Turning 36

For some reason, 36 seems MUCH older than 35... 35 didn't bother me, even with the extra fuss that was being made about me hitting that milestone because I was pregnant.
The closer I get to my birthday, the more I am dreading it. 36 just feels old, like when you are a kid and someone tells you they are 36 and you think they are on the verge of dying old!
It is usually the ages that end in 5 that bother me. 25 SUCKED! I had a quarter-life crisis because I was not where I thought I would be at 25. It was almost bad enough to be classified as a nervous breakdown.
Maybe since 35 didn't bother me, it is catching up with 36... so, I am trying to find some fun things about turning 36, so far I have:
I can now legally covet someone half my age! Not a very practical perk, but fun to know in case my husband up and leaves me. 'Cause, you know, a hot 18 year old would totally want to hook-up with a mother of 4...
and that would be all that I have come up with so far!

On the bright side; I will be celebrating my birthday with a husband I adore, and 4 really great children by my side. It really could be a lot worse.

Social Media

I have been a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) for almost 7 years now, which can get really lonely when you don't have tons of extra money to go out to lunch or shopping everyday (or even every week/month). So, years ago, I joined MySpace to have a way to connect with the outside world, while staying on my couch. I started blogging, and became a member of a community like no other that I have encountered. I "met" people from as far away as Australia, and as close as right here in my state. My new friends were with me through everything; raising my two oldest girls, a heartbreaking miscarriage, my pregnancy and birth of my third daughter, all of life's ups and downs. I look back at my 500+ blogs sometimes to reminisce. One day I need to find a way to save them all... Like so many other people, I left MySpace for Facebook. Blogging was replaced with playing Scrabble (or some derivative) and status updates. And boy, did it also bring people from the past out of the woodwork! I was now connected to people I hadn't seen or heard from in close to 20 years. As someone who moved the summer between middle school and high school, I always had two groups of childhood friends, and Facebook has allowed me to be a part of both again. The people who were most important to me on MySpace also emigrated to Facebook, so our electronic friendships have been able to continue and grow. None of us blog anywhere near as much as we used to, but I don't feel like we are missing out on each other's lives because of it, now we have groups to share private things, walls to let each other know when we are thinking of them, and pictures! oh so many pictures! There are people whom I have never even spoken to on the phone that I consider my closest friends because of these sites. My Facebook family (some of which are ACTUAL family members) have been through another pregnancy and birth with me, along with the daily trials of having a large family in a (very) small house! When we do meet in person, it isn't like we are meeting for the first time, but more like we are just old friends continuing a conversation. And now, there is Google+. Wow, what a difference. While I don't see myself ever leaving Facebook "for" G+, it has been an amazing experience so far. On G+, I feel like I am seeing the world through other people's eyes. I am not sure if it is because of the people in my circles, or because of the platform, but it is inspiring. I am learning about myself through the pictures, links and posts of others more than I ever did on Facebook. Some of it may be because there is so much happening in the world right now. It may also be because my Facebook feed is a little more cluttered, so the influential things get lost. Whatever the reason, I am thankful for the light that G+ is shining on my life. And now that I have officially made myself feel like a geek who sits at her computer all day, I am going to get dressed and head out into the real world, where I can take pictures to post on my pages. (my apologies if this is all squished together in one big paragraphs, I have tried numerous ways to separate it, but it doesn't seem to be working)

The Reservoir

The town reservoir is 1.1 miles from my house, I know it is 1.1 miles because my neighbor adds that distance to her total exercise count on the days that she runs to get there instead of driving. It is beautiful, a man-made lake, complete with ducks, geese, and to my surprise today, at least 1 large turtle. Many people from the area go there to walk their dogs, power walk, jog or flat out run. It is 1.6 miles around, with lots of benches, water stops every quarter-mile, gazebos and sunrise/sunset decks. Lately, the reservoir has been helping me lose the last of the 50+ extra pounds I had lurking around after my son was born. I had been going with a friend, but circumstances changed and now I mostly go either by myself (that usually only happens on weekends) or with my husband. During the week, I always have my younger two kids with me, which can be exercise in itself, but that is mostly exercise in patience, which doesn't burn as many calories! ;) I don't know what I am going to do when the weather gets too cold to go, I may just have to bundle the kids up like they are auditioning for a remake of Christmas Story and go anyway! I keep saying that I am going to bring my "real" camera with me one day, but for now, I take pictures with my phone, which have gotten significantly better since I upgraded to the iPhone 4s.

Lots of people bring their dogs... ours gets more attention than most.

Our first snow of the year came earlier than usual, and the reservoir was even more beautiful than usual.

Ice on the railing makes for a nice picture.

This is the "straightaway", the only part of the loop that is not curved for more than a few feet.

My husband tried to speed up our progress by strapping the toddler to his back, she liked it for a few minutes, but then was back down making it take way too long to get around.

The changing leaves make for some great scenery.

If it wasn't for this sign, I wouldn't know that there were catchable fish in the water!

I am not sure what kind of bird this guy is (you may have to look closely) but he was hanging out with the ducks and geese, showing off!

Here is another shot of him when I got closer, but he had put his wings down... what the heck is he?

Most of the benches have little dedication plaques on them, this is the only one I have seen that doesn't, it seems so lonely.

Our 2 year-old is very motivated by Skittles apparently, today, she jogged over a 1/2 mile just to get some. There are distance markers every 1/4 mile, and each time she passed one, she got another Skittle...

She was like the Energizer Bunny!

And making his first appearance today, the TURTLE! So, that is how I spend about an hour most mornings. I am back down to my pre-pre-pregnancy size (meaning the size I was 2 kids ago!) and feeling good. The kids love the fresh air, and I love being out in the sunshine.

They all need to die...

I went 35 years without ever seeing a real live louse. 35 long, wonderful lice-free years. We even made it through my oldest daughter's first 2 years of public school without incident. Looks like the third year was the charm for us... I have been battling those tiny, disgusting f*#&s for WEEKS now! We treat them, their heads are clean, we go long stretches of time without seeing any creepy-crawlies and then out of nowhere. MORE!!! I am not dealing with it very well, I don't want to hug my own children because I am afraid that they have bugs on them that will then get on me. I have been itchy for almost a month now, my scalp hurts from me constantly digging at it, even though every time my husband checks, I am completely bug free. Who knows how much longer this will go on, or how much longer I can deal with it before I need to be institutionalized. I may just shave all of our heads and throw out everything soft in the house. We will see.... By the way, trying to get a two year old to sit still so that you can pick tiny little bugs out of her hair is one of the MOST difficult things I have ever done. It is mentally and physically challenging and leaves me exhausted; don't even get me started on trying to wash the pesticides and such out of her hair...