News From the LPB

May day! May day!!    Well, my computer is so virus-ridden, I couldn't get into it last night. Fortunately, tonight the computer guy should be able to come out and fix it once and for all. We have to wipe everything off of the hard drive and completely reinstall it. I have my regular documents and my iTunes backed up, but not my digital photos. Hopefully he can help me back those up before we wipe everything.   Urgh.   In other news, I finally bit the bullet and got a new vaccuum cleaner yesterday. It sucks.   Since vaccuuming is my favorite household chore (hey, beats cleaning the litter boxes, any day), I did a thorough vaccuuming last night. My place actually feels clean now. My old Bissell didn't suck, so it had to go.   I'm pleased to report that my kids seem to really like the Cinco de Mayo stuff I've been doing with them, especially the Ojo de Dios. They keep wanting to do more! Next week we're doing papel picado (punched paper). Today, 6B meets with its kindergarten art buddies. We're going to color a picture of a sombrero, cut it out, and staple it to a sentence strip to make a hat.   In the Diary of a Fat Girl chronicles, I am now officially under 200 pounds! My size 14 jeans (in February I was in a size 18) fit like a dream. I can't wait to be down to a 12. A week ago, I tried on some dresses at the mall--all size 14 and 16. I didn't end up loving any of them enough to buy, but they did fit.   My new trainer is great--she's not hard-core as B. the Sadistic Trainer was, but she does make me work. Yesterday she really took me through my paces, and I'm feeling it a little today--in a good way. She is helping me with my flexibility and makes me do a lot more stretching that B. did. Yesterday I complained of some extreme pain while doing an exercise, so she stopped me and had me stretch the muscles I was using before going on.   And, to make me love her even more, she lets me eat things that B. did not approve of. He was anti-oil in any way, shape or form. I'm not sure he would have entirely approved of the olive oil spray I used to keep veggies from sticking to the pan, but C. encourages me to use olive oil in cooking--sparingly, of course. I'm also allowed low-fat, low-sodium ricotta cheese.   Awesome.   Breakfast the last few mornings has been an idea she gave me: A whole-wheat English muffin, with ricotta cheese and honey. I put it in the oven for about 10 minutes on 350 to melt everything together, make it warm, and get the edges of the muffin a wee bit crispy. Marvelous! I let it cook while I do my makeup and hair, and its ready for me to grab as I run out the door.   Hopefully soon my home computer will be back up tonight (I'm emailing this update from another location) and I can get on with things. I have a ton of lesson planning to do this weekend--I need to find some Cinco de Mayo songs for my teenies for next week.   Cheers,   Meg