On being a little less LOST

The hubby and I can barely keep our eyes open past 9pm. We have to be really invested to stay up until nearly midnight as we did for the LOST finale. We knew that DVR’ing the thing and trying to watch it later would be a disaster because we’d be spending the next day dodging conversations, radio stations, Internet, etc. so as not to spoil the ending. Oh, and on a side note: since we were forced to watch commercials for this live viewing, I must give credit to Target for their hilarious ads!

Normally I do not watch any drama-type series but I got hooked on this one when I stumbled onto the pilot episode and knew this was going to be different. Of course  “different” is an enormous understatement. I can honestly say that I’m glad I got hooked on this show and spent the last six years following it to the dramatically thought provoking ending.

In  perusing other people’s thoughts and comments about the ending, it was interesting to see that some people are complaining about a lack of answers. I guess I can understand this to a point; of course there were things that left the viewers scratching their heads and trying to piece together the how’s and why’s. But just as in life, we don’t know all the answers. Oh sure, some folks think they know and will go so far as to testify that they know this and that. But they don’t, of course.

Some people felt that the ending was too emotional and as one person put it; a lot of “sappy crap”. Ironically, I dare say the “sappy crap” is at the heart of what the entire story is about and in the grand scheme of things it’s ultimately what life is about.

If you are still attempting to figure out all the ins and outs of the island then you’ve missed the point. It’s not about the mysteries of the island; it’s about the characters relationships, their place among people, their lives. I think a lot of people were so focused on figuring out the mysteries of the island they failed to see what it’s all really about.  In real life we have folks who focus the majority of their time and attention on work, hobbies, church, and other self-imposed commitments all the while their personal relationships are suffering. There are families that spend inordinate amounts of time working to pay for houses that they are never home to enjoy much less spend time with their spouse and kids. There are folks who get caught up in organizations that take their time and resources away from their families, all while they’re thinking they are doing the “right” thing. I think those are the folks that are really lost.

Much like the characters on LOST, I think people need to be focusing attention on trying to figure out how to build a better society. And I think that starts from being able to figure out how to develop and nurture the relationships in our lives. At the end of the day, the relationships that allow us to find ourselves and enable us to find happiness are the relationships that matter.

So, even if we didn't get to know the integral secrets of the island, it was still well worth the journey. Hopefully we all learned something along the way.

Just Did It

Saturday morning, while the kids stayed home and played, the Hubby and I participated in a local 5k which we entered to walk. As it turns out, we ended up running it instead. For the first time ever, I ran a 5k. I know that probably seems ridiculously insignificant to most folks out there who’ve run many, much longer events. But this is the girl who keeps threatening to “start running” (see previous posts here , here and here) and just never seems to do it. So, I just did it.

As luck would have it, only a couple minutes into the thing the Hubby and I saw someone we knew up ahead and jogged to catch up and say hi. We ended up chatting (and running) and at some point when the Hubby pointed out I was running and had already run half of the thing I knew it would be silly to not just keep going. So I did. The Hubby ran right alongside me (even though he could have gone much faster.) It was a little rough at the end, especially since someone decided a couple of steep hills would be just great in the last half mile before the finish line. But I plodded along and made it.

Of course my time was pretty unimpressive. In fact I had to laugh when I realized that my 40-some odd minute time was a few minutes more than some of the females in the top three…..of the 70+ age category! So yes, I have some minutes to shave off to beat the Senior citizens.

The Hubby reminded me we are planning to do the 4^th of July weekend 5k here and that we should aim to improve our time. If I can beat out the 60 year olds then I’ll consider that an accomplishment.

Here are a couple fun shots from the after race party. Our favorite Vendor there was Seattle’s Best coffee and their cool, giant fridge:

Conversations with Little Guy: Bathroom Edition

While out grocery shopping today we stopped in the restroom. Of course, I take little guy in the stall with me. After getting some toilet paper, this brief dialogue took place:

LG: Mommy, why are you getting so much toilet paper?

Me: Well, little guy, girls need more toilet paper.

LG: Oh. Well, you’re only ‘spose to take a teeny-tiny bit.

Me: Yeah.. um.. well, I can see you've been talking to your father.

That Eating and Losing Weight Thing

I’ve launched a new recipe and tips site for weight loss and maintenance!

Everything has Weight Watchers points included.

Check it out:

Teenager supplied entertainment

There are many things to complain about when it comes to having a teenager. However, we have very few with ours and are thankful for that every day. I feel incredibly lucky to have such a well-mannered young man whose behavior and personality get numerous compliments. I can’t overstate how fortunate we are to have a teenager who is also an awesome and helpful big brother and his little brother is very lucky to have him.

We are even further blessed with our teenager providing lots of amusement for the whole family. There’s been an abundance of good natured ribbing about his hair as we give him a hard time when he refuses to do anything with it. He has very fine hair with no body whatsoever...it grows pretty much straight down in the front and looks scraggly without any product in it.

Now he’s decided to make his latest personal appearance statement in the form of one of those chin-only goatees, something that has provided lots of laughs around here. (He’s very secure about himself lest my readers worry I’m scaring him for life by chuckling at some of these things! We are a family of big teasers, to be sure.) Just for kicks I whipped out a notebook and penciled a quick drawing of the kid (please keep in mind I am no artist by any means!)
After looking at this it hit me….

    Hilarity ensued.

Now tell me you don’t see the uncanny resemblance! Ironically, he happened to also be wearing a green shirt.

To his list of good qualities, we must also add "good sport".