In still trying to find my talent for MizFit's wonderful talent show in which there were a multitude of copious capabilities, I once again, did not capture my best talent on video, but a talent nonetheless. If being kind of a weirdo and eventually doing the running man in an apron counts. So here's one minute of me showcasing my non-talent. Enjoy!
ps. the end is where my dad turned off the camera and walked away rolling his eyes.
pss. no, i didn't eat all those cookies, I know what you're thinking.
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Just a tad bit late on this, but I did want to post anyway. MizFit held a virtual talent show on Christmas Eve at her blog and I was inspired to get the ol' video camera out and try and find a talent. I figured out on take #1 that my talent was showcasing our cookies and our mixer. Great talent, huh? I was thinking about running down the block and showing that. But I didn't. Because I was so busy making cookies.
So here is where I show off our cookies and subsequently get attacked by a tiny dog wearing a Snuggie. It's only a minute long. Enjoy! (Maybe tomorrow I'll share take #2, the one where I showcase our cookies (again) but also do the running man.)
We had a blast but I'm breathing a sigh of relief that the holiday rush part of the holidays are over. Seriously.
My feet hurt and I got no sleep the entire week. And even though I had a lot of shopping done early, I was still running around like a madwoman last minute. Funny how that happens. I did, however, keep my goal of no wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve (usually I am up until 2 in the morning wrapping). Even though I went to bed around 2 anyway because I was doing other things.
So now that there are empty cookie dishes and leftovers and present carnage everywhere, it's time to regroup.
I have to clean up my life.
Organize it, clean it, give it a major overhaul physically, mentally and internally. One big purge and regroup.
From toys to food, everything has got to be reevaluated, all of it. Even my roots. Literally, there is nothing in my life that doesn't need touchup.
My life feels like one giant hangover.
So I'm starting today. So I can feel clean and new and happy and all regrouped for the start of a fresh new year.
How about you? Any regrouping going on over there? Join me on Mondays for "Mantra Monday", share your mantra and start the week off right! Post about it and link up in the comments so I can come visit you, or share it right here!
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I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays and to everyone, I wish you a wonderful new year full of the good stuff.
Blessings to you!
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Good morning everyone!
Short and sweet today because I was so trying to be ahead of the game and it's catching up to me, (how did that happen!) Running running everywhere even when I think I'm all done!
Well today is baking day. You know what that means. But I'll only have a few cookies. (And maybe some batter.) But I'll be getting up early to run it off tomorrow morning, especially because I'll be at my mom's sans children and just because I can!
Oooh ooh! And my sister and brother-in-law are coming down from North Carolina with my little baby niece Goddaughter (I JUST LOVE HER SO MUCH!!)
Squeee!!
I have all boys in my life so you know I bought her three pairs of shoes and two dresses, and wanted to buy more . Plus, my sister is the type of sister that when we're together, no one else is in the room and we're snorting and cackling and hysterically laughing while not being able to breathe.
Oh, yes, my point though is that my brother-in-law is bringing his bike with him, so I hope to get some holiday bike riding in with him, my husband and my dad.
Anyhoo, the weigh-in part! The good news is, I've lost that 1/2 pound that was there last week. I did do some working out last week, I did a couple swims, spin class and a run. Not as much as I wanted, but enough to maintain, so score! This week has been more of a challenge, but I'm squeezing it in where I can.
I don't care what anyone says, I count 5 hours of walking around the mall and holding 30 pounds of toddler for an hour while waiting for Santa as exercise.
There is a new challenge starting in time for the new year at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. Please join us!! I lost 40 pounds with the support of my bloggy sisters!! If you are looking to lose some weight and have support of your fellow bloggers, please join us. Here is a sneak peek of the challenge: it's not only about losing weight. It's about changing your mind. Join the revolution!
Before I go, come say hi to me where I am talking about Defining Moments during workouts. And our darling MizFit is having a talent show, did you know that? I'm going try my best to link up my "talent" for Christmas Eve tomorrow. Once I figure out what it is. (Does changing a diaper in less than 10 seconds count for talent?) While you're out and about, how bout giving some of the sisters at the Sisterhood a little support on the weightloss journey through the holidays? Hope you're having a wonderful week! Don't forget to stop and smell the poinsettias!
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You may have noticed my sporadic postings lately but I have to say, in the O'House, we're having the best.time.ever this season. The kids are finally at the age now where they "get" it and it's so much stinkin' fun!
So here's what we've been up to in a post best told by pictures.
I'll start at the beginning where we made O'history here by getting our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Turns out it totally beats getting it the week before Christmas (who knew!?) Though I have to say, watering it and keeping it from being kindling/and/or a fire hazard has been a challenge. Ya know, because of my extensive history of neglecting foliage and starving it to death and all...
Do you remember how intense everything was at three years old?
I try to put myself back there sometimes. It's the only way I can deal with the tragedies that occur at my house on a daily basis. Because everything is a tragedy.
Because I don't remember much. Just the important stuff. Like my cousin getting the black patent leather shoes that I really wanted, and how tragic it was that I got the white ones. Because tap-dancing shoes weren't white! They were black, MOM! And these black patent leather shoes that my cousin got were not regular shoes in my tiny head, they were the shoes of a future dance star! They were tap shoes! Because I was a female Gene Kelly. And white shoes were not going to cut it. I was pretty broken up about that. That, I remember.
This afternoon, I sat down at the computer for the first time all day after baking cookies. The kids had just gotten up from their naps and were riding around the house (like lunatics) on their motorcycles that my parents had given them thank you so much! When all of a sudden I heard the loudest scream EVER. It was the scream of a broken body part. It was blood-curdling and I was scared out of my mind and I leapt from my chair and fled to the scene of whatever ailment/slash/crisis was upon me!
And in my panickymother voice asked, "What's wrong, are you ok? What happened! Where are you hurt! WHAT'S WRONG??!!!!"
To which my screaming three-year-old held up a broken candy cane and sobbed, "My candy (sniff) cane (sniff) is BROKENNNNNNN!!!!
I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but you must know, it was very important for me to relay just how awful that scream was and how it must never be screamed (scrum? scram?) again EVER.
So I said the following:
"Wait a minute. You're mad about a candy cane?"
And he sniffed real big to stop the big stream of snot flowing from his crying nose and wailed, "Yeahhhhh!"
And I asked, "So you're not hurt, then?"
And he said, "No." (sniff.) Still holding up his candy cane that was once one candy cane but is now two for me to see.
And I said, real calm-like, "Honey? I want you to know, that THAT is not the 'I broke my candy cane' scream. That is the 'my arm is broken' scream. Or the 'I'm bleeding from my neck' scream. Or the 'I'm pinned under something very heavy' scream. Not the 'I broke my candy cane' scream. OK? Do you understand what I am saying?"
He nods, still crying.
And I went on, "Because Mommy has just had a heart attack. In the split-second that it took me to leap up from my chair and get to you, I visualized very terrible things that you might be screaming about and I had a heart attack. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
And he said, "But my (SNIFF) CANDY CANE (BIGHUGE-SNIFF) IS BROKEN!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!" Followed by more crying and then running into his room and slamming the door.
Yes, I have a tendency to launch into these monologues that my children don't understand.
I like to talk things out. They are not quite there yet.
Until then I will continue my full belief that motherhood is a string of tiny heart attacks because you feel like you're protecting this tiny little egg like you did in Home Ec and you just want to put it in bubble wrap. There is all this leaping up and rushing to and trying to stop.
Sigh.
I know I should be glad that the veryterriblescream was just over a broken candy cane and not something worse.
Of course, to a three-year-old, what could possibly be worse than a broken candy cane?
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It's Weigh-In Wednesday at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans (and if you haven't joined yet, did you know we're starting a new fitness/weightloss challenge December 30th? It's gonna be so much fun! So if you want motivation, sisterhood, and an amazing support network just in time for the new year, you oughtta come join us! We're changing bodies one pair of pants at a time!)
Well this little challenge was quite a challenge for me. I maintained, mostly, throughout. That's the good news. I worked out some but not as much as I did when I was training for something. And like in all things that are cyclical, when I worked out less, I ate worse. When I ate worse, I worked out even less. So now you don't have to do that research, I did it for you!
I know, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. When I felt myself slipping, though, I did get back into working out and I always eat better when I work out. So if I was up a pound, it was gone as soon as it was on. And right now, it's on! I'm up a pound from last week.
Since I'm kind of freaking out about getting back into a poor pattern, I'm really working hard on talking myself into staying into my workout regimen as much as possible, which is hard especially during this time of year when there is soo much other stuff to do that I find myself thinking, "Hmmm. I could really get some shopping done by myself instead of going to the gym..." Because I could. I reallllly could. I could get some serious shopping done.
But on the flip side, that window is probably one of my only windows where I can just have some me-time. I can put on my IPod and shut out the world in my (mostly empty) gym.
Which means I swam today in a silent empty pool. And it was nice. I also swam longer than I ever have. I swam my first mile. I was like the tortoise and it was the equivalent of slower than a 15-minute mile in running, I was that slow, but whatever, right? In fact, I googled how fast a 1500m swim should take and I got three answers: the Olympian (14 minutes) and the pretty good swimmer (20-25 minutes) and then people like me (40-45 minutes). One of the answers was a Wiki answer in which someone answered the question, then on the end said, (and I'm totally paraphrasing here) be glad you swam a freakin mile.
HAHAHA! So I'm going with that answer.
The final tally:
Weight: up 1/2 lb for the challenge (Darn. But not so bad as my pants still fit! There is something to this accountability thing. In my former life, I'd have been off the wagon completely by now.)
Mileage: I've run/biked 52 miles for the challenge. However, I did not log my spin class miles (have no idea how many) so that would bump me up a bit.
Non-scale victories: Beat both my personal best times in the 5k and the 10k, ran my 5k in 29 minutes (YAY!!) and the 10k in 60 minutes exactly!! (Husband beat me by 40 seconds and came in under an hour, woot!!) My mile pace has gone into the 9:30 range (HOLY CRAP!) Also, today I swam my first mile! (I mentioned that I know, but I'm pretty proud of it.)
Lots of NSVs and those DO count. So what are yours?? And how did you do??
That's all, sisters! New challenge at the Sisterhood on December 30, so take this time to prepare yourself and get your head in the game so you can start the year off right!! And that's when I'm really gettin moving, got that crazy triathlon in April, so I'm moving full steam ahead!
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OK, so maybe not a pet here, per se, but the lovely folks at I Heart Faces said we could use any animal, even if the animal is not quite a pet, and since this is probably in my top 10 of "Right Place at the Right Time" moments, I'm going with the dolphin photo I shot on our vacation this year. Wish it were my pet! Well not really. I hardly like touching the cat food, so I think I might have a problem with the wet slimy fish these guys eat. Anyhoo.
But we went out on a boat that day hoping to see some dolphins and boy did we! Best.Vacation.Ever.
Usually there are lots of cute faces at I Heart Faces, but this week there's lots of cute pets (animals) so head on over and check em out!
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This has been one of those weeks.
The kind where both kids are sick. But the kind of sick where they're still very energetic - to put it mildly - except for the coughing and the rivers running out of their noses, i.e. sick enough to not be around any living walking human except of course for me.
We did a few activities, but their clear favorite was the one where we gathered up every single pillow in the house and made a pillow bed in the living room. We made popcorn and used old coffee cans as snack cups and watched movies. Specifically a A Very Mickey (or "Tickey Mouse") Christmas or something like that.
I need to write some letters, but I don't have the time or the patience to actually find e-mail addresses, snail mail addresses, print it out, find a pen, stuff envelopes, buy stamps and/or translate the English language into "Cat". So here are my letters and I hope they find their way to their intended addressees one day.
Dear Crest Pro Health:
There is toothpaste in the luggage. Toothpaste is now the new liner to my bathroom drawer. I fight with your cap that refuses to shut on top of your toothpaste daily x's however many times my husband and I brush on any given day or more if garlic is involved. Is this a clever way to make me buy toothpaste quicker? Please advise.
Dear kitty cat:
After two years, elderly kitty cat is still not responding to your advances. Should I translate the terrible growls that I hear coming from her whilst you're advancing? You're like one of those hairy, cologned-up guys at a cheesy dance club that won't get the message. Ps. Thanks for not pooping in my bed when I forgot you were in my bedroom and left you in there for an hour.
Dear roots:
Hang in there. Just over two weeks left.
Dear colds that the children have:
You're not just annoying to them. You're killing me! I need to get out of the house! I need to Christmas shop! You're ruining my plan to be done by two weeks before Christmas.
Dear self:
I know it's difficult being the fourth day of children trapped inside the houses with colds and all.But I'm glad you refrained from saying that the noise your 3 year old was complaining about at 5 in the morning was a bird that eats small children who keep getting out of their bed.
Dear clutter:
Where do I start? You overwhelm me. Please grow legs and walk yourselves to the neighbors. Don't make me beg.
Dear time:
If you could multiply by a thousand when the kids go to bed so that I might get everything I need to get done, Christmas Cards, lists, shopping, cleaning, decluttering, blogging, home improvement projects left from 2008 that I am panicking about seeing in 2010, and still have some left over to relax with a glass of wine, I'd sure appreciate it. I won't even require a Christmas gift if you could do that.
Dear self (again):
I know you want to buy the whole family Christmas sweaters to wear in your family Christmas pictures on Sunday. But only you will know it's a joke and think it's funny. Everyone else will think you're a cheesy dork who went to the dark side. Don't do it.
Dear computer charger:
I am sorry for your loss. I am sorry for the constant torture by my children. I hope you are in a better place. Meantime, can you send me one of your friends as a replacement? I have 68 percent left...
Dear Unnamed Professional Golfer:
Wow. Really?
Sorry. I had to get that one in there. OK that's all, I think. Feel free to send a letter in the comments!
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I claim victory today!
No, no loss to report. But, what with a husband birthday and a trip to MickeyWorld and all, I do have to say no gain is good news! Especially because it wasn't a good exercise week for me with everything going on. I did some exercise, just not what I usually do. So I'm cool with no gain, no loss. In fact, if I gain zero throughout this holiday season, I will claim victory on the holiday season. I've decided for the next couple weeks, I am not looking to lose as much as I'm not looking to gain.
Does that make sense?
Have you read this post yet? This post really resonated with me. Because I so equate indulgent food as "bad" and have for so long, I haven't been able to develop a guilt-free relationship with it. It doesn't matter if I just let some so-called "naughty food" graze my lips, the guilt overwhelms me and I talk about it the next day.
But no food has to be a bad food.
Because actually (and as I tell my son when he asks me, "Mommy, is this helfy?"), anything you have too much of can be unhealthy.
Which is why finding the balance is important. And making healthy choices at home and even making some heathier choices out there in the world all makes a difference. Because you pick yes for this and no for that and hopefully you have found a good balance in it all. Like when I was a total loser as a mother and forgot to pack snacks in the bag to Disney and we were trying to get in at one of the restaurants for breakfast with the characters (which was a buffet) but we had to wait until 9 which meant the kids hadn't had a thing until after 9 a.m. because Mommy didn't even have just a little something for them for before then (we're 7 a.m. breakfast eaters!)
So I wandered around and found a little souvenier shop tucked away outside the Disney gates and I bought mickey-shaped cookies (like the Disney version of animal crackers) and a big bag of dried apricots.
Guess which one my son chose?
The apricots. Surprised even me! He tore them up! And by the way, I had an even bigger revelation about my son's food choices and I'm posting about that separately (with pictures).
So during this season, at home, we will be as healthy as we can. I've made a huge batch of my low-fat muffins that everyone loves for snacks and breakfasts, and I make healthy dinners and lunches. So that away from home, I can (and will) indulge -- like when we go back to Disney on Friday and when I take my mother to tea on Saturday, without guilt. Because of the balance.
I do begin training in January officially in which my goals will be to firm up and lose bodyfat (not necessarily weight), and build my endurance. But for now, my goal is to make it through the holiday season at the same weight, happy, and guilt-free.
How did you do? Weigh in over at the Sisterhood! And if you haven't joined us in our quest for a healthier life, please do!
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So I went to the gym all chipper, with a spring in my step, excited for my first foray into swimming in quite some time. Just like I said I would on Mantra Monday. Because I'm a girl of my word. Mostly. (And by the way I had a pretty kickass swim.)
But I wasn't 10 feet into the gym when I felt something drop out of the towel I was holding.
So I turned around.
And looked down.
At my gray grannies in the middle of the floor for everyone to see.
(Oh yes, now I remember! I did forget to put them in my bag. Whoopsy!)
And people, let me just say that 5 seconds of grannies out in the middle of the floor without your even noticing it in a packed gym is forever.
It's almost as bad as the time I wore two different sneakers to the gym.
So I picked my ugly bloomers up off the floor (hey, come to think of it, I wonder now if someone would have told me I dropped them! I wouldn't have wanted to be that guy. Or would said person have picked them up and ran after me? Ew. Or would the lost skivvies have been the pink elephant/slash/ugly bloomers in the room that everyone would have stepped over while grimacing? Or would someone who noticed this occurrence have pointed out to me that I dropped "something"? I wonder...)
Anyway, after I picked up my stray undergarment and shoved it back into my towel, I kept walking, careful not to make eye contact with anyone of the dudes in the longest row ever of weight machines planted all along my walking path to the locker room. Because I am sure they all saw it. And I pretended to Tweet.
That is all. Carry on.
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My husband is the voice of reason. When I can't see it, he can. And he tells me so.
This weekend when we were talking about our impending very busy 2010, (which now includes the Virtual Team in Training Half-Marathon in San Diego with the Sisterhood!) And the triathlon that I have been off and on training for the past couple weeks.
Oh, who are we kidding, training has kind of been put in the backseat during this busy holiday-birthdayness we've got going on. And usually something sticks out for me for the week, either something someone has said or something I have read, something I need to post a Mantra Monday about and usually, it finds me, I don't have to go lookin' for it. This week it's from the mouth of husband.
"You gotta get back in that pool."
Why yes. Yes I do.
Because the swim in the triathlon ain't gonna swim itself! And this one's kinda long.
But I've been procrastinating. I don't know why. I've been making excuses, not wanting to get wet or shower after my workout or take "all those clothes with me" to workout...
Stupid crap. I know.
I'm human.
But it only took those few words, from my husband. That's why I love him.
This week, getting back in the pool. And I'm gonna like it.
* * *
And because I'm all about the mantras (you know it!), Diane @Fit To the Finish has compiled a great list of mantras compliled through Twitter, I'd love to just print this out and put it on my fridge! So if you're looking for motivation, there's plenty to be had out there on this Monday morning. So what's your mantra?? Share it every week here in the comments or post about it and leave the link in comments so I can come visit you!
And ps. I'm over here confessing my foodsins and over here trying to re-motivate myself with tips to beat the cold weather today (I'm all over the place today!) so go check it out and leave me a little love so I don't get all insecure!
Most people don't know his softy side, but I do. That arm wheels a little red wagon around a pumpkin patch with two little mens in it, gives great big huge hugs, holds hands, changes diapers, pets kitty cats, waters plants that his wife neglects, home improves, folds laundry, mows lawns, puts up Christmas lights and at the end of the day, turns a key every night to come into the house we made into a home together.Don't mind me.
I'm here. Kind of.
See because what's been happening is that I get all these ideas for posts and even write them down on here or in my trusty pink notebook or the back of whatever receipt is nearest to me and then I get my kids off to bed, grab my coffee, sit down to write, and then play the game called, "Go back to bed. It's still naptime."
It goes like this:
"Goodnight, I love you!"
(A very happy and comforting silence and me going to sit down and opening laptop.)
(Followed by sound of door opening.)
Sigh.
"What's wrong? It's naptime."
"No! I have to poop!"
"OK, poop, then go back to bed."
"No! Take my shirt off!"
"OK."
(take shirt off.)
"Close the door!"
"Can we say 'please'?"
"Peez, close the door!"
(Closing door.)
(Faint sound of singing coming from the bathroom followed by flushing and the 10 minute ritual of using too much soap and water for hand-washing.)
"I'm done! I'm done!" (three-year-old prancing around naked and proud, with some galloping.)
"OK, great job!! Now put your nakey butt back in your undies, sillyman, and go back to bed."
(the process of reclothing child taking forever.)
"OK, goodnight! No more getting out of bed! I love you." (kiss.)
(Sit down, open laptop. Actually thinking my window of peace is opening.)
(door opens.)
Silly me.
"Can I have water?"
"OK, you can have a sip of water then back to bed."
(Longest drink of water ever.)
"OK, goodnight sweetie, this time it's really naptime. Stay in your bed. Do you understand?"
"Yes, mommy."
"OK, goodnight." (I say a lot of "OKs")
(Sit down, put laptop on lap, take sip of coffee)
(door opens.)
"I'm scared!"
(sigh.)
"What are you scared of?"
"My room! There are noises!"
"Noises can't hurt you. They're just noises. They go away quickly."
"Are they mad?"
"No. Noises don't have feelings. They're just noises."
"Why?"
(crickets.)
"Good night, honey. I'm right out there in the other room. I talked to Santa and he said you have the coolest room in the world and that there's nothing to be afraid of."
"Is he here?"
"No, not yet."
"How does he know?"
(Why did I say that.)
"Word gets around. Anyway, goodnight!"
(Sitting down, laptop on lap again, commencing routine of web browsing and readings before delving into creative pool of writery.)
"Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
(Great. The other one's up now.)
(Door opens.)
"He's too loud, Mommy!"
"Is my nap done?"
"Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Yep. I guess so.
So much for writing.
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This was a wake-up call for me.
I scared myself.
I could actually feel myself on the path to whence I have come from. After all the Thanksgivingness/slash/birthday partiesandcake, my results from this past week are:
The same. No gain, no loss.
Whew. That was close. Because it was up a few last weekend.
By Monday, my body was in dire need of a green bean. Or anything remotely happy and healthy. And it feels so much better to be eating well again. I ate these for breakfast. I'm still working on the workout part, throwing in makeshift workouts here and there because I don't have an organized plan yet (I really should just stop complaining about that and make my own, shouldn't I?)
I did get the actual Olympic-distance tri-workout plan from my trigroup and I about pooed my pants. The very first week has a person swimming 2300 meters. I swim just around 1,000. Good thing the plan doesn't start officially for a few weeks still (actually almost two months!) Because I have a lot of work to do before then. And each workout is actually two workouts. So that 2300 meter workout is actually paired up with a 30 minute run or hour-long bike ride. Or an hour-long or 90 minute bike ride is paired up with a run.
The workouts are long. And there are 5 of these a week.
What have I gotten myself into?
Guess 2010 is going to be my thinnest! Because I don't see how I can do that much working out and have any flab left! Can't wait to get started, I am pretty sure my wall of motivation is going to be quite full in the coming months!
Still a little scared, but I've been in this place before and have come out ok in the end.
How did you do this week? I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Go check in at the Sisterhood! And ps. If you don't know what I'm talking about, head over there, it's an awesome place to share to find motivation and support in your health endeavors!!
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