Mel's Box of Chocolates

I have mentioned before and will mention again that I HEART CHRISTMAS!!! It is my absolute favorite time of the year even with all the business, financial mess, and stress. One of the best parts of Christmas is bringing in the freshly cut tree and indulging in some good whiffs of cut pine. Sometimes though the scent is just too faint and I want a more of that Christmas tree smell. For those of you who are like me and cannot get enough of the smell, Yankee Candle is to the rescue. Every year I buy one, or two, of their Mistletoe candles. Oh me, oh my, it is like they stuffed the best smelling Christmas trees into one jar. The candle makes the whole house smell Christmasy , even floating upstairs. Gotta love Yankee Candles!! So right now, Zoe and I are cuddled on the couch with the Christmas tree blinking in front of us and the smell of Christmas trees tickling our noses...can life get any better??!!

Due to my little bloggy break I realized that I have not talked about the weight thing in the past couple of weeks. I'm very excited to say that after my last post , I did pull it together and I lost the 2 pounds gained the following week. On Thanksgiving morning, I actually weighed in at my lowest yet, 142. Of course the day after Thanksgiving I was back at 143, which was okay! I was pretty pleased with myself on my menu choices for Thanksgiving. Now the cherry pie that I finished on the following days, not my brightest moments! The great thing is that on Friday and Saturday I walked around a lot trying to get some Black Friday sales so that helped and on my official weigh in I was back to 142...yeah! As far as this week, I'm doing really well although it could be accounted for the fact that I am extremely limited on what I can eat due to having my wisdom teeth removed. I think on Monday I ate a total of 15 points, if that. I did eat a bit more yesterday since there were a bit...

OK , I know this is supposed to be wordless, but you may not get my title unless you have seen the movie "Sixth Sense" (if you haven't then you are missing out). There is one scene where a ghost in the house keeps going in the kitchen and opening all the drawers and cupboards. For some reason Zoe finds this intriguing herself and whenever she does it, I always think about that scene. Sorry for the words!!!

For Zoe's birthday my mom got her a Webkinz black cat that was so soft and furry and instantly Zoe's best friend. For those of you who are new to webkinz they are the next step up from the beanie baby's. Webkinz have little tags attached to them that hold a secret code so that you can adopt the animals on the Internet . Then you can go online and build your pet a house, feed him, play with him, and have a lot of fun. Well somehow the tag and cat got separated and while the cat is still around that little paper tag, well not so much. I am not giving up hope though and when I tackle the playroom I am hopeful that it shall be uncovered. Anyways, Dylan wanted a Webkinz too so the other day they were so good in Hallmark (you know the place where everything is breakable and expensive, where there are rows of paper cards screaming to be mixed up, and Christmas decorations that sing and dance, and are placed in the midst of the breakables) that I decided to treat them to new We...

In Zoe's Words... Zoe - Where are we going? Me - To the bank to put in some money. Zoe - Then where are we going? Me - I don't know where do you think we should go? Zoe - Actually ( yes, this is one of her favorite words ), we need to go to the shoe store next because I need some new shoes. Oh yes, she is my daughter!!!!

Our weekend was packed with fun! I confess that I am one of those people who rush out at 4 am to get into WalMart and I look forward to it all year!! Actually, this year I was a bit disappointed with WalMart's ad so I went to K-Mart and even slept in til 5am. I got some kids gifts and stocking stuffers there and then headed to the outlets. Our outlets had actually opened at midnight and stayed open all night, which I thought was kind of strange although, yes, I did check out the sales online to make sure I wasn't missing out on something. I only got to Ann Taylor when Dave called to see if we could head over to Salisbury to do some shopping. I was shocked that he was considering going out in the Christmas hustle and bustle , the Grinch that he is, but if he was game, who was I crush the Christmas Spirit. Of course I grabbed some great deals for me at Ann Taylor before I left. In Salisbury we visited Toys R Us ( obviously late at 10:00 because the shelves were bare!), Targ...

I just realized that it has been almost two weeks since I've been around. I seem to have been in a funk with everything going on and basically I just didn't want to do anything, even blog, so you know it was bad. Anyways, I am back so time to play a little catch up... First of all, THANK YOU to all who left such encouraging comments on my last post. The week did get better. My dad found out that the pain he is feeling has absolutely nothing to do with his heart. He completed a stress test and they were having a hard time getting his heart rate up for being 50 so they had to test him in a lower age range. They are not quite sure what is causing the pain, but it looks like it may be some kind of muscle problem. My father is a UPS driver and recently got a new truck that he just noticed is causing him some discomfort when shifting so he is thinking it may even be that. He is still having slight pains, but has not had the shortness of breath and dizziness. Praise the Lord! As far a...

I realize I kind of kept you all hanging, okay the one of you who reads my blog hanging, about the whole dentist thing. I meant to post that afternoon, but then life interfered and since then I have been overwhelmed by craziness. So here is a quick recap of my week so far... The dentist...yeah exactly as bad as I had thought. I go tomorrow for my consultation with the oral surgeon who will be removing four, yes FOUR, of my wisdom teeth. AAAGGGHHH ! The good news though is that I will be happily sleeping in lala land while the surgeon works away! Some people I have talked to say that they were fine afterwards and then others have told me horror stories so I am not quite sure what to expect afterwards. It is kind of like birthing stories where some women have great stories to share and I could include myself in that one with Zoe, but then there are others who still cringe when they are telling the story 10 years later, and that would include me with Dylan. Anyways, don't you worry a...

It's off to the dentist I go! I will appreciate all the luck, prayers, thoughts, wishes, and anything else good you can send me. I HATE the dentist!!

Christmas is my absolutely favorite time of the year!! You will never hear me complain about the Christmas displays going up right after Halloween. Today if you came to visit you would have been welcomed by the scent of "Jack Frost", a roaring fire in the fireplace, and Christmas music playing in the background. Yes, I did say Christmas music and I am not ashamed one little bit. XM radio has a rockin' Christmas station "Holly" and the beginning of November it has been up and running. I have it playing in my house and in my car! Tonight I headed to the grocery store, a place that I absolutely despise, but tonight it wasn't that bad. You know why? I was happily listening to Christmas music on my Ipod and sipping a Peppermint Mocha Latte from Starbucks while perusing the aisles. Could grocery shopping get any better? An hour later I returned home with a car full of yummy things to eat and felt that I had just spent an hour Christmas shopping. It'...

Yep, the number on the scale this week is ALL my fault. I am not going to blame Halloween, the fun size candy bars, hubby's business trip, twenty-one 3rd grades, TOM, or anything else for the 2 pound gain that I had this week. Yes, I did say 2 pound gain...this is the first gain I have had in a very long time...and it is completely my fault. I did not log onto WW one time last week and if there was any week that I should have, it was last week. Exercise was obsolete, no points tracked, fun size candy bars inhaled, veggies and fruits far and few between, and the water only trickling in. I knew that when it came to weigh in today it was not going to be pretty. Now it is time to pick up the pieces and start all over. Today has been much better with every point being tracked. I also headed to the grocery store this evening and now have a fridge and pantry stuffed with low cal, low fat, and high fiber food. I also earned 4 activity points with walking through the grocery store and my tr...

I'm Mel and welcome to my world! The title of Mel's Box of Chocolates is derived from the famous quote of Forrest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates...ya never know what you're gonna get." This blog is a place where I share the samples of my life from my box of chocolates . I talk about the yummy pieces that I want to savor (the ones with the butter cream center) and those absolutely awful pieces that make me cringe and want to spit it out (the ones with the indistinguishable center). Just a bit about who I am... I'm a wife, mom, teacher, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. I also wear a bunch of other hats, such as chef, house cleaner, nurse, cab driver, cheerleader, and could go on and on, but you get the idea. Life is never dull!  I am happily married to my best friend, Dave, and am proud to be called "mom" by two of the smartest, cutest, funniest, best kids ever (yes I realize I'm prejudiced).  I am an elementary t...

Another picture from Keith

Since the whole family was down for Zoe's birthday I asked my friend, who is also a talented photographer, if he would take some family pictures for us. For Christmas, my brothers and I are going to get our parents a huge canvas print of the whole family for their house. My parents are so hard to buy for because they never want anything so we thought this would be a great present. Of course, I also wanted a pix of Dave and I with the kids, and some kid shots too. I ordered lots of pictures, but it is supposed to take a couple weeks to receive so I asked if I could at least get some to put on here to share with you all. Here are just a few of what he took... Now I know that every parent thinks their kids are cute, but Keith has made mine look absolutely adorable. I just may need to forward some to some cutest kid contests. As I said these are just some of the pictures that he took! It took me forever to pick out the ones to order. You know when I get them in that I will be shar...

Dave left Sunday for Vegas on a business trip, but thankfully he is coming home tomorrow. He works for a local boating store and every year one of their distributors has a trade show in Las Vegas that he attends. The first year I was 8 months pregnant with Dylan and went with him. We had a ball since it was both of our first time being there. The next two years we took Dylan and then the following year I stayed home, with Dyl and a month old Zoe. There were lots of tears involved when he left and lets just leave it at that. Last year, I finally took the plunge and we left the kids with Grampy and Gramma and flew to Vegas together. It was nice having some grown up time, being able to get up when we want, eat at restaurants without kids menus, and just be carefree. The great thing was that Veteran's Day fell on a day we were gone so I only had to use a couple of my personal days. This year, however, that wasn't the case and between using all my personal days and not having ...

I just realized since I was in New York on Saturday that I never posted my weigh in. I am shocked that I did manage to lose, even with the bag full of fun size Halloween candy. Bet you will never guess how much I lost...maybe this or this would give you a hint. After last week I was pretty down because I feel that I am stuck in a rut with my weight loss. I know I am not at a plateau because I wouldn't be losing at all, but I feel like I need to do something to get going again. Last week I was determined to post everyday what I was eating and my exercise, but once again life got a hold of me and after "sticking to it" for three days I was done. Silly me probably should have also considered choosing a different week than the one where it was my TOM, Halloween, fall party at school, and I was preparing myself for my hubby to be leaving on a business trip. Yeah, not one of my most brilliant moves! Anyways, I am happy for the loss, however little it may be and know that th...

On Saturday, my mom and I headed to New York for some sightseeing, shopping, and a show. I had organized a bus trip for my school and asked mom if she would want to come with me. The bus dropped us off around 10 at Rockefeller Center and we headed up 5th Ave to Central Park. It was a breezy, fall day, so sitting in the carriage with warm blankets was a perfect start! As we were ending the carriage ride we saw another carriage going the other way that had two people inside and an entourage of people following them. The carriage stopped and a makeup person started blotting, a hair person brushing, and people taking pictures. Of course, we were star struck thinking here it was...our chance to see somebody famous. So the moment our ride was over we jumped off and began jogging back through Central Park to see this "famous" person. After running halfway back through the park (honestly I don't know why we paid $35 to ride when we ran through it) we finally got ahead of the car...

Halloween is an exhausting holiday for me since it is the only holiday that I work, and am suppose to teach, on. Every year I assign a book report that is due on the 31st and the students must dress up as a character in their book. This then turns into our big "fall" party. So my Halloween began with 21, eight year old's in costume at 7:50 in the morning. Amazingly we got through a reading and math lesson! After lunch the fun began as we set up for the party and rehearsed the presentations of the reports. I have to say that my class has got to be the cutest 3rd grade class ever and they are awesome at oral reports too. After school it was mad rush to pick up the kiddos and race home to make dinner. It is "tradition" that in our house we always have a big pot of chili and cornbread muffins on Halloween and this year was not different. Of course this means cooking chili and mixing muffins while dressing two kids in their costumes, and answering the questions ...

Zoe really enjoys having her nails painted so at least once a week you can find us sitting together painting her nails. Well this past week she decided that she wanted to paint my nails. So she pulled out her Hello Kitty, sparkly pink nail polish, and me being the wonderful mom I am, let her paint away. For her first time, she wasn't too bad! Of course I had some painted fingers too and some nails with a bit more polish than others, but all in all seeing the delight on her face as she painted my nails was worth more than any manicure I have paid for!!