here it comes

diarrhea of the mouth that is...


This morning (in the shower) I was formulating a blog post just like a do every morning. It was a good story, it had highs and lows, a little love and war, parenting advice and a bonus freebie. Then I turned the shower off and it all went down the drain, just like it does every morning.

By the time I got upstairs to my coffee two kids were up and there was no more quiet time for mom. So here I sit while the house is in chaos typing up a post because I love you. I can't even hear myself think right now let alone form a complete thought and put it into a sentence. Hence, diarrhea of the mouth.

Are you ready? Wait for it...

It is SO STINKING HOT OUTSIDE. I can hardly breathe. I think it was last week when I was complaining about the air being cold and hurting my lungs on our morning routine. This week the air is so think I can chew it. I took my workout wear off this morning and it was as wet as my swimming suit. Ew. Sorry. Good thing I am a go with the flow kinda gal and these temperature changes don't stop me from working out. I am loving our early morning routes. It has been nuts these last two weeks with one or more of us always on vacation so I have been changing it up. My muscles are screaming at me but I sure do like not gaining anything because I have been eating CRAP.

My (smart) sister is running the concession stand at the youth games. I volunteered (stupidly) to help her out. Four or five nights a week I make chocolate covered rice crispy bars and popcorn treats to sell at the counter. We are usually down there by 5pm and things don't quiet down until after 10 most nights. It is exhausting. Then getting up early to walk and run. But that isn't the half of it. Do you know how hard it is to be around all that food all night long? I started the summer out feeding my kids supper before we went down and then they begged me for food all night long and I eventually gave in and fed them chips and cheese, walking tacos, bbq's, hot dogs, fruit and yogurt and veggies and ranch and a Gatorade with laffy taffy, ring pops, super ropes and rice crispy bars for dessert. Then I got smart and stopped feeding them supper before we went. Yep, I am a smart mom :)

The garden (yep this is how my brain works no transitions) is BURSTING with strawberries and spinach and lettuce and cilantro. I am so proud of those little green plants. I took photos about a week ago but they have changed so much it isn't even worth posting them. We get an ice cream bucket of strawberries about every other day. I have to cover the plants with tulle so the birdies don't eat them. We have been stuffing our faces with the berries. There is just no comparison. It makes the ones at the grocery taste like paper. Ours are tiny and misshapen and as sweet as honey. YUM. I have so many I don't know what to do with them. Do I freeze them? I am not much of a jelly maker but I may have to start. This is a lot of strawberries. The best crop we have ever had. I am dreaming of a balsamic vinaigrette with the spinach and strawberries and sugared pecans...yum.

Maleah made an AWESOME catch last night at the ballgame. The team we played was very good at the plate and hit the ball every time. It was the last inning and they were popping up every time. Our team is still in that stage where they are mostly afraid of the ball. They are little, ages 10 and under, and you can just see the fear in their face and they back up and hold their glove out while their other arm shields their body. Maleah, on the other hand, is a chatter box and she is always yelling out things on the field. She is telling the girls to watch or get ready or shouting encouraging phrases to her teammates to play. She yelled out, " Don't be afraid of it - catch that ball" right before a high pop came right to her. She stepped forward to it, caught it and immediately got rid of it back to the pitcher. I was screaming, "Nice catch, Mia" from the stands and she was already thinking about her next play. It must be something in her blood. It's a desire to play and run and never give up. She got herself out of a pickle last night, too. Just plain outran the second and third basemen to reclaim her base. "SAFE" the ump yelled and she didn't even blink. She put her hands on her knees and watched the batter so see when she could run again. It is a joy to watch her. I love to see her face so caught up in the game and her knowledge of the sport surprises me every time I see it. I am so blessed.

Gavin loves the game as well, has since he was 18 months old. That boy was born with a baseball glove on his hand I think. But lately, the fishing pole has taken over. He has always loved throwing a line in and he has this classmate that loves to fish, too. Last week his mom took the boys down to the part of the river that flows through town and they both caught walleye. If you could have seen the look in Gavin's face. He was so proud of that catch. He has begged to go everyday since. Almost makes me want to learn how to put a worm on a hook, ALMOST. Ryan went out the other day and out fished his buddy for the first time, EVER. It was a good week here for fishermen and it was in our own backyard, too:) I do love a good walleye baked in butter with a little lemon...mmmmmm.

Speaking of fish (the kids are engrossed in PBS cartoon so my brain is coming together now enough for smooth transition into my next topic). I got two free samples of fish oil and started taking them in the morning with my protein shake and my vita slew (I like to call it that it reminds me to eat or else I have vita slew in my belly urping up my throat all morning). I take a multi vitamin, calcium with added vitamin d (EVERYONE NEEDS TO ADD VITAMIN D if you don't do it shame on you) vitamin a and lysine. I added the fish oil this past week. The first pack was three or four pills and I didn't have a problem with it. The second pack I began a couple of days ago. Different brand. Same size pill. Very similar. Same nutritional info. on the package. Same benefit. I figured I was safe. SO WHY AM I BURPING UP FISHY GUNK ALL DAY LONG. It is terrible. I shouldn't take the last two. So I know for a fact that I will not buy this brand. Too bad I threw the other sample package away so I will never know the one that did not give me fish indigestion And that,my friends, is why the Lord created free samples :)

So I was bound and determined to get a "good" meal in yesterday because we have been eating chips and cheese and hot dogs and tacos and crap for weeks upon weeks. I spent all morning mixing up turkey meatballs and rolling them and baking them. I had a few cans of progresso light creamy mushroom soup I was going to throw them in the crock with and serve it over penne with spinach salad. I was cooking and slaving away and the house smelled like onion heaven when I popped open a couple of cans of soup and dumped them in the crock. I stirred it ever so gently so as to not break the turkey balls and this foreign smell hit me. It smelled weird...like...fishy...like... I RAN to the trash to get the soup can and read the label "Light New England Clam Chowder"! That is the story of my life.

There you have it.  A post with no photos. I HAVE photos. I do. I just don't have enough patience to wait for the upload.

May your 4th of July be safe and blessed.

Ew, I just burped fish breath. Gross.