Signs of Spring

I've been wanting to write something for quite a while, but have been sick or busy again. I have another music program for basically the whole school coming up on April 20th, and I'm in the middle of figuring out all the details. After I got over my strep, I felt pretty good. Then a few days later I felt horrible again. I think it is just allergies. The pollen count for trees has been high for the past week or so. I guess I must be pretty allergic to a tree that is pollinating right now. I have no energy and spend my whole day yawning and struggling to stay awake. My throat and ears have been sore and itchy. I've also been sneezing more than usual and have watery eyes. I did well last week with the weight loss though. I'm down 4 pounds and back to being in the 180's again. I think that 189.6 counts as being in the 180's, even if just being bloated for a day pushes me back into the 190's.

I've also been taking pictures of a few things that reminds me that summer spring is here. We have had gorgeous sunny days in the 70's and 80's all last week and it is continuing most of this week.

First, there was St. Patrick's Day. I had a fun shirt to wear to school the Friday before St. Patricks' Day. I also have shamrock earrings that my aunt and grandma bought for me when they visited Ireland. Not only were my clothes fun, but the kids that had music got a treat that day. I had two visiting artists in my classroom playing songs on the piano and guitar. The kids got to listen, sing along, play some instruments, and dance.

Try to ignore the dog hair. It sticks to clothes pretty quickly.

Last weekend I decided to get some shorts and capris since I didn't have any size 14 in my stash of old clothes. I also wore green while shopping on St. Patrick's Day.

I guess I should have taken a picture of my new clothes too. Oh well.

There are tons of trees and flowers in bloom all around my yard. My husband even spent a lot of time last week working on his strawberry garden. I think that he has more strawberries than he knows what to do with once they all mature and produce fruit.

Andrew's strawberry garden. This is only a small part of it...

Daffodils that are in front of the house.

I took this in the morning (see how the sun is not up when I leave for work) of our nectarine tree.

The doxies also had a blast in the warm weather. They have been going to my father-in-law's house for play dates since he has a fenced in back yard. Benjamin found a hunk of what we thought was mud and was barking at it. He then proceeded to pick it up in his mouth and run around the yard with it. My husband was trying to get it from the dog, but failed. Benjamin ended up rolling in it and stinking to high heaven. It was a piece of poop from who knows what animal. All the dogs ended up getting bathed, teeth bushings, nail clippings, and a trim.

Benjamin, the bath time instigator.

Sebastion who was good, but still got a bath.

Lilly who also fell victim to the bath.

Since this is a weight loss blog, I guess I better talk about food for a bit. Last week I relied on premade food since I wasn't feeling well. I'm trying the same strategy this week. My breakfast is my usual.

My lunches have been soup and crackers.

Just imagine crackers with it instead of yogurt.

My dinners are from the microwave again.

I'm relying on premade snacks as well such as granola bars and Skinny Cow ice cream, but my problem lately is that I'm eating way too many snacks again.