Saturday, January 31, 2009

2:47 am (I think)

I was sound asleep. Three-a was crying. I was trying to ignore it. I could hear her climbing up the stairs crying so I knew something was wrong. I didn't want to get up, but I am the MOMMY so I got up. Three-a was crying because she thought she heard an owl. I reassured her that it wasn't an owl and that even if it was, it wouldn't get her.


(In my sleepy state, I almost told her, it's probably not an owl, it's probably a coyote, but that could have backfired.)

She went back to sleep fairly easily. A couple of kisses from me with a nice tuck-in and she calmed down enough. I went back to sleep fairly easily too. Whew.

Friday, January 30, 2009

A stroke of genius

oNe really is NOT a morning person. Neither are we (her parents), so we sympathize. Both MWH and I remember how much we hated having our parents wake us in the morning. They seemed so perky. They would do things like pour cold water on us. It was AWFUL.

Suffice it to say, getting oNe up for school is not easy. I wait until 8:15 and drag her (literally) out of bed. I have her clothes waiting in the bathroom and I leave her downstairs to get dressed while I pop her frozen (organic, whole grain with flax) waffle in the toaster.

Lately, it's been harder to get her out of bed. I finally came up with something to motivate her. She DOES NOT want to buy hot lunch at school. I've been telling her, if you don't get up quickly, I won't have time to make your lunch and you'll have to buy hot lunch. She's been springing out of bed when I say that.

Why didn't I think of this motivational tactic sooner?

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Fun find

At T*arget.
On sale.
$2.48.


Will hold all I need for me on short trips.

Will clip to belt loops or other bags.

Yippee!

cool!

Amazon and the environment... working with manufacturers to have "frustration free" packaging!

(In honor of my goal for 2009, I am adding a "green" category here.)

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Bad technology day

Really. And I'm good with technology.... I probably shouldn't even be blogging.

Night for now.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A quote I hadn't seen before.

I got chills as I read this quote.


"I am not a teacher---only a fellow traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead---ahead of myself as well as of you."

--G.B. Shaw


Most teachers are scared to point students to materials, or ways of thinking, that they don't completely understand. But stretching to gain new understanding is one of the ways we continue to learn and grow, and people, even teachers, need to continue to learn and grow.

friend?

There's a person who is a "friend of a friend" in facebook.... I think he was in my graduating class from H.S. I think I liked him. I can't quite remember him though. I don't have any specific memories of him, but just that he was a "nice guy." I don't think I'll friend him.

Heh.

I think I should start a facebook category.

Pet Tarantula

Go here to see our newest friend.

It's the only way I'd get a pet tarantula.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Zow-y

I had a headache yesterday. I was worried I was going to get an aura and have a migraine, but fortunately, that didn't happen.

I was supposed to get a pedicure yesterday, but I was really worried that all the fumes would send my head over the edge, so I didn't go... My lovely friends understood and we'll go next week. (I'm good anytime after 11 on Saturday. Later in the afternoon or closer to 11 is better... Any preferences PS or Zaz?)

I took a nap and then MWH got me "Excedrin Migraine." The astute headache medicine taker will note that Excedrin Migraine is exactly the same as Extra Strength Excedrin.

See for more about why this might be the case (copied and pasted below in case the link goes away).

5. Predictably Irrational
By Dan Ariely
HarperCollins, 2008

Dan Ariely is a mischievous scientist: He delights in duping business students, getting them to make decisions that, in retrospect, seem utterly ridiculous. In "Predictably Irrational," an engaging summary of his research, Ariely explains why brand-name aspirin is more effective than generic aspirin even when people are given the same pill under different labels (paying more produces the expectation of better results, and the headache complies), and why the promise of getting something without paying for it -- such as free shipping, or a free T-shirt if we buy two other shirts -- prompts shoppers to spend more money than they would have in the absence of the offer. (In other words, we go broke trying to save a buck.) In one of his most famous experiments, Ariely showed how exposing people to a few random digits can later dramatically influence how much they bid for wine: Higher numbers lead to higher bids. The lesson, Ariely says, is that the rational brain is a feeble piece of machinery.


My head responded though. I think it was the 65 mg of caffeine and not the label. After the Excedrin, my head felt mostly better and I felt very awake!

Today, my head feels pretty good and I'm going to try to keep it that way.

MWH let me sleep in this morning. I got up at 9:40!

Now the little girls are running around and making lots of noise and I'm not flinching with pain. Life is good.

Friday, January 23, 2009

5 for Friday

1. Dinner last night with the other Moms was fun. However, I don't watch TV (or at least not current shows), I don't drink, and I like to talk about Zumba a great deal. I am sure people think I am boring. I am okay with that.

2. Dental cleaning today. The hygienist oooohed and aaaahed over how clean my teeth were and how healthy my gums looked. I'll keep up the electric toothbrush. I believe she gave me a gold star.

3. My students from last semester are amazing. More on that later.

4. I took a hip-hop class tonight at the Y. It was pretty fun, and I'll probably do it again, but it wasn't a great work out. It's a dance class, and sometimes dance classes are good workouts (usually ballet ones! and usually not INTRO/beginner classes). This is sort of basic/intro-y. It's good because I haven't danced hip-hop before, but I don't think I can really count it as a work out.

5. We celebrated oNe's birthday at school today. I didn't forget.... I could have done more, but I did goody-bags and pizza. I didn't bring candles or cake. I forgot drinks... It's okay. She was thrilled.

(and a bonus one) I love Netflix on demand! You can watch a lot of stuff right on your computer INSTANTLY. We <3 Neflix.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Can't forget

Can't forget a dinner tonight with some new friends. (These are 3 other Moms from oNe's class.) I am excited, but worried I won't remember because I am SO STRESSED AND OVERWHELMED.

I am excited because our cabinets are about done.

Tomorrow, we are taking treats to oNe's school and I need to 1) get goody bags, and 2) figure out where to order the pizza so that we can have it there in time.

I have a funny update on oNe's tooth, but am too tired and overwhelmed to write it.

More soon.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Muchly random

I was really happy yesterday... 1) our new president and 2) Zumba was good and got the endorphins going.

Now I'm sitting here and the endorphins are slowly leaving.

I got to watch the inauguration with oNe's class.

Yea, others have said it, but it IS really exciting that the little girls get a non-oldwhiteguy as a president.




oNe lost a tooth and the tooth fairy forgot to come. YIKES. We are BAD parents. The issue was that the little girls weren't going to sleep, and by the time things had settled down, we were exhausted. MWH had been the tooth fairy all the other times for oNe, so I wasn't thinking about it. He'd gotten sucked into thinking about work...

oNe was upset when she woke up, and I told her I'd call the tooth fairy to find out what happened. After MWH and I spoke, I realized it made sense to tell her that they didn't fall asleep quickly enough, the tooth fairy had tried to come, but they weren't asleep, and she had a really busy schedule.

It's bad we forgot, but I think we covered the forgetting okay. When oNe woke up, she thought the tooth fairy didn't love her, but when we explained the tooth fairy had tried, and that she couldn't come because the sisters weren't asleep, then the reason was a consequence of an action she (and her sisters) had done and that it wasn't just pure neglect.

I did/do feel a little, um, weird telling /having told this lie. Here I am reinforcing the fantasy and telling her big fat lies to cover up for MWH and I being tired and mere mortal parents. oNe likes the fantasy of the tooth fairy though, so it's a white-lie. It's okay, right?




I found a company I find interesting. Interesting in the sense it would be fun to work for them, but they are a start-up company and would expect CRAZY things from their employees. I can't think about them any more.




I get to start working with oNe's class doing "dance." I'll be doing a combination of many forms of dance: aerobics, zumba, hip-hop, and jazz. I taught dance to little kids when I was younger, but it was a small class (about 5 kids). It was fun. I'm very interested in health and exercise. I don't like sports, but I do like fitness and dance. (I am VERY BAD at sports. Maybe even VERY-VERY-VERY BAD at sports. Now the word very looks funny to me.)

Monday, January 19, 2009

A series of un-twitters about my emotional and physical state

I am sleepy.

I know I am stressed.

I am reading this.

I really need to take a yoga class.

I do prefer vigorous exercise.

I am physically uncomfortable because of my stress today. My head is pounding...not like a headache, but I can just feel the stress.

I'm cutting back on caffeine, but I don't think the way I am feeling is because of less caffeine... It's been about two weeks since I started cutting back. I did a LOT less caffeine when I was at my Dad's funeral. When I got home I started making my coffee at home with 2 scoops regular and one scoop decaf instead of 3 scoops regular. (Okay, this isn't an un-twitter.)

I am sleeeeeeeeeeepppppy....

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Once a week.

I am doing my once a week iPhone post for texting practice. The goal is to get faster and more accurate. Also, I kind of hate texting so the other goal is to get over that.

MWH is vacuuming. He is good! He bought me laundry detergent too.

Today was low-key. We hung, I did a little work, and we went to the park. The girls are currently playing in the bathtub. Just FYI, we don't use baby shampoo anymore. Three-a graduated to big-girl stuff a
while ago.

The auto-spell / correct function is okay on the iPhone.

Hrm. I can't seem to think with my thumbs. Texting a long thing also makes me feel nauseous. I wouldn't make a good 15-year-old. I will end this now.


Sent from my iPhone

Saturday, January 17, 2009

ow

I'm walking around saying "ow" a lot today. I took a "core strength class" yesterday. I am sore EVERYWHERE, not just in my core. We did so many triceps. My hamstrings are sore. My abs are sore. My pecs are so sore. My calves.... Yup. It's good though. I like this good sore feeling...

However, OW could stand for overwhelmed. I realized that we were almost out of laundry detergent and I almost cried.

Ow could also be what I said when I had a migraine yesterday. Apparently I get Acephalgic Migraines which means I have an Aura, but not a severe headache. However, yesterday was special. My head hurt quite a bit after the aura. And I felt slightly nauseous! I had two ibuprofen and two acetaminophen and was in pain for about 3 hours... Not horrible pain, but enough. AND, bonus! I was totally depressed. Apparently depression is one of the symptoms of migraines! Fun!

I'll tell you more about the overwhelmed feelings the migraine caused later. I even wrote a play-by-play of the aura that I might share later. Did you know that auras are usually exactly the same? I learned that yesterday as I googled about auras and migraines.

I think stress is what caused the migraine, but my migraines could be related to dehydration and stress combined. Then there's the numbness I have, and I'm sure that's related to my tendency to Acephagic Migraines....

Okay... Enough on this cheery subject. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.

electric

Way back, probably when I was pregnant with twoK, I stopped using my electric toothbrush because I was scared it was germy. Nevermind that it removed a lot of gunk from my teeth, I was convinced the toothbrush was UNSANITARY and would somehow hurt twoK.

You can't expect logic in a hormonal woman.

Recently, I started using the toothbrush and I figured out why I thought it was germy, and how to fix the problem. I just take off the top of the toothbrush (the head) and rinse the base and the head separately and then let the head sit off at night to dry completely.

My teeth feel so clean it's ridiculous! I'm supposed to get them cleaned by the dentist/hygienist in a week, but I don't know what they are going to clean. There's NOTHING on my teeth.

Woo! All hail the electric toothbrush.

Friday, January 16, 2009

timely

On Wednesday, I went to my annual doctor's visit. I have to go get a mammogram in honor of my upcoming birthday. I have to remember to do it because it is important screening. I wish Dad would have gone to the doctor more. I will do the mammogram for my girls.

I also need to get a fasting blood draw to check cholesterol and glucose... I had a slip for this blood work last year and I FAILED to go to the lab in more than one year. I kind of suck for that. I am my Dad's daughter in many ways.

Today, my blood pressure was 122/74, not bad considering the last week of stress, and my weight was 8 pounds less than it was when I went to the doctor in November, 2007. According to the doctor, I'm only 10-11 pounds more than the weight on my driver's license (a weight I was back in high school). This is pretty amazing considering I haven't been this close to that weight since my wedding. (I didn't try to lose weight before the wedding, but it happened because I stop eating when I get busy and stressed ... even good stress gets to me this way. I think I might have been within 8 pounds of my driver's license weight before the wedding.)

What else... Oh, just to have it in the same place, my doctor has down that I lost 7 pounds in the year of 2006-2007. If you add it up, I've lost 15 pounds in two years. Boy, I am the world's slowest loser of weight, but remember, I do NOT diet. I love to eat, and I eat lot, but I do exercise a lot too.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Science!

oNe's school is having a science fair. I am so excited. This is one of the things I have been looking forward to in my career as parent.

Yes, please file this under geeky!

More (RM)

I am sad that Ricardo Montalban has died. He was a couple of months older than Dad. No one gets out of death it seems. One of my favorite (in a macabre sort of way) sayings is "Life is fatal with no known cure." Cheers you right up, eh?

I'm not doing as bad as it sounds. I am doing not well, but not as bad as this post leads one to believe. I am heading to Zumba soon. My Dad always said, "Life is for the living."

Everyone should celebrate...

oNe's birthday occurred a few days before the funeral and oNe told EVERYONE she saw that it was her birthday. It was really cute. The guys who delivered flowers to my Mom's house learned that it was her birthday, as well as all of the people she saw over the next few days. Heh.

On the day of the funeral, I didn't want the day to end because everyone was remembering and celebrating Dad's life. I wanted that to go on always. I don't want people to forget him. I want people to remember his love of life and his love of people.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

missing

My Mom is missing my Dad. No surprise. On "the other blog" I'll post about their life together. I'll post video and pictures and a story. I'm not going to write much about Dad here. I'll probably write about about my feelings here, but not so much about Dad the person. I will document that he was a great guy. He touched many people's lives. It was good to see how much at the funeral. I will miss him.

I am somewhat sorry I missed seeing him alive one more time. Back in November, I said "goodbye" and I kind of thought it might be "goodbye forever." I hoped it wouldn't, but the disease was working fast in my Dad. When I got back from visiting him I was very sad and worried. I am glad he had so much time with Mom. I am glad he made it to Christmas. I am feeling guilty that I didn't go back and see him right after the beginning of the year.

I obviously can't do anything about not having gone to see him now. And I think I feel so much guilt because I waffle between being very sad that I missed seeing him again and somewhat okay with not having seen him again. The reason I didn't want to go back was simple, I didn't like seeing Dad "dying." It was really hard.

I don't know how my Mom did it. She was there every day. She's a strong woman. It was so hard for me because Dad was always so strong. Dad was never sick. Literally. I honestly can't remember a time in my childhood when he was sick. He'd get a cold sometimes but he never took any time off of work. He never had anything worse than a cold.

While he was sick, he lost about 40-50 pounds in 4 months. All of his life, he was overweight. He had loved eating and food. Seeing him so thin and not being able to eat was hard. It was also especially hard watching him not be able to walk and seeing him get so frustrated.



A friend's father died in the shower and she was the one who found him. She said, "A daughter should never have to see her father like that." I agree, and I know she felt horrible pain finding him that way, but I also think a daughter should never have to see her father waste away and go from being the most competent, independent man to someone who can't get out of bed.

Okay... Enough for now. I am very sad. I am tired of grief. We had so much grief when my friend died last year, and now we get to do it again. I'll write about other things too, no worries. The girls are endlessly entertaining.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

incommunicado

I haven't felt like posting. My Dad died on Wednesday morning (wee hours so it seemed more like Tuesday night). I wasn't with him. I wish I could have been. I had toyed around with the idea of going back to visit on Tuesday, but didn't because it was the week of oNe's birthday. I figured we had more time, maybe just a few weeks, but we didn't.

I wish I could have spent more time with him, in general, but when a person doesn't live the same place as the rest of the family, it just isn't possible.

Really not much to say at the moment. I'll post at some point.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Not quite the same

I just read the twitter posts of Macworld to get the info from the keynote. This is an example of how technology is NOT the same as being there. Cool stuff, but reading on twitter didn't do it for me. I will go find the real video of the commercial about the "green" new battery ... Hey, maybe I need a NEW Powerbook to be more green this year! (See goals post. Heh.)

My first













You never forget your first.

The only problem, I can't remember when I got it. It was a Powerbook 160. I got it in grad school. The wikipedia says it was introduced in October of 1992, so I got it sometime after that. I thought I got it in the fall, but I can't believe I didn't get it until my 3rd year of grad school. I thought I got it in the fall of the second year (fall 1992), but apparently not, since it didn't come out until the middle of the fall. I must have gotten it either in the spring or summer of '93. Hrm. I can't remember. I am embarrassed.


I used that little machine through 1996-97. I am sad, it won't boot any more. (I just found it in a box and thought I'd try it.)

I got my second Powerbook (a 190) (I wouldn't have chosen the 190, but it was a free computer so, what can you do?) I got my 3rd Powerbook (Wallstreet) sometime in 1999 I believe. I could probably dig back through old email and determine when exactly, but not tonight.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Goals for 2009

I think I covered everything below... The whole year is mapped out below. Heh.

1. Continue to work on a healthy diet and learn more about vitamins and nutrition. One trick I'm learning is to make sure I eat the good stuff before I eat the "extra" less good stuff. When I do this, I often am not hungry for the empty calories. I do this with the girls and it works with them. Why didn't I think of trying this for myself sooner?

2. Hang more pictures on the wall and just get more organized (e.g., loft and our bedroom)... (Maybe start to figure out new furniture for our bedroom--don't panic MWH!.)

3. Try to not get stressed out at work. Figure out how to have fun at work again. The first 5 years I worked where I work were THE BEST ever. I guess that the next 6 needed to be hard and not so much fun to make up for the first five. (You know, balance and all.) When I teach again, try not to get stressed out by it. I am getting better at it (because of experience) so I will make it a goal to have a little more fun with it and not let it consume me quite as much.

(Actually part of the reason the last 6 were so hard was because of W. Seriously. He took away a lot of funding for innovative projects in the field where I work. It is very sad.)

4. Workout-wise, I'd like to add more strength and flexibility training. Adding a yoga class would be super good for me.... or, just taking some classes (to get the basics) and then finding a good video. I'd love to add in a ballet class, but I know it will be really painful. (I used to dance and it is much harder than working out....) The last few nights I've made myself stretch for a few minutes before bed. Maybe I can get into a routine and stretch at night....(or find a yoga class). I need to make myself do weights after my aerobics and zumba classes ... Maybe I can start with 10-15 minutes after T/Th class and work up from there?

As a related point to this goal....I don't know whether I want to get certified to teach Zumba or not. I can't decide. This sounds so wimpy, but my numbness is limiting me and bringing me down. I am so tired after a class. It's not like I'm not in good shape tired, it's my numbness tired. I can feel it in my head and in my body. My body feels a little less connected to my brain as it recovers, my head feels really fuzzy, my hands are more numb, and I get tingling in my legs. It goes away and I think it's just because I get so warm when I work out, but it's a problem. I know I can't push it as hard as I want to push it. Maybe I'll get in better shape, and not notice so much, but I don't know. Maybe I just felt it more (last Friday) because I hadn't worked out that much over break.... I'll give it a couple more months, do a little more reading about the problem, and think about what I should do.

5. Work on being more green. (Yea, I use re-usable shopping bags, SIGG bottles (so I don't have to use plastic water bottles), a re-usable coffee cup, and do some other things (I should do a post about this) but I know I can do more. I need to think more about this. If you've made decisions about how to be more "green" what are they? Please post a comment if you have ideas!

(MWH tells me he can't believe with how "green" I am that I forget to turn off the lights all the time... I am embarrassed about this... Sigh. We have lights on timers and on motion detectors, so that helps, but still I should be more responsible--especially where we don't have times/detectors!)

6. Spend more time reading with the girls. MWH usually does bedtime reading. If I pick a chapter book and read with the older two during the day (like HP) (or some of the fun ones we've gotten for Christmas) it will be good.

7. This is a tough one... Spend less time just goofing around online. I can still be online a lot, and I will, but I think, especially when I'm not teaching, that I need to limit myself here and do more #6 and being silly with the girls. I want to read more too (more fun, novel-type books. I read lots online and I learn lots online, so that kind of being online is okay, but sometimes I find that I've spent 1/2 hour looking at pictures in Facebook of someone I don't even KNOW when they were at a party. That seems a little, ummm, unnecessary to me...) (Does this happen to anyone else?)

8. Send in more blog posts from my iPhone. I need to get better at texting on it. I figure the only way I will is to practice. If I make myself send in one post a week from the iPhone, it ought to help to post a blog entry once a week from the phone.

9. Spend more time with friends and family!

10. Keep learning! (I want to read a lot more about brain research, exercise and aging.)

11. Spend more time hangin' with MWH. When we do get to hang, we laugh a lot. Sometimes, when the girls are around, they don't know why we're laughing, but they start to laugh anyway. I love it.



Okay... I ended up with more goals than last year. Oops. I don't think I've set up anything too unreasonable, but now is an appropriate time to say, Good Luck with all that!

Sunday, January 04, 2009

concepts

Harry Potter has some new concepts for the girls...

Good versus evil....

Good, bad, evil...That there can be some things that are a better kind of bad and some things that are worse kind of bad. That not everything is just all good and not everything is all bad.

It's fun reading HP so far and discussing it with the girls. Three-a is NOT interested in HP at all. She'll sit for about 2 minutes and then she goes off to play. twoK seems more interested in it than oNe.

Questions

oNe asked why Dora and Diego wear the same clothes everyday. Heh.

She also just asked about the shirt I am wearing .... why is it so big... (In the winter I often sleep in an old maternity shirt that is long sleeve and now, it is so big the neck falls off my shoulders a lot.) (Yea, I know, I should probably get some new PJs, but this shirt is soft and comfy.) I explained to her that it was a shirt I wore when she was in my belly and she thought that was really cool.

She then asked how much it hurt when you have a baby. Once, in the past, I scared her by telling her it hurt a lot, so this time I said, well, I can't actually remember how much it hurts because it does hurt, but you forget right away that it hurts.... She said, "Oh, like getting a band aid pulled off.... It hurts and then you forget." Yep, exactly like that oNe, except it hurts a lot more. (I didn't say that part.)

Forgot

I forgot that Three-a put herself to bed last night. She was
tired from swimming.

Sent from my iPhone

Saturday, January 03, 2009

1/3/09

Again, a series of un-twitters

Just practicing writing the date correctly so I'll get used to the 9.

This year is a BIG birthday for me. I think I'm okay with it, but I think getting a Wii would make it easier to take!

Suddenly, I'm all "consumer-y" and I want a Wii, new shoes for Zumba, lots of books, Dance Dance Revolution (for the Wii), and other stuff...

Today, we took the girls swimming. It was fun, but a little cold at the indoor pool.

Love reading HP with the girls!

Review of 2008 Goals

Wow...Last year, I had a LOT of goals. I'll update below. Note, I organized in categories last year, so it's not too hard to read. I'll place last year's goals in small font and the status update in regular-sized font.

All the goals look a little overwhelming in one place, but really, it wasn't that bad. I come back and look at my lists and goals during the year and check in on myself during the year, but I only do a "formal review" once a year .... It took me a few days to go through and write all this. Feel free to skip this post... It's for me, and it's one of the reasons I have a blog. The goals for 2009 will appear in another post.



Foodwise...

1. Now that we're eating a lot more whole grains, I plan to get us to eat more fruit and vegetables and even fewer processed foods. We eat a pretty darn healthy diet, but there is always room for improvement.

1b. I'm working on eating less ice cream. I eat a pint of ice cream most nights. That's not very healthy. But actually, in the last month, I have been a lot better. I think I've only eaten 5 or 6 pints total (in the whole month). I'm working on switching to eating oatmeal, cereal, or something like that if I'm hungry before bed.


We're eating a lot more grains. We're eating a lot more fruit and veggies. I'll have a post about Acai soon. I probably only ate less than 10 pints of ice cream TOTAL last year. And no whole pints... I gave it up and I don't really miss it. We have gone out for ice cream some.... I don't know, maybe I have eaten a little more, I don't know. I go weeks without any types of sweets (besides fruit) now. I just don't miss it. Sometimes, the taste of sweet things makes me feel ill. (Yea, I know, you all hate me, but I just don't miss the processed food/sweet.)


Workout-wise
2. Work out more often and do more physical activities with the girls. I just realized I should let the girls see me work out and get them to play along. It's part of modeling a healthy life-style. I plan to do workout tapes with them around.

MWH just bought me some weights... 12 pounders... I am remember when I went up to 9 pounders... I think it will be fairly easy to do 5-10 minutes of arm work most days/nights. That will be good for me.

My goal by the end of the year is to do 3 heavy workouts a week and 1-2 light ones. If I can't manage 3 heavy ones, then for sure 2 good ones and 3-4 light ones. I do sit-ups most every day now and push-ups too. (I just need to keep that up.)



I am doing about 4 heavy work outs a week and sometimes 5! I have just started doing more videos at home (Zumba!) and I plan to start helping with PE at oNe's school (more on that soon). I think I"ll be modeling lots of healthy life-style stuff there.

My 12 pound weights... From April - July I was using them a lot. Then I discovered Zumba.... I sort of stopped doing as many weights when I learned about Zumba. I <3 Zumba. I have managed to gain some strength though. I can do 17 BOY push ups now and last year at the beginning of the year it was only 10.

Sit-ups... Zumba is an hour of core while dancing. Seriously. I should do sit-ups on my exercise ball. I do sit-ups in my aerobics class.


Work-wise
3. Determine how I can work "in one direction" rather than 10 (or even 5). I'm really not good at this, but I need to learn how to do this. I need to learn to say NO and I need to learn to let go of some of my interests... At least for a while. I need to let myself go hourly at work for a while (if necessary). I need to not let myself stress about being hourly. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

When my supervisor left where I work, I made the decision to teach this fall and work very little at the place where I work. It was good. I am now ready to go back and work in one direction on one project. I may take on one other thing, but right now, I am feeling recharged and refreshed. We'll see how long that lasts when I go back to work on a regular basis.


Fun-wise
4. Hang with friends more often. Last year, I think we had 2 or 3 dinners at our house... Probably 3 or 4 afternoon play dates... I'd like to do more things social.

I think we were a little better this year, but not a lot. When my Dad got sick, it kind of changed a lot this fall.


5. Hang with MWH more often! We used to occasionally get an afternoon date. This last year, we didn't get very much time to ouselves, but hopefully this coming year we can get an afternoon once a month or so.


We did a little in this category. I'm not sure if we managed once a month, but we did manage a few times. I think it was better this fall--except I was pretty busy with teaching and going to see my Dad. I even managed to meet MWH for lunch at least a couple of times this year (alone). Here's hoping we'll be able to continue! We managed to get a night away (n3nny was with the girls) for the first time in 6.5 years for our 10th anniversary. That was fun.


House-wise
6. Start in on organizing the loft. The loft is supposed to be our office. We need to start unpacking boxes, get shelves, and figure out what to do up there. It's a nice space. We need to use it.


We JUST got some of the books on the bookshelves YESTERDAY. Since I only said "start in" I'm in good shape on this goal! This year I'll continue! A big thanks to MWH for painting the shelves. A big thanks to oNe for helping me start! Another big thanks to MWH for making a second pass on organizing his books and giving me more shelf space and now, today oNe and I get to do more.



7. We need to get new light fixtures (for the entryway, the living room, the loft).

Check. (I actually can't take any credit on this one... MWH did an amazing job! He is so good!) (I guess I helped pick out light fixtures... but he did the rest on organizing and making sure it happened. I love MWH.)

8. Get the backyard ready for the girls and landscaped.

Um.... we JUST started in on the planning phase. I'll keep you posted.


9. Hang more pictures on the walls.


I failed miserably, but the girls hung a lot of art on the walls!


10. Get a new front door.


Check! (Again, thanks to MWH!)

Summary
Not bad.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Whew

This morning, I got up and went to Zumba at 9 am. I am NOT a morning person. I moved more at 9 am today than I usually move in a month (or two) at 9 am.

Now, MWH is at work. We had some other "morning fun" NOT... I'll tell you about it later. Maybe in a year or so. Seriously. I'm a tease, eh? No need to be concerned, the "fun" has nothing to do with any one in my family or my friends. It's a crazy, unrelated person. Good times. (If you know me, you'll hear about it in person, I'm quite sure.)

I'm really exhausted from the work out. Now I feel like I've been beaten up and I lost. I feel wimpy because it was only an hour and 15 minutes of class. Granted, it was 1) way earlier than usual, 2) a lot hotter than usual in the room (and we all know what heat does to me, 3) the second day in a row, and 4) taught by a former professional dancer and professional athlete. I should NOT feel wimpy, but I do. Sigh.




Okay, moving on... oNe and twoK begged me to read them some Harry Potter this morning. Fun!




We might go to Tar*get to buy some ornaments on sale.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

My friend got this...

and I want one!

HP #1

My favorite moment today lasted about 30 minutes when I read the first chapter of Harry Potter to oNe and twoK. Super fun. I had to EXPLAIN a lot of things to them along the way, but that's good. It's how they learn.

I had been looking forward to reading this book with them. I think it would be a little better if they were a little older, but it will take us a while to get through this one and then I'll wait until next year to start in on #2. Ooooohhhh... maybe I can make it a New Year tradition to start a Harry Potter on 1/1. (Maybe I can just re-read #1 to them next year. We'll see.)

More about this...

One year ago today, I found things I hadn't worn forever and they fit! Woo!

I wore the Eileen Fisher skirt, but not the sweater, it was too hot to wear the sweater. This year, I found another sweater that fits now and I wore it... It didn't fit last year.

The blue dress that I loved.... By summer, it did fit. I planned to wear it to a wedding and then, when I put it on to try it on before the wedding, I noticed it had a moth hole in it. I was so bummed. Sigh. I am giving it away. Maybe someone can fix it, or make something else with it. It was a beautiful dress.

I never wore the brown skirt because I didn't have a top that went with it, but now I do! All I need now are shoes that work... hrm.... shoe shopping anyone?