On Thursday, April 16, 2009, I stopped snacking and eating sugar.  Well, sort of.  I eat a fruit every morning.  And if I am really craving a sweet treat late at night, I drink a glass of Crystal Light.

I drink a glass of Crystal Light.  Hi, my name is Pathetic and I will be dining alone.  Table for one, please.

I went from eating fistfuls of popcorn and the occasional Reeses Peanut Butter Cup (Thanks, Easter!) to absolutely nothing.  Consequently, I’ve been a raging lunatic most of the week.  But, I’m complicated.  It’s not just white hot rage that has me crashing the hopes young children just because it’s fun to watch them cry. No, Mikey, YOU CAN’T have that chocolate bunny for breakfast!  HAHAHAHAHA!

No, my rage is a product of two things: withdrawals and intolerance for days on end pain.

Today is the first day I haven’t woken up with a headache since Thursday.  I’ve read sugar withdrawals (headaches, depression, anger, etc.) can last up to seven days, sometimes more, so I consider myself lucky.  I expect the sudden urge to kick a kitten only sporadically from here on out.  I credit the garage sale we had on Saturday for my speedy trip through detox.  So may losers, so little time.  I sized up each person that walked up our cracked driveway with the razor-like precision of a person without faults.  For one day only, I was perfect.  And ruthless.

Bonus points to the cocky Guatemalan guy who let me work out my childhood issues.  Dude, you thought you were bargaining for a set of four prints from Target, but IT WAS SO MUCH MORE.

That brings us to the present.  A beautiful day in southern California, and I’m eating strawberries and plain yogurt.  Happily.  I’m going to try my hand at some home improvement projects, do some writing, and enjoy my children more than I have the last few days.  Today is going to be a great day.

Golden Spice Pancakes from Fat Free Vegan

I’m not, but SHE is.  I’ve always loved her site.  It’s clean, gorgeous, and the pictures of her recipes are fantastic. If you haven’t tried her recipes or visited her site, I recommend you check both out.  Susan makes sure to detail the nutritional value of all her recipes, but lately she has also been including the Weight Watchers Point Value!  Yahoo!  I now have a new source for fantastic, healthy, and Weight Watcher friendly recipes, and you do, too.

One of my favorite designers is Patricia Zapata. The fact she is insanely talented with paper is hardly late breaking news; she does have her own book coming out in August. You would think the last several months designing, developing, photographing and writing a book on paper projects would leave her strapped for ideas, but no. Patricia just released the most darling set of alphabet cards you can download and print from your home computer.

I am especially excited about these cards because they are so relevant in my own life right now. Nico continues to take his own sweet time in the speaking department. We’ve have been really working with him on his words and letters, and he loves playing with flashcards. We had sets for the car, diaper bag, and house, but they have slowly met toddler demise. These are perfect to print again and again and are far cuter than anything you can find at national toystores. No more worrying about the expense of replacing ugly, torn flashcards!

Each PDF includes the entire alphabet scaled to print two to a page and two other pages with the entire alphabet and illustrations, which you can use as coloring sheets. You can download the set for $7.99 (and print unlimited quantities) here.

This week I was going to write a post about my crush on the blog, The Misadventures of Kelly and Kelly, but it seems she is taking a modified break to reevaluate the direction of her blog. Gah!

Regardless, do go through her archives. I am always happy to see her blog highlighted with a new post in my blog reader. Without fail, each week she provides me with at least one great link I would have never discovered and seems to be on the same mission I am: to find joy and peace in the minutia of life and to value the blessings we have in the present. She’s giving me many great links with that goal in mind.

Which brings me to my request. Kelly, you can change whatever you like about your blog, but don’t deny me those great links. You’re shaving hours off my day by doing all the work for me. ;)

xoxo
Jules

Most of you know I am a big fan of Melissa’s new blog, Operation NICE. I think kindness is an idea who’s time has come (again) and couldn’t be happier to discover how many people are like me–trying to be good and kind, even when you really want to be anything but, and all around sick of the negativity that surround us. Then again, I’m also the attorney who stopped practicing to raise kids and write schmaltzy event wording, so maybe my perspective is skewed? Bah, who cares. I just want to say way to go, Melissa. I am so proud to count you as one of my online friends. And, hey! I had my own encounter with someone NICE today.

Mikey is sick. It’s just a virus, but if I learned anything last year, a virus for a little boy with allergies like Mikey means high fevers, barking-seal coughs, and a whole lot of wheezing. I spent most of the night checking on him, rubbing his back, “sleeping” with him, taking his temperature, singing his favorite songs, and pretty much wondering what I could have done since school started to avoid all of this for him. The only thing greater than Catholic Guilty? Mother’s Guilt.

I fell asleep around 7:oo am today, so the Mister took Mikey to the doctor’s early morning sick hour. He prescribed for him one dose of steroids. The Mister took the Rx to the pharmacy after he dropped Mikey off at home. A couple of hours later, I packed up the boys and headed towards the pharmacy.

Our pharmacy has a drive-thru, and I couldn’t have been happier about that as a miserable, feverish Mikey cried quietly in the back seat. As luck would have it, we were out of tissues and Motrin. So, even though I suspected they wouldn’t, I asked the pharmacy-tech if there was any way I could buy Motrin and a box of tissues from her. She said no; I had to park and go into the store, which is not part of the pharmacy. {Un gran sigh.} Then she took a peek into the backseat and saw a very forlorn Mikey. She told me to hang on–she would do my shopping for me.

And she did. Five minutes later, she slid through the delivery drawer an Rx for steroids, 1 box of tissues and a large bottle of children’s Motrin.

I slid back a note that read,

Thank you so much for thinking of my son.
It is greatly appreciated.
Best,
Jules

Maybe I’m just tired from a long night, but my sunglasses hid my misty eyes just fine as I pulled out of the drive-thru.

{Mikey must have borrowed my camera last week, because I found these tucked in between shots of the house and boys.}

Do any of you read Dear Ada? If you don’t, and are an art lover, I suggest you click on over and visit her fantastic blog. Most of her selections are fine art (and therefore out of my budget), but it’s still a fascinating read on what’s current in art.

I’m always pleased with her selections, but today she really captured my fancy with artist Will Ashford. Altered, vintage book pages is a popular medium right now, but I haven’t seen anything executed this well before today. He actually makes the words on the page part of the art which is, of course, very appealing to me.

He finds most of his books at garage sales, street markets, and used book stores. I am smitten. Aren’t you?

The Poem Company is one of those businesses people don’t initially understand. Quite honestly, I even have trouble explaining it without rambling and using wild hand gestures like an American in Europe. The premise is pretty simple: I will write out in verse whatever you want to announce, whether it’s a new marriage, new baby, or new house. I do the same for invitations. I don’t, however, design around what I write. I would much rather write something and forward it on to your designer because I don’t have the skills or tools to design anything on my own.

This is where the lovely Cathe from Feterie comes in. I have worked with her on several projects and I am always thrilled with the balance between her clean, modern aesthetic and my casual, somewhat sweet writing style.

(Ms. Cathe, peeking from behind some of her designs)

My favorite project so far is a birth announcement Cathe asked me write for a well travelled couple expecting their first child, a boy. The mother decorated the nursery with a “By Sea, By Air, By Land” nursery theme and wanted it to carry over to the announcement. This couple could not have picked a better suited theme for the nursery; they travel extensively and at every opportunity! They regularly spend time in Europe, Hawaii, Lake Tahoe, and Las Vegas, to name a few the their common hot spots. I knew immediately the direction I wanted to take, and the poem basically says that being at home with their new baby is the best vacation, by far. I sent it off to Ms. Cathe, and she designed this little beauty:

Isn’t it fabulous? I adore the colors, naturally, but the Hawaiian Islands cartography kills me. So fantastic, and not your traditional baby announcement– which is a good thing.

Cathe has a lot more in store this year. Her new shop, Feterie, is set to open this month and I am on pins and needles waiting to see what’s behind those closed doors. I read her blog regularly, so I know to expect personalized wall art, coordinated wedding invitations and websites, and her always impeccable designs. But I can’t help but wonder, what other bespoken lovelies does she have up her sleeve?