Gotta look at the glass as half full!

First, let me give a big Happy Bday shout out to my mother in law, Esther. It's a "big bday" for her today. She's a great woman and a great mother in law (I know some people are stuck with bad ones) and we admire her, love her and appreciate her very much!!! Ok, mom, after that wonderful tribute, now don't be mad that your card/gift is sitting under my planner pad and never got mailed so you'll get it a tad late.... :)

Second, thank you to those faithful readers who check every day for new posts. I know you're out there! I apologize for my lack of posts this week. Time just got away from me. I also apologize that I still haven't posted the photos, videos and Kids Konnection articles -- I'll get to them, I promise, I just don't know when.

Second, let's get the weight loss update out of the way. Nothing extraordinary this week - just 1.2 pounds, but it's better than nothing. It's frustrating when it's slow little after I worked so hard all week on my exercise and haven't had a single bite of food in 11 weeks, but then I remind myself that I'm still averaging about 5 pounds a week, which they say is incredible and that losing faster than that would be bad for my health anyway. So I won't get discouraged and will keep plugging along.

And both of those two things leads me to the real message of today's blog -- I just have to look at the glass as being half full, not half empty, or I'm going to go crazy. With respect to life in general, I am so overwhelmingly busy. I am trying to juggle way too many balls, wearing way too many hats. I'm trying to work significant hours (and have some exciting work projects "in progress" that I hope to share with everyone soon, all related to my work with Patti and our litigation prevention package of services), keep up with our daily household (which in and of itself is a full time job), exercise daily, work on my writing (and have I many ideas for books, articles and other freelance writing work that I just need time to pursue), household projects, and Bar Mitzvah planning. There are so many things on my list of things "to do" that I often feel overwhelmed and discouraged at the end of the day when I realize all of the things that I didn't get to. But then I think about all of the things that I DID get to, all of the things I got done, all of the progress I did make, and that feels good. So, to preserve my sanity, I just have to think of that glass as being half full, not half empty. I'm sure it would be a good motto for everyone and if any of you have any "tips and tricks" about ways to do that, please share a comment!

It applies to the weight loss too. I was a little discouraged that I only lost 1.2 pounds this week. All my hard word, all my depravation and that's all I lost? But then I have to remember that I lost 6.2 last week and I've lost 57.8 in only 11 weeks. And I have all of these news tools and skills that I've learned that will help me keep it off. And although I wouldn't say I "enjoy" not eating, I do very much enjoy the group that I attend and have met some wonderful people there and I enjoy how good it is making me feel that I am losing this weight. So, again, the glass is half full, not half empty! It's all a matter of perspective.

Ok, enough of the philosophical stuff. A few interesting things going on to share:

-Jacob was asked by the UCI Director of Theater and Drama to be the "young Tony" in their upcoming big production of West Side Story. He "heard about him" from someone he knows. It's a big production in the big UCI Barclay theater (where his dance shows are) and runs for 8 shows over two weeks. He doesn't have a speaking part, but the director said he and the young Maria are highly focused and the main parts of the first and last scenes of the show. It'll be fun for him and a good experience and he'll enjoy doing theater with college and graduate students and it might open the door for future opportunities for him and even possible for Harrison and/or Michela. It's all in the month of November, so he'll be a busy boy!

-Michela's soccer season is over. Her team finished first in the regular season, but, unfortunately, because we didn't have enough "referee points" (parents reffing other games), they can't go on to the playoffs. We actually had NO ref points. I was "team mom," so I felt like I did my share, but we, or someone else, should have stepped up to the plate and now the girls are disappointed. We all learned a lesson. We have a fun end of season party coming up Nov. 15th at our house.

--Harrison's soccer team remains undefeated even in playoffs. They're still going strong. I think the coach almost hopes they lose one just to humble them because they're getting pretty cocky. They've won something like 16 games straight. The games are fun to watch.

--Basketball will start for both of them soon.

--Dance is going well for Jacob

--School is going well for all three of them. Report cards come out next week. They all have big projects they're working on.

--Work is good for Marlon, just busy as usual.

--Midnight is a happy boy. The person who stayed with him when we were on our trip invited him to a Halloween party at her work yesterday. Everyone was bringing their dogs so she asked if he could come. When I told Marlon that she called to ask if he was free, he said "of course he's free. He's a dog. He doesn't usually have plans!" Midnight found that whole "he's a dog part" offensive - he doesn't view himself that way. He went to the party and had fun!

--Last be not least, don't forget to vote and give some serious thought to voting for Obama if you aren't already! tuesday should be a very exciting day. We're going to hit the polls early with the kids so they can feel like they're participating (they sure wish they could vote) and then we'll probably let them stay up late to watch the exciting election returns. They're very into it.

That's all for now. I'll try to get all the photos, videos, kids konnections and all that posted soon.