blabbery: accomplishments fitness flabbery guilt gym jogging life running weight loss
by Blabby
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I am running 2 miles!
I haven’t given a fitness update in sometime - mostly because it’s depressing. I had to stop going to the gym for a couple weeks because the baby was sick and on two different rounds of antibiotics. I didn’t want him in the daycare, so we walked and jogged around the neighborhood. It’s crazy how much harder jogging with the jogger is than jogging on a treadmill. One problem is that my jogger lists to the left, so I constantly have to pick up the front end and turn us. Pain in the butt. But I also think it’s the sun, the asphalt, the Santa Ana winds, my bad attitude, etc.
So anyway, back to the point. I’ve been going to the gym a little less regularly (3-4 times per week vs. 6-7), and I try to go when my husband can watch the baby, so he doesn’t keep getting sick from the gym daycare. Even with all these interruptions, my jogging is improving, and I’m up to two miles straight (at 5.0 speed) on the treadmill! The Airborne Ranger cadences on my iPod truly make all the difference.
To keep up the good work, I’ve stopped weighing myself. I plan to weigh in once a month, and that’s it. I’m also hoping to do a 5k in May - something to shoot for. And if I walk, I walk, but I’m still healthier. Who cares if my butt is as big as ever, as long as my heart can sustain it?
Swiffer WetJet
So I bought a Swiffer WetJet today. I am a notoriously bad housekeeper…always looking for the quick fix or easy solution. I had hoped to find this in the WetJet. I’m a big fan of the Swiffer duster. In fact, I get almost as excited about dusting as the lady in the commercial. Almost. So I had hoped for the same great results. I almost got them. If it wasn’t for our dang FIVE cats, it would be a little miracle of modern convenience. But sadly, it’s no match for the tufts of cat hair billowing around the corners of my kitchen. I vacuumed yesterday with our ridiculously overpriced vacuum - the Dyson Animal. Another purchase that was supposed to solve all my problems for the low low price of $499. After emptying the canister five times during the vacuuming process, I thought I got all the cat hair off the floor. But, of course, I did not. And, of course, they never stop shedding. So as I excitedly opened my new WetJet today, I tried not to see the new tumbleweeds of cat hair. Then, as I squirted the solution on the floor, I tried not to see how the poor little pad is just no match for my cats. The commercial is right - it doesn’t push dirty water around the floor. But it does push the cat hair around.
Still, the floor is much cleaner than it was. That’s something.
blabbery blogging ridiculous people: Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund life Liviu Librescu Stephen King Virginia Tech Zach Petkewicz
by Blabby
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Virginia Tech ~ best blog so far…
Lots of bloggers are expressing their sadness, outrage, fear, insert bad emotion here, etc. The best story I’ve read so far is one of thoughtful gratitude for the heroes involved. I hope you’ll read it here. Thanks for taking the time to share, Deborah.
I also wanted to express a little concern for the media coverage. I’ve seen the stories saying Cho Seung-Hui’s teachers were concerned with his violent writings, and I am concerned with the direction of this line of hindsight. Some people are comparing this to how the media often blames violence on inanimate objects - like music or video games. Luckily, the writings were his own, so there are no corporations/artists/TV channels to blame. BUT, why are his writings even getting posted online? First of all, they’re terrible. Grammatically incorrect, hard to understand, full of gratuitous cursing and violence with no apparent usefulness…it doesn’t support the plot, in fact, there is no plot. I’m annoyed that this idiot (that’s right, no sympathy for him at all…whether he was crazy, mentally ill, sad, overworked, underpaid, mistreated, bullied, picked on, etc.) is essentially getting published. How many play writes are working their butts off to get their work in front of people, and here’s this guy, with everyone and their brother reading his juvenile ramblings.
And in what sense do violent writings automatically say crazy-ass mass murderer? Look at Stephen King (thanks to Smart Bitches for sharing this article). Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, people.
I considered posting a link to the writings, but frankly, I don’t think that stupid guy deserves any more press. Frankly, I’m sick of seeing his greasy forehead on my TV and computer screen. I’d like to see more of the heroes…so here are some links for them.
- Liviu Librescu
- Zach Petkewicz
- Victims
I’m proud of those kids for going back to school. By the way, VA Tech has set up a Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund for the victims, their families, and memoriam scholarships.
blabbery ridiculous people: hairy armpits life mom tolerance
by Blabby
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Tolerance
We were watching Dan Zanes “Let’s Shake” video on the Disney channel and my husband says, “oh GROSS!” when he noticed that the female keyboard player has hairy armpits. First of all, they show her armpit (barely) for about .05 seconds, so I’m not sure how he even noticed it, but I can only chock it up to his extreme intolerance for all things different.
This concerns me. Normally, he’s an easy going, loving guy. He’s kind towards all animals. He is all for women’s equality - often saying I’m smarter than him (which is true, of course), he’s extremely supportive of my millions of hobbies and interests. BUT - he’s totally homophobic. It’s not like he doesn’t like the gay people we know, he just always makes little comments or stares at people that we don’t know. Like if we see a lesbian couple in the store or something, he openly stares at them with a look of disdain. So I guess he’s homophobic of the unknown.
Then there’s the hair in the girl’s armpits. He was literally freaking out about it. When I commented on how quickly it’s even shown, he kept yelling, “Look! There it is! Gross” every time her armpits were shown.
So here’s the funny thing. My mother was a raging feminist who didn’t shave her armpits or legs, didn’t wear a bra or underwear, and owned only one pair of high heels - that she fished out of a dumpster. All the rest of her wardrobe consisted of Converse sneakers in at least eight colors and the biggest t-shirt collection you’ve ever seen. Somewhere along the way, she decided that she loved women more than men, and she left my father for a woman about 10 years her junior. That love affair was short lived. Her final partner was about 15 years her senior, who took care of my mother as she became ill. My mom eventually died due to liver disease when she was 42.
Beyond all that, she was beautiful, hilarious, quick to laugh, brilliant and could sing any song in the style of obnoxious opera, for which she was classically trained.
My mom died when I was 17. My husband, who I met and married when I was 24, never got to meet her. But what would he have said? I asked him what he would say to her about her hairy armpits, and he said he would give her deodorant. This was such a silly answer to me. Do men stink more than women because they have armpit hair? No. Would he offer a man deoderant because he had armpit hair? Of course not. It was a ridiculous thing to say.
So what happens if our beautiful perfect son grows up to be gay? What then? I’m concerned. I have faith in my husband’s ability to love, but I’m afraid of the thoughtless things he says.
Most interesting is that this behavior is in direct conflict with my husband’s personality. He is extremely sensitive to people’s feelings. I often joke that he’s the girl in our relationship, because in addition to a superior fashion sense and excessive personal grooming habits, he’s certainly more aware of people’s feelings than I am. He’s also very charitable and quick with compliment. Only time will tell, I guess.
Uncategorized: eMillionaire life mompreneur small business
by Blabby
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breakthroughs
Well, I’m feeling pretty smart these days. I’ve gotten Apache and PHP loaded on my computer, and I’ve started developing my first site using Dreamweaver 8. That program is amazing. I know there are die-hard hand-coders out there, but not me. I’m all for using Dreamweaver to do the heavy lifting.
Also, my super smart friend Spankratz shared the secret of viewing other peoples’ style sheets. It’s so simple, I feel like an idiot for not figuring it out, but now that I can see what they’ve done, I’m learning so much more about the capabilities of CSS. Very exciting stuff.
Here’s the latest to do list regarding my online business:
- Get a PO Box
- Apply for State and City licenses, run my newspaper ad, and then apply for Fed. EIN.
- Keep working on site #1, create landing pages for sites #2 and#3
I’m going to stop there so I don’t get overwhelmed. That’s a lot of work.
School-wise, I’m a little sad that I’m even taking these classes. The good news is that I’m halfway done - 8 weeks to go. The bad news is that I have two midterms due this week, two major projects, the standard pile of homework and reading and five more discussion board entries to write. I wouldn’t mind any of this if it didn’t keep me from working on the things I want to do, like develop my sites.
The worst part is that I took these classes essentially for personal enjoyment/enrichment. They’re neither enjoyable or enriching at this point.
I walked two miles today, uphill. I read Body & Soul magazine while I walked. It was very peaceful. But that magazine is so lame. It’s so full of new-agey crap, that I can hardly find the good info in it. I didn’t renew my subscription, and they sent me a letter that said, “So, we see you’re no longer interested in health.” Ridiculous. There is maybe one good article that actually improves my life in each issue.
So, Martha, I’m still a big fan, but I don’t like that magazine or your other new one, Blueprint. I’ll stick with Everyday Food.
lethargy smethargy…
I thought I’d write an actual post, and not just book reports. I have no interest in any of my interests this week. I don’t want to look at homework. I can’t find my disk with all my web designs saved on it, so I don’t want to work on my websites, because I hate doing stuff from scratch that I already have - and that crap took me a long time to make. Here I was thinking, “oh, I’ll back these up on a CD, and take them off my computer so they’re safe,” and then I can’t find the box with the CDs in it. Annoying. All of my illustrator designs are on that same disk. Also annoying.
All I want to do lately is read fiction. Hence, the numerous book postings in the last few days. I don’t even really want to watch TV (if you know me at all, this is really a big shocker.) My TIVO is almost maxed out with weeks worth of shows I haven’t watched. I even gave up a few shows and erased my Season Pass (DIRT, Apprentice LA, Shark).
Perhaps I need more sleep. I have been going to the gym, though. I’m doing pretty well there. The other day (Friday?), I walked/jogged on the treadmill for a whole hour! It’s because my new gym friend showed up right as I was going to get off (30 min.) and I ended up staying on and talking to her. It was also the first time I ran a half mile straight. Normally, I’ll walk for .25 miles, jog for .25, etc. But that day, I walked .5, then jogged .5 miles at 5.5 and 6.0. That’s pretty fast for me. Then I walked another .25, then ran .25 at 6.5! This is almost a fitness miracle for me.
Anyway, I’m still as fat as ever. I can feel some muscles in my legs under the layer of winter blubber, but I can’t see them yet. And my pants aren’t fitting any better…so, who knows. Perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten a strawberry shortcake this evening :)
Aah, who cares. At least I’m going everyday. Eventually, that has to make a difference. I mean, I was doing NOTHING for a whole 2 years…so I’m sure progress will happen soon.
Props to my friend Spankratz for making it to the final round of interviews. Soon, she’ll be free from her overworking-drag of a job and onto the new and exciting world of magazine editing!
The House Inaction
Here’s a letter I got from my representative:
Dear Mrs. <name removed> :
Thank you for contacting me to share your thoughts on the Safe Climate Act of 2006 .
Representing the interests of the 49 th Congressional District is made much easier by people like you, who take the time and effort to share their opinions with me. Your comments concerning the Safe Climate Act of 2006 have been noted. I will be sure to keep them in mind when related issues come before me in the House of Representatives.
To view my positions and additional information on current issues, please visit my website at www.house.gov/issa . Each week, I survey comments received from my constituents and post statements on the issues of greatest interest. Please return to the website often as new information is added frequently.
Again, thank you for contacting me about this matter of concern to you.
Sincerely,
Darrell Issa
Member of Congress
Not so impressive…I don’t feel confident that he will consider my feelings at all. That’s why I didn’t vote for him. I voted for Jeeni Criscenzo, even though she was a long shot. Issa’s not a bad guy, but the issues he’s dealing with are not my first choice. He has very little sponsored or co-sponsored legislation dealing with anything environmental. He is very supportive of the military though, which I think is important and fitting for our district.
I have letters that my mom received from both Kennedy and Johnson thanking her for expressing her opinions on the legalization of marijuana…I think I’ll write actual letters to my senators and representatives from now on, so my kids know what was important to me :)
Down with Starbucks
It’s official. I’ve given up Starbucks. I’m not saying I’ll never drink it again, but I’ve given up my once-a-day habit. I’m taking a Personal Finance class and all the annoying 18 year olds were like, “just get your coffee at 7-11″ “just buy it at Costco and home brew”, etc.
If I was only in it for the coffee, then that’s what I’d do.
First of all, they’ve obviously never had to deal with the logistics of getting a not-walking-yet fourteen-month-old out of the car seat, into a convenience store, filled a hot cup of coffee with one hand while holding the baby with the other (not recommended). Here’s how that would go down: still holding the baby, setting coffee on counter, try to open Splenda and creamer with teeth, “no baby, that’s not for you.” Baby drinks a little creamer on accident. Get lid on coffee with one hand without spilling it. Head to counter to pay. Set coffee on counter. Crap, money is in the wrong pocket, switching baby to other hip, getting out money, “no baby, don’t put that money in your mouth!”, switching baby back to other side, shoving change in pocket, picking up coffee, attempting to open door with back, some stranger takes pity on us and holds door, set coffee on roof of car, put baby in carseat, get in car and leave coffee on roof.
Now, here’s the Starbucks version of that scenario.
Mommy and baby in car, jamming to Indigo Girls. There are 5 cars ahead of us in the drive through, so I flip through a magazine. Baby drinks some sippy cup and races his Hotwheel along the carseat. I order my drink (venti soy chai, no foam, no water, with an add shot), “that’ll be $4.55, please pull forward.” I hand the girl my handy Starbucks card that (until this week,) I always kept loaded. She hands me the best drink ever. We drive off into the sunset.
If Starbucks would just sell the concentrated chai, and not the watered down version that’s in the Tazo box, I could make it at home. But here’s what happens instead. The whole point of me getting “no water” is that the vanilla soy milk mixed with just the chai concentrate and a shot of espresso becomes this wonderful, creamy, spicy creation. The home version is a little like Eddie Murphy’s home burger…terrible. (That was a Raw reference, folks.)
But I digress. A lot. I have given up the perfect joy-bringing drink to save that $4.55 a day. Now, instead of loading my Starbucks card with $50 a couple times a month, I’m going to deposit that money in our savings account. I’ve been making a half pot of coffee at home every day and using vanilla chai spice creamer, but it sucks.
Also, my home version is only about 60 calories whereas the Starbucks drink is around 350. Since I usually burn about 200+ calories at the gym, this is an added incentive for me to give up my high-calorie chai. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.
confession time
I am a whopping 180 lbs. I have gone up TEN sizes since I got married - six before my pregnancy, and four more after I had my son. At first I didn’t want to buy any new clothes, convinced I would quickly lose the weight, so I continued wearing maternity clothes. Then my friend got pregnant, and I felt bad, because I still had most of her maternity clothes, and I wanted her to have mine also, so I finally gave in and bought a few size 18 jeans and XL shirts. Ridiculous. The funny thing is that I still have my shape - it’s just bigger. I’m kind of blind to my size until I see a picture of myself and have to count my chins.
Well, really, enough is enough. This is why I’m so proud of my daily gym attendance. I’m up to 3 weeks straight.
Here’s problem one - I don’t love exercise. I’ve always maintained my weight by my activities. First there was cheerleading in high school. Then there was the dance team in college. I’d gain weight all spring and summer and lose it all during band camp - that’s right, band camp. I freakin’ loved band camp. I’d get skinny and get a tan all in one week. Then, after college, I played flag football and softball on teams with my coworkers. I love flag football. I’m a hell of a corner back. Not too bad at first base either. Then I joined the Army. I think this was my downfall.
See, up until this point, I wasn’t actually muscelly, I was just fit. But at Basic Training, I got muscles. I was still a size 8 (birthing hips or whatever), but my body fat percentage was around 12% - this is very low for me. Then I got married to a Dominican who loves all foods - especially those covered in cheese or sauce - as much as me. Five years and minimal physical activity later - I had creeped up to a size 14. And I won’t lie here, when I found out I was pregnant, I was like, “yes! I can eat whatever I want.” Which is exactly what you’re not supposed to do. My dad was like, “make sure you’re walking…it will make delivery easier.” I was like, “okay, Dad!” as I sat on the couch day after day.
Then I had to have a c-section and they had to cut some stomach muscles. And no, not because I hadn’t been walking. Apparently the width of your hips has very little to do with the width of your pelvic opening. My kid was too big. His poor little head was stuck for 40 min. before they made me stop pushing and have a c-section. I won’t lie, that surgery took some recovery time, but not nearly as much as I took.
So here we are today…fat fat fat.
But here’s the goal. By my 7th anniversary (August ’07) I’d like to lose at least 30 lbs. and be down to a size 12/14. At least then I can fit into the closet full of nice clothes I have. If I pass that up, even better. Then I’ll sell all my nice size 14 work clothes on eBay and buy myself new clothes!
I’ve been lying to myself for a long time about how much of a problem my weight is. No more. In fact, I saw that open calls for Biggest Loser are this weekend in LA. I considered going, but I couldn’t leave William for 12 weeks. Plus, there wouldn’t be anyone to watch him.
So I’m on my own. But that’s usually how I work best. Plus, when William is ready for flag-football in a few years, I want to teach him how to be a great corner back. The key is watching the receiver’s hips - this will be a great relief from watching my own hips. :)
14 days!
Today makes 14 days straight that I’ve gone to the gym!!! Woo hoo…I have to say, I’m extremely proud of myself. Not that I’m training for a marathon or anything, but 30 or more minutes on the treadmill and at least 200 crunches everyday is bound to make a difference eventually, right?
So here’s something cool my friend Spankratz sent me: Pictaps
Which I was referred to by this newsletter:
Chris Prillo’s Picks which you can receive by emailing [email protected].
In other news, I was listening to NPR this morning, and there was a little snippet kind of pointing the finger at Gen. Casey for a lack of progress in Iraq. Along the lines of (some senator speaking), “Last year, Gen. Casey promised such and such progress pertaining to violence and insurgent attacks. Now a year later, he’s still making the same promises, only delayed a year.” This pisses me off. Why not hold George Bush accountable? Not the guys trying to do their best with what they’ve got. How far down the chain will they pass the buck?
Crap. I hate this war.
