Time for a new post

Here are a couple of blog-worthy things to share:

1. yesterday MC gave me some early Mother's Day presents that she had made. (J also gave me some that he had made, and they were wonderful too.) My favorite gift she made for me was a piece of white paper with smaller, cut-out pieces of white paper glued down onto the big piece. It was then folded in half while the glue was still wet. When presented to me, she said I should open it up. The partially-dried globs of glue made it a little challenging to unfold completely. I commented that I liked the design made by the ripped paper. J asked her what it was. I am the proud owner of "something you can do when you don't want to do what you have to do" - I know you are jealous!

2. also yesterday I came downstairs to find MC holding a handful of chocolate cheesecake at the bottom of the stairs, saying, "mmmm. chocolate!" Then a piece of the cheesecake fell onto the floor. I escorted her into the kitchen where the refrigerator door was left open, and the aluminum foil that contained two large pieces of chocolate cheesecake was opened and sitting on her chair at the table. A rather large chunk was missing from one piece. I let her eat the rest of it, but told her she was finished with dessert for the rest of the day! I had been planning to offer her some of the cheesecake for dessert after supper. We had gotten it from the baker who didn't want to take it home from a party James and I went to the night before last. She has started trying to reach things and do things by herself lately. Unfortunately, it means I have to be more vigilant when we're alone in the house. I have gotten spoiled by her relative independence lately. But now she's pushing chairs up to the refrigerator and the pantry and trying to get to things that were put up high for a reason. Especially with snacks, she goes for the less nutritious things and fills up on those when I'm not looking. So I'm going to have to look more. Or install some more challenging locks or obstacles to keep her out.

3. I haven't been working out for the past three-plus weeks because I've been working at my research job when Curves is open. it's really not a good excuse. I could have gotten up early and walked in my neighborhood, or done floor exercises at home, or put in my pilates DVD and worked out that way. I could have run a little too, if I had really wanted to. But I did get to Curves today because I'm not working today. In fact this is my last week at that job until there is more data to rate in November. I burned 508 calories, according to the Curves software, and I did some floor exercises after I finished the circuit. I also did push-ups again for the first time in a month, I think. I didn't make it to 26, which I had previously been able to do in three spurts. I did make it to 20, though, in four spurts. It feels good to have worked out today. I know I have some work to do to make exercise a priority in my daily life when I have a busy schedule. While this job is ending for now, I have enjoyed working again, and I hope to find some other part-time work in the near future. James still is employed at his long-time job, at least for today. We're grateful for that.