Random Thoughts… Post Thanksgiving

A random download of things that have gone through my mind lately and a catch up of the weekend:

• Big cats like lions and tigers really freak me out. Even at the zoo when they are behind impenetrable glass, I get the shivers. There is a chewing gum commercial on TV right now that a tiger pops up in and when I see it, I almost have to turn the channel. No thank you. [Jonna – I do not know how you live on a game preserve – fence or not – with lions running around.]
• Of course, I’m also freaked out my squirrels and bats. And icebergs – though I’ve never seen one in person.
• I think we need a TV in the basement, I find that I stop what I’m doing on the elliptical more out of boredom than out of being too tired to keep going (which is a nice problem to have) but I think if I was watching something, it would be different. But if there was a TV, Jack would unceasingly request for the channel to be turned to Nick Jr. (or Noggin as he calls it because that’s what Liam calls it since it used to be called Noggin and then they changed the name – why?).
• A few weeks ago I had delicious gluten-free food for dinner with the girls so I could split pasta and pizza with Sandy – I did not miss the gluten at all and the crust was so good, I would pick that over regular crust any day!
• I managed the impossible – despite my recent plateau, I LOST weight over Thanksgiving weekend! I will not think too hard on how this is possible considering I ate more than my fair share of stuffing and cinnamon rolls.
• I think we need to wean Liam off the Wii – on days when he doesn’t get to play it, he bursts into tears and pleads to get to play – this is not great.
• I’d love to be able to wean Jack off of picky eating but that is so not going to happen. Strangely he likes dried carrots chips, Vegemite on toast and apples – three things I would not have expected he would touch with a ten-foot pole (let alone allow them near his mouth) since he dislikes things like cheese, homemade strawberry jam and ice cream. Jack is an enigma.
• We had Liam’s first semester conferences recently – we were eager to hear what his teacher had to say about him. Overall he’s good kid, a good helper who just needs to work on his listening skills (surprise). It was interesting to hear that while he doesn’t always have the confidence to come up with his own spellings for words (he quite happily copies down what the teacher has written), when pushed, he has no qualms writing down a word even when he knows it’s not spelled correctly. I have no idea what that means, but the teacher pointed it out.
• On a related note to the above, Liam said out of the blue today, “Mrs. A. is just so sweet.” Kindergarten teachers are the most wonderful people in the world, even Liam knows it.
•  I’m trying really hard to see Piper Pearabo as a CIA agent – but she’ll always be the girl from Coyote Ugly to me; strangely I don’t have that same problem with Maria Bello and her new show – though apparently other people do since Prime Suspect is being cancelled – boo on that.
• My mom would also like you to know that I am not an alcoholic even though I mentioned drinking three times in a recent post about my weekend away. So, I’m not an alcoholic, I’m too Dutch and too cheap for that to be a problem, I’m just a mom who enjoys a little down time.
• IKEA is a crazy place to be on Thanksgiving weekend, but so are Kohl’s and Target – but at least I did my parent to stimulate the economy. And I have to say, even though it’s crazy, I much preferred shopping at midnight than at 4 a.m. and I got all my Christmas shopping DONE.
• Our long weekend was fantabulous – we had the perfect mix of family time with shopping, friend and down time. Plus good food every day.
• We caught up with my former [Chicago] roommate and her family on Saturday and Liam was disappointed to learn that we’d be hanging out with girls but quickly changed his tune when he discovered that Elena likes to play Legos and the Wii – he’s asked to have her come over at least 6 times since we left their house. Jack occupied himself with play dough for nearly an hour and just when we were wondering what happened to our kid, he pulled a couple of ornaments off their tree and threw them back into the branches.
• Liam had two zingers over the weekend. The first, “My grandparents used to be new but now they are old.” The second, after being reminded to go easy on grandpa because of his knee still healing, “Why couldn’t grandma be the one to have her knee fixed?”
• One of the pastors I grew up with is retiring from my parents’ church this coming weekend and we are planning on going back for the service but hearing his sermon on Sunday about brought me to tears so clearly I will need to bring tissues. And also, goodbyes are the things that make me cry.