Pinewood Derby races

Today was the Pinewood Derby races at Camp Flying Eagle campground . Thomas got to finally race his car. He was the first up,First to race, He didn't do all that well due to a flaw in one of the left wheels that seemed to have made the car pull to the left thus slowing it down and making it keep coming in last. :( When we test it at home it kept going straight, otherwise we would have remedied that problem beforehand. Anyhow, we watched the other racers, His friend Sammy came in first place of the tigers - his was really fast ! I don't know how he did it, I think it was aerodynamics- where everything was from the back end down like a shark's fin- - he even HAD sharks fins on his car- real cool and fast. Thomas was so proud of the medal he won, he couldn't have cared less if he won or not. That's good sportsmanship right there. Shows he had fun racing and was with his friends. That's all that counts. there were too many that TOO into it- It said in the rule book you couldn't do any special modifications to your car or it would be impounded- we get there and theres people there with their special tupperware and bags underneath to secure their cars , and LUBING the axels, and doing this and that to their cars- ummmm- I thought you had to weigh in and if NEEDED you could add a weight or two BSA approved to make 5 ounces and that was it! I was like dang! These people were obviously trying to bend the rules to cheat inspection! Anyway, it doesn't matter- there was a burr on the back left wheel we discovered when we got home that pulled the car to the left we must have not sanded well enough tha tmade it go so slow- could have been the weight placement in the middle instead of the back too - whadda ya gonna do? live and learn. What's important is we felt and Thomas thought he had the best looking car and said " I never won a gold medal before! when I go to school, I'm gonna bring this in for show and tell for sure! " He loves his medal, he feels like he won first place, he had a blast, and that's all that matters. And the day's still young to go out and have some more fun on this beautiful day.

Derby Car 's Ready!

Well we finally got done making Thomas' Pinewood Derby car for Cubscouts.. And in good time too! The races are tomorrow! I had been after Tom and Thomas to start making the car when Thomas recieved his car or block of wood from scouts at Christmastime! But we figured we had lots of time seeing the races weren't until the end of April. We had a great deal decideing what to make really. that took like a month! first it was Bumblebee from the Transformers, then it was Nemo,then a bonefish, then searching for something cool on the internet with nothing we liked , then we held off a bit , then back to the search and settling on the bonefish only to find it wouldn't come out right , so we settled on a Matchbox car! The car came out looking NOTHING like the model we drew it after, but I think it came out pretty cool anyway! I also found had we went with the bonefish, there was NO WAY we ould have cleared 5 ounces! we just about made it with this car's weight adding weights where we could. e would never have been able to race making the skeleton of a fish! That would have been a show car definitly! I never realized I had such crafty men on my hands! Who'd a thought? It came out beautiful just in the nick of time! Hopefully we bring home a trophy of some sort. - I think we get one anyway just for racing. It should be a fun day no matter how you look at it. These Scouting events always are. Tomorrow we race at 10 Am . Wish us luck! Whether we win or lose it doesn't matter , it' should be just plain fun.

Healthy Smiles

Today the boys had their 6 month dentist appointment. I was a little concerned due to the fact that easter was just past, and Thomas has been really getting into the candy scene recently , and hasn't beeb brushing his teeth as good as he should , and lost some teeth and grew in some permanents and hasn't been taking care of them like he should. This time Brendan was going to get a look at his too. I was concerned he was going to freak out, not want to cooperate, Want to develop this hate for the dentist, the whole bit. It actually went over REALLY well!! Thomas had his xrays, came out with NO cavities, [ can you say WHOO -HOO! ?} Being in his shoes at his ageI can SOO breath a sigh of relief! I went through SOO much hell as a kid with cavities and drilling and pulling , I to this day HATE HATE HATE the dentist! The dental assistant found minimal amounts of plaque on the backs of his front lower teeth , and after that gave him a nice cleaning- done. I was like wow. with all the juice boxes this kid burns through and three musketeers he sneaks or shall I say CONS his dad into buying for him, thats all he had? Cool . I'm always after him to brush his teeth, I'm hoping it paid off! I'm after Brendan too. I scrub him whenever he lets me, and he got checked on my lap, didn't cry, had no cavities, and has a couple more molars that need to come in,as well as an eye tooth thats making its way in some more. Otherwise, he too got a big thumbs up as well. They both got stickers and little toys for being great patients, and I worried over nothing. As for Thomas' big horse front teeth, He's got two smaller ones on the side that are just about to come out so that one missing will have more room to come in and should be making its way down more any time soon. I was wondering if it EVER was gonna come down! It was good news all around! Now off to Religion. Another busy day in the Higdon household...

Made the Honor Roll Again!

Today I went to Thomas' school where Thomas had an awards ceremony where he made the Honor Roll- AGAIN! I'm tellin ya , This kid's on a roll! Not a semester has gone by where he hasn't come home without an award of some sort. this makes his 6th one in 1st grade alone- he got two Positive Behavior awards,one Certificate of Merit,A Student of the Month, and made the Honor roll twice including today's award. and in Kindergarten he got three outstanding attendances, a student of the Month and a Certificate of Merit.Along with the award he gets a "Good Egg Achievement Award From the Broken Egg which is a restaurant in the town of Lakewood ranch here in Florida - you show his report card, with all A's and B;s and he gets a free breakfst. also he gets a free apple juice from Publix supermarket,a free kids meal from Bob Evans for making the Honor Roll- so the whole community gets in on the kid's education which I think is cool! Also, I have a special file on my computer where I scanned all his awards ;). They're starting to accumulate nicely! :) He keeps complaining how he doesn't like school- I don't see why- It seems to like him! Ahh well. He hasn't had the best year making friends this year. They're all in separate classes from his and he doesn't get to see them as much as he wants or go to their houses as they live far away. and the kids IN his class aren't very nice to him. So I can see why he doesn't want to go - but I said he only has a amonth left and to stick it out then no more school and then the fun starts- swim lessons, and Grandpas house, fun times! and summer! For now, just stick it out and keep up the great work! Nice job buddy! I'm so proud of him!

Add a Room, Switch A Room

recently I had transformed the Boys' rooms into two seoarate rooms as I was tired of picking up toys in one room , then moving to the other room and having to pickup as well. I know, they need to start picking up after themselves, as funny as it might be or maybe not, Brendan actually helps me pickup moreso than thomas does. Maybe because he's so used to me picking up after him in the past? well, no more. I took his bed out of his room, and stuck it in Brendan's room as he keppt saying he wanted to sleep in with Brendan. Well, be careful what you wish for my friend! So far, so good. They have been sleeping together just fine. Brendan goes to sleep around 7:30, 8:00, and Thomas 8:30 9:00. so by the time he goes to bed, Brendan's sound asleep and doesn't hear him come in and doesn't wake him up so goes to bed nic eand quiet and they both sleep well. Their clothes both fit well in the same closet, so all their toys were transferred to Thomas' old room as a play room . The like it, I like it, Every ones happy, and it looks nice too. Thomas' friends come over, and they have a place to play and retrieve his games from his closet and toys from one locaton and they all get put back in their same spot . and if I don't feel like cleaning up the mess at the moment, I just close the door till later when I'm ready ... as my neighbor says ;) it all worked out well in the end. Now it's time to tackle some Disney movies I might sell to make money on Ebay - thing is- some might be worth money,and some the boys might still want so I must choose wisely.. sometime projects can be fun when you pick the right ones! Like these were.

Trip To The Highway Patrol

Today I took Thomas to the Florida Highway Patrol to see about getting one step further on his requirements on earning his tiger cub badge for Cub Scouts. We just needed to ask what the Trooper did to help the community, but it turned out, we got alot more than we bargained for! The lady Trooper that came to say hello to Thomas was SO nice and helpful. She asked if Thomas had any questions, and Thomas asked if she ever used any weapons. I was like " what a weird question, but ok. He's 7 and I guess a boy and into that sort of thing.. then asked "do you catch alot of bad guys?" Ok , now we're getting somewhere..., Then "do you like to help people?", as he got more comfortable, more questions started coming out of his mouth . I was impressed! It was like he was conducting his own interview! Before we knew it, the fun part began.. She offered to show him her police car. You wanna see a kid's eyes light up! What do YOU think? well she left, drove her squad car around,and Thomas' eyes lit up. She popped the trunk, and there was her hat in a shell to protect it- I never knew they kept it in a carrier- {so that's how they keep it so nice and tidy looking}, You learn something new everyday! Thomas tried it on for size, Brendan too- they looked too cute! There was this wheel where they trace one point of the scene of an accident to impact point {something like that} - I'd have to say Thomas' favorite item was the baton though for some reason. He kept wanting to hold it and have it taken out. We learned how to hold it and how to use it. Then Thomas got to sit in the squad car- front AND the back- he tried on cuffs too for fun. We slid them on loosely so he could slide his hands out- good photo op. He said - these are like mine at home only they're real! LOL We also turned the lights on and discussed safety like always buckling up because you never know whats going to happen on the road. And you never want to find out the hard way. { Thomas has a nasty habit of unbuckling along the way or not buckling at all no matter how many times we tell him to buckle up while were driving, so we thought if a police officer gave him a talking to, maybe he'd listen}.After bunch of pictures and souvenirs, and a tour of the department, we finally bid the kind Trooper adieu. She did more than her share of coming through, and definitly showed a kid that the police are definitly are our friends and should not be feared whenever we see them on the road as he had in the past. Score one for the good guys!

Brandygirl

I guess there comes a time in every woman's life where they enter the realm of womanhood, whether you are on the brink of becoming, or ARE a teenager, or in this case, a nine month old dog! Yes, Brandy has recently entered that stage. 3 weeks ago she had began spotting, then bleeding, and the poor thing couldn't figure out why we were freaking out and secluding her to her cage and the backyard and the lanai all the time . Everytime she came in the house, she wasn'y allowed to roam free as when she wagged her tail she would go "bloop bloop" and leave these droplets of blood all over the place , so into her cagfe she would go. or out side- at night she would get caged up. This lasted for two weeks. A couple times she snuck into our room and "left her mark" shall we say I shampooed it out, and thank goodness 80 % of our house is linoleum so lots of it just got wiped up - she couldn't help it. So I call the vet to find out how much it would cost to have her neuterd. and how long this would last. She said "' the bleeding would last a weekend to a week, and take three weeks for her uterus to go down " ok , sounds like a typical woman with a normal cycle.. well, she bled for TWO weeks so I have two weeks left? But she tells me it will cost 475 dollars to have her neutered and more to do it while shes in heat! SCUSE ME??! This is a dog! Not a human! I paid 25 dollars MORE for ME to have a scar revision done from my OB! Are you outta your freakin mind? and how much for if she needs to stay over? I cant afford that! is that the going rate? I can't see everyone having to pay that much- Theresgotta be a better price out there- what about the shelters and stuff? I'm gonna check them out and see if they can do it for a lower cost and I'll make a donation if I have to! 475 dollars My ass! Youre on drugs girl! My Car payment aint even that much { my cars paid off but still even when I was MAKING payments! } so now I'm looking around, The damn dog keeps escaping from my yard because shes in heat , so shes in and out of the house . I have these cinderblocks blockading the gap under my fence where she digs a trench big enough to fit herself under and squeeze her ass under and run away down the block. I got the neighbors returning my dog, and when I took the boys to Chuckie Cheese just as we were leaving , She came barrelling around the side of the house where she dug herself under the fence as if to say :'"wait for me ! wait for me! " It's comical, but it's not. Now we gotta look at one of those electric fences or something to keep her in the yard, because this is getting obnoxious. She's so determined and such a digger. Well,. Off to call the shelters on my neuter inquiries. That's my update on our Brandygirl. Ya Gotta love her!

Day At Chuckie's

Today was the last day of spring break before Thomas goes back to school. I decided to take him and Brendan to Chuckie Cheese's to lunch and have a little fun for the day. He hadn't got out much during the break- we got out a little bit for errands and such , mostly because he just didn't WANT to. What was up with that I don't know! He gets like that sometimes. Just becomes introverted and hooked on his video games { which I can't STAND! } I can't wait to get up north- NO video games, NO hanging around the house, NO acting like a hermit! During the week I took him and Brendan to the fountains where they had a blast- running through the fountains, getting soaked, having water wars, just having a blast for 4 hours. Even packed a picnic. Today I sprung 20 bucks for a pizza, sodas and tokens ,and the kids went wild playing games, romping in the play area, munching on pizza, dancing in the dance production area seeing themselves on t.v., riding the rides, and even getting a photo taken with Chuckie. It was money well spent. They get a day out and go back to school tomorrow with some fun memories. They grow up so fast, money's hard to come by and budgets need to be stuck by, but sometimes you just gotta look in those eyes and say " what the hell, let's go have some fun!!" ;)

John Edward Seminar Updated

Last night Tom and I went to The John Edward seminar in Orlando for my birthday present. I was hoping to get read, but unfortunately, my Mom or any other of my family members didn’t come though. In any case, We left here around 3:15, and got there around 5:30, so we decided to get some dinner. We went to Red Lobster to grab something quick- { I know, all the great restaurants in Orlando and that’s what you pick?} We were pressed for time and wanted something quick with no lines and it was on the fly so there we were. The food was really good PLUS they got the lobsterfest going on right now so we took advantage I had this grilled lobster trio with shrimp n scallops and Tom had it with linquini alfredo - TOTALLY blew our diets, but hey, we get a cheat night in so I guess that was it! Off to the show, we find our seats, the place filled up quick. We were amazed at how many people there were, and since the rain made us start late, he went right into the readings instead of the seminar, then the readings- cool! There were some Funny readings and some sad readings.. like One womans son came though who died in an alchohol related crash that said he was glad she was honoring her feeelings for being mad but now it was time to move past, and another woman lost a 3 yr old to drowning where she just had a 5 week old and gave the child cpr,and was feeling blame toward the 5 yr old { i think thats how old }that was with her at the time sort of and said dont do that - she got a good story and lecture - a real eye opener - real sad - I did alot from crying, another got a lecture because she wouldnt go get her lump in her breast checked that was detected from a lost family member where she had two smalll children she could leave behind because she was scared and it was probably nothing but needs to move past the fear. And the funny one was a woman’s husband came through where all he wanted to do was validate he once stripped to his skivvies and had a big you know what and was proud of that! He did two hours worth of straight readings talking his usual 90 miles and hour of Long Island talk I thought talking that fast I would get squeezed in there somewhere, but not tonight. It’s o.k. It’s just not gonna happen. LOL Afterward we drove home with barely any traffic reflecting on the nights events and stories and how they come close toour own lives. Tom apologized for Mom or anyone else not coming through. I said it was alright. I prayed and asked her and wore some of her favorite jewelry so she would "find me" if that sounds odd through her personal effects . but then I thought, maybe she wasn’t ready, or since I talk to her alot { i validate her}already , maybe she felt she didn’t need to come through... It still would have been nice though. Oh well maybe another time. It was a fantastic experience nonetheless and I’d do it all over again if he came back to town again.

New Month, New week, New Me

Starting today Tom and I have vowed to get back in shape for when summertime comes and to lose our wintertime potbellies! Over the holidays we aquired much more than presents I’m sad to say. My jeans get that "muffintop" look which I HATE when I look in the mirror, I’m starting to see the signs of saddlebags which I REFUSE to have, and my ass which I used to pride myself on I know it sounds a little stuck up, But I used to like my ass, well, It’s seen better days! We decided it’s time to take some action. I’m almost 40 in two years and I won’t go quietly. Tom either. He’s been fighting his battle for a couple years now , It’s more fun when there’s a team I think. We’re doing our own " The Biggest Loser" We’re betting each other something with meaning to give each other incentive to lose the weight and work out , but not much is coming to mind- maybe if I win he has to move up north? hmm ... theres an idea.. heehee. We figured It’s a new month, new week, perfect timing for a new us!. Anyway, At 5 am today I started my ritual. I couldn’t sleep anymore and figured Girlie it’s now or never, I guess it ’s gonna be now. So I put on my workout clothes, tucked my walkman into my boobs, got my water, and went into the garage to start my workout. We divided the workouts into 3 days - Tuesday, Thursday,& Saturday- here’s an example of my workout this morning:

body part excercise sets reps
abs Traditional crunch 1 12-15
abs Bent leg knee raise 1 12-15
abs oblique v-up 1 10 on each side
abs bridge 1 1or 2
abs back extensions 1 12-15

legs squats 2 10-12
upperbody/arms bench press 2 10
upper back pulldown 2 10
shoulders military press 2 10
upper back upright row 2 10
arms triceps pushdown 2 10-12
legs leg extension 2 10-12
arms biceps curl 2 10
legs leg curl 2 10-12

cardio treadmill or walk the dog N/A 30 Minutes

Wish me luck! It’s not all that bad- my weight is 127 and BMI is 27 -I’d like it to be back in the teens where it was- and lose my jiggly thighs & cottage cheese butt! LOL EWW! never thought I’d have THAT! Just need a ’Lil toning and tweaking and firming to look good again for the beaches this year! That’s what I get for my love of cheesecake!- Comes back to bite me in the ass literally!