cloudy skies

We had beautiful skies just before a bit of storm hit here in Virginia this evening. Tomorrow it will be 90 degrees and not 100. Lucky us!

 I got outside and took a few shots before the lightening started to fly then I ran for cover.

Enjoy!

my vintage chairs are done!

I' m so excited my husband worked on our old vintage chairs while I was up in New York isn't that sweet? If you missed my last post jump over now and see the before pictures here. They have really been a labor of love. Actually we want to put a clear sealer on the yellow accents just in case but that's a quick spray. I'm afraid the camera isn't doing justice to the color the red really is fire-engine red, the marigold yellow is showing pretty true to the actual color.

What do you think of the table? I actually stenciled that pattern off the pair of chairs that are the same and then transferred it to the table so that it would match. The table isn't really the old fashioned metal like the chairs it's just aluminum and has a lot of imperfections so I thought it would hide a multitude of sins.

The seat on the right is a rocker. I'd love to trim those round areas but cutting out templates just seemed like a lot of work! There's a chair too so the work would be double! What do you think?

This is what they all look like together. There was a lot of sanding and priming and many many coats of paint involved in this project but I love love love these chairs. I can't believe they only cost $110.00. When we came in from taking these pictures before Bill said he's ready to look for a glider, I can't believe it!! 

This is just frightening

You'd need to be living under a rock about now if you haven't heard the story on the little boy age 6 who was subjected to being slapped in the face, head and chest by 24 of his classmates multiple times while in school.

This episode was orchestrated ( i can hardly believe it) by his kindergarten teacher who decided it would be an instructive lesson to show this 6yr. old alleged bully what it fell like to be bullied. So she lined all his friends and classmates up and instructed them to hit him to teach him this lesson. Those kids who didn't want to participate were forced to participate against their will. 

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Warped teacher lessons


Lesson- 1  I will teach you to deal with a bully by engaging in a violent act against your will. 
( this child is alleged to be a bully)


Lesson- 2 I am a trained professional a "teacher" certified by the state to educate children better then parents. Oh that's right, I was fired....sorry! 


Ugh! As a parent of 5 and a grandparent 5 I cannot tell you how disturbing it is to me to hear how this child and indeed the other 24 children in this class were treated by a trusted adult.  She has failed miserably as a role model, to teach the children appropriately and to keep them safe.


I think we all know and if we don't we need to be reminded how impressionable and vulnerable our children are at the age of 6. The very thought that this person had even a passing impact on any child is frightening. 


Now if all of this wasn't frightening enough, take a look at a small sample of the comments below,  I read them while checking out this story and decided to share snip-its of  what could only be described as rabid dogs on a fresh piece of meat. 

• Bullies, begins in the home, where's the line to slap the parents?.......

• The kids must not have hit him too hard if he didn't have a single mark after being slapped 24 times....

• The mother destroyed the teacher's career but she still has her little demon to raise. If a few years, she can visit him in prison. Who will she blame then?............. 

•  I'd bet Aiden is one very spoiled rotten, cruel little jerk ... the teacher should not be banned from teaching over this ... if you don't believe there are just evil little 6 year olds, just sit in on a few kindergarten and first grade classes and you'll be able to spot 'em without much difficulty ... pity that teachers can't simply kick these really disruptive and bully-type kids outta public schools for extended periods. Far better to expel a few awful students who, through their behavior, are thieves stealing any chance for learning ... and they are stealing that chance from their classmates ... Far better to "boot out" a few bad kids than a teacher.

• I think they should let 24 teachers line up and slap the mother of this little punk. Sounds like mama's little man should be allowed to do anything he wants. The teacher who came up with this idea has set up a really good teaching environment. Life is tough little guy and every thing you do has a payback, for better or worse. 

Regarding teachers actions, I would be very concerned if she entered the classroom again, furthermore it wouldn't surprise me in the least if she didn't  face some type of criminal charges for her actions on top of her dismissal from her teaching position. 

It seems the majority of the adults (anonymous comments) seem to think the teacher deserves a pass. I have some strong opinions about anonymous comments and the people who write crap hiding behind a mask but I'll leave that for another day and another post.  I can't seem to wrap my head around this premise that the fault lies with the mother and child and not with the teacher. Schools have bullying policies, teachers should be equipped to set boundaries in the classroom, monitor behavior and discipline appropriately.  So what do you think?

Am I the only one who thinks these comments are horrible? And this situation, you thoughts?

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Don't be surprised by my silence this week.

I'm going to New York for a Christening [my best friends grand-daughter] family visiting and generally as much fun and relaxation as humanly possible squished into one week. I don't have any plans to post anything while I'm gone.... but you never know!

Have a nice weekend and a good week.

beautiful thief

My husband and I were out in the backyard the other day drooling over the nectarines growing on a small tree we have growing amongst  other fruit trees growing on our property. Three days later the tree was stripped bare. I believe today I identified our thief!!

He's a beauty isn't he?
Enjoy.

Blog Award Day - Passing it on

I was happy to make many new friends when I did the A-Z Challenge in April. Two of them have honored me today with the Kreativ Blog Award. Thank you ladies I happily accept..

Now to the business that goes along with such honors, blog love- linking back to the lovelies who have given me this award, answering 10 questions, 10 facts about me, and passing this award on to other bloggers.

These dear and generous bloggers are....

Jolie writes the blog Precious Monsters. Her blog is devoted to all things monster, yes that's right! Vampires, zombies, werewolves, ghosts and the like. Jolie is a writer, an editor and of course a blogger. She's has a novella coming out in July 2012 called Litria. You can read about it and be able to purchase it from here. Jolie's blog is unique and oh so fun, there are monster facts, blog hops and guest posts. Go visit, I know you're gonna love it and her.

Angela writes the blog Whole Foods Living.  Angela has a passion for fresh foods and cooking. She shares her knowledge and experience about  how to incorporate whole foods and live healthier. I must admit to having a bit of a blog crush on Angela and her blog. She is a real inspiration to me at this point in my life when I'm trying to eat more healthfully myself. Please go pay Angela a visit, there is so much to learn and she's just the person to teach you.

10 Questions About Me

1. What is your favorite song? I don't think I can name a favorite song,  but I'm partial to the music of the 60's and the 70's the period from when I was growing up. 
2. What is your favorite dessert?  There is nothing better than a good cannoli from my favorite Italian bakery in New York. 
3. What ticks you off? People being rude about stupid things really ticks me off. Generally I dislike mean people but it really ticks me off when I see people who are mean to wait staff or a check out person when they are trying to do their job. Sometimes I wonder if they think they can get away with it because they think this person is employed in lesser paying job and somehow that translates into the person somehow actually being less of a person. 
4. What do you do when you’re upset? I'm a talker so I'll talk about it until I calm down. Remember I went to therapy and it worked!!
5. Which is was your favorite pet? I have three very smart cats, Linus, Cheetah and Tarzan. If I picked one they'd find out and be pissed at me!
6. Which do you prefer, black or white? Black because it's slimming. 
7.What is your biggest fear? Since I've already lived through most parents biggest fear there is always that worry still that something might happen to one of my other children. Sad but true.
8. What is your attitude mostly? Hopeful
9. What is perfection?  The way my babies smelled when I nuzzled up to their little bodies. 
10. What is your guilty pleasure? Vacations and traveling 

10 Things About Me

1. My pierced ears are not even, the left one is lower than the other.

2. On my second day of kindergarten I fell and hit my forehead, sometimes even now when I make a certain expression you can still see the bump. Yup I really did clobber myself something hard!

3. Three years ago I got my first female doctor, before then all my doctors throughout my life had been male.

4. I think I'm probably a bit claustrophobic. I dislike when the windows in the house are closed and I always freak out when we stay in a hotel that doesn't have sliding doors or windows that open. I end up have some type of breathing problem/ tiny little panic attack as a result of widows and doors being closed. See #8

5. Sometimes I like to make breakfast for dinner, I like eating it too!

6.Sushi and sahimi [raw] are my two favorite way of eating salmon, I prefer it over cooked.

7. I am proficient with chopsticks and have been since a young age thanks to my father who spent some time in Japan and China after the war.

8. Sometimes I think the animal kingdom is out to get me...hehe, let me explain. I sleep next to and open window most nights. There's this neighborhood hound/beagle dog who howls most nights like he has his nuts [sorry but its true] in a vice. If that isn't bad enough there is a mockingbird who has insomnia and sings half the night until the sun comes up. 
9. I always have grand vacation plans to go many different places but when push comes to shove I always end up at the beach.
10. I'm a chronic leg crosser when I sit, not good for the veins btw! 

Now to the business of passing this on. I would like to just let all my blog friend know that I appreciate you and my relationships with you. I would like you to consider this Kreativ Blogger Award yours as well with my appreciation and respect. 


Thanks Jolie and Angela. Much appreciated. 

my stomach thinks my throats been cut

Seriously folks! The problem with being overweight is it didn't take long before I've reached my first brick wall. I am eating healthy as I've talked about in previous blog posts. I have been a busy bee keeping active in the garden my ass is no longer plastered to the couch as much as it used to be.

But.....the scale has not moved in two whole weeks. [btw....my doctor is thrilled with my progress, when he saw me last week.] So back to the scale, not up and not down, not by one tenth of a pound! My mother has one of those fancy digital scales I want to throw it out the window.

I'm sticking to it. I'm eliminating flour or sugar and butter. I'm enjoying veggies, fruit, fish and lean meats, oatmeal, organic yogurt and good olive oil and some eggs and cheese once and a while.

So my dilemma, how do I get over this stuckness? If that isn't a word it is now!

So I did some research and my body has hit its first plateau. Great! And rather quickly I might add. Basically what I've learned is that my body is reacting to the changes in eating habits and lower caloric intake. It's basically thinks it's being starved so it's shut down.

My weight loss has stopped.

Notice how I've used the term eating habits? Diet seems so temporary I'm feeling like this is a life change that I could actually live with.

I found this article which i thought was pretty interesting. And although I don't count calories I am just eating healthy to shed the pounds I think I can use these  principals and apply them to move past this plateau.

Tip#1: Calorie Cycling

In order to lose weight, you need to cut back on your calorie intake. But if you do that for a sustained period of time, your body may play a nasty trick on you: It may start conserving energy by lowering your metabolic rate. The result? You don't burn as many calories and your weight loss slows -- or stops altogether. Although this feels like the worst kind of sabotage, your body is actually trying to look out for you. Your lizard brain has noticed that food supplies seem to have been scarce for an extended period of time. It's trying to increase your chances of survival in case the famine continues. Of course, when you're trying to lose weight, this is not very helpful.

You're stuck between a rock and a hard place: You could try eating even less in order to nudge off more weight, but that just confirms your lizard brain's suspicions about the dwindling food supply. Or, you could eat more in an effort to restore a more robust metabolic rate -- but that's hardly going to help with weight loss. There's a way to outsmart old lizard brain: It's called intermittent fasting, or calorie cycling.

What is Calorie Cycling?

Let's say you've been eating about 1800 calories a day and steadily losing weight. Now suddenly, it's not working anymore. Rather than trying to eat even less every day, try alternating high and low calorie days. For example, you could alternate between 2000-calorie days and 1200-calorie days. Over the course of a week, you'd trim an extra 1400 calories but the higher calorie days should help keep your lizard brain from panicking -- and your willpower from flagging.....

You can read the rest of this Huffington Post article here.
Regardless of the scale not moving I feel great and I notice the clothes are looser. I put on a pair of shorts the other day that were to tight last summer, so that makes me happy. I'd like to see the scale move but I'm not going to let it get me down, or have it throw me off my promise to myself to get healthy. 

I'll let you know how it goes....

And don't forget to visit me over on A-Z where I did a guest post... maybe you missed it!

You can read it  here.

My next post will be a thanks to my friends Jolie over at Precious Monsters and Angela over at Whole Foods Living who were very sweet and each gave me a blog award. I'll be answering some questions and giving you some facts about myself. I thought I'd give them an early shout out now. They are such nice women and they have great blogs. If you haven't done so please go visit them, you won't regret it!

I'm guest posting today on a-to z challenge.com....

I'm guest posting today June 2st over at A-Z challenge.com where I'll be talking about the subject of role models both past and present. 

Why not hop over and tell me what you think about who your kids are looking up to. Or maybe share who your role model was when you were a child.

 Or, maybe you're a  kid at heart and still have a role model, if so, we'd love to hear who..... so do tell!

See you there...Jen