Fall Break

It's Fall Break here at the Simpson house! Technically, it is Fall Break everywhere in the Bartlesville, Ok-area but, since this blog is primarily about my family and me, I'm focusing on our break time. I have no idea why the schools here have a Fall Break one month before Thanksgiving but I am not complaining one bit. I love it and I am excited about how we are going to spend our time.

This year we are spending our Fall Break time getting ready for TWO Halloween parties on Saturday. Yes, you read that correctly: TWO parties...at OUR house....on the SAME day. We will be having a "Kids' Party" from 12-2 and then, after we recuperate for a few hours, we will have a "Family Party" with our grown-up friends.

I thought this would be a good way to meet some of Mac and Jack's friends from school and their parents. I've learned that, as the kids get older, it gets harder to meet parents. This, in turn, makes it hard for Scott and me to allow our kids to go to friends' houses. In fact, it doesn't make it "hard", it makes it impossible. We don't just let our kids go to any one's house. We have to know the parents first and know them well. Needless to say, our kids don't get out much.

I am also learning that parents in our neck of the woods do not know the meaning of RSVP. Three families have told me that they will be attending one or both parties. These families are friends of ours that we stay in contact with and, I might mention, they are not from Bville originally. I am not meaning to imply that native "Bartians" (yes, that is what they call themselves) are all devoid of manners. I don't know what the problem is. Maybe we are all too detached these days or maybe people are tired of reaching out and trying to make new friends. Maybe parents don't care where they drop their kids off on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe they don't really understand why responding to an RSVP is so important but, when you are planning a party with adorable Halloween-themed food, it is nice to know just how many "Mummy Pizzas" to make ahead of time. I'm just sayin'.

No matter how many people show up, I am hoping for a fun day. It will be very nice if it doesn't rain also. Everything I have planned needs to take place outside and I really don't want 10 kids running around inside my house. I'll be writing about the parties and posting pics, so be on the look-out for a new post, hopefully, on Sunday.

Onto another topic...my weight loss. This past week was harder than the others have been. I wanted to "cheat" fairly often and I was just hungry a lot. Of course, I am blaming that on my monthly hormones, rather than the fact that I simply like to eat. I weighed in yesterday and I lost a whopping .8 lbs. I am not looking at it as a failure; it is still a loss and not a gain. I have lost a total of 14.6 pounds in 5 weeks and that ain't too shabby, if I do say so myself. Yesterday was also the first day in 5 weeks that I have not eaten JC foods. I decided to take the day off and just eat what I wanted to. It wasn't a huge splurge-day for me. I didn't eat an entire pizza or scarf down a bacon cheeseburger and onion rings. I had my favorite pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks and half of Jack's chocolate chip frappaccino. I ate creamy chicken and noodles leftovers and there might have been some pumpkin spice pop-tarts thrown in there somewhere... What can I say? I love pumpkin spice-flavored things! ;-)

I wasn't thrilled with myself but I think it was good to have a day like that so I can start fresh the next day and refocus on my goals. This morning, I had my usual Cain's coffee with Creme Brulee' creamer and a JC breakfast. When I am finished typing this, I am going for a walk. After that, it will be time to get this house ready for the parties and, hopefully, have some family time visiting a couple of Bville tourist-y places. Have a great day!