Keep Your Eyes on Your Goals

I recently read an article that said a study had shown that weekend weight gain was considered part of one’s natural weight fluctuations during the week. As long as you’re eating well through the week, a little weekend indulgence and weight gain are apparently perfectly normal. On the one hand, that did make me feel a little better, as I have noticed that typically, my weekend weight fluctuates by as much as 2-3 pounds to what it had been through the week. On the other hand, however, it was a little depressing because I’ve also realized that I have to keep losing that same 2-3 pounds over and over, and what I really want is to lose new pounds so that I can reach my goal.

My goal this year is simple and conservative. I simply want to lose 40 pounds by December 31. I would like enough of that to be gone so that by Travis’s graduation and Brandon’s wedding (both in May), I can buy new dresses that are at least one size smaller than the ones I wore to Cody’s and Byron’s weddings last year. To stay on track to do this, I only need to lose about 3.3 pounds per month. Like I said, simple and conservative. I could have set a higher goal, but I know that would mean a lot more work on my part.

The thing is regardless of how simple and conservative your weight-loss goal is, actually losing the weight is hard and takes a lot of effort. At one point this week, I had lost 6.4 pounds since the beginning of the year. With my weekend fluctuation for this weekend, my net loss is only 3.6 pounds, which results in a nearly 3-pound fluctuation for this weekend. That’s just downright depressing.

Here’s the other thing, though. I know it’s my fault. I know I’ve eaten a little more than necessary this weekend, even for an indulgence. I know I haven’t exercised all week. Granted, my sinuses were a wreck this past week and breathing was difficult, which by default means exercising would have been difficult since being able to breatheduring exercise is pretty important. So that was my excuse not to exercise this past week. I also didn’t plan out a menu for the past week, which means I was eating randomly. Finally, I didn’t track everything I ate this past week, another fatal flaw when trying to lose weight. The problem is I know I need to get back on track, but the upcoming week is going to make it difficult to do so.

My schedule for the next seven days is brutal, assuming there are no snow days this week. Monday will be work from 7:30 to 3, a PD from 3:15 to 6:15, and a girls’ basketball from 7:30 to about 9. Tuesday will be work from 7:30 to 3, meeting with my English composition writers from 3 to about 3:30, and FPS/English composition regional Governor’s Cup competition from 5 to about 9:30. Wednesday will be work from 7:30 to 3, quick recall practice from 3 to 4:30, and Bible study from 7 to 8. Thursday will be work from 7:30 to 3, quick recall practice from 3 to 4:30, and a girls’ basketball game in Leslie County from about 5:45 to 10:30 (that includes travel time). Friday will be work from 7:30 to 3 and a girls’ basketball game in Rockcastle County from about 5 to 11:30 (that includes driving time). Saturday will be regional Governor’s Cup competition from about 7:30 to 5 and a girls’ home basketball game from about 7 to 9:30 (it’s Senior Night and Sweetheart). Sunday will be a trip to Lexington for Lily’s baby dedication where Travis and Ashley go to church there, leaving here about 8:30 and getting home who knows when. And technically, I’m due a trip to the doctor for a few minutes to get my next B12 shot, but I don’t see that happening this week. It’ll be back to work on Monday. Anybody else tired?

Looking at the schedule for this week is enough to wear me out before the week even gets started. As you can see, it’s going to be a long week. Meal planning is made difficult because with every evening filled with something, meals won’t be at normal times or places. If I’m lucky, I can be in bed by 10:30 most nights, but not every night. Exercise will be difficult this week because I’ll have to talk myself into getting up at 6 to do it, while knowing that I could get up as late as 6:45 and make it to work on time. Not that we need any more snow days, but should we get one or two, that would help tremendously, allowing both for time to exercise and time to eat well.

Fortunately, this upcoming week is not the norm for me. However, it is what I have to deal with this week, and as I’m feeling a little defeated and depressed about this week’s weight loss and I’m feeling a desire to get motivated to work harder at it, I look at the schedule and ask myself, “How?” and “When?” And right now, I don’t have a satisfying answer.

The best I can come up with for this week is to do my best to track what I eat just to make sure I’m not overdoing it. I can plan for breakfast and lunch because I will eat those while I’m at work. I’ll simply have to plan to allow for evening meals that could be less than desirable for staying on track with losing weight. When it comes time for those evening meals, I’ll have to be sensible and make better choices about what I choose to eat. With such a busy schedule, it would be easy (and tempting) to just eat whatever I can get whenever I can get it, but I can’t allow myself to do that. As far as the exercise, I’m going to have to really work on myself to make sure that I get up at 6 every morning so that I can do some exercise for that day. The further into the week I get and the more tired I get, the more difficult that will be to do, but I have to convince myself it’s a matter of mind over matter, and that I can keep talking myself into getting up to exercise. As such, a big part of what I’ll have to do this week is stay in control and exercise my willpower to do what I know I need to do, which, of course, is always easier said than done.

I know I can do this, and I know it won’t be easy. I know I can’t do it alone, so some extra prayer this week will also be quite helpful, and some encouragement from my informal support group will also be quite helpful. Losing weight is much harder than gaining weight. It takes a lot of time, effort, and work. It takes overcoming the depressing days when you feel like a failure. It takes focus, determination, and desire. It takes patience, which is probably the virtue I’m most lacking. I need to keep my eye on the goal.

I heard an interesting thing on the news last night from a driving instructor who was giving hints for what to do if your car starts spinning on ice. He said to keep your eyes focused on where you want to me (on the road) and that’s where you’d end up. He said that often when a spin starts the driver focuses on everything else, such as the blurred images passing by, and never sees the road. I realize I’ve never had a spin-out like that, but his advice sounds reasonable. Don’t we always tell athletes to keep their eyes on the ball? It seems like the same principle to me. Therefore, that’s the principle I need to apply to this weight loss.

There will be problems and difficult situations as I continue this journey. There will be weeks like the one coming up where it seems like doing anything productive with the diet will be a moot point. There will be weekends when the weight fluctuation is depressing. There will be days when I outright overeat and make my goal more difficult to achieve. There will be days when I have to fight the urge to make an ill-advised food choice. There will be days when I have to force myself to do the exercise. And these days will continue over and over and over, even after I reach my goal. Losing the weight, then maintaining that loss, will be an issue for the foreseeable future. Therefore, keeping my eye on the prize is what I need to do. My short-term goal is to be able to wear that dress in May that is one size smaller than what I was wearing last summer. My long-term goal is to lose at least 40 pounds this year. I will meet those goals.

2014 Off to a Great Start

The first month of 2014 has come and gone. It’s already time to do the first update on the status of my resolutions for this year.

My first resolution is to revisit the project and decide what direction to take it so I can finish it that year. If I had to base my success on completion of the first resolution, I’d be in trouble. Despite having more snow days than work days, I didn’t do anything toward the project. Obviously, I will have to remedy that if there is to be any success for this particular resolution.

My second resolution is post to the blog at least three times per week. This will make my 14th blog for January, so if we consider that 12 per month would average to three per week, then I can claim success for this resolution.

My third resolution is to read 84 books for the year, which is up from 75 from 2013. In order to do that, I need to average at least seven books per month. With all the snow days, I’ve managed to get off to a great start here. I have finished nine books this month, and if all goes well, I’ll have another finished late tonight or tomorrow. I’d really love to keep this pace going. As part of the 84 books, I intend for the Bible to be one of those, and I have stayed on track with my daily reading schedule to make sure that happens. As of now, I’m thinking this is shaping up to be a successful goal by year’s end. Last year, I detailed all the books I’d read for the month in the update blog, but I think for this year, every couple months, I’ll just do a blog to share what I’ve read during those months.

My fourth resolution is to lose an additional 40 pounds. In order to do that, I need to average 3.3 pounds per month. January was a bit difficult because with so many snow days it was hard to get motivated for the exercise portion of the weight-loss program. I’m definitely going to have to work on that. Even with my lack of consistent exercise, I have still managed to lose 4.4 pounds this month. I’ve got to rededicate myself to the exercise portion of this so that I can see better success, but for now, I’m very happy to say that I’m on track to meet my goal.

My fifth resolution is try something new at least once a month. I’m excited that this resolution is going great. This is one of the resolutions that will be the easiest to keep. In January, we actually tried six new things: Pioneer Woman pot roast (a recipe for my new Dutch oven) chicken tacos at Chili’s restaurant, vegetable soup (a recipe created by combining my soup recipe with Jimmy’s), pizza from Papa Murphy’s Pizza in Lexington, crispy broccoli (a recipe we saw online), and spicy pork chops (cooked using our new two-burner cast-iron indoor grill). We were very pleased with every choice except the crispy broccoli.

My sixth resolution is to keep a prayer journal. I’ve been doing well with the keeping part of this resolution, but I feel like I could do better with the prayer part. Having the prayer journal is a good idea to help assist with productive prayer, but making sure to use the prayer journal more frequently is a better idea.

My seventh resolution is to keep a gratitude journal. I’ve also been doing well with keeping up with this, and I have something that I’m grateful for for every day of the month. I’m looking forward to going back and rereading this at the end of the year. This is one of my favorite ideas.

Considering there’s only one resolution on which I’ve accomplished nothing, I’ll have to say that overall the success rate for the resolutions is great. Now I just have to keep it up for the next 11 months.

A New Year Brings New Resolutions

Happy New Year! 2013 has arrived, and with the arrival of the New Year comes the arrival of new resolutions. I’ve spent a lot of time over the past month thinking about what I want to accomplish in 2013. Coming to terms with the resolutions of 2012, what was successful and what was not, was a month-long task, but it was one that allowed me to determine what I wanted to put on my list of resolutions for 2013. Again, I think the list should be a rather short one. The more things we include, the more difficult it is to achieve them.

It would be easy to include my two most successful resolutions from last year as resolutions for this year. The two successful resolutions were trying a new recipe every week and updating readers every month about the success, or lack thereof, of keeping my resolutions. It would be easy to tweak the recipe resolution to trying two new recipes per week, but I think that now that we are in the habit of trying at least one new recipe per week, we will continue to do so just because we like trying new dishes. Since the goal was such a success (85 new recipes in 2012), I don’t think simply increasing the number of recipes would make for a great resolution for 2013. Therefore, this will not be on the resolutions list for this year; what is now a habit cannot be a resolution. There’s not a lot I could do to tweak the updating goal. However, just because it’s not a resolution does not mean you will not be updated. As with the recipes resolution from last year, this one has become a habit, and as a result, at the end of the month, you will get the update on my success or failure for the month. It’s just not a resolution in and of itself this year.

That said, there were three resolutions where I did not achieve the blaring success that I had with the aforementioned ones. Those resolutions related to my writing, my reading, and my weight loss. As such, those three will be tweaked and new resolutions will be set. Because I like having five resolutions, I will also add two new resolutions for 2013.

Resolution # 1 – Writing. I will continue to write something every day, and I will continue to post to the blog every day. These things have become habit for me, and habits cannot be resolutions, so while I will continue to do them, they are not the resolution for 2013. Last year, I said I wanted to work on my project at least two days per week. As we know, that did not work out. Here’s the thing. This project has now been in the works for a year and a half, and that’s just since I revived it. It had been sitting there for a while before its revival. I guess the good news is that I have been working on it over that year and a half, while the bad news is that I haven’t been working on it nearly enough. Therefore, my resolution for writing is to finish the project. When I update you about the success or failure of my writing resolution each month, I’m not going to focus on whether I wrote every day or whether I missed a blog. The real goal here is to finish the project by the end of 2013. And when it is finished, I will reveal what it is.

Resolution # 2 – Reading. I set a goal to read 75 books in 2012. Although I did manage to break my personal record for number of books read in a year, I did not meet my goal of 75 books. Because this resolution failed in 2012, I’m going to give it another shot in 2013. Once again, I’m going to set a goal to read at least 75 books during the year 2013. Again, if I can just manage to read 6.25 books per month, I should be able to reach this goal. I managed to make a late run and came closer to 75 than I thought I would for 2012. Therefore, I will simply pace myself and will meet my goal of 75 books in 2013.

Resolution # 3 – Weight Loss. This resolution was the biggest failure for me in 2012. I managed by the end of the year to weigh a whopping one pound less than I did at the beginning of the year. I know I can do this, and I’m going to work a lot harder at it. My goal for 2012 had been to lose 20 pounds over the course of the year. I’m going to put more pressure on myself this year. My goal is to lose at least five pounds every month. If I can do that, I will lose 60 pounds by the end of the year. That still won’t put me at my goal weight, but it would be a heck of a start. I’m going to use two apps on my Kindle Fire (the WWPP – Weight Watchers Points Plus – Calculator and Lose It!) to help me track what I eat so that I can make sure I’m staying within the appropriate boundaries to lose the weight I want to lose.

Resolution # 4 – Classic Movies. Every year in December, I show the movie It’s a Wonderful Life to my classes. It’s a classic, and many of the students have never seen it. This made me think about other movies that are classics, ones that I have not seen. As a result, I have compiled a list of classic movies that I will watch by the end of the year. It is possible that I may watch other classic movies that are not on this list, but after reviewing several online lists of classic movies, these are the ones I have decided I should watch. They are: The Shawshank Redemption, Casablanca, Schindler’s List, Citizen Kane, A Streetcar Named Desire, Sunset Boulevard, Rebel without a Cause, Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and White Christmas.

Resolution # 5 – Food. Since trying a new recipe every week is now a habit for my family, my food-related resolution for 2013 will deal with restaurants. With three of our four children living in Lexington, we make frequent trips there. We have our favorite restaurants, and we usually make it a point to visit one of those whenever we happen to be in Lexington. For 2013, we are going to diversify. We are usually in Lexington at least twice a month, and at various times throughout the year we are in places other than Pikeville and Jackson. At least once per month, we are going to go to a new restaurant. By the end of the year, we will have visited 12 new restaurants and may even add a new favorite to the list. If we’re feeling really frisky and adventurous, we might even order something that we would never ordinarily consider ordering, though I’m not going to make that part of the resolution.

There you have it. My five resolutions for the year 2013. Five is a manageable number. Three of the five are more difficult and will require a significant amount of work on my part. The other two are fairly easy and shouldn’t be difficult at all to achieve. Remember, though, that we do need to feel good about ourselves, which means we have to have some success along the way. Hopefully the ease of the last two resolutions will help keep me inspired and motivated to achieve the more difficult first three. Either way, I’ll keep you posted.

Faith, Family, and Football Make for a Great Sunday

Today was a great day. What better way to spend a Sunday than with your family?

The day began with church, and today was Mady’s baby dedication. Her parents, her family, and her church family committed to teaching her how to live for Jesus Christ. And that, my friends, is a huge commitment, but she is definitely worth it. This beautiful moment was shared with Mady by her parents, both sets of her grandparents, her aunts and uncles, and her first cousins. A baby is a tremendous blessing and a tremendous responsibility. As her family, we are not only responsible for her physical growth, but also for her spiritual growth. You know, it doesn’t seem all that long ago that I did a child dedication for my own children, and then here today, we’re did it for my granddaughter. We are so truly blessed.

The great day didn’t end there, though. After church, all my kids (and that always includes the daughter-in-law and the daughters-in-law-to-be), my parents, and my brother Greg and his family came over to my house. I cooked tater soup, chicken and dumplings, and thanks to the Cuisinart Griddler, grilled hot dogs. After the fiasco of the crock pot tater soup, I returned to my original recipe and used it. I was not disappointed this time. I did, however, try a crock pot recipe I found for chicken and dumplings. Unlike the tater soup, the dumplings were a huge success. Everybody loved them, and for that I’m glad. That means I can have dumplings more often, and without as much work. Just put it in the crock pot and have dumplings when I get home from work? Sounds like a plan to me. For dessert, I had Nic fix a pumpkin crumb cake and there was leftover apple crisp from Friday night.

Besides eating well, the boys watched football. Today was a split, with the Packers losing and the Patriots winning. We still had a great afternoon, though, of food, football, and conversation. Mady got to be spoiled by everybody, especially her great-grandparents. These are the things that make for not only a great day, but a great life. I don’t understand those who aren’t close with their families. These relationships are the most precious ones we have. I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am for the family I was blessed with.

Everybody’s gone home now, and two of the three kids have returned to Lexington for another week of class. Nic gets to spend a couple extra days at home, which makes me happy. My best days are the ones when all the kids are here and we’re just hanging out together. I just can’t say it often enough. I am so blessed.

Your family is important. I hope you cherish every moment that you have with them.

Eating Cheap Doesn’t Have to Be Fast

My husband, kids, and I like to travel, and we like to eat well when we travel. We’re willing to pay for good food, but it’s possible to eat well and not pay a fortune for it, which is good if we’re all traveling together. Even if we go to a fast-food restaurant, unless we just want something off their dollar menus, the average cost of the meal, per person, is $8-9. Since we don’t consider fast food “eating well,” here are some other places you can go that aren’t fast-food restaurants, and they won’t break your bank.

1. Cheddars – You can get a variety of foods at Cheddars. They have a long list of appetizers. Two of my favorites are their Texas Cheese Fries and the Onion Rings. You can get pasta dishes, sandwiches, cheeseburgers, and salads. Most of these choices are less than $8. Add your drink, and you can have a meal for $10-11.

2. Five Guys – If you want something besides a hamburger and French fries, go somewhere else, but if you’re in the mood for a great hamburger and fries, go to Five Guys. The hamburgers at Five Guys are made fresh and put those of fast-food restaurants to shame. You can add a variety of toppings to your burger, and you can get your fries regular or with Cajun seasoning. Again, you can get your total meal for about $10-11.

3. Johnny Carino’s – Here you can get a variety of Italian dishes, and if you go during their lunch hours, you can get an entree with a soup or salad for $7.95. They have a rather large selection of menu items available for this great lunch price. I’m particularly happy because my favorite dish, bowtie festival, is available, and the lunch portion is just the right size that I can finish it all without having to get a to-go box. And, once again, even with your drink added in, you have a meal for abour $10-11.

There’s nothing wrong with having fast food every once in a while. But if I’m given the choice, when I consider I’m only going to be paying another $2-3 for my meal and will be able to enjoy much better food, then I’m going to go to one of the three restaurants listed above. And if anybody has other choices where I could get a meal for around $10-11, please share with me. I’d love to give them a try.

Food for Thought

What’s the hardest question to answer in your house? I think for mine, it’s “What do you want to eat?” If I don’t make an executive decision about what to fix or if Jimmy hasn’t picked out his recipe for the new-recipe-of-the-week resolution we made and if I ask either Jimmy or my children that question, I typically get answered with another question: “What do you have?” That’s not cool, and I’ll tell you why.

If I’m asking the question, it’s for one of two reasons. I can’t make up my mind in order to make the executive decision for what to fix, or I just want to know what they want so I can fix that. That should be simple enough, but no, they can’t just tell me what they want, they have to ask what’s available.

I’m sure they just don’t realize the enormity of the question they are asking. When I ask what they want, they have one thing to come up with – what they want to eat. If I have the ingredients, I will make what they request. If I don’t, I’ll tell them I don’t have all the required ingredients, and I’ll give them the option to choose something else. I know that when they ask what I have, they’re trying to narrow their choices so that when they finally decide what they want to eat, it’ll be something I already have.  However, they don’t realize what they’re really asking for.

Whereas I asked them for one simple thing – what they want to eat – they are asking me to recite what is in the pantry, the fridge, and the freezer. They are expecting me to remember all the foods items available in the house at that moment and to recite them so they can choose between what’s available. And the thing about that is even when the pantry, the fridge, and the freezer are running low, we’re very blessed because there’s still too much in there for me to be able to recite a list of what we have.

So, here are some simple solutions for answer the question “What do you want to eat?” Your first option is to simply answer the question with the one thing you want to eat right then. Worst-case scenario, you’ll be told there are some ingredients missing and you have to want something else. Best-case scenario, somebody starts cooking and you get what you really wanted. Either way, the issue is solved relatively painlessly and quickly. Your second option is to answer “I don’t know” if you really don’t know what you want or “I don’t care” if you really don’t care. Again, the issue gets resolved relatively quickly and painlessly, but if you say that you don’t care, then you’d better mean it and be prepared to eat what’s put in front of you. Your third option is rather than answer the question with the question “What do you have?”, get up and go look in the pantry, fridge, and/or freezer yourself and decide from what you see is available. This is also a solution that is relatively quick and painless, and it makes much more sense than asking somebody to recite you a list of everything that’s available.

If you have more than enough to eat in your house, be thankful; there are those who don’t. If you have someone who will ask you what you want to eat, be thankful; there are those who don’t. And if you are asked what you want to eat, try one of the options listed above rather than answering with “What do we have?”

Almost-Perfect Evenings Don’t Have to Be Trivial

Tonight’s blog will be a bit brief because I’ve been busy having an almost-perfect evening. On a side note, the abounding alliteration in the previous sentence was not intentional. Anyway, the only thing that would’ve made it a perfect evening, rather than an almost-perfect evening, would have been if my daughter had been home. She had to stay at ALC this weekend for choir practice because the Voices of Appalachia will be performing their Christmas concert Sunday evening.

So, what makes an almost-perfect evening? All my boys were here, as were Ashley, Theresa, and Tiffany. By the time Jimmy got home from work, we were in the midst of some serious multi-tasking, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

The evening began with making bacon. I had put the bacon in the oven so I wouldn’t have to tend to it quite so much. We needed bacon because I was also going to fix hamburgers, so obviously bacon cheeseburgers are the best way to go with that. Bacon in the oven worked relatively well until I got busy and forgot a pan of it and burned it black as a magic 8 ball. The boys immediately declared that pan would be Jimmy’s. They weren’t doing it to be cruel; Jimmy really does like his bacon best if it is burned. He must have loved that plate of bacon. I don’t think it could’ve been more burnt if I’d tried.

After we ate our bacon cheeseburgers, the boys wanted to play a game. Cody and Tiffany were watching TV, so the rest of us teamed up to play Trivial Pursuit. Byron and Theresa were a team, Travis and Ashley were a team, and until Jimmy came in from work, I was on my own. I must say, I was doing pretty good on my own, even with the multi-tasking. Theresa was helping Ashley study for an art test while we were playing, and I was reading English 100 research papers while we were playing.

The game finally ended when Byron gave Jimmy and me an “easy” question because he had to take Theresa home, and he knew Ashley was tired and wanted to go back to her parents’ house. Of course, with the easy question, we won, and the game ended.

After everyone left, I did put dirty dishes into the sink, but that’s the extent of the kitchen cleanup for tonight since I really needed to get my writing done. All-in-all, it was a nearly-perfect evening, even with a sink of dirty dishes sitting in there. I got to cook for my children, we played a game together, and I have just over a third of the research papers graded.

Perfect, or nearly-perfect evenings don’t have to be extravagant. sometimes simpler is better. And remember, your kids are never too old to play games with.

Fast Food Shouldn’t Take an Hour

My little hometown has been undergoing construction. The major thoroughfare, Highway 15, is being expanded to four lanes, and I hear that the latest segment should open by next summer, but in addition to that, we just got a new fast-food restaurant. A new building was built to house Kentucky Fried Chicken (we already had one of those, but it moved to this new building) and Taco Bell. Needless to say, this is major news for a small town, but opening day was quite crazy around the new restaurant.

I really hope KFC did some business this week, but the majority of the traffic through there was for Taco Bell. Rumor has it that a Dairy Queen will be moving into the now empty KFC building. It’d be nice to have a DQ so we can get good ice cream whenever we want it. On Wednesday of last week, several students asked me if I was going to Taco Bell, and they were surprised when I said no. I pointed out that it was just a Taco Bell, a fast-food restaurant, and I can’t think of any fast-food chain, not even the DQ, that I like well enough to wait over an hour to get food just to say I was there on opening day.  So, what restaurants would I wait over an hour for on opening day? If any of the following were to open in Jackson, I’d probably be crazy enough to wait as long as it took to get to eat there on opening day.

1. Johnny Carino’s – In fact, when the students asked if I were going to visit Taco Bell on opening day and I pointed out that it was just a Taco Bell, a fast-food restaurant, Johnny Carino’s popped up in my reply as well. I told them if Johnny Carino’s was opening, I’d be there.

2. Saul Good – Since I wrote about the top places my husband and I like to eat, we’ve been to a Saul Good in Hamburg in Lexington. I thoroughly enjoyed the nachos appetizer and the bacon cheeseburger entree, but the desserts are incredible. My first visit, I, along with my friends, got the fondue plate for dessert. It came with melted milk chocolate to use for dipping and about six or seven different foods to dip, including bananas, strawberries, pretzel sticks, rice krispie treats, waffles, and a couple other things. The second time I ordered the banana split brownie with chocolate. Let me just say that is the best chocolate I’ve ever had in my entire life. It is chocolate worth waiting in line for over an hour for.

3. Malone’s – This restaurant has the best steaks around, and it would definitely be worth waiting in line for.

4. Old Chicago – I love Variety Pizza here in my hometown and do believe it’s among the best pizza I’ve ever had, but Old Chicago is amazing as well, and if I want a deep dish Chicago-style pizza, this is the place to go; if one opened here, I’d definitely wait an hour to get that pizza.

And, honestly, that’s about it. Short of one of these restaurants opening in Jackson, I can’t think of any others that I’d be willing to wait for more than an hour to get my food, just to say I was there on opening day. I definitely wouldn’t for a fast-food restaurant, and as you can see from the short list, I wouldn’t for most sit-down restaurants either. I’d love to see either of these four restaurants open in Jackson, but I sure won’t hold my breath waiting on it. Rumor also has it that we might actually get an Applebees and/or a Ponderosa, and it’d be great if we did, but if we do, I won’t be planning to visit them on opening day.

Patience is the one virtue that I have in short supply. I loathe having to wait for anything, especially food. It’s great that we have a new restaurant, and hopefully we will be getting more, just don’t expect to see me there waiting on opening day. I’ll just let them work out the kinks and visit after all the hoopla has worn off, and if they don’t last that long, then I haven’t missed anything anyway.

Make Time for Those You Love

What’s the best way to spend your day? No doubt about it, the answer is with your family. My best days are those when I have all the kids (and that includes their significant others) and my husband with me. Today was one of those days.

Travis and Ashley were already in Lexington; Byron and Theresa went there together since their schedule was going to be a bit different from the rest of ours. Jimmy, Cody, and Tiffany were with me in the Explorer. And the biggest adventure of the day, Nicole, for the first time, drove to, through, and from Lexington. Her friend Courtney came home with her this weekend, and so the Explorer wasn’t quite big enough to hold everybody.

Nic’s been asking for some time to drive to Lexington, and honestly, I’ve put it off as long as I could. I had great reasons for not letting her, and today there just wasn’t a reason not to let her, but we did have some conditions. First, she had to follow me there, back, and everywhere we went. Second, we were staying in the Hamburg area since it was going to be UK football game day in downtown.

So, there we were, and I wasn’t nervous about it at all. Well, maybe a little. But as it turns out, she did just fine. I suppose that means I don’t have much reason to object to her driving there again later, though I’m sure I’ll think of something.

We all met at the Regal and watched The Lion King in 3D. This is one of my kids’ all-time favorite Disney movies. It also brought back memories for Nic and me. It was the first movie she watched in a theater, when she was 4 years old and her preschool class went to watch it. I, of course, was one of the chaperones just so I could watch the movie with my little girl. When the movie was first released on DVD, Byron had it on his Christmas list; it didn’t matter that he was a teenager. In fact, based on comments I’ve heard around school and posts I’ve seen on Facebook, there are many teenagers who were quite excited about The Lion King being released in 3D.

To our amazement, we discovered that Jimmy had never seen The Lion King. He doesn’t want to admit it, but I’m sure he loved it. After all, I heard him laughing at all the funny parts. In the dark, though, and with the 3D glasses on, I can’t verify if he got teary-eyed at all during the sad parts. The songs are among the best things about the movie. There’s no way to watch without singing the songs; the hard part was to not sing out loud enough for the whole theater to hear you.

After enjoying a great movie, the whole crew of us went to Old Chicago Pizza where we had a late lunch. If you’ve never eaten there, you most definitely should. We filled one corner of the patio, where it was a little breezy, but with the wonderful company I was with, that was easy to overlook. We enjoyed both great pizza and great conversation.

Finally, it was time to part ways. Trav and Ashley went back to their apartment while Byron and Theresa headed home for another commitment. Nic and Courtney followed me to Super Wal-Mart so we could pick up a few groceries before heading back to Jackson.

All-in-all, days like today are the best. With our busy schedules, we sometimes give up the things that we shouldn’t give up to make room for things that won’t matter in the long run. As long as you have your family around, make it a point to spend time with them. It doesn’t have to be a trip out. Movies, games, conversation, and food at home work just as well. The point is to make the time for those you love.

Picky Eaters Miss So Much

My kids are such picky eaters. Well, two of them are really picky. The other two do pretty well, though they are still finicky about some things. We had a family cookout today and enjoyed spending some time with the whole gang (my husband, my kids and their significant others, my mamaw, my mom and dad, my three brothers and their families, and my aunt Dean).

We had a great menu – BBQ chicken, deep-fried fish, hushpuppies, grilled taters, hash brown casserole, baked beans, coleslaw, banana pudding, strawberry shortcake, chocolate-covered bacon, and brownies. Oh, yeah, and grilled hot dogs for those who don’t eat real food.

Byron and Travis eat really well. They can have their finicky moments, but overall, especially when compared to the other two, they’ll eat about anything. I didn’t see either of them with the hash brown casserole or the baked beans, but they enjoyed the chicken, fish, hushpuppies, taters, and dessert. Nicole and Cody went with the hot dogs and none of the side dishes mentioned above. They may have had some potato chips; I think there were some there.

Part of this, I realize, is my fault. I never quite could buy into the “this is what we’re eating; eat it or starve” mentality, so if I was fixing something I knew they wouldn’t eat, I’d just go ahead and fix something they would. It didn’t feel like extra work because I just worked it into the menu to be sure there was something there they’d eat. Both Nicole and Cody had a lot more variety in their diet when they were little. They don’t like it when I show them pictures of them with spaghetti sauce-covered faces from their toddler days. Even with that proof, they refuse it now.

Nicole’s dream job is to be a pastry chef. She’s considering going to Sullivan for grad school so she can get an MBA with an emphasis in hospitality management, and she wants to take their culinary classes. We spend a lot of time convincing her how difficult that will be since she is so picky. She refuses to try foods we fix, so we just wonder how she will try foods there. She’s come a long way, though. She will now eat a hamburger, but that’s just a development since she started college. She refuses pork and chicken, or any other kind of beef besides a hamburger. She will now eat a cheese quesadilla. She doesn’t like sauce on her spaghetti, just parmesan cheese. She has gradually gotten a little better about the foods she eats, but she still has a really long way to go, especially if she’s going to take culinary classes at Sullivan.

Cody typically eats in phases. We had a grilled cheese phase where all he wanted was grilled cheese for nearly every meal and snack. After that, it was the occasional grilled cheese, but the primary phase was pizza rolls, or sometimes just pizza in general. He’s been in that phase for quite some time. I can happily say that he’s coming out of that phase and expanding his food horizons just a bit. Now, his food of choice is steak. Of course, he doesn’t like the thin, cheap steaks; he wants the thick, really good steaks. I’m just happy he’s eating something besides pizza for every meal.

I don’t suppose there’s any way to ensure that your children will not be picky eaters; after all, they can eat really well and a wide variety of foods when they’re babies and toddlers. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they’ll keep it up as they age. I try to convince all my children, even Byron and Travis who aren’t nearly as picky as the other two, that there is a world of food out there just waiting to be enjoyed. Byron and Trav are easier to convince. Hopefully one day Nic and Cody will buy into it as well and will be able to enjoy all the great tastes they are missing.