Barefoot running

My younger brother has thing thing about weird attire. The last time I was home we had a really long talk about barefoot running, and these running sandles he'd just purchased that were made out of tires with leather straps to hold them on. Now I'm all for minamilistic shoes and thought they looked rather neat, but I couldn't imagine how they would stay on your feet well enough to actually RUN in them (not to mention they had absolutely no stub your toe protection)

Anyway today I was taking a break and found an article discussing barefoot running and these trendy, almost not there, running shoes called Vibrams. I'm thinking they look funky enough he'd like them, and I always did have a thing for muppet socks... they even come in pink!! If they didn't cost 80 bucks I'd even buy myself a pair.

hotdog smiles

Once upon a time there was a lonely deserted hotdog. The lonely deserted hotdog tried to catch up to his friends, but he only fell on the floor. Then something fortunate happened.

Martha (who is a dog on a PBS tv show): I just adore hotdogs.

Hotdog: she thinks, *gasp*, she thinks I'm a door!!??

Martha: No adore means I like them a lot.

And she ate the hotdog, and it went down to her throat and into her stomach, and joined all the other hotdogs.

The end.

The moral of the story (mumbled)... if you're a lonely deserted hotdog come see martha...

shirts and shoes

My little sister (bless her) recently sent me the link to a kids cloth's sharing website. Basically I can buy a box of kid sized clothing, unseen, for just the cost of shipping (13 bucks) and all I have to do is fill my own box of clothing for somebody else to buy.

I'm on the fence. On the one hand, buying clothing I can't SEE first makes me twitch. The Kiddo is five AND he's his fathers son, he doesn't give a rats behind what he puts on his body... in fact if I didn't make him get dressed he'd just spend the day in his underwear. But I know what he likes anyway, and it's NOT preppy or cartoon type cloths. He likes what the Man likes, simple stuff with dark colors and rough and outdoorsy feel to them. If it's cartoons he wants starwars or iron man (not cars or whinny the poo).

Still, what are the odds I'd get a whole box of mickey mouse shirts? And 13 bucks for 7+ pieces of clothing is a steal, on my budget it's a bargain that might just be worth tossing the dice on. If I can shake lose enough to buy him say two shirts from the store, and maybe one pair of jeans, and pay shipping for just one box... well shoot I think that would be plenty to get him all the way to winter, if not through till spring.

(window shopping at Target he found a jacket he loves, now to save up 14 bucks so I can buy it)

Anyway I think I'll be trying it out. If the first box is good, I may end up buying a second. After all I know for sure I can fill at least two boxes with the Kiddo's "to small" cloths (I've got a ton of 2T stuff laying around, and he's just now outgrowing his 3T's).

I'm also gritting my teeth and listing his skechers hot-lights police car shoes on Ebay, part of me really wants to keep them but they don't fit him anymore so there really is no point. The sad news with that is that I cannot find another pair in his current size (he'd need a sz 10). That means new non flashy shoes, and I know I wont be the only one who misses them...

Kindergarten prep

The Man has drill this weekend, and he always goes to get his haircut a few days before. This time, because the Kiddo starts school in three weeks, we made an effort to make sure the Kiddo got to go with him and get his haircut too. He loves when he gets to go with his dad, and he really likes getting to have the same haircut as him too. In the waiting room he read me Hop on Pop, I am seriously loving Dr Suiss books right now, they are fairly easy for him to read and he gets a real sense of pride in being able to do it.

When we got home I found, in the mail, a couple letters from his elementary school. The first told us what teacher he is going to have and that he's got the afternoon schedule. Which is great, except that their "new" afternoon times are an hour earlier then the ones they had written down when I chose them. The change will make Friday's medication schedule a little hinky.... but doable still I guess, if I give him his pill 45 minutes early.

I will be setting up his assessment testing appointment tomorrow, hopefully I can get it set for the 27th because then the Man can come with us.

We also found out that they switched to a traditional school year. THAT I'm a LOT ticked about, I was really excited that the Kiddo would be on year round school. There are so many positives to it, and I really think that he would have learned best that way.

I suppose on the bright side, now I wont feel so bad if we move out of this district. Before I would have felt bad about leaving such a good school situation, now it wouldn't matter. How is that for a positive attitude? :)

Core ... Balance ... working out

I ended up very bored with the wall exercises that I posted awhile back. They didn't "feel" like they were doing much, and as much fun as it was to watch the Kiddo try to do them with me, our apartment really isn't set up with much open wall space.

That being said I am going to ditch them and try a few new moves. These ones really work your core, which is what you want if your goal is a flatter mid section. I added them to the end of my 5 minutes ab routine and I can really feel them working so I think they'll be great. If you don't already have an ab routine going then there's a really great set of moves to try down at the bottom of the yoga article, 12 moves to target abs.

Fish and things

This past weekend we spent with my friend out in eastern Utah again. There are times when I wonder how she handles living out in the boonies like she does, and then I visit and I remember that the drive once every week (or two) to pick up groceries, really wouldn't be bad compared to getting to live where she does. Her house overlooks the lake, and has the small town night sky (vs the city "what stars" view). As always we had a very relaxing time with her family, and the Kiddo wishes we could visit every week.

His special treat this visit was getting to go out on the lake where my friends hubby let the Kiddo steer the boat!
And they fished. I think they said that he needed help reeling it in. We have video of him driving the boat, and a short one of him with the fish.

About an hour before it was time to head home we sent the kids outside to play. They clambered up on the trampoline. The Kiddo did very well with it, considering it was probably the second time in his life that he'd been up on one. He skip jumps, but hey it's still two feet in the air.

We also, of course, played with all the animals. He fed the bunnies with the other kids. I'm sure he played with the goats while he was at it. And we cuddled the puppies.

hair today...

A couple years ago I got a haircut that was super short, a pixie cut. Almost everybody really liked it. But I wasn't so sure, granted I loved it when it was wet, but I was never sure about it it when it dried because it always went a little poofy. There's nothing worse then poofy on top hair if you've got an long oval face shape, it just makes your face look longer. Every time I looked in the mirror I wouldn't see me, and that bothered me.

Anyway it's been a few years since that experiment. My hair was finally long enough to pull back into an easy pony tail. Which means it was time for a new haircut.

The last time I saw my little sister she had a jaw length style, and I really loved it. The way she styled it really showed off her face shape well, and accentuated her jaw line. I thought I would go with something that would (hopefully) do the same for me. Plus I like short, it's easier to care for. So I went with an a-line cut, shorter in the back, but chin length in the front. Wash, scrunch and wear... quick and easy. I can still pull the sides back and clip them out of my face and if I have the time (or inclination) I can use a strait iron to flatten and curl it in to maximize the effect. I think I like it. Of course it's only day three, so I'm not quite used to it yet. What do you think? (and can I just say the angle on the front picture makes my nose look HUGE, *grumble*)

Better than the Sand Castle: Beach Art Gallery

Better than the Sand Castle: Beach Art Gallery

Shoes and Cars

Saturday morning, as we got dressed for the day, I decided that instead of his usual crocs I would put the Kiddo's police car shoes on him. We upgraded him to size 9's about three months ago and I was a little shocked to find that they now fit snugly, in fact he complained that they were to small!! I think he has a little room left in them, but we will be buying him new shoes a lot sooner then I thought we would. I suppose I've been very spoiled by only having to buy new shoes once a year, after all he was in the 8.5 size for at least a year and a half.
We were putting shoes on so we could go out for the afternoon. My inlaws had invited us to go to a classic car show with them. It's been awhile since we've been able to go with them to one and I've really missed it. I love seeing all the cars and hanging out outdoors just relaxing. It's a great activity to do with family, and we're really lucky when we can go. The Kiddo loves it, he loves classic cars.

We had a good time. The Kiddo's two favorite cars?... well Grandpa's of course.
and then the orange "monster truck" (yes I know, it's not a truck, but the Kiddo figures if it has big tires then that must be what it's called regardless of what it actually is).
He also got a pretty big kick out of this guy... the head spins around when you pass a motion sensor in it's chest. I'll admit it it freaked me out a little.