun. It's a great campground on top of a mountain. Each campsite has its own picnic table, bear box for food, grill, fire pit (which we couldn't use, due to the no-campfire restriction), and 2 tent pads and each cluster of sites has it's own toilet. So as far as campgrounds go, it's pretty nice. We went out wandering around the campground and the kids found a forest of baby pine trees, which they thought was really cool. I'm not a tree expert, but I'd say these are about 3-5 years old.

The best part is that there's a fishing lake too! No boats or swimming, but that doesn't stop our dog from hopping in. We've never caught anything, but that's mainly because of 1) our dog, and 2) the kids would rather throw rocks in the lake than fish.

After packing up and coming down off the mountain, we ended up at In and Out Burger- my husband's favorite burger place.

I spent a large chunk of last weekend rearranging rooms. Some people spring clean, I spring arrange. There isn't a single room in the house that hasn't been rearranged at least once since we moved in, most 2 or 3 times. Not just because our needs have changed, but because I was tired of the rooms. Well, I suppose the bathrooms haven't changed. I'm not much of a plumber, so those sinks are going to stay where they are. Although I would like a bathtub in the master bath. Who designs a master bath without a bathtub?

Anyhow, I digress. We've now lived here for 5 years- it's the longest I've lived anywhere since graduating from high school. My parents moved into their house when I was a few months old and I lived there until I went off to college. Is that strange? I didn't think it was that wierd- I went to school with mostly the same kids from 2nd through 12th grades and few of them moved. But then in college I discovered that living in the same house your whole life is strange. Even stranger I suppose is that my folks still live there. I can't imagine that. I'm ready to move on from here and start somewhere else. It's that nomadic heritage human's have I guess. So it's a poll- what's the longest you've lived anywhere?

I want to go back to a time when life was simpler, more uncomplicated. Back before kids and pets. Back when the only other person I had to worry about was my husband, and our biggest decisions were what car to buy or whether or not to go on vacation. Maybe something a little bigger, like whether or not to take that new job. But really, why didn't I appreciate it back then? It sometimes really sucks to be an adult and have to be responsible. Where can I get one of those boring lives with few complications and no real problems?

-M

I got some disappointing news the other day. I went to the doctor for a follow up because it's been 8 weeks since I broke my elbow. Based on my age (adult) and where the elbow was broken (on the inside of the joint), my arm will never function properly again. And physical therapy to try and make it work would only hurt me more than help me. Sucks, huh? It will only ever straighten to between 25-30 degrees, and the doctor tried to cheer me up saying "hey, how much do you really do with a straight arm anyway?" That's supposed to make me feel better?

I tore the cartiledge in my knee 2 years ago and had to have a scope. Doctor said I'd be running in 6 weeks. It took me 3 months. And now I can't run more than 5 miles before it hurts too much. I've had to let go my goal of someday running a marathon and have set a goal of a half marathon, with much walking and some running. (I'm not giving that one up just yet!)

So the lesson learned here is that 1) don't get old, and 2) when you do get old, don't hurt yourself because you just won't heal the way you should.

I was at a coffee shop this morning and there were 2 men at the table next to me having the Mac vs. PC debate. What made it so cute is that they were both in their 70s. Then, as I was leaving, this older, 70-something woman walked by talking on her cell phone. I don't know why, but I think it's so neat when I see older generations embracing current technology. Granted, not everyone has kept up with current trends. Whenever I visit my parents I'm always amazed that not only do they not have cell phones (we don't even have a landline anymore- cell only here), but they still use dial-up internet service. But I love seeing those older folks using their cell phones and being on Facebook.

Close your eyes for a minute and imagine technology as it was when you were a kid. Not much there, right? I remember getting our first VCR, the Atari, an Apple IIe computer... these things were awesome way back when. My uncle worked on a superfast computer back in the 70s, when computers were first starting to be used more, and now my cell phone has more computing capability than his entire supercomputer. I can't even imagine what technology will be like when I'm old, but I'm hoping it doesn't pass me by and I'm not stuck using rolls of film when the world has moved on to digital. Isn't that why we have kids though? To keep us up with the current technologies?

Got this from a friend. I think it's outstanding.

You always know pregnant people and I have a few friends pregnant right now. But this time it's really strange. I know seven- count them, 7- people who are pregnant right now and all of them are due this summer. What was going on 7-8 months ago? That would make it October. Huh. Anyhow, even stranger, every one of them is having a boy. What are the odds? I read somewhere once that out of 100 births, there are 55 girls born to every 45 boys. Maybe boys are making a comeback.

One of those pregnant people is a really good friend from college and I'm making a blanket for her. I was holding out until I knew the sex of the baby, so fortunately for me, the kid cooperated at her ultrasound. I promised (threatened) pictures of my projects, so here's what I have so far. I fully admit, I stole the idea of mixing 2 different colors (blue and white in this case) from a friend, and I think it's turning out pretty well. And, I still have 2 months to finish it. Yea me.