Litterbug

First off, let me start off by saying that I am not a big environmentalist.  I do, however, believe in reducing our carbon footprint on this planet.  And the town we live in, while not very large, does have a great recycling program.  So great, in fact, that our recycle bin is just as large as our trash bin and the city picks it up every week.  By contract, when I lived in Dallas proper, they didn't even have a recycling program.  So several years ago Eric and I started recycling more and more: plastic containers, the paper boxes food comes in, milk jugs and water bottles.  Basically anything that could be recycled.  It definitely caused us to have to work a little harder to figure out what materials could really be recycled (ex. water bottles but not the caps that come on them).  But part of our motivation was selfish.  For anyone with kids, you know that a trashcan can fill up awfully fast.  We are proud to say that most weeks, our recyclables exceed our trash output. 

One thing that puts all me off is litterbugs.  I have very little tolerance for them. Today I was driving behind someone at just the right speed limit for their cigarette butt to be thrown out of their convertable and onto my windshield.  Of course there are varying degrees.  The person who throws their cigarette out of the window of their car versus the person who dumps their old mattress on the side of the road.   But either way, the State of Texas has a "Don't Mess with Texas" website where you can report litterbugs.  So the next time you see someone throw trash like the world is their trashcan, get their license plate number, date, time and any other information you can, and report them.  The State of Texas sends a nice little litterbag and a letter reminding them to keep their trash off our roads.   

Round Deux

Only the Pates would decide to put their house back on the market during one of the worst housing crisises in several decades.  And yet, here we are.  We initially had our house on the market towards the end of last summer, for a very brief period of time.  With one looker.  Yikes!  After visiting with our agent recently, we decided to take a leap and try to sell again.  The daily articles in the business section of most newspapers and news websites looks pretty foreboding as home sales keep dropping while foreclosures maintain their ever present pallor on the market.  The past few weekends before the house went back on the market have been filled with spring cleaning and general decluttering.  And with a toddler and two dogs, it never stays clean for very long!

Having a nice leisurely morning watching Sesame Street before the projects begin.

Liam wanted to be put to work Swiffering the floors.

We dream of the day where he will be able to push a real
lawnmower.  But for now, we have to settle for him mimicking our hard work.

Liam was determined to help Daddy work on the fence. 
No worries, Eric removed the actual screwdriver
 head and let Liam play with the base.



What home improvement project would be complete without a spin around the backyard
in the Cozy Coupe while playing a few rounds of golf?



Clearly a hard day for everyone involved.

The hopeful news is that we have had two lookers in the short time we have been back on the market.  We hope that it sells at some point soon so we don't have to keep cleaning it so religiously!

Can you help a sister out?

You know how at some point we all think about fulfilling that lifelong passion that stays hidden in the recesses of our mind?  But it is always easier to make excuses as to why it hasn't happened yet.  Why we can't find the time.  Or the money. Or it is just too easy to maintain the status quo.  And yet some people take that leap.  They sail away from the safe harbor.  It has to be the scariest thing in the entire world.  For some people, it is to pursue a career that they know is risky, but for which they have great passion.  For others, it is about taking a path separate from the one that has been laid out for them (case in point: my time in law school).

My best friend, Stephanie, has just taken that leap by fulfilling a lifelong dream she has had to write a series of children's books.  This is something that she has been working on for a very long time.  Not like Stephanie Myers of Twilight fame who just woke up one day and decided to right a book.  BTW, I love me some Twilight so don't take my comment out of context.  The point is that, for many aspiring writers, it doesn't come so easy.  There are drafts upon drafts.  Red line edits and rewrites.  Sending out countless copies to editors in the hope that they will see your story for what it is.

I am not just saying this because (a) Stephanie is my best friend, or (b) because I would still believe in her even if she had written a real stinker, but rather because (c) this is a heck of a great children's story.  I am sure that many of you parents will agree, that there are a lot of kid's books out there that ...leave much to be desired.  But Steph's story is a really wonderful tale.

I should also mention that I might be a tiny bit partial because (a) she is my best friend and (b) she has named several of the characters after my baby (William Edward).  Any how, over the years I have supported a great many of my friends endeavors (i.e. buying baskets that they have woven, music that they have produced, getting my hair cut from those trying for their beauty license, etc.).  Now I am asking those of you who can, to support my friend and her dream.

The book "Grandma's Pancake's: A Knight's Adventure," can be purchased on Amazon.com and can be downloaded onto a Kindle, i-Pod-ad-phone, a PC, etc.  I am super challenged when it comes to technology and I downloaded it onto my computer in less than 3 minutes.  As a super cool side note, I didn't know that you can download a free Kindle reader onto your computer.  Can I get a what-what? The cost for her book is only $5 and a percentage of the proceeds go to charity.  Let's help several people achieve their dreams!

Steph has also convinced me that I need to blog more.  So I am taking her up on a challenge and will be blogging 30 posts in the next 30 days.  Of course it won't be anything particularly interesting, but some of my favorite blogs that I read, like my friend Stephanie and Katie, just write about every day life. So until tomorrow!

This just in...

I am one of those suckers who loves a good study.  The problem arises when studies conflict.  A new "My Health News Daily" article piqued my interest lately with a byline that said "11 Surprising Things That Can Make Us Gain Weight."  Now I am always trying to find ways to eat smarter, especially since I can't seem to get to the gym to save my life.  By the way, my 17 year gym contract finally expired.  Some of the things on the list were actually surprising.  Like did you know that children exposed to a certain strain of the common cold virus have a greater chance of becoming obese?  Some factors were kind of obvious, like not getting enough sleep and genetics.  But one of the other findings just really floored me.  Case in point:

"Having a working mom. Kids with a working mom are more likely to be obese than kids whose moms stay home, according to study published in May in the American Journal of Epidemiology. University College London researchers followed 8,552 kids in 1965 and compared their weights to 1,889 children in 1991. They found the 1991 children whose moms worked were more likely to be obese than children whose moms stayed at home." 

I am not entirely sure I believe this one. I am always talking about my Catholic guilt which has especially increased since becoming a mom (an no, being Catholic is not one of the factors). So now, not only do I feel a little guilty that I can't be a stay at home mom to Liam, but now I have to worry about this statistic?  While the article does not explicitly say this, I would assume that working moms have less time to prepare meals, so the meals they do prepare are probably loaded with preservatives, starches and carbs.

However, shortly after reading this article, a friend of mine (also a working mom) sent me an article talking about how the children of working moms watch less television.  Frankly, because they are not home all day.  The article went on to say how because these children watch less television, they are usually more engaged in outside activities.  And yet, there are other articles that discuss the correlation between watching television, inactivity in children and obesity. 

It is absolutely madening!  Who are we supposed to believe?  But I guess as long as people keep finding funding for these conflicting studies, and as long as we keep reading them, they will keep finding...well...that everything causes something. 

A gentleman's game

We have been working harder than a three-legged dog here in the Pate Household.  We are super excited that Eric began his new job with Neiman Marcus store development this past week.  We are so thankful for the stability of his new role that words can't even express our gratitude.  His past job was a blessing, but we had been hoping for an opportunity when, low and behold, an opportunity came a' knockin'.  The best part is that he is still able to help me get Liam ready for school in the mornings.  And most evenings he is home while I am feeding Liam so we are able to go through the nighttime routine together. 

Random note: Not sure if it has anything to do with Dr. Seuss' birthday this past week, but Target has all Dr. Seuss books on sale for $5 a piece!  Liam LOVED "Green Eggs and Ham."  When I read it to him, he kept pointing to the pictures of the plate and yelling, "Mmmmm."  Ironically, the next day at his school they actually had green eggs and ham for breakfast, and he nearly melted down when they tried to get him to eat.  I guess sometimes pictures of food actually look better than the actual thing. 

Lately Liam is becoming quite the little athlete.  He had a great time playing with a soccer ball in the backyard...until Chloe promptly destroyed it.  Last Saturday night, our amazing and generous friends, the Gragerts, watched Liam so Eric and I could go to our supper club.  The usually clingy Liam didn't even care that we were leaving because he was making slam dunks in the twin's new Little Tykes basketball hoop.  And last weekend we went to a new playground where he totally sprinted up a big kid slide backwards.  Today while at Walmart I wandered through their seasonal section.  They had great finds like a big container of sidewalk chalk for $1.99, a long tube of bubbles for $.99 and a mini-plastic golf set for $5.  I broke down and bought bubbles and the golf set. 

After getting home from a long day of work, it was so much fun to play outside in 70 degree weather with my little man!  He loved the golf set.  But more than anything, he just loves to be outdoors.  It has gotten to the point where he melts down if I let the dogs outside and he doesn't get to go.  He has even taken to scratching the backdoor like the dogs in the hopes that I will let him out.  After one particularly exhausting day, I absentmindedly actually let him in the backyard after he scratched at the door only to realize my mistake the moment I actually closed the door.  Argh!  I am all too human.  Happy Friday!

Trying to figure out what to do with everything.
 I had to give him a few pointers conjured up from miniature golf games past.





Starting to get the hang of it. 

Now he starts to get fancy as he decides which club to use. 

Much easier to just throw the golf ball.  Except when the dogs decide they want to chase them.  Game over.



Back to his true passion.  Playing with the plastic stake that Tru Green left after our lawn treatment this week.