BYOC!!! Bring Your Own Crazy!!

It’s Friday – so it’s time for Drazil’s


BYOC – Bring Your Own Crazy!

We answer 5 questions to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break! Copy to your own blog and enjoy!





1. Do you have any siblings? What is your relationship with them? Good, bad, ugly?



I have one sister who is two years younger than I. We get along very well and only live about 15 minutes from each other. She has the two most beautiful girls in all the world – in fact here’s a picture! Some relative gave the girls these dresses and my sister told them – you can’t wear those, you have to be under six years old to want to wear such a cutesy dress. (they are 8 and 10). But being related to both of us, they had to put them on and mug for the cameras – and if that’s not one of the cutest pictures ever, I don’t know what is.

2. Let’s talk pizza. Do you prefer homemade or restaurant? What toppings are your fave?



um… homemade? What is this that you speak of??? I’m confused.



I like tomatoes and onions on my pizza, I also like sausage and white pizza with pesto sauce.



3. When is the last time you cried – in sadness and in joy?



Jeez. I’m really not a crier. But there are certainly things in my life that I cry over occasionally.



4. Do you own a gun – one that is specifically yours? Do you know how to use it?



I do not have a gun, nor have I ever shot one, though learning to shoot is definitely something on my wish list. I think I have an unhealthy fear of guns and I’d like to get over the fear of them and be left with the healthy respect they are due.



5. Repeat question. Summarize your week!



My week has been busy as always… Tommy went 4 for 5 in his baseball game last night and on the one strike out he did have he stole first. He was over the moon with how well he did and well that’s a lovely thing to see.



Tonight we’re going to party… and this is what it’s called:



3rd semi bi tri occasionally annual Post Easter Peep Roast 4/20 any time after 6pm.



We’re going to be roasting and otherwise trying to destroy old, stale peeps. Do I have fun friends or what?!?!



Tomorrow Tommy has an 8am baseball game, Jason has a 2pm flag football game, and Tom has a 5pm soccer game. It’s supposed to rain so I’m not sure what we will or won’t actually get in. Unfortunately for the parents, the soccer fields are turf so the likelihood of that being canceled is almost zip!



On Sunday we’re going down to DC to see a play a friend of ours is in – I think it is somehow about Spiderman, but that’s all I know.



I hope everyone has a great week!!

What is different for you?

Hi all. 

I am a lousy bandster and it shows in the 15 lbs I’ve gained in the last few months.  I’ve never had an easy time with my band, but I don’t blame my band – it certainly doesn’t make me want to run out and have more surgery as seems to be the trend when someone has a hard time lately.  I blame me.  Let me say, I know a few people who had legitimate problems with their bands and honest to god needed medical intervention and I am sorry they had to go through another surgery, but am happy there were options out there for them.  I don’t think that explains this larger….. interest out there in revision surgery – but that’s a whole other story.

I still believe my band is a wonderful tool designed to help me lose weight, but I just haven’t figured out how to use it yet.  After my last fill/overfill/unfill event where I ended up .25cc more filled – I can now eat absolutely anything; bagels and eggs in the morning through French fries in the evening.  (I’ve not been gorging on these things at all, but I have tested them all out because it seemed even the couple of dietary limitations I had were gone and they are.)

I am a believer that ideally with the band there wouldn’t be foods you ‘couldn’t’ eat, but I also believe there is something I still haven’t figured out.  When I have been overfilled, I can feel a definite difference about my thoughts about food. I am just not as hungry, and I just don’t think about food in the same way, or as often.  I haven’t yet found that when I am able to eat solid food.

I asked some of my friends what it means when they say – you have to “work your band” or “use your band”.  And the answer I got was it means you have to listen to your body.  That when you have a band your body will tell you when it’s time to stop eating and you have to learn to hear how your body communicates and when your body is talking to you – and then you have to learn to listen and stop eating at that point – even if you want to keep eating.

So… now I’m asking my broader group of friends… I know it’s different for every person, but I am clearly missing something.  I want to understand better what is different now than before I got my band other than the scars on my stomach. 

How do you use your band?  How to you work your band?  Are your thoughts on this different than then the first answers I’ve gotten?  How does your body communicate to you?  What does your body tell you?

Thanks in advance for your feedback and I hope you all have a great week!!

BYOC!!! Bring Your Own Crazy!!

It’s Friday! That means it’s time for Drazil's BYOC. Bring Your Own Crazy! We answer 5 questions in an effort to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break! Copy to your own blog and enjoy!

1. Whether you’re a parent or not….what do you think the appropriate age is to talk to a child about “the birds and the bees”?

Well… Actually I like the idea of younger… 10ish.  Though that only happened with one of my kids.  I am a firm believer in answering any question that is asked and letting the child direct their learning on this subject – however… again – that only worked with one of mine.

Picture this…. I’m flat on my back laying on ice having thrown my back out slipping on the ice when my then 10 year old oldest son comes into my bedroom and locks the door and says;

Mom, I keep hearing on the radio that parents should be talking to their kids about sex; let’s talk.

Me: (while not passing out) okay, sure.

(I was IMing with my friend Farrah at the time and I’m sure I said something like – holy fucking mother of god, I am not ready for this at the moment.

I started with… ok, well do you know what the word sex means? – nope, he tells me.  So I described in clinical terms what it meant and then… my lovely and extraordinarily inquisitive child (this and his looks are the only things he got from me) proceeded to ask me more and more specific and pointed questions for the next 45 minutes.  He kept asking more and more follow up questions to understand every damn thing; up to and including how the menstrual cycle works with respect to timing a pregnancy.

The whole time I was dying inside but maintained an air of … ‘this is a perfectly normal conversation to be having’ on the outside.  Finally I had enough though when he asked me;

“so, how does it feel when the penis goes in and out and in and out of the vagina?”  I was totally cooked by that point and said; “I don’t have one honey, so you’ll have to ask daddy that question.  I know it feels good, but beyond that, I just don’t know.”  (can we say… pass the buck)

Then… poor husband who is putting child B to bed is blind sided by the eager 10 year old.  Dad, I have a question for you that Jason is too young to hear.  Dan hears the question and comes into our room and closes and locks the door… hey wait, this feels familiar.  WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN TELLING THAT CHILD!?!?

Tom had follow up questions for me the next day that included… “exactly what position are the man and the woman in when the penis is in the vagina?”  This was as I was driving the boy to school and luckily I did not drive off the side of the road.  Flashing through my brain were all the possible answers to that question when I finally gave myself a mental bitch-slap and described the missionary position thinking - he’s on his own for the rest of them!!

2. What’s the color scheme in your bedroom?

As is true in my entire house – green (sage-y in this case), red (burgundy in this case) and yellow (more a … deep, brown-y yellow in this case).
3. What kind of shampoo and conditioner do you use on your hair?

I use Deva products for curly hair and I love them!!.
4. And since it’s nearly summer time…do you paint your own toes, go some place for pedicures or not paint your toes at all? What’s your fave toe color?

My toes are always painted and I love a good pedicure, but often do it myself because I never get around to making an appointment.  I painted mine just the other day a very crayola type purple.  I am a little crazier on my toes than my fingers – but still not all that crazy – I don’t do blues or greens, so it’s usually hot pink, or red, or orange or purple.
5. Repeat question: Summarize your week!

It’s been a good week for the most part.  I’ve watched some friends go through some hard times and that’s been hard to do from afar.  We were very hectic this week with Dan gone for three days and having some sort of sports practice each night.  The weekend only continues… baseball game tonight at 5, then another one tomorrow at 8am, flag football at 2:30 and we’re skipping Tom’s 5pm soccer game and he’s going to the Wizard’s basketball game.  There’s talk now that we’ll all be going, but am not yet sure about that one.

THREE things for a Saturday...

So... thing number ONE.

I went and picked up my 13 year old from two hours of soccer practice today.

T: will you put the top down? (he likes to have it down in front of his friends)
Me: No
T: Oh man, why not?
Me: It's 59 degrees (which is almost doable but damn cold if you have to be on a highway which we did).
T: whine, whine, whine
Me: Stop it now.
T: yes ma'am. (he's a very smart boy)

But then...  Oh. My. God.  That boy smelled AWFUL!  I mean, truly, truly awful.  It was stunning!  I couldn't take a full breath without wanting to die.

Me: Good God, you smell awful.
T: (with the sweetest, most proud smile he has) yeah, I know.
Me: OMG
Very erratically I pulled the car to the side of the road and put the top down.

Never in my life, have I been so happy to own a convertible. 



Thing number TWO

Band the wonder dog strikes again.

The idiot dog is outside barking his head off which, as we all know is not an unusual thing, and he's totally ignoring my calls from the window (which works about half of the time).

I head downstairs to get him inside.  He ignores me when I call from the slider in the kitchen (that works 90% of the time).  Did I mention I hate my dog?  I go out to the railing of the deck to see what he's barking at and I'm treated to my mean little dog doing battle with a little garter snake.  He kept grabbing the poor snake and whipping it ferociously back and forth.  Unfortunately, by the time I'd gotten out there he'd totally beaten the thing into submission as there was blood and guts being whipped around as well.  It was really delightful.  I'm so happy to own this dog, have I mentioned that lately.  Every few seconds he'd pounce on the thing that was now just about in two pieces and start whipping it back and forth again before releasing it and jumping back out of the way.  Again and again he did this until there were seemingly two snakes.  ICK!!!

I will say this is only the second time I can remember that Band managed to do something disgusting while the husband was home - so I can thank him for that as I was able to get Dan to come down and get rid of the dead and bloody snake pieces while I took the idiot dog in for a bath so we could wash the snake blood and guts off of him.

So... how has your morning been?

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

 

The best picture we could get of the blood on the stupid dog's back

Thing number THREE

Husband is cleaning out his closet.  This is LONG overdue.  Last weekend he took out all non-clothes items.  It took hours.  He has a nice sized closet, but it's not all that huge.  He bagged up 12 pairs of tennis shoes to give away, kept two as back ups (not the normal ones he wears, just back ups) and threw two pairs away.  And that was just tennis shoes.  Also in there were dolls action figures, presents we hadn't given the boys, books, comic books, and just all manner of other things.  There ended up being three large trash bags full of give aways from the first weekend.

Today he's working on his shirts clothes.  He has filled four large trash bags full of shirts he no longer wears - let me repeat that.  FOUR LARGE BAGS of shirts to give away.  (I'm still shaking my head).  It's sort of watching one of those little cars where a million clowns all pile out.  Every time I think he has to be done he pulls out more - it's just crazy.

After he got rid of the four bags of shirts (that makes seven LARGE bags to be given away - seven!) there were still so many shirts left it was ridiculous.  I swear he has enough to not have to do laundry for at least three months.

Some more pictures... of the shirts he is keeping!  This does not include the ones he gave away.  My husband is a pack rat.