So it’s been spring weather here for the past 4 days.  It’s been a bit odd as until late yesterday there was still ice and snow on the ground in many places.  Spring fever is in full swing here and I know it isn’t here to stay.  It’ll be 28 in the morning Tuesday with a high around 40.  I know there are many of you laughing at my complaints about 40 degree weather (Hi Steph) but today it was 76.  It is just down right cruel to go from summer back to winter in a span of 4 days.  Just cruel.

We have been enjoying the warm weather and the kids don’t think winter should come any more.

This line from Christina Perri’s song “Jar of Hearts” is delightful when a 3-year-old sings it.  “Jar of Hearts” is Zoë’s favorite song.  She asks to listen to it at the babysitter’s (that is who introduced her to the song).  She now listens to it on my iPhone and sings along.  Zoë is a music girl and know what she likes.  She is just now able to sing the whole chorus or the refrain (I don’t know what it’s called–the part that is repeated between each verse).  It’s adorable.

At The Dark End of the Street by Danielle McGuire
Dumbing Down Our Kids by Charles Sykes
Academically Adrift by Richard Arum and Josipa Roska
The Testing Trap by George Hillocks, Jr.

My mind is so clouded and full of tasks to do that I can hardly think straight.  Not that I have every really thought straight or that straight thinking is even desirable.  It must be the lack of sleep–Noah who was sick on Monday slept all day and then decided yesterday morning that he had had enough sleep come 3am.  It’s amazing that there is actual entertainment on at 3am–we watched Princess and the Frog (I still don’t think I have seen that movie all the way through), Handy Manny (I now seem to dream about talking tools) and a few other Disney channel shows.

I consider myself lucky to have such a variety of shows to turn on for my kid, while I try to sleep on the couch in the middle of the freaking night.  I think about how hard it must have been for my parents when we were up sick or just up at 3 am and there was nothing on TV and to even see if there was, one had to stand at the tv and turn the dial for the whole 5 channels that existed.  I am lucky enough to be able to lay down, with a pillow and blanket and turn from channel to channel.  Ah, the conveniences of modern life.  I don’t know what I would do without  you.  I’d really like my 4 year old to be able to work the remote himself…No need for him to grow up too fast.

I’m channeling my inner Yoda.  As 2010 rolls to an end, I am faced yet again with the failure of achieving a more healthy weight and lifestyle.  It is what it is and I kept thinking, I’ll try.  I’m trying…Well, as this years ends in a ball of failure on that end, I am celebrating my successes and there have been several this year–passing my comprehensive examines, getting a full-time job, loving my kids, etc.  I know there are more, but these are what stick out.

But now it is time to stop trying and to Do or Do Not.  I have decided that not doing isn’t an option.  In 2011, I will turn 40.  It’s a bit of a milestone birthday and I want to celebrate it in great shape.  I certainly am not looking to be unreasonable, just healthier.  I got a FitBit for Christmas from my mom (she got all of us one).  It is really cool and I plan to use it religiously and to really pay attention to my health and choices.  I am doing it for me and that is what I need to do.  So, as Yoda has said–Do or Do Not.  There is no try.  I am no longer trying to be healthy–I am doing healthy.