Interview with Strip

This was posted on facebook by a buddy, but I thought it was fun, so I posted it here.  Strip answered the questions (obviously, Nugget's answers would have all been, "NO!  MO JUICE PEEEEZE!).  So here goes!  Enjoy hearing what she thinks of me!

If you have a kiddo old enough to answer, do this...it was really worth it for the laughs!! My comments are in italics.  

Cut and paste these questions and ask your kids their answers....

1. What is something mom always says to you?
No and Yes

2. What makes mom happy?
When I clean the basement and make my bed.

3. What makes mom sad?
Not cleaning my room up

I swear, I'm not a cleaning freak.  We had just had a little come to Jesus this week about chores!

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
By tickling me


5. What was your mom like as a child?
A baby

6. How old is your mom?
I don't know! (If you had to guess what would it be?) 3


7. How tall is your mom?
10 inches


8. What is her favorite thing to do?
cook

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
go grocery shopping

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Making cakes and throwing parties

I did make one heck of a Pablo cake.  

11. What is your mom really good at?
hmmmm Guess a ride, because you guess all the rides 

Guess a ride is a totally made up game that I came up with when she became way too cool for I spy and we needed something to do with our at least 2 hours in the car every day

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Climbing on my climber

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Work all day here at the house

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Rice? Don't you like rice?

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
You sleep in your bed all night
Gold star for me!  
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Sleeping Beauty

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Play Candy Land

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We both have "lellow" hair

19. How are you and your mom different?
WE don't have the same dresses

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
hugs

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Disney World!

Right on girlie!

I so had "that kid" yesterday.

We had some errands to run, so we planned to go to Chick-fil-a for lunch (thank you PaPa and Ma for the Valentine's gift cards).  I invited our neighbor to come meet us, but she couldn't make it, and boy was that lucky on her part.  I knew it wasn't going to be good when we got there right at noon.  

I planned to get there earlier, but Strip wanted to put every stamp on every postcard that we were mailing, so it took a little longer at the post office.  We get there at noon and the place is nuts.  I've never seen so many pregnant women in one place in my life.  It looked like the Oprah baby shower.  It was crazy.  I snagged the last booth right by the playplace thingy and both kids sat quietly and ate all of their chicken and fruit.  Nugget started pointing and saying, "Play!" so when Strip had a happy plate, they both took off their shoes and took off running.  The happy playing lasted long enough for me to clean up our table.  Strip came skipping out and wanted a sip of her drink.  No problem, there it is and go watch out for your brother.  Nugget caught a glimpse of her and came out for a drink too, but he did not want to leave his cup on the table.  And a fight ensues.  

I'm  a firm believer in pick your battles, but win the ones you pick, so I was winning this one.  Drinks aren't allowed in the play area and for good reason.  No cups.  End of story.  3 minutes, things get ugly and I call to Strip that we have to leave, which sends Nugget in to a high pitched, "NO! NO! NO! NO!"  Of COURSE our table (and coats) are in the middle of the restaurant so everyone had a great seat watching me wrestle Nugget into his jacket and shoes.  It was not pretty.  Strip got her ice cream and we got in the car.

The smart move now would be to go home, but nooo not me.  I had to pay for a cake decorating class and wanted to look for some things in the neighboring stores for the kids' birthday parties.  I promised them that if they were good we would go to the book store with a train table and play.  So we did.  And the kids were great.  I sat, sipping my last Lenten mocha while they shared the trains and were angels.  Then I remembered that I was cooking red beans and rice for dinner and needed to get them on the stove so they could be simmering.  Crud.  Ok kids, 10 minutes and we have to leave. NO! NO! NO!  At this point, my sweet little Strip consoles her brother saying, "It's ok buddy!  I bet if we make good choices, we can come back and play another day." NO! NO! NO!  Where we have a repeat scene of wrestling Nugget into his jacket and basically dragging him out of the store which was even better considering the kid's section is in the BACK farthest away from the exit.  And of course, we get to the front, walk through the door and it's like Jekyll and Hyde. He gets a sweet baby smile on his face and starts saying every word he knows.  Bird!  Car!  Vroomm!  Bye bye!  

We did manage to get dinner on the stove and play outside a little before Hubs got home from work, but BOY did it make me re-think giving up chocolate for Lent.

Can I do it?

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent.  Although I'm not Catholic, I DO try to give up/take on something during Lent.  So now I'm thinking, if I give up chocolate for Lent, then I would be giving up mochas by default.  I could still sneak a coke if I needed a caffeine fix.  Hmmm.  What do YOU think?  Click the poll to the right and let me know!  And yes, even you creepy people who stop in from all over and I have no idea who you are (I seeeee yoooouuuu) can vote and be anonymous. 

Happy Fat Tuesday.  I'm off to make a giant vat of red beans and rice.  Yuuummmy

How I did I not weigh 800lbs when we were dating?

So WW has been going well.  First week, I was down 3.4 lbs, so woop woop.  This weekend, Hub's dad and his wife were in town to visit the kids.  I asked what they wanted for dinner, and FIL said he just wanted to sit and enjoy the kids, no need to cook and worry about cleaning up, let's just go somewhere and let someone else do that.  Can't argue with that reason.  So we headed over to an italian restaurant that they had never been to.  I  was meeting them there a little later.  The kids were fantastic, and by the time I got there, Hubs had already put in my order, so I only had time to eat a little piece of bread.  Food came and it was yummy.  I throughly enjoyed all 22 points of it.  No salad (didn't want to pop the seal on the epi pen over lettuce) and no dessert, just my yummy pasta dinner.  OH MY BLOAT!  I thought I was just going to explode for the next 3 days.  I almost dug out some maternity pants for our trip to the museum.  It was insane how horrible I felt.  

But this got me thinking.  When Hubs and I were dating, my college town was smack dab in the middle of his territory, so whenever he would blow through town, we would go out to dinner.  And man could we eat.  It was never a quick meal, usually a good 3 hours including an appetizer, salad, entree, dessert and a bottle or two of wine.  Then we would go somewhere and have coffee and chat.  And this was like every 3 days.  Oh it makes my tummy hurt just thinking about it!

So last night I'm chatting with my mom and mention that I was thinking about skipping weigh-in today, but she encouraged me to hop on the scale because I think deep down, she loves to see me fail.  So I took off all of my jewelry and hopped on.  Down .3 lbs.  HA ha, mom!  And I can hear you now, "Well just think about how much you would have lost, blah blah blah."  I don't care.  I'm just glad I can button my pants again!

I think she's going to be a lawyer

Strip is a really quick thinker and can talk her way out of anything.  Tonight, we are cleaning the basement up before bed, and I find a plastic tea cup (that she just got in a set for Christmas) with one half completely missing.  I held it up so she could see it.

Me:     Ohh.  I sure hope  I don't get this tea cup at your next tea party.

Strip:  Why?    

Me:     Look at it!  Half of it is missing.  If you put tea in it, it will all 

     spill out.   Looks like you need to take better care of your things.

Strip:  No, no mommy.  Have you seen Alice in Wonderland?

Me:     Yes.

Strip:  Remember when they are having the tea party with the Mad 

    Hatter?  He pours a half a glass of tea in a tea cup that's cut 

    in half.  That tea cup is supposed to be like that because that's 

    the one I use when I'm playing Alice in Wonderland tea party.

Touche. 

Shoot for the moon!

When I was little, I remember my brother asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  My response?  A blue crayon.  After he told me I was stupid and couldn't be a blue crayon, I said, "Fine.  I'll be a yellow one."  Needless to say, I think my parents knew early on their second born was not going to be a doctor.

Strip has started talking a lot about what she is going to be when she grows up.  Usually when I ask her what she's going to be, she says, "Everything!"  I love it!  Don't limit yourself , kid!  

A few days ago we were in the car heading to the museum for a playdate.  Out of nowhere, she says, 

Strip: Mommy.  I know what I want to be when I grow up!

Me:    Oh good!  What do you want to be when you grow up?  

Strip: God.

Me:    Ok.  Why do you want to be God?  

Strip:  So I can make everything.

Me:  Well, I hate to break it to you, but there's already God,

so I don't think you can be God.

Strip:  No, I want to be God and I want to create things.

Me:    You can still create things without being God.  You can be

an architect and create buildings and houses or you can be

an artist and create beautiful things to look at.  Or you can

be a chef and create yummy food for people to eat.

Strip:  Hmmmm.  Nope, I think I'll just be God.

Way to aim big :-)

If 3 is this fun, 13 is going to be awesome.

Strip is a super cleaner upper.  She really enjoys putting her toys away and making her bed.  In school and her little gymboree class, she was always the one who wanted to put everyone's things away for them.  Unfortunately, she's gotten too cool for that.

She's still a good cleaner, but her latest theme is, "It's the end of the world," meaning whenever you asker her to do anything she acts like the world is ending and is super dramatic as to why she can't do whatever you ask.  Yesterday, we were having lunch together before hubs went to watch the race with some buddies.  The basement a.k.a playroom, was of course trashed. 

Hubs:  Ok, and while I'm gone you need to help mommy get 

the basement cleaned up.  All of your toys are just

all over the place and you need to put them where

they belong, ok?

Strip:  If you didn't want me to make a mess, then maybe

you shouldn't have gotten me a house with a 

basement.

Hubs:  Uhhh what did you just say?!?!

Strip:  Ummm Nothing.

Wow.  These teenage years are going to be LOTS of fun.

Angels, Devils and Weight Watchers

I broke down and joined weight watchers on line last Monday.  I was trying to lose these last few pesky pounds with spark people and Jillian, but it just wasn't happening, so I signed myself up for the three month deal.  I've done WW before, but it got to the point where I was paying $11 a week to hear, "you've gained a half a pound," then driving to TCBY where I would cry in my yogurt.  But then I found out I was pregnant, so I quit going and switched over to ice cream.

It's "fun" now because I can track everything on my phone/computer so at least I'm staying motivated that way.  BUT, it leads to some SERIOUS conversations with myself.  Take Wednesday afternoon for example.  I had left the allergist with Nugget and we were heading to the pharmacy to get my script filled for the epi pen.  I figured it wouldn't take that long, so we went in and browsed around.  UGH.  15 minutes turned into 45, so by the time we left, we were both a little cranky and had about 37 minutes until we needed to pick up Strip.  And here comes the conversation:

Devil:    You should totally swing through McDonalds

Angel: What?!  McD's isn't even on the way to school.  Just go home 

and fix lunch.  Besides, do you KNOW how many points there 

are in a McNugget?!

Devil:   Oh pipe down.  Who cares?!  Go to Chick-fil-a, then.  That's 

better for you.

  Angel:  No!  There is no need for that.  Just go home.  If you really 

want chicken, there's some in the fridge you can heat up.

Devil:  Yeah, but by the time you go home and heat it up, it will be

 time to leave.  DRIVE THROUGH

Angel:  You have plenty of time!  Go home, relax and have a glass 

of water while you are at it.

Devil:  Drive through.  You've only had a mocha this morning and 

that's 4 points total.  And you left 1/4 of it in the car.  Look 

at it.   there's one point right there in the cup holder.  That's 

the same as a little thing of sauce a chick-fil-a.  Do it.

Angel:  Do you have any cash?

Devil:  What?

Angel:  Do you have any cash?

Devil:  No, but what does that matter?!

Angel:  If we don't have cash, we don't buy it.  That's the rule.

Devil:  Please.  You just slapped a $35 co-pay and an epi pen on the 

debit card.  What's a number 3  four count with a coke and a 

kids meal going to hurt?

Angel:  Stop it.  Just stop it.  That's EXACTLY why you shouldn't go!

Devil:  Pipe down, wings.  She just got an epi pen and has to cut out 

cake.  I think this calls for some fast food therapy.

Angel:  No.  Plus you don't even know what they are serving for 

dinner tonight.  Think of that yummy bottle of Shiraz you 

have at home.  2 points per glass are waiting for YOU tonight.  

If you over eat at lunch you will have no points left for a glass 

of wine tonight.

Devil:  Ugh.  Now we're almost home.

Angel:  VICTORY!!!

And what was waiting for me when I got home?!?  A coupon book for Dunkin Doughnuts.  GAH!  Oh, and Wednesday night dinner was fish, so the Devil sooo should have won that battle.  And to top it all off, the next morning at bible study, what was sitting right in front of me?  A dozen doughnut.  

Bye, bye beaters.

I took a course in college dealing with communication and the medical field.  We studied a lot about how doctors spend SO much time in school with books and cadavers, they forget about their people skills and in turn have no clue how to talk to patients, give them bad news, dig for answers, etc (no offense to my MD buddies.  I know you rock, I'm just talking about the "other guys").  In the same case, you can argue that patients are idiots and tend not to listen to their doctors while taking medical history and leave out important things (like, "Are you on any medication?"  Nope.  Dr. finds out later the patient is on bc pills "I thought you said you weren't on any medication?!"  Oh!  That's birth control!  Not medication.  DOH!).

I have been pretty lucky to have overall good doctors in my life (with the exception of one nephrologist in North Carolina, but I think she was about an hour and a half out of med school and I made her nervous).  Anyway, I go for the big follow-up allergy appointment today.  I've done all the "standard" q&a so many times, that I really don't even need them to ask, I just start talking.  And I don't.stop.at.all.  So after the verbal diarrhea that is my medical history, we get to the testing!  Woo hoo!

The nerd in me was really kind of excited about the thought of having the allergy testing done (again).  I have not-so-fond memories of being stabbed up and down both arms and my back when I was little.  One testing session, I actually kicked the nurse who was poking me!  Oops, but she sooo hurt me first.  But, good news for anyone out there afraid of needles but in need of allergy testing.  The nice nurse came in with a little plastic thingy that looked almost like a back massager, stabbed me in the back with it, rubbed it around and that was it!  Until the intense swelling and itching set it.

Looks like I was right!  MAJOR egg allergy.  Dr. looked at me and said, "I'm not really sure you should be eating anything that contains egg AT ALL," to which my good-patient-verbal-diarrhea kicks back in again, and I go on to list EVERYthing I've ever eaten containing egg including cake batter and cookie dough (it was then that I thought it was probably better to just say, "Oh!  Wow!  Thanks" and stop the list before he recommended I see a nutritionalist).

So, I am now the proud new owner of an epi pen and am waving goodbye to anything containing eggs.  No more beater-licking for me.  Strip will be thrilled, though :-)

Awe bless her little heart

With Strip being a little under the weather, we've been stuck inside coughing on each other the past few days. Late this afternoon, I had both kiddos piled on the couch watching a little late afternoon tv while we waited on hubs to get home (and while I started dinner).  After they were both in the zone of Noggin, I snuck into the bathroom when I here a THUNK followed by a cry, nope, double cry.  Great.

I walk back in to find Nugget on the floor wedged between the coffee table and couch and Strip standing next to the couch, both crying.  What happened?!  WAHHHHHH!  As Nugget is giggling on the floor under a pillow, I decide he just lost a fight with gravity, so maybe it's Strip who's in pain.  Where does it hut?  "It dooooooooooesn't!"  It doesn't hurt?!  Why are you crying?!  "I accidentally pushed him and he fell off the cooooooooouch."

Awe.  Poor thing!  Since I didn't really whiteness what happened, I'm not sure how "sweet" this accident was, but nothing was bleeding or broken, so I'm guessing she hugged (or kicked) him off the couch after he stood up to jump on it.  And poor little Strip was so overcome with guilt, she just lost it.  Luckily, the night was looking up -- brother-in-law sent us a Snuggie!  Needless to say, Strip was THRILLED!

Tomorrow's the big day

**not my arm, yet**

I'm going back to the allergist to see what I'm allergic to and what landed me in the ER a couple of weeks ago.  Here's a list of things I'm hoping to be allergic to:

• vacuuming 
• emptying the dishwasher
• putting away laundry
• dropping off Hub's dry cleaning 

Some food things that would be "nice" to be allergic to:

• ice cream
• M&M's
• mocha's
• bread
• icing
• cakeballs
• gingerbread men

What I'm more than likely allergic to?  Eggs and chicken.  If not, then my suspicions will be proven correct and Hubs was trying to kill me.  Speaking of, we watched Match Point last night and that has to rank up there as one of the WORST movies ever.  Ever.  The good things about it were that it had my man from Tudors in it and we got it from the library, so if we manage to get it back before it's due, it will be free.

I'm siiiiiiiiicccckkk

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day.  It was so nice to get outside and play, go for a walk and let the kids run around outside while I cooked dinner.  SO nice.  Of course, they were filthy when they came in, but totally worth it.  At one point, Hubs went out to check on the kids and I hear him say, "No.  NO!  We don't drink out of puddles.  Ugh.  That's just gross."  I guess Nugget was thirsty.  So the kid washes his face in in the dog bowl, feeds the dog from his spoon/fork and drinks out of puddles in the backyard.  And who's sick this morning?  Strip.  That kid needs to lick a few shopping carts and do some puddle sipping to build up her immune system.

But, even when sick, the Strip is a chatterbox.  We heard her coughing up a storm last night, but she was still asleep, so we didn't mess with her.  After going to bed, I hear her crying, so I go in and say, "What's the matter?"  

"Well, I was coughing and coughing and I couldn't stop, and then 

I frew up a little and it got on my blanket, and my pillow, and this 

book, and it made me really sad that I frew up on my pillow 

because I love this pillow, it's a princess pillow and it's my 

favorite, and I just want to snuggle, so can I please come get in 

your bed with you, please?"

You had me at "well."  So now she has a fever AND a bad cough and is really kind of ticked because we had been talking about how nice it was going to be this week (meaning they could play outside).  But, I'll take a sick kid over a sick Hubs any day.  

And oh, yeah.  Totally drinking coffee this morning.

OH forget it!

Bleh. All was going well this morning. I awoke to the sound of Nugget fussing in his bed and Strip lying sideways in our bed. I checked the clock and it was 6:30. Groan, but glad to be up. I was having a really freaky dream. I was bitten by a crazy fox (who also bit my neighbor and my dog), so I locked it in our garage, but the doctors said that we all had rabies and had anywhere between a day and a year to live. I stayed in denial because I didn't trust the Mexican doctors, yup, for some reason we were in Mexico (which actually looked more like Greece, but whatever). I think that God was telling me that life is too short, be happy?

Anyway, I go into Nugget's room hoping to just sneak into his bed and snuggle for an hour, but no luck. He starts doing that I'm-a-morning-person flopping around in his bed being silly. I had just said, "Be careful! You're going to fall off the bed!" when what did he do? Fall off the bed. CLUNCK CRY Hubs busts up in his room turning on the light. Ok, we're up.

We've all made it downstairs, hubs is leaving for work and I'm getting breakfast going. I ask Nugget to feed the dog to which Strip screams, "I'LL DO IT!" not because she's being helpful, but because she wants a sticker for her sticker chart. She and Nugget argue over who's going to feed her while holding a giant scoop of dog food, dropping little pieces all over the floor and really teasing the poor pup. I tell Strip she can feed the dog and Nugget can give her the treats.

"Oh! I'll do that!! HERE" Slings the scoop of dog food back at Nugget. Poor pup's eyes are just screaming, "FEEEEEEDD MEEEEE!" Nugget is now stoked because he gets to feed her again, but of course, can't feed her the scoop that big sister got, so he dumps it all back in the food box and scoops again. He then turns around, looks me right in the eye, smiles, and dumps the giant scoop of dog food all over the floor. And giggles.

That's it! Momma's making coffee. And really, I was trying to quit to save calories, but Phil soooo saw his shadow, so I don't think I'll need to be rocking the bikini anytime soon. And, economically speaking, it would have been wasteful to quit. I have a Costco sized bag of bean that I would just have to toss.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have 780 little pieces of dog food to pick up.

Edited to add: And yeah, something just messed up with the digital cable box thingy. It was just meant to be a coffee day.

Hopping back on

I think cheating today was totally the right thing to do.

I was super observant yesterday, and noticed a mid-day slump, and whatta you know, the same thing happened today, even after espresso.

So, I'm back in the saddle again and hope to make it until Sunday this time :-) Who wants to make a bet as to how long it takes for me to cheat again? Oh, and on another caffeine-free note, I've now eaten all of the chocolate in the house. With only some stray cans of Coke Zero (which I hate), there will be no way to cheat.

Crud! Didn't get to Target today. Hmmmm wonder if I can find a Starbuck-less Target...

And we're off...

the wagon that is.

Sigh.  I'm going to justify, so here goes:

*  Really rough night with Nugget (not really, but he got up at 2:30 and then started driving a tractor across my face somewhere around 5)

*  I'm starting a new mom's group/bible study today and know NO one, so I don't want to be the crazy, drooling in the corner

*  I already had the mocha made minus milk before I realized what was happening

*  I don't want to die.

Now, I know what you are thinking, the last one is a bit extreme, but didn't you see that ER where the coffee girl, who always delivers everyone's coffee, got all shakey and passes out and they found out she was having a STROKE because she gave up caffeine too quickly.  Yikes!  And like I said yesterday, it's all about baby steps.  So mocha today, back off for at least 2 days.

Oh, and thanks so much for all of your words of encouragement (You're crazy! What is wrong with you!  Why, why, why!??!).  Big help guys, big help.

No! I'm not pregnant!

I honestly have no "good" reason for dropping the Joe.

Before our move, I worked like a nut and hubs was out of town a lot, so it was me and the kids, and my hot and heavy romance with Mocha got way out of control.  I was good and would make my own, so it's not like dropping the habit would save cash.  We've been doing the 30ds and I just haven't seen the scale drop, so I thought cutting out the liquid calories might help me out a little (oh, I picked up my Coke habit when I was pregnant with Nugget... That doesn't sound right... Coke a cola habit.  That's better).

So I just figured today would be the day.  I needed to just do it.  Don't worry, I'm sipping a nice glass of Cab right now (because wine is good for your heart, right?).  And shockingly, I made it through the day without killing anyone (although I'm still an hour or two out from bed so there's still a chance).

I'm sure I'll crash and burn soon, but so far so good.  I will admit that I skipped a trip to Target today out of fear of the mermaid logo (aka Starbucks).  Literally, passed the neighborhood, drove a 1/4 mile and decided to just go home and try to go to Target tomorrow.  It's all about baby steps.

Things are going to get ugly

I've picked tomorrow as my day to quit coffee, cold turkey.

I've filled the day with a very full "to-do" list and end the day with a bible study, so between errands and Jesus, I'm hoping to make it through tomorrow without rocking in the corner or throwing a chair out of the window.  Oh, who am I kidding?  With no caffeine, how am I going to have the energy to throw a chair out of the window?

Wonder if I can make it through the weekend.  How many days does it take to kick an addiction?

Glad to know I'm good for something!

Nugget started whining/crying sometime in the night.  Hubs lovingly kicked me and mumbled something like, "It's not time to get up," which was my queue to go in and quiet Nugget.  When I went in his room, he was just kind of crying in his sleep, so I curled up in his drool-filled bed and tried to get back to sleep. He got up at about 4 and saw me in his bed.  Although he's a man of few words, I could tell by the look in his eye that he was saying, "Oh good!  You're here.  I'm going to get down and play while you sit here and watch!"  He then proceeds to find the noisiest toy in his room (one of those old school tin tops) and plays for about 30 minutes.  I finally get him back in bed, and we snuggle up and go back to sleep.

8 o'clock rolls around (whoa it feels good to sleep in!) and I hear Strip calling for me.  I told her I was in Nuggets room and to come on in.  She busts in his room and says, "Mom!  I was looking all over for you!  I checked my room, your room, the bathroom, even the stairs and I couldn't find you OR Daddy anywhere!  And then I thought to myself, 'Who's going to make me breakfast, lunch and dinner?' and I just had to find you!  I thought you disappeared!"

So my kid to worry only when it comes to how she's going to get food :-)

Too much tv, or is my kid a sponge?

Strip goes to "preschool" a couple of days a week.  Those mornings, we get up, have breakfast and get moving, but if everyone is dressed and ready, I'll turn on Little Einstein's or whatever is on Disney Channel while I get her lunch packed/write my to-do list for the day/whatever.  Every Monday, DC has "Movie Time Monday," so if it's something Strip would want to watch or we don't currently own, I'll record it for her to watch when she gets home and Nugget takes a nap.

Last week, Movie Time Monday was Mulan.  We plopped down on the couch together to watch it and about 15 minutes in, she says, "Mulan is a princess, you know."  Yup, I got it.  10 minutes later, she says

Strip :  I can't WAIT to see Mushu!  

Me:      Who's Mushu? 

Strip:   You know.  Mushu is a helpful dragon who comes to the aid of                                Mulan.

Me:      WHAT?!  How do you know that?!

Strip:   Because, Mom, this is Movie Time Monday.  They've only been 

           talking about it for a week.

Wow.  Oh and as I type this, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on, and Nugget just "said" the magic words to help the clubhouse appear while doing the motions.  

A whole new respect for biggest losers

In early November, I added The 30 Day Shred (or 30ds as I like to call it) to the top of my Netflix queue.  In late December, I called Netflix, because I still had not received it (and that was SO the reason that my fat pants were getting a little snug).  Finally got my dvd just before New Years.  Woo hoo!  It sat nestled in that sweet little red envelope for a good two weeks collecting dust.

To get inspired and excited about my new trainer, hubs and I started watching The Biggest Loser, a show I normally boycott because I just want everyone to stay on the show, and it makes my heart hurt when someone gets sent home.  So I get sucked in on episode one.  Poor Jerry is giving me a heart attack every time he takes a step.  

We even sign up for the pound for pound challenge.  Unfortunately because hubs and I tend to watch it while drinking a glass of wine and/or eating dessert, my poundage is going up, not down.  But every week, it's the same -- I'm screaming things at the tv like, "Come on!  This is what you're here for!  How hard is it to jump up and down?!"  and, "Get with it Joelle!  You're not even pretending like you are trying!"  Meanwhile, 30ds sits collecting dust.

I finally bit the bullet and decided to start the workout without hubs.  He always had a (really good) excuse as to why we couldn't work out, so a couple of Wednesday's ago, Nugget and I decided to give it a shot.  Oh. My. Sweet. Cellulite.  I had no idea how incredibly out of shape I really was.  Push-ups are the devil, and I thought I was going to cry a little, but I made it through the 20 minutes and was really thankful hubs wasn't there to see me.  I told him I did it without him, so of course, Thursday, the kids had a date with the bounce house and we had a date with Jillian.

Hubs last words?  "Ohh, level one?  Thought maybe we'd go ahead and start with level 2."

Hubs next words?  "Oh my gah!  HEEEEE!  I'm dying!  OW!!  OH MY LEGS!  AHHHH!"

Hahahahahaha.  I hated seeing him in pain :-)  but I'll admit, it felt pretty darn good to be able to knock out more crunches than him considering my abdominal wall has been ripped apart and sliced open twice.

So I kept my mouth shut the next Tuesday night.

Oh, and we've been working out regularly and have now moved on to level 2.  I had no idea how fun it would be trying to watch Hubs do jump twists and skates.  Good times!