Time just flies by....

Yep, it's been a while since I last posted. In focusing on my health and fitness I've come to neglect this blog of mine. Now to recap the past month....I've got quite a bit to share. First of all I will show the progress I've made so far with my weight.

Feb. 11th

Now- March 26th I have to say I have consistently weighed between 125-124 lbs. this week until Sunday when I weighed in at 127 lbs. I'm hoping that the increase in weight is due to the fact that I will start my period in a few days and is just water weight. Healthwise I feel better and I am doing a good job at using my PMDD symptom tracker. I say in a month or two I should be able to effectively use the tracker to see any patterns I have. I have already begun to see a pattern in the lack of energy and increase in appetite during the two weeks of the month that my PMDD kicks in. I was also able to prepare myself for the mood swings. I have made the decision to try alternative methods to control my PMDD. This entails using natural remedies, excercise, extra rest, and a better diet. I take Estroven (Soy & Black Cohosh), Evening Primrose, calcium, multivitamins (that include zinc, magnesium, B-12, & B-6), and I include flax seed & eat foods rich in omega 3's. During the two weeks that my PMDD is in effect I stay away from caffeine. Excercise is effective in increasing serotonin levels and relieving daily stress so I work out 5 times a week. One hour or more is dedicated to cardio and the rest of the time I lift weights.

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Homeschooling has been coming along okay. We had to get back into the swing of it after Noah was pulled out. We have our schedule and after tweaking it a couple times it seems to be working for us. This semester we are learning about the human body, The Middle Ages, the basics math, reading, language arts. He is also taking online Spanish, Music, and Art courses which he loves. For socialization he is active in Boy scouts and he starts playing baseball this week through the MWR. He also plays with friends from school.

Working on some math:

Art/Drawing:

Learning about construction:

Gabriel is also learning new things. He has his own preschool program, but I haven't yet pushed him to do any "schoolish" learning. Right now it's all about making learning fun for him and if he feels like using his workbooks...YAY..if not it's no big deal. He's just three anyways.

Here he made pumpkins using playdoh and his cookie cutters. I might teach him about making patterns using these tools. He won't even know he's doing something schoolish, but it'll teach him to recognize patterns. Like red pumpkin, yellow pumpkin, blue pumpkin, red pumpkin, yellow pumpkin, blue pumpkin, etc...Letter and number recognition using cheerios during breakfast.
He wanted to use his workbook here. He is coloring different shapes.
He called me over to show me he found a letter Y in his Cheetos bag. LOL
More coloring
Using his fine motor skills and trying to learn how to tie shoes. He's still too young....but he's trying.
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The weather is getting warm so we have been enjoying the parks here. These are pics from Family Fitness Day at Carney Park.

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We got to see AC Milan play against Napoli last weekend. It was an awesome game and the fans were CRAZY. We actually got to see David Beckham and Ronaldino play in this game. Our seats were great and it was one of the most exciting games I've ever been to. When I say that the fans are crazy I mean like they are fanatics......just look at the fire they started in the stands. Believe me that didn't cause anyone in that section to leave. They just stayed put and continue cheering like nothing....it didn't even phase them one bit.

David Beckham is pictured below:

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Lastly, Noah crossed over and earned his Arrow of Light award. He and Trent spent the weekend at Carney Park, Lesley was away on a retreat in Capua, and my littlest guy and I had the whole house to ourselves for two days. We rented DVD's and enjoyed ourselves.

Missing home...

Ahh...How many time have I heard "I'd switch places with you in an instant." Yes, I am thankful for the opportunity to live overseas, but sometimes the everyday stuff can be a bit burdening. There are conveniences big and small that I miss back home. Italy, especially the southern parts, compared to other European countries is third world. On top of that the culture is much different and frustrating at times. I love it here, but there are days that I hate it too. I've emailed this video before...it's funny and so true. Most drive horribly, don't believe in giving you personal space, can't form a line, and southern Italy has trash EVERYWHERE.




Things I miss back home in no particular order:
* Poor boy brisket sandwiches....I'd do anything to have one of these!!! Anything LOL
* Target stores
* cheap, clean, and healthy produce
* clean unpolluted water...I have to use bottled water for cooking, brushing my teeth,and cleaning. Thank God the goverment pays for the bottled water...because the cost added up when we had to pay out of pocket.
* fast food restuarants...especially Chick-fil-A
* my family
* authentic Chinese, Thai, and Mexican food
* clean air
* Cracker Barrel.....uummm
I'm getting hungry. LOL

Buon Anno...Happy New Year 2009

Happy New Year familia and friends. May it be filled with lots of happiness :D I'm including a video of the celebration here from my bedroom balcony. It was amazing...Italians love fireworks and the video doesn't do their celebrating justice...it was so much better live. When you hear us hollering "Happy New Year" we're shouting to our American neighbors across the street. Also it's funny how just by their screams and hollers Lesley is able to identify the Americans that live in our neighborhood. LOL Well enjoy!!

Black Friday shopping.....

Ahhh...last night after eating more turkey I headed back to the base at 9Pm and met up with a few girls to send Kasia off for good. She was supposed to leave on Monday, but it took a little longer to pack her shipment. After chatting we went up to her TLA room and planned on meeting today at 7 AM to shop at the NEX. The Italian nationals who work at the NEX decided to go on strike to impact the biggest shopping day of the year. Boy did it work and was it ever frustrating to me!!! The reason why they are striking is because they want higher wages and the ability to shop at the base commissary and exchange. In my opinion, I do not think they should be able to shop at the commissary or exchange.

Anyway I anticipated some trouble getting on base this morning so I asked the MP (military police) last night at the gate if I should come early because of the strike. He proceeds to tell me that I won't have any problems because they don't anticipate any violence. Okay so Lesley and I wake up at 6AM this morning and leave the house around 6:45 since the NEX wasn't opening until 8 AM and guess what we see???

There were hundreds of union members striking. Not only were they striking outside the front and back gates, but they were blocking both entrances and exits. They refused to allow any traffic on or off base...and boy were thay successful in pissing a lot of people off and hurting the sales at the exchange and commissary today. As a matter of fact the commissary didn't even open because all of the cashiers were striking. Being that my father is so pro-union I tried to reason with myself what they were trying to accomplish, but I couldn't help but feel resentment towards these people who were disrupting my shopping and the plans that I had for this morning. Eventually since they were blocking the entrances to get on base I drove by them and the Italian police and just parked my car amongst the crowd then walked on base not even caring if they broke into my car and vandalized it.

Finally I was going to shop after the 40 min. delay outside the gates. I eventually met up with my friends, bought several gifts for the kids/ Trent and then stopped at the food court to have a cup of coffee with Jackie, Janet and Patricia. Lesley and I headed home after a very long morning. It was so long she fell asleep on the way home;D

Guess who greeted me as soon as I pulled into our carport......he's so cute..I love him to pieces!!

It's touch and go....

My internet that is, one moment it is working and the next it's not.It's very frustrating to say the least!!! I really hope it stays on for good this time.
The weather today has been very cold and rainy. Over here the rainy season starts in mid November and last until late March. Usually I welcome the colder weather, but since we moved into our new house we are trying to conserve resources especially our gas. Gas is extremely exspensive here. Some things that we are enjoying a lot are hot cocoa and sitting by the fireplace.
There's nothing like getting cozy by the fire and losing yourself in a nice good book. That's exactly what I'm going to do right now with Noah. Enjoy ya'll evening
Ciao..ciao,
Stephanie

To the market we go.....

Today while the older kids were in school, Gabe and I headed out to the local market in Gricignano to stock up on some fruit and fresh veggies. You can get a lot more there compared to the commissary where a small bunch of cilantro cost $3.50 and a small cantaloupe can go for $5.00. They sell food, clothing, housewares, and other goods.It's always interesting there! I like to hear the different vendors shouting over each other trying to sell their goods to prospective buyers.

Afterwards, we had lunch with Trent at Applebees and I treated Gabe to some Baskin Robbins ice cream. He surprised me by trying something other than the usual cookies-n-cream or strawberry. Today he ventured into new territory...mango sherbet with sprinkles!!! It's funny because he goes there so often they know him by name and know his favorites.

On another note, yesterday was the first day of soccer practice for Noah and Gabriel. As you will see in the pictures below my toddler did not want to have anything to do with it. Although he did join in and help when practice was over. LOL That silly boy he talked about it all day long , was anxious to get ready and put his new shin guards on, but that all changed when we got to the field. Alas....he'll warm up. I HOPE!!

Ciao....