And I know exactly where I lost that weight...

(picture from wikipedia. pretty colors!)

My brain must be a few pounds lighter because I.am.an.idot.

As mentioned before, my Monday didn't get off to a stellar start. But, the kids had school, and I had errands to run. I spent Sunday shopping, so Monday was set for returning/exchanging, and to avoid the car seat pass around, I just took Hubs' truck out on my Sunday Shopping Spree.

Little word of advice; if you live in a snowy place and are moving to Florida, but know you are going skiing sometime after the new year, go ahead and buy your ski clothes and gear while up north. Florida has very little to offer in the way of ski apparel.

I was feeling good! Hit Sports Authority to return the extra UA shirt I bought, then over to Bed Bath & Beyond to return a broom and canister and swap out the k-cups I bought.

I pulled into the mall just as they opened and got a great parking spot that I could even pull through! I bought three pairs of jeans at the Gap yesterday (new favorites are Long and Leans which is odd because I consider myself neither long, nor lean), but I mistakenly picked up a sexy boot cut that looked not so sexy on me, AND Gap sent me a mystery coupon for 20% off my purchase, so I wanted some money back. Gap gal was super nice and we swapped everything out in no time.

Then it was onto the Banana where I needed to trade out a sweater because I think I like the lighter color better. In and out of the dressing room, even exchange, and I'm on my way! I had a few dollars left on my Starbucks gift card, so treated myself to a little something warm, then sauntered over to Bath and Body works. The Christmas candles I use in the dining room were 75% off, so I stocked up and ended up getting a free thing of soap.

This day's turning out better than I thought!

Knowing that I needed to start my way back up to get Nugget, I went ahead and dug out my keys continuing to sip my 'Bucks and savor these last quiet steps to the car.

Then I looked in my hand and noticed I was holding MY keys. Mine. Not Hubs'.

Hmmm. I dug around in my purse (which is really a glorified epi pen holder), and they weren't there.

I checked my gap bag. Nothing but receipts and denim....

Silly me! I bet I set them down on the counter at Gap and left them there! Good thing Gap's on the way back to the car!

Gap Girl: You ready to check out?

Me: No I already did, but I think I left my keys here. Did you find them?

Gap Girl: Nope! No keys this morning!

Me: Grrrreat. Mind if I dump my stuff out and dig here on the counter?

Gap Girl: No, go right ahead.

We dig and pat everything I have, and nothing. At this point, my head is reeling. He's going to kill me! I have MY keys and HIS keys, so he can't even drive over here and meet me. Knowing my luck, because I grabbed my keys, his car is probably still running with the key in it. Which means someone probably stole the car. Oh my bathtubs, what am I going to do?!?

Gap Girl: Want to call someone?

Me: Yeah, I'll just call my husband (pulls out my phone). UGH and now my phone's dead!

Gap Girl: You can use the store's phone if you want!

Me: I don't know his number! He got a new cell phone and I haven't memorized the number yet. I'll go check the car and see if I can see them....

Gap Girl: Good luck! Come back if you need to call AAA or something!

Me: Thanks.

Now I AM getting a leg workout today because I am kicking myself through the mall. Think. THINK! You had to have the keys in your hand because you locked the door and heard it honk. Visualize driving into the parking lot. Where did you park? Oh! Remember, there weren't spots RIGHT at the front, but you pulled through a spot near the department store. Yes! Because I remember saying to myself, "It is SO much easier to park my car than Hubs' car..."

My car. I am in my car today. Which explains why I have MY keys.

I decided to go ahead and get to Nugget's school early, just incase I forgot where I was going along the way.

Not gonna bring it...

This morning was our "rest" day in the p90x week. So, Hubs got up at 5:30 and started poking/shaking me.

Hubs: Come on! We can do the stretching dvd. One hour of stretching!

Me: No. I'm resting.

Hubs: You don't want to do the stretch dvd.

Me: No, I want to sleep.

Hubs: FINE.

Me: Goodnight.

Hubs got up to stretch, and I so should have joined him. Strip, who had been in our bed since around 3 am, took Hubs' absence as an invitation to turn sideway. Zoe then turned into a dog blanket, stretching herself out across both of us. Nugget came in and wanted to chat. Then he wanted a tissue. I told him to go get some toilet paper out of the bathroom. Our bathroom doors are pocket/sliding doors, and Nugget loves to open and close and lock them while "playing Polar Express."

So he did.

About 5 minutes later, he wanted a tissue again, so I told him, again, to go in our bathroom and get some toilet paper. But, Mr. Polar Express locked the door and couldn't get it open. So he cried.

FORGET IT! I'M AWAKE!

I get the kids in the kitchen to have breakfast, serve up some oatmeal and was emptying the dishwasher. I was down to the last thing, a one cup Pyrex measuring cup, which slipped right out of my hands, crashing onto the tile floor. As I watched it fall in slow motion, I remembered watching a How It's Made about Pyrex. I think it was originally the brainchild of an engineer who was trying to protect the lights on a train (or something like that), and while it didn't work, his wife thought it would make rockin' bakeware. Boy was she right! It's virtually indestructible!

It is, however destructible, if you drop it on the cold, tile floor at 6:15 AM.

Yay.

Oh. Right before that happened, Nugget fed Zoe, but I could hear her lapping up water and not eating. Worried she was sick, I peaked around the corner to see that Nugget dumped 3/4 cup of dog food into her water bowl. I asked him to try again while I poured the dog food water down the disposal. When I turned it on, it made a HORRIBLE sound. I knew that the disposal that came with the house wasn't great, but I figured it could handle soggy dog food.

Ohhh, there's a spoon lodged in there.

This is such a Monday.

Hubs walked in as I shattered the measuring cup and offered to clean it up for me (THANK YOU HUBS!).

Before he got in the shower, he was going to weigh himself.

::Side Note:: Our scale broke a year or so ago, so we've been using the wii fit/board as our scale. I've gained every time Hubs has lost. Yesterday, I weighed and had gained 1.3 lbs. I was about to throw the board out of the window when it asked why I thought I had been gaining weight. Choices were along the lines of, "Eating too late," "Not exercising," "Late Night Snacking," etc, so I chose, "I don't know." Wii fit had the audacity to lecture me on the importance of exercising and how it can jump start my metabolism, blah blah blah. Oh, shut it, wii fit board.

Hubs asked if I wanted to weigh and I figured, why not. I had not worked out since yesterday and had a couple of glasses of red wine last night.

Down 3.6 lbs.

Wouldn't you know.

I highly doubt that I'll be able to tell Hubs, "No, I'm just going to sleep in and throw some stuff around the kitchen this morning. That will help me lose!" when the alarm goes off tomorrow, but we'll see.

BRING IT!

As I mentioned before, Hubs Zoe gave me the p90x dvd set for Christmas (if you've never heard of it, you can read more about it, and other beach body workouts HERE). I tried plyometrics with UP when he was visiting and WOW did it work you. I decided to try plyo again after Christmas, and WOW did it work me again.

After hobbling around for a few days after, Hubs was intrigued.

Hubs: So what did you do?

Me: Plyometrics. It's a lot of jumping around.

Hubs: Sounds tough.

I told him to try it and I was going to sit on the couch eating cake while he vomited on himself.

In the end, I decided to join him. Hubs was hooked. Next thing I know, we're at Costco buying bulk ingredients to make our morning smoothies, and he comes home with free weights, a door mounted pull up bar and two sets of resistance bands. I've created a monster.

And to add to it, he decided that we need to get up and work out in the morning before the kids get up. Nothing like kick starting your day at 5:30 AM with the hardest workouts ever.

We've almost completed week one and I LOVE IT! Insanely challenging workouts. Things I would never do or try otherwise. And it changes every day! Day one had me doing pull ups. Pull ups?! IN the words of UP, "When was the last time you did one of those?!" Ummm second grade maybe? Back when I was doing jump rope for heart? But I pushed through and finished the dvd. Next up was Plyo again. I was impressed that I made it through the entire dvd and didn't fall over!

Day three was chest and arms with an ab ripper. I remember the feeling when I was pregnant with Strip and my abdominal muscles separated. Ab ripper was kinda like that, just over and over again, constantly for 15 minutes. Day four was yoga and I was SUPER excited for this day. Hubs did really well on yoga, too (which kinda shocked me as he'd never done it before and this was NOT easy). This morning, we did legs and arms with an ab ripper, and while I've been sore all week, I feel good.

On top of the changing workouts, I like the people on the dvds doing it, too. Wanna know why? They are in incredible shape, but are sweating like crazy and shaking on some of the moves. There is nothing more discouraging than attempting to do pilates, shaking and dry heaving, and looking at four perfect girls, with perfect hair, not even breaking a sweat. You can almost hear them saying, "I could do v-ups all day!" through their smiling, clenched teeth.

I told myself I wasn't going to weigh during the first few weeks, but Hubs wanted to, so on day 4, we hopped on the wii. He was down 8.6 lbs.

My turn! Up 1.3. Yay.

It must be all of the muscle I'm ripping.

It's going to be a fun ride for the next 86 days!

Hubs. The sweetest jerk I know.

Merry Christmas to the adults!

Like Nugget, Hubs wanted "Jus one fing" for Christmas. And I was SO excited to find it two days before Christmas. He wanted a heart rate monitor gps watch. Because he's an avid runner? Nope. But he couldn't BE an avid runner without a heart rate monitor gps watch! I was going to wrap up a picture, but I found IT! I couldn't wait for Christmas (all 48 hours!).

I really didn't have a lot on my list, but had decided with gift cards I'd been hoarding, I was going to buy myself a Nook. Just when I decided to do that, they came out with the Nook color, and I like it more, so I continued the hoarding.

Christmas morning arrived, and Hubs distributed his annual Christmas card, stocked with a few lotto cards. Mine, was especially thick. In it, I not only found a few lucky scratch offs, but a Nook color brochure! Hubs said, "Merry Christmas" and I may or may not have squealed a little. Then I thought about it.

Me: "So is this a, 'Merry Christmas, go buy yourself a Nook' or 'Merry Christmas, if you win big with these tickets, go buy yourself a Nook' kinda thing?

Hubs: rolls eyes Merry Christmas.

I won nothing. Who cares? I'm heading to B&N tomorrow. But this kinda sucks because Hubs will get to play with his new toy in about 30 minutes and I can't until tomorrow. Score another for me!

Next, I open UP's card, and in it is a gift card for B&N with a note saying, "Go by a book for your Nook, I hope?" Boo-yow! I said as I held up my brochure. New book for me on my Nook tomorrow!

I give Hubs his gift and he is beyond thrilled, that is until he opens it, and I discover I got the exact watch he wanted, minus one letter, which apparently meant it was just the gps watch, not the heart rate monitor. Oh well. His birthday's right around the corner, now I had a gift idea (side note, I found the right one at Costco a week later).

Next up, a gift for me! As I was tearing off the paper, Hubs stopped me, and said, multiple times, "This one is from Zoe. ZOE. This is from the dog, not me."

I had no clue why he was so adamant the dog get credit for a gift, until under the paper, I spied the words "beach body." HA! The one thing I did, actually, ask for was the set of p90x dvds. Hubs just didn't want to seem like the jerk who gave his wife a set of workout dvds! Thanks Zoe! New Year's resolution is ON.

A little while later, I open a card from Hubs. In it, a gift card from B&N and a note saying, "I hope this puts you over the top and you can go buy your Nook!" Gift Card Amount: $10.

You have got to be kidding me.

I sat there for a second, trying not to sound like an ungrateful witch, but still confused because I thought an hour or so ago, he gave me the nook. Now, it was more like he was giving me the finger.

Me: So I can't get the Nook?

Hubs: Yeah! You said you had a ton of gift cards, right? Did that put you over?

Me: Umm no that put me about $60 short.

And we moved on. Ok. Guess I'm not getting a Nook. Or I'm not getting it until our anniversary maybe.

After things were winding down, Hubs had one more gift for me. Wouldn't you know, it was a box with a Nook color, charger and cover. I'm sure I should have said, "Awwwe THANK YOU!," but I'm pretty sure what slipped out was, "You jackass!" So I used my gift cards to load some books on my new Nook (and then I had a glass of Pinot Noir and added a few more!), and have been pouring through books since the first of the year (another reason why I haven't had time to write)!

Any good book suggestions?

Merry Christmas, Kiddos!

First off, Happy New Year! No, we're not dead, just crazier than usual with moving over Christmas.

Santa was good to everyone in our house. We spent it with PaPa and Ma and UP at the parent's house, and first, can I say that I've ALWAYS dreamt of a white Christmas? Lived for two years in a snowy wonderland, where it miraculously NEVER snowed on Christmas. Move to Florida, spend Christmas in Georgia and it SNOWS the day after Christmas. Madness! Although I had to laugh when Nugget looked out of the window and said,

Nugget: What's wrong wif da snow?

Me: What do you mean?

Nugget: Why it's not in da trees?!

I explained that Georgia snow was a little different than the snow we were use to and just enjoy watching it fall because that's about as good as it gets.

Anyway, Christmas morning!

Lots of people asked me if I was going nuts trying to shop and have things delivered where ever for Christmas. Nope! While patting myself on the back, I explained that I had ALL of my shopping done before we even found out that we were moving, so yay me! Then, there were a couple of problems.

1. Bean bags. Santa was bringing the kids bean bags for Christmas and he found them on Clearance at Target for $13 in August. Woo to the hoo! Who cares if they are black and not the greatest? They are going in the basement and the kids will love them! Only now, there isn't a basement and the kids stuff will be in full view... and the covers don't come off which are going ot make them hard to wash and monogram... Crud! LandsEnd to the rescue! I ordered them, had them delivered to GA. Good to go! Until I get an email stating that the monogrammed covers are on backorder until January 7th. Hmmm. No worries! I'll just get some letters and stick them on the white beanbags with a note from Felix saying their covers will be waiting for them when they get to Florida. But, as luck would have it, I got another email saying they were shipped early, and the covers arrived at the house ON Christmas eve. Hooray!

2. Nugget.

Here's Nugget talking to Santa. Wanna know what he's saying?

"I want ONE fing, Santa. Just one fing. A Polar Depressed train. Das it."

Well, I know they make a Polar Express (depressed) train. It's by Lionel. It's gigantic. And most importantly, it's over $500. I love you buddy, but NO! So I took him by the train store, we found the P.D. and he hugged the box for 20 minutes. Awesome.

So we found the train man who runs the store. I stood behind Nugget, OBVIOUSLY nodding my head yes while saying, "Don't you have to be MUCH older than three to get the Polar Express train? It's for big boys who are ten, right? You can't get that train when you are only three, can you?" nod nod nod nod nod.

The confused store owner looked at me, looked at nugget, back at me and said, "Uhhhh, yes?"

We went back to hug the box, and sure enough! Ages 8 and up. YES! I win! Pick something else buddy. But did he? Nope. Because Das all he wanted.

With 5 days until Christmas, I find a smaller version of the Polar Depressed that is not only cheaper, it's remote controlled, so he won't electrocute himself. Score! Only problem is it's in PA and I need it in GA ASAP. I click the two day shipping, kicking myself for waiting until the last minute. I figure it's Sunday, so hopefully they will get the order Monday, process it Tuesday and ship it Wednesday, getting it to us by Friday at the latest.

Ring! Ring!

It's PA calling. I'm petrified they are calling to say that the train is no longer available, and when I don't get to the phone in time, I wait for voicemail to pick up. One new message.

Hi! This is soandso calling from the Train Store in PA. I got your order, but when I put it in, it looks like UPS will deliver it on Wednesday with 2 day air OR ground, so if it's ok with you, I'll just send it ground and credit your card with the extra $40. Just give me a call if that's alright! Thanks!

Umm yeah that's ok! But problem 2 lead to problem 3. Strip! If Santa is bringing them even stuff, and now he's bringing Nugget the P.E. he has to bring Strip something equally as cool, too. Why did I even bother to shop before the last week of Christmas?! Under control! The Tangled Tower! She'll love it! She asked Santa for a second doll house so she could start a neighborhood, so this will be sort of close to that. AND I have a $20 credit to the Disney store! Come on, Hubs! We're heading to the mall!

Problem 4? Our mall doesn't have a Disney Store. What?! No problem! We'll pay full price at Target (yes, we have 2 Targets! Whew!). Unfortunately, not only do they NOT have the Tower, they don't have anything Tangled at ALL! So I suck it up and call Wal-Mart. Two left and Tony is going to hold one for me!

So, Christmas was a success! Nugget was right, he really did only want ONE thing for Christmas. He (and Hubs, and PaPa and Up) played Polar Express the entire weekend and he (knock on wood) hasn't destroyed it yet! Strip was slightly disappointed that she didn't get a second gigantic doll house, but agreed that the Tangled Tower would up the property value of the other doll house, so it was fine. Now the only question that remains is where are we going to put all of this stuff!?