Here is Aaron at one of his recent golf lessons. I think he really enjoyed playing this summer. His last lesson is tomorrow. Then, he will also take Golf as an elective at school after Christmas. I wonder how that is going to work.

My mom and I are taking the kids camping next weekend for Labor Day weekend. Hopefully, there won't be rain like this weekend! We pulled the RV out and filled it up with gas. I think the idle is low because it is dying at the stop signs, but otherwise, it's good to go.

Here is Chewy decorating the furniture last night. He is at the vet right now getting f-i-x-e-d. Shhhhhh. We didn't tell him anything about it.

Today I got a "gift" from one of my cats. Lucas went outside to play and there on the front porch was a carefully placed dead bird. I hope this doesn't become a habit. ...Off to clean it up...

I feel like I've made some permanent changes in my eating habits, so I thought I would list them here.

1. Changed from regular butter and margarine to fat free. There is one called Promise. It tastes okay. Parkay has a fat free spray-on that has the fake taste of buttered popcorn. It gets me by. It is worth it because I'm saving 7 to 9 fat grams per tablespoon which probably translates into an average of 12 to 18 fat gram savings per day when you think of buttering a roll or two with dinner and maybe having a toast with jelly in the morning.

2. I've tried to kick the coke habit (the cola kind) but it has been tough. I love the first few sips of a cold fresh coke. I found some cola can plastic tops so that you can "close" the can and put it back in the fridge. It saves the fizz a bit better than just sticking an open can in there. So now one 12 oz can of coke can easily lasts me all day. This way I don't feel obligated to drink the whole thing at once.

3. I'm reading nutrition labels and I found this website that has every food imaginable in different portions to measure calories, fat, and protein. It also has a "pantry" where you can save what you've eaten during the day and it will keep a running total. Pretty cool.

4. My portion control has really improved since I started writing down what I was eating. I haven't written it down for a while, but after doing it for over a week or so at the beginning I learned about what I could eat during the day. When I'm starving I eat cereal, fruit or graham crackers. I eat a Lean Cuisine every once in a while because that takes all the guess work out of what I'm eating. If I eat whatever the family is eating for a meal, I know I have to keep the main portion size to about a cup.

5. I changed from 2% milk to 1%. Can't even tell the difference.

Biking and Bonding

As I write this my hands and knees are throbbing with pain. Blood is hardened on my kneecaps. My right wrist feels terribly sprained...actually feels broken, but it still moves and the fingers are typing this almost as fast as usual.

Aaron and I went on our first "bike and bond" ride tonight. We were clipping along with ambitions to go all the way around Lake Overholser. The sun was giving way, finally letting the 100 degree temps fall into the high 90's. The wind was blowing through the hair on our non-helmetted heads. We stopped a couple of times to lake gaze and also check out the new playground the city has built on the West side. It is too cool, lots of slides and fun things for little ones to do. We got back on the bikes and headed out for the last stretch home.

The sun was setting now and I was telling Aaron how Lake Overholser used to just be for drugs and making out but now it is getting so beautiful and useful. There were many bikers out there, lots of couples walking across the dam, just gazing and talking. A few dog walkers, and of course, the everpresent fisherpeople. We laughed and I challenged him to a race which lasted all of about 5-10 seconds. He claimed victory as soon as he had a gain on me.

Then, I saw it. I thought about it. I wondered what the best plan of action would be. I chose to do nothing and when my bike and its inexperienced rider failed to go over the huge, metal hose across the middle of the bike trail I was thrown forward, my bike screeched to a halt and the handlebars flipped around twice. My face was spared the pavement by my hands, my knees were not spared. My whole left arm hit the pavement but didn't come out any worse for the wear.

I thought I was ruined plus my bike wouldn't budge. I figured it was trashed. I called for 3boyzdad to come get me, but he didn't answer. I tried my mom, no answer. Turns out, they were talking to each other! Aaron figured out that my handlebars just needed to be straightened back out. I got on and moaned all the way home about how much my wrist hurts and that I think I may need an X-ray. He reminded me that when he thought his foot was broken I just told him to give it time, it would get better. I explained that since I couldn't feel his foot it wasn't a pressing matter to me, but I could feel my wrist! Aren't I terrible.! It is hard to feel someone else's pain.

Lesson of the day: Wear your helmet, and when you fall off your bike, get right back on.

I got a new bike today! I'm so pumped. It is a Schwinn from a bike shop...as opposed to Walmart. I plan to supplement my two workouts a week with a couple of hours of bike riding. The cool thing is the city is working on connecting downtown, Lake Overholser and Lake Hefner all together via bike trails. How fun! I went out today and rode to Lake Overholser from my house and back. The trails there were great so now I just have to work up my stamina. Craziest thing, though, I took the bike out this evening just for the pic and it already has a flat! I'm taking that tire into the shop tomorrow.

This is Callie trying to drink the fishy water!

Had to take Daniel to the Dr. yesterday for a serious ear infection. He got antibiotics and is already much better. Lucas goes today for his 5 year check up. I think there will be a shot involved! Lucas is actually really looking forward to school starting. Two weeks to go.

Later.

Today was finals for the summer semester. Wahoo! It's over for me until August 21st. I know I made an A on my Finance final and an A for the class. And for Management I know I had an A before the final, but I spent all my precious study time on Finance. So management will either be an A or a B.

I spoke to the department chair about graduation and it sounds like I'm on track for graduating in the Spring. I have to get my transcript certified by my advisor, then apply for graduation. I talked to her about the Masters program. It is a new program for the school, there are seven broad business courses to take, none with as much homework as an upper level accounting course.

3boyzdad (whom I'm thinking of renaming Tenderheart because he can't stand to watch such things as Andrea Yates, or imagine taking a stray cat to the pound) started his new job at Dell on Monday and says everyone is really nice and he thinks he is going to like it fine. Their office will have a gym and they will pay him for doing things like joining a walking group and quitting smoking. It does sound like a super structured environment but otherwise very good.