About eleven years ago after child number two came along, I thought it would be a good idea to try and shed some baby fat. I joined a gym and got somewhat fit by working the machines and taking kickboxing and yoga classes. Well...then life happened. I stopped going to the gym because why go to the gym when you've lost the weight right? The problem lies in the fact that I'm a stress eater. I'm also an I'm bored and that looks too good to pass by eater but that's beside the point. The fact remains that I did gain weight back and since college have struggled with keeping the weight off. So one Christmas my husband got tired of my complaining so he decided the best gift to give me would be a yoga mat and a big exercise ball. You can imagine my delight when opening up my gifts to find the gift that says "hey honey you're getting a little chunky, why not fix that?" Needless to say he never made that mistake again. The items in question have been in the back of a closet for the last 10 years.
My weight spiked up six years ago when I was eating for five. Don't get excited I wasn't pregnant or anything. I was caring for my mother who was dying of cancer, my husband, and my three kids one of them being just a year old. As I said before I am a stress eater. I ate my portion, the portion I made for my mom that she couldn't eat, and whatever was left on anyone else's plate. Then after everything was said and done. I spent a year losing 56 pounds. Swore I would never go back. I was making the lifestyle change.
Enter three years later after the great weight loss. I've gained approximately 20 of it back. I have not changed my pore eating habits, but to make it a less guilty feeling I've started walking in the mornings again and today I was invited to go to a yoga class a friend was teaching. Which is an a round about way to slide you into my day.
Walk with me if you will into the grand new YMCA that I have never been in. This month they are apparently trying to drum up new members so you can take classes for free. I walk in and say that I'd like to take my friend's yoga class. The first question they ask me is if I've signed a waver. The first thought I think is "does one need a waver for yoga? Isn't yoga supposed to be relaxing?" HA! Shows what I know. It's an amazing thing how the mind forgets isn't it? So I sign my waver and walk in late for my yoga class. Here are my thoughts as I get into class and get prepared. "Hmmm looks like we don't wear shoes for yoga my Skechers Shape-ups won't be toning my rear during this class. The class is looking pretty full already but darn they already saw me I have to go in now. Uh oh they are getting me a mat, I'm in this thing for the duration now. There is no watching. This may not be so bad, we have soothing music, we have my friend for an instructor so she is less likely to make fun of me when I mess this up and fall over causing a domino effect knocking all the ladies down in a landslide. Boy I hope that pizza last night doesn't come back to haunt me. Why isn't anyone wearing a concert t-shirt? I was told that was the required attire. I see no buttons to push if I can't get back up, I wonder what their success rate is of bringing people back if my arteries are too clogged to work this out and my heart just stops?" As you can see I was a little timid about this entire ordeal. So the class is started and I jump right in. I'm not sure how often you have stood in a "warrior" position with your arms straight out at your sides, but let me just say it really is harder than it sounds. Also there is a lot to think about. Drawing your navel into your spine, breathing, keeping your shoulders down from your ears, your knees over your ankles. It's completely exhausting! Then at the end you lay down and are expected to be able to relax completely. How is this possible I ask you? How? My mind is a whirlwind at this point. I laid there and was placing bets with myself to figure out how long it would take me to get back up, IF that was even possible.
One year for Christmas I wanted a wii fit. The first time you get on the wii fit it does an analysis on you. The thing told me that I had balance problems and asked me if I fall down a lot when I walk. I am relatively accident prone. In college I worked in a department store and often ran into the racks of clothing. I have fallen down the stairs more times than I care to admit. THIS is the kind of girl I am. So the mere fact that I successfully finished the class with out causing bodily harm to myself and others is quite a fete. But you know this may not be so bad. I could stand to get a little more limber. It could only help with my fitness plan. Besides I do have my own mat. It's purple, perhaps I could get a cute outfit to wear to go with it. Yes this could be good for me. Plus there is the promise of Starbucks afterward as a reward for not hurting anyone. I look forward to trying it again next week. I'll be the one concentrating on not breaking wind or falling over.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Patience is a Virtue but Delivery is Divine
This year has been the year of home improvement in our home. As some of you know, last summer I came up with an ultimatum for my family. We were to either fix up our house so that it looked like a home and not one big frat house, sell the place and build a new one, or sell the place and move to Florida (still kind of with I'd sold them on that one). Well in this economy selling the place would be about as easy and flying to the moon. So we decided to fix the place up. Fresh paint, new flooring, new furniture that no one had peed on. I would be lying if I said that I didn't love my "new" house. I do however the process of the great re-make wasn't an easy one. Nor is it now easy. I am not a home decorator. If I were I'm pretty sure I would have done it right the first time and would merely have needed new flooring instead of the whole shebang. As I don't know what I'm doing I went to an expert. She was wonderful. She came up with some great ideas. What she didn't come up with is a timely manner in getting things in, and an understanding of what the word budget means. After the first two rooms were done, I decided I had the thing down pat and took over with what she taught me to look for and a few ideas of my own as well as my friends.
We started last October. We emptied rooms and filled nail holes and repainted. We got new hard wood floors in two of the rooms. This was a dream of mine. I always wanted hard wood floors. We get the floors installed and the walls are all painted what I didn't count on was waiting till Christmas and after for my furniture to get in. What I also didn't count on was that come July those same hardwood floors that I dreamed of and wanted for my very own would buckle. Now here I sit in September looking at my strip of paper that should be hardwood. Where they have ripped out the faulty section, in hopes of figuring out what went wrong.
If you were to ask my family what my strongest suit is, they would not tell you patience. The wouldn't tell you cooking, or baking, organization either, but by far patience is lacking in my temperament. Perhaps it's an only child personality trait that I just can't ditch. I'm not sure but I think that in this instance I've been more than patient far more fair than most. It's been almost a full month since they pulled up the wood and have yet to come and fix it. A less patient person would have called them long before now and told them to either get out here and fix it now or get out here rip it all out and give them back their money. Have I done either of these things? No. No I've sat and waited. Until last week I had held out hope that any day they would come and fix it and all would be well. Last week I decided to call. I explained I was unhappy. I told them a solution would be appreciated. A return phone call was to be made, it never was. So today I called and again said I was unhappy (Seriously? Do they not know that when mama isn't happy nobody is happy?) I said I would like this taken care of that my patience that they had commended me with in the past is now spreading thin. Today I got a call back and hopefully in the next couple days some manufacturing guru will come and say what the problem is and they will fix it. Hopefully!
This journey we have been on has been quite an adventure really. Living where we do we get a lot of spiders. Some of them live in my stairwell well out of reach. I discovered that they are of little use to me as they were unable and unwilling to help me paint the corners that were hard to reach. How we painted it before is a mystery to me. We have learned that a bookshelf isn't just a bookshelf. Some book selves are Divine and even those are full of my treasured books. Which was the reason behind the birthday present of the nook. This device feeds my desire to have immediate satisfaction as I'm able to buy book from it without ever leaving the house. This is good as we no longer have a bookstore in our town. We have a Walmart and a Meijer that both sell books but it's not the same as a bookstore where you can roam isle after isle of imagination and education. You lose that in the nook but you gain just as much so I feel content.
Did you know that having the right stuff is better than having a lot of the wrong stuff? We learned that too. Over the course of 15 years of marriage and children you accumulate a LOT. Getting rid of a great deal and using just what was needed has calmed me immensely. I no longer feel it's best to be away from home as it's simpler now to get it all cleaned up and this calms me. Before it was just SO much that it overwhelmed me to the point I'd rather move and start over. For this I'm very grateful for the help that was involved in this process.
My office still needs help. I have yet to figure out how to get it manageable. Perhaps it's more conducive to my work to have it messy. It's good material. However, as the rest of the house is so orderly, I think the greatest gift for me would be to have someone come in and show me how to get this figured out also. The vastness of the mess is what gets to me. I often have trouble seeing the trees for the forest. Some people can't see the trees for the forest, I'm backwards. In all actuality I should be able to take one desk at a time and get it right then move on, all I can do is keep looking at what is left so I walk away, to one of the more calming rooms. My reading room is lovely. It's also known as the living room. I call it my reading room because it's you know, where I read. It's also my favorite room, aside from the missing flooring it's lovely. The light is best in that room and the couch is very comfy for settling in with a good book.
So this is what I know. Deliveries only happen when you are painting in another room. It also helps if it is a holiday. It doesn't matter if they have a factory full of furniture you will get yours when they get good and ready to send it. Washable fabrics are your friend. Patience is a virtue but delivery is Divine!
We started last October. We emptied rooms and filled nail holes and repainted. We got new hard wood floors in two of the rooms. This was a dream of mine. I always wanted hard wood floors. We get the floors installed and the walls are all painted what I didn't count on was waiting till Christmas and after for my furniture to get in. What I also didn't count on was that come July those same hardwood floors that I dreamed of and wanted for my very own would buckle. Now here I sit in September looking at my strip of paper that should be hardwood. Where they have ripped out the faulty section, in hopes of figuring out what went wrong.
If you were to ask my family what my strongest suit is, they would not tell you patience. The wouldn't tell you cooking, or baking, organization either, but by far patience is lacking in my temperament. Perhaps it's an only child personality trait that I just can't ditch. I'm not sure but I think that in this instance I've been more than patient far more fair than most. It's been almost a full month since they pulled up the wood and have yet to come and fix it. A less patient person would have called them long before now and told them to either get out here and fix it now or get out here rip it all out and give them back their money. Have I done either of these things? No. No I've sat and waited. Until last week I had held out hope that any day they would come and fix it and all would be well. Last week I decided to call. I explained I was unhappy. I told them a solution would be appreciated. A return phone call was to be made, it never was. So today I called and again said I was unhappy (Seriously? Do they not know that when mama isn't happy nobody is happy?) I said I would like this taken care of that my patience that they had commended me with in the past is now spreading thin. Today I got a call back and hopefully in the next couple days some manufacturing guru will come and say what the problem is and they will fix it. Hopefully!
This journey we have been on has been quite an adventure really. Living where we do we get a lot of spiders. Some of them live in my stairwell well out of reach. I discovered that they are of little use to me as they were unable and unwilling to help me paint the corners that were hard to reach. How we painted it before is a mystery to me. We have learned that a bookshelf isn't just a bookshelf. Some book selves are Divine and even those are full of my treasured books. Which was the reason behind the birthday present of the nook. This device feeds my desire to have immediate satisfaction as I'm able to buy book from it without ever leaving the house. This is good as we no longer have a bookstore in our town. We have a Walmart and a Meijer that both sell books but it's not the same as a bookstore where you can roam isle after isle of imagination and education. You lose that in the nook but you gain just as much so I feel content.
Did you know that having the right stuff is better than having a lot of the wrong stuff? We learned that too. Over the course of 15 years of marriage and children you accumulate a LOT. Getting rid of a great deal and using just what was needed has calmed me immensely. I no longer feel it's best to be away from home as it's simpler now to get it all cleaned up and this calms me. Before it was just SO much that it overwhelmed me to the point I'd rather move and start over. For this I'm very grateful for the help that was involved in this process.
My office still needs help. I have yet to figure out how to get it manageable. Perhaps it's more conducive to my work to have it messy. It's good material. However, as the rest of the house is so orderly, I think the greatest gift for me would be to have someone come in and show me how to get this figured out also. The vastness of the mess is what gets to me. I often have trouble seeing the trees for the forest. Some people can't see the trees for the forest, I'm backwards. In all actuality I should be able to take one desk at a time and get it right then move on, all I can do is keep looking at what is left so I walk away, to one of the more calming rooms. My reading room is lovely. It's also known as the living room. I call it my reading room because it's you know, where I read. It's also my favorite room, aside from the missing flooring it's lovely. The light is best in that room and the couch is very comfy for settling in with a good book.
So this is what I know. Deliveries only happen when you are painting in another room. It also helps if it is a holiday. It doesn't matter if they have a factory full of furniture you will get yours when they get good and ready to send it. Washable fabrics are your friend. Patience is a virtue but delivery is Divine!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
So How's the Book Coming?
Him: So how is the book coming along? Me: Well... Him: Have to got page one of the manuscript ready? Me: Well... Him: Have you even typed "page 1"? Me: No, but you see it's because I have no printer. I can not work under these conditions. I need my printer to function properly. I have to be able to print otherwise what is the point of typing it? Him: Really? That's what's holding you back? Me: Of course what are you insinuating? Him: Only that you go out for lunch so often that when we go out together to a restaurant it's like walking into Cheers. Everyone knows you. But of course that couldn't be the reason. Me: I need material. How am I supposed to get material if I don't ever leave the house?
This is how our conversations go. What this doesn't indicate is that when I get inspired to write one of three things usually happens. 1. He calls me to do something for him. 2. One of the kids calls me to do something for one of them. or 3. I run out of time as it's time to go to lunch of course. For example, just this week alone as Wednesday was his day off we spent the day running errands and having a nice lunch together. Then as we were home and we were waiting on the children to get home, I decide it's a good time to write. He thinks it's a good time to change the faucet in their bathroom. This is how that played out. I'm sitting at my desk typing away when... Him: Hey can you come here for a minute? Me: Sure, what do you need? Him: Do you have strongs? Me: Seriously? Him: Just come here. So I go upstairs and attempt to loosen the nuts holding the faucet intact. I being the weakling that I am can't budge them so I return to my desk. I sit down and start typing again when... Him: Hey come here and help me a minute. So I go up and help again and return to my desk to type when...Him: Hey I need your brains can you come here a minute. So I grumble up the stairs yet again. This goes on about two more times. So I ask you, when do I get to finish a thought? He wonders why I can't get an entire book together when it's next to impossible to finish a thought long enough to blog. Thus proving my point that I'm only charming and poignant in short spurts. I can't do the long haul because I don't have time to do the long haul.
If it's not the writing it's the scrap booking. Our oldest child is a freshman this year. She has yet to enter the 3rd grade in her scrapbook. This is a source of contention amongst us as it's my job to remedy this situation. This I must do in between the laundry and the cleaning and the running to soccer, and volleyball, and drama. What do I do with my time? What are you most likely to find me doing if I'm not doing any of the aforementioned above? Reading. Slipping into another realm where I have no dishes waiting to be done but a 17 year old girl is fighting for her life in a place called Panem. Or a place where vampires walk among us and account for the oddities in some people. Is this the best use of my time? I don't know. Is sitting in front of a television set with no use of any imagination at all a good use of time? I don't think so. I have always enjoyed television but I have to be doing something else at the same time. I can't just sit and stare. It's mind numbing. But to read is to be mesmerized by something bigger and better. The thoughts and descriptions the imagination can lead you to in a book is so much better. Plus although I do think life is funny. I'm not convinced mine is worth reading about.
I do not know any vampires nor do I know any werewolves. But I do know some great kids and one great man. My children are smart. Something they get from their father. He is quite brilliant really. This is good because I can only help them with their math homework till about the 4th grade. After that they enter what I like to call "that new math". Perhaps you've heard of it, it's what my mom used to tell me I was studying as a kid. Truly the only math I ever really needed to learn is what I like to call "shopping math". This is where I go and figure up the sale prices when I'm shopping to decide if it's a good buy or not. One thing I did learn from my mother is to never pay full price. I also learned that when you can't find a hammer to hang a picture, a meat cleaver works just as well. Tips and hints from mom. She was nothing if not resourceful. She once thought the best way to get me to eat spinach was to mix it with green beans. (Do not try this at home!!) Needless to say it didn't work and had she made me a spinach salad with strawberries and warm bacon dressing her problems would have been solved as my green leafy veggies would have been consumed.
My best friend however, is the backbone to this operation. She doesn't get near enough credit, not that she ever looks for any. She is the voice of reason, when reason jumps from a window. We have often called each other in times of crisis. But our best times are spent over a chocolate tall cake. It seems when all else fails and life is just too hard chocolate and conversation are the cure. She is very handy when it comes to "shopping math" and also as she was a math and an English teacher she is my editor. If I ever get her anything to edit. Which leads us back to where we started. Him: How's that manuscript coming? Me: Just as soon as the new printer shows up, I'll type "page 1".
This is how our conversations go. What this doesn't indicate is that when I get inspired to write one of three things usually happens. 1. He calls me to do something for him. 2. One of the kids calls me to do something for one of them. or 3. I run out of time as it's time to go to lunch of course. For example, just this week alone as Wednesday was his day off we spent the day running errands and having a nice lunch together. Then as we were home and we were waiting on the children to get home, I decide it's a good time to write. He thinks it's a good time to change the faucet in their bathroom. This is how that played out. I'm sitting at my desk typing away when... Him: Hey can you come here for a minute? Me: Sure, what do you need? Him: Do you have strongs? Me: Seriously? Him: Just come here. So I go upstairs and attempt to loosen the nuts holding the faucet intact. I being the weakling that I am can't budge them so I return to my desk. I sit down and start typing again when... Him: Hey come here and help me a minute. So I go up and help again and return to my desk to type when...Him: Hey I need your brains can you come here a minute. So I grumble up the stairs yet again. This goes on about two more times. So I ask you, when do I get to finish a thought? He wonders why I can't get an entire book together when it's next to impossible to finish a thought long enough to blog. Thus proving my point that I'm only charming and poignant in short spurts. I can't do the long haul because I don't have time to do the long haul.
If it's not the writing it's the scrap booking. Our oldest child is a freshman this year. She has yet to enter the 3rd grade in her scrapbook. This is a source of contention amongst us as it's my job to remedy this situation. This I must do in between the laundry and the cleaning and the running to soccer, and volleyball, and drama. What do I do with my time? What are you most likely to find me doing if I'm not doing any of the aforementioned above? Reading. Slipping into another realm where I have no dishes waiting to be done but a 17 year old girl is fighting for her life in a place called Panem. Or a place where vampires walk among us and account for the oddities in some people. Is this the best use of my time? I don't know. Is sitting in front of a television set with no use of any imagination at all a good use of time? I don't think so. I have always enjoyed television but I have to be doing something else at the same time. I can't just sit and stare. It's mind numbing. But to read is to be mesmerized by something bigger and better. The thoughts and descriptions the imagination can lead you to in a book is so much better. Plus although I do think life is funny. I'm not convinced mine is worth reading about.
I do not know any vampires nor do I know any werewolves. But I do know some great kids and one great man. My children are smart. Something they get from their father. He is quite brilliant really. This is good because I can only help them with their math homework till about the 4th grade. After that they enter what I like to call "that new math". Perhaps you've heard of it, it's what my mom used to tell me I was studying as a kid. Truly the only math I ever really needed to learn is what I like to call "shopping math". This is where I go and figure up the sale prices when I'm shopping to decide if it's a good buy or not. One thing I did learn from my mother is to never pay full price. I also learned that when you can't find a hammer to hang a picture, a meat cleaver works just as well. Tips and hints from mom. She was nothing if not resourceful. She once thought the best way to get me to eat spinach was to mix it with green beans. (Do not try this at home!!) Needless to say it didn't work and had she made me a spinach salad with strawberries and warm bacon dressing her problems would have been solved as my green leafy veggies would have been consumed.
My best friend however, is the backbone to this operation. She doesn't get near enough credit, not that she ever looks for any. She is the voice of reason, when reason jumps from a window. We have often called each other in times of crisis. But our best times are spent over a chocolate tall cake. It seems when all else fails and life is just too hard chocolate and conversation are the cure. She is very handy when it comes to "shopping math" and also as she was a math and an English teacher she is my editor. If I ever get her anything to edit. Which leads us back to where we started. Him: How's that manuscript coming? Me: Just as soon as the new printer shows up, I'll type "page 1".
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