Alabaster Mom

I attended my 14th weekly Weight Watchers meeting in a row yesterday. I've lost exactly 20 pounds since late February. I was sure I was headed for a gain on Saturday (I had a run-in with a chocolate cake the previous weekend) but I broke even - right down to the ounce.  Now, you might be thinking, "Hey, Claudia, I've seen you recently and I'm pretty sure you're every bit as fat as usual."  And you wouldn't really be wrong. I have to lose a gazillion pounds before I even change sizes. It's just the way I'm built. I always find it kind of annoying when People magazine runs its periodic "Half Their Size" issue, where people who have lost a lot of weight are profiled. Invariably, a woman will say (after her dramatic weight loss) that she now weighs such-and-such and that she wears a size such-and-such. Then, a reader will write in the following week and say that there's no way that the first person is that size. We're all different...

18 years ago today, I married this guy: The kid came later. Now, everything in our lives is mostly about her, but I like to think that when she leaves for college (or to join the Hell's Angels or whatever), he and I will still have something good that's just for us. Some of our daughter's friends have experienced divorce, and she sometimes worries that it will happen to us. "I don't want to live in two different houses," she tells us. As long as I continue to tolerate having thousands of comic books in my basement, and as long as he continues to tolerate the endless parade of foster dogs passing through our home, it's all good. We were together for five years before our wedding; 23 years is a long time to hang out with one person (we've been a couple more than half our lives, which is kind of crazy to think about). It sort of amazes me that we get along so well because, frankly, I can be feisty. We are not doing anything extravagant for our ann...

My daughter and I completed our first 5K on Saturday. I had been telling her for weeks ahead of time that it was important for her to stay with me the whole time, even though I knew I would be running slowly. There were thousands of people participating in the event, and I didn't want to lose her in the crowd. I have to say that it was a lot of fun. The organizers had all of the runners set up in waves.  The kid and I were in Wave E, which was second from last. Each wave left the finish line a couple minutes apart. As we waited our turn, music was thumping out of huge speakers and there was a lot of adrenaline flowing through the crowd. I started to feel a little more confident. I know this sounds terrible but I saw some largish people at the start line and started to think, "Well, if she can do it . . . " I think the kid was a little annoyed with me because I strapped my phone to my arm so that I could listen to music while I ran. I think she was under the impression t...

As I'm sure you'll recall from past blog entries, my husband is not a "how shall I pamper my wife? let me count the ways" sort of guy. He's not thoughtless, but I wouldn't really put him in the category of thoughtful, either. He's well-meaning, though, and that counts. Because I know that Mother's Day causes him some anxiety, I decided to give him a list of things I would enjoy receiving. (I took a Facebook poll first and was assured that supplying a list was the way to go.) That way, he could choose a couple of items from the list and it would be sort of like a surprise. I gave him the list two weeks ago. I thought I'd better give him ample time in case he wanted to order anything online. On Saturday, I did indeed receive a gift that the boy had ordered. Yay! I had asked for a Happy Herbivore cookbook and it came in the mail. If you have ever thought of trying a plant-based diet, check out the HH site. The cookbooks are really good and don'...

This just in: May is off to a great start. The snow has melted and we've had some truly beautiful days lately. I even planted some stuff. I may have gotten a little overzealous, though, and have some dead seedlings to show for it. Nothing like killing something that barely saw daylight, eh? My dad and stepmom were in town for A's big birthday celebration. They've headed back to Maryland now. I gave my dad a couple of chores during his visit, and I must say he carried them out with great expertise. I asked him to install new faucets in both bathrooms. The old faucets came with the house and were probably the cheapest ones money can buy. One of them leaked and the other would only allow water to pass through it in a trickle. My dad does not mess around. He drew diagrams, made a list of supplies, searched the basement until he found our water shut-off valve, and carefully studied the underside of both sinks. We went to Home Depot last week and got all the stuff. The next d...

Here you are, giving us the finger. So sweet! Hey Goober, You're ten years old! I can hardly believe it. Double digits!  Last week, we gave a couple of your old Dora items to a friend from church. You used to love Dora. Or Dura, as you called her.  You used to watch the Backyardigans and mispronounce their names, too - Plablo and Migua come to mind. And now here you are, fully of sass and personality and braces. I am so proud to be your mom, and I am so grateful to your birthmom for choosing us to raise you. Or, you might be raising us. Sometimes we can't tell. Although I would sincerely love it if you would get up and get dressed on time, there's not much else I would change about you. I love your outgoing personality, your constant singing, and your crazy curls. You're the best hugger the world has ever known.  Happy 10th birthday to the girl who made all of my dreams come true. I love you the 'mostest.'