Calories, Trans Fat, Sodium, Oh My!

Maybe my blogging isn't the only thing I thought wouldn't last ... we seem to be doing pretty well at eating a bit healthier. Nothing extreme. I haven't cleared out my cupboards of the Corn Pops cereal or coveted Ho-Ho's (although I have been VERY good about ignoring that side of the cupboard). We're just making smarter choices for our meals and snacks foods, and cutting back on portions has made a difference too. I've kept the fruit bowl stocked, and Cam's really into yogurt these days. (Oh by the way - the loss of appetite thing that he was going through? Yeah, no longer an issue.) We've never been one of those parents that told Cameron he needs to "ask" one of us before he can get something to eat; we've never felt the need to. He is a very active boy, he was never a "snacker", really wasn't into junk food too much, and pretty much learned when it was an "okay" time to grab something out of the pantry (ie: do not head into the pantry for a handful of pringles on your way to the dinner table). He does seem to be pretty aware of what is going regarding the conversations that Bryan and I have about food. Not sure why I'm surprised - sometimes he brings up conversations we've had when we THOUGHT he was next door playing, or outside skateboarding ... and the spelling out of everything pretty much ended when he was in kindergarten. Maybe we need to look into learning a second language for the sole purpose of communicating with each other - in front of Cameron. Anyway, he's catching on to the "watch what you eat" thing:

1) He and Bryan were at the grocery store getting stuff for his lunches. They were looking for some crackers/chips/cookies, that sort of thing, and Cam points to a box and says, "We should get those ... Mom likes to get the ones with the 100 on them" ... Gotta love those 100 calorie packs. The fudge-striped cookies are my favorite - perfect amount for when you need just a tiny bit of a chocolate fix.

2) We were eating dinner the other night and Cam asked if he could have more broccoli. Granted, he loves broccoli, but still - um, Helllllooooo! Of COURSE you can have some more. That threw me, but the next questions really almost made me spit my wine out. (Almost. I'm not about to waste a drop of my $4.99 bottle of wine.) "How much fat is in this broccoli? What about the chicken?"


Next thing you know he'll be smacking the twinkies out of Bryan's hand and telling him "There isn't enough fiber in that, and just look at the amount of carbohydrates and trans fat. Go find some rice cakes."

Happy Tuesday!

Well our ball playing didn't happen on Sunday. Weather conditions were not in our favor. Honestly felt like I was back in Portland there was so much rain. It started Saturday around midnight, and did not stop until early Monday morning. Then, it started up again last night. So we went shopping instead! :) Found a mitt so that I didn't have to use Cameron's when we were playing. Makes a slight difference! Have one week left of this class - thank god. I'm really looking forward to this being over. Normally the classes are 6 weeks, but we had a two week break at Christmas, so I've been in this same class for 2 months now. Starting to get to me. Trying to get ahead as much as possible so I don't have a lot of schoolwork over the weekend.

Mom and dad will be here on Saturday, so I'm pretty sure that will mean happy hour begins approximately 2 minutes after they reach the driveway: 1 minute to get out of the car and in the house (forget the suitcases, they can wait), 30 seconds to pee, and another 30 seconds until they reach the fridge. It's all about priorities. Haven't decided who I'm "rooting" for on Sunday, but I'm sure it will be the team wearing red, white and blue. It's been crazy around here with everyone getting ready for Superbowl. Some of the houses in the neighborhoods close to the stadium are for rent with many of the homeowners asking up to $20,000 for a weeklong stay! Hmmm - hope dad brings his AAA card for a discount on their lodging. So I'm gonna have to dig up a picture of Theresa and I with the Bales' kids on ANY one of our Superbowl Sundays growing up. We were dorks. There's no doubt about that. Well we can say that now, but back then? We thought we were cool. Dressing in the team colors, making our team signs, bringing our pom-pons to wherever the party was ... we knew how to have a good time. We were hotshots. :)

Just another Saturday!

Well, I suppose it's a good thing that there's just NOTHING new to report. Things are definitely getting back to normal now that everyone is on the up-n-up in the health department. Think the only lingering affect is that Cam just doesn't have much of an appetite ... maybe still a little sluggish from being sick? Not all that it was before. He used to have no problem polishing off a double cheeseburger and fries, tonight it was a struggle to get him to eat one slice of pizza. Think mom's just paranoid and of course jump to conclusions about why he hasn't been eating very much lately, or not wanting to eat. Pretty uneventful day ... did some work around the house, ran a few errands and got a pedicure. One that was extremely overdue. Bryan thanked me when I got home. :0) Spent most of that time "chatting" with my friend Heather via instant message - she's "Down Under" for an extended vacation. Love her updates from her blog, great pictures and even greater stories to go along. When (and I REALLY stress 'when') Bryan actually gets a vacation for more than a day or so, Australia is on the "list of things we'd like to do." Figured Heth could be the guinea pig and let us know the do's and don'ts.

Cam's been playing with his friend Josh all day - combination of skateboarding/bike-riding and Rock Band. He's getting great at the drums, Josh was pretty good on vocals, and Bryan decided that a nap was not feasible. One of the songs they were playing along to was from the 70's - can't think of the song right now, of course - but apparently to a couple of 7 year olds, music is easily dated. I can hear them both upstairs once the song started and Cam says, "This is an old person's song." Josh agrees with, "Yeah, it is. Let's pick another one." Do I need to remind him that his iPod is home to several Rolling Stones songs? Oh well - he'll appreciate it when he's older. Right Dad?! After dinner he was back over at Josh's house watching a movie. Bryan followed Cam over for a rematch with our neighbor Joe to some NBA and NFL video games. Gave me some time to catch up on my People, Redbook (my new favorite magazine) and a few other celebrity gossip mags, all accompanied by some wine of course! Nothing too exciting planned for the rest of the weekend... finish up some schoolwork, run a few more errands tomorrow and head to the park to toss around the baseball for a while. I know - keeping up with the Peterson's is exhausting, right? :)

Get rid of unwanted catalogs!

Apparently on the Today show (I think the episode that aired today) they gave out a free website where you can stop receiving catalogs you currently get in the mail. It sounded pretty cool. You register with the site, and then choose from the list and you pick which ones you don't want. You need to have the catalog on you for the key code. So the next time you get a junk catalog, one that's not even worthy for bathroom material, hang onto it and enter the key code from the back on the site. Everyone benefits! Saves the companies money from making the catalogs and spending postage, the environment from the excess paper, and my mailman from adding even more crap to my mailbox.



http://www.catalogchoice.org/


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I got this today, and thought I’d add it on to this post … not a bad idea!

Junk Mail

When you get ‘ads’ enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those ‘pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, don't throw away the return envelope. Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes. It costs them more than the regular 41 cents postage 'IF' and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas:

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 41 cents.

Help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!

Can I see your credentials?

Cam and I spent our MLK Holiday off from school and work at the eye doctor. (Not exactly his idea of a great day off ....) He had been complaining that sometimes he has a hard time when he's reading, so off we went. He was a champ and it was all business. He thought the glaucoma test (the puff in the eye?) was hilarious. Highlight of the day. He might be the first person I know that doesn't find it completely annoying! The assistant finishes with all the tests and lets us know that Dr. Kelsey will be in shortly. She leaves, and Cameron says to me, very seriously, "I hope it's not his first day on the job." I started laughing and asked him what he was talking about. He said he hoped that he wasn't Dr. Kelsey's first patient ever. Well it's not as if he's having brain surgery, but I reassure him that I didn't think so, but that maybe he should ask him. Dr. Kelsey came in and said, "Since you're sitting in my throne, you must be Cameron ..." shook his hand and introduced himself. Cameron had this look on his face like "C'mon mom ... ASK him ..." So I said with the best straight face that I could, "Cameron wanted to know if this was your first day on the job." I thought Dr. Kelsey was going to pee his pants. He turns to Cam and reassures him that it is not his first day. So Cam asks "Well how many days have you been doing this?" Dr. Kelsey says he's not sure how many days, but that it's been about 14 years. Cameron was pretty satisfied with the answer. I really had a hard time not laughing during the appointment. Cam was so intent on "answering" the questions correctly. He'd let Dr. Kelsey know the first one was more clear, or they were about the same. If he wasn't real sure of his answer, he'd say to the Dr., "Can you go back to that one with the ASFO5 line? I think I messed up ..." Pretty cute.

So it turns out he needs reading glasses. He's a bit nearsighted. Apparently he's having a hard time focusing on the words he's reading, whether in a book, schoolwork, or on the computer. It takes a minute for him to focus enough to get rid of the blurriness. Dr. Kelsey thought reading glasses would help relax his eyes enough to fix the problem. Surprisingly enough, Cameron was totally accepting of this and kept asking the tech and I our opinion on which frames looked better on him. Bryan wasn't with us, so he made me get my phone out to take pictures of his faves. And since he wasn't with us, we didn't DARE buy anything. Picking out frames will be their little after-school project tomorrow! :)

Well everyone is finally healthy ... I probably just jinxed myself by saying that. But it's nice to have my family back! Took the night off from schoolwork and we all enjoyed watching a movie together. If you haven't seen The Game Plan with the Rock (I know, I know, but he was good in this ...) you need to add it to your movie list. Warning - grab some Kleenex! Bryan and Cam saw it in the theatre, so they knew it was coming. It didn't stop the tears though! I handed Cam a Kleenex, he hands it Bryan, and then grabs one for himself. He says, "It's okay mom, I'm crying a little too and I've seen it." Tugs at your heartstrings - I highly recommend it!

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday Art & Lucy!

Hopefully most of you remember the story behind this one. If not, you might want to ask Grandma Eileen or Mom to jog your memory! I'm sure they'd be happy to reminisce!

And you shake it all about ...

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed a few weeks ago.

Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote "The Hokie Pokey" died peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin ...

They put his left leg in and then the trouble started.

Remember the parties at Skate World? Who's brilliant idea was it it to get a bunch of kids to do the Hokie Pokey on roller skates? Dumb. Well it's been a crazy week here. Bryan is finally about 95% back to health after a week of the flu. Got the call from school yesterday that Cam didn't feel like playing at recess which is a telltale sign that something is wrong! Needless to say, he was home today as well. Not as bad as Bryan, but enough to warrant a visit to the doctor. I have never washed sheets so much in my life, and I am on my third can of Lysol. I probably have the most sanitary house in Queen Creek. Doing my best to keep myself from getting any of the crap they both had! Knock on wood, so far so good.

Thought I'd "pop in" for an update. Probably would have been in bed a couple of hours ago when my boys hit the hay, but I had to finish up some schoolwork: community oriented policing. Not a bad subject, one I actually enjoy studying, but I'd much rather be getting a head start on sleeping in tomorrow! (2 more weeks of current class + 18 weeks of the last 3 classes = a fancy piece of paper with Master of Science/Administration of Justice and Security stamp on it .... REALLY looking forward to this being over!!!!) Cameron asked me tonight if I had work to do or if I was going to bed when they did. I told him I had to turn an assignment in first and his response was "Oh - that really sucks for you." Ya think? That definitely summed it up! One more Cam story before I shut this puppy down. Wednesday night he was reading to me from his reading book. We had some initial difficulty with reading colonies, colonists, and then Colonial. I was starting to confuse myself after a while. (Did you know in the 1700's sledding down a hill was illegal?) You never know when that might be a Jeopardy question. Anyway, he was reading out loud while I was cleaning up the kitchen. He was doing a great job, but I had to stop for a minute when he said "grown u-p-s." It finally dawned on me that the word was grown-ups. He corrected himself after I asked him to read the sentence again. We both thought it was pretty funny. Maybe you had to be there? :)

Parking Sign

You KNOW you're in a bad neighborhood when you see these posted up front at Target ...


Not kidding - Took this pic myself. I couldn't believe it! Didn't have much time on my lunch hour today, but desperately needed to replenish the Peterson medicine cabinet, so I ran to the closest Target. Think I'll plan on hitting my "usual" store next time!

Rednecks

I have to start off by saying I love redneck humor. I think it's because it is so accurate. There is no stretching the truth. Anything and everything is possible. However, with that said, I don't appreciate it as much when our somewhat new next door neighbors fall into this category. Don't get me wrong, nice people, but not the brightest crayons in the box. The couple was born and raised in the South - Alabama to be exact (no offense Keene family members) and then moved to Wisconsin before coming out to Arizona to have kids. Probably the smartest thing they've ever done. Christmas Eve they had several guests over, sporting the tried and true wife-beaters. Tucked in of course. After all, it was a holiday. Fancy clothes. Around midnight on New Year's Eve, we (and some friends/neighbors that were over) made some noise out front, did the popper thingies, and a couple of firecrackers. Now one of these neighbors lives next door and is a police officer. No harm done, nothing extraordinary here, but the neighbors are outside with their kids and a few friends, hear the firecrackers and freak out. They gather the "young" and shuffle them in the house because we were "shooting off guns." Yeah. That sounds like the Peterson Family to me. Because we each got our own for Christmas this year. As a redneck, wouldn't you know what a gun sounds like? And, do you REALLY think the Mesa police officer next door would be shooting his gun into the air in celebration of 2008? (Those of you who know Joe might actually be nodding and thinking, "Yeeeessss, he would ...") I think I finally managed to convince them we were not using weapons as party favors. At any rate, they are an interesting group. The latest is the garage makeover. I'm pretty sure this is now dubbed the "Formal Dining Room/Party Room" ... they have a recliner, a rocking chair, and a few other mismatched chairs sitting around a card table. The music blares from the stereo that's in the mini-van parked on the other side of the formal dining room/party room. I suppose it could be worse. I suppose we could wake up to this in the morning ...

TGFL - Thank God For Lysol

Yahoo! We made it to Little League registration! Glad (and somewhat surprised) he didn't change his mind. I was expecting him to change his mind on the way there. I am very excited for him to play. His "best" friend Josh is next door, but he is only there on the weekends. And because Cameron goes to a small private school, he doesn't really know any kids his age in the neighborhood that go to the nearby elementary school. Cam has said he wished there were other kids around to play with during the week, so I think this will be a great opportunity for him to make some new friends and get rid of some of that infinite energy! Although he's not showing it as much as I am, go figure, I think he's really pumped for it. Bryan made fun of me at sign-ups because I was asking one of the coaches about what their uniforms would be like, the type of shoes they'll need, you know, the important stuff. I don't see anything wrong with that - these are things moms need to know! Anyway, we should get a call from his coach at the end of February with the details about his schedule, team name, etc. I'll post that info in case anybody wants to take a trip out here for Little League spring training - opening day is March 29. But if you can't, you can be sure I'll post plenty of pictures!

So I don't know if my husband has his co-workers to thank but I think he's got the flu. Hmmm. Maybe he got it from the lady I work with. Anyway, I'm sure some of you can relate, but I'm sorry, I would much rather be home with a sick child for a week than a sick husband for even one day. :) I do have sympathy for him, I know it sucks. He was feeling kinda crappy over the weekend, mostly coughing and achy feeling, but REALLY not doing so hot today. Cameron and I were in his room reading last night before he went to bed and I hear Bryan come upstairs coughing. I yelled out to him and asked if he took his medicine. He said he did and then went to bed. Cameron looks at me and says "I"m sure he didn't. You should go check it downstairs." Hilarious. He knows his daddy so well.

Out of the mouths of babes

These are great! Thanks Aunt Rex and Grandma for sending them on! These remind me of when Cam was in kindergarten, his first year at Freedom Christian. It was December and he told me they had learned about the three wise guys in school that day. Such a proud moment.


Dear God, Instead of Letting people die and haveing to make new ones why don't you just keep the ones you got now? -Jane

Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed in church. Is that ok? -Neil

Dear God, I think the stapler is one of your greatest inventions. -Ruth M.

Dear God, In bible times did they really talk that fancy? -Jennifer

Dear God, I think about you sometimes even when I'm not praying. -Elliott

Dear God, I am Amearican. What are you? -Robert

Dear God, Thank you for the baby brother but what I prayed for was a puppy. -Joyce

Dear God, I bet it is hard for you to love all of everybody in the world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. -Nan

Dear God, Please put another Holiday in between Christmas and Easter. There is nothing good in there now. -Ginny

Dear God, If you watch in Church on Sunday I will show you my new shoes. -Mickey D.

Dear God, If we come back as something please dont let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her. -Denise

God, I would like to live 900 years like the guy in the bible. Love, Chris

Dear God, If you give me genie lamp like Alladin I will give you anything you want except my money or my chess set. -Raphael

We read Thos. Edison made light. But in Sun. school they said you did it. So I bet he stoled your idea. Sincerely, Donna

Dear God, If you let the dinosaur not exstinct we would not have a country. You did the right thing. -Jonathan

Dear God, Please send Dennis Clark to a different camp this year. -Peter

Dear God, Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother. -Larry

I only know the names of two angels, Hark and Harold. ~Gregory, 5

Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it. ~Olive, 9

It's not easy to become an angel! First, you die. Then you go to Heaven, and then there's still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes. ~Matthew, 9

Angels work for God and watch over kids when God has to go do something else. ~Mitchell, 7

My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science. ~Henry, 8

Angels don't eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows!!! ~Jack, 6

Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead. ~Daniel, 9

When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath, somewhere there's a tornado. ~Reagan, 10

Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy. If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow. Then when it gets cold, angels go south for the winter. ~Sara, 6

Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who's a very good carpenter. ~Jared, 8

All angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn't go for it. ~Antonio, 9

My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth. ~ Lynn , 9

Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal sick animals and pets. And if they don't make the animals get better, they help the child get over it. ~Vicki, 8

What I don't get about angels is why, when someone is in love, they shoot arrows at them. ~ Sarah, 7


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Walmart

Walmart's latest method for saving money: cheap uniforms.

C'mon - Leave it at home

For those of you who work in an office environment, I know you can relate. Why do people feel it's okay to come to work when they are hacking, sneezing, sniffing, snorting (you get the picture) and obviously battling something other than a seasonal allergy? Go home. Seriously. Get out of here. Why do you think we have sick time? When I got to work today, one of the women who sits in the same area comes up to me - before I have even taken my coat off - and says "You might wanna hit Walgreens for some Airborne or Zicam - I don't know what I got, but it's REALLY nasty! I'm coughin' stuff up and then runnin' to the bathroom to ... you know ... it's pretty yucky!!" Happy Friday to me, eh?

First - Gross. That's all, just gross.

Second - I don't know you that well - in fact, I don't even know what your last name is. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much information.

Third - Could you not have sent me an email if you were so inclined to provide a daily health report? Did you have to come into my clean healthy space and infect it with your germs?

And Last - WHY ARE YOU HERE? Which was my one and only response to her, "And you're here today, why?" She laughed like I was making a joke. Not sharing the humor honey. Seriously - do not come to work, stay home.
To top it off, she's got a big ol' box of See's candy on her desk and wants to know if I want to "snag a few chocolates". She then proceeds to identify them by touching each one. I don't think so. But thanks.

Little League!

I saw a flyer for Little League registration the other day, and mentioned it to Cameron. In the past he has been very defiant about not playing - just no desire whatsoever. However, as it is with so many other issues, if this ONE time I didn't mention it, and he found out about it and actually WANTED to play, I would have been in the doghouse. So I mention it to him, and lo and behold, he responds with a "Yeah, that would be pretty cool!” Well registration is tomorrow, and he hasn't changed his mind yet. I guess that's a good sign. Deciding he "probably should get in some practice", he and Bryan hit the backyard to play catch (i.e.: working on actually watching the ball so he knows when it's in his mitt). They switch from catching drills to hitting which means the baseball is tossed aside and the tennis balls come out. (Absolutely NO issues in this department - hence all the tennis ball marks on my windows). Now those of you who are familiar with Shelby know that these are HER toys and god forbid you use them without her. Needless to say, the "girls" had to play their own game of catch to distract her from stealing from the boys. I then am suckered into playing catcher. Now Cam was hitting great with me pitching underhand, but surprisingly just as great when Bryan was pitching to him as if he was in the World Series. A few of those pitches hit me in the thigh and the forearm, which definitely left some pretty hues of black and blue. I mentioned to Cam that he'd probably need to get a cup. He looks at me, and I know that he has no idea what I'm referring to. I ask him if he knows what I'm talking about and he says, "It's a type of hat, right?” I thought Bryan was going to pee his pants. Well you know him, he couldn't resist answering Cam what type of "hat" it was for. Then we had the questions (completely serious of course) of “How does it stay in my boxers?” “Well what if it falls out?” “Maybe mommy should get one?” … etc. We had a great time playing, and I really think he's going to stick with this one! You know we're living in a generation full of technology and convenience when after I have recapped our entire afternoon of playing baseball and all that happened to a friend, she says, "Ohhhhhhhh, you were playing real baseball ... I wondered how you got your bruises. I thought you guys had been playing the Wii ..."

Chili

So I had made chili over the weekend to throw in the crockpot for dinner on Monday. (See the recipe below ... it is soooo easy and really good! Shari - I saw your comments on the other post ... and I can relate. Bryan is definitely the cook in our household. Try this one - it might help redeem yourself!). Anyway, Cam actually had some of the leftovers a couple of times in his lunch. I asked him if it was warm enough in his thermos at lunch and he said "kind of." So I warmed it up a bit more the next time. I asked him if the temp was better, it was, and then asked him, "Did you use the crackers for your chili?" I might as well have been from Mars with the look he gave me ... he answers, "Nooo, I used my spoon ..."

Had to laugh on that one. So technical. I guess "use" wasn't the best word choice for my question ...



Easy Crockpot Chili
6-8 servings - 20 min. prep

1 lb. hamburger
1 large onion, chopped
1 16 oz. can black beans - undrained
1 16 oz. can garbanzo beans or chick peas - undrained
1 16 oz. can kidney beans - undrained
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 16 oz. can tomato sauce
1 packet chili seasoning

1. Cook hamburger and onion in frying pan over medium high heat
2. Drain off fat and transfer cooked meat and onion to crockpot
3. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well
4. Cook on high 6-8 hours

What a softie ...

For a 7 year old who thinks he's so tough, this picture certainly reveals the true side of Cam. The picture is of Cameron and Lucia (Lucy), the daughter of a girlfriend. She is about 2 months old (?) in the pic. He held her the entire time we visited despite the reassurance from Emily that he could put her down anytime. Not once did she fuss, but was completely enthralled with him. I think it's safe to say he felt the same way ...

Let's give this a shot!

Well ... this blog sounds good in theory. However, I feel as if I'm "writing" in a journal or diary - both of which I was never faithful with. Like most young girls, I wanted a diary for Christmas or my birthday - mainly because the thought of having my own key to something was so cool. However, I would only write in it for a few days. (Kind of sounds like every single one of my New Year's Resolutions ...). This usually lasted until about the first week of January or so: about the same time that I was done writing about what I got for Christmas and what I did over Christmas vacation. At any rate, I thought this would be a great venue for keeping you all up to date on our happenings. So many of our friends and family members are out of state, which makes it hard to keep in touch sometimes. Sitting in front of a computer all day (at work and again at night doing my schoolwork) may ultimately help with the success of this blog. If nothing else, it will be as good a place as any to share all those pictures stored on my camera just waiting to be viewed! Feel free to leave a comment or send an e-mail, both of which will help me overcome that feeling of "Dear Diary ..."