1.29.2008

Does DanceDanceRevolution count as an honest to goodness workout? I think so. And my calves think so, too. Rachel set her alarm clock wrong yesterday, so I forwent the Jillian workout and just played DDR for an hour by myself. Hmm. Actually, it was more than an hour. If you put the game on workout mode, you can set a time limit/goal. So, I was "dancing" for an hour, but not straight through. I bet you're glad I cleared that up.

According to the workout mode calculations on this video game, I "ran" the equivalent of 7 miles. Or was it 14? It might be 14 and I might have just deducted that I could maybe believe that it equaled 1/2 that... Anyway--it was much better than nothing. I had a hard time walking yesterday, and this morning was painful, too. Jillian this morning. Burpees.

I was reading through my posts recently and noticed that on 1.9.2008, I wrote that I have given up on my dreams of running a marathon. Well... Maybe not. Read Christy's blog and maybe you'll be inspired like I have been.

I got a lot done yesterday. Excercise, doctor, prescription, appointments made, appointments kept, forms filled out, dinner made, family night accomplished (sort of), house tidied up, baby (sort of) cuddled. Good for me.

Lucy only had one accident yesterday. Good for everybody!!!

The only thing on my calendar for today is cleaning the kitchen at the church with fellow enrichment committee members. Should be fun.

I made a commitment to myself never to post without a picture. Here is today's. Check out the character (wrinkles) I got goin' on!

1.27.2008

I realized today that I never posted this cute picture of Lucy. This was taken in order to make a collage of all of Brian's mother's grandchildren for Christmas 2007. It was cold out, hence the coat.


For the first time ever, I quilted yesterday. Hold it. I'm wrong. About 6 years ago, I "quilted" using an old sewing machine my mom had given me and some old shorts of Brian's. I used no iron, no rulers, and no pattern. The resultant pillow was very ... casual looking. If anyone is interested, I'm betting you can still find it at the local second-hand store.

This time I was prepared. I set up everything before I even turned on the sewing machine--ironing board, iron, cutting table, cutting mat. All of this in a space very close to a play area for Lucy. This allowed me to spend about six hours quilting yesterday--which was a little surprising. Frankly, I was a little dubious about whether or not quilting had the power to suck me in like that. I really shouldn't have wondered. I love to make all kinds of things. You name it, I can probably spend a day making it if I'm given a chance.


The pink, white, purple and blue quilt block (stunning, yes???) which you see above (under Lucy's left hand) is the direct product of a "block of the month" (BOM) class that I enrolled in at a friend's invitation. The deal is, everybody pays 5$ to start. If you go to every class and complete every block in time for the next month's class, you don't have to pay a cent more. They give you all of the material for the quilt month after month and after 12 months, you basically get a quilt for 5$. It's a different story if you fail to show up on time with each block completed, on time, to each class. They also fail to mention that in order to finish the quilt, you have to buy material for the backing, joining, etc., but all in all, it sounded good to me. The clincher? If you finish the quilt all on time (using only fabric purchased from the store that teaches the class), you are invited to present it at a "show and tell" class the following January. If all the criteria are met, such as the quilt being 100% finished, quilted (not tied) at least every 4 inches, and label sewn on, then your name is entered into a drawing where you stand a chance of winning a basket full of $300 dollars' worth of quilting schwag!

I gather that this type of class is a fairly common scheme to rope beginners into the addictive world of quilting, but to me, uninitiated, it came off as exceptionally well thought-out and...well... sneaky, too. Anyway--the lovely color scheme (which Lucy prefers to mine) is their doing.

Last week, I went shopping with my sister and found some cheap remnants to practice on. Now I have my very own little blue and brown quilt block. (See above picture.) It was fun to make it up as I went. I especially like the arrows. That was not intentional, by the way, just fortuitous.

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes/thoughts:

"If at first you do succeed, try to hide your astonishment."

Yesterday morning, before quilting, Rachel and I subjugated ourselves to Corena Hammer's brutal 8:00 am yoga class while Lucy breakfasted with Grandma and Nan. That class is a killer. Forget waterboarding--Corena would make an excellent "interrogator."

I like to complain just a little bit, but I'll be back to her class for more. She's incredibly good. I don't think I'll understand how she can give instruction so steadily while she does the same things she asks everyone else to do. I was fighting so hard yesterday not to suck wind and she sounded fine. (To understand this better, if you've never tried yoga, try to do 40 - 50 push-ups very slowly with impeccable form while breathing in and out as thoroughly and as slowly as humanly possible. Now breathe slower. And push more air out when you exhale. I didn't put a lot of thought into this experiment, but I bet it really would give you an idea of what it's like.

Another aspect to this class having been so hard is that I haven't attended for...oh, about 4 years. It's bound to get better. Her class isn't even "hot yoga," but I sweat so much I have to have a towel on hand to wipe up the mat so it's not too slippery to continue. I had forgotten that this is a usual thing in her class for me. Before Lucy (BL), I drove to Salt Lake to take the 90 minute long hot yoga classes at Bikram. They were really good. Each class is the same. Well, same routine. I had expected to hate doing the same sequence every class, but I ended up liking it quite a bit.

It's kind of like having the same thing for dinner every night. If it's good food, it's not bad. I only know this because when I was in college, I spent nine months in Senegal. While I was there, I lived in dorms in St. Louis for a few weeks and the menu was the same every night. Rice and fish and a roll. When I lived with my host family, my host mother had a fixed menu too, but it changed according to the day of the week. Monday -- Yassa Poulet, Tuesday -- Ceebu Jen, Wednesday -- Mafe, etc. I found that it was nice knowing what to expect. It was easier to just eat my fill rather than eat too much. ...And eating too much was a serious danger--my host mother was a ferocious cook.

Check out this article featuring a study that shows that the more mundane your meal plan is, the less you are likely to overeat. Sometimes I want to confine the menu Chez Nous to 7 meals--one for each day of the week. I'll let you know if that ever happens. Don't hold your breath.

Confession time.

I finally took the time to look up the rule on its and it's. Somehow I got confused about whether the apostrophe was used in the possessive or in the contraction. I have intentionally avoided using either its or it's for a month because I was not sure of its proper usage. No more!

I feel liberated. Now: How long will it take me to go back and edit those pesky its and it'ses from the rest of the blog? Maybe I won't even do it.

Can you handle that cliffhanger closing?

1.22.2008

Tuesdays are cleaning days.

Wahoo.

Wahoo!

Why not Wahoo! instead of Wahoo.?

I also made a chart for Lucy. It features the DoodleBops. Don't know them? Here's a peek.

Lucy LOVES this show. I have used it shamelessly in my efforts to potty train her.

The sticker chart I made is working really well. When she fills up all of the squares with stickers, we will go defile her ears with piercings. (Just one on each lobe.) She's pretty cute. See for yourself.

By the way, I would never sit her against the wall like this. I've noticed a pattern, though that may explain it. When Lucy wants to sit by a person (or a thing), she wants to be physically touching it without reaching. Maybe she'll grow up to be our very own close talker.

Lucy and I have put a lot of effort into the potty thing, but the other half of Lucy's day is spent coloring. Grandpa and Grandma gave her a fantastic easel that she loves. We also roll out a whole length of paper on a long, low table sometimes. Here she is coloring. (She dressed herself this afternoon while I cleaned the garage. It's not as neglectful as it reads. She was just inside the door and the door was open. Geez.

1.21.2008

For my birthday, I want a good passport photo. I'm not even asking for a great one.

Nah. It won't be possible. I already sent in everything. You're too late!!!

In case anyone is wondering, my birthday is months away. I just like to say "for my birthday, I want" ...then add whatever I think will be impossible to procure.

Soon, I will have a new passport in my hot little hands. That is, relatively soon. 6 weeks or so. This will be useful when I go to Costa Rica, I think. Brian and I are going on a week long surf trip. It should be pretty great--beach house, good friends, ocean. You get the picture. This year, Brin and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary, and I am calling this trip an anniversary trip. It's not really. It's just a trip with friends. But you have to admit that it is much more interesting to say that for our 10th anniversary we're going to Costa Rica than .. oh, I don't know.. Usually we end up celebrating our anniversaries at a local restaurant then go see a friend or go home. A couple of times I think we've arranged for massages for both of us at the same time. That usually works best if one plans ahead, by the way. This is not a strength of mine. I can either say we're going to Costa Rica or dinner. Can you blame me?

I got up at 5:30 this morning to exercise. That's right. You may congratulate me when you see me next. Ha! This will be the third week of consistently waking up too early to exercise. This morning Rachel and I did a DVD by Jillian of Biggest Loser fame. It was hard. I liked it.

Then we broke out Dance Dance Revolution. Rachel had never played before. Because I haven't played in more than a year, I had forgotten about it. However, when 4 of my (insert superlative here) nieces and nephews spent Saturday with Lucy and me, we resurrected DDR and in order for Tayler and Suzanne to complete a song, they needed someone who had played more. So, I danced a few songs and remembered two things: it is fun, and it is actually a very good workout. I am so glad Rachel didn't laugh in my face and say derisive things when I tentatively suggested that we play after doing the Jillian thing.

So it was her first time playing that game. As for me, I had never done "burpees" or "mountain climbers" before this morning. Fun.




Lucy just woke up. The first thing she said, "Mom, let's go sledding. I'll get my snowboots."



Time to find snowboots!

1.19.2008

1.14.2008

Thank heaven for husbands. My husband.

We have been all about potty training today, and Lucy is doing great. Brian came home early and is taking the dog and Lucy for a run. Now I get to focus on getting things done. This is why I am really just posting pictures right now.

1.9.2008

Lucy sleeping on my lap.

My apologies to anyone wanting to read anything with depth or wit. My goal with this blog has been to create an outlet. (Period.)

There is a reason that this disclaimer has been posted now. My expectations for today are pretty low. I just want to write--something.

Yesterday I got all of the laundry done and the entire house clean. It took all day (literally). Its a good feeling when it happens--sort of like an eclipse happening right before your eyes. You can sense that there is something special happening and that you may not witness the likes of it again. Ha.

Funny thing is--as good as it is to get the whole house as I believe it should be (almost).

I'll try that again. As good as it is to get the whole house almost as I believe it should be, in order, that is... I'm not sure its great for anyone else. I get a little manic and obsessive when everything is so well stowed and in it's place. I don't like to see it disturbed. This would be fine if I lived alone.

I do it for the stereotypes. I do it in pursuit of my ideal of womanhood. I do it for sanity. I must have control (sporadic control is still control) over my home and it should be clean and tidy.

Now this: Someone please address the oracle to find out why I’m so ravenous. The only explanation I'm coming up with is that raising my heart rate a lot makes me want to stuff my face. That is, when I complete a hard session of “cardio,” like I did this morning, I turn all hungry-hungry-hippo some time in the following 24 hours. I do not like it.

This is why, incidentally, I have given up on my vague dreams of running a marathon. I would much rather do yoga every day for hours to train for fitness than run every day. Don’t get me wrong. I like a good runner’s high just as much as the next guy. It’s just not as good as yoga.

Need convincing?

1: After yoga, I feel drained yet invigorated, just like running. I like it.

2:The day after yoga, all of my muscles can be sore, but my overall flexibility has increased, not decreased the way it does after running.

3:Yoga has never caused me knee pain or shin splints.

4:The more yoga I do, the less I weigh and the stronger I am. With running, the more I run, the better I can run more. I don't exercise just for the way it makes me feel and perform, I want to look better, too!

5:Yoga makes me want to eat more grapefruit. The more I run, the more processed food I want to eat.

6:Yoga skills can increase personal worth in at least two ways. First, if a person is particularly adept at a certain asana or type of asana or yoga move which some people think is impossible or unlikely, this person could wager that they could compete such a feat—and could theoretically increase his or her bank balance. Second: Sometimes at a very boring party, yoga tricks substitute for entertainment. Running? Running increasing my personal worth? This is is almost too dry for me to even work up enough enthusiasm to consider. I guess if you happen to be Kenyan you would have a good argument for this one. And you could still bet people if you were a really fantastic runner. But running can NOT substitute for intertainment at a slow party. (That was for you, Rob.)

Now after writing this, a wave of sleepiness has hit me and I remember that I woke up not only at 12:30, 3:30 and 4:30 am this morning, I also got up to exercise at 5:30 am.
I desperately want a nap but I just had a snack of cookie dough. ☹ Not a good bedtime treat—even if it is a nap. Cookie dough bloat:


Lucy has been sleeping for about 1 hour and if I let her sleep longer, I will regret it tonight. She fell asleep on the way home from the store. I let her pick out her own plastic toilet. I am hoping that she is thrilled with it enough to get over her porcelain toilet stage-fright.

Hopes and dreams. I'm going to sign off with that one.