Workout Wednesday (should have posted on 5/25)

Holy Moly! It's Wednesday again!

The kids and I are supposed to be driving to North Carolina as I type, but with the severe weather circling like a vulture over our area, I've decided to wait and leave tomorrow.  Plus, I keep hoping that someone from JC Penney will call and say that someone turned in T's DSi. :(

So! Workouts for last week. I didn't get a workout on Thursday. Friday I hit it hard at the Y, cardio and weights and abs oh my! We concentrated on shoulders and back with weights. Man! Push ups can be the pits. After that, I came home and started setting up for our yard sale on Saturday which involved lots of lifting and moving things around. Saturday from about 7 until 12, I was in the garage manning the yard sale - you know, the one with no yard sale patrons. I worked up a nice little sweat shuffling stuff around all day and also because it was humid. BLECH. We went to a birthday party at The Little Gym for one of the kids' friends, and I think Tascha and I had more fun playing and running around than the kids did.

Sunday I rode my bike to the gym, battling some serious wind all the way there. Once at the Y, I swam for about 40 minutes. If you were wondering, Froggy the great lane invader was indeed already there and had already invaded someone else's lane, so I shared with R. After that, we did some abs and then I totally wimped out on riding my bike home, which turns out that it was a good thing because there was a storm rolling in. The rest of Sunday I spent putting up all the garage sale stuff that didn't sell (so that would be all of it) so that we could park our cars in the garage again.

Monday was a pretty typical workout, Tuesday I didn't workout, and today I haven't done a doggone thing. Jillian Michaels is glaring at me from the front of her 30 Day Shred DVD case, but I'm just avoiding her gaze. I'm all procrastinate-y like that. You can't bully me, Jillian!!! ::sticking out my tongue::

Heartbreak!

Today was T's last day of kindergarten. He got on the bus at 7:30 and back off the bus around 10. School for the kindergarten classes lasted exactly one hour today. I kinda wondered why they even bothered, frankly.

We had plans today with a friend of mine to meet for lunch to celebrate her daughter's birthday. After that we ran to Sam's and then to the mall, where I literally got my workout in today by trying on swimsuits.

Sidebar: Is there anything more stressful than trying on swimsuits? Is there any lighting less flattering than dressing room lights? Just had to get that out.

Anyway, I had T's Nintendo DSi in my purse. I gave it to him so that he, S and Ally could play while I heaved, huffed, puffed, stuffed, wiggled, jiggled, and crammed myself into swimsuit after swimsuit. I'm pretty sure I tried on at least 15. I was in the last suit of the day, which was the victor purely by defeat truth be told, when Ally had to go to the bathroom. Tascha offered to take the kids to the bathroom while I got dressed. Then we'd all meet at the cash register by the bathing suits.

As I was walking to the register, my phone rang. It was Tascha, wanting to know if T had left his DSi up there. I dashed back to the dressing room and searched the area - no DSi. I checked with the nearest checkout to see if someone had possibly turned it in. They hadn't, but the clerk was nice enough to call the store lost and found to see if someone had turned it in there. No one had.

Right about that time, Tascha and the kids were coming back. T was in tears. No DSi. We retraced their path from the fitting rooms to bathroom and back several times. No DSi. The store staff went out of their way to help us look for it. Other customers expressed sympathy for T's plight. What an awful thing to have happen! T loves that DSi more than any other toy he's ever had.

As his mom, I want to make it all better. But I know this is a lesson that everyone has to learn eventually. I just didn't expect it to be today, or to be so very, very horrible to witness. I kept hoping the phone would ring tonight and that someone would tell us the DSi had been turned in. Totally didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath.

I went to tuck T in tonight and the last thing he said to me was "Mom, I hope someone turns in my DSi." Aaack! I can't stand it! I have one very heartbroken kid on my hands and a little less faith in humanity tonight.

Water warnings

Earlier today, S went to the bathroom and when she went to wash her hands, the water was off.

O-kay. 

We used a bottle of water to wash her hands - not a big deal.

I checked Facebook and the housing website to see if I'd missed anything important - like an announcement that the water was going to be shut off or that the water pipes had mistakenly or accidentally disrupted. Not a word. 

Life continued. 

Then the phone rang. From the number, I figured it was telemarketer, so I didn't answer. I'd already talked to three of them today between 10:45 and 12:15, and that's my official telemarketing limit. I was surprised to get a voice mail notice a few seconds later, so I checked it out. Turns out it was a recorded message for our housing area about a boiling notice. At the end of the message, I was referred to the housing website for further information.  

Here's the notice from the website: 

Boil Order

May 23,2011

Due to the water outage today, a precautionary boil order is in effect, beginning at 1500 Monday, 23 May through 0300 Wednesday, 25 May. Water samples will be analyzed prior to lifting the boil order.

Bottled water should be used for drinking, cooking, washing fresh fruit and vegetables, hand washing and brushing teeth.

Affected tap water should be used for these purposed ONLY after it has been brought to a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Do not boil the water for a longer period of time.

Affected tap water may be used ofr washing dishes IF the dishwasher is used AND the dishes are then immersed for at least one minute in a sink of water to which one tablespoon of household bleach per gallon of water has been added. If dishes are hand washed, boiled or bottled water should be used.

Affected tap water may be used for bathing, showering and household cleaning.

Okay, the water was off and then back on around 12:00. So the water from 12-3 is okay? Hope so, because I drank a HUGE glass of water between the time the water came back on and the time I got the notice.  Color me skeptical. Something not mentioned on the website bulletin but was mentioned on voice mail is that ice should be dumped - two full loads after the ban is lifted.  Jeez. 

I'd love to know what they think might be in there! Seriously!

Fill in the blank Monday

**DISCLAIMER** I totally swiped this idea from the blog: em jay & me, which is also where I discovered the kind hearted blogger pledge.  Many thanks to em jay & me for another great idea!

1.  People always tell me I look like : HA! As famous people go, I've heard Roseanne, cause you know, all us chunky chicks look alike. LOL! What I mostly hear from people is that I have a familiar face, which is kinda cool. 

2.  Friends don't let friends:  walk around with food in their teeth, an obvious make up line on their jaw, or with their skirt tucked into the back of their hose or spanx. I mean, come on!  

3.  A sunny day is perfect for: Lifting my spirits and testing sunscreen strengths. Also? A bike ride!

4.  My favorite accessory is: does my iPod count? Cause lately it's been with me everywhere I go. 

5.  If I could afford it I would : check into professional hair restoration.  Yes, really. And maybe some plastic surgery to get rid of all my excess skin. 

6.  The cure for boredom is: live in the moment. 

7.  I am currently "in like" with:  very large cups of pellet ice, like from Sonic.  Oh, and MIO water flavorings - the mango peach is killer!  And playing UNO with the kids.  Oooh - and freezing my yogurt so it seems more like ice cream. So good!

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine!

It seemed like everywhere we went this weekend, someone brought up the potential end of the world and it always included a joke.

People! Don't you know that the end of the world is nothing to laugh about?


image from 2sistersblog.com




It's also probably the reason no one showed up to our yard sale. Well, that and the locked gates and the fact that our code doesn't work.

I kid.

I am glad that the world didn't end. And if it actually did and I just don't realize it yet, I'm really glad most everyone I know is still around.

And that's the way it goes sometimes

A few weeks ago, I got coerced into having a yard sale today. And by coerced, I mean my friend said "Hey - there's going to be a base wide yard sale, want to participate?" I said, "Sure."

R and I got the garage, the kids' rooms, and most of the closets cleaned out in anticipation. We rented tables from Outdoor Recreation. We added our address the the official list of participants. We were mostly ready.

Then we found out that the public wouldn't have access after all. Not the best news, but not the worst either. But then on Friday afternoon, I saw a post on a Facebook page that said the base had decided to reschedule the yard sales until June 4 because of the threat of severe weather.

Phooey.

We had already rented the tables, gotten most of the stuff set up, so we decided to just go ahead and try. What could it hurt?

Like, no one came.We maybe had seven cars between 8 and 12. My biggest sale was $5.50.Woooo!

T and S wanted to stop cars that were driving by to get them to come Cute, but not safe.

All that work for so little results. BLAH.  And my friend that wanted to do it in the first place totally bailed on me. BLAH.

At least all stuff we want to get rid of has been cleaned and organized.

Besides, there's always the internet. Hello, Craigslist. Here we come!

Workout Wednesday

Last Thursday, the kids and I took off after T got home from school to go for a bike ride and terrorize visit the playground. 

In a pretty short amount of time, S has come a long way with her bike riding. She can now ride all the way to the nearest neighborhood playground without needing a push or to stop and complain restart. What she hasn't picked up, however, are some basic biking manners - namely not stopping your bike mid-sidewalk and hopping off to pick a flower when a much heavier, faster person is coming up behind you.  So I crashed. As crashes go, it was fairly minor except that I landed on the playground, which is covered in mulch. I had tons of tiny little mulch splinters in my legs and hands. There is no way to count the removal of those as anything even remotely close to exercise, so I'll move right along with my point. Not a lot of exercise going on last Thursday. And I hurt my back in the fall. Boo!

Friday morning was pyramid lifting, arc trainer bliss, and stupid ol' push-ups.  A pretty decent workout, even if I do say so myself. 

On Saturday morning I got up early to ride my bike before I went to babysit. It was cold and raining, which meant I did  two laps around the area instead of the 4 I had planned on. Meh.

Sunday R and I hit the Y with the intention of actually swimming during the lap swim time. HA! I should have known better. WARNING!! Bitching ahead - brace yourselves. The pool at the Y isn't big. Dedicated lap swim times are pretty few and far between, so I try to swim on Sundays whenever possible. R and I have yet to try and swim on Sunday without at least one of the lanes being taken up by a private lesson. There's also a lady that comes in around 12:15 who always jumps in the lane I'm in. Never anyone else's lane, even though she stops to talk to almost everyone else who's swimming. 

Look - I get that lanes need to be shared from time to time. But let's face it, I'm not petite and right now my strokes and alignment are all over the place (probably because I can't seem to get in any decent swim time). So the last thing that I find helpful is to share the lane with Froggy Barnacle and her flippers. Flippers, people. WE ARE IN A POOL. The kind without a current or undertow. The deep end is barely 8 feet deep. A complete lap is only 50 meters. What the f-bomb does she think is going to happen? Plus, she never even asks to share the lane first, which is just horrible etiquette. When she jumped into the lane I was using again on Sunday, it just ruined my groove. Pissed, I ducked under to R's lane and told him I'd been invaded and I was going to change and hit the cardio machines and fantasize about stepping on her damn flippers and holding her underwater to get my point across. 

Did I mention I was irritated? 

I rinsed off, got dressed and ended up on a treadmill. I know that I'm not supposed to do this, but I walked two minutes, jogged two minutes, walked a minute, jogged 30 seconds, etc for about 30 minutes. And, holla! I never ran out of breath and my heart rate never got too high. Progress! 

When I was done, I felt better but was still angry and decided I was going to email the aquatics director and ask if I could pay for private lessons with an instructor that will then sit at the end of the pool and keep Froggy Flipper girl out of my damn lane. 

And then reality set in and I decided that I was being childish. Not as childish as I wished to be on Sunday when I had to mentally restrain myself from marching back into the pool area and doing a big, splashy cannonball into the lane I was using until I was rudely interrupted.....

What's that? Why didn't I say something to her? Remember how your mom used to tell you if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all? That's why. I know that it's silly to get so upset over this. I would just like for once to get in a full 50 minutes of swim time without having to share a lane. I have to share just about everything else at the moment, can I not just have a 50 minute swim?!??! Please!?!?!?!

Monday was back to pyramid lifting and push-ups. I took Tuesday off because I was feeling awfully lazy and then today I did an excellent elliptical session followed by some serious weight training and abs. Tomorrow? Jillian Michaels promises to shred me. We'll see, Jillian. We'll see.

I have seen the future and it wasn't pretty.

As I was sitting on the couch moments ago, my arm got an itch. Since the high today was in the low 60's, it's been cool enough that I'm wearing a sweatshirt, so I raised my arm up so the sleeve would slide back and I could scratch it. 

And there it was. In the light I saw my future. Old person skin. You know what I mean, right? That papery, wrinkly skin look you normally see on older people. Like, much older than my tender forty years. ::Snort:: It bothered me way worse than the bat wings that refuse to disappear from the underside of my arms. 

You know, I thought adapting this healthier lifestyle was supposed to ADD years to my life, not just make me look like I added them all myself - this year. 

Luckily, the older version of my arm skin I saw tonight disappeared after I slathered on some lotion, but it's a comin'. 

It's a comin'.

Poor little birds :(

So, the nest that we all have watched being built, filled with eggs, then hatching four chicks was on the ground yesterday morning outside our front door. We have a window in our living room that has allowed us to spy on the progress of our bird family without actually disturbing them for the past month. When I opened the front door to take a closer look, there was a smear of...um...possible carnage on the concrete.

I was hoping that perhaps whatever had knocked the nest off had just scared the s**t out of the birds and that's what had gotten smeared.

"Probably", I told the kids who were visibly upset and bordering on tearful, "the mommy and daddy bird were teaching them how to fly and the nest just got knocked over during the lesson".

"The birds still haven't come back Mom" the kids announced this morning.

"Well, if the baby birds are big enough to fly on their own, they don't need to be in the nest anymore. They'll go and build their own nests" I tried to reassure them.

And this morning, we did see two very small robins perched on the roof outside T's bedroom window. "That was probably two of them, hon" I told T. "The other two are probably around here somewhere."

I so, so wanted to believe that. I almost did.

This afternoon I took the trash out via the front door. There was a trail of downy, fuzzy feathers leading out behind the houses. I didn't follow it. I don't want to know. I did try to pick up the clumps so the kids wouldn't see them when we play outside later.

I'm not the biggest fan of the circle of life at the moment.

My daughter is trying to kill me.

So.

Today I went for a quick workout and then volunteered in the childcare room of the local Y for a couple of hours. I figured it was easier than trying to coach a sport I don't know enough about again, right?

S was in the childcare room with me, obviously, and today I was hanging with the babies. It's so stress free, really. The kids in the baby area are almost always very laid back and cool. So how was S trying to kill me, you may be wondering? She was 61 kinds of jealous that I was paying attention to other kids and decided to make like a blanket and wrap herself around me. Which wouldn't have been much of a big deal except that featured in the laid back baby line-up today were two Houdini-like escape artists. And preventing them from escaping was a bit more difficult when I literally had to unfold S from around me or on top of me first.

After all that, S was too tired to stand or walk on her own (so she claimed) so I used the surefire 's' word of my own to get her moving: shopping. A friend of the kids is having her birthday party this weekend and I was determined not to wait until the last minute to get her gift. Shocking, I realize, but true all the same.

Not long after leaving the Y, S and I found ourselves in Target. S constantly surprises me with her fashion sense and her ability to put together outfits. Today we played a little game: I handed her a shirt with a strange pattern or color and she was supposed to find something to go with it.

People? Every. Single. Time. She did it every single time. I'm so impressed! (I want to recommend her to "What Not To Wear" as a consultant except for that pesky child labor thing.) The downside is that she then wants to purchase all of the outfits and isn't super thrilled to hear all the 'no's' that my mouth utters. Overall, though, she took it well.

After T came home from school today, we headed out to her preschool picnic. The preschoolers all met at a certain time and played some games together, and then said a prayer together before most of the families went to get something to eat. We ended up standing right beside the teacher saying grace with a bullhorn and right before she said "Amen" S let out a burp that would have made a frat house stand up and applaud. Of course it blew through the bullhorn too. You could hear the giggles all the way around. Mortifying. Even T was embarrassed. I prompted S, "At least say excuse me!" Her reply, "no thank you, Mommy."

Trying. To. Kill. Me.

The week in review

Last week in the life of the Dahl family....

T busted his lip open in gym class on Tuesday and where was I when the school called? I have no idea because I didn't hear my cell ring. Right after I walked in the door after doing some errands, R calls to tell me that he's taking T to the ER to see if he needs stitches in his lip.

Hello, guilt, my dear, dear friend.

Sigh.

T was fine, he ended up with some bruises and a nice fat lip, but no stitches were needed (thank you, thank you, thank you! I've had stitches above my lip and that was pretty awful) and he didn't seem to do any damage to his teeth or hand.

I tried my hand at making refried beans from scratch this week without bothering to look up any recipes or tips online. Or using any added salt or seasoning. In retrospect, that was probably a mistake. They weren't awful, but I did break down and add some Taco Bell Mild Taco sauce to them. Next time (yes, there will be a next time) I'm going to put them in the crock pot and use a mixer to smash them up. Doing it by hand took forever and the beans were still too chunky. I'd make a rotten pioneer. Especially since pioneer women didn't have air conditioning. Or front loading washing machines with Tide.

I thought I had an appointment Thursday morning. I showed up a little early...a week and 15 minutes early. Sadly, it's the second time I've done this. Hello self? Please meet calendar (and use it wisely).

Took the kids to the neighborhood playground after school on Thursday. We all decided to ride our bikes, and I'm so proud of S because she didn't need help from anyone to push her along at any point. However, she hopped off her bike to pick a flower (and by flower I mean a dandelion) once we got to the playground. I was riding behind her and swerved to miss squashing her like a bug and ended up crashing.  When I asked her whether or not she thought she owed me an apology for stopping in the middle of the sidewalk with me right behind her, she looks at me with complete innocence and says, "No. I didn't crash, Mommy, you did."

Touche, my little resident diva.

Never a dull moment - especially if I'm cooking. Heeeehee!

Freedom!

Confession: I'm a people pleasing peacemaker. It's profoundly easy to make me feel guilty. Even when I logically know that there's nothing to feel guilty about.

As you can imagine, this tends to make life....interesting.

Apparently, I've had some sort of breakthrough. Yay!

In the past couple weeks, I've actually said no to things that people have asked me to do. I know it doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but for me this is big. Huge, even. Gigantic, if you will. Practically unheard of prior to the last couple of weeks.

And oh my goodness, it felt fabulous. ::dancing the Balki dance of joy::

Yesterday, after my list of blogs I follow mysteriously reappeared on my dashboard, I was scrolling through and catching up on some entries. One of the blogs I follow used to have me listed on their blog as a blog they read.  I'm not listed anymore.

Meh.

And when I realized how ambivalent I felt about that, I was surprised. There's a bit of history there between me and this fellow blogger. I feel (and I'm sure she would probably disagree) like I've done everything possible that I can do to make it better. I also feel like what would actually make it better for her would be for me to say that everything is my fault, but I don't honestly feel that way. Was the fault partially mine? Yes.  Yes it was. But it takes two to tango, no matter how far apart you do it.

So I'm just saying no to letting this weigh me down anymore. And I'm granting myself freedom from feeling any guilt about being relieved.

Freedom.

It's a sweet, sweet thing.

Workout Wednesday

Last week was kind of a workout fail. I spent most of last week picking up, delivering, or coordinating food for teacher appreciation week. I was glad to do it, but I was exhausted by Friday. I did make it to Zumba on Wednesday, which was awesome. Saturday, R and I spent most of the day cleaning out the garage and parts of the house to get ready for a yard sale we are participating in a couple weeks from now. It wasn't the same as a dedicated workout, but it was still way better than sitting on the couch all day.

Sunday I rode my bike around five miles to the gym, worked out for an hour and a half, then rode back home. It was freakin' awesome! I jumped back into my normal routine on Monday, so I feel much less tired this week.

My time on the elliptical for 2.5 miles is down to about 23 minutes, so I'm seeing some serious continued progress. Now I need to get back in the pool and work on my swim time.

A few weeks ago, we noticed a nest being built on the ledge beside our front door.

T's class was studying nature, so I was going to let him take the nest to school after Easter break if his teacher said okay - as long as there weren't any eggs in it.

The day before T went back to school, I went out to look at the nest and sure enough - there was an egg in it. Then there were two eggs, then three, then four.

And now we have three baby birds and one egg. Can't wait to watch them fuzz up and grow over the next couple weeks!

Love and logic-ish

Oh boy. Where to begin? 


We were going to go swimming today. Our community center has an indoor pool that is sometimes  actually open. 


I was getting everything ready to go but when I walked into the garage, my bike had been moved. Now, moving my bike wasn't a huge deal, but the kids had put it in the way of where R usually parks. 


I was a bit irritated that they had been messing with my bike, but I decided to move it out of the way and talk to them about it later. 


Only...


When I went to move the bike, it no longer rolled easily. 


Are you kidding me? We just had the bikes checked out and 'tuned up' not even a month ago. 


So I'm looking at the bike and I realize the brakes are all funky. How in the world did that happen?


I walk back into the house and T is coming down the stairs. 


I asked him what happened to my bike. And that starts a whole....hoopla...that I seriously don't even have the energy to try and transcribe. 


To try and sum it up it went a little like this: I got about six different stories about what happened - way more if you count each "I don't know" as a separate story. 


The bottom line turned out to be that they were goofing around with the bike, twisted the handle bars around which messed up the front wheel brake grips and at some point it fell over (or T might have tried to stand it up on the handle bars and seat to make the wheels spin fast) which knocked the front brakes all cock-eyed.


When we got enough of the pieces of the story out of the T (S was no help at all) to piece together what happened, we had to figure out how to handle it. 


This is what we decided a la love and logic - we mostly got the bike fixed ourselves, but took it to the bike store and asked the kids go in with it, tell the employee what happened, and ask for an estimate for making sure it was fixed correctly. 


The guys at the bike store took pity on our sad, weepy kids and fixed it for free, which was basically just untwisting the front tire and adjusting the brakes. 


The second part, the trickier part if you ask me, lies with R and I on figuring out what the consequences are going to be for lying. I know the kids didn't mess up the bike intentionally. That part of the issue was solved for me by the kids having to take the bike in for repair. And pay for the gas to take the bike in since the repair ended up being free.


I'm very concerned that it took so long to get most of the true story out and that S was totally going to let T take the fall without a second thought.  Oy! We told the kids we'd think about it, decide on the consequences, and let them know at dinner tomorrow night. 


Sigh. Being a parent is hard work. 

Farmer's Market!

I was browsing through the paper Saturday morning and I saw a small notice for a local farmer's market. Visions of fresh veggies, yummy home grown fruit....I really wanted to go.

R said he'd pass and T didn't want to go either, but S jumped in the car right away and off we went. I actually found it with no problem (thank you Google Maps!) and it didn't take long at all to get there.

There were probably about eight stalls up, but we got there right after it opened, so I'm not sure if there were more opening later.

S and I did a quick tour of the booths. Baked goods, baked goods, meat, meat, baked goods, lettuce, crafts, and a miscellaneous table.

Not exactly what I was expecting, but I did score some organic, freshly ground whole wheat flour. I've never worked with whole wheat flour before, but yesterday seemed like the perfect time to start.

What did I make, you may wonder? Chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. They turned out okay, the texture is a bit different because the flour wasn't ground as powder fine as processed white flour. They tasted great and the kids love them. Another thing I liked about using whole wheat flour is that I don't feel that urge to hoover down the entire batch.

Tomorrow night I'm making a breaded baked chicken dish. I'm going to try using the ww flour for that too, because I think the texture will compliment the dish. If it turns out well, I'll post pictures. If it doesn't, I'll never mention it again. ::snort::

I should also mention that the aforementioned baked goods we bought were not made with whole wheat flour and were to die for delicious. Carmel pecan rolls - Oh. My. God. Next week I'll be biking solo to that farmers market. I hope that the lady selling the rolls will be there. I also hope that the rolls make it home.  On second thought, maybe I'd better skip the market for a few weeks. Maybe if I go in a few weeks I can distract myself from the baked goods with the original plan of fruit and veggies. But I can't help but wonder - if fruit is nature's candy, what will be as yummy of a combination as caramel, pecan, and cinnamon?!? Probably nothing, right?

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women I know personally and virtually!

Both kids brought home the sweetest gifts from school this week, which really just made my heart melt. R helped me rearrange the furniture and give the living room and kitchen a much needed scrub down. That may sound like an odd Mother's Day gift wish, but we've got some heavy stuff to shove around. The fact that he worked on this with me? Means the world to me because rearranging furniture is one of his least favorite things to do.

In a little while, I'm going to attempt to ride my bike to the gym, work out, and then ride home. And that should pretty much make my day!

What the heck happened to the blogs I was following?

Yesterday I pulled up my blog dashboard and found that all of the blogs I had been following had disappeared from my list.

Weird.

I can see them when I click on manage blogs, but I have no idea if that's the complete list or not.

Anyone else having this problem with blogger?

The one about the time I decided to run away

Using a topic from Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop today: That time you ran away from home




I was a good kid.

What?!? I totally was!

Yes, really.

My brother was the more difficult of the two of us. He had some anger issues and quite frankly from a younger sister's perspective, just issues in general.

I was the pouter. And, if memory serves me correctly, a bit of a whiner. ::shudder::

Looking back, I have no idea how my mom kept from going flat out batshit crazy some days.

Of course, I still am not sure how I survived T's toddler years before we figured out he had SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) issues, so I guess you just do what you have to, one frustrating, ear agonizing moment at a time.

Anyway....

I don't remember how old I was when I decided to run away from home. I'm guessing about 10 or so. I don't remember why I was angry enough to run away from home, either, but I remember being really, really, really, reallllllllyy mad.

I'm also pretty sure there was stomping, nostril flaring, fist clenching, and yelling involved. On my part of course. My mom had a nasty, nasty habit of being infuriatingly calm when I was at my most angry.

And really, is there anything worse than being angry enough to spit nails at someone that looks like they are mid-meditation? Oooooommmmmmmmmm. You have no effect on me. Oooooooommmmmmmmm. I am being perfectly rational despite your yelling. Ooooooooooommmmmmm.

(In case you weren't sure about that, the answer is no.)

So I announced that I was running away.

What did my mom say?

Okay. 

Infuriating.

I stomped to my room and slammed the door - because, duh!

I remember trying to figure out what to pack. I didn't want to carry a heavy bag around. Who knew how long or far I'd have to walk. I remember being so angry that I was determined  - determined, dammit! - not to take anything with me that Mom had given me.

Which, as it turns out, was kind of a problem.

Can't take 99% of my clothes.

Hmmmmm.

Can't wear my shoes, take a coat, or most of my favorite books or toys.

Hmmmmmm.

20 minutes later I'm sitting in the floor of my room, naked. Because, you know, Mom bought most of my underwear too.

Hold up! Wait a sec....I dive into my closet and dig around. I triumphantly find the granny panties that were four sizes too big that my grandmother had given me for Christmas. Now we're cooking! I yank those on up to my armpits.

HA! I have underwear. That kinda could pass for an odd one piece, strapless swimsuit in a pinch. Excellent. Too bad it's not summer.

More scrounging around my room produces a completely inappropriate and hilarious outfit  - purple sweatpants with a red stripe around the waist and the pockets (hey - it was the 80's), mesh high tops that were two sizes too small, and a shirt of some sort that was so tight it just about cut off my circulation. If memory serves me correctly, I think it was green. All the clothing had been given to me by someone other than Mom.

Now I was ready. Packing up some books, a couple of stuffed animals and the five remaining pairs of granny panties, I was ready to hit the trail. I carried everything down to the basement and put it in our little red wagon.

Wheeling the wagon out of the basement, I headed towards the carport and driveway while making as much noise as possible. Let's call that my grand exit strategy. I don't even think Mom was outside at the time, but I'm willing to bet she was watching from the window and trying not to be appalled at my outfit.

I marched off down the street announcing loudly that "I AM LEAVING NOW! GOOD BYE AND HAVE A NICE LIFE, NOT THAT YOU CARE IF I DO OR NOT!!!!!!!!!!"

I walked to the end of our road, which was a little over half a mile.

Obviously, I hadn't thought this through very well.  So I sat in the wagon, waiting for someone, anyone to notice and take pity on my poor, neglected, obviously abused self.

That, um, never happened. I think it was the red and purple sweatpants and the green shirt. Who wants to save a kid with no kind of style at all?

I should probably mention that we lived in an area that didn't see much traffic.

Not my best idea. I waited outside, sulking and feeling nice and sorry for myself, until it was dark. Then, defeated, I took the wagon and my stuff and  trudged home.

Foiled!

Workout Wednesday

Last weekend, I was supposed to attend a conference in Branson, Missouri. I have been looking forward to this conference for a year.

I didn't get to go and it sorta sucked. Sometimes life just gets in the way. Between my volunteer commitments, helping out a friend while her husband is deployed, being monitored on the new meds, there was no way I could take off for the weekend. Boo!

S ended up with strep throat again at the end of last week just to add a nice little twist on things. So far, knock on wood, none of the rest of us have come down with it.

All of this added up to missing some workouts too. But. The workouts I did get in were good ones. And, today I got to go back to Zumba! And I did well. I didn't get lightheaded and I didn't get too winded, even with the blanketyblank bouncing. I cannot wait to add Zumba back in to my rotation more regularly. Can. not. wait. And Ms. Jillian Michaels and I? We're doing some bonding over the 30 day shred. Woot!

Praying for the safety of our military and their families today

Last night, R and I were hanging out, getting ready for today. I was working on the blog entry I posted last night - paying semi attention to Celebrity Apprentice, when the interruption came. 


Bin Laden had been found and killed. 


I thought I would feel triumphant when this day came, so I was surprised to find I didn't.


I'm not the least bit sorry he's dead. But I wonder... is any of the grief of the families affected by 9/11 eased? What about all the families of the military troops who have lost a loved one or whose loved ones have been affected physically or emotionally? Is anything really better now? What about all the men and women on the front lines or serving overseas who remain in the line of fire - directly or indirectly? So many families at overseas bases who may now be targets of retaliation. 


There has been so much loss. So much has been sacrificed. And the loss and sacrifice isn't over yet. This is what is on my mind. 


What about you? 

Do it anyway

Recently, I've developed a new perspective.


Health scares will do that to you. 


I'm doing great, feeling so much better than I have in years that it's not even funny.


Tonight, I came across this quote: (apparently, it's my week-o-quotes)


  People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

            If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  

Be kind anyway.

            If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

           If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  

Be honest and sincere anyway.

            What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  

Create anyway.

            If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. 

 Be happy anyway.

            The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  

Do good anyway.

         Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  

Give your best anyway.

         In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa

R and I were having a discussion today. The story behind it is a long one, so I'll sum it up like this: he thinks I let myself be taken advantage of.

In some respect he's correct. But the thing is, and this is how I phrased it to him this afternoon, even if that's true (and sometimes it is), the joy I get out of doing what I feel is the right thing to do far outweighs the fact that someone might take advantage. And when the balance shifts, then I start saying no. 

And then I ran across this quote, and it expresses what I was trying to say exactly.

I love it when stuff like that happens.

I love this quote.