This & That & some ancient Jews

There are quite a few things going on in my universe recently, but I can never seem to find the time or the words to talk about them properly.

The weight loss is continuing, although it has dramatically slowed down. I blame myself for being less active recently. We had a cold snap and I hate the cold, so I went into lazy mode and hid in the house. The weather seems to be improving finally, so hopefully that will change.

Addy is sick. She woke up on Thursday a snotty mess and has gotten worse each day. Yesterday wasn't too bad, but now she's running a fever that won't quite break even with medicine. It lowers, but doesn't break. She's currently sleeping way earlier than her usual naptime. I'm guessing she's just got a nasty cold, but if the fever doesn't break today I'm calling the doctor first thing in the morning. I live in fear of an ear infection. I'd rather go in and be told it's just a cold than ignore an ear infection and have an ear drum rupture.

Other than my impromptu trip down to Slate Run, I haven't been to a park in a while and once again I'm blaming the cold. I did realize that I have one trail left up at Blendon Woods and 3 very short trails left in Three Creeks. Hopefully those will get knocked off the list soon. I don't want to drag a sick kid out of the house unnecessarily, though.

Of course the Gay Marriage debate is raging right now. I'll say one sentence and move on: I fully support equal marriage amongst consenting adults, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

I've been very behind of a lot of news recently and the part of me that is used to being plugged in all the time feels very deprived and ignorant. At the same time, the part of me that loves the happy little bubble consisting of me taking care of my kid is quite blissful. Ahh, to be worldly and self-absorbed all at once.

This past Tuesday, Addy and I went to Cinci to meet up with some friends at the Children's Museum. Now, my love of the Cinci Museum Center is well documented. I love the building, I love the museums, and I love the people. Until now, however, I'd never had an excuse to go into the Children's Museum. I now have a walking, exploring, mischievous toddler on my hands. We didn't even get a chance to explore the entire Children's Museum it's so big! I'm really excited to get Nate down there with her to play and explore. He still hasn't made it down there with me.

I also checked out the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. I know that's strange to many since I am a pretty vocal secular humanist, but whole college life once I abandoned theater was about archaeology. I had to see one of the coolest archaeological finds in global history. The exhibit was great, even for those of us who don't subscribe to the religions. There are many wonderful pieces, from pottery to mosaics, that highlight life in the 1st century BCE. It's there through April 14, so if you get a chance and you like history, go see it. The 10 scrolls are super cool to see, too.

That's really all I've got for now.

Where is Spring, exactly?

Today is March 20, the official start of Spring. Someone forgot to tell Ohio's weather.

It's currently 39 degrees fahrenheit at my house. This time last year, it was a record-breaking 84 degrees fahrenheit. I'd be perfectly content with a high temperature somewhere in between, say 55 or so right now.

Normally this time of year I can shut my heat off during the day to save power, I can sometimes even open a window. Instead I'm bundling myself and my kid up just to make it to the car.

I'm miserable in the cold. I want my Spring warmth. I want to put a big dent in the hiking goal, and I can't do that with the kid in tow when it's this cold.

Although, we did venture out yesterday. I knocked out 3 little trails down at Slate Run and found out that the Buckeye Trail in Walnut Woods still isn't open.

I also went over to Batelle Darby on Saturday and knocked out a trail over there. Yes, I also visited the Bison.

My weight loss has slowed down, and I have only myself to blame. I spent a week hiding from the cold and eating junk food. Fortunately I only set myself back a little bit. My ultimate goal is still very achievable in a healthy way. Despite the set back, I've noticed that my clothes aren't bursting at the seams to hold in my girth, so there has to be at least a little change happening.

On a related note, my poor kid is trapped in between clothing sizes. She's comfortably in 24m/2T shirts. However, she's all torso, so while 18m pants are the perfect length for her, they don't accommodate her belly. 24 month pants fit her belly, but are comedically long. I want shorts weather to show up so my kid doesn't need all of her clothes cuffed up at the bottom!

A Taste of Spring

We're finally getting a taste of spring here in Columbus, and I couldn't be happier about it. Usually by mid-February, I'm a wreck and so sick of the cold that I'm going crazy.

March showed up with 6.9 inches of snow that, fortunately, melted pretty quickly. Each day it's been getting warmer and my soul has been perking up. Yesterday it was above 60! Today it's supposed to be above 65! Hallelujah!

I'm currently sitting in a silent house (Addy's asleep), enjoying my lunch and the breeze coming through the living room window. Once I'm done with this, I'm going to bake chocolate doughnuts to share with the guys.

Every Sunday my best friends get together and have our own version of family dinner. Everyone takes turns cooking (or paying for takeout) and we hang out, eat, play games...you know, things normal families do without the drama.

These weekly gatherings are what started the Nerf arms race, which is on temporary hiatus because Tim took a dart to the eye. We're adults, you think we'd be smart enough to wear eye protection.

Now we're on a board games kick. Last week we played 13 Dead End Drive. Remember that game? It's effing AWESOME. This week it's hard to say what we'll do, but I'm going to take a couple of my board games over.

I'm a board game junkie.

This & That

I've updated the MetroParks page. Yesterday we walked the Sweetgum Trail over at Walnut Woods, and I found out that the Buckeye Trail is now open. So, 2.6 miles checked off and 2 miles added to the list. I'm still trying to find out if Rocky Fork is officially open.

I realized that maybe I should start taking pictures from the trails, but then I also realized that I've typically got a 23lb toddler strapped to me while I'm hiking, so snapping pictures isn't always easy. I'll figure something out. Maybe I'll snap pictures from observation decks or of trailhead signs. Something.

We also took a trip out to the Ohio Statehouse earlier this week. Flat Stanley had a blast, and Addy acted indifferent except when she squealed at other people. Flat Stanley also saw the Dispatch building and the oldest church in the city. I created a twitter account for him, so if you feel like checking it out it's @CbusFlatStanley. I think I've only tweeted a couple of times from that account so far since I tend to take the Flat Stanley pictures with my camera, not my phone, but I'll work on that, too.

As of my last weigh-in, I have lost just shy of 15lbs. I have a weigh in later, but I don't know if I'll be able to blog later, so for now that's the number you all get.

Since I can't think of anything remotely relevant to say right now, here are a couple of pictures of Flat Stanley's adventures so far:

Outside of the Dispatch building

In front of the Statehouse

Flat Stanley Is On The Loose

A friend of mine is a teacher in Minnesota, and her class is doing a Flat Stanley project.

It's a project based on a children's story. In the story, Stanley gets smushed by a billboard and is flattened. His parents then fold him up and put him in an envelope to go visit a friend in California. The project has the kids create their own Flat Stanleys and send them out into the world as a way to learn geography, history, and a little bit about another place.

Since I live in the capital of Ohio, I felt it was my duty to host a Stanley. He showed up yesterday, and he is awesome. Today he visited my mom at the school bus compound, and he got a great view of the city skyline. Over the next week I have big plans for him to showcase some fun things in the city. I think that, in addition to emailing the pictures to my teacher friend, I'll share his adventure here, too. I'm thinking I might even frame him with my favorite picture from the adventure once all is said and done.

Stanley checking out the school buses

Stanley getting a great view of the skyline