Double Digits Baby!!

I just noticed that my number of blog posts this month has reached the double digits.

Wow!

Anyone wanna guess how long it has been since I last had double digit posting numbers?

Maybe I could turn this into a contest and give away a prize.

Only....it would be really easy to figure out the answer.

Hmmm....so much for my first blog contest idea.

But hey! Double digits! More frequent posts!

All three of you must be so happy!

WEEENNNIIEEEESS!!! WEEEENNIEESS!!!

This is what #2 has been yelling at random times all evening.

It started when she found out I was planning to wrap cocktai weenies in cresent roll strips so they will look like mummies for her school Halloween party tomorrow.

The best part is she has no idea why her yelling weenies repeatedly might be funny.

It is kind of fun.

I challenge all of you to give it a try soon.

Defeated

I am throwing up my hands.

Waving the white flag.

At this point I can not fathom getting my family to consistently consume a healthy diet.

I am out of ideas.

Isn't one of the first steps in recovery admitting you are powerless over the problem?

(Hey I am a child and family therapist not a D and A counselor, so forgive my lack of certainty.)

If so then here it goes.

I am totally powerless over my family's shitty eating habits.

Now. Let the recovery process begin.

It's ALL in the eyes

It would seem that #2 is quite popular with the young boys in her class.

At least according to her.

She rattled off a long list of boys who would like to be her boyfriend this evening in the car.

"So how do you know all of these boys want to be your boyfriend?" Inquires Mommy.

"It's alllll in the eyes mom." Replies #2.

OK then.

Who am I to dispute the eyes?

Too bad for the boys. #2 ain't interested.

Wonder what kind of eyes you use to communicate disinterest?

Pressure! (insert synthesizer riff a la Billy Joel here)

For the earworm...you are welcome.

Some of the five of you who read this may know that BH is a very funny and very clever man.

I love the fact that he is funny and clever, it makes my life at home very entertaining. I like that.

However sometimes being in the presence of such amazing humor and cleverosity (sometimes I like to add osity to words a la Georgia. Makes things so much more fun. Read that series of books I just linked too. You won't be sorry and don't let the YA aspect turn you away.) causes me to feel less than clever and humorous in comparasin. I like to be entertaining too.

Shallow of me? Yes indeedy. But what can ya do. Sometimes shallow happens.

My husband created a note on his FB page that talks about a discussion on a website he frequents. He posed the question on FB to open it up to responses.

I can not come up with an answer to the stupid question because I am allowing myself to be paralyzed and pressured by the idea that my response must be funny and entertaining. This is making me crazy.

Stupid? Probably.

Shallow? For sure.

But there it is.

Hope you all enjoyed my little confessional today. Feel free to share your own confessions.

Really.

Crazy doesn't like to be lonely.

Epiphany

Every once in a while I will have an epiphany about something. Which can be a good thing, or more along the lines of good for you.

I am not going to write today of any specific realizations, although I did have a great one the other day. It was one of those good for you types, that at first you are kind of sorry had the epiphany, but with further thought and examination you discover that it is not so bad and may actually help. I think I like those kind the best.

ANYway...I thought I would discuss where I tend to have my stunning revelations.

They almost always happen while I am drying my hair.

Seriously.

Not kidding.

I find this a bit odd.

This also makes me curious about where/when other people do their best thinking.

So if the 5 of you who still read this thing want to share about your thinking spot I would just love that.

Now.............discuss!

I might have eaten lunch here two days in a row

I may very well be a Chipotle addict. I honestly believe that I could eat here every day and be perfectly content. I usually order salad, but when I am feeling really naughty I go for the crispy chicken tacos. Ooh crispy chicken tacos. How can I every fully express my love for you? No words can do justice to the happiness I feel when I put you in mah belleh!

*Chipotle is not compensating me or encouraging me in any way to share my love. This is purely my idea. However if they ever need a spokesperson to spread the gospel I am more than willing to preach.

Maybe this could become the new theme for my blog

Cute kitties! Cute kitties are happy and non-whiny!

Everybody loves cute kitties!

I am on a roll here people. This is now what could be considered several complaint free posts in a row.

Wonder how long I can keep this happy happy shit up?

Holy Crap!

As of last week I have been blogging for 5 years!

FIVE YEARS!

This is amazing to me. I didn't think this blog would last 5 months. Heck 5 weeks!

So uhhhh...go me!! Woo hoo!

To my five readers....thanks for hanging in there with me. Maybe someday my blogging will become more interesting and consistent like it was in the beginning.

A girl has gotta dream!

I Love NYC

Brooklyn Bridge! Brooklyn Bridge! Brooklyn Bridge!

Spontaneous solo mini-vacations to New York where you get to spend the day with one of your favorite people are a good thing. Happy! Non-Grumpy! Good memories! Good times! I wanna go back again tomorrow!

I only wish my friend was in the picture with me!

Some Days You Just Need Unicorns and Rainbows

So much better than more whining doncha think?

A post that likely is not worth reading

Our schedule continues to be ridiculous and is not likely to change anytime in the forseeable future.

So every time I try to post it winds up being a big long whine-fest about the panic attacks I have when I see our calendar with tinges of my fantasies about chucking that motherfrakker out the window. Who wants to read that?

Hell I don't even want to write it.

So I won't.

Here is me in a nutshell:
Grumble whine complain eat junk food ignore the treadmill feel guilty grump at someone out loud or in my head.

Rinse and Repeat.

I think maybe I will just post pictures of things I like until after Thanksgiving.

Think I can find one of a unicorn farting rainbows?

THAT would be happy and interesting at least.

Don't ask me 'bout the train

Let's just say the train is in the shop for maintenance this week shall we?

MMMkay.

I don't even know where to begin.

Have I mentioned yet that I don't always care for the beginning of the school year?

I bet that if you look back on the nearly 5(!) years I have been writing this blog at some point in mid-September to early October there is a post where I whine about how hectic the schedule is, and how I miss my house husband.

Well I ain't about to stop now.

I hate this time of the year.
I hate feeling like the wicked witch who does nothing but crack the "oh my God we have to hurry and get everything done and we have no time" whip.
I hate feeling like my only interactions with my children involve me reviewing the checklist to make sure everything is done.

I could list several more things I hate, but I am beginning to hate writing about things I hate.

Let's just say the past two weeks have been hectic, and adjusting to school and activities in full force life blows.

Hopefully my next post will have less grouch and more hooray.

Until then......

Pbbbbbffffffttttttt!

First week back on the train

Ok. So....first week back on the train. I exercised 6 out of 7 days. 5 out of those 6 I got in a whole hour of exercise. Win!

I started doing a 20 minute Pilates workout this weekend. Ow. Owie. Ow. But again...Win for toning!

Healthy eating...healthy eating you evil evil beeyotch.

I did GREAT all week. Then came Friday. Ohhh Friday. Then it was Saturday. Friday was going well until we made an unplanned trip to On the Border. I have no willpower when it comes to Mexican. N.O.N.E. Chips and Salsa are like crack on crack to me. I will continue to eat that shit even if I am stuffed so full of it chips and salsa are coming out of every orifice. Then I had a huge soda too. I can not and will not drink diet soda. Icky Poo. I did not order a soda. I started off with a large glass of water with lemon. However my fair city is currently having a water quality problem. In a nutshell our tapwater smells and tastes like dirt. Yes a lovely musty dirt. It is not palatable and apparently is not going away any time soon. At any rate after one swallow of the dirt water, it was soda for me.

So yeah. Saturday. Hmm..where shall I begin. Smoothies....while tasty, the pack fairly high wallop calorically speaking. Even the ones that are all fruit like I had. Big soft pretzel.....Jesus H. Christ on a popiscle stick. I may as well have eaten a cheeseburger. Those things are off the fraking chart! Then there was a party with pizza rolls, cheesy potatoes, tiny cheesecake, cheese, peanut m&ms. Oh all hell just broke lose. Not to mention the Cosmo, AND another coke consumed as an effort to avoid dirt water. Oy. Yeah....Saturday was a big ol' fail.

Weight. My scale can suck it. Seriously. Saturday morning, Hooray! I lost two pounds. Which apparently all came back today. Whatever. Geez I wasn't THAT bad and I exercised! For an hour Saturday and Sunday!

So this week's grade fo the Journey. Slightly above a Meh. Some definite positive strides made.

Now...I must torture my core.

Derailed

Friends, I have not discussed my "Journey to Better Health" for several months now.

There is a reason for that.

Not a terribly happy one either.

The reason is because my Journey has been derailed.

Big time.

Well....I guess it could be worse.

Exercise. This has not been too bad actually. I am usually putting in at least 30 minutes a day 5 days a week. Some weeks I have even managed an hour a day. I really need to shake up my exercise and get in toning. But at least I am exercising.

Eating. Ugh. Not taking much care at all with what I eat. I usually do great at breakfast and lunch. Snacks..ehh somewhat hit and miss. Dinner...bad. After dinner....still bad.

Once I lost my mojo at the beginning of the year, I have never gotten it back.

So the couple of pounds I gained back are now up to 7.

Yikes.

Somewhere somehow I have to get my mojo back. I worked too damn hard to let things go back to where they were.

So what am I to do.

To start off with I am going to review all those scary lab results that got me started on this in the first place. I have not had my labs re-done since I lost the weight. I wanted a full year to pass, and get back down to my goal weight before I had them re-done. Well...I am not getting there so I guess it is time to give myself an ultimatum. I am giving myself until Oct 1 to get back down to my goal weight. Whether I am there or not come Oct 1 I am calling the doctor and scheduling the lab work. If I have met the goal then we will see if all this paid off. If not...well either the news will be good, or bad and if it ain't good then maybe that will put me over the edge and get me back on track. Or it may mean I have to start taking medication for high cholesterol. I am not thrilled at all by that prospect, but am bracing myself. Genetics is not in my favor here.

The next thing that has to happen is a change in mindset. I seem to think that I must eat what my family eats and that sadly is all to often not good choices. I am going to have to let go of this idea and start eating what I know is good for me regardless of what they are doing. This got me through before. It was not without some serious grumpiness on my part at times,( I might have had visions of stabbing people with forks as I watched them shovel in cheese fries as I nibbled my salad.) but it did encourage BH at least to start being more healthy too. So hopefully the same will happen again.

I have to religiously track what I am eating. This was a huge help before. It gets on my nerves at times, but it worked great for me before.

Lastly I have to stop beating myself up and letting everything go to hell just because I made one bad choice. That thinking causes me a great deal of defeat.

7 pounds is a drop in the bucket compared to where I was almost a year and a half ago. So I know this is do-able.

I just have to start....

Now.

Time for a Change

I decided it was time for a new template. I think after a hundred or so years it is good to spruce things up a little don't you?

Not sure if this will be the final product, but it is a start.

Now on to other things.

Whew! It has been a VERY busy summer, filled with travel, trips to the pool, theatre camps, work, 20 year high school reunions and other assorted activities. Suffice it to say there was no slowing down at Chez Babble for the summer.

Despite the 95 degree temperatures, for all intents and purposes summer is o-v-e-r for us. School started this week.

#1 has started Middle School. If I could figure out a way for there to be dramatic music there I would add it in.

I am fairly certain that I am more anxious about this transition than she is. (ME?? Anxious!! Surely not!) I view that as a good thing.

#2 is now in the 4th grade. I am waiting to see how things will go for her. This year there are very few kids that she knows in her class. Her best friend is not in her class for the first time ever, AND big sis is not there this year . #s 1 and 2 are pretty tight with each other for the most part. I am sure it will all be fine, but in a couple of weeks once this has all soaked in for her, I won't be at all surprised to see some extra emotional stuff from good ol' #2. It takes a while for the full impact of a transition to hit her sometimes.

Me? I am as boring as ever. Still private practicing, still wishing to win the lottery so I can be a woman of leisure at home, but failing to buy a ticket nearly every week. I am currently coveting a Macbook. I don't see one in my near future however.

So what's up with you?

Vacations and HS Reunions and Enrolling Children in Middle School Oh My!

That title pretty much sums up all that has gone on since I last posted.

Details to follow.

Soonish.

Themeparkalooza Days one and two

I didn't quite make that goal of blogging every day of my vacation. But guess what? I am on vacation dammit so I will not blog if I want to!

I think I have decided that pictures will be waiting too. They take forever to upload and I haven't the patience after 8+ hours of sun, heat, humidity, crowds, waiting in line, and doing thrill rides. I'll upload pictures later.

So Day One. Last day at Cocoa Beach. #2 and I got up and had an early morning swim in the ocean. No porpoise today, but we had the beach virtually to ourselves AND we got to see the beach vacuum cleaner and a guy who had a way with the sea birds.

BH drug the two of us back to the hotel so that we could leave for Orlando and theme park one of THEMEPARKALOOZA 2010!

First up: Animal Kingdom!!

Not my favorite of the Disney Parks. It is kind of like a zoo on steroids and I am not that fond of zoos in general. I did get a lot of lovely animal photos. My girls however are hugemongous animal lovers, and this place was right up their alley. Did I mention that it was hot? And humid? Now being from Kansas I am no stranger to humidity, but Lord Baby Jeebus. I don't typically spend all day traipsing around in it. Sucks the life right out of you. Thank goodness for many air-conditioned attractions to help break up the heat. Thankfully most of the day was overcast too. Some favorites for me were the Finding Nemo show. It is done with puppets, but you see the puppeteers, as they fly the puppets on large sticks. It was quite the spectacle. I also enjoyed the 3-D movie, "It's Tough to be a Bug." Short but fun, and complete with smell, movement, and live action sorts of stuff. If you have the chance I would suggest you hit both of these attractions. Last time we were there about 6 years ago we saw the Lion King show. We opted out of it this time to do other things, but it was really good and worth a see too.

THEMEPARKALOOZA 2010 DAY 2! UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE!!

This was the first time any of us had visited Universal Studios. I would definitely go back. Our main objective was to of course see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. As everyone in our party with the exception of yours truly are HUGE Harry Potter fans. I have to say that it was pretty stinking cool. AND RIDICULOUSLY BUSY. There are only about 3 rides, and the rest is pretty much stores and the like. But you had to wait in crazy-ass lines to GET INTO STORES! Stores! People! That is 10-different kinds of ridunculousness. But the stores were cool and full of every imaginable Harry Potter item. I have never been part of crowds like that before it was crazy. I highly recommend it, but I also highly recommend that you either wait a couple of years, or go in the way off season. The rest of the park was about what you would expect crowd-wise in the summer. I thought the Dr. Seuss area was fun. It was geared towards smaller kids, but the design was amazing. Of course we spent a fair amount of time in the Marvel Comic area, and rode a 3-D Spiderman ride. I couldn't tell you much about it. Between the 3-D and the movement I had to close my eyes or hurl from dizziness. I chose to close my eyes. Those were the highlights of today. Weather was similar to yesterday only with SUN. I am pretty sure I have never sweat so much in my life. I may never get the smell of sweat, sunscreen, and BO out of my nostrils. If the sun is out tomorrow, I swear that I will be reporting about the best $20 I ever spent on a battery operated fan-spray bottle combination that is filled with and kept in ice water, it will have Disney characters on it!

Now I must rest. This theme-parking is tiring. Fun. But tiring. Oh yeah...

Sweaty.


After Animal Kingdom

Day 2. With Ibis! I think.And porpoise! But no proof of porpoise.

So! Day 2. Started off with Ibis after breakfast. I think they are Ibis. Anyone out there able to identify birds? We don't see these kinda birdies in the Midwest so it was exciting.


After the mystery to us birds it was off to Kennedy Space Center! We saw many cool spacey things. I think my favorites were the Hubble 3-D IMAX movie. Even if Leonardo DiCaprio's mellow voice and many dark shots at the end nearly lulled my slightly sleep deprived self to dreamland. I also found the Rocket Garden to be pretty cool.

After the space center it was to the Beach. Alas my precious beach time was cut short due to a thunderstorm. But if there hadn't been a thunderstorm, we wouldn't have gone exploring and found this little gem!

Eventually the rain moved off and it was back to the beach! Much frolicking in the waves. There were even two porpoise swimming nearby. Unfortunately I was not able to capture them on film. But it was very exciting!

Tomorrow we depart Cocoa Beach and head for Orlando, and Themeparkalooza 2010.

But not until after I get my toes in that ocean one more time. Think we have decided to come back to visit Cocoa Beach one more time before we depart Saturday. LOVE IT HERE.

I had to sit on my hands to keep myself from making ridiculous calls on real estate I saw available near the beach. But man would I love a beach house. Lottery where are you when I need you?

Vacation Day One does not need to suck it.

So fellow follower of Babble. I am on VACATION.
Logically one might think that meant an absence of blog posts.
I am not always one for the logical.
In fact my plan is to blog every day I am on vacation.
I am sure you ask why.
There are several reasons, however I will only bore you with the primary. As much as I would like to think that I am going to print photos and make some lovely scrapbook pages, the truth is that I likely won't do it. Unless I win the lottery and can quit my day job. What is real is that my free time is not going to be used in such pursuits no matter how cool I think it would be. I don't find it cool enough apparently to do anything about it.
This blog has really been my scrapbook. Neglected too often, but kept up better than anything else I have tried.

So! Vacation Day One!

This year the Babble Family is visiting Sunny Florida! Today was spent seeing a movie at my favorite theater in Olathe where they bring you food while you watch a movie. We saw Despicable Me. It was better than I expected. It was not our first choice, but as we had a plane to catch later in the afternoon it had the best show times for us.

After the movie it was time to head for the airport. We had a smooth and event free flight. My favorite kind.

Our first night is in Cocoa Beach. After a very LATE dinner at a fine dining establishment (Yes it was McDonald's. 9:30 dinner time calls for quick and desperate measures.) We then made our way to the beach and splashed a bit in the Atlantic by the (very pale) moonlight. It was heavenly. The water was perfect. I wish there had not been a band playing nearby to interfere with the ocean sounds, but other than that....Heavenly. I wish that I had been able to record my children. They were blissfully happy. It was beautiful to see.

I swear if I thought I could get away with it I would sleep on the beach tonight. I already feel like I can't soak enough of it in.

Tomorrow we will tour Kennedy Space Center and then spend the rest of the day at the beach. I plan to wear my swimsuit to the Space Center, and shall request to be dropped of at the beach on the way back. Don't want to waste a minute of precious precious ocean time.

Oh yeah, that band playing. As we walked up they were playing "Pretty Woman" which then segued into "Blister in the Sun." On the way back they were playing some Pink Floyd. Interesting I thought.

Pictures tomorrow. It is very late and I must not sleep the day away.