Well. That's awkward! But not as awkward as...

Well. That's awkward! But not as awkward as... starting dating again.

I opened my blogger and realized I had a draft dated from December of 2016. Twenty sixteen. 😖😶

What could I do except post it? I had to. It's rough... but 2016 ended STUPID rough. And 2017 wasn't much better. I have much better expectations for 2018.

I've started this dating thing again. And I'm finding it to be highly amusing. I'm not taking anything personal. I'm making first moves. I'm letting them make first moves. I'm not settling.

I'm also going to share the hilarity that is dating in this millennium. Please enjoy my future posts! I've attempted to retract the names and faces for the sake of the poor sods.

Aloha from Oahu!
xxoo

Another Year Has Almost Come and Gone...

12/27/2016
Last we spoke was August. Much has changed since then.

I lost myself.
I endured my first breakup.
I learned who I could trust.
I learned who I could not trust.
I cried a lot.
I gained more weight (back to 215 lbs).
I went on a lot of dates.
I made new, single friends.
I made a lot of choices of both good and stupid varieties.
I learned some things about myself.
I became more confused on some things about myself.
I lost my motivation.
I'm slowly but surely finding my motivation.
I am battling through depression.

Can I just say? I cannot wait for this year to be done. It was way too eventful on all levels. I feel like a good washing away of this year is in order. It was hard! But what should I expect when I'm coming up on my thirties?

Update, Update, Read All About It!

It's been a while, hasn't it?

February -- went on a good first date which turned in to several good dates which turned in to me having a boyfriend. I don't precisely know how it all happened, actually. I think he said something along the lines of "wanna be a couple" and I said "sure, why not?" And so we did. Or did I say it and he responded? Whatever. We're a couple of weirdos so that's what matters most, right?

March -- running, running, running... The Man went out of town for 2.5 weeks. He was supposed to be gone for 3 weeks but he came back early and scared the crap out of me. In a good way, though.

April -- I. Finished. The. Race. I did it. Barely. And how did I celebrate? I jumped on a plane and flew to Washington. I'll be doing the race again next year. It's unclear at this point if I'll be doing the Honolulu Marathon this year. Maybe I'll save that for 2017.

May -- I gave my two weeks notice at my Insurance job and started working with a University instead. This was a move not taken lightly. I'm earning about $2 more an hour and in January 2017 I'm hoping to start classes again towards my bachelor degree. I'll probably only be taking around 6 credits but it'll be worth it for the long haul. The Man also went away for three weeks to Big Island for some field training.

June -- Transitioning to my new job. My brain ceased functioning for a while.

July -- The fourth came and went. I lost my phone to ocean water. I got quite the nasty sunburn. My brain was still boiling from my new job.

August -- The brain is still churning... it's getting better and easier. While the brain is finally figuring this madness out, my hips are getting pissy. Or, rather, they're getting wider. I'm up in the 205s to 210s.

No Bueno.

So I'm at this point now where I'm trying to balance working, working out, meal prepping on a budget and conveniently, date nights, and keeping up on house-ly duties, like laundry and dishes. I have ideas on how to streamline my meals. The trouble starts when I don't stick to my planned meals, I miss lunches/snacks, I cut my lunch hour short and miss my workout lunch hour.

I'm committing to a healthier me. I'm committing to run nightly (I now have a running partner who lives 3,000 miles away, LOL). I'm committing to meal prepping. I'm committing to working out during my lunch hour. This all is starting after I'm horrible cold goes away. It's hard to workout when you cough up your lungs every so often.

I solemnly swear I'm up to no good.

Aloha from Oahu!
Xxoo
Lisa

Potty Training - how have I not written about this yet?

Potty training, how have I not written about this yet?
I read all the books, took quizzes, read blogs and other people's experiences, I was ready. But more importantly Little Miss was ready. She showed all the readiness signs that I had read about,  and plus she has always been ahead of the learning curve, she is bright. Knowing all this, I made a plan. I was prepared and this was going to be easy.
That was 2.5 years ago, before Little Man was even born. I made up my mind from the beginning that I was not going to buy one of those little toilets, (because what mommy needs one more thing to clean) and I was not going to bribe with food treats. (because I had read that using candy or sweets as a reward can set a child on a track for diabetes and obesity and with our family history, I just didn't want to go there) My plan was to use the "cushie tushie" or a potty seat that just sits on top of the regular toilet. In my mind, this was the ideal way to train. We got a wonderful potty book that we would read and we just stayed positive about the whole thing.
Well after a few months of just going at her pace and having little success, LittIe Man decided to join our family, so we relaxed about the potty. Then we moved. We started trying again once we were settled, and were having little successes. It was exciting to see her grow up and be independent. Well, we moved again. Once we were settled back in Rexburg we got going again and got into our routine of just a few successes with a lot of accidents and mess. Soon enough the one year anniversary of our potty journey came and went and I felt like we were still at the starting line, we had made no progress, a whole year wasted.
I decided to add in a sticker chart, because stickers aren't sweets surely that would be fine. Well, stickers lead to short term success, then we needed a better prize. We got princess shoes, dress up clothes, coloring books, if she showed interest I used it as a prize. Well, prizes also lead to short term success. I was completely baffled that this wasn't working. I'd done everything I could, I'd followed the plan. When Grammy had seen my frustration she immediately recommended getting a little potty and putting it in the living room. I shot this down before she could even finish. I did not want to clean one of those stupid toilets! "But that's what worked when I trained you" she told me. Again and again and again. Each time driving my resolve, I couldn't be wrong and her right!
Soon enough along comes our two year anniversary of the start to our journey. By this point Little Man is now showing readiness signs too, and this momma is getting desperate. I had tried everything! Stickers, prizes, panties, 3 day training, her pace, my pace, books, books, books. I had had many friends tell me to use chocolate chips or mini marshmallows, so I caved. Because my friends being right was one thing, I could live with that, but my mother? Of course not. So chocolate chips are her motivation. It was working.
Well, we moved again. We are now in Othello. The kids have their own bathroom, and we started over, but with chocolate chips this time, and things were going ok. Grammy suggested again to get a little potty, but I didn't even think twice. I decided one morning to check out YouTube for ideas, an untapped resource. As I'm watching these videos Little Miss asks about what I'm doing, and I tell her, "I'm talking to other mommies and daddies to find out how they helped their kids to use the toilet." Her response, "well if we just had a little potty for me to use then I could do it." My jaw hit the sidewalk. You have got to be kidding me, this girl spent too much time with Grammy. So I asked, "If we had a little potty you would use it every time you needed to potty?" She adamantly affirmed. So during naptime that same day this momma left dad at home and went to buy a toilet (and some disinfectant wipes).
The kids were awake when I got home and they were so excited to see the new potty. By the end of the night she had had no accidents, and was loving the new potty. After the kids went to bed I broke out in song, "For the first time in forever, I feel like this might work." Hope. I had hope that I might not have to send her to kindergarten in diapers. An amazing feeling, but would it last?
I think we are about a week into it this time, and from what I can tell I think this is it. The stupid little potty has also had the happy side effect of getting Little Man onboard. I think he is on his way to big boy underpants. My hope is that they will both be done with diapers before baby 3 makes it's grand entrance in December. Except for nighttime of course, I've heard that's a whole new adventure.
My take away, it is ok for Grammy to be right, after all she has done this mom-thing before. And it is ok for me to be wrong, though we all know that only happens once in a blue moon. Also, it is ok for plans to change. And last but not least, the stupid little toilet is not that hard to clean out.

I'm baaaaaaackkkkk!!!

It's been a while... so here's the short story: nothing interesting has happened and I'm pretty much just surviving the best way I know how here on a rock in the middle of the ocean.

I have high expectations for 2016, though. I've already booked a round-trip flight to Washington. I'm signed up for a half marathon in April (I haven't started training yet, LOL. I got eight weeks, yo!).

For those of you who know me enough to hear me talk about my period and how it makes me feel like I'm on the sunny side of death, it won't come as a surprise to learn I've started on birth control. And it's true... that horrible little pill makes you gain weight. I'm back up in the high 180s. I know what to do. I just have to do it. I've got people who love me, support me, and wish the best for me. My coworkers will support me because we're all about that healthy lifestyle, yo. I've also experience my first, genuine headache. It may even have been a mild migraine, I'm not sure, seeing as I've never experienced either. So... we'll see how I feel after three months. Hah.

I've got an idea for a little thing. Maybe a short blog or something about traveling Oahu with only the bus and walking as your mode of transportation. Best hikes, places to eat, or tourist attractions within the bus line but outside of Waikiki and Honolulu.

But what do I know? Would that even be interesting?

Anyway... I'm doing good, trying to keep busy. I love and miss you all and can't wait to see you in April. I'm hoping to set up a come-and-visit day.

Aloha from Oahu!
xoxo
Lisa

Lunch for the Littles

Lunch for the Littles
I have an amazing husband who likes to cook creative things, which leaves me with amazing leftovers to fix up for the Littles. Well, this weekend he stuffed a pumpkin, and let me tell you it was amazing (and if you want to know how you'll have to take it up with him because I'm just not that creative or ambitious of a chef). So, what do you do with leftover pumpkin? Well, this bowl of perfectly cooked pumpkin sat in my fridge right beside this half used jar of pasta sauce. Knowing that my Littles will always eat pasta, especially if its topped with cheese, I decided to get out of my box and be creative.
We had sneaky pumpkin pasta, though I told the Littles it was cheesy noodles.
So how is sneaky pumpkin pasta made you ask? Its really quite simple. You boil some of these:

And while that is going, you dump this in a pan:

Add some perfectly cooked pumpkin and use your weapon of choice, mine was a potato masher.

Add the pasta, dish it up and top with parmesan.

And how was this sneaky pumpkin received? Well, they didn't eat all of it, but they ate most of it, and really, what more can a momma ask for? :-)

Cheers!
Jessica

Spontaneity At It's Best (November 2015)

I did something really weird on Saturday. Lemme 'esplain...

Friday night I stayed at a friend's house. They had to work early on Saturday morning so they dropped me off at the Kalihi transit center around 7AM. No big deal. From KTC I can get pretty much anywhere on the island. I sat for a while and was talking to my girl, Laura, back home. We were catching up because she had surgery the previous Monday and was just getting ready to start on solid foods again. When I'm done chatting her up, I hang up and look at the bus times. As I do this, I think, "man! I'm hungry." And so instead of traveling north I get on a bus and head south to downtown Honolulu.

On the bus I pull up Yelp and see what's near me that's open for breakfast/brunch. The first one to pop up is a bookmark I'd placed a very long while ago: Scratch Kitchen and Bake Shop. So I get off the bus, walk a block down an empty street and enter through the front doors. All the people who should have been walking the streets are in this restaurant! It seems every table is occupied. The hostess asks how many. "Oh, just one," is my sheepish answer. "Would you like to sit at the counter? It's a bit tight but we can fit you in."

I nod and follow her to the back of the restaurant. It's an open kitchen set up so it's almost like sitting at a barstool watching mom cook in the kitchen. I'm seated between two men. The one on my left is younger, around my age. Cute and also appearing to be alone. The one on my right is older and with a female friend and they're already boozing it up.

I thank the hostess, squish my overnight bag under the counter onto a hook and take a look at the menu. I set my phone, wallet, and headphones on the table, preparing myself for an awkward wait and checking out Facebook or Pinterest.

And then... something weird happens.

The cute guy on my left says hello. I bewilderingly say hello back. We smile and one of us strikes up a conversation.

We talk all through breakfast. I got the BLT benedict, same as him. I also got a Tang mimosa. Absolutely brilliant idea to whoever thought that one up, BTW. We watched the kitchen staff flow. They were flawless and never seemed to get in each other's way. They were quick but not urgently scrambling. Each plate was composed and looked lovely when sent out. I'm sure they tasted even better than they looked.

Through the conversation, I learned this guy was from SoCal, enjoyed lizards enough to want to create his own pet store, and liked hiking. I, too, like hiking. He had one more full day left on the island. I offered to show him a hike. He accepted. We finished breakfast and went in search of supplies needed for a hike.

I never do this.

Ever.

Which is why it was super weird. I'm grateful he chatted with me and then went on a hike. I'm even more grateful that he drove me home, no questions asked. The most grateful thing though was him showing me it's ok to talk to strangers. It's ok to trust someone you don't know. To think they've got good intentions instead of think, "gee, I hope this guy isn't an ax murderer." And that sentence is actually discriminating against single guys, if you think about it. (Sorry all you first date dudes!)

We're all strangers, I suppose. Some are just stranger than others.