Survivor

Mondays are always tough days for us.  It is tough to get up and going after a weekend.  Even the kids go through a transition.   It's more like surviving Monday's.  At least this is a short week with my 9/80 Friday off!

Chris met another stay at home dad yesterday out on his walk.  The other dad was impressed that Chris had two kids and a dog compared to his only son.  He thought he was busy with the one but gave kuddos to Chris.  Funny that Cooper and this other baby are about the same age!  Chris didn't get contact info for the guy though...is it weird for a guy to ask another guy for his phone number in order to hang out??  Maybe they'll meet on another walk.

I joined the Empowered program through work.  I get a health coach, set goals, and track my progress.  I am such a goal oriented person, so this program is perfect.  I've made three goals:  Exercise at least 20 min a day, 6 days a week; Find ways to manage my stress; and Eat at least 4 servings of veggies a day.  I'm actually mostly worried about the food part...I've never paid attention to what I eat.  Now that the kids are on solids I worry a lot about if their meals are balanced and if they are getting enough vitamins.  I want to set a good example with my own diet.  I'm excited about having a 'health coach' to keep me disciplined with my new goals.

We found this amazing new trail mix by Archer Farms sold at Target.  They have a pumpkin spice flavor just in time for fall!  It's my favorite flavor...although the Sweet Cajun is also very tasty.  The pumpkin spice flavor reminds me of Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte...so sad that I can't have that!  Cooper is still sensitive to coffee.  This makes me even more sad because the Gingerbread Latte is my favorite and I can't have any.  Bummer.

I am 15 pages from being done with the God Delusion.  It is very well written, a challenging read, and has a lot of very good points.  It's a highly controversial book so I won't say anything more here.  I bought Seed to Harvest by Octavia Butler but realized it's just a compilation of a series that I've already read.  She is my favorite author and I've read nearly all of her stuff.  She passed away in 2006--so sad.  She wrote science fiction/alternate realities and does an amazing job of making it very believable.  I can't get enough of her stuff and re-read several of the books.  I'm dying to read Survivor, which is out of print and very hard to find.  I finally found it on eBay for less than $100!!  I'm so excited for it to arrive!  I can't believe I spent that much on a book, but I've wanted so bad for several years and couldn't find it anywhere for less than even $300.  So really I'm getting a deal.

Not sure what I'll read next...I have the following books to read:  Frontier Wife, the Red Scarf, The World is Flat, The Way the Crow Flies, probably a few others on my shelves that I haven't read and then a few I still want to buy.  All in good time I suppose.

Go vote today!  It matters more than you think.  Someone died for your right to vote.  Seriously, go vote.

And in case you haven't checked I finally dumped all the pictures to the shutterfly sites.   Enjoy.