Mental Brilliance

After several weeks of the oldest kid begging to have three boys over at once, I finally agreed. They are all great kids so why not? I sent our middle one to Grandma's overnight so as to curb any fights over the Xbox or DVR.

We took the city kids on a country drive to a movie theater in a nearby town called Sandusky. These kids had never heard of any other Sandusky than that of Ohio, which is home to the fabulous theme park called Cedar Point. It was pretty funny. We passed miles of farmland and cows and barns and nothingness and arrived to the town of Sandusky, which is a great town -- with a new movie theater. We saw "Despicable Me" ... it was a GREAT movie. I would like to see it again. Everyone had fun. On the way home, we drove past the old Deanda family farm that still has the barn with our last name in the roof shingles. (Family doesn't own it anymore but it's good memories for Hubby.) After we got home and settled, I thought I could venture to bed and crash. Turned out, the four boys had other plans for my sleep. Or lack of. They decided to stay up all night long, hootin' and hollerin' (Ok maybe not hollerin')...

Now, I know most parents probably would've made the trek up and down the stairs several times to bark at the kids to be quiet. If they didn't get quiet, they all could've been separated to different rooms so they could get some sleep. But, THIS mom decided to be fun and just let them be up all night long while I held a pillow over my ear and tried to catch a few ZZZZs (that's the better version. The real version probably sounds more like "I was just too dog tired to try the stairs so I ignored it.") When I finally did fall asleep, it seemed like ten minutes later, Husband's alarm went off at 5am. Why, you ask? To go fishing with my GENIE.

Yes, my Genie and my husband are now fishing buddies. This is a good and a bad thing. I'm glad they get along. Genie is a great influence for my husband, he actually convinced him to get up on the roof last week to help fix the missing shingles before a big rain, something my husband would NEVER have done on his own. So, yeah. That's good. However, my new wall in the living room is not finished and the trim in the master bath is not finished either. So the more they fish, the longer my gorgeous decor ideas don't come to fruition! I teased Hubby yesterday about stealing my Genie (though I didn't call him that. I could never call him that to anyone but you all...hehe)

Soooooo, now that I'm dog tired and have fed the four hungry boys a wild stack of pancakes and Hubby is off fishing, I heard my daily coffee addiction calling. But instead of my yummy sweetened coffee that I normally enjoy every day, I opted to take a challenge from someone on Facebook who reminded me that we Americans consume way too much sugar and it's time to grow up just a little and drink coffee WITHOUT sugar. So I brewed my pot of coffee and only added non-fat creamer (instead of my normal milk) and a little cinnamon (which is good for us anyway) and no sugar. No sweetener. Nothing. Nada.

It's sitting here with me, this unsweet morning coffee. I have stomached half a cup so far. It's not enjoyable. In fact, it's bordering on adding to my sleep deprived, husband is fishing, my wall is not done, boys are too loud grouchiness. (ha). I have Thomas the Train chanting in my head with every sip..."I think I can I think I can I think I can..." along with two motivational concepts: One being that my mom quit sugar in her coffee many years ago and without changing anything else in her life, she lost 20 lbs quite quickly...and the 2nd thing, is that many years ago I decided to switch from Coke to Diet Coke and before long, I found I couldn't even stomach regular Coke anymore because it tasted too syrup-y. Soooo if I can manage to get through a week without sugar in my coffee, I'll either begin to notice a little weightloss or I will end my morning coffee addiction all together (and deal with a few days of caffiene headaches.) LOL But I did just read that black coffee actually is good for you and helps regulate blood sugar levels. I'm going to keep scouting for more reasons to unsweeten my morning cuppa joe. Wish me luck. Ugh.

And another brilliant decision on my part, was promising the middle kid that he could have a friend overnight TONIGHT. Not realizing how tired I would already be after having three extras over this past night. Ugh. I think I'm going to go to bed with ear plugs tonight.

Maybe I'll sneak off and do my own fishing in the morning....the kind of fishing that has to with FISHING for good deals at garage sales...hehe....And leave Hubby here with the restless natives....