It is officially a new year, which means the workout centers are absolutely overloaded.
Renewed focus on health and weight loss kind of grosses me out.
I find myself surrounded by people that are not quite what I expect at a place where you have to pay to attend. As I was working out, I noticed a number of non-athletes, like myself, who have a tendency to wear old college t-shirts and other misshapen items from the bottom drawer of the dresser. For the most part, that is acceptable to me. And then I see Grandpa Elmo. He is a grandpa, for sure, adorned in an enormous red shirt with Elmo's face on it. He has red shorts, too. And a red bandanna, Bret Michaels style, on his head. I do not know if his grandchild dressed him, but I suppose that could happen. Then, there is the man that likes to do lunges on the stairs while I train. When he groaning penetrates the sound from my ear buds, I have to notice that he is contorting himself in a quite unhealthy way. And then there is the guy who like to walk on the treadmill, steeply inclined, but he does it backwards while tossing around a yo-yo.
And these are just a few of the examples I remember during my work out.
As I leave, I find the sweatiest man ever. Sitting on upholstered furniture. Reading a magazine. There is not a dry spot on him. Anywhere. Even the top of his head is wet. And it is not raining. And I notice beside him is his towel. Which he has neglected to use. Anywhere. Anywhere on his body.
It is for this reason that I am glad we will be having the snow-pocalypse of the century and I will be unable to go work out. I need some space from these people, especially the sweaty one. And I will never sit down on any furniture there. Ever.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
An Ideal Husband
Roxy is postulating about her ideal husband. Lately, she wants to make a lot of decisions about her future and this is apparently one of those important decisions.
She is eight, by the way.
Right now, she thinks her husband should be tall with dark hair. He should wear contacts, too. And he should be sporty, because she does not want someone who is fat.
Roxy is considering what her husband should do. She thinks it is okay if he is a good preacher, but she is not too sure she wants to be married to a preacher. She thinks it would be great if he could fix things, but then he would be fat.
It is at this point in the conversation that we, the parents, get confused. What's wrong with being married to a preacher? And what is this fixation with fat men? And how come a preacher can't fix things around the house? I sometimes have the same question in my head, but let's not dwell on that last one...
So all you eight year old little men out there - Roxy's sizing up her prospects. I certainly hope you have visual impairments, a prominent stature, and that none of you are fat :)
She is eight, by the way.
Right now, she thinks her husband should be tall with dark hair. He should wear contacts, too. And he should be sporty, because she does not want someone who is fat.
Roxy is considering what her husband should do. She thinks it is okay if he is a good preacher, but she is not too sure she wants to be married to a preacher. She thinks it would be great if he could fix things, but then he would be fat.
It is at this point in the conversation that we, the parents, get confused. What's wrong with being married to a preacher? And what is this fixation with fat men? And how come a preacher can't fix things around the house? I sometimes have the same question in my head, but let's not dwell on that last one...
So all you eight year old little men out there - Roxy's sizing up her prospects. I certainly hope you have visual impairments, a prominent stature, and that none of you are fat :)
Monday, January 3, 2011
..and Now a Word From Roxy...
Roxy is my planner. She is up, always up, on all the details. She cleans her room on Saturday night, knowing I may let her bring a friend home from church and she wants to show she is prepared. She remembers everything, it seems. She remembered the leftover candy from the gingerbread house built on the last day of school 2010, and that bag is sitting in her school desk and she cannot wait to get it. And she has got the week planned out, right down to the number of times she needs to practice basketball before her first game.
Roxy just kind of rocks that way - and I love it.
Roxy is also becoming a planner of her future. Over the Christmas break, she has been very thoughtful about some very specific details of her life: what kind of man she should marry, when she should get married, what color hair he should have, what he should do for his hobbies and his career, what kind of car she will drive, what kind of car she will drive when she has children, what kind of job she will have, what kind of kids she will have, etc. You get the gist of this, don't you?
And she thinks about all of these things in her spare time. More precisely, she thinks about these things during commercial breaks.
Roxy plans how she will spend her time during her favorite TV shows. She is always doing something - drawing, coloring, pretending to be a dog, playing with stuffed animals, building a blanket fort - during the show, then she thinks during the commercials.
Scott and I are fascinated with her priorities, with her planning skills, and with her purposeful use of commercial breaks.
Tune in next time to hear about how she sizes up men, which she thought about during an Adventure time! commercial break...
Roxy just kind of rocks that way - and I love it.
Roxy is also becoming a planner of her future. Over the Christmas break, she has been very thoughtful about some very specific details of her life: what kind of man she should marry, when she should get married, what color hair he should have, what he should do for his hobbies and his career, what kind of car she will drive, what kind of car she will drive when she has children, what kind of job she will have, what kind of kids she will have, etc. You get the gist of this, don't you?
And she thinks about all of these things in her spare time. More precisely, she thinks about these things during commercial breaks.
Roxy plans how she will spend her time during her favorite TV shows. She is always doing something - drawing, coloring, pretending to be a dog, playing with stuffed animals, building a blanket fort - during the show, then she thinks during the commercials.
Scott and I are fascinated with her priorities, with her planning skills, and with her purposeful use of commercial breaks.
Tune in next time to hear about how she sizes up men, which she thought about during an Adventure time! commercial break...
Monday, December 13, 2010
Music to My Ears
To all you mothers out there: you must share my joy. I have been feeling it recently. In the past few days I have experienced some moments of "mom euphoria". This happens when something you have been trying to teach, or something you only dreamed would happen, actually does happen. In these mom-phoria moments, you must immediately post it to your blog and share with the world.
Mom-phoria #1: I have a child that can properly AND correctly wrap Christmas presents. AND all said presents are under the tree WITH HAND TIED BOWS ON THEM. No gift has excessive tape either. Hospital corners on every box.
I must pause because I have teared up a little.
Mom-phoria #2: captured on digital image today:
This child is cleaning her room AND VACUUMING without being told to do this task.
Someone is going to have to do CPR on Scott after he sees this one. I guess that will be me :)
I did not think I could be any prouder of either of my girls, but yet again, I am wrong.
Parenting has its privileges, and I have two of them.
I must remember these mom-phoria moments before it is time for them to do the dishes or fuss about their homework.
Mom-phoria #1: I have a child that can properly AND correctly wrap Christmas presents. AND all said presents are under the tree WITH HAND TIED BOWS ON THEM. No gift has excessive tape either. Hospital corners on every box.
I must pause because I have teared up a little.
Mom-phoria #2: captured on digital image today:
Someone is going to have to do CPR on Scott after he sees this one. I guess that will be me :)
I did not think I could be any prouder of either of my girls, but yet again, I am wrong.
Parenting has its privileges, and I have two of them.
I must remember these mom-phoria moments before it is time for them to do the dishes or fuss about their homework.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Nested
Something kind of remarkable happened today.
I was at home - alone - and I felt relaxed.
Shocker!
The past several months have been a seemingly endless barrage of responsibilities/events that have been a burden on this poor gal. As I was contemplating my every-other-day trip to the grocery store where I prepare yet another dish for some responsibility/event, I realized that today was my only moment of peace this weekend. The revolving door of guest entertaining/church obligations/ work obligations/ necessary service events/ school obligations has left me feeling quite spent. Overwhelmed. Numb.
But today, for a couple of hours, I got to poke around in the basement, looking for Christmas ribbons. There was no schedule pressing me for those few hours. No preparations for me to make - for those few hours. No decisions other than matching either the hounds tooth ribbon or the plaid wired ribbon with the green wrapping paper. I did not have to decorate a classroom, a dining table, a craft project for church. Nothing. Nada.
I even skipped my workout today, because the obligation of getting to the Y felt like another scheduled burden.
Needless to say, my day of silence was over almost as soon as it began. But it felt great. And I went to the grocery store for the third time this week with a smile on my face because I felt lighter because of it.
Tomorrow, it will be back to the usual routine. Meetings have been arranged, plans have been made, calories will be consumed in the course of all of this. I will lose my nested feeling, I know, but now there are beautiful presents under my tree and my daughters are giddy with anticipation. And when more guests arrive, as they always do, I will smile thinking about my next day of nesting. Whenever that will be...
I was at home - alone - and I felt relaxed.
Shocker!
The past several months have been a seemingly endless barrage of responsibilities/events that have been a burden on this poor gal. As I was contemplating my every-other-day trip to the grocery store where I prepare yet another dish for some responsibility/event, I realized that today was my only moment of peace this weekend. The revolving door of guest entertaining/church obligations/ work obligations/ necessary service events/ school obligations has left me feeling quite spent. Overwhelmed. Numb.
But today, for a couple of hours, I got to poke around in the basement, looking for Christmas ribbons. There was no schedule pressing me for those few hours. No preparations for me to make - for those few hours. No decisions other than matching either the hounds tooth ribbon or the plaid wired ribbon with the green wrapping paper. I did not have to decorate a classroom, a dining table, a craft project for church. Nothing. Nada.
I even skipped my workout today, because the obligation of getting to the Y felt like another scheduled burden.
Needless to say, my day of silence was over almost as soon as it began. But it felt great. And I went to the grocery store for the third time this week with a smile on my face because I felt lighter because of it.
Tomorrow, it will be back to the usual routine. Meetings have been arranged, plans have been made, calories will be consumed in the course of all of this. I will lose my nested feeling, I know, but now there are beautiful presents under my tree and my daughters are giddy with anticipation. And when more guests arrive, as they always do, I will smile thinking about my next day of nesting. Whenever that will be...
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Commercial Happiness
It is a fun, festive place. At Christmas, everything is decorated beautifully. The polar bear is there for photos, and he is an awesome mascot. Memorabilia is everywhere. People from all over the world are there, speaking their native languages, making you feel like it's a small world after all.
The gallery of Santa paintings was probably my favorite. Also, the Norman Rockwell paintings are good, too. If you like Americana, you should go to Coke.
It is truly amazing how effective the marketing team at Coke really is. They make you happy with their messages - in every country, in any language. Their movies are clever and their product is very good. It makes you want to buy their happiness. And they have the cashiers to assist you with that, too.
The highlight of the tour is the tasting room. You can taste hundreds of drinks from all around the world, owned by Coke. My impression of the drinks is that in some countries the water must be so terrible that their crazy sodas must seem great. Some of it is so nasty it cannot be described. If I am ever in Djibouti, I will drink nothing. Nothing at all. But if there was a Coke there, I would do a happy dance.
I have now purchased a tiny bottle filled with Coke, and it is a tree ornament. I am curious to see if the girls will leave it on the tree, or if they will sample it...the bottle is tres cute.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
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