Just a Ramble

Joe is still cruising through the A to Z Mysteries. He's trying to read all of The Ninth Nugget in one day after finding out that his buddy, Jake read two in one day! After a near crisis when he finished The Missing Mummy and didn't yet have the next book...I have now ordered all the way up to Z from the library to have on hand. He has also decided that he'd like to own the whole set of books so he can someday pass them on to his own children. So, I will help him obtain the books by checking out thrift stores and used bookstores and asking around if anyone has any books they no longer want.
We had a fun couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa. Lots of girl and boy time this trip. The girls all got pedicures and spent most of yesterday shopping and even went out to lunch. We have a family wedding this summer and we found beautiful dresses for the girls and shoes to match. I'll get pics on here eventually. Joe and Grandpa hung the tire swing, went to Lowes, worked around the house, went to McD's and made a trip to Target for a Lego car.
Grandpa made his famous pizza for us last night. He makes the best ever Thai Chicken Pizza! Then we sang Happy Birthday to Grandma and celebrated with lemon bars while watching Disney's "Oceans," as well as some of our favorite family "funniest home videos."


I completed the above puzzle in about two days' time which included staying up half the night last night because I just couldn't quit. This was the. best. puzzle. ever. My Spring Break was complete and I now feel ready to tackle the remainder of our school year and get back into normal life. Whatever that is. :0)
In other news...I am going back on The Maker's Diet starting probably Monday. I need to do some shopping and meal planning before I jump in. It's a great diet but the first two weeks are pretty hard because it's a cleansing period and your choices of foods to eat are pretty slim. It's a 40 day diet and I may not go the whole 40 days but I'm determined to use at least 3 or 4 weeks of this diet to get me back to making better choices and also hopefully jumpstart some weight loss. Once I start losing weight it's easier to keep it going. Last time I went on this diet I dropped weight like crazy at the beginning and in total over the course of 4 or 5 months I lost 25 pounds and felt great. I want that again. I'm upping my time at the gym and sort of enjoying it. I've got lots of books on my nightstand to read. Right now I'm reading Pretty in Plaid by Jennifer Lancaster. She's really funny, it's not fiction, more biography. She's the author of Such a Pretty Fat that I read last year. My next read is going to be The Heavens Before by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow. It is a christian fiction book set at the time of the Great Flood. I've actually read the first chapter or so and am already into it. It's the first in a series and I already have the second one--He Who Lifts The Skies. I know there's a third one as well but can't remember the name. Also on my nightstand is Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani, this is the third in the series that starts with Big Stone Gap. They are simple, slice of life books and I've really enjoyed the first two. And, lastly, The Widow's Season. This was recommended on a blog I read and is sort of a ghost story. With the kids we are starting a few books this week--A Childhood of Famous American's biography of Walt Disney, The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare, and The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis. I'm not sure that I'll have all of them going at once but I may read one in the morning and one in the evening. I'm looking forward to getting back into school, I'll be blogging a lot of our school journey this spring as I process what is working and what isn't.
Okay, time to go figure out dinner....Peace out my friends. :o)