A Trip to Pumpkinland!

Early last week, The Husband and I realized that we hadn't made our annual pilgrimage to the Pumpkin Farm/Autumnal Entertainment Complex that we like to visit every year. We realized it and so did approximately 47 million other families in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, New York, etc. Evidently this particular Pumpkin farm is the ONLY one in all of Eastern North America. I kid a little bit of course but it sure seemed like we had chosen a really bad day to attend, it was VERY busy to say the least.

It only takes us about 30 minutes to drive there but then it took us almost 45 minutes to park and no, I'm not kidding about that part. I knew it would be busy on the Sunday before Halloween but I have photos of The Son at this particular Pumpkinland from every year since he was a baby so you know, we had to go.

It was especially difficult for me because not only do they have all kinds of fun play areas and lots of pretty orange pumpkins, they also have just about every kind of unhealthy food that I love to eat but shouldn't. Funnel cakes, apple cider donuts, pepperoni bread, freshly made potato chips, apple pies... you get the picture. Guess what else they have though? Apples! It wasn't easy but The Husband and I had an apple as a snack and it was especially good. As I ate my sweet, delicious and healthy apple, I looked around at the other 99,000 people there and noticed that the majority of the people eating the "bad" foods looked like I used to look 73 pounds ago and the fact that I had to "deprive" myself of those fun foods was no longer that difficult of a thing to do. It was a healthy living milestone for me for sure.

Well, the main reason we visited was to take pictures so I'd better get to posting those for you huh? As usual, they came out beautifully, The Son cooperates well and LOVES to get his picture taken. I'm thrilled with the results.















And lest you don't believe I had that apple...


Have a great day everyone! I hope I didn't bore you with too many pictures of my Little Pumpkin.

Bakugan Brawlers Unite!

On Sunday, I asked you if you knew what this is?


No one answered me although I know my Chrissy 'Cuz knows and probably any one else who reads this blog who has a boy around The Son's age. This special little ball of coolness is a Bakugan. A "Ventus Tenticlear" to be exact. This one is one of my favorites. When you place the ball on the card that has a metal core, it springs open to reveal this guy.


Bakugan is a Japanese anime adveture series that has pretty much taken over The Son's every thought, he's become obsessed. Here's a plot synopsis of the show, according to Wikipedia:

In a dimension of Vestroia, a Bakugan called Naga decides to absorb the energy of the two cores that keep the dimensions in place. He absorbed too much of a negative energy found in the Silent Core. The Infinity Core, the positive energy core, has been absorbed with Naga's sister, Wavern.

The story centers on group of friends who find metallic cards which have fallen from the sky. They name themselves the Bakugan Battle Brawlers and consist of seven children: Dan, Shun, Runo, Marucho, Julie, Alice, and later Joe. Together they learn more about the origin of Bakugan, the game involving them, and battle against Hal-G and Naga.

Yeah. I don't really get it either but the important thing is that The Son sure does. It's a very involved show with levels and each color means something specific, it's hard for me to understand. The Husband calls the show, "a half an hour commercial for the toys" and I'd venture to say, he's right. It's also a game. A game, a commercial, a toy... all of the above! ha ha! I've compared it to Pokemon, if you're at all familiar with that but The Son says, it's nothing like Pokemon... whatever kid, to me, it's similar. ;)

The Son has lots of the toys and spends lots of time playing with his Bakugan, drawing pictures of them, making them out of legos and k-nex, etc. Of course for Halloween he decided that he wanted to be "Dan" the leader of the Bakugan Brawlers, that post will come later this week because he sure looked cute for the Y's Halloween party last weekend. For now, I'll leave you with a few more pictures of these cool little toys, I do have to admit that they are like little marvels of toy engineering.

See, he's not lacking in the Bakugan department at. all.

Last but not least, this picture cracks me up. Here he is, Momma's little Bakugan Brawler complete with his dog and a face covered in Nutella from his English Muffin.

I do feel compelled to add that The Son does lots of other things besides sit around and watch Bakugan on TV and then play with the toys. He does do karate, swims and reads plenty of books, although HE may be obsessed with Bakugan, his Mommy and Daddy have figured out ways to set healthy limits and everyone is happy about it in this household... even his Ventus Tentaclear.

Have a great day everyone! (I can't figure out why my spacing is all off... when I go to edit it in the html code area, it still looks fine so it's going to have to stay like this... sorry!)

Two Tenths...

It's been a busy few days although I know you're sick of hearing that from me. I am going to do a quick random thoughts post to sum up my week. Two tenths of these random thoughts will be related to Healthy Living in honor of losing two tenths of a pound this week! ha ha! I know it's not much but it's a loss and after losing 3.5 last week (not to mention a total of 73) I can't expect to have huge losses each week so at this point, .2 is fine.

• I've suddenly realized that the hip pain I was experiencing during my runs is gone. G-O-N-E... Gone! I don't know what the specific reason is but I suspect it's a combination of losing more weight, new sneakers and better form. It seems to coincide with the arrival of new treadmills at the Y. Treadmills that have personal viewing screens which mean that I am staring straight ahead at the TV instead of up at a group TV or down at the image of the red dot going around the virtual track. What ever the reason, I managed to run my treadmill 5K at 30:33 yesterday. I'm running in a race in Philadelphia on Sunday, November 1st and hope that I can manage to get near that 30 minute goal... any suggestions? I'm open!

• I've also realized that really monitoring my sodium intake is helpful in weight loss. I've been trying to cut down on most processed foods and foods that contain any kind of "flavor packets." It's meant a lot less wild mushroom cous cous than I was eating and no more tacos or chicken fajitas with the seasoning packets BUT on a positive note, I feel a lot thinner, no water retention! I've already stopped eating frozen meals except when in a real pinch and then I only choose "Healthy Choice" brand or "Kashi" brand, both brands have lower sodium than some of the other choices. Like I've said before, I don't believe those things have to be cut out entirely, I love a good "Lean Cuisine" but I'm just more mindful of it than I was before. I also happen to be allergic to MSG which is in SO many foods that you don't even realize being mindful of flavor packets in general has been really good for me.
  

• My dog Ziggy is SO cute. He's terribly smart which isn't always a good thing. See that black "box" collar around his neck? That's his "zapper" collar that we control with a remote. It can beep or shock him if he's really naughty. The problem with his intelligence however, is that Ziggy actually knows if we don't have the remote in our hands or if the batteries are dead in his collar. He totally takes advantage of that too. I also wonder why he's so smart, but not smart enough to just realize he should be GOOD! He's incorrigible! Lucky for him, he's cute. This is his patented super-cute head tilt. We love when he does this.
  
  

• I keep having dreams (like four times now) about getting my nails done. I used to have acrylic nails and really liked them but then just couldn't keep up with the appointments when I wasn't living in The City any more, there's not a nail salon on every corner out here. According to several dream analysis websites, I have a host of subconscious concerns ranging from money to sex (Hi Freud!) personally, I just think I want my acrylic nails back and I'm considering it.
  

• We just got invited to a wedding of people we thought were already married! I LOVE it! It's not a big deal but was quite a funny surprise to me. It also means that I can get dressed up and buy something cute to wear so I was thrilled!
  

• Speaking of wearing something cute, The Husband's holiday party is at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia this year. I'll be wearing the same dress that I buy for the above-mentioned wedding! Should be a good time!

• Do you know what this is? The Son sure does and I'll be doing a post about it soon!
  
  
• We are heading to the Pumpkin Patch/Apple Orchard this afternoon. I need to get my annual pumpkin pictures of The Son. I realized that I really used to look forward to all the junk food I would consume on this annual pilgrimage. Not any more. I'll have to be pleased with just apples, no more funnel cakes, apple cider donuts, apple pie, pepperoni bread. NO MORE! I am thinking of trying to come up with an individual apple crisp recipe tonight though. YUM!
  

• I am having Thanksgiving dinner at my house this year. It will be the first year that we haven't gone out to dinner. While we'll miss visiting with extended family that we usually get to see on that day, I think it will be a nice change and a fun new tradition for us. I'll keep you posted on the menu. I can tell you it WILL include my famous apple pie of which I WILL have a piece, ONE piece, and the rest will be sent away with the guests when they leave. I'm also modifying my recipe so that it will no longer contain Crisco but just butter... no more trans fats in this house!

• I am starting another weight loss/nutrition group on Tuesday, it will probably only be about 8 people (my current group has 16) but any amount is good practice for me so I'm excited. January is also shaping up to bring me even more groups. It's so exciting to have a new career!
  

So there you go, a random thoughts post to get me pretty much caught up with another week of not much posting. I hope you are enjoying what's left of your weekend! Have a great Sunday!

Momma's Little Hip Hop Dancer

I mentioned it a couple blog posts ago, The Son recently performed with his Hip Hop class from the YMCA at the Y's annual "Good Kids Campaign Dinner." He had the best time. He started out a bit nervous but did a fantastic job and ended saying, "I want to do that again." For those of you who know us or have been long time readers, you know that The Husband and I met doing a musical many years ago so we like to think performing is in The Son's genes...

Here's a few pictures for you:

This is evidently an Official Hip Hop Pose. Momma's little thug, I'm oh so proud.

A family shot before the kids went on to perform. Like my dress? Goodwill $5!


Here's a few of the kids waiting to go on, they're all carrying Chicken Noodle Soup for the Y's canned food drive and because one of the songs they danced to was called "Chicken Noodle Soup."



Here's a few of the kids on stage, I was bummed that I couldn't get closer but you can at least see that in this first shot, The Son is in like with all the other kids, (he started out in the back row) as the pictures progress, you might notice that he ends up front and center, in front of everyone. It totally cracked me up. I don't know where he gets that need for attention (looks around sheepishly.)




The second song they danced to was a hip hop version of "Awesome God." I am not very religious but it was a cool song and very appropriate for kids hip hop at the YMCA. The funny thing is though that our little heathen thought it was "Awesome Guy" not God. "Our guy is an awesome guy, he reigns from heaven above, with wisdom power and love, our guy is an awesome guy." LMAO! The Husband set him straight on the correct words. He agreed that that made a lot more sense. ha ha!

All in all, we had a really fun night and the next day I received lots of positive feedback about The Son's performance and stage presence. I think I see an acting career in his future... after the career as a paleontologist and an astronomer of course.

Have a great afternoon everyone. I'm off to the Y for a nice run before I have to pick up The Son and then teach swim lessons and art class. I think this is the last week for art class. Phew! It's been tricky right after swimming... Happy blogging, stay healthy!

Calculations...

The cost of five pieces of black felt = $2.50
The Wal*Mart "girl" pants The Son didn't want to wear = $5.99
Men's size small red sweatshirt = $5.95
Hours spent creating as calculated at a $10 per hour rate = $50 (at least)

... The look on The Son's face when he tried on his Halloween costume and felt instantly transformed into his favorite Cartoon Network character = PRICELESS!

So yes, that's my reason for not blogging about the hip hop performance this weekend. The good news is, that the costume is pretty much completed and I will also be able to show you that soon along with the hip hop photos and details. Have a great Monday everyone! I'm off to the gym this afternoon and swim lessons tonight!

Thank Goodness it's Friday!

I probably don't have any readers left but if you've stuck by me... thanks! I just don't have time to blog anymore what with LIFE and all that kind of stuff. I'm sure you get tired of hearing about how busy CityMomma/CountryMomma is but people, I. Am. Busy. I realized today that working out DOES take up a lot of my "free" time but considering I need to reach my goal weight to really be a good nutritionist and have more groups to work with, I feel like the working out is part of my job so I make an effort to do that over say, cleaning my house or something else constructive like that. ha ha!

Speaking of my goal weight, I lost another 3.5 pounds this week. That makes a total of 73 pounds for me! 73! Yahoo! I will not do a living healthy post today other than to tell you that. I might think of something else this weekend but again, I don't need to say it, I'm going to be busy.

The Son got his school photos back yesterday and I must say, my child is photogenic. I am sure all parents think that, and for most kids, it's probably true but I am simply loving these school photos. He looks like such a big boy... It makes me happy and sad, all at the same time. I'm sure all of you parents out there, understand those feelings.


So sweet, and so proud of himself. Yesterday evening, The Son's hip hop class from the Y danced at the "Good Kids Campaign" dinner and guess who the star of the evening was? I'm sure you realize it was The Son, I took some photos and I'll blog more about that tomorrow or later tonight.

I'm off to get him ready for school and get myself ready for the gym. I'm trying a new pork tenderloin and Bok Choy recipef from Eating Well Magazine for dinner tonight. I'll let you know if it turns out to be delicious. Enjoy your Friday people and as always, if you stop by, please leave a comment!

You know you're busy when...

* You have to make your dinner at 10:30 AM in order to eat something healthy and not be cooking at 8:30 PM when you'll finally get home for the day.

* Because of making dinner, you forgot to write your child's "pick-up" note and had to write it on a paper towel because that's all the bus driver had that would work.

* You don't have time for good blog posts if you also want to get in a nice workout while at the gym before you have to go and pick up The Son from school.

* You keep thinking, "Is it Saturday yet?" and it's only Monday.

* You're worried about having time to make a Halloween costume and Halloween is still over two weeks away. (Doesn't help that The Son wants to be "Dan" from Bakugan and doesn't want a pre-made costume because "Momma can make it much better.")

* You're wishing everyone a "Happy Monday" as you sign off and head out the door after only five measly little blurbs about how you know you're busy!

Happy Monday!