Crime and Punishment

As my mother will assure you, I see the world in a very "black and white" way, with no room for gray. Which may have been the reason I was drawn to investigations...

Anyways, now that I don't have any of my own cases to worry about, I can follow the big national ones.

First up is the Casey Anthony trial. As long as you don't live under a rock, you will know this as the case where in the young mom (Casey) is accused of killing her two year old daughter "Caylee". Today Casey's mom took the stand and essentially perjured herself on the standing, lying in defense of her daughter. Casey's current defense story is that Caylee died accidentally, drowning in the family swimming pool, and found by her dad. I've got to say if this was true, her father is the greatest actor known to man. Casey (in her defense strategy) has also accused her father of molesting her as a child. The fact that her parents are still standing by her AND paying for her defense (despite the fact of what she has accused them of and her refusal to talk to them) shows that parental love is unconditional. Or that these two have been manipulated by their daughter, a true sociopath. I vote for the later...

The second case, though it's over and now in appeals, is the case of Amanda Knox. Knox was a UW exchange student, studying in Italy, and was accused of the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher. This case has made me not want to go to Italy (for the same reason I'll never go to Aruba), their police force is inept, and their judicial process a circus. Now before anyone get's made and give me a "when in Rome" speech, I love Europe, I spent a good chunk of my childhood living there, and no I do not think America is the be all and end all. But when it comes to our judicial process (albeit too slow for me) we have the rest of the world beat. And no, I do not think Knox is guilty. The "evidence" against her is so pathetic, that it wouldn't even have been allowed into an American court (IMO).

First Weight Loss Goal Achieved!

Since the end of March/ beginning of April I have been on a bit of a kick to loose weight and just improve the general health of my family.

When I was working we ate a LOT of fast food. I was working 10+ hour days, so was Pat PLUS he had an hour and half commute so we just didn't have time to cook, or think about what we were putting in our bodies. It wasn't uncommon to eat fast food twice in a day. When I quit my job in February there was no longer the money, or the need, to eat out. A friend of mine showed me an app on my phone "My Fitness Pal" which allowed me to track my eating and activity. I was SHOCKED by how many calories I had been putting in my body a day. Based on my weight and height I should only be consuming 1200 calories a day. An average McDonald's meal (with fries and a coke) can easily hit 800+ calories, eat two of those a day, plus snacks, and you are putting way too much food in your mouth, not even considering the quality of the food.

So, for the past three months I have been cooking dinner nearly every night and working out daily. My family now eats things like "Quinoa" and "Bulgar" and vegetables. We still do eat fast food once a week (Taco Time on Fridays), so we aren't perfect, but getting better!

Anyways the point of this post is that as of today I have officially lost 10lbs! And now weigh less then I did when I got pregnant with James. :)

The Big Chicken

Pat called me and said "you started a blog? Well don't complain about me on it" So instead of bitching about my husband, I'm linking another wife's very funny blog about getting back at her husband...

thebloggess.­com/­2011/­06/­and-­thats-­why-­you-­should-­learn-­to-­pick-­your-­battles

I am starting a blog...

Ok, so I am about five years behind on starting a blog. I don't care if it's "passe" I finally have time for something like this, so we're going to give it a try. Though I guess my Facebook page could be considered a blog, just an itty bitty short one.

I don't know if I should bother introducing us, since if you're reading this, you already know us. Going to do it anyways. ;-)

Pat works for Enterprise (as in the car rental company). He recently got promoted to assistant manager for the truck rental division. As soon as he's done training his new commute will only be 50 minutes! This is exciting because it now takes him on some days two hours to get home. He also gets off an hour earlier now, which is awesome because he get's to spend time with James.

Then there is James. He is may be the smartest person I have ever met. Now I know all parents think their kid is the smartest most wonderful thing to have ever graced the planet, but this kid is scary smart. He has his Grandpa's brains. He is also FULL of energy, he is constantly on the move. And as soon as we figure out how to harness his powers for good, I expect he will be able to cure cancer and bring world peace...

And of course there is ME. I am currently a "Stay at Home Mom" which would in imply we stay home. I try to get out of the house everyday as to keep from going INSANE. Currently I dance three times a week and I love it. We also spend a lot of time at our new YMCA which is awesome.